I Built an Aircraft Carrier in the Ming Dynasty
Author: 梦回古代
Date: 2025-03-19T11:11:59+00:00

Chapter 1: A Desperate Situation

The first day of the ninth month of the Hongguang year (1645), Jiading.

Wu Changqing stood on the city wall, looking at the devastated and corpse-strewn city of Jiading, a fire of rage ignited in his heart.

He was originally a history novel-loving otaku from the 21st century, and he was filled with righteous indignation when he saw the “Ten Days of Yangzhou” and “Three Massacres of Jiading” scenes. As a result, he inexplicably transmigrated to the ancient Ming Dynasty, becoming Wu Changqing, the son of Wu Zhiban, a famous anti-Qing general and Southern Ming garrison commander.

The point in time he transmigrated to was terrible. Jiading had already been massacred twice by Li Chengdong, who had surrendered to the Qing army, and the third massacre was about to happen.

At this moment, Wu Zhiban had already died in battle outside the city, and only a group of old, weak, women, and children remained in the city. It wouldn’t be long before Li Chengdong would lead his troops to arrive and massacre the city.

Am I just going to watch history repeat itself? Watch Li Chengdong, that beast, slaughter innocent people at will?

The thought of Li Chengdong made Wu Changqing gnash his teeth in hatred.

Although he, a person from the 21st century, originally had no grievances or animosity with Li Chengdong, every time he saw what Li Chengdong had done, he couldn’t help but want to tear him into a thousand pieces.

Li Chengdong initially followed Gao Jie, a subordinate of Li Zicheng, in a peasant uprising. Later, seeing that Li Zicheng was failing, he surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. Then, seeing the Ming Dynasty’s continuous defeats, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

This transgression wasn’t particularly egregious; it was about survival in a chaotic world. However, his penchant for massacring cities and raping women was unacceptable.

He had massacred several cities, including Jiading, Nanxiong, and Guangzhou, and hundreds of thousands of innocent souls died under his blade. He also personally killed the Longwu Emperor of the Southern Ming and captured the Shaowu Emperor alive, making great contributions to the Qing army.

Later, dissatisfied with the Qing court’s favoritism towards Manchu officials, he rebelled against the Qing and attempted to restore the Ming, his life full of fickleness, even more cunning and treacherous than the likes of Wu Sangui.

Wu Changqing hated this kind of person very much, especially since he had now received the original owner’s memories and could barely be considered Wu Zhiban’s son, and he also had a father-killing feud with Li Chengdong.

Even without the father-killing feud, he had to stand against Li Chengdong to save the twenty thousand people in the city.

But what could he use to fight against him?

Wu Changqing sighed. Li Chengdong, as the garrison commander of Wusong, had as many as ten thousand soldiers under his command, while he now had only a hundred or so local militia.

The so-called local militia were actually just ordinary adult men who had not received any formal military training and were completely incomparable to Li Chengdong’s regular army.

To use these hundred militiamen to defend the city of Jiading was purely a pipe dream.

“General Wu, let’s retreat quickly.”

Liu Hansan, a centurion, advised from the side. As things stood, the situation was beyond saving. If they didn’t escape, they would surely die.

“Retreat? What about these people if we retreat?”

Wu Changqing was actually afraid of death, but the thought of the people in the city being slaughtered made it impossible for him to harden his heart and escape alone. They could still escape if they traveled light, but they wouldn’t be able to leave if they took the people with them.

“That’s right, we will never retreat. We’ll fight those Qing dogs to the death!”

The other two centurions shouted that they would be loyal to the country and would not retreat, which made Wu Changqing feel quite emotional.

Clearly, there were still so many people and soldiers who cared about the Ming Dynasty, but the Southern Ming was like a piece of rotten wood, with constant infighting in the court and military defeats against the Qing army at every turn.

The reasons for this were quite complex. Many people in later generations studied this period of history, but no one could truly explain it clearly.

But this was not important to Wu Changqing. He was now only thinking about protecting the people in the city. Of course, it would be even better if he could save the Ming Dynasty, unify the country, and end this chaotic world.

He was unwilling to let the Manchus take control of the Central Plains, only to be beaten by foreigners in later generations and forced to sign those humiliating treaties.

Heaven, did you let me transmigrate to this era just to witness a tragedy? What’s the point of that?

Wu Changqing shouted in his heart. He wanted to lead the Chinese nation to rise and dominate the world, but he was just an ordinary otaku in his previous life, and he really didn’t have the ability.

[Prosperity System is binding…]

Suddenly, a voice in his mind made Wu Changqing overjoyed. As someone who often read novels, he naturally knew what a system was.

The system bound quickly, and after a moment, he understood the system’s functions.

In this system, the host can obtain 1 science point for every person they control and 30 resource points for every square kilometer of territory they control.

Science points can be exchanged for advanced technologies in the system store, such as the manufacturing methods and principles of matchlock guns, flintlock guns, breech-loading guns, the forging parameters of Hongyi cannons, steam engines, internal combustion engines, and a series of other technologies.

As long as there are enough skill points, the host can immediately master high technology far ahead of this era.

Resource points can be directly exchanged for resources, such as special steel resistant to high temperatures and pressures, various weapons and equipment, hybrid rice seeds, and various raw materials.

Wu Changqing was stunned. This system was too heaven-defying; it could simply be called invincible. With this system’s help, what was there to fear from Li Chengdong? What was there to fear from not being able to end this chaotic world? What was there to fear from not becoming the supreme ruler?

At this moment, his ambition was ignited.

Currently, Wu Zhiban had died in battle, and he had taken over Jiading City with 460 square kilometers of territory and 21,000 people, so he had a total of 21,000 science points and 13,800 resource points.

Science points were for long-term development and would not help with the upcoming battle. However, resource points could be directly exchanged for advanced weapons, which was the key to breaking the situation.

Wu Changqing’s consciousness entered the system store and came to the weapons section.

Matchlock gun, 10 points/piece, ammunition 1 point/100 rounds. Flintlock gun, 50 points/piece, ammunition 1 point/50 rounds. Breech-loading gun 200/piece…

They were all terribly expensive things. One must know that resource points were limited. Even if one unified the entire land, the total number of resource points would only be over 4 billion.

But Wu Changqing couldn’t care so much at this time. Resolving the immediate crisis and preserving his life was the key to the future.

“Fighting to the death? With just our people, how can we be a match for the Qing dogs? Even the imperial army can’t withstand Li Chengdong’s troops, let alone us. Staying here is just a waste of life.”

Liu Hansan was a staunch advocate of escape. He saw no hope of victory.

“Everyone, don’t panic. Some time ago, I purchased a batch of advanced arquebuses. I will fetch them, and we will surely make the Qing dogs regret coming. Centurion Liu, take ten people with me to get the firearms. Centurion Wang and Centurion Li, go to the city to recruit people to help defend the city.”

He could retrieve the items from the system store with a single thought, but that would be too shocking. So, he made an excuse.

“As you command.”

Wang Dayong and Li Shaobin immediately took their orders. In fact, they didn’t have much hope for what Wu Changqing said, but they wouldn’t show it.

They were prepared to fight to the death. Li Chengdong’s two consecutive massacres had frightened many people, but it had also completely enraged a group of die-hards.

Of course, they were almost the last of the tough ones. Wu Changqing knew that after Jiading was massacred for the third time, not many people would dare to resist the order to keep their hair and not their heads.

According to historical records, after the Three Massacres of Jiading, the people in the Jiangnan region shaved their heads and wore queues, becoming obedient subjects of the Qing Dynasty.

Alas!

Liu Hansan sighed. Defending the city couldn’t rely on just a surge of blood; strength was the key. He didn’t believe that Wu Changqing, a young man who hadn’t even grown all his hair, could lead a group of militiamen to create a miracle.

If it weren’t for the fact that Wu Changqing was Wu Zhiban’s son and had a certain reputation among the rebels, he would have already taken his men and fled.

“Centurion Liu, you don’t have to worry. Although Li Chengdong has tens of thousands of soldiers, he can’t send them all to attack Jiading. I estimate that the enemy will have at most two or three thousand people, and we have a good chance of holding on.”

Wu Changqing saw Liu Hansan’s worry and said a word of comfort. He didn’t want his men to run away before the battle even started.

“That’s true, but even with two or three thousand people, we are no match for them. Staying here is meaningless except for dying in vain. It’s better to retreat to the mountains first and wait and see.”

Liu Hansan was still trying to persuade Wu Changqing; he didn’t want to stay and wait for death.

Wu Changqing could understand Liu Hansan’s feelings, but he couldn’t accept them. In other circumstances, if Liu Hansan had repeatedly questioned him like this, he would have definitely removed Liu Hansan from his position.

But with a great enemy at hand, he really didn’t want to create any other messy accidents.

“Centurion Liu, how about we make a bet? If we hold on this time, then you must unconditionally obey my orders in the future. If we can’t hold on, I will allow you to retreat first, and I will personally hold the rear.”

Although this was Wu Changqing’s first time as a leader, he knew that if his subordinates didn’t obey orders, it would greatly damage the leader’s prestige.

“General, you are too serious. Hansan will naturally obey the general’s orders.”

Liu Hansan quickly admitted his mistake. After all, Wu Changqing was still his superior. On the battlefield, superiors had plenty of excuses to execute subordinates, and he didn’t want to die unjustly.

As for the bet Wu Changqing mentioned, he just sneered in his heart.

Everyone began to take action. Wu Changqing led his men to the county office and told Liu Hansan and the others to wait outside.

He entered the warehouse alone and used his mind to exchange for 140 flintlock guns and 100,000 fixed cartridges.

He didn’t exchange for cheaper matchlock guns because the Qing army was already equipped with many matchlock guns. There was no advantage in using matchlock guns to fight against them.

But flintlock guns were different. Although they looked similar to matchlock guns, they were several times faster because they had improved firing mechanisms and used fixed cartridges.

A skilled musketeer could fire a matchlock gun at most once a minute. But with a flintlock gun, a skilled operator could fire five times a minute.

Flintlock guns also had the advantage in range.

Flintlock guns had already been invented in Europe in 1547, but China didn’t have them yet. They were still using matchlock guns.

Moreover, in the Qing army, matchlock gun units were not valued and were not the main force. The main force was still based on cold weapons.

Using flintlock guns against cold weapons, Wu Changqing felt that he should be able to beat Li Chengdong to a pulp and let this grandson taste the power of a transmigrator.

Chapter 2: The Weaponry Gap

The firearms were distributed to the hundred-plus local militia who had combat experience. As for the recruited civilians, they could only hold large sabers and spears to assist in defending the city walls.

“Why doesn’t this arquebus have a fuse? How do you ignite it without a fuse?”

Wang Dayong fiddled with the flintlock rifle, looking rather puzzled.

Wu Changqing smiled. These people of the past were just that; show them something they’d never seen before, and they’d struggle to understand it.

He picked up a flintlock rifle and personally demonstrated how to use it.

With a pia sound, a target in the distance was pierced with a large hole. Then, he fired several more shots in quick succession, leaving everyone around him dumbfounded.

“What kind of divine weapon is this? Why can it fire so quickly, and how does it ignite?”

Liu Hansan said in shock, this was beyond his comprehension. Wu Changqing’s explanation of flint creating sparks through friction made no sense to him.

Fortunately, not understanding didn’t matter, as long as they could learn how to use it.

In comparison, the flintlock rifle was easier to operate than a matchlock gun. After Wu Changqing demonstrated it a few times, most of the local militia grasped how to use it.

As for accuracy, well, that was anyone’s guess. But that didn’t matter. After all, guns in this era weren’t accurate anyway; they relied on dense volleys.

“With this divine weapon, we will surely be able to defend Jiading.”

Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong’s faces were filled with excitement. Although they had been prepared to die, the feeling of hope emerging from despair was excellent.

Defend Jiading with these arquebuses?

Liu Hansan was still somewhat skeptical, feeling that Li Shaobin was being too excited.

“Everyone, learn how to use these arquebuses as quickly as possible. When the enemy attacks later, we’ll rely on them. Centurion Wang, take forty men to the west wall. Centurion Li, take forty men to the west side. The rest will defend the north side with me.”

Wu Changqing didn’t force everyone to change their terminology. Since they were used to calling them arquebuses, then arquebuses it was.

After arranging the defenses, Wu Changqing personally went to the city walls to boost morale. It was impossible to defend Jiading with just over a hundred men. Li Chengdong only needed to send troops to attack from all sides simultaneously, and they would be unable to support each other.

These civilians assisting in the defense were also crucial.

“Fellow elders and villagers, the Qing dogs are coming soon. They have already massacred two cities and killed countless of our fellow villagers. This time will be no exception. If we want to live, if we want to keep the hair our parents gave us, we must defend to the death.

The dog thief Li Chengdong, without loyalty to ruler or parents, is worse than a beast. He has massacred tens of thousands of people in Jiading and violated countless women…”

Wu Changqing’s eloquence wasn’t great, but this level of speech was enough for the people of this era.

At least, after listening to his speech, many of the civilians defending the city shouted that they would defend Jiading to the death.

The reason why the civilians were so determined was mainly because the ‘hair-shaving order’ issued by Dorgon, the Regent Prince of the Qing Dynasty, was unpopular. Keeping their hair was a tradition of the Han people for thousands of years, and such a deeply rooted concept was not so easily changed.

To give an example, what if a leader in the twenty-first century suddenly said that everyone was forbidden from wearing clothes and had to go around naked? Would the people agree?

The atmosphere before the war was very oppressive. The local militia and civilians on the city walls didn’t know how many enemies there were. They only knew from rumors that Li Chengdong had tens of thousands of soldiers.

That number alone could destroy some people’s will to resist.

Among the many, only Wu Changqing could remain calm and composed. Because he knew that there wouldn’t be too many people attacking Jiading. After all, they were just an insignificant force of resistance.

His calm demeanor added a lot of confidence to the defenders. As the saying goes, a cowardly soldier makes a cowardly unit, a cowardly general makes a cowardly army.

The temperament of the commanding general can influence the style of an army.

“They’re here.”

In the distance, some dark figures appeared in everyone’s sight. Then, the figures became clearer and clearer.

“The General is indeed like a prophet. The enemy seems to have only about a thousand men.”

Liu Hansan roughly estimated the number of enemies and breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although a thousand professional soldiers were still very terrifying, it was better than tens of thousands of soldiers coming over.

These thousand soldiers were Li Chengdong’s vanguard, led by Xue Wu, a chiliarch (battalion commander).

“Wu Zhiban is dead. Who is defending the city? Weren’t their soldiers defeated by us?”

A centurion saw the defending soldiers on the city wall and the flag with the character “Wu” written on it and was very confused.

“Probably just some civilians. These lowly people are really stubborn. They’re not afraid of being killed no matter how many times we kill them. It seems that another massacre is inevitable.”

Xue Wu revealed a sneer. In his opinion, those stubborn civilians who resisted were all ignorant and lowly people, both stupid and cheap. What was the big deal about shaving their hair and keeping a queue?

He drove his horse closer to the city wall. Outside the range of the arrows, he began to shout: “Which brother is defending the city? Wu Zhiban has already died in battle. I advise you to surrender obediently and save your lives.”

Although the soldiers on the city wall were vulnerable local militia, a forced siege would inevitably cause casualties. Therefore, Xue Wu wanted to trick Wu Changqing and the others into surrendering.

As for whether to kill them after they surrendered, that was up to him.

“You dog thief, you are Han Chinese, yet you willingly serve the Manchu dogs. Slaughtering your own people is like slaughtering your parents. You have no respect for your ruler or your parents. You are heartless and ungrateful… You despicable villains, you dare to shamelessly ask us to surrender? I have never seen such shameless people.”

At this moment, Wu Changqing was possessed by Zhuge Liang, scolding Xue Wu relentlessly.

Wu Changqing’s scolding was too vicious. Xue Wu almost vomited blood and fell off his horse like Wang Lang when he heard these words.

The civilians on the city wall were greatly encouraged by these words.

And some of the soldiers under Xue Wu felt a sense of shame. Not all soldiers were cold-blooded and ruthless. Some of them felt ashamed of working for the Qing army.

Unfortunately, in troubled times, people have no choice. In order to survive, they had to abandon their dignity.

“You refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit! When I take the city, I will definitely put your head on a flagpole.”

Xue Wu cursed angrily.

“If you have the guts, come over here. I’ll use your head as a chamber pot.”

As an otaku who spent all day online, Wu Changqing would be ashamed to call himself a time-traveler if he lost in a verbal battle.

The soldiers defending the city laughed, while the morale of Xue Wu’s soldiers declined.

Don’t think that scolding people is useless. Sometimes, mental blows can be more effective than physical blows.

“Centurion Chen, take a hundred men to the east side. Centurion Li, take a hundred men to the west side to prevent them from escaping.”

Xue Wu realized that his eloquence was far inferior to Wu Changqing’s, so he could only return to his formation and arrange the plan to attack the city. Li Chengdong’s order to him was to eradicate the roots, so he blocked all escape routes. The south side was the Hengshui River, so there was no need to deploy troops there.

After Chen and Li moved out, Xue Wu also began to attack the city.

The first batch of attackers consisted of three hundred men, carrying large sabers and carrying a dozen ladders towards the city wall.

Jiading was just a small county town, and the city wall was only four meters high. It was easy to get up with a slightly longer ladder.

Here they come.

Wu Changqing clenched his fists nervously. In his previous life, he was just an otaku who had never even killed a chicken, but now he had to kill people with his own hands.

Under normal circumstances, he would not be able to complete this psychological transition at all.

But now, he quickly completed this process. Because he had no choice. If he didn’t kill them, they would kill him. In order to save his life and protect the innocent civilians, he became cold-blooded.

“Ready, fire at the areas with the most people.”

The Qing army was less than two hundred meters away from the city wall, which was already within the range of the flintlock rifles. However, at this distance, the accuracy of the flintlock rifles was almost non-existent.

Wu Changqing couldn’t care less. He would kill one if he could, and he wanted to quickly dampen the Qing army’s momentum. Otherwise, it would be dangerous when they rushed to the city wall. After all, they were trained professional soldiers with combat experience.

Even with the advantage of the city wall, the civilians were no match for those soldiers in a melee.

Pia.

Wu Changqing took the lead in firing, and then, gunshots rang out everywhere.

Among the Qing soldiers charging, three or four unlucky ones fell.

“How can their muskets shoot so far?”

Xue Wu immediately saw something was wrong.

The other officers stared at each other, but none of them could answer. They were no strangers to muskets, but this was the first time they had seen muskets that could shoot so far.

Only three or four had died, so the Qing army didn’t care and continued to charge.

However, after only about ten seconds, the second gunshot rang out from the city wall.

This time, even more Qing soldiers fell, as many as six or seven.

Xue Wu frowned. Although the death of a few soldiers was nothing to him, this kind of situation where they could only be beaten and could not fight back easily affected morale.

Moreover, he couldn’t figure out why the Ming army’s muskets shot so far and so fast. He instinctively felt some fear of the unknown.

“Let the archers and the Shenji Battalion people come forward to suppress them.”

Xue Wu said. There were also musket teams in his camp, but there were not many, only fifty people.

Xue Wu couldn’t think of any good way, so he could only push the musket team up.

“Good kill, good kill.”

Watching the Qing soldiers fall one by one, the civilians on the city were excited and cheered loudly. Wu Changqing had won a complete victory in the verbal battle just now, and now the situation of defending the city was very good. The civilians saw the hope of survival, and they were all very excited.

“Everyone, keep up the good work. We must make the Qing dogs come and never return, and make them tremble with fear.”

Wu Changqing was pleased to see that the morale of the civilians was commendable.

Pia.

The Qing army had rushed within fifty meters, and the city wall was close at hand.

But at this distance, the accuracy of the flintlock rifle was already very good. More importantly, the density of the Qing soldiers was very high. As long as you fired a shot at the crowd, you might not hit the target you were aiming at, but it was very likely that you would hit other targets.

This is why the armies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries fought in lines, looking as stupid as pigs. In fact, this was all because the accuracy of the guns was not good, and they could only rely on this dense barrage to kill the enemy.

After a series of gunshots, a large number of Qing soldiers fell, as many as thirty or forty.

The Qing army had not even touched the city wall, and 20% of their troops had already fallen.

Some Qing soldiers who had not yet died were lying on the ground and screaming.

Suddenly, the Qing soldiers who were still charging were stunned, and then turned around and ran away. Some even threw away their siege ladders.

The ability of armies in the feudal era to withstand casualties was extremely limited. Generally, a loss of 10% of the troops would lead to a collapse. Fear of death is human nature, and this has never changed since ancient times.

This time, Xue Wu’s men had already performed very bravely.

The main reason was that they underestimated the power of those flintlock rifles. By the time they discovered and felt afraid, fifty or sixty people had already died, and then the army collapsed instantly.

While running away, the gunshots on the city wall continued, and they lost a dozen more bodies.

“This…”

Xue Wu was dumbfounded. He thought Wu Changqing was just a smooth talker who could be taken down in minutes.

But the reality was a slap in the face. Wu Changqing’s power was far beyond his imagination.

Not only was he dumbfounded, but even Liu Hansan, who had seen the flintlock rifles in advance, was dumbfounded when he saw this result. What the hell, how did they really defend it?

Chapter 3: Tactics vs. Technology

“Hahaha, the Qing dogs are retreating!”

“Vice-General Wu is mighty! Thanks to Vice-General Wu’s excellent command!”

“What Vice-General Wu? With the old Garrison Commander’s sacrifice, Vice-General Wu is our new Garrison Commander!”

The people and soldiers on the city wall roared and cheered excitedly. Several squad leaders even took the opportunity to flatter Wu Changqing. Of course, they genuinely admired him.

Thanks to the miraculous muskets Wu Changqing brought and his command, they miraculously killed fifty or sixty Qing soldiers and repelled the Qing army’s attack. This result far exceeded their expectations.

Since their uprising, killing sixty enemies was their greatest achievement.

Garrison Commander Wu?

Wu Changqing was speechless. The Southern Ming was in chaos, and official positions had become a mess. Originally, a garrison commander was a high-ranking official of the second rank, and there were only twenty or so in the entire Ming Dynasty.

But now, any local militia organization could call themselves a garrison commander, and the court would acknowledge it. If they could kill thousands or tens of thousands of Qing soldiers, the court wouldn’t even be stingy with a kingship.

Wu Changqing didn’t care about this kind of empty title; he only cared about the actual strength in his hands.

The defending troops were shocked by the results, and Wu Changqing was no exception.

Although he had known for a long time that flintlock guns were powerful and that this type of gun was used until the mid-19th century before being slowly replaced by rifled guns and breech-loading guns, it was only when he witnessed the effect of the weapon disparity that he realized the enormous role of weapons in war. At the same time, he also understood why the British and French were able to march all the way to the capital with a 2,000-strong allied force.

If he had 2,000 flintlock gun troops now, he could also rampage unhindered.

However, 2,000 flintlocks cost 100,000 resource points, which meant occupying at least half of Jiangsu. Moreover, resource points couldn’t be used entirely to exchange for guns; he also needed to exchange for cannons, gunpowder, and other materials.

For example, Wu Changqing spent 100 resource points to exchange for a telescope because he needed to observe the enemy’s movements.

His biggest problem now was insufficient troops and too few flintlocks. If the Qing army quietly circled around to attack the city from other directions, the danger would be significant.

Outside the city, Xue Wu had already led his troops back more than a thousand meters before the defeated soldiers breathed a sigh of relief, sitting on the ground, panting, dejectedly.

When they were running away just now, they were all worried that the rebels would chase after them.

“Hmph, I’ll let them be happy for a while. I think those lowly people don’t have many muskets and not many troops. As long as we unexpectedly detour to the west, we will surely break through their city in one fell swoop.”

Xue Wu had just suffered a complete defeat, but he was unwilling to admit that he had been defeated by a group of civilians. So, he pretended to talk about his plan to avoid mentioning the embarrassment of his recent failure.

“Sir, you are wise! If they had more people, they would have chased us out already. The fact that they didn’t chase us proves that they don’t have enough troops.”

The other subordinates flattered him one after another.

Xue Wu was a little embarrassed to hear this kind of flattery and quickly pressed his hand down, signaling to stop.

After formulating the plan, Xue Wu led the main force on a rapid march, heading west to catch the Ming army off guard.

It must be said that Xue Wu’s judgment was very accurate, and his military skills far surpassed Wu Changqing’s.

However, in the face of technological superiority, his talent couldn’t be brought into play.

According to his experience, Xue Wu determined a marching route that the Ming army couldn’t possibly discover. But he would never have imagined that Wu Changqing had something like a telescope.

Wu Changqing observed the enemy’s movements through the telescope. When he saw most of the enemy turning west, he immediately guessed their intention.

“Wang Dafu, you stay here to defend. Centurion Liu, take forty local militia with me to the west wall.”

Wu Changqing arranged for his family general to stay behind and brought Liu Hansan with him. He was afraid that without him keeping an eye on him, Liu Hansan might run away.

“General, why is this?”

Liu Hansan was puzzled.

“I expect that the Qing dogs, having been frustrated in the north, will definitely change their direction of attack.”

Wu Changqing wasn’t lying to show off; he was establishing his authority and leaving his subordinates with the impression that he was as good as his word.

Giving his subordinates a powerful impression could deter them and make them more loyal.

As someone who had read the history of the Southern Ming, Wu Changqing was very clear that there were countless generals and soldiers of the Southern Ming who surrendered to the Qing army.

He didn’t want to be sold out by his subordinates carelessly.

“This subordinate believes that the area between the Qing dogs’ location and the west gate is hilly, which is not conducive to marching. They should not attack the west gate.”

Although the flintlocks Wu Changqing brought had given him a great shock, he was only shocked by the weapons. As for Wu Changqing’s military talent, he didn’t recognize it yet.

“No need to say more; you only need to obey orders.”

Wu Changqing said angrily. He believed that he had already shown his unique abilities, and the other soldiers also obeyed him. But Liu Hansan seemed to have water in his head, constantly opposing him.

He had already decided that after this crisis, he would find a reason to dismiss this guy to avoid being annoyed by him.

Wu Changqing was unhappy, and Liu Hansan was equally unhappy. He believed that his experience in fighting was much richer than Wu Changqing’s, but Wu Changqing, this young kid, didn’t take his analysis seriously.

Unhappy as he was, a higher rank could crush someone to death, so Liu Hansan could only obey.

The distance Xue Wu detoured outside the city was much longer than Wu Changqing’s movement inside the city. So, even though he acted first, Wu Changqing was the first to arrive at the west side.

“Garrison Commander Wu.”

Li Shaobin had just received the news from the messenger that Wu Changqing had killed and wounded more than sixty Qing soldiers in the north and repelled the Qing army’s attack. He was immediately filled with admiration.

This achievement was their greatest victory since the uprising. Moreover, it was a case of winning more with less, which was even more commendable.

Li Shaobin naturally respected capable people, especially since Wu Changqing was the only son of his old superior. He was convinced by both reason and emotion.

“I expected that the Qing army would attack the west side, so I brought people here to support you. However, I am worried that the Qing army is already afraid of us, so I decided not to use the muskets at first. We will wait until they are within a hundred paces before shooting to kill as many enemies as possible.”

Although Wu Changqing wasn’t a military enthusiast, he had watched many war movies and read novels, so he understood a principle. In war, the most important thing is to eliminate the enemy’s manpower.

Killing more Qing soldiers could not only weaken their strength but, more importantly, could also demoralize them.

Imagine if every attack had a 30% chance of death, would the enemy dare to attack? If the officers forced the soldiers to attack under such losses, the soldiers would probably mutiny immediately.

Liu Hansan couldn’t help but snort, which made Li Shaobin a little dissatisfied. Liu Hansan’s actions were too rude.

Li Shaobin glared at Liu Hansan fiercely, but Liu Hansan didn’t care.

However, he was dumbfounded soon after because he saw the main force of the Qing army rushing towards them outside the city.

Having been slapped in the face by Wu Changqing twice in a row, he felt ashamed.

After arriving at the west side, Xue Wu only let his subordinates rest for a while before immediately ordering 600 soldiers to launch a general attack.

He wanted to break into the city in one go. If he failed again this time, he might not be able to command his subordinates next time.

“There are no rapid-firing muskets on this side. Sir, you are truly as good as your word.”

The soldiers rushed within a hundred meters of the city wall, but there was no gunfire on the city wall, which made a centurion overjoyed and took the opportunity to flatter Xue Wu.

Xue Wu smiled faintly, naturally very proud in his heart.

However, at this moment, about eighty people holding flintlocks stood up on the walls of Jiading.

Not good.

Seeing those muskets, Xue Wu looked like he had seen a ghost and almost fell off his horse again, looking very embarrassed.

Pia, pia, pia…

Eighty flintlocks fired in unison, the momentum was quite spectacular.

Especially as rows of Qing soldiers fell, the momentum increased by several points, making the Qing army shudder.

“Don’t retreat, keep charging! The city wall is right in front of us!”

Some low-ranking officers in charge of commanding shouted loudly. Xue Wu had issued a death order, and they had to attack in one go without delaying time to prevent the Ming army from the north from rescuing them.

So, even though they saw the terrifying muskets again, they still forced the soldiers to continue charging.

In their opinion, as long as they climbed the city wall, victory still belonged to them, it was just that the casualties would be greater.

Some Qing soldiers gritted their teeth and continued to charge, while others had the intention of retreating. The rapid-firing muskets brought them great pressure.

Pia, pia, pia…

The most terrifying thing about flintlocks was their rate of fire; they could fire a shot every few seconds.

Although some Qing soldiers had already rushed to the city wall, and the ladders were already leaning against the city wall, at this distance, flintlocks could be said to be 100% accurate.

After one volley, more than sixty Qing soldiers fell.

The scene was extremely terrifying; those were more than sixty lives. Even if sixty pigs fell together, the scene would be very bloody and horrifying, let alone sixty people.

The Qing army collapsed again.

Although they had reached the city wall, they would inevitably be shot again before climbing the city wall. In this situation, the soldiers in front dared not continue, and they all fled backward.

In fact, if the Qing army charged forward regardless of casualties, Wu Changqing and the others could only fire one more shot at most, and then they would have to engage in hand-to-hand combat.

And as long as they entered the hand-to-hand combat stage, they would definitely not be able to defeat the Qing army.

However, people are, after all, people; they are not unthinking machines.

The soldiers in front were very clear that even if they won the battle, they would definitely not survive. Compared to victory, they cared more about their own lives.

“Don’t retreat, those who disobey will be beheaded!”

Some officers scolded, but it was useless; the soldiers were already afraid.

And Xue Wu wasn’t ruthless enough this time and didn’t set up a supervision team. Relying on a few officers alone couldn’t stop the soldiers from fleeing.

It wasn’t easy for the Qing army to get close to the city wall when attacking, and it was even more difficult to leave now. The flintlocks in the hands of Wu Changqing and others never stopped.

By the time the Qing army retreated out of the range of the flintlocks, their number was less than 400.

In other words, they had suffered more than 200 casualties in this round of attack, with a casualty rate of 40%.

Looking at the soldiers who were crying and shouting, as if they had taken a trip to hell, Xue Wu fell directly from his horse to the ground.

He had lost more than 300 people before and after. How could he explain this to Li Chengdong?

“Sir!”

The people around him quickly checked Xue Wu’s injuries, but Xue Wu couldn’t care about the pain in his body and ordered, “Immediately report to the Garrison Commander that the rebels in Jiading have an unknown number of new-style matchlocks with amazing power. Our army can’t even get close to the city wall. We hope the Garrison Commander will send more cannons.”

Chapter 4: Long-Term Development

“Father, Mother, your child has finally avenged you!”

A chorus of cries, both joyous and sorrowful, echoed from the city walls, some even weeping with runny noses.

Most of those who remained in Jiading had a grudge against Li Chengdong.

Wu Changqing could only sigh as he watched this scene, cursing, “What a goddamn chaotic world.”

“A great victory, this is a great victory!”

Li Shaobin’s hands trembled with excitement. He never imagined they could achieve such a resounding victory, killing nearly three hundred enemies with only two unlucky fellows hit by arrows on their side, one of whom was only lightly wounded. Only one died.

Such a kill-to-death ratio was simply unbelievable.

Liu Hansan hid behind Wu Changqing, trembling slightly as he looked at Wu Changqing’s back. He realized he couldn’t see through Wu Changqing at all, and he felt a wave of fear as he recalled his various provocations against Wu Changqing just now.

“Although it’s a great victory, we can’t be careless. Li Chengdong’s main force hasn’t arrived yet. He has tens of thousands of men under his command, and at least four or five thousand could be drawn to attack Jiading. And we only have these hundred-odd muskets, which is far from enough.”

Wu Changqing wasn’t as happy as Li Shaobin; he was thinking further ahead. He didn’t just want one victory; he wanted to keep winning.

Li Shaobin calmed down upon hearing this and said, “Could the garrison commander purchase more of these new-style arquebuses?”

Wu Changqing shook his head. He only had a little over 4800 resource points left, and he couldn’t expand his territory in the short term, so he had to save these resource points.

Wu Changqing’s actions silenced the originally joyous crowd. Without the advantage of weapons, how could they resist thousands of soldiers?

“My lord, we can send someone to seek an audience with Prince Lu, recognize him as the legitimate ruler, and request Prince Lu to send reinforcements. If Prince Lu knows that we have achieved such a great victory, he will definitely support us strongly.”

Liu Hansan wanted to make amends, so he stepped forward to offer this suggestion.

From the perspective of this era, Liu Hansan’s plan was not bad. But Wu Changqing continued to shake his head, saying, “Prince Lu is currently busy fighting Emperor Longwu for legitimacy, so let’s not count on him. We have to rely on ourselves for everything.”

As he spoke, Wu Changqing sighed, feeling more and more that the Southern Ming was beyond saving.

In the face of national crisis, some people insisted on creating a Prince Lu to fight for legitimacy for their own selfish interests, exacerbating the division of the Southern Ming.

At this time, Emperor Longwu had already been recognized by all the regions in the south, but the eastern Zhejiang region, located on the front line against the Qing, was controlled by Prince Lu, who did not recognize the Longwu regime.

The two sides did not recognize each other, killed each other’s envoys, and almost came to blows. It can be said that all the energy of the Lu regime was focused on internal strife, and they never thought about how to resist the Qing.

As a result, when Li Chengdong went south, he swept everything before him.

Of course, there were even more absurd things in the history of the Southern Ming, such as the Southern Ming regime trying to unite with the Qing army to destroy Li Zicheng first.

Liu Hansan didn’t have Wu Changqing’s foresight, so he naturally didn’t know the nature of the Lu regime. Therefore, he was quite unconvinced by Wu Changqing’s persuasion.

“I’ll find a way to get weapons. Centurion Li, you first select some strong warriors from the people to train. We have too few soldiers.”

Wu Changqing planned to make some matchlock guns. Although the manufacture of matchlock guns was already a backward technology, and lighting up this technology that others also knew was a waste, Wu Changqing couldn’t care less.

Only by overcoming the immediate difficulties could he have the opportunity to develop. If the city fell, everything would be over, and it would be useless to keep those tech points.

He also wanted to light up the technology of flintlock guns, but flintlock guns required 50,000 tech points, while matchlock guns only required 5,000 tech points.

After arranging for Liu Hansan to be on guard and Li Shaobin to train the soldiers, Wu Changqing took Wang Dafu to the city, preparing to gather the blacksmiths in the city.

Walking on the street, the streets were already full of people, and some were even kneeling on the ground and shouting.

“Thank you, Garrison Commander Wu, for saving our lives! Thank you, Garrison Commander Wu, for protecting our twenty thousand people!”

“Lord Wu is our savior!”

“Garrison Commander Wu is truly Han Xin reborn, winning more with less, invincible under heaven!”

The people of Jiading had suffered too much in the past few months. The first time, tens of thousands of people were slaughtered. However, the people still found it difficult to leave their homeland, and returned to the city again after the Qing army’s main force retreated.

As a result, the second massacre was even more brutal, with as many as forty to fifty thousand people slaughtered.

At this time, the people of Jiading hated Li Chengdong even more than the Eight Banner soldiers.

Looking at these people, Wu Changqing was filled with a sense of accomplishment. These were all saved by him. If it weren’t for him, the twenty thousand people in this city would have been slaughtered.

Twenty thousand is not enough, I want to save more people, I want to reverse the situation and turn this chaotic world into a prosperous one.

Wu Changqing clenched his fists.

“Please rise, everyone. These are all things I should do. I am also a Jiading person, and my father also died at the hands of Li Chengdong. I swear to heaven that as long as I have a breath left, I will never let that beast Li Chengdong step into Jiading again!”

Wu Changqing took the opportunity to win over the people, and then said, “The Qing dogs have retreated for now, but they will definitely gather heavy troops to come again. I need everyone’s help, I need warriors and blacksmiths…”

In a large house by the street, a delicate-looking girl was listening intently to Wu Changqing’s speech.

A maid said beside her, “This Lord Wu is truly a great hero of our Jiading. It is said that he is only sixteen years old this year, truly remarkable.”

“If the Ming Dynasty had more capable people like Garrison Commander Wu, Jiading would not have come to this,” the girl sighed. Although no close relatives had died in this chaos, the family’s assets had been looted.

Before long, thirteen blacksmiths and more than twenty helpers gathered at the blacksmith shop in the city.

Then, Wu Changqing lit up the matchlock gun manufacturing technology. A piece of knowledge flooded into his mind, and even some scenes of making matchlock guns.

However, after receiving this knowledge, Wu Changqing had the urge to curse.

Because the manufacturing process of this matchlock gun was too troublesome.

First, a cylindrical steel rod was used as a cold core, then wrought iron was heated red-hot, and the wrought iron was hammered, constantly wrapping the softened wrought iron around the steel rod.

In this process, the steel rod in the wrought iron had to be constantly pulled out to prevent the wrought iron from sticking to the steel rod.

The hollow steel pipes forged in this way were generally very short, and needed to be welded together one by one to form a barrel.

After the welding was tight, because the inside of the barrel was rough and uneven, the barrel had to be bored with a drill to smooth its interior.

Finally, the trigger, dragon head, match, and fire door cover were assembled.

The whole process was extremely cumbersome and time-consuming. It was estimated that a blacksmith could only make one or two matchlock guns a month at most, which was of little help to Wu Changqing at present.

However, since he had already learned it, Wu Changqing would not waste it, and personally guided the blacksmiths in the forging method.

This was also for long-term development. He was unlikely to spend valuable resource points to exchange for weapons in the future. If he wanted to unify the world, he would need to equip soldiers numbering at least hundreds of thousands, and exchanging with resources was absolutely impossible. He could only master the technology first, and then slowly build them.

These dozen or so blacksmiths were all skilled, and after hearing Wu Changqing’s explanation, they basically understood seventy or eighty percent, and rolled up their sleeves to start working.

In fact, the forging method was indeed not difficult, just the process was cumbersome and time-consuming.

Matchlock guns could not be counted on, so Wu Changqing could only turn his attention to grenades.

Grenades were also weapons with no technical content. Just get an iron box, fill it with gunpowder, put some nails and iron fragments in it, and then get a fuse.

The key was the gunpowder. The greater the power of the gunpowder, the greater the power of the grenade.

At present, the gunpowder of the Ming Dynasty was still black powder, and its power was even less than that of fireworks in later generations.

If he wanted to increase the power, he could only increase the dose of gunpowder. However, if the dose was increased, the grenade would be too heavy and the soldiers would not be able to throw it far.

Helpless, Wu Changqing could only spend another 10,000 tech points to light up the gunpowder manufacturing technology.

Moreover, this was not ordinary black powder, but refined black powder, with the optimal formula. The black powder made with this formula was several times more powerful than the black powder currently on the market.

Grenades had one advantage, that was, they were simple to use.

Standing on the city wall, the people could use them, light them and throw them down the city, which was definitely better than throwing stones and pouring boiling oil.

That thing would explode a large area, and even if it didn’t kill people, it could injure the other party and make them lose their fighting ability.

“Manufacture gunpowder according to this formula ratio.”

Wu Changqing found a craftsman who specialized in making gunpowder and handed him a gunpowder formula.

“General, this formula is wrong. It should be one part saltpeter, two parts sulfur, and three parts charcoal.”

Li Xingba looked at the gunpowder ratio on the paper and shook his head repeatedly. In the formula given by Wu Changqing, saltpeter accounted for about 60%, and sulfur and charcoal accounted for about 20% each.

“How dare you! What is your status that you dare to question the general?”

Wang Dafu shouted angrily.

“I dare not.”

Li Xingba quickly knelt down to admit his mistake, but he was unconvinced in his heart. As a craftsman specializing in making gunpowder, he had been tinkering with gunpowder since he was a child, and he believed that he knew more than those officials.

“You can get up first. Whether it’s right or wrong, you’ll know after you try it. If it’s wrong, continue to manufacture according to your original formula. If my formula is more powerful, then improve it immediately.”

Wu Changqing actually understood Li Xingba’s doubts very well.

If it were him, he wouldn’t be convinced if a non-professional pointed fingers at his most proficient field.

“Thank you, General, for your generosity.”

Li Xingba breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time had more respect for Wu Changqing. There were not many generals with such a broad mind as Wu Changqing in this era.

Chapter 5: Li Chengdong’s Fury

Having recognized his own capabilities, Li Xingba began producing gunpowder according to Wu Changqing’s formula. Wu Changqing and the others then withdrew from the workshop.

Manufacturing gunpowder was inherently dangerous, and Wu Changqing didn’t want to, nor could he afford to, put himself at risk.

He was now the pillar of support for tens of thousands of people in Jiading. If anything were to happen to him, this anti-Qing rebel army would collapse.

After waiting outside for a long time, someone came to report the good news, saying that Li Xingba had successfully prepared several batches.

Wu Changqing then went to the backyard of the workshop, which was specifically for experiments, to personally check the power of this new gunpowder.

“My lord is wise! According to your formula, the power of this gunpowder has increased several times over!”

Li Xingba knelt before Wu Changqing. Having witnessed the power of the new gunpowder, he was truly convinced.

Wu Changqing smiled. The technology of a modern system was beyond the comprehension of these ancient people.

Li Xingba then lit a small pile of gunpowder, which immediately burned fiercely, sending sparks flying in all directions.

Was this several times more powerful than black powder?

Wu Changqing hadn’t seen black powder burning, but looking at this new formula, it didn’t seem like much. He just didn’t know how powerful it would be when packed into an iron case and detonated.

After explaining the manufacturing method for hand grenades to Li Xingba, Wu Changqing went back to rest. He was quite exhausted after this day.

Not physically, but mentally exhausted.

Earlier, during the life-and-death battle on the city wall, he hadn’t had the mind or time to think too much.

But now that he had calmed down, he felt a wave of lingering fear.

He had actually killed people, and hundreds of them at that.

Wu Changqing felt a chill run down his spine just thinking about it, and he felt a bit nauseous. Those were living, breathing people. Seeing those corpses in reality was completely different from seeing them on a movie screen.

The visual impact was a million times stronger than in any film or television drama.

Hopefully, it was just a dream.

Wu Changqing closed his eyes to rest.

The next day, news of Xue Wu’s defeat reached Li Chengdong in Songjiang.

“Xue Wu, that good-for-nothing! He couldn’t even take Jiading, a city defended by a mere three hundred local militia, and now he wants me to send over the Hongyi cannons? What does he think those cannons are?”

Li Chengdong couldn’t help but curse as he read the battle report. He had already prepared to lead his troops south to Hangzhou to suppress the Lu Wang regime in Shaoxing.

But at this crucial moment, such a mess had occurred in the rear. A thousand well-trained veteran soldiers couldn’t even take a small county town defended by a few hundred local militia.

“My lord, Qian Zong Xue’s letter says that the local militia have a kind of rapid-firing musket with an extremely long range and rate of fire. It seems he suffered losses due to firearms.”

Zhang Yuqin, one of Li Chengdong’s generals, also read the battle report that had been sent. The report emphasized the power of the enemy’s firearms.

However, Li Chengdong didn’t believe a word of it. He had been playing with matchlock guns for over a decade and considered himself extremely familiar with them.

Although matchlocks could shoot at long range, their shortcomings were also very obvious: slow rate of fire, poor accuracy, troublesome ignition, prone to exploding, and useless in rainy weather…

Li Chengdong didn’t take this weapon, which was unpopular with soldiers, seriously at all. He preferred to believe that Xue Wu was exaggerating the enemy’s firepower in order to avoid punishment.

“These lowly people truly refuse to repent.”

Li Chengdong sighed.

As someone who liked to surrender to save his own life, he really couldn’t understand those people who would rather rebel than submit. What was the big deal about shaving their heads and wearing queues?

But because of this small matter, the people of southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, and eastern Zhejiang had exploded, starting various rebellions from June until now, which had not yet been completely suppressed.

Although these rebels weren’t very strong and could be dealt with easily, the fact that they kept popping up was annoying.

“Ziliang, take another thousand men over there. You must take Jiading, and then slaughter all the rebels and the people to intimidate the surrounding areas and eliminate future troubles. To ensure that we have no worries about our rear when we head south, the rear must remain stable.”

Li Chengdong snorted coldly. He didn’t care about the lives of those people. Anyone who dared to stop him from earning merit for the Qing Dynasty, who dared to stop his wealth and glory, he would kill.

Li Chengdong didn’t send the Hongyi cannons because it was too much trouble.

His troops had been fighting continuously and were very tired. Moreover, they needed to rest even more since they needed to go south to fight. Heavy firearms like the Hongyi cannons were very difficult to transport in a place like Jiangnan.

He didn’t want to use them unless absolutely necessary.

“As you command.”

Zhang Yuqin accepted the order. Although he didn’t think Xue Wu would lie, he also didn’t take it too seriously.

The enemy was just a group of local militia, and the city walls weren’t very high. If he couldn’t take it with two thousand soldiers, he would be too embarrassed to lead troops again.

It took Zhang Yuqin two days to reach Jiading and arrive at Xue Wu’s camp.

As soon as he entered the camp, Zhang Yuqin was surprised and angry, because the soldiers in the camp were all listless and their morale was extremely low.

And in the thatched huts in the distance, the moans of wounded soldiers could still be heard.

“Lord Zhang, you’ve finally arrived.”

Xue Wu’s depressed expression finally faded when he saw the reinforcements. Although punishment was unavoidable, as long as he helped Zhang Yuqin take Jiading, he could still redeem himself.

“Old Xue, what’s going on here?”

Zhang Yuqin pointed to the soldiers in the camp and questioned him.

“Ah, don’t even mention it. Who knows where those lowly people in Jiading got a batch of rapid-firing muskets with amazing power. My troops had already lost twenty percent of their strength just by charging under the city walls. The soldiers simply don’t have the courage to fight again, so I hoped that Garrison Commander Li would send some cannons.”

As Xue Wu said this, he looked around at Zhang Yuqin’s troops, but didn’t see any artillery. He asked, “Lord Zhang, where are the cannons?”

“Moving the cannons is too troublesome. The Garrison Commander wants us to resolve the Jiading matter as soon as possible, so he told me to travel light and didn’t bring the cannons. Are these rapid-firing muskets really that powerful?”

Originally, Zhang Yuqin also suspected that Xue Wu was exaggerating the enemy’s strength, but now that he saw the morale in the camp, he was starting to believe it a little.

Of course, he didn’t completely believe it.

“Without the cannons, I’m afraid it will be another fierce battle.” Xue Wu sighed.

With a thousand more reinforcements, Xue Wu was confident that he could take Jiading. But he also knew that a direct assault would cause heavy casualties.

Heavy casualties would affect his prestige in the army. No soldier likes to follow a commander who doesn’t value their lives.

“Lord Xue is worrying too much.”

Zhang Yuqin was somewhat disdainful of Xue Wu’s pessimistic mood.

He had previously participated in the suppression of rebellions in Jiangyin, Kunshan, and other places. In his eyes, the local militia were just a rabble. As long as they charged up the city walls, those local militia would collapse.

“Alas, you’ll understand when you see it with your own eyes tomorrow.”

Xue Wu knew that no matter how much he said, it wouldn’t be as effective as letting Zhang Yuqin see for himself. He then stopped talking nonsense and had people prepare food and drinks to entertain the reinforcements.

Chapter 6: The Arrival of a Great Enemy

On September 5th, Wu Changqing arrived at the training ground early in the morning to train the newly recruited local militia.

Being in Jiading, Wu Changqing felt very insecure.

To his northwest, Liu Liangzuo was stationed in Changzhou, and to his southeast, Li Chengdong was stationed in Songjiang. The entire southern Jiangsu region was already under the Qing army’s control, with enemies on all sides.

Southern Jiangsu is a plain area, and once the city is breached, there wouldn’t even be a chance to hide in the mountains and wage guerrilla warfare.

It could be said that he couldn’t afford a single defeat right now; every battle was a fight for survival.

To protect his life and to realize his dream of ending the chaos and dominating the world, Wu Changqing had been particularly diligent these past few days, personally training the soldiers every day.

His method of training soldiers was different from Li Shaobin and Liu Hansan’s, and seemed very strange to others.

The three hundred newly recruited local militia were only trained in left turns, right turns, and marching in step on the first day.

People of this era naturally couldn’t see the brilliance of this kind of training.

Although Wu Changqing wasn’t a military expert, he was at least a half-baked military enthusiast, and knew that the most important thing for an army was discipline, while individual bravery was secondary.

The kind of chaotic melee seen on TV, where both sides were entangled together, was actually extremely rare. In such a melee, where there were enemies to the left, right, and behind, few soldiers could calmly kill enemies; their first thought would definitely be to run.

If such a melee really happened, more than half of the people would be killed or wounded in less than ten minutes. No army could have such strong willpower; it was simply impossible.

The real battlefield was actually where both sides lined up in formations, and then relied on the formations to stab and slash at each other. When they were tired of slashing, they would replace the next batch.

In this kind of slashing, the casualties on both sides were actually very small. Sometimes, after slashing for an hour or two, only about five to ten percent would be killed or wounded.

Soldier losses basically occurred when the formation collapsed and the soldiers routed.

When fleeing, the routed soldiers couldn’t maintain their formation, and would lose their ability to resist, and then be slaughtered by the enemy.

Therefore, the discipline of the army was very important. An army with strict military discipline was not easily defeated, and its combat effectiveness was strong.

“March in step.”

Wu Changqing shouted.

There were many ways to train the discipline of an army, and the core was to wipe out the soldiers’ independent thinking, and make their every move conform to the collective.

This was also why the blankets of modern soldiers had to be folded into squares; it wasn’t for aesthetics, but to make the soldiers form a collective and unified consciousness.

This kind of marching in step also had this effect, which was to keep the soldiers unified at all times.

Long-term adherence to this kind of training would enable them to follow orders and prohibitions on the battlefield in the future. When soldiers encountered danger, even if they were afraid in their hearts, they were accustomed to obeying orders and keeping in line with the collective, and their probability of running away would be greatly reduced.

And the most likely situation for an army that hadn’t undergone this kind of training when fighting was that cowardly and cunning people would stand still, and once there were larger casualties, they would take the lead in running away.

In ancient armies, once soldiers ran away, even armies that were originally in the upper hand could collapse directly.

The reason was simple: if everyone else ran away, why would I stay behind to die?

Only generals cared about the outcome of the battle; the soldiers cared most about their own lives.

“Report, Garrison Commander Wu, a large number of Qing army troops have appeared in the west of the city, estimated to be more than a thousand people.”

Wu Changqing was training when a messenger came to report the military situation.

Damn it, they’re coming too fast. Can’t you give me more time to breathe?

Wu Changqing cursed in his heart. What he lacked most now was time. As long as he had enough time to train a strong army, then he could officially expand to the surrounding areas.

Territory and population were very important to him. If it weren’t for the lack of troops, he would have wanted to occupy the surrounding Kunshan, Taicang and other places now.

“Wang Dafu, immediately go and move the hand grenades to the west of the city.”

Wu Changqing made arrangements, and then personally came to the west of the city with his men.

“Sir.”

Li Shaobin and Liu Hansan saluted. Wu Changqing signaled them to dispense with the formalities, and then began to check the enemy with binoculars.

More than fifteen hundred people gathered together didn’t actually look like much of a formation. At least, the scene when Wu Changqing did exercises during high school breaks was much bigger than this.

However, when these fifteen hundred people held bright weapons in their hands, the momentum was completely different, and could give people great psychological pressure.

“Fortunately, it’s less than I expected. As long as we display the spirit of fighting to the death, we can completely hold it. What’s more, we now have so many advanced weapons.”

Wu Changqing boosted morale, and what he said wasn’t a lie.

In addition to the one hundred and forty flintlocks, they now had nearly fifty more matchlock guns. These were all old goods found in the county government treasury, and could barely be used after being repaired by craftsmen.

More importantly, they now had more than one hundred hand grenades.

Only more than one hundred were manufactured, mainly because the city lacked saltpeter and it was difficult to collect. The way to obtain saltpeter in this era was still extremely backward, mainly relying on collecting the naturally formed saltpeter in old houses and the corners of toilet walls, without chemical manufacturing technology.

Wu Changqing had sent people to buy it in other places, but they hadn’t returned yet.

Moreover, relying on purchases alone was not a solution. Currently, Jiading was short of money, food, people, and weapons; it was short of everything.

“Sir, according to scouts, the enemy is all concentrated on this side. Should we transfer the new-style firearms from the other two city walls over here?”

Liu Hansan suggested. He was a little worried when he saw the number of enemies, so he hoped to concentrate his forces to defend.

Currently, there were only 80 flintlocks in the west of the city, and 30 flintlocks on each of the other two city walls. Transferring the flintlocks from the other two sides would greatly increase the probability of holding on.

“Not for the time being. The other two city walls also need to be defended, but they can be prepared to provide support at any time.”

Of course, Wu Changqing also knew that concentrating his forces could reduce losses, but he couldn’t do that. He was thinking more long-term.

These local militia would eventually have to experience some fierce battles to grow. Relying solely on firearms would not work.

Therefore, on the premise of defending the city, Wu Changqing regarded this battle as an opportunity to train his troops.

Liu Hansan was depressed again when he heard this. He felt that Wu Changqing seemed to have a big opinion of him. Wu Changqing would not adopt any of his suggestions.

But Wu Changqing listened to some of the suggestions of Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong.

Didn’t I just suggest a retreat at the beginning? Do you have to treat me like this?

Although he had many dissatisfactions in his mind, Liu Hansan could only bury them in his heart. Now Wu Changqing had gained the loyalty of Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong, and Wu Changqing himself had mastered the newly trained three hundred local militia.

Even the soldiers under Liu Hansan were very admired Wu Changqing.

It could be said that Wu Changqing now held great power, and he had the final say in the entire Jiading.

Chapter 7: The Power of Homemade Bombs

The Qing army advanced to about 300 meters from the city wall and stopped, beginning to form their battle lines and organize their siege formation.

At the front were soldiers holding shields, followed by those carrying siege ladders and wielding blades. Behind them were archers and matchlock teams, responsible for suppressing the rebel forces on the city wall.

Further back was a team of swordsmen and shield bearers – the supervising unit.

They were authorized to execute any soldier who retreated without orders.

However, these fifty supervising soldiers primarily served as a deterrent. They wouldn’t be able to stop a large-scale rout.

The Qing army advanced methodically, while the rebel forces on the city wall waited in tense anticipation.

Once the Qing army entered firing range, Wu Changqing ordered his men to fire freely at the most densely packed areas. Bullets were relatively cheap compared to firearms.

As long as an average of one enemy soldier was hit for every ten bullets fired, he considered it a great bargain.

A volley of gunfire erupted, and Zhang Yuqin, far in the distance, craned his neck to watch.

Seeing only a few men fall, Zhang Yuqin smiled and said, “That’s all there is to it.”

“Lord Zhang, these firearms are highly accurate at close range. We mustn’t be careless,” Xue Wu cautioned.

While they were talking, the Qing army advanced several dozen meters closer, and more men fell.

Within a hundred meters, the squad and platoon leaders at the front urged their men to charge.

Archers and matchlock soldiers also took their positions and began shooting arrows and firing guns at the city wall.

“Shoot the swordsmen getting close,” Wu Changqing ordered.

Although the Qing army had over a hundred archers and matchlock soldiers combined, their attacks were not very effective due to the distance.

Arrows were slightly better; skilled archers had some accuracy, and a dense rain of arrows could inflict some casualties on the rebel forces. As for the matchlocks, at a distance of over a hundred meters, the bullets were flying all over the place.

This kind of offensive had a far greater deterrent effect than actual results.

Some soldiers with weaker mental fortitude, seeing that the archers could pose a threat to them while the swordsmen were still charging and not yet a threat, would subconsciously want to eliminate the archers first.

But in reality, because the archers were standing far away, their flintlocks were not very accurate. Or rather, before the advent of rifled guns, firearms were generally inaccurate.

Prioritizing attacks on the archers was very unwise.

The swordsmen, on the other hand, posed a much greater threat once they reached the city wall.

Therefore, Wu Changqing promptly ordered his soldiers to overcome their fear, ignore the incoming arrows, and fire fiercely at the approaching swordsmen.

He wanted to see whether his rabble would crack first, or the elite swordsmen.

Wu Changqing now commanded great respect in the army, and his orders were generally obeyed by the rebel soldiers.

As the gunfire rang out, the approaching swordsmen fell in droves like wheat being harvested.

For soldiers accustomed to cold weapons, seeing this scene would inevitably make their legs go weak.

After all, in close combat with cold weapons, soldiers fell one after another. But under the barrage of flintlocks, these soldiers were falling in swathes.

The visual impact of the two was on a completely different level.

Many Qing soldiers were already contemplating retreat, but the squad and platoon leaders around them were still shouting, “Charge! No retreating!”

The most tragic moment for a soldier is when death awaits whether you advance or retreat.

Arrows landed on the city wall, and several unlucky soldiers were hit and lost their ability to fight.

However, this had little impact, as replacements immediately picked up their flintlocks and joined the battle.

“Young Master, it’s dangerous here. You should command from inside the tower,” Wang Dafu, as a family retainer, was still accustomed to calling Wu Changqing “Young Master” instead of garrison commander.

Seeing the Qing army’s archers firing arrows incessantly, he worried that Wu Changqing might have an accident.

Go to the tower?

Wu Changqing wanted to as well. He was also afraid of accidents. Although the probability of being hit by an arrow was actually very low, there was still a chance.

However, he couldn’t do that. His presence on the city wall provided an extraordinary morale boost to the soldiers. Going to the tower would not have the same effect.

“It’s fine. I will command here personally,” Wu Changqing rejected his personal guard’s suggestion and continued to command.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s words, the morale of many soldiers soared.

Soldiers are actually very simple-minded. In their eyes, since the high-ranking general is facing danger with them, what reason do they have not to fight with all their might? Are they more noble than the general?

Many ladders had already been propped against the city wall, and Qing soldiers began to climb up, biting their sabers.

“Hand grenades, throw them where there are a lot of people!”

Wu Changqing shouted.

Immediately, the rebel soldiers who had been prepared lit the fuses and hurriedly threw the hand grenades down.

Currently, the fuses for the hand grenades were made of cotton rope soaked in glutinous rice and dried, and the burning speed was very unstable. Sometimes it burned too fast, and instead of blowing up the enemy, they would blow themselves up.

Previously, some soldiers had blown themselves up during experiments, so the current grenadiers had learned their lesson and threw them as soon as they lit them.

As for whether the enemy would discover and destroy the fuses in time after they were thrown down, Wu Changqing wasn’t worried. This new type of thing was the first time the Qing army had seen it. How could they find its weakness in an instant?

Sure enough, the Qing soldiers were somewhat bewildered by the iron boxes thrown down by the rebel forces.

They couldn’t understand why they would use these iron boxes that needed to be forged, instead of the ubiquitous stones, if they wanted to smash people to death.

However, they would soon understand.

As explosions rang out, a cloud of dust rose beneath the city wall, accompanied by screams.

The hand grenades that Wu Changqing and his men had made were not as powerful as those of later generations, so unless they were very close, only a few people were killed by the explosion. More people were hit by the shrapnel after the explosion.

Unless the soldiers were hit in the head by shrapnel, they would not die immediately, but the pain was unavoidable. The wounded soldiers immediately lost their ability to fight.

Not everyone can be like the protagonists in movies and TV shows, who can still fight bravely even after being hit by an arrow. The pain would make it even more difficult for them to walk, let alone climb ladders.

“What is that? Cannons? Where are they?”

Zhang Yuqin looked at Xue Wu, wanting an answer.

Unfortunately, Xue Wu was also bewildered at this moment and couldn’t answer.

Xue Wu said, “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Do the people in this Jiading city know some kind of sorcery? Why do strange things keep appearing?”

Zhang Yuqin was furious when he heard this. If they weren’t of equal rank, he would have slapped Xue Wu.

How could people who lead troops into battle believe in sorcery?

If the soldiers under his command believed that the enemy had sorcery, how would they dare to attack the city again? Xue Wu’s words were simply disrupting the morale of the army.

“Get the supervising unit to move up. Anyone who retreats will be killed without mercy. You must get onto the city wall today!”

Zhang Yuqin felt a sense of inexplicable irritability, so he couldn’t wait to take Jiading and didn’t want any accidents to happen.

Xue Wu was already sweating profusely. He didn’t expect that even with so many reinforcements, the situation would still be so bad. At the current rate, even if they captured Jiading, the casualties would probably be more than half.

With this kind of attrition, don’t even think about getting any credit for suppressing the rebellion. The best outcome would be not being punished.

Chapter 8: The Qing Army Collapses

More than twenty hand grenades were thrown down, but only about ten of them exploded successfully, which was a rather embarrassing efficiency.

However, those mere ten or so exploding hand grenades caused more casualties to the Qing army than a volley from eighty musketeers.

A chorus of wails erupted below the city wall, but these ten or so hand grenades didn’t cover the entire length of the wall.

In a few places, two or three at most, Qing soldiers still managed to reach the top of the wall.

“Swordsmen, take care of them! Musketeers, keep aiming and firing at the Qing army below!”

Wu Changqing shouted. It would be disastrous if the musketeers, fearing being cut down, chose to dodge or defend themselves. Ceasing fire on the Qing army below would greatly reduce their efficiency and make it even harder to stop the Qing army from swarming the wall.

The most effective approach was for everyone to do their job: the musketeers continued to kill the Qing soldiers below, and the swordsmen dealt with the few who jumped onto the wall.

In an army, troop coordination is often more important than individual bravery.

Of course, that was the ideal scenario. In reality, when someone is charging at you with a blade, how many people can ignore it and calmly shoot at others?

Trusting your comrades is something that modern armies emphasize in their training.

Some musketeers panicked, but others gritted their teeth and followed Wu Changqing’s orders.

The righteous army’s performance had already exceeded Wu Changqing’s expectations.

The Qing soldiers who jumped onto the wall killed some of them, but they were quickly killed themselves.

A volley from the musketeers, followed by a second round of hand grenades, caused the Qing soldiers waiting below the wall to collapse completely.

This was no battle; it was a one-sided massacre. Even the most elite troops couldn’t fight in such an unfavorable situation.

The Qing soldiers frantically retreated. The supervisors initially tried to stop them, but some were killed by the routing soldiers.

The centurion in charge of supervision quickly ordered the supervisors to stop. If they kept killing, it would likely turn into a mutiny.

These routing soldiers preferred to fight the supervisors rather than attack the city again, showing that they had completely lost their courage. Forcing them forward was useless.

In the distance, Zhang Yuqin, watching this scene, was stunned. He finally understood why Xue Wu had been so dejected before; this defeat was simply too devastating.

It had only been less than half an hour, and most of that time was spent organizing their formation and charging. The actual fighting time was extremely limited.

But in that short time, the Qing army had suffered as many as five hundred casualties, a loss rate of forty percent.

He couldn’t understand why the casualties were so high. This was completely different from the battles he had fought before.

A retreating centurion knelt before Zhang Yuqin, weeping. “Lord, we can’t fight like this! At this rate, my men will be wiped out in two more attacks. How will I ever face my fellow villagers in Shandong again?”

In ancient armies, soldiers in a squad, team, or even a battalion were often from the same village. This made command easier, as dialects varied from place to place.

Furthermore, most of these soldiers were originally soldiers from the same garrison, or local troops recruited by the general in his hometown.

This weeping centurion had recruited over a hundred men from his hometown and later joined Li Chengdong.

Now that fifty or sixty of his fellow villagers were dead, how could he return home without being criticized by his elders?

Zhang Yuqin understood this. His thousand men were mostly from Shandong, and he himself was from Shandong.

“Lord Zhang, let us retreat and reorganize. A direct assault is not advisable. I have a plan to force them out of the city.”

Xue Wu said through gritted teeth. Although his plan would ruin his reputation, he couldn’t worry about that if it meant redeeming himself.

“Oh? What plan?”

Zhang Yuqin grasped at this like a drowning man clutching at straws. Any glimmer of hope could excite him.

He now realized that a direct assault was impossible. If he gave such an order again, the soldiers would likely mutiny.

“According to the information I’ve gathered, the one defending Jiading is Wu Changqing, the son of the former rebel leader Wu Zhiban. Wu Zhiban previously tried to ambush me but was defeated and killed by me.

We only need to dig up Wu Zhiban’s body, drag it outside Jiading, and whip it in front of Wu Changqing. I think he won’t be able to resist opening the city gates to retrieve it.

Those local militia are only relying on their powerful firearms and the advantage of the city walls. Once they come out to fight, we will surely be able to defeat them and take advantage of the chaos to enter the city.”

Listening to Xue Wu’s plan, Zhang Yuqin couldn’t help but feel a chill.

This plan was too vicious. How could a son endure the humiliation of his father’s corpse?

Even if Wu Changqing could endure it, he would forever be branded as unfilial, a stain he could never wash away.

However, this tactic was truly immoral.

In Chinese tradition, respect for the dead is paramount. Even if they were enemies in life, their corpses should not be humiliated. Such actions would surely be punished by heaven.

Even Dorgon, after entering Beijing, had collected and buried the body of Emperor Chongzhen.

“In this situation, we have no choice. Blame him for being stubborn. But if he is willing to surrender, we can return his father’s body intact.”

Zhang Yuqin said through gritted teeth. As a soldier who had killed countless people, he valued practical benefits more than reputation.

Having decided on a strategy, Zhang Yuqin and the others retreated. After this crushing defeat, the soldiers would need two or three days to recover from their fear.

On the walls of Jiading, the righteous army cheered again.

Having once again inflicted heavy damage on the Qing army, they felt incredibly elated.

Last time, their happiness was simply because they had avenged their deep hatred. But now, their happiness stemmed from seeing a hope for survival.

Who would want to die if they could live?

Now, having repeatedly defeated the Qing army, they had built up confidence and believed that Wu Changqing could lead them to survive.

“Hahaha, this time the Qing dogs are probably scared out of their wits! Garrison Commander Wu, let’s launch a night raid tonight! As long as we defeat this Qing army, we can free up our hands to recover Kunshan, Taicang, and other places, and rescue the people there!”

Li Shaobin laughed loudly, already becoming arrogant.

In this battle, they had killed or wounded at least five hundred Qing soldiers, while their own casualties were only forty or so, with only ten deaths and the rest being minor injuries.

This huge kill ratio made him feel that the Qing army was nothing special.

“A night raid is too difficult. Our soldiers lack training and are prone to failure.”

Wu Changqing rejected this plan. Their current success was largely due to the city walls. Without the walls, fighting the Qing army in open battle would be too risky.

The Qing army’s loss of a thousand men was insignificant. But if Wu Changqing lost, it would be a disaster.

Moreover, night raids in this era were highly technical operations that even regular armies struggled with, let alone these poorly organized local militia.

They might get lost before even reaching the enemy camp.

This was no joke. Due to malnutrition, most people in this era suffered from night blindness.

As for why so many successful night raid examples were passed down in history, it was precisely because night raids were so difficult. Every success was worth recording in detail and easily passed down.

In fact, there were far more failed night raid examples than successful ones.

Unless faced with a desperate situation requiring a do-or-die effort, there was no need to launch a night raid.

Chapter 9: Righteous People and Refugees

After the Qing army retreated, Jiading City enjoyed two more days of peace.

During these two days, Wu Changqing focused on one thing: training the three hundred new soldiers. They were his future reliance for field battles. He couldn’t stay cooped up on the city walls forever; sooner or later, he would have to leave the city to seize territory and expand.

While Jiading City returned to calm, the surrounding counties were far from settled after learning of the righteous army’s great victory over the Qing army.

Kunshan had also experienced an uprising in June, with the famous late-Ming and early-Qing scholar Gu Yanwu among the righteous rebels. However, the Kunshan righteous army only held out for a few days before being defeated, with military and civilian casualties reaching over forty thousand.

Although the uprising was suppressed and the people had chosen to shave their heads, it was only out of necessity. Most people were compliant in appearance but not in their hearts.

When Jiading once again erupted in rebellion and inflicted heavy losses on the Qing army, some righteous individuals unwilling to submit to humiliation began to consider whether to go to Jiading and join Wu Changqing.

The people of Taicang secretly celebrated after learning of the great victory of the Jiading righteous army over the Qing army.

Although most people had already shaved their heads and become so-called obedient subjects, they hadn’t grown accustomed to this identity so quickly, and many still yearned for the Southern Ming.

On the Taihu Lake side, Wu Yi, the leader of another righteous army, was so excited to hear that Jiading was still resisting and had won a great victory against the Qing army that he told his soldiers the news to boost morale.

Wu Yi’s righteous army was primarily a naval force, relying on Taihu Lake to fight a guerrilla war against the Qing army. The Qing army was not skilled in naval warfare and couldn’t do anything about Wu Yi for the time being.

However, Wu Yi only had a naval force, and he lacked the strength to attack cities and seize territory.

“Da Han, find a way to send a batch of grain over there, do what we can to help.”

Wu Yi instructed.

Currently, they were the only two righteous armies left in the Songjiang and Suzhou region, truly brothers in adversity. What’s more, Wu Changqing and Wu Yi shared the same surname, making Wu Yi feel even closer to him.

For both emotional and rational reasons, he should provide some assistance.

When the news of the great victory of the Jiading righteous army reached Gu Yanwu in Yulianjing, Changshu, a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

His biological mother had been killed when Kunshan City fell, and he had been feeling utterly despondent for the past two months.

Seeing the righteous armies being suppressed one after another, all he could do was sigh.

But now, hearing that there was still a righteous army resisting, he was deeply moved. What was even more rare was that this righteous army had fought against over a thousand Qing soldiers with fewer than three hundred men, and had even killed over three hundred Qing soldiers.

This kind of record was the most impressive among all the righteous armies, which was enough to show that this righteous army had extraordinary combat power, and that the leader of the righteous army was a capable person.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had to stay at home to observe mourning for his mother, Gu Yanwu would have wanted to set off for Jiading to assist Wu Changqing.

In Jiading, Wu Changqing trained his soldiers for a morning and then returned to the county office from the military camp.

On the way back, Wu Changqing encountered a brawl on the street, with a large group of people chasing and beating several shaved-headed civilians.

“Stop! What are you doing?”

Wu Changqing shouted.

When the crowd saw that it was Wu Changqing, they quickly stopped. One of the men stepped forward and said, “Garrison Commander Wu, these people are from the north. We suspect they are spies. They’ve even shaved their heads, they must be running dogs of the Manchus.”

Hearing this, one of the men who had been beaten stood up and knelt before Wu Changqing to explain, “Sir, I’ve been wronged! I am Dong Qingshan, originally from Changshu. We are just refugees fleeing here, not spies at all. In Changshu, if you don’t shave your head, you will be beheaded. We were forced to do it.”

“If you shave your head, will your heart still be with the Great Ming? Sooner or later, you will become running dogs of the Manchus.” The attacker continued to shout.

This kind of statement was somewhat extreme. Wu Changqing said, “You can’t say that. Those who haven’t shaved their heads are righteous people, and those who have shaved their heads are refugees. We can’t demand that all refugees become righteous people.”

Wu Changqing remembered that in history, many shaved-headed refugees fled to Fuzhou under the Longwu regime of the Southern Ming, only to be executed as spies.

This approach was very unpopular and was quickly stopped by the Longwu Emperor. The Longwu Emperor proclaimed that those with hair were obedient subjects, and those without hair were refugees, and that they should not be killed indiscriminately.

This decree, in stark contrast to the Qing court’s policy of ‘keep their hair and not their heads’, led to a large number of people heading south to join the Longwu regime.

Wu Changqing could completely understand the people shaving their heads to survive. After all, there were only a few warriors in this world, and ordinary people were the mainstream.

As a modern person, Wu Changqing was much more tolerant of the people. Even if they were Manchurian people, he would not massacre them in the future.

In his eyes, the Manchus and Han were one family, and the Qing and Ming were completely a civil war. He only hated those in power who ordered the massacre of civilians. He was not a nationalist.

“Thank you, sir, for your forgiveness. In fact, I have always wanted to join the army to resist the Qing, but I have been unable to find a righteous army. If you don’t mind, sir, I am willing to offer my humble service.”

Dong Qingshan’s words aroused Wu Changqing’s vigilance. This guy wanted to get close to him, could he really be a spy?

He couldn’t be sure, and it wasn’t good to refuse.

He was in urgent need of strength, and anyone who came to join him had to put on a welcoming posture, so as to attract more people to come and strengthen his strength.

“Since you are determined to resist the Qing, then join the city defense department first and participate in defending the city. If you perform well, you can naturally join the righteous army.”

Wu Changqing didn’t dare to keep this kind of person by his side, so he simply sent him to the city defense force.

Even if he was a spy, he couldn’t cause any trouble on the city wall by himself.

“I obey, I will definitely work hard to kill the enemy and repay your kindness, sir.”

Dong Qingshan kowtowed to thank him.

Back at the county office, Wu Changqing immediately summoned Yang Yicheng, the only civil official in the city, and asked him to arrange for people to publicize the decree ‘those who have not shaved their heads are righteous people, and those who have shaved their heads are refugees’ in the city and surrounding areas.

The decree stipulated that those who had already shaved their heads should not be beaten at will and must be treated equally.

He did this, naturally, to gain the favor of the surrounding people.

You know, most of the people in the surrounding areas had already shaved their heads. If they regarded the shaved-headed people as enemies, then they would not be able to develop, and the surrounding areas would be full of enemies.

As long as they announced that the righteous army would not make things difficult for those who had already shaved their heads, those who had already shaved their heads would be grateful and even provide support.

“This subordinate will do it right away, but we don’t have much food in the city now, and we can only maintain it for a month at most. General should make plans as soon as possible.”

Yang Yicheng reminded him that if there was no food, they would be finished even if the enemy didn’t come to attack the city.

“I will figure out a way, you can go down first.”

Wu Changqing said with a headache.

Only by personally experiencing rebellion did he know how difficult it was. Not only did he have to face strong enemies militarily, but he also had to face a shortage of supplies logistically, and a lack of talent in terms of personnel.

Chapter 10: Dilemma

On September 10th, Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu’s forces, with about nine hundred remaining soldiers, arrived at Jiading city again.

The previous sieges had cost them over a thousand soldiers. More than five hundred died directly in battle, and over three hundred succumbed to their wounds.

Another two hundred or so survived, but were left crippled and unable to return to the battlefield.

After two or three days of rest, the morale of Zhang Yuqin’s troops recovered slightly. However, they were still afraid to attack the city again.

To the relief of these soldiers, Zhang Yuqin did not issue such an order. Instead, he had several soldiers drag a coffin to a spot a few dozen meters from the city walls, and then he shouted, “Tell your Wu to come out. Ask him if he wants his father’s body back.”

Li Shaobin, on the city wall, had initially wanted to order the musketeers to open fire, but upon hearing that it was Wu Zhiban’s body below, he quickly stopped the soldiers and sent someone to report to Wu Changqing.

Soon, Wu Changqing arrived on the city wall.

“Is that General Wu on the wall? I am Xue Wu, a chiliarch under General Li Chengdong, the garrison commander of Wusong. My lord admires your talent and hopes that you, like a wise bird, will choose a better tree to perch on and surrender in accordance with the general trend.

As long as General Wu is willing to surrender, he will start as a chiliarch at the very least, and even the position of a deputy regional commander can be discussed.”

Xue Wu was drawing a pie in the sky for Wu Changqing. A deputy regional commander was only one rank below the garrison commander, and theoretically could command about thirty thousand soldiers, making it a position of real power.

Even Li Chengdong didn’t have the authority to directly appoint someone to such a position; it needed to be reported to the imperial court.

From Xue Wu’s words, Wu Changqing could tell that the other side had no intention of offering a genuine surrender, and was purely talking big. But that didn’t matter. Whether Xue Wu was sincere or not, he would never agree.

“Shut your mouth, you foul-mouthed, disloyal, and unfilial scoundrel! Do you think there are no heroes left in this world? Do you think everyone is as shameless as you? I advise you who follow him to turn against him as soon as possible and reduce your sins…”

Xue Wu was trying to persuade him to surrender, so he would try to persuade Xue Wu’s men to defect. Whether it worked or not didn’t matter; at most, it would just waste some breath.

Being scolded right off the bat, Xue Wu’s heart was filled with anger. He wanted to curse back, but unfortunately, he didn’t have the eloquence.

Seeing that Wu Changqing was stubborn, Xue Wu no longer hoped that the surrender would succeed.

So, he simply tore off his mask and said, “You say I’m disloyal and unfilial? Then I’ll see how filial you are. Your father’s body is right here. If you don’t open the city and surrender, I’ll have his corpse whipped.”

As soon as these words came out, the righteous army on the city wall erupted in an uproar, each one gnashing their teeth.

Wu Changqing was also stunned for a moment, and then he felt a surge of anger in his heart.

Xue Wu’s actions refreshed his understanding of the world, letting him know what true despicable shamelessness and unscrupulousness were.

Fortunately, although Wu Zhiban was nominally his father, he actually had no feelings for Wu Zhiban, otherwise he would have already been unable to resist leading his men to kill them.

The most important thing for a man is face. This kind of humiliation was even more serious than insulting his wife and daughters in person; no one could tolerate it.

However, Wu Changqing knew he had to endure it.

Giving up the city walls to fight a decisive battle was equivalent to betting the lives of the five hundred soldiers and twenty thousand civilians in the city.

If he lost the bet, more than twenty thousand people would be lying dead in the fields. Was his own face and dignity more important, or the lives of twenty thousand civilians?

But, not going out and just watching the other side humiliate his father’s remains? That was really unbearable.

In all his life, Wu Changqing had never experienced such a difficult choice.

Wu Changqing even doubted whether he was the material to be a hegemon, because he knew that a hegemon could easily deal with this kind of situation.

Just like Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty. Xiang Yu threatened Liu Bang that if he didn’t surrender, he would boil Liu Bang’s father. Liu Bang then smiled and asked if he could have a cup of the soup, so he could taste it too.

Liu Bang’s reply almost made Xiang Yu die of anger, and in the end, Liu Bang defeated Xiang Yu and seized the empire with his weak forces.

Therefore, true hegemons are emotionless. Emotion is the fatal weakness of a hegemon, so enemies can freely use their relatives.

Wu Changqing wasn’t a hegemon, but at this moment, he was also forcing himself to suppress his impulse.

“General, this humble officer requests to lead men out of the city to retrieve the old garrison commander’s body.”

Li Shaobin could see Wu Changqing’s dilemma and volunteered.

“Young master, let me go. I will risk my life to bring back master’s body.”

Wang Dafu was even more excited than Li Shaobin, and had already drawn his saber. Without even waiting for Wu Changqing to give the order, he began to call out for men.

“Everyone, stop!”

Wu Changqing shouted angrily, “Is my personal honor more important, or the twenty thousand civilians in this city? Why are they using such shameless means? Isn’t it because they are afraid of our city walls? Rushing out on our own initiative would be falling right into the enemy’s trap.

Why did my father start this rebellion against the Qing? Wasn’t it to save the people of Jiading, to save the people of the Great Ming? If we rush out and fail, causing the people in the city to be slaughtered, would our father’s spirit in heaven forgive us?

We rebels must put personal honor and personal life out of the question…”

Wu Changqing couldn’t gamble. He would be doomed if he lost even once.

These local militia were okay at defending the city, but their field battle experience was almost zero.

Did they know formations? Could they advance and retreat in unison?

As a rational person, Wu Changqing didn’t think that he could win the battle just by relying on high morale.

He couldn’t gamble, and he couldn’t let Xue Wu slander him. Wu Changqing took the opportunity to give a speech, talking to them about revolutionary spirit.

He didn’t speak very well, but the soldiers were filled with enthusiasm when they heard it. In this era, being able to speak such revolutionary ideas was already very advanced.

“But, are we just going to watch master’s body being humiliated?” Wang Dafu roared, his eyes wide. Wu Zhiban had saved his life and raised him. He had followed Wu Zhiban for a long time and was completely loyal.

Seeing his master being humiliated, he, who was full of blind loyalty, was even more pained than Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing had no better way, so he could only pat him on the shoulder and shout towards the bottom of the city, “Qian Zong Xue, battles between armies are about being upright and aboveboard. If you return my father’s body to me, even if you lose to me in the future, I will still spare your life.

If you insist on desecrating the dead, then I swear to heaven that I will tear you apart.”

“Enough nonsense. If you don’t want to be an unfilial descendant, then obediently surrender to me. I can spare your life and give your father a proper burial. Otherwise, your father will be humiliated because of you.”

Although Wu Changqing’s threat made Xue Wu feel a chill, as a military officer who licked blood from the edge of a knife, he often risked his life for wealth and glory, and would not be intimidated by such verbal threats.

“You dare?” Wu Changqing roared.

“Someone, take the whip and lash him.” Xue Wu stretched out his right hand, and his subordinate immediately handed him the whip.

“Anyone who dares to listen to his orders and do this, I will exterminate their three generations!” Wu Changqing stopped threatening Xue Wu and instead threatened Xue Wu’s soldiers.

The few people under Xue Wu were stunned by Wu Changqing’s roar and didn’t dare to move. These small fries were all afraid of Wu Changqing.

“What are you standing there for? Do you want to die?”

Xue Wu said angrily, and then took action himself.

“Aim and fire!”

At a distance of fifty meters, although there wasn’t much accuracy, Wu Changqing had no better way, so he could only hope for luck.

With his order, the musketeers who were already prepared raised their muskets and fired in unison.

Chapter 11: Night Raid Plan

As the gunshot rang out, a soldier beside Xue Wu immediately fell, startling him. He hurriedly directed his men to pull the carts back.

They didn’t stop until they were over two hundred meters away.

Then, enraged, Xue Wu lashed out at the coffin with his whip, ordering several soldiers to do the same.

The soldiers who were ordered cursed Xue Wu in their hearts. No one wanted to do such a deed that would damage their karma. But to save their lives, they had no choice but to obey.

The righteous army on the city walls watched the figures lashing out at the coffin, each one of them bursting into curses, even clamoring to rush out and fight the Qing dogs.

Some were secretly observing Wu Changqing. They couldn’t blame Wu Changqing, and were even grateful for his care for them, not letting them blindly throw their lives away. Following such an officer was a blessing.

However, the concept of filial piety, passed down for thousands of years, also made some soldiers feel that Wu Changqing was a rather cold-blooded officer.

Standing behind Wu Changqing, Liu Hansan looked at him, feeling more and more that he couldn’t see through this officer.

If Wu Changqing was afraid of death, he would not have defended the city so resolutely in the face of danger. If he wasn’t afraid of death, how could he endure such humiliation now?

If he was cold and heartless, he wouldn’t have treated the common people and soldiers so well. But if he wasn’t cold-blooded, how could he watch his father’s body being desecrated?

In short, many of Wu Changqing’s decisions left him completely baffled.

However, he strongly agreed with Wu Changqing’s decision not to attack rashly. Letting these local militia fight those elite soldiers in the open was undoubtedly suicide.

“You few, come over here. Let’s discuss tonight’s night raid. I want to wipe out this Qing army in one fell swoop. I want to take Xue Wu’s dog head.”

Wu Changqing had never felt so aggrieved in his life. At this moment, his hatred for Xue Wu even surpassed that of Li Chengdong. He wouldn’t feel at ease until he killed Xue Wu.

There were many things to pay attention to during a night raid, and Li Shaobin and the others had no experience in night raids. They could only rely on their limited military knowledge to raise some potential problems, and then everyone would work together to find solutions.

Relying on this kind of discussion was somewhat unreliable. There were too many unexpected events in war, and no one could foresee everything before they happened.

But even so, Wu Changqing decided to launch a night raid. He was worried that if they didn’t deal with Xue Wu and his men as soon as possible, those bastards would continue to drag Wu Zhiban’s body over tomorrow.

If it happened a few more times, he would never be able to shake off the label of being an unfilial son. For those who aspire to dominate the world, they cannot have too many stains on their reputation.

Compared to fighting the Qing army in broad daylight, a night raid could at least have an element of surprise, increasing their chances of victory.

If they were lucky and the enemy slept soundly, that would be even better.

In fact, the biggest problem with night raids was lighting. As long as the lighting problem could be solved, the night raid would be half successful.

Wu Changqing originally wanted to exchange for a few flashlights, but he gave up when he saw the price. The price of one flashlight was equivalent to fifty flintlock guns.

After some research, Wu Changqing roughly understood the rules for exchanging goods in this system.

The rule was that the higher the technological content, the higher the price, regardless of the value of the product itself.

For example, a mobile phone would definitely be cheaper than a battleship by countless times, but in the system store, directly exchanging for a mobile phone was more expensive than a battleship, even to the point of becoming an ornament.

It was so expensive that Wu Changqing would never exchange for it unless he was out of his mind.

Because the technology to build a battleship was relatively low, while a mobile phone, despite its small size, contained very high-end technology.

In the system store, Wu Changqing didn’t find any suitable lighting items, so he still had to use primitive torches.

This severely tested the army’s organization and discipline. A rabble of a motley crew was prone to chaos when faced with danger, and in the darkness, this chaos would be amplified infinitely.

To avoid this chaos, Wu Changqing and several centurions and squad leaders conducted detailed simulations and formulated a night raid plan.

Outside the city, Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu stared at Jiading, speechless for a long time.

Wu Changqing’s reaction exceeded their expectations. They couldn’t believe that a sixteen-year-old boy could be so cold-blooded and calm. It was truly terrifying.

If this kind of person wasn’t eliminated early, wouldn’t he become another Goujian, another Liu Bang, when he grew up?

“Brother Xue, what should we do now?”

Zhang Yuqin said with a headache. Although Wu Changqing would get a reputation for being unfilial, it didn’t bring them any real benefits for the time being.

Xue Wu looked troubled by the question. He didn’t know what to do either.

Continuing to attack the city was tantamount to seeking death. Retreating would make it impossible to explain to Li Chengdong. Requesting reinforcements would probably also result in punishment from Li Chengdong.

“Let’s retreat for now. How to write the battle report to the lord next is the problem we need to worry about.”

Xue Wu complained.

Concealing the news of the defeat was impossible. So many people had died, how could they hide it?

Reporting the truth would probably not work either, as it would make them look like trash. A demotion would be unavoidable.

The only option now was to exaggerate the number of Jiading rebels and their weapons and equipment as much as possible, and then falsely report their own losses, reducing the numbers as much as possible.

There were at least six or seven hundred people defending the city walls of Jiading, which could be vaguely counted as regular troops. Then there were twenty thousand civilians in the city, who could be said to have assisted in the defense.

Then, they could explain the rebels’ advantage in firearms and the ferocity of the battle. This battle report would be enough to fool them.

Punishment was certainly unavoidable, but Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu would be satisfied as long as they could keep their positions.

The battle report was written, but the current problem was still in front of them, unresolved.

“How about we launch a night raid tonight?”

Zhang Yuqin said.

Normal tactics didn’t work, so he began to think about these unorthodox methods.

Xue Wu shook his head and said, “The army’s morale is unstable now. I’m afraid that before the night raid even reaches Jiading, half of the men will have run away. These soldiers have already been frightened out of their wits. Let’s wait for Lord Li’s reinforcements. We don’t have the ability to take Jiading on our own.”

It was difficult to run away during the day, but it was too easy for those soldiers who wanted to escape to slip away during night marches.

The casualties from the two siege battles were as high as fifty percent, and many soldiers already had the idea of running away.

Not to mention the soldiers, even some low-level officers, such as squad leaders and centurions, had the idea of running away. This Jiading was too difficult to attack, and they didn’t want to throw their lives away anymore.

Chapter 12: Night Raid

Before nightfall, Wu Changqing ordered the soldiers participating in the night raid to rest early.

Then, around three in the morning, at the hour of Chou, these soldiers were awakened, white cloths tied around their heads, and torches prepared as they formed ranks.

“Everyone, today the Qing dogs desecrated my father’s corpse, a debt of vengeance we must repay! The Qing dogs massacred tens of thousands of Jiading’s people, another debt of vengeance we must repay!”

Delivering pre-battle speeches had become Wu Changqing’s routine. This method of boosting morale had been proven effective in later generations, and he naturally wouldn’t give up using it.

“As the ancient saying goes, ‘A subject dies for his insulted lord.’ Now, our general endures humiliation and infamy for the sake of the people of Jiading. Only by avenging our general can we repay his kindness.”

Liu Hansan also spoke. His mindset was now completely different from when the Qing army first arrived. He realized that following Wu Changqing seemed to have potential.

Therefore, he no longer thought about escaping to save his life, but instead wanted to display his talents and climb the ranks in this small group.

“Move out.”

This time, Wu Changqing still led the troops personally.

It was like the boss of a start-up company, who had to do everything himself. Only when the scale grew and talented people gathered under him could the boss hide in the office and command his subordinates.

This time, Wu Changqing mobilized a total of four hundred men, including one hundred veterans and the three hundred new recruits he had trained.

The four hundred men were commanded by Liu Hansan, Li Shaobin, Wang Dayong, and Wu Changqing himself, each responsible for about one hundred men.

Among them, Wu Changqing’s team was entirely equipped with flintlock guns, while Li Shaobin’s team had a mix of flintlock guns and ordinary firelocks. Liu Hansan and Wang Dayong’s teams were armed with cold weapons, mainly swords and spears.

The basic battle plan was for Wang Dayong to lead his men to set fires and create chaos. Then, Wu Changqing and Li Shaobin’s firearm teams would shoot and kill the organized enemy forces. Liu Hansan’s troops would be on the periphery, responsible for capturing fleeing enemy soldiers.

The characteristic of the whole plan was that their own firearm teams would stay together at all times and not get separated. They didn’t seek to annihilate the enemy, but they had to ensure the safety of the firearm teams.

These two firearm teams were Wu Changqing’s only trump card. If these firelocks were lost, he would have no place to cry.

The moonlight was decent tonight, and the rebel army could barely advance in the dark.

They didn’t dare to light torches, as that would be like telling the enemy they were going to launch a night raid.

Jiading City was about one and a half kilometers away from where the Qing army was stationed, and that time was enough for the Qing army to organize a defense.

Moving in the dark, the rebel army suddenly encountered several Qing soldiers halfway. This gave Wu Changqing a big scare, and it also gave these Qing soldiers a big scare.

Fortunately, Wang Dayong in the front reacted in time and immediately had these five Qing soldiers captured.

If they had escaped back to the camp to report, this night raid would have been in trouble.

“Your Excellency, spare us! We didn’t sincerely surrender to the Qing dogs, we were just forced to. Today, Xue Wu insulted our ancestors, which we despise. That’s why we agreed to escape, not wanting to kill each other with the rebel army.”

A man who looked like the leader shouted. He was brought before Wu Changqing and explained in detail the reason they were there.

“In that case, you lead the way for us and point out the barracks. If our night raid succeeds, I will not hold your surrender to the Qing against you. But if you dare to play tricks, I will ensure you die a horrible death.”

Wu Changqing’s feelings towards these soldiers were very complicated.

On one hand, he knew that these people were definitely not good people, and they must have participated in the massacre of the city. But to say how bad they were, it was also difficult to say.

After all, in troubled times, the fate of soldiers was also very pitiful. They often didn’t even have the power to decide who they were loyal to.

If their superiors led them to surrender to the Qing, they would surrender to the Qing. If their superiors led them to surrender to the Ming, they would surrender to the Ming.

They fought, but definitely not for some national righteousness or ethnic righteousness. They joined the army and fought just to make a living.

In short, even if these soldiers had committed sins, the root cause was not on them, but on those in power.

Wu Changqing didn’t like these soldiers, but he wouldn’t massacre them to vent his anger. Even if they were willing to continue serving as soldiers, Wu Changqing would accept them.

In this era, army rebellions were too common, and it was impossible to tell who they were loyal to.

Don’t look at Li Chengdong as the number one Qing dog now, but later he even became a prince of the Southern Ming Yongli Dynasty, because he rebelled against the Qing court again.

This kind of chaos could only happen in troubled times.

“We swear to be loyal and would never dare to play tricks,” the leader said.

Wu Changqing regarded this kind of oath as the other party farting. Countless people in later generations had farted like this, and he was long used to it.

He told Wang Dayong to keep a close eye on them, and the rebel army continued to advance.

With these turncoats leading the way, their speed was a bit faster, and they soon reached the edge of the Qing army’s camp.

Perhaps because this was the Qing army’s rear, and they had never been attacked, the defense of the camp was very lax at the moment. Even the two soldiers on sentry duty were asleep.

Having approached the enemy camp, the rebel army lit their torches one after another. Wang Dayong led his men into the camp to set fires and create chaos. The two firearm teams blocked the two main exits of the camp, and Liu Hansan was responsible for other areas.

As one tent after another was lit, the burning soldiers screamed, and all the Qing soldiers were awakened.

“Enemy attack, enemy attack!”

Qing soldiers kept shouting, and those low-level officers also began to gather soldiers, preparing to organize a resistance.

At this time, the firearm teams began to volley fire at the crowded places.

Immediately, more screams rang out, and some Qing soldiers didn’t even know where the enemy was until they died.

Night raids were difficult to succeed, but once they succeeded, the benefits were also great.

These Qing soldiers scurried around like headless flies, some fleeing in all directions, and some gathering together, wanting to rush out from the main road.

Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu had already put on their armor, and then took their personal soldiers to prepare to escape.

They didn’t even think about organizing the soldiers to fight back, because they knew it was too difficult. Unless they were the elite of the elite, the soldiers would be like frightened rabbits after being raided, completely out of control.

What they could control were only their own personal soldiers.

“Brother Zhang, you and I are one south and one north, whether we can escape depends on fate,” Xue Wu said.

“Then I’ll choose the south. Take care, Brother Xue.”

After Zhang Yuqin finished speaking, he rode on his horse and ran towards the main road in the south with his personal soldiers. While running, he shouted his banner, letting those who were panicked and defeated gather towards him.

By the time he rushed to the front of the rebel army’s firearm team, he had gathered nearly two hundred people around him.

However, when they saw the flames spewing out not far away, they were all desperate. These firearm teams had already created a great psychological shadow for them.

They would be afraid of encountering them head-on, let alone now that they were already in tension and fear because of the camp raid.

The firearm team only fired one shot, and the remaining Qing soldiers gave up breaking through from this route and fled in all directions.

Chapter 13: Saying What He Means

Xue Wu, who was trying to break through to the north, wasn’t having an easy time either. They were also met with a volley from the musket team.

When routed soldiers encounter an organized army, the outcome is usually tragic.

The fleeing soldiers were only thinking about escaping and had no intention of fighting back. In reality, if they had charged in a swarm under the cover of darkness, at least half of them could have broken through.

In the darkness, the musketeers’ reloading was greatly affected, and their firing speed was at least two times slower than during the day.

But the Qing army didn’t know this. After suffering a volley, they were immediately terrified and fled in other directions. The power of the flintlocks had already left them psychologically scarred.

The chaos continued until dawn before slowly subsiding. The camp was burned to the ground, leaving only charred wooden sticks, while outside the camp, Qing soldiers knelt in surrender.

A rough count showed that there were more than three hundred captured Qing soldiers, and about three hundred corpses were also found. This meant that nearly three hundred people had escaped in the chaos.

Liu Hansan had limited manpower and couldn’t catch them all, and the darkness made the capture extremely difficult.

Of these three hundred-plus prisoners, only about one hundred were captured by Liu Hansan. The others chose to surrender under the threat of the musket team.

The Qing army could be said to have been completely wiped out, and the righteous army also suffered significant casualties.

Even though they had succeeded in the sneak attack, anything could happen in the chaos.

Wang Dayong’s unit, which was responsible for starting the fire and creating chaos, suffered a large number of casualties due to the complexity of the task. Out of his ninety-plus men, a total of thirty were lost, and he didn’t even know how most of them died.

Thirty men killed in action. The combined deaths from the previous two Jiading defense battles didn’t even amount to this many.

Some members of the musket team also had misfires, resulting in one death and three injuries.

Two of Liu Hansan’s men were also killed, accidentally killed by fleeing soldiers.

The battle results were still being tallied. Guo Tie, who had led the way last night, had already identified Zhang Yuqin’s body.

No one knew how Zhang Yuqin died. From the wounds, it seemed he was hit by a musket, fell off his horse, and cracked his head. In that kind of chaos, any kind of death was possible.

Xue Wu was a bit luckier. He wasn’t hit by a musket and was eventually captured alive by Liu Hansan.

Of course, this wasn’t exactly good luck for Xue Wu. If he had a choice, he would have preferred to die like Zhang Yuqin. Falling into Wu Changqing’s hands would definitely be worse than death.

Xue Wu was brought before Wu Changqing, but he refused to kneel. Wang Dafu, without a word, directly smashed his kneecaps with the back of his saber.

The sound of cracking bones rang out, followed by Xue Wu’s screams.

“Xue Wu, now that things have come to this, is there anything you want to say?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“A dead man has nothing to say. I’ll go down and wait for you. You won’t be able to jump around for long anyway. Do you think you can fight against Garrison Commander Li and the Qing Dynasty with just these few hundred people?”

Xue Wu sneered. He didn’t beg for mercy because he knew it would be useless. After doing such heinous things, there was no way Wu Changqing would let him go.

“I said I would tear you apart by five horses, and I will tear you apart by five horses. I said I would destroy this Qing Dynasty, and I will destroy this Qing Dynasty. It’s just a pity that you won’t have the chance to witness my glory.”

Wu Changqing waved his hand, ordering people to carry out the execution.

This great victory greatly boosted his confidence. The most difficult moment had passed, and now he had a period of respite and development.

As Xue Wu was dragged away, he was still thinking about Wu Changqing’s words. Only at this moment did he realize that he had provoked a formidable and ruthless person. Unfortunately, he realized all of this too late.

After dealing with Xue Wu, the chief culprit, Wu Changqing ordered the search for those officers who had actively ordered the massacre of civilians, as well as soldiers who had killed many people.

Wu Changqing needed to treat these prisoners differently. He would kill those who had committed heinous crimes to deter the others, and also to tell the other prisoners their rules: the massacre of civilians was absolutely forbidden.

As for the rest, except for those who had committed heinous crimes, they would be added to the army.

These were, after all, trained soldiers. If the righteous army didn’t have firearms, they might not be a match for these soldiers.

After dealing with a series of trivial matters, it was already noon.

“Sir, now that there are no more strong enemies around Jiading, we can divide our forces and occupy them.”

Liu Hansan said excitedly. The situation for the uprising was getting better and better, and he couldn’t help but imagine what rewards the imperial court would give him. Probably, a lieutenant general would be the least he could expect.

This time, Wu Changqing didn’t reject Liu Hansan’s suggestion. After all, expansion was already in his plan.

“Liu Hansan, you take one hundred men to Kunshan. Li Shaobin, you take one hundred men to Taicang. Wang Dayong, you take one hundred men to Changshu. After occupying these places, immediately expand the army, then leave a small number of troops to garrison, and the others will gather south in Kunshan. Finally, concentrate your forces to attack Suzhou.”

Wu Changqing assigned tasks to everyone. There were no regular troops in those small county towns, only some yamen runners, so occupying them wouldn’t be difficult.

The only place nearby with regular troops was Suzhou, where Wu Shengzhao, the regional military commander of Songjiang, Changzhou and Zhenjiang, was stationed with three thousand soldiers.

Wu Shengzhao was from Liaodong. He was originally a military officer in the Ming army, but later surrendered to the Qing army after they entered the pass.

He was currently serving as the regional military commander of Songjiang, Changzhou and Zhenjiang. According to the original historical trajectory, he would suppress Wu Yi’s righteous army next year and incorporate Wu Yi’s army.

Later, he was punished by the Qing court for corruption and became dissatisfied, rebelling against the Qing again and being killed by his subordinates.

In the late Ming Dynasty, there were many fickle people like Li Chengdong and Wu Shengzhao. The root cause was that they had no concept of nation or ethnicity. They would serve whoever gave them benefits.

Wu Changqing had also considered whether to persuade Wu Shengzhao to surrender, but after thinking about it, he felt it was impossible. After all, the Qing court hadn’t punished him yet, and he didn’t have much dissatisfaction with the Qing court for the time being.

Moreover, Wu Changqing didn’t really like people like this who were fickle.

What if he suddenly stabbed himself in the back one day? That would be really disgusting.

The talents he wanted were those who had more integrity. For example, Gu Yanwu, Chen Zilong, and Yang Minghua, who had been opposing the Qing from beginning to end.

Yang Minghua was already in Fujian assisting the Longwu Emperor. Wu Changqing didn’t know the whereabouts of Chen Zilong. The only one he remembered was Gu Yanwu. He remembered that he should be in the Changshu area at this time.

So after Wu Changqing finished assigning tasks, he also specifically instructed Wang Dayong to inquire about Gu Yanwu’s whereabouts in Changshu and then invite him to join them.

Currently, Wu Changqing was very short of civil officials, and Gu Yanwu was a very talented scholar. He not only had a thorough understanding of the Four Books and Five Classics, but also liked to dabble in strange books. He was a very rare historian, geographer, thinker, and musician in the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Changqing only knew a vague idea of how to govern a country. To get the administrative system in his territory running, he still needed professionals like Gu Yanwu.

Chapter 14: Strength Greatly Increased

After arranging the military operations, Wu Changqing led his men to kneel before Wu Zhiban’s coffin.

The generals behind him also knelt down in mourning.

“Your unfilial son has come to kowtow and beg for forgiveness. May Father rest in peace and forgive your child’s lack of filial piety. Your child will surely follow your last wishes, expel the Tartars, restore our Great Ming Dynasty, and save the people of the world.”

In truth, Wu Changqing couldn’t be said to be in deep sorrow, as this was only his nominal father. Although he had received some of the original memories, the soul from later generations held absolute dominance, and he was no longer the original Wu Changqing.

However, even to put on the appearance of a filial son, he had to kneel and shed a few tears.

Wu Changqing even considered imitating those ‘famous people’ by committing suicide to atone for his sins, but he wasn’t sure if any of his subordinates were clever enough to stop him.

What if no one did? He couldn’t actually commit suicide, could he? If no one stopped him and he didn’t kill himself, the scene would be awkward, and everyone would probably see through his hypocrisy.

For safety’s sake, Wu Changqing didn’t attempt such a high-skill maneuver, opting instead for simple ‘wailing’.

Wailing was necessary, or how would he face his family members in the future when the news spread?

The Wu family was a large clan, with their ancestral home in Wu Village, Shaoxing, owning thousands of acres of fertile land and dozens of family members.

Wu Changqing’s living relatives included his mother, Madam Liao, his younger sister, Wu Yu, his younger brother, Wu Zheng, and his uncle Wu Zhiyue’s family. There were even more collateral relatives, all currently in Shaoxing.

Rebellion was too dangerous, so Wu Zhiban only kept Wu Changqing behind, sending everyone else back to their hometown in advance.

“Expel the Tartars, restore our land!”

Led by Liu Hansan, the other soldiers shouted in unison. Even those who had surrendered were shouting along.

Of course, they were shouting to save their lives, unlike the original righteous army who were shouting from the bottom of their hearts.

“Move out.”

After crying for about half an hour, Wu Changqing stopped acting.

As a non-professional actor, these two-plus hours had taken quite a toll on him. He had to constantly imagine extremely sad things in his brain to make himself shed tears.

With Wu Changqing’s order, Liu Hansan and the others began to move.

On the twelfth, Liu Hansan’s troops arrived in Kunshan and smoothly entered the county government office, capturing the county magistrate alive and escorting him to the execution grounds for public beheading.

This attracted nearly a thousand onlookers, and when the county magistrate’s head was chopped off, the people cheered.

“I am Liu Hansan, subordinate of Wu Changqing, leader of the Jiading righteous army. Our army has already annihilated more than two thousand Qing dogs in Jiading, killed two Qing army chiliarch, and achieved a great victory. The people of Jiading, under the protection of Garrison Commander Wu, have suffered no casualties.

Our general, in order to save the surrounding people, has specially sent me to lead troops to liberate Kunshan and recruit anti-Qing patriots…”

Liu Hansan announced their achievements, intending to boost the confidence of the people, and also with a bit of a desire to show off.

Other righteous armies were easily wiped out by the Qing army, but they were able to overcome the strong with the weak, annihilating two thousand enemies. This record was simply too dazzling.

As one of them, Liu Hansan felt proud.

“Annihilate two thousand Qing troops? How is that possible?”

“What’s impossible about it? Didn’t the news say that Jiading had a great victory over the Qing army a while ago? If they hadn’t completely defeated the Qing army, where would they have the strength to send troops to liberate Kunshan?”

“So, that General Wu in Jiading is really something.”

The people discussed, mixed with some amazement. Many who wanted to oppose the Qing, or who were barely surviving, expressed their willingness to join the righteous army.

This scene was also happening in Taicang, but the county magistrate of Taicang was more cunning. Seeing an army coming to attack, he very simply chose to surrender.

For those who surrendered voluntarily, Wu Changqing had instructed not to kill indiscriminately.

Killing prisoners of war had no benefit and would only make the enemy’s will to resist stronger.

As for these civil officials, it was hard to say how bad they were. Under the general trend, even the army couldn’t stop the Qing army, so what could these civil officials do?

To save their lives, surrendering was only human nature.

Wu Changqing didn’t like to use these people, but for the time being, he had no choice. Continuing to employ these civil officials with experience in managing local affairs was the most efficient way to control the surrounding areas.

If he killed all these people, it would be difficult to find someone with local governance skills temporarily.

Sitting in Jiading, Wu Changqing discovered another wonderful use of the system, which was that he could know the progress of the army in advance.

When he found that the resource points and technology points in the system had increased, he knew that the army had occupied those places.

After occupying Kunshan and Taicang, his current territory reached two thousand two hundred square kilometers, controlling a population of one hundred and forty thousand.

His resource points were fifty-seven thousand, and his technology points were one hundred and twenty-five thousand.

For Wu Changqing, these technology points and resource points needed to be spent as soon as possible and transformed into combat power.

After all, according to the system rules, if those places were reoccupied by others, then these resource points and technology points would be immediately deducted.

However, if he used up all these resource points and technology points now, even if those places were occupied by the enemy, at most the resource points would become negative. What had already been used could not be recovered.

Of course, if he wanted to use resource points and technology points again next time, he would need to fill the hole of the negative number first.

In terms of technology points, he spent fifty thousand to unlock the manufacturing technology of flintlock guns, fifty thousand to unlock the manufacturing technology of springs, and ten thousand to unlock the manufacturing technology of flints.

Only by learning all three technologies could he create a complete flintlock gun.

Spending technology points on these three things wouldn’t be a loss. After all, flintlock guns would definitely be equipped on a large scale in the future, and springs would also be of great use in the future, which could be used to manufacture shock-absorbing carriages, and many machines would also need springs.

Unlocking these technologies was not enough; Wu Changqing also had to teach the craftsmen hand-in-hand.

In terms of resources, he exchanged for one thousand flintlock guns, one hundred thousand bullets, one ton of saltpeter, and ten tons of pig iron.

The more primitive the materials, the cheaper they were. The ten tons of pig iron, which could make at least one hundred thousand muskets, only cost two thousand resource points, while one thousand flintlock guns cost fifty thousand.

Of course, turning a pile of pig iron into flintlock guns would take a lot of time and require high-end technology. Wu Changqing’s craftsmen were too few, and he couldn’t wait that long, so he could only continue to waste resource points.

When Wu Changqing asked Wang Dafu to move these things from the warehouse, Wang Dafu was also wondering where these things came from. But he didn’t ask much, fulfilling his duty as a servant very well.

After exchanging for this large batch of supplies, Wu Changqing was not short of weapons for the time being. What he lacked was the training of soldiers.

Flintlock guns were very useful for defending the city, but they were not invincible in field battles outside the city.

If the enemy had enough numbers and fearlessly charged to the front for close combat, then the advantage of the flintlock gun troops would be completely lost.

It was even more troublesome to encounter cavalry. At the speed of cavalry, they might be able to fire at most two shots before being charged to the front.

Although these flintlock guns were also equipped with bayonets, the real power came from bullet shooting. Close combat should be avoided as much as possible.

Chapter 15: Assistance from the Rebel Army

The next day, Liu Da’han of the Taihu Lake rebel army arrived in Jiading with a batch of grain.

Before meeting Wu Changqing, he learned from other soldiers that Wu Changqing’s rebel army had annihilated a Qing army force of two thousand men the day before.

At first, Liu Da’han didn’t believe the news at all. But no matter who he asked, everyone said the same thing, and even some civilians confirmed it, forcing him to believe it.

Five hundred enemies killed defending the city in one battle, and one thousand enemies wiped out in a night raid – this record was simply too dazzling.

Liu Da’han couldn’t wait to see Wu Changqing, the hero in the eyes of the Jiading soldiers and civilians. He waited in the hall for about fifteen minutes before he saw a young man whose face still had an obvious youthful and delicate air.

And he knew that this person was Wu Changqing, the hero in everyone’s mouth.

“Liu Da’han of Taihu Lake pays respects to Lord Wu.”

Liu Da’han didn’t dare to underestimate Wu Changqing because of his age; this was a general who had experienced several fierce battles.

“Brave Liu, please sit. The Taihu Lake rebel army sending grain from fifty kilometers away is truly touching. Our army is currently worried about food.”

Wu Changqing didn’t expect such a pleasant surprise. The Taihu Lake rebel army had actually sent them grain from so far away.

“My lord said that we are all rebel armies, all brothers. How can we stand idly by when our brothers are in trouble? The small thing we’ve done is not worth mentioning compared to Lord Wu’s great achievements. I heard that Lord Wu annihilated more than two thousand Qing soldiers. Such a great victory is truly rare.”

Hearing Liu Da’han praise his achievements, Wu Changqing felt very comfortable.

“General Wu Yi’s efforts in containing the Qing court’s navy on Taihu Lake are also commendable. My unit is currently planning to attack Suzhou. If we have General Wu’s assistance at that time, our chances of success will be even greater.”

For Wu Changqing, he now needed to unite all forces that could be united.

Although Wu Yi’s rebel army only had a few hundred people, they were all veterans who had fought battles. If used well, they would be a force to be reckoned with.

“Attacking Suzhou, that’s great! My lord has always wanted to attack Suzhou, but unfortunately, he didn’t dare to act rashly because of limited strength. I wonder how many soldiers Lord Wu currently has under his command?”

Liu Da’han asked.

“I currently only have seven hundred men under my command, but I have already ordered an expansion, and we can expand to two thousand within the next few days.”

Wu Changqing said.

Only two thousand? How could they attack Suzhou with that?

A question popped up in Liu Da’han’s mind. Attacking a city and defending a city were completely different. Without more than two or three times the troops, attacking a city was a joke.

The walls of Suzhou were much taller than those of Jiading. Even veterans wouldn’t dare to attack without seven or eight thousand men.

But Wu Changqing only had two thousand men, and they were all newly recruited soldiers. How could he take it down? Or rather, where did he get the courage to attack the city?

Liu Da’han couldn’t figure it out and said bluntly, “Lord Wu, wouldn’t two thousand men be a little too few? Wu Shengzhao, who is stationed in Suzhou, has more than three thousand soldiers under his command.”

“It is a little few, but as long as we can lure Wu Shengzhao out, we still have a chance of winning.”

Wu Changqing hoped that Wu Yi could launch an attack on Wu Jiang County, inducing Wu Shengzhao to come out of the city to rescue. And he would lead his men to ambush him on the way, thereby annihilating the enemy’s vital forces in one fell swoop.

He had never thought of attacking Suzhou by force, as the losses would be very great.

“This matter is of great importance, and I need to ask my lord for instructions.”

Liu Da’han didn’t dare to agree, after all, it concerned the life and death of their hundreds of men.

“Of course, I also need time to train my soldiers. I will wait patiently for General Wu’s good news. Of course, if General Wu doesn’t want to take this risk, then we will have to rely on ourselves to take Suzhou.”

Whether Wu Yi agreed to cooperate or not, Wu Changqing needed to take Suzhou.

Suzhou had a large population, and more soldiers could be recruited. He now needed to expand his army as soon as possible to face the threat of Li Chengdong.

He didn’t know when Li Chengdong would lead his main force over, but there was no doubt that he would come, it was just a matter of time.

The news of Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu’s defeat didn’t reach Li Chengdong in Jiaxing until September 15th. A small number of defeated soldiers fled all the way to Jiaxing.

And it wasn’t until the seventeenth that Li Chengdong received accurate information, learning that Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu had both died in battle, and the soldiers under their command had been completely annihilated.

After learning this news, Li Chengdong kicked over the desk in one go.

“Waste, waste! What use do I have for them? A mere Jiading city, they couldn’t take it down with two thousand men, and they were even completely annihilated by the other side. My, Li Chengdong’s, face has been completely disgraced by these two wastes!”

The generals below all lowered their heads upon seeing this, not even daring to breathe loudly. This was the first time they had seen Li Chengdong so angry, and they were afraid that they would accidentally offend him.

“Speak, what should we do next?”

After venting his anger, Li Chengdong asked his subordinates to discuss the matter.

His current forces had been concentrated in the Hangzhou area, preparing to take Hangzhou, an important city. As long as they took Hangzhou, they could threaten the Lu Wang regime in Shaoxing at any time.

Taking Hangzhou would be a great achievement for Li Chengdong, and he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

But now that the rear was unstable, it gave him more concerns.

“Lord, this subordinate believes that taking Hangzhou is a major matter. Some petty thieves in the rear can’t make any big waves even if they jump around for a few more days. We can quickly take Hangzhou and then send troops back to encircle and suppress them.”

Dong Tianbao, a lieutenant general under Li Chengdong, said.

However, these words made Li Chengdong scold him as an idiot in his heart.

Could the people who annihilated Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu really be just a group of petty thieves? Although there was the reason for the night raid, it was undeniable that this rebel army in Jiading had a strong fighting power, at least more difficult to deal with than the previous rebel armies.

Li Chengdong also paid attention to the rapid-firing muskets that Xue Wu repeatedly mentioned in his battle report. But without seeing it with his own eyes, he couldn’t imagine how fast the so-called rapid-firing was.

“I think the lord can write a letter to Wu Shengzhao in Suzhou and General Liu Liangzuo in Changzhou, asking them to send troops to suppress them. As for us, we will continue to attack Hangzhou.”

Another guerrilla general said. His idea was a little better than Dong Tianbao’s, at least he didn’t say to let the Jiading rebels go unheeded.

The others also agreed to take Hangzhou first. The reason was simple: they had already traveled a long way to Hangzhou. If they withdrew their troops at this time, it would be a great blow to morale.

Of course, underestimating the Jiading rebel army was also a very important reason.

Even though Zhang Yuqin and Xue Wu had suffered a crushing defeat, they felt that this was because Zhang Yuqin and the others were incompetent, and because of Wu Changqing’s night raid.

“Pass down the order, speed up preparations. We will immediately occupy Hangzhou.”

Li Chengdong finally adopted his subordinates’ opinions and chose to write letters to Wu Shengzhao and Liu Liangzuo.

As for himself, he continued to attack Hangzhou as planned.

However, at this moment, he had secretly vowed in his heart that he would definitely dismember Wu Changqing and the people of Jiading into eight pieces.

If it weren’t for their disruption, he could have attacked Hangzhou with peace of mind. If the war went smoothly, he could have taken the opportunity to attack Shaoxing and make great contributions to the Qing court.

And historically, this was indeed the case. Li Chengdong was favored by the Qing court for his contribution in taking Hangzhou. Later, together with Tong Yangjia, he became the main force in sweeping Fujian and Guangdong.

Chapter 16: Consolidating Military Power

On the nineteenth, Wu Changqing arrived in Kunshan with the main force, where he joined up with troops from other locations.

At this point, his total force had reached more than two thousand five hundred men, of which more than four hundred were scattered in various places to garrison the cities, while the two thousand gathered in Kunshan were the main force.

Besides bringing the soldiers, Wu Changqing also brought nine hundred flintlock guns and a batch of grenades.

Seeing that Wu Changqing had acquired another batch of new flintlock guns, Liu Hansan immediately requested that Wu Changqing allocate some to equip his men.

Now everyone in their volunteer army knew the power of these new-style firearms, and everyone wanted them.

Liu Hansan’s request made Wu Changqing begin to consider the issue of army reorganization.

The army of this era was completely different from the army of later generations. The army of later generations belonged to the country, and the soldiers were loyal to the country.

But in this era, soldiers didn’t really have much of a concept of the country. They were more loyal to their superiors, to those who paid them.

This easily led to powerful generals holding great power, and those soldiers becoming the generals’ private troops.

This was very detrimental to a regime, easily rendering the regime a mere formality.

Just like the Hongguang regime before, it could nominally command those generals who held heavy troops, but in reality, it couldn’t control them at all.

They would resist the Qing if they wanted to, and surrender if they wanted to. They could even launch a “cleanse the court” campaign with heavy troops if they were dissatisfied, like Zuo Liangyu.

Leading hundreds of thousands of troops, instead of resisting the Qing army, Zuo Liangyu went south to Nanjing to “cleanse the court,” scaring the Hongguang Emperor half to death.

“Bring Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong here, let’s discuss it together.”

Wu Changqing summoned several major generals. He wanted to change the organization of the army and take power into his own hands.

Once everyone had arrived, Wu Changqing said, “These new-style firearms must be used in a concentrated manner to exert their power, so I want to make some changes to the troops.”

Hearing that the troops were going to be reorganized, Liu Hansan and the others were confused. They were all used to the previous model, where the soldiers they recruited were their own men.

“I want to use the original Jiading volunteer army as the main force, and then select some new recruits to make up one thousand men to form a firearm army, which I will personally train and command. The other one thousand men will be divided into three battalions, each with more than three hundred men, one battalion using old-fashioned firearms, and the other two battalions using swords, shields, and spears.”

As soon as Wu Changqing said this, Liu Hansan felt depressed.

One thousand of the main force would all belong to Wu Changqing, so he could only get a battalion commander position at most, commanding more than three hundred men.

Moreover, the combat power of an army without new-style firearms was completely different from that of a new-style firearm army. Wu Changqing’s arrangement directly put the power of the army firmly in his hands.

Liu Hansan hoped that Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong could raise some objections together, but he was disappointed.

At this moment, Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong both admired Wu Changqing very much. They didn’t realize that Wu Changqing was seizing power, and they believed that Wu Changqing was doing this to bring out the strengths of the new-style firearm army.

“These two idiots.”

Seeing that Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong didn’t have any intention of objecting, Liu Hansan couldn’t help but curse in his heart.

“The old-fashioned firearm battalion will be led by General Li, and the other two battalions will be led by General Wang and General Liu respectively,” Wu Changqing said. After the expansion of the army, he promoted the three of them from centurion to guerrilla general.

However, these positions were all empty titles. The strength of the troops under their command was the foundation. These official positions were just for their own amusement, and the imperial court had not recognized them.

“Everyone, guerrilla general is just a small beginning. As long as you follow my steps closely, when we take Suzhou and Nanjing, will the imperial court be stingy with a noble title? When we drive the Qing army out of the pass and recover Beijing, will the imperial court dare to deny us a kingship?”

Wu Changqing drew a big pie for them. He didn’t say that he would bestow a kingship on them. Right now, he still needed to use the banner of the Ming Dynasty as the orthodox regime.

As for the future, as long as he controlled the actual power of the army, someone would naturally stage a “yellow robe addition” for him.

“This humble general will definitely swear allegiance to the general until death.”

Li Shaobin took the lead in expressing his loyalty, and Wang Dayong and Liu Hansan also quickly expressed their loyalty. At present, the situation for resisting the Qing was very good, and they wouldn’t be stupid enough to challenge Wu Changqing’s authority.

“Very good, next, let’s seize the time to train the soldiers, strive to form an army as soon as possible, and then take Suzhou in one fell swoop.”

…

How to train a flintlock gun unit, probably only Wu Changqing knows in the entire China right now.

If you want to say what is the biggest feature of a flintlock gun unit, then it is undoubtedly line infantry tactics.

People without military common sense will laugh out loud when they see the battle scenes of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, laughing at why those soldiers are so stupid.

Line infantry tactics is when both sides line up in dense formations, blowing military horns, beating military drums, and then walking forward together to a distance of dozens of meters, and then you fire a volley, and I fire another volley.

It seems that those soldiers are extremely stupid, but in fact, this tactic is the most threatening tactic in the era of muzzle-loading guns. The British Lobsterbacks relied on this trick to colonize most of the earth and were invincible all over the world.

Because in the era of muzzle-loading guns, whether it was a matchlock gun or a flintlock gun, it loaded bullets from the front. Because the barrel was very long, soldiers could not load bullets while lying down.

Moreover, the hit rate of muzzle-loading guns was very low. If you want to cause damage, you rely on dense formations. Then fire together to form a barrage of bullets.

If one soldier fires one thousand shots at an enemy one hundred meters away, maybe not even ten shots will hit.

But if one thousand soldiers fire one shot at the enemy one hundred meters away, at least one hundred shots will hit.

If you want to kill the opponent, you must use a dense formation. After both sides use a dense formation, the battle looks like a line infantry tactics.

And the army that can maintain its formation in this kind of line infantry tactics is the real elite.

In fact, line infantry tactics are just to destroy the enemy’s morale. They will not rely on shooting each other from beginning to end to complete a battle.

Often, one side can’t withstand the huge pressure of this line infantry tactics and chooses to run away, and then the other side carries a bayonet and rushes up to harvest. This is the battle of the smoothbore gun era.

Currently in China, Wu Changqing doesn’t need to train his soldiers to that extent, because no army can shoot at him.

He only needs to train these people to be able to obey military orders and act in a unified manner. They are invincible when encountering the same number of enemies, and it is easy to fight one against two, and it is also possible to fight one against three.

He only needs to command his troops to approach the enemy, and then fire one or two volleys, and the enemy will definitely collapse. Then, to deal with the enemy without formation, just rush up and harvest.

Two volleys can kill at least one-third of the front row of the opponent. Wu Changqing doesn’t believe that any army can maintain its composure after suffering such damage in an instant.

The only thing he needs to guard against now is a large number of cavalry. He will have a headache when he encounters a large number of cavalry.

Fortunately, the south has a dense network of waterways, and cavalry is not easy to deploy. Therefore, the Qing army’s large-scale cavalry units are deployed north of the Yangtze River, and there are very few in Jiangnan.

And as long as Wu Changqing takes these places in Jiangnan, he will have enough tech points to develop new weapons to deal with cavalry.

Chapter 17: A Humble Visit

After the military meeting, Wang Dayong reported to Wu Changqing that they had found Gu Yanwu in Yulianjing, Changshu.

However, Gu Yanwu refused to serve, citing filial piety as his reason.

In this era, filial piety was extremely important; one was expected to observe mourning for three years after the death of one’s parents.

As a person from the future, Wu Changqing was disdainful of such rigid filial piety. Gu Yanwu’s mother had been killed by the Qing army. Shouldn’t true filial piety involve standing up to seek revenge?

If everyone were like Gu Yanwu, the Qing court would be delighted. They could simply kill off all the elderly, and everyone would have to collectively observe mourning.

Of course, Wu Changqing could understand Gu Yanwu’s behavior, as that was the prevailing social custom of the time.

As a renowned scholar, if Gu Yanwu didn’t observe mourning, he would inevitably be criticized for it later.

“It seems I have to make a trip myself.”

Wu Changqing didn’t particularly like the whole “three visits to the thatched cottage” trope; it felt a bit contrived. But reality was forcing him to do so, and he had no choice.

He could still intervene in some military matters, but he lacked both the talent and the energy for the civil administration system.

A regime without an administrative system was useless, no matter how strong its military might. Like the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in later generations, its army was invincible in the early stages, but due to the lack of a mature administrative system, the entire internal structure was chaotic, and it eventually declined from within.

“No, that’s too dangerous. How about I send someone to kidnap him?”

Wang Dayong said. They were currently deep in enemy territory. Only Jiading, Kunshan, and Taicang were under their control; the rest was still in the hands of the Qing court.

Unless they went with a large army, it wouldn’t be safe.

“Kidnap him? Do you think we’re bandits? Focus on training your troops. I have my own plans for this. Yulianjing is only half a day’s journey from here; how dangerous can it be?”

Wu Changqing didn’t want to take risks either, but he had no one else to rely on at the moment.

The next day, Wu Changqing reorganized the army and began training.

The training focused on discipline, the use of flintlock muskets, and the practice of formations.

During training, Wu Changqing also introduced a trust exercise, where soldiers were divided into two rows, and the soldiers in the front row were ordered to fall backward, with the soldiers in the back row responsible for catching them.

At first glance, this training seemed useless.

But in reality, it was very useful. Human nature dictates that people only trust themselves, and it’s difficult for them to unconditionally trust others.

So, at the beginning of the training, many soldiers who were supposed to fall backward cheated, either secretly looking back or not falling decisively.

Such behavior would be severely punished by the instructors.

After a round of punishments, the soldiers learned their lesson and obediently fell backward.

After falling several times, most soldiers were able to overcome their fear and choose to trust their comrades.

This was extremely valuable. In war, soldiers needed to perform their duties and cooperate with each other, entrusting their backs to their comrades. Only with this belief could they unleash their full combat potential.

What would an army without this belief be like? Probably one where soldiers were half-hearted during battle, looking around nervously, always thinking about saving their own lives and not trusting their comrades to protect them.

This was just the situation in small units. In large-scale battles, it would manifest as the central army not trusting the flanks, and the flanks not trusting the central army.

The fact that tens of thousands of Ming soldiers heard that the Eight Banner troops were coming and then abandoned their allies and fled wasn’t a joke; it actually happened.

Warfare in this era had both tragic and farcical aspects. Many times, generals won without knowing how they won, and generals lost without knowing how they lost.

After the training was on track, Wu Changqing led dozens of personal guards, quietly left the city, and headed straight for Changshu.

The group rode on horseback, and in less than two hours, they arrived at Gu Yanwu’s residence in Yulianjing.

“Please announce that Wu Changqing of Jiading is requesting an audience.”

Wu Changqing arrived at Gu Yanwu’s door and announced his name.

By this time, news of his great victory over the Qing army, in which he killed thousands of enemies, had spread throughout the surrounding area. When the Gu family’s servant heard that it was Wu Changqing, he quickly ran inside to report.

Gu Yanwu personally came out to greet him. As soon as he came out, he began to size up Wu Changqing.

Like many others, Gu Yanwu’s first impression was that he was young. Wu Changqing was simply too young. Although people in this era matured earlier, sixteen was already an age to start a family and career, and many were even fathers at sixteen.

However, it was extremely rare for someone of sixteen to command thousands of troops and kill thousands of Qing soldiers.

“Mr. Gu.”

Wu Changqing performed a standard student’s salute, since Gu Yanwu was a great scholar of the time, and he had to put on a show of respecting the virtuous.

“General Wu, please come in.”

Gu Yanwu quickly invited him in, not daring to be presumptuous. Although he was a so-called great scholar, such a status only held weight in times of peace.

In times of chaos, those who wielded knives and guns were the real bosses.

The status of military officials in the Ming Dynasty had always been extremely low. Even a seventh-rank civil official could directly humiliate a second-rank garrison commander. However, when chaos erupted, those military officials who held significant military power made a comeback, and even the emperor had to treat them with courtesy.

“I heard that Mr. Gu is currently observing mourning, a true model for the world, which I greatly admire. My father also died in battle some time ago, so I would like to learn from Mr. Gu and observe mourning together.”

Wu Changqing was a straightforward person, so he got straight to the point as soon as he entered the Gu residence.

Gu Yanwu was embarrassed by these words. Wu Changqing was clearly not here to learn, but to satirize him for being too short-sighted and unable to distinguish between what was important and what was urgent.

“General Wu, you mustn’t say that. You are a hero of our time; how can you learn from someone as pedantic as I am?”

Gu Yanwu belittled himself.

“Since you also know that observing mourning in times of chaos is pedantic, why are you unwilling to change? I heard that your mother often taught you about Yue Fei, Wen Tianxiang, and Fang Xiaoru. Do you think your mother’s spirit in heaven would want you to observe mourning here?

I believe that only you can truly know whether you are being filial or not; what others see is just the surface. If you have filial piety in your heart, then you have no shame before heaven and earth, and you don’t need to care about the opinions of others.”

Wu Changqing said.

As for the act of observing mourning, it can’t be ruled out that some people are truly filial, but the vast majority of it is just a means of showing off. Whether a person is filial or not should never be measured by observing mourning.

Gu Yanwu was rendered speechless. Of course, it wasn’t that he couldn’t argue with Wu Changqing. If he really wanted to debate, he could cite classics and spout a lot of reasons to refute Wu Changqing.

But, why bother?

He was observing mourning only out of necessity to preserve his reputation; it wasn’t that he really enjoyed wasting his life here and watching the people suffer.

He also wanted to contribute to the great cause of opposing the Qing, so he wouldn’t refute and was even prepared to use this as a stepping stone to accept Wu Changqing’s invitation.

Chapter 18: Persuasion

What moved Gu Yanwu was not only his desire to resist the Qing, but also his admiration for Wu Changqing’s abilities.

To be able to overcome the odds and kill several thousand Qing soldiers.

Such ability was extremely rare. At least, none of the previous rebel armies had produced such a capable person.

The only slightly negative aspect was that Wu Changqing gave him the impression of being somewhat aggressive and impetuous. Of course, in chaotic times, such a personality might not be a bad thing, as it was at least full of vigor and wouldn’t cause him to be as terrified as other Ming soldiers at the mere mention of the Eight Banner troops.

“General, your words make me feel ashamed,” Gu Yanwu sighed.

Seeing that he was showing signs of relenting, Wu Changqing continued to strike while the iron was hot, saying, “I wonder where your mother’s memorial tablet is located. I would like to pay my respects and apologize to her.”

Wu Changqing was giving him an out. In the future, when people talked about this, he could say that he was forced by Wu Changqing to rebel and that he didn’t want to violate mourning.

“This way, please.”

Gu Yanwu led Wu Changqing to the ancestral hall, which was filled with memorial tablets.

The Gu family was a prominent clan in Jiangdong. Gu Yanwu was adopted by his childless and deceased uncle at a young age and was raised by his adoptive mother, Lady Wang, from childhood.

In the Battle of Kunshan, Gu Yanwu not only lost his biological mother but also two younger brothers. His adoptive mother, Lady Wang, starved herself to death after hearing about the fall of Changshu.

It could be said that Gu Yanwu’s hatred for the Qing court was even deeper than Wu Changqing’s.

After paying his respects, Wu Changqing changed his tone and said, “Please don’t take offense, sir. I am naturally impatient. Please forgive me if I have offended you in any way.”

“Not at all. What the General said is true. There is no need to worry about it,” Gu Yanwu said.

“Then let’s talk about how to govern Jiading and other places. To be honest, I am confident in achieving continuous victories in military affairs. However, I urgently need help in governing the region.”

Wu Changqing’s confident words made Gu Yanwu feel strange.

Usually, only ignorant brutes liked to say such arrogant things, but Wu Changqing didn’t seem like a brute. He had indeed created miracles in military affairs.

“Governing a region can be difficult or easy…”

As Gu Yanwu spoke, he took out several books, which were his previous writings for the Hongguang court: On Military Systems, On Agricultural Works, On Strategic Situations, and On Monetary Laws.

He addressed the various shortcomings of the Southern Ming, proposing a series of military and financial reforms based on the strategic situation.

Unfortunately, these measures were never implemented, and the Hongguang regime was quickly destroyed by the Qing army like paper.

Of course, even if it hadn’t been destroyed, Gu Yanwu’s strategies would not have been implemented. Too many vested interests were involved, and they would have inevitably attracted a lot of opposition.

Wu Changqing looked at On Strategic Situations and On Monetary Laws. As for the strategic situation, Gu Yanwu was limited by the era and didn’t see things very clearly.

The book stated that as long as the Southern Ming did this and that, it could still form a north-south confrontation with the Qing court and have a chance to launch a northern expedition to recover the north.

History had proven that this view was a joke. The truth was that the Southern Ming was vulnerable. It couldn’t even defend the south, let alone launch a counterattack.

Of course, Gu Yanwu’s vision was already first-class for this era, but he couldn’t compare to Wu Changqing, who knew the course of history.

As for On Monetary Laws, it contained some policies to increase fiscal revenue.

The decline of the Ming Dynasty was largely due to a lack of money. A superpower with a population of over one hundred million had an annual tax revenue of less than four million taels of silver.

Without money, the army couldn’t fight. The garrison soldiers completely lost their combat effectiveness because they had no money. Where did all the money go? It basically flowed into the hands of those large landowners and officials.

Wu Changqing had only just started his uprising, and his troops were still relying on enthusiasm, so it was okay not to pay them for the time being. However, he knew that this couldn’t last long, and it was better to pay them as soon as possible.

After all, enthusiasm could only last for a while, not forever. Moreover, only a small number of people were truly enthusiastic. Most soldiers were serving for the sake of food and wages.

Without money, this army couldn’t last long.

“Sir, you are a great talent. I need someone like you to help me. I hope you can come out of seclusion,” Wu Changqing said.

Some of the administrative systems and measures proposed by Gu Yanwu were, in Wu Changqing’s view, relatively backward.

However, he didn’t point them out. He didn’t have the energy or the conditions to carry out reforms. He needed to focus on military affairs. Once he had a firm foothold, he would have plenty of time to reform.

For now, he would let Gu Yanwu do as he pleased, as long as he could maintain the stability of the controlled areas and raise supplies for him.

“I am honored by the General’s high regard. I will do my best to support the Ming Dynasty.”

Gu Yanwu bowed.

At this point, Wu Changqing finally smiled.

Although he had to invite him personally, at least he didn’t have to be as miserable as Liu Bei, who had to visit three times.

Of course, Gu Yanwu couldn’t compare to Zhuge Liang either.

“It is a blessing for the people of the world that you are thinking of them,” Wu Changqing praised.

Having made his decision, Gu Yanwu then brought a few servants and set off with Wu Changqing. He knew that rebellion was a dangerous thing, and the longer Wu Changqing stayed here, the greater the danger.

Back in Kunshan, Wu Changqing introduced Gu Yanwu to the other civil officials in the city. However, Wu Changqing was now fighting under the banner of “Overthrow the Qing, Restore the Ming” and respected the Ming Dynasty, so he didn’t have the authority to officially appoint Gu Yanwu to a position.

He could only give Gu Yanwu the nominal title of Acting Governor of Wusong and send someone to the Southern court to request an official appointment.

Communication in this era was extremely backward. It would take at least ten days to half a month for the message to go back and forth.

However, this didn’t matter much. Anyway, Wu Changqing had designated Gu Yanwu to be in charge of the internal affairs of several counties around Kunshan, and no one dared to openly object.

In chaotic times, whoever had the guns was the boss.

Naturally, some of the original civil officials were dissatisfied with the arrival of Gu Yanwu, but because Gu Yanwu was well-known, they didn’t dare to express it directly.

If it had been an unknown person, the original civil officials would probably have been unconvinced and resorted to some petty tricks to make things difficult.

The Ming Dynasty’s civil officials were good at nothing else but factional struggles. It could be said that factional struggles were a very important reason for the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Changqing was in no mood to play power struggles with these civil officials, so he simply handed these troublesome matters over to Gu Yanwu.

If Gu Yanwu couldn’t even handle the civil officials of a few small counties, then it would prove that the historical records were wrong and that he was actually overrated.

Chapter 19: The Tang-Lu Rivalry

As night fell, Wu Changqing, attended by his maid Xiaoyu, went to bed to rest. Looking at Xiaoyu’s figure, he couldn’t help but feel a stirring of desire.

Unknowingly, he had been in this world for over half a month.

During this time, his mind had been under intense pressure, and he hadn’t thought about women for over half a month. In his previous life, this would have been unthinkable.

He wasn’t some innocent man or a virtuous gentleman; one might even say he was a bit of a lecher.

However, when his life was threatened, he had become uncharacteristically detached.

Now that the situation was slowly improving, especially with people taking care of internal affairs, he was starting to have time to let his mind wander.

However, although he felt desire, he didn’t choose to have Xiaoyu serve him.

He knew that he would eventually have many, many women, and each one would be an exceptional beauty, the greatest perk of being a transmigrator.

Xiaoyu’s looks were only average, similar to girls on the street in later generations. Not ugly, but not beautiful either.

Wu Changqing could control himself with this level of attractiveness. He didn’t want to take advantage of her because of a moment of lust. He didn’t like Xiaoyu and would never give her any status.

As the supreme ruler of a power, the women he had been with would certainly be unwanted by others. Therefore, if he took Xiaoyu, she would spend the rest of her life in virtual widowhood, which was too cruel for a woman.

As a twenty-first-century person, Wu Changqing couldn’t do such a thing. He preferred to be patient and wait for a suitable target.

News traveled particularly slowly in ancient times, especially during times of chaos.

It wasn’t until September 20th that the news of Wu Changqing’s great victory over the Qing army in Jiading, where he had killed over two thousand Qing soldiers, reached Shaoxing and the ears of Prince Lu, Zhu Yihai.

“Our Ming Dynasty still has no shortage of loyal and righteous people,” Zhu Yihai exclaimed.

Since the Qing army entered the pass, he had lost count of the generals who had surrendered; there were simply too many. Now that someone steadfastly resisting the Qing had finally emerged, Zhu Yihai was even somewhat moved.

“Is this Wu Changqing from my Shaoxing?” Zhu Yihai asked.

“Your Majesty, this Wu Changqing is from Wuzhuang Village in Shangyu County, Shaoxing. He is only sixteen years old this year and rose up against the Qing in Jiading this year with his father, Wu Zhiban. Unfortunately, his father died for his country. In the face of danger, he led the remaining several hundred righteous men to defend Jiading, defeating the strong with the weak and killing over three hundred Qing soldiers.

After that, he raided the Qing army camp at night, killing over a thousand Qing soldiers and capturing hundreds, eliminating over two thousand Qing soldiers in total.”

Grand Scholar Zhang Guowei seemed quite excited as he spoke. The Ming Dynasty hadn’t achieved such a victory in a long time. Moreover, Wu Changqing had defeated the strong with the weak.

“What a young hero! Immediately send someone to Wuzhuang to bestow rewards, ennobling Wu Zhiban’s wife as a Third-Rank Imperial Honoree and appointing Wu Changqing as the Wusong garrison commander, in charge of all military affairs in Wusong.”

Zhu Yihai knew that once the news of Wu Changqing’s great victory over the Qing army reached Fuzhou, the Longwu Emperor would definitely bestow generous rewards to win him over, so he chose to act first.

Now, he and the Longwu Emperor had already broken off relations and were irreconcilable.

Both were descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang, and both wanted to shoulder the responsibility of saving the Ming Dynasty, create a legend, and rule the Central Plains.

However, Zhu Yihai was currently at a disadvantage in the struggle for legitimacy because the Longwu Emperor had announced his regency earlier than him, and the Longwu Emperor had already gained recognition from Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, and parts of Jiangxi and Hunan.

And he had only gained recognition from a small area in northeastern Zhejiang. Some people in the court even hoped that he could abdicate and relinquish his regency status for the sake of the country, supporting the Longwu Emperor.

He had previously reluctantly announced his abandonment of the regency status due to the situation, but Zhang Guowei and others who supported him had pushed him back to the position of regent, refusing to recognize the Longwu court.

Zhu Yihai himself was unwilling to give up the regency and the opportunity to conquer the Central Plains. Therefore, he now regarded the Longwu court as an enemy.

To prevent Wu Changqing from siding with the Longwu court, he chose to bestow titles first.

“Should we also order Wu Changqing to lead his troops to attack Li Chengdong’s forces from the rear to relieve the siege of Hangzhou?”

Zhang Guowei asked. The situation in Hangzhou was currently very unfavorable, as it was being attacked by Li Chengdong’s forces. Hangzhou was too important to them; with Hangzhou as a bridgehead, they could advance or retreat.

If they lost Hangzhou, they would have to defend along the river, and even Shaoxing would become unsafe.

“Yes, let’s do that. Being behind enemy lines is always too dangerous. Retreating to Hangzhou would also provide an additional escape route.”

Zhu Yihai’s words sounded good, but Zhang Guowei understood that he simply wanted Wu Changqing’s troops to be closer to him so that he could control them.

The news of Wu Changqing’s great victory over the Qing army took a long time to travel from Jiading to Shaoxing, but the road from Shaoxing to Fuzhou was temporarily unaffected by the war, and the news reached Fuzhou and the Longwu Emperor, Zhu Yujian, in just two days.

Similar to Zhu Yihai’s reaction, Zhu Yujian felt a surge of warmth in his heart when he learned that there were righteous men loyal to the Ming Dynasty resisting behind enemy lines.

During this period, too many military officers had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, which made him feel disheartened and deflated.

“This righteous army is truly remarkable, actually defeating the strong with the weak and killing over two thousand Qing soldiers. We must make use of such capable people.”

Yang Minghua exclaimed.

“But this righteous army is thousands of miles away from us. How can we make use of them?”

Zhu Yujian’s words were somewhat deflated. His biggest problem now was that he had no troops to use.

The Fujian army was basically controlled by the great pirate Zheng Zhilong. On the surface, Zheng Zhilong was his subject, but in reality, he couldn’t command Zheng Zhilong’s army.

As for the armies in other places, he could usually command them to some extent, but it was hard to say when it came to critical moments.

Zhu Yujian desperately wanted an army under his own control so that he could seize power and then launch a northern expedition to recover the lost territories.

Unfortunately, Zheng Zhilong had always disagreed and didn’t give him the opportunity.

“Your Majesty can bestow titles upon them in the name of legitimacy and have them support us. As for the distance problem, we can let them develop and grow stronger in the southern Jiangsu area first. When we launch a northern expedition in the future, they can also attack Zhejiang with us from both sides. Moreover, their development in the southern Jiangsu area can also contain the Qing court’s forces and give us more breathing room,”

Yang Minghua said.

That being said, Yang Minghua didn’t have much hope for Wu Changqing. After all, Wu Changqing was surrounded by the Qing army and would find it difficult to accomplish anything.

He had previously had nearly one hundred thousand soldiers in Shandong but didn’t dare to develop in the Qing army’s territory. Instead, he chose to travel thousands of miles south, taking his army south, resulting in heavy losses.

Yang Minghua knew the power of the Qing army’s Eight Banners troops, so he didn’t have high hopes for Wu Changqing. He only hoped that Wu Changqing could hold out longer and contain the Qing army’s energy.

Chapter 20: Novices Pecking at Each Other

On the twenty-fifth day, Liu Da’han saw Wu Changqing for the second time, but this time it was in Kunshan, at the Jiading militia’s military camp.

To boost the confidence of Wu Yi and Liu Da’han, Wu Changqing invited Liu Da’han to observe their army’s training.

Liu Da’han was astonished to see the musket team marching in perfect unison.

Musket teams were rare even among regular troops, let alone militias, because muskets were difficult to manufacture and not very practical.

However, in Wu Changqing’s army, musket soldiers made up the vast majority.

Moreover, Wu Changqing’s musket soldiers were distinctly different from those of the Qing army. It was evident from their appearance alone that Wu Changqing’s muskets had bayonets attached.

With these bayonets, they could fight back even if the enemy got close, unlike other musket soldiers who either had to carry a saber or rely on the protection of friendly troops.

“Look at the firing rate of my muskets. How many men do you think the enemy will lose before they reach us?”

Wu Changqing ordered the soldiers to conduct a round of shooting practice. Liu Da’han then saw these musketeers quickly loading, firing, reloading, and firing again.

That speed was much faster than that of matchlock guns.

“These muskets are amazing! Where did you get them?” Liu Da’han asked in surprise.

“These are new-style muskets purchased from the West.”

“The West” referred to Western Europe. Western European colonization had been going on for over a century, and many Western Europeans had appeared in the Ming Dynasty.

Some insightful people had some understanding of the West.

Wu Changqing made up an excuse, and Liu Da’han didn’t suspect anything.

“With such a strong army, our chances of success have increased,” Liu Da’han said.

Wu Yi had already decided to cooperate with Wu Changqing’s plan, and he was sent this time to discuss the date of the operation.

After some discussion, the date was set for three days later.

In three days, Wu Yi would lead men to attack Wu Jiang County, and then Wu Changqing would lead his men to ambush the Qing army reinforcements on the road between Suzhou and Wu Jiang County.

In reality, it couldn’t really be called an ambush, because the terrain here made ambushes impossible.

There wasn’t even a slightly elevated hill to be found, let alone a narrow valley. There was no way to hide a large army. There were plenty of rivers, but the army couldn’t hide in the water, could they?

Not being able to set up an ambush wasn’t a big deal. As long as they could lure the Qing army out of the city, they would be successful. Wu Changqing believed that the Qing army probably didn’t understand the power of flintlock guns yet.

Therefore, if the two sides met in the open, they would definitely charge forward for a decisive battle instead of running away.

After a period of training, this musket army had shaped up somewhat and was ready for battle.

With the plan finalized, the next step was to prepare for war.

Fighting a war was not just about a group of people charging forward. There were many things to prepare beforehand, such as food, military equipment, supplies, and intelligence gathering.

In terms of food, Gu Yanwu had prepared enough for the army to use for ten days and had also organized a transportation team of one thousand people.

In terms of supplies, Gu Yanwu had also collected many siege ladders that were over ten meters long. The city walls of Suzhou were higher than those of Jiading, reaching over six meters.

Six meters, or about two stories high, didn’t seem very high. But if it were filled with soldiers holding broadswords, pouring boiling oil and molten gold, and throwing large stones, that height would be terrifying.

Trying to break through layers of defense and climb up a ladder was a suicidal task.

Suzhou wasn’t even a particularly important military town. Important cities like Nanjing had city walls that exceeded twelve meters. Even without anyone defending it, climbing to that height would be exhausting.

Yet, the Hongguang Emperor fled without a fight, and other Southern Ming officials surrendered without a fight. There was no reason for such a regime not to collapse.

The next day, Wu Changqing personally led the main force of two thousand men to Songling, which was the only route from Suzhou to Wu Jiang County.

As for Wu Yi, after confirming the time, over a hundred large ships set off from Yu Mountain Island, landed in Wu Jiang County, and headed towards the county town.

At this time, Wu Jiang County was just a small county town, not even as good as Jiading.

There were no regular troops in Wu Jiang County, only some patrolmen and local militia.

Upon learning that the Taihu Lake militia was coming to attack the city, the magistrate of Wu Jiang County, Liao Cheng, was terrified.

He wanted to escape, but he didn’t dare to.

If he ran away, his career would basically be over, and he might even lose his head.

Helpless, Liao Cheng could only send someone to Suzhou for help immediately, while arranging for the patrolmen and local militia to defend the city walls and hiring civilians to help defend the city walls with heavy rewards.

These days, many civilians had no sense of national identity. Some people couldn’t even tell whether the magistrate was a good person or the militia outside the city were good people.

There were also some people who were on the verge of starvation. Seeing the generous rewards, they didn’t care who was good or bad. They would help whoever paid them.

Through coercion and enticement, Liao Cheng managed to gather a team of over three hundred people on the city walls.

As for Wu Yi’s side, he only had a little over six hundred people.

Moreover, Wu Yi’s side was severely lacking in siege equipment and could only make some makeshift ones.

But that wasn’t important. His main goal was to scare Liao Cheng into asking Suzhou for help. As for whether he could capture Wu Jiang County, that didn’t matter.

However, he still had to put on a show. If he didn’t make it look realistic, how would Liao Cheng be fooled?

So, after making seven or eight ladders, Wu Yi ordered the attack on the city to begin.

“Hold steady, don’t panic! As long as we defend the county town, I will reward you handsomely afterward!”

Liao Cheng shouted on the city walls. He was afraid that these half-baked soldiers would collapse and run away as soon as they saw the enemy charging over. This was entirely possible.

The local militia on the city walls were a little better, after all, they knew that they would eventually have to go to the battlefield when they joined the militia. The patrolmen performed much worse. If you looked closely, you could see some people’s legs were shaking.

They became patrolmen just to bully honest civilians, how could they have the courage to fight with others?

As for those temporarily recruited civilians, their performance was even worse.

If there weren’t soldiers watching them, they would probably turn around and run away right now.

While their performance was terrible, Wu Yi’s side wasn’t much better.

Except for that core group of people who fearlessly charged forward, most of the others were hesitant and timid.

This wasn’t just a fight, but a war. The two were completely different.

The militia rushed to the bottom of the city walls, but no one on the city walls fired arrows, because they had no archers. The ladders were placed against the city walls, and instead of throwing stones, the people on the city walls tried to push the ladders away.

This baffling operation almost made Liao Cheng faint on the spot.

“Throw stones! Throw stones and hit them!” Liao Cheng roared, and then someone finally reacted, picking up basketball-sized stones and throwing them at the militia.

The militia also had no archers and couldn’t suppress the defenders on the city walls. They could only watch helplessly as those people threw stones and had no choice but to climb faster.

The advantage of standing high on the city walls was too great. Several stones were thrown down, and immediately some unlucky people were hit.

Those who died on the spot were fine, but those who were injured and didn’t die screamed miserably, which was the most deadly.

Seeing the miserable state of those people, the morale of the militia plummeted.

“Don’t retreat! Da’han, lead the men and charge up!”

Seeing that his subordinates intended to retreat, Wu Yi was as angry as Liao Cheng. They were already thinking of retreating after only two people died. They were too useless.

This battle was completely a case of novices pecking at each other.

Chapter 21: Ambush Reinforcements

Liu Da’han gritted his teeth, leading a few die-hard followers as they charged forward, shouting all the way to prevent anyone from retreating.

Reaching the base of a ladder, Liu Da’han clamped his greatsword between his teeth, raised a small round shield in one hand, and began to climb with the other.

He moved quickly, scrambling up the ladder in a few swift movements amidst the chaos. He tossed aside the shield, swung his greatsword in a wide arc. Two constables responsible for defending that section of the wall hastily retreated, afraid of being grazed by the blade.

Liu Da’han leaped onto the wall, glaring fiercely at the others. His menacing appearance actually intimidated them, and no one dared to attack.

This delay allowed two more militiamen to climb onto the wall using the ladder.

A proper battle was being reduced to a street brawl where the toughest thug wins.

The city wall was the defenders’ psychological line. Once someone breached it, it meant they were no longer safe, and their psychological defenses collapsed.

The constables were the first to flee, each one trying to outdo the others in slipperiness.

The civilians who had come to assist in the defense weren’t stupid either. Seeing the situation, they wondered what was the point of defending and fled as well. The few dozen militiamen remaining were completely outmatched in numbers and morale by the hundreds of militiamen.

“Sir, let’s retreat!”

The militia instructor, seeing that the situation was hopeless, urged Liao Cheng to flee quickly.

Liao Cheng, no longer concerned about his future prospects, hastily fled with his family guards.

He knew that these militiamen deeply hated officials who helped the Qing court enslave the people. If captured, he would face certain death.

When Liao Cheng and the militia began to retreat, all resistance on the city wall completely collapsed. Some fled, while others knelt and begged for mercy.

Subsequently, Wu Yi seized control of the small county town.

The entire battle was only like a real war at the very beginning. The rest of the time, it was more like villagers fighting over water.

By the end of the battle, the militiamen had only lost five men, with a dozen or so wounded. On the Qing army side, only a dozen or so had died, with the rest either fleeing or surrendering.

“Hahaha, I didn’t expect it to be so easy to capture the county town. If I had known, we would have come here sooner!”

Liu Da’han laughed loudly, not caring that his left arm was still bleeding. He had been cut during the battle, but it wasn’t a serious wound.

“Capturing it is easy, but holding it is difficult. These are just local constables and militia, they can’t compare to the Qing army, let alone the Eight Banner troops. Next, it depends on the militiamen in Jiading. If they can’t hold on, we’ll have to retreat as well.”

Wu Yi had more experience and knew that this victory was insignificant.

“They should be fine. I saw that their troops were well-organized and well-trained, a crack force. Moreover, their muskets are very powerful. If we could get some, that would be great.”

Liu Da’han said.

Wu Jiang County was very close to Suzhou, only a dozen kilometers away. It would only take about an hour to get there on horseback.

Before Wu Yi even started attacking the city, Liao Cheng had already sent someone to Suzhou for help.

By the time Wu Yi had completely taken control of Wu Jiang County, Wu Shengzhao, who was stationed in Suzhou, had also received the news that Wu Jiang County was under siege.

“These lowly people are really restless.”

Wu Shengzhao sighed. Wu Changqing in Jiading had caused a great uproar recently, and now Wu Yi had emerged in Wu Jiang County. The entire Wusong area had been restless from June until now.

First Jiangyin, then Jiading, various rebellions followed one after another. And all of this was because the Qing court wanted the people to shave their heads.

Wu Shengzhao also couldn’t understand this idiotic policy. What was the point? The people were already paying taxes and submitting to them, so why force them to shave their heads?

Whether he understood it or not, it was a matter for the superiors. He was just a small figure who couldn’t do anything about it and could only follow orders.

“Sir, Wu Jiang County is under our jurisdiction, we can’t just abandon it.”

Deputy General Cao Hu said.

“Of course I know, but Wu Changqing’s rebels are currently in Kunshan, not far from us. I’m afraid they will take the opportunity to attack Suzhou.”

After learning that Wu Changqing had killed more than two thousand Qing soldiers, Wu Shengzhao immediately regarded Wu Changqing as the number one enemy and was constantly on guard.

As for Li Chengdong asking him to take the initiative to suppress the bandits, he completely ignored it. What a joke! He only had three thousand men. If he sent them all out to suppress the bandits, what would happen to Suzhou?

Moreover, Li Chengdong’s two thousand men had been defeated. His three thousand men wouldn’t necessarily have much of an advantage.

Wu Shengzhao didn’t expect to recover Kunshan, Jiading, and other places. He was only focused on defending his Suzhou. As for Wu Changqing, he would wait for the imperial army to arrive.

“For defending the city, more than a thousand men are enough.”

Cao Hu reminded him that with Suzhou’s high walls, more than a thousand soldiers, plus temporarily conscripted laborers, could easily defend against three or four thousand troops. And did Wu Changqing have three or four thousand men? Obviously not.

Wu Shengzhao thought for a while and finally decided to let Cao Hu lead one thousand five hundred men to relieve Wu Jiang County.

After all, Wu Jiang County was under his jurisdiction. Allowing the militiamen to occupy it would be a dereliction of his duty and would affect his future.

Songling. Wu Changqing was leading one thousand musketeers, hiding in the woods of a hill.

Liu Hansan, Li Shaobin, and Wang Dayong’s troops were hiding further behind. Their task was to wait for the musketeers to engage the enemy, then surround them from the rear and both sides to capture prisoners.

Wu Changqing wanted not only to defeat the enemy but also to completely eliminate this force, not allowing them to escape back to Suzhou.

It wasn’t until the afternoon that a scout came to report that Qing troops had been spotted ahead, numbering about one thousand five hundred men.

“Only one thousand five hundred.”

Wu Changqing was slightly disappointed. This number was less than he had expected. The more enemy troops annihilated in the field, the easier the upcoming siege would be.

“Prepare for battle.”

Wu Changqing ordered. The militiamen rose, formed ranks, and then walked down the hill, facing the Qing army head-on.

“Centurion Cao, we’ve spotted an unidentified army ahead, numbering nearly one thousand, almost everyone with a musket.”

A sentry quickly reported.

“What banner are they flying?” Cao Hu asked.

“The Wu character.”

“Then they must be rebels. Apart from our general, there are no generals with the surname Wu in the Wusong army. The two rebel leaders both have the surname Wu.”

Cao Hu quickly identified the enemy. He even knew that this army should be Wu Changqing’s musketeers because only Wu Changqing’s army was equipped with a large number of muskets.

“Sir, what should we do?”

A centurion asked.

“What else can we do? Of course, we charge up and annihilate them.”

Cao Hu snorted disdainfully. Although Wu Changqing had previously annihilated two thousand Qing soldiers, that was due to the factors of defending the city and night attacks.

In Cao Hu’s view, those militiamen who had not received formal training would collapse as soon as they entered melee combat. He had seen this many times and had experience.

As for those muskets, he didn’t care about them at all.

He knew the advantages and disadvantages of muskets very well. As long as they endured one round of losses and charged in front of the enemy, those muskets would become useless sticks.

Based on this judgment, Cao Hu ordered his men to charge towards the enemy.

Chapter 22: Crushing Defeat

Cao Hu’s decision aligned perfectly with Wu Changqing’s intentions, and he also directed his troops to meet the enemy head-on.

However, upon closer inspection, a difference in their advance speeds became apparent. The Qing army moved slightly faster, while the rebel army maintained a more orderly pace.

When the distance between the two sides narrowed to less than two hundred meters, Wu Changqing ordered a halt and prepared for firing.

Due to the limited width of the battlefield, the rebel army formed three horizontal lines, each with approximately three hundred soldiers, employing a volley fire technique.

The first row of soldiers fired and immediately retreated to the rear to reload, followed by the second row, and then the third.

Although this reduced the density of firepower, it ensured sustained fire. However, coordinating volley fire effectively was not easy. After ten days of training, they were only barely qualified.

Some soldiers were slow at reloading, which affected the speed of the entire formation. But there was no other way; reality was not a war game where a click of a button could turn soldiers into elite troops.

In reality, becoming an elite soldier required time and dedication. Some soldiers, lacking the necessary aptitude, would never become elite, no matter how much they trained.

With a pia sound of gunfire, Cao Hu burst into laughter, “As expected, they are just a rabble. Firing from this distance with no accuracy at all. Will they even have a chance to reload? Order the charge!”

Cao Hu couldn’t understand how Zhang Yuqin and the others had been defeated by such a disorganized mob.

At a distance of just over one hundred meters, a charge would take only twenty or thirty seconds. And with old-fashioned muskets, thirty seconds wasn’t even enough time to reload.

As soon as the order to charge was given, another volley of gunfire echoed across the battlefield.

However, Cao Hu still didn’t pay attention. His army was already surging forward.

During the charge, more than a dozen Qing soldiers fell. However, these casualties were still within their acceptable range.

But as the distance closed, more and more Qing soldiers fell.

Moreover, the silence they expected never came; the gunfire continued incessantly.

What was going on?

Many soldiers felt uneasy, but during the charge, they didn’t have time to think too much and could only instinctively follow the commands of their squad and platoon leaders.

In the blink of an eye, they were less than ten meters away from the rebel army, about to engage in close combat.

At this moment, many soldiers in the rebel army began to feel nervous. Everyone feared melee combat. Once a melee broke out, survival would depend on luck.

“Final volley!”

Wu Changqing shouted from his horse.

Subsequently, the three rows of soldiers squeezed together, raised their guns, and fired simultaneously. After firing, they thrust their spears forward, preparing for a bayonet charge.

However, their preparations seemed a bit unnecessary.

The final volley unleashed nearly one thousand bullets at a distance of less than ten meters.

For the first time on Chinese soil, a scene of mass execution by firing squad unfolded. Almost all the Qing soldiers at the front fell, more than three hundred in total.

The sight of hundreds of men falling together terrified the Qing soldiers behind them. Even though they were only ten meters away from the rebel army, no one dared to move forward.

Those who had not been hit in vital areas were wailing, their cries as miserable as could be.

Some cowardly and quick-witted individuals immediately turned and fled. What the hell were they fighting for? They hadn’t even touched the enemy, and nearly four hundred of their own were already gone, almost a third of their force.

No one dared to participate in a battle with such a casualty rate.

That was a minor issue; the key was the horrific sight of hundreds of people falling together, like the end of the world. Soldiers who had never experienced such carnage couldn’t handle it psychologically.

As those in front turned to run, those behind, unaware of the situation, instinctively followed suit. Even some of the braver ones who were still charging forward faltered when they saw the bodies ahead and the rebel army’s gleaming bayonets.

“Blow the whistle, launch the charge!”

Wu Changqing ordered. Immediately, a guard took up an iron whistle and blew it, which was much more convenient than a command flag.

On the other side, Cao Hu had been dumbfounded when he saw his soldiers falling. He didn’t issue orders to stop the collapse of his troops in time.

He was in a state of panic, unsure how to respond to this sudden turn of events.

“Don’t retreat! Don’t retreat! Keep charging!”

Only a few centurions were still shouting loudly. Although they had suffered heavy casualties, they still had the advantage in numbers. Moreover, they had more experience in melee combat if they could just close the distance.

But none of that mattered. Soldiers and officers had completely different perspectives. Officers only cared about victory; the number of soldiers lost was just a number, and they could always recruit more later.

Soldiers, on the other hand, prioritized their own lives, with victory being a secondary concern. If the chances of dying were too high, they wouldn’t be willing to trade their lives for victory.

After all, the benefits of victory mostly went to the officials; they wouldn’t get much.

Whether in the age of cold weapons or the age of hot weapons, morale was crucial.

The Qing army’s morale plummeted. Despite still having strength, they only wanted to escape. Their cowardly behavior boosted the rebel army’s confidence, leading to a surge in morale. Some soldiers who had been afraid now felt that war was not so daunting after all.

They coordinated their charge to pursue the fleeing enemy. Chasing down an army that didn’t resist was probably the soldiers’ favorite thing to do.

“Hold the line! Goddamn it, hold the line!”

Some people still wanted to salvage the situation. One centurion even led his guards to fight the rebel army.

Their individual strength might have been greater than that of the rebel soldiers, but they were too few in number.

As soon as they charged in front of the rebel army, bayonets thrust at them from the front and sides. They could dodge one, but not the other.

Soon, this last resisting force of the Qing army was wiped out, and the Qing army entered a full rout. Even Cao Hu and several centurions began to lead the escape.

They all understood that things had reached a point where even a god couldn’t save them.

The Qing army fled in front, and the rebel army pursued from behind.

Some Qing soldiers who couldn’t run fast enough, whose legs gave out, or who accidentally tripped fell behind and were either stabbed to death or taken prisoner.

However, these people at least delayed the rebel army’s pursuit.

Cao Hu, who had escaped to the front, breathed a sigh of relief and wanted to stop to gather the remnants of his army. But then a musket team appeared in front of him, although only three hundred strong. However, the Qing soldiers, already terrified by the muskets, didn’t dare to charge.

Immediately, some Qing soldiers knelt on the ground, surrendering themselves to fate.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to escape, but their physical strength was limited.

People in this era were generally malnourished, weak, and had poor stamina. After running wildly for several hundred meters, they had no energy left to run.

If they ran any further, they would collapse and die even if no one was chasing them.

Some of those with slightly better stamina began to flee to the sides. They were just unsure whether surrendering would lead to abuse and execution. If they knew that surrendering was safe, they would probably have sat down to rest long ago.

Cao Hu, because he had a horse to ride, was naturally full of energy. He turned his direction and fled west with a few guards.

However, they hadn’t run far before they discovered another army of over three hundred men in the west. Although this army no longer carried the terrifying muskets, the exhausted Qing soldiers had no fighting spirit left.

Another group of Qing soldiers knelt down and surrendered. Cao Hu had no choice but to turn his horse and run east.

Then, in the east, he encountered Wang Dayong’s troops.

Cao Hu suddenly felt dizzy and fell off his horse. He had simply fainted from anger. He never imagined that Wu Changqing would have so many troops and would have deployed them all here to ambush him.

This was too much!

Chapter 23: Meeting

After a battle, the actual decisive engagement only lasted a few minutes. The rest of the time was spent capturing prisoners all over the mountains and fields.

In the end, Wu Changqing had a headache looking at the large group of dejected prisoners.

In this battle, they killed and wounded a total of over four hundred and fifty Qing soldiers. Among them, about one hundred lightly wounded could be saved, and over nine hundred were captured alive.

This number of over one thousand people was too much. Wu Changqing didn’t know what to do with them all at once.

Killing them was definitely out of the question. He wasn’t that cruel, and these soldiers weren’t guilty of any heinous crimes.

But if he didn’t kill them, he would have to spare one or two hundred men just to guard this group of prisoners, and the amount of food consumed by these one thousand plus people in a day was not a small amount.

He was already short of manpower to attack Suzhou, so where would he get the troops to guard these prisoners?

“General, we’ve caught a big fish.”

Just as Wu Changqing was worrying, Wang Dayong escorted Cao Hu up to claim credit.

This was a chiliarch, not a small official.

“What’s your name? What’s the situation in Suzhou city right now?”

Wu Changqing asked.

At this time, Cao Hu had recovered his senses. He carefully sized up Wu Changqing and cautiously replied with surprise, “Defeated general Cao Hu, a chiliarch under Vice-Admiral Wu. There are still over one thousand five hundred soldiers in Suzhou city, plus other patrolmen and the like, there are still nearly two thousand defenders.”

When you’re under the eaves, you have to bow your head. Cao Hu was very honest at this moment.

“Let’s return to Wu Jiang County and discuss it further.”

From Cao Hu’s mouth, Wu Changqing learned some intelligence about Suzhou.

After learning that there were still nearly two thousand defenders in Suzhou, Wu Changqing knew that the siege couldn’t be rushed, so he simply went to Wu Jiang County to join forces with Wu Yi first.

And these prisoners were also brought to Wu Jiang County in one go.

Wu Jiang County.

When Wu Yi learned that Wu Changqing had won another great victory, he was also very moved.

He felt that it was extremely difficult for others to win a battle, but Wu Changqing seemed to be able to win a great victory as long as he took action.

Wu Yi was already looking forward to meeting this somewhat legendary Wu Changqing.

In the evening, Wu Changqing’s army arrived at Wu Jiang County, and Wu Changqing and Wu Yi finally met for the first time.

Wu Changqing looked at Wu Yi, who looked nearly forty years old, burly, and a very mature middle-aged man.

Wu Yi was also looking at Wu Changqing. His first impression was that he was young. Even if Wu Changqing was wearing armor, he couldn’t hide the youthfulness of his appearance.

“Old Brother Wu worked hard to take Wu Jiang County. You deserve the credit for this battle.”

Although Wu Changqing looked young, he exuded a mature and steady temperament, which made Wu Yi even more admired. This kind of temperament and aura were honed by experience.

One can imagine how many hardships Wu Changqing had experienced. In later generations’ words, Wu Changqing was someone with a story.

“General Wu, you praise me too much. Compared to the general’s achievements, my little victory is insignificant.”

Although Wu Changqing called him “Old Brother,” Wu Yi didn’t dare to be presumptuous. In troubled times, whoever has more soldiers and stronger strength is the boss.

Although everyone was part of the rebel army, his rebel army was far inferior to Wu Changqing’s in terms of strength and achievements.

Therefore, Wu Yi also consciously put himself in the position of a subordinate, ready to listen to Wu Changqing’s dispatch. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to try to interfere with the leading power just because Wu Changqing was young.

“Past achievements are in the past. We still need to focus on the present. This siege of Suzhou requires us to work together to have a chance of winning.”

The two entered the city, talking and laughing. Several generals under Wu Yi kept looking at Wu Changqing’s musket army. It is said that several great victories were due to this invincible musket army.

The most direct feature of these musket soldiers was the muskets with bayonets, followed by their mental outlook. Each soldier was unsmiling, marching in neat steps, completely unlike other soldiers who had won battles and were complacent.

From this point, Wu Yi’s subordinates felt that this was a strong army.

In the evening, Wu Yi hosted a banquet, and several important generals gathered together to drink and eat meat, celebrating this great victory.

“General Wu is truly a hero of this era. When I was sixteen, I was still studying in a daze.”

Wu Yi continued to praise Wu Changqing. It was really terrifying to achieve such achievements at this age.

“Heroes are only born in troubled times. If we can exchange it for peace in the world, I would not want to be this hero. Everything I do is forced by the situation.

Now that the Central Plains has fallen into the hands of the Manchus, if we don’t stand up again, our Han people will really have no hope.”

“Well said, if we can exchange it for peace in the world, I don’t care about this name of hero.”

Wu Yi praised again. Imperceptibly, he was also impressed by Wu Changqing’s personal charm.

Every leader has extraordinary personal charm. For example, Liu Bei, who sold straw sandals, no matter what difficulties he was in, relied on his personal charm, and there was always a group of talents who insisted on following him.

No matter what Cao Cao gave Guan Yu, Guan Yu was not moved.

Another example is Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang, in short, every awesome person can rely on his own charm to attract a large number of people to work for him.

Generally speaking, this thing is probably the so-called protagonist halo.

Wu Changqing is not so awesome yet. For example, Cao Hu did not shout to surrender and be loyal as soon as he saw him. However, this personal charm on him is also growing unconsciously.

Like Liu Hansan and Wu Yi, they have been impressed by Wu Changqing in their hearts.

After a celebration, everyone began to discuss the battle tomorrow.

In order to prevent the Qing court’s reinforcements from arriving, they need to take Suzhou as soon as possible.

“The city walls of Suzhou are high and large, it is really difficult for us to rely on this little manpower.” Wu Yi sighed.

“General, I think we can select some surrendered soldiers who are willing to actively join us to expand our army. Most of these surrendered soldiers will not be loyal to the Qing court. In short, whoever gives them food and pays them, they will work for whoever.”

Liu Hansan said, he is now thinking about expanding the army, expanding the army and then expanding the army. Only by expanding the army can his power and status rise.

“I think this method is feasible, and even those squad leaders and platoon leaders can be recruited. As long as they are shuffled and distributed to various departments, they will not cause any trouble.”

Li Shaobin also agreed with this suggestion, because this is basically a common method for dealing with prisoners in this era.

The combat effectiveness of this kind of army composed of prisoners is very limited, but it is better than nothing. Moreover, a large number of people responsible for guarding can be saved.

“This is feasible, we will incorporate some tomorrow.”

Wu Changqing doesn’t like armies composed of prisoners, they are unreliable. However, it takes time to recruit and train soldiers into an army, and he is short of time now, so he can only do this.

Chapter 24: Surrender Negotiations

The next day, of the nine hundred or so uninjured prisoners, nearly eight hundred were persuaded to join the cause. The remaining hundred-plus expressed their unwillingness to serve as soldiers any longer.

Wu Changqing wasn’t sure if they were telling the truth or just wanted to be released and return to Suzhou, so he chose to temporarily detain these hundred-odd individuals.

He would only release them after he had control of Suzhou.

Besides the common soldiers, most of the squad leaders and platoon leaders also chose to surrender. These low-ranking officers were essentially the same as the soldiers, joining the army just to make a living.

It was different for the centurions. The imperial court had records of them, and they had more to consider. For example, would their families be executed by the Qing court if they surrendered? And how long could Wu Changqing’s rebel army last? Would surrendering now lead to their annihilation by the Qing Dynasty’s main forces?

Of the six centurions, only two expressed their willingness to pledge allegiance.

As for Cao Hu, when asked if he was willing to surrender, he chose silence.

He was afraid of being killed if he refused, but also afraid of being held accountable by the Qing court later.

Wu Changqing didn’t have time to waste on him, so he had him imprisoned for now.

Those soldiers who had already surrendered were divided among the forces of Liu Hansan (two hundred), Li Shaobin (two hundred), Wang Dayong (two hundred), and the rest were assigned to Wu Yi’s army.

At this point, Wu Changqing had over three thousand five hundred soldiers under his command. Of course, only the one thousand musketeer troops directly under his command were elite.

The troops under Liu Hansan and the others were slightly inferior, while Wu Yi’s troops were the weakest. His army hadn’t received any formal military training, relying solely on enthusiasm and individual bravery in battle.

With the cards he had, Guo Ziming had to be included, even if just to boost morale.

The army marched straight towards Suzhou. Before they had even reached halfway, Wu Shengzhao in Suzhou had already received the news.

Some soldiers had escaped from Cao Hu’s crushing defeat yesterday and returned to Suzhou to report.

Upon learning of Cao Hu’s disastrous defeat and the near-total annihilation of his forces, Wu Shengzhao nearly coughed up blood.

That was over one thousand five hundred men, half of his forces, gone just like that. His biggest regret was that Cao Hu hadn’t escaped, otherwise, he could have chopped the guy into pieces to vent his anger.

The situation was already unfavorable, and now with half of his main force lost, Wu Shengzhao had no confidence in holding Suzhou. He immediately sent urgent letters to Changzhou, requesting Liu Liangzuo to send troops to reinforce him.

At the same time, he wrote to Hong Chengchou, who was coordinating the overall situation in Jiangnan from Nanjing, hoping that he would pay attention to the rebel army in Jiading.

If these powerful rebels weren’t eliminated early, it would be troublesome when they grew stronger.

He had done everything he could, and now it was just a matter of waiting for reinforcements.

He knew that Wu Changqing would attack Suzhou soon, but he didn’t expect it to be so fast.

“Have men immediately go to the city walls. Mr. Dai, how many local militia have you recruited to assist in defending the city?”

After giving the order, Wu Shengzhao asked his strategist, Dai Zhijun.

“Only a little over two hundred. The people, knowing that the attackers of Suzhou are the Jiading rebels, are unwilling to assist in defending the city.”

Dai Zhijun lied. In reality, he was deliberately not recruiting more local militia.

The reason was simple: he was a man who still yearned for the Ming Dynasty.

Historically, he would persuade and encourage Wu Shengzhao to rebel against the Qing in a few years. He had followed Wu Shengzhao in surrendering to the Qing only because he had no choice. He was just a scholar and couldn’t influence the overall situation.

But now, he was secretly providing assistance to the rebel army.

“These lowly people, what is to be done?” Wu Shengzhao was both angry and anxious.

“General, I see that the people still have their hearts set on the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty’s fate is not yet sealed. Why don’t we follow the trend and take the opportunity to revolt, earning glory and wealth for the Ming Dynasty?”

Dai Zhijun urged.

Wu Shengzhao shook his head upon hearing this. “The Ming Dynasty cannot defeat the Manchus. You’ve seen the power of those Banner troops. Look at the Ming side, is there anyone capable?”

Wu Shengzhao was neither loyal to the Qing nor loyal to the Ming. He was a pure pragmatist, doing whatever was beneficial to him.

Therefore, even though Dai Zhijun was encouraging him to revolt, he wasn’t angry at all.

However, he wasn’t stupid either, and had his own judgment.

Judging from past battles, the Ming Dynasty was truly hopeless.

“Why doesn’t the General take a gamble? It is precisely because the Ming Dynasty is currently in dire straits that the General will surely be valued if he revolts. Continuing to serve the Qing, losing Suzhou would be a major offense, and defending it to the death would only be considered your duty. It won’t be easy for the General to rise through the ranks in the Qing court.”

Dai Zhijun continued to persuade him, and it wasn’t all just persuasion. Apart from the line about the Ming Dynasty’s fate not being sealed, everything else he said was the truth.

Now, anyone who stood up to support the Ming Dynasty could receive great rewards, possibly even being ennobled as a marquis or a king. But working for the Qing court, without any significant contributions, one shouldn’t expect glory and wealth.

Wu Shengzhao certainly knew this principle, but thinking of the Qing court’s power, he still shook his head and said, “Let’s defend it first. If we can hold it, we’ll hold it. If we can’t, then we’ll surrender.”

Dai Zhijun was speechless at his petty calculations. Was surrendering now the same as surrendering after failing to defend the city?

At noon, Wu Changqing’s army had already arrived at Suzhou.

Wu Shengzhao’s heart skipped a beat when he saw the size of the enemy force. The formation of over three thousand men was quite intimidating.

“Is that General Wu Shengzhao on the city walls?”

Wu Changqing rode forward.

He wanted to persuade Wu Shengzhao to surrender. Taking Suzhou without bloodshed would naturally be the best outcome. Everyone was Han Chinese, and fighting each other was pointless.

In his memory, Wu Shengzhao had once attempted to rebel against the Qing, indicating that he had no loyalty to the Qing Dynasty. There should be hope for persuading him to surrender.

“Are you Wu Changqing, Wu Risheng?”

Wu Shengzhao asked in return.

“That is indeed me, General Wu. I hope you can assess the situation, abandon darkness and embrace the light, and stop doing things that go against our ancestors. Since our army rose up, we have been following the will of Heaven and have been invincible. You certainly cannot stop us. Instead of struggling in vain, why not revolt in time and atone for your sins?”

Wu Shengzhao’s face darkened upon hearing these words from the city walls. Being lectured by a young upstart was unbearable for any grown man.

“How arrogant! Following the will of Heaven? How long do you think you can last?”

Wu Shengzhao laughed loudly.

“I once met someone who said I wouldn’t last long. He’s dead now. His name was Xue Wu. You’ve probably heard of him.”

Wu Changqing also laughed, even making a joke.

“Enough nonsense, shoot!”

In terms of verbal skills, Wu Shengzhao was no match for Wu Changqing. Continuing to argue would only lead to Wu Shengzhao being humiliated, so he simply ordered his men to shoot arrows to express his attitude.

Seeing several arrows flying towards him, Wu Changqing quickly retreated.

This attempt at persuasion had failed.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t care too much. He hadn’t really expected to make the enemy surrender with just a few words.

The key to making the enemy surrender was to have overwhelming strength. If he had already reached Beijing, then he probably wouldn’t need to waste his breath, and a large number of civil and military officials would be vying to surrender.

This was the so-called irresistible trend. Everyone wanted to follow the trend and seek glory and wealth.

“Prepare to attack the city.”

Wu Changqing ordered. At this stage, everything still had to be resolved by force.

Chapter 25: Besieging Suzhou

With Wu Changqing’s order, the rebel army began to move.

The biggest difference between Wu Changqing’s troops and other armies attacking a city was that his musketeers went first, with those carrying sacks to fill the moat following behind.

He wanted the musketeers to suppress the enemy archers. If he let their archers shoot arrows down, he didn’t know how many people would be killed or wounded just in the process of filling the moat.

What were these musketeers trying to do?

Wu Shengzhao was a little puzzled. He knew that these new-style muskets had a very fast rate of fire, but he still couldn’t imagine what use a fast rate of fire would be for attacking a city.

However, he soon found out.

The musketeers walked to a place about one hundred meters away from the city wall, then aimed at the top of the wall, ready to fire at any time to suppress the enemy’s archers.

The soldiers carrying sacks had already rushed towards the moat, and Wu Shengzhao also ordered his men to shoot arrows in a conventional manner.

However, as soon as their archers showed their heads, a burst of gunfire immediately came from below.

Immediately afterwards, there were screams. Several archers were shot and fell on the city wall, wailing.

Only a few archers were hit. More bullets hit the city wall.

One of them even hit the crenellation next to Wu Shengzhao, blasting a small hole in it, sending bricks and stones flying.

This gave Wu Shengzhao a great shock. If the bullet had been a little more off, he would have been the one hit.

So, Wu Shengzhao quickly withdrew from the front line and hid in the city tower to command.

The archers were beaten up and dared not get up to shoot arrows again.

Wu Shengzhao watched as the enemy continued to fill the moat, and angrily ordered the archers to get up and shoot arrows.

However, as soon as they stood up, the sound of gunfire would ring out from below.

Helpless, the archers could only carry out indirect fire, that is, without aiming, they would shoot in the general direction. As for whether they could hit, it depended on luck.

This kind of indirect fire was naturally not very powerful and could not stop the rebel army from filling the moat.

“General, the situation is not good. If they also use musketeers to shoot at the city wall when they attack the city later, how can we defend?”

A clever officer had already thought of another wonderful use for the musket.

At this time, Wu Shengzhao was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. He also realized this problem, but he couldn’t think of a solution.

He kept pondering until a large section of the moat had been filled, but he still couldn’t figure out a clue.

“Order them not to hide behind the city wall. Everyone, stand up and defend the city.”

Now, Wu Shengzhao could only fill it with human lives.

This order angered the soldiers. Wasn’t this asking them to die?

However, they did not dare to disobey the orders of their superiors, so they could only stand up carefully and quickly throw stones down the city, without aiming at all.

Some even threw them directly into the open space, into places where there were no enemies at all.

In the past, Wu Shengzhao would have kicked anyone who wasted city defense materials like this. But now, he was hiding in the city tower and didn’t dare to go out even if he wanted to kick them.

In fact, the musketeers’ suppression could only play a role before the rebel army began to climb the ladders. When the rebel army began to climb up, the musketeers’ suppression effect was gone.

They didn’t dare to shoot, otherwise, with the accuracy of this gun, it would be difficult to say whether they were suppressing the enemy or suppressing their own troops.

Without the sound of gunfire, the Qing army dared to show their heads slightly and began to defend.

At this time, the rebel army was almost halfway up.

The Qing army responsible for defending the city panicked, and the materials used to defend the city were thrown down the city wall in one go, hitting the rebel army who were still climbing.

Suddenly, there was a scream from under the city.

Those who were poured with boiling oil, those who were hit by stones, and even those who were splashed with liquid feces, all fell from the ladders.

Wu Changqing watched this scene with a telescope in the distance and felt quite helpless. This was a siege battle. The attacking side was really too miserable.

For cities like Suzhou with moats and high walls, as long as there were enough soldiers and city defense materials, it would be no problem to defend for a year or two.

And historically, there were indeed many such battles. It took several months, or even a year and a half, to attack a strong city.

This wave of siege had almost no hope, but Wu Changqing could not order a retreat. He had to continue to consume some of the enemy’s city defense materials.

Whether it was stones or boiling oil, these city defense materials were limited. The more he could consume, the easier it would be to attack the city next time.

But he couldn’t spend too long. If too many soldiers were killed or injured, it would have a relatively large impact on morale.

“Order a retreat.”

Wu Changqing saw that the soldiers could not climb the city wall, so he asked the soldiers who attacked the city in this wave to come down and rest, preparing to change to another team.

As the whistle for retreat sounded, the rebel army under the city began to retreat one after another.

In this wave of attack, nearly fifty rebel soldiers died, and seventy or eighty were injured.

This was still thanks to the musketeers who had been suppressing the enemy’s archers. Otherwise, under normal circumstances, the number of casualties would have doubled.

“This city is really damn hard to attack.”

Wu Changqing sighed.

“This city is really damn hard to defend.”

Wu Shengzhao also sighed on the city wall. He planned to use these city defense materials he had prepared for a month, but now, after only one attack, the soldiers had used almost one-tenth of them.

If this continued, they would only be able to defend the city with broadswords after the enemy attacked a few more times.

At that time, it would basically be the time when the city was breached.

“General, they’re here again.”

His subordinate reminded Wu Shengzhao. Wu Shengzhao looked over and saw that the rebel army’s second wave of attack had begun.

“These grandsons, do they want to take Suzhou down in one day?”

Wu Shengzhao was furious and ordered the soldiers to change defenses in preparation.

The soldiers who had just defended the city had consumed a lot of physical strength and needed to be replaced to rest. If they were not replaced, they might not even be able to lift the stones.

The new soldiers were replaced, and they learned from the lessons of the previous soldiers. They did not dare to stand up and shoot arrows, and could only hide behind the city wall and carry out Buddhist indirect fire.

They would just shoot the arrows out, and whether they could hit them depended on fate.

This action undoubtedly angered Wu Shengzhao to death again. There were already few city defense materials now, and they were still wasting them so prodigally. Wasn’t that just courting death?

“Tell them to stand up and shoot. Those who disobey will be beheaded.”

Wu Shengzhao became ruthless, and the archers complained endlessly.

Their numbers were too small compared to the musketeers under the city. As long as one of them showed their heads, the musketeers would teach them how to behave.

“Dafu, shoot as much as you can. Don’t worry about friendly fire. You must cover us until we climb halfway.”

Wang Dayong told Wang Dafu, who was in command of the musket army. They had prepared hand grenades this time. They were going to use this thing to catch the enemy off guard.

However, these hand grenades were too heavy. If they threw them far away, they could throw them seven or eight meters away, but if they threw them upwards, they could only throw them three or four meters at most.

Therefore, they had to climb at least halfway up before they could throw the hand grenades at the top of the wall.

“Don’t worry, I will try to make them aim as accurately as possible.”

Wang Dafu said. Of course, this was purely comforting. Whether they could aim accurately was really not something the soldiers could control.

Chapter 26: Sudden Change

The rebel army advanced safely until they reached the city walls, only then did they begin to suffer attacks.

Some of the defending soldiers on the city walls would muster their courage to throw stones and boiling oil down at them.

At this point, the rebel army’s musket teams began firing bullets as if they were free, and immediately some unlucky fellows who stood up were hit.

These firearms are really useful; I must find a way to get a batch in the future.

Seeing the rebel army’s musket teams repeatedly displaying their power, Wu Shengzhao also became tempted. Just the suppressive effect during the siege alone made the musket worth equipping on a large scale.

Seeing that the rebel army had begun to climb the ladders, Wu Shengzhao hurriedly shouted to defend.

Under his orders, the low-ranking officers also used their swords to force the recruited civilians to risk being shot and throw stones.

Just then, suddenly an iron box was thrown onto the city wall, with a burning fuse attached to the outside.

What is this thing? None of the defending soldiers on the wall recognized it.

Soon, the fuse of the hand grenade burned out, and the gunpowder inside was ignited and detonated. The iron box exploded instantly, and the iron nails and scrap iron fragments sprayed in all directions.

Immediately, a large number of screams rang out on the city wall.

“What’s going on?”

Wu Shengzhao roared.

No one answered him; the soldiers didn’t know what had happened either.

Iron boxes continued to be thrown onto the city wall, and some timid people quickly hid away when they saw this thing. There were also some clever and bold people who actually knew to pick them up and throw them down the city.

Some people were quick and successfully threw the hand grenades down the city, killing and wounding a large number of rebel soldiers. But more were too slow, and the hand grenades exploded when they picked them up.

And the person holding the hand grenade directly kicked the bucket, the whole person was blown to bits, a truly terrible sight. This kind of death was even more frightening than being hit by a knife or arrow.

Relying on this batch of hand grenades, Wang Dayong’s subordinates bombed the Qing army into a daze, and then took the opportunity to rush up the city wall in several places and engage in close combat with the enemy soldiers on the wall.

“Wang Lin, move the reserve troops over and drive the enemy off the city.”

Wu Shengzhao said in horror; he was already panicked.

At this moment, Dai Zhijun winked at a few people, and two burly men holding steel sabers immediately quietly walked behind Wu Shengzhao.

The city wall had already fallen into chaos, and Wu Shengzhao’s personal soldiers didn’t notice the small movements of the two burly men.

By the time they noticed, the two burly men had already erupted, and one of them held his steel saber to Wu Shengzhao’s neck, shouting, “Wang Lin, stop right there! If you take another step, I’ll kill him!”

Wang Lin was stunned for a moment, and shouted angrily, “Centurion Chen, what are you doing? Are you crazy?”

“Hahaha, I’m crazy? I think you’re the ones who are crazy. Can’t everyone see what the situation is now? Continuing to defend will only lead to death; it’s better to honestly surrender. I was originally a Han Chinese, and I never wanted to sell my life to the Qing dogs.”

Centurion Chen Shichang laughed loudly.

“The situation is hopeless, General. You should order everyone to lay down their weapons and surrender, so as to avoid more innocent soldiers being killed or wounded,” Dai Zhijun said.

“Strategist Dai, I have always treated you well; how could you do this to me?”

Wu Shengzhao said angrily.

“Enough nonsense. If you issue the order now, you can still get credit for surrendering and turning against the enemy. If you don’t issue the order, I’ll have Centurion Chen kill you now. You decide for yourself,” Dai Zhijun snorted coldly. He knew that Wu Shengzhao would definitely surrender, because this guy cherished his life too much.

Sure enough, Wu Shengzhao didn’t even need to think about it when faced with this choice, and shouted, “Order to give up resistance; we will surrender.”

As Wu Shengzhao ordered to give up resistance, the low-ranking officers carried out the order one after another, and the soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered.

They had wanted to surrender for a long time, and now that their superior had spoken, it was exactly what they wanted.

Wang Dayong, who had rushed to the top of the city, was dumbfounded. He had originally thought there would be a fierce battle, but the enemy suddenly surrendered. The surprise came too suddenly, and he couldn’t react.

Below the city, Wu Changqing, who had seen the situation on the city through his telescope, put down the telescope and smiled, “Good luck today.”

Wu Yi and the others were puzzled. Wu Changqing handed the telescope to them and explained, “The enemy has surrendered.”

Surrendered? Wu Yi and the others were overjoyed, and looked towards the city wall with the telescope. Sure enough, they found that there was no more fighting on the city wall.

This telescope from The West is really a good thing.

Wu Yi looked at the distant scenery as if it were right in front of him, and couldn’t help but marvel at this magical thing. With this telescope, he could obtain a lot of useful information in advance during military operations.

Before long, the city gate was opened, and the rebel army rushed in to control the situation.

“Congratulations, General! Wherever the General goes, the enemy surrenders at the mere sight of you!”

Liu Hansan gave a flattering remark, and Wu Changqing was in a good mood, so he didn’t mind.

“Congratulations to you all! This is a common happy event for our army, a common happy event for our rebel army!”

Wu Changqing said.

After the situation in the city was brought under control, Wang Dayong and Dai Zhijun and others escorted Wu Shengzhao and Wang Lin and others to Wu Changqing.

“General Wu, do you remember what I told you about the general trend? What do you have to say now?” Wu Changqing asked with a smile.

The winner is king, the loser is an outlaw; he now had the right to be smug.

“General Wu is right. I was blind and confused for a moment. Fortunately, my strategist reminded me in time, and I suddenly realized that I should let the soldiers lay down their weapons and surrender. I hope General Wu can forgive my past mistakes and give me a chance to serve you.”

Wu Shengzhao’s shameless words stunned several upright generals.

To be betrayed by his subordinates and still be able to say that it was like he took the initiative to turn against the enemy, and completely ignore Wu Changqing’s ridicule and directly lick his boots.

For a grown man to say such a thing was truly embarrassing.

Wu Changqing was also speechless at this guy, but he didn’t want to kill him. Keeping him could serve as an example for other Qing army generals, telling those Qing army generals that he didn’t hold grudges and that as long as they turned against the enemy, they could have good results.

Moreover, keeping him could also stabilize those surrendered generals, with many benefits.

Of course, Wu Changqing would not give him military power again for the time being. So, Wu Changqing said, “To err is human, to forgive divine. Because you are sincere in turning against the enemy, I will give you the position of deputy general, and you will temporarily help me train soldiers. Are you satisfied?”

“Satisfied, satisfied! This general will definitely remember your great kindness in my heart.”

Wu Shengzhao didn’t dare to say he wasn’t satisfied. If he had taken the initiative to turn against the enemy, he could still ask to continue leading troops. But now, he had been turned against by his subordinates, and it was good enough to save his life.

“The people under your command will temporarily be handed over to Mr. Dai to lead. Is Mr. Dai willing to take on this important task?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Dai will certainly not fail the general’s trust,” Dai Zhijun said with a smile. This time, his adventure directly turned him from a strategist into a general, becoming a person of real power.

More importantly, he finally didn’t have to wear the hat of a traitor, and he felt much more comfortable in his heart.

“Let’s enter the city first and celebrate tonight,” Wu Changqing said with a smile. Now that Suzhou had been captured, those who had made contributions should also be rewarded.

Chapter 27: Future Plans

Stepping into Suzhou, people had already come out on both sides to watch.

Previously, righteous soldiers had been running around in the city, shouting the news that the righteous army had recovered Suzhou.

In Suzhou, there were still many people who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, so they were quite excited to hear the news that the righteous army had recovered Suzhou. They came out of their homes, wanting to admire the charisma of Wu Changqing.

Now, Wu Changqing was already somewhat famous in the Wusong area. Many people knew that he was the leader of the righteous army, young and promising.

Wu Changqing rode on his horse, enjoying the people’s gazes. When he reached a section of the road with more people, he stopped and gave a speech.

“Fellow elders and folks, I am Wu Changqing. Because I am dissatisfied with the Manchus oppressing and enslaving our Han people, I followed my father in an uprising against the Qing. My father unfortunately died in battle with the Qing dogs, and I have continued to shoulder the important task of opposing the Qing in this crisis.

The Manchu Qing destroyed our cities, slaughtered our people, burned, killed, looted, and forcibly shaved our heads, committing all kinds of evil. As the saying goes, ‘What is tolerable, what is not tolerable?’

If you want to live a life free from enslavement, you can only follow me to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and drive the Manchus back beyond the pass…”

After the speech, the people who understood shouted their approval, and those who didn’t understand shouted their approval as well. Wouldn’t not shouting indicate that they didn’t understand?

For a time, the people were indignant and their morale was commendable.

Liu Hansan looked at this scene thoughtfully. He found that Wu Changqing liked to give similar speeches very much. At first, he didn’t think much of it, but slowly he discovered the wonderful use of these speeches.

These speeches were very effective in winning the hearts of the people and the army. Those who listened to Wu Changqing’s speeches easily developed admiration for Wu Changqing, and then became loyal to him.

After the speech, Wu Changqing finally arrived at the Governor’s Office, where he would work from now on.

Suzhou was much more important than places like Jiading and Kunshan, and the city walls were tall and there was a moat, making it easier to defend.

At the same time, the economy here in Suzhou was also very developed, with a large population and development potential.

As soon as he took Suzhou, Wu Changqing ordered the artisans from Jiading and Kunshan to be concentrated in Suzhou, because with limited troops, he couldn’t guarantee that he could defend all the places when the Qing army counterattacked.

He could only focus on defending Suzhou, so the artisans who made matchlock guns, flintlock guns, and gunpowder must be concentrated in Suzhou to prevent them from being captured by the Qing army and the technology from being leaked.

Once the technology was leaked, the consequences would be very serious. With the size of the Qing army, they could summon tens of thousands of artisans in minutes. If the Qing army produced a batch of flintlock guns to deal with him, Wu Changqing would have no place to cry.

In addition to the artisans, the main civil officials, led by Gu Yanwu, also had to be concentrated in Suzhou. In short, Suzhou was his center for the next period of time.

Before taking Nanjing, he would stay in Suzhou to coordinate the overall situation.

After taking Suzhou, Wu Changqing’s resource points and technology points increased a lot.

However, this time Wu Changqing didn’t use them in a hurry like before.

The difficult period of the uprising had passed. Now he had nearly five thousand troops, and on average, seven or eight muskets and flintlock guns could be manufactured every day.

With this kind of strength, he was already able to gain a firm foothold in the Wusong area, and there was no need to waste technology points on military affairs.

With such a dominant system, Wu Changqing would not be satisfied with unifying the world. He wanted to change the course of history and create a super prosperous age in advance.

He wanted to bring the world into the industrial age, or even the electrical age and the information age, ahead of time.

He really wanted to see what their expressions would be like when he drove an aircraft carrier fleet to their doorstep.

He also wanted to see what the expressions of those backward barbarians would be like when he made things like trains and cars.

And these all required a lot of technology points to light up the relevant technologies. Therefore, Wu Changqing was very stingy with the use of technology points. He wanted to make a long-term plan and think about how to use these technology points reasonably.

The resource points were similar. In the future, manufacturing some high-tech products would require some key materials, which would also have to be exchanged with resource points.

On October 2nd, the news that Suzhou was captured by Wu Changqing and Wu Shengzhao had surrendered to the rebels reached Liu Liangzuo in Changzhou.

Looking at the news, Liu Liangzuo was speechless for a long time.

A strong city, with three thousand elite soldiers defending it, how could Wu Shengzhao surrender?

Wu Shengzhao surrendered to the Qing army when the Manchus first entered the pass. He was considered an old man in the Qing army, so he shouldn’t have any loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

Was it because his rescue was not timely?

Liu Liangzuo felt very innocent. Just in August, he had led his troops to capture Jiangyin County, which had been besieged for more than two months. The troops had not yet been rested, so he did not send troops to support in time.

He wanted Wu Shengzhao to hold on for a while longer, but he didn’t expect Suzhou to be lost so quickly and so suddenly.

Now, he had a headache.

Jiangyin was just a small county town, but Suzhou was a prefectural city.

The ninety thousand soldiers and civilians of Jiangyin County defended Jiangyin for more than two months. With the strong city and the three hundred thousand soldiers and civilians in Suzhou, how many troops would it take to capture it?

For a time, he began to doubt whether the Manchus could unify China, because it seemed that the people in Jiangnan and other places were completely unconquerable.

The Ten Days of Yangzhou, the Massacre of Jiading, and the Massacre of Jiangyin, they killed more than a million people. But did this method really scare the people of Jiangnan? Obviously not.

Liu Liangzuo also began to question Dorgon’s hair shaving order. What was the point of making such a crazy policy? What was wrong with letting the people keep some hair?

You keep queues and force others to keep queues. When your father dies, your son often marries your father’s wife. Do you want the Han people to follow suit?

If we really want to continue to firmly implement these policies, I am afraid that there will be no peace in Jiangnan forever.

Although he knew that this policy had many drawbacks, Liu Liangzuo would not say much, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble.

He knew that this policy came from Dorgon, and he, a small garrison commander, was a surrendered official, and was not qualified to discuss such state affairs.

He just began to have a trace of doubt about his decision to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

He was thinking, if he had not surrendered to the Qing Dynasty with his one hundred thousand troops, could he have won the support of the people and defended Jiangnan.

However, things had already happened, and he could not change anything now.

Then, he reported the news to Nanjing. Attacking Suzhou was a major event that he, a garrison commander, could not decide. He needed Hong Chengchou in Nanjing to issue an order.

At the same time, he also needed the support of the Qing Dynasty’s red cannons. He had already experienced the taste of attacking the city without cannons in Jiangyin before.

If the walls of Jiangyin City had not been destroyed by Ajige’s red cannons later, it would be a question of whether they could have entered.

And this time, facing the more difficult Suzhou, there was even less hope without red cannons.

Chapter 28: Arrival of the Envoy

In Nanjing, Hong Chengchou’s desk was covered with war reports about Wu Changqing.

From Wu Changqing’s uprising in Jiading to his current capture of Suzhou, almost everything he had done was recorded.

Hong Chengchou was quite surprised as he looked at the intelligence.

A sixteen-year-old boy, starting with a few hundred local militia, had grown to several thousand in just over a month and captured Suzhou City.

Moreover, he had repeatedly won battles with fewer troops against greater numbers, demonstrating extremely outstanding talent in training soldiers.

According to the intelligence, Wu Changqing was a military genius, winning great victories in almost every battle. He was also extremely good at bewitching people’s hearts, not only winning the love and support of the common people but even persuading Qing army veterans like Wu Shengzhao to surrender.

Hong Chengchou very much wanted to recruit such a talent for his own use.

But he knew that was impossible. Wu Changqing was a staunch anti-Qing element. The only way to deal with such a person was to send a large army to encircle and suppress him.

His strategy in Jiangnan was to focus on appeasement, supplemented by suppression.

On the one hand, he reduced taxes for the people, and on the other hand, he retained a large number of former Ming officials to ease the conflict between the Qing Dynasty and the people and officials of Jiangnan.

This move was very effective, and many Ming generals and civil officials surrendered as a result.

If it hadn’t been for Dorgon’s tonsure order, Jiangnan and other places would have completely accepted the Qing army’s rule by now.

Unfortunately, because of Dorgon’s tonsure order, those petty benefits offered by Hong Chengchou lost their effect, and many people rose up in rebellion.

And Hong Chengchou had never been soft-hearted in dealing with those rebels. He had participated in those massacres, and they could even be said to be his orders.

He wanted to use this method to deter the people, and then cooperate with other policies that benefited the people to disintegrate their rebellious intentions and fighting spirit.

Hong Chengchou’s strategy was extremely successful in history. After the Three Massacres of Jiading, the people did not dare to rebel again. In addition, with the reduction of taxes, many people slowly accepted the rule of the Qing Dynasty.

Hong Chengchou did an excellent job in stabilizing the South. He himself was extremely talented and became the first Han Chinese Grand Secretary of the Qing Dynasty as a Han Chinese.

Now Hong Chengchou has also replaced Dorgon’s younger brother, Dodo, sitting in Nanjing and commanding all political affairs in Jiangnan.

In short, Hong Chengchou’s personal ability was very strong, and his vision was very accurate.

For those who could be persuaded to surrender, he could quickly recruit them. And for those who could not be recruited, he would carry out cruel suppression.

In Hong Chengchou’s view, Wu Changqing was a firm-willed person who could not be recruited.

He would resolutely eliminate this kind of staunch anti-Qing element.

“Someone, I want to go to Prince Duoluo’s residence to discuss matters.”

Hong Chengchou had the final say on political affairs. But when it came to large-scale military operations, he still needed to discuss with Prince Duoluo, Aisin Gioro Lekedehun, the General Who Pacifies the South.

Lekedehun was the grandson of Daishan of the Bordered Red Banner. He was stripped of his royal status for supporting Dorgon when Huang Taiji and Dorgon were fighting for the throne.

However, after Huang Taiji’s death, Dorgon was now in power. In order to let others know that he would not mistreat those who followed him, Dorgon restored Lekedehun’s royal status and gave him an important position, making him the General Who Pacifies the South.

Currently, the Eight Banner troops in the Jiangnan area were under his command, and he was the number one military leader of the Qing Dynasty in Jiangnan.

On October 3rd, Qiu Zhaojin, the envoy of Prince Lu, came to Suzhou.

Originally, they were going to Jiading, but after arriving in Jiading, they were told that Wu Changqing had taken Suzhou, which shocked Qiu Zhaojin severely.

Originally, they thought it was already amazing that Wu Changqing could kill thousands of Qing soldiers, but they never expected that Wu Changqing could take Suzhou, such an important town.

The Ming army’s continuous defeats had led the people and officials of the Southern Ming to believe that the Southern Ming army was useless and the Qing army was powerful.

As a result, Wu Changqing’s capture of Suzhou made Qiu Zhaojin feel incredible.

The surprise came too quickly. On the one hand, Qiu Zhaojin immediately reported the news to Prince Lu, and on the other hand, he hurried to Suzhou.

A general who occupied Suzhou, held thousands of soldiers, and could win battles was too valuable to win over.

And the reward specifications that Prince Lu had previously given could no longer reflect Prince Lu’s importance, and the specifications must be raised to be worthy of Wu Changqing’s current status.

In the midst of his busy schedule, Wu Changqing still took the time to meet with Qiu Zhaojin. After all, he was Prince Lu’s envoy, and the respect he should have on the surface was still necessary. He was still nominally a subject of the Ming Dynasty.

“General Wu is truly a young hero.”

Qiu Zhaojin looked at Wu Changqing in the seat of honor and first praised him.

“Mr. Qiu is too kind.” Wu Changqing said lightly.

“This is not an exaggeration. After Prince Lu learned of the general’s deeds, he also praised the general and said that the general is a loyal and righteous man of the Ming Dynasty and a model for the world. This time, Prince Lu sent me to commend the general for his righteous deeds in resisting the Qing in Wusong.”

“Wait a minute, why is Prince Lu commending me instead of Prince Tang? As far as I know, the South now regards Prince Tang as its leader and follows the Longwu court.”

Wu Changqing interrupted him.

In fact, he was unwilling to be loyal to either Prince Lu or Prince Tang.

As a time-traveler, he did not have the foolish loyalty of contemporary people. If he wasn’t worried that his subordinates wouldn’t accept it, he would want to establish his own power now.

In his opinion, neither Prince Lu nor Prince Tang had the ability to save this chaotic world.

Prince Lu was controlled by his subordinates, the generals Fang Dingguo and others, Prince Tang was also controlled by the Zheng Zhilong family, and the future Prince Gui, Emperor Yongli, would also be controlled by Sun Kewang.

In fact, the Zhu family was really no longer capable. Everyone regarded them as their leader only for a superficial name, in order to attract those former officials who cared about the Ming Dynasty to come and join them.

It would undoubtedly be foolish to be loyal to these wastes. Wu Changqing believed that he had never been a fool.

Of course, Wu Changqing cannot publicly declare his independence now, which would be tantamount to rebellion. He also had to, like those powerful figures, nominally be loyal to the Zhu family’s Ming Dynasty first.

When he had enough power in the future, everything would come naturally.

Even if he didn’t want to be emperor at that time, his subordinates would put the yellow robe on him. The reason was simple: if Wu Changqing became emperor, his subordinates would all have the merit of following him from the beginning.

With this kind of merit, they could at least get a kingship or a noble title, right?

But if Wu Changqing accepted the Zhu family’s reward and did not become emperor, then Wu Changqing’s highest reward would be a king with a different surname. And the rewards for his subordinates would naturally not be more than Wu Changqing’s, and they would need to be reduced by one or two levels.

Even for their own benefit, Wu Changqing’s subordinates would force him to ascend the throne in the future. This was human nature.

Chapter 29: Delaying Tactics

Faced with Prince Lu’s attempts to win him over, Wu Changqing first put on an act of wanting to pledge allegiance to Prince Tang. This was bound to make Prince Lu anxious and offer even better terms of recruitment.

“General, you are mistaken! It is our Prince Lu who is currently resisting the Qing army on the front lines. What virtues or abilities does Prince Tang possess to command respect? General, you are also on the front lines of resisting the Qing, and you must work with Prince Lu to form a strategic alliance and fight the Qing together!”

As expected, Qiu Zhaojin grew anxious.

He couldn’t afford not to be anxious. Prince Lu’s current strength was much smaller than Prince Tang’s. If Wu Changqing were to pledge allegiance to Prince Tang, then they would be sandwiched between Prince Tang’s forces from both the north and south.

This situation would be extremely bad for Prince Lu, even fatal.

Despite his anxiety, Qiu Zhaojin felt helpless regarding Wu Changqing’s choice. After all, the Hongguang Emperor’s court still held the moral high ground, and it was perfectly reasonable for Wu Changqing to join them.

Qiu Zhaojin pondered to himself, realizing that if he wanted to compete with Prince Tang for Wu Changqing’s allegiance, he could only use higher rewards and titles to entice him.

The only bargaining chip Prince Lu currently had was probably a nominal title.

Originally, Prince Lu intended to grant Wu Changqing the title of Duke of a Commandery, a fourth-rank title.

However, Qiu Zhaojin felt that a Duke of a Commandery probably wouldn’t be attractive enough to Wu Changqing now. At the very least, it would have to be a title like Earl or Viscount.

The Ming Dynasty’s titles for external officials were divided into eight ranks: Duke, Marquis, Earl, Duke of a Commandery, Marquis of a Commandery, Earl of a Commandery, Viscount, and Baron.

In prosperous times, these titles were extremely valuable, only bestowed upon those who had performed great deeds. As for the title of Prince, it was only granted to members of the Zhu clan.

But now, the Zhu family rulers didn’t have much to offer to attract people, so they could only rely on their legitimate status to grant titles.

For now, they were still bestowing titles that could be given to external officials. Later, when the situation became even more difficult, the Zhu family emperors would even start bestowing titles of Prince to those outside the family.

For example, Li Chengdong, who had performed outstanding military service for the Qing army and killed both the Hongguang Emperor and the Longwu Emperor, was eventually rewarded with the title of Prince of Ningxia by the Yongli Emperor simply for defecting.

Such bestowals reeked of sorrow and helplessness.

“If the General can support Prince Lu, I will definitely strive for a Marquis title for you. As long as the General continues to perform meritorious service, Prince Lu will definitely not be stingy with rewards. If the General can recapture Nanjing, a Duke title, or even a Prince title, is possible!”

Out of desperation, Qiu Zhaojin could only take it upon himself to promise Wu Changqing generous rewards.

He believed that as long as he explained Wu Changqing’s strength to Prince Lu and described the actual situation here, Prince Lu should accept his suggestion for rewards.

“Master Qiu, there’s no need to rush. Let’s put the matter of rewards aside for now. I personally hope that Prince Lu and the Longwu Emperor can reach a consensus and establish a clear line of legitimacy. I don’t want to be branded a traitor by the Longwu Emperor for pledging allegiance to Prince Lu, nor do I want to be considered an enemy by Prince Lu for pledging allegiance to the Longwu Emperor. Our only enemy now is the Qing Tartars.”

Wu Changqing wasn’t interested in those so-called titles. He preferred real gold, silver, or supplies like grain. Unfortunately, Prince Lu himself was short on these things and couldn’t possibly reward him with much.

Therefore, Wu Changqing had no interest in entertaining either Prince Lu’s envoys or the Longwu Emperor’s envoys. He only wanted to stall, placating both courts while developing and strengthening his own forces.

He didn’t expect the Southern Ming court to give him much support, as long as they didn’t hold him back, that would be enough.

“General, you worry too much. Regardless of which side you pledge allegiance to, you are resisting the Qing. The court will see this merit. If the rewards still don’t satisfy you, I can report to Prince Lu and do my best to help you get what you want.”

Qiu Zhaojin said helplessly. Following Prince Lu was really too difficult.

He could even understand Wu Changqing’s attitude. After all, Prince Tang, the Longwu Emperor, seemed to be the legitimate ruler, and their Prince Lu’s small regional government was simply not attractive.

“Then let’s leave it at that for now. Next, I still need to meet with some wealthy merchants to discuss the matter of provisions, and I also need to go to the military camp to train new recruits. I really don’t have much time to spend with envoys.”

Wu Changqing said.

“Military affairs are important, General, please proceed.”

Qiu Zhaojin also knew that Wu Changqing’s situation was not good. Although he had occupied Suzhou, other than Taihu Lake to the west, the other three directions were all Qing army territory.

In this situation, whether he could withstand the Qing army’s counterattack was a problem.

Having failed to persuade Wu Changqing, Qiu Zhaojin planned to find an opportunity to lobby Wu Changqing’s subordinates. If he could persuade a few of the generals in command of troops, that would be considered achieving some of his goals.

In the back hall, when Wu Changqing arrived, it was already filled with wealthy merchants and landlords.

“Greetings, General.”

As soon as Wu Changqing appeared, everyone stopped talking.

“This is Master Tang Yu of the Tang Family Cloth Shop, this is Master Chen Daolin of Shengyuan Rice Shop, this is Master Liu Shizao, whose family is in the tea business…”

The steward introduced the merchants present to Wu Changqing one by one. These were all famous merchants in Suzhou City, each with immense wealth.

The biggest characteristic of the Ming Dynasty was that the court had no money, but the wealthy merchants did, because the Ming Dynasty’s taxes on commerce were very low.

Moreover, these wealthy merchants were also gentry. Their families or clans often had someone who was an official, who could enjoy some tax benefits.

Since the court couldn’t collect taxes on commerce, it could only increase agricultural taxes on the common people, leading to people being unable to survive and rebelling. Li Zicheng of the Great Shun Army was a typical example.

And whenever the emperor wanted to change this situation, wanting to increase taxes on merchants, he would immediately be met with collective protests from the civil official group, even criticized for trying to compete with the people for profit.

The wealthy merchants of the Ming Dynasty often spent a lot of money to cultivate their children or sponsor talented people to study. And after these people obtained official positions, they would naturally protect the interests of the merchants.

It can be said that the court in the later period of the Ming Dynasty was basically controlled by the class of wealthy merchants and landlords.

This was a bit like the United States in later generations, where consortia funded politicians’ campaigns, and then the politicians formulated policies that benefited the consortia. The entire country was actually controlled by this collective of wealthy merchants.

Before hanging himself, the Chongzhen Emperor said a sentence, “All the civil officials in the world can be killed,” because the world had already been controlled by the interest group of civil officials and wealthy merchants.

And these people didn’t care about the life or death of the Zhu family dynasty at all, only caring about making money for themselves.

As a result, every time the Ming Dynasty had to fight a war, the Chongzhen Emperor had to take out his private money from his own treasury.

When Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, there wasn’t even anyone willing to accompany the Chongzhen Emperor to escape. After the Zhu family fell, these wealthy merchants immediately surrendered to Li Zicheng, and later quickly surrendered to the Qing.

In short, the people of this era really didn’t have much of a national concept, only caring about their own private interests. Who was the emperor made no difference to them.

Chapter 30: Raising Funds

After introducing everyone, Wu Changqing gestured for them to take their seats.

Looking at the group, Wu Changqing said, “I am extremely grateful to all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting. I would like to thank you all on behalf of the people of Wusong. You have all undoubtedly witnessed the brutality of the Qing Dynasty. They oppress us Han people and slaughter our Han citizens at will.

That is why I have raised an army to oppose the Qing, in order to restore the status of our Han people. You are all Han people as well, and I believe none of you are willing to kneel and submit to the Tartars.”

After Wu Changqing finished speaking, the wealthy merchants remained silent.

They didn’t care whether they knelt to the Zhu family or the Qing Dynasty, as long as they could continue to make money and enjoy their lives. However, it was safer to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty now, while being loyal to the Ming Dynasty’s Zhu family could lead to the execution of their entire families.

Comparing the two, they naturally preferred to kneel to the Qing Dynasty.

As for the Han people and Tartars that Wu Changqing mentioned, they didn’t care at all.

“General, we are just merchants with no strength to even truss a chicken. We really don’t want to get involved in those wars. We just want to do a little business in peace,” Tang Yu said. Everyone understood that Wu Changqing had summoned them to ask for money, so they were all unwilling.

A little money was a minor matter. They were more afraid that the Qing Dynasty would return, defeat Wu Changqing, and settle accounts with them. At that time, the charge of aiding the enemy would certainly be unavoidable.

Hearing Tang Yu’s words, Wu Changqing could only grit his teeth inwardly. He couldn’t rashly confiscate all of their wealth in a fit of anger.

These merchants were not as simple as just being merchants.

Currently, whether in the Qing Dynasty or in Wu Changqing’s controlled areas, many officials were their family members, relatives, or people they had supported.

If he rashly confiscated their homes, it would be equivalent to offending a large number of grassroots officials, and turmoil would definitely occur in the areas under his control.

Moreover, it was still an era where officials didn’t go to the countryside. The governance of the villages actually relied on these gentry and powerful families. As long as they used a little trick, they could incite the common people to rebel.

Governing a country was not a one-person job. At least for now, Wu Changqing still needed to rely on these people. If he wanted to implement reforms, he would have to wait until he had enough strength in the future.

Liu Shizao saw Wu Changqing’s gloomy face and knew that Wu Changqing was very angry.

In order not to completely anger Wu Changqing and prevent him from taking any extreme actions, he stood up and said, “Of course, we deeply admire the General’s righteous act of resisting the Qing for the sake of the people. In order to support the General’s great cause of resisting the Qing, I am willing to offer some meager assistance. Although the war has caused my business to suffer losses for several months, I am still willing to donate one thousand taels to the righteous army.”

“Although I have also suffered continuous losses, I am also willing to donate one thousand taels as military funds,” Tang Yu echoed.

Subsequently, the other merchants also followed suit. Some, whose family assets were not as good as theirs, were even only willing to donate five hundred taels.

Wu Changqing was very helpless when he saw this scene. Although one thousand taels of silver was not a small amount, it could at least buy three hundred thousand jin of rice.

For ordinary people, this was simply a super fortune.

However, for an army, one thousand taels was too shabby.

Because of the lack of meat and oil in this era, both soldiers and civilians had very large appetites. On weekdays, soldiers ate about two jin of rice a day, and when fighting, they needed at least three jin.

Therefore, one thousand taels of silver was only enough for Wu Changqing’s army to eat for about half a month.

In addition to food, soldiers also needed to be paid. For this kind of life-risking work, at least one tael of silver a month was reasonable. Moreover, if a soldier died in battle, some compensation had to be given to his family.

Besides military pay, Wu Changqing also had to purchase military equipment. He was currently short of knives, guns, armor, and the like, not to mention cannons. Although guns could be manufactured, the raw materials cost money, and the craftsmen also needed money.

In short, one thousand taels of silver was simply pitifully little for an army.

More importantly, one thousand taels of silver was just a drop in the bucket for these wealthy merchants.

None of the wealthy merchants present had assets of less than one hundred thousand taels. People like Tang Yu and Liu Shizao had assets reaching one million taels.

Donating only one thousand taels out of millions in assets, how could Wu Changqing not be angry?

“Then thank you all for your strong support,” Wu Changqing said coldly. He couldn’t force these people to donate more with a knife, at least not now.

However, the current behavior of these merchants had completely disgusted him. He would never let these guys off in the future. Once he stabilized his rule, he would collect at least fifty percent in taxes from them and make them cry.

Although everyone donated little, the total came to thirteen thousand taels, which could at least pay the soldiers’ salaries for a month.

A group of wealthy merchants left the government office, each with a smile on their face.

Spending one thousand taels to get rid of Wu Changqing, this rebel leader, and buy peace was still a worthwhile deal. In their plans, they could even accept donating two or three thousand.

However, what they didn’t expect was that Wu Changqing would be so easy to talk to.

“He’s still a bit young,” Tang Yu said with a sigh. Everyone laughed upon hearing this.

They all understood that Tang Yu was laughing at Wu Changqing for still being a greenhorn and not experienced enough. A real bandit leader would have to scare people with a knife at this time.

Chen Daolin looked at these self-righteous people and snorted coldly in his heart.

Unlike the others, he did not underestimate Wu Changqing. He even felt that Wu Changqing was very remarkable.

So many generals of the Ming Dynasty, each holding heavy troops, had repeatedly failed. But Wu Changqing, starting with a few hundred local militia, had continuously achieved victories. Could such a person be a waste?

In short, Chen Daolin had great faith in Wu Changqing. He was also present when Wu Changqing gave his speech that day, and he felt that Wu Changqing was very different from others.

As for exactly where he was different, he couldn’t say.

After everyone dispersed, Chen Daolin returned to the yamen again, seeking an audience with Wu Changqing.

He was prepared to support Wu Changqing. This was not an impulse decision, but a decision he had made after thinking for two days.

He supported Wu Changqing not because he was loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but as an investment.

He believed that Wu Changqing could achieve something, perhaps even establishing a separatist regime, or perhaps becoming a first-rank official in the imperial court. Either way, it was worth his investment.

In ancient times, Lü Buwei invested in Yiren, thereby taking control of a country.

Lü Buwei set an example for all merchants, making them understand that business could also be done this way. As long as the investment was successful, it would bring countless profits.

This time, Chen Daolin was also prepared to gamble big.

If he lost, his family might face annihilation. But if he won, his family might be able to leap from an ordinary wealthy merchant to a famous and prominent family.

Chapter 31: Small Inventions

“Master, Chen Daolin, the shopkeeper, requests an audience.”

The steward reported as he arrived in the back garden. Wu Changqing was currently directing several servants to build a fire under a large pot filled with lard.

Unable to squeeze silver from those wealthy merchants, he had no choice but to come up with some small inventions himself to make money.

The technology to refine lard and manufacture soap was very simple. Wu Changqing even knew the general idea, but he wasn’t sure about the specifics.

Fortunately, this technology was very cheap in the system store, requiring only five hundred tech points. So, he didn’t hesitate to unlock it, and some knowledge about making soap was immediately added to his mind.

Afterward, he found some servants and began experimenting.

Chen Daolin, that grain merchant?

Wu Changqing didn’t know why he had returned, but he still chose to meet him.

Soon, Chen Daolin was brought to the back garden.

Chen Daolin, upon entering, was very puzzled to see Wu Changqing pointing and gesturing in front of a pot of oil.

He didn’t understand how Wu Changqing, a man with so many important things to attend to, had the time to play with such strange things. It seemed a bit like an irresponsible playboy.

“Shopkeeper Chen, is there anything else you need from me?”

Wu Changqing arranged the operating procedures and then came to Chen Daolin to ask.

“I’m here to donate military provisions and pay to the General. Earlier, because there were too many people, it wasn’t convenient for me to stand out. In fact, I’m very willing to support the General’s anti-Qing cause.”

Chen Daolin stated his purpose, causing Wu Changqing to be slightly puzzled. He was a little surprised and couldn’t figure out what Chen Daolin meant. Could it be that there was really such a thing as a free lunch?

“Oh? Then what do you want in return?”

Wu Changqing asked with a smile. He didn’t believe it was his personal charm shining so brightly that made this guy have the idea of swearing allegiance to him.

“I don’t want anything. I just heard that the General is not yet engaged, and I happen to have a daughter who is fifteen years old this year and has some beauty. If the General is interested, I would like to form a marriage alliance with the General.”

The best way to bind with outsiders is through marriage.

Chen Daolin wanted to use this method to tie himself to Wu Changqing and form a community of interests. In the future, with Wu Changqing’s power, he could take advantage of business opportunities.

Uh…

Wu Changqing suddenly began to suspect that he really had the aura of a king, otherwise why would this Chen Daolin take the initiative to send money and a daughter? This was too generous.

Although he also knew that Chen Daolin was investing, he couldn’t figure out why Chen Daolin knew he was a potential stock.

It didn’t matter if he couldn’t figure it out, it was a good thing for him after all.

Free provisions and a free daughter, it would be a bit disrespectful to God not to accept them.

“Why does Shopkeeper Chen have such high hopes for me? You must know that my strength is still hundreds of thousands of miles away from the Qing Dynasty.”

Wu Changqing asked curiously.

“It’s very simple. General Wu’s past achievements are enough to explain everything. What’s more, I can feel an unparalleled confidence from the General. I believe in my vision, and the General’s future will definitely be extraordinary.”

Chen Daolin said.

Wu Changqing didn’t know whether to admire this guy’s vision or his courage.

However, he knew that this guy had bet correctly.

With the system, the possibility of him failing was very small, and this world would be his sooner or later.

“In that case, I will give you a way to make money as a betrothal gift.”

Wu Changqing smiled. He didn’t refuse Chen Daolin’s kindness. After all, Chen Daolin said that his daughter had some beauty, so she should be pretty good-looking.

More importantly, he really needed a business helper. His energy had to be focused on military affairs, and it was impossible for him to spend all day figuring out how to make money.

So far, no one was more suitable than Chen Daolin.

A way to make money?

Chen Daolin was a little puzzled.

While he was puzzled, Wu Changqing had already personally come to the oil pot, added a certain amount of lye, and continued to boil it. After about half an hour, Wu Changqing began to add some crude salt for salting out.

Before long, a layer of yellow ointment began to appear on the surface of the water.

Wu Changqing asked people to scrape off these ointments and put them into small boxes to cool.

After these blocky objects cooled and solidified, they became soap.

After that, Wu Changqing asked people to find dirty clothes to test the effect of the soap.

The result was naturally needless to say, it was many times better than the saponin being used in this era.

“What is this?”

Chen Daolin, who had witnessed the whole process, was dumbfounded. This thing was too magical. As long as you applied it twice on dirty clothes, the stains could quickly disappear.

“This is a little thing I researched myself. I call it soap, and it can be used to wash clothes. As long as you choose some better tung oil and refine it according to this method, and add some fragrance, it can become fragrant soap, which can be used for bathing.”

Wu Changqing was very satisfied with Chen Daolin’s reaction. People in this era had not learned chemistry, and they would probably find such magical chemical changes incredible.

“Are you saying that this thing will be handed over to me to manage?”

Chen Daolin asked in surprise. Although he was just a grain merchant, he also knew something about other industries.

From the powerful stain-removing ability of soap, he knew that as soon as this thing was launched, it could immediately eliminate saponin completely.

The profit of this exclusive business was much more profitable than the grain business.

Plus, the fragrant soap that Wu Changqing mentioned would probably become an indispensable daily necessities for rich ladies.

Chen Daolin couldn’t believe that Wu Changqing would be so generous as to give this thing to himself as a betrothal gift.

“Of course, after all, I don’t have that much time to manage business matters. I will always hand this thing over to a trustworthy businessman to manage. You have married your daughter to me, so why would I not hand this thing over to you?

Shopkeeper Chen, no, it should be Father-in-law. I can only say that your vision is indeed very good. Cooperating with me is definitely the most correct choice in your life.

Soap and fragrant soap are just the beginning. I have liked reading strange books since I was a child, and there are many things I can make.”

Wu Changqing was speaking to Chen Daolin in the tone of a superior, rather than communicating with him as a son-in-law. After all, he was not an ordinary person, and his relationship with Chen Daolin could not be like that of ordinary fathers-in-law and sons-in-law.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s incomparably arrogant and narcissistic posture, Chen Daolin did not feel disgusted. He only felt that Wu Changqing had an unparalleled confidence.

“Risesun, you can rest assured to rectify the military. I will take care of all the food and payment matters. You are a born person to do great things, and I will fully support you.”

Chen Daolin called out Wu Changqing’s courtesy name, also wanting to get closer to him.

Chapter 32: The Chen Family

Wu Changqing wrote down the formula and production process and gave it to Chen Daolin. Afterwards, the two discussed the plan in detail.

In the end, Chen Daolin first provided five hundred thousand jin of grain and one hundred thousand taels of silver to support the volunteer army. He also began to recruit people to start manufacturing soap and scented soap.

When he returned home that evening, Chen Daolin had a smile on his face.

When a maid accidentally broke a bowl, Chen Daolin only told her to be careful in the future and did not scold her as he usually would.

This made the maids and servants in the mansion feel much more relaxed. When the master was happy, they didn’t have to live in constant fear.

“Master, is there something happy going on?”

Chen Daolin’s wife, Madam Zhen, asked.

“There is indeed good news, and it’s a double blessing. Where’s Yuyan? Call Yuyan here, I have good news to tell her.”

Chen Daolin said with a smile.

It’s related to their daughter, could it be a marriage?

Madam Zhen guessed immediately. After all, the only happy event that could involve their daughter was probably marriage.

After a while, Madam Zhen led a small beauty of about one meter fifty-five in height, with big eyes and a round face, to the main hall.

“Father,” said Chen Yuyan.

“Yuyan, you are fifteen years old this year. Your older sister was already married at your age. Therefore, Father has also arranged a marriage for you.”

Chen Daolin said.

“Ah? I don’t want to get married yet.”

Chen Yuyan’s face flushed red upon hearing this, and she turned away.

In fact, she also knew that this was the fate of a girl and that this day would come sooner or later. However, when this day actually arrived, she was still at a loss.

Marrying someone she had never met and starting a life with a stranger…

These things made her curious, nervous, and shy.

“Nonsense, what girl doesn’t get married? Don’t worry, the person Father has chosen for you is a dragon among men, absolutely one in a million, a great hero. Not everyone is qualified to marry a hero like him.”

Chen Daolin said proudly, feeling extremely proud of his decision.

“Oh, which family’s young master is it?”

Madam Zhen asked.

Hearing her mother’s question, Chen Yuyan also perked up her ears. She also wanted to know who her future husband was and what kind of person he was.

“He is the current controller of Suzhou, General Wu Changqing.”

Chen Daolin said.

“Ah?”

Madam Zhen panicked upon hearing this. Although she was just a woman, she was somewhat knowledgeable about the current situation due to being in a wealthy family and hearing about it.

At least, she knew that Wu Changqing’s volunteer army and the Qing Dynasty were mortal enemies, and the Qing Dynasty was incredibly powerful, even the Ming Dynasty, which had lasted for more than two hundred years, was no match for them.

In other words, Wu Changqing might seem glorious now, but he was actually in a dangerous situation, living day to day.

“Master, aren’t you pushing our daughter into a fire pit? What if the Qing Tartars come back? What should we do?”

Madam Zhen said anxiously.

Chen Yuyan was also dumbfounded. She never expected that her future husband would be Wu Changqing, the young hero praised by everyone in the city.

Since ancient times, beautiful women have loved heroes, and Chen Yuyan was no exception. Hearing some maids talk about how amazing Wu Changqing was every day, Chen Yuyan had even become curious about Wu Changqing.

But she never expected that this young hero would be her future husband.

Chen Yuyan was both happy, shy, and flustered about this result. She also knew that Wu Changqing was fighting against the powerful Qing Tartars and was a thorn in the Qing’s side.

Marrying such a person might mean being captured by the Tartars and beheaded or sold to a brothel in the future.

However, she would rather risk marrying such a person than marry those weak, incompetent, and unaccomplished playboys.

Chen Yuyan had no say in marriage matters; her parents had the final say.

Chen Yuyan had always worried that her parents would find someone she didn’t like, but she didn’t expect that the person her father found was exactly what she wanted, but her mother had objections.

She really wanted to tell her mother that she wasn’t afraid of danger. However, she was afraid that she would be scolded for being shameless if she said it out loud.

“A woman’s perspective, what do you know? General Wu started with one hundred local militia, and after several major battles, he won more with less each time. Now he has eight thousand men under his command, it’s not so easy to fail.”

Chen Daolin reprimanded. He didn’t want Wu Changqing to know that his wife was dissatisfied with this marriage.

“But…”

“No buts, I have already decided on the marriage, and it will be held in a month. General Wu is busy with important matters, and his elders are far away in Shaoxing, so you will be responsible for preparing for the wedding. You must do your best to make General Wu satisfied.”

Chen Daolin was the head of the family, and no one else had the right to object to what he decided.

With the matter settled, Chen Yuyan returned to her boudoir with a flushed face.

“Miss, miss, has the master arranged a marriage for you?”

As soon as she returned to her boudoir, her personal maid, Zihe, couldn’t wait to ask. She had only heard a rough outline outside the hall and didn’t know the specific details.

Chen Yuyan nodded.

“Wow, Miss is getting married.”

Zihe exclaimed.

“You’re asking for a beating.”

Chen Yuyan was unbearably shy, so she slapped Zihe.

“Hehe, which family’s young master is Miss marrying?”

Zihe continued to ask. She wasn’t just curious. If there were no accidents, she would also marry over with Chen Yuyan and continue to serve her.

In some cases, she might even be used as a bed-warming maid and have to serve Chen Yuyan’s husband as well.

As a girl who had been adopted since childhood, this was her fate, and she had long known and accepted it.

“Guess?”

Chen Yuyan said, still in a state of excitement.

Even though her mother had clearly stated that marrying Wu Changqing would be dangerous, she was still very satisfied with this marriage. After all, Wu Changqing was the great hero in the eyes of the people.

“How could I guess? Could it be Young Master Tang from the Tang family? I heard he’s unaccomplished, please don’t let it be him.”

Zihe made a gesture of praying to Buddha for blessings. She knew that the Tang family had proposed marriage to Chen Daolin before, but Chen Daolin had refused because the Tang family’s young master was unaccomplished and had a bad reputation.

“How could it be him?”

Speaking of the Tang family’s young master, Chen Yuyan was somewhat disdainful, and then said triumphantly, “It’s Young Master Wu, General Wu Changqing, the current general of Suzhou.”

“Ah…”

Zihe screamed, then quickly covered her mouth.

This result was too unexpected, and this unexpected surprise was too wonderful.

That was the great hero in the eyes of the people. Marrying such a person was too wonderful.

“Congratulations, Miss, congratulations. Your wish must have come true.”

Zihe said.

“You’re asking for a beating.”

Chen Yuyan pretended to hit her. Although she had secretly made such a wish, she was unwilling to admit it, as that would be too shameful.

That night, Chen Yuyan suffered from insomnia, her mind filled with fantasies about Wu Changqing’s appearance.

She had only heard of Wu Changqing but had never met him.

Chapter 33: Soap

The Chen family began preparing for the wedding, and the news of the Chen family’s second daughter getting married quickly spread.

“Father, Chen Yuyan from the Chen family is getting married! To that brute Wu Changqing! It’s infuriating!”

Tang Yu’s son, Tang Jinxi, upon hearing this news, stormed to his father. His father had promised to help him secure this marriage.

“Silence! You want to be the death of me!”

Tang Yu scolded. Wu Changqing was now the one calling the shots in Suzhou. Saying Wu Changqing was a brute like that, if it got out, would give Wu Changqing an excuse to make trouble for them.

Tang Yu felt helpless towards this disappointing son.

“But Father, you promised me…”

“Go to the study and reflect on your mistakes behind closed doors! Afu, take the young master away.”

Tang Jinxi wanted to argue further, but Tang Yu directly confined him, forbidding him from leaving. Otherwise, his reckless words would only bring disaster to the family.

After driving away his son, Tang Yu began to digest the news of Chen Daolin marrying off his daughter.

He knew more than Tang Jinxi. He not only knew that Chen Daolin was marrying off his daughter, but also that Chen Daolin had donated five hundred thousand catty (250,000 kg) of grain and one hundred thousand taels of silver to Wu Changqing.

This level of support was almost like betting the house.

Although the Chen family’s assets were over a million taels, most of it was in fixed assets and capital. The liquid funds they could take out were only about one hundred thousand taels.

This time, donating one hundred thousand taels and five hundred thousand catty (250,000 kg) of grain would definitely affect the Chen family’s business.

Tang Yu couldn’t understand why Chen Daolin would do this. He contacted a few friends and sat down to discuss it.

“I think Shopkeeper Chen is probably trying to gamble on Wu Changqing.”

Liu Shizao sneered. This intention wasn’t hard to understand. What they found hard to understand was why Chen Daolin was optimistic about Wu Changqing.

At least, in their opinion, Wu Changqing could never be a match for the Qing Dynasty.

“Could it be that he received some inside information, like the Ming Dynasty is about to fight back?”

Another merchant said.

“How is that possible? The Ming Dynasty is too rotten to be saved. They should be laughing that they can secure a corner in Fujian, where would they have the strength to counterattack?”

Tang Yu looked down on the Ming Dynasty. The others were similar, feeling that the Ming Dynasty had no possibility of revival.

“Perhaps, Chen Daolin is just an old fool, wanting to gamble on Wu Changqing. It’s a pity, this time he’s going to lose both his silver and his daughter.”

Liu Shizao laughed.

The others laughed along, agreeing with his point of view.

They all felt that Chen Daolin was senile. If he wanted to bet, he should bet on the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty. Betting on a rebel was just courting death.

“It seems we can try to get into the grain business.”

Tang Yu proposed a suggestion that made everyone’s mouths water. The grain business in Suzhou had always been controlled by the Chen family. It was extremely difficult for others to enter the industry, and they were easily suppressed and squeezed out by Chen Daolin.

But now, Chen Daolin’s reckless gamble would lead to him not having the strength he once had, and their opportunity to enter the grain industry had arrived.

The next day, a new shop opened in Suzhou, named Chen’s Soapberry Shop.

The shop only had two kinds of goods: soap and scented soap.

For the opening, the Chen family hired a lion dance troupe to liven things up, attracting many onlookers.

After the performance, a shopkeeper with good eloquence began to introduce the two new products.

“Esteemed elders and folks, take a good look, this is not some kind of trick.”

The shopkeeper took out a bar of soap and demonstrated its stain-removing ability.

Watching the dirt on the dirty clothes quickly fade away, leaving a basin of dirty water, the crowd couldn’t help but marvel.

“This thing is called soap. You all must have seen its effect. This thing is more convenient than saponin by more than a hundred times. Buy a bar of soap and take it home, and you’ll never have to worry about your clothes not being clean enough to wear out and losing face.”

“This soap must be very expensive, right?”

A commoner asked. Such a useful thing must be very expensive, could commoners afford it?

“Not expensive, not expensive. We have two specifications in our shop. The high-end boutique only costs one tael of silver per bar, which can be used by a family for one or two months. The low-end one only costs two hundred copper coins per bar, enough for a small household to use for half a year.”

During the Ming Dynasty, silver, copper coins, and paper money were mainly used. However, the imperial court was only responsible for issuing paper money, but not for recycling it, which led to a sharp devaluation of this paper currency. Commoners and merchants no longer recognized or used it.

Nowadays, only silver and copper coins are basically circulating on the market. One tael of silver is approximately equal to one thousand to one thousand two hundred copper coins. The exchange rate varies from place to place.

One tael of silver was a lot for commoners, almost enough for a commoner to live for a year.

Therefore, the high-end boutiques were specially sold to the wealthy. For wealthy families, one tael of silver per month was completely acceptable.

For ordinary commoners, the low-end product of two hundred copper coins was still a little expensive, but they could afford it if they gritted their teeth.

Chen Daolin had carefully considered this price.

At this price, he could obtain the largest sales volume and profit.

The cost of the high-end boutique was only one hundred copper coins, while the low-end one was about forty copper coins. Relatively speaking, selling high-end boutiques was more profitable, but the low-end market was larger, and he could make a small profit with large sales.

One was a ten-fold profit, and the other was a five-fold profit. This kind of business was simply a huge profit.

He used to do grain trading, and the profit was only about twenty percent, which still depended on some low-buy and high-sell tactics.

Compared with this soap business, selling grain was really too boring.

Of course, the premise was that these soaps could be sold.

“Two hundred coins, so expensive.”

A commoner sighed. This soap looked too useful. If he bought one back, his wife would definitely be all smiles.

Commoners felt it was expensive, but for those wealthy families, they didn’t think the price was expensive at all.

The butler of the Li family happened to pass by and watched. Curious, he personally tried the effect of the soap, and then decisively bought ten high-end boutique soaps in one go.

For wealthy families, face was the most important thing.

Last time, a maidservant hadn’t washed the master’s clothes clean, and was almost beaten half to death.

With this thing, the master of the house would no longer have to worry about losing face. One tael of silver a month was just a small matter.

“Butler Li, don’t leave yet. Besides soap, we have even better things here, scented soap.”

The Chen family shopkeeper took the opportunity to take out the scented soap, let the people on the scene smell it, and showed how to use it.

“See, this thing contains endless fragrance. Buy one and take it home for the madam and young ladies to use when bathing. After bathing, the whole person will be fragrant. And after using scented soap, mosquitoes will retreat and dare not bite.”

…

Chapter 34: Training Soldiers on the Drill Ground

The soap and scented soap were immediately met with excellent reviews upon their release.

The contrast was simply too stark. The stain-removing power of ordinary soap was no match for the new soap. As for the scented soap, there was simply nothing comparable on the market, making it a completely novel product.

Regarding price, while the common people felt the soap was slightly expensive, the high-end consumers didn’t think so.

Not only was the one tael of silver soap being bought in large quantities, but even the five taels of silver scented soap was in short supply.

“Where did the Chen family get these novel items?”

Tang Yu and several other big merchants gathered again, stunned by the sudden appearance of soap and scented soap.

The competitiveness of these goods was too strong; there were simply no comparable products on the market to compete with. This kind of exclusive business was always the most profitable.

“My concubine used the scented soap yesterday, and the effect was indeed very good. She smelled fragrant all over.”

“Oh, didn’t Shopkeeper Lu have a wonderful night last night?”

Hearing the teasing of Shopkeeper Lu, the others couldn’t laugh.

“Does anyone know how much these things cost to make?”

Tang Yu asked.

Everyone shook their heads. It was too soon; none of them had found out. But they were sure that the cost was definitely not high.

Judging others by themselves, they felt that if they had obtained such a treasure, they would definitely set the profit margin very high.

“Isn’t this guy going to make a fortune? This is an exclusive business,” someone lamented. Businesses with competition were difficult, but exclusive businesses were the most popular.

Seeing Chen Daolin come up with such a treasure as soap, they were all envious.

“No wonder Chen Daolin gave up the grain business. It seems he had this treasure long ago and was afraid of being forcibly plundered, so he didn’t dare to make it public. Now he’s deliberately found a backer before bringing it out to sell.”

Liu Shizao used his imagination and came up with a possibility that everyone agreed with.

“His move is undoubtedly a stupid one. Once the Qing army returns and destroys Wu Changqing, we’ll have the opportunity to seize this business,” Tang Yu sneered.

Just a few days ago, they were all people in the same circle, and although the relationship wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad either. But because Chen Daolin provided supplies to Wu Changqing alone, they tacitly isolated Chen Daolin.

Now, they didn’t even bother to hide their malice towards Chen Daolin in their words.

“That’s right. This kind of good product should naturally be managed by everyone together. How can we let him enjoy it alone?”

“Let him jump around for a few days first.”

…

On the drill ground, Wu Changqing was personally distributing pay to the soldiers. He wanted these soldiers to know who was supporting them, to make these soldiers recognize only him and be loyal only to him.

The power to distribute pay was very important. If the pay was handed over to Liu Hansan and the others to distribute, on the one hand, Liu Hansan and other officers might deduct layers of it, and on the other hand, it would lead to the soldiers only recognizing their superiors.

This was a major drawback of the old army. Wu Changqing was already preparing to establish a logistics department specifically to distribute military pay to the soldiers, handle spoils of war, and be responsible for various army purchases.

Those generals only needed to be responsible for training soldiers and fighting wars; they wouldn’t be allowed to touch matters of money.

Doing so might make some officers who liked to deduct soldiers’ pay unhappy, but Wu Changqing still decided to do it. If he didn’t, he would never be able to eradicate some of the drawbacks in the old army.

After the expansion, Wu Changqing’s main force had reached eight thousand men.

Of course, he couldn’t distribute the pay to so many people individually. He only did it as a show for a dozen soldiers, and then handed over the rest of the work to Wang Dafu.

Eight thousand was already a considerable number, but their combat effectiveness was a big question mark.

The one thousand two hundred flintlock rifle troops were not a concern; they were absolutely elite. Even if they encountered the Eight Banner soldiers, they could fight them and gain the upper hand.

However, the remaining six thousand or so men were somewhat lacking in combat effectiveness.

Among the six thousand or so men, Li Shaobin commanded one thousand, including four hundred musketeers, two hundred archers, and four hundred spearmen.

Originally, Wu Changqing had positioned this unit as a ranged force, but he only had so many muskets. All the new ones made in the workshops had been taken, and he had barely managed to gather four hundred.

Currently, the scale of the artisan workshop had expanded several times. There were as many as one hundred artisans working inside, and four or five hundred apprentices.

However, at present, the workshop could only produce an average of five matchlock guns, three flintlock guns, and some hand grenades, bows, arrows, broadswords, and spears per day.

He also had few archers in his troops, after all, archers were very difficult to train. People without enough arm strength couldn’t be archers. Moreover, bows and arrows were much more exquisite and expensive than broadswords and spears.

Wang Dayong commanded one thousand two hundred men, all swordsmen and shield bearers, a unit specifically used for attacking or defending cities. Each soldier would carry two hand grenades.

They probably weren’t good at field battles and would be dumbfounded if they encountered spearmen.

Liu Hansan commanded one or two hundred spearmen, while Wu Yi commanded one thousand five hundred miscellaneous troops, who used all kinds of weapons.

Dai Zhijun commanded a total of one thousand eight hundred spearmen and swordsmen and shield bearers. Finally, there was a cavalry unit of one hundred men, mainly for reconnaissance and sentry duty, commanded by Chen Shichang, Wu Shengzhao’s former subordinate.

In general, his army was still mainly based on cold weapons.

He encountered a very helpless situation, which was that he had advanced technology but couldn’t find enough talent to use it.

In this era, the literacy rate was very low. Cultivating talent was also a very difficult task.

“Assemble, line up, attention, at ease.”

Following Wang Dafu’s commands, the soldiers who had received their pay lined up, standing at attention and at ease in unison. This was a procedure stipulated by Wu Changqing, to make these soldiers develop the habit of acting in unison.

“Training is about to begin. Do you know why I’m strictly forcing you to train? It’s because I don’t want to see you die on the battlefield. Every one of you is my soldier, and I value each person’s life very much.

However, war is inevitable to have deaths. If you want to not die on the battlefield, then you have to work hard in training. Sweat more in peacetime, and you can shed less blood in wartime…”

Wu Changqing gave another speech. The soldiers who understood were moved to tears and were grateful.

In this era, which general would say such moving words? ‘Every one of you is my soldier,’ just this simple sentence gave the soldiers a sense of being valued.

After the speech, except for those units that needed to be on guard and patrol, the others began training.

The training content was divided into three parts. The first part was the cultivation of soldiers’ individual abilities, such as strength and endurance training. This part had less content.

The second part was the training of tactical formation coordination, how to cooperate and how to use the knife in battles between the two armies…

The third part was Wu Changqing’s original special training, which included marching in step, forming formations, trust training, courage training, simulated combat, and the like.

And today, after these three parts of training were completed, Wu Changqing added another item for them, which was reading and literacy.

Many people think that the most important thing for soldiers is bravery, but intelligence and knowledge are also very important. Especially after entering the era of hot weapons, a group of illiterate strong men would definitely not be able to defeat a group of literati with tactical literacy.

Wu Changqing’s army would sooner or later achieve full hot weapons, so the soldiers’ cultural level was very important. He had to cultivate a group of literate grassroots officers so that they could master some basic tactical literacy.

Learning was a long process, so although reading and literacy didn’t greatly improve the army’s combat effectiveness at the moment, Wu Changqing still issued such an order.

Everything was for future development.

Liu Hansan and others didn’t understand such an order very well. They didn’t understand what the significance of letting soldiers read and write was. However, this was Wu Changqing’s order, and they could only obey even if they didn’t understand.

As for the soldiers, they were moved by Wu Changqing’s order.

It was not easy for people in this era to study and learn to read. People whose families didn’t have any savings couldn’t afford to send their children to study. This led to the fact that most soldiers were illiterate.

Although they were all illiterate, they all knew the great significance of reading and literacy.

The idea that reading can change one’s destiny had already been popularized in this era.

Wu Changqing gave them the opportunity to study and learn to read, which was equivalent to giving them the opportunity to change their lives. In the eyes of the soldiers, this was simply a great gift.

This unexpected gain was also beyond Wu Changqing’s expectations.

This made him even more determined to implement this strategy, and he specially invited a group of teachers to teach the soldiers to read.

Chapter 35: Envoy of Prince Tang

“General, the envoy of Prince Tang has arrived.”

Just as Wu Changqing was drilling his troops, the envoy of the Longwu Emperor arrived in Suzhou.

“The envoy of Prince Tang has also come. What do you all think? Should we pledge allegiance to Prince Lu or Prince Tang?”

Wu Changqing asked the other officers. Liu Hansan and the others found this question difficult to answer, as they didn’t know which side Wu Changqing favored.

It would be unwise to hastily express their opinions, only to find they contradicted Wu Changqing’s.

“Ah, this Ming Dynasty is really something, creating two courts and making it difficult for us soldiers to choose,” Wang Dafu grumbled. This was Wu Changqing’s instruction, to voice such dissatisfaction with the court in appropriate settings, in order to resonate with the other officers.

“There are treacherous officials in the court,” Wu Yi lamented, his words also hinting at disappointment with the current court.

“We’ll all listen to the General. Whichever side you lean towards, we’ll follow your orders,” Li Shaobin seized the opportunity to pledge his loyalty.

“Let’s go and see him together first.”

Wu Changqing and several senior officers returned to the yamen and met Lu Yongjin, the envoy of Prince Tang.

Lu Yongjin was different from Qiu Zhaojin. When Qiu Zhaojin came to Suzhou, he did so under the guise of a visit. But Lu Yongjin was here to deliver an imperial decree.

“The Emperor has decreed that Garrison Commander Wu should prepare himself to receive the decree,” Lu Yongjin said.

Wu Changqing was dumbfounded. Gu Yanwu, seeing this, reminded him, “Receiving a decree requires setting up an incense table, wearing official robes, and kneeling to receive the decree.”

This was the etiquette for receiving a decree. Ordinary people and low-ranking officials were generally unaware of such procedures, as they were unlikely to have the opportunity to receive one. Therefore, even if the recipient of the decree was impolite, the person delivering the decree usually wouldn’t mind.

Of course, if one offended the person delivering the decree, such impoliteness could be used to make a big deal out of it.

Before the uprising, Wu Changqing wasn’t even a formal court official, so naturally, he didn’t know these rituals. Therefore, Lu Yongjin wasn’t angry.

He wasn’t angry, but Wu Changqing was.

Kneel to receive the decree?

As a person from later generations, he had never even knelt to his parents. Now, he was supposed to kneel to a decree-reading envoy? How could that be possible?

Wu Changqing wasn’t a qualified ambitious person. A qualified ambitious person wouldn’t care about such face and dignity, and would endure humiliation for the sake of the bigger picture.

However, Wu Changqing cared. He didn’t care if others saw that he had no regard for the imperial court and immediately said angrily, “With a great enemy at our doorstep, we don’t even have time to drill troops every day. Where would we find the time for such superficial things? Just read it.”

This…

Lu Yongjin was inwardly furious, but he also knew that these soldiers were all brutes, and it would be a waste of breath to talk to them about etiquette and rules.

Wu Changqing’s words made the atmosphere awkward. The officers had different thoughts upon seeing this scene.

Liu Hansan, Li Shaobin, Wang Dayong, and Wang Dafu all looked at the envoy with disdain. They felt that Wu Changqing’s words made sense, and that all those superficialities were meaningless.

Dai Zhijun and Wu Yi, seeing this, were thoughtful. They didn’t know if Wu Changqing’s words came from the heart, or if it was because he had no regard for the Ming Dynasty court.

Seeing that the situation wasn’t good, Gu Yanwu stepped in to defuse it. “Envoy Lu, please read the imperial decree directly. In times of crisis, we should act expediently. Our army is currently surrounded by enemy forces, and time is indeed pressing.”

Lu Yongjin had a way out and quickly said, “The situation is difficult, so it should be so.”

Afterward, Lu Yongjin read the imperial decree.

The decree was simple, merely appointing Wu Changqing as the garrison commander of Suzhou and Songjiang, a rank of second grade, and Liu Hansan and others as lieutenant generals, a rank of third grade.

After Lu Yongjin finished reading the decree, he found that none of the officers thanked him for the honor. Their faces showed no joy, and even revealed a hint of anger.

This wasn’t really Liu Hansan’s fault. When Qiu Zhaojin had approached them privately, he had promised them the position of garrison commander and the title of Baron of the county.

As for Wu Changqing, Prince Lu had directly offered him the position of Governor-General of Suzhou and Songjiang, with full military and political power over the Suzhou and Songjiang region.

The Longwu Emperor’s rewards were far too stingy compared to Prince Lu’s, so Liu Hansan and the others were naturally dissatisfied.

Of course, this wasn’t the Longwu Emperor’s fault either. When he issued the decree, Wu Changqing had only occupied Jiading and had only a few hundred men under his command.

Now, Wu Changqing had already occupied Suzhou and other places, and had thousands of men under his command. Did the Longwu Emperor really think he could win him over with just the title of garrison commander?

The Longwu Emperor suffered from the disadvantage of distance, not understanding the actual situation here.

Wu Changqing turned and left without accepting the decree, and the other officers did the same, leaving a rather awkward Lu Yongjin behind.

Fortunately, Gu Yanwu was there to enlighten him, telling him the reason for Wu Changqing’s anger. “Prince Lu had previously promised General Wu the position of Governor-General and the title of Earl. Your title of garrison commander and lieutenant general, the generals naturally look down upon.”

“This is not the Emperor’s fault. When we came, we only heard that General Wu had captured Jiading, and we didn’t know that he had now taken Suzhou and achieved such great merit.”

Lu Yongjin was depressed and anxious. If Prince Lu didn’t exist, even if such a misunderstanding occurred, it wouldn’t matter. It would just take more time to report to the court, and the Longwu Emperor could issue a new decree.

But now, because of the existence of the Lu Wang regime, they couldn’t afford to delay. If Wu Changqing leaned towards Prince Lu because of this, it would be a small blow to the Longwu Emperor’s prestige.

“Well, I think you should send a message to Fuzhou as soon as possible. The best way is to reach a consensus with Prince Lu and establish a primary and secondary relationship. Now that two courts coexist, our soldiers on the front lines are also confused.”

Gu Yanwu said helplessly, “What time is it, and the Zhu family is still fighting internally, which is really chilling the hearts of righteous people.”

Gu Yanwu personally preferred to be loyal to the Longwu court, because the Longwu court was now recognized by most places, representing the orthodoxy of the Ming Dynasty.

“The court has been communicating with Prince Lu’s side, and there will probably be results soon. Mr. Gu, please rest assured and assist General Wu in recovering lost territory. If you can take Nanjing back, that would be a great achievement, and the Longwu Emperor will definitely not be stingy with rewards.”

Nanjing was of great significance to the Ming Dynasty. The reason why Prince Lu could not recognize the Longwu court was simply because the Longwu court was located in a remote place like Fuzhou.

If the capital of the Longwu court was in Nanjing, I am afraid that all forces would recognize it. Because Nanjing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, representing legitimacy.

Chapter 36: Kidnapping Artisans

Wu Changqing and the other generals arrived in another hall. Liu Hansan was the first to start cursing, “The imperial court really doesn’t take us seriously. We occupy most of Suzhou Prefecture, and they think a garrison commander is enough to deal with us.”

“The Zheng family in the court, have they ever won a single battle? Have they ever killed a single Qing soldier? Every one of them is either a marquis or an earl, while our general is risking his life on the front lines and only gets a garrison commander, not even a noble title.”

Li Shaobin was also indignant on Wu Changqing’s behalf, and of course, on his own behalf as well.

Only if Wu Changqing received a high reward would they, as his subordinates, receive high rewards as well. If Wu Changqing only got a garrison commander, they couldn’t expect to get anything good.

Wu Changqing signaled everyone to stop and then said, “Now that Prince Tang and Prince Lu both exist, it’s really hard for us to choose. I personally think we don’t need to rush to accept rewards for now. As long as we continue to grow stronger and occupy more territory, the court will definitely not dare to skimp on our rewards.”

“That’s right, let’s accumulate strength first. The current rewards are just titles anyway. They won’t give us a single soldier or a single grain of rice.”

Liu Hansan agreed.

…

“General Chen, is there any movement from the Qing army near Changzhou?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Chen Shichang, who was in charge of patrol and guard duty, stepped forward and replied, “Not yet.”

“That’s strange. Does the Qing Dynasty not want Suzhou anymore? Otherwise, why wouldn’t they send troops over?”

Liu Hansan was very puzzled.

Wu Changqing then began to recall. He was quite familiar with the history of the Southern Ming, but he had been too busy recently. Unless he made a conscious effort to remember, he couldn’t recall some things.

Now that he noticed the Qing army’s abnormality, he recalled again and remembered some history.

Wu Changqing thought that if he remembered correctly, Li Zicheng seemed to be dead now, and his subordinates were leaderless. It seemed that at this time, they all surrendered to He Tengjiao, the governor of Hunan.

He Tengjiao’s strength greatly increased after receiving these one hundred thousand troops, and he then began to attack the Jiujiang area of Jiangxi. Later, Lekedehun from Nanjing led troops to defeat He Tengjiao.

Calculating it, it seemed to be right around this time.

With the answer, Wu Changqing’s mood improved a bit. Lekedehun’s Banner troops were much stronger than those of Liu Liangzuo and Li Chengdong.

Now that he had gone to deal with He Tengjiao, he would have more time to develop.

As for Liu Liangzuo or Li Chengdong, he wasn’t too worried about them now. If they dared to come, he could teach them a lesson.

“It’s better if they don’t come, we’ll have more time to prepare for war. However, we can’t be careless, so I plan to recruit another three thousand soldiers and concentrate on training them first. When the war starts, we can replenish the various units at any time.”

With Chen Daolin’s financial support, Wu Changqing was now relatively wealthy and could recruit more soldiers.

“Actually, recruiting soldiers is easy, the key is weaponry. If there were more muskets in the army, our strength would greatly increase.”

Liu Hansan said, he was now obsessed with muskets and wanted to replace his subordinates’ weapons with muskets.

“There are only so many artisans, we can’t rush it.”

Wu Changqing said.

“General, we can send small units to attack the surrounding small counties. We don’t need to occupy them all, just break through the city and bring all the artisans in the city over.”

Dai Zhijun made a suggestion, which was approved by everyone.

For small counties like Wu Jiang County with fewer troops stationed there, attacking them was relatively easy. The main reason they didn’t attack was because they didn’t have enough troops to garrison them after taking them.

But now, Dai Zhijun said that they could forgo the territory and just bring the artisans over.

Wu Changqing thought about it and felt that the idea was not bad, so he ordered Liu Hansan, Wang Dayong, and Wu Yi to lead troops to attack Jiangyin, Xishan, Songjiang and other counties.

This time, they didn’t want territory, just artisans, and by the way, they would rob the county government’s treasury.

Whether it was weapons or money and grain, the more the better.

A few days later, Nanjing.

Hong Chengchou received the latest battle report that Jiangyin, Xishan, and other places had been attacked by the rebel army of Suzhou.

Strangely, after the rebels captured these places, they did not leave anyone to garrison them. They only robbed the treasury and gathered the artisans in the city and took them away.

Were they going to build muskets?

Hong Chengchou quickly guessed Wu Changqing’s purpose, because previous battle reports had mentioned that the Suzhou rebels’ firearms were unusually fierce.

Not only was the shooting distance long, but the rate of fire was also very fast, and they didn’t need a fuse to ignite them.

In several battles, the Qing army had suffered from these firearms.

Just from the battle reports, Hong Chengchou still couldn’t imagine what those firearms looked like, but seeing that Wu Changqing was willing to send troops to capture county towns and kidnap people in order to build these muskets, he could guess that the role of these weapons must be very great.

“Tell Guan Changlin to come see me.”

Hong Chengchou instructed his personal guard. He wanted to send someone to arrange for spies to go to Suzhou to find a way to get the secret of this new musket.

If he could get the manufacturing technology of this new musket, he could gather artisans to imitate it and improve his combat power.

The ancients only lacked knowledge, but they did not lack wisdom.

Elites like Hong Chengchou, who were both civil and military, had a very strong ability to accept advanced weapons. Just hearing that the new musket was very useful, he was already thinking about how to imitate it.

This reaction speed could be considered very fast.

Of course, he was also forced to do so.

Originally, he wanted Lekedehun to work hard and personally lead troops to break through Suzhou.

But no one thought that at this time, Jiujiang and other places were in urgent need of help, and He Tengjiao led tens of thousands of troops to attack Jiangxi and Anhui.

He Tengjiao had obtained Li Zicheng’s Great Shun army, with hundreds of thousands of troops under his command, and they were all veterans who had fought in battles. The rebels in Suzhou only had a few thousand, and they were all newly recruited soldiers.

Compared to the threat of He Tengjiao, the threat of this small group of rebels in Suzhou was nothing.

Therefore, Lekedehun did not hesitate and directly led his troops to Jiujiang. As for the rebels in Suzhou, Lekedehun said to leave it to Liu Liangzuo.

After all, Liu Liangzuo also had more than thirty thousand troops under his command. Even if he couldn’t capture Suzhou, surrounding Suzhou and trapping the rebels in the city was no problem.

As long as he solved He Tengjiao, the rebels could be taken down at any time.

Hong Chengchou naturally agreed with Lekedehun’s strategy. He had already ordered Liu Liangzuo to prepare for war.

Because he was worried that Liu Liangzuo would suffer from the muskets, he had the idea of stealing the rebels’ musket secrets.

At the same time, he also transferred a large number of old-fashioned muskets from the treasury to Liu Liangzuo.

Chapter 37: Inspecting the Arsenal

After seizing over a hundred artisans in Suzhou, Wu Changqing arrived at the arsenal for inspection.

The Suzhou arsenal had already undergone a large-scale expansion, covering an area of over a thousand acres, and was guarded by soldiers at all times to prevent anyone from stealing secrets.

The outer areas where ordinary swords, sabers, and muskets were manufactured were not heavily guarded, but the security was extremely tight at the core of the arsenal.

This was where new-style muskets and gunpowder were made, and the manufacturing processes were top secret. If any of these secrets were leaked, it would greatly increase the enemy’s strength.

The artisans working inside were required to live and eat within the arsenal and were not allowed to leave.

The person in charge of the arsenal was Liu Baojun, a veteran who had followed the uprising in Jiading and was highly loyal.

Liu Baojun walked in front, introducing the current situation of the arsenal to Wu Changqing.

“Currently, there are twenty master artisans making flintlock muskets in the arsenal, with one hundred and twelve apprentices. On average, they can produce four flintlock muskets per day. Several apprentices have already mastered the skills, and the production of flintlock muskets is expected to reach an average of ten per day next month.

There are twenty-two master artisans making gunpowder. The only shortage is saltpeter, but the production of hand grenades is already sufficient to supply the army.

There are eight master artisans making cannons, and so far, they have only produced two Thunderbolt Cannons.

There are over one hundred and fifty master artisans making cold weapons, with seven hundred apprentices. The production of swords and sabers is sufficient to supply the army, but the production of armor is severely insufficient, mainly due to a shortage of iron…”

“How powerful are these cannons?”

Wu Changqing came to the area where cannons were manufactured for inspection. Cannons were known as the gods of war, and their appearance destined them to become a major player on the battlefield.

Without cannons, attacking cities was too difficult, as Wu Changqing had experienced when attacking Suzhou.

With the surprise attack using hand grenades, they had only managed to climb the city walls. If Wu Shengzhao had not been controlled, he would have certainly been able to dispatch reserve troops in time to reinforce the defense and drive the few rebels off the wall.

Having missed that surprise attack, it would be even more difficult for the rebels to climb the city walls next time. They would have to continuously use lives to wear down the defenders’ supplies until they ran out, only then would they have a chance to capture the city.

But with cannons, it was different. Aiming at one spot and bombarding it continuously would be enough to collapse a section of the city wall.

The city of Jiangyin had been breached by the Qing army in this way.

It could be said that when cannons appeared, the defensive function of cities was reduced by a level. Without cannons, the defensive power of a city was terrifying.

Even in field battles outside the city, the role of cannons was crucial. The side with cannons could give the opponent a great psychological deterrent.

Before the two armies engaged in close combat, bombarding them with cannons could greatly demoralize the enemy. If there were enough cannons, even just the bombardment could destroy the enemy’s will to resist.

“Reporting to the General, this is the Thunderbolt Cannon, and its power is much weaker than that of the Hongyi Cannon.”

“Then why not manufacture Hongyi Cannons? Is it because you don’t know how?”

Wu Changqing asked. The Thunderbolt Cannon was a small cannon with a range of only one kilometer, and its power was also very average.

“Manufacturing them isn’t a big problem, but the key is that they are too expensive. The Hongyi Cannon must be made of copper, as using iron would cause it to explode. A Hongyi Cannon weighs three thousand jin, requiring over two thousand jin of copper.”

The artisan replied.

Hearing this, Wu Changqing understood. Copper was currently used as currency, and over two thousand jin of copper could be cast into about two thousand strings of copper coins, which was two thousand taels of silver.

Two thousand taels of silver to make one cannon was too expensive, and they couldn’t afford it at the moment.

“Liu Baojun, first find a way to purchase some copper, as much as you can. I’ll figure out how to get the money.”

Wu Changqing instructed. They would definitely have to attack some heavily fortified cities in the future, and it would be impossible without cannons. As a modern person from the twenty-first century, he valued the lives of his soldiers and was unwilling to use their lives to fill the gap and exchange for victory.

Even if they weren’t attacking cities, as an army with firearms, cannons were essential.

Wu Changqing’s territory was still too small and lacked resources to build many cannons, otherwise, he would want to create howitzers now.

An artillery unit was a must, and they needed to start training professional artillerymen now.

“Yes.”

Liu Baojun noted it down.

After inspecting the arsenal, Wu Changqing gathered the core master artisans, rewarded several fast and skilled artisans with some silver, and appointed them as Clerks of the Ninth Rank to show his importance to them.

This made the artisans burst into tears of excitement. In this era, artisans were considered to be of low social status and had no qualifications to become officials.

What Wu Changqing gave them was not just an official position, but an opportunity to change their destiny.

It should be known that the household registration system established by Zhu Yuanzhang stipulated that household registrations were to be passed down. This meant that the sons of artisans could only become artisans in the future. Not only were they not allowed to become officials, but they were not even allowed to change professions.

The sons of soldiers could only become soldiers in the future and were not allowed to change professions either.

Wu Changqing didn’t know what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking when he created such a brain-dead system.

Some descendants of soldiers were timid and fearful, but they could only become soldiers because of this system. Some children of artisans were talented and intelligent, but they were not allowed to study for the imperial examinations.

Since ancient times, the Han people had believed that “kings, dukes, generals, and ministers are not born into nobility.” This household registration system could be said to have accumulated countless grievances among the people. If it weren’t for this reason, Li Zicheng would not have been able to gather tens of thousands of followers with a single call.

In the end, the Ming Dynasty had accumulated hundreds of years of problems, and at this time, it was just a complete explosion.

“As long as you work hard, diligently, and manufacture more weapons for our army, I will never be stingy with rewards. This reward is just the beginning, and I will reward more artisans in the future. In my territory, your descendants can also study and take the imperial examinations.”

Wu Changqing’s emphasis on artisans even exceeded his emphasis on officials.

Because this era was not short of officials, but it was very short of artisans. He wanted to build a better world in the future, and he couldn’t possibly pick up a hammer and knock around himself. He mainly had to rely on these artisans.

He not only wanted to improve the social status of these artisans but also wanted to increase their income and improve their cultural knowledge.

“General Wu is truly our upright official, our living Bodhisattva…”

Many artisans knelt down and kowtowed to express their gratitude. This feeling of being recognized was very touching.

Of course, Wu Changqing’s policy of gaining the support and love of artisans would also be met with resentment and resistance from the scholar class. There was only so much cake to go around, and if someone benefited, someone else would definitely lose out.

Wu Changqing couldn’t worry about so much for the time being. He needed to slowly figure out how to resolve this contradiction. Changing a society was not an easy task, and Wu Changqing could only do it step by step.

Taking too big of a step would easily cause problems.

He didn’t dare to try land reform now, otherwise, those big landlords would not hesitate to rebel against him.

Chapter 38: The Eve of the Great Battle

On October 15th, Liu Liangzuo’s forty thousand troops appeared outside the city of Suzhou.

It only took half a month to assemble the army, which was faster than Wu Changqing had anticipated.

Currently, the Qing Dynasty was on the rise, and its efficiency was very high, unlike the Ming Dynasty, which was in the late stages of its rule, with bloated and corrupt institutions and low efficiency.

This was an inevitable process for any regime as it rose, prospered, and declined. The Qing Dynasty would eventually become as inefficient as the Ming Dynasty was now.

After arriving in Suzhou, Liu Liangzuo did not immediately attack the city. Instead, he built a large camp to garrison his troops and sent envoys to Suzhou to persuade them to surrender.

It was a long-standing battlefield custom not to kill envoys between warring parties.

However, Wu Changqing ignored this convention. To convey his determination to resist to his subordinates, he didn’t even give the enemy envoys a chance to enter the city and speak nonsense. He directly ordered his men to open fire.

The envoy, who was waiting below the city gate to be opened, was scared out of his wits and fled in a panic.

He was lucky enough to escape, but more than half of his attendants were killed.

“Hahaha.”

Their embarrassed appearance was quite comical, and the soldiers of the rebel army on the city wall laughed heartily at the sight.

“Better to be dead men than living dogs! Fight to the death! Never surrender!”

Wu Changqing shouted loudly, followed by Liu Hansan and others who echoed the slogan.

“Better to be dead men than living dogs!”

Thousands of people on the city wall shouted in unison, creating a spectacular display of morale.

Liu Liangzuo, hundreds of meters away from the city wall, heard everything clearly, and his face turned extremely ugly.

Living dogs—weren’t they cursing him?

The stain of surrendering to the Manchus and becoming a traitor had always been a thorn in his side. Now, being ridiculed by thousands of people, it was hard for him not to be angry.

Of course, more importantly, he was shocked by Wu Changqing’s attitude.

Disregarding the unspoken rule of not killing envoys between warring parties clearly indicated a determination to fight to the death, leaving no room for negotiation.

Liu Liangzuo couldn’t understand why Wu Changqing’s attitude was so firm, leaving himself no way out. Was he really not afraid of death at all?

This made Liu Liangzuo feel quite ashamed. After all, Wu Changqing only had a few thousand men, but he had great integrity. As for him, he once had an army of one hundred thousand men, but he feared the strength of the Qing army and surrendered without a fight.

“It seems a fierce battle is unavoidable,” Cheng Tianbao, a staff officer under Liu Liangzuo, said with a sigh. He recalled the previous battle of Jiangyin, where the soldiers and civilians were equally stubborn, leading to a bitter fight.

At that time, Liu Liangzuo had even written a “Song of Persuasion” to persuade the soldiers and civilians in Jiangyin to surrender, but it was useless.

“The city walls of Suzhou are even higher than those of Jiangyin, making it difficult to attack,” another staff officer, Xue Guiren, chimed in.

“Return to camp and prepare. We’ll launch the attack tomorrow,” Liu Liangzuo said with a cold snort, expressing his dissatisfaction with his subordinates’ dejection. They were demoralizing the troops before the battle even began.

As Liu Liangzuo’s troops returned to prepare, Wu Changqing in Suzhou was also arranging defenses, preparing for battle.

Inside Suzhou, upon hearing the news of the Qing army’s arrival, some people were filled with fear, worried that the Qing army would massacre the city again after it fell.

Some who wanted to escape could not, as the city gates had been closed.

But not everyone was worried. Some even hoped that the Qing army would quickly break through the city.

Such as Tang Yu, Liu Shizao and other big merchants.

They had long written letters to Liu Liangzuo expressing their loyalty, so they didn’t have to worry about the Qing army targeting them.

And once the city fell, the Chen Daolin family would be in trouble, and they could take the opportunity to seize the soap and scented soap business.

They had been drooling over these two businesses for some time. When they found out that the cost of these soaps was only forty cash, their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

This meant that the profit from a low-end soap was over one hundred cash, and the profit from a high-end soap was nearly one tael of silver. As for scented soap, it was even higher.

In just a few days, the Chen family had earned tens of thousands of taels of silver from this business, a truly exorbitant profit.

“Break through the city quickly,” Tang Yu prayed in his heart. He even had a crooked idea, considering whether to lead his family soldiers to open the city gate and welcome the Qing army in.

After thinking about it, he didn’t dare to act, because he knew that Wu Changqing’s soldiers were very powerful.

With the combat strength of his family soldiers, they were definitely no match for the rebel army. In that case, before the city gate could be opened, his own life would be lost first.

“The Chen family must be so scared that they can’t sleep at night,” Liu Shizao said with a smile.

“They deserve it. Chen Daolin thought he was smart, but this time he miscalculated,” Tang Yu said, laughing along. They exchanged glances, seeing greed, smugness, and anticipation in each other’s eyes.

“Boss Tang, after the Qing army breaks through the city, we need to find a way to seize the Chen family’s business and make it our own,” Liu Shizao suggested. He didn’t want to share the profitable business with other merchants. He included Tang Yu only because Tang Yu was too powerful, and he couldn’t afford not to give him a share.

“Actually, the method is very simple. As long as we can get General Liu’s support, then the Chen family’s business will naturally be ours,” Tang Yu said. Liu Shizao instantly understood what he meant. In chaotic times, soldiers were the most powerful. With the support of the soldiers, other merchants would have no way to protest.

“How do we get General Liu’s support?” Liu Shizao asked.

“The best way is naturally to help him break through the city. If we can’t do that, then we can only wait until the city falls and offer him a huge sum of silver,” Tang Yu said.

Assist in breaking through the city?

Liu Shizao secretly thought that Tang Yu was very bold to have such an idea. They were merchants, and warfare was not their forte.

“How exactly do we do it?”

The two had already formed an alliance, and then they began to discuss specific action plans.

In the Chen residence, there was indeed some tension in the atmosphere.

But to say they couldn’t sleep at night would be an exaggeration. At least Chen Daolin was very calm.

Originally, he wanted to quietly send his family out of the city, but Wu Changqing had told him not to worry, that defending the city was definitely not a problem.

With Wu Changqing’s assurance, Chen Daolin felt much more at ease.

Only his wife, Madam Zhen, was a little uneasy, but it was only uneasiness.

At this point, everything was beyond her control as a woman. She could only accept her fate and wait for the situation to develop.

As for Chen Yuyan, she was already worried about her future husband.

On the battlefield, swords and spears had no eyes. She was very worried that something might happen to Wu Changqing, and she would become a widow.

“Miss, don’t worry. With General Wu’s bravery, those enemies definitely won’t be able to hurt him in the slightest,” Zihe comforted her from the side.

Chapter 39: Even Filling the River Is Difficult

The next day, Liu Liangzuo’s forces began their siege.

“General, you should go inside the city tower. The enemy has many cannons,” Wang Dafu advised.

Below the city, the Qing army had already wheeled out ten cannons, looking quite imposing from a distance.

“Bring our cannons over here too.”

Wu Changqing didn’t try to hide. Cannons in this era mostly fired solid shot; the cannonballs were just large iron balls that didn’t explode. Unless you were directly hit, there was no real danger.

The Qing army only had ten cannons, and on this thousand-meter-long city wall, the chances of getting hit were very small.

Only when explosive shrapnel shells appeared would cannonballs be able to inflict widespread damage on the enemy. Right now, cannons were mainly used to batter down city walls and demoralize the enemy during sieges, not to kill them.

As the Qing cannons roared, the Qing army began to move. The first step, of course, was to fill in the moat.

Without filling in this several-meter-wide moat, they couldn’t attack the city.

Over three thousand soldiers, carrying sacks, charged towards the city walls in a rather spectacular scene.

“Fire!”

When the soldiers reached about one hundred and fifty meters from the city walls, the rebel army on the walls began to fire.

As gunshots rang out, many Qing soldiers fell on the way.

Although the distance was still a bit far, because the Qing soldiers were standing so close together, many were hit.

The Qing army actually knew that to reduce losses, they needed to maintain spacing, but they couldn’t do that.

A moat several meters wide wasn’t easy to fill. They needed to concentrate the sacks on a small section; they couldn’t fill the entire river, which would take too long and be extremely difficult.

If it weren’t for the difficulty of filling the moat, Liu Liangzuo could have attacked Suzhou from all four sides simultaneously, dispersing the Ming army’s defenses.

Because of the moat, Liu Liangzuo could only concentrate his attack on one point.

“The range of these new-style muskets is really long. Order the archers forward to suppress them.”

Before coming, Liu Liangzuo had read many battle reports about Wu Changqing, knowing that Wu Changqing had a unit of new-style musketeers whose muskets had a very long range and great power.

At his command, over two thousand archers moved forward.

“Shoot the archers first.”

Wu Changqing ordered. Two thousand archers was a significant number; a volley of arrows would be like a blanket covering the sky and earth, capable of causing widespread damage and considerable casualties.

In fact, this was similar to the muskets of the time, which also relied on area-of-effect damage.

As for so-called sharpshooters, those were one in a million. Even if there was one, he wouldn’t be a common soldier.

Most archers had no accuracy beyond one hundred meters, relying only on arm strength and firing volleys with others to create a rain of arrows.

With Wu Changqing’s order, the musketeers all aimed their guns at the archers. As for those filling the moat, they couldn’t be helped. It was unavoidable.

Arrow rain against bullet storm, screams echoed both on and below the city walls.

Relatively speaking, the archers below the city were much worse off. They were completely exposed to the gunfire and in a dense formation. One volley brought down as many as seventy or eighty of them.

The soldiers on the city walls, however, were protected by the walls, with most of their bodies behind them, so they were exposed to much less attack.

However, after being swept by the arrow rain, over twenty Ming soldiers on the city walls were also hit.

In the first exchange, the Qing army suffered greater losses, but they could accept it because they had more troops—forty thousand, five times the number of the Ming army.

Moreover, after enduring these losses, a significant portion of the moat had been filled in, achieving their goal.

But as the exchange continued, Liu Liangzuo discovered a problem: using archers to fight musketeers was just too damn disadvantageous.

A qualified archer could only shoot about ten arrows in a battle before his arms became too sore to continue fighting.

But musketeers? Not to mention firing ten shots, they wouldn’t be too tired even after firing one hundred.

More importantly, it took at least a year or two to train a qualified archer. But it only took ten days to train a qualified musketeer.

This referred to musketeers who could fight in the field. If they were just musketeers standing on the city walls firing guns, they could be trained in two days.

The value of an archer was at least several times that of a musketeer.

Shooting like this, even with a two-to-one casualty ratio, was a huge loss.

After a few rounds of shooting, the Qing archers had already lost more than three hundred men. Seeing this, Liu Liangzuo quickly ordered them to retreat.

If three hundred ordinary soldiers had died, he would have been indifferent. But the death of three hundred archers made his heart ache.

In his forty thousand-strong army, there were only three thousand archers in total. This was a truly aristocratic troop.

Liu Liangzuo would rather the soldiers responsible for filling the river be shot than lose any more archers.

“Replace them with musketeers to suppress them with counter-fire.”

Liu Liangzuo ordered.

He also had musketeers in his army, but not many, only two thousand. Moreover, they all used the old-fashioned muskets that took two or three minutes to fire a shot.

And they had to be very careful, or they could accidentally ignite their comrades’ gunpowder pouches.

These guns were also very prone to exploding, and their accuracy was terrible.

In short, these guns had many drawbacks.

The musketeers were even more miserable when they went forward to exchange fire than the archers had been.

Archers could still inflict a lot of damage on the Ming army by firing in an arc, but muskets didn’t have that function; they could only fire directly.

Two thousand shots fired mostly hit the city walls. The sound was quite intimidating, but the damage caused was only in the single digits.

“They’re just courting death by exchanging fire with our firearms.”

Liu Hansan laughed.

The Qing musketeers came quickly and retreated quickly. They were no match for the Ming army.

With the archers and musketeers defeated, the soldiers filling the river were completely exposed, and the Ming army on the city walls could shoot them at will.

This situation of only being able to take a beating made many of the soldiers responsible for filling the river hesitate to move forward, not wanting to go on.

“Keep killing! Those who hold back will be executed without mercy!”

A centurion shouted angrily with several supervisors, scaring the soldiers responsible for filling the river into gritting their teeth and continuing to work. The fate of ordinary soldiers was so tragic.

“General, this isn’t a solution,” Cheng Tianbao said, distressed at the sight of several hundred soldiers filling the river already dead.

They hadn’t even officially attacked the city yet, and they had already lost nearly a thousand men. This kind of loss was too great, even more than the losses in Jiangyin city over three days.

“No matter what, we have to launch an attack today,” Liu Liangzuo said. They had already filled two-thirds of it; they couldn’t give up halfway, or morale would plummet.

Although the losses were great, he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

Chapter 40: A Gruesome Sight

At the cost of one thousand two hundred lives, the Qing army finally filled in a section of the moat that was over one hundred meters long, enough for their siege troops to reach the base of the city wall.

Subsequently, the Qing army began their formal assault.

To cover these attacking troops, Liu Liangzuo reluctantly sent his archers to suppress the Ming soldiers on the city wall once again.

The soldiers at the front carried large wooden shields, which were wrapped in cotton quilts, making them effective against musket fire.

Of course, iron shields would have been better, but shields of this size, reaching half a man’s height, would be too heavy for anyone to carry for hundreds of meters if they were made entirely of iron.

Even if they managed to carry them to the city wall, they wouldn’t have the strength to climb the ladders.

Behind the shield bearers were the soldiers carrying siege ladders, another group of unfortunate cannon fodder. They needed to set up the ladders against the city wall, making them prime targets for the defending soldiers.

Following them were the main force: the swordsmen and shield bearers.

The first wave of attacking soldiers numbered three thousand. When they reached about one hundred and fifty meters from the city wall, the muskets on the wall began to fire again.

“Run faster, charge!”

The Qing army commander shouted, urging the soldiers forward. But as they advanced, men fell on the way every now and then.

Those who died instantly were fortunate, spared from further suffering. But those who weren’t hit in vital areas were in a worse state, destined to die after a series of torturous experiences.

In this era, there was no penicillin, and the musket bullets were made of lead, making them highly toxic. Over ninety percent of those hit would get infected and their wounds would fester.

Once infected, they could only wait for death. Amputation was useless; the infection would simply continue to spread and rot. It would be better to just slit their own throats for a quicker end.

The distance of one hundred meters could be covered in a dozen seconds, but that was enough time for the flintlocks to fire a second shot.

At such close range, the Qing soldiers fell like wheat being harvested, row after row.

Even the generals overseeing the battle from the rear felt their scalps tingle and cold sweat run down their backs.

Even those accustomed to scenes of slaughter found this sight of men falling in droves horrifying.

The flintlock unit defending this section of the city wall consisted of only eight hundred men. If they had two thousand, a single volley might have routed the Qing army.

As it was, the Qing army, though suffering heavy losses, had reached the city wall, and ladders were hooked onto the battlements.

The surviving Qing soldiers began to climb, and more Qing soldiers crossed the moat, crowding into the narrow space beneath the wall.

At this moment, Wu Changqing ordered, “Hand grenades!”

At his command, hundreds of dark, lumpy iron boxes were thrown from the city wall. While the soldiers below were still confused, the explosions began.

The scene of hundreds of hand grenades exploding was even more shocking than a dozen cannons firing simultaneously. The sound alone nearly deafened everyone. The dust thrown up obscured the Qing soldiers below, leaving only their screams audible.

“Ah… save me, mother…”

Various cries of agony echoed from beneath the city wall. Some Qing soldiers writhed in pain, as if it were the end of the world, as if they were in the depths of hell.

These screams directly deterred the Qing soldiers behind them from advancing.

In fact, they couldn’t advance even if they wanted to. The area opposite the moat was so small that it was already crowded with one or two thousand men.

And now, those soldiers were lying on the ground, covering it completely.

“Is this the rebel’s exploding shell?”

Liu Liangzuo muttered to himself. The battle reports related to Wu Changqing mentioned the exploding shell, but because those people weren’t familiar with it, they didn’t know how to describe it, so the reports were vague.

As a result, Liu Liangzuo hadn’t paid attention to it before.

But now, the hand grenades were proving their power, even more terrifying than the new muskets.

Looking at the soldiers’ miserable condition, Liu Liangzuo felt a sense of fear.

“General, order a retreat. The soldiers in front are terrified,” Cheng Tianbao reminded him.

Hearing this, Liu Liangzuo quickly ordered the signal to retreat. He needed to sort things out before making further plans, and he couldn’t continue to attack rashly like this.

In just one wave of attack today, there were already over two thousand five hundred casualties, and those who were injured were basically as good as dead.

In his heart, Liu Liangzuo even hoped they were dead rather than injured.

The wounded soldiers were even more troublesome. He couldn’t ignore them. If he let those wounded soldiers wail under the city wall without tending to them, it would undoubtedly chill the hearts of all the soldiers, and no one would dare to risk their lives again.

So, after they retreated, he immediately sent a team of unarmed men to the city wall to rescue the wounded soldiers.

At this time, Wu Changqing didn’t order them to be shot. It was an unwritten rule of ancient battlefields that you couldn’t attack while each side was rescuing their wounded.

Any general with a shred of humanity would abide by this rule.

For Wu Changqing, he was happy for the Qing army to take those wounded soldiers back.

These wounded soldiers no longer had any combat power, would only be a burden to the Qing army, and would affect their morale.

And Liu Liangzuo knew the consequences, but he had to do it anyway.

Cart after cart of wounded soldiers were transported back, and the miserable state of those soldiers frightened some of the more timid soldiers, who dared not even open their eyes to look.

One wounded soldier had a piece of iron shrapnel embedded in his eye, which was painful to look at. Another had several very small fragments in his face, turning it into a pockmarked mess. Yet another had his abdomen blown to bits, but he was still alive.

The soldiers responsible for treating these wounded had no idea how to treat them. They had no similar experience.

In the past, soldiers were either stabbed by spears or slashed by broadswords, and they had experience dealing with those wounds.

But now, the wounded soldiers mostly had pieces of iron shrapnel embedded in their bodies. They had no idea how to deal with it, and could only simply try to pull them out with their hands or dig them out with the tips of their knives.

In an era without anesthesia, this kind of treatment was almost like killing them, causing the wounded soldiers unbearable pain. Many were begging their comrades to give them a quick death.

“Shameless, despicable, these rebels have no humanity!”

Looking at these wounded soldiers, Liu Liangzuo was so angry that his mind went blank. He returned to the camp and began to curse uselessly, leaving the other generals speechless, only able to sigh in their hearts.

“General, these soldiers need to be placed further away. Being too close to the camp will affect morale,” Xue Guiren reminded him. The screams of these wounded soldiers had not stopped, and were severely damaging morale.

“General, many of these soldiers can’t be saved. Perhaps…”

“Absolutely not! How can we kill our own soldiers? If this gets out, the entire camp will mutiny!” Dong Tianbao interrupted the adjutant. Although he knew that killing some of the seriously wounded would reduce the burden, doing such a thing was likely to be punished by heaven.

Once the matter was exposed, the consequences would be endless.

Chapter 41: Temporary Retreat

On the Suzhou city wall, the generals couldn’t help but beam with joy as they watched the Qing army retreat in disarray. The soldiers cheered involuntarily; this kind of one-sided slaughter was incredibly morale-boosting.

“This wave of attacks cost the Qing army at least three thousand men, nearly ten percent of their force. A few more times like this, and they’ll collapse,” Li Shaobin said with a smile.

“I doubt Liu Liangzuo is that foolish. My worry is that he won’t attack the city, and just surrounding us will also be detrimental,” Wu Changqing said, thinking ahead. He had absolute confidence in defending the city, but simply holding it wasn’t enough. He needed to find a way to completely annihilate Liu Liangzuo’s forces to ensure safety.

Otherwise, once Li Chengdong or Lekedehun’s troops arrived to join forces, it would be difficult for him to hold Suzhou.

Wu Changqing’s words made the other generals think. They were all pondering ways to defeat Liu Liangzuo.

Unfortunately, none of them were military geniuses. Trying to launch an offensive with eight thousand men against a force of nearly forty thousand was extremely risky.

While the flintlock rifle troops were invincible in head-on battles, the enemy had enough numbers to attack from both the left and right flanks simultaneously.

A little over a thousand flintlock rifle troops wouldn’t be enough to defend against attacks from three sides.

What’s more, Liu Liangzuo’s force also had a cavalry unit of about a thousand men. Cavalry was useless during sieges, but extremely effective in field battles.

“General, how about we launch a night raid tonight?” Liu Hansan suggested. The success of the previous night raid had made him somewhat addicted, and he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Unfortunately, Wu Changqing rejected his suggestion.

The previous success was mainly due to surprise, but now the Qing army had definitely learned their lesson. Another night raid would likely lead them into an ambush.

Even without an ambush, a camp of tens of thousands of men wouldn’t be easy to raid at night. The Qing army had enough of a buffer zone and plenty of time to react.

If the night raid failed, it would be difficult for the Ming soldiers to retreat back into the city.

Of course, a large-scale night raid was out of the question, but sending small units to harass them was still viable. Throwing grenades from afar, whether they killed anyone or not, was enough to scare the enemy and prevent them from sleeping soundly.

“General, we could send a unit by water, directly from Taihu Lake to Wuxi, to raid their grain supply depot. As long as we burn their supplies, their morale will definitely be affected,” Dai Zhijun suggested, offering a slightly more reliable idea. Among all the generals, he was the only one who had systematically studied some military strategy.

An army marches on its stomach. In ancient warfare, grain was a crucial element. Countless wars had been lost due to the destruction of supplies.

“Worth a try,” Wu Changqing said. Wu Yi’s men were all from naval backgrounds, so sneaking around Taihu Lake to carry out this task should be a piece of cake for them.

News of the Ming army’s victory quickly spread throughout Suzhou. The people naturally cheered upon hearing the news, as it meant they didn’t have to worry about their safety, at least for the time being.

When Tang Yu received the news of the Ming army’s victory, his face turned gloomy.

He hadn’t expected Wu Changqing’s soldiers to be so powerful, able to kill so many Qing soldiers with so few losses. At this rate, whether the Qing army could capture Suzhou was questionable.

If the Qing army couldn’t capture Suzhou, where would he get the chance to seize the soap business?

“These Qing soldiers are truly useless,” Tang Yu sighed. He couldn’t understand how the once invincible Qing army had suffered defeats every time they encountered Wu Changqing.

Liu Shizao and the others felt the same way, but like Tang Yu, they could only sigh and were powerless to change the situation.

“Miss, Miss, General Wu has won another battle!” Zihe reported, running back as soon as she heard the news.

“Heaven bless, Buddha bless,” Chen Yuyan said, clasping her hands together.

“Others say General Wu is a military god descended from the heavens, and the Qing Tartars are definitely no match for him. Miss, you can rest assured. Speaking of General Wu, he’s truly amazing, not only is he skilled in leading troops, but he also invented this bath soap…”

Once she started talking about Wu Changqing, Zihe could chatter on endlessly.

And at times like these, Chen Yuyan would feel a burst of happiness in her heart.

Because this amazing man was her future husband.

For women of this era, the greatest happiness wasn’t about how amazing they were or what achievements they had made, but about how amazing their husband was.

Marrying an outstanding husband was basically the highest pursuit for women of this era.

At night, the Ming army in Suzhou began to move.

Some went to harass the Qing army’s rest, while others, illuminated by torches, began to dig through the moats that had been filled in.

The defensive role of this moat was quite significant. Re-digging the moat would cost the Qing army time and manpower to attack. Moreover, it could also demoralize the enemy.

However, digging a moat was much more troublesome than filling one. Li Shaobin, who was in charge of digging, was very dissatisfied with the progress. He immediately sent people into the city to wake up the people and recruit a batch of them to help.

Being pulled out of their sleep, the people didn’t dare to complain.

They were already extremely grateful that the soldiers weren’t forcing them to defend the city. Having their sleep disturbed was a small matter.

The people of this era were very easy to govern, mostly docile and submissive. They were content as long as they had food to eat and a way to survive.

The moat wasn’t dug through until dawn, and the troops responsible for harassing the Qing army had long since completed their mission and returned to the city.

The next day, when Liu Liangzuo’s army arrived outside Suzhou again, Liu Liangzuo was almost angered to death.

The moat that had been filled in was now a pool of water again.

“Despicable, despicable!” Liu Liangzuo cursed, and the other generals didn’t dare to say a word.

Clearly, Liu Liangzuo was in a fit of rage, or he wouldn’t have said such foolish things. In war, you naturally use whatever means are effective, there’s no such thing as being despicable or not.

“General, should we plunder some people from the surrounding area to fill the river?” Xue Guiren suggested.

Although such a practice would be condemned by the world, it could at least reduce the losses of the army.

“This… that’s the only way.” Liu Liangzuo was conflicted. He really wanted to do this, but he was afraid of getting a bad reputation. In the end, reason prevailed over conscience, and he agreed to the plan.

Another adjutant, Dong Tianbao, felt even more depressed when he heard Liu Liangzuo agree to this approach.

He strongly disagreed with this practice of treating human lives like grass, but he was under someone else’s roof and powerless to do anything.

Afterward, Liu Liangzuo ordered a retreat, temporarily halting the attack. Furthermore, he sent troops to the surrounding counties and villages to capture civilians to use as cannon fodder.

Chapter 42: Forcing the People

Seeing the Qing army retreat, Wu Changqing immediately regretted it. If he had known these Qing soldiers were so afraid of death, he wouldn’t have ordered the re-digging of the moat.

Now that the Qing army didn’t even dare to attack, he had even less of a chance to eliminate Liu Liangzuo’s active forces.

“I can only wait for Wu Yi’s good news.”

Wu Changqing muttered.

Wu Yi’s troops had already quietly left the city last night, heading towards Taihu Lake.

For two days in a row, the Qing army made no moves.

Until the third day, Liu Liangzuo’s troops came to Suzhou city again. In addition to his soldiers, there were also more than three thousand civilians in the ranks.

Under the supervision of the soldiers, these civilians carried sandbags and walked towards the moat.

“Despicable.”

Wang Dafu on the city wall cursed. This method of driving civilians was too vicious. If they shot them, they would be condemned by the world. If they didn’t shoot them, they could only watch helplessly as the moat was filled.

“Prepare to shoot.”

Wang Dafu ordered. He would rather be condemned by the world than let the Qing army fill the moat like this.

“Wait, they are all civilians, let it go.”

Wu Changqing quickly stopped him.

Of course, it wasn’t because he was overflowing with compassion. Although he did sympathize with these civilians, he would never be soft-hearted in order to win.

It was just that he was now confident in defending the city, so there was no need to be so ruthless.

Letting these civilians fill the moat, giving them a way out, could also earn him a good reputation as someone who loved the people like his own children.

“General, we can’t be soft-hearted at this time.”

Liu Hansan quickly advised. As the saying goes, mercy does not make a good commander. A soft-hearted person cannot be a general. If they don’t shoot now, what if the Qing army drives the civilians to attack the city later?

“I have made up my mind, no need to say more. Let them fill the river. If the Qing army goes too far and drives the civilians to attack the city, then we will act.”

Wu Changqing said.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s decision, the soldiers on the city wall felt a mix of emotions. They admired Wu Changqing’s virtue of loving the people like his own children, but they also worried that this would increase their own casualties.

Wu Changqing’s decision surprised Liu Liangzuo and the others. They had not expected Wu Changqing to not stop them.

Driving civilians as cannon fodder was not something they were the first to do. There were many such examples throughout history. And when the defending side encountered such a thing, they would undoubtedly shoot them.

Liu Liangzuo had captured these civilians, intending to use their lives to fill the moat. He never expected that Wu Changqing would give up stopping them because he couldn’t bear to kill the civilians.

At this moment, Liu Liangzuo felt a little ashamed.

Compared to Wu Changqing, he was the more despicable one.

“Great, General, this way we can drive the civilians to the front, which can greatly reduce our casualties.”

Xue Guiren was overjoyed when he saw this scene, thinking he had found Wu Changqing’s weakness.

“Bullshit, the rebels would rather have the moat filled than kill civilians. What face do we have to force civilians to attack the city? This is a soldier’s battle, it shouldn’t involve civilians.”

Dong Tianbao directly retorted, he was very dissatisfied with Xue Guiren’s cold-bloodedness. Last time, Xue Guiren suggested killing the wounded soldiers, and now he doesn’t treat civilians as human beings.

Wu Changqing’s behavior of caring for the people made him very admire him, and he really had no face to use the people again.

“Dong Tianbao, what do you mean by this? I just want to reduce the deaths of our men. Since you object, then let your men take the lead.”

Xue Guiren snorted coldly.

“Shut up, let the civilians leave after they fill the moat.”

Liu Liangzuo’s conscience finally got the better of him, and he did not use the most extreme method.

The moat was filled, and the civilians responsible for filling the river couldn’t help but cry. Some civilians even knelt towards the direction of Suzhou city, shouting and thanking the general for not killing them.

They were extremely scared at first, because in previous battles, most of the civilians responsible for filling the river would die.

But there was no way to avoid being scared. If they didn’t obey the order, they would be killed by the Qing army’s supervisors, and they would definitely die.

Helplessly, they could only move forward with tears of grievance and hesitant steps.

What they never expected was that the defending soldiers on the city did not attack and let them fill the river.

This action moved these civilians.

After the civilians retreated, the Qing army began to act.

This time they were much better prepared than last time. Not only did they have siege ladders, but they also built five siege towers. These siege towers were more than six meters high, as high as the walls of Suzhou.

As long as these siege towers approached the city walls, the soldiers on the siege towers could directly jump onto the city walls to fight, saving the difficult process of climbing the walls.

Leading the attack was Dong Tianbao’s unit, a total of more than five thousand people, densely approaching the city walls.

“The cannons aim at the siege towers.”

Currently, Wu Changqing only had three cannons, two of which were small-caliber Thunderbolt Cannons, and one was a Red Barbarian Cannon weighing three thousand catty.

In the previous defense of the city, these cannons did not play any role, but now they were responsible for attacking the siege towers. As long as they could destroy one or two siege towers, these cannons would have played their due role.

The sound of cannons rang out, but unfortunately, the first round of shelling missed, and all of them went astray. In this era, the accuracy of cannons was similar to that of muskets, it all depended on luck.

Fortunately, the Qing army’s attacking troops were standing very densely. Although they did not hit the siege towers, they also killed several Qing soldiers.

Subsequently, the Qing army also began to fire cannons, and the two sides began to bombard each other.

However, both sides had few cannons and could not become the protagonists of the battlefield.

As the Qing army entered the range of the muskets, the musket soldiers on the city walls began to volley fire.

It was the familiar sound of gunfire, and the Qing army charged while trembling.

Soon, they rushed to the bottom of the city walls, but this was just the beginning of the nightmare.

The second round of musket volleys came, and at this distance, even hiding behind wooden shields was useless. The power of the muskets was enough to penetrate the wooden shields.

After the muskets, grenades began to be thrown.

With this combo, the Qing army had already suffered hundreds of casualties.

Subsequently, the Qing army began to climb the city walls, and the defending Ming soldiers also began to pour boiling tung oil and boulders down, risking being shot to death by arrows.

Without the support of the siege towers, it was very difficult to attack the city walls by relying on ladders to climb one soldier at a time.

What’s more, the Qing army threw grenades at the bottom of the city from time to time, causing heavy casualties to the soldiers under the city.

“General, this is not a solution. The brothers can’t take it anymore.”

Dong Tianbao, who was already commanding on the front line, received a report from his subordinates, and his heart was bleeding. These were all his soldiers, and one less was one less.

“Hold on for a while, the siege towers will be here soon. Launch one last wave of attack, and then hand it over to the reinforcements.”

Dong Tianbao said.

The siege towers were their hope. If the soldiers on the siege towers could rush to the city walls in one go, then the soldiers behind could continuously go up from the siege towers.

Chapter 43: Burning the Army’s Food Supply

As the cumbersome siege towers arrived, the Qing army began their all-out assault. However, the siege towers were now only four in number, as one had suffered a wheel malfunction during its advance.

On the battlefield, anything could happen.

Each of the four siege towers could simultaneously hold eight men. If all went smoothly, the Qing army could have as many as thirty-two men attacking the city wall at once.

Of course, that was just the theoretical maximum.

No matter what kind of siege equipment the attacking side possessed, the defending side would always have the advantage.

The Ming army’s musket units had assembled and were ready. They unleashed a volley of fire at the siege towers, and immediately, large numbers of Qing soldiers tumbled from the towers.

The few Qing soldiers who managed to jump onto the city wall were met with waiting swords and spears. Those unlucky enough were immediately pierced through upon landing. Those who were fortunate enough to not die instantly still had to face the counterattack of countless Ming soldiers.

“Damn it, why hasn’t the city gate been breached yet? What is Xue Guiren doing?”

Dong Tianbao fumed. Sieges were massive military operations, not just about the infantry scaling the walls. The artillery was still firing, and the archers and musketeers were exchanging fire below the city.

Another unit, led by Xue Guiren, was attempting to batter down the city gate. The battlefield had many layers of engagement.

Dong Tianbao was counting on the gate-battering unit to draw some of the Ming army’s fire, but Xue Guiren’s progress was also slow.

The people filling the moat were civilians who lacked any combat skills. The section near the city gate needed a small ramp to allow the battering ram to gain momentum and strike the gate with force.

However, the civilians failed to create such a ramp. On the level ground, the ram’s impact relied entirely on the soldiers pushing it, which wasn’t enough to break down the gate.

Moreover, the Ming soldiers on the city wall were constantly raining down attacks on them, causing heavy casualties among the ram’s crew. Xue Guiren in the rear was anxious, but he had no better solution.

On Dong Tianbao’s side, the soldiers on the siege towers finally managed to jump onto the city wall, only to be met by spearmen who were already prepared.

After more than a month of training, the spearmen’s movements were quite coordinated.

Multiple spears thrust forward, leaving the Qing soldiers nowhere to dodge, and they could only watch as they were turned into bloody sieves.

“Send in the reserve troops.”

Wu Changqing, seeing that a number of Qing soldiers had already reached the city wall, immediately ordered the two hundred-strong reserve of flintlock-equipped troops to reinforce the defense. These troops were originally intended to guard against Qing attacks from other directions, but it seemed the Qing army had no such plans.

It wasn’t that the Qing army had forgotten to feint in other directions, but rather that their siege equipment was limited. Spreading it out would only weaken its effectiveness.

As the Ming army’s reserve troops moved up, their firepower increased further. With musket volleys and another round of grenades, the soldiers below the city wall finally couldn’t hold on and fled backward.

In total, Dong Tianbao’s unit had lost over one thousand five hundred men, a thirty percent casualty rate.

Such a loss rate would have caused a collapse in a field battle.

It was only because of the presence of the supervising officers behind them that they had managed to hold on until now.

By the time Dong Tianbao’s unit collapsed, Xue Guiren’s unit had finally breached the city gate.

Unfortunately, breaching it at this point was useless.

The interior of the city was already lined with three rows of flintlock soldiers. A single volley brought down all the soldiers at the front, without exception.

The remaining soldiers refused to advance, no matter how much their officers urged or threatened them.

With the Qing army’s complete collapse, Liu Liangzuo in the rear was so angry that he wanted to kill someone to vent his frustration.

When Dong Tianbao came down, Liu Liangzuo angrily rebuked him, “Who told you to retreat? We were just one step away, one step away from taking this city! Why did you order a retreat?”

“This humble general deserves to die. I did not order the retreat. It was because our army suffered too many casualties. Of my unit of over five thousand men, only three thousand or so retreated. With a thirty percent loss, the soldiers no longer had the courage to fight.”

Dong Tianbao knelt on one knee, his heart filled with resentment. He did not agree with Liu Liangzuo’s claim of being just one step away.

He clearly saw that the Ming army on the city wall still had reserves. Continuing the attack would not have taken the city. Moreover, the morale of his soldiers had plummeted to rock bottom.

With such morale, how could they possibly continue the siege?

“I don’t want to hear your explanations. For unauthorized retreat, drag him out and execute him!”

Liu Liangzuo roared, his mind clouded by anger. He was actually trying to execute a general before the battle.

The other adjutants and lieutenant generals, seeing this, knelt down to plead for Dong Tianbao. At this time, they had to stick together, or else the next one to be executed might be themselves.

“Get out of here!”

Seeing everyone pleading for Dong Tianbao, Liu Liangzuo had no choice but to abandon his plan to kill someone to establish his authority.

Afterward, Xue Guiren’s unit also retreated. This time, they also suffered heavy losses. Although they inflicted some casualties on the Ming army, it was insignificant compared to their own losses.

According to statistics, they lost over one thousand nine hundred men this time, as well as a large amount of siege equipment.

The next wave of attacks would have to wait a few more days.

The Ming army’s losses were also significant this time. Over two hundred were killed in action, and over five hundred were injured, half of whom were seriously injured and unable to fight.

In one battle, they lost half a percent of their forces.

Even more troublesome was that some muskets and flintlocks had been damaged due to prolonged use. Other parts could be repaired, but some that had exploded were completely ruined.

If the intensity of the fighting continued at this rate, their rate of producing guns might not keep up with the rate of consumption.

“Treat the wounded, clean up the battlefield, and repair the city walls,” Wu Changqing ordered.

He was now competing with Liu Liangzuo to see who would collapse first. He refused to believe that Liu Liangzuo’s troops were so elite that they could continue attacking even after suffering such heavy losses.

As long as Liu Liangzuo’s army completely collapsed, he could plan a counterattack from the city and annihilate them.

At the same time, a fleet of ships disguised as merchant vessels on Taihu Lake approached Wuxi and entered the Grand Canal, heading straight for Wuxi, launching a surprise attack.

Wuxi had over four thousand defending soldiers, while Wu Yi only brought two thousand this time, but the surprise attack caused the Qing army to retreat in disarray.

The defending Qing soldiers, in their confusion, had no idea how many enemy soldiers there were. Some of the rabble, upon hearing that the city had been attacked and that the Ming army had entered the city, immediately chose to flee.

The Ming army successfully reached the Qing army’s granary and set it on fire without hesitation.

Wu Yi was also reluctant to burn this batch of grain, but there was no choice. They didn’t have time to transport it away. If they didn’t complete the mission quickly and retreat, they would be in trouble if the Qing army reacted and counterattacked.

Compared to their lives, the grain was not so important.

With hundreds of thousands of pounds of grain burning in the fire, the entire city of Wuxi was ablaze.

Chapter 44: Conspiracy

The next day, Liu Liangzuo was drinking alone in his camp, feeling dejected. The siege of Suzhou was proving to be far more difficult than he had anticipated, and he was at his wit’s end.

Suddenly, a messenger arrived with an urgent report: their army’s food supplies in Wuxi had been set ablaze.

The news nearly made Liu Liangzuo faint on the spot. Fortunately, his personal guards were quick to support him, preventing him from collapsing to the ground.

This news was utterly devastating, like a bolt from the blue.

They were fighting in territory they controlled, and because supplies could be delivered at any time from the rear, they hadn’t brought much with them.

Now that the grain in Wuxi had been burned, his army only had enough food for five days.

Although they had five days’ worth of rations, that didn’t mean they could stay here for five days. If Wuxi couldn’t gather enough grain to transport in time, or if any other unforeseen events occurred, then this army of over thirty thousand men would be finished.

When marching and fighting, there could only be excess grain, never a shortage.

Liu Liangzuo had to retreat as soon as possible, at least back to Wuxi, to gather more supplies before returning.

However, Liu Liangzuo was unwilling to retreat in such a humiliating manner. He gathered his subordinates and ordered them to quickly construct siege equipment. He intended to launch one final all-out assault.

If they could break through, the grain problem would be solved. If they couldn’t, then they would have no choice but to retreat.

“Gentlemen, who is willing to act as the vanguard next time?”

Liu Liangzuo asked, but the tent was filled with silence.

It was a stark contrast to the first time, when everyone was vying to be the vanguard and earn merit. Now, the generals knew that Suzhou was a tough nut to crack.

Being the vanguard was practically a death sentence. They were unwilling to sacrifice their own troops, as they had spent time and money recruiting them.

“Dong Tianbao, your unit will be the vanguard the day after tomorrow. Whether you can redeem yourself will depend on this. If you capture Suzhou, I will forgive your unauthorized retreat last time and reward you handsomely. But if your unit continues to be cowardly and refuses to advance, then don’t blame me for being heartless.”

Seeing that no one volunteered, Liu Liangzuo assigned the task. He was still resentful of what happened last time and took this opportunity to put Dong Tianbao in a difficult position.

Normally, Dong Tianbao’s unit, having suffered the greatest losses, wouldn’t be required to be the vanguard in the next attack. Unfortunately, Liu Liangzuo held the highest position and had absolute command.

Liu Liangzuo’s words brought a sense of relief to the other generals, but they also felt a slight sympathy for Dong Tianbao. It seemed that Dong Tianbao’s unit would be wiped out in this attack on Suzhou.

If they could capture Suzhou, they could rely on their merit to seize some money and recruit new soldiers.

But if they still couldn’t break through, then they shouldn’t expect Liu Liangzuo to provide funds for recruitment. Without soldiers, Dong Tianbao’s status would plummet.

“This subordinate obeys.”

Dong Tianbao had no choice but to accept the order, otherwise, the charge of disobeying military orders would be enough for Liu Liangzuo to have his head.

That night, Dong Tianbao sat in his tent with several trusted subordinates.

“The military supplies in Wuxi have been burned, and General Liu wants us to be the vanguard the day after tomorrow. What do you all think?”

Dong Tianbao asked.

“He’s sending us to our deaths,”

said a battalion commander. Although they were under Liu Liangzuo’s command, it didn’t mean they were loyal to him.

The composition of Liu Liangzuo’s army was somewhat similar to the Tang Dynasty’s regional commands. The soldiers and low-ranking officers had no object of loyalty. They simply wanted to survive and earn a living.

They would be loyal to whoever fed them and paid their wages. They would rebel against whoever sent them to their deaths.

Not only was Liu Liangzuo’s army like this, but the armies of Zuo Liangyu, Liu Liangzuo, Huang Degong, and others were of the same nature.

Therefore, once the Qing army offered better treatment, they would surrender in droves of tens of thousands, completely lacking any fighting spirit. To put it bluntly, these soldiers had no concept of the Ming Dynasty or the Manchus.

And some generals loyal to the Ming Dynasty were helpless in the face of such soldiers. Huang Degong could still suppress his army with his prestige, but as soon as he died, tens of thousands of his subordinates immediately surrendered to the Qing army.

Now that Liu Liangzuo’s army’s food supplies had been burned, and the soldiers were facing the risk of starvation, Liu Liangzuo still wanted them to go and die. Of course, they were unwilling.

“General, we can’t agree to this. If we act as the vanguard again, our unit will be almost wiped out. When we have no soldiers left, who will take us seriously?”

Another battalion commander spoke up, his words practically suggesting a mutiny.

“But if we disobey, what can we do? The world is so big, yet there is no place for us,”

Dong Tianbao said dejectedly.

If they didn’t rebel, they would be cannon fodder. If they rebelled, they couldn’t defeat Liu Liangzuo. After all, Liu Liangzuo controlled twenty thousand direct troops who were completely loyal to him, and the other generals were still under Liu Liangzuo’s leadership for the time being.

“General, why don’t we surrender to the Ming army?”

For them, surrendering was not a moral issue. As long as there were benefits, they would not hesitate to surrender.

Currently, the only ones who could save their lives were the Ming soldiers in Suzhou, so they could only consider this option.

Dong Tianbao fell silent upon hearing this. He had already considered surrendering to the Ming army.

However, he had long been disappointed with the Ming Dynasty, otherwise, he wouldn’t have followed Liu Liangzuo in surrendering to the Qing.

Just half a year ago, the Hongguang court still had a million troops stationed along the Yangtze River. As a result, when the Qing army marched south with less than two hundred thousand troops, the million troops rushed to surrender.

How could such a court be saved? Was there any future in following such a court?

“General, don’t think about the future, think about the present. If we don’t find a way out now, thousands of our soldiers will lose their lives in Suzhou. Moreover, this Ming army in Suzhou is extraordinary. I don’t think they will necessarily lose to the Manchu Tartars. If we follow them and defeat the Tartars, then we will have made a great contribution, and the Ming court will definitely not be stingy with rewards.”

A battalion commander named Zhao Shijin analyzed. Wu Changqing’s troops had brought him great shock, causing fear in his heart. As a result, he now even felt that Liu Liangzuo would definitely be defeated by Wu Changqing.

As a weather-vane army, they would naturally follow whoever was stronger.

“Who is willing to go and make contact in person?”

Dong Tianbao asked.

Even if they were to surrender, it couldn’t be a direct surrender. They had to negotiate terms with the Ming army and discuss the treatment they would receive after surrendering.

Turning against their own side on the battlefield was risky, and they wouldn’t do it without benefits.

The generals remained silent upon hearing this. None of them wanted to take the risk, as Wu Changqing seemed to be a ruthless man. The last time Liu Liangzuo sent an envoy, he wasn’t even allowed into the city and was shot to death.

Dealing with such a ruthless person was a very dangerous thing.

“This subordinate is willing to go.”

Finally, Zhao Shijin spoke up. He was prepared to take a gamble.

Chapter 45: Defection

In the dead of night, a curfew was in effect in Suzhou. Aside from the occasional patrol team making noise, there was hardly another sound.

Several Ming Dynasty soldiers escorted a Qing army soldier to the yamen, waking the guards.

“A Qing army guerrilla requests an audience, saying he wants to surrender to our forces?”

Awakened from his sleep, Wu Changqing received good news.

However, was this news genuine, or was it an enemy ruse to lure them out?

Wu Changqing had no way of knowing. He chose to meet with Zhao Shijin first and then make a judgment.

Wu Changqing arrived at the main hall, and Zhao Shijin immediately knelt on one knee, saying, “Greetings, General Wu.”

“I hear you wish to surrender to our forces. Why is that?”

Wu Changqing sized up Zhao Shijin, a burly man of about forty years old. There was nothing outwardly unusual about him.

“To be honest, my General Dong joining the Qing was purely out of helplessness. In truth, we have always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty. During this siege, my general, feeling the might of your Excellency and your benevolence towards the people, is deeply ashamed and regrets the past.”

Zhao Shijin spouted some nonsense, words that might fool an idiot. Wu Changqing was no fool, and because of his understanding of history, he knew exactly what kind of people Liu Liangzuo’s subordinates were.

To say they were afraid of death and wanted to surrender, Wu Changqing believed. But to say they were loyal to the Ming Dynasty was a complete joke.

“In that case, our army naturally welcomes General Dong’s arrival.”

Wu Changqing did not expose him. Anyway, he himself had no great loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, nor was he particularly loyal to it. As long as the other side’s surrender was beneficial to him, he would not refuse.

As for the fact that Dong Tianbao’s soldiers were scum, Wu Changqing couldn’t afford to be too picky.

In this chaotic world, it was truly difficult to find good people. Those scoundrels, to some extent, were forced into their situation. As long as living conditions improved in the future, the baser instincts of some people would be hidden, and they would become good citizens.

“I thank General Wu on behalf of my general for forgiving our past and accepting us. But I wonder, what will be our treatment after we surrender?”

Zhao Shijin asked.

His question reassured Wu Changqing somewhat. If Zhao Shijin had rushed to surrender without asking for anything, he would have suspected a trick.

But now that Zhao Shijin was asking about the terms of surrender, it meant that he genuinely wanted to surrender. Of course, it couldn’t be ruled out that he was acting.

“Rest assured regarding the terms of surrender. General Dai Zhijun defected with several hundred soldiers and now commands two thousand troops under me. I think you should be able to find that out.

As long as General Dong brings his troops over, I will let him continue to command them and provide military equipment, provisions, and pay. I will even replenish your ranks when you lose soldiers in battle.”

Wu Changqing made a promise. Of course, he held the initiative in whether or not to keep this verbal promise. If Dong Tianbao behaved himself in the future, everything would be fine.

If Dong Tianbao was dishonest and continued to expand his power privately, and his soldiers committed evil deeds as before, Wu Changqing had plenty of ways to undermine him.

For example, he could bypass the officers and directly pay the soldiers, or insert his own officers into their army, or arrange for them to be cannon fodder, gradually weakening their strength.

Zhao Shijin was overjoyed to hear this. He hadn’t expected Wu Changqing to agree so readily.

However, on second thought, he felt that this was normal. After all, Wu Changqing was currently trapped by tens of thousands of troops and was naturally eager for help.

“If that is the case, my troops will naturally serve you with our lives.”

Zhao Shijin did not know Wu Changqing’s methods and assumed that Wu Changqing would directly allocate the pay to the officers, just like the Qing army and the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in his view, the treatment Wu Changqing offered was already very good.

Afterward, Wu Changqing summoned several other generals to discuss how to accept Dong Tianbao’s surrender.

Dong Tianbao currently had nearly four thousand troops. This number was small for the Qing army, but very large for Wu Changqing and his forces. How to accommodate them was a major problem.

If they opened the gates and let them enter the city with their weapons, it would be a joke if they were feigning surrender. Therefore, Wu Changqing and the others could not accept this method of surrender.

However, Dong Tianbao’s troops might not be willing to lay down their weapons before entering the city. Although everyone had agreed to surrender, trust could not be established immediately.

Asking them to lay down their weapons was equivalent to handing their fate entirely to the Ming army, which Dong Tianbao would likely find difficult to accept.

“I think General Dong can create a disturbance in the Qing army camp, and then our army can take advantage of the opportunity to launch a night attack, completely defeating Liu Liangzuo’s forces.”

Dai Zhijun suggested.

“Wouldn’t that be too dangerous?”

Zhao Shijin hesitated. Their plan was to quietly leave the camp tomorrow night and directly enter Suzhou.

However, now Dai Zhijun wanted them to mutiny in the camp.

This was too dangerous. If they failed to create chaos and Liu Liangzuo responded in time, they would face a counterattack from tens of thousands of Qing army soldiers.

“I think it is Liu Liangzuo who is in danger. You create chaos internally, and our army advances gradually from the outside. The Qing army will inevitably be thrown into chaos.”

Wu Changqing said. His idea coincided with Dai Zhijun’s.

Letting Dong Tianbao mutiny in the camp could both kill Qing army soldiers and weaken Dong Tianbao’s strength. More importantly, as long as Dong Tianbao did such a thing, it would be equivalent to a complete break with Liu Liangzuo, and there would be no need to worry about Dong Tianbao feigning surrender.

Having offended the Qing army, Dong Tianbao could only rely on Wu Changqing, and Wu Changqing could use him more confidently in the future.

“Very well, let this be our pledge of allegiance. I suggest setting the time for tomorrow night, because the Wuxi military provisions were burned, and the army’s provisions are only enough for five days. Therefore, Liu Liangzuo plans to launch a final all-out attack the day after tomorrow.

As long as the news of the burned military provisions is spread, it will inevitably lead to instability in the army’s morale. At that time, we can attack from both inside and outside, and Liu Liangzuo’s forces will surely collapse.”

Zhao Shijin made the decision for Dong Tianbao. He had received Dong Tianbao’s absolute authorization before coming, because there was no time to haggle back and forth with Wu Changqing.

“Then let us begin preparations to eliminate Liu Liangzuo’s forces in one fell swoop.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile.

Subsequently, the group continued to discuss the detailed plan for the defection.

For example, at what time to start the uprising, what to wear as identification, when the Ming army would enter the field, and how to defeat the main force of the Qing army…

These details needed to be discussed, the possible accidents in the plan studied, and corresponding solutions formulated.

This was a major event involving the lives of thousands of people, and it could not be taken lightly.

Zhao Shijin had to leave and return to the military camp until almost dawn, as he would easily be discovered once it was completely light.

“General, are we really going to trust him?”

After Zhao Shijin left, Liu Hansan asked.

If the enemy was feigning surrender, then they would be miserable if they rashly left the city for a night attack.

“Don’t worry, we will just prepare first, and then go out of the city after they are in chaos, letting them kill each other for a while.”

Wu Changqing said. Although, based on his observation, he felt that Zhao Shijin was not feigning surrender. But with his caution, it was impossible not to guard against the possibility of the enemy feigning surrender.

Chapter 46: The Qing Army in Utter Chaos

On the twenty-fourth, Wu Changqing and Dong Tianbao’s agreed-upon date for the uprising arrived.

Just as the hour of Yin (three AM) struck, the Ming army had already assembled behind the city gates, ready to leave the city.

On the city wall, Wu Changqing was observing with a telescope.

The Qing army’s camp was five li (2.5 km) away from Suzhou, and it was too dark to see anything clearly.

However, before long, flames appeared in the direction of the Qing army’s camp, and the flames grew larger and larger.

“It seems this isn’t a feigned surrender. The entire army advances! Wang Dayong, your unit will be the vanguard. Be careful. If you find anything amiss, immediately send a message to the rear.”

Wu Changqing instructed, first sending Wang Dayong to probe. Even if it was a trap, the main force behind could retreat back into the city in time. Losses would be unavoidable, but at least the city could be saved.

“Understood.”

Wang Dayong was the first to descend the city wall, leading his troops to jog towards the Qing army’s camp.

Following him were Wang Dafu, Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and others, leading the main force. This time, Wu Changqing did not go personally, because Wang Dafu and the others strongly opposed Wu Changqing’s personal expedition.

The previous night attack was because they had reached a point of life and death, and they had no choice but to do so.

But now, as the commander of an army, there was no need for Wu Changqing to take such a risk. Anything could happen at night. Not to mention being attacked by the enemy, even accidentally falling off a horse could lead to injury or even death.

Perhaps to show their loyalty, or perhaps genuinely concerned for Wu Changqing’s safety, in any case, the other important generals all disagreed with Wu Changqing’s personal expedition, and Wu Changqing could only give up.

It wasn’t that he liked to go into battle himself, but he just felt uneasy if he didn’t.

The Ming army swiftly left the city, while the Qing army’s camp was already in chaos. Dong Tianbao’s troops had dispersed throughout the camp, setting fires everywhere.

Three or four in the morning was when people slept the deepest. At this time, not only were the sleeping soldiers out of it, but even the sentries were dozing off. The few conscientious soldiers were the first to be killed by Dong Tianbao’s troops.

In the early stages, Dong Tianbao’s troops proceeded smoothly, setting over a hundred tents on fire in one go. Once the Qing soldiers were awakened and rushed out of their tents, it became difficult for Dong Tianbao’s troops to set more fires.

According to the plan, they quickly returned to their unit to assemble, preparing to be counterattacked.

The fire was followed by chaos. The first thought of the soldiers who were awakened from their sleep was that the enemy was launching a night attack.

Soldiers of this era were afraid of night attacks. It was difficult to understand the situation in the dark, and all the soldiers were tense, panicked, and fearful when they encountered such a thing.

The tents where the senior generals rested were heavily guarded, and Dong Tianbao’s troops did not find a good opportunity, so they did not suffer much loss. As the screams rang out in the camp, those senior generals also woke up one after another and began to put on their armor with the help of their personal guards.

“What exactly is going on? Didn’t I order strict precautions against night attacks?”

Liu Liangzuo questioned his subordinates while putting on his armor. Preventing night attacks was common sense, and Liu Liangzuo had made many preparations, arranging a large number of sentries, both overt and covert.

“General, it’s not the Ming army. It seems that Dong Tianbao’s troops set the fire.”

Someone said.

What? Dong Tianbao?

Liu Liangzuo was immediately furious. This feeling of being betrayed was truly disgusting.

“Order Xue Guiren, Wang Yunhan, and others to assemble their troops and immediately control the situation.”

It wasn’t a Ming army night attack, so Liu Liangzuo was slightly relieved. He believed that with his prestige in the army, as long as he arrived in front of Dong Tianbao’s army, he would naturally be able to deter the rebellion.

However, just as he assembled his troops and prepared to suppress the rebellion, his subordinates came with another urgent report, saying that the Ming army was attacking.

At this point, Liu Liangzuo couldn’t possibly not understand that this was clearly a scheme planned by Dong Tianbao and Wu Changqing in collusion.

Damn it, was Dong Tianbao’s brain kicked by a donkey?

Liu Liangzuo couldn’t understand why Dong Tianbao would side with the weak Ming army. Wasn’t that courting death?

“Don’t panic, stay calm. Xue Guiren, you lead people to the outside of the camp to hold off the Ming army. The rest will follow me to suppress the rebellion. As long as we don’t panic, the enemy will have no chance.”

Liu Liangzuo had to divide his forces, and then the two troops began to move.

However, Liu Liangzuo’s idea was good, but in practice, he encountered a lot of trouble. The burning tents had to be extinguished, and the scattered soldiers who had been lost in the chaos had to be gathered.

The night and the chaos made it extremely difficult to command and dispatch the army. Most of the messengers couldn’t find the low-level officers below, and military orders couldn’t be communicated smoothly.

By the time they arrived at Dong Tianbao’s camp, Liu Liangzuo had gathered less than eight thousand soldiers. And Dong Tianbao’s troops were already prepared, and a wave of arrows came head-on, causing heavy casualties to the soldiers in the front.

Dong Tianbao and his men had not only set fires and caused trouble, but also occupied the armory and seized a large number of bows and arrows.

One side was a premeditated rebellion that had been prepared for a long time. The other side was unprepared and could only respond passively.

“Charge over and capture Dong Tianbao! A reward of one thousand taels of silver!”

Liu Liangzuo shouted. In the dark night, his command skills couldn’t be used much. Unable to see the situation on the battlefield, he couldn’t arrange complex tactical maneuvers such as flanking, so he could only arrange for the soldiers to carry out the simplest frontal attack.

“Where are our archers?”

Liu Liangzuo roared, continuously suppressed by the opponent’s arrow rain.

“Reporting to the general, Dong Tianbao and the others occupied the armory and took all the bows, arrows, and firearms.”

“Bastard, don’t let me catch you.”

Liu Liangzuo cursed angrily, anxiously pacing in place.

On the other side, Xue Guiren’s troops had already met Wang Dayong’s, and there was nothing to say between the two sides, so they directly started fighting.

It was inconvenient for both sides to fight in the dark. One hand held a knife, and the other had to hold a torch. After close combat, it was a melee. Most of the time, people died without knowing how.

The main thing the two sides relied on in battle was morale. The side with strong morale would have the advantage.

The Ming army was a premeditated sneak attack, the soldiers had confidence, and the grassroots organization was relatively tight. The Qing army not only encountered a rebellion, but also suffered a night attack at the same time. The soldiers were already panicked, and they had no intention of fighting, only thinking about saving their lives.

And many soldiers couldn’t find their squad leaders or centurions, and couldn’t receive specific combat orders.

In this case, although the Qing army had a numerical advantage, they were still no match for the Ming army.

Some of the bolder and more clever soldiers were already taking the opportunity to escape in the chaos. This kind of melee in the dark was too dangerous.

Wang Dayong’s troops had the upper hand, but it was still difficult to defeat Xue Guiren’s troops.

At this time, the main force of the Ming army, a thousand-man flintlock gun unit, arrived.

Then this main force began to show its power. They didn’t need to get close to the Qing army, they just needed to shoot at those dark shadows. This advantage was too great, and the Qing army had no good way to deal with it.

A frontal charge was definitely impossible. The rate of fire of the flintlock guns was too fast. Charging to the front of the enemy would cost more than sixty or seventy percent of the soldiers.

A frontal charge wouldn’t work, and it was also difficult to charge from the side. It was dark and relying on torches to see the road was very inconvenient. Moreover, there were not many soldiers with torches, and most of them were still headless flies.

It can be said that the Qing army had completely lost its tactics at this time and was fighting on instinct. Those low-level commanders couldn’t think of any good way. The cavalry, which could pose a great threat to the musket army, couldn’t be used at this time.

Running wildly on horseback in the dark, they would fall in large numbers during the charge without the enemy shooting them.

These Qing soldiers were already very afraid of the Ming army’s musketeers. Coupled with the various unfavorable conditions now, many Qing soldiers had begun to collapse and flee.

Although they had a numerical advantage, without smooth command in the dark, this numerical advantage could not be brought into play at all.

It was precisely because of this that night attacks could create so many victories with fewer troops.

As the subsequent troops of the Ming army entered the field, the entire Qing army camp was completely plunged into chaos. The Qing army could no longer tell how many Ming troops there were, nor how many friendly troops were left.

This situation of not knowing anything caused panic among many Qing soldiers, and their morale plummeted.

Chapter 47: Spoils of War

“General, we must retreat! We can’t hold them!”

Xue Guiren found Liu Liangzuo and urged him to retreat.

“What did you say? Can’t hold them? How many Ming soldiers can there possibly be? We have a full thirty thousand! And you’re telling me we can’t hold them?”

Liu Liangzuo roared.

“General, where are those thirty thousand now? Liu Hong, Cheng Bing, Commander Liao, Commander Wang—no one knows where they are! And the soldiers at the front have already been routed by the Ming army’s muskets and are scattering in all directions. The entire camp is in complete chaos. If we don’t leave now, we won’t be able to get out later!”

Xue Guiren, not caring whether Liu Liangzuo was angry or not, hurriedly informed him of the current situation. Currently, only Liu Liangzuo’s troops were still under control; the soldiers in other areas were in a state where soldiers couldn’t find their officers, and officers couldn’t find their soldiers.

The entire command system had collapsed. Based on years of combat experience, Xue Guiren was certain that this battle was doomed to fail. Retreating as soon as possible to minimize losses was the most rational choice.

How could this be?

Liu Liangzuo was stunned. He couldn’t understand why his tens of thousands of soldiers were so vulnerable. He also couldn’t understand why Dong Tianbao would surrender to the weak Ming army.

“Retreat!”

At this critical moment, Liu Liangzuo chose to save his own life. The chaotic situation had already put him in danger, and staying here was extremely risky.

He still had twenty thousand troops around Changzhou. As long as he could escape back with the remnants, he would still have a chance to make a comeback. Staying here to fight to the death was something he hadn’t even considered.

Liu Liangzuo arranged for a rearguard and began to retreat north with his direct subordinates.

The attacking Ming army didn’t know that Liu Liangzuo was retreating, and even if they did, there was nothing they could do about it, because the Ming army had too few troops and didn’t dare to split their forces easily in the dark.

Therefore, Liu Liangzuo’s main force retreated smoothly.

However, those troops who didn’t receive the retreat order were slaughtered by the Ming army in the camp. They didn’t know whether to retreat or resist, and the opinions among the low-ranking officers were divided.

Without command, the number of soldiers didn’t matter.

Many Qing army soldiers had already begun to surrender in groups, and the remaining soldiers were running around like headless flies. Those who were quick-witted knelt down and surrendered to have a chance of survival, while those who were still foolishly trying to resist were all killed without exception.

Even large, organized units couldn’t withstand the Ming army’s muskets, let alone these small, scattered forces.

The Ming army advanced rapidly, and the sky gradually brightened. With the retreat of Liu Liangzuo’s main force, the remaining Qing army’s resistance wasn’t very fierce.

Gradually, the sounds of fighting in the Qing army camp disappeared, replaced by shouts and curses.

Those captured Qing soldiers were driven to a central location.

“Brother Wang, Brother Dai, I’ll leave the task of guarding the prisoners to you. We must continue to pursue the enemy and expand our victory.”

The Ming army’s actions continued. Chen Shichang led his small cavalry unit in pursuit of the routed soldiers, and Li Shaobin’s troops were also still pursuing the enemy’s main force.

Seeing this situation, Liu Hansan also wanted to gain more credit, so he handed over the task of guarding the prisoners to Dai Zhijun and Wang Dayong, and led his soldiers to pursue the routed soldiers himself.

Dai Zhijun was theoretically at the same rank as Liu Hansan, but he was a newcomer, and his relationship with Wu Changqing was naturally not as good as that of Liu Hansan and the other veterans.

Therefore, he couldn’t compete with Liu Hansan for credit and could only accept the task of guarding the prisoners, while sending a portion of his soldiers to capture the scattered prisoners around the area.

As soon as it dawned, Wu Changqing, having received news of the army’s great victory, left the city and came to the Qing army’s camp, where he met Dong Tianbao.

“Greetings, General Wu. This humble officer has not failed in his mission and has successfully completed his task.”

Dong Tianbao’s complexion wasn’t good, because his troops had suffered heavy losses. Some soldiers were killed while setting fires and causing chaos, and later, they fought fiercely with Liu Liangzuo’s main force for more than ten minutes. In total, he lost over one thousand one hundred men.

Before coming to Suzhou, he was a lieutenant general in command of six thousand soldiers, but now, he only had more than two thousand six hundred soldiers under his command, losing more than half of his original force.

“General Dong has worked hard. General Dong deserves the greatest credit for this great victory.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile. This time, it was truly thanks to Dong Tianbao’s defection. Without his internal and external attacks, it would have been really difficult to defeat Liu Liangzuo’s tens of thousands of soldiers.

Even though they had burned their supplies, if Liu Liangzuo had cautiously retreated to Wuxi or Changzhou, Wu Changqing would have been helpless.

Jiangnan was under the Qing army’s control, and it was relatively easy to obtain military supplies.

“Thank you, sir.”

Dong Tianbao felt better after hearing that he had earned the greatest credit. According to Wu Changqing’s promise, he could quickly restore his strength.

“What are the losses and results of each unit?”

Wu Changqing looked at the Qing army’s camp, which still had smoking charred wood, scattered corpses, and a dark mass of prisoners.

“Reporting to the General, according to the statistics so far, our army has suffered a total of one thousand three hundred casualties, with seven hundred and five from General Dong’s unit and six hundred and twenty-one from the other units. There are three hundred and forty-three seriously wounded and seven hundred and forty-eight lightly wounded.

Approximately four thousand enemy soldiers were killed, and approximately nine thousand enemy soldiers were captured. The generals are still pursuing the routed soldiers, and it is estimated that the results can be further expanded…”

“Good, all the generals have done well.”

Wu Changqing was in a very good mood, especially when he heard that they had also captured more than one thousand enemy warhorses, which made him even happier.

In this era, the value of a horse was more precious than that of a soldier, especially in the south, where warhorses were scarce. With this batch of warhorses, he could form his own cavalry unit.

Defeating the Qing Dynasty’s forty thousand troops with eight thousand soldiers—this victory could be described as the Ming Dynasty’s greatest victory since the battles between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

And this victory was created by him.

At this moment, he was naturally in high spirits, wishing he could improvise a poem.

Unfortunately, most of the ancient poems he remembered were from the Tang and Song dynasties, and he couldn’t plagiarize them.

As for writing his own, Wu Changqing knew his own limitations and didn’t want to embarrass himself. If he wrote a nonsensical poem, his subordinates would have to endure their disgust and compliment him, which would be quite awkward.

It wasn’t until the afternoon that all the pursuing troops returned.

According to statistics, in the subsequent pursuit, the Ming army killed another thousand or so enemy soldiers and captured about four thousand prisoners.

As for Liu Liangzuo’s troops who escaped back to Wuxi, there were probably even less than six thousand. The remaining scattered soldiers either became bandits, chose to throw away their weapons and return to their hometowns, or went to other places to find armies to join.

Liu Liangzuo’s army had been completely devastated.

He didn’t even stay in Wuxi for long, leaving three thousand men to garrison Wuxi and retreating with the rest to Changzhou.

In addition to killing the enemy, the Ming army also captured more than one thousand warhorses, more than two thousand old-fashioned muskets, two thousand sets of bows and arrows, and a large number of arrows. There were even more weapons such as swords and spears.

These armaments were worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and in this era of war, it was difficult to buy so many armaments and warhorses at once, even with money.

With this batch of armaments, Wu Changqing could carry out the next expansion of his army, so that his soldiers wouldn’t have to train with wooden sticks.

As for the as many as thirteen thousand prisoners, Wu Changqing had another headache. The number was simply too large.

These people couldn’t be recruited all at once, otherwise it would have a great impact on the original troops and bring great instability. If they were formed into a separate army, their loyalty would be a problem.

He first let Dong Tianbao pick more than two thousand people from among them as reinforcements. Because Dong Tianbao knew some Qing army generals inside, he could more easily control those surrendered soldiers.

Dong Tianbao wanted to take more, but Wu Changqing set the number as soon as he opened his mouth, and he didn’t dare to object.

With the addition of more than two thousand men, his troops could be restored to five thousand. Among Wu Changqing’s subordinates, he was already the general with the most troops, and he was quite satisfied with this situation.

Afterward, Dai Zhijun and other generals picked a total of five thousand people from the prisoners to supplement their respective armies, leaving more than five thousand people temporarily imprisoned to be slowly assimilated.

After this battle, the one who benefited the most was Chen Shichang. His two hundred cavalry troops were suddenly expanded to one thousand two hundred men.

A thousand cavalrymen was already a force to be reckoned with.

Just last month, he was only a centurion. Relying on the merit of capturing Wu Shengzhao, he had now been promoted to the position of lieutenant colonel.

Moreover, he was in command of the crucial cavalry unit.

Chapter 48: Next Steps

The news of the Ming army’s great victory quickly spread back to Suzhou. When the people heard that Wu Changqing had led eight thousand soldiers to defeat forty thousand Qing soldiers, they were all incredulous.

Killing five thousand and capturing over ten thousand enemy soldiers – the Ming army was actually capable of such a great victory? Was this really the Ming army they all knew?

For the past year or two, the Ming Dynasty’s army hadn’t won any significant battles. They lost against Li Zicheng, and they lost against the Manchu Tartars. They had lost so much that everyone was almost used to it.

After the initial shock, smiles appeared on the faces of the people. With the Ming army’s victory, they could look forward to a period of peace.

More importantly, Wu Changqing was a Han Chinese, and he wouldn’t force them to wear queues. Moreover, based on Wu Changqing’s actions during this period, he was clearly a general who loved his people like his own children.

Not long ago, he had risked the city’s destruction rather than order the shooting of innocent civilians.

Living under such a ruler was the best possible situation for the people.

When the news of the Qing army’s defeat reached the Tang and Liu residences, Tang Yu and Liu Shizao nearly fell off their chairs.

It was simply too unexpected. They never imagined that Liu Liangzuo would be so useless. Originally, they thought that Liu Liangzuo was certain to win, it was just a matter of time.

But who would have thought that Liu Liangzuo, with his tens of thousands of soldiers, would be so easily defeated? It was one thing to fail to capture the city, but to be routed by Wu Changqing was unbelievable.

As a result, they had lost their chance to seize the soap business and could only watch Chen Daolin make a fortune in the limelight.

Of course, that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst part was that they had both corresponded with Liu Liangzuo in the past. In their letters, they had expressed their willingness to support Liu Liangzuo and offered to provide some assistance to the Qing army at the appropriate time.

And now, the Qing army’s camp had been breached, and Liu Liangzuo had fled in a panic. Could these letters have fallen into Wu Changqing’s hands?

If those letters hadn’t been burned, they would be evidence of their crimes. Wu Changqing could use them as an excuse to kill them and confiscate their property, wiping out their entire families.

In an instant, Tang Yu and Liu Shizao were consumed by anxiety, no longer exhibiting the carefree demeanor they had shown in recent times.

They couldn’t even run away, as their homes and businesses were all in and around Suzhou.

What to do, what to do, what to do?

Tang Yu was so anxious that sweat broke out on his forehead.

Should he offer up his family’s wealth and women, like Chen Daolin?

If offering up several hundred thousand taels worth of assets could avert this disaster, Tang Yu would grit his teeth and do it. However, he wasn’t sure if Wu Changqing had obtained those letters.

If he hadn’t, wouldn’t it be a waste of his assets?

In the Suzhou Prefecture government office, Wu Changqing gathered his generals to plan the next military operation.

“Next, we need to occupy two important places. One is Wuxi. By occupying Wuxi, we can defend against the Qing army from Nanjing.

The other place is Jiaxing. By occupying Jiaxing, we can defend against Li Chengdong’s forces from Hangzhou. By holding these two key points, we can control the entire Wusong area.”

Wu Changqing said, pointing to a simple map. The maps of this era were very impressionistic. The proportions of mountains, rivers, and lakes were completely inaccurate, and there was no indication of terrain.

The Wusong area that Wu Changqing was referring to was the area that later became Shanghai, Suzhou, and Jiaxing.

In this era, Songjiang was still very underdeveloped, just a small county town. Suzhou and Jiaxing, on the other hand, were doing quite well.

This was all because of the sea ban issued by Zhu Yuanzhang. The Ming Dynasty officially forbade trade with foreign ships, allowing only private smuggling.

Under this policy, Songjiang’s geographical advantages couldn’t be exploited, so it didn’t develop well.

Only Wu Changqing understood how advantageous Songjiang’s geographical location was. In later generations, it was China’s most economically developed city, the Pearl of the Orient.

Now that the West had begun large-scale maritime trade, if he allowed those Westerners to trade in Songjiang, the area could quickly become prosperous.

What were the benefits of prosperity? Taxes, of course. A very important aspect of war was money. Without money, nothing could be done. With the continuous expansion of the army, Wu Changqing’s financial pressure was also increasing.

If he couldn’t pay his soldiers in the future, he might be betrayed by his subordinates.

The best way to make money was naturally to create tax revenue.

Songjiang, a barren land that others looked down on, was a treasure in Wu Changqing’s eyes.

Therefore, he was eager to control this area and develop it into his main base.

“This humble general is willing to attack Wuxi.”

Liu Hansan was the first to speak. The morale of Liu Liangzuo’s troops was currently low, making it a good opportunity to take advantage of them and seize credit.

The others, who were slower to react, also expressed their willingness to fight. Some wanted to attack Wuxi, while others wanted to take Jiaxing.

“Alright, you will take three thousand men from your unit, and then Wang Dafu will support you with five hundred matchlock musketeers. Take Wuxi as soon as possible. As for Jiaxing, General Dai and General Li will be jointly responsible. General Wang and General Dong will send a small force to occupy Songjiang and the surrounding areas. Remember, my troops are not allowed to rob or kill civilians. If I find out, I will not show mercy.”

Wu Changqing ordered.

He divided the entire army into three parts: about four thousand men were deployed to Wuxi, six thousand men were deployed to Jiaxing, and the remaining five thousand men were stationed in Suzhou.

While mobilizing the army, Wu Changqing had already realized that the original army organization was no longer suitable for the current army.

For example, when Liu Hansan went to attack Wuxi, his unit had enough manpower, but the types of soldiers were too limited. There were no musketeers or archers. And it would be inconvenient to have Wang Dafu’s troops under his command.

Reorganizing the army was imperative. Wu Changqing planned to change the army into the organization of later generations, that is, the kind of organization with armies, divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, companies, platoons, and squads.

This kind of organization had been tested by countless wars, and countless battles had demonstrated its superiority.

Wu Changqing wasn’t a military genius and couldn’t think of a more brilliant organization, so he planned to copy it directly.

However, all of this would have to wait until he had taken Wuxi and Jiaxing.

Once he occupied the Wusong area, he could finally start developing it.

Although he was only sixteen years old this year, and would probably live for at least another sixty or seventy years, construction was not something that could be done overnight.

The United Kingdom’s first industrial revolution took sixty or seventy years just to produce trains.

With the help of the system, Wu Changqing certainly wouldn’t take that long, but it would still be very difficult to complete the electrical revolution or even enter the information age in his lifetime.

After having this system, he would often want to create those advanced things. Now, he was a little impatient.

He also wanted to go online again in his lifetime. He wondered if that would be a pipe dream.

Chapter 49: People from the Old Home

The generals went down to prepare, while Wang Dafu handed some letters to Wu Changqing.

After briefly reading the letters, Wu Changqing felt a lingering fear.

Fortunately, the battle ended quickly. Otherwise, these merchants eager to please the Qing Dynasty could have engaged in some nasty behind-the-scenes maneuvers. Forget about major moves like attacking the city gates; even starting a few fires in the city to create chaos could have brought great trouble to the Ming army.

But now, these letters were treasures to Wu Changqing.

After expanding the army, he was worried about next month’s military pay. As a result, these wealthy merchants offered him this great gift. Seizing the homes of these five wealthy merchants would yield at least three to four million taels of silver, enough for the army’s expenses for another two or three months.

“Don’t rush. Wait for the people from the old home to arrive,” Wu Changqing instructed.

He would definitely confiscate these people’s homes, but what would happen after that?

The businesses of these five merchants involved various necessities such as cloth, pawnshops, grain, and oil. Confiscating their homes all at once meant that these industries would need someone to take over immediately.

Maintaining the normal operation of these industries was essential to prevent the people’s lives from being affected.

Wu Changqing couldn’t entrust all these industries to Chen Daolin, lest he become too powerful and create a monopoly.

Therefore, Wu Changqing was waiting for people from his old home in Shaoxing to come and take over these businesses.

After he agreed to Chen Daolin’s marriage proposal, he sent someone to Shaoxing to inform his mother and clansmen.

Marriage was a major event, and it was somewhat inappropriate for him to make such a decision on his own. However, in these chaotic times, it couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t remain unmarried just because his parents and elders weren’t by his side.

Calculating the days, the people from his old home should be arriving soon.

The next day, Wu Changqing met his uncle, Wu Zhiyue, and others.

In fact, the Wu family had arrived in Suzhou long ago, but at that time, Liu Liangzuo’s army was besieging Suzhou. Wu Zhiyue and his party couldn’t enter, so they stayed in Wu Jiang County.

It wasn’t until yesterday, when they heard the news of the Ming army’s great victory, that their convoy set off again, arriving in Suzhou in a grand manner.

After all, Wu Changqing’s wedding was a major event, and the Wu family brought many items and personnel.

Originally, Wu Changqing’s mother, Madam Liao, wanted to come to Suzhou in person, but because of the war, it was too dangerous for a woman to travel on the road, so she had to give up.

“Second Uncle.”

Based on the original owner’s memories, Wu Changqing recognized Wu Zhiyue.

“Risheng, you’ve grown taller and stronger. You’ve also become a famous general. Remarkable,” Wu Zhiyue said, patting Wu Changqing’s shoulder with satisfaction.

The current Wu Changqing was extraordinary. Not only had he won consecutive battles, but because he didn’t kill civilians on the battlefield, the surviving people everywhere were proclaiming him a good general and great hero who loved the people like his own children.

This kind of reputation was about to spread throughout the areas surrounding Suzhou.

Wu Zhiyue was both surprised and happy that Wu Changqing had achieved such success.

“Is my mother well?” Wu Changqing asked.

Wu Zhiyue sighed and said, “Upon hearing that your elder brother died for his country, your sister-in-law cried for two days. After that, she worried about your safety every day. It wasn’t until Prince Lu sent someone to the house to reward your sister-in-law that we knew you had won a battle and were relatively safe. Your sister-in-law was also slightly relieved.

Later, you sent someone to the house to tell us about your marriage. Your sister-in-law was both happy and angry, blaming you for not discussing such a big matter with her. Originally, she wanted to find someone suitable for you in Shaoxing, but she had no choice but to give up.”

“I had no choice. I’m alone here without any help. I have to gain support from outsiders through marriage,” Wu Changqing said.

“We naturally understand this principle, so this time I brought some talented young people from the clan to help you.”

“Are there any who are good at doing business? I need to confiscate the homes of a few wealthy merchants, and then I need people to take over their businesses, maintain normal operations, and prevent chaos in the market.”

“Of course, there are.”

The Wu family in Shaoxing was both landowners and merchants. Many people in the family were involved in the cloth and tea business.

Just as they were discussing, the steward came to report that Tang Yu was requesting an audience.

What was Tang Yu doing here?

Wu Changqing was curious. This guy was also someone who had corresponded with Liu Liangzuo, and he was planning to use this guy as an example.

“Bring him in,” Wu Changqing said.

Soon, Tang Yu arrived in the hall, accompanied by a veiled woman. As soon as he entered, Tang Yu knelt down to Wu Changqing, shouting that he deserved to die.

The reason why Tang Yu took the initiative to confess his guilt was because of his intricate network of relationships, which allowed him to learn that Wu Changqing had obtained those letters and was planning to take action.

Upon receiving this news, Tang Yu knew he was done for, and he probably wouldn’t even be allowed to leave the city.

Helpless, he chose to take the initiative to confess his guilt and beg for forgiveness.

“Oh, Shopkeeper Tang, what are you doing? What crime have you committed?” Wu Changqing asked.

“It was this one’s momentary confusion, fearing the power of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, before the battle, I wrote a letter to Liu Liangzuo, attempting to collude with Liu Liangzuo to do evil.

This humble one is willing to offer all my family property and offer my niece to serve the general, hoping that the general will be magnanimous and spare my family.”

As Tang Yu spoke, he lifted the woman’s veil, revealing a delicate face.

The woman looked only seventeen or eighteen years old and was quite beautiful, but at this moment, she was trembling, seemingly very nervous.

Learning of Tang Yu’s intentions, Wu Changqing was amused.

He didn’t expect Tang Yu to come and confess his guilt, which disrupted his plans. However, this was not a bad thing for Wu Changqing.

At this stage, the stability of the controlled area was the most important thing. Confiscating the homes of five wealthy merchants in one go could easily make other merchants panic.

Since Tang Yu took the initiative to offer his family property, he could confiscate one less home. Anyway, all he wanted was money. As for whether Tang Yu was loyal or not, Wu Changqing didn’t really care.

He was just a small merchant with some money. Even if he tried to cause trouble, he couldn’t turn the world upside down. Just like in this battle with Liu Liangzuo, even if Tang Yu had wanted to assist the Qing army, he didn’t have the strength.

Moreover, after he donated his property, he would be even less able to resist.

“You should be very familiar with Liu Shizao, Wang Langning, and others, right? In addition to those shops on the surface, do they have any other assets?” Wu Changqing asked.

“This humble one knows, and I will definitely assist the general in confiscating them, without missing a single penny or tael,” Tang Yu said through gritted teeth.

He was sacrificing his friends to save his own skin, selling his friends for a chance to live.

After all, Wu Changqing’s meaning was already very clear. Cooperate with his confiscation work and he would give him a way out; don’t cooperate and he would only be waiting for death.

Seeing such wealthy merchants trembling with fear and acting submissively in front of Wu Changqing, Wu Zhiyue realized that his nephew was no longer the nephew he used to be.

The current Wu Changqing was a great general with tens of thousands of soldiers, holding the lives of countless people in his hands.

Wu Changqing’s joy or anger directly determined Tang Yu’s life or death.

Subsequently, Wu Changqing instructed Tang Yu to fully cooperate with Wu Zhiyue in the confiscation work of the other four families. As for Tang Yu’s niece, Wu Changqing didn’t want her.

Although this woman was very beautiful, she was, after all, Tang Yu’s relative. Who knew if Tang Yu would harbor resentment in the future and instruct her to poison him or something.

Although this possibility was very slim, Wu Changqing didn’t need to take such a risk. With his current status and position, he would never lack women.

Chapter 50: Confiscating Property

With Tang Yu’s assistance, Wang Dafu led soldiers to confiscate the properties of four wealthy families, headed by Liu Shizao. During the confiscation, scribes posted notices explaining the reasons for arresting these people to the public.

This was both to avoid causing panic and to deter those who were sympathetic to the Qing.

When the soldiers surrounded the Liu family’s residence, Liu Shizao tried to resist. However, when Wang Dafu produced the letter he had written to Liu Liangzuo, Liu Shizao was rendered speechless.

The Liu family was a large clan, with over seventy direct descendants, all of whom needed to be arrested.

This was unavoidable. Confiscating their property created a life-and-death feud. If they weren’t all arrested, they would become a hidden danger.

To retaliate against Wu Changqing, they might leak Ming army intelligence to the Qing army, or even try to assassinate Wu Changqing.

The main culprit, Liu Shizao, would undoubtedly be executed. The men of the Liu family would be sent to the mines to dig or do other hard labor, while the women of the Liu family would invariably be sold to brothels.

As someone from later generations, Wu Changqing didn’t want to be so ruthless, but this was the most efficient method, and also the common practice of this era, a characteristic of the times.

Even if Wu Changqing did this, everyone would find it reasonable and wouldn’t think he was cruel.

When Liu Shizao was brought in, he saw Tang Yu and Wang Dafu together and immediately seemed to understand something, launching into all sorts of vicious curses.

However, before he could utter more than a few words, a soldier smashed several of his teeth out with the hilt of a saber.

As for Tang Yu, he was introducing Wang Dafu to some of Liu Shizao’s hidden assets, such as land in the countryside, completely ignoring Liu Shizao.

Dozens of members of the Liu family were tied up and driven out of the Liu residence, attracting a large crowd of onlookers.

With the scribe’s shouts, the people learned the truth.

Upon learning that Liu Shizao of the Liu family had intended to collude with the Qing Tartars to break the city, some angry people couldn’t help but throw mud or small stones at them.

As for the scenes of throwing eggs and vegetables seen in movies and TV shows, that didn’t happen. The people weren’t wealthy enough for that.

The Liu family’s dependents were led away, weeping and wailing, but no one sympathized with them. Firstly, because Liu Shizao’s collusion with the Tartars displeased them, and secondly, because the Liu family was too rich.

Hatred of the rich has existed since ancient times. Seeing the Liu family in trouble, many people felt very happy.

Some men were even thinking about finding a way to get some money and then patronize the Liu family’s female relatives in the brothels.

Pressing a once high-and-mighty rich young lady under their body was a completely different feeling from riding an ordinary prostitute.

After the Liu family was raided, the other three households were quickly searched as well. The same fate awaited them: the heads of the families were executed, the men were forced into hard labor, and the women were sold into brothels.

In the evening, Wu Zhiyue went to the yamen with the account books to report.

This time, they confiscated a total of one hundred and eighty thousand taels of silver, countless mansions, furniture, antiques, and so on, with a preliminary estimated value of one million two hundred thousand taels.

However, the price of antiques and calligraphy was hard to say. In prosperous times, they might be priceless, but in times of turmoil, they might be worthless. Selling them urgently might mean a lower price, while keeping them to wait for the right opportunity might lead to a high price.

In addition to these, there were various shops and goods, with a preliminary estimated value of nine hundred thousand taels.

Their land in the countryside was worth about four hundred to five hundred thousand taels.

In other words, their total income from this confiscation was about two million eight hundred thousand taels. It had to be said that confiscating property was really great. If it weren’t for fear of causing social unrest, constantly confiscating the homes of those wealthy families would be enough to support Wu Changqing’s military expenses for conquering the world.

Of course, this was impossible. Wealthy merchants were a very important part of society. Killing a few occasionally was fine, but killing too many would throw the entire society into chaos.

In addition to these two million eight hundred thousand, Tang Yu also donated one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver and eight hundred thousand taels of assets. Originally, he wanted to donate everything, but Wu Changqing left him some land and shops.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also allowed him to continue managing his original businesses. However, all the money he earned had to be handed over to the army as military pay.

Tang Yu was able to build his family business to a million, which was enough to show that he was a man of brains and could be used with confidence.

The cloth business of the Liu Shizao family was taken over by Wu Zhiyue, and the businesses of the other three families were also managed by him on behalf of the government, but in order to realize the assets, they would be gradually sold off.

After learning that Liu Shizao and others had their homes confiscated and several principal offenders were beheaded, Chen Daolin could only sneer in his heart.

He knew very well when those people were ostracizing him.

Now, seeing those who had ostracized him in trouble, he felt extremely happy.

At the same time, he was also grateful for his gamble. At least from the current point of view, he had gambled very correctly.

With eight thousand soldiers, he had defeated forty thousand Qing troops, and now Wu Changqing’s forces had expanded to more than ten thousand, and would soon reach twenty thousand.

With this number, it would probably not be easy for the Qing army to suppress them without an army of one hundred thousand. In other words, Wu Changqing had gained a firm foothold.

Moreover, Chen Daolin believed that Wu Changqing’s strength would continue to grow.

After Wu Changqing defeated the Qing army, some merchants who had also been ostracizing him now came to visit and send greetings, wanting to connect with Chen Daolin and make friends.

The merchants of Suzhou were not stupid. They could also see that, at least in the short term, Wu Changqing was the one who called the shots in Suzhou.

In this situation, it was very necessary to please Wu Changqing and Chen Daolin.

“Congratulations, Shopkeeper Chen, you are about to become General Wu’s father-in-law. It is truly gratifying. When General Wu gets married, I wonder if I can beg for a cup of wedding wine.”

Liu Wuling flattered him. The wedding date between Wu Changqing and Chen Yuyan was getting closer and closer, but he had not received an invitation, which made him very anxious.

As a merchant, he had to maintain a good relationship with those in power.

If he wasn’t even qualified to attend Wu Changqing’s wedding, would he still be able to get favors in the future?

“Of course, there is no problem with that. The invitations are still being copied and will be delivered to your residence soon.”

Chen Daolin said. He didn’t retaliate against these people because he had been ostracized before. It wasn’t worth it. Retaliating against these people, apart from making enemies, didn’t have much benefit.

Accepting them, however, offered the hope of becoming their leader.

Moreover, being with them and enjoying the flattery and praise of these successful people was also an extremely enjoyable thing.

“Then thank you very much, Shopkeeper Chen. If Shopkeeper Chen needs anything in the future, just give me a call. I, Liu, will never say no.”

At this point, Liu Wuling finally breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Chen Daolin didn’t hold a grudge.

There were many people like Liu Wuling. For a time, the Chen residence seemed to be bustling with activity.

Chapter 51: Nothing is Easy

On the twenty-seventh, news of Liu Liangzuo’s defeat reached Nanjing.

Seeing the battle report, Hong Chengchou almost flew into a rage on the spot.

Humiliation. This defeat was a humiliation for the ever-victorious Qing army.

It was bad enough that fourty thousand troops couldn’t take a single city, but to be routed by the Ming army using the same night raid tactics? Hong Chengchou really wanted to drag Liu Liangzuo over and slap him a few times, asking him why he didn’t take precautions against a night raid.

Even more frustrating for Hong Chengchou was the fact that Liu Liangzuo’s subordinates had actually rebelled. This was even more serious than Liu Liangzuo’s defeat.

Originally, the Manchu bannermen were very distrustful of those Ming army soldiers who had defected and surrendered. It was only after he submitted a memorial and vouched for them that the higher-ups decided to accept Han Chinese defectors on a large scale, establishing a strategy of governing the Han Chinese with Han Chinese.

He had put in a lot of effort to gain the trust of the bannermen, but because of Dong Tianbao’s rebellion, these efforts were about to be wasted.

It was foreseeable that the bannermen would be even more demanding of Han Chinese defectors in the future, which would lead to dissatisfaction among the Han Chinese officials, further strengthening their will to resist.

In short, it was a very bad cycle.

Hong Chengchou understood very well that the Qing Dynasty had a fatal weakness: their population was too small.

If they wanted to rule the land of China with such a small population, they had to trust and use Han Chinese officials.

There was no other way.

If those talented Han Chinese were not given official positions, how could they be content? At that time, rebellions would probably erupt all over the country.

Not many people could see through this point, but Hong Chengchou was one of them.

Therefore, even though Dong Tianbao had rebelled, Hong Chengchou still stated in his memorial that Han Chinese officials should be given important positions and that the strategy of pacification should be the main focus, with suppression as a supplementary measure.

After finishing the memorial, Hong Chengchou picked up the battle report again. This time, his main focus was on Wu Changqing.

Another victory with fewer troops against a larger force, and with weaker troops against a stronger force. This was enough to prove Wu Changqing’s ability.

In fact, in Hong Chengchou’s eyes, Wu Changqing was a bigger threat than the Ming Dynasty court in the south.

Hong Chengchou was very clear about the troubles and drawbacks of the Ming Dynasty court, after all, he had once been involved in the Ming Dynasty bureaucracy and knew that the Ming Dynasty had decayed beyond saving.

Although the Ming Dynasty court still controlled many areas, Hong Chengchou did not take them seriously. But this newly emerging Wu Changqing was someone Hong Chengchou couldn’t quite understand.

He had recently received some information about Wu Changqing and had gained a better understanding of him. On the surface, Wu Changqing seemed ordinary in every way except for being a bit young.

However, this ordinary person managed to win every battle.

“Nothing is easy.”

Hong Chengchou sighed. What a feat it was to unify the land of China. To accomplish such a feat, it was destined that the process would not be smooth sailing, and some setbacks would inevitably be encountered.

Hong Chengchou was very open-minded about this.

He then ordered Liu Liangzuo to defend Changzhou at all costs to prevent Wu Changqing from threatening the safety of Nanjing.

As for sending troops to quell the rebellion, he didn’t have many troops to spare right now. Even those he could spare were Han Chinese generals who had surrendered, just like Liu Liangzuo.

Leaving aside the issue of loyalty, their combat effectiveness was also a cause for concern.

Liu Liangzuo couldn’t defeat eight thousand with fourty thousand, so how could the other Han Chinese generals do it? Now that Wu Changqing had inevitably strengthened his forces, sending those surrendered soldiers to quell the rebellion would probably require at least one hundred thousand troops.

He didn’t have that many troops available right now, and even if he did, he couldn’t afford the military pay for an army of one hundred thousand.

Hong Chengchou could only hope that Lekedehun would be able to pacify Jiangxi as soon as possible, and then transfer the main force of the Eight Banners back to quell the rebellion. Or he could wait for the army from Beijing to arrive. There were still many Eight Banner troops resting in the north, and they would soon be able to march south again.

At this time in Beijing, Dorgon had only received battle reports from half a month ago.

They mentioned that Wu Changqing had rebelled in Jiading and had already captured Suzhou. As for the news of Wu Changqing’s great defeat of Liu Liangzuo, it hadn’t reached here so quickly.

“These good-for-nothings can’t even handle a small rebellion.”

Dorgon snorted coldly.

“Brother, let me lead the troops to kill these rebellious people.”

Dodo was a rather impatient person and couldn’t wait to personally lead troops to quell the rebellion.

“Calm down. It’s just a small rebellion, not worth your personal attention. Let the troops rest first, and then lead a large army south next spring to completely pacify the south in one fell swoop.”

As Prince Regent, Dorgon was much calmer. In his eyes, a small rebellion wouldn’t cause much of a stir.

In fact, he didn’t even take the Ming Dynasty court seriously, after all, the previous battles had been too smooth, almost like a walk in the park.

Li Zicheng’s Great Shun army in the west had at least put up some resistance, but the Ming Dynasty in the south simply surrendered wherever they went.

Dorgon looked down on such opponents from the bottom of his heart.

“Once we completely pacify the south, then Brother can kick that kid Fulong to the side.”

Dodo brought up the old topic again. He always wanted Dorgon to ascend the throne and become emperor.

When Huang Taiji had just died, Dodo and many others wanted Dorgon to compete for the throne. However, at that time, the Two Yellow Banners strongly opposed it, and some people in the Bordered Blue Banner, the Plain Red Banner, and the Bordered Red Banner did not support him.

Helpless, he had no choice but to reach a compromise with many powerful figures at that time, supporting Huang Taiji’s youngest son, Fulong, who was the Shunzhi Emperor.

Although he lost the throne, Dorgon began to control the military and political power, and after taking Beijing, he was even named Uncle Prince Regent.

Not only did he become the number one person in power, but even his etiquette and entourage were comparable to the emperor, achieving a position of power that overshadowed the court.

And now, if Dorgon really wanted to usurp the throne, there would be no one to stop him.

However, Dorgon waved his hand, indicating that this matter should not be mentioned for the time being.

Dorgon knew very well that his chances of usurping the throne were high, but in the process, many people would inevitably be dissatisfied, leading to rebellions.

Even if he ascended the throne at that time, his strength would be greatly damaged, and at the same time, it would give the Ming Dynasty a chance to catch their breath.

Therefore, Dorgon would not be so foolish as to usurp the throne at this time. Even if he were to usurp the throne, he would have to wait until after he had destroyed the Ming Dynasty, unified China, and had no external opponents.

As for now, anyway, the military and political power was in his hands. Except for the fact that he was not the emperor in terms of etiquette, he was undoubtedly the emperor in terms of power.

As a practical person, Dorgon would not give up the opportunity to unify the world for the sake of a title.

Chapter 52: Controversy Over Rewards

The distance from Shaoxing to Suzhou was shorter than that from Nanjing to Suzhou, but the news of Wu Changqing’s great victory over Liu Liangzuo arrived in Shaoxing later.

After all, Nanjing received an urgent battle report delivered by warhorses, while Qiu Zhaojin had to bypass Hangzhou to send news to Shaoxing.

On the twenty-eighth day, Prince Lu in Shaoxing received news of Wu Changqing’s great victory.

This time, it was much more shocking than the last time. Last time, Wu Changqing only captured Suzhou and defeated more than three thousand enemy troops. But this time, he directly defeated forty thousand Qing army soldiers, killing more than eight thousand and capturing more than ten thousand.

This victory stunned the officials of Prince Lu’s small court. They couldn’t imagine how such a great victory was achieved. None of those present dared to say that they could achieve such a great victory with eight thousand soldiers against forty thousand Qing army soldiers.

Not to mention a great victory, using eight thousand soldiers against forty thousand, as long as the city was not lost, it would be considered a great achievement.

“Such talent must be used by me. Governor Qiu said in his letter that Wu Changqing’s subordinates are dissatisfied with our previous rewards. What do you think should be given as rewards?”

Zhu Yihai asked everyone.

“I believe that he can be granted the title of Marquis. Rising from a commoner to a Marquis, he will definitely feel His Majesty’s immense grace.”

General Fang Guoan said. Of course, he was not speaking well of Wu Changqing.

Fang Guoan is currently the Duke of Yue in the Lu Wang regime, having been granted the title of Duke. He naturally did not want Wu Changqing to be on an equal footing with him. After all, he had been leading troops in battle for more than ten years, while Wu Changqing was just a young man.

If Wu Changqing was granted the title of Duke, wouldn’t he have to interact with the other party as an equal in the future?

If it weren’t for Wu Changqing’s current great achievements, he wouldn’t even want to give him the title of Marquis.

“Marquis may be a little low. After all, he defeated forty thousand Qing army soldiers, and now he has tens of thousands of soldiers under his command, and he can expand his army by tens of thousands at any time. With this kind of strength, a Duke can also handle it.”

Zhang Guowei spoke. He knew that Zhu Yihai very much wanted to obtain Wu Changqing’s allegiance, after all, Wu Changqing was at the forefront of resisting the Qing.

As long as they obtained Wu Changqing’s allegiance, they could concentrate on dealing with Li Chengdong alone. After defeating Li Chengdong, they could also connect with Wu Changqing’s territory, and then send troops to Nanjing.

Nanjing was too important to Zhu Yihai, so Zhu Yihai was absolutely willing to give the title of Duke in order to obtain Wu Changqing’s allegiance.

Anyway, the rewards of their small court were not worth much.

Zheng Zhilong in the Longwu court in the south had one hundred thousand soldiers, and Emperor Longwu had only granted him the title of Marquis.

On Prince Lu’s side, there were two Dukes, Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren. And the troops in their hands were only more than twenty thousand each.

Moreover, the combat power of these twenty thousand soldiers was very worrying, and they could not be compared with Wu Changqing’s troops who kept winning battles.

In terms of strength, Wu Changqing might only be able to be a Count in the Longwu court, but in Prince Lu’s small court, he deserved a Duke.

“Lord Zhang, don’t forget his age. With his age, isn’t it enough to be granted the title of Marquis? If he is granted the title of Duke now, then when he takes Nanjing, wouldn’t he have to be granted a Prince of a different surname? If he recovers Beijing, then there will be nothing to reward.”

Fang Guoan sneered. What he said was true. If he was granted the title of Duke now, what would happen if Wu Changqing made even greater contributions in the future? Could it be that even the throne would be rewarded?

Originally, rewards were a very cautious matter. Emperor Longwu in the south did a good job in this regard.

However, Prince Lu, for various reasons, had to grant Fang Guoan and others the title of Duke. And now, the consequences of this casual reward have already appeared.

“If General Fang can retake Nanjing, a Prince of a different surname will not be missing for General Fang.”

Zhu Yihai said blandly.

He understood what Fang Guoan meant, but Zhu Yihai was not stupid. Now that he couldn’t even take Nanjing, he was still considering taking Beijing. Wasn’t that thinking a little too far?

Even, Zhu Yihai was not sure whether he could recover the territory in his lifetime. The most important thing for him now was to maintain his power, and this required Wu Changqing’s allegiance.

As for the future, if Wu Changqing could recover Beijing and drive the Tartars out of the customs, he could also think of other ways to solve the problem of rewards.

Or reward Wu Changqing’s father, wife, and son, or use power to seize Wu Changqing’s military power.

Anyway, there were many such power struggles recorded in history books.

In short, Zhu Yihai only wanted to take care of the present, and only wanted to take Nanjing first. Only by taking Nanjing could he have the conditions to compete with Prince Tang for orthodoxy.

Zhu Yihai spoke, and Fang Guoan closed his mouth when he heard the words. Although he was dissatisfied, he had nothing to say. After all, Zhu Yihai had made it clear that as long as he could take Nanjing, he could also be named a Prince of a different surname.

However, did he have this ability?

He couldn’t even solve Li Chengdong alone. If the news of Wu Changqing’s defeat of Liu Liangzuo had not reached Hangzhou, causing Li Chengdong’s military morale to be unstable, Hangzhou would probably have been taken down by Li Chengdong by now.

Although Fang Guoan was dissatisfied, he couldn’t object. It was all Wu Changqing’s fault for having such a beautiful record.

Fang Guoan, the general who led the troops, did not object, and naturally not many other people objected. Bringing Wu Changqing to their side could strengthen their strength, which was also beneficial to them.

“If there is no objection, then draft an edict. Grant Wu Changqing the title of Duke of Wu, and lead the Governor-General of Zhili. His wife is granted the title of Second-Rank Madam…”

Zhu Yihai spoke and decided on this matter.

In addition to the title of Duke, he was also granted the official position of Governor-General of Zhili.

This official position was extraordinary. The Governor-General had the local military and political power and was the highest official position that a feudal official could obtain. More importantly, Wu Changqing was granted the Governor-General of Zhili.

Zhili was divided into Southern Zhili and Northern Zhili. Northern Zhili was the Beijing area, and Southern Zhili was the Nanjing area. The Governor-General of this kind of place was much more important than the Governor-General of other provinces. It could be said that he was the most powerful feudal official.

This time, Zhu Yihai had made a big investment. Of course, his Governor-General of Zhili was not given for nothing. After all, Southern Zhili was still under the rule of the Qing army.

Zhu Yihai’s meaning was obvious. He hoped that Wu Changqing could take Nanjing as soon as possible.

In addition to rewarding official positions and titles, after learning that Wu Changqing was about to get married, Zhu Yihai also asked people to prepare a grand gift to congratulate him, to show his importance.

Zhu Yihai only rewarded Wu Changqing. As for the generals under Wu Changqing, Wu Changqing needed to personally draft a list and report it.

After all, Zhu Yihai did not know which generals were more valued by Wu Changqing, so it was not good to reward them blindly.

As long as the rewards Wu Changqing asked for were not too excessive, the court would generally approve them.

Chapter 53: Spinning Jenny

Wuxi and the lightly defended Jiaxing fell in quick succession. The towns and villages surrounding Songjiang surrendered one after another at the mere sight of his forces.

With hardly any effort, Wu Changqing completely controlled the Wusong area.

Now that the fighting had largely subsided, Wu Changqing began to focus his energy on development.

On this day, he had people carry a spinning jenny to a new workshop, a place dedicated to producing non-military goods.

“What is this, a spinning machine?”

Wu Zhiyue was well-traveled and knowledgeable; he recognized the machine as something used for spinning yarn at a glance. However, the spinning machines he had seen in the past only had a single, horizontal spindle.

But the spindles on the spinning machine in front of him were vertical, and there were as many as eight of them. Could such a machine even work properly?

“This is called a multi-spindle spinning machine. It’s operated by hand and can spin eight strands of cotton thread simultaneously.”

Wu Changqing made up a name for it. In any case, he couldn’t call it a spinning jenny. In China, who knew what a “Jenny” was?

This spinning jenny looked very simple, and it indeed lacked any high-tech elements, but its appearance marked the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

This machine freed up manpower and made the formation of factories possible.

Moreover, because of the greatly increased efficiency, the cost of cotton thread would be greatly reduced. This spinning machine, coupled with the flying shuttle that could greatly improve weaving efficiency, would make the manufacturing of cloth extremely simple and fast, with costs five or six times lower than before.

Cloth made at such low cost could be dumped onto the global market, unbeatable in price.

Of the necessities of life – clothing, food, shelter, and transportation – clothing came first. People might be able to endure missing a meal or two, but very few adults could tolerate running naked in the streets.

Clothing was a necessity, something everyone had to consume.

In this era, clothing and cloth had the largest global market and were the easiest goods to sell.

Tea and porcelain were, in the end, just luxury goods with limited sales. Moreover, people could refrain from buying them if they were short on money. But clothing was a necessity of life, a must-buy.

Once this cheap cloth was dumped into other countries, it would be enough to collapse their local textile industries.

In the original timeline, England relied on dumping cloth and overseas colonial plunder of raw materials to complete its capital accumulation, thereby starting the vigorous Industrial Revolution.

And now, this revolution would be led by Wu Changqing, led by this multi-spindle spinning machine and that flying shuttle.

This unremarkable spinning machine held a pivotal position in human history.

“Take a closer look.”

Wu Changqing personally demonstrated the operation of the spinning machine.

Watching the cotton threads being spun simultaneously, Wu Zhiyue’s mouth hung open in astonishment.

He couldn’t imagine how much of an impact this machine would have on the world, but he knew that it could reduce the cost of spinning yarn by seven or eight times.

Who could compete with cotton thread spun by such a machine?

This kind of money-making tool would probably make the imperial court jealous if they found out.

“This thing is still our top-secret machine. You must find some reliable and trustworthy craftsmen to mass-produce it, and secretly purchase large quantities of cotton and hemp. Once we have enough machines, we’ll start spinning and weaving, and then use low prices to seize the cloth market in one fell swoop. The structure of these machines is simple and very easy to leak, so you must strictly guard the craftsmen. I will send soldiers to assist you.”

Wu Changqing didn’t want to make this public yet, because he needed to earn military funds.

Only when he had enough military funds would he promote this good thing nationwide.

“Don’t worry, Rise of the Sun, I understand the importance of this thing. I will definitely guard it well. This is the source of wealth for our Wu family. Anyone who wants to get their hands on this spinning machine is our mortal enemy.”

Wu Zhiyue said through gritted teeth.

Wu Changqing found his appearance amusing. It was just a spinning machine; it was really too childish. He had many more good things.

After occupying Wusong and other places, Wu Changqing currently controlled a territory of as much as nine thousand eight hundred square kilometers, with a population of more than two million seven hundred thousand.

During this period, the area with the highest population density was the Huainan region. During the Ming Dynasty’s peak, Suzhou Prefecture alone had a population of as much as two million.

However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to war, famine, and many other reasons, the population here had also decreased significantly.

A starving camel is still bigger than a horse. Even though this place had suffered several months of war and several cities had been massacred, its population was still far ahead of other places.

Some places in the north, such as Xuzhou Prefecture, had a total population of only a few hundred thousand people.

But in Huainan, any prefecture had hundreds of thousands or millions of people.

After occupying Wusong, as long as he didn’t squander them, Wu Changqing really didn’t lack resource points and tech points.

To control this increasingly expanding territory, Wu Changqing spent another one hundred thousand resource points to redeem two thousand flintlock guns and some bullets.

Adding to the original one thousand four hundred flintlock guns, his current flintlock gun force had three thousand four hundred people.

Moreover, the armory could produce ten flintlock guns every day.

With such a powerful flintlock gun force, he no longer needed to invest resource points in weapons.

His resource points began to be used for construction, such as redeeming the spinning jenny and the flying shuttle.

In terms of technology, he also unlocked glass manufacturing technology and toothpaste manufacturing technology. He handed these technologies over to Wu Zhiyue to handle as well.

After finishing these, Wu Changqing checked his system panel.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Resource Points: Approximately 110,000 / 294,000.

Tech Points: Approximately 2,560,000 / 2,700,000.

Mastered Technologies: Matchlock guns, flintlock guns, gunpowder, springs, flint, soap, detergent…

Resource points were being spent relatively quickly. Although there were many tech points left, they were still not enough for the technologies that needed to be unlocked.

To unlock all the technologies needed to build an aircraft carrier alone would cost nearly one hundred million tech points.

And now the world’s population was about six hundred million to seven hundred million. In China, the current national population was only about one hundred million.

“I still have to use them sparingly.”

Wu Changqing sighed, and at the same time, he was thinking about how to promote education.

Building a country by relying on one person was a pipe dream. In the end, it still depended on everyone’s joint efforts. Even if he mastered those advanced technologies, he had to teach them to others to transform them into productivity.

He needed to cultivate a group of high-quality talents and impart advanced scientific knowledge to them.

Once those people were cultivated, they would be able to rely on their own wisdom to make some scientific inventions, saving Wu Changqing’s tech points.

And only by cultivating a large number of modern talents could he master those technologies far beyond this era.

Even if Wu Changqing came up with the technology to manufacture steam engines now, he wouldn’t be able to find anyone to research and imitate them, because few people knew what a piston was, and no one knew about energy conversion.

Chapter 54: The Difficult Problem of Education

The next day, Wu Changqing summoned Gu Yanwu to discuss education.

“I want to vigorously promote education here in Wusong. What suggestions do you have, Mr. Gu?” Wu Changqing asked.

Promote education?

Gu Yanwu was somewhat surprised to hear this. He had thought that Wu Changqing would next focus on expanding his army and territory. He didn’t expect Wu Changqing to want to revitalize education.

This isn’t something a qualified ambitious person should do. For ambitious people, nothing is more important than developing military strength and seizing territory.

Education is naturally something to be put aside.

After observing Wu Changqing for some time, Gu Yanwu realized that Wu Changqing might not be completely loyal to the Ming Dynasty. Others might not see it, but he could deduce this from certain clues.

For example, Wu Changqing often bought popular support and military support, was disrespectful to the court’s envoys, and allowed and guided some inappropriate remarks from his subordinates.

If it weren’t for the fact that Wu Changqing treated the common people well and was indeed capable of resisting the Manchu Tartars, he might not have stayed here.

But now, Wu Changqing’s actions made him unable to understand. If Wu Changqing was an ambitious person, he wouldn’t be putting his energy and money into education at this time.

However, he did just that.

Gu Yanwu considered himself to have seen many people and read countless individuals. But Wu Changqing was someone he really couldn’t understand.

Wu Changqing’s desire to promote education naturally pleased Gu Yanwu. However, he was also a very pragmatic person, and he knew that the most important thing at present was to develop the military and strengthen the armed forces.

Therefore, Gu Yanwu advised, “Developing education may be premature. At this time, we should focus on expanding the army and preparing for war, and taking Nanjing.”

“Expanding the army and developing education are not contradictory. It’s just a matter of money, which I will find a way to solve. Education is not something that can be done overnight; it requires long-term planning. I would like to ask you, sir, how can we add a large amount of arithmetic and physics content to the curriculum without being rejected by scholars?”

Wu Changqing said. In his opinion, reciting the Four Books and Five Classics was not very useful. It was enough for a person to be able to recognize characters and have basic reading and comprehension skills.

No matter how well an article is written, it’s just an article.

When it comes to practical knowledge, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and geography are the way to go.

However, in this era, scholars of the Ming Dynasty mainly studied the Four Books and Five Classics, while arithmetic, physics, and geography were considered unorthodox and could not be brought to the grand stage.

This concept was deeply rooted in the minds of scholars and was not easy to change.

Wanting to greatly increase the content of arithmetic and physics in the curriculum would definitely cause resistance from scholars. Moreover, the degree of resistance might not be less than refusing to shave their heads and wear queues (Manchu hairstyle).

If it was not handled well, it would cause unrest, which would be very bad.

Hearing that Wu Changqing wanted to increase the content of physics and arithmetic, Gu Yanwu was excited. If it weren’t for the difference in their status, he would have wanted to regard Wu Changqing as a close friend.

This was because Gu Yanwu was someone who hated the Four Books and Five Classics and hated the imperial examinations.

He had taken the imperial examinations many times without success, and in anger, he directly gave up the examinations and turned to learning miscellaneous subjects such as geography, history, and music.

Regarding the current imperial examination system, Gu Yanwu felt that there were great drawbacks. The things learned in the books were only useful during the examinations.

After becoming an official, those classical studies were of no use at all, and one had to relearn the ways of being an official and other professional knowledge.

Spending more than ten or even dozens of years learning knowledge that is only useful during examinations is simply a waste of time.

“This may be difficult and must be done gradually,” Gu Yanwu reminded.

The main purpose of scholars is to take the imperial examinations and become officials. The imperial examinations do not test arithmetic and physics. Even if physics and other subjects are added, those scholars may not be willing to learn them.

If you want scholars to voluntarily learn these things, unless you reform the imperial examinations and add these contents to the imperial examinations.

However, they are just an army. They are not a legitimate regime. Where do they have the qualifications to reform the imperial examinations? That is a major event that the Ming Dynasty court can decide.

However, Gu Yanwu also knew that the big shots in the court would not reform the imperial examinations.

Thinking of this, a terrible thought suddenly popped into Gu Yanwu’s mind.

That is, if Wu Changqing can gain power in the future, can he get support to carry out reforms of the imperial examinations and other aspects on a national scale?

In Gu Yanwu’s view, there are too many drawbacks in the Ming Dynasty, and there are countless places that need to be changed.

And if he supports Wu Changqing to take power, will he usurp the throne and become independent?

Thinking of this, Gu Yanwu felt extremely conflicted.

“It’s difficult, but we have to find a way to do it. You have probably seen the power of the flintlock gun. And these were invented by learning physics, or physical knowledge. Only by understanding the principles of all things can we create more advanced weapons. In this regard, Westerners do better than us. If we don’t catch up in this area, what will happen if those barbarians come over with more powerful and advanced weapons in the future?”

Wu Changqing was not used to always saying physics, so he simply changed it to physics.

“…”

Gu Yanwu felt that Wu Changqing was thinking too far ahead. He hadn’t even defeated the Manchu Tartars, and he hadn’t recovered the lost territories, but he was considering that Westerners would come over in the future.

After all, Gu Yanwu was not a person of later generations, and his vision was limited by this era, so he could not see so far.

However, he agreed with Wu Changqing’s statement that more people should learn physics, because he also knew that their army’s repeated victories relied on those unique weapons.

Afterwards, the two had a detailed discussion on how to gradually carry out the reform.

After some research, Wu Changqing decided to first set up more enlightenment schools in various places to lay the foundation. After this group of children learned to read, he would have conquered more territory and have greater power to promote reforms.

In addition to running enlightenment schools, he also ran a pilot higher education institution in Suzhou.

This school will be very different from other schools. In it, classical studies will only become a common subject, and subjects with equal status as classical studies will also include policy theory, arithmetic, physics, chemistry, and geography.

Classical studies, policy theory, and arithmetic are all good, and teachers can be found to teach them. But physics, chemistry, and geography will have to be taught by Wu Changqing himself.

Currently, in the entire land of China, no one knows more about this knowledge than him.

Although his academic performance in his previous life could only be considered average, he had systematically learned all the knowledge of science. It would not be easy for him to completely memorize all this knowledge, but teaching some basics was not a problem.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, Wu Changqing can only come step by step, he did not expect to teach a group of college students in a year or two.

Chapter 55: The University

The pilot academy quickly settled on a location, finalized its teachers, and determined its name: the University. Simultaneously, it posted enrollment notices throughout Wusong.

Anyone over the age of thirteen who was literate and intelligent could enroll for free.

However, the University would implement a last-place elimination system. There would be an exam every ten days, and those with the lowest scores would face the risk of being eliminated.

This was considered an innovation by Wu Changqing. Of course, compared to the content taught at the University, this small innovation seemed insignificant.

The enrollment notice clearly stated that the University was not a formal academy, so in addition to classics and policy essays, it would also teach physics, chemistry, geography, and arithmetic.

Policy essays, arithmetic, and geography were understandable to the scholars, and most of them even had some basic knowledge of these subjects. After all, to become an official, one needed to know basic arithmetic and have some understanding of the local customs and geography. Policy essays were even more important, as they were the study of governing a region.

However, physics and chemistry left many people scratching their heads. It wasn’t until someone explained that physics was the investigation of things that some people finally understood, as if enlightened.

Even more mysterious was the so-called chemistry. Even those who posted the notice couldn’t explain it clearly, and could only vaguely say that it was a discipline about the changes of all things.

Of course, none of this was the main point. The main point was that physics, chemistry, and geography would all be taught by Wu Changqing himself.

“Isn’t this absurd? How can a sixteen-year-old who hasn’t even reached adulthood teach us?”

In a teahouse, several scholars were discussing the University.

In this era of war, it was difficult for scholars to make a living. The imperial examinations were nowhere in sight, and they could only worry while burying themselves in their studies.

Now that Wu Changqing was opening a University, many scholars wondered if Wu Changqing was preparing for the imperial examinations. However, the news they received was somewhat disheartening.

The University was not an academy in the traditional sense, and it taught mostly miscellaneous subjects.

What was the use of learning such things? The imperial examinations didn’t test these subjects.

More importantly, this University seemed like a joke. The person responsible for teaching physics and chemistry was actually Wu Changqing himself.

Although Wu Changqing was very powerful in military affairs, with outstanding achievements and invincibility in battle, it didn’t change the fact that he was a sixteen-year-old boy.

Sixteen years old, not even having undergone the coming-of-age ceremony, which meant he was still a minor.

How much knowledge could someone of this age have to teach others?

In this era, teachers were still a relatively sacred and serious profession, and not just anyone was qualified to be one. It was fine to teach elementary education to children, as long as one had studied the Four Books and Five Classics.

However, to teach scholars who had completed elementary education, one had to be a highly respected Confucian scholar.

“Alas, the world is in chaos now, and I don’t know when the imperial examinations will reopen. I think since we’re idle anyway, we might as well go to the University and take a look.”

Another scholar sighed.

Feng Xianzhong shook his head upon hearing this. He sneered at the idea. What was the use of learning those miscellaneous subjects? The imperial examinations didn’t test them.

Although the imperial examinations had been suspended, the imperial court needed officials to govern the world, and the imperial examinations would reopen sooner or later. Not only would the Ming Dynasty in the south reopen them, but the Manchu Tartars in the north would also need them to govern the world.

Just as Feng Xianzhong was about to leave and go home to continue his studies, his close friend Liu Tao pulled him aside.

“Brother Liu, what are you doing?” Feng Xianzhong asked.

“Brother Feng, quickly prepare to register for the University with me,” Liu Tao said.

“The University? What’s the use of learning those miscellaneous subjects?” Feng Xianzhong said disdainfully.

Liu Tao smiled and said, “Brother Feng, you’re wrong. Does it matter whether these miscellaneous subjects are useful? We study to become officials, and now that a great opportunity is before us, how can we miss it?”

Feng Xianzhong looked confused, so Liu Tao could only continue to explain, “My father is currently working for General Wu and has some inside information. It is said that General Wu is personally teaching in order to select a group of talented people to be his advisors. Do you understand now?”

Feng Xianzhong immediately understood. Wu Changqing’s power was expanding too quickly, and he must have a serious shortage of available people. It made sense to recruit some advisors at this time.

Although he didn’t understand why Wu Changqing wanted to select them in this way, it didn’t matter. As long as there was an opportunity to become an official, he had to find a way to seize it.

Being an advisor to Wu Changqing wasn’t an official position, but the work they did was no different from that of ordinary officials.

In the future, whether Wu Changqing accepted rewards from the Ming Dynasty or surrendered to the Manchu Tartars, his power would be guaranteed, and his advisors would certainly be well taken care of.

If one was lucky enough to gain Wu Changqing’s appreciation, one could also offer advice and become Wu Changqing’s right-hand man. This position was more desirable than that of an ordinary county magistrate.

And to become a county magistrate, one had to pass the second-class imperial examination at the very least, which was as difficult as ascending to heaven.

“If that’s the case, then it’s really worth taking a look.”

Feng Xianzhong completely believed Liu Tao’s words, because Liu Tao’s father was now working for Wu Changqing and certainly knew more inside information.

“Hahaha, with Brother Feng’s talent, it’s inevitable that you’ll stand out among the crowd in the future. Don’t forget to take care of your little brother then,” Liu Tao said with a smile. He knew that his talent was far inferior to Feng Xianzhong’s, so he listened to his father’s words and befriended Feng Xianzhong from a young age, frequently providing him with financial assistance.

The purpose was to have Feng Xianzhong remember their family’s kindness when he became successful in the future.

This was basically a common practice in this era. If a person showed the potential of a child prodigy from a young age, there was no need to worry about not having money for education. Many wealthy families would provide assistance.

And these people who received assistance often formed a community of interests with those big landlords and merchants, and often argued with the emperor in the imperial court to protect the interests of the big landlords and merchants.

Feng Xianzhong was such a child prodigy. Although it was an exaggeration to say that he could recognize characters at the age of three and write poetry at the age of four, he did pass the student examination at the age of thirteen.

Now, at only eighteen years old, he had already qualified for the prefectural examination. At this rate, he would definitely pass the imperial examination sooner or later, and if he performed well, he might even pass the highest imperial examination, which meant being in the top three: the champion, second place, and third place.

“I would never dare to forget Uncle Liu’s kindness,” Feng Xianzhong said.

Similar discussions about the University were taking place all over Wusong. Many scholars chose to wait and see, but some chose to give it a try.

Some of these people had inside information like Liu Tao, while others were desperate scholars who were prepared to try anything.

Even if the miscellaneous subjects they learned were useless, they wouldn’t suffer too much loss, since the University didn’t charge tuition anyway.

Chapter 56: Soap that Shakes the Qinhuai River

A carriage loaded with soap had just entered Nanjing when a stable boy who had been lying in wait rushed over.

“Steward Chen, we’ll take your entire cart of soap!”

Chen Kaisheng, who was responsible for transporting the soap, hadn’t even had time to answer when several other stable boys and merchants crowded around, shouting that they wanted to buy Chen Kaisheng’s soap.

It turned out that ever since the last batch of soap had been sold in Nanjing, it had become a hit, creating a situation where demand far exceeded supply.

When it comes to famous places in ancient Nanjing, the Qinhuai River is undoubtedly one of them.

Misty water veils the cold stream, moonlight drapes the sandy shore,

At night, I moor by the Qinhuai, near a tavern’s door.

Pear blossoms like snow, grass like smoke so fine,

Spring graces both banks of the Qinhuai, a sight divine.

The Qinhuai silently watches the setting sun’s gleam,

Each house by the water reflects red makeup’s dream.

…

Poems like these depict the prosperous story of the Qinhuai River.

And what is the most famous thing about the Qinhuai River? Of course, it’s the brothels and pleasure boats. The demand for soap from these courtesans is more urgent than from any other group.

After being kissed and hugged by those stinky men, the courtesans probably crave nothing more than a bath.

Ordinary soap is difficult to wash away the odors. But the appearance of soap has driven these courtesans crazy. With soap, they no longer have to feel disgusted.

Moreover, after washing with soap, other men are more willing to choose them for their fragrant scent, and their business will be much better than those who haven’t used soap.

Therefore, soap is a necessity for courtesans, indispensable, more important than three meals a day.

After learning about the wonderful uses of soap, many merchants had already set off for Suzhou to purchase goods, while others were waiting for the Chen family’s second batch of soap.

As soon as Chen Kaisheng appeared, those who had been waiting for a long time crowded around him, all wanting to monopolize the soap, even offering high prices.

Now, soap is a complete seller’s market, with demand far exceeding supply.

“Quiet, everyone! Our shopkeeper said that these soaps cannot be sold to a single buyer. Each person is limited to ten bars. And don’t worry, everyone, we are already expanding production, and the next batch will be shipped over soon…”

The exclusive seller’s business was so good that Chen Daolin even played a limited purchase strategy, creating the impression that soap was a high-end, rare product in short supply.

Of course, in this era, soap is indeed a high-end, rare product.

Hong Chengchou, who was passing by on a tall horse, couldn’t help but ask his attendant, “What is this soap that costs five taels of silver a bar and is still so sought after?”

As a minister of internal affairs, Hong Chengchou was not an ignorant official who didn’t know the price of rice. He was well aware of the prices of various commodities on the market.

But this soap was the first time he had ever heard of it. What made it even more incredible was that this kind of thing was sold so expensively, and yet people were still scrambling to buy it.

“Sir, this item appeared in Nanjing half a month ago. It is said to be produced in Suzhou. After bathing with it, it can not only remove all dirt and odors from the body, but also leave a fragrance on the body. It is a favorite of women. Would you like your subordinate to buy a few bars for your wife at home?”

The accompanying official was now extremely grateful that his concubine had used this thing and boasted about the magic of the soap, which was how he knew so much about it.

This helped him a lot. If he hadn’t been able to answer Hong Chengchou’s question just now, he would have inevitably left Hong Chengchou with the impression of being incompetent.

But now, he had left Hong Chengchou with the impression of being attentive, which would make it easier to get promoted in the future.

“What is the cost?”

Hong Chengchou asked.

“I don’t know the specifics, but according to many merchants, the cost should not be high. It is a highly profitable business.”

Hearing this, Hong Chengchou became even more concerned.

Suzhou has now been occupied by Wu Changqing, who is recruiting soldiers and buying horses and expanding his army like crazy.

And the biggest problem with expanding the army is money. If Suzhou has such a profitable business, then Wu Changqing’s expansion will be even smoother.

Of course, the effect of a soap may not be that great, but it must be guarded against.

The current Wu Changqing is already an extremely difficult character to deal with, and Hong Chengchou doesn’t want Wu Changqing to continue to grow stronger.

“Send someone to investigate this soap in detail to see if it has anything to do with Wu Changqing. It’s best to find a way to get the formula, so that the money doesn’t all flow to Suzhou.”

Hong Chengchou said.

Back at the government office, Hong Chengchou had people bring him the latest intelligence about Wu Changqing. He needed to read it himself.

From the latest intelligence, he learned that Wu Changqing was still scavenging for craftsmen and expanding his army, and that his wedding was imminent. One piece of intelligence caught Hong Chengchou’s attention: Wu Changqing was vigorously running education, expanding elementary schools and opening universities.

Just like Gu Yanwu, Hong Chengchou couldn’t understand Wu Changqing’s strange behavior.

Facing the Qing Dynasty’s million-strong army, shouldn’t the most important thing at this time be to expand the army, expand the army, and expand the army again? To spend money on education, is he out of his mind?

Hong Chengchou didn’t believe that Wu Changqing was out of his mind. People who are out of their minds don’t keep winning battles. Wouldn’t that make Liu Liangzuo and the others the most useless of the useless?

Since he was sure that he wasn’t sick, then this move must have a deep meaning.

Hong Chengchou couldn’t help but fall into deep thought, pondering the reasoning behind it.

Could it be that he simply values education?

After thinking for a while, Hong Chengchou really couldn’t figure it out. Of course, it wasn’t that his IQ wasn’t high enough, but rather that Wu Changqing’s behavior didn’t conform to common sense and logic.

Although he didn’t understand, Hong Chengchou still saw some interesting things from this incident.

He suspected that Wu Changqing was probably just shouting about resisting the Qing and restoring the Ming Dynasty, but he wasn’t really loyal to the Ming Dynasty. It was more likely that he was an ambitious man who wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rise and seize the Central Plains.

There is no shortage of such ambitious people at any time, but more people will be exposed in troubled times.

If he wasn’t an ambitious man, how could he value education, which has a long-term return?

Moreover, Wu Changqing theoretically had no power to promote such education policies. That was the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites of the Ming Dynasty. Wu Changqing’s undisguised intervention clearly showed that he didn’t take the Ming Dynasty’s system and rules seriously.

Hong Chengchou didn’t believe that this kind of person was loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Discovering this, Hong Chengchou felt a little happy.

If Wu Changqing was loyal to the Ming Dynasty and was of one mind with the Ming Dynasty, he would really worry that the Ming Dynasty court would strongly support Wu Changqing from the rear.

In this way, it would be even more difficult for them to deal with Wu Changqing.

But now, Wu Changqing and the Ming Dynasty are not of one mind, so they can defeat them separately. At least, when attacking Wu Changqing, they don’t have to worry about the Ming Dynasty providing Wu Changqing with supplies and soldiers.

“It’s not easy for a young man to have such ambition, but it’s a pity that he’s still too young.”

Hong Chengchou sighed. He admired Wu Changqing’s ability and ambition, but also despised Wu Changqing’s vision, feeling that Wu Changqing was a bit whimsical. Wanting to seize the Central Plains, how could it be so easy?

Chapter 57: Military System Reform

November 5th, Suzhou.

With Wuxi and Jiaxing captured and garrisoned, and the Qing army in Nanjing and Hangzhou temporarily unable to launch an attack, Wu Changqing and his men had a brief respite.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Wu Changqing gathered his principal officers to announce reforms to the military system.

“Congratulations to Brother Liu for taking Wuxi and killing over a thousand enemies.”

The assembled officers greeted each other.

“Not at all, not at all. I dare not compare to Brother Li, whose bloodless capture of Jiaxing was truly a great achievement.”

Liu Hansan returned the compliment.

“I heard the General intends to reorganize the army. What do you think, Brother Liu?”

Li Shaobin asked.

“This is certainly a good thing. The General mentioned before that the current military system is inconvenient for command and coordination, which I think is quite reasonable. If we can distribute the flintlocks evenly, then a single unit can possess considerable combat power.”

“Wrong, wrong, wrong! Utterly wrong! Flintlock units and matchlock units must be used in concentrated formations to maximize their power.”

Wang Dayong held a different opinion.

“If the matchlock units are formed into independent armies, how will they cope with enemy cavalry? What if they are ambushed at close range?”

Liu Hansan said. The main reason he said this was that he hoped the flintlocks would be distributed so that he could have his own flintlock unit.

As they were discussing heatedly, a voice from outside announced the General’s arrival, and everyone immediately fell silent.

“Please, everyone, be seated.”

Wu Changqing took the head seat, and only then did the other officers sit down. In this era, the etiquette of respecting rank was still very important.

In later generations, if a subordinate sat down before their leader, at most, the leader would be unhappy and might make things difficult for them in the future. But in this era, if anyone sat down before Wu Changqing, everyone would doubt their loyalty and use it as an excuse to attack them.

Losing one’s official position would be the lightest consequence; in more serious cases, one’s life would be at risk.

Once everyone was seated, Wu Changqing began, “The combat effectiveness of an army comes from many aspects, and a reasonable configuration is one of them. Based on the characteristics of our army, we can no longer maintain the original Ming Dynasty military system, as it will affect our army’s combat power. If anyone has any opinions on the current military system, please feel free to raise them, and then we can discuss them together.”

In fact, Wu Changqing already had a plan in mind, but he had to give his subordinates some power to make suggestions, so as not to be too dictatorial.

The reform of the military system would have a significant impact on the power and influence of his subordinates. A misstep could easily lead to dissatisfaction.

What seemed like a simple reform of the military system was actually a very complex matter.

Wu Changqing had studied it for two nights before finally coming up with a relatively good plan.

Subsequently, several officers began to discuss, mainly Liu Hansan and the other veteran generals who had risen up in Jiading. They had followed Wu Changqing for the longest time, had the most prestige, and had more say.

As for Dong Tianbao, he very tactfully kept his mouth shut and watched quietly. In any case, he had no ability to resist Wu Changqing’s plans at this time.

Of course, Wu Changqing could not arbitrarily manipulate him either. If he pushed him too hard, he could lead his men to defect to the Qing army, or become bandits.

Dai Zhijun occasionally interjected with a few words, while Wu Yi, like Dong Tianbao, remained silent. His strength was the weakest among them, so he naturally chose to keep a low profile.

After some discussion, Wu Changqing said, “After considering everyone’s opinions, I have come up with a preliminary plan.”

Wu Changqing began to announce his military system reforms. The easiest to reform was the cavalry, as it was an independent arm.

Currently, Wu Changqing’s forces had one thousand three hundred cavalrymen and over two thousand five hundred horses.

Cavalrymen couldn’t just have one horse each; the minimum requirement was one man with two horses.

One horse was used for combat and charging, while the other was used for traveling and carrying supplies.

After all, horses are living creatures, not machines; they get tired.

Real cavalry warfare was nothing like what was shown in movies and television, with riders galloping thousands of miles. That was simply impossible. In real cavalry warfare, riders mostly walked and led their horses, only mounting them before battle.

This was to conserve the horses’ energy and protect their lifespan. Riding a horse all day long would probably shorten its lifespan by more than half.

Horses were more precious than people in this era. Generals would rather have soldiers carry the horses than allow them to use them as mounts on a regular basis.

The one thousand three hundred cavalrymen were formed into a cavalry regiment, with Chen Shichang as the regimental commander.

The cavalry regiment was divided into three cavalry battalions, each with about four hundred men.

In general, a single cavalry battalion would be dispatched for support in small-scale battles. Unless it was a major battle, the entire cavalry regiment would not be sent running around to provide support.

Again, horses were precious. Generals would rather sacrifice soldiers’ lives than overuse the cavalry.

After the cavalry came the artillery. They had very few of these at the moment, only twenty cannons, including fifteen Hongyi cannons and five smaller cannons.

The artillery was formed into a battalion, commanded by Zhang Xuanyi, who served as the artillery battalion commander.

Zhang Xuanyi was also a veteran who had followed Wu Changqing since the uprising in Jiading, and he had also read a lot of books and was relatively cultured, so Wu Changqing promoted him.

Artillery was a technical arm, and as cannons became more complex in the future, the knowledge required would become more and more extensive and profound. Calculating trajectories, angles, and powder charges were not things that illiterate people could handle.

Artillery was also a decisive arm. Unless it was a siege or a major battle, it would be impossible to deploy them in small-scale battles.

Next was the main force: the musket army, which was divided into flintlocks and matchlocks. Flintlocks were extremely powerful, while matchlocks were just average, offering a slight advantage over cold weapons in terms of strategy, but not a significant one. At most, they could fire one volley before the enemy charged at them for melee combat.

Of course, one volley of musket fire, coupled with a volley of hand grenades, could still weaken the enemy’s forces by ten to twenty percent before the melee.

Therefore, their musket army was also a main force, and very powerful.

There were a total of three thousand five hundred men with flintlocks. Wu Changqing divided them into three regiments, each with a little over one thousand men. Wu Changqing personally commanded this force.

This force was mainly used for support, with one regiment being sent to provide support as needed, commanded by the regimental commander. During major battles, he would personally command them, using them in a concentrated manner.

There were over two thousand five hundred ordinary matchlock soldiers, who were formed into two regiments.

The remaining one thousand archers were formed into one regiment.

There was also a thousand-strong navy, stationed in Taihu Lake, with Wu Yi as the naval regimental commander.

Finally, there were the cold weapon troops, currently numbering twelve thousand, who were divided into three brigades.

The First Brigade consisted of three thousand men, equipped with one thousand archers, and was led by Wang Dayong, who was responsible for garrisoning the Jiaxing area.

The Second Brigade consisted of four thousand men, equipped with two thousand five hundred matchlock soldiers, and was led by Liu Hansan, who was responsible for garrisoning the Wuxi area.

The Third Brigade consisted of five thousand cold weapon troops, led by Dong Tianbao.

The Fourth Brigade was the flintlock unit, led by Li Shaobin.

The Third Brigade and the Fourth Brigade, along with the cavalry regiment and artillery battalion, formed the First Division, which was commanded by Wu Changqing himself, stationed in Suzhou. This force was their core main force, and would be deployed wherever there was a decisive battle.

Dai Zhijun no longer led troops, but served as the military advisor, stationed in the central army, responsible for strategic planning, overall coordination, and logistical support. Although he no longer led troops, his power had not diminished, but had instead increased somewhat.

Most people were satisfied with the overall reorganization plan.

Li Shaobin was in charge of the most elite troops, Wang Dayong led an independent army, and Liu Hansan also had his coveted matchlock army. Although it was not a flintlock unit, it was still a musket, after all.

His three old generals had all received great benefits.

As for Dong Tianbao, who originally had the most troops, the number of troops he led had not decreased, which was acceptable, since he was a surrendered general.

For him, the only regret might be that he would be directly commanded by Wu Changqing in the future, and would not have the power to command independently, unlike Liu Hansan and the others who were more free.

The only one who might be depressed was Wu Yi. Although he had returned to his old profession of the navy, the number of troops had been greatly reduced.

Chapter 58: Taxation

After a period of military expansion, Wu Changqing now had twenty thousand soldiers.

This number was actually quite small. Liu Liangzuo, just occupying Changzhou, could support an army of sixty to seventy thousand. Wu Changqing, controlling a large area of Wusong, could easily raise an army of one hundred thousand if he plundered in the same way as Liu Liangzuo.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t want to do that, as heaven knows how many people would be driven to their deaths.

Having expanded the army to twenty thousand, Wu Changqing also needed to consider the issue of taxation. The money obtained from confiscating homes could support the army for two or three months, but that was not a long-term solution, not a stable source of income.

He couldn’t just confiscate the homes of a few wealthy families every time he ran out of money, or else no wealthy family would dare to remain in Suzhou. If all the wealthy merchants ran away with their assets, the social system of Suzhou would collapse.

Merchants, for the most part, were indeed not good people, but a society truly couldn’t do without them.

Besides supporting the army, he also needed to pay salaries to the officials in his territory. Relying on the Ming Dynasty court for funding was impossible. Now, both Prince Lu and Prince Tang were so poor they were about to sell their underwear.

They had official positions and titles, but no money.

His current monthly military and administrative expenses totaled about three hundred thousand taels. And once a war started, military expenses alone would probably cost one million taels a month.

The wounded soldiers needed treatment, the fallen soldiers needed compensation, and then there was the consumption of food and military equipment—all bottomless pits.

“Mr. Gu, how much money do we currently have in the treasury?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Only seven hundred thousand taels. If there are no wars, it’s still manageable, but if there’s a war or some natural disaster, this money won’t be enough at all. Moreover, if we want to continue expanding the number of elementary schools and establishing universities, we still need to prepare about one million taels,”

Gu Yanwu said.

“What about tax revenue? How much tax revenue does Wusong generate in a month?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Because we haven’t set up checkpoints to collect transit taxes, nor have we increased taxes, the current tax revenue is very low, less than one hundred thousand taels a month. General, now that we have completely controlled Wusong, we can adopt more aggressive tax policies. Those merchants won’t be able to make any big waves.”

Previously, Wu Changqing’s control over the area wasn’t stable enough, and there was also the powerful enemy of the Qing army, so they didn’t dare to rashly increase commercial taxes, fearing it would cause resistance from the merchants and social unrest.

But now, the Qing army temporarily had no power to attack them, and their forces had expanded to twenty thousand, with enough power to deter those petty criminals.

In this situation, it was actually possible to appropriately increase the tax burden.

Only one hundred thousand a month?

This number left Wu Changqing speechless; it was simply too little.

As for Gu Yanwu’s suggestion to increase commercial taxes, Wu Changqing also expressed his agreement. Commercial taxes would have to be increased sooner or later, or else their regime wouldn’t be able to sustain itself.

“To avoid resentment among the people, let’s start by taxing my own shops and the Chen family’s businesses first,”

Wu Changqing said, playing a little trick here.

On the surface, he was increasing taxes on his own and his in-laws’ businesses first, which seemed quite selfless. But the truth was that even if the Wu and Chen families weren’t taxed, the money they earned would still be directly taken by Wu Changqing and invested in the army.

Now, collecting taxes was just another way of handing the money over to the army, and the result was the same.

But it was completely different for other merchants, because the money they earned was now their own. And with the increased taxes, they would have to pay extra to Wu Changqing to support the army.

This little trick might not easily fool those shrewd merchants, but in the eyes of the people, it would make Wu Changqing seem very fair and selfless, and he could gain the support of the people.

In this day and age, officials who started by taxing their own businesses were long gone. Wu Changqing’s move could obviously win over a lot of people’s hearts.

“That would naturally be better,”

Gu Yanwu said. Just from the fact that Wu Changqing was willing to invest all of his family’s wealth into the army, he admired him greatly.

In this era, very few military officers or civil officials would do this. They were all making money off their power; who would put money into it?

The reason for this situation was actually very simple: others became officials or led troops to get promoted and make a fortune; the life and death of the country was none of their business.

But Wu Changqing was aiming to unify the country. In his eyes, the world was already his. As long as he unified the country and became emperor, all the wealth in the world would be his.

Afterward, Gu Yanwu took out the commercial tax plan he had initially drafted. Wu Changqing looked at it and offered his own revisions in some places.

Commercial taxes couldn’t be set arbitrarily, or it would cause social unrest.

For example, if grain and salt taxes were set too high, merchants wouldn’t be able to make a profit and would have to raise prices. If prices rose to the point where the people couldn’t afford them, they would starve to death or die of illness.

If merchants weren’t allowed to raise prices, they wouldn’t make any money and would stop doing business, and the people would still starve to death or die of illness.

If local merchants were taxed too much, their goods would lose competitiveness compared to those of outsiders. If taxes on goods from outsiders were set too high, outsiders wouldn’t come because there would be no profit to be made, leading to economic decline.

From ancient times to the present, rulers have been well aware that merchants are not good people, but they have no way to deal with them.

After formulating a large number of detailed tax rates, Gu Yanwu estimated that the tax revenue in the Wusong area could reach about five hundred thousand taels per month in the future.

This was already quite good. You have to know that when Emperor Chongzhen was in power, the entire country could only collect about four to five million taels.

“Find someone to form a special tax inspection team. Anyone who dares to evade taxes or resist taxes will be fined. Those who repeatedly refuse to mend their ways will have their homes confiscated directly, and the head of the household will be beheaded and displayed to the public,”

Wu Changqing said. When he made a move, he had to be ruthless enough to prevent those merchants from having any thoughts of resistance.

If they didn’t show strength when they resisted, they might collude and collectively resist taxes, which would be troublesome.

The best way was to be very tough from the beginning, seize one or two typical families, confiscate their homes, and kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

“Should we recruit some more officials? We are seriously short-handed now,”

Gu Yanwu said. In fact, after receiving a large number of surrendered officials, there was no shortage of administrative officials. However, Wu Changqing had not yet declared allegiance to the Ming Dynasty court, which meant that some things that could have been done by the Ming Dynasty court now had to be done by them personally, such as collecting taxes, counting the population, rescuing disaster victims, and evaluating officials.

And this required the addition of many new administrative officials, but they were not the central government of the court and could not directly appoint officials.

In short, because they were not nominally an independent regime, but were actually an independent regime, this would cause a series of troubles.

“It’s okay, we don’t necessarily need the court’s approval. We can give them an official title ourselves first. As for what happens in the future, we’ll talk about it later. Let’s get this organization running normally first,”

Wu Changqing said, his words almost directly implying a rebellion. After all, with Wu Changqing’s current status, he really had no right to appoint those civil officials.

Gu Yanwu was quite helpless when he heard this. He didn’t know what would happen in the future. In short, he could only take it one step at a time.

Chapter 59: Accepting Titles and Rewards

On the sixth day, Prince Lu’s envoy requested an audience again, bringing the latest titles and rewards.

Governor-General of Zhili, Duke of Wu.

Wu Changqing was somewhat surprised looking at the rewards.

Duke of Wu was fine; anyway, the titles from Prince Lu’s side weren’t worth much, and the imperial court wouldn’t be paying any salary for the title for the time being.

However, the Governor-General of Zhili was a big deal. The Governor-General was the highest administrative official of a region, with overall authority over military, economic, and administrative affairs.

Simply put, the Governor-General was a powerful regional official who could establish his own headquarters and legally possess his own administrative team. As long as Wu Changqing accepted this title, he could openly appoint officials and set taxes.

Of course, once he accepted the title, he would be subject to the imperial court in certain aspects. For example, if the Ming Dynasty court sent some officials over, he might be able to undermine their power, but he would have to acknowledge their legal status on the surface.

Wu Changqing fell into thought, considering whether to accept Prince Lu’s title.

Reason told him that he should accept it. Anyway, it was just nominally pledging allegiance to Prince Lu; he didn’t have to go to Shaoxing to kneel and thank him.

As long as he didn’t have to kneel, everything else was negotiable.

If he refused again, his ambition would probably be completely exposed. In the current situation, it was still too early. If he declared independence now, the Ming Dynasty might join forces with the Qing army to attack him, which was no joke.

Early on, when the Qing army entered the pass, they even captured Beijing, but the Ming Dynasty still tried to join forces with them to eliminate Li Zicheng’s Great Shun army. In the end, the Qing army occupied more and more territory, and the Ming Dynasty finally realized what was happening, but it was too late.

With the Ming Dynasty’s various brain-dead operations that had no lower limit, it was entirely possible that they would angrily unite with the Qing army to eliminate Wu Changqing, who was trying to become independent.

Besides this risk, there were still some people among his subordinates who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

Perhaps these people couldn’t shake Wu Changqing’s foundation, but they could definitely disgust him in many ways.

Taking everything into consideration, temporarily accepting the title was the best option.

Wu Changqing summoned Gu Yanwu, Li Shaobin, and several other important generals, and told them that he planned to accept Prince Lu’s conferment, asking for their opinions.

Gu Yanwu actually preferred that Wu Changqing accept the conferment of the Longwu Emperor, after all, the Longwu court was the legitimate one. However, he also knew that this was impossible; the other generals in command of troops would not agree.

The Longwu Emperor only gave him a count title, while Prince Lu gave him a duke title, a huge difference.

Moreover, from a practical point of view, it was better to accept Prince Lu, after all, their territory bordered Prince Lu’s, while the Longwu court in Fuzhou was hundreds of kilometers away.

Pledging allegiance to the Longwu Emperor meant worrying about being attacked by Prince Lu and having to send troops to garrison and defend.

Choosing to pledge allegiance to Prince Lu might even get some support in logistics.

Therefore, Gu Yanwu did not object. Pledging allegiance to Prince Lu was better than the current ambiguous status of a rebel army. With a righteous name, things could be done much more conveniently.

As for how to resolve the conflict between Prince Lu and the Longwu Emperor in the future, Gu Yanwu didn’t think so much about it. He wanted to recover the lost territories of Nanjing and Beijing first.

Since Gu Yanwu had no objections, the other generals naturally had no objections either. Wu Changqing was made a duke, and they might get a count or viscount title.

Those were titles, something they never even dreamed of before, that one day they could become noble masters.

In the past, they were at most small characters like squad leaders or centurions. Now, they had all become generals and had the hope of obtaining titles, which could be said to be a complete turnaround.

With all the generals having no objections, Wu Changqing sent someone to reply to Qiu Zhaojin, saying that he was willing to accept the title.

Hearing this news, the stone hanging in Qiu Zhaojin’s heart finally fell.

He knew that Prince Lu attached great importance to Wu Changqing and repeatedly asked him to persuade Wu Changqing to support Prince Lu.

However, Qiu Zhaojin had no status in Suzhou at all, and it was difficult to even meet Wu Changqing, so how could he have the opportunity to persuade him?

He could only find Liu Hansan, Li Shaobin, and others to connect with and find out Wu Changqing’s attitude. Other than that, there was really nothing he could do.

But now, heaven had finally favored him, and Wu Changqing inexplicably chose to agree.

In this way, regardless of whether Qiu Zhaojin had done any important work, the credit was definitely his.

“Congratulations, Governor Wu! Congratulations, Governor Wu! We are colleagues from now on, please take care of us.”

When Qiu Zhaojin read out the decree of conferment, he very wisely did not ask Wu Changqing and others to kneel and listen to the decree. He was afraid that these soldiers who didn’t understand etiquette would cause some accidents, so he simply finished reading the decree and that was it.

Anyway, it was a chaotic world, and it was acceptable to simplify everything.

“Left Deputy Commander is too polite, let’s work together,” Wu Changqing said with a smile, the atmosphere was harmonious.

Subsequently, the news that Wu Changqing had accepted Prince Lu’s title and become the Governor-General of Zhili and Duke of Wu was spread out, and special scribes were sent to post announcements.

The common people didn’t really care about this matter. At most, they would say “oh” and then continue doing what they were doing.

What kind of official the Governor-General was and what it represented, few people really knew. They did know about the Duke of Wu, and they knew that it was a symbol of nobility, and that they would have to kneel when they saw Wu Changqing in the future.

Those who cared more about this news were mainly merchants, scholars, and officials.

The merchants were relatively happy that Wu Changqing had accepted the title, because the Ming Dynasty court had never collected much tax from merchants, and they could live a good life again.

If Wu Changqing dared to collect taxes indiscriminately, they could also use their connections to ask the big shots in the court to restrain Wu Changqing’s behavior.

The scholars were more polarized. Some people felt that Wu Changqing should be loyal to the Longwu court in Fuzhou, which would help the unification of the Ming Dynasty and allow them to concentrate their strength against the Qing army.

Others felt that it didn’t matter, as long as they were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, it didn’t matter at all.

As for those officials, they no longer had to worry about not having official positions. As long as Wu Changqing accepted the title, their official status would be recognized by the court.

At the Chen residence, Zihe ran all the way to Chen Yuyan again to report the news. “Miss, Miss, General Wu has been appointed by the imperial court as the Governor-General of Zhili and has also been made the Duke of Wu. You will be a noble lady in the future, and you may soon be named a Lady of the Mandate, and you will be able to enter the palace to chat and relieve boredom with the empress and imperial concubines.”

Being in a wealthy family, Zihe, as a maid, knew quite a lot, knowing that Ladies of the Mandate could often enter the palace.

“Governor-General, it seems to be a high-ranking official of the second rank.”

When Chen Yuyan said this, she couldn’t help but smile. How many people worked hard all their lives but couldn’t climb to the position of a high-ranking official like the Governor-General.

But Wu Changqing, at the age of only a dozen years old, had reached the peak of officialdom. This kind of achievement was really amazing.

Chapter 60: Wedding

Ten days later, Wu Changqing received news from Li Chengdong that he was withdrawing his troops from Hangzhou.

It was estimated that Li Chengdong had learned of Wu Changqing’s acceptance of Prince Lu’s reward, and, fearing a pincer attack from Wu Changqing and Prince Lu from the north and south, he chose to retreat.

He withdrew all the way to Xuancheng in the west, quite cautiously.

Wu Changqing realized that, because of his arrival, the course of history in this timeline had already undergone tremendous changes.

According to the original course of history, Li Chengdong was about to rise at this time. However, the current Li Chengdong was still just an ordinary garrison commander.

Wu Changqing didn’t know how many places and things he had influenced, but in any case, it was no longer important.

The future of history would inevitably be written by him.

Without the threat of Li Chengdong, Wu Changqing could also proceed with his wedding in peace.

Having lived two lifetimes, this was Wu Changqing’s first time getting married, and he felt a bit emotional.

He didn’t even know how to get along with his wife after marriage, but fortunately, women in this era had low expectations, and wouldn’t say things like “You don’t care about me” or “You don’t value me” at the drop of a hat like girls in later generations.

Early in the morning, Wu Changqing, attended by maids, put on his wedding clothes, and then led the wedding procession to bring the bride over.

Weddings in the late Ming Dynasty were very particular about pomp and circumstance, with serious extravagance and waste, fully displaying a competitive spirit.

Wu Changqing had already reminded Chen Daolin to keep everything simple, but Chen Daolin refused. This was a matter of their family’s and Wu Changqing’s face.

If the wedding wasn’t grand enough, how could they show off their family’s status and wealth? What’s more, the current Wu Changqing was also honored as the Duke of Wu and the Governor-General of Zhili.

Even with the current two Li-long wedding procession (one kilometer), Chen Daolin was still a little dissatisfied. However, he knew that Wu Changqing was a very practical person, so he could only be extravagant to this extent.

The bride was welcomed into the new residence, a luxurious mansion that Chen Daolin had specially prepared for Wu Changqing and his family.

It was of course no problem for Wu Changqing to live in the government office when he was alone, but it was inconvenient with family members.

Next was the banquet, which was divided into two parts. Several restaurants were booked by Chen Daolin to entertain the elders and folks, as well as some distant relatives and other less important guests.

The other part was in the mansion, which was now the Wu residence.

Those who could come here for the banquet were all people of status, either wealthy merchants or high-ranking officials, with only a small number of direct relatives.

“The Li family from the south of the city, a set of Tianshan jade as a congratulatory gift.”

At the entrance, the butler was registering the guests’ congratulatory gifts one by one.

No one dared to freeload at the Governor-General’s wedding. Those who wanted to leave an impression on Wu Changqing had prepared elaborate gifts.

All kinds of priceless things were announced from time to time, causing a burst of exclamations from the other guests.

The banquet began, and Wu Changqing came out to greet the guests.

Even though he was the Governor-General, he couldn’t escape the fate of being toasted at this time.

The other merchants were a little better, very politely offering a toast first, and they wouldn’t care whether Wu Changqing drank it all. Only Wang Dayong and other uncultured and forthright generals dared to egg Wu Changqing on to drink a few more cups.

Fortunately, the alcohol content of yellow wine in this era was not high, otherwise Wu Changqing would have fallen long ago. His alcohol tolerance was actually very average.

Although the alcohol content was not high, he couldn’t withstand the large quantity.

After going around the banquet once, Wu Changqing was already a little disoriented.

Seeing this, Wu Zhiyue quickly arranged for someone to help Wu Changqing down. Anyway, he had completed his task after going around once, and the next thing was for him and Chen Daolin to take care of.

Wu Changqing was helped to the bridal chamber. Zihe hurriedly found sobering soup, but the effect was mediocre.

Helpless, the two mistresses could only put Wu Changqing on the bed. Chen Yuyan blushed as she tidied up Wu Changqing. This was her first time seeing Wu Changqing.

Before, she could only piece together a vague impression from the news Zihe had gathered.

However, most of the rumors Zihe had gathered had been embellished with some artistic license, leading Chen Yuyan to believe that Wu Changqing was a seven-foot-tall man, burly and imposing, and awe-inspiring without anger.

But now, seeing Wu Changqing with her own eyes, she realized that it was completely different.

Although Wu Changqing was still considered strong, his frame had not fully grown and formed due to his age, so he had nothing to do with being burly. He was just stronger than ordinary people.

Moreover, his face was not as rumored, with eyes that could make the enemy tremble.

Looking closely, Wu Changqing was a bit delicate, a bit like a scholar, not like a military general.

Young people, except for a few who looked anxious, would find it difficult not to be delicate.

“Our son-in-law is quite handsome.” Zihe said.

“Shut up, you have no manners. Is the master someone you can casually comment on?”

Chen Yuyan scolded. Zihe stuck out her tongue. She was used to her close relationship with Chen Yuyan, and forgot about etiquette and hierarchy for a moment.

In front of Wu Changqing, she was an out-and-out servant.

After drinking the sobering soup, Wu Changqing was in a state between half-drunk and half-awake.

He knew that he was going to consummate the marriage next, but his actions were a bit comical. When he tried to take off his clothes, he couldn’t even find the buttons.

Seeing this, Zihe tried hard to suppress her laughter, helped Wu Changqing take off his clothes, and then went out of the room to guard outside.

Chen Yuyan also slowly took off her clothes. Recalling the ‘experience’ that the old woman in the mansion had taught her before, her face couldn’t help but turn red.

Lying on the bed, Chen Yuyan was a little at a loss. Fortunately, although Wu Changqing was still in a semi-drunk state, his male instincts were still there.

Relying on his instincts, he soon pressed down on Chen Yuyan.

Zihe, who was sitting at the door, soon knew that it was done. Her heart was pounding, and she wanted to secretly open the window to peek, but she was afraid of being discovered by her young mistress.

Helpless, she could only imagine the scene in her mind.

After a long time, there was no sound in the room.

Wu Changqing woke up in the middle of the night. After waking up, he realized that he seemed to have slept with his wife.

“Husband, are you hungry?”

Chen Yuyan also woke up, or rather, she hadn’t slept much at all.

“A little.”

Wu Changqing said, and then Chen Yuyan called for Zihe to bring some snacks.

“Do you want to eat some too?”

Wu Changqing handed Chen Yuyan a piece. Chen Yuyan shook her head, indicating that she was not hungry.

After using the snacks and returning to the bed, Wu Changqing was a little embarrassed. He didn’t know how to communicate with Chen Yuyan.

He had been in love before, but this was the first time he had experienced this kind of situation where he got on the bus first, and then everyone was actually not familiar with each other. He didn’t know how to deal with it.

“I was drunk just now, did I hurt you?”

After a long time, Wu Changqing squeezed out such a sentence, which made Chen Yuyan want to hit the bed. How could she answer such a shameful question?

“Serving my husband is my duty. Does my husband want it again?” Chen Yuyan said.

“…” Wu Changqing could only sigh, women in this era were really too easy to get along with. He didn’t have to bother to coax them, because they were all particularly easy to be content with.

“We’ll talk about it later, let’s sleep first.” Wu Changqing didn’t want it again. Although he didn’t know if the rumors on the Internet that a woman’s first time would hurt were true, he would rather believe it and let Chen Yuyan rest first.

Chen Yuyan breathed a sigh of relief when she heard this. She was really a little afraid that Wu Changqing would be like just now.

Chapter 61: The Temptation of Official Position

The next day, Wu Changqing started working after breakfast. He didn’t have any honeymoon leave.

As the leader of a power, time is never enough.

In many ways, Wu Changqing had already delegated power. For example, he hardly interfered with the operation of the administrative system because he didn’t have time.

However, some things had to be done by Wu Changqing himself and could not be replaced, such as writing textbooks on elementary physics.

This was not an easy task. His memory wasn’t bad, but he didn’t remember what the junior high school physics book looked like. He could only write down all the knowledge points he knew.

He had been doing this for the past few days. He had already finished writing the elementary physics textbook and sent it to be printed. Now he was writing elementary geography, and he left chemistry for last.

“Husband, what kind of writing is this? I can’t quite understand it. Isn’t our world flat, with a round sky above? How can it be a sphere?”

Chen Yuyan came to bring tea and saw what Wu Changqing was writing. She recognized the words, but she couldn’t quite understand them when they were put together.

Wu Changqing smiled and explained, “If you’ve been to the seaside and seen a sailing ship go out to sea, you’ll notice that the hull disappears first, and the mast disappears last. When the sailing ship returns, you’ll see the mast first, and then slowly see the hull. This is only possible on a spherical arc.”

As Wu Changqing spoke, he drew a simple arc diagram.

With a picture as an annotation, it was much easier to understand.

Chen Yuyan was stunned. She had never been to the seaside, but she had seen sailing ships in Taihu Lake. On closer thought, it seemed to be true.

However, she still couldn’t accept the idea that the world was a sphere.

“But, it’s also possible that the sea is just a raised arc, but the land is still flat. If our world is a sphere, wouldn’t the people standing on the bottom fall off?”

Chen Yuyan also drew a line, straight at both ends and raised in the middle.

Wow, did I marry a genius?

Wu Changqing was surprised to find that his wife reacted so quickly and was able to think of a rebuttal so quickly. Although the reason was full of loopholes, it was still quite good.

“People strive to go higher, and water flows downwards. If the sea is raised, then the water will flow from the sea to the rivers, instead of the rivers flowing to the sea. As for why people standing on the bottom of the sphere don’t fall off, it’s complicated to explain. I’ll tell you when I have time.”

The concept of universal gravitation was still quite abstract, and it was very difficult for people of this era to suddenly understand and accept it.

Although Wu Changqing wanted to show off in front of his wife, time did not allow it.

Chen Yuyan closed her mouth. She knew that her husband was doing important things and she couldn’t disturb him.

Although she still had many questions about Wu Changqing’s theory, the “Women’s Precepts” told her that she must unconditionally believe in her husband.

Our world is round? How can it be round? How can people at the bottom of the sphere not fall off? But if it’s not round, how do you explain the phenomenon of sailing ships?

Chen Yuyan left with doubts, muttering to herself, almost scaring Zihe. She thought that her young lady was possessed by an evil spirit.

The next day was the day for the university to enroll students. Wu Changqing and several Confucian scholars who were proficient in classics, policy essays, and arithmetic came to the university together.

Several Confucian scholars, led by Shen Lianming, were somewhat disdainful of Wu Changqing’s plan to open disciplines in physics and geography and personally impart knowledge. However, due to Wu Changqing’s status, they did not dare to show it.

In fact, in order to get this teacher’s job, they had to please Wu Changqing. In troubled times, these Confucian scholars who only knew how to recite articles were not doing well.

Now, those who could lead troops to fight were popular, and the status of civil officials had declined again and again.

In the university, there were already more than two hundred scholars, aged between fourteen and thirty.

When Wu Changqing and Shen Lianming appeared in front of these scholars, everyone’s eyes were on Wu Changqing. Most of them were seeing Wu Changqing for the first time.

Looking at this general who was younger than them, but held heavy troops and controlled the fate of countless people, everyone had different thoughts.

Some were envious, some were jealous, some admired and respected, and some were disdainful.

Wu Changqing didn’t know what these people were thinking. He gave a speech as usual.

“Everyone is a scholar. I don’t need to say more about the saying that knowledge changes destiny. What I want to say today is that knowledge can not only change the destiny of individuals, but also change the destiny of this country and the destiny of this world.

For example, without knowledge, advanced weapons cannot be manufactured, and victories cannot be won…”

Wu Changqing asked his personal guard to hand over a flintlock gun, and then demonstrated the operation in public.

This advanced weapon opened their eyes.

Then Wu Changqing continued, “Whoever can create a more advanced weapon than this flintlock gun, I can directly appoint him as the chief advisor, or directly appoint him as a military advisor. Any official position below the second rank can be chosen, and the title will not be less.”

Desire is always the greatest motivation for mankind. Wu Changqing did not talk too much about great principles, but directly used official positions and titles as bait.

Scholars who took the normal path of studying and taking the imperial examination, even if they passed as the top scholar, had to start as an official of the sixth rank. Passing as a second-class scholar could only start as a county magistrate of the seventh rank.

It was even more difficult for those below the second class. Sometimes they might not get a real position even after waiting for more than ten years.

These scholars were very clear about the difficulty of passing as a second-class scholar. It was truly one in ten thousand.

But now, Wu Changqing directly shouted that any official position below the second rank could be chosen.

Damn it, this kind of temptation was definitely greater than the Eight Beauties of Qinhuai stripping naked and standing in front of them for these scholars.

Each scholar’s eyes were filled with fiery gazes, and they were so excited that they couldn’t wait to start studying the manufacturing method of the musket now.

Of course, there were also a few more sober scholars who were very depressed. It was no problem for them to take the imperial examination, but researching and manufacturing new muskets was not their area of expertise.

“How to manufacture this flintlock gun? Everyone may still be confused. But don’t panic. In the following courses, I will teach you the mysteries.

Even if you still can’t make this weapon after learning the physics knowledge I teach, it doesn’t matter. People who master this knowledge are of great use to me. What I can guarantee is that as long as you can pass my assessment, official positions and military power are waiting for you.

And those who don’t study these knowledge with their heart and fail to pass the assessment, I will mercilessly expel them from school.”

Wu Changqing once again guaranteed, making those scholars feel his emphasis on this knowledge.

Some people who originally looked down on physics, chemistry, and geography had undergone great changes in their thinking at this time, and had already secretly made up their minds to learn those knowledge.

As for whether those knowledge were as useful as Wu Changqing said, it didn’t matter at all. Everyone was just for the opportunity to become an official.

Just like the classics used for the imperial examination, they were not often used after becoming an official, but everyone still desperately studied them, just to pass the assessment and get an opportunity to become an official, right?

After Wu Changqing finished speaking, he also asked Shen Lianming and other Confucian scholars to say a few words. Their speeches were more traditional, nothing more than asking everyone to cherish this learning opportunity and study hard.

Chapter 62: Underestimating the Ancients

Afterward, Wu Changqing had people distribute the printed book, Elementary Physics, and instructed, “This book is extremely valuable. I hope you will cherish it. At the same time, take a look at it yourselves first, and if you have any questions, ask me when the class officially starts tomorrow.”

Feng Xianzhong and Liu Tao received the book as if they had obtained a priceless treasure. Their future careers depended on this little booklet.

The others were much the same, carefully putting it away.

Wu Changqing spoke about some other points of attention, and then left ahead of schedule, as he still had many important matters waiting for him to handle and decide.

The remaining students either went home or moved into the university’s student dormitories.

Feng Xianzhong and Liu Tao were both from Suzhou and had houses in the city. However, in order to implement the spirit of diligent study and not waste time on the road, they also moved into the student dormitories.

Back in the dormitory, Feng Xianzhong couldn’t wait to open Elementary Physics.

The first page was the table of contents, which read: Mechanical Motion, Sound Phenomena, Changes of State, Optical Phenomena, Mass and Density…

So many new words. Feng Xianzhong was also confused after reading them.

He knew the meaning of motion, but what was mechanical motion?

He could understand sound phenomena from the words, but he couldn’t figure out what there was to learn about sound, a common phenomenon, and what use it would be to learn it.

After briefly looking at the table of contents, he began to read the main text.

Junior high school physics is not easy for children to understand, but for adults like Feng Xianzhong, it is actually quite easy to understand.

It’s just that there are many new nouns in the book, and he is having a hard time adapting to them for the time being.

As he read, Feng Xianzhong became engrossed. Humans are always full of curiosity about the unknown, and the content of this book has always been about revealing common phenomena in life, which is very interesting.

“So, this is how sound propagates. But how can we prove what is said in this book?”

Feng Xianzhong muttered to himself.

The junior high school physics textbook compiled by Wu Changqing is very different from the one he used when he was in school. It has deleted a lot of things and added some other things.

For example, he had to redefine the unit of length, the meter. You know, the unit of length used in the Ming Dynasty is still the zhang and chi, and Wu Changqing is not used to it.

Most of the knowledge in the book is still just a simple conclusion, without explaining how to verify it. For example, sound is transmitted through the air. Wu Changqing has no way to verify this, so he can only tell the students that it is transmitted in this way.

This can’t be helped. It is indeed too radical to impart this knowledge in this era.

“Brother Feng, can you understand what is written in this book?”

Liu Tao looked distressed. He had just been reading it, but he was completely confused.

“I can understand it in general, but I also have many questions.”

Feng Xianzhong said.

After all, geniuses like Feng Xianzhong are in the minority. Most of the scholars who have read the textbook are on the verge of tears. They have discovered that the official position in Wu Changqing’s hands is not so easy to obtain.

The next day, the first physics class at the university.

Wu Changqing walked in with some rulers and light prisms. At this moment, he no longer looked like a general. He was just a people’s teacher, only lacking a pair of glasses.

“Physics, the principles of all things. Why do heavy objects fall from the sky, but the moon and the sun don’t? Why do we often see lightning first and then hear thunder? Why can bullets from muskets shoot hundreds of meters away when gunpowder is ignited?

The physics we study is to unlock the principles of the operation of all things in this world.”

Wu Changqing said with high spirits. In front of these ancient people, his sense of superiority exploded, because he knew too much more than others.

Unlocking the principles of all things, this was quite a boast, and some students were thrilled to hear it.

“After you went back yesterday and read the books, did you gain anything? Do you have any questions?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Feng Xianzhong immediately raised his hand. This was the rule Wu Changqing said yesterday, that you need to raise your hand before asking a question.

He was very eager to show himself in front of Wu Changqing and demonstrate his talent. Only in this way would he be more easily recruited as a staff member.

Wu Changqing signaled him to speak. Feng Xianzhong stood up and said, “After reading the book, I learned that it is because the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound that we see lightning before we hear thunder. However, what I don’t understand is why light is faster than sound, and how much faster.”

“…”

Wu Changqing was almost stunned. He realized that he might have underestimated the intelligence of the ancients. The person answering the question was quite remarkable, at least his memory was very strong.

In just one day, he had finished reading the acoustics and optics sections, and he had remembered them all.

Wu Changqing knew that he had met a legendary genius. It was stupid to compare intelligence with this kind of genius, and Wu Changqing didn’t do that.

Anyway, no matter how smart this person is, he is still just his student.

Wu Changqing said, “The answer is very good. It seems that you have read the book carefully. As for why light is faster than sound, the teacher doesn’t know either. I can only tell you what I know. As for why light is faster than sound, the teacher is waiting for you to surpass your teachers and solve it.”

It wasn’t that Wu Changqing really didn’t know why light travels faster than sound, but it was too complicated to explain. Teaching is something that needs to be done step by step, starting with the simple things.

Explaining the energy loss in sound wave transmission to them now would undoubtedly be like talking about heavenly books. In fact, Wu Changqing himself was not very clear about this part of the knowledge.

Receiving Wu Changqing’s praise, Feng Xianzhong was a little excited. No matter how young Wu Changqing was, he was a proper second-rank official, the Duke of Wu.

Being recognized and praised by such a person was an exciting thing.

The others cast envious and jealous glances. Feng Xianzhong had already walked ahead of them.

Although they didn’t think it was useful to know that light travels faster than sound, being appreciated and praised by Wu Changqing meant that they would be able to become officials in the future.

Therefore, some people who had read the book and had some insights also carefully raised their hands and expressed some of their insights and questions.

These were Wu Changqing’s first batch of students, and he answered them very patiently. He would explain each question in simple and easy-to-understand terms.

As for some things that he couldn’t explain clearly himself, or that were too profound, he said that he would talk about them later, and that they should start with the simple things first.

The first lesson was on mechanics, which was a very basic and practical knowledge point. After a lesson, most of the students understood, but there were also a few who couldn’t understand it at all.

There was nothing he could do about the fact that these people couldn’t understand. Wu Changqing didn’t have that much time to tutor them.

His identity determined that he could only teach some geniuses to become talents. Ordinary people would definitely not be able to keep up with his pace.

Chapter 63: Avenues to Wealth

Running education is a money-guzzling affair. The meager tax revenue isn’t even enough to support the army, so Wu Changqing has to find ways to make money himself.

The next day, Wu Changqing received a report stating that one hundred spinning machines had been manufactured.

Wu Changqing personally tested them and found that the copied spinning machines worked very well, with almost no significant difference from the original Jenny spinning machine.

“Have the raw materials been stockpiled?” Wu Changqing asked.

“We’ve already stockpiled five hundred thousand catty of cotton. This can weave at least one hundred thousand bolts of cloth, which is more than the entire Wusong area can produce in half a year,” Wu Zhiyue said, quite excitedly.

Currently, cotton costs about thirty cash per catty, and cloth sells for about four hundred and fifty cash per bolt. The raw materials cost fifteen thousand taels of silver, and the workers’ wages and other expenses should be around five thousand taels, meaning the cost of these one hundred thousand bolts of cloth is about twenty thousand taels.

The sales revenue, however, can reach forty-five thousand taels, with a profit of one hundred and twenty-five percent, which is terrifyingly high.

For other merchants selling cloth, the cost of a bolt of cloth is probably as high as four hundred cash, twice that of the spinning machine, and the profit is only about twelve percent.

As long as Wu Changqing and his people lower the price of their cloth by fifty cash, other cloth merchants will be left with no choice but to close their factories. Lowering prices would lead to losses, and not lowering prices would mean no one would buy their goods.

Even after lowering the price by fifty cash, their profit could still be as high as one hundred percent, an absolute bonanza.

Although it can’t compare to soap, soap is a luxury item, while cloth is a necessity, and the sales volume of the two is worlds apart.

Assuming an average person consumes 0.1 bolts of cloth per year, the gross profit in China alone would be two million taels of silver per year.

“Then let’s start production.”

Wu Changqing issued the order to start production, and the two hundred-plus workers began their various tasks in an orderly manner.

Looking at the two hundred-plus workers, Wu Changqing couldn’t help but sigh. This is probably the world’s first factory.

Even Europe doesn’t have this kind of factory yet.

Although some workshops may be larger in scale, strictly speaking, they are not factories, just large in scale, without production processes similar to assembly lines.

With more than two hundred workers moving at the same time, the scene was quite spectacular.

However, Wu Changqing only glanced at it a few times before leaving. He had seen scenes a hundred times more shocking than this, and this scene would only shock the people of this era.

“The imitation of machines cannot stop, and we must continue to speed it up,” Wu Changqing said.

“Making so many might be a waste. If too much cloth is woven, it will easily pile up and not sell,” Wu Zhiyue reminded him.

However, Wu Changqing had his own plans for this problem. He had already sent people to coastal areas, even Ningbo, Taizhou, and other places, to look for foreign merchants.

He wanted to sell the cloth abroad and buy raw materials such as cotton from abroad, turning China into the world’s factory. He would follow the path of the British Empire and leave the British Empire with no way to go.

Only by developing industry can one rise, and only through industry can one accumulate wealth.

After inspecting the textile factory, Wu Changqing came to the Chen family workshop. The scale here is now even larger than the textile factory, employing hundreds of people to work at the same time.

In addition to soap and laundry soap, Wu Changqing also handed over the manufacturing technology of perfume and glass to Chen Daolin.

Due to the season, perfume lacks flower petal raw materials and cannot be produced on a large scale for the time being.

Glass, on the other hand, is not affected and is currently being manufactured on a large scale.

Glass actually appeared very early, and so-called colored glaze even appeared occasionally in the Western Han Dynasty. However, there has never been a good manufacturing process, so practical glass has never been made.

In Italy in the West, the manufacturing process of glass was very mature by the year thirteen hundred, while China was relatively backward, mainly because no one studied it and did not know the specific composition of glass.

As long as you know the composition of glass, its manufacturing is still very easy. However, ordinary refining methods can only make some smaller pieces of glass. Manufacturing large pieces of glass requires some more complex processes.

This process is not very expensive, only five thousand tech points. Wu Changqing has already unlocked this technology and handed over the manufacturing process to Chen Daolin, who is still arranging people to try it.

Large pieces of glass cannot be made for the time being, but many small pieces for dressing up have already been made.

These glasses have too many advantages over bronze mirrors. Bronze mirrors can only see a blurry shadow, while glass can see everything clearly.

“Once this treasure is sold, I’m afraid it will be snapped up like soap,” Chen Daolin said happily. Although the money he earns now has to be handed over to Wu Changqing to support the army and cannot go into his pocket, he is not in a hurry. As long as the world is at peace, he can lie down and count money.

“This is just the beginning. When the war is settled and I have time, I still have many good things to take out.”

Wu Changqing’s words made Chen Daolin even more excited. There are even better things? How much money would that make?

When Wu Changqing left, he also picked out a particularly beautiful mirror, preparing to take it back for Chen Yuyan to use. This small act made Chen Daolin’s heart blossom, meaning that Chen Yuyan had a very important place in Wu Changqing’s heart and was very favored.

Otherwise, a governor who is burdened with military affairs would not think of sending something to his wife.

Cloth, soap, and glass, these businesses are currently expected to bring Wu Changqing about one hundred thousand taels of income per month. Moreover, the scale of these businesses is still expanding, and future income will increase.

With these stable sources of income, plus tax revenue, he no longer has to worry about military expenses.

Compared to Prince Lu in the south, he is now much wealthier.

Prince Lu in the south is nominally the emperor, and everyone must kneel when they see him. However, in reality, most of the power of this regime is in the hands of Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren, two generals.

Even the tax revenue is the same. The two of them privately controlled the six hundred thousand taels of tax silver they collected and distributed it privately.

In addition to giving the imperial court a portion of administrative expenses, most of the rest was divided up by the two of them to support the army.

As for those righteous armies, they didn’t get a penny. Not to mention military pay, even military rations were about to run out.

Originally, the righteous armies in eastern Zhejiang were quite capable of fighting, and they had confronted Li Chengdong in Hangzhou for more than a month without being defeated. However, those righteous army leaders only knew how to fight wars, but they didn’t know how to play politics.

As a result, Fang Guoan, who had seized power in the court, grabbed the money, and the other righteous armies could only stare blankly.

No matter how well the soldiers can fight, they can’t do it without food.

Historically, it was precisely for this reason that those righteous armies were forced to disband. And after those righteous armies disbanded, there was no longer an army that could withstand the Qing army.

By next spring, Li Chengdong will take advantage of the situation and occupy Shaoxing, Hangzhou, and other places.

Chapter 64: Allied Forces Arrive

Zhu Yihai, in Shaoxing, had been in a good mood recently.

Wu Changqing had declared his allegiance, and Li Chengdong had retreated from Hangzhou, so the situation had improved greatly compared to the previous months.

The only thing that displeased him was Fang Guoan’s unauthorized distribution of tax silver without even consulting him.

Such an act, in a unified dynasty, would at least be considered a sign of harboring ulterior motives and intending to rebel.

But now, Zhu Yihai could only grit his teeth and accept it.

“Your Majesty, Fang Guoan is trying to disband the volunteer army on the spot! Without pay, the soldiers can’t even eat. How can they fight?”

Qian Sule, one of the leaders of the volunteer army, spoke out, accusing Fang Guoan’s actions. Unfortunately, Zhu Yihai knew it all too well but was helpless.

“Imperial Censor Qian, please be patient. General Fang also has his difficulties. The world is in chaos, and the people are suffering. There is only so much tax revenue, and it is impossible to squeeze out money and food to support the volunteer army.”

Zhu Yihai said.

“So, we can only watch the volunteer army disband? Fang Guoan’s so-called regular army is not as strong as my volunteer army.”

Qian Sule was angry, and his words were less respectful.

“Perhaps you can lead your troops north to Suzhou and ask Duke Wu for relief. Suzhou has always been wealthy, and I recently heard that Duke Wu has also created something called soap, which is very profitable, and he even has money to run schools.”

Zhu Yihai didn’t know if Qian Sule’s troops would still obey him after arriving in Suzhou, but he really had no better solution.

He was now thinking about taking Nanjing first, and then relying on the legitimacy of his title, he would slowly gather military power in the future.

“To run schools in troubled times, Duke Wu is so wealthy.”

Qian Sule was shocked. This was simply unimaginable.

In troubled times, eating was a big problem. Saving money was a priority to expand the army. Running schools was really out of place.

And this, also happened to illustrate Wu Changqing’s wealth, that he was not short of money.

He became more and more curious about this sixteen-year-old Duke Wu. Wu Changqing’s repeated victories had already amazed him. He originally thought that Wu Changqing was just a military genius, but he did not expect that he was also good at making money.

Qian Sule was ashamed of himself for this skill.

“Although Duke Wu’s original intention of running schools is good, the current priority should be to recover lost territory. Take my decree and urge him to recover the old capital of Nanjing as soon as possible.”

Zhu Yihai said.

“As you command.”

Qian Sule could only accept the order. If he didn’t go to Wu Changqing, his five thousand-man volunteer army could only be disbanded, because he couldn’t afford to support them.

As for whether he would be disliked and excluded by Wu Changqing, he couldn’t control that much. He had to fight for it if there was a glimmer of hope.

This eastern Zhejiang volunteer army had experienced several major battles and was a rare and brave force. It was a pity to disband it on the spot.

The next day, Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin led their volunteer armies to Suzhou together.

After three days of marching, they finally arrived outside Suzhou City. After the eight thousand-strong army was settled, Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin entered Suzhou City.

In the Duke Wu’s residence, they met the rumored Wu Changqing.

As the rumors said, he was young and talented.

Qian Sule sighed secretly in his heart.

“Greetings, Duke Wu.”

Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin saluted.

Xiong Rulin was the Minister of War of the second rank, and Qian Sule was the Left Censor-in-chief of the third rank. In terms of official position, they were not much lower than Wu Changqing. They were all core members of the same imperial court.

However, in terms of title, Wu Changqing was much higher than them. In terms of etiquette, they needed to salute Wu Changqing.

More importantly, those with soldiers were the bosses now, and Wu Changqing had more troops and was stronger than them.

“Minister Xiong and Imperial Censor Qian are too polite. Please rest for a while. I have already arranged for servants to prepare wine and dishes to welcome the two adults.”

Wu Changqing smiled and led the two into his home to entertain them. Qian Sule had sent someone to inform him before they came, otherwise they would not have been able to reach Suzhou.

Wu Changqing felt complicated about their arrival.

Their arrival would undoubtedly increase his strength, but they might also be a group of ungrateful people. If he spent military pay to support them, and then they were still loyal to Prince Lu and stabbed him in the back in the future, it would be ridiculous.

However, although there was this risk, he could not refuse.

The people of the world were watching. As volunteer armies, it was really not good to refuse directly.

Moreover, Wu Changqing also had ways to slowly reorganize these two volunteer army units.

He could send them to the front line, or he could reorganize them by disrupting them. There were many methods. Even a Fang Guoan could force them to disband. Wu Changqing believed that he was no worse than Fang Guoan.

“Thank you, Duke Wu.”

Xiong Rulin and Qian Sule took their seats.

Wu Changqing gave them a very experienced feeling, and his temperament was completely unlike a teenager. However, they were not surprised, after all, Wu Changqing had experienced so many battles, and had long been reborn in the fire, and could not be evaluated by ordinary people’s standards.

Wine and dishes were brought up, and Chen Yuyan also showed her face, probably wanting to see other high-ranking officials in the imperial court.

In fact, this was a bit inappropriate, unless they were close private friends, otherwise other guests’ family members should avoid it.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t care about this kind of rule at all. And there were no elders in the Wu family now, and no one taught Chen Yuyan, and she didn’t understand some of the too detailed etiquette.

Xiong Rulin and Qian Sule felt strange about Wu Changqing introducing Chen Yuyan to them.

However, everyone was not a particularly pedantic person, and did not take this to heart.

In troubled times, ambitious officials were more pragmatic.

They asked the most concerned question, that was, how much money Wu Changqing could take out to support their army.

“I wonder what the previous monthly salary of the two of you was?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Most of my troops are loyal and righteous people. When we started the uprising, we relied on a passion and only provided food without salary. Later, considering that the soldiers also had to support their families, we gave each person a monthly salary of four cash of silver. However, recently Fang Guoan has intercepted all the tax silver in eastern Zhejiang, and we have not received a single cash anymore.”

Qian Sule became angry at the end, with an attitude of wishing to tear Fang Guoan into pieces.

Four cash was probably four hundred cash. This salary was really too low, after all, fighting was selling one’s life. To sell one’s life for four hundred cash, it could only be said that human life in this era was really too cheap.

The ordinary soldiers under Wu Changqing had a monthly salary of one tael of silver. The salary of technical soldiers such as artillery, cavalry and archers was even higher. The artillery had a monthly salary of two taels, the cavalry two taels, and the archers had one and a half taels.

“The salary here is slightly higher, but considering many factors, I cannot give your troops the same salary. I wonder if it is okay to follow your previous standard of four cash per month? I will also provide the food.”

Wu Changqing said.

If the troops of Qian Sule and others were also given a monthly salary of one tael per person, then the people under Wu Changqing might be unhappy. Seniority was also important these days. They had followed Wu Changqing for so long, how could they be treated the same as the newcomers.

“That’s natural. Four cash can barely make a living.”

Qian Sule agreed very tactfully. In fact, he was really satisfied in his heart.

In Shaoxing, he worked hard and couldn’t get any pay. When he came to Suzhou, he had free food with just one sentence, and a salary of four cash. What else could he complain about?

Even those soldiers would feel that it was justified when they learned of this news.

Xiong Rulin was not as excited as Qian Sule. He had inquired about Wu Changqing’s salary situation before he came, and knew that Wu Changqing was very rich.

Now, giving only four cash a month was really a bit less.

“What about military equipment? I heard that there is an invincible musket team in the Duke’s army.”

Xiong Rulin asked, weapons were still very important in battle.

“The production of that new type of musket is too low, with a daily output of only about ten, so there is definitely no surplus to give to the two of you. There are some knives and spears, if you need them, I can send a batch over.”

Wu Changqing felt that Xiong Rulin was a bit ignorant, and actually had his eyes on the flintlock.

His subordinates were all drooling and waiting in line for this thing. Xiong Rulin also wanted to get involved?

If the news spread, I am afraid that Liu Hansan and the others would not be able to help but kill him and drive Xiong Ru Sen and others away.

Qian Sule winked at Xiong Rulin, signaling him not to be too greedy.

Wu Changqing had not started his uprising for long, and he must be short of money, food and military equipment. It was already very righteous to be able to take out a part of it now.

Chapter 65: A Plan to Lure the Enemy

Chen Yuyan and her maid Zihe were hiding behind a screen, eavesdropping on Wu Changqing’s conversation. Although she was now a married woman, she was still at an age where she was prone to making mistakes and causing trouble, and her curiosity was especially strong.

Listening to them discuss matters of state, Chen Yuyan’s face was filled with happiness.

Her husband was so young, yet he could talk and laugh with a second-rank official from the imperial court. He was truly amazing.

Moreover, from the conversation, she could sense that the two high-ranking officials were trying their best to please and flatter her husband.

The next day, Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin accompanied Wu Changqing to the training grounds to observe the army’s drills.

The Wu army’s training opened their eyes. Compared to the training of other armies, Wu Changqing’s army was truly unique.

They couldn’t understand the goose-stepping and formations. They couldn’t figure out what use this kind of training had.

If it were an army that had repeatedly been defeated, they might laugh and dismiss it. But since it was a victorious army training in this way, they naturally assumed that such training must have a deeper meaning.

“The momentum is like a rainbow; this is the appearance of a strong army.”

Qian Sule managed to find a point to praise. The neat steps were indeed very impressive in terms of momentum. And momentum did have some influence on combat.

An army with high morale could give its opponents a sense of oppression.

“This trains military discipline. My army’s discipline is very strict; orders must be strictly enforced. Any violator can be executed immediately by an officer.”

Wu Changqing said, outsiders only saw the power of firearms in his army, but they did not see his military discipline.

Compared to other armies of this era, the military discipline in the Wu army was far superior. These were all formed through long-term training.

It could be said that the casualty rate that other armies could withstand was only about fifteen percent, while his army could withstand about thirty percent without collapsing.

No wonder he could win repeatedly.

Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin were speechless. They certainly understood the effect of strict enforcement of orders, but it was too difficult to achieve that level. Soldiers were people, and people would be afraid and fearful.

Compared to ordinary military discipline training, Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin were more curious about the firing training of the flintlock gun troops.

To satisfy them, Wu Changqing arranged for a team of soldiers to perform a shooting demonstration.

Normally, the flintlock gun troops rarely conducted live ammunition training, after all, bullets were very precious.

These consumables must be as many as possible. And currently, the manufacturing speed of these bullets in the armory was also extremely slow.

Fortunately, the consumption of bullets in battles of this era was not large, and there was no shortage of bullets for the time being.

“The speed is indeed as rumored. This rate of fire is too terrifying. The enemy troops would probably suffer heavy losses before they even reach the front.”

Qian Sule said.

“With such a strong army, capturing Nanjing and recovering the old capital is just around the corner.”

Xiong Rulin echoed. They both wanted to know when Wu Changqing was going to march north, which was the task Prince Lu had given them.

“Without cannons, attacking the city will be very difficult. The two of you should also be very clear about this, right?”

Wu Changqing also wanted to take down the cities of Nanjing and Zhenjiang, so that he could rely on the Yangtze River to defend, which would be much safer than now.

However, attacking cities was too difficult. Wu Changqing’s current forces were too small. Even with the addition of Qian Sule’s troops, they only had thirty thousand men. And in Changzhou alone, Liu Liangzuo still had about thirty thousand troops.

“Lord Wu can expand the army again. With the millions of people in Wusong, an army of twenty thousand is still too small. I think it would be easy to expand to fifty thousand.”

Qian Sule suggested. He didn’t understand why Wu Changqing, who had money and people, didn’t expand his army like crazy.

Wu Changqing ignored him. He had his own ideas.

He really looked down on those armies that used cold weapons. Therefore, the speed of his army expansion depended on the number of muskets. Without enough muskets, even if the army was expanded, it would be a rabble.

This kind of cannon fodder could play a very small role, and it was easy to lose soldiers’ lives in vain.

Rather than leading a rabble, Wu Changqing preferred to lead an invincible elite.

Don’t look at the fact that he only had twenty thousand troops now, but even if Liu Liangzuo had forty thousand troops, he wouldn’t dare to confront Wu Changqing head-on.

“General, this subordinate has a plan that may allow us to take Changzhou easily.”

Dai Zhijun behind him suddenly spoke.

“Oh? What plan?”

Wu Changqing asked. Taking Changzhou would not only expand the territory, but also pose a constant threat to Zhenjiang and Nanjing. The location was very important.

Forcibly attacking the city might not be worthwhile, but if he could take it with a trick, Wu Changqing would be very happy.

“Aren’t there some Manchu Tatar spies in the city now? As long as the general pretends to disobey the court’s orders and refuses to attack Changzhou, and then Imperial Censor Qian and Vice Minister Xiong angrily lead their troops to attack Changzhou privately from the land, creating the illusion that there is discord within us.

After Imperial Censor Qian and Vice Minister Xiong arrive in Changzhou, our main force will take a boat from Taihu Lake to Mashan Town. Imperial Censor Qian and Vice Minister Xiong will attack Changzhou first, and then pretend to be defeated and retreat, luring the enemy troops out of the city. Our army will ambush them halfway and engage them in a field battle to eliminate them.”

The core of Dai Zhijun’s plan was to lure Liu Liangzuo out of Changshu City. As long as they were in the wild, they would have the confidence to win.

“Isn’t the risk of this plan a bit too great? What if Liu Liangzuo doesn’t leave the city, or if he chases too quickly, and the two lords don’t have time to retreat?”

Wu Changqing was actually very satisfied with this plan. Anyway, the troops of Qian Sule and the others were the ones who would take the risk. If it succeeded, he would be the one who gets the credit, and if it failed, he would not suffer any losses.

Moreover, he could let Qian Sule and others take the lead and consume some of their forces.

However, even if Wu Changqing was very satisfied, he could not directly order Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin. Their two troops were not Wu Changqing’s direct subordinates, and they might not obey.

“I think this plan is very good. We don’t have to worry about Liu Liangzuo not falling for it, because we don’t even need to pretend with our troops. We really can’t capture Changzhou.

As for retreating in defeat, we will make preparations in advance, so there should be no danger.”

Qian Sule spoke, and he agreed with this plan very much.

He didn’t think too much and didn’t see through some of Dai Zhijun’s little thoughts.

Zhu Yihai sent them here to capture Nanjing, and this plan was in line with his wishes. As for the deaths of soldiers taking the lead, which war doesn’t have deaths?

Xiong Rulin thought a little more, but he couldn’t think of a reason to refuse.

The main thing was that they had just received food and military pay yesterday. If they didn’t cooperate with Wu Changqing’s actions today, it would be too unreasonable.

Moreover, Dai Zhijun’s plan sounded like it had a high chance of success. As long as they took Changshu, they could also make a great contribution.

Seeing that Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin had no objections, Wu Changqing agreed to this plan.

After that, they began to formulate a detailed battle plan.

The plan was theoretically fine, but execution was the key.

For example, when feigning a retreat, one mistake could lead to a real rout. And if the retreat was too orderly, it might not fool Liu Liangzuo.

In short, this was a very delicate job.

After formulating the plan, they had to find a way to act and ‘leak’ the news that Wu Changqing and Qian Sule were at odds.

Chapter 66: Perks of the Era

Several days later, a rumor spread in Suzhou, claiming that Prince Lu had ordered Wu Changqing to immediately lead his troops to retake Nanjing. However, Wu Changqing refused, citing insufficient troop strength.

The rumor was so detailed that most people couldn’t distinguish between truth and falsehood.

Some scholars in teahouses also debated the matter. Some criticized Wu Changqing for disobeying imperial orders, while others supported him, saying that a general in the field is not bound by all the commands of his sovereign. They argued that Wu Changqing was making the right decision based on the actual situation, and it was this calmness that allowed him to consistently win battles.

Subsequently, Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin set off for Changzhou with their eight thousand soldiers.

Their action confirmed the rumor’s authenticity. Some Manchu spies lingering in Suzhou sent the news out of the city that very night.

The Jiaxing militia had already departed, while Wu Changqing, as usual, first taught a class for an hour at the university, then inspected the military camp, and finally returned to his residence to review important official documents.

[The Li family of Kunshan resisted taxes and had their home raided. Three thousand taels of silver were seized. The head of the Li family is scheduled to be executed the day after tomorrow.]

Wu Changqing wrote a “Seen” on the document. He only needed to glance at this kind of document once.

[The Wu family’s cloth is being sold at too low a price, causing Suzhou cloth merchants to go bankrupt.]

This problem was more troublesome. He had to find a way out for these merchants, otherwise they would become a source of instability. Wu Changqing wrote: “Summon the cloth merchants in the city to discuss a solution together.”

[The price of grain in Suzhou has risen by twenty percent, causing the people to suffer unspeakably.]

[General Wu Yi captured a group of smugglers on Taihu Lake.]

…

The matters on the official documents were all important, either deciding the life and death of others or determining their fate. Wu Changqing’s decisions affected dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of people.

Wu Changqing hadn’t expected that he would adapt to this kind of life so quickly. He only glanced at the execution of the head of the Li family, and his heart didn’t waver at all.

That was a life! If it had been him before he transmigrated, he wouldn’t have had the courage to decide the life and death of others; he couldn’t have morally justified it to himself.

But now, he was used to this kind of life. On the battlefield, his orders determined the life and death of countless people. After several major battles, he had become somewhat numb to the life and death of others.

That’s how it was in chaotic times; he didn’t have the ability to save everyone.

From an individual’s perspective, a life was a huge matter. But for a country or a regime, the life of a single individual was insignificant.

In the midst of his busyness, Chen Yuyan and Zihe appeared, Zihe holding a teacup.

“Master, this is new tea sent by my father. Please try it.”

Chen Yuyan personally brewed a cup of tea for Wu Changqing. In fact, Wu Changqing didn’t really like drinking tea; he preferred the sweet drinks of later generations.

However, there were no such drinks here, and in order to communicate with other officials, he had slowly gotten used to drinking tea.

“Mm, not bad, quite fragrant.”

Wu Changqing took a sip and casually put his arm around Chen Yuyan, placing her on his lap.

“How annoying, there are people here,” Chen Yuyan said shyly. She liked Wu Changqing’s romantic gestures, but she wasn’t used to such enthusiasm. After all, she had been taught since childhood that women should be dignified and reserved.

Even in bed, she could only wait for her husband to take the initiative and could not be wanton.

Hugging and embracing like this in broad daylight in front of others was absolutely not allowed.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t have so many rules, and Chen Yuyan had gotten used to Wu Changqing’s boldness. At the same time, she also enjoyed this feeling of affection.

“Where are the people?” Wu Changqing said. Zihe, who was standing to the side, wanted to cry but had no tears. She really wanted to remind her master that she was also a person. Although she was just a servant, servants were also people.

“Come, I’ll feed you a cup too.”

Wu Changqing poured a cup of tea, but first held it in his mouth and then wanted to feed it to Chen Yuyan.

Chen Yuyan was both shy and expectant about this kind of humiliating thing. Before she could react, her mouth was sealed by Wu Changqing, causing Zihe, who was standing to the side, to widen her eyes.

She complained in her heart that her master was too bad, but her eyes were fixed on the two of them.

A sixteen-year-old body was at the stage of hormonal explosion. At this time, two-thirds of a man’s time was spent thinking about women.

At least, that’s how Wu Changqing was in his previous life, with an extremely strong desire for the opposite sex.

Coming to this world, he was so busy with so many things that he couldn’t find north, which was why he hadn’t been like that before.

However, now that he was being teased by Chen Yuyan, he couldn’t control himself again and reached out to unbutton Chen Yuyan’s clothes.

“I’m so embarrassed, not here. Can we go back to the room?” Chen Yuyan pleaded.

“It’s more exciting here,” Wu Changqing said with a wicked smile.

He felt the perks of this era, being able to do this in front of another woman. Doing so had a strange and inexplicable feeling, in short, it was very exciting.

This was probably the power of male desire at work, showing his dominance and power.

Chen Yuyan had no way to deal with Wu Changqing and could only let him do as he pleased. At the same time, she didn’t forget to tell Zihe: “Go guard the door and don’t let anyone approach.”

She didn’t want anyone other than Zihe to know that she and her husband were engaging in lewd acts in broad daylight, and in the study, such an improper place.

Zihe pouted and went out. She still wanted to see the intimate scenes between men and women, but unfortunately, she never had the chance.

Guarding the door?

Zihe felt that it was completely unnecessary. Without being notified, who would dare to directly enter the governor’s study? Wouldn’t that be courting death?

She rested her chin in her hands and began to look forward to the arrival of her young mistress’s period. After all, it would be inconvenient to serve the master when her period came. And now that Wu Changqing hadn’t taken any concubines, wouldn’t he only be able to look for her at that time?

She had heard about this kind of thing from those older maids and women.

And this was also the best destination for her. After all, she had to stay by Chen Yuyan’s side and couldn’t marry someone else. If she wanted to experience the affairs of men and women, she could only hope for the master’s favor.

After staying inside for half an hour, Chen Yuyan came out as if nothing had happened.

Wu Changqing continued to deal with official business. If he wanted to continue enjoying this unparalleled pleasure, he had to hold on to the power in his hands, and he couldn’t neglect his official duties.

The real enjoyment was yet to come, so he still had to work harder now.

Wu Changqing secretly reminded himself that he was still in the early stages of starting his business and couldn’t indulge in enjoyment.

When he conquered the world and became the supreme ruler, what kind of enjoyment wouldn’t he have? All the beautiful women in the world would be his.

The Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, Chen Yuanyuan, and Chen Bianbian, if he wanted them, no one would dare to stop him.

He might even be able to get his hands on Empress Xiaozhuang, the mother of Emperor Shunzhi. It was said that Empress Xiaozhuang was the number one beauty in Mongolia, and Huang Taiji, Dorgon, and Hong Chengchou were all infatuated with her, falling at her pomegranate skirt.

Of course, this was just a rumor, and Wu Changqing didn’t know how credible it was. When he conquered Beijing in the future, he could capture her and ask her to solve this century-old mystery.

Chapter 67: Mutual Surrender Attempts

On November 25th, the Qian-Xiong allied forces arrived outside Changzhou.

Upon receiving the news, Liu Liangzuo hurriedly donned his armor and went up to the city tower, wondering to himself, “Could it be that they really only came with eight thousand men?”

He had received advance notice from scouts a couple of days prior, saying that Wu Changqing had a conflict with the Ming army from Shaoxing. Qian Sule had brought Prince Lu’s order, demanding that Wu Changqing attack Changzhou and Nanjing, but Wu Changqing refused.

Then Qian Sule, in a fit of rage, took the soldiers from Shaoxing and set out on his own.

Initially, Liu Liangzuo was somewhat skeptical of this news. He didn’t believe that Qian Sule would be so foolish as to dare to attack the city with only eight thousand men. That was clearly courting death.

However, now that the reality was before him, he had no choice but to believe it.

“General, Wu Changqing is using us as a knife to kill others,” Xue Guiren said.

What he meant was that Wu Changqing was only superficially obeying Prince Lu, but in reality, he wanted to establish himself independently. Therefore, Prince Lu’s troops would inevitably be ostracized, framed, and suppressed if they went to Suzhou.

And by driving Prince Lu’s troops to attack Changzhou, he wanted to use their hands to eliminate Prince Lu’s forces.

This kind of “borrowed knife” strategy was quite common. It was impossible for any power group to be completely harmonious and united. Where there were people, there were conflicts, and such things also happened within the Qing army.

“Perhaps, we can send someone to persuade them to surrender,” another general said. Since Qian Sule and the others had been wronged in Suzhou and were being driven to their deaths, they must feel extremely resentful towards Wu Changqing. Persuading them to surrender was therefore a possibility.

Although they were not afraid of these eight thousand men, persuading them to surrender could avoid unnecessary losses and increase their own strength. It would be a pity not to try such a good thing.

“We can give it a try,” Liu Liangzuo agreed with this strategy, because he didn’t want Wu Changqing to get his wish, and he didn’t want to be a knife in Wu Changqing’s hand, helping Wu Changqing eliminate dissidents.

He now had a great feud with Wu Changqing, because Wu Changqing had caused him to suffer very severe reprimands from the Qing Dynasty, and he almost lost his official position.

Fortunately, there were no Qing Dynasty generals or princes present in Changzhou, otherwise he would have been humiliated again. When he had besieged Jiangyin for a long time without success, Prince Bolo had publicly whipped him several times, blaming him for his incompetence.

And his defeat under Suzhou was a greater offense than his failure at Jiangyin. The Qing court had not dismissed him only because they couldn’t find someone to replace him in guarding Changzhou for the time being.

If Bolo had been present at the time, it certainly wouldn’t have been just a few whips.

Recalling these past events, Liu Liangzuo couldn’t help but regret it.

If he had known that surrendering would lead to humiliation, he might as well have relied on his one hundred thousand troops to establish himself as king. Even if he was eventually wiped out by the Manchus, he could still have earned a resounding reputation.

Instead of being called a traitor by the people in the south, and having no dignity or status in the Qing Dynasty in the north, he was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Qian Sule had just set up camp when Liu Liangzuo’s envoy, Cui Ming, arrived in their army.

They didn’t act like Wu Changqing and kill the envoy without saying a word. Instead, they received Cui Ming in the central military tent.

“Envoy Cui, what brings you here? Could it be that General Liu wants to surrender?”

Qian Sule’s words almost struck Cui Ming dumb. He stared at Qian Sule in disbelief, unable to understand where Qian Sule got the confidence to say such a thing.

Not to mention that Liu Liangzuo’s troops were now in a fortified city, even without the fortified city, they had thirty thousand men.

Could it be that Wu Changqing didn’t share the intelligence with them, and they didn’t know the size of our army?

Cui Ming thought of a possibility and was immediately speechless.

He was here to persuade them to surrender. If Qian Sule didn’t know their strength, it would be really difficult.

After all, the core of persuading surrender was coercion and inducement. Without sufficient strong pressure, it would be too difficult to make the opponent surrender.

“General Qian is joking. My army of fifty thousand is stationed in Changzhou. Even if we dared to surrender, would you dare to accept us?” Cui Ming sneered, taking the opportunity to boast about his own strength.

“Fifty thousand troops? I’m afraid you’ve counted the grain-transporting laborers as well,” Qian Sule said disdainfully.

His lie exposed, Cui Ming didn’t care and continued to say calmly, “Even without the laborers, we still have thirty to forty thousand troops. And you, General, probably don’t even have ten thousand.

My general doesn’t want to hurt the innocent, so he sent me to advise the two generals to recognize that a wise man submits to circumstances. There’s no need to be used as a gun without knowing it.”

“There’s no need for so much nonsense. I would rather be used as a gun than be a running dog of the Manchus. You can get out. If Liu Liangzuo is stubborn and insists on being a lackey, my eight thousand soldiers will risk their lives to die with him,” Xiong Rulin also put on an act, striking a pose of being ready to die.

This made Cui Ming very helpless, and he cursed Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin as idiots in his heart while retreating from the camp.

He was really worried that Xiong Rulin would get emotional and chop off his head to sacrifice to the flag, then he would die unjustly.

Back in Changzhou, Cui Ming reported the process of the persuasion to surrender, which made Liu Liangzuo gnash his teeth in anger.

He found that more and more people were not taking him seriously. He was once one of the famous Four Generals of Jiangbei, with an army of one hundred thousand at his command, and even the emperor had to treat him with courtesy.

But now, he was whipped by Bolo in the Qing Dynasty, ridiculed by a small clerk in Jiangyin, ignored by Wu Changqing in Suzhou, and now even someone with only eight thousand troops wanted him to surrender.

A great humiliation, this was truly a great humiliation.

“Someone, I want to personally lead troops to take the heads of Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin,” Liu Liangzuo roared.

“General, calm down, please think twice. Why not wait for them to take the initiative to attack the city? We rely on the fortified city to defend, and then look for an opportunity to attack?” the generals advised one after another.

Although with thirty thousand troops, rushing out could defeat the enemy, it would definitely suffer considerable losses.

In that case, it would be better to wait for Qian Sule and others to attack the city.

Liu Liangzuo calmed down when he heard this. He wasn’t stupid, of course he knew that defending the city was more cost-effective than field battles. He was just angry and lost his head just now.

However, he didn’t want to admit that he was just angry in front of his subordinates.

So, Liu Liangzuo asked, “What if they don’t attack the city?”

Hearing this, the other generals were speechless. If the Ming army traveled hundreds of kilometers to come here and didn’t attack the city, wouldn’t that be insane?

Xue Guiren replied, “If they don’t attack the city, how can Wu Changqing continue to provide them with food and supplies? When they run out of food and their morale is unstable, we can attack, which can greatly reduce our losses.”

Seeing that there was a way out, Liu Liangzuo agreed to Xue Guiren’s plan, preparing to wait and see for two days and act according to the situation.

Chapter 68: Hutang Village

At the same time, Wu Changqing set off from Suzhou for Taihu Lake.

This battle was another all-out war for him, requiring him to commit all his main forces. Failure would be a crippling blow.

For such a decisive battle, Wu Changqing didn’t trust his subordinates to command. He wanted to be there in person to feel secure.

Before his departure, Chen Yuyan, much to her dismay, shed tears. She knew her husband was going to war and felt a myriad of worries. However, she also knew this was a man’s fate, Wu Changqing’s fate.

“Don’t worry, even if we lose, my personal guards will escort me back,” Wu Changqing reassured her. He feared death more than anyone and would never put himself in harm’s way. If things went south, he would flee with his guards as quickly as possible.

After all, troops could be recruited again, but a life lost was gone forever.

As long as he wasn’t at the front, the chances of a commander dying in battle were actually very low.

Unfortunately, Chen Yuyan, lacking military knowledge, didn’t understand this. She only knew that war meant many deaths, which was very dangerous. She took Wu Changqing’s words as mere comfort.

After bidding farewell to Chen Yuyan, Wu Changqing arrived at Taihu Lake, where his main force, the First Division, had already assembled, ready to board ships.

Wu Yi had prepared a full one hundred and fifty large and small boats to transport these soldiers, finally accommodating the ten thousand men of the First Division.

Meanwhile, the cavalry regiment also quietly set off from land, heading towards Changzhou.

They would rendezvous with Liu Hansan’s Second Brigade in Wuxi, and then proceed together to Changzhou.

All units were moving according to plan, in an orderly manner.

Traveling by boat avoided winding roads, and they reached Mashan Town in just three hours. They landed at night and rested on the spot.

The next day, they rushed to Hutang, south of Changzhou, and immediately controlled and sealed off the village to prevent the locals from leaking information.

This was their chosen ambush site, mainly because Hutang’s north side was the Grand Canal. They only needed to wait for Liu Liangzuo’s troops to cross the Grand Canal before revealing themselves.

At that point, Liu Liangzuo would have no way to retreat and could only face Wu Changqing in a decisive battle.

And that was precisely Wu Changqing’s goal.

His ambush wasn’t about finding a place to hide and then throwing boulders down on Liu Liangzuo’s troops as they passed by.

Such ambushes mostly existed in movies and TV shows. They were rare on real battlefields. Not that such situations never happened, but they were very uncommon.

When passing through such dangerous terrain, the commanding general would usually send out scouts first. They wouldn’t pass through easily without confirming it was safe. Therefore, the possibility of a successful ambush was extremely low.

Most so-called ambushes were actually like what Wu Changqing was doing now, luring the enemy into a specific area to be considered a success.

Although it lacked the suddenness of throwing rocks from a mountaintop, the effect of this kind of ambush was no worse than ambushing from a mountain.

As long as the enemy was forced into an unfavorable position, they would easily panic, and then they could be forced into a decisive battle, using their advantage to defeat them.

Those without military knowledge might think the enemy wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t run away?

But in reality, when the two armies were less than one or two li apart, running away was a highly difficult skill.

Whether an army was advancing or retreating, it wasn’t easy to maintain formation, especially when running away.

Without formation, without unified command, the soldiers would only run around like headless flies, making it difficult to even maintain a straight line, let alone choose the best escape route.

As long as they encountered even a slight obstacle on the way, such as a broken bridge or a blocked road, they would almost certainly be caught up by the enemy behind them.

Once caught up, there was no hope of escape. Continuing to flee would only turn into a rout, and resisting would be crushed by the enemy’s formation due to the chaos.

The only truly correct way to retreat was to leave a unit behind to block the enemy. But such a unit was obviously being abandoned, and no one wanted to be left behind.

Entering the village, Wu Changqing ordered the soldiers to strictly avoid disturbing the people.

The people of this era had a natural fear of soldiers, because they were generally not good people. Being robbed of some food and drink was considered lucky. If they were unlucky, the daughters and wives of the family might be violated.

This kind of thing was very common in ancient armies, because soldiers faced death at any time, their mental stress was very high, and they desperately wanted to vent.

The reason why this was less common in later generations was mainly because communication was developed, scandals were easily exposed, and officers had to strictly prohibit it.

At the same time, there were also specialized psychological counselors in the army to deal with the soldiers’ mental problems.

But in this period, some officers even took the lead in doing this, and the punishments for soldiers who committed crimes were generally very light.

Wu Changqing didn’t want his army to become like this, so before entering the village, he summoned the main officers and told them to control their soldiers. If any of their soldiers committed a crime, the officer would be removed from their position.

The fact that Wu Changqing didn’t kill the people under the city of Suzhou had already spread, and he had gained a good reputation as a ruler who loved his people. He didn’t want to waste this great reputation.

Moreover, as a person from later generations, Wu Changqing had a different mentality from the superiors of this era. He respected the rights of the people and would not trample on them at will.

The order was issued, and most of the soldiers didn’t care, only a few old ruffians felt depressed.

If they didn’t take the opportunity to rape a few women when they came out to fight, they would be even more afraid to mess around when they returned to Suzhou. Without sex for a long time and having to bear the pressure of death, some soldiers were on the verge of collapse.

Wu Changqing stepped into Hutang Village, surveying the countryside of this era.

Having been in this world for so long, it was his first time in the countryside.

In Hutang Village, some thatched houses were scattered around. Wu Changqing doubted whether these thatched houses could withstand the torrential rain of summer.

Slightly better houses were brick and wood structures, with brick and stone foundations, wooden walls, and tiled roofs. These families were already small landlords. People who didn’t own dozens of acres of land couldn’t afford such houses.

For poor peasants, even eating enough grain each year was a problem, so where would they get the money to buy tiles to build houses?

The best house was built with pure stone walls. It was a very large house, with a courtyard as big as a basketball court.

This was the home of Li Zhaoming, the richest man in Hutang Village. His family was not only the largest landlord in the village, but Li Zhaoming’s son was also a seventh-rank county magistrate in Changzhou.

A seventh-rank official was already quite high. At least, the highest-ranking official Wu Changqing had seen in his previous life was only a town party secretary. And a town party secretary was not as powerful as a county magistrate.

The Li family’s house was naturally requisitioned as Wu Changqing’s temporary resting place and command post.

The women of the Li family were gathered in the厢房 in the backyard, while Li Zhaoming, the head of the family, greeted Wu Changqing and his party outside with his servants.

Chapter 69: Successfully Luring the Enemy

Qian Sule, upon learning that Wu Changqing had arrived at Hutang, immediately followed the plan and approached Changzhou city, preparing to attack.

To make the act convincing, Qian Sule earnestly prepared a large number of siege ladders.

Moreover, the soldiers, even low-ranking officers like squad leaders and centurions, were unaware that this was a ruse to lure the enemy. Everything was conducted as if it were a real attack.

They began by constructing pontoon bridges under a hail of arrows and filling in the moat.

A significant difference between southern and northern cities is that most southern cities have moats, while northern cities have fewer.

In Jiangnan, with its dense network of waterways, water is too easy to find.

This presented a considerable challenge to the attacking side. Watching soldiers fall under the arrows from time to time, Qian Sule felt a pang of sympathy.

On the city wall, Xue Guiren watched Qian Sule’s army and couldn’t help but laugh, “Are Prince Lu’s subordinates all this stupid? With their meager forces, do they really think they can take our city?”

Liu Liangzuo felt extremely uncomfortable at this moment. Although Qian Sule seemed quite foolish, the feeling of being looked down upon by a fool was very unpleasant.

“If we send a force out from the west gate and attack them while they are besieging the city, they will surely suffer a great defeat.”

Liu Liangzuo said, he now desperately wanted to completely annihilate Qian Sule’s eight thousand troops to redeem himself and make up for the losses in Suzhou.

Secondly, he also wanted to vent his anger and let Qian Sule know the consequences of underestimating him.

“This general is willing to be the vanguard.”

Xue Guiren said. He didn’t want to miss out on such an opportunity to gain merit.

The other generals also expressed their willingness to go out and attack upon hearing this. If Xue Guiren saw the merit, so did they.

With the plan decided, Xue Guiren and the others went to prepare.

Meanwhile, Qian Sule’s troops below the city had filled in a section of the moat and launched their attack.

A thousand-man team carried ladders and other siege equipment, advancing in an orderly manner.

“Sir, large numbers of enemies have been spotted at the west and east gates. They are heading towards us.”

Just as Qian Sule was besieging the city, a scout galloped over to report.

“This Liu Liangzuo is even more impatient than expected.”

Xiong Rulin smiled. They had originally planned to show some signs of defeat before luring out the enemy. What they didn’t expect was that Liu Liangzuo was so impatient.

What they mainly didn’t anticipate was Liu Liangzuo’s current state of mind. He was feeling very repressed and desperately wanted a major victory to vent his frustration.

“Order a retreat, and make sure not to panic.”

Qian Sule said, the plan was already half complete, and now it depended on the troops’ ability to organize a retreat. It would be a joke if the feigned defeat turned into a real one, causing a rout.

They had a major advantage in their retreat: the mid- and high-level officers knew that this was a lure, so they wouldn’t panic as much as they would during a real defeat and wouldn’t lead the way in fleeing.

As long as they continued to command the troops, the possibility of chaos was low.

As Qian Sule’s order was issued, their rear guard began to retreat first, followed closely by the center army. As for the thousand troops still besieging the city, they also began to retreat, but whether they could escape depended on luck.

In the plan, this group of people could be sacrificed as pawns. You can’t catch wolves without letting the kids go.

On the city wall, Liu Liangzuo felt a little doubt in his heart when he saw Qian Sule’s decisive retreat.

However, he still didn’t guess that Qian Sule was trying to lure him.

After all, he didn’t know that Wu Changqing’s main force had arrived nearby by waterway. So, in his view, no matter what tricks Qian Sule played, it was useless. He had so few people, how could he withstand his own army?

What’s more, Qian Sule’s troops were already retreating. Armies in retreat were prone to panic, and such troops had no power to resist.

Therefore, even though he had doubts, Liu Liangzuo did not change his plan.

However, he chose to open the city gates and personally lead a portion of his troops out of the city to pursue. He wanted to personally direct such a large-scale pursuit operation to feel at ease.

Soon, Xue Guiren’s troops, who had left the west gate earlier, caught up with a portion of the rebel army.

The rebels who were caught immediately panicked, which was the most dangerous situation. Resisting was death, continuing to flee also had a high probability of death, and even kneeling down to surrender depended on luck.

“Surrender, everyone surrender.”

Several centurions ordered. Out of hundreds of people, only they were in the know.

Surrendering at this time was the best option, as it could save their lives and delay the enemy’s pursuit. Moreover, they didn’t have to worry about their reputation after surrendering, since it was a fake surrender.

Under the instructions of the low-ranking officers, many soldiers knelt down to surrender, which made the pursuing Qing army somewhat helpless. They had wanted to kill more people to earn rewards.

But the Ming soldiers surrendered too quickly, and they couldn’t massacre the surrendered soldiers, so they had to send a portion of their troops to control them.

The remaining Qing soldiers continued to pursue. They finally had an opportunity to earn great merit, and they wouldn’t be satisfied with killing or capturing just a few hundred people.

What they wanted was to catch up with the main force of the Ming army and devour these eight thousand troops, which would be a great achievement.

Changzhou city was only a few kilometers away from Hutang Village. After running all the way, the main force of the Ming army crossed the Grand Canal in about an hour and arrived at Hutang Village.

The Qing army was hot on their heels, and at the closest point, the distance was only about half a kilometer. This was thanks to the fact that the Qing army had lost most of their horses in Suzhou last time. Otherwise, if there had been a cavalry unit harassing and intercepting them, the Ming army would have been caught long ago.

Arriving at Hutang Village, Qian Sule saw Wang Dafu, who was responsible for receiving him, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The process of escaping and retreating just now was still very dangerous. If they couldn’t shake off the enemy behind them, the soldiers’ psychological defenses would probably collapse.

But now, those soldiers realized that the general hadn’t lied to them. There were indeed friendly troops waiting to receive them, and the big stone hanging in their hearts finally fell to the ground.

Qian Sule’s troops were led to the other side, and Wu Changqing’s main force, having formed their ranks, marched towards the pursuing Qing army.

The Qing army at the front had already noticed something was wrong. After all, the weapons used by Wu Changqing’s main force were too distinctive: uniform firelocks with bayonets.

Some Qing soldiers, who still had psychological trauma from the Ming army’s firearms, recognized Wu Changqing’s troops at a glance.

“Chief, I think we’ve been tricked.”

A veteran stopped and shouted in panic.

Unfortunately, even though many people had realized they had been tricked at this time, they couldn’t change anything. It would take time for the news to reach the rear army, and at this time, the rear army was still pouring in.

The front army didn’t dare to advance, and the rear army was still coming, so for a time, the entire north side of Hutang Village was filled with dense, clueless Qing soldiers.

Chapter 70: The Collapse of the Center Army

“Don’t panic! Form ranks to meet the enemy!”

Xue Guiren, positioned at the front line, shouted. He remained calm and did not order a retreat.

Ordering a retreat at this moment would only lead to a faster demise. The few small, dilapidated boats and pontoon bridges by the river could only transport a few hundred people at a time.

The problem is not scarcity, but inequality. If the soldiers at the front knew that those at the rear were retreating, they would be even less inclined to fight.

Therefore, it was better to order the entire army to charge forward and fight. After all, in terms of troop numbers, their disadvantage wasn’t significant, and reinforcements were expected to arrive at any moment.

If they could hold out until reinforcements arrived, they could rely on their numerical advantage to launch a full-scale attack in other directions.

Under Xue Guiren’s command, the other officers issued orders to form ranks. Tens of thousands of Qing army soldiers, spurred on by the officers’ shouts, moved with trepidation.

When ambushed, soldiers tend to panic, regardless of whether their side has the advantage. After all, as soldiers, it’s difficult for them to discern whether they are in a superior or inferior position.

As the Ming army approached, the distance between the two armies closed to less than one hundred and fifty meters. The Ming army’s musket units halted, and then over three thousand men aimed at the Qing army and began a long-range volley.

At this distance, the Qing army could only take the beating. The few archers they had couldn’t shoot that far and couldn’t retaliate.

With a volley of gunshots, nearly one hundred Qing soldiers fell.

Although muskets weren’t highly accurate at this distance, the Qing army was packed too densely in this confined area.

“Charge! Once we get to them, they’re finished!”

Xue Guiren yelled. The Qing army then began to advance, seeking close-quarters combat for a chance to win.

Liu Liangzuo in the rear had already received news of the ambush. However, with the tens of thousands of troops at the front already engaged with the Ming army, he had no choice but to continue sending reinforcements.

Sending troops forward, relying on numerical superiority, still offered a chance for a victory. But retreating now would endanger the ten thousand troops across the river.

Sacrificing troops couldn’t be done so carelessly. That was a third of his forces; abandoning them would truly be a crippling blow.

At this point, the situation on the battlefield was difficult for any individual to control. It could only continue to unfold according to the laws of war.

The Qing army charged for several dozen meters, and the Ming army unleashed a second volley, causing another wave of Qing soldiers to fall.

Qian Sule, watching the battle from afar with a telescope, was stunned. He now truly understood the impact of advanced weaponry on warfare.

Whether it was the musket used to kill enemies or the telescope used for observation, using them well could have a significant effect.

The telescope was provided to them by Wu Changqing. Once glass technology was developed, the manufacturing of telescopes became much simpler. Currently, in Wu Changqing’s army, every officer ranked as a battalion commander or higher had one.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, how can one get close to them with ordinary swords and spears?”

Xiong Rulin imagined himself as the commander of the Qing army, thinking about what to do in this situation.

“Perhaps, one could rely on superior numbers to flank them, or use cavalry for a high-speed charge. Other than that, this type of unit really doesn’t have any weaknesses,” Qian Sule said.

If there were a large number of artillery or cavalry, they could pose some threat to these musket units. But relying solely on ordinary infantry wielding swords and spears, it was too difficult to defeat these musket units.

They hadn’t even reached the front lines and had already suffered two rounds of fire, losing several hundred men. The casualty rate had reached ten percent, nearing the soldiers’ breaking point.

The current Qing army was also trying to launch a main attack from both flanks, but the Ming army’s flanks were defended by Dong Tianbao’s five thousand men and Qian Sule’s seven thousand men, respectively.

Breaking through such a strong defensive line wouldn’t be easy.

Once the troops on both flanks engaged in close combat, they immediately became entangled. Meanwhile, the Qing army in the center suffered a third round of close-range attacks. This round resulted in nearly one thousand five hundred casualties, more than the previous two rounds combined.

“Counter-charge!”

Li Shaobin ordered, and the officers blew their attack whistles.

After three volleys, the Qing Dynasty’s central army of over five thousand men was on the verge of collapse. They had charged too quickly at the beginning, and now they couldn’t stop.

The well-trained Ming army immediately advanced with their guns, forming a forest of blades as they thrust toward the Qing army.

At this moment, they demonstrated their elite status. They weren’t just good at bullying people with long-range shooting. In fact, they rarely engaged in continuous shooting during peacetime. Most of their time was spent practicing large-scale bayonet charges.

Unfortunately, they had never had the opportunity to use these training results before.

And now, the Qing army’s bravery gave them a chance.

And the brave Qing army paid the price for their bravery.

The neat rows of bayonets thrust forward together, leaving the Qing soldiers in the front with no room to dodge. Whether they moved forward, left, or right, they would be met with a bayonet and death.

The only way out was to retreat. Driven by instinct, many Qing soldiers broke down and turned to retreat.

In fact, the Ming soldiers were also terrified of this almost life-for-life charging mode.

The formation was so dense, with no room to dodge. Moreover, military regulations forbade dodging. Life and death depended entirely on luck, which put tremendous psychological pressure on the soldiers.

However, despite their fear, their legs continued to move forward.

They had done this training countless times. At this point, they could only coordinate with their comrades’ steps, making mechanical stabbing and advancing movements, and nothing else.

During peacetime training, even if they took steps that were slightly larger than others, affecting the formation, they would be whipped. Under severe punishment, these soldiers had developed an instinctive reaction: to maintain consistent movements with their comrades and never make mistakes.

When all the soldiers held this thought, the army became terrifying.

In the eyes of the Qing army, this unit seemed to have no fear, like soulless beings unafraid of death.

This momentum brought tremendous psychological pressure to the Qing army, completely destroying their psychological defenses. They didn’t want to fight a group of corpses.

The Qing army’s central army completely collapsed and began to flee backward. This immediately panicked the Qing troops on the left and right flanks. Originally, they only needed to pay attention to the enemies in front of them. However, after the central army collapsed, they had to be constantly wary of enemies from the side, fearing being flanked.

The biggest problem with being flanked wasn’t the increased number of enemies, but the difficulty of arranging one’s formation. The area that needed to be defended was too large.

All troops feared being flanked. Liu Liangzuo’s troops couldn’t be considered elite, and they were even more afraid of this disadvantageous situation. They were fine with fighting an easy battle, but they didn’t have the ability to turn defeat into victory in adversity.

After seeing the collapse of the central army, the generals on the left and right flanks immediately began to organize a retreat, leaving a small number of people to continue to entangle the Ming army while they led the main force to escape.

Chapter 71: Victory in Sight

As the Qing army’s left and right wings also retreated, the entire Qing line collapsed. The officers were too lazy to command, only thinking about running ahead.

Without officers, the soldiers were like headless flies, not even knowing which direction to flee.

The Qing soldiers who had just crossed the Grand Canal to the south were dumbfounded. They had just crossed, preparing to reinforce their comrades, only to find that their comrades had been defeated.

This made their reinforcement meaningless and put them in danger as well. There was definitely no good outcome if they stayed, so they turned around and began to retreat.

But this once again occupied the tools for crossing the river. The defeated soldiers were as anxious as ants on a hot pan, and some out-of-control soldiers crowded onto the pontoon bridges.

These temporary pontoon bridges had very limited carrying capacity and could not hold too many people at once.

But the panicked soldiers didn’t care about that.

As a result, amidst screams, a pontoon bridge collapsed with a crash, and the soldiers on the bridge fell into the water.

Those who could swim were better off; after all, the river wasn’t particularly wide, and they could swim across with some effort. But for those who weren’t good swimmers or couldn’t swim at all, they could basically only wait to die.

The soldiers who swam across and saved their lives wouldn’t fare much better. After all, they had basically lost their weapons in order to swim across.

Don’t expect Liu Liangzuo to reimburse them for this loss; it would inevitably be deducted from their military pay.

However, this was still better than those soldiers struggling in the water. In such a chaotic scene, no one bothered to rescue the drowning.

“General, what should we do?”

A captain asked Xue Guiren, their situation now at a critical juncture.

They couldn’t win if they fought, and they couldn’t escape if they ran.

“Lead your troops to resist. Anyone who retreats without permission will be executed!”

Xue Guiren roared.

He didn’t know what to do either. He was in the center of the army, the most dangerous position.

The left and right wings could still escape east or west, and maybe some could get away. But the center army could only retreat backward, and with only the limited two pontoon bridges and some small boats, not many people could escape at all.

Their army collapsed too quickly, so that the Ming army’s advance took almost no time.

Even Xue Guiren himself was only about two hundred meters away from the vanguard of the Ming army. If someone fired a shot at him, there was a very small chance it might hit him.

The captain who was ordered to his death could only lead his troops forward. Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to actually listen to Xue Guiren’s order to resist; instead, he prepared to surrender.

For him, saving his own life was the most important thing.

Anyway, surrendering wouldn’t mean death, and he could even continue to be an official, just like Dong Tianbao, who was now doing well in the Ming army.

Serving, it’s all the same no matter who you serve. He didn’t care whether the Manchurian Tatars ruled the world or the old Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty ruled the world.

“Brothers, we have no way out. That bastard Xue wants us to die, but we can’t die in vain. Everyone, follow me to surrender!”

The captain’s call was unanimously approved by his subordinates. Of course, this wasn’t because his prestige was higher than Xue Guiren’s, but simply because everyone wanted to live.

At this time, they could not find any other way to survive other than surrender.

In stark contrast to the furious and anxious Xue Guiren were Wu Changqing and the others. Through the telescope, they saw that the situation on the battlefield was excellent. The Qing army had basically no organized resistance left, only some sporadic fighting. The rest was chasing and capturing prisoners.

A great victory was beyond doubt. All they needed to do was wait patiently for good news.

“Congratulations, Lord Wu, on another great victory. Recapturing Nanjing is just around the corner. When that time comes, we will have to address you as Prince.”

Qian Sule complimented, but he really admired him in his heart, not just flattery.

When he fought Li Chengdong in Hangzhou, he had never had it so easy. Being able to barely maintain a draw was already an extraordinary performance.

But now, they were fighting the Qing army as easily as fighting bandits and rebels.

Of course, he wouldn’t be so stupid as to think that Liu Liangzuo’s troops were inferior to Li Chengdong’s. He understood that all of this stemmed from Wu Changqing’s musket troops.

They were too powerful. In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Qing army facing this unit head-on completely collapsed. Moreover, it couldn’t be blamed on the Qing army not being brave enough.

Losing twenty percent of their soldiers and still charging, the Qing army’s performance was good enough. Unfortunately, when they encountered this musket unit, they still couldn’t make any waves.

Seeing such a strong army, he seemed to see the hope of the Ming Dynasty’s resurgence.

This hope made him extremely gratified. Although he had also rebelled against the Qing, to be honest, he didn’t have much hope of defeating the Manchus in his heart. He just wanted to do his best and sacrifice himself for the country.

After all, the Qing army’s strength had frightened most people.

What he never expected was that when he was about to despair, a young man who also rebelled against the Qing kept winning great victories, giving him new hope.

“This is everyone’s credit, the credit of all the soldiers.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile.

“I think you can request His Majesty to send the artisans from Shaoxing and Ningbo to Suzhou to speed up the manufacture of these muskets. If we can speed up the manufacturing speed and produce more muskets, the chances of recapturing Nanjing will be even greater.”

Xiong Rulin suggested. He wanted Wu Changqing to share this manufacturing technology, but obviously that was impossible. So, he could only settle for second best, hoping that Wu Changqing would accept a batch of artisans.

As long as Wu Changqing was willing to accept them and let those people learn the technology, it would be equivalent to Wu Changqing sharing the technology. At that time, they could find an excuse to transfer those artisans back to Shaoxing.

“This is our army’s core secret. How can we easily teach it to others?”

Wang Dafu snorted. He felt that Xiong Rulin was really ignorant and tried to get his hands on their core secret.

The two seemed to want to argue again, but Wu Changqing waved his hand, signaling them to shut up.

Then he said, “It’s not impossible to request His Majesty, but in order to prevent these artisans from learning the manufacturing methods and surrendering to the Manchurian Tatars, the families of these artisans must also be moved to Suzhou and subjected to strict monitoring.”

Wu Changqing’s desire for artisans was endless. He wanted as many as possible. Anyway, after these artisans went to Suzhou, their personal freedom would be controlled.

Wanting to leak secrets? Not so easy.

During this period, there have been several waves of spies trying to steal the secrets of the armory. Without exception, they were all captured and interrogated by the guards stationed around the armory.

There were people from Hong Chengchou, people from Liu Liangzuo and Li Chengdong, and even people from Emperor Longwu.

“In order to prevent leaks, it should be so.”

Qian Sule agreed. He thought more simply. Regardless of whether this batch of artisans was in the hands of Zhu Yihai or Wu Changqing, the muskets that were made would eventually be equipped to the Ming army.

This was of great benefit to the anti-Qing plan and the recovery of lost territories.

As for who this batch of artisans would eventually belong to, Qian Sule didn’t think that far for the time being. Even if Wu Changqing became a powerful minister in the future and emptied the emperor, it would be better than the country being destroyed.

In fact, as an orthodox scholar, Qian Sule also advocated that the emperor should not have too much power and should just be a mascot.

The affairs of governing the world should be left to them, the ministers.

This was the ultimate pursuit of those civil officials, and their predecessors had put in a lot of effort for it. As a result, Chongzhen really didn’t have much power in his later years.

Even when Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, Chongzhen couldn’t escape, because the officials didn’t agree, didn’t cooperate, and demanded that Emperor Chongzhen guard the country’s gate.

As a result, Chongzhen hanged himself in anger in the end.

Chapter 72: A Great Victory

They still had the leisure to argue about future matters, while on the battlefield, the pursuit of the Qing army had reached its final stage.

Xue Guiren, the vanguard general, had personally crossed the Grand Canal and returned to the north. The Qing army in the south had completely lost command, and entire swathes of Qing soldiers began to kneel and surrender.

Their force was utterly finished here.

Liu Liangzuo witnessed the Qing army’s crushing defeat from north of the Grand Canal, and it filled him with terror and trepidation.

It was too fast. An army of over fourteen thousand men against the Ming army’s sixteen thousand collapsed completely in less than half an hour. What followed was the Ming army’s one-sided capture of the routed soldiers.

Fewer than two thousand soldiers escaped back, with almost all the rest left in the south.

Such a heavy loss nearly made him fall from his horse.

“Lord, we must retreat to the city quickly, rely on its strong defenses, and then request reinforcements from Nanjing!”

An aide advised. The Ming army had already begun to lay pontoon bridges, and a small number of Ming soldiers had crossed the Grand Canal and were gathering. If they didn’t leave now, they would all be in danger.

Although the number of Ming soldiers crossing the Grand Canal was still very small, the Qing army was now like a flock of startled birds, with no morale left to fight. They had to return to the city to rest and reorganize.

“Retreat,”

Liu Liangzuo ordered weakly, feeling as if he had aged several years in that moment.

Another crushing defeat had almost wiped out his entire force, and his career was essentially over. Further promotion was impossible; his life held no more hope.

Hoping for the Qing Dynasty to allocate funds for him to rebuild his army was a pipe dream. He would be lucky if the Qing Dynasty didn’t strip him of his position.

His value depended entirely on the army under his command. Now that this army was almost completely destroyed, he had become worthless to the Qing.

With the return of his force, the Qing soldiers still fleeing fell into complete despair.

When the Ming army’s cavalry arrived, they had even less hope of escape. Except for a small number of fools who stubbornly resisted and were killed, and a few who managed to escape, almost all the rest chose to surrender and await capture.

In the main camp, Wu Changqing and the others were already tallying the results of the battle.

In this campaign, they had a total of one thousand four hundred men killed or missing, and over two thousand five hundred wounded.

Among them, the dead and missing were mostly from Qian Sule’s unit, which had suffered considerable losses while fleeing to lure the enemy earlier.

A small number were also killed in close combat with the Qing army’s left and right wings. Although the fighting lasted only a short time, it resulted in several hundred deaths and a large number of wounded soldiers.

However, most of the wounded soldiers had only minor injuries and could be healed, so the losses were not too great.

On the Qing army’s side, they had lost nearly fifteen thousand men, accounting for half of their total force.

About four thousand were killed in action, mostly by musket fire. About two thousand were missing, and the remaining eight thousand five hundred were taken prisoner.

In addition, they had captured a large amount of weaponry, although mostly cold weapons. But cold weapons were actually quite valuable. A standard-issue broadsword could sell for at least three or four taels of silver.

These weapons could be used to arm the newly recruited soldiers.

The harvest was rich, and everyone was in high spirits.

However, the battle was not yet over. Changzhou City was still in Liu Liangzuo’s hands. Moreover, Liu Liangzuo still had a force of fifteen thousand men, which should not be underestimated.

If they were to simply launch a direct assault, they would probably have to sacrifice several thousand men to take the city.

“Does anyone have a clever plan to capture Changzhou?”

Wu Changqing asked the others. Before they had a large number of cannons, he hated attacking cities the most.

“Changzhou City is surrounded by a dense network of waterways, making it difficult to dig tunnels. Besides a direct assault, there really isn’t a better way,”

Xiong Rulin said. There were many ways to attack a city, but most of them were not feasible in Changzhou.

“A direct assault will probably mean many more deaths,”

Wu Changqing lamented.

His words left the other generals speechless. They found that Wu Changqing was overly concerned about the lives of his soldiers. Since ancient times, battles had always meant death, and sieges had to be filled with human lives.

They were already used to such things.

“We can send someone to persuade them to surrender. Now that their situation is hopeless, and the soldiers are terrified. As long as we promise to treat them well, there is a high probability that they will surrender,”

Liu Hansan said. Their forces had already successively recruited several people who had surrendered, and he was becoming addicted to it. After all, persuading surrender was the method with the least losses.

“That will probably be difficult. Liu Liangzuo’s family members have been taken to Nanjing as hostages. If he surrenders, his family will definitely be exterminated,”

Qian Sule said. He actually approved of the Qing’s method of detaining family members and hoped that the Ming would follow suit. If the family members of the generals in command were controlled, and their families were exterminated if they surrendered, then the Ming would not have so many generals surrendering.

“Perhaps we can surround the city without attacking, wait for reinforcements from Nanjing, defeat the Qing reinforcements in the field, and destroy the morale of the defending soldiers in Changzhou City. Then, we can deliver a letter of surrender. I think there will be many low-ranking officers and soldiers in the city who are willing to surrender. When they open the city gates from the inside, and we cooperate from the outside, taking Changzhou will be as easy as flipping a hand,”

Dai Zhijun offered another plan, a classic tactic of besieging a stronghold and striking at the reinforcements, focusing on eliminating the enemy’s active forces.

However, this plan was actually very risky.

If the Qing army’s reinforcements were too numerous, it would be difficult to say whether they would eliminate the Qing army in the field, or be defeated by the Qing army’s combined attack from inside and outside.

In short, Wu Changqing and his men didn’t have enough troops. Even besieging Changzhou was somewhat difficult, let alone drawing out the main force to fight the Qing Dynasty’s reinforcements while besieging Changzhou.

Currently, they had gathered more than twenty-three thousand troops under Changzhou City, but it was far from enough.

Assimilating those more than eight thousand prisoners would not happen overnight, mainly due to a lack of officers.

The soldiers were actually easy to assimilate. They basically didn’t mind working for anyone. But the officers were hard to say. Who knew if they were still thinking about Liu Liangzuo.

Among them, there were definitely Liu Liangzuo’s confidants, or those who had received Liu Liangzuo’s favor, or those who had a relationship with Liu Liangzuo.

In short, this batch of captured officers could not be used casually. At least they had to be sent back to Suzhou for some re-education before they could be used.

Without enough commanders, forcibly stuffing these soldiers into other units would not greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the units.

“Let’s wait for our cannons to be transported here and then decide based on the situation,”

Wu Changqing decided to surround the city without attacking for now, and wait for the cannons from Suzhou to be transported over.

He now had twenty cannons thanks to captures and the work of artisans. These cannons would be very useful for attacking the city. If they could aim accurately and concentrate their fire on one section of the city wall, they might even be able to blast a hole in the wall.

Of course, this was too difficult. The cannons of this era could not possibly be that accurate.

Chapter 73: Hong Chengchou’s Headache

Changzhou is only one hundred kilometers in a straight line from Nanjing, and a messenger can arrive in half a day without regard for the horses.

Liu Liangzuo’s crushing defeat and the siege of Changzhou amounted to an urgent military situation worthy of an eight-hundred-li dispatch.

Therefore, the messenger galloped along the postal route, changing horses twice before finally reaching Nanjing and presenting the battle report to Hong Chengchou.

Upon seeing the battle report, Hong Chengchou nearly lost his temper and cursed again.

Another loss of over ten thousand men, and Changzhou City was now in danger. Liu Liangzuo’s performance left him speechless.

If Changzhou fell, Nanjing would also become unsafe, requiring a large army to be stationed there at all times. Otherwise, the Ming army could launch a surprise attack in just three or four days, covering the two hundred li.

Changzhou and Zhenjiang were the gateways to Nanjing.

However, he couldn’t spare any troops to rescue them at the moment. He Tengjiao was also causing trouble in Jiangxi, and the main force of the Qing army had returned to the north for rest, leaving the south with a depleted force.

Helpless, he could only write a memorial to the imperial court, requesting the Eight Banner army to come south again. Without the Eight Banner troops, the situation in the south would soon be out of control.

At the same time, he transferred some of the surrounding garrison troops to Nanjing for defense, just in case.

As for Changzhou, he could only leave it to its fate, unable to provide any assistance.

Hong Chengchou didn’t really want to save Liu Liangzuo, that good-for-nothing. Looking at Liu Liangzuo’s resume, one would find that this person really had no ability.

In his early years, he earned some credit by suppressing peasant uprisings, but after gaining control of a large army, he had never fought a decent battle.

He surrendered to the Qing army without a fight, failed to capture the small city of Jiangyin after a two-month siege, his forty thousand-strong army was defeated outside Suzhou, and now he had fallen into a trap, losing over ten thousand troops.

Looking at these battles alone, Liu Liangzuo was truly a useless piece of trash. Every time he had a numerical advantage, and every time he was defeated.

Hong Chengchou had completely lost hope in this guy. Keeping such a person would only waste military pay; he might as well die sooner rather than later.

After despising Liu Liangzuo, Hong Chengchou once again examined the battle report in detail.

In the battle report, Liu Liangzuo, in order to cover up his incompetence and the fact that he had fallen into a trap, deliberately emphasized the power of the Ming army’s firearms, claiming that he had not lost due to tactics, but due to weapons.

This wasn’t entirely nonsense, after all, their troop strength was about the same when they faced the Ming army head-on. Under other circumstances, they could have fought.

However, facing the Ming army’s firearm units and choosing to engage in such a head-on battle in the open was undoubtedly suicidal.

“It’s those firearms again.”

Hong Chengchou gritted his teeth. He had repeatedly seen different generals praising these firearms and became increasingly concerned about them.

However, the Ming army guarded these firearms extremely closely, and Hong Chengchou had yet to obtain one, making it impossible to find someone to imitate them. Relying on the jianghu underworld to steal such secrets was no longer a realistic hope. He could only hope that the Eight Banner army would come south and directly capture Suzhou.

In fact, Hong Chengchou had already found some gunsmiths and asked them to manufacture muskets that didn’t require a fuse and could fire quickly.

However, this request was too difficult for the craftsmen.

So far, the craftsmen in Nanjing had no clue. They had some ideas on how to increase the rate of fire, but they were completely stumped on how to ignite the gunpowder without a fuse.

The springs needed for this were truly high technology in China at the moment.

In addition to military matters, Hong Chengchou had also been overwhelmed with internal affairs recently.

Several large cloth merchants had reported that a kind of cheap cloth had appeared in Nanjing. Not only was the quality good, but the price was also extremely low, fifty cash less per bolt than other merchants’ cloth.

This was simply forcing the other cloth merchants to their deaths, leaving no room for them to survive.

The local cloth merchants had spontaneously united to deal with this, jointly buying up this batch of low-priced cloth in an attempt to take control of all sources and then control the price.

However, there was simply too much of this cheap cloth. It seemed to be endlessly transported from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the few large cloth merchants were finding it difficult to bear.

With too much cloth stockpiled and unable to sell, their cash flow was about to become a problem.

Under these circumstances, the cloth merchants could only turn to the government for help, asking them to intervene, such as by taxing or directly confiscating the cloth.

Their reasons were also very convincing, because the cloth came from Suzhou. If they didn’t suppress it, a large amount of silver would flow to Suzhou, flowing to the Ming army.

This gave Hong Chengchou a headache. He personally hoped for competition, as it would be a good thing for the cloth market, lowering prices and allowing more people to afford cloth.

But the problem was that this cheap cloth came from Suzhou, so he had to consider some military consequences.

At the same time, he became increasingly curious about Suzhou.

He knew that Suzhou was a very developed and wealthy city. There was a saying, “When Suzhou and Hu are ripe, the empire is fed,” as it was an important grain-producing, textile, and trading area.

However, Suzhou didn’t have so many strange things in the past. It wasn’t until that Wu Changqing appeared that these strange things also emerged.

Soap, laundry soap, glass, tooth powder, cloth, advanced firearms.

These things were extremely popular in the market, especially soap and glass, which were unique to Suzhou. In Nanjing and the surrounding areas, they were basically in a state where they were available for a price but impossible to find.

As soon as the goods from Suzhou were transported in, someone would immediately snap them up. Then, those Suzhou merchants would purchase large quantities of grain, saltpeter, ironware, and other war materials and return to Suzhou.

Hong Chengchou felt that this couldn’t continue. He immediately summoned the Financial Commissioner of Zhili and ordered him to increase the tax on goods such as soap and laundry soap in order to reduce the profits of those goods and increase revenue at the same time.

In times of war, everyone was short of money.

The Southern Ming court was short of money, and the Qing court was actually quite short of money as well.

The only one who might not be short of money was Suzhou. That Wu Changqing was even engaged in free education, which almost made Hong Chengchou die of depression when he found out.

How rich must he be to vigorously promote education during a time of war?

Hong Chengchou’s idea was good, but after the policy was implemented, only the prostitutes on the Qinhuai River suffered.

After all, if they increased taxes, the Suzhou merchants would increase prices. In any case, given the popularity of goods such as soap in Nanjing, increasing prices wouldn’t make it difficult to sell.

In the end, the Qing court gained more tax revenue, the Suzhou merchants continued to make big money, and only the consumers who needed these goods ultimately paid the bill.

Because of this, there were many curses on the Qinhuai River, and some people even hoped that the Ming army in Suzhou would attack quickly and drive the Qing Tartars back.

That way, they could once again use cheap soap, laundry soap, and good things like glass mirrors.

Chapter 74: Capturing Changzhou

Changzhou, December 1st. Wu Changqing’s artillery battalion arrived.

At the same time, the Ming army’s spies in Nanjing sent back intelligence, indicating that there were no large-scale troop movements in Nanjing, seemingly with no intention of rescuing Changzhou.

“It seems Hong Chengchou intends to abandon Changzhou.”

Dai Zhijun said helplessly. With the Qing army coming to reinforce, his plan to besiege the city and strike at reinforcements was useless.

“It’s fine this way. We can focus on attacking Changzhou with all our strength. After taking Changzhou, we can advance or retreat as we see fit.”

Li Shaobin wanted to be more cautious, taking it one step at a time, not expecting to get fat with a single bite.

Once they captured Changzhou, they would continue to expand their army, at least to fifty thousand or more, before attacking Nanjing. Otherwise, their rear would be too vulnerable.

“Everyone, go back and prepare. We will launch a general attack tomorrow. I don’t want to drag this out for too long. It’s best to take it down within a day.”

They had discussed how to attack Changzhou for several days and had a detailed plan.

In their plan, they intended to break through in one go, rather than fight a war of attrition.

Relying on depleting the enemy’s city defense supplies before capturing the city would result in too many casualties. Wu Changqing didn’t like that. He wanted to capture the city with a single general attack.

Changzhou’s city walls weren’t too high, so there was still hope of capturing it in one go.

The next day, Wu Changqing ordered a full-scale attack on Changzhou, attacking the city simultaneously from the southeast and west.

Leaving one direction open was to give the enemy a route to abandon the city, reducing their will to resist. If all four sides were surrounded, it would easily force the other side to defend with all their might.

The Art of War specifically explains the tactical principle of surrounding three sides and leaving one open.

Wu Changqing’s main force attacked the south, Qian Sule’s troops attacked the west, and Liu Hansan’s troops attacked the east.

Twenty-five thousand soldiers attacking simultaneously was an extremely terrifying and spectacular sight.

Liu Liangzuo, observing the enemy’s situation from the city tower, knew at a glance that the Ming army was launching a general attack.

“Damn it, Wu Changqing, you little brat, you’re going too far!”

Liu Liangzuo cursed loudly. Wu Changqing’s contemptuous actions made him feel extremely stifled.

On the west side, twenty cannons took the lead in firing, continuously bombarding the city walls.

This was mainly for deterrence. Very few of the shells could accurately hit the city walls, and they couldn’t kill many enemy soldiers.

However, the sound of the cannons firing, as well as the tragic state after being hit by the shells, could cause great psychological pressure on the defending soldiers.

After all, lacking cannons, they could only be beaten and couldn’t fight back.

After a round of shelling, Qian Sule’s troops began a full-scale attack.

Under the Ming army’s command, the surrendered prisoners carried sandbags towards the moat.

This was also a good way to use prisoners, as it could quickly fill the moat and reduce the losses of their own soldiers. As for these prisoners, they wouldn’t feel sorry for their deaths.

They were using human lives to fill the river, while the south side was much more humane.

Wu Changqing first sent the flintlocks forward to suppress the enemy, and then the captured soldiers were driven to fill the moat.

With the suppression of the flintlock troops, the Qing army’s archers on the city walls didn’t dare to raise their heads at all. Only a small number of people estimated the Ming army’s position and then made parabolic shots.

This kind of sporadic resistance was like tickling to the Ming army.

Soon, a large section of the moat was filled.

“This moat is being filled too easily, with almost no casualties. These flintlocks are also a great weapon when attacking cities.”

Xiong Rulin said with emotion. He didn’t go to Qian Sule’s side, but instead watched the battle on the south side, learning the tactics of the flintlock troops.

“Changzhou’s city walls are not high, so flintlocks can exert their power. If it were Nanjing’s high walls, I’m afraid the effect would not be so good.”

Li Shaobin had now become a flintlock expert, and he understood the various functions and effects of flintlocks very well.

With the moat filled, Dong Tianbao’s troops responsible for attacking the city had already begun to advance.

On the east side, Liu Hansan also sent musket teams and archers to suppress the enemy. The effect was worse than that of flintlocks, but it was better than nothing.

Fortunately, there weren’t many Qing army archers, so they could only watch the Ming army fill the river.

After the moat was filled, Liu Hansan also arranged for a suicide squad to go to the city gate, enduring the attacks from the city walls to start digging a pit. They were the key to this attack, and they were going to blow up the city gate.

As the city gate was the most vulnerable part of a city, blowing it up was relatively easy, burying about one or two thousand catty of explosives would be enough.

The Qing army on the city walls didn’t know what the Ming army was digging the pit for, but they instinctively believed that this was not a good sign and had to be stopped.

Various boulders and boiling oil were thrown down, and batches of soldiers digging the pit were injured. The soldiers waiting in line to go forward were shaking their legs just watching.

They noticed that almost no one who did this job could come back intact. Being splashed with boiling oil and scalded was considered lucky, but being hit in the head by a boulder would result in death.

Afraid as they were, they didn’t dare to retreat.

Liu Hansan wasn’t as gentle with his soldiers as Wu Changqing was, and could even be said to be somewhat cruel. For soldiers who didn’t obey orders, he would not hesitate to behead them.

After paying a huge price, a large pit was finally dug under the city gate. Then, the Ming army stuffed bags of gunpowder into it and set up the fuse.

On the other side, Qian Sule’s siege had also begun. Wu Changqing had also equipped them with a batch of hand grenades. Under the city walls, those strongmen who had been selected lit the hand grenades in their hands and threw them at the city walls.

Changzhou’s city walls were only a little over four meters high. Ordinary people might not be able to throw that high, but for these selected strongmen, this height was not difficult for them.

One black box after another was thrown onto the city walls, scaring many Qing soldiers half to death.

Many of them knew what this thing was. It was the hand grenade that the Ming army spoke of. It would explode and was extremely powerful.

Those veterans who had participated in the attack on Suzhou quickly shouted at others to throw this thing down when they saw the hand grenade.

Unfortunately, they were still a little late.

Those soldiers who were preparing to do so exploded the moment they picked up the hand grenade, and the whole person was blown to pieces, which was terrible.

The splashing iron pieces and iron nails also made the surrounding people suffer.

Seeing the tragic state of the soldiers who tried to pick up the hand grenade, no one else dared to go again. When hand grenades were thrown up again, their reaction was to quickly dodge and stay far away.

After dodging, there was naturally no way to attack the Ming army who were climbing up.

Liu Liangzuo, who was watching this scene in the city tower, stomped his feet angrily, drew his long sword, and ordered the officers to personally go forward to command and force the soldiers not to retreat or dodge.

Under the pressure of the officers, the defending soldiers could only go forward in despair. Retreating was also death, and advancing was also death. The bottom soldiers were so tragic.

After arranging the defense here, Liu Liangzuo went to other places to check.

He needed to supervise the battle at all times to prevent the soldiers from being timid and afraid of war.

Just as he was about to walk to the east side, there was a sudden loud noise, and the whole earth shook. Liu Liangzuo’s horse was also frightened and threw him directly to the ground.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

Liu Liangzuo roared while sitting on the ground.

“General, let’s run away quickly. The city gate on the east side has been blown open, and the city wall on the south side has also been lost.”

Before long, subordinates ran to report one after another.

What, the city gate was blown open?

Liu Liangzuo was stunned and didn’t recover. He had heard of the city gate being rammed open, but this was the first time it had been blown open.

In order to prevent the city gate from being rammed open, he had even ordered sandbags to be used to block the city gate. He thought that after blocking it like this, no matter how Wu Changqing rammed it, it would be impossible to break through from the city gate.

However, now Wu Changqing had done it with explosives.

After the city gate was blown open, those sandbags would also be quickly removed. At that time, the Ming army could drive straight in from the city gate.

If only one city gate had a problem, he could send reserve troops to press up and block it with human lives.

But now, the dangerous places were not just at the city gate. Many Ming troops had already appeared on the city walls on the south side, and hand-to-hand combat had already begun on the city walls.

Moreover, hand grenades were thrown up and exploded from time to time. Although the hand grenades didn’t distinguish between the enemy and ourselves and exploded on both sides, it was clear that the Qing army was at a loss, because they had more people on the city walls than the Ming army.

Fighting to this point, the Qing army’s defense line was already leaking everywhere, and the soldiers’ morale was low. Breaking the city had become a matter of time, not a question of whether it could be defended.

If they didn’t retreat at this time, they would only be waiting to be captured alive.

In the past, Liu Liangzuo would have retreated without hesitation. After all, as long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn. But this time, he was somewhat disheartened.

The successive defeats had a great psychological impact on him.

From a general commanding one hundred thousand troops to a defeated general with nothing, this gap was too great.

Although surrendering or escaping would still give him a chance to survive, this feeling of losing everything was truly worse than death. Being chased around by a young brat also made him lose face to face others.

Thinking of this, Liu Liangzuo, taking advantage of his personal soldiers’ unpreparedness, raised the long sword in his hand and slashed it across his neck.

Chapter 75: Another Great Victory

“General!”

Liu Liangzuo’s actions completely exceeded the expectations of his subordinates, and no one had time to stop him. By the time they realized what was happening, blood was gushing from Liu Liangzuo’s neck like a fountain.

Seeing this scene, many people panicked, and different thoughts arose in their minds.

Some of Liu Liangzuo’s loyal personal guards and generals were filled with grief and indignation, preparing to fight to the death to avenge Liu Liangzuo. Others were preparing to escape from the north gate, trying to flee to Nanjing and rely on the Qing army to stage a comeback.

But more generals were already preparing to surrender. They had discovered that Wu Changqing’s Ming army was even more powerful than the Qing army. Fighting against such an army was simply too difficult and dangerous.

If they fled back to Nanjing, they would have to continue fighting Wu Changqing in the future. Rather than that, it would be better to defect to the Ming army now and then follow the Ming army to bully the Qing army.

By defecting to the Ming army now, they could still make great contributions and secure a good future.

On the other hand, if they fled back, they would inevitably have to experience today’s disastrous defeat again.

This was what Xue Guiren thought. In fact, he had not fought much against the Qing army. He had only heard that the Qing army was very powerful.

However, he had fought against Wu Changqing’s army several times, and each time he had suffered a crushing defeat, which made him develop a “Wu-phobia.” He was now ten thousand times unwilling to fight Wu Changqing again.

With the death of their commander, this army became a pile of loose sand, divided into three parts.

Those who were not very bright rushed towards the city gate, wanting to make a last-ditch effort.

Some generals who still favored the Manchus led some of their personal guards and subordinates to escape towards the north gate.

And those generals who intended to surrender directly arranged for their personal guards to spread the news of Liu Liangzuo’s death and tried to find senior Ming army generals to surrender to.

After the news of Liu Liangzuo’s suicide spread, the Qing army on the city wall immediately fell into chaos. Many soldiers threw away their weapons, either fleeing into the city or kneeling down to surrender.

In short, most people had already given up resisting, as it was meaningless.

Dong Tianbao’s troops opened the city gate, and Dong Tianbao took the lead in rushing in. Next was the time to capture prisoners. There was no danger anymore, and seizing credit was the most important thing.

Usually at this time, the soldiers would take the opportunity to rob and rape women.

However, this time, Dong Tianbao had issued a strict order: anyone who dared to do this would be beheaded without exception.

He knew that Wu Changqing cared very much about the people and his reputation. If he committed acts of rape and plunder, no amount of credit would be of any use.

Although many soldiers at the bottom were dissatisfied with this order, most of them chose to obey for the sake of their lives.

Only a very few would choose to take the risk.

“Brother Dong, have you been well?”

Xue Guiren led nearly a thousand subordinates, carrying Liu Liangzuo’s head in his hand, and came to Dong Tianbao, smiling at Dong Tianbao.

He was not stupid enough to kneel down and surrender like other scattered soldiers. He directly chopped off Liu Liangzuo’s head and used it as a certificate of allegiance to the Ming army.

At the same time, he controlled more than a thousand of his direct troops. With these trump cards, he could get a decent official position in the Ming army after surrendering.

“Xue Guiren, you are really ruthless, even killing your superior.”

Dong Tianbao said sarcastically. His relationship with Xue Guiren was not good.

“A wise man submits to circumstances. In this regard, I am far inferior to Brother Dong. If I had defected like Brother Dong earlier, I would not have fallen to this point. Now, I hope that Brother Dong can put aside past grievances and accept me.”

Xue Guiren said ingratiatingly. Now Dong Tianbao was doing very well in the Ming army, so he had to curry favor with him.

“Hmph.”

Although he disliked this guy, Dong Tianbao did not do anything excessive. After all, Wu Changqing’s strategy now was to treat all generals who voluntarily surrendered favorably.

This was also for long-term consideration, to weaken the resistance of some Qing army generals and facilitate future surrenders.

The mopping-up operation in Changzhou continued, while the Qing army that had escaped from the north gate was being pursued by Wu Changqing’s cavalry battalion.

Surrounding three sides and leaving one open did not mean that the open side was completely ignored.

Putting a cavalry unit here was definitely a nightmare for those deserters.

The cavalry didn’t even need to use their swords. After chasing those defeated soldiers for a few miles, they could only lie on the ground gasping for breath.

Therefore, when those defeated soldiers saw the Ming army cavalry appear, they very cleverly threw away their weapons and knelt to the side, waiting to be captured. Anyway, the Ming army did not kill prisoners, and surrendering could save their lives.

The fate of these captured deserters would be very different from the fate of the soldiers who surrendered voluntarily in the city.

Those who surrendered in the city showed that they were not loyal to the Manchus and could be directly incorporated and enjoy the treatment of soldiers.

And those who were caught after escaping were obviously more untrustworthy. In the future, they would be assigned to tasks such as filling the moat.

As for those generals who escaped, their fate would be even worse.

Wu Changqing’s attitude towards these die-hard Manchus had always been to kill them directly.

As the supreme ruler of a regime, Wu Changqing must not show a merciful side to the enemy. These people who should be killed still had to be killed.

After spending several hours cleaning up the mess, Changzhou finally returned to calm.

“In this battle, our army lost about eight hundred men, with more than four hundred seriously injured and more than one thousand slightly injured. We killed about three thousand three hundred enemy soldiers, captured nearly ten thousand, and about one thousand escaped and are missing.

Among them, the enemy’s main general, Liu Liangzuo, was killed in battle, the deputy general, Xue Guiren, voluntarily surrendered, and five other guerrilla chiliarchs defected, along with fifty-three officers below the chiliarch level. We captured twenty-three enemy generals.

We seized countless military equipment, about three hundred metric tons of grain, sixty thousand taels of silver, and some other property…”

The statistician reported the results of the battle, and smiles appeared on the faces of the generals upon hearing this.

It was another great victory. After this battle, they had completely annihilated Liu Liangzuo’s army and occupied Changzhou, expanding their territory by thousands of square kilometers.

In ancient times, as long as you controlled the large cities, the surrounding villages and towns were considered controlled.

Those villages and towns without city wall protection and without professional soldiers stationed there had no other choice but to surrender.

With the increase in territory and the expansion of power, their power also rose accordingly.

Following Wu Changqing, these military generals had all become phoenixes overnight. Previously insignificant little people could now often appear in the imperial court.

Official positions and titles were about to be bestowed.

For them, being able to obtain these things was already very satisfying, and it also strengthened their determination to follow Wu Changqing. Only by following Wu Changqing could they obtain these benefits.

Chapter 76: Returning to Suzhou

The next day, Wu Changqing held a meeting to reorganize the military.

Units that had suffered losses needed reinforcements, and those that had surrendered needed to be integrated into the ranks.

In the Battle of Changzhou, the units of Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin suffered the most. They were initially responsible for luring the enemy, and later their weapons were the worst during the siege.

After two battles, their eight thousand men were reduced to six thousand. To restore their strength, Wu Changqing supplemented them with four thousand soldiers.

However, this replenishment wasn’t simply providing them with soldiers and junior officers. Instead, Wang Dafu was ordered to merge his four thousand men directly into Qian Sule’s unit.

On the surface, it seemed that Qian Sule’s forces had increased, and their strength had grown.

But in reality, Wang Dafu’s four thousand men would usually follow Qian Sule’s command. However, if Qian Sule had any other ideas, he would absolutely not be able to command Wang Dafu.

This was because Wang Dafu was originally a personal guard of Wu Changqing, a core member of his inner circle.

Wu Changqing used this method to indirectly weaken Qian Sule’s power while leaving Qian Sule with nothing to say.

Qian Sule knew Wu Changqing’s intentions but was helpless. After all, their military pay, food, and personnel replenishment were all controlled by Wu Changqing, unlike other generals stationed outside who could collect taxes, make money, and recruit soldiers on their own.

After the reorganization, Qian Sule became the commander of the Second Division of the Wu army, consisting of three regiments.

At the same time, Liu Hansan’s unit was expanded from the original six thousand five hundred men to ten thousand, becoming the Third Division of the Wu army, with Liu Hansan as the commander.

The surrendered general Xue Guiren’s troops were also assigned to him, and Xue Guiren became a regimental commander in the Third Division, which could be considered a mid-to-high-level command position.

Xue Guiren wasn’t particularly satisfied with this position, but he could accept it. As a defeated general, this outcome was already pretty good.

Wu Changqing directly led the First Division, which was also expanded, adding five thousand men, most of whom were cold weapon troops.

After the reorganization, Wu Changqing’s forces expanded to fifty thousand men.

Of course, this was just the planned number. In reality, only about forty thousand had completed the reorganization, and some people still needed to be selected and trained before they could be incorporated into the army and form combat power.

Fifty thousand men was only the first phase of the expansion plan. After digesting these new recruits, Wu Changqing would launch the second phase, which would expand the army to one hundred thousand.

With an army of one hundred thousand, he could basically defend his territory and attack Nanjing.

Or, with an army of one hundred thousand, he could have a decisive battle with the main Qing army Eight Banners troops. As long as he defeated the main force of the Qing army going south, the Wu army could be unstoppable south of the Yangtze River.

After all, the current strength of the Manchus was not that great.

The core Manchu Eight Banners and Mongol Eight Banners had a total force of just over two hundred thousand, while the Han Eight Banners had about one hundred thousand. In addition to these, there were Green Standard Armies all over the country, which were similar to the troops of Liu Liangzuo and Li Chengdong, numbering about four hundred thousand.

At first glance, it seemed like there were quite a few troops, but when these troops were spread across the country, it was far from enough.

Now, in the west, Sichuan still had Zhang Xianzhong’s Great Western regime, with a force of up to three hundred thousand, and Hunan and Jiangxi still had He Tengjiao’s two hundred thousand troops.

The Qing army had just occupied the north and needed to divide its forces to garrison and maintain rule, and they also had to leave some troops in their old home in the northeast.

Calculated in this way, the Manchus didn’t actually have many troops available. Sending an army of one hundred thousand to attack Wu Changqing would be considered a significant investment.

In fact, every time Wu Changqing saw this period of history when the Manchus destroyed the Ming Dynasty, he felt a little incredible. The total strength of the Manchus when they entered the pass was only a little over one hundred and twenty thousand, and they relied on this small number of people to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

This was something that Dorgon probably wouldn’t have dared to imagine when he entered the pass, but that’s how it happened.

The reason for this was that too many Han Chinese generals surrendered. They seemed to have been bewitched, and they all surrendered without a fight.

Wu Sangui surrendered with more than fifty thousand people, Zuo Liangyu’s son Zuo Menggeng surrendered to ten thousand Manchus with two hundred thousand subordinates without a fight, Liu Liangzuo surrendered with an army of one hundred thousand, tens of thousands of Huang Degong’s subordinates surrendered, Li Chengdong surrendered with tens of thousands of subordinates…

Whenever he thought of these examples, Wu Changqing knew that the army must be reformed. He would never allow the generals leading the troops to recruit and expand their forces and collect taxes privately, and he would not allow them to turn those soldiers into their own private troops.

This was actually easy to do, as long as he frequently transferred their positions. For example, this year Liu Hansan was the commander of the Third Division, and next year he could switch with Li Shaobin.

As long as the highest commander could not command the same army for a long time, they would not be able to completely control those soldiers and junior generals.

After reorganizing the army, the Second and Third Divisions were left to garrison Changzhou. Wu Changqing led the main force of the First Division back to Suzhou. He kept this most critical force by his side at all times.

As long as this force was in his hands, even if Liu Hansan and Qian Sule rebelled, he would still have a chance to turn the tables.

But if this flintlock gun unit was gone, he would be heartbroken.

When they arrived in Suzhou, the people who had received the news had already come out of the city to welcome and watch the triumphant army.

Now, the Wu army had become the pride of the people of Suzhou. This invincible army that had won every battle made the people of Suzhou feel proud.

Of course, the fact that this army originated in Jiading was naturally ignored by the people of Suzhou. Anyway, Wu Changqing was now stationed in Suzhou, so this army was the army of the people of Suzhou.

Moreover, there were many people from Suzhou in this army, accounting for a significant proportion.

Knowing that there were people watching, Wu Changqing ordered the cold weapon troops to take a detour back to the military camp, while the flintlock gun troops went to parade in front of the people, as a kind of military parade.

Naturally, the military parade could not be like the usual march. They had to maintain their formation and walk with momentum, that is, they had to march in step as they did during training.

Wu Changqing rode a tall horse in front, and was greeted by cheers from the people.

Following closely behind was an army arranged in a square, marching in step.

The uniform pace, the uniform movements, and even the expressions were uniform, unsmiling.

Where had the ancients seen such a formation? This formation had a great visual impact on people, making people feel excited and unable to help but admire it.

“This is our invincible Wu army, even the way they walk is so majestic and powerful.”

“With such military appearance, it’s no wonder they win every battle.”

Some wealthy merchants had also occupied good positions early on, taking in the momentum of the Wu army in its entirety.

Some students from the university also occupied good positions, as they were also people of status.

“Teacher’s ability to train soldiers is the most powerful. It would be great if the school could offer a military science course.”

“This invincible army relies on those flintlock guns. I heard that Guan Mengfei has researched a process to improve the manufacturing speed of gun barrels. I’m afraid he will be praised by the teacher this time.”

“I heard that Feng Xianzhong has taught himself elementary physics, and he will probably be given an important task next.”

These students’ words were full of envy, as those were all opportunities to become officials.

The Fourth Brigade circled around the city for a while before returning to the military camp, and Wu Changqing also returned home.

The young mistress and Zihe were both in the courtyard, and it seemed they had been waiting for a long time.

Seeing Wu Changqing enter the door, a smile appeared on Chen Yuyan’s face. Perhaps because she was too happy, there were faint tears in the corners of her eyes.

“What, did you miss me?”

Wu Changqing hugged her, and the other maids and servants quickly turned their heads, pretending not to see.

“You’re annoying, let me down quickly, there are so many people here.”

Chen Yuyan was both angry and anxious. It was one thing to do some intimate actions in front of Zihe, but doing this in front of so many servants, how would she face people in the future, how would she maintain her dignity in front of the servants?

Wu Changqing smiled and put her down.

“Go boil some water for me to bathe.”

Wu Changqing instructed Zihe. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and Wu Changqing had been with a large group of men in the military camp these past few days, and he had long been horny.

Chapter 77: Brothers in Misery

December 5th, Shaoxing.

Zhu Yihai received Qian Sule’s war report and secret memorial.

The war report detailed the course and results of the Changzhou battle. The secret memorial contained an analysis of Wu Changqing and some information about the flintlock guns in the Wu army.

In the secret memorial, Qian Sule highly praised Wu Changqing’s abilities but also noted his great ambition for power.

In fact, Qian Sule hadn’t written too explicitly, such as omitting Wu Changqing’s skill in winning over the people’s hearts. He feared that Zhu Yihai would become wary of Wu Changqing, leading to internal strife and benefiting the Qing Dynasty.

After reading the war report and secret memorial, Zhu Yihai summoned his ministers and announced the good news of the Wu army’s capture of Changzhou.

Upon hearing this victory, many ministers showed smiles on their faces.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! With General Wu, this divine warrior, the recovery of Nanjing is just around the corner!”

Zhang Guowei congratulated, and other ministers followed suit.

Previously, they had only received bad news of defeats or generals surrendering every day. Since Wu Changqing appeared, they had begun to receive a constant stream of victories.

“General Wu’s forces are still too small. What do you think of the memorials submitted by Qian and Xiong a few days ago?”

Zhu Yihai had received Qian Sule’s suggestion a few days prior, advising him to gather skilled artisans from the eastern Zhejiang region and send them to Suzhou for Wu Changqing’s use. This would allow for the rapid production of flintlock guns, increasing their strength.

After several months, even Zhu Yihai, as emperor, now knew that Wu Changqing possessed a weapon called a ‘flintlock gun,’ which was exceptionally fierce. The victories in many battles were due to this weapon.

However, this weapon was extremely difficult to manufacture, and Wu Changqing had taken the strictest confidentiality measures.

Zhu Yihai certainly wanted Wu Changqing to contribute the manufacturing method of this flintlock gun, but he also knew that it was impossible in this chaotic world.

Now, he faced the dilemma of whether to bestow the artisans upon Wu Changqing.

The benefit of giving the artisans to Wu Changqing was that it would increase Wu Changqing’s strength and speed up the recovery of Nanjing.

The downside was also that it could increase Wu Changqing’s strength, making Wu Changqing even more difficult to control.

“I believe that General Wu should present the manufacturing method. Shaoxing is in the rear, making weapon production safer. If the artisans are sent to Suzhou and Suzhou is captured by the Qing army, the manufacturing method falling into the hands of the Qing army would be a complete disaster.”

Fang Guoan stepped forward and said, firmly opposing sending the artisans to Suzhou.

He couldn’t possibly not covet the craftsmanship of manufacturing flintlock guns. As long as the manufacturing site was in Shaoxing, he would have enough means to seize this craft for himself and expand his own strength.

His reason was actually plausible, but his wishful thinking was far from reality.

Zhang Guowei reminded, “Duke Yue, you are mistaken. Our most important task at this time is to recover Nanjing. It is not appropriate to start internal strife. We should learn from the Hongguang affair.”

Although he didn’t say it explicitly, everyone was smart enough to understand Zhang Guowei’s meaning.

Zhang Guowei meant that, in the current situation, forcing Wu Changqing to hand over this manufacturing method would undoubtedly provoke internal strife.

And the Ming Dynasty really couldn’t withstand any more turmoil. The previous Hongguang court, with nearly one million soldiers, was precisely because of the internal strife between the powerful Ma Shiying and the Donglin Party that the Qing army had the opportunity to take advantage.

Because Ma Shiying relentlessly persecuted the Donglin Party after taking power, Zuo Liangyu, who had received favors from the Donglin Party, led more than two hundred thousand troops to Nanjing, claiming to clear the emperor’s side and kill Ma Shiying.

If they were to force Wu Changqing to hand over his trump card now, Wu Changqing might also shout to clear the emperor’s side, kill Fang Guoan, and then march south.

This kind of thing had just been staged by the Hongguang court, and it was time to learn from it.

“Minister Zhang is right. The recovery of the old capital is the priority. As for this weapon manufacturing method, we can discuss it later.”

How could Zhu Yihai not want to master this craft himself? But this kind of thing couldn’t be achieved just by thinking about it.

Zhu Yihai was actually very clear that he had no soldiers in his hands, and in the future, he would most likely only be a puppet emperor.

However, even being a puppet emperor was not bad. At least on the surface, he was still the emperor, could still receive the kneeling worship of his ministers, and could still enjoy the pleasures of the imperial harem.

This kind of puppet life was better than the present.

Moreover, as long as he held the banner of righteousness, a puppet emperor was not without the opportunity to stage a comeback.

Like the Jiajing Emperor in the past, he had nothing when he ascended the throne, and then relied on a series of imperial power plays to manipulate the powerful ministers, eventually seizing power and achieving the Jiajing Restoration.

Zhu Yihai now wanted to take this path, first giving his subordinates the greatest power, letting them help him recover the country first.

If there was an opportunity in the future, he would consolidate power and become a wise ruler. If there was no opportunity, he would be a puppet and enjoy life.

All the civil officials in the court supported sending artisans to Suzhou. Fang Guoan had no way to object unless he openly rebelled now.

He wasn’t that stupid and had a clear understanding of his own strength.

However, this didn’t mean he gave up and succumbed to his covetous desires. He just wanted to change his approach.

For example, planting a group of artisans loyal to him to learn the technology, or buying over, wooing, or threatening some artisans. In short, there were many methods.

A few days later, the news of Wu Changqing’s capture of Changzhou reached Fuzhou.

Regarding this news, the Longwu Emperor didn’t know whether he should be happy or depressed.

He was happy that Wu Changqing was loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and Wu Changqing’s victory represented the victory of the Ming Dynasty.

He was depressed that Wu Changqing was loyal to Prince Lu, Zhu Yihai, and not to him, the legitimate Ming court.

This made Zhu Yujian somewhat regretful. If he had known that Wu Changqing was so capable, he should have directly conferred a marquisate or dukedom on him.

Now, Wu Changqing had already turned to Zhu Yihai and was approaching Nanjing. If Wu Changqing recovered Nanjing and Zhu Yihai moved the court to Nanjing, then it would be difficult to say whether others would recognize him or Zhu Yihai.

After all, Nanjing had a very special significance for the Ming Dynasty. Sitting in Nanjing could represent legitimacy.

Now, Guangdong and Guangxi and Yunnan and other places only nominally respected him as legitimate. In reality, he had no control over those places.

Once Zhu Yihai returned to Nanjing, Zhu Yihai could use the old capital of the Ming Dynasty to his advantage. Perhaps some people would side with him because of this, which would be very bad for Zhu Yujian.

If he wasn’t worried about being criticized, he would want to lead troops to attack Zhu Yihai directly.

In his opinion, Zhu Yihai was even more troublesome than the Manchurian Tartars. Without resolving Zhu Yihai, his legitimacy would always face challenges.

“Gentlemen, how should this matter be handled?”

Zhu Yujian asked the ministers.

“Your Majesty, we can directly use the banner of righteousness and also confer Wu Changqing as Duke Wu, appointing him as the Governor-General of Zhili. After all, we represent legitimacy. With the same rewards, the possibility of Wu Changqing siding with us is extremely high.”

Vice Minister of Rites Huang Daozhou suggested.

“Wouldn’t this reward be too high? General Zheng is only a marquis.”

Another minister close to Zheng Zhilong said.

“Hmph, it’s come to this, where can we care so much? Could it be that you can watch Nanjing fall into the hands of Prince Lu?

If Marquis Pinglu is unhappy, Your Majesty can promise him that he will be granted a Prince title if he takes Nanjing. With his one hundred thousand naval troops, going upstream from the Yangtze River is not without a chance.”

Huang Daozhou snorted coldly. Although he was the Vice Minister of Rites, he was not pedantic.

At this time of endangering legitimacy, where could they care so much? Getting Nanjing into their hands was the most important thing.

As long as they occupied Nanjing, and then moved to Nanjing to oversee the country, who would dare to say they were not legitimate?

Moreover, he was also very dissatisfied with Zheng Zhilong. Relying on some military power, he was granted a marquisate, but in reality, he had never fought the Qing army and had not made any contributions.

Even this kind of person could be granted a marquisate. What was inappropriate about granting a dukedom to Wu Changqing, who had killed tens of thousands of enemies on the front line?

“Minister Huang is right. Recovering the old capital is the most important thing at present.”

Zhu Yujian chose to listen to Huang Daozhou’s suggestion. If Zheng Zhilong was not satisfied, he would force him to go north to recover the lost territories.

In fact, he had always wanted to go north, but unfortunately, he had no troops, and Zheng Zhilong did not listen to his orders.

In terms of military power, he and Zhu Yihai were a pair of brothers in misery.

Chapter 78: Overseas Merchants

In Suzhou, Wu Changqing bid farewell to his gentle haven early in the morning. After breakfast, he began his work.

Today, he was receiving several Dutch and Portuguese sea merchants.

The Ming Dynasty had always prohibited overseas trade, but this ban was only effective in the early stages. In the mid and later periods, faced with enormous profits, all kinds of smuggling became commonplace.

The imperial court realized that completely prohibiting it would cost too much and lacked the strength to do so.

Local officials chose to turn a blind eye or collect benefits from it.

This led to the continuous existence of maritime trade, while the imperial court couldn’t collect a single tax silver.

It can only be said that the ancestral laws killed this country.

Because the family laws established by Zhu Yuanzhang were sacred and inviolable, their descendants were burdened with concerns about changing this situation.

Wu Changqing would not abide by such idiotic rules. If a country wants to be prosperous, overseas trade is indispensable. Especially now that global maritime trade has already begun, and England has already begun to rise.

If he doesn’t enter the market early, he may suffer losses at sea in the future.

Therefore, Wu Changqing sent people to find overseas merchants as soon as he took power, wanting to establish trade relations with them and gradually develop the navy.

“Lord Wu, these three are Dutch merchants, and these two are Portuguese merchants. They are all engaged in ocean trade, taking the route from India to Japan.”

Lu Shanwei, the translator, introduced.

“Ask them how many ships they have and whether they can help me transport saltpeter, cotton, high-quality iron ore, and guano.”

Wu Changqing said. In his eyes, silver is actually useless. It is foolish to exchange one’s own cloth, porcelain, and tea for a pile of silver, far better to exchange them for useful materials.

Simply exchanging for silver will only cause the domestic purchasing power of silver to decline, without any benefit.

But saltpeter is different. Wu Changqing lacks it in large quantities and wants as much as possible. Raw materials such as cotton, silk, linen, and iron ore are also better in abundance. As for guano, it is even a good thing.

Nowadays, people don’t have any fertilizer for farming, at most some manure and human urine, which have limited fertility, resulting in very low grain yields.

Guano is a very good natural fertilizer, which has a great effect on improving crop yields. Before chemical fertilizers are invented, this thing is also better in abundance, and no matter how much is transported, it will be used.

If you want to prosper and develop, population is very important.

But here in China, the per capita arable land area is actually not large, and many people have problems eating.

Only by finding ways to feed these people can they free up their hands to develop industry.

Moreover, the more people there are, the more technology points he will have, so he will always lack food and never think it is too much.

Lu Shanwei translated Wu Changqing’s words, and those people hurriedly scrambled to answer. Under Lu Shanwei’s scolding, the Dutchman Hede spoke first.

“Honorable General, we can transport saltpeter and cotton at any time. As for guano, it’s more troublesome, but if the General is willing to pay a good price, we can also transport it.”

There is a lot of cotton in India, and saltpeter is also common in Japan. These are all routes he often takes. As for guano, he has to go to Peru, Chile in South America, California in North America, etc., which is much more troublesome.

However, in order to exchange for silk, tea, and porcelain from the Ming Dynasty, he is willing to do it no matter how troublesome it is.

In the past, relying on smuggling, there were always many troubles and uncertainties.

Now that he learned that Wu Changqing, the general in power, wanted to trade, Hede attached great importance to it.

As long as he can maintain a stable cooperative relationship, he can take the opportunity to make a fortune and gain a very high position in the Netherlands.

“We are best at round-the-world routes. We can transport the guano the general wants from South America.”

The Portuguese Medron also followed to answer. The goods of the Ming Dynasty are very popular in the West, and he also wants to obtain a stable source of goods from Wu Changqing.

“You don’t have to worry, we have so many goods here that we can supply your entire country, let alone only two fleets now.”

Wu Changqing signaled them to remain calm. He will come up with various small inventions in the future, ensuring that these foreigners will be dazzled and eager to turn themselves into gold to exchange for these things.

With the intention of cooperation, the two parties will bargain next. Wu Changqing must promise them a price, otherwise they will not dare to risk pulling a boatload of guano over.

In this era, Wu Changqing is the only one who regards guano as a treasure. Others have not yet discovered the value of this thing.

After confirming the intention of cooperation, Wu Changqing found Gu Yanwu and discussed with him the development of Songjiang, which is Shanghai.

Although ships at sea can also reach Suzhou, Suzhou is still inconvenient compared to Songjiang.

“Develop an overseas trade zone?”

Gu Yanwu didn’t quite understand this new term, but he could guess the general meaning.

“It is a place specially used to do business with foreigners. We provide infrastructure and maintain order, and then allow overseas merchants to come here to trade, and encourage mainland merchants to transport goods here to trade. And we can collect taxes from it.”

Wu Changqing explained in detail.

Gu Yanwu was stunned for a moment. This idea was too bold, even rebellious.

You must know that the official policy is still maritime ban. Although the imperial court has turned a blind eye to merchants’ smuggling, wouldn’t it be against Zhu Yuanzhang’s ancestral precepts to openly develop such a trade zone?

Gu Yanwu also knew that opening such a trade zone would bring many benefits and taxes could be collected centrally.

However, if the imperial court questioned it, it would be really difficult to explain.

“Perhaps, we can secretly contact those merchants and let them transport the goods there. There is no need to issue an announcement.”

Gu Yanwu suggested that this might slow down the speed and effect of publicity, but at least it gave the imperial court a step down. The imperial court can think that those things were done privately by merchants and ignore them.

If Wu Changqing personally promotes it, it will seem a little disrespectful to the imperial court.

“There is no need. I will write a memorial to the emperor. Either they allow me to open a trade zone, or they provide me with military pay. How can I afford the food, drink, and living expenses of fifty thousand troops without increasing taxes?”

Wu Changqing’s attitude was very firm. If Prince Lu doesn’t allow it, he will directly announce his allegiance to the Longwu Emperor, maybe he can anger Zhu Yihai to death.

He is now a rare commodity and very popular. Both emperors want to coax him.

“…”

Gu Yanwu could only continue to sigh in his heart. His lord is really paying less and less attention to the imperial court, which makes him very contradictory.

However, he also knew that he could only rely on Wu Changqing and assist Wu Changqing to have the hope of defeating the Manchus and recovering the lost territory.

Relying on others, it’s not that Gu Yanwu is too arrogant, he really looks down on other generals, none of them can fight.

Chapter 79: Assessment

After dealing with some government affairs, Wu Changqing came to the university to teach.

He was a very unqualified teacher. Whenever there were wars or other urgent official duties, the students could only study scriptures and policy essays, or study on their own.

If this were in later generations, with this kind of teaching attitude, the students would basically be ruined.

However, in this era, most students are very self-disciplined, because the threshold for studying is too high, and everyone who comes in cherishes this opportunity.

“Pass down the exam papers.”

Wu Changqing was here today to conduct the first assessment, in order to select the best and eliminate the worst, and to increase the students’ sense of urgency.

The content of the assessment included many subjects, including classics, policy essays, arithmetic, and physics.

He planned to comprehensively consider these people’s abilities, and not reject anyone outright.

For example, some people are naturally not talented in physics, but their articles are particularly well written. It is also useful to keep such talents.

Another example is a person who is very useless in other subjects, but has a unique talent in arithmetic, then this kind of person is also worth cultivating.

Only those who can’t learn all subjects will be eliminated by Wu Changqing and kicked out of the university.

The current conditions can only cultivate elites, and there is not so much free time to save every student.

Upon learning about the assessment, some students showed expressions of wanting to cry without tears or nervousness.

After all, geniuses like Feng Xianzhong and Guan Mengfei are only a minority. Most people don’t have a good grasp of the new knowledge.

Wu Changqing would not cater to their feelings. He even brought a team of soldiers to invigilate the exam to prevent cheating.

The questions he set were very simple, and the answers could be easily found in the books. Only a few difficult questions were used to distinguish top students from ordinary students.

It can be said that as long as a student puts in some effort, even if he can’t understand the knowledge in the book, he can pass the exam by rote memorization alone.

And rote memorization is these students’ strength.

In the examination hall, some students wrote fluently and answered easily. Some students could only sweat profusely after seeing the exam questions. Looking at the invigilating soldiers, they did not dare to look around.

The exam lasted a long time, a full two hours.

After the exam, some were high-spirited, and some were dejected.

“Brother Ziwen, you are probably the first in this assessment.”

Wei Ziwen’s articles were very well written and deeply valued by the Confucian scholar Shen Lianming. There were often people around him praising him.

However, Wei Ziwen was not very happy at this time. He believed that he answered very well in terms of classical essays. However, he did not do very well in other subjects.

The results came out the next day. The classics, arithmetic, and policy essay sections were graded by Shen Lianming and others, while physics and geography were graded by Wu Changqing himself.

The next day, everyone’s grades were posted in the university.

The first place in total score was Feng Xianzhong. He ranked first in physics, with a grade of A and ninety-five points. Geography was also a grade of A and ninety points. All five subjects were grade A.

Wu Changqing adopted a percentage system, but did not remove the Chinese characteristics of grades A, B, and C all at once.

Everything needs to be gradual. Wu Changqing has not yet introduced Arabic numerals, just because he is worried that students will not be able to accept too many new things at once.

The second place in physics was Guan Mengfei, with a grade of A and eighty points.

The first place in classics was Wei Ziwen, with a grade of A and ninety points, but his physics grade was only C and twenty points.

The first place in arithmetic was Ye Jinliang, with a grade of A and one hundred points, but his classics ranking was the last, with only a grade of B and sixty points.

In terms of overall score, Feng Xianzhong was first, while Wei Ziwen was only in the middle and lower reaches.

After seeing their scores and the scores of others, the students had different thoughts.

Wei Ziwen was very depressed. It was clear that his articles were the best and were recognized and loved by Shen Lianming. However, his overall score was only ranked one hundred and third.

Ye Jinliang, whose articles were the worst, relied on his excellent arithmetic and the above-average level of other subjects, and his overall score was ranked tenth.

This made many students who usually looked down on Ye Jinliang feel depressed. At the same time, they felt that Wu Changqing’s ranking method was too unreasonable.

However, no matter how depressed they were, they could not change this situation and could only accept it silently.

“Brother Feng, I’m afraid I won’t be able to study with you in this university anymore.”

Liu Tao, who was ranked second to last in total score, sighed. Except for geography, which he did relatively well in, he did terribly in other subjects, and being eliminated was a foregone conclusion.

Feng Xianzhong couldn’t help him with this kind of thing, so he could only pat him on the shoulder, signaling him not to be discouraged.

Afterwards, Wu Changqing came to the university and began to announce the five people who were eliminated.

“Xu Wei, Liu Shang…”

Wu Changqing announced the names of those who were eliminated. To Liu Tao’s surprise, he was not among them.

Could it be that his old man had pulled some strings? That shouldn’t be the case. His old man is not qualified to see the Governor-General.

Liu Tao couldn’t figure it out, but it didn’t matter. It was a good thing that he wasn’t eliminated.

“Teacher, why am I, who is seventh from the bottom, being eliminated, while Liu Tao, who is second from the bottom, is not being eliminated?”

Xu Wei asked boldly. He felt really aggrieved when he encountered such an unfair thing.

“How dare you! How can you question the Governor-General’s decision?” Shen Lianming scolded angrily.

Wu Changqing waved his hand, signaling Shen Lianming not to be too excited.

He was a person who liked to put himself in other people’s shoes. If it were him who encountered such an unfair situation, he would also be depressed, so he understood Xu Wei’s feelings.

So, Wu Changqing explained: “Although Liu Tao is second to last in total score, he is very good at geography, which is very useful to me. In military operations, one must be familiar with the surrounding terrain. His map-drawing and ranging skills can help me save many soldiers’ lives.

As long as his geography can maintain this level, I will not eliminate him no matter how bad his other subjects are. I will also give him an official position in the future.

As for you, although you are not the worst in all aspects, you don’t have any particularly outstanding points, and there is no potential for cultivation. Of course, you don’t have to be discouraged. If you are determined, you can study on your own after you go back, and you can apply for the second phase next year.”

Wu Changqing patiently explained to Xu Wei, and at the same time conveyed his employment standards to other students, that is, they must be particularly outstanding in a certain subject.

Wu Changqing’s explanation was reasonable, and Xu Wei couldn’t find fault with it. Moreover, he didn’t dare to pick on it. The dignified second-rank Governor-General personally explained to him in a good-natured manner, which was already giving him a great deal of face.

If he still didn’t admit his mistake at this time, he would really think that the Governor-General’s majesty was just for show?

“What the teacher taught is right, this student will study hard after I return.”

Xu Wei said.

Afterwards, Wu Changqing said: “All-round talents are certainly the most outstanding, but everyone’s energy is limited, so it is best to choose a subject to specialize in. As long as you can excel in a certain subject, you don’t have to worry about not being useful in the future.”

Wu Changqing’s words made many students breathe a sigh of relief. They were really worried that Wu Changqing would require them to be all-rounders, and some of them really couldn’t learn physics and geography.

“Those who do poorly in the exam will be eliminated, and those who do well will naturally be rewarded. I announce that Wei Ziwen, who is first in classics, will be exceptionally appointed as an assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites to assist me in handling government affairs, and will be awarded the title of fifth rank.

Ye Jinliang, who is first in arithmetic, will be appointed as a principal to assist me in handling daily government affairs, and will be awarded the title of sixth rank.

Guan Mengfei, who is second in physics, has improved the manufacturing process of gun barrels, and will be awarded the title of director of the Ministry of Works, and will be rewarded with five thousand taels of silver…”

Wu Changqing is very short of people now. Originally, these talents could continue to stay in the academy for further studies to master more knowledge, but in order to alleviate the shortage of talents, Wu Changqing had to recruit some people in advance.

Chapter 80: Conferring Official Positions

Wu Changqing really conferred official positions, and he started with the sixth rank, even offering the fifth-rank position of a bureau director. This starting point was too high, and many students felt it was unbelievable.

In the past, even if one became the top scholar in the imperial examination, they would start as a sixth-rank member of the Hanlin Academy.

But now, Guan Mengfei, who ranked only twentieth in total score, directly received a fifth-rank position as a bureau director and was also rewarded with five thousand taels of silver. This really exceeded many people’s expectations.

With Guan Mengfei’s writing ability, passing the imperial examination as a third-class Jinshi would be considered an exceptional performance. But now, the starting point he received was even higher than that of the top scholar.

Many students became excited because they knew this was just the beginning. As long as they studied hard, they could get a good score next time and also obtain an official position.

Some even smarter students discovered from Wu Changqing’s awards that Wu Changqing favored those who excelled in miscellaneous subjects even more.

A total of six people were granted official positions this time. Among them, only Wei Ziwen excelled in classical studies, while the others excelled in miscellaneous subjects. Ye Jinliang, who obtained the sixth-rank position of clerk, was even the last in classical studies.

Since studying miscellaneous subjects could lead to becoming an official quickly, and classical studies had become unimportant, then why bother studying classical studies? Spending the time learning classical studies on miscellaneous subjects was the most correct approach.

Many people were already secretly preparing to adjust their strategies, preparing to focus on studying miscellaneous subjects such as physics and arithmetic.

After announcing the awards, Wu Changqing and Shen Lianming and others went to another room to discuss the next teaching work.

As soon as the adults and teachers left, the students became active.

“Congratulations, Brother Wei, congratulations, Brother Wei.”

“Brother Li is wrong. Now we can no longer call Wei Ziwen Brother Wei. We have to call him Lord Wei.”

Fifth-rank and sixth-rank officials were already middle-level officials in a country, and starting at the fifth rank, as long as they did not make mistakes, being promoted to the third or second rank was only a matter of time. That would be the core class of a country.

How could others not envy such a life?

“This is all thanks to the governor-general’s appreciation. Although I now have an official position, we are still colleagues, so there is no need to be so estranged,” Wei Ziwen said with a smile. He was also a little surprised by this result. He was not outstanding in terms of total score, but in the end, he also obtained a good official position.

Some people with higher total scores than him got nothing.

“Brother Feng, what’s going on with the governor-general? Your total score and single subject scores are clearly the highest, why didn’t he grant you an official position?”

Liu Tao spoke up for Feng Xianzhong, but Feng Xianzhong himself didn’t seem to care much.

He believed that Wu Changqing must have other plans for not granting him an official position, and it was definitely not because of his incompetence.

As a genius, he still had this confidence.

Ignoring the persuasion of others, Feng Xianzhong just continued to read silently.

Similar to him was Guan Mengfei. Even though he had obtained an official position and a huge reward of five thousand taels of silver, he didn’t seem very happy and continued to be immersed in a drawing.

That was a drawing that Wu Changqing had sent someone to give him, which was the technology of shrapnel shells. Wu Changqing asked him to study it and then make this thing.

A shrapnel shell is a shell that can explode after flying out. The current shells that fly out are all large iron balls, which are very intimidating, but their lethality is actually extremely limited.

But shrapnel shells are different. They explode over the enemy’s heads, with the same effect as a hand grenade. The difference is that the amount of explosives in the shell is more than ten times that of a hand grenade.

When this kind of shell explodes, the killing range can reach a radius of more than ten meters, which is very terrifying.

Of course, the technical content of this kind of shell is also very high. If the iron shell is too thick, it will not explode easily, and if it is too thin, it will easily explode in the barrel. Moreover, how to ignite it is also a major problem.

Wu Changqing illuminated this technology, knew the principle of manufacturing, but there were still some difficulties in making it by hand.

Moreover, he couldn’t possibly do such a dangerous thing himself, so he handed it over to Guan Mengfei to study.

Guan Mengfei did not dare to be careless about the task personally assigned by Wu Changqing. After accepting the award, he hurried to the armory, where he needed the cooperation and experimentation of craftsmen.

Before long, Feng Xianzhong was also called to the inner room, and Wu Changqing personally arranged work for him.

“The reason why I didn’t grant you an official position is because I don’t want to waste your talent. You don’t have to worry. As long as you complete what I have assigned you, the lowest you will be is the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy in the future. When you have mastered enough knowledge, I still have some very important projects for you. If you can invent and improve something I need like Guan Mengfei, let alone official positions, I have even prepared titles of nobility for you.”

Wu Changqing attached great importance to Feng Xianzhong, who was a very rare genius.

In the future, manufacturing things like steam engines would probably be handed over to him.

Wu Changqing could only provide the theory and process flow, and the actual hands-on work still had to rely on talents like Feng Xianzhong and Guan Mengfei.

“This student will follow your teachings.”

Facing this person who was a few years younger than himself, Feng Xianzhong was very respectful. On the one hand, it was because of Wu Changqing’s power and achievements, and on the other hand, it was because he admired Wu Changqing’s talent.

He used to have some contempt for Wu Changqing, but after reading the physics books written by Wu Changqing, he no longer dared to have such thoughts.

Moreover, Wu Changqing had now promised him official positions and titles of nobility, which made him feel grateful.

The Chancellor of the Imperial Academy was a high-ranking official of the fourth rank, equivalent to the president of Peking University in later generations, with a very high status.

“This is the Intermediate Physics that I have written. You should study it carefully first. If you don’t understand anything, you can come to my residence to find me directly. Usually, when I have something to leave Suzhou, you will take over the physics class and teach those students.”

Wu Changqing handed him a book on Intermediate Physics, and the content on it began to become profound, with complex mechanical movements and principles, as well as basic electromagnetism and other content.

Feng Xianzhong was overjoyed when he heard this. Being able to go to the Duke’s residence to ask for advice at any time was a privilege that not everyone could enjoy.

And this Intermediate Physics was even more precious to him. Now that he had studied Elementary Physics, he had more questions about this world and was eager to find answers.

As for letting him teach the class, it raised his status to a higher level, distinguishing him from other students.

“This student will definitely study hard.”

Feng Xianzhong said.

“Well, spend all your time on this, and you must also study arithmetic. As for classical studies, there is no need to waste time on it. It is of no use to you.”

Wu Changqing was very dissatisfied when he saw that Feng Xianzhong’s classical studies exam was also graded A. Wasn’t this a waste of talent? With this kind of brain, studying the Four Books and Five Classics was really a great waste.

Feng Xianzhong was speechless when he heard this. He didn’t know why his governor-general hated classical studies so much. But since Wu Changqing had personally spoken, he could completely give up classical studies in the future.

Chapter 81: The Purpose of the Gazette

When Feng Xianzhong came out, the other students looked at him differently.

Anyone who could study here wasn’t stupid. They knew that although Feng Xianzhong hadn’t been granted an official position, he was definitely in Wu Changqing’s good graces and highly valued, meaning his future was limitless.

When Wu Changqing left, he also took some of those who had been granted official positions. From now on, they would need to formally participate in administrative work.

Among these people, Wu Changqing also valued Wei Ziwen, who could only write articles.

Anyone who could excel in a certain area was a talent.

Wu Changqing valued his writing skills and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility: compiling the gazette.

The gazette was a newspaper for officials, specifically compiling and transcribing policies from the imperial court and sending them to officials all over the country, allowing them to understand national affairs.

Normally speaking, Wu Changqing wasn’t qualified to compile the gazette.

However, he didn’t care about rules and etiquette anymore. Anything he needed, he would just get it directly.

If the imperial court could tolerate it, then so be it. If they couldn’t, he didn’t care. Anyway, it was only a matter of time before he turned against the Ming Dynasty.

He was now preparing to publish the gazette in the Wusong area, so that his subordinates could understand his thoughts and policies, and guide them in their work.

At the same time, he also needed to insert some of his own agenda into the gazette.

For example, strengthening the concept of the Wusong area, strengthening his presence, and weakening the presence of the imperial court.

He didn’t want his subordinates to only have the Ming Dynasty in their hearts, and not him, Wu Changqing. He wanted his subordinates to only recognize him, not the Ming Dynasty.

He wanted his subordinates to know who gave them their official positions, who paid their salaries, and whose hands their fate was in.

Publicizing this kind of thinking was naturally treasonous. Prince Lu or the Longwu Emperor would jump up and down and then recklessly send troops to suppress him.

Therefore, this kind of thing needed to be done very secretly, to make the articles appear harmless on the surface, but actually subtly influence the thoughts and ideas of the readers.

This required someone with excellent writing skills to handle, and that person was Wei Ziwen.

Wu Changqing told Wei Ziwen his requirements, and Wei Ziwen was covered in sweat as he listened.

This was wanting to rebel, wanting to establish himself as king!

Wei Ziwen instantly understood Wu Changqing’s intentions, so he was nervous. If he went against the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely be purged if Wu Changqing fell.

However, he didn’t dare to refuse Wu Changqing, and he couldn’t bear to give up this official position.

As long as he wholeheartedly followed Wu Changqing in doing this, if Wu Changqing succeeded in the future, then he would have the merit of supporting the emperor. With this experience, he would definitely be able to enter the cabinet and become a chancellor in the future.

However, could Wu Changqing succeed?

Wei Ziwen wasn’t sure. Currently, the most powerful force was the Manchus, followed by the Longwu Emperor, then Zhang Xianzhong in Sichuan, and finally Wu Changqing and the Lu Wang regime.

Moreover, because of his geographical location, Wu Changqing could be said to be the most dangerous and hopeless.

“What do you think of the current situation in the world?”

Wu Changqing asked.

He wanted others to rebel with him, so he naturally had to give them some confidence, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to work with peace of mind.

“This student doesn’t know.”

Wei Ziwen said.

“Since you don’t know, then I’ll analyze it for you. Zhang Xianzhong’s Great Western regime is on its last legs, already eking out a miserable existence. The Lu Wang regime is just for show, nominally overseeing the country, but in reality, it’s just entrenched in a corner. The Longwu regime in Fuzhou is controlled by the Zheng family. Other places nominally respect them as the legitimate authority, but in reality, they have no control over other places.

So, the only strong opponent is the Manchus. And you’ve seen my record against the Manchus. They’re vulnerable in front of me.”

Wu Changqing said. After hearing this, Wei Ziwen actually felt that it made some sense.

The Longwu court in the south seemed to have a lot of territory and troops. However, Wei Ziwen had already seen the combat effectiveness of the Ming army. They were all surrenderers and deserters.

The only thing the Wu army needed to be wary of was the Manchus, and based on the current signs of engagement, the Wu army didn’t seem to be afraid of the Manchus.

Following this logic, Wei Ziwen realized that Wu Changqing really had a chance to establish himself as king.

And he could really become a founding hero, surpassing everyone except one.

Just thinking about this made Wei Ziwen very excited.

As for being loyal to the Ming Dynasty, Wei Ziwen didn’t care about that anymore.

Now that the world was in chaos, there were scholars who had joined Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and even more who had joined the Manchus. Betraying the Ming Dynasty had become a trend, and he felt no pressure in following it.

“This student vows to follow you to the death, teacher.”

Wei Ziwen stated his position. He now cherished his relationship with Wu Changqing as teacher and student even more.

The relationship between teacher and student was a very close one in ancient times. After scholars became officials, they would often stand on their teacher’s side. And teachers were generally happy to promote their students, treating them as their direct descendants and forming a group with shared interests.

“It’s good that you can understand. You must work hard in the future. In addition to the gazette, I also plan to start a people’s newspaper, which is a newspaper for the common people.”

Wu Changqing said. He not only wanted to influence his subordinates, but also the people under his rule.

“But most of the common people are illiterate.”

Wei Ziwen said, expressing his incomprehension. The common people were illiterate, so what was the point of giving them those newspapers?

“These people’s newspapers are mainly for literate merchants and scholars to read. As for the common people, I will arrange for people to post them in the markets, and then send people to read them aloud and explain them to the common people.”

This was a method that Wu Changqing had thought of. The cost wouldn’t be too high, and the effect should be good.

“In addition to promoting certain ideas, this people’s newspaper must also add some interesting stories and novels to increase the people’s interest…”

Wu Changqing imparted some of his experience in running a newspaper to Wei Ziwen. Although he had never run a newspaper before, he lived in an era of highly developed information and had seen too many things.

If he were to talk about how a newspaper could be attractive, he could talk for half an hour.

Wei Ziwen listened and memorized silently.

He was able to get first place in the classics examination, so his memory was very strong. Wu Changqing said it once, and he could remember it roughly.

“First, create a sample article for me to see. The theme this time is to promote the strength of our army, and pay attention to the fact that it’s our army, not the Ming army. It’s best to compare our army with those surrendered Ming troops. You can figure out the specific content yourself.”

Wu Changqing said.

Inserting private agendas was actually a very easy thing to do. As long as he kept emphasizing the strength of the Wu army and belittling the Ming Dynasty’s army, he could make the people and officials disappointed in the Ming Dynasty.

After that, if he leaked some ‘unfair’ treatment of the Wu army by the Ming Dynasty, he could easily arouse the people’s indignation, thereby emotionally favoring the Wu army.

Chapter 82: Expansion of the Armory

On December 10th, a total of two hundred and thirty-odd artisans from Shaoxing, along with their families, numbering over one thousand three hundred, arrived in Suzhou.

Wu Changqing personally went to the armory to meet Feng Jian, the official in charge of leading the group. Feng Jian was a Director of the Ministry of Works in Prince Lu’s court, and this time he was responsible for bringing this group of artisans to Suzhou and managing them.

Clearly, Zhu Yihai and Fang Guoan had both taken precautions, afraid that this group of artisans would fall completely into Wu Changqing’s hands, so they arranged for someone to come and supervise.

“Greetings, Duke Wu.” Feng Jian bowed and saluted.

“Director Feng, you are too polite. We are officials of the same court, there is no need for such formality,” Wu Changqing said courteously.

Afterward, Wu Changqing had Liu Baojun arrange work for these hundreds of artisans.

Originally, there were already three hundred senior artisans and over eight hundred apprentices in the armory. With the addition of these two hundred and thirty-odd people, another batch of apprentices could be recruited, and the scale of the armory could be expanded by almost double.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also toured the armory with Feng Jian.

During the tour, Feng Jian’s eyes darted around incessantly, acting every bit the spy. Unfortunately, if he could master the advanced technology with just a glance, then it wouldn’t be called advanced technology.

“The Duke’s place is magnificent in its momentum and grand in scale. No wonder Your Grace has been able to win battles continuously.”

Feng Jian exclaimed. He had never seen such a large-scale armory before. Moreover, the way the workers labored in the armory was somewhat different from what he had seen in the past.

There were many things Feng Jian couldn’t understand, such as the manufacturing of gun barrels.

Currently, the manufacturing of gun barrels in other places involved forging a large iron rod first, and then the artisans would drill holes one by one by hand, which was very difficult.

But here, they used a method of forging a relatively brittle small iron rod first, and then building a layer of outer shell around this small iron rod to form the gun barrel.

Because the small iron rod was relatively brittle, drilling holes was dozens of times easier, which increased the manufacturing speed of the gun barrels by several times.

This was the gun barrel manufacturing process invented by Guan Mengfei, which was much more advanced than before.

This idea seemed simple, but it was actually not easy to achieve. Guan Mengfei had also accidentally discovered that ironware of different compositions had different degrees of hardness, which gave him this idea.

With this advanced technology, the manufacturing speed of flintlock guns in the Suzhou armory had reached fifty guns per day, which was quite good. When the Qing army marched south again, they would be able to produce another three-thousand-man flintlock gun unit.

And the production of matchlock guns was even higher now, with nearly a hundred guns being made every day. At this rate, Wu Changqing would soon be able to completely eliminate cold weapons and fully equip his troops with firearms.

Although ordinary matchlock guns were trash and had a slow rate of fire, as long as they were well-trained and used the right tactics, they were still better than cold weapons.

Currently, Wu Changqing already had a five-thousand-man matchlock gun unit. Most of these matchlock guns were captured or purchased through smuggling, plus a portion that was manufactured by themselves.

The combat effectiveness of this five-thousand-man unit was also quite good.

“With this batch of artisans, Duke Wu will surely be able to recover Nanjing more quickly,” Feng Jian also mentioned the matter of recovering the old capital of Nanjing, which was what Zhu Yihai cared about most and was most eager to do.

“It should be possible next year,” Wu Changqing gave him a reassurance, lest he keep asking endlessly.

In fact, how could Wu Changqing not want to recover Nanjing, so that he could rely on the Yangtze River to resist the Qing cavalry? However, he really didn’t have that strength right now.

“Very good,” Feng Jian said.

“Teacher, your student is incompetent and has no good way to solve the problem of precise ignition for the time being.”

Afterward, the group also came to the place where cannons were manufactured. Guan Mengfei put down his work and came out to greet them and report on his work.

“Don’t worry, take your time. The most important thing is to pay attention to safety. Leave those dangerous things to others to do, you just need to use your brain,” Wu Changqing said.

Precise ignition was indeed a difficult problem, involving the flight speed of the shells and some other complex factors.

If the ignition time could not be controlled well, the shells could not be used in actual combat.

If the ignition was too early, the shell would explode before it flew over the enemy’s head, which would only scare the enemy in terms of momentum. If the ignition was too late, and it fell into the enemy’s pile without exploding, the enemy would have time to dodge.

Wu Changqing’s words made others envious and jealous of Guan Mengfei. This kind of intimate care and attention could only be enjoyed by Guan Mengfei alone.

Feng Jian silently noted Guan Mengfei’s name in his heart. He could see that this was a key figure who was highly valued by Wu Changqing.

After visiting the armory, Wu Changqing couldn’t help but sigh. This was probably the largest armory in the world right now. With artisans, apprentices, family members, and guarding soldiers, more than seven thousand people lived in this armory.

Although it still looked a bit primitive, it already had some of the rudiments of a modern factory, which should be the most advanced in the world.

As long as this armory was in his hands, Wu Changqing wouldn’t worry about the battles on the front lines. His only problem with expanding the army was the manufacturing speed of firearms. He would never lack manpower.

The population in the territory he now controlled was already close to four million, and it was very easy to form an army of one hundred thousand. More importantly, the training of musketeers was very easy. They could basically take shape in a month, and become elite in about two months.

They didn’t need to master too many skills, they just needed to learn to line up and obey military discipline.

If it was a cold weapon unit, it would take at least half a year for a new recruit to be trained into a qualified soldier. It would take even longer for archers and cavalry, at least a year or two.

For Wu Changqing, the number of weapons determined the size of his army.

After visiting the armory, Wu Changqing arranged for Gu Yanwu to accompany Feng Jian and give him a welcome reception.

As a Governor-General, there was no need for him to personally accompany him.

After receiving Feng Jian, Wu Changqing called in Liu Baojun, the chief manager of the armory.

“The loyalty of this new batch of people is a problem, so let them carry out some non-core component manufacturing first. They cannot be allowed to touch some core processes,” Wu Changqing reminded.

In this armory, most of the technologies were actually not very important. The manufacturing of cold weapons and gun barrels was not a secret. Many people outside had this technology.

As long as the formulas for springs, flints, and gunpowder were kept strictly confidential, these artisans would not be able to steal any useful secrets.

“At the same time, we must strengthen the control of the armory. No one is allowed to enter or leave easily, it must be with your approval. Pay special attention to this person Feng Jian. If there is an opportunity, you can use some means to try to win him over with bribes,” Wu Changqing continued to instruct. Feng Jian was, after all, an official of the imperial court, and he had no way to restrict his personal freedom. He was more or less a hidden danger, and it would be best if he could be won over to his side.

“This subordinate understands,” Liu Baojun replied. His current power and status were all given to him by Wu Changqing, so he would naturally work hard for Wu Changqing.

Chapter 83: Warbling Birds

Back home, Wu Changqing didn’t see Chen Yuyan.

“Where is Madam?” Wu Changqing asked.

“Madam is chatting and painting with Miss Dong and the others in the backyard,” a maid replied.

While Wu Changqing was busy outside, Chen Yuyan usually stayed at home doing embroidery, or painting and calligraphy.

Entertainment was very scarce in this era. Women like Chen Yuyan weren’t very convenient to go out, so they were even more bored usually. The only entertainment was probably chatting and gossiping with other girls.

Fortunately, women of this era were relatively easy to satisfy. If it were women of later generations, they would have thrown a tantrum long ago with such a boring life.

“Miss Dong? Which Miss Dong?” Wu Changqing asked.

“Dong Xiaowan, one of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River,” the maid replied, a little puzzled that her master didn’t even know Dong Xiaowan, one of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River.

The Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, Dong Xiaowan…

Wu Changqing had a slight impression, but he wasn’t particularly familiar with her. He was only more familiar with Chen Yuanyuan and Liu Rushi; he wasn’t clear about the others because they weren’t famous enough.

He only knew that Dong Xiaowan eventually married Mao Xiang as a concubine and died relatively early.

Originally, Wu Changqing didn’t take it to heart, but out of curiosity, he still went to the backyard.

After all, she was a figure who could be mentioned in the same breath as Chen Yuanyuan, so she must be extraordinary.

The famous courtesans of this era were actually similar to the female celebrities of later generations, relying on high looks and figures to debut, and adding a bit of talent made them highly sought after.

Courtesans and prostitutes were different. Courtesans sold their art, not their bodies, while prostitutes sold their flesh.

Therefore, the famous courtesans of this era would not be looked down upon. They were even idols in the hearts of some women, just like the female celebrities of later generations.

If they married ordinary people, they would definitely become the legal wife, doted on by their husbands.

But if they wanted to marry powerful people, they would have to be concubines, reduced to playthings.

In this regard, it seemed extremely similar to female celebrities.

Arriving at the backyard, Wu Changqing saw seven or eight young women, chatting and laughing.

Wu Changqing’s appearance surprised them a little.

After all, under normal circumstances, it wasn’t very appropriate for men to join in the fun of women’s gatherings. Of course, it wasn’t a big problem to go.

The separation of men and women was mainly aimed at unmarried men and women alone together. With so many people present, there was no need to worry about rumors.

“Greetings, Duke.”

The women saluted.

“No need to be restrained, continue playing, I’m just looking around,” Wu Changqing said.

Hearing this, the women raised their heads one after another, and some of the bolder ones even sized up Wu Changqing.

“Husband, you don’t recognize these sisters, do you? This is the world-renowned Dong Xiaowan, one of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River; this is Miss Qian Ruyu, the fourth daughter of Governor Qian…”

Chen Yuyan introduced the identities of these people to Wu Changqing. They were all from wealthy families, either celebrities, or from official families, or daughters of wealthy merchants.

Only these people were qualified to be guests at the Wu Duke’s residence and associate with Chen Yuyan.

These people came here not just to keep Chen Yuyan company and relieve her boredom. More than that, they wanted to establish a relationship with Chen Yuyan, so that Chen Yuyan could help whisper sweet words in Wu Changqing’s ear and help their men find a good job.

“Madam Chen is joking. What Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River? That’s all in the past,” Dong Xiaowan said with emotion. The former Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River didn’t have good endings now.

Chen Yuanyuan was abducted to the north, transferred several times, and finally became the concubine of Wu Sangui, this traitor. Liu Rushi’s husband, Qian Qianyi, also surrendered to the Manchus, earning a bad reputation and being suspected by the Manchus. Li Xiangjun disappeared when Nanjing fell…

As for herself, she was now living in seclusion in Suzhou with Mao Xiang. Mao Xiang was plagued by illness, and his family was not as prosperous as before.

“Duke Wu, you’ve come at the right time. Come and judge for us, who paints the best,” Qian Ruyu boldly suggested.

“I don’t have any knowledge of painting,” Wu Changqing said.

“It doesn’t matter, just say what you feel,” another woman chimed in.

Wu Changqing’s identity was special, and they all wanted to have more contact with Wu Changqing, especially those women who were not yet married.

For them, becoming Wu Changqing’s concubine was also a very good choice.

Therefore, they also wanted to show themselves in front of Wu Changqing.

Being surrounded by a group of young women with quite good looks, this feeling was quite good.

Wu Changqing was not a workaholic either, and he enjoyed this kind of life adjustment.

So, he didn’t decline anymore and picked up the paintings to look at them.

He wasn’t an expert in painting, but he had basic aesthetics, and he could even do simple painting. However, in this era, his painting skills were really not presentable, so he didn’t say that he could paint.

“This ‘Cold Water’ painting is good,” Wu Changqing said.

“What’s good about it?” Qian Ruyu asked.

“I don’t know, you told me to say what I feel,” Wu Changqing complained. He just felt that this “Cold Water” painting had a bit of artistic conception. It would be difficult for him to say what was good about this painting.

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh when they heard this. They found that this governor was not as serious as other officials, and was very approachable.

This was mainly because Wu Changqing was a person from later generations, and he would always bring a bit of the shadow of later generations. In the process of getting along with people, he didn’t have such a strong sense of class distinction.

“What about this one?” Qian Ruyu pointed to another figure painting, which depicted a woman appreciating plum blossoms.

“It’s pretty good too,” Wu Changqing said.

“What about this one?” She pointed to another one, which also depicted a woman.

It could be clearly seen that the level of this one was not as high as the previous two.

“This one is more ordinary,” Wu Changqing told the truth. He didn’t need to lie to flatter anyone.

As soon as he said this, several women couldn’t help but laugh, and then Wu Changqing found that Chen Yuyan’s face was very depressed.

Wu Changqing understood instantly that he had been tricked by Qian Ruyu. This painting that wasn’t very good was clearly his wife’s work.

In order to avoid offending Chen Yuyan, Wu Changqing changed his words again: “I said this painting is ordinary because it is still an unfinished work, and a few more strokes are needed to highlight its essence.”

As he said that, Wu Changqing picked up a pen and began to reprocess this painting.

Although his painting skills were not good, he had seen a lot and knew how to use shadows to make the picture full of three-dimensionality. And this kind of three-dimensional painting had not yet appeared in this era.

Everyone was puzzled when they saw him pick up the pen. After all, Wu Changqing had just said that he couldn’t paint.

Moreover, Chen Yuyan’s painting was clearly a finished product. They didn’t know what Wu Changqing wanted to do by adding strokes.

Soon, they knew.

Wu Changqing didn’t spend much time, just added some shadows to the portrait, which made the person in the portrait seem to be walking out of the paper, making the whole person look lifelike.

People who had never seen three-dimensional paintings would inevitably be amazed when they saw this kind of painting for the first time. Only when they understood the principle behind it would they realize that this painting was actually nothing great.

“Oh my god, this portrait is alive!” Qian Ruyu exclaimed.

Even Dong Xiaowan couldn’t help but sigh after seeing it: “Duke Wu is really wise and brave. With just these few finishing touches, he is comparable to a famous artist of this era.”

“You flatter me,” Wu Changqing chuckled. It felt pretty good to occasionally show off his knowledge in front of the ancients.

Chapter 84: When in Rome

“Lord Protector, teach us how to paint this.”

Qian Ruyu said coquettishly.

Chen Yuyan, standing nearby, felt a mix of pride and annoyance. She was proud of her husband’s many talents and the way he was admired. But she was also angry at Qian Ruyu’s audacity, daring to flirt with her husband right in front of her.

Although Chen Yuyan had long known that a man of Wu Changqing’s status would inevitably take concubines, and more than just one, eventually.

However, that didn’t mean she had to like it.

What’s more, she hadn’t shown any signs of pregnancy yet. If Wu Changqing took a concubine now and she bore him his eldest son, her position would be challenged.

She decided that tonight, she would say a few bad things about Qian Ruyu to Wu Changqing.

“I’ll teach Yuyan when I have time another day, and then she can teach you all,” Wu Changqing said. He felt he had seen the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River and showed off enough, so he thought it was time to leave. He was still very concerned about Chen Yuyan’s feelings and didn’t want to get too close to other girls in front of her, lest she get jealous.

Of course, the main reason was that none of these women had caught his eye.

The most beautiful of them was Dong Xiaowan, but she was already married. Although if he wanted her, Mao Xiang probably couldn’t resist.

However, he had no interest in bullying an ordinary person.

If it were Dorgon’s wives and concubines, he might be interested in taking one for fun.

Apart from Dong Xiaowan, the others were pretty enough, but they didn’t give him a sense of amazement, and he wasn’t very interested.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s words, the other women were clearly disappointed, but they didn’t dare to say anything more.

Afterward, Wu Changqing left, leaving the group of young women to chatter in the backyard.

“Madam Wu is truly blessed to have such a doting husband,” Dong Xiaowan said.

Although she wasn’t much older than the other girls, she had seen more of the world and knew that Wu Changqing was leaving to take care of Chen Yuyan’s feelings.

In this era, a Lord Protector like Wu Changqing didn’t need to do that at all.

But Wu Changqing did, which was enough to show how much he loved Chen Yuyan.

This made Dong Xiaowan envious. Although Mao Xiang was also good to her, he was good to many women. He had even tried to marry Chen Yuanyuan, and if Chen Yuanyuan hadn’t been abducted, Wu Sangui might not have had a reason to fly into a rage for a beauty, and the Manchus might not have been able to enter the pass.

Besides Chen Yuanyuan, Mao Xiang also had close relationships with several other famous courtesans, and was a very fickle man.

Moreover, Mao Xiang’s status was worlds apart from Wu Changqing’s, one was a governor-general who could influence the fate of the world, and the other was just a scholar with some literary talent.

“That’s right, Lord Protector is already a duke at such a young age. It’s only a matter of time before he’s made a king. Madam Wu is truly blessed.”

The other women echoed, all extremely envious of Chen Yuyan’s marriage.

Wu Changqing was handsome, powerful, and considerate. A man like that was hard to find even with a lantern.

Chen Yuyan listened to the compliments, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of being envied.

As a woman, she had almost reached the pinnacle of life.

That night, Chen Yuyan clung to Wu Changqing, acting coy and wanting to do it again. She wanted to get pregnant as soon as possible.

Not only was she anxious, but her parents were even more anxious than she was. Only by giving birth to the eldest son early could her position be secure.

If she didn’t get pregnant soon, it was hard to guarantee that Wu Changqing wouldn’t take a concubine.

And Chen Daolin knew even more. He knew that Wu Changqing’s future achievements might not just be as a king with a different surname, he might even become the ruler of a country.

In this case, the eldest son became even more important, as he would be the future crown prince. The glory and wealth of their entire family depended on her womb.

Once Wu Changqing’s power grew even greater, if he still didn’t have any children, his subordinates would probably become uneasy and would urge Wu Changqing to take more concubines and have an heir as soon as possible.

“Didn’t you say that mother and my younger sister will be coming to Suzhou in a few days? If I don’t get pregnant soon, mother will probably blame me,” Chen Yuyan said.

Wu Changqing had told her before that because the situation here had stabilized and Suzhou was much safer, the people from their old home in Shaoxing would move to Suzhou to spend the New Year.

Chen Yuyan was a little nervous and worried about meeting her mother-in-law, whom she had never met before.

In fact, she now enjoyed the unrestrained feeling of being alone with Wu Changqing. She worried that after her mother-in-law came, there would be many rules, and she wouldn’t be able to be as uninhibited as she was now.

Moreover, she also knew that the older generation valued offspring very much. If she could get pregnant, she would definitely be favored by her mother-in-law.

If she didn’t get pregnant, she might be scolded with cold words.

“Probably not, my mother isn’t that strict. Besides, you’re still young. Getting pregnant too early isn’t good for your health,” Wu Changqing said. A fifteen-year-old girl’s body hadn’t fully developed yet, and her pelvis hadn’t fully opened. Getting pregnant at this time was actually quite risky.

In this era, the probability of women dying from childbirth was about five percent, which meant that on average, one out of every twenty pregnant women would die for various reasons.

This probability was terrifying, and whether or not one could pass through the gates of hell depended entirely on luck.

If he wasn’t afraid of the Chen family misunderstanding, he would have even prepared to give Chen Yuyan some musk or other contraceptive drugs.

However, he also knew that it was normal for teenagers to have children in this era, and he couldn’t immediately change other people’s thousands of years of ideas, so he could only let it develop.

Anyway, when Chen Yuyan gave birth, he could spend some money and exchange some life-saving drugs in the system store.

“No way, my mother was already pregnant when she was my age,” Chen Yuyan pouted. In fact, she was also very afraid of giving birth, but this was the destiny of women, so no matter how afraid she was, she had to do it.

Seeing her aggrieved look, Wu Changqing wanted to joke with her to tease her, asking if she was just looking for an excuse to do it again, but he swallowed the words back.

This wasn’t the twenty-first century, where you could casually make all kinds of dirty jokes with your girlfriend to add to the fun.

In this era, if you said that a woman was greedy for pleasure, the woman might immediately commit suicide to prove her innocence. This kind of stigma was too heavy for them.

Instead of joking, Wu Changqing just fulfilled his duty as a husband.

The next day, Chen Yuyan and Zihe went to the temple to offer incense and pray to Buddha, praying for an early birth of a noble son.

Chapter 85: Newspaper

On the twelfth, the court gazette and the public gazette compiled by Wei Ziwen were released in their first editions.

The court gazette published some major recent events in the Wusong area, such as Wu Changqing meeting with overseas merchants, the opening of the Songjiang trade zone, the first examination at the university, and Feng Jian arriving in Suzhou with hundreds of artisans.

These events revealed a lot of information, such as Wu Changqing’s attitude of encouraging commerce.

In order to support commercial development, Wu Changqing openly violated the imperial court’s laws and traded with foreigners. This not only showed that Wu Changqing valued commerce, but also made people feel his overwhelming power, as he could ignore the court.

The first examination at the university revealed Wu Changqing’s emphasis on practical education. Many officials who saw it were considering whether to start their children learning these practical subjects from a young age.

The current situation in the world is complex, and many people do not know what the future will hold. If Wu Changqing can occupy Wusong and other places for a long time, then those who want to become officials must learn those practical subjects.

However, some officials firmly believe that the imperial court will soon reopen the imperial examinations, and that Confucian classics are still the only true path. Learning those practical subjects is useless.

Feng Jian’s arrival in Suzhou with hundreds of artisans made many officials look at artisans in a new light.

In the past, the gentry had always looked down on artisans, considering them to be lowly people.

But now, they all know that Wu Changqing relies on the weapons made by these artisans to win battles, and they also know the importance of these artisans.

Of course, that’s all it is. In the eyes of officials, artisans are still lowly people, and they would never let their children learn this.

The content of these court gazettes is not the main point. The main point is that these contents are interspersed with a large amount of personal praise for Wu Changqing, pushing all the credit onto Wu Changqing.

This made many officials who read the court gazette very disdainful of Wei Ziwen, feeling that this guy was an out-and-out flatterer.

The public gazette is very different from the court gazette. The articles in the public gazette are more like telling stories, with a lot more fun, unlike the articles in the court gazette, which are so serious and standardized.

The first article in the public gazette fabricated the unusual phenomena when Wu Changqing was born. The article said that when Wu Changqing was born, the clouds in the sky formed a gorgeous canopy shape, and there was thunder and lightning.

The implication was that Wu Changqing’s background was extraordinary, not the aura of a human subject.

In ancient times, the common people were more willing to accept this kind of statement. Many people who intended to rebel would say that a hidden dragon entered their residence or a real dragon appeared when they were born, so that the common people would think that they were the Son of Heaven.

The second article was about a real event, recording how Wu Changqing led hundreds of local militia to protect tens of thousands of people in Jiading, resolutely defending against a strong enemy.

Although the event was real, it also underwent some artistic processing, making Wu Changqing look much greater.

The whole article praised Wu Changqing’s great deeds and his concern for the people.

The third article was about the story of an ordinary soldier, telling how he fought bravely and was finally appreciated by Wu Changqing, who awarded him the position of squad leader.

This is a typical story of a loser’s counterattack, an ordinary person’s growth story, which is very relatable to the common people.

Some young men are easily moved by this kind of story and want to join the army, trying to change their destiny by military merit. A squad leader’s monthly salary is already three taels of silver, which is definitely a high salary for ordinary people.

In this article, there are also many places that imply that following Wu Changqing will bring benefits, and following Wu Changqing will lead to a bright future.

Ordinary people can’t see this kind of private goods at all, but the publicity effect is very good.

When the common people hear this kind of story too much, it is easy for them to only have Wu Changqing in their minds, and not know what the imperial court is. Even, through some descriptions of a large number of other Ming army surrendering in the article, the common people will lose confidence and recognition in the imperial court.

The fourth article praises Wu Changqing’s governance ability. Under Wu Changqing’s governance, the grain price in Suzhou is controlled very stably, the price of cloth has dropped significantly, there are many more products that benefit the people on the market, and the society is stable and prosperous.

Compared with the previous Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, how much better is life now.

In addition to these articles with hidden agendas, the public gazette also published short stories about impoverished scholars and young ladies from wealthy families who privately made lifelong commitments to each other.

These are mainly to attract scholars and young ladies from wealthy families to read, but in fact, some more idle people also like to listen to this kind of story.

Talented scholars and beautiful women, this kind of story is enduring.

Numerous interesting articles have led to the public gazette’s first edition being immediately loved by ordinary people after its release.

In front of the bulletin board in the market, a large group of listeners can always be gathered, waiting for the clerks to tell them the stories on the public gazette.

Even, these newspaper-reading clerks once affected the income of storytellers in the theaters. With more people listening to the public gazette, fewer people naturally went to the theaters to listen to storytellers.

Some storytellers could only shake their heads in frustration in the face of this situation, but there were also clever people who directly bought a copy of the public gazette and then told the stories on the public gazette in the theaters.

The storytelling skills of those newspaper-reading clerks are naturally incomparable to those of these storytellers, who rely on this for a living. When telling stories, their tone, intonation, expression, and movements are all perfectly controlled.

Compared with the clerks’ verbatim recitation, it is obvious that the storytellers tell the stories more vividly and interestingly. As a result, the number of listeners in some theaters not only did not decrease, but also increased a lot, creating a scene of cultural prosperity.

“These two editions are well written.”

After reading them, Wu Changqing was very satisfied with Wei Ziwen’s articles.

“I dare not do my best when serving the teacher.”

Wei Ziwen was secretly delighted.

“These two editions of the newspaper must have cost a lot, right?”

Wu Changqing asked. Paper was already very cheap in this era, but printing technology was still relatively backward, using movable type printing, which was more expensive.

“The two editions cost a total of twenty taels of silver, and a total of more than five thousand copies were printed, of which three thousand five hundred copies were public gazettes, which sold for a total of five taels of silver.”

Wei Ziwen reported the situation. In this way, it was equivalent to a loss of fifteen taels of silver per issue.

Of course, the main reason is that the court gazette is free, and some publicly posted public gazettes are also free. These are all for publicity purposes and belong to administrative expenses.

“This newspaper must be run for a long time. It will not work to rely on financial allocations all the time. I will point out a way to make money for you. You can go to the merchants in the city and publish advertisements for their merchant products in the public gazette, thereby collecting their advertising fees.”

Wu Changqing did not wait for Wei Ziwen to realize it himself, and directly pointed out the most correct development path for the newspaper, publishing advertisements.

Only by publishing advertisements can there be income, and with income can the publication of the newspaper be maintained and its scale expanded.

And for some merchants, it is worth paying this advertising fee, which can make their product brands famous, let the brands take root in people’s hearts, and form so-called time-honored brands.

Not to mention others, Chen Daolin is definitely willing to pay this little money.

The profits from his soaps and detergents are frighteningly high. What he needs to do most now is to build these products into time-honored brands, so that when customers buy these products in the future, the first thing they think of is his Chen’s Soap.

Chapter 86: Influence

In the university hall, many students were passing around the new edition of the newspaper.

“How could Brother Ziwen write such awful articles?”

As everyone read Wei Ziwen’s articles, someone suddenly exclaimed this.

The articles in this newspaper lacked rhetorical devices and attention to format or substance. From an artistic point of view, they really weren’t very good.

“You don’t understand. These stories are written for the common people. If they were too profound, would the people be able to understand and comprehend?”

Liu Tao explained.

“If the work of the Ministry of Rites is just writing these vulgar stories, then I could also take a post in the Ministry of Rites.”

A student named Qin Fen seemed indignant. Since the Ministry of Rites didn’t require such good writing, why was Wei Ziwen the only one given an official position? Everyone else could do it too.

“Well, I heard my uncle say that being an official really doesn’t require great literary talent. The official documents they write are mainly simple and easy to understand.”

Another son of an official, Min Zhen, said.

“If such good writing isn’t needed, then why do the imperial examinations test our literary talent?”

Qin Fen raised this question, which many people had occasionally thought about. But after not figuring it out, they didn’t take it to heart. Anyway, everyone studied this way, and they didn’t need to, nor were they capable of, questioning it.

But now, with Wu Changqing’s disregard for Confucian classics, coupled with this question being raised again, many students began to seriously study the issue.

Was it really necessary to write articles so well?

“The Four Books and Five Classics are, after all, treasures passed down for thousands of years. Studying these books can help one understand principles and cultivate moral character, so it is naturally necessary.”

There were still some pedantic people who chose to support the Four Books and Five Classics.

“However, governing the country solely based on the knowledge in these Four Books and Five Classics is far from enough. Yet the imperial examinations only test these contents. Is that really reasonable?”

Liu Tao retorted.

“What you’re saying! A gentleman reading the books of sages and worthies is something that has been done since ancient times. How can you casually question it?”

Seeing that the two were about to argue, others quickly persuaded them to calm down.

The issue was temporarily put aside, and everyone saw another article, which talked about the Longwu Emperor sending envoys to Suzhou to formally confer Wu Changqing as Duke of Wu and grant him the title of Governor-General of Zhili.

This made many students feel very awkward, because they all knew that Wu Changqing had already accepted the investiture of Prince Lu. Now the Longwu Emperor was issuing an identical investiture. What did this mean?

In the article, Wei Ziwen pointed out that Wu Changqing was in a dilemma when facing this investiture.

Wu Changqing didn’t want to deny the legitimacy of the Longwu Emperor, nor could he accept the Longwu Emperor’s investiture, as that would appear to be playing both sides and ignoring the existence of Prince Lu.

Through his writing, the article guided the readers to feel that the Ming Dynasty court was truly absurd.

“What is the imperial court doing? Is it really this ridiculous? Investiture can be done twice? Can’t these two regents discuss it and establish a primary and secondary order? What are they doing to Duke Wu? How are the soldiers on the front lines supposed to choose?”

Liu Tao said angrily.

With a great enemy before them, the soldiers were fighting to the death for their Zhu family’s empire on the front lines, but their Zhu family was fighting amongst themselves, without even a unified voice.

As subjects, they were naturally dissatisfied with this situation.

“Alas, there are treacherous officials in power.”

Someone lamented.

“I don’t think we can entirely blame the treacherous officials. If these two regents weren’t acting for their own selfish interests, why would they refuse to yield to each other? Each wants to be the supreme ruler, but their talents can only be used for infighting. Since the fall of Beijing, has any member of the Zhu family stood up and fought a victorious battle?”

Qin Fen also had a lot of resentment, feeling that the Zhu family really had no wise rulers left.

The Chongzhen Emperor, of course, needed no further comment, having lost Beijing. The Hongguang Emperor was just a fatuous ruler who liked to watch operas. Prince Lu, Zhu Yihai, had also achieved nothing, and the Longwu Emperor, Zhu Yujian, had been fleeing all the way to Fuzhou to eke out a living.

“Brother Qin, be careful what you say.”

Someone reminded Qin Fen, because with their status, directly criticizing the emperor like this was still somewhat inappropriate. They weren’t censors.

“Hmph, what am I afraid of? We scholars have the world in our hearts, and what’s wrong with speaking out righteously?”

Qin Fen snorted.

“Duke Wu is probably in trouble this time. If he accepts the investiture, Prince Lu will be unhappy. If he doesn’t accept it, the Tang regent will be unhappy.”

Liu Tao lamented.

“Brother Liu, Brother Qin, look at this article. It says that the tax revenue of Shaoxing has been privately intercepted by the treacherous official Fang Guoan. The righteous army in Shaoxing has no pay, so they came to Suzhou, and Duke Wu provided them with food and pay.

Duke Wu leads troops at the forefront of the resistance against the Qing, and it’s already bad enough that he doesn’t receive funding from the court to pay his troops, but he also has to help the court pay the righteous army. This is outrageous.”

Another article in the newspaper revealed the internal strife within the Lu Wang regime, describing Fang Guoan as a treacherous official.

Seeing these inside stories, these hot-blooded young scholars were all infuriated.

Had the court fallen to this point, was there still a need for it to exist?

“If it weren’t for Duke Wu, the Ming Dynasty would have fallen long ago.”

Qin Fen coldly snorted.

“That’s right. Besides Duke Wu, who else in the entire Ming Dynasty has fought hard battles and won victories?”

Liu Tao echoed, and many students nodded in agreement.

“Forget it, let’s focus on studying hard first, and strive to obtain an official position, so that we have a chance to change this court. Right now, we are in lowly positions and our words carry little weight. It’s useless to say more.”

After a fierce denunciation, many students harbored resentment towards the Ming Dynasty court.

Of course, it couldn’t be blamed on Wu Changqing for deliberately guiding public opinion. The main reason was that the current Ming Dynasty court was truly outrageous.

If Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian could unify their opinions, establish a primary and secondary order, and then wholeheartedly resist the Qing, Wu Changqing would have no way to smear them.

But now, Wu Changqing didn’t even need to fabricate facts. Just revealing some inside stories was enough for the Ming Dynasty court to immediately lose the people’s hearts.

Qin Fen smiled inwardly after seeing the reactions of the other students.

Everything he had just done was under the instructions of Wei Ziwen. Wei Ziwen promised that as long as he did this well, he would be given priority in Wu Changqing’s next selection of officials.

In order to become an official, Qin Fen didn’t care what impact these remarks would have on the prestige of the Ming Dynasty court.

If it were in a prosperous era, he probably wouldn’t dare to have such bold ideas.

But in chaotic times, the greed of human nature was unleashed. The countless generals who surrendered had taken the lead, so that others no longer felt any psychological pressure to rebel against the Ming Dynasty.

In this kind of thing, as long as the leader gets the benefits, there will be many followers.

Currently, people like Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui who surrendered to the Manchus were living very well, and they were also appreciated and valued by the Manchus.

Chapter 87: Family Arrival

On the fifteenth, a large convoy arrived in Suzhou, escorted by the most elite flintlock rifle troops of the Wu army.

“Who are the people in this convoy? Such a grand display.”

A young master asked from a restaurant.

“Brother Zhao, you don’t even know this? This is the mother and family of the Duke of Wu. Wouldn’t the pomp be grand?”

Another knowledgeable person said.

“Then it should be such a grand display. The current Duke of Wu has the final say in Wusong and appointed Ye Jinliang as a sixth-rank clerk with a mere word. What do you think? With Ye Jinliang’s level of writing, does he deserve it?”

Zhao Zhijing said disdainfully. He had studied with Ye Jinliang before and completely looked down on Ye Jinliang’s writing.

“Brother Zhao, you don’t know this, but Brother Ye obtained his official position mainly because of his good arithmetic. It is said that there are now many materials in the government office that need to be coordinated and calculated, and there is a great shortage of arithmetic experts. We have already missed the first phase of enrollment. I will also apply for the university in the second phase next year.”

“Yes, it is easy to obtain an official position by studying at the university. Guan Mengfei from Kunshan even started as a fifth-rank assistant minister in the Ministry of Public Works, and was rewarded with five thousand taels of silver. This Duke of Wu is really generous.”

Another scholar echoed. Those who missed the first phase of enrollment in the university felt regretful to varying degrees at this time.

“They are all unorthodox tricks that cannot be brought to the grand stage.”

Zhao Zhijing snorted disdainfully, but in his heart, he decided to go back and study those miscellaneous subjects.

A fifth-rank assistant minister! That’s not a small official position. If you can get such an official position at the age of twenty-something, you can become a Vice Minister of Public Works in the future just by accumulating seniority.

The Duke’s mansion was quite lively that day.

Wu Changqing arrived at the gate early to welcome his mother.

Wu Changqing was both familiar and estranged from this ‘mother’ because he had inherited the original owner’s memories, and he instinctively regarded this person as his mother.

But because he had transmigrated, he was very clear that this person was not his own mother.

However, none of this mattered. In ancient times, where filial piety was highly valued, he had to do enough on the surface and treat Madam Liao as his own mother.

As the convoy arrived, Wu Changqing also saw his mother, Madam Liao, his younger sister, Wu Yu, and his younger brother, Wu Zheng.

Wu Yu, who was already thirteen years old, was very lively and ran to Wu Changqing first, hugging him tightly: “Big brother.”

“No manners, no rules.”

Madam Liao reprimanded. Wu Yu could only let go aggrievedly upon hearing this.

When she was a child, she and her brother were so close, but she also knew that she was now grown up, and men and women were different, so she could no longer be like this.

“Mother.”

Wu Changqing said.

“My son has worked hard. Let mother see, you’ve lost weight.”

Madam Liao said, feeling a little like crying. Of course, she knew how dangerous and hard it was for someone only sixteen or seventeen years old to fight outside.

Looking at the family business Wu Changqing had earned, she was both gratified and distressed.

“Mother, why do I think big brother has grown taller and stronger?”

Wu Zheng, who was fourteen years old, asked suspiciously. He felt that Wu Changqing was taller and stronger than when he left home last year, and looked like an adult man.

Madam Liao glared at him upon hearing this. Of course, she knew that Wu Changqing had grown taller and stronger. Wasn’t it because she felt sorry for her son that she felt like he had lost weight?

“Greetings, Mother.”

Chen Yuyan gave a bow.

“This is your daughter-in-law, Chen, you can call her Yuyan.”

Wu Changqing introduced.

“Good, very good.”

Madam Liao glanced at Chen Yuyan and was very satisfied. First, because Chen Yuyan was outstanding in appearance, and second, because Chen Yuyan had an excellent temperament, and it was clear at a glance that she was a sensible person.

The group entered the mansion, and Wu Yu exclaimed that it was too beautiful.

The gardens of Suzhou are the best in the world. These words are naturally not said casually. Suzhou has many mansions with large areas and luxurious and exquisite interior decorations.

Compared with a small place like Shaoxing, it is naturally many times better.

“Young master, I brought Abao too.”

A girl who looked like a porcelain doll said, holding a fat cat in her arms, which was almost suffocated by her.

From his memories, Wu Changqing knew that this person was called Xiaocui, his former personal maid who grew up with him. Their relationship was much closer than ordinary masters and servants, a bit similar to the relationship between Zihe and Chen Yuyan.

In wealthy families, there are generally personal servants who have been adopted since childhood. The loyalty of such people is much higher than that of recruited adult servants. They have become one with the master’s family.

Xiaocui was not adopted since childhood, but her father, Dong Zhong, had been the Wu family’s chief steward for many years, already more than twenty years, and had also become one with the Wu family.

Dong Zhong had no sons, but two daughters, who served Wu Changqing and Wu Zheng respectively.

“You have to call him master.”

Dong Zhong reprimanded. Now that the master, Wu Zhiban, had passed away, Wu Changqing was the head of the family and could no longer be called young master, but had to be called master.

Xiaocui was used to calling him young master and did not change her words all at once.

“Ask madam if she wants it. If she doesn’t, you can keep it.”

Wu Changqing didn’t have time to play with cats now, and besides, he didn’t particularly like playing with cats.

“Master is doing great things now. You are not allowed to bring these toys to master in the future, which will affect master’s great things. Just serve him carefully.”

Dong Zhong reprimanded again, and Xiaocui could only nod aggrievedly. She found that her young master had completely changed. The former Wu Changqing was still very interested in these flowers, birds, fish, and insects.

After settling the family, everyone first went to the mourning hall to kneel down and worship Wu Zhiban’s spirit tablet, and immediately there was a burst of wailing.

Whether it was Wu Yu, Wu Zheng, Dong Zhong, or Dong Xiaocui, they all shed tears.

Although they had already cried once when they learned that Wu Zhiban had died in battle, many people still couldn’t control their emotions now that they were in this situation.

Even some people who were not originally sad had to find a way to shed some tears in this situation, otherwise, how could they show their filial piety and loyalty?

After a long time, the old lady, Madam Liao, was the first to recover from the grief and said: “The deceased is gone, and those who are still alive must live well. Changqing, from now on, this family will depend entirely on you.”

“Mother, don’t worry, I will definitely not let father down.”

Wu Changqing said.

“Big brother, I also want to go to the military camp and kill the Manchu Tartars to avenge father.”

Wu Zheng said. Boys of his age are most easily impulsive.

“You go to the university to study first. Even if you want to join the army in the future, you must first go to the military science department to study command. I can’t let you be a soldier charging into battle.”

Wu Changqing had planned his life well, preferably to learn some new knowledge and then do some work that was not dangerous.

Even if he really wanted to join the army, he had to learn enough military knowledge and then start as an officer.

Wu Zheng’s face collapsed upon hearing this. He had no talent in reading, and he preferred to fight and kill.

However, the eldest brother is like a father. Now Wu Changqing is the head of the family, with high position and great power, and Wu Zheng can only obey obediently.

Chapter 88: Rewarding the Troops

As the New Year approached, even in these times of war, the people began to prepare for the festivities.

Buying New Year’s prints of door gods and couplets, cutting new cloth for new clothes, purchasing meats they usually couldn’t afford…

Suzhou suffered less from the war than Yangzhou, Jiangyin, Jiading, and other places. On the whole, the people were doing relatively well.

Instead of randomly levying taxes like other places, Wu Changqing focused on inventing new products to earn money from the wealthy and from other regions to support his army. He didn’t collect any “restoration tax” from the people, so their burden was lighter.

It was because of Wu Changqing’s various measures to benefit the people, coupled with his compassion for them during the war and his troops’ non-interference with the populace, that he held extremely high prestige in the Suzhou area and was greatly supported by the people.

As for the merchants, some liked him, while others hated him. Those who liked Wu Changqing did so because he encouraged commercial development and even openly permitted and encouraged trade with overseas merchants.

Those who hated Wu Changqing were mostly cloth merchants and other merchants who dealt in women’s goods. Because of Wu Changqing’s Wu’s Cloth Store, the local cloth merchants were almost completely wiped out.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t allowed them to purchase goods at wholesale prices, they would have had no way to survive. Now, they could only rely on purchasing goods from Wu’s Cloth Store and transporting them to Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and other surrounding towns to sell, earning a small profit margin.

Wu’s Cloth Store ate the meat, and they could only drink the soup, enough to keep from starving, but impossible to get rich.

As the people began to prepare for the New Year, Wu Changqing was also busy with the matter. He brought a large amount of supplies to the military camp.

The army was Wu Changqing’s foundation. With the New Year approaching, the soldiers couldn’t go home, so to compensate them, Wu Changqing prepared some benefits for them.

First, each person received two sets of winter coats, all standard new-style military uniforms.

These new military uniforms, whether in terms of quality or style, were the best of this era. Even the military uniforms of the Eight Banner soldiers of the Manchus weren’t as good as these.

When the soldiers put on these uniforms, they looked much more energetic.

When tens of thousands of people wore this uniform clothing, they looked even more imposing. Uniform and good-looking military uniforms not only provided warmth but also strengthened the sense of identity between them.

In addition to clothing, a large amount of meat was also transported to the military camp, ensuring that each soldier could eat at least one kilogram of meat this New Year.

This amount was already quite a lot, considering that meat was scarce in this era.

The common people couldn’t even feed themselves, let alone raise livestock such as chickens, ducks, and geese. Without grain to feed them, it was difficult for these livestock to grow big and fat by just finding food on their own.

The energy produced by the grain used to raise a domestic fowl was definitely more than that produced by the fowl itself. From the perspective of filling one’s stomach, raising poultry was a losing proposition.

Pigs could eat wild vegetables and pigweed, but that didn’t mean ordinary families could afford to raise pigs. The price of a small piglet alone could deter all poor farmers.

Moreover, feeding them only with wild vegetables and pigweed required a very large amount, and ordinary families didn’t have that much time to pull so many wild vegetables and pigweed.

In this era, only wealthy families and professional butchers could afford to raise pigs. Moreover, not many people could afford to buy pork, so there were fewer people raising pigs.

Wu Changqing personally delivered this batch of supplies to the military camp and gave a speech along the way.

As for the content of the speech, it was nothing more than telling these soldiers to follow him, and as long as they followed him, they would have good days in the future. Not only would they have meat to eat now, but they would also have land to distribute in the future.

Distributing land to soldiers was the ultimate move to win over soldiers and make them risk their lives, and it was very effective.

Why were the garrison soldiers of the late Ming Dynasty so vulnerable when fighting against the Manchus, but became brave after surrendering to the Manchus? In the end, it was all because of interests.

When the garrison soldiers won a battle, the benefits all went to the officers, and the soldiers were still tenant farmers under the officers. This household registration system, which could not change their fate, left all the soldiers without motivation.

Therefore, most of the garrison soldiers in the late Ming Dynasty were just muddling through their days. The first thought that came to mind when a war was about to break out was to run away.

After surrendering to the Manchus, their identities changed. As long as they killed enemies and made meritorious service, they would be rewarded. This gave the soldiers a lot more motivation to fight desperately, and their combat effectiveness immediately increased.

And Wu Changqing was now offering even better conditions than the Manchus. As long as they fought desperately, they would be able to directly receive land in the future.

The people of this era valued land very much. Land was their root.

Upon hearing that land would be distributed, these soldiers were so excited that they couldn’t help but shout “Long live Wu Changqing!”

In their eyes, Wu Changqing, their commander, was much better than the emperor. The emperor had never done anything beneficial to the people.

The promise had been made, but it was not easy to fulfill this promise. The land could not be forcibly seized from the landlords, and other methods had to be found.

However, if they could take down the north, this problem would be easier to solve, because there were many imperial estates in the north that originally belonged to the Zhu family, and these could be used to distribute to the soldiers.

“D郎 (Dàláng), did you hear that? The general said that as long as we recover the lost territory, we can get land.”

One soldier said excitedly. He had been forced to sell his only piece of land to pay for his father’s illness, and then joined the army to make a living.

Liu Dàláng was in a similar situation. His family’s land was also gone, so he could only join the army to make a living.

And now, Wu Changqing told them that as long as they continued to fight, they would be able to get land in the future, which made him very excited. With land, he wouldn’t have to be a soldier anymore, and he wouldn’t have to worry about dying on the battlefield.

“I heard it. Fifteen thousand square meters of prime paddy field. For this piece of land, I will risk my life to help the general recover the lost territory in the north.”

Liu Dàláng gritted his teeth and said. In the past, fighting was for military pay. But now, he had another goal in fighting, which was to win the war and then get that piece of land.

“That’s right, that’s fifteen thousand square meters of fertile land. With this fifteen thousand square meters of fertile land, we won’t have to worry about food and drink in the future. And the general said that even if we die in battle, the land will be distributed to our sons. Dàláng, you have to find a wife during your leave, otherwise, it will be a loss if you die in battle.”

“Bah, to hell with you. I won’t die even if you die.”

Liu Dàláng scolded, but he was indeed considering this issue in his heart. If he didn’t hurry up and marry a wife and have a son, it would indeed be a loss if he died in battle now.

After rewarding these soldiers, Wu Changqing also drank and celebrated with other officers.

There was no need to make any promises to these officers. As long as these officers were not stupid, they would follow him wholeheartedly. As long as Wu Changqing’s territory grew larger and the number of soldiers increased, their status and power would naturally increase.

They had already deeply experienced this point. People like Li Shaobin and Liu Hansan were just centurions a few months ago, but now they commanded tens of thousands of troops.

The old soldiers who survived the uprising in Jiading, even the worst of them, had now become squad leaders, receiving higher military pay than other soldiers.

As for some people with a little talent, they had now become centurions, chiliarchs, or even generals.

And all of this was brought to them by Wu Changqing.

“Everyone, let’s drink this cup and work harder next year. Next year, we will not only recover Nanjing, but also fight to Beijing, so that all the troops in the world will be under our command.”

Wu Changqing raised his glass and said.

“We swear to follow the general to the death.”

Li Shaobin and other generals raised their glasses one after another.

Chapter 89: Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen

Beijing, this ancient city of thousands of years, had an increasingly festive atmosphere, even though it was occupied by the Manchus. The customs of the people would not change so easily.

The Manchus who entered the pass had always admired the culture of the Central Plains, and some nobles were now imitating the preparations for the New Year.

But when it comes to the ability to assimilate, no nation in the world can compare with the Han.

One or two thousand years of cultural accumulation has led to the Han people’s extreme identification with their own culture. Whether it is Buddhism, Catholicism, or Christianity, they all stare blankly when they come to China, unable to find a way in.

Dorgon brought some dressing mirrors, soaps, and perfumes to the palace and presented them to Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen, commonly known as Dayuer.

Dorgon had feelings for Dayuer when he was young, but at that time his brother Huang Taiji was the emperor, and Huang Taiji would naturally not let go of the most beautiful woman in Mongolia.

He not only married Dayuer’s aunt, but also married Dayuer’s older sister, and Dayuer herself, tsk tsk tsk.

At that time, Dorgon, whose love was snatched away, could only endure humiliation until Huang Taiji died. He took control of the court, and then he had designs on Dayuer again.

However, now Dayuer’s son has become the emperor, and she herself has become Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen. This status is too noble, and it is impossible to marry Dorgon.

Unless Dorgon abolishes Shunzhi and becomes the emperor himself, he can forcibly take Dayuer as his own.

As for now, he can only show his courtesy and please Dayuer.

This time, some officials from Jiangnan paid tribute to him with a batch of Jiangnan specialties, including the mirrors, soaps, and perfumes invented by Wu Changqing.

These things are very precious in the Jiangnan area, and are almost priceless.

However, Dorgon is the Prince Regent, the actual controller of the current Manchu Qing Dynasty. He doesn’t even have to ask for good things in the world, and people will naturally try their best to send them to him.

After getting these dressing mirrors, Dorgon immediately thought of giving them to Dayuer in order to please her. How could a woman not like a mirror that can clearly see her own reflection?

“Dayuer, these are treasures from Jiangnan, you will definitely like them.”

Dorgon said with a smile.

Dayuer felt helpless when she heard him call her by her given name.

Such a nickname as “Dayuer” is not something that anyone can call. Dorgon is obviously overstepping his bounds.

She knew what Dorgon was thinking, so she was very distressed.

Although it is common for brothers to marry their sister-in-laws and aunts in Manchuria and Mongolia, they have now entered the Central Plains and are also moving closer to Central Plains culture in terms of cultural customs.

She didn’t want to be laughed at by the Han people as barbarians, so she didn’t want to marry Dorgon and be ridiculed by the world.

“The Prince Regent is very thoughtful.”

Dayuer said perfunctorily.

The maid Su Mo’er was very active. She walked to the dressing mirror and exclaimed, “Your Majesty, look, this mirror reflects people so clearly.”

Su Mo’er’s exclamation aroused Dayuer’s curiosity. She also came to the dressing mirror and was immediately shocked.

She used bronze mirrors before, and bronze mirrors were already extremely magical in her eyes. She didn’t expect that there would be even clearer mirrors in the world.

Completely seeing her own appearance clearly, Dayuer felt even happy. At the same time, she also sighed that the Central Plains is indeed the center of the world, completely incomparable to the frontier barbarians.

“Su Mo’er, don’t be so surprised. There are many fun things in the prosperous Jiangnan. When I have completely pacified Jiangnan in the future, I will take you there to play. I guarantee that you won’t want to go back to the northeast after you’ve been there.”

Dorgon was very satisfied with the reaction of the two of them, and at the same time took out the soap and said, “This thing is used for bathing, and it will leave a fragrance on the body. And this perfume is usually used, and the fragrance is very strong.”

Dorgon opened a bottle of perfume, and a fragrance immediately filled the room.

Su Mo’er curiously leaned closer to smell it, and immediately liked it very much. At the same time, she immediately brought it to Dayuer’s nose.

“These Han people are really smart, they have created so many good things.”

Dayuer said with emotion.

The nomadic peoples of this era are quite admired by the Han Chinese in the Central Plains.

However, with their continuous victories on the battlefield, some people who look down on the Han people have also appeared, such as Dorgon.

“They are just small tricks. Under our iron cavalry, they can only choose to submit.”

Dorgon sneered.

Before entering the pass, he also felt that the Ming Dynasty was invincible. He originally wanted to learn from his predecessors and come to Beijing to make a fortune and go home to enjoy himself.

However, who knew that after entering the pass, he accidentally captured Beijing, and then chased and beat the Great Shun army. The Central Plains surrendered at the sight of the wind.

A series of victories, Dorgon was actually quite confused.

Finally, he came to the conclusion that the Han people are just superficially strong and vulnerable to a single blow.

“You, you are just so impulsive. The Han people have dozens of times more people than us after all, so we must not oppress them too much. Didn’t they say some time ago that some people in Jiangnan rebelled because they refused to keep their queues? In my opinion, this is their cultural custom after all, and there is no need to force them if they don’t want to keep them.”

Although Dayuer is in the deep palace, she is not indifferent to politics.

Because Shunzhi is still young, and in order to protect her son’s foundation, she is very knowledgeable about some political affairs, and even knows that a man named Wu Changqing rebelled in the south and occupied the area around Suzhou.

“Dayuer, you are overthinking it. Now there is only one person named Wu Changqing who is still jumping around in the south. After the New Year, I will let Dodo lead a large army south. As long as our iron cavalry comes out, those Han people will surrender at the sight of the wind.”

Dorgon said disdainfully.

Even though Wu Changqing recently occupied Changzhou again, Dorgon did not take him seriously.

The main reason is that the previous series of battles were too smooth, which led him to not take the Ming army seriously. He believes that Wu Changqing’s rebellion and victory were because Dodo took the main army back to the north to rest.

As long as the Eight Banner Army goes south again, it will be like before, a military parade, and all places will surrender.

This time, Dorgon plans to completely pacify the south and kill all the Ming Dynasty regents and princes of the Zhu family. As long as those people are killed, others will have no one to be loyal to.

Dayuer sighed in her heart when she heard this, but she did not argue with him. She knew that Dorgon was already inflated.

After thanking Dorgon, she talked with Dorgon for a while, and then excused herself that she was not feeling well and issued an order to send him away.

Dorgon, who left the palace, clenched his fists. He couldn’t wait to get Dayuer. And to get Dayuer, he must first get the throne, and to usurp the throne, he must first pacify the south.

Only by pacifying the south and eliminating external threats can he safely deal with internal differences.

Chapter 90: Sharing Joy with the People

Because the New Year was approaching, the Central Plains, which had been plagued by years of war, had also ceased fighting.

Even Jiujiang and other places, where the fighting had been fierce, had ceased hostilities and entered a temporary period of rest and confrontation.

Suzhou, the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year. Wu Changqing chose this day to share joy with the people, bringing his family to the bank of the Xujiang River to set off fireworks with the common folk.

Firecrackers had existed for a long time, but fireworks only gradually appeared in the early Ming Dynasty. Fireworks at this time were very rudimentary, simply exploding on the ground without shooting into the sky. Moreover, after exploding, they only flashed briefly, emitting a little smoke, and were not very visually appealing.

Mainly, no one knew why fireworks flashed, how to enhance this flashing effect, or even thought about shooting them into the sky.

However, these were all child’s play to Wu Changqing. He didn’t even need to advance any technology; he knew that adding some magnesium or aluminum to gunpowder could produce a very bright light.

To celebrate the New Year, Wu Changqing had already arranged for craftsmen to manufacture a large batch of fireworks.

Firstly, it was for his wife and younger sister to enjoy, and secondly, it was to share joy with the people, broaden their horizons, and incidentally enhance their sense of pride, superiority, and identification.

Ordinary people feel a sense of pride when they see their country or hometown more prosperous than other places, and they will be more likely to identify with the current rule.

This sense of identification may not be effective in critical moments, but it is very beneficial for maintaining rule.

Wu Changqing wanted to rebel, so naturally he couldn’t do it overnight. He had to subtly increase his prestige and reduce the influence of the Ming Dynasty. If he didn’t prepare in advance, he was afraid that the people wouldn’t support him when he rebelled.

Although the people’s rebellion was unlikely to cause any major disturbances, there would always be some impact.

Therefore, Wu Changqing was now vigorously promoting the establishment of the People’s Gazette, while trying to reduce the burden on the people as much as possible, all in order to win the hearts of the people.

Just after nightfall, a large number of people had already gathered by the river. The news that Wu Changqing was going to share joy with the people had already been publicized through the People’s Gazette, and many people already knew about it.

“I heard that Duke Wu is going to set off new types of fireworks this time, and they are said to be very beautiful.”

“How beautiful can fireworks be? Isn’t it just emitting some light?”

“Hmph, what do you know? Duke Wu is skilled in firearms. How can you imagine the fireworks he makes?”

Several people chatted idly.

“Do you want to light one?”

Wu Changqing asked Wu Yu. Watching others set off fireworks and setting them off yourself are two different experiences.

Wu Yu wanted to go, but the old madam glared at her, and she didn’t dare to go.

In the old madam’s words, girls should be quiet and refined, dignified and generous, not crazy and silly, otherwise they would not be able to marry in the future, and marrying would be a disgrace.

Seeing that Wu Yu didn’t dare to come, Wu Changqing lit a firework himself.

“Beep.”

The firework made a sharp sound, soared into the sky for more than ten meters, and then exploded. The magnesium strips that scattered around immediately burned, very brightly, like a blooming flower.

“Wow, this is Duke Wu’s firework.”

“So beautiful.”

“Ah, I want this kind of firework too.”

The people were stunned when they saw such a large, bright, and sky-bound firework for the first time.

And those younger children had already started screaming. Of course, they wanted this kind of fun thing too. This kind of firework was much better than firecrackers.

Some young ladies who rarely went out at ordinary times were now intoxicated by this beautiful scenery, wishing they could compose a poem. However, after racking their brains, most people realized that they were not talented enough.

Wu Changqing personally lit the first one, and then Wu Zheng and some soldiers began to light the fireworks. According to the plan, they lit ten at the same time.

Ten blooming fireworks were much more spectacular than a single one. The entire night was lit up, and the entire sky was like a painting.

“It’s a pity that this beautiful scenery lasts for such a short time.”

“Time passes silently, fireworks are fleeting, old dreams linger.”

“Such a beautiful scene should be composed into a poem.”

Several scholars were also admiring the fireworks. Seeing this beautiful scene, they were also inspired to write poetry.

“If the north were not still occupied by the Manchu Tartars, this scene would be like a prosperous age.”

A scholar sighed.

“Don’t worry, Brother Cui, with Duke Wu’s bravery, recovering the north is only a matter of time.”

Another scholar laughed.

The people of Suzhou at the moment were very confident in Wu Changqing, because Wu Changqing always won battles, and the people under his rule lived and worked in peace and contentment, and commerce was booming.

This was enough to show that Wu Changqing was a capable minister.

After ten were fired together, the next was twenty consecutive shots.

These twenty were not lit at the same time, but at a certain frequency, about one every three seconds, continuously lighting.

This rhythmic and regular lighting method allowed the fireworks to bloom with a more rhythmic and aesthetic effect.

This continuous firing method ensured that the sky never stopped shining, one after another, causing another burst of exclamations from the people.

After twenty consecutive shots, the climax came. One hundred soldiers were ready at the same time. As the centurion’s whistle sounded, one hundred people lit the fireworks at the same time.

Suddenly, after a loud noise, hundreds of fireworks exploded in the sky at the same time.

This momentum was extremely grand, giving people a very shocking feeling.

Even modern people who were knowledgeable and experienced would feel shocked when they saw this scene, let alone those ancient people who had little knowledge. Seeing such a grand occasion for the first time, they would never forget it.

While remembering this grand occasion, they would not forget that all of this was brought by Wu Changqing. Wu Changqing would slowly become synonymous with the word “miraculous.”

“It’s so beautiful. I’ve never heard that fireworks can be so beautiful.”

Chen Yuyan was already mesmerized, and also intoxicated by this grand occasion.

She felt that she was the happiest woman in the world, because Wu Changqing said that these fireworks were specially made for her to relieve boredom.

Having such a husband, what more could one ask for?

Wu Yu was extremely proud that she had a powerful and loving brother, because Wu Changqing also told her that this was specially made for her to watch and play with.

In the People’s Gazette, Wu Changqing said that all of this was actually to share joy with the people, specially shown to the people.

After setting off the fireworks, Wu Changqing and others returned to the Duke’s mansion first, while the people continued to celebrate in the streets.

Unlike the usual celebrations, this year they had one more topic, which was fireworks.

Such a magical and beautiful thing, everyone was amazed and amazed. And those who did not go to the scene for some reason, after hearing the descriptions of others, could only leave with a great regret.

Chapter 91: A Boredom-Busting Artifact

During the New Year, Wu Changqing gathered Chen Yuyan, Wu Yu, and the others, preparing to teach them something fun.

A mahjong set made of fine wood was brought up, something Wu Changqing had specially made to relieve Chen Yuyan’s boredom.

At this time, there were already madiao cards among the common people, and the gameplay was similar to mahjong, but there were not as many tiles as mahjong, and the gameplay was relatively simple and monotonous.

What Wu Changqing took out was the complete version of mahjong from later generations, with a total of one hundred and eight tiles, and the gameplay could be very diverse and more interesting.

“What is this, dominoes?”

Chen Yuyan picked up a red middle tile and looked at it, asking.

“This is a game I came up with in my spare time, similar to madiao cards. You four sit down quickly, and I’ll teach you how to play, so you won’t be bored in the future.”

Wu Changqing’s words left them speechless. They really didn’t know that Wu Changqing would have such leisure and elegance to study this kind of thing.

No matter how you look at it, this kind of thing should be the favorite of those idle纨绔子弟.

Chen Yuyan, Wu Yu, Zihe, and Xiaocui sat down, and Wu Changqing began to introduce the rules and gameplay to them.

The gameplay of mahjong can be complicated or simple. The more complicated ones need to distinguish the types of winning hands and calculate the fan. This requires remembering a lot of things, and there is a lot to calculate when playing cards.

The simpler ones, such as Guangdong mahjong, do not need to distinguish the types of winning hands. There is only one type of winning hand, and you get the code when you win.

As a new game, Wu Changqing didn’t bother with those complicated things, and introduced the gameplay of Guangdong mahjong, which allows for pong and kong, but not chow.

After listening to Wu Changqing’s explanation, they began to try, and Wu Changqing gave guidance from the side.

He corrected the mistakes and taught some small skills when there were no mistakes. For example, keeping two or three ten thousands and waiting for one or four ten thousands is easier to win than waiting for a single two ten thousands, and it is easier to win when there are more pairs, and so on.

After one round, everyone except Xiaocui had almost mastered it.

After all, this thing is really not difficult. As long as you are willing to learn, even the most stupid person can get started quickly.

“Waa… master, I’m still too stupid.”

Xiaocui said dejectedly. After two rounds, everyone else had stopped making mistakes, but she still made mistakes repeatedly, shouting to kong with two cards, and saying she won even when she forgot to draw a card and was missing a tile.

Well, this may be a case of big breasts, no brains.

Wu Changqing sighed in his heart. The four of them were about the same age, but Xiaocui was more fully developed. Except for her slightly immature face, her figure was already like an adult.

Unlike Chen Yuyan, even though she was already a married woman, she still looked like a high school student from later generations, full of youthful innocence.

Mahjong requires four people to play, so Wu Changqing had to sit next to Xiaocui and give her personal guidance.

Seeing this, Zihe thought to herself, what a scheming, cunning little fox.

She didn’t believe that Xiaocui was simple-minded. At least during this period of time together, she didn’t see anything stupid about Dong Xiaocui.

After Dong Xiaocui came, she had been competing with her to serve Wu Changqing.

In the eyes of outsiders, this was loyalty, but in Zihe’s eyes, it was clearly wanting to seduce and hook up with the master, shameless.

Now, she thought that Dong Xiaocui was pretending to be stupid, just to get Wu Changqing to sit next to her.

Therefore, Zihe began to target Dong Xiaocui in the game, specializing in kong-ing her. However, there were not many opportunities to kong, so Zihe began to think about how to play and keep cards to make Dong Xiaocui uncomfortable.

Unconsciously, Zihe’s card skills greatly improved.

“Haha, I won!”

Wu Yu grabbed a two of bamboo, and suddenly jumped and shouted, as if winning was a particularly proud and interesting thing.

It was a good thing that they weren’t gambling for small amounts of money yet, otherwise she would be even more smug.

After playing for a while, Wu Yu had completely fallen in love with this game.

“Acting without any decorum, what kind of behavior is this?”

At some point, the old lady appeared here, and scolded Wu Yu when she caught her.

“No, it’s just that elder brother taught us a fun game, so I’m happy.”

Wu Yu said dissatisfied.

“Nonsense, your elder brother is burdened with government affairs every day, and is busy with important military and national affairs. You are so ignorant to pester him to make these playthings that waste your ambitions.”

The old lady continued to scold, and Chen Yuyan quickly stood up to admit her mistake: “Mother’s lesson is correct, it was my fault.”

She didn’t want to become a Daji in other people’s mouths, delaying Wu Changqing’s great anti-Qing cause.

“Mother, I made this in my spare time, it won’t affect serious matters. Isn’t it the New Year now? Let’s all have fun together.”

Wu Changqing said helplessly. His mother was too traditional and rigid, but he couldn’t correct her, so he could only go along with her.

Wu Changqing spoke, and the old lady put away her expression and said, “You are usually busy with government affairs, so you should take a good rest during the New Year.”

After the old lady left, Wu Yu dared to complain: “Mother is getting more and more biased now, she only has elder brother in her heart, hum.”

“You’re still jealous of your elder brother.” Wu Changqing complained.

“I say, you should quickly have a baby with sister-in-law for mother, so she can take care of the child every day and have no time to care about me.”

Wu Yu suggested, she was thinking beautifully.

Chen Yuyan felt shy when she heard this. It was so embarrassing to say this kind of thing in front of everyone.

“Play your cards, it’s none of your business.”

Wu Changqing said, he wasn’t in a hurry at all. After all, he had only been married to Chen Yuyan for more than two months, and he had spent some time in Changzhou, so it was normal not to be pregnant yet.

Only Chen Yuyan was anxious. She was happy playing cards, but when she heard about the child, she had no intention of playing anymore.

At night, Wu Changqing took a bath, and Dong Xiaocui came to serve him, wiping his body.

She was not honest when wiping her body, touching everywhere.

“That’s about enough.” Wu Changqing complained.

“Does master not like Cuier anymore? You used to like Cuier giving you a bath the most.”

Dong Xiaocui said coquettishly.

“Don’t have so many thoughts. I’ll favor you after the madam is pregnant.”

Wu Changqing could see Dong Xiaocui’s little thoughts, but he didn’t care.

Anyway, his identity was destined for the harem to be not peaceful, and there would definitely be various dirty power struggles.

However, Wu Changqing still preferred Chen Yuyan to have a son first, which would reduce a lot of unnecessary trouble. If Xiaocui or Zihe gave birth to a son first, there would inevitably be another story between the嫡子 and the eldest son.

Furthermore, Wu Changqing also wanted to take care of Chen Yuyan’s feelings as his official wife. Although he had no right to care who Chen Yuyan favored now, it was inevitable that she would be sad.

If he took concubines and favored others after Chen Yuyan was pregnant, then Chen Yuyan would have nothing to say.

Dong Xiaocui didn’t dare to speak when she heard this, she was afraid of making Wu Changqing angry.

Although she couldn’t be favored now, it was not bad to have a chance in the future. She was born as a maid, so she naturally couldn’t compare with those ladies from noble families. It was a blessing to be Wu Changqing’s concubine.

Chapter 92: Hybrid Rice

The first month of the new year wasn’t even over when Wu Changqing ended his holiday and started dealing with official business.

Wu Changqing remembered that in history, this was the year Aisin Gioro Bolo would become the Generalissimo Who Pacifies the South, personally leading the Qing army’s Eight Banners south, and wiping out Prince Lu and the Longwu regime in one fell swoop.

Finally, Prince Gui declared himself regent in Zhaoqing, historically known as the Yongli Emperor.

Wu Changqing’s arrival had already significantly changed the course of history. For example, Wusong and Hangzhou, which were originally under the control of the Qing army, were now under the control of the Ming Dynasty.

While the details had changed, Wu Changqing believed that the general direction of the Qing army should not have changed. After the Spring Festival, the main force of the Qing army’s Eight Banners would definitely move south again.

This was not like the rabble of the Green Standard Army. The Eight Banner soldiers were quite formidable in combat due to the special nature of their organizational system.

Of course, the army of any power is very strong in combat during its resurgence. The garrison soldiers of the Ming Dynasty once had their glorious moments, but they had now degenerated.

And the seemingly awesome Eight Banner soldiers of today would become a joke by the end of the Qing Dynasty.

The reasons for this were very complicated and could not be explained in a few words. In short, if an army wants to maintain its combat effectiveness, it cannot remain unchanged and must keep pace with the times.

To prepare for this battle, Wu Changqing had begun preparations long ago.

The craftsmen were forced to continue working and building armaments after only three days of rest.

In addition to preparing for war, Wu Changqing also paid close attention to economic development.

One official document reported a sharp rise in cotton prices in the Wusong area, with the increase even reaching fifty percent, which was very abnormal.

From a secret report, Wu Changqing figured out the reason.

It turned out that this was a trick concocted by a group of cloth merchants.

These cloth merchants had hoarded a large number of fabrics, but because of the cheap dumping of Wu’s fabrics, the merchants’ fabrics could not be sold.

They were certainly unwilling to lower prices, as this would cause huge losses.

As a result, a group of cloth merchants joined forces and, relying on their channel advantages, raised the purchase price of cotton, buying up all the cotton from farmers and the market at high prices and hoarding it.

They wanted to use this method to increase the cost of Wu’s fabrics and force Wu’s fabrics to raise their selling price.

As long as the selling price of Wu’s fabrics rose, the fabrics in their hands could also be sold.

And their plan was to sell these fabrics and then sell the hoarded cotton to Wu’s fabrics at a high price. In this way, they would not lose money.

As for changing careers or doing something else in the future, that would be decided later.

Seeing the information in the secret report, Wu Changqing felt a little sympathetic to these cloth merchants, because the opponents of these cloth merchants were too invincible, forcing them to resort to this strategy.

Their strategy was high in risk and low in return.

If Wu’s fabrics insisted on not buying high-priced cotton, then the other cloth merchants would be dumbfounded. The cotton purchased at high prices would result in even higher production costs for the fabrics, leading to even greater losses.

Moreover, Wu Changqing also knew that these cloth merchants were destined to fail, because he had already had the Dutch and Portuguese transport a large amount of raw materials over.

Calculating the time, the first batch of goods was almost here.

Therefore, when he saw this situation, he did not stop the cloth merchants. Anyway, if they were willing to buy at a high price, they could go ahead, which could be regarded as indirectly increasing the income of the people.

Moreover, high cotton prices could attract more people to grow cotton.

Wu Changqing wanted to rely on dumping fabrics to complete capital accumulation, so he needed a large amount of cotton, silk, and hemp. It would be a good thing for the people to grow more.

As for the reduction in grain production as a result, he could only temporarily rely on imports from Southeast Asia and other places.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also exchanged resources for one thousand kilograms of hybrid rice seeds.

These hybrid rice seeds were extremely expensive, costing one hundred resource points per kilogram, five hundred times more expensive than pig iron.

Of course, the price was worth it. This was hybrid rice, a product with super high technological content.

These one thousand kilograms of rice seeds could probably be planted on one thousand mu of land. In later generations, with fertilizers and other nutrients, the yield of hybrid rice was about one thousand kilograms per mu.

In this era lacking fertilizers, Wu Changqing estimated that six hundred kilograms would be good enough.

Six hundred kilograms was not a small amount. The average yield of rice in this era was only a little over three hundred kilograms per mu. In other words, planting hybrid rice in the future could double the yield per mu.

This could support twice as many people. Based on this alone, Wu Changqing could be praised as a wise ruler for all time.

However, it might take two or three years to fully promote and realize the planting of hybrid rice, because there were too few seeds now.

When this batch of rice was harvested, the number of seeds could reach six hundred thousand kilograms, which would be enough for the Jiangnan area.

The grain produced from this batch of hybrid rice was not for eating, but must be used entirely as seeds to be distributed to the people.

Moreover, in order to attract the people to accept this new seed, it was best to distribute it for free.

Wu Changqing thought about his future plans and couldn’t help but sigh that he was too great, painstakingly worrying about the people’s food and clothing.

In addition to exchanging for hybrid rice seeds, Wu Changqing also exchanged for a batch of potato seeds.

Potato seeds were much cheaper, because potatoes had already been introduced to China during this period. However, the potatoes that had just been introduced had not yet adapted to the climate of China, so the yield was not as high as imagined. Therefore, the spread of potatoes in China was actually very slow. It was not until after decades of variety improvement that the yield of potatoes finally exploded, thereby feeding a large population.

According to statistics, the population of China at the end of the Ming Dynasty was only a little over one hundred million, but by the Qianlong period, the population had reached three to four hundred million.

At its peak, the population once reached four hundred and fifty million, accounting for more than a quarter of the global population.

Potatoes made a great contribution to this.

The biggest advantage of potatoes was not their high yield, but that they were not picky about the land. No matter how barren the land was, planting them would yield a harvest.

Unlike rice, which must have good irrigation, without water, it was all over.

China’s arable land area looks large, but the per capita area is extremely small, and most of the land is not suitable for growing rice and wheat. Potatoes can perfectly fill this gap.

The potato seeds that Wu Changqing exchanged were all seeds that had adapted to China’s land and climate and could be planted on a large scale directly.

With hybrid rice and potatoes, Wu Changqing felt that China’s population was about to undergo a major explosion.

And population was what Wu Changqing cared about most. There was strength in numbers, which was by no means empty talk. Especially in this era when technology was not very developed, the size of the population could determine many things.

Chapter 93: Overseas Trade

Inside the Suzhou-Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce, several wealthy merchants sat together.

Facing them was Wu Zhiyue, who had come to solicit the purchase of raw materials like cotton and hemp.

“Thirty cash? Shopkeeper Wu, are you joking? We spent forty-five cash to acquire this cotton, and now you want to buy it from us for thirty? Does Duke Wu intend to rob us in broad daylight?”

Xu Baoxin, the leader, scoffed. If Wu Changqing really wanted to use force to seize the goods, there was nothing he could do.

However, Xu Baoxin believed that Wu Changqing was now an official of the imperial court and would never dare to act recklessly.

“Shopkeeper Xu, you jest. My nephew has always encouraged and valued commerce. How could he possibly engage in extortion? In the months since my nephew took charge of Suzhou, has he ever done anything of the sort?”

Wu Zhiyue said with a smile.

The other merchants were speechless, as they couldn’t find fault with Wu Changqing. Although Wu Changqing had previously confiscated the assets of several merchants, it was because those families had courted their own demise by attempting to collude with the Qing army to create unrest.

No ruler could tolerate such a thing, and their homes deserved to be seized.

Apart from those few, Wu Changqing hadn’t suppressed any other merchants. Even the commercial tax he implemented was within an acceptable range.

Wu Zhiyue continued, “The reason I offered thirty cash is because that’s all they’re worth.”

“Shopkeeper Wu, you’re mistaken. Nowadays, there’s very little cotton and hemp on the market. Scarcity increases value, so the price naturally can’t remain at thirty cash,”

Xu Baoxin retorted.

“Oh? Have you not heard that six Dutch ships, each with a capacity of one thousand tons, have arrived in Songjiang? Three of those ships are loaded with cotton. Moreover, they will continue to ship cotton here.”

Wu Zhiyue smiled. If Wu Changqing hadn’t told him that the Dutch fleet had arrived in Songjiang, he wouldn’t have been so confident, because the factory’s raw materials were indeed running low.

What? Three ships, each with a capacity of one thousand tons, filled with cotton?

Xu Baoxin and the others were immediately dumbfounded. They had considered every possibility, but they hadn’t anticipated this.

They had thought that Wu Zhiyue might go north or south to acquire raw materials, but that would greatly increase transportation costs, and there wouldn’t be enough time.

They hadn’t expected Wu Changqing to have such a move up his sleeve, having overseas merchants ship raw materials from abroad long ago.

“Gentlemen, you should sell off your goods as soon as possible and get some cash to do other business. The longer you hoard them, the more you’ll lose. Now that the governor-general supports and encourages overseas trade, there are plenty of ways to make a fortune. There’s no need to hang yourselves on the cloth business.

If you insist on staying in the cloth business, then it’s best to help me purchase raw materials and then buy goods from me at wholesale prices to sell elsewhere, earning a small profit.”

Wu Zhiyue offered a word of advice. Wu Changqing had said that his goal wasn’t to drive these cloth merchants to their deaths, but simply to improve efficiency. Therefore, while they ate the meat, they would leave a little soup for the other merchants.

They were allowed to purchase goods from Wu’s Cloth at below-market prices and then transport them to other places to sell. They wouldn’t earn much, but they would earn something.

To compete in manufacturing was simply courting death.

Xu Baoxin and the others felt their hearts sink upon hearing this. Selling off their stockpiled goods at low prices would mean losing a lot of money, which was painful to think about.

However, what else could they do if they didn’t sell at low prices?

With a stable and cheap source of raw materials, the price of Wu’s Cloth wouldn’t fall. There was no point in continuing to hoard their cloth.

The psychological defenses of the merchants had been breached, but they didn’t immediately agree to sell their cotton to Wu Zhiyue.

After all, the news of the Dutch fleet’s arrival was just Wu Zhiyue’s word. They hadn’t confirmed whether it was true or not.

The next day, they personally set out for Songjiang.

Coincidentally, Wu Changqing also went to Songjiang that day.

After arriving in Songjiang, Wu Changqing found that it had become much more prosperous, with many merchants coming and going.

The Songjiang trade zone had now become a distribution center and manufacturing hub.

A large number of merchants gathered here because the goods here were readily available and easy to purchase. At the same time, sellers also liked to concentrate their goods here for sale, because there were all kinds of buyers here, and they didn’t have to worry about their goods not being sold.

Before the trade zone was formed, it was actually very inconvenient for merchants from various places to do business.

For example, if you transported a batch of grain to another place, you had to worry about whether it could be sold in time. After it was sold, you had to worry about whether you could buy the goods you needed in that place.

The trade zone solved this problem, and because a large number of merchants gathered in the trade zone, the prices of goods here were also more transparent.

In addition to cargo transshipment, Songjiang has also established four large factories, one for manufacturing soap and another for manufacturing mirrors, and the other two for spinning and weaving.

Now, relying on low prices, Wu’s Cloth has completely monopolized the cloth business in the Jiangnan area. Other cloth merchants couldn’t sell their cloth and couldn’t afford yarn, so they went bankrupt one after another.

Some foreign cloth merchants have given up manufacturing themselves and have become distributors, directly taking goods from Wu’s factory at low prices and then transporting them to other places to sell.

While selling cloth, they also purchased raw materials such as cotton and hemp and sold them to Wu’s factory, forming a new industrial chain.

In this industrial chain, everyone else was drinking soup, and only Wu’s factory was eating meat.

Some people wanted to imitate the multi-spindle spinning machine and the flying shuttle loom, but although these things looked simple, it wasn’t easy to imitate them.

In addition, Wu Zhiyue paid great attention to preventing the leakage of secrets, and it was difficult for outsiders to obtain a textile machine for research.

“Respected General, we have brought the goods you wanted.”

Hede said with a smile. During this period, he even taught himself some Chinese.

This time, Hede had a total of six ships, each with a capacity of one thousand tons. Three ships carried cotton, two ships carried high-quality iron ore, and one ship carried spices and gold and silver.

Because cotton and iron ore were relatively cheap raw materials, they couldn’t buy enough goods to fill six ships without bringing some gold and silver.

Wu Changqing was also quite helpless about this. Who made Chinese porcelain and silk so valuable now? Foreign trade had always been in surplus, and the inflow of silver was inevitable.

The inflow of silver really didn’t have any benefits. It would only lead to the devaluation of domestic silver.

It seemed that the amount of silver had increased, but the actual wealth had not increased.

Gold was a little better. This thing was scarce in production, and its global reserves were low. Even in later generations, it was still very valuable. Silver, on the other hand, was actually very abundant. In Japan, South America, and other places, you could kick a silver block with every step you took.

What Wu Changqing wanted to do in the future was a gold-standard paper currency system, which required a lot of gold as a reserve, while silver was useless.

“You first give me the list of goods you want, and I will help you get it done.”

Wu Changqing said that it would be troublesome for Hede and other merchants to trade directly. The translation alone wouldn’t be enough. Currently, only Lü Shan spoke Dutch well, and there were a few others who could barely communicate.

Moreover, because many of the goods Hede brought were strategic materials, the local merchants didn’t want them.

Therefore, Wu Changqing acted as an intermediary. He first used silver to buy the goods that Hede needed from the local merchants, and then exchanged these goods with Hede.

Finally, Wu Changqing put the exchanged raw materials into the factory, processed them into cloth, and sold them to local merchants.

As long as he slightly adjusted the prices of various commodities, he could make a lot of money in this transaction.

For example, he bought a merchant’s porcelain for three taels of silver, and when he resold it to Hede, the estimated price was five taels of silver, directly earning a difference of two taels.

For another example, he bought Hede’s spices for one tael of silver per catty and resold them to local merchants for two taels per catty.

Even so, local merchants were still scrambling for it. If you didn’t want it, others would.

Some smart merchants saw Wu Changqing making money in the middle, but they couldn’t do anything about it, unless they had their own translators and could also afford Hede’s goods.

This required a lot of capital and translation talents.

In the face of huge profits, some merchants were already preparing to unite and form a chamber of commerce to do business with overseas merchants, so as not to give Wu Changqing the opportunity to make a difference as an intermediary.

Wu Changqing didn’t care about this kind of thing and would even encourage it.

What he wanted was this country, not the wealth of this country. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have subsidized the army with his own money.

It was also a good thing for Wu Changqing if the merchants in this country made money and became rich.

The more merchants earned, the more taxes he would collect.

Only by allowing some people to get rich first and complete the accumulation of capital can we smoothly enter the industrial age.

After all, buying machines and running factories must rely on these merchants. It was too difficult to rely on the common people. Where would they get the money for the initial investment?

Chapter 94: The Qing Army Moves South

Xu Baoxin and the others were utterly despondent at the sight of the mountain of goods.

Clearly, Wu Zhiyue hadn’t lied to them. They needed to seriously consider what to do next.

“Business is truly difficult these days,” Xu Baoxin lamented.

“I don’t think so. I’ve been asking around and heard some big news. Governor-General Wu is buying spices from the Dutch for only one tael of silver per 500g, but he’s selling them to other merchants for two taels of silver per 500g. Even worse, he buys porcelain from us for only three taels of silver per piece, and then sells it to the Dutch for five. If we bypass him and trade directly with the Dutch, the profit would be several times greater!”

A cloth merchant surnamed Huang said. He was already planning to sell off his goods at a low price and focus on doing business with foreign merchants.

“But who among us speaks Dutch? That bird language is obscure and difficult to understand. We can’t communicate at all!” Xu Baoxin complained.

Although China had various dialects, communication was generally not a problem. If all else failed, they could use gestures and get by.

If both parties were educated, it would be even easier, as written language was standardized nationwide.

“We can send the cleverest members of our families and hire Lü Shan to teach them,” Shopkeeper Huang said.

Little did he know that Wu Changqing had already assigned Lü Shan a task: to open a foreign language school in Songjiang, specializing in Dutch and Portuguese.

In addition, Wu Changqing was also sending people around to find people who knew English, intending to bring them in as teachers as well.

People who knew foreign languages would be in great demand in the future, and Wu Changqing was already planning ahead to cultivate them.

Wu Changqing stayed in Songjiang for a few days, personally guiding Magistrate Sun Yangxiao on how to govern and develop the Songjiang commercial district.

This was the county he valued most, and he imparted all his knowledge to Sun Yangxiao.

“If you can govern Songjiang well for me, you can choose any position with a rank of three or four in the future. But if you don’t govern it well…” Wu Changqing didn’t say it explicitly, letting Sun Yangxiao figure it out for himself.

Upon hearing this, Sun Yangxiao quickly expressed that he would do his utmost and spare no effort. Being able to choose any position with a rank of three or four was too tempting, so tempting that he could resist corruption.

Once he rose to the third rank, he would earn even more.

After staying in Songjiang for a few days, Wu Changqing returned to Suzhou.

Back home, he found Qian Ruyu, Dong Xiaowan, and the others playing mahjong with Chen Yuyan and the other women in the backyard. It was the mahjong that Wu Changqing had invented.

“How’s your luck? Have you lost all your private money?” Wu Changqing walked up to Chen Yuyan and teased her.

His words made Chen Yuyan blush, but she enjoyed Wu Changqing’s way of speaking.

“Sister-in-law’s luck is great. I’m the only one who’s lost five taels of silver,” Wu Yu complained.

“You’ve lost so much and you’re still playing? Aren’t you afraid of losing all your New Year’s money?” Wu Changqing asked with a smile.

“It’s all your fault, Governor-General. You created such a fun game. I’ve already lost eight taels of silver, but I can’t bear to stop,” Qian Ruyu said.

“My fault, my fault. I’ll personally lose some money to you.”

Wu Changqing hadn’t played mahjong in a long time, so he took the opportunity to play a few rounds.

Then Chen Yuyan gave up her seat to him so he could play.

However, even though Wu Changqing said he would lose money, he didn’t hold back at all when he played. His mahjong skills were definitely better than these newcomers, and his luck was pretty good too. He won three times in a row.

“Oops, sorry, I won again. My apologies.” Wu Changqing smiled and held out his hand for the money.

“You’re a big liar! You said you’d give us money, but your skills are clearly better than Sister-in-law’s,” Wu Yu complained.

As Qian Ruyu was taking out the money, her fingers touched Wu Changqing’s hand, seemingly by accident.

If this were a young man who hadn’t tasted the pleasures of the flesh, he definitely wouldn’t be able to handle it. He might immediately start fantasizing and have a physical reaction.

But Wu Changqing, as he was now, was unmoved by this level of teasing.

As they were playing, a guard suddenly came to report that there was an urgent military matter.

“You guys continue playing.”

Wu Changqing stopped reluctantly. For him, leisure had become a luxury.

After Wu Changqing left, Dong Xiaowan said, “The Governor-General is truly humorous. He holds great power and controls the finances of a province, yet he’s so happy about winning two taels of silver.”

“He’s always like this when he’s not on official business,” Chen Yuyan had become accustomed to Wu Changqing’s two-sided nature: serious and earnest when dealing with official matters, and frivolous and impetuous in his daily life.

“The Governor-General is so interesting. You’re very lucky, Yuyan,” Qian Ruyu said.

…

According to intelligence, the Qing army had begun to move south. The exact number of troops was unknown, but it was estimated to be over one hundred thousand.

Currently, Wu Changqing’s intelligence system was only relatively complete south of the Yangtze River. There was only a small amount of infiltration in Jiangbei, so the intelligence gathered was not very accurate.

The only thing that was certain was that the main force of the Qing, the Eight Banners army, had begun to move south.

This was actually within Wu Changqing’s expectations. He had been preparing for this great battle for a long time. Not only had he expanded his troops to sixty thousand, but there were also twenty thousand men in training camps, ready to be deployed at any time.

The soldiers in these training camps were training in basic combat skills every day. As long as the fighting at the front was tight, they could be deployed at any time to reinforce the battle. They were not much different from regular troops.

That was all the troops he had for the time being. Although he was still recruiting and expanding, basic training would take a month. That was all the troops he had in the short term.

In terms of weapons, he had six thousand flintlocks, nine thousand ordinary matchlock guns, three thousand crossbows, three thousand warhorses, and thirty cannons.

These thirty cannons were all large-caliber cannons of the Red Barbarian Cannon level. More importantly, these cannons could now fire both solid shot and howitzer shells.

However, the number of howitzer shells was currently small. These things were all made by hand, because the structure was intricate and only highly skilled craftsmen could complete them.

Therefore, howitzer shells could only be manufactured by hand at the moment, and there was no way to mass-produce them. How to simplify the structure to achieve mass production was Guan Mengfei’s next task.

After looking at the data on his troops and weapons, Wu Changqing felt that he was ready for a head-on battle with the main force of the Qing.

Wu Changqing stayed in his study alone, looking at a very detailed map. He was thinking about how to fight this battle with the least amount of loss.

If the losses were too great, he would not have the strength to attack Nanjing next.

And by the time he had recovered, the Qing would also be able to catch their breath. Given the territory the Qing currently controlled, it would be easier for them to restore their strength than for Wu Changqing.

Therefore, what Wu Changqing had to do was to minimize losses and win a great victory. Then, he would take the opportunity to advance to the northwest, take Zhenjiang and Nanjing, and thus defend the river and gain a firm foothold in the south.

But how could he minimize losses?

Wu Changqing fell into thought.

Chapter 95: Hollow Square Formation

On the sixteenth day of the first month, Wu Changqing led his main force to Changzhou, planning to set the battlefield on the plains northwest of the city.

Although a battle on the plains favored the Qing army’s cavalry, it also benefited Wu Changqing’s musket troops.

Setting the battlefield in other hilly areas would make it difficult to find a field large enough to accommodate an army of over one hundred thousand. The mountainous terrain would hinder formation deployment and diminish the power of the musket army.

While defending a city offered the advantage of terrain, it was difficult to expand the gains. If the enemy couldn’t breach the walls, they could retreat and circle around. By the time the Ming army emerged through the narrow city gates to pursue, the enemy would be long gone.

Moreover, Wu Changqing’s primary objective was to eliminate the enemy’s cavalry, which couldn’t be achieved by defending Changzhou. Only a fool would send cavalry to attack a city.

After careful consideration, Wu Changqing chose the plains as the battlefield, intending to lure the enemy into a decisive battle there, thereby effectively decimating their cavalry.

After three days of marching, the army arrived at Changzhou.

By this point, nearly sixty thousand of the Ming army’s main forces were concentrated in the area, conducting simulated drills.

This time, Wu Changqing primarily drilled the musket troops in the hollow square formation, a highly effective formation specifically designed to counter cavalry.

The hollow square formation consisted of dense formations of soldiers, each square block composed of several dozen or one to two hundred men. These blocks were spaced ten or twenty meters apart, allowing cavalry to pass through.

This formation was incredibly deceptive, and any cavalry commander encountering it for the first time was almost guaranteed to suffer heavy losses.

The seemingly disorganized and loose formation appeared vulnerable and suitable for a cavalry charge. However, these apparent weaknesses were, in fact, deadly traps for the cavalry.

The reason was simple: horses are living creatures with instincts for self-preservation.

If faced with a solid infantry square with no gaps, horses would have no choice but to charge through, resulting in heavy casualties for both cavalry and infantry.

The infantry would suffer more, as most soldiers would break down in the face of a high-speed cavalry charge. Once their formation collapsed, the cavalry could begin their slaughter.

However, the hollow square formation provided ample open space, causing the charging horses to instinctively avoid the dense clusters of people and head for the gaps.

This would prevent the infantry from being trampled, and the horses would remain unharmed as well.

In the past, during the age of cold weapons, infantry in such a hollow square formation would be defenseless, forced to endure the cavalry’s arrows and slashes as they rode back and forth, harassing them. It would be better to form a solid square and stand their ground.

But now, the Ming army’s main force consisted of musket troops, capable of firing from a distance.

Once the cavalry entered the square, the musket troops could fire at close range with their eyes closed, achieving almost one hundred percent accuracy unless they were blind.

The cavalry, on the other hand, could only watch helplessly as they were shot down, with little ability to retaliate. Whether they used bows or sabers, their killing efficiency paled in comparison to that of the muskets.

In such a situation, the cavalry would most likely continue charging forward, attempting to break through the formation as quickly as possible, rather than trying to fight back.

Thus, the once-mighty cavalry would be reduced to a group of rats scurrying across the street, only able to take a beating.

A simple hollow square formation could be this devastating. And in this era, Wu Changqing was the only one who knew its ingenious application.

In the original timeline, the hollow square formation first appeared during the Napoleonic Wars in nineteenth-century Western Europe. The once-invincible Napoleon was ultimately defeated by this very formation.

Of course, mastering this seemingly simple hollow square formation was no easy task for the soldiers.

When the infantry spotted the cavalry charging, they had roughly thirty seconds to adjust their formation. Any longer, and the cavalry would be upon them.

Even after successfully forming the square, the soldiers within would face immense psychological pressure.

Most people feel nervous giving a speech on stage, let alone facing a charge of thousands of horses.

The feeling was akin to standing in the middle of a highway with cars whizzing by. In such an environment, it would be difficult to even load a musket, let alone keep one’s legs from trembling.

Wu Changqing’s goal was to train them to become accustomed to this scene, to adapt to it.

Once these soldiers adapted and could stand firm without running when facing a cavalry charge, it would be the cavalry’s nightmare.

On the first day, the troops focused entirely on practicing formation switching.

They started in a linear formation, with soldiers lined up in straight rows. Then, they transitioned from this linear formation to the hollow square formation, with a target time of under thirty seconds.

This was quite challenging, and it was thanks to Wu Changqing’s troops’ frequent training in coordination that they were able to meet the initial requirements. Any other army would descend into chaos trying to switch formations so quickly.

They managed to complete the formation conversion, but it took too long, a full minute.

This time was fatal, and they needed to speed up and practice more.

This type of formation conversion wasn’t a high-tech skill; with enough practice, familiarity would breed proficiency, and speed would naturally increase.

The training then moved to the next stage: simulated battlefield scenarios.

Wu Changqing’s two-thousand-man cavalry unit simulated a Qing army cavalry charge, while the musket troops switched to the hollow square formation, allowing the cavalry to pass through the gaps.

This realistic simulation carried some risk. Initially, the cavalry charged slowly, gradually increasing their speed as the soldiers became more accustomed to the situation.

Even with this gradual approach, an accident occurred during training, resulting in one cavalryman being killed, another seriously injured, three musket soldiers dead, and the loss of two warhorses.

These minor losses were within Wu Changqing’s acceptable range, so he continued the drills.

He wanted to train these musket troops until their nerves were numb, so that they could calmly load and fire their muskets even when horses as fast as motorcycles charged towards them.

Did the general’s formation really have such a miraculous effect against the enemy’s cavalry?

Liu Hansan and the others still harbored some doubts. While the simulations showed that the formation was indeed advantageous to the infantry, the real battlefield, with its bloodshed, would undoubtedly be ten times more complex.

In that situation, could these infantrymen calmly maintain their formation and fire back?

However, Wu Changqing currently held a very high level of authority in the army. If he said they would use this formation, then they would use this formation.

As subordinates, their job was to fully cooperate, identify any potential weaknesses, and offer better suggestions.

Chapter 96: A Conspiracy in Broad Daylight

Besides training the musket troops, the cold weapon units were also coordinating their training.

A battle with ten thousand people can only be described with one word: chaos.

A battlefield with hundreds of thousands of people is even more so. When the real fighting starts, even the commander’s orders are difficult to effectively implement.

On a chaotic battlefield, it’s not easy for the commander’s orders to reach the mid-level officers on the ground.

Whichever side is less chaotic is more likely to win.

In a battle of hundreds of thousands of troops, victory doesn’t necessarily mean wiping out the enemy completely. Usually, inflicting casualties on twenty percent of the enemy’s forces is enough to cause them to collapse.

In fact, if they’re a rabble, even ten percent casualties can trigger a collapse.

Once they collapse and their formation breaks, they can only be slaughtered.

Dai Zhijun was in charge of coordinating the cold weapon training. Within Wu Changqing’s small group, he was the most knowledgeable in that area.

In addition to the cold weapon units, the artillery units also needed to undergo some basic training to achieve infantry-artillery coordination.

This was actually a very difficult task, especially in an era when artillery accuracy was low. Carelessly, a shell could land in one’s own troop formation.

Therefore, Wu Changqing had very low expectations for this training. He only wanted the artillerymen not to accidentally injure their own people.

As for hitting key targets, he didn’t even bother hoping for that. Successfully landing a shell in the enemy’s camp would be considered a success, and hitting the enemy’s troop formation would be perfect.

With day and night training, their troops became extremely familiar with the designated battlefield.

Of course, if the Qing army were smart, they could choose not to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army on this battlefield. They could choose to take a detour and attack Changzhou.

However, after Wu Changqing and many other generals discussed and analyzed the situation, they felt that the probability of this happening was low.

Because the Qing army had the advantage in troop numbers and cavalry. On the surface, fighting a decisive battle on the plains gave them a huge advantage, which they had no reason to give up.

They couldn’t possibly abandon a decisive battle on the plains and insist on attacking a city just because the Wu army had been training in this area, right?

If Bolo of the Qing army did that, there would only be two possibilities: either Bolo’s brain was filled with water, or Bolo had been body-snatched by a modern person who saw through Wu Changqing’s trap.

In early February, Bolo’s one hundred and twenty thousand troops arrived in Nanjing.

Among them, sixty thousand were from the Manchu Eight Banners, twenty thousand from the Mongol Eight Banners, and forty thousand from the Han Eight Banners.

Of these one hundred and twenty thousand troops, forty thousand were cavalry, with the Manchu and Mongol Eight Banners each contributing twenty thousand.

Among the Han Eight Banners, ten thousand were musket troops, and the rest were cold weapon units.

“Governor-General Hong, how have you been lately?”

Bolo was quite respectful to Hong Chengchou because Emperor Shunzhi, or rather, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, valued Hong Chengchou highly. Hong Chengchou was now a First Rank Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, concurrently serving as Vice Minister of War and Imperial Censor of the Censorate, overseeing Southern Zhili.

He was the first Han Chinese chancellor of the Qing dynasty, and his position in the Qing court was higher than that of many Manchus.

There were unofficial histories saying that Hong Chengchou initially refused to surrender to the Qing dynasty and went on a hunger strike, seeking death. In the end, it was Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang who personally persuaded him to surrender. Hong Chengchou was captivated by the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang’s beauty, which made him reluctant to die and ultimately surrender to the Qing dynasty.

It’s hard to say whether these unofficial histories are reliable, but one thing is undeniable: he was highly valued by Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and he was also exceptionally capable.

“Not so good. The Wu army in Suzhou is becoming increasingly powerful. Recently, they have been training in the Danyang area of Changzhou, and it seems they are preparing for a decisive battle with us,” Hong Chengchou said.

“Oh? They don’t defend the city, but instead want to fight a decisive battle with our army outside the city. Is their general an idiot?” Bolo said in surprise. He had fought many battles since entering the pass and had never seen a Han Chinese army dare to directly confront the Eight Banner troops in the field.

Moreover, he especially understood the actions of those Han Chinese generals because he believed that the Han army was bound to lose in a field battle against the Eight Banner troops.

“Prince Duanzhong must not underestimate this Wu Changqing. This person is by no means an ordinary man. He dares to leave the city and set up a battlefield in the field, probably because he already has confidence in his plan. We have to be on guard.

In my opinion, we can take advantage of our numerical superiority and divide our forces into two groups, bypassing Danyang to attack Changzhou. As long as we capture Changzhou, their main force will become a rootless source, and their logistics will be a problem. At that time, the enemy will be defeated,” Hong Chengchou said.

Hong Chengchou hadn’t just been waiting for Bolo’s arrival during this time. He had also done a lot of research.

Out of caution, Hong Chengchou suggested that Bolo avoid the main force of the Wu army and attack their rear.

Currently, the main force of the Wu army was concentrated in Danyang, and their rear was very vulnerable. As long as they could bypass their main force, they could go south all the way and directly reach Suzhou.

Of course, that was the plan, but it certainly wouldn’t be so easy to execute. The Wu army wasn’t made of wood. If they didn’t go to Danyang, the Wu army would naturally retreat to Changzhou, and then it would most likely turn into a siege battle again.

The key to this plan was whether they could deceive the Wu army and bypass them for a sneak attack.

This was the best method Hong Chengchou could think of, but it was rejected by Bolo in one go.

“That won’t do. I have one hundred and twenty thousand troops, and I still have to hide from the sixty thousand Ming troops? Even if we win, I won’t have the face to return to the court. Moreover, even if Danyang is their designated battlefield, so what? It’s a plain, and there’s no way to hide any ambush. It’s just a confrontation of absolute strength. Do you think our Eight Banner soldiers will lose?”

Bolo laughed. Not to mention that he currently had a numerical advantage, even if he only had thirty thousand Eight Banner soldiers, he would still dare to have a decisive battle with the Ming army.

This was all because the Ming army used to be too weak, which led to Bolo having a preconceived notion that the Ming army was incompetent.

Even if Wu Changqing had won many battles, he only thought that this was a relatively strong Ming army, but no matter how strong they were, they were still the Ming army, and the Ming army was weak.

Bolo’s words left Hong Chengchou speechless. He finally understood why Wu Changqing was so openly and blatantly training in Danyang. This was clearly a conspiracy in broad daylight.

Even if Bolo knew that Wu Changqing had chosen this place for a reason, with a conspiracy, he had no reason to avoid it.

Hong Chengchou suddenly felt a sense of unease in his heart, but he couldn’t figure out where this unease came from.

Because, even he, in his heart, actually believed that Bolo had no possibility of failure.

One hundred and twenty thousand Eight Banner soldiers against sixty thousand Ming troops, and in a plain area, how could they possibly lose?

But, could Wu Changqing not see such an obvious situation?

Hong Chengchou pondered for a long time, but in the end, he couldn’t come to any reliable conclusion.

Chapter 97: Encounter

Bolo’s army rested in Nanjing for two days before setting off for Danyang.

When the two armies were still one hundred li (fifty kilometers) apart, their scouting parties frequently encountered each other, even engaging in small-scale skirmishes, though the losses were minimal.

After all, for these scouts, gathering intelligence and ascertaining the enemy’s situation were their primary tasks.

Killing a few enemies wouldn’t significantly impact the overall situation, but a piece of useful information could potentially sway the battlefield’s outcome.

The movements of one hundred and twenty thousand people were a spectacle, impossible to conceal.

Soon, Wu Changqing learned that the Qing army’s direction was Danyang, and he confidently began deploying his defenses. Sixty thousand troops couldn’t simply be formed into a single square formation; that would be too large, making it impossible to change formations.

Wu Changqing divided the sixty thousand men into three armies: left, center, and right, with a very particular distribution.

On the left flank was Dong Tianbao’s cold weapon unit. Their front was a stretch of paddy fields, with a small range of hills to their left. This terrain was unsuitable for cavalry charges. Placing them here was to avoid them being subjected to cavalry charges and volleys.

The central army was positioned on the main road, where the terrain was flat and suitable for cavalry charges.

Deliberately placing the central army here was to lure the Qing army’s cavalry to charge into their hollow square formation.

The right flank was occupied by Liu Hansan’s unit, which held a high ground where artillery positions were set up. Their mission was to defend the army’s right flank and protect the artillery.

Cavalry roamed the outer edges, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

At the same time, a reserve force was positioned behind the three armies, ready for reinforcement, cover, and other temporary missions.

The central army had the largest number of troops: six thousand musket troops, nine thousand arquebus troops, three thousand archers, three thousand grenadiers, and three thousand swordsmen and shield-bearers.

The so-called grenadiers were specialists in throwing grenades. They were characterized by their strong arms and long throwing range. Each of them was equipped with ten grenades and no other weapons, not even a saber.

After all, each soldier had a limited load capacity, and they needed to carry as many grenades as possible.

Moreover, they hadn’t been trained in close combat skills, so carrying a saber would be useless. It was better to throw the grenades and retreat.

The three thousand swordsmen and shield-bearers were specifically used to cover the retreat of the grenadiers and archers. They didn’t participate in the main combat missions.

These were the general plans, and there were many detailed arrangements. In actual combat, the situation would become very complex, and each soldier would need to perform their duties, acting as a component of the war machine.

The left flank had twenty thousand troops, including two thousand grenadiers. The rest were cold weapon units.

However, even the cold weapon units were equipped with two grenades each. Throwing two grenades before engaging in close combat was definitely a satisfying experience.

The main task of the left flank was to protect the central army, preventing it from being attacked from multiple directions simultaneously.

Of course, they were also the main force in the decisive battle, responsible for a very important containment mission.

The right flank only had ten thousand men. In addition to the containment mission, their main task was to protect their artillery positions. Each of these cannons was extremely valuable.

If the enemy cavalry were to charge in and destroy them, it would be a major problem.

Therefore, the terrain here was a high ground where it was most difficult for cavalry to maneuver.

At night, Wu Changqing and the other generals continued to analyze the battle, looking for loopholes.

After some analysis, Wu Changqing said, “The enemy will probably arrive the day after tomorrow. Everyone, success or failure depends on this one battle. If we defeat the enemy’s main force, they won’t recover within half a year, and we can take all the areas around Nanjing. Making a name for ourselves is on the day after tomorrow. I hope everyone will do their best.”

“We pledge our lives!”

Everyone shouted a slogan.

“Fifteen thousand musket troops. These Qing Tartars definitely don’t know what that means. They’re going to suffer a great loss,” Li Shaobin said with a smile. Although they were outnumbered by half, many of them weren’t afraid.

After all, they had always fought battles where they were outnumbered, and they had never fought a war where they had the advantage in numbers. So, they were used to being at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength.

Moreover, being in Wu’s army, they were more aware of how formidable this force was. It wasn’t just the advanced weaponry; the morale of these soldiers was several times higher than that of other armies.

This was probably because they admired Wu Changqing, because they were grateful to Wu Changqing for teaching them to read, because Wu Changqing had promised to distribute land in the future, and because of the constant training day and night.

For many reasons, this army’s morale was very high.

“The Qing Tartars also have musket troops, and their numbers are as high as ten thousand. However, I think their musket troops probably haven’t learned the essence of our army,” Liu Hansan said. The combat methods of flintlocks and matchlocks were very different. Because flintlocks were so excellent, the Qing army only knew about Wu’s army’s flintlocks.

However, they didn’t know that the matchlock troops in Wu’s army were also a very formidable force. The Qing army definitely wouldn’t know their combat methods.

The atmosphere in the entire camp was very optimistic. One would think they had the advantage in numbers and were going to wipe out the Qing army in one fell swoop.

Seeing this scene, Xue Guiren couldn’t help but sigh to himself, “I really didn’t lose unfairly back then.”

This army was far more terrifying than it appeared on the surface.

After the meeting, the generals dispersed and returned to their respective camps to arrange tasks.

Wu Changqing came outside the tent and looked up at the starry sky.

He was excited and a little nervous about the upcoming battle.

Analysis was just analysis. The battlefield was full of surprises. Until the very last moment, no one could say victory was certain.

If this decisive battle was lost, he would have to start from scratch. If this decisive battle was lost, the secrets of flintlocks and textile machines would probably not be kept, and the difficulty of opposing the Qing Dynasty in the future would increase dramatically.

Therefore, he couldn’t lose this decisive battle.

The Qing army took more than two days to travel one hundred li (fifty kilometers) and arrive at the battlefield.

Early the next morning, both sides began to deploy their formations at a distance of about two thousand meters.

The generals on Wu’s army side stood on high ground, using telescopes to observe the enemy’s situation and make adjustments.

On the Qing army side, Bolo also took out a telescope, the only one Hong Chengchou had gone to great lengths to obtain from Suzhou.

“This is really a good thing. The enemy’s situation can be seen clearly,” Bolo couldn’t help but exclaim.

“It is said that this thing was also invented by Wu Changqing. This man is extremely intelligent, his thinking is unconstrained, and he has created many strange and wonderful things. It’s a pity that this guy is too ambitious and can’t be recruited,” Hong Chengchou said with emotion. Putting aside their positions, he quite admired Wu Changqing. Unfortunately, they were destined to face each other on the battlefield.

Chapter 98: The Artillery’s Might

“The musketeers in the enemy’s central army are their main force and difficult to deal with. We can concentrate our elite troops to defeat their flanks first,” Hong Chengchou suggested.

“If the central army is their main force, wouldn’t it be better to attack them directly?”

Dorgon’s brother, Ajige, said. He was brave in battle, but not very bright. Therefore, even though he was Dorgon’s own brother, Dorgon put Bolo in charge of the command, and Ajige was just a general for charging into battle.

“The terrain on the flanks is not conducive to cavalry charges, while the position of the central army is suitable for cavalry charges. Without the impact of cavalry, it’s difficult to achieve a great victory.”

Bolo also agreed to focus on attacking the central army, but he considered factors such as terrain, rather than relying purely on enthusiasm like Ajige.

Bolo’s reasoning left Hong Chengchou speechless. After all, the most powerful force in the Eight Banner army was undoubtedly the cavalry.

“First, let the musketeers press forward, with the cavalry on standby. Nikan, you are responsible for attacking the enemy’s right flank and destroying their cannons. Zhao Butai, you are responsible for the enemy’s left flank. Advance on all fronts and defeat and annihilate them in one fell swoop…”

Bolo issued various orders, dividing his troops into three parts, each corresponding to Wu Changqing’s three units.

With his numerical advantage, he could actually divide them further.

However, further division would not provide enough width on the battlefield. To attack the Ming army, they would have to detour five or six li, bypassing a section of hillside. For such a long distance, he could at most send a cavalry force to detour; sending infantry would be absolutely too late.

Moreover, he didn’t really need to do that. It would be sufficient to defeat the enemy troops by dividing them into three parts.

Once the enemy was defeated, it would be time to capture prisoners all over the mountains and plains.

And the cavalry was the absolute weapon to break the enemy’s formation and cause their collapse.

On the other side, Wu Changqing and other senior generals were also observing the enemy’s movements with telescopes on the hilltop. Seeing the enemy launch a general attack in three parts, they all smiled.

Everything was according to plan, and the situation looked good.

“Their vanguard is composed of musketeers. This formation is too loose. Can such musketeers be effective?” Li Shaobin mocked.

Musket troops needed a dense formation to inflict casualties.

“Let the artillery open fire.”

Wu Changqing, seeing that the enemy had entered the artillery’s range, immediately ordered.

With a wave of the command flag, the commander of the artillery position began firing according to plan.

Thirty Hongyi cannons fired in unison, with earth-shattering momentum.

Several solid iron balls smashed into the Qing army’s formation, rolling through and crushing everyone they touched into a bloody pulp with their immense kinetic energy.

The manner of death was quite terrifying, a great deterrent to the morale of new recruits.

In dense formations, the killing power of solid cannonballs was quite astonishing. One cannonball could roll through, taking out at least ten or twenty people before stopping.

As the Ming army’s cannons roared, the Qing army’s cannons also began to fire. They had more cannons, a full fifty.

Moreover, with their numerical advantage, they didn’t have to worry about the Ming army sending troops to attack their artillery positions.

It was too difficult. With the Ming army’s pitiful number of cavalry, going there would only result in them being slaughtered.

As soon as the Qing army’s cannons fired, casualties immediately appeared on the Ming army’s side.

However, compared to the tens of thousands of troops, these casualties were only a small number, which the commander could fully tolerate.

The only ones who needed to be worried were the lower-level soldiers, who had no choice but to pray that the cannonballs wouldn’t hit them.

“General, the enemy’s formation has changed to a line formation.”

On the Ming army’s artillery position, a guerrilla general in charge of firing the cannons said.

“Switch to shrapnel shells.”

Zhang Xuanyi ordered. Solid shot was particularly effective against column formations, with one cannonball taking out a dozen people in one hit.

But after the enemy changed to a line formation, the troops were divided into three or four ranks. One cannonball could only hit four or five people at most, immediately reducing the casualties by a factor of three or four.

Being able to adjust their formation in such a short time was enough to show that this Qing army was an elite force.

Unfortunately, they encountered the Ming army with shrapnel shells.

A shrapnel shell flew over the Qing army’s heads and exploded, sending iron nails and fragments flying in all directions at extremely high speeds, hitting the Qing soldiers.

Immediately, thirty or forty Qing soldiers stopped and fell to the ground, screaming in agony. In comparison, shrapnel shells were not as lethal as solid shot. Unless hit at close range, or if a fragment hit the head, they would mostly be injured, not easily killed.

However, the area of effect of shrapnel shells was too wide. One shell could cover forty or fifty people.

Those who were injured were also considered to have lost their combat effectiveness, with no choice but to be carried off.

Killing a soldier only meant losing one combatant, but if a soldier was injured, it required two people to treat him, immediately losing three combatants.

Injured soldiers not only affected the speed of the march, but their screams and wails also greatly affected morale. Treatment also required manpower and medicine.

For the commander, these wounded soldiers were better off dead.

Fortunately, the accuracy of cannons in this era was limited. It was already very good if four or five cannonballs out of the Ming army’s thirty cannons landed in the enemy’s troop formations in one volley.

The Qing army’s artillery had even worse accuracy, mostly relying on experience to shoot. The Ming army, on the other hand, had begun to initially promote the calculation of firing elements, using arithmetic to adjust the firing angle and the amount of gunpowder.

The results of this calculation may not necessarily be more reliable than experience. However, the advantage of relying on calculation was that it did not require high levels of experience from the artillerymen, as they only needed to adjust according to the data.

The Qing army, on the other hand, had to rely on the experience of the artillerymen. If the artillerymen were not experienced enough, they could only rely on luck.

The time and cost required for the two armies to train an artilleryman differed greatly.

Cannons cost ten thousand taels of gold per shot, and cannonballs in this era were also expensive. Soldiers had extremely limited live-fire training in peacetime. It was not easy to find a group of experienced artillerymen.

As a result, Bolo discovered an unexpected situation: the effect of their fifty cannons was actually not as good as the Ming army’s thirty cannons.

This comparison frustrated him and he couldn’t understand it. Besides cursing the artillerymen as useless, he had no other choice.

Hong Chengchou put down his telescope and said, “Why can their cannonballs explode? These exploding cannonballs are too much of a threat to the soldiers.”

He very keenly noticed this point, but just noticing it was useless. He didn’t understand the principle behind it.

Even if he knew the principle, it wouldn’t be of use in the short term. He could only wait until next time to improve it.

“Tell Nikan to speed up the advance and destroy their artillery as soon as possible. At the same time, try to capture as many artillerymen alive as possible. I want to obtain the secrets of their artillery.”

Bolo was not an inflexible person. He still attached great importance to advanced artillery.

The effect of this type of exploding cannonball was too obvious. He could see the benefits of this type of cannonball at a glance.

Chapter 99: Suffering Losses Everywhere

After several rounds of artillery fire, the central armies of both sides were less than one hundred and fifty meters apart.

At this distance, the Ming army’s flintlock musketeers stopped and began firing.

This put the Qing army opposite them in an awkward position. They could also shoot that far, but at that distance, accuracy was poor and efficiency was low.

After firing a shot, reloading would be difficult, taking at least a minute or more.

Therefore, they usually advanced closer to fire. However, the Ming army had already begun continuous firing, and they were still foolishly advancing without retaliating, which was a huge blow to morale.

Faced with flintlock muskets, the Qing army’s musket troops had absolutely no tactics to counter them.

Or rather, because of the fatal weakness of matchlock muskets, the Qing army simply didn’t value musket troops and hadn’t trained many related tactics.

These musket troops were encountering flintlock muskets for the first time and had no idea how to respond.

As the gunshots rang out, nearly one hundred Qing soldiers fell.

Although the hit rate was low at this distance, the sheer number of soldiers compensated for it. A volley from the Ming army’s front ranks of over two thousand men, with a mere five percent hit rate, would cost the Qing army nearly one hundred casualties.

One hundred men didn’t seem like much, but the flintlock muskets had a fast rate of fire. Before the gunshots had even subsided, the second volley began to ring out.

Moreover, because the distance was still safe, the Ming army even started using three-rank firing.

The first rank fired and immediately retreated to reload, the second rank fired, and the third rank prepared. This tactic made full use of time, resulting in a faster firing rate.

“Charge! We win once we reach the enemy!”

The commander shouted, urging the musket troops to quicken their pace forward.

Standing still and taking a beating was too demoralizing. Charging forward was the right thing to do. However, this order instantly turned the musket troops into cold weapon units wielding large blades.

More importantly, their melee combat ability was no match for the sword and shield soldiers wielding large blades, because the bayonets on their muskets were very fragile and easily broken.

Installing bayonets on gun barrels was also a technical skill, not something that could be done casually.

The Qing army only knew that the Ming army’s musket troops had bayonets attached to their gun barrels, but they didn’t know the specifics of how they were made. They could only speculate based on their own experience.

The result was naturally terrible. Their bayonets were neither sharp enough nor tough enough. Moreover, the joint between the bayonet and the gun barrel was very fragile and prone to falling off under violent impact or stabbing.

A musket without a bayonet was just a fire poker.

It might be intimidating when used in neighborhood brawls, but on the battlefield, this fire poker was just for show. Facing the enemy’s bayonets, they could only be slaughtered.

The Qing commander wanted the musket troops to get closer and then unleash a volley to display the power of the musket troops.

Of course, this was also the only remaining use for them.

When they charged to within fifty meters, the Qing army’s musket troops also stopped to fire a volley.

This volley did kill and wound many Ming soldiers, but that was the end of it.

The Qing army was now in an extremely awkward position. Continuing to charge felt like courting death, and retreating was still within the Ming army’s firing range.

Helplessly, the officer ordered the soldiers to continue charging.

However, at such a close range, the power of the Ming army’s flintlock muskets was fully unleashed.

A volley directly felled nearly one thousand Qing soldiers.

The rows of fallen soldiers looked as if they had been executed by firing squad.

Before they could even reach the Ming army, these soldiers collapsed and fled backward.

Bolo, watching the contrast between his own musket troops and the enemy’s through his telescope, was so angry that he almost smashed the telescope in his hand. But when he thought about how it was the only one, he couldn’t bear to do it.

He was too disappointed in the performance of the musket troops. They were simply useless.

He didn’t understand how the difference between the same type of firearm could be so great.

“Have Ajige prepare to lead the cavalry charge. Spare no cost to break through their central army!”

Bolo roared. Originally, he wanted to fight a great victory with low casualties, but after witnessing the strength of the Ming army, he quickly abandoned this unrealistic idea.

Now, all he wanted was victory. For victory, he could bear some losses.

At this moment, on the right flank of the main battlefield,

Without the obstruction of the Ming army’s musket troops, the Qing army advanced very quickly and was about to engage the Ming army in close combat.

“Hand grenades!”

Liu Hansan ordered. Immediately, the grenadiers threw hand grenades at the enemy, who were only twenty or thirty meters away.

These Qing soldiers, who had never experienced a hand grenade bombardment, were very puzzled when they saw these dark, paste-covered iron rods for the first time.

However, they would soon no longer have such doubts. The hand grenades exploded in the crowd, killing and wounding many.

Various screams rang out, causing great panic among the other soldiers.

The unknown is the most terrifying. They wouldn’t be afraid of a round of arrows, because they had experienced it before. But these mysterious hand grenades were something they couldn’t adapt to for the time being.

“Keep charging!”

The Qing army commander shouted. They were much more clear-headed than the soldiers and knew more. They all knew that the Wu army had something that could be thrown out and explode.

However, they had only heard about it before, and this was the first time they had seen it with their own eyes.

The best way to deal with these hand grenades was to engage the enemy in close combat, mixing together. Once they entered a melee, the enemy would not dare to throw hand grenades indiscriminately, because this thing would not distinguish between friend and foe.

The Qing army charged, and the Ming army also threw a round of hand grenades in unison.

Nearly one thousand hand grenades came like a swarm of locusts, falling into the army.

Immediately, a tragic explosion sounded again. This time, the momentum of the explosion was much greater than before.

The simultaneous explosion of nearly one thousand hand grenades directly drowned out the sound of the cannons, causing Bolo to turn the view of his telescope to the right flank, and then he saw a scene that almost made him vomit blood.

Those Qing soldiers who had finally managed to reach the Ming army were terrified by this round of hand grenades and retreated one after another. No matter how the commander scolded them, he couldn’t stop them.

“The supervising team! Anyone who dares to retreat without permission will be killed without mercy!”

Bolo roared. His army was suffering losses everywhere on the battlefield, leaving him with a belly full of anger and nowhere to vent it.

He had a superior force, but he had been unable to use it.

And now, he could only place his hopes on his trump card, the cavalry.

As long as the cavalry dispersed the Ming army’s central army, the victory of this battle would still belong to them.

Bolo was very confident in the cavalry’s ability to charge into an infantry formation. He believed in his cavalry.

Hong Chengchou, who was beside him, already sensed that something was wrong. The progress of the battle on the entire battlefield was completely different from what they had expected.

The central army was suppressed and couldn’t even get close, and the right flank, which had finally gotten close, was repelled and suffered heavy losses.

The only slightly better situation was on the left flank. Both sides on the left flank were cold weapon units, and there were a large number of them. At this time, they had already entered the stage of close combat. Although they had suffered a bit when charging forward, they had finally made contact and started a bloody battle.

If they could defeat the Ming army’s left flank, they could also force the Ming army’s central army to retreat.

Once the Ming army retreated, the Qing army’s advantage in pursuit with cavalry would be further amplified.

This was also the Qing army’s opportunity. They only needed one point to complete a breakthrough to win this battle. The Ming army, on the other hand, had to be able to withstand every point and win a great victory at one point in order to win this battle.

Although the Qing army had suffered many losses, in terms of the balance of power on the battlefield, the Qing army still firmly occupied the advantage.

Chapter 100: The Battle on the Left Flank

The left flank of the Ming army was defended by Qian Sule, Dong Tianbao, and Xiong Rulin, with a total of over twenty thousand men spread across a battlefield spanning three to four li (1.5-2 km).

They were divided into several sections, each stationed in strategically advantageous positions.

The Qing army focused its attacks on Qian Sule’s and Dong Tianbao’s units, while Xiong Rulin’s troops were positioned in front of a very muddy paddy field. Stepping into it would sink you up to your calves, making it impassable for the Qing army.

Wading through such a paddy field for a few hundred meters would exhaust the soldiers, leaving them without the strength to even run, let alone fight with swords.

In close combat with cold weapons, physical strength is crucial.

The Qing army had to bypass this paddy field and attack Qian Sule’s and Dong Tianbao’s units from other directions.

“Gentlemen, the moment to serve our country has arrived! As long as we hold the left flank, the central army can defeat the enemy without any worries about the rear, and then Nanjing will be within our grasp. Therefore, I urge you all to go to the front line and stand with the soldiers!”

Qian Sule gathered the various commanders and demanded that they not retreat, but fight to the death.

As long as they held off the enemy’s offensive, they would win this battle, and promotions and riches would naturally follow.

“We pledge our lives and will fight to the death without retreat!”

The commanders shouted in unison. These men, who came from the volunteer army, had a higher morale than the recruited soldiers. Besides earning money to support their families, they also had a sense of loyalty to the imperial court.

Zhao Butai’s unit was bombarded by hand grenades as they approached the Ming army. For this decisive battle, Wu Changqing had taken out all the hand grenades in storage.

However, compared to the central army, which was bombarded by cannons and shot at with guns, Zhao Butai’s unit was in a much better situation.

After being heavily bombarded, the Qing army in the front row were stunned for a moment.

However, under the scolding of the officers and the pressure of the large army behind them, they had to bite the bullet and continue forward.

This was the mark of an elite force. Ordinary, ragtag troops would collapse one hundred percent after such a heavy bombardment and after suffering a twenty percent reduction in manpower.

But they were still able to continue their charge.

However, although they could still charge, a drop in morale was inevitable, and the soldiers’ fear reached a critical point.

Upon making full contact with Qian Sule’s unit, a Qing army squad of one hundred men collapsed and fled after only one exchange.

It was too tragic. In less than two breaths, their squad had been reduced from over one hundred men to thirty. The remaining men were too scared to continue fighting.

Such small-scale collapses could sometimes create a chain reaction, leading to the collapse of the entire enemy line. But sometimes, it had no effect on the larger army, and everyone else continued to do what they were doing.

This was the difference between an elite force and a ragtag army. The elite had enough confidence to believe that a small, local collapse would not affect the overall situation.

As for the ragtag army, they never thought about winning the battle, only about how to save their own lives.

Zhao Butai’s Qing army was an elite force, and the soldiers on Qian Sule’s side had also become elite through Wu Changqing’s training methods. In fact, they even had something that the Qing army lacked: faith.

When a person has faith, the combat power they unleash is even more terrifying.

Hundreds of spears thrust forward, and large numbers of Qing soldiers were immediately stabbed. Some who were timid and chose to retreat temporarily inadvertently affected the formation of the troops behind them.

While the spearmen were stabbing their opponents, they were also being attacked by the Qing army.

The Qing army’s swordsmen and shield bearers approached the spearmen, putting the spearmen in an awkward position. They had little ability to resist, and the best strategy for survival was to drop their spears and run.

However, while this made it easier to save their lives, it was extremely damaging to the army as a whole.

During training, the Ming army had long been trained on how to deal with this situation.

That was to trust the comrades behind them, ignore the enemies hacking at them, and continue to stab the Qing soldiers within their reach.

They were always a whole, not separate individuals.

This action frightened the Qing army.

They were used to fighting emotional humans, and emotional humans would instinctively avoid danger when faced with it. But these Ming soldiers, like zombies, seemed to have no fear and were indifferent to life and death. They didn’t care if they were killed, only whether they could kill others.

Everyone was afraid of this kind of army.

Because even if they could kill the enemy in front of them, they would undoubtedly be killed themselves. For most of the Qing soldiers, fighting was just a way to make a living, and victory had nothing to do with them.

Sacrificing their own lives for victory was simply not worth it.

The Qing soldiers in front were already scared out of their wits, while the Qing soldiers behind them were still surging forward, making it impossible for them to advance or retreat. Many frightened soldiers simply cried. This battle was impossible to fight; it was purely exchanging lives for lives.

Moreover, in this kind of life-for-life battle, the Ming army was much more efficient than the Qing army. Their movements were uniform, and a charge meant that the Qing soldiers standing in front had no chance of survival.

The Qing soldiers in the front row fell in droves, causing some of the commanders to tremble.

Such a tragic battle was rare.

Under normal circumstances, the two armies would compete in momentum and morale until one side couldn’t hold on, leading to a psychological collapse and triggering a collapse of the entire army.

Sometimes, thousands of people would confront each other and hack away for half an hour, with fewer than one hundred casualties.

A battle like this, where those charging in front were almost certain to die, was extremely rare.

Both sides were suffering heavy casualties, and the Qing army was the first to collapse. This battle was too damn scary. It was as if they were not fighting a group of people, but a group of corpses.

The commanders in the front row began to take the lead in fleeing, as continuing to command would cost them their lives.

Once such a large-scale escape occurred, failure was inevitable. Those in front wanted to retreat, while those behind were still being forced forward, resulting in a chaotic scene where soldiers couldn’t find their generals, and generals couldn’t find their soldiers.

The Ming army was overjoyed to see the enemy’s chaos and would not let go of this opportunity, charging up and stabbing wildly.

It was most satisfying to bully those who didn’t resist and only thought about running away.

“Temporarily retreat and reorganize the formation!”

Zhao Butai roared.

In the battles against the Ming army, his troops had never collapsed first.

But this glorious record was now ended here.

He showed no mercy to those soldiers who turned around and fled, sending in the supervising team to slaughter them as a warning to others.

The other soldiers couldn’t help but tremble as they watched the fleeing soldiers being beheaded. This battle, where advancing meant death and retreating also meant death, was too tragic, and many soldiers already had psychological scars.

The Qing army suffered heavy losses, and the Ming army was not doing well either.

In this round of engagement, the Qing army lost about one thousand five hundred men, while the Ming army’s losses were as high as eight hundred.

Those soldiers who were caught in close combat could only wait for death. The soldiers in the back row could at most avenge them, but it was extremely difficult to save them.

The military regulations also did not allow them to be rescued, as that would be too inefficient and it would be better to kill a few more enemies.

After one round of engagement, the soldiers on both sides were on the verge of collapse.

If it were any other time, both sides might have chosen to retreat and let the soldiers rest for a while before fighting again.

But now, their success or failure would affect the outcome of the entire decisive battle, and neither of them dared to retreat. They could only grit their teeth and press on.

“Let the 21st Regiment in the front row come down and replace them with the 22nd Regiment.”

Qian Sule ordered, taking advantage of the enemy’s temporary retreat to replace the troops who had been on the front line.

Chapter 101: Cavalry Charge

Qian Sule’s unit’s battle was only a part of the left-wing engagement. Another part was Dong Tianbao’s unit, who also encountered attacks of similar intensity.

However, their situation was slightly better. After the initial contact, they suffered losses of just over five hundred men.

The Qing army, on the other hand, lost nearly nine hundred men and was routed.

If he weren’t considering the overall integrity of the army, he would have ordered his soldiers to pursue. If he had seized the opportunity to chase and kill at that moment, he could have easily斩敌军 several hundred more enemies.

In the past, he would have done so without hesitation, as it would have been a good opportunity to gain merit.

But now, he had to obey Wu Changqing’s orders and serve the entire army.

If he rashly pursued, charging too far ahead and being surrounded by the enemy, the entire left wing would be in danger, affecting the entire decisive battle.

He couldn’t bear that responsibility. Moreover, the way Wu’s army calculated merit was very different from that of previous armies.

In the past, the merit of a general was mainly based on how many enemies he killed.

Now, Wu Changqing’s calculation method focused on the degree to which you completed your assigned task.

Wu Changqing wanted him to hold this small hill. As long as he held it, he would have completed his task. Even if he didn’t kill a single enemy and scared them away, that would be his skill, and he would still be rewarded.

Conversely, if he recklessly advanced and killed two thousand enemies but lost the hill, he would still have failed to complete his task and would be punished.

For the overall decisive battle, holding this hill was much more important than killing two thousand enemies.

If this hill was lost, the Qing army could pour in through this gap, directly attacking Qian Sule’s flank and the flank of the central army.

His killing of a few thousand enemies wouldn’t affect the overall situation. The real key to victory depended on whether the central army could eliminate the Qing army’s cavalry, which was the core of this battle.

If it weren’t for eliminating those cavalry, they wouldn’t have needed to leave the city for a decisive battle. Hiding in the city to defend would have been a greater advantage.

Using flintlocks on the city walls to defend against cold weapon attacks could definitely make the enemy want to cry. Liu Liangzuo had experienced this, and Dong Tianbao himself had also experienced it.

In the central army, Bolo saw the failure of the left wing through his telescope and didn’t know what to scold anymore.

The failure of the central army’s musket troops could be attributed to the weapons being inferior to the Ming army’s. But on the left wing, both sides were using cold weapons, with the enemy having at most an additional type of hand grenade, yet they still couldn’t take it down, which was truly infuriating.

“We underestimated the resilience of Wu’s army. This is definitely not an army that relies solely on weapons. The resilience of their soldiers is truly terrifying. Liu Liangzuo misled me.”

Hong Chengchou stamped his feet in anger. In Liu Liangzuo’s previous battle reports, he had repeatedly emphasized the sharpness of Wu’s army’s firearms, completely neglecting to mention the resilience and fighting will of Wu’s soldiers.

This led Hong Chengchou to somewhat overlook this aspect. Now, seeing the battle between the two sides with his own eyes, he realized that Wu’s army’s soldiers were elite, and their fighting will was no less than that of the Eight Banner troops, and even surpassed them.

No wonder he had been able to win repeatedly in the past. This army was truly too elite. This Wu Changqing was truly a genius at training soldiers.

Hong Chengchou was getting anxious. In the current situation, they had already suffered a great loss without any gain.

Next, they could only rely on the cavalry’s charge.

Ajige had reorganized ten thousand cavalry and was preparing to break through Wu’s army’s central army from the front, followed by another ten thousand cavalry to reap the rewards.

As long as they broke through the infantry’s formation, they would have essentially won the battle.

The heavily damaged musket troops retreated, and the cavalry slowly moved forward, heading towards Wu’s army.

It was heading, not charging.

In movies and TV shows, charging from thousands of meters away is impossible. Horses can’t sustain that kind of high-speed charge for very long.

Therefore, in general, they would start by walking slowly, then jogging, and only start sprinting when they were about two hundred meters away or even closer.

This gradual acceleration was very rhythmic and imposing.

For ordinary infantry formations, seeing tens of thousands of tall horses charging towards them, wetting their pants in fear was a very normal reaction.

Being able to stand still and hold a spear steady when facing a cavalry charge meant they were elite. Ninety percent of armies couldn’t do that.

“Change formation, change to hollow square formation.”

Don’t underestimate the fact that the cavalry was still thousands of meters away, but once the cavalry charged, it would be a matter of less than a minute.

Li Shaobin was constantly observing the enemy’s main cavalry force with his telescope. As soon as he saw the enemy adopting a charging formation, he immediately knew that the enemy was serious.

After countless training sessions, the musket troops quickly completed the formation change.

A force of more than fifteen thousand men was divided into nearly one hundred small squares, with large open spaces between the formations.

This formation would be disadvantageous in a battle against infantry, but it was very effective against cavalry.

In ancient warfare, the importance of formations far exceeded the bravery of individual soldiers.

The fish scale formation, the Eight Trigrams Formation, the single-line long snake formation – these were not created for aesthetic purposes. In specific situations, different formations could have miraculous effects.

“Eh, Governor-General Hong, look at their formation. What does this mean?”

Bolo handed the telescope to Hong Chengchou because he saw an incredible scene. The Ming army’s formation had actually proactively transformed into a loose formation. Wasn’t this courting death?

The best formation for infantry to deal with cavalry is a dense formation. Everyone huddles together, and if the cavalry dares to charge, they will lose space after a few steps and eventually have to stop.

This kind of confrontation would be very tragic, requiring a very high level of courage from the infantry. But once the soldiers held on and didn’t collapse, it would be the cavalry who would be crying.

The cavalry’s greatest weapon is speed. Without speed, the threat is greatly reduced.

Moreover, this kind of forced charge would certainly result in more infantry deaths, but the cavalry’s losses would not be small either. However, it only takes one or two months to train an infantryman, while it takes at least one or two years, or even longer, to train a cavalryman.

The value of a cavalryman is roughly equivalent to five infantrymen. Adding the warhorse, a cavalryman is equivalent to ten infantrymen. Using cavalry to forcibly charge a dense formation is definitely the act of a cavalry general with water in their brain.

In such situations, cavalry would generally avoid it, choosing to pass by on the side and then shoot arrows into the infantry formation. They would take full advantage of the infantry formation’s poor maneuverability to bully them.

If the infantry formation didn’t have a large number of shields, it would be miserable. If they did, the cavalry would have no way to attack.

Basically, the contest between infantry and cavalry in ancient times was this kind of pattern. The cavalry occupied the absolute initiative, but they were not invincible.

However, when infantry encountered cavalry, forming a dense formation was common sense. This was an absolute principle.

But now, Wu Changqing’s army was doing the opposite, turning the originally relatively dense horizontal row formation into small squares.

Wouldn’t this allow the cavalry to pass through unimpeded?

Bolo couldn’t understand why Wu Changqing would do this. He wouldn’t suspect that Wu Changqing had water in his brain, but this move was too strange, and he couldn’t understand it.

Chapter 102: The Miraculous Square Formation

Hong Chengchou was also baffled by the Wu army’s formation. If he had more time, he might have been able to figure out its secrets.

But he didn’t have that much time to think. The Qing army’s cavalry had already begun their charge.

Ajige, who had already launched the charge, was extremely excited because he saw the Wu army’s formation change from afar. Wasn’t this formation just courting death?

Any cavalry general who had never suffered a beating from a hollow square formation would think the same thing upon seeing it for the first time.

“Full speed ahead! Scatter them!”

Ajige laughed loudly, as if he could already see victory waving at him.

“Free fire!”

The junior officers within the square formation blew their whistles. There was no need for volley fire with this formation; just shoot at the enemy as fast as possible.

At this distance, with the enemy’s density, it was easy to hit either a person or a horse.

Gunshots rang out, and many cavalrymen fell in response. Some horses were also shot and tumbled to the ground.

This was all within Ajige’s expectations. He could completely bear this bit of loss. As long as he scattered the enemy’s formation, the next step would be reaping the rewards, a great victory.

However, despite thinking that way, he soon discovered that the Ming army hadn’t fallen into chaos, and the soldiers hadn’t collapsed.

This shocked him. He couldn’t imagine why the Ming army could remain calm in the face of thousands of horses charging at them.

Didn’t these people feel fear?

Of course, he didn’t know how long Wu Changqing had trained these soldiers to adapt to this scene. Now, these soldiers were numb, with no thought of running away in their minds.

Even if they did, they wouldn’t know how to escape.

Moreover, because they were used to obeying the collective, when others weren’t running, some people could only grit their teeth and endure, afraid to take the lead.

After two rounds of shooting, Ajige’s cavalry finally reached the Ming army.

However, facing those gleaming bayonets, both the horses and the riders on them couldn’t help but choose to detour, charging towards the gaps.

And at this time, the people inside the hollow square formation continued to load their guns and fire.

At such a close distance of only a few meters, these musketeers had become crack shots, getting a kill with almost every shot.

The huge casualties weren’t the Qing cavalry’s biggest headache. What troubled them most was not knowing how to attack the Ming soldiers.

They had charged over, but not being able to attack was truly awkward.

Some cavalrymen who had brought bows and arrows began to take them out. They could inflict some casualties on the Ming army.

However, this little bit of damage was completely insignificant compared to the Qing cavalry’s losses.

On average, at least five cavalrymen had to die to kill one infantryman, and most of these infantrymen had only been trained for just over two months.

The cavalry charging at the matchlock square formation fared slightly better because the matchlocks had a slow rate of fire, so they didn’t suffer particularly severe blows.

But the cavalry charging at the flintlock square formation were in a miserable state. By the time they were about to exit the square formation, all that could be seen were the horses; there were hardly any riders left.

Looking at this casualty ratio, Wu Changqing revealed a smile, and the other generals were even more delighted, completely unable to control their joy.

Their plan had succeeded, severely damaging the enemy’s cavalry.

At first, they were worried that this hollow square formation was only theoretically feasible and would be difficult to put into practice. But now, reality had told them that it was indeed effective.

“General is truly a brilliant strategist! The creation of this formation is comparable to Zhuge Liang’s Eight Trigrams Formation!”

A subordinate took the opportunity to flatter Wu Changqing, even comparing him to Zhuge Liang.

Wu Changqing ignored him and continued to stare at the battlefield.

Right now, only a portion of the Qing army’s cavalry had fallen into the trap. The battle was far from over. If the Qing army didn’t repent and continued to charge, then things would get interesting.

On the battlefield, Ajige watched his troops suffer heavy losses and was so angry that he was about to personally lead the charge to boost morale.

Unfortunately, he was forcibly stopped by his subordinates.

The cavalrymen who charged into the square formation were in too miserable a state. The casualty rate was at least fifty percent. How could they dare to let Ajige charge?

“Order them not to dodge! Let the brave warriors use their flesh and blood to charge into their formation!”

Ajige shouted angrily. He had more or less figured out a little bit of the trick, discovering that the cavalry’s fear of direct collision was what made the Ming army exceptionally safe.

He believed that as long as his warriors used their flesh and blood to collide and die together, they would definitely scare the Ming army to death, breaking their courage.

As long as the Ming army was afraid and their formation was disrupted, they would still have a chance to win.

The order was issued, and a group of people who weren’t afraid of death mounted their horses and gritted their teeth to execute it.

The reason why the Eight Banners soldiers were so powerful was because there were some among them who weren’t afraid of death. Even knowing that it was a certain death situation, they still went forward resolutely.

This alone could make many armies afraid and timid.

However, this time, this suicide squad encountered a very awkward situation: they weren’t afraid of death, but the horses were.

Seeing those gleaming bayonets, the horses were simply unwilling to crash into them. Many horses stopped in front of the formation, ignoring their masters’ orders, no matter how they were whipped, they just wouldn’t charge forward.

Immediately afterward, the cavalrymen on the horses would be shot. It would be embarrassing to still be a musketeer if they couldn’t hit a target standing right in front of them.

Only a very few horses carried out their masters’ orders and charged into the soldiers’ formation.

The huge impact instantly sent five or six infantrymen flying.

At the same time, the horses would be pierced through by the bayonets, and the cavalrymen would also die without any suspense.

If all the cavalry could do this, the hollow square formation would become a joke. Unfortunately, these fearless horses were ultimately just a small minority and couldn’t affect the overall situation.

Knocking a few people away was nothing; soldiers would immediately fill the gap.

Even if a certain square formation completely collapsed, the loss would only be this one square formation, which wouldn’t affect the other square formations. With a full hundred small square formations, losing one was no problem at all.

And this group of charging cavalry suffered another devastating blow.

Moreover, cavalry couldn’t compare to infantry in terms of flexibility. Once they started charging, they basically had no way to retreat and could only charge to the end.

Knowing that charging into the hollow square formation would very likely lead to death, they had no choice. Stopping would make it even easier to die, and turning around was impossible; the cavalry behind them were still charging forward continuously.

“Prince Ying, quickly stop the troops behind! Don’t let them come up!”

A subordinate reminded Ajige, who was already stunned.

Even a fool could now see that the hollow square formation was very strange and that continuing to charge was just courting death.

However, Ajige was unwilling to accept defeat and also lost his composure due to the huge gap, forgetting to command the army.

Besides his vanguard of ten thousand men who had already charged out, the planned second batch of ten thousand Mongolian cavalry had also begun their charge.

And once the cavalry launched a charge, there was no turning back. They could only bite the bullet and charge forward.

Seeing that the Mongolian banner cavalry had also charged up, Ajige finally came to his senses and hurriedly ordered them to stop. Unfortunately, he shouted too late. This ten-thousand-man team had also charged towards the hollow square formation.

Chapter 103: The Last Gamble

In the rear, Bolo dropped his binoculars to the ground.

He never would have imagined that a cavalry charge against a hollow square would end like this. He couldn’t understand the reasoning behind it at all.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that he had suffered heavy losses.

Of the ten thousand cavalry who charged the square, probably less than five thousand remained after passing through it. And the second wave of attack had already begun, threatening to lose another five thousand.

In this way, he would directly lose over ten thousand cavalry. Cavalry, not infantry!

The entire Qing army now had only about one hundred thousand cavalry at most. This one battle would cost him a tenth of his force, a crippling blow.

Losing ten thousand infantry was easy to replenish, but losing ten thousand cavalry would take at least two or three years to recover.

This kind of loss was the most devastating they had suffered since entering the pass.

And this loss was due to his misjudgment. The responsibility for this was too great. He would certainly be demoted, and might even have his title stripped.

But those were matters for the future. Bolo didn’t have time to consider them now. He still had to deal with the immediate situation.

Should he continue the decisive battle, or retreat temporarily?

This was a great test for him. This decision would determine the outcome of the war.

If he chose to retreat, then this battle would undoubtedly be lost, and a crushing defeat at that. In the process of retreating, he would certainly suffer more losses, which would truly be crippling.

But continuing to fight might lead to victory by relying on superior numbers, or it might lead to collapse due to low morale, resulting in an even greater defeat.

Retreating now would allow for an organized withdrawal, with troops arranged to cover the rear.

But if he was forced to retreat due to a rout, it would be a complete and utter chaos.

Hong Chengchou, standing beside him, didn’t dare to speak, fearing that offering advice would make him responsible.

Everything so far had been directly commanded and overseen by Bolo. Even if they lost, the court would only hold Bolo accountable. But if he offered advice now that Bolo adopted, he would have to share some of the blame.

Although he was currently highly regarded by the court, this was due to his past glorious achievements.

A crushing defeat of this magnitude would outweigh his previous merits. He would certainly be punished.

So, at this moment, Hong Chengchou chose to remain silent, leaving everything to Bolo.

Another point was that Hong Chengchou didn’t actually have a better solution to the current situation. A military defeat is like a landslide. A battle’s outcome can often be determined in the first half.

Examples of turning defeat into victory in adversity were extremely rare.

With the cavalry losing its effectiveness, their strength was no longer dominant. To defeat the Ming army, they would have to return to infantry combat.

And the previous infantry battles along the entire front had already proven that the Qing army was no match for the Ming army.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou actually hoped that Bolo would retreat and reconsider the situation.

Although retreating now would mean heavy losses, at least they would still have some fighting strength left.

“Tell Duerde to take his troops and charge up behind the cavalry. He is not allowed to retreat until he has broken through the enemy’s center.”

Bolo issued the latest order. He had chosen to fight to the bitter end.

Mainly because he saw an opportunity. The Ming army’s center was still resisting the cavalry charge, with its hollow square formation.

As long as he pressed the infantry forward at this time, the Ming army would have no time to adjust their formation, and they could enter the melee phase. At that point, he didn’t even need to defeat the Ming army. He would be willing to trade one Qing soldier’s life for one Ming soldier’s life.

For the victory of this battle, he was desperate.

Even if he achieved victory, he would not receive any credit this time, and might even be punished.

But Bolo couldn’t worry about that anymore. A pyrrhic victory was still a victory, better than defeat by far.

On the battlefield, the great battle continued. Within a radius of five kilometers, there was only one word: chaos.

The first batch of Qing cavalry that had broken through the hollow square was now facing off against the Ming cavalry.

Although the Ming cavalry was small, only two thousand men, they were still a regular cavalry unit. Now was the time to strike a drowning dog, and they would naturally not miss it.

The Qing cavalry, who had just been ravaged by the musketeers, hadn’t even caught their breath when the Ming cavalry charged over. They could only respond hastily.

The result, of course, was once again tragic.

Without formation, without officers to organize them, it was impossible to win an organized attack with individual bravery alone.

In one charge, the Ming army pierced through the Qing cavalry.

The Ming army lost about a hundred cavalrymen, while the Qing army lost another seven hundred.

With such a stark contrast, and with the Qing cavalry already frightened birds, the Qing generals had no intention of fighting anymore. They were just urging their subordinates to flee.

They wanted to return to their own safe area first, and rest.

The Ming cavalry did not pursue, as there was another batch of cavalry to kill behind them.

The second batch of cavalry that charged into the hollow square enjoyed the same treatment as the first batch. It was easy for the Ming army to hit them, but it was particularly difficult for them to hit the Ming army.

Especially after the first round of attacks, the soldiers in the hollow square had gained experience, their operations became more fluid, and the speed of reloading bullets returned to normal.

Rows of bullets were fired, and countless cavalrymen and horses fell.

One of the hollow roads was completely blocked because there were too many corpses of soldiers and horses.

Seeing the mountain of corpses, the cavalry passing by were so frightened that they lost their minds, only thinking about escaping this hell on earth, and dared not think about resisting.

The bravery of the Eight Banners was actually based on the backdrop of the previous corrupt Han army. After the Eight Banners continued to win victories, their confidence was established and they became very brave.

However, when they encountered truly ruthless characters, they also showed the side of ordinary people, the side of cowardice.

This is actually the same as many arrogant gangsters. Usually, when dealing with honest people, they seem to be so awesome that they are about to go to heaven. But when they really encounter ruthless characters, they all show their true colors.

The Eight Banners were not as unbearable as gangsters, but their performance at this time really had nothing to do with bravery, just like a mob.

“The infantry is coming, form ranks!”

Before this wave of cavalry had completely passed, a commander saw the infantry rushing over and quickly gave the order.

This kind of hollow square was too thin to deal with infantry, and could not exert the greatest firepower advantage.

If they could not inflict heavy casualties on the enemy at long range, the musket troops would suffer great losses when they came into close combat.

Wu Changqing, who was in the rear, had already seen the enemy’s deployment through his binoculars, and had already pressed the reserve army up, while the cannons were also aimed at the rushing soldiers.

Chapter 104: Full-Scale Counterattack

Artillery strikes were ultimately limited; they still had to rely on the infantry themselves.

Fortunately, they had practiced formation changes for over a month here. At this moment, the effects of that training became apparent. In less than a minute, the numerous musketeers once again completed the transition from hollow square to a line formation.

At this point, the Qing army was less than ten meters away from the Ming army, giving them only one chance for a volley.

“Ready, fire!”

With the order given, the single volley fired, and almost all of the Qing soldiers in the front rank fell.

Even such a gruesome sight couldn’t stop the Qing army’s continued charge. Duerde had issued a strict order: the supervisory team was behind them, and anyone who dared to retreat would be killed without exception.

Such harsh orders naturally made the soldiers mentally curse his ancestors for eighteen generations, but it was useless. They still had to charge.

“Raise your guns, stab, fight to the death!”

In close combat, the Qing army was met with the Ming army’s uniform thrusts, a sight even more terrifying than the Ming army’s volley.

The volleys fired bullets, which were too fast for the soldiers to see, so they didn’t have much visual impact. But these gleaming bayonets looked particularly frightening.

Anyone would be afraid of having several bayonets thrust at them simultaneously.

In the brutal fight, many Ming soldiers also fell, but even more Qing soldiers fell.

The reason was the difference in training methods. The Qing army emphasized individual bravery, while the Ming army emphasized collectivity. Individuals against the collective suffered a crushing defeat.

At this moment, Ming reinforcements arrived.

Not many, only a thousand men, but they were all grenadiers.

Their main task was to inflict casualties on the enemy. Grenades were thrown into the Qing ranks, and each explosion took out a large group.

In the history of warfare, the development of weapons has always been faster than the evolution of tactical concepts. Therefore, once a powerful new weapon appears, many soldiers will be killed due to outdated tactical concepts.

For example, the machine gun. After the machine gun appeared, because tactical concepts couldn’t keep up, they still charged in dense formations according to the old tactics. As a result, the machine gun swept away large swathes of them.

On the European battlefield, there were several cases of a single machine gun mowing down fifty to sixty thousand people in a single day.

This terrifying weapon directly frightened many soldiers, so much so that no one dared to charge at the machine gun anymore, and the dense charge gradually evolved into a skirmish charge.

The backwardness of tactical concepts is very terrible. Weapons like grenades don’t have much high-tech content, and there are many ways to deal with them, so they shouldn’t kill many soldiers.

But now, in order to make their formation more powerful, the Qing soldiers were arranged very densely. A grenade thrown in would explode a large area, its power no less than that of a cannon.

And Wu Changqing’s cannons only numbered thirty, but there were thousands of these grenade throwers.

Hundreds of grenades were thrown into the Qing army’s camp at the same time, and a vacuum zone appeared in the Qing army’s camp, like the end of the world.

Various screams, like ghosts crying and wolves howling, created a scene of hell.

People’s endurance has a limit. Once that limit is exceeded, their minds will collapse.

After collapsing, they would lose their minds and no longer remember the supervisory team behind them, only wanting to escape from this place quickly.

After suffering this round of grenade bombardment, Duerde’s troops also collapsed and turned to flee.

This kind of battle was too terrifying; they couldn’t withstand this pressure.

“Beat the drums, order a full-scale counter-charge, completely shatter the enemy’s psychological defenses!”

Wu Changqing saw the Qing army collapsing in the center and immediately ordered a full-scale counterattack.

Although they were still fewer in number than the Qing army, they had gained absolute dominance in momentum.

On the other two battle lines, the Qing army’s morale was only somewhat low, but in the center, the Qing army had suffered three crushing defeats, and the soldiers in the center were already terrified.

At this time, if the Ming army launched a counter-charge, the Qing soldiers would definitely think that their side had been defeated and lose their will to resist.

Of course, they had indeed suffered a major defeat.

Hearing the drums of the general attack, the Ming army’s morale soared, which meant that they had gained the upper hand and were about to counterattack.

“The enemy is defeated, follow me! The time to make a name for ourselves has come!”

A large number of Ming generals shouted that the Qing army had been defeated, and the Qing army’s lower-level soldiers soon chose to believe it.

Faced with such a situation, some Qing generals had no way to salvage it. More importantly, some generals knew that their central army had been defeated and were also very panicked.

With the central army defeated, if their troops didn’t retreat, they would likely be surrounded, and then there would be no way out.

“Retreat!”

Zhao Butai saw that his side’s morale was low and didn’t want to fight anymore. Right now, minimizing losses was the most important thing.

Bolo, who was in the center of the army, could only watch his side collapse.

He did issue orders, but the key was that after the troops fell into chaos, his orders were difficult to transmit to the lower levels.

Moreover, the collapsing central army had caused a certain impact on the formation of the rear troops, making it difficult for him to organize a counterattack.

At this time, the battlefield had begun to enter a state of great chaos.

“Withdraw, order Mandahai to cover the rear!”

Bolo took the remaining twenty thousand cavalry and withdrew first. This was his last lifeline and could not be lost.

As for the other troops, he would save as many as he could.

As Bolo issued the order to retreat, the panic in the Qing army further expanded, indicating that the commander had admitted defeat and given up resistance.

The commander was taking the lead in retreating, so what was the point of fighting?

Previously, it was the soldiers who were panicked, but now even some generals were panicked.

Mandahai, who was arranged to cover the rear, almost vomited blood. In this day and age, the most difficult job was probably covering the rear.

Watching friendly troops flee frantically while he had to stay and resist, how many soldiers could be so great?

Mandahai could only do his best, moving his troops in front of the Ming army, letting the soldiers fire arrows, trying to delay their advance.

They had calmly faced even cavalry charges from the Ming army, and they didn’t care about this little bit of arrow rain.

They all had a belief that as long as their side fired, the first to collapse would definitely be the other side. They had never lost in a shootout.

Thousands of spears were raised, and a volley reduced Mandahai’s unit by five percent.

This kind of loss would not have been a problem at other times, but in the current situation of everyone fleeing, those soldiers couldn’t stand it.

Are you kidding me? Everyone else is running away, and I’m standing here as a human shield? Using my life to save my comrades, and then letting my comrades go home and enjoy my wife?

Well, in this period, the fate of the wives and children of Manchurian soldiers who died in battle was basically to be remarried to other soldiers.

Not only were the soldiers running, but low-level generals also began to run.

With more and more people running, high-level generals also followed suit. Anyway, the law doesn’t punish the masses. Everyone is running together, so it’s not a serious mistake for me to run with them.

As soon as Mandahai saw this situation, he knew that there was no way to save it. As the saying goes, a military defeat is like a landslide. If the soldiers lose the courage to resist, no matter how many there are, it’s useless.

Mandahai felt that he had at least delayed for fifteen minutes, which could be considered as doing his best, and then he began to flee with his personal guards.

As for the troops, sorry, in this situation, he could no longer command his troops at all and could only let them escape in various ways, waiting for them to escape from danger before gathering them again.

Chapter 105: Counting the Spoils of War

With the Qing army in full retreat, the Ming army launched a full-scale pursuit, the perfect opportunity to expand their gains.

Wu Changqing’s troops were quite experienced in hunting down routed soldiers; they had done it many times before.

The vanguard was responsible for the pursuit, cutting down those who didn’t kneel and surrender. Those who had already thrown down their weapons and knelt were ignored, left to the troops following behind.

The vanguard had to pursue relentlessly to ‘bite’ the enemy, preventing them from escaping easily.

The rear had specialized units to receive prisoners and clear the battlefield.

The entire process proceeded in an orderly manner.

Wu Changqing and the others remained in the main camp, waiting for good news.

“So much for the Eight Banners, they’re just as vulnerable as anyone else.”

Liu Hansan joked with a smile. Having defeated the Eight Banners cavalry so decisively, he certainly had the right to be proud.

“This time, it was mainly because the enemy didn’t understand us. It won’t be easy to achieve such a great victory next time,” Dai Zhijun analyzed. If the Manchu cavalry hadn’t charged their hollow square formation, it would have been difficult for them to annihilate the enemy cavalry.

The greatest advantage of cavalry was speed, not impact.

With their speed, cavalry could do many things.

For example, they could send a cavalry force of ten thousand to raid their cold weapon troops, which would cause them a headache. Or, the cavalry could follow their troops from a distance, preventing them from relaxing.

They would charge as soon as the Ming army relaxed, forcing them to maintain their formation to prevent being charged, which would be a major problem for marching.

In short, cavalry could play many roles. Before the advent of machine guns, cavalry always held a place on the battlefield.

Only when machine guns appeared would cavalry completely withdraw from the main battlefield.

“Military Advisor Dai, you are resourceful. Think of a plan to ambush their cavalry again.”

Liu Hansan put his arm around Dai Zhijun. He knew his own talent was limited, and commanding over ten thousand men was already somewhat difficult for him. Therefore, he was very friendly to Dai Zhijun, who was more skilled at commanding troops, hoping to befriend him.

In the future, as Wu Changqing’s forces grew, his power would also increase, and he would urgently need talented people to help him.

“If I had such a plan, I would have offered it to the General long ago. It’s not that easy,” Dai Zhijun retorted.

Battles were mainly fought with proper two-army formations. The so-called ingenious plans were actually choices made out of desperation. It was not easy to trick the enemy into falling for a plan.

The pursuit continued until evening, when the main force gradually returned to the Danyang camp.

In the main tent of the camp, Wu Changqing and many senior generals were gathered, listening to the statistics officer report the results of the battle.

“According to preliminary statistics, our army has killed a total of twenty-three thousand enemy soldiers in this battle, including over thirteen thousand Manchu Eight Banners, over four thousand Mongol Eight Banners, and over six thousand Han Eight Banners.

We captured a total of forty-six thousand enemy soldiers, including about twenty thousand Han Eight Banners, about sixteen thousand Manchu Eight Banners, and about nine thousand Mongol Eight Banners.

Among the captured enemy soldiers, nearly seven thousand were injured.

Among these seventy thousand people, there were thirteen thousand cavalry and over fifty-six thousand infantry.

Among them were thirty-two generals above the rank of colonel, and we captured Prince Ying Ajige alive.”

These were the gains in terms of personnel, which could be described as a super victory. The Qing army had been seriously hurt.

With seventy thousand killed and captured, plus some scattered soldiers, the Qing army that managed to escape back to Nanjing would probably number no more than forty thousand, a loss of nearly seventy percent of their forces.

For an army, this was almost equivalent to being crippled. Having suffered such heavy losses, the morale of the remaining soldiers would probably be so low that they would desert at any moment.

And Ajige was an unexpected bonus. For some reason, he fell from his horse and suffered some injuries, and was captured alive by the pursuing cavalry.

This was the highest-ranking general the Qing had lost since entering the pass.

The Qing army had also lost some so-called princes when attacking Jiangyin, but those were all miscellaneous princes with no weight.

But Prince Ying was different. He was a proper prince. Moreover, he was the biological brother of Dorgon.

In terms of these identities alone, capturing Ajige was enough to boost morale and inspire the people.

After speaking about the gains in terms of personnel, next were the gains in terms of supplies.

First, forty-five of the fifty cannons were captured. When the Qing army fled, there was no way to transport these nearly one thousand five hundred kilogram behemoths.

So the Qing army took steps to destroy them, but because they were in a hurry to escape, the destruction process was too hasty. They only managed to destroy five, and the rest only suffered minor damage and were easily repaired.

More than forty cannons were worth nearly one hundred thousand taels. Moreover, these strategic materials were not necessarily available for purchase even with money, and it would take a lot of time to manufacture them.

With this batch of cannons, Wu Changqing could form a powerful artillery force, making sieges much easier. Winning a battle was so great because you could seize a lot of good things.

If he hadn’t achieved such a great victory in the field, who knew when he would be able to obtain fifty cannons.

In addition to the cannons, more than five thousand ordinary muskets were captured. These could be transported back to Suzhou and slightly modified with bayonet attachments to equip the troops.

These matchlock guns could only exert their greatest power in the hands of the Wu army. This time, the Qing army acted as a transport captain, helping the Wu army grow rapidly.

There were also massive amounts of cold weapons such as swords and spears, enough to equip a cold weapon force of fifty thousand troops. With this batch of weapons, Wu Changqing could quickly expand his army.

Although cold weapon troops were outdated, Wu Changqing couldn’t abandon them. Because the speed at which they manufactured guns was far behind the speed at which they expanded their army, cold weapon troops were still the mainstream.

They also captured some horses, about four thousand.

It was not easy to capture horses. They were too fast, and most of the cavalry had escaped.

In addition to weapons, they also captured half a month’s worth of rations for one hundred thousand troops, as well as tents, quilts, and other miscellaneous supplies.

This kind of seizure could be described as a super harvest, allowing them to expand their army by another fifty thousand without worrying about supplies.

“What about our losses?”

Wu Changqing asked. Although they had won a great victory in this battle, their losses were definitely not small.

The left and right wings had engaged in melee combat with the enemy for nearly an hour, while the center had been hit by two rounds of cavalry charges, two rounds of infantry charges, and half an hour of artillery fire.

“Our army suffered a total of five thousand seven hundred and thirty-two deaths, two hundred and sixty missing, over one thousand seriously injured, and over six thousand lightly injured. Among them, the left wing accounted for two thousand, the center accounted for two thousand three hundred, and the right wing accounted for one thousand seven hundred.

Two cannons exploded, over five hundred warhorses were lost, and over one thousand bows and crossbows were damaged. Two thousand matchlock guns and one thousand five hundred flintlock guns were damaged.”

Hearing that one thousand five hundred flintlock guns were damaged, Wu Changqing felt a pang of heartache.

Most of these guns were damaged by the force of impact when resisting cavalry charges, and some were damaged by aging due to being fired too many times in succession.

These were flintlock guns! It would take at least twenty days to manufacture these one thousand five hundred guns.

Wu Changqing had been urging Liu Baojun to train more senior craftsmen. But the training of talent always takes time. Now, the daily output of flintlock guns in the armory has increased to eighty, which is already a great improvement.

Although they lost a large number of flintlock guns, compared to the gains they had made, this loss was not particularly large and was within Wu Changqing’s tolerance.

However, having experienced such a great battle, he had no ability to attack Nanjing for the time being.

Soldiers needed rest, prisoners needed to be dealt with, equipment needed to be repaired, wounded soldiers needed to be treated, the army needed to be expanded, and so on.

He wouldn’t recover in less than a month.

As for the Qing army, they were even worse off. It would take them a year to recover.

Wu Changqing only needed to wait patiently for a month or so, adjust the army’s condition, and then he could advance towards Zhenjiang and Nanjing.

Chapter 106: Dealing with Prisoners

“General, what should we do with these prisoners?”

Li Shaobin asked.

“Same as always, offer amnesty to the Han Chinese and kill all the Manchus,” Liu Hansan said, assuming that Wu Changqing held deep resentment towards the Manchu Qing, hence the suggestion.

However, it was actually the original owner of the body who harbored deep prejudices against the Manchus. The current Wu Changqing held no such biases, after all, he came from the twenty-first century.

In that era, the Han and Manchus had long become one family, emphasizing unity and kinship.

Moreover, unless one checked their family registry, it was extremely difficult to distinguish Manchus from Han Chinese by appearance.

In Wu Changqing’s view, there was no need to differentiate between the two ethnicities at all. Wouldn’t it be better to simply call everyone the Huaxia people?

Of course, in this era, there was still considerable hatred and division between the Han and Manchus. Wu Changqing couldn’t rashly proclaim “Manchu and Han are one family,” or his soldiers wouldn’t agree.

However, he also wouldn’t engage in the mass killing or mistreatment of these Manchu soldiers.

“Absolutely not. Killing these prisoners will only increase the Manchus’ hostility towards us and strengthen their resolve to fight to the death. The Manchus can tolerate and recruit our Han soldiers, and we can do the same with Manchu soldiers.

I want the Manchus in the north to know that surrendering to me guarantees a good outcome. I want to break their will to fight.”

Wu Changqing offered a justification, concealing his true reason for not wanting to massacre the Manchu soldiers.

This reasoning was also quite persuasive. Massacring unarmed prisoners was ultimately a morally reprehensible act, and most generals were reluctant to do so.

“But General, if we don’t kill these Manchus, the people might be unhappy. After all, they slaughtered so many of our people,” Liu Hansan said, emphasizing the need to consider public sentiment.

The Han Chinese in the south at this time certainly hated the Manchu Qing soldiers to the core, wishing to grind their bones to ash.

“I will find a way to guide public opinion, shifting the people’s hatred towards the Manchu Qing leaders. In any case, I will not kill prisoners indiscriminately. This matter is not up for further discussion. Next, all of you need only focus on receiving the Han Chinese prisoners. The Manchu and Mongol soldiers will be imprisoned for now, and I will send people to ‘re-educate’ them.”

Wu Changqing said, planning to persuade the Manchu and Mongol prisoners to surrender. Those who could be persuaded would be accepted. Those who were unwilling to surrender would be sent to the mines to work.

Exploitation was acceptable, but not indiscriminate killing, that was Wu Changqing’s principle.

As for public sentiment, that was actually quite simple. His newspapers weren’t just for show.

He only needed to have Wei Ziwen write a few articles, attributing the blame for the massacres to the Manchu Qing generals, hinting that the ordinary soldiers were merely following orders. The people’s resentment towards the ordinary soldiers would naturally diminish somewhat.

Of course, complete forgiveness wouldn’t be easy, and it would take time to achieve ethnic integration.

“Should we escort Ajige to Shaoxing and have the imperial court execute him publicly to boost morale?”

Qian Sule suggested. Previously, the Manchu Qing had escorted many Zhu princes to Beijing for public execution. Now that they had finally captured a genuine Manchu prince, they should retaliate.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t want to do that.

Simply executing Ajige would at best vent some anger, without much practical benefit.

However, if he could get the Manchus to pay a ransom for his release, he could get a large sum of money to expand his army.

An Prince Ying could fetch at least fifty thousand taels.

If he had captured Hong Chengchou, Wu Changqing wouldn’t exchange him even for one hundred thousand taels, because Hong Chengchou possessed strategy and talent, and his value far exceeded one hundred thousand taels of silver.

As for Ajige, unfortunately, apart from his special status, there was nothing else about him that Wu Changqing valued.

Although he possessed martial prowess, such brute force was of little help in a major battle.

Especially now that the Wu army was gradually entering the age of firearms, bravery was even more fragile in the face of firearms.

If the Manchus were willing to exchange him for fifty thousand taels of silver, Wu Changqing would agree without hesitation.

On the other hand, if the Manchus wanted to redeem those mid- to low-level Manchu generals, Wu Changqing wouldn’t agree. After all, these mid- to low-level Manchu generals were the backbone of an army.

“We can’t execute him, it’s too wasteful. I’m going to send an envoy to Nanjing and ask them to pay one hundred thousand taels of silver to redeem him,” Wu Changqing said.

“General, you can’t do that! Wouldn’t that be letting the tiger return to the mountain?” Qian Sule quickly advised.

“Letting the tiger return to the mountain? Master Qian overestimates this Ajige. Releasing Ajige will have no impact on us, but without this one hundred thousand taels of silver, our army expansion will be slower.”

Wu Changqing’s tone carried a hint of dissatisfaction. These damned generals only knew how to fight battles and never worried about military pay. He was the only one supporting it.

One doesn’t know the price of firewood and rice until one is in charge of the household. How could these guys know how much money it takes to maintain an army of one hundred thousand?

This…

Qian Sule was speechless. He didn’t really think Ajige was that powerful, but the symbolic significance of executing Ajige was great.

However, Wu Changqing shut him up with money, and he had no choice.

One hundred thousand taels of silver was naturally more practical than a symbolic meaning.

“I agree to exchange Ajige for money. Our army is about to undergo the next round of expansion, and the military expenditure pressure is very high.”

Dai Zhijun, who was in charge of logistics, also paid more attention to practical interests.

Unless someone could conjure up one hundred thousand taels of silver to solve the problem of military expenditure, they wouldn’t dare to mention escorting Ajige back to Shaoxing again.

However, Qian Sule was worried that Wu Changqing’s arbitrary decision would displease Zhu Yihai, the Prince of Lu.

After all, for Zhu Yihai, this symbolic significance was very important and could increase his prestige a lot.

More importantly, Wu Changqing wouldn’t hand over the money he exchanged for, which was of no benefit to Zhu Yihai.

“What if the Qing army refuses to exchange?”

Xiong Rulin asked. Exchanging for one hundred thousand taels was still just wishful thinking. The Qing army hadn’t agreed yet.

“If they don’t exchange, I’ll escort Ajige to the gate of Nanjing and torture him in front of them until they pay.

If they still don’t pay even then, I’m afraid other Manchu Qing generals won’t dare to take the lead in battle in the future.”

Wu Changqing said. If the other party didn’t exchange, it would be a huge blow to their morale.

More importantly, Ajige was Dorgon’s older brother and a prince. This special status meant that his matter would inevitably escalate into a major problem.

Those who were at odds with Ajige would oppose paying, and those who had good relations with Ajige would insist on paying. If the two factions could split and fight because of this, Wu Changqing could laugh in secret.

Of course, this was obviously unlikely.

Chapter 107: Negotiations

Nanjing.

Bolo collapsed into bed after retreating to Nanjing. He wasn’t physically injured, but the immense mental blow he suffered left him feeling enraged and listless.

This defeat was a major setback, and he would need time to recover.

“Your Highness, a messenger from the Ming army is here to see you. He says Prince Ying is in their custody.”

His subordinate reported. Bolo, upon hearing about Ajige, immediately roused himself to meet the messenger.

The battle was already lost; he couldn’t afford to lose a prince as well.

“What is your name, and what is your position in the Ming army?”

Bolo asked.

“This humble one is Fang Qihe, serving as a scribe in the army. I am here on behalf of my general to return Prince Ying, Ajige.”

Fang Qihe said.

“Oh?”

Bolo was taken aback. He couldn’t understand why Wu Changqing would so generously return Ajige, a prince who could fetch a hefty reward if presented to the emperor.

“Where is he?” Bolo asked.

“Prince Ying is still in our camp. He sustained some injuries, which we treated with extremely expensive medicine. We hope the General can reimburse us for the cost of these medicines. Once the money arrives, so will the person.”

Fang Qihe said.

It was then that Bolo understood; the Ming army was here to extort them.

What expensive medicine? Even the most expensive medicine wouldn’t cost more than a few hundred taels. This amount was clearly not worth sending a special envoy for.

“How much did Ajige’s treatment cost your army?”

Bolo asked. He would pay the extortion; getting the man back was the priority.

“Not much, just a mere one hundred thousand taels.”

Fang Qihe hadn’t finished speaking when Bolo nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Damn it, one hundred thousand taels! That was almost a month’s salary for an army of one hundred thousand men!

Bolo had been plundering ever since entering the pass, but he still hadn’t saved up one hundred thousand taels.

“I’m sorry, I can’t afford that much money. Tell Ajige to pay for himself; I’m not responsible,”

Bolo retorted, exasperated. It wasn’t that he couldn’t produce one hundred thousand taels, but paying such a large sum to ransom someone would have serious consequences for him.

Of course, abandoning Ajige would also have severe repercussions. Wu Changqing’s move had put him in a difficult position.

Now, he wanted to see if he could negotiate a lower price. If he could settle for ten thousand taels, he would grit his teeth and pay it out of his own pocket.

“Then there’s nothing we can do. However, my general said that if the General refuses to pay, we will restore Ajige to the condition he was in before.”

Fang Qihe threatened.

These words made Bolo’s chest tighten with anger. He shouted, “Get out!”

He didn’t want to hear Fang Qihe’s voice anymore. As for Ajige’s troubles, he would have someone ask Hong Chengchou to handle them.

Hong Chengchou cursed Bolo’s ancestors eighteen generations back when he received this task.

Bolo had a choice on whether or not to ransom Ajige, but Hong Chengchou didn’t, because he was a Han.

If he decided not to redeem him, all the princes in the Qing would find a reason to kill him.

Therefore, he had to save him.

Saving him might earn him the accusation of aiding the enemy, but at least he would gain Ajige’s favor, which wouldn’t be a complete loss.

However, where to get the one hundred thousand taels of silver was a major problem.

He certainly had money, but that money was for military expenses and administrative costs. If he dared to embezzle those funds, the crime would be enormous.

Helpless, Hong Chengchou could only turn his attention to the wealthy merchants in Nanjing, forcing them to donate money.

Although this would lose him popular support and undo all the goodwill he had gained from various pro-people policies, he really had no better option.

“One hundred thousand taels is too much. A prince isn’t worth that much. Three thousand taels at most,”

Hong Chengchou bargained.

“My general said he won’t budge for less than one hundred thousand. If Governor Hong refuses to pay, we’ll drag Ajige outside Nanjing and slowly slice him to death, ten cuts a day, until Governor Hong pays up,”

Fang Qihe said.

These words nearly made Hong Chengchou explode with rage. He wanted to rush to Wu Changqing and slap him hundreds of times. This strategy was too vicious.

“One hundred thousand it is, but I need three days to raise the money. In the meantime, I demand that you treat Prince Ying well. If anything happens to him, you can forget about getting the money,”

Hong Chengchou said angrily.

“Hahaha, Governor Hong, rest assured, my general’s reputation is well-known. Now that Governor Hong has agreed, I will return to report to my general.”

Seeing a dignified governor being provoked by him, Fang Qihe felt extremely pleased.

“Wait, besides Prince Ying, I also want to redeem some other officers. However, the price for the others can’t be the same as for Prince Ying. Ten taels for a centurion, fifty taels for a chiliarch…”

In Hong Chengchou’s eyes, Ajige was useless, just a reckless brute. The mid- and low-level officers were the useful ones.

As long as he could redeem those officers, they could immediately expand their army.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. Most of those people have already been moved by my general and have joined our army. How can we use them to exchange for money?”

Fang Qihe inwardly admired Wu Changqing, because Wu Changqing had reminded him beforehand that if the other party made a similar request, he should firmly refuse.

“Hmph, if that’s the case, then what use do I have for Ajige? You can slice him however you want.”

Hong Chengchou also lost his temper. They wouldn’t give him what he wanted, and they were trying to force him to take what he didn’t want. This Wu Changqing was really disgusting.

As for Fang Qihe’s claim that those people had already surrendered, he didn’t believe a word of it. It wasn’t that easy to recruit an officer. Even if the officers in the Han Banner had surrendered, the officers in the Manchu and Mongol Banners certainly wouldn’t surrender so quickly.

Even if they did surrender so quickly, Wu Changqing wouldn’t believe it and use them directly.

“Governor Hong, don’t act rashly. Out of a sense of righteousness, my general is willing to return a batch of officers to Governor Hong for free. As for those who have already surrendered and turned against the Qing, my general would never abandon them for the sake of money. My general is eager for talent and values them highly.”

Fang Qihe said. By “free return,” he meant a dozen seriously injured officers.

These people were already useless, but they were barely clinging to life. Throwing these people to the Qing army would increase their burden.

How shrewd Hong Chengchou was; he saw through Wu Changqing’s intentions at a glance.

Unfortunately, even though he saw through it, he couldn’t do anything about it, because Wu Changqing’s move was a blatant, aboveboard scheme.

If Hong Chengchou dared to refuse, Wu Changqing could publicize the news, guaranteeing that those officers would be disheartened and that the Qing would be dissatisfied with Hong Chengchou.

This fellow was too troublesome.

Hong Chengchou felt a wave of exhaustion.

Chapter 108: Triumphant News Spreads South

The news of Wu Changqing’s great victory over the Qing army’s main force reached Shaoxing in just over two days.

To deliver this unprecedented victory report, Qian Sule’s messenger rode two horses to death, all to get the good news back to the court as quickly as possible.

The court had already been informed of Wu Changqing’s northward march, and they had been anxiously awaiting news of the battle ever since.

Even those who disliked Wu Changqing were praying that he would not fail, for they knew they could not withstand the Qing army’s iron cavalry on their own.

“Your Majesty, great joy! Duke Wu has decisively defeated the main force of the Qing Eight Banners at Changzhou, eliminating over seventy thousand enemies!”

Zhang Guowei opened the battle report, his hands trembling as he delivered the joyous news.

Upon hearing this, the civil and military officials of the court were so astonished that their eyes nearly popped out of their heads.

Eliminating seventy thousand enemies? How was that possible? How could the Han soldiers be so powerful?

The Ming army soldiers had performed so poorly in the past that officials in the court were reluctant to believe Wu Changqing’s great victory.

“In this battle, Duke Wu led sixty thousand troops in a decisive battle against Bolo’s eighty thousand infantry and forty thousand cavalry at Danyang, killing over twenty thousand enemies and capturing over forty thousand, eliminating a total of seventy thousand enemies. Of the Qing army’s one hundred and twenty thousand troops, less than forty thousand escaped back to Nanjing…”

Zhang Guowei read the battle report in detail, though this version was simplified. It didn’t mention that they had captured Prince Ying, Ajige.

Qian Sule had done this to avoid escalating the conflict between Wu Changqing and Zhu Yihai. Now was the crucial moment to recover Nanjing, and they couldn’t afford to fight amongst themselves over such matters.

The Ming Dynasty had seen too much infighting already and couldn’t withstand any more turmoil.

“Sixty thousand against one hundred and twenty thousand, including forty thousand cavalry, and they still managed to eliminate seventy thousand enemies? Is this battle report truly reliable?”

Grand Scholar Zhu Dadian couldn’t help but question, as the battle report was simply too incredible.

He was a veteran general who had fought many battles against the Qing in Liaodong in his early years and was very clear about the Qing army’s combat power.

He couldn’t imagine how such a battle could have been won, let alone a great victory.

As for what the “hollow square formation” mentioned in the battle report was, he couldn’t imagine that either.

“These are personal letters from Imperial Censor Qian and Vice Minister Xiong, so they cannot be false,” Zhang Guowei said.

“How was this done?”

“Duke Wu’s army is so elite.”

“Incredible, incredible.”

The court hall instantly turned into a marketplace, with officials forgetting their etiquette and discussing animatedly. Exclamations of surprise rose and fell.

“With such a great victory, the recovery of Nanjing is within reach!”

Zhu Yihai didn’t mind the officials’ loss of composure. In fact, he was also extremely excited at this moment.

“For such a great achievement, Your Majesty needs to bestow rewards to boost morale,” Zhang Guowei reminded him.

Rewarding merit was one of the most important duties of an emperor. However, when it came to rewards, Zhu Yihai was in a dilemma.

Wu Changqing was already a Duke. He couldn’t possibly be granted the title of Prince now. This title was already prepared for Wu Changqing after he captured Nanjing.

He couldn’t reward him with higher official positions or titles. He didn’t have any silver to give, rewarding him with women would be outrageous, and rewarding him with treasures would be too strange.

“Your Majesty can bestow upon his wife the title of Lady of the Second Rank and posthumously grant his deceased father the title of Duke,” Zhu Dadian suggested. Since they couldn’t reward Wu Changqing directly, they could reward his family. They had already rewarded Wu Changqing’s mother, so now they could reward Wu Changqing’s wife and his deceased father.

This kind of reward gave Wu Changqing ample face without costing much in actual benefits.

Wu Zhiban was already dead, so posthumously granting him a dukedom wouldn’t cost anything. And bestowing upon Chen Yuyan the title of Lady of the Second Rank was just an honorary title with a small annual stipend and no real power.

“What you say makes sense.”

Zhu Yihai was very satisfied with this suggestion. He even had a good idea from it: later, when Wu Changqing had children, he could give them titles early on.

In short, the key was to reward the people around Wu Changqing, not Wu Changqing himself.

“Your Majesty, now that the recovery of Nanjing is in sight, I request to lead troops to Huzhou and advance north from Xuancheng to take Nanjing directly,” Fang Guoan stepped forward and said. He realized that he couldn’t get any benefits by staying in the rear, so he wanted to go to the front line and pick up some cheap victories like Qian Sule and the others.

Now that the Qing army had been defeated, their morale must be low. If they could take advantage of this opportunity to break through Huzhou and Xuancheng, they could advance north and take Nanjing directly.

If they could capture Nanjing before Wu Changqing, that would be great. They could snatch the title of Prince from Wu Changqing’s hands.

“Very good.”

Zhu Yihai was overjoyed to see that Fang Guoan was willing to take the initiative to send troops.

He now felt that Wu Changqing was becoming too powerful. If Fang Guoan could go to the front line and grow stronger, he could be used to check Wu Changqing, and at the same time, recover lost territory.

In his heart, Zhu Yihai even hoped that Nanjing would be recovered by Fang Guoan, not Wu Changqing.

Zhu Yihai knew Fang Guoan well and was familiar with him.

But for Wu Changqing, Zhu Yihai was still very unfamiliar and wary.

He also knew about some of the small actions Wu Changqing had taken in Wusong and other places. All indications showed that Wu Changqing was not a particularly loyal subject, or at least he was very opinionated.

However, he needed to rely on Wu Changqing now, so he could only turn a blind eye and not say much.

Zhu Dadian sneered inwardly when he saw Fang Guoan requesting to lead troops.

He didn’t think Fang Guoan had the ability to recover Nanjing. Not to mention fighting to Nanjing, whether he could take Huzhou was a question. Li Chengdong alone could make Fang Guoan stare blankly.

Wu Changqing’s ability to defeat the Qing army didn’t mean that others could do the same.

For example, He Tengjiao in Hunan and Jiangxi, who clearly had a numerical advantage, was now being defeated by Lekedehun.

Thinking that the Qing army was easy to deal with just because Wu Changqing had defeated them was too naive.

Although Zhu Dadian didn’t think Fang Guoan could achieve any results, he didn’t object. He even wished Fang Guoan would hurry up and roll to the north.

In this way, they could recruit an army loyal to themselves in Shaoxing.

Zhu Yihai also had this idea in mind. He had always wanted to build an army directly under his command. However, there was a big problem that had been troubling him: he had no money.

Raising an army cost money, and without money, nothing could be done.

After the court session, Zhu Yihai kept Zhang Guowei, Zhu Dadian, Song Zhipu, and other important officials to discuss formally opening trading ports and then collecting taxes from them to support the army.

This was not a simple matter for him. Ancestral rules were a major problem.

Of course, as long as the officials supported him, this problem could be solved. As long as he used the excuse of pacifying the chaotic world, most people could understand.

But if the officials didn’t support him and kept nagging, he couldn’t do anything.

“The reason why Duke Wu is able to support so many troops is because he opened the sea ban and collected commercial taxes. If we want to build a new army, we must do the same to have financial resources,” Zhang Guowei said. He supported opening the sea ban.

“I’m afraid the purists will bring up the ancestral teachings of Emperor Taizu,” Zhu Dadian said.

“The world is about to end. What’s the use of adhering to ancestral teachings? I have made up my mind to formally open the sea ban in Hangzhou and Ningbo, allowing free trade with Western Europeans. Zhang Qing, you will be in charge of overseeing the tax collection, and you must not miss a single cash. Our new army is counting on this batch of silver.”

Zhu Yihai said. In order to seize military power, he couldn’t care less about ancestral teachings.

Chapter 109: Lady of the Mandate

Two days later, the delegation bestowing rewards from the Prince Regent arrived in Suzhou to read out the imperial decree, officially conferring upon Chen Yuyan the title of Lady of the Mandate of the Second Rank.

Chen Yuyan wasn’t as affected as Wu Changqing. She knelt to accept the honor as she should, and with her knelt the others who had come to play mahjong.

Once the delegation had received their reward money and left, the backyard immediately bustled with excitement.

“Lady of the Mandate of the Second Rank! Doesn’t that mean you can go to the palace and chat with the Empress?”

Qian Ruyu said enviously. It was the imperial palace, after all. Who wouldn’t want to go and see it?

“The old capital hasn’t been recovered yet. Where’s the imperial palace for me to go to?”

Chen Yuyan said. Although Shaoxing had an imperial villa, it was far inferior to a real imperial palace.

Still, she enjoyed the envious looks she was getting.

Lady of the Mandate! It was the highest honor a woman could receive. Although it came with no real power, at least the title sounded impressive.

Other women without rank would have to defer to her.

“The Duke of Wu is truly a war god descended to earth. Sixty thousand men defeating one hundred and twenty thousand Qing troops! Such a great achievement will surely be recorded in history. As his wife, Madam Wu will undoubtedly have a place in the history books as well.”

To have one’s name recorded in the history books was a great honor.

Dong Xiaowan had thought she had become indifferent to fame and fortune, but at that moment, she found herself involuntarily envying Chen Yuyan.

“Really? It can be recorded in the history books?”

Chen Yuyan asked excitedly.

“It should be possible,”

Dong Xiaowan said, uncertain. After all, history books were primarily the stage for men. It was too difficult for a woman to have her name recorded in them.

Official history might be difficult, but unofficial history would definitely record it. Being in unofficial history was not bad either.

“Forget about that. Let’s continue playing! I was about to win that hand.”

The Ye family’s young miss urged. She didn’t really understand what a Lady of the Mandate was. She just wanted to keep playing mahjong. This game was so much fun that she couldn’t stop playing.

The others were speechless. A good topic had been diverted back to mahjong. Then, the group continued to return to the mahjong table, chatting while playing.

“I heard that a washe has opened in the city, with four mahjong tables set up inside, specifically for people to play mahjong, and they make money by taking a cut.”

Miss Ye chatted about some of the latest news in Suzhou. She didn’t know who had spread mahjong, but a shopkeeper named Wu had imitated it and opened a restaurant specifically for playing mahjong.

At first, the restaurant’s business was dismal, so the shopkeeper printed leaflets to introduce the rules of mahjong. He even advertised in the Min Bao newspaper, introducing this new game.

After some young masters tried it out, they became addicted to the game. As a result, Wu’s Mahjong House in Suzhou was now crowded with people at all times.

There were even more people watching than playing mahjong.

In addition to taking a cut, selling snacks like melon seeds and candied dates also earned a lot of money.

“They copied my master’s idea. One of these days, I’ll go and shut down his shop,”

Zihe grumbled from the side. She didn’t have the awareness to spread this good thing. She only felt that the shopkeeper Wu was cunning and treacherous, using the master’s idea to make money.

“The Duke of Wu is busy with military affairs every day. He doesn’t have time to deal with such trivial matters,”

Dong Xiaowan said.

“It’s not just mahjong. People are also imitating the Duke’s soap, but the effect is far inferior to the real thing. However, because they sell it cheaper, they seem to be making money too. If you’re going to shut down a shop, you should go after them. They have more money than Shopkeeper Wu,”

Qian Ruyu said.

There were already imitations of soap and scented soap on the market, and it was rumored that some people were also studying how to make glass perfume. They all wanted to imitate these things to make big money.

“Um, actually, my husband is more in favor of others imitating, saying that it can enlighten the people.”

Chen Yuyan inadvertently revealed some of Wu Changqing’s attitude.

For some of the women who came to chat and play, getting this information was a big gain.

Some people who had originally tried to imitate but were afraid of offending Wu Changqing could now do so boldly after receiving this news.

The words of Wu Changqing’s pillow companion were worth a fortune. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many people coming to the Duke’s mansion every day to join in the fun.

“The Duke’s magnanimity is truly admirable,”

Dong Xiaowan said with emotion. Officials these days were all trying to make money in every possible way. There were too few officials like Wu Changqing who were willing to share profits with the people.

…

As evening approached, the mahjong game ended, and Qian Ruyu returned home.

“Why do you look so unhappy? Did you lose money playing mahjong again?”

Qian Ruyu’s father, Qian Taoli, joked with a smile. He knew that his daughter had been going to the Duke’s mansion to play mahjong with Madam Wu recently.

“Dad, I want to marry the Duke. Help me think of a way.”

Qian Ruyu’s words choked Qian Taoli, who was drinking tea. Qian Taoli coughed for a while and scolded, “How can a unmarried woman like you say such a shameless thing? You’re really going to be the death of me!”

In this era, women were supposed to be reserved and elegant. Even if they liked someone in their heart, they couldn’t just say it casually, let alone say they wanted to marry someone like Qian Ruyu did.

“I don’t care. I’m going to marry the Duke of Wu anyway.”

Qian Ruyu began to act spoiled and unreasonable. She had been watching Chen Yuyan’s success every day and was already envious to death.

She wanted that feeling of being sought after.

“Nonsense! The Duke of Wu already has a wife. Are you going to marry him as a concubine?”

Qian Taoli said angrily. He was, after all, a respectable Provincial Governor. There was no need for his daughter to be someone’s concubine. Anyone who wanted to marry his daughter as his wife would have to consider whether they were worthy.

Concubines had no status to speak of. They had to serve their husbands and their wives. If they angered their master, they could be kicked out of the house at any time.

High-ranking officials and dignitaries exchanged concubines for their enjoyment, and the concubines had no right to refuse.

Even if they had children, whether the children had the right to inherit property in the future would depend on the wife’s face and heart.

In short, being a concubine was by no means a good choice for a woman.

“I’ll be a concubine then. I’m going to marry him anyway.”

Qian Ruyu was determined. Her thinking was also very simple. Anyway, Chen Yuyan was not pregnant yet. If she could have a son first, she could still be favored.

There were cases where concubines drove away their original wives and successfully took over.

Qian Ruyu’s words left Qian Taoli speechless. If it weren’t for the fact that Qian Ruyu’s target was Wu Changqing, he would have slapped her.

However, because Qian Ruyu had her eye on Wu Changqing, Qian Taoli could somewhat accept it.

After all, Wu Changqing’s power was growing, and being made a prince was just around the corner. Being Wu Changqing’s concubine was not a particularly shameful thing.

“I don’t have the face to say it. Go find your mother.”

Qian Taoli said angrily.

If Wu Changqing had taken a fancy to Qian Ruyu and proposed marriage to him, he would have had a way out.

But now Wu Changqing had no intention of doing so, and Qian Taoli couldn’t bring himself to say it. To take the initiative to lick his boots would be too humble.

He was a Provincial Governor, a person with status and position, not an ordinary businessman.

“Hmph, I’ll go then.”

Qian Ruyu said and went to find her mother. After all, she was a girl and couldn’t directly open her mouth to the Wu family and say, “I want to marry into your family.”

It would be much easier to let her mother say it. Her mother sometimes went to the Duke’s mansion to chat with the Duke’s mother.

At that time, they could talk about the marriage of their children and test the old lady’s attitude.

Seeing Qian Ruyu really leave, Qian Taoli’s face darkened.

However, he did not stop her.

In his opinion, if this marriage were to happen, although it would be a bit embarrassing, it would be of great benefit to him.

Qian Taoli was currently the Provincial Governor of Suzhou, but his relationship with Wu Changqing was not close, at least not one of Wu Changqing’s direct subordinates.

As Wu Changqing’s power grew, it would not be easy for him to climb up in this group with his current relationship.

If he could form a marriage alliance and become a member of Wu Changqing’s direct line, he would definitely get promoted and make a fortune in the future.

Chapter 110: Qing Dynasty Shaken

On February 10th, Bolo and Hong Chengchou’s battle reports arrived in Beijing.

In the Regent Prince’s residence, Dorgon kicked over a table.

“Bolo, I trusted him so much, and this is how he repays my trust? Eighty thousand soldiers, just like that, gone! Why doesn’t he atone for his crime with death?”

It wasn’t surprising that Dorgon was so furious. This was eighty thousand soldiers, and not just any soldiers, but eighty thousand Eight Banners troops, not the Green Standard Army.

This was already one-tenth of his entire force, and half of his deployable troops. Most of his forces had to be stationed in various locations, leaving him with very few available.

After this major setback, he didn’t know when he could send troops south again. Especially the cavalry; it would take at least two or three years to recover.

This loss was so severe that even executing Bolo wouldn’t be excessive.

Dorgon was raging, and everyone below him was silent, not daring to provoke him.

After venting his anger, Dorgon began to examine the battle reports in detail.

The defeat was a fact, and anger was useless. He had to learn from it and find the reasons for the defeat.

However, as he read the reports, Dorgon couldn’t help but erupt again.

It was infuriating. He could have accepted losing to an army of hundreds of thousands, but losing to sixty thousand in a plains battle with one hundred and twenty thousand troops? What kind of operation was that?

“The enemy’s artillery shells can explode, with power far exceeding solid shot. The enemy’s flintlock infantry has an extremely fast rate of fire, almost six times that of ordinary matchlocks, making it difficult for our units to approach easily. Every time we charged to their front, nearly half of our forces were already dead or wounded. Furthermore, they have hand-thrown bombs called hand grenades, with explosive power slightly less than artillery shells, but they are very small and can be carried by any soldier. When thrown simultaneously, their power is even more terrifying than artillery…”

Dorgon felt slightly better as he read the descriptions of the Wu army’s new weapons in the battle reports.

Defeat against the unknown was understandable. Now that he had detailed information, he could try to replicate these new weapons. With their resources, as long as they were mass-produced, they could become invincible.

However, Hong Chengchou also mentioned in his report that the Wu army was very secretive about these new weapons. They had only obtained a sample of a hand grenade, and had no clue about the flintlock rifles or the exploding shells.

“A bunch of useless trash.”

Dorgon couldn’t help but curse again. The Wu army had been rising for so long, yet they couldn’t even get their hands on the secret of a single firearm.

After seeing Hong Chengchou’s description of the cavalry charge in the battle report, Dorgon was skeptical.

He believed Hong Chengchou’s analysis, but he didn’t quite believe that the so-called hollow square formation could be so powerful.

Wouldn’t the soldiers forming the formation feel panicked when facing the charge of tens of thousands of horses?

If Hong Chengchou hadn’t always been reliable, Dorgon would never have believed this report.

However, the reports from Hong Chengchou and Bolo were similar, leaving him no choice but to believe them.

“Take a look at these battle reports and tell me what to do.”

Dorgon distributed the reports to the others, asking them to come up with solutions to the current predicament.

Sending more troops south to reinforce Nanjing in the short term was unrealistic. Relying solely on the less than forty thousand Eight Banners survivors and twenty thousand Green Standard troops in Nanjing, it would be too difficult to pacify the south again.

“I believe we should have Prince Duanzhong hold Nanjing and maintain this bridgehead. In the north, we should expand our army by recruiting new soldiers to replace some of the local garrison troops, and then transfer local forces to reinforce the south again.”

The first to offer advice was Fan Wencheng, a descendant of the famous Song Dynasty writer, thinker, and politician Fan Zhongyan. His ancestor wrote about being the first to worry about the world’s troubles and the last to enjoy its pleasures.

Then he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty and did so voluntarily.

He was similar to Hong Chengchou, a man with real talent but little integrity.

He surrendered to the Qing Dynasty very early on and dedicated himself to providing advice and strategies, being the main planner for the Qing army’s entry into China. He was also highly valued by Dorgon.

However, he was a spineless man. His wife was once taken and enjoyed by Dodo.

But he didn’t dare to say anything, only casually letting the news reach Huang Taiji’s ears. Huang Taiji, valuing Fan Wencheng’s talent, reprimanded Dodo.

Although his wife was returned, the humiliation was undeniable.

As a man, even after being humiliated in this way, Fan Wencheng continued to serve the Qing Dynasty, and even served the powerful Dorgon after Huang Taiji’s death.

And Dorgon and Dodo were close brothers who shared everything.

This man was spineless. If someone was stronger than him, he might even praise them for their skills if they took his wife in front of him.

Now, he was offering advice to Dorgon again.

Fan Wencheng’s plan was probably the best solution at the moment.

As long as they could hold Nanjing, their army wouldn’t have to face the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.

And recruiting new soldiers to replace the old soldiers garrisoning the local areas would allow them to quickly assemble their main force without affecting local rule.

“Sir Fan’s method is feasible. Also, what solutions do you have for the enemy’s new weapons?”

Dorgon asked.

“We can only gather skilled craftsmen, offer generous rewards for the manufacturing methods, and send out a large number of spies to gather intelligence in Jiangnan.”

Fan Wencheng was also very curious about the new weapons described in the battle reports, weapons he had never heard of before.

However, he also knew that there were many skilled craftsmen among the Han people. As long as they offered generous rewards, skilled craftsmen would surely be able to create these new weapons.

In the end, Dorgon adopted Fan Wencheng’s plan, not expecting the other banner lords, who only knew how to fight, to come up with any ideas. They wouldn’t be able to squeeze out half a fart even if they thought until dark.

“Dodo, prepare yourself. Based on the information in the battle reports, think of ways to counter the hollow square formation, and then practice in the army. When the time is right, you will go south to replace Bolo and command the southern expedition.”

Dorgon instructed. Based on the Wu army’s fighting methods described in the battle reports, they could roughly imagine the scene and then think of countermeasures and conduct simulated training.

The Qing army was able to be invincible all the way, not just by blindly relying on cavalry charges. They were also very good at summarizing and improving.

In the past, the Ming army’s firearms were much more powerful than the Qing army’s. After Huang Taiji suffered heavy losses from firearms, he began to smelt pots and pans, enduring hunger and poverty to build firearms and cannons.

Through this method, the Qing army’s firearms eventually surpassed the Ming army’s.

“Don’t worry, brother. What hollow square formation? I will find the weaknesses of this formation within three days.”

Dodo snorted. Having not experienced the beating of the hollow square formation, Dodo found it difficult to feel any fear of this formation. If it were Ajige, he would never dare to boast like this.

Hearing Dodo’s underestimation, Fan Wencheng remained silent, not reminding him. His relationship with Dodo was still bad.

The hatred of killing his father and seizing his wife, it would be strange if their relationship was good.

Chapter 111: War Trauma

In the Forbidden City, Grand Consort Dowager Xiaozhuang also received news of Bolo’s crushing defeat and Ajige’s capture.

“Ah…”

Grand Consort Dowager Xiaozhuang sighed. Before the new year, she had reminded Dorgon not to be too blindly arrogant. As a result, not long after the new year, the Qing army suffered its greatest defeat since entering the pass.

“Who exactly is this Wu Changqing, that he could defeat Bolo’s one hundred and twenty thousand troops with just sixty thousand, and even capture Prince Ying?”

Su Mo’er had already remembered Wu Changqing, recalling that he was the one who created those perfumes and soaps.

“In the vast land of the Central Plains, it’s normal for one or two geniuses to appear among the tens of millions of people. I only hope that the world can be at peace soon. If only we could persuade him to surrender.”

Grand Consort Dowager Xiaozhuang said with emotion. She had always admired the Han people.

And persuading Hong Chengchou to surrender was also something she was very proud of. Hong Chengchou’s defection had helped their Qing Dynasty make many contributions.

“That’s easy. Let the Prince Regent capture him and bring him to Beijing. Then, Your Majesty, you can use your charm, and wouldn’t he obediently surrender?”

Su Mo’er joked, only to receive a glare from Grand Consort Dowager Xiaozhuang. Although this was praising her charm, it sounded somewhat lacking in decorum.

In Nanjing, amidst a chorus of curses, Hong Chengchou scraped together one hundred thousand taels of silver.

The next day, the two sides exchanged prisoners outside the city.

The Wu army briefly checked the quantity and quality of the silver before releasing Ajige. They weren’t even worried that Hong Chengchou would go back on his word and send cavalry to pursue the Wu army transporting the money, because Fang Qihe had thoughtfully reminded Hong Chengchou that they still had more than ten thousand Manchus in their hands.

The meaning was clear: if Hong Chengchou dared to go back on his word, those ten thousand-plus Manchus would be slaughtered.

Hong Chengchou didn’t dare to take the risk and could only swallow his anger and accept the loss.

Fortunately, the Wu army kept its word and returned Ajige completely unharmed.

Back in the city, Ajige was dejected and a little ashamed to face anyone.

He had to bear a great deal of responsibility for this defeat in the decisive battle.

“Mr. Hong shouldn’t have saved a sinner like me.”

Ajige said with emotion. Of course, he wasn’t blaming Hong Chengchou. In fact, he was very grateful in his heart. However, he still had to put on an act on the surface.

“Prince Ying is too serious. Victory and defeat are common occurrences in war.”

Hong Chengchou consoled him.

“What are our losses? When can we counterattack?”

Ajige now wished he could fight another battle to wipe out his shame.

“The losses are heavy. Eighty thousand men are gone. Now we are unable to attack again and can only defend and wait for reinforcements.”

Hong Chengchou said.

What? Eighty thousand men lost?

Ajige was stunned. He had been held in solitary confinement in the Wu army and no one had told him the situation. He knew the Qing army had lost, but he didn’t expect to lose so badly.

Eighty thousand men! Cold sweat broke out on his back as he worried that the imperial court would issue an edict to punish him.

After resolving Ajige’s matter, Hong Chengchou rushed to the military camp. Some soldiers who had suffered psychological trauma needed to be comforted.

The great battle a few days ago had been too tragic, and many soldiers had psychological shadows, developed a fear of the Wu army, and even exhibited various mental problems.

If they didn’t find a way to overcome this fear, then these soldiers would be as good as useless. At the very least, they certainly couldn’t be used to fight the Wu army and could only be transferred to the west to fight Zhang Xianzhong or the Ming army.

Hong Chengchou wasn’t a psychological expert and didn’t really know how to heal psychological trauma. He used the experience left by his predecessors: finding prostitutes for these soldiers and letting them vent.

This method could play some role, more or less.

As a result, the prostitutes in Nanjing suffered. Although Hong Chengchou would pay, these soldiers with psychological trauma had some mental problems to varying degrees and were somewhat perverted.

When they vented, they were much more violent than normal customers, and there were even multiple cases of abuse leading to death.

Many prostitutes hid, not wanting to take this kind of business.

“Lord Hong, there are too few prostitutes. It’s not enough at all.”

Mandahai complained. If Hong Chengchou hadn’t stopped him, he would have ordered the soldiers to loot freely in the city to vent their frustrations.

“Bear with it for now. I’m stepping up the conscription and have gathered a batch from nearby.”

Hong Chengchou was exhausted.

He had been busy with this matter, but problems still arose.

A group of Manchu soldiers left the military camp without permission, broke into a residential area, raped several women, and killed some innocent people who tried to resist.

Upon receiving this news, Hong Chengchou was about to be driven mad with anger.

He had governed Nanjing for so long and had finally gained some popular support. As a result, these soldiers had created such a mess, undoing all his previous efforts.

For a time, the people of Nanjing were filled with resentment and hated the Qing soldiers to the bone.

Some gentry joined together and came to the Governor-General’s office to see Hong Chengchou, demanding that he control the situation.

It wasn’t that these gentry had discovered their conscience and wanted to seek justice for the innocent people. It was mainly that they were also Han Chinese. If the Tartars dared to break into civilian homes today, they would dare to break into their wealthy homes tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow they would dare to massacre the city.

In order to avoid being implicated, these gentry and wealthy merchants all found Hong Chengchou, hoping that he could control the situation.

They had just donated money to Hong Chengchou to redeem Ajige. They couldn’t have paid the protection fee and not have their safety guaranteed.

“Everyone, rest assured, I have already punished those soldiers who violated military discipline. This kind of thing will not happen again.”

Hong Chengchou reassured them.

“How will they be punished? Will they merely be locked up for a few days?”

Wealthy merchant Tong Youwei said sarcastically. If the punishment was just a few days of confinement, it would have no deterrent effect at all. This kind of punishment would only encourage more soldiers to do this. Being locked up for a few days in exchange for a good time was a trade many soldiers would be willing to make.

The real punishment was beheading. Only beheading could deter those restless soldiers.

Hong Chengchou was at a loss for words. He really only planned to lock up those offending soldiers for a few days.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to punish them severely. He couldn’t wait to chop off those people’s heads. However, doing so would easily cause resentment and mutiny among the soldiers.

From the perspective of those wealthy merchants and civilians, those soldiers were naturally worse than beasts.

But those soldiers also felt very wronged. They were risking their lives for their superiors, and their lives could be taken at any time. What was wrong with playing with a woman once in a while?

Only someone with particularly high prestige and a firm grip on the army could severely punish offending soldiers with beheading.

For example, Bolo could do it, but Hong Chengchou didn’t have that kind of prestige. If he dared to behead those offending soldiers, those soldiers would dare to storm the Governor-General’s office.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou could only swallow his anger and wait for Bolo to recover and let Bolo control the situation.

“Everyone, please be patient during this special period. I will do my best to ensure everyone’s safety.”

Hong Chengchou said, his words almost infuriating the wealthy merchants.

“Do his best” was enough? If their safety couldn’t be guaranteed, then wouldn’t their protection fee have been paid in vain?

Tong Youwei was greatly dissatisfied, to the point that the resentment in his heart grew stronger and stronger, and he even had the idea of colluding with the Ming army and secretly opening the city gates for them.

Chapter 112: Troop Recuperation

After the decisive battle, Wu Changqing had been busy restoring the soldiers’ physical and mental states.

Psychological trauma wasn’t just something that affected soldiers who had suffered defeat; some who had won battles also experienced it.

Some flintlock riflemen, relying on their high rate of fire, had killed as many as ten enemies in a single battle. These were all living people, members of the same species.

Human nature inherently rejects the slaughter of its own kind.

Some ordinary people, even if killing wasn’t against the law, couldn’t bring themselves to do it because this instinct was ingrained in their genes.

The frenzied slaughter of one’s own kind goes against human nature, easily causing psychological problems for these soldiers.

The sight of soldiers and warhorses piled up together in death, resembling a living hell, was particularly shocking. Some farmers who cleaned up the battlefield afterward were so disturbed by the sight that they couldn’t even walk properly.

Soldiers had stronger mental fortitude, but it was limited. Those who had witnessed such scenes would inevitably experience some psychological issues.

Faced with soldiers suffering severe trauma, Wu Changqing had no good solutions. He didn’t have enough time for one-on-one psychological counseling, and he wasn’t an expert in that field.

The only thing Wu Changqing could think of was to find some prostitutes for the soldiers to relieve their stress.

However, he had too many soldiers under his command, and Changzhou was far less prosperous than Nanjing, so there weren’t enough prostitutes to go around.

If it was only for a few, it would be better not to do it at all. It’s not scarcity but inequality that causes discontent. If some soldiers got to enjoy themselves while others didn’t, the ones who missed out would definitely be unhappy.

Therefore, Wu Changqing ultimately organized some group activities for the soldiers, such as singing folk songs, drinking and eating meat together, and holding swimming and combat competitions.

In short, he tried to keep these guys busy as much as possible, so they wouldn’t have time to feel sentimental or recall those terrible events.

This treatment method was only moderately effective.

Wu Changqing didn’t have any better solutions. War trauma was a problem that was difficult to solve even in the twenty-first century. He could only rely on the soldiers’ own ability to adapt; those who couldn’t adapt would have to be left to their own devices.

From an individual perspective, this was cruel, but for a nation, it was a necessary price to pay.

They couldn’t just avoid fighting to prevent soldiers from experiencing psychological trauma; that was obviously impossible.

In addition to restoring the soldiers’ condition, the most important thing during the rest period was to recruit the prisoners of war.

These prisoners were all trained professional soldiers, much better than newly recruited farmers.

Soldiers were actually very easy to recruit. As long as they were fed and paid, they generally didn’t care who they were fighting for. In fact, they were even more inclined to fight for the Wu army, because the Wu army had scared and subdued them.

Soldiers all wanted to follow the strong, so their chances of dying in battle would be smaller.

It was useless to just recruit these soldiers. An army’s soldiers were like leaves, and the commanders were like branches. Without branches to connect the leaves, they were just a pile of scattered leaves.

With branches and a trunk to connect them, they could become a towering tree.

Recruiting officers was much more difficult. These officers had some education and considered more things.

For example, whether there was a future in following Wu Changqing, whether they would be ridiculed and scolded by the world, and whether their families would be implicated.

The best way to recruit them and make them wholeheartedly loyal was to make them believe in the strength of the Wu army and believe that following Wu Changqing would lead to promotion and wealth.

At this time, Dai Zhijun, Dong Tianbao, Xue Guiren, and others were the best spokesmen. They used their own examples to prove how good it was to follow Wu Changqing.

For example, Dai Zhijun was originally just a military advisor to a regional commander, but now he was a military advisor-general of an army of one hundred thousand, coordinating all logistical matters.

This kind of promotion was simply a leap.

Dong Tianbao was originally just a lieutenant colonel, commanding several thousand soldiers. But after surrendering to the Wu army, he was now the commander of a division, with tens of thousands of soldiers under his command.

As a surrendered general, his position in the Wu army had risen instead of falling, which showed Wu Changqing’s equal treatment and lack of prejudice towards surrendered generals.

This situation made many Qing army generals tempted. The reason why they were reluctant to surrender was that they were afraid of being ostracized and suppressed after surrendering, or even becoming cannon fodder.

But now, with Dai Zhijun and Dong Tianbao as examples, they felt much more at ease.

Another aspect was to let these people see the strength of the Wu army, let them visit the Wu army’s daily training, and let them feel the Wu army’s momentum.

Actually, this step was a bit redundant. The previous decisive battle had already taught these people a lesson, making them want to kneel down and call him “Father.”

They had no doubts about the strength of the Wu army.

A strong new master who didn’t discriminate against or suppress surrendered generals was the best condition of surrender these Qing army generals had ever seen.

Therefore, after several rounds of recruitment, most of the generals chose to swear allegiance.

A very small number of generals were worried about implicating their families and still didn’t agree to surrender. Wu Changqing sent people to detain these people first, and then decide what to do later depending on the situation.

If they could be used, they would be used. If they couldn’t be used, they would be thrown into the mines. Anyway, Wu Changqing’s demand for iron ore was limitless now.

The recruitment of the Han Chinese Eight Banners went smoothly, but it was much more difficult to recruit the Mongol Eight Banners and the Manchu Eight Banners.

They belonged to the privileged class in the Qing Dynasty, enjoying superior privileges. Surrendering to the Han Chinese would naturally lead to a sharp decline in their status.

The Mongol Eight Banners were a little better. At least they were not the main ethnic group of the Qing Dynasty, and they had even been conquered by the Manchus and forced to submit.

Their loyalty to the Qing Dynasty was not much higher than that of the Han Chinese.

The Manchu Eight Banners were the most difficult to recruit. Out of more than forty generals, only twelve were willing to surrender, and the others would rather die than surrender.

Wu Changqing didn’t have any better solutions for this, so he could only send all the generals who refused to surrender back to Suzhou for detention, and throw the soldiers who refused to surrender into the mines.

After several days of continuous recruitment, a total of thirty-four thousand people were recruited, of which almost all of the Han Chinese Eight Banners surrendered, nine thousand of the Mongol Eight Banners surrendered, and five thousand of the Manchu Eight Banners surrendered.

Together with the twenty thousand new troops from Suzhou, Wu Changqing’s strength increased to one hundred and seven thousand people.

The number had increased a lot, but the actual combat effectiveness had not increased much. The twenty thousand new soldiers were naturally not as strong as the veterans. And the thirty-four thousand surrendered soldiers needed time to integrate into the Wu army.

Before they were integrated, their combat effectiveness was questionable. They might even stage a mutiny on the battlefield, which would be the most disgusting thing.

To avoid this, Wu Changqing also did a lot of work, trying to disrupt their original affiliations as much as possible, and letting the generals lead soldiers they were not familiar with.

If they lacked prestige among the soldiers, it would be difficult for them to incite the soldiers.

Another example was to disperse the surrendered soldiers into various divisions, so that they could not gather together. When their strength was dispersed, their thoughts of rebellion would also fade.

After all, unless they were die-hard loyalists of the Qing Dynasty, they would consider the risks and benefits of doing things. If the risk of rebellion was too high and the benefits were too small, then no one would seek death.

Chapter 113: The People’s Hearts Can Be Used

On February twentieth, Wu Changqing received a special guest at the camp.

The visitor was Xia Jinyan, the head steward of the Tong family in Nanjing.

He came with the hope that Wu Changqing could send troops to Nanjing as soon as possible to save the innocent people in the city.

“Since the Qing army was defeated, they have committed sixteen murders in the city, killing more than forty innocent people, even including a merchant family. More than thirty women have been violated, and the people are suffering unspeakably. Please, General, send troops to Nanjing as soon as possible to rescue the people of Nanjing. My master has joined forces with several wealthy families and is willing to cooperate from within when you attack the city and provide assistance.”

Xia Jinyan said with tears in his eyes, making one think how much he loved the people.

But Wu Changqing knew that these merchants were afraid of the Manchu soldiers losing control, leading to a massacre and looting.

Their businesses were all in Nanjing, and it wouldn’t be easy for them to leave, so they were so eager for Wu Changqing to take control of Nanjing.

After all, the Wu army had a much better reputation than other armies, although there weren’t many examples of them cherishing the people.

However, in this era, soldiers who didn’t disturb the people were considered exceptionally good soldiers, and the people would welcome them very much. No one dared to expect soldiers to cherish the people like their own children.

Wu Changqing’s army had always strictly prohibited disturbing the people, and slowly the reputation had spread, winning the hearts of the people.

The hearts of the people are sometimes useless, and sometimes they can play a very crucial role.

Like now, if they could work with the merchants in the city to open the city gate and take Nanjing from both inside and outside, they could reduce the deaths of many soldiers.

“What is the current situation of the Qing army?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“It’s terrible. The military discipline is broken, the morale is low, and even soldiers have committed suicide. Although Hong Chengchou is trying his best to cover it up, we have still managed to find out some information,”

Xia Jinyan said.

“Aren’t Hong Chengchou and Bolo taking care of it?”

Wu Changqing was a little suspicious. With the abilities of Hong Chengchou and Bolo, so many days had passed, they shouldn’t have been unable to solve this problem.

“Prince Duanzhong fell ill after returning to Nanjing from his defeat, and has only recently recovered. And Hong Chengchou, because of his status, doesn’t dare to be too tough when dealing with the Manchu soldiers.”

Xia Jinyan was obviously prepared and had inquired about the situation in the city relatively clearly.

Wu Changqing didn’t expect the current situation of the Qing army to be so chaotic. However, this was a good thing for him. The more chaotic the Qing army was, the greater his opportunity would be.

“Tell me specifically how you plan to cooperate from the inside.”

Originally, Wu Changqing was planning to rest for a while longer and wait for another batch of firearms to be shipped from Suzhou.

But now that he learned that the Qing army was in bad shape, he also wanted to seize this opportunity to take Nanjing. If he continued to delay until Hong Chengchou took control of the situation, it would be even more difficult to attack the city.

Xia Jinyan didn’t have any specific plans. He just said that when Wu Changqing led his troops to attack the city, they could try to attack the city gate and open a gap.

These wealthy merchants would raise some guards and servants in their homes. These people couldn’t compare to professional soldiers, but they were much stronger than ordinary people. Some of the guards who had practiced martial arts were even more powerful than professional soldiers in terms of bravery alone.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t trust these people very much. Relying on a group of servants to break through the city gate that the enemy was heavily defending was unrealistic.

“I will send a team of soldiers to sneak into the city to cooperate with you. Do you have a way to get these soldiers into the city?”

In the end, Wu Changqing decided to select one hundred clever people from the army to sneak into the city and cooperate with those wealthy merchants.

Moreover, these people were equipped with hand grenades.

With this powerful weapon, the chances of success would be much greater.

However, how to sneak in was a troublesome matter. But this was not difficult for Xia Jinyan. They were merchants, and their specialty was colluding with officials and befriending minor officials.

They had plenty of ways to bribe the minor officials guarding the city gate, so as to arrange for those soldiers to enter the city.

As for the hand grenades, it was even easier. Currently, Nanjing hasn’t been sealed off yet, and merchants come in and out every day to do business, transporting large quantities of goods.

As long as you spend a little money, the goods don’t have to be inspected.

These merchants, more or less, had engaged in smuggling, and they were very experienced in how to hide goods.

“That would naturally be the best. As for sneaking into the city, we have a way. As long as the number isn’t too large, there’s no problem,”

Xia Jinyan said.

With the problem of sneaking into the city solved, they still had to formulate some detailed plans.

Once Wu Changqing’s army approached the city, Nanjing would definitely close the city gates, and it would be difficult to contact them at that time.

Wu Changqing could grit his teeth and exchange for a wireless telegraph machine now, but no one would know how to use it, and it was too expensive, not worth it.

Therefore, Wu Changqing could only formulate detailed plans with Xia Jinyan in advance, and then act according to the plans at that time.

If there were any unexpected events in the plan, then there was no way, Tong Youwei and others could only admit that they were unlucky.

Everything has risks. If they wanted to gain Wu Changqing’s favor, they had to take this risk.

Once successful, the benefits would be great. At least Wu Changqing had promised to give them the technology to manufacture soap and allow them to do these two lines of business.

These two businesses are now the hottest and most profitable industries. Hearing that Wu Changqing was willing to offer these two businesses, Xia Jinyan was so excited that he could hardly speak.

He believed that as long as he passed this news back to the city, more merchants would be willing to participate, and they would work even harder.

After more than an hour of discussion, a preliminary plan was formulated. Next was to find a way to help those selected soldiers enter the city. Only if this step was successful could the next step be carried out.

If there were any accidents during the entry into the city and they were exposed, then there was no way, they could only admit defeat and abandon the plan.

After Xia Jinyan left, Wang Dafu reminded, “General, are we really going to believe him?”

Throughout history, warfare is based on deception, and no one knows whether what Xia Jinyan said is true or false.

“What are you afraid of? If they are deceiving us, at most we will only lose more than one hundred soldiers. But if it is true, the benefits can save us from the deaths of two to three thousand people. Isn’t it worth the gamble?”

Wu Changqing said, of course, it was impossible for him not to take any precautions. For example, he didn’t equip those soldiers with flintlock guns, because he was worried that the Qing army would get a sample.

Although it would be difficult to imitate even if they got a sample, who knows if one or two geniuses might emerge in the north?

As for other aspects of defense, as long as they advanced steadily with the army, the enemy wouldn’t have too many good ambush methods.

This place is almost all plains terrain from here to Nanjing, and only near Nanjing is there some mountainous and hilly terrain.

In the Jiangnan area, the terrain is too simple, no one can ambush anyone, and it’s all about hard power.

Chapter 114: Winning Hearts is Paramount

On the twenty-sixth, Centurion Wang, who was responsible for leading soldiers to infiltrate Nanjing, returned to report that they had successfully infiltrated Nanjing and were prepared with Tong Youwei and others.

Therefore, the next day, Wu Changqing led an army of eighty thousand to Nanjing, leaving the remaining troops stationed in Changzhou and Danyang as a fallback.

To prevent the Qing army from Zhenjiang or Liyang from launching a surprise attack, Wu Changqing had not yet recovered these areas, and Danyang and Changzhou could not be considered safe.

Although the possibility of him being defeated in Nanjing was low, anything could happen on the battlefield, and it was always right to leave a way out.

This army of eighty thousand was his entire main force, including seven thousand flintlock rifle troops, thirteen thousand matchlock rifle troops, five thousand archers, three thousand cavalry, fifty thousand infantry, more than nine hundred artillerymen, and some other miscellaneous personnel.

The conscripted civilian laborers transporting grain were not included in the calculation. Danyang was not far from Nanjing, and the number of conscripted civilian laborers was not large.

The momentum of this army of eighty thousand was no less than that of the Qing army last time, because they carried a large number of professional siege weapons.

Siege towers, battering rams, mobile shelters, wooden ladders…

These heavy siege weapons seriously delayed their marching speed. It took three days for the army to reach Jiangning County, south of Nanjing.

To attack Nanjing, you must first capture Jiangning.

Jiangning is surrounded by hills on both sides, making it impossible to bypass, nor is it necessary.

After all, the city wall of Jiangning County is not high, and the city is not particularly large. It is impossible for such a small city to defend against an army of eighty thousand.

Bolo did not expect Jiangning County to play any role, symbolically leaving three thousand Eight Banners soldiers and five thousand Green Standard Army soldiers stationed there.

The remaining main force was concentrated in Nanjing, preparing to defend Nanjing.

They now have thirty-five thousand Eight Banners soldiers and fifteen thousand Green Standard Army soldiers in Nanjing. With a force of fifty thousand, it is actually very easy to defend against an attack of eighty thousand.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the weapon gap between the two sides cannot be too large.

Now that Wu Changqing has cannons, flintlock rifles, and hand grenades, Bolo and the others will have to go through a hard fight to hold Nanjing.

On the city wall of Jiangning, Lu Guangzu, who was responsible for defending the city, was cursing in his heart.

What’s the point of defending a small county like Jiangning?

It’s one thing that the city wall is less than four meters high, but what’s even more depressing is that the city wall is made of rammed earth. This kind of city wall had good defensive capabilities before the invention of artillery, but after the appearance of artillery, this kind of rammed earth city wall became extremely fragile.

As long as you fire a few more cannons, the city wall will collapse.

Once the city wall collapses, the defensive power of the city will directly become zero.

Jiangning is just a small county after all, so it can only afford rammed earth.

Unlike Nanjing, the city walls have long been reinforced with fired bricks.

The city walls reinforced with this kind of brick are very strong, and it is difficult for cannons to destroy them.

As a surrendered general, Lu Guangzu would naturally not be assigned any good tasks. This kind of task of hitting a stone with an egg fell on his head.

However, what Lu Guangzu was worried about did not happen. Wu Changqing did not let the artillery fire.

Less than a month had passed since the last decisive battle, and they had only replenished part of their shells, which were not very sufficient and needed to be saved for attacking Nanjing.

There was no need to waste precious shells on a small county like Jiangning.

Three thousand flintlock rifle troops stood forward, came to a place only a few dozen meters away from the city wall, and suppressed the top of the city, scaring Lu Guangzu to only shrink under the battlements, not daring to look up to check the enemy’s situation.

“Archers, return fire.”

Lu Guangzu issued an order to return fire, but unfortunately, they had too few archers, and they were obviously at a disadvantage in the exchange of fire with the Wu army.

After a round of suppression, Lu Guangzu was surprised to find that the Ming army did not send troops to attack the city.

Only a scholar-like man stood out, holding a large cylinder that was small at the top and large at the bottom.

“The defenders on the city, listen up! Our army’s cannons are in place, and tens of thousands of troops are ready. You absolutely cannot defend Jiangning. You just saw that you can’t even stop our soldiers from approaching.

Surrender, for your own life and future, for the lives of your subordinates, surrender. As long as you are willing to surrender, my general will definitely treat you well.

The generals who have surrendered to our army have been given important positions. If you don’t believe me, I can call a few of your old friends to shout…”

This was Wu Changqing’s psychological warfare. If he could persuade the enemy to surrender, it would be a great profit. If he couldn’t persuade them, it would just be a waste of time.

Moreover, even if he couldn’t persuade the Qing army’s main general, this kind of shouting could more or less打击打击 the enemy’s morale and weaken their will to resist.

What Fang Qihe shouted were all the truth. The soldiers would inevitably be afraid, worried, and discouraged after hearing it.

On the city wall, Lu Guangzu was both angry and anxious.

He was angry that he could not surrender. His family had been moved to the north and became hostages. If he surrendered, his family would be exterminated.

He was anxious that what Fang Qihe shouted was true. Facing the well-equipped Wu army, they had no chance of winning. Defending to the death would really mean dying here.

This shouting directly shook Lu Guangzu’s military heart.

Some soldiers had already heard of the Wu army’s reputation and did not dare to fight against such a fierce army. What’s more, the number of people on both sides was vastly different, the weapons and equipment were vastly different, and the morale was vastly different.

The soldiers, who originally had no fighting spirit, were even more demoralized by Fang Qihe’s words.

If there was no chaos on the city now, many soldiers would have started to run away.

Even if they didn’t surrender, it would be good to escape to Nanjing. At least the city walls there were higher and stronger.

“Brave men, think about your families, think about your children, think about your old parents. If you resist stubbornly and die in battle, your old parents will have no one to support them, your children will have no one to raise them, and your wives will be taken over by others. Why, why do you still want to sell your lives for the Manchus…”

These were all persuasion words written by Wu Changqing himself. Wu Changqing came up with them by relying on some clips he saw in film and television dramas and then pondering them.

This kind of shouting has no effect on an army with a firm will, but it is a good catalyst for an army whose morale has already been shaken.

On the city wall, some soldiers could not help but think of their wives, children, and old people at home. Thinking that they were facing a life-and-death situation and did not know if they would have the opportunity to see their relatives again, some soldiers could not control their tears.

Even some soldiers who were not yet married, thinking that they would die in battle without even trying their wedding night in this life, were unwilling in their hearts ten thousand times.

Chapter 115: Easily Taken

“General, quickly order them to shoot the person shouting! If you let him continue, how can the soldiers have the heart to fight?”

Lu Guangzu’s adjutant reminded him that when encountering an enemy trying to shake the morale of the army with words, they should be shot immediately, and not allowed to speak.

Those low-level soldiers without much education are easily swayed by people with eloquence.

Lu Guangzu’s reaction had been slow, mainly because his will was not firm enough.

Hearing his adjutant’s reminder, he finally ordered his personal guards to shoot arrows at Fang Qihe below the city.

However, the Wu army below the city was prepared. Several soldiers holding giant shields surrounded Fang Qihe, protecting him.

The flintlock gun troops aimed at the top of the city, and if anyone tried to shoot arrows in retaliation, they would fire directly.

If they only stood up without retaliating, they would not shoot.

This time, they were determined to prioritize psychological warfare, using their mouths to conquer the city.

“You are surrounded by eighty thousand troops! We have hundreds of cannons, ten thousand flintlock guns, and countless grenades. You should have seen the power of these weapons, or at least heard of them.

With your few people, you absolutely cannot defend this small county town. As long as you surrender, we guarantee your lives. Those who want to switch sides can join our army at any time. Those who miss home and don’t want to be soldiers anymore will be given silver as travel expenses to send you home…”

Fang Qihe continued to shout out various favorable terms for prisoners. Hearing that they could receive travel expenses to go home, some soldiers were even more tempted.

“Bring up the band!”

Wu Changqing ordered. Several soldiers with trumpets and suonas came out of the army. They came to the city wall and played a rather sad tune, and then someone sang a homesick folk song.

Certain music, in specific situations, has a very strong appeal.

Like the background music in some movies, listening to it alone may not have much feeling, but combined with the story in the movie, it is easy to make the audience cry.

And now, a homesick folk song, combined with the Qing army soldiers’ longing for home, the effect was naturally excellent.

Lu Guangzu on the city wall was so angry that he jumped up and down. This was the first time he had fought such a frustrating battle.

If the Wu army launched a fierce attack, he could accept not being able to defend it, after all, the strength gap was huge. But now, the Wu army clearly had an absolute advantage, but they just wouldn’t attack, and just kept shaking the morale of the army, which was very disgusting.

Faced with this situation, he could only stare blankly, unable to do anything to Wu Changqing. Lu Guangzu really wanted to throw away his armor and shout, “I quit!”

After more than an hour of propaganda bombardment, Wu Changqing announced the start of the siege.

Before the siege, Fang Qihe said something that almost made Lu Guangzu vomit blood. He shouted: “Warriors, we are about to attack the city, remember to squat behind the city wall and don’t stand up, otherwise you will be shot. As long as you hide behind the city wall and wait for us to come up to accept your surrender, your lives will be guaranteed.”

This kind of tone, like chatting and discussing with fellow villagers, if someone who didn’t know the situation heard it, they might think that Fang Qihe and the Qing army soldiers were very familiar with each other.

In fact, he was just deliberately using this tone to get closer to the Qing army soldiers, pretending to be thinking for them.

Of course, Fang Qihe was indeed thinking about those soldiers.

With their strength, it was impossible to defend. Stubborn resistance could kill some Ming soldiers and earn some credit.

However, if they couldn’t even save their lives, what was the use of that kind of credit? If they couldn’t defend the city, who would count their merits, and where could they receive rewards?

It can be said that it was really meaningless for the soldiers on Jiangning city to defend the city now. It would be better to retreat back to Nanjing.

After Fang Qihe finished shouting, he retreated, and the Wu army soldiers officially began to attack slowly and unhurriedly. Each one was so leisurely that they didn’t look like they were attacking the city, but like they were going on a picnic.

This calmness showed unparalleled confidence. The Qing army on the city looked even more flustered, and their morale was even lower.

“Stand up, stand up and shoot arrows in retaliation!”

Lu Guangzu shouted. His personal soldiers immediately began to supervise the battle. Soldiers who dared not stand up would be punished, or even beheaded directly.

Some soldiers reluctantly stood up to fight back, but as Fang Qihe said, once they stood up, they would become the target of the flintlock gun troops.

Archers were at a disadvantage in this kind of shooting. After shooting two arrows, most of the archers on the city were killed or injured.

Some people from the Wu army’s flintlock gun troops were also shot dead, but compared with the huge number of soldiers, this loss seemed insignificant.

After all, there were only a few places on Jiangning County where they were still resisting. Lu Guangzu’s personal soldiers could not take care of so many places.

In other places where they were not forced, the soldiers were unwilling to stand up and be shot.

So, a very strange scene appeared on the battlefield. The attacking side was slow and unhurried, and the defending side was even hiding and not fighting back.

Both sides seemed to have no fighting spirit, as if they were just putting on a show.

However, this state was definitely beneficial to the attacking side.

Soon, the Wu army easily came to the city, put up ladders, and the siege towers also approached the city wall and lowered the planks.

Countless soldiers instantly poured onto the city wall, and many Qing army soldiers were dumbfounded and lost their composure. A large part of them had already thrown away their weapons, waiting to surrender, waiting to receive the Wu army’s severance pay later.

This was the first time the Wu army had so easily climbed the city wall, and they were a little surprised for a while. If they had played online games in later generations, they would definitely complain, “Please be serious, we are attacking the city, can you respect the dangerous battlefield?”

Unfortunately, they didn’t understand this kind of humor. They were a little embarrassed to jump onto the city wall and couldn’t find anyone to kill. They were a little embarrassed to attack those who had already thrown away their weapons.

The Wu army general quickly reacted and shouted: “Do not kill surrendered soldiers! Warriors, please throw away your weapons, surrender and you will not be killed!”

With the Wu army general’s shout, more Qing troops began to throw away their weapons, including some officers.

Although these officers were not thinking about going home, the soldiers were not resisting, and they couldn’t do anything about it. What’s more, they didn’t want to resist and die in vain. This small county town of Jiangning could not be defended at all.

On the city wall, most places had given up resistance in this way. Only on the city wall where a few Eight Banner soldiers were stationed, and on the section where Lu Guangzu was, were they still resisting.

However, this kind of resistance was meaningless. The city wall was full of Wu army soldiers, and the city had been broken.

Wu Changqing watched this scene through a telescope in the distance, and he was very pleased. He finally easily captured a city with his prestige and experienced the爽感 that the Qing army had when they went south.

When the Qing army went south last year, the Ming army opened the city and surrendered wherever they went. Attacking the city with prestige was simply too easy.

If the Ming army could resist a little, the speed of the Qing army’s advance would not be so fast.

And now, the Wu army’s prestige had also begun to show its edge, causing the enemy in a small county town to lose the will to resist.

Chapter 116: Surrendered General

“My lord, let’s retreat!”

Lu Guangzu’s adjutant, seeing the situation was unfavorable, immediately advised.

“Retreat? Retreat where? Do you really think the Ming army’s cavalry is just for show?”

Lu Guangzu retorted. He was regretting it to death now. If he had known it was impossible to resist, he would have surrendered from the start. That way, he could at least have earned credit for defecting.

But now, surrendering after the city was breached wouldn’t earn him any merit.

As for his adjutant’s suggestion to flee, he didn’t even consider it.

He knew the Ming army had a cavalry unit that was definitely waiting on the road to Nanjing. It would be extremely difficult for them to break through that blockade.

Moreover, they had barely hindered the Wu army in Jiangning, and they would be punished upon returning to Nanjing.

Lu Guangzu had already decided to surrender. As for the issue of his family, there was actually a solution. As long as he didn’t pursue high office and great wealth, he could choose to live in anonymity, have the Wu army announce his death in battle, and then change his name to become a minor official in the Wu army to make a living. It wouldn’t be easy for the Qing army to find out.

If he had the chance to secretly bring his family over, or if the Wu army advanced north, he could make a high-profile comeback and try to rise again.

Due to the backwardness of communication, this trick was quite effective in this era, and many people had used it.

This way, Lu Guangzu’s starting point would be very low, and the position he could achieve in the future would definitely not be high. However, this was the best way to save his own life and the lives of his family.

Lu Guangzu had chosen to surrender, so the other lower-ranking officials below him had even fewer concerns. Their ranks were too low, and the Qing Dynasty wouldn’t bother guarding their families.

Jiangning City was quickly captured. Several hundred of the defending soldiers were killed, and the rest mostly surrendered, with a small number missing.

They probably threw away their weapons, took off their uniforms, and slipped into civilian houses, becoming ordinary people.

These were minor details that didn’t affect the overall situation, and Wu Changqing didn’t bother sending people to search house to house.

As for the Wu army’s losses, there were only a few dozen, which was insignificant compared to the eighty thousand strong army.

Lu Guangzu was brought before Wu Changqing and made to kneel. He said, “This sinful general Lu Guangzu greets the General.”

“Why did you have to do this? You had to wait until I stormed the city walls before surrendering. Didn’t you like the surrender letter I wrote? Weren’t you moved?”

Wu Changqing said sarcastically. This guy didn’t appreciate favors. With such an obvious disparity in strength, what was the point of resisting stubbornly?

He had surrendered so readily to the Qing army before, but he had to be so awkward when surrendering to him.

The other generals laughed upon hearing this. Wu Changqing’s way of speaking was quite amusing to them, as the victors.

Lu Guangzu was surprised to hear this. He couldn’t understand Wu Changqing’s sarcastic humor.

He sighed inwardly, but he didn’t dare to argue. He could only say, “The General’s writing is brilliant, but I am too ignorant to appreciate it. This defeated general deserves to die. I hope the General can spare my life, considering that I didn’t order resistance.”

He didn’t dare to hope for any official position. Being able to live was enough.

Looking at the extremely humble Lu Guangzu, Wu Changqing lost interest in mocking him. “Start as a centurion under me. If you perform well, you can be reinstated to your original position.”

Wu Changqing was particularly short of officers, especially experienced senior officers like Lu Guangzu.

So, even though he didn’t like this guy very much, Wu Changqing still chose to use him.

Once the military academy was developed, he would eliminate this guy in the future.

Wu Changqing planned to formally establish a military academy after capturing Nanjing, preparing to train officers of all levels.

He now had more and more troops, but commanding them was becoming increasingly troublesome. Most of the generals in the army were severely lacking in ability.

If he didn’t give them some in-depth training as soon as possible, continuing to blindly expand the army would be of no benefit and would only leave a major hidden danger.

Therefore, Wu Changqing planned to take a long rest after capturing Nanjing, train officers, reorganize the army, and try to modify it in the direction of later generations to improve combat power.

“Um, thank you for the General’s kindness, but I only want to be a centurion.”

Lu Guangzu didn’t know that Wu Changqing was in great need of officers, so he was surprised by Wu Changqing’s generosity. For a surrendered general like him, who was forced to surrender, the starting point would not be too high.

A centurion already belonged to the middle-ranking officers in the army. If he made some contributions in the future, he could restore his position as a lieutenant colonel.

Lu Guangzu didn’t dare to accept such preferential treatment. After all, it would be more difficult to hide his name as a centurion.

“Oh?”

Wu Changqing was a little curious. This was the first time he had seen someone dislike having a high rank.

“My family is all in the north. If the Qing Dynasty knows that I surrendered to the General, my family will surely suffer misfortune. Therefore, I want to live in anonymity and be satisfied with being a small centurion.”

Lu Guangzu explained.

As soon as he said this, Wu Changqing understood.

Immediately, he also realized that the Qing army’s trick was really ruthless, detaining family members, so even those senior officers who were afraid of death did not dare to surrender.

After all, this era valued filial piety very much. If a person harmed his family for his own life, his reputation would be completely ruined.

Even if he could remarry and have children in the future, he would definitely bear a long-term sense of guilt.

“Then be a centurion for now. Tell Dai, the military advisor, your family’s address, and he will arrange for spies to find a way to rescue your family.”

After learning that Lu Guangzu didn’t dare to surrender and didn’t want a high-ranking official position, Wu Changqing’s impression of him improved a bit.

This guy at least had some humanity, after all, he cared about his family. Unlike some people who only cared about their own lives and surrendered without any scruples.

Anyway, as long as you have power and wealth, you can marry a wife and have children at any time.

Except for Lu Guangzu’s handling being more troublesome, the handling of other surrendered officials was much easier. They were still following the old method, mixing them with the original soldiers and letting them command soldiers they were not familiar with.

Although this would slightly weaken the army’s combat effectiveness, it could effectively prevent rebellion.

For the seven thousand Green Standard Army soldiers who surrendered, those who wanted to go home were all given one tael of silver. Those who wanted to continue serving as soldiers were first given two taels of military pay and incorporated into the regular army.

As for the more than two thousand Eight Banner soldiers, their loyalty to the Qing Dynasty was relatively high, so naturally they could not be allowed to leave casually, otherwise they could turn around and return to Nanjing.

These people were broken up and assigned to several units.

When attacking Nanjing, these people could be sent to fill the moat, dig tunnels, and consume the enemy’s city defense supplies. Surrendered soldiers were professionals at doing this kind of work.

Wu Changqing would feel a little distressed if these soldiers who were more difficult to recruit died. However, this was the best way to deal with them.

Not many soldiers chose to take the silver and go home. After all, the reason why they joined the army before was mostly because their families had no land and could not survive.

Even if they returned home, they would still have to come to the army to eat in the future. Instead of that, it would be better to stay now and get one more tael of military pay.

Chapter 117: The Army Arrives at the City

The next day, the Wu army arrived beneath the outer walls of Nanjing.

Through his telescope, Wu Changqing experienced the magnificence of the ancient capital of six dynasties for the first time.

In his later life, he had also visited Nanjing and seen the ruins of the ancient city walls. However, a fragmented ruin and a complete structure evoked completely different visual sensations.

The Nanjing city walls before him were still in their most complete state.

The city walls of Nanjing were divided into four parts: the Palace City, the Imperial City, the Inner City, and the Outer City.

Among them, the Palace City wall was the lowest, simply enclosing the emperor’s harem. It was where the emperor and his concubines lived. This section of the wall was mainly to prevent the emperor from being cuckolded; only the emperor was allowed as a man inside the Palace City.

The Imperial City wall enclosed the imperial palace, including the Palace City, the main halls for court assemblies, the emperor’s offices, and other halls for rituals and ceremonies.

This section of the wall was not large in scale, but it was very high, reaching eleven or twelve meters, as it was the last line of defense protecting the emperor. The tall city wall also displayed the imperial palace’s majestic aura.

The third part was the Inner City wall, which roughly enclosed the entire urban area. This section of the wall was massive, with a circumference of nearly forty kilometers.

And that was just the city wall itself, not including the connecting mountain ranges and waterways.

This section of the wall was Nanjing’s most important line of defense. Its effective defensive height reached fourteen meters, and with the added height of the towers, some places exceeded twenty meters.

The base of the foundation was at least fifteen meters wide at its narrowest point, while the top was four to fourteen meters wide, allowing a large number of soldiers to defend it.

In addition to the height and thickness, these city walls also incorporated various barbicans, hidden bunkers, and other defensive facilities, which played a significant role in defending the city.

For example, the barbican had two gates. The outer gate was easily breached by battering rams, but after breaking through, one would find themselves in the barbican. The barbican was small, with no space for the battering ram to gain momentum, making it difficult to breach the second gate inside the barbican.

As the national capital, its various defensive measures embodied the most advanced wisdom of the era. Without special means, attacking such a city with conventional methods would likely result in the attacking force collapsing without achieving a breakthrough.

A height of more than ten meters provided a tremendous defensive advantage.

The fourth part was the Outer City wall, located about two kilometers from the Inner City wall. It had an even longer circumference, exceeding sixty kilometers, enclosing a portion of the suburbs as well.

Nanjing’s Outer City wall was currently the longest city wall in the world, even longer than the walls of Beijing.

However, the Outer City wall was much shorter than the Inner City wall, only about eight meters high.

That was short only relative to the Inner City wall. The main city wall of Suzhou was only a little over six meters high, not even as tall as Nanjing’s Outer City wall.

Such a tall city wall could inspire awe with a single glance.

The construction of the Nanjing city walls involved nearly three hundred thousand laborers and took nearly thirty years to complete. The number of bricks fired alone was three hundred and fifty million, not to mention countless other bricks and timber.

The Three Gorges Dam in later generations only used thirty thousand workers and took twelve years to build.

With enough troops and provisions, such a city could be considered impregnable, barring accidents such as the betrayal of the defending general.

Historically, in the mid-nineteenth century, soldiers of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom defended it for a full seven years using these city walls.

That was the nineteenth century, when artillery technology had already advanced significantly. Yet, they were still unable to overcome these city walls.

Now, it was only the seventeenth century. Under normal circumstances, such a city was almost impossible to conquer.

The fact that the Hongguang Emperor of the Southern Ming fled upon the arrival of the Qing army was enough to demonstrate what a useless individual he was. If the Hongguang Emperor had even a little military knowledge, he would not have been afraid.

If the Hongguang Emperor had not fled, if Qian Qianyi had chosen to defend the city, who knew how long the Qing army would have had to fight before capturing Nanjing.

Unfortunately, history was full of such ironies, always presenting astonishing events.

Possessing such a magnificent city and more than one hundred thousand soldiers, the Hongguang Emperor chose to flee. After the emperor fled, Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Donglin Party, directly opened the city gates and surrendered.

The Qing Dynasty’s ability to destroy the Ming Dynasty was filled with countless coincidences and drama. If even one of those coincidences had been missing, the Qing army would not have been able to overthrow the Ming Dynasty.

For example, if Li Zicheng had not seized Wu Sangui’s concubine, Chen Yuanyuan, Wu Sangui would not have surrendered to the Qing at Shanhai Pass. With the formidable Shanhai Pass, the Qing army could only stare blankly, unable to enter the North China Plain.

Huang Taiji was no less capable than Dorgon, but he had fought for more than a decade and still failed to capture such a formidable pass.

Furthermore, if Li Zicheng had not died unexpectedly, it would not have been so easy for the Qing army to annihilate the Great Shun army.

If Zuo Liangyu’s forces had not surrendered, the Qing army would not have had enough troops to attack various parts of the south.

If Qian Qianyi had not opened the gates of Nanjing and surrendered, the Qing army would have had to suffer at least one hundred thousand casualties beneath the city walls of Nanjing.

“If only Hong Chengchou had opened the gates and surrendered like Qian Qianyi,” Wu Changqing said with a sigh. The Qing had gotten so many advantages in the past, so many that Wu Changqing was envious.

The other generals did not find the statement amusing; they felt the same way.

If Hong Chengchou had not surrendered, it would have been too difficult to attack this city by force. Even with their advanced weapons and high morale, the losses would not be small.

“We can only rely on ourselves for this outer city wall. Everyone must put their heart into it.”

Their plan with Tong Youwei involved the gates of the Inner City, while the Wu army would have to breach the Outer City wall on their own.

If they could not even take the Outer City wall, there was no need to plan for the Inner City gates.

After all, even if they opened a gate, only a few dozen soldiers could enter at a time, and the Qing army could concentrate their forces and block the gate with human lives.

To capture Nanjing, they mainly had to rely on the performance of the soldiers on the city walls. Only by putting pressure on the Qing army on the walls, forcing them to be unable to spare troops to reinforce the gates, could they break through from the gates.

Moreover, a single gate was merely the icing on the cake. It would be fatal and uncomfortable for the Qing army, but far from enough for the Ming army.

“We pledge our lives!”

The generals replied. No matter how magnificent the city walls were, they had to bite the bullet and go. The benefits of capturing Nanjing were unimaginably great.

Subsequently, the Wu army began to make various preparations before the siege.

This was a massive operation that would be divided into many parts.

There were troops to scale the city walls, troops responsible for battering the gates, and people specifically responsible for digging tunnels and building earthen mounds.

All the siege methods that everyone could think of, the Wu army was preparing to try them all.

Chapter 118: Outer City Walls

On the outer city walls, Hong Chengchou and Bolo had both arrived at the front lines to inspect and command.

Although the second line of defense, the capital city walls, was key to defending Nanjing, the first city wall could not be easily abandoned. If they could inflict heavy casualties on the enemy using this wall, it could serve to blunt the enemy’s momentum and lower the morale of the Wu army.

Of course, it would be even better if they could hold the line with just the first city wall.

However, Hong Chengchou and Bolo were pessimistic about the first line of defense because the Wu army now had eighty cannons. If these cannons bombarded a section of the wall relentlessly, this rammed-earth wall would definitely not hold.

More importantly, their troops’ morale was low and they lacked fighting spirit, which was the most troubling thing.

Near noon, the Wu army began their formal all-out assault.

The artillery, with the longest range, launched the first attack. Their mission was to fire solid shot, concentrating their bombardment on a specific section of the wall, relying on their powerful kinetic energy to destroy it.

At the same time, this also served to intimidate the enemy.

Liu Hansan commanded the left-wing army, forcing the captured Qing soldiers from yesterday to fill in the moat and build pontoon bridges.

Wu Changqing did not discriminate against prisoners, but someone had to fill the moat, and it was more cost-effective to send the prisoners.

The pontoon bridges were for people to cross, while the filled-in moat was mainly to facilitate the passage of siege equipment such as siege towers.

Li Shaobin commanded the central army, doing much the same as Liu Hansan, except they had added fire suppression to provide some cover for the soldiers filling the moat.

Qian Sule commanded the right-wing army, attacking a section of the wall connected to the mountains. They could take a detour to climb the mountains and carry out archery suppression from a high vantage point. Of course, this only had a limited effect, because the terrain on the mountains was uneven and could not accommodate many archers at once.

Besides climbing the mountains, they also took advantage of the easy access to earth nearby to build simple earthen forts. By building the earthen forts as high as the enemy’s city walls, they could exchange fire with the Qing army without being at a disadvantage.

The Wu army was also very short of firearms, so the archery units had always been a mainstay.

The southern city gates were being rammed by battering rams.

These battering rams were well-made, with sheds made of cowhide that could withstand stones and burning oil thrown from the city walls. The soldiers only needed to hide under the sheds to push the battering rams and ram the city gates.

Some soldiers were also digging tunnels, not to attack the city from underground, which was unrealistic. There would definitely be people inside the city specifically listening for tunnels to prevent the Wu army from attacking in this way.

Once discovered, they could cut off the tunnels and then flood them with water or smoke. In short, they had many methods.

The most important effect of tunnels was surprise; once discovered, they would immediately lose their effectiveness.

The Wu army did not intend to dig all the way into the city; they only needed to dig under the city walls, and then they could bury a large amount of gunpowder for blasting.

This trick was a favorite of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom army in later generations, and the effect was quite good.

However, it could only blow up small city walls.

Like the capital city walls of Nanjing, with a foundation width of twenty meters, who knew how much gunpowder it would take to blow it up.

Of course, most of the city walls in this world were actually low and small city walls. City walls of the scale of Nanjing’s capital city walls were rare in China, only found in Beijing, Xi’an, and some strategically important passes.

Apart from these places, the rest were all low and small city walls.

Therefore, the trick of blowing up city walls still had many uses.

Wu Changqing stood on a high ground, observing the situation of the entire battlefield with a telescope.

Behind him was a group of senior commanders, who did not need to personally command at the front lines, as that would be too dangerous.

Even in the era of cold weapons, senior generals rarely led the charge. Not to mention that in the current war, there were a large number of firearms and cannons, so senior generals would not easily go to the front lines.

Moreover, they also needed to gather together to assess the current situation, make plans and adjustments, and then let the messengers relay the orders downwards.

Eighty cannons were aimed at a section of the wall nearly one hundred meters long, and cannonballs rained down on this section of the wall.

In just two rounds of shelling, the soldiers on this section of the wall left behind a large pile of corpses, and the rest ran away.

The defending general did not stop them, because they knew that the Ming army wanted to blast open this section of the wall, so there would be a large number of cannonballs falling on this area next, and not retreating would only mean waiting for death.

Moreover, because they were afraid of the cannonballs accidentally injuring friendly troops, the Ming army would definitely not launch an attack on this section of the wall, so there was no need to defend it.

The defending general could now ignore this section of the wall and only needed to prepare reserve forces to send to block the gap after this section of the wall collapsed.

After a period of filling the river, the Wu army’s left-wing troops finally filled a section of the river, allowing siege towers to pass through.

Subsequently, the left wing began a tentative attack.

As for the general attack, it would have to wait until the other troops were also ready for the general attack, and launching the general attack at the same time would give the enemy the greatest pressure.

If only Liu Hansan’s section launched a general attack alone, the Qing army could deploy their elite troops to this section of the wall, or send their reserve troops to this section of the wall.

But as long as a full-scale general attack was launched, the Qing army would easily be caught off guard.

The central army was also ready for the general attack. Their flintlock gun units, through exchanging fire with the archers on the city walls, had eliminated most of the Qing army’s archers, and the rest did not dare to raise their heads.

Although the Wu army also lost nearly one thousand men, this one thousand men did not have much impact on the strength of the troops. As long as the flintlocks were not damaged, they could directly transfer one thousand soldiers who were originally using cold weapons to replace them.

Among the Ming army, some soldiers used cold weapons, but they were usually trained in the use of firearms, so that they could directly replenish and replace them on the battlefield.

On the other hand, it was also to directly replace them and form combat power after the flintlocks were manufactured.

Therefore, on the surface, the Ming army lost one thousand main flintlock gun troops, but after such replenishment, the actual loss was only one thousand cold weapon troops, which did not have a great impact on the Ming army’s combat effectiveness.

The Qing army was miserable, directly losing nearly two thousand archers, who were all veterans who had been trained for one or two years. Once these people were gone, it was impossible to replenish them temporarily.

Ordinary soldiers could also shoot arrows, but the accuracy and strength were much worse, and there was no power at all.

Hong Chengchou on the city wall noticed the situation of the Ming army’s flintlock gun units through a telescope and almost vomited blood on the spot.

This was too much of a cheat, wasn’t it? The other side lost special elite soldiers, while the enemy died cannon fodder that could be replenished at any time.

He discovered another huge advantage of firearms, that is, the training of soldiers was simple, it was very easy to train qualified soldiers, and the army could be expanded quickly.

This was also very important. For example, in the Manchu Qing’s battles, if too many cavalry and archers died at once, it would be very difficult to restore their vitality, so it was difficult to expand the results of the battle.

However, Wu Changqing’s Ming army did not have this predicament. The replenishment of soldiers was too easy, and the army’s continuous combat capability was very terrifying.

What should he do?

Hong Chengchou fell into thinking. What he was thinking about was not only how to defend Nanjing at the moment, but also how to deal with Wu Changqing in the future.

After thinking for a while, Hong Chengchou found that there seemed to be only one way, and that was to establish a flintlock gun army like Wu Changqing.

Then the problem returned to weapons, he needed the manufacturing process of flintlocks, he needed the secret of this flintlock.

Chapter 119: All-Out Assault

The right-wing army was the slowest to prepare. They had only just finished building their earthen barricade and were exchanging fire with the Qing army using archers and a portion of their matchlock troops.

They needed to eliminate the Qing archers to reduce the danger to the attacking soldiers.

If those archers were allowed to fire at the charging soldiers, they could still inflict considerable casualties.

But now, these archers were forced to engage in a direct exchange of fire with the Ming troops on the earthen barricade.

The Ming army’s weapons were not superior, nor was their elevation. Both sides were evenly matched in this消耗.

War, in essence, is also a contest of attrition.

At first, both sides could fight to a standstill, but slowly the Qing army couldn’t hold on.

It was still the issue of manpower. Every archer they lost was one less, while the Ming army could replace every fallen musketeer.

Initially, it was one thousand against one thousand, but after ten minutes it became five hundred against one thousand, and after twenty minutes it became two hundred against one thousand.

The further it went, the greater the Qing army’s disadvantage became. In the end, the surviving archers’ arms began to ache and weaken, and they couldn’t draw their bows anymore.

On the other hand, the Wu army soldiers were still full of energy. This contrast made the Qing army collectively vomit blood.

After this round of attrition, the Qing army’s ranged units on that section of the city wall were essentially wiped out.

This situation infuriated the Qing commanders. Some of the smarter ones had already realized that the future trend of warfare would be ranged units as the main force, with melee units as support.

After all, ranged soldiers have a significant advantage over melee soldiers, provided they can maintain their firepower.

After reducing the Qing army’s ranged forces to the point where they couldn’t fight back, the right-wing army was also ready for the all-out assault.

Using flag signals, the right wing relayed the information that they were ready to the general headquarters, where Wu Changqing and the others were located.

“Issue the order for a full-scale assault.”

Wu Changqing said.

Subsequently, the flag officer began waving the flags to transmit simple commands.

The three armies received the order for a general assault, beat the drums, and the junior officers blew the charge whistles.

Tens of thousands of soldiers charged towards the city wall simultaneously. The momentum was immense, and even Wu Changqing felt his heart surge with excitement.

This was true conquest, not a strategy game. It was all too real.

An ordinary person might be afraid of such a bloody scene, but Wu Changqing, having grown accustomed to it, only felt pride and honor when he looked at it.

These were his armies, and at his command, countless people would fight to the death.

This feeling of controlling everything intoxicated Wu Changqing.

This was the feeling of power, the feeling that countless men dreamed of.

On the battlefield, the fighting officially entered a fever pitch.

The siege towers on the left wing had already been pushed up to the city walls, and the drawbridges had been lowered. Some Ming soldiers charged out of the siege towers and jumped onto the city walls to engage in melee combat.

Where there were no siege towers, the scaling ladders had also hooked onto the city walls, and the daredevils had begun to climb.

The eight-meter height made climbing difficult.

If someone on the city wall threw a rock down, the climbing soldiers were essentially doomed.

Very few of them could actually reach the top of the wall.

Or rather, their role was originally to attract fire and divert the enemy’s attention.

Without them, the Qing soldiers on the city wall could focus on killing the Ming soldiers emerging from the siege towers.

But with them, the city wall needed to allocate some people to defend, and the pressure on the Ming soldiers jumping onto the city wall would be less.

The cannon fodder used to attract fire naturally suffered a miserable fate.

Being killed instantly by a rock was a good ending. The worst was being splashed with boiling oil, the agony of which was truly torturous.

In this era, there were no antibiotics. The skin of those burned soldiers would first develop huge blisters. After the blisters burst, the skin would become infected and ulcerated, and there was no saving them.

Eighty percent of them might not even have the chance to swing their swords at the enemy. This kind of helplessness, being able to only take a beating and not retaliate, was the most frustrating and demoralizing.

If they couldn’t see any hope of getting up after half an hour of fighting, morale would plummet, and they would have to retreat.

And next time, they would have to repeat the previous process.

Ancient sieges were just that difficult.

The situation in the central army was no better than on the left wing. The city walls were too high, and the suppression effect of the flintlocks was not very good.

Moreover, when the soldiers began to climb, they were afraid of accidentally injuring their own men.

Without the suppression of ranged soldiers and without advanced equipment like siege towers, the central army could only carry out an ant-like siege.

That eight-meter height was like an insurmountable chasm, and the soldiers climbing upwards were a tragic sight.

Fortunately, at this moment, the city wall bombarded by the cannons finally collapsed for the most part.

A gap appeared in the city wall. Although the gap was still nearly four meters high, at least they could climb up the rubble slope.

More importantly, the Qing army could not defend from a high position at this gap.

As soon as the gap appeared, the prepared assault troops rushed up, while the Qing army also gathered a large number of soldiers to wait for them.

However, without the height advantage, the Ming army was no longer at a disadvantage.

The assault troops first threw hand grenades at the enemy, blasting them hard, and then charged up to engage in melee combat.

They were not professional grenadiers, so they could only throw one round. They couldn’t continue to hold a burning fuse in their hands during melee combat.

Without a lit fuse, the hand grenade was just a decoration.

Currently, the Ming army’s hand grenades were still relatively primitive, without an automatic ignition device, and still required manual ignition.

However, even these primitive hand grenades could still gain a great advantage when dealing with cold weapon troops.

After being blasted by the hand grenades, the defending soldiers were somewhat dazed.

Immediately afterward, the Ming army took the opportunity to surge up a large number of soldiers and fight with the Qing army for this dozens-of-meters-wide gap. As long as they captured this gap, they could continuously pour into the city from here.

Following the melee soldiers were professional grenadiers. They had no weapons in their hands, only hand grenades. Their mission was to throw hand grenades to kill the enemy.

“Order the Bordered Blue Banner to go to that gap and be sure to hold it.”

Bolo ordered. As long as they held the gap, they could inflict more casualties on the Ming army on the city wall.

As long as they killed to a certain extent, the Ming army would collapse and retreat. This was his experience from many years of fighting.

As long as the Ming army didn’t capture it this time, they could organize laborers to repair the gap.

Bolo’s wishful thinking was beautiful, but he didn’t even have three seconds to be happy before a deafening roar came from the right side of the city wall.

Although it was far away, Bolo still saw the stones and earth flying into the sky, fully twenty or thirty meters high.

What was going on?

Bolo was shocked.

Chapter 120: Breaching the City

The Ming army had buried several thousand catties of explosives in the tunnels they had dug. Although it was just black powder, the quantity led to a qualitative change. When used in sufficient amounts, its power looked just like TNT.

The eight-meter-high city wall was blasted open, creating a gap of more than twenty meters. Unlike the breaches caused by cannonballs, this one wasn’t filled with rubble.

This section of the wall had been blown into the sky, the earth scattered elsewhere. What remained was only about a meter high.

This height was no longer a barrier for the army.

The Qing army soldiers who had been on this section of the wall were now reduced to dust and bones.

The assault team, which had been ready for a long time, immediately charged through the gap.

Although the gap wasn’t particularly large, its suddenness was its strength.

The Qing army had made thorough preparations to block the section of the wall that had been collapsed by cannon fire, making it impossible for the Ming army to easily charge through.

But the destruction of this section of the wall was unexpected. They had never experienced this method of breaching a city before, so they had no dedicated troops to deal with it.

The Ming army, however, was prepared. Before the dust had even settled, the assault team charged in.

Now the Qing army was in real danger. If they couldn’t block the gap in time, the Ming army would pour into the city in an endless stream.

Once enough Ming soldiers poured in, the Qing soldiers on the city walls would be in danger of being cut off from the inner city walls.

Mandahai, the Qing commander in charge of this section, panicked when he saw this situation. He immediately sent men to block the breach, while also sending a messenger to urgently report the situation to Bolo and request instructions on whether to retreat.

In Mandahai’s view, there was no longer any need to defend the outer city walls. Retreating to the inner city walls was the right choice.

However, he couldn’t issue such an order himself, or Bolo would accuse him of unauthorized retreat, and he would be in deep trouble.

He hadn’t completed the last covering retreat to Bolo’s satisfaction, and he didn’t dare to anger Bolo again.

However, the southeast section of the city wall was about three or four kilometers away from Bolo’s position on the south side. By the time the messenger reached the central army and returned, it would be too late.

He needed to hold out for another half an hour to receive the order to retreat. If he couldn’t hold out until then, everything would be over.

Thinking of these consequences, Mandahai broke out in a cold sweat, constantly shouting to hold the line, promising generous rewards.

But Mandahai didn’t know that the phrase “generous rewards” was more suitable to be shouted when in a position of advantage, to boost morale and reduce losses.

When in an advantageous position, shouting “generous rewards” would make soldiers rush to earn merits.

But shouting “generous rewards” when in a disadvantageous position was actually telling the soldiers that the situation had become extremely critical, and the general was relying on heavy rewards to salvage the defeat.

Compared to generous rewards, soldiers valued their lives more. No amount of reward could be enjoyed if they were dead.

Mandahai’s shout directly caused the already low morale to plummet to zero.

On the south-facing city wall, Bolo was extremely anxious. He wanted to know what was happening on the right flank and whether the city had been breached.

He needed enough information to make the right decision. If that direction had already been breached, then there was no need to defend this section of the outer city wall any longer, and he had to retreat in time to minimize losses.

If it hadn’t been breached, retreating now would be a waste and would miss a good opportunity to inflict casualties on the Ming army.

Bolo waited anxiously, while the Ming army’s siege continued, unaffected by the southeast.

After all, the distance was too great, and any impact wouldn’t reach them so quickly.

The Ming army on the south side still had to rely on themselves.

After a while, the Ming army at the breach also achieved significant results, driving back the defending Qing army. More Ming soldiers poured into the gap and continued to advance into the city.

At this moment, the battering ram finally had an effect, destroying one of the city gates.

Although the gate was still blocked by sandbags and other obstacles, these were child’s play for the Ming army eager to enter the city, and they were quickly removed.

The battle on this section of the city wall became extremely dangerous for the Qing army.

At this time, the messenger from the southeast finally arrived before Bolo, reporting the situation.

Bolo had already been planning to retreat. Hearing that the southeast had fallen, he immediately ordered a retreat without hesitation.

At the same time, he sent a messenger to the southwest to notify Hong Chengchou to retreat.

The defensive strength of a city wall relied on its integrity. Once a large section was lost, the entire city wall was as good as lost.

Without the advantage of height, they couldn’t gain any advantage in melee combat.

Since that was the case, it was better to preserve their strength and retreat to the inner city walls. After all, the inner city walls were higher, thicker, and larger, with several times the defensive strength of the outer city walls.

Relying on the inner city walls, they could gain a greater advantage.

Bolo arranged for some soldiers to continue resisting and holding back the Ming army, while he led the main force in an orderly retreat.

The officers who were left behind naturally cursed in their hearts, but they didn’t dare to disobey.

When the news reached the southwest, Hong Chengchou felt like ten thousand alpacas were stampeding through his mind when he heard that the southeast city wall had fallen.

This was too fast! This was still an eight-meter-high city wall. Failing to defend it for ten days or half a month would be considered a failure.

But now, the city wall had been breached after just one All-Out Assault.

When did city walls become so useless?

Hong Chengchou was puzzled, but this confusion didn’t affect his decision. He also announced a retreat at the first opportunity.

Anyway, there were even more magnificent inner city walls behind them. Preserving their forces was the most important thing at this time.

As long as they could defend the inner city walls, then Nanjing wouldn’t be considered lost.

Hong Chengchou’s retreat was much easier than Bolo’s and Mandahai’s, because the city wall on his side was still firmly in his hands.

The city wall here hadn’t collapsed. Liu Hansan could only transport a limited number of soldiers to the city wall at a time with a few siege towers, which couldn’t achieve a decisive effect.

After paying a certain price, the Qing army also killed all the soldiers who jumped onto the city wall.

This was mainly due to Hong Chengchou’s skillful command and leadership.

Hong Chengchou was not just a civil official. He had also led troops in Liaodong for many years and fought against the Manchus. He was no less talented in military affairs than Bolo.

It was just that he had never been able to grasp military power because of his Han Chinese identity.

Bolo and Hong Chengchou both retreated successfully, and they also withdrew a large number of troops, preserving their strength.

But Mandahai in the southeast was miserable. He was surrounded before the messenger returned. The Ming army had already attacked the city wall from the inside, cutting off his connection with Bolo.

At this time, Mandahai was in an awkward situation where he couldn’t hold on even if he wanted to, and he couldn’t retreat even if he wanted to.

Chapter 121: Rifled Musket

“It seems this Nanjing is nothing special after all.”

Liu Hansan couldn’t help but sigh as he saw Ming troops breaching the city walls on multiple fronts, the capture of the outer city walls a foregone conclusion.

As a traditional military man, he was used to sieges lasting months. Now, each city fell after a single All-Out Assault, giving him the impression that taking cities was easy.

Although many soldiers died during the All-Out Assault, and the fighting was fierce, Liu Hansan didn’t care. In his mind, the attacking side was supposed to die in such numbers; otherwise, it wouldn’t feel like a proper siege.

“The enemy’s determination to defend the outer city walls wasn’t strong. The inner city walls are where we’ll face our real headache.”

Dai Zhijun wasn’t as optimistic as Liu Hansan. Judging by the ferocity of the recent battle, attacking the inner city walls would likely cost them at least ten to twenty thousand men.

Such casualties would amount to twenty-five percent of their forces, and Dai Zhijun wasn’t sure if the troops could maintain their current high morale after suffering such losses.

Morale was an invisible and intangible thing, but it had a huge impact on war.

“First, clear the outer city walls, prepare defenses, and prevent enemy counterattacks. We’ll talk about attacking the inner city walls tomorrow,” Wu Changqing declared.

The inner city walls weren’t far from the outer ones, at most five kilometers away, and as close as five hundred meters in some places. A Qing army charge could bring them right to their doorstep, so defending against a Qing counterattack was crucial.

As for how to attack the inner city walls, Wu Changqing had his own plans.

He went to his tent, entered the system store in his mind, and clicked “exchange.” Soon, one hundred rifled muskets appeared in his tent.

These Minié rifles cost two hundred resource points each, four times the price of a flintlock musket. Moreover, their loading speed was very slow, only one-fifth that of a flintlock, similar to a matchlock musket.

Such a slow rate of fire at such a high price meant that these rifled muskets had exceptional performance in other areas.

Compared to flintlock muskets, the biggest advantage of rifled muskets was their high accuracy and long range.

The rifling inside the barrel caused the bullet to spin rapidly as it left, and rotation was an important factor in maintaining stability.

The accuracy of this rifled musket was at least five times that of a flintlock, and its range was more than four times greater, capable of killing targets nine hundred meters away.

In large-scale group battles, these rifled muskets weren’t as useful as flintlocks. However, they had one superb function: eliminating enemy officers.

Officers at this time rarely faced targeted attacks, so they often led from the front lines.

Wu Changqing intended to use these weapons to eliminate a wave of Qing officers. With fewer officers, the defending soldiers would lack effective command.

Defending by instinct versus defending with organization made a huge difference.

If he could kill Bolo or Hong Chengchou, it would be a huge blow to the Qing army’s morale.

More importantly, the deterrent effect of these guns would make officers hesitant to expose themselves to observe the battlefield. Without knowing the situation, they couldn’t effectively deploy their troops.

In short, before the Qing army adapted to these weapons, the rifled musket could render their officers largely useless.

This rifled musket was essentially a sniper rifle of its time. On the battlefield, officers feared snipers the most, while soldiers were less afraid because snipers couldn’t easily set up an ambush. They wouldn’t waste a shot on a target without significant value, to avoid revealing their position.

Rifled muskets were much harder to manufacture than flintlocks; the rifling inside the barrel was difficult to create. Moreover, due to their low rate of fire, they wouldn’t be mass-produced. Therefore, Wu Changqing didn’t plan to unlock the manufacturing technology; he would simply exchange for a batch of ready-made ones to deal with the current situation.

The technology of rifling would naturally improve with advancements in iron and steelmaking, so there was no need to spend technology points to specifically learn it.

“San’de, pass on my orders. Select two hundred soldiers from the First Division with the best eyesight and shooting skills.”

Wu Changqing instructed his personal guard, Wu San’de, a distant relative of the Wu family. He was of average ability but extremely loyal.

“Understood, right away.”

Wu San’de scurried off to carry out the order, not even asking what Wu Changqing needed these men for. He did whatever Wu Changqing told him to do. This approach made it difficult to stand out, but also made it difficult to make mistakes, a principle his father had taught him.

Carrying Wu Changqing’s message, Wu San’de quickly selected over two hundred men from the First Division with good eyesight and relatively accurate shooting skills.

By “relatively accurate,” they meant being able to hit a single enemy within thirty meters. Beyond that distance, it wasn’t a matter of skill but of the weapon itself.

“This is called a rifled musket. It can shoot one thousand two hundred paces with very high accuracy. Watch me demonstrate how to load and operate it.”

Wu Changqing picked up a rifled musket and began to demonstrate.

Loading the bullet was very difficult, requiring the use of a ramrod to push the bullet in little by little. Moreover, after firing, a lot of residue would remain in the barrel, requiring cleaning.

For these reasons, the loading speed of this gun was extremely slow, resulting in an extremely low rate of fire.

Watching Wu Changqing’s complicated loading process, many soldiers were puzzled. This gun seemed much worse than a flintlock.

How could they fight with this gun? They could only fire one shot before the enemy charged in for melee combat. What use was it?

Although they were curious and confused, none of the soldiers dared to question him. The man before them was the supreme commander of one hundred thousand troops. Even if Wu Changqing said they had to fight with iron rods from now on, they wouldn’t dare to question or disobey.

After loading, Wu Changqing aimed at a target two hundred meters away.

With a bang, a piece of the target’s edge was shot off.

Although it only hit the edge, it startled the soldiers. That was two hundred meters away! At that distance, hitting a target the size of a winnowing basket, let alone a house, was remarkable.

“The General is truly a War God descended to earth, a divine marksman!”

Many soldiers whispered among themselves. The rumor that Wu Changqing was a War God incarnate was popular among the lower ranks.

The soldiers didn’t understand much. They couldn’t comprehend why Wu Changqing could win so many great victories, so they could only resort to the supernatural, portraying Wu Changqing as a divine being who had descended to earth, making it easier to understand.

A divine being, of course, had boundless power.

Chapter 122: Battle Results Statistics

“Did you see clearly? Did you hear clearly?”

Wu Changqing asked. Some soldiers who had listened attentively and understood were already eager to try, while those who hadn’t understood began to feel afraid.

The General himself was demonstrating, and they dared not listen carefully. They deserved to die.

“Divide into two groups and practice in shifts,” Wu Changqing ordered. Subsequently, two hundred men were divided into two teams. Those soldiers with more confidence formed the first team, picked up the rifled muskets, began loading, and then aimed and fired.

Wu Changqing’s gun skills could only be considered average; he didn’t have any particularly outstanding talent.

However, these sharpshooters selected from tens of thousands of soldiers possessed far greater talent in shooting than Wu Changqing. Some even hit the target on their first shot.

To avoid embarrassment during the demonstration, Wu Changqing had practiced dozens of shots beforehand.

Fortunately, the soldiers didn’t know this, or his magnificent image as a war god descended from the heavens would be shattered.

“Continue practicing. By tomorrow, anyone who can hit the bullseye at this distance will have their military pay doubled. If you can hit the bullseye beyond five hundred steps, your military pay will be increased fivefold. Those who can’t hit it, go back to using flintlock muskets.”

Wu Changqing only needed to offer a small reward, and the soldiers would become excited, their faces flushed.

Double the military pay? Wouldn’t that directly exceed the pay of a squad leader?

Those who used flintlock muskets already had higher pay than soldiers with cold weapons. If it doubled again, they could become the middle class of this era.

Moreover, there was a reward of five times the pay tempting them.

For this doubled military pay, each of them showed unparalleled concentration.

Those soldiers who hadn’t yet had their turn to practice were constantly suppressing their restless hearts, carefully observing the operations of others, and analyzing the other party’s technical problems based on their results.

The soldiers in the First Division were already relatively clever, and these people were talents selected from tens of thousands in the First Division.

Their learning ability was not much different from some top students in later generations. What they lacked was just some knowledge.

After Wu Changqing left, these soldiers became lively.

“I know the purpose of this gun, to snipe enemy officers! If you hit accurately, killing one of their generals would be a huge profit!”

Soldier Yan Chonglou said excitedly. In his opinion, the doubled military pay was simply negligible. As long as they mastered the skill of long-range precision shooting, killing a high-ranking enemy officer would be a great achievement.

After a few more battles, relying on the merit of killing officers would be enough for them to be promoted to centurion or battalion commander, and the reward money would definitely be considerable.

“That’s right, how did I not think of that? No wonder the General personally came to teach us. It turns out this gun has a great purpose!”

Several other soldiers suddenly realized.

In fact, everyone knew the importance of sniping the commander, but it was too difficult to operate.

The so-called sharpshooters, hitting a willow leaf at a hundred paces, were all boasting. The stability of bows and arrows was too poor. Perhaps occasionally they could hit a willow leaf at a hundred paces, but no one dared to say that their success rate of hitting a willow leaf at a hundred paces could exceed thirty percent.

Therefore, sniping the enemy commander had always relied on luck, with a very low success rate, so that many times the army was not interested in doing so.

But now, the range of this new musket was as high as one thousand steps, and the accuracy was extremely high. This weapon was simply designed to snipe officers.

“This musket is crucial. We will become the key to taking the old capital. We must practice hard and not let the General down,” Yan Chonglou said with emotion.

Other soldiers may not understand this principle. But it didn’t matter. Just for the doubled military pay, no one would be lazy.

After Wu Changqing finished explaining the rifled musket, he came to the main tent to listen to the battle damage report.

In this attack on the outer city wall, they used a total of forty thousand troops, of which more than three thousand four hundred were killed and more than six hundred were seriously injured. Light injuries were not counted. In such fierce battles, those with minor injuries still had to go into battle.

In terms of siege equipment, five siege towers were lost, leaving seven. Other equipment had varying degrees of damage and consumption, but the impact was not particularly large.

In terms of battle results, they killed a total of about five thousand enemy troops and captured more than three thousand. They even captured another big fish, Nurhaci’s grandson, Aisin Gioro Mandahai, whose title was Beile, one level lower than a Prince.

According to the statistician’s estimate, the Qing army, plus the missing soldiers, lost nearly ten thousand men this time.

The losses of the defending side were greater than those of the attacking side, which was a rare occurrence.

There were many reasons why the Ming army was able to achieve such a great victory.

These included the low morale and lack of fighting spirit of the Qing army. However, more importantly, the Ming army’s strange weapons and strange moves.

The suppression of firearms alone greatly weakened the Qing army’s advantage in defending the city. The artillery destroying the city walls was weapon suppression, and the explosives destroying the city walls were even more unexpected.

With many accidents coming together, the Qing army’s defeat was not unjust.

If other armies encountered these situations, they might not be able to do better than them.

“Everyone has worked hard. This battle was not bad. Keep up the good work in the future.”

Wu Changqing was in a good mood. The casualties were smaller than originally estimated, and the five percent casualty rate was completely acceptable.

As long as too many soldiers were not killed or injured at one time, the impact on morale would not be great.

And as long as soldiers were replenished in time, a low casualty rate could be maintained.

“The General is the one who has worked the hardest. We are just doing minor things,” Xue Guiren said. Now he had also made it to the point where he was qualified to participate in such high-level meetings.

He would flatter whenever he had the opportunity.

Seeing Xue Guiren’s shamelessness, everyone cursed him to death in their hearts.

“Those responsible for guarding the night tonight, please work harder and don’t slack off. Tomorrow I will take you to see something good, which will be of great help to the siege. I am determined to take this Nanjing city. In a few days, everyone can go to the Qinhuai River to rest and recuperate.”

Wu Changqing made a joke, and everyone laughed when they heard it.

Nanjing’s Qinhuai River was a well-known place. As long as a man had some money, it was impossible for him to come to Nanjing without visiting the Qinhuai River.

Only a few people who were obsessed with ‘good things’ would focus on good things, such as Li Shaobin, who was now looking forward to tomorrow’s good things.

Every time Wu Changqing took out good things, it could greatly help the war. Such as flintlock muskets, grenades, and telescopes. If it weren’t for these good things, they wouldn’t be able to get to where they are today.

Chapter 123: Defection

The meeting concluded, and Wu Changqing had Mandahai brought in. He was, after all, a Beile, worthy of a meeting.

He had met Ajige last time and showed off a bit. Showing off in front of historical figures felt pretty good.

Mandahai was brought in. Although bound, he still maintained some dignity, clinging to the last vestiges of his importance.

It was Mandahai’s first time seeing Wu Changqing, and he was secretly astonished.

He couldn’t imagine being defeated by such a young man.

Seeing Wu Changqing’s age, Mandahai felt a surge of frustration and shame.

“Mandahai, why couldn’t you have been more ambitious and become a Prince? That way, I could have extorted one hundred thousand taels of silver from Hong Chengchou. As just a Beile, you’re not worth much,” Wu Changqing said with a smile. It seemed like a jest, but the words hit hard.

The reason for this went back a long time.

Back when Mandahai’s grandfather, Nurhaci, was still alive, he married Abahai, a beautiful woman thirty-one years younger than him, and made her his Grand Consort, showering her with affection.

Later, perhaps due to old age and waning strength, Abahai became involved with Nurhaci’s son, Mandahai’s father, Daishan.

Nurhaci was almost driven to the point of vomiting blood by this. Although the Later Jin did have the custom of levirate marriage—where a deceased man’s wife could marry his son—he wasn’t dead yet! Daishan was so impatient to put a green hat on his head, causing him to lose face.

This was equivalent to telling his subordinates that his “equipment” was no longer working, which was quite a blow to any man, especially a ruler who never lacked women.

Therefore, Nurhaci removed Abahai from her position as Grand Consort and stripped Daishan of his right to succession.

Daishan, originally the Grand Beile, was the most qualified to inherit the throne. However, because of this incident, he lost his chance to compete for the throne after Nurhaci’s death.

Daishan’s sons resented Abahai for ruining their father’s future and also resented Abahai’s son, Dorgon.

During the power struggle between Huang Taiji and Dorgon, Daishan, who held significant influence, chose to support Huang Taiji. He even colluded with other princes to issue a forged edict forcing Abahai to hang herself.

Because of this, Dorgon also resented Daishan’s family.

Now that Dorgon was in power, Daishan’s line naturally faced unfair treatment. Bolo, also Nurhaci’s grandson, was already a Prince.

Mandahai, as the son of Nurhaci’s eldest son, should have been doing even better than Bolo, but he was only a Beile.

Wu Changqing’s teasing about Mandahai’s low rank was actually mocking his family’s messy history.

Wu Changqing remembered many stories of the Later Jin clearly because they were quite interesting. For example, the custom of a son inheriting his father’s wives was something Wu Changqing, as a Han Chinese, found fascinating and satisfying his curiosity.

Such strange occurrences were normal for the Manchus of that era. After Dorgon’s death, his wives even went to Bolo.

From the perspective of human reproduction, this maximized the utilization of female reproductive capacity and was quite logical, but it couldn’t stand up to the ridicule of civilization.

Wu Changqing brought up his rank to evoke those unpleasant memories, to remind him of the injustices he had suffered.

As expected, Mandahai’s face turned angry when he heard this, and he burst out, “Don’t compare me to trash like Ajige! I would rather die in battle than have them redeem me.”

“Alright, alright, don’t get so worked up. Since you don’t want to return to the Qing, how about staying here with me as a Lieutenant General? I happen to have tens of thousands of Manchu soldiers here that I can put under your command,” Wu Changqing said. It would be interesting to persuade Mandahai to defect.

In the past, only high-ranking Ming army officials defected to the Qing. Now, if a Qing Beile defected to the Ming, it would be a huge blow to the Qing’s prestige.

Moreover, by giving Mandahai high positions and generous rewards, he could send a signal to the Qing nobles: there was no need to fight the Ming army to the death. Defecting could still lead to a life of luxury, like Mandahai.

This could weaken the Qing generals’ will to resist, which was of great significance.

Just like how the Qing treated Fan Wencheng, Hong Chengchou, and others, it was precisely because these Han Chinese were highly valued in the Qing court that other Han army generals defected without hesitation.

The defection of those Han soldiers saved the Qing a lot of casualties. Otherwise, how could the Qing, with its limited resources, have fought against the Ming Dynasty?

Now, Wu Changqing was preparing to replicate this process.

As for whether to worry about Mandahai defecting again, Wu Changqing wouldn’t be foolish enough to let him command the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers from the start.

He could first let him serve as a staff officer, then lead some Han army soldiers. If he performed well, he could then lead the surrendered Mongol Eight Banners soldiers, and finally, the surrendered Manchu Eight Banners soldiers.

By the time he qualified to lead the Manchu Eight Banners soldiers, he would have already commanded Ming soldiers to kill countless Qing soldiers. By then, even if he wanted to defect again, the Qing court wouldn’t accept him.

Moreover, given the Qing’s current arrogance, as soon as Mandahai announced his defection, the Qing would immediately settle accounts with him, cutting off his escape route.

At that point, besides wholeheartedly following Wu Changqing, what other options would Mandahai have?

Be loyal to the Qing?

Ajige and Bolo might do that, but Mandahai certainly wouldn’t. After all, the current Qing was almost Dorgon’s Qing, and he wasn’t that loyal to it.

“Are you trying to recruit me?”

Mandahai was shocked. He had never heard of a Han Chinese general recruiting captured Manchu generals. They were usually killed to vent their anger.

And this Wu Changqing, the information he had received from the battle reports showed that he was a Han Chinese who extremely hated the Qing. How could Wu Changqing allow a Manchu in his ranks?

“Of course, otherwise, why would I waste my breath on you? Do you think I’m very idle? Don’t worry, although you are a Manchu, I never discriminate against Manchus. There are some Manchu soldiers and Manchu generals in my army now, and they have not been discriminated against. If you don’t believe me, you can take a walk around the camp and see if I’m lying to you,” Wu Changqing said.

Confirming that Wu Changqing was indeed trying to recruit him, Mandahai was once again surprised. He couldn’t understand why Wu Changqing wouldn’t hate the Manchus, considering that Wu Changqing had rebelled because he was dissatisfied with the Manchu’s enslavement.

However, regardless of whether he understood or not, Mandahai could not agree to surrender.

No Manchu Beile had ever surrendered before. If he took the lead, how would he ever face his fellow bannermen again?

Chapter 124: Defend to the Death

“What if I refuse?” Mandahai asked.

“If you refuse, I’ll ask Hong Chengchou to see if he’ll offer fifty thousand taels for you. If he’s not willing, I’ll just have to chop your head off. Can’t keep you around for nothing, can I?” Wu Changqing valued Mandahai’s status, but he didn’t yet understand his capabilities.

Besides, the proportion of firearms in his army was increasing, and old-fashioned generals would have to relearn how to command. Their previous experience wasn’t very useful and might not be more advantageous than that of a newcomer.

Upon hearing this, Mandahai was conflicted. If he surrendered, he couldn’t get over the mental hurdle. If he didn’t, Hong Chengchou might not be willing to spend money to redeem him, and he would be beheaded when he lost his value.

Who would willingly choose death when they could live?

Moreover, Mandahai was a person of some importance. If he agreed to surrender, he could continue to live a good life, and he was more attached to this world.

“Why are you struggling so much? Dorgon is in power now, and he can tolerate you because he hasn’t completely taken control of the court. But when he truly holds all the power, he will inevitably settle old scores. Do you think he’ll forget how you forced his mother to death?” Wu Changqing advised.

“How do you kno…” Mandahai was shocked, only managing to say half a sentence before stopping. Although the matter of his father and several other princes forcing Abahai to death wasn’t top secret, ordinary Manchus certainly wouldn’t know about it, and Han Chinese would be even less likely to know.

But now, Wu Changqing had spoken these words.

“You don’t need to worry about how I know. If I didn’t have some skill, do you think I would have won previous battles through luck? Go back and think it over carefully, and watch how I take down this Nanjing city.”

Wu Changqing waved his hand, ordering his men to take Mandahai away.

He had said what needed to be said. If Mandahai still refused to surrender, he didn’t care.

In the end, Mandahai’s value wasn’t high enough. If it were Hong Chengchou, he would have spent more time and effort persuading him.

Inside Nanjing city, Hong Chengchou and Bolo sat together, both in low spirits.

Their defense of the outer city wall had completely failed.

Not only had they lost the city wall, but their personnel losses had also exceeded their previous estimates, totaling ten thousand men.

Now, they had only thirty-nine thousand soldiers left in the city, most of whom were cavalry.

Using cavalry to defend a city was something only a general with a brain problem would do.

It was too difficult to train a cavalryman, and once cavalrymen were on the city wall, their role was the same as that of an ordinary infantryman. In fact, they might not even be as useful as infantrymen.

However, they had no other choice but to send this group of cavalrymen up.

The reinforcements from the north would definitely not arrive in time. Lekedehun was fighting with He Tengjiao and couldn’t spare any attention. The only troops they could mobilize were probably Zhang Yingyuan’s forces in Wuhu, but Zhang Yingyuan’s strength was small, only a little over ten thousand.

Li Chengdong still had forty to fifty thousand troops, but they were in Xuancheng, too far from Nanjing.

However, even though it would take time for them to arrive, Hong Chengchou still sent messengers to ask them for help.

As long as they could hold out for ten days or so, they could wait for reinforcements.

“How about we break out and abandon Nanjing?” Bolo suggested. He was reluctant to use his cavalry to defend the city and wanted to break out to preserve his strength.

As long as they kept this main cavalry force, they could attack Nanjing again after losing it.

However, his suggestion was rejected by Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou said, “This Nanjing city has high walls and strong defenses. It’s a pity to abandon it. And once Wu Changqing occupies it, it will be extremely difficult to take it back in the future. This Wu Changqing is not Qian Qianyi; he will never open the city gates to surrender.”

The last time they obtained Nanjing was purely a pleasant surprise. Hong Chengchou didn’t want to place all his hopes on luck.

In Hong Chengchou’s view, with these tall city walls, they could at least defend the city for half a month, or even longer.

As long as they endured until the reinforcements arrived and the Ming army’s morale declined, their chance would come.

But if they gave up now, who knew what price they would have to pay to retake Nanjing in the future?

Seeing that Bolo was still hesitating, Hong Chengchou continued to persuade him, “Moreover, now that the outer city wall has been occupied by the Ming army, it won’t be easy for us to break out. We will definitely suffer great losses.”

Hong Chengchou’s words sounded reasonable, and Bolo sighed in his heart, giving up the idea of retreating.

Not only had he failed to capture a single city or land by leading his army south, but he was also about to lose Nanjing. This was a great responsibility.

Now, he could only place his hopes on the height of Nanjing’s city walls. With such magnificent city walls, the Ming army would probably have no way to attack.

“Why don’t we押all the people in the city to the city walls? If Wu Changqing dares to attack the city, we will slaughter the people. Isn’t he a man who loves his people like his own children? If he wants to maintain this reputation, he shouldn’t even think about attacking the city. If he ignores the lives of the people and continues to attack the city, then his hard-earned reputation will be ruined.”

Bolo suddenly came up with a plan. The battle reports contained very detailed descriptions of Wu Changqing, even recording how he had once allowed the people to fill the moat because he couldn’t bear to kill innocent civilians.

Based on these deeds, Bolo judged that Wu Changqing was a soft-hearted person who loved fame.

This kind of personality was a very big flaw for a general in command. And now, Bolo was going to take advantage of this flaw.

“General, no! We must not use this mutually destructive method unless absolutely necessary. If we do this, no generals or people in the south will ever surrender again. Don’t sacrifice the big picture for small gains.” Hong Chengchou quickly dissuaded him. Although doing so might indeed force Wu Changqing to retreat, it would also be a major blow to the Qing Dynasty’s reputation.

Once this kind of thing spread, it would only strengthen the southern Ming army’s determination to resist, as well as the people’s determination to resist.

Perhaps even some of the people in the north would rebel because of this.

This kind of action that completely lost the support of the people must not be done.

The Yangzhou massacre and the Jiangyin massacre were because the people there had stubbornly resisted, and they had a reason to slaughter them. But now, the people in Nanjing city had not resisted. If they were to suffer a fatal disaster in this way, the people in other controlled areas would also feel insecure, not knowing when they would be押to the city walls as human shields.

Without the support of the people, it would be absolutely impossible to completely control this Central Plains land. With only a small population of Manchus, they had to rely on the Han Chinese to rule the Central Plains, and they couldn’t completely offend the Han Chinese.

Even if he lost Nanjing, Hong Chengchou would not do such a thing. It wasn’t worth it.

Chapter 125: Gun Testing

The next day, Wu Changqing and many senior officers came to the shooting range to inspect the new sharpshooter team.

“What kind of new firearm is this?”

Liu Hansan couldn’t help but ask, seeing the men slowly loading their weapons.

These senior military officers had gradually become accustomed to calling them guns, rarely using the old term “firearms.” It was a case of the higher-ups setting the tone, and the subordinates following suit.

Since Wu Changqing always referred to firearms as guns, his subordinates, though finding it odd, wouldn’t be foolish enough to correct him.

Instead, to agree with Wu Changqing, they all changed their terminology. Guns were guns, after all; it was just a name, not a big deal.

They were already used to Wu Changqing’s penchant for inventing new terms, like insisting on calling “investigation of things” physics, or changing “chiliarch” to “regimental commander,” and so on.

“This is called a rifle. Don’t mind the slow loading; it shoots far and accurately.”

Wu Changqing explained. Then, the soldiers began to aim at targets two hundred meters away.

Seeing the targets, Liu Hansan and the others were puzzled. They understood the soldiers’ intentions, but they couldn’t figure out why the targets were so far away. Could they even hit them at that distance?

Whether matchlock muskets or flintlock muskets, the most profound impression these generals had was their poor accuracy. Only by forming dense formations and relying on numbers could they achieve any real power.

Now, suddenly asking individual soldiers to hit targets so far away was something they didn’t quite understand.

Bang! The first soldier fired.

Through the telescope, Liu Hansan and the others were astonished to find a small hole near the center of the target.

Then, the second, the third… They weren’t as accurate as the first, missing the bullseye, but they all hit the target.

This hit rate was more than ten times that of a flintlock musket.

What kind of magical firearm was this? Everyone was stunned.

“This is terrifying! Will enemy generals even dare to show their faces in the future?”

Qian Sule exclaimed, immediately recognizing the gun’s potential after witnessing its precise accuracy.

“That’s right, General. Is this gun specifically designed to assassinate enemy officers?”

Wang Dafu snapped back to reality.

“General, give me fifty of these men, and I guarantee I can take down a section of the city wall!”

Liu Hansan immediately made a military pledge. He was already imagining the battle: with fifty men stationed below the city, they could pick off the Qing army commanders, turning the soldiers into headless flies, allowing him to seize the wall in the chaos.

In this era, officers were crucial to an army. Soldiers without officers could only fight instinctively, without any organization. Without officers to keep them in line, soldiers would easily flee or surrender.

Of course, officers were important to an army in any era.

“You old miser, Liu! You want to hog all the good stuff. Fifty men for you? What are the rest of us supposed to get?”

Wang Dayong cursed at him. Everyone wanted more of these incredibly effective soldiers.

There were over a dozen senior officers present, but there were only one hundred rifles in total. On average, each person wouldn’t even get ten. Liu Hansan, on the other hand, wanted fifty right off the bat, and presumably fifty guns as well.

The other generals wouldn’t agree to this, but they didn’t have enough clout to directly refute him. Wang Dayong had no such concerns. He was one of the three old generals who had started with Wu Changqing, and his position was no lower than Liu Hansan’s.

“Look at what you’re saying! I’m just trying to breach the city and share the General’s burden.”

Liu Hansan retorted.

“Enough arguing. Thirty for the Left Army, thirty for the Right Army, and the rest allocated to the Central Army. As for the guns, two men share one, one main and one secondary. If the main shooter dies, the backup takes over. That’s all we have for now, and we won’t be able to increase the number anytime soon. Gentlemen, you must use these sharpshooters wisely and maximize their effectiveness.”

Wu Changqing stopped their squabble.

Unlike flintlock muskets, which were best used in mass formations, these sharpshooters would be most effective when distributed among the various units.

With Wu Changqing’s words, the generals shut their mouths and stopped arguing,

At least, they stopped arguing in front of Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing had only allocated them to the major armies, not down to the divisions and brigades. They would still have to do some talking to get their share.

“This rifle is truly amazing. Why can its bullet maintain its trajectory?”

Li Shaobin transformed into an inquisitive student, examining a rifle and comparing it to a flintlock musket, trying to uncover its secrets.

“That’s because the barrel has rifling. The bullet spins rapidly when it’s fired, and a rapidly spinning object maintains its inertia. After we take Nanjing, spend less time in brothels and go to the academy to study. Gaining some knowledge will do you good.”

Wu Changqing said. An officer couldn’t just be good at commanding; it was best if they had a broad knowledge base. Because in marching and fighting, there were countless situations one might encounter, and the broader one’s knowledge, the easier it would be to solve problems.

“Yes, sir!”

Li Shaobin could only suppress his restless heart and prepare to study hard at the academy.

Some people gloated at Li Shaobin for being deprived of his brothel privileges, but there were also more ambitious officers who planned to spend time studying at the academy as well.

Since Wu Changqing held the academy in such high regard, learning something there would definitely be beneficial.

Qian Sule was planning to do just that, and he also intended to use his connections to get a few of the more clever younger members of his family into the academy.

Through following Wu Changqing for this period of time, he had increasingly felt the great usefulness of those miscellaneous studies.

Those miscellaneous studies had created soap and detergent, generating countless profits. Those miscellaneous studies had created flintlock muskets and rifles, having earth-shattering effects on warfare.

While they were chatting, the two hundred men had finished one round of shooting. Five of them had hit the bullseye, thirty-seven had hit the inner ring, and one hundred and thirty-two had hit the outer ring.

A total of one hundred and seventy-four had hit the target, leaving twenty-six who failed.

This result was already very good, considering they had only been practicing for a day. With more time to train, they could definitely do even better.

The five soldiers who hit the bullseye were immediately rewarded, receiving double their military pay and additional silver as a bonus.

In particular, Yan Chonglou, who ranked first, received personal praise from Wu Changqing. He had hit the target from four hundred paces away.

This distance astonished the many generals, feeling that the way of fighting would have to change greatly in the future.

After rewarding the silver, Wu Changqing suddenly wondered if he should create a military rank system.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to reward soldiers who had performed meritorious service. Always rewarding them with money was too expensive, and rewarding them with official positions was not suitable, because the sharpshooters’ specialty was shooting, not commanding.

If there was a military rank system, it would be easy. He could reward them with honorary ranks, which would both raise their status and not cost too much money, while allowing them to continue to use their expertise.

However, if he created a military rank system now, the imperial court would probably have other ideas.

Chapter 126: Disdain for All

After taking the outer city walls, the Ming army did not immediately attack the inner city walls of Nanjing. They still needed to make some preparations.

For example, the troops needed to rest and reorganize, and the siege equipment needed to be repaired and rebuilt.

During this preparation period, Wu Changqing also sent an envoy into Nanjing.

It was still Fang Qihe. This time, he had two tasks: first, to persuade them to surrender; if that failed, then to discuss the ransom for Mandahai.

Wu Changqing was under immense pressure to support his army, so he would seize any opportunity to make a buck.

As for whether Hong Chengchou and the others would force the wealthy families in the city to hand over money again, Wu Changqing couldn’t control that. Anyway, it would be inconvenient for him to plunder after capturing Nanjing, so it was perfect to let Hong Chengchou do it now.

Hong Chengchou would take the blame, and he would get the silver – a win-win situation.

As for Mandahai, if they wanted him, Wu Changqing would just give him back; he wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of heartache.

Seeing Fang Qihe’s arrival, both Hong Chengchou and Bolo gnashed their teeth, wishing they could cut Fang Qihe into pieces.

However, killing Fang Qihe would only vent their anger and wouldn’t bring any other benefits. Fang Qihe was just a weak scholar who didn’t participate in the siege.

“Governor Hong, General Bolo, how have you been?”

Fang Qihe said something that stabbed them in the heart, and both Hong Chengchou and Bolo looked displeased. They had even lost the outer city walls, so how could they be doing well? This greeting was clearly mocking them.

“I wonder what brings Envoy Fang here this time?” Hong Chengchou asked.

“Naturally, it is to save the lives of the Governor and the General, and to secure future wealth and glory for both of you. Can’t you two see the current situation? Do you really think you can hold out with these high walls?”

Fang Qihe sneered.

Hong Chengchou was speechless. So, he was here to persuade them to surrender.

He felt a little awkward. Since entering the pass, he had always been the one sending people to persuade others to surrender, but he never expected the situation to change so quickly that now it was his turn to be persuaded.

“Spouting nonsense! The Nanjing city walls are four or five zhang high. What heaven-defying ability does Wu Changqing have to break through them? I say, you should go back and advise your general not to go against the general trend of the world. When our northern army marches south again, your general will be in danger.

If your general can surrender now, I can recommend him to join our Bordered Blue Banner, with at least the title of a Beile, considering his talents. If he makes more contributions in the future, it’s not impossible for him to be granted the title of Prince.”

Bolo, in turn, tried to persuade Fang Qihe, offering quite generous terms. That was a Prince, a title that was fundamentally impossible for non-Manchus to receive, yet Bolo was now making such a promise.

The more generous the terms he offered, the more it proved his fear of Wu Changqing.

Fang Qihe didn’t even listen to these terms.

Just a Beile? Wu Changqing was already a Duke in the Southern Ming, which was roughly equivalent to a Beile in terms of rank. Moreover, as long as he took Nanjing, becoming a Prince of the Blood was a certainty.

Since he could be a Han Prince, why bother being a Manchu Prince?

What’s more, Fang Qihe, as Wu Changqing’s accompanying scribe, knew Wu Changqing quite well. He had long seen that Wu Changqing’s ambitions were extremely high and that he didn’t take the imperial court seriously at all.

In other words, the title of Prince was a joke in Wu Changqing’s eyes; what he wanted was the throne.

Surrendering to the Manchus was absolutely impossible.

“General Bolo, don’t get excited. Time will prove who is spouting nonsense. Since you two have no intention of surrendering, my general never forces anyone. Anyway, no matter what kind of opponent they are, in my general’s eyes, they are all ants.

Next, let’s talk about Mandahai. My general has always been benevolent and broad-minded. Considering Mandahai’s homesickness, he has agreed to send him back to Nanjing. However, he stayed with us for a day or two and ate a lot of delicacies, so…”

Fang Qihe’s words almost made Bolo jump to his feet. Ajige had already disgusted him thoroughly, and now there was Mandahai. Did they really think there were mountains of gold and silver in Nanjing?

Moreover, the reasons they used were so perfunctory. What the hell was “ate a lot of delicacies” as a reason?

“Hmph, Mandahai, as a Manchu warrior, should die in battle. Does he even have the face to come back? Go tell him to commit suicide and apologize. We don’t have any silver to redeem him.”

Bolo said angrily.

Giving money to Wu Changqing would allow Wu Changqing to expand his army and increase his strength. He had already regretted doing such a thing once, and he would never do it a second time.

“This… well, if the General doesn’t mind, it would be best to write a letter for me to deliver. After all, he might not believe my oral message.”

Fang Qihe seemed very detached, not caring at all about the failed persuasion or the lack of ransom.

Bolo was about to write when Hong Chengchou said, “There’s no need for a letter. General Mandahai will definitely not doubt it.”

Hong Chengchou saw through Fang Qihe’s trick. If Bolo wrote a personal letter asking Mandahai to commit suicide and apologize, it would inevitably make Mandahai feel disheartened.

Victory and defeat were common occurrences in war; it was, of course, unreasonable to have to apologize with death after a defeat.

More importantly, they had spent a fortune to redeem the defeated Ajige last time, but now they wanted Mandahai to apologize with death. How could Mandahai not harbor resentment?

If such resentment arose, the possibility of Mandahai surrendering to the Ming army would increase several times.

Therefore, such a letter must not be written. Fang Qihe’s oral message would have no evidence, and Mandahai might not believe it, but if Bolo wrote a personal letter, then Mandahai would have no choice but to believe it.

“Well, a letter is always better. General Bolo is also his brother; doesn’t he have anything to say to him before he dies?”

Fang Qihe said unwillingly.

Unfortunately, Bolo was already alert. He knew that Hong Chengchou wouldn’t stop him from writing a letter for no reason. Since Hong Chengchou had done so, there must be a deeper meaning behind it.

“Forget it, I have nothing more to say to him. That’s the fate of a defeated general. If General Wu is truly benevolent, he can just release him, and I will remember General Wu’s kindness.”

Bolo said, still clinging to fantasy, actually wanting him for free.

“In that case, I will take my leave. Our army will launch an All-Out Assault on a chosen day. If you two regret it before our All-Out Assault, you can still send someone to contact us. Hurry up; if you miss these few days and surrender after the city is broken, the treatment you receive will be incomparable to what you can get now.”

Fang Qihe’s arrogant appearance really angered Bolo.

The battle hadn’t even started yet, so why was he acting so smugly certain of victory?

They still had high walls on their side; it didn’t seem like they were at a particular disadvantage.

Fortunately, Bolo also knew that he didn’t need to argue with a low-ranking scholar; it would be too demeaning.

Chapter 127: A Beile Surrenders

Hong Chengchou and Bolo’s reactions were largely within Wu Changqing’s expectations.

Bolo, needless to say, his status dictated that he could not easily surrender. As for Hong Chengchou, he had already been a traitor once. If he betrayed again, his reputation would truly stink across the entire Chinese land.

It would be acceptable if Wu Changqing could seize the throne after the betrayal, but it would be awkward if he followed Wu Changqing and was then defeated by the Qing army.

“Mandahai, you see, in their eyes, you are far less important than Ajige. What’s so good about serving such a court? Now that they are unrighteous, why should you maintain your loyalty?”

He had Mandahai present when he listened to Fang Qihe’s report.

Learning that Bolo resolutely refused to spend money to redeem him, Mandahai indeed felt a sense of discouragement. They were all born of the same grandfather, yet the treatment differed so greatly.

Thinking about the possibility of Dorgon dominating in the future, he felt even more aggrieved.

“Alas, I am ultimately just a Manchu,” Mandahai sighed. Even if Wu Changqing was willing to accept him, others in the Ming Dynasty might not.

After all, they were of different ethnicities, and it was still difficult to be accepted.

He had seen too much of this. Many Manchus were outwardly respectful to Hong Chengchou, but secretly still mocked him as a traitor.

“What Manchu or Han, all are Chinese people living on this Chinese land. Judging solely from appearance, is there a difference between Manchus and Han? If you put on Han clothes and walk around a Han town, no one would know you are a Manchu.

More importantly, you will never be the last, nor the only Manchu general to surrender. When I fight to the north, can I kill all of your Manchu generals? In the end, won’t I still have to accept them?”

Wu Changqing gave Mandahai another reassurance.

If Mandahai was the only Qing general to surrender to the Ming, he would naturally feel awkward.

However, if many Qing generals surrendered, having companions, he would feel much better.

“Fighting to the north, it’s not that easy, right?”

Mandahai was somewhat tempted upon hearing this, but in his heart, he held a conservative attitude towards Wu Changqing’s ability to defeat the Qing Dynasty.

He felt there was a chance, but not a particularly great one.

The Qing army still had several hundred thousand troops and had already occupied all of the north and parts of the south. And Wu Changqing? He currently only controlled Nanjing, with a force of no more than one hundred thousand.

In terms of strength, the Qing Dynasty still held an absolute advantage.

“General Mandahai, don’t underestimate my general’s abilities. My general was able to develop from three hundred local militia to an army of one hundred thousand on his own. He will be able to use this current army of one hundred thousand to unify this Chinese land. Don’t be misled by the superficial comparison of numbers. Bolo brought one hundred and twenty thousand troops, and you yourself have personally experienced the result.”

Fang Qihe also offered a word of persuasion, which shattered Mandahai’s psychological defenses.

He carefully considered Fang Qihe’s words and felt that they seemed to make a lot of sense. Wu Changqing could defeat one hundred and twenty thousand with sixty thousand, so why couldn’t the current one hundred thousand defeat two hundred thousand?

And now, it was quite difficult for the Qing to gather two hundred thousand troops to march south.

In short, Mandahai had been persuaded and decided to surrender.

He didn’t have to worry about his family, after all, his father, Daishan, was still a Prince, and still controlled the Bordered Red Banner and the Plain Red Banner troops.

No matter how angry Dorgon was, he wouldn’t dare to exterminate Daishan’s family because of this, otherwise the Qing would be completely split and in chaos.

“Your subject greets Duke Wu, willing to serve Duke Wu with the loyalty of a dog or horse.”

Mandahai ultimately succumbed to the desire for victory, to the attachment to wealth and glory, and bore the infamy.

After all, only a few people can let the idea of loyalty to the ruler defeat the desire to survive. Humans, by nature, are afraid of death, which is determined by genes, and there is nothing particularly shameful about it.

“Hahaha, General Mandahai, in less than a year, you will be glad for your decision today, let us wait and see.”

Wu Changqing said with full confidence that Mandahai would definitely be glad for his decision today.

Because, as a surrendered Manchu noble Beile, his future power would definitely not be low. Compared to the Manchu generals who surrendered later, he would definitely have a better time.

After Mandahai surrendered, he first went to Dong Tianbao’s unit and became Dong Tianbao’s deputy general.

His status was high, but he had no real power.

Mandahai was not surprised by this at all. He definitely had to show enough loyalty first before he could truly be valued.

The next day, Dong Tianbao, Mandahai, and Fang Qihe came to a place not far from the Nanjing city wall to shout and conduct a psychological warfare, to undermine the enemy’s morale.

This time, the protagonist became Mandahai.

“Brothers, I have surrendered to Duke Wu and have found a good job here. I am here to advise you brothers not to resist stubbornly anymore, that will only waste your lives in vain.

People only have one life, and once it’s lost, it’s gone. And you have all seen General Wu’s power, and there is no good end to opposing General Wu.

As long as you lay down your weapons and surrender to Duke Wu, you can not only save your lives but also receive preferential treatment. Duke Wu treats Manchus and Han equally. Now there are already many Mongol soldiers in the Wu army, and they have all received fair treatment, and those who have made meritorious contributions in battle have been rewarded…”

Mandahai had carefully memorized the manuscript written by Fang Qihe before coming, and now he spoke quite fluently, with some persuasive power.

On the city wall, whether they were Manchu soldiers or Han soldiers, they were all stunned when they heard Mandahai’s persuasion to surrender.

Some Manchu officers directly drew their sabers and cursed Mandahai in various ways.

At the same time, messengers quickly returned to the city and reported the news to Hong Chengchou and Bolo.

Hong Chengchou was fine. He had already guessed that this situation might occur. Now that it really happened, he just sighed a little.

But Bolo was different. He was so angry that he kicked over the tables and chairs and shouted for his servants to prepare his armor and helmet. He wanted to personally rush out and kill Mandahai.

This was too infuriating. Mandahai had disgraced their Manchu nobles.

It had always been only Han officials who surrendered, and no high-ranking Manchu generals had ever surrendered. Gradually, they had their own pride. That is, they would rather die in battle than surrender.

The previous Manchu generals had done quite well, but now Mandahai had set an extremely bad precedent.

With a leading bird, naturally, there will be people who follow suit.

In the future, when Manchu generals encounter adversity, their fighting spirit will be greatly reduced. They will think, even a Beile can surrender, why can’t I?

You can’t expect the Aisin Gioro family to surrender in order to save their lives, while we have to risk our lives for the Aisin Gioro family’s world.

On this point alone, Mandahai’s surrender was of extraordinary significance, a great blow and mockery to the Qing.

Chapter 128: A War of Words

Just as Bolo was about to lead his troops out, Hong Chengchou arrived in time to dissuade him.

Why abandon the several-dozen-meter-high city walls to rush out for a decisive battle? Was his brain addled?

Moreover, they hadn’t yet found a way to break the hollow square formation. Charging out rashly like that would be suicide.

Bolo’s actions were only a momentary impulse. With Hong Chengchou’s persuasion, he quickly calmed down.

Unable to charge out, Bolo could only go to the city walls, determined to shame Mandahai with his insults.

“Mandahai, you coward, you good-for-nothing! How can you still have the face to live in this world?”

Bolo roared furiously, his tone righteous and indignant.

“Bolo, you petty, treacherous official, deliberately suppressing and framing me! Ajige was defeated, and you spent one hundred thousand taels to redeem him. I was defeated, and you want to force me to commit suicide to atone for my sins? What wrong have I done? If not for the benevolence and kindness of Duke Wu, who couldn’t bear to kill me, I would have lost my life long ago.

Bolo, you cruel tyrant, only caring about your own selfish interests and completely disregarding the lives of your soldiers. Knowing full well that there are no reinforcements and that this city cannot be defended, you still refuse to retreat, single-mindedly using the lives of your subordinates to build your reputation for fighting to the death!”

Mandahai was no pushover either, using sharp words to retort, his emotions even more intense than Bolo’s. Bolo hated him, but he hated Bolo even more.

If he hadn’t been waiting for Bolo’s orders, he wouldn’t have been captured. In the end, he had worked diligently, but Bolo was unwilling to spend fifty thousand taels to redeem him.

Any general would feel disheartened in such a situation.

“You craven, cowardly rat! Our Qing army has no use for a useless Beile like you! We on the city walls are all warriors, and we would rather die than retreat!”

Bolo thought he was speaking well, with passion and inspiring morale.

But in reality, many soldiers felt nothing but despair when they heard that Bolo was indeed planning to have everyone fight to the death here.

“Die for your country” sounded nice. But for these lower-level soldiers, the strength of the country didn’t bring them any benefits. All the advantages were taken by the officials.

So, telling the lower-level soldiers to die for their country was nonsense. They would always put their own interests, their own lives, first.

If they weren’t afraid of being executed for desertion, many soldiers would have thrown down their weapons and left without hesitation. In the eyes of the soldiers, dying for the country was something for the officials to do, not for them.

In any case, the country belonged to those nobles, and it had nothing to do with ordinary people like them.

Bolo’s words were equivalent to telling the soldiers that their current situation was terrible and that they could die at any moment. This undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to morale.

Hong Chengchou wanted to offer some advice, but Bolo was already in a fit of anger, addicted to arguing with Mandahai, and completely ignored Hong Chengchou.

“Mandahai, you traitor! Do you think you’ll be better off surrendering to the Ming army? In their eyes, you’re just a dog to be used. Once they’re done with you, they’ll boil you and eat you!”

Bolo continued to shout insults.

Fang Qihe, below the city, immediately chimed in, “Grand Coordinator Hong, did you hear that? That’s what he really thinks. Bolo, don’t judge others by your own petty standards. Our general is different from you.”

His words were extremely pointed for Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou’s expression on the city wall had already turned dark. Bolo’s words filled him with disappointment.

He was also a defector. Now, Bolo was saying that defectors could only be used like dogs. Hong Chengchou’s heart turned completely cold.

At that moment, he truly regretted his decision to defect. Not only had he gained a bad reputation, but even after working himself to the bone, he was still regarded as a dog to be used.

Bolo realized his slip of the tongue and quickly explained to Hong Chengchou that he was only targeting Mandahai.

“General, there’s no need to explain. I won’t be swayed by a few words from the enemy. Right now, there’s no need for us to argue with them. Just have the archers drive them away.”

Hong Chengchou felt helpless. No matter how unhappy he was, he couldn’t say it directly. He could only pretend not to care. This was the sorrow of a defector.

Bolo also realized that his eloquence was indeed limited.

Therefore, he was too lazy to continue arguing and ordered the archers and arquebusiers to shoot. It would be best if they could shoot Mandahai dead, but if not, driving him away would also work, so he wouldn’t have to see him and be annoyed.

Seeing the archers’ movements on the city walls, Fang Qihe and the others quickly retreated.

Although the chance of being hit was low, there was no need to take the risk.

In any case, the goal of undermining the enemy’s morale had been achieved. Next, it was up to the soldiers. Battles still had to be fought with real swords and spears. Words alone were useless.

As they retreated, the Ming army began preparations for attacking the city.

Tens of thousands of troops arrived in front of the city walls. Wu Changqing didn’t like repeated attrition warfare. He either didn’t attack, or when he did, it was an All-Out Assault. Breaking through the city in one go would undoubtedly minimize losses.

Seeing the Ming army pressing in, Bolo began to feel nervous, because he knew that the Ming army was about to launch an All-Out Assault again.

“Order all the officers to prepare for defense, pay attention to the enemy’s movements, and strengthen the defense of key areas.”

Bolo issued a series of orders.

The Ming army’s siege wouldn’t evenly distribute troops every meter. There would definitely be a focus. And the Qing army’s officers needed to observe the Ming army’s movements and then rationally allocate the defending soldiers on the city walls.

They also needed to choose different defensive equipment based on the Ming army’s different siege weapons.

For example, the few cannons in the city had to be moved to the side facing the siege towers. The purpose of these cannons wasn’t to kill the enemy, but to smash the siege towers to pieces.

The value of a siege tower was far greater than that of dozens of soldiers.

The Qing army officers needed to observe the Ming army’s movements, but they lacked good equipment like telescopes, so they could only come to the city walls to observe.

One by one, the officers exposed themselves, and Yan Chonglou and other snipers revealed their greed.

Yan Chonglou and some other snipers stepped forward, walked to a distance of about two hundred meters from the city walls, and raised their gun barrels.

The Qing army on the city walls didn’t pay much attention, after all, they were already very familiar with the so-called flintlocks, knew that their accuracy was very poor, and knew that the Ming army generally only fired within a hundred meters.

Beyond two hundred meters was absolutely safe.

Therefore, even though many people didn’t understand what those dozens of soldiers in front were trying to do, they didn’t take it too seriously.

One by one, the sniper rifles were prepared, and Yan Chonglou even aimed at Bolo, the highest-ranking general.

If he could kill Bolo with one shot, the impact on the enemy would be immeasurable.

The person in charge of commanding saw that everyone had found their respective targets and had completed aiming, so he ordered, “Fire!”

Chapter 129: The Sniper’s Might

Pia.

Several gunshots rang out.

Gunshots were normal; the Qing army soldiers were used to the sound of gunfire by now. However, what was abnormal was that some of the officers on the city wall suddenly fell.

Some didn’t even utter a sound, while others screamed miserably.

When the soldiers came to their senses and took a closer look, they discovered that the fallen officers had been shot. Some had been shot in the head, their entire faces blasted apart in a gruesome sight.

Others had been shot in the shoulder, which was now gushing blood.

Still others had been shot in the chest and had already breathed their last.

This scene terrified the soldiers. The musketeers were more than two hundred meters away from the city wall. How could they shoot so far, and so accurately?

If the Ming army’s firearms were this powerful, what was the point of defending the city wall? Who would dare expose their bodies?

“General!”

Among the many screams, one came from Bolo, while the screams of his personal guards, who hadn’t been hit, were even louder.

Bolo had been hit. A bullet had grazed his neck, tearing off a small piece of flesh.

It hadn’t hit his trachea, but there was nothing to celebrate. Once hit by a bullet, death was only a matter of time. Only a very few people who were shot in the limbs could inexplicably survive.

For others, the area hit by the bullet would fester, and no matter what methods were used to treat it, the spread of the festering could not be stopped.

Festering limbs might allow a few more days of life, but Bolo had been shot in the neck. He probably wouldn’t last three days before the rot reached his trachea.

It was precisely because his personal guards realized this that they were screaming so heart-wrenchingly, because they knew that Bolo was already half a dead man, beyond saving.

“General, quickly call for a doctor, quickly find a doctor!”

The other officers were also in a panic. The enemy was about to attack the city, and the commander had been shot. This situation was terrible.

Even knowing that Bolo was beyond saving, the officers didn’t give up, clinging to a glimmer of hope as they sent Bolo back into the city and summoned all the best doctors.

At the same time, a large number of Qing army officers on the Nanjing city wall were being shot.

For a time, the officers who hadn’t been hit were in a state of extreme panic, squatting down and not daring to expose themselves.

This was too terrifying. The bullets were specifically targeting officers, completely ignoring the ordinary soldiers.

Even Hong Chengchou was almost hit. After that, he remained squatting, not daring to stand up again. It would be too unfair to be killed by a stray bullet.

Hong Chengchou still valued his life and didn’t want to die like this.

Not daring to stand up, not knowing the Ming army’s situation, Hong Chengchou was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

Moreover, at this time, news of Bolo being shot arrived, and Hong Chengchou almost vomited blood. Although he now loathed Bolo very much, that was a personal matter.

From a public affairs perspective, he absolutely didn’t want anything to happen to Bolo. The death of the commander-in-chief would be a huge blow to the morale of the soldiers.

Without a commander-in-chief with particularly high prestige to hold the line, some officers with different agendas might rebel.

“Governor-General, what do we do? The Wu army is charging over!”

Some of the bolder soldiers, discovering that the guns only targeted officers, bravely continued to observe the situation outside the city.

At this time, they saw tens of thousands of Ming soldiers carrying siege ladders and charging forward. The musket suppression troops were also advancing, and the cannons were firing.

Seeing this scene, many soldiers were already panicking and could only ask Hong Chengchou for instructions.

What to do?

Hong Chengchou also wanted to ask someone what to do in the face of the current situation.

Unfortunately, he was already the highest-ranking officer here, and he couldn’t find anyone to ask.

“Order all officers not to hide. Stand up and direct the defense!”

Hong Chengchou ordered other officers to stand up while he continued to hide.

Many mid-level officers cursed in their hearts at this scene. Comparing people is infuriating; it’s good to be a high-ranking official.

Some officers stood up under pressure to try to command, but this decision was a mistake.

After the snipers fired the first round, these officers were actually safe because the Ming army snipers needed to reload their bullets. But they squatted down to hide, and now they were being forced to stand up, just in time to encounter the snipers who had completed their second reload.

Gunshots rang out again, and some more officers were hit.

This time, the officers were truly scared out of their wits. No matter how Hong Chengchou urged and threatened them, no senior or junior officer was willing to stand up.

Anyway, everyone was disobeying orders. There were too many to punish, and Hong Chengchou couldn’t possibly kill everyone who disobeyed.

“Change clothes, change clothes! Throw away those damned armors of yours and put on ordinary soldiers’ clothes!”

Hong Chengchou was worthy of being someone with some brains. He quickly came up with an idea.

He didn’t believe that the bullets could recognize officers. It must be because their clothes were better than the soldiers’, so they were recognized by the enemy.

As long as they changed into soldiers’ clothes, the enemy wouldn’t recognize them, and they wouldn’t be targets.

Some officers understood Hong Chengchou’s meaning and quickly began to change their clothes. At the same time, they threw away their helmets and special longswords, disguising themselves as ordinary soldiers from head to toe.

It had to be said that this trick was somewhat effective. The snipers below the city hadn’t seen any officers showing their faces for a long time. And ordinary soldiers weren’t worth shooting.

“Pay attention to their movements. They’ve put on soldiers’ clothes.”

The careful Yan Chonglou noticed the anomaly. Some people wearing soldiers’ clothes were gesturing to other soldiers, but the other soldiers didn’t resist. This was very abnormal.

The most reasonable explanation was that those wearing soldiers’ clothes were actually officers.

After Yan Chonglou’s reminder, the other snipers also began to search carefully. As soon as they saw someone suspicious, they would immediately shoot.

There were definitely many cases of mistaken identity, but it didn’t matter. It was better to kill a soldier than to miss.

In fact, they missed quite often.

Although many people could hit the target at two hundred meters in training, there were many interfering factors in the actual battle on the noisy battlefield.

Most of the snipers couldn’t maintain their training level. Moreover, the parts of the officers that were exposed were much smaller than the target itself.

Yan Chonglou’s sniper team had a hit rate of only about twenty percent so far.

But even so, it scared the Qing army officers half to death.

Compared to their previous command of battles, the risk had increased tenfold.

Officers were also people, and even more so because they lived better lives, they valued their lives more than soldiers.

They were no longer able to handle such high-risk command tasks.

Chapter 130: Uncontrolled Chaos

Hong Chengchou on the city wall felt helpless. He found fighting the Wu army incredibly frustrating because they always had new tricks up their sleeves.

In war, the experience of the commander is crucial. They rely on their experience and learned military knowledge to direct battles.

However, in battles against the Wu army, Hong Chengchou realized that all his past experience and knowledge were useless. This was the most terrifying thing.

Was the hollow square formation scary?

Hong Chengchou didn’t think so. As long as the cavalry didn’t charge it, could those infantrymen really outrun the cavalry?

Were flintlock guns scary?

Hong Chengchou believed that as long as they didn’t engage in a head-on confrontation and instead used various flanking maneuvers, flintlock guns might not be invincible.

The Wu army’s weapons and tactics were indeed powerful, but they were not invincible. Hong Chengchou felt that the main reason they could easily achieve great victories was because others didn’t understand the Wu army’s methods.

They didn’t understand the hollow square formation, so they sent cavalry to charge it.

They didn’t understand the power of gunpowder, so the city walls were blown up.

They didn’t understand the mysterious guns in front of them, which led to so many officers being shot.

All of this was because they were unfamiliar with the Wu army, which allowed them to take advantage.

Hong Chengchou found it extremely difficult to fight such an opponent. He never knew what new tricks they would pull next or what kind of precautions to take.

What he couldn’t understand even more was where Wu Changqing got so many new weapons and tactics.

Looking at the generals who were cowering and afraid to stand up and command, Hong Chengchou felt his heart turn to ashes. With such a force, even the highest city walls couldn’t hold them back.

The Wu army had already reached the base of the city walls, placing ladders and beginning to climb.

The height of fifteen meters was truly frightening.

If the Qing army on the city walls were even a little bit brave, they could inflict heavy casualties on the Wu army. However, now that even the commanding generals were afraid and hiding to give orders, the soldiers were even more frightened, and their defense was perfunctory.

In addition to the ant-like siege, siege towers also reached the city walls, and various long-range suppression units were in position. The Wu army’s entire siege operation was orderly, with clear division of labor and high efficiency.

On the other hand, the Qing army on the city walls was like headless flies, completely clueless about what to do, fighting purely on instinct.

Even though the Qing army had high walls of more than ten meters, the attacking Wu army felt that it was easier to break through than the outer city walls a few days ago.

Before long, several points on the entire battle line were breached, and many Ming soldiers had already climbed onto the city walls.

Just then, the Wu army suddenly set off several large fireworks, leaving the Qing army puzzled.

They didn’t understand what it meant to set off a few harmless fireworks during such a fierce battle. Were they celebrating in advance?

This inexplicable act made Hong Chengchou feel disturbed. He knew that the Wu army must have a purpose in doing this, but he couldn’t guess it for the moment.

Tong Youwei, who had been prepared in the city for a long time, saw the fireworks rising into the sky and immediately ordered his family guards to cooperate with the Wu army who had infiltrated the city to take action.

They suddenly rushed out of a civilian house near the city gate, throwing grenades at the Qing army responsible for guarding the gate.

Their appearance was so sudden that the Qing army was still in a daze after being hit by the first wave of grenades. When did so many Wu soldiers infiltrate the city? How could they fight like this?

After the second round of grenades, the Wu army in the city split into two groups. One group cleared out the remaining Qing soldiers and then went to open the city gate. The other group chose good positions to defend against Qing soldiers who might come to support them at any time.

Although they were launching a surprise attack, this task was actually quite dangerous. If they couldn’t open the city gate in time to let the Wu army in, their few hundred soldiers probably couldn’t hold off the Qing army for even half an hour.

They were lucky. The Qing army’s command system was already in chaos. Even when the crucial city gate was lost, the Qing army didn’t have time to send troops to defend it.

The city gate opened, and the main force of the Wu army poured in instantly. Without encountering any resistance, the Wu army poured in at an extremely fast pace. In a short while, more than a thousand people had poured in, beginning to occupy key transportation points in the city and attacking the city walls from the inside.

In fact, attacking the city walls from the inside was not an easy task. The defending soldiers on the city walls still occupied the high ground.

However, once the city walls were attacked from the inside, the soldiers on the city walls were prone to collapse.

This meant that the situation had reached an extremely dire point, with no way to retreat.

Many soldiers, seeing that the city walls were already being attacked from both inside and outside, simply surrendered. They had no choice but to surrender in this situation. Continuing to fight might kill some enemies, but the city walls would definitely be lost. Then, whether they could survive was a question.

Although the Wu army had always treated prisoners well, if they resisted too fiercely and killed too many Wu soldiers, the Wu army might make an exception.

Everyone joined the army to make a living, not because they liked killing people.

Therefore, once they lost hope, these soldiers began a wave of surrenders.

If officers tried to stop them and used killing as a warning, the soldiers would hesitate to surrender.

But now, many officers were dead and couldn’t care about them.

The officers who were still alive were wearing soldiers’ uniforms, and their orders seemed to have lost their deterrent effect. No one listened to them.

One officer even tried to enforce military law, wanting to behead a soldier who was leading the surrender, but was killed instead.

Distinct uniforms still had some deterrent effect. Without officer uniforms, even the soldiers were not very afraid of their former superiors.

This dramatic scene caused the other officers who still wanted to struggle to give up completely. Anyway, for them, surrendering was just changing the object of their loyalty, not much difference.

Seeing the chaos on the city, Hong Chengchou knew that he had lost again, completely and utterly.

“Governor, things are not going well. Let’s find a way to retreat quickly.”

His personal guard reminded him that the Wu army pouring into the city and the Wu army on the city walls were not particularly numerous yet. They still had a chance to escape.

If they delayed any longer, the difficulty of retreating would increase sharply after more Ming soldiers poured in.

“Retreat to where? The outer city walls are still in the hands of the Ming army.”

Hong Chengchou said helplessly. They needed troops to charge and break through the defense of the outer city walls if they wanted to retreat.

In this chaotic situation, he couldn’t find a force that he could still command smoothly.

“We can go by water, escaping from the river to the Yangtze River.”

Some subordinates continued to persuade him that Nanjing was not completely surrounded by city walls. There were still some waterways connecting to the Yangtze River. They had a good chance of escaping by boat from these places.

“General, why don’t we just surrender? Even if we escape, what can we do? We lost a full one hundred and forty thousand troops in Nanjing. We will be held accountable even if we escape back to the north. It’s better to surrender to the Wu army. They can even accept Mandahai. There’s no reason not to accept us Han people.”

Some subordinates advocated surrender. After all, their power depended on the troops under their command.

What could they do if they abandoned their troops and escaped back to the north? Would the Qing Dynasty still treat them like human beings?

Chapter 131: Taking Nanjing

“Those who wish to flee, do so quickly. Those who wish to surrender, I won’t stop you. As for me, I have no face left to live.”

As Hong Chengchou spoke, he drew his sword, feigning suicide, but was stopped by his quick-witted subordinates and personal guards.

“Alas, you are trying to make me out to be disloyal and unrighteous!”

Hong Chengchou roared, berating his men.

Some of the officers, seeing Hong Chengchou’s performance, wished they could kick him off the city wall.

After all, not everyone would be fooled by Hong Chengchou’s little trick. There were plenty of high-ranking officials who used ‘attempted suicide’ to preserve their reputation, and plenty of such schemes. Everyone knew the game.

Some people acted well, and their subordinates cooperated, so the commander could often get away with a passable reputation. Later, when surrendering, they could say that they had once tried to commit suicide for their country, but were saved by their subordinates, and they were also very helpless.

But some people didn’t act well, and their subordinates didn’t cooperate, which was embarrassing.

For example, Qian Qianyi. He wanted to surrender to the Qing army and live, but he was afraid of being called a traitor, so he wanted to first act out a scene of committing suicide for his country, so that he could say he was forced to surrender later.

Unfortunately, after he jumped into the water, his subordinates didn’t understand his intentions and really thought that the old master wanted to leave behind a loyal name by dying, so they didn’t dare to save him and ruin his great virtue. Or perhaps some people saw through it and were too lazy to save such a hypocritical person, lest they get a bad name for ruining someone else’s loyalty to the country.

As a result, Qian Qianyi, with no one to save him, was embarrassed. He was just pretending, not really wanting to die. Watching him die like that was very awkward.

Seeing that his subordinates were determined not to save him, Qian Qianyi gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and climbed back ashore on his own. His wife, Liu Rushi, asked him why he came up, and Qian Qianyi said, “The water is too cold,” which stunned countless people and became an eternal joke.

Hong Chengchou was luckier than Qian Qianyi. His subordinates were sensible and didn’t embarrass him or make him a laughingstock.

As the Ming army rushed towards him, Hong Chengchou and the others were very skillfully captured.

He had been captured before, so he was indeed very experienced and skilled.

With the fall of the banner, the resistance on the city wall quickly weakened.

With the commander gone, continuing to resist would be insane.

The officers were already leading the way in surrendering, so the soldiers were even less likely to resist stubbornly.

Outside the city, Wu Changqing and the others saw some of the situation on the city through telescopes, and immediately, joy and pride were written all over their faces.

This was Nanjing, a city said to be able to withstand an army of one million, but they had taken it easily in just a few days.

“With rifled guns, it will be much easier for us to conquer cities in the future. Recapturing Beijing is just around the corner,” Liu Hansan said with emotion. The deterrent effect of this kind of rifled gun on generals was too great, and it would be a great test for the Qing army’s command system in the future.

“It’s not that easy. In the future, the Qing army’s generals may all wear soldiers’ uniforms, making it difficult to identify them,” Li Shaobin said. He had just seen the enemy generals changing their clothes. Since the generals of Nanjing could think of this trick, the Qing army generals in the north, with intelligence and time to study, would definitely be able to come up with countermeasures.

This rifled gun could still play a deterrent role in the future, but it would be impossible to achieve a decisive effect like this time.

“Clear out the remaining enemies as soon as possible, and try to spend the night in the city,” Wu Changqing said.

The urban area inside the capital’s city walls was nearly one hundred square kilometers. Compared to later generations, it was much smaller, but in this era, it was already a super metropolis. It would be difficult to find a larger city anywhere in the world.

Such a large urban area would not be easy to completely occupy and clear; it would take a lot of time and effort.

Since Wu Changqing had spoken, his subordinates naturally did not dare to slack off. They no longer had the leisure to continue chatting and went to order and command their respective troops to speed up the clearing.

It wasn’t until it was so dark that one couldn’t see their fingers that the city was initially brought under control.

Unfortunately, it was already night, and Wu Changqing had no intention of entering the city. It was better to wait another night and enter during the day tomorrow, so that the people could come out and watch, and show off the strength of his army.

This was also an opportunity to establish prestige and win the hearts of the people, and Wu Changqing would not miss it.

The generals did not fulfill Wu Changqing’s wish to spend the night in the city, and they were all somewhat ashamed and uneasy, fearing that Wu Changqing would be angry because of this.

In the battle to capture Nanjing, they really had no merit. They relied on the snipers that Wu Changqing had created.

Wu Changqing had finally given them an opportunity to show their abilities, but they had not seized it and had not even done a good job of clearing out the remaining enemies.

As a commander, he naturally did not like a group of ineffective subordinates.

“Report the results of the battle,” Wu Changqing said, not taking what he had said to heart. After all, it was just a casual remark. He didn’t care whether he entered the city a day earlier or a day later.

“In this battle, our army killed more than six thousand Qing soldiers, captured more than thirty-one thousand enemy soldiers, of which twenty thousand were cavalry. We also captured twenty thousand warhorses and thirteen thousand packhorses.”

Hearing that more than thirty thousand warhorses had been captured, the generals stood up abruptly.

These were warhorses! Currently, the price of a warhorse was about eighteen taels of silver, and a packhorse was also eleven or twelve taels. The value of this batch of warhorses alone had reached more than five hundred thousand taels of silver.

Moreover, this was the market price. Warhorses were strategic materials and were basically in a state where they had a price but no market. Not to mention such a large number, tens of thousands of warhorses, you couldn’t buy them even if you had the money.

With this batch of warhorses, they could form a powerful cavalry.

To go north and recover the north, cavalry was an indispensable type of soldier, because the plains in the north were too large. From Jiangbei to Beijing, it was all plains, and the entire North China Plain stretched for thousands of kilometers.

The hollow square formation of flintlock guns could restrain cavalry, but the premise was that the cavalry would come to charge them.

If the cavalry just roamed around the periphery, constantly threatening the infantry with their mobility, it would also be a very troublesome thing.

Infantry needed to maintain formation at all times when encountering this situation. As long as they relaxed for a moment, the cavalry would come howling. Without formation, the flintlock gun troops would be slaughtered when facing cavalry.

But maintaining formation at all times was not easy. At least, they needed to sleep at night and set up camp.

In short, if cavalry was used well, it could still compete with flintlock gun armies.

Moreover, Wu Changqing’s flintlock gun troops were small in number. If there was another major battle, the Qing army could avoid attacking this main force and attack other troops, and Wu’s army would also be in trouble.

Therefore, forming a cavalry was still very necessary for Wu Changqing.

In the past, he suffered from a lack of warhorses and qualified cavalry, but now he had both. He just needed to persuade those cavalrymen.

But this was not easy, because almost all of the captured cavalrymen were Manchus and Mongols.

Chapter 132: Offering a Beauty

Cavalrymen are notoriously difficult to capture because of their speed; if they can’t win, they can always run away.

Therefore, instances of capturing a large number of cavalry and warhorses in one fell swoop are extremely rare.

This time, Wu Changqing could be said to have gotten lucky. He scared Bolo with his hollow square formation, leading him to not dare keep his cavalry outside the city, which resulted in their capture.

Such a stroke of good fortune is unlikely to happen again.

“Congratulations, General! With this cavalry force, our Northern Expedition is even more promising!”

Liu Hansan laughed heartily. Their strength was growing rapidly, expanding at an astonishing rate.

“The Northern Expedition is still a long way off. Right now, the proportion of surrendered soldiers in our army is too high, posing too many hidden dangers. We’ll need to spend a long time assimilating them; I don’t want any accidents. You all need to pay attention to these aspects as well. If you detect any signs of wavering morale, deal with it promptly.

Next, we’ll take Zhenjiang, and then we can defend along the Yangtze River and focus on development.”

Wu Changqing wasn’t in a hurry to launch the Northern Expedition. Militarily, he could maintain an absolute advantage, so he wasn’t worried about failing to capture any place.

What he needed to worry about was internal problems. There were too many surrendered soldiers and generals in the army now. Who knew if any of these people would have a moment of madness and revolt?

Internal problems were the truly serious issues.

“Exactly. Next, we need to stabilize our internal affairs.”

Dai Zhijun also felt worried about the current state of the army, as there were too many hidden dangers.

Moreover, after taking Nanjing, they would face many troubles. It was possible that the Longwu Emperor and the Prince of Lu would fight fiercely over who would take control of Nanjing.

The recovery of Nanjing would have a huge impact on the political landscape of the Ming Dynasty, and there would be no shortage of troubles to deal with.

“Tell me about our losses.”

Wu Changqing interrupted his subordinates’ discussion. How to develop and what the next plan should be were too complex, and it would be difficult to reach a conclusion even if they discussed it until dawn. Right now, it was better to hear about the battle losses first.

As for the next plan and actions, they could research and discuss them to their hearts’ content in the coming days.

“Our army suffered approximately two thousand one hundred deaths, and over five hundred were seriously wounded.”

Taking Nanjing at the cost of just over two thousand men could be said to be a very, very small loss.

After hearing the battle losses and results, Wu Changqing announced the end of the meeting.

Having just captured Nanjing, there were many things to deal with, and it was impossible to handle them all at once. It was better to go to bed early and deal with them tomorrow.

He didn’t even meet with Hong Chengchou, nor did he immediately receive Tong Youwei, who had made great contributions in breaking the city. Having grown accustomed to victory, he now faced all kinds of victories with composure.

After the generals left, Xue Guiren requested an audience a while later.

Wu Changqing wondered if this guy’s brain was malfunctioning. He knew that he wanted to rest, yet he still came to bother him.

However, he still chose to grant the audience. After all, Xue Guiren was now a mid-level leader in the army and a key member of their group.

Xue Guiren didn’t come in alone; he also brought a person wearing a black veil.

After this person entered the tent, Xue Guiren removed the veil, revealing a beautiful young woman with excellent looks.

Wu Changqing immediately understood. This guy was here to pimp, to offer him a woman to curry favor.

Actually, Wu Changqing hadn’t shown himself to be too lustful, so some of his subordinates didn’t know his personality and didn’t dare to send him women.

But Xue Guiren chose to take the risk because he had obtained an exceptionally beautiful woman. He had captured this woman, who was part of a theatrical troupe, in Bolo’s residence during the mopping-up operations in the city.

He had been immediately captivated by this woman named Luo Min, but he had controlled himself with his strong willpower and chose to offer her to Wu Changqing.

To not offer a good thing to the commander and enjoy it yourself first? This matter could be small or big. As a recent defector, he needed to be careful in his actions.

First, send her to Wu Changqing. If Wu Changqing liked her, he would be successful in currying favor. If Wu Changqing didn’t like her, he could enjoy her after being scolded.

“General, you have been fighting battles for days, and this subordinate fears that you are exhausted. I happened to find a woman in the city who can relieve your fatigue.”

Xue Guiren said.

Wu Changqing was speechless. He didn’t really like his subordinates sending him women, as that would corrupt the atmosphere and easily lead others to not focus on studying combat.

Although the feeling of being flattered was quite pleasant, it wouldn’t do if all his subordinates were bootlickers.

However, the woman that Xue Guiren was sending now was very much to Wu Changqing’s liking. Both her appearance and figure were top-notch.

More importantly, Wu Changqing had been out here for more than two months. For a man in his youth, full of vigor, he had been holding back quite a bit.

Before, when no one sent anyone, Wu Changqing hadn’t thought about it too much. Now that Xue Guiren had suddenly sent one to his doorstep, Wu Changqing’s bestial desires were completely ignited.

“Don’t go around abducting women and ruining our army’s reputation.”

Wu Changqing feigned anger.

“General, rest assured. This person is an actress from Bolo’s residence, a pitiful woman who was forcibly taken to the manor by Bolo. It is her good fortune to serve the General; she will never have the slightest grievance.”

Xue Guiren explained.

Learning that she hadn’t been forcibly abducted, Wu Changqing was completely relieved and said, “Leave her here. Do less of this kind of thing in the future. Focus your efforts on studying how to lead troops and fight battles. Only by making military contributions can you be promoted.”

“This subordinate knows his mistake and will certainly follow the General’s instructions, burn the midnight oil, and share the General’s burdens.”

After Xue Guiren finished speaking, he withdrew. Although Wu Changqing had reprimanded him on the surface, he was very happy in his heart because Wu Changqing hadn’t rejected the woman, which meant he had succeeded.

As for Wu Changqing’s verbal reprimand, that was just the appearance that a great figure had to put on. Even Hong Chengchou had to put on a suicide act before surrendering.

Wu Changqing’s saying that he could be promoted as long as he made contributions was actually a disguised guarantee of his promotion.

What counted as making contributions, and how much would the promotion be? These were all things that Wu Changqing could decide with a single word.

Xue Guiren walked back in a good mood, but on the way, he encountered Dong Tianbao. Dong Tianbao called Xue Guiren into his tent and cursed, “Xue Guiren, do you even have me in your eyes? You dared to not invite me along for the beauty offering? Did you capture that beauty all by yourself?”

Xue Guiren was currently working under him, so the fact that Xue Guiren had found an exceptionally beautiful woman naturally couldn’t be hidden from him.

“Lord, I have been wronged! I was just worried that General Wu wouldn’t like it, and that it would implicate you. That’s why I risked myself to test the waters. Now that I know there’s no danger, if I obtain another beauty in the future, I will definitely have the Lord present her.”

Xue Guiren said with a smile on his face, while inwardly cursing Dong Tianbao’s ancestors and all their female relatives.

In the past, their official positions and status were at the same level. Later, Dong Tianbao relied on the merit of defecting and surrendering earlier to step all over him.

Xue Guiren was not someone who was willing to be subordinate to others, so he naturally wanted to change the situation. To this end, he was even willing to offend Dong Tianbao.

Chapter 133: Entering the City

“What’s your name? Is your story really as that man said?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“My name is Luo Min. I was once the daughter of Luo Yun, a director in the Ministry of Personnel. After the Manchus entered the pass, my father was wrongly killed. I fled with my family to Nanjing and joined an opera troupe to make a living. Later, Bolo came to Nanjing and summoned our troupe to perform exclusively for him.”

Luo Min answered cautiously, knowing that the man before her was the supreme commander of hundreds of thousands of troops, wielding immense power.

As she spoke, Wu Changqing watched her closely, trying to detect any signs of lying.

In his position, he needed to be constantly vigilant against assassination attempts. While it was unlikely that a weak woman like Luo Min could kill him, it was still necessary to be cautious.

Seeing no obvious flaws in her story, Wu Changqing relaxed his guard and beckoned her closer.

He was about to enjoy the benefits of his era again.

No need for emotions, no need for a pursuit, not even a need to know the other person. As long as he desired, he could indulge himself.

And Luo Min would not only not resist but would also try her best to please him.

For a former wealthy young lady like her, whose family had been ruined, being favored and taken in by Wu Changqing was the best possible outcome.

Otherwise, she would have to continue performing in operas and risk catching the eye of someone else, becoming their plaything.

Since she was destined to become someone’s possession anyway, being the plaything of a powerful figure was better, as she wouldn’t have to worry about being passed around to others once they grew tired of her.

Afterwards, Luo Min was taken away to be settled elsewhere. Wu Changqing didn’t dare to share a bed with her until he had thoroughly investigated her background.

While she couldn’t harm him while he was awake, it was a different story when he was asleep.

The next day, Wu Changqing formally entered the city.

The streets were lined with people, all eager to see the legendary General Wu.

Nanjing wasn’t too close or too far from Suzhou, and Wu Changqing’s name had already spread throughout the city. He was known as the God of War for his military achievements and as a benevolent official who loved the people.

Fortunately, this era had many taboos, or else Wu Changqing would surely have earned the title of “Friend of Women” for inventing soap, perfume, and mirrors.

As time passed, the people finally saw Wu Changqing’s true face.

Their first impression was that he possessed both refinement and majesty.

The refinement came from his short beard, which was barely visible from a distance. A man without a beard often appeared delicate.

The majesty stemmed from Wu Changqing’s status and position. His glorious military exploits and immense power created an invisible pressure, making people feel that his authority was unassailable.

“Wow, so handsome.”

From the upper floors of buildings, some wealthy young ladies had secretly chosen their spots to watch the legendary hero.

“So handsome, and also the Governor-General, a Duke! If only I could marry him.”

Some girls couldn’t help but voice their innermost desires. In this region of the south, it seemed impossible to find a man more outstanding than Wu Changqing.

“Is that the one who wins every battle and invented mirrors and perfume? He doesn’t look like anything special. How can he be so talented?”

Some more reserved young ladies, who valued inner talent, curiously scrutinized Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing proceeded along the road, stopping at the entrance of the Governor-General’s mansion to deliver a speech.

“Fellow countrymen, I am Wu Changqing…”

This time, Wu Changqing’s speech didn’t stir up nationalistic sentiments or focus too much on military matters. Instead, he mainly talked about leading the people to have enough to eat and live a good life.

This kind of speech naturally won the cheers and love of the people. Compared to national affairs, the people cared more about their food.

Wu Changqing’s promise brought tears to their eyes.

After all, no official had ever made such a guarantee before.

The people had never even expected officials to lead them to a better life. They would be grateful and consider them righteous officials as long as they didn’t raise taxes arbitrarily.

“Righteous official!”

The people knelt down and kowtowed in gratitude. If Wu Changqing’s words were true, then they could truly have an easier time this year.

Seeing these people voluntarily kneeling before him, Wu Changqing felt quite proud.

Although he knew that kneeling was a bad habit, he had no intention of forcibly abolishing it. The people of this era didn’t feel humiliated by kneeling before important figures anyway.

Being knelt to by others greatly satisfied his desire for power and gave him a strong sense of superiority, which felt very comfortable.

After having the people rise, Wu Changqing stepped into the Governor-General’s mansion, and the soldiers escorted the crowd away from the entrance.

“I used to hear that Duke Wu loved the people like his own children, but I didn’t believe it. Now it seems that it’s true.”

A scholar who had heard Wu Changqing’s speech was also quite impressed.

“I heard that Duke Wu has established a university in Suzhou, and those with excellent grades are directly granted the position of Fifth-Rank Secretary. I wonder if he will establish a university in Nanjing as well, giving the students of Nanjing a chance.”

A well-informed scholar remarked.

Immediately, some who were unaware called out to “Brother Chu, Brother Chu,” asking him to explain in detail.

A fifth-rank official! What kind of school could offer such an opportunity, where one could be granted a fifth-rank official position without even taking the imperial examination?

Chu Xiongfei smiled, showing off, “That’s the new-style academy founded by Duke Wu in Suzhou. As long as you pass the assessment, you can enroll for free, and the academy will cover all your food and lodging. Moreover, as long as you have excellent grades, you can directly become an official.

Suzhou has already conducted two assessments, and a total of eight people have been granted official positions, including a Fifth-Rank Secretary. More importantly, that academy has fewer than two hundred students. In just two assessments, eight out of two hundred people have become officials.”

Although there were imperial examinations in this era, the difficulty of becoming an official was still very high. Every year, thousands or even tens of thousands of people participated in the examinations.

But how many positions could the imperial court actually offer each year?

Becoming an official through the imperial examination was a matter of life and death, extremely tragic. Anyone who could pass the imperial examination was no ordinary person, at least their intelligence far surpassed that of ordinary people.

That’s why they could still become officials even though they hadn’t studied the professional knowledge of governance. Because their learning ability was very strong, as long as someone gave them a little guidance, they could quickly master that professional knowledge.

“Hmph, those are just unorthodox methods. Now that the old capital has been recovered, the Regent will surely return to Nanjing, and the imperial examination will definitely be held then. It’s hard to say whether the court will recognize the official positions granted by Duke Wu at the academy.”

Someone, seeing Chu Xiongfei praising the academy, immediately retorted.

In the eyes of these so-called orthodox scholars, only the imperial examination was the right path, and learning those strange and unusual knowledge at the academy was heresy.

“Not recognize the official positions granted by Duke Wu? Hahaha, you think too highly of the imperial court.”

Chu Xiongfei laughed loudly. In this chaotic world, the power of military generals was overwhelming. If the court dared not recognize the official positions granted by Wu Changqing, then Wu Changqing would dare not recognize the court.

It was obvious who would suffer more.

Chapter 134: Meeting with Merchants

Governor-General’s Office.

After a night of tallying, the results of the seized materials were mostly in.

As the ancient capital of six dynasties and the political, economic, and cultural center of the South, Nanjing was much wealthier than places like Suzhou and Changzhou.

The cash in the government treasury alone amounted to three hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver. Although there was a lot of money, Nanjing had many officials, including a large number of sinecure holders, making the cost of running this administrative machine extremely high.

Wu Changqing had already decided to cut some of the old-style officials without real positions to save expenses.

A large amount of military grain was also seized, totaling two million four hundred thousand catties. However, for an army of one hundred thousand, this was only enough for ten days of consumption during wartime. Even with slightly lower consumption during peacetime, it would only last for about half a month.

As Wu Changqing’s strength rapidly expanded, his expenditures also increased rapidly.

Relying solely on these seizures to support the one hundred thousand-strong army was impossible. He had to find ways to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

Increasing revenue naturally meant relying on taxes.

Besides these, the remaining assets were mostly real estate, such as Hong Chengchou’s mansion and furniture, antiques, and Bolo’s mansion, and so on. All officials who were completely loyal to the Qing Dynasty were to be investigated and their assets seized.

Officials who refused to surrender were also subject to confiscation.

This portion of the money was also substantial, worth two to three million taels, but it would take time to convert it into cash.

After listening to the statistical report, Wu Changqing went to the main hall to meet with the merchant representatives of Nanjing.

There were a total of a dozen merchants, seven of whom had contributed to the Ming army’s siege.

The other merchants who had not participated in the battle for the city gates were now filled with regret. They had not expected the Qing army to be so vulnerable.

Had they known this would happen, they would have joined without hesitation.

And now, these merchants who had not made any contributions were bound to be treated differently.

“Greetings, Lord Wu.”

As soon as Wu Changqing appeared, everyone lowered their heads slightly and bowed.

While bowing their heads, many merchants were also sighing inwardly, marveling at Wu Changqing’s age.

Such a young man had actually started from scratch, amassed an army of over one hundred thousand, and defeated the Qing Dynasty’s Hong Chengchou, killing General Bolo, who pacified the South.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, such great achievements made him a rare historical hero. As long as nothing unexpected happened and he continued to develop in this way, Wu Changqing would be one of the most important figures in this dynasty for decades to come, wielding immense power.

Such a person had to be appeased; there was no other choice.

“Please, everyone, sit down. You all are meritorious officials in the successful capture of Nanjing this time,” Wu Changqing said.

“We wouldn’t dare, we only contributed a meager effort within our capabilities, mainly thanks to your Lordship’s wise leadership,” Tong Youwei quickly declined, not daring to take credit.

After all, their role had not really affected the overall situation, but only helped the Ming army accelerate the speed of breaking through the city and reduce some of the Ming army’s losses.

“Merit is not divided by size. Those who are loyal to my army, I will never mistreat. The seven shopkeepers who contributed to this siege, I will grant you the rights to operate the businesses of perfume, scented soap, soap, and glass mirrors in Southern Zhili.”

This promise made Tong Youwei and the others beam with joy. They had risked their clans’ extermination precisely for these benefits.

Now that Wu Changqing had kept his promise, they were finally relieved.

Although it was only the right to operate the businesses, without the right to obtain the formulas for production, it was already very good.

The right to operate the businesses meant that only these seven families were allowed to do this kind of business in the Southern Zhili area. The goods produced in Suzhou had to be supplied to them at the agreed price and could not be supplied to others.

In this way, Tong Youwei and the others could control the supply of goods and set higher prices to earn substantial profits.

This was no loss for the Chen family in Suzhou, as it was the same to them who they sold their goods to, as long as they got paid. But for Tong Youwei and the others, it was a great benefit.

The only ones who suffered were the consumers in the Southern Zhili area, who would probably find it difficult to use cheap perfumes and scented soaps in the future.

Of course, Hong Chengchou had previously imposed heavy taxes on these commodities, so these things were already very expensive in Nanjing. Now, Tong Youwei and the others did not need to raise prices, and they could earn a lot by selling at the original prices.

The seven families who had contributed were naturally beaming with joy, but the other merchants who had not contributed could only sigh in their hearts.

At this time, they did not dare to make excessive demands and could only watch others make a fortune.

They could only wait for future opportunities to see if they could find a chance to please Wu Changqing and then get some benefits.

After all, Wu Changqing had more than just perfumes and scented soaps in his hands. Even those cheap cloths were very tempting.

“Thank you, Lord Wu. To support your Lordship in recovering more lost territories, I am willing to donate one hundred thousand taels to support your Lordship’s army,” Tong Youwei said, very tactfully, after Wu Changqing had given them benefits.

Although one hundred thousand taels was a lot, it was nothing compared to the long-term profits of those soaps.

More importantly, donating these one hundred thousand taels was equivalent to selling a favor to Wu Changqing, and they would not have to worry about being harassed and extorted by those soldiers in the future when doing business.

Collusion between officials and merchants was very important in ancient times when the legal system was not particularly sound. To do business, one must have a good relationship with the officials, otherwise, no matter how big the business was, it would be in vain.

“A county magistrate can ruin a family, and a prefect can exterminate a clan” referred to the fact that officials could easily cause others to be ruined and killed.

This money had to be spent no matter what. As long as Wu Changqing did not take the money and not do anything like Hong Chengchou, Tong Youwei and the others would not lose out.

“I am also willing to donate eighty thousand taels,” another wealthy merchant named Cui Mingchong followed suit. The other merchants then reported the amount they wanted to donate, with the smallest being fifty thousand taels.

These seven merchants alone donated five hundred thousand taels, enough for Wu Changqing to support his military expenses for a long time.

“I, Sun Daoming, am deeply ashamed that I was unable to provide assistance when the King’s army broke through the city. I specially donate two hundred thousand taels of silver, hoping that the General will accept it with a smile.”

Sun Daoming had not interfered in the actions initiated by Tong Youwei because he was afraid of getting into trouble.

And now, watching Tong Youwei and the others make big profits and establish a close relationship with Wu Changqing, he knew that he had to take action.

Otherwise, whether Nanjing would still accommodate Sun Daoming in the future was a question.

To show his loyalty, Sun Daoming gritted his teeth and directly donated two hundred thousand taels.

He would not be able to earn this money back in three or four years. If Wu Changqing could not defend Nanjing for three years, he would lose a lot.

However, Sun Daoming still made this decision because he was now very optimistic about Wu Changqing.

Young and ambitious, talented and virtuous, and knowing how to win the hearts of the people, in short, the various signs revealed by Wu Changqing showed that he was a rare hero in troubled times.

Investing in such a hero would definitely not be wrong.

The others followed Sun Daoming’s lead and donated, all expressing their positions.

Whether they were happy or not, as long as they wanted to be treated fairly and still wanted to do business, this protection fee had to be paid.

Not only did they have to pay, but they also had to pay more than Tong Youwei and the others to show their obedience.

The sixteen merchants donated a total of one million five hundred thousand taels of silver, enough for Wu Changqing’s military expenses for seven or eight months.

The merchants at the end of the Ming Dynasty were indeed very rich.

Wu Changqing sighed inwardly.

The distribution of wealth at the end of the Ming Dynasty had a major characteristic: the imperial court and the common people had no money, while officials and private merchants were particularly wealthy.

The Ming Dynasty’s tax on land was too heavy, and the tax on commerce was too light, leading to this deformed society. Moreover, with the increasing overseas trade and smuggling, the wealth of private merchants increased rapidly, and even the seeds of capitalism began to sprout.

The early development of capitalism relied on the exploitation of the people and overseas colonies.

The Ming Dynasty did not have overseas colonies, and the accumulation of capitalist wealth basically relied on the exploitation of the people.

And the people had no money to live on, so they rebelled, and the imperial court had no money to suppress them, so Li Zicheng was able to capture Beijing, and the Ming Dynasty was confusedly destroyed.

Chapter 135: Bamboozling

“Seeing your patriotism, I am deeply gratified. You all must know me; I have always valued commerce and encouraged trade. Most common people are uneducated, and the prosperity of this world still depends on us, the few elite.”

Wu Changqing began his bamboozling. In front of the common people, he said that the most important thing in the world was the people. In front of the merchants, he touted the strategy of elite leadership.

His words pleased many merchants because they were part of this elite. As long as Wu Changqing held this view, they would benefit.

Wu Changqing continued, “How can we make the world prosperous, allowing us, the elite, to make big money while supporting those common people, preventing them from rebelling?”

“It’s actually very simple: technology.”

Wu Changqing uttered a word that many didn’t quite understand. Moreover, they didn’t quite grasp what Wu Changqing was saying.

For thousands of years, the wealth of the world had been finite. If merchants had more, the common people had less. How could merchants make big money while the common people lived well? They couldn’t figure it out, couldn’t understand it.

“What is technology? Flintlock guns are technology. The manufacturing of scented soap and soap is technology. I won’t hide it from you all. I am now promoting new varieties of rice in Suzhou, with an expected yield of twelve hundred jin per mu. This is also technology.

The same land can feed more people, and the freed-up labor can be used to manufacture other goods for sale overseas, earning foreign wealth. In this way, the common people don’t have to starve and rebel, and we can make a fortune in the process.”

Wu Changqing said all this, of course, not to show off his knowledge and learning in front of them.

His main hope was that these guys could send their descendants to learn new knowledge and cultivate more new-style talents.

The common people were busy farming to make a living. Even if studying was free, they might not be willing to come because losing a laborer would have a huge impact on them.

Wu Changqing also wanted the common people to live better, but at this stage, to develop national power, he really had to rely on this group of not-so-good merchants.

These merchants had money, and their children could study in peace.

Moreover, if someone with talent and intelligence emerged among them and wanted to carry out some kind of experiment or invention, their family would also have the financial resources to support it.

If it were the common people, even if they had a brilliant idea in their heads, but didn’t have the money to buy equipment and materials for experimentation, that idea would ultimately just be an idea, and it would be abandoned over time.

“Twelve hundred jin per mu?”

Sun Daoming asked somewhat失态. As a grain merchant, he knew a lot about grain yields per mu. Paddy fields with a yield of six hundred jin could be classified as fertile fields.

And now, Wu Changqing said that there was a variety with a yield of more than a thousand jin per mu. How could he not be surprised?

“That’s right. Those who don’t believe it can wait until the summer harvest to see if I’m lying to you at the experimental fields in Suzhou. However, those who believe me now should send their descendants to the academy as soon as possible to learn those new-style knowledge, instead of just studying the Four Books and Five Classics.

I will establish a larger academy in Nanjing, specializing in cultivating new-style talents. It will teach all kinds of new-style knowledge: physics, chemistry, geography, and arithmetic. It doesn’t matter if you don’t study the Four Books and Five Classics; you don’t have to worry about not becoming an official. You should have also heard that I directly grant official positions to students with good grades in the academy.”

Cultivating new-style talents and promoting education was a long and arduous task, and Wu Changqing attached great importance to it.

“When your Grace’s academy opens, I will definitely send those good-for-nothing fellows in my family to the academy.”

Tong Youwei took the lead in responding. Regardless of whether Wu Changqing was telling the truth or not, at this time, in order to express his position and attitude, it was impossible not to support him.

Moreover, Wu Changqing’s words sounded highly credible.

Whether it was flintlock guns or perfume and soap, these new-style things were things they never dared to imagine before, but now they had all emerged.

A yield of more than a thousand jin per mu sounded exaggerated, but compared to a flintlock gun that could kill people from a hundred paces away, it seemed much more normal.

Therefore, Tong Youwei believed in the technology that Wu Changqing spoke of.

Moreover, he had also heard about Wu Changqing granting official positions to academy students in Suzhou.

Since this knowledge was really useful, then what was wrong with learning it?

Compared to traditional scholars, merchants were more receptive to new-style knowledge. Because they were all profit-driven, as long as there were benefits and money to be made, they were willing to do anything.

As for traditional scholars, they might still hold on to the Four Books and Five Classics for thousands of years and be proud of it.

“I am also willing to send my descendants to the academy. It is their honor to be able to listen to the teachings of Lord Wu.”

The others also followed suit, expressing their views. They even knew that Wu Changqing would sometimes personally teach classes.

Establishing a teacher-student relationship between their descendants and Wu Changqing was simply too profitable.

If a student received unfair treatment, the teacher couldn’t possibly ignore it.

If they hadn’t already donated money before, just based on the benefits Wu Changqing was giving now, they would be willing to donate to support Wu Changqing.

“With your support, I, Wu, thank you all. I can guarantee to you that as long as I am still in power, I will definitely put the interests of merchants first.”

Wu Changqing drew them another big pie. If he wanted to become king in the future, the support of the army alone would actually be enough. However, the support of the merchant class and the civil official group would be even better, which could reduce a lot of turmoil.

“We will definitely support the General.”

Everyone expressed their loyalty. They were also very happy because Wu Changqing said that he would put the interests of merchants first.

And the emperor of the Great Ming had never said this.

For merchants who had no national concept and valued interests above all else, they would not hesitate to support Wu Changqing so that their interests could be maximized.

Many merchants left the Governor-General’s office and were still discussing Wu Changqing.

“Lord Wu is really young and promising, with heroic spirit. He looks like someone who is going to do great things.”

“Lord Wu said that he would put the interests of our merchants first. This is really rare. Our good days are coming.”

“I believe Lord Wu’s words. It can be seen from his disregard for the court’s orders and direct opening of the sea ban. I heard that the first batch of merchants who went to do business with the Dutch made a fortune. We must also prepare to go to Songjiang.”

Merchants’ news had always been well-informed, and they already knew the situation in Songjiang.

Everyone discussed commercial matters, but did not mention the academy.

Because they were all very clear in their hearts that Wu Changqing valued the academy the most. The reason why he gave them so many benefits was purely to get them to support the academy.

From Wu Changqing’s degree of importance, they also realized that the academy was very important and that they must send the smartest people in their families there.

One was to express their loyalty, and the other was to learn real skills.

If, as Wu Changqing said, they could learn those knowledge and invent something magical like perfume and soap, wouldn’t they make a fortune?

Everyone knew the importance of the academy, but they all kept their mouths shut, as if afraid of waking others up.

However, how many fools could there be who could get into this circle?

Seeing that everyone was silent about the academy, Tong Youwei couldn’t help but sneer in his heart.

Chapter 136: The Tong Family’s Affairs

Back home, Tong Youwei summoned all the males over thirteen years old who were still studying.

Tong Youwei’s third son, Tong Benwen, hurried towards the main hall and was stopped by his older sister, Tong Xiangyu. “Where are you rushing off to?”

“The main hall. Father said there’s something important and wants all the males over thirteen to go there,” Tong Benwen replied.

“Hmph, only calling the men again,” Tong Xiangyu huffed, stomping her foot. Then, she quietly followed him, curious about what important matter her father had to gather the family’s men.

In the main hall, all thirteen of the Tong family’s male descendants had arrived. Among these thirteen men, the oldest was already twenty-six and still studying for the imperial examinations, doing nothing else. The youngest was only thirteen and also learning the Four Books and Five Classics, preparing to take the path of the imperial examinations.

And these thirteen descendants were not all of the Tong family’s younger male generation. Some who lacked talent in academics had already entered various shops to do business.

This was basically the talent cultivation model of large merchants in this era: the intelligent ones would take the imperial examinations and become officials, while the less intelligent ones would inherit the family business and engage in commerce.

Then, officials and merchants would collude, relying on each other. The family would provide money for those who became officials to pave their way to promotion, while those who became officials would use their power to seek advantages for the family’s business.

Among these thirteen men, Tong Youwei only had three biological sons; the rest were his nephews.

The Tong family was a large family. Tong Youwei’s father had once served as a third-rank Financial Commissioner. However, Tong Youwei was disappointing and lacked talent in academics, so he could only engage in commerce. His younger brother had previously served as a county magistrate in the Ming Dynasty court, and his career had just begun. But now, because of the war, being a county magistrate was not easy. He had to worry about being killed by the rioting people at any time, so he was temporarily unemployed at home.

“Father, Uncle…”

“Xiangyu, what are you doing here?” Tong Youwei noticed Tong Xiangyu hiding behind a boy and scolded her.

“Hehe, I just came to see,” Tong Xiangyu said coquettishly, relying on her favored status.

Tong Youwei curled his lip but ultimately didn’t chase her out. Instead, he got down to business: “I’ve called you here this time for your future prospects.”

“You’ve probably heard about the university established by the Duke of Wu in Suzhou. It teaches some novel knowledge, such as how to make perfume and soap. Learning that knowledge can help you research and invent new things, which is very important for the family’s business. And if you study well, you’ll also have the opportunity to become an official.”

“Now, the Duke of Wu is preparing to open a university in Nanjing as well. Studying at the university gives you the chance to be personally taught by the Duke of Wu. So, I’ve decided to select two-thirds of you to study at the university. Are there any volunteers? If not, I’ll assign them myself.”

Tong Youwei didn’t put all his eggs in one basket, leaving one-third of the people to continue studying the traditional Four Books and Five Classics. After all, in the current situation of the world, it was difficult for ordinary people to see the direction clearly.

No one knew whether the world would belong to the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, or Wu Changqing. Completely abandoning the imperial examinations was too risky.

Hearing that Tong Youwei wanted them to give up the Four Books and Five Classics and learn new knowledge, Tong Benwen and the others were quite surprised.

This was like parents in later generations telling their children not to study Chinese, English, mathematics, or science, to give up the college entrance examination, and to study music and art instead. This was not an ordinary path.

Whether this path was easy to walk was unknown to everyone, and they felt unsure. Although the imperial examinations were also difficult, everyone was familiar with them and understood them, reducing the fear of the unknown.

Tong Xiangyu, hearing Wu Changqing’s name, immediately perked up.

Nowadays, Wu Changqing was a hot topic among many young ladies. Learning that there was a chance to be personally taught by Wu Changqing at the university, Tong Xiangyu only hated that she wasn’t a man.

In order to get close to this mysterious figure, Wu Changqing, she even had the idea of disguising herself as a man.

In storybooks and novels, there were such stories. Women disguised themselves as men to go to school and find a suitable husband along the way.

Of course, Tong Xiangyu also knew that novels were novels, and reality was reality.

Those who went to the university had to undergo strict review and screening, and there was no way she could get away with disguising herself as a man. Unless her father was willing to help her, but that was impossible.

If she dared to say this idea out loud, her father would put her in confinement.

“How to choose?”

“The imperial examinations haven’t been held for a long time. Nanjing belongs to the Ming one moment and the Qing the next. The rulers don’t have the mind to hold the imperial examinations. I think going to the university is not bad.”

“But, when the situation stabilizes, the imperial court will definitely reopen the imperial examinations.”

…

These teenagers, discussing these major events, were quite impressive, mainly because they were educated early, so they were more mature compared to people in later generations.

Teenagers in later generations were still thinking about passing love letters to young girls, while these people were already considering their future careers. As for women, they didn’t need to think too much about them. In another year or two, they could get married.

Those who were slightly more unrestrained could secretly play with the maids now, not as miserable as teenage boys in later generations.

They didn’t need to have their minds full of sex.

“Third brother, are you going to the university?” Tong Xiangyu asked.

“I still want to take the imperial examinations,” Tong Benwen said.

“You’re silly. You’re not going to the university when the Duke of Wu is personally teaching? Listen to your sister, go to the university, okay? Then teach me what you learn at the university.” Tong Xiangyu revealed her intention.

“Okay,” Tong Benwen noticed, but he didn’t care. He had a good relationship with his second sister. Since Tong Xiangyu wanted him to go to the university, then he would go to the university.

“Xiangyu, you’re not thinking about the Duke of Wu, are you? You want your third brother to go see what the Duke of Wu looks like and come back to tell you about him. Why bother? You can ask Father to propose marriage for you,” Tong Xiangyu’s eldest brother, Tong Benzhen, teased.

“Go, go, go. You’re the one who’s taken a fancy to the Duke of Wu,” Tong Xiangyu quickly denied. Unfortunately, her anxious appearance couldn’t deceive Tong Benzhen.

Tong Benzhen not only knew that Tong Xiangyu was interested in Wu Changqing but also knew that many young ladies in the city were interested in him. Who told Wu Changqing to be young and promising and hold a high position?

Tong Benzhen was extremely envious of this kind of achievement.

In the end, some of the Tong family’s descendants who were bolder and had a spirit of adventure stood up.

There were quite a few of these people, mainly because they had more confidence in Wu Changqing and believed that learning that knowledge would be useful.

This made Tong Youwei quite satisfied. He didn’t want to force the younger generation of the family to learn new knowledge. After all, forced melons are not sweet. If they were unwilling to learn, forcing them would definitely not have good results.

The Tong family was just a microcosm. Other merchants, returning home, did things similar to Tong Youwei, only differing in degree.

For example, Tong Youwei directly bet two-thirds, some people bet half, and some people even only symbolically arranged two or three mediocre people.

As for the real elites, they were still kept to take the path of the imperial examinations.

In the end, the imperial examinations had been popular for thousands of years and were deeply rooted in people’s hearts. It was impossible for Wu Changqing to convince everyone with just a few words.

Chapter 137: Hong Chengchou’s Heartbreak

Inside the Governor-General’s office, after Tong Youwei and the others left, a middle-aged man with an extraordinary bearing was brought in under guard.

Wu Changqing, in the midst of his busy schedule, received Hong Chengchou, attempting to persuade him to surrender.

Although Hong Chengchou wasn’t a good person, being extremely loyal to the Qing Dynasty and devising many wicked schemes that harmed humanity.

However, that’s from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty.

From the Qing Dynasty’s perspective, Hong Chengchou was actually a pretty good dog.

Capable, without principles, and sufficiently loyal.

It was really hard to find such a good and useful lackey.

For Wu Changqing, as long as Hong Chengchou could be as loyal to him as he was to the Qing Dynasty, he could be brought over for his own use.

And Wu Changqing believed that this shouldn’t be difficult. Because Hong Chengchou was someone who could see the general trend and cherished his life very much.

Saying he was extremely loyal to the Qing Dynasty was not as accurate as saying he cherished his own life, willing to be wholeheartedly devoted to the Qing Dynasty for a bit of personal glory and wealth.

To put it bluntly, Hong Chengchou was a sophisticated egoist. And in this world, most people are actually like that.

As long as Wu Changqing could show a stronger power than the Qing Dynasty, with Hong Chengchou’s intelligence, he should surrender more thoroughly and be wholeheartedly devoted to Wu Changqing.

Because that would be most beneficial to Hong Chengchou.

After Hong Chengchou was brought in, he unscrupulously sized up Wu Changqing, while Wu Changqing also sized him up.

After some scrutiny, Wu Changqing was a little disappointed, because Hong Chengchou looked even worse than a middle-aged man in his fifties in later generations.

A well-maintained fifty-three-year-old man in later generations looks no different from a middle-aged man. But the fifty-three-year-old Hong Chengchou already showed obvious signs of aging on his face.

Although Hong Chengchou had lived a life of luxury, he was obviously not as good at maintaining his appearance as high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen of later generations.

The only thing that caught Wu Changqing’s eye was probably the aura he carried, still retaining some confidence and pride from being in a high position.

Hong Chengchou had held great power for many years after all, and had experienced great storms, and a little failure hadn’t made him feel dejected.

Contrary to Wu Changqing, Hong Chengchou was very shocked at this moment.

Although he had seen Wu Changqing’s information countless times in intelligence reports, knowing that Wu Changqing was very young, and even knowing what Wu Changqing roughly looked like.

But descriptions on paper are ultimately not as vivid as seeing him in person.

Seeing Wu Changqing’s appearance, he also felt some fear in his heart, after all, the person in front of him was a formidable figure. And what about himself? At best, he was just a capable minister.

No matter how capable a minister is, he is still a subject, without that domineering aura of being the only one who matters.

And in Wu Changqing’s eyes, he could feel a kind of unique pride.

“Tell me, do you want to be a staff advisor by my side first, or enter the civil service system and govern a region?”

Wu Changqing wasn’t a professional expert in persuasion, so he was straightforward.

Anyway, he knew that Hong Chengchou definitely didn’t want to die, and he couldn’t possibly let this guy go back, nor could he support him for nothing, so Hong Chengchou only had the option of surrendering.

With his ability, the starting point after surrendering wouldn’t be low.

If he entered the civil service system, managing Nanjing would be more than enough. If he entered the military, Wu Changqing certainly couldn’t give him an army now and let him lead it independently, so he could first be a staff member with great influence but no actual command, devising strategies for Wu Changqing.

“…”

Hong Chengchou was speechless when he heard this. He hadn’t experienced such a straightforward way of persuading surrender, as if everyone was very familiar, but in reality, this was only the first time they had met.

At least exchange pleasantries and praise each other a few times first, right? This lack of foreplay made Hong Chengchou a little uncomfortable.

“A defeated general has no face to hold a high position again.”

Hong Chengchou acted coy.

“Then start from a low-ranking official first. With your ability, it won’t be difficult to climb up.”

Wu Changqing also felt that giving a surrendered official too high a starting point directly wasn’t good, as it would make those who followed him to conquer the world feel disheartened. After all, those people’s positions were earned with their lives.

And why should Hong Chengchou, a surrendered official, occupy a high position as soon as he came?

Hong Chengchou was embarrassed again. His so-called “no face to accept” was actually just being polite. This is a traditional virtue of the Chinese nation, okay? Everyone is like this.

According to the conventional routine, Wu Changqing only needed to express enough appreciation and affirmation for him, persuade him with kind words, give him a way out, and then he would put on a show of sudden realization and gratitude, and the surrender would be completed.

Throughout history, the surrender model has been almost like this.

Glory, wealth, and power, of course he wanted them.

In the past, he had always held important positions. Obviously, letting him be a county magistrate or prefect was equivalent to insulting him and disrespecting his talent.

Unfortunately, Wu Changqing didn’t play his cards according to common sense, causing Hong Chengchou to not know how to respond for a while.

“I am already disheartened and have no intention of serving again.”

Hong Chengchou said proudly.

He was angry because he didn’t get the respect he deserved. Then, he used the old routine again, putting on airs.

Unless Wu Changqing gave him enough respect like Huang Taiji, giving him a way out. Otherwise, he would not surrender.

This is also what talented people like to do most. Relying on their talent, they know that the other party is eager to get their allegiance, so they pretend to be aloof.

Only when the other party’s ruler gives enough respect, allowing them to save face, can they surrender.

After all, in case anyone laughs at them in the future, they can also say that they were grateful for the adults’ favor and had no choice but to surrender. This is their last fig leaf.

Well, in fact, this is like a young girl in later generations going to a hotel with her boyfriend.

Even if they are already willing in their hearts, the boy must treat them very well, giving them a reason to convince themselves.

For example, he is so good to me, he has given so much for me, I would feel bad if I didn’t satisfy him, he is so good to me, he must really love me.

Now Hong Chengchou is like that little girl, he wants to surrender and save his life, he wants to continue to be glorious and wealthy in his heart.

However, he can’t directly agree to surrender in one go, just like little girls can’t directly agree to go to a hotel, because that would make them seem too casual.

They need a reason to convince themselves, they need the other party to give them a way out.

The last time Hong Chengchou surrendered, Huang Taiji, this ‘warm man’, did a very good job, showing ‘sincere’ love in various ways, and even sent his wife to give Hong Chengchou enough face.

So, Hong Chengchou shouted, I am actually a very traditional little girl, but my boyfriend is too good to me, I can’t let him down, and then happily went to the hotel to hmm and ahh.

Unfortunately, the current Wu Changqing is a straight man of steel, he doesn’t quite understand how to coax girls.

Or rather, he knows the method, but doesn’t like this pretentious way.

Knowing that Hong Chengchou wants to surrender in his heart, but denies it verbally, insisting that he put on a show of courteous reception of the virtuous.

This, I’m sorry, Wu Changqing doesn’t like acting.

“Whatever, if you don’t want to surrender, you can only be placed under house arrest. I’ll ask the Qing Dynasty another day if they are willing to spend one hundred thousand taels of silver to redeem you, go down.”

Wu Changqing said disdainfully.

He valued Hong Chengchou’s talent very much, but it wasn’t like he couldn’t live without Hong Chengchou.

With or without Hong Chengchou, the only difference was that the speed of unifying the world would be a little slower.

In short, relying on the system, it was impossible for him to not even be able to unify the world.

Hong Chengchou’s surrender was just icing on the cake, not the charcoal in the snow, dispensable.

Chapter 138: The Official-Obsessed Ruan Dacheng

What?

Hong Chengchou almost thought he had misheard. Wu Changqing was dismissing him just like that? Without even trying to persuade him further?

Hong Chengchou felt like he had wasted his effort. This wasn’t the outcome he wanted.

Actually, he was willing to cooperate, as long as he was coaxed a little and given some face. But why wasn’t he being coaxed at all? This wasn’t how you courted someone.

If Hong Chengchou were a young woman from later generations, he might have cursed, “Go to hell, you blockhead! I hope you stay single forever, stuck with yourself!”

But now, Hong Chengchou just felt utterly dejected, as if he had been dumped.

He was the great Hong Chengchou, who had awed the Chinese lands, respected by all.

Even Huang Taiji treated him with courtesy.

But Wu Changqing didn’t seem to care about him at all.

This feeling of being slighted was particularly painful for someone with such a proud heart.

“Who does that guy think he is, putting on airs in front of the General?”

Wang Dafu cursed, feeling that Hong Chengchou was being ungrateful.

Fang Qihe, standing beside him, felt awkward, unsure how to explain to a brute like Wang Dafu that this was normal behavior for a captured general. Actually, the one who deserved criticism was Wu Changqing; his method of recruitment was completely off.

“General, how about I try to persuade him privately? I think Hong Chengchou is actually considering surrendering.”

As a strategist, Fang Qihe’s job was to clean up after Wu Changqing.

He wouldn’t dare to say that Wu Changqing’s recruitment method was wrong, so he could only try to remedy the situation in his own way. For example, by privately persuading Hong Chengchou. Anyway, he had nothing to be proud of; it wouldn’t be beneath him to coax Hong Chengchou a little.

“No need. Can’t our big ship sail without him? We’ve come this far without Hong Chengchou’s advice.”

Wu Changqing snorted dismissively. He wanted to see who would lose out more in this stalemate. When he unified the country, Hong Chengchou would have plenty to regret.

Fang Qihe immediately fell silent. He could tell that Wu Changqing was a bit annoyed with Hong Chengchou.

In that case, Hong Chengchou was no longer worth recruiting.

“Our Chinese lands lack many things, but not talent. Loyalty is always more important than ability. Go and invite Ruan Dacheng up here.”

Wu Changqing said.

As long as you held power, you didn’t need to worry about a lack of talent.

Just now, he had just taken Nanjing, and already a famous figure was seeking an audience.

Fang Qihe remembered the saying that loyalty was more important than ability, and then went to invite Ruan Dacheng.

“This humble official greets the Duke.”

Ruan Dacheng kept his posture very low. He had once held the position of Vice Minister of War and Imperial Censor, and his official rank wasn’t lower than Wu Changqing’s.

However, Ruan Dacheng didn’t have Hong Chengchou’s pride. He was now a fallen phoenix, in dire straits, and didn’t put on any airs in front of Wu Changqing.

“Master Ruan, you’re too polite. Please, have a seat.”

Wu Changqing greeted him and sized up the man known as the “official-obsessed.”

This guy had no bottom line when it came to getting官, and he was quite famous in the history of the Southern Ming, one could say he was one of the main culprits behind the downfall of the Hongguang Emperor’s regime.

Ruan Dacheng originally came from the Donglin Party, and at first, he was a genuine, die-hard member. In order to get a higher position, he was always at the forefront of the struggles against non-Donglin Party members, and he could smear his opponents without any scruples.

In the fourth year of the Tianqi era, a vacant seventh-rank position appeared in the Ministry of Personnel. The Donglin Party members looked at Ruan Dacheng and thought, “Hmm, this young man is good, he works hard in court struggles.” So they transferred him back from the provinces to fill the vacancy.

However, when Ruan Dacheng happily arrived in the capital, infighting broke out within the Donglin Party, and they ultimately decided to give the position to someone else.

Ruan Dacheng’s mentality instantly collapsed. Wasn’t this just messing with him?

For an official-obsessed person who desperately craved promotion, losing a position was even more painful than losing a wife.

So, in a fit of anger, he defected to the eunuch Wei Zhongxian, the person most hated by the Donglin Party members.

He didn’t care about his origins. Whoever gave him a position, he would be their dog. Being a dog for the Donglin Party and being a dog for Wei Zhongxian made no difference.

His vision was very accurate. Wei Zhongxian hadn’t fully risen to power at the time, but he saw Wei Zhongxian’s potential, and his official position soared from then on.

And when Wei Zhongxian was at the height of his power, he saw Wei Zhongxian’s potential crisis and decisively resigned and returned home, very shrewdly.

As a result, when Wei Zhongxian was purged, Ruan Dacheng, as Wei Zhongxian’s staunch supporter, was not purged, which was a great wonder.

After Wei Zhongxian fell, the Donglin Party completely gained power.

Ruan Dacheng, wanting to become an official, began to fawn over the Donglin Party members again, but he was repeatedly humiliated.

So, he harbored seeds of hatred in his heart. Later, relying on his previous speculation, with the help of Ma Shiying, he became the Vice Minister of War in the Hongguang Emperor’s regime.

With great power in his hands, he began his journey of persecuting the Donglin Party, completely disregarding the enemy at hand.

The Donglin Party had no choice but to seek help from Zuo Liangyu.

And Zuo Liangyu used this excuse to demand the removal of corrupt officials, sending more than two hundred thousand troops, originally meant to defend against the Qing army, to Nanjing.

As for whether Zuo Liangyu really wanted to remove corrupt officials or become Dong Zhuo, that was unknown.

In short, Ruan Dacheng’s series of actions was one of the main reasons for the collapse of the Hongguang Emperor’s regime.

“Has Master Ruan been residing in Nanjing all along?”

Wu Changqing asked curiously. In his memory, Ruan Dacheng had been wandering in Zhejiang and other places after the Hongguang Emperor fell.

But now, it seemed that the historical records were wrong. This guy had been in Nanjing all along, otherwise, how could he have immediately sought an audience as soon as he took Nanjing?

“No, this humble official has been taking refuge in Zhejiang. After hearing about Duke Wu’s heroic deeds, I determined that Duke Wu is a peerless hero, the only candidate to save the Ming Dynasty. So I rushed through Suzhou and Changzhou, following you all the way to Nanjing, wanting to share your burdens and contribute my remaining strength.”

“…”

Wu Changqing was impressed by this old guy. He was trying too hard to speculate. He had come to surrender even before he had taken Nanjing.

However, Wu Changqing still admired Ruan Dacheng’s vision. This guy’s vision had always been accurate.

As for this guy’s character, Wu Changqing chose to ignore it.

In fact, how many good people are there in this world?

Moreover, people hated Ruan Dacheng mainly because he caused extremely bad consequences. Just in terms of his behavior, he was much better than Li Chengdong and others.

If anyone else had suffered that kind of grievance and been humiliated by the Donglin Party, it would be impossible for them not to have some hatred in their hearts.

Ruan Dacheng’s mind was a bit narrow, but the Donglin Party wasn’t anything good either.

Of course, the reason why Wu Changqing valued Ruan Dacheng was not just because his character was passable, but for other reasons.

Chapter 139: Troublesome Matters

Wu Changqing valued Ruan Dacheng for three reasons. First, the guy was truly capable and experienced. Whether in governance or political maneuvering, he was quite proficient.

Second, this guy was sufficiently loyal. As long as he was given an official position, he would be as loyal as a dog, biting whoever he was told to bite, without any psychological burden.

As a ruler, Wu Changqing needed both upright officials who cared about the people and such hounds.

After all, running a regime was a very complex matter. Where there are people, there will inevitably be conflict.

The last reason, and the most important one, was that Ruan Dacheng had a mortal feud with the Donglin Party.

Now, the civil official group under Prince Lu, Zhu Yihai, was mostly composed of members of the Donglin Party.

And Wu Changqing didn’t want these bastards to come to Nanjing and start bossing him around.

In fact, he didn’t even want to bring Zhu Yihai to Nanjing.

Bringing this guy over would cause a lot of trouble, such as whether to kneel before Zhu Yihai or not.

He wasn’t a hero like Cao Cao, who could convince himself to kneel before others for the sake of power. Wu Changqing sought to live freely. He wanted both power and dignity.

He absolutely wouldn’t kneel to a useless Zhu Yihai.

However, not kneeling in public would be no different from directly announcing a rebellion, which would cause internal chaos. The key was that such behavior would definitely be unreasonable.

Therefore, Wu Changqing didn’t want Zhu Yihai to come.

How could he keep Zhu Yihai in Shaoxing? Wu Changqing felt that heavily employing Ruan Dacheng was a good choice.

This guy had a mortal feud with the Donglin Party. If he was given an important position, those civil officials under Zhu Yihai would definitely not dare to come to Nanjing, fearing further persecution by Ruan Dacheng.

If the civil officials didn’t dare to come, Zhu Yihai couldn’t possibly run to Nanjing alone.

Wu Changqing wasn’t sure if this trick would work, but even if it didn’t, with Ruan Dacheng in Nanjing making trouble for the Donglin Party, those Donglin Party members who only knew how to talk would probably not be in the mood to bother him.

Of course, if those civil officials rejected Wu Changqing’s appointment of Ruan Dacheng and turned against Wu Changqing, then Wu Changqing would be even happier.

He wasn’t afraid of turning against Zhu Yihai now, but he didn’t want the world to think that he wanted to rebel. He didn’t want to actively rebel. But if he had a conflict with Zhu Yihai and was forced to rebel, that would be fine.

“It’s really hard on you, old sir. I really am short-handed here. With your help, I can rest easy.”

Wu Changqing said with emotion. This guy was almost sixty years old and had traveled a long distance to come here. It was really not easy.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s words, Ruan Dacheng was very happy. This showed that Wu Changqing had no prejudice against him.

Before coming, his only worry was that Wu Changqing would harbor resentment towards his past. After all, it seemed that Wu Changqing treated the people of the Donglin Party well. Gu Yanwu, the leading civil official under him, was a member of the Donglin Party.

However, in Wu Changqing’s series of policies, Ruan Dacheng discovered that Wu Changqing was an ambitious person.

And how could an ambitious person lack a hound?

Ruan Dacheng had come to be a hound, and he wasn’t embarrassed at all.

“You flatter me, Duke Wu. As long as I can help you solve your problems, it’s worth it even if I risk this old bone of mine.”

Ruan Dacheng expressed his loyalty.

“Speaking of solving problems, I really do have some headaches recently. Lord Ruan should know that when fighting the enemy, the most taboo thing is internal instability. There are too many shortcomings in the Ming Dynasty. If we want to defeat the Manchus, we have to adopt some radical reforms. I have always done this, and it has been very effective.

However, none of these reforms have been approved by the imperial court. If the imperial court moves back to Nanjing, those who only know how to talk will inevitably criticize my various measures, and even obstruct them, which is very detrimental to the great cause of resisting the Manchus.”

Wu Changqing wasn’t a qualified politician, so he spoke very bluntly about things that could have been said very vaguely. He was just short of directly telling Ruan Dacheng that he didn’t want that bastard Zhu Yihai to come to Nanjing.

It had to be said that Wu Changqing underestimated Ruan Dacheng’s ability to understand.

Even if Wu Changqing didn’t say it, Ruan Dacheng could roughly guess the conflict between him and the imperial court.

“Duke, you are right. In prosperous times, more discussion leads to clarity, but in chaotic times, more discussion leads to chaos. In the current situation, capable people should have the final say. Your measures have been proven effective. It would be a pity if they were destroyed by the Donglin Party members.

If you want to avoid this situation, you just need to let the Donglin Party members continue to stay in Shaoxing. And I can do this.”

Ruan Dacheng directly pointed out the Donglin Party, which showed that he still had great resentment towards the Donglin Party in his heart.

“I believe you can do it, and I will let you do it freely. But I have a requirement, that is, it cannot affect the operation of the administrative system, and you need to grasp a suitable scale. It’s best to make a lot of noise, but with little effect. How to control it, you figure it out yourself.”

Wu Changqing’s current administrative team was very chaotic, with members of the Donglin Party and many traitors, all of whom Wu Changqing didn’t like very much. However, in order to maintain stability, he couldn’t replace these people all at once.

After taking power, Wu Changqing sometimes sighed that being the supreme leader of a regime was really not an easy task. Many times, he couldn’t do whatever he wanted.

Just like he didn’t like the Donglin Party members, he had to rely on them because he lacked civil officials.

Just like he didn’t like those treacherous merchants, he had to find ways to seek benefits for those treacherous merchants, because the country couldn’t be without that group of people.

Of course, this was all because his strength was still weak.

When he unified the country and completely grasped power, then he could carry out drastic reforms.

At that time, he would kill anyone who dared to stop him. Whether it was the Donglin Party group or the big merchant group, he would not let them go. He wanted to completely change this world and turn it into the country of his dreams.

However, these were all things of the future, which were still a bit far away from now.

For now, he could only take unifying the world as the core task, and compromise on other aspects first.

“I understand. I will never do those foolish things again.”

Ruan Dacheng said quickly. Of course, he knew the bad consequences of his previous persecution of the Donglin Party in Nanjing.

After learning his lesson, Ruan Dacheng also understood that protecting Wu Changqing’s power was the most important thing. Only if Wu Changqing could defeat the Manchus and seize power could he safely take revenge.

If Wu Changqing fell, he would have no chance to turn over.

After all, at his age, he was already halfway buried in the ground. Joining Wu Changqing was the last gamble in his life.

Chapter 140: Army Reorganization

Several days later, triumphant news arrived from the troops who had set out to capture Zhenjiang, Dangtu, and Liyang.

The Qing army hadn’t left many troops in Zhenjiang, so after the sniper battalion unexpectedly killed the defending general, the city was easily taken.

With Zhenjiang captured, they could rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to construct a defensive line.

It would be a pipe dream for the Qing army to easily advance south again. After all, Wu Changqing and his men were not the original Ming army, lacking fighting spirit and prone to surrender.

To the west, Dong Tianbao’s forces also captured Ma’anshan, Dangtu, and other places, leaving some troops stationed there to serve as outposts for Nanjing.

The city walls here weren’t high, and the defenses didn’t offer much advantage. However, with this outpost, the enemy couldn’t launch a surprise attack on Nanjing from the west.

This arrangement was actually somewhat superfluous. With the current strength inside Nanjing, there was no need to worry about being ambushed.

Of course, having a forward哨岗 was always a good thing.

To the south, Liu Hansan’s forces also occupied Liyang, Lishui, and other places, purely to seize territory.

The size of a power mainly depended on its territory.

If Wu Changqing didn’t want to expand too quickly, his subordinates would have loved to advance west and north right away, continuing to capture territory.

In military terms, they currently held a great advantage.

Wu Changqing certainly liked territory, but he knew that everything needed to be done step by step.

Currently, their territory was expanding too quickly, and there were many hidden dangers within the army. For example, there were too many surrendered soldiers, which was a very unstable factor.

Wu Changqing preferred to develop more slowly rather than face betrayal from his subordinates.

Therefore, after taking the cities around Nanjing, he ordered the main force to withdraw to Nanjing to reorganize the army.

Currently, Wu Changqing had one hundred and forty thousand troops under his command. He divided them into two parts: a garrison force and a field army.

This division was necessary for more efficient use of the army.

For example, stationing the main force of the musket army in less important places like Liyang and Lishui would be a waste. However, these places couldn’t be left undefended.

With a garrison force, things were easier. In any case, the garrison troops were second-rate forces using cold weapons, not strong enough for decisive battles against the enemy’s main force, but more than enough to garrison local areas.

Moreover, because the garrison force was a second-rate force, their pay was naturally lower, only six taels of silver per month, which could save a lot of military expenses.

Because garrisoning local areas wasn’t very dangerous, these soldiers wouldn’t feel too resentful about receiving this pay. If they felt it was too little, they could apply to join the main force.

However, joining the main force would double the risk of death.

If all one hundred and forty thousand troops were paid as main force soldiers, it would cost more than four hundred thousand taels a month, which Wu Changqing couldn’t afford.

But now, after dividing the forces into main force and garrison, at least one hundred thousand taels could be saved each month.

Of the one hundred and forty thousand troops, only ninety thousand were in the main force, and the remaining fifty thousand were garrison troops.

Fifty thousand troops were stationed in Dangtu, Liyang, Suzhou, Changzhou, and other places, while eighty thousand main force troops remained in Nanjing.

Among these eighty thousand main force troops, there were ten thousand troops with flintlock rifles, twenty thousand cavalry, fifteen thousand musket troops, five thousand archers, and thirty thousand cold weapon troops.

Of the remaining ten thousand, the navy had two thousand men, the artillery battalion had two thousand men, the grenadiers had five thousand men, the sniper battalion had two hundred men, and other miscellaneous special forces numbered several hundred.

Wu Changqing racked his brains about how to organize these troops to maximize their combat effectiveness.

In the end, he divided these ninety thousand men into five divisions and three brigades.

The First Division consisted of ten thousand flintlock rifle troops, along with attached units: a cavalry battalion, a sniper company, and an artillery regiment.

A force capable of independent operations required the cooperation of multiple arms. The cavalry battalion could be used for reconnaissance and pursuit. The artillery could be used for deterrence, destruction, and fortification. Snipers could be used to assassinate officers.

It would be a waste to form these small arms into independent units. Dividing them into small groups and assigning them to various large units was the most effective way to use them.

The reasonable combination and cooperation of arms had a great impact on combat.

These were just the standard configurations of the First Division. On the battlefield, some attached units would be appropriately added based on the actual situation.

With the addition of many attached units, the First Division had as many as thirteen thousand men. The division commander was Li Shaobin.

The configuration of the Second Division was similar to that of the First Division, except that the flintlock rifles were replaced with matchlock muskets. This was only a slight difference, but the strength of the two armies differed greatly.

The commander of this division was Liu Hansan, who was both satisfied and somewhat unwilling about this position.

He was satisfied because this unit was definitely a main force unit, but he was unwilling because Li Shaobin, who had the same background as him, was in charge of the First Division and outranked him.

Liu Hansan suspected that the reason for this was because he had insisted on escaping before, while Li Shaobin had listened to Wu Changqing.

This made him extremely depressed. If he had known this would happen, he would never have mentioned escaping or retreating.

In terms of ability, he didn’t think he was worse than Li Shaobin.

The commander of the Third Division was Wang Dayong. The Third Division consisted of five thousand matchlock musket troops and seven thousand spearmen as the main force, along with some auxiliary troops.

Its strength was as high as sixteen thousand men, slightly weaker than Liu Hansan’s Second Division.

The Fourth Division was composed of five thousand archers and ten thousand sword and shield soldiers, plus a sniper company, a cavalry battalion, and a small number of auxiliary troops.

The Fourth Division had as many as eighteen thousand men. The division commander was Dong Tianbao.

Despite the large number of troops in the Fourth Division, its combat effectiveness was not even as good as that of the Third Division. After all, almost all of them used cold weapons.

Now, throughout Wu’s army, whether generals or soldiers, they looked down on cold weapons.

The Fifth Division was fifteen thousand cavalrymen. They didn’t have any auxiliary arms, just pure cavalry. After all, it was too difficult for other arms to keep up with their speed.

The commander of the Fifth Division was Chen Shichang. He was able to sit in this position purely because of luck. His ability was average, so Mandahai, who was good at cavalry tactics, became the deputy commander of the Fifth Division.

These were Wu Changqing’s five main divisions. The remaining arms were divided into three independent brigades.

Among them, the three thousand navy formed an independent brigade, commanded by Wu Yi.

He could be considered to have made it, becoming a brigade commander with real power. Although he didn’t have many troops or ships now, Wu Changqing had told him that he would vigorously develop the navy next.

The Second Brigade was five thousand grenadiers. They were not suitable for independent operations and were a force used to cooperate with the main force in decisive battles. Its brigade commander was Wu Changqing’s personal guard, Wang Dafu.

The Third Brigade was the artillery force. They were similar to the grenadiers, usually forming an independent army. But in battle, they needed to be divided up to provide support depending on the situation.

Its brigade commander was Zhang Xuanyi, also an old-timer who had been following Wu Changqing for a long time.

Chapter 141: Some Rejoice, Some Grieve

After the army reorganization, Wu Changqing not only improved the army’s strength but also subtly seized complete control of the military.

These division commanders and brigade commanders were all people he trusted.

As for Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin, Qian Sule became the deputy division commander of the First Division. It seemed his position was comparable to that of the Fourth Division commander, higher than those brigade commanders.

However, this deputy division commander had no real power. Li Shaobin made all the decisions.

Xiong Rulin, on the other hand, became the assistant to the chief military advisor, Dai Zhijun, mainly responsible for strategizing and logistics, and no longer had any troops under his command.

Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin were naturally dissatisfied. Before they came to Suzhou to join him, they each had nearly ten thousand men under their command.

But now, they had both become officials in name only.

Despite their dissatisfaction, they had no ability to resist.

The men they had brought with them had lost more than half their numbers in the previous major battles. The remaining soldiers had long been infiltrated by Wu Changqing’s men and only knew how to be loyal to Wu Changqing.

The army reorganization left some rejoicing and some grieving.

Of course, more people were rejoicing because the expansion of the army meant that most people were promoted.

“The army reorganization will remain like this for the time being. Those who have been promoted shouldn’t be too complacent, and those who haven’t been promoted shouldn’t be too discouraged. These are all temporary.

With the development of various advanced weapons, past combat experience has gradually become outdated. I need talents who can keep up with progress. Those who study hard and perform outstandingly will be promoted without hesitation. As for those who can’t keep up, I can only guarantee your wealth and status.”

Wu Changqing said.

Whether it was Liu Hansan or Dong Tianbao, their command abilities were already falling behind their positions, which was a very troublesome matter.

After all, they had followed him all the way, working hard and making great contributions, so it was impossible not to give them status and power. However, their abilities were limited, and giving them too high a position and power would easily lead them to make mistakes and cause significant losses.

The reason why they haven’t made any major mistakes yet is because the Qing army is also not accustomed to modern warfare and has not discovered their flaws.

“Therefore, I will be opening a military theory academy in the near future, where Military Advisor Dai and others will research new military strategies and combat tactics and conduct lectures. At that time, you will all have to take time to attend and those who perform well in the assessments will enjoy more opportunities.”

Actually, opening a military academy now was a bit too early, because there were no teachers.

Too many new weapons emerged too quickly in Wu’s army, leading to no one daring to say that they had mastered the correct combat methods.

Although Wu Changqing instructed Dai Zhijun to research as soon as possible, Dai Zhijun found it difficult to fully understand these new things in a short period of time.

During this period, Dai Zhijun and his team of advisors had been studying all the previous battles of Wu’s army, summarizing experience from them.

Currently, they had achieved some results and could start teaching.

However, what they were teaching was definitely still superficial. They needed to continue researching more profound tactics.

These were things that couldn’t be rushed. Wu Changqing didn’t expect Dai Zhijun to train those people into military experts all at once, as long as they could master the most basic tactics and avoid making low-level mistakes.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s request, some generals were already groaning inwardly.

Among them, some had not studied much and relied on their combat experience accumulated on the battlefield.

Now that Wu Changqing wanted them to study, it was really embarrassing for them.

Of course, there were also some who considered themselves clever and were rejoicing in their hearts.

Because they joined Wu’s army later, they now had to be subordinate to Liu Hansan and others, and there was almost no chance to surpass them.

But now, Wu Changqing was providing them with a shortcut.

As long as they performed well in the academy, they could get the opportunity to be reused. Once they were reused, they would have the opportunity to make contributions. With merit, promotion would no longer be hindered.

The meeting adjourned, and some who had better relationships had already agreed to go drinking to celebrate.

For example, Liu Hansan, Li Shaobin, and Wang Dayong, the three who initially followed Wu Changqing in the uprising, had vaguely formed a small group.

And Dong Tianbao, Xue Guiren, Lu Guangzu, and others were another circle, most of whom were people who had surrendered later.

Watching others happily go drinking to celebrate, Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin could only return to their residences in dismay.

In the evening, the two of them got together again.

“This Duke Wu is also harboring ulterior motives.”

Qian Sule said with emotion. In fact, he had discovered it long ago.

However, he had always thought about putting the overall situation first, only thinking about conquering Nanjing.

And now, his goal had been achieved, Nanjing had been taken. But now, how should he face Wu Changqing’s ambition? This gave him a headache.

If he continued to be loyal to Prince Lu, then he would definitely be marginalized and squeezed out of the core circle in the future.

Now, he was still the deputy division commander of the First Division, a true high-level figure.

As long as he offered his loyalty to Wu Changqing, he could still hold real power in the future.

But that would be equivalent to betraying Prince Lu, betraying the imperial court.

For a traditional civil official like Qian Sule, he still couldn’t accept it.

“Then what do you plan to do? Secretly report to the Prince Regent Lu? Coordinate from within and without to eliminate Wu Changqing?”

Xiong Rulin retorted.

This was obviously impossible. Neither they nor Prince Lu had the strength to fight Wu Changqing now. If they openly broke up, only Zhu Yihai’s side would suffer.

“That’s wishful thinking.”

Qian Sule said.

“So, let’s face reality. No matter what, Duke Wu is resisting the Qing and recovering lost territory. More importantly, he is a Han Chinese, isn’t he?”

Xiong Rulin’s words were already very clear. Regardless of whether Wu Changqing wanted to rebel or not, he was a Han Chinese, which was better than the Manchus occupying this world.

“You want to completely rely on him?”

Qian Sule asked in surprise, that would be equivalent to betraying the imperial court.

“Why not? Under the heavens, who else besides Duke Wu can defeat the Manchus and recover lost territory? Rely on Prince Regent Lu? To say something disrespectful, what ability does Prince Regent Lu have? He can’t even control Fang Guoan, do you think he can defeat Wu Changqing?

You have personally witnessed Wu Changqing’s abilities, they are unfathomable. Those rifled guns are simply miraculous. We can’t stop such a hero, so we might as well go with the flow. As long as the Han Chinese are in power, what does it matter if the surname changes? This world wasn’t always surnamed Zhu from the beginning.”

Xiong Rulin was slightly more sophisticated, not as pedantic as Qian Sule.

Dynasty changes were normal in his eyes. Xia, Shang, Western Zhou, Han, Tang, Song, Ming, heaven didn’t stipulate who the ruler of this land of China should be.

Chapter 142: Cement

On March tenth, seven days after capturing Nanjing, Wu Changqing finally finished dealing with various trivial matters.

Many things concerning the army, internal affairs, and the economy required his approval.

After handling these matters, Wu Changqing finally had time to go out for a stroll.

However, the weather wasn’t cooperative, and it started to drizzle not long after he left.

Although the rain wasn’t heavy, it still dampened the streets, and the passage of pedestrians and carriages turned the entire street surface into a muddy mess. In particular, some horses left droppings behind, and the mixture of manure and mud looked disgusting.

Wu Changqing was quite speechless at the sight of the capital of a country in such a state.

However, he also knew that Nanjing’s urban environment was already considered pretty good; at least the streets had been compacted. In other smaller cities, it would be impossible to walk on the streets once it rained heavily.

Moreover, those smaller cities had poor drainage systems, and the people weren’t civilized enough, so it was normal to see excrement on the streets.

In this era, there were no public toilets. Farmers who came to the city to sell goods, or people who were far from home, would often discreetly relieve themselves on the street when they felt the urge.

And the cities of Western Europe during this period were even more unbearable. You’d be embarrassed to call it a city if there wasn’t any excrement on the streets.

As someone who lived in a twenty-first-century city, Wu Changqing couldn’t stand this kind of hygiene.

He returned to his residence and immediately formulated a hygiene regulation, prohibiting people from urinating or defecating on the streets, with violators fined one tael of silver and required to clean the streets for three days.

Littering on the streets was also prohibited, with violators fined one qian of silver and required to clean the streets for three days.

To solve the problem of needing to relieve oneself, a public toilet had to be built every three li in the city. Each household’s garbage had to be dumped in designated areas, and special personnel would be arranged to clean it up…

Hygiene was a minor matter that wasn’t worth Wu Changqing’s intervention. However, if he didn’t intervene, other officials would be satisfied with the status quo.

After all, Nanjing’s hygiene was much better than other places.

In addition to formulating hygiene regulations, Wu Changqing also planned to produce cement to pave the streets, so that they wouldn’t be covered in mud every time it rained.

The technical content of cement wasn’t high, but its effect was enormous. Not to mention its huge role in this era, even in the twenty-first century, any construction project couldn’t do without cement.

Of course, the so-called low technical content was compared to inventing things like mobile phones and computers. People of this era could absolutely not produce it.

Not to mention people of this era, even ordinary people in the twenty-first century would probably not know how to make cement.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing had the system, so all of this wasn’t a problem.

His consciousness entered the system’s technology interface and found the cement manufacturing process interface.

Among them, there were dozens of types of cement and manufacturing processes. Wu Changqing only selected the simplest silicate cement.

Consuming one hundred thousand resource points, Wu Changqing lit up the manufacturing process of silicate cement.

Subsequently, the knowledge and process of those manufacturing processes appeared in his mind.

First, crush limestone and clay, mix them according to a certain ratio, and then grind them into raw materials.

Then, pour the raw materials into a special cement kiln for calcination to burn them into clinker.

Finally, add a small amount of gypsum to the clinker and grind it into a fine powder, and the cement is considered manufactured.

This was just a general process. The actual process was much more complicated. Wu Changqing wrote it down on paper in great detail and then sent someone to call Tong Youwei.

It wasn’t that he had any special preferences for Tong Youwei and wanted to take care of him.

It was just because the initial investment in making cement was relatively large, and he was tight on funds right now and didn’t have much spare money.

Therefore, he could only hand this treasure over to a big businessman to handle.

Tong Youwei was the first to propose defecting to him and working with him from the inside, so his loyalty was guaranteed. Secondly, the Tong family was wealthy and could afford to invest.

After comprehensive consideration, Wu Changqing decided to hand over the treasure of cement to him for production.

Upon learning that Wu Changqing had summoned him, Tong Youwei rushed to the Duke’s residence.

“Greetings, Duke. I wonder what instructions you have?”

Tong Youwei asked.

“Of course, it’s for your benefit. Watch me perform a magic trick for you first.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile. He took out a small bag of cement, which he had directly exchanged for with resource points. One resource point for one hundred kilograms, dirt cheap.

However, no matter how cheap this thing was, it would be foolish to exchange for it in large quantities with resource points.

Because the demand for cement was endless, building a highway required hundreds of thousands of tons.

A magic trick?

Tong Youwei almost fainted.

A dignified duke, a hero who held hundreds of thousands of troops in his hands, summoned him over just to perform a magic trick for him?

Tong Youwei felt like he must be dreaming.

If he hadn’t experienced countless storms, he probably wouldn’t even be able to maintain the most basic composure at this moment.

Full of doubts, Tong Youwei didn’t dare to say much and could only watch quietly.

He saw Wu Changqing mix water, lime, and a brownish powder for a while, and then smear the mud on the ground…

After a long time, Wu Changqing finally said, “Go touch the ground.”

Tong Youwei didn’t dare to question him and went over to touch the small patch of road that had been brushed with the mud.

Immediately afterward, he was shocked.

This road surface was extremely smooth and the texture was extremely hard, like a stone.

However, this was clearly just some water and powder, so why did it become like this?

Tong Youwei couldn’t figure it out.

“This thing is called cement. It hardens when it meets water. This thing has a very big use. It can be used to pave streets and official roads. It can be used to build houses mainly made of bricks and stones. It can be used to build extremely strong city walls.”

Wu Changqing’s words made Tong Youwei suddenly see the light. He immediately understood the great significance of this thing.

However, he didn’t understand why Wu Changqing wanted to tell him all of this.

“I’m handing over this national treasure to you to manufacture. Are you willing?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Hand it over to me?

Tong Youwei was greatly surprised. He didn’t understand why Wu Changqing was being so good to him, but there was no reason to refuse a pie falling from the sky.

“This humble one will do his best to fulfill the Duke’s orders.”

Tong Youwei said.

“Don’t be in a hurry to agree. You should also be able to see that this thing is mainly supplied to the government in the early stages. And the government can’t buy it at a high price, so if I let you do this, you may not be able to make any money in the early stages. If you’re not willing, I won’t force you. I’ll find someone else.”

Although Wu Changqing could force him to agree, forced melons are not sweet. It was best if the other party was willing, so that they would put their heart into doing things.

Tong Youwei now understood why Wu Changqing had come to him. He was using his money to do things for the government.

“It is this humble one’s honor to work for the Duke. I dare not ask for rewards.”

Tong Youwei agreed very decisively. Regardless of whether he could make money or not, Wu Changqing had opened his mouth and thought highly of him. If he refused at this time, Wu Changqing would inevitably be unhappy.

More importantly, Tong Youwei had a better understanding of Wu Changqing and knew that he had given many merchants in Suzhou benefits and was not someone who liked to squeeze merchants.

Working for him shouldn’t result in too much of a loss.

“Very good. Don’t worry, as long as you work hard for me, you will have plenty of benefits in the future. You probably won’t make any money from this cement, but I will have ways for you to make a fortune in the future.”

Wu Changqing was someone who liked to return favors. As long as Tong Youwei was willing to solve his problems, he would give priority to this guy if he had any small inventions that could make a fortune in the future.

Chapter 143: Mixed Feelings

In Shaoxing, at the beginning of March, Prince Lu, Zhu Yihai, received Qian Sule’s war report stating that Wu Changqing had already led his troops to capture Jiangning.

Two days later, they received another triumphant report that the Wu army had breached the outer walls of Nanjing.

The court was immediately in an uproar. Most of the officials in the court had stayed in Nanjing and had personally witnessed the height of the Nanjing city walls and understood their defensive capabilities.

Even the outer city walls were more than eight meters high.

At that height, taking it down in ten days or half a month would be considered very fast.

However, the Wu army only took two days. More than a day was spent on preparation, and the actual siege only took half a day. They took it down with one All-Out Assault.

The description of the Wu army’s siege in the war report also left the officials in the court dumbfounded.

Even if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they could roughly imagine the scene from the text and feel the power of those new weapons.

On March sixth, the news of the fall of Nanjing reached Shaoxing.

This time, they were beyond shocked.

“Your Majesty, could it be that Lord Qian has been captured, and these war reports are being used by the Qing Dynasty to confuse us?”

Zhu Dadian’s mind ran wild. Although he knew this idea was absurd, the fact that Nanjing was captured in a few days was equally absurd.

He refused to believe that the Qing Dynasty’s forty thousand troops couldn’t hold the fourteen-meter-high capital city walls for even a day. It was impossible, absolutely impossible, even if someone opened the city gate from the inside.

How big could a city gate be? It would be good if ten soldiers could squeeze in at a time. With forty thousand troops, he didn’t believe that the Qing army wouldn’t leave some people to block the city gate.

“Impossible. With Lord Qian’s integrity, even if he were defeated and captured, he would never write such a false war report. I think this war report should be credible. The Qing army was already low in morale, and Duke Wu’s troops killed Bolo in the first place, preventing the Qing army’s generals from daring to come forward to command.

As the saying goes, a military defeat is like a landslide. It’s normal for such a troop to be unable to defend. Morale is key. Without the will to resist, didn’t Qian Qianyi directly surrender with a large army?”

Zhang Guowei didn’t really want to believe this either, but he was willing to believe in Qian Sule’s character.

Moreover, theoretically speaking, it was possible to break through the capital city walls in one day, that is, if the Qing army gave up resistance.

“I second that. It’s impossible for Lord Qian to send a false war report. I think the Qing army may have suffered from not understanding rifled guns, and the immediate killing of the main general, Bolo, must have been a fatal blow to their morale.”

“What exactly is this rifled gun that can take a person’s head from hundreds of steps away? From now on, which general would dare to stand in front of the army?”

“It’s terrible. In just one month, Duke Wu has annihilated sixteen thousand troops of the Qing army, captured Nanjing, killed Bolo, and captured Hong Chengchou and Ajige…”

In the court, everyone was trembling at the military strength of Wu Changqing.

With such military strength, who in the world could be their opponent?

They originally thought that the Eight Banners were the most powerful troops, but they didn’t expect the Eight Banners to be so vulnerable in front of Wu Changqing.

The world was changing so fast that these old antiques couldn’t understand, adapt, and accept it all at once.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations. Duke Wu has recovered the former capital, which is a joyous event for our Ming Dynasty. When Your Majesty returns to the former capital, orders the world, and unifies the world, it will be just around the corner.”

Zhang Guowei saw that the atmosphere in the court was not right and quickly guided the topic.

This was a great event of recovering the former capital. Why didn’t everyone feel happy, but instead looked terrified? This was really inappropriate.

Although Wu Changqing’s actions were not in line with the rules of the court on weekdays, no matter what, Wu Changqing was still loyal to their court.

Wu Changqing’s recovery of Nanjing, in the eyes of outsiders, meant that their court had recovered Nanjing. This kind of thing worthy of universal celebration should naturally be celebrated happily.

“Congratulations to Your Majesty for recovering the former capital and revitalizing the Ming Dynasty’s glory.”

“Congratulations to Your Majesty for gaining a good general, and the revival of the Ming Dynasty is just around the corner.”

“Your subject requests that Your Majesty return to the former capital, formally ascend the throne and become emperor, establish orthodoxy, and rule the Central Plains.”

The others also reacted and offered their congratulations.

And Zhu Yihai’s mood at this time was very complicated, very, very complicated.

On the one hand, he was delighted to recover Nanjing, which was something he had dreamed of. On the other hand, he was worried about Wu Changqing’s powerful strength.

No monarch would like his subordinates to be too powerful and dazzling.

As the supreme ruler, the monarch hoped that he was the most dazzling one. How could the prestige of his subjects surpass his own?

No monarch would like a subject whose merits overshadowed the master, as that would make them feel uneasy and restless.

Under normal circumstances, after a subject’s power and merit became too great, the emperor would let him retire at home, using wealth and honor to keep him idle, and would no longer let him go to war and make contributions.

Unfortunately, now was an era of war, and Zhu Yihai had to rely on Wu Changqing, so he didn’t play the balance well, which led to Wu Changqing’s prestige continuing to rise, already threatening his position.

What made Zhu Yihai even more helpless was that he couldn’t change this situation.

He also wanted to be like his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang, killing meritorious officials and taking over military power.

However, the world hadn’t been pacified yet. Doing so would simply chill the hearts of the people and force the generals on the front lines to rebel and revolt.

More importantly, even if he dared to risk the world’s condemnation to strip Wu Changqing of his military power, in actual operation, he might not be able to succeed.

After all, not every subject was as honest and simple as Yue Fei, obeying every order.

Judging from Wu Changqing’s past performances, his character was completely different from Yue Fei’s. Directly stripping him of his military power might lead him to directly carry out a “cleansing of the court,” or even establish himself as king.

Although he had many worries in his heart, Zhu Yihai didn’t show it.

In front of the ministers who supported him, he needed to show enough confidence to give the ministers confidence. If he took the lead in panicking, the ministers under him would be even less confident in supporting him.

At that time, these ministers might secretly pledge allegiance to Wu Changqing.

Zhu Yihai pretended to be very happy and said, “It’s all thanks to the service of you, my beloved ministers, and all the soldiers. It’s everyone’s merit.”

Zhu Yihai was quietly downplaying Wu Changqing’s role, saying that it was everyone’s merit.

However, this kind of talk might fool ordinary people, but how could it fool these officials?

No matter how Zhu Yihai downplayed it, everyone couldn’t ignore the fact that Nanjing was captured under Wu Changqing’s leadership.

Some clever ministers had already sensed Zhu Yihai’s attitude from his words.

And these people had various thoughts in their hearts.

Some blindly loyal people agreed with Zhu Yihai’s attitude. They also felt that Wu Changqing should be suppressed a little to avoid his merits overshadowing the master, affecting the stability of the court and the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

But there were also clever ministers who believed that Wu Changqing would not sit still and wait for death. If Zhu Yihai wanted to suppress Wu Changqing, it would probably be another bloody storm.

And when this happened, they would have to consider which side to take.

Chapter 144: The Terrified Donglin Party

Now that Nanjing had been captured, the most important task for the Lu Wang regime was to relocate the capital and move the imperial court to Nanjing.

However, this wasn’t a pleasure trip that could be started on a whim.

Many preparations were needed before returning to Nanjing.

To say nothing else, they at least needed Wu Changqing’s permission and support.

If Wu Changqing wasn’t happy about them going to Nanjing, wouldn’t going there be like lambs entering a tiger’s den?

Therefore, Zhu Yihai needed to first bestow honors and send people to sound him out and discuss the specific details of moving the capital with Wu Changqing.

Only after receiving Wu Changqing’s promise of loyalty could he set off.

Zhu Yihai was actually quite confident about being able to return to Nanjing. At the very least, Wu Changqing certainly wouldn’t dare to refuse on the surface.

His identity as emperor was Zhu Yihai’s strongest weapon.

He represented legitimacy, and any minister who opposed him was committing treason.

Sometimes, relying on the word “legitimacy” could accomplish many things.

For example, the Jiajing Emperor of the past. When he was invited from being a prince to the palace to become emperor, he didn’t have any close associates or confidants. All he had was a legitimate identity.

But relying on this identity, the Jiajing Emperor was able to use various powers and schemes to completely seize power.

Zhu Yihai also planned to learn from the Jiajing Emperor, first going to Nanjing and establishing his legitimacy there.

As long as he was still the emperor, he could do many things.

For example, lavishly bestowing titles on Wu Changqing’s subordinates to divide his forces, or controlling the size of Wu Changqing’s army and supporting other generals loyal to him.

There were many methods, but the actual operation was also difficult, depending entirely on the emperor’s ability.

A charismatic emperor could easily gain the loyalty of capable officials. But if he was like the Chongzhen Emperor, who had no personal charm, the entire court would oppose him.

Zhang Guowei and others prepared for two days, and news came again from Nanjing that Wu Changqing had appointed Ruan Dacheng as a Grand Scholar of the Hall of Central Harmony.

For a time, Zhang Guowei and other civil officials were completely stunned.

The Grand Scholar of the Hall of Central Harmony was only a fifth-rank official. Wu Changqing had directly appointed even third-rank Provincial Governors, and Zhu Yihai hadn’t objected. Zhang Guowei and others hadn’t interfered, fearing they would displease Wu Changqing.

However, Wu Changqing’s appointment of Ruan Dacheng as a Grand Scholar of the Hall of Central Harmony was unacceptable to Zhang Guowei and others.

Don’t underestimate this position just because it’s a fifth-rank official. This position directly belonged to the Grand Secretariat.

The power structure of the Ming Dynasty was the Grand Secretariat and Six Ministries system. The ranks of the people in the Grand Secretariat weren’t high, but they were the decision-making level. All major national affairs were discussed and decided by the people in the Grand Secretariat.

It could be said that the Grand Secretariat was the core of power, while the Six Ministries were in charge of various departments.

Wu Changqing’s appointment of Ruan Dacheng as a Grand Secretariat minister basically meant letting him and Gu Yanwu jointly lead the civil official group, with all major decisions being made by them.

Ruan Dacheng’s power in Nanjing was roughly equivalent to Zhang Guowei’s power in Shaoxing, which was very great.

According to convention, Wu Changqing didn’t have the power to form a cabinet. However, considering that Wu Changqing had to manage the Southern Metropolitan Region, he definitely couldn’t do without an administrative system.

Therefore, in the past, when Wu Changqing formed a cabinet, the imperial court turned a blind eye.

In any case, the current core task was to recover lost territory, and the chaos of the administrative system could be changed slowly in the future.

Zhang Guowei and others had no objection to Wu Changqing forming a cabinet.

However, Zhang Guowei and others had objections to Wu Changqing appointing Ruan Dacheng as a member of the Grand Secretariat, and their objections were extremely strong.

This was because Ruan Dacheng had a deadly feud with the Donglin Party. If Ruan Dacheng took power, would these Donglin Party members still have a good life?

If they went to Nanjing, wouldn’t they be suppressed and tormented by Ruan Dacheng under various pretexts?

Ruan Dacheng had done this kind of thing last year.

“Excessive, too excessive! How can he appoint a Grand Scholar of the Hall of Central Harmony directly without notifying the imperial court?”

The Donglin Party members roared. Not long ago, they had just praised Wu Changqing as the pillar of the Ming Dynasty, the hope of the Ming Dynasty.

But in the blink of an eye, they were now starting to pick at Wu Changqing’s problems.

And Wu Changqing now had problems as numerous as the hairs on an ox: privately appointing high-ranking officials of the imperial court, privately opening the sea ban, privately changing the military system, privately changing tax rates…

In a unified and peaceful era, any one of these problems could be used as an excuse to chop off Wu Changqing’s head.

But because it was now a time of war, and because Wu Changqing had troops under his command, everyone was swallowing their anger.

However, because of Ruan Dacheng’s rise to power, these Donglin Party members had reached the end of their rope.

Wu Changqing’s appointment of Ruan Dacheng was more hateful to these Donglin Party members than rebellion.

They could still defect from a rebellion. In any case, whether the emperor was surnamed Zhu or surnamed Wu, they needed these civil officials to govern the world.

But Wu Changqing’s appointment of Ruan Dacheng was equivalent to completely exterminating their Donglin Party, to digging up their roots.

“What’s Gu Yanwu doing? Doesn’t he object?”

Song Zhipu roared. The reason they supported Wu Changqing so much was largely because Gu Yanwu controlled the civil official system under Wu Changqing.

And Gu Yanwu was a Donglin Party member, and he was with them.

“Although Lord Gu is nominally the Senior Grand Secretary, he probably doesn’t have much power to resist in front of Wu Changqing, who holds a large army,”

Zhang Guowei sighed.

Civil officials only had power in prosperous times. Once it was a time of chaos, the old saying was true: scholars are useless.

Civil officials had no status to speak of in front of generals who held military power.

“Then what should we do? Are we just going to let him do this? Are we still going back to Nanjing? Ruan Dacheng is in Nanjing, will he let us go?”

Song Zhipu immediately lost his mind, pacing back and forth in the hall, unable to sit still.

For a time, the hall was silent, and everyone was at a loss.

“No, we can’t go to Nanjing. At least, we must never return to Nanjing easily before we have reached an agreement with Wu Changqing. We must find a way to restrain Wu Changqing, otherwise it will be too dangerous to go to Nanjing,”

Zhang Guowei said.

“How to restrain him? Rely on His Majesty’s imperial edict?”

Song Zhipu sneered.

His tone could be described as greatly disrespectful, but the other ministers were not surprised.

After all, everyone knew in their hearts that their own emperor’s gold content was really too low. His imperial edict only had a little effect around Shaoxing.

No, he couldn’t even command Fang Guoan in Shaoxing.

At the thought of this, everyone could only sigh. It was a chaotic world, a truly chaotic world. The emperor was no longer the supreme ruler. An emperor without power could be stepped on by anyone.

Li Zicheng forced the Chongzhen Emperor to death, and the Manchus killed the Hongguang Emperor. The emperor was no longer sacred and inviolable. Those with power could ignore him.

Many ministers who had seen the situation clearly had already begun to ponder their escape routes.

Zhu Yihai’s ship was obviously unreliable, so it would be better to go and rely on the Longwu Emperor in the south. The Longwu Emperor at least nominally controlled six or seven provinces and hundreds of thousands of troops.

Of course, there were also people considering whether to completely break away from the Donglin Party and go and rely on Wu Changqing.

After all, Wu Changqing now seemed unstoppable and had more prospects than the Longwu Emperor.

There were even some civil officials who were not Donglin Party members who were now thinking of setting off for Nanjing to rely on Wu Changqing and Ruan Dacheng. They had been unhappy with the Donglin Party for a long time.

Chapter 145: The Longwu Emperor’s Determination

News of Nanjing’s recovery reached Fuzhou much later than Shaoxing, partly due to the distance and partly because it had to be inquired about.

Qian Sule was loyal to Zhu Yihai, so he wouldn’t write a war report to the Longwu Emperor.

If the Longwu Emperor hadn’t secretly bought off some ministers in Prince Lu’s government, he would have had difficulty even learning about the recovery of Nanjing.

But now, he received the news in a timely manner.

Similar to Prince Lu’s court, the officials in the Longwu court were speechless with surprise upon hearing about the recovery of Nanjing.

Although they had all fantasized about such a thing, in reality, very few ministers believed that the Ming Dynasty had the strength to retake Nanjing.

The Ming army’s performance against the Eight Banners was truly appalling.

“Is this news reliable?”

Su Guansheng, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, expressed his doubts.

“Absolutely reliable. Prince Lu and Zhang Guowei are already planning to move the capital to Nanjing,” the intelligence official replied.

“Incredible, this Wu Changqing is truly a god of war, able to defeat the Qing army’s Eight Banners with fewer troops, and even capture Nanjing,” Huang Daozhou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Appointments, exclaimed. Wu Changqing’s achievements had far exceeded their understanding.

“Minister Huang, now is not the time for admiration. If Prince Lu enters Nanjing first, we will be at a disadvantage,” Jiang Dejing, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, said anxiously. Wu Changqing’s capture of Nanjing was great news for the Ming Dynasty, but not necessarily for their Longwu court.

If Prince Lu returned to Nanjing and declared himself regent, his appeal would far surpass theirs.

Fuzhou, this remote little place, was simply not suitable as a capital. Whoever could control Nanjing would be the legitimate ruler.

“I want to head north immediately and enter Nanjing first,” Zhu Yujian declared, making an extremely reckless and adventurous decision.

“Your Majesty, please reconsider. This Wu Changqing is Prince Lu’s man,” Jiang Dejing quickly advised. Entering Wu Changqing’s territory so rashly would be like walking into a death trap.

“So what? I am the true Son of Heaven. Would Wu Changqing dare to attack me? As long as I reach Nanjing first and become the legitimate ruler, what reason would Wu Changqing have not to be loyal to me?”

Zhu Yujian decided to take the risk.

Compared to other princes of the Zhu family, his life had been much more difficult. He had suffered many hardships and experienced many storms, making him a relatively brave and resolute person.

For the throne, he dared to take a gamble.

He was prepared to make a bold bet that Wu Changqing wouldn’t dare to attack him, which would be tantamount to treason.

As long as Wu Changqing didn’t dare to act, he could move into the Nanjing palace, represent the legitimate authority, and reward Wu Changqing and his subordinates. Perhaps he could even gain Wu Changqing’s loyalty.

“It would be better to send someone to Nanjing to communicate with Wu Changqing first. We can promise him generous rewards. As long as he supports Your Majesty, Your Majesty can agree to make him a prince of a different surname,” Huang Daozhou advised, as going there rashly was too dangerous.

“But, Fuzhou is thousands of kilometers away from Nanjing. It would take a month to communicate back and forth. I’m afraid it will be too late,” Zhu Yujian said, frustrated. His disadvantage was distance. If he were closer to Wu Changqing than Prince Lu, Prince Lu would have no chance.

“Actually, there is another way. As long as we send someone to assassinate Prince Lu, Wu Changqing will have no choice but to be loyal to Your Majesty,” Zeng Ying, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works, offered a sinister suggestion.

The biggest obstacle to the Longwu Emperor was Zhu Yihai. Killing him would solve everything.

Although assassinating Zhu Yihai would be very difficult, it was worth a try.

“This…”

Zhu Yujian hesitated. It wasn’t because they shared the same ancestor that he couldn’t bear to do it, but because he feared being condemned by the world if things were exposed.

“Your Majesty, what are you still hesitating about at this time? The Yongle Emperor’s throne was snatched from his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, yet who would say that the Yongle Emperor wasn’t a wise ruler?”

Originally, as a subject, one shouldn’t speak carelessly about royal family matters.

However, Zeng Ying couldn’t care less now.

Zhu Yujian didn’t respond, not because he disagreed, but because he couldn’t agree to such a thing in front of everyone. He had to authorize Zeng Ying to do it privately.

If things were exposed, he could push the responsibility onto Zeng Ying, claiming that Zeng Ying had acted without authorization and that he was unaware.

“Who is willing to make a trip to Nanjing?”

Zhu Yujian decided to take a two-pronged approach: assassinating Zhu Yihai on one hand, and buying off Wu Changqing on the other.

This time, he was prepared to spend a fortune. As long as Wu Changqing didn’t want the throne, he would agree to anything else Wu Changqing wanted.

Some other ministers couldn’t help but sigh when they saw that Zhu Yujian didn’t reprimand or punish Zeng Ying.

The Ming Dynasty had reached this point, and the Zhu family was still fighting among themselves. Could such a court really be saved?

The Zheng family, Zheng Zhilong had also received the news of Wu Changqing’s capture of Nanjing.

He gathered his brothers to discuss the matter.

“His Majesty wants to go to Nanjing. What do you think we should do?” Zheng Zhilong asked.

“We must not let him return. If he goes to Nanjing, we won’t be able to control him,” Zheng Zhibao said, feeling that their family was now like Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms, using the emperor to command the lords. If Zhu Yujian went to Nanjing, they would no longer be able to maintain such an advantage.

“But, he wants to return to Nanjing. How can we stop him? He is the emperor,” Zheng Cai asked. Although they could secretly disobey Zhu Yujian’s orders, they still had to obey him on the surface.

“We can sabotage his plans in secret,” Zheng Zhibao said.

The other core members of the Zheng family were also discussing.

Zheng Zhilong suddenly raised his hand, signaling them to stop.

“Forget it, let’s just continue being our Pacifying Marquis. Don’t get involved in those matters. As long as His Majesty lets us govern Fujian, he can go to Nanjing if he wants.”

Zheng Zhilong made a decision. It wasn’t that he had no ambition, but he had a clear understanding of his own strength.

Having started as a pirate, he could be tyrannical on the sea. But on land, his army could barely defeat the Ming army’s garrison troops, let alone fight the Eight Banners or Wu’s army.

Zheng Zhilong simply didn’t have the confidence, so he preferred not to provoke those people and instead peacefully be his marquis, his local emperor in Fujian.

Not competing for dominance also had an advantage: other forces would compete to win him over, giving him benefits.

Just like before, Prince Lu had sent an envoy to contact him, saying that as long as he was loyal to Zhu Yihai, he would be directly made a duke.

He was now waiting for Zhu Yujian and Zhu Yihai to fight. Whoever won in the end would have to buy him off.

With Zheng Zhilong’s words, the others immediately had no objections.

In fact, these people had no great ambitions at all. Having come from a pirate background, they only wanted to live a good life, and it didn’t matter who they were loyal to.

Historically, they were also purely opportunists. Seeing that the Ming army couldn’t defeat the Qing army, they simply surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, wanting to continue enjoying wealth and glory.

Unfortunately, the Qing Dynasty’s strength was overwhelming, and it naturally wouldn’t allow an unruly force to exist. Zheng Zhilong’s desire to continue being a local emperor was wishful thinking.

Chapter 146: Changes in Nanjing

Nanjing, the main thoroughfare.

A squad of soldiers drove the commoners off the street, as they were about to begin construction, paving a cement road.

After more than ten days of repeated experiments, the craftsmen recruited by Tong Youwei had successfully manufactured cement and achieved mass production.

However, due to a shortage of professional personnel and insufficient raw material preparation, the output was not high. They could only produce a few tons a day.

In order to present a treasure to Wu Changqing, Tong Youwei hastily transported the first ten tons of cement into the city and began paving the first cement road in history.

The plan was for this cement road not to be too thick, just a few centimeters would suffice.

After all, there were no heavy trucks in this era, and a few centimeters of thickness would be enough to withstand all kinds of rolling.

“What are they doing?”

Although the commoners were driven away, they did not go far, but stood outside the cordon, curiously observing the construction workers. They could see that those people were building a road, but they could not understand what kind of road construction method this was.

In the past, road construction involved spreading yellow mud flat and then compacting it with heavy objects.

But now, the workers were mixing water with a brownish soil, adding a small amount of gravel, stirring it, and then spreading it on the ground to plaster.

This novel road construction method opened the eyes of the commoners.

More and more people gathered to watch, and even some people of status could not help but join in the fun.

“Shopkeeper Tong, what are you doing?”

Sun Daoming asked Tong Youwei, who was directing from the side.

“Can’t you see? Of course, I’m building a road.”

Tong Youwei said disdainfully. Now that he had climbed up to Wu Changqing and was a favorite by his side, he even looked down on Sun Daoming, who was on the same level as him.

“Of course, I know you are building a road, but what is this black stuff, and why are you plastering this thing on the ground?”

Sun Daoming did not mind Tong Youwei’s attitude and continued to ask.

He knew that things that could make Tong Youwei personally supervise and direct must not be trivial matters. And everything in front of him made no sense to him, and he was eager to understand this unknown thing.

Merchants still value information very much.

“This is called cement. It was invented by Duke Wu himself. It becomes extremely hard when it encounters water and can be used to pave streets. In the future, Shopkeeper Sun will no longer have to worry about his shoes being covered in mud and dust when walking on this street.”

Tong Youwei boasted, enjoying the feeling of showing off his knowledge.

“There is such a magical thing?”

Sun Daoming exclaimed. In his understanding, mud plus water would only turn into mud, how could mud plus water become hard? This was not in line with common sense.

However, this was not the most important thing. The most important thing was that he learned from Tong Youwei’s words that Tong Youwei and Wu Changqing had a close relationship, otherwise he would not have been entrusted with such an important task.

This made Sun Daoming envious, jealous, and hateful, regretting that he had not taken the lead in surrendering to Wu Changqing, otherwise he would be the one in power now.

After chatting for a few words, Sun Daoming left to take care of business.

When he returned at noon, he detoured to the main thoroughfare, wanting to see the so-called cement road that Tong Youwei had mentioned.

After a few hours of hardening, the cement road had taken shape and could even be stepped on.

However, because the road sections laid later had not completely hardened, commoners were not allowed to step on it and pass through, and could only walk on the unpaved road surface on the other side.

Soldiers were still guarding the roadside, but Sun Daoming had an unusual status and gave the guarding soldiers a few taels of silver, so the soldiers did not stop him from approaching the cement road.

Sun Daoming touched the road surface with his hand and found that the cement road surface was smooth and hard, even more solid than ordinary stones.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…

Sun Daoming was secretly shocked. This was too magical, simply unbelievable.

He had also seen craftsmen use mud to make ceramics, but those ceramics needed to be fired in a kiln, but this cement could be hardened by mixing it with water.

Moreover, this hardness far surpassed that of ceramics.

As a shrewd merchant, Sun Daoming immediately realized the function of this cement.

It can be used to pave roads, build houses, plaster courtyards, build city walls…

So many places can use it, indicating that the market for this kind of goods is very large, and as long as it is manufactured, there is no worry about not having a market.

This was a good business, but unfortunately this business was in the hands of Tong Youwei.

How to please Wu Changqing?

Sun Daoming obviously began to think. He would not be stupid enough to think that Tong Youwei would share this business with him. If he wanted to get involved in this business, he could only take Wu Changqing’s path.

After all, Tong Youwei himself said that this thing was invented by Wu Changqing.

The next day, the soldiers in charge of guarding had withdrawn, and this section of the road was opened to the commoners.

Curious commoners had already come over and stepped on it cautiously.

How could they not be cautious? Ordinary people were most afraid of the government and the army. If they accidentally damaged it, wouldn’t they be courting death?

However, this kind of caution was completely superfluous. Even if they jumped up and stomped hundreds or thousands of times, they would not be able to damage this cement road surface.

Before heavy trucks with a load of more than ten tons appeared, this kind of road surface was completely sufficient.

“It’s so hard, just like granite.”

Someone exclaimed.

“Nonsense, how can it be as hard as granite? These are all made of mud.”

Others questioned while trying to step on it.

After they stepped on it, their expressions immediately became the same as the previous person, with a look of shock and disbelief.

Subsequently, more and more commoners stepped on it, walking back and forth on the road, experiencing this magical road. And those children had already been running back and forth on this road.

For a time, this road was crowded with commoners, and there was not a single person on the yellow mud road that had not yet been paved.

Novelty items have always been so popular.

“What are you all doing standing on the road? Don’t you have to go to work? This road is for you to pass through, not for you to play and frolic.”

Tong Youwei came to the main thoroughfare again and reprimanded those bumpkins.

Those who had played too much forgot to do their jobs and gathered on the road, blocking traffic.

Tong Youwei spoke, and those commoners quickly moved away.

“A bunch of ignorant commoners.”

Tong Youwei despised with disdain. He forgot that when he first saw this cement road, his performance was no better than those commoners.

“Pave this side with cement as well. I want the Duke to see our results as soon as possible. This is the first cement road in the world.”

Tong Youwei ordered with high spirits. This was the first cement road in the world. Maybe it could be recorded in history in the future. Even if it cannot be recorded in history, it can definitely be recorded in the local chronicles.

And this was already a great honor for a merchant.

Chapter 147: Academy Merger

The next day, the students from the Suzhou Academy arrived in Nanjing en masse.

Considering the number of teachers, Wu Changqing ultimately decided to concentrate the academies together first.

After all, Suzhou was slightly inferior to Nanjing, which was the economic, political, and cultural center of the South. There were more scholars and talented individuals gathered here.

Therefore, the academy was ultimately located in Nanjing.

As they entered the city gate and walked onto the main road, someone immediately noticed the unusual road surface.

“Brother Feng, look at this road surface. It’s quite strange.”

Liu Tao squatted down and touched the road surface with his hand.

The others followed suit. After learning new knowledge, this group of people was now full of curiosity about the world. They would think about all kinds of strange phenomena and try to analyze the reasons behind them.

On the way to Nanjing, they even argued about whether a large stone or a small stone would fall faster.

One group believed it was the large stone because, based on daily experience, heavier objects tend to fall faster.

However, Feng Xianzhong coldly proposed a hypothesis, wondering what would happen if the large stone and the small stone were tied together with a rope.

If heavier objects fall faster, then the two stones combined would definitely be heavier than the large stone alone, and should fall faster than the large stone.

However, they had now learned about speed and knew simple speed calculations. According to the theory of adding speeds, the slower small stone would slow down the speed of the large stone, so the overall speed should be slower than the large stone alone.

This contradictory conclusion made many students want to cry. In the process of learning and exploration, they had experienced similar situations countless times. Everyday experience was simply unreliable.

In the end, their discussion did not reach a correct conclusion.

However, their discussion already had the shadow of a thought experiment, which was very rare.

Thought experiments are an important method for studying science because some experiments cannot be completed in reality, or are very difficult to complete. At this time, it is necessary to rely on imagination to conduct experiments.

The most famous example is naturally Einstein. His experiments were all related to light with a speed of thirty meters per second. In his era, it was impossible to do such experiments.

He could only complete all the experiments through imagination. By relying on imagination alone, he managed to create the theory of relativity.

In short, this way of thinking is very important. Because of Wu Changqing, those scholars who originally only knew how to recite the Four Books and Five Classics had now developed this advanced way of thinking, which was a particularly significant progress.

“Old fellow, why is the road surface here like this?”

A student grabbed a passing commoner and asked.

“This is the cement road invented by the Duke of Wu. It’s made of water and mud. Isn’t it amazing? I watched with my own eyes as the water and mud were mixed together, and then the mud became as hard as granite. Some people say that the Duke of Wu is a deity descended from the heavens who cast a spell on the cement.”

The honest old man boasted endlessly, a bit like a city dweller proudly introducing the advancements of the big city to a country bumpkin.

“So it was invented by the teacher, no wonder.”

Everyone immediately understood upon hearing this. As long as it was invented by Wu Changqing, they wouldn’t find it strange.

After all, the teacher’s knowledge is unfathomable, they had already experienced it.

“Teacher? You call the Duke of Wu teacher?”

The old man asked in surprise.

“Hehe, we are students of the Suzhou Academy. We are students personally taught by the Duke of Wu.”

Now it was their turn to be arrogant, showing off their status in front of the old man.

“Let’s go, don’t delay the time.”

Feng Xianzhong spoke, and everyone quickly stopped showing off and went to the academy. This used to be where the Imperial Academy held classes, but now it had been changed to the University Academy.

In the academy, Wu Changqing was teaching a physics class to more than five hundred students.

Although he was always busy, he still insisted on coming here every day to lecture for one hour.

After all, besides him, no one in Nanjing could teach these people physics and geography.

But now that the students from Suzhou had arrived, they could share his burden.

Among the first batch of students in Suzhou, some geniuses who had mastered elementary physics had emerged.

And these people could barely teach the beginners.

“Teacher.”

Feng Xianzhong and the others saluted one after another, while the students from Nanjing curiously sized up the students from Suzhou.

“Good, I have finished grading the latest exam papers, and everyone’s results have not disappointed me. Next, I want to promote a group of talents.”

Wu Changqing looked at this group of new-style talents he had created, and his heart was full of pride.

As long as their minds were liberated, then China’s scientific research would no longer lag behind the West. After all, in terms of intelligence alone, the Chinese are not inferior to Westerners at all.

In the original timeline, the technology of China did not develop, mainly because the way of thinking was wrong and not enough attention was paid to technology.

In order to continue to cultivate more new-style talents, and to attract more people to learn new knowledge, Wu Changqing deliberately promoted and rewarded them in front of the Nanjing students.

He wanted those people to know that learning these physics, chemistry, and technology knowledge could really lead to promotion and wealth.

Several people with good expression skills and solid knowledge of physics, geography, and arithmetic were awarded the official rank of eighth-rank wujing boshi, and their duties were to serve as instructors in physics, geography, and arithmetic.

As for Confucian classics, they were not needed. The Ming Dynasty had no shortage of Confucian classics teachers.

The eighth rank was much lower than the previous fifth or sixth rank officials, but the few people who were awarded the official rank were still full of excitement.

After all, this was just the starting official position. As long as they worked hard and made some achievements, climbing two more ranks would be the same as the seventh-rank magistrate. The seventh rank was already a core member of a national institution.

And the top few people with the best grades were awarded the fifth-rank wenxue boshi, and Feng Xianzhong was even named the fifth-rank boshichang.

Both wenxue boshi and boshichang were new official positions specially set up by Wu Changqing, because he could not find a suitable official position for them in the existing official system.

Because the work they were about to do was a scientific research project that had never been done before, there were no similar official positions before.

Everyone valued official positions these days, so Wu Changqing could not ask them to work without giving them official positions, so he could only set up a few new ones.

Just give a newly created official position, the name doesn’t matter, anyway, everyone knows the rank and the corresponding salary. A fifth-rank official is definitely a high-ranking official, a middle-level cadre in the entire central government.

Seeing those people being awarded official positions, the Nanjing students’ eyes lit up.

Especially Feng Xianzhong’s fifth rank, that was a fifth rank. Even passing the imperial examination with the highest score would start from the sixth rank. And now, as long as you get first place in the academy, you can start from the fifth rank. How can this not be exciting?

Some students who were very confident in their intelligence were excited. They had already made up their minds that they must compete for first place in the academy.

Chapter 148: The Steam Engine Project

After handing over the elementary teaching work to the other Five Classics scholars, Wu Changqing took Feng Xianzhong and the others to an experimental field. There, some blacksmiths were already forging strangely shaped parts.

If knowledgeable people from later generations saw these parts, they would know what Wu Changqing was trying to do: build a steam engine.

The principle of the steam engine is actually very simple: boil water and let the steam expand to drive machinery to do work, thereby converting it into kinetic energy.

However, transforming the principle into a working product is very difficult. People in Western Europe vaguely discovered the power of steam as early as the fifteen century.

But they didn’t build the first steam engine until 1679, and even then, it was only experimental.

A steam engine that could actually be put into use didn’t appear until 1698.

And this was just simple application, with no commercial value. The value a steam engine could create was far less than its manufacturing cost.

It wasn’t until 1735, when Watt began more than a decade of improvements, that the steam engine was refined to have significant commercial applications.

After that, mankind entered the steam age, and various technologies began to develop rapidly.

This process was difficult for many reasons: materials, craftsmanship, and inspiration were all indispensable.

But now, these problems were not problems for Wu Changqing.

He spent a full one million science points to unlock and master the manufacturing technology of the steam engine, the selection of parts and materials, and a series of related knowledge.

Afterward, he drew the structural diagram of the steam engine and taught the principles of the steam engine to Feng Xianzhong and the others, letting them manufacture the steam engine.

If Wu Changqing personally supervised, the manufacturing speed would naturally be faster, but he didn’t have that time.

As a person in power, he had too many things to deal with every day.

If he immersed himself in this invention and creation, the power in his hands might be seized by ambitious subordinates. Then all the inventions would be a wedding dress for others.

For him, power was the most important thing, and development was secondary.

“So, do you have the confidence to build this thing?”

After Wu Changqing taught the principle and manufacturing process, he asked.

“The most difficult part has already been solved by the teacher. If the student still can’t build this steam engine, then I will have no face to be the teacher’s student.”

Feng Xianzhong said.

He was telling the truth. The most important principle and manufacturing process of the steam engine had already been solved by Wu Changqing. Next, they only needed to operate according to the manufacturing process.

Their role was nothing more than solving some problems encountered in actual manufacturing.

After all, it’s not like there are no problems with the manufacturing process.

Even children know that building blocks only need to be stacked one by one, but how to stack them higher requires continuous experimentation and summarizing experience.

And manufacturing a steam engine is definitely hundreds of times more complicated than building blocks. Even if you know the process flow, you will definitely encounter a series of problems in the actual manufacturing process.

Only those who have mastered a lot of physics knowledge can find clues to these problems. If it were those blacksmiths who made the parts, they would definitely be confused.

“Well, put your heart into making this thing, this thing is very important. Just imagine, if you install this kind of thing at the bottom of a sailboat, can you propel the boat forward without wind power?

If you install this kind of thing on a carriage, can you make the carriage move automatically without horses, relying on the thrust of steam? If its thrust is large enough, can we transport tens of thousands of catties, hundreds of thousands of catties of materials at a time?”

Wu Changqing pointed out the direction of use of the steam engine to Feng Xianzhong. The steam engine must be used reasonably after it is built.

And the greatest role of the steam engine is naturally to change the mode of transportation and greatly improve transportation capacity. Steamships and trains are the most important representatives. Bringing these two things out will bring earth-shaking changes to society.

With steam as power, ships can open up a large number of new routes.

You must know that the most important thing for today’s maritime trade and sailing ships is ocean currents. They must be able to sail in windy areas.

And on the sea, there are only a few routes with ocean currents. In order to compete for these routes, the Netherlands, Spain, and England have been fighting fiercely.

At the same time, the fixed routes have also bred a large number of pirates who make a living by robbery. These pirates don’t need to work hard to find merchant ships on the ocean. They only need to wait on those fixed routes.

Although the profits of maritime trade in this era often double or multiply several times, its risks are also very huge. Natural and man-made disasters can easily cost you your life.

The windless zone on the ocean is now a forbidden area for sailing ships. For example, most of the Pacific Ocean is a windless zone. There are only two or three routes that can cross the Pacific Ocean now.

With the steam engine as power, the mode of maritime trade will be subverted.

More importantly, with steamships, you can beat those sailing warships in the battle for maritime hegemony.

During Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Seas, the Ming Dynasty’s navy was still world-class. But now, Western European countries are fully developing maritime trade, and various large ships are going to sea like dumplings.

The Ming Dynasty is closing its doors to the country, and shipbuilding technology has not only not improved, but has also regressed to some extent.

Now, simply comparing naval strength, the Ming Dynasty is actually no match for Britain and Spain, and even a small country like the Netherlands is not easy to fight against.

But Wu Changqing is not worried at all. Western Europe will have to wait more than a hundred years to create steam warships, and he can create them in at most one or two years. By then, he can easily beat the Western European navies until they scream.

Feng Xianzhong imagined those scenes according to Wu Changqing’s words, and immediately admired Wu Changqing to the point of worship.

He is now Wu Changqing’s little fanboy, Wu Changqing’s brain-dead fan. Because Wu Changqing’s various magical knowledge and ideas have refreshed his worldview time and time again.

“The student will do his best and live up to the teacher’s trust.”

Feng Xianzhong said.

“Well, take your time and pay attention to safety. Let the craftsmen do those dangerous jobs. Don’t worry too much, this is a long-term project.”

Wu Changqing said that manufacturing a steam engine is still somewhat dangerous. If the air pressure is too high and not controlled properly, it will explode.

These students are all talents he has spent time and energy to cultivate, and he doesn’t want to hear that someone was blown to death.

This kind of care made everyone quite moved, but Wu Changqing’s words not to worry too much were thrown out of their minds.

For this kind of magical treasure with great effect, how could they not be anxious? They can’t wait to create it immediately.

On the one hand, it is to repay Wu Changqing’s attention, and on the other hand, it is to achieve themselves.

Creating this kind of world-changing, epoch-making thing, their names can also be recorded in history.

Chinese scholars value whether they can be recorded in history very much. That is the lifelong pursuit of countless people.

And now, a God-given opportunity is in front of them.

Chapter 149: Ambush

Danyang. A convoy of over a thousand people began its journey, heading west towards Nanjing.

This convoy consisted of some artisans from the Suzhou armory and the soldiers responsible for escorting them.

After Wu Changqing captured Nanjing, he began constructing a new armory there.

After all, Nanjing was the center of the south, and the main force of the army was stationed there. Continuing to manufacture weapons and equipment in Suzhou and transporting them to Nanjing was troublesome.

Considering that Nanjing would be a major rear supply base during the future Northern Expedition, Wu Changqing decided to build a larger armory in Nanjing to save on transportation costs.

To quickly establish the armory, skilled artisans and the tools for manufacturing weapons were needed.

In this convoy, over three hundred people were highly skilled master craftsmen, and one thousand musket soldiers were responsible for escorting them.

The area of Southern Zhili was already Wu Changqing’s territory. Sending a thousand elite soldiers to escort them within his own territory was enough to show how much Wu Changqing valued these artisans and their skills.

He didn’t want any accidents to happen that could lead to the technology of manufacturing muskets falling into the hands of the Manchus to the north.

With the Manchus’ current massive size, obtaining this technology would allow them to quickly manufacture muskets in large quantities, posing a significant threat to Wu Changqing.

As the convoy left the city, several pairs of eyes were watching.

It wasn’t just the Qing who wanted to obtain the secrets of the musket; Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian also wanted to get their hands on it.

However, Zhu Yujian’s men could only sigh when they saw the thousand soldiers. They only had a few dozen people and couldn’t do anything. Due to the distance, Zhu Yujian had very limited manpower in Southern Zhili.

Zhu Yihai’s people had more, several hundred.

However, they had a serious problem to consider: the risk of their identities being exposed.

Unless they could wipe out all one thousand soldiers, the news reaching Wu Changqing would be tantamount to forcing Wu Changqing to rebel.

Whether they could defeat one thousand people with just a few hundred was a question, let alone annihilate them.

Therefore, Zhu Yihai’s people could only sigh and wait for other opportunities.

Outside the city, a group of about five hundred people was hiding in a forest.

These five hundred people were tall and burly, with fierce expressions, clearly a group of desperate men.

This was an elite Manchu team, specifically tasked with stealing the secrets of muskets and grenades.

Previously, the armory was inside Suzhou city and heavily guarded, so they couldn’t find an opportunity. But now that the artisans had finally left the city, they had ambushed here early, ready to plunder.

However, when their leader, Qi Shang, saw that the Wu army had one thousand people escorting them, his heart sank.

Although they were all elites capable of fighting two opponents at once, the reputation of the musket had frightened them. They had no confidence even in equal numbers, let alone when they were outnumbered.

Of course, the Manchus wanted to send more people, but this area was now controlled by Wu Changqing. Sending a team of five hundred was already the limit; any more, and the difficulty of hiding their tracks and deceiving the Wu army would double.

“General, the enemy has one thousand guards, and they’re all using muskets. Do we have a chance of winning?”

A lieutenant asked.

“Even if we don’t have a chance, we must attack. This matter concerns the great cause of our Qing Dynasty unifying the world. As long as we get these treasures, we can occupy the entire Central Plains. If we don’t get them, countless of our soldiers will die under these weapons.

Pass down the order: a reward of ten taels of silver for killing an enemy, a reward of one hundred taels of silver for capturing an artisan, and a reward of twenty taels of silver for seizing a musket.”

Qi Shang offered a heavy reward. The regular soldiers’ monthly salary was only a little over one tael of silver. But now, they could get one hundred taels of silver just for capturing a living artisan.

In other words, after this mission, they could retire and enjoy a good life.

Instantly, these strong men’s eyes gleamed with fierce light. They were going to get rich, and anyone who dared to stop them would face a massacre.

“Attack!”

Seeing that the convoy had reached the best ambush location, Qi Shang gave the order.

Immediately, five hundred warhorses charged out of the forest, rushing towards the convoy more than one kilometer away.

At their full speed, they could reach the convoy in less than two minutes.

The sound of hundreds of warhorses charging was very loud. Li San, who was in charge of the escort, spotted the enemy at once.

Seeing that they were cavalry, Li San also became nervous.

If it were infantry, he wouldn’t be afraid even if there were three thousand, let alone five hundred. But cavalry put a lot of pressure on him.

“Fix bayonets, form a hollow square formation, artisans hide inside!”

Li San quickly ordered the formation. When ambushed by cavalry, forming a formation was the only choice for infantry.

Running away was the most foolish thing to do; how could two legs outrun four? Without a dense formation, infantry facing cavalry was just delivering food.

In ancient times, infantry ambushed by cavalry were basically dead. Even if they formed a formation, the cavalry could still fire arrows around them without making contact, leaving the infantry to stand and take a beating without being able to fight back.

The Mongols of that time swept across the Eurasian continent with this tactic of mounted archery.

In the past, infantry could only wait to die when they encountered cavalry, but now, the appearance of the musket gave infantry the power to fight back.

Li San’s one thousand men were also elite troops. In a very short time, they fixed their bayonets and formed five or six hollow square formations. Inside the hollow square formations were crowded with artisans and supplies.

Li San knew that it didn’t matter how many soldiers died, as they could be replenished at any time.

But these artisans and supplies must not be lost. Losing an artisan was equivalent to losing the secret of the musket, and that was a very serious problem.

In the blink of an eye, the cavalry had charged close.

The Wu army didn’t even need Li San to give the order; they had already begun free firing.

They, especially the veterans among them, had a lot of experience and insight in dealing with cavalry. As long as they maintained their formation and fired as many shots as possible, everything would be fine.

With the sound of gunfire, Manchu cavalrymen fell one after another, making Qi Shang’s heart ache.

These were all soldiers he had carefully trained, each one in a hundred.

However, in the face of advanced firearms, these elites were as fragile as ordinary cannon fodder, dying from a single shot, even with armor on.

Armor that could withstand sword cuts and arrow shots was not very useful against firearms.

Because of the appearance of firearms, armor had now become a burden in the army. Wearing it was heavy and useless for protection, so it was better to take it off to run faster.

“Kill! Wealth and glory are right in front of us!”

Qi Shang took the lead, knowing that the rewards he would receive for completing this mission would be incredibly generous. He was willing to risk his life for this reward.

Soon, the two armies made contact.

The horses still avoided the bright bayonets, trying to pass from the side.

They could train fearless desperadoes, but they couldn’t train fearless horses.

Without breaking through the Wu army’s formation, they couldn’t capture the artisans inside.

“Charge! Charge!”

Qi Shang shouted loudly, and some desperadoes urged their horses to charge into the formation.

At this time, a major problem with the Wu army’s formation was exposed: the formation was too thin.

Originally, in a standard hollow square formation, the soldiers were arranged in three rows, with many bayonets per unit area. But now, because they had fewer people, there were only two rows, and in some places, even only one row.

When this formation was rammed by horses, although the horses could be stabbed to death, the entire formation also had gaps. The Manchu cavalry also had the opportunity to swing their sabers at the Wu army.

“Hold on, don’t panic, the time has come to be loyal to General Wu!”

Li San shouted.

He was now afraid that the soldiers would panic and cause the formation to collapse. As long as the formation didn’t completely collapse, they still had the advantage because they had more people.

Chapter 150: Crisis of Leaked Secrets

With gaps appearing in multiple formations, the battlefield descended into chaos.

Some soldiers of the Wu army were still firing and reloading, while others were already engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Qing army using bayonets.

As for the artisans, most were trembling with fear, but a few bolder ones lit hand grenades with fire starters and tossed them at the Qing soldiers.

These artisans, who specialized in manufacturing hand grenades, were actually quite experienced in throwing them.

Qi Shang fought cautiously while also observing the overall situation of the battle.

The Wu army’s tenacious resistance far exceeded his expectations.

Qi Shang knew very well that it was no longer realistic to defeat this Wu army and plunder a large number of artisans.

Reluctantly, he had to settle for second best, deciding to just grab a few if he could.

Having made up his mind, he charged towards the largest gap, letting his personal guards fight the Wu soldiers on both sides while he dismounted, grabbed an artisan, and hauled him onto his horse.

Seeing this, several other Manchu cavalrymen followed suit, dismounting to grab people. Some with skilled horsemanship could even grab people without dismounting.

These honest and simple artisans naturally didn’t dare to resist much in the face of murderous demons.

In a short time, Qi Shang and several of his personal guards had grabbed artisans and turned to flee.

They didn’t bother with the rest, as long as they could obtain the secret of the flintlock gun, it would be worth it even if these five hundred men died.

“Shift fire, shoot those people, we absolutely can’t let them get away.”

Li San nearly spat out a mouthful of blood when he saw the artisans being captured.

The other soldiers also understood the seriousness of the matter and took time to shift their fire, shooting at those who were fleeing.

However, apart from a few quick-reacting individuals who hit some Qing soldiers, the rest missed completely.

After all, horses were quite fast, covering dozens of meters in a few seconds. At that distance, hitting the enemy with a flintlock gun relied on dense firing.

Without dense firing, it was all down to luck.

Some of the Qing soldiers who were still alive saw that Qi Shang was leading the retreat and followed suit.

However, only a few lucky ones managed to escape; the vast majority were left behind.

“Immediately go to Danyang and Zhenjiang, and have them send people to set up checkpoints on the Grand Canal to intercept the enemy.”

Li San’s military skills were decent; he immediately deduced that the quickest way for the enemy to escape back north would be to go directly north along the Grand Canal in Danyang and enter the Yangtze River.

However, Li San was one step too late.

Qi Shang had meticulously planned this operation several times and had prepared response plans for all sorts of situations.

After successfully capturing the artisans this time, they boarded a boat before the Danyang officials could set up checkpoints and fled north frantically.

On the bow of the boat, Qi Shang was still sighing.

He had lost a full four hundred and eighty subordinates, and only twenty had escaped back to the boat with him.

And their gains were only three artisans, four flintlock guns, two hand grenades, and one mortar shell.

The remaining twenty subordinates were all still shaken; this was the most dangerous mission they had ever carried out, almost like a trip to the gates of hell.

On the other side, Li San’s mood was also extremely bad.

Although he had already sent people to report the news, he also knew that the other side had come prepared, and the hope of intercepting them was slim.

The thought that the secret of the flintlock gun might be leaked filled him with despair.

This time, his superiors would definitely not spare him; demotion would be the best outcome, and he might even be beheaded.

“Sir, after counting, it has been confirmed that of the three people captured, two are hand grenade makers, and one is a spring maker. They didn’t capture a flint maker, so they probably won’t be able to completely obtain the secret of the flintlock gun.”

His subordinate reported the losses, which was already the best of a bad situation.

Of the three most core technologies of the flintlock gun, the Manchus already knew how to make gun barrels, and now they had hope of mastering spring technology, but they still lacked flint technology.

“Not necessarily, didn’t they also seize several guns? By disassembling them, they will eventually be able to figure out how to make flint. After all, it’s not a particularly profound technology; don’t underestimate those Qing dogs.”

Li San remained pessimistic.

Afterward, Li San led the artisans back to Danyang, having already sent out a request for support.

Without the protection of heavy troops, he no longer dared to travel on the road.

When the distress message reached Nanjing, several military bigwigs also took it quite seriously.

Their continuous victories relied on the suppression of the enemy with advanced weapons. If this secret were leaked, this advantage would disappear.

“That useless Li San, I want to kill him.”

Liu Hansan cursed loudly.

“You can’t completely blame him; after all, the enemy came prepared and must have sent elite troops. Li San was able to withstand the charge of five hundred cavalrymen, kill more than four hundred and fifty enemy soldiers, and capture more than twenty prisoners, which is already quite good.

Moreover, the enemy only captured the spring maker but not the flint maker, so it probably won’t be easy for them to make a flintlock gun.”

Li Shaobin defended Li San because Li San was his subordinate. If he couldn’t protect his subordinate’s life, he would lose face, and those who followed him would be disappointed in him.

Therefore, even though Li Shaobin wished he could cut Li San into ten thousand pieces at this moment, he still had to speak up for him.

“You make it sound so easy; what if the Qing army manages to manufacture flintlock guns?”

Liu Hansan snorted coldly; his relationship with Li Shaobin was no longer as close as before.

Li Shaobin didn’t bother to argue with him and sent a three-thousand-man force to meet them.

As for how to deal with Li San, that would have to be decided by Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing was inevitably angry when he received this news.

However, he wasn’t particularly angry.

After all, he had long known that many people were eyeing the Suzhou armory, and there were many who wanted to steal the secret of the flintlock gun.

As the saying goes, one can be a thief for a thousand days, but one cannot guard against a thief for a thousand days. Being targeted by thieves all the time, it was inevitable that there would be oversights.

Now that only a spring maker had been captured, it was already a stroke of good fortune.

Wu Changqing estimated that it would take the Manchus at least half a year or even longer to figure out the flintlock gun and manufacture it.

And by that time, he would already be able to reach the north and greatly expand his strength. Even if the Qing army produced flintlock guns, they might not be able to stop him.

After all, he could come up with even more advanced weapons at any time.

Although the loss wasn’t particularly serious, Li San definitely had to be severely punished; rewards and punishments had to be clear in order to make his subordinates work harder.

Wu Changqing demoted Li San to the Daredevil Squad, telling him to wait for an opportunity to redeem himself.

The Daredevil Squad, after all, carried out missions with a slim chance of survival. If Li San was lucky enough to survive, he could be reinstated. If he unfortunately sacrificed himself, then he could only blame his bad luck.

Being ambushed in his own territory this time also made Wu Changqing realize the backwardness of his intelligence system.

Whether in war or in maintaining rule, intelligence was very important.

Every person in power would have an intelligence system directly under their control.

Chapter 151: Shock-Absorbing Carriages

The next day, Wu Changqing met Qin Fen, a student from the academy recommended by Wei Ziwen.

“Greetings, Teacher.”

Qin Fen suppressed the excitement in his heart and performed the salutation. He knew that Wu Changqing summoning him must mean he had a task to assign, a sign that he was about to rise in prominence.

“Zi Yue, how much do you know about the Embroidered Uniform Guard?”

Wu Changqing asked.

He planned to establish an Embroidered Uniform Guard to gather military and other intelligence for him.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard was an intelligence agency used by Zhu Yuanzhang to monitor officials. Through this agency, Zhu Yuanzhang uncovered more than a hundred officials implicated with Hu Weiyong.

The Hu Weiyong case directly implicated more than forty thousand people, which was enough to demonstrate the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s ability to gather intelligence; it was virtually all-pervasive.

Many officials’ concubines were informants cultivated by the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew everything about what those officials ate and drank at night, and even their bedroom performance.

At the peak of the Embroidered Uniform Guard’s power, all officials’ faces would change drastically at the mention of it.

Qin Fen became even more excited upon hearing this. As someone aspiring to an official career, he knew the Embroidered Uniform Guard very well. He knew that it was an intelligence agency directly under the emperor, not subject to the jurisdiction of any other department. Although the official position was small, the power was enormous.

Moreover, the person in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was definitely the emperor’s confidant.

This identity alone was much more prominent than other high-ranking officials. Even the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet had to treat him with courtesy.

Although having control of the Embroidered Uniform Guard would give one a bad reputation, Qin Fen didn’t care. As long as he could obtain wealth and status, what did he need a good reputation for?

Wei Ziwen was often criticized for his articles being nonsensical and greatly disrespectful to the imperial court, being Wu Changqing’s number one lackey.

But so what? Wei Ziwen was still thriving.

Those who only knew how to criticize were not even given the opportunity to become officials.

“It is an intelligence agency directly under the emperor…”

Qin Fen answered in detail.

His answer was very detailed and specific, showing that he was very familiar with the functions of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. Wu Changqing was very satisfied.

“Yesterday, the artisans from Suzhou were ambushed on the road, almost leading to the leak of the secret of the flintlock. In the territory under my control, five hundred Qing army soldiers run rampant, and no one was able to discover them. This is a very serious problem.”

Wu Changqing tapped the table.

“It is indeed very serious. Your student will definitely share the burden for you, Teacher.”

Qin Fen said.

“You are responsible for setting up the framework first. The name will temporarily be Military Intelligence Office. Get the funds directly from me. Three months, I want to see results in three months.”

Wu Changqing said.

He was not publicly rebelling yet, so of course he could not use the name Embroidered Uniform Guard, because the Embroidered Uniform Guard was directly under the emperor’s command, an agency that only the emperor could establish.

If Wu Changqing directly established his own Embroidered Uniform Guard, it would be the same as telling others that he wanted to become emperor.

The Ming Dynasty’s more than two hundred years of reign was not so easily forgotten by the common people and ordinary officials. The time for him to publicly rebel was not yet ripe.

“Your student understands.”

When Wu Changqing wanted to create an Embroidered Uniform Guard, Qin Fen was completely certain of Wu Changqing’s ambition. However, he had no intention of being loyal to the Ming Dynasty. He couldn’t wait for Wu Changqing to become emperor.

Because he was Wu Changqing’s student. The higher Wu Changqing’s position, the higher his position would be.

In Wu Changqing’s interest group, the interests of most people were already tied to Wu Changqing. In fact, many people in this group had already seen that Wu Changqing had the intention of becoming independent, but no one reported it to Zhu Yihai.

Several days later, the group of artisans arrived in Nanjing under heavy escort.

Nanjing Ordnance Workshop. More than three hundred artisans had been gathered here, most of whom were originally conscripted by Hong Chengchou to manufacture matchlock guns.

These artisans had skilled techniques. As long as the artisans from Suzhou slightly guided and taught them the skills, they could participate in the manufacture of new weapons.

Before long, the scale of this ordnance workshop would exceed that of Suzhou.

“Currently, the main problem with the armory is that the manufacturing speed of the gun barrels is too slow. The supply of hand grenades should be able to meet the army’s needs. After technical improvements, the speed of the howitzers has also increased a lot.”

Liu Baojun reported.

“What about the springs?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“The manufacturing process of springs is already very mature, and the manufacturing speed is very fast. However, without enough gun barrels, the manufacturing speed of flintlocks still cannot be increased. Currently, we can only manufacture a maximum of four thousand guns per month. After the artisans here in Nanjing become proficient, the monthly output should be able to reach six thousand.”

Liu Baojun knew that the army’s biggest shortage was flintlocks, but unfortunately, the production capacity of flintlocks could not keep up with the army’s demand.

However, Wu Changqing was still satisfied with this speed. With four thousand a month, in another two or three months, he would be able to put together an army of twenty thousand flintlocks, at which point he would basically be able to rampage unhindered.

“Let the extra spring artisans manufacture this kind of spring. This kind of spring can be installed on carriages to act as a shock absorber.”

Wu Changqing took out a sample of a shock-absorbing spring.

Current carriages do not have rubber wheels or shock-absorbing springs, so riding in them is quite uncomfortable. Even a little unevenness or gravel on the road can toss the people in the carriage back and forth.

And the roads of this period basically could not be expected to be smooth.

Ordinary men would not be able to stand riding in a carriage for a long time. And those women, riding in a carriage was even more of a torment.

Those actresses in historical dramas who ride in carriages all look like they are enjoying themselves, that is because they are riding in carriages with springs installed.

Real carriages in ancient times were not comfortable to ride in at all. Of course, riding a horse and walking were even more painful.

Therefore, Wu Changqing wanted to create a comfortable carriage to sell to the rich and earn some money for military expenses.

He had to maintain two armories, and the monthly investment was twenty to thirty thousand taels of silver. All of these manufactured weapons were supplied to the army, and there was no income at all.

In the long run, Wu Changqing was also feeling the strain.

The key to shock-absorbing carriages lies only in the springs. The cost of these small springs is very low, but shock-absorbing carriages can be sold at a high price.

Because this is a product specifically for the rich, and the rich pursue enjoyment. Such a comfortable carriage, spending a few hundred or a thousand taels, is nothing.

With this kind of shock-absorbing carriage, the female relatives of those wealthy merchants would definitely not be willing to ride in old-fashioned carriages again.

At that time, comfortable shock-absorbing carriages might even become a symbol of status. Would you even have the face to be called an upper-class figure without such a high-end carriage?

This kind of shock-absorbing carriage would be like sports cars in later generations, selling for all kinds of sky-high prices.

As long as Wu Changqing mastered the manufacturing process of springs, others could only watch him make a fortune. Even if this secret was discovered by other merchants, there was no need to panic.

Daring to compete with the armory for business, they must be tired of living.

If others dared to affect the armory’s income, causing the armory to not have money to manufacture more advanced weapons, those soldiers would have killed them in minutes.

Even if these soldiers did not go to find trouble with them, they would not dare to compete with Wu Changqing for business.

The manufacturing of springs was handed over to the armory, while the carriage part could be handed over to Tong Youwei.

After all, Wu Changqing had promised him benefits, and Tong Youwei was constantly investing funds in cement manufacturing, which was not a profitable business.

Wu Changqing quite liked such a loyal merchant.

Now, sharing some profits with Tong Youwei was also a model for other merchants, letting other merchants know that following him and doing things for him would definitely bring benefits.

Chapter 152: Expanding Territory

By March 15th, the Wu army, having rested for half a month, began its expansion.

Currently, Wu Changqing only occupied the area around Nanjing, Changzhou, Suzhou, and Shanghai. Among the various forces, his territory was actually the smallest.

Even Zhu Yihai occupied most of Zhejiang, and his territory was more than four times that of Wu Changqing.

Not to mention the Longwu Emperor, whose nominal territory was at least dozens of times that of Wu Changqing.

Even Zhang Xianzhong’s Great Western regime in the west had a much larger territory than Wu Changqing.

Of course, the geographical locations of those people’s territories were far inferior to Wu Changqing’s.

During this period, the most prosperous area in the country was the Nanjing-Suzhou region.

As for Zhu Yihai’s territory, apart from the relatively wealthy Hangzhou area, the rest were continuous mountain ranges. Although the area was four times that of Wu Changqing, the total economic output was probably less than a quarter of Wu Changqing’s.

In order to expand his sphere of influence, Wu Changqing formulated a strategy of advancing westward and southward after taking Nanjing.

The initial goals were to capture Wuhu, Tongling, Xuancheng, and other places.

These places were all plains south of the Yangtze River, with developed transportation, and were currently in the hands of the Qing army.

Before the navy was developed, attacking north of the Yangtze River was very troublesome. Logistics and transportation were a problem, and defense after occupation was also a problem.

Therefore, occupying the area south of the Yangtze River was the most suitable plan for him.

Currently, Li Chengdong’s and Zhang Yingyuan’s troops were stationed in Wuhu. They had previously prepared to support Nanjing, but Nanjing had already fallen halfway, so they had to retreat.

The main force of the Qing Eight Banners in Nanjing could not defeat the Wu army even with the help of the city walls. They did not have the courage to challenge the military might of the Wu army.

Li Chengdong and Zhang Yingyuan had a total of about sixty thousand troops, but they were all Green Standard Army soldiers with relatively weak combat effectiveness.

Wu Changqing sent the Second Division, the Third Division, and the 11th Brigade. The 11th Brigade was the First Brigade of the First Division, plus some other auxiliary troops, with a total force of thirty thousand.

This time, Wu Changqing did not personally lead the expedition, but let Liu Hansan be the commander-in-chief.

At the same time, Wu Changqing took this opportunity to establish a staff department.

Some officers’ tactical level was actually stronger than Liu Hansan, Wang Dayong, and others. However, it could not be said that because they were more capable, they should be given higher positions. That would be unfair to Liu Hansan and other veterans.

However, leaving these more capable people unused and continuing to let Liu Hansan command would undoubtedly be a waste of talent, and could even lead to combat failure.

The solution to this problem was to establish a staff department. The specific combat plan would be discussed jointly by the people in the staff department, and Liu Hansan would only be the one to make the final decision.

This not only guaranteed the power of veterans like Liu Hansan, but also allowed the talents in the staff department to play their abilities, giving those capable officers a chance to show their skills.

In fact, the staff department was a bit like military advisors, but they had more people, more power, and had to manage more specific things.

An advanced staff department was very helpful in combat.

After all, every battle was a very complex system, involving many aspects. The formulation of tactics, the guarantee of logistics, the collection of intelligence…

Relying solely on the personal ability of a general was simply unworkable, and a fully functional staff department was necessary.

On the eighteenth, the Wu army arrived in Wuhu.

In the city of Wuhu, Li Chengdong learned of the arrival of the Wu army, and almost dropped the teacup in his hand.

Times had changed. Last year, when he first learned that Wu Changqing had captured Jiading County, he didn’t take it too seriously.

Although the Wu army had defeated his subordinates with fewer troops at that time, the Wu army only had a few hundred people in total, and could not cause any trouble. But who would have thought that in just over six months, this force of a few hundred people had grown to hundreds of thousands.

If it was just hundreds of thousands of people, Li Chengdong wouldn’t be worried. Relying on the city walls, he might not be able to defend against hundreds of thousands of people.

The Qing army now had nearly one million troops, and was not lacking in numbers at all.

What made him panic was the Wu army’s record. Although he had not personally fought against the Wu army, he could feel the horror of the Wu army from the previous Wu army’s record.

With sixty thousand against one hundred and twenty thousand, defeating the main force of the Qing army’s cavalry in the wild. Within five days, capturing Nanjing, which was defended by an army of fifty thousand.

Each of these battles was so incredible, comparable to the Battle of Guandu, the Battle of Red Cliffs, and the Battle of Fei River.

Facing a prestigious army, Li Chengdong really had no confidence. If he had such strong confidence, he would not have surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in the first place.

The city walls of Wuhu were not high, only more than four meters. In the face of the Wu army’s firearms, they had no advantage at all.

“Brother Li, I think this Wuhu is probably indefensible.”

Zhang Yingyuan’s thoughts were the same as Li Chengdong’s. After all, he had also received those battle reports, felt the power of the Wu army from the battle reports, and learned about the Wu army’s strange and advanced weapons.

“We have to defend it even if we can’t. We can’t afford the crime of fleeing without a fight. Moreover, we are the barrier of Prince Lekedehun. He is about to defeat He Tengjiao.

If we flee without a fight now and let the Wu army attack General Lekedehun’s rear in the Jiujiang area, wouldn’t he be angry enough to chop off our heads?”

Li Chengdong said helplessly. This was the helplessness of being a soldier. Sometimes, they had to fight even if they knew they couldn’t win.

Defending might still have a chance of survival. If they fled without a fight, the Qing Dynasty would not be polite to them. As for surrendering, their families were now controlled by the Qing army. Surrendering would mean the extermination of their entire family.

“Move your troops stationed in Xuancheng here as well. Anyway, there is no need to garrison there.”

Zhang Yingyuan had no good way to deal with the Wu army now, so he could only increase his own troops as much as possible. Having more people would always have some effect.

As for Xuancheng, giving it to Fang Guoan didn’t matter. They only needed to defend the cities along the Yangtze River to ensure the safety of Lekedehun’s rear.

Currently, there were multiple battlefields in the country in fierce fighting. Not only was the Wu army attacking, but Fang Guoan of the Lu Wang regime was also sending troops while Wu Changqing was attacking Nanjing. He had already occupied Huzhou and Guangde, and was trying to attack Xuancheng.

In Jiangxi, Hunan, and other places, Lekedehun was still chasing and fighting He Tengjiao. The Eight Banners were still quite fierce when facing troops other than the Wu army.

“The situation is difficult. Who would have thought that the situation would change so quickly?”

Li Chengdong sighed. He and Zhang Yingyuan were both surrendered generals, and the reasons for their surrender were almost the same: they believed that the Qing army was very powerful and invincible.

They were both optimistic that the Qing army would replace the Ming Dynasty and unify China, so they chose to join them.

And at first, their choice seemed to be correct. Until Wu Changqing rose out of nowhere, constantly defeating the Qing army, and even defeating the main force of the Qing Dynasty, capturing Hong Chengchou and Ajige alive, and killing Aisin Gioro Bolo.

Even Mandahai, who was a Prince, surrendered to the Wu army.

Half a year ago, they would not have dared to imagine such a thing.

But now, these things had really happened, so that they began to doubt whether their decision to surrender was correct.

If they had not surrendered and waited until Wu Changqing rose to power to join him, they could not only have clung to a strong thigh, but also left a good reputation.

Unlike now, they not only had to face crises, but also bear infamy. It was really not worth it.

Chapter 153: Equipment Suppression

The Wu army rested for only a day before beginning their siege the next day.

When the forty Hongyi cannons were wheeled out, Li Chengdong and Zhang Yingyuan on the city wall nearly vomited blood. This was just too much! Was it really necessary to bring so many cannons to attack their small county town?

“Brother Li, we can’t let them keep firing those cannons like that! Send the cavalry to kill those artillerymen!”

Zhang Yingyuan suggested. They had five thousand cavalry in their army, which could take on the task of charging the artillery positions.

“Their artillery is protected by a line of musketeers. Charging over there is basically walking into the tiger’s mouth.”

Li Chengdong shook his head. Clearly, the enemy general was a competent commander who hadn’t made any basic mistakes, protecting the artillery positions very well.

Tactically, they couldn’t outmaneuver the enemy, and in terms of equipment, they were being suppressed. This battle was simply too difficult.

“We have to try something! If we let those artillerymen keep bombarding us, the city wall won’t last an hour. Without the wall, we’ll have even less chance of winning.”

Zhang Yingyuan was well aware that the enemy’s artillery was protected, but even so, he wanted to try.

Maybe the Wu army would react slowly, and their cavalry could successfully reach the artillery.

After all, the artillery wasn’t that far from the city wall, only about one and a half kilometers. At a high-speed charge, it would only take two minutes.

“Then let’s try it.”

Li Chengdong didn’t have a better plan. If they didn’t take some kind of countermeasure and just let those Hongyi cannons keep firing, it would be a huge blow to the army’s morale.

The worst thing in battle is to be on the receiving end of attacks without being able to retaliate. Even if it’s just for show, they had to launch some kind of counterattack.

The east gate of the city was opened, and five thousand cavalry poured out, charging towards the Wu army’s artillery positions.

The Wu army commander spotted their intention immediately through his telescope.

“Form ranks!”

With a loud shout, five thousand musketeers stood in front of the artillery positions, forming several large hollow square formations.

“Change ammunition! Solid shot! Target: cavalry!”

“Cavalry, prepare for a counter-charge!”

Throughout the battlefield, orders were being issued methodically. The lower-level soldiers, however, didn’t know what was happening, couldn’t see the overall situation of the battlefield, and only knew to obey their officers’ orders.

“Boom!”

The artillery was the first to attack, as they had the longest range.

One after another, large iron balls flew into the advancing cavalry formation, creating all sorts of carnage.

The iron balls carried tremendous kinetic energy, and whoever they hit died. After landing on the ground, these iron balls wouldn’t stop immediately, but would bounce and roll, hitting more horses.

The horses were already charging at high speed, carrying tremendous kinetic energy. In this situation, encountering an iron ball would almost certainly result in a broken leg, with no exceptions.

The only good news for the Qing army was that the artillery’s rate of fire was slow. They could basically only fire one round before the cavalry reached them.

In other words, they only had to endure forty shots.

Not all forty shots would hit their mark. Only about twenty or so shots would effectively kill the Qing soldiers. The other shots flew off who knows where.

Smoothbore cannons weren’t accurate, and the artillerymen’s skills were poor. These were all reasons.

However, even if only twenty or so shots landed in the Qing army’s cavalry formation, they caused enormous casualties, wiping out at least a hundred men.

Subsequently, the Qing army entered the range of the muskets, and the musketeers opened fire.

Their rate of fire was only enough for two shots before the cavalry reached them.

But these two volleys alone killed at least five hundred cavalrymen.

This rate of killing was terrifying, many times higher than traditional cavalry melee combat. Traditional cavalry charges seemed impressive, but because the contact area was limited, not many people actually died in a single charge.

Unlike now, they were suffering remote attacks without any contact, and the area being attacked was very large.

The cavalrymen, seeing their comrades falling one after another, were already scared out of their wits.

If they were infantry, they might have turned around and run away.

But they were cavalry. Once cavalry charged, there was no turning back. They could only charge all the way to the end.

The remaining cavalry charged towards the hollow square formations. Except for a few horses that couldn’t dodge in time and crashed into them, most of the horses avoided the gleaming bayonets, choosing to pass by on the sides.

How to break a hollow square formation was a major problem for cavalry. Perhaps only by equipping the horses with armor and blinders could they break through.

But Li Chengdong and his men hadn’t thought of this method yet.

So, their cavalry fell into the trap again.

Except for a few cavalrymen close enough to the Wu army to inflict some damage with their long sabers, the remaining cavalry all became sitting ducks, shot at point-blank range by the Wu army’s musketeers.

One after another, cavalrymen fell from their horses, then were trampled into mincemeat by the horses behind them, a gruesome sight.

The cavalrymen who broke through the hollow square formations discovered that there were two more rows of spearmen in front of the artillery positions, and they were completely despairing. Without the will to fight, they could only choose to bypass them and try to escape.

If they charged head-on, they could certainly break through the spearmen and kill some artillerymen.

But they would definitely die too.

These soldiers’ sense of duty wasn’t high enough to sacrifice themselves for the Qing dynasty, so they all chose to run away.

At this time, the Wu army cavalry, who had been prepared for a long time, launched a charge, rushing towards the Qing army cavalry who had already been scared out of their minds, resulting in another massacre.

The tragedy of the cavalry was that it was difficult to find an opportunity to surrender.

It was too easy for infantry to surrender. They could drop their weapons, kneel on the ground, and the enemy would immediately understand their intention and generally wouldn’t kill them.

But what about cavalry? They had nowhere to kneel on horseback, and there were no iconic surrender gestures for them to make.

Even if they dropped their weapons, the enemy would worry that they were too fast and would escape, so they chose the simpler option of killing them.

The Qing army cavalry, repeatedly ravaged, had less than eight hundred riders left when they retreated from the battlefield, a casualty rate of over eighty percent.

This unit was completely ruined. At this point, let alone asking them to fight again, it would be good enough if they could remain calm and not go crazy.

On the walls of Wuhu County, Li Chengdong and the others didn’t have telescopes and could only vaguely see the situation on the distant battlefield.

They estimated the losses based on the shadow area of the cavalry and were immediately dumbfounded, unable to say a word.

Almost the entire force was wiped out in one charge! This was incredibly agile cavalry, not clumsy infantry. This kind of casualty rate was incomprehensible.

The sound of cannons rang out again. The Wu army’s cannons had switched to howitzer shells, which landed on the city walls.

Li Chengdong and his men were wrong. Liu Hansan and his men never intended to collapse their city walls. They simply wanted to cause the Qing army to collapse through mass casualties.

And howitzer shells were much better at causing casualties than solid shot.

Every time a howitzer shell successfully exploded on the city wall, dozens of Qing soldiers would lose their combat effectiveness.

“General, let’s go down. It’s too dangerous to stay on the city wall. The enemy’s exploding shells are too powerful!”

Zhang Yingyuan saw a howitzer shell explode not far away, and more than twenty Qing soldiers instantly fell to the ground, lying on the city wall and wailing. The misery of it made him panic.

If they were accidentally hit by a shell, they wouldn’t even have a chance to dodge.

Chapter 154: Launch the General Offensive

“If we retreat, these soldiers will instantly lose control and collapse. Send the order, let some soldiers leave the city walls and take cover.”

Li Chengdong knew that the army’s morale was extremely low. If the commander retreated to take cover at this time, the soldiers would worry that he had already fled.

Therefore, even though staying on the city wall was dangerous, he couldn’t retreat. He had to let his soldiers see him.

To reduce losses, he also ordered some soldiers to leave the city walls and take cover, reducing the density of soldiers on the walls. This way, even if a shell hit, fewer people would die at once.

He didn’t dare to withdraw all the soldiers, in case the Wu army suddenly attacked the city now. If everyone was withdrawn, there wouldn’t be enough time to react.

“The enemy is more tenacious than we imagined.”

The Wu army generals all had relaxed expressions, a stark contrast to the Qing army generals’ bitter faces.

“That’s about enough. Order the general offensive.”

Liu Hansan said, seeing a mere four-meter-high city wall as nothing to worry about.

As for the forty thousand troops in the city, he was even less concerned.

After cramming for a while, Liu Hansan had also mastered some basic military knowledge, knowing that the key to military success lies in quality, not quantity.

Having more soldiers has its advantages, but if they are not elite enough, this numerical advantage can turn into a disadvantage, namely a tendency to collapse.

The biggest factor affecting the morale of ordinary soldiers is the casualty rate on their side. Once the casualty rate is too high, soldiers will become afraid and fearful.

Liu Hansan gave the order for a general offensive, and he didn’t need to worry about the specific command from then on.

Each unit had already been assigned its tasks.

First, the musketeers advanced to suppress the enemy, then the assault troops followed.

Among these assault troops were swordsmen and shield-bearers to climb the walls, grenadiers responsible for providing covering fire and fire support, and snipers moving freely within the ranks.

Their task was to move freely, find officer targets, and then kill them.

The entire battlefield looked chaotic, but it was actually very organized.

“Order the soldiers to immediately get on the city walls and prepare to meet the enemy.”

Li Chengdong’s heart beat faster when he saw the enemy preparing for a general offensive.

Several thousand musketeers stood under the city walls, and the Qing soldiers who went up to the city walls squatted down, not daring to show their heads. They all knew that this outdated city wall could no longer protect their safety.

“Musket men and archers, stand up and fight back! Those who are afraid of battle will be executed!”

Li Chengdong continued to order, and the low-level officers quickly forced the soldiers with ranged attack methods to fight back.

Immediately, the sounds of gunfire, crossbows, and screams were endless.

Both the Wu army and the Qing army suffered heavy casualties. In comparison, the Qing army’s losses were even more severe, at least twice that of the Wu army.

Because their rate of fire was too slow, the matchlock gun’s rate of fire was completely outclassed by the flintlock gun.

The archers’ rate of fire was not low, but archery was a physical task, and the arms would become weak after shooting eight or nine arrows in a row.

Overall, the Wu army’s firepower density was far greater than that of the Qing army, giving them a great advantage.

Faced with this equipment suppression, Li Chengdong could only grit his teeth, helpless.

This was his only means of fighting back, and although it was very disadvantageous, it could at least inflict some casualties on the Wu army.

He could only hope that the Wu army’s fighting will was not as strong as his own, and that they would be unable to withstand the losses and retreat first.

However, he was clearly wishful thinking.

When it comes to fighting will, no unit can currently compare to the First Division of the Wu army.

They were the ones who could maintain their formation in the face of a charge of twenty thousand cavalry. It can be said that they had all walked through the gates of hell and had long since taken life and death lightly.

They had no choice but to take it lightly. Doing this kind of high-risk job, people with a poor mentality can’t even sleep. Soldiers suddenly going crazy in the army happened from time to time because of too much psychological pressure.

In the first few rounds of shooting, the Qing army could barely resist.

But as the archers weakened and the casualties mounted, the Qing soldiers began to panic. This kind of firing line where life and death depended on fate was something that few people could withstand.

If it weren’t for the officers standing by with their sabers supervising the battle, these ordinary soldiers would have slipped away long ago.

“Pa.”

Among the many musket sounds, there was occasionally a slightly different sound.

That was the sound of a rifled gun, a sniper had struck.

As these people took action, some Qing army generals on the city wall began to die in large numbers.

At first, it wasn’t particularly obvious, but after several rounds of accumulation, many Qing soldiers had already discovered that there were no officers around them.

Without officers forcing them to fight back with their swords, they instinctively squatted down to save their lives.

Anyway, they had all seen through it. This city couldn’t be defended. They no longer cared whether the city was lost or not, only whether they could save their own lives.

“What’s going on? Why is the intensity of the counterattack weakening?”

Li Chengdong discovered that the momentum of his side’s counterattack was much weaker than at the beginning, which was very strange. He knew that although they had lost many ranged soldiers, they had plenty of troops and were constantly replenishing them.

In such a short period of time, there shouldn’t be a shortage of troops.

“It seems that some generals in some areas have been shot and killed. Without anyone commanding, those soldiers are afraid of battle and are not advancing.”

Zhang Yingyuan observed for a while and came to a conclusion.

“Damn it, what bad luck.”

Li Chengdong cursed. He had not yet received any reports about rifled guns, so he didn’t know that the Wu army had weapons specifically for killing officers.

Regarding the frequent deaths of generals from gunfire, he thought it was just bad luck.

“Ah.”

Li Chengdong had just finished cursing when he screamed. He himself had been shot.

But his luck wasn’t the worst. He was shot in the arm.

Because he was wearing armor, the bullet only grazed a large patch of skin on his arm.

Although it was painful, it wasn’t fatal.

“Medicinal wine, quickly bring medicinal wine to clean the wound.”

Li Chengdong’s personal soldiers shouted loudly. Although it was only a scratch, this was a gunshot wound, and they couldn’t be careless. Otherwise, the wound would fester and continue to fester until death.

They had seen this situation many times in battle reports.

After fighting the Wu army many times, the Qing army had actually summarized a lot of experience.

For example, if you get hit by a bullet, you must clean the wound with medicinal wine and then bandage it with layers of clean cloth.

Although they didn’t understand the principle behind it, after some experiments and summaries, they concluded that doing so had a certain effect.

Of course, ordinary soldiers who were shot certainly didn’t have this kind of treatment and could only wait to die.

High-ranking officers like Li Chengdong could enjoy this luxurious treatment even if their arms were scratched.

“Lord Zhang, I’ll leave things here to you.”

At the moment he was shot, Li Chengdong was scared half to death, thinking that his life in the military would end here.

Fortunately, he was only shot in the arm, and he didn’t want to stay on this city wall any longer.

And being injured was a good excuse to hand over the task to Zhang Yingyuan.

Zhang Yingyuan cursed inwardly while agreeing.

Chapter 155: Slipped Away

With Li Chengdong’s retreat, Zhang Yingyuan took over the command.

However, not long after, a centurion next to Zhang Yingyuan was also shot and fell.

Then, sharp-eyed Zhang Yingyuan noticed that some of the Wu army soldiers below the city were aiming at him with long rifles.

Zhang Yingyuan deserved to be a man who could become a general; his mind was very quick. Even though he had never seen a rifled gun before, he understood it in that instant.

The officers who were shot and fell weren’t just unlucky; they were deliberately being assassinated.

As soon as this thought popped up, Zhang Yingyuan immediately crouched down.

Immediately afterward, a bullet blasted a gap in the city tower behind him, causing him to break out in a cold sweat.

If he hadn’t crouched down fast enough, he would have been the one shot.

What new weapon had the Wu army come up with this time?

Zhang Yingyuan felt a burst of exhaustion. Flintlock guns already made it impossible for them to raise their heads, and now there were exploding rounds, grenades, and these rifles that could assassinate officers from a distance.

This was unbearable; this battle was impossible to fight.

With more than a decade of military experience, he had never seen this kind of battle and couldn’t find any way to fight back.

Zhang Yingyuan didn’t want to lose his life here in confusion; he still had plenty of wealth and glory waiting for him to enjoy.

“Centurion Liu, you take temporary command here. I’m going to find General Li to discuss how to defeat the enemy.”

Zhang Yingyuan handed over command to Li Chengdong’s subordinate and then retreated into the city with his men. He was going to abandon the city and run away.

Or rather, he wanted to surrender.

After witnessing the power of the Wu army, he didn’t want to be their enemy anymore; otherwise, he would lose his life sooner or later. Being enemies with the Qing army at least guaranteed his life; if he couldn’t win, he could run away. The Qing army didn’t have weapons that could assassinate officers from a distance.

However, now that the two armies were at war, it wouldn’t be easy for Zhang Yingyuan to surrender. In this era, there was no such thing as raising a white flag to signify surrender.

Surrendering in the heat of battle was too difficult, so Zhang Yingyuan wanted to escape to Tongling first.

If the Wu army continued to attack Tongling, he could open the city gates and surrender, which would be equivalent to having performed meritorious service by defecting, and the treatment he received would be completely different from being forced to surrender on the battlefield.

Having made up his mind, Zhang Yingyuan gathered his subordinates and prepared to escape from the west gate.

As for Li Chengdong’s life or death and the city of Wuhu, he couldn’t care less.

As the saying goes, better a dead friend than a dead me. Zhang Yingyuan and Li Chengdong weren’t exactly good friends.

Not only did he not care about Li Chengdong, but he also wanted to hide his actions from Li Chengdong so that Li Chengdong’s soldiers would continue to resist, making it easier for him to escape.

Zhang Yingyuan’s subordinates naturally had no objections to his decision; they didn’t want to fight against the Wu army, this army of tigers and wolves.

Subsequently, Zhang Yingyuan led his army to the west gate, claiming that he was going out of the city to launch a sneak attack on the rear of the Wu army from outside the city.

In the entire city of Wuhu, only Li Chengdong had more power than Zhang Yingyuan, and now he had been taken down for treatment. The soldiers guarding the west gate naturally didn’t dare to question or stop Zhang Yingyuan.

Zhang Yingyuan’s ten thousand strong army left the west gate and immediately took off running towards Tongling.

On the city wall, with Zhang Yingyuan’s army gone, the Qing army quickly faced the problem of insufficient troops.

At this time, the Wu army’s siege ladders were already set up, and the daredevils had begun to climb.

The composition of the daredevil team was very complex, including stubborn Manchurian soldiers, Han soldiers who had committed crimes, and some desperate people who wanted to be promoted and make a fortune.

The purpose of the daredevil team was not to retreat. If they were lucky enough to win, there would be many benefits. Those who had committed crimes could have their mistakes erased, and those who wanted to be promoted and make a fortune could receive huge rewards.

And if they were unlucky, then that was their fate. They couldn’t expect to retreat; the supervising team behind them was always aiming at them, and anyone who dared to retreat would be shot directly.

In this kind of battle with no way out, soldiers could often unleash powerful combat power.

A desperate fight, going forward there was still a glimmer of hope for survival, retreating was certain death.

When these soldiers were climbing, the grenadiers below the city were throwing grenades at the city wall to provide fire cover.

It could be said that these daredevils attacking the city were much happier than the siege soldiers in other armies.

When other armies attacked the city, they were really filling the gap with their lives.

But they, on the other hand, not only had various advanced siege weapons, but also had flintlock troops covering them during the charge, and grenadiers covering them when they reached the city. These covers greatly reduced their casualties.

Although they were called daredevils, their casualties were not particularly high.

As the soldiers on the siege towers jumped onto the city wall, and these daredevils climbed onto the city wall, the Qing army on the city wall began to collapse.

For the defenders, the city wall was the source of their confidence. Once the enemy attacked the city wall, their psychological defense would undergo a major blow.

At this time, if a highly respected general stood up to command, the soldiers could still muster the courage to organize a counterattack.

But now, the highest-ranking officer on the city wall was only a guerrilla general, and there was a large shortage of lower-level officers.

The guerrilla general couldn’t mobilize the reserve troops to support the city wall, nor could he bring confidence to the soldiers. Lacking lower-level officers, the soldiers couldn’t be effectively organized.

In this case, the Qing army was actually doomed to defeat.

The Qing army failed to drive the Wu army off the city wall at the first opportunity, and the Wu army on the city wall took it step by step, occupying multiple gaps and covering others to continuously pour onto the city wall.

When there were enough people, they began to clear the area.

At this time, it was a melee battle, which should have been the Qing army’s favorite way to fight.

But now their morale had been crushed, and they were constantly defeated in the face of those desperate daredevils.

“Order them to shout the slogan ‘Surrender and be spared.’”

Li San ordered. He was also a commander in the daredevil team. At this time, he had seen that the enemy’s morale was completely gone, and there was no need to carry out a massacre.

As long as these surrendered soldiers were reformed, they could become qualified soldiers.

“Surrender and be spared!”

“Surrender and be spared!”

“Surrender and be spared!”

As hundreds of Wu army soldiers shouted in unison, their momentum once again shattered the Qing army’s psychological defense.

Some Qing army soldiers who had been waiting for this moment threw away their weapons directly, and even some company and battalion commanders were throwing away their weapons.

When someone took the lead, the situation was like a domino effect, and others followed suit, surrendering and giving up resistance.

The city wall fell, and soon the city gate also fell wide open. More Wu army soldiers poured into the city and began to control various parts of the county town.

At the same time, the cavalry outside the city also began to chase down those Qing army soldiers who were unwilling to surrender and tried to escape.

At this point, the battle was basically over, and the next step was to clean up the battlefield and count the spoils.

“Vulnerable, looking at the world, there are no more armies that can match us.”

Liu Hansan was in a very good mood after seeing that the city had been taken.

“The impact of weapons on war is too great, and it has even played a leading role. Tactics, strategies, and morale are not important.”

Chief of Staff Tao Dongcheng said. When the weapons were not much different, the general’s tactics and command could still play a role.

But when the weapon gap was too large, the Qing generals had no chance to use any tactics or command.

Chapter 156: Dividing the Troops

Li Chengdong was in his temporary residence when a personal guard rushed in, reporting that the city had fallen and urging him to flee quickly.

“What? The city has fallen already? What was Zhang Yingyuan doing?”

Li Chengdong was shocked. Although the Wu army’s weapons gave them a significant advantage, they had over forty thousand troops. Even throwing lives at the enemy should have held them off for several hours.

But how long had it been? Just over an hour, and the city had fallen? It must have been made of paper.

“General Zhang led his troops out of the west gate, saying he was going to attack the enemy’s rear,” the guard reported.

Li Chengdong almost choked with rage. He wasn’t as easily fooled as those soldiers, believing such nonsense.

Zhang Yingyuan’s troops were all infantry, lacking high-speed mobility. Attacking the enemy’s rear in this flat terrain? Impossible! Clearly, that bastard was just using it as an excuse to escape.

Running away was one thing; Li Chengdong could understand Zhang Yingyuan’s fear. However, what he couldn’t tolerate was that this son of a bitch didn’t even tell him, and secretly escaped on his own.

This was clearly a plan to use him as a scapegoat, a sacrificial lamb.

“That bastard! I’m going to write a scathing memorial about him!”

In a fit of rage, Li Chengdong instinctively slammed his hand on the table.

Then, the sharp pain in his arm reminded him that he was injured. Li Chengdong gritted his teeth, with a bellyful of anger and nowhere to vent it.

“General, we should escape quickly. The north gate is still under our control,” the guard reminded him of the urgency of the situation. This wasn’t the time to dwell on reporting Zhang Yingyuan.

“Escape? Where to? Do you want me to jump into the Yangtze River and swim across?” Li Chengdong snapped. If the west gate hadn’t fallen, he could have escaped all the way to Tongling.

But now that the west gate was lost, only the north and east gates remained. The east was Wu army territory and off-limits, and the north was the Yangtze River, a dead end.

If his arm wasn’t injured, Li Chengdong would have struggled to get on a horse.

But the sharp pain in his arm made it impossible even to mount a horse.

The guard fell silent. They knew Li Chengdong was preparing to surrender. Surrender if you want, Li Chengdong didn’t even care about his family, they were soldiers, so it didn’t matter to them.

More than two hours later, the entire city was cleared, and it returned to its former tranquility.

Liu Hansan sat in the government office, listening to the battle results.

“In this battle, our army killed nine thousand five hundred enemy soldiers, captured over twenty-three thousand, Zhang Yingyuan’s unit escaped completely, and another seven thousand or so routed soldiers are missing. Our army suffered over two thousand six hundred casualties and four hundred seriously wounded.”

“We seized five thousand bows, crossbows, and arquebuses, twenty thousand sets of swords, spears, and armor, one hundred and fifty thousand taels of silver, and other valuables…”

A standard victory, with losses within acceptable limits, and the spoils were decent.

“Decent” was in comparison to the previous major battles. If compared to other Ming army and Qing army engagements, their results would be a resounding victory.

“The main force of the Qing army has been defeated. There are not many enemy troops in Tongling and Xuancheng. I have decided to divide our forces into two groups to take them down.”

Based on previous intelligence estimates, Tongling probably had only about thirteen thousand troops, while Xuancheng had even fewer, estimated at around eight thousand.

“I’ll attack Xuancheng; you take Tongling,” Wang Dayong said.

“Perhaps we can take Li Chengdong along when attacking Xuancheng. The defending general of Xuancheng is Li Chengdong’s subordinate. Taking Li Chengdong there to threaten the opponent will allow us to exploit the remaining value of this guy,” Liu Hansan said. In his eyes, Li Chengdong was already a dead man.

Other surrendered generals could continue to serve in the Wu army, but Li Chengdong had absolutely no chance because they had initially rebelled against Li Chengdong’s troops.

Furthermore, Wu Changqing’s father was killed by Li Chengdong’s troops.

Although Xue Wu, who killed Wu Zhiban, had been executed, Li Chengdong couldn’t escape responsibility.

Liu Hansan also knew that Wu Changqing deeply hated Li Chengdong because Li Chengdong had once massacred a city.

After leaving a small force to guard the prisoners, Liu Hansan and Wang Dayong marched towards Tongling and Xuancheng, respectively.

After nearly three days of travel, Liu Hansan finally arrived at Tongling. Along the way, they passed through several small towns without encountering any resistance.

Wars in this era almost always revolved around the struggle for cities. As for the rural towns, there was no need to attack them.

As long as the city in the area was occupied, the officials in the county were controlled, and an order was issued, the surrounding rural towns would declare their allegiance.

For these rural towns, it didn’t matter much who was in power, as they would have to pay taxes anyway.

Moreover, these towns were basically controlled by the gentry and landlords, who had little ability to resist the army. As long as the ruling army wasn’t too excessive, they would generally choose to obey.

The ruling army, wanting to control these areas, also had to cooperate with these gentry and landlords and generally wouldn’t make things too difficult for them.

Upon arriving at Tongling, Liu Hansan hadn’t even prepared to attack when an envoy from Zhang Yingyuan came out, expressing his desire to surrender.

Of course, their surrender came with conditions. Zhang Yingyuan hoped to continue to hold military power.

“Continuing to lead troops is certainly no problem, but here, a division is about ten thousand people. General Zhang coming here and wanting to be a division commander is probably impossible. Becoming a brigade commander, however, is no problem,” Liu Hansan said.

Although Tongling was a small county and wouldn’t take much effort to conquer, casualties were inevitable. If a thousand people died, the compensation alone would cost twenty to thirty thousand taels of silver.

To save this money, Liu Hansan was happy to accept Zhang Yingyuan’s surrender.

“That’s only right and proper. My general wouldn’t dare to be on equal footing with Division Commander Liu. However, my general hopes that the brigade he leads will still consist of his original old subordinates. Old subordinates are more familiar and easier to command,” the envoy said. Before coming, they had carefully assessed the possible treatment they could receive. A brigade commander could lead about six thousand soldiers, which was less than Zhang Yingyuan’s current force, but acceptable.

Completely retaining his troops was out of the question. Surrendering didn’t come with such good treatment.

After all, they weren’t surrendering when the Wu army was in dire straits but were forced to surrender when they were at a disadvantage.

“That’s no problem,” Liu Hansan said with a smile. Not only was he smiling on his face, but he was also laughing in his heart, mocking Zhang Yingyuan for being too naive.

Having followed Wu Changqing for some time, Liu Hansan had roughly figured out Wu Changqing’s strategy, which was to separate soldiers and senior generals into two parts.

He would occasionally move the generals’ positions, not allowing a general to control a certain unit for a long time, preventing the generals from cultivating their own forces.

And the distribution of military pay was uniformly handled by the logistics department. The money didn’t pass through the hands of the generals, cutting off their economic ties with the soldiers.

It had to be said that this trick was simple and effective.

At least for now, the generals under Wu Changqing had adapted to this model. Some generals were unwilling but unable to change it, while some generals even liked this model.

Under this model, they didn’t need to worry about military expenses, troop sources, or logistics. The only thing they needed to do was command during the expedition.

This job was much easier than before.

Although in this way, their power was not guaranteed and was entirely at Wu Changqing’s whim, as long as they didn’t rebel against Wu Changqing, Wu Changqing wouldn’t cut their power for no reason.

As long as Zhang Yingyuan surrendered, Wu Changqing would have plenty of ways to dissolve his relationship with his troops in the future.

Chapter 157: Creating Friction

The next day, both sides held the surrender handover ceremony.

Liu Hansan didn’t trust Zhang Yingyuan just because he said he was willing to surrender, and Zhang Yingyuan didn’t have all his soldiers lay down their weapons just because Liu Hansan made promises.

If he did that, he would be at Liu Hansan’s mercy.

According to the agreed-upon process, Zhang Yingyuan first had seven thousand soldiers lay down their weapons and accept reorganization by Liu Hansan.

As for the six thousand men directly under Zhang Yingyuan’s command, they continued to be stationed in Tongling.

These seven thousand men were Zhang Yingyuan’s pledge of allegiance. After receiving these seven thousand men, Liu Hansan took some of his troops to garrison the city, while the other part stayed in Datong Town outside the city, a transportation hub, to complete the defense against the Qing army.

The progress in Tongling was smooth, but Wang Dayong encountered trouble in Xuancheng.

When Wang Dayong arrived in Xuancheng, he found that the flag of the Ming Dynasty was hanging over the city.

After sending soldiers to negotiate, he learned that the Qing army in the city had already surrendered to Fang Guoan, and Xuancheng had been occupied by Fang Guoan.

“General, what should we do now?”

Deputy General Yue Hong asked.

Wu Changqing’s task for them was to occupy Xuancheng, but now Xuancheng had fallen into Fang Guoan’s hands. Everyone was now part of the Ming army, so it wouldn’t be good to attack directly, as it would harm harmony.

However, if they didn’t attack, it was obviously impossible to expect Fang Guoan to give up Xuancheng.

“Let Fang Guoan open the city gate, we also need to go in and rest. Moreover, demand that he hand over Li Chengdong’s troops, because Li Chengdong has surrendered to us, and Li Chengdong’s troops should also belong to us.”

Wang Dayong was ready to provoke trouble. As long as there was an excuse, they could fight with Fang Guoan.

As for what impact this would have, he was not worried.

As a core figure beside Wu Changqing, he naturally knew Wu Changqing’s ambitions, so he didn’t take Fang Guoan and Zhu Yihai seriously.

If he wasn’t afraid of being criticized, he wouldn’t even bother to negotiate and would just attack.

Afterward, Wang Dayong came to the city with his personal guards.

“General Wang, you are one step late, Xuancheng has already been taken by me. I will be stationed in Xuancheng, and General Wang can rest assured to attack and recover other places.”

Fang Guoan said on the city wall.

“General Fang, even if you took Xuancheng first, you should at least let my brothers in to spend the night, right? Do you want my tens of thousands of brothers to sleep in the wild? Moreover, Li Chengdong has surrendered to our army, please return his original subordinates.”

Wang Dayong said.

“Presumptuous, what qualifications do you have to speak to the Duke like that?”

Fang Guoan’s subordinates shouted loudly. Currently, the imperial decree to grant Wu Changqing the title of Prince of Wu had not been officially issued, so Wu Changqing and Fang Guoan were still of the same rank.

And Wang Dayong was just a general under Wu Changqing, only a viscount.

Fang Guoan raised his hand to signal his subordinates not to get excited.

He replied: “Xuancheng is small, and it is already quite crowded with my army of thirty thousand, I’m afraid it can’t accommodate General’s troops. As for Li Chengdong’s subordinates, they have already surrendered to my command and become part of my army, and have nothing to do with Li Chengdong anymore.”

Fang Guoan didn’t want to clash with Wang Dayong. Although they had the advantage in troop strength now, they couldn’t compare with Wu Changqing in total troop strength.

Moreover, he had heard about the Wu army’s powerful combat power.

He didn’t want to go to war with the Wu army unless absolutely necessary.

Of course, he wouldn’t let go of the fat meat that had already reached his hands.

He took the initiative to report the number of his troops, also wanting Wang Dayong to back down in the face of difficulties.

However, Wang Dayong really didn’t take thirty thousand people seriously.

“General Fang, it’s fine if you don’t let us into the city, but Li Chengdong’s troops must be handed over to me, otherwise don’t blame me for attacking the city directly.”

Wang Dayong continued to provoke trouble. He was now afraid that Fang Guoan was too tolerant, making it impossible for him to find an excuse.

“Presumptuous, Wang Dayong, I gave you an inch and you want a mile, don’t you? This old man is a duke bestowed by the Prince Regent Lu, what are you, to bargain with me? If you want to attack, then attack, do you think my thirty thousand soldiers are vegetarians?”

Fang Guoan suddenly burst into abuse. As a dignified duke, he was ignored by a small military officer, which made him lose face.

If he compromised, where would his prestige be in front of his soldiers in the future?

“Attack then, do you think I dare not?”

After Wang Dayong finished speaking, he retreated and then arranged for people to prepare to attack the city.

Seeing the Wu army’s actions, Fang Guoan’s lungs were about to explode with anger.

He thought Wang Dayong was just talking and scaring himself, but he didn’t expect Wang Dayong to be serious.

Everyone still belonged to the same court, and it was too presumptuous to attack each other like this, simply not taking the court seriously.

“General, they really want to attack the city, what should we do?”

The deputy general asked.

“Order to prepare for defense, if they want to occupy this Xuancheng, they have to ask if our army agrees.”

Fang Guoan really didn’t want to fall out with Wu Changqing at this time, but things were forcing him to develop in this direction. He couldn’t give up Xuancheng, and he also wanted to expand his strength and improve his status.

“Immediately send messengers to report to the imperial court, let them order Wu Changqing to restrain his troops.”

Fang Guoan also issued an order, hoping that the imperial court could mediate.

He was confident that he could stop Wang Dayong’s ten thousand men, but he knew that the Wu army had more than one hundred thousand troops, which could be reinforced at any time. When the Wu army’s main force arrived, he couldn’t bear it.

Therefore, Fang Guoan hoped that the imperial court could play a role in stopping Wu Changqing’s hegemonic actions.

After simple preparations, the Wu army began to attack.

They brought twenty cannons, two thousand flintlock rifle troops, three thousand arquebus troops, one thousand cavalry, and more than three thousand infantry.

The Ming army had thirty thousand men and eight thousand surrendered soldiers available, and its strength actually exceeded that of the Wu army. What’s more, they had the advantage of city walls.

Originally, in this disadvantaged situation, the Wu army was not suitable for immediate attack.

But Wang Dayong was afraid that Fang Guoan would suddenly soften, so he couldn’t wait to make the relationship stiff, create conflict, and launched an attack regardless.

Twenty cannons began to fire, and a small number of shells fell on the city wall, killing and wounding a large number of soldiers.

“Damn it, didn’t the officer say that the troops coming were from our Ming Dynasty, why are they firing at us?”

Some low-level soldiers cursed, no one liked this kind of unprovoked disaster.

“They are the troops of the Duke of Wu, and we are the troops of the Duke of Fang.”

A soldier said.

“Isn’t that all the Ming army?”

It was difficult for the low-level soldiers to sort out the relationship, but it didn’t matter, what mattered was that they needed to fight the Wu army.

This was definitely not good news for those soldiers.

Now it was rumored everywhere that the Wu army was invincible and a fierce and powerful army, which put a lot of pressure on the soldiers.

Chapter 158: Temporary Retreat

“Return fire!”

Fang Guoan roared. They also had cannons, though not many—fifteen in total.

Their cannons were breech-loading guns bought from overseas merchants, slightly inferior to the Hongyi cannons in range and power.

Most importantly, they fired solid shot. In terms of destructive power, solid shot was no match for explosive shells.

However, it was better than nothing. They couldn’t use them to hit the Wu army’s artillery positions, but they could bombard the Wu army’s infantry and cause some casualties and deterrence.

As the cannon fire began, both sides started to suffer casualties.

However, Fang Guoan was somewhat surprised by the casualties on both sides. He only knew that the Wu army had a very powerful type of flintlock gun, but he didn’t yet know about explosive shells.

Seeing the explosive shells detonate on the city walls, causing widespread damage, Fang Guoan quickly ducked into the city tower.

It was too terrifying; he didn’t want to be hit by shrapnel.

“Why can their shells explode? Aren’t their shells made of iron balls?”

Fang Guoan asked, but unfortunately, no one could answer his question.

“It’s a bit like the ‘Thunderbolt Cannon’,” one subordinate said.

However, others immediately retorted, “The Thunderbolt Cannon only fires a large number of small steel balls at once; it’s not like a shell that can explode. Moreover, the Thunderbolt Cannon’s range is less than one thousand feet; it’s just a large bird gun. The enemy is clearly using Hongyi cannons, with a range of several Li.”

They couldn’t understand such an ahead-of-its-time thing as an explosive shell.

After half an hour of bombardment, the Wu army began their siege.

Large numbers of soldiers surged towards the city walls, and shells occasionally landed among them, causing significant casualties. However, these were necessary sacrifices, and the Wu army continued to advance.

Two thousand flintlock soldiers entered effective range and began firing at the city walls.

The Ming army on the city walls also countered with archers. At this time, a major problem for the Wu army was exposed: they had too few troops.

The Ming army, with their advantage in numbers, surprisingly didn’t suffer in the exchange of fire with the Wu army.

Archers weren’t at a disadvantage in terms of rate of fire, and when the front-line archers quickly shot a few arrows and got tired, reserve soldiers immediately filled in.

With enough archers to rotate, their firepower density wasn’t much worse than the Wu army’s.

The Wu army, however, had no reserve troops to replenish their ranks. They were dwindling in numbers, and they could only send some matchlock soldiers over to provide suppression. However, due to the rate of fire issue, the suppression effect of the matchlocks was not significant.

There was a shortage of people in the ranged suppression units, and there was an even greater shortage of people in the units responsible for scaling the city walls.

Spreading a few thousand people out in front of these few Li of city walls, you would find that a few thousand people weren’t many at all.

Moreover, to guard against attacks by Ming cavalry charging out of the city, Wang Dayong had to leave a portion of his troops on alert.

“General, let the soldiers withdraw. We don’t have enough troops; we can’t fight,” staff officer An Fugui advised. Wang Dayong’s order for a general attack was completely inconsistent with the rules of engagement.

To meet the conditions for a siege, the attacking army must have at least three times the number of the defending troops.

The Wu army’s weapons were advanced, so the number of troops could be smaller, but it couldn’t be less than the defenders, otherwise it would easily turn into a war of attrition, making it difficult to capture the city.

Now they only had one-third the number of the defenders, so such a blatant attack was very risky. If they encountered setbacks during the attack and had to retreat, and the cavalry in the city dared to charge out to pursue them, they would suffer heavy losses.

Wang Dayong also saw through his telescope that his side didn’t have a great advantage on the battlefield, so he ordered a retreat.

He didn’t expect to take Xuancheng with this wave of attacks. Wasn’t he just worried that Fang Guoan would suddenly soften? That’s why he couldn’t wait to escalate the conflict to an irreconcilable point.

Now that the goal had been achieved, he could safely retreat.

It was getting late, so Wang Dayong ordered the construction of a large camp, otherwise sleeping at night would be too dangerous.

At the same time, he sent a messenger to Liu Hansan to request support. He estimated that Liu Hansan would have an easier time attacking Tongling because Tongling had fewer defenders.

Watching the Wu army retreat, Fang Guoan couldn’t be happy. He saw that his troops had suffered significant losses.

After waiting for a while, Fang Guoan received the statistics. In just that brief contact, they had lost eight hundred men.

The Wu army’s attack hadn’t lasted long at all; it was just a probing attack.

If they really launched a general attack, the casualty numbers would probably be several times higher.

“What about the enemy? Have we estimated their casualties?”

Fang Guoan asked.

Before a war is completely over, one’s own casualties can be accurately counted, while the enemy’s casualties can only be roughly estimated.

“About eight hundred men,” the lieutenant carefully replied. In fact, he had slightly exaggerated this number; his estimate was probably around six hundred men.

However, with thirty thousand fighting against ten thousand, and with the advantage of the city walls, if the casualty rate was still greater than the enemy’s, then the battle record would be too embarrassing.

They were unwilling to believe this fact, so they unconsciously exaggerated the enemy’s casualty figures when estimating, which was a kind of psychological self-comfort.

“This is not good. Their attack this time was very hasty, but it still caused us so many casualties. When they are fully prepared tomorrow, even more of us will die,” Fang Guoan frowned. Unlike Wu Changqing, who could collect taxes on his own in Nanjing and other places, his income was very limited. He relied on extorting landlords and wealthy households, and occasionally intercepting some of the imperial taxes. It wasn’t easy for him to support his army, and the death of eight hundred men already made him feel a faint pain.

If ten thousand men died, he would probably take the initiative to abandon Xuancheng and retreat.

The soldiers in his hands were the source of his power. If the soldiers were all gone, then he, the Duke, would no longer be valuable.

“General, perhaps we can take advantage of the enemy’s unstable footing and launch a night attack. If we can succeed, we can not only defeat the enemy but also capture their flintlock guns and cannons,” Fang Guoan’s advisor suggested.

This suggestion made Fang Guoan’s heart flutter. Although he knew that night attacks were very difficult, the advisor’s words, “capture their flintlock guns and cannons,” made him tempted.

There were many people who wanted to know the secrets of those guns, including Fang Guoan.

Unfortunately, the Suzhou armory was very well protected, and Fang Guoan couldn’t find a way to get his hands on it.

But now, he had a good opportunity to capture those advanced weapons.

This kind of opportunity doesn’t come along often. If he missed it this time, he didn’t know when the next time would be. If he obtained these secrets, his strength could be greatly improved, and he could even completely control Prince Lu’s small court.

“Have the cooks start preparing food. Select a group of elites, let them eat and rest early, and we will sneak out of the city tonight,” Fang Guoan made up his mind to take a gamble. As long as he could get the secrets of the flintlock guns, it would all be worth it.

Chapter 159: Failed Night Raid

Night fell, and five thousand Ming soldiers left the city.

The key to a night raid is surprise; the number of troops is secondary.

At night, the more troops there are, the harder they are to command and control. After a melee, it’s even possible for friendly units to fight each other.

Therefore, a night raid force values quality over quantity.

The five thousand men were led by Xu Wenwei, a subordinate of Fang Guoan. The risk factor of a night raid was too high, so Fang Guoan naturally wouldn’t go himself.

After leaving the city, they didn’t light torches but advanced in the darkness.

This kind of march was very risky. If one wasn’t careful and tripped over a stone, the spear in their hand could stab a comrade.

Therefore, the Ming army advanced very slowly, taking half an hour to travel a few kilometers.

At the front were elite squads responsible for eliminating the Wu army’s sentries, both visible and hidden, to prevent the main force from being discovered.

There were twenty men in the elite squad, and some of them had special abilities. For example, one person had exceptionally good hearing and could hear the slightest breeze.

Another had exceptionally good eyesight and could see farther and clearer at night than others.

His task was to specifically search for and discover the Wu army’s sentries.

“Two on the mound to the left, and two under that big tree over there.”

This gifted soldier quickly discovered four sentries on night watch.

“Only four? What about hidden sentries?”

The centurion leading the squad asked. He felt that four sentries were too few; there should be hidden ones that hadn’t been discovered.

“No more, just these four.”

The gifted soldier said.

“Are you sure? If you ruin the general’s plan, you won’t be able to bear the responsibility.”

The centurion warned. The gifted soldier reluctantly observed again and finally confirmed that there were only four.

“Action. They must all be killed; don’t let any escape.”

The centurion issued the order. The team split into two, approaching the two guard posts.

These men were truly the elite, carefully selected. They got within a few meters of the sentries’ flanks, and the sentries still didn’t notice.

Then, they suddenly rushed towards the four sentries, hacking at them with their blades.

Not hearing any other movement, the centurion was in a very good mood. This meant there were indeed no hidden sentries.

“Report to the main force behind that the sentries have been eliminated and that they can begin the attack.”

After speaking, he promised the gifted soldier a great reward after the battle for his contribution.

But at this moment, they didn’t realize that among the Wu army sentries hacked at with blades, one was only seriously injured and hadn’t died immediately.

Perhaps the Ming army was too careless, thinking that a dozen or so cuts would be enough.

Unexpectedly, this soldier was lucky and hadn’t been hit in a vital spot.

Hearing that the enemy was about to launch a surprise attack, he was greatly alarmed.

He knew he had taken many cuts and definitely wouldn’t survive. In the past, he might have just quietly waited for death; the army’s survival had nothing to do with him.

But now, he remembered Wu Changqing’s care and concern for them, the common soldiers, and a thought of being loyal to Wu Changqing emerged in his mind.

Wu Changqing had not only personally given him his military pay but had also promised to distribute land to the soldiers for free after the war. These things had moved him greatly.

So, he struggled to take out his fire starter and lit the fireworks beside him.

These fireworks were specifically used as signal flares, loud and long-lasting.

“Beep—pop.”

The strange sound startled the Ming army’s centurion. Then, the sound continued, and brilliant fireworks began to bloom in the sky.

The centurion didn’t have the same thought as those scholars and young ladies, thinking, “How beautiful.”

He knew things were bad. Although he didn’t know what these fireworks were, making such a loud noise was enough to alert the Wu army camp a hundred meters away.

Even worse, he had already sent someone to notify the troops behind that the sentries had been eliminated. Now, it was probably too late to notify them again.

In the Wu army camp, not all the soldiers were resting. There were still teams patrolling the camp.

Seeing the fireworks in the distance, they immediately knew that there was an enemy night raid and dispersed to wake up the other soldiers.

They had trained for this on weekdays, so they weren’t particularly flustered when this happened.

Soon, a large number of soldiers and generals were awakened. Torches were lit in large numbers in the camp, and the lower-level officers began to gather their subordinates, waiting for orders from their superiors.

Wang Dayong and the other senior generals also arrived in the army at this time, appearing before the soldiers and giving them a reassurance.

As long as the commander was there, the soldiers would feel more at ease.

The biggest reason why Wang Dayong and the others acted so quickly was that they didn’t wear armor.

Unlike the generals of other cold weapon units who liked to wear heavy armor, the senior generals of the Wu army generally didn’t like to wear armor because they had almost no chance to engage in close combat with the enemy.

Those heavy armors were actually very troublesome to put on, and one person couldn’t complete it alone. They had to have personal soldiers to help them put it on. This process would take at least ten minutes.

But Wang Dayong and the others got up, put on a coat, and left the camp to take over command.

This habit had a miraculous effect when dealing with unexpected events. The Wu army quickly completed its formation.

Night raids were all about catching the enemy off guard.

But now, the Wu army was fully armed and ready, having formed a formation in front of the camp.

When the Ming army arrived, they were all dumbfounded.

Some even thought they had fallen into an ambush by the Wu army.

“Fire.”

Wang Dayong ordered.

Long-range attack soldiers had a greater advantage in this darkness. They didn’t need to run around in the dark; they just needed to fire in the direction of the enemy.

As the gunshots rang out, various screams followed.

Clearly, some of the Ming soldiers had been shot. With a distance of less than a hundred meters between the two sides, they could hit many people even without aiming, just relying on luck.

At this time, Xu Wenwei’s forehead was covered in sweat. He didn’t know what to do.

Continuing to execute the night raid plan had a low chance of success, or rather, was destined to fail.

But just retreating in such a dejected manner would also greatly damage morale. More importantly, in the darkness, once panic set in, the formation would collapse, and once it collapsed, it would be over.

If the Wu army chased after them, perhaps less than thirty percent of the soldiers would be able to escape back to the city.

Retreating was always more difficult than attacking.

This situation was difficult for any general to handle.

Xu Wenwei wasn’t a famous general, nor did he have any outstanding talent. At this moment, he hesitated for a moment until his subordinates urged him before he ordered them to abandon the night raid and return the way they came.

Escape as many as possible; it was better than continuing to attack and being completely annihilated.

Unsurprisingly, Xu Wenwei’s retreat order caused panic in the Ming army.

This order was equivalent to telling all the soldiers that the night raid had failed.

And the consequences of failure? Needless to say, they would definitely suffer heavy losses.

This panic made the soldiers wish they could escape ahead of everyone else, “Better a dead friend than me.” In the scramble, the army’s formation immediately became chaotic.

This kind of chaos was relatively easy to adjust and recover during the day, but at night, this chaos would only become more and more chaotic.

Even the lower-level military officers knew that this situation couldn’t be saved and were too lazy to command. They were all scrambling to escape.

Chapter 160: Reinforcements Arrive

In fact, Wang Dayong wasn’t aware of the Ming army’s confusion when it first happened, as it was too dark to see clearly.

However, when the Ming army stopped advancing, followed by a series of chaotic noises, Wang Dayong and the other senior officers unanimously concluded that the Ming army was panicking and disorganized, making it an excellent opportunity to strike.

Wang Dayong wouldn’t let such an opportunity pass. He immediately ordered a portion of his troops to attack, while the rest remained to defend the camp.

The Wu army maintained their formation, slowly pursuing the enemy.

Despite their slow pace, they managed to catch up with the fleeing soldiers.

This was the difference between being organized and disorganized. The Ming army, already in disarray, fled in panic, not taking the most direct route back to the city. As a result, many of them took unnecessary detours.

These soldiers were either shot down or captured alive.

The Wu army pursued them for about one or two li (500m-1km) before retreating, fearing reinforcements from the city.

As far as they were concerned, foiling the enemy’s night raid was already a success, and the small victory that followed was an added bonus.

Inside Xuancheng, Fang Guoan hadn’t slept, waiting for news of the night raid.

When he heard the commotion outside, he felt a sense of foreboding.

Sure enough, Xu Wenwei soon came to report the failure of the night raid.

“How many men returned?”

Fang Guoan asked, suppressing his anger. He couldn’t directly vent his frustration over the failed night raid, as it was inherently a difficult and risky operation.

“About two thousand men returned. Some scattered soldiers are still trickling back, and we expect a few hundred more to return by dawn,” Xu Wenwei said cautiously. They had lost half their force without achieving any results, which was a complete failure.

“Go and reassure the soldiers. Your military salary for this year will be temporarily withheld, and it will be released when you achieve some merit.”

Fang Guoan issued a punishment of salary suspension.

This punishment wasn’t too severe, but Xu Wenwei was still unhappy.

After all, the failure of this night raid wasn’t his fault. The night raid was Fang Guoan’s plan, and the Wu army’s use of a special signaling method was also beyond his control.

During the retreat, his performance, while not exceptional, didn’t involve any major mistakes.

In short, it was a failure due to circumstances beyond his control.

But he was still punished, which made him very dissatisfied.

On the Wu army’s side, they didn’t tally the results and losses until dawn.

After daybreak, they went out to collect the corpses and gather the weapons and equipment abandoned by the enemy.

According to their statistics, they had killed more than four hundred Ming soldiers and captured over seven hundred last night.

These were just the visible results. Wang Dayong knew that the Ming army’s losses would definitely exceed one thousand one hundred, with many soldiers scattered.

Some of the scattered soldiers might not return to the camp. They might become bandits or secretly sell their weapons and return home to farm.

The enemy had suffered heavy losses, while the defending side of the night raid had only lost forty men, most of whom weren’t killed by the enemy. Deaths caused by falls, accidental discharges, and exploding gun barrels accounted for the majority.

Such a casualty ratio was considered perfect for the defending side of a night raid.

“The enemy tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice. We are the masters of night raids. For them to try to play night raids with us is simply wishful thinking,” Wang Dayong laughed. He had participated in two night raids before, and both were successful.

In terms of night combat experience, he was more experienced than most generals.

“This is thanks to those few sentry soldiers who risked their lives to send the signal.”

“That’s right. We must reward the meritorious soldiers. Announce to the entire army that the sentry soldiers who sacrificed themselves for the army last night will have their families receive a pension of twenty taels of silver and be exempt from taxes for three years.”

Clear rewards and punishments were essential to maintaining the soldiers’ fighting spirit in critical moments.

Wang Dayong’s reward was meant to tell the soldiers that as long as they contributed to the army, their families would not be mistreated even if they died in battle.

This kind of reward had some motivational effect.

Afterward, Wang Dayong ordered the strengthening of the camp’s defenses, digging larger and deeper trenches, and deploying more visible and hidden sentries.

Anyway, they weren’t attacking the city now, but were waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Without reinforcements, it would be too difficult to take Xuancheng with their limited forces.

In Tongling, after receiving Wang Dayong’s request for help, Liu Hansan immediately led a large army himself, bringing Zhang Yingyuan along with him to Xuancheng.

Having Zhang Yingyuan by his side was more reassuring, and he could also have Zhang Yingyuan’s troops go first during the siege to wear down his direct forces.

Although he would replenish Zhang Yingyuan’s troops afterward to maintain their strength, he could play some tricks during the replenishment process, such as replenishing entire companies or battalions.

And these replenished troops would definitely be Wu Changqing’s loyal followers.

These people would usually obey Zhang Yingyuan’s command, but if Zhang Yingyuan had any rebellious intentions, they would immediately defect.

Such replenishment would weaken Zhang Yingyuan’s power in the background.

Liu Hansan had learned many of these little tricks from Wu Changqing.

Liu Hansan brought nearly twenty thousand troops to support them. Together with Wang Dayong’s forces, they were no longer at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

In terms of weaponry, they were crushing the Ming army.

Not to mention anything else, the forty cannons alone were enough to give Fang Guoan a headache.

The army arrived in Xuancheng and rested for a day, preparing to attack the city the next day.

At this time, Fang Guoan’s envoy arrived at the Wu army’s camp, seeking an audience with Wang Dayong.

Fang Guoan was preparing to admit defeat. Last time, Wang Dayong’s ten thousand troops had already made him scream. Now, the Wu army’s strength had increased to thirty thousand, and the number of cannons and firearms had doubled.

Faced with this army, he had no confidence in defending Xuancheng.

Helplessly, he could only swallow his pride and send an envoy, hoping to reach a reconciliation.

To show his goodwill, Fang Guoan was willing to return Li Chengdong’s eight thousand troops.

Of course, Fang Guoan was also playing a little trick here. He planned to select eight thousand old and weak soldiers from the army, or temporarily deceive a group of young men in the city to act as Li Chengdong’s subordinates.

Unfortunately, Fang Guoan didn’t know that Wang Dayong and the others didn’t care about Li Chengdong’s eight thousand subordinates. They just wanted Xuancheng.

Returning Li Chengdong’s troops was just an excuse.

Wang Dayong reiterated that if they wanted to reconcile, they could hand over Xuancheng.

This demand made Fang Guoan so angry that he smashed several teacups.

“Too much, too much! Is this tolerable? Is this tolerable?”

Fang Guoan cursed loudly. As a duke, he had already felt humiliated enough to lower himself and prepare to agree to some of Wang Dayong’s unreasonable demands.

Unexpectedly, Wang Dayong was not satisfied at all and wanted to demand Xuancheng even more.

If Wu Changqing had personally made such a request, he would have gritted his teeth and endured it.

But the one making this request was just a military officer under Wu Changqing, and Wu Changqing had several officers of this level.

“General, are we really going to fight them? I’m afraid we will suffer heavy losses,” Xu Wenwei advised. As a general, one must not act on impulse. A general’s order could determine the lives and deaths of tens of thousands of people.

Chapter 161: Breaching the Walls

The next day, the Wu army arrayed itself before Xuancheng, ready to lay siege.

Forty cannons were aimed at a section of the city wall, firing solid shot in an attempt to bring it down.

This was mainly because they had few explosive shells left, so they had to change their method of attack.

Logistics were a major problem in this era, and who knew when the next batch of shells would arrive.

They couldn’t just stop attacking because they didn’t have explosive shells. They could switch to the traditional method, using solid shot to batter the walls.

Destroying the walls would not only open a breach but also break down the defenders’ morale, making it a good way to attack. The only drawback was that it took longer. It wasn’t easy to knock down a section of the wall, even if it was made of rammed earth.

With the continuous bombardment, Fang Guoan also realized the Wu army’s intentions.

He didn’t have many options. He could only organize his reserve troops and prepare to fill the gap at any moment.

This was the helplessness of having inferior weapons. If he had Hongyi cannons, he could bombard the enemy’s artillery positions on the city walls, instead of just taking a beating like now.

In addition to the shelling, the Wu army was also digging tunnels, hoping to replicate their successful experience from attacking the outer walls of Nanjing.

When attacking the outer walls of Nanjing, the Wu army had used gunpowder to blow a huge gap in the wall.

This method was simple and effective, but it took a little longer.

To reduce casualties, the Wu army showed plenty of patience, arranging for soldiers to dig trenches leading to the base of the city walls.

The shelling lasted for nearly two hours. Through his telescope, Wang Dayong saw that the enemy’s city walls were already teetering. The trenches were also about to reach the walls, and they were beginning to lay explosives.

So, Wang Dayong gave the order for a general assault.

Here it comes.

The generals on the city wall couldn’t help but feel nervous. What followed would be a brutal defense, and their moment of truth had arrived.

“Gentlemen, wealth and glory, whether we can advance further depends on this moment. We must not hand over Xuancheng, and we must not be looked down upon by that young upstart!”

Fang Guoan tried to boost morale, but apart from the few loyalists under his command who echoed his sentiments, the other generals were not very enthusiastic.

In their view, it was unnecessary to clash with Wu Changqing, as it was both dangerous and unprofitable.

Unfortunately, Fang Guoan insisted on doing so, and they couldn’t do anything about it.

Just as Fang Guoan was rallying the troops, a sudden roar rang out.

The section of the wall that had been bombarded for nearly two hours finally gave way and collapsed.

Although this was expected, they couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nervousness when they saw the wall collapse.

The collapse of the wall meant that defending the city would be even more difficult.

But that wasn’t the end of it. Just as Fang Guoan ordered people to fill the gap, another earth-shattering explosion came from the other side.

It was definitely the loudest sound they had ever heard, like thunder rolling across the sky.

In the roar, they also saw clods of dirt flying into the air.

“What’s going on?”

Fang Guoan demanded. The thing generals feared most on the battlefield was unexpected situations, which meant many surprises, and surprises meant danger.

After a while, a soldier came to report that a section of the south wall had been blown away, creating a gap several zhang wide.

“Block it! Xu Wenwei, take men and block that gap immediately! Yuan Dakai, you go and organize those surrendered soldiers to fill the gaps!”

Fang Guoan was already somewhat frantic, hastily issuing various orders in a state of disarray.

Fortunately, he had plenty of troops and enough manpower to defend the gaps.

But without the height of the city walls, the difficulty of defending these places was undoubtedly doubled.

At this point, Fang Guoan was already regretting it. If he had known that the Wu army was so difficult to deal with, he would have simply surrendered Xuancheng.

The other generals were no more composed than Fang Guoan. Two sections of the city wall had been blown open, and the advantage of defending the city had been greatly reduced. Could they still hold the city?

Many generals had this question in their minds.

With the destruction of the two sections of the city wall, the Wu army’s general offensive was fully launched, focusing on the two breaches.

In particular, the blown-open gap was the Wu army’s main point of attack.

More than four thousand flintlock riflemen advanced to suppress the enemy on the city walls, covering the melee troops entering the gap. The Ming soldiers also popped their heads out on the city walls, exchanging fire with the Wu army.

This time, the Wu army was no longer at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. Their firepower density had doubled, and they had troops ready to reinforce at any time.

As for the Ming archers, they were clearly less confident than last time.

Last time, they had the advantage in numbers, but their casualties were higher than the Wu army’s, which made many soldiers afraid of the Wu army. And this time, the Wu army was no longer at a disadvantage in terms of strength. What would be the result of such a shootout?

With this in mind, the Ming army’s combat effectiveness had decreased invisibly.

Some archers were not even aiming carefully, just firing an arrow in a hurry and then squatting down.

Although they were using a covering attack, they still needed to aim somewhat, shooting the arrows into a general area, rather than just blindly firing and hoping to hit the target.

These soldiers who were playing tricks were obviously smarter than the other soldiers, because the archers who were honestly aiming had a much higher chance of being shot.

The chances of those honest soldiers dying were clearly greater than those of these clever guys.

For them as individual soldiers, doing so certainly saved their lives. But for the army, it was actually very harmful.

This is why the Wu army preferred honest farmers when recruiting soldiers, rather than seemingly fierce and domineering, but actually treacherous and cunning, ruffians and bandits.

Discipline adds greatly to combat effectiveness.

After a few rounds of shooting, the Ming army suffered a great loss.

After several generals were shot and killed, the other archers simply squatted down and stopped fighting back.

Without the obstruction of these archers, the Wu army’s infantry reached the gap at the base of the city wall with almost no losses.

Such an easy attack made the daredevils in the front laugh. This credit was too easy to pick up. They were called daredevils, but their survival rate was actually very high.

Arriving at the gap, they finally encountered resistance.

However, the Wu army had too many tricks for this kind of ground battle.

Following closely behind the daredevils were the grenadiers, who threw their hand grenades into the Ming soldiers.

As the explosions rang out, the Ming army suffered heavy losses.

More importantly, the Ming army had no way to defend against these exploding hand grenades, and they felt great fear as a result.

When the Ming army panicked, their will to resist decreased.

The Wu army’s daredevils, on the other hand, were all desperadoes.

After the two armies engaged in close combat, the situation was one-sided, and the Ming army retreated steadily.

Xu Wenwei’s heart was half cold when he saw this scene. There was no way to fight this.

Chapter 162: A One-Sided Battle

On the other side, the Ming army was doing slightly better, not collapsing as quickly.

However, the defending soldiers here were also frustrated because the Wu army didn’t charge up at all, instead just standing at a distance and constantly firing their guns.

The Wu army unit responsible for this section of the city wall was the musket brigade, and they preferred to exploit their advantage in ranged attacks.

Although the firing rate was slow, there was no danger in shooting from a distance. The Ming army archers had all been transferred to the large breaches, leaving only swordsmen and shield bearers here.

Since they could inflict casualties on the enemy from afar, why bother getting close?

Their main task wasn’t to attack the city anyway; they were just here to tie down enemy forces.

Faced with musketeers who could attack from a distance, these defending soldiers were in a dilemma, unsure of whether to advance or retreat.

If they retreated, the enemy could pour into the city walls, which would be terrible. If they didn’t retreat, they could only stand there and take a beating. As for charging out for a melee, the Ming army generals didn’t even consider it.

After all, they were the defenders of the city, so how could they take the initiative to attack? Wouldn’t that be completely abandoning the advantage of the city walls?

Even though they no longer had the advantage of the city walls, their minds couldn’t process it for a while, and they didn’t think of taking the initiative.

Defending the city meant waiting for others to attack – this idea influenced the judgment of those generals.

However, they soon discovered that just standing there and taking a beating felt too stifling.

Some soldiers thought of using shields to protect themselves, but only relatively thick iron shields had any defensive effect.

Other wooden and leather shields seemed fragile and useless against these muskets.

Don’t underestimate those crude matchlock guns; their power was truly great.

“Sir, we can’t just stand here and take a beating like this. Let’s just charge over and engage them!”

Several centurions requested from their superior; even a melee would be better than standing there and getting shot.

“Alright, charge!”

Yuan Dakai didn’t have any other better options, so he listened to his subordinates’ advice and ordered a charge.

The Wu army battalion commander smiled when he saw the enemy taking the initiative to charge. He ordered, “Cease firing, everyone reload and prepare for one last volley!”

Continuous firing could still inflict casualties, but this scattered damage had no deterrent effect, far less intimidating than a close-range volley.

The soldiers in the front two ranks of the Wu army reloaded their muskets and raised them in preparation.

When the enemy was less than ten meters away, the officer gave the order to fire.

As the gunshots rang out, the Ming soldiers charging in the front fell in rows, their falling postures remarkably uniform.

The soldiers who were still charging couldn’t help but stop in their tracks when they saw this scene.

In fact, they could have continued charging into melee combat; the Wu army wouldn’t have had time to reload a second time.

But seeing hundreds of people in front of them fall collectively, anyone who dared to continue charging at this point would probably be a demon, not a human.

“Charge!”

At this moment, the Wu army took the initiative to launch a charge.

In terms of momentum, they had already gained the absolute upper hand.

Melee combat was all about momentum.

The demoralized Ming soldiers, seeing the fierce and aggressive Wu army charging towards them, had no will to fight.

These were originally conscripted troops who had surrendered, and they had no loyalty to Fang Guoan.

Seeing that the battle situation was unfavorable, some soldiers began to turn around and flee.

The already disadvantaged Ming army formation fell into chaos, and the line collapsed at the first touch.

The Wu army didn’t waste much effort, and the battle turned from a confrontation between two armies into a one-sided pursuit. This battle was a bit of a joke.

The two breaches fell one after another, and Fang Guoan on the city wall was distraught when he received the battle report.

Reminded by his personal guards, he came back to his senses and quickly fled.

As long as he could escape, he would still be a Duke in the imperial court. If he were captured here by Wang Dayong, he would not only lose face but also his life.

Judging from the unbridled attacks of Wang Dayong and others, it was clear that he couldn’t expect them to take the title of Duke seriously.

Even the commander-in-chief had begun to flee, so where would the other generals and soldiers find the will to fight?

Therefore, Xu Wenwei, Yuan Dakai, and others took the initiative to lead their soldiers to surrender collectively.

They didn’t need to bear any psychological pressure to surrender, unlike surrendering to the Qing army, which would bring shame. They were surrendering to Wu Changqing, who was also part of the Ming army.

This kind of surrender couldn’t be considered disloyal or unfilial.

The organized surrender of officers was much faster than the spontaneous surrender of soldiers; everyone just threw their weapons on the ground and that was it.

By evening, the Wu army had completely controlled Xuancheng.

After statistics, they killed more than three thousand Ming soldiers and captured more than sixteen thousand, while Fang Guoan took away more than twelve thousand of his direct troops.

The Wu army suffered only nine hundred casualties in the battle, not even a thousand, a very small loss.

The main reason was that the Ming army collapsed too quickly, so they didn’t encounter any fierce resistance.

And this was also the most typical characteristic of the Ming army. Throughout the late Ming Dynasty, there were almost no battles with more than ten thousand casualties.

As long as a few hundred or a few thousand soldiers died, the army would collapse and surrender.

It was precisely because they were so useless that the Qing army was able to sweep through everything. Otherwise, with the Qing army’s small size, they wouldn’t have been able to withstand even one or two major battles with heavy losses.

Just like the battle between the Qing army and Wu Changqing, one crushing defeat hurt them to the bone, shaking the entire country. They still hadn’t recovered their strength, and the southward advance was a distant prospect.

Some Manchu officials even hoped that Dorgon would divide the country along the Yangtze River, hoping to negotiate with Wu Changqing. South of the Yangtze River would belong to the Ming Dynasty, and north of the Yangtze River would belong to the Qing Dynasty.

They could no longer bear the loss of more than ten thousand soldiers being annihilated, and their belief in unifying China had been shaken.

“Old Liu, should we ask the General for instructions and let us advance eastward to take Guangde, Huzhou, and other places?”

Wang Dayong looked at the map and suggested.

South of Xuancheng and Guangde were mountains. As long as they took Guangde and Huzhou, they could control the most military strongholds with the least amount of troops and occupy more territory.

Moreover, Guangde and Huzhou were both plains and important grain-producing areas, making them very valuable to occupy.

“What’s there to ask? It’ll take several days to go back and forth, wasting the opportunity. Tomorrow morning, I’ll personally lead people to pursue and seize those two places.”

What Wang Dayong didn’t expect was that Liu Hansan was even more radical than him.

“But the General’s mission doesn’t include occupying Guangde and Huzhou. What if we rashly attack and the imperial court blames the General?”

Wang Dayong worried.

“Dayong, are you confused? Don’t you understand what our General is thinking? We don’t need to pay attention to that Prince Lu’s court; the most important thing is to get the benefits into our mouths. Do you believe that as long as we take Huzhou on our own initiative, the General will be very happy?

Because this way, the court can blame us, and the General can push the responsibility onto us. Maybe we’ll be punished on the surface, but we’ll definitely get more benefits in the future.”

Liu Hansan laughed.

He knew that Wu Changqing had to consider his reputation and couldn’t easily break with the court. Even if he wanted to occupy Huzhou, he had to find a good excuse.

And at this time, if they, as subordinates, could take the territory first, that would be sharing Wu Changqing’s worries.

Chapter 163: Political Turmoil

After Liu Hansan’s guidance, Wang Dayong also set aside his worries.

On one hand, he wrote a secret report to Wu Changqing, and on the other hand, he formulated the next plan with Liu Hansan.

In the next plan, Wang Dayong was to go to Tongling to garrison, to prevent Lekedehun’s troops from advancing eastward suddenly. Liu Hansan would lead the main force eastward to occupy Guangde and Huzhou.

As for Xuancheng, leaving a small number of ragtag troops to garrison it would be sufficient.

Now that the west and north of Xuancheng were already under the control of the Wu army, and the south was mountainous, it was very safe.

The next day, Liu Hansan led the main force to Guangde.

And the secret report was also sent to Nanjing.

Nanjing was very lively now, not only in the market but also in the political arena.

In the Governor’s office, Gu Yanwu rushed into a room and burst into a torrent of abuse at Ruan Dacheng. “Ruan Dacheng, what do you mean by this? On what basis did you arrest Xiao Ruxun?”

Xiao Ruxun was the prefect of Jiangning, a second-class Jinshi during the Chongzhen era, who had worked his way up from county magistrate to prefect.

After the Qing army moved south, he defected to the Qing army. After Wu Changqing conquered Nanjing, he surrendered to the Ming army again. At the same time, he was also a member of the Donglin Party, which was the key point.

After receiving Wu Changqing’s instructions, Ruan Dacheng began to arrest a few typical examples to rectify the officialdom.

He had dealt with a few small fry before, and Gu Yanwu had not interfered.

However, this time Ruan Dacheng arrested a fourth-rank prefect, a very important official with real power, and Gu Yanwu couldn’t bear it any longer, so he went to Ruan Dacheng to argue.

“Xiao Ruxun is guilty of corruption and bribery, receiving bribes of more than ten thousand taels of silver, and letting smuggling salt merchants go free. This is his confession.”

Ruan Dacheng indifferently took out a confession and placed it in front of Gu Yanwu.

“Humph, this kind of confession obtained through torture is not valid.”

Gu Yanwu didn’t even look at the confession. To be able to get a confession in such a short period, there was no doubt that torture was used. And that kind of bone-piercing torture, ordinary people simply couldn’t bear it, and it wouldn’t be difficult to get any confession they wanted.

“If you don’t believe the confession, you should believe the physical evidence, right? After searching his home, the people from the Censorate found a total of one hundred and twenty thousand taels of silver, as well as countless houses and land. How much salary does he get as a prefect in a year? How could he accumulate so much wealth without corruption?”

Ruan Dacheng retorted.

His words made Gu Yanwu very angry, and he retorted: “That money was obtained in the past. The General said that after surrendering, past events would be forgiven.”

“Since he was so corrupt in the past, why doesn’t Master Gu believe that he would be corrupt now?”

“Don’t tell me these useless things. We are all officials. Which official wouldn’t have a little corruption? Even if he went too far this time, confiscate the embezzled silver and give him a warning. Why would you arrest people, use torture, and confiscate their homes without saying a word?

If you do this, how can any official sleep well and dare to continue to serve the General? You are clearly taking the opportunity to eliminate dissidents and suppress the Donglin Party. You have done this kind of thing before, which led to Zuo Liangyu’s rebellion and ruined the country. Do you want to repeat the same mistake?”

Gu Yanwu questioned.

“Master Gu, don’t get excited. In troubled times, severe punishments should be used. General Wu is working hard to govern, so naturally, he can’t be as lenient to those corrupt officials as the previous monarchs.

I am solving problems for the General. How did it become ruining the country in Master Gu’s mouth? To say who is ruining the country, those corrupt officials are the real ones. If they hadn’t embezzled all the silver, would the imperial court not even be able to come up with military expenses? And Zuo Liangyu’s rebellion seems to have been instigated by the Donglin Party.”

The two exchanged barbs, and neither could convince the other.

“I’m going to report to the General that you are abusing your power.”

Gu Yanwu threatened.

“Master Gu, General Wu is very busy, worrying about the army and military expenses every day. It’s better for us subordinates to trouble the General less.”

Ruan Dacheng said disdainfully. If he hadn’t been authorized by Wu Changqing, how would he dare to do this?

Even when he suppressed the Donglin Party in the Hongguang court, he had actually received the emperor’s tacit approval. Otherwise, how could he, as a subject, have so much power to wantonly suppress and persecute the officials?

The Hongguang Emperor’s father, the Old Prince Fu, was deeply loved by the Wanli Emperor during the Wanli era, and he wholeheartedly wanted to make him the crown prince, but the Donglin Party repeatedly opposed it, forcing the Wanli Emperor to give up this idea.

Even the Old Prince Fu’s mother, Consort Zheng, was bullied by the Donglin Party.

And when the Hongguang Emperor ascended the throne, the Donglin Party opposed it in every possible way. Only Ma Shiying, who held military power, strongly supported him, so the Little Prince Fu ascended the throne and became emperor.

It can be said that the Hongguang Emperor’s hatred for the Donglin Party is much greater than Ruan Dacheng’s hatred for the Donglin Party.

Therefore, when Ruan Dacheng was frantically retaliating against the Donglin Party, although the Hongguang Emperor knew that this was not good for the country and would affect the stability of the political situation, he must have felt happy in his heart.

Gu Yanwu also knew that it was not good to make a fuss with Wu Changqing, but he couldn’t ignore this matter. After all, the Donglin Party members who were working under Wu Changqing were all implicitly led by Gu Yanwu.

If he couldn’t solve this matter, he would lose his prestige in front of the other Donglin Party members.

“Master Ruan, when the country is in trouble, we should work together to resist the Qing and recover our homeland. The Ming Dynasty can’t stand any more turmoil. It’s time for Master Ruan to put aside personal grievances and focus on the overall situation. If you and I fight, it will be very bad for the imperial court.”

When the hard approach didn’t work, Gu Yanwu took a soft approach, persuading him with kind words.

While persuading, his words also carried some threats. After all, he was now also a member of the cabinet, and the power in his hands was not less than Ruan Dacheng’s.

If he wholeheartedly wanted to make trouble for Ruan Dacheng, he would definitely have a way.

“Master Gu is serious. When Nanjing fell, I put down all my grievances. Now that I am working for the General, how dare I mess around for my own selfish interests? If Xiao Ruxun hadn’t had a bad influence due to corruption and bribery, I wouldn’t have taken action against him. As for other people who are working hard, I will never persecute them.”

Ruan Dacheng gave Gu Yanwu face and made a promise.

Gu Yanwu couldn’t tell whether his words were true or false, and he could only sigh silently in his heart.

He didn’t like this kind of infighting very much.

“Master Ruan, I hope you can pay attention to your actions, otherwise, even if I make a fuss with the General, I will impeach you.”

Gu Yanwu warned, then left.

Ruan Dacheng smiled and didn’t answer. To be honest, he looked down on Gu Yanwu to some extent.

After all, he used to be the Vice Minister of War and concurrently the Imperial Censor, holding great power.

And Gu Yanwu, before he met Wu Changqing, was just a small clerk in the Ministry of War, a minor official of the ninth rank.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t valued him, how many people would know what Gu Yanwu was?

Now, relying on joining Wu Changqing early, he has implicitly become the head of the civil officials under Wu Changqing. How many people are dissatisfied with this leapfrog promotion?

Anyway, Ruan Dacheng didn’t take Gu Yanwu too seriously, thinking that he was just lucky.

Chapter 164: The Debate Over Moving the Capital

Before long, Ruan Dacheng, Gu Yanwu and several other high-ranking officials were summoned to discuss the matter of moving the capital with Qiu Zhaojin, the envoy of Prince Lu.

Qiu Zhaojin had actually been in Nanjing for several days, and only now was he received by Wu Changqing.

“Greetings, Duke Wu, congratulations on Duke Wu soon becoming Prince Wu.”

Qiu Zhaojin said with emotion.

The first time he met Wu Changqing, he had drawn a big pie, saying that as long as Wu Changqing recovered Nanjing, he could be granted a princely title.

At that time, he was really just saying it casually and didn’t take it seriously. Recovering Nanjing? How could it be so easy?

Who would have thought that in just over half a year, Wu Changqing would actually do it.

This was simply unbelievable. Besides admiration, he was still filled with admiration.

“Oh? The imperial court has issued a decree?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“The imperial edict has already been drafted, and it will only be announced after Prince Lu returns to Nanjing and enters the Forbidden City.”

Zhu Yihai was quite shrewd, insisting on returning to Nanjing before issuing the decree, seemingly wanting to use the title of Prince to attract Wu Changqing’s cooperation. Little did he know that Wu Changqing didn’t care about this empty title at all.

Even if he became a Prince, so what? Did the imperial court even have money to pay a salary?

If Zhu Yihai was really welcomed back to Nanjing, he would probably have to bear all the expenses of the imperial palace. And the expenses of the imperial palace had always been high. Wu Changqing was unwilling to be the sucker.

“The Forbidden City hasn’t been repaired for a long time, and it’s probably not suitable for living in now.”

Ruan Dacheng interjected.

Nanjing’s Forbidden City had gradually fallen into disrepair since Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, and had been neglected for more than a hundred years, with only occasional repairs.

It wasn’t until the Hongguang Emperor ascended the throne that it was simply renovated again.

However, the Hongguang court collapsed before it even lasted a year, and couldn’t even afford military expenses, let alone a major repair of the imperial palace.

Therefore, the Forbidden City in Nanjing now actually needs a lot of repairs.

“I’m afraid this will require a lot of effort from Lord Ruan.”

Qiu Zhaojin cupped his fist.

“Serving Prince Lu, I wouldn’t dare say it’s hard work, but where will the money for the repairs come from?”

Ruan Dacheng questioned, a question that made Qiu Zhaojin feel quite embarrassed.

Originally, if Zhu Yihai wanted to return to Nanjing, he would naturally have to pay for the repair of the imperial palace. However, Zhu Yihai had used all of his meager private money to form a personal guard, so where could he get the money now?

“Well, Prince Lu means that only simple repairs are needed. Times are difficult, and Prince Lu doesn’t dare to be extravagant. With the wealth of the Southern Metropolitan area, the money for simple repairs is just a small matter.”

Qiu Zhaojin could only shamelessly ask Wu Changqing to pay.

“Lord Qiu’s words are too much. Although the Southern Metropolitan area is slightly richer, after the Manchus’ looting, the situation is not optimistic. Moreover, our army has to maintain a scale of more than one hundred thousand people, and its military expenses are a huge figure. It is already very difficult for our army not to ask the imperial court for a single cent of military expenses. Now, if we need to divert military expenses to repair the imperial palace, I’m afraid the soldiers won’t agree.”

Ruan Dacheng continued to make things difficult and ridicule, in short, he wanted Qiu Zhaojin to back down and not mention Zhu Yihai’s return to Nanjing.

His words left Qiu Zhaojin speechless, because Ruan Dacheng was right.

Other armies fought wars and had to have the imperial court allocate funds to support them, but only the Wu army had been self-sufficient from beginning to end and had never asked the imperial court for money.

From this point alone, Wu Changqing’s army was much better than Fang Guoan’s and others’ armies.

However, Qiu Zhaojin knew that Wu Changqing had money, a lot of money, and didn’t care about the cost of repairing the imperial palace.

Two cement roads had already been built in Nanjing. Although Qiu Zhaojin didn’t know how much the cement cost, the fact that private individuals couldn’t buy cement on the market showed that this stuff was definitely not cheap.

He had so much money that he could use it to build roads, so what was repairing an imperial palace? Was the road that the common people walked on more important than the imperial palace where the emperor lived?

“If Duke Wu really has difficulties, Prince Lu will find a way to raise the money himself.”

Qiu Zhaojin was too lazy to dwell on this expense. As long as Wu Changqing agreed to prepare to welcome Prince Lu, they could still find a way to raise the money to repair the imperial palace.

“This little bit of money is a small matter. If Prince Lu is short of money, we can ask the soldiers to squeeze a little and skip a meal to raise it. However, after Prince Lu returns to Nanjing, how will the cabinet be merged?”

It was Qian Taoli, the former Provincial Governor of Suzhou, who spoke. He was now also being promoted to the Nanjing cabinet to participate in core decision-making.

Having received such benefits, he was naturally wholeheartedly on Wu Changqing’s side.

Guessing that Wu Changqing didn’t want Prince Lu to return to the old capital, he also began to make things difficult in various ways.

Personally, he also didn’t want Prince Lu to return.

Because Prince Lu’s return to the old capital wouldn’t be just him coming alone, but would bring the entire administrative team from Shaoxing with him.

And in Shaoxing, they also had a cabinet. Zhang Guowei, Song Zhipu, Zhu Dadian, Fang Fengnian, and others had all occupied several important Vice Minister positions and were also cabinet ministers.

In terms of prestige, Gu Yanwu and Qian Taoli couldn’t compare with those people at all. When the two cabinets came together, they would definitely have to merge, and the one who would be squeezed out would definitely be Qian Taoli.

He had finally joined the central government, how could he be willing to withdraw from it?

“This should naturally be negotiated by both parties. Prince Lu’s preliminary idea is to hope that Shaoxing will retain four positions, Wu Wang’s side will retain three positions, and Wu Wang can lead the cabinet as the chief advisor.”

Qiu Zhaojin said, their compromise was actually very big, which meant that Shaoxing’s cabinet would have to reduce three people. Those who were kicked out of the cabinet would definitely be unhappy.

The Shaoxing cabinet ministers were unhappy, and the Nanjing cabinet members were also unhappy. They now had seven positions, and Wu Changqing was not even included.

When Prince Lu returned, they would only have three positions, and Wu Changqing would have to be counted as one. In this way, it would be equal to only two positions on their side.

These two positions would most likely be Ruan Dacheng and Gu Yanwu.

The other cabinet ministers were immediately unhappy, wasn’t this cutting off their future?

“I think that the administrative work in Nanjing is currently being done very well, in an orderly manner. The ministers in Shaoxing are not familiar with the situation here, and may not be able to govern Nanjing well.”

“Yes, yes, yes, the various new policies on our side are completely different from those in Shaoxing. At that time, it will not be easy to decide whether to follow Prince Lu’s imperial edict or General Wu’s intentions.”

“Do the ministers in Shaoxing understand General Wu’s new policies? They are all eating their meals for nothing. What achievements have they made for the Great Ming? Under the leadership of General Wu, we have recovered a large area of land in a short period of half a year, allowing the people of the Metropolitan area to live and work in peace.

If we continue to govern, the recovery of Beijing is just around the corner. But what if the ministers from Shaoxing come over and interfere, affecting the great cause of the Northern Expedition?”

Several cabinet ministers immediately expressed their attitude, not welcoming the Shaoxing cabinet to come over.

Chapter 165: The Ultimate Question

Faced with this situation, Qiu Zhaojin could only offer a wry smile.

Before coming, he had anticipated the difficulty of this trip.

But there was no choice; he had to complete the task Zhu Yihai had assigned him, no matter how hard it was.

Unsurprisingly, the ministers in Nanjing were unwilling.

But in reality, that didn’t matter much. Qiu Zhaojin knew that Nanjing was under Wu Changqing’s firm control, and Wu Changqing had the final say in everything.

As long as Wu Changqing supported Zhu Yihai’s return, the opposition of these ministers would be meaningless.

The key was Wu Changqing’s attitude.

“Lord Protector, before I came, I spoke with Grand Secretary Fang Fengnian, Zhang Guowei, and other esteemed officials. They all greatly admire your new policies.

After the merger of the cabinets, they will definitely fully support your new policies and follow your lead,” Qiu Zhaojin promised.

“These are all minor matters. I only want to know, if the Prince of Lu returns to Nanjing, will the Longwu Emperor abdicate and swear allegiance? If he is willing to abdicate and swear allegiance, uniting all the forces in the south to resist the Qing, I would naturally welcome the Prince of Lu’s return.

But what if the Longwu Emperor refuses to abdicate? Are we to march south and provoke internal strife? But if we don’t march south, how can our army be confident in entrusting the rear to the Longwu Emperor while we are on a northern expedition?”

Wu Changqing brought out his trump card: the dispute over legitimacy.

As soon as these words came out, Qian Taoli and several other ministers became even more agitated, echoing his sentiments and pressing Qiu Zhaojin on how to handle the issue of the Longwu Emperor.

These questions made Qiu Zhaojin wish he were dead; they were simply too difficult to answer.

Would the Longwu Emperor abdicate?

There was no need to even think about it; it was definitely impossible.

The Longwu Emperor’s territory was dozens of times larger than Zhu Yihai’s. Even if Zhu Yujian were Zhu Yihai’s own son, let alone just a distant relative, this matter would be out of the question.

This was the throne, the highest position a man could attain, a position countless people dreamed of.

For the throne, many brothers turned against each other, and fathers and sons became enemies.

The Zhu family even had a tradition of this: Zhu Di seized the throne from his nephew, and the Prince of Ning had also rebelled.

The imperial family was the most ruthless; blood ties had no binding effect in the face of supreme power.

Zhu Yujian was already the emperor; how could he possibly give up all of this?

Even if Zhu Yujian were under Zhu Yihai’s spell and willing to abdicate, the ministers under Zhu Yujian would not agree.

They were currently serving as high-ranking officials under Zhu Yujian, but as soon as Zhu Yujian abdicated, their positions would definitely be demoted by one or two ranks.

Who would agree to that? No one would agree.

In the end, it all came down to the distribution of power. There were only so many positions, and everyone wanted to sit in them, and no one was willing to give them up.

The problem with the Southern Ming now was that there were too many regimes, too many ministers, too few soldiers, and too little money.

“This… as long as the Prince of Lu enters the Forbidden City, he will be the legitimate ruler. At that time, Prince Tang will have no choice but to agree. The world will pledge allegiance to the Prince of Lu, and Prince Tang will become isolated and insignificant,” Qiu Zhaojin said.

“Master Qiu, those words might comfort yourself, but they won’t work here,” Ruan Dacheng sneered.

“I think it would be best if the Prince of Lu and the Longwu Emperor could reach a consensus on this issue first, so there wouldn’t be so many troubles,” Wu Changqing threw the problem back to Zhu Yihai, letting the Zhu family engage in internal strife.

If Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian were to engage in a major conflict because of this, then Wu Changqing would be laughing.

At that time, the ministers and people of the world would see the ugly face of the Zhu family, and they would probably lose heart.

The first meeting regarding the relocation of the capital yielded no results.

When Qiu Zhaojin returned to his residence, he felt a wave of exhaustion.

He could see that neither Wu Changqing nor Ruan Dacheng, nor many other ministers, seemed to want Zhu Yihai to return to Nanjing, which was indeed bad news.

Now, Qiu Zhaojin was even more worried that Wu Changqing had ulterior motives.

If those cabinet ministers were only worried about their positions, then Shaoxing could actually make some concessions. Anyway, there was plenty of time in the future. It would be best to return to Nanjing first, and then there would be plenty of ways to fight for power and profit later.

But if Wu Changqing had ulterior motives, then it would be troublesome. At that time, even if Wu Changqing was willing to let Zhu Yihai return to Nanjing, Zhu Yihai wouldn’t dare, as his life would be in danger upon returning to Nanjing.

It wasn’t just Qiu Zhaojin who was exhausted; Gu Yanwu was also feeling weary.

He hadn’t said much throughout the entire meeting, because he was probably the only one under Wu Changqing who hoped that either Zhu Yihai or Zhu Yujian could enter Nanjing.

His mind was still filled with thoughts of loyalty to the emperor, hoping to assist a member of the Zhu family in revitalizing the Great Ming.

He didn’t mind Wu Changqing being a complete and utter powerful minister, as long as Wu Changqing could retain the title of the Zhu family’s imperial family.

However, at the meeting just now, everyone wasn’t even willing to let the emperor return to the old capital, which was clearly a sign of rebellion.

This made him feel somewhat disheartened and disappointed in the Great Ming once again.

Throughout the fall of the Great Ming, it was almost always accompanied by internal strife, which never ceased.

After discovering Wu Changqing’s ambition, he was also somewhat disappointed in Wu Changqing.

Originally, he actually greatly respected Wu Changqing because Wu Changqing was indeed very capable. Moreover, Wu Changqing was indeed very good to the people.

Other powerful ministers and generals, once they gained power, would try to plunder the people and increase taxes to support the army.

Only Wu Changqing, since the beginning of his uprising, had never increased taxes on the people, and had always been finding ways to do business and earn money to support the army himself.

This was equivalent to paying out of his own pocket, after all, those money could have fallen into Wu Changqing’s pocket if they weren’t used to support the army.

If General Wu was surnamed Zhu, that would be great.

A thought suddenly popped into Gu Yanwu’s head. He felt that if Wu Changqing was a descendant of the Zhu family, he would definitely become a good emperor, a wise ruler.

Unfortunately, Wu Changqing was not surnamed Zhu.

“Master Gu, this is a new type of carriage that the Lord Protector has prepared for you. It’s much more comfortable than riding in a sedan chair.”

As Gu Yanwu was about to get into a sedan chair to return to his residence, he was suddenly stopped. A minor official from the Ministry of Works was leading a horse, with a two-wheeled carriage behind it.

The two-wheeled carriage had no canopy, but the seats were exquisite, and there were silk cushions on the seats. The workmanship of the entire carriage was also very meticulous, giving people a pleasing feeling.

Gu Yanwu knew that this was a high-end carriage jointly created by Tong Youwei and the military and the Ministry of Works. It was said to have a shock-absorbing effect, and there wouldn’t be any bumps when riding in it.

Gu Yanwu was already used to the new things that popped up from time to time in their regime, so he wasn’t particularly surprised.

Hearing that it was specially prepared for him by Wu Changqing, Gu Yanwu felt quite moved.

He used to be just a scholar with a little bit of fame, but because of Wu Changqing’s appreciation, he was now able to rise to a high position, not far from becoming a high-ranking official.

And now, when there was something good, Wu Changqing could still think of him.

Speaking of which, Gu Yanwu felt that he couldn’t bear this favor.

It was precisely because of this that even after he discovered Wu Changqing’s ambition, he still didn’t betray him, because he really felt guilty.

Gu Yanwu got into the carriage, and the coachman drove the horse towards the Gu residence.

After walking for dozens of meters, Gu Yanwu didn’t feel any bumps, and it was very comfortable.

What a good thing.

Gu Yanwu thought to himself.

If General Wu could continue to benefit the people, wouldn’t that be great? What difference did it make whether the world was surnamed Zhu or Wu? Wasn’t it all the land of the Han people?

This world wasn’t surnamed Zhu from the beginning anyway.

A thought suddenly popped into Gu Yanwu’s head. Unconsciously, his beliefs had begun to waver.

Chapter 166: BMW Dealership

BMW Dealership – this was the name Tong Youwei had specifically chosen for his dealership.

Like a fine steed, it implied that only people of distinguished status could ride in these carriages, giving them a sense of superiority.

At this moment, the BMW Dealership was already packed with people.

Prior to this, the BMW Dealership had placed numerous advertisements in the People’s Daily, detailing the superiority and comfort of the new BMW carriages.

Recently, the new BMW carriage had become a hot topic among many scholars, wealthy merchants, and even ordinary people.

Everyone was eager to see what this carriage that didn’t bump was actually like.

Therefore, on the day the carriages officially went on sale, those who had long planned to buy one all squeezed into the BMW Dealership.

“Don’t push, don’t push! I have a list here. Those not on the list, pushing is useless. The first batch of BMW carriages for sale is only thirty vehicles. There are only thirty in the entire city and country.”

Manager Zhao, who was in charge of sales, shouted, leaving the servants who came to buy carriages for their masters speechless.

Only thirty vehicles? There were at least fifty people on the scene, and more were sure to come later. This was nowhere near enough. Nanjing was the place with the most wealthy people in the country.

“Line up properly, one by one. Friendly reminder: those with family assets below five hundred thousand taels or officials below the fourth rank, please return the way you came and wait for the next batch of new cars.”

Zhao Zhejuan shouted again, shocking many who came to buy.

Those with a net worth of less than five hundred thousand taels and those below the fourth rank didn’t even qualify to buy? This threshold was too high.

Didn’t this mean that as soon as you bought this carriage, it would immediately be a symbol of status?

Everyone lined up according to the rules. Zhao Zhejuan was responsible for checking the registration, asking, “Which master is in your family?”

“Master Xu of Xu’s Rice Shop in the east of the city,” said the servant at the front of the line.

“I’m sorry, Master Xu is not on the list. If you want to buy, you can pay a deposit first, and the next batch will be given priority. If you don’t pay a deposit, it may be difficult for your master to get one in the next batch,” Zhao Zhejuan said indifferently after looking at the list.

As soon as he said this, everyone burst into laughter, only the servant flushed red and angrily said, “Who in Nanjing doesn’t know my master’s name? Why isn’t he qualified to buy?”

Zhao Zhejuan ignored him and said, “If you want to buy, go to the side to pay the deposit. If you don’t want to buy, get out of here. This BMW carriage was personally invented by the Duke. Selling it to your master is already giving you face. What qualifications do you have to shout here?

Let me tell you, we don’t worry about selling this BMW carriage at all. We will need to manufacture for several months just to fulfill the orders from Nanjing. Then there are orders from Suzhou, Yangzhou, and the whole country. We will be busy for the next ten years. Master Xu, is he very famous?”

Zhao Zhejuan began to brag. Anyway, the most important thing about their car was to establish a high-end image and make it a symbol of status.

The more disdainful they were towards customers, the more they could reflect the high-end nature of this car.

When the Xu family’s servant heard the Duke’s name, he could only go to pay the deposit dejectedly.

Even if he was ridiculed, he didn’t dare to leave in a fit of anger.

If he couldn’t buy one in the next batch, and other noble masters were able to ride in the new BMW carriages while his own master was still riding in the old-fashioned carriage, how could he have the face to go out on the street?

At that time, Master Xu would probably skin him alive.

“My master is Sun Daoming, Master Sun,” said the servant who was second in line, revealing his family. Zhao Zhejuan looked at the list, found Sun Daoming’s name, and then asked, “Do you want a convertible or a closed one?”

“What’s the difference?” the Sun family’s servant asked.

“The convertible is for your master to ride in. It’s very impressive, and he can enjoy the envious gazes of others in the car. The closed one is for the women in your master’s family to ride in, to prevent them from being peeped at,” Zhao Zhejuan explained.

“One of each.”

The Sun family was not short of this little bit of money.

“Dream on. Each family is limited to one vehicle in the first batch. If you want to buy a second one, wait for the next batch,” Zhao Zhejuan said.

Too arrogant.

Everyone who heard Zhao Zhejuan’s words was impressed. This was the first time they had seen someone not doing business when it was offered to them, which was enough to show how popular the BMW carriage was.

“Why? Do you know who my master is? My master even met the Duke last time,” the Sun family’s servant clamored.

“If you talk nonsense again, I’ll have someone throw you out. Many people have met the Duke. What does your master count for? This BMW carriage was jointly built by the military, the Ministry of Industry, and the Tong family.”

Zhao Zhejuan still didn’t give him any face. Sun Daoming, of course he knew him, he was just relatively rich. If it was a third-rank official, he would have to give him some face.

But wealthy merchants, with money but no power, didn’t need to be paid too much attention.

“Then I’ll take a convertible first, and order two closed ones,” the Sun family’s servant said helplessly. He could only prioritize the master, and the women would have to wait. There were so many women in the Sun family, he was afraid that one wouldn’t be enough.

“Follow him to choose the style. Different styles have different prices, ranging from one thousand to two thousand taels,” Zhao Zhejuan reminded.

As soon as he said this, the people behind him immediately became dissatisfied. They shouted, “This is not fair. What if they pick all the good ones first?”

The Sun family’s servant was too lazy to pay attention to these voices and went to the garage to choose happily. He was going to buy the most expensive one.

Anyway, he had already spent one thousand taels of silver, so spending another thousand taels didn’t matter. The key was the gimmick of ‘the best’.

Two thousand taels was a huge sum of money for ordinary people or small vendors. But for the Sun family, spending two thousand taels to buy a BMW carriage that could be used for two or three years was not expensive at all.

Zhao Zhejuan didn’t pay too much attention to those voices and said, “You can only blame yourself for not getting a good spot. But don’t worry, the cars inside are only slightly different in shape and carving. The comfort is exactly the same.”

However, other servants or stewards didn’t believe his words at all.

If there was no difference, how could the prices be so different?

When the time came, if other people’s masters were riding in two thousand tael cars and their own masters were riding in one thousand tael cars, where would their face come from?

Immediately, some wealthy people walked up to the people in front of the line. They actually wanted to spend money to buy positions and cut in line.

Unfortunately, facing this rich side income, few servants or stewards dared to take it. If the matter of not buying a car because of changing positions reached the master’s ears, they would be beaten to death.

Under a series of hunger marketing tactics by the BMW Dealership, this BMW carriage suddenly became a super popular commodity.

The thirty vehicles were quickly sold out, and the remaining people could only scramble to pay the deposit and wait for the next batch.

Anyway, Zhao Zhejuan said that the next batch of cars would be sold in half a month, so they didn’t have to wait too long.

Looking at those people who were frantically snapping up the cars, Zhao Zhejuan sneered in his heart.

As a core member of the Tong family, he knew something about the cost of this car.

A two thousand tael BMW carriage actually cost only about one hundred taels to manufacture. The main expense was the carving on the seats. As for the other materials, they were actually dirt cheap.

This was a twenty-fold profit! Zhao Zhejuan had never seen such a profitable commodity.

And such a profitable commodity was actually still in short supply, which was simply incredible.

Chapter 167: The Shortcomings of the Six Ministries

The Governor-General’s office. Wu Changqing received Wang Dayong’s confidential report.

Wu Changqing didn’t really care about Wang Dayong and Liu Hansan’s unauthorized engagement with Fang Guoan, or their eastward advance to occupy Huzhou.

He was now eager to create more conflicts with the imperial court to haggle, preferably to the point of irreconcilable differences. Then he would have a reason to send troops south on a large scale and occupy all of Prince Lu’s territory.

He couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive about launching a Northern Expedition without controlling Prince Lu’s territory.

After all, Hangzhou was too close to Suzhou and Songjiang. If Prince Lu were to attack his rear, he would be caught between two fronts.

Although he wouldn’t be completely defeated by a single sneak attack, the fall of Suzhou and Songjiang would certainly hurt him deeply.

That was his main rear area, the most important economic zone, and where many technological secrets were kept.

If the enemy were to obtain those things, it would be a considerable problem for him.

However, he couldn’t station too many troops in the Wusong area; there were too many places to defend. And the pressure of supporting the army was too great; he couldn’t expand the army indefinitely.

“Act according to circumstances.”

Wu Changqing gave a brief instruction, letting Wang Dayong and the others figure it out themselves.

He couldn’t speak too plainly, lest he leave himself open to criticism.

Although it wouldn’t be a big deal even if someone caught him out, Wu Changqing still wanted to maintain a good reputation as much as possible.

After giving the simple instruction, Wu Changqing put the matter aside.

He had many things to deal with every day, and the feud with Fang Guoan was just a small matter to him.

He was currently studying how to reform the official system and improve administrative efficiency.

The official system of the Ming Dynasty was the cabinet and six ministries system. The cabinet was the decision-making body, and the six ministries were responsible for specific tasks.

The Ministry of Personnel was in charge of personnel affairs, responsible for the assessment and appointment of officials, and was the most powerful department.

The emperor was busy with state affairs and could hardly personally handle the appointment of officials below the third rank. The emperor also found it difficult to understand officials below the third rank, so the appointment of these official positions was decided by the Ministry of Personnel.

Those who wanted to become officials and get promoted naturally had to please the Ministry of Personnel.

Even for officials above the third rank, the emperor needed to adopt the suggestions of the Ministry of Personnel to some extent when making appointments.

This department controlled the future of most officials, and its power was imaginable.

It was very normal for a Vice Minister of Public Works of the third rank to curry favor with a Section Chief of the Ministry of Personnel of the fifth rank.

The second most powerful was the Ministry of Revenue, which was in charge of household registration, civil administration, land resources, financial taxation, and other matters, managing a great deal.

However, the power of taxation in the Ministry of Revenue under Wu Changqing’s command had been stripped away by Wu Changqing and a separate Tax Department was established.

In this era, money meant soldiers, and soldiers meant power, so the power to collect taxes was very important. Wu Changqing arranged for his clan uncle, Wu Youdao, to be personally responsible.

He wouldn’t even trust Gu Yanwu with this position. If Gu Yanwu was loyal to the imperial court and falsified accounts to send the tax revenue to Zhu Yihai, he would be spitting blood.

Because Wu Changqing couldn’t do everything himself, there were still many ways for those in charge of the power of taxation to fake accounts.

The Ministry of War was in charge of military affairs, which seemed very important. But in reality, this Ministry of War only managed logistics, as well as recruitment and training. The main force of the army was in Wu Changqing’s hands, and the Ministry of War had no power to command it.

Therefore, in terms of importance, it was far lower than the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Rites was responsible for education and rituals, and was also a relatively important department.

The Ministry of Justice controlled the power of arresting people, reporting, judging, and legislating, which seemed very great. But in actual operation, these powers would be divided by other departments and the cabinet.

Therefore, the power of the Ministry of Justice was actually relatively small, only slightly larger than that of the Ministry of Public Works. The Ministry of Public Works was the most miserable, just a technical department with a very weak presence in the Ming Dynasty’s administrative system.

However, in Wu Changqing’s jurisdiction, the power of the Ministry of Public Works was very great, because the Ministry of Public Works was responsible for the manufacture of advanced weapons and controlled a large number of military secrets.

The six ministries system had been in use for hundreds of thousands of years and was a quite mature and complete system. But from Wu Changqing’s perspective in later generations, this system was somewhat backward.

For example, in his eyes, commerce, which was very important, did not have a special department to manage it. This was very unreasonable and would breed many problems.

Relying solely on folk trade associations was quite unreliable. Trade associations would only consider the interests of merchants, how could they take the imperial court into account?

Not only was there no Ministry of Commerce, but there was not even a Ministry of Agriculture.

It seemed that in history books, one could often see words such as “emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce,” but in reality, the government’s emphasis on agriculture in this era was very low.

The biggest thing was nothing more than building some water conservancy projects.

Few people even bothered to figure out how to make more advanced tools such as plows, let alone screen for improved varieties.

Agriculture in this era was actually very inefficient. Coupled with land annexation, countless people had become tenant farmers.

At least, Wu Changqing had not seen any traces of “emphasizing agriculture.”

In short, the current administrative system was very backward in Wu Changqing’s view, with many shortcomings and many areas that needed reform.

Of course, this kind of reform could not be pushed over and restarted all at once, as the impact would be too great. Being too radical would only lead to unintended consequences. Throughout history, many reforms had died prematurely because they were too radical.

Wu Changqing planned to adopt the method of boiling a frog in warm water, changing things little by little.

The first was to strip the power of taxation from the Ministry of Revenue, and the second was to make the Ministry of Justice independent, not allowing other departments to interfere with it. This could reduce many cases of officials protecting each other.

Many officials committed crimes, and just as the Ministry of Justice was about to convict them, the department to which the official belonged would use its power to interfere, making the work of the Ministry of Justice very difficult.

In the new plan formulated by Wu Changqing, the Ministry of Justice was independent, and other departments were not allowed to interfere in the work of the Ministry of Justice. At the same time, the appointment and removal of official positions in the Ministry of Justice would be decided internally, and the Ministry of Personnel was not allowed to interfere.

This would avoid the Ministry of Personnel relying on its influence to install some of its own people in the Ministry of Justice.

However, in this way, the Ministry of Justice would become a self-contained system, and its power would be too great, easily becoming lawless. Therefore, Wu Changqing divided the Ministry of Justice into three divisions: the Legislative Division, the Judicial Division, and the Enforcement Division.

If the power of arresting people, judging, and legislating was not divided, then only the Ministry of Justice would know the truth of a case, which was obviously not feasible.

Wu Changqing did not know much about the separation of powers, but he also knew that the referee and the athlete should be separated, and the athlete should not be allowed to be the referee at the same time, otherwise, others would have no chance to play.

Managing a regime was a very complicated matter, and Wu Changqing had now deeply experienced it.

He was already considered relatively lazy, leaving many things to the officials below to handle, but the things he had to do every day were still packed full.

He could already understand why the workaholic Zhu Yuanzhang had to work more than ten hours a day.

Wu Changqing did not have that kind of masochistic tendency. Except for the power of the army and taxation, which he firmly controlled in his hands, he gave the power in other aspects to others.

Anyway, as long as these two powers were in his hands, others would not be able to cause trouble or turn the world upside down.

Chapter 168: Technology is the Primary Productive Force

In the afternoon, Wu Changqing went to the university to teach.

His emphasis on education surpassed even the military, the economy, people’s livelihood, and politics.

Only by cultivating more new-style talents could society progress and the people live a good life.

Technology is the primary productive force; this was not a joke, but a truth.

The only driving force behind human progress is technology, nothing else.

A thriving commerce simply makes merchants richer; their wealth isn’t created, but earned from the people.

A superior system simply reduces the number of corrupt officials and lightens the burden on the people. The officials’ wealth is distributed to the people, but the total wealth of society doesn’t increase.

This might make wealth distribution more even and reasonable, but it’s not of great significance. There’s only so much in total; if some have more, others will inevitably have less.

And this inevitably leads to conflict.

In the past, emperors solved this conflict of wealth distribution in the same way: co-opting the elite and suppressing the exploited people with force.

Wu Changqing, however, wanted to take a different path: increasing social productivity, creating more wealth, and allowing both the elite and the people to prosper together.

Increase grain yields. In the past, four mu of land could support one person; with the promotion of hybrid rice, two mu could support one person.

Use more machinery for plowing and harvesting. In the past, one person could only cultivate five mu of land; in the future, one person could cultivate ten mu. The surplus people could then be employed in other industries, producing more goods that benefit the people.

In short, wealth can only be achieved by increasing social productivity, and certainly not by a flourishing commerce or a clean government. This has been proven by history.

In the twenty-first century, even the people under the most corrupt government live better lives than the people in ancient times.

To increase social productivity, one must rely on technology.

Therefore, no matter how busy he was, Wu Changqing would always take the time to come to the university to lecture.

Changing this world was something he definitely couldn’t do alone; even with the assistance of the system, it was impossible. Only by mobilizing the masses and cultivating a large number of talents could this goal be achieved.

Arriving at the university, Wu Changqing saw a group of students gathered around, as if they had discovered something interesting.

Wu Changqing walked over and heard the discussions.

“This mirror is amazing! Why can it magnify things so many times?”

“It seems to be using the principle of refraction of a convex lens.”

“Sounds like a telescope.”

…

As everyone was discussing, someone suddenly noticed Wu Changqing and quickly called out, “Teacher!”

The others immediately turned around and bowed to Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing picked up the cylindrical object and looked at it, discovering that it was a rudimentary microscope made of two convex lenses.

Magnifying glasses had been discovered long ago, but had been neglected due to the lack of high-purity transparent materials.

After Wu Changqing produced glass, some students at the university began to grind magnifying glasses with better magnification effects.

Now, some observant students had discovered that arranging two convex lenses at a certain distance could create a tool that increased the magnification effect several times.

This was actually the prototype of a microscope. As long as they continued along this line of thought, they could obtain a microscope with practical value.

This was very important, because the development of modern medicine largely benefited from the development of microscopes. When humans saw various bacteria and human tissues under a microscope, they gained a deeper understanding of the human body and the root causes of some diseases.

“Who invented this microscope?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s question, everyone cast envious glances at one of the students. Clearly, the teacher liked this thing very much, and the inventor would definitely be appreciated.

“Reporting to the teacher, I discovered it by chance. It hasn’t been named yet, but the teacher’s name, ‘microscope,’ is fitting,”

Zu Dalu replied.

“Very good, this discovery is of great significance. Has everyone thought about what the materials that make up our world are, and how small they are?

Unfortunately, in the past, we were mere mortals and couldn’t see the truth of the world, so we could only rely on guesswork, which often led to misunderstandings. But now, this microscope brings us hope; it allows us to see more subtle things.

I remember your name is Zu Dalu, right? Very good. Take my note to the Ministry of Industry later and have them fully cooperate with you to create lenses with better transparency, to make this microscope magnify even more.”

In fact, Wu Changqing could directly create a more advanced microscope, but he wouldn’t do that. He needed talents who could independently research and develop, talents who could think and create independently.

Those who manufactured according to the manufacturing process he provided could only be considered technicians, not scientists.

Hearing that Wu Changqing remembered his name and had praised him, Zu Dalu’s face flushed with excitement.

He used to be an unknown little figure, an ordinary member of these thousands of students. But now, the current Duke praised him in front of everyone and gave him special privileges, entrusting him with an important task.

It could be said that he had risen to the sky in one step.

He couldn’t hide his excited feelings, a young man who hadn’t yet developed any sophistication.

“This student will remember the teacher’s teachings and will definitely improve this microscope into a masterpiece,”

Zu Dalu said. The other students were all envious and jealous. Before, everyone was an equal classmate, but in the future, they would have to call Zu Dalu “Master Zu.”

“Teacher, this student has also discovered something. Please examine it, teacher,”

Seeing that Zu Dalu had gained an advantage, a student couldn’t bear to be outdone and stepped forward to offer his treasure.

“Oh? What did you discover? Bring it up quickly.”

Looking at this group of vibrant students, Wu Changqing felt a sense of accomplishment. These future scientists were all his students; he had enlightened them.

Chu Dayu took out a wooden frame with an iron rod hanging from it.

Chu Dayu casually flicked the iron rod, and it swung from side to side.

“What kind of discovery is this?”

Many students complained. This seemed too ordinary, far less shocking than the microscope.

Hearing this, Chu Dayu’s face showed a hint of dissatisfaction, but seeing that Wu Changqing wasn’t angry, he felt relieved and explained, “Teacher, I discovered that when this iron rod swings from side to side, each swing takes almost the same amount of time.”

“What makes you say the time is the same? The teacher said that visual observation is inaccurate. Have you measured it precisely?”

“Even if the swing time is the same, what’s the use of that?”

Before Wu Changqing could speak, the other students began to find fault.

The reason was probably jealousy.

Who wouldn’t want to show their face in front of Wu Changqing? Since they didn’t have any outstanding research to show, they naturally felt depressed and jealous when they saw others with results.

Chapter 169: The Leaders

Hearing those skeptical remarks, Chu Dayu’s face flushed red with anxiety.

He quickly explained, “How could it be useless? We can use this isochronism to create clocks that are much more accurate than sundials, hourglasses, or candles.”

“But there’s air resistance. This iron rod won’t swing forever. What happens when it stops? Does someone have to stand by, ready to push it by hand?”

Another student continued to question.

“Hold on a moment.”

Wu Changqing interrupted the doubts and said, “Using this isochronism to create a clock is entirely feasible. As for the power issue, you can try to use a spring to make a mainspring.”

As Wu Changqing spoke, he began to draw on the paper, explaining the function of a mainspring.

With a mainspring, the biggest power problem in making a pendulum clock would be solved. When the power runs out, just wind the mainspring.

And the pendulum clock occupies a very important position in the history of clock development.

It’s much more accurate and convenient than traditional timekeeping tools.

The accuracy of timekeeping may not be particularly important in the daily lives of ordinary people, but it is crucial in scientific research and physical experiments.

Without accurate time measurement, the experimental data obtained would be inaccurate.

Everyone carefully watched the mainspring designed by Wu Changqing. Some clever students quickly understood the principle, and suddenly they all had an epiphany.

At the same time, their admiration for Wu Changqing rose to another level.

They didn’t know that Wu Changqing already knew the structure of a pendulum clock. They thought that Wu Changqing was seeing this isochronism of swinging for the first time.

To be able to immediately think of matching components to form a clock the first time he saw such a thing was truly genius.

However, they were already used to Wu Changqing’s genius. If he didn’t have such great talent, he wouldn’t be able to write those books. In the hearts of some students, Wu Changqing was already a godlike figure.

“You manufacture it according to my design ideas. I will have people from the Ministry of Industry send people to cooperate with you to get this pendulum clock out as soon as possible.”

Wu Changqing gave him the same treatment as Zu Dalu, making the other students envious and jealous.

However, some students were unconvinced, feeling that Chu Dayu had only discovered a simple phenomenon and then had an idea.

But Wu Changqing helped with the design of the mainspring to utilize this phenomenon to create a clock.

However, there was nothing they could do about their dissatisfaction, since they couldn’t even discover simple phenomena themselves.

“Thank you for your guidance, teacher. This student will definitely work day and night to manufacture this clock and present it to you.”

Chu Dayu was so moved that he almost shed tears. His discovery was ridiculed by other students, but only Wu Changqing didn’t laugh at him. Instead, he helped him solve the most difficult power problem and recognized his achievements.

This was the so-called grace of appreciation. In short, at this moment, Chu Dayu was completely devoted to Wu Changqing. If anyone dared to be unfavorable to Wu Changqing, he would stand up and block knives and arrows for Wu Changqing.

“If anyone else has any novel discoveries or inventions, they can report them to me. Or, if you encounter any difficulties in the process of invention, you can come to me, and I will try my best to answer them for you. Moreover, I will also formulate a patent law in the near future. If other merchants want to manufacture and sell these things you invent in the future, they must pay the inventor an expensive patent fee. Those who want to get rich should use their brains more often.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile, continuing to encourage these students to carry out various inventions and creations.

In order to protect the interests of these inventors, he even brought out the patent law in advance.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s words, the students boiled again.

Inventing things could make a lot of money in the future and be protected by criminal law. This was just too wonderful.

They could get promoted and make a fortune. What reason was there not to engage in research, invention, and creation?

However, even if they knew the great value of invention and creation, not everyone could handle it. Many people racked their brains for a while, but found that their brains were blank and they had no clue at all.

It has to be said, this was a sad story.

Before class, Wu Changqing gave a speech.

“Who does the development and progress of this world rely on? It’s obviously not on officials, nor on merchants, let alone on farmers, but on a very small number of geniuses.

The person who invented iron smelting greatly improved mankind’s ability to cultivate farmland. The person who invented ceramics facilitated human life. The person who invented ships enabled mankind to conquer rivers and seas.

This world has always been driven by a very small number of geniuses, and now, the historical mission has fallen on your shoulders. We cannot expect those officials and merchants who are full of thoughts of promotion and fortune, nor can we expect the farmers who are plowing in the fields every day.

Only we, these elite people in the world, can lead the world forward. I hope that more students will put their minds on research and invention, instead of thinking about becoming officials or other things.

As long as you can invent something that can improve efficiency and is of great significance to society, I will directly grant you a peerage in the future, so that you can enjoy privileges.”

Wu Changqing continued to display his characteristic of saying human words to humans and ghost words to ghosts.

In front of this group of future scientists, he promoted the uselessness of officials and merchants, and that the world relied on their technological talents.

Such a speech could naturally fill these people with a sense of superiority and pride, thereby strengthening their determination to engage in research and invention.

Of course, these were the thoughts of people who were relatively easy to fool.

Some truly smart people felt Wu Changqing’s emphasis on technological invention from his speech.

Some people could even feel Wu Changqing’s ambition from it, because Wu Changqing said that he would directly grant peerages to those who made great contributions.

However, Wu Changqing was not the emperor and was not qualified to grant peerages to others in theory.

But Wu Changqing still said so, obviously Wu Changqing was already prepared to rebel.

Many people were quite surprised after noticing this.

However, no one had the idea of running out to report to the imperial court.

Because they were all smart people.

By comparing Wu Changqing with the current Ming Dynasty, many people could see clearly that the Ming Dynasty was really not working, and Wu Changqing was the future.

Since this was the case, why not go with the flow?

They were all Wu Changqing’s students. If Wu Changqing became the emperor, they would be the emperor’s disciples. Just this identity alone would allow them to enjoy some privileges.

In other words, they would definitely get the most benefits if Wu Changqing became the emperor.

Therefore, even if Wu Changqing shouted the slogan of rebellion now, they would strongly support him and stand firmly on Wu Changqing’s side.

Loyalty, in the face of one’s own interests, cannot stand the test.

No matter what the saints say, it is difficult to erase human nature. Every individual is essentially selfish.

Chapter 170: Steamboat

Wu Changqing’s emphasis on technology far surpassed that of contemporary Western Europe.

Although Western Europeans of this era also valued natural sciences, they lacked the motivation to drive technological development. It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution, when merchants noticed that inventions could significantly reduce costs, that they began to heavily fund inventors.

The allure of Wu Changqing’s offerings was far greater.

Not only was there patent law to protect their financial gains, but also noble titles to allow them to enjoy honor and privileges.

Motivated by this dual incentive, many university students began to devote themselves to the field of research and invention.

Some were researching new lighting tools, some were researching new printing technologies, some were studying the laws of the sun and moon, and some were even researching flying machines and the elixir of life.

Some were on the right track, while others were heading down a rabbit hole.

But that didn’t matter; as long as they were willing to research, even failures could provide experience.

Upon learning that someone was researching the elixir of life, Wu Changqing didn’t stop them, so as not to dampen their confidence and impose ideological constraints on others.

Although researching the elixir of life was absurd, in the eyes of ordinary people, researching flying machines was equally absurd, not much different from researching the elixir of life.

Invention and innovation required thinking outside the box.

The elixir of life was unlikely to be discovered, but if the research process led to one or two new drugs for treating diseases, that would be great too.

After all, gunpowder was accidentally discovered by Taoists while researching the elixir of life.

At the ferry crossing, a small boat docked, and a distinguished-looking old man disembarked.

If Ruan Dacheng and other officials were here, they would immediately recognize this man as Qian Qianyi, the famous leader of the Donglin Party.

In history, after Qian Qianyi surrendered to the Qing dynasty, he was not given important positions and was assigned to compile the History of the Ming Dynasty.

Unwilling to accept this, he later began to collude with the anti-Qing forces in the south, attempting to overthrow the Qing dynasty.

He was a worldly man with no principles, only caring about his own power and influence.

Now, due to Wu Changqing’s arrival, history had undergone tremendous changes.

Originally, at this time, the Qing army had already occupied Hangzhou and was about to wipe out the Lu Wang regime and the Longwu regime, completing the initial unification of China.

However, due to Wu Changqing’s existence, the Qing army not only failed to eliminate Prince Lu, but even lost large swaths of territory in Jiangnan. South of the Yangtze River, only northern Jiangxi and parts of Anhui were still under the control of the Qing army.

Under these circumstances, the Qing court naturally had no intention of compiling any History of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming dynasty was still alive and well, not destroyed, so compiling the History of the Ming Dynasty at this time would be self-deception.

Without the History of the Ming Dynasty to compile, Qian Qianyi was forgotten by the Qing dynasty and was not assigned any positions of real power, which made Qian Qianyi very depressed and unwilling.

During the Hongguang era, he was the Vice Minister of Rites in the south and the leader of the Donglin Party. Everyone treated him with respect.

And in the end, he surrendered with two hundred thousand troops and all the civil and military officials without a fight, which was a great contribution to the Qing dynasty.

He originally thought that, based on his merit of surrendering the city, even if he couldn’t reach the level of Hong Chengchou in the Qing court, he wouldn’t be too badly off.

Who knew that the Qing dynasty didn’t value him at all.

The reason for this was unknown.

Disappointed in his career, Qian Qianyi was confused. At this time, he heard the news of Wu Changqing’s rise and the news of Nanjing being captured by Wu Changqing.

As a veteran official, he saw an opportunity again.

So, he risked breaking free from surveillance and secretly returned to Nanjing from the north, wanting to find a position.

He learned that the person with the most influence in the Nanjing civil service system was Gu Yanwu, who was also a member of the Donglin Party. Qian Qianyi felt that he was once the leader of the Donglin Party, so he should be able to get some respect from Gu Yanwu.

As soon as he got off the boat, before Qian Qianyi could express his feelings, he noticed a group of people not far away, pointing at the river.

And on the river, a ship without sails was going upstream, and there was a huge chimney on the ship emitting black smoke.

What is this?

Qian Qianyi was shocked. As a knowledgeable cultural figure from Jiangnan, he knew a lot about ships.

These large sailing ships had a large carrying capacity, and it was easy to go downstream, but to go upstream, they had to rely on the monsoon. When there was no wind, they could only rely on manpower to pull or row.

However, the sailing ship in front of Qian Qianyi had neither sails nor oars, but it was indeed going upstream.

Although the speed was very slow, it was still going upstream.

This kind of paranormal event that defied common sense shocked Qian Qianyi.

Of course, he didn’t know that Feng Xianzhong’s team was testing the power performance of the steam engine.

After a period of research, Feng Xianzhong had manufactured some steam engines. However, due to the backwardness of materials, mainly steel technology, these steam engines had great defects in terms of performance and stability.

Some steam engines would explode after running for a short time, and some had too little power and low energy conversion efficiency.

They had been gradually improving and looking for steel materials with better performance.

And now, the latest steam engine they had created had a certain practical value. After Wu Yi heard about it, he shamelessly went up and insisted that Feng Xianzhong install the steam engine on the ship for testing.

As the number one naval officer, Wu Yi was most concerned about the performance of the ships.

In naval battles, the most feared thing was encountering no wind or headwinds. In that case, they could only rely on manpower, which was very dangerous, because people would get tired.

Therefore, after learning that the steam engine could give sailing ships power, he had been staring at Feng Xianzhong’s project team.

“The power is still too low, it has no practical value.”

Feng Xianzhong sighed. He was under a lot of pressure now. Wu Changqing had solved the manufacturing process and principles for him, and all he had to do was find high-performance materials.

But he was very dissatisfied with the current progress. Although Wu Changqing had never urged him, he had set a deadline for himself.

“It’s already good. This is the first time in the history of sailing ships that they can go upstream without wind or manpower. It’s enough to be recorded in history.”

Wu Yi was very satisfied. Although the power of the steam engine was still very small, he didn’t care. Anyway, the most difficult part had been solved, and he could wait patiently for a better steam engine.

When the time came, commanding a fleet of self-propelled ships, they would be invincible.

“Record all the data, I want to see it later.”

Feng Xianzhong finished speaking and left first. He had a lot of research to do and couldn’t stay here all day.

In the distance, Qian Qianyi looked at the incredible sailing ship and wanted to go over and ask several times, but he finally suppressed his curiosity.

His identity was different from before, and it was questionable whether he could even get close to those heavily guarded people.

If he was stopped by the guards, he would have no place to put his old face.

Therefore, Qian Qianyi chose to enter the city first and find a way to get an official position first.

As for the sailing ship, there would be plenty of time to inquire about it in the future.

Chapter 171: Qian Qianyi’s Observations

As soon as he entered Nanjing, Qian Qianyi clearly felt the changes here.

Namely, Nanjing had become more prosperous, cleaner, and more orderly.

Although Nanjing used to be the capital, there was still some garbage and stench on the streets. There were also some vendors setting up stalls and some beggars begging on both sides of the street.

However, he didn’t see any of those previous phenomena now.

After asking a passerby, Qian Qianyi learned that the vendors had been gathered in several places, forming markets. The beggars had been rounded up to repair dikes; although it was hard work, they could at least get a full meal.

The cleanliness of the roads was due to the Duke’s regulation that anyone who littered would be severely punished.

At this time, Qian Qianyi also noticed the difference between the ground and before.

The ground was hard, with a smooth and flat surface, making walking on it feel different.

After inquiring, Qian Qianyi learned that this was also the Duke’s achievement. It was the cement invented by the Duke, used to pave roads for the convenience of the people.

With this cement road, there was no need to worry about getting clothes dirty on rainy days.

After walking for a while, Qian Qianyi encountered a carriage. This carriage was slightly different from what he had seen before, but it wasn’t particularly novel.

Qian Qianyi’s reaction was flat, but others were discussing the carriage.

“It’s the first edition BMW carriage. I heard that sitting in this carriage is as comfortable as sitting on a bed, without any bumps.”

“People who can buy a BMW carriage are either rich or noble. Master Zhang in the east of the city, his business is not small. It is said that he has hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, but he can’t buy a BMW carriage because he is not qualified.”

“What’s so strange about that? You know, only thirty BMW carriages were sold in the first batch.”

…

The many onlookers and discussions also aroused Qian Qianyi’s interest in this BMW carriage.

A carriage without bumps was a blessing for old people like him. This time, he fled south from Beijing and suffered a lot in the carriage, almost falling apart.

Qian Qianyi continued to walk towards his home. He still had a mansion in Nanjing, and even wives and concubines. His first wife was Chen, and his concubine was the famous Liu Rushi, one of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River.

After he surrendered, Liu Rushi stayed in Nanjing and did not go north with him.

Passing by a gambling house, he heard shouts of “eat,” “pong,” “kong,” and “hu.” Qian Qianyi curiously went in to take a look and found that it was a novel gambling toy, mahjong.

After watching for a while, Qian Qianyi found that this mahjong was more interesting than simply betting on big or small, with more changes and strategies.

Leaving the gambling house, he passed by a restaurant and saw some scholars reading newspapers.

Passing by a luxury store, there were rich young ladies picking out perfumes and dressing mirrors.

These scenes were never seen in Nanjing before.

The changes in Nanjing were so great.

Qian Qianyi sighed in his heart. He left Nanjing in May of last year, and it hasn’t even been a year since then.

In less than a year, the changes in Nanjing had made him feel unfamiliar.

And he knew that all this was brought about by Wu Changqing.

After seeing these changes, Qian Qianyi became more and more curious about Wu Changqing.

He didn’t go home immediately, but continued to wander around Nanjing, wanting to see what Nanjing had become.

“How much is a shi of rice?”

Qian Qianyi came to a rice shop and asked. Prices can accurately reflect the state of life in a place.

“Five qian per shi.”

The shopkeeper said.

This surprised Qian Qianyi slightly. Five qian per shi was the price of rice in peaceful times. In times of war, the price of rice usually rises by several percent.

For example, the price of rice in Beijing is seven qian per shi, which is much higher than here.

The price of rice directly affects the lives of the people.

Afterwards, he asked about the prices of cloth, houses, and many other commodities.

Qian Qianyi found that the prices of all commodities related to people’s livelihoods were lower than those in Beijing, which meant that people could live more easily.

However, the housing prices in Nanjing were higher than those in Beijing, and also higher than those in Nanjing before, which meant that Nanjing was more prosperous and more people wanted to live in Nanjing.

All indications showed that under the rule of Wu Changqing, the people of Nanjing were doing very well, at least much better than before.

To be able to start with a hundred people, expand the army to more than one hundred thousand in less than a year, control the entire Jiangnan region, and also allow the people under his rule to live and work in peace, Qian Qianyi admired this ability.

Qian Qianyi bought a few newspapers and found a teahouse to read them.

He bought the People’s Daily. The Gazette was a newspaper for government officials, and it was difficult to buy on the market.

The first news on the People’s Daily surprised Qian Qianyi, because it reported on the war.

According to common sense, war is a matter of secrecy, and the imperial court would try to keep it secret from the people.

However, the People’s Daily under Wu Changqing’s rule could report on some wars.

Qian Qianyi was indeed a shrewd person. After reading the first war report, he vaguely guessed Wu Changqing’s intention to announce the war.

The first half of the war report said that under the wise leadership of Wu Changqing, the Wu army recovered the lost homeland of the Ming Dynasty, Wuhu, Tongling, and Xuancheng.

The second half of the report severely criticized Fang Guoan in the imperial court for starting a war with the Wu army for his own personal gain. In the end, the invincible Wu army recovered Xuancheng, allowing the people there to live a good life.

Of course, Qian Qianyi would not be so easily fooled. He did not believe that the battle between the Wu army and Fang Guoan represented justice. This was clearly a grab for territory.

This made Qian Qianyi quite emotional. It turned out that the Ming Dynasty was still fighting internally.

What made him even more emotional was that Wu Changqing actually told the people about this internal strife, vilifying and slandering the imperial court. This was clearly to win the hearts of the people and attempt to rebel.

Qian Qianyi suppressed his shock and continued to read.

The next report was Wu Changqing’s agricultural plan. Wu Changqing said that the high-yield rice was growing well and could provide seeds to the people in the second half of the year, so that every person could have enough to eat.

This was also to win the hearts of the people.

Qian Qianyi sighed secretly in his heart, but he was also very curious whether the high-yield rice that Wu Changqing said was real. If it was not real, and the promise could not be fulfilled in the future, would the people be disappointed?

If it was true, it would be terrible. The food problem was the biggest problem for mankind for thousands of years. If the people could have enough to eat, there would be no rebellions like Li Zicheng’s.

The third report was the expansion plan of the university, and introduced some of the achievements of the university.

In short, most of the content on the People’s Daily was boasting about Wu Changqing’s achievements, boasting about the current prosperity and stability of the Jiangnan area, and how much better it was than before.

Moreover, the villain used for contrast was almost always the Ming Dynasty.

The report also revealed some of the previous昏庸 policies of the Ming Dynasty, and reported a lot of Ming army surrenders.

If he were not in Nanjing, Qian Qianyi would have suspected that this newspaper was run by the Qing Dynasty, because there was almost no good word about the Ming Dynasty on it.

Tsk tsk tsk, this Duke Wu is not a peaceful person.

Qian Qianyi sighed in his heart.

Chapter 172: Qian Qianyi’s Pursuit of Office

Back home, Qian Qianyi met Liu Rushi, whom he had been longing for day and night.

However, their relationship wasn’t as good as it had been at the start.

Initially, Liu Rushi admired Qian Qianyi’s talent and didn’t hesitate to marry this man, thirty-six years her senior, as a concubine.

But on the matter of throwing himself into the lake to die for the country, Qian Qianyi had disappointed Liu Rushi. The phrase “the water is too cold” probably shocked her quite a bit.

“This time, I’ve returned because I see hope for the revival of the Ming Dynasty and want to offer my meager strength. The old Ming had too many flaws. Now, seeing Duke Wu’s various policy reforms, I’m filled with confidence in the Ming once more,” Qian Qianyi explained, hoping to gain Liu Rushi’s understanding.

“Speaking of this Duke Wu, he’s truly no ordinary man. Not only is he resourceful in military affairs, but he’s also extremely accomplished in unorthodox studies. Now, I can’t live without these perfumes and soaps. This Duke who invented these items that benefit women is now the dream lover of countless beauties on the Qinhuai River.”

Having married him, she would follow him. Even though there was a rift between them, life had to go on.

Having married Qian Qianyi, Liu Rushi had already endured a great deal of public pressure, and she no longer had the possibility of remarrying.

“Indeed, these novel things have opened my eyes, and I dare not underestimate unorthodox studies anymore. His firearms have caused the Qing army to retreat in defeat, and his perfumes and soaps are raking in money in the north. I never imagined that these things could change the landscape of the world,” Qian Qianyi said with emotion. As a traditional scholar, he had previously studied the Four Books and Five Classics and hadn’t delved deeply into unorthodox studies, nor did he think much of that knowledge.

But now, Wu Changqing’s success made him dare not have such thoughts again.

After reuniting and catching up with his family, Qian Qianyi quickly threw himself into his work.

He wanted to become an official, but he wouldn’t be foolish enough to directly seek an audience, as the chances of success would be too low.

In the following days, Qian Qianyi studied Wu Changqing, his thoughts, and his policies, and then catered to his preferences, writing down his own understanding of these policies and proposing some suggestions.

Qian Qianyi saw Wu Changqing’s ambition, so he advocated strengthening the education of the people, increasing their dissatisfaction with the Ming Dynasty, and preparing public opinion for rebellion.

He used to be the Vice Minister of Rites, in charge of etiquette and education, so he had considerable experience and means in this regard, and the suggestions he made were relatively practical.

At least, he was several times better than Wei Ziwen.

Although Wei Ziwen was also very talented, he was definitely inferior to an old fox like Qian Qianyi, who had been immersed in officialdom for decades.

Having made these preparations, Qian Qianyi went to seek an audience with Gu Yanwu. Relying on his former status as a leader of the Donglin Party, he still had a certain amount of influence and prestige within the Donglin Party group.

Therefore, Gu Yanwu received him very solemnly.

After some small talk, Qian Qianyi explained his intentions, hoping that Gu Yanwu could help present his “On Rise and Fall” to Wu Changqing and then introduce him.

Having Gu Yanwu’s introduction was much more reliable than going to seek an audience himself.

In his heart, Gu Yanwu didn’t really like Qian Qianyi, because he had been a staunch resistance supporter, while Qian Qianyi was a surrenderist.

What’s more, he was now vaguely becoming the leader of the Donglin Party, and if Qian Qianyi was given the opportunity to become an official, his position would be threatened.

After all, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Qian Qianyi’s prestige was still there, while his rise had been too short, and his prestige hadn’t been fully established.

Although he was unwilling in his heart, Gu Yanwu couldn’t directly refuse, otherwise, people in the Donglin Party would definitely have opinions.

“Mr. Muzhai’s great work is bound to be a work that awakens the world. I will present it to the General as soon as possible,” Gu Yanwu said with a smile, promising to help with the introduction. He didn’t need to worry too much for the time being, because Wu Changqing couldn’t directly give Qian Qianyi too much official position and power. He could still direct Qian Qianyi.

Gu Yanwu had thought it through. He would simply let him contain Ruan Dacheng, let those old rivals continue to fight, and it would be best if they both suffered.

“Then thank you, Ningren (Gu Yanwu’s courtesy name). Under your leadership, the Donglin Party has regained some reputation. You have redeemed me, old man…” Qian Qianyi revealed a look of regret and self-blame, recounting that he shouldn’t have surrendered back then.

However, ever since he said the phrase “the water is too cold,” everyone actually knew what kind of person he was.

Gu Yanwu comforted him verbally, but in his heart, he was disdainful.

“On Rise and Fall” was presented to Wu Changqing. Hearing that it was written by Qian Qianyi, he also had a little interest.

After all, Qian Qianyi was a celebrity, and the viewpoints in a celebrity’s work were worth reading and savoring.

On the surface, “On Rise and Fall” wrote about the reasons for the rise and fall of a dynasty, but Wu Changqing saw Qian Qianyi’s thoughts inside.

In the book, Qian Qianyi lavishly praised Wu Changqing’s various policies, especially the emphasis on new-style education.

This was obviously flattering and catering to his preferences.

In addition to praise, the book also emphasized a point of view, that is, the prosperity of a dynasty must have a capable person to lead it, and there must be a unified court.

This was actually a bit blatant, meaning to tell Wu Changqing that Qian Qianyi supported him in overthrowing the corrupt Ming Dynasty, and the world could only move towards prosperity under his leadership.

Ordinary people might not be able to see this meaning.

But Wu Changqing had been a leader for some time, and he had developed this sensitivity.

“This old fellow, still wants to be an official.”

Wu Changqing said with emotion. Qian Qianyi was already sixty-five years old. In this era, he was definitely considered elderly.

However, Wu Changqing also knew that the historical Qian Qianyi lived to be over eighty years old and still had a long life ahead of him.

Qian Qianyi wanted to continue to be an official and continue to shine. Wu Changqing naturally accepted anyone who came.

Before Qian Qianyi got senile dementia, his official experience could be well-suited for some work and was worth exploiting.

As for Qian Qianyi’s identity as a two-faced official, it was not a problem for Wu Changqing. There were already many officials under his rule who had surrendered two or three times.

These people were all weathercocks. When one’s own side was weak, they were a time bomb, but when one’s own side was strong, they couldn’t make any waves at all.

Wu Changqing could maintain a strong military presence, so he was not worried about these spineless people causing any damage.

He was currently short of manpower and could only use these people for now. When the situation stabilized in the future and the imperial examination was reopened, or when the students in the university graduated, he would slowly eliminate these people.

Accepting Qian Qianyi also had a benefit, which was to send a signal to the Han officials in the north, that is, Wu Changqing had a broad mind, would not care about the past, and could attract some Han officials in the Qing Dynasty to surrender.

Perhaps some people who wanted to make contributions could also provide inside information, which would be helpful for Wu Changqing to recover the north.

Chapter 173: Abolish the Imperial Examination

The next day, Wu Changqing took time to meet with Qian Qianyi.

Upon seeing Qian Qianyi for the first time, Wu Changqing sized him up and found the man to be radiant and full of energy. Truly, he was someone who could still father children with Liu Rushi at the age of sixty.

“Master Qian, do you perhaps possess some well-kept secrets to maintaining your health?”

Wu Changqing teased him.

Qian Qianyi was momentarily embarrassed by this. He hadn’t expected that someone wielding an army of hundreds of thousands would ask such frivolous questions.

“There are no secrets, really. It’s merely rising early, sleeping early, and eating a balanced diet. Plus, I have a generous spirit and a broad mind, so I take things in stride,” Qian Qianyi said vaguely.

“I’ve read your book. Since you also support the new-style education, then you can temporarily serve as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. Your main task will be to use your influence to smoothly phase out the old-style education and replace it entirely with the new-style education.”

As it stood, the imperial examination was still the orthodox and mainstream path, while the modern academy was only a niche. The entire academy only had over one thousand five hundred students, a small fraction compared to the hundreds of thousands of scholars across the country studying the Four Books and Five Classics.

The imperial examination system, which had lasted for over a thousand years, couldn’t be eliminated immediately just because it was outdated. Doing so would inevitably cause an earthquake in the scholarly world and incite resistance from those who stood to lose their interests.

When these scholars caused trouble, it would be much more troublesome than when commoners rioted. After all, they were cultured people, quick-witted and cunning.

With just a few words of incitement, the common people could easily be fooled and used as pawns.

The process of elimination had to be gradual and smooth, so as not to cause social unrest.

And that required a capable person to execute it. Wei Ziwen was clearly not up to the task; his prestige was too low, and those young and vigorous scholars simply wouldn’t listen to him.

But Qian Qianyi was different. He was formerly a leader of the Donglin Party and held great prestige in literary circles. His writing was also excellent.

Having him come forward to write articles to subtly guide the scholars’ thinking and make them accept the new-style education would be much easier.

“This may not be easy. After all, the imperial examination has been in place for over a thousand years,” Qian Qianyi said, his scalp tingling slightly. He hadn’t expected Wu Changqing to be so radical as to want to abolish the traditional imperial examination. This would cut off the path to advancement for countless scholars.

Just imagine, some people had been studying the Four Books and Five Classics for over a decade or two, just waiting for the imperial examination to turn their lives around and become officials. But then the imperial court suddenly announced that the imperial examination would no longer be held. Wouldn’t that be a waste of their decades of hard work?

Those who weren’t strong-willed enough would definitely not be able to withstand such a blow.

They would either commit suicide or rebel. In short, there would definitely be a lot of unrest.

Qian Qianyi supported the new-style education, but he hadn’t thought of a complete transformation. The education model he envisioned was still based on the imperial examination, with the new-style education as a supplement.

He never imagined that Wu Changqing would be so bold as to completely abolish the imperial examination and eliminate the old-style education.

With his knowledge, he wasn’t confident that the new-style education could completely replace the Four Books and Five Classics.

“Take it slowly. I’m not asking you to get it done in one step. Just work in that direction. It would be good if you could accomplish it within three to five years.”

Of course, Wu Changqing knew how crazy his approach was. It was like suddenly announcing in the twenty-first century that the national college entrance examination would be abolished and universities would be canceled.

Such a policy that ruined people’s futures would definitely harm the interests of many and trigger social unrest.

However, Wu Changqing had no choice but to do so. If he didn’t abolish the imperial examination, others wouldn’t see his determination to promote the new-style education. Continuing to retain the imperial examination would also waste the time of countless scholars.

He had repeatedly expounded on the importance of physics and chemistry in the People’s Daily, but only a few hundred people came to apply to the academy each time.

Only by completely cutting off the scholars’ thoughts of taking the imperial examination would they grit their teeth and learn the new-style knowledge.

The more people who learned the new-style knowledge, the greater the probability of producing talent.

Hundreds of thousands of scholars across the country—that was a pool of immense potential. Even if only one in a hundred was talented, that would still be thousands of people.

“If you’re unwilling, I also have a position as a Secretary of the Court of Sacrificial Worship in the Ministry of Rites here. Choose for yourself.”

Seeing that this guy was hesitant to take on the task, Wu Changqing gave him another option.

His meaning was clear: if you want to be a high-ranking official, you have to shoulder some heavy responsibilities and do some difficult work. If you want to be idle, then don’t expect to enter the center of power.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites was a senior third-rank official. One step further would be the Minister of the Ministry of Rites, which was definitely a position of high status and power, in the central government.

But the Secretary of the Ministry of Rites was only a mid-level official of the fifth rank. The Court of Sacrificial Worship was an idle position with no real power. It would be good for retirement, but Qian Qianyi had spent so many days researching and writing books, not to seek a retirement position. He still had ambitions.

If it weren’t for becoming someone above others, why would he need to come out and become an official? His family’s assets were enough for him to retire and marry a top courtesan from the Qinhuai River.

“I choose to meet the challenge, share the General’s worries, and play the remaining role of my old bones.”

Qian Qianyi chose the former without hesitation. He had been stunned earlier, mainly because Wu Changqing’s reform was too shocking.

However, no matter how much resistance there was to this reform, Qian Qianyi would choose the position of Vice Minister. He knew that as long as he succeeded in this matter, then his promotion to Minister of the Ministry of Rites would be a certainty.

To be able to reach the pinnacle of officialdom again in the final years of his life would be enough to be recorded in history and allow him to die without regrets.

How many people, throughout their entire lives, could not reach the position of Minister of the Six Ministries? And he now had the opportunity to touch it a second time.

If he didn’t fight for this position, there would be plenty of people who would.

“It’s commendable that Master Qian still has this ambition. I can rest assured in entrusting this heavy responsibility to you. I hope that Master Qian can focus all his energy on this matter and not get involved in the affairs of the Donglin Party anymore.”

Wu Changqing reminded him. He didn’t like the people under him forming factions.

After forming factions, officials in that group would easily prioritize the interests of the faction over the interests of the imperial court when doing things.

Whether it was the Donglin Party, the Chu Party, or the Qi Party, he would eliminate them one by one.

If there had to be a party, then there could only be one Imperial Party, a party with him as the core in everything.

“This official has long since severed ties with the people of the Donglin Party and is willing to be the General’s solitary subject,” Qian Qianyi declared, which was equivalent to swearing allegiance.

A man in his sixties, old enough to be Wu Changqing’s grandfather, was respectful and deferential in front of Wu Changqing. To become an official, he was really going all out, comparable to Ruan Dacheng.

Chapter 174: Social Change

Qian Qianyi took office and quickly began his work.

He first published an article in the People’s Daily called “Exhortation to Learning.” This exhortation wasn’t encouraging everyone to study the Four Books and Five Classics, but rather to encourage more scholars to study physics, chemistry, geography, and arithmetic.

In his article, he elaborated on the importance and function of these miscellaneous studies, advising scholars not to be prejudiced against them, but to delve into them more.

Qian Qianyi’s reputation was very high. Articles with his name on them were naturally eagerly read.

This was the effect of influence, somewhat like public intellectuals of later generations.

Most ordinary people found it difficult to see clearly some of the complex phenomena in the world, and they also lacked the ability to investigate and research the truth. They could only choose to believe some celebrities who seemed to have a lot of cultural knowledge and insight.

And these public intellectuals could insert their own ideas while popularizing science, promoting their own thoughts, commonly known as “selling goods.”

Qian Qianyi was once a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a public intellectual of this era. Many scholars believed his words without thinking.

And some scholars who did not agree with Qian Qianyi’s views would also be afraid to easily question him because of Qian Qianyi’s reputation.

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites was equivalent to a leader, with very high prestige.

By Xuanwu Lake, a group of scholars around twenty years old were on an outing, accompanied by two or three young women in their teens.

These women were the daughters of several wealthy families in the city. According to etiquette, unmarried women were not allowed to show their faces in public.

However, this kind of rule was like the later generations’ regulations on dressing appropriately in public places. The regulations were like that, but even if someone appeared wearing only underwear, everyone would at most laugh and not take it seriously.

Female Precepts stipulated that unmarried women were not allowed to go out on the streets during non-festivals. But if someone really went out on the street, everyone would at most scold them in their hearts for being shameless and would not interfere.

This kind of limited restraint naturally couldn’t restrain some of the more rebellious young women.

In the past, when scholars went on outings, the topics they discussed were mostly poems, novels, and stories related to literature.

But now, these scholars had one more topic, that was the various current events and government orders in the People’s Daily.

“I wonder if everyone has read the latest issue of the People’s Daily? It has Master Muzhai’s article, ‘Exhortation to Learning.’ I didn’t expect Master Muzhai to also advocate that we learn those strange and miscellaneous studies. Times are changing drastically.”

The one who started the topic was Young Master Li. Reading the People’s Daily had now become his habit.

“I also read it. Alas, I don’t know what Master Muzhai is thinking. Why is he suddenly so supportive of those strange and miscellaneous studies? You know, the Four Books and Five Classics are the right path for the imperial examinations. If you want to exhort learning, you should exhort everyone to learn the Four Books and Five Classics.”

Another Young Master Wang sighed. He obviously couldn’t accept such rapid social changes all at once.

“I think we can forget about the imperial examinations. Who knows when they will be restarted.”

Young Master Xu said with emotion.

“What does Young Master Xu mean by that? Now that the South has been pacified, what reason is there not to hold the imperial examinations? I think the autumn examinations will definitely be held this year,”

Young Master Wang speculated.

Hearing this, Young Master Xu shook his head with a cold smile and asked, “Where will they be held, Shaoxing? In Shaoxing, even the officials’ salaries are almost unable to be paid. Where will they get the money to hold the imperial examinations? As for Nanjing, I think Duke Wu has a prejudice against the imperial examinations and only wants to run the university. He definitely won’t take out money to hold the imperial examinations.”

Obviously, Young Master Xu had more inside information and knew a lot about what was happening in the court.

Because his father was currently an official in Shaoxing, he knew some inside information.

“If the imperial examinations aren’t held, how will the imperial court select officials? Don’t they need to select officials to govern the local areas?”

Young Master Li didn’t believe Young Master Xu’s words. The imperial examinations had continued for thousands of years. It was understandable to suspend them for a year or two because of war, but it was impossible not to hold them at all. This was the main way for the imperial court to obtain talent.

“Young Master Li, don’t you know that people in the university can be directly appointed as officials as long as their grades are good? Now a large number of talented people are coming to Nanjing to seek refuge with Duke Wu. Even Lord Ruan and Lord Qian have come. In addition to selecting some people from the university, Duke Wu doesn’t lack manpower at all. There’s no need to hold the imperial examinations.”

Young Master Xu said with a smile, as if mocking the naivety of the others.

This…

Young Master Xu’s words left everyone speechless, because the current situation seemed to be really like this. But if this continued, then they would be in big trouble. Wouldn’t the Four Books and Five Classics that they had studied hard for so many years be wasted?

“Are you guys stupid? If you want to be an official, just apply to the university,”

The one who spoke was Tong Youwei’s daughter, Tong Xiangyu. She was very disdainful of the entanglement of those scholars.

Her words were a bit harsh to some people, because some of them had indeed gone to the exam, but unfortunately, they didn’t pass. And some people had an ostrich mentality and were unwilling to change.

There were also some people who had faith in the imperial examinations and looked down on the university.

In short, there were various reasons.

They were unwilling to change but wanted to be officials, so they could only pin their hopes on the reopening of the imperial examinations. Naturally, they gnashed their teeth at the fact that people in the university could be directly appointed as officials. That was taking away their future.

“In the university, the orthodox Four Books and Five Classics are not valued at all. It is said that in the classics class, less than one-tenth of the people are there, and the teachers don’t care. But when it comes to physics and chemistry, it’s packed.

This kind of teaching content is simply a blasphemy against orthodoxy. I resolutely will not go to the university. I will just wait for the reopening of the imperial examinations, and then pass the examinations in one fell swoop.”

Young Master Wang looked very angry, and the reason was very simple. He had secretly bought introductory physics and chemistry textbooks, and the knowledge described in them was, in his opinion, heretical and incomprehensible.

Therefore, he resolutely refused to learn this kind of unorthodox knowledge.

“I think those miscellaneous studies are very interesting and much more useful than the Four Books and Five Classics. It is said that those perfumes and glass are all made according to the knowledge in those miscellaneous studies.”

Tong Xiangyu didn’t agree with Young Master Wang’s point of view.

If another scholar had said this, Young Master Wang would probably have retorted. But since it was Tong Xiangyu who was refuting him, he had to hold back and could only sigh in his heart.

He didn’t like this kind of social change.

“Xiangyu is right, let’s go to the university. Anyway, I will definitely not miss the next recruitment assessment, otherwise the old man in my family will beat me.

In my old man’s words, as long as you learn something in the university, you can directly become a sixth-rank or fifth-rank official, which is much better than the imperial examinations,”

Young Master Xu said.

“Young Master Xu, you are being opportunistic and have no integrity at all. When did we scholars have to be reduced to relying on learning those miscellaneous studies to obtain official positions?”

Young Master Wang looked down on him.

Unfortunately, it was difficult for his words to shake Young Master Xu’s determination.

“I really envy you guys who can take the university entrance exam. Unlike us, we can only buy books and secretly study on our own. After reading two chapters, we are still at a loss. The knowledge in these books is too profound.”

Tong Xiangyu said with emotion.

Chapter 175: Family Matters

In early April, a heavily guarded convoy arrived in Nanjing.

Originally, Chen Yuyan had wanted to move the entire family to Nanjing as soon as it was pacified. However, Wu Changqing, considering the bumpy roads and fearing his mother wouldn’t be able to endure it, asked them to wait.

As soon as the first batch of BMW cars were manufactured, Wu Changqing immediately sent two to Suzhou to pick up his family and bring them to Nanjing.

“Miss, we’ve arrived in Nanjing. The city walls here are so high! I wonder how Master and the others managed to conquer such a formidable city.”

Zihe glanced out the car window and was immediately awestruck by the towering city walls of the capital.

Chen Yuyan didn’t reply; she wasn’t in a very good mood right now.

Her father had told her that Wu Changqing had taken a concubine in Nanjing.

Chen Yuyan had been mentally prepared for the matter of taking concubines. She knew that someone as powerful and influential as Wu Changqing couldn’t possibly not take one.

It was a common phenomenon, and she didn’t have any major objections.

However, she hadn’t conceived a child yet, and Wu Changqing had already taken a concubine. What if that seductive woman named Luo Min gave birth to a son first?

Arriving at the Governor-General’s mansion, Wu Changqing had already gone to the university and wasn’t home.

The person responsible for welcoming them was naturally Luo Min. Before Chen Yuyan arrived, she was the mistress of this place.

“Greetings, Old Madam, Madam.”

Luo Min quickly bowed upon seeing Madam Liao and Chen Yuyan.

Concubines in this era had very little status. Even if they were bullied by the legal wife, the master of the house wouldn’t stand up for them.

Chen Yuyan completely ignored her, walking into the mansion on her own.

Madam Liao also ignored her. Before she had conceived Wu Changqing’s child, she had no status in front of the Old Madam.

Having been ignored repeatedly, Luo Min didn’t harbor much resentment.

Being a concubine meant enduring grievances.

Moreover, even enduring such grievances was more comfortable than marrying an ordinary farmer. If she married a commoner, she would drag the whole family down before long.

You see, the wives of ordinary farmers had to work in the fields.

Becoming a concubine in a wealthy family was Luo Min’s best option.

So, even if she had to endure some grievances, she was content.

Once everyone was settled, she would obediently serve tea and lower herself.

Chen Yuyan wasn’t a particularly cruel person after all. Faced with such a submissive person, she couldn’t vent her anger.

After learning about Luo Min’s tragic background of family ruin and death, she softened even more.

When Wu Changqing returned, he didn’t see any disharmonious scenes. Luo Min and Chen Yuyan were chatting and laughing.

This scene was too fake. Wu Changqing knew they were faking it without even thinking, but he didn’t care.

He had too many things to deal with every day, and he couldn’t manage the affairs of the harem. He could only let them fight each other openly and secretly. As long as they didn’t resort to malicious means like poisoning each other, it was fine.

In the evening, Wu Changqing went to Chen Yuyan’s room.

Until Chen Yuyan conceived a child, Luo Min would probably have to sleep alone.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder, a beautiful night with a beautiful view, the maids outside the room blushed.

The next day, a light rain fell.

Wu Changqing took a half-day off specifically to stay home and spend time with his family.

Mainly to spend time with Chen Yuyan. Although Madam Liao and Wu Changqing were blood relatives, they actually had a deep generation gap and basically had no common language or topics to talk about.

In comparison, Madam Liao preferred chatting with other noblewomen of her age, enjoying their flattery and compliments. That feeling was much more interesting than chatting with her son.

Wu Changqing, on the other hand, was playing mahjong with Chen Yuyan, Zihe, and Dong Xiaocui in the room.

After playing a couple of rounds, Wu Changqing complained, “Boring, boring. Winning a hand only gets me three taels of silver. As someone who makes hundreds of thousands of taels with a cup of tea, what use do I have for these three taels of silver?”

People in this era had limited access to information, and even a simple humorous remark could amuse them.

Anyone from later generations who frequently used the internet should find it easy to pick up girls in this era.

“Hundreds of thousands of taels in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Master is truly amazing,” Dong Xiaocui said.

“You’re silly. Master is just joking. How could you earn hundreds of thousands of taels in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea?” Zihe said, expressing her disbelief.

“Without betting silver, there’s no prize, and it’s even less fun. It’s better to play chess,” Chen Yuyan said. This was also a major flaw of mahjong.

This thing was ultimately used for gambling. Without a stake, the satisfaction of winning a hand would be greatly reduced.

With a stake, no matter how small, you would be happier when you won.

“If we don’t bet silver, we can bet something else, like the loser taking off a piece of clothing or something,” Wu Changqing teased.

“Pah!”

The three of them couldn’t stand such vulgar words. It was only because he was their own man; if another man made such a joke, they would jump into the river for the sake of their reputation.

“As a great general, you don’t speak properly,” Chen Yuyan complained.

“Isn’t it because I’m talking to you that I’m so casual? It’s hard for others to see my true self outside,” Wu Changqing said.

In front of outsiders, Wu Changqing always maintained a stern and unsmiling demeanor to maintain his dignity.

But in reality, his nature had some humorous qualities. It would be too tiring to live if he couldn’t reveal his true nature at home.

“Anyway, there are no outsiders here. If Master wants to play, we can only comply,” Dong Xiaocui said. She felt that it was too difficult to become a full wife. If Wu Changqing was in a good mood during the game and took her, wouldn’t she become a phoenix overnight?

“Shameless, I bet you’ll deliberately lose, eager to strip naked in front of Master,” Zihe scolded.

“You’re judging a gentleman’s heart with your own petty mind. Isn’t it all to make Master happy?” Dong Xiaocui defended.

“If you want to play, you play. I won’t play this kind of bet with you,” Chen Yuyan said, getting up and leaving the room. She valued her status and couldn’t bring herself to play such a shameful game.

With three missing one, Wu Changqing asked someone to call Luo Min over.

Having finally come to ancient times, he naturally wouldn’t use twenty-first-century moral standards to restrain himself. That would only be self-defeating.

Like those women with bound feet, he was very clear that this was a bad habit, a mutilation of women. According to twenty-first-century moral standards, he had to order it to be banned.

However, he wasn’t doing so now, because issuing such a ban would encounter extremely terrible resistance, just like Dorgon’s order for men to shave their heads.

Historically, the Manchus not only issued a shaving order but also issued a decree banning foot binding. Unfortunately, some wealthy daughters simply refused to comply.

In the end, even the Manchus lost their temper and could only acquiesce to this custom. Later, even Manchu women followed suit and bound their feet, regarding it as fashionable.

Wu Changqing didn’t dare to issue a decree banning foot binding now. At least he had to completely unify the world and have truly unquestionable authority before he dared to try issuing this ban.

Chapter 176: Ambush Encounter

Caojiawan, Guangde, was a hilly area with no official roads, only small paths, which greatly affected the Wu army’s speed of advance.

The Hongyi cannons in the Wu army found it particularly difficult to move in such terrain.

That day, it started to drizzle in Guangde, turning the original narrow paths into muddy quagmires, making travel even more difficult.

Those cannons weighing two to three thousand catties were stuck in the mud, and neither horses nor donkeys could pull them. Soldiers had to push from behind. Not only were the horses foaming at the mouth from exhaustion, but the soldiers were also half-dead.

“Damn it, I knew I shouldn’t have brought these broken cannons.”

Liu Hansan cursed. Before setting out, he hadn’t expected the terrain to be so difficult, nor had he anticipated the rain.

The original siege weapons had now become a burden.

After a day, the army hadn’t even traveled five kilometers, a snail’s pace. At this rate, by the time they reached Guangde, their food supplies would be dwindling, and logistics would become a major problem again.

Moreover, because of the slow speed, they hadn’t reached the planned destination of Taozhou Town, leaving them with no place to settle down. They could only camp in the mountains.

The soldiers, soaked by the rain, didn’t even have ginger soup to warm themselves. Many with weaker constitutions were already showing signs of catching a cold. In this era, there were no effective medicines for colds, so they could only rely on their bodies to fight it off.

The next day, Liu Hansan ordered the army to continue advancing.

If conditions were harsh, they could only rely on their perseverance to overcome them. Liu Hansan had no better solution.

Compared to the armies of other factions, the soldiers in their army were relatively fortunate, only having to endure a little rain. Some armies that had suffered defeats had no medicine to treat soldiers, whether they were rained on or injured, and could only watch them die.

The Wu army, because it frequently won battles, had never experienced such a tragedy.

“General, I think we should let the army rest for a while and wait for the scouts to return before advancing. This terrain is prone to ambushes.”

When the army reached Nanshanwan, Tao Dongcheng, upon learning that the scouts hadn’t returned on time, quickly came to Liu Hansan to offer his advice.

The area was densely wooded on both sides, suitable for hiding. Moreover, it wasn’t a plain, lacking the wide-open terrain needed to deploy their formations. If they were ambushed, the problem would be severe.

What’s more, because of the rain, the musket troops were essentially useless; they couldn’t fire their guns in the rain.

“Perhaps the roads are just difficult, delaying their return. Fang Guoan has become a frightened bird; he wouldn’t dare to ambush us. If we don’t speed up, we won’t be able to reach Taoshan Town before nightfall.”

Liu Hansan was somewhat dismissive. Continuous victories had made him a bit arrogant.

Little did he know that ahead of the Wu army, a force of nearly ten thousand soldiers, Fang Guoan’s troops, had already been lying in ambush.

Fang Guoan had indeed become a frightened bird, unable to sleep soundly after his defeat.

However, even as a frightened bird, he was still a startled raptor with some ability to fight back.

Fang Guoan felt that in the face of the Wu army’s firearms and cannons, Guangde County could not be defended.

Rather than holding Guangde, it would be better to set up an ambush in this mountainous area and take a gamble.

Heaven also helped him by sending rain these past two days, reducing the combat power of the Wu army’s musket troops and grenadiers by fifty percent.

Coupled with the terrain, which made it difficult for the Wu army to deploy its formations, and the element of surprise, Fang Guoan felt that his chances of winning were at least seventy percent, a probability worth risking.

Therefore, he had been waiting here with his men, preparing for a desperate fight.

If he won, he could still defend Guangde and Huzhou. If he lost, he would have to flee back to Shaoxing in disgrace.

“General, the enemy has entered our trap. Should we attack?”

“Wait a little longer. Let their supplies enter the trap before we move.”

Fang Guoan said. Simply driving back the Wu army would be of little significance. The Wu army could recover its strength after a period of rest.

What he wanted were the Wu army’s supplies, to seize as many of their cannons and guns as possible, so as to prevent the Wu army from advancing eastward.

He knew that the Wu army’s production of flintlock rifles and cannons was also slow. Seizing this batch of supplies would hurt the Wu army’s vitality.

He could use this time to recover his strength while also deciphering the secrets of flintlock rifles and grenades.

They had been researching these two items and had made some progress. If they could seize some guns and grenades as samples for analysis, their research progress would be greatly accelerated.

After waiting patiently for a while, the Wu army’s cannon transport unit also entered their ambush circle.

Then, Fang Guoan ordered a full-scale attack.

Instantly, the mountains and forests erupted in shouts of battle. From the dense woods and behind the slopes, a large number of Ming soldiers emerged, waving broadswords and spears as they charged toward the Wu army’s ranks.

“Damn it, there really is an ambush.”

Liu Hansan was furious, feeling utterly disrespected.

“Stay calm, don’t panic! Form ranks by platoons, gather together!”

Tao Dongcheng shouted loudly. Although they had more men, the soldiers would inevitably panic when ambushed, making the outcome uncertain. If the soldiers panicked and ran, the entire army could easily fall into chaos.

The Wu army officers quickly issued various orders. At this moment, the confidence they had built up through long-term victories came into play.

If it were an army that frequently suffered defeats, both soldiers and generals would panic when ambushed, wanting to escape and save their lives, leading to a rout.

However, the Wu army had been winning battles all along. Both soldiers and generals had strong confidence in their side.

Even if they were ambushed, they could still calmly counterattack.

Once they weathered the initial panic of the ambush, there wouldn’t be too much of a disadvantage.

As orders were issued, the Wu army soldiers acted accordingly.

The flintlock rifle soldiers were the calmest. Even though it was raining, their guns could still fire, as long as they were careful not to get the cartridges wet.

Of course, the rate of fire would definitely be greatly reduced, but there was no other way.

The archers were also fine. They could shoot arrows in the rain, although this would cause the bows to become damp, affecting their lifespan. However, compared to human lives, the lifespan of the bows was naturally unimportant.

In any case, the Wu army’s archer officers ordered their soldiers to draw their bows and shoot arrows, regardless of the bows’ wear and tear.

But the matchlock muskets were completely useless. Their guns couldn’t be used in the rain, so no soldiers loaded them. Instead, they fixed bayonets and prepared for melee combat.

Even worse were the grenadiers. Their grenades at this time still used an exposed ignition method, which was also useless in the rain. And to carry more grenades, the grenadiers often didn’t equip themselves with other weapons.

Now that the grenades were useless, they could only stare blankly, shrinking behind other troops.

“Pia.”

With the sound of gunfire, the battle officially began, and the Ming army suffered the first casualties.

This made the Ming army’s generals and soldiers very depressed. They were clearly the ambushers, but after the battle began, they were the first to suffer casualties. This ambush was truly frustrating.

Chapter 177: Close Quarters Combat

“Charge! Charge! Their guns will be useless!”

The Ming army general shouted, forcing his soldiers forward.

Soon, they were upon the Ming troops. The dense forest wasn’t far from the path, and some even charged down the hillside beside the path, making them even faster.

The Wu army’s flintlock troops barely managed to fire two volleys before the battle devolved into a melee.

The matchlock troops fared even worse. The Ming army reached them without losing a single soldier.

The cold weapon units also clashed, and the entire mountain gully was filled with the sounds of fighting, shouting, and killing.

After all, this was a carefully planned ambush. The Ming army achieved the element of surprise, fulfilling their desire for close-quarters combat without paying too heavy a price.

At this point, the battle depended solely on the soldiers’ organization and courage. The high-ranking generals lost control of the troops as soon as the two armies made contact.

In this complex, narrow, and elongated mountain gully, it was very difficult to issue specific orders to lower-level units.

After the two sides engaged, their respective generals began to observe the overall battle situation through telescopes.

Nearly thirty thousand people were crammed into this mountain gully, with a battle line stretching for several kilometers.

Fang Guoan had also managed to acquire a telescope. No matter how strictly the Wu army guarded against it, they couldn’t completely prevent leaks. Under the lure of huge profits, some people would always succumb to temptation.

Fortunately, telescopes were extremely scarce resources in both the Ming and Qing armies. Only generals commanding ten thousand or more troops were equipped with one. Other generals couldn’t get one at all.

In the Wu army, however, telescopes had become commonplace. Even battalion commanders leading three hundred men had one each. If they weren’t worried about strengthening the enemy and increasing their strength, the Wu army would have liked to sell some telescopes to their opponents at a high price to earn some military expenses.

Through the telescope, Fang Guoan clearly saw most of the battle situation.

However, at this moment, he actually wished he hadn’t seen it. Out of sight, out of mind. If he hadn’t seen it, he probably wouldn’t be so angry.

There was no great victory in the entire battle situation as he had expected.

At the forefront of the battle line, both sides were using cold weapons. Neither side had any formation, and they fought evenly based on courage.

This kind of melee put a lot of pressure on both sides’ soldiers. Neither side dared to be too aggressive. They were divided into two groups facing each other, and then stabbed each other from time to time.

Overall, although the fighting was still fierce, both sides could still control their teams and did not completely fall into a chaotic battle.

Behind the Wu army’s cold weapon units were the matchlock gun troops. Although they couldn’t fire their guns, they were actually suppressing the Ming army. This situation puzzled Fang Guoan.

The reason was actually very simple, that is, the degree of organization and discipline of the two sides were completely different.

The matchlock gun regiments were organized into companies and platoons. Every time they drew their blades, they were uniform, advancing and retreating on command. If the officer didn’t order a retreat, they wouldn’t dare to retreat even if the enemy’s swords were hacking at them.

This was the result of long-term training, in order to ensure that the army would not be chaotic when firing in volleys.

This was very cruel and inhumane for individual soldiers, but in battle, this tactic was very effective for the entire unit.

A uniform attack could overwhelm the enemy in terms of momentum. Moreover, in a uniform attack, the number of bayonets per unit area far exceeded the number of enemy weapons.

This was very important, because this was a battle of tens of thousands of people, and there was not much space for individual soldiers to show off any skills.

Their fighting style was very primitive: I stab you, you stab me. Being able to cooperate with shields and broadswords was already considered a very disciplined battle.

As for dodging flexibly, don’t even think about it. There were people in front, behind, left, and right, and there was no room for maneuver at all.

After two rounds of fighting, the Ming army lost about five hundred people, and suddenly those soldiers couldn’t stand the pressure.

The Wu army also suffered a lot of casualties. At least four hundred people had fallen. This kind of casualty was also very large for them. However, they didn’t panic too much, just a little more tragic on their faces.

They all knew very well that fighting on command was very likely to lead to death, but running away without orders would definitely be killed by the supervising team.

Behind them, there was even a reserve force composed of flintlocks, not pointing their guns at the Ming army, but at them. Anyone who tried to escape would be shot dead immediately.

Few contemporary generals can fully understand the reason for the Wu army’s strength. At most, they can only see the superficial phenomenon, that is, the Wu army’s equipment is advanced.

But in fact, the Wu army’s organization is far superior to any troops of the same period.

It can be said that even if the current Wu army abandons the advantage of equipment and fights a battle with the same number of Ming or Qing troops using cold weapons, they will definitely not lose. It’s just that the losses will be greater than using guns.

Giving those flintlocks to the Ming army and letting them form a hollow square would definitely not be able to resist the Manchu cavalry’s charge. Because the discipline of their soldiers can’t meet that requirement, they will definitely be in chaos when facing the cavalry’s charge.

Fang Guoan didn’t know these situations, so when he saw his own troops retreating steadily, he couldn’t understand the reason at all, and could only attribute it to his subordinates not trying their best, being timid and afraid of death.

On the other side, the Ming army that encountered the flintlocks was even worse.

They suffered two rounds of volleys before the melee, suffering heavy casualties.

And after the melee, they found that the Wu army’s melee was also unbelievably strong. Those people stabbed as if they were not afraid of death at all, exchanging lives for lives.

This kind of fighting brought great pressure to the Ming soldiers, and some people had already retreated involuntarily.

They would never think that their escape would lead to their own failure. They only knew that if they didn’t run now, it would be their turn to stab each other, and their lives would be lost here.

Even if they could pull a Wu soldier as a back cushion before they died, what would be the point? Don’t say that the imperial court would not issue pensions to the dead soldiers, even if they were issued to their own wives, their wives would still remarry and be slept with by others.

If you meet a bad person, the little pension that your wife brings will also be cheaper for others.

After all, it is most important to survive.

It is not easy to make individual interests and collective interests consistent.

The Wu army promised the soldiers land distribution after the war, and the families of the soldiers who died in battle would be supported, but the interests of the soldiers and the collective were not completely consistent.

After all, life is more important than land. Only a small number of soldiers will have the idea of self-sacrifice in special circumstances.

For example, the soldier who lit the signal to report the news knew that he could not survive and wanted to repay his gratitude before making a collective sacrifice.

The heavy casualties led to the rapid collapse of the Ming army.

After someone took the lead in running away, the Ming army generals couldn’t stop shouting. Because it was a surprise attack, they didn’t expect to get into a fight and didn’t prepare a supervising team.

First, the Ming army in the middle began to collapse and retreat, and then the Ming army in other places was also affected, and the entire front line began to collapse.

If the Wu army didn’t want to protect the supplies and didn’t want to pursue rashly in the chaos, the Ming army would have to experience another defeat.

Chapter 178: Kill Ratio

“Despicable! Outrageous! Who told them to retreat? They should all be executed!”

Fang Guoan, in a fit of pique, had begun to rant nonsensically. The entire army was retreating, and if he truly started executing people, he would likely be the first to die.

“General, let’s retreat back to Guangde and reconsider our strategy,”

His subordinate advised. Although the Wu army wasn’t pursuing, a defeat was still a defeat, and defeat bred fear.

Fang Guoan desperately wanted to launch into another tirade, asking the fellow who suggested “reconsidering our strategy” exactly how they planned to do that.

They failed to seize such a golden opportunity for an ambush. Did he think they could hold Guangde County if they retreated to the city to “reconsider”?

This battle was unwinnable.

Fang Guoan felt utterly drained. He hadn’t felt this helpless even when facing the Qing army. Although the Qing were strong, he could at least clearly see the disparity between their forces.

But the Wu army’s strength was something he couldn’t comprehend, leaving him unable to find a way to counter it.

“Try to gather the troops as much as possible. Let’s retreat back to Guangde first,”

Fang Guoan sighed.

As the Ming army retreated, Liu Hansan breathed a sigh of relief.

Although they had held the upper hand from the start, Liu Hansan was still unwilling to fight such a brutal melee, the losses were too great.

If it were a clear day, on open ground, in a head-on confrontation, he could achieve a kill ratio of ten to one. But in the recent melee, their kill ratio was at best two to one, maybe three to one.

Everyone was made of flesh and blood; a stab wound was rarely survivable.

With the Ming army gone, the Wu army began to clear the battlefield.

The bodies of the dead needed to be buried; it was a commander’s basic humanity.

If the corpses weren’t buried, there was a high risk of plague. Once a plague broke out, the number of civilians who would die was up to fate. At the very least, a few villages would be wiped out; at worst, several surrounding towns would be decimated.

Generally, when an enemy army was clearing the battlefield and burying the dead, even if there was an opportunity for a surprise attack, everyone would forgo it out of a sense of honor.

It was an unwritten rule on the battlefield, like not killing envoys in wartime. Although some might occasionally violate it, most of the time, everyone would abide by it.

After clearing the battlefield, Liu Hansan received the casualty report.

In this battle, they had lost a total of one thousand seven hundred men, with over one thousand three hundred killed in action and nearly four hundred seriously wounded. Lightly wounded were not counted.

With a total force of less than twenty thousand, this was nearly a ten percent loss, truly a bitter and fierce fight.

Besides the loss of nearly two thousand soldiers, they had also damaged a large number of firearms.

Although those firearms could be used in melee combat, their durability was certainly no match for broadswords. Even broadswords could become nicked after cutting down too many people, and these bayonet-equipped rifles were prone to damage to the barrel and other components during stabbing.

Even a slight deformation of the barrel rendered it unusable, or it would explode.

And the batch of bows and arrows that had been forcibly used in the rain were now all damp after the battle, and would likely be useless before long.

In the chaos of battle, some supplies were also damaged, such as gunpowder and fuses.

Although the gunpowder was wrapped in leather, it was damaged by the Ming army in the melee, resulting in a large amount of gunpowder being soaked and ruined.

“What about the enemy’s losses?”

Liu Hansan asked through gritted teeth. The losses this time were significant. When the battle report reached Wu Changqing, he might not receive any substantial punishment, but it would certainly leave Wu Changqing with the impression of incompetence, affecting his future career prospects.

“The enemy left behind more than two thousand seven hundred bodies, plus over four hundred wounded. Adding in the soldiers who went missing during the retreat, we estimate the enemy’s total losses to be around five thousand.”

The man in charge of statistics was also a clever fellow, exaggerating the enemy’s losses as much as possible to cover up their failure to fall into the ambush.

Achieving a two-to-one kill ratio even after falling into an ambush was already a remarkable feat.

Hearing about the enemy’s losses, Liu Hansan finally breathed a sigh of relief. This kill ratio was acceptable and could somewhat compensate for the mistake of being ambushed.

“Move forward at full speed, we must reach Taozhou Town before nightfall. Pass down the order that the men will rest for two days upon arrival in Taozhou.”

Liu Hansan said.

He dared not spend the night here, lest the troops contract the plague. Moreover, many lightly wounded soldiers and those with colds and fevers needed to seek treatment in town.

These minor illnesses, if not treated promptly, could easily worsen into incurable conditions.

With the order given, the soldiers gritted their teeth and increased their marching speed. After all, they were unwilling to spend the night in this wilderness.

Increasing their marching speed, they finally reached Taozhou Town before nightfall.

Immediately afterward, the people of Taozhou Town suffered. These cold and hungry soldiers would no longer obey the order not to disturb the civilians.

Murder, arson, looting, and raping women were things that would get them beheaded, so they dared not do them. But forcing villagers to boil water for bathing, demanding a bowl or two of ginger soup, eating one or two of the villagers’ chickens and ducks, and occupying beds and bedding were things that Liu Hansan did not prohibit.

In his view, Wu Changqing was too fond of the people; the soldiers were the foundation. If the soldiers under his command were not well taken care of, they would not risk their lives. What good was the love of the people alone?

This was the first time the Wu army had disturbed the people, but the people here were not too angry. Because, compared to other armies, this level of disturbance was already considered good and restrained.

Just providing some services and food, without robbing them of their money or raping their wives and daughters, was acceptable to the people.

People’s needs are closely related to the current social state.

Ordinary people in later generations would demand dignity, privacy, inviolability of property, and other rights, but the people of this era were satisfied as long as they could live with a little dignity.

Having their bed occupied by soldiers for a few days was a small matter, a small matter, just a small matter.

The Wu army rested in Taozhou Town, while Fang Guoan fled back to Guangde to lick his wounds.

The number of soldiers they lost and deserted was not as many as the Wu army estimated, but it wasn’t far off. In this ambush, they lost a total of four thousand five hundred men.

Now, there were only eight thousand soldiers left in Guangde City, of which only five thousand were veterans, and the other two thousand were vulnerable, ragtag troops.

In the past, relying on these forces, and then conscripting some young men to defend the city, they could hold out for a long time.

But now, the Wu army had cannons and firearms. The traditional methods of defending the city were completely outdated. With the bombardment of cannons, those young men would wet their pants and couldn’t be relied on at all.

Even the two thousand ragtag troops were unreliable; they would easily collapse at the slightest disadvantage.

How could they hold the city with just those five thousand men?

Fang Guoan sighed inwardly, his whole being plunged into confusion. Confused about the current situation, and also feeling confused about the future.

Chapter 179: Imperial Decree for Mediation

After two days of rest, the weather had cleared, and the Wu army gathered beneath Guangde city.

Taking Guangde didn’t require much effort, as Fang Guoan had already retreated with his main force towards Huzhou. The remaining rabble put up a token resistance before surrendering en masse.

Fang Guoan wasn’t foolish enough to engage in a costly battle of attrition with the Wu army in this small county town; he couldn’t afford it.

If he was going to fight, it had to be in Huzhou, where the city walls were taller and more fortified, and where there were some elite troops stationed. Defending Huzhou wouldn’t suffer from a lack of manpower.

Fang Guoan’s flight without a fight frustrated Liu Hansan. He had hoped to gradually wear down Fang Guoan’s forces here, but Fang Guoan hadn’t given him the chance.

As a result, his difficulty in attacking Huzhou would increase, because the enemy had gathered nearly twenty thousand veterans in Huzhou, plus some temporarily conscripted militia. The defenders might number as many as thirty thousand.

Liu Hansan’s current force totaled only eighteen thousand. The attacking soldiers were fewer than the defenders, which was a significant problem.

However, even with fewer troops, he still intended to march on Huzhou.

Fighting with fewer troops was a Wu army tradition. No one considered it a major disadvantage; they were that confident.

Compared to the troop shortage, logistics was their bigger problem.

Their food supplies were running low, and they needed to wait for supplies to be shipped from Xuancheng, as well as purchase them locally.

Thankfully, this was the Jiangnan region, a grain-producing area, and food was relatively plentiful and easy to buy, as long as you had money. In the north or other mountainous areas, money couldn’t buy you food.

The outcome of war often depends on logistics. In places where transportation is underdeveloped, the number of people responsible for transporting food is often greater than the number of soldiers fighting.

Like Zhuge Liang’s six expeditions to Mount Qi, almost every failure was due to food problems. If he had enough food, he would have reached Chang’an and Luoyang long ago.

Soldiers with nothing to eat, no matter how strong their fighting power, are useless.

To gather supplies, Liu Hansan stayed in Guangde for several more days before gathering enough food for half a month and receiving a batch of gunpowder.

Then, the Wu army set off for Huzhou. This stretch of road still had no official road, only various small paths.

This was another difficult march, and because they had been ambushed before, they were more cautious this time, so their speed couldn’t increase.

They took five days to travel the short distance of fifty kilometers to Huzhou.

Before they could begin the siege, an envoy from the Southern Ming court arrived at the Wu army camp.

When the Prince Lu court learned that the Wu army and Fang Guoan were fighting, the entire court was shaken.

This was simply ignoring the court and plotting rebellion!

If this had happened during a peaceful and unified dynasty, this would have been a treasonous crime punishable by execution of the nine generations of the family.

But now, the Prince Lu court could only swallow their anger.

They wanted to punish Liu Hansan and Wu Changqing, but without the strength to crush the Wu army, convicting the Wu army would be a joke. The Wu army would definitely ignore them.

If they issued a conviction but couldn’t enforce it, it would only show more people the weakness and incompetence of their court, and it would also mean breaking ties with Wu Changqing.

So, even if they hated Wu Changqing and Liu Hansan to death, they couldn’t break ties. Instead, they had to promote and reward Liu Hansan to appease him and make him stop.

This was basically the standard operating procedure when the court was weak. Just like when Zuo Liangyu led a large army east, claiming to purge the court of corrupt officials, the Hongguang court, even though they wished they could grind Zuo Liangyu’s bones to ash, still gave Zuo Liangyu a promotion on the surface, and then used an imperial decree to tell Zuo Liangyu, “We’re fine here, there’s no problem, no need to purge the court. Go back where you came from.”

The tone used was almost like begging.

Now, the Prince Lu court was doing the same.

They issued an imperial decree to Liu Hansan, granting him the title of Senior Light Chariot Commandant, and then asked him to cease military operations and not attack Huzhou anymore. As for Guangde, Xuancheng, and other places, the court tacitly agreed to let him occupy them.

Only in this period could there be such a humble court.

“General Liu, the court is aware of the misunderstanding between you and Duke Fang. His Majesty has already reprimanded Duke Fang. Now that all of Li Chengdong’s former subordinates have surrendered to you, let’s end this matter here.”

The envoy, Wang Lifu, used a persuasive tone, not even saying that the court ordered him to withdraw his troops. Being forceful with these soldiers was useless; he could only persuade them nicely.

Liu Hansan’s expression was not good. With the imperial decree issued, he was in a difficult position.

After all, Wu Changqing had not officially rebelled yet, and he couldn’t ignore the imperial decree.

He had originally wanted to seize Huzhou before the court reacted, creating a fait accompli so he could stay there.

Who knew that he would encounter so many twists and turns on the road, delaying him too much?

And the Prince Lu court’s reaction was very quick, issuing an imperial decree for mediation in a timely manner.

“Humph, misunderstanding? Fang Guoan ambushed us on the road a few days ago, wanting to kill us. Unless the court strips him of his dukedom, we will destroy him.”

Liu Hansan’s subordinates shouted. They had worked so hard to come to Huzhou, and if they withdrew their troops because of an imperial decree, wouldn’t that be a wasted trip?

“Isn’t this because of a misunderstanding between the two sides? Now Duke Fang has entrusted me to bring a message, he has no intention of starting a war with you, and is even willing to compensate you for some losses.”

Wang Lifu said helplessly. Facing such a group of rascals, he couldn’t expose them.

It was clearly the Wu army that made the first move, but now they were acting like they had suffered a loss. This kind of face made Wang Lifu feel disgusted, but he couldn’t show it.

“Compensate us with what?”

Liu Hansan asked.

He had already planned to withdraw his troops, and now that he heard there were benefits to be had, he naturally wouldn’t refuse.

“Food, silver, beauties, everything is negotiable. Currently, everyone is serving the same court, and we should focus on resisting the Qing, and not hurt the harmony.”

Seeing Liu Hansan soften his tone, Wang Lifu felt much more at ease.

Although he didn’t know what to do about the relationship between the two sides in the future, it was good as long as they didn’t fight now. As for the future, they could talk about it later.

Now, both Southern Ming courts had a “live for today” mentality. They wanted to revive their former glory, but they didn’t have the strength to do so, and could only watch the situation continue to deteriorate.

“In that case, we will first draft a list, and then ask Envoy Wang to forward it.”

Liu Hansan said. In any case, Wu Changqing had told them to act according to the circumstances. Even if they didn’t take Huzhou, it didn’t matter. Being able to extort a sum from Fang Guoan was a good deal.

If Fang Guoan didn’t agree, then it would be even better. They could directly use this as an excuse to put the responsibility for refusing to negotiate on Fang Guoan, and then start the war.

Chapter 180: Advancing Westward Along the Yangtze

After they listed the compensation they demanded, Wang Lifu wanted to curse Fang Guoan on his behalf. These conditions were simply impossible to agree to.

Leaving aside everything else, they were demanding one million jin of grain alone, which would be enough for Fang Guoan and his men to eat for several months.

In addition to the grain, they also demanded five hundred thousand taels of military pay, which Fang Guoan couldn’t produce even if he sold his wife and concubines.

Liu Hansan and the others asked for the sky, and Fang Guoan bargained on the ground after receiving the list. After several rounds of haggling, they finally settled on five hundred thousand jin of grain, ten thousand taels of silver, and more than twenty beautiful women.

These were all plundered by Fang Guoan in Huzhou. It was obviously impossible for him to pay out of his own pocket.

Having obtained the benefits, the Wu army happily withdrew. The grain was of course used as military rations, and the ten thousand taels of silver, though not much, could be used to improve the army’s living conditions. The Wu army’s generals dared not embezzle these things, fearing that Wu Changqing would find out and punish them.

As for the twenty-odd beautiful women, apart from the two most beautiful ones who were selected and sent to Nanjing, the rest were taken by the senior generals.

Afterwards, the Wu army retreated to Guangde, leaving a small force to garrison the area, while the main force returned to Tongling to prepare for the next military operation.

Compared to other mountainous areas, Wu Changqing preferred the plains on both sides of the Yangtze River.

These places were flat, with a large amount of fertile land, and were very wealthy. Moreover, relying on the Yangtze River, water transportation was developed, which also facilitated the Wu army’s troop deployment and logistical support.

Therefore, their next task was to advance westward along the Yangtze River, with the targets being Chizhou, Jiujiang, Nanchang, and other places.

On April 10th, a fleet arrived in Tongling, carrying a large number of soldiers and various military supplies.

The Jiujiang side was Lekedehun’s main force, with about sixty thousand Eight Banners soldiers and about eighty thousand Green Standard Army soldiers, for a total force of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand troops.

This number was quite terrifying. In order to annihilate the last Qing force south of the Yangtze River, Wu Changqing transferred thirty thousand main force troops to Tongling.

Together with the original fifty thousand troops in Tongling, the total force reached eighty thousand, enough to compete with the Qing army.

Although the number of eighty thousand troops was far less than that of the Qing army, their weapons and equipment were advanced.

Among the eighty thousand troops, the number of flintlock gun troops alone reached fifteen thousand. This was thanks to the expansion of the Nanjing Arsenal. Now the manufacturing speed of flintlock guns was getting faster and faster.

The combined output of Nanjing and Suzhou was nearly seven thousand pieces per month. If they were given another year, they could build a flintlock gun force of one hundred thousand people. At that time, they would be truly invincible, and no opponent could be found anywhere in the world.

In addition to the fifteen thousand flintlock gun troops, there were also fifteen thousand matchlock gun troops.

There were also five thousand archers, five thousand grenadiers, and sixty artillery pieces.

Excluding the ten thousand navy and cavalry units, there were only more than twenty thousand infantry using cold weapons, and the proportion of cold weapon units was constantly decreasing.

This joint force was nominally commanded by Li Shaobin, and the specific combat plan was formulated by the staff department.

The staff department brought together several high-level military experts, such as Dai Zhijun, Tao Dongcheng, An Fugui, and Xiong Rulin.

After studying at the military academy for a period of time, Xiong Rulin also passed the assessment and expressed his willingness to be loyal to Wu Changqing. Therefore, he was also placed in the core position of the army and became one of the decision-makers.

As for Qian Sule, he was still in the midst of inner struggle, only constantly studying in the military academy, without making any job requirements to Wu Changqing.

The news that Tongling had gathered heavy troops quickly spread to Chizhou, and then to Lekedehun in Wuchang, causing him to become nervous.

There was only one reason for Tongling to gather heavy troops, and that was that the other side was going to attack him. It was definitely not to attack the Huangshan mountainous areas, nor was it to prepare to attack Jiangbei.

Although Lekedehun had never directly fought against the Wu army before, he had to be wary because of the Wu army’s terrifying record.

Lekedehun believed that he and Bolo were both of similar caliber. Bolo had been defeated miserably by the Wu army, and even lost his life. It would be difficult for him to do better.

Although they now had a good understanding of the Wu army, understanding alone was not enough. They had to have corresponding weapons and equipment to deal with them in order to fight.

Unfortunately, they did not have this kind of equipment yet.

It was said that the northern arsenals had cracked those new weapons and had successfully copied grenades, and flintlock guns were almost figured out.

However, even if those equipment were manufactured, they would be given priority to the main force in the north.

And his force could only use those traditional weapons for the time being.

How should they resist their firepower suppression?

Lekedehun felt like he wanted to withdraw all the troops back to the north, preserve his strength first, and then come to fight the Wu army after equipping new weapons.

However, he was reluctant to part with the large and rich area around Jiujiang and Nanchang. These were all snatched from He Tengjiao. It was too painful to give up the fat meat that had reached his mouth.

Moreover, the imperial court had not ordered him to retreat. The Qing court also wanted to retain a piece of land south of the Yangtze River, so that they would not have to face the natural barrier of the Yangtze River when going south in the future.

If Jiujiang and other places were lost, the Qing would really have to consider the plan of ruling by dividing the river. Because facing the powerful Wu army, the difficulty of crossing the Yangtze River would be too great.

“General, we must take precautions as soon as possible and send heavy troops to Jiujiang to guard this bridgehead.”

Lekedehun’s subordinate Azali said. Currently, their main force was concentrated in the Wuchang-Yueyang area, chasing He Tengjiao.

But after learning that the Wu army had gathered troops, some immediately hoped to transfer heavy troops to Jiujiang to guard it.

As for He Tengjiao here, they were not worried.

After fighting for several months, they had already understood He Tengjiao’s abilities, and he was just a mediocre person. Transferring the main force to Jiujiang, they might not have the ability to attack He Tengjiao anymore, but defense was still no problem.

“I’m afraid that even if we transfer heavy troops there, we won’t be able to hold it. It will be difficult to retreat at that time. I think it’s better to give the territory of Jiujiang to the Wu army, and we’ll just guard the north.”

Some generals were already afraid of fighting the Wu army and wanted to retreat.

Relying on the decisive battle with Bolo in Nanjing, Wu Changqing’s name had resounded throughout China. Even Prince Gui Zhu Youlang in Yunnan knew that Wu Changqing was very capable.

The Qing army knew more about Wu Changqing’s Wu army and dared not underestimate them.

“What are you talking about? How can we give Jiujiang and other places to the enemy without even fighting? Who can bear the responsibility if the imperial court punishes us? Moreover, even if the Wu army is strong, they are not invincible. As long as we take precautions in advance and build good fortifications, we may not be able to hold it. You must know that our troops are tens of thousands more than the enemy.”

Azali was a staunch pro-war faction, and the name of the Wu army did not scare him.

“It’s definitely not okay to flee without a fight. Everyone, think about specific combat strategies.”

Lekedehun set the tone, they must fight.

As for how to fight specifically, everyone had to come up with ideas together.

Chapter 181: Reactions from All Sides

The crowd discussed heatedly, finally settling on a strategy focused on naval warfare.

On land, their disadvantage was too great. So they pinned their hopes on defeating the Wu army on the water. If they could defeat the Wu army’s navy, seizing or destroying their ships, the Wu army would be left staring helplessly at Jiujiang.

Jiujiang and the eastern Hukou County are separated by the exit of Poyang Lake, with a water surface as wide as two and a half kilometers. Without ships, it would be impossible to cross.

Bypassing Poyang Lake to attack Nanchang from the south was also impossible. The detour would place a heavy logistical burden and risk on the Wu army. The combat power of the logistics troops couldn’t compare with the main force. The Qing army could send ships to attack the Wu army’s supply lines at any time.

If the supply lines were cut off, the Wu army might collapse due to lack of food. At that time, the Qing army could really laugh.

In short, fighting along the Yangtze River, in areas with dense waterways, was impossible without ships. If the navy was defeated, the Wu army would have to retreat.

It was precisely because they considered this weakness of the Wu army that many Qing generals placed their hopes on the navy.

However, the Qing dynasty’s navy wasn’t very strong either. Its main force was almost entirely composed of Green Standard Army soldiers. Most of the Eight Banners soldiers were landlubbers.

To strengthen their naval power, Lekedehun had already ordered the seizure and requisition of ships on the river.

At the same time, the army moved south with the fleet, stationed in Jiujiang, a major military town and water transportation hub.

The Qing army’s movements were so large that they couldn’t be hidden from He Tengjiao in Hunan. He had placed many spies in Wuhan, Wuchang.

“The Qing army is building ships, and the main force is going south along Jiangnan, suspected of returning to Jiujiang. What’s going on?”

He Tengjiao asked.

“Could it be that Wu Changqing has begun to attack him?”

Yan Qihuan said.

Actually, this wasn’t difficult to guess. Wu Changqing, who had already occupied Nanjing, would either advance westward to occupy Anhui and Jiangxi, or cross the Yangtze River northward, all the way to Beijing.

Compared to crossing the Yangtze River northward, first pacifying the south and eliminating threats from the rear was obviously more stable and in line with the art of war.

Therefore, Wu Changqing attacking Lekedehun was inevitable, only a matter of time.

Now, Lekedehun was sending heavy troops to Jiujiang as if facing a formidable enemy, obviously to guard against Wu Changqing. Besides Wu Changqing, there was no one else worthy of such caution.

“Hahaha, that’s what he deserves. It’s his turn to have a headache now.”

Zhou Daqi laughed loudly. In the previous months, they had been chased and beaten by Lekedehun all the way, suffering heavy losses. They had been as frustrated as could be.

Now, it was finally the Qing army’s turn to have their backyard on fire, and they could gloat on the sidelines.

With Wu Changqing containing Lekedehun, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief and take the time to reorganize their army.

Previously, they had received Li Zicheng’s remaining troops in one go, and the number of soldiers had increased sharply, but their combat power had not improved. Many of Li Zicheng’s troops were emaciated refugees who had never received any military training, and most of their physical conditions did not meet the requirements.

These people had to be eliminated. Keeping them was useless and would waste military rations.

“I heard that the Wu army has a new type of musket that fires extremely fast and has amazing power. Relying on this weapon, they defeated one hundred and twenty thousand of the Qing main force with sixty thousand troops in Danyang, South Zhili. Tsk, tsk, tsk, it’s really terrifying.”

He Tengjiao sighed. If his troops were so capable, he would have already fought his way to Beijing. At his peak, he had nearly four hundred thousand soldiers under his command.

Unfortunately, they were all trash, cannon fodder.

Now, after several major battles, his troops had shrunk to one hundred and fifty thousand, of which only sixty to seventy thousand were elite veterans. The rest were old and weak people who needed to be eliminated, as well as some cowardly scoundrels.

These scoundrels would run away as soon as a battle started, not only failing to contribute to the army, but also greatly damaging the morale of the army.

An army values quality over quantity. After accepting Li Zicheng’s troops, He Tengjiao deeply understood the essence of this sentence.

“Perhaps we can buy a batch of new muskets from him to imitate and improve our army’s combat power…”

Yan Qihuan suggested.

However, before he could finish speaking, Zhou Daqi interrupted: “Don’t count on that. Wu Changqing now follows Prince Lu, while we follow the Longwu court. We are not on the same side. It would be good if he didn’t attack us. How could he sell weapons to us?”

“Prince Lu and Prince Tang are both of the Ming dynasty. Strengthening our strength will also help them contain the Qing army in the rear and share their pressure. At worst, we’ll pay more. In short, we still have to try.”

Yan Qihuan didn’t give up and couldn’t forget about the flintlock guns.

“It’s worth a try. It would be best if it works out, and there’s no loss if it doesn’t.”

He Tengjiao also had a glimmer of hope. After all, everyone was Han Chinese and fighting against the Qing together. There should be some kind of friendship.

Thinking of Prince Lu and Prince Tang, He Tengjiao felt annoyed again. He was risking his life here for their Zhu family against the Qing army, but the descendants of their Zhu family were single-mindedly fighting for the throne. It was truly absurd.

In Shaoxing, Zhu Yihai also learned of Wu Changqing’s major movements, with the army advancing westward.

In the past, he would have been very happy if Wu Changqing had attacked the Qing army to recover lost territory. But now, knowing Wu Changqing’s ambitions, he no longer hoped for Wu Changqing to win. He hoped even more that Wu Changqing and the Qing army could suffer heavy losses, so that they would have a chance to rise up in the chaos.

Even though their strength was now so weak that they couldn’t even deal with Liu Hansan, it couldn’t stifle their ambitions. Zhu Yihai was still fantasizing about unifying the world.

In history, he was beaten by the Qing army and fled to the Zhoushan Islands, but he still didn’t give up. He still wanted to rely on the territory of those few islands to rise again and overthrow the Qing dynasty.

Zhu Yujian had similar ideas to Zhu Yihai. After learning that Wu Changqing was advancing westward, he immediately announced that he would personally go to Ji’an to organize an army to go north and seize the territory around Nanchang.

Out of consideration for appearances, he couldn’t attack Shaoxing and Hangzhou now, so he could only go north from Jiangxi to seize territory.

If he could seize Jiujiang, it would be very beneficial to him. This way, he could go down the river at any time and seize Nanjing when the opportunity arose.

Although he knew it was difficult, he still had to have fantasies. What if an opportunity arose, such as the Qing army and Wu Changqing suffering heavy losses, or Wu Changqing suddenly dying of smallpox, or Wu Changqing indulging in women and dying in bed?

In chaotic times, anything could happen. Li Zicheng died unexpectedly, didn’t he?

As long as Wu Changqing died, then his chance would come.

Zhu Yujian’s desire to personally lead the expedition was naturally unwelcome to Zheng Zhilong, but he couldn’t stop him. At most, he wouldn’t send his soldiers to support him.

Zhu Yujian gnashed his teeth in hatred, but he couldn’t do anything about Zheng Zhilong. He could only rely on those ministers who supported him to scrape together a force of fifteen thousand men to go to Jiangxi.

Along the way, relying on the name of the emperor, he could recruit some more troops, and then he could probably gather twenty to thirty thousand people.

The number wasn’t small, but the combat power of this temporary army was highly questionable.

In short, anyone who understood a little bit about military affairs didn’t look favorably on Zhu Yujian’s personal expedition.

However, Zhu Yujian insisted on doing so. He wanted to establish his prestige and authority with military exploits.

If he continued to be controlled by the Zheng family as he was now, he couldn’t see any hope.

Among the people of the Zhu family, Zhu Yujian was still a relatively brave person.

Chapter 182: Anqing

Tongling. Li Shaobin had no idea what impact his forces’ actions would have on other factions. He was simply following Wu Changqing’s orders, expanding their territory step by step.

With all the pre-war preparations in place, the Wu army began to advance towards Chizhou by both land and water.

The road from Tongling to Chizhou was not easy, and they didn’t have enough ships to travel solely by water.

After trekking through mountains and rivers, it took them a full three days to arrive.

By this time, the Prefect and garrison commander of Chizhou had already fled. In this era, or perhaps in every era, the actual time spent in fierce battles only accounted for a small portion. Most of the time, the army was on the march.

Just like when Liu Hansan attacked Guangde and Huzhou, the actual time spent in the two fierce battles combined was only a few hours. The remaining ten-plus days were spent on the march.

That’s why there’s a saying that soldiers need a good pair of shoes far more than a good weapon.

Now, after several days of marching, the Wu army arrived in Chizhou only to find that there was no battle. Next, they would have to continue walking.

Before fleeing, the Chizhou garrison commander had plundered the city’s wealth and committed all kinds of atrocities, including arson, murder, and looting.

They left behind an empty city with only a small number of civilians, which was of little value to the Wu army.

“Damn it, these Qing dogs! If you have the guts, just flee to beyond the pass, or don’t let me catch you!”

Wang Dayong couldn’t help but curse when he saw the corpses of civilians everywhere in the city. This kind of destructive behavior before leaving was extremely lacking in morality and righteousness.

“What can you do even if you catch them? The general has said that we are not allowed to kill prisoners, whether they are Manchus or Mongols,” Li Shaobin reminded him. If Wang Dayong were to kill prisoners without authorization, it would be a violation of military orders. This matter could be a big deal or a small one. It would be troublesome if someone with ulterior motives blew it out of proportion.

Wang Dayong was speechless upon hearing this. He didn’t quite understand why Wu Changqing wanted to treat enemy soldiers kindly. However, this was Wu Changqing’s order, and he didn’t dare to disobey it.

After resting in Chizhou for a day, the army continued to advance, stopping at 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opposite Anqing, and it was a town called 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Chapter 183: Landing Battle

The next day, five thousand Wu army soldiers boarded the fleet and sailed towards the opposite bank.

The composition of this fleet was extremely mixed. There was even a treasure ship that looked like it was about to fall apart, yet it carried a full one thousand soldiers.

The other ordinary fighting ships carried about one hundred soldiers each.

These fighting ships were the main force of the Wu army navy, totaling thirty ships.

There were also some very agile Mengchong ships, each carrying only about twenty people, numbering over twenty.

The rest were non-standard civilian ships, including large merchant ships for transporting goods and small fishing boats used by fishermen. In short, the Wu army had scraped together almost every ship they could find.

As the dozens of ships floated on the river, the Qing army on the opposite bank spotted them immediately.

“Quick, sink the ships in the ferry! Don’t let their large ships enter the ferry dock!”

Liu Gaoxun was clearly not a fool. He didn’t consider playing any high-skill tactics like attacking halfway across the river. Instead, he honestly tried to prevent the Wu army from landing. His mission was to delay the Wu army’s westward advance. Whether or not he killed Wu army soldiers was not his primary concern.

As long as he could delay the Wu army’s westward advance and give the main force more time to prepare for the decisive battle, his mission would be considered a success.

Upon receiving Liu Gaoxun’s order, the soldiers on the ships began to destroy them, piercing holes in the bottoms to sink them in the ferry, forming reefs that would prevent the Wu army’s large ships from entering and approaching the dock.

Wooden ships were easy to destroy. A few axe blows created large holes, and the river water gurgled in. The Qing navy soldiers quickly abandoned ship and went ashore.

Under their sabotage, as many as six or seven large ships began to sink.

On the Wu army’s treasure ship, Wu Yi saw the Qing army’s actions through his telescope and was furious.

He had to admit, the Qing army’s move was ruthless.

“Have the large ships get as close to the shore as possible, then have the musket units fire to cover the landing of the other small boats!”

Wu Yi ordered. The large ships could not approach the shore, but the Mengchong boats were not affected.

Transmitting orders in the navy was much more difficult than in the army, relying solely on flag signals. However, flag signals could only convey simple instructions, not detailed ones.

For example, Wu Yi could now use flag signals to tell the soldiers on the other large ships to provide cover, but he couldn’t tell them specifically which section to cover or which ship was responsible for which part.

Without detailed command, everyone had to rely on the judgment of the lower-level officers.

Fortunately, the Wu army’s lower-level officers were required to learn some command skills and how to assess the battlefield situation. Therefore, their overall quality was much higher than that of lower-level officers in other armies.

The large ships began to organize themselves, choosing the areas they were responsible for. The whole process wasn’t exactly orderly, but it didn’t cause chaos, which was already quite remarkable.

As the large ships gradually dropped anchor, the Mengchong boats began to head towards the shore. Their shallow drafts allowed them to land in most places.

The soldiers on the large ships raised their guns, preventing the enemy from ambushing their soldiers during the landing.

As the small boats landed one after another, shouts of battle immediately rang out from the shore.

As expected, the Qing army wanted to take advantage of the Wu army’s lack of formation during disembarkation to launch a surprise attack.

The difference in combat power between having a formation and not having one was significant. If the Wu army couldn’t form up in time, even with their weapon advantage, it would be difficult to defeat the enemy.

The officers on the large ships were calculating the distance between the two sides—calculating, not estimating.

Using some principles of triangle similarity, the distance could actually be calculated. This calculation method was still used by soldiers in World War II, simple, convenient, and effective.

Ye Jinliang, the math prodigy in the university, was very talented in mathematics. Based on some formulas and axioms provided by Wu Changqing, he had deduced a large number of theorems and proved many formulas.

In the process, he also discovered some very practical measurement techniques.

Using the similarity of triangles to measure distance was one of them, and he taught it to the instructors at the military academy, cultivating some technical troops.

These technical troops were very valuable and could sometimes produce miraculous effects.

Through calculation, the officers on the ships determined that the enemy had entered the firing range and ordered the guns to be fired.

The firepower support of a thousand people immediately caused some damage to the Qing army.

However, because of the distance, the Wu army’s hit rate was not high, so their losses were not great, and they continued to charge.

Soon, they rushed to the Wu army’s vicinity.

At this time, the soldiers on the large ships could no longer provide fire cover. Given the distance between the Qing and Wu armies, it was impossible to guarantee who would be hit by firing at this point.

On the shore, the Wu army had formed up in platoons, but there wasn’t enough time to form company-level formations between the platoons.

The close combat, with bayonets thrusting and broadswords slashing, was actually more brutal and resulted in more casualties than fighting in formation.

In one exchange, both sides lost more than ten percent of their manpower, which was terrifying.

If they continued to fight like this, everyone would die within ten rounds.

Of course, this situation was unlikely to occur because one side would collapse first.

After the first round of bayonet fighting, both sides hesitated to move forward, separated by a meter or two. The soldiers could see each other’s eyes.

Fear and tension were visible in the eyes of most soldiers.

They were all on the edge of death and couldn’t remain calm.

The Qing army didn’t bring shields for the charge. Now that the Wu army hadn’t collapsed, they could only fight with their lives. While slashing at their opponents, they were almost certain to be stabbed one or more times.

This kind of battle tested the soldiers’ morale and bloodthirst.

“Kill! Ready, thrust forward!”

The Wu army’s officers shouted the slogans they had practiced during training, which meant that no matter what dangers lay ahead, they had to strike.

Anyone who didn’t maintain consistency with the group, didn’t strike, or struck too slowly would be punished.

This rigorous training had created an elite force.

Upon the order, the Wu army actively thrust forward with their bayonets, and the Qing army naturally wouldn’t stand still and be beaten. They counterattacked, resulting in another round of trading lives for lives.

In this kind of bayonet fighting, the Wu army didn’t really gain much of an advantage. However, their momentum was frightening.

Often, after one or two exchanges, the enemy couldn’t take it anymore and didn’t want to fight these emotionless madmen.

After only two rounds of bayonet fighting, some of the Qing army’s lines began to collapse.

Although the Qing army had more men overall, the two sides fought to a standstill.

And in this stalemate, the Wu army’s soldiers were constantly landing, constantly making up for the difference in troop strength.

Chapter 184: Preparing to Attack the City

Seeing this situation, Liu Gaoxun could only stamp his feet in anger and order a retreat back into the city.

Once the Wu army had successfully landed and established a base, there was no point in ambushing them from the shore. It was better to return to the city and rely on the city walls for defense.

The city walls of Anqing weren’t particularly tall, only about five or six meters high, but they had a significant advantage: the Wu army didn’t have any good siege equipment here.

Siege equipment like siege towers and battering rams were difficult to transport by ship, and cannons weighing two or three thousand kilograms were also inconvenient to transport on small boats.

Large ships weren’t a problem, but they couldn’t enter the dock and approach the pier.

In short, if the current Wu army wanted to quickly take Anqing, they could only rely on simple siege equipment and fill the area under the city walls with bodies, launching an ant-like assault.

If they wanted to reduce casualties, they would have to spend time clearing the sunken ships in the dock, which would allow the Qing army to delay the Ming army.

The Qing army retreated back into the city, and the vanguard of the Wu army landed one after another. The empty boats that had dropped off soldiers continued to return to the large ships to pick up more soldiers and transport the main force from across the river.

Although this landing battle was brief, the casualties were not small. The Wu army lost nearly six hundred men, and the Qing army left behind nearly a thousand corpses.

In terms of kill ratio, the Wu army had never suffered a loss.

And this was all bought with money.

The money to support one soldier in the Wu army was enough to support two in the Qing army.

In order to improve the army’s strength, Wu Changqing not only gave high salaries to the main force, but also provided them with plenty of food, and occasionally meat.

With such tempting food, the soldiers were able to grit their teeth and endure the harsh training, otherwise some of them would have run away long ago. After all, only a very small number of people enjoy being abused.

It was thanks to high investment and strict military discipline that the Wu army soldiers trained much better than the Qing army, and their training methods were extremely advanced, hundreds of years ahead of their time.

These factors combined led to the Wu army’s strength.

Despite being at a disadvantage, they not only drove the Qing army away in a battle, but also killed and wounded a large number of them, achieving brilliant results.

This battle result was actually a small matter. The main thing was that their momentum really frightened the Qing army. No one wanted to fight an emotionless army that knew no fear.

The vanguard began to build defenses, and the small boats continued to transport troops over.

The navy’s large ships also began to clear the sunken shipwrecks. This dock would be used in the future, so it had to be cleared sooner or later. It was better to spend some time now.

Clearing the dock would also allow them to transport the cannons over.

They used the same method that ancient people used to salvage iron oxen from the Yellow River to salvage and clear the sunken ships.

They didn’t know the principle of buoyancy, but based on the wisdom accumulated over thousands of years, they knew what to do. First, two large ships were filled with mud and sand, and then they came near the sunken ship. Soldiers with good swimming skills went down to tie the sunken ship with ropes and iron chains, and then poured the mud and sand from the ships into the river. Relying on buoyancy, they could pull the sunken ship up and tow it away.

Because the sunken ship had only recently sunk to the bottom of the river and had not sunk into the mud, the salvage was easier than expected.

By the next day, all the sunken ships had been salvaged and cleared, and the Wu army’s siege towers also successfully entered the dock, transporting the cannons over.

When those dozens of cannons appeared under Anqing, Liu Gaoxun almost vomited blood. How could they fight this?

The strength of the two armies was already vastly different, and the only thing they could rely on was the city wall.

Now that the Hongyi cannons had appeared, the role of the city wall would be greatly reduced.

“General, why don’t we retreat? This city can’t be defended. We only have more than nine thousand people. Nanjing’s tens of thousands of troops and city walls four or five zhang high couldn’t hold it.”

A subordinate suggested. Compared to the tall city walls of Nanjing, the city walls of Anqing were like a child’s play. The Wu army had easily taken Nanjing, so how could Anqing possibly be defended?

“Let’s defend for a while and exhaust some of their ammunition. According to scouts, the Wu army’s howitzer shell production speed has been slow. If we can exhaust some of their ammunition here, the final battle will be easier.”

Liu Gaoxun said.

“General, an envoy is coming from the other side. It looks like they’re here to persuade us to surrender.”

While they were discussing, two people rode over from the Wu army, trying to persuade the defenders to surrender.

Taking a city without a battle was the best outcome.

Although the Wu army was very good at attacking cities, they would suffer losses every time. Moreover, they were even better at defending cities than attacking them. Compared to attacking, they preferred defending.

However, the current battle situation was that the Wu army was the main attacker, and the Qing army would not actively attack their cities.

“Is General Liu on the city wall? My general said that you absolutely cannot defend Anqing. Why not surrender now instead of dying in vain? If you surrender now, my general guarantees that you will continue to enjoy wealth and honor in the future, and your soldiers can be spared from the ravages of war. General Liu, you are originally a Han Chinese, so why do you have to work for the Manchus…”

The envoy said.

“Hahaha, spouting nonsense! You think you can break through Anqing? Have you asked my tens of thousands of soldiers if they agree?”

Liu Gaoxun interrupted the Wu army envoy with a loud laugh.

Hearing his words, many soldiers on the city wall felt very awkward. If there were no consequences for telling the truth, they really wanted to say that they agreed.

The Wu army was too terrifying. Fighting such an army was a nightmare. It was better to surrender early and join them.

Unfortunately, it didn’t matter what these low-level soldiers thought. The decision was made by Liu Gaoxun.

“General Liu, I advise you not to be stubborn. A wise bird chooses a good tree to perch on. Can’t you see the general trend of the world? The Manchus are finished. There’s no point in continuing your foolish loyalty.”

“Shut up! Shoot arrows!”

Liu Gaoxun didn’t want to argue with the other side anymore, because such a verbal battle was of no benefit to him and would only easily affect morale.

Moreover, the other side had touched on his sore spot.

Judging from the recent situation, their Qing Dynasty was indeed at a disadvantage.

However, could this be used to judge that the Qing Dynasty was finished? Not many people could really judge this, after all, the Qing Dynasty’s territory was now much larger than the Ming Dynasty’s.

If they surrendered to the Ming army too early now, and the Ming army couldn’t stop the Qing Dynasty’s attack in the future, then these surrendered generals would definitely be liquidated in the future.

The Manchus were not as gentle as the Ming Dynasty when it came to generals who repeatedly surrendered.

Stubborn, foolish.

The Wu army envoy retreated quickly, cursing in his heart as he retreated. Without successfully persuading them to surrender, his mission was equal to not being completed, and the reward would naturally be gone.

Chapter 185: Sniping the Commanding General

The attempt to persuade them to surrender failed, and Liu Hansan, who was in charge of the siege command, was also very unhappy, feeling they simply didn’t appreciate the gesture.

“Yan Chonglou, later you lead your squad and be sure to snipe that guy.”

Liu Hansan said to a man with deep-set eyes.

This was Yan Chonglou, the number one sharpshooter in the Wu army, who had been personally commended by Wu Changqing. In previous battles, he had cumulatively sniped as many as thirty-three enemy officers.

This number was terrifying; the second-highest was less than twenty.

In each battle, the sniper platoon didn’t have many opportunities. After firing a few shots, the enemy generals would notice and take cover.

As this happened more and more, the enemy gradually learned that there was a unit in the Wu army specializing in sniping officers, and the enemy generals became more cautious.

Of course, even so, the sniper platoon’s achievements were still incredibly brilliant.

The value of killing a general was greater than killing ten soldiers. This unit had become the most feared by the enemy generals.

Yan Chonglou didn’t reply upon hearing this, but his lack of objection indicated that he understood. Anyway, that was just his temperament; he wouldn’t be too enthusiastic towards his superiors.

Moreover, he had the qualifications to be so arrogant. In any case, his sniper platoon was not subordinate to any division or brigade; it was a very special unit.

The other divisions and brigades could only try to please them, because pleasing them would get them more support. In war, sniping a few more enemy generals had a great impact on the battle situation.

The general attack began, and dozens of cannons bombarded fiercely, trying to crush the enemy’s psychological defenses with momentum.

As the artillerymen became more experienced, their shells were now hitting more and more accurately.

Nearly half of the shells landed on the city wall, exploding one after another.

Instantly, the city wall was a mess, with Qing soldiers suffering heavy casualties, and all kinds of screams echoing continuously.

“Damn it, let most of the soldiers get off the city wall first and hide at the base of the wall. When the enemy gets close, then go back up.”

Liu Gaoxun finished speaking and took the lead in getting off the city wall to hide; he didn’t want to be hit by a cannonball.

Liu Gaoxun’s order caused a commotion among the Qing soldiers, because everyone wanted to go down and hide. No one wanted to stay on the city wall and be bombed.

At this time, the hierarchy in the army was exposed.

The Eight Banners soldiers undoubtedly got the right to hide first, and some main force units also got the right to hide. The rest who were left on the city wall to keep watch were the old and weak, or soldiers and low-level officers who had offended their superiors and were disliked.

Whether they were willing or not, these people could only stay on the city wall to keep watch.

If they dared to follow and get off the city wall, they would definitely be beheaded without mercy.

The soldiers left on the city wall were angry, so they naturally didn’t put their heart into the tasks assigned by their superiors.

Observe? None of my business. The important thing is to cover myself with a few corpses to prevent being hit by shrapnel. As for whether this would delay things, these abandoned people didn’t really care.

Some people even hoped that the Wu army would attack quickly so they could surrender.

Liu Hansan and the other generals could only see that the people on the city wall were gone through their binoculars, but they couldn’t determine whether those people had gone down the city wall to hide or were hiding behind the battlements.

If he could see clearly, he could order a general attack now.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see clearly, so the shelling continued, lasting for half an hour before the Wu army began their general attack, carrying ladders.

This time, their siege method was very primitive and simple: an ant-like assault. There were no other siege vehicles or anything. Even blowing up the city wall wasn’t suitable here.

The ground here was all water. Dig one or two meters and water would gush out, making it impossible to bury explosives.

As the Wu army soldiers were about to reach the bottom of the city wall, the artillery gradually stopped shelling to avoid accidentally injuring their own soldiers.

The cessation of artillery fire was unusual, and Liu Gaoxun, who was below the city wall, felt something was wrong.

“Go up and check immediately to see if the enemy has started attacking. Those bastards on the city wall didn’t even report it; I’m going to kill them.”

Liu Gaoxun cursed loudly. Soon, his personal soldiers shouted at him from the city wall, saying that the Wu army was about to reach the bottom of the city wall.

These words almost made Liu Gaoxun faint with anger. In this way, they didn’t even have time to prepare.

“Everyone, get on the city wall, quickly! Those who are afraid of battle will be killed without mercy.”

Liu Gaoxun shouted, urging them on.

A large number of soldiers began to pour onto the city wall, but defending the city wasn’t just about having soldiers. The boiling oil needed to be heated, and the rolling logs and stones needed to be prepared. More needed to be placed in areas where the enemy was focusing their attack.

Archers needed to be assigned, and troops needed to be allocated.

In short, there was a lot of preparation work to be done on the battlefield. Of course, it was possible to defend without preparation, but the efficiency would definitely be greatly reduced.

There would be some very awkward situations, such as a section where the Wu army was focusing its attack not having enough rolling logs and stones, while a section with a large number of rolling logs and stones not being attacked by the Wu army.

These details couldn’t determine the outcome of the war, but they could greatly affect the outcome of the war and the casualty rate.

When the Qing soldiers arrived at the city wall, they found that the Wu army had already set up siege ladders in some sections and had begun to climb, and their hearts turned cold.

They had missed the stage where they could consume a large number of enemy troops for nothing, and they were about to engage in close combat with no advantage at all. How could they fight like this?

Liu Gaoxun, who had reached the city wall, also discovered this situation and stabbed a squad leader to death in anger because the squad leader had failed to report the situation in time, delaying the battle.

This scene was noticed by a sniper mixed in with the attacking army.

Being able to kill one’s own people on the battlefield, this was obviously a high-ranking general, a very valuable big fish to snipe.

The sharp-eyed Yan Chonglou quickly aimed and fired.

Liu Gaoxun, who had just been full of official authority and had the power of life and death over his subordinates, was shot directly in the chest and fell to the ground.

“Ah, save me, save me quickly.”

Liu Gaoxun was hit in the right chest. He wasn’t dead yet, but he was actually beyond saving.

Even Liu Gaoxun himself knew this, but out of the instinct to survive, he went crazy, shouting for a doctor.

At this time, he no longer cared at all whether the city could be defended.

Liu Gaoxun’s subordinates looked at this scene with both contempt and helplessness.

Liu Gaoxun’s personal soldiers were busy carrying him down for treatment, and other generals took over the command.

However, the top of the wall, which was already close to being out of control, now had such a big problem with its command system. The city wall was completely chaotic, and even a god of war descending couldn’t reverse the current situation.

Some sober-minded officers had already begun to quietly escape with their personal soldiers and confidants, while others began to look for safe places to wait for surrender. There were also some indecisive people who were lost on the city wall.

Chapter 186: Old Soldiers’ Idle Chat

The Wu army, after surging onto the city walls, discovered that the enemy’s resistance was much weaker than expected.

Although a small portion of the Eight Banners soldiers were resisting desperately, most of the soldiers were fleeing and surrendering.

Relying solely on those two thousand Eight Banners soldiers, and Eight Banners soldiers with virtually no command, they simply couldn’t stop the Wu army’s fierce and powerful forces.

Leading the charge was the Dare-to-Die Corps, followed closely by the grenadiers. Whenever they encountered fierce resistance, the grenadiers would toss a grenade.

Sometimes, if the grenadiers didn’t control their throws well enough, they would accidentally injure members of the Dare-to-Die Corps.

However, the Dare-to-Die Corps wouldn’t refuse the grenadiers’ cooperation because of this. Having grenadiers to help them overcome obstacles could solve many problems and reduce many dangers.

Faced with the combination of the Dare-to-Die Corps and the grenadiers, the Qing soldiers who were still resisting found themselves in a dilemma.

Resisting together made them easy targets for explosions, while scattering meant facing a Dare-to-Die Corps that greatly outnumbered them.

After several clashes, the Qing army began to collapse completely.

What followed was cleaning up the mess, a task the Wu army was quite familiar with. After more than an hour of clearing, they had completely controlled Anqing City.

At the city gate, some of the city’s residents were wailing and searching for the bodies of their loved ones.

Among the defending soldiers, some were local residents of Anqing, and others were strong laborers who had been temporarily conscripted for odd jobs. Some of these people had unfortunately died in battle.

To appease the city’s residents, the Wu army allowed them to claim the bodies.

The Chinese nation values burial for peace and returning to ancestral graves. Allowing residents to claim the bodies of their relatives could effectively soothe the emotions of the city’s residents.

As for the unclaimed bodies, they were thrown onto horse-drawn carts and taken to the suburbs to be buried.

In this era, the common way to dispose of bodies was almost always burial. Although cremation could more effectively prevent epidemics, it was not accepted by people. Most people believed that cremation was disrespectful to the deceased.

Moreover, cremation was more difficult and troublesome than burial.

Therefore, the Wu army also used burial to dispose of bodies.

This was true not only for the bodies of enemy soldiers but also for the bodies of their own soldiers.

If their own soldiers died near their hometowns, their bodies would be transported to their relatives’ homes.

But if they died far away, as was the case now, they would generally find a place with good feng shui, bury them collectively, and then erect a monument to register and commemorate them.

This was unavoidable. With the transportation capabilities of this era, even if the cost wasn’t a concern, the time it would take to transport the bodies back to their hometowns thousands of miles away wouldn’t allow it. The bodies would definitely rot on the way.

This siege was relatively smooth, and the Wu army only lost more than six hundred soldiers.

Those soldiers were carried onto horse-drawn carts, while some other soldiers who were resting were chatting idly.

“Most of the dead are from the Dare-to-Die Corps and the 412th Regiment with swords and shields. It’s still better to be a sniper. Those guys haven’t had a single death since they were formed.”

An old soldier said with emotion while wiping his musket.

“You’re stating the obvious. Who wouldn’t want to be a sniper? High pay, good weapons. When a battle starts, they don’t have to charge to the front, they can hide in the back and take potshots. If there was a position in the sniper company, I wouldn’t even be a squad leader.”

A squad leader complained. Although his pay was about the same as a sniper’s, it was safer to be a sniper.

During an attack, snipers didn’t have to charge to the front and were almost never in any danger.

The last time they were ambushed, those snipers were surrounded and protected, making them several times safer than other soldiers.

In short, since the sniper company was established, they had never heard of anyone in the sniper company dying in battle. At most, a few people suffered minor injuries, and even those were due to accidents.

Which soldier wouldn’t want such a safe position?

What’s more, snipers could kill officers in every battle and receive rewards for their merits. If they were lucky enough to kill a Manchu prince like Yan Chonglou, the reward money alone would be several hundred taels of silver.

This was an unimaginable fortune for a soldier.

Unfortunately, the sniper company never expanded. It used to be two hundred people, and it was still two hundred people. Moreover, one hundred of them were reserve shooters who didn’t even have guns.

It was said that the armory couldn’t produce that kind of rifled gun yet, so they couldn’t expand.

This infuriated the other soldiers, who cursed the armory every chance they got.

If the armory could produce more advanced weapons, their lives would be more secure.

“Even if there was a position, it wouldn’t be your turn. To join the sniper company, you have to have good eyesight. Wang Da’yan, there’s no hope for you with those cross-eyes. Who told you to peek at the widow bathing when you were young?”

Another soldier mocked.

“Bullshit, you’re the one who peeks at the widow bathing. I was born this way, these aren’t cross-eyes. My eyesight is good, it’s just that the people above don’t give me a chance. If they gave me a chance to test, I’d definitely shoot more accurately than those guys in the sniper company.”

Wang Da’yan expressed his dissatisfaction.

“We can’t count on the sniper company. Let’s just hold on and wait for the next batch of flintlocks to be delivered, then we can change our equipment, and our safety will be much higher.”

Flintlock units also often suffered casualties, but their attrition rate was always lower than that of musket troops, making them a coveted unit.

Even worse than the musket troops were the cold weapon units. Every time they scaled the city walls, the most casualties were among those cold weapon units. They were worse off than the musket soldiers.

Even worse than the cold weapon units were the Dare-to-Die Corps and the grenadiers. Grenadiers had almost no ability to protect themselves, and they needed to charge very far forward to kill the enemy.

Therefore, the attrition rate of grenadiers had always been quite high, second only to the Dare-to-Die Corps.

However, grenadiers had high pay, good benefits, and often had meat to eat.

The most miserable were the Dare-to-Die Corps. They had the lowest pay, the highest mortality rate, and the worst treatment.

However, the soldiers of the Wu army didn’t sympathize with the people in the Dare-to-Die Corps, because they were basically surrendered soldiers with bad records, stubborn surrendered soldiers, or soldiers who had committed crimes.

For these people who were originally going to be beheaded, being able to enter the Dare-to-Die Corps and get a chance to live was already Wu Changqing’s grace.

Moreover, after serving in the Dare-to-Die Corps for three months, they could be exonerated and leave the Dare-to-Die Corps to join other units.

This was like giving them a chance at life. Currently, a group of the earliest Dare-to-Die Corps soldiers had gained their freedom.

“Times are changing. These days, soldiers even have to learn skills.”

An old soldier said with emotion. He had been a soldier for more than ten years, from the Northwest to the Northeast, and then to Jiangnan. He had been running around all his life, dancing with death.

In the past ten years, he had been learning survival skills, because ordinary soldiers didn’t need to master too much knowledge or special skills.

It wasn’t until he surrendered to the Wu army that he realized the huge difference between soldiers with knowledge and special skills and soldiers without knowledge.

Those with knowledge went to become artillerymen, and those with special skills went to become various special forces. And those units were often safe and had high pay.

“Yes, when I learn to read and write and master arithmetic, I’ll also apply to be an artilleryman.”

Another soldier said.

Currently, the Wu army provides literacy training when not at war. Soldiers can voluntarily choose to learn or not.

Some soldiers with excellent academic performance have already had better prospects, which makes many ordinary soldiers envious and jealous. This has also motivated soldiers to learn. Many soldiers now write and draw on the ground during their rest, reviewing their knowledge.

Profit is always the greatest source of motivation.

Chapter 187: Undercover Visit

The victory report from Anqing was sent back to Nanjing, but Wu Changqing only glanced at it casually.

Militarily, he was never too worried. If they couldn’t defeat the enemy with weapons and equipment that were generations ahead, then those generals should all be demoted and reflect on their failures.

Compared to military matters, he focused more on promoting the development of the entire society, which was the real challenge.

If, during his lifetime, the nation’s technological level could be raised to the Electrical Age, that wouldn’t be too difficult. However, Wu Changqing wasn’t satisfied with just reaching the Electrical Age. He hoped to reach the Information Age and achieve an unimaginable feat.

He didn’t want to be just another emperor of the past or present; he wanted to be an eternal emperor, unprecedented and unmatched.

In his lifetime, he wanted to go online again and take another plane ride.

Wu Changqing entered the system with his consciousness and checked his data.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Territory area: Approximately forty thousand square kilometers, Resource Points: Approximately 990,000/1,200,000.

Jurisdiction population: Approximately 9.1 million, Technology Points: Approximately 8.6 million/9.1 million.

Mastered Technologies: Matchlock guns, Flintlock guns, Rifled guns, Gunpowder, Springs, Flint, Steam engines, Soap, Cement…

With abundant resource and technology points, Wu Changqing was ready to make some big moves. After all, he had the money to do as he pleased.

“Want to go out for a stroll?”

Wu Changqing suddenly asked Chen Yuyan. He wanted to understand the current living conditions of the people before deciding what to invent, to create things that were useful to them and could bring progress to society.

“Ah? It’s not a holiday today.”

Chen Yuyan said. It wasn’t a major holiday, so it wasn’t convenient for her to go out.

Not just her, but it wasn’t convenient for Wu Changqing either, because of his special status. If he went out for a stroll, he would be surrounded by onlookers.

For safety’s sake, the guards would definitely drive people away, and the stroll would turn into a public nuisance.

“Just a casual stroll, an undercover visit. I want to deeply understand the current living conditions of the people. Without seeing it with my own eyes, I won’t know if the officials below are lying to me in their reports.”

Wu Changqing said.

Like the emperors of ancient times who were born in the palace and had very limited understanding of the common people, they didn’t even know how much an egg cost and were often fooled by eunuchs.

An egg that cost one copper coin in the market, those eunuchs would dare to report it as costing three or four taels of silver.

As a result, some emperors would sometimes complain that they couldn’t afford to eat eggs because they were too expensive.

This was also why some men were willing to castrate themselves to become eunuchs; apart from not being able to have children, the income was quite considerable.

Although Wu Changqing wasn’t the kind of person who grew up in a palace, isolated from the world, if he didn’t go out to see the common people for a long time, there would be many areas where the lower officials could deceive him.

Undercover visit?

Chen Yuyan found it interesting. At her age, she was still in the playful stage. However, she was afraid of being scolded by the Old Madam, and the female virtues she had learned also taught women not to show their faces easily.

So, even though she really wanted to go, she ultimately said she wouldn’t, and would stay home to play mahjong with others.

Wu Changqing didn’t mind. He then selected a few personal guards to prepare to go out.

He didn’t want to bring too many people, lest the undercover visit turn into a disruptive public spectacle. But if he brought too few people, it would be dangerous. There were definitely many people in the world who wanted him dead.

So, Wu Changqing exchanged for an automatic pistol that was three hundred years ahead of its time and several magazines. He was always very generous when it came to protecting his own life.

This M1991 automatic pistol could kill with one shot within fifty meters, and its accuracy was extremely high.

Equipped with several magazines, even a hundred assassins probably couldn’t get close to him.

After practicing using the pistol in the courtyard, he went out.

On the streets of Nanjing, there were all kinds of shops on both sides, but there were no street vendors.

To maintain smooth traffic, the government had issued an order that street vendors had to go to the designated West Market and East Market. Apart from the West Market and East Market, anyone who wanted to do business had to have a shop.

Nowadays, shops in Nanjing weren’t cheap. An ordinary fifty-square-meter shop cost about one hundred and fifty taels, while larger and better ones cost three or four hundred taels.

Currently, people in Nanjing could maintain their lives with five taels of silver a year.

If they lived in the countryside, they would need even less silver.

Buying a shop cost more than one hundred taels, and renting one cost about five taels a month. Therefore, the things sold in the shops were generally high-end goods with higher profits.

Wu Changqing came to a general store, which sold daily necessities for the people.

Among firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and tea, only firewood and rice weren’t sold here. There were also some daily necessities, such as tinderboxes, candles, lamp oil, and “fire inch strips”…

“Fire inch strips” were primitive matches, made by dipping flammable pine strips in sulfur.

These fire inch strips were very easy to light. As long as you struck a spark with a stone, you could ignite them. Without these fire inch strips, it would be very difficult to make fire by drilling wood. People without skill would break their palms without making a fire.

A tinderbox was for preserving a flame. It wasn’t for making fire. Before it was lit, it didn’t have the function of making fire.

After it was lit, it would burn slowly. Although the burning speed was very slow, the tinderbox wasn’t long, and one tinderbox could basically only preserve a flame for two or three days.

Only wealthy families could afford to buy and use this kind of product.

Although humans had mastered the ability to make fire for tens of thousands of years, the technology of making fire had always been primitive and backward.

“How much does one of these fire inch strips cost?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Greetings, customer, it only costs five copper coins. It’s very cheap and can be used repeatedly. And you can share it with your neighbors, it’s very cost-effective.”

The shop assistant said. The so-called neighborhood sharing meant that when everyone cooked together, one family used the fire inch strip to make fire, and then the neighbors came to borrow the fire. Next time, it would be the next family’s turn to use the fire inch strip.

This could maximize the use of the fire inch strip and save living costs.

Five copper coins, converted according to purchasing power, was roughly equivalent to three yuan in later generations. So, these fire inch strips were still very expensive, and not all people could afford them.

Most people would probably rather spend more time drilling wood to make fire, or shamelessly borrow fire from their neighbors, than buy these fire inch strips.

The reason why fire inch strips were so expensive was naturally because the industry was backward, unable to achieve mass production, and the production cost was too high.

Wu Changqing silently noted down matches and prepared to make them when he returned.

The technology required to make matches wasn’t very profound. It was even very similar to the current fire inch strips, which was to dip wooden sticks in flammable substances such as sulfur and phosphorus, and then put a surface coated with red phosphorus on the side of the matchbox, using the principle of friction to generate heat to make fire.

The principles of many inventions weren’t profound, but many people just didn’t think of them. As a person from later generations, Wu Changqing was knowledgeable and experienced. With just a little guidance, even without him illuminating the manufacturing process of matches, contemporary craftsmen could figure it out.

Of course, to save time, Wu Changqing decided to directly illuminate the manufacturing process. He would clarify the manufacturing process and the ratio of raw materials, so that the craftsmen could produce them according to the instructions.

The appearance of matches could benefit countless people, and also benefit the army, and save military expenses.

Currently, the Wu army’s matchlock gun troops and grenadier troops needed to be equipped with a large number of tinderboxes, which cost a lot.

Chapter 188: The Tobacco and Alcohol Industries

“What about salt?”

Wu Changqing continued to ask.

“Honored customer, coarse salt is one hundred cash per catty, and the finest refined salt is one hundred and fifty cash per catty,” the shop assistant replied.

Tsk, tsk, tsk, so expensive! No wonder salt taxes were a key type of tax in ancient times.

Wu Changqing was secretly shocked. This was equivalent to seventy yuan per 500g in later generations, while refined salt in later generations generally cost only a few yuan per 500g.

The price difference was a hundred or two hundred times.

Salt is a necessity of human life. No matter how expensive it sells, people can only grit their teeth and buy it. This shows that the people’s living pressure is still quite high.

Some poor people save money by using salt sparingly in their daily lives, which is not good for their health.

Wu Changqing also noted down salt.

He must improve salt production technology as soon as possible and then carry out large-scale industrial production. Only by increasing production can the price of salt be lowered and the cost of living for the people be reduced.

Moreover, increasing salt production can also seize wealth from the Qing Dynasty court.

You know, the largest salt merchant groups are currently concentrated in Yangzhou and are still under the control of the Qing Dynasty. While earning huge profits, those salt merchants also contribute a lot of tax revenue to the Qing Dynasty.

As long as the price of salt is lowered, or even dumped in the north, the Qing Dynasty court will lose an important salt tax revenue, which will be a big blow to the Qing Dynasty, even greater than the blow of dumping cloth.

After all, people can wear rags, but they cannot go without salt for a long time.

Salt production technology must also be noted down.

Wu Changqing continued to look at several other commodities and then left the store.

“Bah, dressed like a wealthy man, but unexpectedly so stingy, only asking and not buying,” the shop assistant cursed after Wu Changqing left.

He had served him attentively for a while, but he didn’t sell anything, so it was normal to be angry.

“Shh, are you tired of living? Do you know who just asked you questions? That’s the current Duke Wu, Governor Wu. He’s here to understand the people’s sentiments. Being asked two questions by him is your good fortune,” a customer in the store quickly reminded him.

Etiquette and hierarchy were very important in this era. Just based on the shop assistant’s outburst against Wu Changqing, no one would complain for him even if his head was chopped off.

“What, Duke Wu? Really? Don’t lie to me,” the shop assistant asked with lingering fear. Although he didn’t quite believe it, he didn’t dare to curse anymore.

It wouldn’t be worth losing his life for a moment of venting.

Moreover, Duke Wu cared about the people and didn’t increase taxes on them. The shop assistant actually liked and respected him quite a bit. If he mistakenly cursed the incorruptible official, that would be a sin.

“Why would I lie to you? When Duke Wu entered the city, I was lucky enough to grab a good spot and saw Duke Wu’s face clearly. I will never forget that face in my life. Duke Wu must be here on a private visit to understand the people’s sentiments. He truly deserves to be called a good official,” the customer continued to sigh, while the shop assistant was secretly rejoicing, glad that he hadn’t been negligent in his service just now.

Wu Changqing left the general store and continued to stroll on the street. When he saw a store that interested him, he would go in and take a look.

He came to a tobacco and alcohol shop and walked in. The decoration of the shop was relatively simple, just some large vats containing wine and sacks containing dried tobacco.

“How much is this dried tobacco per catty?” Wu Changqing picked up a small pinch of shredded tobacco and found that the tobacco was cut very unevenly, some thick and some thin.

“This humble one greets Duke Wu. This dried tobacco is a good product imported from Western Europe that is not available elsewhere. If Duke Wu likes it, this humble one will naturally offer it for free.”

The shopkeeper had been fortunate enough to be received by Wu Changqing along with other merchants, but Wu Changqing didn’t remember him.

He wouldn’t dare to charge for anything Wu Changqing liked. Naturally, he would offer as much as he had.

“I’m asking how much this dried tobacco is per catty,” Wu Changqing emphasized again. He was a little speechless. He didn’t seem like someone who would seize things by force.

The shopkeeper heard Wu Changqing’s impatience and quickly replied, “Because the source of this dried tobacco is limited, it sells relatively expensive. I usually sell it for one hundred cash per catty.”

One hundred cash, that was almost the same price as salt. But the problem was that growing tobacco was much simpler than making salt. The cost of obtaining 500g of tobacco was much lower than the cost of producing 500g of salt.

So, this was also a highly profitable industry.

In fact, in this era of underdeveloped commerce, almost all businesses were quite profitable. Even selling candied haws on the street could generate a profit of over fifty percent a year.

In the twenty-first century, an annual profit of over fifteen percent was considered a super high-quality industry.

After asking about the price of dried tobacco and then asking about the price of yellow wine, Wu Changqing left the store.

The history of alcohol consumption in China is long and well-established, at least several thousand years old, while the history of smoking is not long. It was introduced by Western Europeans around the Wanli era and then quickly became popular.

This kind of product with slight addictive properties was bound to be popular, and it was impossible to prohibit it.

Wu Changqing didn’t smoke in his previous life, nor did he like smoking, but he also knew that his hope of banning smoking was slim. Emperor Chongzhen had banned smoking, and the Qing Dynasty had also banned it later, but without exception, they all failed.

Those Han people could accept shaving their heads and keeping queues, but they couldn’t quit smoking. This shows how terrible this addictive product was.

The United States in later generations had also promulgated a ban on alcohol, which was later proven by history to be a joke.

Once tobacco and alcohol appear, humans cannot stop their popularity.

Therefore, Wu Changqing didn’t think about banning tobacco and alcohol. Anyway, they were just low-addiction substances. As long as people didn’t smoke opium, it would be fine. However, opium hasn’t appeared in China yet, so there’s no need to worry about it for the time being.

Currently, the alcohol is mainly low-alcohol yellow wine. Although white wine has a high alcohol content, it is difficult to brew, consumes a lot of grain, and is expensive, so it is relatively rare.

Wu Changqing plans to ignore the brewing industry, not prohibiting it, but not encouraging it either.

Because brewing consumes a lot of grain, it is very cruel to encourage the development of the brewing industry in an era when people are still not full. The more wine is brewed, the less grain there is, and the higher the price of grain will be.

The common people won’t get any benefits from high grain prices. They don’t even have enough grain to eat themselves. The only ones who benefit are those big landlords.

As for cigarettes, Wu Changqing wants to support them and encourage people to grow tobacco.

Because growing tobacco is highly profitable, it can greatly increase people’s income. As for the grain problem caused by growing too much tobacco, this can be solved by selling the tobacco abroad and then buying grain back from foreign countries.

Wu Changqing plans to get the cigarette rolling machine out, so that cigarettes can be manufactured in large quantities, greatly increasing production and reducing costs.

As long as the cost is low, foreign cigarettes will not be able to compete with the cigarettes they manufacture. Then, they can dump them to seize the market, monopolize the global market, and achieve great wealth.

This is what Europe did to other places in history. Europe relied on the Industrial Revolution to greatly reduce the cost of goods and then dump them globally.

And now, it’s Wu Changqing’s turn to do this. In the future, if any country or region dares to prohibit the inflow of his goods, he can also send a fleet to attack the other party and then sign a so-called fair trade treaty.

In fact, how can there be fair trade between industrial and agricultural countries?

Chapter 189: Mining Capital

Wu Changqing continued to stroll through the streets, savoring the authentic life of hundreds of years ago.

After wandering for a while, he ran into Sun Daoming at a rice shop.

It seemed like a chance encounter, but Sun Daoming was deliberately waiting there.

The porcelain shop Wu Changqing had visited earlier was actually owned by Sun Daoming.

The shopkeeper hired by the Sun family had recognized Wu Changqing and reported the news to Sun Daoming.

Then Sun Daoming came to his own rice shop to create a chance encounter.

He put in a lot of effort just to meet Wu Changqing and see if there was an opportunity to snag one or two cooperative projects.

The Tong family’s BMW carriage business, the Chen family’s perfume and soap shop, and the Wu family’s cloth factory were all businesses that Sun Daoming envied. He also wanted to squeeze in and get a piece of the pie.

Not only him, but other merchants in Nanjing had the same idea, but they were just struggling to find a way.

“Greetings, Duke.”

Sun Daoming quickly saluted, and Wu Changqing gestured for him not to stand on ceremony. Along the way, he had been recognized several times, but those who recognized him guessed that he was traveling incognito, so they were all sensible enough not to make a big fuss.

“What’s the price of rice here?”

Wu Changqing asked, grabbing a handful of rice.

“Reporting to the Governor-General, the rice here is divided into several price ranges according to the quality and taste. Top-grade rice is about five qian of silver per shi, medium-grade rice is four qian of silver per shi, and low-grade rice only costs three qian of silver per shi.”

Sun Daoming didn’t dare to lie in order to curry favor. He was telling the truth about the prices.

The reason he dared to say this was mainly because his rice price was fully twenty percent cheaper than in the north. This price was already very generous to Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing looked at the three types of rice separately and found that the top-grade quality rice had large and full grains. The medium-grade rice also had large grains, but the shape was rounder, and the taste was slightly worse.

The low-grade rice had fine, broken grains, some even rice flour, with some rice bran mixed in. This was because the rice milling technology was backward, resulting in too much crushing.

In later generations, this kind of rice was generally used to feed chickens and ducks. People would definitely not want to eat it.

“What is the rice milling tool, and how is the rice milled so finely, and the rice bran not cleaned properly?”

Wu Changqing asked. He hadn’t paid attention to this aspect and didn’t really know how ancient people milled rice.

“Reporting, Your Excellency, it is a water-powered stone mill. Because the water flow is sometimes turbulent and sometimes gentle, the power is unstable, resulting in this kind of rice grain. This kind of inferior rice with a small amount of rice bran is actually the favorite of the common people because it is cheap.”

Sun Daoming’s words surprised Wu Changqing a little. He thought that the tools of this era were all purely handmade, but he didn’t expect that the ancients had already used water power on a large scale.

But thinking about it, it was easy to understand. For a large grain merchant like Sun Daoming, who sells millions of jin of grain every year, how long would it take to mill rice purely by hand?

“This rice milling technology is too backward. One day I will get a set of more advanced rice milling machines to reduce the cost of rice milling.”

Wu Changqing said. He now urgently needed to manufacture a large number of machines in order to release more labor.

Don’t look at the fact that there are nearly ten million people in his jurisdiction, but human resources are very scarce because most people have to farm. Only by releasing more labor can the establishment of various large factories be promoted.

Sun Daoming was secretly surprised when he heard this. Water-powered rice milling was already a very advanced rice milling technology. In the north or other places lacking rivers, they still used donkeys or manpower.

However, such advanced technology was backward in Wu Changqing’s eyes, and he even said that he would create more advanced machines.

What kind of machine was that? Sun Daoming couldn’t imagine it.

If someone else had said this, he would have couldn’t help but mock them a few times.

However, the person saying this now was Wu Changqing, and he didn’t dare to have a trace of doubt. After all, Wu Changqing had created enough miracles. It didn’t seem like a big deal to have another magical rice milling machine.

“Duke, your heart is with the people, truly a blessing for the people. Manufacturing this machine probably costs a lot, and I am willing to contribute my meager strength. Just give me one to use after the Duke manufactures the machine.”

Sun Daoming said. Of course, he didn’t have too much money to spend. He mainly wanted to sell Wu Changqing a favor. As long as he participated in the investment, Wu Changqing would definitely be embarrassed to leave him out when the machine was made.

Judging from Wu Changqing’s previous behavior, he was obviously not a stingy person.

“Oh, it seems that your business is doing pretty well, making a lot of money. Since you have assets, I happen to have a few projects that require a lot of investment, you can consider it. Maybe it won’t let you make a lot of money, but making a little money is no problem.”

Wu Changqing needed a lot of upfront investment to make matches, salt, and cigarettes, but he didn’t have that much spare money. His money had to be used to support the army first.

Because he set relatively low taxes, the taxes he received were far from enough to support the army. He relied on the profits from perfumes, soaps, and cloth to maintain it.

However, the income brought to him by those commodities was only enough to maintain the army and administrative system. If he wanted to invest in other aspects, he had to find a way to raise funds from the people.

His low-tax policy was not well understood by Gu Yanwu, Qian Qianyi, Ruan Dacheng and others, because it was completely unnecessary.

Even if taxes were increased a little, the people of Jiangnan would still be able to survive. The taxes in other places were much higher than in the areas under their rule.

In times of war, expanding the army and unifying the world were the most important things. For this goal, it was understandable to sacrifice some people appropriately.

At least, Qian Qianyi and others could understand.

However, Wu Changqing firmly refused to increase taxes and kept trying to reduce the pressure on the people.

It must be said that in terms of the people, no ruler in the world today has done as well as Wu Changqing.

This has also led to Wu Changqing’s regime being relatively poor, relying entirely on the profits of those new commodities to support it.

However, in Wu Changqing’s territory, the people and merchants were richer than in other places. Those people were not short of money. Some large landlords and merchants had at least tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of taels of silver buried in their cellars.

This money has no meaning buried in the cellar. It only has meaning when it is dug out and put into the market to circulate.

Therefore, Wu Changqing encouraged commerce and encouraged invention and creation, just to get those large landlords and merchants to invest money in the market.

“Serving the Duke, how dare I covet profits? As long as I don’t lose money, I will do my best to assist you, sir.”

Sun Daoming suppressed the joy in his heart and expressed his loyalty.

Not to mention that there was still a little money to be made, he would agree even if he lost money.

Didn’t you see the Tong family? They were willing to squander their entire fortune to tinker with that unprofitable cement, just to gain Wu Changqing’s favor and support, and then obtain the production and operation rights of BMW cars.

The current BMW car business has long angered countless merchants, with hundreds of times the profit. Which merchant wouldn’t vomit blood when they saw it? There is a kind of profitable business called someone else’s business.

Chapter 190: The Bidding

A few days later, Wu Changqing convened what was perhaps the first bidding conference in human history at the Governor-General’s office.

He invited all the wealthy merchants with real clout in the city and presented them with proposed investment projects. He announced that he would award the projects to whoever offered the highest investment and the best business plan.

Having previously made a promise to Sun Daoming, Wu Changqing had also sent someone to give him a heads-up about the rice milling machine project, letting him know the bottom line so he could take the initiative during the bidding process.

Of course, if someone offered significantly better terms than Sun Daoming, Wu Changqing wouldn’t be blamed. As a dignified Governor-General, giving Sun Daoming a little inside information was already a great favor.

In the Governor-General’s hall, numerous merchants had gathered, each with a smile and anticipation on their faces.

Before coming, they had been informed that Wu Changqing had some lucrative business opportunities to offer them.

Lucrative business opportunities? Perfume? Soap? BMW cars?

They had witnessed too many of Wu Changqing’s money-making ventures. Hearing that they had a chance to get involved in these businesses, how could they not be happy?

They had been envious of the Chen family, the Tong family, and the Wu family for more than just a day or two.

This time, they wouldn’t miss the opportunity again.

“Shopkeeper Cui, haven’t you already invested heavily in the perfume business? Why are you here competing with us for new business? Can’t you leave us some soup to drink?”

A merchant named Han Sanli, who had a decent relationship with Cui Mingchong, complained. Cui Mingchong had previously obtained the perfume distribution rights for the Nanjing region thanks to his contribution to Wu army’s capture of the city.

Although he only earned profits from terminal sales, the profit margin wasn’t low, and many people were envious.

And now, Cui Mingchong was here again. Not only was Cui Mingchong here, but even Tong Youwei had come, putting a lot of pressure on the other merchants. This was another situation of too many wolves and not enough meat. They couldn’t compete with Tong Youwei in terms of connections, so you could imagine how unfavorable the situation would be later.

“Shopkeeper Han, you’re mistaken. Duke wants to vigorously develop the industrial and commercial sectors, which requires capital investment. I am deeply indebted to Duke, and my family still has some meager assets. How can I hide at home and not come out to support Duke’s policies at this time?”

Cui Mingchong’s words sounded righteous and awe-inspiring, but no one else believed a single word of it.

“Shopkeeper Cui, you should save your little bit of money. Duke’s affairs don’t need you to worry about. With so many of us here, we are more than capable of sharing Duke’s burdens.”

Another wealthy merchant named Pang Yuanming retorted impolitely.

Pang Yuanming was among the top three wealthiest men in Nanjing, so he could afford to be arrogant in front of Cui Mingchong.

Cui Mingchong was too lazy to argue with him, as everything would depend on their abilities later.

“Shopkeeper Li, how much silver taels have you prepared for this competition?”

“Not much, not much, only three hundred thousand taels. What about you, Brother Yu?”

“I can’t compare to Shopkeeper Li, I’ve only prepared two hundred thousand taels.”

The two exchanged a few pleasantries with smiles, but secretly sneered in their hearts. Neither of them was foolish enough to believe each other’s words. They were both trying to probe the other’s bottom line.

If they knew their opponent’s trump card, they could gain an advantage during the bidding process.

For example, if the opponent only had three hundred thousand taels, then promising to invest three hundred and fifty thousand taels during the bidding would greatly increase the chances of winning.

If they didn’t know their opponent’s trump card, it would be troublesome. Bidding three hundred and fifty thousand taels would make them worry that it wasn’t enough, while bidding too much would be wasteful or beyond their financial capabilities.

Everyone’s money didn’t come from thin air. Naturally, it would be best to succeed in the bidding with the least amount of money.

But if they didn’t know their opponent’s trump card and they particularly wanted to win the bid, they could only bid as high as possible.

There were many merchants like Shopkeeper Li and Shopkeeper Yu who were trying to probe others, but everyone’s intelligence was about the same, so it was very difficult to extract the other party’s bottom line.

Merchants with strong financial resources, such as Tong Youwei, Sun Daoming, and Pang Yuanming, disdained to do so. Anyway, they had abundant financial resources, so they could just bid a little higher.

In any case, once those monopolized businesses were on the right track, they would eventually be able to earn the money back.

In short, because of Tong Youwei’s success, the merchants in the Nanjing region now had great trust in Wu Changqing.

This was the first time they had ever seen a ruler who would constantly try to help merchants make money.

After waiting for a while, Wu Changqing finally arrived in the hall, bringing with him some novel things that the others had never seen before.

“Everyone, I’m quite busy, so I won’t waste time with unnecessary pleasantries. The only purpose of this bidding is to get rich together. I provide the technology, and you provide the silver. We’ll share the profits.”

Wu Changqing said straightforwardly.

Then, he took out the first item: a box of matches.

Wu Changqing demonstrated the use of matches in front of everyone.

Seeing the small wooden stick burst into flames with a light scratch on the sandpaper, everyone widened their eyes, too surprised to speak.

This method of making fire was so convenient, it was simply unbelievable. How much effort would the common people save in the future?

Wu Changqing continued to introduce: “This thing is called a match. It is made by dipping small wooden sticks in a certain proportion of sulfur, white phosphorus, and other substances. It can burn with just a scratch on this specially made sandpaper.

I don’t need to say more about the function of this thing, everyone should be able to imagine it. After mass production, the cost of one match is about twenty for one cash. I require the selling price to be ten for one cash, which means the profit for ten matches is one cash.

Moreover, this price is only limited to my jurisdiction. As for selling them to the north, south, or overseas, whether you sell them for one cash or one hundred cash, it all depends on your ability.

I only have one requirement: priority should be given to supplying my army. After supplying my army, you are free to dispose of the remaining portion. Those who are interested can think about it first, and then come and bid later.”

Compared to tinder sticks, these matches used ordinary wooden sticks, and the raw materials were much cheaper. With large-scale mass production, the cost was more than fifty times lower than that of tinder sticks.

However, because Wu Changqing wanted to benefit the people, he limited the selling price, so the profit from this thing wasn’t actually high. The profit was only one cash for ten matches, and half of that had to be given to Wu Changqing.

If you want to make money, the main thing is to see if this thing sells well in the north, south, or even overseas. Only by selling to those places can you make big money.

In short, this was a good business, but it was still much worse than perfume and soap, mainly because this was for poor people.

In this era, it was too difficult to earn money from the poor. You still had to earn money from the rich, especially the women of wealthy families.

If he wasn’t afraid of damaging his reputation, Wu Changqing would have liked to directly produce sanitary napkins and underwear. But if he really produced these things, he didn’t know what others would think of him.

Therefore, for the sake of his reputation, Wu Changqing would rather let those women suffer than come up with such inventions, and could only wait for other friends of women to have a flash of inspiration.

Chapter 191: A Pile of Goodies

After understanding the cost of the matches, many merchants began to calculate in their minds, figuring out the maximum profit that could be made and how much investment would be worthwhile.

These people were definitely the most skilled mathematicians of this era.

Only merchants like them needed to do so much calculation.

Afterward, Wu Changqing unveiled a piece of red cloth, revealing a letterpress printing machine and some lead type models.

The current printing technology was still stuck on woodblock printing, and even movable type printing had not been widely adopted. This was because movable type printing still had some flaws, such as the poor quality of the printed books and the blurry characters.

In short, printing technology at the time was costly and inefficient, which was very detrimental to the spread of culture.

Wu Changqing simply brought out the letterpress printing machine. The technical content of this machine was actually not very high, basically the same as movable type printing, the only difference being the use of lead type instead of clay or wood type.

The lead type with a metal surface had a very good effect when printing, producing very clear prints.

Of course, the letterpress printing machine also had its drawbacks, namely the difficulty of making the type. Especially since they were still using traditional characters, carving on thumb-sized lead blocks required a high level of skill.

To ensure smooth printing, a printing machine had to have at least six or seven thousand commonly used Chinese characters prepared. Moreover, frequently used characters needed to be printed in large quantities, such as characters like ‘的得地’ (de, dé, dì - possessive, obtain, ground), an article would have dozens of them, to say the least.

A set of printing machines had to prepare fifty to sixty thousand lead characters in order to print completely.

The cost of carving a single lead character was about one hundred cash, which meant that the lead characters alone would cost five to six thousand taels of silver. Adding the machine itself, as well as the paper and ink used, it would cost about seven to eight thousand taels of silver.

In short, this thing was very expensive.

However, after Wu Changqing demonstrated and introduced the letterpress printing machine, many merchants were tempted, even more so than with the matches.

The reason was simple: it was easy to make money from scholars.

Although there were often so-called poor scholars, in reality, the scholar group was several levels wealthier than the common people.

First of all, poor scholars were only a small minority. Most scholars either came from landlord families or gentry families. In short, they were not short of money.

Moreover, compared to passing the imperial examination and entering officialdom, the small investment in reading was completely worthwhile.

The efficiency of this printing machine was too high. With more books printed, the cost would be spread out and not be high. In short, it was very profitable.

Compared to matches, everyone preferred this letterpress printing machine.

After seeing the letterpress printing machine, Wu Changqing took them to the backyard, where there was a pond. Wu Changqing was going to show them the steam engine.

Everyone looked at the huge iron lump, which was more than one person tall and covered more than one square meter, each with a thoughtful look, as if guessing the role of this iron lump.

“Gentlemen, look carefully, this is a water pump made by students in my university.”

Wu Changqing gave an order, and then a craftsman began to operate, adding coal to the boiler and water to the tank.

As the coal continued to burn, the water in the tank boiled and turned into steam, pushing the piston and the wheel.

Immediately afterward, water sprayed out of a cowhide pipe, almost blinding everyone. This was also thanks to having seen other novel things before, no longer as ignorant as before.

Otherwise, seeing this situation of water flowing upwards, they would have shouted a few words about ghosts.

“This thing is called a steam engine. It can convert internal energy into mechanical energy. If you don’t know what internal energy and mechanical energy are, go home and ask the children studying at the university.

In short, this thing can greatly save manpower. The steam engine you see now has a small power, only about fifty horsepower. However, under this horsepower, this pool can be drained in less than two hours. Operating this steam engine only requires five or six skilled workers. You can imagine how long it would take five or six people to drain this pool using the previous method.

This steam engine has a wide range of applications. One of the first things I plan to do next is to open a large number of salt fields in Songjiang.”

As soon as Wu Changqing said this, the other merchants immediately understood the value of the steam engine.

The reason why salt production costs were so high was that it was difficult to obtain seawater and difficult to boil seawater, requiring a lot of manpower.

With this steam engine, seawater could be continuously extracted by burning coal, and the labor costs would be greatly reduced.

Now, making salt by manpower was already a lucrative business. If this machine was used to pump water and make salt, wouldn’t the price of salt plummet?

Many merchants were shocked beyond compare. This steam engine was simply a guillotine placed on the necks of other salt merchants.

With this machine, where would other salt merchants have a way to survive?

Many people turned their attention to Pang Yuanming, because he was the only one among them who sold salt.

However, Pang Yuanming did not panic as the other merchants expected, but was quite calm.

Pang Yuanming was so shrewd. Although this machine would have a great impact on salt merchants, wasn’t it also an opportunity? If he could monopolize these machines, wouldn’t he be able to drive other salt merchants into bankruptcy with low salt prices?

When the time came, he would be the only one, and even if the salt price was sold lower, he could still make a lot of money.

Pang Yuanming had already made up his mind that the steam engine business must belong to him. Anyone who dared to compete with him would be an irreconcilable enemy.

“I want to remind you that investing in steam engines is a bottomless pit. The people at the university are still constantly improving the machine, which costs a lot. People with insufficient financial resources should not easily get involved, otherwise, it will be easy to not last until the time of making money.

Moreover, the steam engines that will be built in the future will also be given priority to the navy and some other places where the army can use them, and then they can be used for commercial purposes.

Of course, as long as you invest in this project, you can enjoy the exclusive right to produce salt in the future. I think you should be able to measure the profits in this.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile. He didn’t make it too clear in this regard, in order to make it easier to trick them in the future.

After they invested the money and improved the machine, Wu Changqing would issue a salt price standard.

In short, he would let these merchants make money, but he would not let these merchants become rich. He had the means to control it. As long as the army was in his hands, those merchants would not be able to do anything even if they found out that they had been tricked.

Of course, this was not really a trick. At least, Wu Changqing would give them a return of no less than fifty percent, which was already a very good profit.

If they didn’t cooperate with him, it would be even more miserable. If Pang Yuanming didn’t cooperate with him, then Pang Yuanming’s business would not be able to continue and he would go bankrupt.

In comparison, it was quite good to cooperate with Wu Changqing to earn that fifty percent profit.

Chapter 192: Steelmaking Technology

Besides matches, the letterpress printing press, and the steam engine, Wu Changqing successively introduced several other small inventions to the group, such as soda and cigarettes, all of which were good things that could change human life.

After these gadgets, the final highlight Wu Changqing brought out was steelmaking technology.

The importance of steel to a country is self-evident. In later generations, steel production could be directly used to measure a country’s strength.

Its accuracy is more reliable than the so-called GDP. The so-called GDP varies greatly in its statistical methods from country to country. In India, even the cow dung of each cow is converted into GDP.

In China, only the major income is generally counted, and some small, fragmented GDP is too lazy to count.

In some European and American countries, a haircut costs one hundred euros, so this one hundred euros will also be counted when calculating GDP. However, in China, a haircut on the street costs only five or ten yuan.

Therefore, GDP cannot really explain the problem. Russia’s GDP is not as good as South Korea’s, but ten South Koreas combined are not enough for Russia to fight.

Steel production, however, could directly measure a country’s strength during World War I and World War II. A country with high steel production must have strong military strength.

When Britain dominated, its steel production once reached half of the world’s total. When the United States later dominated, its steel production once reached two-thirds of the world’s total.

Whether it is infrastructure or the manufacture of various machines and weapons, the most important and basic material is steel.

Steelmaking technology can be called the foundation of a nation.

Wu Changqing wanted to vigorously develop steelmaking technology, but this is an industry that requires high investment. Unless he unifies the country now, he will not be able to come up with the money to develop it.

Helpless, he could only let these merchants collectively invest and establish a joint-stock company.

He was responsible for the technology and production operations, and other merchants provided the money, waiting for dividends.

Wu Changqing was not comfortable letting other merchants participate in this core secret, fearing that it would be leaked.

Wu Changqing didn’t care much if things like matches and letterpress printing presses were leaked, because that stuff couldn’t quickly help a force improve its national strength.

But steelmaking technology could, at least to re-equip the army.

After steel is mass-produced, the manufacturing cost of armor can be greatly reduced, and the army can be equipped on a large scale.

This kind of business with only dividends is certainly not as cost-effective as investing in matches and cigarettes. However, there were only eight such cost-effective businesses, but there were sixteen or seventeen merchants present.

This meant that some people would definitely not win the bid, so investing in steelmaking became their only option.

Investing in steelmaking not only could earn a little money, but also could gain Wu Changqing’s favor, which was not bad. If they gained Wu Changqing’s favor, they might be able to obtain a priority the next time there were any inventions.

The steelmaking technology that Wu Changqing came up with was the Bessemer converter process, which was the most advanced steelmaking technology in history in 1885, leading this era by more than two hundred years.

This technology enables steel to be mass-produced on a large scale, not in quantities of a few tons or dozens of tons, but in quantities of thousands or tens of thousands of tons.

The cost of steel made in this way is a fraction of what it currently is.

Of course, in order to unlock this entire set of related technologies, and to exchange some necessary machine parts, Wu Changqing also spent a lot of money this time, a full three hundred thousand tech points and twenty thousand resource points.

Among them, the Bessemer converter process technology only requires one hundred thousand tech points, which is not particularly expensive. But to get this whole set of supporting technologies out, it costs so much.

Coking, oxygen production, billet making, hot rolling…

This is just simple steelmaking. If you want to make a mobile phone, there are even more supporting technologies. Chips, semiconductors, picture tubes, wireless signal reception…

This is just the technological cost.

If you want to build these machines, you have to invest a lot of silver. Some machine parts with high technological content cannot be manufactured at the current material level at all, and Wu Changqing can only directly exchange them with resource points.

He exchanged a total of one hundred sets of core parts, preparing to build one hundred steel production lines.

If the plan is successfully completed, the annual steel production can reach ten thousand tons.

In this era, this output is definitely crushing the world and dominating the globe. When other people’s navies are still using wooden sailing ships, if they drive a steel giant ship over, they can directly make the other party cry.

After introducing everything, Wu Changqing asked everyone to go back and consider and study which industry to invest in. After deciding, they also had to write a bidding plan, explaining their business ideas.

The amount of investment is only one of the criteria for Wu Changqing to select a plan. He also wants to see the other party’s business strategy.

For example, in the manufacture of matches, if one party’s strategy is to give priority to supplying the north, south, or foreign countries, and the other party’s strategy is to give priority to supplying the local Southern Metropolitan Region, then Wu Changqing will choose the latter.

The former is simply making money, while the latter has not forgotten to bring a convenient life to the local people while making money.

If it is handed over to the former to operate, then the lives of the people in the north will be more convenient than here, which will obviously make the local people feel unbalanced.

Just like Moutai in later generations is sold cheaper abroad than in China, ordinary people cannot understand the meaning of earning foreign exchange. They only know that they are at a disadvantage.

The common people in this period certainly cannot understand the meaning of earning the wealth of other regimes. They will only feel that they cannot use the matches made by their dynasty, but the enemies can.

As a ruler, Wu Changqing needs to take care of too many things and cannot simply focus on profit.

The bidding conference came to an end, and many merchants returned home.

What they saw and heard that day made them shocked, delighted, and worried.

What was surprising was the mystery of these inventions. These things that were enough to change society were really incredible and refreshed their worldview.

This time, they truly felt the importance of the knowledge in the university hall.

What was gratifying was that these things could bring huge commercial profits. The profit of almost every item was several times or dozens of times, which was much better than their current business.

What they were worried about was naturally that others would take away these businesses. After all, there were more wolves than meat, and someone would win the bid and someone would fail.

How to bid and how much to invest are all issues they need to think about in detail. In short, they definitely have no time to sleep tonight.

Not only them, but even the core members of their families must be summoned to discuss together.

This is a major event that determines whether the family can prosper for decades, and it must not be taken lightly.

Chapter 193: The Inner Courtyard of the Residence

To win the bid, everyone was displaying their unique abilities, borrowing money, finding partners, and studying bidding strategies…

Of course, some people would also resort to unconventional methods.

Governor-General’s Residence, back courtyard.

The back courtyard was often very lively. One faction was led by Chen Yuyan and consisted of young women. They were either playing mahjong, painting, listening to opera, or listening to novels.

From Tang poetry and Song lyrics to Yuan opera and Ming novels, opera and novels were already very popular during this period. Three of the Four Great Classical Novels had already been published, as well as The Plum in the Golden Vase.

Of course, these were not the kinds of stories Chen Yuyan and her group liked to listen to. They preferred some lesser-known novels that described love and romance.

The other faction was led by Madam Liao, consisting of middle-aged and elderly women.

Their daily activities almost exclusively revolved around chatting. They were still a bit reserved about playing mahjong, feeling it was not quite dignified enough.

As for novels about love and romance, they turned up their noses at them. They might be slightly interested in novels about family ethics or the relationships between mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law in large mansions.

On this day, Madam Min, the wife of Qian Taoli, the Vice Minister of Revenue; Madam Chen, the wife of Qian Qianyi; Madam Liu, the wife of Sun Daoming; and Madam Mi, the wife of Tong Youwei, were accompanying Madam Liao for a chat.

They were all wives of powerful and influential figures, forming an upper-class circle.

“Old Madam, it’s been more than half a year since the Governor-General got married, right? Why isn’t Madam Chen’s belly showing any signs of activity? For someone like the Governor-General, having offspring is very important. Has the Old Madam ever thought about taking in another concubine to try?”

It was Madam Min who spoke. Her daughter had been shamelessly clamoring to marry Wu Changqing as a concubine back in Suzhou, but she hadn’t found a good opportunity to bring it up.

Now that Chen Yuyan hadn’t gotten pregnant, she had found a breakthrough.

“He did take in a concubine himself, but her belly isn’t showing any signs of activity either. It’s worrying me to death.”

Madam Liao sighed. She now had no worries about food and clothing, enjoyed wealth and luxury, and her son was successful. Her life seemed perfect.

However, she also had a headache, which was that Wu Changqing still didn’t have any children.

Although Wu Changqing wasn’t old, only seventeen years old.

However, as the leader of an army of over one hundred thousand soldiers, it was still quite strange not to have any descendants.

As a mother, Madam Liao was eager to have a grandson. Mainly because life was too boring, and the other children had already grown up. Without a grandson to dote on, she always felt like she had nothing to do.

“Just take in a few more concubines. With more people trying, one or two will eventually get pregnant.”

Madam Min said. The other women looked at Madam Min thoughtfully, guessing her intentions.

Although they often chatted about useless things, sometimes the things they talked about carried some purpose.

Like now, they all vaguely saw Madam Min’s intentions.

However, they didn’t expose her, as that would only offend her. Moreover, once Madam Liao accepted this suggestion, they could also find a way to recommend someone.

Marrying into the Wu family was a sure win. If they were the first to give birth to the eldest son, that would be even better.

Among the women present, some of their families might not have suitable women of age, but that wasn’t a problem. They were all large families with at least a hundred members, and even more with distant relatives. There was always someone suitable.

There were definitely women of age, but the key was whether they were beautiful or not. They wouldn’t dare to present someone who wasn’t beautiful.

“That makes sense. It’s reasonable to take in a few more. Do you have anyone suitable to recommend?”

Madam Liao actually vaguely guessed Madam Min’s intentions, but she didn’t care. She only cared about whether she could have a grandson as soon as possible.

“Old Madam, now that you mention it, I remember that I have a niece who is sixteen this year. She’s so beautiful that she’s no less than the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River. Moreover, she’s proficient in everything from music and chess to calligraphy and painting.”

Before Madam Min could promote her daughter, Madam Liu from the Sun family promoted her own relative first.

Although it wasn’t Sun’s own daughter, taking a concubine wasn’t like marrying a wife. There was no need to pay too much attention to matching social status. The main thing was to see if she knew how to serve people and if Wu Changqing liked her.

Therefore, Madam Liu seized the opportunity. If they could successfully form a marriage alliance, their family would have a backer for their business.

“Proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting? That’s not bad. She must be a quiet person. Unlike the first wife, who is too wild.”

Madam Liao inadvertently expressed some dissatisfaction with Chen Yuyan, feeling that Chen Yuyan often played mahjong with those people, being loud and undignified.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t said he didn’t care, she would have reprimanded her properly. It was too outrageous.

Madam Min’s heart skipped a beat when she heard this, because her daughter, Qian Ruyu, was the same type of person as Chen Yuyan, always playing around all day long.

It seemed that Madam Liao didn’t like this type of girl, so her chances were much smaller.

The women continued chatting, and many of them mentioned who in their family was beautiful and well-behaved, which made the Old Madam quite tempted. They agreed that they would bring those suitable juniors to see her tomorrow.

Ordinary people might not see the appearance of their future wife or concubine before marrying them, but that wouldn’t happen to powerful and influential people. They had the means to meet and inspect the goods first.

At night, a maid leaked the news that the Old Madam was going to take concubines for Wu Changqing to Chen Yuyan, making Chen Yuyan nervous.

She could more or less guess the reason why the Old Madam was eager to take concubines for Wu Changqing, which was that she hadn’t gotten pregnant yet.

But there was no use in rushing this kind of thing. She could only leave it to fate.

The only thing she could do was to take some folk remedies and tonics. And she had to eat them secretly, without Wu Changqing knowing, because Wu Changqing didn’t approve of her doing this.

The Old Madam and Chen Yuyan were both anxious, but only Wu Changqing wasn’t.

At his age, he would still be in high school in later generations, drooling over the class beauty. Having children was really too early.

“Miss, what should we do? There will be more vixens soon. You should quickly act spoiled with Master and ask him not to take in so many concubines.”

Zihe said anxiously.

“Shut up, don’t talk nonsense. Wouldn’t others say that I’m jealous?”

Chen Yuyan scolded.

No matter how many concubines Wu Changqing took, she would always be the first wife, and her position could not be shaken. Even if the other concubines had children, they would have to call her mother and call their birth mother aunt.

But if she prevented Wu Changqing from taking concubines, or used any vicious means to deal with those concubines, then her husband would have a reason and excuse to divorce her.

Chapter 194: Taking Concubines

The next day, when Wu Changqing returned home, he was summoned to the backyard by Madam Liao.

In the backyard, besides Madam Liao and some other middle-aged women, there were also several young and beautiful girls. Among them was Qian Ruyu, whom he recognized.

Each of these girls was meticulously dressed, giving off a stunning impression at first glance.

Wu Changqing had seen many beautiful women by now, so he didn’t have too many thoughts about these beauties. It could also be because he could easily obtain most beauties now, so ordinary beauties couldn’t move his heart.

It was said that what you can’t get is always the best. What he could get easily, he wasn’t interested in. If Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang or Chen Yuanyuan were here, he might still give in to his animalistic desires.

“Mother, what do you need me for?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“It’s nothing major. The daughter of the Sun family is very skilled and made some pastries. I tasted them and found them delicious, so I saved a few pieces for you.”

There was indeed a plate of pastries on the stone table, but Wu Changqing wasn’t foolish enough to believe that was the real reason.

Taking another look at the young women, Wu Changqing roughly guessed what was going on.

Wu Changqing was a little speechless. He didn’t expect that even after transmigrating to ancient times, he couldn’t escape the fate of being urged to marry and have children.

Wu Changqing tasted a piece of pastry and found it was indeed very good. He wondered which master craftsman had made it. So he asked, “It’s quite delicious. Who made it?”

A girl stood up and bowed, “Reporting to the Duke, it was made by this humble girl.”

The other girls were now looking at Miss Sun with envy. They knew that Miss Sun had already pleased Madam Liao and Wu Changqing.

“This Miss Sun is not only good at making pastries, but she is also proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. She is a famous talented woman in Nanjing,” Madam Liao added with praise.

“Mother, are you planning to take concubines for me?”

Wu Changqing suddenly said, causing everyone to freeze for a moment.

Although this matter was already obvious, there was no need to point it out. The young women lowered their heads, their faces flushed with embarrassment.

Madam Liao, being an experienced woman, didn’t have such thin skin. She simply admitted, “Indeed, that’s the idea. My son is the dignified Duke, so it’s normal to take a few more concubines. Even some county magistrates and wealthy merchants have three wives and four concubines. You only have a few now.”

In Madam Liao’s opinion, with her son’s abilities, marrying ten or eight wouldn’t be a problem.

Wu Changqing suddenly turned to the women and said, “You all have to think carefully. Being my concubine is not a very happy thing. I have to be busy with official duties all day long. I don’t even have much time to spend with my main wife, let alone concubines. If you marry an ordinary person, you can at least enjoy your husband’s care and affection.”

Wu Changqing sometimes felt that he was a very complex person. Sometimes he would be soft-hearted and wholeheartedly think about the people, respecting others. Other times, he would be very selfish, and would possessively take what he wanted if he met someone he particularly liked.

In short, his identity as a transmigrator, coupled with his current power, made it difficult for him to adapt to this era.

Like now, with his status, he didn’t need to care about whether these women were happy or not. As long as he was happy, that was enough. Moreover, even if he did that, no one would say anything. Instead, they would see it as a very normal thing.

However, because he had been educated in free love, he would occasionally take actions that were very respectful of women.

He didn’t want those people to be unhappy after marrying him, as he would feel somewhat guilty.

Of course, the main reason was that none of these people could drive him crazy. If there were top-quality women like Little Feifei or Da Mimi in front of him, he probably wouldn’t care whether they were willing or not and would definitely take them first.

“Being able to serve the Duke is this little girl’s blessing,” Miss Sun said.

She was actually very curious as to why Wu Changqing would remind them of these things, but that wasn’t important. She had come with a family mission.

As long as she could marry Wu Changqing, her family would receive huge benefits, and her parents, brothers, and sisters would all benefit from it.

Compared to these benefits, her personal happiness seemed insignificant. Suffering a little grievance was her fate.

So, regardless of whether she would be happy in the future, she had to strive to become Wu Changqing’s woman.

“Being able to serve the Duke is this little girl’s blessing,” the others also said one after another.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too. They also knew that marrying Wu Changqing as a concubine might lead to long-term neglect. However, marrying Wu Changqing would at least allow them to enjoy a life of wealth and become superior people.

Just like the gold diggers of later generations, they weren’t foolish enough to think that marrying a rich second generation would bring them true love, but the key was that they could get money.

“What they said makes sense. With the Duke’s status, taking them as concubines is already an elevation for them. There’s no need for companionship. The Duke is overthinking it,” Madam Min and the others also expressed their opinions.

“This matter is up to you, Mother. I still have official duties to attend to,” Wu Changqing said. Anyway, he had said what he needed to say, hoping that these women could calm down. If they insisted on marrying him as concubines, he could only reluctantly accept them.

Anyway, they were all beauties, so he wouldn’t be at a loss.

“Go ahead. I’ll take care of these matters,” Madam Liao said with a smile.

Wu Changqing returned to his study and began to set up the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

In fact, he had wanted to set up this department for a long time, but considering that he hadn’t openly rebelled yet, arbitrarily changing the imperial court’s power structure would make his intentions too obvious.

But now, with more and more major industries, he needed a specialized agency to manage these large enterprises.

Therefore, he forcibly added a Ministry of Commerce to the Six Ministries, changing the six-ministry system to seven ministries.

This decision naturally caused some officials to be surprised, but Wu Changqing’s reason was also very sufficient, because commerce was too important, its importance even surpassing the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice.

Surprise aside, apart from those who were blindly loyal, most officials actually liked Wu Changqing’s decision.

Because adding a ministry was equivalent to adding many official positions, and also adding a Vice Minister of Commerce, which was a high-ranking official of the second rank.

Considering the importance of the Ministry of Commerce, the power of this Vice Minister of Commerce would even be greater than that of the Vice Minister of War, a position that everyone wanted to get their hands on.

Wu Changqing was actually quite troubled by the choice of the Vice Minister of Commerce, because most of his subordinates were traditional officials and there were no economists at all.

To be competent in this position, one had to understand some basic economic laws. If he appointed someone who knew nothing to this position, it would definitely be a hidden danger.

Chapter 195: Hong Chengchou’s Captive Life

Who should I use?

Wu Changqing thought of a very good candidate: Hong Chengchou.

With Hong Chengchou’s intelligence, even if he didn’t understand how to develop the economy, he could quickly get the hang of it and then gradually master it. After all, he had experience governing a region, making him much more suitable than other officials.

Unfortunately, this guy refused to surrender before, so Wu Changqing shelved him.

It must be said that this is a huge waste.

Now, Hong Chengchou is still being held in a house in Nanjing. He doesn’t need to live in a prison cell. After all, he was once the Governor-General of Zhili, so he still enjoys this preferential treatment.

Of course, more importantly, Hong Chengchou’s family paid a ‘food allowance’.

Wu Changqing didn’t send anyone to sell Hong Chengchou to the Qing Dynasty, but he did send people to Hong Chengchou’s home to ask for money, ostensibly for the cost of taking care of Hong Chengchou.

If the Hong family didn’t pay, then they would have to drag Hong Chengchou to the mines to work.

Hong Chengchou has two homes, one in Beijing, where the Qing court rewarded him with a wife and property after his surrender. The other home is in Quanzhou, Fujian, where his mother and first wife live.

However, his mother is also a ruthless person. Since he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, his mother has refused to recognize him as her son, showing great loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the food allowance was scraped together by his wife, Madam Liu, in Beijing, totaling ten thousand taels of silver.

Making money from prisoners has become a tradition of the Wu army.

Because Hong Chengchou is talented, Wu Changqing did not sell him off to the Qing court.

As for some other people who were not very capable and refused to surrender, Wu Changqing generously drew up a list specifically for the Qing court, asking them to pay to redeem them.

At the top of this list was Ajige, Dorgon’s brother. In addition, there were several Qing Princes, Beizi, and generals.

These were all die-hard loyalists of the Qing Dynasty, preferring death to surrender.

Killing them directly would be too wasteful, so Wu Changqing sent an envoy to Beijing.

However, there was no gain.

Dorgon is also a ruthless person, knowing that paying to redeem people is funding the enemy, he stubbornly refused to pay, even for his own brother.

Helpless, the envoy sent by Wu Changqing could only go to those people’s homes to ask for some living expenses, ranging from several hundred to several thousand taels of silver.

They dared not refuse, because the envoy made a threat: those who didn’t pay would be beheaded directly.

Dorgon’s refusal to pay also made some generals feel disheartened.

After all, Wu Changqing gave those surrendered generals a chance to live, but Dorgon didn’t cherish it. It was quite sad to work for such a boss.

In a house in the west of the city, Hong Chengchou was quietly reading the newspaper.

Since being captured, his daily life has been reading books and newspapers.

Because his wife paid a lot of silver, he received more preferential treatment, and even bought textbooks from the university.

The knowledge in them made him feel very interesting. Sometimes he would question and think about the knowledge, and sometimes he would gain something.

In addition to these books, his favorite thing to read was the newspapers from Zhili.

From these newspapers, Hong Chengchou could see a lot of useful information.

For example, some of Wu Changqing’s administrative measures, some war news, and some of Wu Changqing’s intentions.

That day, after reading the latest issue of the newspaper, Hong Chengchou sighed inwardly.

The newspaper said that the Wu army had recovered Anqing and was advancing towards Jiujiang, and it was only a matter of time before they took Jiangxi.

This shows that the Wu army has completely gained the advantage in the South and is on the offensive. The Qing court, before it has recovered its strength, can only temporarily adopt a defensive posture.

In Hong Chengchou’s view, this approach by the Qing court is not appropriate, because he saw Wu Changqing’s terrifying growth rate.

For forces with such a rapid rise, they must use the power of the whole country to fight to the death, and never give the opponent time to develop, but to nip it in the bud.

The longer the opponent develops, the smaller the gap between the two sides’ strength.

As long as Wu Changqing is defeated, there will be no opponents in the world. Hong Chengchou really didn’t care about those Southern Ming courts that were eking out a living.

Unfortunately, the current Qing court still doesn’t know enough about Wu Changqing, and is still thinking about making new weapons first, and expanding the army before the final battle. This idea is obviously wrong.

This world may fall into Wu Changqing’s hands.

Such a thought popped into Hong Chengchou’s mind. Judging from the current situation, Wu Changqing has a good chance.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou had a headache.

He is not willing to spend his days in this house, wasting his life.

Perhaps, in the eyes of the poor, the days when Hong Chengchou doesn’t have to work and has food and drink every day are like the life of a god. However, for a person who was once in a high position, it is very uncomfortable to lose power, and it is very empty and lonely without pursuit.

However, he really couldn’t bring himself to ask Wu Changqing for an official position. To put it bluntly, it’s pretentious; to put it nicely, it’s his pride.

“Old Liu, can you help me submit an article to the newspaper?”

The conflicted Hong Chengchou finally adopted a compromise, choosing to write an article to express his frustration and some changes in his thinking.

In fact, it was hinting to Wu Changqing that I have figured it out, give me an official position.

“Okay, but I can only send it to the newspaper office. It’s hard to say whether they will adopt it or not. You don’t know, the People’s Daily is selling very well in Nanjing now. Many literati and scholars want to publish some articles in the newspaper to increase their reputation. The pages of the People’s Daily have long been snapped up.”

Liu, the centurion in charge of guarding Hong Chengchou, said. He did not neglect Hong Chengchou because he was a prisoner. After all, Hong Chengchou was once the Governor-General of Zhili, a remarkable figure.

No one knows whether this kind of person will make a comeback one day. Just like Qian Qianyi, Dong Tianbao and others, weren’t they Qing army dogs before? But as long as they surrender, they can quickly hold high positions.

What’s more, Hong Chengchou often gave him some rewards when he asked him to buy things, so Liu’s relationship with Hong Chengchou was pretty good.

What Centurion Liu said was the truth. Today’s newspapers are no longer like they were at the beginning, when they needed to beg others to write articles for publication.

Now there are many people who want to publish articles in the newspaper. Some people simply want to become famous and show off their writing skills. Some people want to become officials, so they publish some of their political views and insights in the newspaper, hoping to be appreciated by important people.

With more people wanting to publish articles, positions naturally became popular, and there was a situation where page space was sold.

“Try your best. If it really doesn’t work, use some silver.”

Hong Chengchou said. He knew that advertisements could be placed in the People’s Daily for money, and he thought that he should be able to buy a position to publish an article with money.

Chapter 196: Hong Chengchou’s Defection

“A New Chapter for Heaven and Earth: On the Changes Technology Brings to the World.”

This was the title of an article published by Hong Chengchou in the newspaper, which Wu Changqing also read.

The article summarized the reasons for the Qing army’s defeat in Nanjing, heavily emphasizing the impact of weaponry on warfare. At the same time, he stressed that the Qing army’s failure stemmed from their unjust cause, which prevented them from winning popular support.

These words were essentially a signal to Wu Changqing, indicating his desire to surrender. If he didn’t want to surrender, he wouldn’t have bothered speaking ill of the Qing Dynasty, risking alienating both sides.

As long as he didn’t surrender, his family in Beijing would continue to receive preferential treatment.

However, if these words reached Beijing, his family would immediately face persecution.

Besides condemning the Qing Dynasty, Hong Chengchou also enthusiastically promoted technology and universities, calling them significant changes that would impact heaven and earth.

It had to be said that Hong Chengchou possessed remarkable insight.

Most people, upon seeing the new inventions, would merely marvel at them for a moment and then move on.

But Hong Chengchou saw the profound impact these inventions would have on the world.

For example, cement. In the eyes of ordinary people, it simply made travel more convenient.

However, Hong Chengchou recognized that cement would greatly strengthen the imperial court’s control over local areas. Wherever cement roads were built, the court’s authority would extend.

With such durable roads, the military’s mobility would be greatly enhanced, and logistical support would become easier and more efficient.

Consequently, the difficulty of rebellion in other regions would increase significantly, as the central government could react and respond quickly, leaving no opportunity for local uprisings.

This was unlike the past, where it would take half a month just to transmit news of a rebellion in a certain area, and another half-month to mobilize troops. By the time the army arrived at the rebellious location, the insurgents would have grown from hundreds to tens of thousands.

He had personally experienced this during the suppression of rebellions in the Northwest.

When the army set out, the rebels numbered only a few thousand, but by the time they arrived, the rebels had swelled to tens of thousands, forcing them to flee in disarray.

With cement roads, such situations would be greatly reduced.

Furthermore, the hybrid rice mentioned in the newspaper, in Hong Chengchou’s view, would have a tremendous impact on society if the reports were accurate.

For thousands of years, one of the most pressing issues for the imperial court had been ensuring that the people had enough to eat. If the people were hungry, they would easily be incited to rebellion, threatening the foundation of the dynasty.

If not for the people’s rebellions, which kept the Ming Dynasty busy with suppression, the dynasty wouldn’t have allowed the Manchus to develop and grow strong, and the Ming Dynasty wouldn’t have fallen.

Throughout history, the downfall of every dynasty could ultimately be attributed to the issue of food.

In short, Hong Chengchou had vaguely sensed that the world was undergoing a major transformation.

This kind of keen awareness was not something everyone possessed.

Seeing Hong Chengchou’s change of heart, Wu Changqing decided to formally employ him.

This wasn’t just because he valued Hong Chengchou’s abilities, but also because it would strike a blow to the Qing army’s morale.

If the news of Hong Chengchou’s defection reached the Qing court, many would likely be infuriated to the point of vomiting blood. After all, many within the Qing knew of Hong Chengchou’s capabilities.

Few would deny that his contributions were worth ten thousand soldiers.

Wu Changqing summoned Hong Chengchou again. This time, Hong Chengchou didn’t dare to put on airs like before, as he had gained some understanding of Wu Changqing’s personality. He knew that Wu Changqing disliked pretense and responded better to a soft approach than a hard one.

Putting on a show of integrity in front of Wu Changqing would only result in becoming truly ‘pure and lofty’. On the other hand, shamelessly seeking office and pledging loyalty was something Wu Changqing readily accepted.

For example, Ruan Dacheng, Qian Qianyi, and others, who were often criticized as traitors who had harmed the country, were employed by Wu Changqing without hesitation.

“This sinful subject greets General Wu.”

Hong Chengchou performed a kneeling bow. For someone of his status and position, offering his knees was equivalent to offering his loyalty.

“There’s no need to dwell on the past. Let’s talk about your views on commerce. What kind of commerce can create wealth and promote social development?”

Wu Changqing got straight to the point. This was his usual approach when meeting with subordinates—no unnecessary chatter.

Hong Chengchou knew that Wu Changqing was testing him, and his answer would determine his future position. Therefore, Hong Chengchou carefully considered the question for a while, and Wu Changqing didn’t rush him.

After a moment, Hong Chengchou finally spoke, “The essence of commerce is the exchange of goods, it does not create wealth, but it can improve people’s lives. For example, fishermen by the sea may be tired of eating fish, while in some inland areas, even a single serving of fish is a luxury.

Through the exchange of goods between the two regions, fishermen can enjoy fruits, and inland residents can enjoy fish…”

Hong Chengchou’s explanation was based on his own knowledge and experience, and overall, it was barely correct.

However, Wu Changqing directly commented, “Wrong. Commerce can also create wealth, and that is through large-scale production. A craftsman needs to master skills such as shaping, firing, and painting to create a porcelain piece, and it takes a considerable amount of time to produce one.

However, with large-scale production, a craftsman only needs to master one of these skills, greatly reducing the time spent on training and learning. It may take one craftsman one hundred days to produce one hundred porcelain pieces, but it only takes one hundred craftsmen half a day to produce one hundred porcelain pieces. This saved time is also a form of wealth.”

Industrialization, large-scale production, and assembly lines were the right ways to reduce costs. Few people in this era could see this clearly, and Wu Changqing was too lazy to wait for Hong Chengchou to figure it out, so he told him directly.

“What the General says is true. I am enlightened.”

Hong Chengchou pondered Wu Changqing’s words and found them to be quite reasonable.

“I’m planning to establish a Ministry of Commerce recently. You can start as a Vice Minister and assist me in handling the ministry’s affairs. This is a completely new department, and I need you to think more about it.”

Wu Changqing directly assigned him a position: Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, a position of the third rank, two ranks lower than Ruan Dacheng, Gu Yanwu, and others. However, for a surrendered general, this starting point was already very high.

If he were directly given the position of Minister, Gu Yanwu and others would likely feel resentful. Were they risking their lives to rebel and fight for the world, only for a surrendered person to receive better rewards?

Therefore, even if Hong Chengchou’s abilities were stronger than Gu Yanwu’s, he could only start as a Vice Minister.

Moreover, it was highly likely that he would never surpass the status of veteran officials like Gu Yanwu in his lifetime. By the time he became a Minister, Gu Yanwu would probably have already been ennobled.

No matter where you are, seniority always matters.

This was very unfair to those capable juniors, but it was indeed very reasonable for those meritorious veterans.

Chapter 197: Night Talk

Besides Hong Chengchou, Wu Changqing also recruited another historical figure that day: Ma Shiying, the Grand Secretary of the Hongguang era.

Historically, Ma Shiying also died in this year.

After the Hongguang Dynasty fell, Ma Shiying wandered around Zhejiang. Later, after hearing that Wu Yi was still resisting the Qing army at Taihu Lake, he joined Wu Yi’s army.

From this point of view, he was quite loyal.

But now, Wu Yi had already joined Wu Changqing a long time ago, and Ma Shiying’s other good buddy, Ruan Dacheng, was also working under Wu Changqing, so Ma Shiying came over happily after receiving the news.

Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng had a very close relationship and could be regarded as true iron brothers.

Previously, when Ruan Dacheng was demoted to Nanjing, he continued to use his connections to try to make a comeback. He finally got a good position, but because of the strong opposition from the Donglin Party, he had to give the position to his good brother Ma Shiying.

After Ma Shiying supported Prince Fu to ascend the throne and seize power, he immediately returned the favor and promoted his good buddy Ruan Dacheng to Vice Minister of War, and they colluded with each other.

Although neither of them could be considered good people, they were truly unparalleled in terms of loyalty and gratitude, and they spared no effort to help each other.

In short, everyone is actually very complex and cannot be defined by simple labels of good and bad.

This time, after Ruan Dacheng recommended Ma Shiying to Wu Changqing, Wu Changqing also gave him a position as an Assistant Minister of Revenue.

Starting as an Assistant Minister was still out of consideration for the fact that he had been the Grand Secretary in the Hongguang court. Generally, famous people who came to join would start from a fifth-rank or fourth-rank official position.

Ma Shiying was also very satisfied with the position of Assistant Minister of Revenue, at least on the surface.

Times had changed. His former title of Grand Secretary was no longer valuable. In Prince Lu’s court, others simply looked down on him.

Otherwise, he would not have come all the way to work under Wu Changqing.

That night, Ma Shiying went to Ruan Dacheng’s residence to thank him.

When the two were happy drinking, they dismissed their servants and talked about political affairs.

“Yaocao (Ma Shiying’s courtesy name), when working under General Wu, you need to remember one thing: you need to distinguish between General Wu and the imperial court, and prioritize General Wu’s interests.”

Ruan Dacheng reminded him, knowing that his brother was a royalist. If he accidentally placed the interests of the Ming Dynasty ahead of the interests of the Wu army, it would be terrible.

Although he wouldn’t lose his official position immediately, he would definitely not be reused in the future and would not be able to enter the core circle of power.

“What does this mean?”

Ma Shiying was shocked. He vaguely sensed Ruan Dacheng’s meaning, but he couldn’t quite believe it.

“Yaocao, what do you think of General Wu as a person?”

Ruan Dacheng answered irrelevantly.

“A dragon among men, a young hero, unbelievable. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would have found it hard to imagine that he had recovered the Zhili region. It is truly embarrassing for us to achieve such achievements at his age.”

Ma Shiying commented, this evaluation was already very high.

However, Ruan Dacheng smiled and said, “Yaocao, you still underestimate General Wu. In the past, I didn’t believe in the Son of Heaven. The Zhu family dynasty wasn’t born to be emperors either. Didn’t Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of Ming start as a monk and eventually achieve imperial achievements?

But now, I believe that there really is a Son of Heaven in this world, and that is General Wu. Like Emperor Zhu of Ming, he is a figure who combines great luck and great wisdom.”

Ruan Dacheng’s words shocked Ma Shiying again. He didn’t expect Ruan Dacheng to rate Wu Changqing so highly, even comparing him to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Didn’t this mean that Wu Changqing was going to rebel and become emperor, and his old brother actually supported it?

“Perhaps you won’t believe my words now, but as long as you stay in Nanjing for a while longer, you will understand what I mean. He is too smart and knows too much. The means of frequently transferring officers and directly distributing military pay to the soldiers firmly controls the military power.

Those intricately structured firearms and those magical perfumes and soaps were all invented by him.

Moreover, it’s not just about inventing these things. He even summarized a whole set of academic systems, called it physics and chemistry, and compiled it into a book.

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, even if he was a child prodigy who recognized characters at the age of three, has only studied for more than ten years. Where did he get so much magical knowledge?

Apart from the reincarnation of gods and the descent of stars, I can’t find any other reasonable explanation.”

Originally, Ruan Dacheng was also an atheist and knew that the so-called ghosts and gods were nonsense.

However, some things about Wu Changqing, he could no longer understand with common sense, so he could only attribute it to the gods.

“This is indeed strange, but maybe he is naturally intelligent and understands everything at a glance. There are such geniuses, but the theory of ghosts and gods is ultimately too illusory.”

Ma Shiying said.

“Okay, I won’t argue with you about whether he is the reincarnation of a god. But I can be sure of one thing: compared to other descendants of the Zhu family, he is definitely more like the Son of Heaven.

Moreover, I can see that he also has this ambition. Therefore, we need to put ourselves in the right position and strive for another meritorious service in supporting the new dynasty. Don’t have any more illusions about the Zhu family dynasty. Ten Zhu Yihai plus ten Zhu Yujian tied together are not enough for him to defeat.

You haven’t seen the army under his command. It is really an invincible army. The Eight Banners are as fragile as disaster victims in front of them. Can you imagine that he can rely on tens of thousands of matchlock soldiers to defeat hundreds of thousands of Qing army cavalry so badly that the Qing army now generally fears the Wu army. In the south, one Liu Hansan can chase Fang Guoan and beat him, and their military strength is completely on different levels.”

Only to a truly good buddy and brother would Ruan Dacheng be so sincere.

Ma Shiying certainly trusted Ruan Dacheng and sighed slightly in his heart.

He wanted to assist the Zhu family and continue the Ming Dynasty’s reign, so that he could leave a perfect and flawless image of a loyal minister in the history books.

If he relied on Wu Changqing to start a new dynasty, he would be suspected of being a disloyal minister to some extent.

Of course, Ma Shiying also knew that the current Zhu family dynasty was already hopeless, and there was no hope of continuing to be foolishly loyal.

Although it was difficult to leave a perfect image by relying on Wu Changqing, one thing moved him, and that was that Wu Changqing was a Han Chinese.

As long as this world was still the world of the Han people, it didn’t seem to matter too much if someone else became the emperor.

Anyway, since ancient times, no dynasty has been able to last forever. The change of dynasties is normal. As long as it is not ruled by foreign races, it is acceptable.

“Then I will listen to my brother’s words and see if I can strive for another meritorious service in supporting the new dynasty.”

Ma Shiying said. Assisting Prince Fu to ascend the throne was the most glorious moment in his life. He became the Grand Secretary, truly second only to one person and above ten thousand people.

And now, he wanted to be glorious again.

Chapter 198: Naval Encounter

Late April, the main force of the Wu army arrived at Hukou.

The army had already established a large camp and garrisoned at Hukou, while the navy at the mouth of the Yangtze River was attacked by the Qing court’s navy.

The Qing court’s attacking navy consisted of over a hundred large ships, as well as some smaller boats loaded with flammable materials, sailing down the river, charging towards Wu Yi’s navy that had just arrived at the mouth of Poyang Lake.

In naval warfare, the fleet that occupies the upstream position usually has some advantages.

The Qing court also had more troops than Wu Yi’s navy, close to ten thousand men. Wu Yi’s navy only had over six thousand men, and the number of ships was also inferior to the enemy.

In addition, the Qing court’s attack was a surprise, and the Wu army was caught off guard and hastily engaged in battle.

As soon as the two sides made contact, Wu Yi secretly thought something was amiss. Their navy was not like the army, capable of overwhelming the enemy.

Now, facing a surprise attack, the fleet was in great danger.

“Order the fleet to disperse and form a single file formation.”

Wu Yi ordered the fleet to disperse immediately, and also ordered them to open fire, aiming at the fire ships.

Those small boats loaded with flammable materials were specifically used for fire attacks. When approaching the enemy’s fleet, they would set the boats on fire, which could cause great trouble to the downstream fleet.

The main purpose was to create chaos. Once the army had to put out the fire on one hand and fight the enemy on the other, the soldiers would experience great psychological pressure and easily collapse.

During the Battle of Red Cliffs, Zhou Yu’s navy used this tactic against Cao Cao, achieving great results. At that time, Zhou Yu’s fleet was downstream, and originally had no conditions to use fire attacks, but that day, a northwest wind happened to blow, allowing the fire ships to successfully rush into Cao Cao’s fleet.

Now, Wu Yi didn’t have Zhou Yu’s luck, and the heavens didn’t blow a northwest wind, so those fire ships were already rushing towards them with the river’s flow.

Fortunately, their fleet was not tied together and could be dispersed to avoid these fire ships through artificial manipulation.

However, after nearly a hundred large ships were deployed on the vast river surface, the river surface did not seem very spacious.

Therefore, it was unrealistic to completely avoid those fire ships, and some ships would inevitably fail to dodge for various reasons.

Wu Yi’s use of cannons to bombard those fire ships was also a helpless move, better than nothing.

If they could successfully hit and sink the fire ships, they could eliminate the threat. However, with the current accuracy of the artillery, it was not easy to hit those small boats on the river, and they could only rely on luck.

After firing several shots, Wu Yi decisively ordered the artillery to aim at the Qing court’s large ships, preparing to fight the Qing army head-on.

Rather than continuing to bombard those fire ships, it would be better to bombard the soldiers on the enemy ships.

At this time, there was no escape. Those fire ships were faster than their clumsy large ships. Moreover, the Wu army had no tradition of running away. If their navy started this trend, the army would probably laugh at them.

The Wu army’s battles had always relied on the army, and their navy had little sense of existence.

Now that they finally had an opportunity to perform, if they chose to run away, then Wu Yi would have no face to ask Wu Changqing for military expenses to expand the navy in the future.

“Order all units to fetch water and prepare to put out the fire.”

Looking at the dozens of fire ships rushing over, Wu Yi continued to issue orders.

Although they were on the river, fetching water was not easy. The decks of those Fujian ships were far from the river surface, and each time they could only use buckets to fetch water, and the ships also lacked water storage tools.

The fire ships reached the Wu army, and some fire ships passed through the gaps, and the Wu army’s large ships successfully avoided them. However, because there were too many fire ships, several successfully crashed into the Wu army’s large ships.

Wooden sailing ships, the entire ship was flammable. Soon, the fire spread to the Wu army’s large ships, causing great chaos to the soldiers on these ships.

Those soldiers were scrambling to fetch water to put out the fire, and some soldiers with good swimming skills directly went into the water, wanting to sink the enemy’s fire ships.

While chaos appeared in the Wu army, Azali’s navy had already rushed over. They wanted to take advantage of the Wu army’s confusion to catch them off guard, putting the Wu army in a dilemma of defending against the enemy and putting out the fire.

Azali’s idea was beautiful, but the reality was somewhat cruel.

As soon as the fleet approached the Wu army, the Wu army’s ships that were not affected by the fire attack launched an attack, and the soldiers on them began to shoot.

In order to bring more soldiers to increase combat power, the Qing army loaded a large number of soldiers on each ship. Those soldiers were crowded on the deck, and their density was far greater than that of the military formations on land.

Such a dense formation was simply a living target for the Wu army’s riflemen.

As long as the bullets were not shot into the sky or the water, they could easily hit the Qing army.

Azali’s naval warfare experience was not rich either, and his command was executed according to the tactics in the military books. Each ship tried to load as many soldiers as possible in order to gain a numerical advantage in the upcoming boarding battle.

Unfortunately, this approach caused him to suffer significant losses now.

A barrage of bullets flew over, and the soldiers standing in the front row fell down in a large row. The scene was terrifying.

“Shields, bring the shields to the front.”

The commander shouted loudly, but naval battles have always focused on flexibility and lightness, and rarely carry shields, let alone large shields that are half a person tall.

After shouting a few times, the Qing army only managed to gather a few small round shields, the kind that were about the size of pot lids, completely unable to cover people. Moreover, these were all wooden shields, and they couldn’t stop bullets at all.

But the Qing soldiers didn’t care so much, and had already put the shields in front of themselves, seeking psychological comfort.

In addition to the ravages of bullets, ships with bad luck would also be hit by artillery fire.

When that kind of grenade exploded on the ship, it directly blew away a large area.

This situation of only being able to passively take a beating caused great damage to the morale of the Qing army.

“Accelerate forward and engage in boarding battle.”

Azali also knew that to eliminate the advantage of the Wu army’s rifles, they only needed to get close and then engage in boarding battle.

However, this stretch of road forward was destined to suffer great losses.

As long as they could prevent the Wu army from crossing the river, it would be worth it even if this navy was wiped out.

Therefore, Azali did not care about the lives and deaths of the soldiers at all, and shouted to accelerate forward.

The distance between the two armies was actually not far, only about a hundred meters.

But it was these hundred meters that made the decks of the Qing army’s ships stained red with blood.

The Wu army’s several rounds of shooting just now had washed the Qing army’s leading ships in blood. The number of soldiers on many ships had been reduced by ten percent, and some ships had been reduced by twenty percent.

Before contact, one-fifth of the people had died. With this terrifying attrition rate, where could the remaining soldiers have any morale to speak of?

Some soldiers’ legs had already begun to tremble, and they could barely hold the weapons in their hands.

There were also some soldiers whose eyes were already looking around, wanting to find an opportunity to jump into the water.

The river surface here was only three or four li long, and some soldiers with good swimming skills could completely swim to the shore.

Too few people could withstand the psychological pressure of this kind of tragic war.

The reason why the Qing army had not collapsed yet was mainly because the officers were maintaining discipline.

The Wu army’s sniper company was not on the ship, so these Qing court naval officers were lucky and did not have to be on tenterhooks all the time.

Chapter 199: War of Attrition

Wu Yi’s navy only carried fewer than two thousand soldiers equipped with flintlocks; the rest were sailors using cold weapons.

Therefore, even though this was the best opportunity to shoot and kill the Qing soldiers, they couldn’t eliminate too many.

If they had equipped more flintlock soldiers on their ships, the Qing court’s navy would probably have collapsed before even reaching them.

But now, after paying a heavy price, the Qing army’s leading ships finally reached the Wu army’s fleet.

Some grappling hooks, large spears with barbs, began to extend from the Qing navy’s ships.

These hooks latched onto the Wu army’s ships, maintaining the distance between the two vessels, preventing collisions and avoiding being shaken off.

Once the grappling hooks were secure, the Qing soldiers began to lower wooden planks and charge across them.

Only a few could swing onto enemy ships by ropes like professional pirates; most ordinary soldiers didn’t have that skill and could only step across the planks.

With their ships hooked together, the Wu army fixed bayonets, preparing for close combat.

The first to engage were the sailors of both sides, wielding broadswords, which were flexible and lightweight.

Without a disparity in weapons, the two sides quickly fell into a melee.

Compared to land battles, the Wu army was indeed at a disadvantage on the water because their practiced formations were useless.

The deck, though not small, couldn’t compare to land; they couldn’t deploy formations, and the fighting became chaotic, relying on the individual bravery of the soldiers, which was unfavorable for the Wu army.

Although the Wu soldiers’ courage was no less than that of the Qing soldiers, they certainly preferred fighting in formation.

Of course, it was only a disadvantage; it was still quite difficult for the Qing army to win.

The Wu army’s fighting will was much stronger than the Qing army’s; even when at a disadvantage, they continued to resist desperately.

For a time, both sides suffered huge losses.

People were constantly being cut down, and people were constantly falling into the water.

As the battle progressed, more and more ships approached each other, entering into boarding actions. The battle had reached a fever pitch; at this point, it was a contest of who could hold out longer.

Whoever could persevere to the end would win this battle.

Because both sides’ ships were now ‘tied’ together, there was little chance of escape.

In this respect, naval battles were far more brutal than land battles.

“Charge! Keep going! They’re about to break!”

The Qing army’s commanders on the ships were still shouting slogans, urging the soldiers on the ships to continue charging onto the enemy ships.

However, the soldiers weren’t blind; they could see the situation on the battlefield.

As it stood, they couldn’t see any signs of the Wu army breaking; on the contrary, some deserters had begun to appear on the Qing army’s side.

Some soldiers with good swimming skills had taken advantage of the chaos to throw away their weapons and swim towards the shore.

They would rather be prisoners or deserters than continue fighting.

The casualties were too heavy; almost none of the soldiers charging at the front could survive. Even if they could kill one or several enemies, more enemies would immediately fill their place.

In the narrow space, corpses were piled up like small mountains, but the enemy still seemed inexhaustible.

This kind of war of attrition, with no end in sight and no chance of victory, was what the lower-level soldiers hated the most. They preferred battles where victory or defeat was decided in an instant; if they won, there were rewards, and if they lost, they could surrender to save their lives.

Some soldiers had already begun to fear battle and refused to move forward, no matter how much the commanders scolded them.

A hot-tempered captain directly killed a soldier who was afraid to advance, hoping to deter the other soldiers.

Most of the time, this method worked.

But there were always exceptions. This time, some soldiers on the Qing army’s ship had grudges against this captain. Now that the captain was forcing them to die, they hardened their hearts. Since they were going to die anyway, they might as well drag this enemy down with them as a scapegoat and vent their anger before they died.

So, the soldier quietly came behind the captain and stabbed him through, the blade emerging from the captain’s chest.

“Brothers, let’s rebel! Continuing to fight is just throwing our lives away; we might as well rebel against these Qing dogs!”

Usually, when the Qing court paid them military salaries, they didn’t care whether they were ruled by the Great Ming or the Qing court. But at this moment, rebelling against the Qing was an excellent slogan.

These soldiers didn’t want to fight anymore in the first place. With such an excuse and someone to take the lead, people immediately responded.

Several more officers were killed or thrown into the water, and the soldiers on this ship completed their defection before the battle.

“General, let’s retreat. There’s no point in continuing to fight,” Azali’s subordinate advised.

Naval battles were very different from land battles. Although they had been fighting for a long time and the fighting was intense, the overall casualties were not very large.

Because the contact area between the two sides was not large, only six or seven ships were fighting at the same time, and the remaining ships had not come into contact with the enemy because there was no room.

And these ships that had not made contact were only occasionally hit by a cannon from the Wu army, and the damage was not great.

Up to now, nearly eight thousand of the ten thousand Qing soldiers were still alive.

However, in the eyes of some Qing army generals, there was no need for the next battle.

The Wu army had recovered from the chaos, and they no longer had the advantage. In fact, judging from the scene, their casualties were much heavier.

A battle without an advantage was a war of attrition.

It would be worthwhile if they could fight until the other side collapsed first. Unfortunately, most of the Qing army generals did not see this hope. What they saw was that some of their units had already begun to collapse first.

“Everyone says that the Wu army’s firearms are powerful, but I think their fighting spirit and morale are even more impressive. Even in such a fierce battle, they show no signs of collapse. How do they train their soldiers on weekdays? When did the Han soldiers have such courage?”

Azali said to himself. The Han soldiers he had encountered before were people without the will to fight. They would often surrender in droves when they encountered a bit of adversity.

But now, what he saw was a Han army with a completely different spirit.

His words made some Han generals on the ship feel a little uncomfortable and ashamed.

The people without courage that Azali spoke of were precisely them.

“It is said that the Wu army’s military pay is very high, and their usual meals are also very rich. Not only are they full every meal, but they can also eat meat often. I am afraid this is the reason. It is hateful that those nobles in the North spend a lot of money to buy perfumes, soaps, and mirrors from Nanjing. It is all because of these people who are helping the enemy, otherwise, where would Wu Changqing get so much money to raise an army?”

Another more knowledgeable captain cursed, cursing those noble lords in Beijing.

Because those people were greedy for enjoyment, they had to resist a more powerful enemy here, and everyone inevitably felt angry.

“Let’s retreat first and discuss it later.”

Azali ordered a retreat. Only by preserving the strength of the navy could they prevent the Wu army from crossing the river. If they exhausted the navy in one go, then they would have no power to stop the Wu army from advancing westward.

Chapter 200: Crossing the Yangtze River Plan

The navy’s retreat was easier than the army’s.

Wu Yi wanted to pursue the retreating enemy, but he had to first deal with the remaining enemies still fighting and remove the grappling hooks.

At the same time, the damaged ships needed to be moved aside to clear the waterway so that the intact fleet could pursue.

Moreover, everyone was relying on manpower to row, so whether they could catch up was a big question.

Considering these difficulties, Wu Yi did not order a pursuit, but instead ordered the quick elimination of the remaining enemies, cleaning up the battlefield, and repairing the ships.

In this naval battle, the ships at the front suffered varying degrees of damage. Some ships were burned to mere shells, completely wrecked.

Others were not as severely damaged, but still required major repairs.

The task of eliminating the remaining enemies was easy, because the Qing army left behind was essentially abandoned, with no chance to escape.

Therefore, most of them, seeing their fleet retreating, obediently chose to throw down their weapons and surrender, since the Wu army’s tradition was not to kill prisoners.

Only a few soldiers chose to jump into the river and escape, and the Wu army didn’t know why they refused to surrender at all costs.

The Wu army was not polite to these people, using muskets and arrows to shoot at them from the ships.

Unless they were particularly good swimmers, able to hold their breath and swim more than ten meters underwater, they had a chance to escape. Most of the fleeing soldiers were hit and died in the Yangtze River.

After clearing the battlefield, the navy went to the designated naval base to garrison.

In this naval battle, the Wu army lost a total of one thousand five hundred soldiers, including one thousand two hundred killed in action and about three hundred missing. Those missing had fallen into the river, and no one could take care of them in the chaos.

Some of these three hundred might survive, but whether they could successfully return to the unit was hard to say.

In addition to the personnel losses, the Wu army also wrote off five war junks and needed to overhaul seven, a pretty heavy loss.

The Qing army’s losses were even heavier. They lost a total of twenty-three large ships and dozens of smaller ones, as well as more than two thousand five hundred soldiers killed or missing. These missing soldiers were basically considered dead.

Of the twenty-three large ships they lost, most were not severely damaged and were captured by the Wu army.

So, apart from the personnel losses, the Wu army actually gained a bit in terms of supplies.

After Wu Yi disembarked, Li Shaobin immediately summoned him to inquire about the battle situation. This time, they wanted to take Jiujiang, so they had to rely on the navy to transport them across the river and provide logistical support.

“Although we repelled the enemy, their main force is still there. Crossing the river rashly would be dangerous. It’s best to wait a few more days until I eliminate the enemy’s main naval force,” Wu Yi said. Fighting on the water was not like on land, where having more troops necessarily meant an advantage.

If the enemy launched a larger-scale fire attack while the Wu army was crossing the river, they would face extreme risk.

Although most of the soldiers in the Wu army were from Jiangnan, not everyone could swim. Even if they could swim, they certainly couldn’t keep their weapons and equipment after falling into the water.

So, they could force a crossing, but the risk was great.

Wu Yi hoped that Li Shaobin could wait a little longer, until he defeated the main force of the Qing navy before crossing the river, at which point they would be certain of success.

“But how long will it take you to eliminate the enemy’s main naval force? We can’t just keep waiting here,” Li Shaobin reminded him. Tens of thousands of troops consumed a terrifying amount of food every day.

“This…” Wu Yi was momentarily speechless. He dared not make a military pledge to eliminate the enemy within a certain number of days.

This wasn’t like attacking a city, where there was a fixed target waiting.

The navy could move freely on the river. If the Qing court insisted on not fighting him decisively, adopting a strategy of “the enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy retreats, we advance,” it would not be easy for him to find an opportunity to eliminate them.

Without eliminating them, they would always be a threat.

“So, let’s prepare a plan for a forced landing,” Liu Hansan said. He had no hope for the navy and wanted to unleash the power of the army as soon as possible.

“Perhaps we can wait for the next batch of supply ships to arrive. Then, Battalion Commander Wu can lead the fleet to block the enemy’s navy on the Yangtze River, while we use those supply ships to transport soldiers from Poyang Lake to the other side. As long as we can transport one regiment over, we can gain a foothold on the other side, and the rest will be easier,” Dai Zhijun said. As long as they were not harassed by the Qing navy during the landing operation, they were confident of a successful landing.

This was a bit riskier, but it saved time and allowed them to take the initiative.

“Blockading the enemy’s navy, does Battalion Commander Wu have the confidence to do that?” Li Shaobin asked.

“As long as I have a breath left, I will never let the Manchu Qing navy set foot in the mouth of the lake,” Wu Yi pledged. Simply blockading the enemy was not a big problem. If he couldn’t even do that, he, as the navy chief, would lose face.

“In that case, let’s refine this plan,” Li Shaobin said to the staff.

Although the plan sounded very feasible, there were many unexpected events that could occur in war, and they had to develop plans to deal with each one.

What if Wu Yi failed to stop the Qing navy? What if he stopped them, but the navy suffered heavy losses and could not protect subsequent logistics transport? What if they encountered strong resistance during the landing? What if a flood suddenly broke out?

These were all issues that the staff needed to consider and study, as it was a major matter concerning the lives of seventy to eighty thousand troops.

If seventy thousand troops arrived under Jiujiang, but their supply lines were cut off, it would be extremely dangerous.

At that point, the enemy would not even need to defend the city. They could simply confiscate or burn the grain in the city and the surrounding area, and starve the Wu army to death.

The Qing army was definitely capable of doing such a thing.

Therefore, the navy not only had to be able to blockade the Qing navy, but also had to preserve enough strength to maintain logistical transport, and preferably defeat the Qing navy.

The plan was constantly refined, and finally everyone agreed that the key to this battle was still the navy.

Unfortunately, their navy had developed relatively slowly, and they had few ships and men.

All the pressure was on Wu Yi, but while he felt the pressure, he was also excited. The greater the pressure, the greater the credit.

As long as he completed this mission well, he could explain the importance of the navy to Wu Changqing and demand more military funding to expand the navy.

The stronger the navy, the greater his power.

With the plan determined, each department began preparations for the battle, scouting for suitable landing sites, surveying the terrain, repairing ships, collecting grain, maintaining weapons and equipment…

A major battle required a lot of preparation.

Chapter 201: Steamships Arrive

On May third, the Wu army’s supply ships arrived at Hukou.

Seeing the fleet billowing with smoke, Wu Yi suddenly burst into laughter. Some who understood the steam warships were also excited.

“It’s a steamship, a steamship that doesn’t need oars!”

Many soldiers howled and cheered.

Their appearance was similar to how American soldiers in later generations liked to throw their hats when they saw their own aircraft carrier. Seeing such powerful new equipment gave the soldiers a sense of pride and security.

No need for oars, and faster than ships with oars, this kind of ship was of great significance to the navy.

“Finally, those people at the academy didn’t let the general down and produced this steam warship. Judging by the looks of it, the speed is at least twice as fast as rowing.”

Wu Yi laughed. He had always been thinking about steamships, but the power of the previous steam engines was too small to be of practical use.

But now, the steam engine research team had given him a surprise, producing a high-horsepower steam engine ahead of schedule.

“With this steam warship, we will never have to worry about not being able to catch up with the enemy in the future, and we can wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop.”

Wu Yi’s subordinates echoed. This kind of steamship that didn’t require manpower was too advantageous when chasing the enemy.

The steamship approached the water fortress, and everyone could see the appearance of the steamship clearly.

Compared with ordinary sailing ships, these ships had no sails, no oars, and an extra huge chimney. At the same time, there were two huge paddle wheels on both sides of the ship.

Because there were no oars, these ships had a lot of space for installing cannons. The cannons installed on these steamships were much more than ordinary sailing ships. One ship could be equipped with twenty cannons.

However, among this batch of fifteen steamships, only three were equipped with cannons, and the others had not yet been installed, because the ordnance workshop could not produce cannons fast enough to meet the army’s needs.

Now the Wu army was increasingly dependent on cannons, the army needed cannons, the navy also needed cannons, and the troops stationed in Nanjing also needed cannons.

“How many ships and people did you bring this time?”

Wu Yi asked.

“Report, my department has a total of forty ships this time, including three armed steamships, twelve transport steamships, and twenty-five other sailing ships. Among them, there are one thousand sailors and more than two thousand civilian laborers responsible for carrying goods. We brought one hundred thousand jin of grain, live pigs…”

Fan Kexi from the logistics department reported.

They not only transported grain, but also a large amount of meat. The Wu army’s food was incomparable to other armies. And this relied on their strong economic strength.

Fighting a war was also about fighting money.

“Brother Fan, let’s go to the staff headquarters first. Our army has encountered some trouble crossing the river, and I’m afraid we will have to requisition your transport team.”

“How can this work? My fleet is used to guarantee your logistics supplies. What if it sinks in battle? Won’t you have anything to eat in the future?”

Fan Kexi refused directly without thinking. What a joke, the risk was too great.

“Brother Fan, you are overthinking it. How can it be so easy to sink? Don’t worry, with steamships, we will be more confident in annihilating the enemy, and it won’t sink.”

Wu Yi continued to coax Fan Kexi. After all, the logistics department was not theoretically required to obey his orders. If Fan Kexi insisted on disagreeing, he couldn’t do anything about it.

Of course, theory was theory, and the reality was that the field main force had the most say. If they were really determined to requisition it, Fan Kexi couldn’t resist, at most he would complain to Wu Changqing.

Arriving at the staff headquarters, Dai Zhijun and others learned about the situation of this logistics fleet, and also told Fan Kexi about the current situation facing the Wu army, and put forward the request to requisition this logistics fleet.

Looking at Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, Dai Zhijun and many other military大佬, Fan Kexi wanted to cry without tears. How dare he say no, he could only say that he would fully support the main force’s actions.

Afterwards, the staff headquarters slightly modified the battle plan according to the characteristics of the steamship.

This time, they not only wanted to cross the river, but also planned to wipe out the Qing court’s navy in one fell swoop.

According to the plan, Wu Yi’s navy would intercept the Qing court’s navy at Hukou, and then send a steamship fleet to bypass Jiangxinzhou, go upstream from the waterway north of Jiangzhou, go around behind the Qing court’s navy, and then join Wu Yi’s troops to attack from both sides, completely annihilating the Qing court’s navy.

This flanking maneuver could only be completed with steamships. If they relied on manpower, people would be exhausted after rowing those dozens of li of waterway.

The next day, a fleet of fifteen steamships entered the waterway north of Jiangzhou, while Wu Yi’s fleet went to the waterway south of Jiangzhou.

The army was loading supplies onto the remaining dozens of transport ships, and the troops responsible for the beach landing also boarded the ships.

Except for the fifteen steamship fleets that were not exposed, the other major actions of the Wu army fell into the eyes of the Qing army’s scouts.

Subsequently, Lekedehun in Jiujiang learned that the Wu army was preparing to force a crossing of the river.

“Order the navy to move out immediately, and other troops to enter the predetermined positions to prevent the enemy from landing.”

While the Wu army was studying how to land, the Qing army was also studying how to prevent the Wu army from landing. Therefore, at this time, the Qing army had built many fortifications on the water’s edge.

Knowing that the Wu army was coming to attack, the Qing army also took action immediately.

In Lekedehun’s view, this was also an opportunity for him.

The previous attempt to defeat the Wu army’s navy had failed. So now Lekedehun could only hope to launch a fierce attack while the enemy was crossing the river.

If the navy’s attack went smoothly, then they could attack from both land and water and win a great victory.

If the navy’s attack did not go smoothly, then they would be caught in a bitter battle.

But in any case, the Wu army must not be allowed to land on the west bank.

“Everyone, life and death depends on this battle. If we can’t hold Jiujiang, Jiangxi will completely fall into the hands of the enemy. Everyone must fight to the death. Those who are afraid of battle will be killed without mercy.”

Lekedehun said coldly, his sharp tone would frighten ordinary timid people.

However, those present were all battle-hardened generals who lived a life of licking blood from the edge of a knife. Lekedehun’s harsh words really couldn’t scare anyone.

Some people were even absent-minded, thinking about how to preserve their strength, or whether to find an opportunity to surrender to the Wu army.

At this time, the disadvantages of the Qing army’s large-scale acceptance of surrendered Ming soldiers were also exposed. When they were strong, these surrendered soldiers honestly sold their lives and were very useful.

However, now many people could see that the Qing court in the South could no longer defeat the Wu army.

At this time, all kinds of thoughts began to appear in the minds of those surrendered soldiers.

Anyway, they were selling their lives, so why not sell them to someone else. Selling their lives to the Wu army could also get a good reputation, as they were resisting foreign races. More importantly, the Wu army was now too powerful, and fighting the Wu army was too dangerous.

It was said that there was a special unit in the Wu army that specialized in killing officers and generals, with a hundred shots hitting the mark from hundreds of feet away. Many generals, including Aisin Gioro Bolo, died under this kind of gun.

This was a bit scary. In this day and age, no one wanted to die.

Chapter 202: Flying a Kite

Both armies mobilized.

On the Qing court’s side, Azali directed the fleet to divide into two groups. One group would head straight down the waterway south of Jiangzhou, attacking the Wu army head-on. The other group would enter the waterway north of Jiangzhou, preparing to sneak around to the Wu army’s rear for a surprise attack.

They didn’t have steam-powered ships, but they were moving downstream, so the plan was feasible.

Both sides had independently thought of the tactic of flanking and attacking from the rear, mainly because naval battles were much simpler, and there wasn’t much room for tactical maneuvering.

A surprise attack, creating panic and chaos, was already a decent tactic.

Sometimes, it could even produce miraculous results.

In real warfare, the main thing is the clash of hard power. Tactics often play a relatively small role.

Ordinary people, when reading historical novels, are always attracted by those brilliant tactics, leading to a misjudgment that battles are about comparing wits and seeing who uses tactics better.

But in reality, examples of winning through tactics account for only a tiny portion of countless wars. Most battles are pure strength contests.

However, these pure strength battles lack the dramatic plot twists and amazing reversals, making them far less exciting than war stories that cleverly use tactics, so fewer of them are passed down.

This leaves ordinary people in later generations with a false impression that ancient battles were all about using tactics.

The Wu army’s battles rarely involved tactics; they relied on absolute strength to fight head-on.

Faced with the Wu army’s rogue tactics, the Qing army didn’t have any good countermeasures.

Tactics, in the face of absolute strength, often can’t make any waves. If they succeed once in a while, it can be touted as a classic.

In the waterway north of Jiangzhou, Wu Yi’s navy encountered the Qing court’s navy.

Wu Yi’s navy was very clear that the opposing force was definitely the Qing army, so they immediately began various combat preparations.

The Qing court’s navy was somewhat bewildered because they saw that the opposing fleet was very strange, with no sails or oars. However, these strange ships were actually moving upstream.

This phenomenon was so bizarre that it was like ancient people seeing trains and cars. They would definitely be scared and think they were seeing things or that there were demons and ghosts.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain this counterintuitive event.

Attracted by this strange sight, the Qing army forgot to identify the other side’s identity.

It wasn’t until the sound of the cannons rang out and they saw the cannonballs flying over that the Qing army woke up as if from a dream.

“Enemy attack, it’s the Ming army!”

Some officers shouted in terror, and they became somewhat flustered in the face of the sudden attack.

If the officers were like this, the soldiers were even worse.

Some soldiers even put down their weapons, muttering that the Wu army had the help of the Dragon King and River God, that the River God was pushing the Wu army forward under the ships, and that the River God was going to punish them.

This absurd claim was actually accepted by many soldiers, and they were all panicked.

“Bullshit, those are enemies using their feet to tread on those two waterwheels! Everyone, prepare to meet the enemy!”

Some generals were also unsure whether the Dragon King and River God really existed. However, at this time, they must not allow the spread of such rumors, otherwise, the morale of the army would definitely be in chaos.

Therefore, a clever officer came up with an explanation.

In this era, there were already ships propelled by paddle wheels, but they were all powered by people rocking the waterwheels, and their efficiency was not as good as rowing directly.

Although what this general said was not entirely correct, it was at least a plausible explanation, better than letting the soldiers believe in the Dragon King and River God.

By the time their soldiers came back to their senses and hastily prepared to fight, the two armies were less than one hundred meters apart.

Then, the arquebusiers on the Wu army’s ships began to fire. The two armies were very close, and the soldiers on the Qing army’s ships were very dense, so the hit rate of the arquebuses was quite considerable.

“Raise shields, archers and arquebusiers, counterattack!”

The Qing army’s general shouted. After suffering a loss in the last naval battle, they had equipped their ships with large, thick iron shields, as well as a large number of archers and arquebusiers.

However, their counterattack firepower was far inferior to the Wu army’s flintlocks.

After two rounds of shooting, the Qing army discovered this situation.

“Get close and engage in boarding actions!”

The Qing army knew that in a simple comparison of ranged firepower, they were far from being a match and could only be passively beaten. They still had to find a way to fight hand-to-hand.

Although they didn’t have an advantage in hand-to-hand combat either, at least they wouldn’t suffer such a big loss as they were now.

“Speed up, evade, maintain distance, and fly a kite with them!”

The Wu army’s commander ordered. If a battle could be resolved with flintlocks, it was best not to engage in melee combat.

He relied on the greater power of the steam engine and the faster speed of the ships to maintain a distance from the enemy, preventing them from getting close.

This was a typical new tactic evolved from new weapons, and the Qing army was completely unaccustomed to it.

They wanted to engage in boarding actions, but they could never catch up with the Wu army’s ships, unable to engage in close combat, and could only be passively beaten.

This battle was quite frustrating for the Qing army.

“Stop chasing, let’s just break through and attack their fleet at Hukou!”

After suffering repeated losses, the Qing army’s general also saw the enemy’s rogue tactics and could only choose to go for broke and continue to carry out the surprise attack mission.

However, how could the Wu army let them succeed?

Still relying on speed, they chased up again, hanging behind the Qing army, maintaining distance, and then constantly firing with muskets.

This tactic was a bit like the horse archery of Genghis Khan’s Mongol army, very rogue, but also very invincible.

At least, the Qing army had no way to deal with this tactic and could only have the soldiers find things to hide behind.

However, the deck was originally empty, and it was filled with many soldiers, so where was there anything to hide behind?

“Shameless, despicable, vile, cowardly rats who dare not fight fair and square!”

The Qing army’s general cursed loudly. At this time, they seemed to have no means other than cursing.

“General, it’s time to engage in boarding actions. We must resolve them as soon as possible. Attacking the enemy’s rear is our main mission!”

On the Wu army’s side, a staff officer reminded the commander of this naval force.

Although flying a kite like this was very enjoyable and the losses were small, their speed of killing the enemy was not particularly fast, at least not as fast as melee combat.

If they had no other tasks, they could continue to fight like this until the enemy collapsed.

But now they had a mission, and if they spent too much time on this group of people and couldn’t reach the other battlefield in time, then it would be counterproductive.

“What a pity for such a good tactic. Order the entire army to prepare for boarding actions, at all costs, to quickly eliminate the enemy!”

The Wu army’s commander ordered.

Chapter 203: Beachhead

The Wu army suddenly abandoned their advantage of long-range attacks and initiated a boarding action.

This move stunned the Qing army generals for a moment, but they quickly guessed the Wu army’s intention: to annihilate them in one fell swoop.

Although the Wu army’s intentions were sinister, the Qing army generals welcomed it.

Boarding actions were dangerous, but at least they could fight back. If they continued to be passively beaten like before, they feared their soldiers would be unable to bear it and jump into the water to escape.

“Get up! Prepare to fight!”

The Qing army generals shouted. Earlier, while trying to avoid the attacks, some soldiers couldn’t find any cover and simply lay on the deck, using the corpses of their comrades to shield themselves.

Many soldiers were unaware that the Wu army had already drawn close.

Faced with the generals’ shouts, some soldiers chose to ignore them, pretending not to hear, while others genuinely didn’t hear.

In short, not many soldiers stood up to prepare for battle.

As the Wu army surged over, the few Qing soldiers who hastily resisted were quickly overwhelmed.

This situation infuriated many Qing army generals to the point of almost vomiting blood. This battle was too frustrating, and they were unwilling to accept their defeat. If they hadn’t been forced to passively take the beating earlier, they wouldn’t have lost so inexplicably now.

Unfortunately, no one cared about their feelings. The battle continued, and the Wu army swept through and crushed most of the Qing soldiers on the ships.

Large numbers of Qing soldiers surrendered, died in battle, or jumped into the water to escape.

Only a few ships managed to escape and desperately rowed downstream.

Those few ships clearly couldn’t affect the overall situation, so the Wu army ignored them. They left a company to guard the prisoners and captured ships, while the rest of the army continued to advance according to plan.

At the same time, the Wu army responsible for the beach landing and the Qing army trying to prevent the landing engaged in battle.

This time, the Wu army’s landing was more difficult than the one at Anqing. The Qing army had made extensive preparations.

For example, they had driven rows of wooden stakes into the water.

When the ships hit these stakes, they weren’t capsized, but their progress was hindered, preventing them from moving forward and approaching the beach.

At this point, they had to send sailors into the water to remove the stakes.

However, driving stakes was easy, but removing them was difficult. People in the water had no leverage, and the stakes were driven deep into the lakebed.

This method of the Qing army couldn’t eliminate the Wu army, but it could at least annoy them and hinder their actions.

Liu Hansan, hearing the report on the ship, couldn’t help but curse the Qing army as despicable and shameless.

Both sides were despicable and shameless, so it evened out.

After struggling for almost half an hour, the men who went into the water were exhausted, and only then were the stakes removed. To clear these stakes, the Wu army lost more than a dozen soldiers, all of whom drowned due to exhaustion and cramps.

The fleet passed through this obstacle and approached the shore.

The water near the shore was too shallow, and the large ships ran aground, unable to move forward.

Subsequently, large numbers of soldiers disembarked onto smaller boats and began to land.

At this time, the Qing soldiers hiding in the woods emerged, and some archers and musketeers began to attack.

“Cover!”

Liu Hansan shouted. Then, the flintlock rifle units on the ships fired wildly into the woods. They couldn’t even see where the enemies were, but it didn’t matter; firing was the right thing to do.

The Qing army’s ranged units couldn’t attack while constantly hiding behind the big trees. As long as they showed their heads, they could be hit.

If they didn’t show their heads, then the Wu army was effectively suppressing them.

In addition to those ranged attacks, large numbers of Qing soldiers wielding swords and shields rushed out of the woods, hacking and killing the Wu soldiers who had just landed.

“Send in the Daredevil Squad, and the grenadiers!”

Because the first batch of Wu soldiers to land was too small, far fewer than the Qing army, they were at a disadvantage in close combat. In some places, the Wu soldiers had been forced back into the water.

The Wu soldiers weren’t completely fearless. In this disadvantageous situation, they were retreating while fighting. It was already good that they hadn’t completely collapsed.

To reverse the situation, Liu Hansan sent in the Daredevil Squad, along with the grenadiers.

They were used to having fire support and equipment advantages in battle. The Wu army didn’t like pure cold weapon combat.

“Be careful to protect the grenades, protect the matches, and don’t let them get wet!”

The Wu army officers shouted. These were all the things to pay attention to when landing.

If the grenade fuses got wet, or the matches got wet, then these grenadiers would be useless.

It was actually not easy to avoid getting wet when landing.

As the Daredevil Squad landed on the beach, another group of Qing soldiers rushed out of the woods. It seemed they were determined to stop the Wu army on the beach.

In fact, this kind of head-on fight didn’t give the Qing army any advantage, but they still did it.

The reason, of course, was to delay the Wu army’s landing forces, and then hope for a breakthrough from the navy.

If the navy couldn’t break the stalemate, the Qing army would be helpless.

When facing other armies, defending a city was still very advantageous. But against the Wu army, the role of the city walls was greatly reduced.

Rather than defending the city, it was better to fight a decisive battle on this beach. This way, at least the Wu army’s cannons couldn’t be used, and the Wu army’s one-time troop deployment was also limited.

Relying on the cover of the woods, the Wu army’s flintlock rifle units didn’t achieve much either.

Watching the Qing soldiers rushing over, the grenadiers began to throw bombs.

Suddenly, a series of explosions and screams rang out among the charging Qing soldiers. In the age of cold weapons, the destructive power of these grenades was quite amazing.

Unfortunately, there were too few grenadiers in this batch of landings. Although they inflicted casualties on the Qing army, they failed to stop them from rushing over.

Subsequently, the Qing army and the Wu army’s Daredevil Squad engaged in fierce fighting again.

“These Wu soldiers are too difficult to deal with. It’s as if each one of them is unafraid of death. This battle is too difficult to fight.”

The Qing army generals in the woods discussed. Currently, they had an absolute advantage in troop strength on the beach, but they couldn’t defeat the Wu army. This was really a frustrating thing.

If they couldn’t defeat the enemy, and were just simply fighting a war of attrition, then it was meaningless, because the Wu army’s landing forces were constantly landing on the beach.

Failure to prevent the Wu army from landing meant failure for them.

“Didn’t Azali say that the most terrifying thing about the Wu army isn’t their weapons, but their morale and fighting spirit? Even Azali, who is so arrogant, said that, which is enough to show how high the Wu army’s morale is.”

“After fighting so many victorious battles in a row, it would be strange if their morale wasn’t high.”

Another general said.

“Flintlock rifle units, quick, quickly send people to attack that unit. We can’t let them set up their formation, or we’ll be in trouble.”

While they were discussing, a Wu army flintlock rifle company landed and was forming a line.

The Wu army’s greatest advantage lay in these flintlock rifle units. Once these people landed, the Qing army’s numerical advantage would become meaningless.

Fighting two or three enemies at once was not difficult for the flintlock rifle units.

Chapter 204: Skirmish of the Squads

The Qing army dispatched a thousand-man team, which was quite a show of respect for the Wu army’s musket unit. The entire 158th Company of the Wu army only had one hundred and thirty men.

These one hundred and thirty men were divided into three rows, ready to face the enemy according to the standard three-volley fire tactic.

Even with an enemy force of a thousand, they remained calm. This was the elite of the Wu army; anyone lacking courage wouldn’t even dream of joining the musket corps.

Within the Wu army, there were too many new recruits eager to join the musket corps, and they had to go through fierce competition.

“Within range, fire!”

The company commander ordered.

Immediately, the forty men in the first row fired a volley.

After firing, they immediately retreated through the gaps in the ranks to the back to reload.

The musket was still a muzzle-loading gun, with bullets loaded from the muzzle. Since their barrels were over a meter long, they couldn’t squat to reload, so they had to retreat to the back and reload standing up.

As they retreated, the second row of soldiers fired, and like the first row, they retreated to the back after firing.

Then, the third row of soldiers fired.

By the time they finished firing and retreated, the original first row had already finished reloading.

Only through long and rigorous training could they achieve this speed.

This was the Wu army’s three-volley fire. Although it didn’t have the overwhelming power of a single mass volley, its advantage lay in its continuous nature. In terms of efficiency, it was superior to a single volley.

The charging Qing army had already tasted the bitterness of this three-volley fire. During their advance, although they didn’t suffer the catastrophic sight of a large number falling at once, the process of falling was continuous.

This meant they faced danger at every moment, like a sword hanging over their heads, ready to drop at any time, which was a torment to the soldiers’ minds.

A dozen or so men falling at once wasn’t much for their thousand-man team. But after four or five volleys, the surviving soldiers at the front would find that their comrades were almost all dead, replaced by unfamiliar faces.

This terrified the survivors. This silent attrition was too frightening; unknowingly, an entire squad was being wiped out.

The distance between the forest and the beach was only about one hundred meters. The thousand-man team reached the Wu army in half a minute.

Quantitative change led to qualitative change. The thousand Qing soldiers stubbornly paved a path with their lives.

In close combat, the Wu army’s 158th Company stopped reloading and began to defend with bayonets.

At this point, they were in great danger because there were too few of them. Their formation could only defend against enemies in front. The enemy, with their numerical advantage, could surround and attack from three sides.

If they wanted to form a circular formation to defend in all directions, they didn’t have enough troops, and the formation would be too thin.

A formation with only one or two rows could easily be broken.

“Hold on, our reinforcements are on their way!”

The commander of the 158th Company shouted, his soldiers’ bayonets already probing against the enemy’s broadswords and spears.

The Qing soldiers trying to break through the Wu army’s line from the front encountered trouble. Those bright bayonets wouldn’t be polite to them. Perhaps they could break through the Wu army’s line, but those at the front would most likely die.

A shield would have been helpful in this situation, to push forward. However, to reach the Wu army as quickly as possible, they hadn’t carried heavy shields.

Out of caution, they failed to break through the Wu army’s line immediately.

“Charge! Charge! Those who retreat in fear will be executed!”

The Qing army’s chiliarch shouted loudly, and the Qing soldiers behind kept pushing forward, forcing the front ranks towards the forest of Wu army bayonets.

Whether these people wanted to die or not, it was hard for them to survive at this moment.

Relying on these bodies, the Qing army forced open a gap and broke into the Wu army’s formation.

Then came the melee, the slaughter.

All sorts of blades stabbed and thrust randomly, and screams echoed continuously.

The Qing army, with their numerical advantage, now held the upper hand.

Without formations, numbers were all that mattered.

Even elite soldiers would be overwhelmed when facing two enemies at once.

Before long, the 158th Company had suffered heavy losses.

In any other army, a fifty percent casualty rate would have meant the remaining soldiers would have surrendered long ago.

But the soldiers of the 158th Company did not. They understood in their hearts that they were cannon fodder.

They believed that their side would win, and surrendering now would only mean being punished later. They might as well fight, and perhaps there was a chance of survival.

If they were lucky enough to survive, they would surely be heavily rewarded and publicly praised. There were many such examples in the Wu army.

Therefore, there was no shortage of exceptionally fierce men in the Wu army who were fighting for rewards.

Just as the 158th Company was struggling, a new batch of Wu army soldiers landed.

It was the 159th Company, their comrades who often trained with them. They knew each other well.

As soon as the 159th Company landed, they immediately began firing at the Qing soldiers.

At this point, they wouldn’t worry about friendly fire. The Qing army still had at least seven hundred men, while the Wu army inside the encirclement only had sixty or seventy.

Firing in that direction at this time was definitely worthwhile.

War was so cruel, always measuring gains and losses to make decisions, and would not rush to save a few or dozens of comrades like the葫芦娃救爷爷 [idiom: seven calabash brothers trying to save their grandfather one by one, meaning acting foolishly and ineffectually].

With so few men in the 159th Company, they couldn’t save them even if they rushed in.

For them, the most correct choice was to use the advantage of ranged fire to inflict continuous casualties on the enemy.

As for the comrades of the 158th Company, they could only wish them good luck.

As the gunshots rang out, the Qing army’s chiliarch felt frustrated.

They hadn’t even dealt with this small group yet, and another Wu army force of equal size had arrived. This battle was too difficult.

Even if they could completely eliminate the surrounded force, they probably wouldn’t be able to do anything about the new force. Their current casualty rate had already reached thirty percent, close to the soldiers’ psychological limit.

They could persevere when they had the upper hand, but if this continued, they would probably collapse.

“Speed up, we’ll retreat after killing these people.”

The chiliarch drew a pie in the sky for his subordinates. He had also decided that after killing the force in front of them, he would take the muskets back, which would barely be enough to explain himself.

Not to mention the soldiers who didn’t want to fight anymore, even he, the chiliarch, didn’t want to stay on this beach any longer.

The battle on the beach was too brutal, with corpses and blood everywhere.

Under the Wu army’s guns, officials and soldiers enjoyed equal treatment; being an official didn’t make you any safer.

Hearing the condition for retreat, the Qing soldiers became even more frenzied. They couldn’t wait to annihilate the 158th Company immediately so they could retreat and leave this terrible place.

The remaining soldiers of the 158th Company felt the pressure again, but there was nothing they could do but continue to hold on.

Whether they could survive really depended on fate.

“Fire faster!”

The commander of the 159th Company could only worry anxiously. The rate of fire was only so fast; it wouldn’t increase just because he was anxious.

However, their continued firing put tremendous pressure on the Qing army’s thousand-man team.

Each volley caused dozens of them to fall. After only three volleys, nearly two hundred had fallen.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Qing army’s chiliarch sighed in his heart and ordered an immediate retreat. He was too lazy to kill the remaining twenty or so Wu army soldiers; survival was the most important thing at this point.

As they retreated, they didn’t forget to take the muskets from the ground.

Chapter 205: Naval Interception

The battle of the 158th Company was just a small part of the entire beach landing operation. Similar-scale battles were erupting at other landing points as well.

On the warship, Liu Hansan was observing the overall situation of the battlefield through his telescope.

This landing operation had a total of four landing points.

Currently, the second and fourth landing points, where the 158th Company was located, had made good progress and had successfully repelled the enemy.

The first landing point was the worst, with the two companies that went up there being completely annihilated, not a single one left.

The Wu army couldn’t transport too many troops to the shore at once, which was the biggest problem.

Several dozen men were still holding out at the third landing point, and they urgently needed support.

However, Liu Hansan’s latest order was to order the soldiers to go to the second landing point, because the 158th and 159th Companies there had already repelled the enemy.

Continuing to reinforce that area would allow them to gradually establish a corps and gain a firm foothold. After that, the outcome of the other three landing points would no longer be important, as they could continuously send reinforcements through the second landing point.

As long as their forces were large enough to form a large square formation, it would be very difficult for the enemy to drive them back into the water.

As for the third landing point, which desperately needed support, Liu Hansan ruthlessly abandoned it.

As a general, one must not have any compassion.

If he sympathized with the dozens of people at the third landing point and sent soldiers there, they might not be able to establish a solid position for a long time.

In the end, the price paid would be even greater.

Liu Hansan was always harsh on his soldiers and was not liked by them. However, he was a qualified general.

As a new batch of soldiers arrived at the second landing point, the second landing point gathered a battalion of more than three hundred men.

This force was enough to withstand the enemy for a long time, and they had initially established themselves on the west bank.

On the Qing army’s side, their general had already beheaded the chiliarch who had retreated without authorization.

If that chiliarch hadn’t retreated, they could still have continued to prevent the Wu army from landing by sending reinforcements.

But now, if they wanted to charge back, they would need even more troops. The process of re-charging would result in the death of a large number of people.

Fourth landing point.

“General, we can’t hold them back anymore.”

A Qing army chiliarch said to Xu Yuxian.

“We have to hold them back even if we can’t, who told us to be arranged on the front line? We’ll block another wave, and if we can’t hold them back, we’ll retreat.”

Xu Yuxian said, his will to resist was not strong. If Aisin Gioro Gong’adai wasn’t supervising the battle not far away, he would have run away with his men long ago.

He was originally a subordinate of Zuo Liangyu. When Zuo Liangyu died of illness, his son Zuo Menggeng led his army to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, and he also surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, just to protect himself.

He had no loyalty to the Qing Dynasty at all. Of course, he had no loyalty to the Ming Dynasty either.

There were many egoists like him, or rather, most people were like that.

In the past, when the Qing army was strong, he surrendered to the Qing army. Now that the Wu army was even stronger, he wanted to surrender to the Wu army again.

As for his family in Beijing, he had never thought about them at all. Anyway, as long as he could keep the power in his hands, he would never be short of women.

He could marry another wife and have more sons, only his little life was the most important.

This kind of thinking was not unique to Xu Yuxian.

At this time, Gong’adai’s order arrived, ordering him to immediately send troops to support the second landing point and block the enemy troops at the second landing point.

Xu Yuxian cursed inwardly, but obeyed the order.

Gong’adai was Nurhaci’s nephew, and could be regarded as a member of the imperial family. Now he was also the commander-in-chief of the operation to stop the Wu army from landing, and he had great power in his hands.

If he disobeyed the order, he might be beheaded on the spot.

“How is Azali’s progress? I can’t hold on here for long.”

Gong’adai asked, and a subordinate immediately replied, “About half an hour ago, a messenger reported that the navy had encountered the enemy and was engaged in fierce fighting.”

“Fierce fighting again, why can’t they be defeated in one fell swoop? This Ming army is too difficult to deal with.”

Gong’adai punched a tree in anger.

The Ming army he had encountered before was very easy to fight. Often, as long as he killed a few hundred or a thousand of them, those Ming soldiers would flee or surrender.

He was used to winning battles easily, and now that he encountered a different Wu army, he felt frustrated everywhere.

Although the beachhead had not been completely lost yet, he knew it was only a matter of time.

The casualties of his subordinates were too great, and many troops had already shown signs of fear of battle.

It was not far from collapse.

“Send the main force up to supervise the battle, act according to the situation, and join the battle when appropriate. We must delay the enemy for some more time.”

Gong’adai continued to order, this time he sent his own direct troops up. He knew that it was not enough to rely on the Han army alone, he had to rely on his Eight Banners to stabilize the battle.

At this time, at the entrance of Poyang Lake into the river, the two navies had also started fighting.

This time, the Qing army did not use any fire ships, but simply gathered a large number of ships, ready to charge head-on. Their main purpose was to attack the Wu army’s landing forces. If they made the river too chaotic with fire ships, their advance would also be affected.

This time, the Qing court’s navy had gathered a total of thirteen thousand men, which was all of their naval force. More than two thousand of them entered the waterway north of Jiangzhou, and the remaining eleven thousand were here.

The total strength of the Wu army here was only more than six thousand. It was not that they did not have so many navies, but that they did not have so many ships.

They had to allocate a large number of ships for the army to carry out landing operations, so there were only so many ships available to snipe the Qing court’s navy.

Of course, with six thousand against eleven thousand, Wu Yi was not worried at all.

Their Wu army had never fought a battle with more enemies than allies. They had always won more with less.

Six thousand against eleven thousand, not to mention Wu Yi was not worried, even his subordinates were not worried.

Before the war, some veterans were comforting the recruits, saying, “Don’t panic, don’t look at those bastards having more people, but they have to peel off a layer of skin before they can get close to us. By the time they get to us, they will have been scared out of their wits, and they will have to jump ship and run away with one charge from us.”

As soon as the veteran’s words fell, the cannons on the Wu army’s ships began to fire.

Although there were not many cannons on the ships and the hit rate was not high, it was better than nothing. It was good to hit one shot. Even if it could not kill many Qing soldiers, it would be good to scare them.

As the cannons fired, the flintlock troops on the ships also stood in position, ready to shoot.

After the last battle, Wu Yi and the others also learned from their experience and increased the number of flintlock troops on the ships.

Although in the melee stage, soldiers with bayonets were not as flexible as soldiers with swords and shields.

However, the flintlock troops could inflict heavy blows on the enemy when they approached, which could effectively eliminate the enemy’s strength and demoralize them.

The number of flintlock troops in the Wu army was limited, and the navy got more, so the army landing troops got less.

However, this time the army did not argue with Wu Yi, because they knew that if they wanted to land with peace of mind, they had to provide support to the navy so that they could withstand the Qing court’s navy.

Chapter 206: Front and Back Attack

“Raise shields, row faster!”

As the Wu army opened fire, the Qing army began their defenses.

They had learned their lesson and brought large shields.

The distance of one or two hundred meters was short for ships traveling with the current. The Wu army only managed to fire three volleys before they crashed into the Wu army’s fleet and became entangled.

Some ships that couldn’t brake in time slammed into the Wu army’s larger vessels, causing both to rock violently. Some soldiers even fell into the river.

“Go, it’s safer to charge over! Staying on the ship is just asking to be shot!”

The Qing army general shouted. He couldn’t be said to be entirely bluffing. Those who stayed on the ships would indeed continue to be shot. But charging onto the Wu army’s ships and engaging in close combat would at least stop the gunfire.

However, saying it was safer to charge over was clearly nonsense.

While the Wu army’s muskets were effective at long range, their killing efficiency couldn’t compare to melee weapons.

In close combat, a single mistake, a moment of carelessness, could be fatal. Even without mistakes, even with the most correct choices, death was still possible in the storm of blades.

The battlefield was that cruel. Few people willingly became soldiers unless forced by circumstances.

“Good iron isn’t used for nails, good men don’t become soldiers,” as the folk song went.

Urged on by the officers, large numbers of Qing soldiers surged onto the Wu army’s ships.

But the Wu army was ready and waiting, their broadswords already poised.

The first wave of soldiers to charge up were each met with one or several slashes.

Then, a group of Qing soldiers with large shields rushed forward, using the shields to push forward and gain a foothold.

Those half-height shields provided decent protection for the soldiers.

On land, such shields paired with spearmen would form a formidable formation.

Unfortunately, space was limited on the ships, and the Qing army couldn’t execute such tactics.

The Wu army had their own way of dealing with these large shields. They would press their entire body against the shield, using their weight to overwhelm the opponent.

The shields were heavy to begin with, and with a person pressing against them, most people couldn’t hold them up.

Of course, this tactic was extremely dangerous for the Wu soldiers, as the Qing soldiers weren’t dummies. They would slash with their swords when the Wu soldiers got close.

They could also try to snatch the shields, or jump up and chop or stab at the people behind them.

Having a shield didn’t guarantee safety; it only provided some relative protection.

In an instant, the soldiers on the ships became a chaotic mess, a true melee.

The only ones who were relatively safe were the musketeers who occupied the high ground. They hid in the rear, high up, and fired at the enemy’s dense formations from time to time.

At such close range, their accuracy was quite high.

These musketeers were a major headache for the Qing army, who could only use bows and crossbows to fight back. However, the Qing army’s archers were far fewer in number than the Wu army’s musketeers.

As the battle progressed, more and more ships from both sides came into contact and engaged in combat.

The Qing army had the advantage in numbers, while the Wu army had the advantage in weaponry and morale. Overall, the Wu army held a slight advantage.

The Qing army’s numerical advantage had not yet been fully exploited.

However, as the two fleets continued to become entangled, the Qing army began to gain an advantage in some areas. In some places, a single Wu army ship was pinned down by two Qing warships and attacked from both sides.

Wu Yi was constantly observing the battle with his telescope, while also watching the distance, waiting for the steamship fleet to appear.

“According to the plan, they should have appeared by now. Did the machinery break down on the way?”

Wu Yi muttered to himself. He knew that the steam engines were barely functional at this point, and there was a high probability of mechanical failure.

As he spoke, a wisp of black smoke suddenly appeared in his telescope. Wu Yi immediately felt relieved.

The steamship fleet had finally arrived.

With the power of the steam engines and the current, the fleet was moving very fast.

Not long after the wisp of black smoke appeared, Wu Yi could see the fleet.

Azali, who was closer to the fleet than Wu Yi, naturally noticed the steamship fleet upstream.

Like everyone else, Azali was stunned when he first saw the fleet. He couldn’t understand why the fleet was emitting smoke, but it didn’t look like it was on fire.

More importantly, the fleet was moving so fast, rushing towards them at an alarming rate.

“General, it’s the Wu army! It’s the enemy fleet!”

Suddenly, Azali’s subordinate shouted. As they approached the Qing army, the Wu army’s steamship fleet raised the Wu army’s flag.

This was to create psychological pressure and panic for the Qing army. Raising the flag was equivalent to telling the Qing soldiers that they were surrounded.

This seemingly harmless act had a significant impact on the soldiers’ morale.

When there was a way out, the soldiers who were still fighting would feel more at ease, because they could escape if they couldn’t win. But if the retreat route was cut off, there was no escape.

More importantly, when the enemy came to cut off their retreat route, it meant that the enemy still had the strength to spare and was trying to annihilate them. It meant that they were already at a disadvantage.

Ordinary soldiers had limited means of judging the overall situation on the battlefield, so the cutting off of the retreat route was an important indicator.

The Qing army immediately fell into some chaos when their retreat route was cut off.

“Don’t panic! Stay calm! There aren’t many enemies!”

Azali shouted. The Wu army’s steamship fleet only had a dozen or so ships. The Qing army still had more than thirty ships that hadn’t engaged with the Wu army, and these ships were enough to deal with the suddenly appearing fleet.

Just as Azali was dispatching orders, the steamship fleet launched an attack. The cannons on the three armed steamships in the front row roared.

Dozens of cannons fired at the same time, the sound was incredibly shocking.

Some of the Qing soldiers on the ships were so frightened by the sight of the black dots flying through the air that they wet themselves.

In reality, the black dots were still sparse when spread out over the river. But the noise was terrifying.

This round of artillery fire hit eight or nine Qing ships.

These shells were howitzers. After landing on the ships and exploding, each shell killed twenty or thirty Qing soldiers.

This dense formation was most vulnerable to howitzer fire.

To the Qing army’s dismay, they were stuck on the ships and couldn’t scatter like they could on land.

Some soldiers couldn’t bear to see the horrific injuries of those who had been hit, and chose to jump off the ships and flee.

“Stay calm! Hold your ground! Those who flee will be killed without mercy! Immediately take the initiative to meet them and seize those cannons!”

Azali shouted. As the commander of the naval forces, he was much calmer than the soldiers.

Subsequently, the Qing army’s reserve fleet began to move, trying to actively approach the steamship fleet.

And the cannons on the steamship fleet roared again.

Chapter 207: The Defeat is Sealed

Seeing the Qing army actively approaching, the Wu army chose to slow down.

Once the Qing army was within range, the guns on the Wu ships roared again.

This situation made the soldiers on the Qing ships feel like vomiting blood. Being constantly beaten passively was just too frustrating.

Even more frustrating things were yet to come. When the two sides maintained a distance of about twenty meters, the Wu army’s ships actually began to change course and retreat upstream, maintaining that distance so the Qing army couldn’t reach them.

Then, the soldiers on their ships kept shooting at the Qing army, while the Qing army, except for a few archers who could offer some resistance, could only stand there and take the beating.

“This…”

The Qing army commanders were dumbfounded. They had never seen such a rogue tactic and had no idea how to deal with it.

They couldn’t catch up if they chased, and they couldn’t engage in boarding actions if they didn’t.

The new tactics brought about by the new weapons made it difficult for them to adapt for a while.

“Order the soldiers to dodge on their own and hide.”

With no other choice, they could only issue a self-preservation order to reduce losses.

However, where was there a safe place to hide on these large ships?

Even if they hid behind wooden planks, the planks had very limited defensive capabilities against bullets at this distance. Using wooden planks and tables to block bullets was something that only existed in movies and TV shows. In reality, even ordinary arquebuses had the power to tear apart or penetrate wooden planks two or three centimeters thick.

The bulletproof effect of wooden planks was not even as good as a cotton quilt.

“General, this won’t work! Stop chasing and retreat!”

Some subordinates couldn’t bear this situation of only being able to take a beating and offered a suggestion.

Being passively beaten like this had a particularly large impact on morale. Soldiers needed a hope of winning when fighting, and if they couldn’t see that hope, they would be afraid and timid.

And in this situation where they couldn’t fight back, where was the hope of winning?

The Qing army commander pondered for a moment and accepted the suggestion, ordering a retreat.

He hadn’t yet figured out where to retreat to. He just had to make some changes to stabilize the morale of the army, to let the soldiers know that he was still thinking of a way, instead of just waiting around.

When they stopped chasing and retreated, they discovered another very frustrating problem.

Their mission was to destroy the steamship fleet in front of them. If they didn’t destroy it, their retreat route would be cut off.

If they retreated now, they could only retreat to the location of the main force, and then there would be the Wu army in front again. There was no way out at all.

This was terrible, and what was even worse was yet to come.

When they began to retreat, the Wu army’s fleet, taking advantage of its speed, chased after them again and continued to shoot at them from a distance.

“Despicable, shameless, ah!”

The Qing army general angrily slashed his saber on the mast. This battle was too frustrating for him. He had never fought a battle where he was passively beaten the entire time.

Even if they were ambushed in a valley, they could climb up the mountain to fight a decisive battle. It was just that the process was more difficult, but at least there was a way to fight back.

But now, they couldn’t even touch the Wu army, so what was there to talk about fighting back?

The Wu army made the most of their advantage in weapons and equipment, and the Qing army was suffering unspeakably.

Some Qing soldiers couldn’t see any hope and had already jumped into the water to escape. If it weren’t for the generals watching over them, even more people would have fled.

“The enemy’s morale is completely gone. Order to prepare for boarding action!”

The Wu army commander said.

Although kiting like this was very enjoyable, the speed of killing enemies was still too slow. Now that the enemy’s morale had collapsed, they could confidently engage in melee combat.

With the issuance of the order, the Wu army’s ships finally took the initiative to approach the Qing army’s ships.

However, at this time, the Qing army commander couldn’t be happy.

Looking at the dispirited soldiers, he also knew that this battle was definitely lost.

However, he had not completely given up. He raised his saber and shouted, “The enemy is taking the initiative to come up! Their close combat must be useless! Our chance has come! Charge! Defeat the enemy in one fell swoop!”

Although he said that, the Qing army soldiers were not stupid. If the enemy’s melee combat was really useless, how could they take the initiative to engage in melee combat?

Moreover, some of these soldiers had participated in the last boarding action with the Wu army and had witnessed the Wu army’s powerful combat effectiveness and terrifying fighting will.

Hearing the nonsense their commander was saying at this time, not only did it not restore their morale, but it made them even more disheartened.

The two sides made contact and entered melee combat.

Rows of bayonets stabbed forward, as if they were vying for credit.

Soon, the Qing army discovered that the Wu army’s melee combat was even more valiant than they had imagined.

The only fantasy was also shattered, and the Qing army began to retreat steadily.

As they retreated, the people in the back had retreated to the edge of the ship. If they retreated further, they would fall into the water.

However, the soldiers in the front, facing the threat of bayonets, didn’t care so much. They were still desperately squeezing back, not wanting to be in the front.

The defeat was sealed. Some soldiers with good swimming skills simply threw away their weapons and went into the water to escape. As for some people who were not good enough at swimming, they began to surrender.

Once this trend started, the commanding generals couldn’t control it.

Helpless, they could only choose to surrender. Of course, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to resist to the end alone.

Only a small number of Eight Banners soldiers responsible for supervising the battle were still resisting, but these people were small in number. When facing the Wu army, they were quickly wiped out, and some also chose to surrender.

Although the fighting will of the Eight Banners soldiers was slightly stronger than that of the Han Chinese, it was only slightly stronger. They were also mortal beings with emotions and desires who were afraid of death.

In the multiple battles between the Wu army and the Qing army, tens of thousands of captured Manchu soldiers had already been taken prisoner.

More than a dozen Qing army ships were seized, and the remaining few continued to retreat.

Azali’s heart also began to panic when he saw the defeated ships.

Being attacked from both sides and with morale in chaos, the defeat was sealed in this situation. Even a military god couldn’t save this situation.

Failure was still a small matter. Now Azali was facing a rather embarrassing problem: he had no way to escape.

Forcibly charging the steamship fleet was too dangerous.

Moreover, through the telescope just now, Azali also discovered that these monsters emitting black smoke were much faster than his sailing ships. There was no way to escape.

The only way for him to escape was to head south to the shore and escape on land.

However, in this way, these ships would not be able to be saved and the entire army would be annihilated.

In the event of such a disastrous defeat, even if he escaped back to Lekedehun’s side, he might lose his life.

Just as Azali was hesitating, the Wu army had already begun a full-scale counterattack, increasing the intensity of the attack.

The Qing army’s momentum was gone, and large numbers of soldiers were surrendering and fleeing. The scene was even more chaotic than the previous melee.

“Withdraw, head to shore!”

Azali ordered helplessly. If they dragged on any longer, they would not be able to leave.

Chapter 208: Successful Landing

The Qing navy was routed, and Azali fled in panic to the south bank, abandoning his ships.

He only managed to escape with a few hundred men; the rest of the navy was either killed in battle or captured.

When news of the naval defeat reached Gong Adai, his subordinates were thrown into a panic.

These senior generals all knew that the navy was the key to this operation. Only if the navy defeated the Wu army and then attacked their supply lines would they have any hope of victory.

If the navy couldn’t do that, their army wouldn’t be able to withstand the Wu army’s continuous attacks.

“Let’s retreat back to the city first,” Gong Adai said. There was no point in continuing to defend this beachhead. The Wu army could now use their navy to transport troops and land elsewhere.

If the Wu army transported their forces behind them, they would be in real danger.

There was only one small road between Meizhou Wan, where they were stationed, and the city of Jiujiang, and this road was cut off from Jiujiang by a large mountain.

The Wu army only needed to send one or two thousand men to capture that mountain pass and block their retreat, and then their thirty thousand men would be trapped in Meizhou Wan.

Therefore, Gong Adai decisively chose to retreat, although he didn’t know what to do after retreating back to the city, but he didn’t have time to think so much for the time being.

He left more than three thousand men to hold the line, while the remaining troops retreated quickly.

Because the Wu army was still landing, their forces on the shore were limited. Even if they discovered that the Qing army was retreating, they couldn’t pursue them and could only eliminate the Qing troops left behind to earn some minor merit.

However, the troops left behind were under the command of Xu Yuxian. After being assigned to hold the line, he felt not resentment but joy.

After Gong Adai had gone far, he immediately ordered his entire army to surrender.

His soldiers had long been unwilling to fight. When they heard the general’s order to surrender, they all moved faster than anyone else.

This greatly disappointed the Wu army, who had been preparing to earn some merit. Many soldiers cursed these people, mocking them for being useless and easily defeated.

But this couldn’t enrage these surrendered soldiers. Let them laugh; it was better than being killed.

“Congratulations, sir, on your triumphant start! Jiujiang is now within our grasp,” Xue Guiren said, flattering Liu Hansan.

Liu Hansan didn’t feel much joy upon hearing this. No matter how much merit he earned, the overall commander this time was Li Shaobin. He was only responsible for the beach landing, and even if there was merit, Li Shaobin would get a share in the end.

“Take some men to capture the mountain pass and prevent a Qing counterattack. Brigade Commander Zhang, supervise the transportation of supplies. Be careful and don’t let anything go wrong,” Liu Hansan assigned tasks to Xue Guiren and Brigade Commander Zhang Yingyuan, and then went to rest.

He had spent a long time preparing for this battle, and he hadn’t slept well at night.

A battle involving tens of thousands of people required too much consideration. His ability was limited, and commanding such a battle was very difficult. Because he was afraid of making mistakes, he needed to spend more time thinking and researching than others before the battle.

Now he realized a problem: his ability was not keeping up with his power.

However, he would not be willing to retreat to the second line because of this. This was the greatest opportunity in his life. As long as he followed Wu Changqing closely and unified the country, he would be a founding hero and could at least be granted the title of duke.

If Wu Changqing was generous enough, even a kingdom was possible.

Now, in Wu Changqing’s military system, his position could be ranked second. As long as he maintained this position, his future status would be the envy of everyone.

For the sake of this life of wealth and glory, for the sake of his descendants’ luxurious lives, he would not give up this position.

Xue Guiren led five thousand men straight to Zhaojia Ao mountain pass, where the Qing army had symbolically left one thousand men to defend it.

However, these one thousand men were no match for the Wu army.

After all, the terrain of this mountain pass was not particularly dangerous, and the Qing army had not built any fortifications.

After a wave of attacks from the Wu army, these one thousand Qing soldiers either surrendered or fled, scattering like birds and beasts.

This battle was too easy.

Xue Guiren played with the telescope in his hand, feeling that this battle was somewhat unreal. The once mighty Eight Banners were so vulnerable.

In Meizhou Wan, the Wu army began to transport large quantities of supplies ashore.

Grain, large military equipment, artillery, tents, etc. Just transporting these supplies took the Wu army more than half a day.

By the time the supplies were unloaded, it was already dark.

Li Shaobin and other senior commanders gathered in a large tent to discuss and study the plan to attack Jiujiang, as well as the next battle plan.

Everyone looked at the map sand table and began to ponder.

This map sand table was created based on Wu Changqing’s ideas.

This kind of sand table was much more intuitive than ordinary maps. Where there were mountains and where there was water was clear at a glance. The only drawback was that it was troublesome to make, but since it concerned the life and death of tens of thousands of troops, the Wu army created multiple large sand table maps no matter how difficult it was.

From the sand table, everyone could clearly see the surrounding terrain of Jiujiang.

“Can we send a troop through here to attack Lotus Town by surprise? As long as we occupy Lotus Town, we will cut off their connection with Nanchang. The fleet will block them on the water, and they will be completely surrounded. At that time, even if we don’t attack the city, they will have to come out of the city and take the initiative to attack, otherwise the little food in their city won’t last long.”

The speaker was Tao Dongcheng. Based on the surrounding terrain of Jiujiang, he proposed a plan.

The advantage of this plan was that it could reduce losses. Although they were very good at attacking cities, they would always have to pay some price. Compared to attacking cities, they were even better at defending them.

As long as they occupied Lotus Town and forced the Qing army to fight in the field outside the city, they could win more easily.

Although they now had the advantage, there were still eighty to ninety thousand troops in Jiujiang, so they had to be careful, or they might suffer an unexpected defeat.

Tao Dongcheng’s plan was not bad, but one drawback was that it would take too long.

Even if there was not much food in Jiujiang, it would still be able to last for a month. Moreover, at that time, the Qing army would rob the food of the people in the city and even do more tragic things.

Those soldiers defending the city could do anything when they were in desperate situations.

“There is no need for that. We will attack directly, and we can take them down in less than three days. How many days will your siege plan take?”

Liu Hansan disagreed. He wanted a quick victory.

“My plan may take a month, which is indeed a bit long,” Tao Dongcheng said. In fact, his plan was a very good plan for other armies. It could force the enemy out of the city and reduce the deaths of a large number of soldiers.

However, in the Wu army, this plan was not considered brilliant. After all, everyone needed to consider efficiency.

Spending more than a month attacking a city would be a failure for them.

Therefore, not only did Liu Hansan disagree, but the other main generals also disagreed with the siege plan and preferred to attack directly.

Chapter 209: Defense Plan

The group finally settled on a forceful assault, and the staff could only offer suggestions for this plan.

“After taking Jiujiang, we’ll split our forces into two. One route will head south along the west side of Poyang Lake, directly targeting Nanchang, Jian, and Fuzhou. The other will head south along the east side of Poyang Lake, seizing Jingdezhen, Shangrao, and other places. We must control this treasure trove.”

After discussing the attack on Jiujiang, Liu Hansan offered suggestions for the subsequent plan.

Jiangxi’s presence in later generations is very weak. Many people from economically developed areas may be clueless when Jiangxi is mentioned. But that’s because of the rise of overseas trade and the rapid development of coastal cities.

In fact, from the Sui and Tang dynasties to the early Republic of China, Jiangxi was a treasure trove. It not only had a large amount of arable land, but also relatively developed water transportation, abundant resources, and a profound cultural heritage.

Wang Anshi, Ouyang Xiu, Yan Shu, Wen Tianxiang, Yan Song…

These celebrities were all from Jiangxi. There are even more officials who hold great power now but are not well-known in later generations.

During the Ming Dynasty alone, Jiangxi produced two Grand Secretaries.

Jiangxi’s academies are the best in the world. In terms of the number of academies alone, Jiangxi can beat any other province.

Wu Changqing is eager to occupy northern Jiangxi, not only because this area is under the control of the Qing Dynasty, but more importantly because this area is economically developed and densely populated.

Occupying this area would double Wu Changqing’s strength.

“Wouldn’t dividing our forces into two be too risky? Although we have a lot of troops, spreading them over such a large area is not enough. Moreover, we have to leave a large force to garrison Jiujiang to prevent a Qing counterattack.”

Dai Zhijun reminded him, worried that the rapid expansion would lead to insufficient troops.

“Could we ask the General for instructions and allow us to act expediently and recruit some auxiliary troops on our own?”

Dong Tianbao suggested.

According to the rules of the Wu army, the generals under his command are not allowed to recruit soldiers privately.

Any battle losses in each unit are replenished by the logistics department.

And the surrendered soldiers also need to enter the logistics department first, and be dispatched by the logistics department.

Replenishing soldiers requires this, let alone recruiting new soldiers to expand the army. A division is a certain number of people. If the division commander dares to recruit soldiers privately, not to mention the problem of military pay cannot be solved, even if no military pay is required, Wu Changqing will not allow it.

Once the generals have the right to expand their army privately, their strength will become greater and greater, and in the end, it will easily lead to a situation where they are too powerful to control.

Although sometimes it is more convenient for generals to have the power to expand their army, Wu Changqing would rather be more troublesome and not give his subordinates this power.

This is Wu Changqing’s fundamental secret to controlling the army, and there is no room for negotiation.

“Silence, don’t mention this matter again.”

Li Shaobin snorted coldly, and Dong Tianbao immediately regretted wanting to slap himself in the face.

His thinking is still stuck in the past, wanting to increase his strength by expanding the army.

With Jiangxi’s wealth, it is easy to expand the army by one times with a little plundering of money. If it were the generals of the past, they would do this one hundred percent.

But now, Li Shaobin never thought about it.

He knows that the generals privately expanding the army is Wu Changqing’s sore spot. If he dares to do so, he will be imprisoned in a cell in minutes, and he may even lose his head.

Li Shaobin believes that he does not have the talent and prestige of Wu Changqing, and has never thought of establishing himself as king. Now he is very satisfied to be able to command tens of thousands of troops with Wu Changqing.

“Let’s wait for the General’s reinforcements. With steamship transportation, it won’t take much time. Moreover, the newly recruited soldiers have no combat effectiveness. Those trained soldiers are more reliable.”

Wang Dayong said.

The others haven’t taken Jiujiang yet, but they have already begun to plan for the follow-up actions of taking Jiujiang. In their eyes, taking Jiujiang is not a problem at all.

When it comes to attacking cities, they have never lost.

In Jiujiang City, many Qing army generals with ugly faces gathered together.

The navy was defeated, and the Wu army successfully landed and was about to approach the city.

Their previous plans have all been declared a failure, and next they can only rely on strength to defend head-on. But the problem is that their strength is far inferior to the Wu army.

This head-on confrontation is obviously exactly what the Wu army wants.

“Everyone, talk about it, what should we do next? Can Jiujiang still be defended, and how?”

Lekedehun spoke first, but after he spoke, there was silence below, and no one responded.

It’s not that they want to be cold, but they really can’t think of any way to deal with the Wu army.

“Now the bandit army is powerful and we can no longer resist it. It is better to retreat to Wuhan, wait for the imperial army to go south, and then launch a counterattack in one fell swoop.”

The speaker was Azali. When the Wu army came, he was a firm advocate of war.

However, after several battles with the Wu army, he was afraid and wanted to avoid fighting the Wu army.

“Retreat? Now it is probably not easy for us to retreat. Could it be that we have to rely on our legs to walk back to Wuhan?”

Gong A’dai mocked Azali. Azali was responsible for the defeat of the navy, and almost all the ships were lost.

They don’t have enough ships to return to Wuhan now, so they can only go by land.

However, there is no avenue from Jiujiang to Wuhan. If you have to go, you can only go to Ruichang, and then cross the mountains to Xianning.

On this narrow mountain road, not to mention that you have to worry about the Wu army chasing from behind at all times, even if the Wu army does not chase them, they may not be able to arrive smoothly.

Some places on those mountain roads can’t even be passed by horses, let alone those cannons weighing several thousand pounds.

Even if they abandon their supplies, it will take a lot of food to pass this road. Where can they get so much food in the mountains?

In short, they have no way to retreat now. If they want to retreat, they can only retreat to Nanchang.

However, retreating to Nanchang is tantamount to cutting off their own path to survival. Nanchang is surrounded by either the territory of the Longwu Emperor or the territory of Prince Lu, and now there is Wu Changqing.

Their entry into Nanchang is tantamount to a sheep entering the tiger’s mouth, with nowhere to escape.

The direct reason for their situation was the defeat of the navy commanded by Azali.

“Retreat is not feasible. We still have to find a way to defend Jiujiang and wait for the ships from Wuhan to come and pick us up.”

Lekedehun said, he has sent messengers to the upper reaches to step up the search for ships. Regardless of whether he can defend it or not, he needs ships to leave a way out.

“We also have to send a garrison commander to garrison Lotus Town, guard the throat of Jiujiang and Nanchang, and protect our logistics.”

A subordinate general familiar with the surrounding terrain suggested that Lotus Town is very important to them.

“We can also recall the soldiers from Nanchang and other places to Jiujiang to increase our troop advantage.”

“No, no, the Longwu’s troops are already advancing towards Fuzhou. We must leave some troops there to garrison. If we lose Nanchang, we will be an isolated city here.”

…

After discussing for a long time, they did not come up with any brilliant plan. In the end, they could only honestly defend the city.

This made Lekedehun a little regretful. If he had known earlier, he would have simply given up Jiangxi and left the troops in Wuhan. At least he wouldn’t have to be in such a dilemma as he is now.

Chapter 210: Jiujiang Siege

Two days later, the main force of the Wu army arrived at Jiujiang, totaling about seventy thousand men.

The Qing army still had ninety thousand troops in Jiujiang, giving them a numerical advantage, but the Qing generals were generally pessimistic.

The strength of an army can never be judged solely by its numbers. In the past, they often won with fewer troops, chasing after the Ming army. But now, they were facing an even more powerful Wu army.

Due to weaponry, the importance of army size was once again diminished.

Even the Qing army had realized that this was no longer an era of comparing numbers; weapons were the most important thing in warfare.

In the past, whether it was a blade or an arrow, it could only kill one person at most. But now, a single howitzer shell could kill a few people at the very least, and dozens or even scores at most.

And there were also hand grenades, whose power was also quite astonishing.

Although flintlock guns were single-target weapons, their rate of fire was extremely fast, making their killing efficiency quite high.

These advanced weapons greatly increased the efficiency of killing, making war increasingly brutal.

To cope with these advanced weapons, the Qing army also came up with many crude methods.

For example, generals no longer wore special clothing and armor to prevent being targeted by snipers.

Secondly, a large number of wooden boards and wet cotton quilts were prepared on the city walls. These things were used to build simple shelters on the city walls, which could prevent large-scale killings by howitzer shells.

To prevent the city walls from being blown up, they also deepened the moat.

To defend against the Wu army’s grenadiers, they also prepared a large number of torches and tung oil on the city walls. Some clever Qing soldiers discovered that the Wu army’s hand grenades were afraid of fire. As long as they threw torches and tung oil at the grenadiers, detonating the grenades on their bodies, they could solve the threat of the grenadiers.

Of course, these crude methods could only slightly improve their predicament, but it was impossible to eliminate the Wu army’s equipment advantage with these.

As the order to attack was issued, the Wu army’s cannons began to roar.

The army had more than eighty cannons, and the navy had more than seventy.

At this time, not only did the army’s cannons begin to bombard the city, but the navy also opened fire on the northern city walls of Jiujiang from the river.

The Qing army was not to be outdone. They had more than fifty cannons, which were now moved to the city walls to bombard the Wu army’s artillery positions.

However, although they were both Hongyi cannons, the Qing army’s shells were at a great disadvantage. They used solid shot, and unless they were very lucky and the shells directly hit people or cannons, their shots were wasted.

The Wu army’s howitzer shells, on the other hand, exploded over a wide area, requiring much less precision. As long as they hit the general area, they could achieve results.

“Boom.”

As some of the Qing army’s shells landed on the Wu army’s positions, the Wu army’s artillery suffered some casualties.

Soldiers who were directly hit by the shells were basically turned into fragments, dying a very gruesome death.

However, the Wu army soldiers nearby remained indifferent, continuing to calibrate and load shells.

It wasn’t that they weren’t afraid, but being afraid was useless.

Honestly continuing to fire the cannons meant that the probability of death was probably less than five percent. However, if they ran away out of fear, the probability of death would be one hundred percent.

The supervising team not far away was not there for decoration.

Any soldier with a bit of brains could make the right choice.

And the Wu army’s artillerymen all had normal brains. If they weren’t smarter than other soldiers, they wouldn’t be able to enter the artillery battalion.

The Qing army’s round of artillery fire only killed three Wu army artillerymen. Among these three artillerymen, they were all replaceable loaders and auxiliary soldiers who transported artillery shells.

None of the most important technical personnel, such as surveyors and operators, were killed. As long as these people were not dead, the strength of the artillery unit would not be affected.

In contrast, the Qing army suffered much more.

More than twenty shells successfully landed on the city walls. Even though the Qing army had taken protective measures, many people were still injured when these shells exploded.

In the center of the explosion, those thin wooden boards were of little use.

And the artillerymen were even worse off. They had to fire the cannons and had no protection.

When a howitzer shell exploded among them, it directly wiped out an artillery team of more than a dozen people.

Several of these people were experienced gunners who could not be replaced. Without them, one of the Qing army’s cannons would not fire.

“Order the artillery to stop firing and hide.”

Lekedehun observed the situation from the city tower through a telescope. After several rounds of artillery fire, he assessed the results and losses, and decisively issued an order for the artillery to stop resisting.

It was too uneconomical. They had to die an average of five people to kill one Wu army soldier.

Rather than wasting those precious gunners in vain, it would be better to preserve their lives and let them kill the charging infantry when the Wu army launched a large-scale siege later.

Solid shot was inefficient at killing scattered artillerymen, but it was still quite powerful when hitting dense formations.

Lekedehun was able to reach this position, so naturally he had his own merits.

At this time, he could endure being beaten in order to preserve his strength.

After half an hour of artillery fire, the Wu army began to launch a probing attack.

This attack was not intended to break the city, but to probe the Qing army’s troop deployment, to see which section of the city wall had more archers, which section of the city wall had more defensive materials, and which section of the city wall had weaker defenses.

After probing this information, the next general attack could be deployed in a targeted manner.

Of course, if the probing attack went smoothly and they could directly capture the city, that would be the best.

However, during the deduction process, the staff unanimously agreed that this was impossible. It was completely unrealistic to capture Jiujiang in one go.

There were too many Qing troops in Jiujiang. Even if they used lives to fill it, they could defend for a long time.

More importantly, among the defenders in Jiujiang, the number of Eight Banners soldiers was very large, accounting for nearly half.

Compared with the Green Standard Army, the Eight Banners soldiers were more tenacious in their fighting will when fighting the Wu army, because they were not of the same ethnicity as the Wu army after all, so they were psychologically resistant to surrender.

Although the Wu army had never massacred surrendered Manchu soldiers, these Eight Banners soldiers still instinctively distrusted the Wu army. This distrust would make them tend to fight to the death in battle.

The soldiers’ fighting will had a great impact on the progress of the battle.

In the past, as long as the Wu army killed about twenty percent of the enemy, the enemy would collapse and flee, and then the Wu army could easily reap the rewards.

But this time, they had to kill at least forty percent of the defenders to defeat them.

And to achieve this goal, the Wu army would also have to pay more casualties.

In short, in the staff’s deduction, attacking Jiujiang was not easy.

Chapter 211: A Brutal Exchange of Fire

Ten thousand men were responsible for the probing attack, drawn from various divisions.

After all, sieges required coordination between different arms.

The ten thousand men were divided into three groups, launching simultaneous attacks on the left, center, and right sections of the city wall.

The vanguard consisted of the flintlock riflemen, tasked with providing all covering fire and suppression. They were followed by temporarily conscripted auxiliary troops, carrying sandbags to fill the moat and pushing various siege engines.

Most of these men were either surrendered soldiers or conscripted civilians from nearby areas. Expecting them to actually assault the city was unrealistic, as they lacked organization and discipline.

Their task was simply to fill in some of the moat and push the siege equipment to the base of the wall.

The actual assault was to be carried out by the Wu army’s regular main force: assault teams composed of daredevils and grenadiers.

Within these forces were also independently operating decapitation squads and sniper platoons.

These were all well-established siege tactics for the Wu army, proven effective time and again.

“Artillery, take your positions! Open fire!”

As the Wu army’s assault force moved into range, the Qing army’s artillerymen hurriedly returned to their posts and began firing.

As the Qing cannons roared, black dots descended towards the Wu army’s formations.

A cannonball landed in the formation, striking a soldier before continuing to roll forward, unstoppable. Any soldier touched by this large iron ball was either killed or severely wounded.

Even when it seemed to be slowing down at the last moment, the iron ball grazed a soldier’s calf, instantly shattering his leg bone.

“Form a line!”

The Wu army, having taken a round of artillery fire, immediately changed formation to minimize casualties.

At the same time, the Wu army’s artillery concentrated its fire on the Qing army’s artillery positions, attempting to eliminate and suppress them.

The Qing artillery positions, now the primary target, quickly suffered heavy damage, with several gun crews wiped out in a single blast.

The remaining artillerymen’s legs trembled, and orange-yellow stains of urine dripped down.

The survivors knew full well that as long as they remained in the artillery position, death was only a matter of time.

Despite knowing their fate, they had no choice, as the supervising officers were constantly watching them.

Being a technical soldier wasn’t easy.

The artillery on both sides thundered as the Wu army continued to advance.

As the ranged units on both sides entered each other’s range, the Qing soldiers on the city wall began firing arrows and muskets.

This caused considerable trouble for the Wu army, as the Qing army had a large number of archers.

Mounted archery was the Eight Banners’ specialty, and their soldiers included a very high proportion of archers.

A rain of arrows fell upon the Wu army’s formation, and many soldiers fell, struck by arrows.

For the sake of agility and lightness, the Wu army’s flintlock riflemen were only equipped with iron helmets, with no other body armor.

This, of course, was a choice validated by actual combat experience: not wearing armor was more conducive to victory than wearing it.

The medical team carried away the wounded soldiers, while the reserves picked up their equipment and joined the formation, maintaining the density of firepower.

“Form ranks, volley fire!”

The Wu army’s flintlock riflemen also stopped and fired a volley at the city wall.

With a burst of gunfire, a cloud of white smoke filled the battlefield.

On the Qing army’s city wall, a large number of soldiers fell. Some fell on the wall, while others fell directly to the ground below.

The power of several thousand men firing in unison was terrifying.

“Truly an elite force. Facing a rain of arrows, they don’t even try to dodge, as if they’re all fearless,” Lekedehun remarked, watching the Wu army’s performance.

Ordinary armies would require shields when facing a rain of arrows, otherwise they would scatter and flee. Being able to calmly face the hail of arrows was, in Lekedehun’s eyes, quite unbelievable.

Of course, he didn’t know that Wu Changqing’s army training manual was based on the standards of line infantry trained to stand in formation and be shot.

Soldiers trained to stand in a line to be shot had to have the mental fortitude to maintain their formation even when facing certain death.

Of course, the Wu army’s ability to do this was also closely related to their logistical support.

In order to save more wounded soldiers, Wu Changqing had specifically spent resources to acquire a batch of sulfonamide for the army’s use.

Sulfonamide’s antibacterial effect was much weaker than penicillin, but it was cheap. Moreover, this “weaker effect” was only in comparison to penicillin; compared to any other antibacterial drug of the time, sulfonamide was far superior.

In this era, no one even knew about the existence of bacteria, and there was little that could be done about wound infections and festering, except to use red-hot iron to cauterize them.

This treatment method was both painful and inefficient.

But the Wu army, relying on the miraculous sulfonamide, was able to heal most of its wounded soldiers, preventing infection.

The biggest cause of death for wounded soldiers was wound infection. With sulfonamide, the Wu army’s mortality rate for the wounded dropped dramatically.

Without the threat of death, the Wu army soldiers were also bolder in battle, no longer fearing injury.

Before, being wounded meant losing one’s life; now, being wounded was just a bit of pain.

This little bit of pain was nothing to the soldiers.

It was precisely because of their trust in their own army doctors that the Wu army was able to remain calm when facing a rain of arrows.

Except for the few soldiers who were shot in vital areas like the heart, neck, or head, most of the wounded soldiers were able to survive.

Lekedehun was obviously unaware of these circumstances. He could only learn some superficial information about the Wu army through scouts, such as their weapons and equipment, and their unique division organization.

Beyond that, Lekedehun didn’t know much about the Wu army. He didn’t know the fundamental reasons for their strength, and could only attribute it to their weapons.

After a round of exchanging fire, some chaos broke out on the Qing army’s side. The casualty rate was too high, and almost a third of those in the front ranks had fallen.

Although only a small number of these people died instantly, everyone understood that those who had been shot had almost no chance of survival.

“Continue firing arrows!”

The Qing army general shouted, but the next moment, a burst of blood erupted from his head.

Although he was wearing the same clothes as the ordinary soldiers, experienced veterans could still distinguish officers from soldiers with careful observation.

The method was simple: while the other soldiers were preparing to draw their bows and fire arrows, this man was constantly observing the ground below the city wall. Such a clear difference was enough to determine that he was an officer.

The death of the officer caused the soldiers to pause for a moment.

However, the Qing army had more than one officer. This section of the city wall was the responsibility of one general and five lieutenant colonels.

The other lieutenant colonels immediately took over the soldiers after seeing the man killed.

Of course, even with the takeover, the Wu army’s shot had still had some impact on the Qing army.

After the second round of exchanging fire, both sides had suffered heavy casualties.

The Wu army’s logistics units were constantly carrying away the wounded soldiers, while the Qing soldiers on the city wall were also carrying away their wounded. If these men were not removed, their constant screams would have a significant impact on the morale of the other soldiers.

Watching the wounded soldiers being carried off the city wall and thrown into a corner, then left unattended, the soldiers behind the wall trembled.

It had only been a short time, and the casualties were already so severe.

They would have to go up to defend sooner or later. Looking at the abandoned wounded soldiers, they felt as if they were seeing their own fate.

Chapter 212: Comprehensive Considerations

Under the cover of the flintlock musketeers, the auxiliary troops filled in several sections of the moat, and the siege equipment was smoothly pushed to the city walls.

Without the cover of the flintlock musketeers, the enemy on the city walls would have been able to inflict massive casualties on the soldiers filling the moat.

But now, although the flintlock musketeers also suffered significant losses, they ensured the safety of the siege troops and inflicted casualties on the Qing army’s ranged units.

Based on these two points alone, their cover was extremely valuable, eliminating the defending troops’ greatest advantage.

The cold weapon troops arrived at the city walls and began their siege, while the soldiers on the siege towers began their assault on the city.

A probing attack doesn’t mean it’s just for show. The lower-level soldiers and junior officers had no idea it was a probing attack and treated it as a full-scale assault.

Therefore, they charged fiercely.

Of course, only such a realistic attack could uncover the Qing army’s troop deployments and other information.

In the distance, Li Shaobin and the others never took their eyes off their telescopes, constantly observing the situation on the Qing army’s city walls.

Through observation, Li Shaobin discovered that the enemy’s Eight Banners soldiers and Han Chinese Green Standard Army were mixed in their defenses. No section of the city wall was purely Green Standard Army, nor was any section purely Eight Banners.

This was probably out of concern that the Green Standard Army soldiers’ fighting spirit was too weak and they might surrender.

This approach actually had its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage was that it could deter and supervise the Green Standard Army soldiers, forcing them to fight hard. The disadvantage was that the two units, which usually lacked coordination, were put together, resulting in poor cooperation.

Through observation, the group also discovered that the Qing army’s archers were mostly concentrated on the middle section of the city walls, presumably to facilitate support to both sides. The Qing army’s left side of the city walls had more defensive materials like stones. On the right side, there were more materials like boiling oil…

Some information was useful, while other information was useless. Furthermore, they had to consider whether some of the Qing army’s deployments were deliberately set up to mislead them.

They had to rely on their experience and intuition to analyze and judge these things, and then make corresponding deployments in the next siege battle.

“That’s about enough, sound the retreat.”

Li Shaobin ordered. Because the Qing army had sufficient troops, they didn’t gain any advantage in this wave of attack. At best, it was a fifty-fifty split, with both sides fighting a battle of attrition.

Of course, as the attacking side, being able to fight to a standstill with the defending side was already remarkable, and could even, to some extent, damage the enemy’s morale.

Before the rise of the Wu army, the attacking side always had to endure greater casualties.

As the Wu army retreated, the Qing soldiers on the city walls breathed a sigh of relief.

This battle didn’t feel like defending at all; they couldn’t feel any advantage. If they continued to fight like this, few of them were confident that they could hold the city.

“This was probably just a probing attack by the enemy.”

Lekedehun sighed.

The Wu army’s attack was very short, and they didn’t retreat because of a soldier rout, but rather retreated on their own initiative. This indicated that the Wu army’s commander didn’t intend to take Jiujiang with this attack.

All indications suggested that the Wu army’s attack might have been just a probing attack.

“The statistics are out. Our army suffered one thousand one hundred dead and more than two thousand three hundred seriously wounded. These seriously wounded are basically equivalent to fatalities. If this attack by the enemy was just a probe, then it’s too terrifying. When the real all-out attack comes, we might lose tens of thousands of men in a single battle, and the city will fall after at most two or three battles.”

Before long, Gong A’dai received the casualty statistics, and the numbers were shocking.

The loss of three thousand five hundred men accounted for four percent of their total strength. It didn’t seem like much, but this was just a probing attack after all.

At this rate of attrition, they would lose tens of thousands of men in each full-scale attack. In this situation, they could only hold out for three or four waves. When half of the soldiers were dead, they would definitely collapse and mutiny, and Lekedehun might not be able to control them.

“What about the enemy’s losses? Have you estimated them?”

Lekedehun asked.

“According to visual observation of the enemy’s corpse collection teams, it can be inferred that the enemy has at least eight hundred dead and nearly two thousand seriously wounded, so their losses are slightly less than ours.”

Gong A’dai reported.

“In that case, we can still hold on for a while and see who has the stronger endurance.”

Lekedehun snorted coldly. As long as they continued to inflict heavy casualties on the Wu army, then the Wu army’s soldiers would also panic and be at risk of collapse.

In the end, whoever could hold out longer would win.

Of course, this tactic could be said to be the worst of the worst, a last resort. Lekedehun had no other choice but to pin his hopes on this tactic.

However, his illusion was destined to be shattered.

The Qing army’s estimate of the Wu army’s death toll was relatively accurate, but their estimate of the number of seriously wounded was significantly off.

The Qing army defined injuries that they were unable to treat as serious injuries, so they estimated that two thousand Wu soldiers were seriously wounded, concluding that the Wu army had lost nearly three thousand men.

But in reality, at least one thousand two hundred of those two thousand men were salvageable. These people were only considered lightly wounded in the Wu army’s statistics.

Therefore, the true losses on both sides were one thousand six hundred to three thousand five hundred, roughly a ratio of one to two.

If they really wanted to see who would collapse first, it would definitely be the Qing army.

Of course, Li Shaobin didn’t like this tactic of attrition, as it would also result in heavy losses on their side. They would have to pay the price of at least twenty thousand casualties to bring the enemy to the point of collapse, which was clearly not cost-effective.

That night, in the Wu army’s staff headquarters, the group once again formulated a plan for a full-scale attack.

“According to this plan, our number of shells may not be enough. We need to wait for the next batch of supplies to arrive,”

Dai Zhijun reminded.

Although their army was powerful in battle, their reliance on logistics was much greater than other cold weapon troops.

Without shells and bullets, their combat power would be reduced by two-thirds, which was very alarming.

Therefore, they paid close attention to military supplies and constantly calculated consumption.

“Then we’ll wait for the next batch of supplies to arrive before launching a full-scale attack. During this time, we can also build more siege equipment to minimize casualties during the siege.”

Li Shaobin was not only considering taking Jiujiang, but also other aspects.

For example, the Wu army’s death benefits and assistance funds for wounded and disabled soldiers were much higher than other forces. If too many soldiers were killed or disabled, it would be a major burden on their finances.

This was also an important factor in why the Wu army’s soldiers were willing to fight so hard, relying on a good welfare system to attract soldiers to fight for them.

Although Wu Changqing had not instructed Li Shaobin to pay attention to the soldiers’ attrition rate, Li Shaobin, who wholeheartedly wanted to please Wu Changqing, naturally took the initiative to share Wu Changqing’s worries.

To gain Wu Changqing’s trust and favor, he had to take the initiative to solve Wu Changqing’s problems, rather than passively accepting various orders.

Chapter 213: Spies from All Sides

The Wu army and the Qing army fell into a stalemate at Jiujiang, and news of the great battle at Jiujiang was also learned by spies from all sides.

Yueyang, He Tengjiao’s headquarters.

A spy, utterly exhausted, was supported by two soldiers into the council hall and given a few gulps of water.

“What’s the situation in Jiujiang?”

He Tengjiao asked anxiously, as he had been paying close attention to the battle in Jiujiang for some time.

“Reporting, my lord, the Qing army suffered a great defeat in Jiujiang. Twenty thousand sailors were completely annihilated, and the army lost more than ten thousand men. They have retreated back into Jiujiang city and seem determined to defend it to the death. Wu Changqing’s forces launched one attack on the city, but then temporarily stopped, apparently to prepare siege equipment.”

The spy’s words brought smiles to everyone’s faces. The Qing army’s defeat was even more beneficial to them; they could even take the opportunity to attack Wuhan.

The Wuhan area is mostly plains, important grain-producing areas.

Just as “When Su and Hu are ripe, all under heaven will have enough,” so too is “When Hunan and Hubei are ripe, all under heaven will have enough,” with Hunan and Hubei referring to this area.

In ancient times, the importance of grain-producing areas far outweighed that of coastal cities.

With grain, there is population; with grain, you can expand your army.

“Wu Changqing’s troops are truly powerful, actually forcing the Qing army to retreat into the city and abandon their favored cavalry and archery,”

Yan Qihuan said with emotion. Their battles with the Qing army had always been them defending the city, afraid to leave the city and engage in open-field battles with the Qing army because the Qing army was too powerful.

But now, it was finally the Qing army’s turn to hide in the city. Truly, the wheel turns.

“Wu Changqing’s powerful army was within our expectations, but when did their navy become so powerful that they completely annihilated the Manchu Qing navy?”

Zhou Daqi said with emotion.

“It was the Dragon King’s assistance. It is said that during the naval battle, a fleet of ships appeared in Wu Changqing’s navy that didn’t need sails or oars and could move upstream on their own. The Manchu Qing navy thought the enemy had the Dragon King’s help, hence their great defeat. Besides gathering information, this subordinate also purchased two treasures from a deserter.”

The spy reported, and at the same time, he had people bring the flintlock gun and hand grenade he had brought back.

He had spent a lot of money to buy these from Qing army deserters. The battle at the time was extremely chaotic, and some of the Wu army’s equipment was captured and plundered.

Among them, some clever deserters brought these things with them when they fled.

Dragon King’s assistance?

He Tengjiao frowned upon hearing this. Those of them who had studied would naturally not believe in ghosts and gods. Therefore, he was very dissatisfied with the spy’s vague information.

From the spy’s words, he only learned that the Wu army had a special type of ship, which was clearly not enough.

“This is the Wu army’s most crucial weapon, which they call a flintlock gun. Its rate of fire is five times that of an ordinary matchlock gun. This is called a hand grenade, which can be thrown a distance by hand. After the fuse is lit for a moment, the gunpowder inside will explode, and its fragments are enough to seriously injure or kill soldiers within a few feet.”

The spy introduced these two weapons. Of course, all this information was obtained from the deserters.

Yan Qihuan immediately took the flintlock gun and examined it carefully.

Zhou Daqi was studying the hand grenade, trying to understand its mysteries.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t see anything from the surface alone.

The group came to the courtyard, and He Tengjiao had the spy test the flintlock gun.

Although the spy had not been trained and was not very skilled in its operation, the speed of loading was visibly fast, directly eliminating the step of loading gunpowder, because the bullet and gunpowder were already loaded together.

“Immediately summon the skilled craftsmen in the city and have them replicate these two weapons. The first craftsman to replicate them will be rewarded with five thousand taels of silver.”

He Tengjiao was uncharacteristically generous, promising a heavy reward.

The secret to the Wu army’s strength lies in these two weapons. He was already imagining the scene of his army equipped with these weapons.

After arranging the replication matters, Yan Qihuan suggested immediately raising troops and taking the opportunity to capture Wuhan.

In any case, Lekedehun was currently in a state of anxiety and must be unable to take care of Wuhan. They only needed to defeat the local garrison, and Wuhan and other places would fall into their hands.

This suggestion was eventually adopted by He Tengjiao, who was unwilling to remain in Hunan and wanted to occupy more territory and expand his strength.

Nanfeng, a small city in southern Fuzhou, Jiangxi.

At this time, Zhu Yujian’s army was attacking this small city. He had already begun his operations when the Wu army advanced westward.

However, because the mountain roads were difficult to travel, even when the Wu army had reached Jiujiang, they had only just arrived at Nanfeng and had not even taken Fuzhou, let alone Nanchang, which was still a long distance away.

This made Zhu Yujian very anxious. He wanted to capture Nanchang before the Wu army. Then, he could use the title of emperor to deter Wu Changqing’s troops from attacking him.

If the Wu army captured Nanchang first, they would definitely not give up the territory.

Zhu Yujian considered the territory around Nanchang to be the foundation of his rise and attached great importance to it.

Now that the advance was not going smoothly, he was quite anxious and even came directly to the central army to personally supervise the battle.

However, without cannons and only a small number of matchlock guns, their siege methods were still very primitive, relying on ant-like attacks, which was very disadvantageous.

Moreover, the quality of their army was not as good as that of Fang Guoan, Zheng Zhilong, and others. Most of them were new recruits or the old and weak, with few elites.

A small county town had already held them back for three days.

On this day, Zhu Yujian once again received a secret report from a spy, saying that the Wu army had forced the Qing army into Jiujiang city and seemed to be preparing for a general offensive.

This made Zhu Yujian even more anxious. If the Wu army took Jiujiang, then there would be nothing to stop them from marching south to Nanchang.

At this moment, Zhu Yujian wished that the Qing army could rise up and defeat the Wu army.

For the sake of profit, he had put aside thoughts of foreign races for the moment.

For him, if he couldn’t get the world, then it didn’t matter who it belonged to.

“Order Huang Shanling to speed up the siege and take Nanfeng within two days. At the same time, send my oral decree to He Tengjiao, ordering him to send a force to Nanchang to join my army.”

He Tengjiao was now loyal to Zhu Yujian, so Zhu Yujian had the right to command He Tengjiao.

However, this was in theory. Whether he could actually mobilize him depended entirely on He Tengjiao’s choice.

If He Tengjiao was loyal enough, then there would be no problem.

But if He Tengjiao was unwilling, there were many excuses he could use.

For example, the mountain roads from Hunan to Nanchang were difficult to travel, there was insufficient food and grass, and the military pay was not enough. These were all good excuses.

Given the current situation in the world, Zhu Yujian could do nothing to He Tengjiao if he disobeyed the order.

Chapter 214: Imitation by All Sides

In Shaoxing, Zhu Yihai was also discussing with several trusted ministers whether to take the opportunity to send troops to seize Suzhou, Songjiang, and other places.

These two locations, one with an armory and the other with a foreign trade zone, were of great significance to them.

By taking Suzhou, they could form a new-style army. By seizing Songjiang, they could obtain the enormous tax revenue there, thereby expanding their army and increasing their strength.

The tax revenue of Songjiang Prefecture had already officially surpassed that of Suzhou. Each overseas trade was a major transaction, often involving several or even a dozen large ships.

In addition to foreign trade, Songjiang was also a distribution center for various goods. With the support of Wu Changqing, commerce in this area had developed rapidly and had become a commercial center.

Zhu Yihai’s idea was beautiful, but realizing this plan was extremely dangerous, as it meant officially breaking with Wu Changqing.

“Wu Changqing’s main force is in Jiujiang, and the remaining troops are in Nanjing. Suzhou and Songjiang are both very empty, which is a great opportunity for us to seize them,” Fang Guoan said. His feud with Wu Changqing had deepened, and he was eager to cause Wu Changqing some trouble. At the same time, he was particularly envious of Suzhou’s armory.

“Nanjing is not far from Suzhou, and their reinforcements can arrive quickly. Now is not the right time to attack Suzhou,” Wang Zhiren, another general, disagreed with launching an attack now, mainly because their strength was still too weak.

He currently had just over forty thousand troops under his command, Fang Guoan had another thirty thousand, and Zhu Yihai had recruited twenty thousand soldiers through thrift during this period.

Together, they had a total of ninety thousand men, which was quite a number.

However, the question of their combat effectiveness was a big one. These people were no match for the Wu army in field battles, let alone sieges.

If they could not take Suzhou in a short period, they would be miserable when the reinforcements from Nanjing arrived. They would gain no benefits and would completely break with Wu Changqing.

At that time, Wu Changqing might even have reason to directly attack Hangzhou and Shaoxing. Once these places were occupied by Wu Changqing, their foundation for a comeback would be destroyed.

Therefore, the matter was of great importance, and Zhu Yihai dared not make a decision easily.

“How is the imitation of the new weapons going?” Zhu Yihai asked.

The last time Fang Guoan fought with the Wu army, it was not without gains. At least he captured a few hand grenades, and then he ordered the craftsmen to imitate them.

“No progress. In order to imitate this hand grenade, we have already had six craftsmen blown to death. The hand grenades that were finally imitated are much less powerful. According to some craftsmen, their gunpowder formula is different from ours, and their gunpowder is more powerful,” Fang Guoan said helplessly.

The structure of the hand grenade was simple, and they quickly researched and imitated it.

However, the gunpowder formula required countless experiments to figure out. This required a lot of time and capital investment.

Currently, the hand grenades they imitated could explode, but the power was small. Another type of hand grenade with sufficient power relied on loading more gunpowder, resulting in a volume and weight that far exceeded the standard, and people could not throw it very far.

In actual combat, this kind of bulky thing could only be used to defend cities.

This was their only gain.

The most progress in imitation was made by the Qing court.

After all, they occupied a large territory, controlled a large population, and had a large number of craftsmen, so the probability of high-level craftsmen appearing was greater.

Now, they had not only successfully imitated hand grenades, but also successfully imitated flintlock guns, but there was no progress in grenade shells for the time being.

However, the power of the hand grenades they imitated was only about two-thirds of that of the Wu army. The problem, of course, was still with the gunpowder formula.

They had a large number of people and financial resources, so they had many advantages in finding the gunpowder formula, and they could constantly find mistakes.

As long as they kept trying, they could always find it. This was a stupid method, but it was also a very effective method.

The performance of their imitated flintlock guns was also much worse than that of the Wu army.

In terms of rate of fire, their flintlock guns were about one-third slower, their failure rate was about twenty percent higher, and there were also slight differences in other handling, comfort, and so on.

Overall, if the Wu army’s flintlock gun was one hundred points, then their flintlock gun could only score sixty points at best.

However, this was already quite good for the Qing army. With this knockoff version of the flintlock gun, they could also beat cold weapon troops.

With this flintlock gun, and then relying on numerical superiority, they had the qualifications to fight the Wu army to the death.

However, after solving the problem of imitation, they faced a new problem, that is, the manufacturing speed of this weapon, they could not speed it up.

The Qing court used at least twice as many craftsmen as the Wu army to participate in the manufacture of flintlock guns, but their manufacturing speed was only about half of that of the Wu army, about two thousand pieces a month.

It was a long way off to equip the troops on a large scale.

However, in fact, the Qing court’s performance was already very good.

Technological progress has always required a lot of time to explore and improve. Only Wu Changqing could directly come up with mature technology, allowing their inventions and creations to avoid a lot of detours.

In the Forbidden City, Dorgon was meeting with Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

Dorgon’s mood seemed to be good. He said, “The armory has entered the right track. It is expected that ten thousand flintlock guns can be built in a few months to equip the troops, and then we can go south again.”

“Is ten thousand enough? As far as I know, Wu Changqing’s men already have tens of thousands of flintlock gun troops. Moreover, their armory is also constantly manufacturing. In a few months, they may have two or thirty thousand flintlock gun troops.

In my opinion, it is better to send envoys to negotiate with them and see if we can divide the country along the river. In this way, Ajige and the others can be released and spared from death.”

Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang did not have such great ambitions. She was already satisfied with a small piece of land outside the pass. Now she had obtained the Central Plains.

In her opinion, the empire’s territory was already large enough, and there was no need to expand it.

Of course, the main reason was that the risk was too great. Wu Changqing, who was rising in the South, kept defeating them, which made her feel very flustered.

“You are overthinking it, Yuer. I have already ordered to continue recruiting craftsmen, and we will also expand the scale of production. As long as we have enough weapons, plus the bravery of our army, it is enough to pacify the South.”

Dorgon was obviously unwilling to only occupy the North and was still dreaming of unifying the world.

Unifying the world is probably the highest achievement a man can achieve. Given the opportunity, who wouldn’t want to?

Just as they were talking, a eunuch tremblingly handed over the latest battle report.

Chapter 215: From This Day Forth, the Monarch Neglects the Morning Court

Dorgon stared at the memorial, his face gradually darkening.

The news above did not make him happy.

Hong Chengchou’s betrayal and defection, the defeat in the Jiangxi battles, all made him want to curse.

“None of these Han people can be trusted.”

Dorgon slammed his hand on the table. He deliberately avoided mentioning the Jiujiang battle, focusing instead on Hong Chengchou’s betrayal, wanting to downplay the unfavorable news in front of Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen, also known as Da Yu’er.

However, Hong Chengchou’s betrayal was a significant blow to the Qing Dynasty.

Da Yu’er then took the memorial and saw the news above.

Da Yu’er was not too surprised by Hong Chengchou’s renewed betrayal. She knew what kind of person Hong Chengchou was. It was impossible to expect Hong Chengchou to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, Da Yu’er did not pay much attention to Hong Chengchou’s betrayal. What she was concerned about was the Jiujiang battle.

Another defeat, with tens of thousands of troops lost and another eighty or ninety thousand troops trapped, was not good news.

If this army was wiped out, the Qing Dynasty would be severely weakened.

These were all her son’s territory and army, and Da Yu’er cared about them very much.

“Let Lekedehun and the others withdraw to Jiangbei. If the South is lost, it’s lost. Let’s save the lives of those tens of thousands of Eight Banner soldiers first.”

Da Yu’er suggested.

“I have my own judgment on this. Lekedehun is a brave warrior. He will defend the Jiujiang bridgehead for the Qing Dynasty and wait for my army to come south to rescue them.”

Past great victories had made Dorgon’s character somewhat self-opinionated. He always believed in his army.

Afterward, Dorgon left the Forbidden City to gather his core members to discuss countermeasures.

In front of Da Yu’er, he did not want to show his powerless side, so he spoke very firmly. But after leaving the Forbidden City and calming down, he also felt that it was more important to withdraw the army and preserve his strength first.

Those were eighty or ninety thousand troops, not eighty or ninety thousand pigs. This was no joke.

After Dorgon left, Da Yu’er and Su Mo’er were left behind.

Da Yu’er sighed. She was, after all, just a woman, and had no say in matters of state.

If she could, she really hoped to divide the country along the river and end the war.

“Empress Dowager, are you worried that the Prince Regent will be defeated?”

Su Mo’er asked.

Da Yu’er couldn’t answer this question.

Among the men she knew, Dorgon was already the most powerful, so she didn’t know who in the world could defeat Dorgon.

However, Wu Changqing in the South had been rising very rapidly recently, making it impossible for her to judge.

Da Yu’er also paid close attention to Wu Changqing. She even had several books written by Wu Changqing on her bookshelf: Elementary Physics, Intermediate Physics, World Geography, and Geometric Arithmetic.

In her spare time, Da Yu’er would read those books, partly to understand Wu Changqing through them, and partly because the knowledge introduced in those books was magical, incredible, and very attractive.

After reading those books, she became more curious about the world.

At the same time, she was also very curious about what kind of person Wu Changqing was, and why he could master so much knowledge at such a young age.

Nanjing, the Governor-General’s Mansion, Wu Changqing’s newly acquired concubine, Sun Yunxuan, was also asking him this question.

He had just taken Sun Yunxuan into the mansion and did not immediately deal with official business, but took the time to accompany his family.

While accompanying them in the backyard, Wu Changqing had people build some water pipes and then brought in a steam engine to create a fountain landscape.

The principle of the fountain was relatively simple, using water pipes of different calibers and using pressure to create a faster jet speed.

Watching the water column forming a lotus flower, the women screamed and chirped.

After all, this landscape was quite beautiful. People of this era had never seen such tricks, it was like magic.

“Master is really a celestial being descended to earth. This is Master’s immortal technique.”

“But I heard others say that Master is the reincarnation of the Star Lord of Literature. Can the Star Lord of Literature also perform magic?”

“The Star Lord of Literature is also a celestial being. Of course, celestial beings can perform magic.”

The servants of the Wu family, seeing the magical landscape, muttered that Wu Changqing was a celestial being.

Apart from the idea that Wu Changqing was a celestial being, they could not find any other reasonable explanation.

“Husband, why do you have so much knowledge?”

Sun Yunxuan asked Wu Changqing. She believed that she had also been well-read since childhood, but she could not understand how this landscape was formed, or what the principle behind it was.

“I think you are more knowledgeable. You asked a question that I can’t answer.”

Wu Changqing made a small joke, causing Sun Yunxuan’s heart to flutter happily.

People of this era generally lacked a sense of humor. In Sun Yunxuan’s eyes, Wu Changqing’s words were very sweet love words.

“Little enchantress.”

Chen Yuyan and Luo Min cursed silently in their hearts. Although Wu Changqing had teased them before, at this moment, they chose to forget it and just stared at Sun Yunxuan competing for favor.

“Have the Ministry of Industry people pick a place in the city to build a fountain even bigger than this one, making it a landmark scenic spot in Nanjing.”

Wu Changqing instructed Wu Sande.

Building a landmark fountain scenic spot in the city in a high-profile manner was not just because he had nothing better to do and had too much money.

A unique, iconic landmark can often enhance the local people’s sense of pride and superiority.

This feeling may be somewhat ethereal, but it is actually beneficial to rule.

Being able to feel that Nanjing is better than other places shows that the people recognize the ruler, and naturally they will be more obedient to the ruler’s orders.

Of course, this was just one reason why Wu Changqing wanted a landmark scenic spot. Another reason was a bit of a show-off mentality.

He wanted to let those natives know that he was the most awesome, and that any idea could amaze countless people.

“Yes.”

Wu Sande trotted away to handle the matter. On the way, he muttered to himself, why build such a high-class and beautiful landscape for those lowly people to see?

It seems that his master still cares about the people. He takes out good things to share with the people, and is a thorough saint.

At night, Wu Changqing stayed with Sun Yunxuan until midnight.

Wu Changqing really didn’t have much resistance to this kind of obedient beauty.

“That what, ‘the spring night is short,’ ‘from this day forth, the monarch neglects the morning court,’ it’s written too realistically.”

Wu Changqing sighed. Taking all the best beauties in the world into the harem, wanting to resist temptation and insist on attending the morning court was really not an easy task.

Not to mention having three thousand beauties in the harem in the future, Wu Changqing currently had three beauties, and he was so comfortable every day that he didn’t want to deal with official business.

“Pfft, it’s ‘the spring night is short and the sun rises high,’ ‘from this day forth, the monarch neglects the morning court.’ This is Bai Juyi’s famous work, The Song of Everlasting Regret. ‘The Han Emperor values beauty and longs for a captivating woman, for many years he sought but could not find her. The Yang family had a daughter who had just come of age, raised in the inner chambers, unknown to others…’”

Sun Yunxuan chuckled.

“Good, you’re showing off your knowledge in front of me, are you? I’ll punish you to copy The Song of Everlasting Regret twenty times tomorrow.”

Wu Changqing said.

Sun Yunxuan naturally did not understand this twenty-first century meme. However, Wu Changqing’s imaginative way of thinking made her very happy.

She originally thought that Wu Changqing would be a rigid and boring person, like her uncle.

Those who wield great power are often stern-faced and unsmiling.

However, after entering the mansion, she found that Wu Changqing was not like this, which was a pleasant surprise.

Chapter 216: Western Europe Merchants

The next day, Wu Changqing, urged by Sun Yunxuan, got out of bed.

Sun Yunxuan didn’t want to become a figure like Daji, whose ending was not good. If she delayed Wu Changqing’s important affairs, Chen Yuyan, the official wife, would have a reason to deal with her.

After breakfast, Wu Changqing began to read the memorials.

Many things required his decision, and many things needed to be reported to him.

[The Southern Metropolitan Region’s tax revenue for the first three months totals one million three hundred and twenty thousand taels…]

This was a memorial submitted by the tax office, reporting on the tax revenue situation in their jurisdiction for the first three months. One million three hundred and twenty thousand taels was quite good.

During the Chongzhen Emperor’s reign, the annual national tax revenue was only about fourteen million taels, averaging three million five hundred thousand taels per quarter. And that was the national figure.

The area of the Southern Metropolitan Region didn’t even account for one percent of the country.

During the Chongzhen Emperor’s reign, the Southern Metropolitan Region could collect about three hundred thousand taels of silver in a quarter. Wu Changqing’s revenue was almost five times that amount.

This was mainly due to the rapid development of industry and commerce. Agriculture was about the same, without much change. Only after hybrid rice was officially put into production would there be a leap in agricultural tax revenue.

Nanjing, the East Market, was a wholesale market for bulk goods.

The East Market was now quite prosperous, with people coming and going, and countless carriages.

Merchants from all over had come to Nanjing, preparing to purchase some of Nanjing’s unique and novel items to sell back home.

There were merchants from the North, as well as from Hunan and Sichuan, and merchants from the south, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong. Occasionally, one could even see some fair-haired, blue-eyed Western Europeans.

Some daring Western Europeans, unwilling to be exploited by middlemen in Songjiang, came to Nanjing themselves, wanting to purchase goods directly from the producers.

However, only a few Western Europeans would do this, because they were unfamiliar with the place. Western Europeans doing business here were guaranteed to be swindled. And after being swindled, they had nowhere to complain, as the government might not even bother with them.

This was not the later Qing Dynasty. The Chinese people were not afraid of Western Europeans at all. In fact, they looked down on these Western Europeans, believing that they were the superior Celestial Dynasty.

“Albert, I told you long ago that we should just buy goods directly in Songjiang. You insisted on coming to Nanjing. Now, all our capital has been swindled away.”

Two Western Europeans were walking on the streets of Nanjing. One of them, a bearded man, was complaining to the other, a young man.

The passing people couldn’t help but point and stare at them, but they pretended not to hear.

“William, don’t complain. It wasn’t that much money anyway. At least we learned a lesson, didn’t we? Besides, it’s worth spending some money to visit the largest and most prosperous city in the world.”

“Have you forgotten how many new things we’ve seen here, how much we’ve learned? Take the cement road beneath our feet, for example. If we hadn’t come to Nanjing, how could we have seen such beautiful, clean, and tidy streets? It’s like paradise.”

Albert sighed. Compared to the cities of Western Europe, Nanjing was truly like paradise.

The cities of Western Europe were generally small, extremely crowded, and had appalling sanitary conditions.

Pouring excrement and urine into the streets was a basic habit of town residents.

Most ordinary residents didn’t bathe regularly. They believed that the dirt on their bodies could help them resist disease, and that washing it off would kill them.

They had to rely on perfume to cover up the stench on their bodies.

In Western Europe, the perfume industry was quite developed, not inferior to Nanjing today.

In addition to good sanitation, everything in Nanjing seemed orderly. In the most prosperous West and East Markets, there were even soldiers directing traffic.

They were responsible for coordinating the passage of carriages and pedestrians, greatly improving the speed of traffic. Despite being very densely populated areas, there had been no traffic jams.

This was also due to the traffic laws established by Wu Changqing. Anyone who didn’t comply would be fined if caught, and the fines were not small.

Gradually, in order to avoid being fined, many merchants became much more honest and followed the traffic rules.

“The wisdom of the Orientals is truly terrifying. I still can’t figure out why their ships can travel upstream on the water without sails or oars. If we knew about this and installed it on our ships, wouldn’t we be able to open up many new routes to avoid pirates?”

William was also sighing. When he saw the steamship on the Yangtze River, he sat down on the ground and shouted, “Devil, devil!”

Besides devils, he couldn’t think of what force was propelling the ship forward.

Besides steamships, there were many other things in Nanjing that opened their eyes.

Like that magical match, which could be lit with a light strike. This thing was so convenient. Taking fire had always been a big problem when they were sailing at sea.

With these matches, a lot of trouble could be avoided, and a lot of space for loading fire-starting materials could be saved, thereby loading more goods.

“It’s said that it’s propelled by something called a steam engine. I wonder what that steam engine looks like, and where can you buy it.”

Compared to other commodities that could make a lot of money, Albert was more interested in steam engines.

As a long-distance merchant, he understood the significance of a machine that could propel ships forward. It was simply a treasure that could change the world.

With a steam engine, they would no longer have to worry about encountering doldrums.

Unfortunately, Wu Changqing knew this even better than they did.

Therefore, steam engines were not currently sold to private individuals and were kept strictly confidential.

The manufactured steam engines were used to supply the navy, as well as rice mills and salt factories. These factories were businesses that had deep cooperation with Wu Changqing and were trusted insiders.

It was wishful thinking for Albert to want to buy a steam engine.

“Even if we knew, it would be useless. We don’t have much money left. Let’s go back to Songjiang first and ship a batch of goods back home to make a profit. With enough capital, we can then find a way to buy this machine.”

William said helplessly. Fortunately, they didn’t bring all their belongings to Nanjing and left a lot of goods that could be sold for money in Songjiang.

Otherwise, their long voyage would have been in vain.

Long-distance trade certainly had ten times, dozens of times, or even dozens of times the profit, but the risks were also super high. There were always various inexplicable reasons that could lead to bankruptcy overnight.

“No, I want to see the highest official in this city. It would be best to get his protection, so that we can come to Nanjing to do business with peace of mind in the future.”

Albert had great ambitions and was not content with just making small profits. He also wanted to establish a relationship with the person in power.

Chapter 217: A Profitable Industry

It wasn’t just Western European merchants who were shocked. Any merchant who wasn’t local to the Southern Metropolitan Region experienced a period of ‘shock’ upon their first visit to Nanjing.

The things in Nanjing appeared too suddenly, without any warning or process of adaptation. It was as if overnight, these things had emerged.

Other merchants were still stuck in their old worldviews, and in the blink of an eye, they found the world had changed drastically. It was hard not to be shocked.

A single steamship alone was enough to make countless merchants rack their brains trying to understand it.

And then there were the cement roads and fountain landscapes – none of it was something they could comprehend.

“The changes in Nanjing are too great; I almost didn’t recognize it,” lamented Xu Wenjing from Huai’an. He had come to Nanjing to do business two years ago and was quite familiar with the city. But the Nanjing of today felt foreign to him.

“Master, look quickly! That’s where we buy the scented soap and soap bars. There are so many people lining up,” the steward exclaimed, pointing to a huge warehouse with the words “Scented Soap and Soap Bar Wholesale” written on it.

In front of the warehouse, many merchants were queuing up to purchase goods. Numerous carriages were parked to the side, and large boxes of silver ingots filled the ground.

Chen Daolin hadn’t yet established a sales network in the North, so in addition to retailing his perfumes and scented soaps in the South, he also wholesaled them to other merchants.

Wholesaling to other merchants meant less profit, but it was faster and brought in money quickly.

Chen Daolin was already preparing to focus on expanding production and leaving sales to others. As long as he held the sole production rights, he wouldn’t have to worry about making money, and he’d be making the lion’s share of it.

If other merchants wanted to be in this business, they would have to get their goods from him. Those who came to wholesale and retail were just earning a pittance.

The wholesale price was already set very high, and with labor and transportation costs, their profit margin was only a few percent higher than other commodities.

But even for that extra few percent profit, countless merchants were breaking their heads trying to buy these goods.

“Let’s take a look first. I heard that Nanjing recently got something called matches, which can start a fire with a simple strike. They’re very convenient,” Xu Wenjing said, clearly having come prepared. He had spotted the business opportunity in matches and had made a special trip.

However, matches had only recently been launched, and production capacity was limited, making them a hot commodity.

Xu Wenjing circled around the East Market but couldn’t find a wholesale outlet. After some inquiries, he finally found the Han family.

The Han family had won the bid for this project with an investment of three hundred thousand taels of silver.

Now, this business had become the Han family’s exclusive trade.

After launching matches, the Han family quickly gained a reputation around Nanjing. Such a convenient and beneficial product was sure to sell well.

Xu Wenjing didn’t have any special relationship with the Han family, but in business, it’s always good to have more friends and more options. Even though Han Sanli wasn’t worried about sales, he still received Xu Wenjing and exchanged pleasantries.

In the end, Han Sanli politely declined Xu Wenjing’s request to purchase matches.

Merchants in Nanjing weren’t short of partners right now. Han Sanli could hold out for a better price or set up his own sales channels.

Some merchants who came to the Southern Metropolitan Region seeking wealth were unlucky and didn’t find a way to make money, but many others seized opportunities.

For example, Master Tao, a large salt merchant from Xuzhou, had purchased a large quantity of cheap salt from Songjiang Prefecture.

He used to buy a catty of crude salt from other salt vendors for seventy wen. Now, the purchase price in Songjiang was only sixty wen.

A difference of ten wen per catty meant that he made an extra one thousand taels of silver on this trip by wholesaling ten thousand catties back to Xuzhou.

One thousand taels might not seem like much, but that was pure profit.

Earning an average of one thousand taels a year was equivalent to earning six or seven hundred thousand in later generations. This could be considered a successful merchant, belonging to the truly wealthy class.

Moreover, Master Tao was only making one trip. He would make at least ten trips a year, which would amount to tens of thousands of taels in income.

Earning tens of thousands of taels of silver a year was the level of a wealthy tycoon.

But Master Tao was only earning a small share; the real profits were being made by Pang Yuanming and Wu Changqing.

They used steam engines to pump water for salt production, which kept costs very low.

The average cost of one catty of crude salt was only about twenty wen.

This meant that they could make a profit of forty wen per catty by wholesaling, and even more, sixty or seventy wen, by retailing.

Earning forty wen per catty might not seem like much at first glance, but their production volume was high.

With their current production capacity, they could produce at least ten thousand catties a month, which translated to four or five thousand taels in profit. And they were constantly expanding their production capacity.

Pang Yuanming’s plan was to first expand the salt field to a capacity of one million catties per month, which would bring in a profit of forty or fifty thousand taels per month, or several hundred thousand taels per year.

Then, he would open branch factories in other places, at least ten of them, to reach a production scale of ten million catties per month, which would result in a profit of several million taels per year.

There was no need to worry about selling ten million catties of salt a month.

Based on an average consumption of one hundred grams of salt per person per month, the total market demand in China was as high as forty or fifty million catties per month.

One hundred grams per person per month was calculated based on the minimum requirement. According to modern health standards, a person needs at least two hundred grams per month, and people in the North need even more.

Moreover, in addition to the domestic market, they could also ship overseas.

As the population grew, the demand would only increase.

In short, there was no need to worry about the market for their low-priced salt.

The salt production business was truly a lucrative industry. During the bidding process, several large merchants competed with Pang Yuanming, but in the end, Pang Yuanming won the bid with an initial investment of one million taels.

One million taels was just the initial investment. He would need to continue to increase his investment when expanding branch factories in the future.

Moreover, Pang Yuanming had to give at least half of his profits to Wu Changqing to support his army.

In the end, Wu Changqing benefited the most. He didn’t have to do anything except provide the water pump and a relatively advanced salt production process, and then he could sit back and wait for the dividends.

Pang Yuanming took care of all the hard work and troublesome matters.

Of course, even so, Pang Yuanming still had money to make. Once the scale expanded, he would have even more money to make. As shrewd as he was, he had naturally made careful calculations and wouldn’t engage in a losing business.

If he hadn’t reluctantly given such a large cut to Wu Changqing in his bidding proposal, he wouldn’t have been able to obtain the authorization for this business.

And now, those who had failed in the bidding process could only watch Pang Yuanming make money.

Chapter 218: The Qing Court’s Countermeasures

A fleet of ships from Suzhou docked in Xuzhou.

After a large number of quality goods appeared in the Southern Metropolitan Region, merchants from other places went there to purchase goods, and merchants from the Southern Metropolitan Region transported goods to various places to sell.

Once the fleet was anchored, the dockworkers immediately gathered around, asking if they needed help unloading cargo.

“All the goods on my ship are high-end, delicate glass, as well as perfumes and soaps. You must be extremely careful when unloading. You won’t be able to afford to pay for even a single broken piece. Can you handle this job?”

Guan Fangling asked.

“Don’t worry, sir,” the foreman leading the workers assured him, patting his chest. “We have the best workers here. I’ll arrange a group of experienced hands who have been doing this for over five years. There will definitely be no problems.”

“Alright, unload these goods for fifty taels of silver.”

Guan Fangling didn’t have much of a choice. The business at this dock was monopolized by two or three gangs. To avoid being bullied, these dockworkers had spontaneously formed gangs.

Some gangs were so powerful that even the local government had to show them some respect.

Those who hadn’t joined a gang couldn’t privately carry goods; they would be beaten by gang members. And those who had joined a gang had to hand over most of their hard-earned money.

“Heh, sir, you’re really treating us like we’re ignorant. Perfume is a hot commodity in this city. Every shop is sold out. One bottle can earn you more than ten taels of silver. You’re making so much money, yet you’re only giving us fifty taels for our hard work. That’s not fair.”

The gang leader wasn’t some brainless, ignorant brute. How could he have reached this position if he were? He knew the market prices of various goods better than the merchants themselves.

“Hey, you’re quite knowledgeable. But don’t you know that the prices I paid for these goods in Suzhou were ridiculously high? I’m only making a small profit. All the money is being made by those damned manufacturers. I’ll give you ten more taels at most. No more. You guys can’t even earn sixty taels carrying rice all day. If you don’t want the job, I’ll find someone else.”

Guan Fangling added ten more taels, haggling as was the common practice throughout the country.

After some back-and-forth, the two sides finally settled on sixty-five taels.

In the end, the gang leader went to gather his men with a beaming smile.

As Guan Fangling had said, these men couldn’t earn sixty-five taels even if they carried rice from morning till night. And carrying rice was hard physical labor.

But carrying these perfumes, soaps, and glass was easy work. They just had to be careful not to break the glass mirrors.

This kind of job was the best of all their work, and all the gangs would fight over it. They were lucky this time, being closer to Guan Fangling’s fleet. They wouldn’t be foolish enough to let this good job go to another gang.

The goods were unloaded from the ship one by one and carried into the warehouse.

Just then, a squad of soldiers approached.

“Confiscate these goods. They are all contraband.”

The company commander leading the soldiers pointed at the goods being unloaded, saying something that left Guan Fangling dumbfounded.

He couldn’t understand how his goods had become contraband.

This was actually a private order from some officials in the Qing Dynasty, mainly from some generals in the army.

Some Qing army officers believed that continuing to allow the luxury goods from the South to be sold in the North was a big mistake. This would allow the South to earn a lot of silver, manufacture more advanced weapons, recruit more soldiers, and stockpile more grain.

When the time came, these powerful armies would attack. Therefore, this commercial activity was aiding the enemy and had to be prohibited.

This view certainly had some merit, but the Qing Dynasty’s higher-ups didn’t agree to issue such a ban.

It was simple: they also needed these things.

A large portion of the perfumes, soaps, and mirrors transported to the North ended up in the imperial palace and the residences of various officials.

They couldn’t live without these things that made their lives more comfortable.

Therefore, banning the sale of these goods to the North would infringe on the interests of many important figures, and it wouldn’t work.

However, faced with this situation of wealth flowing to the South, some loyalists who were extremely devoted to the Qing Dynasty took action on their own, issuing orders to confiscate Southern luxury goods.

And so, Guan Fangling had unfortunately run into the first wave.

“Stop! On what basis do you say these are contraband? Do you have any official documents from the imperial court?”

Guan Fangling wasn’t some honest, simple farmer who would believe whatever the soldiers said. Without official documents from the imperial court, he wouldn’t believe there was such a ban.

“I say these are contraband, and they are contraband,” the company commander said.

“What arrogance! Then I’ll go ask Provincial Governor Liu. Does Xuzhou answer to Governor Liu, or to you, a mere company commander?”

Guan Fangling dared to be so bold not just because he was brave; he also had connections. In Xuzhou, he knew the Provincial Governor.

And in Suzhou, he had even more officials he was acquainted with.

Official-merchant collusion, official-merchant collusion. In this day and age, a merchant without connections could only do small business. Venturing into large-scale trade without connections was just offering meat to someone else’s mouth.

Hearing the name of Provincial Governor Liu, the soldiers became somewhat apprehensive.

However, the company commander remained firm, insisting on confiscating the goods.

“Fellow villagers, these soldiers are not allowing us to do business. They’re trying to smash your rice bowls. Without us businessmen, who will you have to carry goods for in the future?”

Seeing that the company commander was really taking action, Guan Fangling could only incite the dockworkers in anger.

This trick actually worked. Hundreds of dockworkers immediately gathered, surrounding the thirty-odd soldiers and preventing them from confiscating the goods.

These dock gangs weren’t suddenly acting out of conscience to help Guan Fangling. Rather, the soldiers’ actions were indeed harming their interests.

They didn’t care how much silver flowed to the South due to these commercial activities, or what changes would occur in the situation. They only cared about their own income.

If these soldiers randomly confiscated the merchants’ goods, then no merchant would dare to stop here in the future, and they would have no work to do.

They were professional porters who relied on this for a living.

The soldiers’ confiscation was cutting off their food supply.

“Don’t confiscate! Don’t confiscate!”

Hundreds of people waved carrying poles and wooden sticks, shouting loudly, leaving the Qing army unit very helpless.

The two sides were at a stalemate. Before long, the Xu family, a large local merchant in Xuzhou, also sent people to negotiate. They were the buyers of these goods.

Therefore, they also strongly demanded that the soldiers release the goods, and at the same time stated that they would report the matter to the Provincial Governor, accusing them of bending the law for personal gain.

There were many Qing officials and generals who wanted to prevent Southern goods from flowing in, but in the actual implementation process, they always encountered many unsolvable problems.

As a result, almost no official succeeded.

Chapter 219: Southern Goods in the North

Thanks to the intervention of the Xu family and other influential forces, the soldiers ultimately failed to intercept the shipment of perfume and soap.

By the time the goods arrived at the store, it was already packed with customers eager to buy.

The fame of the perfume and soap had spread far and wide, reaching every corner of China.

The fact that even the current Empress Dowager was using these products held an immense attraction for ordinary women.

The female family members of wealthy merchants had long become inseparable from perfume, soap, and oversized dressing mirrors.

They used to be content with seeing a clear image of their face, but upon learning about the existence of full-length mirrors that could reflect their entire body, these women were once again captivated.

Women, after all, never rest in their pursuit of beauty.

Especially in this era where women’s status was low, beauty was practically their only asset.

These full-length mirrors, nearly two meters tall, were expensive to produce and scarce in quantity. Being able to buy such a mirror not only allowed them to better admire and adorn themselves but, more importantly, satisfied their desire to outdo others.

Human happiness comes from comparison; only when one is better off than others can one truly feel happy.

An average family in later generations, with televisions, refrigerators, and air conditioners, traveling in cars and airplanes, enjoys material living conditions a hundred or a thousand times better than any wealthy merchant in ancient times. But is their sense of happiness as strong as that of the wealthy merchant? Absolutely not.

The simple reason is that in later generations, almost every household has televisions and refrigerators, and few people feel happy because of these things. But in ancient times, ordinary people couldn’t even get enough to eat, so those wealthy merchants who could regularly eat meat naturally felt happy.

Comparison is human nature.

Chen Daolin had a good grasp of this weakness in human nature and divided the newly launched perfumes into three tiers.

The lowest tier was inferior-grade perfume, priced at only ten taels of silver per bottle. Ordinary merchant families and small landlord families could afford it with a bit of effort.

The middle tier was superior-grade perfume, priced at thirty taels per bottle. Only slightly wealthier families would be willing to buy it.

In reality, there wasn’t a significant difference between superior-grade and inferior-grade perfume. The only differences were that the bottles used for superior-grade perfume were more exquisite and beautiful, and the scent of the perfume was slightly purer.

Although there was a difference between the two, the difference wasn’t as large as the difference between ten and thirty taels.

The cost price of a bottle of superior-grade perfume was at most fifty percent higher than that of inferior-grade perfume.

Even more exaggerated was the top-grade perfume, which was equivalent to Chanel, LV, and Rolls-Royce in later generations—the king of luxury goods. A bottle of top-grade perfume cost one hundred taels of silver.

In fact, those who bought this top-grade perfume knew that the small amount of perfume inside wasn’t worth that much money.

But what did it matter? They were buying face.

It should be known that, according to the Chen family’s marketing, the annual production of top-grade perfume was strictly regulated, with a fixed number of bottles produced and never any more. Each bottle was engraved with a number, making each one unique.

For example, the total number of top-grade perfumes allocated to Xuzhou this time was only ten bottles.

As soon as these ten bottles of perfume were launched, they were immediately snapped up, leaving others who wanted to buy them empty-handed.

Soon, these ten bottles of top-grade perfume were speculated to two hundred taels a bottle.

Moreover, there was no need to worry about finding buyers.

Xuzhou was not small. There were three officials of the third rank or higher, seven or eight officials of the fourth rank or higher, plus a dozen wealthy merchants with assets of hundreds of thousands.

These ten bottles of top-grade perfume were simply not enough to go around.

Provincial Governor Liu even sought help from the Xu family to buy a bottle of top-grade perfume for his wife.

If the wives of other third-rank officials were using top-grade perfume, and his wife was only using superior-grade perfume, then she would definitely lose face at gatherings.

Losing face was one thing, but it could also give others the impression that Liu’s methods and abilities were lacking.

Otherwise, why could other third-rank officials obtain top-grade perfume while he couldn’t?

When a commodity is given many meanings, its value can easily become absurd.

Luxury goods in later generations are basically the same.

In Beijing, this kind of comparison was even more serious.

Nowadays, the dignitaries in Beijing take pride in using southern goods.

It’s not just for face, but because southern goods are indeed useful.

For example, the pendulum clock used to tell time is much more accurate than sundials and hourglasses, and it is also more beautiful and convenient.

These pendulum clocks have a timekeeping function, and they can chime on the hour to remind people of the time.

Wealthy families can easily keep track of meal times with such a clock.

For those lords, having this clock makes it easier to avoid being late. Having a beautiful pendulum clock in the hall is also particularly impressive, so there are many benefits.

In addition to pendulum clocks, mirrors are also important to those important figures.

Their appearance is very important when they go to court or visit friends. In the past, bronze mirrors could only show a blurry image, but now mirrors can clearly reflect people.

Of course, the most popular southern goods in Beijing are the BMW carriages.

These BMW carriages, which are extremely comfortable to ride in and do not bump, are the favorites of older officials.

Today, BMW carriages in Beijing have sold for the sky-high price of five thousand taels, and they are still in short supply.

The BMW carriage company has limited production, and even the southern market is a bit short of supply.

If it weren’t for the high price of five thousand taels in Beijing, the Tong family would not bother to transport BMW carriages to Beijing for sale.

The first batch of fifty BMW carriages that arrived were quickly snapped up by dignitaries.

The Imperial Household Department, which is responsible for purchasing for the palace, bought five of them for the Empress Dowager and others to use.

The other princes, nobles, and ministers of the six ministries each took one, and many princes and nobles did not even get one.

Five thousand taels is a sky-high price for ordinary people, but it is just a drop in the bucket for those real dignitaries.

Today, Beijing has gathered a large number of Manchu nobles and important court officials, and these people’s spending power is very terrifying.

Now in Nanjing, because the number of BMW carriages has increased, riding in a BMW carriage does not represent anything.

But in Beijing, it has replicated the early situation in Nanjing, and riding in a BMW carriage is a symbol of status.

As long as you can travel in a BMW carriage, others will know that the owner of the carriage is either a prince or a cabinet minister, and their power and status in Beijing can be ranked in the top fifty.

Not particularly accurate, but not far off.

Chapter 220: Nanjing, the Place Everyone Yearns For

Because Nanjing is constantly sprouting new things, people from other places pay close attention to it, curiously observing everything about Nanjing.

It is difficult for ordinary people to understand Nanjing, but some scholars, merchants, and officials have their own channels.

For example, they can buy local Nanjing publications like the People’s Daily, official gazettes, and books to read. The People’s Daily alone can give people a very detailed understanding of Nanjing.

After all, anything major that happens in Nanjing is published in the People’s Daily. Even when a high-ranking official takes a concubine, the People’s Daily will report it.

As for new inventions, they are even more likely to be featured on the front page of the People’s Daily.

In Xuzhou, a group of scholars were gathered together, reading and discussing the newspaper.

“The Nanjing Ministry of Revenue has announced that because of the significant increase in steel production, they will provide free farming tools such as hoes and iron plows to the people in the areas surrounding Nanjing. I wonder if this news is true. If it is, then this Wu Changqing is truly a good official who loves his people like his own children.”

One scholar said with emotion. The latest issue of the People’s Daily published the news that the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue would provide free agricultural tools to the people.

Ironware, which is very common and cheap in later generations, is actually very expensive in this era.

Not every household has an iron pot or hoe.

Some people can only use pottery for cooking, and they need to rent hoes for farming, or use wooden farm tools, which are extremely inefficient.

The status of iron farm tools in this era is a bit like threshing machines in rural areas in the nineteen-seventies and eighties. Not every household has one.

Families with a little bit of wealth can afford a threshing machine.

Farmers who cannot afford a threshing machine have to please the family with one, helping them with work before they can borrow the threshing machine.

Many farmers in this era do not have, or only have a small number of simple iron farm tools, making farming very hard and inefficient.

This is also unavoidable. The country’s iron smelting capacity is limited, and the iron produced must be given priority to the army. With constant wars going on, the army needs even more ironware.

Currently, the steel production in China is only about ten thousand tons per year.

Calculated at five Jin per hoe, this is only enough to make four million hoes. If iron plows are made, there will be even fewer.

And the number of farmers in China is more than four million.

Moreover, most of these ten thousand tons of steel are supplied to the army. Only a small portion can be used to make agricultural tools.

After Wu Changqing joined forces with several major merchants to establish the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, steel production has soared. Now, the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant alone can produce one thousand tons of steel per month, and more than ten thousand tons per year.

The output of one factory exceeds that of the entire country. This is the power of technology.

This is just the beginning. Next, the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant will continue to expand. The development and progress of society have no limit to the demand for steel.

Even if the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant is expanded ten thousand times, the steel it produces will not be able to meet the demand.

At the time when Wu Changqing traveled from, the global annual steel production was one billion eight hundred million tons, which is one hundred thousand times that of this era.

Wu Changqing requires that the steel smelted by the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant be used to make agricultural tools such as hoes, plows, harrows, and threshing machines.

Anyway, his current army is invincible and does not have a high demand for cold weapons.

These agricultural tools can greatly improve the efficiency of farming, save time, reclaim more wasteland, and increase grain production, which has many benefits.

The most important thing is to release labor, increase the urban population, and increase the number of workers.

In the past, in order to support their families, people needed to cultivate many mu of land to maintain their livelihood. But now, with these agricultural tools, what originally required four people can be done by two.

The remaining two people can go to the city and work in factories, producing more steel, thereby forming a virtuous cycle.

If the rural labor force is not liberated, even if Wu Changqing has technology, he will not be able to recruit so many workers to run factories.

Many people do not understand why Wu Changqing wants to provide free agricultural tools to the people. After all, it is not easy to see the logic behind it.

However, Wu Changqing is determined to implement such a policy. As a time-traveler, he knows that this is the most correct path to development.

“Of course this is true. The People’s Daily is open to everyone. If the things reported on it are false, they would have been exposed long ago. The People’s Daily has been founded and distributed for nearly half a year, but no one has said that the reports are untrue.”

Another scholar, surnamed Wang, said.

“Then this Wu Changqing is really a good official, and the people of Jiangnan are blessed.”

The speaker was Wei Chengen. When he was studying, he had the dream of becoming a good and honest official in the future. Now, seeing that Wu Changqing can think of the people, he naturally admires him very much.

“It’s not just the people who are blessed, the merchants in Nanjing are also very blessed. They have made a lot of money thanks to Wu Changqing. According to a friend of mine, Wu Changqing has a very good reputation in Nanjing. Not only do the people like him, but the merchants also like him.”

“Look at this article, a BMW car costs eight hundred taels, a bottle of perfume costs five taels, a shi of grain costs three qian, and a Jin of crude salt costs seventy wen…”

“Are prices in Nanjing so cheap? BMW cars and perfumes are understandable, after all, they are unique goods, but why are people’s livelihood goods such as grain, crude salt, and cloth so cheap?”

The people discussed, they couldn’t figure out why prices in Nanjing could be so low. With such low prices, how can merchants make money? If merchants can’t make money, how can they like Wu Changqing’s rule?

An article describing prices in Nanjing added to their confusion and emotion.

Whether life is good in a place or not, looking at prices is the most direct manifestation. Places with low prices have low living costs, and the lives of the people are good.

“I really want to go to Nanjing to see it, or settle down in Nanjing.”

Wei Chengen said.

The People’s Daily has almost described Nanjing as a paradise on earth, where even the ground does not have soil, but is paved with so-called cement roads. How can people not yearn for it?

They live a very bad life in the territory controlled by the Manchus.

Recently, in order to increase the speed of weapon manufacturing, Dorgon has ordered an increase in taxes in the North. And these taxes will eventually fall on the heads of these Han people.

“Why don’t we go together, Brother Wei? I have long been unwilling to stay in this place ruled by the Manchus. With our talents, if we can find an opportunity to serve the imperial court in Nanjing, then we will not have lived in this world in vain.”

It was not only Wei Chengen who was moved. Young Master Wang and others also wanted to go to Nanjing to see it. If Nanjing is really as good as the People’s Daily says, they plan to settle in Nanjing.

Chapter 221: Inspecting the Industrial Zone

It wasn’t just people from the North who yearned for Nanjing; the people of Hangzhou, Fuzhou, and other places felt the same way.

Even the locals in Nanjing were very satisfied with the changes in Nanjing and grew to love the city even more.

Most of the merchants in Nanjing made money, and ordinary people had many more ways to earn a living. Those factories provided a large number of jobs.

With most people’s lives improving, their satisfaction with Nanjing naturally increased.

And all of this was thanks to the development of Nanjing’s industry.

West of the city, in the industrial zone, Wu Changqing and many officials were inspecting.

The industrial zone concentrated Nanjing’s major factories, including Sun’s Rice Mill, Jiangnan Steel Plant, Jinling Textile Factory, Convenient Match Factory, Jiangnan Printing Factory…

This was probably the world’s first industrial zone, and inside were the first true factories.

At the rice mill, hundreds of workers were laboring.

A large number of workers were constantly carrying the sun-dried rice into the dozen or so rice milling machines, and a large number of workers were grading, weighing, and bagging the milled rice.

And the most troublesome and labor-intensive part of rice milling was now handled with very few workers.

On average, one rice milling machine only needed five people: two to add coal and boil water, and three to operate the machine.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is truly a major tool of the nation, a sharp weapon of the country. Human power is truly insignificant in the face of machinery.”

Ruan Dacheng said with emotion.

The rice milling machine only needed to have the rice poured in from the machine’s mouth, and in the blink of an eye, rice would come out of the outlet. The speed of rice milling was simply too fast.

Wu Changqing grabbed a handful of rice and looked at it, and found that the milled rice was much better than the original water-milled rice, without too much broken rice and chaff.

The biggest problem with water power was that it was not stable enough, and the speed was sometimes too fast and sometimes too slow due to the influence of the water flow. Steam engines, on the other hand, were much more stable, and their power could be adjusted.

“It looks pretty good, but we can’t be complacent. We should take out a portion of the profits every year to research and improve the quality of this steam engine, or find ways to improve production efficiency. For example, create an automatic grading device, an automatic bagging device, and so on.”

Wu Changqing mentioned that the current rice milling machine was still relatively primitive, and there were many areas for improvement. Of course, this kind of thing couldn’t be rushed. Wu Changqing was just mentioning it, hoping that the people below could maintain their investment in scientific research.

“The Governor-General’s instructions are engraved in my heart, and I will definitely increase investment,” Sun Daoming said.

Afterward, Wu Changqing and his party came to the textile factory.

The textile factory had five workshops, with an average of more than three hundred people working in each workshop at the same time. This one factory alone created nearly two thousand jobs for Nanjing.

The people who worked here were paid well, almost as much as a ninth-rank official’s monthly salary.

Entering one of the workshops, the scene of hundreds of textile machines operating simultaneously was quite shocking for the people of this era.

The officials who saw this scene for the first time were so surprised that their mouths couldn’t close.

“A sharp weapon of the nation, a sharp weapon of the nation. With this divine tool, no one in the world will be without clothes to wear. This is all thanks to the Duke.”

Qian Qianyi also said with emotion. The speed at which those machines spun yarn was simply too fast, producing spools of yarn at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After that, they visited the printing factory, the match factory, and other factories, and finally came to the Jiangnan Steel Plant.

This factory, which Wu Changqing valued the most, was of great significance to him.

“The scale of this steel plant is still too small. We must speed up the expansion. There are too many places in my next plan that require steel, and the quantity required is huge,” Wu Changqing said.

Now the power of the steam engine was getting bigger and bigger, and it was not far from being able to pull a train.

At the current rate, a practical locomotive could be built in about a year.

It would be ridiculous to have a locomotive but no rails.

Laying rails required a lot of steel, and manufacturing trains also required a lot of steel.

“Reporting to the Governor-General, it’s not that this humble official doesn’t want to expand, but I really can’t come up with that much money. This humble official suggests that a portion of the steel can be appropriately used for sale to collect funds for expansion,” said Zhang He, the chief person in charge of the Jiangnan Steel Plant.

When facing the prestigious Wu Changqing, he was actually a little afraid. However, he had to raise this issue. No matter how hard he worked without money, it was impossible for him to complete the task.

The steel produced was now used to manufacture agricultural tools to benefit the people, and their steel plant had no income. This was very detrimental to the steel plant.

Several merchants who had invested in the steel plant were already complaining endlessly. It was just that they did not dare to express any objection due to Wu Changqing’s power.

“Master Zhang, the people are the foundation of the country, and the Governor-General’s actions are for the sake of the people of the world. As the chief supervisor of the steel plant, you should do your best to share the Governor-General’s worries. How can you just complain?” Ma Shiying said. He was now in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and naturally supported Wu Changqing’s policies.

The more agricultural tools provided to the people, the more land the people would cultivate, and these achievements would be attributed to the Ministry of Revenue.

“There are priorities and urgencies. The best solution is to raise money for expansion first, increase production, and then support the people. Moreover, compared to other places, the number of agricultural tools owned by the people in our Southern Metropolitan Region is already far higher than in other places,” said Qian Taoli, who was in charge of the Ministry of Industry.

The expansion of the factory scale was his political achievement. Therefore, he was more inclined to develop industry first and temporarily stop providing blood transfusions to agriculture.

His point of view did have some merit.

“Does anyone else have any other better ideas?”

Wu Changqing asked. He wanted to accelerate the development of both industry and agriculture.

“I think we should appropriately increase taxes. The taxes in our jurisdiction are currently low, and the people will not complain if we increase them a little.”

“No, no, no, low taxes are proof that our jurisdiction is the best compared to other places. We can’t change it easily.”

“Perhaps, we can borrow money from the people and merchants, and use the money to expand production first. The expanded production capacity can then be used to manufacture ironware for sale, and the profits can be used to repay the debt.”

Hong Chengchou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, stood up and made a very bold suggestion.

Before this, there were very few examples of the imperial court borrowing money from the people. In the eyes of those scholars and officials, it was detrimental to the court’s reputation to borrow money from the people. It would be simpler to just increase taxes.

However, Wu Changqing was very optimistic about this suggestion.

Mainly because he came from later generations. In later generations, it was too normal for the state to borrow money from the people.

Issuing a limited amount of national debt was very beneficial to building a country.

Issuing national debt could make use of the idle money in the hands of the people, allowing the state to have the ability to engage in various money-making constructions. While facilitating the state, it could also bring certain benefits to the people.

As long as the project invested in by the state could make money, issuing national debt was a very good idea.

Chapter 222: Decision

“Borrowing money from the common people and merchants? How can we stoop so low?”

“I fear the people won’t easily trust the imperial court and won’t dare to lend.”

“If all else fails, we can initiate a donation drive or mint new coins.”

The crowd was not optimistic about Hong Chengchou’s suggestion. Some felt that the imperial court borrowing money from the people would be a disgrace, while others believed the people wouldn’t be willing to lend.

Their concerns were not without merit. The imperial court’s credibility in this era was low. If the people lent money to the court, they would constantly worry about whether it would be repaid.

Even if the court didn’t repay, they would be helpless.

Others wanted to implement the donation drive method, which was essentially a disguised form of taxation. Minting new coins was equivalent to printing money. Of course, the new coins wouldn’t be minted in the normal way; instead, they would use a small amount of copper mixed with other worthless metals.

This way, they could mint more coins with less copper. One wen could be minted into two, three, or even more. Many dynasties had done this before.

In ancient times, if the imperial court wanted to raise money, it basically had a few methods: taxation, minting coins, and so on.

In Wu Changqing’s view, these were all terrible methods. Increasing taxes would increase the burden on the people, and their consumption power would decline, making it even more difficult to stimulate the economy. Minting coins easily led to inflation, causing the new coins to become worthless.

A small amount might have a slight effect on promoting the economy, but a large amount would lead to currency devaluation, which would be a fatal blow to the economy.

This could be seen in later years in Zimbabwe, where one hundred trillion dollar bills flew everywhere, yet couldn’t even buy a loaf of bread. In the Ming Dynasty, one could refer to the Great Ming paper money.

The Great Ming paper money was a type of paper currency issued by the Ming Dynasty. Because of its low cost and quick returns, a group of officials who didn’t understand economic laws desperately printed it after seeing the short-term benefits, leading to a flood of paper money. In the end, it devalued to the point of being worthless. The people didn’t recognize it, and the market didn’t recognize it.

In the end, it even led to the most bizarre phenomenon: the people worked for the imperial court, and the court paid them with paper money. The people couldn’t buy anything with the paper money in the market, and the court itself didn’t accept it for taxes.

An ordinary person would probably feel like ten thousand alpacas were running through their heart when faced with such a situation.

Wu Changqing wasn’t an economics expert, but he knew a basic principle: the amount of currency should be linked to the total amount of social wealth.

If the amount of currency was too small, the problem of deflation wouldn’t be too big.

But if the amount of currency was too large, leading to inflation, the impact on society would be devastating.

Because of the backward statistical methods, Wu Changqing didn’t know whether he was currently in a state of deflation or inflation, so he didn’t dare to mint new coins indiscriminately.

Even if he were to mint coins, the copper content of the copper coins must be sufficient, and the silver content of the silver ingots must be sufficient, so as not to cause too much impact on society.

“No need to argue, let’s use the method of borrowing money from the people. I’ll call it national debt, that is, the debt owed by the state to the people. In the early stages, try to target merchants, officials, and wealthy people from other places. We can give a slightly higher interest rate, fifty percent per year, to attract others to lend money.”

Wu Changqing interrupted their argument. He didn’t have so much time to let them argue about right and wrong.

Moreover, Wu Changqing didn’t think that they could argue about right and wrong by arguing like this. It would be better to directly tell them the correct path, and then let them learn and understand the benefits of national debt in practice.

A fifty percent annual interest rate would probably make investors laugh in later generations.

In later generations, ninety-nine point nine-nine percent of companies didn’t have an annual profit of fifty percent, and even companies with more than twenty percent were rare.

Generally speaking, a company with an annual profit of fifteen percent was considered a high-quality company.

A fifty percent interest rate would probably not be believed by anyone in later generations, who would think it was a scam.

However, in this era, a fifty percent interest rate was considered very high, but not outrageously high. Some private usurers charged even higher interest rates.

Moreover, with the current economic prosperity in Jiangnan and other places, investing in commerce could easily yield an annual profit of more than fifty percent. Therefore, in the current situation, a fifty percent interest rate wasn’t really high.

Wu Changqing dared to offer this kind of interest rate because he was confident that he could repay it.

Currently, a five-catty hoe costs about four hundred wen, and a good five-catty knife costs about two taels of silver.

Ironware was very valuable, and fine steel was even more expensive.

Currently, the cost of smelting one catty of iron in the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant was only about twenty wen. Selling iron ingots directly yielded a profit of three times, and slightly processing them yielded a profit of four or five times.

In the face of such considerable profits, the fifty percent loan interest was naturally insignificant.

All of this was due to technology and large-scale production.

Only the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant had such a low cost of iron smelting. In other places, the cost of smelting one catty of iron would be at least fifty wen.

Wu Changqing spoke, and the others immediately stopped arguing.

In this regime, Wu Changqing was truly a man of his word, with great power.

The previous Chongzhen Emperor was obstructed by ministers in everything he wanted to do.

This wasn’t the case with Wu Changqing. After all, everyone was smart and knew that Wu Changqing wasn’t a useless person like Chongzhen. Trying to challenge Wu Changqing’s authority would undoubtedly be cutting off one’s own future and seeking one’s own death.

Another very important point was that everyone believed in Wu Changqing’s leadership ability.

At least, previous major decisions had invariably proved Wu Changqing’s correctness.

Many officials also vaguely had the idea that Wu Changqing was destined by heaven, otherwise how could he be right in everything?

Of course, they couldn’t imagine that Wu Changqing had insights and knowledge far beyond this era, and they couldn’t guess that Wu Changqing had a system.

Wu Changqing supported Hong Chengchou’s suggestion. What people were thinking about wasn’t whether Wu Changqing’s decision was correct, but what it represented.

Did this mean that Hong Chengchou was going to be reused?

Did this mean that Wu Changqing was going to continue to suppress the power of the Donglin Party?

Did this mean that Wu Changqing was still supporting some ‘lone ministers’?

And so on and so forth. When a superior coughed, the people below couldn’t help but overthink, let alone decide on such a major decision.

There were really too many things to figure out in this.

Unfortunately, they were destined to guess wrong this time, because Wu Changqing was very different from other traditional power holders. He didn’t understand so many techniques of controlling subordinates, and he wouldn’t use this kind of thing to engage in power struggles.

He adopted Hong Chengchou’s suggestion simply because Hong Chengchou’s suggestion was the best, that’s all.

However, because his way of doing things was very different from that of traditional superiors, it gave many subordinates a feeling that the emperor’s heart was unpredictable.

In the eyes of many officials, Wu Changqing was actually a very deep person.

Chapter 223: Fundraising

Hong Chengchou accepted the task, feeling both happy and a little worried.

This task was a test for him. If he did well, he would gain Wu Changqing’s appreciation and be given important responsibilities. If he didn’t do well, he might miss the best opportunity for advancement.

Moreover, this task was not easy to accomplish.

It was a bit difficult to get ordinary people to trust the imperial court.

Hong Chengchou returned home and began to think hard, reviewing various cases.

In the end, he chose to seek help from Qian Qianyi and Wei Ziwen of the Ministry of Rites, hoping they could provide him with some assistance in terms of public opinion.

An important ability for an official was networking. Hong Chengchou had no personal relationship with Qian Qianyi or Wei Ziwen. However, after Hong Chengchou communicated with them, Qian Qianyi and Wei Ziwen both agreed to help.

This was Hong Chengchou’s ability.

The next day, the People’s Daily began to popularize the concept of national debt to the general public and officials.

If national debt was explained as the imperial court borrowing money from the people, then certainly not many people would buy it. No one liked lending money to others, let alone lending it to the imperial court, which was many times more powerful than themselves.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou forcibly changed the concept, explaining national debt as an investment behavior. It was Wu Changqing taking pity on the suffering of the world and wanting to lead the people to do business together and get rich.

This explanation could not be completely said to be nonsense. A fifty percent annual rate of return was indeed considered doing business.

After changing the explanation, the people’s interest greatly increased. After all, this was a business that could make money. Moreover, the guarantor was Wu Changqing.

The people did not trust the imperial court, but they quite believed in Wu Changqing. This was the result of Wu Changqing’s long-term adherence to putting the people first, the result of Wu Changqing’s frequent speeches in front of the people, and the result of the People’s Daily’s long-term public opinion propaganda.

In a certain restaurant, several scholars were drinking and reading the newspaper together.

“The Duke wants to raise funds to expand the steel plant, and there is also a fifty percent interest.”

“This is a good thing, we must support it. Not only can we earn a little money, but we can also contribute to the imperial court. The more steel produced, the more troops equipped, and the more hope there is for recovering the North.”

“No, the newspaper says that the steel produced is mainly used to make agricultural tools.”

“That’s also good, at least it’s a move that benefits the country and the people.”

Some intellectuals, out of support for the regime, chose to purchase and support it.

On the Qinhuai River, some prostitutes also gathered together to chat and read the newspaper.

Prostitutes were divided into two types: one was purely selling their bodies, called chang, and the other was selling their talents, called ji. Ji sometimes also sold their bodies, but not easily.

Most of the chang who purely sold their bodies had no culture, but the ji were roughly equivalent to female celebrities of later generations, all proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. In terms of talent, they were not much lower than scholars.

It was fortunate that women of this era could not participate in the imperial examinations. In terms of rote memorization of liberal arts, women were stronger than men. If women could participate in the imperial examinations, the top scholar would probably have nothing to do with men.

In short, these top prostitutes were not only very cultured, but also liked to pay attention to current affairs. Reading the newspaper had become an important recreational activity in their daily lives.

Reading the newspaper more often could at least let them know which officials were gaining power recently, and they had to choose their targets carefully before latching onto a sugar daddy.

“Duke Wu wants to raise funds to expand the steel plant, and borrowing money to the Duke will get fifty percent interest by the end of the year.”

Yang Xiaoxiao, the new generation of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, said in surprise.

The generation of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, such as Liu Rushi, Chen Yuanyuan, and Dong Xiaowan, had all married and become other people’s wives. Now, a new generation was surpassing the old, and a new generation of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River had been launched on the Qinhuai River.

Among them, Yang Xiaoxiao, who was only sixteen years old, was known as the leader of the Eight Beauties. Not only was her appearance as beautiful as a celestial being, but her pipa playing was even more soul-stirring.

The amount of money that many talented scholars and wealthy businessmen had spent on her was already impossible to count.

What was even more amazing was that Yang Xiaoxiao had received so much money, but still maintained her virginity. Without some skill, this could not be done.

“If there is such a good thing, then can’t we lend money to the Duke? If we lend one hundred taels, we can get one hundred and fifty taels by the end of the year?”

Another prostitute said, this rate of return was quite considerable.

Of course, the most important thing was that they had no other way to make money. These silver taels could not increase if they were kept in their hands or deposited in a bank.

“Is this real? What if the imperial court doesn’t pay it back in the future?”

Someone raised their concerns. Since ancient times, the people should not fight with officials. If they lent money to officials and the officials did not pay it back, they could only stare blankly.

“It’s the Duke who is borrowing money, how could he not pay it back? The Duke loves the people like his own children, and he is a first-class good official who thinks about the people.”

Yang Xiaoxiao retorted. Anyway, she had never heard bad things about Wu Changqing. All she heard every day were praises of Wu Changqing and articles about him.

“Yes, yes, yes, the Duke is a very good official. If it weren’t for him inventing mirrors and perfumes and soaps, we wouldn’t be able to earn so much money.”

…

With Wu Changqing’s endorsement, some petty citizens with spare money tentatively purchased one or two or several taels of silver.

And some merchants were much bolder, ranging from a dozen taels to several thousand taels.

Among them, the girls of the Qinhuai River also made a significant contribution. Each of them had considerable assets. They earned money from their youth, earning money while they were young to support themselves in the future.

Therefore, they had much more money in their hands than others.

In the past, they would hold these money tightly in their pockets and would not use them easily.

But now, out of trust in Wu Changqing, they were very actively taking out money to buy national debt. This verified a line in Stephen Chow’s movie, “Prostitutes also love their country.”

In their words, these money were all earned from the Duke’s perfumes and soaps, so it didn’t matter even if they lost money.

Of course, that was what they said. The most important thing was that the current business situation in Nanjing was good, and most businesses were making money. And the businesses led by Wu Changqing were making a lot of money.

In less than three days, Hong Chengchou had raised two hundred thousand taels from the people.

Among them, merchants were the main force, and the girls of the Qinhuai River also made a significant contribution.

In addition to these one hundred thousand taels, Hong Chengchou also raised one hundred thousand taels from officials. There was no need to ask them for it. A certain percentage was directly deducted from their salaries according to their official rank and salary.

The officials below dared not not support the plan set by Wu Changqing. Even if they did not support it in their hearts, they resented Hong Chengchou, who proposed the plan, rather than Wu Changqing, who made the decision.

This was just like how the Hongguang Emperor tacitly allowed Ruan Dacheng to clean up the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party only dared to resent Ruan Dacheng, and did not dare to say that the Hongguang Emperor was wrong.

Just like how the Wanli Emperor used Wei Zhongxian’s hand to clean up the Donglin Party, the Donglin Party only dared to resent Wei Zhongxian, and could not scold Wanli for being昏庸 (hūn yōng - muddle-headed and incompetent).

And now, those who were originally unwilling to pay were secretly cursing Hong Chengchou as a treacherous minister and a bastard.

Hong Chengchou didn’t care about this. As long as he could handle the errand Wu Changqing had given him, what did it matter if he was scolded a few times? When he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in the past, he had already been scolded thoroughly.

Now that he had rebelled again, he had no reputation to speak of. All he could do was to be Wu Changqing’s loyal subject.

Chapter 224: The General Offensive Begins

In mid-May, the second batch of supplies from Nanjing arrived in Jiujiang.

These supplies included a large number of artillery shells, bullets, grenades, and grain. In addition, the fleet brought ten new cannons this time.

These ten cannons had a larger caliber, longer barrels, and were heavier. They were the newly developed eight-catty cannons from the Ordnance Workshop.

The previous Hongyi cannons fired solid shot weighing only four catties, while these ten cannons could fire eight-catty shells, making them more than twice as powerful as the previous Hongyi cannons.

The muzzle velocity of cannons in this era was roughly the same, so the power of the artillery was determined by the weight of the shell.

The heavier the shell, the greater the power.

Therefore, the power of cannons was often classified by the weight of the shell, rather than the caliber like in later generations.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, with this shell, the walls of Jiujiang City probably can’t withstand it at all. It’s a pity there are so few.”

Zhang Xuanyi, the artillery brigade commander, said with emotion. He could roughly estimate the power of the cannon just by looking at the size of the shell and the caliber of the artillery.

The enemy was already trembling with fear from the four-catty Hongyi cannons, so with these eight-catty cannons, the Qing army would probably piss their pants.

Unfortunately, there were too few of them, only ten.

“Brigade Commander Zhang, you should be content. You don’t know how much these ten cannons cost. The people from the Firearms Department are about to make a scene with the Duke, saying that using the money to build these cannons, they could equip an entire division with more muskets.”

Liu Jin from the logistics department complained.

“Nonsense, can you fight a war with just guns? Without these cannons to blast down the city walls, who knows how many people would die just using guns. Old Liu, you have to keep a close eye on things. Don’t let those grandsons from other departments steal the resources that should be used to build cannons.”

Zhang Xuanyi instructed.

It was impossible for any large force to be monolithic; they all had their own small cliques.

There were disagreements between the navy and the army, and within the army, the musket troops and the artillery would compete for resources. In the civil service system, there were members of the Donglin Party, surrender faction, Zhejiang faction, the Emperor’s faction, and lone ministers…

Fortunately, the interests of these small groups were currently aligned, which was to develop, grow stronger, and recover lost territory.

Under Wu Changqing’s deterrence, although there were disagreements between the various departments, they had not made any major mistakes in their cooperation, and had not made the same kind of jokes as the Japanese army and navy in later generations.

The Japanese navy and army in later generations were like enemies. Not only did they not cooperate, but they also tripped each other up, making many jokes.

For example, they would not provide support to each other during combat, forcing the army to build their own warships, and the navy was also forced to form marine corps and build their own tanks.

Even when they went to Germany to buy technology, they went separately to buy their own things. They had to buy two copies of the same data, and they would not share it with each other.

Even the Germans were dumbfounded and wanted to ask if they were from the same country’s army. Why was it like this?

“Don’t worry, they wouldn’t dare to steal resources from our artillery.”

Liu Jin said.

Some of the other soldiers who were helping to transport supplies couldn’t help but curse the artillery in their hearts.

The artillery was not only safe, but also had high salaries, and could also enjoy preferential treatment in logistics support.

This was indeed difficult for soldiers in other arms to accept.

With the arrival of supplies and the sufficient preparation of siege equipment, Li Shaobin decided to launch a general offensive the next day, and strive to break through Jiujiang in two days.

He didn’t like attrition warfare and wanted to attack fiercely from beginning to end, breaking through Jiujiang in one fell swoop.

Early the next morning, the Wu army began to move.

Based on the power of the ten eight-catty cannons, Li Shaobin changed the artillery’s attack strategy, not allowing the artillery to use howitzer shells, but instead using solid shot to create a gap in the city wall.

As the artillery fire sounded, several key commanders raised their telescopes, wanting to see the power of the eight-catty cannons.

On the Qing army’s side, their generals quickly discovered that the Wu army was using solid shot, which made them a little puzzled.

Compared to solid shot, howitzer shells were a much greater threat to them.

Although solid shot could knock down city walls, as long as they sent a suicide squad to reinforce and repair the city walls at any time, the city walls would not collapse so easily.

Even if a small section of the city wall collapsed, they could send heavy troops to block the gap.

As long as the Wu army did not break through the city at once, they could quickly repair the gap after the battle.

In short, solid shot was far less effective than howitzer shells when facing Jiujiang, which had a large number of defending troops.

“Could it be that the enemy has run out of bursting shells? It is said that bursting shells are not easy to manufacture.”

Gong A’dai guessed.

“General, have you noticed that the power of the enemy’s artillery seems to be stronger than ordinary Hongyi cannons.”

Some people also noticed some anomalies. After all, the vibration caused by the eight-catty cannons hitting the city wall was much greater than that of the four-catty cannons.

“Now that you mention it, it does seem to be the case. Someone, go check it out immediately.”

Lekedehun ordered, arranging for people to check the extent of the damage to that section of the city wall.

With the supreme commander’s order, even if that section of the city wall was extremely dangerous at this time, the selected soldiers could only grit their teeth and rush to that section of the city wall.

Just as they stepped onto the bombarded section of the city wall, an eight-catty shell happened to hit the city wall, directly blowing away the parapet. The kinetic energy of the shell was exhausted as a result, and the shell fell on the city wall.

“This shell seems to be bigger than our shells.”

The soldiers who came to check were not professional artillerymen and were not particularly clear about the size of the shells. They just felt that the shell was bigger than their own.

“Get some cloth and water, we’ll take this shell back.”

The newly fired shells were very hot and could not be touched directly.

After a flurry of activity, they finally found water to cool down the iron ball, and then wrapped it in cloth to prepare to take it back.

“So heavy.”

The soldier who picked up the shell complained.

At this moment, another eight-catty shell hit the front of the city wall, causing the entire section of the city wall to shake.

The soldier holding the shell swayed, then lost his footing and fell, the shell hitting his foot and directly deforming his leg.

This was not the worst of it. A shell landed on the city wall, hitting some unlucky soldiers and killing them instantly.

The other soldiers, seeing this, turned pale with fright and quickly picked up the shell and evacuated the area.

As for the soldier who was still screaming, they couldn’t care less.

In any case, his leg had been smashed like this, and it would be difficult to save him.

If an ordinary soldier was injured like this, the army would generally not waste precious medicine and manpower to treat him.

Chapter 225: Powerful Cover

The cannonball was brought before Lekedehun, and someone immediately noticed its difference.

“This cannonball is huge.”

As he spoke, he touched the cannonball and continued, “It’s so heavy, at least twice the weight of our cannonballs. It seems the enemy has acquired new weapons again.”

These words made everyone’s heart sink. What they feared most now was the sudden emergence of some unfathomable new weapon in the Wu army.

The current new cannon was still acceptable, just with a bit more power. At least everyone was familiar with it and had some idea of what to expect.

If suddenly there was another weapon like a sniper rifle, they would easily suffer a great loss without knowing what was going on.

“Prepare to plug the gap, we must not let the enemy rush in.”

Now that the Wu army had cannons with such great power, Lekedehun had already given up hope for the section of the city wall that had been bombarded, and could only prepare in advance.

The cannons continued to bombard for several hours, finally collapsing a section of the city wall over ten meters long.

Afterward, the Wu army’s artillery switched to shrapnel shells, focusing on inflicting casualties and deterring the enemy.

The Wu army’s siege troops also launched their formal action. The flintlock rifle troops responsible for providing cover took the lead, followed by a large number of river-filling troops.

Last time, they only filled a small section of the moat to allow siege equipment such as siege towers to pass through, and other infantry crossed the river via pontoon bridges.

But this time, they sent out several times more river-filling troops than last time, preparing to fill most of the moat, which would make it easier for the army to advance and retreat.

Seeing the Wu army’s flintlock rifle troops advancing, the Qing army archers on the city wall began to tremble.

They hadn’t forgotten the previous battle so quickly. In just a short exchange of fire, they had lost more than a thousand men.

The total number of their archer unit was only over six thousand, so the attrition rate was quite terrifying.

Now the Wu army’s posture was clearly a general offensive, and the battle would definitely be more tragic than last time. Based on the previous situation, they would have to lose at least half of their numbers this time.

Anyone would be afraid of such a high chance of dying in battle.

“Those who bravely kill the enemy will be rewarded. Those who fear battle and retreat without authorization will be executed.”

The Qing army generals walked back and forth among the soldiers, shouting slogans.

Unfortunately, these soldiers were not stupid. What rewards were meaningless; only the rewards for those who survived had meaning.

If they died on the battlefield, whether those rewards could be successfully delivered to their families was a big problem. Even if they were delivered, their wives would remarry, eventually benefiting some other grandson.

“Ready, shoot arrows.”

As the Wu army’s flintlock rifle troops entered range, the Qing army took the lead in attacking.

Immediately afterward, the Wu army also stopped and began to counterattack.

In fact, their range was much greater than that of the Qing army’s archers, but in order to ensure the efficiency of killing the enemy, they still chose to enter the Qing army’s range.

Standing too far away would not provide a good covering effect, and the Qing army could completely risk casualties to shoot the river-filling troops.

They would be safe then, but the river-filling troops would be in trouble.

Now it was equivalent to them bearing a certain number of casualties to ensure the safety of the river-filling troops. With their highly efficient killing, the Qing army archers had no time to attack the river-filling troops, they had to fully deal with the Wu army’s flintlock rifle troops.

As the familiar sound of gunfire rang out, a large number of Qing soldiers began to fall again.

“Don’t squat down, stand up and shoot.”

The Qing army general’s horsewhip struck a soldier. Squatting down could hide behind the parapet, which could greatly reduce the risk of being shot.

However, squatting down to shoot arrows made it impossible to exert force, and the arrows shot out were weak and powerless, and could not even reach the Wu army’s formation.

The beaten soldier stood up again, while those who did not stand up were killed with a single slash.

Those who feared battle would be executed; the Qing army was not joking.

“General, why don’t we just let them fill the river and stop wasting archers? After their soldiers get close and start attacking the city, we can send these archers out to kill the enemy.”

Azali observed for a while and offered a suggestion.

It was too disadvantageous to use archers to exchange fire with the Wu army’s flintlock rifle troops. It would be better to temporarily avoid it.

After the Wu army began to swarm the city, the Wu army’s flintlock rifle troops would no longer suppress the city walls to avoid accidentally injuring their own soldiers. It would not be too late to use the archer unit at that time.

These archers were not ordinary soldiers. Each of them had been trained for more than two or three years. In the past, the value of an archer was at least equivalent to three or four ordinary soldiers.

But now, because of the rise of firearms, the value of archers had greatly decreased, but they were still much more precious than ordinary soldiers.

Using archers to compete with the Wu army’s musketeers was really not a good idea, it was not cost-effective.

Lekedehun looked at the miserable state of the archers and could only helplessly order them to retreat first.

This was equivalent to them giving up a major advantage in defending the city, and the moat was equivalent to being dug in vain.

Without the threat of archers, the Wu army filled the moat even faster. Before long, almost this side of the moat was filled.

“The flintlock rifle is really domineering, no troop type is their opponent. Give me fifty thousand flintlock rifle troops, and I can directly fight to Beijing.”

Liu Hansan couldn’t help but sigh when he saw the Qing army’s archers retreating.

“Fifty thousand, at the current manufacturing speed of the armory, it can be completed in less than a year.”

Li Shaobin estimated.

“At this rate, we will only need a year at most to recover Beijing and unify the world.”

Liu Hansan said.

“That’s probably a bit difficult, just marching on the road will take a lot of time.”

Everyone chatted and laughed about topics unrelated to the battle, because they were very relaxed now.

While they were chatting, the Wu army launched a general attack.

At this time, Lekedehun could no longer sit still, and sent the archers up again, wanting to inflict some damage on the enemy on the way to the city wall.

However, as soon as the archers shot the first wave of arrows, the Wu army’s covering troops began to shoot frantically at the city wall again.

Watching the archers fall one after another, Lekedehun couldn’t help but curse. This was really too bullying. The Wu army was really doing whatever they wanted because they had flintlock rifles.

And they, on the other hand, were really helpless.

With the powerful cover of the flintlock rifle troops, the Wu army’s siege troops successfully arrived at the foot of the city wall. The journey that originally would have killed thousands of people, they didn’t even lose a hundred people this time.

When they reached the bottom of the city, the Wu army’s covering troops stopped. Some of them were preparing to participate in the siege at any time. The other part acted as a supervising team, and anyone who dared to retreat without authorization would be shot.

Chapter 226: Precise Coordination

The Wu army’s siege forces were divided into several sections, with the primary assault focused on the collapsed section of the city wall.

The 22nd Brigade of the Second Division, along with the Suicide Squad, were responsible for attacking this breach. The brigade consisted entirely of matchlock musketeers.

Their strategy was to approach the enemy and unleash a volley at a distance of only a few meters, followed by a charge.

This tactic seemed simple, but it was very effective.

A close-range volley could inflict terrifying casualties. The scene could easily shock and stun the enemy.

Once the enemy was stunned, it was easy for them to charge in for melee combat, overwhelming their opponents with momentum.

Even if they didn’t stun the enemy, they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in melee combat.

The Suicide Squad and grenadiers assisted them in attacking this breach. If they encountered strong enemy resistance, the Suicide Squad and grenadiers would have to be sent in for a desperate fight.

Besides the main breach, the Wu army launched a general siege on other parts of the city wall. Various ladders and siege towers were brought up against the wall, marking the start of the most brutal phase of the siege.

Without the cover of the flintlock musketeers, the Qing army on the walls emerged, throwing stones, pouring boiling oil, emptying chamber pots, and shooting arrows at the troops below.

“Grenadiers, prepare! Everyone else, get ready to climb as soon as the bombs explode!”

A Wu army company commander shouted. His company had been assigned three grenadiers for support. These grenadiers were no ordinary soldiers; their arms were noticeably larger than others, as thick as a normal man’s thighs.

This was the result of long-term training, aimed at enabling them to throw grenades further.

Only they had the strength to throw grenades over the six-meter-high city walls. Ordinary grenadiers simply didn’t have the arm strength.

Throwing grenades also required skill and experience. The timing had to be precise.

Too slow, and the grenade would explode before reaching the wall, injuring their own men. Too fast, and the grenade would land on the wall without exploding, making it easy for the enemy to throw it back.

Early on, the Qing army didn’t understand grenades and would flee or hide when they encountered them. But now, the Qing army had learned some lessons. The best way to deal with a grenade was to rush forward, pick it up, and throw it back.

Of course, this required great courage and boldness, something most people didn’t possess.

To that end, the Qing army had established a rule: anyone who successfully cleared a grenade would be rewarded with five taels of silver after the battle.

The reward was very high, but it was worth it.

A grenade could sometimes influence the situation on the battlefield. Successfully throwing it back at the enemy reduced losses and inflicted casualties, a significant benefit.

To the Qing army’s dismay, the Wu army was constantly improving. The grenadiers spent their days training their arm strength and timing.

Through long-term training, their internal sense of time was so accurate that each number they silently counted took almost exactly one second.

Three grenades were thrown onto the city wall, causing a brief panic among the Qing troops. Soldiers near one of the grenades scattered and fled.

Two other soldiers, seeking wealth and glory in danger, tried to pick them up and throw them back.

But those who fled didn’t escape, and those who tried to throw them back didn’t have enough time. The grenades exploded as soon as they landed on the wall.

The area on the wall was instantly cleared, with many soldiers lying on the ground, screaming in agony.

At this moment, the Wu army below took the opportunity to start climbing.

“Reinforce that area!”

Seeing this, the Qing army commander on the wall immediately sent in reserve troops.

But at this point, the Wu army had only climbed halfway.

The speed of climbing a ladder was definitely slower than the Qing army running on flat ground.

The Qing soldiers who arrived in time ignored their comrades lying on the ground in pain and began picking up stones, throwing them at the Wu soldiers climbing the ladders.

Faced with this high-altitude attack, the climbing soldiers were helpless. Even shields were useless; the massive impact force was impossible to withstand.

Moreover, holding a knife in one hand and climbing with the other was already the limit. They didn’t have a free hand to hold a shield. The act of holding a several-kilogram saber in their mouth was something only seen in movies and TV dramas.

Seeing many soldiers fall from the ladders, the company commander of the 334th Company stamped his foot in frustration. They were so close, just a little bit more, and they would have been able to climb the wall.

Once they climbed up, they would have already won half the battle.

“Try again!”

The 334th Company commander shouted. This was the most effective siege method they had discovered, and there were no other better tactics. So, if they didn’t succeed this time, all they could do was try again and hope for luck.

Anything could happen on the battlefield. If the enemy’s reaction was a little slower, their reinforcements a little delayed, they might have been able to get up.

The grenadiers massaged their arms and began their second throw.

Like archers, they had a limited number of throws they could make in a battle. After seven or eight throws, their arms would become exhausted.

After all, they weren’t children playing house, throwing stones within their capabilities. Each of their throws required them to exert all their strength.

Throwing something weighing several kilograms six or seven meters high was no easy task.

This time, one of the grenadiers didn’t control his strength well and failed to throw the grenade high enough.

The grenade exploded on its way down, accidentally injuring many of the Wu soldiers below with its shrapnel.

This was unavoidable; current weapons had many flaws. Of course, even with such flaws, these weapons were still a great weapon in this era.

The two grenades that were thrown onto the wall exploded again, killing or wounding at least eight or nine more Qing soldiers, while also creating some confusion.

The wounded soldiers from before hadn’t even been dragged down from the wall yet, and now there were six or seven more casualties. The Qing army commander on the wall looked like he was about to cry.

This battle was too difficult for him. With such a terrifying rate of attrition, not to mention whether they had enough reserve soldiers, even if they did, those soldiers would be terrified by the casualty rate.

This wasn’t a battle; it was clearly a suicide mission.

“Eagle Team, reinforce! Quickly!”

The Eight Banners’ squads weren’t numbered like the Han army, using one, two, three, four, but instead used animal names: Eagle Team, Tiger Team, Bear Team, and so on.

Even the numbering of these units was more backward than the Wu army.

An Eagle Team had over a hundred men. It was impossible for over a hundred men to rush up to reinforce at once.

If it were the Wu army, they could directly order a specific platoon or squad forward. More precise and concise orders allowed soldiers to be mobilized more quickly.

Don’t underestimate these subtle differences. On the battlefield, these subtle differences accumulated and could sometimes influence the situation.

Chapter 227: Fierce Battle at the Breach

During the siege, besides the troops climbing ladders, there were also siege tower squads.

These siege towers, as tall as the city walls, were packed with more than a dozen soldiers. When the shields were lowered, they were greeted by a hail of arrows.

The surviving soldiers would then jump onto the city walls and engage the Qing army in hand-to-hand combat.

While getting onto the city walls was easier for them than climbing ladders, the danger was no less.

Once they were on the city walls, there was no turning back. They could only desperately carve out a space for themselves, or they would all die on the battlements.

In fact, their main role was to pin down the Qing army’s forces on the walls. The main way to break through the city walls was still for soldiers to climb up the ladders.

The number of soldiers on the siege towers was limited, and getting to the siege towers was no easier than climbing ladders.

Moreover, these siege towers were also the Qing army’s main targets. Some massive crossbows, requiring four or five soldiers to operate, were constantly aimed at these siege towers.

If hit, a single crossbow bolt could destroy the siege tower.

Both the siege towers and the ladder assaults were diversions; the Wu army’s main attack was focused on the breach.

At the breach, the 22nd Brigade first sent a battalion to charge.

More wouldn’t be useful; the breach was only a dozen meters wide, and even a battalion was incredibly crowded.

The reason for preparing an entire brigade was mainly because this place would become a meat grinder, and both sides would spare no expense to fight for it.

At that point, the battle would turn into a war of attrition, and whichever side couldn’t hold on first would fail.

Another point was that if a breakthrough was achieved here, a large number of troops would be needed to rush in and build a position to prevent the breach from being retaken.

The 212th Battalion, which was sent in, formed ten lines, each with more than thirty men, and then marched towards the ruins.

They had only gone halfway when they encountered the Qing army defending the breach.

“First three ranks, volley fire! Pay attention to the angle!”

The 212th Battalion commander shouted. Only the men in the first three ranks could easily shoot; the people behind didn’t have a clear angle. Randomly firing could easily miss, and might even accidentally injure their comrades.

The men in the first three ranks fired in unison. The first rank was kneeling on one knee to avoid blocking the line of sight and firing range of their comrades behind them.

As the gunshots rang out, more than ninety bullets flew towards the Qing army. At such close range, most of the bullets didn’t have time to stray, and most hit their targets.

At least forty Qing soldiers fell at the front, but the Qing army didn’t stop. They continued to charge forward.

They also knew that when fighting against firearms, charging up to the enemy for melee combat was the only option. Standing at a distance would only give the opponent a chance to reload.

The Qing army had a slight advantage from being on higher ground, but the Wu army had even greater morale, giving them an even bigger advantage.

Weapons and men collided, and on this rugged ruin, the battle was much more difficult and unpredictable than on flat ground.

Both sides suffered heavy losses in the clash. Many people fell on the ruins, leaving a scene of devastation.

“Order the 1st Company to retreat from both sides, and the 2nd Company to press forward!”

The 212th Battalion commander ordered. The 1st Company at the front had already been scattered and was at a disadvantage in the melee. Rather than wasting their strength in a futile battle of attrition, it was better to have them retreat to the rear from both sides of the formation to reorganize.

The Wu army relied heavily on formations in battle. Once it turned into a chaotic melee, their combat effectiveness would greatly decline.

The 1st Company retreated while fighting, and the 2nd Company pressed forward.

The Qing army split into two groups, one to pursue the 1st Company, and the other to charge towards the Wu army’s 2nd Company.

The 2nd Company hadn’t fired before, and their guns were still loaded.

“2nd Company, volley fire, then counter-charge!”

As the order was given, the soldiers of the 2nd Company pulled the triggers, fired their bullets, and immediately charged towards the Qing army, attempting to overwhelm them with momentum.

In melee combat, momentum was also very important.

It was like two people fighting; the one with the fiercer expression could often gain a slight advantage.

A large number of Qing soldiers fell in the volley, and when they saw the Wu army charging towards them, they naturally felt that the enemy had the upper hand.

With their momentum weakened, the Qing army couldn’t withstand the Wu army’s charge, and some of the Qing soldiers who were lucky enough to survive retreated.

However, as soon as they retreated to the top of the ruins, they were immediately beheaded by the supervising team.

“Those who retreat will be killed without mercy!”

Gong A’dai shouted. To defend the breach, he had personally come to the front line to supervise the battle.

At that moment, a bullet flew past him and killed a Qing soldier.

“General, be careful!”

Two guards quickly squeezed in front of Gong A’dai, shielding him as he retreated into the pile of soldiers.

They all knew that the Wu army’s sniper had appeared.

This was arguably the most frustrating thing for Qing army generals; they had to be constantly careful of being assassinated while commanding.

“Damn it.”

The Wu army sniper kicked a pebble away in frustration. The credit that was about to be his had slipped away, which was infuriating.

More importantly, if he didn’t get a kill in this battle, he would be replaced.

To motivate the snipers, Yan Chonglou had created a new rule: any sniper who didn’t kill a Qing army general in a battle would have to hand over their weapon to their deputy in the next battle until the deputy died or the deputy also failed to get a kill.

This undoubtedly put a lot of pressure on the snipers. Only the main force with weapons had the opportunity to earn merit and rewards.

After Yan Chonglou came up with this rule, the deputies also had a chance. And if the main force wanted to keep their job, they had to rely on their performance.

“Tsk, tsk, just a little bit off, Old Xing, just accept your fate. Why don’t you let me do it now? I’ll split half the credit with you if I succeed.”

The deputy, Little Zhang, said with a smile while holding a telescope. From the perspective of the entire battle, he shouldn’t be happy at this time. However, from the perspective of his personal future, he really hoped that Old Xing wouldn’t get a kill in this battle.

“Dream on! Give me the telescope, load the gun!”

Old Xing snatched the telescope to find a target, while the sniper rifle was handed over to Little Zhang to continue reloading.

The sniper teams, in groups of two, were active in every corner of the battlefield, bringing great psychological pressure to the Qing army generals.

From time to time, a general would be eliminated, and chaos would break out among the soldiers.

To deal with the Wu army’s snipers, Lekedehun promoted a large number of deputies in the army.

The deputies worked with the commanders, and if the commander was killed, the deputy could immediately take over the command to ensure that the army didn’t fall into chaos.

This system greatly reduced the effectiveness of the Wu army’s snipers. After all, the Wu army snipers didn’t kill officers because the officers had outstanding martial skills or combat power, but mainly because they could command.

The biggest advantage of killing officers was to leave the enemy without command and create chaos.

It should be known that many soldiers in the Qing army didn’t want to fight. They were forced to fight only because they were being supervised by officers.

Once they lost their officers, these soldiers might take the opportunity to escape or become afraid to advance. If this happened, it would be quite advantageous for the Wu army.

Unfortunately, not all the people in the Qing army were fools. Although they couldn’t make advanced weapons, they had come up with many ways to compensate for their disadvantages against some of the Wu army’s advanced weapons.

Now, the Wu army had to kill at least two officers in a row to create a chaotic effect.

Of course, even so, their role on the battlefield was still very significant, and the deterrent they brought was also very terrifying.

Those in official positions were actually more afraid of death than the soldiers.

Lekedehun had stipulated that officers were not allowed to hide, but in actual combat, some officers would still shrink back. In this way, they naturally couldn’t control the situation or the army in the best way.

Chapter 228: Utterly Tragic

At the breach, the brutal fighting continued.

After rushing through the opening, the Second Company became locked in a fierce struggle with the Qing army above, and their momentum quickly waned.

Momentum was a fickle thing. Maintaining an advantage allowed one to advance like a hot knife through butter. But encountering hardship and obstacles that prevented momentum from turning into an advantage caused it to dissipate rapidly.

The Qing army relied on their numbers to block the Wu army’s assault. Unable to break through, the Wu army’s momentum quickly dropped.

After a round of intense fighting, the Second Company suffered heavy casualties, with losses approaching fifty percent. If they continued to fight, the soldiers in this unit would definitely collapse.

“Withdraw to the sides, let the Third Company take over!”

The company commander shouted. The soldiers of the Second Company immediately retreated to the sides, handing over the battlefield to the Third Company behind them.

The Qing army did not pursue. Their own losses among the soldiers at the front were extremely heavy. The number of fleeing soldiers executed by the supervising officers was unknown, and they had barely managed to avoid collapse.

Expecting them to pursue at this point was simply impossible.

Gong A’dai also took this opportunity to pull back the soldiers at the front and replace them with a fresh batch.

He had no choice but to do so. If he didn’t, the soldiers at the front might suffer mental breakdowns due to the immense pressure.

Withdrawing them now, giving them some time to rest and vent, would allow them to recover later.

Moreover, withdrawing these men served another important purpose: giving the other soldiers a glimmer of hope.

It meant that as long as they could hold the breach for a certain period, they still had a chance to survive.

If Gong A’dai didn’t withdraw them, wouldn’t that be telling the soldiers behind that anyone who went to the breach had to fight to the last breath?

If Gong A’dai really did that, he might encounter soldiers refusing to go up later. Some soldiers would certainly take advantage of the chaos to escape or mutiny outright.

No amount of reasoning or strict military orders could make soldiers willingly go to their deaths. They had to be given at least a sliver of hope, even if it was a faint one.

Some of the withdrawn soldiers couldn’t even stand properly. Some had wet their pants, while others were numb, their eyes glazed over.

The soldiers being sent up now looked like they were going to the execution ground.

A fifty percent casualty rate meant that at least half of them wouldn’t survive.

The situation wasn’t much better on the Wu army’s side. The retreating soldiers of the Second Company were drenched in sweat, filled with lingering fear. Some had vacant stares, while others were ashen-faced.

“Arrange for these soldiers to rest and recuperate, pay attention to their emotions, and prevent any problems,” the brigade commander of the Twenty-Second Brigade instructed.

Then, he ordered the daredevil team to prepare to continue assaulting the breach.

Their goal was to break the enemy’s will to fight.

Soon, the Third Company also retreated.

The breach was only so wide, and the Qing army had enough troops to defend it. Breaking through was not an easy task.

To break the deadlock, the brigade commander of the Twenty-Second Brigade sent in the daredevil team.

The daredevil team rushed forward with broadswords and shields, followed by grenadiers. After the two armies made contact, the grenadiers began throwing hand grenades into the Qing army’s ranks.

In this crowded breach, a single hand grenade could inflict a staggering number of casualties, killing or wounding over a dozen men.

“Shoot arrows! Shoot arrows!” the Qing army general shouted. They had long known about this tactic of the Wu army, so they had prepared several archers in advance.

The archers in the rear were less than twenty meters away from the Wu army’s grenadiers. At this distance, many could accurately hit their targets.

A volley of arrows was fired, and several grenadiers fell immediately.

Even more unfortunate was a grenadier who was hit by an arrow just as he lit the fuse. The hand grenade in his hand fell to the ground due to the pain.

The hand grenade then exploded, killing or wounding seven or eight Wu soldiers.

Fortunately, the sparks didn’t ignite the hand grenades of the others, or the consequences would have been even more severe.

Despite this setback, the grenadiers did not retreat.

Compared to the casualties inflicted on them by the Qing army archers, the casualties they inflicted on the Qing army were far greater.

With the second volley of hand grenades, some Qing soldiers, seeing those black dots, simply dropped their weapons and turned to run. This kind of fighting was too terrifying, it was simply throwing their lives away.

Unfortunately, without exception, those who fled were beheaded by the supervising officers.

Now, Gong A’dai couldn’t care less whether such strict military law would drive the soldiers to mutiny. All he knew was that without such strict military law, they couldn’t hold the breach.

“Daredevil team, advance! Those who die in battle will have their families exempted from taxes for ten years!”

Seeing that the situation was very unfavorable, Gong A’dai also sent in their prepared daredevil team.

Their daredevil team was small in number, consisting of people attracted by the generous rewards. Exemption from taxes for ten years for their families was a great temptation. Some families in dire straits were willing to take a gamble.

Daredevil team against daredevil team, both sides hacking at each other without regard for their lives.

The intensity of the battle was no less than that of some modern hot-weapon battles.

The Qing army was also driven to the brink, with no other choice. If Jiujiang fell, they would have no way to retreat. Under these circumstances, they showed a strong fighting will.

If there had been a way out, they probably would have retreated long ago, given the casualty rate.

The two sides fought to the death for a while, then retreated from each other with tacit understanding.

They couldn’t fight anymore. The entire ruins were stained red with blood, and the mud was covered with corpses. Many people were fighting the enemy while standing on corpses.

With nearly seventy percent of the daredevil team lost, the brigade commander of the Twenty-Second Brigade could only worry and continue to send new troops up.

In the rear, Li Shaobin, who had been observing the battlefield with binoculars, put down the binoculars and sighed, “This Qing army is really tenacious. Fighting like this is causing too many losses.”

“Because they have no way to retreat, perhaps we can first sound the retreat and then lift the blockade on the water, giving them some hope of escape. As the saying goes, ‘Surround three sides and leave one open.’ Completely surrounding the enemy easily stimulates their fighting will,” Dai Zhijun suggested.

“That’s probably not appropriate. If we lift the blockade on the water without any warning, wouldn’t they be suspicious? It’s not so easy to trick them, and it would waste time. It’s better to keep fighting like this. I don’t believe they can be more tenacious than our army,” Liu Hansan disagreed. Dai Zhijun’s plan required a bit of luck.

If Lekedehun hadn’t thought about escaping and was determined to defend to the death, then their plan would seem a bit ridiculous.

Li Shaobin was very troubled at this time. He had no better way, and this was beyond his ability.

Helpless, he could only continue to fight and see what happened.

Chapter 229: The Wounded Soldiers’ Camp

The Wu army fought until nightfall but failed to break through the Qing army’s defenses.

The troops were all pulled back, to wait for another battle tomorrow.

Night attacks were disadvantageous to the attacking side, something Li Shaobin and the others hadn’t considered.

In this siege, they rotated as many as thirty thousand troops, and each unit suffered losses to varying degrees.

The 22nd Brigade, which served as the vanguard, suffered the most. Of the brigade’s six thousand plus men, only forty-two hundred returned, including about seven hundred severely wounded soldiers and about eleven hundred lightly wounded.

The casualty rate exceeded fifty percent, and the death rate exceeded thirty percent.

This casualty rate would be considered quite brutal even in later generations’ wars. To not collapse under such a casualty rate was a testament to their elite status.

Including the casualties from other units, the Wu army’s death toll in this attack exceeded forty-three hundred, the number of seriously wounded exceeded two thousand, and the number of lightly wounded was not counted, as it was no longer necessary.

In this kind of battle, just suffering a minor injury was something to be thankful for, a blessing from the ancestors.

Losing one-tenth of its forces in a single battle was the Wu army’s most devastating loss in its history, even more than the battles of Nanjing and the Danyang field battle.

But those two battles were great victories. Now they had lost so many men, yet they hadn’t even captured the city, which was the most critical thing.

This kind of record made Li Shaobin blush. It was the first time he had coordinated such a large-scale battle, and he had encountered a setback.

Compared to the Wu army, the Qing army’s losses were even more severe.

Even though they were the defending side, they were at a disadvantage under the Wu army’s various new weapons. They were able to hold the city purely by filling it with human lives.

The Qing army lost a total of five thousand four hundred men in this battle, only one thousand more than the Wu army.

However, the Qing army had as many as seventy-five hundred severely wounded soldiers, almost four times that of the Wu army.

This was mainly due to the difference in weapons and equipment between the two sides. The Qing army mainly relied on swords and sabers in close combat to kill the enemy.

In close combat, being stabbed with a knife was basically the same as death. At that time, no one had time to treat the wounded, and the focus was on killing and injuring the enemy.

Many of the wounded soldiers who fell to the ground were trampled to death. Soldiers who were injured by knives and swords but not killed were considered lightly wounded in the Wu army’s statistics and could be healed quickly.

For this reason, there were fewer seriously wounded soldiers in the Wu army.

The Wu army relied more on firearms and grenades to kill the Qing army.

Unless a firearm directly hit a vital point, it was difficult to kill with one shot. Soldiers who were hit in the limbs were also classified as seriously wounded by the Qing army.

As for grenades, unless a soldier was very close, they would be injured.

However, these injuries were also very difficult to treat. How to remove the shrapnel that had been shot into the flesh was a big problem, let alone sterilizing it.

Seriously wounded Qing soldiers were equivalent to dead soldiers. Calculated in this way, the Qing army lost thirteen thousand men in one battle.

The battle damage was as high as sixteen percent. If some lightly wounded soldiers who could not be put into battle temporarily were added, their losses exceeded twenty percent.

It could be said that one battle almost crippled them.

At night, the wounded soldiers’ camp was filled with wailing. If one listened carefully, one could also hear some low sobbing from the wailing.

These were the cries of soldiers whose wounds were not too painful but were actually beyond saving. Perhaps they missed their homes, or perhaps they felt unworthy of their lives, or perhaps they were afraid of the impending death.

The wailing and crying of thousands of people frightened the people in the city, as if they were in the Avici Hell.

Corpses were constantly carried out of the wounded soldiers’ camp. Some of the ‘corpses’ had not even died yet, but they were too lazy to struggle.

Rather than continue to live and be tormented by pain, it was better to die early and be liberated.

Of course, not everyone could be so detached. Most people were extremely attached to life.

“Have you heard? The Wu army has a medicine that can treat gunshot wounds. As long as that medicine is applied to the wound, it won’t fester.”

Several soldiers with gunshot wounds to their limbs gathered together to chat. Before the wounds became infected, their injuries didn’t look too serious.

Of course, they all knew that this was an illusion. Once the wound became infected, they could only wait to die.

“How is that possible? Can this kind of poisonous wound be cured?”

Others didn’t believe it.

“Don’t you believe it, this is a secret that the people outside the city leaked when we went out to chop wood last time. Some wounded Wu soldiers were arranged to recuperate in the homes of some people. Some people were also hit by our muskets, but it is said that they all recovered later.”

The wounded centurion continued.

“So you mean?”

The others had already guessed what he meant. No one wanted to die, and at this time, there was only one way to not die, and that was to surrender to the Wu army.

“That kind of medicine must be very expensive, right? Are we, who have surrendered, qualified to use it?”

Someone raised a very realistic question. Surrendered soldiers have always been the least human.

In the Wu army, only surrendered soldiers who actively defected could be directly transformed into formally organized main forces. Those prisoners who were captured alive often had to be incorporated into suicide squads first, or had to complete some hard labor before they could be transferred to regular status.

To want to get treatment as soon as you go over, there is no such cheap thing in the world.

“So, it’s useless for us to surrender directly like this. We must also make contributions to the Ming army.”

The centurion said.

“How to make contributions?”

The others asked one after another. If they had a chance to live, they wouldn’t care so much. This was their life-saving straw, and they would fight to the death if anyone dared to snatch it.

Anyway, for them, it was all the same.

“If you are interested, first come to me and make an oath, and then I will contact the adults above to find a way. At that time, you can listen to my command.”

The centurion said.

“We will definitely listen to the adults. Please go quickly, the wound will break out in a day or two at most, we can’t wait that long.”

Seeing the hope of survival, the others were very excited.

Afterwards, the centurion left the wounded soldiers’ camp and came to the residence of Guerrilla General Li Lianfan.

If they wanted to make a great contribution, it would be impossible to rely on their hundred or so wounded soldiers. They had to pull in accomplices.

Li Lianfan, who had nearly ten thousand Green Standard Army soldiers under his command, was a very good object to instigate.

In today’s battle, the losses of the Green Standard Army in the Qing army were greater than those of the Manchu Eight Banners. Many Han soldiers were dissatisfied, and some Green Standard Army generals were also angry.

In this case, there was a greater hope of provoking the other party to revolt.

Chapter 230: Secretly Plotting Defection

The night was deep, but Li Shaobin was still awake, his mind troubled by the battle ahead.

Just then, a personal guard reported that Xu Yuxian was seeking an audience with important military intelligence.

Soon after, Xu Yuxian entered the tent with a soldier, saluting as he said, “General, this is a subordinate of Li Lianfan, the Green Standard Army guerrilla general in Jiujiang. He brings a message from Li Lianfan, hoping to surrender to our army.”

“Is this true? Why do you want to surrender to our army?”

Li Shaobin was overjoyed. He was struggling to find a way to take Jiujiang, and now such good fortune had come knocking.

At that moment, he felt like Cao Cao meeting Xu You, eager to greet him without even putting on his shoes.

“Reporting to the General, we Green Standard Army soldiers are often oppressed by the Manchu soldiers in the army, and the soldiers harbor many grievances. Now that the King’s army has arrived, we must pledge our allegiance to the King’s army.”

The liaison officer made it sound noble, claiming they wanted to serve the Ming.

But everyone knew that the real reason Li Lianfan wanted to surrender was probably because he couldn’t hold out any longer and was looking for a way out.

Li Shaobin didn’t expose him, as everyone wanted to save face. Leaving them some dignity was a worthwhile price to pay for their defection.

“So, how do you plan to surrender?”

Li Shaobin asked.

“My lord hopes to assist the General, so he plans to lead his men in a defection during tomorrow’s siege, helping the General to break through the city.”

The liaison officer said.

“But, from what I’ve observed, there are Eight Banners soldiers supervising the defense on the city walls. Can a defection in the face of battle succeed?”

Li Shaobin continued to question, not only asking about the specific plan but also testing their sincerity.

He wouldn’t easily believe that they genuinely wanted to cooperate from the inside based on just one statement.

“My lord is willing to take the risk, as long as the General can give a promise.”

The liaison officer said.

His words reassured Li Shaobin somewhat. Since there were conditions, it meant there was sincerity. In Li Shaobin’s view, the promise Li Lianfan wanted was nothing more than an official position or military power, which were all negotiable.

Being able to reduce the losses of his troops made giving away a few official positions very worthwhile.

“In the previous battles, many of our wounded soldiers suffered from gunshot wounds. Therefore, my lord hopes that after defecting and rendering meritorious service, the surrendered wounded soldiers can receive treatment.”

The liaison officer’s request surprised Li Shaobin. Such a request was rare.

He pondered for a moment and said, “Medicine for treating gunshot wounds is extremely precious in our army as well. Of course, if you can help us capture Jiujiang, I can consider giving you five hundred doses of the medicine.”

Li Shaobin didn’t know the source of sulfonamide, this bactericidal drug. He only knew that they couldn’t manufacture it themselves and relied entirely on Wu Changqing to obtain it through special channels, and the quantity was limited.

He didn’t know how many wounded soldiers Li Lianfan had under his command. If there were several thousand, he wouldn’t dare to make such a promise.

If all the sulfonamide was used to treat surrendered soldiers, then his own soldiers who didn’t receive treatment would surely rebel.

“Only five hundred doses?”

The liaison officer was stunned. That was too little.

“There’s really no other way. To be honest, we can’t manufacture this medicine yet. The Governor-General spends money to buy it from overseas merchants, and it’s very expensive. You can verify this after you surrender. I’m not lying to you.

As long as General Li is willing to surrender and defect, in addition to these five hundred doses of medicine, I can also retain General Li’s military power and give him the position of a brigade commander. The defecting soldiers can also be directly reorganized into the main force.”

Li Shaobin also felt that five hundred doses were a bit too few, so he added some more benefits.

“Then that’s the only way.”

The liaison officer guessed that Li Shaobin wasn’t lying, and there was no point in haggling further.

In fact, they were now very eager to surrender. Even without the medicine, Li Lianfan wanted to surrender. They no longer wanted to engage in such brutal battles with the Wu army.

Afterward, Li Shaobin and Xu Yuxian spoke privately for a while about Li Lianfan, judging from his personality whether there was a possibility of a feigned surrender.

Xu Yuxian said that the possibility of a feigned surrender was almost zero. Because the conflict between the Green Standard Army and the Eight Banners soldiers had always existed in the Qing army, and many Han soldiers and generals wanted to surrender.

At least, he knew of several, but they just hadn’t found an opportunity to surrender. And he was lucky enough to be left behind as a rearguard last time, so he took the opportunity to surrender.

In Xu Yuxian’s view, Li Lianfan’s surrender was very credible.

Hearing his judgment, Li Shaobin no longer hesitated and sent for the staff department to discuss the focus of tomorrow’s attack based on Li Lianfan’s stationed position.

The next day, the Wu army started shelling early again.

Lekedehun, who had only fallen asleep late at night, was awakened by the shelling and kicked his chamber pot away in anger.

He thought that yesterday’s battle was so fierce that the Wu army should have rested for a day or two. He never expected that the Wu army would continue to attack the city today.

With this intensity, he was worried that his men wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“Are the small boats ready?”

Lekedehun asked his personal guard. He was increasingly hopeless about defending Jiujiang, so he had arranged for his personal guard to prepare early. Once they couldn’t hold it, they would take a boat to escape to the north bank of the Yangtze River.

As long as they escaped to the north bank of the Yangtze River, they would be safe. Lekedehun didn’t want to be captured.

Even if he lost the battle, he would escape back, rather than becoming a laughingstock like Ajige.

“They are ready.”

The personal guard replied.

Afterward, Lekedehun dressed and prepared to go to the city wall to supervise the battle.

He wouldn’t be at ease unless he went there himself. The army was facing too much pressure and anything could happen at any time.

In the past, he would have abandoned the city and fled in such a situation. This time, there was really no way to escape, so he could only grit his teeth and persevere.

On the city wall, the Wu army’s shells kept falling on another section of the wall.

Li Shaobin felt that one breach was too few and wanted to open another one to create greater pressure on the Qing army.

Using the same tactic, after several hours, that section of the city wall also collapsed for the most part with a loud crash.

Afterward, the Wu army began a full-scale attack on the city.

This time, there was only one main attack point, which was the southeast side defended by Li Lianfan. As for the two breaches, they were all used to confuse and contain the Qing army’s forces.

Given the danger at the breaches yesterday, Lekedehun sent more soldiers to the two breaches today, and the proportion of Eight Banners soldiers among the soldiers was greater than yesterday.

Lekedehun was worried about the Green Standard Army’s fighting spirit, so he had to send Eight Banners soldiers to take on such an important task.

With more Eight Banners soldiers at the breaches, there were naturally fewer Eight Banners soldiers on the city wall.

On the southeast side defended by Li Lianfan, there were less than one thousand Eight Banners soldiers, whose main role was to supervise the battle.

Looking at the densely packed Wu army, Li Lianfan felt nervous.

Defecting before the battle was a high-risk move.

If the Wu army didn’t rush up to support them in time, or if they were discovered by the Eight Banners soldiers in advance, their situation would be very dangerous.

Chapter 231: Street Fight

At first, Li Lianfan’s troops put up a token resistance.

But as the Wu army approached the city walls and breaches, and full-scale combat began, Li Lianfan suddenly chopped down his own banner.

This was their signal. The moment the banner fell, his personal guards and the key figures who had plotted to revolt immediately turned their blades on the Qing army.

This sudden action terrified some of the unaware soldiers, who either froze in place or tried to flee in the chaos.

“Brothers, the Qing dogs don’t treat us like people! Those who want to live, follow me and rebel against them!”

Li Lianfan shouted, and his officers echoed his cry.

The Manchu Eight Banners, caught completely off guard, finally realized what was happening, but it was too late.

They were already outnumbered, and this surprise attack left hundreds dead. The rest were either fleeing or being surrounded.

Faced with so many rebels on the city wall and so many Wu soldiers below, they could only flee in the chaos to report to Lekedehun.

Li Lianfan didn’t bother to chase them. He ordered his soldiers to bring out several boxes of white cloth and wrap it around their arms to distinguish friend from foe.

Even as they were rebelling, the Wu army’s siege never stopped.

When they saw the enemy no longer throwing stones down the wall, they knew the rebellion had begun on the city wall. They sped up their climb.

By the time they reached the top, Li Lianfan had already taken control of this section of the wall.

Without a word, the two sides each took a direction and continued to clear the enemy from the walls, while a large number of soldiers poured into the city.

Below the wall, the Wu army launched signal flares to indicate the success of their plan. The siege forces in other directions slowed their attacks to reduce unnecessary losses.

Once the Qing army learned that the city walls had fallen elsewhere, they would surely fall into chaos and collapse.

Attacking then would achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Attacking now, with the Qing putting up a fierce resistance, was not worth it.

“General, Li Lianfan has betrayed us! The Ming army has entered the city!”

A soldier who had escaped came to report, causing Lekedehun to stagger.

Despite all his precautions, something had still gone wrong.

“Immediately send the remaining reserves up there! You must drive the enemy out and retake the city wall! At the same time, block the news! Don’t let the other soldiers know!”

Lekedehun still wanted to struggle. He still had enough troops under his command. As long as he could retake the city wall, he could hold out for a while longer.

As for what to do after that, he didn’t think that far ahead.

With Lekedehun’s order, the Qing army’s reserve force, intended for emergencies, rushed towards the area Li Lianfan was guarding. This force was composed entirely of Eight Banners soldiers, whose combat strength and will to fight were far greater than those of the Green Standard Army.

However, by the time they arrived, more than two thousand Wu soldiers had already entered the city, and street fighting immediately broke out.

In street fighting, there were too many obstacles, and the power of the muskets could not be fully utilized. The Wu army suffered a little in this regard. However, grenadiers were very effective in street fighting, often wiping out a group with a single grenade.

However, grenadiers had no means of self-defense in this kind of street fighting. They were basically done for if anyone got close. They needed the protection of other soldiers, but because they lacked experience in street fighting, their coordination was not as good as it was during the siege.

Overall, the Wu army was still able to maintain a slight advantage in the street fighting, but not by much.

The two sides engaged in a bloody battle in the streets, while the civilians hid in their houses, trembling with fear.

Sometimes, soldiers would fall into houses during the fighting, scaring the residents pale.

Of course, being scared was still considered lucky. Some unlucky civilians were shot dead by stray arrows while hiding in their homes, or hit by shrapnel from exploding grenades.

Whenever this happened, the civilians could only accept their misfortune, with no one to turn to for justice.

The street fighting continued evenly matched. The Wu army was relatively calm. As long as they held their ground and didn’t retreat, reinforcements would continue to pour into the city.

The Qing army general in charge of the counterattack was much more anxious. If they could not quickly defeat the Wu army and retake the city wall, then their current battle would be meaningless.

“Kill! Retake the city wall! A reward of ten taels of silver for each man, and promotion by one rank!”

A Qing army captain shouted. This was basically nonsense. A reward of ten taels of silver was plausible, but promoting everyone by one rank? Who would be the ordinary soldiers then?

However, the soldiers in the heat of battle had no time to think about that. Hearing of a large reward, some desperate men erupted with ferocity and charged forward to fight like their lives depended on it.

However, this small burst of energy could only achieve a little local advantage and could not affect the overall situation.

As more and more Wu soldiers entered the city, some Wu soldiers also climbed onto the roofs, using their guns to fire from above, greatly increasing the Qing army’s danger.

“Brothers on the other side, listen up! You have already failed! The city walls have been completely lost, and the officials have all run away! There is no need to risk your lives for those aristocratic lords! Surrender! General Wu treats our Manchu soldiers equally! We are doing very well over here!”

In the heat of battle, a Manchu man from the Wu army shouted through a loudspeaker.

These were Manchu people who had surrendered to the Wu army before. Some of those who had surrendered were still rather hesitant, struggling internally.

But some more selfish people had already thrown their ethnicity to the wind. For their own glory and wealth, they were willing to be the Wu army’s pawns.

At this time, this Manchu man was shouting at the Qing army in Manchu, which was much more effective than Han soldiers trying to persuade them to surrender.

The Qing army instinctively had more trust in their own people.

“Don’t believe that traitor! We will definitely not have a good ending if we surrender! It’s better to fight them to the death! We haven’t lost yet!”

The Qing army general quickly denied the rumors, trying to stabilize morale.

However, the soldiers could more or less judge the situation for themselves.

The Wu army had already entered the city, which was undoubtedly a very bad situation. And they had not been able to retake the city wall, so failure was already highly probable.

They had not yet decided to surrender, but their fighting spirit had been weakened invisibly. They were more focused on saving their own lives than on fighting hard and winning the war.

Some clever soldiers had even taken advantage of the chaos to slip into the houses, intending to hide there until the end of the war and then surrender.

Anyway, the Wu army did not kill prisoners, and it was better to save one’s life than to die on the battlefield.

Chapter 232: Setting Fire to the City and Massacring its People

“Haven’t we taken back the city walls yet?”

Lekedehun asked anxiously, but none of his subordinates dared to answer.

Retaking the city walls was not an easy task.

The longer it dragged on, the worse it would be for them.

Lekedehun wanted to conceal the news of the city wall’s fall, but in such a chaotic battlefield, how could he possibly keep it a secret?

Before long, the other soldiers on the city walls also learned that a section of the wall had been lost, and a large number of Ming soldiers were pouring into the city.

This news struck everyone like a bolt from the blue.

The reason they hadn’t collapsed before was because of this city wall, which gave them a sense of security.

But now that the city wall had fallen and the last line of defense had collapsed, the soldiers were uncontrollably thrown into chaos.

At this moment, the Wu army launched a new round of offensives.

The Qing army, already on the verge of collapse, instantly lost all fighting spirit. Everyone was thinking about escaping to save their lives, rather than fighting bravely against the enemy.

The Wu army seized the opportunity to storm the city walls and launched a full-scale attack.

“General, retreat quickly! We can’t hold them back!”

When defeat comes like a landslide, even though they still had at least sixty thousand troops in the city, it was useless. Once the army fell into rout, these soldiers were like a pile of loose sand, unable to be organized to resist.

Right now, let alone launching a counterattack, it was difficult to even organize the routed soldiers to escape in an orderly manner. People rarely remain rational when they are in a panic.

In this era, there were neither telephones nor telegraphs, and communication between different units was very difficult. After falling into chaos, conveying orders to the units below was a very difficult task.

“Alas, losing so many troops at once, what face do I have to escape?”

Lekedehun sighed. Even if he escaped back to the North, he couldn’t bear the responsibility for this defeat. Being stripped of his title and dismissed from his post would be considered light punishment; he might even end up in prison.

In this battle, he had lost a total of one hundred and ten thousand troops, which was one-seventh of the Qing army’s total strength.

It was another battle that hurt them to the bone. The Qing army hadn’t recovered from Bolo’s crushing defeat, and now he had suffered another major defeat, which was simply adding insult to injury.

“General, where there’s life, there’s hope! It’ll be too late if we don’t retreat now!”

His subordinates quickly reminded him.

Lekedehun was just saying that. He didn’t want to die yet, otherwise, he wouldn’t have prepared ships for escape in advance.

“Orderlies, listen up! Order Gong A’dai to gather the remaining troops as much as possible and retreat to Nanchang to defend it to the death and contain the enemy. Order Azali to gather the remaining troops, set fire to the city, and resist to the end to buy time for Gong A’dai. Tell them both that I will treat their families well.”

Before leaving, Lekedehun made some arrangements.

He didn’t want to go to Nanchang, a place of certain death, so he ordered Gong A’dai to go. As long as some soldiers could be withdrawn, they could more or less contain the Wu army.

At the same time, he also ordered Azali to set fire to the city and massacre its people, creating chaos and retaliating against the Wu army.

In any case, Jiujiang was already in the Wu army’s pocket, and Lekedehun wanted to disgust the Wu army in this way. If he couldn’t have it, he wouldn’t let anyone else have it either.

This was probably his last struggle.

Apart from disgusting the Wu army, there was nothing else he could do.

After arranging his affairs, Lekedehun led some personal guards and some important generals onto the small boats that had been prepared in advance.

Although Wu Yi’s navy blockaded the Yangtze River, they mainly blockaded the large fleets. There were too many small fishing boats, and the Wu army couldn’t search them one by one; they didn’t have that many troops.

Lekedehun and the others were trying to take advantage of this to escape in the confusion.

Inside Jiujiang, Gong A’dai and Azali both received their orders.

When Gong A’dai received the order, he kicked a helmet away. He knew he had been abandoned. Lekedehun was asking him to lead troops to Nanchang, clearly sending him to his death.

Once they arrived in Nanchang, there would really be no way to escape. They would be surrounded by enemies on all sides, and all of them would be mortal enemies.

Moreover, whether he could retreat to Nanchang alive was still a question.

Although he knew it was a dead end, Gong A’dai didn’t dare to disobey.

Lekedehun had said that he would treat his family well, meaning that if he didn’t carry out the order, his family would become slaves, and his wives and daughters would become prostitutes.

Moreover, he didn’t really have a choice. Even if he disobeyed the order and fled back to the North, he couldn’t bear the punishment for disobeying military orders.

Therefore, Gong A’dai could only grit his teeth and carry out the order.

He began to gather those units that were still organized and controllable, and then began to retreat from the west.

Currently, the Wu army had only breached the city walls on the east side; the city walls on the west side were still in their hands.

Azali was just as depressed as Gong A’dai. He received the order to cover the retreat, which was even worse than Gong A’dai’s order, meaning that he had to retreat last.

The danger in this was too high, and there was almost no possibility of retreat. Staying behind to cover the retreat was equivalent to waiting for death.

However, he faced the same dilemma as Gong A’dai and didn’t dare to disobey the order.

Unless he was selfish enough to not care about his family and only care about his own life, wealth, and glory. In that case, he could surrender to the Wu army.

With his status in the Qing army, the Wu army would welcome his surrender, and it would be another example that could be used for propaganda.

Unfortunately, Azali couldn’t let go of his family after all.

Therefore, Azali began to order fires to be set in the city, and at the same time began to massacre its people, launching a frenzied retaliation.

As soon as this order was issued, the people in the city suffered.

Faced with ferocious and insane Manchu soldiers, these people had little power to resist. They couldn’t even find a decent kitchen knife in their homes, so how could they resist?

Some Manchu soldiers were unwilling to accept defeat and could only vent their resentment on the people at this time.

Men and children were killed directly, and when they encountered women, some soldiers would even release their animalistic desires in the midst of their busy schedules.

In addition to killing people, these people were also setting fires everywhere in the city, creating chaos and causing trouble for the Wu army.

Most of the houses in this era were wooden, which were easily ignited.

In an instant, fires broke out everywhere in the city, and people scurried around like headless flies, and the city was completely plunged into chaos.

Experienced soldiers knew that the Qing army had been defeated as soon as they saw the fire in the city. Only when they were defeated and wanted to escape would they deliberately create such chaos.

Therefore, the remaining Qing soldiers who were still resisting began to escape and surrender in the chaos.

Even the commander-in-chief had run away, so these soldiers were even less likely to continue to resist; it wasn’t worth it.

Only Azali’s troops were still forced to resist because of Azali’s presence.

However, this resistance was only temporary. The emotions of the soldiers in the army were becoming more and more unstable, and there was a risk of collapse at any time.

Chapter 233: Remnants of a Defeated Army

“Has Lotus Flower Town been taken yet?”

Li Shaobin asked, watching the black smoke rising from the city.

Now that the city was breached, the main force of the Qing army only had one option: to flee south. Therefore, while attacking Jiujiang, they had already sent a force to attack Lotus Flower Town.

“It’s been taken. Not a single one of them will escape,” Liu Hansan said.

“The fire in the city is a problem. Putting it out will require a lot of manpower, and I’m afraid we don’t have enough.”

They had to encircle the remnants of the Qing army, put out the fire in the city, and eliminate the scattered soldiers within the city. They were short-handed.

“We can organize the people in the city to save themselves. As long as people are saved, we can’t worry too much about the houses. It’s more important to encircle the remaining Qing troops. If they escape to Nanchang, we’ll have to expend effort to attack the city again.”

Liu Hansan suggested. The others had no better solution, so they had to put the interests of the people aside.

Gong A’dai led over fifteen thousand remnant soldiers towards Nanchang. When they arrived at Lotus Flower Town, they found that the flags above had already been replaced with Wu army flags.

Gong A’dai cursed and then ordered an attack.

At this point, they had no way back and could only charge forward. If they couldn’t break through, they could only die here.

Gong A’dai estimated that there wouldn’t be too many Wu army soldiers in Lotus Flower Town. After all, the total strength of the Wu army wasn’t that great, and most of it had been invested in attacking the city.

His estimate was correct. There was only one regiment of the Wu army in Lotus Flower Town, about four thousand men.

However, they had the advantage of terrain. They only needed to defend a few hilltops and two intersections, with the focus on the intersections.

They didn’t need to spend a lot of troops to defend the hilltops. If the Qing army wanted to cross the mountains with no roads, they would have to exhaust at least half their lives. By then, the Wu army behind them would almost be able to catch up.

Therefore, if the Qing army wanted to flee south, they had to break through the two intersections that were only a few dozen meters wide.

And these two intersections were filled with Wu army’s firearm troops.

“Charge! We’ll be safe once we get through!”

Gong A’dai shouted, but unfortunately, the officers and soldiers under his command were not encouraged by his shouting.

They weren’t stupid. They knew how terrifying it was to charge against the Wu army’s firearm troops. Anyone who charged in front had almost no chance of survival.

In this situation, no one wanted to charge in front. As for being caught up by the Wu army if they didn’t charge, that was only something the high-ranking officers would care about. For the soldiers, being caught up meant surrendering, which was better than dying now.

Therefore, when the Qing army officers shouted for the soldiers to charge, the Qing soldiers standing in front refused to move.

“General, we can’t charge! We will definitely die if we charge!”

“General, please let us go! Let us surrender!”

“General, let’s go around the mountains!”

The soldiers begged, some even kneeling down.

Unfortunately, these pleas did not shake Gong A’dai’s determination. He used his sword to stab several soldiers kneeling on the ground, shouting, “Guards, those who are afraid to fight will be killed without mercy!”

Under Gong A’dai’s coercion and the urging of the supervisors, the Qing army launched an attack on the Wu army.

Pia.

Gunshots rang out, and a batch of Qing soldiers in front fell, but they were still charging. They couldn’t stop. If they stopped, they would be knocked down by the people behind them and then trampled to death.

The Qing army shouted and charged towards the Wu army, trying to cover up the fear in their hearts with their shouts.

Unfortunately, this kind of shouting had no effect on the Wu army. The Wu army just fired their guns in an orderly manner, constantly killing the Qing army.

“Prepare for the last volley!”

After three rounds of firing, the Wu army prepared for a final volley.

Nearly a thousand guns fired at the same time, and the Qing soldiers, who were only a dozen meters away from the Wu army, fell one after another. None of the soldiers charging in front survived and all fell down.

This wave directly killed two to three hundred people. Seeing this, the Qing army behind could no longer withstand this pressure of death and directly climbed up the mountain slopes on both sides.

With strong enemies in front and supervisors behind, they could only escape to the mountains on both sides.

The Qing army supervisors and officers could not stop this way of escape. Some low-level officers even joined the ranks of escape. They didn’t want to charge and die either.

This change almost stunned the Wu army. They had already prepared for a counter-charge and a bloody battle, but the Qing army had already rushed to their faces and actually deserted before the battle.

“Reload, stay vigilant!”

The Wu army commander shouted. Anyway, their task was to guard this mountain pass, and they didn’t need to worry about anything else. It was a good thing that the enemy didn’t charge up, and they could have fewer casualties.

Those soldiers who climbed up the mountain basically no longer posed a threat.

This kind of mountain slope with no roads and dense trees was not so easy to climb. Basically, people were already half dead when they climbed to the mountain slope. When they crossed this mountain slope and faced the Wu army stationed behind the mountain slope, they could only surrender obediently.

“Damn it!”

Gong A’dai stomped his feet in anger, but unfortunately, the morale had dropped to this point, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

“General, the Wu army cavalry is catching up from behind!”

While Gong A’dai was having a headache, the messenger behind him reported even worse news.

“General, surrender. In this situation, no one is willing to fight anymore.”

Gong A’dai’s subordinates persuaded him. A defeat was like a landslide, and once the morale was gone, there was no chance.

Now, even if Gong A’dai ordered the supervisors to kill them one by one, those soldiers would not charge again. Maybe those soldiers would riot on the spot.

After all, the Wu army’s firearm troops looked much more terrifying than the supervisors. At least the supervisors were still using cold weapons, and everyone had a fifty-fifty chance of fighting.

But going to charge the Wu army’s firearm troops was a narrow escape from death.

Gong A’dai was still hesitating, but the Qing army in the rear was already surrendering spontaneously.

They had to surrender. The Wu army would not be polite to them. If they didn’t surrender, they would directly shoot and serve them with grenades.

In order to survive, some soldiers directly killed their own officers with a knife, then threw away their weapons and surrendered.

Some officers, in order to save their lives, took the lead in throwing away their weapons and led their subordinates to surrender to the Wu army in an organized manner.

With someone taking the lead, the remaining soldiers began to follow suit.

What was the point of struggling when others had surrendered? Wasn’t that courting death?

As more and more soldiers surrendered, Gong A’dai had completely lost hope.

Seeing that Gong A’dai still hadn’t made up his mind, his subordinates gritted their teeth and directly slashed Gong A’dai with a knife. The others also greeted Gong A’dai’s guards.

After solving Gong A’dai and his guards, there was no resistance to surrender, and the Qing army threw away their weapons one after another, and the big stone in their hearts also fell.

Chapter 234: Capturing Lekedehun Alive

In Jiujiang, the mopping-up operations continued, along with firefighting efforts.

With the combined efforts of Wu army soldiers and the local populace, the fires were finally extinguished. However, at least one-third of the city’s buildings had already been burned down.

As for civilian casualties, the Wu army had no time to tally them for the moment.

After several hours of clearing operations, Jiujiang City finally returned to calm.

The Qing soldiers who resisted stubbornly had all been killed, and the rest had either surrendered or fled in the chaos.

Azali, who had set the fires and committed atrocities, had already died in the chaotic fighting.

According to statistics, the Wu army killed a total of eleven thousand Qing soldiers in this battle, captured nearly fifty thousand Qing soldiers, and nearly ten thousand Qing soldiers went missing, their whereabouts unknown.

The number of prisoners was a bit much, so much so that Li Shaobin was racking his brains over how to deal with them.

Among these surrendered soldiers, there were many Manchu Eight Banners troops, as many as twenty thousand, and these people were very dangerous.

Manchu soldiers lacked a sense of belonging to the Wu army, making it several times more difficult to recruit them than Han Chinese soldiers.

Just guarding these twenty thousand people would require at least three to four thousand soldiers.

And the Wu army was now facing a shortage of troops and could not spare so many soldiers to deal with these prisoners.

In this battle, the Wu army also lost more than four thousand men, and nearly two thousand were injured and needed to recuperate, making them unable to fight again.

Now, the Wu army had only about sixty-four thousand troops capable of sustained combat, nearly twenty thousand fewer than when the main force set out from Tongling.

The real number was actually far more than twenty thousand, because they had also recruited many Qing soldiers during the fighting, such as Xu Yuxian’s unit, as well as some scattered surrendered soldiers, totaling more than twenty thousand.

Of course, this was not to say that the Wu army had suffered a total of forty thousand casualties before and after, it wasn’t that terrifying. The main reason why the Wu army currently had only sixty thousand combat-capable troops was because many soldiers were injured and temporarily unable to fight.

Once these wounded soldiers recovered, their strength would actually be greater than when they set out.

From Tongling to now, the Wu army’s pure combat deaths were only about fifteen thousand.

This loss was not small.

However, compared to the gains, this loss was entirely worthwhile.

“General, we have captured Lekedehun alive.”

Wu Yi smiled as he escorted a group of people, all senior Qing military officers, led by Lekedehun.

Lekedehun and his party were unlucky enough to run into a patrolling fleet.

The dress and appearance of Lekedehun and his men were too different from ordinary fishermen, and the patrol immediately noticed the problem and arrested them.

A once-powerful figure had ultimately fallen into the hands of an ordinary naval platoon leader.

At this time, Lekedehun was disheveled and ashen-faced, with none of his former glory.

“Send him to Nanjing, he dared to order the burning and massacre of the city, you don’t even have a chance to surrender, Li Chengdong is your fate.”

Li Shaobin snorted coldly, they adopted completely different disposal methods for different surrendered troops.

Those who actively defected and surrendered could be used directly, and captured prisoners had to be screened and reorganized.

Some people who could not be used could be used to exchange property with the Qing army. If the Qing army was unwilling to pay, then those people would be sent to mine, build roads, and do hard labor.

Currently, due to the large-scale use of machinery, the demand for coal in the Jiangnan region had soared, and those coal mines were increasing their mining efforts, with a great shortage of manpower.

And these prisoners without human rights were the best coolies.

Doing mining and hard labor was not the worst end, those who had committed heinous crimes did not even have the chance to surrender and reform, and would be directly pushed to the execution grounds to be beheaded.

For example, Li Chengdong and others who had massacred cities, although they had also surrendered, were eventually beheaded.

If Lekedehun had not ordered the burning and massacre of the city before escaping, then even if he was captured, the Wu army would first try to persuade him to surrender, and if he was really unwilling to surrender, the Wu army would ask the Qing court if they were willing to redeem him.

Even if the Qing court was unwilling to redeem him, the Wu army would continue to keep him, just like Ajige.

But now, Lekedehun had only one end, that was to be pushed to the execution grounds and beheaded to appease the people.

Hearing his fate, Lekedehun was expressionless.

Now, begging for mercy was useless, it was better to die with dignity.

After all, as a former prince and nobleman, he still had this bit of pride.

“General, spare our lives, the massacre of the city was Lekedehun’s idea alone, we were all opposed to it. I beg the general to spare our lives, I am willing to surrender and work like a dog for the general, like Mandahai.”

The other Qing princes and nobles did not have that kind of backbone and still wanted to live.

And Li Shaobin would give these people a chance.

The more senior Qing military officers who submitted, the greater the blow to the Qing army.

The battle of Jiujiang had settled, and the scouts set off one after another, rushing back to report the great news.

There were many forces paying attention to the battle of Jiujiang, because this battle directly determined the ownership of Jiangxi. The battle of nearly two hundred thousand troops before and after was also very rare.

The battle between the Qing army and the Wu army was different from the armies of other forces.

If the armies of other forces died a few hundred or thousands of people, they would retreat. If a few thousand people died, the remaining tens of thousands of troops would surrender. There were very few particularly fierce battles.

But the battle between the Qing army and the Wu army often resulted in tens of thousands of casualties.

Other forces could not withstand this scale of battle at all.

“All generals, listen to the order, Division Commander Liu, you lead thirty thousand men south from the direction of Chaisang to capture Nanchang, Xinyu, Fuzhou, Ji’an and other places. Division Commander Wang, you lead fifteen thousand men to enter Poyang Lake by water and capture Yingtan, Jingdezhen, Shangrao and other places.

Note, if you encounter people from the Longwu court, directly seize the territory, without any scruples. If you encounter people from Prince Lu, then implement the principle of first come, first served.”

The next day, Li Shaobin issued new combat orders, Liu Hansan led the main force south to Nanchang, and Wang Dayong led the second-line troops to capture Jingdezhen and other places.

He himself led the remaining twenty thousand people to garrison the important town of Jiujiang, where he would treat the wounded, reorganize the prisoners, and restore the people’s livelihood in Jiujiang.

These tasks were no easier than capturing Nanchang.

Or rather, for those who only knew how to lead troops in battle, capturing territory was much easier than governing a place.

Of course, Li Shaobin would not have to work too hard for long, after receiving the good news, Nanjing should soon send civil officials to take over here.

Before that, Li Shaobin could only implement military control here, and then appoint the original officials to maintain the normal operation of the yamen.

The generals took their orders and then led their troops to set off.

Next was the time to grab credit, the main force of the Qing army had disappeared, and those stationed in the area were just miscellaneous troops, so there was no difficulty in capturing the city.

The generals liked this kind of opportunity to grab credit the most.

The officers who were not assigned tasks could only watch them set off with envy.

Chapter 235: Zhu Yujian’s Helplessness

He Tengjiao, who was attacking Wuchang in Wuhan, received an urgent report from Jiujiang.

“General, how goes the battle?”

His lieutenant, Yan Qihuan, asked.

“As expected, the Qing army suffered a crushing defeat. Ninety thousand troops were annihilated. All in all, the Qing army has lost nearly one hundred and twenty thousand men in this campaign, a truly devastating blow that has severely weakened them,” He Tengjiao sighed.

These were all victories belonging to others. When it came to him, attacking Wuhan, which was defended by only fifteen thousand soldiers, was incredibly difficult.

In comparison, the Wu army’s achievements were truly brilliant. They had eliminated one hundred and twenty thousand of the Qing army’s main force in Nanjing, and another one hundred and twenty thousand in Jiujiang.

Adding in other local battles, the Wu army had eliminated over three hundred thousand Qing troops in total.

Such a record made countless Ming soldiers ashamed, and naturally, He Tengjiao was also ashamed.

He had personally fought against Lekedehun’s army and knew how formidable those Eight Banners soldiers were. He was no match for them at all.

However, these formidable Eight Banners soldiers were now being beaten by the Wu army without any ability to fight back. He didn’t know what he would do if he encountered the Wu army himself.

Fighting was out of the question. Only a fool would fight the Wu army.

Zhu Yujian wanted him to send troops to support Nanchang, but he had refused, fearing that sending troops to Nanchang would lead to a conflict with the Wu army. After all, the Wu army’s goal was clear: to occupy Jiangxi.

Trying to snatch food from a tiger’s mouth at this time would be courting death.

He Tengjiao preferred to attack Wuhan and seize territory from the Qing army rather than clash with Wu Changqing.

As for the future, He Tengjiao had no idea.

The world was in chaos, with various forces intertwined, and the situation was completely incomprehensible to him.

The information He Tengjiao had gathered was that Wu Changqing and Prince Lu did not seem to be of one mind, and were only outwardly compliant. In fact, Wu Changqing did not even allow Zhu Yihai to reside in Nanjing.

Such behavior was utterly rebellious.

The world was completely chaotic.

He Tengjiao could not see where to go in the future and could only take things one step at a time.

In the South, Zhu Yujian had captured Nanfeng after a hard fight and had arrived with his army at the city of Fuzhou.

Zhu Yujian had a considerable force of twenty-five thousand men, while the Qing army defending Fuzhou had less than four thousand.

However, through the siege of Nanfeng, Zhu Yujian had realized the combat power of his army and knew that it would be very difficult to capture Fuzhou.

At this moment, the news of the Wu army’s defeat of Lekedehun and capture of Jiujiang reached him.

“So fast? Didn’t the Qing army still have ninety thousand troops? How could they not even defend the city?”

Zhu Yujian blurted out in dismay. If others had seen him, it would have been inappropriate. His regretful expression made it seem as if he were on the same side as the Qing army.

“Your Majesty, the nature of warfare has changed dramatically. From various battle reports, I have deduced the Wu army’s combat methods and discovered that cold weapons have no chance of winning against the Wu army’s musket troops. Numbers are no longer significant.

Before the two armies engage, the troops facing the musket troops have almost no chance of survival for the soldiers in the first two or three ranks during the charge. This leads to the army easily collapsing when facing musket troops,” Huang Shanling said.

“Then what can be done? If we fight the Wu army, do you have a solution, my minister?”

Zhu Yujian asked.

“Well, we have no chance of winning in the plains. We can only lure them into the mountains, use the complex terrain to get close to them, divide them into small groups, and engage in close combat.”

Huang Shanling had obviously done in-depth research and knew the weaknesses of musket troops.

In mountainous forests, the power of muskets was indeed difficult to exert.

Hearing Huang Shanling’s words, Zhu Yujian breathed a slight sigh of relief. As long as they were not completely invincible, it was fine.

He had plenty of mountains in his territory.

Whether it was Fujian, or Jiangxi and Guangdong, there were large mountainous defense lines. Not to mention Guizhou and Yunnan, which were full of mountains and plateaus.

It was not easy to fight or even march in those places.

So, if he really couldn’t win, he could retreat to the rear and use these terrains to defend.

However, this also had a disadvantage.

The economies of these mountainous territories were very backward, and agriculture was also very backward. It was difficult for the local people to feed themselves, and it would be even more difficult to collect taxes to support a large army.

Without occupying places like Nanchang, he would have no capital to rise.

However, to occupy Nanchang, he would have to fight the Wu army on the plains, and he had no chance of winning.

Zhu Yujian could only sigh when he thought of this.

He regretted not heading north immediately when Wu Changqing had just risen to prominence. At that time, Wu Changqing had not yet developed, and he was confident that he could control Wu Changqing.

But now, Wu Changqing had completely grown up.

Previously, he had sent an envoy to contact Wu Changqing, and he had promised Wu Changqing that as long as he was loyal to him, he could make Wu Changqing a regent like Dorgon.

Wu Changqing would decide all the major affairs of the country.

And he only asked to be a puppet, an emperor in name only.

This concession could be said to be the limit of an emperor.

It was fortunate that he was much older than Wu Changqing, otherwise he might have agreed to call Wu Changqing “Second Father”.

Anyway, as long as he could preserve the nominal legitimacy of the Zhu family, that was enough.

Zhu Yujian also had a wonderful idea. As long as he retained the nominal legitimacy, he could do many things, and he might be able to regain power in the future.

Moreover, even if he could not regain it, he could pass this task on to his descendants.

This nominal legitimacy was still very useful. Once Wu Changqing died, if Wu Changqing’s descendants were incompetent or lacked prestige, their power would disintegrate.

And at that time, their royal family could step in and regain power.

Zhu Yujian compared it to Goujian, the King of Yue, enduring hardship and biding his time. Unfortunately, he thought well, but Wu Changqing ignored his envoy.

His ambition to rebel and become emperor was already obvious to everyone.

In Zhu Yujian’s eyes, Wu Changqing and the Qing army were no different, both were mortal enemies.

“Who dares to go to Fuzhou to persuade them to surrender?”

Zhu Yujian suddenly asked everyone. Now that the Qing army in Jiujiang had been defeated, the Qing army stationed in Fuzhou and other places had the possibility of surrendering.

Therefore, Zhu Yujian also had the idea of persuading them to surrender and wanted to try.

If it succeeded, he would not only be able to take Fuzhou without losing troops, but also increase his own strength, which could be said to be a win-win situation.

The ministers were silent when they heard this. The risk of persuading them to surrender was still very high. If the other party’s general had a bad temper, the envoy’s life would be in danger at any moment.

The atmosphere in the tent was very awkward. In desperation, an old man who looked almost eighty years old stood up and said that he was willing to go.

Anyway, he was almost old enough. It would be worthwhile to die for his loyalty and leave a mark in history.

Chapter 236: The Qing Dynasty is Scared

Beijing, the Forbidden City.

The news of Lekedehun’s defeat was delivered with the urgency of an eight-hundred-li express, with several horses from relay stations dying along the way.

In just three days, the battle report reached the Forbidden City and the Prince Regent’s residence.

When Dorgon finished reading the battle report, he remained silent for a long time. The other advisors below didn’t dare to breathe, seeing his reaction.

They could all tell that the battle report didn’t contain good news.

Speaking carelessly at this moment and incurring his wrath would be extremely unwise.

After a long while, Dorgon spoke, “Take a look at this battle report and think of countermeasures.”

After speaking, he returned to his inner room alone, no one knew what he was going to do.

The remaining people immediately picked up the battle report and read its contents.

Instantly, a cold sweat broke out on everyone’s backs.

Another defeat, and again a complete annihilation of the army, with the commanding prince either killed in battle or captured.

This was already the third prince they had lost to Wu Changqing. They knew that the Qing Dynasty only had a dozen or so princes in total.

Among them, only eight princes commanded troops, each in charge of one of the Eight Banners.

Now, Bolo had been killed in battle, and Ajige and Lekedehun had been captured.

This humiliation was unprecedented since the founding of their Qing Dynasty.

In the past, when they fought the Ming army outside the pass, they had won more battles than they had lost, but they had just been unable to enter the pass. Deaths of princes were even rarer.

But now, they had clearly occupied the Central Plains and their strength had greatly increased, yet they were suffering such a major defeat on the battlefield, such losses, which was truly frightening.

“This Wu Changqing, I want to tear him into a million pieces!”

Jirhalang of the Bordered Blue Banner gnashed his teeth. All their losses were caused by one person: Wu Changqing.

Their hatred for Wu Changqing had reached its peak.

If it weren’t for Wu Changqing, they would have almost unified the entire China by now.

“Now that the enemy’s morale is high, we can only temporarily avoid their sharp edge and bide our time,”

Said Wu Weihua, a strategist under Dorgon.

One defeat didn’t mean much, but two consecutive major defeats were enough to show that the Eight Banners were no match for the Wu army.

If that was the case, then they should bide their time and strive for development through negotiations.

Once they had also built enough advanced weapons, they could compete again. Charging forward now would be like courting death.

“It’s just that Wu Changqing is developing too quickly, and biding our time may not be a good strategy.”

Fan Wencheng had a slightly different opinion. In fact, his view was similar to Hong Chengchou’s when he had just been defeated. He felt that they should use the strength of the entire nation to fight Wu Changqing to the death.

In terms of development speed and potential, neither Fan Wencheng nor Hong Chengchou were optimistic about the Qing Dynasty.

There were many reasons, the most important of which was that Wu Changqing was too clever, with new and strange things emerging endlessly.

Fan Wencheng asked himself if there was such talent in the Qing Dynasty, unable to compete with Wu Changqing. The longer the time for the final battle was delayed, the smaller the gap between the two sides would become.

Taking advantage of their overall strength still held an advantage, a decisive battle was very dangerous for the Qing Dynasty, but it was also the last chance.

If they were to bide their time for another year or two, their advantage would no longer exist.

By the time they were fully equipped with flintlock guns, the Wu army might already have new weapons. The military gap would only widen, not narrow.

This was still at the military level, and in terms of economy, the North was not suitable for biding its time.

The economic center of gravity had already shifted south. In the Chongzhen era, the North was a mess due to natural disasters, and the North needed grain from the South every year to provide relief.

Not to mention that after Li Zicheng’s rebellion, the North was even more devastated.

They did indeed have a large territory, but the tax revenue they could collect from these territories was not much.

With the wealth of Jiangnan, the longer the time dragged on, the greater the gap in economic strength between the two sides would become.

Moreover, Jiangnan under Wu Changqing’s rule would occasionally produce new products to gather wealth, which accelerated the loss of wealth in the North. They couldn’t even stop this loss of wealth.

In short, in Fan Wencheng’s view, it was the best choice to use the strength of the entire nation to fight Wu Changqing to the death at this time. If they missed this opportunity, the days ahead would be even more difficult.

However, knowing that this was necessary, Fan Wencheng didn’t say it.

Because he knew that Dorgon didn’t have such courage, and the leaders of the Qing Dynasty didn’t have this vision. No one had the courage to bet the fate of the entire nation on a single battle.

“If we don’t bide our time, do you want to go to a decisive battle now, using backward weapons to deal with the enemy’s advanced weapons?”

Wu Weihua retorted.

“A decisive battle is impossible now. Before we have thoroughly figured out the enemy’s situation, we can’t easily attack again.”

Jirhalang expressed the military’s attitude. Going to a decisive battle at this time would be tantamount to suicide. No matter how much he hated Wu Changqing in his heart, he wouldn’t do it.

Fan Wencheng sneered in his heart when he heard their discussion.

It was meaningless to argue with a group of short-sighted people. They couldn’t see the terrifying speed of development in Wu Changqing, and it was impossible to explain it to them.

Fan Wencheng just watched coldly, while other advisors were using their respective wisdom to think of countermeasures.

It had to be said that some of the countermeasures they came up with seemed pretty good at first glance.

For example, delaying time with peace talks, sending beauties to make peace through marriage, and making Wu Changqing relax his vigilance. At the same time, they sent advisors to Prince Lu and Longwu Emperor’s forces to instigate rebellion and create internal strife.

Although they didn’t quite understand the relationship between Wu Changqing and Prince Lu and Longwu Emperor, it didn’t matter. They all understood human nature and the hearts of rulers.

Whether it was Prince Lu or Longwu Emperor, they certainly wouldn’t like a minister with too much power. And when they tried to reduce Wu Changqing’s power, judging from the perspective of human nature, they also believed that Wu Changqing would not be captured without a fight.

As long as Wu Changqing fought with the Zhu family in the South, they could seize the time to develop.

Even, according to the changes in the situation, they could take the opportunity to send troops south, and join forces with the Zhu family to destroy Wu Changqing first.

This kind of strategy actually had a not low success rate.

When the Qing Dynasty had just entered the pass, they used similar tricks.

First, they used the banner of avenging the Ming Dynasty emperor to paralyze the Southern Ming regime, and then concentrated their forces to eliminate Li Zicheng.

After they had dealt with Li Zicheng, they then marched south.

At that time, the Hongguang regime was completely deceived by the Qing army. Not only did they not defend against the Qing army, but they also did their best to encircle and suppress Li Zicheng.

When the Qing army controlled the North and revealed its fangs, it was too late for the Southern Ming to wake up.

Now, these people wanted to replicate their past success and continue to provoke internal strife in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 237: Population Shifts Southward

After Dorgon vented his frustrations alone in the inner room, he returned to the council hall and listened to the opinions of the others.

In the end, Dorgon decided to adopt their plan: first, use peace talks proposing a “rule across the river” to lull Wu Changqing, and then instigate defections within the Ming Dynasty in the South.

At the same time, they would secretly develop and accumulate strength, waiting for the opportunity for a decisive battle.

Making this decision made Dorgon feel extremely uncomfortable.

It was equivalent to him yielding to a mere youth, which was very frustrating.

With his old temper, he would have undoubtedly fought without hesitation.

However, having control over the fate of a country, he had to consider everything carefully. He could no longer afford to do impulsive things.

For the sake of the Qing Dynasty’s destiny, he was willing to sacrifice himself and stoop to seeking peace with Wu Changqing.

This was the external decree. Internally, Dorgon also issued a new system of assistant officials.

In short, for every area managed by a Han Chinese official, a Manchu would be assigned to assist in handling government affairs. In reality, this was to supervise them, preventing them from flirting with the Ming army in the South.

In the past, when the Qing Dynasty was strong, there was no need for such measures. They were not worried about their officials rebelling. Smart people would follow the trend, and only a few would go against it.

But now, with the Qing Dynasty’s continuous defeats, some opportunists might judge the South to be stronger and thus be inclined to collude with the Southern forces, leaving themselves a way out.

Although Dorgon greatly distrusted those Han Chinese officials, he couldn’t directly replace them.

After all, he couldn’t find enough talent to replace those officials and govern the areas.

At this time, Dorgon could only trust the Manchu and Mongol people, but the population of these two groups was far smaller than that of the Han Chinese, and most of them had been practicing archery and horsemanship since childhood.

Soldiers who could fight were easy to find, but finding cultured people who knew how to govern areas was very difficult within these two groups.

Governing an area was not something that just anyone could do.

Therefore, Dorgon had to rely on the surrendered Han Chinese officials.

Sending people to supervise these surrendered Han Chinese officials would naturally make them dissatisfied and cause them to become disloyal.

But Dorgon couldn’t care about that anymore. His primary task now was to ensure the stability of his own territory and then accelerate the expansion of the army and prepare for war.

As long as he defeated Wu Changqing in the South, these opportunistic officials would be easy to deal with later.

The news reached the Forbidden City. Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen learned of Lekedehun’s great defeat and felt a little worried, fearing that Wu Changqing would fight all the way to Beijing.

Life in Beijing was much better than outside the pass. She didn’t want to return there again.

Moreover, the world now still belonged to her son, and she wanted to protect this foundation for him.

But, despite her thoughts, she, a woman, could not participate in the decision-making of those major events.

For example, Dorgon didn’t even need to ask her or tell her before directly formulating countermeasures.

If she had the right to speak, she would prefer to reach a true rule across the river with Wu Changqing, and would send people to negotiate sincerely, rather than treating this kind of negotiation as a delaying tactic.

She even more strongly disagreed with Dorgon’s sending people to monitor Han Chinese officials.

In her opinion, this would undoubtedly lose the hearts of the officials.

As Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen expected, when the officials in various places in the North received this news, they felt disgusted, as if they had been screwed by a dog.

No official wanted someone constantly watching them.

Even those who had never thought of rebelling didn’t like it, because it was easy for them not to rebel, but it was absolutely impossible for them not to be corrupt.

If being an official wasn’t for making money and living a better life, then what was the point of studying hard for ten years?

Now that someone was constantly watching them, they had to consider the consequences even if they wanted to be corrupt.

This kind of official position was better off not having.

After receiving this news, a small number of officials took advantage of the fact that the court’s people had not yet been sent over and directly packed up and moved their families to the South.

It wasn’t just officials who fled to the South, but even more common people, especially those around Yangzhou.

The Qing army’s Ten Days of Yangzhou had brought great fear to the people around Yangzhou. In the past, they had no choice, so they could only survive under the Qing Dynasty’s iron hooves.

Now that the situation in the South was getting better and better, some people also began to migrate to the South to avoid disaster.

Although the Qing army in the North would no longer kill people at will, who could say for sure? What if one day the Qing army suddenly became beastly again and carried out another massacre?

In short, for the sake of safety, anyone who had the ability to leave chose to migrate to the Nanjing and Zhenjiang areas.

Mainly to Nanjing. Zhenjiang didn’t have much industry, and there weren’t many jobs for those outsiders. Moreover, the land around Zhenjiang was already owned.

Therefore, in order to survive, most people came to Nanjing to find work.

After all, Nanjing was now recruiting a large number of workers, regardless of gender.

Men could go to any factory, while women mainly entered textile factories and worked separately from male employees.

Allowing women to enter factories was a decree personally issued by Wu Changqing, the reason being to give those poor people a way to survive. But in reality, he wanted to take the opportunity to liberate women’s productivity.

The benefits of liberating women were clear to anyone from later generations. Now, people’s ideas were still relatively backward, and Wu Changqing could only take it step by step, first changing those poor women.

Then, slowly, he would change those wealthy young ladies.

When the women of the whole country were completely liberated, the productivity of the society could be increased by at least one time. Some jobs, women did better than men.

A large number of people poured into Nanjing, Suzhou, and Songjiang.

The Ministry of Revenue under Wu Changqing had not yet conducted statistics, but according to the Ministry of Revenue’s estimates, Nanjing’s population had increased from one million one hundred thousand before Wu Changqing’s entry to about one million five hundred thousand now.

This population size was very terrifying in this era. In Europe, those so-called big cities had populations of only tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. Cities with more than one million people were unthinkable.

Only in China could cities of this scale appear.

The people who poured in were almost all landless people. Those who had money could do some small business, and those who didn’t have money could only work, enter factories.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing had created so many factories, otherwise Nanjing would not be able to support so many people.

And now, just one steel factory could accommodate nearly five thousand workers, and the income of one worker, if saved a little, could almost maintain the expenses of a family of three.

Coupled with other various factories and workshops, this allowed those people to have jobs and not be reduced to begging on the streets.

Chapter 238: Changes in the Countryside

The outskirts of Jiangning, Hesi Village.

An ordinary farming family finished their dinner and sat down under a large tree to chat.

In an era with little entertainment, chatting was pretty much their only form of leisure.

However, for some poorer families, chatting wasn’t leisure at all. They weren’t in the mood to talk about trivial matters; their conversations revolved around issues related to their livelihood.

This was a family of eight: parents in their forties, two sons, two daughters, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson.

The eldest son was eighteen, already married with a child. The second son was fifteen and needed to start considering marriage as well. The two daughters were between thirteen and fifteen years old.

Although the family could survive, they lived a very frugal life and had little resilience to risk. If a family member contracted a serious illness, they could only rely on their body to endure it. If they could make it through, they would; if they couldn’t, they would die.

This was basically the reality of the countryside.

“Dad, I went to the industrial area in the city with Er-Huzi yesterday and saw that the workers there earn six mace of silver a month. I want to try it too, to earn some money to supplement the family income.”

The eldest son, Qin Lin, opened the conversation. Yesterday, he had gone to the city with people from the same village to see those large factories.

Those large factories were an eye-opener for him, and he was filled with excitement. Those large machines gave people an unparalleled sense of power.

And those large factories were still recruiting workers.

Hearing that the monthly wage was six mace of silver, Qin Lin was tempted.

Six mace of silver was equivalent to two hundred kilograms of millet. Farming in the fields didn’t yield such a high return on average.

“Nonsense! Do you know how to do the work in the factories? If you mess up Master Cai’s affairs, will he give you money? Now the Duke is providing us with free farming tools, making farming easier than before. You should stay and farm even more!”

Qin’s father scolded him. The elderly accepted unknown things far more slowly than young people. They liked stability and disliked risk.

“It’s precisely because we have free farming tools that I figured you could manage those few mu of land well. That’s why I want to earn some wages to supplement the family. My second brother will soon be asking for a wife, so we need to get some money to prepare the betrothal gifts.”

Qin Lin said.

“Don’t even think about it. In the second half of the year, we’ll reclaim some dry land and plant peanuts next year.”

Qin’s father only believed in land, which made Qin Lin very helpless.

At this time, the head of the family had a great deal of power. Whatever Qin’s father said, everyone else had to do.

In this family, only the old father and Qin Lin had the right to discuss major family matters. The other female members and the younger son couldn’t get a word in.

They could only listen to the argument between their elder brother and father, and what they were paying attention to was the so-called big factory Qin Lin mentioned. They heard that those machines were all made of iron and were as tall as two or three people.

“If you don’t let me work, then you must let me grow chili peppers.”

Qin Lin said.

Yesterday, he not only saw the industrial area but also strolled around the East Market of Nanjing.

In the East Market, he saw a condiment similar to evodia, which the stall owner said was a condiment introduced from Western Europe called chili pepper. It was very effective for stir-frying dishes and was a favorite of high-ranking officials and nobles.

Because very few people currently grew this chili pepper, it cost thirty copper coins per catty. Despite such an expensive price, there was no worry about not being able to sell it.

Qin Lin also heard that this chili pepper was very easy to grow, and a mu of land could yield several hundred catty if grown well.

He calculated in his mind that if the stall owner wasn’t lying, a mu of chili peppers could be sold for ten taels of silver. This was more than ten times more profitable than growing rice and peanuts.

Therefore, Qin Lin had the idea of growing chili peppers.

In short, he was unwilling to just stick to the few mu of land at home. Even if Wu Changqing didn’t collect high taxes now, they could only barely avoid starvation with this land.

Once his second brother married and had children, these few mu of land would be even more unable to support such a large family.

“Chili peppers? What’s that?”

Qin’s father asked.

At this time, chili peppers had only been introduced to China for a few years, and most people had never seen them and didn’t recognize them.

“It’s a condiment similar to evodia, used by high-ranking officials and nobles to stir-fry dishes and add flavor. Because it was just introduced to Jiangnan from Western Europe, very few people grow it, so it’s very valuable.”

Qin Lin said.

“You’ve never grown this thing before. Do you know how to grow it?”

Qin’s father was still a little worried.

“I heard it’s quite easy to grow. We can plant one mu to try it out first.”

In the end, Qin’s father agreed to his eldest son’s decision. After all, it was still farming, which hadn’t exceeded his realm of understanding. His past life experiences could more or less play a role, which gave him a sense of security.

At the same time, Qin Er-Hu in the same village had an argument with his father.

Qin Er-Hu also wanted to work in a factory, but his father disagreed.

Unlike Qin Lin, Qin Er-Hu didn’t compromise and insisted on going.

Because Qin Er-Hu wasn’t the eldest son and wasn’t yet married.

He needed to consider different things from Qin Lin. Qin Er-Hu had to worry about how he would live if he didn’t get any land when the family was divided in the future, and he had to consider where the betrothal money for his upcoming marriage would come from.

In short, he needed money, even more than Qin Lin.

Therefore, no matter how much his father opposed, he insisted on going to the factory.

“Before, when I wanted to join the army, you said it was dangerous and wouldn’t let me go. Now Liu Da-Ma from the neighboring village has already earned several taels of silver, and his family has arranged a wife for him. Now I want to work in a factory, and you still won’t let me go. I might as well remain a bachelor for the rest of my life!”

Qin Er-Hu roared.

“You little rascal, how dare you speak so loudly to me? It seems your skin is itching.”

Unable to win with words, his father could only use his authority as a father to pick up a wooden stick and try to teach Qin Er-Hu a lesson.

Although Qin Er-Hu was tall and strong, he definitely wouldn’t dare to fight back if a real fight broke out. He could only endure it.

“Forget it, Dad, let him try it. Didn’t Er-Hu say that the work in the factory is just hard, but there’s no danger to life?”

Qin Er-Hu’s mother stopped her husband, who was holding the wooden stick. She also knew nothing about the so-called factory and was worried and afraid of the unknown. However, she didn’t object to Qin Er-Hu going to work.

Because the family really couldn’t scrape together the money to marry a wife for Qin Er-Hu. Seeing her son getting older and older, she had a headache over this matter.

“Dad, why don’t you let Second Brother try it? After all, the factory is run by the Duke. The Duke certainly wouldn’t deceive us.”

Qin Er-Hu’s eldest brother also spoke in support of Qin Er-Hu. Of course, he also had some selfish motives in doing so. That was that after Qin Er-Hu went to the factory, all the land at home would be his to farm.

With so many people supporting Qin Er-Hu, his father could only sigh in the end, throw the wooden stick aside, and go to sleep.

His meaning was that he didn’t care anymore, and he would let Qin Er-Hu do whatever he wanted.

Chapter 239: A Microcosm of the Times

The next day, Qin Lin and Qin Er-Hu traveled together to Nanjing again.

However, this time Qin Lin was going to buy chili seeds, while Qin Er-Hu was going to work at the steel factory.

“You’re lucky, Er-Hu. My dad absolutely refuses to let me go to the factory.”

Qin Lin sighed. Compared to growing chilies, working in a factory was much more stable. The foremen had said they would provide training and guarantee that everyone would learn. But for him, growing chilies meant relying on his own experimentation, without even a teacher to guide him.

“Don’t be discouraged, Linzi. If you grow chilies well, you’ll be the one making a fortune.”

The two encouraged each other as they walked towards the city.

They were just a microcosm of the changing times.

There were many people like them around Nanjing.

When opportunities arose, those with a bit of courage and ambition would seize them and embrace the challenges.

Some of them would inevitably suffer setbacks, but others would undoubtedly seize the opportunities presented by this era of great change, transforming their status and their lives.

The monumental changes Wu Changqing brought to this era had profoundly impacted every level of society.

The common people faced choices, and so did the scholars.

The latest university admissions notice included some new and unusual subjects, such as foreign languages.

To meet the soaring demand for translators in overseas trade, schools teaching foreign languages had been established in Songjiang long ago.

However, most of those who became proficient ended up working for merchants in various trading firms.

Moreover, most of them were hastily trained translators who could speak but not write.

The foreign language schools in Songjiang alone could no longer meet the rapidly growing demand.

Therefore, the university also kept pace with the times and introduced foreign language courses.

Studying foreign languages at the university involved both oral and written translation, making it much more challenging. However, those who excelled would have greater opportunities for future development.

Wu Changqing had even stated that he intended to establish a dedicated foreign affairs agency to deal with foreign countries. To become an official in this agency, one would first need to master one or more foreign languages.

In addition to foreign languages, a medical science program was also added to train doctors.

Outside the Confucius Temple, at the entrance to the university, countless scholars crowded around the admissions notice.

“What is this foreign language program? Why does it say that the top three students in the first foreign language examination will be awarded official positions of the sixth rank, seventh rank, and seventh rank respectively?”

One scholar exclaimed in surprise. The admissions notices for other subjects did not explicitly state that the top three students would be granted official positions. Although this was already common practice, the government had never explicitly stated it.

But the admissions notice for the foreign language program had clearly stated the rewards.

As long as one ranked in the top three, they would be directly awarded an official position. And even a high-ranking official position of the sixth rank, which was truly enticing.

“Don’t you know what foreign languages are? They’re the languages spoken by foreigners and other countries.”

Another scholar explained.

“Isn’t that just a dialect? What’s so difficult about that? It’s much easier than studying the Four Books and Five Classics and writing essays.”

The first scholar was puzzled. To become a sixth-rank official just by learning a few dialects? How could such a good thing exist in the world?

Originally, he had planned to apply for the physics program, but now he had changed his mind and was preparing to study foreign languages.

The physics program, after all, had become very competitive because more and more people were studying it.

In the previous physics exam, students who scored over eighty points did not receive official positions. Back when the university was first established, scoring over eighty in physics would have guaranteed a seventh-rank official position.

Those who had missed the opportunities in the past now had to work several times harder than their predecessors to succeed.

Whenever they thought of this, countless scholars would beat their chests and stomp their feet, filled with regret.

“Studying foreign languages is very promising. Even if you don’t rank in the top three, you can still work for a trading firm. My uncle’s trading firm hired a mediocre translator who can only speak but not write, and his monthly salary is ten taels of silver. If you graduate from the university, other trading firms will definitely be eager to hire you, and a monthly salary of twenty taels won’t be difficult.”

Another scholar chimed in, convincing many of the already tempted scholars to make up their minds.

A monthly salary of twenty taels was already the monthly salary of a sixth-rank official.

Of course, the biggest benefit of being an official wasn’t the salary, but the ability to use power to make money.

A job with a monthly salary of twenty taels was definitely not as good as a sixth-rank official position, or even an eighth-rank official position.

However, as long as you didn’t compare it to being an official, a job with twenty taels a month was definitely the best job of this era.

Some students from poor families were quite satisfied with this job.

“Medical science? Are we scholars going to be reduced to becoming doctors?”

Amidst the many discussions, a scholar voiced his dissatisfaction.

In this era where all other professions were inferior to being a scholar, there was no occupation more noble than studying and becoming an official. As a result, many scholars looked down on other industries.

Even doctors who could save lives, these scholars wouldn’t even glance at them unless they were sick.

Now, to ask them to study medicine and become doctors, some scholars felt insulted.

“What’s wrong with being a doctor? Any profession can be a path to success if you do it well. The director of the Imperial Hospital is a fourth-rank official, and imperial physicians are sixth-rank officials. Governor-General Wu has said that future directors must be knowledgeable in medicine. Moreover, even ordinary doctors will receive a subsidy and the status of an eighth-rank official from the imperial court.”

The speaker was Wei Ziwen, who had just come out of the university and immediately refuted such derogatory remarks about medicine upon hearing them.

“Greetings, Lord Wei.”

Many scholars bowed in respect. Wei Ziwen was now a well-known figure in Nanjing. Although his official position was not very high, his articles often appeared in public view because he was in charge of the People’s Daily.

Therefore, his fame was higher than that of other officials.

Moreover, he was Wu Changqing’s student, one of the first people to be granted an official position at the university, and was said to be highly trusted by Wu Changqing, a favorite by Wu Changqing’s side, and his promotion in the future was certain.

“Governor-General Wu has personally instructed me that learning should be diverse. Governor-General Wu needs talents in traditional classical studies, and Governor-General Wu needs talents in new subjects. Governor-General Wu also needs talents in unpopular subjects such as foreign languages and medicine.

No matter what subject you choose, you must study hard, specialize diligently, and stand out from the crowd. As long as you can achieve good results, your future will naturally be bright.”

Wei Ziwen had also learned some methods from Wu Changqing and would also use speeches to motivate people.

His words excited many scholars who wanted to choose foreign languages and medicine.

Wei Ziwen’s words were equivalent to giving them a reassurance, allowing them to focus their energy on studying.

Even some of the more traditional scholars were excited.

They had once worried that Wu Changqing was too biased towards new subjects and that traditional Four Books and Five Classics had no way out. But after seeing Wei Ziwen, they realized that continuing to study the traditional Four Books and Five Classics was not a dead end.

As long as they studied well, they could still become officials, just like Wei Ziwen.

Chapter 240: Brick Factory

In the Governor-General’s office, Wu Changqing glanced at the battle report from Jiujiang and tossed it aside.

The fundamental factor determining the outcome of a war was the comprehensive national strength behind it. Therefore, for him, as long as he focused on developing national strength, victory would come naturally.

This was just a minor matter to him; there were still many development issues that required his attention.

For example, the resettlement of the influx of people.

The rapid surge in Nanjing’s population in a short period had led to a severe housing shortage.

Many poor people were now haphazardly building thatched huts, which were very unsafe and uncomfortable. With the imminent arrival of summer, rainfall in the Nanjing area would also increase significantly.

At that time, those thatched huts would hardly provide shelter from the wind and rain.

Although, with the resilience of the people of this era, a little heavy rain would not drive them to despair, Wu Changqing, as the highest official in the region, still hoped to minimize tragedies in his jurisdiction.

To provide these people with homes, Wu Changqing had been preparing for the construction of red brick factories.

The bricks of this era were mostly blue bricks. Blue bricks had better corrosion resistance, weathering resistance, and other properties than red bricks. However, blue bricks had a fatal weakness: the manufacturing technology was more difficult, the process was complex, and the cost was very high.

Although blue bricks were far superior to red bricks in terms of performance, it could not be said that blue bricks were better products than red bricks. Everything had to take money into consideration.

It was precisely for this reason that Wu Changqing decided to vigorously promote red bricks, while blue bricks would only be supplied to the wealthy as a luxury item.

When Wu Changqing decided to do something, it would be done very quickly.

After all, Wu Changqing now held all the power in the Jiangnan region, and his word was law. To get promoted and make a fortune, one had to please Wu Changqing and work for him; no one dared to be negligent.

Currently, fifteen large red brick factories had been built in the suburbs, employing a total of three thousand workers simultaneously.

The initial plan was for these red brick factories to produce two hundred thousand red bricks per day.

In fact, two hundred thousand bricks were not many, only enough for about ten two-story houses. In other words, they could only produce enough bricks to build three hundred houses per month.

Assuming ten people could live in one house, only three thousand people could be accommodated per month. For the nearly three hundred thousand poor people in need of housing, it was a drop in the bucket.

However, this was already the limit of their capabilities.

Mobilizing three thousand people to work was no easy task. The required food, wages, organization, and coordination all severely tested the capabilities of the administrative team.

Apart from Nanjing and the Qing court, no other place currently had such strong mobilization capabilities.

Even if they barely had such strong mobilization capabilities, they did not have such high production efficiency.

If the Qing court mobilized three thousand workers to bake red bricks, it would be good if they could bake twenty thousand bricks a day.

In these red brick factories in Nanjing, the ubiquitous machinery saved a lot of manpower.

The baking of red bricks had almost no technical content, but it had not been promoted because there was a lack of machinery to improve baking efficiency and reduce costs.

Therefore, people were willing to build wooden houses or adobe houses, these kind of outdated houses, rather than red brick houses because they simply could not afford them.

If the people could not afford them, naturally no merchants would manufacture them, and the industry would not develop.

Large quantities of red bricks were baked, cooled, and then transported to the disaster relief resettlement area.

A large number of foundations had been dug here, and load-bearing columns had been poured with steel bars and cement. Next, all that was needed was to build the red bricks and cover them with tiles.

To reduce difficulty and cost, the floors of the one-story buildings were not cement slabs but rather some wooden beams, which would be covered with wooden boards in the future.

These seemingly simple houses were actually quite advanced for this era, better than the houses of most people.

Hundreds of houses were arranged neatly according to the plan, creating a very shocking visual effect.

“Are these houses being built for us to live in?”

An old man asked in disbelief.

“Nonsense, who else would they be built for if not you? Why don’t you kneel down and thank the Duke to the east, the Duke has been paying out of his own pocket to build houses for you to live in for free.”

Yuanji, the official in charge of supervising the construction, scolded. As a traditional official, he could not understand some of Wu Changqing’s policies.

For example, the current housing policy. In his opinion, these lowly people were lucky to have thatched huts to live in, but Wu Changqing insisted on building red brick houses for them.

It should be known that a large part of the houses in Nanjing were made of wood, and only wealthy merchants and high-ranking officials could afford to use bricks and stones.

Since when were even lowly people qualified to live in such good houses?

These two-story red brick houses were not cheap. Not only did they require a lot of wages, but the materials were even more expensive. Cement and steel were not cheap.

According to the Ministry of Industry’s calculations, such a house would cost at least twenty taels of silver. And this was only because steel and cement were supplied at a flat price.

If the price of steel bars and cement on the black market was used, such a house would cost at least one hundred taels of silver.

It should be known that the North was very envious of cement and desperately wanted to buy it secretly.

The Qing army had been wanting to buy some cement to build city wall fortifications. City walls built with cement were several times stronger than rammed earth and could withstand cannon bombardment.

Wu Changqing did not stop the Qing army’s behavior. Instead, he indicated that Tong Youwei could sell them some cement in moderation to earn money for expansion.

Anyway, for Wu Changqing, it did not matter much if the Qing army’s city walls were a little stronger. At this stage, Wu Changqing’s top priority was to unscrupulously collect money, expand the scale of various factories, develop people’s livelihoods, and enhance national strength.

Yuanji’s words were harsh, but the scolded old man was not angry at all.

When he heard that he could move in for free, he really listened to Yuanji and knelt down in the direction of the Governor-General’s office, kowtowing to the wise and benevolent official.

In the face of survival, dignity was very cheap.

Or rather, in this era of strict hierarchy and prevalent kneeling, it was not particularly undignified for ordinary people to kneel.

“The house is so beautiful and so strong, is it really for us to live in?”

Even though Yuanji had already explained it, such skeptical voices had never stopped.

The people in the slum did not believe that there was such a good thing in the world. If Wu Changqing built them some thatched sheds, they might be able to understand and accept it.

However, it was too good to be true that such beautiful and seemingly majestic houses were for them to live in, so good that they dared not accept it.

“It must be for us to live in, but it shouldn’t be free. At the very least, we have to pay some rent. Otherwise, everyone would be scrambling for it, and these hundreds of houses wouldn’t be enough to go around.”

Another old man speculated.

“What do you know? My eldest son works in a brick factory and heard that the Duke is going to build at least ten thousand such houses.”

“Ten thousand houses, how much money would that cost?”

“There’s no doubt about it, the Duke is truly a wise and benevolent official.”

…

Chapter 241: Building a Metropolis

The common people were just repeating hearsay; none of them truly understood the situation.

Outside a makeshift tent in the distance, Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying were observing the bustling construction.

“I heard the Governor-General wants to build one hundred thousand of these houses. That’s going to cost a fortune, isn’t it?”

Ma Shiying said. Even at the cheapest estimate of twenty taels per house, completing this project would require two million taels of silver. More importantly, these investments wouldn’t generate profit like investments in a steel factory.

Ma Shiying had also heard of Wu Changqing’s plan to transform Nanjing into a mega-city capable of accommodating five million people.

According to the plan, one hundred thousand of these brick houses wouldn’t be nearly enough; they would also need to rely on the people and merchants to build even more houses themselves.

Ma Shiying didn’t quite understand infrastructure on this scale.

“This isn’t a one-time thing; it’s going to be done in three phases. The first batch is ten thousand houses, then when we have more funds, we’ll build a second phase of thirty thousand houses, and finally a third phase of sixty thousand houses. The first two phases are for low-rent housing, and the last phase is for sale. We’re definitely going to lose money, but after all, it’s for the people.”

When Ruan Dacheng learned that Wu Changqing wanted to turn Nanjing into a metropolis capable of accommodating five million people, he was also thoroughly shocked.

The idea was too crazy; there had never been such a large capital city in history.

This project was no easier than building the Grand Canal.

However, after careful consideration, Ruan Dacheng realized that Wu Changqing’s vision might not be impossible.

In just three months of this year, Nanjing’s population had increased by more than four hundred thousand.

If this trend continued, they could achieve their goal in two or three years.

“I don’t understand why the Governor-General is so determined to build such a large-scale capital city. If the population is concentrated in the city, who will farm the land in the countryside?”

Ma Shiying sighed, not really understanding the logic behind it.

“The Governor-General did explain it to me, saying that a dense population can promote the development of industry and commerce. Thinking about it, it does make sense. It’s precisely because so many people are gathered here that those factories can recruit so many workers. And with a larger population, everyone needs to eat, drink, and excrete, so the market will also grow.

As for the land in the countryside, the people in the research department are still studying some labor-saving machinery. It is said that when that kind of machinery is successfully developed, one person can farm hundreds of mu of land.”

Ma Shiying, Ruan Dacheng, and the others were experts at political maneuvering, but they were laymen when it came to economic development, and naturally didn’t understand the siphon effect in economics.

If the economy is to develop rapidly, it is obviously not feasible to have the population scattered everywhere, which will lead to high collaboration costs.

Only when the population gathers together can it provide cheap labor, various superior resources, and attract investment.

To give a simple example, a person selling jelly can only earn one wen for ten bowls of jelly, and can only sell ten bowls a day in a small town.

Then there will be no one selling jelly in this small town, because the money earned is not enough to support themselves. However, after coming to the densely populated Nanjing, they can sell one hundred bowls a day, then the daily income will be ten wen, which can support themselves, and this industry will be born.

Other industries have similar effects.

In short, population gathering can promote economic development.

This has been verified by time in later generations: the larger the city, the more developed the economy. The larger the city, the more investment opportunities and the better the investment environment.

As for the problems in the countryside, with fewer people, the land allocated will be more, and life will be better.

“I always feel that the Governor-General is a bit too eager for success, and he is too radical in his actions. For example, providing free agricultural tools and housing to the people. These policies are good, but the speed is too radical and prone to problems.”

Ma Shiying sighed. In his experience as an official, many policies should be implemented gradually and not be rushed.

Once it becomes too radical, good policies can also turn into bad things.

For example, providing free agricultural tools to the people almost led to the loss of the steel factory and poor management. Although this problem was finally solved by issuing national debt, the process was still quite thrilling.

And the current free housing has even bigger problems.

Wu Changqing only arranged for the construction of houses, but he did not give instructions on how to allocate the houses after they were built. This needs to be handled by Ma Shiying.

This is not an easy task. Ten thousand houses are simply a drop in the bucket for so many poor people.

No matter who gets them, the other people who don’t will be dissatisfied.

If someone with ulterior motives instigates them, it will cause big trouble.

The last person who played like this was Emperor Yang of Sui, who also liked to engage in various large-scale projects, and finally bankrupted the treasury.

Emperor Yang of Sui’s original intention of excavating the Grand Canal was good, and from a long-term historical perspective, the Grand Canal is also a great achievement.

However, Yang Guang was too radical and ignored objective reality. In order to achieve his goals, he did not hesitate to over-exploit the people, leading to chaos in the world.

“These problems naturally need to be solved by us. Otherwise, what’s the use of us officials?”

Ruan Dacheng said. As officials, whether the leader’s decision is right or wrong, all they can do is try their best to assist.

Ruan Dacheng smiled and continued, “Moreover, the Governor-General is not necessarily radical. You see, although he has carried out a large number of large-scale construction projects, he has not harmed anyone’s interests. On the contrary, he has benefited the vast majority of people. Isn’t that wonderful?”

There is an essential difference between Wu Changqing’s and Emperor Yang of Sui’s projects. Emperor Yang of Sui relied on exploiting the people to obtain funds, while Wu Changqing relied on creating wealth to raise construction funds.

Wu Changqing’s large-scale projects did not exploit the people or merchants; on the contrary, they all benefited from them. The wealth needed for these constructions was all created out of thin air by him.

The logical relationship in this is really difficult for ordinary people to understand.

However, Ma Shiying and other highly intelligent people already have some experience in how to create wealth.

It is nothing more than earning money from other places and improving production efficiency.

Wu Changqing relied on this method to frantically plunder wealth from other places and create wealth, so as to support these large-scale projects that benefit the people.

And once these large-scale projects are completed, they can improve production efficiency and create more wealth, thus forming a virtuous circle.

“It is indeed wonderful. I seem to have already seen the shadow of a dynasty that can achieve common prosperity.”

Ma Shiying sighed.

In the past, the total amount of wealth in the world was roughly constant. Officials and landlords could only get rich by exploiting the people. And this would inevitably lead to irreconcilable contradictions between these two classes, thus triggering rebellion.

But now, Wu Changqing wants to lead them out of a path of common prosperity, satisfying the luxurious lives of officials, wealthy merchants, and landlords, while also allowing the people to fill their stomachs.

If this path can be successful, then Wu Changqing’s achievements will be enough to perform the Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai.

Chapter 242: Establishing a Bank

In the Governor-General’s office, Wu Changqing, after reviewing the brick factory’s report, summoned Wu Zhiyue and Gu Yanwu to discuss the establishment of a bank.

He needed money for all sorts of construction projects, so he spent a lot of his time figuring out how to make money.

Speaking of making money, the most profitable industry in later generations was none other than banking. Therefore, Wu Changqing also wanted to create a bank.

In fact, during this period, there were also institutions similar to banks in the private sector, called money shops.

However, at this time, people had to pay interest to the money shops to deposit money, so people’s willingness to deposit money was not very strong, and the money shops naturally could not develop and grow.

Moreover, the credibility of privately-owned money shops was a problem. It was not easy to get people to trust these money shops and put their money in them. Once there was any sign of trouble, it was easy to cause a bank run, which led to money shops not daring to use too much of their deposits for investment to generate money.

These were all reasons why money shops could not grow. In Wu Changqing’s view from later generations, these people running money shops were quite foolish.

Why be greedy for that little bit of safekeeping interest? Wasn’t this forcing people to keep their money in their pockets and hide it in their cellars?

Which bank in later generations charged a fee for accepting depositors’ money? They all rushed to give interest to depositors in order to attract funds. They didn’t care about that safekeeping fee; they made more money by lending the money out.

Of course, there were not as many investment opportunities in this era, and it was also a big problem if too many deposits were absorbed and no good investment industries could be found.

Moreover, in an era where information was not developed enough, it was also a big trouble to hold borrowers accountable after their businesses failed.

However, Wu Changqing could now perfectly solve these problems. His early start to the Industrial Revolution meant that investment opportunities were everywhere.

Entering the business world now almost guaranteed a profit.

As for the issue of credibility, his prestige was still relatively convincing to the people. In terms of accountability, he represented the government, and those who wanted to evade responsibility would probably have to weigh the consequences.

In fact, lending was not Wu Changqing’s main purpose. If no one came to borrow, he could invest the money himself. The profits of those emerging industries were frighteningly high, and there was no need to worry about losing money by investing in those industries.

In short, collecting the people’s scattered silver and concentrating resources to do great things was of great benefit to development.

It was precisely because of this that he was eager to establish a super-large money shop.

He wanted to keep this money shop in the hands of his family for peace of mind, but at the same time, to prevent family members from using the money shop for illegal profit, he had to arrange for officials to supervise the money shop.

Wu Changqing decided to make this money shop a joint public-private venture. The Wu family would be responsible for the specific operations, and the government would be responsible for supervising and handling some problems that private individuals could not solve.

“Giving depositors interest, won’t the risk be too great?”

Gu Yanwu asked with some concern after reading Wu Changqing’s plan.

Going from charging people a safekeeping fee to giving people interest on deposits was a bit of a big step, and it could easily backfire. It could be said that once this policy was implemented, other money shops would have to close down.

“Master Gu, you are overthinking it. The current business situation is very good, and most businesses are making money. Compared to those high profits, this little bit of interest is nothing.

Compared to the profits offered by government bonds, this ten percent deposit interest is already a great deal. It’s the same as attracting funds, but the cost is forty percent lower,” Wu Zhiyue analyzed.

Although money shops had the risk of bank runs compared to government bonds, with Wu Changqing’s endorsement and guarantee, the possibility of a bank run was not high.

Gu Yanwu pondered for a moment and realized that there didn’t seem to be much risk.

Thinking of this, Gu Yanwu secretly reminded himself again not to think about problems according to his previous way of thinking. Nowadays, social changes were too fast, and many things had to be thought about from a different perspective.

“First build up public trust. This bank will have many responsibilities to bear in the future. Nowadays, it is very troublesome to trade large quantities of goods with silver, often weighing hundreds or thousands of jin, making it troublesome and unsafe to carry. Sooner or later, I will issue paper money,” Wu Changqing said.

“My lord, paper money cannot be issued casually. Once it is issued, the consequences will be disastrous,” Gu Yanwu exclaimed anxiously. He had no objection to running a money shop, but he panicked as soon as he heard about issuing paper money.

The failure of the Great Ming paper money was not too long ago, and the current people and officials had not forgotten that disaster. At the mention of paper money, the first thought that popped into everyone’s mind was “scammer.”

Paper money was like a demon; once released, the trouble would be great.

“Master Gu, don’t worry. I will definitely not print paper money casually. Instead, I will decide based on the amount of silver and the economic situation. Forget it, don’t worry about so much for now. Just set up the money shop first, and you will naturally understand when the time comes,” Wu Changqing said.

Wu Changqing didn’t have time to explain now; he would talk about it later.

In any case, the time was not yet ripe to issue paper money. He would start issuing it only after unifying most of the major regions of the country.

Gu Yanwu and Wu Zhiyue accepted the assignment and then established the Duke Money Shop.

The reason for using the name “Duke Money Shop” was naturally to borrow Wu Changqing’s prestige. Nowadays, the people of Jiangnan had great faith in Wu Changqing’s credibility.

Wu Changqing’s hard-earned public support came into play at this time.

The initial investment in the Duke Money Shop was five hundred thousand taels of silver, all funded by the Wu family.

At the same time, Gu Yanwu deposited the government’s silver into the Duke Money Shop.

This was no small amount, a full four hundred thousand taels of silver, all of which were the government’s usual operating expenses.

The Duke Money Shop had a very high starting point. When it was first established, those who wanted to please Wu Changqing deposited their spare money into the Duke Money Shop.

They all believed that Wu Changqing was a man who wanted to do great things and would not use such means to cheat money.

Depositing money in the Duke Money Shop not only allowed them to gain Wu Changqing’s favor but also allowed them to receive interest every month or year. Why not?

In just three days, the Duke Money Shop absorbed deposits of up to three million taels of silver.

Subsequently, the Duke Money Shop launched its lending business.

The initial lending targets were all wealthy merchants in Nanjing who had family property and collateral, so there was no need to worry about huge losses.

Even if the other party’s business failed, the government could step in to take away the collateral, shifting the risk to the individual.

In addition to lending to others, Wu Changqing also personally diverted these funds to some very profitable industries.

For example, the toothpaste and toothbrush he had just created were also very profitable daily necessities.

Compared to the previous tooth powder, toothpaste was more convenient to use and more comfortable to use during washing. At the same time, the toothpaste manufacturing process that Wu Changqing came up with could produce toothpaste on a large scale, and its cost was also cheaper than tooth powder.

As for the toothbrush, it was more refined than previous toothbrushes, with finer and softer bristles, making it less likely to cause bleeding when brushing teeth.

In terms of comfort, it was far superior to previous toothbrushes.

At least, the women in the Wu family no longer wanted to use the previous tooth powder after using toothpaste and toothbrushes.

This was enough to show that toothpaste and the new toothbrush had an overwhelming advantage when competing with tooth powder.

Chapter 243: Battering the City Gates

After two days of marching, Liu Hansan’s troops arrived at De’an County.

Eager to earn merit, Li Lianfan volunteered to lead the vanguard.

He had some of his soldiers disguise themselves as defeated troops fleeing Jiujiang, tricking the De’an County city gates into opening. Then, these “defeated troops” instantly bared their fangs, taking De’an County with minimal effort.

It was a battle without suspense, not even remotely intense. In the end, the Qing army suffered just over twenty deaths and forty-some injuries, with the remaining two thousand surrendering.

As for the Wu army, they suffered no casualties, setting a precedent for zero losses.

If the Qing army hadn’t lost some men, the battle would have been like child’s play.

“This tactic works quite well. Order a city-wide lockdown to prevent news from leaking. We’ll continue using this trick,” Liu Hansan laughed. Being able to take cities easily was naturally the most wonderful thing. As long as they could prevent information from spreading, they could reuse this tactic when attacking subsequent cities.

The next day, after leaving a few hundred men to guard the city, Liu Hansan led the main force to continue south.

It took them two more days to reach Yongxiu, and then another full day to cross the river.

Compared to sieging cities, marching was their real trouble.

On May twenty-fourth, Liu Hansan’s force arrived at Xixia Town. Subsequently, Li Lianfan’s four thousand-man detachment separated from the main force, arriving at Nanchang city ahead of them.

“Open the city gates! I am Li Lianfan, guerrilla general under Lekedehun. Our army was defeated at Jiujiang, and I have been ordered to lead troops back to Nanchang to assist in the defense!” Li Lianfan shouted from below the city walls.

Hearing Li Lianfan announce his origins and name, the soldiers on the city wall quickly ran to report to Zhunhar, the garrison commander of Nanchang.

Zhunhar had met Li Lianfan before and recognized him at a glance.

However, Zhunhar had a natural distrust of Han Chinese generals. Coupled with the fact that he had already learned of the fall of Jiujiang, he was now even more cautious.

Because only a few small fry had fled from Jiujiang to Nanchang, Zhunhar only knew that Jiujiang had fallen, but he was completely unaware of the specific details.

He was also skeptical of Li Lianfan’s words.

“General Li, what is the situation in Jiujiang now?” Zhunhar asked.

“I’m not entirely sure. When the city fell, the general ordered me to go south to Nanchang for defense with General Gong A’dai, and General Azali to cover our retreat.

When I went south with General Gong A’dai, we encountered ambushes and blockades from the Ming army. General Gong A’dai has already died in battle, and our army suffered heavy losses, leaving only four thousand men. I hope General Zhunhar will quickly open the city gates. The Ming army pursuing us will arrive soon, and there will be no chance then.”

Li Lianfan’s words were thirty percent truth and seventy percent lies, spoken with such detail that Zhunhar couldn’t determine their authenticity.

If it were anyone else, they would probably have opened the city gates by now, otherwise it would easily lead to internal conflicts and discord within the army.

However, because of his innate distrust of Han Chinese, Zhunhar subconsciously leaned towards believing that Li Lianfan was lying.

Thinking along these lines, Zhunhar discovered some situations that could verify his suspicions.

For example, all of those who escaped with Li Lianfan were Han Chinese soldiers, with no Manchu Eight Banners soldiers. This was very strange.

According to Zhunhar’s understanding, when encountering an ambush, the task of covering the rear would definitely be given to the Han army, and those who could escape would definitely be Eight Banners soldiers.

But now, the situation was reversed. The Eight Banners soldiers were wiped out, but these Han Chinese soldiers escaped. Wasn’t this strange?

Even if Li Lianfan was lucky and the Ming army’s ambush focused on Gong A’dai, Gong A’dai’s subordinates wouldn’t have been completely annihilated. Surely some of them could have escaped.

Another suspicious point was that since the Qing army had suffered a major defeat, why hadn’t this Li Lianfan surrendered? Instead, he insisted on escaping hundreds of kilometers to Nanchang for a last-ditch effort.

Since when did Han Chinese generals have such backbone and loyalty to the Qing Dynasty?

In short, Zhunhar didn’t believe him.

“General Li, please wait a moment. I will have the city gates opened.”

Zhunhar then ordered the city gates to be opened. However, he ordered only the first gate to be opened, and then arranged for people in the barbican to demand that Li Lianfan’s men lay down their weapons before entering the city.

If Li Lianfan refused, he would have his men shoot them.

If Li Lianfan accepted, it would be even easier to deal with. Soldiers without weapons were no stronger than ordinary people, and they could be controlled.

Although this would offend Li Lianfan, it was safer. Zhunhar was used to being arrogant and despotic towards Han Chinese generals, and he didn’t care about offending them at all.

Li Lianfan didn’t know Zhunhar’s plan and thought his scheme had succeeded. He happily arranged for his men to enter the city, instructing them to launch an attack as soon as they entered and seize the city gates.

At the same time, he also sent messengers to report to the rear.

Leading the vanguard was a team of over three hundred men. They passed through the first gate and entered the barbican, only to find that the second gate was still closed. Immediately, the battalion commander leading the troops felt uneasy.

“The general said to lay down your weapons before entering the city,” said the Qing army captain responsible for the reception.

“What do you mean by this? Are you distrusting us? I’ve risked my life in battle, and this knife has never left my side. If you want me to put down my weapon, come and try it,” the Wu army battalion commander cursed. If they handed over their weapons, they would have no way to launch an attack once they entered the city.

Therefore, no matter what the other party said, he would never hand over his weapons.

Moreover, he vaguely felt that the other party had noticed something and was prepared. This attempt to seize the city gates was probably going to fail.

“Anyone who doesn’t lay down their weapons will be treated as a rebel,” the Qing army captain said sternly.

“Go to hell!” The battalion commander leading the troops suddenly attacked, stabbing the captain with his knife and shouting, “The plan has been exposed, retreat!”

The sudden change caught the Qing army who came to receive them off guard. They were far outnumbered by the Wu army in front of them.

However, the Wu army didn’t intend to kill them. They were already in a dangerous situation. If they didn’t retreat in time, they would be turtles in a jar once the enemy closed the city gate.

Seeing the Wu army retreating in panic, Zhunhar roared, “As expected, they are a bunch of rebels! Order the archers to fire!”

Although he had expected it beforehand, Zhunhar couldn’t help but feel angry when the truth was revealed. At the same time, there was also a sense of worry.

He hadn’t seen any of the high-ranking generals like Lekedehun and Gong A’dai, nor had he seen any Manchu soldiers. Didn’t this mean that the Qing army had suffered a major defeat in Jiujiang?

With the fall of Jiujiang, Lekedehun’s only retreat was towards Nanchang. Now that they hadn’t arrived, it was highly likely that they had died in battle.

Thinking of this, Zhunhar felt a little panicked.

He only had over ten thousand men in his hands. How could he defend this isolated Nanchang, how could he defend this Jiangxi?

What was even more terrifying was that he now had no way out.

Chapter 244: A Daring Plan

Arrows rained down, and the Wu army hastily retreated, losing dozens of men in the chaos.

Of course, what frustrated Li Lianfan the most was the failure of his plan.

If he had succeeded in seizing the city gate, it would have been a great achievement for him. But now, while he wasn’t at fault, he could forget about any reward.

For a man eager to climb the ranks, being robbed of his merit was as painful as losing his parents.

Frustrated as he was, Li Lianfan could do nothing about Zhunhar for the time being. He could only retreat his troops one kilometer and wait for the main force to arrive.

With their limited numbers and outdated weapons, trying to attack the city was a joke.

“This humble general deserves to die for being seen through by the enemy and failing to seize the city gate.”

Li Lianfan knelt on one knee.

“Forget it. It’s not a big deal that you couldn’t trick them into opening the gate and had to resort to a direct assault.”

Although Liu Hansan felt some regret, he knew that warfare was full of unexpected events. Li Lianfan’s failure was not due to a lack of effort.

Since it was getting late, Liu Hansan ordered the troops to set up camp and prepare for the attack the next day.

Inside Nanchang city, Zhunhar, despite seeing through Li Lianfan’s ruse to open the city gate, couldn’t bring himself to be happy.

Foiling the enemy’s scheme only prevented losses on his side, without gaining any advantage. The defensive situation hadn’t improved at all.

He was under immense pressure because he only had fifteen thousand troops at his disposal.

Among them, only four thousand Eight Banners soldiers were truly trustworthy; the rest were Green Standard Army soldiers.

Liu Hansan, on the other hand, had a full thirty thousand men, along with dozens of cannons and various advanced weapons.

“What do you all think we should do?”

Though it was late, Zhunhar hadn’t slept. Instead, he had gathered his trusted subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

“At this point, only unconventional tactics can give us a chance of victory. Simply defending the city, while it may inflict some losses on the enemy, will inevitably lead to our defeat.”

One of Zhunhar’s Lieutenant Generals said.

What he said wasn’t wrong. When outmatched, only relying on unconventional tactics offered any hope of winning.

However, the reason unconventional tactics were called that was because they were schemes that ordinary people couldn’t think of.

If a mere Lieutenant General like him could come up with such a tactic, it wouldn’t be considered unconventional at all, but merely a plan.

The plan he had in mind was a night raid, taking advantage of the Wu army’s fatigue from their long march.

If successful, they might be able to drive the enemy back or destroy their supplies.

“A night raid won’t work. It’s too difficult. Besides, unless the enemy is a complete idiot, they’ll be prepared for a night raid.”

Zhunhar rejected the suggestion. The success rate was too low, and it wasn’t unconventional enough; it was too ordinary. No general in warfare would fail to guard against a night raid.

“Perhaps we could gather our cavalry and, under the cover of darkness, leave the city and set up an ambush on Mount Mei. When the enemy attacks the city tomorrow, the cavalry can strike, targeting their artillery and commanders.

If we can kill their commander, the enemy will surely retreat.”

Another Lieutenant General said, his words catching Zhunhar’s attention.

This plan was somewhat unconventional; at least, he hadn’t thought of it.

Moreover, upon closer examination, it actually had a certain chance of success.

When the Wu army attacked the city, their commander would definitely be observing from the rear, and would be very close to Mount Mei, because the space between the city gate and Mount Mei wasn’t that large, leaving the Wu army with limited room to maneuver.

When their cavalry emerged from the woods, a single charge would be enough to reach the Wu army, creating a surprise attack.

If they acted quickly enough, they could kill the Wu army’s high-ranking officers before the enemy could react.

“This plan is feasible. Nalandha, I’ll entrust this task to you. You must kill the enemy’s commander. The outcome of this battle rests on you. Do not disappoint me.”

Zhunhar agreed to the plan. In fact, he couldn’t think of any other way.

Moreover, even if this plan succeeded, they would only be temporarily safe.

Killing one Wu army commander wouldn’t stop the Wu army from sending a new commander. Unless they could kill the thirty thousand troops outside the city, but that was clearly impossible.

Zhunhar was now thinking of repelling the Wu army and then, while the Wu army was preparing for a new offensive, escaping by boat with his personal guards.

Nanchang was already surrounded on all sides and impossible to defend. Returning to the North was the only way.

With the plan settled, the Qing army began to move.

They managed to gather two thousand cavalry, all Manchus.

At this time, Zhunhar couldn’t trust the Han Chinese. If the news leaked, the surprise attack would be meaningless.

Under the cover of darkness, this cavalry unit left the city gate and quietly arrived at Mount Mei in the northwest.

Mount Mei was very close to the walls of Nanchang, serving as a natural barrier. And now, it was their perfect cover.

The next day, the Wu army began preparing breakfast early in the morning, getting ready for the siege.

After all, there were still over ten thousand Qing troops in the city. If the Qing army were to resist to the end, their siege would encounter considerable trouble.

Taking the city wasn’t a problem, but Liu Hansan didn’t want to suffer too many casualties.

After capturing Nanchang, he would need to divide his troops to capture the surrounding counties and attack Fuzhou and other places.

To reduce losses, Liu Hansan ordered the construction of several siege towers and prepared units to blow up the city walls, making thorough preparations.

After breakfast, the Wu army’s cannons launched the first attack, putting some psychological pressure on the Qing army.

For some ragtag armies, the deterrent effect of cannons was considerable. Only experienced veterans could remain calm during shelling, because the seemingly powerful cannons actually had a very low hit rate.

However, this time, the Qing army veterans’ experience was wrong. Although the Wu army’s howitzers didn’t have a high hit rate, their blast radius was large.

They didn’t even need to hit anyone directly; as long as they were within the blast radius of the shells, they were no longer safe.

Zhunhar’s unit had never fought the Wu army before and didn’t understand this. Therefore, they hadn’t made many defensive deployments against the howitzers.

After just two rounds of shelling, Zhunhar realized something was wrong. The number of soldiers killed and wounded on the city walls was as high as over one hundred.

This lethality was truly terrifying. If they didn’t find a way to deal with it, the Wu army wouldn’t even need to send troops to scale the walls; they could just bombard them into collapse with cannons.

“Withdraw some men and hide for now.”

Zhunhar had seen descriptions of howitzers in past battle reports, but things on paper were hard to imagine. Now that he had witnessed them firsthand, he had a clear understanding of the so-called howitzer shells.

Terrifying, truly terrifying, far more powerful than solid shot.

Therefore, he quickly ordered his soldiers to withdraw from the city walls. Continuing to stay there was tantamount to suicide.

Chapter 245: Cavalry Raid

Zhunhar was enduring, waiting for the Wu army to launch a full-scale assault on the city.

After more than a dozen rounds of artillery fire, the Wu army began their attack.

They didn’t have many cannonballs, so they didn’t try to collapse the city walls.

They would only use that tactic when attacking tall, fortified cities, or when they had no logistical pressure.

Otherwise, it wasn’t suitable.

To attack the city, they still had to use traditional methods.

Seeing the Wu army finally begin their assault, Zhunhar breathed a sigh of relief and began to anticipate the upcoming raid by his own cavalry. At the same time, he ordered his soldiers to return to the city walls to defend.

Urged on by the Manchu soldiers, the Green Standard Army reluctantly returned to the city walls to defend.

They didn’t want to fight the powerful Wu army, but they didn’t dare to resist. There was no prior coordination, and no one dared to take the lead. After all, even if everyone knew that everyone else had this intention, the chances of survival for the one who led the rebellion were truly slim.

With no one to lead, they could only begin their defense under the supervision of the supervising team.

Like all armies that had never fought the Wu army, Zhunhar suffered some losses at the beginning of the defense. The few hundred archers they had were killed off in two volleys by the Wu army.

The remaining archers, no matter how the Qing army officers forced them, refused to stand up and shoot arrows again.

This wasn’t fighting a war, it was suicide!

These archers had always stood in the safest places to launch ranged attacks, often protected by other types of soldiers, and had been pampered for too long.

Now, suddenly faced with such tragic casualties, they simply couldn’t handle it.

“Nanchang seems easier to attack than I imagined.”

Liu Hansan laughed. He had thought that the Qing army was very familiar with his unit and had mastered many defensive techniques, like the Qing army in Jiujiang.

If that were the case, they would have a lot of trouble attacking the city.

But, at first glance, it seemed that the Qing army’s internal communication wasn’t very good. The city defense experience summarized by the Jiujiang garrison had not been shared with the Nanchang garrison in a timely manner.

Maybe they forgot, maybe it was negligence.

But none of that mattered, because it was a great thing for the Wu army.

Under the cover of the musket troops, the Wu army had reached the city walls and launched their attack.

Liu Hansan felt as if victory was waving to him, and he was in a very good mood.

“If Zhunhar wasn’t such a stubborn element, anyone else would have surrendered by now. Surrounded on all sides, with no way to escape, this resistance is meaningless.”

Li Lianfan complained about Zhunhar.

At this moment, in Mei Mountain, several sentries ran back to Nalandha and reported, “General, the enemy’s siege troops have reached the city and are launching an ant-like assault.”

“How is the enemy’s rear defense?”

Nalandha asked.

“The artillery positions have about a thousand men, and their commander’s location has nearly two thousand men.”

The sentry replied.

More than two thousand people, that was not easy to deal with.

Nalandha frowned. If it were other Ming army forces, he wouldn’t have paid any attention to two thousand people. He would have just charged over and finished it.

But, this was the Wu army, the most powerful army in the Ming army, which had successively defeated the armies of Bolo and Lekedehun.

Although he had never fought the Wu army, he knew from the battle reports that this Wu army was very strong.

He wasn’t even sure of victory with two thousand cavalry charging against two thousand infantry.

After all, the Wu army’s other units wouldn’t be too far from their commander’s location. They would have at most a quarter of an hour to fight. If they didn’t kill the Wu army’s commander in a quarter of an hour, their cavalry would be surrounded and annihilated.

Moreover, considering their own safety, strictly speaking, they only had fifteen minutes. They had to retreat after fifteen minutes of fighting, unless they were determined to die.

“Lord, why don’t we attack their artillery? Artillery is precious. If we can kill their hundreds of artillerymen, it would be a great achievement. Moreover, the defense of the artillery positions is relatively weak, and the success rate is higher.”

One of Nalandha’s subordinates said.

This lieutenant said it nicely, but he just didn’t want to die.

The Wu army’s artillery positions were on the edge, with a low risk factor. The Wu army commander’s location was too deep, and it would be difficult to get out after going in.

“Everyone, the time to serve the country has come. Let’s not think about retreating unscathed. We must be determined to kill the enemy’s commander. Only by killing the enemy’s commander is there a chance that the enemy will retreat. Just killing some artillerymen won’t work.”

Nalandha hesitated for a while, but finally made up his mind to serve the country.

Mainly because he saw no hope of survival. After the fall of Jiujiang, Nanchang had become a dead end.

Since he was going to die sooner or later, he might as well fight hard now. Even if he failed, he could leave a loyal name, and his family would be treated well.

Hearing Nalandha’s words, his subordinates had different expressions. Some were roaring and shouting that they would fight to the death, some had gloomy faces, seemingly dissatisfied with Nalandha’s decision, and some were ashen-faced, with despair on their faces.

No matter what they thought in their hearts, they were still following Nalandha’s orders in action.

That was the helplessness of being a soldier. Even if you knew it was a dead end, you had to go, because not going would mean dying even faster.

Two thousand cavalrymen rushed out of the forest. By the time the Wu army discovered them, the distance between the two sides was less than a kilometer.

“Northwest direction, Qing army attack, protect the central army.”

The Wu army beside Liu Hansan quickly blew the whistle. The Qing army’s intention was too obvious, they were charging towards their commander’s location.

“General, get on your horse quickly and evacuate this place first.”

Liu Hansan’s personal guard brought a horse, thankfully he was prepared. At this time, it was relatively safe to mount the horse and escape to the middle of the main force.

However, Liu Hansan did not do so. He shouted, “Calm down, don’t panic, move closer to me from the left and right.”

It wasn’t that Liu Hansan had changed his nature and become unafraid of death.

The main reason was that he knew the consequences of deserting on the battlefield. Although it wasn’t a capital crime, his career would be completely ruined.

He had already climbed to this position, his future was bright, and he would definitely be one of the top figures in the military in the future. Asking him to give up all of this was even more painful than killing him.

So, even though he was very flustered in his heart, Liu Hansan pretended to be very calm on the surface and ordered the soldiers to resist.

“General, those are cavalry.”

The personal guard reminded him that among the two thousand people nearby, there were only five hundred musket troops, and the rest were cold weapon troops.

With too few people, it was difficult to build a hollow square formation. Moreover, the enemy’s target was very clear, it was Liu Hansan. There was no point in setting up a hollow square formation at this time, the other side could just focus on attacking the square formation where Liu Hansan was.

It was difficult to break through all the square formations, but it was not a big problem to attack one separately.

Different tactics have completely different effects in different situations.

Liu Hansan was not pedantic, and did not call for a hollow square formation at this time, but used the traditional method, letting the soldiers guard directly in front of him.

Chapter 246: Couldn’t Break Through

Relying on their usual training, the Wu army quickly formed six ranks. The front ranks were the melee weapon troops, and behind them stood the musket troops.

At this moment, a weakness of the Wu army was exposed: they had very few pikemen.

Mainly because pikemen were not as agile as swordsmen with shields, and their function somewhat overlapped with the bayonets of the musketeers. In terms of combat power, they couldn’t compare with the musket troops.

Therefore, pikemen had less and less of a place in the Wu army.

Now, the main basic troop types of the Wu army were musket troops, arquebus troops, swordsmen with shields, grenadiers, and archers.

Among them, the number of archers was constantly decreasing.

This was mainly because the Wu army had long abandoned the training of archers. Every death was one less.

The training and gains of archers were completely disproportionate. It only took half a month to train a qualified musket soldier, but it took two to three years to train a qualified archer.

Moreover, the role of archers on the battlefield was not as great as that of musket soldiers.

Anyone with a normal brain would not continue to train archers.

Before long, archers would be eliminated from the stage of history, and so would pikemen.

At this time, the Wu army lacked pikemen, and they would suffer some losses when resisting cavalry charges. The weapons in the hands of those swordsmen with shields could not scare horses.

Seeing the cavalry getting closer and closer, the Wu army commander shouted, “Maintain formation! Those who run away will be killed without mercy! Those who bravely kill the enemy will have their reward doubled and their vacation doubled!”

With heavy rewards, there must be brave men. In the absence of a better solution, the Wu army also used heavy rewards to attract soldiers to bravely kill the enemy.

Of course, in reality, this didn’t have much effect. Even if the soldiers didn’t run away, it was because of the previous sentence, “Those who run away will be killed without mercy,” rather than any reward doubling.

“Free fire!”

The battalion commander of the rifle battalion was also giving orders, and so were the archers. There were too many high-ranking generals gathered in this place. If something went wrong, those responsible for protecting them would be in trouble.

Some Wu troops in the distance saw that the main general’s location was being attacked, and they rushed towards the main general’s position.

However, the siege troops were still continuing to attack the city. They were relatively far from the main general’s position, and ordinary soldiers didn’t even know that the rear was being attacked.

Some commanders saw it through their telescopes, but they didn’t issue orders rashly.

At their distance, it was too late to go back and rescue, so it was better to continue the siege.

They didn’t dare to issue orders rashly without orders from above to stop the siege.

If they issued orders rashly and affected the siege mission, they couldn’t afford the responsibility.

“Pia.”

As gunshots rang out, Qing army cavalrymen began to fall continuously.

Because the Qing army cavalry charged out too densely, the fall of one cavalryman often brought down another.

Under normal circumstances, cavalry would certainly not charge like this. They needed to maintain a certain distance from each other, and they also had to maintain a reaction distance in front and behind.

But now, they didn’t have time to adjust their formation, so they just rushed over in a chaotic manner.

Why aren’t these people running yet?

The Qing army cavalrymen rushing in the front couldn’t help but curse in their hearts. When cavalry charged into an infantry square, what they hoped for most was that the enemy would run away out of fear.

It was most advantageous for them if the enemy ran away, but now the Wu army still maintained a complete formation, and their cavalry didn’t have a good solution.

Although they could crash into them and inflict great damage on the Wu army, once they crashed together, they would block the way for the cavalry behind them.

They are all elites.

Nalandha sighed in his heart. The performance of the Wu army shocked him.

Closer, closer.

The hearts of the swordsmen with shields in the front were in their throats. They simply closed their eyes, used all their strength to hold up their shields, and hid behind them.

Unfortunately, human strength was insignificant in front of horses.

Under the impact of the horses, the first two rows of soldiers were instantly knocked away. Then the horses also fell down, horses pressing on people, people pressing on horses, a scene of chaos.

The cavalrymen who fell to the ground were instantly hacked to death.

After the first two rows of cavalry collided with the Wu army, their corpses piled up into small slopes, blocking the way for the cavalry behind them.

These soldiers used their lives to block the Qing army’s frontal charge. The Qing army could only start hacking from the flanks.

From a high position, the cavalry had a great advantage at first.

However, riding on horseback also gave the musket troops a chance. They didn’t have to worry about accidentally injuring their comrades. At close range, they could aim at the Qing army on horseback to shoot. Unless they were very unlucky, they generally wouldn’t hit their own people in front.

The two sides fell into a situation of mutual hacking, which was very unfavorable for the Qing army.

They needed to quickly break through the Wu army’s line and then kill the Wu army’s high-ranking generals. Killing these small soldiers, no matter how many they killed, was meaningless.

“Go around, go around!”

Nalandha shouted. Since they couldn’t break through, they should go around. Anyway, with the speed of the horses, going around this frontal formation of less than one hundred meters was only a blink of an eye.

“Protect the general in the middle!”

Liu Hansan’s personal soldiers began to set up the last line of defense, protecting the many high-ranking generals in the middle.

The commander of the Wu army in front also began to order: “Entangle them, cut the horses’ legs!”

Their mission was not to let the Qing army pass.

It was not easy to cut the people on horseback, but it was much easier to cut the horses’ legs. Regardless of their lives, many people swung their sabers at the horses’ legs.

They didn’t even need to cut them off. With this one cut, the horses would definitely not be able to stand it and fall down. The cavalrymen who fell to the ground were no longer a threat.

Just as they were entangled, the closest troop had arrived to support them. Although the number of people was small, only one battalion, there were many grenadiers in this battalion.

In melee combat, grenadiers were more lethal.

A dozen grenades were thrown into the Qing army’s camp, instantly killing a large area.

More importantly, these grenades created great chaos for the Qing army. Those horses were not used to the sound of explosions, and they were all shocked by the explosions, and they began to be out of control of the riders.

Some horses that were hit by grenade fragments, but whose injuries were not too serious, had fallen into a frenzy and began to rampage.

Some Qing army generals saw this situation and knew that this operation had failed.

Although they still had a slight advantage in the current battle, as long as they couldn’t break through, all of this was meaningless.

Some cowardly Qing soldiers had quietly turned their horses’ heads and began to flee the battlefield.

They didn’t even plan to return to the city, but fled to the North.

Once someone took the lead in running away, the morale of the army would be greatly reduced in an instant.

People all have jealousy. If everyone dies together, they may be able to feel more balanced. But if they go to die, and others escape, then the person who was originally prepared to die would not be happy.

As the first batch of fleeing soldiers successfully escaped, other Qing army cavalry also began to flee.

The danger to Liu Hansan and others was declared lifted.

“Order the cavalry to pursue, don’t let one go!”

Liu Hansan ordered. Since he had been fighting, he had never encountered such a dangerous and aggrieved thing. If he didn’t eliminate these Qing troops, he would feel uncomfortable.

# Chapter 247: Accidents Happen

On the city wall, Zhunhar had been focused on the surprise attack outside the city, barely paying attention to the defense of the wall itself.

Anyway, the Wu army couldn't break through immediately, and he couldn't hold it for long. The key to breaking the stalemate lay in the surprise attack outside the city.

However, Zhunhar was quickly disappointed.

At first, the Wu army did show some signs of chaos. But they quickly regained their composure and became entangled with the Qing army's cavalry.

And the Qing army, after struggling for less than thirty minutes, was the first to produce deserters, followed by a complete rout.

The remaining Qing soldiers either died at the hands of the Wu army or during their escape.

Seeing that the Wu army was still attacking the city in an orderly manner, Zhunhar knew that this surprise attack had completely failed, and they had achieved no results.

A brilliant plan is only brilliant if it succeeds; if it fails, it's just a blunder.

Man proposes, God disposes. It's normal for plans to fail in war.

But now, Zhunhar was finding it hard to accept such a blow.

And just then, as the saying goes, it never rains but it pours. On a section of the north city wall, some Han Chinese Green Standard Army soldiers mutinied, killing the Qing army supervisors and letting the Wu army onto the wall.

Zhunhar didn't have many Eight Banners troops to begin with, only about four thousand.

This time, to launch a surprise attack on the Wu army's commander, he had sent out the two thousand most elite soldiers, leaving only two thousand to supervise the battle and act as a reserve force.

This small number of men, distributed along the city wall, seemed rather sparse.

And while defending the city, the Green Standard Army soldiers were frightened by the Wu army's powerful offensive and wanted to escape.

If the Qing army's supervisory force had been larger, they wouldn't have had a chance, but now that the Qing supervisors were few in number, some Green Standard Army soldiers mustered the courage to launch a mutiny.

And after they launched the mutiny, they discovered that the lofty and arrogant Eight Banners soldiers weren't so impressive after all. They were made of flesh and blood, and could be killed with a single stab.

Once someone took the lead, others quickly followed.

Subsequently, this section of the city wall was quickly lost.

The Wu army, having gained access to the wall, began to attack both ends, and also advanced into the city.

This sudden change caught the Qing army off guard, and there was no way to salvage the situation.

"General, retreat quickly! I have prepared boats for you. We can retreat by water."

Zhunhar's subordinates urged him. The Gan River ran through the city, allowing them to board boats directly and enter Poyang Lake. If they were lucky enough not to encounter the Wu army's navy on the lake, they could escape all the way back to the North.

"Alas, a military defeat is like a landslide."

Zhunhar sighed, then began to retreat under the protection of his personal guards.

In the past, the large-scale acceptance of surrendered Ming Dynasty soldiers had rapidly expanded their strength, but now the drawbacks were emerging.

In a tough battle, these Green Standard Army soldiers were completely unreliable.

In fact, they would even become a hindrance.

As much as he hated it, Zhunhar didn't think about retaliating against those Green Standard Army soldiers now, but chose to slink away and escape.

However, when he got down into the city, there were already large numbers of Wu army soldiers. He unfortunately ran into a Wu army unit.

"There's a big fish here!"

A Wu army company commander shouted. Breaking through the city wall was a collective achievement, but if they captured or killed an important Qing army general in the city, the credit would belong solely to their squad.

The company commander immediately recognized Zhunhar's clothes and hat as belonging to a high-ranking official.

So, he was excited. This was a chance for promotion and wealth!

"Charge!"

As soon as Zhunhar gave the order, his personal guards charged forward. His personal guards were much more powerful than ordinary soldiers.

However, in the face of firearms, the elite were only stronger in terms of attack power. In terms of defense, they were no different from cannon fodder. As long as they were hit by a bullet, they would kick the bucket.

Several grenades exploded among them, and the so-called elite were blown off their feet, lying on the ground screaming, losing their combat power.

The scene of someone being able to roar and charge forward to kill even after being hit by an arrow only existed in movies and TV shows. On the real battlefield, not to mention being hit by an arrow, even a sprained ankle would be enough to make someone lose their combat power.

Not to mention those soldiers who were hit by grenade fragments or arrows. It was extremely painful to lie still, and moving even slightly, using the muscles around the wound, would double the pain.

This was purely a human physiological instinct, unrelated to bravery.

In fact, pain is a self-protective mechanism for humans. The reason why injuries cause pain is because the brain is telling the body not to move around recklessly, as that would only cause more bleeding and enlarge the wound.

The most correct thing to do is to lie down and wait for the wound to heal.

It is precisely because of this self-protective mechanism of pain that humans have been able to survive.

If humans could overcome pain, then humans would become extinct. For example, if you couldn't feel pain, there would be no need to invent tools to fight lions and tigers. You could just go up and fight them barehanded, since it wouldn't hurt anyway.

And the consequences would be imaginable.

In short, intense pain is difficult to overcome. Those soldiers who were hit by the blast of the grenades instantly lost their combat power.

The other soldiers who were lucky enough not to be injured panicked all of a sudden. It was the first time they had encountered such a powerful weapon, and they couldn't help but be afraid.

By the time they had almost reacted, the Wu army grenadiers had already lit the second grenade.

"My lord, let's take a detour!"

When the personal guard next to Zhunhar saw this situation, he knew that they definitely couldn't charge through, so he could only tell Zhunhar to take a detour.

Zhunhar didn't act pretentious and immediately left a small group of people to cover their retreat, while he led another small group of personal guards to take a detour.

Unfortunately, just the delay from before had allowed more Wu army soldiers to pour into the city.

They hadn't even walked a hundred meters when they encountered the Wu army again.

This time, the Wu army they encountered didn't have grenadiers, but musketeers. However, when they tried to charge through, they were taught a lesson again.

A volley of fire at close range, followed by a bayonet charge.

Musketeers also had a great advantage when facing cold weapon troops face-to-face.

A volley of fire killed nearly a third of the charging Qing soldiers, and the morale of the remaining Qing soldiers plummeted. At this time, the Wu army rushed up with bayonets, directly crushing the last bit of resistance from the Qing army.

These Qing army elites also began to flee and surrender.

Zhunhar, watching this scene, immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

This battle was too frustrating. His fiery temper couldn't take it at all, and he was directly overwhelmed by anger.

As soon as something happened to Zhunhar, everyone immediately lost their backbone. Facing the oncoming Wu army, many people had already thrown away their weapons. The few who were not quite right in the head and were still resisting were quickly stabbed to death.

Chapter 248: Song Yingxing

The great battle had come to an end. Although there were some twists and turns in the middle, it was generally considered relatively easy.

The mutiny of the Qing army was an unexpected surprise, allowing them to easily ascend the city walls.

After the post-war statistics were tallied, their losses were not significant. Only eight hundred soldiers died in battle, and a little over one hundred were seriously injured, resulting in a casualty rate of less than four percent.

The main casualties were among the soldiers responsible for protecting generals like Liu Hansan.

They suffered some losses when facing the cavalry, resulting in heavy casualties.

This served as a reminder to Liu Hansan that even when holding the advantage, one cannot be careless. Self-preservation must be thorough.

The death throes of the enemy can sometimes be terrifying.

The Wu army’s losses were less than one thousand, and the Qing army’s losses were not particularly high either.

Of the two thousand cavalry, nearly one thousand were killed in battle, several hundred were captured, and one or two hundred escaped.

These escaped cavalrymen were a hidden danger, but Liu Hansan had no way to hunt them down.

In addition to the cavalry, more than one thousand five hundred Qing soldiers defending the city were killed in battle, and almost all of the rest surrendered or were captured alive. Even their commander, Zhunhar, was captured.

This was a great victory, and they could report the good news to Jiujiang.

After capturing Nanchang, Liu Hansan divided his troops into several routes. One route of four thousand men headed to Ji’an, and another route of ten thousand men headed to Fuzhou. The remaining troops stayed to defend Nanchang, while others went to occupy the surrounding towns and villages.

To say “occupy” was really just to make an announcement, informing the local gentry and landlords that the Wu army was now in charge and that taxes should be paid to them.

They were still in a stage where imperial power did not extend to the countryside. In reality, the villages were still controlled by the local gentry, managed by clan rules. The government did not have enough energy to manage the rural areas.

The government only intervened in rural affairs when collecting taxes. At other times, all matters, large and small, within the villages were resolved internally by their clans.

The various groups of soldiers acted swiftly. Wherever they went, they were generally met with surrender. The landlords and gentry all expressed their willingness to obey.

Being ruled by Wu Changqing was definitely better than being ruled by the Qing Dynasty, after all, they were all Han Chinese.

Of course, there were a few muddle-headed county officials who, either due to a lack of information or because they were unaware that the Qing army had been defeated, chose to resist the Wu army’s demands for takeover.

And without exception, this resistance became a joke.

The scene of those hastily organized local militia encountering rigorously trained professional soldiers was truly tragic.

When hundreds of local militia charged a dozen Wu soldiers, the Wu soldiers fired a volley, killing only five or six people out of the hundreds of local militia, and the rest scattered in all directions.

This was the most realistic portrayal of a disorganized rabble; they could only withstand a very limited number of casualties.

It was a bit like gangsters in later generations fighting in groups. Before the fight, they all acted tough, but once a few people died in the fight, the others would immediately start to slip away.

In this world, there were people who were not afraid of death, but they were definitely extremely rare.

Afterward, those stubborn county magistrates and officials were all executed, and the army took over the administration of these areas.

In addition to these county officials, the Wu army also encountered sporadic resistance in some rural areas.

This was mainly due to communication problems. The gentry had already paid taxes to the Qing army, and they were worried that the Wu army would levy taxes again after taking over, so they clashed with the Wu army.

These soldiers did not understand communication and explanation. It was easier to directly suppress them than to let them reason with the gentry and explain policies.

There were five or six landlords and villagers who died due to this kind of communication misunderstanding, dying relatively unjustly.

However, overall, the Wu army’s takeover of the areas surrounding Nanchang was relatively smooth, and no major resistance or conflicts occurred.

At the same time, Liu Hansan personally led people to Fengxin County to find Song Yingxing.

Song Yingxing was a former prefect in the Ming Dynasty court, a fifth-rank official.

However, Liu Hansan would not care about a fifth-rank official now. In the past, Song Yingxing would not have been worth Liu Hansan’s personal visit.

But times were different now. The status of those scholars of miscellaneous studies was getting higher and higher. Anyone who had researched miscellaneous studies would be valued and could do well in Wu Changqing’s regime.

And Song Yingxing had very high attainments in miscellaneous studies. He was the author of the scientific masterpiece Tiangong Kaiwu (The Exploitation of the Works of Nature).

Apart from Wu Changqing’s scientific works, Song Yingxing’s Tiangong Kaiwu could be regarded as the most comprehensive scientific work of this era. It recorded agriculture, handicrafts, as well as dozens of manufacturing technologies and preliminary principles for sulfur, textiles, dyeing, and so on.

In later generations, this book was called the seventeenth-century scientific encyclopedia.

Scientists like this who were self-taught were very precious, and they had unparalleled talent in science.

Liu Hansan knew that Wu Changqing valued these scholars of miscellaneous studies, and he had previously inquired about Song Yingxing’s whereabouts.

Therefore, after capturing Nanchang, his primary task was to find Song Yingxing and invite him to Nanjing, or kidnap him to Nanjing.

At this time, Song Yingxing was hiding from the war in his hometown of Fengxin. The Longwu court had sent him an invitation to join them, but he had not accepted it because he was not optimistic about the Longwu regime.

More importantly, he had heard that Wu Changqing in Nanjing was vigorously promoting the spread of miscellaneous studies, and he yearned for it very much.

Only by working under Wu Changqing could he give full play to his strengths and realize his value and aspirations.

He had asked a friend to bring him a batch of elementary physics and other books written by Wu Changqing from Nanjing, and he was engrossed in reading them.

Song Yingxing originally had the intention of going to Nanjing. Now that Liu Hansan, a powerful figure holding heavy troops, personally came to invite him, giving him enough face, Song Yingxing naturally had no reason to decline.

He immediately asked his family to prepare his luggage, and then, escorted by the Wu army, he headed to Nanjing.

In addition to Song Yingxing, Liu Hansan also sent people to search for famous scholars and talents everywhere.

Jiangxi had many academies and a very strong literary atmosphere, and there were many talented people.

And Wu Changqing had always welcomed talents, regardless of whether they were scholars of miscellaneous studies or traditional literati, Wu Changqing could arrange work for them.

Although traditional literati and Confucian scholars did not understand science, their intelligence was far higher than that of ordinary people, and their learning ability was very strong.

It was much easier to have them relearn miscellaneous studies than to teach a child to become talented.

Although children were the future, the current development was also very important.

These were talents who could be quickly trained and could master certain new knowledge in a short period of time, and then apply it to other places. These people could serve as a transition.

Chapter 249: Utterly Unreasonable

When Xue Guiren led his troops to Fuzhou, Fuzhou had already been occupied by Zhu Yujian.

It turned out that Zhu Yujian’s plan to persuade the enemy to surrender had unexpectedly succeeded.

The main reason was that there were no Eight Banners troops in Fuzhou City.

Those garrisoning the city were all Green Standard Army soldiers who were opportunists. Seeing that the Qing army was on the decline, they naturally wanted to find a new backer.

And Zhu Yujian, this backer, seemed very powerful on the surface. After all, Zhu Yujian had a large territory, including the entirety of Yunnan, Guangdong and Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, and southern Jiangxi.

There were many who respected Zhu Yujian as emperor. Therefore, Jin Shenghuan, the garrison general of Fuzhou City, chose to surrender to Zhu Yujian.

By this point, Zhu Yujian’s forces in Fuzhou had reached a total of thirty thousand.

Although the Ming army had a force of thirty thousand and was defending the city, Xue Guiren was not afraid at all.

He directly sent an envoy to demand that Zhu Yujian withdraw from Fuzhou, saying that Fuzhou belonged to their territory.

After all, it was thanks to them defeating the Qing army in Jiujiang that Zhu Yujian was able to pick up this bargain.

This argument could not be said to be completely without merit. Without them defeating Lekedehun, it would have been a dream for Zhu Yujian to take Fuzhou.

However, Zhu Yujian was, after all, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. For Xue Guiren to demand that the emperor cede territory to them was enough to make those who were blindly loyal vomit blood from anger.

“Outrageous! Utterly rebellious! Does Wu Changqing want to revolt?”

Huang Shanling stood up and cursed loudly, while Zhu Yujian, sitting above, was so angry that the veins on the back of his hand bulged.

If he wasn’t worried about escalating the conflict, he would have ordered the envoy to be dragged out and executed right now.

But he couldn’t. Executing the other party’s envoy was tantamount to a fight to the death, leaving no room for negotiation. He couldn’t afford the consequences.

Being an emperor to this extent sometimes made Zhu Yujian feel a sense of utter boredom.

“Lord Huang is probably mistaken. Our governor was appointed by Prince Lu, and has no subordinate relationship with Prince Tang. How can you speak of rebellion?”

The envoy retorted.

“Emperor Longwu is the true successor, and has received the support of the world. Prince Lu will eventually abdicate and submit…”

Huang Shanling babbled on about a lot of things that even he didn’t believe. Prince Lu abdicating and submitting was simply a joke.

“This is your family matter. In short, our general said that if His Highness Prince Tang voluntarily withdraws from Fuzhou, our general will definitely not make things difficult. But if His Highness Prince Tang insists on occupying Fuzhou, then we can only settle it on the battlefield.”

The Wu army’s envoy completely ignored Huang Shanling’s sophistry. In the face of strength, eloquence was of little use.

Xue Guiren had only one demand: cede Fuzhou. If they didn’t, they would fight. There was no reasoning to be had, just pure arrogance.

“Hmph, fight then! Do you really think we’re afraid of you?”

Huang Shanling snorted.

At this moment, Zhu Yujian had already risen and left.

He actually had the idea of withdrawing, but he couldn’t say it, otherwise he would lose all imperial dignity.

This kind of concession could only be done by his ministers. He had to avoid it to avoid embarrassment.

Some of his ministers had already understood his intentions. So they said to the Wu army’s envoy, “Envoy, please rest for now. We will discuss it and give you an answer.”

After the Wu army’s envoy left, everyone began to discuss it thoroughly.

Huang Shanling’s previous toughness was only for show. If they really had to fight the Wu army, he wouldn’t have enough confidence in his heart.

Even the Qing army had been defeated by the Wu army. How could they possibly win?

Although only ten thousand Wu army soldiers were attacking this time, they might not be able to defeat even that. Moreover, even if they defended, the Wu army would continue to send reinforcements.

Therefore, they had to consider not only the current battle but also the battles to come.

“If you ask me, we might as well just cede Fuzhou. Anyway, Nanchang has already been occupied by them, so one more Fuzhou isn’t of much use. Instead of wasting our time here, we should temporarily retreat to Ganzhou and seek development,” said the conservatives. They didn’t want to and didn’t dare to fight Wu Changqing’s army right now.

“What a joke! There has never been a case of an emperor ceding territory to his subjects. If we retreat, wouldn’t we be laughed at by the world? Would the officials in other places continue to obey us as before?”

The radicals said angrily. They insisted that they could not give in. At the very least, they had to make their attitude clear.

Because Zhu Yujian, as an emperor, needed to maintain a certain amount of prestige. If he chose to retreat in the face of the Wu army, wouldn’t he be showing his weakness to the officials in other places?

In that case, the officials in other places would probably be even less willing to obey Emperor Longwu’s orders.

Of course, even now, there were many officials who outwardly submitted but didn’t actually obey his orders. Such as He Tengjiao, such as Zheng Zhilong.

“Is fighting a losing battle more dignified?”

The conservatives retorted. Withdrawing now would allow them to withdraw with some dignity. If they fought a losing battle and then retreated, they would be as miserable as could be.

Jin Shenghuan watched them argue endlessly, his heart growing colder and colder. He regretted it to death.

If he had known it would turn out like this, he would have never surrendered to Zhu Yujian, even if he was beaten to death. After all this, it turned out that Wu Changqing and Zhu Yujian were so incompatible.

Moreover, Zhu Yujian was so useless in the face of Wu Changqing that he didn’t even have the courage to fight.

What was the use of such an emperor, other than having a title? He was already completely nominal.

Seeing the Ming army’s arguments, Jin Shenghuan knew that their side was bound to lose this battle.

And he had to start considering his own escape route again, considering whether to find an opportunity to surrender to the Wu army. After all, the Wu army seemed to be the most promising right now.

However, he had previously surrendered to the Qing, and then surrendered to the Ming. Now, if he surrendered to the Wu, his reputation would be completely ruined.

Even if the Wu army accepted him, they would never reuse him. Because his spineless nature had been exposed.

Thinking of this, Jin Shenghuan couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. In this chaotic world, even a general leading troops was often unable to control his own destiny.

After a series of arguments, the pro-war faction actually won.

They said that the Wu army only had ten thousand soldiers, while they had thirty thousand, giving them a numerical advantage.

As long as they could withstand the attack of these ten thousand soldiers, the Wu army might not have so many troops to support them and might give up Fuzhou.

Even if the Wu army insisted on fighting, it wouldn’t be too late to retreat then. Being able to fight a winning battle before retreating wouldn’t be too embarrassing.

After all, the emperor was here, and everything they did needed to consider face, and they couldn’t simply make decisions based on material gains and losses.

Chapter 250: Easily Defeated

Zhu Yujian didn’t kill the Wu army’s envoy, probably still clinging to some illusions, hoping that the Wu army wouldn’t dare to attack him, defying the world’s condemnation.

However, he clearly underestimated the ambition of Wu Changqing’s officers and soldiers.

Now, even if Wu Changqing didn’t want to become emperor, his officers and soldiers wouldn’t be happy. If you don’t become emperor, how can we become founding heroes?

Therefore, generals like Liu Hansan and Li Shaobin were intentionally or unintentionally intensifying the conflict between their side and the imperial court, wishing they could start fighting the imperial court right now.

With these military大佬 (dàlǎo, big shots) acting this way, their underlings naturally followed suit, trying to please them.

As for loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, perhaps some intellectuals still had a bit, but among the military generals, it was truly scarce. Xue Guiren had previously surrendered to the Qing army without any psychological burden. Now, attacking Zhu Yujian, the Ming Dynasty emperor, was naturally without any pressure as well.

“Prepare to attack the city, let these rabble see what real elite troops are,” Xue Guiren said disdainfully. Although he didn’t even bring cannons on this expedition, he wasn’t worried at all.

Just two rifle regiments, plus a grenadier battalion, plus a sniper squad, their firepower alone was enough to make the Ming army unable to cope.

This was just the difference in weapons. In terms of the individual quality of the soldiers, the Wu army was several streets ahead of the other side.

It could be said that the current Wu army could at least guarantee continued combat even with a thirty percent casualty rate.

On the other hand, Zhu Yujian’s rabble would collapse and run away one hundred percent after losing twenty percent of their men, and even the supervising officers wouldn’t be able to stop them.

Or, the supervising officers would take the lead in running away.

As the order was issued, the Wu army began preparations outside the city.

On the city walls, seeing that the Wu army was really going to attack the city, defying the world’s condemnation, some ministers trembled and cursed the rebellious traitors.

Unfortunately, this scolding couldn’t stop the Wu army’s advance.

Soon, a rifle regiment of the Wu army arrived at the foot of the city walls to provide fire cover.

Meanwhile, the cold weapon troops began to build pontoon bridges.

They were too lazy to even fill the moat, simply building a few pontoon bridges for the soldiers to pass through. Anyway, they didn’t have large siege equipment like siege towers this time, only ladders.

Therefore, even without filling the moat, there was no problem.

Of course, not filling the moat also had some hidden dangers, such as if they failed to attack and needed to retreat, the Ming army could take the opportunity to kill them from the city, then they would have no way to retreat, easily leading to a major defeat.

However, Xue Guiren didn’t believe that his troops couldn’t take this small Fuzhou, nor did he believe that he would need to retreat.

With such confidence, they skipped the step of filling the river and attacked directly.

“Shoot arrows!”

Seeing the Wu army building pontoon bridges unscrupulously under his nose, Huang Shanling was furious. This was humiliation, blatant contempt.

Since joining the army, he had never been so despised.

Huang Shanling prepared to teach them a lesson, but as soon as their archers raised their heads, the Wu army pointed their gun barrels at them and white smoke emerged. Immediately afterward, gunshots rang out, and bullets flew.

Several hundred archers, dozens of them fell at once.

This was the first time they had witnessed the power of flintlock guns. Many people were directly stunned, and some were so frightened that they squatted down. The remaining people did shoot their arrows, but the results were extremely limited.

The Wu army’s steel helmets provided good protection for the soldiers’ heads. As for being hit by arrows in other parts of the body, it wasn’t a particularly big deal.

Soon, the Wu army completed their second reload and fired a second shot.

The Ming army fell again by twenty or thirty people. After two rounds, nearly seventy of the Ming army’s archers had fallen, reaching a ten percent casualty rate.

The battle time back and forth was only a few breaths.

This scared the remaining archers half to death. When had they ever fought such a cruel battle?

In previous battles, it was difficult for even one person to die in half a day.

But now, ten percent had died in the blink of an eye. At this rate, before the Wu army’s pontoon bridges were even built, these archers would be dead.

Whether the city could be defended, they didn’t know, nor did they care. They only knew that if they continued to resist, they wouldn’t survive.

It was too terrifying. The archers hid one by one, refusing to get up no matter how their officers scolded them.

And their officers didn’t have the courage to kill people directly. Faced with soldiers afraid of battle, they were at a loss for a moment.

This was rabble. Real elite troops could directly execute cowardly officers first and report later. How could they be like this?

Since there was no punishment for cowardice, who would bite the bullet and fight?

With an army that didn’t have absolute obedience, too many problems would arise in battle.

“General, how do we fight this battle?”

The Ming army’s general saw that after two volleys, their soldiers didn’t dare to raise their heads again. With this kind of combat power, how could they defend?

Huang Shanling was a little angry at this question. He also wanted to find someone to ask, how do we fight this battle? There was no way to fight it at all.

He had only heard that the Wu army’s firearms were powerful, but now that he saw them with his own eyes, he knew the true power of these firearms. It was truly terrifying.

The main thing was their reloading speed, which was simply unbelievable.

With such a rate of fire, what weapons could withstand it?

While Huang Shanling was still racking his brains, before long, the Wu army’s pontoon bridges were built. The Wu army surged to the foot of the city and put their ladders against the city walls.

However, they didn’t rush to climb up, but waited for the grenadiers to arrive before starting to climb.

The grenadiers threw grenades up, and the Ming army, encountering this kind of thing for the first time, was a little stunned.

Although most of their officers already knew that the Wu army had a weapon called a grenade, which could be thrown out to explode and kill enemies, the written information seen in battle reports or hearsay was never vivid enough.

Therefore, the Ming army’s officers were also stunned for a moment, then realized that this might be the so-called grenade, and then shouted loudly.

They only knew how to shout, but didn’t know how to deal with it.

Immediately afterward, the grenades exploded.

The sudden explosions sent the soldiers on the city walls flying, causing chaos.

At this time, the remaining soldiers were either frightened silly or taking advantage of the chaos to escape. Where would anyone think of defending?

Soon, the first batch of Wu army soldiers climbed onto the city walls. The smoothness of it made the Wu army a little dazed, fearing that this was the enemy’s trick.

However, seeing the panic on the faces of the Ming army, the Wu army on the city walls finally understood that there was no trick, it was purely that the enemy was too weak.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong was human nature. Seeing such a group of cowards, the already fierce Wu army seemed to become even more ferocious.

A five-man squad dared to charge towards a dozen Ming soldiers, and their momentum made it seem like they had a huge advantage.

Even more speechless was that those dozen Ming soldiers were actually frightened by this momentum and retreated hastily.

This ridiculous scene almost made Huang Shanling, who was watching the battle, vomit blood.

Chapter 251: Self-Anesthesia

As more and more Wu soldiers climbed the city walls, the Ming army finally couldn’t hold on and collapsed.

“No retreat! The moment to serve the country loyally has arrived! Kill them! The personal guards will supervise the battle; those who are afraid to fight will be killed without mercy!”

Huang Shanling finally drew his sword and killed a soldier who was trying to escape. At the same time, he ordered his personal guards to supervise the battle together.

Although they couldn’t hold it, he had to buy some time for the Longwu Emperor to escape and delay the Wu army’s progress as much as possible.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, a bloody hole appeared in his forehead, and he fell straight down, no longer breathing.

Again, due to a lack of experience, the Ming army generals didn’t pay attention to protecting their own safety.

The war today is completely different from before.

A single rifle can change the way officers command. Those who don’t choose to change are very likely to end up like Huang Shanling, shot dead.

“My lord!”

Huang Shanling’s personal guards wailed a few times. When the other soldiers saw that their commander was dead, they fled even more unscrupulously.

The city wall completely entered a state of no resistance.

Inside the city, as early as the moment the Wu army climbed the city wall, soldiers had run into the city to report to Zhu Yujian that the city wall had fallen and to ask Zhu Yujian to move immediately.

“So fast?”

Zhu Yujian sighed. He was mentally prepared for failure, so he was ready to escape.

But he didn’t expect to be defeated so quickly, not even holding out for half an hour.

However, now was not the time to dwell on these things. Zhu Yujian led some confidants, opened the south gate, and fled south.

The Wu army didn’t besiege Fuzhou, or rather, Xue Guiren never thought of capturing or killing Zhu Yujian alive.

In any case, he was still an emperor.

If he captured Zhu Yujian, he wouldn’t know what to do with him. If he accidentally killed Zhu Yujian, it would be even more troublesome.

After all, he was royalty, and no ordinary person was qualified to kill him, no matter what crimes Zhu Yujian had committed.

Zhu Yujian fled, and the Ming army in the city was in a great rout.

It was quite tiring for the Wu army to chase down more than twenty thousand routed soldiers.

Not to mention chasing down twenty thousand people with thoughts and minds, it would take several hours just to kill twenty thousand pigs.

The Wu army launched a campaign to capture routed soldiers in the city. One company encountered Jin Shenghuan’s troops, and the Wu army company commander stopped.

Although the Ming army was a rabble, there were more than three thousand people in front of them.

No matter how trash these three thousand people were, his one hundred men could not be their opponents.

“Which general is ahead? I am Jin Shenghuan, leading my men here to await your esteemed army, willing to surrender completely.”

Just as he was nervously wondering what to do, Jin Shenghuan took the lead in expressing his willingness to surrender.

It’s good to enjoy the cool under a big tree. Jin Shenghuan, the weathercock, betrayed again.

The Wu army company commander couldn’t make the decision about such a large-scale surrender and quickly reported it to the rear.

After Jin Shenghuan’s slightly combat-capable troops surrendered, there was no force in the city that could threaten the Wu army.

Several hours later, Fuzhou returned to calm.

Basically, the routed soldiers had either surrendered or fled, and the Wu army had Fuzhou under their control.

In this battle, the Wu army only killed a little over one hundred soldiers and seriously injured a few. The Ming army killed more than one thousand soldiers, captured eighteen thousand, and retreated with Zhu Yujian with more than seven thousand. The remaining two thousand or so fled and disappeared.

The results looked abundant, but there was nothing to be proud of in defeating such a rabble.

After Xue Guiren screened out the old and weak from the more than ten thousand prisoners, he escorted the prisoners back to Nanchang.

Now their source of soldiers was already a bit too much, and they looked down on those old and weak who could only waste military pay.

Xue Guiren returned to Nanchang, and he only left a non-main force regiment in Fuzhou, with a force of more than one thousand people stationed there.

Anyway, he was not afraid of the Ming army coming to attack at all. Fuzhou was not a particularly important city.

Nanfeng, Zhu Yujian’s army retreated towards Nanfeng with their heads drooping.

They were completely different from when they had marched to Fuzhou valiantly and spiritedly.

This battle made them completely see the gap between themselves and the Wu army.

“Your Majesty, victory and defeat are common in military affairs.”

In the camp, Huang Daozhou saw that Zhu Yujian’s mood seemed not to be good and comforted him.

“This defeat has also allowed me to find the right direction for army training. Next, we need to obtain the secrets of the flintlock guns and their methods of training the army at all costs.

Then we will use these mountains to buy time for development and build a real strong army to fight them. With our several provinces and tens of millions of people, we still have a chance.”

Zhu Yujian said.

After all, he was not the kind of person who had been pampered since childhood, but had experienced various ups and downs since childhood. Therefore, his ability to withstand setbacks was much stronger than that of ordinary emperors.

Even if this battle failed, even if their strength was far from that of the Wu army, he still did not lose heart.

When he ascended the throne, their strength was also far from that of the Qing army, and the current situation was not worse than before, but he had never been discouraged.

If the generals under his command could be truly loyal, he might really be able to achieve something. It was a pity that the Zhu family’s prestige had been defeated by the previous emperors, leaving Zhu Yujian with nothing but a mess.

“Your Majesty is able to learn from failure and work hard to govern, which is really a blessing for the Great Ming. Wu Changqing’s ambition has been exposed. I think some loyal and righteous people in Nanjing will definitely not stand idly by, and we can also take the opportunity to win them over,”

Huang Daozhou suggested.

However, even though he said that, he was not very optimistic about Zhu Yujian in his heart. Everything he was doing now was just doing his best and listening to fate, leaving behind a name of a loyal minister.

“This plan is very good. If we can win over those powerful officials under his command, we can also create some trouble for him.”

What Zhu Yujian needed now was time. He needed time to raise military funds, form a new army, and build weapons.

“Gu Yanwu has always had a good reputation. Perhaps we can try to win him over. He is the head of Wu Changqing’s civil officials. If we can persuade him, it will be greatly beneficial to us,”

Someone suggested.

“Although Ma Shiying likes to exclude dissidents, he is quite loyal to the Great Ming and is also an object we can strive for,”

Another person echoed.

However, what they said was more like comforting themselves for their failure, fabricating a false image together to give their side some hope.

Anyone with a little brain should know that with Wu Changqing’s trust in Gu Yanwu, how could Gu Yanwu betray him?

Speaking of which, Wu Changqing could even be regarded as Gu Yanwu’s talent scout. Even if Gu Yanwu was still loyal to the Great Ming, he would at most resign and retire, and it was impossible for him to secretly frame Wu Changqing.

As for Ma Shiying, there was no need to say more. How long could one expect a selfish person to remain loyal?

What they said was more like group psychological therapy, collective self-anesthesia.

Chapter 252: Military Salary System

Compared to Liu Hansan’s unit, Wang Dayong’s progress was much smoother.

The Qing army did not deploy heavy troops in Jingdezhen, Yingtan, Shangrao, and other places. When they encountered the main force of the Wu army, they were quickly defeated.

After occupying these places, Wu Changqing had a lot more tax revenue.

Jingdezhen’s porcelain is world-renowned, especially now that ocean trade has opened up, and its porcelain has become even more in demand. At the same time, Jingdezhen has also earned a lot of wealth by selling exquisite porcelain.

And now, the tax revenue here belongs to Wu Changqing.

In addition to porcelain, the farmland around Poyang Lake is a very important grain-producing area.

After controlling this area, the people in Wu Changqing’s jurisdiction can not only eat their fill, but also have grain to sell to other places.

Wang Dayong left several thousand people to garrison these places, and then led the main force back to Nanjing.

Their operational plan had been fully completed. Next, they would return to Nanjing for rest and reorganization, and then cross the Yangtze River to the north and begin the Northern Expedition.

After eliminating Lekedehun’s army, the Wu army no longer faced any major threats in the South.

Whether it was Zhu Yihai, Zhu Yujian, or He Tengjiao in the west, their strength was not enough to shake Wu Changqing’s foundation.

In this way, he could safely launch the Northern Expedition and strike directly at the Central Plains.

In early June, the entire army returned to Nanjing.

At this time, the number of Wu army troops had reached two hundred and twenty thousand, including one hundred and fifty thousand main force troops and seventy thousand second-line troops stationed in various places.

The larger the scale of the army, the more detailed its division became.

Without this, the military expenditure would simply be unbearable.

A main force flintlock soldier’s monthly salary was three taels of silver. If everyone was paid according to this standard, then their monthly salary alone would be six hundred and sixty thousand taels of silver. Adding in the cost of supplies, one million taels of silver a month would not be enough.

No one could sustain such expenditure. Zhu Yujian paid his soldiers less than one tael of silver a month, and in Zhu Yihai’s army, only the main force received a salary of one tael of silver.

Among the Qing army, the main force Eight Banners received a monthly salary of two taels of silver, and other second-line troops received only one tael of silver, or even less.

Of all the armies, Wu Changqing paid the highest salaries, which was an important reason for the strength of his army. With more money, people were willing to risk their lives.

Many soldiers who had surrendered were very willing to work for Wu Changqing, as it was relatively safe and profitable.

In order to solve the problem of military expenditure, Wu Changqing also subdivided the army.

Among them, the miscellaneous troops responsible for garrisoning small places such as Yingtan and Fuzhou received only eight hundred cash per month. The average monthly salary for second-line troops stationed in important places such as Nanchang, Jiujiang, and Suzhou was one tael and two hundred cash.

Among these troops, cold weapon troops received one tael of silver per month, musket troops received one tael and five hundred cash, and technical arms such as grenadiers also received one tael and five hundred cash.

As for the field main force, the lowest-level cold weapon troops also received one tael and five hundred cash per month. These were the main forces for attacking cities and often needed to fight desperately, so without such a high salary, the soldiers would inevitably have resentment in their hearts.

Matchlock troops received two taels of silver, flintlock troops received three taels of silver, and other technical arms received even more.

The basis for setting these salaries was mainly determined by the degree of danger, utility, and technical difficulty.

The more dangerous the place, the higher the salary. For example, hard battles were fought by the main force, so the main force’s salary was higher than that of the second-line troops stationed in various places.

The more useful the soldier, the higher the salary. For example, snipers were much more useful than ordinary soldiers, so their salaries were much higher.

The higher the technical requirements for a type of soldier, the higher the salary, such as artillerymen and captains of ships in the navy.

After the subdivision, Wu Changqing could save nearly three hundred thousand taels of silver in military expenses each month.

Most importantly, this salary system could convince the soldiers and prevent them from feeling unfair.

Those who felt unfair could work hard to climb up.

In order to give these soldiers a path to advancement, Wu Changqing also formulated various methods for changing jobs.

It was very simple for second-line troops to enter the main force: train hard and then apply for an assessment. As long as the individual quality and various skills passed the assessment.

In the main force, if cold weapon troops wanted to transfer to musket troops, they only needed to perform well in battle, and the advanced weapons would be given priority next time.

As flintlocks were being manufactured in a continuous stream, several cold weapon troops that had made great contributions had exchanged their spears for guns and successfully transferred to become the core main force.

As for becoming other technical arms, it could only rely on their own learning and talent.

Those who believed they had talent could apply for an assessment.

If they passed the assessment, they could transfer to become artillerymen, cavalry, or navy.

The only relatively special case was the sniper company. At present, there was basically no way to enter the sniper company, and they could only wait for casualties in the sniper company.

However, this wish was difficult to realize. The people in the sniper company were the safest in the entire army.

After so many major battles, only one person in the sniper company had died, and even then, he had accidentally been shot in the head by a stray arrow and died, purely due to bad luck.

Relying on becoming a sniper was not as good as putting your heart into night school and learning skills such as surveying and literacy, so that you could at least transfer to become an artilleryman.

The army began to rest and reorganize in Nanjing, and Wu Changqing also had to reward the generals for their meritorious service and make some personnel changes in the army.

Reorganizing the army was a very delicate matter, and there were many aspects to consider.

For example, improving the army’s combat effectiveness, facilitating command, and changes in the size of officers’ power.

In order to complete the reorganization, Wu Changqing even stayed up all night.

The next day, Wu Changqing convened the highest-level military conference. Officers above the rank of regimental commander in the main force were basically all present.

In a super-large living room, a rectangular wooden table was placed in the middle, with room for about thirty people on both sides. These were the positions for division commanders, chiefs of staff, and some special brigade commanders.

Nameplates, tea, and fruit were placed on them, and only those with names could sit on both sides of the wooden table.

Other regimental and brigade-level officers were seated in chairs around the room, without even a cup of tea.

In the army, there was no such thing as everyone being equal. The army was all about the hierarchy. Whether it was official position, military rank, clothing badges, or etiquette, every detail emphasized the hierarchy.

In the army, the emphasis was on absolute obedience to the orders of superiors.

An army without absolute obedience was just a rabble, because in battle, it was sometimes necessary to sacrifice the individual, and some people needed to die.

Without absolute obedience, who would be willing to die?

For the individual who was asked to sacrifice, it was very cruel. But in order to win, in order to reduce losses, and for the benefit of the majority, this cruelty was necessary.

Chapter 253: Reorganizing the Three Armies

Wu Changqing had not yet arrived, so the many officers remained standing.

Several people gathered in small groups, chatting amongst themselves.

Many faces wore smiles, as they anticipated promotions.

“Old Li, I heard they’re establishing corps-level organizations this time?”

Liu Hansan asked.

Previously, the highest-level military officer was a division commander, but now that the army was growing, establishing higher-level organizations was inevitable.

Otherwise, in future wars, there would be a lack of unified command.

If everyone was a division commander, who would listen to whom? Only by establishing corps commanders could the overall situation be better coordinated.

“Probably,” Li Shaobin replied, unsure. Such major decisions were always dictated by Wu Changqing; they had, at most, the power to offer suggestions.

“I wonder how the corps-level organizations will be structured. I hope they don’t group all the flintlock rifle units into a single corps. That would reduce the overall combat effectiveness of the army. The mix of troop types is important,” Liu Hansan said.

His biggest worry was that Wu Changqing would organize all the flintlock rifle units into one corps, in which case, he would most likely not become the corps commander.

If he were just the corps commander of a cold weapon unit, even commanding tens of thousands of troops would be meaningless.

“You don’t need to worry about that. The General has more experience with army organization than you do,” Li Shaobin said, seeing through Liu Hansan’s petty thoughts and unable to resist a jab.

On the other side, Zhang Yingyuan was saying to Lu Guangzu, “Lord Lu, I heard your family was brought to Nanjing. Now you can restore your name and focus on getting promoted and becoming rich.”

“With my small contributions, I wouldn’t dare to hope for a promotion. I’d be content just to keep my current position as a regimental commander,” Lu Guangzu said.

Compared to some other surrendered generals, he was lucky to have secretly rescued his family and brought them back to Nanjing.

“Speaking of us surrendered generals, Dong and Xue are probably doing the best. This time, one of them is sure to get a position as a main force division commander.”

These officers who had surrendered later formed a circle. After all, they were all surrendered generals and had more in common.

Of course, another important reason was that they found it difficult to squeeze into the inner circle of the veterans. Forcing their way in only to be ignored would be quite awkward.

Currently, the officers in the Wu army were divided into several factions, the largest of which was naturally the veterans, led by Li, Liu, and Wang, who held absolute power.

Dai Zhijun, Wu Yi, and others also held important positions.

Besides the veterans, there were also the surrendered faction, the new faction, the Manchu faction, and those without any faction.

There were many people in the surrendered faction, and some held high positions, such as Dong Tianbao.

The new faction consisted of officers who had graduated from military academies. They were also known as the academy faction. These people were characterized by their youth and high level of military training.

However, because they started from a low point, their current positions were generally not high, but they had great potential.

Among them, Chief of Staff Tao Dongcheng, Staff Officer An Fugui, and Artillery Regiment Commander Yan Yizhou were representative figures.

There were very few people in the Manchu faction, only three or four. However, because of their special status, it was difficult for them to integrate into other circles, so those few people formed their own group.

The leader was naturally Mandahai, whom the Qing court hated, and he now wielded considerable power in the Wu army.

Those without any faction included Xiong Rulin, Qian Sule, and others.

For the sake of their future, they had completely severed ties with Zhu Yihai.

Originally, they had started from a very high point, but because of their former identities, their current development was not ideal.

“The General has arrived!”

A reminder came from outside the door, and everyone immediately stopped chatting and stood beside their respective positions.

Then, Wu Changqing entered the hall and sat in the chief seat. He said, “Everyone has worked hard. Please, sit down.”

Only then did everyone sit down, waiting for Wu Changqing’s instructions.

“In this battle of Jiangxi, everyone performed very well…”

Wu Changqing gave a necessary opening speech, then moved on to the army reorganization that everyone was most concerned about.

“The current garrison troops will remain unchanged for the time being. The main force of one hundred and fifty thousand will be divided into three corps according to my plan…”

Of the one hundred and fifty thousand main force troops, the flintlock rifle units numbered as many as thirty thousand.

There were also thirty thousand cavalry, twenty thousand arquebusiers, twenty thousand swordsmen and shield bearers.

The navy had fifteen thousand, archers ten thousand, grenadiers five thousand, artillery five thousand, a death squad of ten thousand, and other miscellaneous special forces of about five thousand.

Wu Changqing divided these people into three corps and five independent divisions.

The First Corps consisted of fifteen thousand flintlock rifle units, ten thousand swordsmen and shield bearers, and some grenadiers, totaling thirty thousand men. The corps commander was Li Shaobin.

The Second Corps had the exact same troop composition as the First Corps, and the corps commander was Liu Hansan.

On the surface, it seemed that his status was finally on par with Li Shaobin, but in terms of their closeness to Wu Changqing, Li Shaobin was still slightly higher.

The Third Corps consisted of twenty thousand arquebusiers, plus other auxiliary troops, with a total strength of thirty thousand. The corps commander was Wang Dayong.

The strength of the Third Corps was clearly weaker than the other two corps. This was not because Wang Dayong was out of favor, but simply because the army needed to be organized this way.

You couldn’t organize a single type of troop into a corps, nor could you spread a certain type of troop too thinly.

Wang Dayong’s abilities were relatively average, and he was hardworking and dutiful, so Wu Changqing arranged for him to be the corps commander.

If Liu Hansan were to do it, he would definitely feel resentful. And if Li Shaobin were to do it, it would be a bit of a waste of talent.

In short, Wu Changqing still valued the very obedient Wang Dayong. Although he gave him less power, the treatment he received in other aspects was no lower than that of the other two.

In terms of status, he was not inferior to Liu Hansan. If he didn’t like something Liu Hansan did, he could directly criticize him, and Liu Hansan couldn’t do anything about it.

The three corps had a total strength of ninety thousand, and then there were the various independent divisions.

The thirty thousand cavalry were divided into two divisions, with Dong Tianbao and Mandahai as the division commanders, respectively.

The fifteen thousand navy formed an independent division, with Wu Yi as the division commander.

The five thousand artillery formed an artillery division, with Zhang Xuanyi as the division commander.

The ten thousand archers formed an archery division, with Xue Guiren as the division commander.

Wu Changqing distributed military power relatively evenly, without concentrating the flintlock rifle units into one corps.

He would not give any subordinate too much power. Now, their highest rank was corps commander, so even if someone betrayed and rebelled, it would only involve the strength of one corps.

Although it would be damaging, it would not shake the foundation.

If the flintlock rifles were concentrated in one corps, no matter who was the corps commander, Wu Changqing would not be able to rest easy. Once the corps commander rebelled, it would be a complete disaster.

The thirty thousand flintlock rifle units already represented eighty percent of his combat power.

You can’t judge a book by its cover, and even with the loyal Li Shaobin, Wu Changqing couldn’t read his mind.

Chapter 254: Victory Banquet

Besides the appointments of these army commanders and independent division commanders, others who had rendered meritorious service were also promoted.

Qian Sule, Chen Shichang, Zhang Yingyuan, Xu Yuxian, Li Lianfan, and others were all promoted to division commanders.

Dai Zhijun became the Minister of General Logistics, Tao Dongcheng was promoted to Chief of the General Staff, and Xiong Rulin and An Fugui were promoted to Chiefs of Staff…

At the same time, Wu Changqing also established a military rank system at this commendation meeting.

Some official positions were difficult to distinguish in terms of seniority due to a lack of clear hierarchy. For example, it was hard to tell whether the Chief of Staff or the Division Commander held a higher position.

However, with military ranks, there could be a clear comparison.

First were the soldiers, who were divided into five ranks: private, private first class, corporal, sergeant, and staff sergeant.

A soldier’s rank was determined by length of service and importance. New recruits who had just enlisted were the lowest-ranking privates, but if they performed well in training and were selected for the flintlock rifle unit, their rank could be directly raised to private first class or corporal.

Old soldiers who had been in the cold weapon units for half a year could also be promoted to private first class. As for those who had been in the flintlock rifle unit for half a year, they could be promoted to sergeant or staff sergeant.

Of course, most of this was for future situations. Currently, anyone who could survive half a year in the army without dying could almost certainly become a squad leader.

And squad leaders would be directly awarded the rank of staff sergeant, regardless of their enlistment time.

For officers’ ranks, Wu Changqing also adopted the mature military rank system of later generations.

From low to high, they were second lieutenant, first lieutenant, captain, major, lieutenant colonel, colonel, senior colonel, major general, lieutenant general, and general.

The corresponding military positions were platoon leader, company commander, battalion commander, regimental commander, brigade commander, division commander, army commander, military region commander, and commander-in-chief.

Of course, this was only a rough correspondence, and there would be some fluctuations in special circumstances.

And such special circumstances were very common in the Wu army.

Because of the different types of troops, the difference in combat power was very large.

A flintlock rifle division and a sword and shield division were completely different in importance. Therefore, even if they were both division commanders, one might already be a senior colonel, while the other might still be only a lieutenant colonel.

A cold weapon division commander transferring to a flintlock rifle division to be a division commander could be considered a promotion. It was like the Vice Minister of Rites transferring to the Vice Minister of Personnel; they were both Vice Ministers, but it was indeed a promotion, and vice versa would be a demotion.

Another example was Wu Yi, the naval division commander. Although he was only a division commander, he was the supreme commander of the navy. Therefore, his rank was one level higher than senior colonel, reaching major general.

In terms of military rank, he was on equal footing with Li Shaobin.

The navy currently seemed weak and unimportant, but after unifying China, the focus of the army would shift to the navy in the future.

Therefore, Wu Yi’s development prospects were very promising.

Dai Zhijun and Tao Dongcheng’s ranks were also major general, although they did not have military power, their positions were very important.

With military ranks, if the main general of a certain unit was killed in battle, Dai Zhijun and others could directly take over based on their ranks, reducing unnecessary disputes and saving the situation.

Wu Changqing announced all the appointments and reorganizations, and everyone was generally satisfied.

After all, the troop strength had increased, so everyone’s power and official positions had been promoted accordingly.

Li Shaobin’s power had decreased a little relatively speaking, but he was still the number one figure in the military, so he had no objections in his heart. Wang Dayong was even more so; he was very satisfied with everything he had obtained.

After all, he was once just a centurion, and now he was the commander of an army of thirty thousand.

The magnitude of this promotion was simply incredible. At least, Wang Dayong had never imagined that he could have such a day.

Those who surrendered were also very satisfied. Compared with those who stubbornly resisted and had already died in battle, they could still thrive in the Wu army and continue to enjoy wealth and glory.

Moreover, the Wu army seemed very promising, and might even be able to unify the world in the future.

And although they could not be considered founding heroes, they should be able to gain merit for joining the winning side.

This meeting was purely for rewarding merits, so after the appointments were arranged, it was a victory banquet. There was no discussion of subsequent plans. That kind of thing could be discussed another day.

At the victory banquet, all kinds of good wine, meat, and delicacies were served.

Because Wu Changqing supported and encouraged overseas trade, some exotic vegetables and fruits were introduced to China in advance.

Such as onions, cabbages, and green beans. These vegetables were not necessarily better than the local vegetables, but they were fresh after all, so they tasted quite good at first.

Because not many seeds were purchased, the area planted with these things was not large. The small amount that existed was basically supplied to the government, which was a benefit Wu Changqing gave to his subordinates.

A small amount would flow into the homes of wealthy merchants, to show Wu Changqing’s favor.

This kind of thing still had some effect on winning people’s hearts now. As the seeds matured, the planting area would increase exponentially, and it would soon become an ordinary product.

In terms of meat, there were currently no imported products.

However, Wu Changqing came from the twenty-first century, a nation of food lovers, and knew far more cooking methods than this era.

Under Wu Changqing’s guidance, the chefs at home improved the hot pot method, adding chili peppers and many other seasonings, making it more delicious and tempting.

Another example was boiled fish and roasted whole lamb. Although these ingredients had already appeared in this era, their methods were still relatively primitive and crude. Wu Changqing always felt that something was wrong when he ate them.

Therefore, he even took the time to guide his own chefs, letting them make improvements.

After many improvements, the taste was almost the same as in later generations. At least Wu Changqing was satisfied with what he ate.

He cared a lot about what he ate.

In order to make food that satisfied him, he even spent resource points in the system store to buy a batch of seasonings that had not yet appeared in this world.

Anyway, those seasonings were very cheap in the system’s judgment. The price was even lower than cheap raw materials such as steel and coal.

Therefore, Wu Changqing exchanged for a ton of each seasoning, specifically to improve his daily meals.

And this time, in order to reward everyone, he not only sent out his private chefs, but also took out the best ingredients and seasonings. This kind of small favor was actually quite effective.

Sure enough, Wu Changqing saw the effect he wanted on everyone’s faces.

“This is so delicious, what kind of meat is this?”

Liu Hansan grabbed the wrist of the serving maid and asked.

“It’s ordinary beef, but it was cooked by the Duke’s chef himself, with a lot of precious seasonings added. These seasonings are usually only supplied to the Duke.”

The maid replied.

“It smells so good, the general really knows how to enjoy life.”

Wang Dayong exclaimed.

“It would be great if I could eat this kind of delicious food often.”

Liu Hansan was also a person who paid attention to enjoyment. He liked power, women, and delicious food.

“Make more contributions in the future, and maybe you can be invited to the general’s banquet a few more times. As for wanting to eat it often, don’t even think about it.”

Li Shaobin complained to him. It was already good to be able to eat this top-notch delicacy occasionally. Wanting to live the same life as Wu Changqing, how was that possible?

“Mandahai, do you still miss your hometown?”

At another table, Dong Tianbao teased Mandahai, who was gnawing on meat. Mandahai used to eat even simpler food in the northeast. Now that he tasted this kind of delicacy, he immediately forgot to care about his image.

“I’ve already forgotten my home with joy.”

Mandahai laughed loudly. This was originally a self-deprecating remark, but he didn’t feel embarrassed at all when he said it.

There was no way, he had to say it this way. He couldn’t sigh and reveal an expression of still missing the Qing Dynasty, that would be courting death.

Liu Shan’s saying that he had forgotten his home with joy might not have been just foolishness, but more of a helplessness.

Chapter 255: Overseas Trade

After a new round of reorganization, the army entered a period of rest.

No army can fight continuously; the soldiers’ mental state would definitely suffer.

Continuous high-pressure living is unbearable for anyone.

If it weren’t for the need for rest, Dodo wouldn’t have returned to the North last year with his army. He might have taken advantage of the momentum to pacify the entire South.

Now, Dodo regrets last year’s decision. He didn’t expect Wu Changqing to rise so suddenly.

Although the Wu army’s combat power is strong, and its casualty rate is always much lower than that of the enemy, the accumulated number of soldiers killed in action is still considerable, amounting to tens of thousands.

Those soldiers need rest, and war materials need to be prepared.

To cope with the Jiujiang campaign, the armory transported all its stockpiled gunpowder and shells. Now, if they were to fight another large-scale decisive battle immediately, they wouldn’t have that much gunpowder and shells.

Grain needs to be stored, damaged military equipment needs to be repaired, and soldiers with severe injuries who can no longer return to the battlefield need to be settled.

In short, there are many troublesome things.

Wu Changqing will arrange for those slightly disabled soldiers to enter literacy classes first, so that they can learn some commonly used characters and be able to understand official documents.

These people can be transferred to become grassroots police officers, or grassroots officials such as village chiefs and town heads in the future.

Wu Changqing will not allow the countryside to be forever controlled by the gentry and landlords. He wants to infiltrate power into every village and every corner.

And this requires a large number of grassroots cadres who can understand official documents, are loyal, and do not demand high salaries.

These slightly disabled soldiers are good candidates. After being baptized by war and cultivated by Wu Changqing, they will be more loyal to Wu Changqing.

Moreover, they will not demand too high salaries, after all, they are already physically disabled. It is already a great act of conscience for the government to settle them.

At least, it is a great act of conscience compared to other forces.

As for those severely disabled soldiers, those with families are sent back to their families with a sum of money as a subsidy.

Those without families are centrally placed in nursing homes, and the government pays for their upkeep.

Although this is a huge financial burden, it is a super trick to win over the hearts of the soldiers.

When Wu Changqing announced this series of regulations, the soldiers spontaneously knelt down and shouted “Long live!”

It was “Long live,” not “Ten thousand years.” They couldn’t wait for Wu Changqing to become emperor, because only when Wu Changqing became emperor could he issue more decrees that would benefit them.

Where have the soldiers of this era ever encountered such a good ruler?

After being injured and disabled, they can actually be supported for life.

This completely eliminates the soldiers’ worries, and they can be more courageous in battle.

When Wu Changqing played this trump card, he almost no longer had to worry about being rebelled against. Even if some officers wanted to rebel, the soldiers under his command would not agree.

With the war temporarily quelled, Wu Changqing’s focus returned to the economy.

Having promised those benefits to the soldiers, he must find a way to earn more money to be able to do it.

Among the many memorials, he saw a secret report submitted by Qin Fen, which stated that after Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian imitated him in opening up maritime trade, it had a slight impact on Songjiang’s business.

Originally, those Western European merchants only had one choice, Songjiang, and Wu Changqing and his people could control the pricing power.

But now, those Western European merchants have more choices. They can trade with Ningbo or Fuzhou.

Although the cost of goods produced by Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian is much higher than Wu Changqing’s, Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian are not as greedy as Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing may have to make a profit of four or five times or more, but Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian are willing to trade as long as they have a profit of one times.

Calculated in this way, it is more cost-effective for Western European merchants to go to Ningbo and Fuzhou for certain goods.

And this will inevitably squeeze Songjiang’s market share. After all, the number of foreign merchant ships that can arrive in China to do business is limited. If Ningbo and Fuzhou have a few more, Songjiang will have a few less.

Seeing this secret report, Wu Changqing was furious.

Compared to Western European merchants, they should at least be considered a group, but they don’t understand unity at all.

As long as they maintain a consistent price, those Western European merchants will have no choice but to be forced to trade with them and be exploited by them.

But now, with Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian doing this, not only can they not earn too much money themselves, but even Wu Changqing’s profits will be affected.

Internal strife always benefits outsiders.

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but think of the competition between Japan and China’s textile industry during the Republic of China period in his previous life, which also took advantage of the internal disunity to arbitrarily lower prices.

The thought of this kind of thing, where one would rather benefit foreigners than kill their own kind, made Wu Changqing unhappy.

If he didn’t have to worry about the impact, he would have sent troops to the South now and pacified the South first. Keeping them will only become a stumbling block.

Fortunately, Songjiang has many unique commodities, such as matches, high-quality steel, and cheap cloth. With these commodities, Songjiang is still the most prosperous port.

These are all very popular items overseas, especially armor, swords, and sabers made of steel.

Although firearms have become popular in Western Europe, there are still many places in the world where cold weapons are used in combat, such as Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, Africa…

In cold weapon combat, armor plays a very important role.

People with armor only need to protect their necks and heads when fighting, while people without armor need to protect their entire bodies. Basically, an army with armor can slaughter an army without armor.

The cost of building a suit of armor at the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant is only one tael of silver, while in India, such a suit of armor can be sold for twenty taels.

Things that can save lives are so valuable.

In places where silver is produced in Japan, it can even be sold for thirty taels.

The profit is so great that many people cannot imagine it.

Overseas business in this era is so profitable, not to mention that Wu Changqing’s products have unparalleled cost advantages.

Now, armor and swords have become their main export commodities, followed by cloth, ceramics, and tea.

Matches and cigarettes are also popular, but few people can afford these things, and they are luxury goods. So although they also make money, the market is very small.

Unless Wu Changqing allows these commodities to be reduced in price, but this is impossible. He will not reduce the price until the domestic demand is met. Only when the domestic market is saturated will he allow overseas sales at reduced prices.

What other commodities are particularly needed in the West?

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but think. He needs to create more advantageous commodities in order to plunder the wealth of the world and complete the accumulation of capital.

In the original timeline, the capital for Britain’s industrial revolution relied on the black slave trade.

At this time, the Western black slave trade is in full swing. Relying on the black slave trade, those Western European countries are frantically accumulating capital wealth.

Wu Changqing is not so cruel and cannot do such a thing.

To complete the accumulation of capital, he can only rely on trade to plunder the wealth of the Western European world.

Therefore, he needs more advantageous products.

Chapter 256: Shipbuilding Plan

After some thought, Wu Changqing was surprised to find that he didn’t have any particularly suitable goods to sell to the West in its current state.

If it was too advanced, they wouldn’t know what to do with it. For example, if he brought a bunch of batteries over, they would just say, “What the heck is this?”

If it was only slightly advanced, Wu Changqing worried that it would enlighten them and promote their development. For example, selling steam engines; the West would definitely pay a high price to buy them.

However, after they bought them, they would definitely take them apart and study them. Given enough time, someone would be able to unlock the secrets within.

The West had talent, or rather, because of their geographical location, their scientific and cultural atmosphere was relatively strong, and they had more scientific talent than China at this time.

If he helped them enter the steam age ahead of time, that would be a huge loss. At least, Wu Changqing didn’t have such a kind heart. He even hoped that Western Europe would remain in a primitive feudal society.

If he had the opportunity in the future, he would have to suppress the technological development of Western Europe.

He couldn’t sell anything too advanced or not advanced enough, and backward products were destined to not earn too high profits, just like cloth, which could only win by volume.

Although the cloth factories in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Songjiang were expanding frantically, the profits brought by their production capacity were still too small for a power.

Maybe he could sell galleons to them.

A thought popped into Wu Changqing’s head, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

If there was one thing the West lacked most right now, it was ships.

With ships, they could conduct overseas trade.

And there was never a shortage of sailors. Those desperate people might not even know how to swim, but they could still go directly on board as sailors.

In order to build ships, the Queen of England even called on the country to plant trees, specifically the nanmu trees used to build ships.

It was precisely by relying on this measure that England’s shipbuilding numbers later surpassed Spain, and then defeated Spain in one fell swoop, becoming the maritime hegemon and achieving the British Empire.

Ships were very popular goods in the West.

As long as they were built, there was no need to worry about not being able to sell them, nor did he need to worry about not being able to sell them for a good price.

Moreover, Wu Changqing had an advantage: he could use the most advanced technology to build the most advanced galleons of the time.

Currently, there were two main types of merchant ships in the West: the slightly outdated carrack and the galleon, which could be equipped with cannons to defend against pirates.

This type of ship had a large cargo capacity and strong protection, making it the most popular type of ship for long-distance merchants.

There were not many shipyards that could build galleons, because this was considered high-end technology at the time.

Moreover, even shipyards that had mastered this technology were very inefficient. There was no assembly line production, and they mainly relied on the experience of their employees to manufacture them, which was very costly.

But even so, the profits from shipbuilding were still considerable.

Therefore, Wu Changqing planned to vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry. First, he could sell them to Western European merchants to make money, and second, he could sell them to local merchants, encouraging them to go overseas and sell goods directly to Western Europe, without giving foreigners the opportunity to earn the difference.

In addition to building galleons, Wu Changqing also planned to build professional sailing warships and sell them to Western Europeans.

Professional warships were not as large as galleons, but they were longer and faster.

Because galleons needed to carry as much cargo as possible, their hulls had to be very large. Professional warships, on the other hand, only considered combat power. In order to install more cannons on the hull, the hull had to be very long.

And because of the need for higher speed, the hull could not be too large.

In short, professional warships and ordinary commercial galleons were completely different, and when warships and galleons fought, galleons had little chance of winning.

One thing that was very favorable to Wu Changqing at the moment was that Western naval warfare thinking had not yet been well developed, so there were no professional warships yet.

When they fought, the main ships they used were still galleons, which had weak firepower and basically just exchanged fire with each other. To determine the winner, they still had to rely on boarding actions.

Professional warships could be equipped with a large number of cannons, which could directly blow the other side to the bottom of the sea.

Wu Changqing was sure that the professional warships he made would definitely be very popular in Western Europe.

After all, at this time, Western European countries were fighting fiercely to compete for maritime hegemony.

The arms business has always been the most profitable business.

First, build sailing ships and sell them to opponents, and then drive steamships to bully them in the future.

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but chuckle when he thought about that scene. This method was a bit too damaging. He could imagine the scene of those foreigners being so angry that they vomited blood when they saw the steamships.

Shipbuilding.

Wu Changqing wrote down two words on the paper, and then spent one hundred thousand technology points in the system store to light up the manufacturing process of galleons and sailing warships, and then wrote these processes on paper.

Subsequently, Wu Changqing issued a shipbuilding order.

In addition to government construction, he also encouraged private capital to enter. Even for private capital, he would provide those advanced technologies, and he would only charge a little dividend.

When the merchants under his rule made money, it was the same as him making money.

In addition to issuing the shipbuilding order, Wu Changqing also found Wu Yi and gave him an important task, asking him to send the navy to Ningbo and Fuzhou to train.

Any ships trying to trade in Ningbo and Fuzhou would be detained, and any ships coming out of Ningbo and Fuzhou would be detained.

This time, Wu Changqing was also going to be a robber.

He wanted everyone to know that if they wanted to do overseas trade, they had to go to Songjiang obediently. Otherwise, they would have to worry about pirates.

As for whether this would lead to revenge from Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian, he didn’t consider it.

He didn’t care whether it would lead to scolding from merchants in Zhejiang and Fujian.

He wasn’t worried about protests and boycotts from foreigners either.

In the face of interests, these were all fleeting clouds. Anyone who dared to hinder him from making money was against him, and that was courting death.

“Brother Wu, this task is very difficult. After all, you used to be on the river, but this time you have to go to sea. However, I hope you can overcome the difficulties. Overseas trade is very important to us. Without those trades, we can’t afford so many troops.”

Wu Changqing said that the sea and the river were very different, but he didn’t care about this kind of thing and left it to his subordinates to overcome. If Wu Yi couldn’t do it, he could only choose other capable people to do it.

He called Wu Yi “Brother Wu” because they had started together, but he didn’t really treat him as an older brother.

Wu Yi was also very clear about this.

He said, “Your subordinate will definitely complete the General’s task. If I can’t do it, I will offer my head to you.”

Things were different now than they used to be. Now, in front of Wu Changqing, he always referred to himself as a subordinate.

“Brother Wu, you are too serious. Your safety is the most important thing. Take my note and go prepare. Dai Zhijun can give you priority for anything you need.”

Wu Changqing said.

Chapter 257: Capital Inflow

The shipbuilding decree excited those merchants who were looking for investment opportunities.

Based on past experience, any industry that Wu Changqing personally singled out for key development would become very profitable. Steelmaking and salt production, for example, were extremely lucrative.

This time, the shipbuilding industry was another rare opportunity for them.

Those with some spare money who wanted to start a business were already eager and began various preparations.

Hiring people, contacting timber suppliers, finding docks…

However, the shipbuilding industry required a large initial investment and had a long profit recovery cycle. It wasn’t an industry that ordinary people could enter. You needed a net worth of at least one million to even qualify.

But once you gained a foothold in this industry, your family wouldn’t have to worry about making a living for three generations.

“Father, I think the shipbuilding industry is very promising. Overseas trade is becoming more and more prosperous, and the demand for ships is very high. As long as we enter the industry now, we will definitely be able to develop. Many experienced shipwrights in our hometown can help us; this is our advantage.”

In a mansion in Nanjing, a middle-aged man held a newspaper and analyzed it to his father.

“But, can we enter the industry? The announcement said that the government would provide the most advanced naval technology to those who enter the industry. After all, we are from the North. Will they trust us with the technology and not worry about us leaking it to the Qing Dynasty?”

Hong Tianwen said. They were the richest family in Huai’an. Because there were many opportunities to make money in the South now, they brought their capital to Nanjing, wanting to start a new business.

Originally, they wanted to get involved in the steel or grain industry, but after coming to Nanjing for investigation, they found that the profit margin in the grain industry was very low, and the government controlled the prices and transportation very strictly.

The steel industry was the same. The government controlled these important industries very strictly, which was not suitable for their Northern investment.

They were almost ready to give up and return to Huai’an.

But at this time, Wu Changqing issued the shipbuilding decree, stating that he would support the shipbuilding industry and encourage local merchants to go overseas to do business and explore overseas markets.

This allowed them to see business opportunities, but they were worried that they would not be able to enter the industry because of their identity.

“I will visit Lord Hong Chengchou. He is currently in charge of development matters in the Ministry of Commerce and has a lot of influence. As long as he can help us, we will definitely be authorized.”

Hong Tailin was going to use connections, which was the most common method for merchants.

When there is trouble, find an official.

Hong Chengchou, as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, naturally knew a little about the Hong family of Huai’an and knew that they were very wealthy.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou quickly received Hong Tailin.

After all, one of the most important parts of his job was to attract investment, which in later generations would be called investment promotion.

As long as merchants came to Nanjing or the South to invest, he welcomed them with open arms.

The more investment he attracted, the more developed the commerce would be, and the more job opportunities would be created, making his political achievements more impressive.

“Greetings, Lord Hong.”

Hong Tailin saluted.

“You are too polite, please sit down.”

Hong Chengchou greeted, and then the two exchanged a few polite words.

Hong Tailin praised Hong Chengchou’s current achievements, and Hong Chengchou praised the Hong family’s strength.

Then, Hong Tailin explained his purpose: “I came to Nanjing this time to settle down in Nanjing and find some profitable business here.”

“That’s very good. Now the Governor-General is encouraging business, and investing in Nanjing is a wise choice,” Hong Chengchou said.

“The Governor-General cares about industry and commerce, which is a blessing for us merchants. However, after many investigations in Nanjing, I found that most industries have already been taken by others. There are also some industries that I am not qualified to enter.”

Not qualified to enter? Did they want to enter the manufacture of steam engines? The manufacture of new weapons? Was this guy a merchant or a spy?

Hong Chengchou suddenly became vigilant. Although he very much liked capital flowing into Nanjing, some industries were strictly forbidden for ordinary merchants to touch.

For example, the manufacture of steam engines, the manufacture of flintlock guns, the manufacture of cement, and so on. Wu Changqing kept these core technologies very tightly guarded, and he found very reliable partners to operate them, while also sending people to supervise them at all times to prevent technology leaks.

There were countless forces wanting to steal these secrets, from the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty to wealthy merchants. They all wanted to steal the secrets to profit.

In recent months, the intelligence department had captured dozens of spies. Among them, many people pretended to be merchants and tried to obtain secrets in the name of cooperation and investment.

Therefore, when Hong Tailin said that there were industries he could not get involved in, Hong Chengchou became alert.

“Which industry do you want to enter?” Hong Chengchou asked.

“It is the shipbuilding industry that the Governor-General recently recommended. When my family was in Huai’an, we also dabbled in the shipbuilding industry and had a lot of experience. This time, we want to enter the shipbuilding industry, but we are worried that because of our Northern identity, the government will treat us differently and not provide us with the most advanced shipbuilding technology.”

Hearing that it was the shipbuilding industry, Hong Chengchou was slightly relieved.

Compared to those core technologies, the shipbuilding industry was not so strict.

Even if there was a technology leak, the enemy would not be able to use this technology to quickly change the strength of the army and could not change the general trend of the world.

Therefore, this kind of business could be opened to Northern merchants.

“After all, these technologies are the Governor-General’s hard work. If they are leaked out, wouldn’t it be helping the enemy?”

Although he could obviously open it to them, Hong Chengchou didn’t say it clearly, but first talked about his difficulties.

This was just to collect some benefits.

After he surrendered, his family property in the North was confiscated by the Qing Dynasty, so he was now relatively poor and could only receive a basic salary each month.

This monthly salary was a lot for ordinary people, but it was not enough for him, a third-rank official. The house he lived in now was still rented. Other prices in Nanjing were cheap, but housing prices had been rising.

There was no way around it; too many people wanted to settle in Nanjing.

Because he had just surrendered, or for the sake of his future career, Hong Chengchou did not dare to be corrupt or accept bribes.

Helplessly, he could only rely on some extra benefits.

This kind of money was actually a kind of corruption, but it was harmless to the government. If he didn’t accept this money, he would still issue a license to Hong Tailin.

If he accepted the money, he would only issue a license and would not give any other benefits.

This was called corruption without perverting the law. Whether he accepted the money or not, it had no impact. There was generally not much risk in accepting this kind of money. Even if something happened, the punishment would be very light.

For Hong Tailin, it was not a loss to pay such a sum of money to buy peace of mind.

In this era of rampant corruption, some merchants would not feel at ease without giving officials some benefits. It was like some people in later generations who liked to give doctors red envelopes before surgery.

With both parties willing, things were quickly settled. Hong Tailin obtained a business license, but he needed to accept government supervision.

In this incident, Hong Tailin paid Hong Chengchou ten thousand taels of silver, which was a huge sum of money.

There were many Northern merchants like Hong Tailin. In order to do business normally in Nanjing, they often did this kind of thing.

The investment environment in Nanjing was too good, and the inflow of capital was an irresistible trend.

Chapter 258: Qing Envoy

On June 5th, a convoy entered Nanjing. They were peace envoys sent by the Qing Dynasty.

It was a tradition that envoys were not to be harmed during wartime. Although the two sides were now bitter enemies, Wu Changqing, along with several ministers, received the Qing envoy, Mao Wenci.

Mao Wenci was a Han Chinese who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty very early on. He was loyal to the Qing and highly valued within the Qing court.

The Qing Dynasty sent him mainly because of his Han identity, hoping to encounter less difficulty during negotiations. If they had sent a Manchu, the talks might have broken down at the first disagreement.

“Greetings, General Wu.”

Mao Wenci bowed.

After some pleasantries, Mao Wenci began the main topic of his visit. He said, “The Central Plains has been plagued by war for years, and the people are suffering. The Regent Prince, feeling for the suffering of the people, is unwilling to continue large-scale warfare with the General.

I have long heard that General Wu loves his people like his own children and cares about their well-being, sharing the same ideals as the Regent Prince. As the saying goes, great minds think alike. Therefore, I hope that the General can think of the people, turn hostility into friendship, and stop the fighting.

The Regent Prince is willing to divide the country along the Yangtze River and co-govern the world with the General.”

Mao Wenci spoke eloquently, using the well-being of the people as an excuse.

“Hahaha, Dorgon is afraid, isn’t he?”

Liu Hansan laughed loudly. It was more appropriate for subordinates like them to mock the envoy. If Wu Changqing mocked him personally, it would seem undignified. If his subordinates did it, it could be attributed to their being uncouth and ignorant of etiquette, leaving the Qing Dynasty with nothing to say.

“General Liu jests. The Regent Prince is a genius seen once in a century, rising from a corner of beyond the pass to now occupy half the country. Why would he fear anyone? The reason he sent me is for the sake of the people.

The North has been ravaged by the rebel for many years. If the war continues, countless people will be displaced and starve to death on the roads. Continuing the war will affect the people’s farming, and then, I am afraid, some unbearable things will happen.”

Mao Wenci’s job wasn’t easy. He had to maintain Dorgon’s dignity while persuading Wu Changqing to agree to peace talks.

His only trump card was the common people.

As long as the war continued, Dorgon would inevitably have to raise taxes, and more people in the North would starve to death.

A softer-hearted person might really compromise because of this.

However, Wu Changqing would definitely not compromise, nor could he. He couldn’t abandon the unification of the country just because he was concerned about the people in the North. If he really revealed the weakness of being kind-hearted, wouldn’t Dorgon use the people as human shields on the city walls in the future?

A truly benevolent ruler cannot be a leader. Wu Changqing would also make trade-offs when necessary.

“That sounds nice, but you’re just afraid. I advise you to surrender obediently, and we might consider letting you return beyond the pass. Otherwise, don’t expect a good ending.”

Ruan Dacheng also spoke. He hoped that Dorgon could surrender so that they could easily unify the country.

Right now, although they had a military advantage, the war was unpredictable, and no one could guarantee what would happen in the future. Forcing Dorgon back beyond the pass was already a good outcome in his opinion.

Mao Wenci just wanted to turn around and go home. The Wu army’s high-ranking officials were all so confident, as if the world was already in their pocket. There was no way to talk.

“The Regent Prince said that if the General is willing to negotiate peace, he can return the families of those generals who have surrendered to you.”

Mao Wenci played a small trump card. Currently, there were many surrendered generals in the Wu army, and many of their families were controlled by the Qing Dynasty in the North.

If Wu Changqing agreed to peace talks, bringing those hostages over could buy the loyalty of his subordinates. But if Wu Changqing refused, it would more or less leave a thorn in the hearts of those generals.

Usually, this little bit of resentment might not have much impact, but under certain circumstances, these resentments could affect the decisions of those generals.

In short, even if Wu Changqing refused to negotiate peace after Mao Wenci made this offer, he wouldn’t leave empty-handed.

This was a blatant scheme, and Wu Changqing couldn’t avoid it.

Of course, this didn’t mean that Wu Changqing couldn’t counter it.

“Returning the families of my subordinates is not bad, but that’s not enough. If you agree to one more condition, I will agree to peace talks.”

If Wu Changqing directly refused to negotiate peace, his surrendered subordinates would inevitably be dissatisfied. Therefore, Wu Changqing didn’t make a decision, but instead kicked the ball back to Mao Wenci.

He planned to make a request that Mao Wenci couldn’t agree to. Then the situation would become that it wasn’t that he didn’t want to save the families of his subordinates, but that Mao Wenci didn’t agree to negotiate peace and release them.

Of course, smart people could still see the logic in it, but it didn’t matter. As long as everything looked good on the surface. Wu Changqing didn’t openly give up on rescuing them, so the surrendered generals had no reason to complain about Wu Changqing.

“I wonder what the General’s condition is?”

Mao Wenci asked. He knew that this condition would definitely be harsh, maybe demanding a lot of silver.

After all, Wu Changqing was known for being greedy for money. For money, he could even sell important captured prisoners.

If it was demanding a lot of money, Mao Wenci couldn’t agree. The Qing Dynasty was living a tight life and was short of money everywhere.

Mao Wenci could only pray in his heart at this time, praying that Wu Changqing’s condition wouldn’t be too excessive.

“It’s very simple. You know the stories of Wang Zhaojun and Princess Wencheng, right? I heard that the current Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang is the number one beauty of the Manchus and Mongols. If you send her to me as a concubine, I will temporarily stop the war.”

Wu Changqing said.

As soon as these words came out, Mao Wenci was stunned.

This was too much, simply blatant humiliation.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was the current emperor’s mother. Even Dorgon was not qualified to marry her, let alone marry a duke of the Great Ming as a concubine.

At least the one who married Wang Zhaojun was a Khan, and Wu Changqing was only a governor-general. Although he was actually independent, he was nominally a subject of the Great Ming.

The Qing emperor’s mother marrying a subject of the Great Ming as a concubine, this…

A trace of anger appeared on Mao Wenci’s face. He felt that Wu Changqing, as the highest authority of a powerful force, was too frivolous and rude to say such a thing.

“General Wu has no sincerity at all. Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang has a noble status, and no one in the world is qualified to touch her. If the General loves beauties, there are many young and beautiful girls among the Manchus and Mongols, whose beauty is not inferior to Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. We will send as many of those people as the General wants.”

Mao Wenci snorted coldly. He would never agree to this condition, and he didn’t have the right to agree for Xiaozhuang.

And his statement also allowed Wu Changqing to no longer have to make the choice of whether to save them or not. Wu Changqing’s purpose had been achieved.

His subordinates could only blame Mao Wenci for not agreeing, and could no longer blame him.

Wu Changqing was a little disdainful of Mao Wenci’s words.

Originally, he could have behaved a little more maturely, but this time he chose to reveal his arrogant and frivolous nature slightly.

Wu Changqing said, “Envoy Mao, you are speaking a bit too much. Whether or not one has a noble status needs the support of strength. When I reach Beijing, you will know if I have that qualification. Of course, the premise is that you can live to that day. I hope you protect your little life in the future, and you will have the opportunity to lick my boots then.”

After speaking, Wu Changqing left them behind and left first.

Chapter 259: The Problem of Costs

“Hahaha, Envoy Mao, I’d say it’s Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang’s good fortune to be able to marry our General. You wouldn’t believe how many stunningly beautiful women in Jiangnan are vying for a chance to marry our General, but they don’t get the opportunity.”

Liu Hansan said with a mocking laugh, causing Mao Wenci’s face to flush red, clearly enraged. If their physiques weren’t so different, Mao Wenci might have already attacked.

The civil officials in the Wu army were more restrained and didn’t join in the mockery.

However, they no longer mentioned the peace talks, as Wu Changqing’s attitude was already clear: no peace talks.

If there was even a hint of willingness to negotiate, he wouldn’t have proposed such outrageous conditions.

Of course, that was their personal opinion. Some people didn’t think that way.

Xue Guiren’s mind was occupied with how to capture Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang alive. Perhaps others thought Wu Changqing was deliberately making things difficult for Mao Wenci, but he didn’t see it that way.

In his opinion, if Wu Changqing wasn’t truly enamored with Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, why would he insist on this demand? Why not just demand ten million taels of silver, or have Dorgon commit suicide as an apology?

Since Wu Changqing made this request, it at least showed that, in Wu Changqing’s eyes, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was worth the price, enough to make Wu Changqing willing to sacrifice the peace talks to obtain her.

Believing he had figured out Wu Changqing’s intentions, he discovered a shortcut to promotion: capturing Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang alive.

Of course, the difficulty was astronomically high, and he had no clue where to start. The only thing he could do was to find a way to be the vanguard when attacking Beijing in the future.

Amidst the jeers of the crowd, Mao Wenci temporarily withdrew from the Governor-General’s mansion.

However, he didn’t leave Nanjing immediately; he wanted to make one last effort.

For example, he could seek an audience with Hong Chengchou and use Hong Chengchou’s family in Beijing as leverage to get Hong Chengchou to say a few words for the peace talks in front of Wu Changqing.

Or he could find Mandahai and persuade him to do something for the Qing court. Or he could find other powerful officials, offer them money and beautiful women…

In short, even if the hope was slim, he had to try.

If all else failed, he would stay in Nanjing for a few days, take a good look around Nanjing, and gather some of the most accurate intelligence about Nanjing.

The next day, Mao Wenci began his actions.

Unfortunately, he encountered a setback in the first step: Hong Chengchou simply refused to see him.

Firstly, to avoid suspicion, and secondly, Hong Chengchou was genuinely busy with many important matters that needed his attention.

For example, the rising costs of the steel mill.

Due to the expansion of the steel mill, the iron ore and coal that the surrounding areas could provide were no longer sufficient to meet the needs of the Jiangnan steel mill. After all, there were no large-scale mines around Nanjing.

To meet the production capacity, the Jiangnan steel mill had to purchase iron ore and coal from other places, which would inevitably lead to an increase in costs.

Moreover, the increase was not small. Purchasing iron ore and coal from other places increased the manufacturing cost of steel by at least fifty percent.

The transportation conditions of this period were rudimentary, and transportation costs were extremely high.

Fortunately, it was still next to the Yangtze River and could rely on relatively cheap water transportation. If it relied entirely on land transportation, the cost would have to be doubled again.

One of the important reasons why the Industrial Revolution first developed in Britain was that Britain had abundant coal and iron ore. This allowed them to use machines on a large scale, the cost of coal was relatively low, and the cost of steelmaking was also very low, so the steel they produced was competitive in the international market.

The problem of cost is the biggest problem. The so-called Industrial Revolution is actually a revolution to reduce costs. The textile industry existed as early as one or two thousand years ago, but it has never been able to develop because it could not reduce its costs.

It was not until the advent of the Jenny spinning machine and the emergence of factories that large-scale production became possible.

Now, there are two options before Hong Chengchou: one is to lay railways, and the other is to build a new factory in another location.

Ma’anshan, not far from Nanjing, has abundant iron ore. Building a steel mill branch in Ma’anshan would at least save on the transportation costs of iron ore.

As for coal, there is no good solution. The entire South lacks coal; China’s coal mines are all in the North and Northwest.

In the South, only Panzhihua and Pingxiang in Jiangxi have some large coal mines, but unfortunately, they are too far from Ma’anshan. It is better to use coal from the North.

The nearest large coal-producing area to Ma’anshan is Huainan in Anhui, where there are large amounts of coal that can be transported to Ma’anshan via the Huai River, the Grand Canal, and the Yangtze River.

In short, building a new factory in Ma’anshan can reduce costs by twenty to thirty percent. When the output becomes larger, over time, this twenty to thirty percent cost reduction is very considerable.

Another option is to lay a railway from Ma’anshan to Nanjing, so that iron ore from Ma’anshan can be transported to Nanjing very cheaply.

However, the risk of this plan is very high because no one knows when a practical locomotive will be invented.

Although the steam engine project team is researching and improving day and night, the current progress does not seem to be particularly smooth.

Hong Chengchou doesn’t understand the pressure resistance problems of those high-pressure boilers. He only knows that this project is still quite uncertain.

If it can’t be researched and developed, the steel mill can only use iron ore transported at high freight rates.

Another point is that the initial investment in laying railways is also very large. Currently, Nanjing needs money in many places and cannot spare silver to lay rails.

After comprehensive consideration, Hong Chengchou submitted a memorial, writing his analysis and views on the memorial, hoping that subsequent steel mills would be built in Ma’anshan.

Wu Changqing briefly looked at the memorial and approved the suggestion. After all, he vaguely remembered that Ma’anshan had a very famous steel mill in later generations, which shows that building a steel mill in Ma’anshan is a very correct choice.

Because Ma’anshan’s iron ore reserves reached one billion six hundred million tons, and the extractable amount reached one billion tons.

In this era, this number is terrifying, almost enough to supply the world for decades.

Moreover, as Wu Changqing’s long-term residence, he does not want those heavily polluting factories to be built near Nanjing.

Now that it is just starting, there are abundant worker resources here, so there is no choice but to let those factories be built here. When conditions permit in the future, these highly polluting factories will have to be moved to other places.

The pollution problems caused by the First Industrial Revolution are also a very serious problem. London in history was called the Fog City because too much coal was used, and the entire atmosphere of London was polluted.

It took decades of treatment to solve this environmental problem.

Out of many long-term considerations, building a steel mill in Ma’anshan is the best option.

Chapter 260: Influencing the Surroundings

Huainan, this place has undergone earth-shattering changes in the past two months.

Coal mines have sprung up everywhere, and all you can see are coal miners covered in black, with only their eyes visible.

China has a long history of using coal, but the usage has never been high. Or rather, the whole world was like this; before the advent of the steam engine, the demand for coal was not significant.

However, since the appearance of the steam engine, the demand for coal has been growing exponentially.

Last year, the Nanjing area’s annual coal consumption was only around dozens of tons. This year, in May alone, Nanjing’s coal consumption reached several thousand tons.

This massive demand has directly driven the surrounding coal mining industry.

In the past, few merchants ventured into coal mining because it was difficult to sell what they mined due to a lack of market.

But now, they don’t have to worry about market issues. As long as they dig it up and transport it to Nanjing, factories will be fighting over it.

Therefore, Huainan, a place rich in coal, has suddenly become bustling and prosperous.

A large number of merchants purchased various mining tools and hired many landless tenant farmers to mine coal.

And these tools were all bought from the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant.

On a large ship, rectangular iron ore carts were continuously being pushed down.

These are ore transport vehicles produced by the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, made entirely of steel, and very durable. They are of moderate size, making it easy for one person to push and pull.

One such iron cart costs twenty taels of silver, but in terms of improving efficiency, using these carts is much more cost-effective than using traditional wooden wheelbarrows.

Only these iron carts can withstand the high-intensity operations in the mines. Wooden carts would be scrapped after only two days of work.

In addition to iron carts, steel products such as double-headed hoes, hoes, and iron shovels were also being moved off the ship in large quantities and distributed to the miners.

These are essential tools for improving mining efficiency, specially developed by the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant.

And the emptied ships then began to load coal for transport to the South.

The world is bustling for profit, and the world is bustling for gain.

The changes in Jiangnan have had a huge impact on the surrounding areas, changing the lives of countless people.

Like in Huainan, many tenant farmers have discovered that working for landlords is far less profitable than mining in the mines.

As a result, landlords have had to slightly increase the wages for tenant farmers.

Not only tenant farmers, but also some landowners, after discovering that mining coal is more profitable than farming, have also switched to mining coal.

Since farming is not cost-effective, why bother farming? Some of the bolder farmers simply sold their land, and the whole family went to mine coal.

Men mined coal, and women were responsible for boiling water and cooking in the mines.

Although mining coal is a very hard job, farming is also hard, and it is difficult to support oneself by farming. In comparison, mining coal is much better than farming.

Some large landlords, seeing that mining coal was profitable, also dug out the silver hidden in their cellars and invested in the coal mining business, buying coal-rich mines and mining tools.

There were also some cloth merchants and salt merchants whose industries were severely impacted. Cheap goods from the South squeezed them out of existence, and many cloth merchants and salt merchants went bankrupt.

Helplessly, they could only change careers and choose to invest in coal.

For a time, the coal industry in Huainan experienced a boom.

Various coal-related industries were also driven up.

Faced with this situation, the Prefect of Huainan not only did not stop it but encouraged merchants to invest in the coal industry.

Although he knew that this coal was being transported to Nanjing, which was an act of aiding the enemy.

However, in the process of aiding the enemy, Huainan also received huge benefits, with tax revenues increasing by a full fifty percent. This was almost unimaginable in an agrarian society.

This was hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and it was a continuous stream of tax revenue.

Which local official could resist this temptation?

Therefore, the Prefect of Huainan did not even consider the consequences of selling coal to the South; he only cared about how much money he could make.

He had already offered a large bribe to the people above him, just to buy some information.

Once he learned that the imperial court was going to deal with him, he would abscond to Nanjing with the money.

To this end, he had secretly sent some of his family members to Nanjing, leaving a way out for himself.

Zhong’s Coal Mine, a large coal mine opened by Zhong Xueyan.

Zhong Xueyan looked at the scene of thousands of workers working simultaneously, and he felt quite proud.

“I never thought that this small coal would become so valuable. Fortunately, my old man left me a few mountains, otherwise, our family would have declined in my generation.”

Zhong Xueyan laughed. His ancestors had also been high-ranking officials, such as the Third-Rank Vice Minister of Revenue, and had accumulated countless properties.

However, after being squandered by his grandfather and father, his family was about to decline in his generation.

And he really had no talent in reading and taking the imperial examinations, so he could only wait to die.

But fate is so wonderful. The coal that no one cared about before suddenly became a hot commodity. And his family’s mountains happened to have a lot of easily mined coal.

As a result, Zhong Xueyan became rich again and became a prominent figure in Huainan. Even the county magistrate had to call him Boss Zhong.

“Master, when I was in the South, I saw something called a steam engine, which can be used to pump water and transport coal, which is much more convenient than manpower. The mines in the South all have this kind of machine, which can save a lot of labor costs.”

His steward said.

“Then why didn’t you buy some back? Are they very expensive?”

Zhong Xueyan asked. The biggest expense in mining now is labor. If machines can replace labor, it can greatly reduce costs while improving efficiency and output.

“They are a bit expensive, but that’s not the main problem. The problem is that because we are under the jurisdiction of the Qing Dynasty, they simply won’t sell them to us, fearing that we will leak the technology to the Qing court.”

The steward said helplessly.

“Damn the Qing Tartars, they are a disaster.”

Zhong Xueyan cursed. He didn’t have much opinion on the Qing Dynasty before. Anyway, no matter who was the ruler, he had to pay taxes.

But now, because of the Qing Dynasty’s rulers, he can’t use advanced machines, so he has an opinion on the Qing Dynasty’s rulers.

He hopes that the Wu army can attack quickly and occupy Huainan so that he can use advanced machines and make more money.

“Yes, it would be great if they attacked. Those BMW cars, perfumes, and soaps are sold very cheaply in Nanjing. Once they get to us, the price doubles because we are not their people.

I heard that Duke Wu treats the people and merchants under his rule very well. After he attacks, we can also enjoy that kind of treatment.”

The steward said.

Unknowingly, Wu Changqing has supporters in the North.

Moreover, there are quite a few of these people, mainly merchants, who are all influential figures.

Now, it is very easy for the Wu army to find out information about the North. Those merchants will be very cooperative in helping, just to show their goodwill to Wu Changqing.

Chapter 261: An Unsolvable Predicament

Xuzhou, Qing army’s new army camp.

After losing two main forces in Nanjing and Jiangxi, the Qing court was also seizing the time to build a new army, and Xuzhou was one of the major camps.

Here, fifty thousand new soldiers were recruited, imitating the Wu army’s training methods.

Although the Wu army had taken some secrecy measures regarding their training methods, it was very difficult to keep things that were practiced regularly secret.

Now, the Qing army’s spies had figured out some of the Wu army’s training routines.

For example, practicing marching in formation, trust training, courage training, and formation coordination. Even in ideological education, the Qing army compiled a set of content suitable for the Qing army based on the Wu army’s guidelines.

The Qing Dynasty at this time was not as pedantic as it was in the late Qing Dynasty. It was still in a very humble stage, pursuing progress and actively learning.

In the past, the Qing army’s firearms were not as good as the Ming army’s. After suffering losses, they sold everything they had to develop cannons, and eventually surpassed the Ming army in firearms.

And now, they continued this tradition.

Seeing that the Wu army’s weapons were more advanced, they imitated them. Seeing that the soldiers trained by the Wu army were more fearless, they began to imitate the Wu army’s training methods.

The reason why the Qing army was so actively changing was mainly because they had no choice. The situation they were facing was more severe than that of the late Qing Dynasty.

When the late Qing Dynasty was invaded, the foreign powers only demanded some unequal treaties, and no country ever thought of completely occupying the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, even if they lost a battle, it didn’t matter. It wouldn’t shake their foundation. At most, they would just lose some money and face, and the rulers’ position would still be relatively stable.

But now, Wu Changqing was going to fight them to the death, vying for the entire Central Plains, and completely overthrow them. Therefore, they had to use all their strength to deal with it, and they had no way out.

However, this was the idea of the Qing court’s upper echelons.

Some mid-level and lower-level officials might not think so deeply.

At this time, in the new army camp, several officials and generals were tied up and knelt in front of Kong Youde.

Kong Youde’s lungs were about to explode with anger. The higher-ups allocated funds to build a new army, but the officers in charge of procurement actually purchased weapons from the Wu army.

This kind of operation was simply ridiculous to the extreme.

“Your Excellency, I have been wronged! This subordinate was forced to do so.”

The procurement officer cried and said, “The higher-ups only allocated one hundred thousand taels of silver for weapons, but demanded that we complete the equipment for fifty thousand soldiers. This is impossible to complete in the North.

Only by purchasing the Wu army’s discarded second-hand weapons can we complete the equipment for fifty thousand people.”

It turned out that the Qing court was now short of money, and when allocating funds for the new army, they were also stingy, only giving a portion of the money, and the rest had to be solved by the local generals themselves.

In the past, their only way was to increase the exploitation of the people.

But now, they had another option, which was to purchase the Wu army’s discarded weapons.

Now the Wu army was undergoing a large-scale replacement of equipment, and those cold weapons were being phased out on a large scale.

Originally, those weapons were prepared for export overseas, but when Northern merchants came to buy them, the Wu army was too lazy to care so much and sold them directly.

Anyway, the Wu army was not worried about what would happen if these backward weapons fell into the hands of the Qing army.

These weapons were much cheaper than re-manufacturing a new set of equipment, and the Qing army had no choice but to choose to buy them in order to save money.

“Do you dare to say that you didn’t embezzle in this process?”

Kong Youde also knew that one hundred thousand taels was too little, but he couldn’t complain about the imperial court like his subordinates.

With a belly full of anger and nowhere to vent, he could only take it out on the procurement officer.

And this procurement officer was indeed not clean. Completing the task was just an excuse, and the ultimate goal was to embezzle from it.

In this procurement, he alone embezzled five thousand taels, and the total amount embezzled by others involved was nearly ten thousand taels.

Five thousand taels was the procurement officer’s fifty years of military pay, so it was no wonder he was tempted. Anyone would find it difficult to resist such temptation.

“General, spare my life! General, spare my life!”

The procurement officer and others could only kowtow and beg for mercy, but Kong Youde did not soften his heart and directly ordered the beheading of several major criminals, and fined and beat the other accomplices.

He had to stop this behavior of aiding the enemy, otherwise the Wu army would become stronger and stronger in the future.

After dealing with this corruption incident, Kong Youde returned home, exhausted physically and mentally.

He felt a burst of exhaustion and a sense of powerlessness.

It was easy to solve corruption, but how to solve the military expenditure was a big problem.

Kong Youde knew the most correct way to prepare for war now, but he only knew it and couldn’t do it.

The most correct way to prepare for war now was undoubtedly to equip the soldiers with flintlock guns and train them in the Wu army’s way. Even if the soldiers trained in this way didn’t have ten percent of the Wu army’s combat power, they would at least have eighty to ninety percent.

He knew the method, and many people in the Qing court knew it.

But it was useless. The production capacity was just that much, and they didn’t have the ability to increase the manufacturing speed. At the same time, they couldn’t raise so much money to support the army.

This was similar to the late Qing Dynasty in later generations. They also knew that if they wanted to defeat the foreigners, they had to have strong ships and powerful guns, but they just couldn’t build them.

In addition to the military aspect, in the economic aspect, the Qing court’s high-level officials also knew that they could no longer allow Nanjing’s goods to be dumped over.

However, it was difficult for them to resist, because the Wu army’s goods were too cheap.

Just like they now wanted to equip fifty thousand soldiers, buying the Wu army’s equipment only cost eighty thousand taels, while manufacturing it themselves cost two hundred thousand taels. How could they resist this?

Not to mention that the people below chose to buy directly, even some high-ranking officials above wanted to buy directly.

The reason was very simple: to save money. They now had to expand the new army and manufacture guns and artillery, and the pressure on military expenditure was very high.

Moreover, the North had been ravaged by Li Zicheng for several years, and it was very difficult for the people to support themselves, so they couldn’t squeeze much oil out of them.

At night, Kong Youde began to write a diary, recording this corruption incident, and also recording some of his feelings and experiences.

From this simple corruption incident, he came to the conclusion that the Qing court was bound to fail.

Because the Wu army’s strength was not only in the army, but in completely crushing the Qing court in all aspects.

The Qing court’s strength was just a superficial appearance of having a lot of territory. In reality, it no longer had any chance of turning the tables, unless Wu Changqing gave them five or six years to develop.

Otherwise, with their current strength, they could not compete with the Wu army at all.

Kong Youde was not very clear about the reasons for this, he just had this feeling.

And this was actually the crushing of an agricultural country by an industrial country. The gap between an industrial country and an agricultural country was very large.

In the battle between an industrial country and an agricultural country, the area of territory and population no longer had much significance.

The British Empire, which had completed the Industrial Revolution early, was able to rule most of the earth with tens of millions of people.

Chapter 262: Cuju

The more miserable life was for the Qing court in the North, the smoother things went in the South.

Wu Changqing even had time for leisure and entertainment. Many important projects had already gotten on track, and all that was left was to patiently wait for them to grow and develop.

He only needed to grasp the general direction; he wouldn’t bother with the small problems encountered in development. Those were to be solved by his subordinates using their own wisdom.

He knew that human wisdom should not be underestimated. Many inventions and creations were not that they couldn’t do it, but that they just hadn’t thought of them yet. With Wu Changqing’s prompting, many things had been invented.

For example, the track technology and gear technology that went with the machines were thought up by others. Wu Changqing hadn’t given them any specific guidance.

Seeing that the others were so reliable, Wu Changqing could relax appropriately.

There weren’t many forms of entertainment in this era. Opera was a popular one, but unfortunately, Wu Changqing didn’t like it.

This was purely a matter of personal taste. Regardless of whether those Peking operas were national treasures or not, he couldn’t stand listening to them. He felt embarrassed just listening.

Relatively speaking, he preferred movies, chess, or ball games.

Movies were out of the question for the time being. With the current level of technology, it was still difficult to make them, and spending tech points on this kind of entertainment was too wasteful. It was better to wait for them to appear naturally.

With the rapid development of the overall level of technology, movies would definitely appear earlier than in his original timeline.

Chess was also relatively boring. The female members of his household were too unskilled, and when he played with other officials, they didn’t dare to win against him.

Without movies and unable to play chess, that only left watching ball games.

Currently, among ball sports, cuju was the most popular.

Cuju originated in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods and reached its peak in the Song Dynasty.

Many emperors of the Song Dynasty loved watching cuju, to the point where people who were good at playing cuju could become high-ranking officials, like Gao Qiu.

For example, some emperors, when fleeing for their lives, would abandon their armies but still keep the royal cuju team by their side.

Although these records might have some exaggeration, the fact that cuju was once popular was undeniable.

However, after the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the prohibition of cuju in the army. The reason for this was unknown. Perhaps, just like Wu Changqing didn’t like Peking opera, Zhu Yuanzhang might have simply disliked cuju from birth.

However, although cuju was prohibited in the army, it was still preserved among the common people.

At this time, cuju was divided into two types: one was competitive shooting at a goal, and the other was performance-based ball juggling, which was a favorite of women.

Some female cuju masters were said to be able to juggle a ball for an entire day without it falling to the ground. If this skill were in the twenty-first century, they could be selected for the men’s national football team.

And men’s cuju mostly preferred competitive shooting.

However, in cuju, the goal was very small and far off the ground, making it very difficult to score, several times more difficult than in later generations’ football.

This led to a lack of entertainment value in cuju. If there were no goals scored in a game, it naturally wasn’t interesting to watch.

Only goals could stir up the passion of casual fans.

Among ten fans, two or three might understand the tactics and teamwork, but the majority were just joining in the fun, watching for the moment of a goal.

Therefore, Wu Changqing decided to modify the current cuju rules based on later generations’ football, making it easier to score and improving its entertainment value.

Wu Changqing had people manufacture several leather balls more suitable for competitive kicking and named them footballs. Then, he brought the footballs to the military camp.

In the military camp, most of the soldiers were engaged in some relatively light training. After all, they were resting and recuperating, not training as hard as before.

Some soldiers who lived close to home could even go back on leave.

“Is there anyone literate and who considers themselves relatively intelligent? Step forward.”

Wu Changqing came to a main regiment, gathered the people together, and shouted.

Everyone didn’t know what Wu Changqing was going to do, but some of the bolder soldiers stepped forward.

Wu Changqing counted them. There were more than twenty, enough to divide into two teams.

“Anyone who knows how to play cuju?”

Wu Changqing continued to ask, and some of them raised their hands.

Although Wu Changqing still nominally followed the Ming Dynasty, he had long abolished the rule prohibiting cuju in the army. Sometimes, appropriate leisure activities could have a relaxing effect, which was beneficial to the soldiers’ mental health.

Moreover, cuju could also train teamwork skills.

“I’ve modified the rules of cuju. Memorize them first. Later, divide into two teams to compete. The winning team will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver, and whoever scores a goal will be rewarded with twenty taels of silver per goal.”

Wu Changqing had people distribute the booklets containing the football rules and then returned to the high platform to wait for the start of the match.

While the soldiers were familiarizing themselves with the rules, some people had already used lime to mark out the field and install the goals.

“One hundred taels for winning, twenty taels for scoring a goal, you little rascal, did you hear that? I told you to study hard when you went to night school, but you wouldn’t listen. When we get back to our hometown, I’ll tell your dad and see if he doesn’t beat you to death.”

A middle-aged man slapped a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy on the head. The two of them were fellow villagers from the same village.

Because he was older, the boy’s parents had asked him to take care of him.

This man was also attentive, repeatedly urging the boy to learn more characters while attending night school so that he could become an artilleryman or an officer in the future. Unfortunately, this boy was playful and didn’t learn many characters.

And now, because he was illiterate, he had missed an opportunity to earn a reward, which was a real pity.

Earning rewards on the battlefield required risking one’s life. Where could you find something as enjoyable as playing football?

“How would I know that the general would like to watch cuju? If I had known, I would have practiced playing ball every day.”

The boy complained.

Many other soldiers had the same idea as him. They never expected that playing ball could earn rewards. If they had known, they should have boldly stepped forward.

And now, they could only watch those people make money.

Those soldiers who had already been selected were feeling their hearts racing with excitement.

In order to perform better, they carefully read the rules set by Wu Changqing.

Most of the rules were relatively easy to understand. Soldiers who had played cuju before understood them at a glance. Of course, there were also two or three that were more difficult to understand, such as the penalties for offside and penalty kicks.

The commanding officer didn’t give them too much time. After half an hour, they were sent onto the field and began the competitive match.

At the beginning, due to unfamiliarity with the rules, both sides frequently committed fouls, and the referee’s whistle sounded continuously.

“Worthless, do you want to embarrass yourselves in front of the general?”

The regimental commander, Liu Shiyuan, cursed angrily. If they couldn’t even do this little thing well, what face did they have to call themselves elite?

Seeing the regimental commander angry and thinking that Wu Changqing was watching in person, the soldiers became doubly serious.

However, apart from a few geniuses, even if the others were serious, they couldn’t immediately master the rules and the corresponding ball skills. The ball skills required for cuju and football were quite different.

There were a few people who kicked with some skill, and even scored goals. However, overall, their performance was appalling.

“Let them practice more. I’ll come and watch when I have time in the future. You can usually use this as entertainment to let the soldiers relax.”

Wu Changqing watched with disinterest and left first.

If he wanted to see an exciting match, he would have to wait for a while, until they were familiar with the rules, ball skills, and tactics.

And this would be an inevitable event. When those above have a preference, those below will indulge in it even more.

When others knew that Wu Changqing liked watching football, this sport would definitely develop rapidly.

Chapter 263: The Four Great Classical Novels

Entertainment, besides sports, also includes singing, dancing, opera, novels, and so on.

The Ming Dynasty was the golden age of novels, producing excellent works such as Journey to the West, Water Margin, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and Golden Lotus.

Wu Changqing intends to continue promoting the development of novels, but this is not just for entertainment anymore.

Promoting the development of novels has a very important significance, that is, it can promote the development of popular literary styles.

The articles of the past, as well as some of the more formal articles of the present, are written in a very obscure and difficult to understand way.

Like, “With the clarity of Li Lou and the skill of Gongshuzi, one cannot make perfect squares and circles without compass and square…”

Unless you have finished reading the Four Books and Five Classics and memorized all the allusions, you simply don’t know what the hell these articles are talking about.

It’s much simpler to switch to popular vernacular: everything should be done according to rules, and any ordinary person can understand it.

Writing articles in such an obscure and difficult-to-understand way is actually a deliberate act by the literati class, a monopoly on knowledge. They were not born to like writing in such a profound way, but to prevent ordinary people from understanding, thereby forming a monopoly on knowledge.

Monopolizing knowledge is equivalent to monopolizing official positions.

If they all wrote articles in popular styles, so that ordinary people could understand them, it would enlighten the people.

Enlightening the people is a very dangerous thing. Only fools are willing to be ruled and enslaved, while smart people and scholars will certainly not be willing.

And the wealth of feudal society is so limited, the number of official positions in the world is limited, and the wealth is limited, so there cannot be too many smart people in the world.

Once there are too many smart people, some of them will inevitably not get the superior life they want, and then they will rebel and cause social unrest.

The reason why the Qing Dynasty insisted on the Eight-legged Essay had an important reason: to stump most people and prevent more people from studying.

In the case of limited social wealth, the more scholars, the better, but the right amount.

This is actually the case in later generations.

For example, the United States has the ability to allow everyone to enjoy the best education, but they will not do so, but instead implement elite education.

The rich enjoy elite education and then enter the elite class. Ordinary poor people go to free public schools, where they are taught only basic knowledge.

A high school student from an American public school has a cultural level that is even inferior to that of a Chinese junior high school student.

The reason for doing this is because there are only so many elite positions in a country. If everyone is trained to be an elite, it will inevitably lead to some talented people not being able to find a job that matches their worth.

These people will inevitably feel dissatisfied and will try to make trouble.

Moreover, if everyone is an elite, no one will go to the factory, and no one will be a cleaner.

In short, it is a terrible thing for the whole people to enjoy the same elite education.

The reason why Wu Changqing dares to enlighten the people now is because he has a way to increase the total wealth of society.

With the increase in total wealth, more smart people can live a superior life.

Moreover, his path of science and technology also requires more smart people and cultured people. Of course, there will not be enough elite positions for the smart people of the future.

At that time, he can colonize overseas, occupy the world, and create several times more elite positions.

As for what suffering people in other countries will suffer as a result, Wu Changqing can’t control it. He is a somewhat narrow-minded nationalist, and he only cares about the Chinese nation.

The reason why Wu Changqing is determined to enlighten the people is also somewhat due to his angry youth emotions.

In his previous life, he was not an upper-class figure, but lived a loser’s life.

Occasionally, he would lament the difference in fate between the bottom and top people.

Now that he has the ability, he naturally wants to give ordinary people a chance. Maybe not all people can seize such an opportunity, but at least it can give them hope.

It is also very simple to promote the vernacular. Wu Changqing directly issued a decree, listing Journey to the West, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Water Margin, and Golden Lotus as the Four Great Classical Novels.

He ordered printing shops to print them on a large scale and spread them widely.

The reason for choosing these four books is, of course, because these four books are famous enough, have attractive plots, and are highly readable. And the writing is white enough, even people in the twenty-first century can almost completely understand it.

In this era, this kind of popular style is really a simple text compared with the Eight-legged Essay. Anyone who recognizes the words can understand it.

Moreover, these four books are also well-deserved in terms of artistic achievement.

These four books also encompass the four major types of novels, namely historical novels, heroic legends, mythological novels, and secular novels.

Wu Changqing’s decree did not immediately arouse the vigilance of the intellectual class. After all, it was just promoting four novels, not promoting vernacular.

If Wu Changqing were to promote vernacular now, he would definitely encounter great resistance. Those intellectuals would definitely try their best to stop it, because they were worried that more people reading would affect the interests of their class.

Although Wu Changqing can forcibly implement the policy of promoting vernacular, those scholars will eventually surrender in the face of swords and iron cavalry.

However, turmoil will inevitably occur in the process, and blood will definitely flow like a river.

Wu Changqing felt that there was no need to make it like this, and he could completely use the method of boiling frogs in warm water to gradually promote vernacular.

For example, the current People’s Daily and novels are increasing the market share of vernacular.

If he continues to boil like this, it will be too late when those intellectuals react.

Moreover, by that time, the country will definitely be richer than it is now, and it can also alleviate this contradiction to a certain extent.

Wu Changqing has already taken two steps in the method of boiling frogs in warm water, namely the People’s Daily and the promotion of novels.

After that, he began the third step: reducing learning costs.

To be precise, it is to reduce the price of books and paper.

This is actually very easy to solve. Now that printing technology has been greatly improved, the price of books has already been greatly reduced once.

Now, Wu Changqing instructed the steam engine research team to create a pulping machine.

The papermaking technology of this era is still relatively primitive. The process of making bamboo into pulp is very difficult. It requires crushing, boiling, rolling, and many other processes.

With a pulping machine, it will be easy. The power of the machine is countless times greater than that of human power. It is much easier to crush raw materials and make pulp with a machine.

The principle is the same, that is, using machine power to replace human power, and its efficiency can be increased by more than ten times.

The technical difficulty of this machine is not high, and the people in the research team can completely develop it independently.

After this machine is mass-produced, paper will be so cheap that it can be used to wipe butts in the future.

Now only the rich can afford to use paper to wipe their butts. Ordinary people still use toilet chips and other things.

Toilet chips are cut bamboo pieces. If the technique is unfamiliar and the toilet chips are not cut well, they may sometimes scratch the butt or not wipe it clean.

In short, this is also a living problem that needs to be improved urgently.

The reduction in the cost of paper can reduce the price of books again. At that time, ordinary families will be able to afford books, and knowledge will spread out unconsciously.

And when the general trend is formed, those intellectuals will not be able to stop it even if they want to.

Chapter 264: National Strength

Mao Wenci spent several days in Nanjing, but to no avail.

None of the bigwigs among the civil officials were willing to pay him any attention. Some of the surrendered generals wanted to contact him to see if they could get their families over.

However, these people didn’t have much influence in front of Wu Changqing.

Mandahai, who had a little more weight, also chose to refuse to meet him to avoid suspicion.

A major reason for this situation was that the people in this interest group were very optimistic about the group’s future development. Staying in this group was already the best choice, so there was no need to collude with Mao Wenci.

Not only would it not bring any benefits, but it would also needlessly arouse Wu Changqing’s suspicion. Only a fool would do that.

Helpless, Mao Wenci had to give up the idea of peace talks.

However, he did not return immediately, but chose to go out on the street to gather intelligence. He couldn’t possibly return to Beijing empty-handed, as that would be considered a failure to complete his mission.

If he could gather some useful information, it could be considered atonement for his failure.

However, he couldn’t go to confidential places like steel factories and steam engine research and manufacturing plants. He could only stroll around Nanjing and observe the daily lives of the local people.

Of course, he could also obtain some useful information from these everyday scenes.

“This rickshaw is really convenient.”

Sitting in a rickshaw, Mao Wenci sighed.

This rickshaw was a new model launched by BMW Carriage Company. The biggest difference between rickshaws and BMW carriages is that they are pulled by manpower instead of horses.

Therefore, they are smaller in size and usually only seat one person, or two if they squeeze.

Compared with BMW carriages, rickshaws have many unique advantages, such as their power coming from manpower, which makes their operating costs low.

Nowadays, the population of Nanjing has increased greatly, and hiring a coolie is dozens of times cheaper than raising a horse.

In this era, manpower is so cheap that even a human life is not as valuable as a horse.

BMW Carriage Company originally focused on the high-end market, but the high-end market was limited. Therefore, after the initial market boom, Tong Youwei began to enter the low-end market.

These rickshaws are manufactured much more crudely than BMW carriages, and the cost is much lower, so they can serve ordinary people with a little money.

In addition to selling these rickshaws directly, Tong Youwei also set up his own rickshaw company, hiring a large number of coolies and letting them provide transportation services in the city.

And it has to be said, the effect is surprisingly good.

People with a little money like to experience this new means of transportation. It is comfortable, saves effort, and the price is not expensive. From the South Gate to the North Gate, a distance of five kilometers, it only costs twenty or thirty copper coins.

After Wu Changqing learned about the rickshaw company, he also supported the expansion of this industry.

To this end, Wu Changqing even issued a new order prohibiting sedan chairs and officials from riding in sedan chairs.

Carrying a sedan chair requires four people, while pulling a rickshaw only requires one, which is faster and more comfortable. Moreover, it directly saves three laborers, and these extra laborers can do other things to create wealth.

Wu Changqing would support anything that could liberate labor.

At the same time, the small size of rickshaws can also alleviate the congestion in Nanjing.

Nowadays, the population of Nanjing is increasing, and the traffic pressure is also quite high.

As for the rickshaws being simple and without cover, which is inconvenient for some women to travel, this is an unexpected bonus.

Wu Changqing wanted to change the current social atmosphere, but he couldn’t be too radical. First, let the women get used to showing their faces on the street, and then gradually transition to allowing them to work in various industries, so it wouldn’t be so abrupt.

“That’s right. For a gentleman like you who comes from out of town, choosing to take a rickshaw is the best choice. There’s no place in the entire Nanjing that I’m not familiar with. Wherever you want to go, taking my car can save you a lot of time and won’t delay your business. Plus, it’s comfortable.”

Because Mao Wenci asked the rickshaw puller not to go too fast, the puller was pulling very easily and even had the mood to say a few words.

“How much money can you earn a day doing this?”

Mao Wenci asked.

“Hey, not much. It’s just hard-earned money. Most of it has to be handed over to the company. We coolies are lucky if we meet a gentleman who gives us a tip. We might earn a hundred copper coins a day. If we’re unlucky, it’s only a dozen copper coins. On average, it’s about one tael of silver a month.”

The puller replied.

Mao Wenci gasped. A monthly income of one tael of silver, and he says it’s not much.

The puller’s words made Mao Wenci smell an invisible sense of showing off. You know, soldiers in the North risk their lives for just as much.

Mao Wenci couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. The South is really too rich.

There are already five such cement roads in Nanjing. What’s paved here is not cement, but clearly silver.

This kind of cement sells for fifty taels of silver a ton in the North. This road must have used at least several hundred tons of cement, which is tens of thousands of taels of silver.

These five cement roads together are equivalent to paving more than one hundred thousand taels of silver.

Having so much money that it’s used to pave roads, Mao Wenci is filled with envy.

Moreover, these cement roads are insignificant compared to the brick houses outside the city.

It is said that the brick house project requires an investment of more than two million taels, just to provide housing for those lowly people. Mao Wenci has to admire this kind of generosity.

The Qing court definitely couldn’t come up with this money, and even if they could, they wouldn’t use it on the people.

From these projects, Mao Wenci saw Nanjing’s incredibly strong financial and national strength.

And fighting a war is largely equivalent to fighting with money. With money, there’s no worry about not being able to recruit soldiers.

Nanjing is so rich, how can it be defeated?

Mao Wenci vaguely saw a very important question, that is, is it really beneficial to the Qing court to keep dragging on? Is this peace talk really necessary?

Although successful peace talks can buy time for development, the South is also developing during this time. Can the Qing court really catch up, or will the gap continue to widen?

Thinking of this, Mao Wenci became more and more panicked.

Afterwards, Mao Wenci visited Nanjing’s restaurants, casinos, shops, East and West markets, and other places. All the scenes showed the city’s amazing strength and vitality.

Mao Wenci finally came to a conclusion similar to those of Hong Chengchou, Fan Wencheng, Kong Youde and others, that is, if the Qing court wants to achieve final victory, it can only launch a full-scale decisive battle as soon as possible.

The longer it drags on, the more unfavorable it will be for the Qing court.

Returning to his residence, Mao Wenci sorted out his thoughts and wrote down his心得(personal insights) overnight.

The next day, he hurriedly left Nanjing and returned to the North. He wanted to report his心得(personal insights) and suggestions, so that Dorgon could make a decision as soon as possible.

Chapter 265: A Joyous Occasion at Home

Wu Changqing didn’t pay much attention to Mao Wenci’s departure. After receiving the report, he simply glanced at it and tossed it aside.

Neither Mao Wenci’s arrival nor his departure would affect his development plans; everything was proceeding step by step.

On June tenth, joyous news came from the inner courtyard of the Wu residence: one of Wu Changqing’s wives was finally pregnant.

Since their marriage and consummation ten months ago, Wu Changqing had even begun to suspect that his special identity had caused him to lose his fertility.

Although he didn’t trust the doctors of this era very much, Wu Changqing was still forced by his mother to see a few doctors and take some folk remedies.

Wu Changqing couldn’t tell if these prescriptions were effective, but in any case, the doctor who had been treating him recently, Min Xian, was in luck. No one could prove that this pregnancy wasn’t due to his prescriptions.

Rewards of money were indispensable, and so was an official position. He was hired by the Old Madam as the Wu family’s private doctor, specifically responsible for the family’s health issues.

Of course, for Min Xian, it was hard to say whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. If something went wrong during his treatment in the future, his life would be in danger.

The pregnant one was Luo Min. Among the three women, Wu Changqing spent the least time with her, but she was the one who hit the jackpot first.

The world is unpredictable. Chen Yuyan and Sun Yunxuan could only shed tears silently in their hearts. They didn’t know if it was their own fault or Wu Changqing’s, and they had secretly taken some prescriptions as well.

Of course, they still had a chance, as long as Luo Min gave birth to a daughter.

Moreover, even if the worst-case scenario occurred and Luo Min gave birth to a boy, they wouldn’t have to worry too much. This was because Luo Min was just a lonely woman without a family to back her up.

Women without strong family support generally don’t have much status in the family. The child she gives birth to might even have to call Luo Min “Auntie” and call Chen Yuyan “Mother.”

What Chen Yuyan and Sun Yunxuan feared most was each other, because they both had relatively powerful families behind them. Their families would definitely support their sons with everything they had.

Wu Changqing couldn’t completely ignore this weight.

In the inner courtyard of the Wu residence, a group of women surrounded Luo Min, chattering away.

“Thank you, sister, for contributing to this family. The Wu family finally has an heir.”

Chen Yuyan and Sun Yunxuan both said words of congratulations, and also presented some precious tonics. However, no one knew what they were really thinking in their hearts.

At least, Wu Changqing didn’t believe that the two of them were so magnanimous.

Luo Min was under a lot of pressure at this time. In fact, she didn’t want to compete for first place. Anyway, she knew her own situation, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t possibly win against Chen Yuyan.

Therefore, she hoped that Chen Yuyan could get pregnant first, so she wouldn’t be stared at.

Having lived two lives, Wu Changqing was about to become a father for the first time. He had no experience in this area and didn’t know what to do.

Unlike others who were overjoyed to become fathers, he didn’t seem to have any special feelings when he heard the news.

Wu Changqing felt that it might be because there was only a relationship of dependence between himself and Luo Min, and no affection.

This was also something that couldn’t be helped. Now that his identity was extraordinary, he no longer had the conditions to pursue love.

In fact, he couldn’t even pursue anyone normally. After all, as long as he liked someone, they would obediently submit, so there was no need to pursue them.

Without the process of pursuit, always being able to obtain things easily, it was difficult for him to cherish them.

He strengthened Luo Min’s security forces and added some staff, and then Wu Changqing put the matter aside.

It was just pregnancy. After she gave birth to the child, he might be able to give more care.

For now, he just came to take a look and then left.

Anyway, she didn’t need him here; his mother would handle these trivial matters of life.

The Wu family’s joy was not just Wu Changqing’s affair alone.

When the news spread, many people felt more at ease.

Even if something unexpected happened to Wu Changqing in the future, they would have a new object of allegiance, so that the entire force wouldn’t immediately disintegrate.

If there were people with enough ambition, they would naturally hope that Wu Changqing would never have children and would have an accident as soon as possible, so that they would have a chance.

However, there were no such figures in Wu Changqing’s power group for the time being.

Li Shaobin and Wang Dayong were small figures in the past, and their innate ambition was smaller than others. As for Liu Hansan, he knew his own capabilities. If Wu Changqing died, he wouldn’t be able to handle this burden even if it was handed over to him.

Therefore, for him, the best situation was for Wu Changqing to be alive.

Since the three of them didn’t have this intention, there was even less hope for the others. Their power was not enough to support their ambitions.

Other civil officials had too little influence over the military, so they were also out of the question.

Wu Changqing implemented the separation of military and political affairs. The military and civil officials were not allowed to get too close.

It was not a good thing for civil officials and the military to get too close, as it was easy for them to collude with each other and form interest groups.

Without the support of the military, it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven for civil officials to rebel.

And without the support of civil officials, the military’s rebellion would at most create some turmoil, but it could not last long. Few military generals knew how to govern a place, and few were good at raising military expenses.

Among the common people, ordinary people also learned about the Wu family’s joyous news through the People’s Daily.

Many people bought fireworks and spontaneously celebrated. Wu Changqing was still very respected in the hearts of the people, after all, Wu Changqing had brought them a good life.

At the same time, Mao Wenci also returned to Beijing and came to Dorgon to report back.

“This subordinate is incompetent and failed to complete the task assigned by the Regent Prince.”

Mao Wenci said, kneeling down.

When the people in the hall heard this news, a trace of worry appeared on their faces.

Although they had guessed that this might be the result, they couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed after the matter was confirmed.

“What is the specific situation? Tell me about it.”

Dorgon said.

This…

Mao Wenci was suddenly at a loss for words. In front of so many people, he didn’t know whether he should repeat what happened that day. If the matter spread, it might have a bad influence on Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

“What’s wrong with you? My brother told you to speak, so just speak. Is there anything you want to hide?”

Dodo scolded.

“This, this subordinate really doesn’t dare to say it. That Wu Changqing is arrogant and speaks wildly. His words are mostly disrespectful.”

Mao Wenci said helplessly.

“Just say it. It’s just some unpleasant words. Can’t we even bear a little unpleasantness?”

Seeing that Dodo was about to get angry, Mao Wenci had no choice but to report the truth.

Chapter 266: Dorgon’s Determination

“The generals in the Wu army are spouting wild nonsense, saying that the Regent Prince is suing for peace out of fear and are resolutely refusing to negotiate. Some are even clamoring for the Regent Prince to surrender, utterly disrespectful. That rebel leader Wu Changqing is even more outrageous, declaring that if we want to negotiate, we must first agree to one of his conditions.”

“What condition?”

Dorgon asked. He didn’t care about the things Mao Wenci mentioned. Being mocked by a group of inferiors didn’t bother him in the slightest.

Many people had cursed him before; a few more made no difference.

He only cared about Wu Changqing’s words, because in his eyes, only Wu Changqing was barely worthy of being his equal.

It was like a person not caring about being mocked by pigs and dogs, but caring about being laughed at by another person. Only when the status is equal, will one care.

“He said… he said that unless Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang marries him as a concubine, he will not stop…”

Clang.

Before Mao Wenci could finish speaking, Dorgon flipped the table with one hand, showing how furious he was at that moment.

The others shut their mouths, not daring to say a word. Those present were all core members of Dorgon’s faction and knew Dorgon’s feelings for Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

Wu Changqing’s words were a blatant humiliation.

Demanding someone else’s woman was a slap in the face. Except for those with extraordinary talent like Fan Wencheng, no normal man could tolerate it.

Wu Sangui had only had his concubine snatched away, and he had betrayed his country in a fit of rage to become a dog for the Qing court.

Moreover, Dorgon’s power was far greater than Wu Sangui’s, and it wasn’t that Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang had been snatched away by Wu Changqing, but that Wu Changqing was asking him to offer up Xiaozhuang.

It was fortunate that Dorgon was a powerful leader who had to consider many aspects. If it were an ordinary man in this situation, he would have already thrown a punch.

The hatred of having one’s wife stolen could be placed alongside the hatred of killing one’s father, illustrating the importance men placed on this matter.

“Brother, let me lead the troops south and fight them to the death!”

Dodo was an impatient and hot-tempered man who wanted to fight at the drop of a hat.

Having never faced the Wu army head-on, he still had some confidence in his own troops.

Dorgon was much more mature and calm than him. Although he was very angry, he didn’t send out troops in a fit of rage. This was a matter that affected the whole situation and needed to be considered carefully.

“Regent Prince, I support Prince Yu’s proposal. I think that a decisive battle at this time is the best choice. I stayed in Nanjing for a few days and observed some things. I found that their development speed is astonishing, and their financial resources are extremely abundant.

The longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for us. I think that if we go south for a decisive battle now, we still have a fifty percent chance of winning, but if we delay for another year or two, that chance will probably drop to thirty percent…”

Then, Mao Wenci introduced what he had seen and heard in Nanjing to everyone.

When they heard that Wu Changqing had so much money that he could use it to pave roads and build houses for the poor for free, everyone was so surprised that they couldn’t speak.

Before the world was at peace, any power would prioritize the army. Matters of people’s livelihood could wait until after the war was won.

If money was spent on people’s livelihood, resulting in an insufficiently strong army, it would be ridiculous to lose the war. That would be like helping the enemy build their country.

The Wu army was actually spending so much money on building the country at this time. It was hard to tell if this was due to stupidity or confidence.

The crowd was more inclined to believe the latter. If Wu Changqing was stupid, he wouldn’t have won so many victories in a row.

“What are your opinions?”

Dorgon was feeling troubled and could only ask everyone for advice.

“I agree with Lord Mao’s opinion. The longer we delay, the more disadvantageous it will be for us.”

Fan Wencheng was the first to agree. He still hoped that the Qing court could win so that he could guarantee his position. If the Wu army won and he surrendered, his position would be much lower, at least behind Qian Qianyi, Ruan Dacheng, Hong Chengchou, and others.

“If the enemy’s development is indeed so rapid, then we can only fight a decisive battle as soon as possible to nip them in the bud.”

“We can’t wait any longer. In less than a year, the Wu army has grown from hundreds of people to hundreds of thousands. Wu Changqing is indeed very experienced in development.”

Several of his advisors agreed that a decisive battle was needed as soon as possible, and Dorgon had to seriously consider this suggestion.

“How many firearms do we currently have?”

Dorgon asked.

The official in charge of equipment manufacturing replied, “We have currently equipped ten thousand flintlock guns, thirty thousand matchlock guns, fifty thousand hand grenades, and one hundred and fifty cannons.”

This was all of their firearms. It seemed like a lot, but in reality, it could only support one or two decisive battles.

“Wait two more months. Start preparing all departments now. After the autumn harvest, we will officially go south.”

Dorgon made up his mind. The reason for delaying another two months was to collect enough grain after the autumn harvest. For this decisive battle, they would have to mobilize at least three hundred thousand troops. Adding in the laborers responsible for transportation, a lot of grain would be needed.

The direction had been decided, and next was the formulation of the details.

A decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of people could not be given too much importance.

The next day, the news of Dorgon’s decision reached Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s ears. At the same time, she also learned about the content of Mao Wenci’s peace talks.

“A decisive battle is coming. Alas.”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen sighed. She had a bad feeling.

“This Wu Changqing is really outrageous, daring to make a move on you, Your Majesty. Let Dorgon capture him and let him understand the consequences of desecrating the Empress Dowager. But Your Majesty, your charm is still as strong as ever. Emperor Taizong, the Regent Prince, Hong Chengchou, and now this Wu Changqing have all been captivated by you.”

Su Mo’er teased Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen glared at her upon hearing this, but that was all. Their friendship had surpassed the relationship between master and servant. If it were normal times, she wouldn’t be angry at all if Su Mo’er made such a joke.

But now, it was mainly because she was worried, so she wasn’t in the mood for jokes.

A decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of people was a major event concerning the fate and future of the entire country, making people want to take it seriously. Moreover, this was still her son’s empire.

After worrying for a while, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen stopped thinking about it.

After all, she was a woman and couldn’t do anything or change anything. Battles were men’s affairs.

She couldn’t help but think of Wu Changqing’s request, and she felt a little proud in her heart.

If a beggar made a request to marry her, that would indeed be the desecration that Su Mo’er mentioned.

But if the person making this request was a hero or warlord, then it wouldn’t be called desecration, but admiration.

Being admired by the most outstanding men in the world would make any woman feel a little proud.

Although Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had cultivated her temperament for many years, she couldn’t help but feel a little uncontrollable pride when she encountered such a thing. Being able to hide it in her heart and not show it was already a very impressive accomplishment.

Wu Changqing, what kind of person is he?

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen really wanted to know more about Wu Changqing. She also hoped that Dorgon could capture Wu Changqing, just like he had captured Hong Chengchou, and then she could use her charm to persuade him to surrender and serve the Qing Dynasty.

Chapter 267: A Thousand Jin Per Mu

In early July, as the rice ripened, Wu Changqing personally went to the experimental fields in Suzhou to check on the hybrid rice.

Of all the major engineering projects, this was the one he valued most.

All development required people to be fed first. What was the point of making so much steel if the people couldn’t even eat their fill?

And if he wanted all the people to be well-fed, there was no other way than hybrid rice.

The technology for artificially manufacturing fertilizer was very advanced, and the corresponding supporting technologies were also numerous. It would take at least fifty million science points to completely develop this set of technologies, which Wu Changqing was unwilling to spend.

He hoped that the talents in the academies could rely on their own strength to research those technologies. Even if they couldn’t research the core technologies, it would be acceptable if they could master the supporting technologies.

Moreover, reclaiming new land took time and required iron farm tools, which was a long-term project.

Therefore, Wu Changqing’s only option to significantly increase grain production at present was to rely on this hybrid rice.

Suzhou, Xietang, hybrid rice experimental field area.

Wu Changqing saw an endless expanse of golden waves. At first glance, the rice was growing very well.

The official in charge of this experimental field was Yan Wenqing, the Vice Minister of Revenue. He excitedly introduced to Wu Changqing, “General, these seeds are truly divine seeds. Under the same conditions, their yield per mu is already close to twice that of other ordinary rice. And after using fertilizer from overseas, the yield per mu of some experimental fields has reached twice that of ordinary rice.”

This matter subverted Yan Wenqing’s understanding. He had never imagined that grain production could suddenly increase to this extent.

Rice production had not seen a major increase for hundreds of years.

This was a qualitative leap, an incredibly great historical moment. It was about to solve the problem of feeding people, which had plagued humanity for thousands of years.

Wu Changqing examined the ears of rice and said, “Be careful when harvesting, don’t waste these seeds. These will all be used as seeds for the people. Each grain of rice represents a new rice plant.

The subsequent drying, preservation, and breeding must be done with great care. No mistakes are allowed.”

“Your subordinate will keep it in mind.”

Yan Wenqing naturally knew the significance of this matter and dared not be negligent in the slightest.

After several days of harvesting, the final yield of this experimental field was also calculated. The total harvest was five hundred and fifty thousand kilograms, with an average yield of five hundred and fifty kilograms per mu, which was slightly less than expected.

However, this result was already very good. At least, anyone except Wu Changqing would be surprised speechless upon hearing this number.

Only Wu Changqing, having seen the grain yields of later generations, could remain calm.

After the rice harvest, Wu Changqing returned to Nanjing.

At the same time, the People’s Daily began to use an entire issue to report on hybrid rice. Even the indispensable advertisements in each issue were gone in this issue, replaced entirely by news related to hybrid rice.

The report began with good news, reporting the successful experiment of ‘Wu Rice’, with the new Wu Rice yielding as much as six hundred kilograms per mu, twice that of ordinary rice.

What followed was some popular science about hybrid rice, with a focus on mentioning that this was a variety that Wu Changqing had purchased from overseas and hybridized with local varieties.

The explanation given in the report was vague, but that didn’t matter. As long as the people knew that Wu Changqing had created it, and that they should thank him, that was enough.

Subsequently, the People’s Daily also promised that these seeds would be distributed free of charge to the people in the Jiangnan region and parts of Jiangxi. As for other places, they were out of luck.

Five hundred thousand kilograms of seeds sounded like a lot, but in reality, it might not even be enough for the people in the Jiangnan region. Moreover, now that Jiangxi had been added, it was even more insufficient.

Based on the fifteen million people in his jurisdiction, each person could only be allocated three hundred grams of seeds on average.

The Chinese people were most afraid of calculating per capita. No matter how beautiful the numbers, once you calculated the per capita amount, it was over. More effort was still needed.

As soon as this report came out, the entire Jiangnan region was shaken. Many people began to use their connections to verify the authenticity of the news.

Although the People’s Daily had not reported any false news so far and had a good reputation, this news was too exaggerated, so exaggerated that no one dared to believe it.

Six hundred kilograms per mu, twice the original yield.

This meant that grain production in the second half of the year could be doubled. By that time, perhaps no one would go hungry anymore.

The impact of this was enormous, and the entire society would undergo tremendous changes. However, few people could predict what it would become.

Those who went to inquire about the news naturally received confirmation.

The Jiangnan government was already starting to work on distributing the seeds for free.

This would be a huge project. First, they needed to explain the yield of this seed to the farmers and dispel their doubts.

Otherwise, if those people didn’t believe it and ate the seeds on their own, that would be a real disaster.

Flying Swan Academy, a group of scholars were reading the newspaper and chatting idly.

“What do you think, is what the People’s Daily says true? Can grain production really be doubled? It seems unbelievable no matter how you think about it.”

One scholar said with emotion.

“Now ships can sail upstream without oars, what is impossible? I heard that in the future there will be a kind of car that can move by burning coal, and there will be no need for horses to pull it anymore.”

Another scholar expressed calmly. Anyway, so many new things had appeared in Jiangnan in the past six months, so it wouldn’t be strange if something magical happened again.

“If the people can eat their fill, their children can also be sent to school to study, and the competition will be even more fierce.”

A slightly obese scholar sighed.

There were only so many official positions in a country, and the number of officials selected through the imperial examinations each year was limited.

In the past, there were very few people who could afford to study, so the competition was not so fierce.

But now, once the people could eat their fill, they could let their children of school age go to study. As a result, their group of scholars would be greatly impacted.

Starting from their own interests, they actually hated the appearance of this rice variety.

Anyway, with the financial resources of their families, they could still eat their fill even without this rice. But now, with this hybrid rice, they couldn’t eat any more.

The biggest beneficiaries of hybrid rice were the people, and it had nothing to do with them.

On the contrary, their interests would be threatened to some extent, and the competition in the future would be more intense.

“Brother Liu, you are thinking too far ahead. That is something that will happen in a few years. Let’s talk about the present. It seems that the Governor-General has no intention of holding imperial examinations. If you want to take the imperial examinations and become an official, then go to the North.”

Another scholar said in a strange tone. Wu Changqing’s rise had also harmed his interests. Therefore, he was very dissatisfied with Wu Changqing’s regime.

However, scholars were useless, and they had no way to do anything about their dissatisfaction.

Chapter 268: Reactions from All Sides

The emergence of hybrid rice has far-reaching impacts on society.

Some grain merchants who received the news were already preparing to change careers; the grain business was becoming untenable.

Previously, these grain merchants made money by buying low and selling high, using various means to acquire grain from the common people at low prices and then selling it at high prices.

For example, they would release grain from their warehouses during the harvest season, collectively driving down prices and creating the illusion of a grain surplus. When the people were running out of grain, they would resort to tactics similar to purchase limits, creating the illusion of a grain shortage.

The people knew these were the grain merchants’ tricks, but they had no choice because they needed to exchange grain for money to buy other necessities, such as oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar.

And when they ran out of grain, they had no choice but to buy high-priced grain to survive.

But now, with more grain available, merchants might still be able to buy low, but it would be difficult to sell high. Because the people had enough grain to eat, they would certainly not buy high-priced grain.

And grain piled up and unsold would turn into worthless old grain, and hoarding grain would also cause a shortage of liquid funds.

In short, when the people have enough grain in their hands, the grain business becomes difficult.

If they still wanted to make money, they could only try to secretly sell the grain to the North or Zhejiang and other places.

It had to be done secretly because Wu Changqing had placed restrictions on grain sold to other regions, imposing high taxes.

This was equivalent to tariffs in later generations, using this method to reduce their profit from grain exports and reduce their interest in exporting grain.

Wu Changqing, after all, wanted to support commercial trade and could not directly order a ban on the external sale of grain, so he could only use this subtle method to prevent grain outflow.

Once this tariff policy was issued, those who wanted to make money from grain could only rely on smuggling.

But the risk of smuggling was too great; once caught, their homes would be confiscated.

Now, to do the grain business, one had to be like Sun Daoming, doing grain processing. Rice milling and flour milling were still quite profitable industries.

However, Sun Daoming had already taken the lead in this business. If others wanted to enter the market and compete with Sun Daoming, they would have to carefully consider their abilities.

Sun Daoming’s niece was Wu Changqing’s concubine.

Even if Sun Daoming did not rely on Wu Changqing’s power and competed fairly with others, everyone else would be at an absolute disadvantage.

At least, Sun Daoming could learn about policy news in advance through Sun Yunxuan.

While it was a shock to grain merchants, it was a great benefit to the brewing industry.

In the past, the cost of the brewing industry was relatively high, so wine became a luxury. At least, ordinary people could not afford to drink it often.

Moreover, the government generally did not encourage the brewing industry, because the more wine brewed, the more grain consumed, leading to more people going hungry.

Now, grain prices would definitely fall, the cost of brewing would be greatly reduced, and the market would expand.

Moreover, with a surplus of grain, the government would also encourage the brewing industry.

The market demand for wine was extremely high.

The breeding industry also had good news; with more grain, the cost of raising poultry and livestock would be lower.

When people were well-fed, they would also pursue a better quality of life, and the demand for meat would greatly increase.

With more grain, the number of people farming could be reduced, and more people could engage in breeding.

Such impacts would inevitably occur after the official promotion and planting of hybrid rice.

Overall, the increase in grain production was naturally a great thing. People’s living standards could rise to a new level.

In Hangzhou, when the news of hybrid rice reached Zhu Yihai’s ears, he initially did not believe it and sent people to continue to verify it. After confirming its authenticity, he immediately ordered a blockade of the news and sent people to spread rumors, claiming it was fake news.

There was no other way. If the local people knew about this news, public sentiment would probably instantly turn towards Wu Changqing.

The people did not have a strong sense of national identity. Whoever could make their lives better, they would support.

Undoubtedly, Wu Changqing, who possessed hybrid rice, could make the people’s lives better.

Once a conflict broke out between Wu Changqing and Zhu Yihai, the people would not hesitate to stand on Wu Changqing’s side.

A ruler without the support of the people was in a very dangerous situation.

Therefore, Zhu Yihai could not let the people under his rule know about this, could not let the people believe in this.

While ordering a blockade of the news, he also sent out spies and secret agents to Suzhou and other places to find ways to obtain the seeds of that high-yield Wu Rice as soon as possible.

After all, he could hide it for a while, but not forever. Only by obtaining those seeds and letting the people under his rule plant this Wu Rice could he truly solve the problem.

When Zhu Yujian received this news, his reaction was similar to Zhu Yihai’s; he first controlled public opinion.

Fortunately, this news sounded like fantasy, and even without their deliberate control, the people would not easily believe it.

And after they conducted ‘debunking’, the people would be even less likely to believe that such rice existed.

After controlling public opinion, they tried to obtain those high-yield seeds.

This was relatively easy to obtain, going to the homes of people in the Jiangnan area to rob or steal; the Wu army would certainly be unable to prevent it. However, if only a small amount of this thing was obtained, it would not be of much use.

By the time they spent time cultivating enough seeds, the Wu army would have already attacked.

Unable to quickly transform these seeds into national strength, it would ultimately be a wedding dress for Wu Changqing.

The public opinion in the south was quickly controlled, while the reaction in the north was much slower. After all, Beijing was too far away from Yangzhou, Xuzhou and other places, and the central Qing court did not have time to react.

And the local officials never thought of controlling it; they were now waiting for the Wu army to attack quickly, and the people’s hearts were no longer with the Qing court.

By the time the Qing court central government reacted, the news had already spread in the Huainan area and could not be controlled at all.

Some large landlords, upon learning of this news, more diligently provided intelligence to the Wu army. All they wanted was a promise that the seeds of Wu Rice could be supplied to them in the future.

Double the yield meant double the income.

The landlord class and ordinary people had now become the classes most eager for the Wu army to attack.

The news of hybrid rice further strengthened Dorgon’s determination to fight a decisive battle.

If he did not fight a decisive battle as soon as possible, by the time the second season of rice in the Jiangnan area was harvested, the Wu army could directly double the number of troops they could support, and their strength would skyrocket.

At that time, he would have even less chance of winning.

For this decisive battle, Dorgon had taken out all his savings and ordered an increase in taxes.

He no longer cared about the life or death of the people. As long as he could recapture Nanjing, the North would not lack grain in the future.

If he lost the battle, he would not be able to keep the Jiangbei territory, and those disaster victims would be left for the Wu army to deal with.

Dorgon’s frantic preparations for war enveloped the entire Central Plains in an atmosphere of oppression.

Many perceptive people knew that the world was about to change.

Chapter 269: Deciding to Head North

The Qing army’s movements quickly reached Nanjing.

These days, Nanjing has many spies in the North, and no Qing army movement, no matter how small, can escape their notice.

Not to mention preparations for a decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops. The demand for all kinds of supplies is enormous, making it impossible to hide from those who are determined to find out.

With the Qing army about to make a major move, Wu Changqing also convened a meeting of all senior leaders to discuss how to respond, or rather, the subsequent military plan.

“What are they trying to do? Do they want to move south? But how will they cross the Yangtze River?”

Tao Dongcheng voiced his doubts. The Qing army’s navy isn’t strong at the moment, and it doesn’t have an absolute advantage over the Wu army’s fleet.

Under these circumstances, crossing the river to fight is an extremely dangerous undertaking. Taking such a risk just for a chance at a decisive battle seems hardly worth it.

However, if they don’t cross the river, gathering troops is meaningless and only wastes food and supplies, because the North is still in the hands of the Qing army.

The Wu army hasn’t gathered troops to head north, so who are they gathering troops to deal with first?

“I’m afraid they want to find an opportunity to cross the river from our weak defenses, and then fight us to the death,” An Fugui guessed.

“That’s a bit difficult. With our current intelligence capabilities, we know their movements clearly. It’s impossible to cross the river secretly,” Dai Zhijun said.

“In any case, this is a good thing for us. As long as we block them on the other side of the Yangtze River, we can wear them down to death.”

Several members of the General Staff Department unanimously agreed that the Qing army’s southward advance was somewhat reckless and very beneficial to them. As long as they defended the Yangtze River, it would be enough to give the Qing army a headache and force them to retreat without a fight.

“No, we must take the initiative to cross the river and fight them in Jiangbei,” Wu Changqing suddenly said.

His words left everyone a little confused. After all, the advantage of defending along the river is very great, and there’s no need to cross over and fight the Qing army.

However, some people vaguely guessed something after hearing Wu Changqing’s decision, but they weren’t sure.

Old foxes like Hong Chengchou, Ruan Dacheng, and Qian Qianyi were relatively clear-minded.

Wu Changqing didn’t care whether they understood or not. In short, he set the tone, and there was no need to discuss the benefits of defending along the river. What they had to do was study where to set up a battlefield in the North.

The military had no objection to Wu Changqing’s decision, nor did they dare to have any.

In their view, going to the North for a decisive battle also had its advantages, namely that the North has many plains, providing many suitable places for a decisive battle.

And they had never been afraid of any army in a decisive battle on the plains.

Being able to eliminate the enemy in one decisive battle, once and for all, is also a good thing. Although defending along the river has advantages, it also lacks initiative and takes more time.

When the Qing army wants to cross the Yangtze River to the south, it won’t be easy, and it won’t be easy for them to cross the Yangtze River to the north.

“The battlefield can be set up in Yangzhou or Huai’an, mainly depending on the Qing army’s speed of action and our army’s speed of action. Relatively speaking, Huai’an is better…”

Tao Dongcheng explained while pointing at the map. If they want to launch a northern expedition, they must go north along the Grand Canal, because only water transport can guarantee logistical support.

If they rely on land transport, they will starve to death before they even reach Beijing, and the grain lost on the way will be an astronomical figure.

For land transport, at least two laborers must work non-stop to supply one soldier.

Similarly, the Qing army must also go south through the Grand Canal. As long as they wait at a certain important location on the Grand Canal, they will definitely be able to wait for the arrival of the Qing army.

“Everyone, this is a battle for the fate of the nation. The victor will rule the Central Plains, and the loser will be completely destroyed or confined to a corner. Its importance should be self-evident. Next, everyone should put aside other work and concentrate on preparing for the war and making pre-war preparations…”

This battle may be a battle for the fate of the nation for the Qing army, but even if the Wu army loses, they can rely on the natural barrier of the Yangtze River to defend and recuperate.

With Nanjing’s current wealth, it’s not difficult to reorganize a new army and rise again.

However, even if there is a way out, Wu Changqing doesn’t want this war to fail. He doesn’t like this kind of twists and turns, and he likes to win smoothly all the way.

This meeting only set the general direction, and there are many things to prepare next.

After the meeting, Hong Chengchou, Ruan Dacheng, Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and seven or eight other core members were kept behind for a deeper meeting.

What was strange was that Gu Yanwu was excluded.

This made many people feel confused, but they had never been able to figure out Wu Changqing’s way of doing things. Therefore, not many people took this strange phenomenon to heart.

As for Gu Yanwu, he vaguely guessed something, sighed in his heart, and then went back to do his job.

His current energy is focused on improving the quality of life of the people. He is too lazy to care about other things, and he can’t control them.

Governor-General’s Office.

Wu Changqing first arranged for servants to bring food and then dined with several core ministers. They didn’t talk about official business during the meal, but instead chatted about a lot of trivial matters.

From time to time, bursts of laughter came from the table.

However, everyone’s minds were not on these trivial matters, and they were waiting for the confidential meeting later.

After the meal, Wu Changqing dismissed the servants and suddenly asked, “In this world of war, I wonder when it will be calmed.”

His words left several soldiers like Liu Hansan a little confused, not understanding why Wu Changqing would suddenly sigh about this.

Ruan Dacheng had already understood and said, “Throughout history, whenever the world is in chaos, there must be a hero who stands up to quell the war and save the people of the world. The old dynasty is overthrown, and a new dynasty rises, another cycle of prosperity.”

The meaning of this is that the world is now counting on a hero to stand up and save it, and who this hero is, everyone knows without saying.

The Zhu family members are not qualified at all, and the change of dynasty is also a historical trend.

What he was actually saying was, “Boss, hurry up and rebel and ascend the throne. Everyone is waiting for you to save the people of the world. Rebellion is a historical trend, not an act of rebellion.”

When Wu Changqing decided to take the initiative to go north, Ruan Dacheng, Hong Chengchou, and others guessed Wu Changqing’s thoughts.

That is to create the illusion of emptiness in Nanjing, lure Zhu Yihai to take action, and thus obtain a reason to rebel.

In military terms, it is no longer a big problem for the Wu army to solve Zhu Yihai, Zhu Yujian, and others.

However, they still lack a reason to rebel.

This thing called a reason, if it’s important, sometimes it’s useless and can’t increase actual combat power by a single point. But most of the time, it must be there.

Without a suitable reason for rebellion, even if you get the throne, it will be illegitimate and will not convince the people of the world.

In this case, one is that the reputation is not good, and the other is that it will make some ambitious people eager to do something and have an excuse to make trouble.

In short, a reason for rebellion is very important, and the Wu army must find one. If they can’t find one, they must create one artificially.

Chapter 270: Determined to Rebel

Luring Zhu Yihai to actively attack was Wu Changqing’s deliberate scheme to create a reason for rebellion.

As long as Zhu Yihai took the initiative to attack him, it would be forcing him to rebel, not him wanting to rebel.

Wu Changqing was resisting the Qing army and recovering lost territory on the front lines, yet Zhu Yihai was actively provoking internal strife. Zhu Yihai’s actions would lose popular support and dishearten the Han people.

At that time, if Wu Changqing rebelled, the people would understand and support him, not regard him as a rebellious traitor.

In the future, when writing history books, it could be written as rebelling out of desperation to save the people.

Would Zhu Yihai take the opportunity to attack?

Wu Changqing thought there was a high probability he would, because it was Zhu Yihai’s only chance to turn the tables.

Of course, if Zhu Yihai didn’t fall for the trap, it wouldn’t matter, he wouldn’t suffer any substantial losses. It would simply be a matter of postponing the rebellion, and there would be plenty of opportunities to find excuses in the future.

Wu Changqing really hoped that Zhu Yihai would attack him; he couldn’t wait to officially declare himself emperor.

It wasn’t that he wanted to enjoy the power and life of an emperor, but without declaring himself emperor, many things were inconvenient to do.

For example, he wanted to reform the Six Ministries, change the official system, and grant titles to generals. He had no authority to do these things, and could only do them in secret, unable to make them public, which easily drew criticism.

At the same time, doing good things for the people might result in the people attributing the favor to the Ming Dynasty court.

In short, now that he had sufficient military strength, the sooner he became independent, the better.

“The Ming Dynasty has been ill for a long time and is beyond cure. Without destruction, there can be no construction. Only under the general’s leadership can this world be reborn from the ashes…”

Hong Chengchou echoed, his words even more direct, stating directly that the Zhu family was no longer suitable to rule the world.

It was only then that Liu Hansan and several other generals realized that Wu Changqing was officially planning to rebel.

Many were secretly delighted; they had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.

“That’s right, it’s best that this world is controlled by the general.”

Compared to the scholars who could spout a lot of high-sounding reasons, these few military officers were much simpler, directly saying that the world should be ruled by Wu Changqing.

As for the reason, they didn’t say, and if they had to say it, they could only say one thing: Wu Changqing was currently the strongest.

“We pledge our loyalty to the general until death.”

Liu Hansan took the lead in kneeling, and the other generals followed suit.

“Your subject begs the general, for the sake of the people, to take over this Central Plains.”

Qian Qianyi’s words were much more eloquent; his meaning was that Wu Changqing was not rebelling, but benefiting the people and the world.

The same thing, said differently, felt different.

Wu Changqing did not decline or act coy.

Because there was no need to in front of these people; they were all core members, and they were all well aware of his intention to rebel. To say things like “I can’t bear to do it” or “You are trying to make me unjust” at this point would seem too hypocritical.

If he wanted to act coy, he would have to do it in front of the officials and the people, to fool those who were relatively stupid or naive.

Anyone with a bit of sense knew that rebellion was for power, and benefiting the people was just a byproduct.

Being able to do it as a byproduct was already considered a good person; some people were simply for power, without even a byproduct, and continued to exploit the people after taking power.

“How to make Zhu Yihai attack us proactively, how to minimize losses when attacked, and the guidance of public opinion, all of these need to be done well,” Wu Changqing said.

These were all detailed tasks; Wu Changqing was only responsible for the general direction, and how to operate specifically to achieve that effect was left to Qian Qianyi, Ruan Dacheng, and others to be responsible for.

If they couldn’t even do this little thing well, they wouldn’t be qualified to enjoy the power and influence above everyone else.

The meeting ended, and they were all in a good mood as they returned home.

Finally, they were about to reach this step. As long as Wu Changqing successfully ascended the throne and became emperor, they would be founding heroes, with the merit of following the dragon.

Official positions, titles, and the like were definitely indispensable.

Back at home, they began to work diligently.

This action was an assessment and an opportunity for them. Whoever performed better in this event would be rewarded with a better position when the time came to reward merits.

While the high-level officials had formulated a plan that would shock the world, the common people were still living in peace and tranquility.

The only thing the people could feel was that there were fewer patrolling soldiers in the city than before, and they heard that vacations had been canceled and preparations for war were about to begin.

The people were already accustomed to this, after all, the world was not yet at peace, and it was very normal to have wars from time to time. Because of the strength of the Wu army, the people of Nanjing were less afraid of war.

Because they believed that the Qing army could not defeat them. So what if there was a war? Anyway, they would win.

In addition to the fewer soldiers on the streets, the public opinion in the People’s Daily also began to reveal news of the impending war.

The Wu army seemed to not care at all about the leakage of military secrets, allowing the People’s Daily to report on some of their military actions and logistics preparations.

This made the work of spies from other forces much easier, and they quickly learned that the Wu army was going to launch a Northern Expedition.

When the news reached Hangzhou, Zhu Yihai immediately summoned his trusted ministers to discuss important matters.

“The troops under Wu Changqing are really arrogant, not caring at all about the leakage of military secrets. As the saying goes, an arrogant army is bound to lose. I don’t think they can jump around for long,” Fang Guoan snorted.

People are always influenced by emotions. Fang Guoan had a grudge against the Wu army, and he would wear colored glasses when looking at the Wu army’s various actions. He could pick out faults from any action of the Wu army.

“It seems they are preparing for a large-scale Northern Expedition, which is within our expectations. The only thing that is unclear is how many troops he will leave to garrison Nanjing and other places,” Zhu Yihai said.

They had long formulated a plan to launch a surprise attack when the Wu army’s rear was empty after the Northern Expedition. It would be best if they could capture Nanjing, but even if they couldn’t capture Nanjing, they would occupy Wusong and other places.

As long as they occupied Suzhou and Songjiang, they would be able to obtain a large amount of wealth and technology, and would have the capital to confront Wu Changqing.

This was their plan, and at first glance, there was nothing wrong with it; it was the best plan they could formulate. Other than that, there was no other way.

The Wu army’s Northern Expedition was their only chance. If they didn’t take this opportunity to resist, they would never have a chance to resist and could only die a slow death.

Zhu Yihai didn’t believe that Wu Changqing would let him go after destroying the Qing Dynasty.

At that time, even if Wu Changqing had no reason to rebel, their subordinates could create a yellow robe incident, leaving Wu Changqing with no choice.

Zhao Kuangyin had already done this once hundreds of years ago.

After a period of diligent governance, Zhu Yihai had expanded his army to eighty thousand.

He believed that he had a certain amount of strength to challenge Wu Changqing.

However, the vast majority of these eighty thousand troops were cold weapon troops. There were ten thousand matchlock gun troops, but not a single flintlock gun. They did not have the Qing court’s powerful research and development capabilities, and had not yet figured out the secrets of flintlock guns.

They had made hand grenades, but their power was much smaller than Wu army’s hand grenades. They were not very useful in actual combat and were only suitable for use when defending a city.

Eighty thousand troops seemed like a lot, but their combat power was worrying. If Wu Changqing left too many troops to garrison, they would have to reconsider this plan.

“Currently, Wu Changqing has one hundred and fifty thousand main force troops in Nanjing, and these people will probably be transferred to the North. At that time, they will have at most ten thousand garrison troops in Nanjing, and at most twenty thousand garrison troops in Suzhou and Songjiang. We have an absolute advantage in troop strength,” Fang Guoan said.

The number he guessed was correct; Wu Changqing did plan to leave only ten to twenty thousand people to garrison the Southern Metropolitan Region.

However, he would secretly make some exchanges between the garrisoned second-line troops and the main force. Among the twenty thousand people left behind, ten thousand would be the main force.

Wu Changqing believed that with these ten thousand flintlock gun troops garrisoning the city, Zhu Yihai’s troops could only stare blankly.

“Everyone, be prepared.”

Zhu Yihai made up his mind. He was unwilling to lose power and prepared to fight to the death.

Chapter 271: Wall Cavalry

Nanjing, the Eastern Barracks.

Three thousand cavalry of the Wu army were stationed here, along with some auxiliary soldiers who raised horses and the like.

For the northern expedition to the Central Plains, cavalry was essential, because there were too many plains in the North suitable for cavalry warfare.

Although they had hollow square formations, that did not mean cavalry was useless.

Ten thousand Qing army infantry facing ten thousand Wu army musket troops might only kill, at most, one thousand Wu soldiers.

But ten thousand Qing army cavalry facing ten thousand Wu army musket troops, even in a hollow square formation, the Qing army could kill two or three thousand Wu soldiers.

Cavalry, no matter how useless, was still stronger than infantry.

Moreover, not all of the Wu army were musket troops. Other cold weapon units encountering Qing cavalry on the plains was a very dangerous thing.

Furthermore, the Qing army cavalry didn’t necessarily have to charge into hollow square formations.

Ambushing supply lines, ambushing small units, charging artillery positions…

If the Qing army could flexibly utilize their cavalry, they might be able to determine the situation on the battlefield.

In short, the Qing army cavalry was still a force that Wu Changqing needed to take seriously.

To deal with the Qing army cavalry, Wu Changqing also modified his own cavalry.

The best way to deal with Qing cavalry was to use cavalry to counter them. Hollow square formations were too passive. As long as the Qing cavalry didn’t charge the formations, they couldn’t do anything about the Qing cavalry.

In terms of speed, no type of soldier could match cavalry. Their powerful mobility could make infantry look like monkeys being led around.

Therefore, all things considered, cavalry had to be used to counter them.

However, the Qing army cavalry were basically Manchus and Mongols, who grew up on horseback and were skilled in riding and archery. It was not easy for Han Chinese cavalry to defeat them.

For this reason, Wu Changqing specifically wrote a training method for “wall cavalry,” and had Dong Tianbao and Mandahai train according to this method.

“Wall cavalry” actually refers to cavalry maintaining a dense formation during a charge, with the distance between two riders preferably not exceeding ten centimeters, advancing like a wall.

This concept was relatively advanced. Currently, cavalry charges usually involved a larger gap between two riders. The front and rear rows of cavalry would maintain a distance of several meters.

This gave them more room to maneuver and be more flexible.

In comparison, wall cavalry was actually very clumsy. If one horse fell, it would often trip other comrades.

However, wall cavalry also had its unique advantages, namely that this tactic was suitable for agricultural peoples.

Because agricultural peoples generally were not good at riding and archery, and lacked skilled horsemanship. Choosing to use a wide and sparse formation to fight nomadic peoples, comparing horsemanship and personal bravery, was using one’s weaknesses to attack the enemy’s strengths, which was tantamount to courting death.

However, after adopting the wall cavalry tactic, they no longer needed horsemanship, making up for their greatest weakness. As long as they could maintain the formation, they could charge forward in one go.

Don’t underestimate this seemingly foolish tactic; it was actually surprisingly powerful.

At least, the nomadic peoples’ wide and sparse formation was definitely not a match for wall cavalry.

Because the density of the wall cavalry meant that the nomadic peoples’ cavalry had no room to maneuver, it was simply a matter of attrition. Their horsemanship could not be brought into play, and they lost their greatest advantage.

Moreover, because the wall cavalry was denser, during combat, a nomadic cavalryman often had to face the attacks of several enemies in a unit area.

This was quite deadly. Only the protagonists or important characters in movies and TV shows could fight one against two or one against many. Ordinary people needed to concentrate fully even in a one-on-one fight, and a careless move could lead to a fatal blow.

In a one-on-one situation, if someone stabbed them in the back or from the side, they would have no way to respond.

This numerical disadvantage was determined by the formation, not by the total strength.

Even if they had the same number of people charging, it would be useless. The wide and sparse formation would lead to many of their cavalry being on the periphery of the battlefield, unable to make contact with the enemy.

The cavalry that could make contact with the enemy would often be surrounded and attacked.

And this was the wonderful use of wall cavalry.

This tactic not only made up for the weakness of poor horsemanship, but also gained an advantage in battle. With these two points, wall cavalry once became a classic cavalry tactic.

Of course, wall cavalry was not invincible. If given time for the Qing army to understand and study this tactic, they could come up with ways to deal with it.

For example, not making direct contact with the enemy, but simply shooting arrows from the edges and kiting the enemy.

Because the wall cavalry had to maintain its formation, its speed was slower than a wide and sparse formation, and this slight slowness was fatal.

The Qing army could hang in front of them, constantly wearing them down.

In short, no tactic in this world was perfect. As long as it was used properly, it could exert its power.

And this time, Wu Changqing was going to take advantage of the Qing army’s ignorance again.

Just like using the hollow square formation to take advantage of the Qing army, the hollow square formation was not invincible, but the Qing army still suffered a great loss in this regard, because they did not understand the hollow square formation.

The current Qing army certainly did not understand the wonders of the wall cavalry, and would definitely collide head-on with the Wu army cavalry. When that time came, the Qing army would spit blood again.

“Knowledge is really important. I hope you remember this point, learn more, and keep up with the times.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile to Dong Tianbao and Mandahai.

It was a very terrible thing for a general to command without knowledge. Just like the lack of understanding of machine guns by the Allied generals in World War One, charging in the old way, as many as fifty to sixty thousand people were killed by machine guns in a single day.

And when they understood the characteristics of machine guns, this loss could be reduced by dozens of times.

“We respectfully obey your teachings, General.”

Dong Tianbao and Mandahai replied.

They both had a deep sense of awe and fear towards Wu Changqing, because Wu Changqing knew too much. Although his combat experience could not be considered rich, Wu Changqing could always come up with some very advanced and forward-looking tactics and ideas.

For example, the infantry training methods of the spear phalanx, the hollow square formation, and the current theory of wall cavalry.

These theories, which seemed very simple and easy to understand, were extremely difficult to discover first. Unless they were veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles, or geniuses like Wu Changqing.

Dong Tianbao and Mandahai knew their own weight, knew the gap between themselves and Wu Changqing, so they could not give birth to a trace of disrespect. They really did not dare.

In their eyes, Wu Changqing was the kind of natural hero, rare in a hundred years. Such a person might be the chosen one.

It was a good thing for Wu Changqing to have such awe in his subordinates, at least he didn’t have to worry about his subordinates rebelling.

Chapter 272: Powerful Firepower

“How’s the training going?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Training wall cavalry wasn’t easy; it required immense courage from the soldiers.

During a charge, collisions with the enemy were highly likely. The survival rate for the cavalry at the front was extremely low.

This demanded exceptional courage from those in the lead. Cowardice during impact could lead to desertion, disrupting the formation and causing dire consequences.

In truth, wall cavalry tactics were somewhat similar to line infantry tactics, emphasizing discipline over individual bravery. They aimed to defeat the enemy through attrition.

This seemingly foolish tactic was often remarkably effective.

At least, the Wu army’s current line infantry was unmatched. Outsiders only saw the advantage of their weapons, unaware of the army’s incredible courage and discipline.

Could an ordinary army remain calm and fire accurately when facing thousands of charging horses?

Even if they discarded their flintlocks and picked up spears, this army would still be unbeatable by an equal number of enemies.

It could be said that the current Wu army already possessed some characteristics of a modern army.

“Please inspect, General!”

Dong Tianbao arranged a regiment for a charging drill.

At the sound of the whistle, a thousand-man cavalry regiment divided into five columns, each with over two hundred men. Each column was less than two hundred meters long.

The cavalrymen were packed tightly together.

As the charge whistle blew, the thousand men began to move, gradually accelerating to a suitable speed before charging forward.

Throughout the charge, the soldiers needed to focus on controlling their horses and maintaining pace with the others, neither too fast nor too slow.

While this sounded simple, it was actually quite difficult.

Qing army soldiers struggled to maintain a straight line even when marching in formation. For the Wu army to keep their horses in formation was considerably harder.

However, these cavalrymen trained constantly, honing their skills until they could control their horses exceptionally well.

At least, Wu Changqing could see through his telescope that the regiment’s formation was relatively neat, like a straight line.

After charging a certain distance, straw horses and dummy cavalrymen appeared in front of the Wu army cavalry.

Their task was to charge through the straw figures while maintaining formation.

The effectiveness of this training was, frankly, limited. After all, everyone knew that colliding with straw dummies posed little danger.

But colliding with Qing army cavalry could mean death at any moment.

However, this was the best training method the Wu army could devise. They couldn’t possibly arrange for two of their own units to charge each other; that would result in countless deaths during training.

After all, cavalry was different from infantry; horses were difficult to control, and falling could easily lead to being trampled to death.

Wu Changqing watched them charge through the straw forest, maintaining their formation, and felt quite satisfied.

Achieving this level was sufficient to fight the Qing army.

They didn’t need to be perfect, only stronger than the Qing army.

“Not bad, keep it up. I’ve had a batch of armor delivered, which can be used on the vanguard to increase their survivability and impact.”

Wu Changqing brought two thousand sets of heavy armor. This heavy armor could, to some extent, protect the charging cavalry.

With Nanjing’s current industrial capacity, they could actually produce more armor, but it wasn’t necessary because they didn’t have that many good horses.

This armor weighed ten to twenty Jin, a significant burden for the horses. Not just any horse could handle it.

Most of the horses in the Wu army were Mongolian horses captured from the Qing army.

These horses were about one meter and forty centimeters tall, and their endurance was actually quite average. Their explosive power was decent, but they weren’t well-suited for heavy cavalry mounts.

Suitable horses for heavy cavalry were Kazakh horses, a type of Akhal-Teke. These horses were relatively rare and precious.

These warhorses were mostly captured, while the purchased Yunnan horses were only about one meter and twenty centimeters tall, shorter than Mongolian horses by a head. They could only be used to carry military supplies; they couldn’t be used as warhorses because their explosive power was too poor and their size was too small.

After inspecting the cavalry, Wu Changqing went to inspect the infantry camp.

In the artillery camp, he watched his subordinates perform combined arms exercises.

The so-called combined arms was when the infantry began to advance while the artillery was still firing.

In the past, this was not attempted, because it placed very high demands on the accuracy of the artillery. If the artillery was inaccurate, hitting their own men would severely damage morale.

So, in the past, the artillery would bombard first, and only after the bombardment was complete would the infantry advance.

But now, with the improvement of artillery technology, they had developed combined arms tactics.

These tactics allowed their infantry to inflict more casualties and pressure on the enemy as they approached, covering their advance.

Its effect certainly couldn’t compare to the combined arms tactics of later generations, but it was better than nothing. This tactic could still give them a slight advantage when fighting the enemy.

In addition to combined arms, the infantry had a new type of weapon: light artillery.

This was created by the people in the armory themselves; Wu Changqing didn’t provide any guidance.

With the improvement of technology, the armory now had a relatively strong research and development capability. They would develop some weapons based on the needs of the military.

Current artillery was very cumbersome, and some of the Wu army’s generals had long wanted a type of light artillery.

This light artillery had a simple structure, relatively small power, and short range.

However, it had a very powerful advantage: it was very light and portable. Two soldiers could push it, and a skilled soldier could operate it.

This portability gave it great mobility, allowing it to advance with the infantry at any time, providing fire support.

Its function was somewhat similar to the squad mortars of later generations, but it was completely different from mortars, and its technology was much lower than that of mortars.

This light artillery was actually more like a large musket.

With this weapon, their firepower on the battlefield was even stronger, which was also an improvement in combat power.

Looking at his own powerful firepower, Wu Changqing was completely relieved.

With this kind of firepower, not to mention the Qing army, no country could withstand it.

Although the use of flintlocks had begun to spread in Western Europe, their firepower certainly couldn’t compare to the Wu army. Because they had fewer people.

In those small countries in Western Europe, a battle of tens of thousands of people could be considered a major decisive battle.

Battles involving hundreds of thousands of people were only common in China.

Chapter 273: A Spiritual Anchor

After inspecting the military camp, Wu Changqing returned home.

In the backyard, he saw Chen Yuyan, Wu Yu, and the others playing mahjong. Luo Min wasn’t participating; after becoming pregnant, she had focused entirely on prenatal care and didn’t get involved in such trivial things.

Sun Yunxuan, on the other hand, was alone in her room. Even her personal maid had gone to watch the others play mahjong, but she didn’t particularly like mahjong, nor did she enjoy joining in the fun.

After all, people tend to get easily excited or startled when playing mahjong. They get happy when they draw a good tile and frustrated when someone intercepts their hand. In short, playing mahjong tends to make a person’s emotions fluctuate greatly, which doesn’t seem very dignified.

As someone who had received traditional moral education for women since childhood, Sun Yunxuan was always mindful of her image and naturally wouldn’t play such games.

Moreover, because she had read a lot of books, she also had a bit of a scholar’s aloofness. Like literary and artistic women of later generations, she generally looked down on such vulgar games.

They preferred to contemplate life and pursue things they considered meaningful.

Compared to some ordinary people, she had more ideals.

When Wu Changqing came to the room, she was practicing calligraphy alone, looking quite bored.

“Why don’t you go and play with them?”

Wu Changqing walked over. He didn’t care whether his women needed to be dignified at all times. Anyway, he had seen twenty-first-century tomboys, tough women, and female drivers.

Compared to those people, he found every woman in this era to be well-behaved, sensible, and obedient. There was really no need to ask for more.

Therefore, Wu Changqing wouldn’t ask them to deliberately maintain a cold and elegant image. Being able to have fun was the most important thing.

After all, he had very little time to spend with them. Putting himself in her shoes, Wu Changqing felt that if he were Sun Yunxuan, he would have been bored to the point of becoming withdrawn long ago.

“I don’t like playing mahjong. It feels meaningless,” Sun Yunxuan said.

“Then what do you like to do? If you don’t find something to do, you’ll probably be bored all day long,” Wu Changqing asked.

Sun Yunxuan thought for a moment and shook her head, indicating she didn’t know.

She wanted to say that she wanted to have a child so she could take care of the child every day in the future. However, that ideal seemed too superficial.

“Perhaps you could try writing novels. There’s a new newspaper in the city that doesn’t publish current affairs but specializes in publishing novels of various forms. It’s said that its sales are extremely high and it has a tendency to surpass the People’s Daily. You could also write a book for it. If you could write a masterpiece, you could be remembered for generations to come.”

Wu Changqing suddenly thought of a good idea.

Writing a book was indeed a meaningful thing. It could express oneself and contemplate life. Moreover, Sun Yunxuan had the literary talent for it.

“How could I have that kind of talent? Writing books is for scholars and great Confucians. I, a mere woman, wouldn’t dare to be so presumptuous,” Sun Yunxuan said. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to write, but she was just insecure and afraid to write.

After all, writing a book was a very serious matter, and only people with a certain status and position were qualified to write. If others casually put pen to paper, they would only invite ridicule and make a fool of themselves.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Have you forgotten who your husband is? No matter how well you write, others will have to say it’s good,” Wu Changqing said with a smile.

“How can that be? They may say good things to my face, but who knows how they’ll scold me behind my back, calling me a vixen,” Sun Yunxuan didn’t want to use her husband’s power to intimidate others; she had her pride.

“You’re overthinking it. Being so hesitant and considering everything makes it hard to live happily. How about this, I order you to write a book. If it’s good, we’ll publish it. If it’s not good, your husband will be your only reader. Is that okay?”

Wu Changqing complained. In order to find Sun Yunxuan a spiritual anchor so she wouldn’t be so bored, he was really going all out.

Huh?

Sun Yunxuan was speechless. She had been given an order, and it seemed like she had no choice but to write. Although she knew that Wu Changqing’s order was just teasing her, it at least showed that Wu Changqing wanted her to do it.

Wu Changqing was her everything. If Wu Changqing wanted her to do something, she would obey, regardless of whether she was willing or not.

In reality, she also wanted to write, but she was just afraid of not writing well.

At the same time, she was also afraid of writing too well. This era valued women’s lack of talent as a virtue. A woman writing a book didn’t seem like a good thing.

“I’ll give it a try, but what should I write about?”

Sun Yunxuan suddenly had a headache. She used to think she was quite talented, but now that she was suddenly preparing to write a book, she realized that she seemed quite shallow and had nothing to write about.

“That’s simple. Write some stories about love and romance. Most of the people who read Novel Newspaper are bored women like you who are stuck at home.

What they like to read most are definitely romance novels like Romance of the Western Chamber. And there are very few such novels on the market right now. As long as you don’t write too badly, it’s bound to be a hit.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile. He felt that if he weren’t too busy, he could definitely write a YY-style novel in this era that would make those vulgar people read it with fascination.

What a pity, a generation of literary giants was destined to be delayed by the emperor’s cause.

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

“Is that really okay?”

Sun Yunxuan asked. It was as if she was asking Wu Changqing, and also asking herself.

“Of course it’s okay. Just write the text in a simple and easy-to-understand way. There’s no need to use too many rhetorical devices. Just try to tell the story clearly in plain language. As for the story, try to make it more tortuous.

For example, start by writing about a young lady whose family is destroyed by war and is forced to sell herself to bury her father and marry a wealthy merchant or high-ranking official as a concubine, suffering all kinds of bullying from the infertile first wife.

This kind of story is most likely to arouse the sympathy and maternal instincts of those women, and allow them to empathize.”

Wu Changqing said. Although he basically hadn’t read any female-oriented books in his previous life, he still understood the formulas a little bit.

The reason why formulas can become formulas is because this set is really effective.

“That sounds very reasonable, but why do you know so much about women’s affairs, my lord?”

Sun Yunxuan complained. Wu Changqing was, after all, a big man, but he had quite a bit of research into the psychology of women, which felt strange.

“I don’t know either. Maybe it’s really like the rumors outside, that I’m an immortal descended from the heavens, all-knowing and all-understanding.”

Wu Changqing said helplessly. He secretly rejoiced that he had resisted helping those women invent sanitary napkins, otherwise it would be even more difficult to explain and he would have suffered even more strange looks.

His words made Sun Yunxuan laugh. She liked Wu Changqing’s unserious demeanor.

Wu Changqing wasn’t a rigid person. He would occasionally make her happy and care about her. If Wu Changqing wasn’t usually too busy, marrying Wu Changqing would be perfect for her.

Well, it’s not bad now either. At least the number of women who envied her was countless.

Chapter 274: Establishing a Nursing System

After calming Sun Yunxuan, Wu Changqing began to write a decree titled “Preparing Battlefield Medical Stations.”

The current army only had a small number of accompanying military doctors. They could barely manage small-scale battles. But in the event of a large-scale decisive battle, those military doctors would be helpless.

A large number of wounded soldiers died or became disabled because they did not receive timely treatment. If they could be treated in time, the cure rate could increase by at least ten to twenty percent.

And this problem was difficult to solve, because doctors were highly skilled professionals, not found on every street corner.

It was already good enough to have some accompanying military doctors. Some poorer armies had to do without doctors. Once wounded, they could only perform simple first aid themselves.

And soldiers lacked professional skills, relying only on experience. This simple treatment was often ineffective.

Wu Changqing had always wanted to solve this problem, but he couldn’t conjure up doctors out of thin air.

So, he thought of battlefield nurses.

This idea suddenly came to him when he was finding something for Sun Yunxuan to do.

Equipping doctors with nurses had one advantage: nurses could do some simple nursing work, thereby freeing up doctors so they could spend their time on highly skilled tasks such as removing arrowheads and stitching wounds.

In this way, the number of soldiers a doctor could help could be multiplied several times, even ten times or more.

Initially, Wu Changqing wanted to recruit men to be nurses, because given the social atmosphere of the time, recruiting women into the army would be difficult for others to understand. Most people would think they were camp prostitutes.

This would put a very heavy burden of public opinion on the women who became nurses, and it might be impossible to recruit anyone.

However, Nanjing was currently using manpower in all aspects, and labor was not very abundant.

Recruiting valuable male labor to be nurses was somewhat wasteful. Saving wounded soldiers was important, but developing people’s livelihood was also important.

Compared to those valuable male laborers, there was a large number of female laborers in the city who were not being used and were being wasted.

At most, they could only do some needlework at home, earning very little money, which was very uneconomical.

Recruiting them would be the most rational use of labor.

Moreover, compared to clumsy men, women were more meticulous and careful when taking care of wounded soldiers, and could do a better job.

And female nurses had a wonderful use, which was to increase the wounded soldiers’ desire to survive, creating a kind of placebo effect.

Men, when cared for by a woman, would be more attached to this world.

If it was a beautiful woman, this comforting effect would be doubled.

After comprehensive consideration, Wu Changqing decided to recruit women.

Although recruiting would be more troublesome, as long as he made a start, it would be easier. As long as everyone accepted this profession and there were no prejudices, it would be much easier to recruit people in the future.

In the decree, Wu Changqing emphasized that nurses were not prostitutes, and any soldier who dared to violate a nurse would be subject to the most severe punishment.

The minimum punishment was being thrown into the suicide squad, and if the situation was relatively bad, they would be beheaded directly.

Wu Changqing also instructed Wei Ziwen to explain the profession of nurse in detail in the People’s Daily, so that the common people could understand the profession and dispel misunderstandings.

At the same time, the People’s Daily should praise nurses, conduct public opinion guidance, and elevate them to the height of patriotism.

Finally, offer nurses a higher salary to attract women forced to work by life.

This combination of punches should have some effect.

The next day, the new policy was promulgated, and it did cause considerable controversy.

Not to mention the common people, even some officials in the government felt that this was not good. Letting women enter the army was too easy to be misunderstood. It was not something that people would believe with just a few explanations.

Moreover, now it was stipulated that soldiers were not allowed to violate female nurses, but when morale was low, could those soldiers still control themselves?

Or would some officers privately allow soldiers to vent on female nurses?

Or could some officers themselves set a good example and control their lower bodies?

In short, this decree would bring a lot of trouble and controversy to the military camp, and in the eyes of some people, the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.

Soldiers dying from injuries was normal in the eyes of some people, because the army had always been like this since ancient times. Soldiers died, that was their fate.

Of course, some more enlightened officials supported Wu Changqing’s decree, as the saying goes, doctors have the hearts of parents. When saving lives, one should not worry too much about the difference between men and women.

When women get sick, they have to have skin contact with male doctors.

However, regardless of whether they supported it or had opinions, this decree was implemented.

Wu Changqing would leave some things to his subordinates to discuss and formulate policies. But there were some things that Wu Changqing would decide unilaterally.

Officials who had worked under Wu Changqing for a long time knew that if Wu Changqing decided something unilaterally, then don’t think too much about it, just execute it well.

Trying to play the loyal minister and offering unsolicited advice to Wu Changqing would basically not end well.

Wu Changqing was not Chongzhen. He was a very opinionated person, even stubborn.

Faced with such a strong superior, smart people would be cowed.

Among the people, this decree also caused controversy.

Those scholars who did not know the suffering of the people would naturally criticize it without hesitation, saying that Wu Changqing was openly equipping the army with camp prostitutes, which would erode the army’s fighting will.

Some people sincerely believed this. These people could only be said to be stupid and short-sighted.

And some people wanted to show off their integrity, liked to stand on the moral high ground to criticize things, in order to attract attention.

These people were relatively bad. Of course, what was even worse was that some people with ulterior motives took this opportunity to slander Wu Changqing, wanting to smear Wu Changqing’s reputation and arouse public dissatisfaction with Wu Changqing.

Nanjing was so big, with all kinds of people mixed together.

However, they couldn’t make any big waves.

Wu Changqing’s opponents were always only the Qing court and the Southern Ming, or the entire landlord class, or the entire scholar class, or the entire merchant class.

Wu Changqing had no interest in paying attention to individual people jumping out.

Different from the views of the scholars, many poor people supported this decree.

Of course, they also knew that women going to work as nurses would cause controversy, but they couldn’t resist the high monthly salary, which was as high as ordinary soldiers, and there was no danger, hiding in the rear.

More importantly, the people believed in Wu Changqing.

Since Wu Changqing gave a guarantee, saying that nurses were not camp prostitutes and would guarantee their innocence, many people were still a little tempted.

Chapter 275: The Power of Words

On the first day, the nursing station didn’t recruit many people, and most of them were older women.

This result certainly didn’t satisfy Wu Changqing, and the responsible personnel were very flustered, working overtime to get things done.

Qian Qianyi from the Ministry of Rites wrote an article saying that everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the nation.

This “everyone” included not only ordinary people but also women.

The article’s argument was that peace and prosperity were beneficial to everyone, so everyone should strive and contribute towards this goal, and women were no exception.

At first glance, this reason seemed quite reasonable.

However, whether this statement was truly reasonable was hard to get everyone to agree on after some in-depth discussion.

But that didn’t matter. Those who could think deeply were always in the minority, even in the twenty-first century, let alone in ancient times where illiteracy was rampant.

Most people would follow the train of thought in Qian Qianyi’s article and naturally conclude that everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the nation, thereby agreeing with Qian Qianyi’s view.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also personally wrote an article.

He briefly discussed the meaning of life. In the book, Wu Changqing stated that everyone who comes into this world needs to find their own meaning in life.

For officials, the meaning of life is to ensure the operation of the imperial court and seek the welfare of the people.

For soldiers, the meaning of life is to defend the country and protect the people from being enslaved by foreign tribes.

For merchants, the meaning of life is to create more wealth and achieve common prosperity for all.

For artisans, the meaning of life is to invent and manufacture more convenient tools for the people, benefiting the world.

…

Wu Changqing listed many social classes, and for each class, he helped them find a meaning for their existence.

Based on this alone, he could be considered a contemporary thinker.

This kind of ideological education, although a bit deceptive, would still be beneficial to society as a whole if everyone believed it.

On the banks of the Qinhuai River, Yang Xiaoxiao and several of her sisters were reading the newspaper again.

“Sister Yang, look, this is Duke’s article. His articles are rare.”

Someone knew that Yang Xiaoxiao was a little fan of Wu Changqing, so they immediately handed the newspaper to Yang Xiaoxiao.

The meaning of life?

After reading this article, Yang Xiaoxiao felt a sense of confusion. She didn’t know what her meaning in life was.

When she was young, she was sold to a brothel and learned various talents in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, as well as the skills to coax and serve men.

Now she was the leader of the new generation of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, and she didn’t lack money to spend, living a life close to carefree.

But in this state, she was the most bored, empty, and prone to overthinking.

Seeing this article, Yang Xiaoxiao also thought about her own meaning in life, and then she sadly realized that her purpose seemed to be to please men.

This was the case now, and it would be the same after she married someone as a concubine in the future.

This was, more or less, unwilling.

“I’ve decided, I’m going to be a nurse and save the lives of soldiers. Duke said it well, everyone can do their part to save the world, who says saving the world is only a man’s job, we women can do it too.”

After a long time, Yang Xiaoxiao suddenly spoke, saying something that shocked everyone.

“What, Sister Yang, you want to be a nurse and serve those roughnecks?”

The others asked in surprise. How easy was it for them to make money on this Qinhuai River? Even if they were serving men, they were serving men with culture and status.

But being a nurse meant serving soldiers who belonged to the lower class.

“What roughnecks, they are the soldiers who protect our safety. If it weren’t for them, our Nanjing would still be enslaved by barbarians. Have you forgotten that after Duke Wu entered Nanjing, the taxes we have to pay are two percent less than before? Have you forgotten that when the Manchus occupied Nanjing, we lived in fear every day.”

Unknowingly, Yang Xiaoxiao’s awareness was a level higher than others. She also quite liked this sense of superiority of being the only one awake in a world of drunks.

“But going to the battlefield is dangerous and hard, and you earn less money.”

These people, relatively speaking, were still a high-income group, so it was a bit silly to become a nurse.

However, what Yang Xiaoxiao was pursuing now was no longer wealth but the realization of a life value.

She continued to explain her reasons to her sisters, and even persuaded several other women to go with her.

After a period of publicity and guidance, the nursing station eventually recruited five hundred young women and women.

Among them, there were more women, and unmarried girls had more concerns, after all, they would get married in the future. Coming to be a nurse now, serving men, would ultimately sound a bit unpleasant.

Even if they were innocent, others might not believe it.

Five hundred was far from enough, but this was almost the limit of what they could recruit.

These five hundred women were concentrated in one place, learning from doctors how to clean wounds with alcohol, bandage wounds with clean gauze, and so on.

These were all relatively simple tasks, and they mastered them almost completely in a few days.

Some of the smarter ones could even assist doctors in performing surgery.

After the nursing station was established, Wu Changqing also came to the nursing station to personally encourage and reward these avant-garde women.

This was an important step for him to liberate women’s labor force. If the profession of nurse could gradually gain recognition from ordinary people, then there would be less resistance to letting women participate in other professions in the future.

“In ancient times, there was Hua Mulan joining the army in place of her father, and recently, there are all of you going to the battlefield to heal the wounded and rescue the dying. Some ignorant and vulgar people outside don’t understand the greatness of your work and will have some unpleasant remarks.

You don’t need to care about these, because in my heart, in the hearts of our soldiers, and in the hearts of smart people, you are heroines…”

Wu Changqing said a lot of good things to praise them. Only by making them feel that what they were doing was sacred and great would they be more attentive and treat it as an ideal and career, rather than a job.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s words, many people were excited.

Women in this era basically had no status, so they rarely received recognition and praise.

But now, Wu Changqing, Duke Wu, one of the most powerful people in the world, recognized them and praised them as heroines, how could they remain calm?

Some of the more stupid, or rather, more innocent people, couldn’t wait to offer their knees to express their loyalty after hearing Wu Changqing’s words.

“This is the real hero, broad-minded, insightful, and unmatched.”

Yang Xiaoxiao said with emotion.

Chapter 276: Vanguard Force

In early August, the Wu army’s vanguard force arrived at Zhenjiang, and then began to cross the Yangtze River from there.

Leading the vanguard were the 21st Division of the Second Army and the First Naval Division. The commander of the 21st Division was Tang Guozhen, a rising star from the military academy, only twenty-five years old this year, very young.

Moreover, his theoretical knowledge was very solid, and his combat experience was also very rich, having experienced the Nanjing decisive battle and the Jiujiang campaign. He had risen step by step based on military merits.

Although he was a new blood, he had a very good personal relationship with Liu Hansan. This time, Liu Hansan also fought for him to get the vanguard mission.

If this mission was completed well, it would be another great achievement.

Moreover, this mission seemed to have no difficulty at all.

There were less than ten thousand Qing army soldiers stationed in Yangzhou, and they were basically Green Standard Army soldiers, with not many Eight Banners soldiers.

In the end, the population of the Manchus and Mongols was too small. The process of annexing the Ming Dynasty was like a snake swallowing an elephant. If the Ming Dynasty had been a dead elephant, they would have had time to slowly digest it.

Just like in the original timeline, the Southern Ming offered almost no resistance.

But if the elephant being swallowed could struggle a little more fiercely, the snake’s stomach would not be able to bear it.

Just like now, the Qing army had only suffered two crushing defeats, and immediately there was a shortage of troops. In most parts of the North, only Green Standard Army soldiers could be stationed.

Leaving aside their combat power, their loyalty alone was a huge problem.

When the Qing army was strong, they would follow behind, acting like a fox exploiting a tiger’s might.

Once the Qing army continued to suffer defeats, they would undoubtedly be weathercocks, quickly leaning towards the Wu army.

The Manchu and Mongol Eight Banners were Dorgon’s foundation. If this foundation was smashed, no matter how large the territory, it would all be fleeting.

Yangzhou, the garrison commander’s mansion.

“Garrison Commander, what should we do? General Alinbao has ordered us to go to the riverside immediately to prevent the Wu army from landing.”

Hearing his subordinate’s question, Fang Ce, the Yangzhou Green Standard Army garrison commander, squinted his eyes and tapped the table, then complained: “Prevent them? How can we prevent them? Scare the Wu army back with these shining sabers?”

Yangzhou was close to Nanjing, so Fang Ce knew quite a bit about Nanjing and knew the true strength of the Wu army.

With the eight thousand soldiers under his command, plus those outdated swords and spears, this was not resistance at all, it was clearly suicide.

Rather than resisting the Wu army, it would be better to find a way to kill Alinbao, which would be much easier.

Alinbao’s direct troops numbered only three hundred, and they could be easily wiped out.

Moreover, he had always been preparing to do so.

Fang Ce had long known that if the Wu army wanted to go north, there was a high probability that they would pass through his territory, because the Grand Canal was here.

Therefore, he had begun to consider what he should do when the Wu army went north a long time ago.

After countless deductions and thoughts, his decision was to surrender and defect.

A good bird chooses a tree to roost in, and a wise man submits to circumstances. Fang Ce had never risked his life for the Ming Dynasty, so naturally he would not be foolish enough to risk his life for the Qing court. He only had himself in his eyes.

“Act according to the plan, do it cleanly, and don’t let Alinbao escape.”

Fang Ce said. His several confidant subordinates immediately understood and began to carry out the task.

The so-called plan was to capture Alinbao alive, and then send envoys to surrender to the Wu army, and by the way, discuss the conditions to see if they could keep their original positions.

Before long, there was a burst of fighting in the city. But soon, these sounds subsided.

More than three hundred people, and they were ambushed with premeditation, so they did not resist for long. After dozens of people died, the rest chose to surrender. After all, those who could continue to resist stubbornly when they saw no hope were only a minority.

“Fang Ce, you heartless bastard, you have betrayed my dynasty’s trust in you, you are actually colluding with the enemy!”

The captured Alinbao cursed at Fang Ce, but Fang Ce remained unmoved, just looking at Alinbao with a smile.

Alinbao continued to curse relentlessly. After Fang Ce became impatient, Fang Ce ordered people to slap him in the face.

Pa pa pa.

After dozens of loud slaps, Alinbao’s mouth could no longer open to speak.

“Curse, keep cursing, aren’t you stupid?”

Fang Ce laughed.

In the eyes of others, Alinbao’s behavior was a sign of integrity. In Fang Ce’s eyes, it was just brain damage.

Guazhou, the Wu army did not encounter any resistance and landed smoothly.

This made Tang Guozhen a little helpless. Without a battle, he was embarrassed to say that his landing was meritorious.

A large number of soldiers who were originally a little nervous began to go ashore with laughter and talk, while moving various supplies and equipment to the shore. The supplies of more than ten thousand people, when piled together, were as high as a small mountain.

While they were busy, the envoy sent by Fang Ce arrived, expressing his willingness to surrender.

Only then did Tang Guozhen know why he had not encountered any resistance. So someone was surrendering again.

Tang Guozhen looked down on these weathercocks and spineless people very much.

However, the policy formulated by Wu Changqing was to accept any form of surrender and encourage and welcome the enemy to surrender.

This made those officers and generals who wanted to make contributions helpless, but they were not brainless enough to refuse Fang Ce’s surrender for the sake of a little merit.

It was always a good thing to take Yangzhou without losing a single soldier. As for merit, they could talk about it later.

Anyway, in this decisive battle, they didn’t have to worry about not having a hard fight to fight.

Tang Guozhen accepted Fang Ce’s request to surrender. As for the treatment after surrender, Tang Guozhen was not qualified to make his own decisions. He could only guarantee to Fang Ce that the treatment would not be bad.

Fang Ce didn’t particularly care about this reply, because he had already inquired about the current situation of those generals who had surrendered to the Wu army, and knew that those surrenderers were all living very well.

For example, Hong Chengchou and Dong Tianbao, after surrendering, were still able to join the core high-level of the Wu army, which was quite rare.

You should know that people like Wu Sangui, who had made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty, were still only a garrison commander at this time, and had not entered the high-level of the Qing court at all.

Wu Changqing not only treated Han Chinese defectors favorably, but even Manchus could be forgiven.

For example, Mandahai and others, as Manchus, could continue to lead troops and wield power after surrendering.

These examples, without exception, proved the inclusiveness of the Wu army and their promise to treat prisoners favorably.

With these good credit records, the generals of other forces trusted Wu Changqing’s promises and policies very much.

After taking over Yangzhou, the army behind could directly enter the Grand Canal and land near Yangzhou, saving a lot of footwork. Not to mention its supplies, all of them entered the Grand Canal.

For a time, the canal was densely packed with military ships, and other merchant ships gave way one after another.

“There’s going to be a war again.”

People on merchant ships sighed.

Such a big move by the Wu army naturally could not be hidden from the spies of various forces.

The news that the main force of the Wu army had begun its Northern Expedition quickly spread to other forces.

Chapter 277: A War to Topple a Nation

In Beijing, after receiving news that the Wu army had taken Yangzhou and dispatched its main force to cross the Yangtze River and head north, Dorgon didn’t seem particularly angry or nervous.

This was mainly because one of their many battle plans involved deliberately allowing the Wu army to come north of the Yangtze River for a decisive battle.

There was one advantage to doing this: it allowed them to leverage their cavalry advantage and reduce logistical pressure. Once they defeated the enemy, they could leave them with no escape route and completely annihilate them.

Of course, there was also a slight disadvantage: they had to give up a batch of cities, essentially handing over a large piece of territory to the Wu army first.

But compared to those advantages, Dorgon and his group felt that luring the Wu army to fight a decisive battle in the North and eliminating their active forces was the ideal scenario.

If the Wu army didn’t head north, they would have to figure out a way to formulate a plan to cross the Yangtze River.

They didn’t expect that the ideal situation would arrive ahead of schedule, which was a great joy for them.

“Your Excellency, it seems this is the will of Heaven, a sign that Heaven wants to destroy the Wu army,” Mao Wenci said.

Although he didn’t believe in ghosts and gods, saying such pleasing words at this time would surely please Dorgon.

“This Wu Changqing is truly arrogant, actually abandoning the advantage of the Yangtze River’s natural barrier. I will make him understand how powerful our cavalry is,” Dodo gritted his teeth and said.

They had now studied the hollow square formation almost completely and formulated some tactics and methods to break the formation.

Their tactic was to avoid charging the hollow square formation unless absolutely necessary. If it was necessary, the cavalry charging the formation had to change their weapons, mainly using spears.

Holding spears longer than bayonets allowed them to stab Wu army soldiers without touching the bayonets, thereby disrupting the Wu army’s formation.

Once the formation was broken, they could unleash a one-sided massacre.

“Order all units to take action immediately and assemble in Xuzhou. This time, I will personally lead the expedition,” Dorgon slammed his hand on the table.

He hadn’t been on the battlefield for some time, gradually transitioning from a military commander to a politician.

But this time, with the fate of the Qing Dynasty at stake, he decided to personally lead the expedition; he wouldn’t feel at ease otherwise.

Several days later, the Qing court’s three hundred thousand strong army gathered in Xuzhou.

Among them were one hundred and thirty thousand Eight Banners Manchus, thirty thousand Eight Banners Mongols, forty thousand Eight Banners Han troops, and one hundred thousand Green Standard Army soldiers.

This was almost the Qing Dynasty’s entire foundation. They needed to know that the total population of the Manchus when they entered the pass was only about eight hundred thousand, of which about three hundred thousand were men between the ages of sixteen and fifty.

Eighty thousand died or surrendered in Nanjing, and more than forty thousand died or surrendered in Jiujiang, leaving only about one hundred and seventy thousand men who could still fight.

Among them, ten thousand were scattered throughout the North, supervising security in various places. Twenty thousand remained in Beijing, deterring the surrounding areas, and ten thousand remained outside the pass.

Dorgon brought out all the other one hundred and thirty thousand.

It wasn’t that Dorgon lacked troops; the total troop strength in the North was at least six or seven hundred thousand, but they were all Green Standard Army soldiers.

And with the war having reached this stage, he really couldn’t trust the Han soldiers.

Bringing too many Green Standard Army soldiers to the battlefield at once would be difficult to control.

If a defection occurred before the battle, it might affect the overall battle situation.

Moreover, the original Han Chinese army had extremely poor fighting spirit, couldn’t fight tough battles, and could easily be defeated. Bringing such soldiers along was just for show, without much use, and would only waste military rations.

Helplessly, Dorgon could only use a large number of Manchu and Mongol Eight Banners soldiers. The Han Eight Banners were also more reliable, after all, they had been with him for a long time and could be trusted.

As for the one hundred thousand Green Standard Army soldiers, they were a headache for Dorgon.

If these one hundred thousand Green Standard Army soldiers could serve as effectively as the Han Eight Banners, then their strength could directly increase by a level.

To this end, before departing, Dorgon issued a new decree to the one hundred thousand Green Standard Army soldiers.

He announced that after this battle, all one hundred thousand Green Standard Army soldiers could be incorporated into the Han Eight Banners and enjoy the same treatment as the Han Eight Banners.

This decree could more or less attract those soldiers, as the treatment for entering the Eight Banners was more than double that of the Green Standard Army. However, this would also bring a huge financial burden to the Qing Dynasty.

The money to support one Eight Banners soldier was enough to support two to three Green Standard Army soldiers. Suddenly turning one hundred thousand Green Standard Army soldiers into Eight Banners soldiers required a large sum of money.

On the surface, Dorgon’s decree seemed a bit rash, but some smart people in the Green Standard Army saw through Dorgon’s plan at a glance.

Having given the benefits, these one hundred thousand people would definitely be rushing to the front as cannon fodder. Of the people who survived this war, five thousand would be good, which would be equal to half of the expenditure.

Moreover, as long as their fighting spirit was stimulated and the Wu army was defeated, Dorgon could go to the South to plunder extensively.

With the current wealth of the South, it could completely afford this benefit.

Unfortunately, those who could see it were powerless to change the situation.

Either way, they were all Eight Banners soldiers, and rebellion was a dead end. Going to battle might offer a glimmer of hope.

Many generals still believed that the Qing army could win this decisive battle, because their strength was twice that of the Wu army, and they had also made great improvements in equipment.

In Beijing, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was praying in the palace for Dorgon and other soldiers, praying that this war must be won, because they couldn’t afford to lose.

If they lost, not only would the world change hands, but even their ethnic group might be exterminated.

In the era of male dominance, a person’s identity was often determined by their father.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was Mongolian, and Huang Taiji was Manchu. Their children had no concept of being mixed-race; they were Manchu, determined by their father.

And if a Manchu woman married a Han man, the children born would naturally be Han.

The fate of an ethnic group was almost entirely determined by men.

This time, they had mobilized almost all adult men. Once the war failed, those adult men would either die in battle or be captured and lose their right to reproduce.

At that time, the final fate of those Manchu women who had lost their men would definitely be to be divided up by Han men.

Perhaps, there was a real possibility of extermination.

Moreover, even if they won, but too many adult men died in battle, it would still be a huge hidden danger.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen vaguely felt that entering the pass might not have been the right choice.

With the size of the Manchus, wanting to rule this Chinese land was a bit like biting off more than they could chew. They shouldn’t have been so eager to go south to Jiangnan, but should have digested the North first and consolidated their power.

“Empress Dowager, you don’t need to worry too much. With the Regent Prince taking action, victory is assured,” Su Mo’er comforted.

“What if we win? There are tens of millions of Han people in this world, and we don’t even have a million. How can we control this world?” Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen sighed.

“Didn’t we rely on so few people to conquer the entire North before?” Su Mo’er said.

“The past and the present are completely different. In the past, no heroic figure appeared among the Ming army. The Ming army saw no hope and would protect themselves by surrendering, making them very easy to rule.

But now there is a Wu Changqing in the Ming army, and he has given others hope of victory. With the hope of victory, those surrendered generals will have ulterior motives and become extremely difficult to rule.”

Able to keep Dorgon in line and protect her young son’s throne, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s intelligence was not low. She saw many problems even more clearly than Dorgon.

Chapter 278: A Panorama of Living Beings

The large-scale military operations in the North could not be concealed from those with good sources of information.

In a civilian residence in Beijing, a Manchu man of about fourteen or fifteen years old said to his wife, “Pack up, we’re going back to outside the Great Wall.”

“Why go back outside the Great Wall when things are good? Beijing is much better than outside the Great Wall.”

The woman, who was in her thirties, asked. She was originally the stepmother of the young man, but because her husband died in battle, she had now become his wife.

“I’m not going back outside the Great Wall. Where can you find perfume and scented soap outside the Great Wall? Life isn’t as comfortable as it is in Beijing.”

Another woman, who was about twenty years old, said. She was also the young man’s woman, originally his sister-in-law.

With the deaths of a large number of adult Manchu men, the number of wives owned by the remaining Manchu men had increased considerably.

“Comfortable my ass! My father and elder brother both died in battle so we could live in Beijing. The Regent Prince has already led a large army south. If we lose this time, I’ll have to enlist in the next conscription. Several elder brothers I know have all died in battle. In some unlucky companies, the entire company of several hundred people have all perished.”

The young man cursed. The lower-level soldiers didn’t care whether the world belonged to Dorgon or Wu Changqing; he only wanted to save his own life.

When they first entered the pass, his father and elder brother plundered a large amount of wealth and brought it back. He quite liked and supported Dorgon’s wars.

However, as the Qing army repeatedly suffered defeats and his father and elder brother died one after another, he became extremely resistant to war.

With such a high mortality rate, he was also afraid.

Although living conditions were a bit harsh outside the Great Wall, at least he could save his life.

“What are we going to do? We’ll be severely punished if we return outside the Great Wall without permission.”

The woman looked worried. She was both afraid of the Qing court and worried about losing her man again. If her current husband died in battle again, there would be no one to take them in.

At that time, they might become public property within a company, or find someone even more wretched to accept them. In short, neither was a good end.

“I’ll find a way to see the commander and offer some of the family’s wealth to see if he can accommodate us.”

The young man said. In any case, he was determined to return outside the Great Wall.

In addition to some civilians who wanted to run back outside the Great Wall, some more timid Manchu nobles also began to plot.

They now felt very insecure because they were surrounded by Han people.

In the past, relying on their powerful army, they could run rampant and be arrogant.

However, everyone knew that once the Eight Banners army was annihilated, it would be impossible to rule those Han people again.

At that time, it would be safer to return outside the Great Wall.

Of course, apart from these timid Manchus, there were also some bolder people who had not considered returning outside the Great Wall, only hoping that the front line could win a victory.

There were also some who had become addicted to the exquisite life inside the pass and were reluctant to leave.

In another large house, a Han Chinese family.

“Tell the servants to prepare, we’re moving.”

Said a family head in his forties.

“Why move when things are going well?”

His wife asked.

“If we don’t move, it’ll be dangerous to stay in Beijing.”

The head of the family said. He was a businessman with very good sources of information and some understanding of politics.

He knew that once Dorgon failed this time, it would be inevitable for the Qing Dynasty to retreat outside the Great Wall.

And he believed that the Qing army would definitely not leave on their own at that time, and would definitely take the population and wealth around Beijing to outside the Great Wall.

The Qing army had often done this before when the Ming Dynasty had not yet been destroyed. This time, it would certainly be no exception.

Moreover, they might even carry out a massacre of the city before they left to vent their anger.

The Qing army had done this many times in Jiangnan.

Faced with these dark chapters of the Qing army’s history, he would no longer believe that the Qing army had humanity.

As a Han Chinese who had the means to choose where to live, he would not put himself and his family in danger.

Relatively speaking, he was lucky.

Other people who had no property and had to work hard every day to make a living simply did not know the impending danger.

Even if they knew, not many would choose to leave their homes.

In this day and age, it was not easy to survive after leaving one’s hometown. There was no land in other places for them to cultivate, and they could only become tenant farmers.

Rather than leaving their homes, more people were willing to place their hopes on fantasy, fantasizing that the Qing army would not harm them.

Taiyuan, the garrison commander of Shanxi, Liu Guangqi, tapped the table.

He was thinking about a major event, an event that could determine his fate.

Should he take the opportunity to rebel?

Liu Guangqi pondered in his heart. As a man, who wouldn’t want to try to seize the Central Plains?

Now that the world was in chaos, there was Zhang Xianzhong’s Great Western regime in Sichuan, the Manchus’ Qing Dynasty regime in Beijing, Wu Changqing in Nanjing, and Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian further south.

Even He Tengjiao in Wuhan was not honest and obedient, and did not respect orders. He was no different from an independent regime.

In such a chaotic situation, no one could say for sure who would have the last laugh.

As long as you enter the game, you will have a chance.

Liu Guangqi was not afraid because the Qing Dynasty and Wu Changqing were powerful. There were too many examples of the weak defeating the strong in history. Every heroic ruler who founded a dynasty was not the most powerful one from the beginning.

Liu Guangqi had twenty thousand soldiers under his command. This starting condition seemed better than Wu Changqing’s at the time.

Since Wu Changqing could rely on three hundred local militia to develop to this point, couldn’t he do the same with these twenty thousand people?

At least, Liu Guangqi believed he had a chance.

Therefore, when he learned that the main force of the Qing army had all gone south to fight Wu Changqing, he decided to start a rebellion and establish himself as king.

Xuzhou, the magistrate of the jurisdiction, Magistrate Lu, was writing letters all night long. He was passing intelligence to the Wu army.

The Wu army’s scouts had promised him that as long as he could obtain valuable intelligence, after the Wu army attacked, not only would his previous surrender to the Qing Dynasty be forgiven, but he would also be promoted.

This made Magistrate Lu very tempted. He felt that the Qing court had no hope of controlling this Central Plains land, because the Han population was too large. Now that there was a strong enemy, Wu Changqing, in the south, the Qing army would inevitably fail due to internal and external troubles.

Therefore, he began political speculation and surrendered to the Wu army as soon as possible. If he didn’t do it early, it would be difficult to be reused if he surrendered after the Wu army attacked.

For those who wanted to climb up the ladder, it was better to take a risk than to continue to be mediocre.

With the great war approaching, the people under the rule of the Qing court revealed their panorama of living beings.

Everyone was calculating their own interests.

A regime like this obviously had no chance of fighting against Wu Changqing’s regime, where the military and civilians were united.

Chapter 279: Contact

After the main force successfully crossed the river, Wu Changqing also arrived in Yangzhou.

Like Dorgon, a stubborn and self-willed man often likes to keep fate in his own hands.

In this battle concerning the fate of the nation, Wu Changqing couldn’t resist coming to personally command.

Of course, this was also a time to establish prestige.

If he didn’t come in person, the greatest credit for winning this battle would go to his subordinates, which would be the same as building prestige for them.

It’s not a good thing for subordinates to have too much prestige. He didn’t want to slaughter meritorious officials like Zhu Chongba after pacifying the country, and he certainly didn’t want anyone’s prestige to be on par with his own.

But as long as he personally came to the front line to oversee things, even if he didn’t say a word, others would feel that he was in command after the war was won, and the greatest credit would go to him.

He wasn’t born into an imperial family; he had to rely on prestige to rise in the ranks, unlike the Zhu family who relied on their identity and bloodline.

“The Twenty-first Division has already arrived in Huai’an and is preparing to attack the city. Our plan is to take Huai’an, and then rely on Huai’an to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army in northern Huai’an…”

Tao Dongcheng explained the plan and strategic intentions to Wu Changqing while pointing at the map.

Huai’an was very important to them. As long as they occupied Huai’an, even if the decisive battle was lost, they could rely on Huai’an to defend and cover the retreat of the defeated army.

Although it was said to be a decisive battle, the soldiers who would actually die directly on the battlefield would generally not exceed twenty percent. More soldiers were killed or captured during the rout.

Therefore, if they could fight relying on Huai’an, they could effectively slow down the Qing army’s pursuit in case of defeat, thereby gathering the routed soldiers and greatly reducing losses.

Moreover, with Huai’an occupied, supplies could be directly transported to the front line, ensuring their logistics.

Huai’an is located at the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Huai River, and is a transportation hub on the Grand Canal, so its strategic position is very important.

However, Huai’an is still in the hands of the Qing army. If they want to capture it before the Qing army arrives, they need to pay a price, and there is also great uncertainty.

If they can’t quickly capture Huai’an, the Wu army attacking the city will be in a dilemma, and may even be attacked from the rear by the Qing army’s cavalry.

“If we can’t take Huai’an before the main force of the Qing army arrives, then we can only move the battlefield to Madian, south of Huai’an. This is somewhat disadvantageous to us, but it is acceptable…”

“Send my order to Tang Guozhen, telling him that he must seize Huai’an before the Qing army arrives. If we fight a decisive battle in Madian, it will be difficult for us to achieve greater results even if we win. We need to eliminate as many of the Qing army’s Eight Banners main force as possible, so that they will be badly hurt.”

Wu Changqing interrupted Tao Dongcheng.

This time, the Wu army’s strategic goal was actually similar to that of the Qing army. It wasn’t necessarily about occupying any place, but about eliminating the enemy’s main force and eliminating the enemy’s strength.

If the Qing army eliminates the main force of the Wu army, going south will be unimpeded.

Conversely, the Wu army will not have to fight any more hard battles in the future. With the Qing army’s main force completely lost, other places will definitely surrender at the mere sight of them. The Wu army doesn’t need to fight, and internal turmoil may have already begun within them.

Wu Changqing was just expressing his determination, so that the generals in front would fight harder. As for the backup plan, it will actually continue to be implemented.

Once they fail to take Huai’an, they can only fight a decisive battle in Madian Town.

August 6th.

Wu Changqing’s main force began to depart from Yangzhou, and at the same time, the Qing court’s army departed from Xuzhou.

On the front line in Huai’an, the Wu army’s Twenty-first Division had already begun various preparations before attacking the city.

As a person with a very solid theoretical foundation, Tang Guozhen naturally understood the importance of Huai’an to this decisive battle. Taking Huai’an is equivalent to having a natural base camp during the decisive battle.

“The Qing army’s vanguard is about fifteen kilometers away from Huai’an. I want to take this Huai’an within a day.”

Tang Guozhen said.

If they can’t take Huai’an within a day, their division’s strength will be a bit insufficient when the Qing army’s vanguard arrives.

“I’m afraid this won’t be easy. According to the scouts’ intelligence, there are more than ten thousand defenders in Huai’an, including four thousand Eight Banners soldiers. Moreover, these people are equipped with a large number of hand grenades.”

A brigade commander frowned.

Finally, they were about to taste the flavor of hand grenades.

With hand grenades, the defending side’s ability to defend the city can be directly increased several times.

Compared to rolling stones, logs, and boiling oil, the traditional weapons for defending a city, the lethality of hand grenades is several times higher. Moreover, hand grenades are small and easy to use.

It can be said that if enough hand grenades are thrown down the city, ant-style siege is completely impossible.

If they had enough time, they could use cannons to blast a big hole in the wall of Huai’an, so they wouldn’t have to carry out a tragic ant-style siege.

However, Tang Guozhen has now set a time limit, requiring it to be done within a day.

This time is probably not enough, because the city wall of Huai’an has been reinforced with cement by the Qing army. It is much stronger than ordinary rammed earth walls, and it is also very easy to repair.

These are all the costs of the Wu army’s money-grubbing. If it weren’t for money, they wouldn’t have sold cement to the North.

“Can those hydrogen balloons be used?”

Tang Guozhen asked.

Under the instructions of Wu Changqing, the people from the university had successfully separated carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the air, and also produced hydrogen through chemical methods.

Among them, hydrogen was used to make hydrogen balloons, forming the first air force in this time and space.

In the past, Zhuge Liang and other generals also used flying tools such as Kongming lanterns to transmit military information. However, sending people into the sky was the first time, which was a leap forward.

However, the technology of manned flight is still very immature, and more than a dozen soldiers have died in the process of experiments and training.

Because hydrogen is very unstable and easily explodes or burns. Its power problem, direction control, and altitude control are all difficult problems to solve.

And once an accident occurs in the air, it is basically a dead end.

This time when going north, Tang Guozhen also brought that immature air force.

Pursuing complete safety is a matter for ordinary people. There is no so-called absolute safety when being a soldier. Even soldiers on the ground have a high probability of dying in battle.

Therefore, even if the technology is not yet complete, it must be used when it is time to use it.

And now, Tang Guozhen hopes that this air force can achieve a little unexpected effect.

“We can carry out bombing missions, but this is the first time in actual combat, and the effect is difficult to predict.”

Ning Xiang, the battalion commander of the air force camp, replied.

“It’s good as long as it can be used. Take off during the general attack later and scare the enemy first.”

Tang Guozhen ordered.

People flying in the sky, this scene will definitely startle the Qing army.

Not to mention ordinary Qing soldiers, even these officers were shocked and speechless when they first saw the soldiers successfully ascend to the sky.

Chapter 280: The Air Force Makes Its Debut

The newly established Air Force Camp had just over five hundred men, with more than two hundred of them being auxiliary soldiers. They possessed eighty hydrogen balloons, each capable of carrying an average of three people.

One person was responsible for controlling the balloon’s altitude, direction, ascent, and descent, while the other two were responsible for observation and bombing.

Currently, the Air Force’s primary function was bombing. It was not yet flexible enough for reconnaissance and its cost-effectiveness wasn’t high; cavalry would be better.

They were dropping heavy bombs specifically designed for bombing, each weighing nearly ten Jin, packed with a great deal of gunpowder. The explosive power was astonishing, several times more terrifying than the Wu army’s most powerful eight-Jin howitzer.

Each hydrogen balloon could carry about four hundred kilograms, meaning that in addition to the three soldiers, a balloon could carry more than twenty bombs.

Ning Xiang returned to the camp and ordered the balloons to be inflated. He said, “This is our Air Force’s first real battle, and we must make a name for ourselves. Only in this way will the higher-ups pay more attention to us and provide more silver to develop more advanced hydrogen balloons and improve our status…”

The ordinary soldiers didn’t really listen to these ideals and slogans. It wasn’t until Ning Xiang said that there would be generous rewards after completing the mission that everyone perked up.

One by one, the balloons were filled with hydrogen and floated into the air.

Afterward, the soldiers entered the gondolas beneath the balloons, and the soldiers below untied the ropes binding them to the heavy objects. The hydrogen balloons then floated into the sky.

At this point, some problems with the hydrogen balloons emerged. Some balloons didn’t have enough hydrogen, so they didn’t fly high enough. The soldiers in the gondolas could only throw out some grenades to reduce weight.

Others had too much hydrogen, so they floated too high, at least several hundred meters. At this height, the grenades would explode before they even reached the city walls.

They could only lower the altitude by releasing gas, which was a very dangerous operation.

Still others crashed due to improper operation by the soldiers, causing the hydrogen balloons to malfunction.

Before they even saw the enemy, they had already crashed two hydrogen balloons, killing six people. Falling from a height of dozens of meters, there was no possibility of survival.

Outside Huai’an City, the Wu army’s twenty cannons had been bombarding for nearly half an hour. Unfortunately, the current Qing army had a deep understanding of how to defend against howitzer fire.

With various defensive measures in place, this round of shelling by the Wu army only killed more than two hundred Qing soldiers. Of course, this result was actually not bad.

The artillerymen temporarily ceased fire, and the Wu army’s siege troops had approached the city walls and were about to begin an ant-like assault.

The Qing soldiers, who had been hiding under the city walls, returned to the battlements and entered a state of combat.

They had now abandoned the tactic of long-range shooting with the Wu army and instead allowed the Wu army to approach the city walls.

In their usual drills, grenades could inflict fatal blows on the enemy troops below the city, which was the source of their confidence in defending the city.

But at this moment, someone shouted, “Look!” and their gazes fell on the distant sky.

They saw nearly a hundred large, round balloons floating in the distance, with gondolas hanging below. They could vaguely see people in the gondolas.

“What is that? People who can fly into the sky?”

A Qing army general asked himself. He had only seen birds that could fly into the sky, but he had never seen, or even imagined, that people could fly into the sky.

In his mind, people should be on the ground. Only gods in stories could fly into the sky.

Now, suddenly seeing humans flying in the sky, his entire worldview collapsed.

“Celestial soldiers, celestial soldiers! Those are celestial soldiers and generals! It’s over, it’s over, the Ming army has invited celestial soldiers and generals to help.”

Some of the more superstitious lower-level soldiers panicked. They were instinctively afraid of something they couldn’t understand.

“Shut up! Those who spread rumors will be executed! That’s not some celestial soldier at all, just Ming soldiers,” some Qing army generals shouted. They couldn’t afford to panic at this time, or the consequences would be severe.

“But why can Ming soldiers fly into the sky?”

Not to mention these soldiers, there weren’t many people in the world who knew about air buoyancy. Not to mention air buoyancy, not many people even knew about water buoyancy.

It was difficult for normal people to remain calm when faced with something incomprehensible.

“Never mind them, defend the city walls and don’t let the Ming army below come up. Those people flying in the sky can’t do anything to us,” the Qing army general commanded. At this time, the Wu army was still attacking the city, so it wasn’t appropriate to discuss why the Wu army could fly. Defending the city was the real business.

After the general’s reminder, the soldiers suddenly woke up. The enemy was still preparing to attack the city.

The soldiers tried to focus their attention on the enemy below the city, but they couldn’t help but glance at the balloons floating toward them.

The hydrogen balloons weren’t fast, but the distance wasn’t far, only a few hundred meters.

Before the Wu army’s siege ladders were even set up, the hydrogen balloons had reached their heads.

At a height of dozens of meters, they could see more clearly. Some soldiers with good eyesight could even see the faces of the Wu soldiers.

Several archers even shot arrows at the balloons. They didn’t really have any clear intention, but because the people above were the enemy, they instinctively shot arrows.

And surprisingly, their unconscious behavior had an unexpected effect.

One of the hydrogen balloons was hit by an arrow and began to leak gas. There was no way to save it.

The Wu soldiers in that gondola also realized this and their faces turned ashen.

One of the sergeants said to the other two privates, “We can’t survive. Be prepared to ignite the bombs when we fall. This is the last thing we can do for our parents at home. As long as we do this, General Wu will treat our families well, just like the war hero Liu Xier in the past.”

The other two privates were trembling, but they also knew that this was the best option.

At this time, the soldiers on the other hydrogen balloons had begun to throw bombs. One by one, the bombs were dropped, scaring the Qing soldiers out of their wits.

“They’re bombs!”

A quick-witted soldier instantly guessed what they were.

Just two seconds after he shouted, some of the bombs successfully landed on the city walls, while others were thrown into the city and outside the city. The accuracy was difficult to control.

About thirty bombs landed on the city walls, and several of them malfunctioned and didn’t explode when they landed.

New weapons always have these kinds of problems, which is normal.

However, the remaining bombs that successfully exploded inflicted devastating damage on the Qing soldiers on the city walls.

Deafening explosions rang out, delivering a heavy blow to the Qing soldiers’ hearts. The areas where the smoke rose were a scene of devastation.

The soldiers at the center of the explosions were reduced to nothing but bones and ashes. Others were missing arms and legs, or had lost their heads, or were broken in two…

This hellish scene directly frightened and stunned a group of soldiers.

Chapter 281: Unexpected Ease

The Qing army had never seen such a horrific scene before. In the past, whether it was a gunshot or an arrow wound, the injury was just a small thing. Even if they were hit by cannonballs, only a few people would die gruesomely.

But now, one bomb, and dozens of people around it couldn’t stand. None of the corpses at the epicenter of the explosion were intact, and the city walls were covered in minced meat and blood.

“Divine punishment, this is heaven punishing us!”

Some soldiers simply threw down their weapons and knelt down to kowtow. Others, more quick-witted, turned and ran.

And this act of desertion was not stopped by any officers. Because it wasn’t just the soldiers who were terrified; the generals were also frightened by the horrific scene.

This was not the war they were familiar with, and their worldviews were being strongly challenged.

Besides the walls, the bombs that fell into the city also killed and wounded many soldiers.

Those bombed were the reserve troops, who originally thought they would be safer behind the city walls. Who would have thought they would encounter such an unexpected disaster, with the attack coming from the sky?

Looking at the Wu army overhead, they realized they could no longer find a safe place.

Then, an even more terrifying explosion sounded, shaking the earth.

It was the falling hydrogen balloon, and the soldiers on it had ignited all the bombs.

Over two hundred kilograms of explosives detonated simultaneously on the open city wall, its power comparable to when the Wu army used to bomb the city walls.

The soldiers at the epicenter of the explosion undoubtedly died, and soldiers dozens of meters away were blown over by the shockwave.

Panic. At this moment, extreme panic had broken out on the city walls and in the areas of the city that had been bombed.

They were terrified by this terrifying attack and these strange methods. More importantly, they had no way to retaliate.

The entire section of the city wall was in chaos. If the Wu army launched an attack at this time, they could take the city wall without much effort.

However, the Wu army brigade commander in charge of the attack below the city chose to order his troops to observe first.

He hadn’t seen the tragic state of the Qing army on the city walls, but judging from the power of the explosions, he could tell how devastating the bombs were.

The explosions had stunned him, and attacking the city at this time was not a good idea. He might be accidentally injured; bombs don’t distinguish between friend and foe.

It was better to wait for the air force to bomb the Qing army on the city walls into a daze before launching an attack.

While the Qing army was in chaos, the Wu army soldiers in the sky had no sympathy. Most of them were even happier to continue dropping bombs.

The more miserably they killed the Qing army, the more credit they would receive.

Only a few people felt their scalps tingle when they saw the horrific aftermath of the explosions.

Human genes are actually very repulsed by the slaughter of their own kind. However, human thought can, to some extent, counteract the control of genes.

Large bombs were dropped one after another, scaring the soldiers still on the city walls into fleeing. Soldiers in the city also fled to residential areas, hiding in houses.

In fact, how could those wooden houses withstand bombs of this level?

However, the Wu army would not bomb civilians.

They continued to float over the city walls, searching for targets, looking for places where the Qing army was clustered together.

They completely ignored individual soldiers; it was a huge waste to use a bomb on one soldier.

Some Qing soldiers realized this and quickly ran to places where there was no one; the safest place was where there was no one.

After a round of bombing, the air force slowly floated away, withdrawing from the battlefield.

At this time, the number of Qing troops on this section of the city wall had decreased from more than four thousand to less than a thousand.

Of course, it’s not that the Wu army killed more than three thousand people in this wave; it wasn’t that exaggerated.

The air force, which was conducting its first real battle, actually encountered many problems. Only a few dozen hydrogen balloons actually achieved results.

The Qing army on the city walls suffered severe losses. Most of them had fled, and only about a thousand were directly killed or wounded by the bombs.

This casualty rate wasn’t particularly high, but the strangeness of the air force caused great panic among the Qing army, causing them to lose the courage to continue resisting.

Not to mention the soldiers, even the general in charge of this section of the city wall chose to temporarily hide. He had just been knocked to the ground by the shockwave from a distant bomb.

After getting up, he fled into the city without saying a word. He no longer dared to stay on the city walls; no place on the city walls was safe.

Without the general in charge, no one suppressed the fleeing soldiers.

When the Wu army’s siege troops climbed the city walls, they did not encounter any decent resistance. It was a complete surprise.

“Lay down your weapons, surrender and you will not be killed!”

The Wu army looked at the Qing soldiers who were already dumbfounded and did not directly kill them, but ordered them to surrender.

At this point, the Qing soldiers very cooperatively laid down their weapons and surrendered.

After being scared by the bombing, they no longer had the courage to continue fighting.

As more and more Wu army soldiers climbed the city walls, the fall of Huai’an was declared. What followed was just mopping up. Without the city walls, the Qing army could not stop the Wu army.

The Qing troops in other directions did not yet know what had happened here. They only heard a series of explosions and saw the Wu army soldiers flying in the sky.

Although they didn’t know the situation, the Qing army generals had a bad feeling in their hearts.

Because every time the Wu army came up with something new, it would achieve good results.

For example, hand grenades, rifled guns, and howitzer shells.

This time, the thing that appeared was even more terrifying than rifled guns. Rifled guns were just more accurate and had a longer range, which they could still understand.

But now, they couldn’t understand the fact that people could fly into the sky.

Soon, their worries became reality.

Some soldiers who had not completely lost their minds ran to other directions to report the battle situation.

“General, let’s retreat. The most important south wall has fallen. There is no need for us to defend here anymore.”

Some low-ranking officers were advising the city’s chief general, Adamu. These people loyal to the Qing court had not thought of surrendering. But they didn’t want to die in vain either, so the only option was to retreat.

“The Eagle Squad stays behind to organize the Green Standard Army to continue resisting, and the others retreat.”

Adamu said.

Even before he left, he didn’t forget to exploit the Green Standard Army soldiers in the city, while he led the Eight Banners to retreat, preserving their strength.

With Adamu’s withdrawal, Huai’an officially fell into the hands of the Wu army.

Originally, Tang Guozhen and the others were worried that one day wouldn’t be enough time, but they didn’t expect the result to be like this. The Qing army’s hand grenades were of no use at all and were bombed into a daze by the Wu army’s air force.

Chapter 282: Comparing Strengths

The news of Huai’an’s fall reached the Qing army’s camp, and Dorgon frowned.

He could accept the fall of Huai’an; defeat is common in war. The Qing Dynasty had lost not just one or two cities to the Wu army, but many, many more. He was used to it and had become numb.

What he couldn’t accept was how easily Huai’an had been taken.

Huai’an wasn’t some old-fashioned city; it had new cement walls, a large supply of hand grenades, and was defended by newly trained soldiers.

It could be said that this was a garrison force they had painstakingly built. The results, however, were rather embarrassing.

Dorgon couldn’t help but wonder, if a city with this level of defense couldn’t be held, what city could be held in the future?

Thinking of this, he became even more determined to defeat the Wu army in this decisive battle, and not give them any more time to develop. Otherwise, who knew what new and strange weapons the Wu army would invent.

This time, it was soldiers who could fly into the sky; next time, would it be soldiers who could burrow into the ground?

“People can fly into the sky, what do you all think?”

Dorgon asked. The battle report clearly stated that the root cause of the defeat was those Wu army soldiers who could fly in the sky.

Inconceivable. If he wasn’t sure that his subordinates wouldn’t dare to fabricate things in the battle report, Dorgon would never have believed that people could fly into the sky.

Flying into the sky was one thing, but they could also drop bombs from above.

The others took the battle report and examined it carefully, each with an incredulous expression on their face.

“How is this possible? How can people fly into the sky?”

“The battle report can’t be fake. They wouldn’t dare to lie about something like this.”

“If that’s the case, wouldn’t things be terrible? How are we supposed to deal with them flying in the sky?”

Some generals were already starting to panic, adding a touch of pessimism to the upcoming decisive battle. The Wu army always managed to come up with advanced weapons, catching them off guard and causing them to suffer losses.

“We don’t need to worry too much. The battle report said that there are only a few dozen of those flying things in the Wu army, and they can only carry a limited number of bombs. In a decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops, these one or two hundred people won’t play a decisive role.

Moreover, from the battle report, it can be seen that the Wu army’s control over these things doesn’t seem to be mature yet. They even fall sometimes.”

Fan Wencheng spoke to comfort everyone. He didn’t want to see these people lose confidence and fighting spirit before the battle even started, as that would guarantee defeat.

His reassurance was effective because what he said sounded reasonable.

Although these things from the Wu army were strange, their numbers were limited, and they might only play a role in certain areas. But wanting to influence the overall situation was impossible.

Unless they could fly over Dorgon’s head and blow him up.

But now that they knew about these things, they would definitely take precautions.

“Just as Master Fan said, there’s no need to worry too much about these things, but we should also send scouts to step up their efforts to find out the secrets behind them,”

Dorgon said.

Afterward, they also discussed the upcoming decisive battle together.

The capture of Huai’an was a bit disadvantageous for them, but that was all.

Regardless of who occupied Huai’an, the final victory would depend on the decisive battle on the plains outside the city.

Huai’an was so small that it couldn’t accommodate a battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, so the decisive battle would definitely be outside the city.

Dorgon wouldn’t attack the city. He knew that Wu Changqing would definitely take the initiative to come and fight.

Both sides had mobilized almost all of their forces, and the amount of food consumed by hundreds of thousands of people every day was astronomical. This food had to be transported from the rear to the front lines, and nearly half of it would be lost along the way.

This was still in the plains area, with the aid of the canal. When Zhuge Liang went out to Qishan, more than eighty percent of his military rations were lost on the road.

Therefore, neither side could afford to delay. Both sides wanted a quick victory and wouldn’t engage in so many complicated tactics.

Another point was that this was a vast, boundless plain, and there was no way to play any profound tactics.

In the end, Dorgon and the others decided on the battlefield in the Siyang area north of Huai’an.

As for the specific troop deployment, that would depend on the situation.

On August eighth, the main forces of both sides were still approaching each other.

Among them, a ten-thousand-strong cavalry unit of the Qing army acted as the vanguard, quietly bypassing Huai’an, wanting to sneak attack the Wu army’s rear and supply lines.

Relying on their flexible maneuverability, the cavalry detoured for dozens of kilometers, and the Wu army’s scouts didn’t even discover this cavalry unit.

Their main force was gathering in Siyang, while the Wu army was gathering in the Huai’an area.

On the ninth, the Wu army took the initiative to leave the city, and the Qing army also left Siyang with great tacit understanding. Then, they met in the wilderness and began to deploy their troops.

Near Yugou Town, the cavalry scouts of both sides engaged in a skirmish.

Afterward, the vanguard of both sides stopped and began to adjust their formations.

The armies were now only three or four kilometers apart, and they could see each other with the naked eye.

However, they couldn’t see people’s faces clearly, only a dark mass.

In this narrow area, both sides had gathered more than four hundred thousand people.

Among them, the Qing army had a total of two hundred and sixty thousand people. They had started with three hundred thousand, but they had left some reserve troops in Suqian and Xuzhou, and ten thousand people had been sent to sneak attack the Wu army’s rear.

The Wu army had one hundred and fifty thousand when they set out, of which ten thousand were left in Huai’an, so there were one hundred and forty thousand here.

In terms of troop types, the Wu army had thirty thousand flintlock rifle troops, twenty thousand arquebus troops, thirty thousand cavalry, ten thousand archers, five thousand grenadiers, five thousand artillerymen, and thirty thousand melee weapon troops.

Among them, there were one hundred four- Jin cannons and fifty eight- Jin cannons.

The Qing army only had ten thousand flintlock rifle troops, which was a serious disadvantage. They did have thirty thousand arquebus troops, which was more than the Wu army. However, the quality of their personnel was definitely lower than that of the Wu army.

Therefore, the Qing army didn’t have an advantage in this aspect either.

In terms of artillery, the Qing army also had one hundred and fifty cannons, so they didn’t suffer in terms of quantity. However, the quality was far worse. All of theirs were four- Jin solid shot cannons.

They had no eight- Jin cannons, nor did they have howitzers.

In this aspect, the Qing army was at a disadvantage.

The Qing army also had five thousand grenadiers, but their hand grenades were less powerful than the Wu army’s due to gunpowder issues, which was also a slight disadvantage.

Apart from these aspects, the Qing army had the advantage in other areas.

Among them, in terms of archers, the Qing army had a total of twenty thousand, twice as many as the Wu army. Moreover, the quality of their archers was no worse than that of the Wu army. They were all people who had been trained for a long time.

The difference was even greater in cavalry. The Qing army had a total of seventy thousand cavalry, more than twice as many as the Wu army.

And in terms of melee weapon troops, the Qing army had one hundred and twenty thousand, a full four times that of the Wu army.

The comparison of strength between the two sides seemed to have its own advantages and disadvantages, and both had the strength to fight. On paper, it was difficult to tell who was superior.

This was also why both sides were willing to engage in a decisive battle. If the strength of one side was clearly at a disadvantage, it would never engage in such a decisive battle.

The weaker side would definitely defend the city honestly.

But now, Dorgon and Wu Changqing were both full of confidence in their armies.

Dorgon wasn’t being blindly arrogant. His confidence came from the cavalry.

As long as his cavalry could crush the Wu army’s artillery, archers, and melee weapon troops, then the Wu army would only have thirty thousand flintlock rifle troops left and would be unable to turn the tide.

Wu Changqing naturally wasn’t arrogant either. Although his forces were much smaller, he had many tricks up his sleeve. Each trick could offer the Qing army a great gift.

Chapter 283: Central Army

On the front lines, Dorgon used a telescope to observe the Wu army’s formation adjustments, constantly issuing various orders.

“It seems Wu Changqing intends to use cavalry to counter our cavalry.”

Dorgon analyzed the Wu army’s intentions based on their movements.

“I think Wu Changqing understands we won’t charge their hollow square formation again. To protect their vulnerable artillery and archers, their cavalry is forced to engage our cavalry. Besides cavalry, they have no other troops to counter us.”

Mao Wenci analyzed.

“Brother, let me lead the cavalry to charge and show them what real cavalry is!”

Dodo was excited about the upcoming decisive battle, a chance to make a name for himself.

He might have been a little worried about charging the hollow square formation.

But now, facing the Wu army’s cavalry, he was full of confidence. He refused to believe that the Han Chinese cavalry of the Central Plains could compete with them, who had grown up on horseback since childhood.

Dorgon was silent for a moment, then agreed to Dodo’s request.

However, he only gave Dodo forty thousand men. Of the remaining thirty thousand cavalry, ten thousand were kept in reserve as a precaution, to be used as reinforcements if needed. The other twenty thousand were to find opportunities to attack the Wu army’s artillery positions, as originally planned.

The Wu army’s artillery was quite lethal, a point of concern for Dorgon. Therefore, he didn’t hesitate to allocate twenty thousand cavalry specifically to deal with those artillery pieces.

“Move the artillery to that hilltop, specifically to target the enemy’s central army.”

Dorgon issued another order. He was most wary of the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers and didn’t have many ways to counter them. He could only concentrate all the powerful artillery to deal with the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers.

As for other directions, he couldn’t expect artillery support and could only overcome difficulties and fill the gaps with numerical superiority.

Moving hundreds of thousands of men was a very troublesome task.

Moreover, both sides constantly made adjustments based on the opponent’s formations.

For example, Dorgon wanted to use his limited flintlock musketeers to engage the Wu army’s matchlock muskets, hoping to break through at one point.

He was reluctant to use his flintlock musketeers to wear down the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers.

However, the Wu army certainly wouldn’t let him succeed. Wu Changqing was also moving his troops, sending his cavalry or flintlock musketeers to deal with the Qing army’s ten thousand musketeers.

With fewer troops, he dared not allow any weak points to appear in his formation, preventing the Qing army from exploiting them.

Both sides were engaged in a battle of wits, which meant that even though they had been facing each other for over an hour, they were still arranging formations and hadn’t engaged in any skirmishes.

Only after both sides had adjusted to a position they felt was acceptable did their armies begin to advance.

As the soldiers entered the range of their own cannons, both sides began shelling each other.

The sky was filled with countless black dots. The cannonballs of this era were slow, and you could clearly see their trajectory if you looked closely.

“Change to a line formation, increase the distance between the front and rear.”

On the Wu army’s side, after taking a few hits, the commander changed the formation to reduce losses.

Without the change, a Qing cannonball could take out a dozen men, but with the change, a cannonball would at most kill three or four men before losing momentum.

This one change could greatly reduce casualties.

Of course, this was only because the two sides were still far apart. While advancing, they could switch to this wide, sparse formation. Once they entered each other’s firing range, this formation would no longer be conducive to combat and would have to revert to a dense formation.

Only well-trained armies dared to constantly change formations on such a battlefield.

If it were a rabble, a single formation change on this battlefield with flying cannonballs would cause chaos. Once chaos erupted, the cowardly soldiers would take the opportunity to flee, triggering a rout.

Directly in front of the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers was the Qing army’s central army, a mixed formation of flintlock musketeers, archers, and swordsmen and shield-bearers.

The front rows were swordsmen and shield-bearers, used as cannon fodder to withstand the Wu army’s bullets.

By now, the Qing army understood that cold weapon troops posed no threat to flintlock musketeers.

Following closely behind the swordsmen and shield-bearers were a large number of archers. They were also cannon fodder, but high-level cannon fodder with the ability to fight back.

Their role was to use their remaining strength to quickly fire their arrows, engaging in a mutual exchange of fire with the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers.

Once their strength was exhausted, they could retreat to the sides, and then the real main force would enter the field.

This was a desperate measure for the Qing army. After all, they had too few flintlock musketeers and could only adopt this clumsy method. Without this method, they couldn’t withstand the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers.

The Qing army’s expectations for their central army were actually very low. They only needed to barely withstand the Wu army’s flintlock musketeers.

By holding back the Wu army’s core force, their cavalry could then decide the outcome.

Among the Wu army’s artillery, fifty cannons were used to support the central army.

At this time, their cannonballs were also falling into the Qing army’s formation. Although the Wu army deployed fewer cannons, they were using howitzers, whose lethality was no less than the Qing army’s one hundred and fifty cannons.

This was the suppression of weapons and equipment, which was terrifying.

The most important thing in war is weapons, a point that will be proven by history in the future.

One howitzer shell after another landed in the Qing army’s formation, each capable of taking a dozen or even twenty lives.

If it were an eight- Jin howitzer, the power would be even greater, and it could take away dozens of lives in one shot. After all, the Qing army’s formation was quite dense at this time.

The scene of dozens of people being killed in one explosion was extremely bloody and cruel, causing the soldiers who saw it to have racing hearts.

“Continue forward! Those who retreat or are afraid to advance will be executed! Just hold on for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea. Once the archers have shot their arrows, we can retreat.”

The general in charge of supervising the battle shouted at the swordsmen and shield-bearers in front. Under such heavy shelling, some cowardly soldiers were already scared enough to wet their pants.

Therefore, he had to shout to deter them, while also promising them a retreat, giving these soldiers a glimmer of hope for survival.

Although the hope was small, as long as there was a trace, they would fight for it instead of choosing to run away.

Not to mention that there were supervising troops behind them, even if they managed to escape the supervising troops’ execution, where could they escape to on this battlefield filled with people on all sides?

Escaping towards the Wu army would result in being accidentally killed one hundred percent of the time. Escaping to the rear would result in being caught and beheaded one hundred percent of the time.

In short, running away in this situation meant certain death. But holding on for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea offered at least some chance of survival.

The time it takes to drink a cup of tea wasn’t long.

Because of this sliver of hope, the fighting spirit of many Qing soldiers became stronger.

Soon, the swordsmen and shield-bearers entered the Wu army’s firing range.

“Stop advancing! Change formation! Dense formation!”

The Wu army’s front-line commander shouted. If the troops in front were the Qing army’s flintlock musketeers, he wouldn’t have ordered the soldiers to stop so early, because the hit rate at this distance was still too low.

However, he saw that the Qing troops rushing forward were cold weapon troops, so there was no need to continue advancing. Just shoot them.

Because if the Qing army’s swordsmen and shield-bearers wanted to fight back, they would have to charge forward.

This Wu army commander had also attended school and was proficient in the use of various types of troops.

With the issuance of this order, the Wu army soldiers changed their formation, then raised their guns and fired in unison.

Chapter 284: Gruesome

“Pia.”

With the sound of gunfire, dozens of Qing soldiers fell.

However, they still didn’t stop and continued to advance because this distance was still not close enough for the archers.

After advancing another few dozen meters, the Qing soldiers stopped, and the archers began to draw their bows and nock their arrows.

A large wave of arrows rained down on the Wu army, causing them a wave of casualties.

“Damn, this is really cruel.”

The Wu army commander cursed, but he wasn’t cursing the Qing army for being cruel to their side, but for being cruel to their own people.

When he saw the Qing army’s swordsmen and shield-bearers stop their charge and stand uniformly in front of the archers, he knew that these people were cannon fodder, a human shield meant to die.

It was inhumane, but quite effective. At least, if the Wu army wanted to kill the archers behind them who posed a threat, they had to kill these swordsmen and shield-bearers first.

Fortunately, the shields these swordsmen and shield-bearers carried weren’t very large, and their protection seemed to be average.

Of course, it wasn’t that the Qing army didn’t have heavy iron shields. Although heavy iron shields could withstand bullets to some extent, they were too inconvenient to equip due to their weight.

At this time, the Wu army was shooting the Qing army’s cannon fodder, while the Qing army archers were shooting the Wu army’s elite, putting the Wu army at a great disadvantage.

The Wu army didn’t have a good solution to this and could only continue shooting.

The Qing army gained an advantage, but the cannon fodder suffered.

After taking several rounds of bullets, more than half of the three thousand or so cannon fodder standing in front had died. Among the remaining people, deserters had already begun to appear.

Even though the officers had promised that they could retreat after the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, some soldiers couldn’t withstand the pressure after seeing their comrades fall one after another.

Having lost their composure, they no longer thought about the existence of the supervising team and fled one after another.

However, without exception, they were all caught and beheaded to deter other soldiers.

“I think those people are finished. They’ve reached their limit. Let them retreat. It’s better to lose some archers than to have these people completely collapse.”

A Qing army Lieutenant General suggested to his superior, fearing that the remaining swordsmen and shield-bearers would not be able to hold on and scatter, creating chaos and causing even greater losses.

“Let them retreat from both sides, so as not to affect the soldiers behind.”

The commander said helplessly. The mortality rate of the swordsmen and shield-bearers blocking the front had exceeded fifty percent. It was already very good that they hadn’t completely collapsed under these circumstances.

This was a product of special circumstances. Under normal circumstances, their endurance would definitely not be this strong.

But that was all. If they weren’t allowed to retreat, the military orders would soon become ineffective.

Hearing the order to retreat, the swordsmen and shield-bearers immediately burst into tears. This was too difficult to endure, simply not a life for humans. Some soldiers who had been frightened out of their wits were too lazy to even take their shields and retreated as fast as dogs.

As the cannon fodder retreated, the archers were exposed to the Wu army’s guns. They didn’t even have shields, and their protection was even worse.

With a volley from the Wu army, three or four hundred people immediately fell.

This killing speed made some of the taller Qing soldiers behind them tremble. They could clearly see how many heads fell neatly in front.

After suffering a painful blow, the archers in the front rows began to use their cunning, not even drawing their bows fully before firing. This made the speed of shooting arrows faster, allowing them to shoot all the arrows in their hands more quickly, complete the task, and then retreat.

This was naturally beneficial to them individually. But for the Qing army as a whole, this approach was undoubtedly harmful.

Arrows shot without fully drawing the bow were simply not powerful enough. Whether they could even shoot into the Wu army’s formation was a problem. Even if they did, the damage would be severely insufficient due to the lack of force.

Soon, the archers completed their task and began to retreat from both sides.

The Wu army was also replacing the regiments standing in front, allowing them to rest.

They had to rest, first being bombarded by artillery, and then shot by arrows. Their casualty rate was also as high as nearly twenty percent.

Always keeping these regiments in front would make them feel unbalanced and have opinions. A decisive battle couldn’t be won or lost in a short period of time, so it was necessary to replace them and let other troops take turns.

Without this rotation system, the soldiers fighting in the front would be one hundred percent dead after fighting for a long time. Under these circumstances, who would dare to rush to the front?

At the same time, on the left flank, the Wu army’s arquebus troops and the Qing army’s arquebus troops were already engaged in a fierce battle.

Their pace of advance was similar to that of the central army, but their combat methods were vastly different.

Due to the slow rate of fire, the two arquebus units only had one round of shooting opportunities, unless both sides didn’t advance and just exchanged shots from a distance.

The Qing army might be happy to accept this situation because they had more people and could afford the attrition.

However, the Wu army’s generals weren’t so stupid.

They all knew that the essence of arquebus unit battles was a charge after a volley at extremely close range.

The closer the distance, the more advantageous it was for the side that insisted on firing later.

The Qing army naturally didn’t understand this logic, or perhaps they did, but their soldiers’ quality couldn’t achieve it. When the distance between the two sides was only twenty meters, the Qing army took the lead in firing.

The Wu army immediately fell in a row, as many as three or four hundred people, accounting for one-tenth of the first wave of soldiers.

At first glance, the Wu army suffered a great loss, and not a single Qing soldier had fallen.

But in reality, the Qing army had fallen into an extremely awkward situation.

There wasn’t enough time to reload.

Running away would affect the overall situation.

Charging up, the Wu army still had bullets in their guns.

After discovering this, the Qing army commander finally realized why the Wu army hadn’t fired.

Now that things had come to this, he had no choice but to order a charge and engage in melee combat.

As they began to charge, the Wu army immediately stopped and raised their guns.

At a distance of less than ten meters, they launched this volley.

Immediately, the number of Qing soldiers who fell was even greater, at least five or six hundred.

Of course, this wasn’t the most crucial point. The most crucial problem was that when so many Wu soldiers fell, the Wu army had time to adjust and let the rear ranks fill in.

But now, so many Qing soldiers had fallen during the charge, and their courage had weakened by several points, but the process of charging couldn’t be changed.

This resulted in a consequence: after the two sides engaged in bayonet combat, the Qing army’s morale plummeted, while the Wu army’s morale was extremely high.

It was fortunate that this was a decisive battle, and the Qing army didn’t dare to run away casually.

If only these two units encountered this situation alone, the Qing army would have already collapsed and started to flee.

But now, because of the deterrence of the supervising team in the rear, the Qing army was still resisting.

The psychological pressure brought to the soldiers by the chaotic stabbing of bayonets far exceeded the previous exchange of fire.

Chapter 285: The Air Force Deploys

Soon, the Qing army began to show signs of war-weariness and hesitation.

It wasn’t just people; even horses would stop in their tracks when faced with such a dense forest of bayonets.

Let alone people with thoughts of their own. They didn’t know, nor did they care to think about, the impact of stopping on the overall battle. All they knew was that charging forward meant certain death.

This Green Standard Army unit was routed, and the Wu army pursued them for a short while before stopping, as the Qing reinforcements arrived.

They needed to regroup. Blindly chasing after the enemy could easily lead them into danger.

Only when the Qing army was in full-scale collapse could they recklessly pursue them.

But now, the decisive battle had only just begun; it was far from a collapse.

This three-thousand-man musketeer square was just one of the dozens of Qing army squares.

Only a few squares had engaged in combat so far; the rest were still advancing. The real decisive battle had yet to arrive.

The reorganized Wu army unit reloaded and resumed firing, engaging in a fierce firefight.

This time, due to their numbers, they were struggling a bit to overcome the Qing army.

Courage could boost combat power, but the increase was limited. Faced with the overwhelmingly superior Qing forces, they also felt fear.

At times like these, the Wu army’s support troops would come to cover their retreat to the rear for rest and reorganization.

Basically, it was the same strategy as the Qing army; neither side could afford to lose too many men from a single unit at once.

On a high ground on the Wu army’s side, Wu Changqing and dozens of high-ranking generals gathered, most of them holding binoculars and observing the battlefield.

They were looking for problems and thinking of countermeasures.

Others were inserting red and blue flags into a huge sandbox, constantly changing the positions of the flags based on the situation on the field, and occasionally removing some flags.

This way, they could visually see the changes in the strength of both sides on the field.

“Send out the air force to support the right flank and find the enemy’s command post.”

Wu Changqing ordered.

The Qing army had a numerical advantage, and it would be unwise to fight a war of attrition with them. The best way was to launch a fierce attack and strive to inflict significant damage on the Qing army in a short period, triggering their collapse.

Therefore, he didn’t hide the air force. He ordered them to attack as soon as the battle started.

The air force had already made a name for themselves in the Battle of Huai’an. Their natural advantage of flying in the air, where the enemy couldn’t fight back, made the air force a force to be reckoned with.

Not only could they kill a large number of enemies, but they could also create panic.

In short, in this decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, the role of the air force was much greater than that of the sniper company.

The right flank was the Qing army’s cold weapon force, which was numerous.

The reason for choosing to bomb the right flank was mainly because it was safer.

Bombing troops with long-range strike capabilities, such as the Qing army’s archers and musketeers, would allow the Qing army to fight back, posing a certain danger to the air force. There was no need to do that.

Every hydrogen balloon was precious now. Losing one meant one less. Even if the rear could speed up production, by the time they were transported over, it would be too late.

With Wu Changqing’s order, the air force camp took to the skies again.

This time, they had two missions. One was to kill the enemy and create psychological pressure on the enemy soldiers. The other was to find the location of the Qing army’s command and bomb the enemy’s high-ranking officers.

If they could kill Dorgon, that would be the perfect ending.

This possibility was unlikely, but that wouldn’t stop them from trying. What if luck was on their side?

On the right flank, the Qing army’s twenty thousand cold weapon troops were advancing, facing the cold weapon troops as well.

On the other side, gunfire and artillery fire were raging, like a battle in the age of hot weapons. But on their side, it was still a very traditional cold weapon battle, which was out of sync with the other side.

This scene was actually quite strange.

However, the cold weapons on the right flank only maintained the traditional way of fighting at the beginning. After the two sides approached, the style suddenly changed.

First, the Wu army’s small-caliber artillery began to fire. As they continued to approach, grenadiers mixed among the sword and shield soldiers began to throw grenades at each other.

The Wu army’s grenadiers threw first, their grenades were lighter and thrown further.

Dozens of grenades fell into the Qing army’s ranks, and a series of explosions and screams rang out. Dense formations often suffered heavy casualties when faced with such grenades.

However, the Qing army did not disperse because of this.

It wasn’t that they were stupid and didn’t know how to dodge. It was that they had to maintain this formation. They were about to engage in close combat, and the side with a less dense formation would suffer a great loss, and a soldier would easily have to deal with two people.

This situation was more dangerous than being bombed, so neither side did this.

This was like lining up to be shot. It looked like a very stupid tactic, but it had its own reasonable logic.

At this time, both sides could only fight with courage and see who could withstand it more.

The distance between the two sides was getting closer, and then the Qing army’s grenades also began to show their power.

What goes around comes around. The Wu army had taken too many advantages from grenades before, and now they finally tasted the taste of being bombed.

Under the damage of the bombs, there was not much difference between the elite and the cannon fodder, and a large number of people were killed and injured.

There were some heavy infantry in the Wu army, but they were left in front of the artillery to block the cavalry.

Those who fought here were all cannon fodder.

The two sides came into contact, and various weapons began to greet each other, and the scene once fell into chaos.

Without grenadiers, traditional cold weapon battles would not easily fall into chaos. Everyone maintained their formation and slashed at each other. Sometimes, after slashing for half an hour, only dozens of people would die on both sides.

However, now, where the grenades fell, a gap was easily blown open, and the opponent’s soldiers would rush in and seize this loophole.

Both sides were like this, and soon the two sides were entangled with each other and fell into chaos, but the soldiers behind them still stood on both sides, ready to replenish them at any time.

This stalemate and attrition situation was more favorable to the Qing army.

However, at this time, the Wu army’s air force had taken off and was flying towards here.

“What is that?”

Many Qing soldiers who had not yet come into contact with the Wu army saw the balloons in the sky.

The Qing army’s middle and senior generals already knew that there was such an air force in the Wu army, but only a small number of soldiers knew about it. Most of them had not heard of the battle of Huai’an.

Seeing such a strange thing for the first time, their reaction was no different from that of the Huai’an garrison before.

“It’s the enemy, there are people in the sky.”

As the air force got closer and closer, the Qing soldiers below also saw the Wu army soldiers above, and they were even more frightened.

They didn’t know how the Wu army flew into the sky. For this kind of strange thing, they instinctively felt that something was wrong.

“Calm down, there are only one or two hundred people, they can’t do anything to us.”

The Qing army’s generals began to shout, telling the troops to remain calm.

At the same time, he was also asking the rear to transfer some archers over. Those hydrogen balloons didn’t fly very high, and archers could be of some use.

Chapter 286: The Cavalry Charge

The air force flew over the Qing army’s heads and began dropping bombs.

One after another, dark iron lumps fell, and before the unlucky ones hit could even scream, the explosions erupted.

Several loud booms completely drowned out the distant cannon fire.

The massive impact sent Qing soldiers around the blast center flying. As for the soldiers at the epicenter, they were already torn to pieces, their bodies beyond recognition.

“My heavens, it’s bombs, huge bombs!”

A Qing soldier who hadn’t been hit shouted, his voice trembling.

The power of these bombs was too great; one was equivalent to a dozen or twenty hand grenades exploding simultaneously.

Dozens of such bombs were dropped and detonated at the same time, creating an incredibly impressive display of force and destruction.

Before this great battle, most of these Qing soldiers had only experienced traditional cold weapon warfare, the clash of swords and blades.

Suddenly being thrown into this kind of hot weapon combat, where large numbers died at once, was too much for many soldiers to handle psychologically.

They were all elite veterans, but faced with these new weapons, they instantly became green recruits.

Seeing more bombs being dropped, some soldiers began to flee.

The feeling of being able to only take a beating and not retaliate was despairing.

“Those who retreat will be executed! No retreating! They don’t have many bombs, they’ll run out soon! Hold your ground!”

A Qing general shouted, drawing his sword. The current results had not met their expectations, and retreating now would certainly be punished by those above.

To protect his position, the Qing general would not allow the soldiers to retreat now.

The supervising unit guarded the rear, and several of the fastest runners were shot dead, causing the remaining soldiers to calm down and stop, halting their steps.

Charging the supervising unit was something they would never do unless absolutely necessary. Because charging the supervising unit was a capital offense; no army would spare soldiers who dared to challenge the authority of the supervising unit.

If the supervising unit lost its authority, its effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

Those soldiers who had stopped were forced to return to the front lines.

Anyway, on this vast battlefield, those few dozen hydrogen balloons, on average, wouldn’t threaten too many places. Staying put offered a chance of survival.

The Qing army temporarily stabilized, while the Wu army’s bombs continued to fall.

However, as the Qing general had analyzed, their numbers were too small.

By the time they had almost run out of bombs, they had only barely managed to rout one Qing army unit, killing and wounding a few thousand men.

This result could be considered very glorious, but it still couldn’t decide the outcome of the battle.

After this unit was defeated, the reserve Qing troops stepped up again and fought with the Wu army, and the two sides once again fell into a stalemate, with neither side able to completely defeat the other.

“Keep two, look for the enemy’s command post.”

In the air, the air force’s deputy battalion commander in charge of commanding shouted. The soldiers checked the number of bombs they were carrying. Those with extras continued bombing, while those without began to disperse, each searching for the Qing army’s command post.

Only by bombing to death a few figures with enough influence could the progress of the war be greatly affected.

“Let the cavalry attack.”

In the Qing army’s command post, Dorgon put down his telescope and said expressionlessly.

Throughout the entire battlefield, he hadn’t seen a single direction where his side had an advantage, which prevented him from being happy.

They had an absolute advantage in troop strength, and could continuously send troops to rotate, maintaining strong morale and combat effectiveness.

However, after fighting for so long, not a single direction had made a breakthrough.

The central army and right wing had inferior weapons to the Wu army, so it was understandable that they suffered some losses. However, the left wing’s arquebus troops had the exact same weapons as the Wu army, so they didn’t suffer any disadvantages, and they even had a numerical advantage.

Yet, in this situation, the left wing had not been able to break the deadlock and was only fighting a war of attrition. Moreover, in the process of attrition, they were clearly weaker than the Wu army.

This made Dorgon very dissatisfied, and he wanted to execute the officer commanding that unit to vent his anger.

At this time, Dorgon could only place his hopes on the cavalry, which was his last trump card and his ace in the hole.

Dodo, on the outer edge of the battlefield, received the order and immediately took action.

Their mission was to break through from the outer edge, bypass the main battlefield, and raid the rear of the Wu army.

If they encountered Wu army resistance, they would fight the Wu army cavalry, focusing on eliminating the Wu army’s cavalry. If they didn’t encounter resistance, they would directly attack the Wu army’s vulnerable units.

For example, artillery, archers, grenadiers, and so on. Against these types of troops, as long as the cavalry got close, it would be a massacre, and the enemy would have no ability to fight back.

If they were lucky enough to find the Wu army’s command post and wipe out the Wu army’s senior generals, that would be the best outcome.

Of course, this was just wishful thinking. No matter which side it was, the protection of the commander-in-chief was the most thorough.

Thirty thousand cavalrymen began to move, and their momentum was not small. The Wu army already had people specifically watching them, and as soon as they saw them start to move, they immediately transmitted the message to the rear cavalry units via flag signals.

“Prepare to meet the enemy, let the enemy see what real cavalry is.”

Dong Tianbao’s slogan was similar to Dodo’s, both wanting to let the other side see what real cavalry was.

Dong Tianbao’s unit originally only had fifteen thousand men, but based on the battlefield situation, Mandahai transferred five thousand men to supplement Dong Tianbao’s unit, assisting Dong Tianbao in fighting the main force of the Qing army’s cavalry.

He led the remaining cavalry as a reserve, and if there were places on the battlefield that needed to be rescued, he would be the one to solve them. The cavalry had the best mobility and was most effective for firefighting.

Twenty thousand cavalrymen faced the Qing army’s cavalry head-on. At the front were their heavy cavalry, a total of two thousand men.

These people not only wore heavy armor, but even their horses had some protection.

At first, they were only moving forward at a slow pace, conserving the horses’ stamina.

When the distance between the two sides was less than five hundred meters, the Wu army also began to accelerate, letting the horses charge.

Tens of thousands of warhorses galloped on this vast plain. If viewed from an outsider’s perspective, it would definitely be blood-pumping and exhilarating.

However, for the soldiers in the midst of it, not many of them would feel exhilarated; they would only feel endless tension.

Closer, closer, the distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer.

At this time, some Qing army generals suddenly noticed that the opposing cavalry formation was very dense. With such a dense formation, where would there be room to fight later?

Charging head-on like this would probably result in a direct collision.

Chapter 287: Dodo

Closer, closer.

The Qing cavalry charging in the front suddenly panicked, because the Wu army’s cavalry opposite them wasn’t dodging. If this continued, there was a high probability they would collide head-on.

This wasn’t a battle; it was clearly a suicide mission!

The Qing cavalry had never seen this kind of fighting style before. In the past, cavalry battles involved very loose formations, which allowed everyone room to maneuver and fight.

But now, the Wu army’s cavalry was packed tightly in a row, like a wall.

This looked less like a battle and more like a mutual death wish.

Faced with this rogue-like tactic from the Wu army, the Qing army didn’t have any good way to respond.

The cavalry on the edges had already started to run to the sides, in order to avoid a direct collision. However, the cavalry in the middle didn’t have time to turn around.

Many people couldn’t help but slow their horses, at a loss for what to do.

Unsurprisingly, some of the cavalry charging in the front couldn’t stop in time and crashed into the enemy.

At high speed, the horses’ kinetic energy was enormous.

After the impact, the horses died instantly, and the cavalrymen were thrown from their mounts.

Those who were lucky could stand up in time, but those who were unlucky were trampled by the horses behind them.

The initial clash was extremely tragic.

But that was only for a moment. Immediately afterward, the Wu army’s speed was also forced to slow down.

The two sides that had made contact were now engaged in close combat, and then the Qing army discovered a very troublesome situation: the Wu army seemed to have more men than they did.

Basically, every Qing soldier was facing two Wu soldiers at the same time. In this situation, their fate was naturally not optimistic.

One mistake, and they would lose their lives.

Only on the edges of the battle were the forces roughly equal. In this area, the Wu army was slightly at a disadvantage.

However, in the overall situation, the Wu army had a huge advantage.

The Qing cavalry in the middle of the battle didn’t easily realize this. They only knew that they were at a disadvantage, but they didn’t know why. Dodo, observing from a distance, could see some of the reasons.

“Order the second wave to crash straight into them, no evasions! I want to see who’s tougher.”

Dodo realized that the reason they were at a disadvantage was that a large number of cavalrymen had swerved to the sides, causing a large number of troops to be wandering on the edges, unable to engage the Wu army.

And the cavalry in the center had to fight outnumbered.

Therefore, Dodo very decisively sent in the second wave of cavalry, and gave instructions.

He believed that as long as his men followed his orders, they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in the battle.

However, he overlooked one point: not everyone could execute this kind of suicidal order well.

There were indeed some very brave people in the Qing army who followed his orders and charged towards the Wu army without hesitation.

However, there were even more people who couldn’t help but turn their horses around as they charged. This was human instinct, and it couldn’t be easily changed.

The Wu army had undergone one or two months of training to achieve this, which was how they achieved the current results. If Dodo could achieve this effect with a single sentence, a single order, then the Wu army’s training would have been in vain.

In the second wave of the charge, the Qing army once again fell into the embarrassment of the first wave of cavalry.

There were too many idle people on the outside, and too few soldiers fighting on the inside. Their numerical advantage was not being effectively utilized at all.

Dodo was furious and cursed loudly. Of course, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with his orders. The problem was with the soldiers, who had not obeyed his orders.

If they had obeyed, this situation wouldn’t have occurred.

“Prince Yu, we can’t keep charging like this. Why not use mounted archery to deal with them?”

Dodo’s subordinate suggested.

They were clearly at a disadvantage in close combat.

Instead of doing that, they should take advantage of their superb riding skills, avoid direct contact with the Wu army’s cavalry, hang in front of or beside the Wu army’s cavalry, maintain distance, and then use bows and arrows for long-range attacks.

Dodo hesitated for a moment after hearing this. If it were simply two cavalry units fighting each other, he could adopt his subordinate’s suggestion.

However, now that both sides were engaged in a decisive battle, the cavalry’s battle was part of the entire battlefield and needed to serve the overall situation.

If they tried to kite the Wu army, and the Wu army didn’t take the bait and chase them, but instead charged their infantry, it would be troublesome.

Their infantry had not undergone formation training such as hollow square formations, and they were still relatively afraid of cavalry.

Letting the Wu army charge their infantry would easily cause their infantry to collapse.

Dodo had also considered exchanging attacks with the Wu army, allowing the Wu army to attack their infantry formations while they attacked the Wu army’s infantry.

However, Dodo was also worried that the Wu army’s cavalry would abandon attacking their infantry and turn around to attack them from the front and back with the Wu army’s infantry, which would also be very dangerous.

If their cavalry suffered too heavy a blow, then they might lose this decisive battle.

Therefore, although it seemed that mounted archery could counter the Wu army’s wall of cavalry, this tactic could not be used in the current situation.

“Prince Yu, why not abandon the plan to eliminate them and instead switch to containment? As long as we engage in small-scale skirmishes and contain this cavalry of the Wu army, Prince Guzhen can lead his cavalry to attack the Wu army’s artillery and rear.”

Another subordinate suggested that as long as they didn’t charge head-on, their losses wouldn’t be as great as they were now.

They only needed to stay beside the Wu army’s cavalry and contain them.

Unfortunately, Dodo ignored all of these suggestions.

In the end, he was also a proud man who had led his army to defeat the Ming army many times and had achieved great military exploits.

Now, he was unwilling to retreat when he had a numerical advantage.

“No need to say more. In the next wave, I will lead the team myself. We will also maintain that dense formation. I believe that none of us in the Bordered White Banner are cowards.”

Dodo’s words were shocking. His words startled the other subordinates.

The commander leading the charge in person could greatly boost morale, but it was too dangerous.

The commander was also made of flesh and blood. Being stabbed by a knife would still kill him, and falling off a horse would still get him trampled to death.

If Dodo died in battle, then the morale of their cavalry would be severely hit.

Moreover, Dodo was Dorgon’s younger brother, the kind of brother who was very close, not like Ajige, who was just a regular brother.

If Dodo died in battle, Dorgon might become so angry that he would lose his mind and something unexpected might happen.

“Prince Yu, no! You must not do this!”

Several subordinates tried to dissuade him, but Dodo didn’t listen at all.

“This is an order. You will charge with me and be sure to defeat the enemy.”

Dodo had made up his mind. In the past, Nurhaci had also led the charge in battles, thus establishing his lifelong fame. Dodo also wanted to prove his bravery in this way.

Chapter 288: Charging the Artillery Positions

On the other side, Prince Guzhen’s other cavalry force successfully outflanked the enemy from another direction and charged towards the Wu army’s artillery positions.

The Wu army had been watching their movements all along.

However, seeing it didn’t mean they could completely stop it, because there simply wasn’t enough time.

Moving artillery positions wasn’t easy, and their mobility couldn’t compare to that of cavalry. Instead of moving, it was better to turn the guns around and strengthen the defenses.

As the Qing cavalry charged, the Wu army had already adjusted their cannons, aiming them at the incoming riders and beginning to fire.

At the same time, Mandahai’s cavalry unit was stationed near the artillery positions, ready to launch a counter-charge at any moment.

Artillery alone couldn’t stop the enemy cavalry.

Rumble.

The cannons roared, and cannonballs began to rain down on the Qing cavalry, causing immense damage. Horses or riders hit by the cannonballs would instantly lose their ability to fight.

Moreover, falling horses would affect the comrades behind them.

Some horses, not yet accustomed to the sound of explosions, would also be startled and lose control.

Charging at high speed, the Qing army had no defense against this kind of artillery fire and could only resign themselves to fate.

“Charge!”

As the Qing army drew closer, Mandahai ordered the charge.

When giving this order, he felt somewhat conflicted, because those on the opposite side were his former clansmen. However, their positions were different now, and he had no choice.

If he dared to show any personal feelings, his adjutant might even take action against him.

Whether for his own life or for his future, he couldn’t afford to be soft on the Qing army.

The Wu army’s cavalry began to charge, but instead of charging head-on, they aimed for the middle of the Qing army, forming an angle of about thirty degrees.

This would divide the Qing army, cutting them into two.

Stopping the enemy wasn’t their only goal; they also wanted to try to eliminate this cavalry force.

The distance between the two sides was very short. As the Qing vanguard approached the defensive wall formed by the Wu infantry, the Wu cavalry also charged towards the Qing cavalry, opening up two battlefields simultaneously.

The Qing cavalry at the front were attacking the Wu army’s defensive line. As long as they broke through this line, they could reach the artillery positions unhindered and begin their slaughter.

Artillerymen were defenseless against cavalry.

However, this position wasn’t so easy to break through.

This time, unlike when Liu Hansan was ambushed in Nanchang, the Wu army was well-prepared.

As a key artillery position, they had prepared many defensive structures.

Cheval de frise and trenches could cause great trouble for the Qing cavalry.

Cavalry were helpless against these obstacles, forced to either detour or slow down.

Without speed, they lost their momentum, and their deterrent power was greatly reduced.

In fact, cavalry weren’t very suitable for this kind of positional warfare, which required specific terrain.

The greatest strength of cavalry was their mobility, making them suitable for mobile warfare.

If a cavalry force encountered an infantry force in the plains, the infantry would basically be waiting to die.

The cavalry could hang behind them, and if the infantry formed a formation, the cavalry would stop. If the infantry moved, the cavalry could charge, ultimately driving the infantry mad.

Or, they could shoot arrows around the infantry without making contact.

As long as there weren’t many archers in the infantry square, the cavalry could play the infantry to death.

This was the most powerful aspect of cavalry. However, cavalry didn’t have a significant advantage when charging infantry squares. Throughout history, cavalry rarely charged infantry squares.

Charging a disorganized rabble was possible, because a rabble would definitely collapse when faced with a cavalry charge.

However, the Qing army was now charging the Wu army’s elite troops, who held their formation firmly, not running away when the cavalry crashed into them and not revealing any weaknesses.

This left the Qing cavalry helpless, unsure whether to charge or not.

Crossing the trenches and dodging the cheval de frise, the Qing cavalry finally made contact with the enemy.

As the sabers swung down, the Wu army’s spears thrust forward.

Soldiers on both sides fell continuously, but compared to the Wu army, the Qing army suffered a great loss. They were losing cavalry, while the Wu army was only losing cheap infantry.

More importantly, the Qing army needed to break through the defensive line as quickly as possible to complete their mission. They had already penetrated too deep into the enemy’s camp. If they couldn’t complete the mission and withdraw quickly, they would eventually be surrounded.

“Break through and everyone will be rewarded with ten taels of silver and promoted one rank!”

Guzhen shouted, using this to boost morale.

And this method could, to some extent, have some effect.

Those low-ranking officers who wanted to be promoted were now leading the charge into the Wu army’s formation.

The speed of the horses combined with their weight created an immense impact.

Some parts of the Wu army’s line had already been breached by the Qing army.

Although the Wu army’s soldiers were elite, not everyone was fearless. Faced with a continuous, desperate charge from the Qing army, some areas still showed signs of wavering.

This was unavoidable. No amount of strict military law and training could completely erase a person’s desire to survive.

Some soldiers retreated, and some dodged.

Following these gaps, the Qing army continued to charge, finally breaking through several paths leading to the artillery positions.

The Wu army suffered from a lack of manpower. If they had enough troops, their defensive line could have been deployed more thickly.

Instead of being breached as soon as a problem arose, as it was now.

At the same time, the Qing army also encountered trouble.

About half of them were entangled by the Wu army’s cavalry, and the two cavalry forces were already fighting fiercely.

Like the problem Dodo encountered, Guzhen’s cavalry force was also caught off guard by the wall tactics of the cavalry.

Cavalry in the middle always had to face weapons from multiple directions.

They could defend against the left, but not the right; they could defend against the right, but not the left.

Fighting two enemies at once made it difficult to even hold out for a moment, let alone win.

When two evenly matched soldiers sparred, it was difficult to find the opponent’s weaknesses. But now, most of the Qing soldiers were being struck in a single exchange.

After one charge, the surviving Qing general was almost stunned by the casualty rate of his own side.

In the past, cavalry charges looked lively and intense, but the actual number of kills and injuries was not high, because the contact time was short, making it difficult to hit or be hit.

In the past, the casualty rate of a single charge would generally not exceed five percent. But now, the Qing army’s casualty rate directly exceeded twenty percent.

At this rate, another charge would cause them to collapse completely.

Moreover, the Wu army had already turned around and looked ready for a second charge.

This put the Qing cavalry in a dilemma. Continuing to charge was likely to lead to death, but turning around and running away would be abandoning the comrades who were charging the artillery positions.

“We’ll charge one more time and then retreat,”

The Qing general said, giving his men a glimmer of hope. As long as they survived this wave, they could temporarily leave this hellish place.

Chapter 289: A Safe Choice

Inside the Wu army headquarters, everyone wore smiles and appeared relaxed.

The situation on the entire battlefield seemed promising. As long as they continued to wear down the enemy a few more times, the enemy army would most likely be unable to hold on. When that time came, it would be their moment to reap the rewards of victory.

After defeating this main force of the Qing army, they would have no rivals to fear in the world.

On the sand table, some flags representing the central army had already been planted on Qing territory, forming a protruding bulge.

“The Eleventh Division has advanced a little too far. I suggest they halt their advance for now and prioritize attacking the Qing army’s left flank. We should concentrate our forces to eat away at the left flank first, forcing its collapse,” Tao Dongcheng said.

Currently, the battle lines were generally maintained in their original positions, with only the central army advancing about one or two li due to its superior strength.

This distance was already somewhat dangerous. If the enemy’s left and right wings suddenly split their forces to encircle them from both sides, the Wu army would be facing enemies on three fronts.

This would bring great psychological pressure to the soldiers, as well as a burden on their defense.

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy for the Qing army to complete such an encirclement.

Their left and right wings were currently at a disadvantage. They were having trouble solving their own problems, let alone supporting the central army.

The Qing army’s current strategy was to send in reserve troops. After all, they had plenty of soldiers, and there were still quite a few available units.

If it weren’t for the constant replenishment of reserve troops, the Qing army would have already collapsed.

“If we were to take a risk, perhaps we could directly break through the enemy’s central army. That would make it easier to defeat the enemy,” An Fugui suggested another option. The collapse of the central army of any force was a terrible thing. Once the central army was defeated, the left and right wings would be at risk of being surrounded, which would make the soldiers feel insecure.

The collapse of the central army was almost equivalent to the failure of the war.

However, it wouldn’t be easy to defeat the central army first. If they encountered stubborn resistance, then the ones being surrounded would be the ones who had thrust forward.

“That’s too risky. We should still prioritize stability. You have to realize that the enemy still has a lot of troops. It’s unrealistic to think we can defeat them in one fell swoop,” Dai Zhijun objected. The central army was their core strength. If this force were to fall into danger, it would be fatal for them as well.

“General, I am willing to personally lead troops deep into the enemy lines.”

The speaker was Xue Guiren. He was so desperate for merit that he ignored the enormous risks involved.

If he could lead his troops to completely defeat the enemy’s central force, he would be the greatest contributor to this battle.

There were many people willing to take risks for this merit, not just Xue Guiren.

However, Wu Changqing still chose to accept Dai Zhijun and Tao Dongcheng’s suggestion, opting for a steady and cautious approach.

He had a feeling that Dorgon hadn’t placed his strongest forces in the central army and was trying to lure him in. Perhaps a huge trap was waiting for them once their main force broke through the center.

He wasn’t sure if his judgment was right or wrong, but it wouldn’t hurt to be cautious.

“Take a division and attack the enemy’s left flank from the side. You must defeat the enemy’s left flank.”

Wu Changqing gave this task to Xue Guiren. After all, this guy was very ambitious and would fight even harder. Now was the time for a brave general who dared to fight tough battles to personally command from the front lines and devise strategies.

Currently, the commanders on the front lines were all mid-level officers. They only dared to command according to the plan and couldn’t make better decisions independently based on the situation on the field.

They didn’t have the authority or the courage to do so.

For example, when the central army advanced, they could have directly pounced on the enemy’s left flank. At that time, the enemy would have had even less time to respond.

But now, because the commanders on the front lines were all mid-level officers, they didn’t dare to make such a big decision, thus missing an opportunity. The enemy was already adjusting their troops based on the situation on the field.

Unfortunately, it was too dangerous to put high-ranking officers on the front lines.

Those cannonballs didn’t discriminate. If a few high-ranking officers were killed, it would be a huge loss.

And then there were those stray bullets. On the battlefield, people were often hit by bullets inexplicably.

Now that Xue Guiren had volunteered, Wu Changqing didn’t stop him.

With risk, there would naturally be rewards. Sending a high-ranking general like Xue Guiren, giving him some autonomy, would allow him to make more correct decisions based on the situation on the field and expand the results of the battle.

After arriving at the central army, Xue Guiren brought Wu Changqing’s order, took over command of the Twelfth Division, and then rushed towards the left flank two li away.

One thousand meters was not far at all for a charging army.

Soon, the Qing army saw the Wu army rushing towards them.

This startled the Qing army unit. They were already having difficulty resisting the frontal assault, relying on rotation and manpower to hold on.

If another enemy force attacked from the side, it would be even more dangerous.

“The left squad changes formation to block that enemy force.”

The Qing army general was also making adjustments.

Immediately afterward, a force of several thousand men broke away from the main force and met the oncoming Wu army.

However, when the two armies approached, the Qing army was surprised to discover that the approaching force was equipped with flintlock rifles.

This discovery almost scared some people to death. For their matchlock rifle troops to fight against flintlock rifle troops was simply courting death.

They had discovered it, and they were dumbfounded.

They couldn’t escape, because fleeing would only cause more chaos and collapse.

They couldn’t fight either, because they couldn’t win. The weapon disparity was too great. The only thing that could compete with flintlock rifles was flintlock rifles.

When they were still a hundred meters away, the Wu army had already stopped and started firing.

Although the accuracy wasn’t particularly high at this distance, their rate of fire was fast.

With a rate of fire of five or six shots per minute, dozens of Qing soldiers would fall with each volley.

At this rate, the Qing army’s forces would only last a few tens of minutes.

This was just theoretical data. In reality, standing there taking a beating would lead to a collapse in just a few minutes.

“Charge! Engage them in close combat!”

The Qing army general gave the order. Only by charging could they have a chance to fight. Shooting at each other was definitely not an option. Their rate of fire was like tickling the Wu army.

However, charging wasn’t really a viable option either. It depended on the fighting will of this unit.

If they could still persevere after a fierce charge, then charging would be viable.

If their fighting will wasn’t strong enough, they would often collapse due to heavy casualties before even reaching the enemy’s front lines. In that case, they might as well turn around and run now.

With the order given, the Qing army unit began to charge.

A hundred meters was only a matter of ten seconds or so. The Wu army could only fire two or three volleys at most.

Chapter 290: An Adventure

Could they break through?

Even the Qing army general wasn’t sure, but he had no choice.

As they moved forward, the Wu army fired a volley, and over fifty Qing soldiers fell.

Then, when they were just over sixty meters from the Wu army, the Wu army fired a second volley. This time, over three hundred Qing soldiers fell, a massive increase.

When they were only a few meters from the Wu army, the Wu army fired their final volley.

This time was the most terrifying. Over one thousand two hundred Qing soldiers fell directly.

The entire first rank fell, with almost no survivors. A large number of the second rank also fell. Everywhere you looked, there were corpses.

The scene of them falling so neatly was chilling to behold.

“Counter-charge!”

Xue Guiren ordered, and his subordinates immediately blew the counter-charge whistle.

The two sides clashed in close combat.

The Qing army had suffered heavy casualties at first, and then faced the overwhelming charge of the enemy. The fact that they hadn’t collapsed yet meant they were truly among the elite.

This was a unit of the Qing army’s Bordered White Banner, Dorgon’s direct command, and had fought with Dorgon for over a decade. In terms of fighting spirit, they were indeed higher than other units.

However, it was only slightly higher.

The two sides met, and bayonets clashed.

The Wu army had more men and a complete formation.

The Qing army suffered another loss in the bayonet fight, with another large number of casualties.

The Wu army fought very unscrupulously. At long range, they relied on their weapons to wear down the enemy, and in close combat, they fought to the death.

Each rank of soldiers only needed to do one very simple stabbing motion. While being killed by the enemy, they also killed the enemy, a pure war of attrition that gave the Qing army no chance to display individual bravery.

After a few exchanges, the Qing soldiers in the back couldn’t hold on any longer. Their own numbers were decreasing rapidly, while the enemy’s numbers remained enormous.

Continuing to fight was equivalent to suicide.

Many low-ranking Qing army officers began to actively lead their soldiers to escape in organized formations.

With their defeat, the Qing soldiers who were still resisting the Wu army on the front also began to collapse.

As veterans, they all knew that being attacked from both sides meant certain defeat, and staying meant death. At this time, the only way to survive was to escape, and to run faster than others.

The Qing army general couldn’t control the scene of several thousand men collapsing and could only flee with them.

When the supervisors in the rear saw the scale of the rout, they immediately chickened out.

The supervisors only had a little over a hundred men. If they tried to stop the rout of this scale, it would easily lead to infighting.

In short, a rout of this scale was beyond saving. The only way was to send new troops to block the enemy and allow these men to escape to the rear for reorganization.

The Qing army did indeed do this. When the Qing army generals in the rear saw their own troops being chased, they immediately arranged for support troops.

After chasing for a while, the Wu army encountered the Qing army’s support troops and quickly stopped the pursuit, reorganizing their formation.

Without a formation against a unit with a formation, they would inevitably suffer losses.

The reorganized Wu army continued to advance towards the Qing army.

Those Qing soldiers responsible for providing support couldn’t hold out for long either, but they had completed their mission, covering the retreat of a large number of soldiers who would have otherwise been killed, allowing them to retreat to the rear for reorganization and rest.

What could have been a defeat that triggered a global collapse became a local collapse.

This made Xue Guiren very unwilling. He only hated that he didn’t have a cavalry unit to cooperate with him. Cavalry chasing down fleeing soldiers would have been much more effective.

“Continue the pursuit.”

Xue Guiren said, not needing to worry too much about going too deep on the left flank.

After all, there were no enemies on their left, so they didn’t need to defend. And on the right was the central army. At this time, the Qing army’s central army was preoccupied and definitely couldn’t provide support here.

Therefore, the danger of continuing to advance wasn’t great.

And continuing to pursue had the hope of expanding the victory, and might even trigger a complete collapse of the Qing army.

With the advantage of advanced weapons, their advance was very smooth.

The Qing soldiers in the rear already knew that the Wu army’s main force was coming and knew that they were no match.

Therefore, some units put up only token resistance, firing a shot from afar and then collectively retreating.

The reason they called it a retreat instead of a rout was because they didn’t run in disarray. Each general could still command the soldiers under his command.

The soldiers who had collapsed earlier, on the other hand, couldn’t find their officers, and the officers couldn’t find their soldiers. It was a mess.

As they retreated, the routed soldiers who were resting saw the Wu army again.

Having long been scared out of their wits, they fell into chaos again, scrambling to escape.

Among them, some had their retreat blocked and could only flee in the direction of the central army.

The chain reaction finally occurred. Xue Guiren also laughed loudly, leading his men to chase towards the central army.

The biggest impact of the Qing army’s routed soldiers on the central army was that they brought a signal of ‘defeat’.

Seeing those fleeing in a panic, the Qing soldiers in the central army understood that a rout had occurred on the left flank.

This made the soldiers who were originally focused on fighting suddenly worried.

When they saw the Wu army chasing after them, their worries became even more serious. This was a sign of defeat.

Seeing others running away, while they had to stay and fight this seemingly unwinnable battle, not many people were willing to do so.

As a result, signs of collapse began to appear in the central army as well.

“Stay calm, don’t panic! Fleeing will be killed without mercy! Our reinforcements will arrive soon. We have many reinforcements, don’t panic!”

The general of the central army shouted, comforting the soldiers’ emotions.

At the same time, he had to send a portion of his soldiers to resist Xue Guiren’s troops.

They also faced the trouble of being attacked from both sides, but their reinforcements were about to arrive. After seeing the collapse on the left flank, Dorgon had already issued various orders to save the situation.

The most important measure was to send the reserve troops up, relying on numbers to salvage the defeat.

“Charge! Victory or defeat depends on this!”

Xue Guiren had already seen the Qing army’s troops arriving. He had two choices at this time: one was to advance steadily, and the other was to attack fiercely at the risk of being caught between the arriving Qing reinforcements and the enemy, and defeat the enemy in front of him before the Qing reinforcements arrived.

As long as they could do this, the Qing army’s central army would also collapse, and they could declare victory in this battle.

However, if they couldn’t defeat the enemy before the Qing army’s reinforcements arrived, they would easily fall into an encirclement and suffer heavy losses.

Moreover, launching a fierce attack would also require a great price. After all, they were also charging at a flintlock musket unit, which had a very fast rate of fire.

To reach the Qing army, they would pay a heavy price, just like the Qing army that had charged at them just now, and might even suffer a drop in morale and develop a fear of battle.

But if they could overcome their fear and reach the Qing army and enter melee combat, then the Qing army would collapse.

Chapter 291: The Situation Collapses

Even with a death zone of only one hundred meters, the Wu army suffered heavy casualties as they charged.

Watching the rows of soldiers fall, Xue Guiren felt a pang of regret and worry. If these men couldn’t hold, he would bear the responsibility for the failure.

Fortunately, the 12th Division was an elite unit within the main force of the Wu army. They enjoyed the best treatment and underwent the most rigorous training.

Now that it was time for them to risk their lives, they were slightly more willing than other units.

The lower classes of this era were relatively simple and believed in repaying kindness.

Wu Changqing had given them treatment they had never enjoyed before. Many of them felt that retreating in fear of battle would be ungrateful to Wu Changqing’s kindness.

This was why the Wu army preferred recruiting farmers. They preferred those who seemed more simple-minded to the cunning ruffians.

Charging to within a dozen meters, the Qing army fired their last shot.

The Wu army suffered six to seven hundred casualties. This was already a very heavy loss, and many Wu soldiers were afraid. However, the Qing army did not seize this opportunity to launch a counter-charge.

Perhaps the Qing commanders didn’t realize the benefit of a counter-charge at this moment, or perhaps there were other reasons.

In any case, they didn’t do it, missing the best opportunity to break the Wu army’s momentum. The Wu army continued to charge, appearing to be the more vigorous side.

Momentum, sometimes, is very important.

The Wu army charged into the Qing formation like hungry wolves, engaging in desperate bayonet fighting.

This reckless fighting style immediately overwhelmed the Qing army, plunging them into panic. This wasn’t a battle; it was like lining up for beheading.

Soon, after several waves of close combat, some Qing soldiers began to rout.

They had wanted to retreat when they saw others running away, and now they faced a group of desperate men, reinforcing their desire to flee.

Once someone took the lead, the Qing army’s entire formation quickly collapsed. Too many people wanted to escape, causing a chain reaction.

Seeing the rout on their side, the Qing general who was still holding the line immediately ordered a portion of his men to cover the retreat, then led the main force to withdraw.

At this point, there was no choice but to retreat. Retreating now would at least allow them to return to the rear and regroup, while staying to resist would lead to encirclement and the possibility of annihilation.

His thoughts and actions were not wrong, but anything could happen on the battlefield. Making the right decision didn’t guarantee a good outcome.

Those soldiers ordered to cover the retreat were unwilling.

Encouraged by a few low-ranking officers, they also ran away.

Covering the retreat? They didn’t care about that.

Dorgon’s central army was completely routed. Some soldiers in the rear, unaware of the situation at the front, had no idea what was happening. They could only conclude from the fleeing soldiers that they had lost.

In the Qing army’s command post, Dorgon watched the complete collapse of the situation, his face ashen.

The other generals didn’t dare to speak. Even a fool knew that Dorgon was furious.

To fight the Wu army with twice their numbers and still end up like this was simply outrageous, especially since the difference in equipment between the two sides wasn’t that great.

Dorgon and the others couldn’t understand the reason, but it was actually quite simple. Different weapons required corresponding tactics.

And they hadn’t learned those tactics at all.

For example, in a musket duel, the side that fired last had the advantage. This counter-intuitive phenomenon required a great deal of combat experience to figure out.

But Wu Changqing could directly instruct his subordinates to do so.

In many tactical details, the Wu army was far superior to the Qing army, making their victory inevitable. Dorgon and the others couldn’t see or understand this for the time being.

At this point, Dorgon could only place all his hopes on the cavalry.

If the cavalry could defeat the Wu army’s cavalry, it could still pose a threat to the Wu army, preventing them from pursuing too deeply. Then they would have time to retreat and regroup.

Such a result could barely be considered a draw.

A complete victory was out of the question; Dorgon would be satisfied with a draw.

But if the cavalry also failed, the Wu army could confidently pursue the Qing army, who had already lost the will to fight.

At that time, the Qing army would inevitably suffer a crushing defeat.

Retreating is always more difficult and dangerous than attacking.

Retreating with hundreds of thousands of men was an unsolvable logistical problem.

Not to mention that orders had to be delivered by messengers, even with radios in later generations, a military retreat was not an easy task.

On the cavalry battlefield, after two clashes, both sides suffered significant losses. However, the Qing army’s losses were far greater than the Wu army’s.

They had lost about five thousand men, while the Wu army had lost at most two thousand, a difference of more than double.

Dodo could only worry anxiously about this situation, without any good solutions.

He even personally led the charge, but the effect was still not obvious.

He thought he could change his soldiers’ instincts with his own intimidation, which was a bit presumptuous.

Forming a wall of cavalry seemed stupid, clumsy, and lacking in technique, but training to that level was not easy.

“How are things going in the other directions?”

Dodo asked.

He was already hesitating whether to continue fighting the Wu army head-on.

If he had a choice, he would rather retreat temporarily and find a way to counter the Wu army’s tactics before fighting a decisive battle later. He really felt the pain of filling the gap with lives.

However, he needed to consider the overall battlefield situation.

If other areas were at an advantage, he wouldn’t need to be obsessed with defeating the Wu army’s cavalry. But if other areas were at a disadvantage, he had to find a way to defeat the Wu army’s cavalry to relieve the pressure on other directions, otherwise the battle would be lost.

“Not good. The central army on the front seems to be retreating after being slaughtered. The right wing is still resisting, and the left wing is too far away to know. The Guzhen troops are currently trapped in the Wu army’s main force. Although some of them have charged onto the enemy’s artillery positions, they seem to be completely surrounded.”

The adjutant in charge of observing the battlefield situation said that the current situation was too unfavorable for them, completely different from what they had imagined before the war.

“Then there’s no choice, keep charging. We have more people, and the other side will definitely lose if we fight to the end. Two more charges and they won’t be able to hold on.”

Dodo encouraged his subordinates, as they still had the advantage in numbers.

However, in terms of morale, they were far inferior to the Wu army.

This was a very terrible thing, because the outcome of a battle was not determined by numbers. Once they couldn’t hold on and collapsed and fled first, no matter how many people they had, it would be useless.

The crowd felt mixed emotions when they heard Dodo’s request to continue charging.

In the previous charges, some Princes and Beizis had already died in battle. Swords and spears had no eyes, and their cavalry generals couldn’t hide in the rear like infantry generals. Their safety was not guaranteed.

Although some people didn’t want to charge mindlessly like this anymore, no one dared to disobey Dodo’s orders. They could only grit their teeth and follow, hoping that the Wu army would not be able to hold on first.

On the Wu army’s side, although the losses had reached ten percent, their morale was very high.

Fighting more with less and still killing more enemies made them extremely proud.

This feeling of pride could more or less offset some fear and increase morale.

Seeing the Qing army start again, Dong Tianbao also ordered a charge. This time, he also joined the battle, leading the team himself.

Since even Dodo had personally charged, he didn’t think his life was more valuable than Dodo’s. Dodo’s personal charge stimulated his competitive spirit.

Chapter 292: Dodo’s Death

Dong Tianbao personally led the charge, greatly boosting the morale of the Wu army.

Previously, when Dodo had done this, the Qing army’s morale had also received a temporary boost. However, after the initial clash, the soldiers realized that Dodo hadn’t reversed the situation.

Therefore, Dodo’s renewed leadership couldn’t ignite the soldiers’ morale.

The two sides’ cavalry clashed again, and the scene was a repeat of before.

Relying on their local numerical advantage, the Wu army freely bullied the Qing army. The Qing soldiers, on the other hand, were full of frustration, feeling like they had strength but couldn’t use it.

On the flanks, the Qing army could slightly bully the Wu army. However, only a few soldiers were engaged in combat on the flanks; most were being bullied in the center, and even more couldn’t reach anyone outside the edges and were anxious.

In comparison, the Qing army suffered a great loss.

Especially in the area where Dong Tianbao was, they were, on average, three against one Qing soldier.

Even though he was personally charging, Dong Tianbao certainly enjoyed different treatment than ordinary soldiers; he was protected by his personal guards.

Few enemies could threaten him, and if any appeared, they would be dealt with by his guards.

Basically, Dong Tianbao’s blade didn’t even touch an enemy.

Of course, his personal charge wasn’t to kill one or two enemies; that would be useless.

He led the charge simply to set an example.

The same was true for Dodo; the troop density in his location was higher than in other locations, so he didn’t suffer from a numerical disadvantage against the Wu army. However, he didn’t gain an advantage either.

Dodo brandished his saber. Since the start of the battle, he had personally killed two enemies, which was a very good record.

Most ordinary soldiers hadn’t killed a single enemy after charging two or three times. Moreover, this was considered normal.

If everyone could kill an enemy on average, that would be incredible. If their forty thousand men charged together, the Wu army wouldn’t even be enough for them to kill once.

A soldier who could kill more than one enemy in a battle was a warrior and would definitely receive a great reward after the war.

Most people couldn’t kill a single enemy; their greatest role was simply to follow along and increase the momentum, scaring the enemy.

“Let’s cooperate and kill that guy,” a Wu soldier shouted to his companion.

They were from the same hometown and had agreed beforehand that if they encountered a big figure of the enemy army, they would cooperate to kill him, and the credit would be split equally afterward. If one of them died in battle, the other would be responsible for supporting the other’s family.

Killing a big figure was much riskier than killing ordinary soldiers because big figures had personal guards protecting them.

High risk, high reward. The two decided to risk it and charged directly toward Dodo.

“Stop them!” Dodo’s guard captain shouted, and two guards immediately charged toward the pair.

On the Wu army’s side, it wasn’t just these two acting; quite a few soldiers had designs on Dodo.

After all, killing Dodo would bring a reward sufficient for them to retire from the army, buy a large piece of land back home, marry a young wife, and live a carefree life from then on.

Many people actively gathered around, hacking at Dodo’s guards.

Dodo’s guards were naturally the elite of the elite. They could counterattack while dodging, each cutting down a Wu army cavalryman.

However, that was the end of their contribution.

In the instant they struck the Wu soldiers, they inevitably left an opening in their defense.

Two Wu soldiers seized the opportunity to slash their sabers at them, cutting them down.

These two groups engaged in a fierce local battle, falling into chaos for a time.

Anything could happen in the chaos, and the chances of accidents greatly increased. Dodo was fiercely hacking at a defeated Wu soldier when his horse was stabbed.

The horse, in pain, went berserk and lost control, colliding with a Wu army horse and throwing Dodo off.

“Save the General!” The Qing soldiers hurriedly tried to get Dodo back on his horse. However, the Wu army wouldn’t let them have their way at this time.

It was like kicking a man when he’s down. More people surged in this direction.

For a time, this small area was full of horses, completely blocked off, and neither side could advance.

In this super chaotic situation, Dodo was no longer a noble prince but a helpless mortal trying to survive.

Carelessly, he was knocked down by a horse, and then another horse’s leg stepped on him.

A horse plus a strong man weighed at least seven hundred and fifty kilograms. Being crushed by that weight, no normal person could withstand it.

Dodo let out a scream. At this moment, he no longer had any hope of survival.

His guards shouted heart-wrenchingly. Many even jumped off their horses to try to rescue him, but all their efforts were in vain. Soon, they followed Dodo to the grave.

“Dodo is dead! Dodo is dead!” A clever officer in the Wu army shouted. The other soldiers reacted immediately upon hearing this and followed suit, shouting the same phrase.

Although those in the Qing army were Manchus, they still clearly understood the name Dodo. Moreover, having stayed within the pass for a long time, they could understand some commonly used simple Chinese words.

Hearing the news of Dodo’s death, some Qing soldiers didn’t believe it, but many fell into confusion and panic.

The key was that no Qing general of sufficient stature stood up to refute the rumor at this time.

For a time, many chose to believe it and then slipped away.

The commander-in-chief was dead, so there wasn’t much hope of winning this battle.

Moreover, after suffering losses in several clashes, some soldiers no longer liked fighting in this way.

Now, with the news of Dodo’s death, they had even more reason to choose to flee.

The Qing army fell into chaos. Some were entangled by the Wu army, while some peripheral soldiers had already turned their horses around and retreated in the other direction.

Some people in the back didn’t know the situation and could only follow the actions of those in front. When those people retreated, they retreated as well.

As a result, the Qing cavalry in the middle was abandoned.

The abandoned cavalry fell into panic, but they had no way to escape.

Infantry only needed to turn around to escape, but it was difficult for cavalry to turn their horses around.

Some soldiers who turned their horses around not only failed to escape but also created greater chaos for the friendly troops behind them.

The Wu army seized the opportunity to attack and devour this force.

The Qing cavalry who escaped fell into a brief period of confusion because most of the high-ranking generals were following Dodo and had basically died in battle at this time.

No one could order and command this large army. Until the Wu army chased after them, they could only rely on instinct to continue to flee.

Chapter 293: Choosing the Rearguard

The news of the cavalry’s crushing defeat reached Dorgon, and everyone’s expression changed drastically.

Even the cavalry had been defeated. They no longer had any trump cards left. This time, there was truly no saving the situation.

This national war, involving three hundred thousand troops, had failed.

“General, order a retreat.”

Kong Youde advised. In the current situation, arranging a retreat as soon as possible was the most important thing.

There was no point in thinking about turning defeat into victory. Once an army lost its morale, it could only retreat and reorganize. It was impossible to regain momentum by shouting a few slogans.

At this point, arranging for a rearguard to cover the retreat of the demoralized main force could greatly reduce losses.

Despite the Qing army’s apparent total collapse, the actual number of casualties was not high, only about twenty or thirty thousand. If the Wu army didn’t pursue, and they could gather the surviving stragglers, it wouldn’t even count as a major defeat.

Give them some time to rest and replenish their equipment, and they could recover eighty percent of their combat power.

Of course, that was clearly impossible. The Wu army wouldn’t pass up such a golden opportunity. Chasing down a defeated army was the most satisfying thing on the battlefield.

As the commander of the Qing army, Dorgon needed to make a decisive decision at this moment, sending out a portion of the troops that hadn’t fallen into disarray to block the enemy and cover the retreat of the other units.

The sooner this order was given, the better. Every minute of delay meant more danger.

“General, time is of the essence. Make a decision quickly.”

Several other generals also urged.

“Who is willing to stay behind as the rearguard?”

Although Dorgon was unwilling, he hadn’t completely lost his mind.

He didn’t yet know that Dodo had been killed in action. If he knew, he probably wouldn’t be able to control his emotions.

At these words, the generals fell silent for a moment.

Everyone knew that staying behind as the rearguard was a terrible assignment, with a high probability of death or capture.

They weren’t ordinary soldiers who could surrender without hesitation once all hope was lost.

People like Wu Sangui and Kong Youde had their families in Beijing. If they were captured, they couldn’t surrender, and they couldn’t refuse to surrender.

“I am willing to stay behind.”

Seeing that no one responded, Boheto, fearing Dorgon’s anger, stepped forward to take on this important task.

Of course, he was also staying behind because he didn’t want to see his side suffer a major defeat, and he also had a deep hatred for the Wu army. Bolo, who died at the hands of the Wu army, was his brother.

Seeing someone volunteer, Dorgon suppressed his rising anger.

With his power, he could assign anyone to the rearguard, and no one would dare to disobey.

However, it was best to find someone who volunteered for such a task. Forcibly assigning the task to someone would inevitably make them resentful. If they surrendered to the enemy out of spite, the rearguard action would become a joke, with extremely dire consequences.

There were many such cases in history.

“Good, Boheto, I order you to lead twenty thousand reserve troops to take full responsibility for the rearguard. General Wu and General Kong will also stay to assist Boheto. I hope you will all do your best, fight to the death, and buy time for the army to retreat.”

Dorgon ordered. In addition to Boheto, he also assigned Wu Sangui and Kong Youde.

He trusted these two a little more because Wu Sangui’s beloved Chen Yuanyuan was still in Beijing. As long as he didn’t want to lose her, Wu Sangui would have to fight desperately.

And Kong Youde’s entire family was also in Beijing, which was also a constraint.

Wu Sangui and Kong Youde could only smile bitterly upon hearing this. In the Qing regime, due to their status, they were never able to enjoy the same treatment as other Manchu generals.

They were always the ones doing the dirty work.

Even if they achieved merit, the rewards they received were less than those of Manchu generals.

For example, Wu Sangui let the Qing army into the pass and could be said to be the number one contributor to the Qing army’s entry into China. But now, the troops under his command were even fewer than when he was the garrison commander of Shanhaiguan, and his power was not as great as it was then.

It was as if his contribution never existed.

If he had known this would happen, he might not have made that impulsive decision, and he wouldn’t have become a national traitor.

After formulating the retreat strategy, Dorgon left with his men first. Some other generals went to gather the defeated soldiers and organize them to retreat.

Only by organizing them could they retreat successfully in an orderly manner. Letting the soldiers run around like headless flies would definitely lead to them being captured.

After those people left, Boheto, Wu Sangui, and others went to their respective units, leading their men to occupy important intersections and key locations, preparing to block the pursuing Wu army.

Although this was a plain, not every place had a road. At least, the rice paddies were impassable. Walking a few li in the rice paddies would exhaust a person half to death.

Therefore, the Wu army would still have to pursue along the main roads and official roads, and they would inevitably encounter Wu Sangui’s troops, who they would have to defeat in order to continue the pursuit.

Wu Sangui arrived at his unit and announced the order for them to stay behind as the rearguard.

Immediately, some generals and soldiers began to grumble in dissatisfaction.

“Why? We fought on the battlefield before. Why aren’t those units that didn’t fight staying behind as the rearguard? This isn’t fair.”

A ruffian shouted. At this point, everyone knew that their side had been defeated, and everyone was fleeing.

At this time, to survive, they could only run faster than others. Staying behind as the rearguard meant sacrificing themselves for the sake of others. They didn’t have such great and noble character.

“That’s right, we’ve already lost thirty percent of our men, and now you want us to go to our deaths? You’re forcing us into a dead end.”

“The Wu army is too terrifying. They can even fly into the sky. How can we fight them?”

“That’s right, we can’t fight them.”

Other soldiers echoed, and some even hinted at wanting to surrender. However, no one dared to be the first to say it.

“Shut up! This is a military order. Military orders are like mountains. Those who speak out against it will be executed!”

Wu Sangui scolded. He couldn’t let these people continue to shout, or their morale would collapse, and they would become a disorganized rabble.

Wu Sangui’s scolding made the soldiers shut their mouths and dare not speak. They still didn’t dare to offend Wu Sangui’s authority.

“Defend with all your might for a while. If the situation becomes unfavorable, I will lead everyone to retreat and leave you a way out.”

Wu Sangui promised. He had to give his subordinates some hope, otherwise it would be difficult to control those soldiers who wanted to live by relying on authority alone.

Hearing Wu Sangui say this, the soldiers reluctantly accepted.

Of course, they had no choice. Obeying orders still gave them hope of survival. But if they stood up now and refused to carry out the order, they would definitely be killed.

Although it was possible to incite other soldiers to protest and mutiny, the risk was extremely high, and those who took the lead usually didn’t have a good ending.

Without anyone taking the lead, these soldiers could only follow the crowd.

Chapter 294: Full Pursuit

“Follow the plan, full pursuit.”

Wu Changqing said.

The pursuit plan after a great victory had been rehearsed several times before the battle. At this point, Wu Changqing only needed to give an order, and everyone else would know what to do.

As for him, he could return to Huai’an and quietly await good news from everyone.

Subsequently, Liu Hansan and many other generals personally set out, leading teams to pursue and kill the enemy.

At this time, there was no great danger, it was time to grab credit. The more prisoners captured, the more supplies seized, the greater the merit.

There were many troops responsible for the pursuit, almost all of them were sent out.

Even some of the troops that had suffered heavy losses and had low morale, upon hearing that the enemy had been defeated, immediately put aside their previous sadness and fear, and actively requested to join the pursuing army.

The generals above sympathized with them and wanted them to rest more, but they refused.

After all, they were afraid that all the credit would go to those pursuing troops, and that their own credit for fighting the hard battle to the end would not be as good as those who picked up the cheap stuff, which would be too frustrating.

In short, at this time, they couldn’t care about their fatigue and joined the pursuing troops one after another.

At least eighty thousand people were pursuing, and as far as the eye could see, the entire land was full of heads, even more chaotic than the previous melee.

In the previous decisive battle with the Qing army, both sides were still in square formations, which looked quite organized.

But now, on the surface, there was no organization.

Of course, in reality, there was still some.

Especially the teams led by several army commanders and division commanders, in order to make their own pursuit smoother, took the initiative to undertake the task of storming fortifications.

For example, attacking the sniper troops of Wu Sangui and others, these time-consuming and dangerous tasks were all completed by them.

As for the matter of grabbing credit, it was left to others.

If they didn’t take on the task of storming fortifications, and left several organized troops uneliminated, it would be dangerous to pursue them all at once.

“Small-caliber cannons, carry them up.”

Xu Yuxian shouted loudly. His subordinates were equipped with cold weapons, and then there were some grenadiers. They didn’t have much advantage against Wu Sangui’s troops, but their morale was higher.

However, they had some small-caliber cannons.

As the cannons were carried over, the Wu army launched an attack.

As for Wu Sangui’s side, seeing that the approaching troops were armed with cold weapons, he was greatly relieved, he was afraid of encountering flintlock gun troops.

If they encountered flintlock gun troops, they would have no power to fight back.

The two armies continued to approach, and when they were still one or two hundred meters away, the Wu army’s small-caliber cannons began to fire.

These cannons fired small iron beads, which were not very powerful, but could injure people and cause them to lose their combat effectiveness.

The key was that this thing had a large firing volume, and one shot could fire hundreds of beads. However, its hit rate was even worse than that of a matchlock gun.

Although the effect of this kind of cannon was not as good as that of the Hongyi cannon, it was better than the Hongyi cannon in a specific environment.

For example, when chasing the enemy now, that kind of heavy cannon was of no use at all. These light and portable small-caliber cannons could move with the army.

As soon as a few cannons fired, dozens of Qing soldiers fell.

Although none of them died immediately, the pain caused them to lose their combat effectiveness.

“Damn it, how come there are cannons.”

Wu Sangui cursed.

With cannons, the situation was different. Now the Qing army had become a bit afraid of guns and cannons, and they were very afraid of the Wu army’s various hot weapons.

With cannons, the Wu army could carry out attrition at long range.

Although the number of cannons was small and the speed of attrition was slow, this kind of situation where only I could hit you but you couldn’t hit me could make the opponent very helpless, thus causing morale to collapse.

Helpless, Wu Sangui could only take the initiative to launch a charge.

He only had two choices, either escape or charge, standing still was waiting for death.

After they charged a few dozen meters, the Wu army’s cannons finally stopped firing, for fear of accidentally injuring friendly troops.

However, in just a short time, these cannons had already killed or wounded hundreds of Qing soldiers, achieving good results.

Moreover, it also weakened some of the Qing army’s morale.

Immediately afterwards, as they were about to rush in front of the Wu army, they were hit by another round of hand grenade bombing.

Two rounds of attacks caused heavy losses to the Qing army, and next, it was up to the swordsmen and shieldmen.

When the two armies came into contact, they fought each other.

It could be clearly seen that the Qing soldiers were all timid and unwilling to rush to the front.

The minds of some soldiers were not at all on eliminating the enemy, but on protecting themselves wholeheartedly.

They were all waiting, waiting for Wu Sangui to order a retreat.

Or, they were looking for opportunities, looking for opportunities to surrender.

Wu Sangui could not surrender, but these soldiers did not have such concerns. As long as there was an opportunity, they would drop their weapons in a matter of minutes.

However, the battle was still fierce, and it was not easy to find an opportunity to surrender. If they made a move to surrender, they might be killed by their own officers, or accidentally killed by the enemy.

Only when their own side was defeated and there was no one to supervise the battle, would it be safe to surrender.

The combat power of an army whose minds were not on the battle could be imagined.

Originally, in terms of cold weapon troops, the combat power of the Qing army and the Wu army was similar, and Wu Sangui’s subordinates were all old soldiers.

However, at this moment, they were retreating steadily.

Wu Sangui, who was supervising the battle in the distance, couldn’t help but sigh: “The hearts of the people are scattered, the troops can’t be led.”

The few subordinates around him were shocked when they heard this. Wu Sangui’s words sounded too thought-provoking.

“Those who want to surrender can go ahead and surrender, I won’t stop them. I personally will return to Beijing to take the blame, you all should find your own way out.”

Wu Sangui said, it had only been less than the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, and retreating would definitely be punished. If they continued to resist, those soldiers probably wouldn’t be able to hold on for long.

Rather than that, it would be better to give his subordinates a way out.

“General, why not surrender to Wu Changqing together, we are all Han people. Even Manchus like Mandahai can be reused in Nanjing, and surrendered officials like Qian Qianyi can also be reused, let alone us.”

Among Wu Sangui’s subordinates, there were still some loyal people who did not want to see Wu Sangui return to Beijing to die.

“I am the biggest sinner in the Qing Dynasty’s entry into China, where would there be a place for me in the south. What’s more, my family is still in Beijing.”

Wu Sangui said, he was not sure whether Wu Changqing could accommodate him.

Although Wu Changqing seemed to be very tolerant now, his sins were deep. As a power holder, even if Wu Changqing was willing to accept him, he would have to consider the public’s anger.

“Your subordinates are willing to follow the general back to Beijing quietly and secretly rescue the general’s family.”

After everyone knew Wu Sangui’s concerns, they offered suggestions.

As long as they took advantage of the chaos to quietly return to Beijing, there might be a chance to rescue those family members.

This…

Wu Sangui was tempted. Rescuing his family and returning to the south was better than being executed by the Qing court.

Chapter 295: Clearing Obstacles

In the end, a few loyal Wu Sangui’s lieutenants retreated with Wu Sangui, each accompanied by their personal guards.

Other generals were sent to convey Wu Sangui’s orders, instructing the soldiers to lay down their weapons and surrender, offering them a chance to live.

In any case, given the current situation, surrendering guaranteed their lives.

With the officers giving the order, the speed at which the soldiers surrendered nearly stunned the Wu army.

Neatly arranged weapons were discarded to the side, and the men squatted together, looking like salted fish.

“Leave a portion of the men to guard the prisoners, and the rest continue the pursuit,” Xu Yuxian ordered.

Xu Yuxian felt somewhat regretful because the commander, Wu Sangui, had escaped. If he could have captured Wu Sangui, he would have become famous in the south.

After all, there were many Han Chinese in the south who hated Wu Sangui.

On the other side, Qian Sule’s army encountered Boheto’s rearguard.

Boheto’s troops were all Eight Banners soldiers, with a total strength of ten thousand, including three thousand archers, making them a relatively strong force.

Without eliminating this combat-capable force, the pursuing army would not dare to venture too deep, fearing an attack from Boheto from the rear.

Qian Sule’s troops originally numbered over ten thousand, but after nearly three thousand casualties in the previous battles, they now only had over eight thousand.

However, more than five thousand of them were equipped with flintlock rifles. Therefore, in terms of strength, Qian Sule’s side held an absolute advantage.

“Raise your guns, fire!”

The Wu army was not in a hurry. They approached in a square formation, following their usual battle rhythm, and began firing at a distance of one hundred meters, depleting the enemy and forcing them to launch a proactive charge.

This tactic never failed. The Qing army certainly couldn’t just stand there and take the beating.

“Archers, prepare!”

Boheto sent out the archers to exchange fire with the Wu army, while using infantry as shields, employing the same strategy as in the previous decisive battle.

This was already the best way they could cope with the Wu army’s flintlock rifle units; they had no other better means.

The two sides began exchanging fire.

However, Boheto’s situation was different from the previous decisive battle. In the previous battle, they had a continuous stream of reinforcements to replenish their forces.

But now, every infantryman who died in the front row was one less. By the time their archers had fired a few volleys, most of the shield-bearers in front of them had been killed or wounded.

Subsequently, the Wu army simply launched a proactive charge. Facing a group of archers, close combat was more efficient.

Archers were similar to artillery, both being functional units with great utility at long range, but with little self-preservation ability when engaged in close combat.

Seeing the Wu army charging towards them, the archers immediately turned around and fled, without the slightest hesitation.

“Retreat to the sides!”

The Qing army generals cursed loudly at the archers’ blind actions.

Behind them was a neatly arranged infantry square, and their formation was disrupted by these panicked men. Because they were friendly forces, they couldn’t just kill them directly.

In dangerous situations, only a few people could remain calm. Even with generals shouting orders, some archers still squeezed into the infantry square.

At this moment, the Wu army charged in front of them.

Then, a melee ensued. This Qing army was quite tenacious, and even though they were at an absolute disadvantage, they did not collapse.

This made Qian Sule somewhat anxious. If things continued as they were, they would certainly be able to defeat the enemy, but they would definitely suffer very heavy losses.

More importantly, it would take a very long time.

And time was very important to them.

Being soldiers on foot, the Wu army mainly relied on the enemy’s panic to catch up when pursuing the routed troops. If they were too far apart and could not put pressure on the Qing army, they would be able to retreat in an orderly manner.

In that situation, it would not be easy to catch up with the enemy, and they would have to rely on cavalry.

Therefore, wasting too much time here was unacceptable to Qian Sule.

However, facing such a tenacious Qing army, he had no better solution and could only borrow a grenadier unit from friendly forces to help.

The addition of the grenadiers slightly accelerated the rate of killing the Qing soldiers.

But because the two sides were now entangled together, the grenadiers’ effectiveness was greatly limited.

At this moment, an inconspicuous figure roamed on the edge of the battlefield, then raised his gun, aimed at Boheto in the Qing army, and pulled the trigger.

This was a member of the sniper company, who had been active in this great battle, freely searching for targets to shoot.

So far, they had cumulatively killed at least dozens of officers, achieving brilliant results. Moreover, they had also had a significant impact on the situation.

At this moment, the sniper company made another contribution.

This guy shot Boheto with one shot. He had the strength and some luck, but none of that mattered. What mattered was that he had made a contribution.

“General!”

With the crowd’s miserable cries, there was a commotion in the Qing army.

Many Qing soldiers noticed that Boheto had been shot.

The death of the commander was terrible news.

The morale of an army largely stemmed from trust in its generals. Once the commander had an accident, this morale would plummet instantly.

For example, if Wu Changqing suddenly died on the battlefield, the soldiers and even the generals under him would definitely fall into chaos.

When there were no enemies, this chaos could be gradually calmed down. But in a battlefield that was already extremely chaotic, this chaos would be exacerbated.

Boheto was on the front line, directly issuing orders.

With his death, no one would issue further combat orders.

Therefore, not long after Boheto was shot, the Qing army fell into turmoil.

More dangerously, the lieutenants were all concerned about Boheto’s life and death, and no one stopped or controlled the chaos.

Soon, this turmoil evolved into a rout.

First, the soldiers in the rear began to flee, and then the soldiers who were fighting hard in the front discovered that the soldiers in the rear were fleeing, and then, while spitting blood, they followed with curses.

Qian Sule was not clear about why the Qing army had suddenly collapsed, but it didn’t matter. As long as the Qing army collapsed, that was enough.

“Full charge!”

Qian Sule issued the latest order, and the person responsible for blowing the whistle immediately blew the whistle for a full charge.

When this whistle sounded, the Wu army soldiers were very excited and immediately boosted their morale.

Because this whistle often meant that they had a huge advantage and could start reaping the rewards.

Sure enough, the whistle did not disappoint these Wu army soldiers. When they launched a full charge, the Qing army began a full rout, and they could unscrupulously pursue and capture the enemy.

Chapter 296: It’s Not Easy to Escape

North of the original decisive battle’s battlefield, people were everywhere.

The Qing army’s routed soldiers were scrambling to escape towards Suqian in the North, as only the city walls could offer them a semblance of safety.

There were only a few roads leading to Suqian, and none of them were particularly wide.

Basically, a company of a thousand men could occupy an entire road, leaving the remaining fleeing soldiers to trail behind them.

And sometimes, when two groups of routed soldiers arrived at the same road simultaneously, it would cause disputes.

No one wanted to be left behind. Although getting ahead only meant being slightly further from the pursuing troops, that little bit of distance could be a lifesaver.

Because once the Wu army caught up, they would definitely deal with those at the rear first before continuing to chase those in front. Those in front could use that time to accelerate their escape.

To fight for this small advantage, two groups of routed soldiers who arrived at the road at the same time actually confronted each other, looking as if they were about to fight.

What made it even more troublesome was that one of these groups was the Manchu Eight Banners, while the other was the Han Chinese Green Standard Army.

The Eight Banners were used to being arrogant towards the Green Standard Army, and were now determined to get ahead, seeing it as their right.

The Green Standard Army had usually suffered enough humiliation, and now that the Qing army was in such a sorry state and the Eight Banners were still so arrogant, they couldn’t stand it.

After a few shoves, a hot-tempered soldier drew his weapon and stabbed a Manchu soldier.

“Someone’s dead! This is a rebellion!”

Someone shouted, and the two sides uncontrollably descended into a brawl.

Although neither side really wanted to fight this pointless battle, as escaping was the real priority, no one could control the situation. If you didn’t kill the other person, they might kill you.

It wasn’t just that the two sides were of different ethnicities and naturally had barriers between them. Even among the same ethnicity, this kind of infighting would occur in such a situation.

The fighting between the two sides was still relatively restrained, not escalating into a full-scale brawl.

But swords and sabers had no eyes, and more than a dozen soldiers died as a result, with even more injured.

“Stop!”

Another unit passed by, and a Prince with a higher status shouted. It was outrageous that they still had the mind to engage in infighting at such a dangerous time.

Under the Prince’s reprimand, the two sides stopped fighting.

“General, please do us justice! We clearly arrived here first, but they insisted on cutting in front of us to retreat!”

A junior officer from the Eight Banners unit made a false accusation.

“Bullshit! We arrived first!”

The people from the Green Standard Army were naturally unwilling to be wrongly accused and began to argue.

The Prince frowned upon hearing this, unable to tell who was right.

Annoyed, he couldn’t be bothered with these other units and led his own men directly onto the road to retreat.

He had stopped the fighting between the two sides, but the question of who should go first and who should go after remained unresolved.

Watching the Prince leave with his troops, the two remaining units cursed him inwardly.

Frictions and disputes like this were not just happening on this one road.

When fleeing, the soldiers were more easily angered, nervous, and stressed, making them prone to drawing their swords at the slightest disagreement.

Of course, there were also some honest people who obediently followed behind others, while some took shortcuts, and others simply changed direction to escape.

In short, all sorts of strange phenomena emerged endlessly.

In this process, many people wasted a lot of effort on unnecessary routes.

This was one of the many reasons why the pursuing troops were always able to catch up with the routed soldiers. There was a big difference between being organized and disorganized.

“Wu army cavalry!”

Before the two sides could determine who was superior, someone shouted.

Immediately, the Qing soldiers who were fleeing let out a wail.

How could people on two legs outrun cavalry?

Some Han Chinese Green Standard Army soldiers simply threw down their weapons and collectively found a place to sit down, waiting to be captured.

At this time, surrender was the safest option.

If they continued to flee, the cavalry might simply kill them with a single slash to save trouble.

The other Eight Banners soldiers hesitated for a moment, then also threw down their weapons. Survival was the most important thing.

“Continue chasing those ahead! Leave these people to the friendly forces behind us!”

Dong Tianbao ordered. Their cavalry had the advantage of speed, and to maximize their gains, they couldn’t be greedy for the immediate credit. In any case, these Qing soldiers who had fallen behind would definitely be caught by the Wu army infantry following behind.

What they needed to pursue were those who were fleeing ahead.

Watching the Wu army cavalry gallop away, those who had already thrown away their weapons felt very awkward.

“Forget it, I’m too lazy to walk anymore. Since the start of the great battle, my legs haven’t stopped. If I keep running, my legs will be ruined. I might as well sit here and wait to be captured.”

A junior officer complained.

“That’s right! I heard the Wu army’s treatment is very good. Their monthly pay is twice as much as ours!”

Another soldier chimed in.

“That’s for the veterans. We who surrender now definitely won’t get that much.”

“There are still a lot of surrendered soldiers among those veterans. After we’ve been around for a while, we’ll be veterans too.”

Amidst the crowd’s arguments, almost everyone ultimately stayed behind, waiting to be captured.

And this was all thanks to the Wu army’s preferential treatment of prisoners.

If the Wu army didn’t treat prisoners well, but was as brutal as some other armies that would bury prisoners alive, these people might have hopped away on one leg even if the other was broken.

But now, they weren’t worried at all about losing their lives after surrendering.

Historically, if Bai Qi hadn’t buried alive those four hundred thousand Zhao soldiers, Zhao might have been destroyed even faster. But because Bai Qi buried prisoners alive, the Zhao army in later wars swore not to surrender.

They hadn’t been sitting for long when the Wu army arrived.

Looking at those who were waiting to be captured, the Wu army was quite speechless. They sent a small group to count and escort them, while the rest continued the pursuit.

Ahead, the Wu army cavalry had already engaged with some stubborn elements.

Mainly the Manchu and Mongol Eight Banners, who, due to various concerns, still preferred to return to the North and didn’t want to be captured.

Therefore, they were desperately fleeing from the Wu army’s pursuit.

But all of this was in vain.

Cavalry were exceptionally effective at hunting down routed soldiers.

They didn’t even need to expend much effort. Relying on the speed of their horses, their sabers only needed to touch the Qing soldiers for those people to fall to the ground, unable to continue their escape.

With the speed of cavalry, those soldiers couldn’t escape unless they fled into the mountains.

Tragically, there were no mountains around, only some small hills that couldn’t provide any cover.

Screams were everywhere, along with cries for mercy after despair.

Chapter 297: War Results

The pursuit lasted for two days, with the Wu army nearly capturing Suqian.

However, the generals at the front received Wu Changqing’s order to retreat.

Wu Changqing had received news from Jiaxing that Zhu Yihai had launched an attack, and Jiaxing was under siege.

To avoid fighting on two fronts and overextending the battle lines, Wu Changqing decided to hold Huai’an for now. Recapturing other areas in the North could wait.

If the Qing army counterattacked fiercely, ceding Huai’an wouldn’t matter; maintaining Yangzhou as a stronghold would suffice.

For him, the priority was to deal with Zhu Yihai, ascend the throne, and establish legitimacy.

Officially becoming emperor would make things easier.

First, eliminate Zhu Yihai, then Zhu Yujian, pacify the South, and completely resolve any worries about the rear.

Compared to the North, Wu Changqing coveted the coastal regions of the South, especially the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong.

Taking Guangdong would provide more excellent ports for trading with Western Europeans.

Guangzhou was much closer to Southeast Asia than Songjiang, making it worth developing.

“We were about to take Suqian; why are we retreating?”

Xu Yuxian complained. He wasn’t part of the Wu army’s inner circle, so he didn’t understand Wu Changqing’s plans and couldn’t comprehend the order.

In his view, they should press the attack and march all the way to Beijing.

“You’re ordered to retreat, so retreat. Do you want to question the orders from above?”

Liu Hansan scolded. Xu Yuxian immediately fell silent. Being labeled as disrespectful to superiors would bring misfortune.

Even without Liu Hansan’s anger, Xu Yuxian regretted his words.

Speaking rashly and leaving a bad impression on his superior wasn’t worth it.

The armies began to withdraw to Huai’an, with lines of prisoners everywhere. The generals’ faces were flushed with excitement, and they occasionally let out hearty laughter.

The initial statistics of the battle were out, and the results were glorious.

They had directly killed thirty-four thousand enemy soldiers and captured one hundred and ten thousand.

However, the Qing army’s losses were more than one hundred and forty-four thousand.

Many soldiers were separated during the retreat, some quietly returned home, and others became bandits in the mountains.

In the end, Dorgon only managed to gather one hundred and forty thousand troops in Xuzhou.

After this battle, the Qing army had lost one hundred and sixty thousand main force soldiers, suffering a significant blow.

More importantly, they lost all their cannons, a large number of guns, a large number of horses, and other massive amounts of supplies.

These supplies were, in some ways, even more important than the one hundred and sixty thousand troops.

After all, it was easier to recruit one hundred and sixty thousand soldiers than to produce those advanced weapons in a short period.

After this battle, Dorgon no longer had the ability to unify the country.

He had many headaches to deal with.

The Eight Banners suffered heavy losses; of the one hundred and sixty thousand Manchu and Mongol Eight Banners troops, only seventy thousand returned, a loss of ninety thousand.

Without this core army, effectively controlling the North would be a problem.

Many Ming soldiers surrendered in the past because the Qing army was strong. Now that the Qing army was weak, those who had surrendered were no longer reliable.

The Wu army also suffered considerable losses in this battle, with over twelve thousand soldiers killed in action, mainly during the head-on clashes in the decisive battle.

There were also more than two thousand seriously wounded, who would have to be discharged even if they survived, completely losing their combat effectiveness.

Minor injuries were not counted, as they were not significant.

These were the Wu army’s losses, but compared to the gains, they were insignificant.

The one hundred and ten thousand prisoners could become a fighting force again after a period of reorganization.

However, the Wu army didn’t really lack manpower and didn’t even want too many surrendered soldiers. Maintaining troops was too expensive. Converting all one hundred and ten thousand into their own forces would increase military spending by at least fifty percent.

In Wu Changqing’s plan, he would select a maximum of fifty thousand from the one hundred and ten thousand surrendered soldiers for reorganization. The rest would be sent to work in mines or factories.

In short, the country was rapidly industrializing, and there were many places that needed labor, so they would be put to good use.

Compared to the gains in manpower, the gains in supplies were even greater.

The one hundred-plus cannons were very valuable, along with thousands of flintlock guns and over twenty thousand warhorses – weapons and equipment that the Wu army coveted.

Besides these, there were massive amounts of cold weapons, enough to equip two hundred thousand troops.

Of course, these spoils were not the biggest gain from this battle. The most important significance of this battle was that it greatly weakened the Qing court’s power.

Not just in six months, but even if the Qing court was given another year or two, they would not be able to recover from this blow.

In the meeting room, all the generals gathered.

After Wu Changqing entered, he exchanged pleasantries and said a few words about everyone’s hard work.

Then, he quickly got to the point, saying, “Announcing an urgent battle report: while we were fighting the Manchus, Prince Lu sent troops to attack Jiaxing. Jiaxing has fallen, and they are advancing towards Songjiang and Suzhou.”

Wu Changqing’s words shocked many people. They couldn’t understand why Prince Lu would stab them in the back.

However, core members like Li Shaobin were relatively calm, as this was part of their plan.

Liu Hansan, the drama king, pretended to be completely unaware and angrily said, “Outrageous! We are driving out the Tartars and recovering our homeland at the front. It’s bad enough that Zhu Yihai doesn’t provide us with supplies, but he actually colludes with the Tartars and takes the opportunity to attack our rear. His heart is despicable!”

His words were met with approval from many, because what Liu Hansan said was basically the truth.

Zhu Yihai had never provided them with military pay or much support.

The one unit he had given was because Zhu Yihai couldn’t afford to support them and was throwing a burden onto Wu Changqing.

Because they had never received a single benefit from Zhu Yihai, few in the Wu army took Zhu Yihai seriously.

“This Prince Lu is too much. At least other emperors wait until the country is pacified before dismissing generals with a cup of wine. What is he doing? Killing us off? Does he think that group of useless people can defeat the Manchus?”

Chen Shichang cursed.

Many generals felt a strange sense of sorrow. One of the biggest differences between them, military generals, and civil officials was that civil officials could climb the ranks without any worries.

But for military generals, higher merit wasn’t necessarily better. If one’s merit surpassed the emperor’s, it became dangerous.

In history, not many meritorious generals were able to die peacefully. Among them, one of the most ruthless in killing meritorious officials was Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty.

This made many people feel that the Zhu family had this tradition.

Chapter 298: Declaring Independence as King

“We can’t just sit here and wait for death; we must respond promptly. Suzhou and Songjiang are very important to our army and cannot be lost,” Li Shaobin said.

“If you ask me, the Ming Dynasty has already rotted to the core. General, the salvation of the people rests on you,” Xue Guiren was the first to utter such rebellious words in public.

As soon as these words came out, some who had already suspected as much suddenly realized that Wu Changqing was planning to declare independence.

Those who saw through it wouldn’t be foolish enough to expose Wu Changqing; that would only cost them their lives.

An individual’s power is insignificant in the face of the general trend.

And the current trend was that Wu Changqing was going to declare independence. No single person among them could stop this trend, and besides, they didn’t need to.

Following Wu Changqing in rebellion could earn them meritorious service, so what was wrong with that?

“Let’s hear what you all think about how to handle this matter,” Wu Changqing said.

Of course, he didn’t need to be the one to bring up the matter of rebellion. Surely, there would be sensible subordinates who would propose it, and then he could put on a helpless act, as if he didn’t want to rebel, but everyone else was forcing him to.

Being an emperor, it was best not to have any blemishes, or people would easily use them as an excuse to question his legitimacy and the legitimacy of his regime.

The Chenqiao Mutiny, where Zhao Kuangyin was draped in the yellow robe, Wu Changqing would never believe that he didn’t know about it beforehand.

However, as long as Zhao Kuangyin put on this act, it was equivalent to telling the world: it’s not that I want to rebel, it’s my subordinates who are rebelling, blame them if you must.

“Of course, we should fight back. The virtuous should rule the Central Plains, and this Zhu family has long since lost the hearts of the people. First, they plunged the people into misery, then they let the Manchus into the country to harm the people, and now they are joining hands with the Manchus to besiege loyal and good people like us. Such an emperor is not worth respecting,” Liu Hansan said indignantly.

He had been preparing this speech for several days.

When he suddenly said it, everyone was quite surprised, wondering when Liu Hansan had become so eloquent, able to speak such beautiful and profound truths.

“Commander Liu is right. They were the first to be unrighteous, so they can’t blame us for being unjust,” Xue Guiren echoed.

“No, no, no, our overthrow of this Ming Dynasty is a righteous act, because only we can save the people and bring happiness to them. Relying on the Zhu family? Forget about it,” Dai Zhijun said, they couldn’t admit that their rebellion was unjust; that wouldn’t do.

“Advisor Dai is right, it’s just that I’m uneducated,” Xue Guiren quickly agreed.

“Your subject respectfully requests that the General ascend the throne and declare independence to save the people,” Li Shaobin took the lead in kneeling, and everyone else followed suit.

“Your subject respectfully requests that the General ascend the throne and declare independence to save the people!”

“Your subject respectfully requests that the General ascend the throne and declare independence to save the people!”

…

Everyone clamored, their tone very consistent, which was to rebel.

Only a few people remained silent, some were frightened, after all, it was rebellion, which was somewhat shocking.

There were also a few who might still have reservations, but they were powerless in the face of the current situation and could only go with the flow.

Like Qian Sule, he knew very well that no one in the world was a match for Wu Changqing.

Even Dorgon had been beaten into a hasty retreat, not to mention Zhu Yihai and others in the south, those people were even more useless.

They were only stunned for a moment, and then quickly knelt down. If they didn’t get on the boat at this time, they would probably be thrown into the river by others.

“Since things have come to this, for the sake of everyone’s interests, it seems I can only bear the infamy and end this Zhu family dynasty. Otherwise, they will never allow us to grow stronger. With them stabbing us in the back, we can’t even feel at ease about the Northern Expedition,” Wu Changqing said.

Wu Changqing could actually have said it more euphemistically, or even cried a few times like Liu Bei, and then ascended the throne hypocritically.

Doing so could at least leave a slightly better reputation and fool those who were not smart enough or didn’t know the inside story.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t think it was necessary.

He believed that as long as he led the people of the world to live a more prosperous life in the future, no one would care whether he had rebelled or not, and they might even thank him.

Only those who were unable to feed the people would worry that the people would have an excuse to rebel; he wasn’t worried at all.

Therefore, Wu Changqing spoke very directly, telling everyone that if they wanted to protect their interests, they could only board his pirate ship with him.

That was the most crucial thing; everything else was just fluff.

“It is the blessing of the people that Your Majesty will rule the Central Plains…”

Dai Zhijun took the lead in flattering him, and the other military officers could only stare blankly.

In this era, those military officers were actually quite cultured, but they certainly couldn’t compare to Dai Zhijun and couldn’t say such beautiful words.

Having decided to rebel, everyone began to formally discuss the next course of action.

“I am willing to be the vanguard and lead the army back to recover Zhejiang,” Xue Guiren said.

“I am also willing to be the vanguard and relieve Your Majesty’s worries,” several others who wanted to make contributions spoke up, attacking Zhu Yihai’s troops, wouldn’t that be like picking up merit for nothing?

In the end, Wu Changqing decided to leave eighty thousand heavily armed soldiers in Huai’an to rest for a while, and then continue to attack the area south of the Huai River.

At this time, the Qing army was weak, which was a good opportunity to recover lost territory and seize cities.

This part of the army was under the overall command of Li Shaobin and Dai Zhijun, assisted by many division commanders such as Chen Shichang and Xu Yuxian.

The other forty thousand combat-ready soldiers were led by Liu Hansan and Tao Dongcheng, heading straight to Suzhou to relieve the siege, while also eliminating Zhu Yihai and occupying all of Zhejiang and other places.

Forty thousand main-force troops were enough to deal with Zhu Yihai.

As for Wu Changqing, he would take more than twenty thousand troops back to Nanjing to prepare for his ascension to the throne.

As soon as Liu Hansan destroyed Zhu Yihai, he would announce his official ascension to the throne and hold the enthronement ceremony.

Before that, there was a lot of preparation work to be done.

Not to mention anything else, just preparing a dynastic title would require a group of great scholars to sit together and study for several days.

There were also the establishment of new official systems, the conferral of titles to the ministers, and the guidance of public opinion, and so on.

Suddenly rebelling and proclaiming himself emperor would definitely cause opposition from the people. He needed to guide public opinion and try to reduce this opposition as much as possible.

At the same time, he had to speed up the restoration of the palace.

He couldn’t ascend the throne and continue to live in the Governor-General’s residence; it was too small.

Not only was it inconvenient for work, but there wouldn’t be enough rooms to expand the harem in the future.

Moreover, as an emperor, he had to live in the palace, a place with strong symbolic significance, otherwise, it would seem out of place.

The palace represented power and authority.

Chapter 299: Dorgon Vomits Blood

Xuzhou, the Prefect’s Yamen.

Dorgon lay in bed with his eyes closed. He was ill, suffering from a slight cold.

A mere cold was a minor matter; his real ailment was a sickness of the heart.

His beloved brother Dodo had died in battle, hundreds of thousands of soldiers had been annihilated, tens of thousands of his clansmen had been killed or captured, and almost all of the territory south of the Huai River had slipped out of their control…

Any one of these events alone would have been enough to make him depressed to the point of vomiting blood.

And now, all these terrible things had come together, dealing a severe blow to his spirit, just like when Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had been taken away by Huang Taiji.

This sense of frustration was extremely painful for a man.

For a man with a high opinion of himself, the degree of pain was even deeper.

With just a little bit of dwelling on it, unable to get over this hurdle, the whole person could be ruined.

Just like Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, in his early years, was also wise and mighty in every way, full of vigor and making many remarkable achievements.

This made Yang Guang think he was invincible and extremely proud.

However, the failures of several campaigns against Korea gave him a great sense of frustration, which led to complete decadence. When the world was in chaos, he never thought about solving the problem, just drifting from day to day.

People who have had it too easy in childhood and have not experienced setbacks are prone to this.

Dorgon’s subordinates were extremely worried about his current state, but none of them dared to advise him.

If they angered Dorgon, their heads could be moved in minutes.

“Alas, what can we do? There are still many things that need the Regent Prince to decide.”

Mao Wenci sighed, and the others followed suit.

They had suffered a terrible defeat in this battle.

Moreover, what they needed to do most now was to clean up the mess, but Dorgon had fallen into decadence, and they could not make decisions on many major issues, so they could only worry.

The only thing they could do was to sit down together and discuss the next steps.

“These soldiers have no fighting power for the time being, they need at least a month to recuperate. It will be troublesome if the Wu army continues to attack during this time.”

Jirhalang of the Bordered Blue Banner said.

“Even if we get through this period, we have lost most of our weapons, and it will be difficult to compete with the Wu army. Unless we have one or two years to develop and produce more weapons.”

Prince Yu Šose spoke of a long-term concern. After this battle, they all knew the gap in strength between themselves and the Wu army. They no longer had the arrogance they had before, thinking they could compete with the Wu army.

Since ancient times, the most pragmatic people have been soldiers. They would never dare to look down on others like scholars. They need to rationally assess their own strength and that of the enemy in order to make the right decisions.

“Actually, it’s not impossible to buy one or two years.”

Mao Wenci suddenly spoke. At first, everyone didn’t understand, but after they came to their senses, they understood what Mao Wenci meant.

When they went to negotiate peace, Wu Changqing had made a request: as long as Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang married him, then they could talk.

From this, it could be seen how important Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was in Wu Changqing’s heart.

If Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang could make some sacrifices now, it should not be a problem to buy one or two years for the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, this would be very embarrassing for the Qing Dynasty. A group of grown men would have to rely on sacrificing a woman to seek peace.

In the eyes of Šose, Jirhalang and others, it was not a big deal to send a woman over for the sake of political interests. Even if this woman was the current emperor’s mother, it didn’t matter.

Actual benefits were the most important. If there was no more imperial court, no more throne, what was the point of keeping that little bit of face?

They all hoped that Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang could sacrifice herself, but they also knew that Dorgon was very unlikely to agree.

This was where their helplessness lay, and they didn’t even dare to suggest this plan.

Some people even felt a little dissatisfied with Dorgon because of this.

Just then, a battle report was delivered.

“Report, good news!”

A low-level civil official said.

Everyone’s faces looked bad when they heard this. At this time, how could there be any good news?

Mao Wenci took the battle report and his face relaxed slightly after reading it.

“What’s the situation?”

Šose asked.

“The Wu army has withdrawn on a large scale, leaving only a part of the army in Huai’an, and the rest have begun to retreat to the South. Because their rear is on fire, Prince Lu Zhu Yihai led troops to attack Jiaxing and Suzhou, which are occupied by Wu Changqing.

It seems that the conflict between them has broken out. In this way, Wu Changqing will not have the energy to fight north for the time being.”

Mao Wenci said with a smile. This was indeed a rare good news for them.

Jirhalang snatched the battle report and looked at it, wanting to confirm the news.

“In this way, we have some time to breathe. If Zhu Yihai can be more competitive and restrain Wu Changqing for a little longer, that would be even better.”

Šose said. In his opinion, Zhu Yihai could only delay for a while, and it was impossible to defeat Wu Changqing at all.

“I’ll tell the Regent Prince this news, hoping he can cheer up. There are still many things we need to deal with next.”

Jirhalang had just gone in to see Dorgon when another messenger arrived with a battle report.

However, this battle report came from the North.

It turned out that Liu Guangqi, the garrison commander of Shanxi, had rebelled and controlled most of Shanxi, and even Datong had been lost.

This battle report instantly turned the little bit of good news just now into nothing. Even Datong had been lost, wouldn’t Beijing be in trouble?

Datong was only a few hundred li away from Beijing.

Although Liu Guangqi didn’t have many troops in his hands, who knew if he would be like Li Zicheng, coercing some peasant army and relying on numbers to besiege Beijing?

The matter was urgent, and Šose hurriedly entered Dorgon’s room.

In the room, Dorgon had just finished reading the battle report of the Wu army’s retreat and felt a little better.

However, as soon as Šose came in, he shouted: “Regent Prince, it’s not good, Liu Guangqi, the garrison commander of Shanxi, has rebelled, and the army has attacked Datong. Beijing is in danger, let’s go back to Beijing quickly.”

Poof…

Dorgon spat a mouthful of blood on Jirhalang when he heard this.

Although Dorgon knew that as his Eight Banners forces decreased, some ambitious people in various places would definitely not be able to resist starting trouble. However, he didn’t expect Liu Guangqi to be so fast.

According to this time, this guy launched the rebellion even before they had a decisive battle with the Wu army.

“Regent Prince, time is of the essence, let me take a troop back to quell the rebellion first.”

Šose said.

If Beijing was lost, their logistics would be cut off. If even Shanhaiguan was lost, then they would really be doomed.

Because of the importance of Beijing, Šose was so anxious that he didn’t even bother to pay attention to Dorgon’s vomiting blood.

“You take twenty thousand people back quickly and be sure to kill this villain Liu Guangqi for me.”

Dorgon said while coughing.

Chapter 300: Adoration

In the bustling streets of Beijing, merchants and commoners alike went about their business, seemingly untouched by the tremors beneath the surface.

However, among those with access to information, a sense of unease was growing.

The rebellion in Shanxi and Dorgon’s crushing defeat signaled a storm brewing for the Qing Dynasty.

Within the Forbidden City, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen, received a stream of devastating news.

First came the uprising in Shanxi led by Liu Guangqi. Shortly after, Datong fell. Then, the most terrible news of all: Dorgon’s defeat, the annihilation of one hundred and sixty thousand troops.

Prince Dodo was dead, thirteen Princes slain, five garrison commanders lost…

These thunderous reports left Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen utterly distraught.

If Dorgon couldn’t withstand such terrible news, what hope was there for her, a mere woman?

“Su Mo’er, quickly send for Master Fan.”

Bereft of ideas, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen turned to Fan Wencheng for guidance.

Soon, Fan Wencheng was brought to the palace.

His complexion was ashen, his expression anxious.

“This humble subject greets Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager.”

“Master Fan, dispense with the formalities, please be seated.”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen stopped Fan Wencheng from kneeling.

Despite her exalted position, she was, after all, a woman. Forcing a talented man to kneel before a woman would likely wound his pride.

Times had changed. Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen needed to rely on these important officials, so she treated them with extra consideration.

“You’ve received news from the South, haven’t you? Tell me, how can our Qing Dynasty escape this predicament?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen asked.

The question was a difficult one. Fan Wencheng hesitated, unsure how to answer.

He couldn’t speak the truth, which was that he believed the Qing Dynasty was beyond saving. The best outcome would be to retreat back beyond the pass, holding onto their small territory there.

As for the lands within the pass, they simply couldn’t defend them. They lacked both the strength and the natural defenses.

Such honesty would be unacceptable to the Manchu nobles of the Qing court, who would never willingly relinquish their hard-won comfortable lives.

“It is… difficult,” Fan Wencheng finally managed to say after a long pause.

“Is there no hope at all?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was disappointed. She didn’t want to return beyond the pass; life within was far more comfortable.

“No, the gap between us and the South, in terms of both military and economy, is simply too vast.”

“Economy?”

“It refers to governing the country and benefiting the people. They in Nanjing call the act of creating wealth ‘economy,’ which is quite fitting. Economy represents a nation’s financial strength. The more developed the economy, the higher the tax revenue, and the better the people’s livelihoods.”

Fan Wencheng explained. Reading Southern newspapers had become an essential part of his daily routine. By understanding Nanjing, he was also learning a great deal of new knowledge and vocabulary.

“Can’t we strengthen our army and improve our economy?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen pressed. Normally, she wouldn’t need to worry about matters of governance, but Dorgon’s crushing defeat had driven her to intervene personally.

After all, this Qing Dynasty was her son’s empire, and she couldn’t help but be concerned.

“Strengthening the army takes time, but with enough money, that’s manageable. The key is the economy. Wu Changqing is simply too skilled; we are no match for him.

He has not only invented numerous products that generate immense wealth but also created many machines that drastically improve production efficiency. It can be said that he is single-handedly changing the world.”

Fan Wencheng sighed. He had read history extensively and seen many brilliant and ambitious people, but none like Wu Changqing.

Other heroic figures merely unified the land and seized supreme power. But none had ever completely solved the people’s problem of having enough to eat.

“Changing the world?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was puzzled.

“Yes, he is changing the world. In the past, the world’s wealth was generally fixed. The history of thousands of dynasties was essentially a history of wealth redistribution.

Landlords and nobles constantly plundered land and wealth. When the people couldn’t survive, rebellions broke out, and many died in the ensuing wars. The population decreased, the amount of land per person increased, and the people could survive again.

Then came social prosperity, population growth, and the amount of land per person decreased again, leading to renewed unrest. This has been the cycle throughout history.

However, the appearance of Wu Changqing may completely change this historical cycle.”

Fan Wencheng, with his deep knowledge of history, combined the dynastic cycles with wealth and population, arriving at a reasonably insightful conclusion.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen listened intently. This knowledge was entirely new to her, giving her a sense of sudden enlightenment.

Fan Wencheng continued, “Wu Changqing has developed high-yielding Wu Rice, which reportedly yields more than twice as much per mu as previous rice varieties. This means that the land of China can support at least twice as many people as before.

This alone is enough to ensure centuries of stability. Moreover, they have created machines for large-scale steel production, making steel products very cheap. In the future, it will be much easier for people to cultivate land, and the additional land can feed countless more.”

“In short, he is different from all previous rulers. He doesn’t acquire wealth by plundering others but by creating it out of thin air. This way, the court becomes wealthy, and the people become wealthy along with it. Unlike us in the North, where the court can only increase revenue by exploiting the people, and if the exploitation becomes too severe, the people will be forced to rebel.”

This was the aspect of Wu Changqing that Fan Wencheng admired most: Wu Changqing had solved the thousand-year-old problem of wealth disparity.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was a very intelligent woman and understood the gist of it after hearing it once.

She asked, “Can we invent those high-yielding rice varieties and those machines for large-scale steel refining?”

She believed that these things were like any other field of study; as long as one was willing to learn humbly, one would surely master them.

“Unless Wu Changqing is willing to impart that knowledge to us, which is impossible. Therefore, the gap between our strength and that of the South will only continue to widen. This is an irreversible trend.”

If he hadn’t recognized this trend, Fan Wencheng wouldn’t have supported Dorgon’s expedition. It was indeed the Qing Dynasty’s last chance, but unfortunately, they failed to seize it.

“The only option now is to seek peace with Wu Changqing. Perhaps we can cede the land south of the Huai River to him, or perhaps we can become his vassals and pay tribute.”

Fan Wencheng said. When one’s strength is inferior to others, this is the only course of action.

It wouldn’t be too shameful. After all, the Qing Dynasty’s ancestor, Nurhaci, was originally a house slave of the Ming Dynasty, only rebelling later when he became powerful.

Now that they had become weak again, returning to the status of house slaves wasn’t such a big deal.

No matter how important face was, survival was more important.

Chapter 301: Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s Determination

Fan Wencheng’s words deeply moved Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen. When Fulin came to pay his respects, she suddenly asked, “Fulin, do you like being the emperor? Do you like this empire?”

Fulin, already nine years old, was quite sensible and had received imperial education, understanding what being an emperor entailed.

He said, “Of course, I do, but I would prefer an empire without the Regent Prince.”

His education taught him that the emperor could do as he pleased. However, in reality, he had to listen to Dorgon, which greatly displeased him.

At this time, Fulin had already harbored resentment towards Dorgon.

Historically, as soon as Dorgon died, the fourteen-year-old Fulin eagerly settled accounts with Dorgon, showing great vindictiveness and ruthlessness.

“But, you must understand, without the Regent Prince and the others, we wouldn’t be able to defend this empire…”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen patiently explained.

“Now, your Uncle Dorgon has suffered defeats on the front lines, and we are facing the danger of national extinction. To resolve this danger, I may have to leave you. Are you willing?”

After talking with Fan Wencheng, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had been contemplating how to preserve her son’s empire and how to achieve a successful peace negotiation.

After much consideration, she realized she seemed to have only one option.

She remembered that the last time Wu Changqing proposed peace talks, his condition was for her to marry him. This more or less showed that she held some weight in Wu Changqing’s heart.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen felt that if she could successfully form a marriage alliance and become family, then future wars could be avoided.

If she could win Wu Changqing’s favor, perhaps she could even get Wu Changqing to impart the secrets of wealth creation to the Qing Dynasty.

Dividing the empire into two, with the area north of the Huai River belonging to her son and the area south of the Huai River belonging to Wu Changqing.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen could be satisfied with this outcome.

After all, the Manchus originally only had the area outside the pass. Now, with the addition of the area north of the Huai River within the pass, their territory would be several times larger.

Although letting herself remarry would damage her reputation somewhat, it would only be temporary.

If it could resolve the conflict between the two groups and bring peace, then this damage to her reputation would disappear. Instead, she could receive praise like Wang Zhaojun and Princess Wencheng.

Having thought through these things, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen no longer had any psychological barriers.

However, she was troubled by who should propose this suggestion. If no minister proposed it, she couldn’t very well suggest it herself, as that would seem a bit much, as if she was eager to marry Wu Changqing.

In addition, another problem was how to persuade Dorgon to agree to this peace condition.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was well aware of Dorgon’s feelings for her.

She had been trying to maneuver around it, which was why Dorgon hadn’t succeeded. If she were to marry Wu Changqing now, Dorgon might do something crazy.

In short, this matter was not easy.

“Why does it require you to leave me to resolve this danger? I can personally lead troops to victory,” Fulin said.

“You don’t understand this yet, so you need to listen carefully to your teacher’s lessons and learn more knowledge. From tomorrow, you will need to take extra courses in physics and chemistry,” Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

Suzhou.

This city, which had enjoyed more than half a year of peace, was once again affected by the flames of war.

Because the Wu army had limited forces, not many troops were stationed in Jiaxing, and Jiaxing quickly fell.

In Suzhou and Songjiang, the Wu army left eight thousand troops each.

Among the eight thousand troops in Suzhou, there were three thousand arquebus units, one thousand grenadiers, and the rest were cold weapon troops.

At this time, the Ming army besieging Suzhou numbered as many as thirty thousand, including five thousand arquebuses and a batch of grenades.

They had some advantages in terms of troop numbers and weaponry.

However, the quality of the Wu army soldiers was far superior to that of the Ming army, and with the advantage of the city walls, their defending general, Wang Lin, was not flustered.

Looking at the Ming soldiers rushing over, Wang Lin laughed and said, “We’ve always been fighting siege battles. This time, it’s finally our turn to enjoy the benefits of the city walls.”

The other officers laughed upon hearing this. They had previously been on the attacking side, and even with advanced weapons, they would be very troubled by the city walls.

But now, the trouble had finally fallen on others.

After the Ming army entered the range of the arquebuses, the Wu army’s arquebusiers began firing.

Although the hit rate at this distance was low, even a mosquito has meat.

The Ming army, on the other hand, endured the shooting and began the arduous task of filling the moat.

“Let the arquebusiers advance to suppress and cover the moat-filling troops,” Fang Guoan ordered, using the same tactics as the Wu army.

Whether it was the Qing army or the Ming army, they were quite eager to learn.

Unfortunately, Fang Guoan only learned a bit of the surface, not the essence.

Using arquebuses to suppress the Wu army had little effect.

After all, the rate of fire was what it was. Something that could only fire one shot per minute wasn’t particularly effective.

Of course, the Wu army’s arquebusiers’ suppression of the moat-filling troops wasn’t very effective either.

The Ming army filled in several sections of the moat, and only a little over a hundred people died. Compared to the thirty thousand troops, this loss was negligible.

Subsequently, the Ming army began a fierce siege, and various siege weapons were pushed towards the city walls.

The infantry also carried ladders and surged towards the city walls.

In the process, the Ming army lost another hundred people.

Then they reached the city walls and placed the ladders against them.

“Grenades!”

The Wu army general shouted.

Immediately afterward, a rain of grenades fell from the city walls.

The Ming soldiers crowded under the city walls had nowhere to escape and were blown into a daze by these grenades. The scene was tragic.

The explosions stunned many Ming soldiers, unsure whether to continue the attack or first rescue their comrades.

Only a few soldiers were killed by the grenades. More were injured by shrapnel. Those who were rescued in time had a higher chance of survival.

The best weapon when defending a city was undoubtedly the grenade. Even a flintlock gun wasn’t as useful as a grenade.

After all, flintlock guns had the problem of accuracy, and could only hit one person per shot.

Grenades, on the other hand, only needed to be thrown into a crowded area, and a single explosion could take out a large number of enemies.

The Ming army also had grenades, but their grenades were large and heavy, and only a few people could throw them over the city walls. Moreover, they could only throw them two or three times before their arms would give out.

Unlike the Wu army on the city walls, who were high above and didn’t need professional grenadiers, any trained soldier could use grenades.

This was the advantage of the city walls.

“Damn it, this bone is really hard to chew,” Fang Guoan cursed, feeling worried.

They were only facing the Wu army’s second-line troops, and it was already so difficult. What would happen when they encountered the Wu army’s main force in the future?

At this time, he could only pray that the Qing army could defeat Wu Changqing.

Chapter 302: Suzhou Battle

Although the Wu army’s hand grenades were effective, their insufficient troop strength became apparent after a while.

One Wu army soldier had to deal with two or more Ming soldiers, which was definitely overwhelming.

Some who were lucky enough to be missed were struggling to climb the ladders, and some were even about to reach the top of the city walls.

If the Ming army were more competent at this moment and put in more effort, they might really be able to capture Suzhou.

However, the Ming army’s low soldier quality was exposed at this time.

Even though they had the opportunity to kill their way onto the city walls, some soldiers couldn’t bear the sight of so many dead people under the walls and began to retreat.

It wasn’t worth risking their lives for less than one tael of silver a month. It would be better to go to Nanjing and work as a laborer in a factory. Although it was harder, it was safer and the wages were higher.

A soldier’s fighting spirit is closely related to the treatment they receive.

Otherwise, why would Wu Changqing pay his troops so well? Wouldn’t it be better to use that money for construction?

The Ming soldiers had extremely poor morale. As soon as the casualty rate exceeded twenty percent, the rest began to flee, afraid of staying under the city walls for another moment.

“No retreating! Anyone who retreats without permission will be executed!”

The Ming army’s supervising officer drew his sword and shouted loudly.

Unfortunately, the fleeing soldiers ignored him completely.

If it were the Qing army, the supervising officer would have directly killed them with a single slash.

However, the Ming army’s supervising officer hesitated. There were too many people retreating. If they were all killed, it would be too cruel.

He wasn’t that ruthless towards his comrades, and there were even several officers he recognized among those retreating.

Helpless, the supervising officer didn’t take action.

The Ming army was a little bit worse than other armies in every aspect. The accumulation of many detailed problems led to the Ming army’s overall strength being far lower than that of the Wu army and the Qing army’s Eight Banners.

The Ming army retreated, and that wave of attack meant that more than a thousand people died in vain.

Traditional siege warfare actually required multiple attacks like this, and it was rare to be able to climb the city walls in one go.

However, in the past, each attack would have some effect. Even if they didn’t climb the city walls, it was still meaningful because it could deplete the defenders’ supplies.

Those logs, rolling stones, boiling oil, and other defensive materials were not cheap, and their quantity was limited. Using a little meant having a little less. Once they were all used up, the attacking side would be able to climb up.

But now, the Wu army mainly relied on hand grenades for defense, and the Wu army had prepared a massive amount of them.

Although they were also limited, they were enough to kill Fang Guoan’s thirty thousand men with ease. Therefore, it was pointless for the Ming army to deplete the Wu army’s defensive supplies now.

For them, it was most cost-effective to rush up in one go. Each retreat meant that another one or two hundred lives would be lost on the next attack.

“Prepare for the next wave of attack. Tell the supervising officers that if they don’t take action against deserters next time, they will lead the charge themselves.”

Fang Guoan put some pressure on the supervising officers. If they wanted to live, they had to be ruthless to their comrades.

With this rule in place, those supervising officers probably wouldn’t be soft-hearted anymore.

New troops were投入 into the battlefield and launched a new round of attack.

Before the charge, their officers told them that they had to climb the city walls this time and were not allowed to retreat without orders, or they would be killed without mercy.

This filled the soldiers who were about to attack with resentment. So, the previous people could retreat if they couldn’t get up, but when it came to them, they had to climb the city walls. What kind of logic was that?

Despite their dissatisfaction, none of them dared to jump out and refute or question it.

As the Ming army advanced, Wang Lin complained, “These people are here to die. How can they capture Suzhou by fighting like this?”

In this new round of attack, the Ming army even had fewer siege weapons, only ladders.

Those siege towers could at least bring some trouble to the Wu army, but now, they only needed to defend against the Ming army’s climbing, which made it a bit easier.

“Fire.”

When the Ming army entered the range, Wang Lin ordered.

After paying the price of more than a hundred lives, the Ming army once again reached the city.

This time, they learned their lesson, and the soldiers were spaced further apart, not standing so close together.

However, this didn’t actually have much effect. It just meant that the Wu army had to use a few more grenades.

After a fierce battle, the heavily damaged Ming army retreated again.

The momentum of their collapse was so great that even the supervising officers couldn’t control it.

After the supervising officers killed dozens of people in a row, those fleeing soldiers directly turned their knives towards the supervising officers and started fighting them.

They would rather fight the supervising officers, at least they were using the same weapons, which was much better than being hit by grenades.

The two sides started fighting, almost making Fang Guoan vomit blood on the spot.

“Stop! Everyone stop!”

Fang Guoan personally arrived and stopped the fighting.

Although the fighting was temporarily stopped, these two units had become enemies, which was a very bad result.

“General, this way of fighting won’t work. We lack siege vehicles, and ant-like siege is just like sending us to our deaths.”

Some of the officers in charge of leading the siege knelt down, begging for mercy while also justifying themselves.

Fang Guoan was half-dead with anger, but he was helpless. As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses. If he dealt with all of them, he wouldn’t have enough officers to lead the troops.

Seeing that the morale was useless, he had no choice but to order the retreat and fight again another day.

That night, Fang Guoan sat in his tent, worried.

Given the current trend, it was too difficult to take Suzhou.

If they couldn’t capture Suzhou and get the weapon workshops inside, then all that awaited them was death.

Once the Wu army’s main force returned, they would definitely be no match for them.

As the saying goes, what you fear comes true. The next morning, Fang Guoan received the latest battle report: the Wu army had defeated the Qing army in Huai’an, killing tens of thousands of Qing soldiers and capturing more than one hundred thousand.

“What? So fast?”

Fang Guoan was stunned. This was completely different from what they had expected.

They estimated that even if the Wu army won, the great battle would take at least one or two months, and in the end, the winning side would definitely be severely weakened.

Because the strength of both sides seemed to be about the same.

What they never expected was that the Wu army would win a complete victory, and so quickly.

Wouldn’t this mean that the Wu army could immediately free up their hands to deal with them?

Thinking of this, Fang Guoan almost fell to the ground.

With their current strength, there was no way they could fight the Wu army.

“Is the news true?”

Fang Guoan still had a glimmer of hope and asked a particularly stupid question.

Even if the news was fake, the scout wouldn’t dare to admit it at this time, that would be courting death.

“It is indeed true. The Wu army pursued the Qing army for two days and two nights. The area around Huai’an is full of Manchu’s defeated soldiers.”

The scout said.

These words completely shattered Fang Guoan’s last glimmer of hope. All that was left was fear.

He was someone who had fought the Wu army before and knew how terrifying they were.

Chapter 303: Visiting the Wounded Soldiers

Liu Hansan had already taken the troops south to suppress the rebellion in Huai’an. Wu Changqing had not yet left.

Before leaving, he planned to visit the wounded soldiers’ camp to win the hearts of the soldiers. For him, the morale of the army was more important than the hearts of the people.

As long as the army supported him, his regime would be stable, and the hearts of the people could be won over slowly.

Wu Changqing and several senior generals went to the wounded soldiers’ camp together. Before they even arrived, they could hear wails from afar.

This was the most common characteristic of wounded soldiers’ camps. In this era, there were not many painkillers, and the pain could only be endured by the soldiers themselves.

“There are nearly two thousand seriously wounded soldiers in this battle. Other minor injuries have been treated simply and they have returned to their units, freeing up beds for the seriously wounded.

The nursing home founded by the General has made great contributions this time, saving a large number of wounded soldiers. Those female nurses are very careful, and many wounded soldiers who were originally full of resentment are more restrained in their anger in front of them.”

Lu Yourong from the logistics department introduced the situation of the wounded soldiers’ camp along the way.

“Have those female nurses been offended?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“There have been no such reports yet. The wounded soldiers are very respectful to these female nurses who are treating them. In addition, I have repeatedly emphasized discipline to the soldiers, so no one dares to mess around.”

Lu Yourong said.

The group entered the wounded soldiers’ camp, and the first thing they saw was rows of white cloth strips drying.

These blood-stained, used white cloths were not thrown away after one use, as that would be too extravagant. They would wash the blood cloths clean, boil them for disinfection, and then dry them for reuse.

Some wounded soldiers with fractured limbs were sitting outside the tents. These people were the less severely injured among the seriously wounded soldiers, and had hope of fully recovering.

Some people with broken arms wanted to salute Wu Changqing and his party, but Wu Changqing waved his hand, waiving the formality.

“How is the recovery going? What do you usually eat?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Reporting to the General, the recovery is very good. I feel like I can still return to the battlefield in the future. The food is better than what we ate during the war. We have meat every day, said to be ordered by the General. Eating more meat can help us recover faster.”

One of the bolder soldiers replied excitedly. For these wounded soldiers who could fully recover, being injured was not necessarily a bad thing.

First, they could record a ‘hardship’, and second, they could eat delicious food every day.

“That’s good, rest assured and recuperate.”

Wu Changqing patted the soldier’s shoulder, and then entered the tent with the others to visit the other seriously wounded soldiers.

This pat on the shoulder made the soldier so excited that he almost burst into tears. This was encouragement from the highest general, and others did not have this opportunity.

When he returned to his hometown in the future, this matter would be enough for him to brag about for the rest of his life.

The other wounded soldiers were indeed envious, regretting that they had not rushed to answer just now.

Entering the tent, the atmosphere was much more solemn than outside. There was less laughter, and only wailing and sobbing.

The soldiers lying on the beds were basically unable to fully recover, and would definitely be left with lifelong disabilities in the future. Some might not even make it through.

In addition to the screams, the tent had more gentle comforting sounds than the wounded soldiers’ camps of other armies.

In addition to treating the wounds of the wounded soldiers, the female nurses also doubled as confidantes, encouraging and comforting the wounded soldiers.

This kind of psychological treatment was sometimes more effective than drug treatment. People who were in a good mood and saw things clearly would recover faster.

When the female nurses saw Wu Changqing, they were about to salute, but Wu Changqing preemptively said, “Forget it, there is no need to be constrained by etiquette during work.”

After speaking, he came to a soldier who had his lower leg amputated.

This soldier was originally a cavalryman. He fell off his horse and was trampled on his leg by the horse, causing a comminuted fracture and a large amount of tissue necrosis.

They didn’t have a good way to deal with this kind of injury, so they could only amputate that lower leg.

The anesthetic in the army was not strong enough, and the soldier was in excruciating pain during the operation. The bloody scene directly made a female nurse faint.

After seeing these wounded soldiers, the female nurses realized the cruelty of war.

After amputating his lower leg, the soldier’s life was saved, but he would need crutches to walk in the future, which would seriously affect his life.

“What’s your name? How did you get injured?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Reporting to the General, my name is Zeng Aniu. I used too much force when killing the enemy, and the saber pierced into the enemy’s body and could not be pulled out, and then brought myself down from the horse.”

Zeng Aniu quickly put away his previous frustration and replied with a strong spirit.

Wu Changqing was speechless when he heard this. This was Zeng Aniu’s lack of skill. Cavalry battles are all about slashing with knives, how can you use stabbing?

However, Wu Changqing did not express this emotion, but said with concern: “Very brave, worthy of praise. Don’t worry, you were injured for me, and I will pay for your support for the rest of your life.”

“Thank you, General.”

Zeng Aniu said, bursting into tears.

“Are you married?” Wu Changqing continued to ask.

“No, I don’t dare to marry in this state, I’m afraid of delaying and implicating others.”

Zeng Aniu continued to cry. As a man, he had not tasted the taste of a woman, which was one of the biggest regrets in life.

“What’s there to implicate? Just go and marry. If no one is willing to marry, I will go to Guanwai, to Mongolia, to Dongying to rob some women back. I guarantee that as long as they are soldiers under my command, no matter how badly injured they are, I will ensure that they have a woman.”

Wu Changqing said.

He would still talk about human rights for the Chinese nation and respect women’s choices.

However, in order to compensate these soldiers, he didn’t mind being a robber and robbing some Dongying women, or Western Region women back, as a benefit for the soldiers who followed him to conquer the world.

Zeng Aniu and the other wounded soldiers were shocked when they heard this, and then they were grateful.

They had never met a general like Wu Changqing who treated his subordinates so well. If they were not all injured and unable to get up, they would probably be kneeling on the ground to kowtow and thank him at this time.

After comforting Zeng Aniu, Wu Changqing randomly comforted several other soldiers.

Finally, he gave a short speech in front of everyone. The content was nothing more than conveying a message, that is, as long as they followed him, he would not abandon them.

This was enough. No other general could make a guarantee to the extent of Wu Changqing. With just this guarantee, those soldiers would be loyal to him wholeheartedly.

Of course, everything Wu Changqing did was actually for the other healthy soldiers to see.

When those soldiers who could still fight learned about the deeds here, they would definitely fight harder in the future and support him even more.

Chapter 304: The Cavalry Arrives

After comforting the wounded soldiers, Wu Changqing didn’t forget to check on the work of the female nurses.

“How does it feel to be a nurse?”

Wu Changqing asked.

The representative of the female nurses, Yang Xiaoxiao, was pushed forward. Compared to before, Yang Xiaoxiao now had less shyness and more of an intellectual beauty.

Rich life experiences most easily make people mature and grow.

Yang Xiaoxiao said, “It feels very fulfilling. I didn’t know how cruel the soldiers’ fighting on the battlefield was before. After being here for a while, I deeply understand it. Thinking that I can do my best to save some of the wounded, I am very happy.”

Her awareness is quite high.

Wu Changqing almost laughed when he heard this. He knew that the person in front of him was the new generation of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, but he had fooled her into giving up a promising future and coming here to work as a nurse, realizing her life’s value.

Originally, Yang Xiaoxiao could have lived an extremely comfortable life, but now she voluntarily came to the military camp to be a nurse, bandaging the wounds of those smelly men.

If those young masters on the Qinhuai River who spent a fortune for a glimpse knew about this, their hearts would probably be bleeding. They haven’t even touched Yang Xiaoxiao’s skin yet.

“Well said. There are two kinds of beauty in people, one is the beauty of appearance, and the other is the beauty of the soul, and the beauty of the soul is even more rare than the beauty of appearance. Miss Yang can be regarded as the culmination of both beauty of appearance and beauty of soul, and can be called a remarkable woman of our time.”

Wu Changqing praised her.

This made Yang Xiaoxiao feel as sweet as if she had eaten honey. Being recognized by someone she admired was a very comfortable feeling, far exceeding some material enjoyment.

After the show ended, Wu Changqing boarded a ship the next day to return to Nanjing.

Also on board were his personal guard and a group of wounded soldiers. The treatment conditions in Nanjing were better than here. In Huai’an, because there were too many wounded soldiers, the nearby medicinal materials were no longer enough.

The large fleet of thousands of people sailed south and arrived at Gaoyou, where everyone went ashore.

The garrison commander of Gaoyou had already prepared meals.

Halfway through the meal, the captain of the personal guard, Wang Dafu, suddenly rushed in anxiously and said to Wu Changqing, “General, a Qing army cavalry has appeared outside the city. The number is estimated to be over ten thousand. It’s dangerous here, please board the ship quickly.”

As soon as these words came out, many people were shocked. Ten thousand cavalrymen were a very powerful force.

The garrison in their city, plus Wu Changqing’s personal guard, totaled six thousand men. Under other circumstances, six thousand men would not be afraid of ten thousand Qing troops and could fight them.

But the situation was different now, because Wu Changqing was here, and they couldn’t take any risks, not even the slightest bit.

“How far away are the enemies, and how long will it take for them to arrive?”

Wu Changqing asked calmly. As the supreme commander, he couldn’t panic.

“They are about to arrive and may attack the city at any time. I have already arranged for some people to cover our retreat, and the rest of the personal guard will escort the general onto the ship.”

Wang Dafu said.

“No, if I take away the personal guard, Gaoyou will be even more indefensible. Wouldn’t the garrison, wounded soldiers, and civilians in the city suffer?”

Wu Changqing said. If he wanted to escape, he definitely couldn’t bring those burdens with him. Otherwise, with the cavalry’s impact, the Qing army could scatter them on that short section of the road to the river.

That would be even more dangerous than staying in the city.

“General, there’s no time to worry about so much right now.”

Wang Dafu said quickly. A few wounded soldiers and some soldiers were not as important as Wu Changqing’s life.

“General, please retreat quickly. Your subordinate will lead the remaining soldiers to defend Gaoyou to the death and will never allow the Qing army to step in.”

Another veteran general who had followed Wu Changqing for a long time said. One reason was to repay his kindness, and the other was to gamble for merit. As long as he could successfully cover Wu Changqing’s retreat, the credit would be great.

“Please retreat quickly, General.”

The other generals also knelt down and pleaded. If something happened to Wu Changqing, they would definitely not have a good outcome.

“My mind is made up. I will never abandon my subordinates and run away alone. There is no need to discuss this matter further. Everyone, prepare to defend the city. Be calm, it’s just ten thousand Qing troops. If they want to hurt me, they need to bring more people.”

Wu Changqing smiled, looking very relaxed.

Of course, it wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of death, but he felt that there wasn’t much danger.

Although the city walls of Gaoyou County were only a little over two meters high, the Qing army’s cavalry was not good at attacking cities.

Although he only had six thousand subordinates, four thousand of them were well-equipped personal guards.

There were two thousand flintlock guns, hundreds of grenadiers, and the remaining melee weapon troops were all top experts.

With this comparison of strength, Wu Changqing really didn’t think the Qing army could pose any threat to him.

Of course, to be on the safe side, he even planned to exchange a few machine guns to teach those cavalrymen a lesson.

Seeing Wu Changqing’s firm attitude, everyone had no choice but to immediately arrange defense matters.

At the same time, their respect for Wu Changqing rose to another level, and they admired Wu Changqing even more.

If it were someone else who had reached Wu Changqing’s level of power, they would definitely run away at this time to avoid taking risks.

Only someone like Wu Changqing, who had started an uprising and experienced various fierce battles, could be so calm in the face of danger.

On the city wall, two generals were still discussing, “Our general didn’t retreat when he faced thousands of troops with three hundred local militia at the beginning, let alone now.”

“Such great talent and courage are far inferior to those princes and emperors of the Zhu family.”

“Our general is probably another figure comparable to the Hongwu Emperor.”

…

On the other end, Wu Changqing first entered a room alone, and then spent five thousand resource points to exchange five of the most primitive hand-cranked Gatling guns.

Now Wu Changqing’s territory area is about one hundred and fifty thousand square kilometers, and it is still growing rapidly every day. Large areas south of the Huai River are being recovered one after another.

He has only used less than five hundred thousand of the four million five hundred thousand resource points so far.

In terms of population, the territory has reached twenty million. Wu Changqing has now occupied almost the most densely populated area in China.

In short, Wu Changqing is now extremely rich, and occasionally wasting a little resource is harmless.

He spent five thousand resource points just to add a little bit of security.

Although it is the most primitive Gatling gun, in the current era, it is an out-and-out weapon of mass destruction, and its status is similar to that of the newly born tank, almost invincible.

After exchanging some bullets, Wu Changqing asked a team of his most trusted personal guards, who had followed him the longest, to come in and carry the machine guns out.

Those personal guards were used to Wu Changqing’s mysterious phenomena, and they never dared to ask or reveal a word to the outside world.

They enjoyed the best treatment, so they would not be foolish enough to brag to others just to show off a little bit of knowledge.

Although humans are creatures who like gossip and can’t keep secrets, that is when there is no danger. If gossiping would lead to beheading, then humans’ ability to keep secrets would become particularly strong.

Chapter 305: Taste the Gatling

Wu Changqing first personally demonstrated how to operate these machine guns, then let them practice.

Watching the wooden boards used as targets being instantly riddled with holes, the personal guards were secretly astonished.

This kind of weapon was more terrifying than a musket by more than ten times.

A musket’s rate of fire was only five shots per minute, while this machine gun could fire at least two hundred bullets per minute. They couldn’t imagine what it would look like to carry such a machine gun and sweep it across the enemy ranks.

After mastering the operation, these heavy machine guns were carried onto the city walls.

The city walls of this small county town were not only short but also narrow, so narrow that they almost couldn’t fit the machine guns.

Wu Changqing, ignoring his subordinates’ dissuasion, personally went up to the city wall.

At this time, the Qing army had already launched an attack, charging towards them.

“Charge! Whoever can kill Wu Changqing will be directly enfeoffed as a Prince of the Commandery!”

Tongjia Halang shouted. He had originally led ten thousand cavalry to detour, preparing to harass the rear of the Wu army and prevent them from fleeing south after the decisive battle.

Unexpectedly, before he could even begin his mission, his side had already been defeated.

After learning of Dorgon’s defeat, Tongjia Halang was both afraid and resentful. He did not immediately flee north but continued to lie in wait.

Then, through scouts, he learned that Wu Changqing was about to return south.

Therefore, he brought his troops to Gaoyou in advance to ambush him.

Heaven rewards those who are determined; he really waited for him.

This was definitely the best opportunity for the Qing army to defeat the Wu army. As long as Wu Changqing was killed, the Wu army would fall into a leaderless state.

Currently, Wu Changqing had no children, so his subordinates would definitely fight for power and profit, falling into infighting.

At that time, their Qing court could come out and pick up the pieces.

Tongjia Halang’s plan was beautiful. To achieve this goal, he was prepared to pay a heavy price, even if the entire army was wiped out.

Tongjia Halang took it upon himself to offer the promise of enfeoffment as a prince, and he was not worried that the Qing court would refuse. As long as they could really kill Wu Changqing, it would be saving the dynasty from dire straits, and a Prince of the Commandery was well worth it.

Hearing that they could be enfeoffed as Princes of the Commandery, all the soldiers fell into a frenzy.

This was an opportunity to change the fate of their entire family, and for this, these people were willing to risk their lives.

Capitalists dared to sell the rope to hang themselves for three hundred percent profit, and a Prince of the Commandery for these ordinary soldiers was at least three million times more profitable.

“Charge! Kill!”

Amidst the thundering of ten thousand horses, the soldiers’ eyes were bloodshot, and they had fallen into a state of fanaticism.

“Free fire! Do not let the enemy get within three steps!”

Wang Dafu shouted loudly, commanding. He made high demands to ensure Wu Changqing’s safety. At this time, Wu Changqing was personally standing on the city wall to supervise the battle.

And on this city wall, less than three meters high, Qing cavalry could even jump directly from their horses.

Riding on horseback, raising their sabers high, they could directly chop at the people on the city wall.

The city walls of this small county town were originally only used to defend against bandits and robbers.

“Da da da…”

Mixed with the “pia, pia, pia” sounds of musket fire, was a series of “da da da” sounds, this was the Gatling machine gun firing.

Immediately afterward, the Wu army generals watching the battle were surprised to find that large numbers of Qing cavalry and horses were falling.

At this time, the distance between the two sides was still more than one hundred meters. At this distance, the hit rate of muskets was extremely low, and firing was only done with the mentality of better than nothing.

At this distance, not many people could be killed. In the end, they had to wait for the enemy to enter within one hundred meters before they could cause effective casualties.

But now, a strange situation appeared. Even though they were separated by such a long distance, the Qing army still suffered heavy casualties, which was very abnormal.

Some of the more quick-witted people had already turned their attention to the several uniquely shaped machine guns that looked unfathomable.

They guessed correctly, those deaths and injuries were almost all caused by these machine guns. The barrels of these machine guns were rifled, and the hit rate was naturally several times higher than that of muskets.

This was still the most primitive machine gun; if it were replaced with advanced machine guns from later generations, the hit rate beyond one thousand meters would be guaranteed.

Although the Qing army suffered heavy casualties, but things had come to this point, they could not stop at all, and only knew to continue charging forward.

However, the faster they charged, the faster they died.

As the distance between the two sides continued to close, the Gatling’s killing efficiency further increased.

Under the constantly spraying muzzles, the Qing cavalry fell like wheat being cut, in swathes.

In addition, there were thousands of muskets firing, and these bullets were like a rain curtain, densely pouring into the Qing army’s formation.

Some of the cavalry in the rear had already noticed something was wrong, because there were too many corpses on the ground, as if all the people in front had died.

However, under the high-speed charge, they had no time to analyze and could only continue charging.

As the people in front died, it was soon their turn.

Then they finally confirmed that the previous guess was true, but it was too late, and they also became innocent souls under the machine guns.

Using cavalry to directly charge at machine guns was probably the most stupid tactic in the world.

The butcher of the battlefield, that’s what machine guns were. In hot weapon warfare, the weapon that killed the most soldiers was still the machine gun.

The Wu army soldiers, seeing the power of the machine guns for the first time, experienced what it meant to kill like flies.

The cavalry charge, which looked like a flood of ferocious beasts, could not even get close to the city wall under the machine gun fire. No matter how many came, they would die.

Tongjia Halang in the rear saw this scene, and his brain directly felt a burst of dizziness, and then he fell off his horse.

The scene of being slaughtered frightened him. He had never seen this kind of war, too terrible, too terrible, even more terrible than the legendary hell.

Nearly half of the soldiers died in less than a quarter of an hour, a full four to five thousand people. Tongjia Halang could not bear this reality at all. He had fought the Ming army for more than ten years, and a total of five thousand soldiers had not died.

But now, in just less than a quarter of an hour.

Tongjia Halang fell to the ground, and his personal guards quickly dismounted to rescue him, carrying him onto a horse and retreating.

Capturing Gaoyou and killing Wu Changqing, they would not even think about it.

They didn’t even bother to issue orders to let those who were charging retreat, and hurriedly fled first.

Ordering was useless, there was no time. Before the messengers reached the main force, the main force had already died.

Those cavalry who were still charging had become involuntary.

Only a few people who could still remain calm began to turn their horses and flee to both sides.

Siege warfare, that was a joke.

From beginning to end, not a single one of them had gotten close to the city wall. The closest they got was still ten or twenty meters away from the city wall.

Chapter 306: Charisma

The Qing army came quickly and left quickly.

The Wu army had no cavalry and didn’t pursue them.

In any case, their volley had already killed nearly seven thousand men. Only two thousand or so escaped, not enough to stir up any trouble.

“Put these five machines away and strictly forbid anyone else from spying on them. This is exclusive equipment for our personal guard.”

Wang Dafu ordered. This weapon was too terrifying and had to be kept under their control to be safe.

With these few killing machines, they wouldn’t have to worry too much about small-scale rebellions around them in the future. With these machine guns set up, no one could hope to get close without an army of at least ten thousand.

But if some general who wanted to rebel got his hands on these machine guns and manufactured them in large quantities, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Wu Changqing glanced at the apocalyptic scene outside the city, feeling a little unbearable, and turned to leave.

This wasn’t war at all; it was pure slaughter.

Even if he wasn’t inherently cruel, even Zhu Yuanzhang wouldn’t be able to remain indifferent in the face of such a scene.

Wu Changqing had just seen some soldiers on the city wall vomiting, clearly shocked by the bloody scene.

If only Dorgon would surrender.

As he walked down the steps, Wu Changqing couldn’t help but have this thought. If Dorgon was willing to surrender, at least hundreds of thousands, or even millions, fewer people would die on both sides in the future.

Just as he was thinking this, Wu Changqing suddenly missed a step and fell down.

This scared the people behind him out of their wits, but everything happened too fast, and they didn’t have time to react and help.

Fortunately, they were almost at ground level at this point, and Wu Changqing was only two or three steps from the ground when he fell.

Aside from some embarrassment and a slightly sore knee, Wu Changqing suffered no other injuries from the fall.

After being helped up, Wu Changqing sighed at how danger was everywhere and decided that it would be better to leave such things as going to the battlefield to his subordinates in the future.

“This subordinate deserves to die, please punish me, General.”

The other personal guards all knelt down, asking for punishment.

This kind of thing could be a big deal or a small deal. If it were a hot-tempered emperor, the responsibility would definitely be placed on their heads, and beheading would be a reasonable punishment.

Wu Changqing wasn’t that cruel. He said, “Even mere steps dare to try to harm me? Tear down these steps for me.”

After speaking, he got into his BMW and left.

The personal guards stayed behind, found some hoes and hammers, and violently demolished the steps.

They didn’t care whether Wu Changqing was being humorous or serious; in any case, Wu Changqing said to tear them down, so they tore them down. Besides, they themselves hated these broken steps to the core, as they had almost killed them.

This was probably the most innocent set of steps in history.

Soon, the accompanying military doctor and Yang Xiaoxiao personally rushed over.

Although it was just a fall, it depended on who fell. If Wu Changqing fell, it would be a big deal.

With his trouser leg rolled up, Wu Changqing’s knee was only a little red and swollen, without even a bruise. It seemed that there was no major problem. It didn’t need to be treated and would recover automatically after a while.

However, to speed up the recovery, the old military doctor still took out a bottle of medicinal wine for treating injuries from falls and bruises.

“General, as long as you rub some of this medicinal wine on it, you’ll be fine soon.”

The old military doctor handed the medicinal wine to Yang Xiaoxiao, asking her to rub it on.

His withered, leaf-like old hands were naturally not suitable for doing this kind of work.

Yang Xiaoxiao’s jade fingers, the kind of touch, were naturally very different from an old man’s fingers. At least her rubbing could make Wu Changqing feel a burst of comfort and pleasure.

When the others saw Wu Changqing’s enjoying expression, they immediately retreated knowingly.

A single man and a single woman alone in a room; this was Yang Xiaoxiao’s first time, and she was a little nervous.

However, without outsiders, she could speak without so many concerns. She complained, “A gentleman does not stand near a dangerous wall, why must the General personally go to the battlefield?”

“Beauties don’t enter tiger dens either, aren’t you here?”

Wu Changqing teased her.

“Ah, is there such a famous ancient saying? Why haven’t I heard of it?”

Yang Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment.

“If you haven’t heard of it, it means your learning isn’t enough.”

Only then did Yang Xiaoxiao realize that Wu Changqing was teasing her.

This made her quite happy. Wu Changqing was willing to tease her, which proved that her charm was extraordinary.

She simply became bolder and said, “That’s not true. I heard a long time ago that when you were a child, you spent the time that should have been spent studying the Four Books and Five Classics on miscellaneous studies. So you have extraordinary attainments in miscellaneous studies, but you are mediocre in classical studies, essays, and poetry.”

These words were more or less rebellious, but she felt that Wu Changqing’s personality was relatively easy to talk to, so she couldn’t help but say it.

“I’m not good at poetry? What a joke.”

It was one thing to be looked down upon by Sun Yunxuan, but now to be looked down upon in classical learning and writing by a woman, this was unbearable.

So, Wu Changqing began to recite, “Mountain after mountain, river after river, my body travels towards the other side of Yuguan, thousands of tents lit deep in the night. Wind after wind, snow after snow, shattering my homesick dreams, my old home has no such sounds.”

This was Nalan Xingde’s famous work, “Acacia,” one of the few poems from the Qing Dynasty that Wu Changqing remembered.

Nalan Xingde hadn’t been born yet. Affected by his butterfly effect, whether this person would appear in this life was a question, so he could copy it as much as he wanted.

“Yuguan, is that Shanhaiguan?”

Yang Xiaoxiao wasn’t very familiar with geography, but she vaguely remembered that it seemed to be.

“This poem is really well written, vividly depicting the hardship of marching and fighting, as well as the homesickness of the soldiers.”

Yang Xiaoxiao became more and more surprised as she spoke. She really didn’t expect that Wu Changqing would have such literary talent. Because the outside world rumored that Wu Changqing had no talent in writing, so he abandoned classical studies and studied miscellaneous studies, achieving the title of Doctor of Miscellaneous Studies.

But now, Wu Changqing wrote such a stunning poem, ruthlessly shattering that rumor.

If someone who could write such poetry wasn’t literary, then there wouldn’t be many literary people in the world.

“It’s Shanhaiguan. I’ve wanted to fight back to Shanhaiguan for a long time.”

Wu Changqing said without blushing or skipping a beat. Anyway, the boast had already been made, so he had to pretend to be convincing. Admit that he was plagiarizing? As someone who was about to become emperor, didn’t he need face?

“General is truly heroic and talented. It seems that the rumors in the marketplace are really not credible at all. Since the General is so literary, why not publish one or two articles in the People’s Daily to shut up those foul mouths?”

Yang Xiaoxiao asked.

“I am a dignified general, how can I bother with those ordinary people? The things I think about every day are how to pacify the world, so that the people of the world can have enough to eat and live a good life. Those things of writing and playing with ink are not what I should be doing.”

Once a lie is started, there is no turning back. It must be covered up with more lies.

Fortunately, Yang Xiaoxiao had now become Wu Changqing’s little fan girl, trusting Wu Changqing for no reason.

“I am too ignorant. The General’s realm is so high, unparalleled in the world.”

Yang Xiaoxiao said.

There are several levels of men attracting women. The lowest level is probably to take care of and care for women in every possible way. A slightly higher level is to rely on appearance, and a slightly higher level is to rely on talent and ability.

And the highest level may be like Wu Changqing, relying on the charisma generated by his concern for the world.

This kind of charisma had completely conquered Yang Xiaoxiao.

It was fortunate that this was ancient times, and women were more reserved.

If it were the era of crazy star-chasing in later generations, Yang Xiaoxiao might have disregarded everything and forced herself on Wu Changqing at this time.

Chapter 307: Ideal Society

Yang Xiaoxiao was wiping the medicinal liquor with a distracted air, her mind preoccupied with how to become Wu Changqing’s woman.

She didn’t dare to take the initiative; that would be too unreserved.

However, if she didn’t take the initiative, she wasn’t sure if Wu Changqing would favor her.

She didn’t have many opportunities to get close to Wu Changqing. If she missed this one, she might never have another chance in her life.

She could only use a very subtle way to express her feelings, such as occasionally letting her fingers brush against other parts of Wu Changqing’s body.

But she was clearly overthinking it. If Wu Changqing had no interest in her, he wouldn’t have wasted his breath chatting with her so much.

That night, Yang Xiaoxiao once again applied the medicinal liquor for Wu Changqing, and as she rubbed, she ended up on the bed.

Having power is just great. If you want a certain woman, you don’t need to think too much about it. Just make the request to go to bed, and that’s it. No one will refuse, or rather, no one dares to refuse.

After getting her wish, Yang Xiaoxiao suddenly realized that now that she had become Wu Changqing’s woman, she probably wouldn’t be able to continue working as a nurse.

But that was her ideal! She was reluctant to give it up easily.

“How do you plan to arrange things for me? I don’t like staying in the inner courtyard all day. I prefer this kind of life, where I can do something meaningful.”

Yang Xiaoxiao nestled on Wu Changqing’s arm and said coquettishly.

It was only because she had just satisfied Wu Changqing’s needs that she dared to make such a slightly excessive request.

After all, a man with power and influence would not allow his woman to show her face in public, let alone serve other men.

“It’s up to you. If you want to be a nurse, then continue. I can put you in charge of all the nurses and make you the head nurse.”

Wu Changqing was very supportive of his woman finding something to do, rather than just spacing out in the backyard all day.

A woman with ideals and pursuits has a unique charm. Wu Changqing liked this kind of woman, and not the pure vase type who had nothing but looks.

As for showing her face in public and being seen by other men, Wu Changqing didn’t care, as long as Yang Xiaoxiao didn’t run around outside naked.

“Really?”

Yang Xiaoxiao didn’t expect that her excessive request, which she had been worried about for so long and had cautiously voiced, would be agreed to so easily.

“What’s so strange about that? After I pacify the realm, I will abolish some bad customs. In the future, women will not only be able to go to school like men, but they can also take exams and become officials.”

Wu Changqing knew this would be difficult, and probably most men would disagree.

After all, if women could go out and participate in various jobs, their social status would definitely improve. This was unacceptable to some men.

But in Wu Changqing’s eyes, the social status of women was currently too low. He didn’t like the society of later generations where men had to grovel to women, nor did he like a society where men could treat women as property.

He wanted to define the status of men and women according to his own ideas. As an emperor, what he needed to pursue was to create the world he wanted.

As for fine clothes, jade delicacies, and beautiful women, these didn’t need to be pursued; they were readily available.

“Really?”

Yang Xiaoxiao said in surprise. She found Wu Changqing’s idea incredible.

Women becoming officials was unheard of. And women going to school, wouldn’t that mean being with men? How could that be proper?

However, thinking that she had already cleaned wounds for men in the wounded soldiers’ camp, Yang Xiaoxiao found that it didn’t seem so outrageous for women to go to school and become officials.

“You’ll know when the time comes,” Wu Changqing said. These things needed to be done slowly and couldn’t be rushed. The most important thing right now was to first ascend the throne and then pacify the realm.

He was only seventeen years old now. Even if he lived to seventy-seven, he would still have sixty years to live.

Sixty years was enough for him to mess around with this society in various ways.

His ideal was to create a perfect society in his heart.

The next day, the group set off again, heading straight for Nanjing.

At the same time, Liu Hansan’s army had already arrived in Suzhou. Fang Guoan had long since received the news and retreated to Jiaxing.

He didn’t even have the confidence to defend the city, let alone fight a field battle with the Wu army.

As for Wang Zhiren in Songjiang, he was still reluctant to retreat. He was still attacking the commercial district of Songjiang.

Considering transportation issues, the commercial district of Songjiang was not built in the Songjiang county seat, but on the bank of the Huangpu River, forming a Huangpu New District.

The Huangpu New District had no city walls, and its defense was almost zero.

And yet, almost all of Songjiang’s wealth, various commodities and materials, were piled up in this area.

Wang Zhiren coveted those supplies, only thinking of breaking through the Wu army’s defenses before retreating and plundering them.

Wang Zhiren had twenty thousand men under his command, as well as ten thousand of Zhu Yihai’s direct troops to cooperate with him.

The Wu army stationed in Songjiang only had eight thousand men. Wang Zhiren had an absolute advantage in terms of troop strength.

In order to take advantage of his troop strength, Wang Zhiren came up with a clever plan, dividing his army into twenty groups and attacking from all directions.

The power of the flintlock gun unit needs to be brought into play by dense formations. Small-scale operations are not very effective with flintlock guns.

No matter how fast its rate of fire is, it is not easy to hit the enemy.

Flintlock guns can only play their role in large-scale battles.

The generals of other forces also knew this.

However, the Qing army generals did not disperse their forces because of this, because dispersing the forces also had a fatal weakness, that is, the strength could not be concentrated.

As long as the opposing army does not follow suit and disperse its forces, it can concentrate its forces to defeat them one by one, which would be counterproductive.

The reason why Wang Zhiren dared to do this now was because he expected that the Wu army’s defending general, Ning Guojiang, would divide his troops.

Because the commercial district could not be lost.

As long as a Ming army unit broke into the commercial district, it could cause significant damage to the commercial district.

The loss of materials was a minor matter. What was most feared was the loss of reputation.

If the Wu army could not guarantee the safety of the Songjiang commercial district, the interest of those merchants in going there to do business in the future would be greatly reduced.

There was no insurance business in this era. If merchants lost money due to natural disasters or man-made disasters, they could only blame themselves.

Therefore, what merchants fear and hate most is war.

Once war breaks out, most businesses are difficult to do.

Wang Zhiren was able to use this trick for another reason, which was the terrain. The plains were full of roads. If that didn’t work, you could also cross the rice paddies.

If it were in the mountains, it would be much more difficult to besiege a point from multiple directions.

The twenty armies averaged only about one thousand five hundred men each, which was not much, but not too little either.

Ning Guojiang could not miss any of them, otherwise more than one thousand five hundred soldiers rushing into the commercial district would have serious consequences.

However, he had limited troops on hand. If he also divided them into twenty groups, then each group would average only four hundred people. Moreover, only two hundred of them had flintlock guns.

The power of two hundred people firing in unison should not be underestimated, but after the two armies met, the other party’s one thousand five hundred people could be divided again and rush towards the Wu army from several directions.

In this way, the two hundred Wu army soldiers would face great defensive difficulties, and there was a high probability that they would end up in a melee.

A melee of four hundred against one thousand five hundred, even if the Wu army were all elites, they would not be able to withstand it.

After learning that Wang Zhiren had dispersed all his troops, Ning Guojiang was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. This trick was not easy for him to deal with.

Chapter 308: The Battle of Songjiang

“Regimental Commander, we should consolidate our defenses, abandon some of the advantageous terrain on the periphery, and pull back to the outer edges of the commercial district. This way, our defensive line can be greatly shortened, which will be conducive to concentrating our forces and facilitating mutual support.”

Ning Guojiang’s staff officer suggested. There was a slight risk in doing so, namely that if one point was breached, the enemy could immediately rush into the commercial district and cause damage.

However, there was also an advantage: it could shorten the defensive line and concentrate forces as much as possible.

The more concentrated the forces, the more their strength could be brought into play.

“Do it that way. At the same time, send people to the commercial district and have those merchants organize their shop assistants and strongmen. Once our defensive line is broken, they will need to save themselves.”

Ning Guojiang instructed.

There were a lot of coolies, workers, and shop assistants in the commercial district, but these untrained people were not very effective against regular troops, so Ning Guojiang had not counted on them before.

But now, even the smallest force had to be utilized.

As the order was issued, the Wu army acted urgently, constantly retreating and consolidating.

After retreating as far as they could, they divided their forces to seize the intersections in all directions, blocking the Ming army’s advance.

In the commercial district, the merchants who received Ning Guojiang’s order quickly organized themselves to protect their goods.

“Defend the warehouses, protect the goods, and each of you will be rewarded with one tael of silver afterward. For every enemy killed, an additional two taels will be awarded.”

Now that things had come to this, these merchants were starting to be generous.

Only the temptation of such a large reward could inspire the coolies’ fighting spirit.

Hearing that they could get one tael of silver just for participating in the battle, the coolies were all tempted. Especially some organized coolie gangs, who were even less afraid of death and were thinking of taking the opportunity to kill a few enemies and earn some extra money.

While organizing, the merchants also cursed loudly.

“This damn imperial court is openly robbing us! It’s outrageous!”

“Duke Wu is fighting the Qing in the North, and the imperial court is doing this behind his back. They are truly beyond redemption.”

“I wonder how Duke Wu and the imperial court will get along after this incident.”

They all realized that this incident was not simple and might cause a major change in the situation, but they didn’t know exactly how it would change.

After the falling out, would Wu Changqing choose to surrender to the Qing, or would he choose to become independent?

As they were discussing, gunshots suddenly rang out in the distance.

The Ming army and the Wu army had made contact and fighting had broken out.

The first to fire were naturally the Wu army. The characteristics of their weapons meant that they could always strike first in battle, gaining an advantage.

In addition to the gunshots, their small-caliber cannons also began to fire.

They didn’t have many cannons; only two were assigned to this direction. In other directions, the most there were only two, and some places didn’t have any.

With both weapons firing at the same time, the Ming army’s centurion frowned.

The price to break through this layer of firepower would be high.

“Temporarily stop advancing, retreat a few steps, and wait for the other directions to start attacking before charging.”

The centurion said.

It was not very meaningful to charge at this time. Even if they broke through the Wu army’s defense line, the Wu army could mobilize troops at any time to assist in the defense.

But once a full-scale attack was launched, the Wu army would be overwhelmed in other directions, and they would only have to face the two battalions in front of them.

The Ming army’s advance in other directions was not slow either, and soon sounds of battle came from multiple directions.

The centurion ordered the attack again: “Charge over there! Just engage them in close combat. Our strength is four times theirs. As long as we engage in close combat, we will definitely win.”

In addition to encouraging the soldiers, he also tempted them with rewards: “As long as you rush into the commercial district, you can loot as much as you want. No matter how much money you can grab, it’s all yours.”

Hearing this condition, the soldiers’ eyes lit up, and they gained some fighting spirit.

They all knew that gold and silver were piled up like mountains in the commercial district. If they could rob at will, they could retire and go home after this one job and live a carefree life.

For this goal, many people were willing to risk it.

“Kill!”

The Ming army began to charge when they were still more than one hundred and fifty meters away from the Wu army.

The Qing army generally charged when they were within one hundred meters. This was the difference between elite troops and cannon fodder.

Elite troops could remain calm, while the soldiers in the cannon fodder units, after seeing a few unlucky guys next to them shot dead, couldn’t wait to rush to the Wu army’s front to change the situation of only being passively beaten.

But they ignored their physical strength. After running more than one hundred meters continuously, did they still have the strength to kill the enemy?

After charging nearly one hundred meters, their physical strength had seriously declined, and their speed slowed down uncontrollably.

This operation almost dumbfounded the Wu army soldiers. When the distance was far and the hit rate was low, they ran so fast. Now that the distance was close and the hit rate was high, they ran even slower. Weren’t they just courting death?

The Wu army soldiers couldn’t figure it out, but they wouldn’t think too much about it. Instead, they seized the time to continue inflicting casualties.

They had few troops, and although their killing efficiency was very high, nearly one thousand people still rushed to their front.

Reaching the front did not mean that the Ming army had already won.

They paid too much attention to the Wu army’s firearms, but they didn’t know the Wu army’s ability in close combat.

As soon as the two sides exchanged blows, the Ming army soldiers realized that they had been deceived by their officers.

To hell with winning once they reached the enemy! There was still a wall of bayonets that they couldn’t break through.

Three or four tenths of them died in the charge, and another tenth died in a wave of bayonet fighting. The Ming army soldiers had reached the limit of casualties they could bear.

Some soldiers couldn’t help but turn around and run away, while others simply knelt down and surrendered.

But at this time, the Wu army didn’t have time to capture prisoners, so they just killed them to save trouble.

They still needed to support other directions. The soldiers on their side were all equipped with flintlock guns and were strong. Naturally, there was no problem in defending this direction.

However, in some other directions, the Wu army did not have advanced weapons and used cold weapons.

In these directions, the Wu army had fallen into bitter fighting.

Although they were all elite, they couldn’t withstand three or four times the number of enemies.

After a fierce battle, the Wu army had lost ground in some directions.

However, the Ming army was not doing well either. In order to break through the Wu army’s defense line, they paid an extremely heavy price.

The remaining remnants rushed into the commercial district, where the local militia organized by the merchants had already lined up to wait for them.

Although the local militia were relatively useless, the Ming army was not in high spirits at this time because of the heavy losses.

At this time, the Ming army had fallen into a dilemma.

Retreat? They were unwilling, and those soldiers would have died in vain.

Continue to rush over and rob? Whether they could leave the commercial district alive was a big question.

Chapter 309: Mad Retreat

In the end, those soldiers still charged forward and clashed with the local militia.

The local militia were naturally no match, but they had numbers on their side.

It wasn’t easy for the Ming army to eliminate these local militia quickly, especially since these local militia were very resourceful. If they couldn’t win, they would fight and retreat, avoiding direct confrontation.

The Ming army couldn’t easily wipe them out, but they couldn’t ignore them either.

As long as these local militia were still around, the Ming soldiers couldn’t concentrate on looting and destruction.

After being delayed by the local militia for some time, Wu army reinforcements arrived.

Attacked from both sides, the Ming soldiers completely collapsed.

Wang Zhiren’s idea was good: break through from multiple directions to overwhelm the Wu army.

But he overlooked one thing: breaking through in a single direction without friendly support was like venturing deep into enemy territory alone, which was extremely dangerous.

Unless Wang Zhiren’s troops could break through from multiple directions simultaneously, it could cause significant trouble for the Wu army.

Unfortunately, the Ming army couldn’t do it.

In areas defended by musket units, the Ming army had no chance. After one charge, they basically collapsed and fled. This allowed the Wu army to free up troops to support other directions.

Even in areas not defended by musket units, the Ming army had to fight hard. The Ming soldiers, lacking high morale, quickly crumbled in every direction.

Only three or four units managed to break through the defensive lines.

These men caused some damage to the commercial district, but that was it. They didn’t even accomplish one percent of their original goal.

The Wu army quickly arrived and wiped out the Ming soldiers who had invaded the commercial district.

The Ming soldiers who hadn’t entered the commercial district were now in full retreat. Considering the importance of the commercial district, the Wu army didn’t pursue them. After all, killing a few more Ming soldiers wouldn’t make much of a difference; protecting the commercial district was the most important thing.

“General, let’s retreat.”

Wang Zhiren’s subordinates advised. Soldiers were fleeing in every direction, and if they didn’t retreat now, it would be too late.

They didn’t know that the Wu army had no intention of pursuing them.

“Alas, it’s all over now. Secretly go to Nanjing for me and tell them that I want to defect to them. Try to negotiate good terms.”

Wang Zhiren instructed his confidant.

When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter. He had to secure a way out for himself.

But he was unwilling to start from the bottom, so he didn’t surrender directly but instead sought to negotiate terms with Wu Changqing.

He was currently the Duke of Xingguo in the Prince Lu regime, a rank on par with Wu Changqing.

After surrendering, he wouldn’t expect to become the Vice Minister of War, but at least a Deputy Minister of War, right? As for the peerage, even if he couldn’t remain a duke, he should at least retain the title of marquis.

Otherwise, the drop would be too great.

And to obtain such a starting position and peerage, he would definitely have to make a significant contribution to Wu Changqing. Either surrender a city or kill Zhu Yihai.

For the sake of future glory and wealth, he wouldn’t mind selling out Zhu Yihai, Fang Guoan, and the others.

Wang Zhiren led his remaining troops and retreated to Jiaxing. Before they could even stay for a day, they retreated to Hangzhou with Fang Guoan.

The walls of Jiaxing were too low, and there was no point in defending it.

In fact, they didn’t have the confidence to defend even Hangzhou.

Nanjing had such high walls and such powerful Eight Banners soldiers, yet it was still taken by the Wu army in one fell swoop.

Fang Guoan and the others knew their own situation. Their combat strength couldn’t compare to the Wu army, let alone the Eight Banners.

They were now completely lost and disoriented, without any plan. They could only take things one step at a time.

Retreating to Hangzhou meant that the city walls were at least higher, and they could consolidate their forces. They would defend for as long as they could, and they didn’t have time to think about the future.

In Hangzhou, Zhu Yihai was already discussing with his ministers the possibility of moving the palace back to Shaoxing or Ningbo.

In short, the further away from the Wu army, the better.

Staying in Hangzhou made Zhu Yihai uneasy. He feared that the Wu army would launch a rapid march and surround Hangzhou, leaving them with no way to retreat.

He was different from the other ministers. The other ministers could surrender if they couldn’t win, and Wu Changqing would likely welcome them.

But he had no chance of surrendering.

As the saying goes, “Two tigers cannot share the same mountain.” If he surrendered, he would only face death. Wu Changqing would definitely not leave him as a hidden threat.

“How about retreating to Ningbo? Shaoxing is still too close.”

Zhu Yihai asked the ministers.

Retreating to Ningbo would make it easier to escape. If the Wu army attacked again, he could retreat to the sea.

Normally, such a suggestion should have been made by the ministers. But Zhu Yihai couldn’t care less about formalities at this point and directly expressed his intentions.

“Let’s retreat to Shaoxing. Shaoxing has a ready-made palace. Even if Hangzhou falls, we can defend along the southern bank of the Qiantang River. It won’t be easy for the enemy to attack.”

Zhang Guowei advised.

They had stayed in Shaoxing for a while before and built a simple palace there.

Now, retreating to Shaoxing would give Zhu Yihai a place to live immediately.

If they retreated to Ningbo, they would have to spend time and money to build a palace.

Thinking of this, Zhang Guowei felt helpless. The country was at a critical juncture, but to maintain a semblance of royal dignity, they still had to be extravagant.

“No, it’s better to retreat to Ningbo. As for the palace, we’ll worry about that later. For now, we can find a large house to stay in. Times are tough, so let’s keep things simple.”

Zhu Yihai was truly afraid and insisted on retreating to Ningbo.

If the south wasn’t Zhu Yujian’s territory, he would have wanted to retreat to Fuzhou at this point.

Seeing Zhu Yihai’s cowardly appearance, some ministers couldn’t help but feel contempt.

Compared to Wu Changqing, who led hundreds of thousands of troops on a northern expedition, personally commanding battles on the front lines and being battle-hardened, the difference was too great between him and an emperor like Zhu Yihai, who started running before the enemy even attacked.

Based on their courage alone, they didn’t believe that Zhu Yihai could compete with Wu Changqing.

Throughout history, those who achieved great things were all fearless. Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Zhu Yuanzhang were all battle-hardened and even personally led troops on expeditions.

Zhu Yihai’s attitude was firm, and the ministers had no choice but to retreat with him.

Even if they now had thoughts of surrendering, they couldn’t reveal them, or Zhu Yihai might chop off their heads.

Before retreating, Zhu Yihai issued a secret edict to Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren, ordering them to defend Hangzhou at all costs.

Zhu Yihai stated that as long as they held on for a while, they would soon have muskets to use.

Because he had already established relations with the Western Europeans and ordered a batch of muskets from them, which should be arriving in Ningbo soon.

Chapter 310: Interception at Sea

East China Sea, southeast of the Zhoushan Islands.

A Dutch fleet of seven ships was sailing towards Ningbo.

Onboard, several Dutchmen were chatting on the deck.

“That black-hearted Wu Changqing still wants us to do business with him. Fortunately, we found a new partner.”

Hede said with a smile. At first, he had a pleasant cooperation with Wu Changqing. However, when he learned that Wu Changqing’s profit was several times his own, he became unhappy.

As a businessman of his kind, he always had eyes only for money.

However, in Songjiang, everything was controlled by Wu Changqing, and no merchant dared to trade with him privately. He could only obey the rules set by Wu Changqing and earn a small profit.

Unwilling, he kept collecting business information and finally contacted Zhu Yihai’s people and negotiated a big deal.

Compared with Wu Changqing, the price offered by Zhu Yihai was much more reasonable.

“However, there are too few good things in Ningbo, only silk, tea, and porcelain. We still have to go to Songjiang to purchase goods, and Wu Changqing will still make a profit.”

Another merchant said helplessly.

There was no way around it, Wu Changqing had a large number of special commodities.

“Perhaps, we can continue to provide Zhu Yihai with a large number of weapons and let him eliminate Wu Changqing. In this way, we can buy the goods we want at the cheapest price, and even buy those steam engines.”

The thing they coveted most was definitely the steam engine.

If they could get their hands on such a thing, they could open up more shipping routes.

Shipping routes were crucial for Dutch merchants, because unlike Spanish and British merchants, their fleets generally carried very few weapons, and tried to load as much cargo as possible.

This made the profit of a single voyage much higher, but the disadvantage was also obvious: they didn’t have much ability to resist when encountering pirates. Therefore, Dutch merchants were particularly keen on finding new routes to avoid those pirates.

They coveted steam engines, but this was a controlled commodity of the Wu army, and foreigners couldn’t buy them at all.

Even civilian merchants in Wu Changqing’s jurisdiction had to go through multiple procedures to use steam engines, and the purchased steam engines only had the right to use, and were prohibited from trading or transferring.

“It is impossible for Zhu Yihai to eliminate Wu Changqing. You may not have been to Nanjing, and cannot imagine its prosperity, nor do you know the true strength of Wu Changqing. It can be said that Zhu Yihai, this king, is completely no match for Wu Changqing, this general.”

Albert, who had been to Nanjing, said disdainfully.

Others were keen on doing business, but in addition to doing business, he was keen on understanding this oriental country. Therefore, he could now be regarded as half a China expert, and had a relatively good understanding of the current situation in China.

He knew that Wu Changqing, who held real power, and Zhu Yihai, the nominal monarch, were at odds, and a war would inevitably break out in the future. And he was one hundred percent optimistic about Wu Changqing.

“It may not be possible now, but with our support, it may not be certain. The most advanced weapons in Wu Changqing’s army are flintlock guns, and we have them too.”

Hede now only admired Chinese culture and economy, but he didn’t think much of the Chinese army.

This was mainly because he had not seen the Wu army in combat, and only speculated and inferred from the weapons.

As everyone was chatting, a fleet suddenly appeared in the distance.

“Attention everyone, a large number of ships have appeared in the northwest direction!”

The person in charge of observation shouted in panic.

The most feared thing when sailing at sea was encountering storms and other fleets.

Pirates at this time were divided into two types, one was professional pirates entrenched in a certain place or a certain shipping route, these people were relatively few.

The other was a merchant fleet that also doubled as pirates. As long as they encountered a weaker fleet than themselves, they would not hesitate to devour it.

Therefore, there were no friends at sea, they were all enemies.

Once encountering other fleets, they had to prepare for battle or escape immediately.

“Turn immediately, the rest prepare for battle.”

Hede quickly ordered. If they encountered professional pirates, turning would not be of much use, because pirate ships did not carry cargo and were fast.

However, if they encountered a merchant ship, there was still hope of escaping by turning.

“How many ships are there, what flag are they flying?”

Hede asked loudly.

They had different response plans for different enemies.

“They are flying the flag of the Ming Dynasty Navy, they don’t seem to be pirates, nor other merchant ships, their speed is so fast, they are approaching us.”

The observer shouted.

Hearing that it was the Ming Dynasty Navy, Hede breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Although in his opinion, the Ming Dynasty Navy was not a good thing, those officers and soldiers would at least follow military regulations and would not dare to make things too big.

Generally speaking, bribing a little silver would not cause any trouble. Compared to pirates, this loss was insignificant.

“Steamships, they are from Nanjing.”

As the fleet approached, they saw more and more clearly.

Emitting black smoke, there was no doubt that they were steamships.

And steamships were unique to Wu Changqing.

The two sides approached, and several soldiers of the Wu army set up a plank and came to the Dutch merchant ship.

From beginning to end, the Dutch fleet did not make any resistance.

They were not stupid, their speed was not as good as warships, their firepower was not as good as warships, resistance was just courting death, and there was no need for it.

“Is this general a subordinate of Governor Wu? I am Hede, an old friend of Governor Wu. I wonder why you have stopped us?”

Hede stood up and spoke in broken Chinese. Having planned to run this route for a long time, he usually studied Chinese very hard.

“It’s nothing serious, just to remind you that there has been a naval battle in the waters around Fuzhou and Ningbo. In order to ensure your safety and the safety of your property, Governor Wu has sent us to escort you to Songjiang to dock.”

A navy lieutenant of the Wu army said.

“What does the naval battle in Ningbo have to do with us, we are neutral merchants. We appreciate Governor Wu’s kindness, but we insist on going to Ningbo, and we will bear any risks ourselves.”

Hede said, he didn’t believe the other party’s lies.

Even if there was a war in Ningbo, it had nothing to do with them.

Most importantly, only Zhu Yihai would buy this batch of goods at a high price. If it was transported to Songjiang, Wu Changqing, that damn guy, would definitely lower the price again.

At that time, they would not have the right to refuse, they couldn’t just ship the goods back, that would be a huge loss.

Moreover, if the goods were unloaded in Songjiang, it would be a question of whether they could be reloaded.

“Hmph, since you insist on going to Ningbo, then don’t blame us for doing our duty. Search, and see if there are any military supplies to aid the enemy. If there are, immediately seal them up and confiscate them.”

The navy lieutenant said.

“Stop, this is piracy, I want to see Governor Wu and let him punish you, Governor Wu promised us freedom of trade.”

Hede said angrily, the main commodity on board was flintlock guns, which were one hundred percent military supplies. If these were confiscated, he would have to vomit blood.

“That was before, now our army is fighting against the imperial court’s army. I won’t explain too much to you, either you follow us to Songjiang now, or we will detain you and take you to Songjiang, you choose.”

These words angered Hede and the others, wasn’t this blatant robbery?

However, facing such overbearing Wu army, they were helpless.

Arguing with these soldiers was not a good choice, the only thing they could do was to complain to Wu Changqing.

Chapter 311: Public Opinion

Escorted by the Wu army’s navy, the Dutch fleet arrived at Songjiang.

After that, the Wu army ignored them.

Their purpose was only to prevent Hede and Zhu Yihai from doing business, not to seize Hede’s goods. Although direct seizure could save a lot of money, it was definitely not cost-effective in the long run.

If they lost their credibility, other merchants would not dare to come to Songjiang to do business in the future.

After Hede and Albert went ashore, they left the crew to guard the goods, and then they set off for Nanjing. They planned to find Wu Changqing and properly renegotiate the details of trade.

The previously agreed rules were too simple. As the commercial activities between the two sides became more and more frequent, the problems and frictions encountered became more and more, and those agreements were no longer applicable.

When they arrived in Nanjing, they were ignored and could not get Wu Changqing’s reception.

Currently, Wu Changqing and other important officials were busy preparing for the enthronement ceremony. They really had no time to deal with their trivial matters.

For Wu Changqing, there was naturally no problem with his current hard power to ascend the throne and become emperor. No one could stop him.

However, his enthronement was aimed at gaining the support of the people and all levels of society, rather than relying on suppressing others to secure the throne.

A throne obtained by suppression would definitely not last long.

Popular support was sometimes useless, and sometimes indispensable.

After all, the Ming Dynasty had lasted for more than two hundred years and was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. It was not easy to change their ideas and make them accept a new dynasty.

If he ascended the throne directly without doing anything, some people would definitely take advantage of this to incite the people to rebel and cause trouble.

Wu Changqing had been committed to common prosperity, but this was just a beautiful wish and could not be truly realized.

While promoting various policies, many people benefited, but it was inevitable to offend some people.

For example, some scholars who firmly supported the imperial examination system, some businessmen who went bankrupt because their businesses were affected, and some old-style bureaucrats who were frustrated.

In short, there were more than twenty million people in his jurisdiction, and it was normal for some people to hate him. It would be abnormal if there were none.

Once these people found an opportunity, there would definitely be fearless people who would go all out to incite ignorant people to cause trouble.

This kind of thing might not shake Wu Changqing’s foundation, but it was very disgusting.

In order to solve this problem, Wu Changqing had long used the People’s Daily to smuggle in his own ideas, constantly guiding public opinion, subtly changing people’s thoughts, and seeking public support.

For example, constantly publicizing the strength of the Wu army and constantly exposing the corruption of the Ming army.

Comparing the Wu army and the Ming army in all aspects, the Ming army was naturally inferior to the Wu army in every aspect. This made the people extremely disappointed with the imperial army and pinned all their hopes on the Wu army.

Unconsciously, the people did not confuse the Wu army and the Ming army in their minds. Subconsciously, they felt that these were two armies, thus ignoring the fact that the Wu army was actually one of the many Ming armies.

In addition, the People’s Daily also exposed the corruption in the Ming Dynasty.

In short, it was to make the people hate the imperial court during the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, these propaganda were relatively subtle and implicit, not too blatant. Now that they had decided to officially rebel and become emperor, they accelerated this guidance of public opinion.

The content of the People’s Daily was also becoming more and more explosive.

Some people had directly and publicly criticized several emperors of the Ming Dynasty, such as criticizing Emperor Chongzhen’s inaction, accusing Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian of their dirty deeds, and exposing that the two of them ignored the southward advance of the Qing army in order to fight for the throne.

It also exposed the struggle between the Hongguang Emperor and the Donglin Party during the Hongguang Emperor’s reign.

These scandals came one after another, and the general public realized that the reason why the incomparably powerful Ming Dynasty was slaughtered by the Manchurian Tartars was all because of internal strife.

Naturally, no one liked such a imperial court.

In a certain theater, a storyteller was reading the newspaper again.

Most of the people who came to listen were illiterate, or poor people who could not afford newspapers.

Now that living conditions were better, the people had more spare time and also had spiritual needs.

They certainly could not afford to go to brothels or houses of pleasure.

Listening to free newspaper readings was their greatest pleasure.

“Speaking of this Prince Fu wanting to ascend the throne and become emperor, but the people of the Donglin Party disagreed. Why is this? This has to be said from the time of Emperor Wanli.

Emperor Wanli originally wanted to let the second prince, Prince Fu, succeed to the throne, but the people of the Donglin Party refused and insisted on supporting the crown prince.

When the little Prince Fu was about to ascend the throne, the people of the Donglin Party were afraid that the little Prince Fu would settle accounts with them after he became emperor, so they naturally tried every means to obstruct him. However, with the support of others, the little Prince Fu still became emperor.

Now the people of the Donglin Party were in trouble and were constantly retaliated against. So they created a rumor of a fake crown prince, causing Zuo Liangyu’s two hundred thousand troops to abandon resisting the Tartars and come to attack Nanjing.

These absurd things led to the Qing army advancing south all the way without encountering any resistance. If Duke Wu had not stood up in times of crisis and rescued the people from the fire and water, we would all be slaves under the Tartars at this time…”

This storyteller was ostensibly just a storyteller, but secretly he was also employed by the government and received a salary from the government.

And the content he said was naturally processed by the government.

Hearing the storyteller tell these secret histories, the other people suddenly understood and listened with great interest.

It turned out that the former Ming Dynasty was not unable to defeat the Tartars, but was all busy with internal strife.

These articles were for ordinary people to read.

There was also an article that counted the number of descendants of Zhu Yuanzhang and used rigorous data to discuss how the Zhu family clan dragged down the Ming Dynasty.

This article was for the official class to read.

According to statistics, before Li Zicheng’s uprising, the number of registered royal relatives was as high as two hundred thousand, and the number of unregistered ones was nearly one million.

Those who were registered did not need to work and could receive a large amount of offerings for free every year.

This offering was a huge financial burden for the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, these clan members were also granted a large amount of land.

Among them, Prince Fu, Prince Rui, Prince Gui, and other important princes each had hundreds of thousands of mu of fertile land. Other slightly more distant princes each had tens of thousands of mu of fertile land.

All the fertile land in Shanxi belonged to the clan, and half of the land in Henan was also annexed by the clan.

And all of this was tax-free, resulting in extremely low tax revenue for the Ming Dynasty.

These rice weevils were a heavy burden on the Ming Dynasty, and any official or minister would be dissatisfied.

However, as long as the old Zhu family continued to be the emperor, this system could not be changed.

But now, if someone else became the emperor, those land and property would definitely be confiscated and redistributed.

Who would it be distributed to?

Those in the official class believed that with their own means, they would definitely be able to get the largest piece of the pie in this distribution.

Based on this alone, they had no reason not to support Wu Changqing.

Not supporting Wu Changqing and continuing to watch the rice weevils of the old Zhu family enjoy preferential treatment was too upsetting. Supporting Wu Changqing meant that they would also have a share of the land, which was great.

As for whether Wu Changqing would repeat the same mistakes in the future and grant rewards to his children and grandchildren like Zhu Yuanzhang, they were not worried about this at all.

Wu Changqing had too few relatives now, just one younger brother, two uncles, several cousins, and the rest were distant relatives.

If they wanted to expand to a scale of two hundred thousand, it would take at least three to four hundred years.

For those in the official class, it was much better for Wu Changqing to be the emperor than for the Zhu family to be the emperor. It was an opportunity for a redistribution of wealth. Why not?

These officials were smart people. Talking to them about ideals was useless. Only naked interests could move them.

Chapter 312: Reopening the Imperial Examination

West River Academy, a traditional academy in Nanjing, still housed several hundred students.

Even with the booming success of the new-style academies, many scholars remained unmoved, continuing to study their Four Books and Five Classics.

Another reason was the scarcity of new-style academies, making admission difficult. Those who failed to get in had no choice but to continue studying at traditional academies.

Currently, there were only three new-style academies like the University Hall, located in Nanjing, Suzhou, and Jiujiang.

Traditional academies still accounted for ninety-nine percent of the educational landscape.

West River Academy was just one of many traditional academies.

These scholars were now reading newspapers, discussing current affairs. If they wanted to become officials, they couldn’t afford to ignore the news.

“This Wu Changqing has finally shown his fangs. Looking at these opinions, he’s clearly preparing to rebel.”

One scholar said indignantly.

Despite countless people thinking well of Wu Changqing, Li Yao was not among them.

After all, he had been studying since the age of six, taught to take the imperial examinations and rise to prominence. However, this dream was about to be completely destroyed by Wu Changqing.

The South had been pacified for so long, yet Wu Changqing showed no sign of reopening the imperial examinations.

How could Li Yao not be angry, not hate him?

Originally, he had no loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. But now, he wished Zhu Yihai would attack and destroy Wu Changqing.

If that didn’t work, even the Qing army invading would be fine, as the Qing court would also hold imperial examinations.

In short, he would support whoever continued the imperial examination system.

“Brother Li, be careful what you say.”

Another scholar advised. Although Wu Changqing had always been lenient with various opinions, and they had previously criticized certain policies without any repercussions, this concerned rebellion, a matter of choosing sides in a dynastic change. Some things couldn’t be said too casually.

If someone with ulterior motives reported them, their future would inevitably be affected.

“If he gains control of the country, where will be the opportunity for us scholars to rise?”

Li Yao said resentfully.

“If it really comes to it, we can also take the entrance exam for the University Hall. We’ve studied the Four Books and Five Classics, and we can write the eight-legged essay. There’s no reason why miscellaneous studies should be too difficult for us.”

Another student took out a book on elementary physics, indicating that he was preparing to yield.

And people like him already made up the majority of the academy.

They didn’t have the ability to rebel against Wu Changqing. Since that was the case, they might as well yield and go with the flow.

Anyway, miscellaneous studies were also knowledge. As long as they worked hard, there was no reason why they couldn’t learn them.

They were all relying on knowledge to become officials, just through slightly different paths.

“Brother Wang, how can you also give in? This is the situation Wu Changqing wants to see. Only if we all unite can we hope to resist him.”

Li Yao felt as if he had been abandoned, and felt inexplicably anxious.

“What else can we do if we don’t give in? Go south to serve Prince Lu, or north to rely on the Tartars? Haven’t you heard that the Tartars suffered another major defeat in the North? And as soon as Liu Hansan’s army arrived in Suzhou, Prince Lu’s army fled back to Jiaxing. No one can stop them anymore.”

The scholar surnamed Wang said helplessly. It was all Zhu Yihai’s fault for being unpromising. He had already lost hope.

The discontent of traditional students was something that the high-ranking members of Wu Changqing’s group had been paying attention to and researching solutions for.

Continuing the old imperial examination system was definitely not an option. That would be reversing history and would not cultivate the talents needed by today’s society.

After discussion, they developed a new imperial examination system and decided to officially reopen the examinations next year.

However, this new imperial examination was very different from the traditional imperial examination, both in form and content.

This was thanks to Wu Changqing’s desire for gradual reform. If he had been more ruthless, he would have directly abolished the eight-legged essay in the imperial examinations according to his own ideas.

This thing was like the International Mathematical Olympiad. Those who could do well were geniuses, but those who couldn’t weren’t necessarily not talented.

Those who could solve the problems in the International Mathematical Olympiad didn’t necessarily have better practical skills or application abilities than others.

The eight-legged essay had strict requirements for the number of words, the length of sentences, and the tone of each sentence.

Its difficulty was terrifying. Scholars devoted all their energy to studying the eight-legged essay, and had no time to learn practical knowledge.

The previous imperial examinations only tested the understanding of classics, policy debates, and the eight-legged essay. Now, Wu Changqing changed it to a format that focused on policy debates, supplemented by other subjects.

Policy debates accounted for the highest proportion of the score, with a full score of three hundred, divided into three major questions.

The remaining eight-legged essay, physics, chemistry, arithmetic, and other important subjects each had a full score of one hundred.

There were also some subjects like music, medicine, understanding of classics, and poetry, each with a full score of only thirty.

Policy debate was a compulsory subject, while the eight-legged essay, physics, chemistry, and other subjects were optional. Each person could choose three subjects they were good at.

Music, poetry, and other subjects were non-examination subjects. Candidates were not required to take them, but the scores they obtained if they chose to take them could be included in the total score.

Each student was limited to taking two subjects, and could not choose more or choose all of them.

The most obvious feature of this system was that it greatly weakened the importance of the eight-legged essay. It was certain that traditional students who specialized in the eight-legged essay would be spitting blood.

This was a reform in terms of content. In terms of form, Wu Changqing also made some changes in order to connect with the original imperial examination.

In the original imperial examination, there were county examinations, prefectural examinations, academy examinations, provincial examinations, metropolitan examinations, and palace examinations. The top students who passed the county examinations, prefectural examinations, and academy examinations were listed as xiucai, and the second-class students were listed as xianggong.

Only those who obtained the title of xiucai could participate in the provincial examinations in the provincial capital. Those who passed were listed as juren, and the first place was called jieyuan.

Becoming a juren already meant having the opportunity to become an official. However, anyone with ambition would choose to continue studying and participate in the next level of metropolitan examinations, which were held in Nanjing.

The top three hundred in the metropolitan examinations were listed as gongsheng, and the first place was called huiyuan.

Passing the gongsheng examination was equivalent to passing the jinshi examination, but they still had to participate in the palace examination to be divided into three grades.

The top three were first-class jinshi, also known as zhuangyuan, bangyan, and tanhua. There were several second-class jinshi, and the most were third-class jinshi.

Different levels of jinshi had a great impact on their future careers.

Third-class jinshi could only start from some unimportant minor officials, while first-class jinshi directly entered the Hanlin Academy.

Wu Changqing cancelled the county and prefectural examinations, only retaining the academy examination. Passing it meant becoming a xiucai.

Moreover, Wu Changqing also stipulated that the previous titles would still be valid in the future.

That is to say, the juren of the previous dynasty did not need to participate in the academy and provincial examinations, and could directly participate in the metropolitan examinations.

And the xiucai of the previous dynasty did not need to participate in the academy examination, and could directly participate in the provincial examinations.

These conditions could at least appease some of the dissatisfaction of the scholars who had previously obtained titles.

In terms of admission, Wu Changqing also made some improvements.

The top three in total scores were still first-class, but those who were in the top three in a single subject could also be promoted exceptionally.

That is to say, even if the total score was very poor, as long as one subject scored full marks or was in the top three, they could still be selected for the second or third class.

People were different from each other. Some people were born with a talent for a specific subject, but they were still geniuses. This kind of person was actually more valuable than those with high total scores.

Chapter 313: Reactions to the Imperial Examination

The new imperial examination system, once announced, immediately stirred up a huge reaction within scholar circles.

The university students were relatively calm, as the new imperial examination system was very beneficial to them.

Every day at the university, they studied new subjects like physics and chemistry. Now, choosing the three subjects they were most proficient in for the exam was easy.

But it was a bit more difficult for students outside the university. They could choose one subject in the traditional Eight-legged Essay style, and arithmetic should be manageable, but to choose another subject, they would have to study miscellaneous subjects.

Otherwise, they would lose one hundred points for that subject for nothing.

In the cruel selection process of the exam, every point was extremely important, let alone a subject worth one hundred points.

For these one hundred points, no matter how pedantic a student was, they would study and master a miscellaneous subject.

However, self-study was definitely not as effective as being taught, so if they wanted to stand out, it seemed they still had to go to the university.

Traditional scholars were very helpless. Of course, they were dissatisfied with this kind of imperial examination system, but compared to not having imperial examinations at all before, the current situation was much better.

At least, there was now an extra sliver of hope.

At West River Academy, the students were naturally more concerned about the newly issued imperial examination system than anyone else.

As soon as the announcement came out, they lost all interest in studying and gathered together to discuss it.

“This regulation still favors those in the university. Besides the Eight-legged Essay, what else do we know? How are we supposed to get points for the other two subjects?”

Li Yao said angrily.

Little did he know that his words had awakened many people.

Many realized that besides writing Eight-legged Essays, they really didn’t know anything else. They were quite useless.

Quite a few people were good at classics and poetry, but each subject was only worth thirty points, and they could only choose two.

“Brother Li, don’t be angry. Compared to before, the situation has improved a lot. Although we are at a disadvantage compared to the university students, as long as we start studying hard now, there is still hope for latecomers to surpass the early starters.”

“Besides, there’s also the single-subject reward. If you’re really confident in writing essays, you can not study anything else and get a perfect score in a single subject, which is still a second-class ranking.”

Another scholar who disliked Li Yao mocked him, feeling that complaining like Li Yao was meaningless.

If he really felt that the system was unreasonable, then he should work hard to climb up and sit in the position of a Grand Secretary in the Cabinet, so that his opinions could directly reach the Emperor and reforms could be carried out.

Complaining in this academy was meaningless.

“Zeng Liwei, what do you mean by that? I’m just speaking everyone’s mind.”

Li Yao said dissatisfied.

Just as the two were about to argue further, a teacher from West River Academy came in and announced a piece of news.

From tomorrow onwards, the academy would add several new courses, namely arithmetic, physics, geography, and foreign languages.

As for other subjects, there were none, because they couldn’t find teachers.

Subjects for which teachers were found would be offered, while subjects without teachers could only be stared at blankly.

“These courses are electives, and everyone is free to choose whether to study them or not. However, you must have all seen the new imperial examination decree, and it is unlikely that there will be any changes. Therefore, those who only want to become officials had better face reality and make up for two miscellaneous subjects.

I heard from the superiors that the exam questions for the first phase of miscellaneous subjects will not be too difficult. As long as you study hard, you should still have enough time by next year.”

The teacher of West River Academy advised.

This kind of debate was happening in many traditional academies. West River Academy was considered good because they had the ability to hire some teachers of miscellaneous subjects to teach.

And some academies in remote areas could only buy some related books and have the students study on their own.

“Teacher Chen, is the world about to change?”

Li Yao asked, which was also what many people wanted to know.

Teacher Chen didn’t hesitate and said, “Yes, the people above are already preparing. It should be officially announced at the end of this year that Governor-General Wu will officially proclaim himself Emperor.”

This news, even though everyone had already guessed it, still shocked many people after it was confirmed.

“Everyone, don’t think too much. Whether it’s the Zhu family dynasty or the Wu family dynasty, isn’t it all our Han people in charge? Moreover, no matter who becomes the Emperor, he needs us scholars to become officials and help him govern this world.

In a new dynasty, interests are redistributed, and there will be many new official positions. Everyone must study harder and seize this opportunity to soar into the sky. In the future, when the political situation stabilizes, it will not be so easy to climb up.”

Teacher Chen explained the current situation.

“It’s just that this new dynasty is too biased towards those in the university and not friendly to us old-style students at all.”

Li Yao continued to complain.

“How many students are there in the university in total? How many students are there in this world? Your main competitors in the future are still candidates from all over the country. Don’t be bound by this. Just study hard.”

Teacher Chen said.

“Will Governor-General Wu’s independence cause opposition from the people of the world?”

Zeng Liwei asked.

“This will definitely not happen in the Southern Metropolitan Region. Under Governor-General Wu’s rule, the lives of the people in the Southern Metropolitan Region have improved a lot, merchants have also made money, and officials have also been promoted. Now, his ascension to the throne is what the people want.

As for other places, there is nothing to worry about. The army under Governor-General Wu is invincible in the world today. I think you will soon receive the news that Zhejiang has been pacified.”

After a series of questions and answers, the students finally confirmed that the world was really about to change hands.

Everyone had different thoughts about this situation. Some didn’t care, some felt sad, and some were secretly happy.

Just as Teacher Chen said, with the rise of a new dynasty, everything was waiting to be rebuilt, and there were many opportunities.

Compared to the solidified classes at the end of a dynasty, the emerging dynasty was much friendlier to those who were talented but had no background.

Compared to the dissatisfaction of the scholars, the merchant class strongly supported and embraced this new imperial examination system.

As machines became more and more popular and commercial trade developed, merchants had an urgent need for talents with professional knowledge and special knowledge.

Such as machine repair, surveying, mapping, translation, and so on.

And these talents were far from enough to be cultivated by a single university.

Including them in the imperial examination could stimulate the motivation of all scholars and produce more new-style talents to meet the needs of these merchants.

Therefore, they welcomed this system very much.

When the new imperial examination system was announced, the work of the printing bureau increased exponentially and never stopped.

Textbooks for those new-style subjects were printed in large quantities.

Strategies for the new-style imperial examination were also printed in large quantities.

For a time, a craze for miscellaneous studies swept across the country.

Moreover, as long as the new imperial examination system was not changed, this craze would not fade away.

Chapter 314: Different Focuses

Different social classes focus on different things.

In the Duke’s mansion, several of Chen Yuyan’s close friends were chatting idly in the back garden, seeking refuge from the summer heat.

In late August, the temperature in Nanjing was already quite high.

The back garden of the Duke’s mansion had many artificial fountains installed to cool the air by spraying water, making it a relatively comfortable summer retreat in Nanjing.

In addition to that, there were also iced bayberries specially for relieving the summer heat, as well as the newly released soda.

“Sister Chen, there are rumors outside that the Duke is about to ascend the throne and become emperor. Is that true?”

A young girl took a sip of soda and asked.

“It seems so, but I haven’t asked about the men’s affairs,” Chen Yuyan said modestly. In fact, she had asked Wu Changqing as soon as the news broke.

After all, it was closely related to her, so how could she not care?

If Wu Changqing ascended the throne and established a country, then she would become the empress, the highest position a woman could achieve.

“Then wouldn’t you become the empress?”

Another woman covered her mouth, clearly shocked.

She never imagined that in her lifetime, she could be sisters with the empress and have fun together.

Empress, something they never dared to think about before. Even wanting to enter the palace as a concubine was impossible, and even becoming a maiden candidate required layers of selection.

“Maybe, I’m not too sure,” Chen Yuyan said with a smile.

Her smile had already given her away. They were all sisters who played together often, so how could they not know Chen Yuyan’s personality? She liked to play dumb even when she was very sure about something.

“Sister is the Duke’s original wife, so the position of empress is rightfully hers.”

The others complimented her one after another. It would also be beneficial for them if Chen Yuyan became the empress. At least with this friendship, they could ask Chen Yuyan for help if they had any troubles in the future.

Some people complimented her on the surface, but were envious and jealous in their hearts.

In their opinion, Chen Yuyan was probably the luckiest woman in the world, born into a merchant family, which wasn’t a great background.

But by chance, she married a powerful figure. As Wu Changqing’s status continued to rise, her status also soared.

The title of Lady of the Mandate had already made many people jealous, and now she was about to become the empress.

This kind of luck was impossible not to envy.

“Being an empress isn’t necessarily comfortable. In the future, I will need to be a role model for the world, and I will need to abide by all kinds of tedious etiquette at all times. Not to mention other things, even mahjong won’t be suitable to play,” Chen Yuyan said pretentiously. Although being an empress did require more attention to behavior, it didn’t mean she would be willing to give up the position of empress for the sake of pleasure.

“Ah, then while you haven’t become the empress yet, quickly play a few more rounds, otherwise there will be no chance in the future.”

As they spoke, the mahjong table was brought out again.

Jinling Chamber of Commerce.

A group of businessmen also gathered together to drink tea, chat about market conditions, the current situation, and discuss cooperation.

“The Duke Wu is about to become emperor, and business will be easier to do in the future. I’m already considering opening branches and factories in Zhejiang to seize the Zhejiang market,” Cui Mingchong said. With the recovery of Zhejiang in sight, the sooner they entered the market, the easier it would be to lay out their plans and seize the market.

“Don’t forget, Boss Cui, after Zhejiang is recovered, those Zhejiang merchants will become the Duke Wu’s subjects, and they will also have the right to enter the industry. When that group of people floods in, the competition will be even greater,” another businessman reminded him. The reason why they were all making a lot of money now wasn’t because they were so good at doing business, but because of Wu Changqing’s support.

Other foreign merchants who wanted to get involved in those emerging industries faced much greater restrictions than local merchants.

When other places were under Wu Changqing’s rule in the future, there would be no distinction between foreign and local merchants. Foreign merchants could also enjoy the opportunity to enter emerging industries, and they would face fierce competition.

“That’s why Boss Tong’s exclusive business is the best to do,” Cui Mingchong said enviously.

Tong Youwei’s BMW car dealership was an exclusive business. Without Wu Changqing’s permission, others were not allowed to enter the industry, and they couldn’t get spring accessories.

This kind of exclusive business could set prices at will, and the profits were ridiculously high.

“I’m just doing things for the Duke, earning a little errand fee. How can I compare to your own businesses, where you put all the profits into your own pockets?” Tong Youwei complained.

His exclusive BMW car business also came at a huge cost. Most of the profits he earned had to be provided to Wu Changqing to support the army, and only a small portion could go into his pocket.

Of course, even this small portion was more than what Cui Mingchong and the others earned from their businesses.

“In those recovered lost territories in the future, will there be restrictions on the prices of goods?” a match merchant asked.

Currently, the price of matches in Wu Changqing’s jurisdiction was regulated and not allowed to be too high.

Match merchants mainly made money from some enemy-occupied areas in the North and South. If the prices were also restricted after those places were recovered, then their business would be difficult to do.

“Don’t worry about this. I’ve talked to the Governor about this matter. He said that he will relax the restrictions a little in the future. In short, he won’t let everyone have no money to earn,” Sun Daoming explained.

“Then we can rest assured. The Duke is really good to us, and we all remember this in our hearts. The Duke wants to ascend the throne and become emperor, and we merchants are undoubtedly the most steadfast supporters,” Cui Mingchong said respectfully.

They now needed to show more respect to Sun Daoming, because Sun Daoming could barely be considered a relative of the emperor. His niece was said to be very favored by Wu Changqing, and even published articles in the Novel Newspaper as a woman, which was sensational.

As the saying goes, a woman without talent is virtuous. Wu Changqing allowed Sun Yunxuan to show her face and write books, which showed his favor towards her.

And Sun Daoming was also very smart, using this identity everywhere, and vaguely became the leader of the Jinling Chamber of Commerce.

There was Chen Daolin, who had a more honorable status than him, but Chen Daolin’s main business was in Suzhou, and his connection with the merchants in Nanjing was not as close as Sun Daoming’s.

Moreover, Chen Daolin was relatively low-key, just making a fortune in silence, constantly expanding the number of factories and expanding the production scale of perfumes and other commodities.

Now, all distributors had to get their goods from Chen Daolin.

“It’s best for the Duke to rule the Central Plains. Just look at how many business opportunities the Duke has brought us. There are at least more than twenty new emerging industries in Nanjing,”

“That’s right, and the profit of each industry is amazing. Especially overseas trade, shipbuilding is very profitable now, but unfortunately I have too little money, otherwise I would have entered the market too.”

“Recently, a drink called ‘soda’ has appeared on the market. It’s very refreshing and sells very well.”

“I’ve also heard about it. It seems to be made by the research and development department of the University Hall, and it’s currently operated by the official government of the Ministry of Commerce. I don’t know when the restrictions will be lifted so that we can get involved.”

As they chatted, they talked about business again.

Chapter 315: Dynastic Title

Inside the Governor-General’s office, Wu Changqing was discussing the dynastic title with several ministers.

Every dynasty’s title was carefully considered, not chosen at random.

For example, the Ming Dynasty was primarily named because the rebel army collectively honored the Little Prince Ming as their leader, signifying inheritance. Furthermore, “Ming” (明) is the combination of sun (日) and moon (月), carrying a good meaning.

When Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor and changed the dynastic title to Qing Dynasty, it was to alleviate ethnic tensions.

The Manchus were originally a branch of the Jurchen people, and the Jurchens had deep historical conflicts with the Han Chinese. Huang Taiji wanted to enter the Central Plains, so he had to weaken his Jurchen identity.

Therefore, he changed Jurchen to Later Jin, and later changed Later Jin to Qing Dynasty.

Qing Dynasty, at first glance, sounded like a Han Chinese regime. The Han Chinese people would feel more comfortable and have a greater sense of belonging upon hearing it.

Huang Taiji also understood that it was impossible to rule hundreds of millions of Han Chinese people with only a few hundred thousand Manchus. In the end, he still had to rely on the Han Chinese.

To alleviate ethnic tensions, he even used the dynastic title.

Wu Changqing and his ministers also needed to choose a dynastic title with some meaning or practical effect.

“How about using Wu as the dynastic title? Wu is a historical ancient state, and it also implies that it originated in Wusong. At the same time, it is also the Governor-General’s surname, killing three birds with one stone,” Qian Qianyi said. In his opinion, the dynastic title of Wu was perfect.

However, Wu Changqing was not satisfied.

The state of Wu was neither powerful nor famous in history, and the character Wu did not have any special meaning or practical effect.

“Not good, let’s change it,” Wu Changqing rejected the proposal.

“Then let’s use Han. The Han Empire was once glorious, and Han represents the Han people. At the beginning of our uprising, it was to save the Han people,” Ma Shiying also suggested.

“This is even worse. I don’t want to divide the Han people too clearly from other ethnic minorities. It would be more difficult to assimilate them. Whether it is the Manchus, Mongols, or even the Koreans, their appearance is similar to our Han Chinese.

I plan to integrate all these ethnic groups into my Han people to form a new Chinese nation. In the future, only those Western Europeans and African blacks will be considered barbarians,” Wu Changqing said.

He didn’t want to engage in a multi-ethnic system, as that would increase the cost of governance.

As the saying goes, those who are not of our race must have different intentions. If ethnic minorities are divided too clearly, their sense of national identity will also be reduced. It is better to integrate them all into one nation.

Ethnic groups such as the Manchus, Mongols, Koreans, Persians, and even the Japanese do not have significant differences in appearance from the Han Chinese and can be completely integrated into one nation.

As for those African blacks and European whites, races that have obvious differences from the Han Chinese, Wu Changqing would not allow them to integrate with the Han Chinese.

Children born to people of different skin colors will have obvious differences from other children.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s words, the other ministers were shocked. Because the meaning in Wu Changqing’s words was clearly to conquer Mongolia, the Northeast, Korea, and even the Western Regions and Persia.

This ambition was too great. No dynasty in history has been able to rule such a large territory.

The Mongol Yuan Dynasty did not count, although they had a large territory, they did not have a unified central organization. The central government’s control over various regions was extremely weak.

During the feudal period, there was an upper limit to the size of the territory that a country could rule. If the territory was too large, it would take one or two months for a decree to be transmitted. The central government’s control over such places was actually very low and not meaningful.

However, they did not know that Wu Changqing could create railways, wired telegraphs, and wireless telegraphs in the future. With these things, it would be much easier to control other remote areas.

“How about using ‘Great Hua’ as the dynastic title and also as the name of the future nation?” Hong Chengchou suggested.

Using Great Hua would easily gain the people’s recognition. After all, the name “Land of China” has been used for thousands of years and is deeply rooted in people’s hearts.

Moreover, no dynasty has ever used the dynastic title of Great Hua, which is novel.

Everyone was thinking, seemingly trying to find the disadvantages of the name Great Hua.

Only by overturning the other party’s proposal could one’s own proposal have a chance of being adopted. Having one’s suggestion adopted was also a kind of honor.

However, Wu Changqing only hesitated for a moment before agreeing to the dynastic title.

He was used to the term “China,” but now, because the country was strong, there was no need to be so low-key. The Great Hua Empire sounded much more domineering than the China Empire.

In the future, he would conquer the world, and the word “Great” was naturally very appropriate.

Since Wu Changqing had spoken, the others naturally had no objections.

Anyway, the dynastic title was important and unimportant. It was just a meaning, just a name.

The Ming Dynasty sounded so good, but it was still destroyed.

After discussing the dynastic title, they had to discuss the era name next.

The era name was used to record the year. At this time, there was no Gregorian calendar. Recording time was done using the era name, which was very inconvenient.

However, Wu Changqing did not intend to change it now. Everything had to be done slowly.

If too many rituals and old systems were changed drastically at the beginning, others would find it difficult to adapt.

Therefore, Wu Changqing also had to have this era name.

Moreover, this era name could not be chosen casually. It also needed to have a little meaning and sound good.

The era name was not easy to choose because those good-sounding and meaningful words were almost used up.

From the Han Dynasty, when era names began, to the present, at least hundreds of era names have been used by various dynasties.

“How about Shaowu?” Ma Shiying said. After all, Wu Changqing started his career with martial arts and dominated with martial arts. Using martial arts as the era name could highlight Wu Changqing’s great achievements.

“Not good, it’s better to use Eternal Prosperity, forever rich and strong,” Qian Qianyi offered his suggestion. In comparison, the meaning of his era name was better than Ma Shiying’s.

“Or it can be called New Era, a new era,” Hong Chengchou suggested. He felt that the regime established by Wu Changqing was very different from the previous dynasties, as if it had opened up a new era.

The range of choices for the era name was relatively large, and there were many suggestions from everyone.

Some people suggested using Eternal Peace, Mandate of Heaven, Divinely Chosen, Revival, etc. Each had a good meaning, and it didn’t matter which one was chosen. The difference was not significant.

“Let’s call it Eternal Flourishing. Anyway, it can be changed later,” Wu Changqing made a decision. He didn’t pay special attention to the era name.

Eternal Flourishing, forever prosperous, with such a meaning, was almost enough. The era names of other emperors were not necessarily better.

What Hongwu, Jianwen, Yongle, Hongxi sounded far worse than Eternal Flourishing.

“That’s all for today, we’ll discuss other things tomorrow,” Wu Changqing announced the end of the meeting as it was getting late. He was going to rest.

Of course, only Wu Changqing could rest.

People like Qian Qianyi had too many things to do at this time and would inevitably have to stay up late again.

Chapter 316: The Imperial Harem System

During dinner, the Wu family was filled with joy, and everyone’s face radiated with smiles.

Even the servants were in high spirits.

As the saying goes, “When one achieves enlightenment, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven.” Wu Changqing was about to rise to prominence, and everyone around him would benefit.

Each and every one of them, who had never even been to the palace, would now have the opportunity to live there.

This was something ordinary people wouldn’t even dare to dream of.

Later that night, after a period of intimacy, Sun Yunxuan leaned against Wu Changqing.

“My lord, what kind of harem system will you be using after you ascend the throne?”

As it concerned her future status, Sun Yunxuan couldn’t help but be concerned.

Different dynasties had different harem ranking systems, and the different systems would have a significant impact on Sun Yunxuan.

She hoped that Wu Changqing would adopt the system of three consorts and nine concubines, which originated in the Zhou Dynasty and was adopted by several dynasties such as the Zhou, Tang, and Song.

In this system, the harem was divided into four ranks: the first rank was three consorts, the second rank was nine concubines, the third rank was twenty-seven noble ladies, and the fourth rank was eighty-one imperial wives.

Currently, Wu Changqing had four official women. If he adopted this system, she would have a chance to become one of the three consorts, ranking first and reaching the pinnacle of a woman’s life.

If Wu Changqing continued to use the harem system of the Ming Dynasty, it would be somewhat unfavorable to her.

The Ming Dynasty had an empress, only one, and below the empress were imperial concubines, with no fixed number. Below the imperial concubines were palace consorts, also with no fixed number.

Below the palace consorts were the Ladies of Grace, Ladies of Beauty, Noble Ladies, Beauties, and Fair Ladies, also with no fixed number.

If this system was adopted, she certainly wouldn’t have any hope of becoming empress. The best outcome would only be to become an imperial concubine.

And there were usually more than a dozen imperial concubines, whose status was inferior to that of the concubines in the system of three consorts and nine concubines.

“I haven’t paid much attention to this. I followed the advice of the ministers and continued to use the harem system of the Ming Dynasty,”

Wu Changqing said.

He hadn’t paid attention to such unimportant matters yet. Anyway, he could change it with a word if he felt it was inappropriate in the future.

For example, Emperor Xianzong of Ming particularly favored Consort Wan, so he separately established the rank of Imperial Noble Consort, second only to the empress and above other noble consorts.

Another example was Emperor Xuanzong of Ming, who particularly favored Imperial Noble Consort Sun, and bestowed upon her the golden seal, golden book, and golden stamp that only the empress could possess.

These matters of the emperor’s family were actually just a matter of the emperor’s word. He could change them however he wanted.

Sun Yunxuan was a little disappointed when she heard this, but she didn’t have any say in this matter. Whatever the men decided was what it would be. The only thing she could do was to strive for a better position under the existing system.

For example, becoming an Imperial Noble Consort.

The status of concubines was not completely equal, which was mainly reflected in their titles.

Imperial Noble Consort was higher than Noble Consort, higher than Virtuous Consort, higher than Dignified Consort, Respectful Consort, Obedient Consort, Virtuous Consort…

“Then what title are you going to bestow upon me?”

Sun Yunxuan continued to ask.

“At first, you will only be listed as a concubine. The title will be bestowed after you give birth to a prince.”

Wu Changqing didn’t make any promises easily. Those titles were the means by which the emperor bestowed favors on the harem, just like bestowing official positions and titles on meritorious officials. They couldn’t be given casually.

If he gave the best at the beginning, there would be nothing to reward later. It was still necessary to proceed gradually.

“Hmph, you come to my place so rarely, how can I get pregnant with a prince?”

Sun Yunxuan threw a little tantrum.

“Didn’t I come tonight? It all depends on luck. I don’t go to Luo Min’s room often either, but she’s pregnant.”

That was all he would say. Sun Yunxuan didn’t dare to say anything more. Now that Wu Changqing favored her, she could still act spoiled.

If she made Wu Changqing unhappy, she would be thrown into the Cold Palace in a matter of minutes.

The imperial family was the most ruthless. Once you became the emperor’s woman, you couldn’t expect any marital affection.

Now that Wu Changqing had few women, she could get more of his time and maintain a relatively close relationship.

When Wu Changqing’s harem expanded in the future, the chances of being chosen to serve him would be greatly reduced. Perhaps, it would be difficult to get a chance even once a year.

Because there were more women, even if the emperor had favored them, he might not remember their appearance, let alone any marital affection.

If you were the lowest-ranked Fair Lady, you might not get a chance to serve the emperor in your entire life, and you would never get ahead.

Marrying the emperor, besides being free from worries about food and clothing, there was really nothing good about it. Unless you could climb to the rank of concubine and give birth to a prince, then you could enjoy some political status.

But even so, there were countless women who wanted to enter the palace.

Just like the celebrity dreams of girls in later generations, they all thought about soaring to the sky in one fell swoop, and then ignored the difficulty.

In terms of women, Wu Changqing pursued quality rather than quantity. Each one must be the best of the best, and each one’s identity must be somewhat special.

At the same time, he wanted to avoid homogenization. For example, Wu Changqing would most likely not want any more daughters of merchants, because he already had two.

Taking another one would not produce any new experience.

As for the number one beauty of Mongolia, the Persian cat of the Western Regions, the number one beauty of Korea, the number one beauty of Japan, and the long-legged beauties of Eastern Europe, Wu Changqing planned to have one or two of each.

It was both a physical enjoyment and a spiritual enjoyment. The feeling of conquering the world was still very good.

These top-quality beauties were his collectibles for conquering the world.

After all, he would basically be staying in Nanjing in the future. Even if he conquered the world, he couldn’t travel around the world. It was neither safe nor troublesome.

If he couldn’t travel around the world, how could he feel that he had conquered the world?

Then he could only collect beauties from all over the world into the palace. Looking at them from time to time, he would know that he had conquered the world, and the feeling should be great.

Wu Changqing’s remaining life only had two goals.

One was to transform the world and realize the ideal society in his heart. The other was to enjoy life and experience everything he had ever fantasized about.

And most of these things were related to women.

Men, that’s all they like.

Twin sisters who were both beautiful and looked exactly alike.

A loli with a particularly good figure and a particularly two-dimensional appearance.

A face that looked particularly like a celebrity from later generations.

These were all lives that Wu Changqing had fantasized about but had not experienced.

In the future, as emperor, it would be easy to experience these things.

He could have any woman in the world he wanted. A pair of twin sisters, just send someone to find them. A woman with a specific appearance, just send someone to find her.

Anyway, he was the emperor. No matter what he did, no one could stop him, and no one could restrain him.

It was precisely because being an emperor had so many benefits that so many people in history went crazy for this emperor. Fratricide and patricide were common occurrences.

Chapter 317: Northern War

While Nanjing was busy with preparations for the enthronement, Jiangbei was still engulfed in the flames of war.

To present Wu Changqing with a grand enthronement gift, Li Shaobin, after Wu Changqing’s return south, prepared to advance his army towards Huai’an and its surrounding areas, expanding their territory.

The Qing court was currently occupied with suppressing rebellions in Shanxi and had no strength to spare for these areas. This was the perfect opportunity for the Wu army to recover lost ground.

For the Wu army, the biggest problem in attacking these areas wasn’t the defending enemy, but their own logistics.

Liu Hansan in the South was still campaigning against Zhu Yihai, so all military supplies were prioritized for Liu Hansan first. Wu Changqing’s requirement for them was to take things slowly.

It would be good if they could capture territory, but it didn’t matter if they couldn’t.

However, Li Shaobin and his subordinates were unwilling to accept that. Only by capturing territory could they earn merit and receive greater rewards when the officials were enfeoffed.

Therefore, although Wu Changqing didn’t give them any hard targets, Li Shaobin gave himself and his subordinates hard targets.

That was, before Wu Changqing’s official enthronement, they had to recover all the land south of the Huai River, and present it as a grand gift.

As for the logistics problem, they would have to find their own solutions.

Huai’an. Li Shaobin and many generals gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

“Let’s hear it, how do we solve the logistics problem?” Li Shaobin started.

“Live off the enemy. Each time we capture a place, we demand some military pay from those merchants. Isn’t that normal?”

Fang Ce said. This was a common practice for their old army in the past.

“That’s not very good. General has warned us not to disturb the people,” Zhang Yingyuan said.

“The people? Do those treacherous merchants even count as people? We don’t need to force them. As long as we give them a slight hint, they should understand,” Fang Ce said with some disdain. The Wu army’s discipline was now too strict, and it was completely unnecessary.

As long as they didn’t rob all the merchants clean, it wouldn’t cause any major problems.

“In this special period, I’m afraid this is the only way. Moreover, we can give them promissory notes and pay them back when we have money in the future,” Li Shaobin decided.

“We can also leave behind the artillery. Those cannons are too heavy and require a lot of people to help transport them. Without the cannons, we can save a lot of logistics personnel and a lot of food,” Xu Yuxian said.

A cannon weighing several thousand Jin required several horses and a dozen laborers to transport. The daily consumption of these horses and laborers was a considerable number.

“How do we attack the city without artillery?” Li Shaobin asked. Without the deterrent of artillery, the difficulty of attacking the city would be greatly increased.

If too many soldiers were killed or injured, it would be even more uneconomical.

“We don’t need to attack by force. The South is in a state of panic now. I don’t think the Qing army’s morale will be very firm. As long as we use a little trick, maybe we can recruit them, or cooperate with other generals who are willing to surrender from the inside, or send elites to sneak in advance,” Xu Yuxian said. He found that the Wu army didn’t like to use tricks in marching and fighting. Basically, they just pushed forward with brute force.

This was mainly because the Wu army was strong and didn’t need to use tricks. Another reason was that the Wu army’s senior generals were generally not very capable and couldn’t think of any good tricks.

Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan and others were only centurions before. They had never even studied military books, so what kind of tricks could they come up with?

“Sounds good. Everyone, use your talents to overcome difficulties. I think we don’t need to bring too many cavalry either,” Li Shaobin thought this plan was feasible. Anyway, in the era before cannons, those generals also had to capture territory. Not to mention they now had muskets, a great weapon.

After setting the general direction, Li Shaobin arranged the specific actions.

He left forty thousand troops to garrison Huai’an. This bridgehead could not be lost, and heavy troops had to be left to defend against the Qing court’s army.

The remaining forty thousand troops were divided into two routes. One route of ten thousand troops advanced eastward, attacking Yancheng and other places.

There were not many Qing troops stationed in these places, and ten thousand people were enough.

The other route of thirty thousand troops advanced westward, attacking Huainan, Chuzhou, Hefei and other places. In short, the land south of the Huai River was their target.

Huainan, Chuzhou, and Hefei were all important cities. Even if the Qing army was defeated, they left a large number of troops stationed in those places.

These places were more difficult to attack, so Li Shaobin arranged for thirty thousand elite soldiers.

The next day, the eastward army set off first, led by Tang Guozhen of the 21st Division.

The army encountered trouble in less than half a day. It started to rain heavily.

The entire Yancheng area was low-lying.

As long as it rained a little, the road would be muddy and full of puddles.

Marching in this kind of weather would be enough to kill people without fighting.

After walking for three days, the Wu army had only traveled forty li, which was as slow as a turtle.

Jianyang, the Wu army temporarily rested here to avoid the rain.

A civil official found Tang Guozhen and said, “Reporting to the general, the Yancheng garrison commander Fan Yuchuan refused to surrender. He said that unless he can obtain the position of division commander after surrendering, and at the same time continue to lead his soldiers as an independent division, he will never surrender.”

“This world has never lacked madmen and fools,” Tang Guozhen muttered. He actually hoped that Fan Yuchuan could surrender directly, so he can save a lot of effort.

However, this Fan Yuchuan was stubborn.

Asking for a division commander was fine. Giving him the position of division commander of a miscellaneous division didn’t matter.

However, his request to form an independent division was too much.

In the Wu army, no officer belonged to his own troops. Wu Changqing could transfer them at will. Recruitment and payment of salaries had nothing to do with the generals leading the troops.

The purpose of this was to prevent the officers from becoming powerful with their own troops. It was Wu Changqing’s most important bottom line, and no officer could violate it.

Fan Yuchuan was good, he also wanted to maintain the independence of the army, let Wu Changqing only provide military pay, and then he would nominally obey and continue to garrison Yancheng and dominate.

This was simply wishful thinking. Not to mention Wu Changqing would not agree, none of the other generals would agree.

Therefore, Fan Yuchuan’s request was basically equivalent to refusing to surrender.

In Tang Guozhen’s view, those who continued to resist the powerful Wu army at this time were really out of their minds.

Even the Qing court’s hundreds of thousands of troops were defeated, so why did those people think they could contend with them?

At this time, Fan Yuchuan in Yancheng was also worried.

Of course, he also knew the power of the Wu army, but he was unwilling to lose the power he currently possessed.

He was now the local emperor of Yancheng. He had the final say on everything. The Qing court didn’t care about him, and sometimes even paid him and provided him with supplies.

Their only requirement was for him to be loyal to the Qing court.

But the Wu army wanted to deprive him of his military power. Once he surrendered to the Wu army, he could not have an army loyal to him and would lose his greatest political capital.

To be an official in the Wu army, he had to completely obey orders and never think about living the life of a local emperor again. In short, the treatment would be much worse than it was now.

For this reason, he refused the Wu army’s recruitment.

As for what to do if the Wu army attacked, Fan Yuchuan hadn’t thought that much about it yet.

Chapter 318: Attacking Yancheng

The Wu army continued marching for several days and finally arrived at Yancheng.

It was only at this point that Fan Yuchuan began to worry, feeling that continuing to oppose the Wu army was somewhat imprudent. Therefore, he proactively sent an envoy to the Wu army’s camp to request an audience with Tang Guozhen.

Fan Yuchuan had the envoy convey that he was willing to make some concessions, stating that he didn’t require his entire army to be retained, only three thousand men.

Tang Guozhen completely ignored this insincere, joking negotiation, and had the envoy thrown out.

“Go back and tell that Fan fellow to immediately open the city gates unconditionally and accept reorganization, or he won’t even have the chance to surrender when we launch our attack.”

Tang Guozhen was disgusted by that guy and rarely spoke so harshly.

In fact, from a rational point of view, there was no need to say such harsh words, as it could easily anger Fan Yuchuan and strengthen his resolve to defend the city to the death.

This would increase the difficulty of the Wu army’s siege and increase casualties.

However, Tang Guozhen was clearly a bit emotional and didn’t pay attention to such details.

He was angered by Fan Yuchuan’s foolish arrogance. Even those stronger than Fan Yuchuan wouldn’t dare to negotiate terms with the Wu army like that when surrendering.

After driving away Fan Yuchuan’s envoy, Tang Guozhen ordered the immediate construction of siege ladders.

To reduce logistical pressure, they hadn’t brought any siege equipment, so they had to manufacture it on the spot.

They could only make some simple siege ladders temporarily. More complex siege towers, battering rams, and siege rams were out of the question. These things with a bit of technical know-how had to be handled by professional artisans; ordinary people couldn’t manage it.

After a day of preparation, Tang Guozhen launched the attack the next day.

On the city wall, Fan Yuchuan was gnashing his teeth.

He believed that his proactive dispatch of an envoy and lowering of demands was a very sincere gesture. He hadn’t expected Tang Guozhen to be so disrespectful.

He didn’t even go through the step of bargaining and negotiation, directly sending his envoy back. It was truly outrageous.

He vowed to make Tang Guozhen pay the price.

“Everyone, buck up! The Wu army is nothing special. They have less than ten thousand men, and we have twelve thousand. We have the advantage in numbers, and we have the city walls.”

Fan Yuchuan shouted, and a group of soldiers followed with shouts of their own.

He could be a local tyrant in Yancheng because he had a group of about three thousand loyal followers, old soldiers who had followed him for many years and had been lording over others.

Looking at these highly motivated subordinates, Fan Yuchuan’s confidence increased a bit.

As a whistle sounded in the distance, Fan Yuchuan saw the legendary flintlock gun army.

Various battle reports and rumors had exaggerated the flintlock guns to mythical proportions, but Fan Yuchuan hadn’t witnessed them firsthand and couldn’t directly appreciate their power.

Watching the Wu army soldiers carrying long guns, walking in neat rows, Fan Yuchuan was a bit confused.

The Wu army soldiers carrying the ladders were still behind. What did those people walking in front mean?

Moreover, carrying those long guns, it wouldn’t be convenient to climb ladders, so how would they attack the city?

Unable to figure it out, Fan Yuchuan only found the Wu army to be quite comical.

Soon, the Wu army gave him the answer.

The flintlock gun soldiers walked to a place one hundred meters from the city wall, then put down their guns, loaded them, raised them again, and fired in unison.

As the gunshots rang out, those soldiers who were originally curiously watching the Wu army directly fell down, seven or eight of them.

Some died instantly, their breaths cut off. Some weren’t hit in vital spots and lay on the city wall, wailing.

Fan Yuchuan was startled, not because he hadn’t seen firearms before, but because he hadn’t seen this kind of combat method.

The firearm soldiers in his army didn’t adopt this volley tactic. At the same time, they wouldn’t fire from such a distance.

Now, seeing the Wu army doing this, he seemed to have gained some inspiration and ordered, “Order our archers and firearm soldiers to return fire.”

He had five hundred archers and five hundred firearm soldiers under his command. This was all of his ranged power.

As the order was issued, the other soldiers lowered their heads to avoid being shot.

The archers and firearm soldiers took their positions and began to return fire.

Fan Yuchuan expected that, relying on the height advantage, his one thousand men could barely fight to a draw with the Wu army’s two thousand flintlock gun soldiers.

However, after the two sides exchanged blows, the result was shocking.

The Wu army’s volley directly killed more than twenty people on his side.

And their volley only brought down less than ten Wu soldiers.

It seemed like they weren’t particularly disadvantaged in a single exchange, but the Wu army’s rate of fire was fast.

The Wu army quickly completed reloading, while the Qing firearm soldiers were still pouring gunpowder into the barrels and tamping it down. The archers had already re-nocked their arrows and were counterattacking.

In this round of exchange, the Qing army suffered even greater losses. They still lost nearly twenty men.

However, the Wu army only lost six men in this round.

Many arrows landed in the Wu army’s formation, but unless they hit the torso, they couldn’t injure the Wu soldiers.

Those Wu army soldiers wore very high-quality helmets. Arrows shot at them could at most make the Wu soldiers dizzy for a moment, but they couldn’t injure them.

The power of the firearms could break through defenses, but the rate of fire was too slow, and the accuracy was low.

After a few rounds of exchange, the Qing army’s archers and firearm soldiers were so frightened that they squatted down, not wanting to continue this kind of exchange.

In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, they had already lost more than one hundred men, a loss rate of over ten percent.

At this rate, they would collapse after another cup of tea’s worth of time.

“These people, they don’t learn from their mistakes at all.”

A Wu army officer complained.

“This Fan Yuchuan isn’t a core part of the Qing army. The battle reports he received might not be detailed enough.”

Another general guessed. The Qing army main forces they had encountered before were much smarter than Fan Yuchuan’s soldiers, and they had thought of many local methods to make up for the equipment disadvantage.

Now that Fan Yuchuan hadn’t learned from the experiences of those Qing army main forces, it meant that Fan Yuchuan hadn’t received detailed battle reports.

Seeing that the Qing soldiers were no longer showing their heads, the Wu army’s swordsmen and shieldmen carried the ladders forward and began to attack the city.

Following closely behind them were grenadiers. The city walls of this Yancheng weren’t high, so their grenadiers had a place to use their skills.

“The enemy is coming! Everyone, get up! Use the personal guards to supervise the battle!”

Fan Yuchuan roared.

His personal guards immediately went to supervise the battle in all directions, forcing the archers and firearm soldiers to get up and counterattack. They couldn’t just watch the Wu army approach, that’s not how you defend a city.

The archers cursed inwardly while reluctantly getting up.

However, as soon as they got up, the Wu army’s gunshots rang out again.

“Damn it!”

Fan Yuchuan cursed loudly. Only now did he realize the power of these flintlock guns.

With this thing, soldiers could reach the city walls completely unharmed during the stage of approaching the city during a siege.

This was unimaginable in traditional siege warfare. In previous siege battles, the attacking side had to leave at least hundreds of corpses on the ground to get through this section of the road.

But now, a flintlock gun solved this problem.

Chapter 319: Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys

Being unfamiliar with the Wu army’s tactics meant suffering a great loss.

Before Fan Yuchuan and his men could come up with a good solution to this problem, the Wu army soldiers arrived at the city walls.

This actually helped Fan Yuchuan’s strategists, at least they didn’t need to think about how to suppress the flintlocks for the time being. It was more important to defend the city first.

The Qing army’s defense methods were very traditional, throwing stones, pouring boiling oil, and dumping liquid excrement.

If there were sufficient defensive materials, these methods could actually be quite effective.

However, before they could use these things on a large scale, the Wu army below the city walls took the initiative.

The Wu army’s grenadiers lined up and threw grenades up.

This was another weapon they had only heard of but never seen. Because of Fan Yuchuan’s dismissive attitude, his soldiers hadn’t taken this weapon seriously either.

Now that they encountered it, they had no idea how to deal with it.

Immediately afterward, the grenades exploded one after another.

The flying shrapnel swept across the city walls.

Looking around, the areas after the explosions were a complete mess.

Various screams, wails, and cries for help echoed endlessly.

Less than a third of the soldiers were still able to stand. And these people were also frightened by the scene before them.

This wave of explosions shattered Fan Yuchuan’s illusions.

He had never seen such a powerful weapon, nor had he seen such a strange battle.

As the Wu army emerged and climbed onto the city walls, Fan Yuchuan finally reacted and shouted, “Quick, get all the troops in the city up here, we must drive the enemy back down.”

The remaining troops on the city walls were no longer reliable, so he used his reserve forces from the beginning of the battle.

Unfortunately, even this was in vain. Everything happened too suddenly, and it was too late when he thought of making amends.

The soldiers in the city urgently climbed onto the city walls to counterattack, but the Wu army outside the city was also constantly pouring onto the city walls.

In terms of the number of soldiers, the Wu army no longer had a disadvantage.

And in terms of morale, the two sides were even more incomparable.

Long-term victories had given the Wu army a kind of “who else but me” momentum, and they simply didn’t take this unknown army opposite them seriously.

The Wu army’s momentum was like a rainbow, and the Qing army retreated steadily.

Only those main forces under Fan Yuchuan were slightly more tenacious, holding on to the city walls for a while without fleeing.

Other miscellaneous troops had already begun to collapse at this time.

As the Wu army’s grenadiers also climbed onto the city walls, after a round of bombing, Fan Yuchuan’s main forces completely collapsed.

And Fan Yuchuan had already slipped away at this time, but he didn’t run directly from other city gates, but first returned home, and had his personal soldiers bring his looted gold and silver treasures.

These were his lifeblood, his everything. If he ran away alone, the wealth he had looted for more than a decade would be reduced to ashes.

Asking him to give up these riches was worse than taking his life.

“Quick, quick, load the carts.”

Fan Yuchuan urged in exasperation, while some of his family members were crying and begging.

In order to facilitate the escape, Fan Yuchuan did not intend to bring all of his family members, but only brought two of his favorite concubines and two sons.

The others were unimportant to him, they were all burdens.

After loading for half an hour, Fan Yuchuan couldn’t care about the rest, and immediately set off for the East Gate.

At this time, the Wu army had already entered the city.

Led by surrendered soldiers, a Wu army company found the Fan family and saw the crying Fan family members.

Under their questioning, a timid and fearful woman told the Wu army where Fan Yuchuan had gone.

As a result, the Wu army ignored these crying people and chased towards the East Gate.

Tang Guozhen had already said he wanted Fan Yuchuan’s dog life, so they naturally couldn’t let Fan Yuchuan escape.

At the East Gate, the Wu army caught up with Fan Yuchuan who was running away. Carrying a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, he couldn’t run fast at all.

The two sides fought again, and Fan Yuchuan’s men were naturally no match, and the few personal soldiers he had fell one after another.

“Stop, stop, I want to see your general, I want to surrender.”

Seeing that things couldn’t be done, Fan Yuchuan shouted quickly.

As he was speaking, he was pinned to the ground by a Wu army soldier.

After all, the order from above was not to be polite to Fan Yuchuan, kill without mercy.

“How dare you, do you know who I am?”

Fan Yuchuan cursed loudly, when had he ever suffered such humiliation, and it was still by an ordinary soldier.

“Nonsense, if we didn’t know who you were, would we have chased after you so hurriedly?”

The Wu army soldier complained.

In order to catch this big fish, they didn’t even bother to loot the Fan family’s treasury.

Faced with these unreasonable soldiers, Fan Yuchuan lost his temper and could only shout that he wanted to see Tang Guozhen.

After Yancheng was completely under control, Fan Yuchuan got his wish and saw Tang Guozhen.

“Lord Tang, your soldiers are too disrespectful, pressing this old man to the ground, what kind of decorum is this?”

Fan Yuchuan said.

His words confused Tang Guozhen. Isn’t the point of arresting someone to hold them down? How did this become a lack of respect?

Looking at the arrogant Fan Yuchuan, Tang Guozhen felt displeased. He was already a prisoner, yet he didn’t have the awareness of a prisoner.

Plus, Fan Yuchuan had been stubborn before, so Tang Guozhen was even more unhappy.

“What are you? What makes you worthy of our respect?” Tang Guozhen sneered mockingly.

This…

Fan Yuchuan blushed instantly, being lectured by a young man more than twenty years younger than himself was truly a great humiliation.

Unfortunately, he was powerless to do anything about it.

“I want to see Commander Li, I want to see General Wu.”

Fan Yuchuan felt that he couldn’t communicate with Tang Guozhen, and asked to see Tang Guozhen’s superiors.

Tang Guozhen was amused by his actions, this guy didn’t have a clear self-awareness at all. A small garrison commander, and a defeated and captured one at that, what qualifications did he have to see Li Shaobin.

As for seeing Wu Changqing, that was even more of a pipe dream.

“Take him away and behead him, take his dog head to the surrounding towns and counties, and tell those garrisons that those who are stubborn and refuse to surrender will all end up like this.”

Tang Guozhen was too lazy to waste any more words with this guy. The moment Fan Yuchuan refused to surrender, he decided not to let Fan Yuchuan have an easy time.

Now that Fan Yuchuan was still acting arrogant, it made him even more determined to kill him.

“You dare, I am a dignified garrison commander, how dare you treat me like this.”

Fan Yuchuan shouted loudly at the soldiers who came to escort him, he was panicked and confused.

He couldn’t understand why Tang Guozhen had the right to kill someone like himself, who was so prominent and had expressed his willingness to surrender.

Wasn’t Tang Guozhen afraid of undermining the Wu army’s tradition of treating surrendered generals well by doing this?

Unfortunately, his scolding couldn’t scare anyone. The two soldiers ignored his anger, took him down, and cut off his head.

Killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Tang Guozhen wanted to make it clear to the surrounding garrisons what the consequences of refusing to surrender would be.

Chapter 320: The Western Expedition

The western expeditionary force departed one day later than the eastern expeditionary force.

They had more men and needed more supplies. Moreover, the western expeditionary force was divided into two routes, one of which was by water, requiring the collection of ships.

The waterway route was led by Xu Yuxian and Qian Sule, with a total of twenty thousand men. They took boats into Hongze Lake, then went upstream through the Huai River, heading straight for Bengbu and Huainan.

The other route was led by Lu Guangzu and Fang Ce, with a total of ten thousand men, heading south directly to Chuzhou.

Traveling by water was much easier, but the Wu army didn’t have that many ships, so they could only carry twenty thousand.

The western route advanced all the way to Fengyang.

In Fengyang, Xu Yuxian and his men landed ashore and marched towards the city.

Fengyang was originally just a small city, but because it was Zhu Yuanzhang’s hometown, it suddenly became famous.

After Zhu Yuanzhang ascended the throne, he built the Central Capital Imperial City here.

The original small city has now grown in scale and has a larger garrison.

In order to prevent being attacked from the rear while attacking Bengbu and Huainan, and to prevent the logistics from being cut off, they needed to take Fengyang first before attacking Bengbu and Huainan.

Twenty thousand troops marched straight to Fengyang. Knowing that they were no match, the Fengyang garrison chose to open the gates and surrender.

This confirmed Xu Yuxian’s guess that the Qing army’s will to resist was not strong.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that the Fengyang garrison was composed of soldiers from the Green Standard Army.

There was no such good fortune in Bengbu and Huainan, where there were still many Eight Banners troops stationed.

“Commander Xu, I have a plan that can easily take Bengbu.”

At the evening banquet, Shi Shouye, the former Fengyang garrison commander, said.

“Oh? Tell me about it,” Xu Yuxian said with interest.

“Bengbu currently has more than fifteen thousand troops, which are divided into three parts. Among them, about four thousand Eight Banners soldiers are led by the Tartar Borha. The other two parts are Green Standard Army, led by You Shicheng and Li Fei respectively. You Shicheng and I are quite friendly…”

Shi Shouye’s plan was also very simple, nothing more than sending someone to deliver his personal letter to You Shicheng and then instigating him to rebel, attacking from the inside in coordination with an external assault.

As long as they entered the city, the Qing army’s small force would be no match for the Wu army.

You Shicheng had more than five thousand men under his command. If he could successfully instigate him to rebel, the Qing army would undoubtedly be defeated.

Of course, the premise was to be able to persuade You Shicheng.

Xu Yuxian would naturally not refuse such a good thing.

For him, if this plan succeeded, it would be like a pie falling from the sky, reducing a lot of losses. If the plan failed, it wouldn’t matter, and they could continue to attack the city according to the original plan.

So, he stationed the army in Fengyang, waiting for Shi Shouye’s good news on the one hand, and collecting food and supplies in the surrounding area, living off the enemy.

Fengyang used to be taken care of by the imperial family for many years, so there was a relatively wealthy class here. The ancestors of these people had some kinship with Zhu Yuanzhang.

These people were the targets of Xu Yuxian’s exploitation. Anyway, they were going to rebel, and they were mortal enemies with those loyal to the Zhu family, so there was no need to be polite.

These people who had been taken care of by the old Zhu family for generations were undoubtedly staunch loyalists of the Ming Dynasty.

After the order was issued, the Wu army began looting. This was the first time they had done such a thing.

However, as long as they had weapons in their hands, doing this was basically not difficult, and the Wu army did it very smoothly.

Those who were robbed, the smart ones paid some protection money in exchange for peace. There were also some more aggressive people who picked up hoes and carrying poles, wanting to fight against the Wu army.

Their fate was naturally, and unsurprisingly, to be killed and then have their homes ransacked.

Civilians challenging the army could only hope that the army would not dare to get serious. Once they got serious, those hoes and carrying poles were a joke.

The Wu army’s gains from ransacking homes were extremely rich. An ordinary petty bourgeois family could actually find thousands of taels of silver. A larger manor could find tens of thousands of taels of silver.

As for other fixed assets, there were countless more. These were quickly sold off cheaply by the Wu army, and even forcibly sold to some merchants at low prices.

They only wanted silver that was convenient to use; they had no use for the land.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court was poor, and the people were poor, but the landlords, wealthy families, merchants, and clans were not poor at all.

After ransacking a dozen households, those people became completely honest and took the initiative to pay money to avoid disaster.

After a round of plundering, they raised enough silver to buy more than two months’ worth of military rations.

This made Xu Yuxian a little worried, feeling that this matter had become a bit too big, and he didn’t know what the higher-ups would think.

In order to leave a way out for himself, Xu Yuxian did not take a single bit of the benefits, and all of it was used for the army.

At the same time, he also wrote a war report to Li Shaobin in a timely manner, explaining the situation.

In the war report, he explained that he was robbing staunch loyalists to the Ming Dynasty, who were the enemy.

This statement was barely justifiable.

In Bengbu, You Shicheng received Shi Shouye’s personal letter, learning that Shi Shouye had defected to the Wu army.

He was quite envious because the Wu army was now powerful, and the Qing army, their backer, was already unstable. Defecting to the Wu army was a good choice.

However, it was easy for Shi Shouye to defect because Shi Shouye was the biggest in Fengyang.

But it was not easy for him to defect. There was Borha in the city, watching him like a tiger, and Li Fei, whose attitude was unclear.

If he defected rashly, he might lose his life before the Wu army arrived.

“I need to test Li Fei’s attitude first.”

You Shicheng said to the liaison officer.

If he could get Li Fei to rebel together, then he would not be afraid of Borha.

“I’m afraid it’s too late. The Wu army will arrive soon. You have to make up your mind as soon as possible.”

Testing the waters was not about directly finding Li Fei to ask. If Li Fei was loyal to the Qing Dynasty and didn’t agree, wouldn’t You Shicheng be exposed? And using subtle and implicit methods to test the waters would take time.

Therefore, the person in charge of the liaison hoped that You Shicheng could make a decision directly, which would facilitate them to quickly finalize the plan for internal and external cooperation.

“Alright then, let’s follow General Shi’s plan. On the day of the attack, use a white flag as a signal. The side with the white flag is where my army is stationed. When the time comes, I will open the city gate, and you can enter the city directly from my side.”

After weighing the pros and cons, You Shicheng decided to agree to the internal and external cooperation.

After all, even if he didn’t agree, Bengbu might not be able to hold under the Wu army’s strong attack.

They had neither strong soldiers nor strong cities.

Why bother to persist in something that was strenuous and unrewarding?

And cooperating with the Wu army from the inside, although there was a little risk, could one hundred percent defeat Borha. At that time, not only could he rely on the Wu army, but he could also make contributions and protect his wealth and status.

The two negotiated some details, and then the liaison officer left the city overnight and returned to Fengyang to report the good news to Shi Shouye.

Chapter 321: Betrayal and Desertion

With You Shicheng’s willingness to surrender confirmed, all the generals were beaming with joy.

The next day, the Wu army left a small detachment to garrison Fengyang, while the rest headed straight for Bengbu.

The two places were extremely close in a straight line, but there was no main road in a straight line, so they had to take a detour. After half a day, the Wu army arrived at Bengbu.

Upon receiving the news, Borha hurriedly went to the top of the city wall and observed the enemy through a telescope.

Telescopes had now become standard equipment for many great generals, and their effect on observing the enemy was too good to be replaced.

“The main force seems to be heading towards the west gate. Are they planning a full-scale attack?”

Borha asked doubtfully. The Wu army came from the south, but after arriving, they only left a detachment directly in front of him, while the main force continued to detour, seemingly preparing to attack from the west wall.

Borha’s first reaction was that the Wu army was going to attack from several city walls at the same time, but soon he discovered an anomaly. He found that the Wu army was not carrying any siege equipment.

Not to mention siege towers or battering rams, they didn’t even seem to have siege ladders.

How were they going to attack the city? Did the Wu army have wings to fly up?

This was obviously impossible. Something must be amiss. Borha couldn’t help but think deeply.

Then, his face changed drastically.

“Not good, You Shicheng might be about to rebel.”

Borha exclaimed.

“Immediately muster the troops and follow me to the west wall to take over the defense. Anyone who resists will be killed without mercy.”

Borha reacted quickly and immediately gave the order.

His subordinates didn’t know how Borha came to the conclusion that You Shicheng would rebel, but they quickly went to carry out the order.

Borha took one thousand men and rushed directly from the city wall to the west, arriving in You Shicheng’s defense zone before the Wu army.

Hearing that Borha was coming with men, You Shicheng was suddenly shocked.

Had he been exposed?

As the saying goes, a guilty conscience needs no accuser. That was the first thing You Shicheng thought of.

What should he do now?

You Shicheng had a headache. If he rebelled immediately, he would have to hold out until the Wu army arrived, and he would suffer heavy losses.

If he didn’t rebel now, it would be even worse if Borha made the first move. He might be completely annihilated. The risk was too great, and he didn’t dare to take it.

“Someone, come with me to block Borha.”

You Shicheng hardened his heart, made up his mind, and led his soldiers to block Borha, determined not to let Borha’s men enter his defense zone.

The two met on the city wall, and You Shicheng took the lead in asking, “Borha, what are you doing here?”

“I saw the Wu army heading this way, so I specially brought troops to support you,” Borha said.

Seeing You Shicheng blocking him with his men, he immediately understood everything.

However, he didn’t reveal it, but wanted to deceive You Shicheng first. As long as You Shicheng let them pass, they could suddenly attack and kill You Shicheng’s men, leaving none alive.

However, You Shicheng’s caution prevented him from getting his wish.

You Shicheng said, “Thank you for your kindness, General. We have thousands of soldiers here, enough to block the Wu army’s attack. General, you should guard your own city wall, lest the Wu army find an opportunity.”

He knew that his words couldn’t deceive Borha. At this time, he was purely stalling for time.

The longer he stalled, the more beneficial it would be for him. When the Wu army arrived, the Qing army would be outnumbered and defeated.

“Presumptuous! What is your status? How dare you speak to me like this? Let me through immediately, I want to supervise the battle,” Borha said angrily. According to rank, his official position was one level higher than You Shicheng’s. What’s more, he was a Manchu, and in the Qing Dynasty, he was naturally superior to the Han people.

In the past, Han generals of the same level had to be polite to him.

In the past, You Shicheng and Li Fei had both defaulted to being under his jurisdiction and command.

However, the Green Standard Army and the Eight Banners of the Qing army were mostly independent of each other.

Although You Shicheng was one level lower than Borha and usually accepted Borha’s dispatch, his soldiers only listened to his orders, and Borha couldn’t command them.

This backward army system was also a factor in why they couldn’t defeat the Wu army.

Whenever it came to crucial moments of cooperation, their generals still needed to discuss, instead of the Wu army, where the superior directly issued an order and the subordinates had to execute it.

The efficiency between the two was worlds apart.

“Why should we let you supervise us? Brothers, if we are supervised by them, will we have a way out?”

You Shicheng provoked the emotions of the soldiers, and his subordinates immediately became angry.

Soldiers hated being supervised by others, forcing them to their deaths.

“I think you want to rebel. Kill them all! Anyone who dares to stop us will be killed without mercy,” Borha shouted.

“Brothers, draw your swords and rebel against him!”

As You Shicheng’s voice fell, the two sides were already fighting together, in utter chaos.

You Shicheng’s army was inferior to the Eight Banners in terms of personnel quality and weaponry. Therefore, after the fight started, he was at a disadvantage.

“Go open the city gate, guard the city gate, the Wu army will be here soon.”

You Shicheng ordered, and then stayed behind to command, blocking the Qing army.

At this point, the two sides had completely torn apart.

Borha knew that the city could not be defended, but he did not intend to let You Shicheng go. He also sent people to transfer his troops and Li Fei’s troops to suppress the rebellion together.

His own troops arrived quickly, but Li Fei’s troops were nowhere to be seen for a long time.

This was the disadvantage of armies that were not under each other’s command. At critical moments, Borha could not command those armies at all.

After learning of You Shicheng’s rebellion, Li Fei was also shocked.

After some thought, he quickly guessed the reason.

You Shicheng must have colluded with the Wu army, otherwise, how could You Shicheng take such a big risk to rebel suddenly? You Shicheng’s strength alone was not a match for Borha.

With You Shicheng rebelling, Bengbu would definitely not be able to hold.

At this point, Li Fei was also considering his own future.

If he listened to Borha and attacked You Shicheng now, what if he destroyed You Shicheng? After the Wu army captured Bengbu, he would still be dead.

It seemed that there was only one way out at this time.

Li Fei sneered in his heart, and then quietly ordered his subordinates to take reliable people to attack the Eight Banners and let the Wu army into the city.

He was also going to surrender to the Wu army.

At this time, stabbing the Eight Banners in the back could be considered a little bit of merit for defecting, and he could get some preferential treatment after surrendering. Maybe he could keep his current power and become a brigade commander.

Chapter 322: Another City Falls

“Commander, there seems to be fighting on the walls of Bengbu.”

The sentry at the front, upon seeing the disturbance in Bengbu, quickly returned to report.

What?

Xu Yuxian’s heart skipped a beat. In military campaigns, the most feared thing is encountering the unexpected. Unforeseen events introduce numerous variables, greatly complicating command and decision-making.

Originally, he and You Shicheng had agreed to enter through the West Gate, but now there was an incident there, how could he not be anxious?

“Slow down, explain clearly.”

Xu Yuxian pressed.

“The people inside the city have split into two factions, fighting each other on the walls. It doesn’t look like they’re acting.”

The sentry said.

Hearing this, Xu Yuxian seemed to have some idea of what was happening. He guessed that it might be infighting caused by You Shicheng’s plot being exposed. Other than that, he couldn’t think of any other possibilities.

“Order the troops to advance at a run!”

Xu Yuxian issued the latest order, and the speed of the troops suddenly increased by more than double.

Soon, they approached Bengbu City. Through his telescope, Xu Yuxian saw that the two sides were locked in a fierce battle on the walls. The gate below the city wall, however, had already been opened, with a few soldiers standing guard at the entrance.

From this, Xu Yuxian judged that the enemy was definitely not putting on an act to lure his army into the city. The acting couldn’t be so realistic; he had seen several people fall from the city walls and die miserably.

Those soldiers saw the Wu army and immediately trotted over to inform them of the situation inside the city.

Everything was as Xu Yuxian had guessed. He immediately ordered his subordinates to follow these people into the city to take control of the situation.

On the city wall, although Borha had been commanding the soldiers to fight You Shicheng, he had not ignored the situation outside the city.

Seeing the arrival of the Wu army, his heart turned ice-cold.

Now, not only could he not deal with You Shicheng, but even his own life was in danger.

“You stay behind to cover our retreat; I’ll lead the main force to withdraw first.”

Borha made a decisive decision, leaving behind a deputy with over a thousand men to delay the enemy.

As for him, he led the others to try to escape through the other city gates.

Currently, apart from the West Gate, the other gates were still in their hands, so there was still a chance to escape.

Unfortunately, things on the battlefield are always so unpredictable.

When Borha led his troops towards the North Gate, he encountered Li Fei’s intercepting force along the way.

“Lord Li, quickly retreat with me!”

Borha said, at this time he was too lazy to care about Li Fei’s late arrival, preserving strength was the most important thing.

“Kill Borha, and be rewarded with one thousand taels of silver!”

Li Fei shouted.

Borha almost fell off his horse in anger upon hearing this. He was experiencing the taste of betrayal and desertion.

Those who used to smile obsequiously at him had instantly become so ferocious.

What he didn’t know was that human nature is like this: bullying the weak and fearing the strong, currying favor with the powerful. Now that the great tree of the Qing Dynasty was no longer a good place to seek shelter, it was simply wishful thinking to expect others to treat them Manchus with respect.

“Retreat to the East Gate!”

Now was not the time to be angry. Borha could only suppress his anger and continue to flee.

He wanted to escape, but Li Fei would not allow it.

Borha was the great gift he wanted to offer to the Wu army, a pledge of allegiance, how could he let him go so easily?

Li Fei’s subordinates set up blockades and pursued him on various streets, preventing Borha from escaping.

Helpless, Borha could only constantly adopt a scorched-earth tactic, arranging for his subordinates to split off and cover their retreat.

Instantly, the city was filled with the sounds of fighting, and the people hid in their homes, not daring to step out.

Borha fought and retreated, finally reaching the East Gate. As soon as he left the East Gate, he encountered the Wu army that had been lying in ambush.

Although this Wu army was not large, with only six hundred men, Borha’s subordinates had suffered heavy casualties after a series of bitter battles. Many had died, many were wounded, and even more had been separated from the main force.

Now, there were only five hundred men still with him.

Moreover, these five hundred men had seen their morale plummet after repeated escapes.

“Brothers, this is the last hurdle! If we get through it, we can go home. Our Qing Dynasty only has brave warriors who die in battle, not cowards who surrender!”

Borha gave everyone a pep talk and then led his army to charge.

The Wu army, however, had already formed their ranks, waiting for the Qing army to come.

Two hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters, one hundred meters…

“Fire!”

The Wu army’s guns rang out, and as the Qing soldiers fell, they quickened their pace.

In particular, a cavalry squad of about fifty men rushed to the front of the Wu army from the flank in the blink of an eye.

In this kind of small-scale battle, the role of cavalry was very important. The Wu army didn’t have a good way to deal with it and could only rely on changing their formation.

Some fearless cavalrymen crashed into the Wu army’s formation, disrupting it somewhat.

However, the Qing army’s cavalry was too small in number, otherwise, they could really have defeated the Wu army.

Of these dozens of cavalrymen, seven or eight died during the charge, and six or seven more died after rushing into the bayonet formation.

The rest were fighting with the Wu army’s infantry. They had a certain advantage because they were high up and maintained their mobility.

However, the Wu army had more numbers, and those cavalrymen were surrounded on all sides and couldn’t cope.

If they weren’t careful, they would be knocked off their horses by the Wu army.

Some of the Wu army even specialized in stabbing at the horses. Without their horses, those cavalrymen were like having lost a set of teeth, and their power was greatly reduced.

After falling to the ground, they were bullied by the Wu army.

Soon, these cavalrymen were completely annihilated.

However, this group of cavalry had completed their mission. They successfully delayed the Wu army, attracted their attention, and allowed their main force to reach the front of the Wu army with relatively small losses.

In a hurry, the Wu army continued to deal with the Qing army.

“Form up!”

The Wu army commander kept giving orders. The formation had just been broken up, causing the current battlefield to be a bit chaotic, like a melee.

This kind of melee relies on the personal bravery of the soldiers, but the Wu army had little training in this area and was not very good at it.

Therefore, fighting in a melee with the Qing army was a very foolish thing.

Urged by the sound of whistles, some Wu army soldiers who had not yet come into contact with the Qing army immediately calmed down, separated a small number of people to contain them, and the rest quickly reformed their ranks.

Thanks to their usual training, they formed up very quickly.

Forming a square formation, they immediately advanced towards the Qing army.

With the arrival of the complete square formation, the Qing army immediately suffered a great loss.

Faced with this dense forest of bayonets, no one really had the courage to rush up and engage in a bayonet charge.

The Qing soldiers’ legs couldn’t help but retreat, and as they retreated, they bumped into their comrades behind them. Then came the chaos. The Wu army took the opportunity to charge, completely extinguishing the last breath of the Qing army.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Borha turned his horse’s head with a few bodyguards, wanting to escape alone.

Unfortunately, his decision was a little late.

Several rows of Wu army soldiers quickly reloaded their guns and then fired a volley at them.

Two people escaped without being hit, but Borha was unlucky. His horse was shot and he was thrown to the ground, dazed and confused.

In the Battle of Bengbu, the Wu army annihilated almost all of the Eight Banners soldiers, while their own losses were only one or two hundred, which was almost negligible.

At the same time, they also received two surrendered armies, totaling nearly eight thousand men.

These surrendered troops might not be good at fighting tough battles, but they could be left behind to garrison the area, maintain law and order, and suppress bandits.

Seeing the results of the battle and the losses, Xu Yuxian couldn’t help but smile with joy.

The progress was so smooth that it exceeded his expectations.

Chapter 323: Encountering a Night Raid

The Wu army’s progress in the Bengbu direction was smooth, but Lu Guangzu’s unit had terrible luck.

While crossing a large mountain, they encountered a torrential rain and flash flood.

Not only was a large amount of equipment and supplies lost, but more than a dozen soldiers were swept away by the flood, their bodies never to be found.

By the time they crossed the mountain, the entire army looked like defeated soldiers fleeing from a lost battle.

Every soldier was dejected, listless, and exhausted.

Lu Guangzu and the others found a small town to rest, but that night, they were ambushed by the Qing army.

Normally, the Wu army always had excellent night raid defenses, but this time they were careless.

The soldiers on night watch were too tired and slept soundly. The only soldier who wasn’t asleep tried to launch a flare, but found that it was soaked with water.

As a result, the Wu army’s sentries, both visible and hidden, were wiped out in one fell swoop.

The Qing army encountered no resistance and successfully entered the town, launching a massacre against the sleeping Wu soldiers.

The Wu soldiers, caught in their sleep, could only be slaughtered.

Fortunately, the noise made by the Qing army still woke up many Wu soldiers.

Immediately afterward, more soldiers were awakened and blew their whistles to raise the alarm.

The whistle sounds woke up most of the soldiers, and Commander Lu Guangzu was also awakened.

Hearing that it was a Qing army night raid and that they had already entered the town, Lu Guangzu almost fainted on the spot.

However, he couldn’t afford to faint at this moment; if the commander fainted, everything would be ruined.

“Immediately organize the soldiers, form a defensive formation, and no one is allowed to retreat or flee without permission!”

Lu Guangzu ordered.

What he feared most now was that the soldiers would scatter and flee out of fear, which would be a complete disaster.

If they ran for a night, the few soldiers under his command would probably all scatter and run away. By then, he didn’t know when he would be able to gather the routed soldiers.

As the order was issued, the Wu army began to save themselves.

At this time, the Wu army’s organizational ability was well demonstrated.

If it were any other army, they would probably fall into chaos when encountering a night raid, with soldiers unable to find their officers and officers unable to find their soldiers.

And this situation was extremely fatal.

Without soldiers, officers could do nothing. And without officers, soldiers were just a group of headless flies.

In the chaos, it was very difficult to organize the chaotic soldiers.

Soldiers in other armies only recognized their direct officers. And officers were always relatively scarce.

The Wu army’s night school system had trained a large number of low-ranking officers with certain military skills.

These people played a huge role in organizing.

“Our platoon leader is gone, what do we do?”

Several Wu soldiers lost their platoon leader in the chaos and were without command.

At this time, a sergeant stood up and said, “According to wartime regulations, if a superior officer is killed in battle, the highest-ranking officer takes over command. Everyone follow me, I’ll lead you to join the main force.”

The Wu soldiers all knew the wartime regulations. If anyone dared to disobey at this time, the sergeant had the right to punish them.

It was because of such strict military discipline that these soldiers, although panicked, did not dare to act rashly and could only place their hopes on this sergeant and follow his actions.

And the reason why this sergeant was able to become a sergeant was naturally because he had his own strengths.

By insisting on studying at night school, he had learned a lot of military common sense.

For example, the Wu army had a rule that in the event of a night raid, they needed to gather towards the brightest light.

The sergeant led these dozen or so soldiers to the brightest light. On the way, if he encountered a single or a few scattered soldiers, he would use his status as a sergeant to demand that they join and follow.

Finally, he successfully led these twenty-odd people to the location of the main force and met a person with a higher rank.

This was a battalion commander. Although he wasn’t the sergeant’s battalion commander, in this special period, the battalion commander could command and mobilize them.

This was the biggest difference between them and other armies, and it was something that other armies couldn’t learn.

Those soldiers were incorporated into a temporary brigade and became a part of the square formation.

By this time, their panicked emotions had gradually subsided because they were surrounded by their own people, which made them feel very safe.

Such things were very common in the Wu army, but were unbelievable in other armies.

Relying on strong junior and reserve officers, the Wu army minimized chaos and reduced losses to the greatest extent.

The Qing army only gained some advantages at the beginning. After the Wu army’s main force gathered, the Qing army realized that something was wrong.

According to common sense, once a night raid was successful, the enemy would fall into panic, chaos, and then rout. By then, they wouldn’t need to put in much effort; they could just chase after and kill anyone they saw.

But this time, after killing for a while, they found that there was no one to kill.

They could still see the enemy, but they had already gathered together and organized themselves. These organized troops were not easy to deal with.

At this time, attacking those organized people meant that they no longer had the advantage of a night raid.

However, the Qing army general didn’t want to give up this excellent opportunity and ordered the soldiers to try to charge.

The Qing army, who had already become addicted to killing, charged towards the Wu army’s main force.

“Fire!”

As the whistle sounded, the Wu army soldiers didn’t need to distinguish whether there was anyone in front of them; they only needed to follow the others, raise their guns, aim at the front, and fire. It was very simple.

After firing a volley, they didn’t see any enemies fall, but they heard many screams.

This meant that they had hit many people.

“Reload and prepare!”

The Wu army commander continued to shout various combat orders.

Immediately afterward, the Qing army soldiers rushed close and appeared in the Wu army soldiers’ line of sight.

And at this time, the Wu army fired their second shot.

In the extremely close-range volley, a large number of Qing soldiers fell.

This wave directly broke the Qing army’s courage. The remaining Qing soldiers didn’t dare to charge any further and turned around to flee.

The Wu army officers didn’t give the order to pursue. There were too many variables at night. Having encountered a night raid, they only wanted to get through the night safely and didn’t dare to hope for a great victory.

The Qing army suffered in multiple directions. Seeing that dawn was approaching, the Qing army officers had no choice but to order a retreat.

The first part of this night raid was undoubtedly successful. But the later stages were very unsuccessful and didn’t achieve the effect they wanted.

Originally, they had expected that as long as the night raid was successful, they could completely defeat this Wu army unit.

But now, they had only achieved a small victory in the early stages, probably only killing about a thousand people.

Although this result was not bad, it was still too far from the planned result.

Why was this the case? The Qing army general in charge of the night raid couldn’t figure it out.

Chapter 324: A Risky Plan

The Wu army waited until dawn before starting to tally their losses.

In the night raid, they had lost over eight hundred soldiers, with three hundred missing and over a hundred seriously wounded. Many more had minor injuries or were sick, rendering them temporarily unable to fight, requiring at least a few days of rest to recover.

Besides the loss of soldiers, the loss of supplies was also severe.

A large portion of their grain was burned, almost all the tents were destroyed, some hand grenades were ruined, and many other miscellaneous items were lost.

In short, this unit was temporarily crippled. To continue their advance, they needed not only a few days of rest but also a resupply of provisions.

And provisions were already scarce.

“Brother Lu, we’ve really had some bad luck this time.”

Fang Ce sighed. Since the Wu army had risen, they had rarely suffered any defeats.

This time, they had set a precedent.

This battle would undoubtedly become a stain on both of their records, a laughingstock among the other officers and generals.

“We need to find a way to make the attack on Chuzhou a resounding success, to somewhat compensate for our mistake,” Lu Guangzu said.

The damage was done, so he stopped dwelling on it and focused on how to make amends.

“What would count as a resounding success? Taking Chuzhou with zero casualties?”

Fang Ce asked.

If they could capture Chuzhou with zero casualties, that would indeed be considered a success.

However, unless Chuzhou voluntarily surrendered, it was impossible to take it with zero casualties.

They had just been defeated by the Chuzhou army, so expecting them to surrender voluntarily was wishful thinking.

“Capturing a city with zero casualties has happened before in our army, so it’s not particularly impressive. I think, to be considered a resounding success, we must seize Hefei before Xu Yuxian and his troops do,” Lu Guangzu said, revealing a bold idea.

According to the plan, Xu Yuxian’s force would first capture Bengbu and Huainan, cutting off the retreat of the Hefei garrison, and then advance south to Hefei. Their unit, on the other hand, was to capture Chuzhou and then join up with Xu Yuxian and the others at Hefei.

According to the plan, Xu Yuxian’s force was the main attacking force, while they were supporting.

If they could take Hefei before Xu Yuxian and his troops arrived, it would be a very impressive victory, enough to compensate for the night raid.

However, seizing Hefei before Xu Yuxian and the others was extremely difficult. Not to mention Hefei, they still had to figure out how to get past Chuzhou.

And the Hefei garrison was even larger than Chuzhou’s.

“Does Brother Lu have a good plan?”

Fang Ce asked. To achieve this goal, a direct assault was out of the question; they would have to use their brains and come up with a scheme.

“Call the two staff officers over as well, let’s discuss it together.”

Lu Guangzu had an idea in mind, but he needed everyone to discuss its feasibility.

After the two staff officers and several regimental and battalion commanders arrived, Lu Guangzu first explained the current dire situation.

Because of the defeat, everyone’s future careers might be affected. To eliminate this impact, they had to make a contribution.

And taking Chuzhou was the most basic task.

Everyone looked grim after hearing Lu Guangzu’s speech.

Everyone wanted to climb the ranks, so they were very concerned about how to resolve this crisis.

After explaining the situation, Lu Guangzu revealed his plan.

“I plan to lead the troops to retreat a dozen li, gather food and supplies in this area, and give the enemy the impression that we are temporarily unable to attack. Then, secretly select a group of elite soldiers and have them infiltrate the city in small groups. After they gather in the city, they will open the city gates at night, and we will give them a night raid in return.”

Lu Guangzu was still bothered by the night raid.

If this plan succeeded, it could save many soldiers’ lives.

However, the plan was very difficult.

Wu Changqing had used this trick when attacking Nanjing, but at that time, Wu Changqing had the help of merchants in Nanjing.

Those local snakes had many clever methods to help their soldiers easily enter the city.

But now, Lu Guangzu and his men had no inside help in Chuzhou.

Relying on the soldiers to infiltrate the city on their own was very difficult and risky.

Moreover, how to contact and organize each other after entering the city was a problem, how to smuggle weapons in was a problem, and the night raid was also a problem.

If these problems were not solved, Lu Guangzu’s plan would be a joke.

“Isn’t this too risky? Soldiers and civilians are different, the enemy can tell if they check carefully.”

“That’s easy to handle, we can pick some clever people who should be able to get through. Even if someone is exposed, they can claim to be a straggler from last night’s defeat, and the plan won’t be exposed. But the problem is, how to get the weapons in.”

“We can kidnap a merchant caravan and sneak in.”

…

Everyone chimed in, brainstorming ideas, gradually improving Lu Guangzu’s immature idea.

In the end, everyone agreed that the plan had a chance of success, but it was difficult to execute and had a high risk factor.

In the past, they would never have taken this risk, because they had an absolute advantage and could proceed steadily without having to do this.

But now, Lu Guangzu couldn’t afford to worry so much. As the saying goes, fortune favors the bold. If he didn’t take a chance now, how would he turn things around in the future?

Moreover, even if the plan failed, it would only mean the loss of one or two hundred elite soldiers.

Nearly a thousand people had died last night, so losing another two hundred wouldn’t make much of a difference. But if it succeeded, the rewards would be considerable.

Other generals also agreed with Lu Guangzu’s plan for this reason.

Subsequently, Lu Guangzu selected two hundred clever and loyal soldiers from the army, explained the mission to them, and promised them generous rewards.

These soldiers knew the danger of this mission, but for the sake of the rewards, they were willing to take a chance.

These two hundred soldiers then secretly left the ranks with their weapons and equipment.

In small-scale battles, flintlock guns were not very useful, so they carried broadswords. At the same time, they also carried a large number of hand grenades.

They dispersed to various locations to prevent being discovered by Qing army scouts.

Then, they had to rely on their own wits to find a way to infiltrate Chuzhou, find their comrades in Chuzhou City, and gather together, making the operation extremely difficult.

Their operation was roughly equivalent to the infiltration operations of special forces in later generations.

At the same time, the main force of the Wu army began to retreat ostentatiously, clearly telling the Qing army that they had no desire to attack.

Chapter 325: Plan to Enter the City

In Chuzhou, A Chu-hun, the Qing army’s garrison commander, learned that the Wu army was retreating and happily held a banquet with several other generals to drink.

Although that night attack wasn’t perfect, it was still a rare victory for the Qing army and worth celebrating.

The wine was poured, and everyone raised their glasses.

“Congratulations to the General for the success of his ingenious plan, which left the enemy in utter defeat.”

“This time, the Wu army not only suffered heavy casualties, but also lost a lot of supplies. If they want to attack our Chuzhou again, they will have to raise supplies for at least ten days or half a month.”

“I heard that there is a rule in the Wu army that they are not allowed to disturb the people. Without tents and not disturbing the people, where will they sleep tonight?”

Everyone flattered A Chu-hun and joked about the Wu army, having a great time.

Anyone who didn’t know better would think that the Qing court was still the strong side, winning victory after victory.

The reality was that the Qing army was collapsing in all directions, and their little victory here was the only one.

They were always being defeated, so an occasional small victory was enough to make them so happy.

Although A Chu-hun also knew that this little victory was not very meaningful and could not change the strategic situation between the Qing court and the Wu army, he was only a small officer and could not influence the overall situation. He could only do his best to do his job well.

After winning a battle, he didn’t want to spoil everyone’s fun, so he didn’t think about those烦心事 and happily drank small wine and enjoyed the beautiful women’s dances.

The next day, the sun rose, and the gates of Chuzhou city were slowly opened.

Farmers from the suburbs and countryside had to bring vegetables and other farm products into the city to sell, some residents in the city needed to go outside the city to cut firewood, and merchants needed to go in and out.

Unless it was during a war, a city would not choose to close its gates, as it would cause great inconvenience to the lives of the people in the city.

If a city did not make sufficient material reserves in advance, once it was surrounded and besieged, the people inside would basically be forced to surrender in just one or two months.

Otherwise, the people inside would basically not be able to survive, and some unbearable situations would inevitably occur.

The city gate opened, and some residents who had been waiting for a long time began to line up to enter the city.

It wasn’t usually so cumbersome, but now that the Wu army was approaching, Chuzhou had slightly strengthened the search, mainly to prevent spies.

Some soldiers of the Wu army were also mixed in with these people.

Each of them showed their special abilities. Some carried a load of firewood and pretended to be woodcutters, while others caught a few fish in the water and tied them with a straw rope to pretend to be fishermen.

There were also those who pretended to be vendors, local ruffians, and refugees. In short, they were all showing their special abilities.

It was relatively simple to mix people in. Those responsible for the inspection would not determine that someone was a soldier of the Wu army just because they looked stronger.

Moreover, the Qing army’s inspection was relatively perfunctory and not very serious.

For the Wu army, the biggest difficulty was how to transport weapons in. Without weapons, there was not much use for just people going in.

Zhao Zhiyuan, a company commander of the Wu army, was leading more than twenty soldiers, ambushing on a small hillside beside the official road.

They were waiting for the appearance of merchant teams. They wanted to find suitable targets, then hijack them and mix into the city.

A merchant team of more than ten people passed by.

“Company commander, let’s go.”

His subordinate suggested.

“Are you stupid? The entire merchant team only has ten people. If we mix in with more than twenty people, wouldn’t it be too obvious?”

Zhao Zhiyuan reprimanded.

He needed a target that was as large as possible, or whose goods were particularly valuable.

A large merchant team would be inconspicuous if they mixed in, while a merchant team with valuable goods could pretend to be bodyguards.

Apart from these two types of merchant teams, mixing in with other merchant teams would seem too abrupt and easily arouse the Qing army’s vigilance.

These two types of merchant teams were relatively rare, after all, Chuzhou was not a particularly prosperous place.

If it weren’t for being close to Nanjing and benefiting from it, there would be even fewer merchants doing business here.

After waiting for half a day, another merchant team passed by.

Through the binoculars, Zhao Zhiyuan saw that the other party was carrying goods such as rice.

There were many people in this merchant team, more than thirty, and it was also convenient to hide grenades in the rice.

However, their broadswords were not easy to hide, nor were they easy to explain.

They couldn’t say that they were bodyguards, right? The profit from the rice business was not high, so how could they afford to hire a security company? The flaws were too obvious.

Zhao Zhiyuan endured it and continued to wait for a better target.

This wait lasted a whole day, and they didn’t find a better target.

He was not discouraged and continued to wait the next day.

Finally, at noon, he saw a merchant team.

This merchant team didn’t have many carts of goods, but there were many people, and some of them were equipped with knives. Obviously, this was a merchant team transporting valuable goods, and those with knives were bodyguards from a security company.

“Go, stop this merchant team, but don’t do anything yet.”

Zhao Zhiyuan didn’t want to hurt the harmony with the people in the merchant team, after all, they still needed the cooperation of the merchant team when entering the city.

Speaking nicely would make the merchant team feel more comfortable and more willing to cooperate. Forcing them would easily arouse their resistance.

If the merchant team suddenly revealed their identities to the Qing army at the city gate, it would be troublesome.

They rushed towards the merchant team, which scared the people in the merchant team. The dozen or so bodyguards quickly protected the merchant team in the middle.

“Everyone, don’t panic, we have no malice.”

Zhao Zhiyuan said.

The merchants didn’t believe a word of this.

Zhao Zhiyuan and the others were all burly and strong, holding broadswords, with fierce looks on their faces. They didn’t look like good people at all. It was too unconvincing to say that they had no malice.

“I wonder which mountain you are the king of? We are the Cui family商号 of Nanjing. We hope you can make it convenient for us. Of course, we won’t let you come here for nothing. This is just a small tip, I hope you don’t mind.”

Steward Cui, who was in charge of leading the team, took out a bag of silver, which looked like it was worth at least a hundred taels.

Of course, Steward Cui didn’t have too much money and give it away when he saw robbers.

The main reason was that Zhao Zhiyuan’s team had sophisticated weapons and looked difficult to deal with. If they really fought, their own bodyguards might not be their opponents.

If they encountered weak bandits, it would be hard to say who would rob whom.

Therefore, Steward Cui preferred to spend money to avoid disaster. If he could send the other party away with more than a hundred taels of silver, he would be very happy.

More than a hundred taels of silver was not worth mentioning compared to the profit of their several carts of goods.

“The Cui family of Nanjing, is it the商号 of Cui Mingchong in the west of the city?”

Zhao Zhiyuan said happily. He had also stayed in Nanjing for a while and knew about the Cui family商号.

If it was Cui Mingchong’s商号, it would be easy to handle.

After all, the Cui family belonged to the faction that firmly supported Wu Changqing and had a very close relationship with the government.

They should have no problem cooperating.

Chapter 326: Successfully Infiltrated

“Indeed.”

Steward Cui said, hoping that the Cui family name would carry some weight.

“That’s excellent. To be honest, we are from Lu Guangzu’s unit, Third Division, First Army, under Duke Wu. We’re on a mission here and need some assistance from you, Steward Cui.”

Zhao Zhiyuan revealed his identity.

The Wu army?

Steward Cui was slightly surprised, as he hadn’t heard of the Wu army fighting in Chuzhou.

Currently, the Nanjing newspapers mainly reported on the battles between Liu Hansan and Zhu Yihai, along with various articles denouncing Zhu Yihai.

The entire Nanjing public opinion was focused on Wu Changqing’s ascension to the throne, with no reports on the battles in the North.

Steward Cui didn’t recognize Zhao Zhiyuan and couldn’t verify the truth of his words.

However, he couldn’t think of a reason why Zhao Zhiyuan would deceive him.

If Zhao Zhiyuan were a bandit, he would be robbing or extorting them directly, not trying to scam them.

“What kind of help does the general require from us?”

Steward Cui asked.

Zhao Zhiyuan glanced at the guards, wondering if they were trustworthy.

Steward Cui understood his meaning and said, “They are guards from the famous Xingyuan Escort Agency in Nanjing, all loyal subjects of Duke Wu.”

Having confirmed their reliability, Zhao Zhiyuan said, “Here’s the thing: we need to sneak into Chuzhou city to carry out a mission and want to impersonate your guards. Also, we need to conceal some weapons in the cargo.”

“This…”

Steward Cui was troubled. He was willing to help, of course, as it would earn him goodwill and ingratiate him with the military.

However, the risk was significant. If the concealed weapons were discovered by the Qing army, their entire caravan’s cargo would likely be confiscated.

This was four to five thousand taels worth of perfume and soap. He couldn’t afford that loss.

“Steward Cui, don’t forget who gave you the business opportunity, who gave you the chance to get rich. Now that you need to serve Duke Wu, what reason do you have to refuse? If you disagree, I’ll have to requisition your caravan in the name of the army.”

Zhao Zhiyuan was slightly dissatisfied with Steward Cui’s attitude, and his tone became stern.

Steward Cui could only lament inwardly, not daring to argue.

In the end, he agreed to Zhao Zhiyuan’s request. The Wu army soldiers exchanged clothes and weapons with the original guards and pretended to be the escort agency heading to Chuzhou.

As for the original guards, except for one who stayed behind to introduce the guards’ characteristics to Zhao Zhiyuan, the others returned to Nanjing first.

With a group of soldiers added to the caravan as guards, the people in the caravan were even more panicked.

After all, everyone knew that if their identities were exposed at the city gate, they would face hundreds, even thousands, of Qing soldiers and would surely die.

Arriving at the city gate, the Qing army came up for a routine inspection.

They glanced at Zhao Zhiyuan and the others and, seeing that they were guards, didn’t think much of it.

Their focus was on the goods that Steward Cui and the others were transporting. Moreover, their purpose wasn’t to search for contraband but simply to ask for some benefits.

Those guarding the city gate were low-ranking officers and soldiers who didn’t think much or far ahead, only concerned with small gains.

Seeing that they wanted to inspect the goods, Steward Cui quickly called out, “Officers, please be careful! These are all fragile and valuable items, perfumes and mirrors, which can’t withstand your handling.”

Hearing that it was perfume and mirrors, the inspecting soldiers were even happier.

Perfume sellers were rich and had plenty of kickbacks.

“You say they’re mirrors? I don’t believe you. Unload everything for inspection.”

The Qing soldiers began to make things difficult.

Usually, at this time, the merchant should know what to do. If the merchant didn’t understand, then these soldiers would ‘accidentally’ break one or two items while unloading.

In the past, Steward Cui would have cursed inwardly upon hearing such words from the Qing soldiers.

But this time, he was particularly happy to hear the Qing soldiers deliberately making things difficult. This meant that the Qing soldiers only wanted to get some kickbacks and hadn’t seen through their disguise.

Therefore, Steward Cui very ‘sensibly’ took out a silver ingot, a full ten taels, and quietly slipped it into the Qing soldier’s hand.

The soldier who received the money was almost stunned.

He just wanted to take the opportunity to extort some kickbacks and never expected the other party to be so generous, offering ten taels at once.

Although these ten taels would have to be split among a dozen of them, it was still generous enough, enough for each person to get about a month’s salary. And this was an effortless, free benefit.

He showed a happy expression, then waved his hand, allowing them to pass.

In this way, the Wu army’s weapons were successfully transported into the city.

Finishing what he started, Steward Cui arranged accommodation and provided food for Zhao Zhiyuan and the others after entering the city.

Zhao Zhiyuan and the others then began to contact their other comrades. According to plan, they came to the east gate at the agreed-upon time and waited in a shop closest to the east gate.

Wu army soldiers who had successfully infiltrated arrived one after another and were taken to their temporary gathering place.

By nightfall, they had contacted a total of ninety-four soldiers, with eight still missing.

These eight might have gone in the wrong direction, might not have thought of a way to enter the city, or might have been caught.

In short, anything was possible. Zhao Zhiyuan had no choice but to continue the operation as planned.

First, they needed to understand the situation at the city gate, and then, the next day, send someone out of the city to report the situation to the Wu army’s main force.

The Wu army’s plan actually had many loopholes. If any one step went wrong, the plan would fail.

However, Lu Guangzu and the others’ bad luck seemed to have ended. The liaison officer who left the city successfully arrived at the designated location, found the main force, and reported the situation.

Lu Guangzu was very excited when he heard the report and immediately took out a map, asking people to calculate the travel time.

“Departing during the day will easily alert the enemy and won’t achieve the effect of a surprise attack. I suggest departing tomorrow evening so we can arrive in Chuzhou in the early hours of the day after tomorrow and break through the gate. We can give the enemy a fatal blow in their sleep.”

A staff officer calculated the distance and said.

“Can the soldiers endure continuous travel for five or six hours?”

Fang Ce was a little worried. Continuous travel for five hours was no easy task. It would be ridiculous if they arrived in Chuzhou exhausted and had no strength to fight the enemy.

“It’s only a little over five hours. We usually feed them well, so this is the time for them to overcome difficulties. Pass down the order: after completing this battle, the entire army will rest and be rewarded.”

Lu Guangzu said.

With the commander’s orders, the others could only overcome difficulties and execute them.

Chapter 327: Night Raid on Chuzhou

The several liaisons returned to Chuzhou early the next morning to inform Zhao Zhiyuan of the main force’s plan.

They moved separately, ensuring that at least one of them would get into the city and deliver the order to Zhao Zhiyuan.

The main force of the Wu army, on the other hand, disrupted their routine, sleeping and resting during the day.

As evening approached, they were awakened, fed again, and then, with a large number of torches prepared, began a forced march towards Chuzhou.

By this time, the Qing army scouts had retreated to rest and did not notice their movements.

After only seven or eight li, darkness completely descended. The Wu army lit their torches and began the arduous night march.

The route from the camp to Chuzhou was not all flat ground and official roads. In several places, they had to climb small hills and cross two small rivers.

For an individual, walking this route at night would not be difficult, but for an army, it presented many unexpected problems.

Apart from serious situations, even a soldier tripping could cause several others to stumble.

In more serious cases, those at the front might suddenly take the wrong path, leading a large number astray.

Although there were no fatalities, delaying the plan would have more serious consequences than deaths.

Relying on their relatively strong organization, the Wu army barely avoided any major problems.

They arrived at Chuzhou, exhausted.

After resting for a while, they reached the city walls and lit the specially made signal flares.

The flares exploded, waking up several Qing soldiers guarding the city, but most remained asleep.

“What’s that, fireworks?”

The two Qing soldiers discussed it briefly and then dismissed it. They were just ordinary soldiers with limited military knowledge and no idea about the newfangled signal flares.

Inside the city, Zhao Zhiyuan’s company, who had been waiting for a long time, quickly rushed out of a building and headed straight for the city gate.

They split into two groups, one heading to the city wall to seize control of the drawbridge, their task being to lower it.

The other group attacked the city gate to open it.

There were not many Qing soldiers guarding the city gate, only seven or eight.

They had just been awakened by the Wu army’s hurried footsteps when the broadswords came crashing down on them.

Those who were not killed instantly let out screams, waking up more Qing soldiers.

This was unavoidable, but it was already insignificant.

They seized control of the city gate and immediately began to open it.

The other group’s actions went smoothly because the Qing army’s vigilance was too low. They had not expected the Wu army to launch a night raid, as the difficulty was too great.

Many Qing soldiers, still asleep, had their throats slit without knowing what was happening, dying peacefully.

Some soldiers who were awakened began to shout and call out to their comrades.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

People who had just woken up from sleep could not understand the situation, let alone quickly organize resistance.

And the resistance of individual soldiers could not last for more than a few seconds.

The city gate was opened, and the drawbridge was lowered. The Wu army outside the city began to pour into the city.

The Qing army’s garrison on the city wall was small and quickly cleared.

“Immediately take the other city gates. I don’t want any of the enemy to escape.”

Lu Guangzu ordered.

Then they split into three groups: one to seize the other city gates, one to lead the main force directly to the barracks, and the other to lead some elite troops straight to the residence of the garrison commander, A Chu-hun.

“Follow me.”

Zhao Zhiyuan shouted. During the day, they had already scouted the location of the Qing army camp and could now strike directly at the heart of the enemy.

The movement of thousands of soldiers created a great deal of noise, and the people were awakened wherever they went.

A Chu-hun also quickly received the news and quickly put on his armor. While putting on his armor, he inquired about the specific situation in the city.

When he learned that it was a night raid by the Wu army, he cursed angrily, “Traitor, which traitor betrayed me?”

He thought that an internal traitor had led the Wu army into the city.

Without an inside man, how could the Wu army have come so easily tonight?

“General, let’s escape quickly. This city cannot be defended.”

The personal guard suggested. They were not the Wu army; their ability to resist night raids was extremely poor.

A Chu-hun hesitated upon hearing this. If he took some personal guards and quietly escaped, the chances of survival would be relatively high. However, the difficulty of taking the army out would increase tenfold.

But if he could not take the army out and escaped alone, he would be punished when he returned to the imperial court.

An army of ten thousand regular soldiers was worth more than one hundred thousand taels of silver.

It would cost at least two to three hundred thousand taels of silver to retrain a force of equal combat power.

Therefore, A Chu-hun did not want to abandon his troops unless absolutely necessary, especially those Manchu Eight Banners soldiers. If he did not take these people out, their clansmen would definitely hate him to death.

“Go to the barracks first and see if we can withdraw some people.”

A Chu-hun finally chose a compromise solution, trying it out first. If the situation was not right, he would find a chance to escape.

As soon as they left the house, they ran into a team of Wu army soldiers.

Without saying a word, the two sides immediately started fighting.

A Chu-hun’s personal guards were much braver than ordinary soldiers.

Therefore, in the fight, this small team of Wu army soldiers quickly fell into a disadvantage.

A Chu-hun did not entangle with them, retreating while fighting towards the direction of the barracks.

At this time, the Qing army’s barracks had already fallen into chaos.

In fact, they had already been awakened before the Wu army arrived.

However, they had not been effectively organized for a long time, some were stunned in place, and some were panicking.

Delaying the best reaction time, they were beaten up by the Wu army who rushed in.

While beating them up, they also engaged in sabotage and created chaos.

It was too troublesome to capture prisoners at night, so the Wu army did not consider it and directly attacked in the most brutal way.

They threw several grenades into each room and each tent.

Those Qing soldiers who did not have time to come out were directly blown up and could not find their way.

The Qing soldiers who came out of the camp tried to resist, but the Wu army collapsed as soon as they charged.

At this critical moment, no senior Qing generals stood up to control the situation.

Only some low-level officers were commanding by instinct, carrying out some sporadic resistance.

The Wu army’s main force rushed over, and they could not stop it.

In terms of dealing with night raids, their performance was several levels worse than the Wu army.

The Qing soldiers, who were in a rout, only thought about escaping and did not know how to resist.

The Wu army killed all the way in, and they didn’t even need to set fires to create chaos, because the Qing army was already in complete disarray.

Chapter 328: Nowhere to Run

By the time A Chu-hun arrived at the military camp, he was comically knocked down by a routed soldier who was fleeing in a panic. Enraged, A Chu-hun slashed the man with his saber.

Afterward, A Chu-hun grabbed a fleeing soldier and questioned him, “Where are Han Geduo and Li Dalang?”

Han Geduo and Li Dalang were officers stationed in the military camp. In the event of a night raid, it was their responsibility to organize the soldiers.

However, seeing the scene before him, A Chu-hun knew that those two bastards had failed in their duty.

Unable to find his subordinates, A Chu-hun couldn’t effectively command the fleeing soldiers.

“I don’t know. I’ve been looking for our captain as well,” the fleeing soldier said in a panic.

“Shout it out, tell the other fleeing soldiers to gather around me!” A Chu-hun had to rely on himself.

With the shouts of his personal guards, some soldiers gathered around him.

After all, he was the commander-in-chief of the entire army and held a certain amount of prestige.

At this time, the other soldiers were in a state of utter confusion. If there was someone they could trust, they would not hesitate to flock to him.

Before long, Han Geduo also arrived at A Chu-hun’s side with a few hundred men.

Looking at Han Geduo, who only had a few hundred men left, A Chu-hun wished he could kill him with a single blow.

“General, let’s retreat. Continuing to stay here won’t save many people,” his personal guard advised again. Given the current situation, even a military genius wouldn’t be able to salvage it.

“Damn it!” A Chu-hun cursed, then followed his personal guard’s advice and began to flee towards the north gate with this group of men.

When he arrived at the north gate, he found that it had already been occupied by the Wu army.

A Chu-hun hurriedly fled towards the west gate, only to discover, to his dismay, that the west gate had also been occupied.

Lu Guangzu didn’t want to let a single person escape, in order to prevent the news of the fall of Chuzhou from spreading.

If they could block the news of the fall of Chuzhou, they would have the opportunity to disguise themselves as fleeing soldiers, then sneak into Hefei, and replicate such a victory.

Taking Hefei was their ultimate goal.

A Chu-hun had already guessed that the city walls in other directions might have also been occupied. Because he hesitated at the beginning, he had already missed the opportunity to leave the city.

Helpless, A Chu-hun could only order people to attack the west gate, trying to break through.

This arduous task was handed over to Han Geduo, because he was resentful towards Han Geduo at the moment.

Han Geduo felt as if his heart had turned to ashes. He led more than two hundred men to charge forward.

There were only about thirty Wu army soldiers guarding the west gate, but there were also Wu army soldiers on the city wall who could provide quick support.

Seeing a large number of Qing army soldiers charging over, the Wu army quickly took out their hand grenades. At such a close distance, the lethality of guns was too weak, they still had to rely on hand grenades.

A dozen hand grenades were thrown at the Qing army, exploding in this narrow area with great power.

The Qing army was eager to break through the gate, and the people who rushed over were standing very close together.

This wave of bombs directly killed or wounded thirty to forty of them, which was very efficient.

The remaining people didn’t dare to maintain such a dense formation anymore. Only a dozen or so people rushed to the front and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Wu army.

“Enemy attack, reinforcements!”

As soon as the Wu army on the city wall heard the explosion, they immediately discovered the Qing army, and the swordsmen and shieldmen quickly went down the city wall to provide support.

The flintlock riflemen, on the other hand, were shooting at the Qing army below from the city wall.

No need to aim, just shoot at the bright spots of light. Whether they could hit or not depended entirely on luck, on fate.

With reinforcements, the Wu army at the city gate was still fighting hard, but they were not on the verge of collapse.

As for the Qing army, they were able to maintain high morale at the beginning.

However, as time dragged on, their morale plummeted.

They were all very clear that they could only survive if they opened the city gate. The longer it dragged on, the more Wu army soldiers would arrive.

They tried to charge twice, and each time they were taught a lesson by hand grenades.

A burst of energy, then decline, and finally exhaustion. After failing to charge twice in a row, they lost confidence and their morale plummeted.

Some of the Qing army soldiers in the back had already quietly fled to the other side during the charge.

“General, let’s break through in another direction!” A Chu-hun’s personal guard suggested again. Anyone with eyes could see that they could no longer break through here.

“We can’t break through. The other directions must also be heavily guarded. Follow me!” After A Chu-hun saw the situation clearly, he no longer tried to attack the city gate. Instead, he quietly returned to the city with a few trusted personal guards.

They found an inconspicuous civilian house, rushed in, and took control of the people inside.

A Chu-hun wanted to hide in the city for a few days, and then find an opportunity to sneak out of the city after the Wu army relaxed their restrictions.

This was the only way to save himself that he could think of.

The melee in the city lasted for a short time, less than an hour. What remained were some sporadic pursuits.

As dawn broke, the Wu army still did not open the city gate, but instead cleaned up the mess in the city, captured fleeing soldiers, and also searched for high-ranking Qing army generals.

The city gates were closed last night, but not many high-ranking generals were captured, which was not reasonable.

Therefore, Lu Guangzu ordered a search from house to house.

The Wu army, in small teams of three, knocked on the doors along the street, then went inside to search, and from time to time there would be bursts of shouts and fighting.

“Open the door, search!” A small team of Wu army soldiers knocked on the door of the civilian house where A Chu-hun was.

“Go deal with them. If you are exposed, your wife and children will not be spared.” A Chu-hun handed the male owner a tael of silver, then put a knife to the necks of the male owner’s wife and children.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to hide, but there was no place to hide in this broken thatched house.

Helpless, they could only hope to bribe the searching soldiers to fool them.

The male owner opened the door and said, “Officers, there are many women in the house, so it is really inconvenient for men to come in to search. This is just a small token of my appreciation.”

As he spoke, he handed over the silver.

The eyes of those few Wu army soldiers lit up when they saw it.

This tael of silver was worth at least ten taels.

“Something’s not right. How could a poor man covered in patches have so much money? Quickly call for support!” A clever guy snatched the silver and said.

The other two immediately understood after being reminded by him that there was a big fish in this house, so they began to call for support.

When the other nearby soldiers heard that there was a big fish here, they immediately rushed over, wanting to share a piece of the pie.

The matter was exposed, and the male owner hurriedly pleaded, “Officers, please have mercy. They have knives to my wife and children’s necks, you can’t come in!”

“Drag him away!”

The Wu army soldiers did not pity this guy. It was already considered that their military discipline was strict that they did not blame him for concealing the situation.

If it were other armies, they would have killed him with a single blow for being deceived like this.

The Wu army rushed into the thatched hut, and the mother and son naturally did not have a miracle happen to them. They all became the objects of A Chu-hun’s venting anger.

Immediately afterward, the two sides fought fiercely in this thatched hut.

Although A Chu-hun’s personal guards were powerful, they couldn’t withstand the large number of Wu army soldiers, wave after wave.

Soon, A Chu-hun’s personal guards were all killed, and he himself was also slashed and captured.

Chapter 329: Inciting the Miners

After capturing Chuzhou, Lu Guangzu tried to persuade the Green Standard Army general, Li Dalang, to surrender.

It wasn’t that he admired Li Dalang, but he needed him for his next plan.

Lu Guangzu intended to send an army disguised as defeated soldiers fleeing from Chuzhou, then gain the trust of the Hefei garrison commander, enter the city, and then play a game of internal and external cooperation.

The risk of this strategy was also extremely high. The Wu army had tried it once when attacking Nanchang, but it failed.

At that time, the Qing army was ill-prepared. If the Qing army had been prepared in advance, they could have severely ambushed the Wu army.

But now, Lu Guangzu, who was already a bit obsessed, was preparing to play with fire again.

To increase the success rate of the plan, he needed someone known to the Qing army to lead the team, and that person was Li Dalang.

“If the general thinks highly of me, I will naturally serve with my life. I joined the Qing court in the past because I had no choice. My heart has always been with the Ming Dynasty,” Li Dalang said.

“What Ming Dynasty? The current Ming Dynasty is beyond saving. We are fighting to the death with the Qing army on the front lines, but the Ming court is attacking our army from behind. So, don’t talk about being loyal to the Ming Dynasty anymore. You only need to know that Governor-General Wu, General Wu, is the one who pays us,” Lu Guangzu corrected Li Dalang’s mistake, and Li Dalang repeatedly agreed.

For him, there was no such thing as loyalty to anyone. He would suck up to whoever gave him benefits. He would work for whoever gave him advantages.

After settling Li Dalang, the Wu army put together a mixed force of four thousand men.

Two thousand of them were Wu army elites, and the other two thousand were newly captured Green Standard Army soldiers.

This force set off for Hefei one step ahead.

Meanwhile, in Huainan, Xu Yuxian’s troops were also advancing triumphantly.

When the news of the Wu army’s approach reached Huainan, many of the big merchants in Huainan became excited.

They had been hoping for the Wu army to attack for a long time, and now their wish had come true.

Currently, the economic ties between Huainan and Nanjing were too close, with frequent trade and huge interests involved.

Therefore, these Huainan merchants hoped that the Wu army could recover Huainan, so that they could enjoy preferential treatment when purchasing ironware from Nanjing and save a lot of costs.

At the same time, they could also purchase steam pumps, coal trucks, and high-quality gunpowder that were restricted from export by the Wu army.

These things could greatly improve their coal mining efficiency and reduce coal mining costs.

Interests determine positions. Since the Wu army could bring them benefits, they naturally leaned towards the Wu army.

On this day, several large coal mine owners secretly gathered together to discuss important matters.

“Everyone, let me introduce you. This is Staff Officer Liu Yingxiong from the Second Division of the First Army of the Wu army. He is currently responsible for advising Division Commander Xu Yuxian of the Second Division. This time, he has come to Huainan secretly to discuss a major plan with everyone,” the big coal mine owner, Hu Yanlin, introduced a young man to the crowd. The other coal mine owners greeted him one after another.

Through some newspapers, they also had a general understanding of the Wu army’s official system, knowing that a division staff officer was a high-ranking official, roughly equivalent to a military advisor to the garrison commander.

“Everyone here does business with Nanjing, so I don’t need to say more about the benefits of Huainan’s return. Therefore, I hope that everyone can cooperate wholeheartedly when our army recovers Huainan,” Liu Yingxiong said.

Xu Yuxian had tasted the sweetness of using schemes, so when attacking Huainan, he once again discussed a plan with the generals.

This plan required the cooperation of the coal mine owners in Huainan, so Liu Yingxiong was sent over.

“But, we are just merchants, and we want to contribute, but we don’t have the ability,” one coal mine owner said. They didn’t have any troops in their hands, only some guards. These people were good at bullying honest poor people, but if they were to fight against the army, they would be defeated in one encounter.

As for providing money and military pay, they could contribute a little. However, now that the Wu army was attacking the city, money didn’t seem to be of much use.

“As long as everyone has the will, there will naturally be places where you can help,” Liu Yingxiong said.

“Since Duke Wu has a place where he can use us, we will naturally do our best. As long as Duke Wu can lift the restrictions afterward and allow us to buy machines in Nanjing,” Zhong Xueyan was straightforward and directly said what everyone was thinking.

Helping was no problem, but there had to be benefits and care afterward.

“Of course, there is no problem. Duke Wu has always been very preferential to merchants. I think you have seen the merchants in Nanjing,” Liu Yingxiong promised. He didn’t care whether Wu Changqing would treat these people favorably in the future. Anyway, he would first trick them into helping.

As for the preferential treatment of these merchants in the future, civil officials would be responsible for it, and their army didn’t have to worry about it.

The civil and military officials in Nanjing were two systems, and they both prioritized their own interests and threw the trouble to the other side.

The Wu army had done this kind of thing more than once.

Moreover, Wu Changqing liked this phenomenon very much. Separating civil and military officials could greatly prevent rebellions from happening.

“In that case, please tell us directly, Lord Liu, what do you need us to do?” Hu Yanlin saw that the time was ripe and signaled Liu Yingxiong to reveal the specific plan.

The Wu army’s plan was actually very simple, which was to have these coal mine owners support them in inciting the miners to rebel and attract the Qing army to send troops to suppress them.

Then, the Wu army would rush to the scene and annihilate the main force of the Qing army outside the city.

Fighting in the field outside the city was much easier than attacking the city.

After listening to Liu Yingxiong, the merchants began to think about it, calculating the risks and benefits.

Although merchants were timid and afraid of trouble, it also depended on the situation. If there were enough benefits, they could sometimes transform into desperadoes.

Moreover, they didn’t have to do this kind of thing themselves, and there was no danger to their lives.

“But, what if the Qing army doesn’t take the bait and doesn’t send troops to suppress it?” someone asked. This was also entirely possible.

“Impossible, the mines have to pay them tens of thousands of taels of silver every month. No one can ignore this wealth. Moreover, if they don’t send troops, we will unite and put pressure on them,” Hu Yanlin said.

If Huainan didn’t have so many valuable coal mines, the Qing army wouldn’t have stationed so many troops here.

Without the income from the mines, those troops wouldn’t even be able to pay their salaries.

Therefore, regardless of whether there was danger or not, the Qing army couldn’t sit idly by.

“In that case, count me in,” Zhong Xueyan said first. He thought simply, just take a gamble.

Seeing that Hu Yanlin and Zhong Xueyan, the two largest coal mine owners, had stood on the side of the Wu army, the others naturally didn’t hesitate any longer and expressed their support.

Liu Yingxiong then revealed a smile and continued to discuss the details with everyone.

How to incite the miners was also a skill, a knowledge.

If they didn’t know how to speak, those miners might not rebel against the government, but instead rebel against them, the coal mine owners, which would be ridiculous.

It was actually very easy to transfer the miners’ hatred to the government. It was nothing more than attributing the reason for the low wages to the government’s high taxes, which caused the coal mine owners to not make money.

Transfer their hatred to the government, and then promise a little petty profit, and those miners would easily be incited.

At the same time, in order to give these miners a certain amount of combat power, Liu Yingxiong also secretly transported a batch of weapons.

Although they were all cold weapons such as knives and spears, they were better than hoes and iron rods. The Qing army’s equipment was not much better.

Chapter 330: Riot

Wudian, a coal mining region.

This area has many open-pit coal mines, making them easy to exploit.

Currently, there are over thirty coal mines in this area, employing more than fifteen thousand miners.

Including those who do laundry, cook, manage, and purchase supplies, the population here is comparable to a small county town.

In this desolate wilderness, this small place has formed a unique kind of prosperity.

The miners who work here are both fortunate and unfortunate.

They are fortunate because they earn more than they would farming. They are unfortunate because the bosses earn even more, and they are severely exploited by the government and the bosses, leading to a greater wealth gap.

These miners have long harbored resentment, but they cannot contend with the merchants and the government, so they can only swallow their anger and keep it bottled up inside.

At this time, several foremen who had received benefits from the Wu army began to stir things up.

During mealtime, they said to the other miners, “Do you know how much one hundred Jin of coal sells for in Nanjing?”

The crowd shook their heads; these honest and simple miners had no access to such information.

“Fifty wen, a full fifty wen. And what about us? We only get six wen for digging one hundred Jin of coal,” the foreman said.

These words stunned everyone.

They had speculated in their daily chats about how much this black coal could sell for. However, they never imagined it could sell for so much.

At that rate, for every one hundred Jin of coal they dug, they were contributing forty-four wen to the coal bosses and the government.

This mining area produces at least five to six million Jin of coal per day. That means the government and the coal mine owners earn more than two hundred thousand taels of silver each day.

The government does nothing, and the coal mine owners only own the land and provide some tools, yet they earn the lion’s share of the money. Meanwhile, they, the ones who work tirelessly in the coal mines, only earn a meager amount for their hard work.

How could they be content with this? How could they accept it?

“Damn it, this work is getting more and more frustrating.”

“Why not ask the boss for a raise, even just one or two wen more per hundred Jin would be good.”

“Alas, let’s just forget it. When you live under someone else’s roof, you have to bow your head. If we anger them and get fired, we won’t even have food to eat tomorrow.”

The crowd discussed animatedly, some expressing a desire to resist, others suggesting they should just swallow their anger.

At this moment, the foreman who was stirring things up waved his hand, signaling everyone to be quiet. Then, he continued, “I won’t hide it from you all. Recently, I acquired a batch of knives and spears, more than four hundred pieces in total. With these weapons, if we unite and rebel, we can seize the coal mine and sell the coal ourselves.”

These words once again shocked everyone.

Several hundred knives and spears were not something that could be obtained casually.

Some clever people had already sensed something unusual.

However, some who were already filled with hatred and resentment stood up without thinking and expressed their support.

If they could seize these coal mines, their income would increase six or seven times!

“But, wouldn’t that be tantamount to rebellion? What if the government sends troops to suppress us?” someone asked.

“Don’t be afraid. The Qing army is being beaten by the Southern army and doesn’t dare to leave the city. They only dare to hide inside. As for the Wu army, we are rebelling against the Qing army, so they definitely won’t blame us. To win us over, they might even reward us with these coal mines,” the foreman continued to incite. His words sounded somewhat reasonable. If it were really as he said, then rebellion would be very appealing.

As long as the government’s army didn’t come out, they really had nothing to fear.

Ten thousand miners, when organized, were also a formidable force.

“Don’t hesitate. I’ll tell you the truth. It’s not just our mine that will do this; other mines are doing the same. If we don’t join in, this mine will belong to them in the future, and we won’t get a share,” the foreman released another bombshell, further strengthening the miners’ resolve to rebel.

People are not concerned about poverty but about inequality. In the past, everyone was a miner, and they didn’t have so much resentment in their hearts because they all received the same pay.

But if other miners succeeded in rebelling and could seize the coal mines for themselves, wouldn’t they be losing out?

“Damn it, let’s do it. I don’t want to be poor my whole life.”

Miners were generally bolder than farmers. Now that a golden opportunity was in front of them, many were very tempted.

The rest, who lacked their own opinions, could only follow the crowd.

Some core members brought the weapons over and distributed them to everyone.

Those with weapons became much bolder.

The crowd rushed forward in a chaotic manner, beat up several supervisors, locked them up, and then announced to the merchants who came to buy coal that the ownership of these coal mines had changed.

And this kind of thing happened one after another in the surrounding coal mines.

The foremen gathered together, organized themselves meticulously, and made a huge show of strength.

Soon, some people who had escaped from the coal mining area returned to the county town and reported to Prefect Lu Jin’yan.

“What? Coal miners are rebelling and seizing the coal mines for themselves? Unacceptable!”

Lu Jin’yan slammed his hand on the table. Those coal mines were his money bags; he received tens of thousands of taels of silver from the coal mines each month.

He had been an official for so many years, and this was the first time he had encountered such a good opportunity to make money.

The coal miners’ rebellion was not against the imperial court but against him, Lu Jin’yan.

Immediately, Lu Jin’yan rushed to the military camp and demanded that the garrison commander, Chi Muqing, send troops to suppress the rebellion.

“Lord Lu, the Wu army is eyeing us in Bengbu. I can’t casually send troops to Wudian,” Chi Muqing said, complaining. He also received many benefits from the coal mines. In normal times, he might have been even more eager than Lu Jin’yan.

But now, the Wu army was nearby. What if the Wu army took the opportunity to attack the city if he sent troops to Wudian?

“Lord Chi Muqing, those miners are just useless laborers. It won’t take much effort to deal with them. Besides, if those coal mines are lost and you don’t receive any silver, how will you maintain your massive army?”

Lu Jin’yan was being very realistic. The coal mines were crucial to their finances and could not be ignored.

Chi Muqing was still hesitating. Lu Jin’yan continued to persuade, “If you’re worried, you can send more scouts out to investigate the Wu army’s movements. If you discover that the Wu army is coming to attack, you can withdraw the troops in time.

Moreover, if the Wu army is really determined to attack the city, it’s questionable whether your twenty thousand men can hold it. Why not take advantage of this suppression to forcibly conscript a batch of miners into the army to do hard labor? They can at least be of some use when defending the city.”

This…

Chi Muqing hesitated. Some of Lu Jin’yan’s words made sense.

The income from the coal mines could not be lost, and it would not be easy to defend Huainan with just twenty thousand men; a change was needed.

“Alright,” Chi Muqing said helplessly.

Chapter 331: Talks Break Down

After much deliberation, Chi Muqing finally agreed to Lu Jin’yan’s request and sent troops to suppress the rebellion.

He dispatched a full seven thousand men, reasoning that anything less would lack sufficient deterrent force.

His aim was to quell the rebellion, not to annihilate the rebels.

If everyone was killed, there would be no one left to mine or guard the city for him.

Therefore, he wanted to intimidate the miners in one fell swoop, making them obediently lay down their arms and cease their futile resistance.

He had no desire for a large-scale battle with the miners, which would be strenuous and unrewarding.

As soon as the Qing army left the city, scouts hidden in Huainan sent a swift horse back to inform the Wu army, who were already lying in wait northeast of Wudian.

Subsequently, the Wu army set off, needing to reach Wudian as quickly as possible to prevent the Qing army from fighting the rebellious miners for too long and causing too many casualties.

These were all valuable laborers, and it would be a great pity if too many died. Neither the Qing nor the Wu army wanted to see heavy casualties among the miners.

In Wudian, the organized miners were confronting the Qing army.

The Qing army did not immediately resort to force, not wanting to cause a bloodbath.

If the matter could be resolved through negotiation, that would be ideal.

“Who’s the leader here? Bring the leader forward. I want to ask why you’re rebelling?”

Qing army leader Qu Youjin asked.

In such situations, the key to breaking the deadlock was to find the ringleaders of the rebellion. Once they were dealt with, the rebellion would essentially be over.

Ordinary people were highly susceptible to herd mentality. The main reason they dared to confront the soldiers with weapons was because someone was leading them.

As long as the leaders were persuaded, or killed as a warning to others, the remaining ordinary members would be of little concern.

“I’m the leader. If you want to know why we’re rebelling, the reason is simple: we don’t want to be your slaves.”

Zheng Qiao, one of the core instigators, stepped forward.

“Isn’t that nonsense? Did the mine owner fail to pay your wages or skimp on your food and drink? Before you came to mine, weren’t you already toiling as beasts of burden for landlords?”

Qu Youjin retorted angrily. Mining, no matter how arduous, was better than being a tenant farmer. Yet now, these lowly people were still dissatisfied, truly deserving of death.

“Hahaha, you expect us to risk our lives for that meager pay? Do you think we don’t know the price of coal in Nanjing? Your government does nothing but collect twenty wen in tax for every one hundred Jin of coal. We toil and sweat, earning only six wen per one hundred Jin. Why should we? Brothers, do you think we can accept this?”

“We can’t accept it! Let’s fight them!”

The thousand-strong crowd behind Zheng Qiao shouted, appearing highly spirited.

Qu Youjin immediately felt a headache coming on, inwardly cursing the person who leaked the information.

Now that these workers knew the profits from coal, he feared the matter would be difficult to resolve peacefully.

“Where did you hear such false rumors? The price of coal isn’t as high as you say. Besides, do you think it’s easy to transport this coal to Nanjing?”

“Enough nonsense! I’m just asking if your government is taking a cut of twenty wen for every one hundred Jin.”

Zheng Qiao interrupted, cutting to the heart of the matter.

If the government didn’t collect such high taxes, they wouldn’t be so ruthlessly exploited.

“Hmph, under all of heaven, there is no land that is not the Emperor’s. Every mountain and river in this land belongs to the court. It is only right and proper to collect taxes. If you continue to be stubborn and don’t cease your riot, I will immediately order a suppression.”

Qu Youjin said coldly. He realized that Zheng Qiao was no simpleton, knowing too much and difficult to deceive.

Helplessly, it seemed he could only resort to a lesser tactic: killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.

If done well, this move could deter others; if not, it could lead to a bloodbath.

“Do you think we’re afraid of you? Brothers, fight them! As long as we hold this mine, we can transport the coal to Nanjing ourselves and divide the profits equally!”

Zheng Qiao retreated into the crowd, continuing to incite them.

The other miners felt fear, anger, and confusion.

However, they didn’t want to compromise. After all, things had reached this point, and they had to achieve some result. Even if they couldn’t seize the mine for themselves, they should at least try to get an extra two wen per person.

“Outrageous! Seditious people, a bunch of seditious people! Men, prepare to attack!”

Qu Youjin angrily issued the order.

“General, if they resist, should we kill them directly?” his subordinate asked.

“Kill them! Just kill a few dozen, and the rest will naturally scatter like birds and beasts.”

Qu Youjin said disdainfully. This wasn’t the first time he’d encountered civilian unrest, and he considered himself experienced in handling such matters.

As long as the few fearless ringleaders were killed, the others would immediately become obedient.

However, this time he had miscalculated.

As the Qing soldiers advanced, waving their weapons, Qu Youjin saw the weapons the miners were holding and nearly had his eyes pop out.

The knives and spears in the miners’ hands were clearly standard-issue equipment, almost identical to what his own men used.

With the same weapons and equipment, they lost their greatest advantage and couldn’t achieve absolute crushing superiority over these rioters.

“I’ll report those people when I get back and see where they’ve been selling the weapons.”

Qu Youjin cursed, assuming that the weapons had been secretly sold off by those in charge of military supplies. Such things were quite common in the Qing army.

“General, what should we do?”

The subordinate continued to ask, the situation suddenly becoming complicated.

“Continue the attack! I want to see what these rioters can do with weapons.”

With his order given, the Qing army began their attack, while the miners retreated to the hillside, hoping to use the terrain to their advantage.

In a head-on clash, the miners were naturally no match for professional soldiers.

“Don’t be afraid! Our reinforcements will be here soon!”

Zheng Qiao and other key figures directed the others, continuing to stall for time.

They didn’t need to defeat the Qing army, just hold them back.

Just as he said that, the Qing soldiers charged over with their broadswords.

The miners were forced to retaliate. They might not have the military skills of the Qing soldiers, but when it came to strength, they were certainly not lacking.

With numerous knives and spears clashing together, about fifteen or sixteen miners fell, while eight or nine Qing soldiers also died.

This casualty ratio nearly infuriated Qu Youjin. For professional soldiers to fight rioters like this was a disgrace to the Green Standard Army.

“Halt the attack for now! Go to the city and bring back a batch of archers!”

Qu Youjin ordered.

Without an equipment advantage, without overwhelming superiority, it was impossible to force these miners to surrender.

Continuing the fight would likely turn into a bloody battle with countless casualties, which was not what he wanted.

Chapter 332: Qing Army Retreats

Just as the Qing army’s archers arrived, a messenger suddenly brought terrible news. “General, Wu army forces have appeared in the northeast, numbering several thousand, and are less than two li away from us!”

This news startled the Qing generals. The Wu army’s appearance was too sudden. They certainly hadn’t set out from Bengbu, or they wouldn’t have been here so quickly.

Could there be a connection between these two events?

Qu Youjin suddenly thought of a possibility and panicked even more.

If the Wu army’s arrival was related to the miners’ revolt, it meant this was a Wu army scheme, that they had come prepared.

“Damn it!” Qu Youjin stamped his feet in anger.

“Order a full retreat, immediately! Forget about these rioters!”

Qu Youjin decided to retreat back to the city first. Staying outside the city was too dangerous. No matter how important the silver was, it wasn’t as important as his life.

His decision was decisive, but he was still a step too late.

By the time the Qing army had organized their retreat, the Wu army had already caught up with them, leaving them unable to advance or retreat.

If they continued to retreat, the Wu army would pursue them from behind, and the retreat would easily turn into a rout.

If they stopped to resist, there was still a gap in strength between the two sides.

“Cease the retreat! Defend and counterattack on the spot! Also, send someone back to the city for reinforcements!”

Qu Youjin changed his mind. He had no choice. There was no opportunity to retreat now, so he might as well go all out.

Moreover, even if they went all out, they might still have a chance.

After all, they had eight thousand troops, more than the Wu army’s five thousand. As long as they held out until reinforcements from the city arrived, they could attack from both sides and perhaps even devour these five thousand Wu soldiers.

If that happened, being caught in a trap might even be a good thing.

In theory, there was nothing wrong with Qu Youjin’s idea.

However, in practice, this plan might not work.

To implement this plan, a key factor was needed: they had to be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived, and the reinforcements had to arrive quickly. This would be a test of the overall quality of the army.

Seeing the Qing army stop, the Wu army immediately slowed down and approached in formation.

At the same time, the flintlock rifle troops, taking advantage of their range and rate of fire, began to harass the Qing infantry again.

Faced with the Wu army’s rogue tactics, other armies had no good way to deal with them for the time being.

Helplessly, they could only retreat up the hillside, hoping to use the terrain of the forest to offset the Wu army’s shooting advantage.

Charging was out of the question. Countless battles had shown that unless they were a suicide squad completely unafraid of death, charging at flintlock rifle troops was just throwing their lives away.

The moment they charged in front of the enemy, the army would collapse.

Retreating to the mountain seemed effective, but in reality, they were trapped on the mountain.

Unless reinforcements came to rescue them, they could only stay on the mountain and wait to die.

The Wu army ignored this army that had fled to the mountain, leaving only a portion to prevent them from charging down or escaping.

The others concentrated their forces to deal with the other Qing soldiers at the foot of the mountain first.

The other Qing troops were already at a disadvantage, and after being attacked from both sides, they collapsed even faster.

As soon as the Wu army’s flintlock rifle troops approached, the Qing army immediately collapsed and began to rout.

Next was the pleasant pursuit phase.

The Qing soldiers were scattered all over the mountains, fleeing in panic. Some even accidentally ran into the miners’ location and were caught and beaten up.

Seeing this situation, Qu Youjin took the lead in running away. He no longer counted on reinforcements.

Given the current situation, reinforcements would be useless even if they came.

After a few hours, with the cooperation and help of many miners, the Wu army cleaned up the battlefield and captured most of the fleeing Qing soldiers.

Those Qing soldiers who had fled to the mountains, seeing that there was no hope, surrendered one after another.

This battle was not fierce. The Wu army’s casualties did not even exceed two hundred. The Qing army suffered more deaths, but only six or seven hundred.

Of the remaining Qing soldiers, less than one thousand successfully fled back to Huainan city, several hundred were scattered, and the rest were all captured by the Wu army, a total of five thousand five hundred.

On average, each Wu soldier captured a Qing soldier, which was very efficient.

After this battle, the Huainan city garrison was reduced from twenty thousand to twelve thousand, greatly reducing its defensive capabilities.

The Huainan commander, Chi Muqing, saw that he couldn’t hold on. To preserve his strength, he took the initiative to lead his troops north overnight, retreating to Suzhou in the north.

As for Hefei, he abandoned it.

With the loss of Huainan, the Hefei garrison had no way to retreat and became turtles in a jar.

Chi Muqing fled, but Lu Jin’yan did not. He was reluctant to give up his position as the Prefect of Huainan.

At the same time, he knew that the Wu army always treated those who surrendered favorably.

Therefore, he planned to wait for the Wu army to enter the city and then defect directly to the Wu army.

Xu Yuxian easily entered Huainan, but the next problem gave him a headache.

How should he appease the tens of thousands of miners?

Xu Yuxian certainly wouldn’t allow them to continue holding weapons, as this would become an unstable factor.

However, if he wanted them to lay down their weapons, he would have to give them some benefits.

Otherwise, they could rebel against the Qing, and they could also rebel against the Ming.

Although Xu Yuxian could use some means to internally divide them, this would only treat the symptoms and not the root cause. If the miners’ resentment was not eliminated, these ten thousand people would always be a hidden danger.

They couldn’t keep a large army stationed here all the time. Once the army withdrew, if these ten thousand people rioted, the local government would be no match for them.

To eliminate the miners’ resentment was actually very simple: just give them a slight wage increase. They didn’t even need much. If they increased the price of every hundred Jin of coal by three wen, then more than ninety-nine percent of the miners would be satisfied.

However, the problem was that Xu Yuxian was a military general and had no right to interfere in the affairs of civil officials.

Now that they had recovered Huainan, the tax revenue from the coal mine handed over to the government would naturally go to them. As for how much to give, that was a matter for the civil officials, and the military generals were forbidden to interfere.

Since he wasn’t qualified to manage it, he naturally didn’t dare to promise the miners a wage increase.

On the one hand, Xu Yuxian wrote a memorial and sent it to Nanjing, asking them to send civil officials as soon as possible to deal with the matter.

On the other hand, he summoned several miner representatives to discuss how to handle it.

“I have already made a suggestion to the higher-ups to lower the tax rate, so that the extra money can fall into your hands,” Xu Yuxian said.

“You’ve only made a suggestion. When will the imperial court reply? Without definite news, we can’t appease the miners’ emotions,” Zheng Qiao complained.

As the leader, he had contributed to the Wu army, so he didn’t have to worry about benefits. The Wu army could fulfill their promises at any time.

However, to avoid being beaten to death by the miners, he had to fight for satisfactory benefits for them.

“There’s nothing I can do about that. I hope you can be patient and trust the government. As far as I know, the tax rate on coal mines in Nanjing is lower than here, so lowering the tax rate is certain. You don’t have to worry about that,” Xu Yuxian continued to persuade, but he still refused to make a promise, which made Zheng Qiao very helpless.

“Actually, there is another way. The Prefect of Huainan, Lu Jin’yan, has been bleeding the coal mines dry during these times. Why not have him take out a sum of money to appease the miners first?” Zheng Qiao said.

Chapter 333: A Difficult Problem

Lu Jin’yan had already surrendered and, in theory, was now a civil official within Wu Changqing’s group, so Xu Yuxian couldn’t just move against him.

However, Xu Yuxian also wanted the coal mines to resume operations immediately because Nanjing needed a large supply of coal right now.

“I’ll go talk to him,” Xu Yuxian said helplessly.

Fortunately, Lu Jin’yan, eager to please Xu Yuxian, readily agreed to take out fifteen thousand taels of silver to distribute to the miners and appease them.

Having just surrendered, he naturally wanted to show his loyalty. Having earned so much in the past, taking out fifteen thousand taels was like a bribe.

Since Lu Jin’yan was willing to take out the money to appease the miners, Xu Yuxian naturally welcomed it with open arms.

He only needed to solve the immediate problem with the miners. As for future taxes and miners’ wages, Nanjing would have to send people to handle that; it wasn’t his concern.

Neither Xu Yuxian nor Lu Jin’yan had the authority to set tax rates.

With over ten thousand taels of silver distributed and promises of improvement given, the miners’ emotions were temporarily calmed, and work resumed.

Having resolved this trivial matter, Xu Yuxian immediately led his troops south towards his final target: Hefei.

Taking Hefei would mean they had completed the goals set before the campaign.

This great gift should make Wu Changqing happy and allow him to receive a larger share of the rewards when Wu Changqing rewarded his officers.

When Xu Yuxian arrived at Hefei, Lu Guangzu’s troops were already stationed at Feidong, ten li outside of Hefei.

The two armies joined forces, and the senior generals gathered to exchange pleasantries.

Xu Yuxian noticed that Lu Guangzu looked unwell.

“Commander Lu, what’s wrong with your complexion?” Xu Yuxian asked.

“Ah, to be honest, my progress hasn’t been smooth. We encountered a torrential rainstorm while crossing Mount Chen, and then we were ambushed at night. After finally taking Chuzhou, I lost another unit when attacking Hefei…”

It turned out that the troops Lu Guangzu had sent disguised as routed soldiers had successfully entered Hefei.

However, after entering, no news had come out, and Hefei had gone into lockdown.

Lu Guangzu knew exactly what had happened. Their disguise had been seen through, and they had fallen for a counter-ploy.

The troops that had entered were likely already dead, which was why he was so anxious.

If the Hefei garrison commander, Tadam, had killed them all, Lu Guangzu would be spitting blood.

This was equivalent to losing over three thousand men in a single battle, a loss rate of over thirty percent.

Although they weren’t short on manpower, the compensation for those killed in action would be a considerable sum.

In any case, once this battle report reached the higher-ups, his career would be over, and he might even be punished.

Hearing Lu Guangzu’s story, Xu Yuxian was speechless.

No one could really be blamed; it was just that Lu Guangzu was too aggressive, taking huge risks with every plan.

As the saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you’re bound to get your shoes wet.

Schemes should only be used when absolutely necessary. When you have overwhelming strength, it’s best to use straightforward tactics.

Of course, Xu Yuxian wouldn’t say this to Lu Guangzu’s face.

He consoled him, “Brother Lu, don’t worry. I’ll have my men speed up preparations and launch a general attack as soon as possible. I think unless Tadam has completely lost his humanity, he shouldn’t kill those thousands of people.

As long as we take the city, we can rescue them, and your losses won’t be too severe.”

“I can only hope for good news from you, Brother Xu,” Lu Guangzu said.

The next day, the Wu army built a large number of siege ladders and arrived at the walls of Hefei, ready to attack.

However, just as they were preparing to attack, they encountered an unprecedented problem.

The Hefei garrison commander, Tadam, had pressed the captured Wu army soldiers onto the city walls, making it look like he was about to execute a large number of prisoners, and sent out an envoy.

“My general says that if your army insists on attacking, those four thousand will be the first to die,” the Qing army envoy said.

Faced with this blatant threat, Lu Guangzu immediately drew his sword, shouting that he would cut the envoy in half.

It was only when Qian Sule pulled him back that the envoy’s life was spared.

“Your army’s way of fighting is too disrespectful of etiquette and humanity. Our army has always treated your prisoners well, but you want to massacre our prisoners. Aren’t you afraid of being ridiculed by the world and losing the people’s hearts?” Qian Sule rebuked angrily.

The Qing army envoy laughed loudly, “You are stronger, so of course you will talk about etiquette and morality. Our army has no choice. Without this method, how could we be your opponent?

For the sake of our lives, we have no choice. If your army really cares about the lives of those soldiers, why not retreat? My general said that as long as you retreat, he will guarantee the lives of those prisoners.”

This rogue-like statement disgusted the Wu army generals.

However, they had to admit that they didn’t have a good way to deal with this rogue.

Of course, they could ignore the lives of those soldiers and forcibly attack the city, then cut Tadam into eight pieces to vent their anger.

However, this would definitely be a blow to the Wu army’s reputation.

And Wu Changqing was someone who cared very much about the army’s reputation.

However, it was absolutely impossible for them to give up attacking Hefei.

They could not compromise when faced with this kind of thing.

Otherwise, wouldn’t other Qing armies follow suit, tying a group of civilians in front of their soldiers every battle? In this way, the Wu army would be even more passive, unable to attack or not.

When faced with this kind of thing, they would rather bear the infamy and strike hard.

War was so ruthless.

“Actually, it’s very easy for General Tadam to survive. As long as he surrenders to our army, he can not only survive, but also live very well. You can look at Mandahai. We treat the Mongol and Manchu people equally,” Qian Sule continued. Among the crowd, he was the most eloquent.

“That’s right, as long as Tadam surrenders, our army can forgive everything that happened in the past,” Lu Guangzu echoed.

However, the Qing army envoy was unmoved and said, “Surrender is impossible. My general will only serve one ruler in his life and will never be a disloyal subject.”

As soon as these words came out, Xu Yuxian and the others were furious.

These words were simply humiliating them, because almost all of them had a dark past, had been disloyal subjects, and some had even betrayed more than three times.

“Then you can go back and tell Tadam to do whatever he wants, and then wash his neck and wait for our arrival,” Xu Yuxian snorted coldly. Enraged, he no longer wanted to care about the lives of those soldiers, only wanting to cut off Tadam’s dog head and kick it like a ball to vent his anger.

The Qing army envoy panicked slightly upon hearing this, then quickly retreated without daring to say anything more. He was afraid that one of the Wu army generals would get hot-headed and his life would be gone.

Chapter 334: The Way to Rescue

After dismissing the Qing army envoy, everyone calmed down once more.

Although they had said they didn’t care about the fate of those soldiers, when it came to making a decision, no one dared to truly disregard the lives of several thousand soldiers.

“Let’s hear it, what methods can we use to capture the city while also saving those people?”

Xu Yuxian asked.

Upon hearing this, everyone wore a distressed expression. To capture the city and save people at the same time was too difficult.

If Tadamu was a normal person with a desire to live, it would be easier to handle. But the key point was that Tadamu was now more like a madman.

He didn’t want life, wealth, or glory, only to exact a frenzied revenge on them.

Such a person was best left unprovoked.

“Find a way to contact the Green Standard Army generals in the city. I think Tadamu is probably the only madman. The other Han Chinese Green Standard Army generals certainly don’t want to go crazy with him. If we can contact those people, perhaps we can find a way to rescue them,”

Qian Sule offered an idea.

There were twenty thousand troops defending Hefei, of which twelve thousand were Green Standard Army soldiers, even making up the majority.

These people certainly wouldn’t be as loyal to the Qing court as Tadamu. If they could suddenly revolt, there might be a chance to save those thousands of people.

“That’s probably very difficult. The gates of Hefei are tightly closed, and they seem to have cut off all communication with the outside world. In this situation, there’s no opportunity to make contact,”

Liu Yingxiong said.

Unless the Green Standard Army generals took the initiative to contact them, their hopes of contacting them were slim. If they didn’t choose the right target, their plan would be exposed.

“Or, we could launch a night raid. They can’t possibly keep those soldiers on the city walls all night, can they? As long as we can take them by surprise and break through quickly, the Tartars won’t have time to slaughter those soldiers,”

Lu Guangzu offered his idea.

“That’s also very difficult. Tadamu’s attitude towards defending the city is one of indifference. He’s more inclined to take revenge on our army. If we launch a night raid, he might even abandon the defense altogether and focus on slaughtering the surrendered soldiers in the city, and even massacre the civilians,”

Qian Sule shook his head. It was truly a headache to encounter a madman, because they didn’t play by the rules, and didn’t act according to common sense.

“How about exchanging them for prisoners? Don’t we also have some Qing army generals here who would rather die than surrender? Some are even Princes and Beizi. One of them should be able to exchange for at least one hundred soldiers, right?”

“I don’t think Tadamu will exchange them. Those prisoners have become his talisman. He won’t exchange a talisman for some useless people.”

“Let’s just launch a strong attack. People die in war, they should have been aware when they failed their mission.”

…

The crowd argued for half a day, but ultimately failed to come up with a plan that everyone could agree on.

In fact, many people wanted to launch a strong attack, but most of them didn’t dare, or didn’t want to say it. The person who took the lead in saying it and carrying it out would easily lose the hearts of the soldiers and be hated by them.

“I think we should dig a tunnel. If we’re lucky and not discovered, we can enter the city at night and find the place where the prisoners are being held to rescue them. If we’re discovered, then we can only leave it to fate,”

Qian Sule suggested.

This suggestion had one advantage, which was that when writing the battle report, they could prove that they were not ignoring the lives of those soldiers, and were also working hard to rescue them.

If they succeeded, it would be the best. If they failed, their superiors couldn’t blame them, after all, they had tried their best.

It was an explanation to both their superiors and the soldiers, and that was enough. Whether or not it would succeed was up to fate.

Digging tunnels was a common siege tactic, and the defending side also had many ways to deal with this common tactic.

For example, burying several large jars underground, covering them with cowhide, and assigning soldiers to listen for sounds.

Digging tunnels would cause the earth underground to vibrate, and the sound of that vibration would be amplified by the back-and-forth reflection of the large jars, making it much easier and clearer than simply pressing your ear to the ground.

That night, the Wu army began their operation. They began digging in a tent in the central army camp.

At first, they were far from the city walls, so they didn’t have to worry about being discovered, and the digging speed was very fast.

As they got closer and closer to the city walls, they dug the tunnel more than a meter deeper.

The deeper they dug, the more difficult it became for the Qing army to listen for sounds.

At the same time, the Wu army also sent out interference troops on the ground.

Xu Yuxian selected a group of soldiers with loud voices, put on their armor, and sent them to a place very close to the city walls to shout at the Qing army on the city walls, trying to persuade them to surrender.

This kind of persuasion in front of the Qing army generals would certainly have no effect.

But the Wu army’s purpose wasn’t really to persuade the Qing army to surrender, but to attract the Qing army’s attention and reduce the risk of the tunnel being discovered.

“Han Chinese brothers on the city, you are surrounded, continuing to resist is a dead end.”

“Green Standard Army brothers on the city, surrender, as long as you surrender, you can immediately become one of us and receive higher military pay.”

“Green Standard Army brothers on the city, don’t stubbornly do stupid things. As long as you surrender, our army never kills prisoners. But if you dare to indiscriminately kill our army’s prisoners, then you will lose the qualification to surrender.”

…

The people shouting were all targeting the Green Standard Army in the city, after all, these people were more easily moved.

As for those Eight Banners soldiers, they were all stubborn elements.

On the city walls, the Green Standard Army soldiers were somewhat moved when they heard the words of persuasion.

Not only were the soldiers moved, but some low-level generals were also tempted.

After all, what the Wu army was shouting was the truth.

Now that Hefei was besieged and the Qing army in other places was unable to provide assistance, they could only rely on themselves to defend it to the death.

It was too difficult to defend a lone city.

If they continued to resist stubbornly, most of them would die.

In fact, many soldiers hoped to surrender, but they couldn’t find an opportunity. Beside them, there were always Eight Banners soldiers watching them.

Without an officer taking the lead, the soldiers didn’t dare to show that they wanted to surrender, otherwise they would easily be caught and killed as a warning to others. It was not good to be the first to stick your head out, everyone hoped that others would stand up first.

Therefore, even if they wanted to, they still pretended to be indifferent on the surface.

Tadamu was half-dead with anger when he heard the Wu army’s shouts.

He knew that this kind of shouting would greatly shake his military morale.

“Order them to mix the Eight Banners soldiers and the Green Standard Army together for defense and supervision. Any soldier who has surrendered will be killed immediately. If any Green Standard Army general shows signs of wanting to surrender, report it immediately,”

Tadamu said, he wanted to use this method to deter the Green Standard Army in the city.

Chapter 335: Tunnel

Besides arranging surveillance on the Green Standard Army, Tadamu also ordered archers to shoot at those shouting, trying to force them back.

Faced with the flying arrows, the Wu army soldiers raised their shields, defending while continuing their verbal harassment.

Shields weren’t foolproof; a couple of men were hit by arrows, but they were only minor injuries.

They had made thorough preparations, wearing thick armor and helmets.

Unless they were particularly unlucky and got shot directly in the face, their lives wouldn’t be in danger.

The wounded retreated, and the remaining men continued shouting, seemingly determined to annoy the Qing army to death.

This infuriated Tadamu. He ordered the city gates to be opened and sent out an elite cavalry unit to kill those few dozen Wu army soldiers.

But the Wu army soldiers weren’t stupid. Seeing the city gates open, they immediately mounted their horses and galloped away.

The Qing army didn’t dare to chase too far, fearing an ambush. They only pursued for a short distance before returning to the city.

Immediately afterward, the Wu army’s shouting soldiers returned to harass them again, employing this rogue-like tactic.

Tadamu was at a loss. He could order the execution of the thousands of prisoners, which might scare away the shouters.

However, killing the prisoners was his last trump card, to be used when the main Wu army launched its attack, not to be used lightly.

If he killed them all just because the Wu army shouted a few words, his death would be imminent.

In the end, Tadamu still held a glimmer of hope for survival. Otherwise, if he were truly bent on revenge, he could have carried out a massacre in the city right now.

Killing all the people in the city would definitely cause the Wu army great pain.

But doing so would have extremely serious consequences for him personally and for the Qing court, making it not worth the cost.

“Pay attention to strengthening the supervision of those Green Standard Army soldiers. If the Wu army attacks the city, notify me immediately.”

Tadamu was annoyed by those people and wanted to go back to rest, too lazy to bother with the shouters.

Anyway, if the Wu army was just shouting like that, the effect was actually limited, so there was no need to worry too much.

Meanwhile, two or three meters underground, the Wu army was frantically digging and laying out a tunnel.

This was a considerable project, something only a highly disciplined organization like the army could pull off.

They dug for two consecutive days before reaching the city walls.

And this was also the most dangerous stage.

To coordinate with the tunnel-digging troops, the Wu army on the ground conducted a siege drill, putting on a show of attacking the city, making a lot of noise but not getting close enough to shoot or climb the walls.

Upon receiving the news that the Wu army was about to attack the city, Tadamu was initially startled, but when he ran to the city wall and saw what was happening, he laughed.

Tadamu didn’t think much of it, only feeling that the Wu army was in a dilemma, unable to do anything to him.

Because of this, he was somewhat proud, feeling that the strategy he had come up with was very clever.

Little did he know that underground, the Wu army had already dug through the city wall and into the city. They only needed to dig up two more meters for the Wu army soldiers to reach the city directly.

However, they didn’t do so immediately. After all, the tunnel was very narrow, and only two people could barely pass through at a time, making the speed of entering the city very slow.

Entering the city now would definitely not allow them to defeat the Qing army before they killed the prisoners, so they needed to wait until night to take action.

The soldiers responsible for digging retreated one after another, and the harassment troops on the ground also retreated, everything returning to calm.

However, this was the calm before the storm.

At midnight, when most people were already fast asleep,

The Wu army began their operation. The main force was ready to enter the city at any time, and another elite force went through the tunnel, straight into the city.

One by one, Wu army soldiers emerged from a civilian house in the city, scaring the family half to death.

After controlling these people, the Wu army began to act.

They needed to first find out where the prisoners were being held, and then cooperate from the inside to seize the city.

Relying on blindly searching for the location of the prisoners was impossible. This Hefei city wasn’t too big, but it wasn’t small either. People unfamiliar with the area wouldn’t be able to find the military camp even after searching for a long time.

So, they quietly kidnapped a Qing army soldier and interrogated him.

The one who was kidnapped was a Green Standard Army soldier, and he was very cooperative in order to save his life, leading them to the Qing army’s camp.

However, he only knew that the prisoners were being held in the camp, and he didn’t know the specific location within the camp.

But that was enough. The military camp wasn’t big, and they could find it quickly.

Subsequently, the Wu army in the city split into two groups. One group attacked the Qing army’s camp, setting fires and creating chaos. The other group attacked the city gates, letting the main force in, and occupied the city walls on all sides, completely taking over Hefei city.

Now, several senior generals of the Wu army couldn’t wait to chop Tadamu into mincemeat, so they wouldn’t allow Tadamu a chance to escape.

As the signal flare was launched, the Wu army began a full mobilization, and the army outside the city quickly ran towards the city walls.

By the time they reached the city walls, the city gates had also been opened.

The operation in the city went very smoothly.

On the other side, thousands of people rushed into the Qing army’s camp, starting fires everywhere, throwing grenades, and creating chaos.

At the same time, they were also looking for the location of the prisoners.

After capturing a Qing army lieutenant colonel, they forced him to reveal the location of the prisoners.

Afterward, everyone immediately rushed to the prisoner-of-war camp.

Those prisoners of war, without weapons and weakened by hunger, had no ability to protect themselves. If they weren’t rescued in time, it would be troublesome if the Qing army ruthlessly killed them.

Fortunately, the Qing army’s reaction was too slow.

After being attacked, they first went to report to Tadamu, not daring to make their own decision to massacre the prisoners of war.

By the time Tadamu ordered the massacre of the prisoners of war and the people, the Wu army had successfully found the place where the prisoners of war were being held and had repelled the Qing army responsible for guarding them.

At this point, this group of nearly four thousand prisoners of war was rescued.

Tadamu personally led troops to the prisoner-of-war camp and found that it had been occupied by the Wu army. He was furious, almost frantic.

“Kill, kill them all. Also, others go into the city to set fires and massacre the people in the city.”

He didn’t think about escaping like other Qing army generals in this situation. He didn’t plan to escape at all, only thinking about disgusting the Wu army before he died.

Fortunately, there were still only a few people as crazy as him.

Some Qing army generals who superficially accepted the military order secretly took people to the north gate, wanting to escape, or to find the Wu army to surrender and save their lives.

Only a few were truly carrying out Tadamu’s orders and attacking the people.

And Tadamu, who was trying to retake the prisoner-of-war camp, also encountered fierce resistance from the Wu army.

In the stalemate, the main force of the Wu army had all entered the city and began to gradually control various places.

Chapter 336: Free Trade Agreement

The Wu army advanced smoothly. The Green Standard Army soldiers barely resisted, throwing down their weapons and surrendering en masse.

The Wu army’s various calls to surrender had indeed played a role.

When they encountered small numbers of Eight Banners soldiers, they simply slaughtered their way through.

The Eight Banners were already weaker than the Wu army in terms of combat strength, and now they were outnumbered and caught by surprise.

Those Eight Banners soldiers were routed all along the line. Not a single unit could put up any significant resistance. When an army is defeated, it’s like a landslide. Faced with such a collapse, most people think only of fleeing to save their lives, not of turning the tide.

The only force that still retained any fighting ability was the army around Tadamu.

However, as time passed, the panic within this army also increased dramatically.

Their city had been attacked at night, and now, instead of thinking about escaping, they were being forced to fight to the death with the enemy. This was just courting death!

Tadamu might not want to live, but that didn’t mean everyone else felt the same way.

With morale collapsing, it was difficult to maintain order.

Especially on a night like this, it was much easier to slip away from the main force unnoticed than it would be during the day.

Sure enough, more and more soldiers on the fringes quietly deserted.

As the fighting continued, Tadamu found himself with fewer and fewer men around him.

“Heaven is going to destroy me! Heaven is going to destroy our Qing Dynasty!”

Tadamu roared at the sky, then raised his blade and committed suicide. He preferred to kill himself rather than fall into the hands of the Wu army.

With Tadamu’s suicide, the Qing army immediately lost all control, with some fleeing and others surrendering. Soon, the last remaining resistance force also disintegrated.

What followed was mopping up, extinguishing fires, rescuing people, and other such cleanup work.

These trivial matters weren’t finished until dawn, but they were no longer important.

Of the nearly four thousand prisoners, more than three thousand eight hundred were eventually rescued, with only a little over a hundred dying in the chaos.

For Lu Guangzu, this was the best possible outcome.

Having avoided any major losses, he breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face.

In this battle, the Wu army suffered just over six hundred casualties.

The Qing army’s twenty thousand troops were utterly annihilated, with nearly two thousand killed in battle and the rest surrendering.

Throughout this campaign, the Wu army had captured tens of thousands of prisoners in total.

Some of these were reorganized into the army, while the die-hards were imprisoned. They would most likely be assigned to coal mines to dig coal as forced labor.

And without any pay, of course.

With the area south of the Huai River basically pacified, everyone wrote a detailed battle report and sent it to Nanjing.

In Nanjing, Wu Changqing took time out of his busy schedule to meet with the Dutch merchants Hede and Albert.

“Your Excellency, Duke.”

Hede and Albert bowed. Wu Changqing’s power and influence were now on a completely different level than before.

Therefore, they maintained the necessary respect.

“Mr. Hede’s Chinese is quite good. With this great advantage, other Western European merchants will probably have no way to compete with you in the future.”

Wu Changqing said with a polite greeting.

For those Western European merchants, mastering Chinese would certainly give them a great advantage, at least ensuring they wouldn’t be easily cheated.

“Thank you for your Excellency’s praise. Whether I can compete with other merchants still depends on your Excellency. If your men keep seizing our merchant ships, we won’t be able to do business.”

Hede complained bitterly.

“Oh, you’re talking about that matter. Don’t worry, that kind of thing won’t happen again in the future. Because my army will soon take Hangzhou and Ningbo. When that happens, Mr. Hede can go to whichever port he wants.”

Wu Changqing’s words made Hede curse inwardly.

He wasn’t concerned about which port to go to, but about fair and free trade!

If Wu Changqing hadn’t strictly controlled trade in Songjiang, preventing him from earning enough profit, why would he bother going to Ningbo?

If Wu Changqing conquered Ningbo, he would definitely implement the same system as in Songjiang, and they still wouldn’t be able to make big money.

“Governor-General Wu, in fact, we feel that the trading methods in Songjiang are outdated and no longer suitable for the current market conditions. We believe that commerce should be more free. Therefore, we want to trade directly with other merchants, rather than with the government.”

Hede expressed his true thoughts. With the government taking a cut in the middle, they would earn much less money.

Doing business with the government meant that many of their business skills couldn’t be used.

Doing business became simply transporting goods, earning only freight charges.

“Oh, then you probably don’t know that the previous dynasty forbade foreign merchants from trading in our country. I paid a huge price and took great risks to open up foreign trade. Shouldn’t I be able to charge a little for my trouble?”

Wu Changqing said with a smile.

“That’s not how it should be said. Later, the southern dynasty also lifted the ban. Moreover, you can extract a certain amount of tax from trade, but you can’t fully dominate and control all trade.”

Hede continued to argue his case.

What he said wasn’t wrong. Commercial trade should ultimately return to free trade.

Wu Changqing knew this even better than he did.

Therefore, he didn’t have many reasons to reject Hede’s request.

What’s more, he actually had another trick to continue squeezing those foreign merchants.

Wu Changqing was not Chongzhen. He had a very strong control over the merchant community. Therefore, he could secretly ask the merchants of Songjiang to unite and not allow anyone to lower prices privately.

In this way, foreign merchants still wouldn’t be able to earn high profits, only a little hard-earned money.

Of course, the degree of control needed to be managed very well. If it was squeezed too low, causing Hede and his group to not earn enough money and making it not worthwhile, they would definitely not come again in the future.

In the long run, this would not be good for the development of Songjiang.

Wu Changqing needed to turn trade with China into a chicken rib: tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away. He wanted to make those Western European merchants unable to stop, unable to make a fortune by coming, but unwilling to give up.

“Mr. Hede, don’t be agitated. I have always been in favor of commercial trade. Therefore, I can fully understand your request and agree to it.

I hope that you and your partners can promote the spirit of free trade here in Western Europe, so that more merchants can join this trade. You should have heard of the production capacity of our Great Hua. You don’t have to worry about a lack of high-quality goods.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile.

His words surprised Hede and Albert slightly. They had originally thought that this matter would be difficult to handle, and they would have to haggle with Wu Changqing for several days.

But they didn’t expect Wu Changqing to be so straightforward.

Of course, they couldn’t imagine that Wu Changqing could have such strong control over his merchants, because that was impossible in Western Europe.

In Western Europe, these merchants had great power, and even the king had to treat them with courtesy, let alone control them. That was simply impossible.

If the king wanted to control trade and control the prices of goods, that would be even more of a dream.

Chapter 337: Southern War Affairs

“Duke, now that we’ve opened up free trade, could we perhaps lift some restrictions on the trade of certain goods? For example, we desperately need steam engines, but we’ve been unable to acquire them.”

Seeing Wu Changqing so amenable, Albert pressed his luck with an even more excessive request.

“That’s definitely impossible. It concerns our nation’s secrets. It’s not just you foreign merchants; even our own merchants face many restrictions when trying to purchase steam engines.”

Wu Changqing refused without hesitation. Giving them steam engines would only make his task of unifying the globe more difficult.

Although, one day, someone would inevitably be tempted by money to leak these secrets, he would keep them under wraps for as long as possible. Wu Changqing had no intention of actively helping Western Europe develop.

“This steam engine isn’t a weapon; how could it involve national security? Opening up restrictions on steam engines would allow us to equip our sailing ships with them, making round trips from Great Hua to Europe faster and more efficient. It would greatly promote commerce.”

Albert continued to plead.

“Albert, I invented the steam engine. Do you think I don’t understand its significance? It can influence, even determine, the shape of naval warfare. To say it’s not a weapon is naive.

As for facilitating trade, I’m already working on that. Before long, our Great Hua steamship convoys will be sailing to Europe. When that time comes, out of consideration for our old friendship, I’ll allow you to lease a few of our steamships.”

Nanjing was currently building ships at full speed. Once those steamships were ready, it would be time for Great Hua merchants to roam the world.

Wu Changqing’s words left Albert speechless. It wasn’t just a nation’s secrets; even a small distillery carefully guarded its brewing secrets, never revealing them to others.

Hede hadn’t expected to buy steam engines through official channels, so he smiled and smoothed things over, ending the topic.

Afterward, they expressed their desire to establish diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing didn’t care much about this. Diplomatic relations at this time were nowhere near as important as they would be in later generations; they were optional.

Moreover, he envisioned the Great Hua Empire as a hegemonic power, not needing equal diplomacy, only the kowtowing of other nations.

After sending Hede and the others away, Wu Changqing received the next petitioner.

The person seeking an audience was a trusted subordinate of Wang Zhiren, who brought Wang Zhiren’s message, hoping to surrender and defect.

Wu Changqing naturally welcomed this. Reducing the amount of fighting was always a good thing; it meant fewer deaths.

Those soldiers were all strong, able-bodied laborers.

Social development depended on these laborers.

“What conditions does he want for his surrender?”

Wu Changqing asked.

If he wasn’t seeking special treatment, he wouldn’t have sent an envoy; he would have just surrendered.

“Duke Xingguo says he can defect and cooperate with Duke Wu’s actions from within the city. At the same time, he hopes to have the position of commander of a main force division after surrendering, and also retain his peerage.”

Wang Zhiren’s envoy spoke while observing Wu Changqing’s expression.

He noticed a hint of disdain in Wu Changqing’s expression and immediately knew that Wu Changqing probably thought Wang Zhiren’s demands were too high.

He guessed correctly. Wu Changqing felt that Wang Zhiren was completely unqualified to demand so much.

If Wang Zhiren had asked for the position of commander of an ordinary division, Wu Changqing might have agreed, but he specifically asked for a main force division fully equipped with flintlocks and cannons.

Wu Changqing currently only had four such main force divisions in total.

Wang Zhiren wasn’t that impressive of a character; why should he hold such a position? If he did, how could the other generals in the Wu army be convinced?

Without clear rewards and punishments, how could he command respect?

As for retaining his peerage, that was even more impossible.

Wang Zhiren’s current peerage was Duke, completely a desperate, ill-fitting title bestowed by Zhu Yihai.

In Wu Changqing’s plans, Li Shaobin and Liu Hansan wouldn’t be directly granted the title of Duke either, but would first be placated with a Marquis.

If he directly gave the title of Duke, what would happen if they made further contributions in the future? Would he have to grant them the title of Prince of the Blood with a different surname?

“No main force division. At most, a commander of an ordinary division. If he makes contributions in the future, he can be transferred to a main force division. As for the peerage, forget about it. At most, a Baron or Viscount.

Go back and tell him to think it over carefully. If he’s willing, have him contact Liu Hansan directly. If not, forget it. I won’t force him. With the strength of our army, any surrender is just icing on the cake, not a lifeline.”

Wu Changqing directly set the bottom line, letting Wang Zhiren choose.

Regardless of Wang Zhiren’s choice, he wasn’t particularly concerned.

After all, even if Wang Zhiren didn’t surrender, the Wu army would still advance with overwhelming force.

For Wang Zhiren and Fang Guoan to think they could hold Zhejiang was simply wishful thinking.

Wu Changqing vaguely remembered that, in the original history, Bolo seemed to have wiped them all out in a month or two, and Zhu Yihai had fled to the Zhoushan Islands for refuge.

And now, they were several times stronger than Bolo.

Attacking a Zhu Yihai was nothing more than crushing dry weeds.

In short, Wang Zhiren wasn’t a particularly capable person and wasn’t worth Wu Changqing’s excessive attention.

This…

The treatment Wu Changqing offered was far from Wang Zhiren’s expectations, and the envoy was momentarily embarrassed.

He wanted to plead for his master again, but seeing the stern expression on Wu Changqing’s face, he didn’t dare to speak.

The person before him wasn’t an ordinary seventeen-year-old boy.

Although young, he was a heroic figure about to become emperor.

As the saying goes, “When the Son of Heaven is angry, corpses float for thousands of miles.” Such a person, who held the power of life and death over hundreds of millions of people, naturally possessed a kind of majesty.

In front of such a person, ordinary people would feel immense pressure.

Those who had never seen the world would easily have trembling legs just trying to say a word in front of Wu Changqing.

“This humble one will definitely convey the message.”

The envoy finally managed to squeeze out these words.

“Leave,” Wu Changqing said.

The envoy returned with haste, while Liu Hansan’s army was already attacking Hangzhou.

The war in the North was progressing smoothly, and the same was true in the South.

By late August, Liu Hansan’s army had already occupied Jiaxing and Huzhou, advancing the battle line to Hangzhou.

Jiaxing, Huzhou, and other places did not encounter any strong resistance.

However, in Hangzhou, Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren had gathered a large force, totaling fifty thousand men, almost the entire foundation of the Lu Wang regime.

If these fifty thousand men were wiped out, Zhu Yihai would probably have to continue fleeing.

Faced with Hangzhou, defended by fifty thousand men, Liu Hansan also encountered some trouble.

Of course, the most important reason was not because of these fifty thousand men, but because Fang Guoan and his men had a large number of hand grenades.

Although their hand grenades were relatively bulky, they didn’t have much impact when defending the city; they just threw them down the walls.

Hand grenades were too effective at defending the city, causing massive explosions and heavy casualties for the Wu army.

In order to reduce casualties, Liu Hansan could only wait for air support to arrive.

The air force had lost many people in the last battle, mainly because it was difficult to control the descent, and most of the hydrogen balloons were damaged.

Therefore, when heading south, Liu Hansan and his men did not bring the air force, but instead had the air force continue to manufacture more hydrogen balloons and train more airmen.

After encountering trouble in Hangzhou, Liu Hansan had to request air support in advance.

Chapter 338: Launching the General Offensive

On September second, Wang Zhiren’s trusted aide returned to Hangzhou and reported the results of his trip.

“Outrageous! That beardless brat has no respect for anyone!”

Wang Zhiren spouted idioms, cursing Wu Changqing.

Because, in his opinion, the terms Wu Changqing offered were a blatant humiliation.

He was, after all, a Duke now, with twenty thousand soldiers under his command. He could be considered someone who could influence the local situation.

However, Wu Changqing only offered him the position of an ordinary division commander.

One must know that the Wu army now had more than twenty division commanders. Adding to that the army commanders above the division commanders, the logistics minister, the army staff, and a large number of senior civil officials.

An ordinary division commander in the Wu army could only be considered a middle-level figure, not even a core member of the upper echelons.

“Humph, Wu Changqing looks down on me, does he? Fine, I’ll fight him to the bitter end. I’ll let him know the price of underestimating me!”

Wang Zhiren’s confidence was mainly due to his subordinates’ good performance in defending the city in the past few days, which gave him more confidence in holding Hangzhou.

In his opinion, as long as they had enough hand grenades, the Wu army would be helpless against them.

He was already fantasizing that when the Wu army found themselves unable to do anything to them, they might take the initiative to persuade him to surrender again. At that time, he could make even higher demands.

Wang Zhiren wasn’t completely muddled; he knew that defending the city was barely possible. But defeating Wu Changqing was absolutely impossible.

Therefore, deep down, he still longed to surrender.

Unlike Fang Guoan, who had a knot in his heart and harbored great resentment towards Wu Changqing and Liu Hansan.

Even though they were in a position of absolute weakness, Fang Guoan’s will to resist was very firm.

On the Wu army’s side, Liu Hansan also received a secret decree from Nanjing, informing him about Wang Zhiren.

So, Liu Hansan waited another two days for Wang Zhiren’s reply.

After waiting for two days without Wang Zhiren’s people coming over, Liu Hansan judged that the other party must be dissatisfied with the surrender terms. Or that the matter had been exposed, and he had been killed by Fang Guoan.

“This guy is really greedy enough.”

Liu Hansan mocked.

“Perhaps it’s because we didn’t attack with full force some time ago, which made him mistakenly believe that he could hold Hangzhou,”

Tao Dongcheng guessed. If it weren’t for this reason, Wang Zhiren wouldn’t have changed from wanting to surrender to wanting to stubbornly resist.

“The air force is ready. Let’s launch a general offensive tomorrow. I heard that the First Army in the North has already started their operations; our progress here is a bit slow.”

Xue Guiren couldn’t wait any longer.

“Well, then let’s launch a general offensive tomorrow, let Wang Zhiren see our strength and clear his head.”

Liu Hansan laughed.

They had made ample preparations beforehand. Cannons, air force, new-style siege towers, and other advanced equipment were all ready.

Each of these things could give the defending soldiers of Hangzhou a headache.

The next day, the Wu army camp began to move. One cannon after another was pushed out and brought to the foot of Hangzhou, making Wang Zhiren’s scalp tingle.

Previously, the Wu army had never brought out so many cannons at once. But now, there were at least a hundred of them. There were thousands of soldiers responsible for firing the cannons alone.

And what about them? They only had forty or so cannons.

Moreover, their cannons had a much smaller caliber than the Wu army’s and could only fire solid shot.

The power and effect of these forty cannons were not even as good as twenty of the Wu army’s.

Then, he saw more than twenty oversized siege towers.

From the outside, they looked similar to the previous siege towers, but the Wu army had made many changes to the details, adding more metal structures to make them more solid and harder to destroy.

These siege towers were even taller than the walls of Hangzhou. Each siege tower could accommodate about twenty people at the top at the same time, and people below could continue to climb up the ladders.

If these siege towers could successfully reach the city walls, the Ming army would have more than twenty places that needed to be heavily defended.

“The enemy is about to start shelling. General, you should go down and take cover,”

His subordinates advised.

The Wu army’s howitzers had too large a kill radius. There was no safe place on the city walls.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhiren did not try to be brave. Instead, he decisively went down the city wall and sat down with Fang Guoan to drink tea, waiting for the Wu army’s shelling to end.

Before long, the Wu army’s cannons began to roar.

The salvo of hundreds of cannons had a kind of earth-shattering feeling.

Countless shells flew towards the top of Hangzhou’s city walls, and the few Ming soldiers on the walls shrank into the corners.

Some even covered themselves with wooden boards, hiding under them.

Others could hide, but the artillerymen had no way to hide.

They aimed their cannons at the Wu army’s artillery positions, trying to destroy the Wu army’s cannons.

However, before they could achieve any results, the Wu army’s cannons also turned their muzzles and prioritized targeting them.

The two sides’ cannons began to fire at each other. Unsurprisingly, the Ming army’s artillery suffered a great loss.

Whether in terms of quantity, quality, or the quality of the artillerymen, they were no match for the Ming army.

After a few rounds of shelling, thirty to forty percent of the Ming army’s artillerymen had died.

The remaining artillerymen abandoned their cannons and fled down the city.

This battle was impossible to fight. It was completely exchanging lives for lives, and it was the kind that couldn’t be won.

They lost sixty or seventy people, while only a dozen or so died on the Wu army’s side.

Compared to a force of nearly a thousand people, the Wu army’s death of a dozen or so people didn’t faze the other artillerymen at all. They weren’t panicked at all.

But the Ming army was different. Their total number of artillerymen was less than two hundred.

On average, one out of every three people was killed. How could the remaining people not panic? The probability was simply too high.

When the artillerymen collapsed and fled, Fang Guoan and the others did not execute those soldiers.

There was no way. Soldiers who knew how to fire cannons were hard to find. If those skilled artillerymen were killed, even fewer people would be able to operate the cannons.

“Leave a small number of people up there, and the rest should come down and take cover,”

Fang Guoan ordered. If they couldn’t bombard them, they could only temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack.

In any case, the Wu army couldn’t capture the city with cannons alone. In the end, they would still have to rely on infantry to attack.

At that time, the Wu army’s cannons would be useless.

The Wu army’s artillery stopped firing after bombarding for a while. Their greatest role had already become deterrence.

As for how many enemies they could kill, that was not necessarily the case.

The earth-shattering bombardment could create enormous psychological pressure on the enemy, which was already considered an achievement.

After that, the Wu army’s infantry began to advance, and equipment such as siege towers was also being pushed forward. The moat had long been filled in, and they could directly reach the foot of the city.

At the same time, sixty hydrogen balloons had also risen into the air and floated towards Hangzhou.

These hydrogen balloons were more advanced than the previous ones. Some details of the structure had been optimized, making them easier to control and more stable.

War is the best catalyst for technology. When there is such a demand on the battlefield, the research and development speed of these hydrogen balloons is much faster than other projects.

They had to be fast. Those researchers were afraid of being forcibly urged by those unreasonable military officers.

Chapter 339: The Air Force Unleashes Its Might Again

“Get on the walls, quick!”

As soon as the Wu army’s artillery fire ceased, Wang Zhiren immediately urged his soldiers to get onto the city walls to prepare for defense.

Preparing for defense wasn’t just about getting people up there; defensive supplies had to be moved onto the walls as well, so they had to hurry.

If they weren’t ready by the time the Wu army got close, they’d be in trouble.

In the past, they would have needed to boil oil, prepare liquid gold, and move rocks, which would have taken even more time.

But now, they only needed to get the grenades ready, which saved a lot of work.

Urged on by Wang Zhiren, the Ming soldiers hurriedly carried the grenades onto the city walls.

Suddenly, someone pointed into the distance and said, “Look, what’s that?”

Many others noticed the hydrogen balloons at the same time. Having never seen anything like them before, they were stunned.

The only things they had ever seen that could fly were kites and Kongming lanterns, and these were clearly not those. Some with good eyesight could even see the people in the gondolas from far away.

“There are people! There are people on those things flying in the sky!”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone paid even more attention to the approaching objects, temporarily stopping what they were doing.

Some officers, seeing the soldiers suddenly stop moving supplies, were about to start cursing, but then they also saw the hydrogen balloons.

They didn’t know what those things were either, but they instinctively felt that they might be dangerous.

So, someone quickly reported the situation to Wang Zhiren and Fang Guoan.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhiren and Fang Guoan rushed to the city walls, wanting to see for themselves.

They had telescopes that allowed them to clearly see the Wu army soldiers in the gondolas, confirming that these were creations of the enemy.

Although they didn’t know how these soldiers flying in the sky would attack, Wang Zhiren and Fang Guoan were very uneasy.

After all, the fact that they could fly at all was enough to show that these were remarkable things.

Their purpose must be extraordinary.

“What are those things?”

Wang Zhiren couldn’t help but say, not knowing whether he was asking Fang Guoan or himself.

“I don’t know. The scouts haven’t gathered any information about this. That academy Wu Changqing runs is really useful; it always comes up with new gadgets.”

Fang Guoan was both angry and impressed. The Wu army’s endless stream of new equipment was simply dazzling.

“Tell the men to be careful and aim their muskets and arrows at them, see if they can shoot them down.”

Wang Zhiren couldn’t immediately figure out what use the Wu army soldiers flying in the sky could be, but he knew that if they just aimed and shot at them, they would surely die if they fell to the ground.

Before understanding the hydrogen balloons, that was all they could do.

Afterward, their attention remained focused on the Wu army on the ground outside the city.

The things flying in the sky were strange, but there weren’t many of them after all.

On the ground, several thousand Wu army soldiers were pushing siege towers closer, and these were what gave them the biggest headache.

“Get the artillery back in position and bombard those siege towers. And the ballistae too, aim them at the siege towers and make sure to destroy them.”

Wang Zhiren was very wary of the tall siege towers, as they could completely negate the advantage of their city walls.

The surviving artillerymen returned to their positions and continued firing.

They didn’t have to worry about friendly fire, which was a small advantage in defending the city.

Also attacking the siege towers were the Ming army’s ballistae, which required several people to operate. The bolts were as big as a bed and incredibly powerful.

One bolt could pierce through an entire line of soldiers, skewering them together.

However, their accuracy was poor and difficult to control.

Cannonballs and ballista bolts flew towards the Wu army’s siege towers. The Wu army didn’t have a good way to deal with this; the clumsy siege towers weren’t easy to turn.

All they could do was speed up and hope for the best.

Those who were hit could only consider themselves unlucky.

The air force arrived at the city walls even before the siege towers. They floated above the walls and began their attack.

Only then did the Ming army on the walls realize what the Wu army’s attack method was.

Dropping bombs from above was seemingly the same as how they defended the city.

“Damn it!”

Fang Guoan cursed. He certainly knew how terrifying this kind of attack was.

Before, they had relied on this simple and brutal method of dropping bombs from above to keep the Wu army from getting close.

But now, the Wu army had an even higher position, and the city walls were useless.

Defending this city was too frustrating.

“Boom!”

A huge explosion sounded. The air force’s aerial bombs were much larger than grenades, and the force of their explosions was incomparable.

In the center of the explosion, no one could be seen standing.

Not far from the blast, several soldiers were directly lifted by the shockwave and thrown off the wall.

One aerial bomb killed at least thirty Ming soldiers.

In the first round of bombing, nearly ten bombs achieved their goal.

The others either landed outside the city or inside, with much less effect.

Due to performance limitations, the Wu army couldn’t perfectly control the movement of the hydrogen balloons, nor could they keep the balloons in one place.

The hydrogen balloons were constantly moving. Therefore, dropping bombs was also a highly skilled task.

With a success rate of only a little over ten percent, it still brought great trouble to the Ming army.

The terrifying explosive power frightened many Ming soldiers.

The power of grenades and flintlock guns had already made it difficult for these soldiers, who were used to cold weapons, to adapt. And now, an even more terrifying weapon had appeared.

“Scatter, everyone scatter!”

The Ming army officers were shouting frantically. Facing this kind of bombing, maintaining the current density of personnel was suicide.

The officers didn’t care about the deaths of a few soldiers. They had plenty of troops and they were expendable.

They were afraid of heavy casualties in a short period of time, which could lead to a rout.

Without the officers’ orders, the soldiers began to flee, some already quietly slipping off the city walls.

Not only did the soldiers slip off the city walls, but so did the high-ranking generals.

Fang Guoan and Wang Zhiren ran faster than anyone else. Before becoming familiar with the power of the air force, they dared not risk staying on the city walls. It was too terrifying.

For them, their personal lives were more important than victory in battle.

Even if they were defeated, they could surrender to the Wu army. It just wouldn’t be as glorious as before, and they would lose their wealth and status.

Given the Wu army’s attitude towards surrendered generals, they didn’t have to worry about their safety at all.

Chapter 340: Taking Hangzhou

After the air force’s bombing, the Ming army suffered one or two thousand casualties.

More seriously, Wu army soldiers had reached the city walls, siege ladders were in place, and siege towers had arrived.

On the other hand, the number of soldiers on the city walls of the Ming army had been greatly reduced, and they had all fled into the city for shelter. Those who remained on the city walls could only continue to endure the bombing.

As the Wu army’s air force drifted away, the Ming army wanted to return to the city walls to resist, but it was too late.

The few remaining soldiers on the city walls were far from enough in number, and they lacked organization, like a heap of loose sand.

Facing the Wu army’s siege, each of them could only rely on instinct to cope, retreating step by step.

Large sections of the city walls were occupied by the Wu army, and more and more Wu soldiers surged up.

“Get to the city walls! Those who fear battle will be executed without mercy!”

Inside the city, Fang Guoan shouted hysterically.

Although the city had not yet fallen at this time, it had reached the most critical moment.

If they could not stop this wave of the Wu army’s offensive, the city could not be defended.

Fang Guoan didn’t understand. Before, defending had been so easy, how could the situation have become so severe in just a few days?

Could it be because of those flying things that appeared in the Wu army?

With Fang Guoan’s urging, a large number of soldiers began to go to the city walls to resist.

Their army’s numbers were very sufficient, and they could continuously send reinforcements. As long as morale didn’t collapse, there was still hope.

On the city walls, a large number of Wu army soldiers had already surged up.

Under the coercion of their officers, the Ming soldiers could only rush up to fight, trying to force the Wu army down.

On this narrow city wall, a large number of soldiers from both sides gathered, and the fighting was extremely fierce.

Those who charged at the front were almost certain to die. No matter how brave they were, they couldn’t display their abilities in this situation.

In the fighting, people would occasionally throw a hand grenade into the enemy’s crowd, causing a lot of damage.

This thing killed enemies much faster than using knives and swords.

The battle between the two sides had turned into a life-for-life exchange. The Wu army had fewer people on the city walls than the Ming army, and at one point, they were at a disadvantage and almost pushed down.

However, the Wu army behind them continued to climb up.

Without resolving the issue of those siege towers and siege ladders, the Ming army could not eliminate the threat.

“Quick, throw bombs! Charge towards that siege tower!”

A Ming army general shouted loudly.

A team of soldiers rushed to the front, and two soldiers behind them lit hand grenades and threw them at the Wu army.

Faced with hand grenades, the Wu army didn’t know to lie down. Moreover, lying down on this city wall wouldn’t be very effective anyway.

A large number of elite soldiers were killed and wounded by the explosions, losing their combat power. The Wu army general was also anxious when he saw this.

“Bring up a batch of daredevils!”

The Wu army general shouted towards the bottom of the city wall.

Immediately afterwards, a team of more than fifty people began to go up. They were the daredevils in the Wu army.

Nowadays, the number of daredevils in the Wu army is getting smaller and smaller. Most of them have either completed their service time and become regular soldiers, or they have died in battle.

Because they didn’t want to raise too many troops, most of the newly captured prisoners were sent to mine, and there was no source for daredevils.

The lack of fresh blood has led to fewer and fewer daredevils.

When using them, they are also becoming more and more cautious.

Unless the situation is particularly difficult, they generally don’t use them.

The daredevils who climbed up the city wall rushed directly towards the Ming army. Some of them didn’t even bring a knife, only hand grenades.

They completely abandoned the ability to defend themselves in close combat, just to bring more hand grenades and increase the destructive power.

For them, they only needed to survive this battle to regain a normal life.

They howled, looking like they wanted to die together, which really scared many Ming soldiers.

As the two sides threw hand grenades at each other, people on both sides fell in pieces.

The only difference was that the Wu army’s daredevils were still charging, but the Ming army soldiers couldn’t help but retreat.

They couldn’t remain calm when faced with people who didn’t value their lives.

The previous hard battle had worn away most of their morale. Now that the Wu army had sent such a group of ruthless people, they were even more desperate.

The Wu army soldiers following behind the daredevils saw the Ming army retreating and immediately rushed up in one go, wanting to overwhelm the opponent in terms of momentum.

This trick was very effective.

The Ming army retreated step by step until new reinforcements arrived, and they regained their footing.

The newly replenished troops had not yet suffered heavy casualties, so they still had the courage to resist.

However, facing such a cruel war, they didn’t last long and also retreated.

In other places, the situation of the Ming army was similar to here.

They were deadlocked for a while at the beginning. As the casualties of both sides increased, the Ming army began to be unable to hold on, and then kept retreating.

In some places, the Ming army had retreated from the city walls, and the city walls were completely lost.

Some places were still holding on, but it didn’t look like they could last long.

Inside the city, Fang Guoan, who had been observing the battle, was furious.

So many troops were rushing up continuously, but they still couldn’t stop them.

You know, the Wu army didn’t use flintlock guns on the city walls, and the hydrogen balloons in the sky had also flown away. The two sides were basically the same in terms of equipment.

If they couldn’t win, there was only one reason: they weren’t brave enough.

Originally, Fang Guoan thought that his side was only inferior to the Wu army in terms of weapons, but now he realized that they were not as brave as the Wu army, which made him not angry.

The city walls had been lost. Next, they could either engage in street fighting or retreat.

Street fighting could create more trouble for the Wu army and kill more Wu soldiers, but the hope of turning the tables was not great.

If they retreated, although it would allow the Wu army to easily take Hangzhou, they could at least preserve their strength.

“Lord Wang, I think we should retreat first. This is our last bit of strength. If we lose it all, we’re completely finished.”

Fang Guoan was inclined to retreat.

At this time, Wang Zhiren was regretting it to death in his heart.

If he had known that the Wu army was so irresistible, he might as well have surrendered to the Wu army from the beginning.

Although he couldn’t keep the title of Duke, he would at least have a Viscount, which was better than the vast majority of people in the world.

But now, the situation was bleak. If he surrendered again, he couldn’t expect to have the position of a division commander, let alone a title.

But if he didn’t surrender and continued to fight to the death like Fang Guoan, what was the point?

Retreat? Where to retreat?

The Wu army could take Hangzhou, then they could take Shaoxing, take Ningbo. Retreating anywhere was not safe.

“Lord Fang is right, let’s retreat first.”

After hesitating for a moment, Wang Zhiren decided to retreat.

Even if he wanted to surrender, he had to find a chance later. Now, in the midst of the chaos, he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to negotiate terms if he surrendered.

The two chief generals decided to retreat, each dividing a portion of their men to cover the rear. Then, they took the troops that had not yet been put into battle and withdrew from the south gate.

Chapter 341: Three-Pronged Attack

The two men each led over ten thousand troops out of the city and crossed the Qiantang River.

Originally, Zhu Yihai had ordered them to remain on the south bank of the Qiantang River, defending along the river, even if Hangzhou could not be held.

But now, neither of them had any such intention.

Even the city walls couldn’t stop the Wu army, so the river couldn’t provide them with any sense of security. The farther away, the better.

“I plan to lead the troops to Jinhua and rely on the mountains to continue the resistance,” Fang Guoan said. He was now truly afraid of the Wu army and dared not confront them head-on again.

Therefore, he wanted to retreat his troops to the Jinhua and Huangshan areas, and then rely on the complex terrain of those mountains to entangle with the Wu army.

Fighting in the mountains would present the Wu army with serious logistical problems. They certainly wouldn’t be able to send many men, nor would they bring cannons.

Moreover, in the complex terrain of the mountains, it would be difficult to deploy formations, and the effectiveness of the flintlocks would be greatly reduced.

Fang Guoan, on the other hand, was familiar with the terrain in the mountains and had the home-field advantage, making it easier to use schemes and ambushes.

In short, fighting in the mountains was very advantageous for Fang Guoan, which was why he thought of retreating his troops to Huangshan and Jinhua.

“Then I will retreat to Ningbo and resist head-on,” Wang Zhiren said.

In reality, he wanted to return to Ningbo, find an opportunity to capture Zhu Yihai, and then offer him to the Wu army, hoping to exchange him for the treatment that Wu Changqing had originally promised.

If he could, he would do so without hesitation.

Anyway, he didn’t want to fight Wu Changqing anymore.

The greatest pain of fighting the Wu army was that you never knew what new tricks they would pull out next time, and you were always caught off guard.

The city walls couldn’t stop them, so could the mountains?

And how long could the meager tax revenue from Jinhua support the army?

Wang Zhiren didn’t think much of Fang Guoan’s decision, feeling that Fang Guoan was just struggling in vain.

Now that Wu Changqing was unstoppable, going with the flow was the smart choice. Going against the tide would only lead to a bloody end.

“Then, farewell,” Fang Guoan said.

With the situation urgent, Fang Guoan didn’t waste any time. He took his troops and retreated west towards Jinhua.

Wang Zhiren, on the other hand, took his troops and retreated towards Ningbo.

In Hangzhou city, the rearguard troops left behind continued to resist.

However, they were also on the verge of collapse.

If it weren’t for Fang Guoan’s trusted subordinates suppressing them, the soldiers below would have scattered long ago.

If they couldn’t defend with the city walls, let alone street fighting in the city now.

Many clever and battle-experienced soldiers had already guessed that the high-ranking officials had probably escaped, and they were acting as abandoned pawns in the rearguard.

Under such circumstances, they were not fighting to the death. They were retreating while fighting, and some even found opportunities to sneak into civilian houses and escape.

“Lay down your weapons, and you will not be killed if you surrender!”

Just as the Ming army’s morale was unstable, the Wu army’s mopping-up troops shouted the same slogan.

It was always better to capture alive than to kill.

There was no animosity between the soldiers, and in fact, many people in both armies were from the same hometown.

Even if they weren’t from the same hometown, everyone was at least Han Chinese. There was really no need for infighting.

Hearing the Wu army’s shouts, the Ming soldiers wanted to surrender even more.

“Don’t believe their words, they are all lies. Those who surrender will definitely not have a good end,” Fang Guoan’s trusted subordinate shouted.

However, his words were too unconvincing. These Ming soldiers had never heard rumors of the Wu army killing prisoners.

On the contrary, there were many rumors saying that the Wu army treated prisoners well.

Many soldiers who did not have supervising officers nearby began to throw away their weapons and surrender. Soldiers in other places followed suit.

This made Fang Guoan’s trusted subordinate extremely anxious. He personally rushed to two soldiers who had already surrendered, raised his broadsword, and slashed at them.

This action angered several other soldiers, who took advantage of his carelessness and stabbed him with a knife.

With the commander dead, the other supervising officers immediately abandoned their duties.

After all, not everyone was a stubborn element. Everyone wanted to live.

Without the commander suppressing them, the other soldiers surrendered even faster. Soon, there was no large-scale resistance on the streets, and the Wu army easily took over.

Two hours later, Hangzhou returned to calm, and the defeated soldiers in the city had basically been cleared.

In this battle, the Wu army suffered a total of two thousand three hundred deaths and over four hundred serious injuries.

These were basically casualties caused during the fight for the city walls. In that short half-hour, fierce fighting broke out between the two sides, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

After taking the city walls, the Wu army basically didn’t suffer many more deaths. In the street fighting in the city, the Ming army retreated while fighting, and they didn’t encounter any hard battles.

To capture a heavily fortified city defended by fifty thousand men with only two thousand casualties was already considered good.

If it had been the traditional siege methods of the past, it would have been unlikely to capture a city defended by fifty thousand troops even with a cost of twenty thousand men.

The defending Ming army suffered even more casualties. There were more than five thousand deaths, with no seriously injured, because the seriously injured were also given a finishing blow and counted as deaths.

Most of these were also killed in the fight for the city walls. The ownership of the city walls actually determined the success or failure of this war.

Once the city walls were lost, the Ming army lost the will to resist.

Nearly twenty thousand people were captured, all of whom were used as rearguard and those who did not have time to evacuate from Hangzhou.

Nearly twenty-four thousand Ming soldiers successfully escaped. The Wu army had no way to stop them. Their own forces were only fifty thousand, and they could not spare troops to intercept them.

The Wu army rested in Hangzhou for a day, and then continued their advance.

This time, they divided their forces into three routes. The first route was led by a regimental commander with over one thousand five hundred men to attack Huangshan.

In small places like Huangshan, the Ming army did not have many troops stationed there, only about one or two thousand men. More than that, the tax revenue around Huangshan simply couldn’t support them.

The other route was led by Xue Guiren with thirteen thousand men to attack Jinhua, Quzhou and other places.

Compared to Huangshan, Jinhua had a large basin with a relatively developed economy. During this period, Jinhua was an extremely important city in Zhejiang.

As long as Jinhua was controlled, relying on its radiating ability to the surrounding areas, the entire central Zhejiang area could basically be controlled.

The Ming army would definitely place heavy troops in Jinhua, so Liu Hansan allocated a main force division to Xue Guiren, letting him be responsible for the Jinhua battle.

Liu Hansan left several thousand men in Hangzhou to guard the prisoners and garrison, and then personally led thirty thousand men straight to Shaoxing and Ningbo.

The Ming army had become frightened birds, and it did not require too many troops to attack those places.

Bringing fewer people could also reduce the logistical burden. The road from Hangzhou to Ningbo was also quite difficult to travel.

Chapter 342: Cutting off the Escape Route

In Shaoxing, Liu Hansan encountered no resistance. The Ming army had long since fled.

The civil officials, on the other hand, very honestly expressed their willingness to surrender and serve Wu Changqing in governing the area.

For them, the skills they had learned were meant to be sold to the emperor.

Whether they were loyal to Zhu Yihai or Wu Changqing, they were still serving as subjects to someone else, so there was no real difference.

Moreover, Wu Changqing’s regime was also Han Chinese, making it even easier for them to accept without any mental reservations.

After settling Shaoxing, Liu Hansan led his troops onward to Yuyao and Ningbo.

This stretch of the journey was very difficult. Liu Hansan requested assistance from the navy. Some of his men took boats directly across the sea, while the others traversed the heavy mountains.

The land-based troops had only just arrived in Yuyao when the seaborne troops reached Ningbo and began landing.

The sudden appearance of the Wu army caught the Ming army off guard, allowing them to successfully land.

However, they did not immediately attack the city, as they only had ten thousand men.

The Ming army in Ningbo, at the very least, still had close to thirty thousand men.

Although their combat strength wasn’t great, the numbers were still there. Trying to take Ningbo with only ten thousand men was unrealistic and would easily lead to heavy losses.

These ten thousand men encamped in the eastern suburbs of Ningbo, blocking Zhu Yihai’s escape route to Zhoushan and Wenzhou, and waited for Liu Hansan’s main force to arrive.

In Ningbo city, Zhu Yihai nearly collapsed upon hearing that the Wu army had descended from the sky and appeared outside the city.

“How are they so fast?”

Zhu Yihai asked in a panic, devoid of any regal dignity.

“They came by boat, directly from the sea. But perhaps due to limited transport capacity, they didn’t bring all of the enemy, only about ten thousand men,” Zhang Guowei said.

“It seems that Wu Changqing, that traitor, wants me dead, blocking my retreat. Once their main force arrives, we’ll have no way out,” Zhu Yihai said, his words filled with despair.

He knew very well that he couldn’t stop Wu’s thirty thousand troops with his own thirty thousand.

“Can we launch a preemptive strike and defeat the enemy outside the city before Wu’s main force arrives?”

Zhu Yihai asked, now only thinking about quickly opening up a retreat route and continuing his escape south.

As for what would happen after escaping south, he didn’t think that far ahead, escaping was the priority.

If all else failed, escaping to Zhu Yujian’s territory was also an option. Without power or territory, he posed no threat to Zhu Yujian, and his life wouldn’t be in danger.

As they were both members of the Zhu family, he might still be able to enjoy wealth and prosperity.

Of course, all of this was predicated on him being able to escape.

“I’m afraid that would be difficult. Our army can barely fight the enemy with the advantage of the city walls. Outside the city, we are even less of a match for them,” Wang Zhiren shook his head. In a field battle, the Wu army’s musket units could unleash their full power. Whether their thirty thousand men could even reach the enemy was a question.

If the commander-in-chief lacked the confidence to fight, the others would have even less.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Yihai suddenly laughed towards the sky, as if he had been stimulated by something.

Afterward, Zhu Yihai was too lazy to continue the court session. He left the ministers behind and returned directly to his palace, where he sought release with several beauties.

Only when indulging in wine and women could he temporarily forget his troubles.

The ministers dispersed, each with heavy hearts.

Some of the ministers were testing the attitudes of others.

“Duke Xingguo, His Majesty is now neglecting state affairs. What should we do next?” Song Zhipu asked.

“What else can we do? We’ll see what happens,” Wang Zhiren said with an indifferent attitude, which made Song Zhipu anxious.

He continued to probe, “Could it be that Duke Xingguo has no plans? If there’s a good way out, don’t forget about your old brother.”

His words were practically explicit. If Wang Zhiren were a staunchly loyal royalist, these few words alone would have been enough to get Song Zhipu killed.

However, Song Zhipu knew Wang Zhiren’s character and knew that Wang Zhiren would definitely not die to protect Zhu Yihai.

“This, let’s talk at your residence,” Wang Zhiren glanced around, indicating that it wasn’t convenient to talk here.

The two gathered at Song Zhipu’s home and dismissed everyone else.

Wang Zhiren said, “Now that things have come to this, I’m not afraid to say something treasonous. This Zhu family dynasty is definitely doomed. You haven’t seen the Wu army’s troops, they’re truly full of tricks. Their soldiers even fly into the sky, and we can only stare blankly, with no way to resist.”

Flew into the sky?

Song Zhipu was dumbfounded. With his limited knowledge, he couldn’t imagine such a scene.

However, that wasn’t important. It was enough to know that the Wu army was very powerful.

“So, what are General Wang’s plans?” Song Zhipu asked.

“Plans? It’s actually very simple. A wise bird chooses a tree to nest in. Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin are doing very well in Wu’s army.

Wu Changqing’s subordinates are currently lacking a large number of officials, so we don’t have to worry about our lives at all. The only thing we need to worry about is what kind of treatment we’ll receive after joining, and how high of a position we can get.”

Of course, Song Zhipu was also clear about this, and it was also what he was most concerned about.

He was currently a Grand Secretary of the Dong閣, a cabinet minister. If he surrendered to Wu Changqing and only received a small position, he would lose face.

“So, does General Wang have any ideas? If you do, you must take your old brother along,” Song Zhipu asked.

“What else can we do? If we want to be rewarded, we have to make contributions. That’s how it’s always been. If the two of us can offer Wu Changqing a token of loyalty, the treatment we receive after surrendering will naturally be better.”

That was all that needed to be said. Everyone was smart enough to understand what needed to be understood.

“Now that things have come to this, that’s all we can do. Coincidentally, a portion of the troops responsible for guarding the palace are my men. When the time comes, I can assist the general,” Song Zhipu said.

“Very good. I’ll send someone to contact them first and try to negotiate. However, old brother, don’t have too high of hopes. Let’s just go over first. We can climb up slowly in the future. There are plenty of opportunities.”

After speaking, the two drank a toast, and everything was understood without words.

After Wang Zhiren returned to the military camp, he once again sent his confidant out of the city secretly to the Wu army’s camp.

He wanted to discuss the matter of surrender with the Wu army again. He didn’t have Fang Guoan’s determination to fight to the death.

If it hadn’t been for not recognizing the gap between his side and the Wu army before, he would have surrendered long ago and wouldn’t have waited until now.

“This time, lower the conditions a bit and follow Wu Changqing’s requirements. A regular division commander’s position and a baronet title. As long as they agree to this, I’ll immediately launch a riot in the city, let them into the city, and offer up Prince Lu.”

Wang Zhiren instructed his confidant, no longer daring to be as arrogant as last time.

Chapter 343: When the Tree Falls, the Monkeys Scatter

Inside the Wu army camp, Li Lianfan, who was in charge, received Wang Zhiren’s confidant.

“As far as I know, General Wu wanted you to cooperate with us from the inside to take Hangzhou. Why didn’t you surrender then?” Li Lianfan questioned.

“The main reason was that Fang Guoan was watching too closely, and we had no chance to contact your esteemed army. But now there’s no need to worry, Fang Guoan has retreated to Jinhua. Now, my general can not only help Division Commander Li break through the city, but also capture Prince Lu and offer him up.”

The messenger spoke the prepared lines. Wang Zhiren didn’t want the Wu army to know that he had changed his mind before.

“That’s what you say, but I’m just a small division commander, and I can’t make any promises to you right now. However, if you can help me take Ningbo, I can submit a memorial and say a few good words for you.” Li Lianfan said.

Originally, Wu Changqing’s instruction to Liu Hansan was that as long as Wang Zhiren surrendered and defected, he would be given a division commander position and the title of viscount.

But now, the balance of power between the two sides has changed again. Li Lianfan wasn’t sure if the original treatment was still valid. In the Wu army, he was just an ordinary division commander.

“This…” The messenger was on the verge of tears. To guarantee nothing was going too far.

“Why should General Wang worry? General Wu has always been fair in rewarding and punishing. As long as General Wang makes a significant contribution, there’s no need to worry about the treatment.” Li Lianfan persuaded. He also hoped to reach an agreement with Wang Zhiren and then take Ningbo alone. This way, the main credit for capturing Ningbo would be attributed to him.

“At this point, that’s all we can do.” Wang Zhiren and his men had no choice. If they didn’t seize this last opportunity, by the time Liu Hansan’s army arrived and launched an attack, he wouldn’t even have a chance to surrender and make amends.

After the two sides discussed the details of the operation, Wang Zhiren’s messenger returned to the city to report.

The next day, Li Lianfan led his army to Ningbo and put on a siege posture.

However, he didn’t immediately order an attack. He was waiting for Wang Zhiren to start a rebellion in the city.

Although Wang Zhiren’s messenger seemed sincere, Li Lianfan didn’t completely trust them and wouldn’t take risks easily.

Only when Wang Zhiren created chaos in the city and opened the city gates would he lead his army into the city.

This was equivalent to throwing all the risks to Wang Zhiren, while they were in an invincible position, with nothing to lose.

Inside Ningbo, a burst of fighting suddenly erupted.

Wang Zhiren’s troops suddenly launched an attack, attacking Zhu Yihai’s direct troops.

This sudden riot left Zhu Yihai’s troops in despair.

They couldn’t defeat the Wu army in the first place, and now there was an internal rebellion, so there was even less hope of resisting the Wu army.

Thinking of this, the soldiers and generals in Zhu Yihai’s troops lost their fighting spirit.

They didn’t fight Wang Zhiren to the death, but retreated while fighting, wanting to help Zhu Yihai escape from the city.

With the city gates wide open, Li Lianfan ordered his troops to enter the city, while also dividing his troops to block several city gates to prevent Zhu Yihai from escaping.

It was best to kill as many members of the Zhu family as possible.

If they were left alive, they could use the title of the Zhu family’s legitimate heir to cause trouble.

In the South, such as Zhejiang and Fujian, Wu Changqing’s influence was far less than that of the Zhu family. Those people and officials would still recognize the Zhu family’s legitimacy.

The Wu army rushed into the city and, together with Wang Zhiren’s troops, began to clear out the city.

At this time, the guard captain led his troops to Zhu Yihai’s palace and said, “Your Majesty, Wang Zhiren has launched a rebellion. Quickly follow me out of the city to escape.”

“Wang Zhiren, how dare he do this to me? I have never treated him unfairly.” Zhu Yihai said in grief and indignation.

In order to win over and appease Wang Zhiren, he had directly granted Wang Zhiren the title of duke.

“Your Majesty, time is of the essence. Let’s retreat through the tunnel.” The guard captain urged.

They had considered the possibility of an emergency in advance, so they had dug a tunnel in the city for use in emergencies.

They never expected that this preparation would actually be used now.

Although Zhu Yihai was grief-stricken, his instinct for survival was still there.

Immediately, he didn’t dare to waste any more words and followed the guard captain to the secret passage. He didn’t even care about his wife and children, for fear of delaying his escape.

Anyway, he was still young. As long as he could escape, with his status and position, he would never lack women.

As soon as he left the palace, he encountered Song Zhipu leading an army.

“Where is Your Majesty going?” Song Zhipu asked.

“Wang Zhiren has rebelled, and Ningbo has fallen. Minister Song, quickly follow me to the South.” Zhu Yihai still wanted to preserve some strength.

“Your Majesty, why bother? Even if you escape to the South, you can only hide for a while, not forever. Why not accept your fate?” Song Zhipu waved his hand, and his soldiers immediately blocked Zhu Yihai’s path.

“Song Zhipu, what do you mean by this?” The meaning was already very clear. Zhu Yihai was asking a question he already knew the answer to.

“How dare you! Are you trying to rebel?” The guard captain rebuked angrily.

“Take them all down. Kill anyone who resists.” Song Zhipu snorted coldly. So be it if it was a rebellion. Anyway, there were rebels everywhere in the world, and it wouldn’t make a difference if he was one more.

With his order, the two sides fought together.

No matter how down on his luck Zhu Yihai was, he still had a group of people loyal to him.

He had spent a lot of money to support these guards.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate. Zhu Yihai’s guard captain became more and more anxious, while Song Zhipu became more and more relaxed.

After all, Zhu Yihai needed to escape, while Song Zhipu only needed to hold them back. The difficulty for the two sides was completely different.

As they were fighting, another army came from afar.

Looking at the attire of those people, Song Zhipu felt even better.

“Tie white cloth on your arms.” Song Zhipu ordered. This was their agreement with the Wu army, to tie white cloth to distinguish friend from foe.

With the Wu army joining the battle, Zhu Yihai’s little bit of guards were not enough.

Soon, they were forced into a corner.

“Lay down your weapons and surrender.” It was Zhu Yihai who said this. He knew that continuing to resist was meaningless.

Surrendering now might give him a chance of survival.

After all, if Wu Changqing wanted to kill him, he would have to worry about public opinion.

Perhaps, for the sake of his reputation, Wu Changqing would keep him well.

Just as Zhu Yihai was fantasizing, a gunshot rang out, and a blood hole appeared in his forehead.

A sniper quietly put down his gun. He had been personally instructed by Li Lianfan to find an opportunity to kill Zhu Yihai and relieve Wu Changqing’s worries.

It wasn’t appropriate for Wu Changqing to order Zhu Yihai’s death, but if his subordinates ‘accidentally’ killed him, it would have nothing to do with Wu Changqing.

As subjects, whether it was Liu Hansan or Li Lianfan, they had all decided on one thing. Zhu Yihai couldn’t be captured alive. Capturing a corpse was the best outcome.

Chapter 344: The Difficulty of Marching

Liu Hansan arrived in Ningbo only to discover that he had made a wasted trip.

Zhu Yihai was dead, and the Lu Wang regime had been completely crushed.

Apart from Fang Guoan, there was no resistance anywhere else. A single imperial edict would be enough to make those small places surrender.

With this, the war in the South had temporarily come to an end.

Zhu Yujian, further south, could be dealt with later.

Their army had previously fought a major battle in the North, and then made a long-distance raid to the South. The series of battles had resulted in many casualties.

The soldiers in the army were not only physically exhausted, but also mentally drained, and needed rest and recuperation.

Even the soldiers of the Wu army could not withstand continuous high-intensity combat.

More importantly, Liu Hansan wanted to return to Nanjing to attend Wu Changqing’s enthronement ceremony. Continuing south might cause him to miss this major event.

Therefore, Liu Hansan decided to retreat back to Nanjing for rest and reorganization, as planned.

After attending the enthronement ceremony, he would then focus on heading south to eliminate Zhu Yujian and completely pacify the South.

Leaving behind five thousand elite troops and five thousand reorganized surrendered soldiers in Ningbo, Liu Hansan led the main force to return to Nanjing by boat in batches.

He didn’t want to travel those mountain roads again; they were exhausting.

At the same time, Huangshan had also been captured, and the main force began to return.

Only Xue Guiren’s detachment was still fighting.

“Damn it, Fang Guoan, that coward, a shrinking turtle! What kind of hero does he think he is by hiding?”

In a mountain gully, Xue Guiren cursed loudly.

Along the way, they had been constantly harassed by Fang Guoan’s troops.

The Ming army didn’t engage them directly, but hid along the Wu army’s inevitable route, then suddenly popped out, throwing stones and grenades onto the road from the mountains.

Then, depending on the situation, if the Wu army was thrown into disarray, they would charge out to fight.

If the Wu army remained calm, they would retreat into the dense forest.

Xue Guiren was afraid of being ambushed and didn’t dare to pursue.

Moreover, without familiarity with the terrain, it wouldn’t be easy to chase them anyway.

As a result, the Wu army could only passively take a beating along the way, unable to retaliate, which was very awkward and demoralizing.

In addition to ambushes, the Ming army also extensively damaged the roads along the way.

Bridges were cut down in some places, roads were blocked by boulders in some places, and large pits were dug in other places. As the Wu army marched, soldiers would fall into the traps.

Although the Wu army’s losses weren’t significant along the way, the continuous casualties and the inability to retaliate against the enemy were still quite demoralizing.

“Haven’t you found a suitable place to camp yet?”

Xue Guiren asked.

The sky had already darkened, and the Wu army urgently needed to set up camp.

However, camping wasn’t something that could be done just anywhere.

It couldn’t be at the foot of the mountain, otherwise the Ming army could throw boulders or fireballs down from the mountaintop.

It couldn’t be by the river, in case there was a reservoir upstream, and the Ming army could dig it open and use the flood to wash away their camp.

In short, there were many things to consider when setting up camp.

“Report, there’s a relatively large open space two li ahead, and the terrain is high, which seems suitable for camping.”

The sentry replied.

“Then speed up the march and seize the time to set up camp before dark.”

…

On an unnamed mountain peak, Fang Guoan held up his binoculars and watched the Wu army busily setting up camp, saying helplessly, “The generals in the Wu army are very experienced. They haven’t made any mistakes along the way.”

He had originally planned to defeat the Wu army by relying on the complex mountainous terrain. However, the Wu army’s generals had demonstrated extremely high military qualities, making no mistakes along the way and giving him no chance to strike.

Fang Guoan knew he was no match in a direct confrontation. He couldn’t find an opportunity to use tricks either, and he was suffering.

“I heard that the Wu army’s soldiers are required to attend night school to learn to read, and the officers are required to attend military academies to study military theory. They also have staff agencies that work together to brainstorm ideas, making it difficult to make mistakes.”

A deputy general said.

Even soldiers could read; this was too extravagant and unbelievable.

In their army, many squad leaders, section leaders, and even centurions were illiterate.

As for systematic military theory, forget about it. Most of them relied on accumulated combat experience.

In terms of military quality, they were several levels below the Wu army.

“General, what if they don’t fall for any of our tricks and don’t come after us, and head straight for Jinhua?”

Another general asked.

Their plan was to use the favorable terrain along the road to ambush the Wu army, lure them in, and so on, trying to use these methods to find a perfect opportunity to defeat the Wu army.

Once the Wu army didn’t fall for their tricks and headed straight for Jinhua, they would be in trouble.

Retreating back to Jinhua to defend the city was definitely not an option.

Not retreating back to Jinhua and staying on this mountain, the Wu army couldn’t defeat them.

However, the Wu army could control the plains around Jinhua by occupying Jinhua.

With just one move of clearing the fields, taking away the surrounding grain, Fang Guoan and his men would be defeated.

There were tens of thousands of them, and they couldn’t find enough food in this mountain.

Without food, would these soldiers continue to follow Fang Guoan? Probably the day after the food ran out, these soldiers would mutiny.

“Look for an opportunity to launch a night attack tonight. If there’s a chance, take it. If not, continue to harass them.”

Fang Guoan didn’t answer that question, because he didn’t know what to do either.

All he could do was take it one step at a time. If the night attack was successful, that question wouldn’t need to be considered anymore.

If the night attack failed, then it would be troublesome.

The Wu army was now only one day’s journey away from the mountain pass. Tomorrow, the Wu army could leave the mountain and arrive at Zhuji County.

Once they left the mountain, it would be even more difficult for them to find an opportunity to defeat the Wu army.

Therefore, tonight was their last chance.

“Yes, sir.”

Several subordinates said.

However, although they shouted loudly, they might not have meant it.

Although these people had followed Fang Guoan for many years, and Fang Guoan had treated them very well in the past.

However, now that Fang Guoan was stubborn and incorrigible, they didn’t want to follow him to their deaths.

If there was hope, they could still risk their lives.

But now, everyone in the army, even some ordinary soldiers, could see that they had no chance of winning.

If they had even a little bit of ability to resist, they wouldn’t have been reduced to only daring to harass, and not daring to fight a single battle head-on.

Where to go from here? These people also had their own ideas.

However, they still needed to wait for an opportunity.

At night, the Ming army began to move, quietly approaching the Wu army’s camp.

However, they soon encountered an awkward scene.

In this terrain, large-scale troop movements inevitably created a lot of noise.

Either they bumped into trees, or they broke branches, or they knocked stones down the mountain.

The Wu army’s sentries heard these noises from afar, and immediately fired signal flares to warn the others.

Chapter 345: Playing Along

The Wu army, who had just fallen asleep, hurriedly got up and prepared to meet the enemy.

But after they were ready, they found that they had worked in vain. The Ming army hadn’t come to attack at all.

The Ming army wasn’t stupid. They had already woken up the Wu army in advance, so there was no element of surprise in a night raid. What was the point of attacking?

“It seems that the enemy’s intention isn’t a night raid, but still harassment,” the staff officer said.

“We all guessed that, but no one can guarantee they won’t turn a feint into a real attack. So we still can’t let our guard down. This is a ploy to exhaust us,” another officer said.

The so-called ploy to exhaust the enemy is to use a small number of soldiers to harass the enemy. Because you’re not sure of the other side’s true strength, you don’t dare to be careless and must go all out.

Over time, your own side will become exhausted, and when you relax, you will be defeated by the enemy in one fell swoop.

“There’s no other way, let’s adopt a shift system. Let half the people sleep, and the other half keep watch,” someone came up with a relatively clumsy but very safe method.

As long as half the people are on watch, the other half can sleep peacefully. Half the force is enough to block the enemy’s attack.

However, this is equivalent to reducing the whole army’s original four hours of sleep to only two hours.

“Then let’s do that, extend the rest time a bit, two and a half hours for each batch,” Xue Guiren said. This meant delaying the march by one hour the next day.

After the plan was made, the others began to execute it.

One group went to sleep, while the other group sat in the camp, warming themselves by the fire, ready to move at any time.

As they expected, less than half an hour later, the Ming army came sneaking over again.

However, the sound they made still alerted the Wu army’s sentries.

Then, the Ming army retreated again.

“Maybe we could let those sentries pretend they didn’t notice, don’t give the alarm, and lure the Ming army to us. Then we’ll give them a counter-ambush and make them suffer,” a regimental commander, warming himself by the fire, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of an idea.

This idea sounded like it had a certain feasibility.

“It probably won’t be easy to fool them, after all, as long as the enemy isn’t stupid, they’ll be wary if they see our sentries suddenly asleep,” another officer said.

“Anyway, there’s no harm in trying. If it works, great, if not, we’ll just lose a few sentries. The return is worth a try,” Zhang Youming, who first proposed the plan, became more and more excited. If this plan succeeded, the credit would naturally be his.

“But the division commander and the others are asleep. Your trick isn’t that brilliant. Do you dare to disturb them and wake them up?” another regimental commander complained. Theoretically, they could actually make this decision themselves.

However, the advantage of reporting it is that if the plan fails, the main responsibility lies with the commander.

If they implemented the plan privately without reporting it, it would be best if it succeeded, but if it failed and caused losses, they would have to bear full responsibility.

“There’s no need to report it. We can decide for ourselves. I’ll just ask one question, do you dare to do it together?”

Zhang Youming used a provocative tactic.

The others didn’t say anything, obviously not wanting to take the risk.

“Okay, you don’t want to do it, right? I’ll do it alone,” Zhang Youming said with a sneer, almost provoking the others to burst into curses.

They were all keeping watch together. If Zhang Youming lured the Ming army over, they would have to join the battle whether they agreed or not.

Now, they were grasshoppers tied to the same rope.

In the end, the others were forced to agree to cooperate.

Afterwards, the Wu army’s sentries were replaced with a few people Zhang Youming had instructed.

After these few people went over, they directly poured wine on each other until they were all drunk.

They had never encountered such a good thing as being able to drink while on sentry duty.

Nearly an hour later, the Ming army came to harass them again.

But this time, they had already approached the Wu army’s camp, and the Wu army’s sentries didn’t react, didn’t fire signal flares.

“Go up and take a look,” a Ming army general arranged for a few soldiers to sneak up to the Wu army’s sentry position.

Then, they brought back good news: the Wu army’s sentries were drunk and asleep.

“How could this be?” the Ming army’s centurion felt a trace of confusion. They had made it clear that they would constantly harass them tonight. In theory, the Wu army would definitely strengthen their defenses.

In this situation, how could their sentries be so careless as to drink, and even get drunk?

After all, the Wu army wasn’t a rabble, it was a disciplined elite force.

“It’s true, the humble ones saw it clearly. I even stole their signal flares, and they didn’t react,” the soldiers said.

“If that’s the case, General, let’s launch a real night raid. As long as the night raid is successful, we can defeat the enemy once and for all,” another lieutenant said.

“Immediately report to the rear and request support,” the Ming army centurion said.

The number of people in this batch who came to harass was limited, less than a thousand.

To launch a real night raid, they needed more troops.

The news quickly reached Fang Guoan in the rear, and Fang Guoan also vaguely felt uneasy.

However, finding an opportunity to attack the Wu army was their established plan.

They were worried about not having a chance during the day, and now that they had an opportunity, they couldn’t possibly give it up.

“Order the entire army to advance, launch a full-scale attack, and fight the Wu army to the death. As long as we win this battle, we can have at least half a year of peace in Jinhua,” Fang Guoan said.

Subsequently, the Ming army’s main force arrived at the Wu army’s camp one after another and joined up with the harassment force.

They were less than two hundred meters away from the Wu army’s camp, and could reach it and launch an attack in the blink of an eye.

“Go, at this distance, they definitely won’t have time to react,” Fang Guoan gave an order, and then the Ming army gave up hiding their figures and sounds, and strode towards the Wu army’s camp.

“They’re here, as expected. Get ready,” Zhang Youming shouted excitedly. The Wu army soldiers, who had been prepared for a long time, had already lined up, raised their guns, and loaded their ammunition.

As the figures of the Ming army appeared only a dozen meters away from them, they fired their guns at the same time.

This wave of gunfire startled the Wu army who were still sleeping. At the same time, it also stunned Fang Guoan in the distance.

The moment he heard the gunfire, he understood that he had fallen into a trap.

He had lost, lost to his eagerness to defeat the Wu army. If he had been a little more patient, he definitely wouldn’t have fallen into such a low-level trap.

“Ah, we’ve been tricked, run!”

The moment the guns fired, the Ming army rushing in front collapsed. In fact, not too many people died in this round of shooting. However, they still looked like they had suffered a major defeat.

After all, everyone who participated in the night raid knew that the core point of a night raid was to catch the enemy off guard.

But now, the Wu army was prepared, while they were unprepared.

It would be a miracle if such a night raid could succeed.

Chapter 346: Zhu Dadian

“General, let’s retreat quickly!”

The moment the Wu army’s guns fired, Fang Guoan’s personal guards urged him.

The night raid had failed, and the soldiers at the front were undoubtedly doomed.

The panic caused by the failure was enough to break down an army like theirs.

Especially at night, there was no way to salvage the situation.

At this point, running away was Fang Guoan’s only option.

If they hesitated any longer, their command headquarters would be overrun.

Too many unexpected things could happen in the dead of night. Anything was possible.

“Alas, Heaven wants me dead!”

In despair, Fang Guoan’s mind was on the verge of collapse, and he actually attributed his failure to Heaven targeting him.

Seeing this, Fang Guoan’s subordinates propped him up and prepared to order a retreat.

“What’s going on?”

Xue Guiren, hearing the gunfire, quickly got out of bed and asked his personal guard.

The personal guard didn’t know what was happening and couldn’t answer any questions.

“Send the order to wake up the other half of the soldiers and be vigilant.”

After saying that, Xue Guiren left his tent, eager to understand the situation.

Soon, someone from Zhang Youming’s unit came to report.

Hearing that the Ming army had fallen into their trap and that the situation was excellent, and that Zhang Youming was requesting to pursue, Xue Guiren’s mood immediately improved.

Those people had been harassing him all day, and now he finally had a chance to catch them.

“Let him lead his troops to pursue.”

Xue Guiren didn’t commit all his forces, as he feared this might be another trick by the Ming army, and he wanted to keep a way out.

At the front, Zhang Youming had already led his men to charge forward.

After only two rounds of volleys, the Ming army had already turned tail and fled.

They had come to launch a surprise attack, but instead, they had fallen into a trap. From officers to soldiers, no one wanted to continue fighting; they just wanted to escape back to the rear.

They turned and ran, but encountered a big problem.

The soldiers behind them didn’t know that the ones in front had been ambushed and were still rushing forward.

The two groups collided, creating a chaotic scene.

When the people behind also realized they had been ambushed, they scrambled to escape, causing even more confusion.

This kind of chaos would be fatal even in broad daylight, let alone at night.

Of course, the Wu army’s pursuit was not easy either.

Poor visibility, difficult terrain, and other factors caused the Wu army to stop after chasing for a while.

Continuing the pursuit would be too risky. Even if the Ming army didn’t have an ambush, they would soon become scattered and lost.

After dawn, the Wu army tallied the situation from the previous night.

They hadn’t killed many Ming soldiers, only finding fewer than five hundred bodies.

Moreover, only a little over two hundred of these deaths were directly caused by firearms; the rest were due to trampling.

They hadn’t captured many Ming soldiers either, only a little over four hundred.

It seemed like the results were minimal.

But in reality, this didn’t mean that the Ming army’s losses were small.

By the time Fang Guoan led the remaining troops back to Zhuji, he only had fewer than five thousand soldiers left.

As for the other six or seven thousand who had disappeared, no one knew where they had gone.

Some had gotten lost, while others had chosen to become bandits.

And even more had proactively sought out the Wu army after dawn, requesting to surrender.

As the Wu army advanced, the number of prisoners who came to surrender after they left the mountains had reached over three thousand.

These were mostly low-ranking officers leading their troops to surrender together.

They had wanted to surrender for a long time, but they had never had the opportunity.

The chaos caused by the night raid had given them a good chance to break away from the main force, and there was no danger in surrendering.

Looking at the prisoners who kept coming over, Xue Guiren was speechless.

He had been fighting for so many years, but this was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

Only now did he understand the value of Wu Changqing’s preferential treatment of prisoners.

After leaving the mountains, the Wu army simply reorganized and controlled the prisoners, and then continued to advance.

The Ming army, on the other hand, was in full retreat. There was no need to defend a small county town like Zhuji.

During the retreat, the Ming army inexplicably lost nearly another thousand men, almost making Fang Guoan cough up blood and die.

They retreated all the way to Jinhua, where their troops joined up with Zhu Dadian, who was stationed in Jinhua.

Unfortunately, the two sides combined only had about eight thousand men, and their morale was extremely low.

Fang Guoan had fallen ill and was bedridden.

His generals were discussing with Zhu Dadian how to defend Jinhua next.

“At this point, we can only do our best and leave the rest to fate,”

Zhu Dadian said.

The methods of defending a city hadn’t changed much in thousands of years.

Now that the Wu army suddenly had so many new siege tactics, how could they find a way to counter them in such a short time?

Zhu Dadian could be considered a battle-hardened figure. Back when he put down Kong Youde’s rebellion, Wu Sangui, Liu Liangzuo and others were only junior officers under his command.

But even with a lifetime of military experience, he was now helpless against the Wu army.

“Why don’t we just surrender? We’re all Han Chinese, and Wu Changqing won’t do anything to us,”

Qu Liang, the Prefect of Jinhua, suggested.

Scholarly officials like him had the least fighting spirit.

As long as they didn’t resist, they could still be officials under the Wu army. What did it matter?

“We receive the Emperor’s salary, so we must share the Emperor’s worries. I, Zhu Dadian, will only be loyal to the Great Ming in my life, and will not be loyal to a traitor,”

Zhu Dadian snorted coldly, and Qu Liang immediately shut his mouth, not daring to say anything more.

In chaotic times, scholarly officials had become worthless; those with soldiers were the real bosses.

On the surface, he didn’t say anything, but Qu Liang held a grudge in his heart.

“Why don’t we conscript some civilians to the city walls to help defend the city? Our troop strength is a bit insufficient,”

Someone suggested.

“No, ordinary civilians will be scared half to death just by hearing the sound of cannons, and they won’t be of much use. Lord Zhu, whether we can defend the city depends on fate, don’t harm innocent people,”

Qu Liang advised.

Zhu Dadian was silent for a while after hearing this, and finally agreed to Qu Liang’s suggestion, not conscripting civilians.

Because he himself was from Jinhua and didn’t want to see his fellow villagers die in vain.

Even trained professional soldiers were prone to collapse when facing the Wu army, so untrained civilians would be even more useless. Conscripting them would just be using them as cannon fodder.

After some discussion, in the end, no one came up with any good ideas, only some suggestions for minor improvements. However, these improvements wouldn’t determine the outcome of the battle.

After the meeting, several centurions found Qu Liang.

Qu Liang wasn’t the only one who wanted to surrender.

Not everyone had Zhu Dadian’s integrity, or rather, most people didn’t have Zhu Dadian’s loyalty to the Emperor.

These few people discussed it with Qu Liang and immediately decided to open the city gates to the Wu army.

When surrendering, it was best to offer a test of loyalty, so that they could enjoy better treatment after surrendering.

Afterward, Qu Liang arranged for his confidants to quietly leave the city and head towards the Wu army’s path to make contact.

Chapter 347: The Capture of Jinhua

The Wu army advanced all the way to the eastern outskirts of Jinhua, where they set up camp.

Here, Xue Guiren met with a trusted aide sent by Qu Liang.

Qu Liang wanted to surrender and was willing to cooperate with the Wu army from the inside, which was a pleasant surprise. Naturally, Xue Guiren welcomed the offer with open arms.

After agreeing on a plan, Xue Guiren did not immediately attack. Instead, he sent an envoy to request an audience with Zhu Dadian.

The inside-outside cooperation was just a backup plan; he had an even better trick up his sleeve: persuasion.

While in Hangzhou, Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying had sent Liu Hansan their personal letters, indicating that if he encountered Zhu Dadian, he could hand over the two letters to persuade him to surrender.

And now, it seemed that these two letters might actually come in handy.

Zhu Dadian had a good personal relationship with Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng. The two of them wanted to rely on their past connections to appeal to his emotions and reason with him.

The letters were delivered to Zhu Dadian, who tore them to shreds after reading them and drove away Xue Guiren’s envoy.

His good relationship with Ruan Dacheng and others was based on the premise that they were all officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Now that they served different masters, he was no longer willing to call Ma Shiying and the others brothers.

Historically, Zhu Dadian also tore up Ruan Dacheng’s letter of surrender, wholeheartedly loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

He was a bit of a pedant, and of course, his age was also a factor.

At his age, he had basically seen through everything, desiring nothing and seeking only to leave behind a reputation for loyalty to the emperor.

If he were twenty years younger, he might have had a different idea.

Zhu Dadian’s refusal to surrender didn’t bother Xue Guiren. He arranged for the army to rest for a day, and the next day he launched an attack.

Without cannons or air force, Xue Guiren was not worried at all.

The current Ming army had become a flock of frightened birds. How much fighting spirit could they still have?

As long as they could climb onto the city walls, the defending soldiers would flee in panic, and Jinhua could be declared captured.

The musketeers took the lead, suppressing the enemy and covering the others as they built pontoon bridges.

This was already the standard siege tactic of the Wu army, and they were very skilled at it.

Zhu Dadian wanted the archers to fight back, but the result was that they were too afraid to even raise their heads.

Seeing this, Zhu Dadian sighed and couldn’t help but think of Ruan Dacheng’s personal letter to him.

In the letter, Ruan Dacheng described the current situation in Nanjing, told him about all sorts of incredible things, and advised him to be pragmatic.

He urged him to save his life and come to Nanjing in his lifetime to see those novel things, so that he would not have lived in vain.

In fact, Zhu Dadian was quite tempted.

After all, Nanjing as described by Ruan Dacheng was like a celestial paradise.

More importantly, Wu Changqing was also a Han Chinese, and surrendering to Wu Changqing would not bring much infamy.

Now, those surrendered officials in Nanjing were all living very well.

However, in order to preserve his lifelong reputation, he ultimately restrained his curiosity.

Everyone has different pursuits. Some people pursue material life, while others pursue a little spiritual enjoyment.

In order to ensure that he was a loyal minister, Zhu Dadian completely disregarded the lives of his children and descendants.

Whether this was loyalty or blind loyalty was hard to say.

Before long, the Wu army had built the pontoon bridges with almost no losses, and the soldiers carrying siege ladders were approaching. Among them, some elites quietly approached the city gate.

As several signal flares soared into the sky, a commotion suddenly broke out in Jinhua.

“Kill, charge!”

The rebel army in the city launched a riot and were attacking the city gate.

This group of rebels numbered at least four or five hundred, and they charged towards the city gate together. The Ming army at the city gate could not hold them back at all.

In less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, the city gate was wide open, and the Wu army outside the city began to pour in.

At the same time, the Wu army in other places began to climb up the siege ladders, while the Ming army on the city walls had fallen into panic.

The city gate had already fallen. Was there any point in defending these city walls?

Just as they were stunned, the Wu army’s grenadiers threw grenades up, blasting them into a daze.

The soldiers who were still stunned immediately scattered and fled for their lives.

At this time, the city walls were in chaos and panic. No one was responsible for organizing the resistance, and even the officers took the lead in running away.

The city gate and city walls were the psychological defense line of the defenders. Once these two points were breached, there was no need to continue defending the city.

At this time, the surviving soldiers were not thinking about how to defend the city, but about how to find an opportunity to surrender.

Watching this scene, Zhu Dadian felt exhausted.

“Everyone, flee for your lives.”

Zhu Dadian wanted to achieve his own reputation for loyalty to the emperor, but he didn’t want to force his subordinates to die with him.

So, he allowed his subordinates to surrender or flee.

After speaking, he took advantage of others’ unpreparedness and slit his throat with a knife.

This was a true suicide. It was difficult for others to react in time to stop someone who really wanted to commit suicide.

Those who shouted loudly before committing suicide, reminding their subordinates to come and stop them, never really intended to commit suicide, such as Hong Chengchou and others.

“General!”

The crowd cried out a few times as a formality, just to show their respect.

Next, those who should surrender surrendered, and those who should flee fled.

There were also those who followed Zhu Dadian in death, but not many, only two.

Moreover, both of them were personal guards who had followed him since they were young.

As for the subordinate generals, not a single one committed suicide to follow him.

Two was not bad. In later generations, there wouldn’t even be half of one.

The Ming army had no commander, and none of the remaining subordinate generals gave orders. No one stopped the fleeing soldiers.

The city defense was as if there was no defense at all.

Large numbers of Ming soldiers surrendered one after another, and the officers also led their subordinates in surrendering in an organized manner.

There was still some sporadic resistance, but it was not because they were loyal to the emperor, but because they were relatively stupid and did not realize the changes on the battlefield in time, and were still resisting foolishly.

Little did they know that other places had already surrendered.

These relatively stupid people naturally lost their lives.

The Wu army would not be polite to them. If they didn’t surrender, they would be killed.

Soon, the sounds of fighting in Jinhua gradually subsided.

This siege was not very intense, and the victory was very easy.

After the war, statistics showed that less than one hundred Wu troops were killed, and the Ming army died a little more, but only about three or four hundred.

Zhu Dadian of the Ming army chose to commit suicide, and Fang Guoan, upon learning of the defeat and the fall of the city while on his sickbed, also chose to commit suicide.

With Jinhua taken, there was no need to attack Quzhou in the west. Just send a team to take over, as there were not many defenders there.

At this point, the battle of Jinhua came to an end, and the north-central region of Zhejiang fell into the hands of the Wu army.

Xue Guiren left a small number of troops to garrison the area, and then returned to Nanjing with his troops.

Like Liu Hansan, he was also rushing back to attend the enthronement ceremony.

He didn’t want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime grand ceremony.

Chapter 348: Formal Announcement

After receiving news of Zhu Yihai’s death, Wu Changqing formally announced in the newspapers that he would ascend the throne on the tenth day of October, establishing the nation of Great Hua.

Previously, the newspapers had only engaged in various forms of public opinion campaigns, making various hints and laying the groundwork, but without any official announcement.

Although everyone guessed that Wu Changqing was going to ascend the throne, many people still didn’t believe it before the official announcement.

But now that Wu Changqing had formally announced it, those who didn’t believe it had to.

The world was changing again, and it had been changing constantly in recent years. First Li Zicheng, then Prince Fu, then the Qing Dynasty, then Prince Lu, and now Great Hua.

Many people were praying, hoping this would be the last time. The continuous turmoil left the people without any sense of security.

Each change of dynasty was a major event, and taverns everywhere were filled with people discussing it.

“The Ming Dynasty has finally fallen.”

A tavern owner lamented.

“What’s so bad about the fall of the Ming Dynasty? Did you earn more during the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, or do you earn more now?”

An old patron retorted.

“Hehe, this Great Hua that His Majesty is about to establish is much better. The autumn rice harvest has already begun, and it is said that the Wu Rice bestowed by His Majesty can really yield over one thousand Jin per mu.

Now the price of grain has fallen across the board, and my cost of brewing wine is also greatly reduced.”

The tavern owner chuckled. He didn’t care who was the emperor, as long as they brought him benefits, they were a good emperor.

Wu Changqing’s hybrid rice had resulted in a bumper harvest, leading to lower brewing costs, and he was one of the beneficiaries.

So, if there were a vote, he would unhesitatingly cast his vote for Wu Changqing.

“Well, you old Liu rascal, now you’ve let the cat out of the bag, haven’t you? The cost of brewing has decreased, but you haven’t lowered the price of your wine. You really are a black-hearted fellow.”

The old patron complained.

Upon hearing this, Old Liu secretly thought something was amiss, blaming himself for being too outspoken. He could only quickly try to remedy the situation: “This cost reduction is for the future. Before, I was still using expensive grain, okay? Fine, to celebrate His Majesty’s ascension and the establishment of a new dynasty, I announce that all wine will be reduced by ten percent from now on. Drink yourselves to death, you old drunks.”

“Hahaha…”

Hearing Old Liu’s curse, everyone burst into laughter. They could drink a little more in the future.

For drunks, this was the greatest happiness.

If they had to choose, they would definitely choose Wu Changqing.

West River Academy.

Everyone looked at the newspaper, still a little unable to believe the news printed on it.

The misguided and incompetent ruler Zhu Yihai died from a stray bullet, and Wu Changqing announced his ascension to the throne and the founding of a new nation, taking control of the Central Plains.

It hadn’t been long since Zhu Yihai’s sudden attack on Suzhou, less than two months.

Too fast, too sudden.

“This world has finally changed hands. Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers born with a silver spoon in their mouths? This world should belong to those who are capable.”

One scholar said. Only during a change of dynasty would he dare to say, “Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers born with a silver spoon in their mouths?” Saying such a thing in the past would have easily gotten him labeled.

“Dynastic changes are perfectly normal. The Zhu family lost the hearts of the people, plundering their wealth and supporting hundreds of thousands of Zhu family nobles. Their overthrow is a cause for celebration.”

After Wu Changqing and his people disclosed some data, many people had no good feelings towards the Zhu family.

Hundreds of thousands of people didn’t have to work and were supported by the court. How could others be convinced?

“His Majesty has great ambitions and wants to recreate the glorious era of Emperor Wu of Han. Unifying the world is just around the corner.”

Wu Changqing hadn’t officially ascended the throne yet, but that didn’t stop them from flattering him in advance.

Of course, some people genuinely believed this.

After all, everyone could see what Wu Changqing had done, as long as they weren’t blind.

Starting with three hundred local militia, he took the lead, killing countless enemies. He invented Wu Rice, benefiting the people, and produced steel on a large scale, enriching the country and strengthening the people…

Leaving aside everything else, the visual impact of the ten thousand red brick houses that Wu Changqing built for the displaced people was shocking enough.

Rows of uniform, beautifully designed, and structurally sound two-story buildings were simply the most fashionable residences of this era.

Many families in Nanjing were willing to exchange their houses for those of the displaced people.

And these houses, it was said that Wu Changqing was going to build one hundred thousand of them.

These great achievements could not be ignored by anyone.

Amidst the chorus of praise, Li Yao quietly hid in a corner, no longer saying a word.

He had previously made many remarks expressing dissatisfaction with Wu Changqing, but at that time, Wu Changqing was nominally a subject of Zhu Yihai. He mistakenly believed that the world would ultimately be controlled by Zhu Yihai.

Now, reality had slapped him in the face.

He also began to regret it. He had said so many things he shouldn’t have said in the past. If someone with ulterior motives remembered them and reported him, he would inevitably be in trouble.

Now, he could only keep a low profile and follow the crowd, starting to learn those miscellaneous subjects that he once hated so much.

On the streets, major well-known shops displayed banners.

To celebrate His Majesty’s ascension and the founding of the nation, their goods would be discounted by ten percent from now until the day of the ascension.

This was the merchants flattering Wu Changqing, and at the same time, it was a marketing tactic.

Although they were discounted by ten percent, they would sell more, and their profits would not be less.

It was a win-win situation, so why not do it?

And people who came to buy goods, no matter what they bought, would be subtly instilled with a concept.

They were able to buy cheap goods because of Wu Changqing’s ascension to the throne.

Naturally, they would also support Wu Changqing, support Wu Changqing’s regime, and wish that Wu Changqing would overthrow himself in the future and then ascend the throne every day.

That way, they would have cheap things to use.

If only one or two merchants did this, the effect would not be very obvious. However, when the entire street uniformly displayed such banners, a quantitative change would produce a qualitative change.

A single banner might not look special, but hundreds of banners connected together could also create a spectacular feeling.

No matter where the people went, they could see everyone celebrating Wu Changqing’s ascension and the founding of the nation.

“The Ming was unclear, the Zhu family failed. Great Hua is prosperous, happiness has arrived…”

In the streets and alleys, a folk song had appeared at some point. Children held candy in their hands and sang it tirelessly.

They would get a piece of candy for every time they sang it. They could sing it until dark without getting tired.

These methods were, of course, also created by the government.

They now wanted to bombard the people, telling them that the newly established Great Hua Empire was a better dynasty, and the former Ming Dynasty was very bad.

As long as the people recognized the Great Hua Empire, those officials and ambitious people with bad intentions would not be able to stir up trouble.

Without the support of the people, those officials who were unwilling to accept the new order were just farts.

Rebellion? Relying on them to take up knives to attack cities and seize territory? That was a joke.

He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world. This sentence was not said casually.

Chapter 349: Endorsement

Inside the Governor-General’s office, officials bustled in and out, each appearing very busy.

However, smiles adorned everyone’s faces.

Finally, the nation was about to be founded, and they were about to be promoted. Naturally, these people were delighted.

Previously, Wu Changqing was merely a second-rank Governor-General. Naturally, his subordinates couldn’t surpass that rank; that would be quite inappropriate.

But after Wu Changqing ascended the throne, there would be three additional Grand Preceptors holding the rank of first-rank, namely Grand Preceptor, Grand Mentor, and Grand Guardian.

There would also be six from the first rank, namely the Three Solitary Ministers and the Three Teachers. There would be even more from the second rank, including the Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, the Three Junior Tutors, and the Left Chief Imperial Censor, among others.

In short, with the establishment of the new nation, there would be a plethora of official positions, and most people could expect promotions, with plenty of opportunities.

This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Once the government stabilized, climbing higher would be much more difficult.

Many people spent their entire lives unable to reach the central cabinet.

Those who had followed Wu Changqing from the beginning were waiting for this very moment.

“Lord Liu, have you found out anything? What position will you be promoted to this time?”

Two officials who had left the Governor-General’s office together walked side by side, and one inquired.

“How would I dare ask about that? Whatever position His Majesty bestows upon me, that is what I will do,” the official surnamed Liu replied.

However, the other person didn’t believe him at all, retorting, “Come on, stop with the official jargon. I’ll go first, alright? They plan to transfer me to the Ministry of Revenue, to be a director in the Statistics Department.”

Upon hearing this, Lord Liu no longer concealed anything. Anyway, this wasn’t a secret matter; it would be announced soon.

He said, “I can’t compare to you. I’m going to the Procurement Department of the Ministry of Industry, also as a director with the fifth rank.”

Both the Procurement Department and the Statistics Department were new departments established by Wu Changqing.

After all, some tasks were not important in the past and could be managed by other departments. But now, with the increasing amount of data that needed to be collected, statistics had become a very important task.

Therefore, Wu Changqing established a separate department for it, and the same was true for the Procurement Department.

There were many such changes in the Six Ministries.

“Damn you, you’re better off than me. How about we go talk to Lord Gu and see if we can switch places?” the director of the Ministry of Revenue cursed.

In the old Ming Dynasty, a director in the Ministry of Revenue was naturally much better than a director in the Ministry of Industry. Although they were of the same rank, in terms of power, the director of the Ministry of Revenue was at least one level higher.

But now, in the Great Hua Dynasty, the Ministry of Industry was the hot commodity.

Many big shots wanted to join the Ministry of Industry because it was easy to achieve political achievements.

Building a few large factories could directly reach the Emperor’s ears.

But the Ministry of Revenue was in charge of traditional agricultural affairs and didn’t have many opportunities to achieve political achievements unless Wu Changqing planned to carry out large-scale water conservancy projects.

“What you’re saying is nonsense. The appointment and removal of officials is not child’s play. I won’t say any more. I’ll go get busy,” the director of the Ministry of Industry said with a smile before walking away.

The director of the Ministry of Revenue looked somewhat depressed, but in reality, he was already an extremely lucky person.

You see, last year, he was just a destitute scholar without any official rank, dreaming of being favored by a wealthy young lady and then being taken care of.

He had failed the imperial examinations three times in a row and was disheartened.

This loser happened to catch up with Wu Changqing opening a university, and he went to study there with the thought of using a dead horse as a living horse doctor.

Then, with his talent in numbers, he scored second place in mathematics and got a small position as a statistical clerk, and he has been working his way up until now, finally becoming a director of the fifth rank.

This kind of experience would never have been possible in the Ming Dynasty.

And officials like him were the most supportive of the Great Hua regime.

In the military camp, some soldiers were gossiping about current affairs and policies.

“Commander Tang, is that news true? Will the household registration system be abolished in the future? Can our children also study and become officials?”

A group of soldiers surrounded Tang Guozhen and asked.

“That’s right, this matter has basically been decided. This is a benefit that His Majesty fought for with many ministers for a long time in order to reward you soldiers.

Don’t forget who is good to you. Those who are not married should hurry up and find a wife. In the future, if your children want to join the army, they can join the army; if they want to study, they can study. No one can stop them.”

Tang Guozhen took the opportunity to criticize those civil officials again. Sure enough, when those soldiers heard this, they were all cursing those civil officials for being useless and not knowing the hardships of fighting.

In the past, the household registration system of the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the descendants of soldiers could only be soldiers. This system was naturally unpopular.

The more people who had been soldiers and seen the cruelty of the battlefield, the less they wanted their children to be soldiers.

In the past, they had no choice, so their attitude towards being a soldier was extremely negative, so the soldiers of the Green Standard Army had no combat power.

But now, Wu Changqing announced the abolition of this system and gave these soldiers hope, so of course they were happy.

“How could we forget His Majesty’s kindness? If it weren’t for His Majesty, we would still be suffering from the Tatar’s oppression,” some soldiers said.

“Stop, don’t say such things again. His Majesty hopes that the Manchus and Han are one family, and there must be no discrimination against Manchu soldiers in the military camp. The things of the past were all the fault of those noble lords in the Qing court, and we can’t blame those ordinary soldiers,” Tang Guozhen quickly corrected.

Now, there are more than forty thousand Manchu and Mongolian soldiers who have surrendered and defected in the military camp, which is a considerable force.

The consensus above is to eliminate barriers and not allow differential treatment.

Of course, this is not something that can be resolved in a day or two. Just like now, some people who have been bullied by Eight Banners soldiers in the past will always make a distinction between the two sides in their hearts.

“Yes, Commander, I was wrong.”

“Commander is right, it’s all the fault of those Tatar nobles. Their ordinary soldiers are still easy to get along with. I was drinking with a Mongolian soldier yesterday.”

“We’ve all fought side by side. Let the past be the past.”

Another veteran patted the shoulder of the soldier who had been bullied in the past.

The news of the abolition of household registration spread in the army, and many soldiers cheered.

The faces of those officers were also smiling.

Some news has been revealed from above that some military generals will be ennobled at this enthronement ceremony.

Moreover, basically all those who are ennobled are military generals, and very few civil officials are ennobled.

This made those military generals very happy, which shows that in Wu Changqing’s heart, their army is still more important, and those civil officials are dispensable.

Under Wu Changqing’s deliberate guidance, discord between civil and military officials has become the norm in the Great Hua court.

Civil officials look down on military generals, thinking they are a bunch of ignorant brutes.

And military generals also look down on those civil officials, thinking they are a bunch of useless weaklings.

Only a few people can see Wu Changqing’s intentions, knowing that Wu Changqing is preventing civil and military officials from getting too close, which would be a threat.

Those who have seen through it are holding it in their hearts and not talking nonsense.

Those who haven’t seen through it are excitedly despising each other.

Chapter 350: Envoy of Peace

In late September, a Qing court envoy team entered Nanjing.

Leading the team was Ukshan, the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang’s own brother. He had been authorized by the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and many ministers to come to Nanjing to seek peace.

The previous decisive battle in the North had severely damaged the Qing Dynasty.

After that, Liu Guangqi, the garrison commander of Shanxi, rebelled, and so far, the Qing army has not completely quelled the rebellion, only driving Liu Guangqi back to Taiyuan.

It will probably take some time before it is completely pacified.

Meanwhile, Huainan and other places have successively fallen into the hands of the Wu army.

This shocked the entire Qing court, forcing them to discuss countermeasures.

Almost everyone agreed that the Qing Dynasty was no match for Wu Changqing for the time being.

If they wanted to contend, they had to first bide their time.

First, they would soften their stance and pledge allegiance, seeking time to develop and catch up, or wait for internal strife within the Wu army, and then seize the opportunity to act.

That’s right, they wanted to learn from their ancestor Nurhaci again.

In the past, Nurhaci also pledged allegiance to the Ming Dynasty, followed behind the Ming Dynasty, and constantly demanded benefits to grow.

Once they had slowly developed, they no longer obeyed and chose to oppose their master.

Coincidentally, they encountered Li Zicheng’s rebellion, and the Ming Dynasty was in internal chaos, giving them the right time and place to enter the pass.

This series of operations was extremely successful before Wu Changqing’s rise.

Unfortunately, in the end, they inexplicably lost to Wu Changqing.

Therefore, they wanted to seek peace again, pledge allegiance, and bide their time.

However, if they wanted to bide their time, Wu Changqing had to agree.

So, they sent such an envoy team to Nanjing to seek peace.

In the Governor-General’s office, Wu Changqing met with Ukshan alone.

“Greetings, Your Majesty of Great Hua, may Your Majesty live for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, and ten thousand times ten thousand years.”

Ukshan adopted a very humble posture, as the situation was not in their favor, and they had to bow their heads.

“Ukshan, what did the Qing court send you here for? Don’t tell me you want to divide the country along the Yangtze River with me again. I’m quite busy lately and don’t have time to joke with you.”

Wu Changqing said.

“We dare not, our dynasty dares not compete with Your Majesty for the world, we are willing to pledge allegiance to Your Majesty, guard the North for Your Majesty, and resist foreign enemies,”

Ukshan said.

His words surprised Wu Changqing slightly, because the Qing Dynasty had already proclaimed itself an empire, and to pledge allegiance to another dynasty would be a very shameful thing.

It could be said that if Wu Changqing agreed to their request, the Qing Dynasty’s face would be completely lost.

Wu Changqing had guessed that the Qing court might cede land and pay reparations, but he did not expect the Qing court to want to pledge allegiance.

However, after thinking about it carefully, Wu Changqing could understand their thoughts.

Now, the Qing Dynasty’s territory was not worth much. If they ceded too little, he would not care, and if they ceded too much, the Qing Dynasty would feel the pain.

As for reparations, the Qing Dynasty was so poor that they only had their underpants left. They couldn’t even sell their underpants to pay.

With no money and no land, they could only sell their dignity.

Selling dignity in exchange for substantial benefits, and after rising in the future, this act of selling dignity could also be interpreted as biding their time.

Wu Changqing smiled, “Besides your Manchus and Mongols, who else is there in the North that needs to be defended?”

Ukshan was embarrassed by this, and then said, “If Your Majesty is willing to accept our dynasty, our dynasty is willing to marry the current Empress Dowager to Your Majesty, and offer countless beauties of various kinds, ten thousand-year-old ginseng roots, and tens of thousands of cattle, sheep, and horses.”

Ukshan continued to show goodwill.

Wu Changqing didn’t care about the cattle, sheep, or ginseng he mentioned.

The entire history of the Jurchen people was not even one thousand years old, yet they offered thousand-year-old ginseng. Who could prove it? Did ginseng have growth rings to identify its age?

Moreover, even if it was a thousand-year-old ginseng, it might not be very nourishing. Its effects were all exaggerated. Anyway, Wu Changqing didn’t believe it.

What Wu Changqing cared about most was that the other party was willing to marry the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang to him. Wouldn’t he become the stepfather of the Shunzhi Emperor?

It had to be said that the Qing court had really invested heavily and made a firm decision, abandoning all face and dignity, seeking only a chance to survive and develop.

This move was ruthless enough. If Wu Changqing became the Shunzhi Emperor’s father, he would probably be too embarrassed to seize his son’s territory.

And this son would definitely be instilled with hatred and lessons, and would definitely turn against him in the future.

Their intentions were obvious.

Wu Changqing was naturally interested in the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, after all, she was the number one beauty of the Manchus and Mongols.

However, he could not give the Manchus a chance to develop for the sake of a woman.

Moreover, he didn’t necessarily have to have her marry him to get Xiaozhuang. Wouldn’t it be the same to just snatch her later? Who said that forced melons weren’t sweet?

After he finished with the affairs in the South, he would begin to recover the North. Moreover, he not only wanted to recover Beijing and other places, but he also didn’t want to let go of the region beyond the pass.

“I won’t beat around the bush with you. I’ll tell you clearly that I won’t allow two dynasties in this world. So, either the Qing Dynasty surrenders unconditionally as a whole, or I will lead troops to attack.

If you surrender now, I can guarantee the positions of those officials in the Qing court, and I can also preserve the identities of those nobles to a certain extent, and guarantee the equality of the Han, Manchu, and Mongol ethnic groups in the future.

This is my bottom line. Think about it carefully. You can give me an answer now, or you can go back and discuss it with those ministers.”

Wu Changqing stated his conditions, and he didn’t mind if he could peacefully liberate the entire North.

If the Qing court was unwilling to surrender, he didn’t care either.

In short, as the stronger party, Wu Changqing had countless choices.

And the Qing court only had one correct choice, which was to surrender.

If they surrendered now, Wu Changqing could still preserve some of their vested interests for the sake of saving him trouble.

If they continued to resist stubbornly, they shouldn’t expect a good end in the future. Ordinary people might escape, but those nobles would definitely have their homes confiscated.

“This…”

Ukshan was speechless after hearing Wu Changqing’s request.

The Qing Dynasty had never thought of surrendering completely and merging into Great Hua.

In that case, they would not have any autonomy, which was worse than being Wu Changqing’s dog.

Ukshan knew that his family would definitely not agree.

In fact, there were many voices of opposition in the Qing court, even to pledging allegiance and paying tribute to Wu Changqing.

The Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang had put in a lot of effort to win this condition.

But unexpectedly, Wu Changqing’s conditions were much harsher.

In this way, the two sides would definitely not be able to reach an agreement.

“Don’t be in a hurry to say no. How about this, tomorrow come with me to visit the military parade I’m preparing for the enthronement ceremony. At that time, you might slightly change your mind.”

Wu Changqing smiled.

Since this guy was still unwilling to give up, he would use powerful force to scare him.

Let him admire the honor guard of the Great Hua Empire and blind his dog eyes.

Chapter 351: Flexing Muscles

The next day, Ukeshan got up early, washed, and dressed neatly, waiting for Wu Changqing to summon him.

Around noon, they went to the military camp to inspect the drill team’s rehearsal.

This was a special item Wu Changqing requested to be added to the coronation ceremony. He wanted to hold an unprecedented military parade at the coronation.

To show off military strength, flex his muscles, and deter ambitious individuals with discontented thoughts.

Some dynasties in the past had also held military parades, but those were the affairs of military generals and were not held on important days. Calling them parades was more like an inspection and assessment of the army, focusing more on actual combat exercises.

But the parade that Wu Changqing was putting on was purely for show.

The goal was to look good while also demonstrating military discipline and strength.

People of this era had never seen soldiers goose-stepping, using unified steps to march in formation. Letting them witness it would definitely leave an unforgettable impression.

After all, that kind of uniform pace could give people a strong visual impact.

Its effect was even better than a battle between two armies.

The group arrived at the military camp, where arrangements had already been made.

Soon after, a team of three hundred and fifty-two people came to the stage. Among them, two were flag bearers leading the team. The other three hundred and fifty people were divided into fourteen columns, with twenty-five people in each column.

These soldiers wore brightly colored and very beautiful new uniforms, giving people a very energetic and pleasing feeling.

“Forward, march.”

As the officer’s command rang out, the three hundred and fifty-two people began to march forward in unison, like robots.

Everyone’s movements were exactly the same, and the size of their steps were also exactly the same. They looked as if they were carved from the same mold.

These people didn’t have to do anything else every day; they just trained in this, and their muscles had long formed a memory.

Therefore, they were able to do something that seemed incredible to outsiders.

Such a shocking scene made Ukeshan open his mouth wide. He couldn’t believe that the soldiers could do exactly the same thing.

This was unimaginable in their Manchu and Mongol tribes. Sometimes, the soldiers of their two tribes couldn’t even line up neatly.

Most soldiers couldn’t even distinguish between left and right.

Seeing the Wu army’s honor guard, Ukeshan finally understood why the Wu army was so powerful. This kind of military discipline was completely incomparable to other armies.

First to pass was the flintlock rifle unit, followed by the sword and shield soldiers. Their steps were smaller, but the core movements were the same, maintaining uniformity.

Next up were the grenadiers, bare-armed and exposing their arm muscles.

They were covered in grenades, maintaining one movement as they passed.

After that came the cavalry, whose performance made Ukeshan even more frightened.

He could understand soldiers maintaining a uniform pace. After all, people have strong learning abilities, and with more practice, they can become skilled.

However, the fact that the Wu army’s horses could also maintain almost similar movements was something he couldn’t understand or accept.

However, the principle was actually very simple: practice makes perfect.

Horses’ learning ability is not as good as humans, but as long as they are trained through a combination of rewards and beatings, they can also be trained to a rough approximation.

Seeing these honor guards, Ukeshan was speechless for a long time.

“How is it? My army is not bad, right? When I have my coronation ceremony, I’ll add some artillery and air force performances, and it will be even more exciting.”

Wu Changqing laughed.

“Your Majesty’s army has strict discipline and is indeed invincible in the world.”

Ukeshan’s tone was a bit dejected. The strength of the Wu army made him feel frightened.

“So, when you go back this time, you must make the power holders in your court understand that resistance is futile and surrender is their only way out.”

After speaking, Wu Changqing arranged for an official to accompany Ukeshan, and he went back first.

He couldn’t spend too much time chatting with this Ukeshan.

In short, he didn’t particularly care whether the Qing court surrendered or not.

After returning from the military camp, Ukeshan applied to Qian Taoli to visit their factories.

He was preparing to return to Beijing tomorrow, but before going back, he wanted to stroll around Nanjing and feel the strength of the Great Hua Empire.

He had seen some of the things among the common people before: the clean and spacious roads and streets, the carriages and rickshaws coming and going, the spectacular fountain landscapes, and the bustling East and West Markets, countless restaurants and shops…

All of these showed the prosperity of the Great Hua Empire, dazzling Ukeshan.

When he entered Beijing from outside the pass, he thought Beijing was the most prosperous place in the world.

However, after coming to Nanjing, he realized that Beijing was just a village.

After seeing the prosperity of the common people, Ukeshan wanted to visit the Great Hua’s armories and other iron and textile factories.

These were the fundamental reasons for the Great Hua Empire’s strength.

The request to visit the armory was rejected, as the armory involved too many military secrets.

However, the request to visit the iron and steel plant, textile factory, and other places was granted.

Anyway, even if he took a look, they wouldn’t be able to learn it.

Accompanied by a Ministry of Industry official, Ukeshan arrived at the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant.

Just at the gate, he saw a large number of steel knives and armor being loaded onto ships.

“These are goods being shipped to Songjiang and sold overseas.”

Ministry of Industry official Liang Xiaoke introduced.

“Won’t this be aiding the enemy?”

Ukeshan realized he had asked a pointless question as soon as he finished speaking. The Wu army was now fully re-equipping, and cold weapons were about to be completely eliminated.

Giving this trash to other countries would not pose any threat to them at all.

Thinking that most of his own army was still using swords, a cloud of gloom settled in Ukeshan’s heart again.

The weapons they were using were just garbage that Great Hua didn’t want. How could they fight this war?

Entering the factory, Ukeshan saw a behemoth, a very primitive hydraulic press.

This was a machine used to forge plate armor. It could quickly forge large pieces of steel, and the performance of the steel parts produced was much better than those forged by hand.

“How heavy is this iron block?” Ukeshan asked.

“Ten tons, which is twenty thousand Jin,” Liang Xiaoke said.

Twenty thousand Jin?

Ukeshan almost fainted. He couldn’t understand how this huge thing worked.

But that didn’t matter. Just the size and weight were enough to show the energy contained in this thing.

There was no need to visit the rest. Just this one hydraulic press allowed Ukeshan to see the immeasurable gap between the two sides.

Next, he saw the terrifying iron-smelting speed of the iron and steel plant. Compared with their northern traditional iron-smelting methods, the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant’s speed was more than fifty times faster.

And the Great Hua Empire had another iron and steel plant like this in Ma’anshan.

After that, he visited the textile factory, and the scale of production was unforgettable.

Chapter 352: Internal Discussions in the Qing Court

The next day, Ukeshan boarded a steamship and enjoyed the feeling of traveling a thousand li in a day, quickly arriving at Huai’an. Then, he transferred to an ordinary wooden boat to head north.

Great Hua’s steamships wouldn’t venture into enemy territory for the time being, to prevent the enemy from desperately trying to seize them.

Although even if they were to give the enemy a steam engine to study, they might not be able to figure anything out. However, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

Back in the Forbidden City, Ukeshan was summoned by Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen as soon as he returned to Beijing.

Besides Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen, Fan Wencheng, Mao Wenci, Hauge of the Bordered Blue Banner, and Jirhalang of the Bordered Blue Banner were also present.

As were the important generals Sony, Oboi, and Turgai of the two Yellow Banners.

These were all members of Prince Su Hauge’s faction.

Prince Su and Dorgon had always been at odds. In the past, when Dorgon held great power, he could only bide his time.

Now that Dorgon had been defeated and his prestige had greatly declined, and he seemed somewhat dispirited, many people began to gravitate towards Hauge again.

At the same time, some civil and military officials who did not agree with Dorgon’s desire to continue fighting also changed their positions and switched their support to Hauge.

Hauge took advantage of Dorgon’s grief over Dodo’s death to seize power, and his progress was currently smooth.

Now, Hauge’s voice in the court could vaguely rival Dorgon’s.

This was why the decision to have Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen marry was able to pass. If Dorgon still had the final say, he would definitely not have agreed to this decision.

For him, it would be a blatant humiliation.

It was precisely because of Dorgon’s irrational and overly emotional state that more and more people became pessimistic about him and chose to realign themselves, leaning towards Hauge.

Dorgon wanted to drag everyone into the fire pit for his own selfish interests, but others would not agree.

Even if Dorgon had held great power in the past, he still needed to consider the interests of his subordinates.

Even the emperor had to consider the interests of the civil and military officials, otherwise, that seemingly supreme power would be a castle in the air.

“Prince Tu, how did the negotiations go this time?”

Hauge asked.

Everyone pricked up their ears, as they were all very concerned about the outcome, as it concerned their fate.

“Not good.”

Ukeshan shook his head. These words were like a heavy hammer, striking everyone’s chest.

The hope of peace talks had been dashed. How should they deal with the Wu army next?

“What exactly did he say, and why didn’t he agree to our conditions?”

Fan Wencheng asked.

“Wu Changqing is very confident in his own strength, so he doesn’t agree that there should be two dynasties in the world. He gave us two choices: either surrender, or he will send troops to conquer us.

If we surrender, he can retain the official positions of our dynasty’s officials and, to some extent, preserve our aristocratic status…”

Ukeshan explained Wu Changqing’s demands in detail.

“That’s impossible, we will never surrender and allow our country to be destroyed.”

Hauge slammed the table. Although his attitude towards war was not as resolute as Dorgon’s, he also did not agree to abolish the dynastic title and surrender completely.

As long as they retained the dynastic title, even if they became vassals, the Great Hua Empire would have no right to interfere in their internal affairs.

As long as Hauge defeated Dorgon and took the position of Regent Prince, he could continue to act arbitrarily in the North.

However, if they abolished the dynastic title and completely surrendered to Great Hua, then they would be Great Hua’s subjects, and they would be at Wu Changqing’s mercy from then on.

As long as they were obedient, they might still be able to maintain their wealth and status, but their power would be greatly reduced.

This was not the result that Hauge wanted.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen sighed inwardly upon hearing this. She also wanted to protect her son’s empire. To this end, she was even willing to sacrifice her own reputation and agree to marry.

She didn’t expect that this still wouldn’t satisfy Wu Changqing, and he still insisted on annexing them.

“It seems that we can’t count on peace talks anymore. We have to start preparing for war.”

Oboi said.

“But how do we prepare for war? I visited their military exercises and ironworks in Nanjing. Their strength is unfathomable.”

Ukeshan recounted what he had seen and heard in Nanjing, without even exaggerating, reporting truthfully.

However, to Oboi and the others, it felt like Ukeshan was flattering Great Hua.

“Great Hua’s ironworks can produce ten thousand high-quality steel sabers in a day, and spin thousands of bolts of cloth in a day. What about us? We need at least a month or two to forge ten thousand steel sabers.”

Ukeshan sighed.

This kind of disparity in strength was truly despairing.

“Even if their weapons are advanced and their manufacturing capabilities are developed, war still has to be fought by people. As long as we use tactics reasonably, we may not be without a chance.”

Hauge said. In fact, he himself didn’t believe these words.

But there was no other way. To achieve his goals, he couldn’t allow the Qing Dynasty to surrender.

So, even if they couldn’t win, he had to say that they could.

“That’s right, even if we can’t hold the North, we can retreat back to beyond the pass and bide our time.”

Sony said, also supporting resistance.

In his opinion, the worst-case scenario would be to retreat back to beyond the pass. Relying on Shanhaiguan, they could continue to enjoy themselves outside the pass.

“We can also contact Zhu Yujian in the South and join forces with him to deal with Wu Changqing. I think Zhu Yujian is more anxious than we are now.”

Mao Wenci also firmly supported continuing to resist. He was worried that after the entire court surrendered, he would have no face to serve as an official in the Great Hua court.

After all, Wu Changqing had once told him in front of everyone to wait and see.

This was a thorn in his side, a hurdle he couldn’t overcome.

Watching these people get more and more excited, talking as if they could contend with Great Hua, Fan Wencheng shook his head inwardly.

In his opinion, these people were just deceiving and comforting themselves.

They couldn’t even defeat Wu Changqing when he was still weak.

Now that Wu Changqing had completely grown up, occupying the richest land in the world, and developing by leaps and bounds.

In this situation, wanting to contend with Wu Changqing was simply wishful thinking.

Unite with Zhu Yujian? Zhu Yujian was now struggling to protect himself. What was the use of uniting?

As for retreating back to beyond the pass, could they defend it with just Shanhaiguan?

Hadn’t they heard that the Wu army’s soldiers could fly into the sky? No matter how high Shanhaiguan was, could it stop people in the sky?

As for Hauge’s talk of tactics and strategies, Fan Wencheng was even more speechless.

When it came to tactics and strategies, how could these Eight Banners generals be a match for the Han people?

In the end, entering the pass was just a gamble. Winning in the early stages was just an accident. Now, not being able to win was the normal and reasonable situation.

How could China’s thousands of years of history and culture be so easily conquered?

After a round of clamoring, Hauge, who had the power to make decisions, set the tone: reject Wu Changqing’s proposal and resist to the end.

Chapter 353: Zhu Yujian’s Predicament

After the meeting, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen returned to her palace.

She sighed and said to herself, “Compared to power, we women are always just an accessory, insignificant.”

Originally, she wanted to rely on Wu Changqing’s infatuation with her, sacrificing herself to secure a peaceful foundation for her son’s cause.

Unfortunately, reality dealt her a heavy blow, making her understand that men love power more than women.

At least, that’s how those ambitious figures are.

Those who love beauty more than their empire are mostly useless.

How could ambitious men like Dorgon and Wu Changqing give up the world for a woman? With the world, why worry about not having beauties?

“Your Majesty, what should we do if the Great Hua army attacks?”

Su Mo’er asked worriedly.

Just a few months ago, she was still in the mood to tease and joke.

But now, she also realized the great trouble facing the court.

“What else can we do? Let those men decide. We women can only drift along and accept our fate,”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said with a sigh.

This world is ultimately dominated by men. Women have ideas, but no opportunity to implement them.

Not to mention ordinary women, even someone at her level, at the pinnacle of female power, has little effect.

No one asked for her opinion at the meeting just now.

Unless she could reach the level of Empress Wu Zetian, but that kind of situation is rare and hard to come by. Throughout history, there has only been one such case.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen didn’t think she had that kind of ability, she couldn’t compare to Empress Wu.

Su Mo’er fell silent upon hearing this, as she had no way to change the situation.

Fuzhou.

After Zhu Yujian’s defeat in Jiangxi, he returned to Fuzhou.

In Fuzhou, he increased trade with Western European merchants. To please them, he even joined the Catholicism promoted by missionaries.

In his court, many ministers also believed in Catholicism.

With the support of Catholicism, Zhu Yujian purchased a large number of firearms from overseas.

Buying weapons, creating a new army, and developing the economy, Zhu Yujian worked hard in Fuzhou, preparing to wipe out his previous humiliation and make a comeback.

However, before he could develop for long, a piece of bad news arrived. Wu Changqing rebelled, Zhu Yihai died, and Wu Changqing announced that he would ascend the throne and establish a new dynasty, the Great Hua Empire.

This almost made Zhu Yujian faint. Although Wu Changqing had not obeyed orders before, at least he had not openly rebelled.

Without an open rebellion, he could still use the remaining prestige of the Ming Dynasty to attract talent.

But now, Wu Changqing no longer concealed his intentions, directly establishing a new dynasty and wanting to change the dynasty.

This was like a slap in the face of the Ming Dynasty, wiping out the little remaining prestige it had.

Moreover, Wu Changqing even killed Zhu Yihai, which was utterly rebellious.

Although Zhu Yujian also hated Zhu Yihai and wished he could kill him himself.

However, when facing Wu Changqing, he and Zhu Yihai were one hundred percent on the same side, representing the Zhu family’s Ming Dynasty.

Wu Changqing’s killing of Zhu Yihai was equivalent to declaring war on him.

Zhu Yujian first pretended to cry for Zhu Yihai’s death, and then immediately summoned civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures.

Zhu Yihai, who was blocking the way, was gone. What was Wu Changqing’s next target? It must be him.

“The traitor Wu has announced that he will ascend the throne on the tenth day of October. After he becomes emperor, he will inevitably march south to attack us. How should we respond?”

Zhu Yujian asked.

“After the traitor Wu becomes emperor, it will already be winter. Considering the weather, I think the traitor Wu will not march south until the spring of next year at the earliest. Moreover, he may not march south first, but may go north first.

After all, the arable land in the North is much more than in our South, and attacking the North first would also be in their interest.

Therefore, we have at least five months to prepare. If they do not make good progress in the North, then our preparation time will be even longer.”

Grand Secretary Jiang Dejing analyzed, and his analysis made everyone feel a little more relaxed.

It seemed that there was still plenty of time to prepare.

“Moreover, it will not be easy for the Wu army to attack us. The continuous mountains can drag down their logistics. We can use the terrain to block them. The Wu army’s combat power in the mountains is far inferior to their combat power on the plains,”

Vice Minister of War Wu Chunzhi said.

The saying “eight mountains, one river, and one field” describes the terrain of Fujian.

Moreover, this is still an understatement. In reality, more than ninety percent of Fujian is mountains.

It is not easy to cross this mountain range to reach Fuzhou.

“What about the waterways? What should we do if the Wu army attacks from the sea? I heard that among the Wu army’s navy, there are warships that can travel without manpower or sails.”

Another official asked.

“Minister Zheng, are you confident in blocking the Wu traitors at sea?”

Zhu Yujian asked.

Their navy was entirely in the hands of Zheng Zhilong, and a large part of the army was also in his hands.

“This minister will do everything in my power to prevent the Wu traitors from invading our waters,”

Zheng Zhilong said. When it comes to naval warfare, he, as a pirate leader, has a lot of experience.

The Dutch navy was bullied by him so much that they could only hide on Treasure Island.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong was not worried about winning or losing at all. Anyway, he had no intention of trying his best to fight. As long as the Wu army came, he would surrender at the first opportunity.

He would not be stupid enough to fight the Wu army to the death. Anyway, it didn’t matter who he served.

As long as Wu Changqing continued to hand Fujian over to him, allowing him to sit here as a local emperor, he would surrender without hesitation.

With Zheng Zhilong’s guarantee, Zhu Yujian felt a little more at ease.

In this way, the waterways could also resist the Wu army for a long time, giving him time to develop.

“Next, let’s discuss the new commercial tax and agricultural tax,”

Zhu Yujian said.

The biggest problem he was facing in his current development was a lack of money. Western European goods were not given away for free. If he wanted more firearms, he had to pay.

And Fujian, apart from a little tea that could be exported, really didn’t have any high-value commodities.

To this end, Zhu Yujian decided to force the people to raise silkworms and then spin silk to make money.

In addition, he also decided to increase taxes, not only agricultural taxes but also commercial taxes.

However, this proposal was not easy to pass.

Currently, those who support Zhu Yujian are large landlords, big merchants, and local gentry and powerful families. They certainly would not be happy to have their taxes increased.

They supported Zhu Yujian in the hope that he would bring them benefits.

If supporting him meant increasing their taxes, then why support him at all? Wouldn’t it be better to defect to Wu Changqing?

In short, this topic was discussed for a long time, but not many people supported it.

Seeing this, Zhu Yujian could only sigh in his heart. If he wanted to increase taxes, he would not get their support, and he would collapse sooner or later.

But if he didn’t increase taxes, he wouldn’t have money to develop, and if he didn’t develop, he wouldn’t be able to defeat Wu Changqing, and he would collapse sooner or later.

He had fallen into a dead end, unless he had some means to control those merchant classes, he could break the situation.

Chapter 354: The Enthronement Ceremony

October 10th, the auspicious hour had arrived.

The sky hadn’t even fully brightened when Wu Changqing rose from his bed. Under the care of the palace maids, he donned the dragon robe.

The officials waiting outside had risen even earlier. When Wu Changqing emerged, the group proceeded to Zhongshan, east of the city, where an altar for offering sacrifices to Heaven had been set up.

Wu Changqing needed to inform Heaven here, telling the old man in the sky that the mortal world was about to change leaders. What did the old man think? Did he agree?

Of course, this was just like burning paper money during the Qingming Festival – completely useless, but a necessary procedure.

If you dared not burn paper money during the Qingming Festival, people would say you were unfilial. If you didn’t ask Heaven before ascending the throne, people would say you had no respect for Heaven. If any floods or earthquakes happened later, people could say it was the result of disrespecting Heaven.

Breaking feudal superstitions had a prerequisite: the cultural level of the entire population had to reach a certain point; otherwise, it was all in vain.

Until the literacy rate reached ninety-five percent, Wu Changqing wouldn’t attempt to break feudal superstitions.

So, even though Wu Changqing knew that the so-called sacrifice to Heaven was a very absurd thing, he still had to go through the motions, putting on a show for the officials and the people.

Asking was enough. Anyway, no one knew whether Heaven agreed or not.

Unless Wu Changqing was incredibly unlucky and got struck by lightning during the sacrifice to Heaven, then perhaps others could interpret it as Heaven disagreeing. Otherwise, Heaven always agreed.

Clearly, Wu Changqing wasn’t that unlucky. The sacrifice to Heaven went smoothly.

He dozed off on the altar for a while, and then it was over.

He was the only one on the altar during the sacrifice to Heaven, so he didn’t have to worry about being discovered.

As a person who believed in science, Wu Changqing found it really hard to be serious when going through this kind of superstitious procedure.

He was thinking during the sacrifice to Heaven that if he wrote a memoir when he was old and told people that he dozed off during the sacrifice to Heaven, he wondered how devastated the people who read the book would be.

Thinking about it, he was quite looking forward to it.

After asking Heaven, Wu Changqing buried a set of sacrificial offerings.

Wu Changqing didn’t know what kind of stuff was buried. Anyway, Qian Qianyi had taken care of this matter. He only needed to be responsible for going through the procedure.

After paying respects to Heaven, the next step was to pay respects to his father.

His cheap father, Wu Zhiban, had now been posthumously honored by Wu Changqing as Emperor Wulie, and his spirit tablet was placed in a special ancestral temple.

After three bows and five kowtows, the ministers followed Wu Changqing back to the palace, returning to the Fengtian Hall for the official enthronement.

First, Chief Eunuch Feng Debao began reading an imperial edict to the officials, recounting how Wu Changqing had raised his army, how bravely he had fought the enemy, and how he had rescued the people from misery.

Then, he vehemently criticized the failings of the Great Ming, spending over twenty minutes just listing the faults of the Great Ming. Then, he emphasized the helplessness of Wu Changqing’s rebellion and the reasons for it.

Everything was for the sake of the people, a claim that could give their regime legitimacy.

After reading these, it was the imperial edict announcing the founding of the nation to the world.

It established the country’s name as the Great Hua Empire, and declared that the territory of the Great Hua Empire had no boundaries. All land under Heaven belonged to the Emperor.

In short, all the land and waters under Heaven belonged to the Great Hua Empire, including the Pacific Ocean. Those places were only temporarily in the hands of foreign races, and sooner or later, they would all be taken back.

This was specifically requested by Wu Changqing. In this way, there would be a legal basis for future conquests of overseas territories.

At that time, he could say that they were not going to invade, but only to recover the territory that originally belonged to Great Hua.

After all, the imperial edict clearly stated that the whole world belonged to the Great Hua Empire, no problem.

The reign title was set as Yongxing, and this year was the first year of Yongxing.

At this point, Wu Changqing was officially proclaimed emperor.

In fact, the original enthronement process was much more complex and cumbersome.

Every step had regulations.

For example, the emperor wore different clothes during the sacrifice to Heaven and when returning to the Fengtian Hall, and had to change clothes in between.

For another example, the officials needed to present treasures to the emperor separately.

These rules, which didn’t have much symbolic significance, were abolished by Wu Changqing after he reviewed them, and he created a relatively simple process according to his own preferences.

Wu Changqing himself didn’t care about this kind of thing, and the other officials couldn’t advise him, so they had to let him do as he pleased.

Anyway, the ministers were used to Wu Changqing’s frequent unconventional behavior, so they followed Wu Changqing’s rules.

“Long live the Emperor! Long live, long live, long live!”

With all the ceremonies completed, the officials knelt down and shouted.

Watching this scene, Wu Changqing felt very strange.

As someone with a modern soul, he was inherently accustomed to respecting people and rarely made people kneel. Usually, ministers only needed to bow when they saw him.

But now, watching hundreds of men kneeling before him, and thousands more kneeling outside the hall, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride, arrogance, and self-importance.

Power easily corrupts, and this was absolutely true.

The feeling of being an emperor was just too good.

This feeling of being high above others was a deadly temptation for men. Even if they only enjoyed it for a moment, their life would be content and complete.

No wonder Li Zicheng insisted on having an enthronement ceremony when Beijing was about to fall, enjoying a moment of enthronement bliss before fleeing in a hurry.

Even before fleeing, he still had to experience the feeling of ascending the throne and becoming emperor. After all, this was the pinnacle that a man could reach.

“Rise, my beloved ministers.”

Wu Changqing spoke a little slowly because he had just been immersed in the bliss of enthronement.

But so what if he was a little slow? Would anyone dare to stand up and say that he shouldn’t?

No matter what Wu Changqing did wrong, others could only shut up.

After all, he was the emperor. How could the emperor make a mistake?

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

The officials rose one after another.

The people looked at Wu Changqing, who was high above them, with different thoughts in their hearts.

Some were very excited, because the rewards for the ministers were coming soon, and everyone present would have a share.

Some were envious, looking at Wu Changqing sitting in that position, enjoying supreme power. Many people would be envious.

Although this kind of envy was extremely disrespectful, and people would lose their heads if others found out. But who could see it if they envied him in their hearts?

Some were in awe, such as those who had started the rebellion with Wu Changqing.

They were very clear about how weak they were when they first started the rebellion.

With only a few hundred people and a hundred or so guns, Wu Changqing had to personally participate in night raids in order to survive.

But under Wu Changqing’s leadership, they continued to grow, expand, and finally reached this point.

This experience could be called legendary, and couldn’t be more miraculous.

Next, Feng Debao read another imperial edict, briefly describing the merits of the officials.

Then, the individual awards were given out.

Chapter 355: Rewarding the Ministers

Rewarding the ministers took a very long time, as there were simply too many people who needed to be rewarded.

Among them, Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and Wang Dayong were appointed as the Central Commander, North Commander, and South Commander, respectively.

Commander is a military officer rank in the Great Hua Empire, of the first rank, with the military rank of Lieutenant General.

Currently, the official system of the Great Hua Empire is quite chaotic. The civil service system basically continues the previous cabinet six-ministry system, but with some added departments and more detailed institutions.

The military officer ranks are completely separated from the civil service, forming two distinct systems.

For the military officer ranks, Wu Changqing adopted completely new titles, simply adding ranks to each position.

Commander-in-Chief is of the first rank, Regional Commander is of the first rank, Army Commander is of the second rank, and so on.

The Commander-in-Chief controls the national armed forces, something Wu Changqing never considered giving to anyone below him. The Regional Commanders control the armed forces of a specific region.

For example, Liu Hansan’s North Commander controls the eighty thousand troops north of the Yangtze River.

These three were the earliest followers of Wu Changqing, and their contributions were immense.

Therefore, in addition to being granted official positions, the three were also granted the title of Marquis.

Although the peerage is a bit low, it doesn’t matter; everything is about comparison.

If there were ten Dukes in the court, then their obtaining the title of Duke would be meaningless, unable to highlight their noble status.

However, if there are only three Marquises in the court, and they occupy all three spots, then their status will appear particularly noble.

The three of them were very satisfied with this kind of reward.

In the Great Hua Empire, they can be considered second only to one person, above all others.

Besides Wu Changqing, there really isn’t anyone more powerful than them.

Moreover, the peerages of the three of them are hereditary and irreplaceable.

That is to say, after they die, the peerage can be left to their eldest son.

With hereditary and irreplaceable status, it means that their three families can share the glory and disgrace with Great Hua. As long as Great Hua doesn’t fall, their three families will always be nobles.

The second batch of military officers included Dai Zhijun, Tao Dongcheng, Dong Tianbao, and others.

Among them, Dai Zhijun was awarded the Minister of the General Armaments Department, of the second rank, Major General, and the title of Marquis, with reduced hereditary succession.

The so-called reduced hereditary succession means that after Dai Zhijun dies, his eldest son can inherit the peerage, but it must be reduced by one rank, reduced to Earl. Then it continues to be reduced until it reaches commoner status.

Although both are Marquises, this kind of peerage is much worse than hereditary and irreplaceable. If their descendants don’t work hard, there is still the possibility of becoming commoners.

However, Wu Changqing also hinted to everyone that this award was just the beginning, not the end.

Those who make meritorious contributions in the future can continue to rise. Theoretically, even being granted the title of Prince is possible.

Moreover, he also said that there is no need to worry about not having merits to earn. After all, the territory of the Great Hua Empire has no boundaries, and there are still many lost territories waiting for them to recover.

Tao Dongcheng was awarded the Minister of the General Staff Department, of the second rank, Major General, and the title of Marquis, with reduced hereditary succession.

In terms of ability, he and Dai Zhijun are actually much stronger than Liu Hansan and the other two. Many strategic and tactical decisions were handled by them; Li Shaobin and the others were only responsible for overall coordination.

Although their abilities are strong, their qualifications are not enough, so they are still one level below those three veterans.

Dong Tianbao was awarded the Army Commander of the Fourth Army, of the second rank, Major General, and the title of Earl, with reduced hereditary succession, which is another level lower.

Wu Yi received the award of Naval Commander, of the first rank, Major General. His official position is as high as Liu Hansan and the others, but now the Great Hua Empire is still mainly focused on the army, so although his official position is high, his power is not great.

At the same time, he was also awarded the title of Marquis, with reduced hereditary succession.

The second batch only included these four. The people in the second batch are already the core high-level officials in the Great Hua Empire.

There were more military officers in the third batch. Xue Guiren managed to get the position of Army Commander of the Fifth Army, Major General, and the title of Earl, with reduced hereditary succession.

It looks similar to Dong Tianbao, but in reality, his troops are not the main force, so he is one level below Dong Tianbao.

As a surrendered general, without any particularly outstanding abilities, being able to get this kind of reward is already considered very good. At least he himself is very satisfied.

At least, he and his son and grandson will be nobles for three generations.

If they work harder in the future and raise the peerage by two levels during their lifetime, they can guarantee the wealth and glory of four generations.

As for after four generations, that’s too far away; Xue Guiren didn’t think that far.

In fact, others were not convinced that he could get the position of Army Commander, feeling that this guy relied on flattery.

After all, among Wu Changqing’s women, the first to become pregnant was Luo Min.

And Luo Min was the woman that this guy offered to Wu Changqing.

Although Chen Yuyan is also pregnant now, Luo Min is still very likely to give birth to the eldest son first.

Although not the eldest son of the legal wife, it is not necessarily impossible for him to inherit the throne. When that time comes, it will be the day when Xue Guiren truly prospers.

Qian Sule, Xiong Rulin, Xu Yuxian, Tang Guozhen, and others are still division commanders of the main divisions, or army staff officers, with the official position of the third rank and the military rank of Senior Colonel.

At the same time, each of them got the title of Earl.

However, their peerages cannot be inherited; the court will take back the peerages after they die.

Of course, they don’t need to worry. If they continue to make meritorious contributions, they can turn the non-hereditary peerage into a hereditary one.

They all know that there will be many more battles in the future, so Wu Changqing cannot give too high peerages at the beginning; otherwise, it will be difficult to reward them later.

Zhang Yingyuan, Lu Guangzu, Fang Ce, and others are also division commanders, with the third rank and the military rank of Senior Colonel. Their peerage is Viscount, which is another level lower.

Because their divisions are not the main divisions, they look the same on the surface, but there is a big difference in their future development potential.

The main divisions have tough battles to fight, making it easy to make great contributions and have more opportunities for promotion.

Non-main divisions undertake tasks in secondary battlefields, or even garrisoning local areas, making it very difficult to obtain military merits.

Other brigade commander-level figures, according to their merits and importance, respectively obtained the peerages of Viscount or Baron.

For example, the brigade commander of the artillery brigade is much more important than the ordinary infantry brigade, so there are differences in peerage and military rank.

These are all non-hereditary peerages, but of course, it’s better than nothing.

These are all Han Chinese officers. Several Manchu and Mongolian surrendered generals also received higher rewards.

For example, Mandahai, he was awarded the Army Commander of the Cavalry Army, the title of Earl, with reduced hereditary succession, the same level of treatment as Xue Guiren.

Giving these Manchu and Mongolian surrendered generals rewards is also Wu Changqing’s further expression of his attitude of treating the two ethnic groups equally.

This kind of statement makes the Han Chinese soldiers feel somewhat dissatisfied. But discerning people can see that the superficial equality actually has differences.

If Mandahai were a Han Chinese general, based on the importance of his position as the Army Commander of the Cavalry Army, he should at least be at the same level as Dai Zhijun and the others.

But now, he is one level lower.

After rewarding the military officers, next are the civil officials.

Chapter 356: Civil Officials and the Imperial Clan

In terms of civil officials, Wu Changqing was much more stingy with the titles he bestowed.

After all, he rose through the ranks as a military man and placed greater importance on the army.

As for civil officials, to put it bluntly, replacing them with another batch wouldn’t make much of a difference.

They were all replaceable, not qualified to enjoy such good treatment.

Gu Yanwu, the leading civil official, was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Appointments, a rank of Second Grade, and given the title of Marquis. This was mainly because he had followed Wu Changqing the longest and was the most senior.

Ruan Dacheng was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, a rank of Second Grade, and given the title of Viscount.

This title was very low, somewhat unworthy of his official position and power.

However, this was decided by Wu Changqing, and he didn’t show any dissatisfaction.

In fact, given his previous notorious reputation, Wu Changqing’s willingness to employ him and give him power was already a great favor.

He should be grateful for the title he received; if he didn’t get one, he couldn’t have any complaints.

Ma Shiying was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, a rank of Second Grade, without any title.

Because military officers had their own independent official system, the power of the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War in the Great Hua Empire was much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty.

It could be said to be the smallest of all departments.

Qian Taoli was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, a rank of Second Grade, and given the title of Baron.

This was mainly because he had followed Wu Changqing for a long time, starting in Suzhou, making him a veteran.

Qian Qianyi was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Hong Chengchou was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, and Zhao Mingchong was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice.

Liu Shijin was appointed as the Left Imperial Censor, a rank of Second Grade.

These eight people formed the cabinet of the Great Hua Empire.

All major matters required their discussion and deliberation.

Considering that the empire had just been established, Wu Changqing didn’t make too many changes to the civil service system, leaving the issue for later.

When he had time, he would slowly tinker with it.

Seven departments were still too few; according to the administrative system of later generations, it should be divided into at least twenty or thirty departments.

Only officials of Second Grade and Associate Second Grade were confirmed at the enthronement ceremony; those below Associate Second Grade would be decided later.

Officials above Third Grade were recommended by the Ministry of Appointments and personally approved by Wu Changqing.

Official positions higher than Seventh Grade but lower than Third Grade were assessed and decided by the Ministry of Appointments.

Official positions below Seventh Grade were determined by the local Prefect or Magistrate, depending on the situation.

In addition to the rewards for civil and military officials, surprisingly, some people engaged in scientific research were also rewarded.

Moreover, the extent of the rewards was so great that it was perplexing.

For example, Feng Xianzhong, the leader of the steam engine research team, was awarded the rank of Third Grade. He didn’t have a specific official position, but his status and treatment were the same as those of a Third Grade official.

Even more surprisingly, he was also awarded the title of Earl.

This was the same as Gu Yanwu’s title, which many people didn’t understand, but Wu Changqing insisted.

He wanted to use this attitude to send a signal to the world: technology is the primary productive force, and being a scientist is the best choice.

Don’t dream of becoming a noble by being an official; even those Second Grade cabinet ministers didn’t have a title yet.

By sending out this signal, in the future, those large families would definitely send their smartest children to pursue scientific research. Only those who weren’t so smart would be sent to study to become officials.

Feng Xianzhong wasn’t the only researcher to be ennobled. Guan Mengfei, who improved the cannons, was awarded the rank of Fourth Grade and the title of Viscount.

Pang Hu, who improved steelmaking technology, was awarded the rank of Fourth Grade and the title of Viscount.

Song Yingxing, who discovered and extracted hydrogen, was awarded the rank of Associate Fourth Grade and the title of Baron.

There were also members and leaders of other projects. A total of sixteen researchers were ennobled, eight times more than the number of civil officials.

The ennobled researchers were so excited that they were in tears. They never imagined that they would have such a day.

They had previously felt Wu Changqing’s emphasis on scientific research, but they didn’t expect the extent of his emphasis to exceed even those of the cabinet ministers.

Others couldn’t understand, but Wu Changqing found it easy to understand.

Among the cabinet ministers, there were at least eighty people in the entire world who could sit in such a position, if not a hundred.

However, those researchers were all unique and irreplaceable.

And their role was also extremely important.

After rewarding the officials, Wu Changqing began to reward the imperial clan.

Needless to say, his mother was naturally the Empress Dowager. In fact, she didn’t need any titles or anything; the mere fact that she was Wu Changqing’s mother was enough, and no one dared to disrespect her.

Her status was transcendent. She had no real power, but Wu Changqing had to pay his respects to her when he saw her.

Chen Yuyan was unsurprisingly made Empress, and her father, Chen Daolin, was made Duke Anle, a Duke, with a higher title than Li Shaobin and the others.

However, Chen Daolin’s title only meant that his family was noble and didn’t have any real power.

Like Wu Changqing’s mother, everyone had to respect them, but they wouldn’t rely on them.

Luo Min was made Worthy Consort, Sun Yunxuan was made Virtuous Consort, and Yang Xiaoxiao was made Virtuous Consort.

Wu Changqing’s younger brother, Wu Zheng, was made a Prince, with the title of Qin. From now on, he would be the Prince of Qin.

This reward was very generous. Prince was the highest title, and the Prince of Qin was the most prestigious of all princes.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s second son, Zhu Shuang, was awarded the title of Prince of Qin. As for the eldest son, he was made the Crown Prince and didn’t have a princely title.

His younger sister, Wu Yu, was made a Princess, with the title of Princess Worry-Free.

His uncle, Wu Zhiyue, was made a General of the Nation.

The titles of the imperial clan were different from those of the relatives of the emperor, civil and military officials. From high to low, they were Prince, Prince of Commandery, General of the Nation, General of the State…

Wu Zhiyue wasn’t a particularly talented person; he did things in a mediocre way, and being a General of the Nation was considered preferential treatment.

As for Wu Zhiyue’s children, the two adults were awarded the title of Lieutenant General of the State, while the minors were not rewarded for the time being and would be considered later.

The Wu family was a large family, but there weren’t many close relatives within three generations, only Wu Zhiyue’s family.

There were many others beyond three generations, but those people weren’t qualified to be ennobled.

At most, they would be given some rewards in terms of money in the future, while also taking care of their business.

The entire rewarding process took a long time. After it was over, the happiest people were naturally the ennobled researchers, followed by the military officers.

As for the civil officials, they were more or less disappointed.

However, in this empire where Wu Changqing had absolute power, they didn’t dare to show any dissatisfaction.

Moreover, civil officials familiar with history weren’t in a hurry, because every dynasty initially valued military officers more. As the world became peaceful, civil officials would slowly suppress the army.

Like in the latter half of the Ming Dynasty, military officers were like dogs in front of civil officials.

After completing the rewards, the next step was to go to the central fountain square in Nanjing, which was specially opened up for large gatherings.

Their military parade would also be held there, and the people in the city could watch the entire process on both sides of the square.

Chapter 357: Military Parade

The people, having received the news long ago, had been waiting on the square for quite some time.

Ordinary folk could only stand in the square, while wealthy merchants and esteemed scholars sat in the restaurants beside it.

Those who could afford it even managed to acquire telescopes.

After all, sitting in the restaurants, some parts of the square were too far to see clearly.

“The Emperor has arrived!”

With a loud cry, the people in the square knelt down, awaiting Wu Changqing’s arrival.

A carriage pulled by sixteen white horses drove over, with Wu Changqing and Chen Yuyan seated inside.

This emperor’s personal carriage was gaudy and ostentatious, purely for show.

Wu Changqing had instructed Tong Youwei to simply build a vehicle for travel, but how could Tong Youwei dare to be so casual?

He built several models to the highest standards, creating a whole set.

There were convertibles, sedan-like carriages, and even an oversized RV with a bed and bedding. The bed could accommodate seven or eight people at once, its purpose being to cater to the emperor’s sudden whims while traveling.

If the emperor didn’t pull a pretty girl he saw by the roadside onto the bed for some affection, would he still be worthy of being called an emperor?

Only after Wu Changqing ascended the high platform in the square and waved his hand did Feng Debao announce for the people to rise.

Wu Changqing stood before a megaphone, which he had directly exchanged for resources in the system store. After all, with the Great Hua Empire’s current technology, it was impossible to manufacture a megaphone.

The principle of a megaphone was simple, but the manufacturing of its components involved electromagnetic knowledge, which was quite profound.

Building a simple generator was easier than building a megaphone.

Wu Changqing spent precious resources to obtain this item, all for the sake of delivering a speech before tens of thousands of people.

“Since the Chongzhen era, natural disasters have been constant, the people have suffered, and rebellions have sprung up everywhere. Furthermore, the Tartars outside the pass are watching with covetous eyes…”

Wu Changqing first briefly described the history of the Ming Dynasty’s demise, then introduced the reasons for his uprising.

“My father could not bear to see the people being slaughtered and refused to shave his head and wear a queue, so he summoned thousands of local militia…”

Afterward, he elaborated on his ideals.

“I want a world of peace without war, I want a world without famine, I want the people of this world to live well, everyone with food to eat, everyone with a home to live in, everyone with books to read…”

Martin Luther King’s most famous speech, “I Have a Dream,” caused a great sensation.

And Wu Changqing’s speech was even more effective than Martin Luther King’s, because in this era, Wu Changqing was the only one who could give such a speech.

The people, experiencing this form of propaganda for the first time, were very receptive.

In fact, when Wu Changqing shouted his first sentence, some people were so frightened that they knelt down again, muttering that Wu Changqing was the Son of Heaven, and what he uttered was a dragon’s roar.

Only a true dragon’s roar could be so loud and travel so far.

Surprisingly, many people believed this.

Because this explanation sounded the most reasonable; there was no other more reliable explanation.

When Wu Changqing said that he wanted the world to be free from famine and for the people to live well, the people collectively knelt down and thanked him again.

It was the first time in their lives that they had heard an emperor make such a promise, a truly rare event.

In the past, they could not see the emperor, nor could they hear his voice. The emperor, in their minds, was just a concept.

But now, Wu Changqing’s image as emperor was deeply ingrained in their hearts.

In the future, when they spoke of the word “emperor,” they would probably think of Wu Changqing first.

At the end of the speech, Wu Changqing declared that his country’s military power was invincible and then had the army come out to display their strength.

The military parade began.

Leading the way was the musketeer unit, totaling three hundred and fifty-two men.

They marched past the people, diagonally holding their long guns with bayonets, stepping in unison.

“Hiss… This is our Great Hua army, mighty and magnificent, filled with righteousness. Brother Li, I can’t think of any more words, you describe it.”

A scholar holding a telescope said, as a weak scholar, he was naturally extremely shocked to see the Wu army’s heroic and high-spirited appearance.

“Perfectly uniform, without the slightest deviation, with such military discipline, they are invincible.”

Pang Yuanming praised.

This ceremonial guard, specially created for performance, displayed a momentum that opened the people’s eyes and overturned their impression of the army.

The soldiers they had previously imagined had sly smiles on their faces and carried stolen or borrowed yellow wine in their hands.

Before the musketeer unit had passed, the sword and shield soldiers entered, their armor gleaming with golden light. The specially made broadswords were not practical, but they looked good, imposing, and domineering.

Immediately afterward, the grenadiers also entered.

The grenadiers were most impressive because of their tall stature, strong physique, and thick arms.

To show off their arm muscles, their uniforms were specially made with short sleeves, exposing their muscles, which made the people click their tongues in amazement.

In this era where even getting enough to eat was difficult, most people were skinny and emaciated, and even seeing a fat person was rare, let alone muscle monsters like the grenadiers.

“You have to eat meat every day to grow so strong, I’m going to join the army and become a grenadier.”

Some seventeen or eighteen-year-old lads drooled when they saw the grenadiers’ muscles.

They firmly believed that only those who ate meat every day could grow so strong.

“I heard that being a grenadier is dangerous, you always have to charge in front.”

Another person reminded.

“Who’s afraid? As long as there’s meat to eat every day, it’s worth dying for.”

Meat had a great attraction for ordinary people.

As the grenadiers passed, five hydrogen balloons floated in the sky, which was the Great Hua Empire’s air force.

Because the controls were very difficult, these five hydrogen balloons were unable to maintain a uniform formation.

But that didn’t matter.

Ordinary people had never seen anyone fly into the sky before.

Seeing it for the first time, they were all in a daze, and they no longer had the mind to care whether the air force’s formation was neat or not.

“Immortals, are they immortals?”

“Immortals my foot, didn’t you see the people in the hanging baskets? Those are the celestial soldiers of our Great Hua Empire.”

“Why, why, why don’t they fall down?”

This kind of question filled everyone’s minds.

A phenomenon that was very easy to understand in later generations was currently a puzzle that countless people could not solve.

Not to mention the people, even some officials could not understand it.

“No wonder those people conquered cities so easily, it turns out they have this kind of thing. Flying over from the sky, the enemy’s city walls become decorations.” A civil official slightly complained.

Chapter 358: Sharing Joy with the People

Following closely behind the grenadiers were the marines.

They also carried long spears, but their uniforms were different from the army’s, being white, which gave them a unique flair.

However, compared to the shock the air force brought to the people, these marines didn’t have many special features and didn’t attract much attention.

As the air force floated away, the cavalry square entered.

The uniform cavalry square continued to bring surprise to the people.

After that came the artillery unit, a total of ten cannons weighing five thousand Jin each. These were not actually cannons used for field battles or sieges, but cannons used by Nanjing for defense, which is why they were made so big and heavy.

The military parade was a performance, so naturally, it was all about being as shocking as possible.

The size of these five thousand Jin cannons was even more imposing than the three thousand Jin cannons.

Looking at the dark muzzles, some timid people felt uneasy.

After the artillery, a special unit appeared.

The female nurse square entered, wearing uniform pure white nurse uniforms, which were very beautiful.

Forming a neat square and marching in unison, these female soldiers had an extra touch of unique charm.

“Nonsense, how can these women be allowed to show their faces in broad daylight?”

A little old man shook his head repeatedly, lamenting the decline of morality.

A young man next to him watched with great interest and retorted, “You old fool, are those ordinary women? Those are nurses who specialize in treating wounded soldiers. Countless soldiers of our Great Hua have been saved by their hands. They are much nobler than you.”

The retorted old man was speechless and could only snort in disdain.

The last to appear were the Imperial Guards, the emperor’s personal guards.

The weapons in their hands were even more special, and even some of the military大佬 didn’t recognize them.

Of course, they couldn’t recognize them. After all, the Imperial Guards were used to defend against them, not to defend against foreign enemies.

These advanced submachine guns were also weapons that Wu Changqing directly exchanged for with resource points. Apart from the Imperial Guards, no one else knew how terrifying the performance of these weapons was.

This Imperial Guard of several hundred people garrisoned the palace, and even an army of ten thousand would not be able to capture it.

Ten squares passed by the people and civil and military officials in turn, bringing great shock to these people.

They had only heard before that the Wu army was invincible, but they didn’t know how powerful the Wu army really was.

And now, they had a clearer understanding. Just based on this strict military discipline, no other army could do it.

Some spies from other forces mixed among the people were trembling after watching this military parade.

Who could defeat such an army?

After the military parade, everyone took a break and had lunch.

In the afternoon, the emperor’s project of sharing joy with the people began.

Wu Changqing moved to the Imperial Capital Stadium to enjoy the football match that had been practiced in the military camp for a long time.

The stadium is currently the largest building in Nanjing, and it can accommodate more than ten thousand spectators at the same time.

However, relative to the population of Nanjing, this stadium is still too small.

At least, for this event of sharing joy with the people, only some people with status, position, and luck were able to enter, and others could only listen to the sounds inside the stadium from outside.

Inside the stadium, everyone was in place.

Many people were looking forward to this football match, especially those rich young masters.

In this era of entertainment scarcity, they were also people who had nothing to do after eating their fill. They always went to brothels until their waists couldn’t take it anymore, so they needed some novel things to pass the time and vent their passion.

Previously, the People’s Daily had repeatedly explained the rules of the new football and popularized the sport.

Moreover, the teams in the army had also performed matches in the stadium many times, and some people had already fallen in love with the sport.

Compared to traditional cuju, football is more intense in confrontation, and the difficulty of scoring goals is greatly reduced, increasing the entertainment value.

“Brother Li, which team do you think will win today’s game?”

A rich second generation asked.

“Is there even a question? Don’t you know that I am a supporter of the First Army Red Team? I will definitely support the Red Team. The Red Team has Zhao Tiezhu, he is the most powerful player.”

Young Master Li said excitedly, as if the Red Team was his team. Zhao Tiezhu was awesome, and he also had a light on his face.

Young Master Wang heard the words and said disdainfully: “Then let’s bet one hundred wen, how about it? I bet the White Team in the Second Army will win, their overall strength is stronger, and their cooperation is more perfect.”

“Bet.” Young Master Li agreed decisively.

On the football field, the two teams were wearing red and white uniforms, and they were excitedly preparing.

In this highly anticipated game, as long as they perform well, they will be greatly rewarded.

Many people are waiting for this opportunity to turn over.

As the whistle sounded, the game officially began.

The Red Team attacked first, Zhao Tiezhu dribbled the ball through the crowd like a butterfly, skillfully dodging the opponent’s interception, causing the audience to exclaim.

Those movements looked very exquisite and extremely difficult.

“This person is as flexible as an eel.”

Chen Yuyan said.

“It’s useless, football still has to pay attention to cooperation.”

Before Wu Changqing could finish his words, Zhao Tiezhu made a mistake in the White Team’s encirclement, and the ball was snatched by the White Team.

The White Team began a methodical attack, the ball passed back and forth between several people’s feet, making the Red Team’s defenders a little dizzy.

Relying on perfect cooperation, they entered the penalty area.

An inconspicuous guy, relying on the defense line torn apart by his teammates, found a good opportunity to shoot in an open position, and kicked the ball into the goal with a powerful shot.

The White Team immediately fell into cheers, while the Red Team was a little depressed.

The Red Team’s officer acted as a coach next to him, and he shouted to Zhao Tiezhu: “Pay attention to cooperating with your teammates, don’t just think about performing yourself. If you can’t win the ball, it’s useless no matter how good your personal performance is.”

Zhao Tiezhu nodded when he heard the words. Before, he just wanted to show himself in front of the emperor too much. In fact, he would also cooperate with his teammates when playing football.

Otherwise, their Red Team would not be able to enter the final. You must know that now in the Great Hua army, basically every army has a team, and there are also two teams in the folk.

They also fought all the way, and their strength is not worse than the White Team.

The game restarted, and Zhao Tiezhu, who had adjusted his state, quickly completed a goal with the cooperation of his teammates, tying the score.

“Such a prosperous scene is probably only comparable to the heyday of the Tang and Song Dynasties.”

A minister said.

“Who said no, looking at this game, I can’t imagine that last year was still a time of great chaos and people were struggling to survive. This change is too fast.”

Another person echoed.

“Even now, only the people under the rule of our Great Hua are living a better life. In the North and South, people are still struggling to survive. In order to fight against our dynasty, the Qing court and the Great Ming are increasing taxes.”

Ruan Dacheng also said a sentence, which aroused unanimous approval from everyone.

In the end, the nearly one-hour game ended, and the White Team defeated the Red Team with a score of 7 to 5.

Each player of the White Team received a reward of one hundred taels of silver, and at the same time, the White Team was also rewarded with a gold-plated trophy.

Chapter 359: Enjoying the Spoils

In the evening, a grand banquet was held in the imperial city.

The banquet was divided into two parts. Officials below the third rank could only sit at temporary tables set up outside the palace.

Those of the third rank and above, as well as certain special individuals, such as Feng Xianzhong, dined with Wu Changqing in the palace, as a sign of the emperor’s favor.

Dining with the emperor was considered a great honor.

These small favors and petty benefits had some effect in winning over the court.

At the banquet, all sorts of delicacies were brought up, delighting the ministers.

Outside the palace, the common people were also celebrating with fireworks. Some were genuinely celebrating, knowing the benefits of the new dynasty.

Others were simply joining in the fun. Everyone else was celebrating, so they joined in too.

The government also purchased a large quantity of fireworks and shared the joy with the people in the central square.

These custom-made fireworks were extremely beautiful when they exploded, and the people cheered with delight.

The entire square was packed with people, all beaming with joy, creating a scene of prosperity.

After the banquet, the ministers dispersed, and Wu Changqing returned to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

This was the main hall where the emperor resided, while the empress lived in the Palace of Earthly Tranquility. They did not usually live together.

The other imperial concubines also lived in other palaces within the Three Palaces and Six Courtyards, such as the Palace of Eternal Harmony, the Palace of Prospering Yang, and the Palace of Celestial Favor, totaling twelve separate palaces for the concubines.

The other young women selected for the imperial harem lived together in the Palace of Gathering Excellence, waiting to be favored. Only after gaining status and position could they move to a different residence.

Currently, the Great Hua Empire had just been established, so there was no time to select young women for the imperial harem, and the Palace of Gathering Excellence was empty.

The entire imperial harem covered one point two square kilometers, equivalent to more than two hundred soccer fields, a very large area.

When Wu Changqing wanted a woman, he could either personally go to the residence of the imperial concubines, or summon them to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Or, he could do it anywhere he pleased.

Even if Wu Changqing liked to do it in the corridor or in the garden, no one would dare to interfere.

At most, it would be recorded by the eunuch of the Office of Palace Affairs.

Currently, there was also a group of eunuchs in the imperial palace, all of whom were left over from the previous dynasty.

Wu Changqing wanted to abolish this deformed profession of eunuchs, but when it came to implementing it, he encountered considerable resistance.

First of all, the previous Great Ming Dynasty had left behind many eunuchs.

If Wu Changqing directly abolished this profession, it would be difficult for these people to survive. They only possessed some skills for working in the imperial palace, and it would be difficult for them to integrate into society after entering the civilian world.

Coupled with various forms of discrimination, the best place for eunuchs was still to serve in the imperial palace.

Secondly, there could not be other men in the imperial harem.

This was not because Wu Changqing was worried about being cuckolded, but because the other ministers would not agree.

It was better to be safe than sorry.

In the eyes of the civil and military officials, and in the eyes of the people of the world, the emperor’s face was more important than the dignity of those who had castrated themselves.

There could not be other men, but there was some physical labor in the palace that required men to do.

Therefore, as long as there was an imperial palace and an emperor, the problem of eunuchs would be difficult to solve.

Wu Changqing did not want to fight to the death with those ministers on this issue, as if he was desperate to be cuckolded. Therefore, he mentioned it slightly, and when the ministers opposed it, he compromised.

He only demanded that normal men were not allowed to castrate themselves, and only men who had lost their ability due to accidents were allowed to enter the palace as eunuchs.

However, rules were rules, and no matter how good the rules were, they needed people to implement them.

When the people below implemented them, there would always be some deviations.

If castration was not allowed, then create some accidents for those who wanted to enter the palace, what was the big deal?

In short, Wu Changqing knew that this problem was difficult to solve, or perhaps it would never be solved. Unless he was willing to abolish the imperial harem and live with only one wife.

This was also impossible, and even if he agreed, the other ministers would not agree.

Returning to the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Wu Changqing did not immediately go to sleep, nor did he read memorials or handle official duties.

He had worked hard for so long, of course he had to enjoy himself, otherwise what was the point of working hard?

With a command, the palace dance troupe, which had been prepared long ago, entered the stage.

Each of them had long, fair legs and was a natural beauty. Their beauty was such that any one of them could become a star in later generations.

These were beauties selected from hundreds of thousands of people, each one in a million.

Wu Changqing didn’t really care whether the dance was good or not, and he didn’t really understand it.

But that didn’t matter, he wasn’t there to watch the dance, he was there to see the people.

“You, come here.”

Wu Changqing beckoned to one of them, not because this woman danced well, nor because she was the most beautiful among them, but mainly because this woman’s appearance was very similar to a female star from later generations.

“Your Majesty.”

The woman suppressed the excitement in her heart and knelt nervously in front of Wu Changqing.

The person in front of her was the most powerful person in the world, and it was impossible to remain calm.

Wu Changqing used his hand to lift her chin, the more he looked, the more she looked like her, and then asked, “What is your name?”

“Reporting to Your Majesty, this commoner’s surname is Guo, and my given name is Fu.”

Guo Fu said.

“…”

Wu Changqing was a little speechless, this was a bit of a coincidence.

Because Guo Fu’s appearance was like Da Mi Mi, the actress who played Guo Xiang, Guo Fu’s younger sister, in the 2006 version of The Return of the Condor Heroes.

“Guo Fu is not a good name, from now on you will be called Guo Xiang.”

Wu Changqing inexplicably changed the other party’s name directly.

There was nothing he could do about it, he had the power, he was willful.

He was still being restrained, he originally wanted to directly change Guo Fu’s surname to Yang.

Guo Fu was dumbfounded.

You called me over not to favor me, but to change my name? Thank you very much.

No matter how much she wanted to complain in her heart, Guo Fu still looked grateful and kowtowed, “Thank you, Your Majesty, for bestowing a name.”

“Hahaha.”

Wu Changqing laughed triumphantly, power was really easy to become addicted to.

Changing someone else’s name with a single sentence, it was so much fun.

His wicked taste satisfied, Wu Changqing directly pulled Guo Xiang into his arms, admiring Guo Xiang’s appearance.

In the twentieth century, there were probably at least millions, or even tens of millions, of men who had fantasies about Da Mi Mi. And he was one of them.

In the past, he could only think about it, but now, he could directly enjoy it.

A similar appearance, a similar name, it should feel similar.

Guo Xiang, who was being held by Wu Changqing, was secretly delighted, her fingers slipped onto Wu Changqing’s body, gently unbuttoning Wu Changqing’s clothes.

The other dancers who had not been named could only continue dancing, and then be jealous and expectant in their hearts.

If they could be favored, they would be transformed from a pheasant into a phoenix.

Unfortunately, Wu Changqing didn’t seem to have such intentions, he was just having fun with Guo Xiang, and soon the clothes on his body disappeared.

Then the eunuchs turned around, and the dancers knelt down with their heads lowered, they could only listen, not directly look.

Chapter 360: A Day in the Life of an Emperor

The next day, Wu Changqing woke up early.

“From today onwards, I will live like an emperor.”

Wu Changqing sighed with emotion, then entered the system with his mind, checking the size of his territory.

Just like looking at your stats when playing a game. Watching your territory expand and your population increase is also a kind of fun.

“Only 350,000 square kilometers, just a fraction of the 9.6 million. It doesn’t seem that big.”

Wu Changqing muttered to himself, then withdrew his consciousness from the system.

Already awake, Guo Xiang clung to him and asked, “What is Your Majesty thinking about?”

“I’m calculating how big my territory is,” Wu Changqing said.

“Oh, how big is it?” Guo Xiang asked curiously.

“350,000 square kilometers,” Wu Changqing replied.

Unfortunately, Guo Xiang was still confused by this statement. She couldn’t imagine how big 350,000 square kilometers was. Pure numbers were too pale and not concrete enough.

“How big is Nanjing?”

Guo Xiang hadn’t been to many places and only knew Nanjing. In her mind, Nanjing was already very, very big.

“The entire Nanjing jurisdiction is about 5,000 square kilometers.”

Wu Changqing didn’t know the exact size and could only estimate.

“Doesn’t that mean it’s equal to seventy Nanjing? That’s too big!” Guo Xiang exclaimed. She hadn’t even traveled all over one Nanjing, let alone seventy.

“How big is the area that hasn’t been recovered yet?” Guo Xiang, transformed into a curious baby, continued to ask.

“There are still many places that haven’t been recovered. The Ming Dynasty to the south has about 1.4 million square kilometers, almost four times my size. The Qing Dynasty to the north is even larger, with a territory of about 5.6 million square kilometers, almost sixteen times my size.

As for the world, there are still one hundred and fifty million square kilometers that haven’t been recovered, which is about thirty thousand Nanjing.”

Rarely in such a good mood, Wu Changqing showed off his knowledge in front of Guo Xiang.

Guo Xiang counted on her fingers, lightly biting her lip, seemingly still trying to understand how big thirty thousand Nanjing really was.

“Don’t bother calculating. With your intelligence, I’m afraid it’s difficult to understand just how big the world really is,” Wu Changqing teased.

Not to mention Guo Xiang, no one else in this world except him could understand how big the world was.

“When will we be able to recover such a large place?” Guo Xiang was now Wu Changqing’s woman, so she naturally regarded the world as Wu Changqing’s private property and wanted to recover it as soon as possible.

“That will probably take a long time. It will be difficult to complete even in a few decades. Europe is so far away from us that it takes a year to travel back and forth by boat. In order to recover those places as soon as possible, I have to work hard on government affairs.”

Wu Changqing got up, and immediately palace maids came to serve him with dressing.

Washing up, having breakfast, and then dealing with memorials.

Morning court?

This wasn’t needed every day, mainly depending on the emperor’s diligence. A slightly diligent emperor would hold it only ten times a month, while a lazy one wouldn’t attend for more than twenty years, like the Jiajing Emperor and the Wanli Emperor.

The main reason Wu Changqing didn’t like morning court was because it was inefficient.

Gathering all the officials together to discuss matters of the Ministry of Revenue meant that officials from departments other than the Ministry of Revenue were basically just decorations.

No matter what kind of major event was being discussed, only a few officials were relevant, and most of the other officials could only watch without being able to participate.

It was better to let them do their own things. When it was necessary to deal with matters of a certain department, he would specifically summon that department to discuss them.

Moreover, with the existence of the Grand Secretariat, morning court was even more unnecessary, more like a formality.

The Jiajing Emperor hardly ever attended court in his life, and he still governed the country well.

Emperor Chongzhen was probably the most diligent emperor besides Zhu Yuanzhang, often attending court, but he still lost the country.

Therefore, morning court was particularly useless.

On Wu Changqing’s desk, there was already a large pile of memorials.

These were all memorials that had been screened by the Grand Secretariat. Generally, for less important matters, the Grand Secretariat could decide after internal discussion.

Only two types of memorials would be sent to Wu Changqing: one was greetings from ministers, and the other was important major events.

Wu Changqing threw those greeting posts aside, to be read when he had free time, or not at all if he didn’t.

Wu Changqing opened the first memorial, which came from Qian Qianyi of the Ministry of Rites.

Qian Qianyi wrote a letter hoping to exempt the people from taxes for a year, grant a general amnesty to the world, and release some criminals with minor offenses to show grace.

Generally, when an emperor ascended the throne, or had a crown prince, or had other major happy events, the emperor would usually grant a general amnesty to the world.

The memorial contained Qian Qianyi’s views, written in great detail.

Wu Changqing considered it slightly and finally wrote the words “Grand Secretariat to discuss again.”

A general amnesty and tax exemption had both advantages and disadvantages. Wu Changqing found it difficult to judge whether the advantages outweighed the disadvantages or vice versa.

Therefore, he handed this issue over to the Grand Secretariat, letting those Grand Secretaries debate it first, and then record their respective arguments and present them to him, which would also make it easier for Wu Changqing to make a decision.

Opening the next memorial, it was a memorial from Qian Taoli, the Vice Minister of Revenue.

He suggested relaxing the control over hybrid rice seeds and allowing merchants and people from the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty to purchase them.

Qian Taoli’s basis was that this would not aid the enemy and would also win the hearts of the people in other places.

It would only increase the enemy’s grain production. The increased grain production could not be directly converted into combat power, and the improvement of national strength was limited, so there was no need to worry too much.

Doing so could win the favor of the people in the enemy’s territory, reduce their hostility, and facilitate future rule.

Wu Changqing did not ask anyone to discuss this suggestion again, but directly approved Qian Taoli’s suggestion.

In Wu Changqing’s view, by the time those people planted the hybrid rice and were ready to harvest it, his army would have almost reached there.

Therefore, the benefits were still his.

Allowing the enemy to purchase it and speeding up the spread of hybrid rice was also a good thing.

Only when grain production increased could more people be supported.

And Wu Changqing would never think that there were too many people, only too few.

The current total population of the entire Chinese region was only about one hundred million, which was really too small, at least one billion. The population size determined how many technology points he could have.

Population was the consumer market, was productivity, in short, under the premise of being able to support them, the more people the better.

Wu Changqing continued to read a few memorials. He would ask the Grand Secretariat to discuss most of the memorials again, and he made direct decisions on relatively few.

After all, one person’s wisdom could not be compared with a group of people. Letting those people discuss it more easily avoided making wrong decisions.

Listen to both sides and you will be enlightened; heed only one side and you will be benighted.

Some policies, the starting point may be good, but also consider the current reality.

If it did not conform to the actual situation, good policies could easily lead to bad things.

Chapter 361: The Emperor’s Day, Part 2

After reviewing memorials for the better part of the morning, Wu Changqing paused to find some entertainment and relax.

However, after making this decision, he sadly realized that he didn’t seem to have any hobbies.

Some emperors liked listening to operas, some liked calligraphy and painting, and others liked carpentry.

Wu Changqing wasn’t interested in any of these. He preferred movies and e-sports games.

He couldn’t expect those things for the time being. It would take at least another ten years for society to develop enough to support the use of film technology.

As for video games, that was even further away.

Actually, Wu Changqing was also a little interested in chess. However, as the emperor, no one would dare to play to their full potential when playing with him. They would definitely let him win, which wouldn’t be fun.

Could it be that my only entertainment is playing with women?

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but mutter to himself. He was interested in that, but he couldn’t do it too often, or his kidneys wouldn’t be able to take it.

I should exercise. It would be too tragic to gain the throne but have a weak body.

Wu Changqing finally decided to exercise.

He had someone bring him some bowstrings, and then he directed a few eunuchs to make two badminton rackets.

It wasn’t convenient to play soccer in the palace because he couldn’t find enough people who knew how to play.

He couldn’t possibly have the palace maids and eunuchs play, could he? The image was unbearable to look at.

Badminton was much more convenient. Not only could it exercise the body, but it was also relatively safe.

“Each time, use the racket to catch the ball and hit it to the other side of the net, but it can’t go out of bounds…”

Wu Changqing explained the rules to several imperial guards. They nodded in understanding. After all, the rules were very simple, much simpler than the offside rule in soccer.

“Whoever goes first, the winner gets a reward of one hundred taels of silver.”

Wu Changqing said.

He was afraid that these guys wouldn’t dare to play with all their might, which would make it boring.

Everyone was eager to try when they heard that. That was one hundred taels of silver!

Moreover, as personal guards who often followed Wu Changqing, they all knew that Wu Changqing was a normal person and wouldn’t kill people for no reason like some emperors.

Therefore, they didn’t have to worry too much and could play with Wu Changqing without any concerns.

“I’ll go first.”

Wu Sande said. He was now the head of the imperial guards and a distant relative of Wu Changqing, a master-servant relationship, so he didn’t have to be so restrained.

The two came to the arranged court, and Wu Changqing began to serve. As a result, Wu Sande didn’t catch the first ball.

With no experience at all, he needed to adapt.

“Pay attention. If you lose too badly, I’ll punish you to run around the Summer Palace once.”

Wu Changqing reminded him. The other imperial guards couldn’t help but snicker when they heard this.

After several attempts, Wu Sande finally mastered the technique of catching the ball.

After all, this thing is actually very easy to get started with. Anyone with a normal IQ can easily master it, but it is more difficult to become proficient.

At first, Wu Sande only knew how to use brute force, hitting the ball out of bounds every time.

Gradually, he also realized that strength wasn’t used that way.

He began to want to hit angles, but this required higher skills and experience.

Wu Sande had just learned, so he certainly couldn’t compare with Wu Changqing and was beaten to a pulp by Wu Changqing.

“Too weak. Practice when you rest, otherwise I won’t enjoy playing.”

Wu Changqing threw the racket to another guard and told them to practice first.

Bullying newbies can only be enjoyable for a while. After a long time, it’s not interesting. It’s more fun to play with evenly matched opponents.

Of course, he probably wouldn’t encounter that unless there was a very smart and skilled guard who knew how to secretly hold back during the confrontation, always losing to Wu Changqing by a little bit.

Moreover, it had to be hidden very well so that Wu Changqing wouldn’t notice.

After lunch, he rested, and in the afternoon, he began to receive important ministers.

Liu Hansan was going to Huai’an to preside over the war on the northern front.

Before he left, Wu Changqing wanted to summon him once to convey some requirements to him.

For example, what to do if the Qing army suddenly launched a large-scale attack, and whether to take the opportunity to attack if there was an excellent opportunity.

“Unless there are special circumstances, focus on rest and recuperation and wait until the weather warms up next year before launching a large-scale attack. After all, current production capacity is limited and cannot provide so many supplies.”

Wu Changqing reminded him, worried that Liu Hansan would be eager to make contributions and rashly launch a northern expedition.

Now it was winter, and the weather was getting cold. The North was even colder.

If they rashly went north and the cotton-padded clothes couldn’t keep up, more soldiers would definitely freeze to death than die in battle.

Logistics are very, very important in war.

Napoleon lost to Russia, and Hitler lost to the Soviet Union. A big reason was that Russia was too cold.

Russian soldiers were used to that kind of weather, but the armies of other countries couldn’t stand it.

If cotton-padded clothes couldn’t keep up, and warming food, medicine, and tools couldn’t keep up, the army would be prone to large-scale diseases and deaths, and the army’s combat effectiveness would plummet.

“Your subject understands.”

Liu Hansan said.

After Liu Hansan left, the next one was Wang Dayong.

He was sent to Ningbo to preside over the war in the South.

The words of warning to Wang Dayong were similar, instructing them not to take large-scale offensives because logistics could not keep up.

The previous few major battles had consumed a lot of supplies.

Coupled with the weather, it was really not suitable for large-scale military operations.

After receiving the military generals, Wu Changqing also received an important local official, the Prefect of Suzhou, Yan Daqiu.

The Prefect was only a fourth-rank official. If it was a Prefect from a remote place like Huangshan, Wu Changqing would not bother with him at all.

However, Suzhou was different.

Suzhou’s economy itself was very developed, and it also managed Huzhou, Kunshan, Songjiang, and other places.

Especially Songjiang, where the monthly tax revenue was almost as much as Nanjing.

Apart from Nanjing, Songjiang was the most important place in his territory.

In fact, it was no longer reasonable for Songjiang to be under the jurisdiction of Suzhou Prefecture. It should be separated and established as a separate prefecture, or even a directly administered province.

Because it was very inappropriate to send a fourth-rank official to manage such an important place as Songjiang. According to its importance, it would not be an exaggeration to send a third-rank official to manage it.

The old administrative division was no longer appropriate.

However, now that the Great Hua Empire had just been established, there were many things that needed to be changed, and they could not all be completed at once. They needed to be done gradually.

Therefore, the matter of upgrading Songjiang from a county to a prefecture could only be put on hold for the time being.

How to govern such an important area was very important. Wu Changqing specially summoned Yan Daqiu to give him guidance, so as to avoid Yan Daqiu from making some wrong political orders.

“Focus on economic development. It doesn’t matter if it’s a black cat or a white cat, a cat that can earn silver is a good cat…”

Wu Changqing explained a lot, and Yan Daqiu carefully remembered it.

He certainly knew how important the position of Prefect of Suzhou was. Many third-rank officials wanted this position, and many people were watching him, waiting for him to make a mistake.

As long as he made a mistake, memorials impeaching him would definitely fly to the cabinet like snowflakes.

Only by getting rid of him would others have a chance.

Chapter 362: A Day in the Life of the Imperial Concubines

Bearing Palace, the residence of Consort Xian, Luo Min.

She was currently chatting with several young women, learning from their experiences. She was asking them about things pregnant women should pay attention to and what kind of nourishment they needed.

Now, all her attention in life was focused on her belly.

Anything unrelated to her belly, she couldn’t see or hear, entering a mystical state.

Perhaps because she had no family to rely on, and the Emperor didn’t belong solely to her, her closest relative was the child yet to be born.

“Consort Xian, rest assured, the imperial palace has so many tribute supplements; you won’t lack nutrition.”

One of the young women said with a smile.

The top wealthy and powerful families had gone to befriend the Empress.

And some people without connections could only settle for befriending Luo Min.

Of course, there were also those who firmly stood by Luo Min’s side, such as Xue Guiren’s wife and daughter.

Xue Guiren had already bet everything on Luo Min.

“If Her Highness can give birth to a boy, that would be the eldest prince.”

Another young woman said with a smile, only saying half of what she meant, the remaining half being understood by everyone.

Currently, the Great Hua Empire hadn’t specified whether it would establish the eldest son or the eldest legitimate son as heir. In any case, the child in Luo Min’s belly had a chance to become the Crown Prince.

If Luo Min’s child became the Crown Prince, she would rise in status along with her son, and Luo Min’s position would be completely different.

“Whether it’s a boy or a girl, I just hope they can be born smoothly.”

Luo Min said.

Zhongcui Palace, the residence of Consort Shu, Sun Yunxuan.

“Send this article to the newspaper office, and remember to bring back the letters addressed to me.”

Writing articles had become the most important part of Sun Yunxuan’s life; she would feel bored if she didn’t write every day.

Only publishing articles in the Fiction Newspaper could bring her joy.

After all, writing novels made her feel fulfilled and gave her feedback.

Some readers who liked her novels would write letters to Sun Yunxuan, and these letters had accumulated quite a bit at the newspaper office. Every once in a while, the newspaper office would send the letters to Sun Yunxuan.

Sometimes, Sun Yunxuan would also send someone to retrieve them.

Just reading those letters and seeing the readers’ praises made her smile knowingly.

“Our Lady is amazing; she can earn money herself, unlike them who only receive offerings.”

The little palace maid flattered her.

Sun Yunxuan’s serializing novels in the Fiction Newspaper wasn’t free; she could receive a certain amount of remuneration, and the remuneration wasn’t low because her novels were very popular.

Not many people in this era had read books, and even fewer could write them, and even fewer women could write them.

Therefore, Sun Yunxuan’s novel, Old News from the Attic, was almost unique in the women’s emotional novel section, with no competition.

Many young girls and resentful women in their boudoirs bought the Fiction Newspaper just to read Sun Yunxuan’s novels.

Many people had nothing to do after eating their fill every day, just waiting for Sun Yunxuan’s updates.

Everything, everything, was because entertainment resources were too scarce in this era. Men could go to the stadium to watch ball games, but these unmarried girls could only read novels.

“Only you would say that.”

Sun Yunxuan secretly rejoiced in her heart; she quite enjoyed this kind of achievement.

“If you ask me, Lady, you should announce your true identity so that those who read the novels know that you wrote them.”

The little palace maid continued.

In her opinion, such a prestigious thing should be known to everyone.

Using a pen name, no one knew that Sun Yunxuan wrote the books, which was too unfair.

“Nonsense, a woman’s virtue lies in her lack of talent. If others knew I wrote this, where would His Majesty’s face be? It’s already good enough that I can write under a pen name now.”

Sun Yunxuan was quite worried that after Wu Changqing ascended the throne, he would prohibit her from publishing novels out of consideration for the royal family’s reputation.

But now it seemed that Wu Changqing didn’t care at all.

Sun Yunxuan was quite happy with this result.

She was already satisfied being able to continue writing anonymously and didn’t dare to reveal her identity.

However, she was the only one who thought her identity could be concealed.

In fact, many high-ranking officials and upper-class people knew that this novel was written by Consort Shu.

However, everyone turned a blind eye.

Anyway, Wu Changqing didn’t care, so it wasn’t appropriate for everyone to say something they shouldn’t. Wouldn’t that be a dog catching mice, meddling in other people’s business?

In case they made Wu Changqing unhappy, it wouldn’t be worth it.

If it were Emperor Chongzhen or Wanli, those useless emperors, the censors would have liked to nitpick and show their existence because they knew the emperor wouldn’t dare to attack them.

However, when facing emperors like Wu Changqing, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhu Di, who held all the power, those censors very cleverly shut their mouths and didn’t interfere.

Because they knew that their lives depended entirely on the emperor’s words.

Compared to Consort Shu, what the officials couldn’t stand even more was Consort De, Yang Xiaoxiao.

Yang Xiaoxiao was from a nursing background, and everyone didn’t pursue this, who told Wu Changqing to like this kind of thing?

As long as Wu Changqing didn’t mess around in the court, they didn’t care how he messed around in the harem.

However, what the ministers couldn’t stand was that Yang Xiaoxiao had already been named a consort, but she didn’t stay in the palace obediently. Instead, she continued to go to the nurses’ camp to guide and train more nurses.

This was too outrageous. Since ancient times, what was the logic of a consort coming out to work?

Wasn’t this losing the face of the royal family?

What was even more outrageous was that Wu Changqing didn’t even care, and Empress Chen Yuyan didn’t care either.

In fact, Chen Yuyan did care.

After Chen Yuyan learned that Yang Xiaoxiao had left the palace to work, she summoned her to reprimand her after Yang Xiaoxiao returned to the palace that day.

Yang Xiaoxiao naturally didn’t agree. She felt that she was doing good deeds by leaving the palace, so why should she be reprimanded and prohibited?

Wu Changqing’s harem had just been established, and everyone didn’t quite understand the rules inside. Chen Yuyan was the Empress for the first time, without prestige or experience, and couldn’t control Yang Xiaoxiao.

In the end, the matter reached Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing punished Yang Xiaoxiao, asking her to apologize to the Empress. However, he did not prohibit Yang Xiaoxiao from leaving the palace.

The affairs of the harem were all under the jurisdiction of the Empress.

In order to maintain Chen Yuyan’s prestige, Wu Changqing had to let Yang Xiaoxiao apologize, even if he was biased towards Yang Xiaoxiao in his heart.

Otherwise, Chen Yuyan would not be able to manage the harem in the future.

Without the power to punish people, without prestige, where would the other concubines fear the Empress?

Wu Changqing let Yang Xiaoxiao apologize to the Empress, maintaining Chen Yuyan’s power and prestige.

But secretly, he didn’t prohibit Yang Xiaoxiao from continuing to leave the palace, also to implement his own ideas, allowing his women to find something to do and enrich themselves.

Otherwise, staying in the palace all day, people without patience would probably be suffocated to death.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also wanted to use this attitude to tell the civil and military officials that he supported women’s participation in the division of labor in society.

Chapter 363: The Reclamation Edict

October 14th.

The Great Hua’s first major government decree after its founding, the Reclamation Edict, was promulgated.

The autumn harvest was now basically complete, and from now until the spring planting next year was the longest holiday period for the people.

Reclaiming wasteland could basically only be done during this time; there was no opportunity to reclaim land during other busy farming seasons.

The current cultivated land area in China was much smaller than in later generations, and there was still a large amount of land that could be reclaimed.

However, reclaiming this wasteland was very difficult, and it definitely couldn’t be done by the people alone.

After all, most of the land that had not yet been reclaimed was because there was no water source.

Irrigation was the biggest problem in farming.

If one wanted to reclaim fertile land, one first had to build water conservancy projects, dig ditches, and allow water to reach those fields.

Rice cultivation absolutely required water; relying on people to carry water for irrigation would exhaust them to death and not yield much grain, which was not cost-effective.

Therefore, even though there was a large area of wasteland, very few landless people would reclaim it, because the cost of reclamation was very high.

Now, Wu Changqing issued the Reclamation Edict, which promised that the government would be responsible for the tools and expenses for building ditches, and the people only needed to contribute some labor.

At the same time, the farming tools for reclaiming land were also distributed by the government free of charge.

Without iron farming tools, reclaiming land could exhaust people to death.

After all, wasteland was harder and had more weeds than land that was regularly cultivated.

The decree stipulated that the ownership of the reclaimed land belonged to the imperial court, but the right to use it permanently belonged to the reclaimers.

What did this mean?

It meant that unless the imperial court wanted to build roads, urban areas, or mine minerals, it could not take back those lands. Those lands belonged to the reclaimers for permanent use and were exempt from taxes.

However, if the imperial court needed to occupy farmland to build roads, the people had to hand it over unconditionally, and the government would provide a sum of money as compensation.

Wu Changqing was guarding against the drawbacks of private land ownership. If private land ownership was recognized, and the government wanted to build an airport or a railway somewhere in the future, those troublemakers would dare to demand tens of thousands of taels of silver for one mu of land, or they wouldn’t sell.

Or, under the instigation of someone with ulterior motives, they would deliberately oppose the government.

At that time, the imperial court would either have to slap itself in the face and violate the laws it had established, or be disgusted by these troublemakers and build the railway in another place, increasing huge construction costs.

This kind of thing had not happened yet in this era.

But Wu Changqing, as a person from later generations, had seen a lot of it, so he had to guard against it in advance.

After all, there were many bad officials and many troublemakers with low awareness; people were selfish.

Even if private land ownership was not recognized, the Reclamation Edict issued by Wu Changqing was still incredibly favorable to the people.

Permanent right to use, tax-free; this was something that the people would not have dared to imagine before.

In the past, although the land reclaimed by the people belonged to them, they had to pay very high taxes. The little grain obtained after taxes was insignificant compared to the cost of reclamation.

Therefore, in the past, those landless people would rather work as tenant farmers in landlords’ estates than reclaim land of their own.

When Wu Changqing discussed this with several cabinet ministers, the ministers did not quite agree, feeling that this was too favorable to the people. Tax exemptions could be granted appropriately for a few years, but there was no need to be permanently free.

In response, Wu Changqing patiently explained to them the art of taxation.

The dumbest way to collect taxes was to directly demand grain from the people.

The people were naturally unwilling to hand over the grain they had worked so hard to grow.

A slightly more clever way to collect taxes was to raise the prices of some daily necessities.

Raise the price of salt, raise the price of rice milling, raise the price of red bricks and cement used for building houses, and then collect taxes from merchants.

In this way, merchants would make a profit, and the government’s tax revenue would not be low.

Although the people did not have to pay grain, they were paying invisible taxes when buying daily necessities.

In this model, unless they were very clever, the people would not realize that this was a trick of the imperial court. Ordinary people would only curse the merchants as profiteers and shift their anger from the imperial court to the merchants.

This was very beneficial for governance.

Of course, there were even more clever ways to collect taxes.

For example, printing banknotes.

After paper money was implemented, the imperial court could appropriately print more banknotes based on the wealth of society, so that the imperial court would have money to use without collecting taxes.

As for the people, they seemed to have never paid taxes, but as more and more currency circulated in the market, the currency was forced to depreciate, which was essentially the same as paying taxes.

This way of collecting taxes was even harder for the people to detect.

Of course, this method required careful consideration of the degree. If too much currency was issued, leading to too much inflation, then the credibility of this paper money would collapse.

The latter two ways of collecting taxes were only logically feasible, but they were prone to causing some problems in practice.

For example, if the price of salt rose, some people would control themselves and eat less salt, which would affect their health.

For example, if banknotes were printed, some people who bought things early would not lose money, while those who had been saving money would suffer a great loss, which would create inequality.

Therefore, those methods were only logically sound, and further refinement and improvement were needed in specific implementation.

This refinement and improvement work was a tedious and huge project, and Wu Changqing naturally handed it over to the ministers below to solve; otherwise, what were these ministers for?

As an emperor, Wu Changqing was already rare in that he could point out the correct direction for them.

It should be known that most emperors in various dynasties were actually just a stamp. They basically couldn’t make any constructive decisions. They would wait for the ministers to research policies, and then the emperor would stamp them with the imperial seal.

As long as the emperor didn’t stamp randomly, he would be considered a qualified emperor in the eyes of the ministers.

Emperors who could make some major decisions and offer constructive opinions were excellent emperors.

Such as Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di, Emperor Wu of Han and the like.

And an emperor like Wu Changqing, who could directly point out the most correct direction for the ministers, was absolutely unique in history.

Because no emperor had as much knowledge as Wu Changqing.

A person in the twenty-first century received more information in a day than ancient people received in a year.

In terms of knowledge, Wu Changqing was more powerful than the entire cabinet combined.

This was also where those ministers admired and revered Wu Changqing.

Don’t look at Wu Changqing being only seventeen years old, but none of the ministers below felt that they were smarter or more knowledgeable than Wu Changqing.

An emperor like Wu Changqing, who came to power through illegitimate means, would not have been able to get others to willingly submit if he could not crush everyone in terms of ability.

Being an emperor was such a great thing, which man wouldn’t want to do it? The reason why they didn’t rebel was just because they knew they didn’t have the ability.

Compared to Wu Changqing’s identity, what the ministers revered even more was the unfathomable knowledge on Wu Changqing’s body.

Chapter 364: The Reclamation Order 2

The most important aspect of the Reclamation Order was encouraging land reclamation.

However, the entire order contained many detailed rules.

For example, it encouraged the raising of farm cattle.

The difference between farming with and without farm cattle is enormous. When plowing, ten people can’t match the strength of one ox. Having cattle saves both time and effort.

However, raising a farm cattle is very difficult. The cost of a calf alone is astronomical, and simply keeping the cattle alive is no easy feat.

To raise a farm cattle, you have to graze it every day, usually twice a day. And even grazing isn’t enough, because cattle eat a lot.

Besides grazing, you also need to feed them large amounts of hay, straw, or rice bran.

However, at this time, people used the hay from harvested rice to burn for cooking, or they would throw it into the fields to rot or burn as fertilizer.

In short, they didn’t have enough to spare for raising cattle.

To change this situation, Wu Changqing announced that he would increase coal mining and turn it into honeycomb briquettes for people to use.

Using honeycomb briquettes could solve the fuel problem, freeing up more hay to feed farm cattle.

At the same time, using honeycomb briquettes could also reduce excessive deforestation, allowing more grass and trees to grow.

At this time, apart from the large trees in the mountains, there were basically no forests in the plains.

The hills in the plains were barren, and the trees were cut down for firewood before they could grow big, not even sparing the stumps or roots.

The more this happened, the harder it was for trees to grow. The fewer trees there were, the less firewood they provided, creating a vicious cycle.

Using honeycomb briquettes and prohibiting the cutting of saplings and small trees. As long as this continued for a few years, and the trees grew bigger, this problem could be effectively alleviated.

As for the pollution and damage to the environment and air caused by excessive coal use, Wu Changqing couldn’t worry about that so much. He had to develop first.

When he had money and became rich, he could improve the environment. For now, feeding the people was the most important thing.

Only people who are full and have nothing to do will call for environmental protection.

Before he transmigrated, Wu Changqing was disgusted by Western environmentalists and environmentalists in big cities.

Those bastards in the West and big cities first destroyed the environment by using large amounts of coal to develop, and then told the backward regions to protect the environment after they became rich.

They made a lot of money, they destroyed the environment, and then they asked the rural people to join them in environmental protection.

To paraphrase Zhuge Kongming, he had never seen such shameless people.

Environmental protection was definitely necessary, but it had to wait until after economic development.

Moreover, Wu Changqing wasn’t too worried about environmental issues.

Because the air was so good now, it would take at least decades of burning coal to pollute it. It was too early to worry about it now.

When that time came, Wu Changqing would make rules to prohibit foreigners from burning coal and force them to protect the environment.

Well, if you can’t stop others from being shameless, you might as well do it yourself.

In addition to raising farm cattle, the decree also encouraged and promoted the use of simple farm tools, as well as the planting of potatoes, corn, and cotton.

Compared to rice, potatoes and corn have lower requirements for land.

Some places where rice cannot be grown are good choices for planting potatoes and corn.

Especially potatoes, which have a high yield.

Although it’s not good to eat potatoes as a staple food for a long time, as it’s easy to get tired of them.

However, eating them occasionally is still very good.

For some people who still don’t have enough to eat, taste is secondary; having something to eat is the most important thing.

When people are hungry, they will eat grass roots and tree bark, let alone potatoes.

Promoting the planting of potatoes can greatly increase food production.

Cotton cannot be eaten, but it can be processed into goods and sold abroad, and then grain can be imported. In fact, planting cotton is even more cost-effective than planting grain.

When the Reclamation Order was issued, an article also appeared in the People’s Daily, analyzing the court’s intentions. In fact, it was the government explaining to other classes why it was being so good to the people.

Without an explanation, always making policies that benefit the farmers, people in other classes would definitely have opinions.

In this world, good people and noble people are always in the minority. Most people only care about their own interests.

Like those merchants, scholars, landlords, and gentry, they don’t care much about the life and death of farmers, only about whether they can live better.

If the court always favors farmers, they will get fewer benefits.

As the gap between the rich and the poor narrows, their social status will decline invisibly.

Maybe they won’t dare to say it, but they will definitely have opinions in their hearts.

With emotions, they may not be able to help but do some small sabotage.

In order to appease other classes, Wu Changqing asked Wei Ziwen to write an article explaining the benefits of farmers becoming rich to other classes.

In the article, a term appeared for the first time: purchasing power.

The argument of the article is very simple: if the people are not rich and have no money to spend, then who will buy so many cloths and goods that everyone produces?

You can’t just rely on the rich class, the number of rich people in the whole world may not even be one percent of the poor.

Those tens of millions of poor people are a huge consumer group and a market that can be developed.

Only when these poor people are full and have spare money can they have purchasing power, and this market can be developed.

Just imagine, if those ten million people could afford perfume, then the profit of the perfume industry could increase more than a hundred times every year.

The scene described by Wei Ziwen was quite attractive to merchants.

In addition to the term purchasing power, Wei Ziwen also explained that the fundamental purpose of supporting farmers now is to liberate productivity.

Only by increasing grain production and reducing the difficulty of farming can more labor be freed up to serve the rich.

If the farmers can’t even get enough to eat, where will they have surplus people to participate in the construction of the town.

Without those people coming to the town, who will make perfume, make cloth, and make BMW cars for the rich to enjoy?

And those dirty and tiring jobs, which rich people would definitely do?

This kind of argument also has some truth, at least it can convince a large part of the rich class and make them feel balanced.

Although they can’t make any waves even if they are unbalanced, a harmonious society is conducive to social development, and it is still necessary to ease the contradictions between the various classes.

Wu Changqing’s plan is to solve the problem of food and clothing first, and improve productivity first.

In the future, when everyone is rich, he will devote himself to changing the gap between the rich and the poor in society and create the ideal society he wants in his heart.

Having become an emperor once, of course he wouldn’t just think about unifying the world and be done with it.

Chapter 365: Monosodium Glutamate

The best way to resolve social conflicts is actually to improve people’s lives.

Improving living conditions has always been something Wu Changqing has been doing.

Not long after the land reclamation order was issued, Wu Changqing threw another bone to the merchants: the bidding for the monosodium glutamate (MSG) recipe.

MSG can greatly enhance the flavor of dishes and various soups. For the wealthy, being able to eat better food is a major pursuit.

Increasing income is the greatest happiness for the common people, but for these wealthy people, a few hundred taels of silver more or less doesn’t have much impact on their lives.

However, with MSG, their quality of life can be greatly improved.

There are high and low techniques for extracting MSG. The low-end method involves direct extraction and production from kelp. The disadvantage is that kelp is not easy to harvest, only available by the sea, and the cost is relatively high.

A more advanced technique involves using gluten or soybeans as raw materials to produce MSG through acid hydrolysis.

This technique can produce MSG in large quantities, but it requires acid-resistant equipment and wastes raw materials, making the cost relatively high.

In comparison, Wu Changqing is temporarily offering the low-end extraction technique.

After all, MSG is currently positioned as a luxury item for the rich, so the quantity doesn’t need to be too large. Extracting it from kelp is sufficient.

When conditions are right in the future, he will use high-end technology to produce it on a large scale, so that the common people can also afford it.

At the bidding meeting, many merchants arrived early.

Several large project bids in the past had allowed the winning merchants to make a lot of money.

Those who had watched from the sidelines had all figured out one thing: these bidding projects were truly benefits offered by the Great Hua court.

Therefore, when there was another project requiring bidding, they all flocked over, not wanting to miss out again.

Unfortunately, there was only one project up for bid today, but there were at least forty or fifty merchants present.

The success rate was simply too low.

Many people were reminiscing about the previous bidding, where the success rate was extremely high.

Although the hope was slim, it didn’t dampen their enthusiasm at all.

“Gentlemen, let’s start by tasting some delicacies.”

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, who was in charge of hosting the bidding meeting, ordered people to bring up some dishes for everyone to taste first.

The merchants were not surprised, as they knew before coming that today’s bidding was for a condiment that could make food taste better.

“Not bad, it really does smell a lot better.”

“Smell better? I don’t think so. It’s just that after eating it, there’s a strange, addictive feeling of wanting to take another bite.”

“Indeed, there is a very obvious difference. Worth investing in.”

Everyone tasted it themselves and found that the taste was indeed different.

Although it didn’t turn these ordinary dishes into amazing delicacies, the taste was indeed noticeably improved. And that was enough to make it worth investing in.

This kind of thing is needed in wealthy families.

“This is MSG extracted from kelp. Each time, just add a small amount, and the taste of the dish will become more delicious.”

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce said.

At the same time, he also distributed detailed information about MSG to everyone.

For example, how much MSG can be extracted from a piece of kelp, and what the approximate cost would be. This data could help the merchants calculate the profit margin.

Next, they would have to consider and develop their own bidding plans.

This time, the Ministry of Commerce valued the bidders’ financial strength. The stronger the financial strength, the more MSG they could extract.

After all, this stuff could not only be eaten by themselves, but also sold overseas.

The Ministry of Commerce would not explicitly state this bidding requirement, leaving it to the merchants to speculate.

Those who guessed wrong would naturally not have the opportunity to win the bid.

For example, someone who cleverly stated in their bidding plan that they would sell MSG cheaply so that the common people could also afford it would have their plan thrown aside.

This showed that the bidder was brainless and incompetent.

With the current output of MSG, could the common people afford it at this stage?

This had nothing to do with price, it was purely about output.

The more expensive this kind of thing was sold, the better. The more expensive it was sold, the more profit was made, and the more taxes the court collected.

In short, bidding was a technical skill, unless there was a back door.

For example, one merchant learned the bidding standards of the Ministry of Commerce through bribery.

The problem of corruption in officialdom exists in every dynasty.

Wu Changqing currently doesn’t have time to rectify the officialdom, and it’s not suitable to do so at this stage.

Rectifying the officialdom immediately after the founding of the country would easily give people the impression of kicking away the ladder after crossing the river. Wu Changqing doesn’t want to cause panic among officials.

He’ll let the bullets fly for a while, let those corrupt officials be smug for a while.

He’s having the intelligence agency secretly collect evidence first, and then find a suitable opportunity to deal with them later.

The person who learned the bidding standards naturally created a very beautiful and targeted plan.

However, the winning bid didn’t go to this bribing merchant, but to another company.

Zhou Yuncheng of the Zhou family in Northern Jiangsu, who used to be in the salt business.

Now that the salt production industry is basically monopolized by Nanjing, his business has been greatly impacted, resulting in heavy losses.

He used to be able to fight against the officials of the Ming Dynasty, but now he doesn’t dare to fight against Great Hua. Great Hua’s control over the people is much stronger than the Ming Dynasty’s.

Helpless, he can only look for other businesses to change his predicament.

Zhou Yuncheng has high hopes for the MSG industry.

At the same time, being extremely shrewd, he immediately saw that this MSG was a luxury item, just like perfume, that only a few people could afford.

Having identified the right positioning, coupled with his stronger financial strength.

As a result, he won the bid.

In his bidding plan, he promised to refine one hundred tons of MSG in a year and pay more than one million taels of silver in taxes to the court.

The bribing guy, on the other hand, only dared to promise to refine twenty tons a year and pay about four hundred thousand taels of silver in taxes to the court.

In comparison, Zhou Yuncheng’s advantage was too great.

The guy in the Ministry of Commerce who took the bribe didn’t dare to blatantly give the project to the other party again.

After all, these bidding meetings need to be recorded and eventually submitted to Hong Chengchou for review.

If he didn’t give the project to Zhou Yuncheng, Hong Chengchou would immediately see the problem and it would be troublesome for him to investigate.

Moreover, the little money he received was only for leaking the bidding standards, not guaranteeing that the other party would definitely win the bid.

“Congratulations, Boss Zhou, you’re going to make a fortune this time.”

“Congratulations, Boss Zhou, you can contact me if you need cooperation. I have a group of fishermen who are good at harvesting kelp.”

Among the many congratulations, there were also those seeking cooperation.

Even if they couldn’t earn the big bucks, earning some hard-earned money would be good.

“Thank you for your kindness, everyone, but that won’t be necessary. Zhou has a group of laborers who specialize in making a living at sea.”

Zhou Yuncheng said with a smile.

Chapter 366: Tax Revenue

The Great Hua Empire, this massive machine, had begun to operate for several days since its founding.

A vast empire with over a dozen major departments had commenced their respective functions.

The frontline troops were preparing for war and engaging in small-scale battles.

The Logistics Department was urging the arsenals to research more advanced weapons and increase their production.

The Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Revenue…

Every department was bustling with activity, and local governments were handling various administrative affairs and striving to create political achievements.

The Prefect of Nanjing, equivalent to the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture in the former Ming Dynasty, and akin to the mayor of the capital in later generations, held a rank of Senior Third Grade.

This was a highly important position. After all, being an administrative official under the Emperor’s eyes was entirely different from being a Prefect or Magistrate in other areas.

Living in the city were imperial relatives, powerful ministers, and generals, none of whom were easy to offend or manage.

The newly appointed Prefect of Nanjing, Liu Dahua, was racking his brains to manage Nanjing well.

With the rapid development of technology, Liu Dahua realized that the urban layout of Nanjing needed to be rectified.

Roads needed to be widened and straightened, otherwise, they couldn’t meet the current traffic flow demands, and traffic jams would sometimes occur.

The higher-ups had already planned to build a railway in Nanjing and open a horse-drawn railway car route.

Horse-drawn railway cars were currently only available in mining areas to save manpower.

The rails could greatly reduce friction. A horse could pull one and a half tonnes of goods on flat ground, but it could pull at least four or five tonnes with a railway car.

In order to transport large amounts of coal and other minerals, some railways had already been built in the mining areas from the mines to the riverside.

The main reason for building horse-drawn railways in Nanjing was that there were too many people in Nanjing. Relying solely on rickshaws for transportation would make the streets very crowded.

A horse-drawn railway car could carry dozens of people at a time, just like a bus, which could greatly improve efficiency.

Moreover, riding a horse-drawn railway car would also be cheaper than taking a rickshaw.

This was the policy set by the higher-ups, but Liu Dahua encountered a lot of resistance in its implementation.

For example, the owner of a certain house to be demolished was a relative of so-and-so, or some high-ranking official, none of whom were easy to deal with.

Of course, the main problem was a lack of money. With money, those troubles could be solved.

Those people who were grumbling and refusing to move ultimately just wanted more money.

When Liu Dahua presented the plan for Nanjing’s development to the Cabinet, the Vice Minister of Revenue, Qian Taoli, rolled his eyes directly.

“One million five hundred thousand taels of silver, Liu Dahua really dares to ask.”

Qian Taoli threw Liu Dahua’s memorial aside and complained.

Ruan Dacheng took the memorial and looked at it, shaking his head repeatedly.

The plan required too much money, and the Cabinet would never agree.

“Minister Qian, have the tax statistics for this year been compiled? Give me a hint, so I can make a development plan for the Ministry of Industry for next year.”

Ruan Dacheng asked.

Development required money, and the court’s money had only one source: taxes.

How much tax there was determined how much could be done.

The tax statistics for this year were already being compiled. After the tax revenue for this year was calculated and the expected tax revenue for next year was estimated, other departments could discuss the financial allocation for next year.

“Not much, the Ministry of Industry shouldn’t even think about it. The military has already been inquiring about it. It is said that the military’s plan for next year is to completely pacify the South and the North, so military spending will take the lion’s share,”

Qian Taoli complained. He was in charge of the treasury and was not happy at all.

Everyone came to him for money, and if he didn’t give it, they would make trouble, and if they couldn’t make trouble, they wouldn’t give him a good look.

“What you’re saying is wrong. If you don’t allocate money to the Ministry of Industry, will those factories still develop? If the factories don’t develop, will your Ministry of Revenue have so many free farm tools to distribute?”

Ruan Dacheng immediately became unhappy. He didn’t care about the military.

He was now the head of the Ministry of Industry and had to think about the Ministry of Industry. If he couldn’t get funding, how could he convince the people of the Ministry of Industry to listen to him? How could he do his job in the future?

“Let’s talk about it in a few days. In short, don’t have too much hope. Every department is asking for money, and it’s not like your Ministry of Industry is the most important,”

Qian Taoli said.

A few days later, the nominal tax revenue for the first year of Yongxing in Great Hua was calculated.

The so-called nominal tax revenue refers to the tax revenue for the entire year. However, because the last two months hadn’t arrived yet, it could only be estimated based on the data from the previous ten months.

Therefore, the total data was not an accurate figure, but only an approximation.

After the tax statistics came out, Wu Changqing also held an enlarged meeting.

Not only the important ministers of the six ministries participated in the meeting, but also military representatives.

Wu Changqing sat at the head of the table, and the ministers sat on both sides.

Civil officials on one side, military generals on the other, clearly separated.

This was not what Wu Changqing had requested, but they had automatically formed such an understanding.

The ministers deliberately formed this pattern to reassure the Emperor.

If civil officials and military generals got too close, it would easily give people the feeling that they wanted to rebel.

The meeting began, and Qian Taoli first reported on this year’s tax revenue, saying: “As of now, the total tax revenue of the entire jurisdiction is forty-three million taels of silver. It is estimated that the total tax revenue for the year can reach fifty-eight million taels of silver.

Among them, commercial tax accounts for seventy percent, and agriculture accounts for thirty percent. In addition, the total amount of confiscated property is about twenty-five million taels, and the total revenue for the year is eighty-three million taels.”

Hearing this number, many officials widened their eyes and felt incredible.

Because, during the reign of Chongzhen, the annual tax revenue was less than ten million taels.

But now, it had directly increased fivefold.

The speed of this growth was simply incredible.

Some officials who didn’t understand the situation naturally couldn’t understand it, but some ministers with more flexible minds could understand the reason.

The most important reason was that the tax revenue during the Chongzhen period was low, but that didn’t mean its tax revenue potential was low.

The less than ten million taels of silver that Chongzhen collected basically all came from agriculture.

Its commercial tax was collected by eunuchs, and the money collected was handed over to the Imperial Household Department.

In the later period, Chongzhen had poor control over the country, and those eunuchs couldn’t beat those big merchants, so naturally they couldn’t collect much tax.

Wu Changqing, on the other hand, started with the army. Any merchant who dared to resist would be confiscated, and suddenly those merchants became honest.

Therefore, a large part of the more than forty million taels of tax revenue came from commercial taxes that Chongzhen could not collect.

As for the other part, it was the profit brought about by the increase in productivity.

Those large factories created a large number of goods with terrifying productivity, which could bring a lot of tax revenue to the court.

This was only the first year. By next year, with the continuous development of technology, its tax revenue would still show a trend of rapid development.

Compared to the surge in commercial tax, the increase in agricultural tax was not much.

The main reason was that Wu Changqing didn’t collect it. In fact, after those farmers planted hybrid rice, the yield almost doubled. It was actually possible to collect twice as much tax, which could add more than ten million taels.

However, Wu Changqing did not do so.

Chapter 367: Fiscal Budget

Besides taxes, the Great Hua army also confiscated the assets that originally belonged to the Zhu family during their expansion.

Confiscation of property was also carried out for some officials who refused to surrender or were guilty of heinous crimes.

The income from this aspect was also considerable, worth a full twenty-five million taels of silver. However, this was a one-time income, and there would be no more unless they continued to expand their territory.

Even if they continued to expand, the spoils of war wouldn’t be as plentiful as before.

After all, they had almost occupied all the relatively wealthy places in the country.

The Zhu family princes in places like Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi weren’t particularly wealthy either.

After Qian Taoli finished talking about this year’s tax revenue, he continued to talk about this year’s expenditures.

“This year’s expenditures are also not small. As far as military expenses are concerned, we have spent thirty-five million taels of silver to date. Investment in various industries has reached forty-four million taels of silver, support for agriculture is as high as five million taels of silver, administrative expenses total five million taels of silver, and other expenses in various aspects are nearly five million taels of silver.

In other words, not only do we have no surplus this year, but we also have a fiscal deficit of eleven million taels of silver.”

Many people were shocked to hear that the imperial court owed more than ten million taels of silver in debt.

Their minds hadn’t quite caught up yet, and they thought that owing ten million taels of silver was a big deal.

After all, if the court of the Chongzhen era owed ten million taels, it would probably never be able to make up for the deficit, and the court would be shaken.

However, they overlooked the current financial income situation of the Great Hua Empire.

With this year’s tax revenue, coupled with the development of industry and commerce, next year’s tax revenue might even reach one hundred million taels of silver.

In that case, a debt of ten million taels wouldn’t be a big deal.

After finishing talking about this year’s situation, everyone was still waiting for Qian Taoli to speak.

No matter how much the income and expenditure were this year, it wasn’t today’s main event.

Those were all things that had already passed, and everyone was now staring at next year’s tax revenue, wanting to grab a share of the budget.

Seeing this, Qian Taoli continued, “According to the predictions of the Statistics Department, the commerce and industry of our dynasty will continue to maintain a high-speed development trend next year, so the commercial tax revenue will continue to increase.

There shouldn’t be much change in agriculture. According to predictions, next year’s total tax revenue can reach one hundred million taels of silver, of which commercial tax accounts for about eighty million taels.”

When everyone heard that next year’s fiscal budget was one hundred million taels of silver, they all beamed with joy.

One hundred million taels, this was an astronomical figure.

Several military officers with low levels of education couldn’t understand how big the number one hundred million actually was.

Ten thousand ten thousands? This wasn’t very intuitive and difficult to understand.

“One hundred million taels is neither too much nor too little. Everyone can discuss how to use it. The basic principle is that, in addition to necessary expenditures, we should pay more attention to development investment,”

Wu Changqing said.

The more investment in development, the greater the return later.

Just like this year’s investment in major factories, although it cost more than forty million taels to support those factories, their annual output will be nearly twenty to thirty million taels in the future. The investment can be recovered in less than two years, and everything after that will be pure profit.

Of course, it can’t be said that for the sake of development, even some urgent problems that need to be solved are ignored. Like military expenses, disaster relief, and urban construction, these all require appropriations.

There are also administrative expenses. It’s impossible not to pay the salaries of officials. With the expansion of territory and the increase in officials, this administrative expenditure will rise to a new level next year.

How to find a balance between development and the present is today’s topic.

Of course, this was the result Wu Changqing hoped for, but if the people below were allowed to discuss it, they might not be able to be completely selfless.

People from various departments would probably try to fight for more funding for their own departments.

“Development is very important. In order to provide a more stable environment for development, it is very important to wipe out the remnants of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, military expenses cannot be reduced,”

Li Shaobin said first. No one knew which staff officer had taught him this, but it sounded quite reasonable at first glance.

“Military expenses certainly cannot be reduced, but there is a very bad phenomenon of waste in the army now. Excessive reliance on cannons and firearms is not only costly, but also makes the army lose its bloodiness and become incapable of melee combat. This is not a good phenomenon,”

Ma Shiying said.

He couldn’t stand the current army. A battle would consume thousands of grenades, as well as bullets and shells.

The manufacturing cost of a grenade was one tael of silver, and a howitzer shell was two taels. This wasn’t fighting a war, it was clearly throwing silver at the enemy.

These were all consumables. One shell was lost with every shot, and even the thickest family fortune couldn’t withstand it.

In the past, the army’s weapons were mainly broadswords and spears. If a broadsword was used for half a month and the blade was rolled, it could be sharpened and continue to be used. There was basically no consumption.

The Great Hua army was powerful, but that was also built on huge consumption. Without sufficient logistical support, the combat power of the Great Hua army would drop several levels.

“What do you mean by that? If we don’t use firepower to suppress them, how can the enemy be timid? Without firepower suppression, the casualties of the army will increase by at least one or two times. It costs even more to have those soldiers killed or disabled. If you don’t understand fighting, don’t talk nonsense,”

Li Shaobin retorted.

Their army did waste ammunition frequently, but if they didn’t pour so much ammunition over, how could the enemy be afraid?

If the enemy wasn’t afraid, they would resist stubbornly, and they would have to die more people.

If it were other armies, they would rather have more people die than spend more money.

But they couldn’t do that. The soldier benefits set by Wu Changqing meant that they had to value the lives of the soldiers.

If a soldier was killed or disabled in battle, the subsequent expenses would be even greater.

Ma Shiying was furious when he heard this. He had also led troops before, and his age was what it was. Now he was actually being questioned for not understanding fighting.

“Commander Li, don’t get excited. Lord Ma means that the army’s money will not be reduced. However, the army should also promote the style of hard fighting,”

Ruan Dacheng smoothed things over, and the military people snorted.

Because Wu Changqing was still there, both sides were still relatively restrained.

If Wu Changqing wasn’t there, just because of what Ma Shiying had just said about the army having no bloodiness, the military people might have started fighting with Ma Shiying.

“The military’s tasks next year are very heavy. They have to fight on two fronts, and as the battle progresses, the battle lines will become longer and longer, and logistical support will be more difficult…”

Tao Dongcheng began to explain the problem from a factual level.

Before, their battles were all around Nanjing, which was close and easy to supply.

But next year, their battlefields would be in Henan and Hebei, and they would even have to fight outside the pass.

This distance from Nanjing was too far. If one hundred Jin of grain was transported from Nanjing to outside the pass, the loss on the road would account for at least seventy percent.

Fujian was not particularly far from Nanjing, but the road was difficult to travel, and its logistics and transportation was also a big problem.

In short, Tao Dongcheng’s meaning was that the army would need to spend more next year.

Finally, he reported a number, fifty-five million taels of silver, which was twenty million taels more than this year.

As soon as this number came out, the other civil officials were immediately unhappy.

The fiscal forecast was that next year’s tax revenue would only be one hundred million taels of silver, and the army would directly take more than half of it. If the remaining dozen or so departments were to divide the remaining forty-five million taels, then there would really be too many monks and too little porridge.

After hearing Tao Dongcheng’s asking price, the civil officials immediately retorted.

Chapter 368: Preliminary Agreement

“You all continue to discuss. Once you have a result, submit the final plan to me.”

Wu Changqing finished speaking and left first. Anyway, there was no point in him staying.

As the ultimate decision-maker, it wasn’t appropriate for him to directly intervene and reveal his thoughts. Any inclination he showed would greatly influence those below him.

Without him speaking, the others could argue to their heart’s content.

The result of the argument would definitely be a compromise acceptable to all parties, without damaging harmony.

But if he personally said that the military expenditure shouldn’t be so high, Li Shaobin and the others would definitely not dare to retort. This would easily create the impression that Wu Changqing was biased towards one side.

That was unnecessary. As an emperor, Wu Changqing only needed to wait for them to come up with a result that satisfied him.

After Wu Changqing left, everyone could argue to their heart’s content, even resorting to insults in their urgency.

“Have you even looked at the army’s food now? Every meal is filling, and there’s meat at least every three days. Not to mention farmers, even some slightly well-off small landlord families don’t eat as well as the army.”

Liu Dahua complained about the army’s food, saying it was a bit too good.

At a time when the country hadn’t completely solved the problem of basic needs, the soldiers in the army were already living a comfortable life.

Naturally, the other civil officials couldn’t stand this.

In the eyes of the civil officials, soldiers used to be low-lives, even lower than dogs. It was good enough for such people to have food to eat, but now they were actually eating meat regularly, which was simply too extravagant.

Since the Tumu Crisis of the Ming Dynasty, the status of military officers had gradually declined.

Civil officials had always looked down on them.

It hadn’t been long since the Ming Dynasty fell, and these civil officials’ views hadn’t completely changed yet.

Or rather, they didn’t want to change at all, but wanted to gradually strip the military officers of their power, just like before, and then slowly take control of the army.

“Lord Liu probably hasn’t fought in any battles, right? You don’t know what morale is. If you don’t feed the soldiers well, do you think our Great Hua soldiers are naturally unafraid of death?

Why do the Ming army and the Qing army collapse as soon as they meet us? Isn’t it because our soldiers eat better and are more willing to risk their lives?”

Chen Shichang retorted.

Eating well was also an important reason why they often won battles, but ordinary people couldn’t see it.

“No matter what you say, fifty-five million is too much. Cut it by another fifteen million.”

Qian Taoli bargained, directly cutting the military’s budget by fifteen million.

The military was naturally unwilling. The fifty-five million quote wasn’t something they had just blurted out, but the result of calculations by the logistics department and the staff department.

Without these fifteen million, many of their strategic plans couldn’t be achieved.

Either reduce military pay, eat worse food, or cut some of the army.

The military people were unwilling to accept any of these choices.

The first two directly affected the rights of the soldiers, and the soldiers would definitely not agree.

As for the reduction of the army, the officers disagreed.

Under the current military system, the number of officers was determined by the number of soldiers.

If some of the army was cut, some officers would have to be demoted.

No officer was willing to do that. They all wished they could continue to expand the army and create more positions for commanders, army commanders, and division commanders.

Great Hua’s senior military officers weren’t allowed on the most dangerous front lines, so the death rate was very low.

Lower-level military officers could only hope for more positions to be created if they wanted to be promoted. It was too difficult to squeeze out their original superiors.

“Cutting fifteen million is too much. We can only reduce it by five million at most. That way, we can tighten our belts and barely get by,”

Tao Dongcheng said.

Bidding for the budget would definitely require everyone to compromise in the end.

If they insisted that fifty-five million couldn’t be reduced by a single wen, then the meeting couldn’t continue.

If it really came to that point, it would only make Wu Changqing feel that this cabinet was useless, and it wouldn’t mean anything else.

“Fifty million is still too high. It’s one point five million taels more than this year. You know, the Qing Dynasty doesn’t even spend one point five million taels on military expenses in a year.”

Among the civil official group, there were still people who disagreed.

At this point, the meeting had become somewhat deadlocked.

Negotiating the budget was a major event that couldn’t be decided in a day or two.

So, when everyone was tired of arguing, they dispersed.

In addition to discussing this matter, they had other work to do.

The next day, the heads of various departments gathered together again to discuss the budget.

“Everyone, let’s all take a step back and finalize the budget as soon as possible, so that we can feel at ease to do other things.”

Qian Qianyi said. He was the oldest of everyone, and he used to be highly respected.

Everyone would still give him some face when he spoke.

“I heard that the military is spending a lot of money to research breech-loading rifles. Aren’t the current flintlock rifles already able to crush the enemy? It’s a waste of money to research more advanced weapons.”

Ruan Dacheng said. He had specifically inquired about this news, saying that the military was now spending a lot of money to research a new type of gun.

“Flintlock rifles are advanced enough. What else are you researching? Could it be that you in the military want no one to die in battle?”

Liu Shijin questioned.

“What do you short-sighted guys know? This is a project personally assigned by His Majesty, to develop breech-loading rifles. Now, whether it’s the Qing army or the Ming army, their troops are equipping flintlock rifles on a large scale.

When we fight against them, our advantage is not as great as before. Only by constantly developing new weapons can we reduce the casualties of our soldiers.”

Li Shaobin brought out Wu Changqing, and those civil officials were immediately speechless.

They certainly didn’t dare to say that the projects personally assigned by Wu Changqing were wrong.

“We’re not saying that you shouldn’t do research, but there’s no need to be so anxious. The army’s current equipment is advanced enough, but you’re still researching breech-loading rifles, twenty- Jin heavy cannons, as well as the air force and navy, each of which is a money-guzzling monster.”

Gu Yanwu also said something.

Originally, he was the most carefree in the budget dispute.

He was in charge of the Ministry of Appointments, holding the power over the fate of many officials, and didn’t need too much funding.

However, out of responsibility for this court, he also hoped that the budget dispute could be resolved as soon as possible.

“After our calculations, we feel that the military’s military expenses for next year will be enough with forty-six million taels.”

At this time, Hong Chengchou also spoke up.

Moreover, he wasn’t just bargaining casually, he had really done the calculations.

He took out a table, which deduced the military’s various expenses.

According to his calculations, forty-six million would be enough.

With reason and evidence, the military大佬 were stunned. In terms of verbal skills alone, they were probably no match for these civil officials.

“No, no, no, military expenses are not calculated like this. The battlefield is unpredictable, and anything can happen. As long as there is a slight accident, such as a delay caused by the weather, it will cost extra money.”

Tao Dongcheng defended.

“Lord Tao, it’s not like I haven’t led troops to fight before. The battlefield is unpredictable, maybe Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, and Jinan don’t even need to be attacked, and the enemy will surrender upon seeing us. In that case, I don’t know how much military spending can be saved.”

Hong Chengchou’s mouth was sharp, and he pointed it out in one sentence.

The battlefield is unpredictable, and it is possible to encounter unfavorable situations for one’s own side, but it is also possible to encounter unexpected advantages.

Therefore, the two can be offset.

Moreover, judging from the current situation where the gap between the enemy and us is huge, good surprises will definitely outweigh bad surprises.

Along the way, there will definitely be many enemies who surrender

These words blocked Tao Dongcheng’s mouth, and the other military大佬 wanted to argue, but couldn’t find a reason, and could only worry.

Seeing this, the other civil officials seized the opportunity and expressed their views, asking the military to accept the figure of forty-six million.

Chapter 369: Budget Battle

In the end, the military reluctantly compromised.

They ultimately secured a budget of forty-seven million taels of silver, eight million less than planned.

This outcome certainly wouldn’t satisfy those below, but it was the best they could do.

Having secured the forty-seven million taels, the military then began to quarrel internally.

After all, the military had different departments.

The Army, Navy, and Logistics were the three major departments. The Air Force was still too weak and had no say, directly subordinate to the Army.

The differences between the Logistics Department and the front-line troops weren’t significant, mainly revolving around the Army-Navy dispute.

“Three million? Are you Army guys trying to send beggars our way?”

In the military headquarters, Wu Yi immediately became agitated upon hearing the allocation plan.

As a major branch of the military, they couldn’t even get ten percent of the budget.

If he accepted this result, all the naval officers, big and small, would be dissatisfied with him.

He wouldn’t last a year in this position before being kicked out.

“Commander Wu, please calm down. Three million is already a lot. Blame those damned civil officials for being too ruthless and cutting us short by eight million taels.”

Although Wu Yi’s navy was smaller than an army corps in terms of manpower, his position and status far exceeded those of an army commander, vaguely on par with Li Shaobin and others.

Therefore, the people in the military headquarters couldn’t do anything about him and could only appease him politely.

“Why did you agree if they cut you short by eight million?”

Wu Yi retorted.

“Old Wu, calm down. We had no choice. We couldn’t keep dragging it on, could we? That would only displease His Majesty, and what good would that do?”

Li Shaobin advised.

“I don’t care about that. Take the shortfall from your Army budget, and don’t expect to touch my Navy’s funds. Next year, my Navy needs to build ten ocean-going warships and twenty troop transports to meet the coastal combat needs.

Therefore, next year, my Navy’s military expenditure must be at least six million. Less than that is non-negotiable. I don’t care if I have to take it to His Majesty.”

Wu Yi’s words were very firm, but he indeed had his own difficulties.

With the prosperity of maritime trade, the Navy’s tasks were becoming increasingly heavy.

Moreover, when attacking the Southern Longwu regime in the future, their Navy would definitely assist the Army in transporting troops and logistics. Without investment and sufficient ships, they wouldn’t be able to complete such tasks.

Furthermore, in Wu Changqing’s words, the Navy would be the main force in the future, relying on the Navy to conquer the world.

To realize His Majesty’s grand vision, their Navy needed to develop proactively.

“Are you saying the Army’s tasks aren’t heavy?”

Li Shaobin retorted.

“If you think it’s too little, you can go and make a fuss with the civil officials. However much you can get from them will go to your Navy.”

Finally, Li Shaobin gave Wu Yi a way out, letting him bother those civil officials.

Of course, Wu Yi wouldn’t be so foolish as to go to the civil officials. The two sides already disliked each other, so how could they possibly cut into an already agreed-upon deal? That was definitely impossible.

After thinking it over, Wu Yi felt that he had no choice but to go to Wu Changqing to complain and plead his case.

The budget dispute within the military headquarters was relatively small, after all, it was just a conflict between the Army and the Navy.

But in the civil official system, their disputes were much more intense, even more so than when they were arguing with the military.

Eight or nine departments had been united when competing with the military.

But less than a day later, these departments were arguing to the point of almost fighting. It was a complete mess.

“Lord Ruan, I think you’re senile. There’s only a total budget of fifty-three million, to be divided among eight departments, and you, the Ministry of Industry, want forty-five million.”

Qian Taoli directly started cursing. Ruan Dacheng’s demands were outrageously high, asking for an exorbitant price.

“Lord Qian, what do you mean by that? What eight departments? Does the Censorate not even count as a department in your eyes?”

Liu Shijin complained.

Among the many departments, his Censorate didn’t belong to the Six Ministries and was easily overlooked.

Unfortunately, no one paid attention to Liu Shijin. The firepower of the big shots was still concentrated on Ruan Dacheng.

After all, Ruan Dacheng was grabbing their funds.

Ruan Dacheng’s skin was thick enough that he didn’t care about being ridiculed and scolded by everyone. Anyway, he had just started with an exorbitant price, making it easier to bargain later.

“I believe everyone is clear about the importance of the Ministry of Industry. Why can tax revenue soar this year? Isn’t it because of those factories? Investing money in factories can double the benefits in a year. Can investing in fields increase tax revenue by ten percent? Can investing in the Censorate generate even a fraction of profit?”

Ruan Dacheng said unhurriedly.

“That’s right, it’s best if our Censorate doesn’t get a single penny, so we can’t keep an eye on you corrupt officials in the Ministry of Industry.”

Liu Shijin cursed.

“That’s right, my Ministry of Revenue doesn’t want a single penny either. Let all the people go to the factories, and everyone can eat iron from now on.”

Qian Taoli said sarcastically.

He had nothing else to say besides sarcastic remarks, after all, Ruan Dacheng was telling the truth.

Investing money in the Ministry of Industry would yield far greater benefits than other departments.

“Lord Ruan, you can’t say that. Didn’t His Majesty say that we should have balanced development and support agriculture? Only when the people have money can they drive consumption, and only then will people buy the things produced in the factories.

If other classes don’t have money, the factories will only pile up too many things in the corners. In His Majesty’s words, this is called overcapacity.”

Hong Chengchou had a deeper understanding of economics than others, and the reasons he gave for his rebuttal were well-founded.

Everyone nodded in agreement, they had now temporarily united to suppress Ruan Dacheng.

“The problem is, we are still far from overcapacity. Even if the domestic market can’t absorb it, there is still a large overseas market.”

Ruan Dacheng was not an ignorant person either, and he gave one reason after another.

The crowd continued to argue, and no matter what Ruan Dacheng said, they would not agree to his request.

Of course, Ruan Dacheng didn’t really want that much.

Seeing that the time was almost ripe, he then said, “Alright, I’ll take a loss and ask for less, forty million will be enough.”

His words made everyone speechless again. Reducing it by only five million was useless.

“Don’t dream, the Ministry of Industry will get a maximum of thirty million this year. You’re occupying sixty percent of the budget with just one department, be content.”

Qian Taoli also stated his bottom line.

Given the importance of the Ministry of Industry, everyone could accept giving it thirty million.

After all, the Ministry of Industry was a money-guzzling beast, and the expenses of other departments were relatively smaller.

“What can thirty million do? One Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant costs ten million. Are we only opening three factories next year? Not to mention laying railways next year, thirty million isn’t even enough to fill the gaps between our teeth.”

Ruan Dacheng said anxiously.

“We’ll talk about the railway later. That so-called locomotive hasn’t even been seen yet, who knows when it will be made.”

Gu Yanwu said.

Chapter 370: Patent Law

To discuss the budget, Wu Yi sought an audience with Wu Changqing and poured out his grievances.

“Your Majesty, although the navy isn’t as important as the army right now, naval construction takes a long time. If we wait until we need a navy to start building one, it’ll be too late. Building a large ship often takes months.”

Wu Changqing, of course, understood Wu Yi’s point.

A few months was just for the current wooden warships. When it came to building more complex iron warships in the future, it would take even longer.

A battleship or aircraft carrier often took four to five years to build.

So the navy really needed to develop in advance, otherwise, it would be too late when the time came to use it.

Wu Changqing had told Wu Yi before to vigorously develop the navy.

However, the army also really needed money at the moment.

“Go tell Li Shaobin to allocate another one million taels to you. Use that for now, and if it’s not enough next year, I’ll take out some of my private money.”

Wu Changqing thought about it and came up with this compromise.

Fortunately, he now had a lot of imperial assets. The Wu family’s business was very large, and he had a lot of private money to squander.

After dismissing Wu Yi, Wu Changqing began to think about how to earn more money, or save more money.

Canned food?

Wu Changqing thought of something.

The current difficulty in the army’s logistics support was the transportation of meat and vegetables.

Meat could boost morale, and vegetables could ensure the health of the soldiers.

Meat and vegetables were essential military supplies. Without meat, soldiers would need to eat more grain, which would increase the pressure on logistics.

But meat and vegetables were not easy to store and transport.

And canned food was a good solution to this problem.

In the original timeline, the earliest canned food appeared in the early nineteenth century, also due to Napoleon’s need for war.

He offered a reward for a method to ensure that food would not spoil for a long time. Eventually, a cook discovered some of the rules of food spoilage from the different spoilage rates of different foods.

In the end, he invented bottled canned food.

At the same time, in order to meet the nutritional needs of sailors in maritime trade, Western European governments also offered similar rewards.

An ordinary couple also invented canned food.

The appearance of canned food solved a major problem in army logistics and became a necessity for ocean trade, selling well for nearly two hundred years.

It was not until more advanced refrigeration technology appeared that canned food slowly declined.

Wu Changqing was preparing to produce this canned food.

The technology of canned food was actually very simple. Get a glass bottle, then get a wooden stopper, put the food into the glass bottle, plug the wooden stopper, and then put it into boiling water to cook and sterilize it.

This was the most primitive canned food, which was expensive and the glass bottles were fragile.

With the help of the system, Wu Changqing would naturally not make such a primitive thing.

He directly exchanged the sealing technology of tinplate cans and the easy-open can technology. It only cost ten thousand tech points in total, which was very cheap.

He directly handed this technology over to Sun Daoming, since his own people were easy to talk to.

Wu Changqing told him to operate at a loss in the early stage and supply the army first.

When the output increased and satisfied the army, then sell it to those ocean merchants.

In the future, ocean trade would become more and more developed, and there was no need to worry about the market for canned food.

Sun Daoming happily accepted this task. Losing a little money in the early stage was not a big deal, as long as he got this technology.

Nowadays, businessmen were very clear about how profitable an exclusive technology was.

Like Chen Daolin, Tong Youwei, and many other big businessmen, they all relied on helping Wu Changqing in the early stage, and then using Wu Changqing’s unique technology to make a lot of money.

After dealing with these trivial matters, he focused on writing the Patent Law.

He wanted to encourage people to carry out various scientific researches and inventions.

Relying on his own brain alone was far from enough. Unless he needed it, he couldn’t think of which technologies were needed for the time being. And he didn’t know very well what the people needed since he stayed in the palace for a long time.

The overall progress of society still needed to rely on the wisdom of the people.

Just like that French cook and that ordinary couple, if it weren’t for the reward of more than ten thousand francs, how could they have researched it?

If it weren’t for their research, the birth of canned food might have been delayed for decades or even hundreds of years.

After all, canned food technology was not complicated, and when it appeared only depended on the degree of social demand for it.

When ocean trade especially needed this technology, it appeared.

Similar to this kind of technology that was not complicated, only needed a flash of inspiration, many ordinary people could complete it.

In order to encourage more inventions, Wu Changqing formulated this Patent Law.

The Patent Law stipulated that anyone who invented new things, new processes, new technologies, or even a new and valuable appearance, could apply to the government for the patent.

The patent holder enjoyed the ownership of the patent for twenty-five years.

Anyone else, including the imperial court, who needed to use the patent, needed to pay a certain patent fee.

The patent fee was determined according to the value of the patent.

After twenty-five years, the patent ownership belonged to the public, and special patents belonged to the imperial court.

For example, atomic bombs, submarines. These technologies could affect national security and have a significant impact on national interests. They certainly could not be authorized casually, and could not be leaked casually.

This was actually impossible. An individual’s research and development capabilities were unlikely to produce such things.

However, the law was about being rigorous.

Regardless of whether this was possible, it needed to be prevented.

Anyone who used the patent for profit without the authorization of the patent owner needed to compensate the owner for more than twice the loss.

…

There were many provisions in the Patent Law, more than sixty in total. Not to mention the illiterate, even most scholars would not be able to fully understand it.

But it didn’t matter, those details only needed to be mastered by a small number of people, and ordinary people only needed to understand the core points of the Patent Law.

The core of the Patent Law was that whoever invented the technology owned it, and others had to pay to use it.

This was very subversive to the thinking of contemporary people.

Before this, everyone had secret recipes, or unique technologies, that they needed to carefully hide.

If they were stolen by others, they could only accept their bad luck, and the government would not care about such trivial matters.

But now, as long as they applied for a patent, others would have to pay compensation and fines if they dared to use it without authorization.

The government would spend a lot of effort to protect the interests of inventors, which was a bit unimaginable.

When the Patent Law was promulgated, it immediately caused a considerable shock in the business and scholar circles.

Chapter 371: A Perfect Match

The main focus on patent law came from merchants and scholars who were learning new knowledge.

The merchants were very shrewd. Even before the patent law existed, they were already secretly conducting research, trying to come up with a secret recipe or an advanced technology to make money.

The new knowledge textbooks opened a new door for the merchants.

Now that the patent law was in place, they could do it openly.

Once they came up with those secret recipes, they no longer had to worry about being copied by others, and they only needed to register a patent.

With the guarantee of profits, their enthusiasm for invention and creation became even greater.

In fact, only the merchant class had the financial resources to engage in invention and creation.

Moreover, it had to be big merchants. Small merchants were all focused on the immediate small profits. Only big merchants would consider long-term strategies.

As for the students studying in the university, they needed government funding to support them when they engaged in invention and creation; otherwise, they would not be able to do it.

Just like Chu Dayu, who was working on the pendulum clock, and Zu Dalu, who was working on the microscope, if they didn’t have government support, where would they get the money to get those raw materials and hire so many assistants?

Without funding for experiments, they would not be able to create the pendulum clock or the microscope.

With the introduction of the patent law, another wave of invention fever swept through the university.

As long as they invented something, they could lie down and collect money in the future.

Moreover, if the invented thing had a very significant effect, they could be granted an official position and noble title, and become superior to others.

Now, anyone with eyes could see that the easiest way to be ennobled was to join the army, followed by engaging in scientific research.

Becoming an official, which had been popular for thousands of years, suddenly became less appealing.

“Brother Xu, how is your hairspring research going?”

In the university, two students were walking together, one was thinking, and the other was asking.

“Not so good. The hairsprings made by the craftsmen don’t meet the requirements, the processing difficulty is too high. The research and development team, considering the difficulty of the project, has allocated the funds that originally belonged to me to another project.”

Xu Ke said dejectedly.

The hairspring he was talking about was an elastic element that controls the balance wheel to do reciprocating motion.

To put it bluntly, it was a precision part in a watch, and it was the most important part of the watch.

After the pendulum clock was invented, many wealthy families began to use pendulum clocks to tell time, which was very accurate.

However, some people also discovered a disadvantage of the pendulum clock, that it was too big and bulky and could only be placed at home.

Many merchants hoped for a small and exquisite timing instrument that could be carried around and was as accurate as a pendulum clock.

For merchants, being able to keep track of time anytime and anywhere was a very important thing.

It was precisely because of this demand that some students in the university wanted to develop it.

Among these people, the one who had gone the furthest was Xu Ke.

He had already figured out the other parts of the watch, and only needed to get the hairspring part out to assemble a small timing instrument.

Unfortunately, this last hurdle was also the most difficult one. He had been researching it for more than two months, but there was not much progress.

And this was not his fault, mainly because the current processing technology could not achieve such precision.

As long as he kept experimenting, he could always improve this processing technology.

He had already completed the theoretical aspect. What Xu Ke lacked was funding.

Unfortunately, because there were too many students engaged in scientific research in the university, there were also too many projects.

The university’s funding was limited, and it could only give priority to other projects with greater chances of success. Xu Ke’s project was cut and shelved indefinitely.

This made Xu Ke very frustrated. He was a student from a poor family, and his family was only a small middle-class family, and he had no ability to bear his research.

Without government support, he had no funding and could barely move forward.

“Brother Xu, your project is definitely fine, it’s a pity to be cut. I have a way, I don’t know if you are interested.”

Zhang Anguo said.

“What way?”

Xu Ke was like a drowning person seeing a straw, very eager.

“To be honest, Brother Xu, my uncle wants to enter the clock and watch industry. Unfortunately, the pendulum clock has already been taken first, and it is now very competitive to enter the market.

Therefore, he set his sights on small watches. If Brother Xu is willing, you can accept my uncle’s funding to continue the research.”

Zhang Anguo said.

“Oh, what are the conditions?”

Xu Ke was not a fool. A fool could not possibly develop a research project in the top university like this.

Therefore, when Zhang Anguo came up to him, he knew that Zhang Anguo must have something in mind.

“This, the conditions are not harsh, my uncle only needs your twenty-year exclusive authorization of the patent.”

Twenty years of exclusive authorization meant that Xu Ke could no longer authorize the patent to other merchants for these twenty years. Without competition, it was not realistic to get a very high authorization fee.

This condition was actually quite harsh.

But Xu Ke had no choice. If he didn’t accept it, he wouldn’t be able to get this thing out.

If he dragged on, he might be overtaken by others.

After all, the principle of this thing was not complicated. It was similar to a large pendulum clock. The difficulty was only the manufacturing process of those parts.

Moreover, accepting government funding, the results of the research were not entirely his own.

Accepting government funding and accepting merchant funding were not much different, and the government encouraged and supported this behavior.

“Twenty years is too long, and the specific authorization fee also needs to be discussed.”

Xu Ke bargained.

“As long as Brother Xu is interested, my uncle will treat you to a meal at Drunken Immortal Restaurant later, and you can talk to him in detail then.”

Zhang Anguo smiled and put his arm around Xu Ke’s shoulder. It was not easy to pull in a talent.

Things like this did not only happen to Xu Ke.

There were many people in the university who had talent but lacked funds, and there were also many merchants who had capital but could not find good projects.

The two were like dry wood and raging fire, which would ignite as soon as they touched.

When the patent law came out, the merchants’ actions became much more active.

In a short period of time, many people reached cooperation intentions.

However, among these people, only a few would succeed.

Invention and creation were not as easy as imagined. Failure was the norm, and success required luck.

However, once successful, the profit would be a hundred times, a thousand times.

A new exclusive commodity, its profit could easily reach millions or tens of millions of taels of silver.

Just like perfume and cement, the market demand was too great.

Engaging in these unique businesses was as easy as picking up money.

One commodity could change the fate of a family and make it prosperous forever.

Chapter 372: Individual

Some inventions that require significant investment can only rely on the support of merchants.

But some inventions only need a flash of inspiration, and ordinary people can join in the fun.

In a carpentry workshop, a carpenter in his forties was assembling something.

No one had ever seen this thing before, and no one knew what it was.

But if Wu Changqing were here, he might exclaim in surprise, “Isn’t this a bicycle!”

The old carpenter was named Lu Dasheng. He was an employee at the BMW carriage shop, specializing in crafting and carving carriage frames.

Once, he heard people complaining that there were more and more BMW carriages and rickshaws in Nanjing, which led to traffic congestion.

He suddenly thought, could the carriage be made smaller?

Originally, this was just an absurd and boring idea.

Lu Dasheng didn’t pay attention to it after this thought popped up, and almost completely forgot about it, until the imperial court promulgated the Patent Law.

People around him were talking about this law, and Lu Dasheng’s idea popped up again.

After this idea reappeared, it lingered in his mind, haunting him even in his sleep.

So, he officially started to build a bicycle.

However, his bicycle was completely different from the bicycles of later generations.

First of all, his bicycle, except for a little iron in the wheels, was made of wood everywhere else.

Moreover, there were no handlebars, no rear seat, and no gears or chains.

To drive this bicycle, one could only half-lie on the frame and push the ground with both legs to move forward.

It was more of a toy than a means of transportation.

Making the bicycle like this was already Lu Dasheng’s limit.

Next, how the bicycle needed to be improved to make it practical was something he had no clue about.

“Tinkering with your broken thing again? Why don’t you go to work? Do you want to starve tomorrow?”

While he was tinkering with the bicycle, Lu Dasheng’s wife came out of the house and scolded.

Lu Dasheng had taken two days off from work to work on this bicycle.

Of course, he was far from starving.

As a craftsman, his income was much higher than that of ordinary workers.

Women have long hair and short knowledge, and seeing that Lu Dasheng hadn’t earned any money for two days, she started to worry.

“What are you shouting about? This is an invention, understand? I’m going to apply for a patent later. Anyone who wants to manufacture my kind of vehicle will have to give me money.”

Lu Dasheng didn’t originally intend to apply for a patent, after all, this thing didn’t seem to have any value.

However, to shut his wife up and to have some peace and quiet, he decided to simply apply for a patent.

Anyway, his wife didn’t understand what a patent was. She was especially happy to hear that others would give them money, and urged Lu Dasheng to go quickly.

Arriving at the government office, Lu Dasheng asked around and finally found the department for registering patents.

Currently, the administrative system of the Great Hua Empire was still relatively chaotic. The department responsible for reviewing and registering patents was not under the Ministry of Commerce or the Ministry of Justice, but was attached to the Ministry of Rites.

“You’re here to apply for a patent registration?”

Wei Jing, the clerk of the patent department, asked. This was the first application he had encountered since he was transferred to this department.

“Yes.”

Lu Dasheng replied.

“What patent are you applying for?”

Wei Jing continued to ask. Lu Dasheng lifted up his bicycle and pointed to it.

What is this thing?

Wei Jing was full of question marks. He even suspected that Lu Dasheng’s brain had problems, taking a toy over to apply for a patent.

However, Wei Jing didn’t dare to drive him away directly, because he had just been transferred to this department and wasn’t very proficient in the business, fearing that he would make a mistake and something would go wrong.

So, he took out the Patent Law and studied it条 by条.

“This doesn’t seem to meet the conditions for application.”

Wei Jing said.

“Why doesn’t it meet the conditions? I was the first to make this.”

Lu Dasheng argued.

Anyway, he was idle, so Wei Jing patiently explained to Lu Dasheng.

This thing had no practical value, at best it was a toy.

Moreover, it was not a very fun toy.

It was meaningless to register such a thing, and it would be a waste of money.

Registering a patent wasn’t free. Depending on the value of the patent, a registration fee ranging from one hundred to ten thousand taels of silver was required, which was not cheap at all.

After all, once a patent dispute occurred, they would need to handle it, and law enforcement also had costs.

Hearing that it would cost one hundred taels of silver, Lu Dasheng immediately lost interest.

This thing couldn’t be sold for money, so registering it would be a waste.

Lu Dasheng was about to leave when he bumped into two university students who had come to register a patent.

As students of the university, they were very interested in new and strange things.

Seeing the thing in Lu Dasheng’s hand, Fei Yufeng’s curiosity was aroused.

“What is this thing? It looks like a means of transportation.”

Fei Yufeng asked.

“Young master has a good eye. Originally, I wanted to make it into a means of transportation, but because it can only barely move forward by pedaling with your feet, it doesn’t have much use.”

Lu Dasheng explained.

“This, putting a transmission device on it might work.”

Fei Yufeng had completed elementary and intermediate physics and was studying advanced physics. He was one of the most outstanding people in physics at the university.

He had a relatively in-depth understanding of some simple mechanical forces. Lu Dasheng didn’t know how to find power, but Fei Yufeng knew very well.

“Transmission device, what is that?”

Lu Dasheng was confused and couldn’t understand Fei Yufeng’s words.

“That is… I’d better draw it for you.”

Fei Yufeng estimated that this person wouldn’t understand those technical terms, so he adopted the most vivid drawing method and added a transmission device to the bicycle on paper.

Moreover, he explained the movement method and principle to Lu Dasheng.

“It can really be like this? Doesn’t this mean that my invention can take shape and have practical value? Young master, why don’t we work together on this project? We’ll each take half of the money from selling the patent.”

Lu Dasheng knew that he probably couldn’t complete this thing on his own, so he wanted to cooperate with the professional in front of him.

“I’m afraid I don’t have that much time. Jiang, are you interested?”

Fei Yufeng asked his companion next to him. He was currently researching more important projects and wasn’t very interested in this simple bicycle.

As for money, he cared even less. What he was staring at now was a peerage.

As long as he completed the project in his hands, a peerage would definitely be obtained.

“I am interested, but I’m afraid I won’t do it well. If Brother Fei is willing to give me some pointers in the future, I am willing to give it a try.”

Jiang Cheng said.

“Making this thing can make it easier for everyone to travel, which is a good thing. You go and study it first. If you encounter problems that can’t be solved, I’ll go over and take a look.”

Fei Yufeng said.

With Fei Yufeng’s guarantee, Jiang Cheng happily agreed to cooperate with Lu Dasheng.

Like this kind of small invention made by individuals because of their hobbies and specialties, Lu Dasheng was not the only one.

Although not everyone can be as lucky as Lu Dasheng, encountering an expert to cooperate with.

However, there are always some people who, relying on wisdom and luck, invent some small gadgets.

These people with special talents are also constantly creating miracles and jointly changing the world.

Chapter 373: Budget Allocation

November 10th.

After a long period of negotiation, the matter of the budget allocation finally came to a conclusion.

The Ministry of Industry undoubtedly received the lion’s share, a total of thirty-three million taels of silver.

However, this result was much lower than Ruan Dacheng’s expectations, so he was not happy at all.

The Ministry of Revenue received the second largest amount, eleven million taels of silver, which included the salaries of officials at all levels. Therefore, the amount of money available to support agriculture was very small.

However, due to the strong support for agriculture this year, especially the planting of hybrid rice, farmers’ incomes had soared.

Giving less support next year wouldn’t be a big deal.

Of course, this was what others were saying. Qian Taoli naturally disagreed. Therefore, his face was also unsightly, as if he had suffered a great loss in order to compromise.

The Ministry of Commerce was allocated only one million taels of silver. Their work required very little expenditure.

Hong Chengchou didn’t seem very angry, because as a newcomer, he didn’t have many connections in this civil service system, nor was he qualified to be arrogant.

Therefore, he was content with being able to secure one million taels of silver.

The Ministry of Commerce also had some other income on a regular basis, so it didn’t rely too much on appropriations.

The Ministry of Personnel was the same. Gu Yanwu was not very active in the competition for funds.

The Ministry of Rites, in charge of education, was allocated four million taels of silver. This money had to be used for both basic education and the construction of more universities, which was a bit insufficient.

The Ministry of Justice was allocated two million, which was very little. However, they had other sources of income, such as various fines.

In Nanjing alone, the fines received in a month amounted to tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Because of its reduced importance, the Ministry of War received even less.

However, because they were doing work related to the military, if they really didn’t have any money, they could ask the military for it. The military would not refuse to provide it and watch things get delayed.

When everyone reached an agreement, they all looked exhausted, as if no one was happy.

“I say, there’s no need for everyone to be like this. During the Chongzhen era, the total annual fiscal revenue was less than ten million taels of silver, and the salaries of various departments were rarely paid on time.

But now, not only are salaries guaranteed, but there are also additional funds. Isn’t that much better?”

Qian Qianyi said.

The former Ming Dynasty was truly poor. Once a war broke out, these officials had to worry about raising money, and even the emperor had to take out his private money. Otherwise, the military pay could not be distributed, and the army could not be mobilized.

As for the funds used for development, don’t even think about it.

In the past, there was no concept of ‘development’ at all. Being able to maintain the status quo was considered a success.

But now, the tax revenue of Great Hua is vastly different from that of the Ming Dynasty. Although some departments received less, that was compared to other departments.

Compared to the Ming Dynasty, the funding for each department has increased explosively.

Moreover, they, the civil officials, no longer had to worry about the military expenses for major wars.

From any point of view, it was a leap forward.

“Hahaha.”

Everyone was amused by his words. No matter how fiercely they had argued before, it was all to fight for benefits for their own departments, not personal grudges.

Now that things had been settled, no one would hold grudges anymore.

With money in hand, the various departments naturally discussed how to spend it.

Whether to use it all for development, or to take out a portion to improve the living standards of the officials in their departments, there was some controversy.

For some people with no great ambitions, they naturally hoped to take out a sum of money to repair the buildings of their departments, buy some good tea, equip everyone with a BMW car for travel, and give more travel subsidies for business trips…

But for some people who wanted to achieve something and wanted to climb up the ranks, they naturally disagreed with this plan.

They preferred to invest the funds in development, endure a hard life for a while, and make some achievements first.

If it was the middle or late period of a dynasty, people who sought comfort would be in the majority.

But at the beginning of a dynasty, there would be more people who wanted to do practical things.

Perhaps, because they had watched the previous dynasty fall with their own eyes, they empathized and did not want the new dynasty to follow the same path, and would put the interests of the court in the first place.

At least, people like Qian Qianyi and Hong Chengchou, the big shots of the Six Ministries, would wholeheartedly pursue development, rather than racking their brains to think about how to embezzle and amass wealth.

The founding emperors generally possessed powerful military force, and the civil officials were also afraid in their hearts.

With these big shots taking the lead and supervising, those below who wanted to squander money would have to weigh the consequences.

After securing a huge amount of funding, Ruan Dacheng of the Ministry of Industry proposed several plans.

First, the steel production next year should be doubled again, striving to reach forty thousand tons.

The number of textile factories should also be increased by one times, and the number of workers must reach thirty thousand.

Only with this scale can those cotton be digested.

Due to the rise in cotton prices, the number of people planting cotton has increased a lot this year, and it is expected that there will be many next year as well. In addition, cotton has been imported from overseas, so raw materials are very abundant.

There must be a large enough textile scale to digest those raw materials.

Ruan Dacheng also demanded that the salt production, cement production, and shipbuilding industries should also have a doubled increase.

At the same time, he also demanded that more large-scale and advanced factories must appear next year.

For example, the current production of the ceramics industry is still relatively primitive, not assembly line production, and the efficiency is very low.

Ruan Dacheng demanded that the ceramics industry must be rectified and changed to assembly line production. Those who make blanks make blanks, and those who color color. Only division of labor can improve efficiency.

Although this will not make more exquisite ceramics, it can make some cheap bottles and jars for ordinary people to use.

Currently, ceramics are basically luxury goods, decorations for the rich to play with.

Wu Changqing didn’t like this phenomenon very much. He hoped that more practical ceramics would appear on the market and flow into the homes of ordinary people.

Nowadays, ordinary people’s homes basically have no decent furniture. A water tank and a rice tank are valuable items.

Once they encounter a family division, two brothers may fight over a water tank.

Therefore, Wu Changqing hoped to mass-produce some cheap ceramics to be used as daily necessities, rather than making works of art.

The so-called art is something for people who have nothing to do after they are full.

The several vice ministers and assistant ministers of the Ministry of Industry all had bitter faces when they heard Ruan Dacheng’s demands.

People in other departments were still envious of them, saying that their department received the most funding, more than half of the total.

However, other people simply didn’t know how heavy the burden on the Ministry of Industry was.

Wu Changqing cared most about the army, followed by the Ministry of Industry.

Being an official in the Ministry of Industry required being careful and not making the slightest mistake, otherwise the Emperor would know in minutes.

Chapter 374: Ambush in the Canyon

South, Jinhua.

After Xue Guiren returned to Jinhua, he resumed military operations.

Although the higher-ups had reminded these mid-level commanders not to engage in large-scale military actions, some of the lower-ranking officers were eager to earn merits and continued to launch small-scale offensives.

Xue Guiren was one such example. Relying on the ample supply of food and provisions in the city, he left behind half of his troops and dispatched five thousand men in three separate routes southward to seize territory.

The eastern route, with three thousand men, headed straight for Yongkang and Lishui.

The central route, with one thousand men, went directly to Songyang.

The western route, with one thousand men, aimed for Pucheng County and Nanping.

At the same time, Wang Dayong in Ningbo divided his forces into two groups. One group of two thousand men, in coordination with the navy, attacked the Zhoushan Islands.

The other group, consisting of more than five thousand men, advanced by both land and sea, with Taizhou and Wenzhou as their targets.

Meanwhile, the Longwu court had begun constructing defensive lines upon Wu Changqing’s ascension to the throne.

From east to west, Wenzhou, Lishui, Songyang, and Pucheng formed their first line of defense.

Sanming, Nanping, and Ningde constituted the second line of defense.

If the second line of defense were to fall, then Fuzhou would be in danger.

On the eastern route, the officer in charge of the troops was a regimental commander named Lü Wenxuan.

To reach Yongkang from Jinhua, he had to pass through a canyon about twenty li long, which was very dangerous.

Lü Wenxuan had no choice. Besides this canyon, the other route required climbing high mountains, and the paths were narrow and even more arduous.

Compared to climbing mountains, Lü Wenxuan preferred to take this canyon, which was prone to ambushes. At least the terrain in the canyon was flat, which could save a lot of energy and make it easier to transport supplies.

After entering the canyon, Lü Wenxuan constantly sent out scouts.

Unfortunately, dozens of scouts scattered into the mountains on both sides of the canyon were as insignificant as a grain of sand thrown onto a beach.

If scouts could discover enemy ambushes in the mountains, there wouldn’t be so many armies ambushed in history, and there wouldn’t be so many generals who liked to set up ambushes.

After all, ambushes were all about catching the enemy off guard. If they were discovered in advance, the ambush would lose all meaning.

Lü Wenxuan sent out those scouts, in fact, just to try his luck. Discovering the enemy would be a big win, and even if they didn’t find anything, it could still have the effect of reassuring the soldiers.

Sending out scouts could send a signal to the other soldiers that someone was scouting ahead.

Having someone in front of them could make people feel at ease.

“Speed up the pace, we must get out of this canyon within a day.”

Lü Wenxuan urged the soldiers.

At this time, about twelve li away from them, a Ming army was already lying in ambush on the mountains on both sides of the canyon.

“Commander Wang, are we really going to ambush here? I heard that this unit has more than three thousand men, and we only have fifteen hundred.”

A centurion said worriedly.

Fighting against the Great Hua army was difficult even when they had a numerical advantage, let alone now when they were outnumbered. How could they possibly win?

“Ambushes are about winning by surprise, and it has little to do with numbers. Don’t worry, the forest here is dense, they definitely won’t find us. When the time comes, we’ll be high above them. When they’re relaxed while cooking, we’ll throw large rocks down, and they’ll panic.

Then we’ll rush down, and the enemy will surely be defeated. The higher-ups have said that as long as we hold this place for half a year, everyone will be promoted three ranks and their salaries will be doubled.”

Commander Wang said.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to bring more people, but he simply didn’t have them.

He had brought all the men he had on hand.

A poor place like Yongkang was already struggling to support an army of over a thousand men. It required squeezing the lives of a large number of civilians to maintain this army.

In peacetime, a small county like this would have at most a few dozen constables, and there would be no army stationed there.

Logistical support in the mountains was difficult not only for the Great Hua army, but also for the Ming army.

Therefore, the Ming army did not place many troops on the front lines and various defensive lines.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t recruit so many soldiers, but because they couldn’t afford to support them.

More than a thousand people consumed nearly two thousand Jin of grain a day.

Transporting two thousand Jin of grain from Fuzhou to Yongkang was not an easy task. Perhaps it was two thousand Jin when they set off, but when it arrived in Yongkang, there would only be one thousand Jin left, or even less.

Moreover, Fuzhou didn’t have much grain either.

The most grain-producing areas in the country were now in Wu Changqing’s hands.

Hearing about being promoted three ranks and doubling their salaries, a few centurions showed some joy on their faces.

Being promoted three ranks used to be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

But now, they only needed to hold this defensive line for half a year, which greatly reduced the difficulty.

For this benefit, it was worth a try.

At noon, Lü Wenxuan’s troops approached the Ming army’s ambush site.

“Slow down the pace, eat dry rations while advancing, no cooking.”

Lü Wenxuan ordered.

As soon as this order came out, many soldiers complained in their hearts.

Dry rations were definitely not as delicious as freshly cooked food, especially now that the weather was cold. The originally fragrant ghee cakes had become cold, hard, and difficult to swallow.

But Lü Wenxuan had given the order, and everyone could only obey.

The actions of the Great Hua army were watched by the Ming scouts.

Seeing that the Hua army did not stop to cook, the scout ran back to report.

Their plan was to launch a surprise attack when the Hua army was eating. The soldiers couldn’t possibly hold weapons while eating.

Moreover, people’s guard would definitely be lowered when they were eating.

In short, launching an attack while the enemy was eating was a very good tactic.

That was the original plan of the Ming army, but now, the Hua army didn’t cook, which directly disrupted their plan.

After the scout reported the news, Commander Wang frowned.

The plan had gone wrong, which was not a good thing.

“Why don’t we retreat?”

A subordinate advised.

This was a safe approach, but Commander Wang was unwilling.

Coming all the way to set up an ambush without any gain would affect morale.

Moreover, he didn’t want to waste the terrain of this canyon.

Going back to defend that small county might not be as effective as being here.

Although they couldn’t launch a surprise attack while the enemy was eating, ambushing them on the road wouldn’t be much worse.

“Move the stones over here, we’ll ambush here. First, use stones and grenades to inflict casualties and create chaos, and then charge over to defeat them after they’re in disarray.”

Commander Wang temporarily changed the plan.

Then, the soldiers moved.

A large number of stones were moved over, along with a small number of grenades.

In this terrain, using grenades to attack the enemy would definitely be very effective.

Unfortunately, the Longwu regime had limited production capacity and financial difficulties.

Therefore, not many grenades were made, and even fewer were distributed to the various units.

Commander Wang’s unit, for example, only had a hundred grenades in total.

The grenadiers of the Hua army, on the other hand, had eight grenades per person. Soldiers of other units would also carry one in case they needed it.

The national strength of the two sides was not on the same level.

Chapter 375: A Different Kind of Army

Before long, the Great Hua army entered the Ming army’s ambush.

Unfortunately, the Hua army’s scouts had failed to spot the enemies hidden in the dense forest.

“Throw!”

With Commander Wang’s loud shout, the Ming soldiers on both sides of the canyon hurled stones the size of washbasins down at the Hua army, mixed with hand grenades.

“Enemy attack! No panic! Retreat in order!”

Lü Wenxuan gripped his reins tightly and shouted.

At this moment, the worst thing that could happen was for the soldiers to panic. Once people panicked, they would lose their minds and everything would fall apart.

Shouting was one thing, but expecting a single command to eliminate the soldiers’ fear was unlikely.

Anyone would panic at the sight of stones falling from above.

Even more terrifying were the hand grenade explosions.

The stones looked intimidating, but with careful dodging, there was a good chance of avoiding them.

Unless hit in the head, one would generally not die.

However, hand grenades were different.

These things exploded, and the shrapnel scattered in all directions, moving so fast that the soldiers couldn’t make any evasive maneuvers. They could only resign themselves to fate.

As soon as the hand grenades exploded, many Hua soldiers were hit.

Although most were only wounded and not killed instantly, in the current situation, being injured was almost the same as death.

Everyone wanted to escape, and it was too difficult to rescue the wounded.

Moreover, injured soldiers had their mobility greatly reduced or completely lost due to pain, making it difficult for them to dodge the stones.

No army understood hand grenades better than the Hua army. They were the first to play with them, and the first to have professional grenadiers.

They knew the characteristics of hand grenades well, knowing that in this narrow canyon, their power would be amplified.

Upon discovering that the enemy had hand grenades, the Hua army completely panicked, and many people scrambled to retreat.

Staying in place meant certain death.

“No panic! Rear guard becomes the front guard! Third Battalion retreats first, Second Battalion prepares, First Battalion counterattacks on the spot. Disobeyers will be executed, mutual supervision, anyone can execute those around them who are trying to flee.”

Seeing the army panicking, Lü Wenxuan continued to issue orders.

Because there were no supervising officers set up during the march, Lü Wenxuan came up with a ruthless move.

He granted every soldier and officer the power to supervise the battle, allowing them to directly execute those who fled.

Those who wanted to escape had to weigh the consequences and assess whether their comrades wanted to escape with them or fight to the end.

If they misjudged, their lives would be in danger.

Lü Wenxuan’s move was quite effective, immediately calming down many soldiers who had originally wanted to flee.

The Third Battalion at the rear began to withdraw from the ambush, having suffered the least damage.

Next was the Second Battalion in the middle, who also turned around and prepared to retreat.

Under the orders of their officers, they endured the attacks from above, not daring to speed up and cut off the Third Battalion’s path.

Only the Hua army had such discipline.

The worst off was the First Battalion, who had no way to retreat at this point.

Continuing to charge forward was not a good choice, as it would separate them from the main force behind, making them even more dangerous.

No one knew what dangers lay ahead.

They couldn’t retreat, and they couldn’t advance.

Rather than standing still and waiting for death, they might as well put up some resistance.

Thus, under the command of some lower-level officers, the soldiers of each squad and platoon formed small units and used their guns to freely fire at the enemies above the canyon.

The hills on both sides of the canyon were only a dozen meters high, making it very difficult to climb, but for guns, this distance was very close.

Even the inaccurate flintlock guns could easily hit the enemy at this distance.

A large number of gunshots rang out, and the Ming army also suffered some casualties.

This startled the Ming soldiers. They had never experienced anything like this before.

Their thinking was still stuck in the old-fashioned warfare of the past, thinking that ambushing the enemy from above the canyon would be absolutely safe.

Little did they know that the world had changed drastically.

“What are you standing there for? Keep throwing stones, it’s not that dangerous.”

The Ming army general hid behind and urged the soldiers to continue attacking.

Not that dangerous? Then why are you hiding so far back?

The Ming soldiers cursed inwardly while continuing to throw stones at the risk of their lives.

Soon, they had thrown almost all of their stones and hand grenades.

At this time, the Hua army in the canyon had suffered heavy losses and looked like they were about to collapse.

According to the plan, the Ming army began to rush into the canyon, preparing to pursue and kill them.

It was impossible to eliminate all of the Hua army with just hand grenades and stones.

At this time, Lü Wenxuan in the Second Battalion also noticed the enemy’s intention, and a cold smile appeared on his face.

“Very good, they actually dare to come down, they have guts.”

Lü Wenxuan said through gritted teeth, showing how angry he was at the enemy.

Only the Hua army officers could understand what he meant by these words.

Generally, old-fashioned armies would have collapsed and fled after encountering such an ambush. Pursuing and killing such troops would naturally be no problem, simply picking up free merit.

However, this didn’t apply to the Hua army. Their discipline was unmatched by any other army.

With Lü Wenxuan’s order, the Second Battalion left a very narrow path for the retreating remnants of the First Battalion. The soldiers of the Second Battalion had already formed their ranks, ready to counterattack.

This response seemed simple, but other armies couldn’t pull it off.

It would be difficult for the routed soldiers of other armies to remain rational and wait in line to retreat from that small path.

In their panic, those routed soldiers would easily charge into the ranks, creating even greater chaos.

But these phenomena did not occur in the Hua army.

Thus, after the Ming army killed some of the routed soldiers of the First Battalion and approached the Second Battalion, they found a neat and orderly army waiting for them, fully prepared.

The gleaming bayonets and dark gun muzzles made the Ming soldiers in the front stop in their tracks.

They were less than fifty meters away from each other, and they couldn’t advance or retreat.

Because the Ming soldiers behind them didn’t know what was happening in front and were still rushing forward.

The people in the front only paused for a moment before some of the people behind them collided with each other.

If they turned around and tried to retreat, the resulting chaos would be unimaginable.

The Ming army’s junior officers also knew the consequences, so they were stunned, not knowing what to do.

As they didn’t continue to advance, the Hua army didn’t just wait either, but maintained their formation and quickly approached the Ming army.

“Brothers, charge! We have no way back! Charging forward is the only way to survive!”

A centurion shouted loudly, urging his soldiers to charge forward.

At this point, even the officers were in a dilemma, and the lower-level soldiers were even more helpless, lacking the judgment and ability to analyze the situation.

Now that someone shouted, many were too lazy to think and directly obeyed the order to charge towards the Hua army.

Others followed suit, imitating them.

They had to charge, as the people behind them were still surging forward.

When the distance between the two sides was less than twenty meters, the Hua army’s gunshots rang out.

Chapter 376: Turning Defeat into Victory

Not many people actually fired their guns, because the gorge wasn’t large. At most, only twenty-some people could stand side-by-side.

Only the first two rows of the Wu army fired. Some of the people behind hadn’t even loaded their muskets, afraid of accidentally hitting those in front. They were waiting for hand-to-hand combat.

Away from the open plains, the power of the flintlock rifle was indeed difficult to fully utilize.

Even so, their volley still achieved very good results.

Because the distance was short, the enemy’s formation was dense.

These dozens of shots from the Great Hua army directly caused nearly twenty casualties for the Ming army.

Almost all of the Ming soldiers standing in the front were killed.

The Ming army was already on the verge of collapse, and after suffering such a blow, their morale plummeted even further.

Seeing the terrifying power of the flintlock rifles, many Ming soldiers stopped in their tracks. Some even turned around and shouted to their comrades behind them to retreat quickly.

Perhaps their intentions were good, thinking that if they reminded the people behind them, there would still be hope for a joint retreat.

However, that’s just human nature. Once panic sets in, people lose their minds. How easy is it to achieve an orderly retreat?

Some of those who chose to retreat collided with soldiers who were still advancing, and the scene immediately descended into chaos.

At this time, the Great Hua army was still approaching rapidly.

Finally, the soldiers at the very front of both sides made contact at zero distance.

The Great Hua soldiers thrust their bayonets forward in unison, and the Ming soldiers, forced into a corner, tried to fight back.

However, most of their weapons were standard sabers, which were more flexible but also shorter.

In this gorge, there wasn’t enough room for them to take advantage of their weapons’ strengths. In this kind of dense formation, the longer the weapon, the better.

Unfortunately, the Ming soldiers at the front weren’t using spears.

The Great Hua soldiers could easily stab the Ming soldiers, but the Ming soldiers had to get close while facing the bayonets in order to slash at the Great Hua soldiers.

Even if someone was exceptionally brave and could kill one or two Great Hua soldiers, they would be instantly stabbed to death themselves.

After a round of fighting, the Great Hua army lost four or five men, while the Ming army lost ten or more.

This casualty ratio was too terrifying. The Ming soldiers, seeing those who had fallen, instantly lost their last shred of reason and fled backwards, regardless of everything.

Some extremely frantic people, when blocked, would simply slash with their sabers.

In just one exchange, the Ming army was defeated, completely and utterly.

“Run! Run!”

In the chaos, this was the most common sound heard from the Ming soldiers.

The Ming soldiers in front were fleeing in panic, while the Great Hua army was advancing in an orderly manner.

They weren’t in a hurry and didn’t intend to wipe out the enemy completely.

For them, resolving the crisis of this ambush was already a good result. Whether or not they could annihilate the enemy wasn’t that important.

Even though the Great Hua army was pursuing slowly, the Ming soldiers weren’t escaping quickly either.

The soldiers were in a chaotic mess, constantly tripping, falling, getting up, and falling again…

Some of the more quick-witted Ming soldiers, seeing this situation, didn’t bother to run.

They threw their weapons to the side and knelt down to surrender at the edge of the gorge.

They couldn’t kneel in the middle of the road, otherwise the Great Hua soldiers might simply stab them to save trouble.

Although there were regulations in the Great Hua army against killing prisoners, no one would really care if someone was killed.

“My lord, let’s retreat quickly.”

Above the gorge, several Ming army generals had a clear view of the battle below.

Commander Wang couldn’t understand why the Great Hua army was able to counterattack after being ambushed, and why they didn’t fall into chaos while fleeing like they did.

Commander Wang was speechless at the performance of his own troops.

They didn’t even put up a decent resistance. They were defeated in a single exchange.

They were the ambushers, and the Great Hua army was the ambushed party.

“Why is this happening? Why is this happening?”

Commander Wang roared, not knowing who he was questioning.

The other subordinates couldn’t answer and remained silent.

“My lord, let’s retreat first.”

After Commander Wang vented his anger, an aide reminded him.

They were above the gorge, so it was relatively easy for them to escape.

However, their troops had been scattered, and Yongkang definitely couldn’t be defended.

Therefore, they had to return to Yongkang as soon as possible, take their money and family, and flee south. If they were too slow, they wouldn’t be able to escape even if they wanted to.

After calming down, Commander Wang retreated with a few personal soldiers via a small path.

As for the troops, it wasn’t that he didn’t want them, but in this situation, he couldn’t save them.

Now, he had no choice but to admit defeat and flee south to plan for the future.

Although the Great Hua army had always treated prisoners fairly well, not everyone would choose to surrender.

There were always some people who, for various strange reasons, chose to resist to the end.

The pursuit lasted for half an hour, leaving a trail of corpses in the gorge.

Among them, some were stabbed to death, while others were trampled to death.

After a simple battlefield cleanup, the casualties were tallied.

In this battle, the Great Hua army lost a total of two hundred soldiers and had two hundred wounded.

As for the Ming army, more than five hundred bodies were found, and more than two hundred were captured.

As for the rest, they fled into the mountains on both sides and out of the gorge.

This wasn’t important. Anyway, after this battle, the resistance in Yongkang had been completely eliminated.

Next, they just needed to march to Yongkang, without having to go through a difficult siege.

Overall, it was acceptable.

Lü Wenxuan arranged for some people to escort the prisoners and wounded soldiers back to Jinhua.

He led the remaining two thousand three hundred soldiers to Yongkang.

After arriving at Yongkang, the defending soldiers had all fled.

The remaining magistrate, the county clerk, and other civil officials had long been prepared to surrender.

They welcomed the Great Hua army into the city and served them well.

Controlling the county seat was equivalent to controlling the surrounding area.

Other towns and villages didn’t need the army to go there. The magistrate just needed to issue an order to tell the large landlords and gentry in the villages that the times had changed.

Under normal circumstances, those landlords and gentry wouldn’t mind.

As long as Great Hua didn’t confiscate their land or increase their taxes, they wouldn’t resist.

But if they wanted to touch their land, it would be difficult to say.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Wu Changqing had not dared to implement his land policy until now.

If he infringed upon the interests of the landlord class and caused large-scale rebellions, his cost of governance would increase several times over.

There were only a few hundred county seats in the country, making them very easy to control.

But there were at least tens of thousands of villages in Great Hua.

These villages were currently managed independently by the local clans, and the government didn’t have the energy to manage them.

Only when it was time to collect taxes would the government send people to the countryside.

Chapter 377: Bandits

At the same time, the troops led by Guan Zhong in the central route encountered harassment from bandits.

They were following the plan to go to Songyang County, also taking mountain roads, which was even more difficult than Lü Wenxuan’s route.

Especially these bandits in the mountains, who seemed to have a screw loose, were constantly ambushing and harassing them along the way.

Shooting cold arrows, digging traps, blocking roads with stones. All sorts of tricks emerged endlessly.

These methods couldn’t cause any fatal damage to the Great Hua army, but they created a lot of trouble for them.

These bandits were even more difficult to deal with than the Ming army.

The bandits weren’t numerous, totaling less than two hundred people.

But they were very familiar with the terrain here, and were very agile in the mountains.

As long as Guan Zhong was slightly careless, he would encounter a bandit ambush.

The bandits’ ambushes didn’t cause much loss to the Great Hua army, but the constant ambushes greatly damaged the morale of the Great Hua army.

“These ignorant commoners who don’t know what’s good for them, if you push me, I’ll find their lair and wipe them out.”

Guan Zhong cursed angrily.

Just now they were ambushed by bandits again, who shot dozens of fire arrows at them.

Killing three soldiers, burning some supplies, and throwing the Great Hua army into chaos, making them very embarrassed.

Even he himself, in order to avoid an arrow, fell into a one-meter-deep gully. Not only did he get his clothes dirty, but he also messed up his hairstyle.

“I guess they may have reached some kind of cooperation with the Ming army, so they are sparing no effort to help the Ming army. We don’t need to pay attention to them. When we get out of the mountains, take Songyang, and defeat the main force of the Ming army, these turncoats will naturally not dare to oppose us again in the future.”

A company commander analyzed.

He didn’t want Guan Zhong to impulsively go looking for the bandits’ lair, which would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

剿匪(Suppressing bandits) like this is impossible without someone to lead the way.

Moreover, their task wasn’t to suppress bandits, this kind of thing could wait until the world was pacified.

“It’s still better in the First Army, the North is all plains, and the road is unobstructed. We in the South are suffering. If we’re not killed by the enemy, we’ll be exhausted from climbing mountains.”

Guan Zhong complained.

He was originally a scholar, preparing to take the imperial examination to become a civil official.

However, because Wu Changqing was more partial to the military, and the imperial examination was delayed, his family forced him to join the army.

Only by joining the army was there hope of being granted a noble title through military merit. Taking the imperial examination was now a third-rate choice in the Great Hua Empire.

The first-rate people went to do scientific research, with both noble titles and money.

The second was joining the army, with status, position, and power.

The worst choice was to take the imperial examination to become a civil official, although they had a little power, they still had to be careful in their work.

Guan Zhong was quite promising. He spent two months studying military theory in military school, and ultimately ranked second in his class, directly parachuting into the position of battalion commander.

This starting point was higher than ninety-nine percent of the people.

Originally, he had hoped to be assigned to the First Army in the North, but he was assigned to the South, which was the only thing he was not very satisfied with.

After a while, the people who went to drive away the bandits returned.

They didn’t dare to chase too deep, for fear of getting lost.

After returning to the team, they continued their journey.

Ahead, in the dense forest.

Bandit leader Li Ke and his second and third lieutenants sat together, worrying.

Don’t think that they had caused a lot of trouble to the Great Hua army along the way, and the Great Hua army couldn’t do anything about them, but that was useless.

The Great Hua army was still advancing. If they couldn’t drag the Great Hua army into these mountains, then they wouldn’t have completed their mission, and they wouldn’t be able to get the official reward.

“Big brother, why don’t we ambush them, and let the brothers kill them.”

The third lieutenant suggested.

His words made Li Ke feel very embarrassed. He really wanted to tell his third brother, if you’re stupid, talk less, otherwise you’ll easily make a fool of yourself.

They had less than two hundred people in total, to ambush a team of one thousand people.

Moreover, they were just a group of bandits who bullied the weak and feared the strong, while the opposite side was a well-trained army.

As long as a frontal battle occurred, they would have to flee in defeat within three rounds.

Li Ke knew the gap between his side and the army, because he used to be in the army, and even served as a squad leader.

Because the battlefield was too tragic, he was afraid of death, so he took a few equally cowardly people and deserted, fleeing to this mountain and becoming bandits.

No matter how afraid of death they were, they had at least received formal training and had experience in large-scale battles. They were much more powerful than other bandits, and quickly integrated the surrounding forces, forming a large bandit force.

Being a bandit was much more comfortable than being a soldier, because the targets of bullying were the common people, with no danger at all.

Even if they encountered the guards of those large landlords, they could gain the upper hand.

But when they encountered officers and soldiers, or the army, they could only rely on this mountain to maneuver and never dared to confront them head-on.

Therefore, Li Ke never thought of going to war with the Great Hua army on a large scale.

His original plan was to constantly harass and anger the generals of the Great Hua army.

As long as the generals of the Great Hua army chased after him to kill him, then his plan would succeed.

He believed that he could outmaneuver the Great Hua army by several streets in the mountains.

Unfortunately, now the Great Hua army wasn’t fooled, and Li Ke was helpless.

“This money is not easy to earn, I think we should continue with our old business.”

Li Ke sighed.

“Why, I think they are all cowards, they don’t dare to chase us even if we harass them like this. As long as we rush over, we will definitely kill them, leaving no armor behind.”

The third lieutenant said.

He was still thinking about the government’s promise, which was one thousand taels of silver, they would have to rob more than ten times to get that much money.

And now, they only needed to do one job.

“Old Third, you underestimate the army too much, I have already decided, retreat.”

Li Ke complained. If it wasn’t for the fact that the third lieutenant was brave and always took the lead in every hard battle, he wouldn’t have paid attention to him at all.

Since the big boss had spoken, the third lieutenant couldn’t do anything even if he was dissatisfied.

After that, they continued to harass the Great Hua army on a small scale, and then retreated back to their lair.

After this arduous march, Guan Zhong finally left the mountains and arrived at Songyang.

When the garrison of Songyang saw the Great Hua army arrive, those who could escape fled, and those who could surrender surrendered. There was no resistance at all, even more useless than those bandits.

The garrison of Songyang had no choice.

The city wall of Songyang, which was less than three meters high, was like nothing in front of the Great Hua army.

Those flintlock troops stood under the city, and no one dared to look up on the city wall.

For a three-meter-high city wall, the Great Hua army’s grenadiers could easily throw grenades up.

This kind of small county town’s city wall had completely lost its defensive ability when facing the Great Hua army.

Chapter 378: Naval Battle

Zhoushan.

After Liu Hansan captured Ningbo, he had the local civil officials send a letter of surrender to Zhoushan.

However, Huang Binqing, the garrison commander of Zhoushan, refused to surrender.

At that time, Liu Hansan was in a hurry to return to Nanjing, so he ignored him.

After completing the enthronement ceremony, Wang Dayong was transferred to Ningbo, and he once again tried to persuade Huang Binqing to surrender, but Huang Binqing refused again.

Therefore, Wang Dayong ordered Chen Bang to lead two thousand men, with the assistance of the navy, to launch an attack on Zhoushan.

If Zhoushan was not controlled, it would not be safe for overseas merchants to do business in Ningbo.

Other places could be ignored for the time being, but Zhoushan must be taken down as soon as possible.

More than forty ships sailed directly towards Zhoushan Island in a mighty manner, ignoring the surrounding small islands and focusing on taking Zhoushan Island.

Among the more than forty ships, ten were steam warships.

Zhoushan County, the moment the Great Hua army set sail, Huang Binqing received the news.

“My lord, let’s set off. We still have a chance at sea. Once they land, we’ll have no chance at all.”

His subordinate advised.

They had all heard of the Great Hua army’s reputation.

Even the iron cavalry of the Manchus were no match, so naturally they didn’t think they could win.

Therefore, the strategy they had discussed before was to focus on naval defense, because their soldiers were also good at naval warfare.

Huang Binqing didn’t speak when he heard this. He knew that even at sea, they were probably no match for Great Hua.

Perhaps his subordinates were better at naval warfare, but the equipment gap between the two sides was obvious.

The steamships of Great Hua were dazzling to him.

He couldn’t understand how those ships could move on their own, and so quickly.

Although he knew he was no match, Huang Binqing refused to surrender.

He received his salary from the Emperor, and he should share the Emperor’s worries.

He had been an official for the Ming Dynasty all his life and had deep feelings for it.

Therefore, he would rather die than surrender, wanting to preserve his reputation.

“Pass down my order, board the ships, prepare for battle.”

Huang Binqing was silent for a moment before ordering to set sail.

He could only hope that the soldiers of the Hua army would be like Cao Cao’s army in the past, and get seasick on the ship, so that they would have a chance of winning.

However, his idea was a bit too naive.

In the Great Hua army, the soldiers were mainly from the South, and most of them could swim and had been on ships.

Only a few would get seasick.

When the Hua army’s fleet sailed near Snake Mountain Island, a fleet appeared in their upwind area.

Huang Binqing and his men had deliberately chosen this place to take advantage of the wind to quickly approach the Hua army and then engage in boarding battles.

The faster the speed, the fewer the shells they would take.

The total number of cannons in their fleet was not as many as the cannons on a single steam warship of the Great Hua.

Therefore, Huang Binqing never thought of exchanging fire with the Hua army.

Boarding battles, relying on superb naval warfare experience to defeat the enemy, was their only hope.

“Enemy attack, artillery prepare to fire.”

Faced with an enemy attack, Chen Bang was also very calm.

With absolute superiority in strength, he didn’t panic at all.

Soon, the Great Hua artillery began test firing. Then, based on the landing point of the shells and the enemy’s speed, they calculated the parameters for large-scale shelling.

Ten steamships equipped with cannons adjusted their hulls to aim their broadsides at the enemy, so that the maximum number of cannons could be used at one time.

The cannons roared, and countless black dots flew towards the Ming army.

However, few hit, and most fell into the water.

At sea, the hit rate of cannons was much lower than on land.

Whether it hits or not really depends on luck.

More than one hundred cannons fired at the same time, but only two hit, with a hit rate of less than two percent.

The two shells that hit, however, caused considerable damage to the Ming army, killing a total of twelve people and wounding eleven.

Those who were injured had lost their combat effectiveness and were no different from being killed.

Just two shells caused such losses, and the soldiers on those two ships couldn’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.

The Hua army’s cannon hit rate was low, but the Ming army’s hit rate was even more terrible.

After a round of firing, they only heard a sound.

Not to mention killing the Hua army, they didn’t even have the most basic deterrent effect.

Seeing the shells fall into the water dozens of meters away from them, splashing high, the Hua army soldiers laughed and treated it as a joke.

Standing together on the deck, pointing and laughing at the Ming army.

If the Ming army could hear their taunts, they would definitely feel humiliated.

The two sides continued to approach, and the hit rate of the shells began to increase.

However, the Hua army’s shells were really killing the enemy.

Hitting one shell could kill at least ten soldiers.

And what about the Ming army’s shells? With great difficulty, a shell hit a ship of the Hua army.

The huge kinetic energy smashed a big hole in the deck of the ship.

However, the damage caused was zero.

Another shell was a little luckier and landed in a crowd of people.

Then, it killed one and injured two, and that was it.

The Ming army’s solid shells had too limited lethality.

In contrast, the Great Hua army’s howitzer shells were demons that killed without blinking an eye.

Each one exploded, and its killing range was about seven or eight meters in radius.

Seeing those black dots flying towards them, the Ming army soldiers trembled.

Some people even jumped into the sea to escape because of excessive tension.

“Speed up.”

Huang Binqing shouted, if they didn’t approach the enemy as soon as possible, the artillery alone would be able to defeat them.

Urged by Huang Binqing, the Ming army accelerated their rowing, and with the help of the sails, they finally approached the Hua army’s ships.

However, their nightmare had just begun.

The Hua army soldiers had already loaded their guns and fired a burst of shots at the approaching Ming army soldiers.

Although the hit rate was not very high, there were too many people shooting.

Before the complete boarding, more than one hundred Ming army soldiers died under the guns.

In the process of approaching, they lost a total of more than three hundred people.

It seemed like not much, but compared to their total number, this number was very terrifying.

Their total force was only more than one thousand two hundred people, and Zhoushan, this small place, could only afford to support so many people.

A quarter of them died in the process of approaching. After approaching, the two sides finally engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Using guns to fight on a ship was indeed not as effective as using knives.

However, this little disadvantage was not a problem at all.

The Ming army’s disadvantage was even greater. Their morale was low, and their numbers were too small.

The two sides fought together, and the victory was decided in less than half an hour.

Without any suspense, the Ming army was defeated.

A large number of Ming army soldiers surrendered, and some jumped into the sea to escape.

The distance to the surrounding islands was only seven or eight hundred meters, which was not a problem for some people who were good at swimming.

Seeing that his side was defeated, Huang Binqing opened his mouth wide and couldn’t speak.

He had expected that his side might fail before he came, but he never expected that he would lose so badly.

Chapter 379: An Exquisite Beauty

Huang Binqing looked up to the sky and sighed, then raised his sword and committed suicide.

With this, Zhoushan was conquered.

The other force attacking Taizhou arrived two days later.

Leading them was Lu Guangzu. He had made several poor decisions while attacking Hefei in the North, resulting in significant losses for the army.

Therefore, when the court rewarded the officers, he received relatively little.

He used to be the commander of a main force division, but now he had become the commander of an ordinary division. His position had not risen but fallen, making him one of the unluckiest generals.

Frustrated, he volunteered to be the vanguard for the southward advance, hoping to earn some merit.

Wang Dayong granted his request, sending him to Taizhou with five thousand men.

Whether it was heaven pitying him or not, upon arriving in Taizhou, he captured the city without losing a single soldier, because the defending general, Shi Zhaoxuan, opened the gates and surrendered, accepting reorganization.

Because Shi Zhaoxuan was Zhu Yihai’s man, and now that Zhu Yihai was dead, the Longwu Emperor’s people wanted him to submit.

He outwardly agreed, but in reality, he was not so willing.

Compared to the officials in the Longwu court, he was an outsider, and his position would certainly be inferior to the original officials.

Since he couldn’t enter the core of the Longwu court, why not rely on someone even more powerful?

With this in mind, Shi Zhaoxuan chose to surrender.

That evening, Shi Zhaoxuan arranged a banquet at his home to curry favor with Lu Guangzu.

He didn’t know that Lu Guangzu was currently in a bad position. He only saw Lu Guangzu’s title as the vanguard of the southern expedition and assumed he was in favor, so he tried his best to please him.

At the banquet, the generals from both sides drank wine, ate meat, and chatted, creating a harmonious scene.

Since they would be colleagues in the same court in the future, it was natural to build good relationships.

Lu Guangzu usually didn’t have many people fawning over him in the army. Now, being praised by Shi Zhaoxuan and his men, he felt very pleased.

“Lord Shi’s surrender shows that he is wise and knows what’s what. You should know that our army treats generals who surrender willingly and those who are forced to surrender differently. Those who surrender willingly will have a smoother career in the future.”

Lu Guangzu was in a good mood and had drunk a bit too much, so he was speaking without thinking.

Although Shi Zhaoxuan had indeed surrendered, he claimed to have submitted, not surrendered.

Different words have different meanings.

Submission sounds like knowing what’s what, while surrender sounds like being timid and afraid.

Saying that Shi Zhaoxuan surrendered would make him lose face to some extent, making him seem cowardly and a coward.

Shi Zhaoxuan was a little unhappy, but he still maintained a smile on the surface.

Life is difficult. No matter which court you serve in, you will encounter some unpleasant things. He couldn’t get angry just because of Lu Guangzu’s sarcastic words.

If he didn’t have this much composure, he wouldn’t have reached his current position.

“Lord Lu is right. I will need to rely on Lord Lu a lot in the future.”

Shi Zhaoxuan smiled and offered another cup of wine.

After a few cups of wine, Lu Guangzu felt the urge to urinate.

“Let’s drink later. I’ll go to the outhouse first.”

Lu Guangzu said.

“Afu, help Lord Lu to the outhouse.”

Shi Zhaoxuan instructed a servant. The young man named Afu helped Lu Guangzu up and led him to the outhouse in the backyard.

The other generals continued to eat, drink, and laugh from time to time.

Lu Guangzu and Afu entered the backyard and almost bumped into a woman.

“Bold! Who dares to assassinate this official?”

Lu Guangzu shouted. Hearing this, the woman raised her head in fright.

This one look was extraordinary. Lu Guangzu’s drunkenness vanished without a trace.

Because he saw an exquisite beauty, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.

“This humble woman begs forgiveness.”

The woman bowed and hurried away.

“Who is that person?”

Lu Guangzu asked Afu.

“Reporting to milord, that is the master’s newly acquired concubine.”

Afu replied.

“This Shi Zhaoxuan really has good fortune.”

Lu Guangzu said sourly. He was sure that he was doing much better than Shi Zhaoxuan, but he didn’t have such a beautiful concubine.

If this concubine belonged to Wu Changqing or Li Shaobin, Lu Guangzu might only be envious.

However, he was a little jealous that someone inferior to him had a more beautiful concubine.

However, jealousy was jealousy, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t just snatch her away.

After relieving himself, Lu Guangzu returned to the banquet.

However, his mind was no longer on the banquet, and he kept thinking about what had just happened.

Suddenly, he thought of Xue Guiren.

Xue Guiren was also forced to surrender, and in theory, he shouldn’t have been able to develop.

But the reality was that Xue Guiren was now thriving, approaching the ranks of top figures, and his future was limitless.

And all of this seemed to be because Xue Guiren had sent a woman to Wu Changqing, and this woman was the first to become pregnant.

Imagine if Sun Yunxuan gave birth to a boy in the future and he was made the crown prince.

When the crown prince ascends the throne in the future, he will definitely be grateful to Xue Guiren.

Even if the crown prince isn’t grateful, Sun Yunxuan will definitely be grateful.

Having such a strong friendship in the harem has many benefits.

At the thought of this, Lu Guangzu suddenly had an epiphany.

He no longer coveted that woman, but wanted to get his hands on her and send her to His Majesty.

He felt that with this woman’s beauty, she could definitely catch Wu Changqing’s eye.

It was obviously not okay to forcibly demand this concubine from Shi Zhaoxuan for his own selfish desires.

But it would be justifiable to forcibly demand her for His Majesty.

Thinking of this, Lu Guangzu spoke.

He said, “It’s actually easy for Lord Shi to get promoted and make a fortune. The current Emperor has just ascended the throne and has not yet started selecting concubines. There are only a few consorts in the harem.

If you can find one or two exquisite beauties to send to His Majesty, you will surely be promoted and make a fortune in no time.”

Shi Zhaoxuan was overjoyed to hear this. He didn’t know that Wu Changqing was lustful.

This news was invaluable.

“That’s easy to do. Tomorrow, I will search for beauties throughout Taizhou. I have to say, although our Taizhou is a poor place, some of the girls in the mountains are really good-looking.”

Shi Zhaoxuan laughed. If the emperor was lustful, they would have another way to please him.

“I believe that. When I went to the backyard just now, I happened to see an exquisite beauty. With such beauty, I’m afraid His Majesty will be delighted.”

Lu Guangzu said.

As soon as these words came out, Shi Zhaoxuan’s expression immediately changed.

The women in the backyard were all his family members, either his mother, wife, or daughters. His daughters were only eleven or twelve years old, so obviously not. His mother was too old, so it was impossible.

Clearly, Lu Guangzu was talking about his wife or concubine, most likely the concubine.

Shi Zhaoxuan was unhappy. Although subjects should do their best to satisfy the emperor’s desire for women, he couldn’t ask for his own woman, right?

On the one hand, he was reluctant to part with her.

On the other hand, after offering his own woman, his face and dignity would be completely lost.

Giving away his own woman for his own power and influence would not sound good.

Chapter 380: Kidnapping

“This… the woman that Lord Lu encountered might be one of my concubines.”

Shi Zhaoxuan didn’t say he was unwilling to offer her up, otherwise he’d easily be labeled as disloyal.

After all, the Emperor’s will is paramount.

Although very few emperors would be so absurd as to demand that their ministers offer up their wives and concubines, if such a thing really happened, it would be difficult for the ministers to refuse.

If you’re not even willing to offer up your wife, what kind of loyalty is that?

So, Shi Zhaoxuan simply explained to Lu Guangzu that the woman was his. The subtext being, give me some leeway, let’s not discuss this matter any further.

Under normal circumstances, anyone who understood Shi Zhaoxuan’s meaning would choose to end the topic.

After all, demanding that someone offer up their wife or concubine was indeed excessive.

However, Lu Guangzu was relentless. He said, “So what? As the saying goes, women are like clothes. As long as you have power and influence, what kind of woman can’t you get?”

Shi Zhaoxuan’s face darkened upon hearing this. He had already made his unwillingness so obvious, but Lu Guangzu pretended not to understand and didn’t give him any face.

This made him very unhappy.

“Lord Lu, you’re drunk. I think we should call it a night. After a day or two of rest, we still have to continue south. Don’t delay important matters.”

A regimental commander under Lu Guangzu saw Shi Zhaoxuan’s displeasure. If this topic wasn’t ended soon, it would easily make the situation awkward.

So, he used Lu Guangzu’s drunkenness as an excuse to defuse the situation.

Being drunk meant that the nonsense could naturally be taken as untrue, and after tonight, it could be treated as if it never happened.

Shi Zhaoxuan felt slightly better upon hearing this, and originally thought that the matter would end here.

However, Lu Guangzu’s sentence, “I’m not drunk,” made everyone feel extremely awkward.

Seeing this, several of Lu Guangzu’s subordinates directly and forcibly dragged Lu Guangzu away, and this farce could be considered over.

With the farce over, Shi Zhaoxuan felt uncomfortable, feeling that he had not been respected.

“A mere division commander, this is outrageous!”

Back in his room, Shi Zhaoxuan overturned his desk, venting his anger.

“Sir, how about we rebel against them again? Find a way to drug their men, and then wipe them out in one fell swoop.”

Shi Zhaoxuan’s personal guard said.

“Don’t mess around.”

Shi Zhaoxuan rebuked. He was unhappy, but rebelling over such a trivial matter was too impulsive.

Rebelling again would be equivalent to completely breaking with the Great Hua Empire, and there wouldn’t even be a chance to surrender in the future.

If the Ming Dynasty could contend with Great Hua, he could do this.

Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty was disappointing.

Continuing to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty wouldn’t guarantee his safety, nor would it guarantee the safety of his family.

Shi Zhaoxuan also came from a large family, with dozens of direct relatives in the family.

If he were to oppose Great Hua and kill thousands of Great Hua soldiers, the enmity would be too great.

Shi Zhaoxuan was unhappy, and Lu Guangzu was also unhappy. He felt that Shi Zhaoxuan didn’t know what was good for him.

“Lord Lu, don’t mention this matter again in the future, why bother?”

Back at his residence, Lu Guangzu’s subordinate advised.

“Hmph, I think this guy has no loyalty to speak of. He only surrendered because he couldn’t beat us.”

Lu Guangzu snorted coldly.

These words left several subordinates speechless.

Surrendering was definitely because they couldn’t win. Who would surrender if they could win?

Surrendering because they couldn’t win wasn’t something to be criticized.

“Alright, everyone go back. Stay vigilant and don’t trust them easily.”

Lu Guangzu reminded them.

Because Shi Zhaoxuan had defected, it was equivalent to the entire army surrendering. Their weapons and equipment were still in their hands, maintaining complete combat power.

After his subordinates dispersed, Lu Guangzu became more and more unwilling the more he thought about it.

At the same time, he became increasingly disgusted with Shi Zhaoxuan, because Shi Zhaoxuan was very ‘unappreciative’.

The next day, he called in several personal guards.

He decided to find a way to secretly kidnap that woman and send her to Nanjing.

Lu Guangzu felt that as long as he didn’t leave any evidence, Shi Zhaoxuan wouldn’t be able to do anything to him.

As for whether Shi Zhaoxuan would be angry, he didn’t care.

After formulating a plan, Lu Guangzu no longer mentioned the matter.

After resting in Taizhou for two days, he led his troops south to Wenzhou.

This time, he asked Shi Zhaoxuan to bring his troops and follow him on the expedition, calling it a chance to establish meritorious service together.

Shi Zhaoxuan’s three thousand men left only five hundred in Taizhou.

Xue Guiren’s troops also left five hundred.

The rest formed a joint force with Shi Zhaoxuan and set off south.

After two days on the road, the army arrived at Qingjiang.

At the same time, Lu Guangzu’s personal guards began their operation.

They spent two days gathering information and learned that Shi Zhaoxuan’s concubine was named Miao Ping and lived in the west wing.

After dark, taking advantage of the night, several of them sneaked into Shi’s residence.

Each of Lu Guangzu’s personal guards was far stronger than ordinary people, and the seemingly heavily guarded Shi residence failed to stop them.

It wasn’t until Miao Ping screamed that the guards of Shi’s residence realized something was wrong.

The two sides met in the backyard and exchanged blows.

The guards of Shi’s residence were no match for Lu Guangzu’s personal guards. After a few rounds, the first few guards to arrive fell into a pool of blood.

Among the Hua soldiers, one also died.

Before more guards arrived, they hurriedly retreated, taking the bodies of their comrades with them.

They ran all the way to the north gate.

“Company Commander Liu, help dispose of this body and stop the pursuers behind us.”

They had already coordinated in advance, and the city gate had been opened ahead of time.

After they left the city, the city gate was immediately closed.

Before long, a large group of guards from Shi’s residence chased after them.

“Sir, have you seen a group of criminals passing by with a woman?”

The steward of Shi’s residence asked.

“What criminals? No.”

Company Commander Liu said.

“Impossible, they went in this direction, there’s only this road, they must have gone out through the north gate.”

A servant roared.

“What do you mean? Are you implying that I’m in league with the criminals you’re talking about? No means no. Don’t try to twist my words, or don’t blame me for being impolite.”

Company Commander Liu snorted coldly.

Seeing this, the steward hurriedly stopped the servant who wanted to argue further, and then took out a tael of silver. He said, “Please, sir, do us a favor. We have urgent matters to attend to outside the city. We don’t have that much silver on us. We’ll reward you handsomely when we return.”

“What do you mean by this? Are you trying to bribe me? The general has ordered that the city gates must not be opened casually at night to prevent night attacks.”

Company Commander Liu said righteously.

He certainly couldn’t open the city gate. Those people were carrying a delicate woman, so they definitely couldn’t move fast.

If he let the servants of Shi’s residence chase after them, they might still be able to catch up.

When the steward of Shi’s residence saw the attitude of the person in front of him, he immediately understood.

Perhaps this person was also involved in this matter.

There was no point in arguing with this person now. The steward stopped talking nonsense and led his men directly to the west gate.

Of the four city gates, two were garrisoned by Shi Zhaoxuan’s old subordinates.

Going out from those two city gates wouldn’t be a problem, but it would take a detour and waste a lot of time.

Chapter 381: Rebellion

By the time the guards of the Shi estate had made a wide circle, exiting the city through the west gate, they had completely wasted their time.

They chased north, dividing their men to cover the main roads.

But after a whole night, they all returned empty-handed.

Wasting this one night meant all hope was lost. Heaven knows if those villains had hidden themselves or taken some small path.

In the dead of night, there wasn’t even a single passerby who had seen them. Without a single clue, they were completely clueless.

Helpless, they could only return to Taizhou, while also sending someone to Wenzhou to inform the head of the family.

A single person traveling was much faster than an army marching.

Only a day later, Shi Zhaoxuan received the news.

Shi Zhaoxuan flipped the table on the spot, feeling utterly deceived.

Although there wasn’t one hundred percent proof that Lu Guangzu was behind it, evidence wasn’t really needed.

This concubine had been in his household for several months without incident.

The moment Lu Guangzu suggested he offer Miao Ping, this happened. If there was no connection between the two, then hell must have frozen over.

Moreover, the steward’s letter also said that they encountered obstruction from Lu Guangzu’s subordinates during the pursuit.

This further confirmed that Lu Guangzu was the culprit.

“Outrageous, utterly outrageous!”

Shi Zhaoxuan’s lungs were about to explode with anger. He wished he could rush to Lu Guangzu’s face and chop off his head as a trophy.

Of course, that was just wishful thinking. If he charged at Lu Guangzu now, the consequence wouldn’t be him chopping off Lu Guangzu’s head, but most likely his own head being chopped off.

The other generals were depressed seeing Shi Zhaoxuan like this. What kind of situation was this?

“Gentlemen, I’ve decided. Tonight, we launch a surprise attack on the Great Hua army,” Shi Zhaoxuan said.

He couldn’t swallow this anger without killing Lu Guangzu.

Upon hearing this, some shared Shi Zhaoxuan’s hatred, clamoring to leave no armor intact on the Hua army.

Others, however, felt nervous and afraid.

If the surprise attack on the Hua army succeeded, that would be fine; they could escape to the south and continue to eke out a living.

But if it failed, their lives would be forfeit.

This was a matter of losing their heads! Shi Zhaoxuan’s woman was stolen, not theirs. Why should they share the risk with Shi Zhaoxuan?

Moreover, some felt it wasn’t worth it for a woman.

Was it really okay to risk the lives of thousands of soldiers for a woman?

Was Shi Zhaoxuan’s face more important, or the lives of these thousands of men?

However, although they disagreed in their hearts, they dared not speak out against it at this moment.

After all, Shi Zhaoxuan was clearly in a fit of rage. Trying to dissuade him now might lead to them being killed first.

Afterward, they began to formulate a plan for the night attack.

By evening, the army halted to set up camp.

The entire army formed one large camp, and within the large camp, the troops were stationed in company-sized units, forming small camps.

Shi Zhaoxuan’s troops were stationed on the west side, and Lu Guangzu’s troops were stationed on the east side, only thirty-plus meters apart, very close.

A single charge would be enough to reach them.

As night fell, most people had already fallen asleep.

Some who hadn’t slept were the sentries on guard duty, and a few others were preoccupied with worries.

For example, Zhao Zhijin, a centurion under Shi Zhaoxuan. He was just a small figure, but now he had inexplicably been dragged into the conflict between Shi Zhaoxuan and Lu Guangzu.

Zhao Zhijin didn’t want to be caught in the crossfire and die under the Hua army’s guns for nothing. That would be too unjust.

For the sake of his life and future, he hesitated for a long time before writing a letter. Then, he summoned his cousin and had him secretly deliver the letter to the Hua army.

He wanted to report and gain merit, leaving himself a way out.

After all, he didn’t think Shi Zhaoxuan could defeat Lu Guangzu.

Even if he could win temporarily with a surprise attack, what about the future?

Zhao Zhijin’s cousin took the letter and quietly approached the east camp.

However, he was stopped and questioned by the patrolling soldiers.

“I have an important letter to deliver to your superior. Shi Zhaoxuan is about to rebel and will launch a night attack on you later,” Zhao Zhijin’s cousin said anxiously.

Hearing such shocking news, the Hua army soldier on patrol didn’t dare to be careless. Risking disturbing his superior, he brought the man to Lu Guangzu’s tent and had someone report it.

Hearing that Shi Zhaoxuan was about to rebel, Lu Guangzu’s personal guard didn’t dare to be negligent and quickly woke Lu Guangzu.

“What, is this really true?” Lu Guangzu asked.

“Absolutely true. My cousin doesn’t want to oppose the general, so he’s specially reporting to gain merit.”

“If the situation is true, your cousin will naturally be credited with a great achievement.”

After speaking, Lu Guangzu had the other officers and soldiers woken up and quietly prepared.

If nothing happened overnight, that would be for the best.

If Shi Zhaoxuan came to launch a surprise attack, they would give him a painful blow.

In fact, Lu Guangzu already believed seventy or eighty percent of the letter after reading it.

After all, he was the one who caused this, so Shi Zhaoxuan’s reaction was normal.

Now that things had come to this, Lu Guangzu was somewhat regretful.

Causing such a thing was a scandal, somewhat damaging to the image of the Hua army.

Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world. He could only face reality.

When the Hua army generals heard that Shi Zhaoxuan was about to rebel, they immediately perked up and quickly had the soldiers prepare.

As time slowly passed, just as the Hua army was becoming somewhat lax, thinking it was just a farce, a commotion came from the west camp.

Immediately afterward, the soldiers from the west camp charged over.

However, they soon discovered that the Hua army was already lined up neatly in the camp.

“Anyone who dares to take a step forward will be killed without mercy. Drop your weapons immediately to save your lives!” Lu Guangzu shouted loudly.

He didn’t want a large-scale internal conflict to occur, otherwise, the battle report would be difficult to write, and the matter would easily be exposed.

It would be best to have the other side drop their weapons and then kill Shi Zhaoxuan.

“Lu Guangzu, you bastard! You abducted my wife! Today, I will never rest until you are dead!” Seeing that the Hua army had made full preparations, Shi Zhaoxuan howled in his heart.

He knew that he was completely finished.

But now that things had come to this, he couldn’t let go of his dignity and kneel down to beg for mercy again.

Therefore, he exposed Lu Guangzu’s evil deeds, wanting to disgust Lu Guangzu before he died.

“Nonsense! I’ve been with you all along. Where would I have the time to abduct your woman? Soldiers on the opposite side, don’t believe his lies!

If you continue to resist, that is rebellion. According to the rules of our Great Hua, rebels will be killed without mercy!” Lu Guangzu denied. He couldn’t admit to such a thing, otherwise, it would easily arouse the anger of the opposing soldiers.

Lu Guangzu’s words shook the morale of Shi Zhaoxuan’s subordinates.

The low-level soldiers didn’t know why they were rebelling. It was just that the officers wanted them to do this, and they were unwilling in their hearts.

Now, hearing Shi Zhaoxuan and Lu Guangzu’s exchange, they finally understood the situation.

Chapter 382: Appeasement

Actually, Lu Guangzu’s explanation was somewhat superfluous. Even if he had really seized her, so what? That wasn’t a reason for the Ming army soldiers to risk their lives for Shi Zhaoxuan.

No matter how you looked at it, this was a private feud between Shi Zhaoxuan and Lu Guangzu.

Apart from Shi Zhaoxuan’s direct line of troops who would share his hatred, some non-direct line troops had already begun to waver.

Shi Zhaoxuan also realized that continuing to delay would be even more detrimental to him. Anyway, he was going to die sooner or later, so he shouted and charged forward.

Shi Zhaoxuan’s direct line troops obeyed the order, shouting as they charged towards the Chinese army. The shouting was more like a way to embolden themselves.

“Don’t move, fall back, let’s wait and see.”

Some other of Shi Zhaoxuan’s subordinate generals reminded their men.

Husband and wife are birds of the same tree, scattering when disaster strikes, let alone that they were only superiors and subordinates with Shi Zhaoxuan.

At this time, they wanted to be as far away as possible, wishing they had never met Shi Zhaoxuan in this life, so they wouldn’t be implicated.

Their reminders were a bit superfluous. Even if they shouted for those soldiers to charge, the soldiers wouldn’t be willing.

Now that they knew they didn’t have to risk their lives, those soldiers were happier than anyone else.

“Kill!”

Lu Guangzu wouldn’t be polite to these people who had rebelled again, directly ordering them to be killed.

Gunshots rang out, followed by screams.

Close-range shooting caused heavy losses to the charging Ming army.

However, such a close distance also had an advantage for them, which was that the Chinese army couldn’t fire a second shot.

They successfully rushed to the front of the Chinese army, and then engaged in melee combat.

They were arguably the most relaxed army to reach the Chinese army’s front line in history, but unfortunately, they had too few people.

Shi Zhaoxuan had more than two thousand men under his command, but only about a thousand charged with him.

The rest were watching the show, or quietly running away.

Some people didn’t want to die, but they no longer trusted the Chinese army, fearing implication.

In case the Chinese army wanted to settle accounts afterward, they were, after all, Shi Zhaoxuan’s subordinates.

Therefore, some people took advantage of the chaos to leave, preparing to find a good place to become bandits.

The Ming army, with too few people, didn’t have an advantage in melee combat.

Melee combat relied on formation, morale, and numbers. They were only okay in terms of morale, because of the added bonus of hatred.

In other aspects, they were completely inadequate.

Moreover, that little bit of morale quickly disappeared after suffering heavy casualties.

If it was their own women who had been snatched, then this determination to fight to the death might be more firm.

Unfortunately, the woman who was snatched wasn’t theirs.

The frontal battle fell into a disadvantage, and then both sides were besieged by the Chinese army’s superior forces.

Facing enemies on three sides, the Ming army’s outer soldiers immediately collapsed.

Some fled, some surrendered, and some were still resisting inexplicably.

And these resisters, without exception, were all stabbed to death.

Even Shi Zhaoxuan, because he was charging in the front, died under a chaotic mess of blades.

In the chaotic army, the general’s life was as cheap as a soldier’s.

With Shi Zhaoxuan’s death, the others had even less fighting spirit.

Originally, this wasn’t their business.

The Ming army, having lost their fighting spirit, completely collapsed, then scattered in a panic, with no more decent resistance.

Finally, it was the cleanup work. Those who participated in the rebellion were all arrested.

Those who were watching from the sidelines also had their weapons confiscated.

Only Zhao Zhijin’s troop was spared. Since they took the initiative to report the news, it meant they could be absolutely trusted.

After a round of cleaning up, not too many people died.

The Chinese army lost more than seventy people, and Shi Zhaoxuan’s subordinates died more than two hundred.

More than three hundred people escaped in the chaos, and six hundred rebel troops were captured.

Calculated in this way, the losses were quite heavy.

After all, Shi Zhaoxuan’s troop had become their own people. Two or three hundred of their own people had died, several hundred were missing, and six or seven hundred could no longer be used.

Faced with this kind of thing, Lu Guangzu could only temporarily stop advancing, he had to deal with this problem first.

The more than six hundred prisoners could no longer be used, after all, there was already hatred and resentment in both sides’ hearts.

According to the previous conventional handling method, these people would be sent to Nanjing in a concentrated manner, and then either incorporated into the suicide squad, or sent to Huainan to dig coal.

However, Lu Guangzu didn’t really want to do this. After all, after these people were sent to Nanjing, someone would definitely ask about their origins.

Then, the matter of him snatching Shi Zhaoxuan’s woman couldn’t be concealed.

Lu Guangzu also knew that this matter didn’t sound good, and that he was at fault.

Therefore, he didn’t want this matter to be leaked out.

His own subordinates were easier to handle, he could find a way to shut them up.

However, these old subordinates of Shi Zhaoxuan were not easy to deal with.

“Sigh, this guy is really stubborn, really doesn’t know how to appreciate favors.”

Lu Guangzu complained about Shi Zhaoxuan, rebelling for a woman, it was too unworthy.

“Sir, does this matter need to be reported truthfully?”

His subordinate asked.

According to regulations, all major events in the army need to be written into a battle report and submitted to the higher level.

A rebellion had occurred in the army, with nearly a thousand people lost. This was definitely a major event, and the whereabouts of these people had to be explained.

“Just write that Shi Zhaoxuan was not sincerely surrendering, and then we detected it in advance. Don’t write the real reason in the battle report, I’ll write a private letter to Commander Wang, asking him to help me cover it up.”

His battle report only needed to be submitted to Wang Dayong, and then Wang Dayong would decide whether it needed to be submitted to Nanjing again.

This kind of thing could be big or small.

As long as Wang Dayong was willing to help, it could still be concealed.

Lu Guangzu wasn’t particularly flustered. As long as that woman could be successfully sent to Nanjing, and could gain favor in front of Wu Changqing, his matter could be turned over sooner or later.

After Miao Ping was abducted out of the city, she was directly taken on a boat, then went out to sea, and went straight to Songjiang from the sea.

Because Miao Ping was frightened and a little seasick.

It led to her getting sick on the boat, scaring the soldiers responsible for the abduction.

If Miao Ping died, their operation would have no meaning.

For this reason, they didn’t go upstream along the Yangtze River as planned, but chose to land at Songjiang, and then find a doctor and servants to take care of her.

“Doctor, what exactly is wrong with her?”

Lin Xiaodao, who was in charge of leading the team, asked.

“There’s no major problem, she was just frightened, and then caught a cold. It looks like the situation is very bad, but she can rest for a few days.”

The doctor said.

“Doctor, you have to be responsible for what you say. This woman is not an ordinary person. If she can’t be cured, I won’t spare you.”

Lin Xiaodao warned.

“I will naturally do my best. If the official can’t trust me, you can hire other medical experts.”

The doctor said a little helplessly, he didn’t like communicating with these unreasonable soldiers.

If it wasn’t for the sake of money, he wouldn’t want to take this job.

Chapter 383: The Current State of Songjiang

“Miss, don’t be afraid. We don’t mean you any harm.”

Lin Xiaodao tried to reassure Miao Ping.

However, his words didn’t have much effect.

Rushing into someone’s house in the middle of the night, kidnapping them, and killing the Shi residence’s guards – and he calls that no harm?

“What exactly do you want? My husband is the Garrison Commander; you’re being too bold!”

Miao Ping said.

In her mind, the Garrison Commander was a huge official, a local tyrant in Taizhou, with thousands of men under his command.

She was hoping to scare Lin Xiaodao and the others with her husband’s status, but they just gave her a disdainful smile.

“A mere Garrison Commander is nothing. Next, we’re going to present you to a truly important figure. As long as you can please that person, you can become a real somebody.”

Lin Xiaodao said.

“I don’t care.”

Miao Ping stubbornly replied.

It wasn’t that she particularly liked Shi Zhaoxuan; she was forced by her family to become his concubine.

However, the education she received since childhood taught her to be faithful to one man.

Since she had married Shi Zhaoxuan, she was his woman.

She wasn’t so keen on other important figures.

“You won’t say that when the time comes, but that’s not the point. For now, just focus on taking care of your health. After all, your body is your own. You’re so young; you don’t want to die young, do you?”

Lin Xiaodao was too lazy to argue with her. He couldn’t reveal Wu Changqing’s identity right now.

Miao Ping felt like crying. As Lin Xiaodao said, she was still young, in the prime of her life.

She still had endless attachment to this world.

But if she continued to live, she might not be able to protect her reputation.

Moreover, she didn’t know if she would ever see her family again, or if that important figure would be a decrepit old man, or even a pervert…

So many unknowns made her uneasy.

Several days later, Miao Ping recovered.

Being young, a little cold wasn’t enough to take her life.

After she recovered, Lin Xiaodao rented a “BMW” carriage, invited her to get in, and prepared to travel to Nanjing by land.

After leaving the house, she immediately saw the docks of Songjiang.

At the port, there were at least dozens of large ships coming and going.

They were all large ships of several hundred tons, completely different from the fishing boats she had seen before.

There were also countless carriages on the docks, mountains of goods, and porters coming and going.

She had never seen such a prosperous scene in a small place like Taizhou.

“Where is this?”

Miao Ping asked, unable to comprehend that there could be such a prosperous place in the world.

“This is Songjiang, the second largest city in Great Hua. Next, we’re going to Nanjing, the largest city in Great Hua. There are even more beautiful things there, much better than Taizhou. You’ll definitely like it.”

Lin Xiaodao smiled.

Miao Ping didn’t say anything, but she was very curious and wanted to see these things.

But she couldn’t admit it, because admitting it would seem like she had already forgotten Shi Zhaoxuan, like she wasn’t being a virtuous woman.

However, sitting in the “BMW” carriage, she couldn’t help but lift the curtain and continue to observe Songjiang.

Songjiang was more prosperous than Taizhou by far; it was like two different worlds.

Although Taizhou was also near the sea, it didn’t have much commercial activity and was still a typical agrarian society.

But Songjiang had already evolved into a commercial city.

The biggest characteristics of Songjiang were its wide roads, the large number of people and carriages transporting goods, the many warehouses, the many shops, and the many well-dressed people.

At the same time, there were also many foreigners.

Miao Ping saw several blonde-haired, blue-eyed Westerners with full beards and quickly lowered the curtain in fright.

They were too ugly.

She didn’t understand why there were such ugly people in Songjiang.

If she were to be given to someone like that, she would rather die.

After a while, she couldn’t resist her curiosity and lifted the curtain again.

By this time, they had passed the commercial district and entered the residential area.

Here, she saw many new-style buildings, some two or three stories high, and even four or five-story red brick buildings.

The largest Wusong Hotel in Songjiang was five stories high and covered a large area, making it look very magnificent.

The Wusong Hotel was a landmark building in Songjiang, very famous.

Of course, the prices inside were extremely high, exclusive to big businessmen. Ordinary people didn’t dare to go in and spend money.

“These buildings are so high, won’t they collapse?”

Miao Ping was seeing such tall buildings for the first time in her life and couldn’t understand it.

After passing the residential area and walking for a while, they passed the factory district.

The rows of large factories each occupied several mu of land.

High, large, and many – these had already formed Miao Ping’s impression of Songjiang.

Suddenly, she saw a factory that was shipping goods outside. It was the perfume she had seen before.

Because she was favored by Shi Zhaoxuan, she had been rewarded with a bottle of perfume.

According to Shi Zhaoxuan, this thing was a rare treasure, very difficult to buy, costing one hundred taels of silver per bottle.

Among Shi Zhaoxuan’s several concubines and wives, only she and the original wife each received a bottle of perfume; no one else did.

Because of this, she was often envied and slandered by Shi Zhaoxuan’s other women.

She also learned that this perfume was a treasure.

But now, she saw the perfume factory that was shipping goods.

The perfume was being loaded onto carriages in whole boxes. Judging by the size of the boxes, each box could probably hold at least ten bottles.

And there were more than a dozen carriages gathered there, each carriage capable of carrying at least one hundred boxes. Calculating it this way, the quantity of a single shipment from that factory reached tens of thousands of bottles.

And this was called a treasure? This was called a rare item?

“Are those perfumes?”

Miao Ping thought she was seeing things and asked Lin Xiaodao for confirmation.

“That’s the Chen family’s perfume factory. Tsk, tsk, tsk, the head of the Chen family is really good at judging people. He fully supported His Majesty when he had just started his rebellion and married his daughter to His Majesty.

Now, his daughter has become the Empress, and he has become the Emperor’s father-in-law. Because of this, his family has monopolized the production of perfume. They earn several million taels of silver a year just from the perfume business.”

Lin Xiaodao sighed. That was several million taels, and every year at that.

“Ah, if only I had a beautiful daughter like you.”

Lin Xiaodao continued to sigh. He went to the front lines to kill enemies, risking his life, and his monthly salary was only ten taels.

If he had a beautiful daughter who could be sent to the palace, and then wait for His Majesty to bestow a business upon him, he could lie down and count money for the rest of his life, without having to do anything.

Several million taels.

Miao Ping couldn’t imagine it. At the same time, she was certain that something that was considered a treasure in Taizhou was a common commodity in Songjiang.

This was only the second largest city in Great Hua. Would the largest city be even more prosperous?

Miao Ping was becoming curious about Nanjing.

Chapter 384: Liaison

In just five days, they arrived in Nanjing from Songjiang.

Along the way, Miao Ping didn’t feel much bumping at all, which she found incredible.

When she was taken from the countryside to Taizhou County, that road was only a dozen li.

But that short journey made her buttocks ache.

From Lin Xiaodao, she learned that it was all thanks to the shock-absorbing carriage.

“Great Hua really has a lot of good things.”

Miao Ping couldn’t help but sigh.

Arriving in Nanjing, the first thing Miao Ping saw was rows of neat, identical red brick houses.

Although she had seen these houses in Songjiang, she was still shocked.

Because there weren’t many of these houses in Songjiang, only a few dozen or a hundred.

But here, these houses were densely packed, arranged neatly.

A rough estimate suggested there were thousands.

Moreover, in the distance, people were still building non-stop, and who knew how many more would be built.

Even without having built a house before, Miao Ping knew that building a house wasn’t cheap.

And these high-end red brick houses must be even more expensive.

With so many houses, would there be enough people to live in them?

Nanjing’s first impression on her was that it was rich, very, very rich.

Next, they arrived at the inner city wall.

The tall city wall was four or five times higher than that of Taizhou.

She had previously thought that the outer city wall was the city wall of Nanjing.

But she didn’t expect that it only enclosed the suburbs of Nanjing. Inside, there was another city wall.

Entering Nanjing, she could see that there were many people coming and going.

Moreover, there were many strange and wonderful things.

She even saw a large balloon floating in the sky, with two pieces of cloth with writing hanging from it.

[Jinling Grand Hotel opens today, all drinks are 30% off. Exotic delicacies and exquisite wines await you.]

Miao Ping had never seen an advertisement before, but she knew that this was a restaurant promoting itself.

What she couldn’t understand was why that thing could fly in the sky, and judging from the reactions of the local residents of Nanjing, they weren’t surprised at all.

Clearly, they were used to this phenomenon.

In addition to the novel hot air balloon, Miao Ping also saw a bicycle on the street.

A man riding a bicycle with only two wheels could not only move forward but also not fall to either side, which was simply incredible.

People in later generations who have seen many bicycles think it’s normal for a bicycle not to fall.

But for people who have never seen such a thing and don’t understand the law of inertia, this phenomenon is actually difficult to understand, very shocking, and shatters their worldview.

“What is that thing?”

Miao Ping continued to ask.

This time, she stumped Lin Xiaodao, because Lin Xiaodao didn’t know either.

When he left Nanjing, there was no such thing on the street.

“I don’t know either. Nanjing is developing very fast now, changing every day. There are often some novel things appearing, and I’m not aware of all of them,”

Lin Xiaodao said helplessly.

What a mysterious place.

Miao Ping was already starting to like it here, because it kept bringing her surprises.

Unlike in a small place like Taizhou, where the sights and sounds every day were just those few things, those few events, which were very boring.

The group went directly to an inn to stay, and didn’t go shopping in Nanjing, so Miao Ping didn’t see much.

What she saw on the way only made her feel that Nanjing was very prosperous.

After checking into the inn, Lin Xiaodao began to plan.

He needed to find a way to contact some people who could speak to the emperor.

There were actually quite a few such people: ministers, eunuchs, members of the imperial family.

However, the path of ministers was not feasible. Sending women to the emperor was not a very honorable thing and could easily be attacked as flattery, so those ministers might not be willing to help with this matter.

The imperial family was also out of the question, as it was inconvenient and involved many things.

The best choice was eunuchs. They had humble status and were easy to befriend. Moreover, they were the closest people to the emperor, so it would be more appropriate for them to talk to the emperor about this matter.

Lin Xiaodao began to use Lu Guangzu’s name to contact the eunuchs in charge of purchasing for the palace, and through this relationship, he met Feng Debao, Wu Changqing’s personal eunuch.

“Greetings, Eunuch Feng.”

Lin Xiaodao said respectfully.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were many eunuchs with high positions and great power.

Wei Zhongxian was once infinitely powerful.

Therefore, even if many people looked down on them in their hearts, they were very respectful on the surface.

However, now in Great Hua, the power of eunuchs is not great, and they can only manage some things in the palace.

“I’m just a errand runner for His Majesty, I wouldn’t dare call myself ‘Eunuch’. Just say what you have to say, I’m usually quite busy,”

Feng Debao said.

When eunuchs were powerful in the past, they could of course be called “Eunuch,” and they could also refer to themselves as “臣 (chén, your servant)”.

However, now that they have no power, they can only refer to themselves as “咱家 (zán jiā, we/I)” in front of ordinary people, and “奴婢 (nú bì, your slave)” in front of the emperor.

“奴 (nú)” refers to a man, and “婢 (bì)” refers to a maid. Eunuchs are neither male nor female, so there is the saying of “奴婢 (nú bì)”.

“Then I’ll be direct. When Lord Lu was fighting in the South, he didn’t forget to care about His Majesty. Therefore, he has been paying attention to the beauties in various places.

Finally, in Taizhou, Lord Lu discovered a stunning woman. Such a woman should only serve His Majesty. Other men are not qualified to enjoy her,”

Lin Xiaodao said.

“Oh?”

Feng Debao said, noncommittally. He could help with this kind of thing or not.

If it was really an unparalleled beauty who could make Wu Changqing happy, there would be great benefits to helping.

If Lin Xiaodao exaggerated and the woman sent was not to Wu Changqing’s liking, then it would be licking the wrong end of the horse and there would be a risk of being scolded.

“My lord said that there will be a generous reward after the matter is completed.”

Lin Xiaodao held up five fingers, meaning a reward of five thousand taels of silver.

“I want to see the woman first.”

Feng Debao said, after all, he had to see the goods before making a decision.

“That’s natural.”

After the two agreed to inspect the goods tomorrow, Lin Xiaodao began to purchase heavily.

The most beautiful clothes, the best rouge and powder…

“Miss Miao, please dress up beautifully. Someone from above is coming to see you today, and you must not mess it up,”

Lin Xiaodao reminded.

“You won’t tell me where you’re sending me, I won’t listen, even if I die.”

After some time, Miao Ping had discovered Lin Xiaodao’s weakness.

Therefore, she was no longer nervous and afraid, but dared to threaten him.

She had made up her mind that if she was going to be sent to an old man or some strange person, she would rather die.

If not, then…

Then she didn’t know what to choose. To submit to fate? There would always be a knot in her heart.

To not submit? She was reluctant to die.

Chapter 385: Stunning

“We’re going to send you to the palace and present you to the current Emperor. So, there’s no need to resist. This is a good thing for you.”

Having reached this point, Lin Xiaodao saw no need to continue hiding the truth.

What?

Sent to the current Emperor of Great Hua?

Miao Ping was stunned.

That was the Emperor! From childhood, she had been told that the Emperor was the greatest and most honorable person in the world.

She never imagined that one day she would actually meet the Emperor, and even serve him.

Furthermore, she had been reading newspapers these past few days and learned a lot about the Emperor of Great Hua, knowing that the Emperor of Great Hua was not an old codger.

Far from being an old codger, he was incredibly young, wise, and martial, with great talent and strategy, unparalleled in both literary and military skills.

The Great Hua newspapers, of course, praised Wu Changqing to the heavens.

The world hadn’t even been unified yet, and some people were already touting Wu Changqing as an emperor for the ages, comparable to Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Emperor Taizu of Song.

Miao Ping, inexperienced in the world, had limited access to information and basically had to believe whatever others told her.

She believed the newspapers’ claims that Wu Changqing was as handsome as Pan An and as talented as Cao Zhi.

Such a man, even without his status, was worthy of her. Not to mention, Wu Changqing was the Emperor.

If she could really be selected, she would undoubtedly be climbing the social ladder, turning a pheasant into a phoenix.

Miao Ping began to feel flustered. The outcome was much better than she had expected.

At least, faced with this result, she no longer had the courage to commit suicide, nor was she willing to.

Lin Xiaodao saw the changes on her face clearly and chuckled inwardly.

Women, who could resist such temptation?

One moment she was ready to die for her reputation, and the next she was already moved.

Afterward, Miao Ping no longer resisted Lin Xiaodao’s arrangements but began to carefully dress herself.

Although many of the cosmetics were new to her, as a beauty, she had a very keen intuition for beauty.

Without anyone teaching her, she could master them on her own.

For example, the use of eyeshadow and mascara. Based on her own feelings, she used them on herself appropriately and beautifully.

When she finished her makeup and appeared before Lin Xiaodao again, Lin Xiaodao was stunned.

“What are you staring at?”

Miao Ping was a little shy from being stared at.

Lin Xiaodao hurriedly turned his head to the other side upon hearing this. Once Miao Ping was successfully selected, she would be a consort in the future, someone he could not亵渎.

Before long, Feng Debao arrived at the inn and met Miao Ping.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…

At first glance, Feng Debao was secretly shocked.

He was in the palace all year round, and usually saw imperial concubines, all beauties selected from all over the world.

It could be said that in terms of the number of beauties he had seen, he was second to none.

Having seen so many, his appreciation ability naturally became stronger.

In his opinion, the Miao Ping in front of him was much more beautiful than the Empress.

Currently, in the entire harem, only Luo Min could compare slightly. Everyone else was slightly inferior.

Her appearance was definitely good enough. Feng Debao still needed to see Miao Ping’s temperament.

He asked a series of questions and then looked at Miao Ping’s conversation.

A person’s speed of speech, pitch, movements, and expressions when speaking can all reflect a person’s temperament.

If she was loud, spoke quickly, and had a bold, tomboyish air, no matter how beautiful she was, she would not be selected.

Fortunately, this did not happen to Miao Ping.

Her conversation revealed a sense of knowledge and reason, and her demeanor was appropriate. It was clear that she had received strict education in female virtues since childhood.

In short, Miao Ping’s conditions were sufficient for selection.

After seeing her, Feng Debao and Lin Xiaodao went to another room to continue asking for more information.

Finding women for the Emperor was not so casual.

Beauty was the most basic requirement, but there were other requirements as well.

For example, her background must be clean, she must not be too loyal to the Southern Ming, and she must not have any rebellious intentions towards the Emperor.

Otherwise, who knew if they would suddenly attack the Emperor.

Although it was difficult for them to cause any harm to Wu Changqing with their slender arms and legs, everything was afraid of the unexpected.

If Wu Changqing was more disciplined and followed the procedures every time he favored those women, it would be fine.

The procedure stipulated that those women must be stripped naked before serving in bed, and their jewelry must be removed. Then, the eunuch would wrap them in red silk and send them to the Emperor’s bed.

The problem was that Wu Changqing was now too confident and didn’t like to follow these procedures, preferring to mess around at any time.

In case a concubine pulled out a hairpin and suddenly stabbed Wu Changqing’s neck, it would be a great joke.

Therefore, the woman’s origin also needed to be clarified.

“The problem is that this woman was forcibly abducted by Lord Lu. But don’t worry, Eunuch, I see that she has no resistance to being sent to the palace. On the contrary, she seems quite happy.”

Lin Xiaodao said.

“Abducted? What do you mean? Why not spend some money or use other methods? Why resort to force?”

Feng Debao said unhappily.

Forcibly abducting her increased the risk a little bit more.

“Because she is actually the concubine of a general in the Southern Ming. That general refused to offer her up, so Lord Lu had no choice but to forcibly abduct her.”

Lin Xiaodao did not dare to hide anything, after all, this kind of thing could not be hidden.

In case Wu Changqing asked, it would be exposed sooner or later, unless Miao Ping was willing to lie and cooperate.

“Look at what you’ve done. Is it necessary to use someone who isn’t a virgin? However, that general actually refused to contribute. He deserves to die.”

Feng Debao snorted.

“Eunuch is right. I don’t think that person has truly surrendered. As for this woman, she is destined to be His Majesty’s plaything. As long as she is not given a title, it’s not a problem.”

Lin Xiaodao said.

If she was to be made Empress or Imperial Concubine, purity would naturally be very important.

But if she was just to be used for pleasure, whether she was a virgin or not was not a big problem.

Moreover, who could guarantee that Wu Changqing necessarily liked virgins?

The former Wu Changqing had said that he wanted Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang to marry him, and she was not only not a virgin, but even had children. This showed that Wu Changqing did not care about this.

In fact, this was easy to understand.

Men didn’t necessarily only like beautiful women, they also liked different tastes.

The “other man’s wife” type was actually liked by many men.

Even a hero like Cao Cao also liked this kind of woman.

Feng Debao pondered for a while, and then said: “First find a house to live in and observe for a period of time. We can’t let her bring a child into the palace.

I will find a chance to mention it to the Emperor. Whether it succeeds or not depends on the Emperor’s mood.”

“Then I will have to trouble Eunuch Feng.”

Lin Xiaodao said. After the matter was completed, Lord Lu would have a generous reward.

Chapter 386: The Case for War

North, Huai’an.

A fleet of large ships docked, and a large quantity of military supplies was unloaded.

These were winter supplies for their Northern Army Corps, including military equipment such as flintlock rifles, bullets, shells, grenades, and so on.

There were also daily necessities, such as cotton-padded coats, cotton-padded trousers, cotton shoes, socks, leather gloves, canned food, and so on.

Cotton-padded coats and trousers were expected by the soldiers, after all, it was already the dead of winter, but cotton shoes and leather gloves were a pleasant surprise.

In the past, when resources were scarce, the army was considered very conscientious if it could ensure that the soldiers were warm.

As for keeping hands and feet warm, the soldiers could only overcome this problem themselves.

Things like gloves and socks were not technically complex, and wealthy officials had been using them for a long time.

Although there were no technical difficulties, soldiers in the past simply did not have access to them because of limited resources.

“Haha, today this old man Fan can also enjoy a taste of being an official.”

An ordinary soldier put on the warm gloves, feeling very happy.

“These gloves are even better than those worn by the landlord in our village.”

“If we go out and fight the Tartars now, wouldn’t they be scared out of their wits? In this kind of weather, can they even hold their guns?”

Another soldier said.

It was impossible for the Qing army soldiers to have such good equipment.

If the two armies were to go to war now, the Qing army soldiers might not even be able to hold their weapons due to the cold.

Therefore, they were now very eager to fight the Qing army and bully them.

Not only the soldiers thought so, but even some generals hoped to take advantage of the situation and launch an offensive.

“Although we cannot launch a large-scale offensive, we still have the supplies to maintain small-scale battles. If we attack now, the enemy will be even more unable to fight back.”

Tang Guozhen said.

“What do you mean by small-scale battles? Attacking places like Suqian and Xuzhou? Those places have tens of thousands of Qing army soldiers defending them, and once a fight breaks out, it cannot be small-scale.

If it is not attacking important places like Suqian or Xuzhou, there is no need to occupy other small county towns.”

Tao Dongcheng said.

The battles in the North and the South were very different. In the South, occupying each small city was of great significance.

Relying on that small city, they could control a large area around it, and it was necessary to garrison it.

But in the North, only those large cities were worth occupying.

There were many cities in the North, and occupying a small county town was of little significance, and they would have to divide their troops to defend it.

Moreover, it was easy for the enemy to concentrate superior forces to counterattack, and they often could not hold it.

Unlike the small cities in the South, which could be garrisoned with only one or two thousand people, because the mountain roads were difficult to travel, it was impossible for the enemy to send too many troops to counterattack.

In the North, as long as they captured those large cities, other small county towns would often surrender without a fight.

Because in the plains, a small city had little significance for garrisoning.

Different places, the applicable tactics often had great differences.

Tang Guozhen obviously did not see this point, so he proposed the idea of taking advantage of the opportunity to fight a battle.

“Then find a way to take down Suqian, we can’t let those Tartars have a comfortable winter, can we? Even if we don’t launch a Northern Expedition, we have to scare them to death and cause them trouble.”

Tang Guozhen continued to suggest.

According to intelligence, Suqian had twenty thousand defenders.

In Tang Guozhen’s view, he could capture it with ten thousand men.

As long as the enemy had no reinforcements, this battle would not be considered a particularly large scale.

As long as they took Suqian and then stopped the Northern Expedition, the supply of materials would still be completely fine.

“That’s not very good, although it is very unfavorable to the enemy in this kind of weather. But it is also a challenge for our army, usually the wounded soldiers can be saved as long as they are rescued in time.

But if it is in this kind of weather, the wounds are not easy to heal, and they are also prone to frostbite, the difficulty of treatment will be greatly increased.”

Tao Dongcheng continued to object.

Compared to other generals, he was more rational and saw further.

In his view, there was not much difference between taking Suqian this year and taking Suqian next year, so there was no need to choose this moment.

The bad weather would not only make things difficult for the Qing army, but it was also a test for them, and accidents could easily happen.

“If I give you ten thousand men, can you take down Suqian?”

Liu Hansan spoke.

He personally wanted to fight, but Wu Changqing had given orders, so he needed to control the scale.

Suqian was an important point on the Grand Canal, and this city was also a place that must be captured when going north in the future.

Taking it down now had only advantages and no disadvantages.

“If you send the artillery battalion and the air force to support me, I will have confidence.”

Tang Guozhen said.

“Then, Commander Tang, how many soldiers do you think will need to be sacrificed to take Suqian?”

Tao Dongcheng asked.

“No more than one thousand.”

Tang Guozhen said.

Everyone began to consider whether it was worth taking Suqian at the cost of one thousand people.

If it was other armies, they would not even need to think about it, it would definitely be worth it.

After all, occupying a large city could eliminate the enemy, capture the enemy, and plunder supplies.

Not to mention dying one thousand people, even dying more would be worth it.

However, the Huai Army’s generals could not think about the problem like this. They had to calculate how much money the compensation for one thousand soldiers would cost, and how much the battle results would have to be to make up for this expense.

“I think it’s okay.”

“I also think it’s worth it.”

Other generals expressed their support, one thousand lives in exchange for an important town, this was already a very good record.

“You have to do what you say, if there are too many casualties, you will not be credited.”

Liu Hansan reminded.

“This subordinate is willing to sign a military order.”

Tang Guozhen was also confident, signing a military order was not a joke.

Without signing a military order, if he lost the battle, Liu Hansan could still protect his shortcomings and give him a lighter punishment.

But if he signed a military order, he would have to be punished according to the military order, and Liu Hansan could not be biased.

Signing a military order expressed Tang Guozhen’s pro-war attitude.

“Alright, in that case, order you to lead your troops to attack Suqian on a chosen day. I will send the artillery battalion and the air force battalion to support you, I hope you can fight well.”

Liu Hansan made a decision.

Now that he, the commander, had made a decision, Tao Dongcheng and other staff officers could no longer continue to object. What they had to do next was to do their best to cooperate and assist Tang Guozhen in deducing the battle plan.

If the battle failed, they would not have to bear any responsibility.

After receiving the military order, Tang Guozhen began to study how to attack Suqian with a group of staff officers.

Although it was very likely to be a forced attack, how to force the attack also needed to be discussed.

Whether to bombard first, or send the air force first.

Whether to dig tunnels, or blow up the city walls, or climb the city walls directly.

These needed to be studied, and the previous siege tactics also needed to be improved.

After all, the Qing army’s equipment was constantly improving, and their defensive tactics were also improving.

If they continued to attack Suqian with the previous siege ideas, they would probably suffer heavy casualties.

Chapter 387: The Qing Army’s Predicament

Two days later, Tang Guozhen’s forces, along with artillery and air support, a total of thirteen thousand men, departed from Huai’an and marched towards Suqian.

They hadn’t gone far before they were spotted by Qing army scouts.

Great Hua had stationed a large force in Huai’an, and the Qing court was constantly on edge, fearing a sudden northern expedition by the Hua army.

Therefore, they had done an excellent job with intelligence gathering in this area, setting up numerous outposts and planting many spies in Huai’an city.

The Qing army sentries quickly returned to report, but Tang Guozhen didn’t care and continued his advance.

He wasn’t planning a surprise attack, so whether or not he was discovered wasn’t a big deal.

The scouts relayed the news to Suqian, and Yiergenjueluo Ashan, the garrison commander of Suqian, immediately panicked.

Although he had twenty thousand troops under his command, and the invaders numbered only a little over ten thousand.

However, this did not give him any sense of security.

Previous battles had proven that the Hua army could win with fewer troops. After many major battles, the Qing army had developed a sense of fear towards the Hua army.

Moreover, the disparity in weaponry was a real issue.

“Someone, quickly report the military situation to Xuzhou and request reinforcements.”

Ashan summoned his personal soldiers, preparing to request assistance from Xuzhou.

At the same time, he also ordered the soldiers in the city to prepare for battle.

When the order was issued, the Qing soldiers complained endlessly.

It was already the dead of winter, and the weather was extremely cold. Fighting in this weather was truly deadly.

More importantly, the clothes they were wearing were already old and worn, and the new cotton-padded coats had not yet arrived.

Those with good connections already knew that there would be no new cotton-padded coats this year.

Because the Qing court was cutting back on all kinds of expenses to expand military factories.

Without new clothes, they could barely survive the winter by huddling in their houses.

But to defend the city and fight in this state was a bit of a stretch.

Even if they weren’t killed by enemy guns and cannons, staying outdoors for a few hours would freeze their hands and feet stiff and cause frostbite.

Frostbite was no small problem; frostbitten hands and feet were prone to edema, followed by tissue necrosis, turning them into cripples.

Frostbite to the body was even more troublesome, directly endangering their lives.

“Fight? Fight my ass! We put up with no guns and cannons, but now we don’t even have warm clothes. How are we supposed to fight this battle?”

One soldier couldn’t help but complain, and the other soldiers echoed his sentiments.

As soon as one person took the lead in complaining, others would follow suit.

When there were enough people shouting, the higher-ups had no choice, because the law does not punish the masses.

If they dealt with all these soldiers, who would defend the city?

When the soldiers’ complaints reached Ashan’s ears, Ashan didn’t even blame the soldiers.

Because those soldiers were his people.

The Qing court was being too much by not even issuing a little bit of warm supplies.

Although the Qing court’s reason was that they had no money and needed to use the money to build guns and cannons.

But Ashan knew in his heart that the people in the palace and those noble ministers were still living lives of luxury, even using honeycomb briquettes from Nanjing for heating, using perfumes from Nanjing, and using all kinds of goods from Nanjing.

And these things all had one common characteristic: expensive.

Thinking of these frustrating things, Ashan sighed deeply in his heart.

“Go to the homes of the people in the city and collect cotton-padded clothes, prioritizing the army.”

Ashan’s final solution was to rob the people.

If the city couldn’t be defended, what use were these people?

At this point, he was too lazy to care about the lives of the people in the city, and too lazy to care about the reputation of the army.

After the order was issued, the Qing soldiers began to move around the city, knocking on doors from house to house.

However, they only robbed the homes of ordinary people; they dared not rob the homes of some very wealthy merchants, some officials, or some families with connections.

It was still the ordinary people who suffered.

“Five wen to buy my cotton-padded coat? Why? I’m not selling.”

In one household, three soldiers were negotiating with the head of the household.

The Qing soldiers hadn’t started robbing directly; they were using the method of buying. However, this kind of buying was no different from robbing; offering five wen was somewhat insulting.

Ashan’s order stipulated that they should pay a little more, such as buying at half price, so that the people might not resist.

However, when the orders from above were carried out by the people below, problems often arose.

Where would the lower-level soldiers be willing to spend so much money? There was no reimbursement.

Even if there was reimbursement, they could still earn a price difference by forcibly buying at a low price.

Anyway, they had absolute force when facing the people, and they weren’t afraid that the people wouldn’t agree.

“Not selling is obstructing official business, punishable by death. We’re already being lenient by not forcing you to assist in defending the city walls; how dare you talk so much nonsense?”

One soldier drew his broadsword, looking like he was about to kill someone.

“This cotton-padded coat is the only valuable thing in my family. If you rob it, I won’t be able to survive this winter. Kill me if you want, I won’t give it to you even if I die.”

This person was indeed stubborn, but unfortunately, this kind of stubbornness was sometimes a good thing and sometimes not, it was hard to say.

His words angered the soldier, who was probably holding back a bellyful of resentment with nowhere to vent it. Now that he was provoked, he didn’t think much of it and directly killed the man with one slash.

His screams startled the mistress and children in the inner room, and they ran out to see their already dead husband and father, and a burst of wailing sounded.

The enemy was right in front of them, but they had no choice but to cry.

The two children were already trembling as they looked at their father in the pool of blood.

Similar wails were heard from time to time in the city.

There were many people who gave in, but there were also quite a few who resisted out of desperation.

Some even succeeded in retaliating, killing a Qing army soldier.

Subsequently, that person’s entire family was exterminated.

In addition to robbery, some soldiers were also humiliating women in the homes of the people.

They were about to go to the battlefield, and many soldiers knew that the mortality rate in battles with the Hua army was very high.

They were not willing to die in vain, and before they died, they became even more unscrupulous and inhuman.

Ashan was well aware of these things, and then turned a blind eye.

He didn’t even dare to interfere, because the soldiers’ psychological pressure had reached its limit.

If he had to punish the soldiers for such a thing, they would probably mutiny internally before the Hua army even attacked.

After a round of looting, they had collected several thousand cotton-padded coats.

But it wasn’t enough; they had twenty thousand men.

Who should these several thousand cotton-padded coats be given to?

Would the soldiers who didn’t get them cause trouble?

“It seems that those rich people can’t be spared either.”

Ashan gritted his teeth and said.

At this point, he didn’t care whether he would offend people or whether it would have a negative impact on the Qing Dynasty.

At this moment, he was only thinking about getting through the immediate crisis.

Chapter 388: Opening Battle

The wealthy only have money; no family is so idle as to hoard cotton-padded clothes.

Therefore, after harassing the homes of the rich, the Qing army only obtained some “disaster relief fees” and a small amount of cotton-padded clothing.

If they wanted clothes, they still had to buy them from merchants in Nanjing.

Because the North lacked supplies, it was very difficult to purchase large quantities of cotton-padded clothing in the dead of winter, and they couldn’t find any goods for a while.

If they wanted to buy, they could only offer silver to the enemy in the South, which was as ridiculous as the Qing army previously buying Great Hua’s weapons to equip themselves.

With the Qing army in urgent need, those treacherous merchants unhesitatingly drove up prices.

Normally, a cotton-padded coat costing two hundred wen was now being offered for one tael of silver; take it or leave it.

What made the Qing army even more infuriated was what came next. Just as they gritted their teeth and paid the deposit, waiting to receive the goods, the merchant supplying them was raided by the Great Hua army.

Selling important military supplies to the enemy during wartime was a crime that could be big or small.

Great Hua had always been selling military supplies to the Qing court, so this wasn’t really a big deal.

However, if the army wanted to make a fuss, selling military supplies was also a major crime.

The main reason the Hua army took action this time was because the army’s budget was less than expected, so those in the army also had some crooked ideas to earn some extra money.

Therefore, the one selling cotton-padded clothes was out of luck, his home was directly raided, and ninety percent of his property was confiscated.

From the punishment he received, it could be seen that the military didn’t take selling military supplies seriously at all.

They only confiscated ninety percent of the other party’s property, without any punishment to the person, not even jail time.

This was blatant robbery.

The cotton-padded clothes that the Qing court had been waiting for never arrived, but instead, they awaited the army of Tang Guozhen.

Several days later, Tang Guozhen’s army had already arrived beneath the city of Suqian.

A great battle was about to break out.

On the city walls, the Qing soldiers shivered, some occasionally jumping, rubbing their hands, and stomping their feet.

Using this very comical way to keep warm had limited effect; it was more of a comforting gesture.

They did have cotton-padded clothes on their bodies, but they didn’t have gloves, and their shoes were cloth shoes. They also didn’t have socks, only some cloth temporarily wrapped around their feet.

In this weather, standing for a long time was still unbearable.

Tang Guozhen couldn’t help but laugh when he saw this scene through his binoculars.

“Let the artillery begin firing, and at the same time, the infantry will make a feigned attack. If the enemy dares to hide in the city, then turn the feigned attack into a full-scale attack. If the enemy insists on defending the city walls, use artillery to continuously kill them.”

Tang Guozhen ordered.

Relying on ample ammunition, he could carry out this rogue-like tactic.

In fact, they could directly launch a wave of full-scale attacks, and there was a high probability that they could enter the city.

However, in order to reduce casualties, Tang Guozhen chose to suppress the enemy’s morale first.

Once the enemy’s morale was defeated, the subsequent full-scale attack could easily crush them.

Seeing the Hua army shelling while the infantry was also approaching, A Shan cursed angrily; he saw through the Hua army’s intentions.

“Let the artillery bombard their infantry, ignore the enemy’s artillery.”

A Shan also had cannons, but the number was relatively small, only forty or so.

Originally, when encountering artillery fire, the priority should be to deal with the opponent’s artillery.

However, A Shan knew in his heart that his own artillery had no advantage in exchanging fire with the enemy’s artillery.

Rather than that, it would be better to kill as many of the enemy’s infantry as possible, which would be more efficient.

However, this was a very cruel order for the Qing army’s artillery.

The enemy’s artillery was attacking them, but they couldn’t fight back, and had to shell the enemy’s infantry instead.

This wasn’t a battle, it was clearly trading lives for lives. Using the lives of these artillerymen to exchange for the lives of the enemy’s infantry.

Because if they didn’t kill the enemy’s artillery, the enemy’s shells wouldn’t decrease.

When the Qing army’s artillery heard this order, they almost mutinied.

What, did their lives not matter?

However, the artillerymen didn’t have weapons in their hands, and under the supervision of the supervisors, they could only obey orders and aim their cannons at the approaching Hua army.

The cannons roared, and their shells began to fall towards the Hua army.

At this time, on the Hua army’s artillery positions, their commander also discovered the enemy’s artillery positions.

“Prioritize attacking the enemy’s artillery.”

Their tactics were more conventional, first eliminating the threatening long-range artillery.

The two sides fired artillery, and the Qing army’s shells landed in the Hua army’s infantry formation, killing several soldiers.

These Hua army soldiers were somewhat surprised after being shelled.

They didn’t understand why the enemy’s artillery didn’t attack their own artillery, but instead targeted them. They were so far away from the city walls that they couldn’t threaten them at all.

Although surprised and nervous, they didn’t move around randomly.

Those seemingly terrifying shells actually had a low probability of hitting. Being shelled was not as dangerous as melee combat after getting on the city walls.

“Disperse the formation, three steps apart from left to right, four steps apart from front to back.”

The Hua army commander ordered, spreading out the formation to effectively reduce losses.

Shells still landed in their formation, but one shell could only cause the death or injury of four or five soldiers at most.

At the same time, the Qing army’s artillery was suffering a devastating blow.

More than one hundred Hua army cannons fired in unison, and those shells fell towards them like a black rain, except that these raindrops were very large, and would explode when they landed near them.

In the first round, the Hua army wasn’t very accurate.

But this was normal; the Qing army’s artillery was even less accurate.

For forty cannons to fire in unison and have three or four shells land in the Hua army was already a good result.

If they were accurate, the threat of forty cannons would actually be quite terrifying.

Multiple Hua army artillery commanders viewed the landing points of the shells through binoculars, and then directed the gunners to adjust the angle and amount of propellant.

Subsequently, their artillery accuracy immediately improved a lot, and a large number of shells landed on the Qing army’s artillery positions.

The Qing army’s artillery immediately suffered heavy casualties; basically, one shell could write off half of a Qing army artillery crew.

After this round of shelling, the Qing army’s artillery had lost nearly one-fifth.

If they continued to let the Hua army attack like this, they would collapse after at most two more rounds.

In fact, this round of shelling alone had already caused some Qing army gunners to collapse.

“Sir, I’ve been hit by shrapnel, let me retreat.”

A Qing army artilleryman knelt and begged the supervisor; his arm had been hit by a piece of shrapnel. However, because he was far from the center of the explosion, and the cotton-padded clothes on his body were relatively thick.

Therefore, the part of the shrapnel that pierced into the flesh was not much.

This injury, well, it could be said to be serious, or it could be said to be not serious, he could still continue to fight.

“You have such a small injury, continue to fight.”

The supervisor said.

“I’m in so much pain that I can’t even lift the shells, how can I fight?”

The soldier was angry; he couldn’t retreat even when he was injured, it was outrageous.

Wasn’t this clearly trying to get him killed on the battlefield? Was there any humanity? Could he continue to stay in this kind of army?

Chapter 389: Harassment Tactics

“Forget it, he’s really injured. Let him go down,” someone in charge of supervising the battle said.

Of course, it wasn’t out of kindness.

It was because he recognized the soldier and had a bit of a connection with him.

With the officer’s word, the soldier was allowed to withdraw from the front line.

And there were many more artillerymen who wanted to retreat like him, but unfortunately, they couldn’t even find an excuse.

To retreat, they had to be injured, and the extent of the injury had to be just right.

It couldn’t be fatal, but it had to incapacitate them.

The battle continued, and the Qing army’s shells did cause some casualties to the Chinese army.

But that was all. With the third round of shelling from the Chinese artillery, the Qing army’s artillery began to collapse.

No matter how the supervising team slashed and killed, they were unwilling to return to their gun positions.

At this point, the Qing army’s artillery was dealt with.

After taking care of the artillery, the Chinese army continued to fire shells at the city walls, trying to inflict casualties on the enemy.

However, the infantry on the city walls didn’t need to expose themselves like the artillerymen; they all hid under cover.

The Qing army had installed a large number of thick wooden planks on the city walls, and the soldiers could hide under the planks.

Only a direct hit from a shell could cause casualties.

The scattered shrapnel, however, lacked the kinetic energy to penetrate the thick wooden planks.

And the greatest power of howitzers was the shrapnel that scattered after the explosion.

After the Qing army implemented targeted defenses, the casualty rate was greatly reduced.

They had also been constantly researching techniques to counter the Chinese army.

At this time, the Chinese army’s air force was dispatched.

The Qing army’s defensive measures couldn’t stop the air force’s aerial bombs, because the aerial bombs were very large, and the explosive power was far greater than the shells fired by artillery.

Seeing the Chinese hydrogen balloons flying over, A Shan ordered the soldiers on the city walls to retreat a portion first.

As for what to do if the Chinese army below took the opportunity to launch an attack, he didn’t consider it.

He had to withdraw the men, otherwise, they would lose the battle without even fighting after being bombed by the air force.

Just as A Shan was having a headache, the Chinese army’s air force had an accident.

Two hydrogen balloons suddenly fell for some unknown reason and crashed to the ground.

Falling from a height of several dozen meters, the people in the gondola were definitely not going to survive.

The other hydrogen balloons were also out of control, drifting in various directions.

Tang Guozhen, seeing this scene from the rear, felt a pang in his heart. He didn’t know what had happened to the air force.

Not to mention him, even the air force itself didn’t know what was happening at this time. They only knew that some power machines suddenly malfunctioned, and they couldn’t control the hydrogen balloons.

Was it a malfunction of the machine itself, or was it because the weather caused the machine to malfunction, or was it something else?

This needed to be studied by experts from the university later; they couldn’t understand it now.

The hydrogen balloon soldiers could only continue to operate the hydrogen balloons based on experience and intuition.

Some people succeeded, and some people had already failed.

Some people started emergency landings; their lives were even more important than the victory of the battle.

After all, it wasn’t easy to train the air force, and it wasn’t easy to manufacture these hydrogen balloons.

Their battle regulations stipulated that once the balloon malfunctioned, priority should be given to ensuring the lives of the soldiers and the equipment. As for the original mission, it could be abandoned at any time.

This was a privilege enjoyed by the air force, and some soldiers were using this privilege at this time.

“Hahaha, heaven is really helping me!”

A Shan laughed loudly when he saw this.

This situation was a shot in the arm for them, greatly boosting morale.

On the other side, Tang Guozhen naturally didn’t have a good look on his face.

The air force’s accident was something he never expected, greatly disrupting his plan.

But there was no way around it; even without the help of the air force, the battle still had to continue.

Only a few hydrogen balloons successfully reached above the Qing army, and then hurriedly dropped their bombs and retreated.

Although the number was small, it still caused considerable casualties to the Qing army.

After the shelling and bombing, the Chinese army began to attack the city.

The Qing soldiers came out from under the wooden planks and began to counterattack the Chinese army, mainly by throwing grenades.

When grenades, such a useful tool for defending the city, appeared, things like rolling stones, logs, and boiling oil were quickly eliminated.

Compared with grenades, the efficiency of killing enemies with those things was too low, and they were also inconvenient to use.

“Withdraw first,” the Chinese army commander ordered.

The enemy had grenades, and there might be heavy casualties, so it was better to withdraw first.

Their plan was like this: if the enemy’s counterattack was not strong, then they would take the opportunity to attack.

If the enemy still had the strength to resist, then they would turn into a feigned attack and retreat first.

A hard attack would easily lead to too many casualties, which would not be worth the loss.

The Chinese army retreated, and the Qing army could only stare blankly.

They didn’t dare to open the city gates to pursue, otherwise, they would be counterattacked for sure.

But if they didn’t pursue, they could only use the small number of guns in their hands to shoot and kill, which caused limited casualties.

And even then, the Chinese army’s flintlock gun troops counterattacked and suppressed them.

In short, when the Chinese army began to retreat, A Shan found that the enemy’s retreat was not as good as launching a fierce attack.

If the Chinese army launched a fierce attack, they could at least inflict some casualties on the Chinese army.

But now that the Chinese army retreated, they couldn’t do anything about it.

Although the city was defended, it was meaningless.

To defend against this wave of attacks, their soldiers had been freezing on the city walls for an hour, enduring shelling and bombing.

Paying such a heavy price was only to defend against a wave of attacks.

Moreover, while defending against this wave of attacks, they didn’t kill too many enemy troops.

This was a big loss.

After all, the Chinese army could launch such attacks non-stop.

Just as A Shan expected, after this regiment of the Chinese army withdrew, another regiment of the Chinese army approached, putting on a posture of attacking the city.

A Shan suspected that they were still feigning an attack, but even so, they had to be on guard.

If they withdrew the soldiers back to the city to warm up, and those Chinese troops changed from a feigned attack to a full-scale attack, it would be troublesome.

It would also take time to transfer the soldiers back from the city.

A Shan didn’t dare to withdraw the soldiers, but this brought a very serious problem, that is, some of the soldiers on the city walls were about to freeze.

“Have someone go to the city to cook some ginger soup and hot wine,” A Shan ordered.

That was all he could do.

At this time, some soldiers with poor physiques couldn’t hold on and had fevers. There were countless cases of frostbite on hands and feet.

The previous wave of defending the city was actually them overcoming it with perseverance.

If the Chinese army launched another wave of attacks, their trembling hands might not even be able to strike a match, hold a grenade, or pull the trigger.

Chapter 390: The Qing Army’s Troubles

“How long do you think the Qing army can hold out?” Tang Guozhen asked with a smile.

Through his telescope, he observed the current state of the Qing soldiers on the city wall.

It was even worse than he had anticipated.

“At most two more rounds. If we freeze them for another hour, they might not even be able to hold their weapons,” a regimental commander said.

“Keep up the harassment, don’t give the Qing army a chance to rest,” Tang Guozhen said before returning to his tent.

Even wearing a leather coat, he felt the chill. It was much warmer inside the tent.

“These bastards are vicious,” A Shan cursed.

After another wave of harassment, A Shan could no longer withstand the pressure. He quietly withdrew most of his soldiers, replacing them with a fresh batch to maintain the alert.

He was gambling that the Chinese army would continue with their feigned attacks.

However, the Qing army’s every move was easily observed by the Chinese army, with their telescopes and hydrogen balloons.

Seeing a large number of Qing soldiers retreating from the city wall, the officer in charge immediately decided to launch a full-scale attack, ordering the other units to prepare for coordination.

In the initial phase, the Chinese army acted no differently than during their previous feigned attacks.

Even the soldiers below didn’t know whether this wave was a real assault or just another scare tactic.

If it were so easy to distinguish between a feigned attack and a full assault, A Shan wouldn’t be so worried.

He kept his telescope glued to his eyes, constantly monitoring the Chinese army’s movements.

As the new wave of attacks came, A Shan ordered, “Tell the soldiers to prepare.”

He issued the order, but its execution by the lower ranks was less than ideal.

Every soldier was an individual with his own thoughts and judgments.

The Chinese army’s previous attacks had all been feints, so they naturally assumed that this one might be as well.

In the past, even if it was a feint, they would have prepared diligently, just in case.

Because in better weather, the cost of preparation was low.

But now, they preferred to keep their hands tucked inside their cotton-padded coats, reluctant to take out those cold, hard weapons.

Such laxity was extremely dangerous in war.

They only started preparing when the Chinese army reached the foot of the city wall.

However, the siege ladders were already against the wall, and the Chinese grenadiers had taken the lead, throwing grenades at them.

As a series of explosions erupted, and the subsequent Chinese troops rapidly approached, A Shan shouted, “Damn it, this is a full-scale attack!”

“Order the troops in the city to come and defend immediately! The enemy has launched a full-scale attack!”

A Shan continued to issue orders, nervously observing the battle.

At this point, he could only rely on the few soldiers on the city wall to hold out, delaying until reinforcements arrived.

However, the performance of his soldiers once again disappointed him.

After being bombarded by a round of grenades, the soldiers were almost thrown into chaos, seemingly forgetting how to counterattack in an orderly manner.

By the time they reacted, the Chinese army had already climbed onto the city wall.

They had to deal with the enemy’s hacking and slashing, leaving them no time to throw grenades.

Without grenades, they couldn’t inflict large-scale casualties on the enemy in a short amount of time, and thus couldn’t repel them.

As time passed, more and more Chinese soldiers poured onto the city wall, an endless stream.

The Qing soldiers, who had initially calmed down, once again fell into a panic.

There weren’t many Qing soldiers on the city wall, not even enough to form a numerical advantage over the Chinese army.

In this situation, the Qing army was certainly no match.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle, and then a very embarrassing situation occurred for the Qing soldiers: they couldn’t hold their weapons.

During the clashes of broadswords, some Qing soldiers’ swords slipped from their hands and fell to the ground.

The Chinese army wouldn’t give them a chance to pick up their weapons, immediately slashing at them.

Some Qing soldiers, even if they didn’t drop their weapons, their swings were far weaker than before.

Meanwhile, the Chinese soldiers were wearing thick cotton-padded coats, so unless they were hit in a vital spot, they wouldn’t suffer any serious injuries.

In this situation, the Chinese soldiers were even braver.

With one side weakening and the other strengthening, the Qing army was instantly routed.

At this moment, the officer who had gone to the city to rally troops also encountered trouble.

The soldiers were unwilling to return to the city wall, and they were all dragging their feet.

Many soldiers showed their frostbitten hands and feet, making excuses.

At this time, time was of the essence for the Qing army.

Only timely reinforcements would be effective; if they were too late, and the Chinese army captured the city wall, any support would be meaningless.

Their delay infuriated the officer in charge.

He drew his broadsword and shouted, “Those who refuse to act will be executed without mercy!”

His words were harsh, but to his surprise, few soldiers stood up.

The soldiers thought it through clearly: either way, they would die in battle, so they might as well risk disobeying orders once.

There was safety in numbers, and they didn’t believe that the commander would kill them all.

With this in mind, most of the soldiers continued to sit still.

And these people gave those with wavering wills a sense of security, and they joined in the resistance.

“Rebellion! This is rebellion!”

The officer slashed at a soldier with his sword, hoping to make an example of him.

However, killing only one person couldn’t stir these numb soldiers.

Out there, a single cannonball could kill a dozen of them. And now, only one had died.

As the officer was about to strike a second blow, a junior lieutenant caught him off guard and stabbed him through the back.

“Good! Well done!”

The other soldiers cheered.

Killing a superior officer was a capital offense.

The lieutenant went all in and said, “Brothers, the high-ranking officials above don’t treat us like human beings at all. We’re going to war without even a cotton-padded coat.

Look at the Chinese army on the other side, their soldiers even have leather gloves. I don’t care about Han, Manchu, or Mongol, I just want to live, to live a better life.

Those who are willing to surrender with me, stay here. Those who aren’t, please leave as you wish, I won’t stop you.”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone started discussing.

“I heard the Chinese army’s treatment is very good, they eat well and dress well.”

“And they don’t discriminate against us. Mandahai has tens of thousands of our people under him, and they haven’t been oppressed.”

“If that’s the case, then let’s surrender.”

The Qing army didn’t pay much attention to public opinion or propaganda, and they didn’t know how to deceive the soldiers at the bottom.

Therefore, many lower-ranking soldiers knew about some of the Chinese army’s policies, and these policies were very attractive to soldiers who wanted to surrender.

Without those policies, they might have continued to resist because of concerns about ethnic issues.

But now, they could surrender with peace of mind.

Chapter 391: Conquest

“What’s with the numbers? Is that all there is?”

A Shan was furious when he saw that the reinforcements numbered less than two thousand.

There were at least over ten thousand soldiers holed up in the city, yet only two thousand had come to help. What was going on?

What could these two thousand do?

In close-quarters combat, numbers were crucial.

The more soldiers they had, the more confident their troops would be.

“Sir, something’s not right. We should retreat while we still can.”

His subordinate advised. The situation looked hopeless.

If they didn’t retreat, they might be captured alive.

“Retreat? Retreat where? If our soldiers are all like this, where can we possibly run to?”

A Shan roared. He would personally go into the city and use his authority to urge the soldiers to fight.

A Shan entered the city. As the commander, he had built up considerable prestige over time, and many soldiers and officers dared not disobey him.

Although reluctant, they picked up their weapons and followed A Shan towards the city walls.

However, it was already too late.

There were already few Qing army soldiers on the city walls, and the reinforcements were too small to withstand the Great Hua army’s assault.

Especially after A Shan left, without a heavyweight figure to hold the line, the soldiers began to flee boldly.

By the time A Shan returned with his men, the Great Hua army had firmly occupied the city walls.

Now, the Great Hua army no longer needed to fight the Qing army at a disadvantage.

The flintlock rifle units entered the city, using their superior range to bully the Qing army.

They wanted to force the Qing army out of the city so they could pursue them in the open, where it would be safer.

Fighting in the city’s narrow streets was risky due to the complex terrain, which could easily lead to unexpected losses.

Faced with the Great Hua army’s relentless advance, A Shan was in a dilemma.

Fighting the Great Hua army head-on would be a huge disadvantage.

But if they didn’t charge, they couldn’t even reach the Great Hua army.

Choosing to retreat was also risky, as it would be harder to control the troops during the escape, and they would be more vulnerable to being routed by the Great Hua army in pursuit.

“Charge! We have no way out! The city gates have already fallen!”

A Shan shouted.

He deceived his subordinates, wanting to make a final, desperate struggle.

Under his command, the Qing army launched an attack on the Great Hua army.

The result, of course, was disastrous.

Charging at flintlock rifle units was suicide, as had been proven countless times.

Before they even reached the Great Hua army, most of the Qing army soldiers in the front ranks were already dead.

Those who followed behind, seeing such a hellish scene, dared not fight any further.

The city’s narrow streets made it easy to escape. Some soldiers turned into side streets, not worrying about being caught by the supervising officers.

Some soldiers even ran into civilian houses and hid.

Heavy casualties, coupled with widespread desertion, meant that only a handful of soldiers managed to reach the Great Hua army.

These few men accomplished little against the Great Hua army’s bayonet formation, only killing a dozen unlucky Great Hua soldiers.

And they were almost completely wiped out.

“Sir, it’s hopeless! Retreat!”

A Shan’s subordinate was truly anxious now. It was obvious to everyone that they had lost. There was no point in struggling any further.

“Alas, why have my Eight Banners warriors suddenly become so vulnerable?”

A Shan couldn’t understand it.

He had followed Nurhaci and Huang Taiji before, and fought many battles against the Ming army.

Often, they were outnumbered, but they always fought bravely and often won against the odds.

But now, even with a numerical advantage, and defending a city, they were collapsing at the first touch, with the soldiers showing no fighting spirit.

He couldn’t understand why the once heroic Eight Banners soldiers had suddenly fallen so low.

In fact, the reason was simple.

People are creatures who bully the weak and fear the strong.

The Ming army was even more useless than them, so they naturally seemed incredibly brave.

But when faced with the Great Hua army, who were equally fearless and had superior weapons, they immediately revealed their true nature.

In the end, it wasn’t that the Eight Banners soldiers had degenerated, but that they had met a stronger opponent.

At the same time, the Great Hua army’s current strength didn’t necessarily mean they were particularly brave.

If a unit equipped with machine guns were to appear now, they could slaughter the Great Hua army just like the Eight Banners soldiers were being slaughtered now.

A Shan clearly didn’t understand this logic. Confused, he lost his composure.

He neither continued to organize resistance nor immediately retreated, seeming somewhat resigned.

Finally, his subordinates and guards couldn’t stand it any longer. They simply carried him away and fled with some loyal followers.

After escaping the city gates, they were pursued by the Great Hua army’s cavalry.

One side was fleeing in panic, while the other was well-prepared.

After the initial contact, the Qing army was defeated again.

A Shan’s guards desperately protected him, constantly using rearguard tactics to delay the Great Hua army, and eventually saved A Shan.

However, this didn’t affect the overall situation.

The Great Hua army had never placed much importance on Qing army generals.

The escape of one general had no impact on them.

As dusk fell, Suqian gradually returned to peace.

The battle was over, and the casualty report was compiled.

Tang Guozhen’s expression was not good. The number of soldiers killed in action was just over eight hundred, but there were over a hundred seriously wounded.

Whether these people could be saved was another matter.

More importantly, among those killed were over thirty air force soldiers.

The value of these soldiers could not be compared to that of ordinary soldiers.

Training a qualified air force soldier was ten times more difficult than training an ordinary soldier.

And they had also lost a large number of hydrogen balloons, which were not easy to manufacture. The air force’s losses this time were severe.

If they didn’t figure out the cause of the mechanical failure, those air force soldiers would be afraid to take to the skies again.

After all, if something went wrong in the air, it was certain death.

In terms of battle damage, Tang Guozhen could only be considered barely qualified, and would not be punished for violating his military pledge.

Fortunately, in terms of gains, the results were brilliant.

Over two thousand one hundred enemy soldiers were killed, and those who were seriously wounded were finished off with a final blow and counted as kills.

Over thirteen thousand enemy soldiers were captured, a considerable number.

Many Qing army soldiers were too lazy to escape. In this cold weather, it would be difficult to find food outside the city, and the chances of survival were low.

Rather than escape, it was better to surrender to the Great Hua army and work for Great Hua. At least, working for Great Hua meant they could eat and stay warm.

Over four thousand Qing army soldiers escaped or went missing. Whether these people could escape to Xuzhou alive was another question.

In addition to personnel, a great deal of weapons and food were captured.

Overall, this battle was a net gain.

Chapter 392: A Fruitless Endeavor

The fall of Suqian shook Xuzhou.

The war report sent to the Qing court caused a stir among many of the ministers.

They had only recently quelled the rebellion in Shanxi and were hoping to catch their breath over the New Year, but the Great Hua army had already begun its offensive.

Compared to the rebellion in Shanxi, the Great Hua’s attack was even more terrifying.

The ministers gathered in the imperial court to discuss countermeasures.

Dorgon’s health had recovered after a period of recuperation.

He sat in his chair, his expression not particularly happy.

Because opposite him, Hauge was also seated.

During his illness, Hauge had also been granted the title of Regent Prince, ruling alongside Dorgon.

The court was no longer his sole domain; Hauge now had the power to contend with him.

This was unacceptable to Dorgon. He had fought Hauge before and ultimately emerged victorious.

Now, sitting as equals meant that all his previous achievements had been for naught.

Although Dorgon was unwilling, he couldn’t do anything about Hauge.

His strength was now greatly diminished.

Most of his capable generals had been killed or wounded.

Dodo, Ajige, Bolo, Lekedehun.

These four generals were almost his entire team.

Unfortunately, apart from Ajige, who was still under house arrest in Nanjing, the other three had died in battle.

His Plain White Banner and Bordered White Banner had also suffered heavy losses. The combined strength of the two banners was less than that of a single banner in the past. Moreover, those remaining were mostly old, weak, and disabled, with questionable combat effectiveness.

In contrast, Hauge’s strength hadn’t been as severely affected. With the addition of some who were disappointed with Dorgon, the number of troops under Hauge’s control now exceeded Dorgon’s.

“Speak up, everyone. The Great Hua’s army is attacking again. What should we do?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said, sitting next to Emperor Shunzhi.

“Of course, we fight back.”

Dorgon said.

His feud with Wu Changqing had grown too large, leaving no room for compromise.

If the Qing court surrendered, he would lead his own forces to split off and resist to the end.

“How do we fight? Do you have any specific plans? Fighting a war isn’t just about talking.”

Hauge retorted.

He also supported fighting, but how to fight needed careful consideration.

Dorgon’s personal campaign had ended in a major defeat. Many people had begun to doubt his abilities.

If they continued to fight, he couldn’t be allowed to command the army again.

If Dorgon didn’t command the army, then the only one qualified to do so was naturally Hauge.

As long as he was appointed to command the army, he could take the opportunity to continue seizing power, thereby completely driving Dorgon out of the center of power.

Dorgon was stumped by this question; he really didn’t have any good ideas.

So, he sneered and asked, “Then, what brilliant plan does Prince Su have?”

If he had no solution, did Hauge have one?

Dorgon didn’t believe it.

Hauge didn’t know how to answer and could only stare blankly.

Seeing this scene, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen felt a pang of sorrow.

Even at a time like this, the two were still competing. Competing was fine, but it would be good if they could determine a winner, and then have the stronger one resolve the crisis from Great Hua.

But they only attacked each other and had no solution to Great Hua.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen could only look to Fan Wencheng and other civil officials and strategists.

“As things stand, we can only avoid their main force and use our cavalry’s speed and mobility to infiltrate their rear and launch large-scale surprise attacks and harassment against Great Hua’s supply lines. In the current weather, the army’s logistics are crucial.

As long as we can successfully cut off their supply lines a few times, their troops will starve and freeze to death. Then, the Great Hua’s army will be defeated without a fight.”

Fan Wencheng said.

This was the best solution he could think of.

The Qing had a lot of cavalry. They might not be able to directly confront the Great Hua’s army, but they could still carry out surprise attacks and harassment.

Of course, this method was only a temporary solution. Winning one or two battles was not significant.

In the end, war was about overall national strength.

With the Qing’s current national strength, it was obviously no match for Nanjing.

Although the Qing’s territory was vast and its population even larger than Great Hua’s, its mobilization capacity was far inferior.

The Qing court’s limit for raising troops was only around three hundred thousand; any more would lead to the starvation of a large number of people.

As for Great Hua, it could now raise six hundred thousand soldiers at any time without any pressure, simply by slightly reducing the soldiers’ benefits.

The Qing court would collapse after another crushing defeat, while Great Hua could quickly recover its strength even after a crushing defeat.

The scales of victory had completely tilted towards Great Hua.

“Avoiding strength and attacking weakness, using the cavalry’s speed advantage, this plan is feasible. I agree.”

Mao Wenci agreed.

Others who had no ideas also agreed.

“Then, who should we send to carry out the surprise attacks and harassment?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen continued to ask.

Fan Wencheng remained silent on this issue. It involved the struggle between Dorgon and Hauge, and he didn’t want to get involved.

Supporting either side would offend the other.

He was only responsible for providing strategies; the rest was not his concern.

Dorgon and Hauge engaged in a fierce debate over who would lead the troops, neither willing to give way, both wanting to seize the command.

Emperor Shunzhi watched this scene from above, feeling very angry.

After this New Year, Emperor Shunzhi would be ten years old.

Children of this age were generally precocious, having learned a lot from being around the emperor since childhood.

He already knew that this world belonged to him, and that Dorgon and Hauge were merely ministers helping him manage the world.

Seeing Dorgon and Hauge unable to resist Great Hua, only fighting for power and profit, he felt very dissatisfied.

Unfortunately, not many people listened to him now, so he could only be angry.

He only wanted to grow up quickly, then take over the power and compete with Wu Changqing.

Children were ignorant and fearless, always thinking they were the most powerful.

In the imperial court, Dorgon and Hauge argued for a long time without reaching a conclusion.

The next day, and the day after that, the debates continued in the imperial court.

At this time, another war report arrived.

This time, the war report didn’t bring bad news.

The report stated that the Great Hua’s army had only occupied Suqian and its surrounding areas, and had not continued north. It seemed that their target was only Suqian.

This could be considered a blessing in disguise.

This made Dorgon and Hauge, who were still arguing, quite embarrassed. Something they were so concerned about suddenly became unnecessary to argue about.

However, this was only temporary safety. Everyone knew that next year, the Great Hua’s army would launch a large-scale northward offensive.

If they couldn’t stop it, even Beijing would no longer be safe.

In the palace, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was supervising Emperor Shunzhi’s studies.

What he was learning wasn’t imperial arts or the Four Books and Five Classics, but rather several books on elementary physics, intermediate physics, and advanced physics.

There were also books on arithmetic, geography, and other subjects.

Even his teacher, He Yong, was a proper university student.

Compared to other students in the university who studied hard to become officials, he had chosen a different path.

When he had achieved some success, he came to the North to teach, and was valued by the Qing court, revered as a guest of honor, and even became the Emperor’s teacher.

In this respect, he was more successful than those in the South.

Of course, that was if the Qing court could continue to survive.

Otherwise, the day the Qing Dynasty collapsed would be the day of his downfall.

Emperor Shunzhi studied diligently because he knew that his empire was in danger.

To change this, he had to learn the knowledge in these books.

However, He Yong’s level was limited and could only teach him what he understood.

There were many questions that Emperor Shunzhi asked, but He Yong couldn’t answer, which made Emperor Shunzhi very frustrated.

Chapter 393: Unfathomable Royal Heart

In Nanjing, Wu Changqing successively received some good news from the front lines.

Wang Dayong’s forces in the south launched multiple offensives, breaching the first line of defense of the Southern Ming and capturing cities such as Taizhou, Wenzhou, and Lishui.

In the north, Tang Guozhen also captured Suqian with minimal casualties.

“These guys, I told them not to rush into battle in this freezing weather, but they wouldn’t listen.”

Wu Changqing grumbled.

“Your Majesty cares deeply for the soldiers, so the officers and men below are naturally grateful and eager to repay Your Majesty, hence their eagerness to achieve merit.”

Feng Debao said flatteringly, praising Wu Changqing both directly and indirectly.

Wu Changqing’s skin wasn’t exactly thin, but even he felt a little uncomfortable listening to it.

Regardless, since the front lines had won victories, Wu Changqing still needed to offer a few words of encouragement.

Seeing Wu Changqing happy, Feng Debao seized the opportunity to mention that some ministers, while campaigning abroad, were still thinking of the emperor and didn’t forget to present treasures to him.

The first one mentioned was naturally Lu Guangzu.

“Lu Guangzu, what did he offer?”

Wu Changqing asked. He didn’t love antiques, nor famous paintings, nor jade.

In this era, there weren’t many things that he would consider treasures.

“It’s a woman, a stunning beauty. Although Your Majesty is diligent in government affairs and doesn’t indulge in sensual pleasures, those who serve as ministers still want to show some filial piety and enrich Your Majesty’s harem. I’ve already met that woman, and she is indeed as beautiful as an angel.”

Feng Debao said.

Wu Changqing remained expressionless upon hearing this, but in reality, he had known about Lu Guangzu’s forced abduction of a woman for a long time.

The intelligence division, controlled by Wang Dafu and Qin Fen, had grown and expanded. It had not only developed a large number of informants among the servants of officials but also planted many people among the soldiers in the army.

Therefore, the secrets of the officials and some events among the common people could mostly be investigated by the intelligence division.

The intelligence obtained would be classified and processed.

Some less important information would be classified and archived.

For example, how much silver a certain official had embezzled or that he had forcibly taken a woman would be classified as Level One Secret and placed in a file.

Unless Wu Changqing wanted to deal with corrupt officials one day, these files would generally not be opened again.

Some officials’ quirks and private matters would be classified as Level Two Secret.

Other miscellaneous things would be classified as Level Three Secret and only unsealed when needed.

However, there was a high probability that they would be permanently sealed in the secret chamber.

More important matters would be directly sent to Wu Changqing.

For example, Shi Zhaoxuan’s renewed rebellion.

This kind of event, which caused the loss of thousands of lives and involved the military, could be considered a major event.

The intelligence division thoroughly investigated the ins and outs of the matter and then sent it to Wu Changqing.

After learning about this matter, Wu Changqing had acted as if nothing had happened, waiting for the people below to report it proactively.

If the people below proactively reported it, then it wouldn’t be considered a major event.

If the people below colluded with Lu Guangzu to conceal the matter, then the problem would be serious.

Today they could conceal a rebellion; who knew what they would dare to conceal tomorrow?

“Does Your Majesty want me to have them send the person in for Your Majesty to take a look?”

Feng Debao said.

“Wait a bit, we’ll talk about it in a couple of days.”

Wu Changqing said.

These words made Feng Debao’s heart skip a beat.

As the saying goes, the heart of a ruler is unfathomable. Why did Wu Changqing want to wait?

If he couldn’t guess the emperor’s intentions, a subject would easily become anxious.

Feng Debao already regretted mentioning this matter, as it didn’t seem to be progressing very smoothly.

The next day, Wu Changqing received two memorials.

One was public, and the other was a secret memorial from Wang Dayong.

The public memorial only briefly mentioned Shi Zhaoxuan’s renewed rebellion.

The secret memorial, however, told Wu Changqing the whole story.

Seeing that his subordinates hadn’t concealed anything from him, Wu Changqing felt relieved.

As for the mess caused by that bastard Lu Guangzu, Wu Changqing didn’t want to pursue it any further.

In any case, Lu Guangzu was doing this to please him.

Lu Guangzu was a bastard to Shi Zhaoxuan and the innocent soldiers who died in battle, but to Wu Changqing, he was a loyal dog.

Wu Changqing only sent Lu Guangzu a reprimand, warning him to focus on military affairs and not to engage in miscellaneous matters, without imposing any further punishment.

Afterward, Wu Changqing allowed Feng Debao to send the person over.

A woman that Lu Guangzu went to such despicable lengths to obtain must have something extraordinary about her.

If she were just an ordinary woman, Wu Changqing would probably send someone to split Lu Guangzu’s head open to see if it was filled with water.

Miao Ping was quietly sent into the palace. At the same time, Feng Debao also selected two female guards to enter the palace.

These two female guards had undergone thorough investigations and were completely reliable women from good families.

They weren’t very good at fighting; in fact, the two of them combined couldn’t even beat an ordinary soldier.

But that wasn’t important, as they weren’t meant to fight enemies or block assassins.

Their mission was to protect Wu Changqing’s safety when he was with women.

A woman like Miao Ping wasn’t one hundred percent safe. Who knew if she was still thinking about her ex-husband and wanted to kill Wu Changqing for revenge.

This world was never short of fools and strange people.

These two female guards were useful for dealing with women who had no strength to truss a chicken.

Most importantly, they were women who could watch Wu Changqing do that kind of thing without making Wu Changqing and the concubine feel awkward.

That would be impossible with male guards.

Moreover, they were both attractive and wouldn’t be an eyesore to Wu Changqing.

After finishing reviewing the memorials at noon, Wu Changqing summoned Miao Ping.

Just as Feng Debao had said, she was indeed a stunning beauty.

Wu Changqing compared her to the Miss World contestants of later generations and found that the Miao Ping before him could at least be a Miss World.

This was under the circumstances of relatively scarce cosmetics. If they had as many cosmetics as later generations and carefully dressed her up, she would probably stand out among those Miss World contestants and be unique.

Not bad, Wu Changqing was very satisfied.

“I heard you were forcibly abducted?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Miao Ping didn’t expect that Wu Changqing already knew and didn’t dare to hide anything, answering, “Yes.”

“Now I’ll give you two choices: one is that I’ll let you go back, and the other is that you stay. The choice is yours.”

Wu Changqing said.

This…

Miao Ping didn’t expect that Wu Changqing would give her the power to choose.

She had thought that she would definitely be taken by Wu Changqing.

Having already resigned herself to her fate, she suddenly had the power to choose, which made her hesitate.

The Wu Changqing before her was not only handsome but also the ruler of a country, a hero in the eyes of tens of millions of people.

These things deeply attracted her.

If Wu Changqing wanted her to stay, she wouldn’t have any objections.

However, now that Wu Changqing had given her the opportunity to choose, she had no choice but to choose to leave.

After all, if she chose to stay, it would seem a bit unchaste and greedy for wealth and status.

She didn’t want to be seen as that kind of person, so even though she was reluctant, she still said, “This servant chooses to return.”

As soon as these words came out, Feng Debao’s heart skipped a beat, secretly thinking that this Miao Ping really didn’t know what was good for her.

Chapter 394: This is the Emperor

This kind of choice, wasn’t it slapping the Emperor in the face?

So, His Majesty, the wise and mighty Emperor, wasn’t even as good as her good-for-nothing husband?

Feng Debao had already closed his eyes, worried that Wu Changqing would find a way to torture Miao Ping.

Having served in the palace before, Feng Debao knew many of the Emperor’s secrets and was aware that many emperors throughout history had some form of mental instability.

Offending the Emperor had dire consequences.

“A terrible choice, I don’t approve. Feng Debao, take her down to bathe, I will favor her later.”

Wu Changqing said unhappily.

He originally wanted to promote the principle of respecting people and gave Miao Ping the right to choose.

However, when Miao Ping actually made her choice, he was a little reluctant.

Then, he thought to himself, he was the Emperor, what need was there to respect anyone?

The Emperor’s respect was a favor, what if he didn’t respect you?

So, he turned his back on his word.

A forced melon may not be sweet, but forcing a woman was definitely very enjoyable.

Huh?

Miao Ping was stunned.

Didn’t the books say that the Emperor’s words were golden and unbreakable?

Why was this man not playing by the rules?

“Your Majesty, but you said I could choose.”

Miao Ping asked.

“I gave you a choice, but I didn’t say that I would agree with your choice. Even if I agreed before, I can change my mind now, what can you do to me? Now, do you suddenly have a more concrete understanding of what the word ‘Emperor’ means?”

Wu Changqing laughed loudly.

Then he continued, “Feng Debao, tell her what an Emperor is.”

Seeing Wu Changqing happy, Feng Debao was relieved. He turned to Miao Ping and said, “The Emperor is the supreme ruler, all the rules are for restraining others. Whatever His Majesty does is always right…”

“…”

Miao Ping truly understood what an Emperor was. So, an Emperor could do whatever he wanted.

Miao Ping was taken down to bathe, but she wasn’t upset. In fact, she was secretly delighted.

Because she wasn’t staying willingly, it didn’t count as being unfaithful, and she didn’t have to bear the psychological burden of betraying her husband.

Without the psychological burden and with her wish to stay fulfilled, the result couldn’t be better.

After Feng Debao took her away, he instructed, “You must be careful with your words in the future. Serving the Emperor is like serving a tiger. His Majesty is not always in such a good mood. I will arrange for an experienced palace maid to be your personal attendant. She can teach you the rules of the palace and the skills to survive here.”

“Thank you, Eunuch Feng.”

Miao Ping was also afraid. She had experienced the Emperor’s power.

The Emperor could do whatever he wanted, and she had no room to resist.

After bathing under the service of the palace maids, Miao Ping was wrapped in red silk and carried to the dragon bed.

Miao Ping was quite helpless about these embarrassing rules.

Even more embarrassing rules were yet to come. When Wu Changqing came to the bed, took off his clothes, and was about to start the main event, she found that there were two women standing on the side.

“Why aren’t they leaving?”

Miao Ping asked, blushing. She couldn’t get used to doing such embarrassing things in front of outsiders.

“They are here to protect me, to prevent you from pinching me, hahaha.”

Wu Changqing couldn’t help laughing. These female guards were not his request, but Feng Debao insisted on arranging them for Wu Changqing’s safety.

Wu Changqing didn’t care.

Having two female guards watching him do this kind of thing at all times allowed him to constantly experience the feeling of power.

Because only with enough power could one enjoy this supreme treatment.

Miao Ping was speechless. She was a weak woman with no strength, and Wu Changqing was strong. Could her strength really be a threat?

She once again experienced what an Emperor was. This was what it meant to be the Emperor.

Even the most minute possibilities needed to be guarded against.

Helpless, Miao Ping could only accept her fate.

Besides accepting her fate, she had no other choice. She couldn’t refuse, could she?

The intimate act began. One of the female guards was expressionless, staring intently at Miao Ping, as if Miao Ping might assassinate the Emperor at any moment.

The other female guard nodded slightly. As a virgin, it was too difficult for her to maintain inner peace when she saw such a shocking scene for the first time.

She couldn’t see anything with her head down, but she heard everything clearly. She couldn’t help but imagine those scenes in her mind, and her body was even more likely to react.

After a round of lovemaking, palace maids came up to ‘clean’ Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing had to deal with official business next and didn’t have time to bathe.

And Miao Ping officially became one of the Emperor’s many concubines, officially starting her harem life.

Harem life had its good and bad aspects.

The good thing was that she had no worries about food and clothing and could always eat the best, wear the best, and use the best.

The bad thing was that there were many rules. This was not allowed, that was not allowed, and she had to pay her respects to the Empress and accept her instructions.

After completing these tasks, all that was left was emptiness and loneliness.

She was abducted, and her family was still in Taizhou. It was difficult to find someone to talk to, and she could only chat with her personal maid.

“If Your Ladyship is bored, you can visit the other ladies. Consort Guo often has people playing mahjong, which is a very fun game.”

The personal maid suggested. In fact, she wanted to watch mahjong.

“Mahjong? I heard about it in Taizhou, but I don’t know how to play. And won’t the other concubines hate me?”

Miao Ping asked.

The concubines of wealthy families would compete for favor, let alone in the palace.

The concubines were probably mortal enemies.

Although it was her first time in the palace, she had read novels before and had a vague understanding of harem struggles.

“You can learn if you don’t know how to play, it’s very simple. As for whether they will welcome you, as long as you are sweet, it should be fine. Consort Guo hasn’t been in the palace for long, and her status is not high for the time being. The other ladies are all Imperial Concubines, and she is the only one who is still a Consort, she is worried about not having sisters of equal status, so she should welcome you.”

The maid analyzed.

If she went to play with the Empress, or the Noble Consort or Virtuous Consort, she would definitely not be treated equally, as their status was too different.

But if she went to play with Consort Guo Xiang, whose status was similar, there would be no such problem.

“Alright.”

Miao Ping said.

Wu Changqing was too busy. Besides being able to spend some time with her when she served him in bed, it was difficult to even see Wu Changqing at other times.

Moreover, Wu Changqing didn’t favor her alone. On average, it was only her turn to serve him once every three or four days.

If she didn’t make friends in the palace, she would probably die of boredom.

In the words of her maid, living in the palace meant learning to find things to do, otherwise, you would easily go crazy.

Chapter 395: Rural New Year’s Eve

December twenty-third, Little New Year.

Every household began bustling about, preparing to welcome the New Year.

Even most factories had already ceased operations by this point.

Earning money was certainly important, but working all year round without any rest days would absolutely drive a person to the brink.

Therefore, even when some bosses offered double wages for working during the New Year, the workers ignored them, choosing to pack their bags and return home to prepare for the New Year.

In this era, in Nanjing, Great Hua’s unique spring migration appeared for the first time.

Those migrant workers from the countryside chose to walk home together on this day.

A small number of those who had earned a lot of money even hired horse-drawn carriages.

Most of those returning home had smiles on their faces.

Perhaps they had worked hard in the factories and suffered many grievances.

However, the money they earned working in the factories was much more than they could earn farming at home. Therefore, in their eyes, it was all worth it, and they were naturally happy.

“Er-Hu, how much did you earn this year?”

A fellow villager asked Qin Er-Hu.

“Not much, not much.”

Qin Er-Hu grinned, responding with a smile.

No matter how others pressed him, he stubbornly refused to say.

A typical peasant mentality: concealing wealth, afraid that others would know he had money and become jealous.

“Still hiding it? Do you think we don’t know? Counting your base salary plus bonuses, you probably earned at least ten taels this year.”

Another person who also worked at the steel factory said.

Wages were transparent; anyone could figure it out by calculating the working hours.

“Wow, ten taels! Then Er-Hu, you can get married now.”

The crowd joked, and then they returned to Hexi Village.

At the village entrance, Qin Er-Hu encountered Qin Lin, who hadn’t been able to go to the factory before.

However, this was no longer a regret for Qin Lin.

Because the chili peppers he grew had high yields and good quality, he had also earned a lot of money.

In fact, he earned even more than Qin Er-Hu.

Different choices, both with good results.

In the words of later experts, they had caught up with a good era, an era full of opportunities.

The two returned to their respective homes, chatting and laughing, and their parents no longer had the opposition they once did, calling them even more affectionately.

Only their brothers looked at them with some envy.

“Brother Er-Hu, what’s it like working in the factory?”

Having returned to his hometown, Er-Hu instantly became a role model for the young men, who gathered around him, wanting to inquire about the situation, hoping to follow him to work in the factory next year.

They couldn’t learn Qin Lin’s chili pepper growing business because they couldn’t find sales channels.

“It’s also nine-to-five, more tiring than farming. When you’re tired from farming, you can still catch your breath. But you can’t rest when you’re working in the factory. If one person rests, the entire assembly line will slow down, and the boss will lose money,”

Qin Er-Hu said.

Although he made it sound terrifying, it didn’t dampen everyone’s interest at all, because of the money.

Qin Er-Hu’s family was already preparing his marriage, and the bride price they offered was very generous.

Anyone with a bit of sense knew that Qin Er-Hu had earned a lot of money in the factory.

As for a little hardship, they were all rural children, who would be afraid of hardship?

What Qin Er-Hu could do, they could certainly do as well.

“Brother Er-Hu, can you take us with you next year?”

Someone pleaded.

Not everyone was so bold as to venture out into the unknown.

If they had an acquaintance like Qin Er-Hu to take them, they would feel more at ease.

“If you’re not afraid of hardship, you can come with me next year. But whether you can get into the factory depends on the bosses. However, I heard that they will be expanding next year, so they will probably need more people,”

Qin Er-Hu said.

This guarantee was enough. Many people immediately expressed that they would definitely go next year, while others said they would go home and discuss it with their parents.

However, judging from the fervent expressions on their faces, they would probably go even if their families disagreed.

After all, they were all sixteen or seventeen-year-old young men. At this age, men’s minds were full of women.

But if they wanted women, they had to get married, and they had to have money to prepare the bride price.

Relying on farming would take too long. Moreover, the income from farming was decided by their fathers. The money they earned from working was their own.

For the sake of women, they were highly motivated; this was motivation from their genes.

Those who went to work earned a lot of money, but those who farmed at home weren’t doing too badly either.

Especially the people who had planted two seasons of hybrid rice, their income this year had doubled.

Moreover, some diligent people had already reclaimed many mu of land during the winter slack season.

This was all land that belonged to them, and they didn’t even have to pay taxes.

The future was very promising.

After dark, in a farmer’s house, four children had already fallen asleep. The male householder reached his hand into his wife’s clothes.

“What do you want to do?”

The female householder asked.

“What do you think?”

The male householder chuckled, this simple smile was already an answer.

“Don’t, haven’t we already said? I don’t want to have any more children; we can’t afford to raise them,”

The female householder said.

Although she also wanted to, she retreated at the thought of getting pregnant.

After all, raising a child required a lot of grain, and having too many could easily lead to children starving to death.

She had seen this kind of thing before, and more than once.

Watching her own flesh and blood starve to death was too tragic.

“We couldn’t afford to raise them before, but that doesn’t mean we can’t afford to raise them in the future. The grain yield is so high now, we can definitely afford to raise them. Next year, I’ll work harder and reclaim a few more mu of land. It won’t be a problem to have two more.

Besides, the eldest and second child are almost ten years old now and can help in the fields,”

The male householder said, he had obviously calculated it.

“That won’t do either. Didn’t you hear what the new village chief said? Knowledge changes destiny, and the imperial court is providing free education. Next year, I’ll send the eldest and second child to school. If they pass the imperial exam and become a Zhuangyuan, I can enjoy some happiness when I’m old,”

The female householder said, she very much believed what the village chief said.

The new village chief was a retired veteran. Three of his fingers had been cut off by a knife, making it impossible for him to serve in the military again. After retiring, the imperial court had assigned him to be a village chief in the countryside.

People like him, who had a little education and were very loyal to Great Hua, were most suitable for managing the grassroots countryside.

“Go dream your dreams. You want to pass the imperial exam and become a Zhuangyuan? Do you know how difficult it is to pass the imperial exam? Our entire township has only produced one Jinshi in ten years, let alone a Zhuangyuan,”

The male householder said dissatisfied.

He wasn’t in a good mood since his desires weren’t being satisfied.

“Even if they can’t become a Zhuangyuan, it’s good to study a little and become a village chief,”

The female householder said.

“Village chief, village chief, village chief. You never stop talking about the village chief. I think you’ve taken a fancy to that village chief, haven’t you?”

The male householder said.

“What nonsense are you talking about? I’m really afraid of you. Come, come, come. If you give birth and can’t afford to raise them, see if I don’t curse you to death.”

In the end, the female householder chose to compromise.

The children who hadn’t fallen asleep in the next room were filled with confusion.

Chapter 396: New Year Preparations in the City

Nanjing, the slums on the outskirts.

This place was inhabited by refugees who had fled to Nanjing from all over. In the past, these refugees seeking survival in a foreign land would have found it extremely difficult.

Girls would most likely have to sell themselves to landlords, wealthy merchants, or brothels. Men fared even worse, forced to become house slaves or tenant farmers for landlords, forever unable to escape their fate.

Even more tragic were those who couldn’t even sell themselves. Without land in a foreign place and a shortage of available work, they were highly likely to starve to death.

However, this year, the refugees who came to Nanjing were experiencing a life they could never have imagined.

The houses they lived in were even better than those of ordinary citizens in the city.

Although these houses were only for them to live in temporarily for three years and did not belong to them, the fact that they were free for those three years was already an immense blessing.

In the past, such a thing would have been unheard of. The government distributing some rice porridge was already considered the greatest relief.

Having a house and a place to settle was not even their greatest fortune. For these refugees, the greatest fortune was that Nanjing had a great need for manpower, and there was no worry about finding work.

All the major factories were hiring, and the demand for labor was enormous.

There were also many job opportunities in the city: pulling rickshaws, working as cleaners, unloading cargo at the docks…

Whether they were strong men, the elderly and weak, or women, they could all find work suitable for them.

With work came income, and with income came the ability to survive.

Once the world was at peace, they could return to their hometowns.

However, it was highly likely that these people would never leave Nanjing again.

Nowhere else was it as easy to make a living as in Nanjing.

Now, these refugees had only one thing on their minds: to earn money and then save enough to buy the relief houses they lived in and make them their own homes.

According to the government, ordinary citizens in Nanjing who wanted to buy these relief houses would have to pay two hundred taels of silver per house, and it had to be paid in full upfront.

But for these refugees with foreign residency, buying such a house only cost one hundred taels, and they could also pay in installments.

Assuming a family had three working members, their monthly income in Nanjing would be about three taels. After deducting various expenses, they could save about two taels a month by being frugal.

That would be twenty-four taels a year, so they could pay off the house in about four years and own their own home.

These red brick houses were sturdy enough to last for decades or even a century, so it was well worth it to spend four years buying one.

As the New Year approached, the refugees in these slum areas also bought some meat to celebrate, a rare treat for them.

Life needed a little ceremony. No matter how hard or poor they were, they couldn’t be stingy during the Spring Festival.

Of course, there were also some very rational refugees who chose to continue eating pickled vegetables.

They had calculated very clearly that the price of meat during the festival was fifty percent higher than usual.

As long as they refrained from eating it during the New Year and bought it after the festival, the money that could only buy two Jin originally would be enough to buy three Jin at that time, which was more cost-effective.

That was the life of poor families. The citizens in the city did not need to be as calculating as the refugees.

They had houses in the city and didn’t need to save money to buy them. They could spend as much as they earned.

And with the prosperity of Nanjing, there were more and more jobs that earned money, and the citizens in the city also earned a lot of money by virtue of their local advantages.

Even when pulling rickshaws, the locals were more familiar with Nanjing and earned more.

Moreover, the locals in Nanjing had more connections and channels in the area and were more likely to find good jobs.

Not to mention those who had land locally. They made a lot of money by renting or selling their land to merchants who set up factories, directly entering the middle class, and some even became wealthy.

With money, they naturally wanted to enjoy themselves.

There were so many luxury goods on the market now, and the newspapers were touting these luxury goods as if they were miraculous. Those who had never used them before had long been unable to restrain their inner desires.

Taking advantage of the New Year, many citizens also splurged a bit.

Chili peppers, monosodium glutamate, and Western Europe vegetables, which they were usually reluctant to buy, were all bought to try something new.

Fragrant soaps and perfumes, which they were usually reluctant to buy, were all bought to experience.

Brothels, which they were usually reluctant to visit, were visited during the New Year, gritting their teeth, to broaden their horizons.

In short, the lives of ordinary citizens in the city were much better than in previous years, and their lives were more colorful.

In just one year, the living standards of these citizens had been greatly improved.

The Tong family, relying on their early allegiance to Wu Changqing, Tong Youwei earned a great deal of money this year, and the future prospects were bright.

When preparing for the New Year, they naturally spent money in every possible way.

If they didn’t spend money vigorously, how could they prove that they had money?

Even those expensive fireworks, their family directly bought more than one thousand taels of silver worth of goods.

The government had issued a notice that the government would set off fireworks in the square on New Year’s Eve to celebrate with the people.

However, as a person of status, how could Tong Youwei allow his family to watch that kind of free fireworks?

If they wanted to watch fireworks, they could buy them themselves. It was just a little bit of silver, no big deal.

Buying their own fireworks allowed them to light them themselves, adding a layer of experience.

Playing with fireworks they bought themselves was the life of high status and could reflect the uniqueness of their family.

However, the need to spend money to show their uniqueness showed that their family was just an ordinary wealthy family.

The real top echelons generally preferred to be low-key.

This was the case with some relatives of the imperial family, powerful ministers, and meritorious nobles.

The Chen Daolin family did not deliberately flaunt their wealth, but the preparations in terms of details were very exquisite and luxurious.

On the outside, the Chen residence looked very ordinary, but the various decorations and supplies inside were very expensive.

Even without showing off anything, everyone knew what the Chen family meant.

The Empress’s family was enough.

Many people who wanted to visit the Chen family and curry favor with Chen Daolin had no way to do so and were not qualified.

As for those powerful ministers and meritorious nobles, it was not convenient for them to flaunt their wealth.

Although the salaries of officials in the Great Hua Empire were relatively high, they still couldn’t compare with those of businessmen who did business.

If they revealed their wealth, it would be troublesome if they were targeted by someone with ulterior motives.

It was impossible for officials in this period to be completely incorruptible.

In fact, the purpose of most officials was to make money.

Wu Changqing wanted to eliminate corrupt officials through high salaries, but the effect was not very good at present.

The problem of corrupt officials, from ancient times to the present and even in the future, was an eternal problem that was very difficult to solve.

Wu Changqing often thought about solutions, but so far, he had not come up with one.

If he could come up with a solution to this problem, he could be rated as a wise ruler for all time with just this one item.

He now turned a blind eye to those who were petty corrupt officials, and only those who were extremely corrupt would he dismiss, investigate, and confiscate their property.

Chapter 397: Royal Family Banquet

The palace. Wu Changqing’s family gathered for a meal.

Normally, they didn’t have many opportunities to eat together as a family because it was too much trouble.

Only on major holidays, like the Mid-Autumn Festival, or minor ones like the upcoming New Year, would they gather to connect and foster familial bonds.

Moreover, this was limited to Wu Changqing’s younger siblings, mother, and uncles. As for the women, only Chen Yuyan and the pregnant Luo Min were at the table.

Other concubines were not yet qualified.

“Imperial Brother, next year I want to join the army and fight on the front lines.”

At the dinner table, Wu Zheng brought up his plans.

He would be sixteen next year, an age suitable for going to the battlefield.

“What battle are you going to fight? Just stay home and be your prince. What business do you have fighting battles?”

Madam Liao scolded.

She wasn’t just worried about Wu Zheng’s safety. There was a deeper meaning behind her not wanting him to go to war: she hoped to prevent a situation where Wu Changqing and Wu Zheng turned against each other.

Power is something that can drive people crazy.

Wu Zheng was Wu Changqing’s only younger brother, a status that destined him to be different.

If he went to the army, a group of officers would definitely try to curry favor with him, forming a clique for their own benefit.

When those people tried to gain more power, they might become desperate and turn against Wu Changqing.

After all, if something were to happen to Wu Changqing, Wu Zheng would have a high chance of succeeding him.

Therefore, the best way was to prevent Wu Zheng from contacting the military, or even those civil officials. It would be best if he just quietly lived as a useless person.

To be precise, it would be best if he were a good-for-nothing.

“Staying at home is too boring. I have to find something to do,” Wu Zheng said. He didn’t want to be raised like a pig.

How to settle Wu Zheng was also a headache for Wu Changqing.

Letting him join the army was not an option, and he knew some ministers would object.

Letting him do business might lead to him bullying the market due to his status, causing some damage to the market.

Letting him do scientific research was out of the question, as he didn’t have that kind of mind.

The best arrangement really was to raise Wu Zheng like a pig.

However, Wu Changqing couldn’t say such words himself, as that would make him seem too ruthless and cold-blooded.

“If you’re bored, go dig coal in the mines. After you’ve dug coal for a while, you’ll miss the days in the royal palace.”

Without Wu Changqing needing to worry, Madam Liao would step forward and play the villain.

She could rely on her status as a mother to scold Wu Zheng.

Although they were both her sons, after Wu Changqing became the backbone of the family, grasped power, and even ascended the throne, Madam Liao inevitably developed some favoritism.

What she cared about most was the stability of her son’s throne.

She would extinguish any signs that could threaten Wu Changqing, even if it was her own son.

“Ah Zheng, you don’t need to do anything. Just go have fun. I think it would be interesting if you formed a soccer team and won a championship,” Wu Zhiyue also advised.

Wu Zheng felt discouraged upon hearing this, but he was helpless.

He didn’t quite understand before, but people around him had taught him these principles, knowing that his future destiny was to eat, drink, and have fun.

There was no way he would be able to hold power. This was the sorrow of being born into the royal family.

Wu Zheng was scolded, and Wu Yu, who was next to him, was secretly laughing. She was still relatively innocent and naive, and didn’t understand why Madam Liao was scolding her second brother.

Soon, she was also scolded.

Madam Liao glared at her and scolded, “Girls should have some manners. All you know is how to play mahjong and fly kites. If you don’t learn some etiquette, how will you get married in the future?”

Wu Yu was unconvinced and said, “I’m a princess, so why would I be afraid of not getting married? In a couple of years, I’ll have Imperial Brother arrange a martial arts contest to recruit a husband, and I’ll pick the best one from all over the world.”

Madam Liao shook her head upon hearing this. Among her three children, only Wu Changqing made her the most satisfied and worry-free.

“Martial arts contests can only pick out muscular brutes. It would be better to wait for next year’s imperial examination and pick a refined and gentle top scholar for you,” Chen Yuyan said.

“Well, it’s best to choose someone who is willing to be your husband, otherwise it will be difficult to have happiness in the future,” Wu Changqing reminded.

The position of imperial consort was not something that people with ambition would like.

After all, according to etiquette, imperial consorts could not continue to be officials and hold power.

Becoming an imperial consort might mean wealth and glory, but the opportunity to realize one’s life value would be gone, just like Wu Zheng.

Moreover, imperial consorts could only stay with the princess and were not qualified to have concubines.

Even ordinary wealthy people could take concubines, so imperial consorts were not as good as ordinary people in this regard.

In general, people who actively wanted to become imperial consorts were definitely second-rate figures, so don’t even think about the best.

Of course, Wu Changqing could also force a very outstanding man to marry Wu Yu, but such a forced marriage would definitely not be happy.

“I just need to be happy, why should I care if he’s happy?”

Wu Yu said. Relying on Wu Changqing’s power, she had become somewhat willful and capricious.

Wu Changqing had a headache about this, but he didn’t plan to do anything about it.

It was too difficult to change a person, and he didn’t have that much energy. He would leave this matter to his mother. It would be best if she could manage it, but if she couldn’t, then so be it.

At worst, he would just let Wu Yu ruin a man.

Compared to the Great Hua royal family’s family banquet, the Ming Dynasty royal family’s family banquet was much more deserted.

Zhu Yujian was an ambitious man who didn’t care much about women, so his family was very small, with only one wife.

The two of them ate together, but the atmosphere was somewhat depressing.

Their first line of defense against the Hua army had been completely lost. It seemed that those mountains could not stop the Hua army’s advance.

Although the Hua army had temporarily stopped their attack, Zhu Yujian knew that they would move south after the new year.

How should they respond then?

Zhu Yujian had no good ideas. His wife knew that her husband was worried about the war, so she didn’t dare to disturb him.

The delicious food in her mouth also became tasteless.

The Qing court’s royal family banquet was lively. Those princes with high positions and great power were basically all from the same family.

Hauge and Shunzhi were half-brothers, and Dorgon was their uncle.

There were also other princes, basically all relatives within three generations, so they were still close relatives in terms of blood relations.

Many princes and dukes attended the royal banquet with their families.

On the surface, the banquet was lively, and everyone ate happily and chatted cheerfully.

However, this was just an atmosphere deliberately created to temporarily forget their troubles.

Everyone deliberately avoided mentioning Great Hua and the army, and instead talked about the affairs of the founding emperor.

They recalled how hard they had worked outside the pass and how they could now enjoy themselves in the Central Plains.

This kind of conversation could make them feel a sense of accomplishment and pride.

Compared to their predecessors, they had entered the pass and almost unified the Central Plains. From this point of view, they were undoubtedly successful.

Chapter 398: The Prefectural Examination

After a lively Spring Festival, the Great Hua Empire entered the second year of Yongxing.

After the Lantern Festival, people began to get busy again.

Major factories started work one after another, some even starting as early as the third day of the new year.

Many factories posted new recruitment notices, frantically hiring people.

After all, almost every factory had plans for expansion in the new year.

However, they didn’t have to worry about not finding people.

Because another large group of people came to Nanjing for their dreams and to make a living.

At the same time, the imperial examinations for the second year of Yongxing also officially began.

The first to start was the prefectural examination. All those who had studied and were literate were eligible to participate in this examination.

However, each candidate needed to pay one tael of silver.

This wasn’t to make money off the candidates, but to weed out those who just wanted to join in the fun.

In fact, holding the imperial examinations cost a lot of money. Collecting one tael of silver per person was a loss. The Ministry of Rites had to provide a certain subsidy.

There were many venues for the prefectural examination: Songjiang, Suzhou, Changzhou, Jiujiang…

Each large city would have one or more examination halls, mainly determined by the number of registered candidates in the area.

The prefectural examination only tested four subjects, of which policy questions were compulsory, and the other three were optional.

As long as one passed, one could obtain the title of xiucai (one who passed the county level imperial exam).

With the title of xiucai, one could participate in the next level of the examination, the provincial examination.

A xiucai could receive a small amount of relief from the government each month, which was already considered a good status.

On the sixteenth, the first session of the prefectural examination was the policy questions section.

In the Nanjing examination hall, there were a total of five thousand participants in the prefectural examination, a very large number.

Scholars below the xiucai level needed to participate in the prefectural examination to obtain the xiucai title, and then they could participate in the next stage, the provincial examination.

Outside the examination hall, several scholars were still flipping through books while waiting to enter.

“Brother Wang, isn’t your last-minute cramming a bit too late?”

One scholar joked.

Wang Ziyue closed his book upon hearing this and said, “I’m not worried about the policy questions. I’m more worried about the other three subjects.”

“Then which three subjects did Brother Wang choose?”

Young Master Li asked.

“Essays, arithmetic, and geography. I don’t quite understand the geography. Those so-called longitude and latitude are completely baffling to me.”

Wang Ziyue said.

He was confident in his eight-legged essays, and after some frantic cramming, he understood seventy or eighty percent of the arithmetic.

It was just that he hadn’t studied physics and chemistry for long enough, so he wasn’t very proficient in them yet. Helplessly, he chose geography, which relied more on memorization.

However, there was also some profound knowledge in geography that couldn’t be simply memorized.

“I really don’t understand what’s the use of learning this.”

Another scholar echoed, also rejecting those new types of knowledge.

“You don’t understand this, right? Sailing overseas to trade requires the knowledge of longitude and latitude. In the vast sea, only longitude and latitude can be used to determine location and routes,”

Young Master Li showed off his talent.

“We don’t go out to sea to trade, what’s the use of learning this?”

That person continued to argue.

Amidst the argument, the gates of the examination hall were opened, and the candidates began to enter, taking their seats according to their examination numbers.

The examination began. There were a total of five questions on the test paper, and candidates could choose three to answer, with a full score of three hundred.

Of course, those who thought they were awesome and wanted to show off their talent could also answer all five questions, but there would be no extra points.

For those who answered all five questions, only the three questions with the highest scores would be counted.

It seemed pretty good, but in reality, the effect was far less than concentrating time and energy to answer three questions that one was good at.

The first question: Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce.

This question tested the students’ understanding of agriculture and commerce. After all, the development of Great Hua in the future would always revolve around this issue.

If one didn’t have even a little bit of constructive insight into this issue, it would be difficult to take on great responsibilities in the future.

The second question: Discuss that technology is the primary productive force.

This question tested the understanding of the current society. If one had seen the changes in Great Hua today and still didn’t realize the huge role of technology, such a person wouldn’t be worthy of being called talent and would naturally be eliminated.

The third question: Discuss the blindness of commerce.

This question tested the understanding of commerce, but it tested one point in particular.

Currently, there were many traditional officials in the Great Hua court, but there were very few officials who understood economics, which was a huge shortage.

Adding such a question to the examination was also to tell the candidates to understand the importance of economics.

The fourth question had a scenario: A plague broke out in a certain place, and the government ordered a reward for the people to exterminate rats, but the more rats were exterminated, the more there were. Ask for the reason and discuss how to solve it.

This question tested the students’ understanding of human nature. Some people were very smart in their studies, but they were rigid and pedantic, which was also useless.

Like the official who offered a reward for exterminating rats in the scenario, he didn’t understand human nature, nor did he understand society.

Catching a rat wasn’t easy, after all, rats were very agile and alert. But raising a nest of rats was extremely simple.

In order to obtain greater benefits, people would often do some bizarre things.

Officials who didn’t understand human nature would often do bad things with good intentions.

The fifth question also had a scenario: Official A of a certain steel factory was corrupt and accepted bribes, but he worked diligently for fear of being exposed, resulting in outstanding performance.

Official B, on the other hand, was clean and honest, but he wasted the court’s funds at will because he considered himself morally upright, resulting in extremely poor performance.

Discuss the differences between the two and explore solutions.

This question tested the students’ understanding of being an official, and what was the most correct way to be an official.

There were many minefields in this question. Whether it was supporting corruption or excessively criticizing corruption, neither was a good answer. If this question wasn’t answered well, the hope of becoming an official was slim.

The most rational choice was to avoid this question and not answer it. No matter how one answered it, it was easy to answer it wrong.

These five questions were not simple, and they could be used to test the top scholar.

But none of this was important, anyway, the difficulty wasn’t just for one person alone.

One didn’t need to answer particularly well, just better than others.

Wang Ziyue looked at the first question and immediately had a bitter face.

The issue of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce was too profound. His limited knowledge couldn’t support him in writing a coherent insight.

However, he knew how to be clever.

The Ming Dynasty advocated emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce. Zhu Yuanzhang especially hated merchants, while Great Hua advocated encouraging commerce.

Then it was easy. Talk about the disadvantages of emphasizing agriculture and suppressing commerce, and insist on encouraging commerce, that was called political correctness.

The second question, discussing that technology is the primary productive force, was often discussed in the newspapers.

He, who often read the newspapers, had some experience with this question and could answer it.

The third question left him dumbfounded, so he skipped it.

The fifth question was not easy to answer, so he gave up.

In the end, Wang Ziyue chose to answer questions one, two, and four.

The choices of the other candidates were also relatively similar.

The fewest people chose to answer the fifth question, and the most people chose to answer the second question.

Three questions, three hours of examination time, with breaks in between to eat. The examination hall would provide food during lunch.

They were all salted vegetables and steamed buns, just this meal, there was no need to make it too exquisite, it was enough to fill the stomach.

Chapter 399: Posting of the Results

The three-hour examination was quite exhausting, and most of the candidates looked listless as they left the examination hall.

However, even so, some scholars couldn’t help but ask each other how they had done on the exam.

They seemed to have forgotten that they should hurry back to rest and prepare for tomorrow’s session.

Four days in a row, four subjects were tested.

Some candidates fell ill directly after these four days, whether due to excessive psychological pressure or physical weakness.

Five days later, the grading was completed, and the results were posted outside the gates of the various examination halls.

The candidates had arrived early to wait, their faces filled with anxiety.

This was the moment that would determine their fate, how could they not be worried?

“Brother Yuan, you’ll probably be at the top of the list this time. After all, you came from the university, unlike us who rely on self-study.”

While waiting, everyone started chatting idly.

“It’s just a minor provincial exam, not very significant. The upcoming national exam is the most important.”

Yuan Jie said.

For students from the university, testing on physics, chemistry, and the like was relatively simple.

“I heard that when studying at the university, His Majesty also personally gives lectures. So, Brother Yuan is also a student of the Emperor.”

“His Majesty used to come and lecture in person often, but since ascending the throne, the frequency has decreased. It’s rare to see him even once a month. Moreover, the lectures are now only for a select group of top students. Ordinary students like me no longer have the privilege of attending.”

Yuan Jie sighed.

Compared to the unfortunate people in front of him, he was lucky.

But compared to the lucky ones and geniuses in the university, he was a failure.

Some students in the university can still receive guidance from Wu Changqing and can even write memorials to Wu Changqing to ask for help with any confusion.

This treatment is comparable to that of a first-rank minister; they are the true students of the Emperor.

And he could only be considered nominally, fooling those who didn’t know the situation.

“That’s not bad either, at least you’ve heard His Majesty’s lectures.”

The others continued to envy him. That was the Emperor’s lecture! Throughout history, how many people had such an honor?

The so-called students of the Emperor in the past were just people selected by the Emperor who participated in setting and grading the exam papers.

In reality, those people had never heard the Emperor lecture.

Wu Changqing seemed to be the only emperor who lectured, setting a precedent.

Those who could listen to Wu Changqing’s lectures had a relationship with Wu Changqing that was even closer than that of ministers.

This kind of relationship made other students extremely envious.

As the Great Hua regime became more and more consolidated, those who did not go to the university to study in time regretted it even more.

It was too late to go now. The number of students in the university was increasing, to the point where Wu Changqing could not personally teach them all.

Wu Changqing now only occasionally communicates with those top students, giving them guidance on the direction of their studies and answering some of their confusions.

“The results are out! The results are out!”

Someone shouted, and everyone rushed towards the notice board.

Papers with the scores, rankings, and admission status of each candidate were posted.

Everyone began to look for their names and student numbers.

“Hahaha, I’ve been admitted! A total score of three hundred and twenty, nine hundredth place!”

One scholar said excitedly.

“Why wasn’t I admitted with one thousand and second place? I only scored eight points less than you!”

Another scholar said painfully.

He scored three hundred and twelve points, but he failed. He found it difficult to accept this result.

This time, only the top one thousand candidates were admitted, with an admission rate of only twenty percent, which was very low.

This was still Nanjing, which enjoyed some special treatment. The rates were even lower in other places.

In places like Jiujiang and Nanchang, the imperial court’s target was to admit ten percent.

This was the result of comprehensive consideration from multiple perspectives.

The first point was that there were more scholars in Nanjing studying new knowledge, so there would be more talent and more people worthy of being admitted.

Jiangxi, on the other hand, had too many scholars. If the standard was set too low, the number of successful candidates would be terrifying, and the imperial court would have to support so many scholars, which would be a burden.

Moreover, Jiangxi was far from Nanjing. If too many people were admitted, it would not be easy for those students to come to Nanjing for the exams, and the travel expenses would be considerable.

Absolute fairness only exists in an ideal society. In reality, there are many things to consider when formulating any policy.

With some other factors, it is even more impossible to be completely fair.

For example, Nanjing, as the capital, gathered a large number of high-ranking officials and wealthy merchants. Their children all took the exams in Nanjing, so naturally, they hoped that the admission rate in Nanjing would be higher.

With the efforts of this group of people, they could influence many policies.

“Brother Yuan, I saw your score! Amazing, four hundred and eighty-two points, tenth place! With this score, passing the provincial and imperial exams later will be easy.”

Yuan Jie smiled upon hearing this. Tenth place had already met his expectations.

However, he also knew that passing the provincial and imperial exams later would not be so easy.

Because those who were taking the exams now were just children without the title of scholar. In the next stage of exams, those scholars from the previous dynasty, as well as some more outstanding students from the university, would also join the competition.

Passing the provincial exam and becoming a licentiate was equivalent to having an official status and being able to start as a low-ranking official.

The provincial exam was the most brutal hurdle.

“These exam questions are really difficult. Liu Shiyuan, who came in first place, only scored five hundred and six points.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, physics, chemistry, and arithmetic are all full marks, but the easiest policy essay only got two hundred and two points. Who is this Liu Shiyuan?”

“You don’t understand, do you? This kind of person never thought of becoming an official. He’s taking the path of scientific research, aiming for a peerage.”

“Policy essays are not easy either. I feel that the Great Hua’s policy essays are much more difficult than before.”

Everyone was talking at once, and some more knowledgeable people were showing off their knowledge.

In the eyes of many people, policy essays were very important.

However, for someone like Liu Shiyuan, who got full marks in three subjects, it didn’t matter even if he got zero in the policy essay.

The posting of the results ended, and the candidates were a mix of joy and sorrow.

With an admission rate of only twenty percent, there were definitely more people who were sad.

Those who were only a few or a dozen points away from admission were better off. At least they saw hope.

Next, as long as they study harder, they can score a dozen more points next time.

However, some students who only scored one or two hundred points were now in despair.

In the past, there were only two outcomes for exams: selected and rejected. There was no clear measuring stick for the level of the candidates.

Therefore, some candidates who failed did not know how bad they were and could still maintain confidence and continue to study.

But the current percentage system clearly measures a student’s ability.

Those who scored more than one hundred points, looking at the admission standard of more than three hundred points, no longer had the confidence to continue studying. The gap was too big.

For them, changing careers early was the right path.

This was actually a good thing. In the old days, many candidates wasted their lives on the imperial examinations and achieved nothing.

It would be better for these people to do something else.

Being an official also requires a little bit of talent.

Chapter 400: The Provincial Examination

Five days after the results were posted, the provincial examination began.

The current imperial examination system no longer spanned an entire year as it once did. Instead, it was now concentrated into a shorter period.

Therefore, many candidates who passed the county examination and earned the title of xiucai did not return home but continued to study diligently, awaiting the provincial examination.

The scale of the provincial examination was much smaller than the previous county examination.

In the Nanjing examination hall, there were only a little over one thousand five hundred xiucai participating in the examination.

Adding up all the examination halls in other places like Nanchang and Suzhou, there were fewer than twenty thousand candidates in total.

And among these twenty thousand people, less than one thousand could pass the examination to become a juren, a passing rate of about five percent, which was even more brutal than the county examination.

The format of the provincial examination was similar to that of the county examination, consisting of policy essays and three self-selected subjects.

However, the provincial examination added two self-selected talent subjects.

Candidates could choose to take these or not.

However, those who chose to take them would have the scores from these two subjects added to their total score.

Therefore, unless one was a one-in-a-million genius or an oddball, everyone would choose to take the test. Even a mosquito had meat, and besides, these two subjects added up to sixty points, which was not a small amount.

Upon entering the examination hall, the inspection for the provincial examination was much stricter.

Every candidate was thoroughly searched from head to toe, almost to the point of having their underwear removed to check if they had copied answers onto their private parts.

This was an examination that could change one’s destiny, so naturally, some people would take the risk.

As a result, upon entering the examination hall, one could often see candidates crying and shouting as they were dragged out.

These were candidates who had been caught carrying cheat sheets. The lives of such people were mostly ruined, and they would no longer be qualified to participate in the examination in the future.

Yuan Jie felt quite speechless at the sight of these people. The content of the current examination was increasingly inclined towards understanding and analysis, with less emphasis on rote memorization.

Carrying cheat sheets was actually not very effective.

It was not worth taking such a big risk for such a small gain.

These types of candidates were actually relatively easy to prevent. What the imperial court feared most was collusion between officials and candidates, which would be much more troublesome.

In order to prevent cheating, Qian Qianyi and others had come up with many methods.

For such crucial items as examination papers, they would only be taken out of the secret room at the moment the examination began.

Moreover, they had to be inspected by at least three officials from different departments to check the sealing.

Once it was found that the seal had been damaged, the examination would have to be terminated.

Fortunately, in this provincial examination, the candidates did not encounter such bad luck, and the examination papers were successfully distributed.

The first subject was still policy essays, but the examination questions had changed somewhat.

Yuan Jie opened the examination paper and began to examine the questions.

The first question: Discuss the Way of Being a Minister.

Yuan Jie was speechless for a moment. This was too difficult.

In fact, this question would have been quite easy to answer in the past, as it would have simply required loyalty to the emperor and the imperial court. However, in the current Great Hua, it was not easy to answer.

This was because there were too many surrendered officials in the imperial court. Many people had been loyal to the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Great Hua. Some were even more outrageous and had even been loyal to the Great Shun, showing no loyalty at all.

If he wrote according to the old ways, talking about being loyal to the imperial court as an official, he might accidentally hurt the feelings of those surrendered officials.

Qian Qianyi, who was grading the papers, was a disloyal minister. If he were to scold the surrenderers for not having loyal bones in his essay, wouldn’t that be scolding Qian Qianyi?

Would Qian Qianyi give him a high score if he saw such an answer?

However, candidates could not praise those surrendered officials either, as this would be telling the imperial court that they had no loyalty and only wanted to make money as officials.

Would the imperial court use such people?

Although this was the truth, it could not be said.

In short, this question was not easy to answer, as there were too many minefields. Yuan Jie chose to skip it.

The second question: Discuss the impact of land annexation on society, and the solutions to it.

This was another question with a grand theme. Land annexation had always been a major problem. Anyone who had read history books knew about this, but it was not easy to elaborate on insightful opinions.

As for solutions, forget about it.

If there really were solutions, they could have directly entered the cabinet in the past, and the emperor would have invited them to preside over the reform, enjoying the same treatment as Wang Anshi.

Of course, the examiner did not expect any of the candidates to have a solution.

When the examiners graded the papers, they mainly used their insights to judge the other party’s talent and thoughts.

It was like grading essays. No grading teacher would necessarily require the article to reach a perfect score. Whatever the level was, that was the score given.

The first two questions were difficult, and the three questions that followed were not simple either.

When he came out of the examination hall this time, even Yuan Jie had a worried look on his face.

Other candidates were even more miserable, their faces looking as if they had lost their parents.

The policy essays were not easy to test, and the same was true for the self-selected subjects that followed.

Especially for those former Ming Dynasty xiucai, after choosing the Eight-legged Essay and arithmetic, they had to choose at least one more subject.

And this subject often took the lives of many people.

Not to mention those flexible and complex physics experiment calculations, even some ordinary physical concepts were difficult for these people to answer well.

For example, what is friction?

This was the simplest question in this physics exam, a freebie.

But many former Ming Dynasty xiucai could not answer it well.

Some people even knew what friction was, but they could not accurately express it in words.

This was mainly because they were not used to using vernacular Chinese and always liked to use classical Chinese.

However, there were too many new words and new concepts in today’s physics, and these things could not be described with idioms or classic sentences at all.

In short, this was a problem, and many of those former Ming Dynasty xiucai were not adapted to it.

It was excusable that they did not do well in physics, but some people could not even do well in arithmetic.

In the past, numbers were represented by words, which was very inconvenient.

However, in the new arithmetic classes, symbols were already being used to replace numbers, that is, Arabic numerals.

Wu Changqing would not reject this kind of thing that could simplify operations and used it as soon as he brought it over.

Therefore, all the numbers on this examination paper were Arabic numerals.

Old-fashioned scholars found it difficult to adapt to these ghost-like Arabic numerals.

Moreover, the arithmetic in the past was very simple, nothing more than addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Although there were also linear equations with one unknown and linear equations with two unknowns, those serious scholars would not learn them.

Now that they suddenly had to take the test, they were having a headache.

The simplest question in this mathematics exam was the solution of linear equations with two unknowns, as well as a large number of linear equations with three unknowns, some practical application mathematics questions, and even a calculus question.

Even those who had learned this stuff were still confused, let alone those who had not learned it.

What made them even more desperate was that there were also many geometric calculation questions in arithmetic.

The simplest was to use the Pythagorean theorem, and the more complex proof questions made the candidates look even more confused.

This made some people who chose to take the arithmetic test regret it so much that their intestines turned green. If they had known, they would have chosen a geography subject instead.

As long as they memorized more books, they could still get a good score.

Chapter 401: Provincial Examination Results

The provincial examination lasted a total of six days, and the grading took even longer, nearly half a month to complete.

After all, many exam questions didn’t have standard answers, so giving scores required careful consideration.

Ordinary ministers weren’t qualified to grade the papers.

The grading was handled by several cabinet ministers and a few people from the Academy of Sciences. Even Wu Changqing personally graded a portion of the papers.

After waiting anxiously for half a month, the candidates finally received the announcement of the results.

Wang Ziyue squeezed into the crowd and began searching down the list according to the rankings, becoming more and more anxious as he went.

Because the number of successful candidates was limited, the further down the list he went, the slimmer his chances became, and the more precarious his situation.

He looked all the way down to the seventy-first ranked candidate and still hadn’t found his name.

To make matters worse, the notation next to the seventy-first candidate indicated that they hadn’t been selected as a juren.

This meant that no one after that candidate had passed either, naturally including him.

Although he had anticipated this possibility, Wang Ziyue couldn’t help but feel dejected when it actually happened.

If he didn’t pass this time, he didn’t know when the next opportunity would come.

The previous imperial examinations were held every three years, but the Great Hua Dynasty’s rules hadn’t been announced yet.

However, it would probably also be every three years.

Holding the imperial examinations too frequently would result in too many talented individuals without official positions to place them in.

Once every three years was still a very long time; a person didn’t have many three-year periods in their life.

Even though he hadn’t passed, Wang Ziyue continued to search for his name, wanting to know his total score and how he performed in each subject.

He searched all the way down, from initial disappointment to eventual despair.

He finally found his name at the five hundred and thirtieth position.

His score was actually considered above average, considering there were over one thousand five hundred candidates in total.

But it was useless. The imperial examination was about choosing one out of a hundred, or even one out of ten thousand.

It wasn’t enough to be better than most people; you had to be better than almost everyone.

The imperial examination had always been this cruel.

As for becoming the top scholar or even achieving the “three firsts” honor, the difficulty was akin to ascending to heaven.

From the beginning of the imperial examination system to the present, over a thousand years, only fourteen people had ever achieved the “three firsts.”

“Ah, I’ll fight again in the next examination.”

Wang Ziyue encouraged himself. A middle-to-upper ranking meant there was still hope, and he could still work harder to learn.

Unlike those candidates who ranked after one thousand.

Their scores only showed that they lacked talent, or that others were simply more outstanding than them.

In any case, those who ranked after one thousand were unlikely to pass in the future unless some miracle occurred.

After all, young people were growing up, and every era had its own talented individuals.

If they couldn’t compete with this batch of talent, it would be even harder to compete with the next batch.

Yuan Jie was also looking for his name. He was luckier than Wang Ziyue, finding himself in the seventieth position.

He had passed the provincial exam! Even though he was the last juren on the list, what did it matter? At least he had passed.

Regardless of whether he could pass the metropolitan exam and become a jinshi, he at least had the qualification to become an official.

Seeing the result, he breathed a sigh of relief, a smile appearing on his face.

Looking at the specific scores for each subject, he had a bold idea.

He had decided that when he participated in the metropolitan exam, he would change his elective subject, removing arithmetic and replacing it with geography.

Because among his scores, his eight-legged essay, policy questions, and physics were all decent, but arithmetic was terrible, only scoring a little over fifty, dragging him down.

He decided to go back and cram for geography, and when he participated in the metropolitan exam, he would change arithmetic to geography.

He didn’t expect to score well in geography, just better than in arithmetic.

Another candidate named Tao Zhang was also looking for his name. Unfortunately, his total score ranked two hundred and thirtieth.

Just as he was feeling dejected, his companion reminded him that he had passed.

How was that possible?

Tao Zhang didn’t believe it. The top seventy candidates were selected, and he was over two hundred.

Helpless, his companion could only point it out to him.

There was a line of standard characters behind his name, explaining the reason for his selection.

Because he had scored full marks in arithmetic, tying for first place in the subject with two other candidates.

Therefore, he was exceptionally admitted and became a juren.

Confirming this news, Tao Zhang was so excited he almost jumped up.

The feeling of regaining something lost was truly wonderful.

What Tao Zhang didn’t know was that he had already been listed as a key person of interest.

As long as he continued to rank in the top three in subsequent arithmetic exams, a good position would be guaranteed.

He wouldn’t be transferred to become a civil official but would be transferred to a research institution.

The current research institutions were particularly lacking in talents who were good at calculations. And industrialization was all about precision, requiring precise calculations for everything.

His value was even greater than those who ranked in the top dozens or teens overall.

Tao Zhang wasn’t the only one who passed because of a single subject score. About a dozen people enjoyed this treatment.

There was even one person who passed because he scored full marks in the medical exam, even though his total score was outside the top one thousand.

Being a doctor, whether or not you could be an official didn’t matter, and even if you weren’t good at socializing, it didn’t matter as long as you were good at treating illnesses.

His success was an eye-opener for many candidates. They realized that if they couldn’t break through in the overall score, they could focus on a specific subject and study it intensely.

However, their thinking was actually quite naive, destined to hit a brick wall.

The difficulty of getting a perfect score in a single subject was actually much harder than passing the exam.

Those who could get full marks were more or less because they had some talent.

Some people were born with a sensitivity to numbers, and some people were born with an interest in medicine.

Others who didn’t have this talent and just wanted to achieve results through hard work often found it difficult to master the subject.

Those who excelled in a certain field of study would be given special attention.

Those who excelled in several fields of study, needless to say.

For example, the student Liu Shiyuan, who only scored twentieth place in this provincial examination.

However, many of the graders knew that this person was already in the emperor’s favor, and even Wu Changqing was paying attention to him.

Because this person had full marks in mathematics, physics, and chemistry. His policy questions and two artistic talents weren’t answered well, but that didn’t matter anymore.

As for the first place in this provincial examination, the top candidate Cai Zhongyuan, Wu Changqing only paid casual attention to him.

This person had the highest total score, but his scores in each subject weren’t top-notch. He was a talent with strong comprehensive abilities.

But Wu Changqing wasn’t particularly lacking in this kind of talent.

Hong Chengchou, Ruan Dacheng, and Qian Qianyi all had this ability.

Chapter 402: Post-Exam Discussions

The provincial exam was over, and next up was the metropolitan exam. The metropolitan exam would be held entirely in Nanjing. Those juren from other regions who had passed the provincial exam had to hurry to Nanjing, or they would be disqualified.

To accommodate candidates from other places, the metropolitan exam was scheduled for March 15th, which was two months away.

The juren in Nanjing had a slight advantage, as they could use this time to focus on their studies without having to travel.

Wealthy candidates from other regions could hire a carriage and study while traveling.

As for those candidates who had to rely on their own two legs, they could only silently endure the unfairness of the world.

About two thousand five hundred candidates would participate in this metropolitan exam, mainly because there were many juren from the previous dynasty who were also qualified to participate.

Out of the two thousand five hundred plus people, only three hundred would be selected according to the old system, so the elimination rate was quite high.

However, as long as one was selected, they could at least get a Third Class Jinshi degree.

If a Third Class Jinshi became an official, they could start from the eighth-rank, such as a county magistrate assistant or a county commandant.

Don’t underestimate the position of county magistrate assistant. A county magistrate assistant is roughly equivalent to a deputy county head in later generations. In the local area, that was definitely a big shot.

In later generations, the difficulty of becoming a deputy county head was infinitely great. In short, ninety-nine point nine nine percent of people had no chance.

With two months to prepare, some candidates were celebrating and relaxing, while others were summarizing their experiences from this imperial examination.

Various reading clubs were also springing up, and restaurants, academies, Xuanwu Lake, and the Qinhuai River were all good places for them to talk freely.

Especially on the pleasure boats of the Qinhuai River, several scholars would discuss such seemingly high-end topics, and the prostitutes would occasionally praise them, which would bring a sense of pride.

“Judging from the content of this imperial examination, I have already understood the court’s ideas. What the court lacks now is not officials, but practical talents,” Yuan Jie analyzed, this was his latest insight.

“Yes, I saw a candidate with a very low overall score, but because his translation was good, he was awarded the title of juren. Moreover, he has been transferred to work in the Ministry of Rites’ foreign affairs department.

The court’s intention is that he doesn’t need to take the exam later, it’s not meaningful. A provincial exam can show what he is suitable for.”

Another candidate said.

“Becoming an official with the status of juren can only start from a ninth-rank official at most, and there won’t be much development in the future,” Xie Jin expressed his disdain. He also failed in this provincial exam, ranking one hundred and thirtieth.

Seeing someone with worse grades than himself passing the exam instead, he felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Therefore, he also began to despise the other person’s life and regarded taking the jinshi exam as the right path.

Thinking this way could make him feel better.

“But, this is also a good choice for him. According to his ability, he might have been stuck at the provincial exam level for his entire life if it were in the past. But now, he can become an official,” Yuan Jie said.

Everyone nodded in agreement, saying that this was indeed the case.

The current percentage system allows a candidate to quickly see their own abilities, without having to devote their entire life to the imperial examination like before.

After the results were announced, some candidates who performed extremely poorly had already seen themselves clearly, so they made up their minds to change careers.

For example, seriously learn a foreign language for a few months, and then you can go to Songjiang to work as a translator, and the income is higher than those eighth-rank and ninth-rank officials.

Another example is to specialize in writing novels.

Currently, there are as many as eight types of newspapers in Nanjing, and novel newspapers account for two. Both newspaper offices are particularly short of people to write novels, and some poor scholars are currently working part-time to write novels to earn money.

Some people who write well have considerable income.

If you can make money, what’s the difference between being an official or not?

Being a small official, you have to flatter the people above, and if you are greedy for money, you have to worry about being investigated, and you are always worried.

Writing novels, you earn money by your own ability, and you live more worry-free and free.

Unconsciously, some scholars’ ideas are undergoing drastic changes.

In the past, those scholars would not have had such thoughts at all. Studying and taking the imperial examination was the only right way.

If we delve into the reasons for this change, it is actually the result of technological progress and the development of capitalism.

In the past, ordinary people had very limited ways to make money and live an upper-class life. The only ways were to become an official and do business.

Doing business requires capital and connections, which are more difficult than taking the imperial examination.

Therefore, not all scholars liked being officials, but they wanted to change their fate, and the only way was to become an official.

That’s why there is such a saying, “All professions are inferior, only studying is superior.”

But now it’s different. With the progress of society, there are more ways to make money.

Working as a translator, writing novels, doing scientific research, or even playing football.

No matter which industry, as long as you do well, the income is considerable.

Some emerging industries have unknown huge profits.

With more choices, those scholars don’t have to hang themselves on the tree of imperial examination.

With the development of society, there will be more and more ways to achieve self-worth.

“No, no, no, if studying and becoming an official is not aimed at entering the Grand Secretariat and becoming one of the Three Dukes, what’s the point?”

Xie Jin still insisted on his point of view.

Some people disagreed and chose to argue with him, while some smart people silently watched from the sidelines and didn’t say anything.

They all saw that Xie Jin was actually using this as a way to comfort himself.

By insisting on the idea of taking the jinshi exam, his heart would generate a feeling that he couldn’t become an official not because he was incompetent, but because he had more ambitious goals.

This is a kind of self-escape.

And in times of drastic change, some people who cannot adapt to this drastic change and dare not meet the challenges will often carry out this kind of escape.

Just like today, when new-style learning is in full swing, there are still some traditional scholars who refuse to learn and change.

Because they are afraid and fearful in their hearts, and dare not face it.

Therefore, they can only regard studying the Four Books and Five Classics as an extremely correct thing, and regard new-style learning as heresy.

In this way, they can comfort their hearts.

Let them have an illusion in their hearts that they are not learning new-style knowledge because they are afraid of not being able to learn it, but because they disdain to learn it.

People who understood Xie Jin were giving him face and not pointing it out, but there were also people who liked to argue and had in-depth arguments with Xie Jin.

And the result, of course, was that Xie Jin couldn’t win.

Xie Jin, who had lost face, was a little annoyed. Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, the prostitute who was accompanying the wine smiled and came out to smooth things over, persuading everyone to drink, changing the topic, and enlivening the atmosphere.

In a few words, everyone forgot the unhappiness just now, and laughed and laughed, looking forward to the future.

Women are the emollient in the dinner party, otherwise why do the big shots’ dinner parties always have beauties.

Chapter 403: Trial Run of the Train

The imperial examination was a major event, but in the Great Hua Empire, there were many similar major events.

Wu Changqing only paid attention to the imperial examination during the grading period, and spent the rest of his time busy with other things.

For example, inspecting the trial run of the locomotive.

In early February, Wu Changqing, some ministers, and many common people came to the suburbs.

The research team led by Feng Xianzhong had already produced the most primitive locomotive, and today they would conduct a trial run in front of Wu Changqing.

In order to let the people understand the train and accept this new thing more quickly, Wu Changqing also allowed the people to come and watch.

The more the people understood the train, the fewer obstacles they would encounter when building the railway.

Otherwise, with the degree of superstition in this era, if they wanted to build a railway from a certain place, the local people would worry about the destruction of their feng shui, or the disruption of some vein or other.

Although these opposing voices could be suppressed by force, it was naturally better to let the people understand and accept it on their own.

A two-thousand-meter track had been laid in the test field, and a locomotive had already been placed on it.

Its appearance and size were roughly similar to the locomotive in Wu Changqing’s memory, but he didn’t know the details.

But none of this mattered, the key was to see the performance.

“What is the horsepower of this locomotive now, what is its speed, how long can it run continuously, and how much coal does it consume?”

Wu Changqing asked a lot of professional questions, and it was obvious that he knew a lot about trains.

The other ministers were not surprised, after all, Wu Changqing was the one who first proposed the concept of the train.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, the current horsepower of this train is about one thousand, and it can travel forty li in an hour when empty. It can pull ten carriages with a load of one hundred tons. When fully loaded, it can travel thirty li in an hour, which is about the speed of a person walking.

The disadvantage is that it consumes a lot of coal and water. When pulling ten carriages, at least one carriage must be used to load coal, and three carriages to load water. After the railway is built in the future, a coal and water supply station will need to be set up every few dozen li…”

Feng Xianzhong introduced the performance of the locomotive.

At first glance, it felt like trash, and troublesome. However, Wu Changqing was quite satisfied.

Because early trains were like this.

“Not bad, it already has practicality, and we can start laying the railway officially. However, the performance is still very poor, and there is a lot of room for improvement. We need to continue to improve it. I want to see a locomotive that can pull dozens of carriages and still reach a speed of two to three hundred li per hour.”

Wu Changqing said.

At this time, the efficiency of the locomotive was very poor, and it was only suitable for use in some economically developed areas, such as the Nanjing to Songjiang line.

Apart from this line, which could make money by laying railways, it was difficult to make money by laying railways on other sections.

Only when the efficiency of the train was improved could railways be laid to some areas that were not particularly economically developed.

Therefore, Wu Changqing was relatively calm about the current locomotive.

The other ministers who followed the inspection did not have this calmness. They were shocked by the data Feng Xianzhong said.

A load of one hundred tons at a time, and still able to reach the speed of a person walking, this carrying capacity was simply heaven-defying.

If traditional methods were used to transport one hundred tons of coal, it would take at least a team of four hundred horse-drawn carriages.

But now, only one train driver, three coal stokers, and a few odd-job assistants were needed.

The improvement in transportation efficiency was more than dozens of times.

More importantly, when using people and horse-drawn carriages for transportation, people and horses would get tired and need to rest in the middle. People had to eat, and horses had to eat grass.

But this locomotive, it doesn’t need to rest, just keep adding water and coal.

“This is a national treasure.”

Hong Chengchou said with emotion. He thought of a major role of the train, which was to transport troops.

At one hundred Jin per person, this train could transport two thousand people at a time.

As long as he got a dozen locomotives, he could quickly deploy tens of thousands of troops to a certain place at once.

This kind of weapon could greatly increase the control over the country.

In the past, if a rebellion occurred in a remote area, it would take more than a month to transmit the news, and it would take at least three to five months to mobilize troops.

If a small rebellion of a thousand people occurred in one place, the imperial court would have to send an army of ten thousand people there. Because by the time they arrived at the rebellious place, the rebels had already grown to tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.

Li Zicheng destroyed the Ming Dynasty in this way.

The general who suppressed the rebellion confidently set out with three thousand people, but was dumbfounded when he arrived in Shaanxi, because Li Zicheng’s army had grown to tens of thousands.

With the train, this would no longer happen.

As soon as there was a rebellion, the train could quickly deploy troops and quell the rebellion in its infancy.

This train was simply the emperor’s favorite.

“I request to build railways from Nanjing to Beijing and to outside the pass.”

Li Shaobin said. As a soldier, he naturally focused on the military use of the train.

Seeing the train’s powerful transportation capabilities, he couldn’t help but get excited.

If there was a railway from Nanjing to outside the pass, then their Northern Expedition would become very easy, and their control over outside the pass could be very strong.

In his opinion, the route from Nanjing to outside the pass was a must-build route.

After all, the threat from the North had always been greater than that from the South. Otherwise, the former Ming Dynasty would not have established its capital in Beijing, in order to have the emperor guard the country’s gate and prevent foreign enemies from the North.

Now that the capital of Great Hua was in Nanjing, it was very far from the North, and its control over outside the pass and the grasslands was very weak, which was a hidden danger.

Only moving the capital or building a railway could solve this problem.

Moving the capital involved too much, it was still easier to build a railway.

“Commander Li, don’t worry, you probably don’t know how much it costs to build a railway. I think that in the early stage of railway construction, we should first build routes that can make money. Only when we have money in the future can we build routes for military purposes.”

Ruan Dacheng of the Ministry of Industry said. The construction of railways was mainly the responsibility of his department.

He couldn’t let the military people point fingers and give blind directions.

Building a railway was so expensive, if it could not generate economic benefits in the future, then building a railway would be a heavy burden.

Their Ministry of Industry could not afford this burden.

“Is money more important than the stability of the country?”

Li Shaobin said dissatisfied.

“With money, the people can have a good life, and the country can be stable. We all know that the construction of the Grand Canal of Jinghang was a great achievement for thousands of years,

But for the Sui Dynasty at that time, it was an important reason for its demise.

Our current financial resources are not enough to build a railway from Nanjing to outside the pass, unless we exploit the people. And exploiting the people will lead to dissatisfaction among the people.”

Ruan Dacheng retorted.

“Don’t argue for now. I have already made a decision on the first railway. We will build the route from Nanjing to Songjiang first. As for the route to Beijing and outside the pass, we will talk about it later, but it won’t be too long. It should be fine within a few years.”

Wu Changqing interrupted their argument. There was no need for the people below to argue so much about things that he had already decided.

“Your Majesty is wise.”

Ruan Dacheng said with a smile.

Wu Changqing’s statement clearly supported his theory of prioritizing economic development.

Chapter 404: Building Railways

Wu Changqing had spoken, and naturally, no one else argued.

The Emperor is always right.

In the past, this phrase described the Emperor’s power.

But now, it described Wu Changqing’s ability.

The important decisions Wu Changqing had made had all been proven correct.

No minister could deny his foresight.

Therefore, when Wu Changqing made a decision, the ministers were willing to believe in its correctness.

As they chatted, the trial run of the locomotive had already begun.

Several operators were adding coal and boiling water. It took them nearly half an hour to reach the standard high-pressure steam inside the cylinder, and then the train slowly started moving.

“It’s moving, it’s moving! It’s really moving on its own!”

The onlookers exclaimed in shock, as if they had seen a ghost. If it weren’t for the crowd around, anyone seeing this alone would have their legs turn to jelly.

They couldn’t understand how a lifeless lump of iron could move on its own. Could it have become a spirit?

After slowly accelerating, the locomotive reached its top speed, about the same as a human jogging. If one wanted to hop on the train, this kind of train was the easiest, with no difficulty at all.

Although this speed wasn’t fast, it was sustainable.

People and horses get tired. But this locomotive could work continuously for several hours, even more than ten hours.

“This is a miracle from the heavens!”

“This is His Majesty’s dragon aura pushing it!”

“Why is His Majesty’s dragon aura black instead of yellow?”

“You don’t understand, black represents…”

A group of ignorant people gathered together to discuss a new thing, often leading to such hilarious jokes.

And yet, many people believed those outrageous explanations.

If a student from the academy occasionally said that it was internal energy being converted into mechanical energy, the people around would probably chuckle and look at them as if they were crazy.

These people were just watching the spectacle. The ones who truly cared about the train were the educated scholars, officials, and some merchants.

Seeing the train’s terrifying cargo capacity, the merchants’ eyes almost popped out.

What did this mean? It meant that doing business in the future would be even easier!

Currently, the biggest cost in doing business was actually transportation expenses.

With the train, these expenses could definitely be greatly reduced, and they would earn even more money.

The merchants couldn’t wait for the railway to be built quickly so they could make a fortune.

“This is a sign of a prosperous era. Great Hua will surely flourish!”

“Two years ago, I was still complaining that this was a terrible era, but unexpectedly, the world has turned around in the blink of an eye.”

“This is all thanks to His Majesty’s wisdom, initiating the trend of science and technology. We need to establish more academies, the more the better.”

The crowd discussed animatedly, becoming even more impressed with Wu Changqing.

Although these things were being done by Feng Xianzhong and others below, they were all proposed and guided by Wu Changqing. Therefore, the greatest credit still belonged to Wu Changqing.

An emperor with such great ability would be hard-pressed not to be regarded as a wise ruler for all time.

Before long, the train stopped because the track was too short.

From start to stop, the train didn’t experience any malfunctions. Everything went smoothly.

Because they had already experimented more than ten times before Wu Changqing came to inspect.

They only dared to invite Wu Changqing to see it after all the problems were resolved.

If it malfunctioned in front of the people, wouldn’t that be embarrassing for the Emperor?

Seeing the people’s reaction, Wu Changqing was also very satisfied.

He felt a sense of superiority, looking at the country bumpkins.

He was looking forward to seeing what expressions these people would have when he created airplanes.

After completing the inspection, the railway construction was put on the agenda.

The biggest problem was money.

The technology for building railways in the plains wasn’t too high, unlike in mountainous areas where tunnels and bridges were needed.

Without the technical bottleneck, all that remained was to solve the problem of money.

Building railways required a lot of silver. One was the cost of the rail materials, and the other was the need for a large amount of manpower to participate.

According to the Ministry of Industry’s estimate, the project from Nanjing to Songjiang would cost about five million taels.

This was definitely a huge sum of money. Once invested, it might not be possible to recoup the investment for ten years.

However, a railway could be used for more than ten years, even decades.

Therefore, from a long-term perspective, the railway’s revenue was still quite considerable and very worthy of investment.

Although it was very worthy of investment, the Ministry of Industry had no money.

When Ruan Dacheng said the words “The Ministry of Industry has no money,” the other ministers pointed at his nose and cursed, almost coming to blows.

The Ministry of Industry received the most budget, accounting for a full sixty percent. Now they were saying they had no money, it was outrageous.

Ruan Dacheng wasn’t talking nonsense. He had used the previous budgets for other purposes and couldn’t squeeze out another five million to invest in railway construction.

Helpless, Ruan Dacheng asked Wu Changqing for instructions, requesting the issuance of national bonds to raise funds.

They had used this trick before when building steel factories, and it had proven to be quite effective.

Although individuals in the private sector didn’t have much wealth, the total number of people was large. If everyone contributed a little, it would be easy to raise five million.

In particular, merchants would be very active in investing.

Of course, merchants wouldn’t be satisfied with buying national bonds. They didn’t care about the small interest on national bonds.

Those merchants hoped that they would fund the entire railway, and then the operating rights of the railway would be handed over to them.

Ruan Dacheng didn’t dare to agree to this request. After all, the railway involved national security and it was impossible to hand over all the power to merchants.

What if there was a need to transport urgent military supplies? Would they use force or negotiate with the merchants?

What if the merchants set the freight rates too high, not in line with the court’s interests? How would that be resolved?

What if disputes arose with the local people during operation? Should they be given greater power to handle them?

In short, these were all red lines and minefields that couldn’t be touched.

For something as important as the railway, control must be in the hands of the court, in the hands of the government.

“National bonds can be issued. At the same time, an additional rule can be made: merchants who purchase large amounts of railway bonds will enjoy priority in future freight transportation.”

Wu Changqing instructed.

He couldn’t hand over the railway to merchants, but he needed the surplus money in the merchants’ hands.

Therefore, he gave such a preferential benefit.

As for whether this benefit could move those merchants, he didn’t know and didn’t need to care.

He had already set the method, and the specific operation would be handled by Ruan Dacheng.

If he couldn’t even do this little thing well, he probably didn’t need to stay in the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

There were more than two handfuls of people eyeing that position.

Chapter 405: The Ambitions of Merchants

The Jinling Chamber of Commerce. A group of merchants gathered to discuss the matter of the railway.

“Gentlemen, you have all seen the train. I’ve heard that its performance can be further improved. I think you all understand what this means.”

Sun Daoming said.

The train has a huge impact on merchants and the mode of commerce.

Everyone was well aware of this, so they were eager to seize the initiative in this transformation.

The most important thing was to have control of the railway in their own hands.

This way, their goods would be cheaper and more competitive than others.

With the power to control railway transportation, there were so many things they could do, even driving their competitors into bankruptcy.

“But the imperial court wants to control the railway now. We can’t get involved,” Cui Mingchong said.

The latest national debt issuance plan had been finalized, and it was much worse than they had expected.

They only had priority in cargo transportation, without even a discount.

“But the money is in our hands. If we don’t spend money to buy it, how much can those lowly people raise? As long as we don’t pay, Ruan Dacheng will have to beg us,” Pang Yuanming said disdainfully.

That was five million taels of silver, a long-term investment that would be difficult to see returns on in the short term.

Ordinary people couldn’t afford that much money, nor could they endure such a long wait.

Only with strategic planning by big merchants like them could this railway be built.

“Isn’t that bad? We’re making money now thanks to the imperial court. Now that the imperial court needs our help, wouldn’t it make His Majesty angry if we make things difficult?”

Not everyone agreed with the suggestion of joining forces to negotiate with the government. Some felt guilty, while others were afraid of the consequences of opposing the government.

“Master Tao is too serious. We’re not making things difficult for the imperial court. We’re doing this for the imperial court’s sake. What ability do those officials have to manage the railway? Only professionals like us know how to use the railway to make money.

The more we earn, the more taxes we pay to the imperial court. Isn’t that also contributing to Great Hua?”

Pang Yuanming argued.

They might indeed earn more than the government if they managed and operated it.

However, they would definitely exploit the people by any means possible, or plunder the profits of other merchants.

If the government managed it, it would earn less, but it would definitely benefit the people and serve the entire society, rather than serving a certain group.

“Our merchant community does need more say,” Hong Tailin said.

His thinking was still stuck in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, they bribed ministers in the court and funded scholars to take the imperial examinations, colluding with a large number of allies and mouthpieces in the court.

At that time, the merchant community had a great say in the court.

Every time Chongzhen wanted to collect taxes from merchants, he would be rebuffed by the people they supported.

Unfortunately, the current Wu Changqing was not as incompetent as Chongzhen. He was the type to confiscate property at the slightest disagreement.

They were naturally unwilling to accept the reduction in their power. Now, taking advantage of the railway construction, they began to stir again, wanting to restore their former glory.

“That idea is dangerous. His Majesty is a wise ruler. I think we should just make small money honestly,” Master Tao said. He was more afraid of Wu Changqing.

He was a man who rose from humble beginnings and changed the course of the world with his own strength. No amount of caution was too much.

“Master Tao is overthinking it. We’re just fighting for some of our rights. Master Sun is still here. How could he not be thinking of His Majesty? What we’re doing is also beneficial to the imperial court,” Pang Yuanming said.

Sun Daoming could barely be considered a relative of the emperor. He now supported taking the management of the railway into the hands of the Chamber of Commerce.

After all, Sun Daoming was the president.

If he could make this happen, his prestige would be greatly enhanced.

In the end, everyone agreed and decided not to buy those national debts collectively.

The reason was easy to find: they could simply say that their cash flow was insufficient.

The national debt had been issued for several days, and only three hundred thousand taels had been sold, and all of them were small purchases.

This was very abnormal. Ruan Dacheng keenly noticed the problem through the data.

Helpless, Ruan Dacheng had to gather these big merchants to talk.

Despite being a cabinet minister, Ruan Dacheng didn’t have many good ways to deal with these big merchants.

Unless he was prepared to use barbaric methods and resort to force.

But that would have a very bad impact.

Therefore, Ruan Dacheng still wanted to solve the problem through negotiation.

“Gentlemen, I won’t waste any words. The reason why you can make so much money now is because His Majesty drove away the Tartars and invented many commodities.

Now that the Great Hua Empire needs construction, you should all contribute a little. Moreover, this is not asking for your money for nothing, but just borrowing from you with considerable interest.”

Ruan Dacheng cut straight to the point, too lazy to beat around the bush with these people.

“Minister Ruan, I also want to contribute to the construction of Great Hua. However, I made a plan to expand my scale before the new year, and I really don’t have any money in my pocket,” Pang Yuanming said.

However, Ruan Dacheng wouldn’t believe a word of what he said.

If he held this meeting without investigating beforehand, then he wouldn’t be qualified to sit in the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

He usually prepared thoroughly for everything he did.

“Is that so? Master Pang’s profit in December was one hundred and thirty thousand taels of silver, and this year’s expected profit is two million taels. And your expansion plan is five salt farms, and the initial investment only requires a little over one hundred thousand.

With the completion of these five salt farms, your profits can increase by several percent. No matter how you calculate it, you don’t have a shortage of money.”

Ruan Dacheng directly exposed Pang Yuanming’s lie. He could roughly derive these data based on Pang Yuanming’s annual tax situation.

Pang Yuanming was a little embarrassed when he heard this, but he was also an old fox, and immediately changed his tune: “Five salt farms were the original plan. I just felt that the salt production was still too small, and I wanted to build a few more.”

“No need. Expanding five is just right. You have to give other salt merchants a buffer time to transition. Expanding so much at once can easily kill other salt merchants, which is not conducive to social stability.

Adding five more, we will no longer be short of salt in our jurisdiction. As for other places, we’ll talk about it later. Building the railway is more important now.”

Ruan Dacheng continued to retort, determined to get a piece of flesh from these people today.

Pang Yuanming was speechless, but he didn’t express his agreement.

He was going to see if others could hold out first. If others could hold out, he could also insist on not helping, since the law does not punish the masses.

If others were also rendered speechless by Ruan Dacheng, then he would probably have to admit defeat this time.

The matter of seizing power had to be planned carefully and gradually.

Chapter 406: Winning the First Battle

“Shopkeeper Sun, what about you? You wouldn’t happen to have expansion plans as well, would you?”

After going after Pang Yuanming, Ruan Dacheng continued to target the next person, Sun Daoming.

“Of course, I do,” Sun Daoming said.

“Oh? Might you be willing to share them?” Ruan Dacheng asked.

“I’m sorry, but that’s a trade secret. I’m not at liberty to disclose it.”

Sun Daoming wasn’t afraid of Ruan Dacheng. His niece was the current Consort Shu.

If Ruan Dacheng dared to bully him with his official authority, he could have his niece whisper a few words in Wu Changqing’s ear.

“Is that so? Well, I must remind Shopkeeper Sun that you’re in the grain business. The grain business is heavily reliant on transportation. If you lose priority access and can’t transport your grain, the losses could be significant,” Ruan Dacheng threatened.

Sun Daoming wasn’t afraid of him, nor would he be.

If Consort Shu could give birth to a prince first, he might be a little wary. But if not, there was no need to pay attention.

A woman who couldn’t bear a prince was destined to be nothing more than the emperor’s plaything, eventually forgotten as she aged, meeting a miserable end.

After going after Sun Daoming, he continued to target the others.

He had investigated everyone’s situation, so he always had the upper hand in these confrontations.

However, winning the argument didn’t necessarily mean he would get the money.

After all, buying national bonds was supposed to be a voluntary matter.

What could Ruan Dacheng do if people had money but simply refused to support the court? At most, he could point fingers at them morally, but there were no relevant laws to convict them.

If it were just one or two such merchants, it would be simple: just find a reason to confiscate their property.

The world wouldn’t descend into chaos just because the court had unjustly killed a merchant.

However, he was now facing more than twenty major merchants, who created nearly one hundred thousand jobs.

Taking them all down at once would inevitably lead to social unrest.

Their combined efforts to incite those workers would be a formidable force.

Even if the court had the power to suppress them, such an approach would make other merchants feel disheartened and fearful.

In short, using force would be a losing proposition in the long run.

The relationship between the court and merchants shouldn’t be like this.

Ruan Dacheng didn’t expect to solve the problem with just one meeting. All his previous attacks were just foreplay.

The real action would begin after the meeting ended.

During the meeting, Ruan Dacheng had observed who was resolute in their stance, who was just following the crowd, and who was participating under duress.

Afterward, he singled out those whose attitudes weren’t so firm and met with them individually. He reasoned with them, appealed to their emotions, and finally added a bit of forceful intimidation.

Many merchants couldn’t withstand this combination and promised to quietly purchase a certain amount of bonds.

Divide the opposition internally, dismantle their organization, and then defeat them one by one. No one was better at this kind of struggle than Ruan Dacheng; it was his specialty.

Don’t even mention those merchants with no experience in officialdom; even a group of more cunning foxes might not be a match for Ruan Dacheng.

Back then, even the Donglin Party wasn’t his opponent.

In addition to dividing the Jinling Merchant Guild internally, Ruan Dacheng was also striving to win over merchants outside the guild.

For example, Chen Daolin, after being persuaded by Ruan Dacheng, had already promised to purchase two million in national bonds.

He alone had solved forty percent of the quota.

Adding in some other small merchants, as well as those he had persuaded, the five million in national bonds had been successfully sold without anyone realizing it.

And it wasn’t over yet. Ruan Dacheng had written down the names of those merchants who refused to cooperate and caused him trouble in a little notebook, and then used his connections and power to suppress them.

It was just a slight tap, and only on a few stubborn individuals, so it wouldn’t have any impact on society.

But this slight tap was enough to make those merchants uncomfortable.

Although they were uncomfortable, they hadn’t been pushed to the brink, so they couldn’t make up their minds to rebel.

Helpless, some merchants were already preparing to yield, proactively going to his door to apologize and beg for forgiveness, promising to actively cooperate with Ruan Dacheng’s work in the future.

In the first contest between the merchants and Ruan Dacheng, Ruan Dacheng had achieved a complete victory.

Even before Ruan Dacheng had raised the money, the preliminary work for building the railway had already begun.

Wu Changqing’s determination to build the railway was unwavering. Regardless of whether the money could be raised, the road had to be built.

Therefore, those below weren’t worried that the project would be abandoned. After Wu Changqing inspected the test run of the locomotive, the various departments began to take action.

The surveyors had already set out to survey and select the most suitable route.

Their professional level was actually quite concerning.

At most, they could check whether the soil underground was hard enough and try to choose a route that was as straight as possible.

They didn’t know much else.

But there was no choice; the talent available at this stage was at this level. Even so, they were already the best engineers in the country.

In fact, they could be considered among the best in the world.

At this time, foreign countries didn’t even have such a large and precise project.

Foreign countries at this time didn’t even have steam engines, let alone trains.

The Great Hua was now at the forefront of the world.

The routes chosen by these people would inevitably be accompanied by various problems.

But it didn’t matter; problems could be discovered and solved.

Experience came from this.

Without exception, the various inventions in history, as well as the application of various new technologies, had to go through many failures, even painful lessons.

While the surveyors were taking action, the steel mill had also spun off a department specifically to produce rails for the Jingsong Railway.

Such a large order forced the steel mill to accelerate its expansion.

The current Great Hua Empire really needed steel everywhere.

In the past, bricks and stones were enough to build houses.

But now, red brick houses that were resistant to sun, moisture, and wind erosion had become popular, and some city dwellers had begun to tear down their houses and rebuild them.

And this required a lot of rebar.

Building railways, building ships, building bridges…

The use of steel had permeated every corner of society.

In addition to the preparation of materials, building the railway also required a large amount of manpower.

Some of these people came from prisoners of war, while others were recruited.

The prisoners of war only needed to be fed. Great Hua had promised that they would be freed as soon as they finished building the Jingsong Railway.

Those who were recruited as laborers needed to be paid wages.

Building the railway was a very hard job, so the wages were naturally not low, starting at least one tael and five qian per month.

For this reason, Ruan Dacheng had done the math and found that prisoners of war were better to use.

He had even secretly sent letters to the generals on the front lines, hoping that they could launch offensives as soon as possible and capture more prisoners of war to save expenses.

Chapter 407: Mortar

Wenzhou: a new batch of weapons, equipment, and technical troops arrived.

“Commander, I heard that this is the newest weapon developed by the arsenal, called a mortar. There’s only this batch in the entire arsenal, and now it’s been assigned to you. It seems His Majesty is giving you special treatment.”

Lu Guangzu’s personal guard chuckled. Everyone nearby understood the meaning of his words.

It meant that Lu Guangzu’s strategy of offering beauties had succeeded, even though he had been criticized on the surface.

But secretly, he was still being favored.

Lu Guangzu was also very happy in his heart when he heard this, but he controlled himself well and didn’t show it.

After all, this kind of thing wasn’t honorable. It was enough to get the benefits; there was no need to flaunt it everywhere.

Lu Guangzu said, “His Majesty hopes that we will pacify the South as soon as possible. We should fight even more bravely and not let His Majesty down.”

After saying that, he began to ask what this mortar was.

Looking at the small-caliber barrel, Lu Guangzu thought it was the old Thunderbolt Cannon.

However, the muzzle of the old Thunderbolt Cannon pointed forward, while the muzzle of this mortar pointed upwards.

This made Lu Guangzu a little curious. Could it be that this thing was for fighting enemies in the sky?

But the Ming army didn’t have an air force.

Or was this a cannon specifically for attacking city walls?

“This is a small cannon specifically for mountain warfare. It’s lightweight and easy to carry. Moreover, the shells fired from this cannon travel in an arc, so they can hit high places, and the requirements for setting up artillery positions are low.”

Battalion Commander Lu Qing said.

The muzzle of the old Hongyi cannon was straight, so the artillery position had to be chosen at a high place to bypass various obstacles and hit people.

In the mountains, the Hongyi cannon was completely useless.

If they wanted to hit the enemy, they had to move the cannon to a high place, which wasn’t easy.

Even those small-caliber, easy-to-carry Thunderbolt Cannons were useless in the mountains.

Therefore, based on feedback from the front lines and Wu Changqing’s guidance, the arsenal created this mortar suitable for mountain warfare.

“Fire a few shots and let’s see,” Lu Guangzu said. Seeing is believing. As an old general, he could basically understand the use of this cannon with just one glance.

Afterward, several mortar soldiers aimed at a hilltop and fired from the foot of the mountain.

They completed the launch with a simple operation. The fired shell flew in an arc and landed on the top of the mountain, exploding.

“Oh, not bad. This will make it much easier for us to attack hilltops in the future.”

Several generals’ eyes lit up.

When they were marching in the mountains before, they often encountered harassment and ambushes from the Ming army.

Then they discovered that attacking hilltops was even more troublesome than attacking cities.

There were many trees on the mountain, so flintlocks weren’t very useful.

Moreover, it wasn’t convenient to deploy formations in the mountains, so they couldn’t carry out dense firing.

Scattered firing by a dozen or dozens of people was very inefficient.

At the same time, when climbing upwards, they were easily attacked by stones and grenades thrown from above.

These Ming soldiers responsible for ambushing them were generally small in number and couldn’t cause them any fatal damage, but they could delay their marching speed and demoralize them.

Mountains were everywhere, and ambushes were everywhere, making the Hua army soldiers miserable.

Now, with the help of cannons, it might be easier to attack hilltops and clear obstacles, which was exactly what they needed.

“Adjust the angle, and you can also hit behind the mountain.”

Lu Qing continued to explain and demonstrate. As long as they raised the angle a little, the shell could cross the hilltop and land behind the mountain.

However, the accuracy of this was very low, and it was basically used to scare people. It wasn’t practical yet.

The level of these artillerymen and the performance of these mortars didn’t support them in completing precision strikes.

“Not bad. How many of these mortars do you have in total?”

Lu Guangzu asked.

“We’ve only brought one hundred for now, with three people operating each one. We’re here mainly to test the various practical combat capabilities of this cannon and then collect data for improvement.

The higher-ups mean that Commander Lu should cooperate with us as much as possible during the advance to complete the testing. After all, there are more mountains in the Southwest in the future, and there are many places where these mortars will be needed, so the higher-ups attach great importance to them.”

Although Lu Qing’s military rank was much lower than Lu Guangzu’s, he was here on an imperial mission, so his authority was not small.

When facing Lu Guangzu, he didn’t need to fawn over him deliberately.

“Battalion Commander Lu can rest assured. There are plenty of Ming troops ambushing us along the way. There will be plenty of opportunities to use them,” Lu Guangzu said with a smile.

With the mortars and the troops having rested for a period of time, they ended their vacation and continued on their way, heading south to Ningde.

After arriving at Xiaonanshan, they chose to cross Xiaonanshan directly.

In the past, given a choice, they would rather take a detour and travel a longer distance than march across the mountain.

But now, they stepped into the mountains without hesitation.

Then, unsurprisingly, they encountered resistance.

Resistance and delay had become the basic strategy of the Great Ming army.

There was no way around it. They didn’t dare to fight a decisive battle, so they could only use this method.

On the hillside, a group of Ming soldiers were stationed, and they had prepared stones, grenades, and even dug trenches.

In the trenches, they could effectively avoid the Hua army’s bullets, greatly reducing casualties.

This Ming army had only three hundred people in total, a very small number.

They didn’t expect to be able to stop the Hua army at all, only hoping to hinder the Hua army’s advance.

Xiaonanshan had an altitude of two hundred meters, and the hillside was dozens of meters away from the foot of the mountain. The terrain was dangerous, and there was only a small path across the mountainside.

The Ming army was stationed on the hillside and could throw stones and bombs onto the small path on the mountainside at any time.

Therefore, if they wanted to pass through this place safely, they had to climb the hillside and eliminate or drive away this Ming army.

However, climbing this hillside wasn’t easy.

There was no road from the foot of the mountain to the hillside. Even if no one was defending it, climbing up would be exhausting.

What’s more, there were people defending it now, and they had to be careful of stones rolling down from above and grenades being thrown down when climbing the slope.

What made the Hua army even more headache was that the terrain here didn’t support the entire army climbing on a large scale. Only a small area of the terrain was easy to climb, and no more than five hundred people could go up at a time.

In this case, they couldn’t take advantage of their numerical superiority.

In the past, faced with this difficult situation, they could only solve the problem by risking their lives.

But now, they had mortars, and the response could be slightly changed.

“We can just sit at the foot of the mountain and watch the show later, and see the performance of these mortars,” Lu Guangzu said with a smile.

Chapter 408: Worth It

One hundred mortars were lined up at the foot of the mountain. The artillerymen first calculated the range, then computed the parameters and adjusted the firing elements.

This involved the calculation of elliptical trajectories and the application of calculus, which these soldiers certainly couldn’t handle.

So, they used a simpler method.

People from the academy had already calculated the parameters for various distances and compiled them into tables in notebooks.

Each artillery team had a table. After measuring the distance, they adjusted the angle of the muzzle according to the parameters on the table.

This series of complex preparations made Lu Guangzu and the others repeatedly marvel at how difficult it was to be a soldier these days, having to learn so much knowledge.

After some preparation, the artillery began firing at the Ming army on the hillside.

These mortars still used smoothbore technology, meaning the barrels had no rifling, resulting in poor accuracy.

But that didn’t matter; they relied on quantity to win.

With one hundred shells raining down on the area, about eight or nine landed on the enemy’s position. A ten percent hit rate was already considered quite good.

These shells would explode, and on average, each hit could kill one or two enemies.

This was because the enemy’s formation wasn’t very dense; otherwise, the killing efficiency would have been even higher.

This kind of killing efficiency was actually quite considerable.

After a dozen rounds, they could kill about one hundred enemies.

And with a total enemy force of only three hundred, a casualty rate of over thirty percent would surely lead to the Ming army’s collapse.

The first round of shells exploded, and the Ming army’s centurion immediately shrank into the trench, afraid of being taken out by the shrapnel.

“What’s going on? Where did the enemy get cannons? How can the cannons hit us here?”

The Ming soldiers were confused. Some of them knew that cannons needed a line of sight.

In mountainous areas like this, cannons were basically useless. To hit the hillside, you’d need an artillery position at the same height or higher.

Moving those cannons, which weighed over five hundred kilograms each, up the hillside would be a death sentence.

“I don’t know. Could it be those things down there?”

Someone pointed to the foot of the mountain.

They weren’t high-ranking enough to be equipped with telescopes, so they couldn’t see very clearly, only making out the shadows of the Chinese army’s mortars at the foot of the mountain.

They couldn’t see clearly and weren’t sure.

However, none of this mattered. Faced with artillery fire, they needed to consider whether to retreat.

Retreating would naturally fail to achieve the goal of blocking the Chinese army, but at least they could save their lives and reduce losses.

If they retreated now, the Chinese army definitely wouldn’t catch up, and might not even pursue them.

The Ming army’s centurion hesitated. Retracting now would inevitably lead to criticism from his superiors.

So, he decided to hold on for a while longer and see what happened.

If more people died, he would have a better reason to retreat.

The shelling continued, and the Ming soldiers were terrified.

Many soldiers, seeing their comrades killed and wounded, chose to quietly leave.

With the mountains high and the forests dense, it was difficult for the officers to stop them.

“Sir, let’s retreat! The brothers can’t hold on anymore!”

Someone found the centurion and urged him to retreat.

“What do you mean, can’t hold on? How many people have died?”

The centurion asked, still being shelled, he hadn’t had time to count the casualties.

“A lot! Four have already died in my squad. If we don’t leave, we’re finished!”

The squad leader said.

The centurion was shocked to hear this. Four deaths in a squad of eleven was too terrifying.

“Retreat then.”

He was also afraid of that unknown thing, so he decided to avoid its edge for now.

Noticing the Ming army’s retreat, the Chinese army also stopped the shelling and sent a squad to check the situation, count the casualties, and inspect the results.

In particular, those responsible for testing the mortar’s performance had many things to check.

Even the landing points of the shells had to be roughly counted and estimated.

The Ming army retreated in haste, abandoning the dead and seriously wounded on the mountain.

This allowed the Chinese army to clearly count the results of the battle.

They found a total of sixty-five bodies; the seriously wounded were also counted as bodies.

And they had fired a total of eight rounds, about eight hundred shells.

On average, twelve shells were needed to eliminate one enemy. This efficiency wouldn’t be considered low in later generations because the cost of making a shell was very low, while the value of a soldier was very high.

But now, Lu Guangzu felt sorry for the cost.

Each of these mortar shells cost one tael and five mace of silver. This round of shelling cost one thousand two hundred taels of silver, which was simply burning money.

Of course, war couldn’t be accounted for in this way. They had achieved their goal, and that value was difficult to measure.

“This hit rate is still a bit low,” Lu Guangzu complained.

“Well, it’s not low. It’s better than we expected. The enemy suffered because they didn’t understand it. If they had taken more defensive measures, the killing efficiency would have been even lower,” Lu Qing explained.

Although they had spent a lot of money, the Ming army had lost their lives.

No matter how you looked at it, this result was worth it.

After clearing the battlefield, the Chinese army continued to advance.

Without the threat of the enemy above, they could march with more peace of mind.

The retreating Ming soldiers were in terrible spirits.

Their previous strategy had been to use the mountainous terrain to harass and block the enemy, and they had done quite well before.

Although they still hadn’t stopped the Chinese army’s southward advance, they had at least slowed down their speed.

Moreover, in those blocking battles, they hadn’t suffered many casualties, and the soldiers’ morale was relatively high.

But now, the Chinese army suddenly had a type of artillery that could be used in the mountains, and their casualty rate had increased so much that many soldiers couldn’t bear it.

The next time they fought, the soldiers would probably feel fear of battle.

Only two hundred Ming soldiers escaped. Besides those killed in battle, some soldiers had deserted.

They retreated all the way back to Pingyang and immediately reported the situation to Huang Huihong, the garrison commander of Pingyang.

“Cannons that can fire from below?”

Huang Huihong frowned. This sounded terrifying. Didn’t this mean that this type of artillery could be used to attack the city walls?

Originally, cannons would stop firing when infantry launched an assault, for fear of friendly fire.

But if it was this kind of portable, small-caliber artillery, it could be brought under the city walls to continue to inflict casualties and suppress the defending soldiers on the walls.

In this way, the difficulty of defending the city would increase a lot.

“Yes, and there are a lot of them,” the centurion said.

“What should we do?”

Huang Huihong sighed. Because of its strategic location, Pingyang was a gateway that the Chinese army had to pass through to advance south, and he wanted to hold on here tenaciously.

Moreover, that was what his superiors had asked him to do.

But now, if it was true what his subordinates said, that the Chinese army had cannons, then the difficulty of defending the city would greatly increase.

Chapter 409: Difficult to Attack

The next day, Lu Guangzu’s troops arrived at Pingyang County.

Pingyang County wasn’t like ordinary counties. It only had walls on two sides, with mountains on the other two, the walls connecting directly to the mountains.

Despite being a small county, its strategic importance meant the walls were quite tall, reaching six meters, comparable to major cities like Suzhou.

This was why Huang Huihong was determined to defend here. If they couldn’t hold even this natural fortress, there wouldn’t be any better place to defend against the Hua army.

Huang Huihong had four thousand troops stationed here, and also hired over a thousand civilian laborers, ready to send them to the walls to hold the line when needed.

Lu Guangzu’s force had over five thousand men, but they couldn’t leverage their numerical advantage here, as the northern wall of Pingyang County was only three hundred meters long.

That small area would be too crowded even with a thousand men attacking at once.

A single grenade from the enemy could cause massive casualties.

As for attacking from the mountains on either side and then descending into the city, that wasn’t realistic either.

Attacking the enemy on the mountains would be even harder than attacking the city walls directly.

Lu Guangzu’s troops rested for a day and built some ladders for the siege.

To facilitate marching, they had avoided carrying unnecessary supplies when heading south.

Once ready, the Hua army began their assault.

The mortar battery moved to within a few dozen meters of the city walls to bombard the defending troops.

“Is that the cannon? It’s so small, is it even powerful?”

Huang Huihong asked, not believing it could be effective. Compared to the Hongyi cannons, the mortars looked like miniature toys.

In those days, the power of a cannon was usually proportional to its size.

Huang Huihong doubted the effectiveness of something so small.

“It might not be as powerful as the Hongyi cannons, but it can still kill people. Plus, there are many of them, and they fire quickly,” the centurion said.

He didn’t need to say much more, as Huang Huihong quickly saw for himself.

The Hua army launched their bombardment, the shells raining down like raindrops.

Some fell before reaching the walls, while others flew over and exploded in the city.

Only a few landed on the walls.

And the power of the explosions was indeed as he had expected, small, not even damaging the walls significantly.

However, the scattered shrapnel still hit many soldiers.

Those hit in vital areas died instantly.

Others who weren’t hit in vital spots were rendered combat ineffective.

“These cannons fire so fast! These guys are really rich, to afford using these cannons and wasting shells like this!”

Huang Huihong couldn’t help but curse after seeing the Hua army’s firing rate.

He realized this weapon was only suitable for the Hua army. Even if he was given them, he couldn’t afford to use them; they consumed too many shells.

“Yeah, if we had equipment like this to waste, how could we possibly lose to them?”

Another officer said.

Through trade with Western Europe merchants, the Longwu Emperor had bought many advanced weapons, including flintlock rifles.

And their unit had been allocated five hundred of them.

They also had hand grenades, which they could now manufacture themselves.

However, due to lack of funds, production remained very low, and they had only been allocated two thousand here.

If they had more hand grenades, they wouldn’t have to fear the Hua army.

“Have the artillery return fire!”

Huang Huihong ordered. They had seven or eight very primitive cannons here, placed safely on the mountains on either side.

However, the power of these cannons was, to put it mildly, underwhelming.

In short, after two rounds of firing, only one shell landed on the Hua army’s mortar position, killing one soldier.

The Hua army soldiers didn’t even notice the casualties, acting as if the enemy’s artillery didn’t exist, continuing to bombard the walls.

Being ignored like this made the Ming army’s artillerymen quite embarrassed.

But that was all they had to work with; they had already done their best.

At the same time, the Hua army’s infantry quickly charged towards the city walls, preparing to take advantage of the reduced enemy presence on the walls during the artillery bombardment for a surprise attack.

However, the Ming army had anticipated this move.

Each time the Ming army was defeated, they would summarize their experiences and make changes to their tactics.

At this moment, as soon as Huang Huihong noticed the Hua army’s artillery fire weakening, he knew they were about to launch a full-scale assault.

Therefore, he immediately began urgently moving the soldiers hiding under the walls onto the walls, preparing to meet the enemy.

When the Hua army reached the base of the walls, hooked their ladders onto the walls, and prepared to climb, the Ming army began throwing down hand grenades, welcoming the Hua army.

The hand grenades exploded, and screams echoed from the base of the walls.

“Damn it.”

The Hua army officer in charge of the attack cursed. Continuing the attack now would result in very high casualties, and there was no guarantee of success.

But he was unwilling to retreat just like that.

“Hurry up and get up there! Grenadiers, can you throw them up this high?”

He urged the soldiers to attack while asking the grenadier unit that had come with them.

The company commander of the grenadier company shook his head after seeing the height of the walls.

Too high, over six meters.

He wasn’t confident that his men could throw them up there. If they couldn’t, they would end up blowing up their own men, a losing proposition, too risky.

While they were discussing this, the Hua army’s attacking force had already suffered significant casualties.

“Regimental commander, let’s retreat for now and reconsider. These casualties are too heavy, it’s not worth it,” his subordinate advised.

They weren’t being cowardly, but there was no need to stubbornly push forward.

After all, there were no orders from above specifying when they had to take this place, so there was no rush.

Slowly finding an opportunity and reducing casualties was the most correct approach.

“Retreat.”

With the order to retreat issued, the Hua army soldiers quickly withdrew.

And on the city walls, a cheer erupted.

No matter how badly the Ming army had been defeated before, at least at this moment, they had temporarily achieved victory, driving back the Hua army.

Watching his own troops retreat, Lu Guangzu’s expression was quite unpleasant.

This attack had not achieved any results, but had instead resulted in the deaths of over a hundred soldiers.

“This way of fighting won’t work. Does anyone have any good ideas?”

Lu Guangzu asked.

Now, pursuing low casualties had become the Hua army’s style, and Lu Guangzu didn’t want to use lives to buy a victory.

Everyone frowned upon hearing this. Without siege vehicles, cloud ladders, and other large siege equipment, attacking such a stronghold was indeed not easy.

“If only the air force was here.”

Someone lamented.

“Don’t count on the air force. There are so few of them, and they had widespread malfunctions in the North before the new year. Until those malfunctions are resolved, no one can use them.”

Lu Guangzu suspended the attack. Until he thought of a solution, he didn’t want to launch an attack easily.

Chapter 410: Rogue Tactics

“Perhaps, we can adopt harassment tactics,” the staff officer suggested.

“Tell me the specifics,” Lu Guangzu urged.

“In short, we use a combination of feints and real attacks. As soon as the enemy gets on the city walls to defend, our infantry immediately stops and retreats, letting the artillery bombard and inflict casualties.

And once the enemy retreats from the city walls to take cover, the infantry puts on a show of a general assault, making the enemy afraid to leave the walls. The difficulty for them to get on and off the city walls is much greater than for our troops to advance and retreat on flat ground,” the staff officer explained.

This tactic sounded good, but the actual operation would be quite difficult.

The timing of the infantry’s advance and retreat needed to be mastered very well. If they retreated too slowly, they would be accidentally injured by their own artillery and also suffer enemy fire.

But if they retreated too early, they wouldn’t be able to force the Ming army to stay on the city walls, and it would become a joke.

Moreover, this kind of fighting would also waste artillery shells, and the killing efficiency might not be that high.

Of course, this rogue tactic also had its advantages, which was that it could exhaust the Ming army, put them in a dilemma, and severely damage their morale.

This kind of situation, where others can hit you but you can’t fight back, is most damaging to morale.

If the Ming army was careless and negligent in their defense, the Great Hua army could also take advantage of the situation to launch a general assault and take the city walls.

“Sounds alright, but wouldn’t this waste a lot of artillery shells?”

Artillery shells were money, and Lu Guangzu was also quite distressed.

“Well, you have to pay something. To take a strategic pass like this in the past, it would take at least a year and a half, and it would be impossible without the death of several thousand or tens of thousands of people. Now, it’s already very good to just spend some money,” the staff officer said with emotion.

He found that the ideas and concepts of the Great Hua army’s generals were changing so quickly, and they were all becoming very arrogant and eager for quick success.

In the past, to attack a fortified city, they would definitely mobilize more than three times the strength of the defenders.

But now, they dared to attack even with fewer troops than the defenders.

In the past, attacking a fortified city for ten days and a half, or even half a year, would be considered normal.

But now, if a city couldn’t be taken in three days, it would be regarded as a disgrace.

There were also changes in various aspects such as battle damage and tactics. These Great Hua officers had become completely different from before.

He couldn’t see the deep-seated reasons for this change, but he felt that it might be the result of mutual comparison between the officers.

After all, if other generals could take a fortified city in one day, and he had to spend several months, he would probably have no face to stay in this circle in the future.

“Then let’s do that. Go back and plan it in detail so that there are no mistakes,” Lu Guangzu had no better way and could only adopt the chief of staff’s suggestion.

Inside Pingyang Pass, the Ming army was cleaning up the battlefield.

The Hua army felt a little distressed when more than a hundred people died, but they didn’t know that the Ming army also suffered heavy casualties.

Those dozen or so rounds of artillery fire alone caused them dozens of casualties.

Including some who were shot to death, they lost nearly a hundred people.

At the same time, they had less than one thousand six hundred of their two thousand grenades left, and the consumption was very serious.

With the kind of offensive just now, after four more waves, their grenades would be used up.

If the Hua army launched a general offensive, their reserves might be used up in just two attacks.

Once they ran out of grenades, they would probably have to retreat.

Without the great weapon of grenades, they would definitely not be able to hold on.

The Hua army was worried, and Huang Huihong was also worried. He was even thinking about whether to order the soldiers to use the grenades sparingly, and not to throw them with all their might just because of their power.

At this rate, they wouldn’t be able to last long at all.

The next day, the Great Hua army came to Pingyang Pass again and launched harassment tactics.

However, on the surface, their attack method was actually similar to yesterday’s.

It was still artillery fire first, followed by infantry approaching.

However, this time, the artillery fire was not as fierce as yesterday’s, and they were also saving artillery shells.

Huang Huihong sneered triumphantly in his heart when he saw this scene. He felt that the Hua army had exhausted their tricks and had no more tricks. Moreover, there might be a shortage of artillery shells.

This made him very happy, which meant that the hope of holding this pass had greatly increased.

“Second Battalion and Third Battalion stop, First Battalion continue to advance.”

Under the city walls, the Hua army officers were carrying out complex commands.

The two battalions stopped thirty meters away from the city walls. This distance allowed them to rush up at any time to join the general attack, but it was not enough to be attacked by the defenders.

And one battalion continued to approach, which forced the Ming army to send soldiers to the city walls to defend.

When those soldiers appeared on the city walls, the First Battalion immediately retreated, and the artillery also reopened fire.

This timing needed to be mastered relatively accurately, otherwise it would accidentally injure one’s own soldiers.

This was actually the initial version of infantry-artillery coordination in later generations.

The Hua army’s sudden rogue operation stunned the Ming army.

However, as the artillery shells fell around them, these Ming soldiers suddenly realized that the enemy was tricking them into coming up to be bombed.

They wanted to retreat from the city walls immediately, but without an order from their superiors, retreating without permission was disobeying military orders, which would result in beheading.

The Ming soldiers were immediately caught in a dilemma.

However, they didn’t struggle for too long.

The Ming army generals weren’t stupid either. Seeing this situation, they only hesitated for a moment before immediately arranging for the soldiers to leave the city walls.

However, just because an order was given, didn’t mean the soldiers could leave immediately.

There were only two staircases to get down the city walls, and on average, only three people could walk side by side each time.

This was still under orderly circumstances. In reality, those panicked soldiers were holding their weapons haphazardly, and they would accidentally poke their comrades if they weren’t careful.

Therefore, those soldiers who were eager to go down first always managed to create chaos.

It was already a blessing that there were no stampedes.

After finally waiting for those soldiers to leave the city walls, the Great Hua artillery stopped firing again.

Immediately afterwards, the Hua army infantry began to approach the city walls again, putting on a posture of attacking the city.

The Hua army’s actions made Huang Huihong’s head ache.

He knew that the other party was feigning an attack. Once he sent people to the city walls, those Hua army soldiers would repeat their old tricks.

At that time, they would be tricked a second time, not only sacrificing some soldiers in vain, but also causing morale to plummet.

However, it wouldn’t work if he didn’t call people up. What if the Hua army launched a general attack directly?

It would be too late to come to the rescue after the Hua army started climbing the city walls.

“Bring the people up.”

Huang Huihong didn’t dare to take this risk, and was willing to make the soldiers suffer a little more.

At this time, he could only hope that these soldiers could be more patient and overcome this difficulty.

As soon as this order was issued, the Ming army soldiers immediately cursed.

They had just come down, and they had to go up again before they could catch their breath?

Moreover, going up was just to be bombed, and they couldn’t even touch the enemy.

They cursed, but they hadn’t reached the point of collapse yet. So, they cursed as they went up the city walls again.

Chapter 411: Sudden General Offensive

Ming army soldiers surged onto the city walls, each unit taking up their defensive positions, hands gripping grenades, ready to throw them at any moment.

At this moment, some of the Chinese army were only meters away from the city walls, while others had already hooked their siege ladders onto the walls and were preparing to climb.

If the Ming army hadn’t wanted to conserve their grenades, they could have already started throwing them.

However, their officers had ordered them to throw them at the most densely packed areas possible.

They were still waiting for the opportune moment.

But just then, the Chinese army retreated rapidly, like a receding tide.

The area in front of the city walls was a large, flat plain, making it much easier for them to advance and retreat than it was for the Ming army to move up and down the walls.

Seeing the Chinese army retreat, the Ming soldiers couldn’t help but curse, mock, or try to damage the siege ladders.

Unfortunately for them, the Chinese army had plenty of these simple siege ladders; they were cheap. As for the curses and taunts, the Chinese soldiers couldn’t hear them.

What they could hear was the whistling of their own artillery shells.

Immediately afterward came the panicked cries and screams of the Ming army.

The shells landed on the city walls again, inflicting casualties on the Ming soldiers above.

In reality, the damage wasn’t that great, nowhere near as terrifying as close-quarters combat.

However, the Ming soldiers couldn’t stand it. They scrambled to get off the city walls and take cover.

In close-quarters combat, they could at least fight back, but now they couldn’t even touch the enemy.

They hated this kind of battle where they could only stand there and take a beating; they hated it.

Getting off the city walls was another chaotic scene, inevitably leading to arguments, conflicts, and even accidents, such as being pushed and falling down the steps.

“Sir, this can’t go on. Perhaps we could send up a small number of soldiers each time. This way, we can reduce casualties and temporarily hold off the enemy for a while. If the enemy launches a general offensive, we’ll have enough time to stall until reinforcements arrive.”

Huang Huihong’s subordinate suggested.

These men weren’t completely useless; they had been thinking of ways to respond.

Right now, this man had offered a countermeasure that sounded feasible.

However, his suggestion only worked for one round.

In the first round, the Chinese army was indeed fooled and continued to execute their harassment tactics.

But soon, the Chinese army’s general noticed the Ming army’s adjustment.

In this situation, continuing the harassment tactics would be less effective and not worthwhile.

“Order the next wave to be a full-scale general offensive.”

Lu Guangzu ordered.

After multiple rounds of harassment, they had almost numbed the enemy.

A sudden, strong attack at this time would definitely catch them off guard.

The front-line commanders who received the signal flags acted immediately, informing the soldiers below of the upcoming general offensive to prepare them mentally.

Then, they continued to advance, just like the previous waves.

However, this time, the faces of the Chinese soldiers wore a solemn expression. Next, they would be getting serious and engaging in a tough battle.

Just like the ‘boy who cried wolf’ effect, although Huang Huihong knew that the Chinese army would launch a general offensive sooner or later, his nerves weren’t as tense as before.

If the commander was like this, then his subordinates and soldiers were even more lax.

They believed that the Chinese army was still just bluffing.

Instead of defending seriously, they might as well find a good spot to avoid the incoming Chinese artillery shells.

Just as they were slacking off, the Chinese army arrived at the city walls and began to climb in full force.

The Second and Third Battalions in the rear began to sprint towards the city walls, ready to follow up at any moment.

“Damn it, this time it’s real, the enemy is launching a general offensive.”

Huang Huihong said regretfully, forgetting to order the soldiers to come up and support for a moment.

At this time, there were only two hundred soldiers left on the city walls, less than one soldier defending every meter.

This density of deployment would definitely not be able to defend effectively.

Fortunately, some of Huang Huihong’s subordinates remained clear-headed and hurriedly ran to give orders.

Before that, they could only pray that the two hundred or so soldiers would display the spirit of heroic sacrifice and fight bravely.

However, this was obviously impossible.

These soldiers were only in the army for the pay, with little loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

Now that they suddenly encountered the Chinese army’s general offensive, these soldiers knew that they were in danger.

If they stayed and fought to the death, they might be able to hold off these enemies. This way, the Ming Dynasty could defend the city walls, but they would most likely die in battle.

This was of no benefit to these soldiers.

So, seeing that the situation was not good, and with no supervising officers behind them, these people chose to run.

Some people at least threw their grenades out before running, making their only contribution.

And some soldiers ran as soon as they saw that the situation was bad.

The few who continued to stay and defend could not be distinguished as foolish or loyal.

In short, those who stayed did not have a good end.

The Chinese army’s order for a general offensive was extremely resolute.

Those who resisted stubbornly would only face death.

The first wave of Chinese soldiers stormed the city walls, and several people formed a defensive line, protecting this landing point.

After only one minute, more than a dozen Chinese soldiers came up to this spot.

At this time, the Ming army’s reinforcements also came up.

Their speed of support was actually considered quite fast.

However, in the end, they were still one step too late, and more than three hundred Chinese soldiers had already gathered on the city walls.

They quickly reorganized their ranks, then guarded the city walls, waiting for more comrades to come up.

Seeing this scene, the Ming soldiers who had just come up to support panicked.

Slightly more experienced soldiers knew that killing three hundred people and driving them off the city walls was not an easy task. What was even more deadly was that the enemy was still constantly pouring in.

It could be said that they had completely lost the advantage of the city walls and could only fight fairly.

Fairly, only they thought so.

Immediately afterward, the Chinese army began to advance.

Then, the grenades were thrown around as if they were free, a technique that the Ming soldiers envied.

After a wave of grenade bombardment, the two sides engaged in close combat.

The Chinese army’s swordsmen and shield bearers fought with these people in the front, and the Ming soldiers could barely resist.

Immediately afterward, as a large number of riflemen came up to the city walls, the Ming soldiers couldn’t hold on.

Those riflemen lined up in formation, advancing neatly in one direction, bringing great pressure.

The Ming army also had a rifle unit, but in a hurry, they were unable to form a formation, and were scattered among the army.

Without being used in a concentrated manner, the power would be reduced by one level.

The Chinese army’s rifle unit had always focused on collective combat.

Before the close-quarters combat, there was a volley of fire, followed by a bayonet charge, and the Ming soldiers responsible for resisting collapsed.

The casualty rate was too high. The soldiers at the front were almost all dead, and it happened in an instant.

Human life seemed incredibly fragile in the face of firearms.

How difficult it was for a person to live to be over twenty years old.

But under the muzzle of a gun, death was only a blink of an eye.

Chapter 412: The Situation is Critical

“Quickly gather the remaining troops and continue to resist on the streets!” Huang Huihong said, his face ashen.

Just yesterday, he was gloating, but unexpectedly, the city walls fell today, and the fall was so sudden that he couldn’t accept it.

Having lost his senses, he was still thinking of resisting stubbornly.

“My lord, we can’t hold on any longer. Let’s retreat,” his subordinate advised. When they had the city walls, they had to be careful.

Now that they’ve lost the advantage of the city walls, how can they fight this battle?

Can’t you see that they are already retreating steadily?

Anyone with eyes could see that the chaotic troops could no longer be organized.

“I will not retreat! I will fight to the death!” Huang Huihong roared.

His words shocked everyone else. They didn’t understand why Huang Huihong had suddenly become so loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

You know, they had talked about Great Hua before, and even joked about defecting to Great Hua.

Huang Huihong had never been a staunch loyalist.

The only reason they hadn’t surrendered before was because they thought they could hold on.

They couldn’t figure it out and could only attribute it to Huang Huihong’s temporary loss of reason.

This situation was deadly. The commander wanted to fight to the death, but the people below didn’t want to.

Some generals had already gripped their sabers, hesitating whether to suddenly strike Huang Huihong.

Only by killing Huang Huihong would they have a chance to survive.

Just then, a bullet suddenly flew and pierced Huang Huihong’s forehead, killing him instantly.

“It’s a sniper!”

The other generals quickly ran away, looking for cover.

The Great Hua army’s snipers were the soldiers they feared the most, without exception.

Other soldiers could only defeat them, and they would still have a chance to surrender.

But these sniper bastards were a type of soldier who specialized in taking the lives of officers. These officials couldn’t help but be afraid.

Although the number of snipers was small, they could play a significant role in every battle.

With Huang Huihong’s death, the Ming army immediately lost its will to resist.

The remaining Ming generals either fled or surrendered, and none of them seriously resisted.

If the officers were like this, the soldiers below were even more so.

Once there were no supervising officers forcing them to fight to the death, they surrendered faster than anyone else.

Without a sharp skill in surrendering, the chances of surviving in war would be very small.

After more than an hour of mopping up, the Great Hua army completely occupied Pingyang County and cleaned up the battlefield.

In terms of battle damage, Great Hua, including yesterday’s casualties, had a total of four hundred and thirty deaths, an eight percent mortality rate, which was still within the soldiers’ tolerance.

As for the Ming army, a total of eight hundred and forty people were killed in battle, almost twice as many as the Great Hua army.

If all the Ming soldiers had fought to the death, at this rate, the Great Hua army would have had to lose at least two thousand men to take Pingyang County.

This kind of casualty would probably scare Lu Guangzu into giving up attacking Pingyang County.

However, such things rarely happen in real wars.

Most of the time, the enemy is defeated, and then you can start capturing prisoners.

Those battles with heavy casualties only last for a while.

Nearly three thousand Ming soldiers were captured, with only a small number escaping. Some soldiers didn’t want to escape at all. They were still thinking about joining the Great Hua army and continuing to receive military pay.

At this time, those who would actively join the Ming army were mostly people without land, peasants and refugees who could not survive. They had no choice but to be soldiers and eat military pay.

However, the Great Hua military is no longer short of soldiers, so the requirements for surrendered soldiers who want to join have become higher.

Most of the surrendered soldiers are sent to do hard labor.

They can regain their freedom after one or several years of work, and they must go even if they are unwilling.

Now, Great Hua is short of people everywhere for construction, and they can’t resist.

These three thousand surrendered soldiers had already been reserved by Ruan Dacheng before Lu Guangzu even started fighting.

After this battle, the mortar battalion’s shells were basically exhausted.

Lu Qing also got all the data he wanted and prepared to take his men back to Nanjing to improve the mortars.

The current mortars still have many problems.

For example, they are not accurate, and they are prone to exploding.

In a battle, three out of one hundred mortars explode, which is too high of an accident rate and needs to be improved.

“It’s too troublesome to take them back. Leave them with me, and send us another batch of shells when you go back,” Lu Guangzu said. He had already become fond of these portable cannons and wanted to keep them.

As for the losses caused by the explosions, they were insignificant compared to the results they had achieved.

“This, isn’t that good?” Lu Qing said. The higher-ups hadn’t explained how to arrange this battalion later.

However, it was likely that it would be allocated to the Southern Army, and it was reasonable to leave it to Lu Guangzu.

“What’s wrong with that? I’ll write an application to Commander Wang,” Lu Guangzu said.

Once Pingyang County was captured, the Ming garrisons behind were terrified.

Even Pingyang, such a strategically important pass, could not be held. They had no confidence in confronting the Great Hua army.

As a result, Lu Guangzu’s subsequent advance was very smooth.

When he arrived at Cangnan County, he encountered no resistance. The magistrate of Cangnan County opened the city gates to surrender, and the garrison commander stationed here, along with one thousand soldiers, also surrendered.

The same was true for Fuding, Tuorong, and Fuan.

By the time Lu Guangzu arrived in Fuan, the troops he had incorporated had reached five thousand, exceeding his own troops.

These people were difficult for Lu Guangzu to handle. If he brought them along, their combat power would be limited, but they ate more than anyone else.

If he didn’t bring them along, it would be difficult to settle them down.

If he transferred them to Songjiang to repair the railway, they probably wouldn’t be willing.

These were all people who had surrendered voluntarily and could not be treated according to the standards of prisoners, otherwise, it would damage the reputation of the Great Hua army, and no one would be willing to surrender in the future.

However, these troubles could only be considered happy troubles.

The Longwu Emperor didn’t even have this kind of trouble.

In Fuzhou, the entire court was in a panic.

Currently, Lu Guangzu on the eastern route had arrived in Fuan, not far from Ningde, and was expected to start attacking Ningde soon.

And Ningde was the last line of defense for Fuzhou.

Xue Guiren on the central route had arrived in Pingnan County, only a little over fifty kilometers away from Ningde, and would soon join up with Lu Guangzu.

As for the army on the western route, it was also approaching Nanping.

However, these were not the things that the Longwu Emperor was most worried about.

The three routes of troops combined were actually less than twenty thousand.

Fuzhou had stockpiled more than one hundred thousand troops, and even if they were useless, they could hold on.

What Zhu Yujian was most worried about was the main force of the Great Hua army. Once Great Hua took Ningde, the Great Hua navy could directly transport soldiers from Ningbo to Ningde, and then advance by land and water to attack Fuzhou.

At that time, it would be a battle for the life and death of Fuzhou.

This decisive battle was coming too quickly, and he was not ready.

Chapter 413: No Surrender, Then Too Bad

Fuzhou, the Zheng family.

Zheng Zhilong’s expression was quite grim at the moment, because the Great Hua spies had not contacted him for several days.

The slaughter on the battlefield is only one part of war.

Other trade wars and intelligence wars have also been going on all the time. It’s just that, compared to the frontal battlefield, these invisible struggles are not so conspicuous.

But in reality, the impact of these struggles is very significant.

Just like Great Hua’s trade war against the Southern Ming and the Qing Dynasty, the effect is very significant.

Great Hua relies on cheap goods to frantically plunder the enemy’s wealth.

They control the export of grain, then buy the enemy’s grain and iron ore at high prices, and raise the price of military supplies in the enemy’s territory, increasing the cost of the enemy’s military.

These methods have made both the Qing Dynasty and the Southern Ming quite painful.

And facing these trade wars, they don’t have many good solutions, because they don’t have advantageous commodities, and they can’t fight back even if they want to.

The only thing they can do is to levy heavy taxes on goods from Great Hua, and they don’t even dare to ban them.

After all, many goods from Great Hua have become necessities for those dignitaries.

If they ban Great Hua’s goods from entering, I am afraid that there will be a large wave of dissatisfaction from within.

Merely levying heavy taxes has little impact on the dumping of Great Hua’s goods.

Anyway, the higher the taxes they collect, the more expensive their things will sell.

In the end, the people in their jurisdiction are the ones paying the bill.

And the court’s heavy taxation, which leads to them not being able to use cheap things, will also cause dissatisfaction in the hearts of those people, and then they will have ulterior motives and collude with Great Hua.

In the past, the merchants of Huainan, didn’t they unite with the Great Hua army to design a plan, and finally assisted Great Hua in conquering Huainan, because they wanted to use cheap goods from Nanjing?

These are all the achievements of the trade war.

There is no need to say more about intelligence warfare. An intelligence report can often determine the outcome of a battle.

Because of the backwardness of communication methods in this era, it is actually not easy to carry out intelligence warfare, but Great Hua’s intelligence department has been working hard.

The most work they are doing now is to engage in defection, persuading the enemy to surrender.

Among those who surrendered to Lu Guangzu, some were persuaded by Great Hua’s spies.

There are people to hook up with those small fries, and naturally there are people to hook up with figures like Zheng Zhilong who can decide the fate of Fuzhou.

Moreover, Great Hua’s intelligence department also listed him as a key target to win over, trying to persuade him to defect.

However, Great Hua’s spy only contacted Zheng Zhilong once, and then there was no contact.

The reason is actually very simple, the conditions given by Great Hua were too poor and did not attract Zheng Zhilong.

Therefore, Zheng Zhilong did not express his position and was still waiting for Great Hua to increase the price.

However, Wu Dezhao, who was in charge of contacting Zheng Zhilong, had already given up persuasion.

After all, Great Hua is not up to him, Wu Dezhao, to make the decisions.

How much authority the higher-ups gave him, that’s how much promise he gave.

If Zheng Zhilong doesn’t like it, he can’t do anything about it.

Great Hua can’t do things like promising a high-ranking official first and then going back on their word afterwards. They value their reputation very much.

Using such despicable means may benefit in the short term, but the long-term loss caused by the enemy no longer trusting Great Hua is serious.

“Brother, what does Great Hua mean by this? They are already about to hit Ningde, and they still haven’t negotiated and finalized the matter of joining them. If this continues, our troops will have to be sent up to fight them. Zhu Yujian that kid has urged us several times.”

Zheng Zhibao said.

Previously, Zhu Yujian had repeatedly urged their troops to go north to resist the Great Hua army, but they had been pushing back, just not wanting to fight the Hua army and forge a grudge.

But at this time, the Hua army had already reached Ningde, and they had no excuse to refuse to send troops.

Therefore, several leaders of the Zheng family were very anxious and wanted to negotiate the terms of surrender with Great Hua as soon as possible and complete the matter of allegiance.

They don’t want to accompany Zhu Yujian to his death. Anyway, for them, it doesn’t matter much whether they are ministers to Zhu Yujian or ministers to Wu Changqing.

As long as Wu Changqing gives enough generous conditions, they are willing to offer Zhu Yujian’s head.

However, they far underestimated Wu Changqing’s stinginess, or rather, they overestimated their own value.

What Zheng Zhilong wanted was the territory of Fujian, plus a title of Duke, at the very least a Marquis, and not lower than Li Shaobin.

However, before he could speak, Wu Dezhao gave Great Hua’s conditions first.

A title of Earl, and then the army must be completely reorganized according to the establishment of the Great Hua army, and Zheng Zhilong must also be transferred to Nanjing to take office.

Zheng Zhilong felt that he would never agree to such conditions unless he was senile.

He has now been named a Prince of a different surname by Zhu Yujian, enjoying the treatment of the imperial family.

Surrendering to Great Hua only gets him an Earl, this title is too low, and he cannot accept it.

More importantly, he wants to stay in Fujian all the time and be his local emperor in Fujian.

However, Great Hua not only wants to take his army, but also wants to transfer him to Nanjing.

Zheng Zhilong, who has no sense of security, is worried that if he goes to Nanjing, he will probably be arranged for an idle job to be supported.

Feeling no sincerity, he directly drove Wu Dezhao away.

Then, there was no follow-up.

Zheng Zhilong felt that for such a major event as recruiting him, it would not be an exaggeration to come and discuss it many times.

How could such a major event be abandoned because of his one order to evict the guest?

But the reality is that Great Hua really gave up.

Strictly speaking, it was the Great Hua military that gave up trying to win him over.

Civil officials may still support doing more things to recruit surrender, so that they can fight less battles and pacify the world more quickly.

However, military generals have always hoped to fight more battles. They don’t like playing the game of recruiting surrender, especially recruiting those important figures.

Every time an important figure is recruited, a title is rewarded.

If there are too many people who get titles, the title will become worthless, and other people with titles will definitely not want this to happen.

This is also the reason why Wu Changqing rewards very few titles. The more rare this thing is, the greater the attraction to the officials.

Like the generals in the Longwu court, they are often princes of different surnames and dukes and marquises. Those people naturally don’t care about this rotten street thing.

And in Great Hua, even the Marquis are only a few.

In this case, if you can be named a Duke, wouldn’t you be second only to one person and above ten thousand people, with an extremely honorable status?

Therefore, in the Great Hua court, those civil and military officials are extremely eager for titles.

At this time, there are still many people in the Great Hua army who do not have titles. They are still thinking about earning military merits to obtain titles.

And military merits can only be obtained by fighting battles. The credit for recruiting generals will not be recorded on their heads.

If all the enemies are recruited, they will have no battles to fight.

Chapter 414: Lacking Respect

No war is certainly a good thing for Great Hua, but for their military, it’s not necessarily something to be happy about.

Moreover, the enemy’s bigwigs not surrendering has a significant benefit for the military.

That is, those bigwigs often control a lot of wealth.

If they surrender, Great Hua can’t touch that money. How can a ruler seize the money of his subjects if they haven’t committed any crimes?

But if these people refuse to surrender, the military can freely ransack their homes after taking them down.

Although the amount of money seized needs to be reported, and even handed over.

However, after handing it over, the military leaders will also lobby Wu Changqing.

Basically, in the end, this money will still be used for the military.

With such huge benefits, the military naturally hopes that those wealthy enemies will try their best not to surrender.

For many reasons, many Hua army generals are unwilling to spend a lot of money to persuade surrender.

If it weren’t for the higher-ups requiring them to reduce casualties and try to persuade as many as possible to surrender, they might even try to stop the intelligence department’s persuasion efforts.

As it is now, their principle is:

They can accept the enemy’s surrender, but they can’t give too many benefits.

As for those who are unwilling to surrender, they pretend not to care on the surface, but secretly rejoice in their hearts.

Anyway, they have enough force to deal with these enemies.

It is precisely because of this reason that the Great Hua intelligence department is not particularly active in persuading surrenders, and the conditions offered are relatively stingy.

The Hua army’s intelligence department generally contacts people first, and if they are interested, they will try to win them over. If they are unwilling, then they’ll just drop it.

People like Zheng Zhilong who directly drive people away have already been classified by Great Hua as die-hard loyalists.

The way to deal with this kind of person is to just kill them.

“There’s nothing I can do about it. Now they don’t take the initiative to contact me. I can’t take the initiative to contact them, right? Wouldn’t that tell them that we really want to surrender, and wouldn’t they be even more unscrupulous in lowering the price?

According to the conditions they are currently offering, you can only get a baronet and command a miscellaneous division. Are you willing?”

Zheng Zhilong was both angry and helpless.

It’s like a girl who meets a straight-laced guy. She wants to be his girlfriend in her heart, but she doesn’t say it out loud, just hoping that he will pursue her more vigorously.

However, that straight-laced guy takes her at her word and really thinks that it’s no use and gives up.

In this situation, how could the girl not be depressed?

“Are we just going to keep waiting like this? If they don’t contact us again, are we going to fight the Great Hua army? Not that I look down on us, but we are no match for them.

It’s not that our soldiers are not as brave as them, but mainly because they have money and can afford to fight a war of attrition with us. If this goes on for a long time, we will definitely be dragged down.”

Zheng Zhibao said.

The army and various equipment they have now are the family assets accumulated bit by bit over the years, and they can’t afford to lose.

Losing a major battle will seriously damage their vitality.

Usually, they use these people to scare people, and rarely fight hard battles, for fear of losses.

As for the Hua army, it doesn’t matter if they lose one battle, or even several battles. Nanjing can rely on its strong economic strength to quickly rebuild an army.

“Great Hua really doesn’t take me, Zheng Zhilong, seriously. When I surrendered to the Ming Dynasty before, officials like the Provincial Governor and the Prefect had to be polite to me, and there was no shortage of promises of various benefits.

Now Great Hua is good, they just send a nobody over and speak wildly to me. This is really unbearable.”

Zheng Zhilong slammed the table. He didn’t feel a trace of respect. He was angered by Great Hua’s attitude.

This…

Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Zhihu were stunned. They found that their eldest brother seemed to be very dissatisfied with Great Hua.

This is not a good sign.

In this way, surrender seems to have become less likely, which means they have to fight the Great Hua army. This is really bad news.

“Let’s fight them first and show our power, let them know how powerful our Zheng family is. As long as the Hua army knows that attacking us will cost them dearly, they will show more sincerity.”

Zheng Zhilong said. He still wants to surrender in his heart.

Even if they fight, it is only to win better surrender conditions.

Therefore, he decided to show the Hua army his strength first, and then contact the Hua army, so that he would have the confidence to demand benefits.

“What if we can’t win?”

Zheng Zhihu asked.

If they fail to show their power and instead let the Hua army discover that they are paper tigers, then they can forget about good treatment.

“If we can’t win, we’ll retreat to Taiwan and be local emperors. With our navy, I don’t believe we can’t even defend Taiwan. If they are determined to fight us, I will make them pay the price.”

Zheng Zhilong said coldly.

He started as a pirate, so naturally he is not a timid person who is afraid of death.

The reason why he wants to surrender is to get wealth and glory.

Since Wu Changqing is unwilling to give it now, then he can only fight for it himself.

If he can’t get it, he can just go back to his old business.

Now that maritime trade is becoming more and more prosperous, there are many ships passing through the Taiwan Strait, and being a pirate seems to have a very good prospect.

Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Zhihu stopped talking after hearing this. They will follow Zheng Zhilong’s lead.

If Zheng Zhilong says to fight, then they will fight.

Moreover, they are not satisfied with the treatment offered by Great Hua, and they also want to prove their value by fighting a battle.

“In that case, we can just agree to Zhu Yujian’s request and sell him a favor.”

Zheng Zhibao said.

Previously, Zhu Yujian had been urging them to go north to resist, but they had made various excuses to refuse, which made Zhu Yujian very angry.

But now, they can do him a favor.

“Well, third brother, you go and ask His Majesty to order us to go to Ningde. Remember to be careful and be sure to show our power, so that the Great Hua army will not underestimate us.”

Zheng Zhilong instructed.

The Zheng family intends to take the initiative to go north. Although Zhu Yujian doesn’t understand why their attitude has suddenly changed, it doesn’t matter. This is ultimately good news.

Currently, there are one hundred and twenty thousand troops in Fuzhou, eighty thousand of whom are Zheng Zhilong’s men.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Yujian has no way to deal with Zheng Zhilong.

It would be a good thing for him if the Zheng family went to the front line and fought the Great Hua army to the death, winning and defending the country.

It wouldn’t be bad for him either if they lost and weakened the Zheng family’s strength.

The best outcome would be for the Zheng family and Great Hua to suffer heavy losses, so that Great Hua would be unable to go south, and he could take advantage of the Zheng family’s weakness to seize power.

Zhu Yujian feels that as long as he controls all military power in his hands, he can carry out reforms in a big way.

At that time, it may not be impossible to realize the revitalization of the dynasty.

Chapter 415: The Decisive Battle Plan

No sooner had Zheng Zhibao departed than Lu Guangzu received the news.

There were simply too many civil officials in the Longwu court willing to pass information to Great Hua.

They didn’t have the power and influence of Zheng Zhilong, so they naturally didn’t have the confidence to be as arrogant as him, demanding preferential treatment even when surrendering.

For some civil officials, it was already a great outcome to continue serving as officials and keep their family property after surrendering.

For such small gains, they were willing to betray important military intelligence, just to show some filial piety to Great Hua.

“Thirty thousand troops, plus the original twenty thousand garrison troops, Ningde must have fifty thousand troops stationed there now.”

Lu Guangzu felt a headache coming on.

If the enemy reinforced with ten or twenty thousand troops, he would have tried to fight.

However, Ningde had already amassed more than fifty thousand troops, and they were on the defensive. His ten thousand men seemed utterly inadequate.

Forget about attacking; just holding the line and avoiding defeat would be a feat.

Helpless, Lu Guangzu could only report the situation and await reinforcements.

The battle report reached Ningbo, where Wang Dayong continued to forward the report while convening a high-level meeting of the entire army to discuss the final decisive battle.

In the eyes of Wang Dayong and others, the Battle of Ningde would be the last major decisive battle with the Ming Dynasty.

As long as they defeated the main force of the enemy in this battle, they could disintegrate the Ming Dynasty’s will to resist.

“Let’s hear it. How should we fight this battle? Or rather, how can we balance efficiency with minimizing casualties as much as possible?”

Wang Dayong said.

If they didn’t care about casualties and engaged in a bloody battle, winning this battle would be easy.

However, Wang Dayong was aiming to complete this campaign with the smallest possible cost.

“To reduce casualties, the key lies in the transportation of supplies and troops. If we can transport the Hongyi cannons and the air force to the front lines, the attack will be much easier. If the navy can defeat Zheng Zhilong at sea and open up the sea transport route, this battle will be even easier,”

Tao Dongcheng said.

They had absolute strength; the problem now was how to deploy this force to Ningde.

Although the land route had been cleared, transporting a large number of Hongyi cannons by land would be very slow and costly.

If there were no other options, then that would be the only way.

However, the Great Hua army now had another choice: to go by water.

As long as they could defeat Zheng Zhilong’s navy at sea, they could ensure the safety of maritime transport, and those cannons, supplies, and soldiers could be continuously transported to the front lines by water.

Water transport was more than ten times easier than land transport.

With those continuous supplies, the decisive battle would not be a problem.

Their Great Hua army was already quite adept at bullying enemies with equipment.

“What does the navy say? Are you confident in defeating Zheng Zhilong?”

Wang Dayong asked.

Zheng Zhilong’s strength at sea was still very formidable, having repeatedly won battles against the Dutch colonists.

He had thousands of sailing ships under his command, including hundreds of large ships. His navy numbered about fifty thousand men, plus some oarsmen and auxiliary soldiers, totaling at least seventy or eighty thousand men.

Although the Great Hua navy had strong ships and powerful cannons, their numbers were far fewer than Zheng Zhilong’s.

Currently, the Great Hua navy had just over four hundred warships, of which less than forty were equipped with steam engines.

The total strength of the navy was about twenty-five thousand men, but not all of them were deployed in the South.

Maintaining security in the Yangtze River basin and the Grand Canal also required a portion of the navy. There was also a naval force patrolling around Songjiang.

Wang Dayong had less than three hundred warships available, but there was no shortage of transport ships; they could even temporarily requisition some merchant ships to serve as transport ships.

Using just over three hundred warships to fight a decisive battle with Zheng Zhilong – the outcome was hard to predict.

“Winning is definitely not a problem, but the losses may be very high; we might even wipe out the navy,”

Wu Yi said.

If he had one thousand warships, as long as he defeated half of the enemy’s ships, the enemy would almost certainly collapse and flee.

However, he now had only three hundred ships. Even if he could destroy half of the enemy’s ships, the enemy would still have more ships than them, and it would be impossible for them to collapse as a result.

If the enemy didn’t collapse, then there would still be a bloody battle, which would inevitably lead to a large number of casualties.

Whether it was the army or the navy, to achieve victory with minimal casualties, they needed to be much stronger than the enemy. Then, they could scare the enemy to death with absolute strength, rather than relying on killing all the enemies.

If they wanted to kill all the enemies, forcing them to fight to the death, then the losses would definitely be significant.

The Great Hua navy’s current strength was not enough to scare Zheng Zhilong to death.

Therefore, once a decisive battle began, it would inevitably be a bitter and tragic struggle, or the other side would flee in defeat. In short, it was impossible to easily defeat the Ming army.

This…

Everyone didn’t know what to say. Everyone understood Wu Yi’s meaning, so they were hesitant to make a decision.

Forcing Wu Yi to fight such a bitter battle might cause resentment within the navy.

The lives of army soldiers were important, but the lives of navy soldiers were also important.

“Commander Wu, are you willing to accept this task? If you are, I will ask His Majesty for some support. If you are not, then we will have to work harder and transport the army and supplies by land. As for Zheng Zhilong’s navy, we’ll deal with them later,”

Wang Dayong said. Although he was the commander of the Southern Military Region, he had no authority over the navy.

In terms of position, Wu Yi was no lower than him.

Therefore, whether the navy fought or not was up to Wu Yi to decide.

Wu Yi was speechless upon hearing this. Wang Dayong’s words implied that if he didn’t accept the task, he would be seen as being afraid of death and unwilling to be loyal to His Majesty.

Even if he didn’t want to clash with Zheng Zhilong so early, he couldn’t say it, lest he be accused of being afraid of battle.

“Since the army needs it, I, Wu, will risk this old life of mine to open up the waterway,”

Wu Yi said.

His meaning was also very clear: if you want me to go, then you landlubbers must remember this favor. When it comes time to distribute military expenses, give the navy a bigger share.

“Commander Wu, you’re too serious. Just do what you can, and do your best. We’re all working for His Majesty, and His Majesty will naturally not forget Commander Wu’s hard work,”

Everyone said with a laugh.

With Wu Yi agreeing to fight Zheng Zhilong, the plan for this operation was roughly determined.

First, they would have a direct confrontation with Zheng Zhilong’s navy, defeat them, and open up the sea transport route. If successful, they would transport supplies to the front lines by sea.

If they lost, it wouldn’t be a big deal; it wouldn’t hurt their foundation. It would just take more time and effort to transport the supplies by land.

Then, they would take Ningde and Fuzhou in one fell swoop.

Chapter 416: The Scramble for Supplies

The plan was drawn up and then submitted to the Imperial Cabinet.

The massive amounts of artillery and ammunition needed for the decisive battle had to come from Nanjing.

The memorial eventually reached Wu Changqing, who carefully reviewed it. Finding no issues, he directly approved the operation.

Nanjing Ordnance Manufacturing General Factory.

This was Great Hua’s largest weapons manufacturing base, encompassing the production of almost all weapons.

Of course, Great Hua currently only had two arsenals in total, the other being in Suzhou.

As for the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, they were even worse off, each having only one.

Even supporting one such arsenal put enormous pressure on their finances.

Liu Jing, the director of the Logistics Department of the Southern Military Region, arrived with the approval slip to transport artillery, ammunition, and newly produced flintlock guns.

Coincidentally, Xu Yuxian from the Northern Military Region also came to collect military supplies.

Xu Yuxian arrived a little later, and all the supplies had been taken by Liu Jing.

Xu Yuxian was immediately enraged. He stopped Liu Jing at the gate, who was directing his troops to leave, demanding an explanation.

The arsenal supplied the entire military, not just his Southern Military Region.

Logically, the produced supplies should be distributed equally among everyone. Yet, the people from the Southern Military Region had been snatching supplies twice in a row.

How could Xu Yuxian tolerate this?

“Commander Xu, what do you mean by this?”

Liu Jing retorted.

“What do I mean? I want to ask you what you mean! What, are you implying that only the South is fighting, and the North is all sunshine and rainbows with no battles? You’ve taken all the ammunition. Are we supposed to go smash the enemy with cannon barrels?”

Xu Yuxian snapped.

“Commander Xu, you can’t say it like that. It’s still cold in the North, isn’t it? Aren’t you still in a period of rest and reorganization? Besides, my coming to collect these supplies was approved by His Majesty and the Ministry of War.”

Liu Jing smiled, trying to gloss over the situation.

“Bullshit! Do you think we’re reorganizing because of the weather? The colder the weather, the more advantageous it is for our army. The reason we haven’t moved yet is because we lack guns and cannons.

Giving you an entire state-of-the-art mortar battalion was one thing, but now you’re even snatching Hongyi cannons and not letting go of a single cannonball? Is there anyone as greedy as you?”

Xu Yuxian was relentless. He had returned from the front lines specifically to urge the logistics department and prepare for the spring offensive.

If he couldn’t get any supplies, the big shots and colleagues at the front would hold him accountable.

“I can’t control that. This is all His Majesty’s will. We are about to launch a general offensive against the Ming Dynasty and fight a decisive battle. We need this much weaponry.”

Liu Jing once again invoked Wu Changqing.

However, Xu Yuxian wasn’t so easily fooled. He held out his hand, demanding to see the imperial edict.

He didn’t believe that Wu Changqing would allow the arsenal to supply all the equipment to the Southern Military Region.

Of course, Liu Jing couldn’t produce it, because the imperial edict was vaguely worded, only instructing him to handle the matter at his discretion and collect an appropriate amount. It didn’t tell him to snatch the Northern Army’s share as well.

He was simply using a chicken feather as an arrow, planning to grab everything first.

Once the goods were loaded onto the ship, even if the people from the Northern Army found out later, they could only curse at them a few times at most.

As long as they could get actual benefits, what did a few curses matter?

He had a good plan, but unfortunately, he ran into Xu Yuxian.

And it didn’t end there. Just as they were arguing, Li Lianfan from the Central Military Region also came to collect military supplies.

Seeing them arguing, Li Lianfan initially wanted to say a few words of persuasion. They were all on the same side, so what was there to argue about?

But when he asked the reason, he immediately exploded and joined the fray.

Their Central Military Region had also formulated a plan to advance westward, intending to eliminate He Tengjiao in the west and seize the treasure troves of Hunan and Hubei.

And all of this required supplies.

“You two, why are you so narrow-minded and inflexible? We are all working for His Majesty. Am I taking these cannonballs to sell for money?

Let us finish this big battle first, and we’ll give you everything afterward, okay?”

Liu Jing complained.

Having to deal with two people at once, he was starting to panic, and his words carried a hint of pleading.

Originally, he wasn’t in the right.

Although they were preparing for a decisive battle, they didn’t need that much weaponry.

He was just being cautious and trying to take advantage, wanting to get his hands on it first.

Anyway, cannonballs didn’t expire.

“Why should you fight first? We also have offensive plans. This batch of supplies must be divided equally, or you won’t be leaving today,”

Xu Yuxian said.

Divide equally?

Liu Jing would definitely not agree to that. They were currently preparing for a decisive battle, so it was normal and reasonable to get a larger share of the supplies.

His mistake was that he shouldn’t have taken everything, but wanting to divide it equally was absolutely impossible.

The three of them argued endlessly, and when they got excited, they almost started fighting.

The people at the arsenal couldn’t stand it anymore and quickly came to break them up.

In the end, they could only take the matter to Dai Zhijun.

As the Minister of the General Logistics Department, Dai Zhijun had the authority to make a decision.

Of course, Dai Zhijun also had to consider the other military bigwigs and couldn’t show favoritism, otherwise he would offend people for no reason, and there was no need for that.

“Nonsense! You three are all officials of the third rank, yet you’re acting like market hags, arguing and bickering in broad daylight. If this gets out, the reputation of Great Hua’s military will be completely ruined by you three.”

Dai Zhijun first gave them a severe scolding to prevent similar situations from happening in the future.

Of course, his words were a bit harsh.

It was just a bit of an argument, which didn’t amount to much of a conflict, and it wasn’t really shameful.

Whether it was the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, their militaries were very disunited.

In the Qing court, Dorgon and Dodo were fighting for power, and in the Ming court, the emperor and the Zheng family were at odds.

These problems were much more serious than the minor conflicts in Great Hua’s military.

After the scolding, Dai Zhijun took charge and distributed the supplies.

The majority was still allocated to the Southern Military Region, as they had a major decisive battle to fight, and their consumption of weaponry would definitely be high.

The remaining portion was allocated to the Northern Military Region, as they were on the front lines of the anti-Qing war and had real needs.

As for the Central Military Region, they got nothing this time.

There was no other way. There were only so many supplies, and if they were divided further, the Northern Military Region and the Central Military Region wouldn’t get enough. It was better to concentrate on satisfying one side first.

As for the Central Military Region, Dai Zhijun could only explain the reason to Li Shaobin himself.

Compared to Liu Hansan and Wang Dayong, two brutes who didn’t like to reason, Li Shaobin was relatively easier to talk to and more understanding of the bigger picture.

Moreover, compared to the wars in the South and the North, the war in the western region was not so urgent and could indeed be left for later.

After distributing the supplies, Dai Zhijun still had to worry about expanding the arsenal.

Distribution was only a temporary solution. To solve the problem, they had to increase production capacity.

However, expanding the arsenal required money, and where that money would come from was another problem.

Chapter 417: Naval Showdown

With the supplies in hand, the South Military Region began their operations.

The first to depart was the navy, tasked with defeating Zheng Zhilong’s main naval force.

This was the largest naval battle in their history, with Wu Yi personally leading the fleet.

This expedition consisted of one hundred and twenty large sailing ships, thirty steamships, and over one hundred and fifty smaller vessels of various functions.

The total force numbered thirty thousand, with about twenty thousand combat personnel and ten thousand support troops responsible for stoking fires, cooking, transporting ammunition, adding coal and water, and rowing.

These support troops were not formally enlisted, some were even fishermen drafted temporarily.

Such a navy, on a global scale, was a force to be reckoned with.

Decades ago, during the largest naval battle between England and Spain for maritime supremacy, the Spanish navy was about this size.

The English forces had even fewer ships and soldiers.

When it came to scale, Great Hua had never lost.

Zheng Zhilong was filled with resentment upon learning of the Great Hua navy’s deployment.

This naval force was his foundation, and he was reluctant to commit it unless absolutely necessary.

However, he never expected Great Hua to be so resolute, abandoning any attempts to win him over and opting for a direct confrontation.

Left with no other choice, Zheng Zhilong had to send Zheng Zhihu to lead the fleet to meet the enemy.

Hiding in the harbor was even more dangerous, as they could be blockaded and bombarded.

“Don’t worry, brother,” Zheng Zhihu said optimistically. “According to our scouts, the Great Hua navy only has three hundred ships and less than thirty thousand men. We outnumber them by more than two to one. If we can defeat them at sea, Great Hua might come begging for our support even without Third Brother’s intervention.”

In his view, since the goal was to inflict pain on Great Hua, a naval battle was preferable.

After all, their naval strength far surpassed their land forces.

They had dominated these waters for over twenty years and had yet to encounter a worthy opponent.

“Since Great Hua is so arrogant, then don’t blame me for showing no mercy. Fight them hard, inflict as much pain as possible. Ideally, annihilate them completely and seize those steamships,” Zheng Zhilong instructed, expressing his great interest in the steamships that could sail without sails.

The Zheng family’s navy also set sail, their fleet even larger.

They had about two hundred large Fujian-style ships and multi-storied warships, each capable of carrying over two hundred men.

There were also over five hundred miscellaneous smaller vessels, including fire ships, nimble assault ships, and small boats for rescuing survivors.

Their total force numbered over sixty-five thousand, with forty-five thousand directly involved in combat.

The rest were support troops.

Hundreds of ships sailed out in a mighty and impressive display.

The Great Hua navy departed from Songjiang, rested at Ningbo, and then set out again.

They finally encountered the Ming Dynasty navy near Nanlu Island, about one hundred li east of Cangnan County.

At this time, the northeast wind favored Zheng Zhihu, who was sailing north from the South, giving him a slight advantage.

However, the wind was not strong, so the impact was limited.

Moreover, the Great Hua navy was not foolish enough to remain downwind and risk being burned by fire ships.

Upon detecting the wind direction, they altered course to stay northwest of the Ming army.

Meanwhile, their steamship squadron broke away from the main fleet, preparing to attack the Ming army’s weak points.

The steamships were faster and more maneuverable, and their speed advantage would be wasted if they remained with the main force.

It was better to let them operate freely and find the right moment to enter the battlefield.

Both sides spotted each other early on. The Ming navy’s plan was simple: close in on the Hua forces and engage in boarding actions, leveraging their numerical superiority.

The Great Hua navy, on the other hand, aimed to seize the “T-head” position.

The “T-head” position meant positioning the ship’s broadside towards the enemy, rather than the bow.

Since the cannons were mounted on the broadside, aiming the broadside at the enemy allowed more cannons to fire simultaneously, maximizing firepower.

If only the bow faced the enemy, most of the cannons would be useless.

The ship cannons were not like land artillery, which could be easily rotated.

The Great Hua navy’s attempt to seize the T-head position was met with resistance from the Ming navy.

Being at a disadvantage in artillery, they wanted to avoid a cannon duel and prevent the Great Hua navy from gaining the T-head position and bombarding them.

They also adjusted their course, trying to maintain a smaller angle of intersection while approaching the enemy.

This would minimize the amount of firepower they would receive.

Although both sides had spotted each other early on, they delayed engagement, focusing on maneuvering their fleets.

In an age primarily reliant on wind power, this maneuvering required considerable skill.

In this aspect, the Ming navy had a slight advantage, as they were mostly experienced pirates.

However, as time passed, the distance between the two sides narrowed until they had no room to maneuver and had to maintain their current course.

At this point, the angle between the two sides was about thirty degrees, and only about one-fifth of the Great Hua navy’s cannons could target the enemy.

As the distance continued to close, the Great Hua cannons opened fire, with some of their cannons having a longer range.

At that moment, a Dutch merchant fleet happened to be passing through the area and witnessed the scene.

They chose not to flee, knowing that they could not outrun the warships if they were pursued.

They guessed that it was a battle between two Great Hua factions, and that the combatants would be too preoccupied to bother with them, allowing them to pass safely.

However, humans are curious, and these Dutchmen were no exception.

Through their telescopes, they saw nearly a thousand ships engaged in battle, a truly magnificent sight.

Such a large-scale naval battle was unheard of in Western European waters.

Seeing this, they decided to stay and witness the epic naval battle.

Moreover, the information they gathered could be invaluable.

Information was a commodity, and Western European nations with ambitions for maritime dominance would be very interested in the details of this battle.

They could use this battle to assess the strength of the masters of this land and then decide whether to engage in peaceful trade or resort to military colonization.

“It’s starting, it’s starting, don’t blink! This is an epic battle! My God, this is just a civil war, the scale is unbelievable!”

Exclaimed Wester, a merchant on board.

Chapter 418: Advantage in Equipment

Not every ship in the Great Hua navy was equipped with cannons; that would have been too extravagant.

Only the thirty-odd ships at the front of the fleet, along with the thirty steamships, were equipped with cannons.

Moreover, the sailing ships only had about twenty cannons each on average.

The steamships had more, averaging nearly fifty cannons per ship.

Furthermore, not all of these cannons were Hongyi cannons; there were also some small-caliber rapid-fire cannons.

This quantity was actually quite substantial; the navy’s cannon count even exceeded that of the army.

The Ming Dynasty side had even fewer cannons, only a little over a hundred in total.

When the cannons fired, everyone, whether Hua soldiers, Ming soldiers, or Dutch onlookers, could clearly see the black dots flying through the air.

Those black dots landed in the Ming navy’s fleet, erupting in pillars of water. The first volley was a bit off, mostly hitting the sea.

Then, the second volley began.

The accuracy of this volley was greatly improved, with many shells landing on the Ming ships and exploding precisely.

The shrapnel flying in all directions immediately began to reap lives at a terrifying rate.

“Take cover! Hide under the wooden planks!”

The Ming army had also made preparations before setting sail. Knowing they were at a disadvantage in terms of artillery, they had installed heavy wooden planks on their ships to create some cover.

The strength of these planks couldn’t withstand a direct hit from a cannonball, but they could block the shrapnel from the explosions, effectively reducing casualties from the shelling.

However, such accurate strikes still made the Ming generals frown, and a bad feeling rose in their hearts.

The artillery commanders in the Hua army all came from military academies and universities, and their mathematical skills were top-notch for this era.

Precise calculations were much more effective than relying on intuition and experience, as the artillerymen of the past did.

After calculating the speed, angles, and other factors of both sides, the artillery had eliminated most of the factors that could cause errors.

Although the hit rate was still relatively low at this time, with only about one in ten shots hitting, it was a significant improvement compared to before.

“The Great Hua’s artillerymen are so skilled; they’re hitting so accurately!”

West was shocked again. He couldn’t understand why they could be so precise.

This was at sea, after all. The recoil generated by firing dozens of cannons simultaneously could cause the ship to move backward.

Under such circumstances, hitting the enemy wasn’t easy.

“I think they may be using mathematical methods for precise calculations. I discovered during my last trip to Suzhou and Nanjing that Great Hua is now vigorously promoting mathematics education.

Moreover, their research into astronomy, geography, and science far surpasses that of Western Europe. This time, when I came to Great Hua, Descartes asked me to bring back some Great Hua books; he’s willing to pay a high price for them.”

Rousseff speculated.

“Descartes? The great mathematician and philosopher who published ‘Discourse on the Method’ and established the coordinate system?”

West asked hastily.

Descartes was very famous in Western Europe, especially in the Netherlands, because Descartes was currently living there.

“Of course. Besides René Descartes, which other Descartes would be worth mentioning?”

Rousseff’s words surprised everyone on the ship. Their great scholar was actually seeking knowledge and books from the East.

In terms of astronomy, physics, and mathematics, Western Europeans had always had a strong sense of superiority.

Because wherever they went, no place’s science could compare to that of Western Europe.

There was no need to mention the Americas; before they arrived, it was just a wild continent, and the Native Americans didn’t even have proper writing. Africa was still a primitive society, and Oceania had only recently been discovered.

Only the West Asia region had some brilliant culture.

But now, this group of people who had come into contact with East Asia earlier had finally discovered a place that could rival Europe.

In some areas, it was even more advanced than Western Europe.

“You’re all ignorant. As far as I know, the knowledge and learning in Great Hua all came from their King Wu Changqing.

It is said that this Wu Changqing was born intelligent. He could recognize characters at the age of one, recite poetry at the age of three, and began observing the stars at night to comprehend the secrets of heaven at the age of six. Finally, at the age of sixteen, he had an epiphany and rose to prominence in one fell swoop. From an ordinary commoner, he rose all the way to become their king and led his people to prosperity.”

Another merchant said, spouting rumors he had heard from who knows where, and he said it with such conviction that everyone couldn’t help but believe him.

Of course, the version he heard wasn’t too exaggerated. In the folk tales of Great Hua, there were all sorts of versions, such as reincarnation of the Jade Emperor and the descent of a celestial being.

While they were still chatting, the Ming navy was already extremely tense.

The Great Hua’s cannonballs were being thrown over as if they didn’t cost anything, and almost every moment, a cannonball landed on their ships.

The screams that rang out from time to time made them panic.

The time spent approaching the Great Hua’s fleet was the most difficult moment for the Ming army.

When they were far away, the enemy’s cannons couldn’t reach them. Once they got close, they would have the power to fight back.

The Ming fleet was desperately trying to get closer, and the Great Hua navy naturally knew its advantage, so it was deliberately maintaining its distance, wanting to fire a few more shots before the boarding action.

In a small-scale naval battle, the Ming navy could actually kite their opponents, keeping them behind them all the time.

However, the fleets on both sides were too large to perform such agile maneuvers.

Therefore, their fleets could only make some minor adjustments, and the general course remained unchanged.

“Increase speed! Make those sailors use every ounce of strength they have! We’ll win if we reach the enemy!”

On some of the small boats at the front, the Ming generals were urging the sailors to row desperately.

These were the Ming’s fire ships, the vanguard.

Their mission was to violently ram the Great Hua’s large ships, then ignite the flammable materials on board and go down together with the enemy’s large ships.

These small boats were faster and more agile than the large ships.

At this time, they were accelerating forward.

However, the Great Hua navy had been prepared for this situation for a long time, and they also had small boats.

At this time, these small boats also came out of the large fleet and rushed to the front line to intercept these fire ships.

If the two fleets were compared to aircraft carrier battle groups, then the fire ships were a bit like torpedo boats, using torpedo tactics. And the Great Hua’s small boats were destroyers, driving away these torpedo boats to prevent them from damaging the main ships.

The cost of ten of these broken boats wasn’t as much as one large ship. It would be a great loss if they were destroyed together.

The first to make contact were these small boats. Some crashed directly into each other, and some soldiers on the Hua army’s small boats began to shoot.

Those who were close enough even threw grenades at each other, trying to kill the Ming soldiers controlling the small boats.

In comparison, the Ming army’s small boats clearly didn’t want to get entangled in battle, and they kept trying to break through the blockade and rush into the Great Hua’s main fleet.

Some Ming small boats succeeded, because they had more small boats, and the Hua army couldn’t fight so many opponents at once.

Moreover, because they lacked weapons that could sink the enemy, the soldiers responsible for intercepting them didn’t have many options.

Chapter 419: Fire Extinguisher

“Water pumps, get ready to pump water!”

Some Ming Dynasty fire ships broke through the defenses and charged towards the Great Hua’s large ships. The Great Hua commanders ordered the water pumps they had prepared in advance to be brought out.

In the past, it was very dangerous for large ships to catch fire, and it was difficult to put them out. Although the sea was all around the ship, it was not easy to get the water up.

The decks of these large ships were two to three meters above the water surface. Previously, they could only use buckets to lift the water up, which was very slow.

Moreover, where would there be so much space on the warship to place buckets?

For those fire ships that had added flammable materials, a few buckets of water were a drop in the bucket and could not extinguish the fire.

But now it was different. The speed of the water pump was much faster than manpower.

Moreover, the technology of this thing was low, and almost every Great Hua warship was equipped with this equipment.

Just as they were preparing, the first fire ship crashed into a Great Hua ship.

Immediately afterwards, the Ming soldiers on the fire ship jumped onto smaller escape boats.

When they got on the boat, they were all smiling, because they had completed their mission.

As long as they could go back alive, they could receive a considerable reward.

Burning an enemy’s large ship was no small feat.

However, they didn’t have much time to be happy.

“Look, what is that?”

A Ming soldier pointed to the constantly gushing leather water pipe and asked. He couldn’t figure out how this thing could continuously spout water.

This…

The other Ming soldiers were also dumbfounded. They had never seen that thing before.

But that didn’t matter. Although they didn’t know what it was, they knew it was used to put out fires.

They saw water constantly gushing out of the water pipe, continuously spraying on the burning areas.

Soon, the fire was brought under control.

If it were done by manpower, they might not be able to put it out even after the ship was burned.

But now, the damage caused by the fire ship to the Great Hua ship was not even as great as the initial impact.

“What’s going on? Is that a dragon sucking water? Did they invite the Dragon King to help?”

The superstitious thinking in the Ming army was even more serious than in Great Hua.

Seeing the water pipe spraying water, they directly associated it with the Dragon King in mythology, as the Dragon King controlled water.

Such an outrageous explanation was recognized by the others.

Apart from this explanation, they couldn’t think of any other possibilities.

“Run away quickly, they have the Dragon King helping them, we can’t win at all. Maybe, the Dragon King will summon wind and rain later and capsize our ships.”

The Ming soldiers shouted and retreated. They didn’t want to fight against such an unknown thing, it was too weird.

However, it was not so easy for them to escape.

They had already entered the range of the Great Hua musketeers, who were already aiming at them.

Fortunately, the hit rate of those flintlock guns was not high, otherwise, at this distance, they would be a group of ducks waiting to be slaughtered.

Except for some unlucky ones, most of them could still escape by relying on speed and agility.

This situation was happening in many places.

Zheng Zhihu, seeing this scene through binoculars, was also stunned.

This was completely different from what he had planned. In his plan, these fire ships would not only inflict heavy casualties on the Great Hua navy, but also create chaos for the Great Hua navy.

But now, he had not achieved either of the two goals.

If he could turn around and escape, he would have turned around and retreated at this time.

The fire ship attack had no effect, and the difficulty of defeating the Great Hua army was greatly increased.

Even if there was still hope of winning, the price paid would definitely be very painful.

“Sir, order to speed up the advance. Only boarding battles are beneficial to our army at this time.”

Zheng Zhihu’s subordinate reminded him that this was not the time to be in a daze.

As a commander, he must always pay attention to the situation on the field and adjust tactics.

“Tell the sailors not to hold back their strength and approach at full speed.”

Zheng Zhihu reacted and quickly gave the order.

As the flagship raised the flag to speed up the advance, the officers in front ordered the sailors to speed up.

Soon, the distance between the two sides entered within one hundred meters.

The gunmen on both sides raised their guns and began to shoot at each other.

The hit rate at this distance was very low, but it was better than nothing. Anyway, bullets were much cheaper than shells and could be wasted as much as possible.

If dozens of bullets could kill an enemy, it would be considered a profit.

“They think they can shoot at us with a few flintlock guns, how naive.”

The Great Hua soldiers mocked the enemy while loading bullets, with a very relaxed expression.

Compared with the previous flintlock guns, the new version of flintlock guns they were using now had some improvements in performance. The bullets were shot out faster, shot farther, the hit rate was also improved to a certain extent, and the loading had become easier and more convenient.

More importantly, they had a large number of them.

Now, a quarter of the Great Hua’s troops had been equipped with flintlock guns, and matchlock guns were about to be completely eliminated.

In this navy, except for some soldiers with special missions who were equipped with other weapons, most of the soldiers had used new flintlock guns.

Gunshots rang out everywhere, and white smoke billowed around, adding a faint mist to the battlefield.

In the first round of volley fire, the Great Hua navy taught the other side a lesson.

In their round of volley fire, at least thirty or forty people died on the Ming side.

In the Ming’s round of volley fire, only seven or eight Great Hua soldiers died.

After a few rounds of shooting, many Ming soldiers began to run around with their heads in their hands, looking for things to cover themselves, not wanting to be exposed to the Great Hua’s guns like this, it was too dangerous.

“Stand out and fight back, can you hide? What can you hide on this broken ship?”

The Ming general scolded and drew out his broadsword, forcing the soldiers to continue to fight back.

There were actually quite a few places to hide, but the Ming general did not allow the soldiers to do so.

Although fighting back was more disadvantageous, not fighting back would hurt morale even more.

Under the coercion of the officers, the soldiers could only stand up and continue to shoot against the Great Hua army, competing for attrition.

At this time, it was a competition of who had a stronger fighting will and could last longer.

In this regard, the Great Hua army was naturally better.

But in terms of total number of people, the Ming army had the advantage, even if they suffered a little loss in the exchange, they could afford it.

After nearly ten rounds of shooting, the vanguard ships of both sides finally intersected.

Some ships even collided with each other, and the violent vibration shook some unsteady soldiers into the sea.

Immediately afterwards, the Ming soldiers threw out grappling hooks, firmly hooking the Great Hua ships, and then jumped onto the Great Hua ships, launching a brutal boarding battle.

Chapter 420: The Brutal Boarding Action

Besides boarding actions, the Ming army also had some strange tricks up their sleeves.

For example, ramming.

Some of the larger Ming warships had huge stones suspended from their masts. After getting close, they would move the stone over the enemy ship and cut the ropes.

The giant stone would then fall with tremendous force, smashing the enemy ship to pieces.

There were also soldiers with excellent swimming skills on some ships. After getting close, they would quietly dive into the water and try to drill holes in the enemy’s hull, attempting to sink it.

These tactics were difficult to defend against, but there was no need to worry too much.

If such tactics hadn’t become mainstream, it must be because they had their own inherent flaws.

For example, with drilling holes, it wasn’t easy to find so many people with good swimming skills.

With only a few people with such specialized skills, sinking one ship in a battle would be considered good.

And sinking one ship was far from enough to determine the outcome of a battle; it could only have a small impact.

As for ramming, those giant stones weren’t easy to control. If they weren’t careful, they might end up hitting themselves instead of the enemy.

Moreover, hanging such a large stone would hinder the ship’s maneuverability.

Only a very few of the Ming army’s large ships had these kinds of contraptions prepared.

Most of the other ships were still engaged in conventional boarding actions.

Only a dozen or so large ships made initial contact. After using grappling hooks to secure the ships together, Ming soldiers began to board the Great Hua ships.

Throughout this process, the Great Hua soldiers’ guns never stopped firing.

They loved doing this kind of bullying.

Those who had just jumped over, were in the process of jumping, or were preparing to jump were all exposed to the Great Hua soldiers’ gunfire.

As the gunshots rang out, large numbers of Ming soldiers fell silently, or fell into the sea, creating a splash, or lay on the deck, not quite dead, wailing in agony.

But none of this stopped the Ming soldiers’ determination to fight. Now that things had come to this, they all knew in their hearts that charging forward offered a glimmer of hope, while trying to retreat would only lead to a quicker death.

Flintlocks had a limited rate of fire. After killing a wave of enemies, the Great Hua soldiers were forced back, with no time to reload.

Immediately afterward, a brutal melee began.

First, both sides engaged in collective slaughter, bayonets stabbing at the enemy.

This kind of bayonet fight was basically trading lives for lives.

After one wave of bayonet fighting, the people in the front row were mostly dead or severely wounded. The few who survived were definitely injured.

Seeing this tragic scene, the people in the back row were no longer so eager to step forward. Both sides fell into a stalemate, trying to intimidate each other.

They were all hoping to scare the other side into retreating. As soon as the enemy turned tail, their chance would come.

But at this time, no matter how scared the soldiers in front were, they didn’t dare to turn around.

This stalemate on the deck couldn’t last long.

Because the ship wasn’t a flat piece of ground, some agile Great Hua soldiers could stand on the masts and take potshots at the enemy.

One shot, one kill. Although slow, it wasn’t a good idea to just stand there and be shot at.

Some Ming soldiers, unable to withstand the psychological pressure, roared and continued to charge.

If their brave fighting could motivate their comrades to charge with them, then they could exchange casualties with the Great Hua soldiers.

But if the others were timid, and only he or a few others charged, then they would face several times the number of bayonets and would undoubtedly die under the blades.

Moreover, the casualties they inflicted on the Great Hua soldiers would be less than the casualties the Great Hua soldiers inflicted on them.

One ship against one ship, the Great Hua army definitely had the advantage.

But on this battlefield, it wasn’t all one-on-one.

The Ming army had decided on a strategy before the battle, which was to use their numerical advantage to compensate for their inferior equipment.

The Ming army, with its numerical advantage, was coordinating two ships to attack one Great Hua warship in many places.

In this situation, the Great Hua army faced a very severe test.

Whether on land or at sea, being attacked from both sides was a very dangerous thing.

The Suzhou warship was now facing the attack of two enemy ships.

One was on its left side, and the other was on its right.

Ming soldiers on both sides were boarding their ship, and they needed to divide into two groups to deal with the two groups of enemies simultaneously.

After dividing into two groups, their formation became much weaker.

At the beginning of the fight, they could still maintain a slight advantage.

But as both sides suffered heavy casualties, the Great Hua army began to run out of manpower.

And the number of Ming soldiers was nearly three times theirs.

“Those in front cover, those in the back throw grenades!”

Su Dazhuang, the captain of the Suzhou, shouted.

Naval warfare wasn’t like land warfare, where friendly forces could easily provide support in case of danger.

In naval warfare, support was very difficult.

What’s more, they were the side with fewer numbers, so they couldn’t expect support.

If they weren’t having a good time, neither were their brothers in arms. At this time, they could only rely on themselves.

Su Dazhuang was also a veteran. Before Wu Changqing took Suzhou, he had followed Wu Yi to join Wu Changqing.

However, due to his limited ability, he had only managed to become a captain, enjoying the待遇of a battalion commander.

However, he was already very satisfied with this待遇.

He had never imagined that he would one day become an official, and a high-ranking official at that.

He was most grateful to Wu Changqing and Wu Yi for all of this.

As a loyalist, he could often unleash extremely strong combat power in such desperate situations.

Faced with desperation, Su Dazhuang was already prepared to fight to the death.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers on the Suzhou immediately divided into two groups. The front group was responsible for continuing to resist and delay, while the rear group took out grenades and threw them.

Using grenades in this confined space would injure their own soldiers while injuring the enemy.

This was almost a means of mutual destruction, and most people wouldn’t dare to do it.

At least, there were very few in the Ming army who could do this.

In some disadvantaged areas, some Ming soldiers had already begun to surrender.

The Ming army’s fighting will was much worse than that of the Great Hua army.

“Damn it, they want to use grenades, quickly rush up and stop them!”

The Ming army general shouted in panic when he saw this. They were currently at an advantage and didn’t want to die with the enemy.

Unfortunately, they shouted too late.

Those who rushed forward to stop them were blocked and couldn’t immediately break through the obstruction.

At this time, the grenades had been thrown into every corner of the ship.

Explosions rang out one after another, followed by various screams.

This mutually destructive approach caught the Ming army off guard.

Some cowardly Ming soldiers quietly retreated, not wanting to board that ship again.

Even a madman has to admit defeat when he meets someone who doesn’t value their life.

Although they barely repelled the enemy in this way, the Suzhou’s soldiers themselves suffered heavy casualties. Fortunately, they were at sea with nowhere to escape, otherwise they would have already collapsed.

It was obviously impossible to defeat the Ming army in this way.

The Great Hua army never intended to defeat the Ming army in this way. Their trump card, the steam warship, had already circled around from another direction and charged directly into the center of the Ming army, wanting to cut them in half.

Chapter 421: Steam Warships

“Quick, look! It’s a steamship!”

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone on the Dutch merchant ship looked in the direction of the sound.

Seeing the plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky, they knew that this was the steamship unique to Great Hua, a legendary vessel that moved on its own as if enchanted.

“A miracle, truly a miracle!”

“This is Great Hua’s treasure. If we could get our hands on this technology, we’d be rich!”

“You want this technology? You’d be lucky to even buy a steamship. Great Hua only sells traditional sailing ships now, and they’re incredibly greedy.”

“Hmph, Huygens is already researching this steam engine and is said to have made considerable progress. Before long, we’ll be using our own steamships.”

The crowd discussed and complained.

Western Europe has always valued navigation and the technologies associated with it.

When some merchants brought news of the steam engine back to Western Europe, some inventors and scientists were inspired and began their own research.

The principle of the steam engine had actually been discovered by Western Europeans long ago.

However, putting the principle into practice and manufacturing a machine was extremely difficult.

But regardless, the history of steam engine research in Western Europe has advanced by decades.

The influence of Wu Changqing has extended beyond East Asia and is now impacting Western Europe.

Amidst the crowd’s amazement, the Great Hua navy’s steamships passed by them.

The Great Hua navy naturally didn’t bother with these Dutch merchants.

However, the Dutch merchants were very enthusiastic, waving their arms, taking off their hats, and whistling in greeting.

It was clear that they were very excited to see these steamships.

Mixed in with this excitement were hints of envy, admiration, and awe.

“These barbarians are so ugly.”

A Hua soldier on the steamship couldn’t help but complain.

Aesthetics are a very mysterious thing. In the original timeline, East Asia was beaten black and blue by Westerners in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

When facing the strong, there is always a bit of inferiority, thinking that the strong, even their aesthetics, are the best.

Agreeing with the other party’s aesthetics is a way to cover up one’s own ignorance and inferiority.

Therefore, East Asians in the original timeline generally thought that Westerners were good-looking.

However, in this timeline, China has not yet been subjected to beatings and is now incredibly strong.

The people strongly identify with Great Hua, have a sense of national pride, and believe in the idea of the Celestial Empire. When they see those foreigners, they classify them as barbarians and naturally find them ugly.

“Stop paying attention to irrelevant things and prepare for battle!”

The Hua army general reprimanded, and the soldiers immediately stopped gossiping.

The Hua army’s discipline has always been very strict.

The steam warships charged towards the Ming Dynasty’s navy, their fleet maintaining a very small angle, almost parallel to the Ming fleet.

This was naturally to ensure that the ship’s broadside was facing the enemy, rather than the bow.

Weapons and equipment often determine tactics.

As they entered firing range, the cannons on the steamship fleet began to fire.

Despite the small number of ships in the steamship fleet, the number of cannons was far greater than that of the sailing fleet.

These steam warships were divided into three decks, each filled with cannons. The dense, black muzzles were intimidating to behold.

When these muzzles fired simultaneously, the ships would recoil several meters in the opposite direction.

Hundreds of cannonballs flew out, landing in the Ming army’s fleet.

A large number of cannonballs hit the Ming army’s ships, and the exploding shells instantly took the lives of three to four hundred people.

The terrifying carnage immediately panicked the Ming army, who frantically searched for cover.

However, this cover only provided some degree of protection and was not invulnerable, and even the protective effect was quite average.

“Charge forward and engage in boarding actions! If we defeat this steamship fleet, we can win this battle!”

Zheng Zhihu hurriedly ordered.

Compared to the sailing warships fighting head-on, he was more wary of the Hua army’s steamship fleet.

This was because this fleet was very maneuverable and could constantly stay on their flank, harassing them with cannon fire.

If they didn’t defeat or contain this steamship fleet and allowed them to continue bombarding their main force, it would cause them great trouble.

A portion of the fleet broke away from the main force and sailed towards the Hua army’s steamship fleet.

At the same time, some of the ships in their main force, equipped with cannons, were also carrying out sporadic cannon fire resistance.

However, this sporadic resistance had little impact on the Great Hua’s steamship fleet.

The second wave of cannonballs was fired, and another wave of wails and screams rang out in the Ming fleet.

Hundreds of people were killed or injured in a single barrage. This rate of attrition was simply too fast.

Some unlucky ships that were hit by several shells in a row directly lost nearly half of their soldiers. Some of the survivors had already collapsed, and some had even chosen to jump into the sea.

“General, we can’t just stand here and take a beating! Adjust our course, add some evasive maneuvers, increase the difficulty of the enemy’s aiming, and we can reduce some losses, however small.”

His subordinate advised.

Zheng Zhihu, who was already panicking, adopted the suggestions one by one. He had been stunned by the Hua army’s two barrages.

In previous naval battles, due to the insufficient killing power of cannonballs, cannon fire had always been just an auxiliary means.

The real deciding factor in the battle was boarding actions.

This led to Zheng Zhihu having a fixed idea in his mind, not valuing or caring too much about the role of cannons.

But now he realized that cannon fire alone seemed to be enough to decide the outcome of the battle.

If the Hua army continued to fire at this intensity, after a dozen rounds, his fleet would collapse and flee due to excessive casualties.

“Where did these dog-sons get so many cannons?”

Zheng Zhihu cursed.

It was extremely difficult to build a qualified cannon in Fuzhou. Using bronze was too expensive and unaffordable. Using iron was prone to bursting and very dangerous.

Therefore, he couldn’t imagine or understand how Great Hua had obtained those cannons.

After cursing, Zheng Zhihu could only order the ships to change direction frequently while moving, not to move in a straight line, which would make them easier to target.

Easier said than done.

With so many ships concentrated in this area, the change of direction of any one ship would affect the course of another.

If controlled well, it could be thrilling but safe. If controlled poorly, two ships would collide.

Braking on the water is much more difficult than braking on land.

Their struggle had a slight effect, and the Hua army’s hit rate decreased a little.

However, the casualties were still very high, still beyond what they could tolerate.

At this time, they could only endure and wait for the diversionary force that had already set out to reach the steamship fleet.

Chapter 422: Naval Warfare Dominated by Cannons

Leading the charge against the Great Hua steam fleet was Zheng Zhilong’s son, Zheng Cai.

His fleet consisted of over seventy large ships, supplemented by smaller auxiliary vessels, giving him roughly three times the manpower of the steam fleet.

This number alone showed the Ming Dynasty’s apprehension towards the steam fleet.

As the mass of ships surged towards the steam fleet, Bai Bainian, the fleet commander and second-in-command of the Great Hua navy, remained calm. He ordered his ships to maintain their angle to the enemy and continue shelling the pursuing fleet.

A barrage of cannonballs rained down on Zheng Cai’s fleet, inflicting heavy losses.

But Zheng Cai had no choice; he had to grit his teeth and press forward.

They were steadily closing the distance with the Hua army, but the closer they got, the greater the damage inflicted by the Hua army’s cannons.

Zheng Cai could only clench his teeth, telling himself that this was the price of victory.

However, just as they were about to catch up with the Hua army’s steam fleet, a scene that made him want to vomit blood unfolded.

The Great Hua steam fleet accelerated, using its superior speed to maintain a very close, yet perfectly safe distance.

Then, from that distance, they continued to bombard them.

“Ah, shameless, utterly outrageous!”

Zheng Cai was so agitated that he was jumping up and down on the deck, literally stomping his feet. He had been driven to the point of losing his composure by the situation, forgetting all about appearances.

His morale had been completely shattered by the Hua army’s unsolvable tactics.

Because he knew that as long as the Hua army continued to kite them like this, he would have no way to retaliate.

This wasn’t a situation that could be changed by fighting spirit or courageous last stands. The ships simply couldn’t catch up; it was an objective reality that wouldn’t change with willpower.

Unless a favorable wind suddenly sprang up, allowing him to raise his sails and give chase, they would only be able to take a beating like this, without even a chance to escape.

Because if they turned to flee, the Hua army would undoubtedly maintain a suitable speed and pursue them.

This enormous problem was not only apparent to Zheng Cai, but also to other generals, and even some ordinary soldiers.

“What the hell are we supposed to do? We can’t even catch up to them!”

“We’re not chasing people; we’re chasing cannonballs! We’re chasing after them to get hit by cannonballs!”

The soldier’s words struck a nerve, and other soldiers almost burst into tears upon hearing them.

So vivid, so damn vivid.

They weren’t chasing anyone; they were just like idiots chasing after cannonballs to get hit.

Beng!

Another cannonball landed on the deck and exploded, the flying shrapnel cutting down unprotected soldiers.

Those hiding behind wooden planks had to rely on luck; the lucky ones escaped unscathed, while the unlucky ones were hit by shrapnel that pierced through the gaps or the wood.

Those who weren’t killed instantly writhed in agony on the deck, the shrapnel from the explosion being extremely hot and embedded in their flesh.

Some soldiers, unable to bear the mental strain, were already quietly searching for lifeboats, preparing to take the opportunity to escape the bombardment.

These were the more rational ones; some, terrified by the cannon fire, had lost their minds and simply jumped into the sea to escape.

However, they had no life preservers or anything of the sort, and were doomed to die in the water unless someone rescued them.

“My lord, this can’t continue. We should split our forces into two groups, with the other group approaching them at a forty-five-degree angle. That way, they won’t be able to keep their broadside facing us, or they’ll be caught by the other group.”

An adjutant advised Zheng Cai.

This man might have had some understanding of geometry, or perhaps he was experienced enough to make this judgment intuitively.

And his judgment was correct.

Approaching at different angles would result in different distances needed to reach the enemy.

Zheng Cai’s mind was a little slow to process it, unable to fully grasp the concept.

However, having no other options at this point, he prepared to adopt the suggestion.

But another adjutant raised an objection: “General, we should leave a few ships behind to cover our retreat, and the main force should withdraw. The army has already suffered too many losses; if we continue to pursue them, even if we manage to catch up, our soldiers will probably have already collapsed.”

His words were not without reason; every unit has a limit to the casualties it can sustain.

Infantry generally have a lower tolerance for casualties, because they can easily run away.

Naval forces have more difficulty escaping, so they cling to the ship with a sliver of hope even in dangerous situations.

They might not seem to have collapsed yet, but these men had already lost their will to fight.

Once they got close to the Hua army and entered boarding range, given the chance to surrender, they might even do so directly.

Their casualty rate had already reached thirty percent, meaning that roughly one out of every three men had been killed or wounded.

And all of this was caused by the cannons, a testament to their terrifying power.

At this point, they shouldn’t be thinking about how to approach the enemy, but rather how to prevent the enemy from approaching them.

“Yes, General, retreat quickly! The brothers can’t take it anymore. What kind of battle is this? We’ve never been so humiliated before!”

Another adjutant also urged a retreat.

Zheng Cai, lacking his own judgment, felt that it made sense after hearing their words.

“Alas, this defeat is not our fault, but rather the enemy’s cannons are too fierce, and their ships are too fast. We are powerless to turn the tide.”

Zheng Cai sighed deeply, then ordered the main force to turn around and retreat, while signaling for a few ships to stay behind and block the Hua army, preventing them from pursuing.

Without anyone covering their retreat, they wouldn’t be able to escape at all; the Hua army could use their superior speed to toy with them to death.

The ships ordered to stay behind were stunned. Why could others escape while they had to stay behind to die?

In their eyes, staying behind was equivalent to suicide.

Not only had the Hua army’s cannons not stopped firing, but even if the Hua army stopped firing and engaged in boarding combat, they would still be doomed to lose.

“Damn it, we’re running too! Only someone tired of living would stay behind to cover the retreat!”

A captain cursed.

“But if we run back, we’ll be disobeying orders and won’t survive either,”

His subordinate advised, the meaning of his words already clear.

Since staying behind meant death, and returning meant death as well, then only surrender remained.

The men exchanged glances, seeing fear in each other’s eyes.

“Lower all other flags, raise the white flag, and surrender!”

The captain said, deciding to surrender.

The tradition of raising a white flag to surrender had existed as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, but it wasn’t widespread and hadn’t become a customary rule.

However, as long as they made such a gesture, the other side could generally understand their meaning.

Especially at sea, where all commands relied on flag signals. Different flags represented different instructions.

Raising a white flag at sea was even more obvious than raising a white flag on land.

Chapter 423: Fleeing in Defeat

The lead ship raised a white flag, and the other ships ordered to cover the retreat also promptly found white cloth and hoisted white flags.

The battle had reached a point where they no longer had the will to fight.

“Damn it, these cowardly rats who fear death! When I get back, I will slaughter all the men in their families and drag all the women to the military camps as prostitutes!”

Seeing the rearguard units raise the white flag, Zheng Cai was so furious he wanted to turn his ship around and kill those who surrendered.

The surrender of the rearguard was another significant blow to their morale.

After all, with surrender, it only takes one person to lead the way.

Without a leader, a unit might still fight stubbornly. But once someone takes the lead, others will follow suit, or perhaps feel envious.

Why should they fight to the death when others are surrendering to save their lives? It’s not fair.

Zheng Cai spoke these words to intimidate the others on the ship.

Surrender, and forget about protecting your family.

Coming from a pirate background, they were capable of anything.

Hearing Zheng Cai’s words, a sense of sorrow arose in the hearts of some of the officers and soldiers.

Serving the Zheng family for so many years, only to face such a fate for surrendering because they were simply outmatched, was too much, too disheartening.

They had just endured the shelling and knew the danger of it, so they empathized with the feelings of those in the rearguard.

Everyone fell silent, and the atmosphere was very oppressive.

Only below deck were people urging the sailors to row faster.

Upon hearing this, the sailors almost vomited blood. They had to exert all their strength when chasing, and now they had to exert all their strength when fleeing. Where would they find so much strength to exert?

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this is a steam warship. It’s too powerful. It’s simply one-sided slaughter. The enemy has no power to fight back at all,” Wester exclaimed.

Over there, the sailing ships were engaged in a very tense battle.

But here, the sailing ships facing the steamships were being routed in disarray, barely even engaging. They just rushed up to get beaten and then fled in a sorry state.

From beginning to end, they had no ability to resist.

This scene was an eye-opener for these Dutch merchants.

So, this is how naval battles can be fought.

This battle report would be worth a fortune when sold to Europe.

Through this naval battle, they could draw a conclusion: sailing warships were outdated.

By analyzing this naval battle, they could also derive some performance data of the steamships, their role on the battlefield, and applicable tactics, and so on.

In short, this information was very important to the European navies.

“Fortunately, Great Hua’s merchants are not too keen on colonization, otherwise, how could our European fleets compete with them? At that time, I’m afraid the Americas and India would be snatched away by them,” another merchant said with relief.

“It’s probably because their country has been in a civil war for the past few years. Once they are unified, they will naturally set their sights on those colonies. Then it will be the headache of those royal families. How should they deal with such a powerful Great Hua?” Wester sneered.

He had no fondness for the European royal families, because he himself was a commoner.

In the early days, most of those who engaged in ocean trade were commoners who could not make a living in Western Europe.

How could those who enjoyed wealth and glory risk such great dangers at sea?

“This is not just a matter for the royal families. If they also engage in large-scale overseas trade, it will also impact our business,” another merchant worried.

In the heat of battle, Bai Bainian’s fleet had caught up with Zheng Cai’s rearguard.

“Ignore them, go straight past. Leave two ships to control these surrendered troops,” Bai Bainian said.

Subsequently, their main force ignored these surrendered soldiers and chased after Zheng Cai and the others.

The speed of steamships was indeed faster than that of sailing ships.

However, the difference was limited.

Moreover, Zheng Cai’s unit was retreating downwind.

In downwind conditions, the sails could be fully opened, and the speed was still quite astonishing.

Bai Bainian estimated the speed and distance between the two sides and found that it would take quite a while to catch up with Zheng Cai.

Therefore, he decided not to pursue and turned to continue attacking Zheng Zhihu’s main force.

With hundreds of ships, Zheng Zhihu’s main force would not be able to retreat so easily.

Attacking Zheng Zhihu’s main force was far more important than chasing down Zheng Cai.

The sooner Zheng Zhihu’s main force was defeated, the sooner this naval battle could be ended, and the sooner their own losses could be reduced.

When Bai Bainian approached the main force again, Zheng Zhihu’s expression was calm.

He had already vented his anger.

The scene of Zheng Cai being kited was always in Zheng Zhihu’s telescope, and he watched the entire short beating process.

At that time, he was so angry that he was about to vomit blood and almost couldn’t help but smash the telescope.

When Zheng Cai fled in defeat, he had already anticipated that he would soon face the Hua army’s shelling again.

“Sir, let’s retreat. Let’s preserve our strength and discuss it again later,”

In a short period of time, none of them could think of any way to deal with the Hua army’s steam warships.

Therefore, many subordinates hoped to retreat temporarily. Continuing to fight would definitely not win.

“After this battle is lost, the sea will be the world of the Great Hua navy from now on,” Zheng Zhihu sighed.

This battle was very important to their Zheng family. As long as they could defeat the Hua army, they would be able to demand higher surrender terms.

But now, not only had they not won, but they had also suffered a great defeat, which would probably make Great Hua even more despise the strength of their Zheng family.

If they wanted to surrender again in the future, the treatment might not even be as good as what Woodrow had offered before.

“Master Zheng, even if we don’t retreat now, the sea will still be the world of Great Hua. We can only preserve our strength first and then find ways to obtain the secrets of these steam warships,”

The subordinate urged.

As a commander, Zheng Zhihu was not decisive at all, which made the others anxious.

At this time, where was there time to sigh?

“Order Chen Da to lead his fleet to cover the retreat. Send a small boat to convey the order, saying that we will treat his family well. If he surrenders, then don’t blame your brother for not considering the friendship of many years,” Zheng Zhihu ordered.

If they wanted to retreat, someone had to cover the retreat.

Otherwise, it would not be called a retreat, but a rout.

After making the decision, Zheng Zhihu’s flagship displayed various flag signals, issuing various orders.

Some more complex and specific orders could not be transmitted through flag signals and could only be sent by small boats, with messengers going over.

If there were accidents in the middle, the order could not be delivered, which was actually very normal on the battlefield at this time.

The captains of other ships were always paying attention to the situation of the flagship.

Seeing the retreat order, some were unwilling, some breathed a sigh of relief, and some sighed.

Chapter 424: Cleaning Up the Mess

A large number of ships that hadn’t yet engaged in battle followed Zheng Zhihu’s turn, but those Ming army ships already entangled with the Great Hua forces couldn’t turn around.

This group had been abandoned by Zheng Zhihu.

These Ming soldiers, still fiercely fighting the Great Hua army, didn’t even see the flagship’s orders.

After all, they needed to observe the situation on the battlefield and didn’t have time to stare at the flagship every moment.

However, from time to time, they would still glance back occasionally, wanting to see if there were any new orders.

If they hadn’t looked back, it wouldn’t have mattered, but looking back completely shattered their worldviews.

These frontline officers were shocked to discover that their main force was retreating.

They didn’t know why the main force was retreating.

But that wasn’t important. What was important was that the main force was retreating but hadn’t notified them, which was too much. Wasn’t this just trying to harm them?

With the main force gone, there was no point in them staying here.

It was impossible for them, just the vanguard, to defeat the main force of the Great Hua army.

More importantly, without subsequent support, they would surely die if they stayed here.

“Zheng Zhihu, that bastard, has abandoned us.”

After realizing they’d been abandoned, a large number of Ming army officers began to curse loudly.

As their emotions spiraled out of control, the ordinary, low-level soldiers also learned about the main force’s retreat.

This was like stirring up a hornet’s nest. The moment the low-level soldiers received this news, they immediately lost their will to fight. They truly had none left.

“Captain, let’s escape quickly.”

The soldiers urged.

“Can we escape? We’ve already penetrated deep into the Great Hua army’s formation. I think we should just surrender.”

Others offered their opinions.

Now that the main force had abandoned them, they could freely suggest surrendering without worrying about punishment from their superiors.

In fact, many officers were also inclined to surrender.

The feeling of being abandoned was quite unpleasant, and they didn’t want to serve the Zheng family anymore.

“Surrender, it’s their fault for abandoning us.”

The captain said.

Some Ming soldiers chose to surrender, while others wanted to take advantage of the chaos to escape, and still others didn’t know what was happening and continued to fight.

However, those who were fighting gradually realized that they were at a disadvantage. The surrounding friendly forces were dwindling, and support was nowhere to be seen.

When they came to their senses, they discovered that a large number of friendly forces were surrendering, and the main force had long disappeared.

Only at this moment did they suddenly understand, and then they quickly threw down their weapons.

In an instant, this originally extremely fierce battle area quickly became calm.

The Great Hua navy was clearing out these remnants, while other ships rushed towards Chen Da’s rearguard, wanting to take the opportunity to entangle more enemies, thereby expanding the victory.

At this time, the Ming army had no fighting spirit, it was just a good time to harvest.

The previous hard battle was for this moment.

The main force of the navy entangled Chen Da’s rearguard, while Bai Bainian’s steam fleet brushed past Chen Da’s forces, not bothering to engage them at all.

These people could be left to Wu Yi in the rear.

They had a more important task, which was to pursue Zheng Zhihu and strive for a greater victory.

Currently, Zheng Zhihu’s losses weren’t particularly heavy. In the direct confrontation with the Great Hua army, roughly sixty large ships and more than one hundred small ships were lost, with a total force of about fifteen thousand.

Zheng Cai’s unit, which was responsible for attacking the steam fleet, lost about five thousand men, with the remaining five thousand escaping.

Chen Da’s unit, left to cover the retreat, still had more than fifteen thousand men, forty large ships, and nearly one hundred small ships.

Zheng Zhihu took away roughly one hundred large ships with the main force, more than two hundred other small ships, and a force of about thirty thousand.

This naval force was still not to be underestimated, and it would be best to eliminate it.

Being left behind by the steam fleet, Chen Da didn’t have much of a choice. The sea was vast and boundless, and his nearly one hundred ships were insignificant in this ocean, let alone hoping to stop the faster steamships.

Blocking the Great Hua army’s sailing main force was no problem.

Everyone’s speed was similar, and the sailing ships couldn’t bypass them.

Charging directly in would definitely lead to entanglement and fighting, thus achieving the purpose of interception.

Of course, simply intercepting these sailing ships was not very meaningful, and instead, it would put them in danger.

After the two sides became entangled, the Ming army quickly fell into a bitter struggle.

Previously, they had the advantage in numbers but were unable to defeat the Great Hua army, and now that they were outnumbered, the battle was even more difficult.

Many ships, once attacked by two Great Hua warships, would obediently raise the white flag, throw down their weapons, and announce their surrender, waiting to be incorporated.

Even the commander had fled, so what was the point of continuing to fight to the death?

Although Zheng Zhihu had given them a death order before leaving, even threatening the lives of their families.

However, compared to their own lives, many of them were inclined to choose their own lives.

Moreover, whether Zheng Zhihu would dare to really attack their families was also unknown.

After all, this involved too much. The families of tens of thousands of people, and the Zheng family didn’t have absolute power in Fuzhou. There was still the Longwu Emperor above them.

If he committed such a heinous act, the Longwu Emperor wouldn’t sit idly by.

In short, some officers didn’t take this threat too seriously and surrendered unscrupulously.

Even Chen Da himself, after resisting for a while, chose to surrender.

There was really no need to continue fighting. Continuing to fight would only result in more deaths and was meaningless.

His relationship with the Zheng family, although considered subordinate, wasn’t necessarily that loyal.

Before surrendering, Chen Da also issued orders to other ships to surrender, as a gift to Great Hua. With this action, he could enjoy slightly better treatment after surrendering.

With the general speaking, the others who didn’t want to fight anymore naturally joined the surrender army very readily.

Next, the Great Hua navy went ship by ship to receive prisoners, clean up the battlefield, and clean up the mess.

For example, simply repairing the damaged ships, treating the sick and wounded, and rescuing the soldiers who had fallen into the water.

Because a large number of soldiers’ corpses had fallen into the sea, the blood had attracted a large number of sharks.

It was very dangerous if these soldiers in the sea weren’t rescued in time.

“It’s over, we should go too.”

The Dutch merchants who were watching the show had had their fill today. It was the first time they had seen such an epic large-scale naval battle.

This kind of experience was enough for them to brag about for ten days or eight months after returning.

Even when they were old, they could repeatedly boast to their grandchildren.

This kind of life experience was worth being proud of.

“If the Great Hua navy and the British navy fought now, who would win?”

On the way to Songjiang, these merchants started a new topic.

“I think it should be the Great Hua navy, their steam fleet is unsolvable.”

Wester said.

“No, no, no, the overall strength of the British navy is stronger. That’s a country of sailors. Their number of warships is probably at least two thousand, and the British cannons are no worse than those of Great Hua, so they can definitely fight.”

Another merchant disagreed.

“Hehe, what you probably don’t know is that two years ago, there weren’t even steamships in this land of Great Hua. It’s only been these short two years, and their navy has already developed to this point.

Give them a few more years, and what are two thousand warships? The population in this land of Great Hua is almost as large as the entire Europe.”

Wester laughed. After watching this naval battle, he had become a ‘Great Hua fan’.

In order to support the title of Great Hua being more powerful, he didn’t hesitate to argue with the other merchants until their faces were red.

Chapter 425: Out of Ammunition

On the other side, Bai Bainian’s steam fleet, after a chase, finally caught up with the tail of Zheng Zhihu’s fleet.

However, they didn’t immediately open fire, but instead sailed to the side of the Ming army, maintaining a parallel course.

This way, their firepower could be fully utilized.

Those Ming soldiers who were caught wanted to get rid of them, but their speed was limited, and they couldn’t go any faster.

The cannons roared again, and a large number of shells fell into the Ming army, continuing to inflict casualties, making the Ming army miserable.

The distance to the Fuzhou base was still hundreds of li away. If they were chased and killed all the way like this, they were afraid that none of them would survive.

“Are these people never going to stop?”

Zheng Zhihu gritted his teeth.

The inexplicably blaming tone already indicated that his mind was becoming muddled.

“Should we arrange for some people to cover the rear again?”

His subordinate asked.

“Cover my ass! I can see it now, they are targeting my flagship. If others go to cover the rear, they won’t pay any attention at all, they will only chase me wholeheartedly.”

Zheng Zhihu discovered the problem, and the commanders on other ships also noticed this phenomenon.

As a result, some captains who were being bombarded began to show off their cleverness and deliberately fell behind.

As long as they fell behind and didn’t follow the main force, the Great Hua army would simply ignore them.

Anyway, the big piece of meat that was the main force was still there, how could the Great Hua army care about those small scraps that fell behind.

At first, only a very small number of ships did this.

After all, doing so was a bit embarrassing, and it was also equivalent to screwing over the commander-in-chief.

However, those ships that were being bombarded couldn’t care about face or anything else.

They couldn’t just watch other ships that had fallen behind escape the bombardment, and then continue to block shells for Zheng Zhihu like idiots.

Unfortunately, Zheng Zhihu didn’t have that kind of personal charisma, and not many people would do that.

As more and more ships fell behind, other ships followed suit.

Gradually, the size of Zheng Zhihu’s fleet became smaller and smaller.

After noticing this situation, Zheng Zhihu’s lungs almost exploded with anger.

Was this even acceptable?

After those people dispersed, his flagship would be exposed to the Great Hua army’s cannons.

If they didn’t even protect the commander, could these people be considered qualified soldiers?

Zheng Zhihu was both angry and panicked.

He was worried that those who had quietly left might be afraid of his blame and would not return to Fuzhou. It was very likely that they would find a small island and start their old business of piracy.

Although these people had not died in battle, they were almost equivalent to defecting from the Zheng family, just like deserters in the army, and were also a loss to the Zheng family.

Counting this group of people, Zheng Zhihu discovered that his losses this time had reached more than seventy percent.

Their navy was probably going to be completely scrapped.

“A small steam engine can have such an effect. It’s really hateful, extremely hateful.”

Zheng Zhilong hysterically cursed. At this time, he could do nothing but curse to vent his emotions.

He couldn’t even restrain those ships that were quietly fleeing.

Just when Zheng Zhilong was about to despair, the Great Hua navy’s cannons suddenly weakened, and after a while, they even stopped.

Bai Bainian and his men encountered a rather embarrassing situation: they ran out of ammunition.

From the beginning of the engagement until now, the steam fleet’s artillery had basically not stopped.

Such high-intensity combat consumed a lot of ammunition.

And Wu Yi and the others were obviously inexperienced and didn’t bring enough shells.

Of course, they didn’t expect in advance that the steam fleet’s combat would be completely dominated by artillery fire, and there wouldn’t even be any boarding actions.

If they had known this would happen, they wouldn’t even need to load so many infantrymen on their ships, and could have freed up space to load more ammunition.

These flintlock soldiers on their ships had basically just watched a show today, and didn’t play any role.

This was unavoidable, experience could only be accumulated.

Especially since they were using new weapons, the previous naval warfare experience was no longer of much use, and everything needed to be re-accumulated.

“Let’s retreat, anyway, the goal of severely damaging the enemy has been achieved. Even if we go for a melee now, we won’t be able to expand the results too much.”

Bai Bainian said with a slight regret.

After having fun bullying the enemy with cannons, he didn’t want to play boarding actions with the enemy anymore.

That kind of boarding action was purely exchanging lives for victory, it was too backward, too lacking in class, and too inconsistent with the Great Hua army’s emphasis on low casualties.

Going back and loading a ship full of shells again, wouldn’t they be able to beat the remaining Ming navy into screaming again?

“Hahaha, this victory is really a bit unexpected.”

His subordinate laughed.

When others heard this, smiles appeared on their faces.

Originally, they thought this would be a hard fight, because they had too few troops.

But they underestimated the power of the combination of fast steamships and howitzers. The Ming army was almost crying from being beaten by these two things.

Getting an unexpected surprise was naturally worth being happy about.

“This great victory will probably let the army know the importance of our navy, and we can be more confident in asking for funding in the future.”

Bai Bainian was also in a good mood.

This battle was very important to their navy, it was a battle to prove themselves.

Fortunately, they completed it well.

This result, when sent to the imperial court, would probably receive some praise.

In the future, they could ask for funding more confidently, without worrying about being ridiculed by the army.

The Great Hua army’s sudden retreat made the Ming army, who were about to despair, burst into tears of joy. Some soldiers were still able to stand on their taut nerves.

But as soon as the Great Hua army retreated, their legs immediately temporarily lost sensation, and they all sat down on the deck. This was exhaustion after excessive tension.

Even some generals behaved quite embarrassingly.

“The enemy must be out of ammunition, we can take the opportunity to counterattack and have a fair melee.”

A general, not knowing what he had taken, suddenly uttered such a sentence.

The other generals looked at him like an idiot. Not to mention whether they could win the melee, if they could catch up with the other side, they wouldn’t be so embarrassed.

The Great Hua army’s steam fleet, which had the advantage of speed, could come and go freely and was already in an invincible position.

A group of people returned to Fuzhou dejectedly. Messengers had already taken small boats back to report the situation.

Learning of their defeat, Zheng Zhilong and some of the soldiers’ family members who had received the news rushed to the port to wait.

The defeat made Zheng Zhilong extremely depressed.

However, when Zheng Zhihu’s fleet returned, Zheng Zhilong realized that the extent of the defeat far exceeded his expectations.

Although it had not reached the point where only one in ten remained, a rough look showed that at least nearly eighty percent of the ships had been lost.

Immediately, Zheng Zhilong’s eyes went black, and he fainted from anger.

Decades of savings had been almost wiped out in one go.

“Old Master.”

The servants were in a flurry, hurriedly calling for a doctor, and the dock was in chaos.

Some women waiting for their husbands to return did not see their husbands, and there was another burst of wailing.

Coupled with the miserable return of the defeated and dejected soldiers, the dock was filled with a sense of sadness.

Dying at sea was more tragic than dying on land, and even the corpses were difficult to preserve. Many soldiers fell into the water and fed the sharks.

In this era that emphasized burial for peace, this was a great misfortune.

The news of Zheng Zhihu’s defeat reached Zhu Yujian’s ears, causing Zhu Yujian to sigh involuntarily.

Although he hated the Zheng family very much and wished that the Zheng family’s strength would be weakened.

But, no matter what, the Zheng family was at least on his side.

The Zheng family’s strength was greatly damaged, which was also equivalent to a great loss of his overall strength.

The difficulty of resisting Great Hua had increased by another point.

“Send some tonics to the Zheng residence to comfort Master Zheng.”

Zhu Yujian ordered.

Chapter 426: The Influence of Terrain

After the battle, a tally showed that the Great Hua navy had forty-one large ships damaged, thirteen of which were beyond repair and abandoned. The others could be repaired and continue to be used.

Over a hundred small ships were lost, but nobody cared about them because they weren’t worth much.

The total number of soldiers killed in action was over one thousand three hundred, including those missing.

Being missing at sea was as good as being dead.

Over two hundred were seriously wounded, and the number of lightly wounded was not counted.

The loss of over one thousand five hundred men was considered a significant casualty.

However, compared to the enormous victory, these few casualties were insignificant.

In this battle, they completely destroyed the Ming Dynasty’s navy and controlled the Taiwan Strait.

The strategic objective achieved was of immeasurable value.

Specifically, they eliminated nearly fifty thousand Ming Dynasty sailors, of which approximately thirty thousand were combat personnel.

Of these fifty thousand, only about five thousand were killed directly.

Around thirty-six thousand were captured, and nearly eight thousand were scattered, missing, or became bandits.

In any case, these people did not return to Fuzhou, which was also considered a victory for Great Hua.

In terms of spoils, they captured over one hundred and thirty large ships and countless small ones.

After reorganizing the prisoners, Great Hua’s naval strength increased by at least fifty percent.

With the maritime threat eliminated, the Great Hua army began to transport large quantities of supplies and troops to Fu’an by sea and began planning the capture of Ningde.

“According to the information we have, the enemy has amassed fifty thousand troops in Ningde. Twenty thousand of these are deployed in the Longyao Mountain area, mainly to defend against our forces.

Another five thousand are deployed in the Houxiang area, defending against Division Commander Shi Shouye. Another twenty thousand are deployed on the main beaches where landings are possible in Ningde, presumably to prevent our navy from landing directly.

There are only five thousand or so people in Ningde city, presumably reserve forces that can support any direction at any time. It seems they don’t plan to defend the city but rather to guard the key routes.”

Lu Guangzu briefed everyone on the current situation.

Wang Dayong, Tao Dongcheng, Xue Guiren, and other big shots had already arrived at the front lines, so he, as a division commander, could only do the work of a lackey.

“The terrain of Longyao Mountain is difficult to attack. Can we land directly at Ningde and break through from the rear?”

Wang Dayong looked at the scaled-down terrain map of Longyao Mountain and frowned.

Longyao Mountain is flanked by peaks six to seven hundred meters high, making it impossible to cross.

The Longyao Mountain pass is nearly one hundred meters vertically from the foot of the mountain.

The slope is very steep and not suitable for climbing.

On the mountain, the enemy can throw stones, grenades, and fire guns from a high position, giving them a great advantage.

If the enemy has enough grenades, it will give the Hua army a headache.

“That’s not feasible. According to the intelligence we’ve gathered, there are no good landing spots in Ningde. There are no deep-water ports, and large ships have nowhere to dock, so cannons can’t be moved up.

If we were just transporting infantry, we could land with small boats, but that would also be very difficult. The enemy is not what they used to be; they are also equipped with a large number of flintlock guns. Landing under fire is not a good choice.”

Lu Guangzu said with emotion.

Of the fifty thousand troops in Ningde, fifteen thousand were equipped with flintlock guns. Nobody knew where Zhu Yujian got them.

More importantly, the terrain here has no good breakthrough points or obvious weaknesses. That’s why the enemy is focusing on defending this area.

Everyone frowned upon hearing Lu Guangzu’s introduction. It sounded like this battle would be difficult.

“Can we bypass Ningde and attack Fuzhou directly from the sea?”

Someone asked.

The reason they were attacking Ningde was simply to open the road to Fuzhou. If they could attack Fuzhou directly, then whether or not they took Ningde would be irrelevant.

Fuzhou is where Zhu Yujian is located. If they could take Fuzhou in one fell swoop, then Ningde would become a turtle in a jar and would likely surrender.

Fuzhou is close to the Min River, and there are many places where the navy can land.

Everyone was immediately interested. If they could take Fuzhou in one fell swoop, that would naturally be the best.

“That’s very risky. The forces stationed in Fuzhou are more numerous than those in Ningde. More importantly, the terrain of Fuzhou makes an attack by water very dangerous.

The fleet needs to enter the Min River and go upstream, along a winding and very long waterway with mountains on both sides.

The narrowest part of the Min River is less than two li wide. The enemy can place artillery on the mountains to intercept us, making it very difficult to break through. Even if we manage to get through this area at the cost of heavy casualties, the enemy can block the Min River by sinking warships.”

Tao Dongcheng analyzed.

Although they could beat the Ming Dynasty’s navy at sea, it was not certain that they could do the same in inland rivers.

After all, in rivers, there is not enough room for the Hua army’s steam warships to kite.

Moreover, given the special terrain of Fuzhou, attacking from the water is a very risky plan.

If they were to suffer a severe blow in the inland river and their retreat was blocked by the Ming army using sunken ships to create reefs, they would be completely annihilated.

Who would dare to take responsibility for such a loss?

Attacking Fuzhou by land is safer.

And to go by land, they must first take Ningde.

The terrain here dictates the way of war.

Not only in this era, but even in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, terrain and topography still had a huge impact on war.

The terrain around Fuzhou dictates that this is not a city afraid of maritime threats.

“Let’s attack Ningde first. It’s more stable. Although it seems that we still need to attack Fuzhou after taking Ningde, after we take Ningde, we will inevitably cause internal unrest in Fuzhou.

When we attack Fuzhou then, we may be able to get some help from within.”

Another staff officer said.

The staff’s opinion was relatively unified: they wanted to advance steadily and not take too much risk.

In the Great Hua military, the staff’s opinion was very important, even becoming the real decision-making body.

Most of the other military big shots only played the role of making the final decision.

Specific tactical planning was done by the staff.

The reason was simple: the abilities of those big shots who had risen through the ranks based on seniority were increasingly unable to keep up with their positions.

And those who had received formal military education at military academies were generally not in high positions due to their seniority, but their tactical level was very high.

This was actually a considerable hidden danger. Some talented people may not be happy to see a group of less capable people always suppressing them.

“Then let’s attack Ningde first. Although we can afford that kind of loss, these are, after all, the lives of our brothers. There’s no need to make them take that risk. Hasn’t His Majesty said that we must be people-oriented, treat our soldiers well, and then we can gain their support?”

Wang Dayong set the tone. Next, everyone could focus on studying how to attack Ningde.

In the end, their plan was to advance by land and sea, attacking from multiple directions to create pressure on the Ming defenders.

Whichever route achieved a breakthrough could quickly attack from the rear, pincer attack, and defeat the enemy.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty needed to defend all three directions without fail, while Great Hua only needed to achieve a breakthrough at one point to win the battle.

From this perspective, they had a considerable advantage.

Chapter 427: Mountain Warfare

On March 5th, the Great Hua army launched attacks from three directions simultaneously.

The left flank was led by Shi Shouye, with approximately six thousand soldiers, passing through the area around Shi Hou Township, preparing to strike directly at Ningde County.

The Ming army had deployed troops to defend the high ground around Dragon Basin Bay.

The Dragon Basin Bay area was a valley, with high mountains on both sides.

To pass through the valley, the threats from the mountains on both sides needed to be neutralized.

The headquarters’ mission for Shi Shouye’s unit was to act as a diversion, not expecting them to achieve any significant results.

After all, their equipment was relatively outdated, lacking even a single cannon.

Their troop strength was only equal to that of the Ming army, not giving them any advantage.

In terms of terrain, they were at a great disadvantage.

Under such circumstances, defeating the opponent was extremely difficult.

The headquarters’ intention was that as long as they tied down a portion of the Ming army’s forces, they would have completed their mission.

Of course, if they could capture the area, achieve a breakthrough, and create even more trouble for the Ming army, that would be even better.

Currently, Great Hua was in a period of rapid growth, with many opportunities for promotion. Most officials and military officers were highly motivated.

Shi Shouye was no exception. He also wanted to seize the opportunity to earn more military merits while there was still war.

Otherwise, once the country was unified, these military officers would have no place to shine and could only rely on their past achievements.

Their greatest wish was to earn a noble title before retirement and live a noble life.

“Brigade commander, it’s not easy to attack. The two small paths leading up the mountain have been destroyed by the Ming army. If we want to get up the mountain, we can only climb up from the front.”

Although the slope here was not steep, it was covered in thorns, and simply climbing up would take half the life of an ordinary person.

What’s more, there were enemies defending on the mountain.

“It’s not easy to attack, but we still have to attack. Do you think it’s easy to attack anywhere else?”

Shi Shouye said.

“Order the First Regiment, Second Regiment, and Third Regiment to attack the three peaks of Upper Donghu, Donghu, and Lower Donghu respectively.”

Shi Shouye put down his binoculars and issued the latest combat orders.

Subsequently, except for the Fourth and Fifth Regiments, which remained in place, the other three regiments began to move.

Each regiment had about one thousand four hundred soldiers, equipped only with flintlock rifles, sword and shield soldiers, and a small number of grenadiers and other special units.

The three regiments divided into three routes, only a few hundred meters apart from each other, and advanced towards the mountain together.

At this time, on the Shanglinhu mountain peak, Zhou Zhipan, the Ming army’s brigade commander, was also observing the enemy with binoculars.

Zhu Yujian’s newly established New Army had also learned from Great Hua’s military system, adopting the division of armies, divisions, brigades, and regiments.

There were also some people in their court who studied military strategy and researched the Great Hua army from various aspects.

One of the research results was that the Great Hua army’s organization was more advanced, facilitating command and coordination between different types of troops.

As a result, Zhu Yujian also adopted the suggestion, and the New Army imitated the Great Hua military system.

They were about to lose their country anyway, so Zhu Yujian didn’t care about face and simply copied.

He wished there were more things like this that could be imitated without spending money.

He wanted to imitate the weapons of the Great Hua army, but he couldn’t, which was the most painful thing.

Seeing the direction of the Great Hua army’s attack, Zhou Zhipan immediately ordered: “Let Battalion Commander Liu, who is stationed at Jinfeng, transfer his troops to Donghu for support, and let Regiment Commander Zhao of Shitou prepare to find an opportunity to attack the enemy’s rear.”

Jinfeng was to the left of Upper Donghu and had not been designated as an attack target by the Great Hua army. It would be a waste to continue placing troops there.

Shitou Peak was behind Donghu, and Zhou Zhipan had placed more than one thousand soldiers there in order to find an opportunity to attack the Great Hua army headquarters at the foot of the mountain.

If the sneak attack succeeded, it could have a miraculous effect.

Even if the sneak attack failed, this force could tie down many of the Great Hua army’s troops, preventing them from putting all their forces into the battle.

After all, the command post still needed to be protected. There were many supplies such as food and weapons there, and it would be troublesome if they were destroyed.

These were all relatively basic tactics. In this kind of offensive and defensive battle, it was actually difficult to come up with any tricks.

Only in mobile warfare would more complex situations arise, and then there would be opportunities to use clever strategies.

However, with the strength of the Ming Dynasty, they didn’t dare to engage in mobile warfare with Great Hua. Occupying favorable terrain for defense was already a relatively good tactic.

It was too risky to play tactics and confront Great Hua head-on.

Both sides began to take action. When the three regiments of the Great Hua army broke through to the mountainside, the Ming army on the mountain began to launch an attack.

The first to act were their flintlock rifle and arquebus units. Now they had also widely equipped these two types of weapons.

The Ming army adopted free firing. They were not so pedantic as to deploy in dense formations in this terrain and play the line battle game with the Great Hua army.

Even if they were so stupid, the terrain here would not support this tactic. On this hillside, it was impossible to find a flat piece of ground that could accommodate one hundred people at the same time.

Whether a single free shot hit depended entirely on luck.

However, as long as the number of shots was large enough, the hit rate could be guaranteed to some extent.

After all, if A aimed at B and missed, it could still hit C. And the soldier B aiming at C might hit B.

When thousands of people fired, some bullets would always hit the opponent.

The distance between the soldiers of the Great Hua army was not too far.

In this round of shooting, at least a dozen unlucky people fell on the Great Hua side.

This lethality was already not weak. As long as they fired a dozen rounds, the Great Hua army would suffer more than ten percent casualties. Then, when the Great Hua army rushed to the front for melee combat, the Ming army would have the advantage in morale, numbers, and terrain.

“Keep charging, ignore them.”

The officers of the Great Hua army saw that some soldiers wanted to stop and fight back, and immediately reprimanded them.

For them, rushing up to fight a decisive battle was the most important thing. Standing in place and exchanging fire with the Ming army was not a good idea.

Everyone’s weapons were similar, and they had no advantage to gain.

As soon as the order was issued, the soldiers of the Great Hua army immediately gave up their plan to fight back and continued to advance.

After advancing another thirty to forty meters, the distance between the two sides was less than thirty meters. The accuracy of the flintlock rifles was further improved at this distance, and the Great Hua army began to suffer greater casualties.

“Speed up the charge.”

The commander shouted.

At this distance, they could no longer walk slowly.

They accelerated their charge, and some timid soldiers in the Ming army began to panic.

After all, the enemy seemed to be close at hand.

Some grenadiers had already begun to throw grenades. This distance was enough, but they didn’t throw them very accurately.

The Great Hua soldiers who rushed up were not spread out everywhere.

Some grenades that landed in open spaces could only explode in loneliness.

“Lie down.”

Seeing some grenades falling near their own side, some officers and soldiers shouted loudly and lay down at the same time.

This approach could effectively reduce casualties.

In fact, some Ming army soldiers had also discovered this pattern.

On some battlefields, some Ming army soldiers spontaneously used this method to avoid danger.

However, the Ming army did not summarize and promote this experience.

Within the Great Hua army, however, because the enemy’s grenades were becoming more and more numerous, they began to pay attention to this issue, and then they developed the lying down method of avoidance.

Chapter 428: Huge Losses

“What are they doing?”

The Ming soldiers were baffled to see many Great Hua soldiers lying down.

With their limited understanding, it was hard for them to grasp why lying down could reduce casualties.

After all, the grenades were clearly exploding on the ground, so logically, lying on the ground should make it easier to get hit.

However, when the Hua army soldiers stood up again, some Ming soldiers were shocked.

They saw that most of the soldiers near the grenade explosions had gotten back on their feet.

The damage caused by the grenades was far less than they had anticipated.

“What’s going on?”

A Ming army company commander muttered to himself; even an officer like him didn’t understand the reason.

Taking advantage of this moment, the Hua army jogged closer.

Then, they also threw a wave of grenades.

Various explosions rang out on the Ming army’s position, and some Ming soldiers instinctively chose to lie down.

When they got up again, they found that some of their comrades had been wounded.

Then, they became excited, as if they had discovered some incredible secret.

While the Ming army was in chaos from the explosions, the Hua army soldiers charged forward again, reaching the Ming army and engaging in close combat.

However, the Ming army was still in a superior position, standing firmly in their fortifications.

The Hua army soldiers, due to the slope, found it difficult to stand steady and couldn’t exert force easily.

In this situation, the Hua army naturally suffered a great loss.

But there was nothing they could do; after all, they were the attacking side.

After a brief skirmish, the first wave of Hua army soldiers was repelled.

Many were stabbed to death, while others fell and rolled down dozens of meters, getting injured.

“Grenades ready, throw!”

The first wave of attack was repelled, and the Hua army threw grenades again.

The Ming army was not to be outdone; they had prepared ample supplies for this battle.

The two sides exchanged a wave of grenades.

Logically, the Ming army standing above should have had the advantage.

However, judging from the results after the explosions, the casualties caused by both sides throwing grenades were evenly matched.

Both sides found this result hard to accept.

The Hua army had always been used to having the advantage, so they were naturally dissatisfied with an even match.

The Ming army, as the defending side, was also frustrated that they didn’t gain an advantage.

The two sides became entangled in a fierce fight. At the same time, Shi Shouye had sent a force to Jinfeng, wanting to attack the Ming army’s weak point.

After sending a regiment, his main force only had a little over one thousand men left.

And this was also the Ming army’s opportunity. The one thousand six hundred men they had ambushed in Shitou also began to descend the mountain, wanting to attack the Hua army’s main force.

Both sides were taking action, competing for speed of deployment.

The Ming army’s reserves were quickly heading to Jinfeng to provide support, while the Hua army’s main force was building a defensive formation. Even the clerks and cooks picked up weapons and prepared to fight.

Shi Shouye was prepared to resist, not wanting to recall his subordinates to rescue him and delay the front line’s progress.

Soon, the Ming army’s surprise attack force arrived at the foot of the mountain, less than one hundred meters from Shi Shouye’s main force.

At this time, the Hua army’s gunfire rang out.

The Ming army was not to be outdone, and they raised their guns to return fire.

They no longer had to charge at the flintlock gun troops like before, enjoying a relatively fair fight.

The hit rate of this kind of shooting was not high.

However, no one wanted to give up shooting and advance, as that would be a disadvantage. They could only advance if they had superior strength and morale.

At this time, the strength of the two sides was similar, and they were deadlocked for a time.

On Jinfeng, the Hua army had entered the Ming army’s range.

At this time, there were only three hundred defenders on Jinfeng, while the attacking Hua army had over one thousand four hundred men.

In terms of strength, the Hua army had an absolute advantage.

Once this advantage was brought into play, it could determine the outcome.

With over one thousand men spread out, the Ming army on Jinfeng was in trouble, unable to defend such a wide front.

The Hua army was too dispersed, and most of the defenders’ guns were useless.

Soon, the Hua army arrived at the Ming army’s position from multiple directions.

Support was slow to arrive, and the Ming army on Jinfeng quickly retreated after defending for a while, abandoning the hill.

For their line of defense, losing a hill was not a particularly big problem.

After the Hua army captured the hill, they also had an advantage, which was that they had an additional route to attack Lower Donghu, and it was from top to bottom, so they no longer suffered from the terrain.

The Ming army was not stupid. Once Jinfeng was lost, the first line of defense in Donghu was abandoned, and they all began to retreat to Shanglinhu, which was at a higher altitude.

At this point, the Hua army captured the first line of defense.

The Ming army that attacked Shi Shouye’s main force found that they could not defeat the Hua army by just shooting at each other for a while.

So, they chose to approach.

They advanced to a distance of only forty meters from the Hua army before stopping to continue shooting at each other.

At this distance, the killing power of the guns was much greater.

Soldiers on both sides were constantly falling. At this time, it was a contest of which side had the stronger will.

The Ming army believed that the Hua army would collapse first, because there were a large number of non-combatants in the Hua army’s main force.

Such as cooks, clerks, and auxiliary soldiers transporting logistics supplies.

The Ming army believed that these non-professional combatants would collapse first, and then trigger the Ming army’s rout.

However, reality was not as they imagined.

Two to three hundred Hua army soldiers had already fallen, but they still maintained their formation, constantly loading bullets, firing, and repeating this operation that didn’t require much skill.

At this moment, these non-professional combatants were no different from professional soldiers.

More than three hundred Ming soldiers had also fallen. This kind of casualty had greatly reduced the morale of this army.

They originally thought it would be an easy battle, but they didn’t expect to be stuck in a stalemate.

“Jinfeng has been captured.”

Just as they were fighting fiercely, an officer responsible for observing the battlefield situation discovered that their Jinfeng had fallen.

This was very bad news for them, which meant that their road back to headquarters was gone. Although they could still escape, they could only escape in other directions, and they had to take a long detour to return to their own position.

And this process was actually very dangerous.

Once they were pursued by the Hua army, they had the possibility of being completely annihilated.

“Withdraw.”

The Ming army officer in charge said.

Seeing that they could not take the Hua army’s headquarters, it was meaningless to continue to stay here and waste their strength.

More importantly, the Hua army, which had captured Jinfeng, had the ability to free up their hands to eliminate their force that had penetrated deep into the rear.

For safety’s sake, the Ming army regimental commander in charge ordered a quick retreat.

Fortunately, the Hua army did not have much desire to pursue, so they escaped relatively easily.

At this point, the first stage of the battle ended, and the Hua army successfully captured the Ming army’s first line of defense.

However, when the battle damage report was compiled, Shi Shouye’s face was extremely ugly.

A total of seven hundred and thirty-two men were killed in battle, two hundred and forty were seriously injured, and more than five hundred were lightly injured but temporarily lost their combat effectiveness.

Most of these were injuries such as sprained ankles or broken hands. They could recover after a period of recuperation, but they would definitely not be able to continue fighting for the time being.

This battle damage was a bit too great, close to a quarter.

Such high battle damage forced Shi Shouye to temporarily cancel his plan to continue attacking Shanglinhu.

“Let’s wait and see what the situation is in other directions. If other directions can break through smoothly, we don’t need to sacrifice the lives of our soldiers in vain. If other directions also encounter difficulties, then we can only fight desperately.”

Shi Shouye said.

The navy died more than one thousand people and directly solved the Ming Dynasty’s navy.

They had more than one thousand casualties, but they only captured a few hills. This kind of effort and gain was not worth it at all.

Although they also killed and wounded many Ming soldiers, this was not their purpose. What they wanted was to break through this defense.

As long as they broke through the defense, these Ming soldiers would be prisoners, which was much better than killing them directly.

# Chapter 429: The Mocked Breech-Loading Rifle

In the central sector, numerous high-ranking officers had already arrived at the Dragon Waist front line, standing on a high mountain to observe the terrain and the troop deployments of both sides.

"What's the situation on both sides, and what are your plans?" Wang Dayong asked.

"According to our current intelligence, Zheng Zhibao is stationed at Dragon Waist with over twenty thousand men. Among them, about ten thousand soldiers are equipped with flintlock rifles, and three thousand are in the matchlock gun units. There are one hundred and thirty cannons and about twenty thousand hand grenades.

Our current troop strength is superior, totaling thirty-five thousand men, of which fifteen thousand are equipped with flintlock rifles. We have one hundred Hongyi cannons, one hundred mortars, and each soldier has one hand grenade. At the same time, there is also a batch of breech-loading rifles transported from Nanjing, totaling two thousand."

After stating the comparison of strength, Lu Guangzu continued to explain the battle plan.

"We plan to first take the hill to the east of Dragon Waist. We need to set up an artillery position on that hill to be able to hit the enemy's position. If we can't take that high ground, our Hongyi cannons will be useless decorations.

After taking that high ground, we will first bombard them with artillery for several hours to break them down. Then, the mortar units will cooperate with the infantry to break through the Dragon Waist position from the front."

Lu Guangzu's approach was simple: a frontal assault.

However, he slightly refined the order of operations, first securing an artillery position before the general offensive.

"Begin," Wang Dayong said, finding no problems with the plan, and issued the order for a general offensive.

"Commander, our Independent Regiment requests to take the lead. The task of capturing that hill can be entrusted to our regiment," Regiment Commander Zhao Xin of the Independent Regiment said.

His Independent Regiment belonged to the Royal Guards and not to the military.

Their arrival in the South was solely to test the new weapons, the Yongxing Type II rifle.

The Yongxing Type II rifle was a newly developed breech-loading rifle from the arsenal, and also a rifled gun.

In terms of performance, it was actually close to the Mauser rifle of later generations, a very mature rifle.

During the warlord conflicts of the Republic of China era, this gun was still highly sought after, which shows its performance.

The Yongxing Type II had the advantages of a rifled gun and solved the shortcomings of rifled guns.

Previous rifled guns required loading from the muzzle, and because of the rifling, the bullets had to be hammered in little by little. Its loading speed was even slower than that of a matchlock gun.

But now, because it was loaded from the rear, the speed was increased several times, reaching the same level as a flintlock rifle.

Compared to the flintlock rifle, the accuracy of this gun was greatly increased.

Previously, hitting a target beyond thirty meters with a flintlock rifle depended on luck, while with this Yongxing Type II, you could aim within one hundred meters.

Skilled soldiers could kill enemies within fifty meters as easily as cutting vegetables. Elite soldiers could shoot directly within one hundred meters.

Moreover, because it was loaded from the rear, soldiers no longer had to stand all the time.

They could lie down to load, or crawl forward. In short, there were many benefits.

This rifle was about two hundred years ahead of its time and was an ultimate weapon.

Currently, there was only one drawback: it was difficult to manufacture and expensive.

The rifling in the barrel was a highly technical task.

Great Hua had spent huge sums of money and only produced two thousand of them.

And these guns were not for the army; that would be too extravagant.

These weapons were specifically used to equip the Royal Guards, to prevent other generals from rebelling.

If it weren't for testing the actual combat effectiveness, the Guards wouldn't even want to expose this weapon in front of the military.

However, exposing it also had its benefits: it could strongly deter some military officers with ulterior motives.

Want to rebel? Take a look at the weapons in your hands. Can you fight the Guards?

Oh?

Everyone was surprised to hear Zhao Xin's words. They in the military and the Guards were not in the same system, so the relationship was generally average.

This led some in the military to involuntarily belittle the Guards, thinking that they were just for show during parades and would definitely not be able to handle real battles.

Some people thought even more. They even thought that the Guards were trying to steal credit.

"Your subordinate also requests to fight," Regiment Commander Gao Ge of the Third Regiment requested, and several other mid-level officers echoed.

Seeing this, Zhao Xin was somewhat dissatisfied. He had come with the task of testing actual combat effectiveness.

But these bumpkins were actually competing with him, which was outrageous. Did they not know that he represented the Emperor?

"Regiment Commander Zhao, how do you plan to fight?" Wang Dayong asked.

The Guards still needed to be given face.

"It's simple. Combining the characteristics of the new gun, we plan to adopt skirmish tactics. That is, the soldiers advance in a dispersed manner, reducing our own casualties, and then look for obstacles, concealed shooting, relying on higher hit rates to gain an advantage, and let the enemy collapse and take the initiative to flee," Zhao Xin said very proudly.

His tactic could greatly reduce attrition and prevent the enemy's hand grenades from being effective.

However, good tactics are often not easily accepted when they first come out.

"What kind of cowardly tactics are these? How long will it take to make the enemy collapse and retreat on their own?" Gao Ge complained.

This tactic didn't sound very reliable.

The other officers laughed when they heard this, making Zhao Xin very annoyed.

"How can this be called cowardly tactics? This is a tactic to reduce casualties. Although it takes a little longer, it can effectively reduce attrition," Zhao Xin retorted.

"How can we waste time attacking a mere nameless hill? Commander, let me go. I guarantee to take it down within half a day and wipe out all the enemies, instead of letting them escape," Gao Ge volunteered.

The other officers felt quite approving when they saw that their military personnel were so tough.

In front of the Guards, they naturally couldn't weaken the prestige of the military.

Zhao Xin wanted to argue further, but Wang Dayong spoke up and asked, "Regiment Commander Zhao, give me a definite answer. How long will it take to take this hill?"

This…

How dare Zhao Xin guarantee it? The practicality of this gun was only theoretical.

Although the tests showed that this gun was indeed very useful, it had not been used in a real battlefield, and those tests were unreliable.

"I may need one to two days, but…"

One to two days?

More officers laughed. What kind of broken weapon was this?

They could take it down within half a day with flintlock rifles. So, the Guards, who used more advanced weapons, would need two days?

If that were the case, then what was the point of this new weapon?

"There is no 'but.' We will bother Regiment Commander Zhao another time. Now we need to cooperate with the troops in other directions, so we can't delay too much. Therefore, we need a quick decision."

Zhao Xin was interrupted by Wang Dayong before he could finish speaking.

Wang Dayong was not favoring the military. The reason he gave was indeed very sufficient.

If it were their unilateral military action, it wouldn't matter if it was a day earlier or later.

However, they now had to cooperate with the other two armies to put pressure on the Ming army, so synchronization needed to be done well.

They couldn't have other directions already launching a general offensive while they were still attacking a certain nameless hill.

In the end, Wang Dayong decided the matter.

The task of attacking the nameless hill ultimately fell to Gao Ge.

Chapter 430: War Doctrine

Gao Ge led his unit, along with reinforcements from another brother unit and a mortar battalion, totaling over three thousand men, towards the nameless hill east of Dragon Waist.

Zheng Zhibao had also deployed a force on this hill.

However, it wasn’t a large contingent, as the hill wasn’t connected to the main Dragon Waist position. Placing too many soldiers there would risk them being encircled with no means of retreat.

Zheng Zhibao didn’t consider this hill defensible, so he only symbolically stationed a thousand-man team there.

Upon reaching the nameless hill, the infantry halted temporarily, awaiting the artillery to set up their gun emplacements.

“Adjust parameters, first round of test firing,” Lu Qing commanded.

Soon after, the cannons roared, and the shells began to rain down on the hill.

Boom.

Explosions erupted.

“Take cover! You few, observe the enemy’s movements. Everyone else, get into the trenches!” the Ming army commander ordered.

They had been preparing in this area for over ten days, so they hadn’t been idle.

They had dug many caves on the hill to shelter from the artillery bombardment.

With the promise of generous rewards, the Ming army general had assigned some soldiers to hold their ground, preventing the Chinese army from sneaking up on them.

The other soldiers took refuge in the caves.

Boom.

Shells continued to explode on the hill, but only a few landed within the Ming army’s positions; the others missed their mark.

However, that didn’t matter. They adjusted the parameters and fired again.

This time, the shells accurately struck the Ming army’s positions.

Immediately, the Ming army’s positions were engulfed in dust.

However, the number of Ming soldiers killed or wounded was relatively small.

“These shrinking turtles are quite cunning,” Gao Ge remarked, observing the sparse number of men on the Ming army’s positions through his binoculars.

“Then let’s just charge up there and catch them by surprise, trapping them in the caves. Then we can just toss grenades into the caves,” a subordinate suggested.

“You’re thinking too idealistically. Would they be that stupid? As soon as we charge, they’ll come pouring out of the caves,” Gao Ge retorted.

“Then what should we do?” the subordinate asked.

“Of course, we charge up there and catch them by surprise,” Gao Ge said. They had no other options.

The subordinate who made the suggestion was dumbfounded. After mocking him, he was going to use his suggestion anyway? This guy’s got some nerve.

No wonder this guy became a regiment commander, and I’m still a battalion commander. Turns out I’m not shameless enough.

Qiu Weiguang, the subordinate who made the suggestion, had a flash of insight, as if he had discovered some secret to success.

After a few rounds of artillery fire, the Chinese army prepared to move out.

Before the attack, Gao Ge began to speak: “This battle concerns the honor of our army. Those empty-headed gourds in the Imperial Guards are watching us. If we don’t fight well, if we don’t show the proper style, we’ll be disgracing the entire army.

“In this battle, we are only allowed to win, not to lose. Only allowed to advance, not to retreat. Only allowed to charge, not to hide. We must lead by example and teach the Imperial Guards how to fight.”

Some soldiers laughed at Gao Ge’s words, while others felt a sense of apprehension.

Such strict orders likely meant another hard battle.

And the unlucky ones, of course, were the rank-and-file soldiers.

Then, Gao Ge’s unit quietly moved forward.

However, at such close range, it was unrealistic to think they could conceal their approach from the Ming army.

“Sir, the enemy is coming!”

The Ming soldiers still alive on the position shouted, and those hiding in the caves rushed out to prepare for battle.

“Battalion Commander Lu, keep firing, don’t stop,” Gao Ge said, seeing that Lu Qing wanted to cease the artillery fire.

“But our men are already up there. Continuing to fire will risk friendly fire. These shells are only accurate within a general area; you can’t expect us to be that precise,” Lu Qing said in surprise. This approach was inadvisable.

“Aim for the enemy’s positions as much as possible. The Ming army will inevitably take more hits. Friendly fire will be minimal and can be tolerated,” Gao Ge said.

This…

Lu Qing was speechless because Gao Ge was right.

Although they couldn’t aim precisely, they could still control the general area. Aiming at the enemy’s positions would ensure that more shells landed on them than on their own side.

Logically, it was worth it to injure or kill several enemy soldiers while only accidentally injuring one of their own.

However, emotionally, this approach was unacceptable. It felt like they weren’t valuing their own soldiers, which could demoralize the troops on the front lines.

Being killed by the enemy and being killed by friendly fire were two completely different psychological experiences.

Gao Ge had spoken, and Lu Qing couldn’t argue with him, so he had no choice but to order the artillery to continue firing.

Those Ming soldiers who had thought the Chinese army’s artillery fire would stop, didn’t even see the Chinese soldiers before they died under the artillery fire.

“Damn it, why aren’t their cannons stopping? Are they not afraid of friendly fire?”

Some Ming soldiers cursed as they moved into their designated positions, preparing to counterattack.

However, at this time, the Chinese army’s artillery continued to fire.

As for friendly fire, it did occur.

However, because the Chinese soldiers were still some distance from the Ming army’s positions, the probability of friendly fire was low. Most of the shells landed in the Ming army’s positions.

If they could kill more enemies, then some friendly fire was within acceptable limits.

War was so cruel. They couldn’t afford to consider everything; everything had to serve the purpose of victory.

“These beasts don’t even care about their own men,” the Ming soldiers cursed as they threw grenades at the charging Chinese army.

“Stop, they’re on their own now,” Lu Qing ordered, seeing that they were less than ten meters away from the Ming army.

Continuing to bombard would be indiscriminate bombing.

The Chinese infantry charged forward, ignoring the Ming army’s grenade explosions.

They had the numbers. As long as they charged up, they could defeat the enemy.

Moreover, they had received strict orders from above: only advance, no retreat; only charge, no hiding.

No matter how cruel the orders, they had to obey them unless they planned to quit the Chinese army.

Ten meters was only a matter of two or three seconds on flat ground.

However, climbing upwards, this ten-meter distance would take at least half a minute.

And that was under the condition that no one was defending.

With someone defending, it was even more difficult.

After finally charging up, they had to face the Ming army’s sabers.

However, at this point, the Chinese army’s disadvantage had ended.

When the Ming army needed to defend with sabers, it meant they didn’t have enough men to throw grenades.

The killing efficiency of sabers was far inferior to that of grenades.

Although the Ming army still killed many Chinese soldiers, their rate of killing couldn’t keep up with the rate at which the Chinese army was surging forward.

Soon, there were already one or two hundred Chinese soldiers on the Ming army’s positions.

These Chinese soldiers occupied strongholds and began to counterattack with various weapons.

At this point, the two sides entered a fair stalemate.

But this phase only lasted for a short time. As more and more Chinese soldiers came up, they could carry out some simple tactical maneuvers.

For example, send a small unit to flank the Ming army, attacking them from the sides and rear.

Relying on their numerical advantage, they attacked from multiple directions, overwhelming the enemy.

When these small teams succeeded, the Ming army fell into a desperate situation.

In this situation, the Ming army’s will to resist quickly collapsed, and many soldiers began to throw down their weapons and kneel to surrender.

Facing this group of desperate Chinese soldiers, they really couldn’t hold on any longer.

Chapter 431: Encountering Trouble

“Is this their tactic? I’m going to report them to His Majesty. They simply don’t value the lives of their soldiers!”

Zhao Xin had been observing the battle through binoculars the entire time.

Seeing some shells land among his own soldiers, his lungs nearly burst with anger.

What’s the point of efficiency bought with human lives?

“How about it? It’s only been half an hour, and our army’s efficiency is pretty good, right?”

After the battle, Gao Ge didn’t forget to show off his speed to Zhao Xin.

“May I ask, Commander Gao, what were the casualties in this battle?”

Zhao Xin asked.

“Not bad, our army suffered one hundred and sixty fatalities.”

Gao Ge said.

“One hundred and sixty fatalities is ‘not bad’?”

Zhao Xin was speechless.

With superior forces and weapon suppression, taking a hill defended by only a thousand men resulted in over a hundred deaths? How could that be considered “not bad”?

“Of course. You have to realize that we killed nearly three hundred Ming soldiers, captured seven hundred, and seized a strategic high ground. Compared to these results, this kind of loss is completely acceptable.

In the past, attacking a hill like this would have cost us at least five or six hundred lives. How could we have taken it otherwise?”

Gao Ge justified himself with perfect composure, comparing the casualties to those of old-style warfare.

“If my unit had been in charge, the casualties would definitely not have exceeded forty.”

Zhao Xin was too lazy to argue with him, simply stating the data.

“But, has Commander Zhao considered that every extra day we delay, a thousand more people could die in other directions? That’s not how you calculate the cost.”

Gao Ge said dismissively.

Seeing that the two were about to argue red in the face, some peacemakers immediately stepped forward to smooth things over and end the topic.

The nameless hill was taken, and the cannons began to be moved up.

This process was actually quite difficult. The small path up the mountain could only accommodate one cannon at a time.

Moreover, each cannon required more than a dozen people and a horse to pull it.

The transport of two cannons had to be spaced out by a considerable amount of time to prevent accidents.

Those things weighed thousands of Jin. If anything went wrong and they rolled down from above, they would be deadly weapons. Who could stop them? Wouldn’t everyone behind be wiped out?

If a chain reaction occurred, everyone behind would suffer. The deaths of some laborers and auxiliary soldiers were minor matters; the real problem would be the damage to the cannons.

For the sake of safety, the Great Hua army was willing to spend more time.

It took them the better part of the day to move all one hundred cannons up the mountain.

By this time, it was already late, and the general offensive had to be postponed until tomorrow.

The Hua army placed heavy troops on the nameless hill to prevent the Ming army from attempting a night raid. If these one hundred cannons were destroyed, they would have no chance of taking Dragon’s Waist.

The night passed peacefully. The Ming army didn’t have the courage to launch a night raid.

Someone had suggested this to Zheng Zhibao, but Zheng Zhibao had rejected it.

The Hua army were the masters of night raids. Raiding the Hua army at night? Better forget about it.

The next day, the Hua army officially launched their general offensive.

The artillery took action first, aiming at the Ming army positions on Dragon’s Waist Mountain and launching a barrage.

A large number of shells rained down on the positions, kicking up a lot of dust, but not hitting many soldiers.

On Dragon’s Waist Mountain, the Ming army had dug many trenches.

Of course, they hadn’t discovered that trenches could effectively protect their infantry from being shot; instead, they used the trenches to avoid the bombardment of shells.

They had also dug a large number of air-raid shelters inside the trenches. When the Hua army fired their cannons, their soldiers would hide inside.

These air-raid shelters could effectively resist the shrapnel.

Seeing this, Wang Dayong frowned. “This is a bit difficult.”

“We can only rely on the willpower of our soldiers to overcome this,” Lu Guangzu said.

After a round of artillery fire, the soldiers of the Hua army began their general offensive.

They committed as many as five thousand troops at once, with heads everywhere.

Soldiers swarmed towards Dragon’s Waist, and at this moment, the Ming army’s cannons also began to fire.

The Ming army were very cunning. They placed their cannons on a hill several hundred meters behind the Dragon’s Waist positions, beyond the range of the Hua army’s cannons.

Because Zheng Zhibao was very clear that using his own cannons to exchange fire with the Hua army’s cannons was suicide.

Rather than that, it was better to abandon the idea of destroying the Hua army’s cannons and instead position his own cannons as weapons to strike infantry.

In this way, these cannons could be placed in the rear.

When the Hua army fired their cannons, they would have their infantry hide and silently endure the bombardment.

When the Hua army’s infantry began to charge, their cannons would also fire, inflicting casualties on the Hua army’s infantry.

With over one hundred cannons, each barrage sent over one hundred shells into the ranks of the Hua army’s soldiers.

Roughly, nearly a third of the shells would hit someone.

On average, a single round of Ming artillery fire could kill fifty or sixty Hua army soldiers.

This number was not small. After all, it would take the Hua army soldiers at least half an hour to charge from their starting point to the Ming army positions.

During this time, the Ming army could fire ten rounds of artillery.

Ten rounds of artillery fire would eliminate five or six hundred Hua army soldiers, accounting for one-tenth of the total attacking force.

This casualty rate was too high; the Hua army might not be able to withstand it.

After all, this was only the attrition suffered during the charge. Once they got close to the Ming army positions, they would also have to endure the impact of grenades and musket bullets.

At that time, the casualties would be incalculable.

“Fortunately, the enemy hasn’t mastered the technology of howitzer shells. Otherwise, if they had one hundred cannons firing howitzer shells from the rear, wouldn’t this be an impregnable fortress? The soldiers wouldn’t even be able to reach the enemy before being wiped out by those howitzer shells.”

Xue Guiren said in surprise, realizing that if the defending side used this method of defense with howitzer shells, it would be nearly impossible to break through.

The killing effect of howitzer shells was several times better than that of solid shot.

Under the blockade of the cannons, this charging distance was a road of death.

“Not to mention howitzer shells, even the current solid shot is causing too many casualties. Commander, should we retreat first and then study a new attack plan?”

Tao Dongcheng said worriedly.

The Ming army’s method of using cannons had given them a surprise.

This surprise, however, was making them very uncomfortable.

In fact, this method had been forced upon them, since their artillery could overwhelm the opponent.

As early as before, the Ming and Qing armies had discovered that their cannons simply couldn’t exchange fire with the Hua army’s cannons, so at that time, they changed their thinking and stopped using cannons against cannons.

Their cannons were used exclusively to kill infantry.

However, at that time, they were defending cities, and the cannons could only be placed on the city walls, unable to avoid the Hua army’s cannon fire. Therefore, the problem had not been exposed at that time.

But now, the Hua army was tasting bitterness for the first time.

Of course, this was the disadvantage that the attacking side had to bear.

If the Ming army were to attack a city or position defended by the Hua army, the Ming army would have to bear even greater disadvantages.

In fact, in Xue Guiren’s view, as long as they had enough cannons and shells, the enemy would not be able to capture any city of Great Hua.

“We’ve already charged halfway; it would be too demoralizing to sound the retreat now. Let’s fight and see; maybe the enemy will collapse at the first blow, or maybe our soldiers can unleash a powerful fighting force and take the enemy’s positions in one fell swoop.”

Wang Dayong said.

They had already charged halfway; if they retreated now, the soldiers who had been killed would have died in vain.

Wang Dayong was unwilling to suffer such a loss and held onto a glimmer of hope.

Tao Dongcheng hesitated upon hearing this.

In his opinion, reducing casualties was the most important thing at this time; other considerations were secondary.

Temporarily retreat, and everyone could sit down together and study the situation. Maybe they could find a way to break this tactic.

Wasting more time would be worth it as long as they could reduce casualties.

A forced attack would probably result in heavy losses.

Unfortunately, Wang Dayong had the final say in the South Corps; he only had the right to advise, not to make decisions.

Moreover, in front of so many people, he couldn’t completely deny Wang Dayong’s judgment and ideas. That would damage Wang Dayong’s prestige too much and would definitely offend Wang Dayong.

However, if he didn’t stop it and allowed Wang Dayong’s decision to be carried out, this time, the casualties would probably be severe.

Chapter 432: Temporary Retreat

“Keep charging! Once we reach the enemy, we won’t have to endure the artillery fire!”

The Huaxia army officer shouted.

After rushing across the open ground, they began to climb the slope.

At this moment, the Ming army’s artillery played a special role.

Because they were firing solid shot, after landing on the slope, the cannonballs would bounce and roll downwards until they reached the foot of the mountain.

A large iron ball weighing six or seven Jin, rolling down with kinetic and potential energy, was incredibly powerful.

Any soldier who stood in the path of the iron ball would be easily knocked down. At best, they would suffer a comminuted fracture of the calf; at worst, they would die.

Moreover, one or even several soldiers could not offset the kinetic energy of this iron ball.

Seeing the iron balls rolling down from above, there was no other option but to avoid them.

The Ming army’s solid shot was two or three times more powerful on this kind of hillside than on flat ground.

Seeing this scene, Zheng Zhibao couldn’t help but laugh.

In fact, he hadn’t expected this kind of effect.

“Congratulations, General! This battle will surely inflict heavy casualties on the enemy!”

His subordinates complimented him one after another.

“These Huaxia troops only know how to bully people with more advanced weapons. Today, let them taste the feeling of being bombed!”

Zheng Zhibao sneered.

As the Huaxia army soldiers approached, both the Ming army’s artillery and the Huaxia army’s artillery gradually stopped firing.

The infantry on both sides were too close to each other, and their artillery skills were not good enough to control the error.

If they continued to fire, they would end up bombing their own soldiers as well.

Neither side wanted to do this unless absolutely necessary.

With the artillery fire ceasing, the Ming army soldiers, urged on by their officers, left their trenches, took their positions, and began firing their guns.

They were now within firing range.

Many Ming soldiers equipped with flintlocks began to fire rapidly and freely.

Immediately, some Huaxia army soldiers who were charging forward suddenly fell.

They, too, began to experience the helpless feeling that their enemies had once felt.

Urged on by their officers, they continued to charge forward, braving the bullets.

Having just been shelled, and now being shot at, the Huaxia army soldiers were miserable.

But there was nothing they could do; they had to keep charging.

The gunfire was not the most terrifying thing; the grenades were even more frightening once they got close.

Even though they had adopted the prone position, they couldn’t withstand the sheer number of enemy grenades.

Lying down could only avoid shrapnel fired from a distance, but for those nearby, lying down was useless.

A large number of soldiers fell under the grenade explosions, and the Huaxia army’s offensive stalled again.

The vanguard temporarily withdrew from the range of the enemy’s grenades and then raised their guns to return fire.

They were waiting for their own mortars to unleash their power.

The Huaxia army’s mortar battalion had also charged forward with the main force. These light cannons were a great weapon for positional warfare.

The Huaxia army was counting on these mortars to capture the position.

Setting up the mortars was also very simple, and soon the Huaxia army had artillery support.

These cannons were aimed at the enemy on the hillside, but the Ming army could no longer retreat into the trenches to hide as they had done before.

After all, the distance between the two sides was too close now. If they dared to hide, the Huaxia army could charge into their position.

Under these circumstances, the Ming army generals had issued a strict order, forbidding them from hiding and ordering them to counterattack against the Huaxia army’s artillery fire.

Subsequently, the flintlock soldiers all aimed their guns at the Huaxia army’s artillerymen.

Although the distance was far, there were many Ming soldiers firing.

After several rounds of gunfire, more than twenty artillerymen on the Huaxia army’s side had fallen.

These were all highly educated gunners, not ordinary soldiers. Lu Qing began to feel a little heartache seeing so many people die.

However, the Ming army was not having an easy time either. They were exposed to the Huaxia army’s artillery fire, and even more people were killed and wounded.

As a result, the Ming army general in charge of the front-line command wanted to send some people down to destroy the Huaxia army’s mortar battalion.

As long as they knocked out the Huaxia army’s mortar battalion, their defense would have no weaknesses.

However, the risk of charging down was very high. If things went wrong, the people who charged down would be annihilated.

He didn’t dare to take this risk and could only ask the rear headquarters, Zheng Zhibao, for instructions.

After receiving the request, Zheng Zhibao also became entangled. This plan undoubtedly had both risks and opportunities.

If they achieved their goal, the rewards would be great.

But if something went wrong, the losses would be very heavy.

In the end, Zheng Zhibao still wanted to be more cautious and maintain the current situation.

The current situation was that although they had to endure artillery fire, the Huaxia army’s infantry could not charge up.

Once they got close, the Ming army would unleash their grenades.

“These sons of bitches have too much ammunition!”

On a certain battle line, Gao Ge complained.

“Regimental Commander, we can’t just keep charging like this! If we keep charging, we’ll be skinned alive even if we don’t die. How about we pretend to charge for a bit and then wait for the order to retreat from above?”

Qiu Weiguang suggested.

“You wish! What if the higher-ups are determined to take the mountain and don’t give the order?”

Gao Ge retorted.

“Then what do we do? With the enemy’s firepower, we might not be able to charge up even if we fight to the death!”

A trace of anxiety appeared on Qiu Weiguang’s face.

“There’s nothing we can do. We can only pretend to charge for a bit and then wait for the order to retreat from above.”

Gao Ge thought for a moment and then said.

Although he fought like a madman, it didn’t mean he was stupid.

He would only charge if there was hope of winning. The current situation was that even risking his life might not work. Under these circumstances, he would naturally not be stupid enough to go and die.

“…” Qiu Weiguang.

Several regimental commanders were in charge of the front-line command for this general offensive.

At this time, another person in charge had the same idea as Gao Ge, wanting to charge for a bit first and make a final attempt.

They didn’t have the order to retreat from above, so they didn’t dare to retreat now.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army in these two locations launched another charge.

The people in charge of the other two directions saw this and also ordered their units to charge, echoing the friendly forces and creating pressure on the enemy’s entire line.

A new round of general offensive continued. As they charged into the Ming army’s throwing range, the grenades were thrown down from above again.

“Damn it!”

At this moment, the Huaxia army soldiers hated grenades.

Braving the explosions, they continued to charge upwards. After paying a heavy price, a portion of the soldiers finally reached the Ming army’s position.

However, that was as far as they could go.

The Ming army had amassed more than ten thousand people in this position, which was no joke. The small number of Huaxia army soldiers who charged up often had to face two or even three Ming soldiers at the same time.

The Huaxia army couldn’t confidently say that they could steadily defeat the Ming army in terms of individual bravery alone, and now they were outnumbered, making them even less of a match.

After a round of fighting, the Huaxia army could only retreat helplessly.

Continuing to stay in this place would only result in being bombed, and they had no particularly effective means of retaliation.

“Commander, let everyone come back first and discuss it further.”

Tao Dongcheng advised.

Everything that happened on the front-line battlefield fell into their eyes.

It could be said that the soldiers’ performance was already very good.

In this disadvantageous situation, they had not completely collapsed.

However, because of the disadvantage of the terrain, they really couldn’t break through for the time being.

“Sound the retreat.”

Wang Dayong said dejectedly.

This general offensive could be described as a complete failure.

The order to retreat was issued, and the mortar battalion was the first to retreat, followed by the other infantry.

At this time, the Ming army’s and Huaxia army’s cannons roared again.

The Huaxia army was bombing the Ming army’s positions to prevent them from taking advantage of the situation to pursue the retreating Huaxia army.

The Ming army was bombing the retreating Huaxia army infantry, wanting to take the opportunity to gain some advantage and inflict some casualties.

However, these were just auxiliary measures that could not affect the overall situation.

Chapter 433: The Imperial Guards Request to Fight

Only three thousand three hundred soldiers of the Chinese army retreated, meaning they had lost over one thousand six hundred men in this wave of general offensive.

This loss was very heavy for the Chinese army. Most of the time, their total casualties in a battle, or even a campaign, were not this high.

But now, this number was reached in just one wave of general offensive.

More importantly, they sacrificed so many people without achieving much result.

At best, they only consumed some of the enemy’s ammunition.

Such a result would be normal for other armies.

But for the Chinese army, which had been smooth sailing all the way, it was somewhat unacceptable.

After lunch, the generals of the Chinese army gathered again to discuss the next battle plan.

Obviously, this kind of fighting as of today was not feasible.

“Does the intelligence department have specific figures on how many shells and grenades the Ming army has stockpiled on Dragon Waist Mountain?”

Tao Dongcheng asked.

The only achievement today may be the consumption of a large amount of the enemy’s ammunition.

If the enemy’s shells, grenades, and other supplies were in short supply, then they could find a way to launch a few feigned attacks to consume the enemy’s resources.

Once their ammunition was exhausted, attacking the position would be much easier.

“The specific figures are not clear, but Fuzhou has been fully scavenging and manufacturing ammunition in the past few months. After a few months, they must have stockpiled a lot.”

Woodrow, the head of the intelligence department, said.

Although the Ming army was poor and technologically backward, a few months of reserves should be enough to support the consumption of a battle.

“Among the Ming army generals stationed at Dragon Waist, are there any who are inclined to defect to our army?”

Tao Dongcheng continued to ask.

If it was difficult to break through from the outside, then they would find a way to divide it internally.

If the Ming army defected on the battlefield, then everything would be easy.

“There are some, but now the enemy and we are in fierce battle, and it is not easy to contact them. Or, I will contact Zheng Zhilong again. As long as Zheng Zhilong is willing to surrender, then there is no need to fight in Ningde.”

Woodrow suggested.

From the intelligence, he learned that Zheng Zhilong still had the intention to surrender. As long as they continued to contact and negotiate, they might be able to reach an agreement.

“Forget about Zheng Zhilong. We can’t afford to support such a great Buddha here.”

Wang Dayong interjected, directly rejecting the suggestion.

The military personnel would rather fight to the death than accept those who tried to demand an exorbitant price.

The internal sabotage plan was also rejected, and then everyone made many suggestions.

Some people said that they should launch another all-out offensive at any cost, send the supervising team up, force the soldiers to rush up, and not allow them to come down without taking the position, using human lives to fill out a victory.

Others suggested taking a detour. In addition to the main road through Dragon Waist, there were actually some country trails on other mountains that people could pass through.

Find a few locals to lead the way, and their infantry could bypass Dragon Waist and reach the enemy’s rear.

This plan required detailed research.

At this moment, Zhao Xin of the Imperial Guards stood up and said, “Perhaps, my unit can break this situation.”

His words caused everyone’s attention to focus on him. After all, even many staff officers were helpless at this time. And he, Zhao Xin, a small regimental commander, dared to boast such a claim.

“Oh, what’s your method?”

Tao Dongcheng asked.

This was the time to gather ideas, and he would not reject the other party because of Zhao Xin’s special status.

“The problem now is that the attack requires a large number of troops, otherwise the attack power is limited. However, if too many troops are invested at one time, it will cause dense personnel and cause greater damage by the enemy’s artillery.

And my unit can just solve this problem. If my unit of two thousand people is put into the battlefield, at most dozens or hundreds of people will be taken away by the artillery during the advance.

When we reach the enemy’s front, we don’t have to get too close to attack, avoiding the enemy’s grenades. If the enemy shoots at us, they will definitely suffer.

If they rush out of the position, that is giving up the advantage of the terrain, and we will not lose out.”

Zhao Xin said, these were the advantages of breech-loading guns.

“That sounds good, but how much damage can you two thousand people do to the enemy by attacking the position? I guess the enemy won’t even bother with you.”

Gao Ge questioned.

Zhao Xin was too lazy to get angry with him, and explained: “My unit is equipped with new-style guns, and their accuracy is similar to that of the rifled guns of the sniper company, and we also have the same rate of fire as flintlock guns.

Do I need to personally demonstrate the lethality of this gun before you can understand?”

Combining the accuracy of a rifled gun and the rate of fire of a flintlock gun, anyone who has played with guns should know how terrifying this is.

“Is it really that powerful?”

Xue Guiren asked.

“If Commander Xue doesn’t believe it, we will show it to Commander Xue now.”

Zhao Xin said.

Zhao Xin dared to say this, in fact, everyone already believed it.

However, everyone went out of the tent together and came to Zhao Xin’s unit to observe.

The target was set up one hundred and fifty meters away, and then the soldiers began to demonstrate its performance.

In fact, the effective range of this gun has reached about two hundred meters, but the soldiers’ training is not enough to reach that level.

A group of big shots watched the operation of those soldiers, and some people occasionally let out a surprise.

Because, they found that the bullets of this gun were inserted from the rear of the gun.

Those who have played with guns know that when shooting a gun, the airtightness of the barrel must be very good, otherwise it is easy to explode.

Now that such an opening has been made from the back of the gun, will it not explode?

Several soldiers quickly completed the loading, then aimed at the target in the distance, and pulled the trigger.

Everyone heard the gunshot, but did not see white smoke.

Because, this gun is equipped with smokeless bullets.

The manufacturing technology of this bullet is more difficult and the cost is higher.

Of course, the effect is also very good.

“Two hit the bullseye, two hit eight points, one hit seven points.”

The observer in the distance reported the hit data, which surprised many big shots again.

Although they all knew that these used for performance must be the best in the entire army. However, even if the level of other ordinary soldiers is one level lower than this, it is still quite powerful.

As long as they can accurately hit the enemy outside of one hundred meters, they can make the enemy collapse.

Because at this distance, the Ming army has no power to fight back.

“This is really a magic gun. How many of these guns have been produced by the arsenal now?”

Xue Guiren asked, he couldn’t wait to equip his subordinates with them.

With this kind of gun, wouldn’t he be able to beat all opponents in the future?

“At present, the cost of this gun is extremely expensive. There are only more than two thousand guns in total, all of which are equipped for the Imperial Guards.”

Zhao Xin said.

Everyone was immediately depressed when they heard this. Such a good thing, their front-line troops could not use it, but the Imperial Guards, who had nothing to do all day, could be equipped with it.

However, everyone can understand this kind of thing.

The best equipment must be given priority to the Imperial Guards, in order to deter these military generals.

After several consecutive shots, everyone had completely understood the performance of this gun, and they all praised it.

“According to the situation of the Independent Regiment, tomorrow we can focus on the Independent Regiment as the main force, and then add some other troops as auxiliary, concentrate on attacking a certain section of the defense line, and complete the breakthrough.”

Everyone returned to the tent again, Tao Dongcheng said.

His suggestion was unanimously approved by everyone.

Afterwards, everyone deduced and discussed the specific tactics for tomorrow, and then formulated a detailed battle plan.

Chapter 434: Attacking the Artillery

The next day, Woodrow brought two farmers to Wang Dayong early in the morning.

“Commander, these two old men are locals. They say they know where the Ming army’s artillery positions are, and they also know a small path that leads directly to that mountain.”

“Oh? Is this true?”

Wang Dayong asked excitedly.

If there was a path to get there, they could find a way to eliminate the Ming army’s artillery first, solving that big problem.

Otherwise, even if they didn’t send out many soldiers at a time, they would still be shelled.

One or two losses might not be noticeable, but accumulated, these casualties would be quite deadly.

If they solved the Ming army’s artillery problem, their infantry could attack calmly and reduce casualties significantly.

It could even reduce the psychological pressure on the soldiers to some extent. Some new recruits were still quite afraid of cannons.

“Yes, sir, it’s absolutely true. This old man has lived here for over forty years and knows every path here.”

One of the middle-aged men replied nervously.

Ordinary villagers tend to be nervous and afraid in front of someone as high-ranking and powerful as Wang Dayong.

“Then the two of you will be responsible for leading our army there. If what you say is true, you will be greatly rewarded. If what you say is false, your entire family will be executed. Do you understand?”

Wang Dayong said.

The two men nodded and bowed repeatedly, vowing that they would not dare to deceive him.

Seeing this, Wang Dayong believed them, and then sent an elite regiment to carry out a surprise attack.

The number of troops for the surprise attack was more about quality than quantity; fifteen hundred men was enough.

Bringing too many people would create too much noise and make it easier to be discovered.

This temporary good news disrupted their offensive plans.

Since they could solve the enemy’s artillery first, there was no need to risk attacking under artillery fire. Waiting an extra day or two didn’t matter.

Gao Ge was in charge of leading the team. He was a man who fought without regard for his life, often using any means necessary to achieve his goals.

In fact, the higher-ups liked this kind of general.

Although those higher-ups always said that the lives of soldiers were the most important thing, they cared more about victory than completing the mission and achieving strategic goals.

They were only in that position and had to say those words to gain the soldiers’ recognition and support.

If their subordinates really believed them and were soft-hearted during combat, abandoning the mission to protect the soldiers’ lives, then such people would definitely be crossed out in the higher-ups’ minds, and they could forget about promotion in the future.

As for people like Gao Ge, the higher-ups would usually criticize some of his methods on the surface.

But when there were important tasks, they would think of these people again, feeling that they were more reliable.

Similarly, these people would be promoted faster than ordinary people.

Gao Ge led a mixed force, following the two old farmers into the mountains.

The path the old farmers spoke of could hardly be considered a path at all; it was just a trace of one.

Perhaps someone had walked it many years ago, and it was now abandoned.

Or perhaps it was a trail simply trampled out by a herbalist or hunter.

The road was overgrown with weeds. Sometimes, while walking, the path would disappear, and they had to stop and carefully distinguish it to determine the route.

In this way, they walked for more than an hour before they came out of the mountains.

After passing this mountain, they could see the mountain peak where the Ming army’s artillery was located, even without binoculars.

Then they advanced quietly, and it took them nearly another hour to reach that mountain peak.

At the foot of the mountain, Ming army soldiers were already guarding the road up the mountain.

“These bastards even arranged sentries. What a pain.”

Gao Ge complained.

Surprise attacks were all about catching the enemy off guard. If they made too much noise and were discovered, giving the enemy ample time to prepare, then the surprise attack would be difficult to achieve.

These sentries were quite annoying.

“Judging by their posture, they don’t look like elite troops. We can send a few good men to sneak over and take care of them,” Qiu Weiguang suggested.

“Easy to say, but what if they don’t get taken care of quickly and they send out a signal?”

Gao Ge was a little irritated.

“Then what do you say we do, Regimental Commander?”

Qiu Weiguang asked.

“What else can we do? Of course, send a few good men to sneak over.”

Gao Ge said.

“…”

Qiu Weiguang felt like tens of thousands of alpacas were stampeding through his heart. He wanted to slap himself twice. He secretly vowed never to make suggestions again, at least not to Gao Ge.

Gao Ge sent a few clever men to quietly go around and sneak over.

Perhaps because this was the rear, the Ming army soldiers were not very vigilant and didn’t notice the Hua army sneaking up on them.

By the time they noticed, it was too late. They were too busy parrying to send out a warning signal.

And parrying only lasted a few moves. How could these ordinary sentries be a match for the elite soldiers selected by the Hua army?

After taking care of the sentries, the Hua army troops quickly climbed the mountain.

They weren’t sure when they would be exposed, so the faster they moved, the safer they would be. It was best to complete the mission before the Ming army could react.

But that was definitely impossible. The movement of more than a thousand people marching up the mountain was not small, and the soldiers responsible for protecting the artillery on the mountain quickly heard the noise.

Then, they saw the suddenly appearing Hua army.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack!”

The Ming army soldier who saw them first shouted, and then the entire Ming army unit was in turmoil.

The mere words “enemy attack” could easily make soldiers nervous.

Enemy attack meant that the enemy was prepared and they were responding hastily, which was very dangerous.

This premonition was not wrong at all.

The well-prepared Hua army rushed over with a wave of grenades, followed by charging with bayonets.

At such close range, they gave up firing their guns, as melee combat was more efficient.

There were actually quite a few Ming army soldiers stationed on the mountain to protect the artillery, more than twelve hundred.

However, because they were caught off guard in a surprise attack, they responded hastily without unified command and organization, so they seemed like a disorganized mess.

In many places, the Ming army soldiers were fighting two-on-one, being surrounded.

And in some places, there were no enemies in front of the Ming army soldiers.

Their forces were not being fully utilized.

These details could not be adjusted by the soldiers in the battlefield themselves; they could only be adjusted by the commander outside the battle.

Organized versus unorganized, and the result was that the unorganized side was easily defeated and routed.

The tall mountains and dense forests were good terrain for escape.

Those Ming army soldiers who saw that they were about to lose all fled.

As for protecting the artillery?

Only someone with water in their brain would think that the lives of the artillerymen were more important than their own.

Anyone with a halfway normal brain would prioritize protecting themselves in this situation.

As for the punishment afterward, they could accept it if they could, and if they couldn’t, they could leave the army and become bandits.

In short, either choice was better than dying directly at the hands of the Hua army.

When the people responsible for protecting the artillery ran away, the remaining artillerymen were dumbfounded.

They had almost no ability to resist infantry.

Helpless, some artillerymen chose to surrender, some chose to flee, and some didn’t have time to run and refused to surrender. These people were all mercilessly killed by the Hua army.

“Destroy the cannons, retreat quickly!”

Gao Ge shouted.

They had made such a big commotion here that the Ming army must have sent people over.

If they didn’t hurry, they wouldn’t be able to get away.

Chapter 435: The Breech-Loading Rifle Makes Its Debut

“Boom!”

An earth-shattering roar echoed, reaching even the Chinese army headquarters six or seven li away.

Hearing the explosion, they knew Gao Ge and his men had succeeded.

Wang Dayong immediately ordered a full-scale assault.

Upon learning that the Chinese army had launched a general offensive, Zheng Zhibao kicked over a table in fury.

He already knew about the attack on the artillery positions. Although he didn’t yet know the full extent of the damage, the deafening explosion suggested that many cannons had been destroyed.

Even if the cannons themselves were difficult to destroy, the stored gunpowder must have been ruined. The artillerymen might have been killed, captured, or taken away.

Cannons without gunpowder or artillerymen were just scrap metal.

Without the cannons, their defense became significantly more difficult.

“Where is Yan Da, who was responsible for protecting the artillery? Is he dead? If he isn’t, tell him to bring his head to me, or I’ll slaughter his entire family!”

Zheng Zhibao was so enraged that his words were incoherent. The other officers sighed inwardly.

While Yan Da was certainly negligent, threatening to kill his entire family was excessive.

Every army that had faced the Chinese army had suffered defeat after defeat.

If defeat meant the extermination of one’s family, countless people would have been wiped out.

After venting his anger, Zheng Zhibao focused on the Chinese army’s current attack.

“All of you, go to the front lines and supervise the battle! Demand that the soldiers hold their ground to the death. Anyone who retreats even a single step will be executed without mercy!”

Zheng Zhibao issued a death order. At this moment, all he could do was abuse his power, as he had no better options.

The officers dispersed, and the Chinese army’s artillery barrage began.

Although the Ming army’s well-prepared defenses reduced the effectiveness of the shelling, it still had some impact.

Under the cover of artillery fire, the Chinese army’s infantry approached the foot of the mountain.

Then, the Hongyi cannons ceased firing, and the mortars took over.

Under the cover of the barrage, the Chinese army advanced.

However, this was all a facade.

The Chinese army’s true focus was only on one direction: Zhao Xin’s position.

His independent regiment rapidly approached. When the Ming soldiers appeared above, ready to fire their guns, they quickly sought cover, aimed at the Ming soldiers above, and pulled the triggers.

This action confused the Ming soldiers, as such an exchange of fire was generally unfavorable for the attacking side.

Moreover, even if they were going to exchange fire, why hide? Some were even squatting or lying down. What was the meaning of this?

Some observant Ming soldiers even noticed that the Chinese soldiers didn’t seem to be reloading, which was baffling.

Yet, the guns kept firing.

One after another, a dozen Ming soldiers fell on the position.

This bewildered the Ming soldiers. They couldn’t figure out when the Chinese soldiers below them had reloaded.

After a dozen men fell, the rest didn’t take cover, but continued to stand their ground.

This wasn’t because they were foolish or brave, but because they assumed the Chinese army was still using flintlock muskets. At this distance, the accuracy of a flintlock musket relied entirely on luck.

So, whether they dodged or not didn’t matter.

Hiding would only prevent them from retaliating.

Because they had to reload, they had to remain standing.

As they continued to reload, some curious Ming soldiers observed the Chinese soldiers below.

They were again surprised to see that the Chinese soldiers hadn’t stood up and weren’t stuffing bullets into the muzzles.

The Chinese soldiers simply fiddled with the back of their guns and then raised them to pull the triggers.

This time, even more Ming soldiers fell.

Finally, the Ming soldiers realized something was wrong.

But they didn’t know what to do.

Throwing grenades was out of the question, as they were too far away.

Returning fire with their guns also seemed ineffective, as the Chinese soldiers below were shooting with unnerving accuracy.

They had fired two volleys, but had only managed to kill two Chinese soldiers.

Meanwhile, they… well, forty or fifty of them were already dead.

And this was just on their small section of the defensive line. Observant Ming soldiers noticed that the two lines of defense around them seemed to be experiencing the same thing.

This was terrifying. In the blink of an eye, they had suffered nearly two hundred casualties.

They couldn’t afford such a rate of attrition.

Some soldiers instinctively crouched or lay down.

“What are you doing? Fire back!”

A Ming officer shouted.

“It’s no use, sir! The enemy has some kind of weapon that’s incredibly accurate. We get shot as soon as we stand up. Maybe their regular soldiers are all equipped with those sniper rifles that are meant to kill officers!”

One soldier guessed.

“Nonsense! They only have a little over a hundred of those rifles in their entire army. How could the regular infantry be equipped with them?”

The Ming officer scolded, but his voice grew weaker as he spoke.

Because he realized that even he couldn’t convince himself of his own reasoning.

They only had a hundred before, but wouldn’t they make more? Hadn’t the Chinese army created many new weapons?

Maybe the Chinese army had already manufactured a large number of these rifles? How else could they explain the current situation?

The officer shuddered at the thought and quickly crouched down, afraid of becoming a target himself.

This action saved his life.

He felt a bullet whiz over his head, nearly scaring him witless.

Looking to his side, he saw a soldier who had been crouching next to him now had a bloody hole in his forehead and was already dead.

“Oh, my heavens!”

The officer scrambled into the trench. Other soldiers wanted to retreat into the trench as well, but he shouted at them:

“Don’t retreat! Hold the line! Prevent them from charging up!”

“Hold your mother!”

The soldiers cursed inwardly. The officer was hiding in the back, so why should they be forced to stand in the front and die?

Despite their curses, they couldn’t disobey orders, as the officer had the authority to punish them.

They fired a few more shots, but still couldn’t hit any of the Chinese soldiers, while their own men continued to fall.

As the casualties mounted, the officer’s shouts became useless. Some soldiers retreated into the trenches, refusing to fight.

This wasn’t resistance; it was suicide.

Seeing this situation, the low-ranking officer knew that they couldn’t hold this time.

Staying here like a fool would only make him, a low-ranking officer, cannon fodder.

So, he made the excuse of asking for instructions from his superiors and quietly fled.

“The enemy is about to come up! Where are you going?”

He was unlucky enough to run into a battalion commander who was supervising the battle.

“Battalion Commander, this battle can’t be fought! The Chinese soldiers below are all using those accurate sniper rifles. Hundreds of sniper rifles are aimed at my line of defense. We lost over a hundred men in just a few volleys! How can we fight like this?”

His words shocked everyone. This news was terrifying.

If what he said was true, how could they defend this position?

“Don’t retreat! Hold on for a moment! I’ll report to the general!”

The battalion commander in charge of supervision reprimanded him and quickly went to report to Zheng Zhibao.

Meanwhile, in some areas where gaps had clearly appeared in the defensive lines, the Chinese army’s infantry had already launched their assault.

Chapter 436: Breakthrough

The brunt of the volley from the breech-loading rifles was focused on the Ming army’s First Division, Third Regiment’s defensive line. By this point, the Third Regiment had already suffered casualties exceeding one-third of their original strength.

More importantly, those who remained were utterly terrified by the bizarre situation.

Humans are instinctively afraid of the unknown.

Consequently, some soldiers were quietly slipping away, others were hiding in the trenches, and still others were lost in confusion.

The Ming army in this state was naturally unable to withstand the high-spirited, wolf-like soldiers of the Hua army.

Soon, the Independent Regiment’s soldiers charged into these areas.

By the time the Ming soldiers reacted, it was too late. The Hua army, with its superior numbers, quickly seized key positions. Then, instead of advancing further, they dug in and defended, awaiting reinforcements.

The Independent Regiment’s two thousand men were doing well just to hold this small section of the line. They simply didn’t have enough troops to assault the entire defensive line.

Beside the Independent Regiment, a Ming army unit saw that the Independent Regiment had achieved a breakthrough. They immediately abandoned their attack on the defensive line in front of them and instead charged towards the Independent Regiment’s position.

The Ming army above, seeing this situation, also quickly diverted troops to the Third Regiment’s position.

As for the other, more distant units, they remained in place, continuing to harass the Ming army.

The Hua army’s commanders were constantly observing the situation through binoculars. So, the moment the Independent Regiment charged onto the enemy’s position, they issued orders for support and a full-scale general attack.

The reserves, which had been prepared long ago, quickly surged towards the breakthrough points.

At this time, the Ming army at the breakthrough points were still struggling, trying to retake the area.

Abandoning the entire defensive line and retreating immediately after a single point was breached was impossible; it would be too rash.

Zheng Zhibao, upon learning of the problems at the Third Regiment’s position, immediately dispatched their reserves.

The newly arrived reserves were promised generous rewards, and their morale was relatively high as they continuously charged towards the Hua army’s fortified positions.

Although many of them fell during the charge, they eventually reached the Hua army’s front lines and engaged in melee combat.

However, before long, the Hua army’s reinforcements arrived.

A large number of Hua army soldiers poured through the gaps and joined the battle.

The Hua army was not afraid of melee combat.

In terms of morale, the Hua army was far superior.

As the attacking side, having broken through the enemy’s defensive line naturally boosted their morale.

As for the defending side, the loss of their original advantage inevitably led to a sense of disappointment, anxiety, and fear.

Unable to retake the position, the morale that had been coaxed out with rewards was steadily eroded.

While the fighting was intense there, the Ming army on the other defensive lines were furious.

“Were the Third Regiment’s men raised on excrement? So many other places are as solid as a rock, but they can’t hold their ground, dragging everyone down with them?”

The commander of the Ming army’s First Regiment was so angry when he saw the Third Regiment’s position fall that he felt like his lungs would explode.

The entire defensive line was a single entity. If the Third Regiment’s position was lost, it wouldn’t matter how well they defended their own position.

Once the enemy launched attacks from the Third Regiment’s position on both sides, they would lose all defensive advantages.

The First Regiment’s commander couldn’t understand how the Third Regiment had fallen, given that they, as the defending side, had such a great geographical advantage and had prepared ample supplies. He could only conclude that the Third Regiment’s commander was a useless, dead weight.

The First Regiment’s commander wasn’t the only one who was furious. The Ming army officers on the other positions were also cursing loudly.

Besides cursing, they couldn’t do anything else. They couldn’t even spare troops to support them.

After all, below them, the Hua army was watching intently, ready to take advantage of any opportunity to attack.

If any more positions fell, they would be completely hopeless.

With only one position lost, there was still a chance to retake it.

Of course, this was just the thinking of some of the officers.

Given the current situation, some people’s hearts were already filled with pessimism, and they were starting to consider other options.

In their view, although headquarters was still launching counterattacks on the Third Regiment’s position, the difficulty of attacking the Hua army’s defenses was extremely high.

This Battle of Dragon Waist Mountain was probably coming to an end.

It was time to consider their own escape routes.

On the position held by the Ming army’s Third Regiment, the Hua army now held a firm advantage.

The task of melee combat had gradually been handed over to other units.

It was too wasteful to use the Independent Regiment for melee combat. They began to seize high points and then accurately shot at the Ming army in the rear.

In this way, they could leverage their numerical advantage and create a double layer of attacks from both near and far.

The Ming soldiers were extremely unlucky. Before they even made contact with the Hua army, they had to worry about enemy bullets. After they made contact with the Hua army, they had to worry about the Hua army’s bayonets.

The Ming army couldn’t replicate this tactic.

Because the accuracy of their flintlock muskets was too poor. On the battlefield, they aimed at the enemy, but when the bullets were fired, they often hit their own soldiers.

With the help of ranged attackers, the Hua army’s killing speed and efficiency far surpassed that of the Ming army.

At first, the Ming army didn’t notice it much, and they could continue to fight with the Hua army.

But before long, some soldiers noticed that their own numbers seemed to be dwindling.

The soldiers who noticed this panicked completely and lost the will to fight.

“Damn it, what kind of fight is this? This is just going to die.”

Someone took the lead and said this, which immediately triggered a greater response. These soldiers began to collectively pressure the officers, demanding a retreat.

“We can’t fight, the enemy’s guns are too accurate. On the battlefield, we are just the enemy’s living targets.”

“Retreat, we want to retreat.”

Many soldiers shouted loudly.

“Shut up, the general has ordered that anyone who retreats without permission will be executed.”

The officer in charge of supervising the battle said sternly, but he was already scared to death. After all, it wasn’t just one or two people shouting to escape, but a large group of people.

If these people were determined to escape, he and his few personal soldiers wouldn’t be able to stop them.

At this time, he could only use Zheng Zhibao’s name to try to scare these people.

“Go to hell.”

A soldier suddenly jumped up and stabbed the officer with a knife.

When the others saw this, they quickly attacked the few supervisors and stabbed them to death.

Afterwards, this group of people quickly fled the battlefield.

The Ming army’s situation was getting worse and worse, and their commanders had no good solutions. They could only continue to send emergency messages to the rear, requesting support.

But this would take time. By the time the Ming army’s second batch of reinforcements arrived, the situation had deteriorated to a point beyond saving.

The Hua army had gathered more than six thousand troops on this position, and the number was still increasing.

These troops had been organized and began to advance on both sides.

When the newly arrived Ming army saw that the enemy had the strength to attack in other directions, they thought, ‘What’s the point of fighting?’

At this time, rushing up could certainly kill some more Hua army soldiers, but it was obviously impossible to drive these six thousand people back down.

At this time, the problem they needed to consider was no longer how to drive the enemy down and retake the position, but how to build a second line of defense to delay the Hua army’s main force, and then take the troops and escape to preserve their strength.

Chapter 437: A Great Victory

As the Great Hua army began to attack in other directions, a chain reaction ensued.

The Ming army on the other defensive lines quickly collapsed, all retreating in a panic.

After all, if they ran even a little slower, they would be surrounded by the Great Hua army.

This kind of retreat, without unified planning from headquarters, very easily turned into a rout.

Because there were not many roads down the mountain, each unit wanted to go down first, and disputes would arise between them. Without a superior’s decision, units of the same rank would generally not easily yield.

Although they knew that if they kept arguing like this, none of them would escape, no one was willing to let the other go first.

They were even fighting over the road down the mountain, let alone expecting anyone to stay behind to cover their retreat.

With no one to stop them, the Great Hua army advanced very quickly.

Before the Ming army could come to a conclusion in their argument, the Great Hua army was already approaching.

Instantly, the Ming soldiers who had been arguing scattered in all directions.

Those soldiers were too lazy to worry about whether there was a road or not, and went straight down the steep slopes, some even jogging.

Some soldiers, overly nervous, didn’t pay attention to the slope, ran too fast, and fell directly, then rolled all the way down the hillside.

Those who could die instantly were the lucky ones, for fear of being half-dead.

At this time, no one had the energy to save people. Those who were seriously injured could not die for a while, and it was impossible to save them. They would have to suffer pain before they died.

A large number of soldiers fled in panic, the scene was chaotic.

Faced with this situation, the Great Hua army couldn’t have been more relaxed.

As they approached in neat formations, those soldiers who didn’t even have time to go down the slope threw down their weapons and surrendered. Some generals even led their subordinates to surrender in organized units.

The Great Hua army didn’t have much combat duty at all, and just kept dealing with these prisoners.

Meanwhile, in the Ming army’s command post, everyone was escorting Zheng Zhibao in a rapid retreat.

They were slightly better off, leaving behind a rearguard unit to buy them time to escape.

However, this rearguard unit didn’t last long either in the face of the Great Hua army’s pincer attack.

At this point, Dragon Waist Mountain was completely lost.

The Great Hua army did not stop. They divided their forces into several groups, one of which was responsible for cleaning up the battlefield, pursuing and capturing fleeing soldiers.

Another group went straight to Ningde County, wanting to take advantage of the situation to capture the county and expand their victory.

Only by eliminating these active forces could they be considered victorious, otherwise, if these people escaped back to Fuzhou, it would take more effort to attack Fuzhou in the future.

Another group went straight to the seaside ferry, to cooperate with the navy to take down the Ming army stationed on the coast.

Due to terrain, weather, and many other reasons, the navy’s previous landing operations had not been very smooth.

As for the eastern route, because it was far away and the number of Ming troops was not very large, they did not divide their forces to deal with it.

The three armies advanced side by side, chasing all the way, constantly catching up with some Ming troops on the road, and then capturing them.

These fleeing soldiers, more or less, slowed down the Great Hua army’s pursuit speed.

By the time they arrived at the county seat, the five thousand troops in the city had already joined forces with Zheng Zhibao’s remnants and continued to flee towards Fuzhou.

At this time, it was already getting dark.

Pursuing in the mountains at night was extremely difficult.

At that time, it was estimated that half of those who escaped would fall to their deaths, and half of those who pursued would also fall to their deaths.

For the Great Hua army, there was no need for this.

So, the unit attacking the county temporarily changed its plan and also went to the seaside, occupying some important intersections to prevent the Ming army on the coast from escaping again.

Zheng Zhibao did not forget to issue a retreat order to the garrison commander stationed on the coast while he was escaping.

However, the retreat of more than ten thousand people was a major project, and it was about to get dark.

Yu Xian, the general in command, deeply felt the difficulty of the retreat and decided to hold on for one night first, and then look for an opportunity to retreat tomorrow.

At night, in order to avoid unnecessary accidents, the Great Hua army also suspended its attack, only tightly surrounding this Ming army in a certain area.

The next day, before dawn, Yu Xian tried to break through with a sneak attack.

However, the Great Hua army had long been prepared for this, and the army had been waiting in full force.

Yu Xian did not find an opportunity and had to retreat to his original position.

Afterwards, the Great Hua army first sent envoys to persuade them to surrender, after all, fighting would cost a lot of ammunition and soldiers’ lives, which was not necessary.

The conditions they offered were very harsh, requiring Yu Xian to surrender unconditionally.

That is to say, after Yu Xian surrendered, there was no guarantee. The Great Hua army did not promise him any position.

At that time, what official Yu Xian could become would depend entirely on the mood of Great Hua.

If the position given was good, he would need to be grateful. If it was bad, he could only endure it.

Yu Xian was naturally dissatisfied with this kind of treatment.

He still had more than seventeen thousand troops under his command, which was a considerable force.

Yu Xian felt that he was a big shot no matter how he looked at it, and it was too disrespectful to ask him to surrender unconditionally.

Therefore, Yu Xian rejected this request and at the same time put forward his own demands.

He demanded that he could surrender, but after surrendering, he must have the position of a division commander and a baronet title.

He was originally asking for the sky-high price, just thinking that the Great Hua army would bargain on the spot.

In his heart, his bottom line was actually only needing the position of a brigade commander, as for the title, it didn’t matter whether he had it or not.

However, to his surprise, the Great Hua army did not bargain with him at all.

The envoy reported Yu Xian’s demands, and Wang Dayong then ordered the Great Hua army to launch a general attack.

Still want a title?

Wang Dayong and others all laughed, who didn’t know that the titles of Great Hua were valuable now. A defeated general also wanted a title?

The navy’s cannons and the army’s cannons were launched at the same time, and a fierce bombardment was carried out on the location of Yu Xian’s troops.

More than ten thousand of them were huddled in this small area, and the density of personnel was very high.

Any cannonball that landed could hit a soldier.

After more than a dozen rounds of shelling, the Ming army suffered heavy casualties, and the position was in a mess.

Many officers were persuading Yu Xian to quickly raise the white flag and surrender, seeking a way to survive.

At this time, they would be satisfied as long as they could live, and they didn’t dare to think about any treatment.

It was not until this time that Yu Xian truly regretted it. He realized that he had overestimated his value.

Although in his opinion, holding seventeen thousand troops was a very powerful force, in the eyes of the Great Hua army, the location of these more than ten thousand people was simply a dead end.

Unfortunately, there was no regret medicine in this world.

Having previously rejected the Great Hua army’s surrender offer, Yu Xian couldn’t bring himself to change his mind.

So, after being bombarded, Yu Xian led his troops to break through, making a final struggle.

They attacked the Stone Pit guarded by the Independent Regiment, wanting to enter the mountains from this entrance, and then rely on the complex terrain of the mountains to get rid of the Great Hua army’s pursuit.

This choice was not wrong, but unfortunately they encountered the Great Hua army’s Independent Regiment.

In defensive operations, breech-loading rifles exerted even more terrifying power.

When the Ming army was two hundred meters away, the Great Hua army was already firing. At this distance, the hit rate was already quite considerable.

As the Ming army entered one hundred and fifty meters, one hundred meters, the soldiers began to fall in pieces.

Before they even rushed to the Great Hua army, nearly half of them had already died.

No matter how the supervising team urged them, the remaining people refused to move forward, but turned around and ran to the rear.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the Great Hua army killed nearly three thousand Ming soldiers.

This terrifying efficiency in killing enemies was not because the breech-loading rifle was powerful, but because the Ming army’s tactical thinking could not keep up with the Great Hua army’s weapon updates.

When facing the muzzle-loading gun, they were still lining up, people next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, charging forward.

This was just sending them to their deaths, no matter how many went, it wouldn’t be enough.

When facing the muzzle-loading gun, the only right way was to use skirmish tactics. Unfortunately, Yu Xian didn’t understand this until he died.

After the charge failed, Yu Xian was stabbed to death by his subordinates.

Afterwards, all the Ming troops surrendered unconditionally.

Chapter 438: The Approaching Dark Night

With Shi Shouye’s unit, in coordination with allied forces, completely annihilating the opposition, the entire Ningde campaign came to an end.

The total number of casualties for the Great Hua army reached three thousand seven hundred and some, with over four hundred seriously wounded.

It had been a while since the Great Hua army had seen such heavy casualties.

Of course, compared to the enormous victory, these casualties seemed insignificant.

In this campaign, they annihilated over forty-five thousand Ming soldiers. Zheng Zhibao successfully brought back less than four thousand soldiers to Fuzhou.

Among these forty-five thousand, over thirteen thousand were killed, over two thousand were missing, and the remaining thirty thousand were captured.

Most of these people would be sent to Nanjing to build railways.

In terms of supplies, they seized over one hundred cannons, five thousand usable flintlock rifles, and a large pile of other miscellaneous junk.

After this battle, the Ming Dynasty suffered a major blow.

Although they still had over eighty thousand troops in Fuzhou, they didn’t have many flintlock rifles left. They also lost a large number of grenades, which would be difficult to replenish in a short time.

Without these weapons and equipment, having a large number of troops was meaningless.

Now, if the Ming soldiers didn’t have a gun in their hands, they were unwilling to be soldiers.

Because ordinary soldiers knew that going up against the enemy with broadswords was just suicide.

The news of the defeat at Ningde caused even greater shock in Fuzhou than the crushing defeat of Zheng Zhilong’s navy.

If the navy was defeated, they could still defend for a while.

If the army was defeated too, then they were truly at their wit’s end, without any options.

After the fall of Ningde, the next step for the Great Hua army would definitely be Fuzhou.

Some wealthy people had already begun to flee Fuzhou, heading to the countryside or other cities to avoid the ravages of war.

Although the Great Hua army would not deliberately kill civilians, the cannons had no eyes, and every siege inevitably caused collateral damage to residential buildings and civilians.

Civilians who were accidentally injured usually had to accept their bad luck. There weren’t many places to reason in this era.

Some officials intensified their contact with spies from the Great Hua, constantly leaking information, hoping for a peaceful end after the war.

When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter. Anyone with eyes could see that the Ming Dynasty was truly finished.

The Ming Dynasty was their Zhu family’s Ming Dynasty, not everyone’s Ming Dynasty. Why should they risk their lives for the Ming Dynasty?

Great Hua was also a regime established by Han people. Serving Great Hua wouldn’t carry any stigma, so some officials had no moral burden.

The rich thought of fleeing, the officials thought of betraying, and the army was busy building fortifications. No one cared about the chaos in the city.

Some hooligans and thugs took the opportunity to come out to smash, loot, burn, rape, and pillage.

All sorts of things that were rarely seen on weekdays emerged overnight.

Besides the chaos, the most common thing in the city these days was funerals.

On the streets, funeral processions were everywhere.

In the alleys, the sounds of wailing and crying could be heard everywhere.

In the continuous series of battles, the Ming army had lost tens of thousands of soldiers.

And most of these people were locals from the Fuzhou area.

Almost every two or three households had someone who had died on the battlefield.

The scene was truly one where every family was in mourning, and the city was filled with a desolate white.

In the Zheng family, Zheng Zhilong suddenly seemed much older.

Gone, all gone. The family fortune he had accumulated for decades was wiped out in two battles.

The remaining twenty to thirty thousand soldiers with broadswords were meaningless.

With that few people, the Great Hua army could probably scatter them with a single charge.

“Send someone to contact the Great Hua spies and tell them that we are willing to surrender unconditionally,” Zheng Zhilong said.

“What, unconditionally? Brother, calm down. Doesn’t this mean we’ll have to live like ordinary people in the future? Although our strength is greatly diminished now, we are still surrendering with tens of thousands of people. It wouldn’t be too much to ask for some wealth and glory, would it?” Zheng Zhihu said. He couldn’t accept the feeling of everything he owned turning into nothing. It was more painful than killing him.

“Can’t you see? Great Hua doesn’t care, or rather, is unwilling to accept us. Moreover, they have the strength to be so arrogant. If we aren’t obedient, we’ll probably end up with our entire family being executed.

Surrendering now, even if we lose our power in the future, Great Hua will have to show the world that they won’t make things too difficult for us. At least we can protect the family,” Zheng Zhilong said.

“I won’t surrender. At worst, I’ll take the brothers out to sea and continue being pirates in Taiwan,” Zheng Zhibao said.

Zheng Zhilong sighed when he heard this and didn’t object.

Letting Zheng Zhibao go to sea was also a way out.

In the Fuzhou palace, Zhu Yujian was drinking in frustration.

Defeated again.

He had worked hard and strived for improvement for half a year, creating a strong army.

But in the battle with the Great Hua army, he was ruthlessly crushed again.

From the battle report, Zhu Yujian also learned the main reason for the defeat. It was because the Great Hua army had a new type of gun, the performance of which was several times better than that of a flintlock rifle.

More new weapons. Seeing this, Zhu Yujian smiled.

It was like a helpless smile, and also like a mad smile.

“Wu Changqing, Wu Changqing, where did you get so many new weapons? Why can you create so many advanced things? Why are you so smart?

Could it be that you are the real Son of Heaven?”

Zhu Yujian muttered to himself. Wu Changqing’s rise was too legendary. It was a hundred times more legendary than the Manchus entering the pass.

At least the Manchus had nearly one million people and over two hundred thousand elite soldiers when they entered the pass.

But Wu Changqing only had three hundred people when he rose up.

Relying on three hundred people, he developed into the strongest in less than two years.

“If a romance novel had fabricated such a story in the past, it would probably have been ridiculed. But this guy actually did it.”

Zhu Yujian sighed.

Now, he was truly convinced and admitted that he was inferior to Wu Changqing.

However, he could not surrender, because he was the emperor. He had his pride and dignity.

Even if he couldn’t win, he would fight to the death, rather than surrender and become a prisoner, saying “I am too happy here to think of home” to beg for survival.

“Your Majesty, Lord Huang requests an audience.”

The eunuch came to report.

“Don’t see him. What’s the point of seeing him? Who can turn the tide now?”

Zhu Yujian laughed.

He was already on the verge of madness.

The emperor ignored affairs, and the few remaining ministers could only worry anxiously.

They still wanted to persuade Zhu Yujian to continue retreating to Zhaoqing in Guangdong, and then continue to work hard for improvement.

They could continue to do business with Western Europeans along the coast of Guangdong, and it wasn’t entirely impossible to redevelop.

Of course, these were just words. Those people just wanted to continue to survive for a while longer.

As long as the Ming Dynasty existed for one more day, they could enjoy their blessings for one more day.

If the Ming Dynasty was destroyed, these loyalists would not have a good end in the future.

Chapter 439: A Flourishing Age

Fuzhou was filled with a sense of oppression and desolation, while Nanjing at this time was a scene of singing and dancing.

On the streets, young boys around ten years old, carrying small schoolbags, were selling newspapers along the street.

There were generally three channels for the sale of newspapers in Nanjing. The first was subscriptions from wealthy people in Nanjing, which was the most stable. The newspaper office would deliver the newspapers to their residences regularly.

The second was export sales. Merchants from other places would come to Nanjing regularly to pick up various newspapers and transport them to Suzhou, Songjiang, Jiujiang, and even Beijing in the Qing Dynasty and Fuzhou in the Southern Ming.

The third was scattered sales. Some families who were not particularly wealthy were reluctant to subscribe to every issue.

However, when they encountered some major news, they couldn’t resist the curiosity to buy a copy to read.

There were also some scholars and merchants from other places. If they came to Nanjing and didn’t buy a newspaper to read, how could they be embarrassed to tell others that they had been to Nanjing?

It was like people in later generations going to famous scenic spots, if they didn’t take a photo, they wouldn’t be able to show off when they got back.

“Selling newspapers, selling newspapers! Great victory in Ningde! Our army has won a great victory! The Southern Ming suffered heavy losses! Capturing Fuzhou is just around the corner!”

The newsboys shouted the words taught to them by the newspaper office, selling along the street.

Currently, there was a shortage of labor in Nanjing. It would be too wasteful to have adult men do things like selling newspapers, which didn’t require much physical effort.

Therefore, the government intentionally supported these teenagers, giving them lower prices than adult men.

As a result, the retail newspaper industry was quickly occupied by these teenagers, and those adult men could only do other jobs. It was very uneconomical to sell newspapers if they insisted on doing so.

Most of these children were children of refugees and poor people. For them, full-time schooling was too luxurious.

Many of them sold newspapers for half a day and then went to listen to lectures for half a day.

Some simply sold newspapers full-time to subsidize their families.

Most people knew that studying could change their destiny, but in reality, many people were forced to give up their studies.

“Give me a newspaper.”

Said a candidate who came to Nanjing to participate in the metropolitan exam.

As a juren with an official title, he was already considered half a Great Hua official, and he needed to pay attention to current affairs and politics.

In the newspaper, he could learn a lot of useful information. Understanding this information was helpful for the exam.

In the previous provincial examination, there was a question that was an article discussed in the newspaper.

“Selling newspapers, selling newspapers! The great novelist Jian Ping’s new novel Tales of the Supernatural, Expanded has officially begun serialization…”

Some newsboys were selling the People’s Daily, while others were selling novel newspapers, business newspapers, and other newspapers.

Among them, the sales of novel newspapers even once exceeded the People’s Daily.

After all, those major national events were actually quite far away from ordinary people.

Whether Ningde was defeated or won, these ordinary people could not personally feel the difference.

But reading novel newspapers was different. Those wonderful novels were fascinating to read.

Because the cost of paper and printing had been greatly reduced, more and more people were writing books now.

Some of the good writers have become famous through the Novel Newspaper platform.

In the archway, four or five tables of people were playing mahjong, and there were even more onlookers.

In the restaurants, guests could listen to storytelling or crosstalk while drinking.

In the theaters, plays of various styles were performed in turn.

In the stadium, a football match was in progress.

Currently, there were six professional teams in Nanjing alone, competing with each other regularly.

Although tickets were not cheap, each game could attract a large number of spectators.

On average, each game could attract about two thousand people to watch at the same time.

This number was already quite good. Looking at the world, no city could have as many idle people as Nanjing.

Most people had not yet solved the problem of food and clothing, so they were not in the mood to watch football games.

Among the six professional teams, one was the royal team created by Prince Qin, Wu Zheng, with a considerable lineup.

The other two were military teams, representing the military.

There was also a team formed by the Jinling Chamber of Commerce, representing the power of the Chamber of Commerce.

This kind of competition on the field was also a stage to show their strength.

The Jinling Chamber of Commerce attached great importance to its Great Yuanbao team, because they noticed that when the team won, the Jinling Chamber of Commerce would receive great attention.

They even found that advertising in the stadium during the game was very effective.

In order to expand its influence, the Jinling Chamber of Commerce invested a lot in the team, constantly searching for people with football talent among the people and training them.

Relying on heavy investment in training and poaching, the Great Yuanbao team was now quite strong.

There was also a private team of Li Zong, he was the second son of a large family, a famous playboy in Nanjing.

Because he liked to watch football, he did not hesitate to spend his own money to form a team, which made countless ‘people with insight’ shake their heads.

In the eyes of those who were a little older, football was at best a plaything.

It was not a good thing to be too addicted to it.

In the university.

At this time, the university had been expanded twice and had more than five thousand official students.

Some of the students inside were both students and teachers.

On the one hand, they were learning advanced courses, and at the same time, they had to take turns to teach introductory courses to new students.

This was the current situation caused by the rapid expansion and lack of teachers.

In the short term, this phenomenon was difficult to change.

It would take at least six or seven years to develop enough professional teachers.

More than five thousand people were studying and researching various advanced knowledge in the school, it could be said that this was currently the top university in the world, bar none.

Cultural, entertainment, and education were booming, and construction was the same.

Now the cement roads in Nanjing had been expanded to three, and three important main roads had been paved with cement.

Other routes were also under construction. Liu Dahua, the governor of Nanjing, planned to pave all the roads in Nanjing with cement roads.

Moreover, the main line had been expanded once, and tracks were also being laid. Liu Dahua was preparing to run the first track horse-drawn carriage to solve the road congestion problem caused by the excessive population.

After the track horse-drawn carriage was built, it could carry about thirty passengers at a time, every twenty minutes, and the daily transportation volume could reach nearly a thousand people.

In general cities, the total number of trips per day may not reach this number.

In the outer city, affordable rental red brick houses for refugees were still being built, but the scale was smaller than last year.

In the suburbs, major factories were also expanding.

Massive amounts of goods were shipped out of these factories and transported to all parts of the country.

The workers and merchants who came and went were countless.

People living in Nanjing had a feeling that the war seemed to have passed for a long, long time.

The whole city was thriving, and there was no trace of war.

Chapter 440: A Home of Enterprise

The Zhang residence welcomed the most esteemed personage in Great Hua today: His Majesty, Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing’s visit to the Zhang family was solely to send a continuous signal to the world: his emphasis on science and technology.

Only by constantly sending such signals could he attract more people and capital into the research and development field.

Although he repeatedly stressed the importance of technology, he was still worried about the possibility of involution.

Involution, simply put, meant that the profits from technological upgrades were less than the profits from using cheap labor.

China had a large population, and the cost of labor was very low.

And the efficiency brought by a huge investment in technology might not achieve a leap forward.

At that time, those who invested in technology would find that it was better to use the vast amount of cheap labor than to invest in technology.

And this would lead to the stagnation of technology.

In the original timeline, the Qing Dynasty, with a population of over four hundred million in its later period, did not witness any major technological inventions, largely due to this reason.

Currently, Wu Changqing also faced this problem. After the emergence of the Jenny spinning machine, relying on cheap labor, those merchants had already made a fortune, and few would actively want to upgrade their technology.

After all, upgrading technology required huge investments, the effects were unknown, and the risks were enormous.

In short, this was a small flaw of having a large population.

To solve this problem, it was actually easy: make the profits from technological upgrades exceed the profits from using labor.

Or, raise workers’ wages and increase merchants’ labor costs, forcing them to invent more machines to replace manual labor.

However, this had to be done gradually. If workers’ wages were raised too high all at once, causing merchants to have no profits, it would weaken their desire to invest and they would save their money.

In short, governing a country was a very, very difficult task.

Often, this wouldn’t work, and that wouldn’t be good either.

Wu Changqing, relying on his knowledge and insights from later generations, along with the assistance of the system, didn’t dare to say that he could definitely govern the society into his ideal form.

Currently, Wu Changqing couldn’t worry about things so far ahead. He needed to solve the problem of involution, so he could only encourage merchants to invest in technological research and development by constantly expressing his attitude.

As for how many people would fall into this pit and go bankrupt, Wu Changqing didn’t care.

What he wanted was the progress of the overall society, and he couldn’t care about the individuals within it.

When Wu Changqing learned that the Zhang family, in conjunction with his student Xu Ke, had created a watch, he immediately expressed his intention to inspect it in person.

In this way, he could give Zhang Tianan an honor and attract other merchants to follow suit.

Upon receiving this news, Zhang Tianan was so excited that he almost fainted.

The Emperor’s personal visit was a great honor for an ordinary merchant.

In the future, his status would be invisibly elevated.

After all, he was someone who had been noticed by the Emperor.

To welcome His Majesty’s visit, the Zhang residence prepared for two full days, and even the servants were given temporary crash courses in etiquette.

In front of the Emperor, they couldn’t afford to be impolite.

Early in the morning, the Zhang family prepared everything properly, waiting only for the Emperor’s personal arrival.

It wasn’t until noon that Wu Changqing, accompanied by some ministers from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce, arrived at the Zhang residence.

Before even entering the gate, the Zhang family had already knelt down, shouting “Long live the Emperor!”

“Rise, everyone, be at ease. Just consider today as the Emperor coming to play,”

Wu Changqing said. Although the feeling of being kowtowed to was quite enjoyable, the more he was kowtowed to, the more this feeling gradually diminished.

More importantly, those kneeling before him were just small characters.

If it were characters like Zhu Yujian or Dorgon kneeling before him, Wu Changqing might feel particularly good.

As for the people of the Zhang family, forget it.

The people of the Zhang residence quickly thanked him for his grace, and even because of Wu Changqing’s small gesture, they felt that Wu Changqing was very approachable.

In this era, the lower ranks had very low expectations when facing the higher ranks, and they were easily satisfied.

After the necessary procedures were completed, Xu Ke handed over the watch he had developed.

Wu Changqing took it and saw that the watch was as big as a fist. It probably couldn’t be worn on the wrist and would be more suitable to hang on the waist.

This thing probably couldn’t be called a watch; it had to be called a waist watch.

This was also unavoidable. With the current level of technology, it was really impossible to process finer materials.

The watch also had three hands. Although the names were different, they were actually the hour, minute, and second hands.

Moreover, it used the duodecimal system, dividing the day into twelve periods, each period into one hundred and twenty equal parts, called a ke.

One ke was equal to one minute, and each ke had one hundred and twenty seconds.

In other words, one second in Great Hua was now about half a second in later generations.

There was no way around it. Great Hua liked the beauty brought by neatness. Since it was a duodecimal system, everything used twelve.

This kind of timekeeping was slightly different from the twenty-four-hour system of later generations, but the impact was small.

Wu Changqing didn’t deliberately change this kind of insignificant difference.

Wu Changqing personally issued orders to change some significantly impactful units of measurement.

For example, he established the length units of centimeters, meters, and kilometers, as it was very inconvenient to continue using the previous zhang, chi, and cun.

One zhang was equal to three chi, but one divided by three could not be divided completely, which could easily cause errors in scientific experiments.

Many people initially didn’t understand Wu Changqing’s changes to some seemingly unnecessary units of measurement, but after using them for a long time, they would realize that the units Wu Changqing had changed were more convenient and easier to use.

Those who understood Wu Changqing’s painstaking efforts would shout “His Majesty is wise!”

As for some old antiques who liked to reminisce about the past, they had to use the new system while holding their noses.

So far, no one had rebelled because they didn’t like using the new units of measurement.

In the future, it was unlikely to happen either.

Wu Changqing looked at the appearance, then checked whether it was working properly, and finally personally disassembled it to look at the internal structure, and then casually pointed out a few things.

Just a simple pointer immediately made Xu Ke suddenly understand.

The teacher was still the teacher. His proud achievements might be nothing in the teacher’s eyes.

Xu Ke felt a little lost, after all, these were his hard work.

“Not bad, it’s already very rare to be able to make it like this under the existing conditions,”

Wu Changqing praised. Xu Ke was excited and beaming with joy.

Being recognized by the Emperor was the greatest honor for them, the Emperor’s disciples.

“However, it still needs to be improved. Try to shrink the parts inside a bit more. It’s best to be able to wear this watch on the wrist, so you can see the time by reaching out. It’s not convenient enough to hang it on the waist now,”

Wu Changqing instructed.

This kind of watch could also be manufactured in small quantities to supply the market, but for long-term considerations, this thing had to continue to be developed.

“Your student will remember your teachings, teacher,”

Xu Ke said.

He directly called Wu Changqing “teacher” instead of “Your Majesty,” which was actually a bit inappropriate.

But Wu Changqing didn’t care, and others wouldn’t be full enough to care. Who knew, maybe they just had a deep teacher-student relationship.

“This watch is of great significance. We must establish a sense of time, accurately grasp the time, and improve efficiency…”

Wu Changqing said a lot to everyone, emphasizing the concept of time.

In later generations, whether it was a company boss or an ordinary person, the control of time needed to be very precise.

And this sense of time could invisibly greatly improve cooperation efficiency, work efficiency, and so on.

For scientific experiments, precise time measurement was even more important.

“Zhang Tianan, send a watch to the palace later and put it on my desk. I want to know the time at all times,”

Wu Changqing once again led the trend by example.

The Emperor demanded that he control the time at all times, so how dare other ministers dawdle?

When Wu Changqing said that he wanted to use this watch himself, other ministers were already ready to order one. They had to follow in His Majesty’s footsteps.

Moreover, this watch did have a strong practical value.

Finally, Wu Changqing gave Zhang Tianan a plaque with four characters written on it: “A Home of Enterprise.”

It meant that the Zhang family was very enterprising and willing to spend huge sums of money to respond to the call and invest in research and development.

With this plaque hanging on the door, the aura of the entire house was different.

Other merchants who learned the news were almost popping their eyes out.

“Invention, invention, we must come up with an invention. It doesn’t matter if we make money or not, our family must have this honor.”

…

Chapter 441: Machine Tools

Wu Changqing valued watches not just for their accurate timekeeping.

Another important reason was that valuing watches and promoting the watch industry could foster the development of precision machining.

Creating greater demand would encourage more people to find solutions.

Just as the high demand for non-perishable food on long sea voyages led to the invention of canned goods.

A large demand for precision-machined parts would drive the advancement of precision machining.

Precision machining is a very important industry, arguably the foundation of modern industry.

Without precision machining, it’s impossible to mass-produce machines and parts.

Currently, many machine parts in Great Hua are painstakingly crafted by artisans, entirely by hand.

This is extremely difficult, and the resulting parts have large errors and cannot be mass-produced.

This is where machine tools come in.

In fact, rudimentary machine tools already existed in this era. Song Yingxing had previously invented a machine for cutting jade.

However, that machine relied on foot pedals for power, which was weak and only suitable for cutting jade. Cutting and grinding metal would be very difficult.

After joining Great Hua, Song Yingxing absorbed a wealth of knowledge and created a more advanced machine tool powered by a steam engine that could cut pig iron.

However, the power provided by the current steam engines is quite unstable.

At least nine out of ten parts would be ruined during processing.

Even so, this seemingly useless machine tool was already the most advanced in the world.

Wu Changqing had intended to let Song Yingxing slowly develop more advanced machine tools on his own. But now it seemed that due to limitations in knowledge and materials, it would be difficult for Song Yingxing to make breakthroughs independently.

Helpless, the supreme ruler had to step in personally once again.

Wu Changqing not only directly exchanged for three Maudslay lathes from the system but also the manufacturing method for these machines.

Maudslay lathes were already capable of machining screws and nuts, and their technological content was actually very high.

Just the three Maudslay lathes cost him three hundred thousand resource points, equivalent to thirty thousand flintlock muskets, which made his heart ache.

The manufacturing process for the Maudslay lathes was even more expensive, costing a full one million tech points, twenty times more than the flintlock musket technology.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing now controlled nearly half the country, and his resource and tech points had increased significantly.

After exchanging for these items, Wu Changqing checked the system.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Current territory area: 540,000 square kilometers, total resource points: sixteen million two hundred thousand, remaining: fifteen million one hundred thousand.

Current population: 42.8 million, total tech points: 42.8 million, remaining: 40.22 million.

It seemed like there was a lot left, but Wu Changqing had grand ambitions. He wanted to build aircraft carriers, airplanes, and computers in the future, so these seemingly large amounts of wealth seemed small.

Therefore, Wu Changqing had always been frugal.

Sometimes he missed computer games from later generations, but he resisted the urge to exchange for a computer.

It wasn’t necessary, and it was too expensive.

Moreover, if he had a computer, he would probably spend even less time in the harem.

The imperial concubines might bribe palace maids or eunuchs to smash his computer.

The three machine tools and the manufacturing process were delivered to Song Yingxing, along with an imperial edict.

The edict instructed Song Yingxing to make good use of these items, study their processes thoroughly, and complete mass production as soon as possible.

“Master Song, His Majesty went to great lengths to personally obtain these treasures for you. You must not fail His Majesty’s trust,” Feng Debao said.

Although he didn’t know where these seemingly precious treasures came from, he knew that Wu Changqing must have paid a considerable price to obtain them.

Otherwise, Wu Changqing wouldn’t have been so solemn, mobilizing the Imperial Guards to escort them.

Feng Debao didn’t know their value, but after a cursory glance at the operating instructions, Song Yingxing immediately realized the importance of the machine tools before him.

“His Majesty is truly a sage reborn, his wisdom is greater than that of everyone else in the world combined. The design of this machine tool, the workmanship, the materials…”

Song Yingxing stroked the machine tool as if he were caressing several beauties, his face filled with intoxication. Feng Debao got goosebumps all over his body, seriously suspecting that Song Yingxing had some kind of special fetish, which was truly terrifying.

“Master Song, Doctor Song, did you hear the imperial edict? Do not fail His Majesty’s expectations,” Feng Debao reminded helplessly.

If it were officials in the past who dared to be so unstatesmanlike, he could have taken the opportunity to reprimand them. How could they not heed the emperor’s decree?

But now, Feng Debao also knew that Wu Changqing valued knowledgeable and talented scientists very much.

Wu Changqing would most likely not care about these minor improprieties.

“Damn it, damn it, this official was rude. It’s just that this machine tool is too precious, more precious than ten thousand soldiers. I naturally wouldn’t dare to be negligent in His Majesty’s important task, even if it costs me my life,” Song Yingxing said with emotion.

His admiration for Wu Changqing had reached an unparalleled level, because he thought these things were all invented by Wu Changqing.

This kind of wisdom was simply unbelievable.

He felt that if Wu Changqing didn’t have to spend time governing the country, he could invent even more good things.

Comparing himself to Wu Changqing, Song Yingxing, who had previously considered himself very intelligent, suddenly felt ashamed of his inferiority.

No, how could I compare myself to His Majesty? That’s truly audacious. His Majesty is the Son of Heaven, a sage reborn.

Song Yingxing broke out in a cold sweat, feeling guilty for his thoughts.

According to the operating instructions provided by Wu Changqing, Song Yingxing spent two days mastering the operation of the machine.

This was already considered a very fast speed. It took even longer for his subordinates to learn these operating techniques.

After teaching others how to use it, Song Yingxing had time to personally disassemble and reassemble it.

With such a complex machine, it was not certain that it could be manufactured simply by having the process flow.

In the actual manufacturing process, there are often countless problems.

This is why an invention often takes years or even decades to go from its emergence to perfection.

But now, Song Yingxing didn’t have to go through so much trouble. After disassembling and reassembling it once, he had a good understanding of the machine and could start manufacturing it.

Wu Changqing relied on the system to complete the road that would have originally taken hundreds of years in a matter of days.

When Song Yingxing and others mastered the manufacturing and use of this machine, it meant that Great Hua had mastered machine tool technology and could carry out the processing of various precision parts.

Manufacturing machines in the future would be dozens or even hundreds of times easier.

Chapter 442: Examination Candidates Enter the Capital

On March 12th, a group of examination candidates from Jiujiang traveled downstream by boat and arrived in Nanjing.

As soon as they disembarked onto the dock, several rickshaw pullers crowded around, soliciting customers.

These examination candidates traveling to the capital were generally well-off, making them likely customers for the rickshaws.

“Esteemed Sir, are you an examination candidate? Take our rickshaw! I know the location of every inn in Nanjing, which one is the cheapest, which one is the most comfortable, and which one is closest to the Qinhuai River.”

The rickshaw puller said.

“This must be the rickshaw mentioned in the newspaper. It seems more convenient than a horse-drawn carriage, but I wonder if it’s as comfortable as they say,”

Feng Liang, who was visiting Nanjing for the first time, said with great interest.

Because of the newspaper reports, he had long been filled with curiosity about Nanjing.

“It’s definitely more comfortable than the newspaper says!”

The rickshaw puller said.

“How much does it cost to get to an inn?”

Ouyang Shiqi, who was traveling with him, asked the price.

“Not expensive, not expensive at all, only fifty wen.”

The rickshaw puller’s words made Ouyang Shiqi gasp. He had heard from others that the cost of living in Nanjing was high, but he didn’t expect it to be this high.

He felt that people living in Nanjing must have a hard time.

In fact, the cost of living in Nanjing was currently at two extremes. On the one hand, the prices of various essential goods were controlled by the government, so they were lower than in other places.

On the other hand, the service industry was indeed much more expensive than in other places.

In other places, hiring a horse-drawn carriage to travel over fifty kilometers would only cost a few qian of silver.

But in Nanjing, taking a rickshaw for only half a kilometer or one kilometer would cost fifty wen.

The government did not control the prices of this type of service industry, which had a bit of a luxury nature to it. It was a matter of willingness to pay.

If you were really poor, you could just not take it; walking this distance wouldn’t kill you.

“Too expensive, I’d rather walk and enjoy the scenery along the way,”

Ouyang Shiqi said.

His family was relatively poor, and he was able to study wholeheartedly only because the people of his entire village donated money to support him.

Those villagers worked hard to sell grain and scrape together travel expenses for him to take the imperial examination, not for him to enjoy himself.

There were actually many scholars like him who were supported by an entire family, an entire village, or an entire township.

People who showed extraordinary talent from a young age could generally receive financial assistance from the local villagers, who hoped that they would pass the examination and bring some benefits to their hometown in the future.

Some people would be considerate of the villagers’ hard work and would be more diligent and hardworking. Others were more carefree, studying hard only to enjoy the benefits of being supported.

Feng Liang was this kind of person. He said, “Brother Ouyang, it’s not easy to come to Nanjing. It would be a shame not to take a rickshaw.”

“Strive to get a high ranking in the examination, stay in the capital to become an official, and you’ll have plenty of opportunities to experience it in the future,”

Ouyang Shiqi said.

Feng Liang was speechless. He didn’t want to say directly that he wasn’t confident he could pass the examination.

Selecting three hundred people out of more than two thousand five hundred was a very fierce competition.

Therefore, one should enjoy it when one has the opportunity.

“Brother Feng, don’t mind him. Ouyang is known for being stingy. If he doesn’t want to ride, we will,”

Another examination candidate from a wealthy family said with a smile.

For him, fifty wen was just a small amount of money. Feng Liang and some other examination candidates with better financial conditions got into the rickshaws and left.

Ouyang Shiqi and several other scholars from poor families walked towards the city, chatting and laughing.

Along the way, they kept looking at everything in Nanjing.

Those who came to this widely known big city for the first time were full of curiosity.

As soon as they reached the main official road, its grandeur stunned them.

On the official road, which was ten meters wide, the road was divided into two halves, and people on each half could only walk in one direction.

If someone walked in the opposite direction, someone would immediately remind them of the traffic rules.

If they didn’t listen, it wouldn’t be long before the constables in charge of patrolling would teach them what the rules of the capital were.

Under the emperor’s feet, a dragon had to coil up, and a tiger had to hold its paws. No one dared to run wild.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, the capital is the capital. Even the official road is three or four times bigger than ours.”

“There are so many people! Look at the people and carriages coming and going. It’s so prosperous!”

Everyone sighed, like a group of country bumpkins entering the Grand View Garden.

“Under this rule, it seems to make it easier for people to walk, so they don’t bump into each other head-on,”

Ouyang Shiqi didn’t sigh, but thought about why the road was deliberately divided into two halves.

Before long, he discovered the purpose of this rule.

“There are so many talented people in the capital! Even a prefect can come up with such a good way to solve the problem of road congestion. In our county, no one would think of this.”

His companion said with emotion.

“It’s not that no one in our place can think of it, it’s just that it’s not necessary. How much is the usual flow of people in our county? This Nanjing is dozens of times more than ours.”

The prosperity of Nanjing far exceeded Ouyang Shiqi’s imagination.

The flow of people that could fill this ten-meter-wide official road could probably only be found in Nanjing.

The group entered the inner city and had a deeper feeling for this prosperity.

If it weren’t for the fact that the examination was in two days, they probably wouldn’t be able to control themselves and would go around the city to play and try out those new things.

Everything here was tempting their curiosity.

Not all examination candidates could resist this temptation. Feng Liang and several other examination candidates went to watch a soccer game.

Although none of them understood the rules of soccer game, they were still excited because they were influenced by the atmosphere in the stadium.

Whenever there was a beautiful pass or dribble, the audience would burst into cheers.

If there was a goal, the audience would shout even more excitedly.

Those playboys were the main force among them.

Affected by this atmosphere, Feng Liang’s feet were itching, and he couldn’t wait to go up and play a game.

Especially when he saw a player score a goal and the audience cheering for him, this idea became even stronger.

This feeling of being watched and sought after was so wonderful and so enviable.

“Brother Feng, do you think it’s very interesting? I heard that those who play soccer well have courtesans on the Qinhuai River dedicating themselves to them, and they don’t even have to spend money.”

The person next to him said with a smirk.

“There’s such a thing?”

Feng Liang was very surprised.

“More than that, the Emperor comes to watch the championship game at the end of the year. Those who perform well in the finals can also receive rewards from the Emperor.”

A spectator next to him said.

“If I fail the provincial examination, I’ll go play soccer.”

Feng Liang laughed loudly. He wasn’t joking.

Because he was tall and strong and had a talent for sports, he occasionally played soccer with people on the college road, and no one was his opponent.

Therefore, Feng Liang felt that if he failed the provincial examination, playing soccer was also an option.

Chapter 443: Imperial Examination to Select Talent

On March 15th, the imperial examination officially began.

Early in the morning, Ouyang Shiqi and Feng Liang, having prepared themselves, headed to the examination hall together.

“Brother Feng, didn’t you get enough rest?” Ouyang Shiqi asked, concerned, as Feng Liang looked a bit listless.

“It’s nothing, just stayed up a bit late reading last night,” Feng Liang mumbled. In reality, he had gone to the Qinhuai River last night and overindulged, resulting in a lack of rest.

Although Feng Liang didn’t say it, Ouyang Shiqi had a pretty good idea of what he’d been up to.

However, he only asked once and didn’t delve any further.

Everyone has their own path to walk.

After a strict inspection, the candidates entered the examination hall.

The first day was dedicated to policy essays.

Ouyang Shiqi opened the exam paper and first looked at the first question.

“During the Jiajing Emperor’s reign, he did not attend court, yet the realm was stable. During the Chongzhen Emperor’s reign, he toiled day and night, yet the realm was in turmoil. What is the reason for this? Candidates may analyze this from the perspectives of the economy, governance, climate, Chongzhen’s personality, or other aspects, from one or several angles.”

The Great Hua’s exam questions were all in plain vernacular; anyone could understand them without thinking too hard.

In the past, if one’s knowledge wasn’t profound enough, even a single question could stump people.

However, while the questions were easy to understand, they weren’t easy to answer.

Why was it that the realm was more stable when the Jiajing Emperor didn’t attend court, while Chongzhen couldn’t do well even with more effort?

This did seem a bit counterintuitive. Generally speaking, the more diligent the emperor, the better the country should be governed.

Candidates might not find it strange to simply answer this question.

What they found strange was that this question could be answered from different angles, even analyzing it from the climate or Chongzhen’s personality.

Did the climate and Chongzhen’s personality also have an impact on the Ming Dynasty’s demise?

Many people who didn’t understand climate or Chongzhen were completely baffled.

Ouyang Shiqi thought this exam question was quite ingenious. From the candidates’ answers, one could see a person’s knowledge, comprehension, and many other aspects.

Clever people with a broad perspective would naturally analyze it comprehensively from multiple angles, striving for higher scores.

More cautious people would prefer to discuss it from a single point, such as the relationship between the ruler and his ministers, land annexation, or governance.

Too broad a perspective, writing from too many angles, could easily lead to contradictions, making it impossible to justify oneself and leaving loopholes.

Even worse people, unable to come up with any good insights, could only seize upon Chongzhen and criticize him harshly, listing the wrong decisions Chongzhen made.

Such superficial answers would definitely have no hope of getting high scores, and they might not even have any hope of becoming officials.

Ouyang Shiqi chose to analyze it from multiple angles, even mentioning the impact of climate.

Although he didn’t know what the Little Ice Age was, his extensive reading told him that the weather during Chongzhen’s reign was colder than before.

This continuous cold for one or two decades led to large-scale grain production cuts in the North, triggering Li Zicheng’s rebellion.

He didn’t delve deeply into climate, only mentioning it slightly. He focused on land annexation, the inability to collect commercial taxes, and the relationship between the ruler and his ministers.

Finally, combining these reasons, the conclusion drawn was even more accurate.

He wrote a lot for this question, filling almost an entire exam paper.

And this was still a general summary. If he were to discuss it point by point, ten pages wouldn’t be enough to write, and he could even publish a book separately.

This was also why many candidates chose to discuss one point, considering the length of the essay.

The second question was about the benefits, hidden dangers, and solutions for the issuance of paper money.

The third question was about the benefits and hidden dangers of free trade.

Among the five exam questions, two were about economic issues, showing the Great Hua’s current demand for talent in economics.

Unfortunately, this was the weakest area for these candidates.

Many candidates simply gave up on these two questions and chose to answer the other three.

But the problem was, the other three weren’t simple either.

The fourth question had materials, telling the story of a case. A murder occurred in a certain place, and the county magistrate convicted the defendant after the trial.

The criminal refused to accept the verdict and was sent to the Prefect for trial. After the Prefect’s trial, he was declared innocent, but the county magistrate refused to accept it and appealed to the Ministry of Justice.

In the end, the case took several months and was finally determined to be guilty.

The prototype of this case was actually the case of Yang Naiwu and Little Cabbage that Wu Changqing had seen. Then he used it as an exam question to test an official’s ability to govern the country.

If candidates were entangled in whether the prisoner was guilty or not, they would inevitably get low scores.

The most correct answer was actually to draw a conclusion from this case, that is, the governance of a great power cannot fail to consider the cost issue.

Admittedly, fairness was very important to that suspect.

But in order to guarantee the fairness of one person, a case took half a year, alarmed hundreds of officials, and cost tens of thousands of taels of silver.

This was not worth it.

Tens of thousands of taels of silver could be used to save disaster victims, and could save thousands of people.

Could it be that the lives of these thousands of people were not as important as the fairness of one suspect?

The governance of a great power needs to consider costs. If every unjust, false, or wrong case was handled in this way, the Great Hua would definitely collapse faster than the Ming Dynasty.

Sometimes, even knowing that there might be an unjust, false, or wrong case, they could only make a judgment considering the cost issue.

This was very unfair and cruel to the individual suspect, but it was also something that couldn’t be helped.

What the imperial court could do was to try to improve crime-solving technology and reduce crime-solving costs, in order to reduce unjust, false, and wrong cases.

As for wanting to completely avoid unjust, false, and wrong cases, and to achieve not wronging a good person, that was impossible.

Not to mention the current backward crime-solving methods, even in later generations with very advanced technology, it would definitely not be possible.

Smart candidates could guess the examiner’s intentions and discuss this aspect, naturally making it easier to get high scores.

If they weren’t smart enough and boasted about the spirit of pursuing fairness being worth promoting, and didn’t notice the cost issue at all, then the Great Hua would not dare to recruit such people.

An incorruptible official was not necessarily a good official.

Or, after recruiting such people, they could not be sent to govern the local area, but could only be sent to the Censorate.

This kind of somewhat dull and upright personality might still be useful.

The candidates’ exam papers would be kept as their files afterward.

From a person’s exam paper answers, one could actually see an official’s talent, character, expertise, and what position they were suitable for.

For example, people who answered economic questions well would naturally be sent to the Ministry of Commerce.

People who answered questions about the relationship between the ruler and his ministers and governance well could be sent to the Ministry of Personnel.

These were just references to policy essays. If combined with the scores of other subjects, it would be easier to judge what position a candidate was suitable for.

Those who wrote good eight-legged essays could only be thrown into the Ministry of Rites.

Those who got high scores in arithmetic were very welcome in the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce.

Those who answered physics and chemistry well also had positions in the Ministry of Scientific Research and the Ministry of Industry.

In fact, the various departments of the Great Hua were currently watching this imperial examination, wanting to select talents suitable for their departments after the exam.

Now all departments were short of new-style talents. The traditional officials of the past were increasingly unable to keep up with the pace of the Great Hua.

If they didn’t secretly put their minds to learning some new knowledge, they were destined to be eliminated by the younger generation.

Chapter 444: Admission Rules

The seven-day examination concluded, and the imperial court spent another eight days grading the papers.

Even Wu Changqing personally participated in the grading process. After all, he had set two of the questions, making him the most suitable person to grade them, as he had a mental standard for the scores.

To ensure fairness to the candidates, the grading process involved each minister being responsible for grading only one or two questions.

For example, Wu Changqing graded the second and fourth questions of the policy essays.

Qian Qianyi graded the first question of the policy essays, Hong Chengchou graded the third, and Ruan Dacheng graded the fifth.

If they were to follow the old practice of having one person grade an entire paper, problems would arise because each person has different standards for the answers.

Some are stricter, while others are more lenient. This would be unfair to those candidates who encountered a harsh grader.

Now, with each person responsible for only one question, the standards for all candidates are the same, ensuring relative fairness.

However, absolute fairness is impossible.

This approach also improves grading efficiency.

If someone were to grade an entire paper, they would need a vast amount of knowledge.

Apart from a select few, no one else has the ability to do so.

This is how they handled the policy essays. As for physics and mathematics, which have standard answers, they could simply find a meticulous official to grade them against the answer key.

Over forty people spent eight days grading over ten thousand papers, which is considered very efficient.

After all, these papers determine the fate of many, so they were very careful when grading, not daring to give scores lightly.

In cases where they were unsure, they had to discuss it together.

Despite this, they still managed to grade all the papers in eight days.

They spent another two days compiling the results, and finally, on April second, the imperial court began to announce the results.

Before the list was posted, the officials in charge of announcing the results first posted a detailed set of admission rules.

First, the top two hundred and fifty candidates based on total score would be directly admitted.

As for the remaining fifty spots, total scores would not be considered; only individual subject scores would matter.

Those who excelled in a single subject would be given priority admission, accounting for forty of the spots.

Additionally, some who did not have high total scores or outstanding individual subject scores, but who answered a particular question exceptionally well, or who possessed special talents, could also be admitted through special consideration.

This group would be even smaller, with only ten spots.

The announcement of these rules immediately sparked heated discussions among the candidates.

“If my total score is two hundred and fifty-first, but my individual subject scores aren’t outstanding, wouldn’t that be unfair to me?”

Yuan Jie said with a bitter face. He felt that he hadn’t done well on this exam, so even a slight change in the rules made him anxious.

He didn’t necessarily object to the change in rules, he was simply anxious.

“If your total score is three hundred and first, but you get admitted because you answered a particular question exceptionally well, wouldn’t you be taking advantage? The imperial court isn’t targeting any specific candidate, so what’s wrong with these rules?”

Another candidate retorted.

Yuan Jie was speechless. He couldn’t find a reason to argue, and even if he could, what good would it do?

Debating this annoying fellow wouldn’t make the imperial court change the rules.

Under the new rules, some were happy, and some were depressed.

But it didn’t matter much. Most candidates were still willing to accept the rules.

Subsequently, the imperial court began to announce the results.

First, the list of those who had failed was posted.

There were a total of two thousand two hundred plus names, with each name followed by their ranking and score.

“Two thousandth place, why? Why is my score so low?”

Before the list was even fully posted, some candidates were already wailing loudly.

After more than ten years of studying diligently, they had fallen at the final hurdle. It was hard to remain calm.

Out of two thousand five hundred plus people, he was ranked two thousandth. With this result, it would be difficult to pass the exam next time.

Those who accepted their fate would rely on their juren status to become clerks, and for the rest of their lives, they would most likely only climb to the position of county magistrate or assistant magistrate.

Those who were unwilling to give up would continue to study and take the exam.

However, they would most likely never pass. There was a small chance they would pass, and there was even a possibility that they would pass at the age of fifty-four, like Fan Jin.

In short, if one didn’t have the ability but insisted on pursuing this path, it wouldn’t be a fortunate thing.

Initially, there were relatively few complaints and cries.

However, when the list of candidates ranked between two hundred and fiftieth and three hundredth was released, the cries became noticeably louder.

After all, based on total score, they had actually passed.

However, under the new rules, they could only fail.

It was impossible for them not to feel resentful.

“How can the imperial court do this? Am I, with a total score of two hundred and sixty-sixth, less talented than those with good individual subject scores?”

Feng Liang said angrily.

“Watch your words. If you didn’t do well this time, you can go back and work hard for next time. If you think the imperial court has done something wrong, I can invite you somewhere for tea and a good chat,”

The official in charge of announcing the results scolded.

Daring to question the imperial court’s decision in front of so many people was practically courting death.

Feng Liang immediately shut up. He wasn’t stupid; he was just having a hard time accepting the result.

He now regretted not restraining himself during those two days in Nanjing and instead using the time to review and rest his mind. Perhaps he could have advanced a few more places.

Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret in this world.

“Forget it, take it easy. Go back and study hard, and you’ll definitely pass next time,”

Ouyang Shiqi comforted him.

“Alas, I should have worked as hard as Brother Ouyang. Congratulations to you, Brother Ouyang, on passing the exam. Wait for me for three years, and I’ll come and be your colleague.”

After venting his anger, Feng Liang felt a little better.

After all, he was only a little short, and there was still hope for next time. He could also give an explanation to his fellow villagers back home.

After the list of those who failed was posted, the list of those who passed was posted on another wall.

The first to be posted were the fifty people who were admitted through special consideration.

Liu Shiyuan, total score of one thousand three hundred and twentieth, physics score of ninety-five, first place; chemistry score of ninety, first place; arithmetic score of full marks, first place.

This bizarre result made the other candidates cry.

In their opinion, mathematics, physics, and chemistry were the most difficult subjects. Policy essays were relatively simple.

Yet, with such impressive scores in mathematics, physics, and chemistry, his total score was only over one thousand. How bad could his policy essays possibly be?

Liu Shiyuan’s policy essays truly brought tears to the eyes of the graders.

The three major questions were filled with answers, but not only were there no good insights, they were completely off-topic. He didn’t even seem to understand what the questions were trying to test.

The other candidates who were admitted through special consideration, although their scores weren’t as abnormal as Liu Shiyuan’s, each had their own unique strengths.

Yuan Zhao, who got full marks in arithmetic; Cai Pei, who got second place in physics…

There was even a candidate who made people want to cry. His total score was also over one thousand. His policy essays were mediocre, and his scores in mathematics, physics, and chemistry weren’t outstanding. He was admitted because he got full marks in the arts exam, with a score of thirty in music.

Of course, the imperial court didn’t admit him randomly.

This candidate, named Wang Yi, was truly a talent. He had actually integrated a theory of tones and composed several songs.

In any case, he was a talent, and the imperial orchestra needed him.

Chapter 445: They’re All Talents

Wang Yi hadn’t expected to pass the exam, and his joy was almost unseemly.

The other candidates looked at him with a mixture of envy and resentment.

Of course, this was only temporary.

Once they calmed down, some of them began to consider this possibility.

Since they couldn’t break through in overall scores, could they try to specialize in a certain area?

As it seemed, the Great Hua needed all kinds of talents.

Arithmetic geniuses, music geniuses, medical geniuses, and even a guy who wrote good poetry had been accepted.

As long as one could reach the top in a certain field, it seemed that one could make a name for oneself.

This was good news for some people with special talents.

After posting the names of those with specialized talents, the rest were the overall talents recognized by everyone.

Among them, the top three were the most watched.

The third-place winner was Qian Xuemin from Suzhou, and the second-place winner was Cai Zhongyuan, the top candidate from the Nanjing provincial exam.

It was a pity that if he could have won first place this time, he would have had a chance to achieve the fame of winning the top spot in all three levels of examination.

Unfortunately, he met his match: Ouyang Shiqi, the top candidate in this imperial exam.

Ouyang Shiqi became the only person with a chance to become a triple successive winner.

As long as his performance in the final palace exam wasn’t too bad, the title of Number One Scholar would basically be his.

Out of a total score of six hundred and sixty, Ouyang Shiqi scored a whopping six hundred and twenty-eight.

Looking at the number six hundred and twenty-eight alone might not mean much, but comparing it with Cai Zhongyuan’s five hundred and seventy-six and Qian Xuemin’s five hundred and seventy-three, one could see how monstrous Ouyang Shiqi was.

His policy essay scored two hundred and ninety-eight, close to full marks, and his eight-legged essay was a perfect score of one hundred. In terms of artistic talent, his poetry was twenty-eight, and his understanding of the classics was a perfect score of thirty.

The main reason his total score was only six hundred and twenty-eight was that he suffered a bit in mathematics and physics.

This was mainly because he started learning them late.

It wasn’t until Jiujiang was captured by the Great Hua that he formally began to study mathematics, physics, and chemistry.

In just over half a year, he relied on self-study and writing letters everywhere for advice to bring these two subjects to an above-average level.

Give him more time, and getting full marks in these two subjects would be a piece of cake.

What was difficult for others was nothing to Ouyang Shiqi.

Geniuses really did exist in this world.

“First place, first place, Brother Ouyang, you got first place!”

Feng Liang was so envious that he truly regretted it to the core.

They first met eight years ago, when they entered the same school.

At that time, their grades were often neck and neck.

But later, Feng Liang couldn’t bear the hardship and loneliness of studying hard, and he gradually slacked off, and his grades gradually fell behind Ouyang Shiqi.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he had persisted back then, would he be the one winning the top spot in all three levels of examination this year?

In terms of intelligence, Feng Liang believed that he was second to none.

Even while playing and having fun every day, he still managed to score in the two hundred and sixtieths, which spoke volumes.

Some people couldn’t even score in the two hundred and sixtieths, no matter how hard they worked like Ouyang Shiqi.

Winning the top spot in all three levels of examination, what great glory that was!

From the Sui Dynasty when the imperial examination began to the present, in one thousand years, there had only been fourteen people who had won the top spot in all three levels of examination.

“This score is actually quite poor, unworthy of the title of top candidate,” Ouyang Shiqi said truthfully.

He felt that he did poorly in mathematics and physics because, in his eyes, only a perfect score could be considered good, and ninety-eight could only be considered passing.

His heartfelt words, however, invisibly inflicted a critical blow on the other candidates.

The candidates who heard Ouyang Shiqi’s words almost vomited blood.

If this score was considered poor, then what was theirs?

The posting of the results ended, but many candidates were still reluctant to leave.

Looking at their own scores and then paying attention to the scores of others, scholars of all ages were the same.

Then they discussed a few words and complained slightly about the admission rules.

Or, they discussed studying together in the future and taking the exam again next year.

“The world has changed.”

Seeing the various expressions of the candidates, Li Yao, who had repeatedly complained about the Great Hua not holding imperial examinations, sighed.

After the Great Hua decided to reopen the imperial examination, he publicly expressed his opposition, saying that they should continue to focus on eight-legged essays.

Those miscellaneous studies could only be used as auxiliary secondary subjects.

Unfortunately, he was insignificant, and no one paid attention to him, nor did anyone respond.

A person with no power, no matter whether what he says is right or wrong, or whether it makes sense, is actually just farting.

Therefore, on the one hand, he continued to criticize this new imperial examination system, and on the other hand, he was secretly learning new knowledge to prepare for the new-style imperial examination.

He made up his mind to work hard to enter the court and climb up.

When he had enough power, he would change this imperial examination system.

Of course, was this determination real? Or was it just an excuse for him to become an official? Only he himself knew.

With doubled effort and wisdom, he had achieved some success and scored two hundred and tenth place.

However, he couldn’t be happy.

He had thought of taking advantage of the posting of the results to find a group of like-minded people who were as dissatisfied as himself, to criticize the new imperial examination system together, to form close friends, and to form a small group with common views and ideals.

However, when the results were posted, the focus of many candidates was only on the admission system, or on who won the top spot, or on discussing exam techniques, or discussing how to review when they went back.

But there was no voice he wanted to hear.

Didn’t any of the failed candidates stand up to oppose this imperial examination system?

If they only tested eight-legged essays and policy essays as before, many of those who failed would definitely be able to pass, weren’t those people willing to accept this?

Li Yao was extremely saddened by this phenomenon. He felt that these candidates had no backbone and had all succumbed to Wu Changqing’s power.

“They are all pathetic people, facing oppression, not one dares to stand up and oppose. These wastes, just wait for me to save them.”

In Li Yao’s heart, the idea of working hard to climb up, then gaining power, and then exercising his political ambitions became more and more firm.

Of course, was this idea real? Or was it a subconscious psychological comfort to himself? Even Li Yao himself was almost unable to distinguish it.

The world had changed.

There were quite a few candidates who had the same feeling as Li Yao.

They never expected that in less than two years, the imperial examination would become like this.

Everyone’s topics seemed to always be related to mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and there was very little discussion of eight-legged essays.

Overnight, it seemed that eight-legged essays had become dispensable and not important at all.

Most people couldn’t confirm whether this change was good or bad.

And those who could see whether this change was good or bad were speeding up their pace of learning these new types of knowledge.

The times were changing drastically, and those who reacted too slowly and couldn’t keep up with the times were destined to be eliminated.

The posting of the results ended, some were happy and some were sad.

Most of those who had passed went back to continue studying hard, and there was still a palace exam waiting for them.

Although the palace exam could no longer affect their becoming Jinshi, it did affect which grade they were in.

The future development gap between Jinshi of different grades was also quite large.

Some continued to study hard, and of course, there were also a few who couldn’t suppress their excitement and chose to celebrate.

The reward for more than ten years of hard work, that kind of excitement, was difficult to calm down without indulging once.

Chapter 446: The Drawbacks of Making Money Too Easily

The imperial examination ended temporarily, with the palace examination scheduled for two months later.

Wu Changqing’s focus returned to economic issues.

He gathered the people from the Ministry of Commerce to discuss the issue of overseas trade.

Although Great Hua had repeatedly encouraged overseas trade, the results were less than ideal.

Merchants were keen to do business with Western Europeans in Songjiang, but unwilling to go to sea and sell goods directly to Western Europe, nor were they willing to go to the origin of overseas raw materials to purchase goods at cheaper prices.

If they didn’t go to sea to participate, could that be called maritime trade? At best, it could only be called trade with overseas merchants.

Without going to sea, a large portion of the profits would inevitably be earned by foreign merchants.

“Well, I think it’s probably because these merchants are living too comfortably, so they are unwilling to take risks. They may think, since they can make money comfortably in Songjiang, why go overseas?”

Hong Chengchou said helplessly.

This is human nature, and it is difficult for the government to forcibly change it.

Wu Changqing knew that Hong Chengchou’s analysis was correct. Like those Western European merchants who came to Great Hua, most of them were people who were about to fail in Western Europe, so they chose to go to sea and take a gamble.

The real rich people and nobles stayed in Western Europe to enjoy themselves.

In Great Hua, merchants with capital and ability were unwilling to take the risk of going to sea.

Those who were willing to go did not have the capital or the ability.

Another reason was that the domestic trade market was quite prosperous, with many opportunities to make money, so there was no need to go to sea.

This led to the fact that although Great Hua had been encouraging overseas trade, few merchants went to sea. Most of them waited for foreigners to deliver the goods to their door.

“We must find a way to change this situation. Perhaps it seems that this is only a loss of a little profit, but in the long run, it is not conducive to our future global hegemony.

Western exploration has been going on for nearly two hundred years, cultivating a large number of nautical talents. Their technology and experience are quite rich. If we don’t catch up now, we will inevitably lag behind those barbarians in the future overseas competition.”

Wu Changqing said.

His goal was the whole world, so now he had to make some preparations.

At least he had to train a group of experienced sailors and seamen, otherwise, how could he compete for global hegemony in the future?

Fighting a war was not just about having advanced weapons, it also depended on the people who used the weapons.

It would be ridiculous to sail a super-advanced fleet into a storm zone because they were unfamiliar with the sea conditions and routes.

Whether from a military or economic point of view, Great Hua must completely control maritime trade.

“Perhaps, we can give merchants who go to sea more tax-free policies, stipulating that merchants who go to sea in person are tax-free, inducing them to go to sea. As long as the profit is high enough, there will be more merchants willing to take risks.”

Xiao An, a vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce, suggested.

At first glance, this suggestion seemed okay. A profit of one hundred percent was enough to drive people crazy.

As long as Great Hua provided tax reduction policies, the profit for merchants who went to sea in person would be at least three or four times higher.

But in reality, this policy had loopholes.

Hong Chengchou thought for a moment and shook his head.

“I’m afraid this won’t work. Differential treatment will give those people opportunities to exploit loopholes. They can set up trade bases on some islands, then buy goods from Westerners at prices higher than those in Songjiang, then load them onto ships and falsely claim that they bought them from overseas to enjoy tax reductions. At that time, it will not only fail to encourage going to sea, but also slow down the development speed of Songjiang.”

The higher authorities have policies, and the lower levels have countermeasures.

After the promulgation of this decree, the only ones who would benefit would be local merchants and foreign merchants, and the ones who would suffer would be the imperial court.

Capital is blind, and the formulation of many policies needs to take into account human nature.

Few of those merchant classes truly love their country in their hearts. In their eyes, only maximizing profits matters.

Even if those merchants are now constantly praising Great Hua on the surface, and even trying to please them, their real purpose is to get benefits such as technology from the imperial court.

“Perhaps we can have a joint public-private partnership, establishing a special agency and allowing officials to participate in the supervision.”

Another official said.

This was not an idea he came up with, but a reference to the model of industries such as steel mills and textile factories.

The current Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant was an example of a joint public-private venture, with most of the capital coming from merchants, but the government had absolute jurisdiction.

Those merchants were only responsible for specific production and operation.

In terms of major decisions, the government could have the final say.

With the supervision of the government, their commercial activities could be controlled, and problems would not easily arise.

Of course, government-supervised merchant operations also had their drawbacks.

Commercial trade was very particular about flexibility and required freedom. With government intervention, people doing things would easily be restricted.

Some conspiracies and tricks in business would not be convenient to use, leading to a lack of competitiveness.

After all, doing business relies five parts on products and five parts on marketing (deception).

With good marketing, a stone can be sold at the price of a diamond, and a slightly sweet drink can be sold at the price of health products.

Going overseas to do business with Westerners naturally requires the use of various cunning tricks and schemes.

If it was an individual merchant, it didn’t matter if they did this, it only represented them personally.

But if the Great Hua court used deception and other means to do business with foreign countries, it would have a greater impact on Great Hua’s reputation.

Moreover, government offices emphasized doing things according to regulations. There were many rules, which was time-consuming, inefficient, and far less flexible than individual merchants.

Another point was human nature. Individual earning and bearing their own profits and losses would naturally put one hundred percent of their mind into management.

However, officials in government offices also had performance assessments, but even if they failed the assessment, it would only mean that they would not be promoted, and it would not cost them their own money.

Therefore, they would definitely not be as attentive as individual business owners when doing things.

“Joint public-private partnerships are not very good either. Overseas is far away, and to some extent, it is a bit like a lawless land, which can easily breed problems.”

Hong Chengchou spoke more vaguely, but everyone understood the meaning.

Once they went to sea, collusion between officials and merchants would be another problem.

To put it bluntly, as long as tax benefits were given to those who went to sea, loopholes would inevitably appear.

Merchants pursued profits and would inevitably exploit these loopholes.

It would be a small matter if they took advantage of them, but the most troublesome thing was that they could easily defeat those honest merchants by using the price advantage of tax exemption, and this consequence would be even more troublesome.

Therefore, in the absence of better means of supervision, Xiao An’s method was absolutely unworkable.

Chapter 447: Limited Liability Company

At their first meeting, the group couldn’t come up with any great ideas.

Back in the palace, Wu Changqing also started racking his brains.

In his memory, all a country in later generations needed to do to stimulate exports or encourage imports was adjust the currency exchange rate.

But he couldn’t make that work right now.

He hadn’t even issued paper money yet; everyone was still using silver and copper coins. It was difficult for him to appreciate or depreciate the currency.

Moreover, currency appreciation and depreciation would have a significant impact on the domestic economy and the lives of the people.

Without a systematic theory to support him, he didn’t want to play around with such high-risk policies.

Wu Changqing hadn’t studied economics, and he couldn’t think of any good solutions for the time being, so he simply put it aside and waited for Hong Chengchou and the others to rack their brains.

Lunch, reviewing memorials, receiving ministers, dinner, bathing, being served in bed.

Guo Xiang was taking off Wu Changqing’s clothes when Wu Changqing suddenly sat up, a thoughtful look on his face.

Inadvertently, he recalled an article he had once read about the Age of Exploration.

It talked about an interesting phenomenon, saying that the origin of limited liability companies could be traced back to the Age of Exploration.

At that time, due to the backwardness of navigation technology, the risk of going to sea was extremely high.

Once they encountered storms or pirates, the value of the goods they lost would be more than they could afford to pay, even if they lost all their property.

Many merchants, fearing such risks, voluntarily established a rule.

That was, they would only bear limited liability for going to sea.

In other words, if they encountered storms at sea and lost a ship’s worth of goods, they would only need to bear limited liability upon their return, paying a portion of the money to the cargo owners, without having to bear full responsibility.

This seemingly useless system that couldn’t recover any losses was actually very ingenious.

This rule was equivalent to the shipowner spreading the risk among many cargo owners, distributing one person’s risk to many people.

Although the overall loss remained the same, the individual’s loss was still within an acceptable range, and no one would have their life completely ruined by an accident.

With this guarantee, more merchants dared to go to sea.

This was the prototype of a limited liability company, where even in bankruptcy, only limited liability was borne.

Wu Changqing felt that this system might solve the current problem of Great Hua merchants being unwilling to go to sea.

Although there were no big merchants who wanted to go abroad to make a fortune, there were quite a few small merchants who had this idea.

Unfortunately, their capital was not enough to buy a ship, nor was it enough to buy a ship’s worth of goods, and they could not afford a single loss.

This situation led to the fact that they clearly had the intention to do it, but they did not dare or could not do it.

But as long as this limited liability company was created, allowing those small merchants to pool their resources and share the risks, and allowing those small merchants and cargo suppliers to agree in advance to share the risks, it could greatly increase their enthusiasm.

As long as one failure didn’t lead to the destruction of their families, there were still many people willing to take a gamble.

The establishment of limited liability companies could also cultivate a large number of petty bourgeoisie.

Currently, Great Hua had many wealthy people and large landlords, and wealth was in their hands. But there were not many petty bourgeoisie, and the bottom people were the most numerous, presenting a pyramid state.

This was not a good phenomenon.

The best social state should be an upright oval, with sharp ends and a fat middle.

That is, the wealthy class and the bottom class should be small, and as many people as possible should be turned into middle-class petty bourgeoisie to eliminate the gap between the rich and the poor.

The establishment of limited liability companies would more or less be conducive to this process.

“What’s wrong, Your Majesty?”

Seeing Wu Changqing suddenly sit up, Guo Xiang thought that her service had not satisfied him, and she was quite nervous.

“It’s nothing, I’m just thinking about whether I should be a foolish ruler or a wise ruler.”

Wu Changqing laughed.

To be a foolish ruler, naturally, he would enjoy himself first, and the matter of the limited liability company could be left until tomorrow.

To be a wise ruler, naturally, he would put on his clothes and immediately write down the thoughts in his mind, lest he forget them after a night’s sleep.

“The people all say that Your Majesty is a wise ruler of the ages, grateful and virtuous, of course it is better to be a wise ruler.”

Guo Xiang said.

“You said that, don’t regret it later.”

Wu Changqing smiled and began to put on his clothes.

“Your Majesty is this?”

Guo Xiang was confused and couldn’t understand.

“Grind ink for me, I want to write something.”

Wu Changqing decided to work harder and write down his thoughts first.

“…”

Guo Xiang wanted to cry without tears. She finally understood what Wu Changqing meant by a foolish ruler and a wise ruler. So, he was going to deal with official business now.

She had already taken off her clothes, but he wanted to deal with official business?

Guo Xiang seriously doubted her charm.

But she didn’t dare to act coquettishly, dealing with official business was a matter of national importance and could not be delayed.

She could only stand aside and quietly grind the inkstone for Wu Changqing.

Establishing a limited liability company required drafting many related regulations.

For example, a limited liability company was only allowed to have a certain number of shareholders to jointly invest, and could not raise funds publicly, to prevent someone from setting up a shell company to swindle money from ordinary people.

For another example, the shares owned by shareholders in a limited company were not allowed to be traded with the public, but only allowed to be transferred among several investors.

This was to prevent someone from making money by reselling shares without focusing on business operations.

There were many specific details, and Wu Changqing could not remember them all at once, so he could only write down what he thought of.

Then, look at them one by one.

The systems of later generations needed to be considered in combination with the current actual situation. It was not said that the mature systems of later generations were necessarily applicable to the current era.

Just like the stock exchange, with the current difficulty of information exchange, this thing could not be set up.

Not to mention the necessary computers, at least there had to be telephones.

Without telephones, it would take one or two days for information to be transmitted from Nanjing to Songjiang. This speed of information transmission was too slow.

It wasn’t that Wu Changqing didn’t want to get generators and radios out now, but even if he got generators out, it wouldn’t make sense without supporting facilities and technology.

Even a light bulb was a remarkable high technology in the current era. Anything with the word “electricity” was not simple.

If these things were all exchanged through the system, the resources would not be enough to spend.

Therefore, Wu Changqing could only proceed step by step, providing only some core technologies, and then letting this core technology promote the continuous progress of society itself, and research and develop supporting technologies and products.

If he wanted to complete hundreds of years of technological progress in a few decades, relying solely on his system was completely insufficient. The most important thing was to mobilize talents from all over the world to create together.

After spending nearly two hours, Wu Changqing finally improved the limited liability company system. As long as he handed it over to Hong Chengchou and the others and let them study how to implement it, this decree could be promulgated.

And at this time, Guo Xiang could no longer hold on and fell asleep on the bed.

“I didn’t expect that I’m still a wise ruler.”

Wu Changqing mocked himself.

Chapter 448: Policy Announcement

Hong Chengchou was furious after receiving the articles of association for the limited liability company written by Wu Changqing.

Of course, he wasn’t angry at Wu Changqing, but at himself and his subordinates.

“Useless! All of you are just eating and doing nothing! You can’t even come up with a simple idea, and need His Majesty to personally guide you. What is the court paying you for?”

Hong Chengchou roared in the Ministry of Commerce, berating everyone.

The fact that the Emperor had to personally intervene to solve a problem meant that their department was useless.

Everyone was silent, knowing they were in the wrong.

“That’s enough. His Majesty didn’t blame you, did he? The Ministry of Commerce is a new department, it’s normal for everyone to have things they don’t understand.”

Qian Qianyi, who happened to be passing by, came in to mediate, playing the peacemaker.

“All of you must carefully study each clause, making sure to perfect this decree and leave no loopholes.”

Hong Chengchou had the articles of association written by Wu Changqing copied and distributed to the heads of the Ministry of Commerce for study and discussion, to improve any flaws.

He would be furious if they couldn’t even handle this small matter well.

After two days of research and argumentation, the decree was finally perfected and quickly promulgated.

The Court Gazette, the Business Gazette, and the People’s Daily, which had been renamed Great Hua Daily, all published the details of the decree at the first opportunity.

The reaction to the announcement of the decree was not particularly strong.

A limited liability company sounded very high-end.

But some people in the public saw it as nothing more than two acquaintances partnering to do business.

This kind of thing had existed since ancient times.

However, this time the court was guaranteeing the system.

The rights and obligations of members of a registered limited liability company were monitored by the government, so there was no need to worry about partners going back on their word.

Partnerships between acquaintances relied on trust and relationships, but trust and relationships were often unreliable.

Now, with the court’s laws as a guarantee, people didn’t have to worry about being taken advantage of when partnering with others.

Another point was that with the protection of the law, the scope of partnerships had widened.

In the past, only very good friends could trust each other enough to partner together.

But now, with laws and regulations, small merchants could relax the conditions for partners and team up with colleagues or acquaintances.

This effect alone was not to be underestimated.

After all, a person certainly didn’t have many good friends, and even fewer good friends who happened to have the same idea of starting a business.

This meant that it was very difficult to find a partner in the past.

Many people had the idea but couldn’t put it into action.

But now, as long as they were colleagues, or knew or understood each other, they could partner up, greatly reducing the difficulty of finding a partner.

Many small merchants, after seeing this decree, had already begun to run around, contacting people they knew, preparing to establish a limited liability company together.

Some merchants roughly calculated that a group of people could pool some money to buy a ship to go to sea, and they could earn back their capital in one trip.

Every trip after that would be profit.

Just thinking about it was wonderful.

With the establishment of many limited liability companies, the big merchants suddenly panicked.

Without local merchants going to sea, they had no competitors in the country.

But as more local merchants went to sea, they would face greater competition.

The merchants who personally went overseas to get goods would definitely have lower costs and a price advantage when selling in the country.

And the goods they brought overseas would definitely be sold at a higher price than those sold by these merchants to foreigners in Songjiang, resulting in higher profits.

This back-and-forth difference in profits was enough to threaten these big merchants, making them unable to ignore the impact.

“Speak up, who of you is willing to go to sea to do business? Your father will fully support you. Moreover, the money you earn will be yours, you only need to turn in a small portion to the family.”

At the Tong family residence, Tong Youwei had gathered his five sons.

Although he didn’t want to go to sea himself, he could let his sons go.

In theory, only the eldest son was qualified to inherit the family property.

So, for the second, third, fourth, and fifth sons, going out to sea to earn a business of their own was quite attractive.

“I’ve decided to devote myself to scientific research, striving to win a noble title for our family,” said the youngest son, Tong Benwen.

He was among the first batch of students to enter the school in Nanjing. Although his talent wasn’t particularly outstanding, his current grades were above average.

So, he wanted to continue studying.

After all, there was a saying circulating in Great Hua: “Becoming an official is not as good as joining the military, and joining the military is not as good as doing scientific research.”

The path of scientific research was much better than doing business.

“There are many things in Nanjing’s business that need to be handled, I’m afraid I can’t spare the time,” said the eldest son. He didn’t need to take this risk. He could honestly manage the business in Nanjing and wait to inherit the family property in the future.

If he had to go to sea and something unexpected happened, wouldn’t it benefit his other brothers?

“I heard that going to sea takes half a year at the shortest, and a year or two at the longest. I’m afraid mother will miss me, so it’s better to stay in Nanjing to take care of mother.”

Tong Youwei glared at his second son.

As a father, he knew his children’s personalities to some extent.

The second son was a guy who was greedy for comfort and liked to live a life of leisure.

Saying that he was afraid his mother would miss him and wanted to take care of his mother sounded nice.

But Tong Youwei knew that this guy was either at the mahjong parlor or the gymnasium, and occasionally showed up at the Qinhuai River. That was basically his entire life.

Tong Youwei shook his head and looked at his other children.

The third son, Tong Xuyou, gritted his teeth and said, “Your son is willing to go.”

Tong Xuyou’s mother was Tong Youwei’s concubine, so Tong Xuyou’s status in the family had always been low.

The more someone was treated differently, the stronger their self-esteem.

Therefore, Tong Xuyou longed to have his own career, get rid of his father’s influence, and achieve independence.

He also knew that going to sea to do business was very dangerous, not only worrying about storms, but also worrying about pirates.

Even after landing, he had to be careful of being bullied by the local natives.

In short, overseas was full of too many unknowns compared to the country.

But there was no choice, he had to seize this opportunity if he wanted independence.

Otherwise, when his elder brother inherited the family property in the future, his life would be even more difficult.

The economy would be controlled by his elder brother, and he would decide how much to give.

Tong Xuyou didn’t like this kind of life that was a bit like begging.

Tong Youwei revealed a gratified smile upon hearing this. Among his many sons, he had finally produced someone like himself who dared to fight.

“First, do some preparatory work. I will help you with the ships, goods, and sailors. If there is anything else you need, tell me directly, and I will do my best to help you prepare.”

Tong Youwei finalized the matter.

Chapter 449: The Butterfly Effect

A butterfly flapping its wings in South America can cause a storm in North America – that’s the butterfly effect.

While the theory might be a bit of an exaggeration, the world is indeed interconnected and influences itself.

As soon as the limited liability company policy was announced, ship prices quickly rose.

There was no way around it. With more and more people registering limited liability companies and preparing to go to sea, the supply-demand relationship changed.

Originally, there was already some shortage of ocean-going ships, but now they were even more in demand.

When supply is less than demand, prices naturally rise.

“The Hong family is being too unkind. A while ago, merchant ships were only twenty-five thousand taels apiece, and now they cost thirty thousand taels?”

Zeng Yiming said indignantly.

He and several porcelain merchants had jointly registered a limited liability company, preparing to sell their porcelain directly overseas, cutting out the middlemen and earning the difference.

However, they had a bad start. The first step, buying a ship, would cost them an extra five thousand taels.

This was a large sum for their small company, which only had a registered capital of one hundred thousand taels, and it seriously disrupted their original plan.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. There’s a shortage of ships all over the country, all over the world. To be honest, I sell these ships to foreigners for at least thirty-five thousand taels.

If it weren’t to support and take care of the Great Hua merchants, you wouldn’t be able to buy one for thirty thousand taels. Moreover, I advise you to pay the deposit and place an order as soon as possible.

If you delay any longer, our shipyard may have to stop taking orders. We’re just too busy.”

Said the marketing manager of the Hong family’s shipyard.

He was telling the truth. They didn’t have to worry about finding buyers for their merchant ships at all.

“Give me two days to consider. I can’t make this decision alone.”

Zeng Yiming said. The company’s money was pooled together by everyone. If it was only five hundred taels more expensive, he could make the decision to pay it.

But when it involved five thousand taels, they had to discuss it together.

They had to discuss whether to add a little more investment or choose to buy a merchant ship with a smaller tonnage.

Meanwhile, in the Hong family.

Hong Tailin had gathered several managers and was also holding a meeting, asking them to find ways to expand their scale and take as many orders as possible.

This kind of money was there for the taking.

“Traditional sailing merchant ships are easy to handle. We can solve the expansion problem by thinking of some ways. But we can’t do anything about steam merchant ships. The output of our steam merchant ships depends entirely on how many steam engine quotas the government gives us.

Now the Jinling Machinery Factory’s output is also low, and the speed of producing steam engines is too slow. They also have to give priority to supplying the military.”

Liu Quan, the production department manager, said helplessly.

“Is there a large demand for steam merchant ships in the market now?”

Hong Tailin asked.

“It’s not just large, it’s simply unavailable at any price, demand exceeding supply. Many big families have arranged for their descendants to go to sea. Those cowards, for extra safety and security, have all come to me by name to ask for steam merchant ships, no matter how much they cost.

As for some merchants of unknown origin, they are even more eager for steam ships, but I suspect these people have ulterior motives. Maybe they want to buy them and resell them to foreigners or the Manchus in the North, to spy on the secrets of our Great Hua.”

Liu Quan sighed. The only reason preventing them from getting rich was that the Jinling Machinery Factory’s production speed was too slow.

A lot of money was placed in front of them, but they couldn’t pick it up.

“I’ll go to the Jinling Machinery Factory later to urge them. Those government-managed factories are full of people who don’t want to improve. If the Jinling Machinery Factory was managed by private individuals, they would have exploded with more enthusiasm for the sake of money.”

Hong Tailin complained.

The market demand was so large, but the expansion speed of the Jinling Machinery Factory was not satisfactory.

In Hong Tailin’s opinion, this was all due to a lack of enthusiasm.

In the afternoon, Hong Tailin visited Ning Duo, the director of the Jinling Machinery Factory.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Hong Tailin explained his intention: “Director Ning, can the speed at which your factory manufactures steam engines be faster? Everyone is waiting to purchase these things.”

“Boss Hong, do you think making machines is as easy as drinking water and eating? It’s not that simple. The parts on that steam engine are all knocked and polished bit by bit by my thousands of skilled craftsmen.”

Ning Duo complained.

He was also under a lot of pressure at the moment. It wasn’t just bosses like Hong Tailin who were urging him to increase production, but also the higher-ups.

Hong Chengchou, the Vice Minister of Commerce, and Ruan Dacheng, the Vice Minister of Industry, had repeatedly told him personally to find ways to increase production.

However, increasing production couldn’t be solved by willpower alone.

“What can we do? If the output doesn’t come up, it will affect His Majesty’s grand plan, which is really inappropriate.”

Hong Tailin said.

“Hey, if it were a while ago, I would have been quite worried. But recently, I heard good news, that Dr. Song of the Research Department is about to master the manufacturing technology of machine tools.

As long as machine tools can be manufactured in large quantities, all problems can be solved easily. Machine tools can manufacture the parts I need in large quantities. By then, our production efficiency can be increased at least tenfold.”

Ning Duo smiled mysteriously.

As long as Song Yingxing’s machine tools were distributed to him, he would greatly increase production efficiency.

“Machine tools?”

Hong Tailin didn’t quite understand, but he was used to it. Nowadays, Great Hua always came up with new things from time to time. It was normal not to have heard of them or not to understand them.

“Yes, machine tools, a machine that uses machines to process parts. I went to see it last time, and the speed is dozens of times faster than manual labor. The only problem now is that there are too few machine tools on his side, and they are given priority to other research departments.”

Ning Duo spread his hands, expressing his helplessness. In the eyes of others, the Jinling Machinery Factory had a high status, and many departments had to ask them for help.

But he knew that compared with other research departments, the Jinling Machinery Factory was like a stepchild, unloved by anyone.

“Then Director Ning can urge them, reminding the people in the Research Department of the current market demand for machines. If they listen to Director Ning’s advice and give you priority in supplying machine tools, then your political achievements this year may impress His Majesty.”

Hong Tailin encouraged.

“Well, I’ll try it. I’m not sure if it will work. Those people in the Research Department are all treasures, and can only be coaxed and praised. No one can do anything about them.”

Ning Duo thought for a while and was also a little tempted, deciding to ask Song Yingxing to give him priority in supplying a few machine tools first.

If this year’s sales performance was good, he might be promoted.

Shipbuilding, machinery manufacturing, research and development department…

Because of a government order on limited liability companies, they were all greatly affected.

And this influence has actually affected all aspects of this society, like a storm.

Chapter 450: Learning from Great Hua to Resist Great Hua

Beijing, the Forbidden City.

Only three days after Great Hua Limited Liability Company promulgated its policies, the Qing Dynasty received the news.

Now, even the slightest movement from Great Hua was given great importance by the Qing.

“Your Majesty, I believe we can emulate this system. This system can fully mobilize private capital into maritime trade. While earning wealth for our dynasty, we can also purchase advanced weapons and introduce outstanding talents,” Fan Wencheng said.

Currently, the faction led by Fan Wencheng was promoting the complete Sinicization of the Qing Dynasty.

With the support of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, Fan Wencheng proposed the concept of complete Sinicization, learning from Great Hua, for the purpose of ‘learning Great Hua’s strengths to resist Great Hua’.

This faction believed that continuing to be closed off would never lead to victory over Great Hua.

The only way out was to fully learn all of Great Hua’s strengths.

By learning from Great Hua, they could strengthen themselves and thus resist Great Hua.

Fan Wencheng was a very pragmatic person. He didn’t even say learning Great Hua’s strengths to destroy Great Hua, but to resist Great Hua.

He placed the Qing Dynasty on the weaker side, hoping that everyone could see the current situation clearly and wake up in time.

His approach was approved and supported by those who were pragmatic.

Among them, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang’s attitude was the firmest.

She stated that in extraordinary times, extraordinary measures should be taken.

In order to protect her son’s empire, changing some ancestral traditions was nothing, and learning from the Han people was not shameful at all.

Moreover, she brought up Huang Taiji, stating that he had actively learned a large amount of advanced Han culture and systems in the past.

Such as the imperial examination, the Six Ministries system, the manufacturing of firearms, and so on.

It was by learning the essence of the Han people that they became strong.

Now, the situation was similar to that of the past, so continuing to learn Great Hua’s advanced knowledge and strengths was the most correct choice.

With Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang expressing her stance, Dorgon also followed suit with his support.

Other more enlightened princes also supported it. A few dissatisfied individuals, such as Hauge, had no way to change everyone’s minds and could only choose to acquiesce.

Of course, Hauge also knew that learning from Great Hua was the right thing to do.

The new armies cultivated through learning from Great Hua were even more powerful than the original Eight Banners soldiers.

He had witnessed this firsthand.

It was just that, out of his own interests, he was somewhat unsupportive.

As the Qing court launched a full-scale learning initiative from Great Hua, the status of Han officials was rapidly rising, and the status of their Manchu nobles was invisibly declining.

More importantly, with the implementation of this policy, the power of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Fan Wencheng’s faction was also growing, invisibly squeezing his power.

In short, complete Sinicization was beneficial to the Qing Dynasty, but only detrimental to Hauge’s faction.

After establishing this basic national policy, the Qing Dynasty opened a ‘Broad Learning Hall’ in Beijing, almost completely copying the model of Nanjing University.

The Broad Learning Hall offered subjects such as physics, chemistry, and arithmetic, and also adopted the percentage system.

Moreover, they hired talents who had studied new knowledge from the South at high prices, or even directly abducted them to teach.

Relying on various strange methods, they managed to set up the framework of the Broad Learning Hall, at least on the surface it looked decent.

As for the effect, it certainly couldn’t be seen in the short term.

What was even more troublesome was that they established the Broad Learning Hall, but they did not dare to change the imperial examination system like Great Hua, only listing those miscellaneous subjects as optional exams. The Eight-legged essay and policy essays were still the most important exam questions.

Because Great Hua forcibly changed the imperial examination system, a large number of ideologically rigid scholars fled to the North, trying to rely on the Qing Dynasty to defend the traditional imperial examination system.

One’s position determines one’s thinking, and one’s interests determine one’s choices.

As beneficiaries of the traditional imperial examination, it was not easy to completely change them.

And it was precisely because of these large number of forces fleeing North that the Qing Dynasty could not completely change the imperial examination system like Great Hua.

Otherwise, they would immediately lose the support of this group of people.

Those people took the risk of breaking with Great Hua to come and rely on the Qing Dynasty, what they valued was that bit of the traditional imperial examination system.

Great Hua could rely on its powerful military force to deter the dissatisfied scholar class.

But the Qing Dynasty could not withstand any turmoil. It was currently like a giant suffering from illness, with a weak constitution, and could not withstand any more colds.

The support of this group of literati was very important to them.

In the end, combining the actual situation, Fan Wencheng played a clever trick.

He did not change the important position of policy essays and eight-legged essays, but only added subjects such as mathematics, physics, and chemistry to the imperial examination.

On the surface, the court’s intention was that these miscellaneous subjects were only bonus points, and it didn’t matter if they didn’t do well on the exam.

But in the actual process of selecting officials, and in the appointment of specific official positions, they would focus on using those who had good grades in these miscellaneous subjects.

Through this kind of behind-the-scenes differential treatment, they could ease the conflict with traditional scholars and select the talents needed by the court.

In the Qing Dynasty, which was full of problems, Fan Wencheng couldn’t even carry out a reform openly.

However, through this method, he barely managed to achieve his goal.

In addition to imitating and learning in education, they were also actively seeking change in other areas.

For example, even in the North now, the court would not forcibly require the people to shave their heads and keep their queues anymore.

It wasn’t that Dorgon didn’t want to, it was just that he didn’t have the energy to do so.

Once it was forcibly implemented, various rebellions would occur again.

Rebellions would affect production, suppressing rebellions would cost money, and these troubles would give a fatal blow to the already fragile Qing economy.

So, the Qing Dynasty didn’t dare to do that anymore.

Of course, there was also the promotion of Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang and Fan Wencheng, who originally did not support Dorgon’s shaving order.

In terms of economy, the Qing Dynasty also opened up to trade, establishing a special area in Tianjin similar to Songjiang, giving tax incentives.

Although the development was dozens of streets behind Songjiang, in the Qing Dynasty’s territory, the development momentum of Tianjin was particularly strong, unique, and the monthly tax revenue was very gratifying.

There were also aspects of technology, commerce, and so on. The Qing Dynasty was now imitating and learning from Great Hua.

Moreover, they had more or less achieved some results.

Although the Qing Dynasty’s territory was much smaller than last year, the actual national strength had actually increased, and the military strength had also improved.

It was precisely because of this that those reformers were even more determined to reform and decided to fully learn and imitate everything from Great Hua.

When Great Hua Limited Liability Company’s policies were promulgated, the Qing Dynasty began to discuss how to modify and implement them.

It was certainly not good to completely copy them, at least they had to change the name.

This ostrich-like approach was a bit embarrassing, but the appearance still had to be maintained.

Chapter 451: Railway Construction Begins

Wu Changqing was well aware that the Qing Dynasty was learning from and imitating his side.

He didn’t pay too much attention to it, as he couldn’t exactly go over and tell them not to learn; they wouldn’t listen to him anyway.

Of course, the most important thing was that Wu Changqing didn’t think their little bit of imitation meant much.

The Qing Dynasty’s learning achievements would ultimately benefit him after he pacified the North.

The core technologies that could rapidly boost national power were tightly guarded, and only trivial details were leaked.

Core secrets like steam engines and breech-loading rifles were completely hidden from the outside world.

Great Hua had already started laying railways, while the Qing Dynasty couldn’t even build a steam engine to pump water.

The technological gap between the two sides was at least fifty years.

As long as Great Hua didn’t leak secrets, it would take them at least fifty years of research to build a locomotive on their own.

Not to mention fifty years, the Qing Dynasty would definitely be destroyed within two years.

If things went smoothly, it might even happen this year.

In early April, Great Hua held a grand groundbreaking ceremony.

The Nanjing-Songjiang railway officially started construction.

To show his importance, Wu Changqing personally led a group of officials to the construction site. Moreover, he personally wielded a shovel and dug the first shovelful of earth.

Although this kind of showmanship wasn’t his original idea, it was still very rare in this era.

In the common people’s minds, the emperor was high above, waited on hand and foot, and shouldn’t be doing manual labor.

But now, Wu Changqing skillfully used a shovel in front of everyone.

This broadened the horizons of the onlookers; it turned out that the emperor also knew how to do farm work.

After Wu Changqing dug the first shovelful of mud, the other ministers naturally didn’t want to be left behind and followed suit.

Some ministers were casual, after all, it was just a show.

But some ministers worked very hard, sweating profusely and covered in mud, completely ruining their image.

Although everyone knew that Liu Dahua was putting on a show, it wasn’t easy to put on such a thorough show, no wonder he could get the praise of the citizens of Nanjing.

Among the onlookers, there were not only common people, but also spies from the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, and even spies from the Great Western regime.

The Zhang Xianzhong in history had already been killed by the Qing army at this time.

But because of Wu Changqing’s arrival, the Qing Dynasty could only defend step by step and did not attack Zhang Xianzhong.

As a result, Zhang Xianzhong was still living well in Sichuan.

These spies stayed in Nanjing for a long time to gather intelligence.

Ye Chen, a spy from the Southern Ming, was filled with emotion when he saw Wu Changqing digging earth with a shovel.

Although he knew it was a show, it was still difficult for an emperor to come and put on a show.

At least, the emperors of the Zhu family didn’t have this tradition.

From this point, Ye Chen saw the gap between the Ming Dynasty and Great Hua.

The spies from the other forces had similar feelings to varying degrees.

They were all sighing at Wu Changqing’s diligence. With such a diligent and wise emperor, Great Hua had no worries about not prospering.

Wu Changqing and others completed the show amidst a burst of gongs and drums, and then the workers personally took the stage.

In order to speed up the progress of this railway, Great Hua mobilized a full thirty thousand civilians, forty thousand prisoners, and some other staff, totaling eighty thousand people.

Such a large project would have required the entire country’s farmers to pay extra taxes to support it in the past.

It was not easy to support more than eighty thousand laborers with amazing appetites.

But now, this big project was just child’s play for Great Hua.

Within Great Hua, there were many similar large-scale projects.

For example, the number of workers in Huainan who specialized in coal mining had already exceeded sixty thousand.

The number of workers in steel mills had also exceeded twenty thousand.

The number of workers in textile factories had also exceeded ten thousand.

A large number of farmers who were farming have become workers.

To a certain extent, it alleviated the land problem.

Some people who made money in factories at this time already looked down on those lands.

Of course, more than eighty thousand people were not all concentrated in Nanjing, but were distributed in several sections, working simultaneously.

There were about ten thousand people in Nanjing.

However, even with only ten thousand people, the scene of them working at the same time was quite shocking.

Standing on a high place and looking down, these people were like ants.

Some people were leveling the road, some were carrying wood, some were leading horses to pull rails, and some were directing and dispatching.

People outside the field saw only the magnificence of the scene, while the workers on the construction site felt only the hardship.

Building a railway was a very hard work, and the labor intensity was very high.

Especially when carrying the heavy rails, every worker was chanting slogans and gritting their teeth to persevere.

This was still the scene of labor under the watchful eyes of the audience. With the people watching, those in charge of supervising the work also needed to take care of their image.

When Wu Changqing and the onlookers left, the construction site ended its pretense and began to focus on efficiency.

Tired and want to rest?

There was no such cheap thing, who could bear the responsibility for delaying the construction period.

As long as it wasn’t time to rest, you had to keep working even if you were tired.

Although Yan Fa, who was in charge of this railway, was building a railway for the first time and didn’t know that building a railway would kill many people.

But he knew that any major project in history would kill many people.

For example, the Grand Canal of China, although there were no complete statistics, it was roughly estimated that at least one hundred thousand people died directly. At least one hundred thousand people died indirectly from overwork and illness.

Another example was the Great Wall, the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, the Nanjing city wall, and so on.

Every magnificent project was accompanied by blood and tears.

Ruan Dacheng had instructed Yan Fa to keep the casualties below five thousand people.

In other words, in the eyes of those big shots in the court, as long as the railway could be completed on schedule, it was acceptable to die a few thousand people.

Yan Fa got the instructions, and he had a sense of propriety in handling affairs.

He adopted relatively gentle methods for the thirty thousand hired employees.

As for the forty thousand prisoners, he squeezed them as much as possible.

Anyway, no one in this era was shouting that prisoners should enjoy human rights. Being able to have a chance to survive was a gift to these prisoners.

After seeing the construction of the Great Hua Railway, spies from all walks of life began to write secret reports, recording what they saw and heard.

After Ye Chen wrote it truthfully, he hesitated whether to tear it up and rewrite it.

After all, the real situation was too scary.

Easily mobilizing more than eighty thousand people to start construction at the same time, tens of millions of Jin of iron blocks laid on the ground, a train that can pull tens of millions of Jin of goods without manpower or horsepower…

Ye Chen was really worried that Zhu Yujian’s little heart would not be able to bear it when he saw the national strength of Great Hua, and he would be desperate.

Chapter 452: Longwu’s Personal Campaign

While construction in the rear was in full swing, the battles on the front lines didn’t slack off either.

In early April, the Southern Army Corps, after a period of rest and reorganization, began to advance towards Fuzhou.

At the same time, the Northern Army Corps, after a period of stockpiling, also had the resources to fight a major battle.

The Northern Army Corps, which had long been itching for action, also began to consider launching a new round of offensives.

The Great Hua could now not only engage in large-scale construction but also support operations on two fronts.

Fuzhou.

Upon learning that Wang Dayong had already led his troops on their way, Zhu Yujian announced that he would personally lead the campaign to resist the enemy near the Ao River.

Zhu Yujian’s decision to leave Fuzhou and take the initiative was not out of foolishness.

Against the Hua army, which possessed a large number of cannons, the advantage of defending the city was greatly diminished, almost the same as garrisoning a hilltop.

Garrisoning a hilltop could at least provide more obstacles for the enemy’s cannons and create more trouble in locating artillery positions.

More importantly, the morale within Fuzhou was unstable.

Once the Hua army besieged the city, someone might open the city gates and welcome them in.

If that happened, they would collapse instantly.

By taking the initiative to leave the city, the people of Fuzhou would not have to face the front lines directly for the time being, their psychological pressure would be less, and the possibility of rebellion would be smaller.

They would more likely choose to continue observing the development of the war. If Zhu Yujian won, those fence-sitters would naturally not dare to take risks.

If Zhu Yujian lost, then whether those fence-sitters surrendered or not would no longer matter to him, because by that time he might already be dead.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not! The battlefield is a place of swords and spears, and Your Majesty is the supreme ruler, it is truly not appropriate for you to personally go to the battlefield,” Huang Daozhou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and concurrently Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, as well as the Grand Secretary of the Inner Cabinet, advised.

However, only Huang Daozhou and a few others offered such advice.

The other ministers had already lost hope in Zhu Yujian.

Not only did they not try to dissuade him, but some even wished that Zhu Yujian would personally lead the campaign and die on the battlefield.

That way, no one would stop them from surrendering.

Wouldn’t surrendering to Great Hua and going to Nanjing to enjoy the pleasures of the world be a hundred times better than cowering in Fuzhou?

In a normal dynasty, when the emperor said he wanted to personally lead the campaign, all the civil and military officials would kneel down and cry, begging the emperor to think twice.

But now, many officials simply remained silent.

Seeing this situation, Zhu Yujian really wanted to act impulsively and have those obviously disloyal ministers executed in the marketplace.

However, he knew that doing so would be futile.

“My mind is made up, there is no need for you to persuade me further,” Zhu Yujian said.

Rather than dying in a cowardly manner, he might as well take a gamble.

In Zhu Yujian’s view, as long as he could personally defeat the Hua army once, his prestige in the army would definitely increase greatly.

In this way, he could take the opportunity to seize all military power into his own hands.

With absolute power in the court, he could carry out various more radical reforms, scraping all the wealth from the gentry class to govern the country and strengthen the army.

Anyone who dared to resist would have their homes confiscated and their families exterminated.

“Your subject is willing to accompany Your Majesty,” Huang Daozhou said, seeing that Zhu Yujian was determined, he could only do his last bit of loyalty and go to die with him.

His statement gave Zhu Yujian a little warmth in his heart.

There were still loyal subjects in this court, but there were too few, and they were too old, their abilities were not enough to help him reverse the situation.

Zhu Yujian confirmed that he would personally lead the campaign, but when it came time to set out, he was quite embarrassed.

Because he could only mobilize a small number of troops loyal to him.

He couldn’t mobilize any of the Zheng family’s troops.

“Lord Zheng, His Majesty orders you to lead your troops to the front line,” Huang Daozhou came personally to deliver the order and urge action when he learned that the Zheng family’s troops had not moved.

“Lord Huang, please inform His Majesty that I am stationed in Fuzhou to guard the rear for His Majesty, ensuring that the rear is not lost,” Zheng Zhilong said.

“What do you mean by this?” Huang Daozhou was furious, Fuzhou now only had threats from the front, and they were going to resist on the front, how could the rear be lost?

Such a crude excuse was simply a blatant defiance of the imperial decree.

In the past, this crime would have been punishable by beheading.

“It doesn’t mean anything, Lord Huang, you don’t really think that we can defeat the Hua army by taking the initiative, do you? Why take the initiative when we have good city walls to defend?” Zheng Zhilong continued to perfunctorily reply.

Whether to attack or defend, he had already decided not to oppose Great Hua.

Another major battle would deplete the last of his capital.

At that time, he would not even be allowed to surrender to Great Hua.

Great Hua would not care about a person without value.

“Lord Zheng, you are going too far, regardless of whether we can win or not, His Majesty’s decree is so, are you planning to defy the decree?” Huang Daozhou rebuked, attempting to use the imperial decree to intimidate Zheng Zhilong.

In this era of supreme imperial power, the deterrent power of the imperial decree was still quite significant.

“It’s okay for me to mobilize troops, but bring the military pay. Without military pay, and you want my brothers to risk their lives, ask them if they agree,” Zheng Zhilong pointed to the other officers and soldiers.

Although Zhu Yujian had indeed not given him military pay, it was because he often intercepted tax silver in Fuzhou.

Zhu Yujian wanted to take control of the tax revenue and then pay Zheng Zhilong, but Zheng Zhilong did not agree.

Now, Zheng Zhilong was biting back, saying that the court did not provide military pay, which infuriated Huang Daozhou.

“We don’t agree, we don’t agree,” some soldiers behind Zheng Zhilong shouted, encouraged by certain officers.

In fact, no encouragement was needed, these soldiers did not want to fight the Hua army in the first place, the casualty rate was too high.

Huang Daozhou glared at Zheng Zhilong and the others, but could do nothing to them.

Even if he was willing to attack and punish Zheng Zhilong at all costs, their small number of people might not be able to defeat them.

This Ming Dynasty had fallen to this point.

Huang Daozhou understood that even if Zhu Yuanzhang were to be reincarnated, he would probably be powerless.

Therefore, Huang Daozhou no longer bothered with Zheng Zhilong’s troops.

He took his own troops and prepared to go to the battlefield with Zhu Yujian to die.

It was indeed going to die, he did not think that relying on their twenty thousand people could defeat the Hua army.

Upon learning of Zheng Zhilong’s attitude, Zhu Yujian did not have much emotional fluctuation, as if everything was within his expectations.

Despair was greater than heartache, his heart was already dead.

The army set off according to plan, Zhu Yujian brought a total of twenty-five thousand people to the front line.

And Zheng Zhilong, still controlled nearly sixty thousand troops in Fuzhou.

He was not defending Fuzhou, but using it as capital to surrender to the Hua army.

Surrendering with sixty thousand troops, saving hundreds of thousands of people from the ravages of war, this merit should not be too much to ask for a baronetcy.

Zheng Zhilong was also quite uneasy in his heart.

Chapter 453: Reconnaissance and Intelligence

History sometimes has surprising similarities, but also some differences.

The Zheng Zhilong of history was also single-mindedly thinking of surrendering, refusing to send troops or provide supplies, but historically it was Huang Daozhou who led a lone army on the expedition.

But now, Zhu Yujian chose to personally lead the expedition.

The army marched all the way to the Ao River, and the twenty-five thousand strong army became just over twenty-three thousand.

More than one thousand soldiers had quietly deserted along the way.

This kind of marching was simply like child’s play.

Mainly, most of their army were newly recruited soldiers, without combat experience and timid.

They had already heard that the Hua army was as fierce as tigers and wolves, and unstoppable.

Going to fight the Hua army meant a high probability of death.

Therefore, some soldiers and low-ranking officers were looking for various opportunities to escape.

More importantly, Zhu Yujian had no prestige in the army, could not deter the soldiers, and could not bring hope to the soldiers.

In this era, the morale of soldiers largely came from the prestige and battle record of the commander.

If the commander was someone with excellent battle records and often won battles, the morale of the soldiers would be high.

Because the information soldiers had was limited, they could not judge the comparison of strength between the two sides in a war from the overall situation, they could only choose to believe the commander.

The better the commander’s battle record, the stronger the commander’s ability.

Following such a commander made it easier to win battles, and winning battles meant a smaller chance of death and greater gains.

Conversely, if a commander often lost battles, the soldiers under his command would also panic.

Because such a commander was very likely to abandon the soldiers and run away first.

Wu Changqing had not lost a single battle since he started his uprising, and his prestige in the army was very high.

When Wu Changqing personally led the expedition, the morale was extremely high.

Looking at Zhu Yujian, he had never commanded troops before, and had no achievements on the battlefield, he could not even be considered a military general.

The only time he went on an expedition to Jiangxi, he returned in defeat.

Following such a person, who obviously had no commanding ability, to the battlefield was simply courting death.

Due to distrust of Zhu Yujian, a large number of soldiers disappeared while walking.

In these mountains, it was quite convenient to escape.

Upon learning of the soldiers’ desertion, Huang Daozhou was furious.

On the other hand, Zhu Yujian was very calm, as if nothing had happened, and continued to deploy defensive positions according to plan.

They were setting up a line of defense along the river, trying to prevent the Hua army from crossing.

When setting up the main camp, Huang Daozhou advised, “Your Majesty, it is not appropriate to set up the central command headquarters so far forward, it is too dangerous, and it is easy to become a priority target for the enemy.”

“Set it up here, I want the soldiers to know that I am with them, facing danger together, to boost morale.”

Zhu Yujian tried to boost morale in this way.

His approach could not be said to have no effect at all. But compared to the potential drawbacks, this little benefit did not seem worth it.

If Huang Daozhou were to arrange it, he would definitely place the central command headquarters in a relatively safe position to prevent the commander from being attacked.

If the central headquarters was in chaos, then the entire army would definitely be in chaos, which was a major taboo in military strategy.

Although Huang Daozhou felt that this was inappropriate, Zhu Yujian was, after all, the emperor, and if the emperor insisted on doing so, there was nothing he could do.

When the commander is someone who does not understand military affairs, it is actually quite painful and helpless to be a subordinate.

The army was deployed properly, and on the second day, they saw the vanguard of the Hua army.

Seeing that the road ahead was blocked by the Ming army, the Hua army’s vanguard did not launch a strong attack, but began to survey the terrain, scout out the enemy’s situation, and wait for the arrival of the main force.

These were all basic qualities.

“Hey, look, is that their central command headquarters?”

A scout handed the telescope to his companion, asking him to analyze and judge together.

Judging the central command headquarters was actually quite simple. Under normal circumstances, the place where people came in and out most frequently in the camp was the command headquarters.

Because various orders had to be issued from here, and various intelligence information had to be reported to this location for the commander inside to analyze and then formulate tactics.

Specifically, the Ming army on the opposite side was even easier to identify, because the flag at Zhu Yujian’s location was different from other places.

A yellow-bottomed azure dragon holding a sword, this was a flag exclusive to the royal family, ordinary generals could not use yellow and a dragon as the main pattern.

This flag was a bit like telling others, the emperor is here.

“It seems so, is their commander out of his mind? This is all within the range of the cannons, give them a few shots and blow the commander to death, wouldn’t the battle be over?”

Another scout complained.

“Uh… do you think this could be fake, used to confuse us?”

Scout A said.

“Uh what uh, what what, just because I’m a soldier doesn’t mean I don’t deserve a name?”

“I just forgot what you’re called for a moment.”

Scout A smiled awkwardly. He was new here and hadn’t had time to remember all his comrades’ names.

“Then why can I remember that you bastard are called Er Gouzi, but you can’t remember that I’m called A Lin?”

A Lin said with contempt.

“Be serious, let’s talk about serious business, you haven’t answered my question yet.”

Er Gouzi obviously didn’t want to discuss matters related to his name.

“It definitely won’t be fake, doing that would be meaningless except for wasting a few of our shells, and it would easily cause the soldiers below to misjudge and cause panic.”

A Lin analyzed.

“In that case, I’ve discovered an important piece of information, I can go back and get a reward.”

Er Gouzi was very excited, there were not many opportunities to get extra rewards like this, usually it required a major contribution.

This piece of information could allow them to unexpectedly blow up the enemy’s commander, its value was very high.

“What do you mean ‘I’, it’s we, we discovered this important piece of information.”

A Lin slapped the back of Er Gouzi’s head.

He cursed in his heart, this brat only knows how to monopolize credit as soon as he arrives, he’s really too naive.

He couldn’t even monopolize this credit, he had to share it with the entire reconnaissance company.

If he didn’t do this, the soldiers in the reconnaissance company would rush to those places where it was easy to make contributions to collect intelligence, which would easily cause conflicts.

“Yes, yes, yes, Brother A Lin is right, it’s us.”

Er Gouzi said with a smile.

There was also a hierarchy among soldiers, this A Lin was a veteran, a sergeant.

And Er Gouzi was a new recruit, still a private first class.

Afterwards, the two continued to observe in detail before returning to the army to provide this discovery to their superiors.

The superiors attached great importance to this information, and it was passed all the way to the staff department.

Afterwards, the people in the staff department wondered if they could use this to make a breakthrough.

Forcibly crossing the river was certainly not a big problem.

However, when there was an opportunity to take it easily, they would not waste it.

Chapter 454: Special Operations Squad

“So, the Longwu Emperor has personally come to the front lines. He certainly has more backbone than the Hongguang Emperor.”

Wang Dayong said with emotion.

“It’s just as well he’s here. If we kill Zhu Yujian, Fuzhou will fall without a fight. Those places in Guangdong will likely surrender at the news. With no one to be loyal to, what will they resist for? Pacifying the South is just around the corner.”

Xue Guiren said.

“I think we can take this opportunity to put our special forces tactics into practice. We can send an elite unit to quietly infiltrate the opposite bank, and then we can bombard the north bank to create chaos.

If we can directly bomb Zhu Yujian to death, that would be best. If not, the elite squad will precisely eliminate him. As long as Zhu Yujian dies, everything else will be easy to handle.”

Tao Dongcheng suggested.

They had abandoned the large-scale river crossing plan, as it would result in too many deaths, which was unnecessary.

“Sending a small team to take the head of the enemy general from an army of thousands, isn’t that a bit too risky?”

Wang Dayong asked.

“If we were still using the old weapons, an elite squad wouldn’t accomplish much. But sending a breech-loading rifle unit over there can achieve a lot more.”

After learning about the power of breech-loading rifles, Tao Dongcheng felt that this type of unit could carry out some difficult tactics.

Such as going deep behind enemy lines to sabotage, cut off supply lines, assassinate important figures, and launch surprise attacks.

The old musket units needed to be of a certain size to be effective. A team of one hundred or so might not be as useful as swords. But now, a breech-loading rifle unit of just one hundred men has terrifying long-range killing power.

It’s quite effective for assassinating important enemy figures.

Since it has this tactical use, of course, we must try and verify it, and not let this concept remain only in theory.

The current opportunity is perfect, so Tao Dongcheng didn’t hesitate to bring it up.

“I also think it’s feasible. Add some hand grenades, and a company’s firepower will be enough to contend with a Ming army regiment. Even if there are any accidents, they can occupy favorable terrain to defend and wait for our rescue.”

Xue Guiren agreed.

Then, everyone looked at Zhao Xin, waiting for his attitude.

Even though Zhao Xin was just a regiment commander, everyone had to respect his opinion.

“Of course, there’s no problem. We swear to complete the mission.”

Zhao Xin said.

“Regiment Commander Zhao, you’re being too serious. We should prioritize the lives of our brothers. If there’s an opportunity, take it. If not, retreat. At worst, we’ll cross the river in a conventional manner.

Small-scale special warfare is just a theory we learned in military school, and no one has ever put it into practice. Whether it succeeds or fails, it can accumulate experience.”

These were all Wu Changqing’s guards, and Tao Dongcheng didn’t want to force them to their deaths, causing too many casualties among the guards.

The last time they attacked Dragon Waist Mountain, there was no choice.

But this time, there are other options.

Although Tao Dongcheng said it that way, Zhao Xin didn’t listen at all.

Back at his headquarters, he demanded that his subordinates must complete the mission, as it concerned the reputation of the guards.

That night, three small boats quietly took a company of one hundred and twenty guards downstream to the opposite bank.

Because it was night and the scale was small, the Ming army was not alarmed.

After arriving on the opposite bank, they found a hollow in the mountains to sleep.

The next day, the Chinese army began operations on the north bank, mainly setting up cannons. Then, they pretended to prepare to cross the river.

The cannons fired, and the shells landed on the Ming army’s positions.

However, the Ming army was not particularly panicked.

Because most of their soldiers were in the mountains behind, the Chinese army’s artillery range couldn’t reach them.

They only left a small number of soldiers to guard the front-line positions by the river.

Only when the Chinese army began to cross the river would their main force enter the positions.

So, when the Chinese army’s shells landed in the Ming army’s positions, they didn’t kill many people.

The few soldiers in the front-line positions huddled up, knowing that as long as they survived the shelling, they would receive rewards after the battle, making the risk worthwhile.

The shells continued to explode, and the only place where the Ming army had a problem was the headquarters of the central army.

In the first wave of bombing, the shells were not very accurate, with the closest shell landing dozens of meters away from the headquarters.

This made Zhu Yujian feel a little relieved. Although the enemy’s artillery seemed powerful, as long as it didn’t land near him, it didn’t seem like a big deal.

However, Huang Daozhou knew that the enemy’s artillery could aim at targets and adjust its accuracy.

If the first wave wasn’t accurate, the second wave might be.

So, he advised, “Your Majesty, we should retreat to the back mountain first. Even if you want to lead by example and boost morale, you can come back when the enemy crosses the river.”

“No, if I leave, the remaining soldiers who are still defending the positions will definitely retreat.”

Zhu Yujian said.

As he spoke, the Chinese army’s cannons fired again.

This time the sound seemed louder, and it was getting closer.

A shell landed about ten meters away from Zhu Yujian, directly blowing up several of his guards.

The one closest to him had half of his face scraped off and died on the spot.

Two others died, and three more were wailing, looking like they wouldn’t survive.

Seeing that bloody scene, Zhu Yujian began to panic.

Although he had ordered the beheading of others, he had never personally witnessed the execution.

The visual impact of seeing the scene was completely different from the impact of hearing the news.

“Your Majesty, retreat quickly, it’s very dangerous here.”

Huang Daozhou urged.

Ten meters away was an extremely dangerous distance.

With so many enemy shells coming over, there was a high chance that one would hit the headquarters.

By then, it would be too late to leave.

Zhu Yujian was still hesitating. A moment ago, he had spoken so righteously. To agree to retreat now would be breaking his word.

As an emperor, he still cared about his image.

However, his composure didn’t last long.

As more and more shells landed nearby, two more exploded near them, killing and wounding seventeen or eighteen people.

Zhu Yujian finally realized the seriousness of the problem. If he didn’t retreat, he might be the one to get hit.

Although he came with the determination to die, he wanted to die meaningfully, in a head-on battle with the enemy, not to be bombed to death in confusion.

As they prepared to retreat, the Chinese army’s guard company had already bypassed the Ming army’s scouts and quietly reached a small hill on the south bank.

And this small hill was only two hundred meters away from Zhu Yujian’s position.

At this distance, skilled soldiers could already carry out assassinations.

“How is it? Is the distance within range?”

The one in charge of leading the team was a guard battalion commander. After all, Zhao Xin didn’t feel comfortable entrusting such an important task to a company commander.

“Almost, but I think we should wait for them to get closer so we can have a sure kill. If we alert them now and they escape into the Ming army’s main force, we won’t be able to do anything.”

They could fight off an attack of thousands of people, but to actively attack a force of tens of thousands, even with good weapons, would be suicide.

“Then let’s wait.”

The guard battalion commander saw that Zhu Yujian and his party’s retreat route seemed to pass by the foot of this hill. That would be the best time to strike.

Chapter 455: Not a Single Soldier Lost

Zhu Yujian and his entourage retreated in a hurry, some even losing their way in the panic.

They kept falling back, getting closer and closer to the Great Hua army’s guard company.

When they were only about one hundred and twenty meters away, the Hua army opened fire.

The Hua soldiers, who had been aiming for a long time, pulled the triggers, and gunfire erupted everywhere.

Immediately afterward, a large number of people around Zhu Yujian fell.

“What’s going on?”

“Protect His Majesty! Form a human wall to shield the Emperor!”

Zhu Yujian and Huang Daozhou shouted in unison. Zhu Yujian was already panicked, the sudden turn of events filling him with inexplicable unease.

Huang Daozhou, on the other hand, didn’t panic. As someone with rich battlefield experience, he knew that anything could happen on the battlefield. Moreover, he had experienced many unexpected events.

Being ambushed only made him anxious. This was terrible and absurd. This was their own rear, where did the enemies come from?

Several guards rushed to stand in front of Zhu Yujian, but some hesitated.

They might be willing to fight the enemy in close combat, after all, there was a chance of survival in melee combat.

But using their bodies to block bullets seemed like certain death.

Those bullets could pierce even iron sheets, how could flesh and blood block them?

“Bold! Why aren’t you coming to protect His Majesty?”

Huang Daozhou roared at the hesitating guards.

He was almost infuriated. Even the personal guards had lost their necessary loyalty. The Ming Dynasty was beyond saving.

No matter how poor the Ming Dynasty was, it had never mistreated these imperial guards, precisely so that they would be grateful and fight to the death at critical moments.

But as it stood, the person responsible for loyalty education had been negligent.

Just as he was getting anxious, the second volley of gunfire sounded.

Huang Daozhou quickly filled the gap himself, standing in front of Zhu Yujian.

At this time, Zhu Yujian was completely disoriented and clueless.

Being on a battlefield filled with dead people for the first time, the fact that he could remain standing without his legs shaking was actually a decent performance.

Bullets flew again, and several more people fell, with Huang Daozhou also taking a bullet.

The bullets didn’t show him any courtesy just because he was the Vice Minister.

“Minister Huang!”

Zhu Yujian cried out miserably. Although he wasn’t shot, his chest felt like it had been hit by a giant stone hammer.

One of his most trusted ministers had left him, and now he was truly alone.

Huang Daozhou was hit in the abdomen and didn’t die immediately.

But the excruciating pain and the feeling of disappointment made him too lazy to speak.

He now felt like he had completed his mission, fulfilled his last wish, and could peacefully wait for death.

Even though the pain kept coming in waves, he didn’t wail, remaining extremely calm.

His mind began to flash back to his life, from childhood to adulthood, from passing the imperial examination to entering the court, and then…

Unconsciously, his eyes closed.

At the advanced age of sixty-two, being shot, he didn’t last long.

As soon as Huang Daozhou was hit, some of the guards who weren’t being scolded scattered in all directions.

Protect Zhu Yujian?

Those who had been protecting Zhu Yujian earlier were already dead. Of the one hundred or so personal guards, nearly a third had died after the multiple waves of artillery and bullets.

Continuing to stay in this dangerous place was definitely not a wise choice.

The clever guards were all running away, while some of the loyal guards were anxious because Zhu Yujian seemed to have forgotten to escape and was still immersed in grief.

The Hua army wouldn’t be polite with him and continued to fire.

This time, Zhu Yujian’s previous good luck didn’t continue.

Earlier, so many people were aiming at him, but others were hit instead. His luck had been quite good.

Unfortunately, it ended there.

A bullet hit him in the forehead, and Zhu Yujian died on the spot.

A king, a figure destined to be recorded in history, died just like that.

“His Majesty has passed away!”

The surviving guards were dumbfounded. An emperor had died in front of them, giving them a great shock.

This was the emperor! In their education, they were supposed to atone with their deaths if they failed to protect the emperor and he was injured.

But now, the emperor was dead.

There were indeed one or two guards who drew their swords and committed suicide.

As for the others, they weren’t so ruthless and didn’t dare to harm themselves, but they also forgot to escape because of fear.

Fortunately, the Hua army’s guard company stopped firing when they saw that Zhu Yujian had been killed.

Those ordinary soldiers weren’t worth shooting.

The guards they had killed earlier were purely accidental casualties.

“Retreat quickly, or we’ll be surrounded!”

When they fired the second volley, the Ming army on another hilltop had already spotted them and were charging towards them.

Although on different hilltops, the straight-line distance between the two sides was actually less than one hundred meters. They had penetrated deep into enemy territory.

As they were shooting Zhu Yujian, the enemies had already reached the foot of their hill.

Those who came to hunt them down didn’t yet know that Zhu Yujian had been killed. They were still thinking of saving the emperor and earning merit.

The guard company retreated quickly, and the news of Zhu Yujian’s death spread rapidly among the Ming army.

When Zhu Yujian was alive, he seemed quite useless, like a mascot.

But once he died, his significance became apparent.

While Zhu Yujian was alive, everyone had someone to be loyal to, a goal that could bring everyone together.

But with Zhu Yujian’s death, the other soldiers and officers were lost.

What should they do next?

Continuing to resist was impossible, after all, even if they suddenly became gods and won against the Hua army, there would be no benefit.

The person who gave out rewards was already dead, could they expect the Empress in Fuzhou to give out rewards?

Escaping also seemed unnecessary.

If they fled to a foreign land, they would have to find work again.

If they could find better work, they wouldn’t have joined the army to risk their lives for military pay in the first place.

So, when the news of Zhu Yujian’s death spread, the Ming army’s behavior was quite comical.

They threw their weapons into a pile, then all sat down together and chose a representative to cross the river and tell the Hua army that they wanted to surrender.

Zhu Yujian brought over twenty thousand soldiers, but didn’t cause any trouble for the Hua army.

In fact, the Hua army crossed the Ao River without losing a single soldier, and also gained countless supplies and captured about twenty thousand people.

Faced with this group of prisoners, Wang Dayong had another headache.

These were all people who voluntarily surrendered, not prisoners in the strict sense, so he had no reason to send them to Nanjing to build railways.

However, incorporating these people into the army was also not appropriate, because Great Hua was now following a path of elite troops, so there was no shortage of soldiers.

Incorporating these people into the army would not significantly increase combat power and would require additional military expenditure.

“Among you, you must pass our assessment to be reorganized and continue to serve in the army. Those who don’t qualify can either return home or accept our arrangements.

We will send you to Nanjing to build railways or mine. Although it will be hard work, the monthly salary is not low, one tael and five qian.”

Wang Dayong said to the prisoners.

As soon as he said this, some of the old and weak soldiers became depressed.

Compared to the unfamiliar task of building railways, they preferred to be soldiers, a profession they were more familiar with.

As for going home, few people chose this option.

Those who had a way to make a living at home wouldn’t have ended up joining the army.

After dealing with the prisoners, Wang Dayong came to Zhu Yujian’s body.

This was all within their expectations, so Wang Dayong didn’t feel too much emotion, and just ordered someone to build a separate grave for Zhu Yujian.

As for a grand burial, that was out of the question.

No matter how noble Zhu Yujian’s status was, that was for the Ming Dynasty. He had nothing to do with Great Hua anymore.

Chapter 456: The Scheme

After dealing with these trivial matters, the Great Hua army continued its advance, encountering no further obstacles along the way, and arrived at the foot of Fuzhou city.

Almost as soon as they arrived, Zheng Zhilong’s envoy, Cheng Wu, came to the Great Hua army seeking an audience.

“Greetings, esteemed sirs. My general has prepared a banquet in the city to welcome your arrival.”

Cheng Wu bowed.

“Oh? Does this mean Zheng Zhilong intends to surrender?”

Wang Dayong asked.

Wang Dayong wasn’t surprised by this turn of events.

After the Battle of Ningde, Zheng Zhilong had already sent word to the Great Hua scouts expressing his willingness to surrender.

“My general, deeply impressed by the brilliance and martial prowess of His Majesty of Great Hua, dares not defy the will of Heaven. He wishes to follow the trend and dedicate himself to Great Hua.”

Cheng Wu said.

“If he’s prepared to surrender, why doesn’t he lay down his arms and come out of the city to meet us? It seems there are still soldiers guarding the walls.”

Wang Dayong said sarcastically.

He was asking the obvious. When someone like Zheng Zhilong, who commands a large army and controls territory and cities, surrenders, it usually comes with conditions.

If those conditions aren’t met, surrender can easily turn into a desperate battle.

“Commander, you speak the truth. That is how it should be. However, my general wishes to obtain a position so he can continue to serve Great Hua.”

Wang Dayong was a rough man, unaccustomed to Cheng Wu’s coyness. He asked bluntly, “Just tell me straight, what conditions does he want?”

Cheng Wu was momentarily embarrassed, but the detail was unimportant.

He replied, “My general hopes to lead another division of troops to guard Fujian and surrounding areas for His Majesty. At the same time, he hopes His Majesty will bestow upon him the title of viscount, allowing him to continue to enjoy wealth and honor.”

Frankly, this request wasn’t excessive.

After all, Zheng Zhilong still had sixty thousand troops under his command.

Some small European countries couldn’t even muster sixty thousand troops in their entire nation. This was no small force.

However, Wang Dayong wasn’t happy with it.

Not only was he unhappy, but the entire Southern Army Group was unhappy.

They had discussed it privately before, how much money they could seize from the Zheng family after taking Fuzhou, and how much they could keep for the Southern Army Group to improve the army’s living conditions.

In everyone’s eyes, the Zheng family was a fat sheep.

If they accepted this fat sheep, they wouldn’t have any roasted mutton to eat in the future.

Worse, after accepting this fat sheep, it would compete with them for food.

“Zheng Zhilong was so confident before, engaging in fierce battles with our army on land and sea, killing thousands of our soldiers. Now, with a simple declaration of willingness to surrender, he wants to erase the past grievances?”

Xue Guiren sneered.

In his opinion, Zheng Zhilong had no value worth wooing.

Those so-called sixty thousand troops were just a rabble.

A few cannon shots, followed by a single charge, and Fuzhou would be taken.

At most, another one or two thousand men would die.

Compared to the wealth, losing another one or two thousand men was worth it.

However, that was what the generals thought.

The rules from above were to try to recruit enemies who were willing to surrender. It was a matter of principle, and they dared not disobey it casually, which was why they were so troubled.

“Commander Xue is too serious. Before, everyone was serving their own master, there was no right or wrong. Now that we are to be colleagues, there is no need to dwell on the past.

To express my general’s apology to the fallen soldiers, he is willing to offer fifty thousand taels of silver as compensation. Furthermore, my general has prepared a banquet at his residence, ready to entertain all of you generals.”

Cheng Wu was hinting that Zheng Zhilong had benefits to offer them.

As for how much, it could be estimated from the fifty thousand taels given to the soldiers.

If they were giving the soldiers fifty thousand, the generals would get at least one or two hundred thousand.

“If that’s the case, please tell your general that we agree to his request.”

Wang Dayong was still hesitating, but Tao Dongcheng took the initiative to agree.

This made Wang Dayong unhappy, but to save Tao Dongcheng’s face, he didn’t immediately explode. He just kept winking at Tao Dongcheng, signaling him to change his mind.

However, Tao Dongcheng gave him a reassuring look.

Cheng Wu knew that Tao Dongcheng was the second-in-command of the Great Hua Southern Army Group and that his promise was valid, so he immediately beamed with joy.

Before he came, he had worried that the fighting between the two sides had been too fierce and that the other side would not accept Zheng Zhilong’s surrender.

As it stood, the progress was smooth.

Afterward, the two briefly discussed the handover process, and Cheng Wu returned to report.

As soon as Cheng Wu left, the generals who hadn’t spoken began to bombard Tao Dongcheng.

“Chief of Staff Tao, what do you mean by this? Didn’t we all agree not to accept Zheng Zhilong? Why did you make the decision to agree to them on your own?”

Xue Guiren questioned.

“Commander Xue, calm down. I don’t plan to accept him either.”

Tao Dongcheng said.

“But…”

Xue Guiren didn’t understand. Tao Dongcheng had clearly agreed, so why was he saying he wouldn’t accept him?

“Commander Xue, I’m also thinking of the lives of the soldiers. What’s wrong with taking Fuzhou without bloodshed? As for Zheng Zhilong, it won’t be easy for him to join us.”

Tao Dongcheng smiled and continued, “Once he gives up his military power, we can do whatever we want with him. Didn’t the intelligence department say that Zheng Zhibao took a part of the navy out to sea to become pirates?

They want to leave themselves a way out, but they don’t know that it’s a dead end. When the time comes, we can use this as an excuse to demand that Zheng Zhilong order Zheng Zhibao to surrender as well. If he can’t do it, then he can’t blame us for punishing him for failing to do his job, or even accuse him of faking his surrender.

Even if Zheng Zhibao listens to him and surrenders, we can continue to find other reasons. He’s been a tyrant in Fujian for so many years, hasn’t he done anything that goes against Heaven and reason? When the time comes, we’ll stand up for the suffering people and do justice for them. Wouldn’t the people applaud?”

Tao Dongcheng’s meaning was clear: pretend to accept Zheng Zhilong’s surrender first, and take Fuzhou.

There would be plenty of opportunities to deal with Zheng Zhilong in the future.

As long as there was an excuse, they wouldn’t have to worry about others saying Great Hua was breaking its promise.

And excuses were easy to find, and if they weren’t, they could always create one.

If Zheng Zhilong knew what was good for him, he would donate all his wealth.

If Zheng Zhilong still wanted to keep his wealth, then he couldn’t blame them for finding ways to make things difficult for him.

Without military power, Zheng Zhilong would be at their mercy.

This…

The generals gasped inwardly at Tao Dongcheng’s plan, secretly thinking that these tactical staff officers were truly insidious and should never be offended, or they wouldn’t even know how they died in the future.

However, the generals still agreed with Tao Dongcheng’s plan.

As for anyone who sympathized with Zheng Zhilong, there wasn’t one.

The Zheng family’s wealth was their original sin.

Moreover, Zheng Zhilong wasn’t a good person either, his death was well-deserved, and he deserved to be framed.

Chapter 457: Entering Fuzhou

The meeting ended, and everyone dispersed.

After Tao Dongcheng left, Xue Guiren couldn’t help but complain to Wang Dayong, “Those who play tactics are truly insidious. Tsk, tsk, tsk, when Zheng Zhilong realizes what’s happened, he’ll probably want to eat Tao Dongcheng alive.”

“No, I reckon Zheng Zhilong might not even realize it was Staff Officer Tao who was scheming against him until he dies. He might even think it was our idea and want to eat us alive instead,” Wang Dayong said with a sigh.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, these staff officers are really too clever. We can’t compare to them when it comes to brains,” Xue Guiren remarked.

“That’s why, if we don’t want to fall behind, we have to keep learning. After we take Fuzhou, the task of attacking Guangdong and other places will be handed over to you. I’m going back to Nanjing to study and systematically learn some tactical theory,” Wang Dayong said.

Having reached his current position, it was as difficult as ascending to heaven to advance any further.

The credit for recovering Guangdong and other places wouldn’t be enough to support his promotion.

Rather than that, it would be better to spend his time improving himself.

Only by ensuring that his tactical level kept up and his strategic vision didn’t become outdated could he hold onto his position and not be snatched away by those rising stars.

Currently, the military academy in Nanjing was growing larger and larger, and there were more and more talented people inside.

A battalion commander or regimental commander who came out of the military academy had a higher tactical level than him.

Therefore, Wang Dayong was under a lot of pressure.

He was still young, only thirty-five, and didn’t want to be eliminated and retire just yet.

“Commander, just go and rest assured. The South will be left to me. Anyway, with my learning ability, I won’t learn anything at the military academy. It’s more suitable for me to practice on the battlefield,” Xue Guiren said with a smile.

He made it sound nice, but Wang Dayong knew that this guy just wanted to earn more military merits to improve his position.

Currently, Great Hua only had three army commanders, but with the continuous expansion of territory, the proposal to establish a fourth and fifth army commander had already been presented to Wu Changqing’s desk, and it was only a matter of time.

And among those most qualified to compete for these one or two spots was Xue Guiren.

In Fuzhou City, the news of Zhu Yujian’s death had already spread.

Ordinary, ignorant people were afraid in their hearts. They didn’t know what Zhu Yujian’s death meant or what disasters would come.

But some well-informed people with more culture and knowledge just smiled at the news of Zhu Yujian’s death.

Since Zhu Yujian took office, he had faced enormous military pressure, so he had to invest a lot of money into the army.

And this would inevitably affect economic development and reduce the income and quality of life of some people.

Those who hadn’t lived a better life under Zhu Yujian’s rule naturally wouldn’t have any good feelings towards him.

Now that they learned that Zhu Yujian had overestimated himself and tried to confront Great Hua, they felt he deserved to die.

As for Great Hua, many people had longed for it for a long time.

It was said that under the rule of Great Hua, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, merchants’ businesses flourished, and officials had smooth careers.

Living under such a dynasty was better than living under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Many people knew that Zheng Zhilong had sent people to discuss surrender matters, and Fuzhou City would soon change hands.

The next day, the Hua army and Zheng Zhilong’s troops completed the handover.

Zheng Zhilong’s fifty thousand troops left the city and laid down their weapons. Another ten thousand were still temporarily under his control.

Surrender required a process. Zheng Zhilong wouldn’t hand over everyone at once.

Afterwards, Zheng Zhilong, along with the officials of the former Longwu court, came to the city gate to welcome the Hua army into the city.

After the Hua army controlled those fifty thousand people and confirmed Zheng Zhilong’s sincerity, they led their troops to enter Fuzhou City and officially take over the city.

Entering the city was the First Division of the Southern Army Corps, the most elite main force of the Southern Army Corps.

In order to show off their military strength and deter petty thieves, and to promote the military prestige of Great Hua, the entire First Division changed into the latest military uniforms before entering the city.

The latest military uniform was a newly designed style, and its style was roughly similar to the military uniforms of the warlord era of the Republic of China.

After the soldiers put on this military uniform, they looked much more energetic.

Tens of thousands of soldiers wearing new uniforms, carrying uniformly styled flintlock guns, and marching in neat steps passed in front of those former Ming officials and the people.

This momentum brought great shock to those people.

Jin Sheng, the former Right Vice Imperial Censor of the Censorate, who saw the Great Hua army for the first time with his own eyes, sighed in his heart.

He felt that the Ming Dynasty’s defeat to such an army was truly not unjust.

These Great Hua troops were in stark contrast to Zheng Zhilong’s troops in the distance.

Without comparing weapons or anything, just in terms of military uniforms, the two sides were the difference between noble lords and beggars.

The Great Hua’s military uniforms were neat and smooth, with bright colors, and the fabric looked quite extraordinary.

And Zheng Zhilong’s troops, their military uniforms were varied, with all kinds of styles. Among them, some people could throw away their weapons and say that they were actually farmers, and no one would doubt it.

Moreover, their clothes were all earthy gray, and looked like they hadn’t been washed for many years.

Among them, some soldiers’ clothes were patched all over, and even more, there was a big hole in their clothes, and they just wore them like that.

Seeing this contrast, Jin Sheng couldn’t bear to look directly at it. The gap in national strength was simply like heaven and earth.

One was already so extravagant that it could get these fancy clothes for its soldiers, while the other was still worried about the soldiers’ next meal.

The complexions of the Hua army soldiers were all rosy and radiant.

And Zheng Zhilong’s troops, one by one, were sallow and emaciated, like refugees fleeing from disaster.

Looking at the Hua army’s weapons again, they were almost all cast from the same mold.

And Zheng Zhilong’s troops, the weapons were also varied, and even the same type of flintlock guns were of different lengths.

Would shorter guns affect the formation when arrayed against the enemy? They couldn’t care so much, it was good enough to have something to use. Didn’t you see, there were still others using knives?

“It’s not a crime of war, it’s not a crime of war.”

“We used to blame the soldiers in front, but this kind of opponent really can’t be reversed by manpower.”

“This is the Great Hua’s army, this is the Great Hua’s national strength. Fortunately, we will also be a part of Great Hua in the future, and we can sleep peacefully.”

“Alas, I don’t know how the people in Nanjing will arrange us. If we can go to Nanjing and get a half-official position, even if the official position is lower, it doesn’t matter.”

Many former Ming officials were discussing, most of them were sighing.

Even many court bigwigs were shocked by the military appearance of the Hua army, let alone the ordinary people of Fuzhou.

When had they ever seen such an army?

Lacking culture, they couldn’t even find any words to describe it.

“These are heavenly soldiers and generals.”

A certain commoner blurted out such a description, and unexpectedly got unanimous approval from the people around him, making him a little proud.

In the eyes of the people, only heavenly soldiers and generals were qualified to wear such beautiful clothes.

Ordinary soldiers would simply be ruining good things by wearing this kind of clothes.

This armed parade of the Hua army had a very good effect.

At least, some people who were still dissatisfied with Great Hua were frightened and trembling after seeing the Great Hua’s army, and dared not make any crooked thoughts.

The power of the Hua army had already made them feel suffocated.

Chapter 458: There Will Be Successors

Wang Dayong didn’t expend much effort attacking Fuzhou, but after capturing it, he was beset by a mountain of headaches.

The resettlement of nearly seventy thousand surrendered soldiers, the arrangement of former Ming Dynasty officials, the normal operation of the government system, the handling of Zhu Yujian’s wife, the treatment of die-hard loyalists…

Wang Dayong couldn’t make decisions on these matters without authorization. Helpless, he could only urgently send someone to Nanjing to report the situation and request that a senior court official be dispatched as soon as possible to preside over the overall situation.

Until then, he could only implement martial law in Fuzhou.

A round trip between Fuzhou and Nanjing took about ten days, so Wang Dayong could only wait patiently.

When Wang Dayong’s victory report arrived in Nanjing, it didn’t receive much attention.

Sending a senior court official to Fuzhou? No time. Everyone was busy with another major event.

Compared to this major event, that broken place of Fuzhou was insignificant.

On April 8th, the Consort Xian was about to give birth.

After all, this was Wu Changqing’s first child, and possibly a boy, who might become the crown prince in the future, so no amount of attention was too much.

The best doctors in the palace were on standby, and the best midwives were in the delivery room, ready to assist.

The scene in the delivery room was quite different from the childbirth scenes in many Qing Dynasty dramas and ancient dramas.

Luo Min wasn’t lying in bed, but in a semi-squatting position, with a midwife supporting her body from behind, and another midwife’s hands ready to catch the baby below.

They were using vertical delivery, and in ancient times, most deliveries were vertical.

One could give birth standing, sitting, kneeling, or squatting, but very few people would lie down to give birth.

This was because, in terms of increasing the rate of natural childbirth, vertical delivery was the most effective.

Lying down, in fact, made it difficult for the mother to exert force.

Women of this era generally lacked exercise, their physiques were weak and poor, and their physical strength was extremely limited.

Giving birth was a very physically demanding task.

Many women would run out of strength halfway through, and then they would be finished.

It wasn’t until the invention of forceps that this problem was effectively solved.

Forceps were essentially a flexible metal clamp that could gently grasp the baby’s head, allowing the midwife to carefully pull it out.

Childbirth was a very dangerous thing for women in this era. According to estimates by later experts, the mortality rate for pregnant women during childbirth in ancient times was about five percent.

That is to say, on average, one out of every twenty women giving birth would die for various reasons.

And considering that ancient women had to give birth to an average of about five children each, that meant that one out of every four women giving birth would die due to childbirth.

This mortality rate would probably scare later generations of women from getting married.

But in this era, everyone was accustomed to this phenomenon.

Not dying was luck, and the whole family rejoiced. Dying was also normal, and everyone took it in stride.

As the emperor’s woman, Luo Min ate well, was well-cared for, and had ample nutrition, so her physical strength was relatively good, and she wouldn’t run out of strength halfway through giving birth.

And in all other aspects, she enjoyed the best.

Therefore, although her delivery process was somewhat arduous, it was ultimately safe and sound.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty, it’s a boy.”

The midwife came out to announce the good news, her face smiling even more happily than Wu Changqing’s. Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought Luo Min had given birth to her grandson.

Mother and child were safe, and it was a boy. It was hard for her not to be happy.

“Reward her,” Wu Changqing said.

At this moment, his heart was complex and strange.

In his previous life, he had never been a father, so he had no idea what it felt like to be a father.

And now, when he learned that the child had been born safely, he seemed unusually calm, as if he didn’t have much excitement or joy.

This made Wu Changqing feel a little ashamed. He felt like he was a little heartless.

This was, after all, his own son. Shouldn’t he be happy?

“Is it my own personality that’s like this, or is it because of the emperor’s identity that I’ve become so heartless?”

Wu Changqing felt that he might not have the chance to get an answer to this question.

Compared to Wu Changqing, this cold-blooded animal, Luo Min’s feelings for this child were completely different.

Regardless of her physical weakness, she wanted to hold him and couldn’t get enough of looking at him.

When she encountered difficulties during childbirth, the thought of preferring to die herself in order to give birth to this child had flashed through her mind.

The more you give, the more you cherish. She had almost given everything for this child.

Therefore, this child was now her everything.

“Oh dear, Consort, you should rest first and focus on recuperating. Once you’ve recovered, you can see him every day,” the personal maid, Cai Die, said with a smile.

“I just feel like I can’t sleep if I put him down,” Luo Min choked.

“Consort, you have such good spirits. Other pregnant women are exhausted and have fallen asleep after giving birth,” Cai Die said.

Luo Min’s good spirits were actually just a brief support based on willpower, a last burst of energy.

Soon, no matter how reluctant she was, she eventually fell asleep.

At this time, in the Empress’s Palace, several innocent vases were thrown on the ground and smashed into pieces.

The palace maids all lowered their heads, not daring to breathe loudly.

Heaven knows if the Empress would punish them for breathing too loudly at this time. In the current situation, anything was possible.

When Chen Yuyan learned that Luo Min had given birth to a boy, she lost her mind and hated everyone she saw.

If Luo Min had given birth to a girl, she might not have had any objections.

But it just had to be a boy.

Currently, Wu Changqing hadn’t said whether he would choose the eldest son or the eldest son of the legal wife as his successor, which meant that everything was still uncertain.

The throne of her future son was not yet secure.

If Luo Min gave birth to a girl, and then she gave birth to the eldest son of the legal wife, then everything would be settled and there would be no need to worry.

Unfortunately, things in the world are unpredictable, and eight or nine out of ten things in life don’t go as planned.

Even if she was the Empress, there were many things she couldn’t control.

In fact, she didn’t even dare to try to control them.

Wu Changqing had warned the women in the harem not to harm anyone. Anyone who dared to poison or do anything else to others would be severely punished if discovered.

And even if she wanted to harm someone, it would be very difficult.

After Luo Min became pregnant, the Empress Dowager had been paying close attention and protecting her.

Now that she had given birth to the eldest son, the Empress Dowager had increased her protection even more.

This was her grandson, and she didn’t want anything to happen to him.

Madam Liao was extremely fond of this newborn grandson.

After all, Wu Changqing had become the emperor, and his every word and action needed to be serious, so it was difficult for her to feel affection from Wu Changqing.

Helpless, she could only invest this affection in her grandson.

Not to mention the imperial family, even in ordinary families, it was generally the case that grandparents were closer to their grandchildren than to their own children.

That is, grandparents and grandchildren would be very close, but often at odds with their own sons.

Chapter 459: The Northern Expedition Plan

The birth of the Eldest Imperial Son wasn’t just Wu Changqing’s affair; it concerned the entire Great Hua.

With the Eldest Imperial Son, even if Wu Changqing were to suddenly kick the bucket, those who remained would still have someone to be loyal to.

This was crucial for the stability of a power.

Without this Eldest Imperial Son, if Wu Changqing died, Great Hua would definitely split apart. How could Liu Hansan possibly let Li Shaobin become the emperor? They would all be unwilling to submit to each other.

But with this Eldest Imperial Son, even if Wu Changqing died, they could at most only become powerful ministers, and they would choose to compromise with each other.

If they wanted to establish their own power, their prestige and ability wouldn’t be enough.

It was similar to the Qing Dynasty before. If there hadn’t been Fulin as a point of compromise, Dorgon and Hauge would definitely have fought to the death, and neither would have yielded to the other.

But because of Fulin, they could compromise by yielding to Fulin together, thus avoiding internal strife.

Before, no matter how prosperous Great Hua was, everyone still had some worries in their hearts.

They worried that this power, founded on Wu Changqing’s personal ability and charisma, would collapse instantly with Wu Changqing’s disappearance.

The birth of the Eldest Imperial Son allowed the officials of Great Hua to work with greater peace of mind.

For the common people, the emperor having an heir was also a good thing, because under normal circumstances, the birth of the emperor’s eldest son would be accompanied by a general amnesty and tax reductions, which were real benefits.

The next day, Wu Changqing announced this good news to the world and gave officials in non-essential departments a three-day vacation, while officials in important departments took turns resting for three days.

As for the common people, they were exempted from half a year’s land tax.

As for the merchants, shouldn’t they offer generous gifts to express their inner ‘excitement’ for such a joyous event as the emperor having an heir?

Wu Changqing’s attitude towards merchants was like that towards chives.

Because he needed them to develop the economy, he would try to fertilize these chives (providing technology and creating a good business environment), and then wait for them to grow up.

When the time came, he would harvest them in one fell swoop, taking their wealth into his hands for redistribution.

Of course, this was his plan, and he wasn’t sure if it could be implemented smoothly.

Although merchants didn’t have much military force, their power couldn’t be underestimated.

If they were pushed too hard, the entire society would be thrown into turmoil.

A general amnesty for the world.

Some petty thieves and criminals with less serious crimes were released with reduced sentences.

Whether it was tax reduction or a general amnesty, it was actually to increase the Eldest Imperial Son’s popularity.

Those criminals who were pardoned would probably remember for the rest of their lives why they were released early.

Those people who had their taxes reduced would also remember that this was a benefit they received because of the birth of the Eldest Imperial Son.

Imperceptibly, they would all remember who the Eldest Imperial Son was.

This kind of popularity, or rather prestige, was somewhat useful.

For example, if Wu Changqing suddenly died, and several princes raised their arms and called out, those people would definitely support the one they were most familiar with.

With the birth of the Eldest Imperial Son, Great Hua celebrated throughout the country, and many industries took a vacation to celebrate.

But this didn’t include the army.

In Suqian, Liu Hansan was already preparing to launch a formal offensive.

They had been resting and recuperating for several months and had prepared enough soldiers and supplies.

Fighting in the North was unlike the small-scale skirmishes in the South. The largest battle there had only involved more than sixty thousand people.

The terrain in the North was too suitable for large-scale decisive battles.

Liu Hansan’s summer offensive mobilized a full one hundred and fifty thousand troops.

The one hundred and fifty thousand troops were divided into two routes. The left route consisted of forty thousand troops, led by Dong Tianbao, advancing north from Huainan, with the goal of capturing most of Henan.

The right route was personally led by Liu Hansan, consisting of one hundred and ten thousand troops, departing from Suqian and heading north along the Grand Canal, with the goal of capturing important cities along the Grand Canal and the surrounding areas.

Such as Xuzhou, Zaozhuang, Jining, and Liaocheng.

As long as they occupied these places, their supplies could be continuously transported from the rear, and then, with the Grand Canal as a fulcrum, they could clear out the surrounding areas.

It could be said that as long as they occupied the important cities along the Grand Canal, the surrounding areas would basically be considered captured as well.

The Qing army wouldn’t be foolish enough to continue stationing troops around the Grand Canal after losing it; that would be like giving them away to the Hua army for nothing.

This battle could actually be classified as a struggle for the Grand Canal.

Once the Grand Canal was opened up, their troops could be directly deployed to Beijing. At that time, Beijing would be within easy reach.

Before the war, the people from the staff department and those senior military officers gathered together to study how to fight.

“We can besiege Xuzhou, lure the enemy to come to our aid, and then strike the reinforcements while besieging the city. Although the defensive role of cities is getting lower and lower, it’s best to fight in the field if possible.”

An Fugui, the chief of the military staff, suggested.

“When poor, use tactical maneuvers; when rich, use firepower bombardment. Why use so many tricks? Just push all the way through.”

Ning Xiang, the commander of the air force regiment, said.

After several months of improvement and manufacturing, the scale of the air force had expanded several times, from a battalion to a regiment.

The total strength reached two thousand six hundred people, of which more than six hundred soldiers knew how to operate hydrogen balloons and hot air balloons.

There were more than one thousand two hundred people responsible for dropping ammunition, and more than eight hundred logistics auxiliary soldiers.

There were a total of five hundred pieces of flying equipment and ten thousand aerial bombs.

This firepower was quite terrifying. If it were thrown at the enemy’s head all at once, it could blow them to pieces.

It was precisely because of such powerful firepower that Ning Xiang felt that there was no need to engage in those complicated tactics; they could just attack directly.

Besieging the city to strike the reinforcements sounded good, but the key was, did the current Qing army still have the courage to come to their aid?

Perhaps, after hearing their side’s call for help, they would only close their gates even tighter to protect themselves.

“You don’t know the price of firewood and rice until you’re in charge of a household. You only know how to shout for ammunition when you run out. Do you know how difficult it is for me to get a batch of ammunition from Nanjing?

Use more tactics and save on supplies and ammunition. As long as we use them sparingly, maybe we’ll still have ammunition when we reach Beijing. At that time, wouldn’t it be better to take Beijing in one fell swoop?”

Xu Yuxian retorted.

The last time he went to Nanjing to get supplies, he almost fought with the people from the Southern Army.

But these bastard generals in front didn’t know how to save money, and they only knew how to bully the enemy with firepower when fighting.

Xu Yuxian didn’t agree with this situation.

“His Majesty’s governance is not easy, so let’s save a little. Staff Officer An, continue to explain in detail how this tactic should be carried out and how much advantage can be gained?”

Liu Hansan spoke.

He was moved by Xu Yuxian’s words that ‘saving a little can allow us to fight to Beijing’. If they could take the North in one fell swoop and capture Beijing, this credit might allow his peerage to be promoted by another level.

Chapter 460: Gathering at Xuzhou

On April 10th, the North Army Group commenced its operations.

Tang Guozhen’s unit traveled by boat, launching a surprise attack along the Grand Canal, reaching Maocun Town north of Xuzhou. There, they established a defensive line to prevent the Qing army in Xuzhou from escaping north.

Simultaneously, Liu Hansan led the central army, advancing directly on Xuzhou by land.

Xu Yuxian led his forces straight towards Xiao County, west of Xuzhou, to prevent the Qing army from escaping west and to block reinforcements from the Qing army in Huaibei and Suqian.

Their plan was to besiege Xuzhou, forcing the Qing forces from Huaibei, Suzhou, Shangqiu, Jining, Linyi, and other places to come to its rescue, and then seize the opportunity to annihilate the Qing reinforcements.

By this means, they aimed to eliminate the Qing army’s active forces.

Afterward, the difficulty of attacking cities like Huaibei would be greatly reduced.

The tactic wasn’t complex; in fact, once their troops occupied those key locations, the Qing army could easily see their intentions.

However, even if they saw through it, they had to provide support. Xuzhou, a vital transportation hub connecting Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong, could not be lost.

If Xuzhou fell, the surrounding cities would not be safe, and the Hua army could steadily advance and capture them one by one.

But as long as Xuzhou held, the Hua army would have no way to send troops deep behind enemy lines to attack those places.

That’s what a strategic location is all about: it has a significant impact on the surrounding area.

Since ancient times, Xuzhou has been a battleground for military strategists.

There are only five or six strategic locations in the Central Plains, and Xuzhou is one of them.

In just one day, Tang Guozhen’s 21st Division penetrated deep into enemy territory and occupied Maocun Town.

It was only because the Hua army relied on advanced weaponry and their soldiers’ boldness that they dared to venture so deep behind enemy lines.

Any other force would never dare to send an isolated army into enemy territory like that.

That kind of action wouldn’t be called cutting off the enemy’s retreat, but throwing a lamb to the wolves.

But the Hua army dared.

They were confident that in a defensive battle, one division could withstand the repeated attacks of at least fifty thousand enemy troops.

It was with this confidence that they could recklessly make such tempting tactical moves.

They were eager for the enemy to take the initiative to attack, so they could enjoy the advantages of defense.

They had been attacking cities all along, suffering from the defenses of the city walls.

It was clearly offering a piece of meat to the enemy’s mouth, tempting and forcing them at the same time.

When they learned that the Hua army’s 21st Division had occupied Maocun Town and that the main force of the Hua army had begun to move, Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde, who were responsible for defending Xuzhou, panicked.

Although they had known for a long time that the Hua army would eventually come north to attack Xuzhou, they still couldn’t remain calm when that moment arrived.

This was a matter of life and death, a matter of the Qing Dynasty’s survival.

“Maocun Town, they want to block our retreat! They not only want to capture Xuzhou, but also want to wipe us all out. Their intentions are despicable!”

Wanyan Yechen looked at the map and said bitterly.

This tone sounded like the weak’s helpless wail, a denunciation.

Unfortunately, no one would stand up for him.

“My lord, we must immediately request support from the surrounding areas. With our current forces, I’m afraid we can’t stop Liu Hansan’s one hundred and ten thousand troops,” Kong Youde advised.

They had sixty thousand troops in Xuzhou, which should have been enough as a defensive force.

However, Kong Youde knew that the Hua army’s equipment was being upgraded very quickly, with new weapons appearing every time.

With such a large gap in equipment, it wouldn’t be easy to hold Xuzhou with sixty thousand men.

In fact, based on past battles, it was impossible to defend it.

“Support? Is support useful? Nowadays, wars aren’t about having more people, but about having more guns and cannons,” Wanyan Yechen complained.

In the age of cold weapons, the number of troops was very important.

The side with more people often won.

Soldiers on the side with fewer people were bound to be afraid when they learned that they had to face one, two, or even more enemies at the same time.

But in the age of firearms, the efficiency of killing enemies was too fast, one shot per person, and there weren’t that many soldiers to die.

The role of numbers was greatly reduced, and the importance of weapons was infinitely highlighted.

“Well, having more people is always useful,” Kong Youde said, without any better idea.

Wanyan Yechen sighed and finally listened to Kong Youde’s advice, because he, like Kong Youde, had no better solution.

All he could do was persevere, persevere for a while, and wait for the imperial army to move south.

Liu Hansan led one hundred and ten thousand troops to attack, which was tantamount to seeking a decisive battle. The imperial court couldn’t ignore it, and the main force should also move south for a decisive battle.

Although the Qing army didn’t want to fight a decisive battle now, they had no choice, unless they were willing to abandon Xuzhou.

Wanyan Yechen sent letters of help to the garrisons of the surrounding cities, and the other generals immediately had a headache when they saw them.

Should they rescue or not? This was a big problem.

If they went to rescue, they might fall into the enemy’s trap and be forced to engage the enemy in the field.

In that case, they would definitely suffer heavy losses.

Perhaps, the entire army could be wiped out.

But if they didn’t rescue, they would definitely be punished by the imperial court.

Moreover, if they didn’t rescue Xuzhou, they probably wouldn’t be able to defend their own territory once Xuzhou fell.

To rescue or not to rescue? The responses from various places varied.

The garrison commanders of Huaibei and Suqian chose to return to rescue. Moreover, the main generals personally led the main force to support.

They were forced to do so, because the places they were stationed were further south than Xuzhou, and Xuzhou was their retreat route.

Once Xuzhou fell, they would be surrounded and would face certain death.

Therefore, it was better to transfer their troops to Xuzhou and join forces with the Xuzhou garrison.

This way, even if they were defeated, they could escape directly to the North without worrying about being surrounded.

However, the garrison commanders of Shangqiu and Jining chose to wait and see.

Shangqiu was behind Xuzhou, relatively far away. And Jining was afraid of the Hua army’s navy and dared not take the waterway.

If they went by land, the distance would be too far.

Since the war hadn’t affected them yet, they didn’t want to jump into the fire pit.

As for what to do after Xuzhou fell, they would deal with it then.

Many of the generals leading troops in the Qing Dynasty were very pessimistic, not knowing how to face the Hua army’s attacks in the future, and were just taking things one step at a time.

Shang Kexi, the garrison commander of Linyi, chose to send troops to support because of his good personal relationship with Kong Youde.

The three armies rushed to support Xuzhou, and together with the Xuzhou garrison, the total force reached nearly one hundred and twenty thousand, almost ten thousand more than Liu Hansan’s total force.

At the same time, the emergency military situation in Xuzhou was sent to Beijing and the Forbidden City via an urgent eight hundred li report.

Chapter 461: The Qing Court’s Countermeasures

“Aren’t they attacking the Ming Dynasty? How could they start moving north so quickly?”

Hauge was the first to speak, the Great Hua’s offensive causing him a slight tension.

After all, their Qing Dynasty had not yet recovered its strength. If they were to go to war with Great Hua now, the chances of winning would not be high.

“The Ming in the South has long been finished; a single Southern Army Corps is enough to deal with them. I estimate the Ming won’t last much longer.”

Mao Wenci said with emotion.

The Ming Dynasty had crumbled against them in the past. Let alone now, facing the current Great Hua army, the fact that they had lasted this long was entirely due to Great Hua not being in a hurry.

Otherwise, with relentless warfare, not caring about development, and focusing solely on the attack, how could the Ming have survived until now?

“It’s already fallen. I just received news this morning that Fuzhou has been captured, and the Longwu Emperor died in battle.”

Dorgon dropped another bombshell. Everyone was briefly stunned upon hearing this.

The Ming was gone.

Many people sighed, lamenting the changes in the world.

In just a few years, the world situation had been turbulent, with unpredictable changes.

After their sighs, they began to worry about the current situation.

With the fall of the Ming, Great Hua no longer had threats from the rear and could fully concentrate on attacking them, which would bring them tremendous pressure.

“Since things have come to this, we can only quickly send troops to Xuzhou and defend it to the death.”

Fan Wencheng said.

Although he knew the chances of winning were slim, they had to gamble at this point.

If they were afraid and dared not fight, losing Xuzhou, Henan, Shandong, and other places would be troublesome.

They were still able to persist in development because the Central Plains region was providing blood to the Qing court.

Once these places were lost, even if they preserved their army, it would be meaningless.

Relying on Hebei and beyond the pass could not support so many troops.

A gamble offered a glimmer of hope.

Without a gamble, they could only linger on, dying a slow death. Moreover, it wouldn’t be too slow, at most a year or two.

No one refuted Fan Wencheng’s words; they all agreed with his view.

However, who exactly would lead the troops to Xuzhou?

Everyone turned their gaze to Hauge and Dorgon. Undoubtedly, one of them would be the commander.

“Prince Su and the Regent Prince, who is willing to lead troops to Xuzhou?”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang asked.

Hauge and Dorgon exchanged glances, each seeing through the other’s thoughts.

Then, almost in unison, they spoke, expressing their willingness to go to Xuzhou.

This wasn’t because they were eager to kill the enemy, but simply to take the opportunity to seize power.

Once in Xuzhou, the supreme commander could issue orders to other troops.

Putting one’s own trusted subordinates in the safest places and throwing the opposing faction’s troops into the most dangerous places to weaken the opponent’s strength was a method recorded in various historical books long ago.

This was just the most basic means. On the battlefield, as long as one didn’t care about winning or losing, there were many ways to scheme against one’s own people.

“There are still over one hundred thousand soldiers in and around Xuzhou, so I believe that only a portion of troops is needed for this support, at most two banners need to be transferred.”

Fan Wencheng didn’t want to see Hauge and Dorgon’s internal strife at this time, consuming their own strength.

Therefore, he suggested that whoever led the army could only lead the troops from their own banner.

This way, there would be no opportunity to frame the other’s men.

“Since Prince Su dares to take responsibility, then let Prince Su go.”

Dorgon sneered.

Since he couldn’t take the other’s men, going to Xuzhou wasn’t a good assignment. Dorgon decisively gave it to Hauge.

Hauge was furious at being tricked, but he had already spoken the words, and he couldn’t refuse, or he would lose face.

However, he wasn’t particularly concerned about being tricked.

He actually wanted to clash with Great Hua and win a great victory to prove that he was stronger than Dorgon, enhancing his prestige in the court.

People liked to admire and attach themselves to the strong. Dorgon had already been defeated by Great Hua, so if he defeated Great Hua, then in the eyes of others, he would be stronger than Dorgon.

Those who wanted to protect the Qing Dynasty would immediately attach themselves to Hauge, letting him lead everyone forward.

At that time, he would become the sole Regent Prince, and even find an opportunity to use the excuse that Emperor Shunzhi was too young to depose Emperor Shunzhi and ascend the throne himself.

Of course, all of this had a prerequisite, which was that he needed to defeat Great Hua once.

Once was enough. As long as he won this time, even if there were defeats in the future, everyone would have to endure them.

Hauge was, of course, aware that the Hua army was very powerful and had a significant advantage in firearms.

However, he had not personally experienced that kind of scene. The information he saw in the war reports was definitely not as good as seeing it with his own eyes.

This led him to believe that as long as he planned and used good strategies, he still had a chance to win.

“I’ll go, but I want all the firearms in the capital to be allocated to my banner first. Only in this way will we have a chance of victory.”

Hauge sneered. Although he couldn’t scheme against Dorgon’s men, he could at least take the opportunity to seize the advanced weapons of Dorgon’s banner.

“The capital is where the capital is located, and sufficient force must be left to guard it.”

Dorgon immediately retorted. Once those weapons were handed over, he couldn’t expect to get them back.

“Defend against whom? Now, besides needing to defend against Great Hua, who else is our enemy? Not concentrating these weapons for use will only magnify the weaknesses of our army.”

Hauge said.

Seeing that the two were about to be at loggerheads, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen spoke. “Regent Prince, you should lend the weapons to Prince Su first. After he returns victorious, let the Emperor decide and have him return them. I think Prince Su is not an unreasonable person, is he?”

With Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen speaking, and all the officials in the court watching him, Dorgon had no choice but to agree.

If he still disagreed at this time, it would be like telling everyone that he didn’t care about the life or death of the Qing Dynasty, which would be a very big blow to his reputation.

Dorgon hadn’t given up his ambition to regain power, so he naturally wouldn’t easily ruin his image.

In the face of heavy internal contradictions, they finally reached a compromise, which relieved many officials.

Next, they just had to wait for Hauge’s news.

If he won, they could continue to persevere.

If he lost, they would have to consider whether to surrender or retreat beyond the pass.

Due to the urgency of the military situation, two days later, Hauge received the flintlocks, cannons, grenades, and other advanced weaponry of the two White Banners.

Subsequently, he led an army of forty-two thousand men on the road.

Although the number of people was not large, the equipment was sophisticated. Among them, thirty thousand were equipped with flintlocks, there were ten thousand cavalry, and two thousand artillerymen.

As for other auxiliary soldiers, they were not included in the count.

These thirty thousand flintlocks were the foundation they had built over a year, using the strength of the entire country.

In terms of army strength, the current Qing Dynasty could rank second in the world. The first was naturally Great Hua.

With this kind of firepower, if Western countries were to come and try to invade now, they would definitely be beaten to the point of crying.

Chapter 462: Strategic Maneuvering

Just as Hauge’s army set off, fighting had already broken out near Xuzhou.

The initial clash occurred in Xiao County, where reinforcements from Huaibei attempted to break through and join the Xuzhou garrison.

Defending Xiao County was Duan Qiming, a graduate of the military academy.

He graduated fifth in his class and started his career as a regimental commander.

After the First Northern Expedition, he had risen to the position of division commander, capable of independent command.

His rapid promotion was the envy of many.

Such a meteoric rise was only possible in an ascendant force.

Duan Qiming’s 25th Division, with thirteen thousand soldiers, was stationed in Xiao County. Attacking Xiao County was Guo Ruowen from Huaibei, with over twenty-two thousand troops.

Guo Ruowen knew that despite having nearly ten thousand more soldiers than his opponent, he wouldn’t have an advantage in a direct fight.

Therefore, he probed with tentative attacks while urging Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde in Xuzhou to send troops to support him.

Guo Ruowen’s idea was to exploit their superior numbers while the Chinese army had only one isolated force in Xiao County, launching a pincer attack to eliminate them.

Although taking the initiative was less advantageous than defending behind fortifications, defeating the Chinese army at a certain cost would open the door for a pursuit.

Such a result could not be achieved through passive defense.

As he sent messages to Xuzhou, Duan Qiming also dispatched urgent reports to his own headquarters.

Without a response from Wanyan Yechen, Guo Ruowen dared not launch a full-scale attack, nor could he bypass the town. Detours would take too long, and be filled with uncertainty.

Trying to pass directly by Xiao County would invite an ambush during the march.

So, for Guo Ruowen, Xiao County was an unavoidable obstacle.

Moreover, he had no intention of avoiding it, as he believed a pincer attack with Wanyan Yechen would give them a significant advantage.

When an army is surrounded, soldiers are prone to panic.

However, after receiving Guo Ruowen’s message, Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde hesitated to make a decision.

“What is the current location of Liu Hansan’s forces?”

Wanyan Yechen asked the intelligence scouts, needing to know the location of Liu Hansan’s army before making a decision.

If Liu Hansan’s forces were close to Xuzhou, he would never dare to leave the city. Leaving would be easy, but returning would be difficult.

If Xuzhou were unexpectedly attacked and captured, the entire campaign would be over prematurely.

However, if Liu Hansan’s forces were still far away, failing to seize the opportunity to attack Duan Qiming’s isolated army would be a missed chance.

“Chinese troops have been spotted in the Xialou area, less than thirty kilometers away,” the scout reported vaguely.

“What does that mean? Is their main force in Xialou, or just their vanguard?” Wanyan Yechen asked.

There was a significant difference between the two. If it was just the vanguard, there was no need to worry. If it was the main force, they would have to remain entrenched in Xuzhou.

As for the reinforcements, they could only hope they would find their own way.

“This, your subordinate does not know. The enemy has many scouts, and our scouts cannot penetrate deep behind enemy lines, only gather intelligence from the periphery,” the scout said, head lowered. He knew this answer would not satisfy Wanyan Yechen.

“Useless! What am I paying you for? Continue scouting! Return with their main force’s location, or return without your head!” Wanyan Yechen roared. As a commander, every decision he made affected the outcome of the battle.

Therefore, intelligence was crucial to him. Only accurate intelligence could enable him to make the most precise judgments.

After dismissing the scout, Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde discussed the matter and decided not to deploy troops rashly until the situation became clearer, lest they fall into a Chinese army trap.

The defeat of the reinforcements would affect the overall outcome of the battle, but not fatally.

However, the defeat of their force responsible for defending Xuzhou would directly determine the outcome.

“Not helping seems inappropriate. We can have Li Anyuan from Suzhou change direction and assist Guo Ruowen first,” Kong Youde suggested.

They had sixty thousand troops in Xuzhou, making it unlikely that the Chinese army could capture it in a short time.

Therefore, rescuing Xuzhou wasn’t urgent. They could first help Guo Ruowen, who needed assistance now.

Wanyan Yechen thought it over and agreed with Kong Youde’s suggestion.

His messenger left the city, while Liu Hansan also received Duan Qiming’s urgent military situation report.

Liu Hansan immediately gathered everyone to discuss countermeasures.

“The enemy from Huaibei has taken the bait. Let’s hear your ideas on how to devour this force,” Liu Hansan said. They were currently in the Wangji Town area, over seventy-five kilometers from Xiao County.

Reaching Xiao County would take at least three to four days.

“Xiao County is too close to Xuzhou. This battle must be resolved quickly. If Wanyan Yechen learns that our main force has not yet arrived, they might launch an attack on the 25th Division. If that happens, the 25th Division could be in danger,” An Fugui said.

“Then let the 26th Vanguard Division go to support them and jointly devour the Huaibei reinforcements,” Liu Hansan said.

“The 26th Division has only reached Xialou, sixty or seventy li from Xiao County. It’s probably too late,” another staff officer reminded Liu Hansan of the 26th Division’s current location.

“We can do this: have the 24th Division, which was originally going to ambush and intercept Li Anyuan, turn around and head to Xiao County. Then, have the 26th Vanguard Division change course to intercept Li Anyuan. This way, the seventy li that the 24th Division originally had to travel is split between two forces, which should save a lot of time,” Du Jinzhen, a staff officer recently transferred to the Northern Army Group, suggested. He made a series of adjustments based on the current positions of the forces on the battlefield.

The 24th Division was closest to the 25th Division, only fifteen kilometers away, and could reach it in a day with a forced march.

The 26th Vanguard Division was also close to the 24th Division, only fifteen kilometers away, and could quickly reach the original position of the 24th Division to intercept the Suzhou reinforcements.

“That’s a good idea. We can even be bolder and have both the 24th and 26th Divisions leave behind artillery and other supplies. This way, the 24th Division’s artillery can be used by the 26th Division. As for the 24th Division, they’ll just have to manage,” An Fugui added.

Their meeting was very short, and the deployment was decided in a few words.

They didn’t have as many concerns as Wanyan Yechen and could act boldly.

Even if they failed, they would only lose one division.

For Liu Hansan, who had ten divisions, it wouldn’t be fatal.

Compared to the potential gains, it was worth the gamble.

Battles often involve gambling on tactics.

As the saying goes, “Humans propose, Heaven disposes.”

Chapter 463: The Frustration of Guo Ruowen

On April 16th, Xu Yuxian’s 24th Division arrived in Xiao County, right on Guo Ruowen’s tail.

This situation nearly made Guo Ruowen cough up blood and die on the spot.

Before this, the main force of the Great Hua army was clearly still far from Xiao County, yet now their reinforcements had arrived so quickly.

Meanwhile, Xuzhou, which was very close to Xiao County, hadn’t made a peep.

Such a stark contrast made it impossible for Guo Ruowen not to be furious.

“They’re all cowardly rats, traitors ruining the country! This old man will impeach them properly!”

Guo Ruowen cursed loudly.

Previously, even if he couldn’t break through Xiao County to reach Xuzhou, he could at least retreat towards Haozhou or Shangqiu.

But now, he was caught in a pincer movement and had no way to retreat.

Once a retreat turned into a rout, it would trigger an uncontrollable collapse.

Only one path remained before him: to fight to the death and make a final struggle.

As for surrender, that was impossible.

To strengthen their control over the army, the Qing court had deliberately promoted a large number of die-hard loyalists.

The Qing court no longer cared about ability; all they wanted was loyalty, so that people wouldn’t surrender to Great Hua at the drop of a hat.

If it weren’t for this reason, Guo Ruowen, who had previously been unknown, wouldn’t have suddenly become the commander of over twenty thousand men.

Not only was he a die-hard loyalist of the Qing Dynasty, but his entire family was also in Beijing.

To ensure a good life for his family, Guo Ruowen had long been prepared to die for his country at any time.

Because of the weakness and incompetence of the main general, Wanyan Yechen, they had missed the opportunity to annihilate the enemy, leading to Guo Ruowen’s predicament.

Helpless, Guo Ruowen could only order a battalion of about five thousand men to resist the Great Hua army’s 24th Division. Then, he personally led the remaining seventeen thousand men to launch a general offensive against the Great Hua army’s 25th Division.

For him, this general offensive was a do-or-die situation.

The Battle of Xiao County began.

The battlefield was divided into two parts: one near Xiao County, and the other near Maoyang Village, relying on the Zha River for defense to intercept Xu Yuxian.

In this battle, Guo Ruowen needed to solve two major problems: one was to break through Duan Qiming’s defense, and the other was to prevent Xu Yuxian from breaking through.

Even Guo Ruowen himself didn’t dare to think about how difficult this was.

Xiao County had no city walls. Although it was said to be responsible for defense, Duan Qiming could only rely on a small section of hillside.

This small section of hillside couldn’t completely block the Qing army’s route, so Duan Qiming also placed two brigades, totaling nine thousand men, on the plains to the right of the hillside.

The area these nine thousand men were defending had no fortifications or advantages.

This was the nature of battle in the plains: simple and brutal.

Duan Qiming deployed thirty cannons and more than three thousand soldiers on the hillside, forming a mutually supporting position with the main force on the plains.

If one side was attacked, the other could attack other positions of the enemy, relieving the siege by attacking the enemy’s flank.

This hillside was a headache for Guo Ruowen.

If he ignored it, those cannons could cover the entire battlefield and constantly bombard their infantry.

If he wanted to eliminate those artillerymen, he would have to climb the hillside, which would be a slight disadvantage.

More importantly, attacking the hillside would take time.

“Ignore the enemy on the hill, charge directly! Don’t worry, everyone, the musket duel won’t last half an hour. Their cannons won’t be able to fire many rounds.

Either we defeat the enemy in one fell swoop and then break through smoothly, or the enemy defeats us, and then everything is over.”

Guo Ruowen said.

His subordinates were stunned upon hearing this. This wasn’t going to war; it was clearly exchanging lives, a contest of who was more afraid of death.

The side that was afraid of death would definitely collapse first, and the side that wasn’t afraid of death could win at a heavy price.

Although the other generals felt that this method was like dancing on the edge of a knife, they had no choice. Guo Ruowen had spoken, so they could only urge the soldiers to start moving.

When they were still three li away from the Great Hua army, the Great Hua army’s cannons began to fire.

However, the hit rate at this distance was still a bit off. Moreover, the Great Hua army didn’t have many cannons, only thirty.

Compared to an army of nearly twenty thousand men, this number could only annoy them but couldn’t determine the outcome of the battle.

Under the officers’ shouts, the Qing soldiers ignored the cannons and continued to advance.

The soldiers hit by the cannons could only consider themselves unlucky.

As the distance decreased, the hit rate of the cannons increased. When the thirty cannons fired, at least half of the shells could land in the Qing army’s formation, causing a large number of casualties.

However, their cannons fired too slowly, taking an average of nearly three minutes to fire a shot.

Training infantry was easy, but training artillerymen was difficult.

The Great Hua army’s artillery units had expanded too quickly, resulting in insufficient personnel training.

Helpless, some raw recruits had to be pulled onto the battlefield to accumulate experience through actual combat.

Duan Qiming’s artillery unit was made up of these new recruits.

But even these new recruits caused great casualties to the Qing army.

On average, each round of artillery fire could eliminate about three hundred Qing soldiers.

Bearing the bombardment of the shells, the Qing army finally approached the Great Hua army’s main force. The distance between the two sides was less than one hundred and fifty meters.

At this distance, the Great Hua army began to fire their guns.

Although the hit rate wasn’t high, it didn’t matter. Hitting one was a win, since they were the defending side.

They could stand still, but the Qing army couldn’t stop.

If they stopped and exchanged fire with the Great Hua army at this distance, the Great Hua army would probably laugh their heads off.

Because at this distance, the killing efficiency of both sides was very low.

However, the Great Hua army’s cannons kept firing, so the Great Hua army would have a great advantage in this kind of exchange.

The Qing army had used firearms many times and had a good understanding of firearm combat.

Therefore, they didn’t make such a low-level mistake and instead ordered the soldiers to continue charging forward.

“Why aren’t we stopping to exchange fire? Do they want us to charge at muskets? Isn’t that suicide?”

The Qing soldiers couldn’t help but complain as they advanced.

Multiple major battles had proven that charging at musket troops was suicide.

“If we stop now, then we’ll just wait to eat cannonballs?”

Another soldier sighed.

“Damn it, what kind of battle is this? It’s too frustrating. We already have this kind of advanced weapon, so why are we still suffering such a big loss?”

Another soldier felt like he wanted to vomit blood.

He was a survivor of multiple Great Hua-Qing battles, a super-lucky guy who had tasted the bitterness of having inferior weapons. It was incredibly frustrating.

But what he couldn’t understand was that even though they now had muskets, why did it still feel the same as before?

But this was actually just Duan Qiming taking advantage of the enemy’s lack of artillery.

These basic deployments were fundamental operations for people who came out of military academy.

As a top student from military academy, Duan Qiming would fully amplify any advantage.

Bearing the casualties, the Qing army advanced another ninety meters or so.

The distance between the two sides was sixty meters, and the hit rate at this distance was already quite considerable.

The main reason was that the formations of both sides were dense. Those bullets that flew too high or too low couldn’t hit anyone, but being off to the left or right didn’t matter, because there were people all around.

The Qing army stopped at this distance and began to exchange fire with the Great Hua army. The soldiers couldn’t take it anymore if they charged any further.

At this distance, they could compete with the Great Hua army in attrition, seeing who couldn’t hold on first.

As for the Great Hua army’s artillery fire, it could be ignored in this kind of exchange.

Next was the time for a firing squad.

Chapter 464: The Loud Military Song

“Raise your guns, fire!”

The commanders on both sides, mounted on horseback, issued their commands.

Because firing guns produced a large amount of smoke, they had to sit on horseback to clearly see the situation on the battlefield.

Gunshots rang out, and rows of soldiers from both sides fell.

In the front row, at least one-fifth of the soldiers were killed in a single volley.

“Back ranks, fill the gaps, prepare to reload!”

The commander continued to shout.

The fallen positions were immediately filled by other soldiers.

Only in this way could they fire more shots in an instant. But by forming a human wall like this, even more people would die.

Both sides ignored the drawbacks of this formation, which had both advantages and disadvantages, for that little bit of advantage.

The firing speed of the flintlock guns was astonishing. In just over ten seconds, they completed another reload.

The Qing army was slightly slower, and the Great Hua army completed its firing first.

However, this didn’t have much impact. The Qing army immediately filled the gaps and fired a shot as well.

A large number of Great Hua soldiers who were still reloading immediately fell.

The two sides exchanged fire, just like lining up to be executed by each other.

“Back ranks, fill the gaps, fire!”

The cruel command was issued again.

The soldiers in the front row were slightly better off; they were busy reloading and firing, and had no time to be afraid.

On the other hand, the soldiers in the back rows saw the soldiers in front of them constantly falling, and the number of people in front of them decreasing. Fear surged in their hearts.

Because, as the situation continued, it would soon be their turn to experience that scene.

Some soldiers already had dry mouths and trembling hands.

With trembling hands, it was easy to make mistakes even when reloading.

“Beat the drums, sing the military song!”

A commander behind the Great Hua army ordered.

This was a small trick that had been refined by the military after Wu Changqing pointed it out.

During battle, they used drumming and singing military songs to eliminate fear and boost morale.

When people are focused on doing something, they don’t have time to overthink.

This was actually a great help in stabilizing morale and boosting morale.

Their military songs were not casually composed, but melodies researched by many music experts.

Singing these melodies could make people feel excited.

The effect of music was sometimes quite significant.

An excellent song could easily mobilize people’s emotions.

Dong, dong, dong…

Rhythmic drumming sounded.

“The wind is roaring, the horses are neighing, the cannons are roaring, the cannons are roaring.”

“Great Hua soldiers are seven feet tall, Great Hua soldiers are the proudest, in the Great Hua army, there are many heroes who kill the enemy.”

…

This was not something Wu Changqing suggested, but he approved it decisively after hearing it.

Because this melody was similar to “The Yellow River Cantata” from later generations.

That was a peerless masterpiece, its unique rapid melody giving people a sense of extreme urgency, allowing them to feel as if they were there.

Moreover, this kind of melody was especially easy to inspire people’s heroic emotions.

Thousands of grown men strained their throats, it didn’t matter if they sang well or not, as long as the sound was loud enough, the momentum would be sufficient.

The sudden singing startled the Qing army.

They didn’t know what the Great Hua army on the opposite side was up to, or if some strange weapon was about to appear.

These unknown situations added an inexplicable fear to the Qing army’s hearts.

And originally, they were already extremely nervous and afraid in this tragic battle. Now, with a few more unexpected factors, some soldiers became even more uneasy, and then inexplicably collapsed.

Several Qing soldiers turned around and tried to escape, but were immediately killed by the supervisors.

Although the soldiers were temporarily deterred, this kind of deterrence was risky.

The harder they suppressed now, the more determined the soldiers would be when they completely collapsed.

“What are the enemies doing?”

Guo Ruowen was puzzled for a while.

“Probably, boosting morale.”

A subordinate guessed.

This was actually quite easy to guess, because the practice of boosting morale by drumming had existed since ancient times.

It was just that the effect of simply drumming was not great.

The Great Hua army allowed the soldiers to participate through singing, which had a significant effect.

Some soldiers who had just finished singing once even wished they could go forward to kill the enemy sooner, teach the Qing army a lesson, and promote the military prestige of Great Hua.

Singing this song made them feel that being a soldier in Great Hua was a very glorious and proud thing.

Being a soldier was no longer a livelihood, but a way to protect the country and realize one’s life value.

In the past, only scholars were qualified to realize their life value and be loyal to the country.

But now in Great Hua, soldiers were often called heroes.

This kind of glory was a great comfort to the soldiers’ minds.

The Great Hua side’s morale was high, while the soldiers on the Qing side were on the verge of collapse.

After more than ten rounds of shooting, the Qing army’s front troops could no longer control themselves and began to flee backward. Even the supervisors’ repeated killings could not make them stay.

Faced with these soldiers who had lost their minds due to the collapse, Guo Ruowen did not dare to stop them.

Otherwise, the situation would escalate into the supervisors fighting with their own people.

“First team withdraw, second team up.”

Guo Ruowen began to replace the troops in front. The newly arrived troops had not suffered many casualties, and the soldiers could temporarily withstand it.

The Great Hua army was also rotating, everyone taking turns to fight, which could give everyone hope.

Not doing so would be equivalent to the people standing in front being doomed to die, making it easier for the people in front to collapse.

“I want to stay and fight these grandsons.”

Most of the Great Hua soldiers obeyed the order to rotate, but there were also a small number of soldiers who took the initiative to stay for various reasons.

Some wanted to protect their country and achieve self-sublimation.

Some wanted to gamble on a performance. As long as they didn’t die, this kind of behavior would definitely be regarded as heroic after the war, and they would be promoted and given a raise. If they were lucky, their heroic deeds would be written into newspapers.

This kind of thing had happened many times in the Great Hua army, and several heroic soldiers had become celebrities in Nanjing.

Others chose to stay to avenge their comrades who had died in battle, or their fellow villagers who had died in battle.

In short, there were all sorts of reasons.

This group of volunteers could only fire one shot each time, which did not actually improve their combat effectiveness.

However, their actions were a very good example and could greatly boost their own morale.

In the second team’s exchange of fire, the Qing army collapsed even faster this time.

After all, someone had taken the lead.

The soldiers would think that since the supervisors did not completely cut off the retreat of the previous team, they should also be able to enjoy this treatment.

In short, the risk of retreating was much smaller than the risk of continuing to stay.

As a result, the Qing army’s second team also collapsed.

“Kill, no troops are allowed to retreat if they have not persisted for a quarter of an hour, those who disobey will be killed without mercy.”

Guo Ruowen said.

Although the order was issued, the supervisors hesitated when carrying it out.

Guo Ruowen was a loyalist, but that didn’t mean that everyone in the army was a loyalist.

Some supervisors were always a little hesitant when dealing with their own people.

If there were few people running away, they could still harden their hearts and kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

But now, nearly a thousand people were running away collectively at once, how could they kill them all?

Chapter 465: Forced Crossing

To prevent chaos and a greater collapse, Guo Ruowen ordered a temporary retreat.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fight to the death, but the army had already lost control.

Even if he issued an order to fight to the death, no soldier would listen.

Not just the soldiers, even some officers would no longer obey.

These soldiers and officers were, after all, individual living beings with flesh and blood, souls, and independent thoughts, not Guo Ruowen’s puppets.

“Sir, we can’t break through! These Great Hua troops are like they don’t know fear. Unless we kill them all, we won’t be able to get through. I don’t see any possibility of defeating them,” Guo Ruowen’s deputy sighed.

The Great Hua army’s fighting spirit chilled him to the bone.

With an army like this, heaven knows how to defeat them.

He really couldn’t understand why the Great Hua army’s morale was so high when everyone was human and had a natural instinct for survival.

He could understand it when their weapons were inferior and their casualties were far higher than the Great Hua army’s, and the soldiers couldn’t hold on and collapsed first.

But now, everyone’s weapons were about the same, and the Great Hua army didn’t gain much of an advantage in the firefight just now.

So why didn’t the Great Hua army show any signs of collapsing?

Those Great Hua soldiers were also human, and many of them were former Qing army soldiers. How could they change their cowardly nature just by changing into a uniform?

“Sir, let’s escape through the small path,” another subordinate said.

Currently, they were just unable to escape with the main force, but the Great Hua army would definitely be helpless against a small group escaping.

After all, the Great Hua army hadn’t surrounded them.

“Anyone who dares to speak of escaping again will end up like this man!” Guo Ruowen said mercilessly, killing the subordinate who suggested escaping with a single slash.

He would rather die in battle than run away.

As long as he died in battle, the Qing court would definitely treat his family well to set an example.

If he ran away, not only might he not survive, but his family would also be implicated.

Confiscation of property and extermination of the family, with women being thrown into military camps to serve as prostitutes, living a life worse than death—these were all possibilities.

Guo Ruowen’s tough stance caused resentment among many of his subordinates.

Some of them didn’t have their families taken as hostages because they weren’t high-ranking enough.

Others cared more about their own lives and didn’t want to die because of this.

In short, only a few people were willing to die with Guo Ruowen.

Currently, they weren’t sure if they could succeed in resisting, so they didn’t dare to act rashly.

On the other side, Xu Yuxian’s unit was also speeding up its crossing of the river.

Although Xu Yuxian knew that the 25th Division’s strength would definitely be enough to stop the enemy’s breakout.

However, that kind of resistance would require sacrificing the lives of a large number of soldiers.

Therefore, for the Great Hua army, it was best to break through the Zha River and launch a pincer attack from both sides.

The Zha River was the Qing army’s psychological defense line. Once Xu Yuxian’s unit broke through the Zha River, they could launch a pincer attack on the Qing army, and the Qing army soldiers would collapse completely when attacked from both sides.

At that time, there would be no need for hard battles; they would just need to happily chase down the fleeing soldiers.

The sooner they broke through the Zha River, the smaller the Great Hua army’s losses would be.

Therefore, even though the Qing army was trapped in this place, Xu Yuxian eagerly ordered the army to cross the river at all costs, determined to achieve results in the shortest amount of time.

Since Xu Yuxian had issued a death order, the people below naturally took it seriously and didn’t dare to neglect it.

More than twelve thousand people began to forcibly cross the Zha River.

The Zha River was a river scoured out by the abandoned Yellow River water when the Yellow River changed its course. The river surface wasn’t wide, and the water was very shallow.

Especially now that the rainy season hadn’t arrived yet and the river was in its dry season, the deepest part of the Zha River was only up to a person’s chest.

Faced with such a river, the Great Hua army adopted the simplest and most brutal method: using the bodies of soldiers as pillars to build pontoon bridges.

One soldier after another carried ladders and jumped into the water, lined up in two rows, keeping their distance while carrying the ladders.

Then, soldiers laid wooden planks on top, and a simple human bridge was declared complete.

The Great Hua army built such human bridges in nine places where the river was relatively narrow.

At the same time, more than twenty small boats that had been collected were also transporting soldiers to the other side.

The Qing army certainly wouldn’t let the Great Hua army cross the river, and their people rushed to the riverbank, firing at the soldiers who were acting as pillars.

These soldiers acting as pillars were very miserable, as they could only let the enemy shoot at them, unable to dodge or even counterattack.

Some of the soldiers who were shot immediately lost their strength and sank into the water.

At this time, soldiers who were originally crossing the bridge would jump into the water to replace the missing pillars.

Fortunately, most of the Qing army’s firearms were concentrated in the breakout force. This interception force mostly used cold weapons such as knives and spears.

If they had enough firearms, they might have been able to cause great trouble for the Great Hua army.

Unfortunately, they didn’t.

National strength constantly influenced the direction of the battlefield.

At the same time, some Great Hua army soldiers waiting to cross the river on the south bank also raised their guns and fired at the Qing army on the opposite bank.

Their number of firearms was dozens of times greater than that of the Qing army on the other side.

When they began to shoot to provide cover, a large number of Qing soldiers quickly fell.

The number of people they shot dead was still less than the number of their own dead.

As a result, they only symbolically resisted for a moment before quickly leaving the riverbank.

However, this kind of retreat was equivalent to letting the Great Hua army cross the river.

The Qing army also knew this consequence, but there was nothing they could do.

There were so many helpless situations on the battlefield.

When a large number of Great Hua army soldiers rushed to the other side, the Qing soldiers dared to charge out and fight with the Great Hua army.

At this time, the Great Hua army didn’t dare to fire their guns anymore, and the Qing army could finally enjoy a bit of a fair fight.

But the problem was, they were no match even in a fair fight.

The Great Hua army’s food was much better than the Qing army’s, so the physical condition of the Great Hua army soldiers was much better than that of the Qing army.

This also had an impact on the fighting.

After fighting for a quarter of an hour, the Qing army not only failed to drive the Great Hua army back into the river, but the number of Great Hua army soldiers on the north bank continued to increase.

As the number of Great Hua army soldiers increased, they also had time to form formations and end the melee.

After forming formations, the Great Hua army was even more invincible.

Soon, the Qing army unit responsible for intercepting the Great Hua army collapsed and began to flee in all directions.

Without Guo Ruowen’s personal deterrence, the fighting spirit of this unit was much worse than that of Guo Ruowen’s main force.

The Qing army, which had fallen into chaos, was no longer able to resist the Great Hua army’s crossing of the river. Before long, Xu Yuxian’s unit crossed the Zha River and then split into two groups.

One group went straight to Guo Ruowen’s unit, while the other group separated out a portion of their men to capture prisoners everywhere.

These defeated soldiers couldn’t be wasted. Great Hua’s construction needed them to add bricks and tiles. There were still many railways to be built in the future.

Chapter 466: Annihilation

“The enemy’s 24th Division is coming from behind!”

A Qing army general, in full rout, fled back to the main force, bringing with him alarming news.

The other soldiers turned to look, and sure enough, a large number of fleeing soldiers were rushing towards them from the rear, while others were running around aimlessly like headless flies.

They knew that these were the troops responsible for intercepting the Great Hua’s 24th Division.

The rout of these men meant that the rear had been lost and the enemy was about to arrive.

They guessed correctly. Before long, Great Hua soldiers appeared in their line of sight.

Although the Great Hua soldiers were only advancing on foot, their speed was not slow.

But the key point was that they could already see the enemy’s figures clearly, the distance being only a few hundred meters.

At such a close range, it was difficult to escape.

What’s more, the fleeing soldiers, in their panic, crashed into their formation, causing chaos.

The Qing army generals weren’t thinking about how to stop it, but rather how to save their own lives in this chaos.

“Brothers, don’t flee randomly later. If we all stay and throw down our weapons, we can live. If you run around, the Great Hua soldiers might just stab you to save themselves the trouble.”

A squad leader said to his men.

He also wanted to surrender with his few dozen men, so that after surrendering, he could rely on this small contribution to get slightly better treatment.

The other soldiers nodded in agreement. Anyway, surrendering was just changing who they were loyal to, which made no difference to them.

Because the Great Hua army never abused prisoners, they could surrender without worry.

In the central army, Guo Ruowen was speechless after learning that the rear had been lost.

They still had more than five thousand men and a river as a natural barrier. How long had they held out? Not even an hour?

He had failed to break through in the front, and the rear couldn’t be defended. None of his plans had succeeded.

“Pass down the order. Forget about the rear. If you want to live, charge forward. Abandon the shooting and charge to the enemy, then we can escape.”

Guo Ruowen said.

As soon as these words came out, the other generals were stunned. They had never heard such an idiotic statement.

Leaving aside whether they could charge to the Great Hua army, what would happen even if they did?

The Great Hua army’s close combat ability was also very strong. Charging over might mean dying even faster.

What’s more, to charge to the Great Hua army, at least one-third of their men would be lost along the way. They would rather have their heads twisted off than have the soldiers collapse at that point.

This was not a normal order at all. It sounded more like someone preparing to die, trying to drag as many people as possible to their grave with them.

“General, this order is probably inappropriate.”

One of the generals mustered his courage and said.

As soon as he finished speaking, Guo Ruowen slashed at him with his saber.

Fortunately, the man had been prepared and blocked the blow.

At this moment, the other generals were surprised to find that Guo Ruowen’s personal guards had not come forward to help.

This was a signal, meaning that even Guo Ruowen’s personal guards couldn’t stand his orders.

As a result, the other generals became much bolder.

One person took advantage of Guo Ruowen’s inattention and slashed at his back.

“Ah!”

Guo Ruowen cried out in pain.

Immediately afterwards, more generals joined the rebellion, and several men stabbed their command sabers into Guo Ruowen’s body.

Guo Ruowen was not a brave and skilled military commander. Surrounded by several people, he had no ability to resist and died miserably under the swords of the crowd in the blink of an eye.

“The commander is dead. Brothers, return to your respective units and arrange for your men to surrender.”

The other generals laughed.

With this scourge gone, they could surrender in peace.

Duan Qiming saw that the enemy was in disarray and understood that Xu Yuxian’s unit had completed the breakthrough.

Therefore, he didn’t need to stay in place to defend. Instead, he arranged for troops to force the enemy to surrender, while also blocking some intersections to prevent small-scale enemy escapes, striving to maximize the results of the battle.

Seeing the Great Hua army approaching step by step, the Qing army soldiers panicked, not knowing what to do.

Fortunately, the generals soon came to the front line and issued orders to surrender.

Hearing this order, many soldiers were so excited that they cried on the spot.

They had finally reached the stage where they could surrender. It was truly not easy.

The cleanup went smoothly because the Qing army soldiers no longer wanted to fight.

This kind of battle with unequal strength easily made them despair and lose their fighting spirit.

Large numbers of soldiers surrendered collectively, and the Great Hua army even saved the effort of capturing prisoners.

After cleaning up the battlefield, they tallied the results.

On the Great Hua side, more than one thousand one hundred soldiers were killed, more than one hundred were seriously injured, and several hundred were slightly injured.

On the Qing army side, more than three thousand two hundred soldiers were killed, thousands were slightly injured, sixteen thousand surrendered, and about two thousand escaped or went missing.

They captured about two thousand flintlocks, four thousand matchlocks, and other supplies.

Apart from those flintlocks, the others were things that the Great Hua army didn’t value much.

The biggest result of this battle was the annihilation of a living force of the Qing army.

The Qing court had spent a lot to support these more than twenty thousand people. Now, not only had it all been in vain, but it had all benefited Great Hua.

“This Qing army is still as easy to defeat as ever.”

Xu Yuxian laughed as the two armies converged.

“If we switched places, you wouldn’t be laughing. After the Qing army was equipped with flintlocks, their lethality was also amazing. In less than a quarter of an hour, more than eight hundred of our soldiers died.

If we encountered an enemy force fully equipped with flintlocks, in this battle of attrition, I’m afraid my unit would be wiped out in an hour.”

Duan Qiming complained.

Most of the soldiers killed this time were his men.

The brief exchange of fire with the Qing army had already caused him heavy losses.

“Don’t worry. If an enemy force equipped with a large number of flintlocks really appears, we’ll have artillery and air force to deal with them. It’s unlikely that we’ll directly exchange fire with the enemy.”

Xu Yuxian said.

Duan Qiming remained noncommittal. The situation on the battlefield was ever-changing, and what Xu Yuxian said was just an ideal state.

But in war, how could the other side always be led by the nose by one’s own side? There would definitely be accidents.

When the news that Guo Ruowen’s unit had been completely annihilated by the Great Hua army reached Xuzhou, Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde were shocked, frightened, and regretful.

“Alas, if only we had gone out of the city to rescue them.”

Wanyan Yechen sighed.

“It seems that the Great Hua army is trying to lure us out to attack reinforcements. Should we send someone to inform the various units coming to support us and tell them to stop advancing?”

Kong Youde asked.

Knowing that the Great Hua army was luring them out to attack reinforcements, yet continuing to let reinforcements come, was a bit like screwing over friendly forces.

“Of course I know that the Great Hua army is luring us out to attack reinforcements, but if they have no reinforcements to attack, will they just retreat? At that time, they might just focus all their efforts on attacking Xuzhou.

Rather than that, it’s better to let those reinforcements contain the Great Hua army and delay them. Delay until the imperial court’s main force arrives, and then we’ll fight the Great Hua army to the death. Other reinforcements can be lost, but Xuzhou cannot be lost.”

Wanyan Yechen said.

This…

Kong Youde didn’t know what to say. This was clearly screwing over friendly forces.

But it seemed like they couldn’t not screw them over. If they didn’t screw over friendly forces, then they would be the ones to suffer.

Subsequently, Wanyan Yechen sent out messengers to tell the various units to act according to the situation. They had to be careful not to be surrounded by the enemy, but also had to create pressure on the Great Hua army, contain the Great Hua army, and prevent the Great Hua army from being able to settle down and fully attack Xuzhou.

The core was one thing: delay, delay until Hauge’s main force arrived, and then they would have completed their mission.

Chapter 467: Mobilization on All Sides

When the reinforcements from Suzhou arrived at Cao Village, they received the news that Guo Ruowen’s unit had been completely annihilated and Guo Ruowen had died in battle.

The commander of the Suzhou forces, Bulhetai, was speechless for a long time.

It was too fast. In less than a day, more than twenty thousand troops had been completely wiped out.

Originally, Bulhetai had planned to retreat immediately, first back to Suzhou, and then reroute to Henan.

Anyway, he didn’t want to fight the Great Hua army again, and he was willing to cede the territory to them.

As for what to do if the Great Hua army chased after them later, he didn’t think too much about it.

However, just as they were preparing to set off, Wanyan Yechen’s order was delivered to them.

Wanyan Yechen ordered them to stay and act according to the situation, to contain the Great Hua army’s forces to some extent.

Seeing this order, Bulhetai almost cursed Wanyan Yechen in front of the entire army.

This kind of order was simply telling them to stay where they were and wait for death.

After all, the Great Hua army knew how to concentrate their forces when attacking Guo Ruowen, so there was no reason why they wouldn’t do the same when attacking him.

His weapons and equipment were already much worse than the Great Hua army’s, and now he might have to face the Great Hua army’s superior forces. How could he fight this battle?

What made him helpless was that Wanyan Yechen was two ranks higher than him and had the authority to issue orders to him during wartime.

If he didn’t execute them, he would inevitably be punished later.

In addition, delaying the Great Hua army was to buy time for Hauge’s forces, which concerned the overall situation, so he didn’t dare to be too willful and affect the headquarters’ grand plan.

“Sir, we can’t stay here. There’s only one division opposite us now, and we can still sneak away quietly. Once the enemy’s reinforcements arrive, we won’t be able to leave even if we want to,” Bulhetai’s subordinate advised.

“I understand the logic, but can I disobey orders?” Bulhetai said helplessly.

“Send out more scouts. If there are any Great Hua army reinforcements, we’ll retreat. If not, we’ll stay here and guard for a while, which can be considered as an explanation to the higher-ups,” Bulhetai struggled for a long time and finally chose a compromise solution.

On the battlefield, the weaker side often had to face such absurd choices.

What made Bulhetai slightly gratified was that the news brought back by the scouts was still favorable to him.

Xu Yuxian’s Twenty-fourth Division and Duan Qiming’s Twenty-fifth Division did not come in his direction after annihilating Guo Ruowen, but chose to go north.

It seemed that they wanted to intercept reinforcements from the Shangqiu area.

However, what Bulhetai didn’t know was that a cavalry unit was already attacking them.

While the Qing army was deploying and transferring other troops, the Great Hua army was also constantly mobilizing its forces.

At this time, the Great Hua army had been divided into multiple units, the largest of which was Liu Hansan’s main force, about fifty thousand men, and their direction was Xuzhou.

They were going to outside Xuzhou city to deter the Qing army inside the city and prevent them from moving.

The other units were heading to the surrounding areas to eliminate the Qing army’s reinforcements.

One of the units, led by Qian Sule, was heading towards Taierzhuang, attempting to annihilate Shang Kexi from Linyi.

The Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Divisions went north to guard against possible enemy forces from the Shangqiu direction and to shoulder the task of blocking Hauge’s main force.

They had to take Xuzhou before Hauge arrived.

They couldn’t let Hauge enter Xuzhou, because if Hauge and Wanyan Yechen joined forces, Xuzhou would be difficult to attack.

If they had to fight, they might be able to take it down, but it would come at a heavy price.

It was far better to implement the current plan, dividing and encircling the enemy, and constantly concentrating superior forces in local areas to encircle and annihilate them.

In order to eliminate as much of the Qing army’s active forces as possible, the Great Hua army had formulated such a complex plan.

Each unit was marching according to the plan, and a cavalry unit of about ten thousand men had quietly gone to Cao Village, preparing to cooperate with the Twenty-sixth Division to take down Bulhetai’s forces.

On the plains, the mobility of the cavalry was fully utilized.

By the time Bulhetai’s forces discovered the Great Hua army’s cavalry, the distance between the two sides was only twenty-odd li.

For the cavalry, this was only a matter of an hour.

Before Bulhetai had time to make a decision, the Great Hua army’s cavalry had already arrived on their left flank, waiting for an opportunity to move.

“The commander is Alhatu? That traitor.”

When Bulhetai learned that the commander of the Great Hua army’s cavalry was Alhatu, he was so angry that he almost died.

Because he knew Alhatu and they could be considered old friends.

Unfortunately, Alhatu later surrendered to Great Hua with Mandahai, which they regarded as a great shame.

He didn’t expect that Alhatu had actually risen to become the commander of a Great Hua army cavalry division.

This was not a small position, and he was considered a mid-to-high-level official in the Great Hua army.

Bulhetai could imagine how many things Alhatu had done to harm the Qing Dynasty’s interests in order to climb to this position. Otherwise, Great Hua would not have entrusted him with such an important task.

“General, this is an opportunity. If we can reason with Alhatu and persuade him to defect again, and then our two units join forces to attack Great Hua’s Twenty-sixth Division, wouldn’t we be able to annihilate countless enemies and make great contributions?” Bulhetai’s subordinate, Erdemunde, suggested.

This…

Bulhetai was conflicted.

“I disdain to associate with a traitor like him,” Bulhetai said, he still didn’t want to forgive the other party.

“Sir, times have changed. Do you think we are still the invincible Qing Dynasty we once were? Right now, we need to put aside all pride and use all available forces.

In this regard, Great Hua is doing much better than us. If Wu Changqing were like us, never forgiving surrendered officials and traitors, how could he have developed so quickly, and where would he have gotten so many talents to help him strategize and govern the territory?

The civil and military officials under him, apart from those few veterans, basically all defected from our Qing Dynasty and were twice-serving officials.

His policy towards surrendered officials and traitors is fatally attractive to those fence-sitters. Think back, since our army and Great Hua have fought, how many people from our army have defected and surrendered?

All of this is because of their tolerance.

Alhatu is certainly hateful, but so what? As long as he is willing to help us now, the things that have already happened are not important. Moreover, if you really hate this person, sir, you can use him first, and then settle the old scores with him after we have completely defeated the Great Hua army or when the situation has stabilized.

I suspect that Wu Changqing of Great Hua is planning the same thing.

After he has completely pacified the world, he will have plenty of time to settle accounts with those people.”

Erdemunde earnestly advised, he didn’t understand what meaning there was in their own little bit of fragile pride.

It was precisely their unforgiving attitude towards traitors that led those Manchu generals and soldiers who had already surrendered to Great Hua to serve Great Hua wholeheartedly.

“I’m afraid that he is no longer willing to work for the Qing Dynasty,” Bulhetai sighed.

“Man proposes, God disposes. I am willing to go to the Great Hua army camp in person and persuade Alhatu myself,” Erdemunde volunteered, preparing to take a risk.

They had no choice but to take a risk. Fighting the Great Hua army head-on in a conventional manner would not make them their opponent.

The situation was not in their favor, forcing them to start using tricks.

Chapter 468: Attempted Persuasion Backfires

“Greetings, Lord Alhatu.”

That night, Erdemung quietly arrived at the Great Hua army camp.

Because there were many Manchu and Mongol soldiers in this cavalry unit, he was able to meet Alhatu very easily.

“Erdemung, I hope you can call me by my Chinese name, Su Nian’en, from now on.”

Su Nian’en said, having changed his name long ago to better integrate into Great Hua.

Not only him, but most of the surrendered soldiers had also changed their names.

After all, in terms of appearance, the Manchu and Han people were almost indistinguishable, and those who were not familiar with them could not tell them apart at all. As long as they changed their names and learned to speak Chinese, no one would ever know their former identities.

Even though the Great Hua government’s policy was not to discriminate against these ethnic minorities, the common people still hated the Manchu people quite a bit.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, changing names was a necessary measure.

Su Nian’en’s words made Erdemung’s heart sink.

The meaning in Su Nian’en’s words was too obvious, which was to draw a clear line with his previous identity.

Even his name had been changed, which was a betrayal of his ancestors. His determination was evident.

“A… Lord Su, don’t you feel any shame in doing this?”

Erdemung questioned.

He needed to arouse Alhatu’s sense of shame, which was the key to whether he could persuade Su Nian’en to defect.

Su Nian’en smiled upon hearing this.

“What’s there to be ashamed of? Erdemung, I advise you to surrender as well, and then you can have the opportunity to read more books and understand things better.

What grievances do people like us at the bottom of the Manchu have with the Han people? Why should we fight to the death with the Han people when it’s all for the personal gain of those noble princes?

To put it bluntly, you and I have been used by the Nurhaci family.

If I remember correctly, your ancestors were from the Suwan tribe, a tribe that was conquered by Nurhaci. Nurhaci conquered your ancestors, and you still continue to be loyal to Nurhaci’s descendants. Aren’t you ashamed?

What Manchu and Han, our Manchu people were just a branch of the Han people thousands of years ago. It’s just that our ancestors migrated outside the pass, and there were conflicts of interest with the Han people inside the pass, which led to the formation of two ethnic groups.

In terms of appearance, there is no difference between us. Unlike those blond and blue-eyed Western Europeans, they are truly another ethnic group.

There’s no need to distinguish between Han and Manchu so clearly.

You think I’m betraying my ethnic group, but in my opinion, I’m returning to my roots.

The Manchu and Han people have no real hatred. The hatred lies between the Han emperors and the Manchu emperors, who both want to conquer each other, but they don’t personally fight, but instead send us, the people at the bottom, to kill the other side’s people at the bottom.

Whether Han or Manchu, the people at the bottom are exploited by those at the top. Since we are exploited by those at the top, why should we load our hatred onto the people at the bottom of other forces?

The enemy of the people at the bottom is only those at the top.

You can’t learn this kind of knowledge in the barbaric Qing Dynasty. It’s best to come to Great Hua to broaden your horizons and stop saying things that make me feel sorry for you like a savage.”

Su Nian’en babbled on and on, not because he was really that talented or quick-witted.

But before he came, he had anticipated that the enemy might try to persuade him to surrender, so he had prepared a set of arguments in advance.

This…

Erdemung’s mind was a little confused. He felt that what Su Nian’en said was wrong, but he couldn’t find a reason to refute it.

In particular, Su Nian’en’s sentence, ‘Your ancestors were from the Suwan tribe’, struck his heart directly, leaving him unable to calm down for a long time.

“But, even if what you said is right, there shouldn’t be hatred between ordinary Han people and ordinary Manchu people. But the problem is that we have already invaded the Central Plains and killed many Han people. This hatred has already been formed and cannot be resolved.

Even if we did something wrong in the past, we can only continue to make mistakes now. Han and Manchu people, there is already a difference. This is an indisputable fact that you can’t avoid, even if you want to.”

Erdemung said.

Since he dared to come and persuade someone to surrender, he naturally had some eloquence.

“Can’t be resolved? Why do you get along so well with the Nurhaci family now? In the past, the Han people in Lingnan were called Southern Barbarians, but now they have been conquered by the Han people in the Central Plains and have become part of the Han people. Now there are only Han people, where are the Southern Barbarians?

Our appearance is no different from that of the Han people. As long as you learn to speak Chinese, you can walk in Jiangnan, and who would know whether you are Han or Manchu?

Time will dilute everything, and this time doesn’t even need to be too long. Ordinary people only care about their own survival. Without the instigation of someone with ulterior motives, why would they remember those things?

The current policy of Great Hua is ethnic integration. It won’t be long before there is no distinction between Han and Manchu people. There will only be one kind of people, and that is the people of Great Hua.”

Erdemung was left speechless, because the Suwan tribe had really integrated into the Manchu people.

As long as the rulers above don’t deliberately emphasize ethnic divisions, the people below who can’t even get enough to eat won’t care about this kind of trivial matter.

Su Nian’en seemed to have found a good person to confide in, and he took out a cigarette and lit it.

He continued, “See this thing? Cigarettes, something that is easy to become addicted to. In the past, I couldn’t live without alcohol, but now I can’t live without cigarettes.

You can’t imagine how many good things there are in Great Hua. You can’t imagine how comfortable life is in Great Hua.

You probably don’t know what heating is, but I have never felt cold in Nanjing.

This world should be ruled by the Emperor of Great Hua, because only he can lead everyone to live this kind of good life. The emperors of other forces only know how to plunder and don’t know how to create at all.

And plundering, in addition to increasing the hatred between people of two forces, has no benefit.

Now the Nurhaci family refuses to surrender, and they are the sinners of all the Manchu people. They are preventing ordinary Manchu people from living a happy life.

And people like you who serve the Qing Dynasty are their accomplices.”

Su Nian’en’s words greatly shocked Erdemung’s views.

He couldn’t tell whether what Su Nian’en said was right or wrong. He only knew that even if what Su Nian’en said was wrong, he couldn’t refute it with his own intelligence.

In fact, he didn’t really want to refute it.

Because, in his heart, he vaguely tended to hope that what Su Nian’en said was right.

“If the Qing Dynasty surrenders to Great Hua, can everyone really live a good life?”

Erdemung muttered to himself.

“It will definitely be better than it is now. Don’t think that I don’t know the situation in the North just because I’m in Great Hua now. The ordinary people in the North have been exploited to the point of collapse.

In order to manufacture weapons to fight against Great Hua, the last drop of blood of the people is about to be drained. Even if we don’t launch a northern expedition now, you won’t be able to hold on for long. The people underground will rebel.

Not only the Han people are like this, but the Manchu people at the bottom are also being exploited to the point where they can’t live. As for your ancestors, the Suwan tribe, there’s no need to say more.

We are also fighting a war, but the lives of the people in Great Hua have not been affected in any way, and are even better than before. At least everyone is well-fed, well-clothed, has work to do, and can see hope.

Even in a state of war, the people have such a life. If the war stops and we focus on development, you can imagine how good life will be in the future.

Our Emperor of Great Hua is different from any other monarch in history. You can only feel this if you surrender.

Don’t be obsessed anymore. If you surrender now, you will be disloyal to the Nurhaci family, but you will be loyal to all the Manchu people. You can think about the gains and losses.”

After Su Nian’en finished speaking, he stopped talking and let Erdemung digest it himself.

Of course, Su Nian’en’s argument is not entirely correct, and it needs to be analyzed based on specific examples. Of course, if any problem in this world is investigated deeply, it will be difficult to distinguish between right and wrong.

But based on the current situation, there is no problem with Su Nian’en’s argument.

It was precisely because Su Nian’en had hit the nail on the head that Erdemung was unable to refute it, and his views were even collapsing.

Chapter 469: Internal and External Coordination

Erdemung had been subverted. Su Nian’en’s words made him think a lot.

In the end, he found that his faith had wavered. He yearned for the Great Hua that Su Nian’en spoke of, and he became curious about Wu Changqing.

Of course, there was also a very important reason: Great Hua was too powerful, and he saw no hope for the Qing Dynasty to win.

Strength is the most powerful weapon to persuade the enemy to surrender.

If Great Hua wasn’t strong enough, Erdemung would have just chuckled at whatever Su Nian’en said, no matter how reasonable it sounded.

But when Great Hua was powerful enough, Erdemung didn’t have the confidence to refute Su Nian’en, regardless of whether he was speaking the truth or nonsense.

After all, the world is extremely complex. Ordinary people cannot understand what is right or wrong, but only judge by success.

If a successful person farts, they will think it makes sense.

Currently, Great Hua is more powerful and successful, so Great Hua’s policies are being studied by others, seeking the mysteries within.

The subverted Erdemung fully revealed the Qing army’s deployment in Cao Village and formulated a tactic of internal and external coordination with Su Nian’en.

Originally, because the Qing army was stationed on a hillside, Su Nian’en’s cavalry could not play a significant role in the attack. They could only wait for the 26th Division to defeat Bulhetai, and then Su Nian’en’s cavalry would pursue.

It would be difficult for the 26th Division, with the strength of only one division, to quickly defeat the Qing army.

But now, with Erdemung’s cooperation, it would be much easier.

Erdemung had a force of more than three thousand men under his command, stationed on a hilltop.

As long as he rebelled when the Great Hua army attacked, the Qing army’s defenses could be easily torn apart with internal and external coordination.

After Erdemung returned to his headquarters, he immediately went to see Bulhetai.

He did not try to persuade Bulhetai to surrender, because he knew that Bulhetai was different from him. Bulhetai was a vested interest and a core member of the Qing court.

The privileges that could be enjoyed by following the Qing Dynasty were far more than those by following Great Hua.

Therefore, Bulhetai was quite loyal to the Qing Dynasty.

“How did it go?” Bulhetai asked, his tone revealing a sense of impatience, obviously very concerned about the result.

Erdemung calmed his mind, then shook his head and said, “It failed. He even changed his name to Su Nian’en, meaning to commemorate Great Hua’s kindness to him.”

“Bastard, this waste, shameless…”

Bulhetai cursed.

It wasn’t that he hated Su Nian’en that much, but he hated that Su Nian’en’s actions had led to his current predicament.

After perfunctorily dealing with Bulhetai, Erdemung returned to his camp and summoned several confidants for a drink.

Halfway through the drinking, Erdemung spoke of the current predicament.

Immediately, a melancholy atmosphere appeared in the camp.

“Alas, since entering the pass, we have lost eighty or ninety thousand men, and seventy or eighty thousand have been captured. This already accounts for more than half of our forces when we entered the pass.

I heard that even fourteen-year-old boys in Beijing have begun to be conscripted and prepared to be sent to the battlefield.”

Erdemung introduced the topic, and everyone began to complain.

This war, fought back and forth, was a hardship for them at the bottom.

Because loyal soldiers were needed, the Qing Dynasty had almost conscripted all the lower-class men of the Manchu ethnicity.

From fourteen to fifty years old, none were spared.

As for those noble princes, the total number of deaths added up to less than ten.

Such a stark contrast was impossible for them not to see, and it was impossible for them not to have resentment.

“The Great Hua army is really too powerful. I say, it’s best for us to do as before, grab something and return outside the pass.”

“Now that Alhatu’s cavalry has also arrived, we have no chance to retreat.”

“Alhatu has now changed his name to Su Nian’en, and he is living a very comfortable life in Great Hua. I went to persuade him to surrender, and he treated me with high-purity liquor, as well as various overseas fruits and vegetables, non-perishable meats, and a tobacco called cigarettes…”

Erdemung mentioned Su Nian’en’s good life at the right time, making others very envious.

“I heard that we Manchus can also enjoy fair treatment in Great Hua.”

“That’s for sure, otherwise Alhatu wouldn’t have this kind of treatment, and he even commands tens of thousands of troops. What a stroke of luck.”

“Actually, if we could have such good treatment, defecting to Great Hua would be a good choice.”

When the atmosphere reached a certain point, Erdemung’s confidant was the first to open this mouth.

When everyone heard this, their hearts skipped a beat. These words could not be said casually.

However, when they saw the person who spoke, they immediately understood.

So, this was Erdemung’s intention.

Everyone was surprised. They didn’t expect Erdemung to have the intention to surrender. They couldn’t tell at all usually.

They were not worried that this was Erdemung’s test. Only a brain-dead general would do this kind of test.

If the test failed, the relationship would be so strained that they could not work together.

“Indeed, if possible, who would want to die?”

“Mandahai, Su Nian’en, they all live so comfortably. Why can they, but we can’t?”

“That’s right, let’s just rebel. The sooner we go over, the better the treatment. When more people surrender in the future, they won’t value us as much.”

Once everyone opened this mouth, there was no way to turn back.

Even those who had not originally thought of surrendering could only follow the crowd at this time.

Otherwise, others might first eliminate the person who was unwilling to surrender, lest things be revealed.

Everyone made an oath and decided to rebel.

Afterwards, Erdemung sent his confidants to contact the Great Hua army.

The next day, the Great Hua army launched an attack.

They divided their troops into two groups, attacking two hilltops of the Qing army, one of which was the position defended by Erdemung.

The sound of artillery fire rang out, and soon Bulhetai discovered that the Great Hua army’s artillery only landed on his position.

However, he didn’t think much about it, just thinking that his side was the key breakthrough point for the Great Hua army.

While the artillery was bombarding, a part of the Great Hua army rushed towards the hilltop guarded by Erdemung.

After the Great Hua army entered the firing range, Erdemung announced to the other low-level generals that he was going to surrender.

This news was nothing short of shocking.

However, despite the shock, no one objected.

Even those high-ranking officials didn’t want to fight the Great Hua army anymore, let alone them, the soldiers at the bottom.

At this time, surrendering was what everyone wanted.

A small number of people who were unwilling to surrender for some reason had no way to reverse this trend in the face of this general situation.

Subsequently, the Qing army let the Great Hua army up without firing a single shot.

At the same time, they also followed the Great Hua army and directly attacked Bulhetai’s garrison from the high ground of this hilltop.

Attacking from this direction was twice the result with half the effort, because the Qing army had not sent anyone to deploy defenses in this direction.

The Great Hua army was like entering an uninhabited area, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at Bulhetai’s main position.

At this time, Bulhetai, who had already received the news of Erdemung’s rebellion, was directly stunned.

He couldn’t figure out how Erdemung had rebelled even if he was beaten to death.

He had never discovered Erdemung’s intention to rebel.

Chapter 470: Matters of National Importance

It was another battle that wasn’t particularly brutal.

When the Great Hua army appeared before the Qing army, the Qing soldiers were already in disarray.

Both Boer and Tai forgot to command, and the lower-ranking officers could only rely on instinct to direct the battle.

Such command, of course, couldn’t stop the Great Hua army’s attack.

What’s more, at this time, the morale of the two sides was as different as heaven and earth.

Those Qing soldiers, discovering that they had been betrayed by their own side, were filled with anger and despair that permeated the entire battlefield, leaving them with no will to resist.

The Qing army quickly collapsed, and a large number of soldiers began to flee spontaneously.

However, after descending the hillside, the surrounding area was an endless plain.

How could those on two legs escape the Great Hua army’s cavalry?

Even high-ranking officials like Boer and Tai, who had horses, couldn’t escape the Great Hua army’s encirclement.

If they wanted to escape, they had to constantly change their routes and bypass the Great Hua army blocking them.

Such detours inevitably meant taking many unnecessary routes.

The Great Hua army chasing from behind, however, could take a straight line.

When they were caught up, they had no hope.

In the end, Boer and Tai were captured alive, most of those who fled with him were killed in battle, and a small number were also captured.

When Boer and Tai were brought before Su Nian’en and Erdemung, Boer and Tai cursed: “Erdemung, you despicable villain, your shamelessness is many times greater than his…”

At this moment, his hatred for Erdemung surpassed that of Su Nian’en.

“What a pity.”

Su Nian’en said.

“What a pity?”

Erdemung asked.

“It’s a pity that the Qing army is no longer willing to spend money to ransom people, so he has no value at all. It’s not cost-effective to keep him, and it’s impossible to let him go, so we can only kill him, just like killing Ajige.”

The Great Hua army was so pragmatic, exchanging everything that could be exchanged for benefits.

If the Qing Dynasty wasn’t willing to pay, then no matter what the other party’s status was, even if it was Prince Ajige, they would kill him without hesitation.

Killing those Qing nobles could also appease public anger.

After all, it was these people who planned and commanded the invasion.

Boer and Tai continued to curse, but unfortunately, no one paid any attention to him.

It was too demeaning to argue with a dead man.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the Great Hua army’s casualties were less than one hundred.

The two sides didn’t engage in fierce confrontation, so not many Qing soldiers died either, only a few hundred.

From the beginning, this battle changed from confrontation to capturing fleeing soldiers, making it very easy.

Having once again eliminated more than sixteen thousand fresh troops from the Qing army, the gap in strength between the two sides widened again.

Subsequently, they divided their forces into two groups, with a small number of troops heading to Suzhou and Huaibei to take over these cities.

The main force went to Xuzhou to join the main army, preparing to besiege Xuzhou.

Nanjing, the Forbidden City.

Reports from the front lines were always delivered to Wu Changqing as soon as possible.

Wu Changqing wouldn’t remotely control the command, and would delegate power to the generals on the front lines. However, he required detailed reports on the situation, process, and results of the battlefield.

This was also a way to consolidate power. Even if he didn’t have time to read it sometimes, as long as he required the people below to report, they wouldn’t dare to mess around too much.

After all, the people below didn’t know if Wu Changqing would read it, so they didn’t dare to take such a risk.

Wu Changqing looked at the pile of war reports and other news in front of him, feeling slightly helpless.

Being an emperor was also quite hard.

He picked up the first war report, which recorded the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Divisions’ annihilation of the Qing army’s Guo Ruowen’s forces.

After a brief look, he didn’t find any problems, so he put it aside. He just needed to know about this kind of thing.

The second memorial came from the South, reporting an important piece of news.

Prince Gui Zhu Youlang declared himself regent in Zhaoqing, establishing the state name as Yongli.

Although this news was significant, Wu Changqing didn’t really care about it, or rather, he had expected this situation long ago.

In history, after Zhu Yujian died in battle, Zhu Youlang also declared himself regent in Zhaoqing, taking over the burden of the Ming Dynasty.

Although the time was slightly delayed now, this matter still happened.

The occurrence of this matter was actually somewhat inevitable.

Those who wanted to be local emperors and those who wanted to secede from the region would definitely push out a puppet emperor to command the world, for the sake of the legitimacy of a regime.

And Zhu Youlang was undoubtedly the best candidate.

He was the great-grandson of the Wanli Emperor, and his bloodline was more orthodox than Zhu Yujian, Zhu Yihai, and others.

In the past, it was only because he was far away in Guangxi that Prince Fu, Prince Lu, and others took advantage of him.

If he had been in the Jiangnan area before, then there would have been nothing for others to do, and he would definitely have been the regent.

But now, with the fall of Jiangnan and Zhejiang, Fujian, and other places, the Ming Dynasty’s base had changed from the southeast coast to the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, plus Yunnan and Guizhou.

Zhu Youlang becoming regent was the only choice.

With the support of Ding Kuichu, the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Qu Shisi, the Provincial Governor of Guangxi, and Lü Daqi, Zhu Youlang ascended to the position of regent and continued to fight against Great Hua.

Putting the second memorial aside, Wu Changqing continued to read the next one.

The next memorial also reported a major event.

He Tengjiao of Hunan sent a liaison to Great Hua, hoping to submit.

Of course, his submission came with conditions.

He Tengjiao hoped to get the position of Governor-General of Huguang, with full control over the military and political power of Hunan and Hubei.

To show his loyalty, He Tengjiao expressed his willingness to be the vanguard of the Great Hua army, leading troops into Guangxi, Guizhou, and other places to conquer the Great Ming on behalf of Great Hua.

Wu Changqing would definitely not agree to this request.

Not to mention military and political power, he wouldn’t even give him just military power.

In the Great Hua army, there was no such thing as whose soldier was whose.

The high-ranking officers of Great Hua were transferred by Wu Changqing with a single word every once in a while.

Last year, Li Shaobin was in charge of the Northern Army, but this year it became Liu Hansan.

And the Southern Army was handed over to Wang Dayong this year.

Other senior officers were also transferred to varying degrees.

Lu Guangzu, Tao Dongcheng, and others from the North were transferred to the South. Some people from the original Southern Army were transferred to the North.

This actually damaged the army’s combat effectiveness to a certain extent.

After all, it took time to get used to new subordinates, which was definitely not as convenient and easy as commanding the original troops.

However, compared to consolidating the regime, this little damage was completely within Wu Changqing’s tolerance.

Even Li Shaobin and the others couldn’t control a troop for a long time, and He Tengjiao still wanted to control an army alone, and even wanted military and political power. This was undoubtedly a pipe dream.

The reason why He Tengjiao was still alive now was simply because Great Hua didn’t have time to deal with them for the time being.

As soon as Great Hua freed up its hands, it would be the time of He Tengjiao’s destruction.

Even the Great Ming and the Qing Dynasty couldn’t stop Great Hua’s offensive, so what ability did He Tengjiao have to stop Great Hua’s attack?

Chapter 471: Public Carriage

Besides the major military affairs, there were even more significant civil administration matters.

In civil administration, Nanjing’s first rail carriage line, the Xin-Xuan Line, had been completed and entered the trial operation phase.

The Xin-Xuan Line starts from the New Industrial Zone and ends at the Xuanwu Lake residential area, passing through the University Hall, Confucius Temple, Qinhuai River, and twenty other stations, with a total length of ten kilometers, passing through most of the prosperous areas of Nanjing.

It was anticipated that this route would not be able to meet the travel needs of the people.

But to Liu Dahua’s surprise, after the rail carriage began operating, not many people went to ride it.

This was quite unexpected. Several big shots in the imperial court sat down to study and analyze it, and felt that the reason might be because the positioning of this rail carriage was not clear.

The rich would feel that squeezing in a carriage with so many other people was degrading and lacked prestige.

The poor, on the other hand, would feel that taking the rail carriage was too expensive and not cost-effective, and it would be better to walk a few steps freely.

As for those in the middle class, they have always liked to follow the trend.

Longing for the life of the wealthy, they would follow the wealthy in everything they did.

Since the wealthy did not take the rail carriage and preferred to ride in their own private carriages, those in the middle class also took pride in owning a private carriage and made it their goal.

This has been the case throughout history.

Among the middle class in later generations, there were countless people who would rather work themselves to death just for a car worth several hundred thousand, as if sitting in a car worth tens of thousands would shorten their lifespan.

Cars worth several hundred thousand are naturally more comfortable than cars worth tens of thousands, but this little bit of enjoyment is completely disproportionate to the price paid.

Wu Changqing was intrigued when he saw this memorial, so he simply left the palace and prepared to take a ride on this rail carriage himself, leading by example. He would use practical actions to tell everyone that taking a public carriage was not shameful.

If the emperor himself took this rail carriage, who would dare to think that taking the rail carriage was a degrading and devaluing behavior?

As long as he praised this rail carriage a few more times, who could compare to this advertising effect?

When a person’s status becomes noble, anything he does has a huge impact.

When Wu Changqing wanted to leave the palace, Feng Debao of course tried his best to dissuade him.

Unfortunately, Wu Changqing was also a bit headstrong. Once he made a decision, others generally could not dissuade him.

Helpless, Feng Debao could only leave the palace with Wu Changqing and several guards.

The security in Nanjing was very good at the moment, so there was no need to worry about assassins suddenly appearing.

In the past, the emperor’s departure from the palace was a major event, and the various etiquette procedures that needed to be prepared were very troublesome, and the scale would also be very large.

When it came to Wu Changqing, many etiquette rules were broken by him.

Although the other ministers were not happy, they could not do anything about Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing was not the Wanli Emperor, who only dared to respond to the opposition of his ministers by not attending court as a form of sulking.

If someone opposed him and set rules for him every day, he would kill people.

They left the palace and walked all the way to the nearest station.

Along the way, they did not deliberately hide their identities.

After all, Wu Changqing was going to do advertising this time, and hiding his identity would have no effect.

Most people who saw Wu Changqing were actually afraid to confirm.

Because they felt that the emperor should be in the palace, and even if he traveled, he would ride in a large sedan carried by dozens of people.

Like the scene in front of them, with only a few people and walking, it really didn’t look like the emperor.

Ordinary people did not dare to confirm, but some officials recognized him at first glance because they had seen Wu Changqing many times.

Immediately, some officials knelt down and saluted in the street.

“Alright, don’t do so much formality.”

Wu Changqing said.

The official quickly got up, but it was too late.

His action made many people who were still guessing confirm Wu Changqing’s identity.

The emperor, this was not someone they could see often. Many people forgot what they were going to do and just stood there dumbfounded.

At this time, four large horses pulled a carriage over and stopped at the station.

A few people got off the carriage.

Afterwards, Wu Changqing and the guards got on the carriage, and the officials who recognized Wu Changqing also followed.

In fact, they still had a lot of things to do, but at this time those things became unimportant. Being with the emperor was the most important thing.

Although, they didn’t know what Wu Changqing was going to do.

After getting on the car, Wu Changqing looked around the car.

Most of the carriage was made of wood. Its overall structure was similar to that of a bus in later generations, with seats arranged in two rows.

It’s just that it’s not as delicate as later generations, just a long wooden plank as a seat.

The people who were already on the bus were immediately startled when they saw Wu Changqing, wondering if they were dreaming.

When would the emperor take this kind of public carriage?

Some people who recognized Wu Changqing wanted to salute, but it was not very convenient in this carriage.

Some people wanted to get off the bus, probably feeling that they were not qualified to share a ride with the emperor.

“You don’t need to be restrained. I’m just hitching a ride. Everyone, please continue as usual.”

Wu Changqing signaled everyone not to do anything special, and then he also picked a seat in the back row and sat down.

The carriage started again, and Wu Changqing chatted with a passenger in the front row.

He asked, “What kind of business are you in? How do you feel about taking this public carriage? Is it comfortable, convenient, and is the fare too expensive?”

The man who was asked was nervous for a while, and didn’t know what the etiquette should be at this time, whether he should kneel down to answer or answer directly.

For a time, he was so nervous that he stuttered.

“The Emperor is asking you a question, don’t be nervous, just answer truthfully.”

Feng Debao reminded.

The man then came back to his senses and replied, “Your Majesty, I am a proofreader, specializing in checking and proofreading typos in articles in printing factories.

This carriage is very comfortable to ride in, much better than the previous carriages, and even no worse than a BMW. It is quite convenient for people who live in places that the public carriage passes by, and the price is fair, much cheaper than taking a rickshaw.”

“Proofreader, this is a good job. Books are the way to convey knowledge. If books are wrong, it is misleading people.”

Wu Changqing said.

If these words were said by someone else, the person who heard them would probably sneer.

He did this job purely because the salary was not bad and the work was relatively simple.

As a failed scholar who had repeatedly failed to pass the juren examination, he could only do this kind of work.

But now, his job was affirmed by Wu Changqing himself, and he immediately felt a sense of tears filling his eyes.

But he was obviously being sentimental. Wu Changqing just said it casually.

Chatting, of course, is to say something that everyone likes to hear. You can’t rely on the identity of the emperor to laugh at the other party’s profession for not having development potential and no future, right?

The carriage was not moving fast, about the same as walking.

Along the way, Wu Changqing chatted with this proofreader.

The other passengers on the bus could only feel all kinds of envy, jealousy, and hatred in their hearts at this time.

Wu Changqing did not take the initiative to ask them questions, and they did not dare to talk casually.

They didn’t dare to talk casually, but they were reluctant to leave.

Some people had already arrived at the station, but they didn’t get off the bus and continued to sit on the bus.

It was not until the University Hall station that Wu Changqing got off the bus, and the other passengers who had missed the station reluctantly followed him off the bus.

This was riding in the same car with the emperor. This experience was enough for them to brag about in front of their friends for several months.

“This carriage is good, it provides convenience for the people to travel. This carriage serves all Great Hua people, so let’s call it a public carriage from now on.”

After trying it out, Wu Changqing gave the rail carriage a name.

Chapter 472: Vulcanized Rubber

After leaving the palace, Wu Changqing naturally wouldn’t return immediately.

He wanted to stroll around Nanjing and inspect matters he was concerned about.

He hadn’t been to the university for quite some time to teach the students.

Compared to teaching students, handling important state affairs was more crucial.

The university was now in a healthy development phase. The top students were self-studying and conducting various scientific research projects.

The slightly less advanced students were acting as teachers in the university, imparting basic knowledge to others.

Their abilities were limited, and one couldn’t expect them to teach too well or too deeply.

Most of the time, they could only teach the basics, stuffing those theories into the heads of other students.

As for whether they could understand it or be inspired by it, it all depended on the students’ own talents.

To learn well, one mainly relied on talent and diligent self-study.

Those who were talented and willing to work hard would be the focus of the university’s cultivation.

If ordinary teachers couldn’t answer their questions, they could consult the top students. If they were lucky, they could become assistants to those people, learning while doing.

This mechanism for cultivating talent was certainly not as efficient as the schools of later generations.

However, it was already the most efficient method at present.

With this mechanism, Great Hua had cultivated more than ten talents equivalent to later generations’ undergraduates and two hundred equivalent to high school graduates in less than two years.

There were even more at the junior high school level, already over a thousand.

Having a high school level was already quite remarkable. With this level, plus the government providing funds for them to conduct research, they could already produce some results.

With Wu Changqing pointing out directions and providing ideas or even technical support when necessary, the current research and development speed of these people was quite astonishing.

Currently, the university already had several strategic-level research and development projects.

The first was the steam engine project. The steam engine still needed to continuously improve performance, requiring greater power and smaller volume.

The second was the materials research project, studying various alloys, ceramics, and other basic materials.

The steam engine had been unable to achieve a major breakthrough because it couldn’t find suitable materials.

Ordinary steel couldn’t withstand that kind of high temperature and high pressure. Even if a high-power steam engine was built, it wouldn’t run for long.

At this time, it was necessary to add a certain amount of other rare metals to the steel to refine special steel that could withstand high temperatures and high pressures.

In the original history, this process was very difficult. It relied on countless people trying little by little, and after countless trials and errors, some rules were finally concluded.

The process of simply recognizing other rare metals took an unknown amount of time.

But now, those in Great Hua researching materials science didn’t have to work so hard. Textbooks had already listed most of the metals, and they only needed to find them according to the textbooks.

Now, Great Hua had discovered and confirmed more than ten kinds of metals.

However, the extraction of other rare metals was still a major problem for the time being.

The third was the research on the application of rubber.

This was the direction personally pointed out by Wu Changqing. He purchased a batch of natural rubber from Western Europe merchants and then asked the people at the university to study how to use it.

Rubber was a very important material in human history and could even be called a strategic material.

In terms of transportation, various tires needed to use rubber.

In industry, adhesive tapes, rubber tubes, belts, and so on all needed to use rubber.

In the military, a tank required at least five hundred kilograms of rubber, and a thirty-thousand-ton warship had fifty to sixty tons of rubber.

Even if Great Hua couldn’t build tanks and large warships now, rubber was also excellent for making tents, raincoats, and leather shoes.

In the future, when conquering Southeast Asia, a place that rained all year round, without a pair of long rubber boots, the soldiers’ legs would fester in a few days.

Not to mention with the current technology, even in the nineteen sixties and seventies, foreign soldiers who were not accustomed to the local climate would suffer in this environment.

In this kind of place, a pair of dry socks and a pair of long boots were more important than the rifle in hand.

In the fields of construction, medicine, electrical appliances, and communications…

In short, the position of rubber was irreplaceable.

“How is the research on rubber progressing now?”

Wu Changqing asked Fei Yufeng, the person in charge of the project.

Fei Yufeng was also one of the top students, and his talent could be compared with Feng Xianzhong and others.

“Your student is ashamed. For the time being, I still can’t solve the problems of rubber’s stickiness and easy breakage. If these two problems cannot be solved, the rubber will soften when heated and become brittle and hard when cooled, and it will not be practical.”

Fei Yufeng said dejectedly. The other projects were now in full swing, but his project had made no progress, which made him very anxious.

“You can try adding some sulfur to the rubber. As far as I know, the sulfur in rubber and sulfur will have some kind of reaction. The vulcanized rubber after the reaction will become elastic, resistant to high temperatures, and increase tensile strength.

However, how much to add and how to add it, you need to explore these.”

Wu Changqing only knew that rubber needed to be vulcanized before it could be practical.

But he didn’t know how to vulcanize it specifically.

Of course, he could directly exchange this technology in the system store, but he didn’t do so.

After all, Great Hua’s demand for rubber was not so urgent for the time being.

More importantly, Wu Changqing needed talents, and he needed these people to grow through their own research and exploration.

Telling the other party everything directly could only train the other party into a skilled worker, but could not train them into talents with research capabilities.

And talent was what Wu Changqing valued most.

Without hundreds of thousands of talents to carry it out specifically, he would be useless even if he had a body of technology.

Unless he didn’t deal with important state affairs every day and devoted himself to scientific research.

In that case, it wouldn’t be long before those powers fell into the hands of others. In the end, he might be helping others build a better society.

“Vulcanization, your student will try it immediately.”

Fei Yufeng said.

They, these favored students of the emperor, unconditionally believed in Wu Changqing’s words.

Wu Changqing said that vulcanization was useful, so he was determined to take the path of vulcanizing rubber.

After all, Wu Changqing had created too many miracles. In their opinion, Wu Changqing was omniscient and omniscient.

Their degree of admiration for Wu Changqing was much higher than that of others.

As the saying goes, the more you know, the more you feel ignorant.

They, who knew so much, knew how amazing the inventions and theories Wu Changqing had come up with were.

Chapter 473: An Encounter with Prisoners

Besides the university, Wu Changqing also strolled around other places.

In the industrial area, he came across a group of constables escorting several prisoners.

Wanting to know what these people had done, Wu Changqing stopped them and asked, “What crimes have these people committed?”

“Your… Your Majesty.”

The constable who recognized Wu Changqing knelt down to pay his respects, looking flustered.

The others, realizing that the person before them was the Emperor, were also thrown into a panic.

“Alright, just tell me what’s going on.”

Wu Changqing said.

He didn’t need to exert any imperial pressure; his status alone was enough to make people feel intimidated.

“Reporting to Your Majesty, these are all farmhands who escaped from the surrounding landlords’ homes. They didn’t fulfill their contracts with the landlords and secretly came to Nanjing to work. Then, those landlords went to the yamen, requesting our assistance in capturing them,” said Head Constable Wang, who was in charge of the matter.

“Your Majesty, we are wronged! Please, Your Majesty, deliver justice for us!”

Upon learning Wu Changqing’s identity, the prisoners immediately knelt down, kowtowing and crying out loudly.

“Tell me about your grievances directly, I’m listening.”

Wu Changqing’s expression was somewhat displeased.

For a ruler, the most gratifying thing is that the people under his rule live in peace and prosperity, and no one commits crimes.

But now, a group of criminals appeared before him.

If these people were guilty, it meant that he had not governed the country well, and some people were unable to survive.

If these people were innocent, it also meant that he had not governed the country well, and innocent people were being wronged.

One of the suspects, who seemed relatively calm, said, “We were originally refugees from Henan. After fleeing here, we entered the Li family as farmhands. We only received food, without any wages.

Last year, the wealthy Li suddenly wanted to sign contracts with us, offering an additional ten wen per month. Only after signing the contracts did we hear from others that working in factories in the city earned one to two taels of silver per month, with room and board included.

So, we felt that we had been deceived by the wealthy Li, and that’s why we escaped, hoping to find a job in a factory and make a living…”

After listening, Wu Changqing basically understood the situation.

This was a problem left over from history, not easy to handle.

It was certainly wrong for the wealthy Li to exploit them, but he had at least saved these refugees’ lives. Although he had taken advantage of his superior information to trick them, he didn’t seem to have violated any laws.

Of course, law is not above human sentiment. The wealthy Li’s actions were not illegal, but his methods were somewhat unreasonable.

Before, he hadn’t given them a single penny, offering the refugees no hope.

Afterward, he used contracts to tie them down, which was also driven by greed.

From the wealthy Li’s perspective, he would feel wronged, as if he had saved these people’s lives for nothing, without receiving any gratitude.

But from the refugees’ perspective, they were even more miserable.

They worked for the wealthy man every day without a single penny of wages, with no hope in life and no security. Once they got sick or became too old to work, they would be ruthlessly driven away.

Cases where right and wrong can be easily distinguished are the easiest to judge. What’s difficult is cases where both sides are at fault and have their own grievances.

Wu Changqing was certainly on the side of the refugees, but he couldn’t show it.

As an emperor, he needed to maintain an image of fairness and impartiality, and he couldn’t favor one class over another, otherwise, the other classes would be dissatisfied.

If he favored these refugees now, refugees in other places would follow suit, trying to make a big scene and appeal to the emperor.

Because they would know that the emperor would favor them.

In this way, it would inevitably cause major social unrest and increase law enforcement costs.

In recent years, the number of refugees fleeing from the North was not small.

“What are you planning to do with these people?”

Wu Changqing asked the constables.

Immediately, the constables panicked.

This was the Emperor asking a question. If they didn’t answer well, they could get into trouble.

The crowd could not guess Wu Changqing’s thoughts, and they all hesitated, not knowing how to answer.

“Bold! His Majesty is asking you a question, and you’re hesitating. Are you trying to hide something?”

Feng Debao scolded.

Upon hearing this, the constables quickly knelt down and said they wouldn’t dare.

After calming down, Head Constable Wang began to answer truthfully, “We are acting in accordance with the regulations. The wealthy Li has a contract in hand, so we are preparing to escort these people back to the Li family.”

This way of handling the matter was clearly biased towards the Li family.

These farmhands would definitely not have a good ending if they were escorted back to the Li family. Being beaten up would be the lightest punishment; there might be other forms of torture.

These constables might be trying to get some benefits from the Li family, or they might be trying to smooth things over and resolve the matter, so they were handling it carelessly.

“Escort them to Liu Dahua and have him personally investigate the matter. Tell him that I said it, and that he must handle the matter fairly, justly, and reasonably, and try to satisfy all parties.”

Wu Changqing didn’t make the decision himself. If he expressed his opinion, the matter would basically be settled.

By throwing the matter to Liu Dahua, no matter what the verdict was, it would have nothing to do with him.

If anyone was dissatisfied with the verdict, they could only blame Liu Dahua, not Wu Changqing.

He passed the difficult problem to Liu Dahua, letting his subordinate be the villain.

What Liu Dahua was worried about was not being blamed by anyone. Neither the refugees nor the Li family were qualified to be his opponents, and being blamed would not hurt him in the slightest.

What Liu Dahua needed to worry about was whether his handling of the matter would satisfy Wu Changqing.

He needed to guess Wu Changqing’s thoughts from some details and then make a judgment that would satisfy Wu Changqing.

Liu Dahua knew that even if his judgment didn’t satisfy Wu Changqing, Wu Changqing wouldn’t show it in any way, but he would definitely give him a bad mark in his heart.

If his judgment could satisfy Wu Changqing, he wouldn’t get any substantial benefits for the time being, but he would be able to leave a good impression on Wu Changqing.

This good impression was invaluable.

In the future, when there were good positions available, Wu Changqing would most likely think of those he had a good impression of.

After receiving Wu Changqing’s instructions, Liu Dahua began to send people to investigate the matter in detail, daring not to make the slightest mistake.

While investigating the truth, he was still trying to figure out Wu Changqing’s thoughts.

Does His Majesty want to sympathize with these refugees? Or does he want to maintain the fairness of the law? Or does he want to take into account the interests of the landlord class?

This question was really difficult to figure out.

In the end, Liu Dahua decided to take a gamble, to favor the people while also making the Li family accept it.

The main reason he gambled like this was that he had sensed Wu Changqing’s concern for the people at the bottom from some of Wu Changqing’s previous policies.

Chapter 474: The Impact of the Test Drive

After inspecting the industrial zone, Wu Changqing returned to the palace.

As for that case, he didn’t really take it to heart.

In his previous life, as someone from the bottom rung of society, he would often be filled with righteous indignation when encountering similar news reports, and would stand on the side of the weak, waving the flag and shouting.

But now, as a person in power, his perspective has broadened considerably.

Wu Changqing knew that even if he sided with these refugees today and personally intervened to adjudicate, it would be meaningless.

Similar incidents were countless throughout the land. He could personally adjudicate and protect ten, a hundred, or even a thousand, but he couldn’t protect thousands upon thousands.

To solve this problem, one had to address the root cause.

And the root cause was simply poverty and the backwardness of productivity.

In Wu Changqing’s view, solving this problem was actually quite easy.

There was no need to formulate any related laws or forcibly compel landlords to release these long-term laborers.

Doing so would not only displease the landlord class, but also might not be effective in actual implementation.

The truly brilliant approach was to make the landlords voluntarily dismiss the long-term laborers.

The reason why landlords hired so many cheap long-term laborers now was simply because they needed so many people to farm the land.

Just produce more iron farm tools and agricultural machinery to liberate the labor force.

If the efficiency of a machine could exceed that of a long-term laborer, and the cost was lower than that of a long-term laborer, then the landlords themselves would actively drive away the long-term laborers and buy machines.

After all, raising a machine is always easier than raising a long-term laborer who has to eat every day.

These long-term laborers who were driven out would naturally regain their freedom and then go to work in factories or engage in other industries.

The best way to solve social problems is to improve the level of technology and increase productivity.

As for other laws and systems, they are all nonsense.

Throughout human history, major problems and contradictions have been resolved through technological progress.

Whether it was the slave system, the feudal system, the county system, or the Western European aristocracy, none of these could solve the problem of people’s food, only technology could.

Wu Changqing’s sudden visit outside the palace was just a whim.

However, the officials in the court did not think so. They were all trying to figure out the Emperor’s intentions and thinking about the purpose of Wu Changqing’s actions.

They really couldn’t be blamed for overthinking it. After all, the relationship between the Emperor and his ministers in the past relied on this kind of behavior.

The Emperor would not explicitly state many things, or it would be inconvenient to say them directly, so he would take some actions to let the officials guess.

Those who guessed correctly would naturally be able to make a response that satisfied the Emperor.

Those who guessed wrong would often be unlucky.

These officials had developed such habits, but they forgot that Wu Changqing was an emperor who rose up halfway. He had not received any imperial education or the art of controlling people since he was a child.

Wu Changqing was taking a wild approach. Continuing to use the old way of thinking as an official would obviously not have good results.

Of course, there were also some people who were familiar with Wu Changqing, people who were smart enough to use this old habit, but were always able to guess Wu Changqing’s thoughts.

The next day, the article “The Son of Heaven’s Test Drive” occupied the front page of the newspaper. The author was Wu Changqing’s mouthpiece, Secretary-General Wei Ziwen.

In the article, Wei Ziwen naturally praised Wu Changqing, exaggerating the Emperor’s test drive as a ‘holy act’ that benefited the people of the world.

At the same time, the article vigorously promoted public carriages, analyzing the advantages of public carriages one by one.

The effect of the article was very obvious. After the article was published, the number of people coming to ride the public carriage increased several times.

Many people came specifically to experience it.

Even the Emperor personally rode the carriage, it would be a pity not to experience it.

There was no such profession as a celebrity yet, but there were indeed many people who worshiped Wu Changqing among the people.

After experiencing it, many people gave the public carriage a thumbs up.

It was not only convenient and comfortable, but also very cheap.

It only cost three wen for less than five stops, and three wen more for every five stops. In other words, it only cost twelve wen to ride from beginning to end.

This was a fairly cheap price for the middle class.

Comfortable, convenient, cheap, and respectable, this mode of transportation quickly became the first choice for the middle class.

Even some wealthy families gradually chose to take public carriages.

Having to ride a private BMW car, just raising a horse was a considerable expense.

Wu Changqing riding the public carriage represented his attitude towards public carriages.

Some officials saw this trend, and their first choice for commuting to and from work became public carriages.

After all, there were only a few high-ranking officials who could afford BMW cars. There were also many low-level officials in the capital with very low salaries.

Taking public carriages was a good choice for them.

Some high-ranking officials who could even afford BMW cars, in order to make a political show and to express their support for Wu Changqing’s attitude, also wronged themselves by taking public carriages to and from work every day.

For example, Liu Dahua, he wanted to create an image of being close to the people, honest, and hardworking.

Riding the public carriage with the people, that was honest enough, right?

Other officials saw Liu Dahua’s actions, some despised him, and some admired him.

Being able to maintain a show for a long time was not an easy task.

The popularity of public carriages had a certain impact on rickshaws and the Tong family’s BMW cars, but the impact was not significant.

After all, the permanent population of Nanjing was still constantly rising.

Currently, there was only one public carriage route, and the business that could be grabbed was limited.

Moreover, private BMW cars were actually almost unsalable in Nanjing. Those who should have bought them had already bought them. Those who hadn’t bought them were basically unlikely to be able to afford them.

Now, the Tong family had shifted the focus of their business to other major cities, such as Suzhou, Songjiang, and Yangzhou.

Some were also exported overseas at high prices. The mode of transportation for Western European nobles was almost entirely by carriages. These BMW cars, which were equipped with springs and were extremely comfortable, were very popular in Western Europe.

Although there was a risk of being imitated by the other party after exporting, these were all minor problems.

As long as the advantage of monopoly can be used in the early stage to establish a reputation and establish a noble image, this commodity will be attached with face value.

As long as the upper class forms the concept that ‘using Great Hua BMW cars is a symbol of status’, then BMW cars will hardly encounter competitors.

Concepts are very terrible things. Once enough people recognize a certain concept, even a broken stone can be sold at a sky-high price.

For example, diamonds.

When did diamonds become representative of eternal love?

Shouldn’t the most eternal thing be the sun’s rays that have been around for billions of years? Two people who bask in the eternal sunlight every day don’t necessarily have eternal love.

Chapter 475: Taijia Village

On April 20th, Liu Hansan’s main force arrived outside Xuzhou City and set up camp three li away.

Liu Hansan’s arrival meant that Wanyan Yechen no longer had to worry about whether to leave the city to support the reinforcements.

Their top priority had become defending against the enemy outside the city, and they dared not have any other thoughts.

At the same time, Shang Kexi, who had rushed from Linyi, also stationed his troops at Taijia Village, which would later be known as Taierzhuang.

Taijia Village controlled the Grand Canal and was an important strategic location.

Moreover, the current ancient city of Taijia Village was surrounded by water on all sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

This was the Grand Canal, not the kind of moat that was only one or two meters wide, or at most three or four meters.

This was a natural moat dozens of meters wide, impossible to fill.

Moreover, the city walls of Taijia Village were very close to the water’s edge, in some places even right on the water.

This created a situation where the attacking troops had no space to position their forces.

Even how to get people close to the city walls was a big problem, let alone transporting siege ladders or anything like that to the foot of the city.

Although the city walls of Taijia Village were not high, only about three or four meters, the difficulty of attacking was even greater than attacking ordinary five or six-meter-high walls.

Qian Sule was responsible for eliminating Shang Kexi’s forces and capturing Taijia Village.

With the death of Zhu Yihai, Qian Sule began to be valued. After all, compared to some self-taught military officers, Qian Sule’s military literacy was much higher.

Moreover, he was a good learner, and his grades were among the best when he studied at the military academy.

If it weren’t for his background, he would have at least risen to the position of army commander or even chief of the general staff by now.

But now, he was just a division commander.

However, his 22nd Division was the main division of the North Army Corps, with excellent weapons and equipment.

When facing other ordinary divisions, he was in a dominant position.

Like now, in addition to his division, a brigade from the 27th Division was also temporarily assigned to Qian Sule’s command.

At the same time, the navy was also cooperating with Qian Sule’s actions, and theoretically, they were also supposed to listen to Qian Sule’s orders.

Of course, this was only in theory.

In reality, the army and navy were more like a cooperative relationship.

In order to cooperate with the army’s actions, the navy would obey the orders of the army generals.

However, they reserved the right to disobey at any time. If this really happened, the army generals could do nothing about it.

Of course, this has not happened in the Great Hua army yet.

“This damn place is not easy to attack.”

Qian Sule put down his binoculars and complained.

If he could, he would rather not attack this place, but occupy the surrounding areas and then force the Qing army to retreat.

However, that would take too much time and too many troops.

Currently, the only option Qian Sule could choose was to attack by force.

“You can send an envoy to persuade them to surrender first. It won’t hurt to try. What if it succeeds?”

His subordinate advised.

Anyway, even if the persuasion failed, there would not be much loss.

But if it succeeded, it would be a great profit.

Although Qian Sule was not optimistic about persuading them to surrender, he adopted his subordinate’s suggestion and sent an eloquent envoy over.

As a result, Shang Kexi mocked him and threatened to make the Hua army suffer in Taijia Village.

Great Hua was powerful, but there were some people in this world who were not afraid.

The reasons for this were complex, but none of that mattered.

The persuasion failed, and Qian Sule began to arrange the general attack.

He was now impatiently wanting to break through the city, and then capture Shang Kexi and ask him who, and what, gave him the courage to be so arrogant.

The next day, the navy took the lead.

A total of thirty large ships, including ten warships and three steamships, were loaded with about two hundred cannons.

The rest were transport ships, responsible for transporting the army across the river.

These two hundred cannons were the key to breaking the city.

They needed to rely on these cannons to destroy the enemy’s city walls and reduce the difficulty of the army’s siege.

Ten warships sailed on the river, and at this distance, they could launch artillery fire on the city walls.

This time, they were using solid shot, in order to destroy the enemy’s city walls.

The sound of cannons rang out, and hundreds of cannons fired together, the momentum was quite astonishing.

Shang Kexi didn’t dare to go on the city wall, fearing that he would be killed by the Hua army’s artillery fire.

Only a few low-ranking officers remained on the city wall, and they were forced to stay, unwillingly.

The reputation of the Great Hua artillery had long spread throughout the Qing army.

After a few rounds of cannon fire, a Qing army squad leader wondered: “Could it be that the rumors are wrong? The power of this Hua army’s artillery seems to be about the same as our artillery.”

The lethality of solid shot was naturally very average.

What’s more, the Hua army was not aiming at the soldiers, but at the city walls.

Only a few stray shells flew onto the city walls, and the others posed no danger to the Qing soldiers.

“Something’s not right. The Hua army seems to be using solid shot, not the rumored explosive shells.”

Another more careful squad leader said.

As he spoke, he suddenly realized and exclaimed: “Not good, they want to destroy our city walls.”

Having discovered this situation, he immediately went down the city wall and reported to Shang Kexi.

“These Hua army are really cunning, but unfortunately, I am not easy to deal with. Order the artillery from other places to be transferred to the northwest corner and fire back at them.”

Shang Kexi snorted disdainfully.

“But sir, isn’t it written in the military manual not to fire back at the Hua army’s cannons, but to hide the cannons and shoot at the enemy’s infantry soldiers?”

His eldest son, Shang Zhixin, reminded him.

The Qing army had summarized many methods for dealing with the Hua army, printed them into booklets, and distributed them to various departments, so that the generals of each department could study them carefully, so as not to suffer losses when fighting against the Hua army.

Although the Hua army’s weapons and equipment were very advanced, as long as they were dealt with properly, there were still many ways to reduce casualties.

For example, setting up some bunkers on the city walls could effectively resist the Hua army’s explosive shells.

Another example was not to attack hollow square formations, and not to launch charges against flintlock rifle units, and so on.

“Stupid, there are no fixed tactics in war, just as water has no constant shape. Military tactics can only be used for reference, not applied rigidly. You probably overlooked that the enemy’s current artillery is on ships. How much loss can their artillery cause us when it lands on our city walls? How much loss can we cause them by sinking one of their large ships?”

Shang Kexi reprimanded.

Experienced generals all understand a truth, that no two battles are exactly the same, and the principles of military strategy need to be combined with the current actual situation.

If you blindly apply them, you will be finished.

Xiang Yu even played the game of destroying the pots and sinking the boats, and then won more with less. Can others play like this?

Without Xiang Yu’s prestige, wouldn’t playing like this force the soldiers to surrender?

Cutting off the retreat has always been a great taboo in military affairs.

The current situation faced by Shang Kexi was completely different from the situation summarized in the military manual.

A warship cost tens of thousands of taels to build, the artillery on it was worth tens of thousands of taels, plus a ship of soldiers and other supplies.

As long as they sank one of the Hua army’s warships, they would make a big profit, enough to make the Hua army retreat in pain.

Chapter 476: Can’t Afford the Loss

“Your son understands.”

Shang Zhixin learned another trick.

Like father, like son, isn’t necessarily about genetic inheritance, it could also be because they have a good teacher providing one-on-one instruction from a young age.

After Shang Kexi issued his orders, the cannons scattered throughout the city were urgently transported to the northwest corner, and they began to exchange fire with the Great Hua army.

They didn’t have many, only about seventy.

However, this still posed a great threat to the Great Hua warships, because the distance between the two sides was too close, making it easier to hit accurately.

The sounds of cannons from both sides rang out, and the Great Hua army’s cannons once again inflicted some damage on the enemy’s city walls.

At this rate, another one or two hours of bombardment would be enough to bring down the city walls.

After all, the city walls of this small county town were not very thick or sturdy.

However, while they were inflicting damage on the city walls, they were also suffering from the enemy’s cannon fire.

One cannonball slammed into the deck, killing several Great Hua soldiers and causing some damage to the deck.

Another cannonball was even more devastating, hitting the Jiangning’s hull at the waterline, causing a section of the wooden hull to cave in, and some river water had already begun to seep into the hull.

Wooden warships had extremely limited defense against solid shot cannonballs.

The two sides were close, the kinetic energy loss of the cannonballs was small, and the kinetic energy acting on the ships was naturally greater, making the power seem astonishing.

“Change ammunition, switch to howitzer shells, prioritize killing the enemy artillery.”

The Great Hua army’s response was also quite quick, they immediately abandoned the act of bombarding the city walls, and decided to kill the enemy who could threaten them first.

Suddenly, there was a flurry of activity on the ships.

Large numbers of solid shot were moved back to the ammunition depot, and howitzer shells were moved out of the ammunition depot.

This delayed them a little, and in this short time, more ships were hit by cannon fire.

However, what followed was a disaster for the Qing army.

A large number of howitzer shells landed on the Qing army’s artillery positions, killing their artillerymen.

A chorus of screams rang out from the Qing army’s artillery positions.

“No retreat! Those who retreat will be killed without exception! Staying here offers a glimmer of hope. Even if you die in battle, your families will be taken care of and treated well. Since death is inevitable, think more about your families!”

When the supervisors saw that the artillerymen were beginning to panic, they immediately drew their swords, threatening and intimidating them while also lecturing them with great principles.

Coercion and inducement, a two-pronged approach, still had some effect.

Of course, the most important thing was that Shang Kexi had arranged enough supervisors, so many that the artillerymen could not see any hope of escape, and could only grit their teeth and persevere.

The Qing army’s artillerymen were in pain, and the Great Hua army was not having an easy time either.

The Jiangning had already been hit by a second cannonball, although not in the same location, the Jiangning’s condition had worsened.

Both places were taking on water, and if this continued, it would sink.

Other ships had also suffered varying degrees of damage.

“Captain, we can’t fight like this, we’re taking too much of a loss. The Jiangning has been hit and needs to retreat, otherwise, if it gets hit a few more times, the Jiangning will flood and sink. If the Jiangning sinks, we can’t afford that responsibility!”

On the flagship, a staff officer said to Liu Wanghai, the commander of the navy for this operation.

“But, the orders we received were to blow up the enemy’s city walls. If we retreat now, the army might have objections,”

Another general said, this was also a problem that had to be considered.

“At this time, who cares about the army? It’s important to save the ships first! This Jiangning alone is worth almost one hundred thousand taels of silver. If it sinks here, we’ll all be dismissed. So what if the army is unhappy? Can they control us? Can they fire us?”

The chief of staff urged.

When fighting a war, it’s necessary to consider the issue of returns. If they were fighting the enemy’s navy, then sinking one or two ships wouldn’t be a big deal, because they could sink more enemy ships and achieve a large enough return.

But now, the enemy could destroy their expensive ships, and they could only destroy the enemy’s worthless city walls.

This kind of broken city wall could be built by simply conscripting a few laborers. They wouldn’t even need to pay wages, just provide food.

“Retreat first, we’ll think of a countermeasure when we get back.”

Liu Wanghai ordered the entire army to retreat. Taizhuang still had to be taken, but they couldn’t just blindly attack like this.

“Hahaha, the so-called Great Hua army is nothing more than this!”

Shang Kexi laughed loudly when he saw the Great Hua army retreating from the city walls.

Of course, this kind of laughter was actually feigned, in order to build confidence in his subordinates.

In Shang Kexi’s heart, he was actually very regretful at this time.

He really hoped that the Great Hua navy wouldn’t retreat, that way he wouldn’t mind writing off all the artillery, as long as he could sink one Great Hua ship, it would be worth it.

Moreover, judging from the situation just now, if the Great Hua army hadn’t retreated, more than one ship would have sunk for sure.

The exchange of fire had only lasted less than ten minutes, and one of the Great Hua ships was already taking on water.

What a pity, what a pity, Shang Kexi sighed in his heart.

If those ships weren’t sunk, the losses wouldn’t be too great.

The places destroyed by the cannonballs could be repaired at the shipyard.

They were all made of wooden planks, and repairs wouldn’t cost much.

The navy retreated to the temporary dock on the south bank in a dispirited manner, and then the repair workers began to rescue the Jiangning.

The other damaged warships also needed to be repaired.

Although the damaged locations on the other ships were not too important, every part of the ship had its function, and being damaged would definitely have an impact.

The navy’s sudden and crestfallen return greatly dissatisfied the army.

The city walls hadn’t even been breached yet, so how were they supposed to attack the city?

“Lord Liu, why did your unit retreat midway?”

Qian Sule questioned.

“The Jiangning was about to sink, should we have continued fighting without retreating? If the ship had sunk, would you army have compensated us?”

Liu Wanghai complained, they had suffered a setback, and he was full of anger at this time.

“Lord Liu, that’s too much to say. According to you, wouldn’t we army have to seek compensation from your navy for the lives of so many brothers who died in battle?”

An army regimental commander directly opened fire, after all, Liu Wanghai’s words were too outrageous.

This battle was fought for Great Hua, not for the army, so there was no reason to seek compensation from the army for battle damage.

“One Jiangning is worth one hundred thousand taels of silver.”

Liu Wanghai said angrily.

“Oh, I understand, Lord Liu means that the lives of our army soldiers are cheap and worthless.”

The army continued to mock.

“Yan, you don’t need to set me up, that’s meaningless.”

In Liu Wanghai’s view, the lives of army soldiers were definitely not as valuable as the Jiangning. But these words could not be said or admitted, otherwise the soldiers would definitely have opinions in their hearts.

“Stop arguing, let’s think about how to solve the problem next.”

Qian Sule interrupted their mutual ridicule, this kind of sarcasm was meaningless.

Chapter 477: The Solution

With the dispute paused, everyone began to brainstorm countermeasures.

Attacking the Tai Family Fort was impossible without the navy’s assistance.

“Perhaps, we can leverage the navy’s mobility. Their cannons are limited and can only defend a section of the wall. Besides, they are difficult to move around,” Liu Wanghai suggested.

The navy’s maneuverability on the water was far superior to the Qing army’s artillery. As long as they avoided the Qing army’s cannons and harassed them from all directions, they wouldn’t have to worry about danger.

“But we need to destroy the enemy’s walls. Your hit-and-run tactics are meaningless. We don’t have many solid shot cannonballs, so we can only concentrate our fire on one section of the wall to achieve results. Furthermore, the northwest corner is the most suitable landing spot according to our reconnaissance,” Old Man Yan retorted.

“We don’t necessarily have to breach the enemy’s walls. We can use howitzer shells to inflict casualties and harass the enemy from all directions. When they are thoroughly disoriented, we can seize the opportunity to land and take them down in one fell swoop,” Liu Wanghai said. He would never agree to pitting his fleet against the enemy’s cannons again.

“That probably won’t work. Without breaching the walls, even a sneak attack will be difficult to pull off. If the enemy has enough hand grenades, it will be difficult for us to scale the walls,” Qian Sule said, still hoping the navy would risk a direct confrontation with the Qing army’s artillery.

As long as the Qing army’s artillery was taken out, they would have complete control.

Qian Sule didn’t really consider the possibility of one or two ships being sunk. After all, it was the navy’s problem, not his to worry about.

Moreover, in Qian Sule’s view, capturing this strategic location and eliminating over ten thousand enemy soldiers was worth more than one hundred thousand taels of silver.

Overall, it wouldn’t be a loss.

However, Liu Wanghai refused, saying that he needed to request instructions from above.

This was essentially a refusal to fight. After all, it was several days’ journey to the headquarters in Nanjing. By the time the request was made and a response received, it would be too late.

“Perhaps we can have the air force join the battle as well. The navy can engage them in a firefight to draw out the enemy’s artillery, then the air force can carry out precision bombing to eliminate the enemy’s artillery,” a regimental commander suggested.

Although this plan still involved some risk for the navy, it was significantly less than before. They only needed to hold out for a short time.

The key to this plan was whether the air force could perform precision strikes.

Everyone turned to look at An Kangnian, the battalion commander of the air force contingent. An Kangnian hesitated before saying, “Although I can’t guarantee one hundred percent accuracy, we can give it a try.”

The air force’s current role was limited to providing fire support. Flying over the enemy and dropping bombs was considered a completed mission, and how many enemies were killed was a matter of luck.

Asking them to perform complex and specific tasks was still a bit of a stretch.

“Then it’s settled. We need to hurry back to Xuzhou and launch a full-scale attack before Hauge’s forces arrive,” Qian Sule reminded Liu Wanghai, urging him to consider the overall situation.

They couldn’t let the fear of a small loss affect the overall plan. The value of the overall plan was immeasurable.

With the plan revised, the shipwrights accelerated the repairs on the warships.

However, the Jiangning was beyond repair for the time being. It was too severely damaged and required extensive repairs.

The next day, the ten warships were reduced to nine as they returned to the northwest corner to launch another artillery barrage.

The air force was also on the shore, ready to take off at any moment.

“These enemies really don’t learn. They’re coming to die again,” Shang Zhixin sneered from the city tower, watching the Great Hua army repeat their tactics.

However, Shang Kexi frowned.

He didn’t think the Great Hua army’s commander was an idiot who would repeat the same mistake.

Since the Great Hua army had returned, they must have come up with a countermeasure.

But what that countermeasure was, Shang Kexi couldn’t figure out for the moment.

Helpless, Shang Kexi could only wait and see.

Soon, the Qing army’s cannons roared, and the two sides began exchanging fire once again.

Having confirmed the Qing army’s artillery positions, the air force began to ascend.

The distance between the two sides was only a hundred meters. When the air force rose into the air, the Qing army spotted them.

“So that’s it,” Shang Kexi suddenly understood the Great Hua army’s plan.

However, even though he understood, he couldn’t think of a way to counter it.

Not everyone had the quick wit to come up with a plan on the spot. Many strategies required discussion and verification among multiple people, or time to think.

But now, with the Great Hua air force about to arrive, there was no time for Shang Kexi to come up with a brilliant plan.

He could only order the musketeers to quickly ascend the city walls and shoot at the Great Hua air force.

With the accuracy of flintlock rifles, hitting a small target in the air was extremely difficult.

Shang Kexi could only try his luck.

Both sides were reacting to each other’s moves. Soon, the air force arrived above the city walls, and the Qing soldiers began firing their guns into the sky.

Even though the accuracy of flintlock rifles was low, sometimes luck played a part.

One of the hydrogen balloons was hit, causing it to leak.

Immediately afterward, the soldiers in the gondola plummeted to the ground.

In such a situation, the soldiers were almost certain to die.

The Great Hua air force soldiers were trained to know what to do in this situation.

As long as they ignited all the explosives and made a final stand, their families would be well taken care of.

Most of the air force soldiers were able to do this.

After all, they enjoyed the best treatment among all the branches of the military. Many soldiers were eager to join the air force.

The more they enjoyed, the more they had to give.

“Boom!”

A deafening roar.

Dust billowed from the point of explosion, forming a mushroom cloud several meters high.

The collective explosion of those large bombs was terrifying.

Soldiers as far as ten meters away were still blown away by the shockwave and thrown off the wall, half-dead from the fall.

Those who were closer were already dead.

As for the soldiers at the center of the explosion, not even their bones could be found. They were blown to who knows where.

The advent of thermal weapons meant that dying without a complete corpse was becoming increasingly common.

Having broken through the Qing army’s blockade, the air force reached a position dozens of meters above the Qing army’s artillery.

It was difficult to aim accurately at this height, but they couldn’t lower their altitude. After all, the navy’s shells were also being fired in this direction.

If they were too low, they might be hit by friendly fire.

Even if they weren’t hit, watching shells fly past them was a test of the air force soldiers’ mental fortitude.

Then, the bombs began to fall.

Chapter 478: The Artillery Has Gone Mad

One after another, cannonballs fell on the enemy artillery, some hitting their mark, instantly obliterating an entire gun crew.

Not only were the artillerymen killed, but even the cannons suffered a certain degree of damage.

Aerial bombs weighing dozens of Jin were incredibly powerful.

However, due to the high altitude, only a few bombs hit their mark. The vast majority were difficult to accurately drop onto the city walls.

The city walls of Taijia Village were simply too narrow, barely wide enough to accommodate a single cannon.

Bombs that missed the city walls did little damage to the Qing army.

But that didn’t matter, the air force had plenty of bombs, so they continued to drop them.

Compared to the Qing army’s careful calculations, the Great Hua army didn’t have to worry so much during battle, throwing cannonballs as if they were free.

Faced with the Great Hua army’s extravagant behavior, the Qing artillery suffered unspeakable misery.

Cannonballs constantly fell among them, each hit causing a massacre of the artillerymen.

In addition to the threat of aerial bombs from the air force, they also had to endure the shelling from the Great Hua navy.

Under this double bombardment, the Qing artillery had suffered nearly a third of their casualties after only a few rounds.

Under normal circumstances, reaching this level of attrition would cause the remaining soldiers to collapse.

But now, because Shang Kexi had deployed a supervisory team of over a thousand men, more than the total number of artillerymen, they could maintain one-on-one supervision, leaving the artillerymen without the slightest chance to escape.

Helpless, they could only numbly continue firing.

Shang Kexi’s ruthless methods did indeed cause great trouble for the Great Hua army.

In their counterattack, more than a dozen cannonballs struck the Great Hua warships.

Among them, some cannonballs hit the ship’s hull, causing the Great Hua warship to begin taking on water.

“Those damn air force guys are really useless. They eat well and drink well usually, but when it comes to a critical moment, they’re no good at all,” Liu Wanghai cursed.

The air force had the best treatment, and it was impossible for other branches not to be envious.

Usually, everyone couldn’t find fault with them, so there was nothing to say.

But now that the air force’s performance was unsatisfactory, the navy’s generals and soldiers had their opinions.

“What should we do then? Should we retreat for now?”

His subordinate once again suggested retreating.

“That’s easier said than done. If we retreat now, Qian Sule will definitely report me to His Majesty. My personal career is a small matter, but it would be terrible if His Majesty got the impression that my navy is afraid of death,” Liu Wanghai complained.

The first retreat could be excused as being caught off guard.

But now, everyone was mentally prepared for this situation and had decided to complete the mission at all costs. Retreating at this time would seem to disregard the overall situation.

“Tell those guys to fire faster. They were always slacking off during training, now they know they were wrong, right?”

Liu Wanghai could only worry anxiously, he could only give some commands from a global perspective.

As for the details of the current firefight, he could only rely on the soldiers; he couldn’t improve the soldiers’ speed and accuracy through command.

Right now, they could only endure, enduring until the other side couldn’t hold on any longer.

The exchange of fire continued, and the entire Taijia Village was shrouded in the sound of explosions.

Some infants in the village were crying incessantly from the explosions, while the teenagers hid under their beds, trembling.

Most of the people were hiding in their homes, praying to the gods. Of course, there were also a few brave people who climbed onto the roofs to watch the battle.

The sight of cannonballs flying everywhere was quite novel and shocking for people who had never seen anything like it.

Gradually, the sound of explosions began to decrease and weaken.

Mainly because the Qing army’s losses were too heavy, and there were fewer and fewer artillerymen who could continue fighting.

Finally, of the nearly eight hundred artillerymen, only a little over a hundred remained.

Then, some of the surviving Qing artillerymen began to collapse, becoming mentally deranged and going mad.

They no longer cared about the supervisory team’s swords and were determined to walk down the city walls. The supervisory team’s swords struck them, but they didn’t resist, just letting the others cut them down.

One batch was killed, and the next batch continued.

The supervisory team could only supervise the normal people; they had no way to deal with these madmen.

There were also some soldiers who hadn’t gone mad who jumped directly off the city walls.

Jumping off such a high city wall could result in death, but it was also possible to only break a leg, depending on luck, at least there was a chance of survival.

But staying on the city wall meant certain death, it was only a matter of time.

“Open fire, throw grenades, don’t let a single deserter go,” the new supervisory team captain shouted. The head of the supervisory team had already been replaced; the previous one had been hit by the shockwave of a cannonball and kicked the bucket.

In this wave of bombing, nearly a hundred members of the supervisory team had also died, all from the shockwaves of the cannonballs.

The supervisory team received the order and immediately threw grenades down the city walls.

They wanted to use this almost merciless method to tell the other soldiers that desertion meant certain death.

The few soldiers who fell under the city walls and broke their legs were soon met with a grenade bombardment.

This situation once again drove several artillerymen mad.

This battle was too cruel, there was no chance of survival at all.

The Great Hua air force had finished dropping their bombs and returned, and the Qing artillery had been reduced to less than one in ten.

The remaining dozens of people were also somewhat mentally unstable.

These people seemed to be alive, but they were almost as good as dead.

In short, only two Qing cannons were still firing.

Their artillery force had been completely destroyed.

However, in terms of value, the Great Hua army’s losses were greater than the Qing army’s.

How much were these eight hundred artillerymen and these cannons worth? At most, forty to fifty thousand taels, no more than that.

But at this time, one of the Great Hua army’s warships was sinking.

The sinking speed was a bit fast, and the cannons on board couldn’t be saved. The Great Hua army could only send out small boats to rescue the people on board.

Although some other warships didn’t take on water and sink, they had all suffered some damage.

After this battle, this fleet would need to return to Nanjing for major repairs.

Although they lost a warship, at least they eliminated the enemy’s artillery threat, so it wasn’t a complete loss, and they also achieved their plan.

Without the threat of enemy cannons, the remaining navy could leisurely continue firing at the original crumbling section of the city wall.

Before long, most of that section of the city wall had collapsed, revealing a gap more than thirty meters long.

This gap was more than two meters lower than the other city walls, and the remaining rubble piled up was only a little over a meter high.

This height no longer had any defensive effect.

Qian Sule on the south bank finally smiled when he saw this situation, and then ordered the transport ships, already filled with infantry, to move out, officially beginning the siege.

Chapter 479: Flamethrowers

“The difference in national strength, ah.”

Shang Kexi sighed. In the artillery duel just now, he hadn’t exactly lost, strictly speaking.

However, the Qing Dynasty would feel the pain of losing eight hundred artillerymen, but for Great Hua, losing a warship wasn’t a big deal. They could build another one in no time.

So, any battle where they didn’t gain an advantage was a loss for the Qing Dynasty.

They didn’t have the resources to compete in a war of attrition.

“Father, do we still need to hold this place?”

Shang Zhixin asked.

With the artillery gone and the city walls collapsed, continuing to defend this place might not be a wise choice.

“Let’s hold on for a while. Anyway, this is something we’ll have to face sooner or later. Even if we retreat now, how many places are there to retreat to? Sooner or later, we’ll have to fight the Hua army.

Right now, I just hope that our defense here can buy Prince Su enough time.”

Shang Kexi said.

“Father, since you don’t have a favorable opinion of the Qing Dynasty, why do you continue to be loyal? Why not defect to Great Hua?”

Shang Zhixin said.

Others wouldn’t dare to say such words easily, but they were father and son, so there was no need to worry.

Even if Shang Kexi was a staunch loyalist of the Qing Dynasty, he wouldn’t kill Shang Zhixin for the sake of righteousness.

Moreover, Shang Zhixin also knew that his father wasn’t loyal to the Qing Dynasty, but was merely a victim of circumstance.

Shang Kexi initially joined the Ming army and fought many battles against the Later Jin. His father also died at the hands of the Later Jin. When the Later Jin captured Lushun, all of his family members in Lushun were killed.

It could be said that he had a grudge against the Later Jin, and a rather large one at that.

However, he had a feud with Shen Shikai, the garrison commander of Dongjiang in the Ming Dynasty at the time. Shen Shikai plotted to harm him. To save his life, he had no choice but to defect to his enemy, Huang Taiji.

Then, he was highly valued by Huang Taiji.

But no matter how much he was valued, Shang Kexi could never be loyal to the Qing Dynasty, nor would he be loyal to the Ming Dynasty or Great Hua. He was a refined egoist, loyal only to himself.

To save his life, he could pledge allegiance to his enemies. For wealth and glory, he could sell out the Qing Dynasty without hesitation.

All of this depended on whether he could get enough benefits.

“It’s too late. If there had been a chance to rebel when the Hua army had just taken Nanjing, I might have defected. But now, there’s no need. Adding flowers to brocade is not as good as offering charcoal in the snow.

Great Hua already has no shortage of civil and military officials. Defecting now would not only mean starting low, with no status or future, but also being easily squeezed out by the original officials. But if we continue to stay in the Qing Dynasty, it would be like offering charcoal in the snow. The Qing Dynasty would value and rely on us even more. If one day the Qing Dynasty can reverse the situation and turn defeat into victory, the benefits that we meritorious officials could receive would be unimaginable.”

Shang Kexi’s thinking was a little different from others. Others were like fence-sitters, leaning towards whichever side was stronger.

But Shang Kexi took a different approach, preferring to surrender to the weaker side.

When he surrendered to Huang Taiji, the Ming Dynasty’s strength on paper was at least dozens of times greater than that of the Later Jin.

But he still did it, and the result, of course, was extremely successful for him personally.

If he had stayed in the Ming Dynasty, he would have only been a deputy general under a garrison commander, and even a small garrison commander dared to secretly plot to harm him. But when he arrived in the Later Jin, Huang Taiji greeted him thirty li outside the city and even made him Prince Zhishun.

His status was among the highest in the Later Jin.

Shang Kexi’s words sounded reasonable.

However, Shang Zhixin was already an adult and had his own views.

In his opinion, if the Qing Dynasty couldn’t stop Great Hua and was eventually destroyed by Great Hua, then offering charcoal in the snow would be meaningless.

And the current situation was evolving in that direction.

This Qing Dynasty seemed beyond saving, no matter how much charcoal was sent.

As they were talking, the Hua army’s ships were approaching.

While still on the river, the Qing army soldiers began shooting at the Hua army’s ships, because the distance between the two sides was too close, only a few dozen meters.

The Hua army soldiers were not to be outdone, and began to fight back while on the ships.

However, these were just insignificant losses that couldn’t affect the overall situation.

Soon after, the Hua army ships landed, and a large number of soldiers poured off the ships, organizing their formations and walking towards the gap in the city wall.

When they reached the gap, the Qing army soldiers emerged, and then both sides fired a shot.

Because the distance was too close, there was no time to reload after firing the first shot.

Reloading at this time would not be as fast as rushing directly to the enemy.

Moreover, the Hua army did indeed do just that.

After firing the first shot, they launched a charge.

Seeing this, the Qing army naturally abandoned their intention to shoot and began to engage in melee combat.

The soldiers of both sides engaged in a fierce battle on this ruin, and in this almost fair fighting style, the Hua army actually didn’t gain much of an advantage.

After fighting fiercely for several quarters of an hour, the troops had been rotated three times, but they still hadn’t made an effective breakthrough.

Although the morale of the Hua army was high, the Qing army, relying on Shang Kexi’s high-pressure tactics, had soldiers who were also fighting to the death and refusing to retreat.

These high-pressure tactics were actually extremely harmful to the Qing army. As long as there was an opportunity, the soldiers would definitely desert in large numbers. No soldier was willing to follow such a general.

However, that was a long-term harm, and it hadn’t yet manifested on the battlefield.

Shang Kexi was actually very aware of this potential harm, but he couldn’t care less. He could only rely on this method to compete with the Hua army.

As of now, he had achieved good results.

The Hua army was unable to break through for a long time, so they could only rely on their ultimate move again, using new weapons.

Whenever they couldn’t break the deadlock, they would use the enemy’s lack of understanding of new weapons to gain a great advantage.

This time, the Hua army had of course prepared a good gift for Shang Kexi.

A transport ship landed, and fifteen soldiers with iron buckets on their backs came ashore. A long iron pipe was connected to the iron bucket, and a soldier was specifically holding it.

This group of people, under the protection of a squad of soldiers, approached the gap in the city wall.

These were the Hua army’s flamethrowers, and they were carrying flamethrowers on their backs.

Throughout history, the use of fire in war has always been highly valued.

The history of the primitive flamethrower even predates that of the musket, but it couldn’t be promoted and popularized due to its many flaws.

After Great Hua’s mechanical processing capabilities improved, some of the flamethrower’s flaws were resolved.

As a result, the armory manufactured a batch of flamethrowers that still looked very primitive.

Its power didn’t rely on automatic air compression, but on manual cranking to provide the power to spray flammable liquids.

Moreover, its ignition device could only be used once.

In other words, after ignition, all of the flammable liquid had to be sprayed out. If it stopped midway, there was no way to ignite it a second time.

Compared to the freely controllable flamethrowers of later generations, it was as primitive as could be.

Chapter 480: Capture

“Make way for the flamethrowers!”

Great Hua soldiers shouted, and several paths immediately opened in the dense formation, allowing the flamethrowers to rush to the front line.

The Qing army, who were confronting the Great Hua army, were momentarily confused when they saw the people carrying strange contraptions on their backs.

But they didn’t have time to think too much. After the flamethrowers rushed to the front, they immediately aimed the nozzles at the Qing army and began to frantically crank the handles, also turning on the ignition devices.

Instantly, more than a dozen scorching flames shot towards the Qing soldiers.

Screams rose and fell, incessant and continuous.

The liquid sprayed out contained tar and other sticky, flammable liquids. Once it stuck to the body, there was no hope of removing it.

The lethality of flamethrowers wasn’t actually that great. Their biggest effect was deterrence.

After all, what was more terrifying than death was dying in agony.

Being shot to death was only a moment’s matter. Although the Qing soldiers were afraid, they weren’t so afraid that they dared not fight.

However, the miserable state of those soldiers engulfed in flames completely terrified the remaining Qing army.

Soldiers burned by flames didn’t die quickly. The pain of being constantly burned by fire was enough to give anyone goosebumps just thinking about it.

Coupled with the soldiers’ painful screams, the scene was truly terrifying, like a living hell.

Even battle-hardened veterans felt a chill down their spines when they saw such a scene.

The Great Hua army’s flamethrowers continued to advance, constantly spewing flames.

The remaining Qing army couldn’t help but begin to retreat, wanting to avoid the brunt of the attack. The already incredibly dense formation became even more congested.

As they retreated, the people in the back retreated to the front of the supervisory team.

They were also afraid of the supervisory team’s bayonets.

However, the soldiers in front were desperately pushing back, forcing the people behind to bump into the supervisory team.

The supervisory team naturally wouldn’t be polite with them, and stabbed with their spears.

The supervisory team was somewhat useful in preventing a small number of soldiers from deserting.

But when everyone wanted to escape, the supervisory team was actually just a decoration. After all, the number of the supervisory team was far less than the number of those being supervised.

The soldiers being supervised also had weapons in their hands. Once they were determined to resist, their combat power was even stronger than the supervisory team.

No one knew who took the lead, but a member of the supervisory team was stabbed to death.

Once this breach was opened, the other soldiers also went all out. Either way, they were going to die. Dying under a bayonet was better than being burned alive by flames.

A large number of soldiers began to spontaneously resist, killing the supervisory team and causing them to flee in panic.

The more the supervisory team fled, the more excited the soldiers became.

The soldiers on the front line had more or less hated the supervisory team.

At this point, the breach was officially lost.

The Great Hua army took advantage of this opportunity to rush into the city, then met the Qing army reinforcements head-on, and the two sides fought together again.

However, the situation at this time was completely different from the fierce battle at the breach just now.

That breach was the Qing soldiers’ psychological defense line. As long as the breach was not lost, they still had the confidence to defend Taijia Village.

But now that the breach had been breached, the Qing soldiers knew in their hearts that continuing to struggle was futile.

At this time, they no longer wholeheartedly wanted to fight to the death, but were thinking about whether they could take advantage of the chaos to find a civilian house to sneak into and take refuge.

At the same time, because the reinforcements were not equipped with a supervisory team in time, the soldiers’ will to resist was greatly reduced compared to before. After encountering some major casualties, the rest scattered in a panic.

On the city tower, Shang Kexi could only sigh as he watched this scene.

He remembered a sentence that had been mentioned in many previous Qing army battle reports.

“This battle is not a sin of war, but because the enemy’s weapons are too advanced, and our army was caught off guard.”

At this moment, Shang Kexi truly experienced the taste of this sentence.

Just a dozen or so flamethrowers greatly affected the trend of the battle.

Was this weapon really that powerful? Probably not. It was just that everyone had never seen it before and was not psychologically prepared, which led to panic.

Reviewing the many previous battles, coupled with the current situation, Shang Kexi finally understood why Wu Changqing gave titles to a group of craftsmen at the enthronement ceremony.

At that time, the rewards at Wu Changqing’s enthronement ceremony were incomprehensible to both the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty officials.

They believed that the most important civil servant group received the least rewards.

They could barely understand that military generals received the most generous rewards, after all, Wu Changqing rose to power by force.

However, some craftsmen who made weapons and other machinery were also granted titles, which was beyond the understanding of those old-fashioned officials.

They couldn’t figure out how people who should belong to the lower class could be granted titles.

Even if they made a significant contribution, giving them some silver would already be a great grace.

Until now, Shang Kexi understood how terrible the role of those craftsmen engaged in research was. They simply dominated the victory or defeat on the battlefield.

Shang Kexi felt that he should also submit a memorial to the Qing Dynasty court, using titles to attract talents into the research field.

There must be brave men under heavy rewards. If titles were not used as an enticement, why would those truly talented people stay in the Qing Dynasty? Wouldn’t it be better to go to Great Hua and get a title?

“Father, let’s retreat quickly, or we won’t be able to leave.”

Shang Zhixin reminded him.

Shang Kexi was not an inflexible person. Seeing that things could not be done, he immediately took his personal soldiers and fled across the river from the north gate.

As for the soldiers in the city, there was no way to take them away.

They still had to rely on these soldiers to hold back the Ming army, so as to avoid the Ming army from pursuing them.

Shang Kexi and others ran away secretly. Some of the officers below were still unaware and continued to organize resistance.

However, as the orders from above became fewer and fewer, and even disappeared, some clever officers guessed that they might have been abandoned.

Now that things had come to this, it would be foolish to continue to resist.

Subsequently, some low-level and middle-level Qing army officers began to actively organize their subordinates to surrender together.

This efficiency was much faster than the soldiers surrendering individually. Soon, there was no sound of fighting in the city.

After more than two hours of finishing work, the Taijia Village battle was basically over.

In this battle, the Great Hua army invested a total of seventeen thousand people, and the Qing army invested a total of fifteen thousand people.

The final result was that the Great Hua army killed more than fourteen hundred people and seriously injured more than one hundred people.

One warship and more than forty artillery pieces were lost, as well as countless shells.

The Qing army killed more than two thousand seven hundred people, more than one thousand people escaped, more than one thousand people were missing, and the remaining nearly ten thousand people were captured.

Almost all weapons were seized, and the strategic location of Taijia Village was also lost.

Overall, the Great Hua army achieved a mediocre victory.

Not too amazing, but not too bad.

After taking Taijia Village, Qian Sule left two thousand people to stay behind, responsible for guarding the prisoners and handling follow-up trivial matters.

And he led thirteen thousand people to Xuzhou to participate in the encirclement and annihilation battle against Xuzhou.

Chapter 481: The Moment of Decisive Battle

As a fierce battle erupted at Tai Family Village, the Great Hua forces under Xu Yuxian and Duan Qiming had already encountered Hauge’s Qing army in Pei County.

Plans could not keep up with changes, so the General Staff Department in Xuzhou decisively altered the battle plan, prioritizing concentrating their forces to head north and engage Hauge in a decisive battle.

A small force was left behind to feign attacks and tie down Wanyan Yechen, deceiving him. If Wanyan Yechen did not leave the city, they could concentrate their strength to eliminate Hauge’s main force first.

By then, Xuzhou would be completely without reinforcements, becoming an isolated city, and its morale would inevitably collapse.

If the plan was seen through by Wanyan Yechen, and he dared to attack the Great Hua army’s rear, attempting to join up with Hauge’s forces, it would be more troublesome.

After all, there were no suitable places for ambushes between Xuzhou and Pei County, nor were there any natural barriers that could be used to block them with a small force. Being attacked from both sides would pose a considerable risk.

However, the Great Hua army still chose to do this, betting that they could eliminate Hauge’s forces before Wanyan Yechen arrived in Pei County.

The Great Hua army left twenty thousand troops to garrison outside Xuzhou, and then the main force of fifty thousand marched to Pei County.

Before them, Tang Guozhen’s division of thirteen thousand had already rushed to Pei County.

In Pei County, Xu Yuxian’s two divisions totaled more than twenty-five thousand men.

In other words, they had prepared eighty-eight thousand men to deal with Hauge this time.

Hauge’s total force was only the forty-two thousand men he had when he set out, plus the twenty-three thousand local troops he had conscripted along the way.

The combat power of these twenty thousand men was almost no different from that of the old-style armies, relying entirely on cold weapons. At most, a few thousand cavalry among them could still play a role.

As Great Hua and the Qing Dynasty fought, they had unknowingly gained an advantage in terms of troop strength.

This was extremely fatal for the Qing Dynasty. They lagged behind in terms of troop strength, weaponry, and morale.

On the twenty-third day, in Pei County, Hauge’s forces launched an attack on the Great Hua army.

“Where did these bastards get so many flintlocks and cannons? This battle will be tough.”

Xu Yuxian was taken aback when he learned that the enemy had more than thirty thousand flintlock soldiers and two hundred cannons.

If these thirty thousand men charged directly at them, they would have a hard time resisting.

Although they had more than twenty-five thousand men, not all of them were equipped with flintlocks. Only sixteen thousand men were equipped with flintlocks.

The rest were other types of soldiers, including five thousand cavalry, one thousand artillerymen, one thousand grenadiers, and about two thousand other miscellaneous soldiers.

Using sixteen thousand men to exchange fire with thirty thousand would probably be a significant disadvantage.

After all, as long as Hauge wasn’t an idiot, he would definitely use his numerical advantage to lengthen the battle line, try to occupy the flanks of the Great Hua army, and then encircle them from three sides.

Even if the Qing army didn’t do this, simply using the advantage of their artillery would be enough to give them a hard time.

“We have to fight even if it’s going to be tough. We can’t retreat any further. If we retreat any further, we’ll reach Xuzhou, and it will be even more difficult to be attacked from both sides. Now, we can only hope that Commander Tang’s troops can arrive in time. The messenger said they have already reached the Dongzhuang area. If they move at forced march, they should arrive in an hour,” Duan Qiming said.

“Commander Tang’s troops aren’t enough even if they come. We still need the main force to arrive,” Xu Yuxian said.

Liu Hansan’s main force was still far from Pei County and would not arrive until at least tomorrow.

Now, they could only pray that Hauge didn’t know their plan, so he might be concerned about casualties and wouldn’t rashly launch a fierce attack.

That is to say, when they fought later, they had to fight hard and show an unwavering spirit to make Hauge hesitate to act rashly.

And this meant that there would definitely be a large number of casualties.

This was something Xu Yuxian and others were unwilling to see, but they had no choice but to do it.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, the other side must have at least seventy or eighty thousand men.”

A Great Hua soldier saw the dark mass on the opposite side and guessed the number of the enemy with a high degree of accuracy based on his rich experience.

“So many, can we win?”

Another younger soldier couldn’t help but become nervous. He had fought in two battles, but each time they had the advantage.

But now, they seemed to be at a disadvantage.

“We probably can’t win, but there’s no choice. If you eat this rice, you have to be mentally prepared. Little Li, you’re not scared, are you?”

Old Sun mocked. As he spoke, several other soldiers turned their attention to Little Li.

Little Li was of course afraid in his heart, but he also wanted to save face.

He didn’t want to be despised by everyone, so he said, “Who said I’m afraid? Old soldiers like you are the slippery ones. You’ll definitely run away later. I will fight to the end and be loyal to Great Hua.”

Old Sun was not angry when he heard this, and said with a smile, “I have been in the battlefield for more than ten years. I should have died several times already. I have already seen through it. What’s more, I have received a lot of salary during my time as a soldier in Great Hua.

I sent all the money I earned back home and got wives for my two sons. I have nothing to worry about anymore.”

In the end, only a few people could be as open-minded as Old Sun.

In order to prevent panic from spreading in the army, the Great Hua army officer spoke, “Focus on preparing for battle, and no talking. Those who violate this order will be executed immediately.”

This strict military order made the Great Hua soldiers shut their mouths immediately.

After all, the Great Hua army’s military orders were always carried out without fail. Regardless of whether they were reasonable or not, the soldiers had to obey.

Even if the military order was wrong, the superiors would punish the person who issued the order afterward. But at the time, regardless of whether the military order was right or wrong, the soldiers had to obey.

Such strict military law made the Great Hua soldiers extremely value military orders and would not risk their lives.

The formation suddenly became quiet, but this was the calm before the storm.

The Qing army on the opposite side had completed their formation and were walking towards the Great Hua army.

Moreover, this was only the Qing army’s frontal troops.

Their cavalry had already begun to move around to the rear, and some miscellaneous troops were also trying to move around to the flanks of the Great Hua army.

As for the artillery, they were following behind the main force and continuing to advance.

For the time being, their artillery did not have enough range.

They only stopped and prepared to fire when they had advanced one or two hundred meters.

At this time, the Great Hua army’s artillery had already fired first.

Although they only had thirty cannons, their power should not be underestimated.

The shells landed in the Qing army’s infantry formation, and one round of artillery fire could destroy more than two hundred Qing soldiers.

The loss of more than two hundred men was just a small matter for the Qing army and could be tolerated.

Subsequently, the Qing army’s artillery also fired.

Their artillery was also aiming at the Great Hua army’s infantry formation, not bombing the Great Hua army’s artillery, in order to pursue the efficiency of killing the enemy.

After all, the density of the Great Hua army’s infantry square was much higher than that of the artillery.

Chapter 482: Critical Moment

Amidst the cannon fire, the Qing army closed in on the Great Hua army, entering the hundred-meter zone.

Old Sun and Little Li began firing their rifles, engaging in free shooting.

Old Sun pulled the trigger, then reloaded, and fired again, his movements fluid and practiced.

In contrast, Little Li, due to nervousness, was shaking as he reloaded after his first shot, his speed significantly slower.

The difference between a veteran and a new recruit was stark.

They were already firing, but the Qing soldiers continued to advance.

After all, exchanging fire at this distance was too slow to significantly deplete either side.

It wasn’t until the distance between the two sides was less than fifty meters that the Qing army stopped and began firing.

As the gunshots rang out, Great Hua’s soldiers also began to fall in large numbers.

Among them, Old Sun was unfortunately shot in the chest and fell to the ground.

The medical team responsible for rescuing the wounded passed by and, seeing that Old Sun had been shot in the chest, immediately abandoned him.

The difficulty of treating such a wound was too great; they were powerless.

They needed to triage, prioritizing the treatment of soldiers with a chance of survival to maximize efficiency.

Instead of focusing on benevolence and morality, where the more seriously injured should be treated first, this approach was not feasible in the army at this time.

A soldier next to him, shot in the thigh, was carried away for treatment.

Those shot in the limbs could even make a full recovery after treatment.

A veteran who had experienced major battles was extremely valuable and had to be saved.

Moreover, it was precisely because of Great Hua’s emphasis on treating the wounded and having reliable treatment methods that the soldiers could fight so bravely.

In comparison, they had fewer worries.

In the frontal confrontation, both sides were deadlocked, unable to gain an advantage for the time being.

On the flanks, the cavalry of both sides had already clashed.

The Qing cavalry attempted to attack Great Hua’s flank but were intercepted by Great Hua’s cavalry.

Both sides employed dense wall-of-cavalry tactics; in the past two years, the Qing army had learned a lot from Great Hua.

Wall-of-cavalry clashing against wall-of-cavalry was even more tragic than musket fire.

Soldiers injured in musket fire could still be rescued.

But the clash of two strong cavalry formations was a matter of life or death, with little chance of even being injured.

Falling off a horse after being injured was a guaranteed death, and a gruesome one at that.

And the probability of falling off a horse was actually very high.

After all, the formations on both sides were too dense, with almost no room to dodge, and a large number of horses collided directly.

Neither side wanted this brutal fighting style.

However, both sides had to do it; the side that abandoned the dense formation first would definitely suffer.

After the first round of cavalry charges, the generals on both sides tacitly agreed to halt the attacks.

The losses were too heavy; there was no need to continue wasting resources in this way.

Anyway, neither side could gain an advantage over the other in the short term.

Rather than that, it was better to leave the matter of determining victory to the cheap infantry.

They themselves only needed to contain the enemy.

Both sides could accept this stalemate.

Great Hua’s army, with fewer troops, had completed its mission by containing the enemy’s cavalry.

As for the Qing army, they had more troops; as long as they contained this Great Hua cavalry force, there would be no one to stop the troops attacking Great Hua’s flank from the other direction, which was also acceptable.

The other force attacking Great Hua’s flank was a mixed army from Jining, still using cold weapons.

But they were numerous, with more than fifteen thousand men.

These men surged towards Great Hua’s right flank, forcing the Great Hua central army to send three thousand men to resist.

They could only spare that many; any more and the central army would be too weak and easily broken through by the Qing army.

If the central army had problems, their battle would be declared a failure.

The three thousand soldiers who were sent to face more than fifteen thousand men faced immense pressure.

The fifteen thousand Qing soldiers were not foolish enough to line up and be shot by Great Hua’s army; instead, they once again stretched out the battle line, attacking from two sides.

This was the problem with fighting on the plains; with insufficient troops, it was very disadvantageous, and the enemy could constantly stretch the battle line.

Unlike in the mountains, where it was difficult to find a road, dividing troops was not easy.

Faced with the Qing army’s renewed division of troops, Great Hua’s army had no choice but to form a semicircular formation to prevent the Qing army from breaking through from both sides.

Subsequently, the Qing army entered the firing range, enduring Great Hua’s gunfire as they charged.

After a frustrating journey, the Qing army relied on their numerical advantage to reach Great Hua’s lines.

Although they suffered heavy casualties during the charge, with nearly two thousand men killed, they did not collapse because they had more men.

The Qing soldiers in this force were well aware that even if several thousand of their own died, they would still outnumber the enemy; as long as they reached the enemy’s lines, that was all that mattered.

Those forced to charge in the front were naturally out of luck, but no one was paying attention at this point.

The remaining survivors were all attacking Great Hua’s formation.

Faced with enemies several times their number, Great Hua’s soldiers were terrified, but helpless, and could only fight to the death.

The human wall formed by the front-line musket soldiers was constantly thrusting with their bayonets.

And the grenadiers hiding behind them began to throw grenades; whether they could hold the line this time depended on these grenadiers.

A large number of grenades were thrown forward; at this point, they couldn’t worry about friendly fire. As long as they killed more enemies than allies, it was a net gain.

Moreover, as long as they used their maximum strength to throw the grenades as far as possible, into the Qing army’s ranks, there would be less friendly fire.

These grenadiers caused great trouble for the Qing army, but they had no good way to deal with it.

They also had some grenades, but in small quantities.

Such advanced weapons and equipment were prioritized for the central court’s army; these mixed troops were only given a small amount.

These few grenades were thrown into Great Hua’s formation, immediately achieving significant results.

The fragmentation effect of the grenades immediately created large gaps in Great Hua’s formation.

And the Qing army seized this gap, desperately rushing in to tear it apart.

Great Hua’s formation was broken, and they were plunged into a melee, reaching the most dangerous moment.

If they could not rebuild their formation, this force would be wiped out, with no chance of escape; they had been bitten tightly.

Just at this moment, Tang Guozhen’s troops arrived; they were more than twenty minutes earlier than Xu Yuxian and the others had expected, which was achieved by forced marching.

Arriving at the battlefield, they had no time to rest and immediately plunged into the most critical right flank.

Tang Guozhen’s unit was an absolute main force in Great Hua’s army, and their strength was naturally beyond doubt.

Their division was even equipped with the latest flamethrowers.

This equipment was currently only available to a few divisions.

With flamethrowers leading the way, the Qing army was immediately thrown into a panic. What terrified them even more was that the number of Great Hua’s reinforcements was more than ten thousand, instantly nullifying their numerical advantage.

They were originally a mixed army, relying on their large numbers to maintain morale.

Now that they no longer had a numerical advantage and were being attacked from both sides, they began to flee.

That was the nature of mixed armies; they could play a role when they had the upper hand. When they were at a disadvantage, these mixed armies not only couldn’t help, but they were also prone to causing trouble.

Clearly, the Qing army still held an overall advantage, but because of their frantic escape, the Qing soldiers in the central army were somewhat panicked, thinking that their side had already been defeated.

Chapter 483: Switching Offense and Defense

“Damn it, that good-for-nothing Liu Zixuan! Send the First Battalion to assist and supervise the battle. If they ruin my plans, I’ll have his head!”

Hauge had been closely monitoring the battlefield. Seeing the rout of Liu Zixuan’s troops on the left flank, he flew into a rage.

He could understand a rout when they were losing, but now, when they were on the verge of defeating the enemy, a local collapse was simply unbelievable.

“Your Highness Prince Su, perhaps we should sound the retreat for now. The casualties are too heavy. Even if we defeat the enemy now, our own losses will be significant. It will be difficult to fight the main force of the Great Hua army afterward.”

Hauge’s subordinate, Oboi, advised. The current strength of the Qing Dynasty was not suitable for attrition warfare with Great Hua. They needed more flexible and sophisticated tactics.

In Oboi’s view, there was no need to defend Xuzhou. They should avoid the Great Hua army’s main force and use small units to constantly harass their rear.

Fighting a decisive battle with the Great Hua army now would be meaningless, even if they won.

After all, there were tens of millions of Han Chinese in the South, while the Manchus now numbered less than a million. The number of adult men who could fight was even more pitiful, barely over one hundred thousand.

If these men were all killed, the Manchu ethnicity would cease to exist.

“Hmph, if we sound the retreat now, all the previous deaths and injuries will have been in vain. Only by pressing on and defeating the enemy will the sacrifices of those soldiers have been worthwhile.”

Hauge snorted coldly.

What he said made sense, of course, provided they could defeat the Great Hua army.

However, given the current situation, although they could inflict heavy casualties on the Great Hua army, they were always just a little short of crushing them.

Both sides were still holding on, but Hauge’s heart was churning.

The fighting spirit of the Great Hua army far exceeded his expectations.

Of course, he couldn’t be blamed for underestimating the valor of the Great Hua army.

After all, in the past, when Qing army generals lost battles, their reports focused on the advanced weapons of the Great Hua army, rarely mentioning their courage.

If they said their weapons were inferior, the court would not punish them.

But if they reported truthfully, saying that their subordinates were not brave enough, the generals would definitely be held responsible.

If the soldiers were not brave enough, wasn’t it because the commander didn’t know how to train them properly?

Therefore, most generals deliberately omitted descriptions of the Great Hua army’s morale in their reports, focusing on their weaponry.

As a result, those Qing generals who had not personally fought the Great Hua army had only one impression of them: they relied on advanced weapons, and their equipment was very sophisticated.

That was why Hauge dared to fight a decisive battle with the Great Hua army after acquiring advanced weapons.

He was very confident in his subordinates, believing that they could not possibly lose in terms of courage.

But now, he vaguely felt a sense of unease.

The two sides continued to exchange fire. Eventually, the Qing army generals could no longer bear the casualties, and they repeatedly suggested to Hauge that they should withdraw first and seek a new opportunity.

This kind of attrition warfare was completely meaningless.

Oboi, Sony, Tuger, and others successively advised him. They were all distressed to see their subordinates falling in rows.

If they went back like this, they would not be able to explain themselves to their banner people.

“Your Highness Prince Su, we can have Wanyan Yechen lead his troops out of Xuzhou and attack the enemy from the north and south with our forces, throwing their morale into chaos. This way, we can achieve greater results at a lower cost.”

Oboi continued to persuade him.

Hauge, who was already hesitant, wavered in his determination to fight to the death after hearing the advice of his many subordinates. He ordered the retreat to be sounded, wanting to reconsider the situation.

This decision directly led to him losing the last chance he had to contend with the Great Hua army.

If he had been ruthless and continued to attack regardless of the cost, he might have had a chance to defeat this unit of the Great Hua army.

Wiping out this force of thirty thousand men would greatly weaken the Great Hua army’s strength.

Then, with the addition of the troops from Xuzhou, the Qing army could regain the advantage in strength.

Unfortunately, Hauge did not make this decision.

Of course, even if he had made this decision, the result would have been similar to what Oboi predicted. They would have won a local battle, but still suffered overall.

In short, when the weak face the strong, they need the strong to make mistakes in order to have a chance to reverse the situation.

The reason they were able to enter the pass in the past was because Chongzhen had courted death himself, making countless mistakes that led to the Ming Dynasty fighting on two fronts continuously.

If he had made even one or two fewer mistakes, they would not have had the opportunity to covet the Central Plains.

But now, the current Great Hua had not made any mistakes.

At least, not in military affairs.

The next day, before the messenger Hauge had sent out had traveled far, the main force of the Great Hua army had already arrived in Pei County.

Immediately afterward, Xu Yuxian’s troops and Duan Qiming’s troops split into two routes and began to circle around the flanks of the Qing army, leaving the main battlefield to the arriving main force of the Great Hua army.

Now, the Great Hua army had the advantage in numbers, and they were about to encircle the enemy.

Liu Hansan did not make Hauge’s mistake. As soon as he arrived in Pei County, he ordered an all-out attack regardless of the cost, determined to annihilate Hauge’s forces.

The Great Hua army began a full-scale operation, and the Qing army, having already received the news, was thrown into chaos.

“Worthless, a bunch of worthless trash! Did Wanyan Yechen just let the enemy pass through Xuzhou like that, without even sending a message?”

Hauge cursed angrily. It was one thing that Wanyan Yechen in Xuzhou had failed to play a restraining role, causing him to face the enemy’s superior forces, but it was unacceptable that he couldn’t even deliver intelligence in a timely manner.

“Your Highness Prince Su, let’s retreat quickly. This is the main force of the Great Hua army. We can’t possibly be a match for them with just this one unit.”

Oboi advised again, still wanting to preserve their strength.

But Hauge was furious when he heard this. He regretted that he shouldn’t have listened to Oboi and the others yesterday, or he wouldn’t have ended up in this situation.

Retreat? If he retreated now, how would he have the face to return to the capital?

“Order Wanyan Yechen to abandon Xuzhou immediately and bring all his troops to support my forces, attacking the enemy from the north and south with my forces. My forces will hold the line and await reinforcements, holding back the enemy’s main force here.”

Hauge said.

Now, the roles of offense and defense between him and the Great Hua army had been reversed. Previously, the Great Hua army had been delaying them while waiting for reinforcements.

And now, it was their turn to delay the enemy’s main force and wait for reinforcements.

Hauge felt that if the enemy could do it, there was no reason why he couldn’t.

As long as Wanyan Yechen could arrive in time, he would still have a chance to turn the tables.

His order made the other generals tremble with fear. Holding back the enemy was like snatching chestnuts from a fire, with the danger of annihilation at any time.

Most people wouldn’t dare to play like this.

It was too risky. Many felt that this plan was inappropriate.

However, Hauge was as stubborn as a mule and would no longer listen to his subordinates’ opinions.

Helpless, everyone could only obey Hauge’s orders and begin to arrange the defense.

Chapter 484: Unexpected Ease

The general offensive began. The Great Hua’s central army deployed in a formation a full kilometer wide, pressing towards the Qing army directly ahead.

This was simply too much of a bully. If the Qing army were to deploy in such a wide formation, their formation’s depth would be at most five or six ranks of men.

With such a shallow depth, at least half would fall after ten rounds of volley fire, and the remaining soldiers would absolutely collapse.

Deploying in such a wide formation meant they wouldn’t even have reserve troops to rotate in.

Therefore, the Qing army didn’t do that. They deployed in a formation only half as wide as the Hua army’s.

As for what to do with the Hua army soldiers who exceeded this range, the Qing army had their ways.

Once the Hua army’s flanks advanced, they would either send out cavalry to charge and kill, or form a circular formation for defense.

Because the battle line was stretched too long, the Hua army’s formation depth wasn’t great either, so sending out cavalry to charge was still feasible.

Over forty thousand men advancing abreast on a thousand-meter front was a sight even more shocking than a military parade. After all, the numbers were large enough that the sheer quantity triggered a qualitative change.

The air force soldiers flying in the sky, overlooking the entire battlefield, couldn’t help but sigh, “A large-scale battle of this magnitude probably won’t happen again in the future.”

“Why?”

Another new recruit asked.

“Because we won’t find such a powerful opponent anymore. Currently, only this Manchu Qing can resist us a little. Once we destroy their main force this time, they won’t have so many soldiers to fight us anymore.”

The veteran said.

“Serves them right. Who told them not to stay put outside the pass and insist on entering the pass to seek death?”

The men discussed, and soon they arrived over the Qing army’s camp ahead of the infantry.

Then, the bombing began.

This kind of bombing was several times simpler than bombing the enemies on the city walls.

No aiming was needed at all; they just had to drop the bombs.

Large numbers of giant bombs were dropped and exploded on the ground.

The theoretical kill radius of an aerial bomb was about a circle with a radius of ten meters.

Of course, the actual power wasn’t that great.

However, an aerial bomb could still kill nearly a hundred people.

The effect was so exaggerated that even the Hua army themselves hadn’t expected it, and the Qing army had even less of an idea.

In the past, when the Great Hua’s air force bombed city walls, although it was also very troublesome, the casualties were within an acceptable range.

However, they forgot that the situation on the city walls was completely different from that on the plains.

The infantry square formations on the plains were living targets for the bombs.

Hundreds of bombs were dropped simultaneously. If it weren’t for the overlapping kill zones of many bombs, this single round of bombing alone could have wiped out several thousand Qing soldiers.

This kind of killing effect had already surpassed that of the flintlock guns.

Why was this happening? The Qing army couldn’t figure it out.

But whether they understood it or not was no longer important. What was important was what they should do now.

Oboi, after seeing the air force’s terrifying killing power, simply sat down on the ground with a thud.

Slaughter, it was simply naked slaughter.

Such an enemy should not be fought in a decisive battle at all.

Without a large-scale decisive battle, the Great Hua’s air force wouldn’t be able to exert its power.

But now, all the troops were gathered together in dense formations, which was simply gathering together to die.

Hauge was also trembling after seeing the Great Hua air force’s terrifying killing power.

Power often represented responsibility.

He was responsible for the lives and deaths of these tens of thousands of soldiers.

Looking at the soldiers who were dying because of his wrong decision, unless he was a heartless person, he would feel pain and discomfort.

If it weren’t for the fact that there were still many people watching around him, Hauge would have wanted to cry.

These dead soldiers were all his banner men.

Moreover, dying from bombs like this was a completely meaningless death.

On the front lines, those Qing army troops who had been bombed completely collapsed after suffering a second round of bombing.

They all had eyes and could see the killing power of the bombs.

Faced with this kind of bombing, continuing to stay meant waiting for death.

The Qing soldiers began to flee backward spontaneously. The officers in charge of commanding the front lines also forgot to stop them. They were also frightened by this doomsday scene.

Many officers ran even faster than the soldiers. After all, they still had horses to ride.

The entire battle line collapsed instantly. The still-living soldiers, still numbering thirty to forty thousand, fled backward like a flood that had burst its banks, scrambling to be the first.

This situation greatly exceeded the Hua army’s expectations.

“Did we just win? I have a kind of unreal feeling. Could this be the enemy’s feigned retreat?”

Liu Hansan couldn’t help but complain.

“Hahaha, if this is also a feigned retreat, I hope the Qing army uses it more often. Commander, don’t worry too much. Order the bugles to sound the general offensive charge. Next is the time to clean up the battlefield.”

An Fugui laughed loudly.

Although they had all expected this battle to be won, and it should be won very easily, the ease of the reality still far exceeded their imagination.

“Does this mean that large-scale decisive battles can withdraw from the stage of history in the future? With my air force’s top-notch bombing capabilities, which opponent would dare to deploy in formation and fight us? I guess there will only be small-scale local battles in the future. I didn’t expect my air force to just show its power, and it will be useless in the future.”

Ning Xiang laughed loudly. Hauge would probably vomit blood and die from anger if he saw this smug look of getting an advantage and still acting like he suffered a loss.

This time, Ning Xiang’s air force should be credited with the first achievement, without any controversy.

“Order a full-scale general offensive, clear out the enemy as soon as possible, and then prepare to meet the enemies in Xuzhou. As Regiment Commander Ning said, this may be our last large-scale decisive battle. Cherish it.”

Liu Hansan also showed off a bit. It was really too easy to win, and it felt too pretentious to be serious.

Everyone laughed along, and then used their respective humor to ridicule the Qing army a few times.

With the victory already decided, they could be so relaxed and happy, and no one would blame them.

The Qing army’s command headquarters was in stark contrast to the Hua army’s command headquarters. Having inexplicably encountered such a disastrous defeat, almost every general’s heart was bleeding.

Various emotions surged into their hearts. Some were afraid and scared, some regretted and were annoyed, and some were even unwilling to accept it and angrily cursed the Hua army for being cruel.

As for Hauge, the huge failure made him have no face to face his subordinates, soldiers, and the banner men in the rear.

Under this kind of psychological torture, he took advantage of everyone’s unpreparedness and directly wiped his neck with a knife.

He had no face to face others again, and he didn’t dare to bear all the accusations, so he simply committed suicide to apologize and put an end to everything.

Pressure is sometimes enough to crush a person.

“Prince Su!”

Oboi shouted loudly. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

The person he had followed for many years had actually committed suicide because he couldn’t withstand the blow.

“Prince Su.”

Suddenly, the Qing army’s command headquarters was filled with wailing.

Chapter 485: Huge War Spoils

Li Zicheng was mistakenly killed by villagers, Sun Ce was assassinated, and Guan Yu was struck by a hidden arrow.

Even awesome figures often have pathetic deaths.

Hauge’s suicide could be considered a relatively dignified way to die.

Watching the number two or three figure in a vast dynasty spanning millions of square kilometers commit suicide like that, all the other generals were shaken.

This was a major event that could shake the world.

With Hauge’s suicide, the other generals were no longer restrained.

Some took their personal guards and fled, while others stayed put, waiting to surrender.

Not every Manchu was loyal to the Qing Dynasty. This dynasty, only a few years old, didn’t have that much appeal.

Previously, few Manchus surrendered, mainly because they were strong enough and had won repeatedly on the battlefield.

But now, more and more Manchus and Mongols were losing faith in the Qing Dynasty.

As a result, more and more Manchus and Mongols were proactively surrendering. They didn’t want to fight Great Hua anymore; the death rate was too high, and they couldn’t bear it.

Nearly sixty to seventy percent of adult Manchu and Mongol men had been killed or wounded in the past two years. It was a lie to say that the others weren’t afraid.

Of the tens of thousands who fled, only a few thousand escaped. Most of the rest either surrendered or were captured, with a small number missing or killed.

After clearing the battlefield, they began to return to Xuzhou.

On the other side, Wanyan Yechen’s reaction wasn’t slow either.

After Liu Hansan’s troops went north, they tried to leave the city and join up with Hauge’s forces.

However, their fight with the Great Hua troops responsible for the ambush wasn’t intense enough.

After a day of fighting, the casualties on both sides were only a little over a thousand.

This was the pace of battle in the old cold weapon era, but it was no longer applicable to the current era.

They fought this insignificant battle, and the decisive battle on the other side was already over.

By the time Liu Hansan and his men returned, Wanyan Yechen, having received news of Hauge’s defeat, immediately retreated back into Xuzhou city.

However, Xuzhou was now an isolated city.

Within hundreds of li of Xuzhou, there were no other Qing army forces.

Liu Hansan surrounded Xuzhou, not rushing to attack, but taking stock of the war spoils while sending people into Xuzhou to demand Wanyan Yechen’s unconditional surrender.

The Xuzhou campaign had lasted for more than ten days, with the Great Hua army committing a total of one hundred and ten thousand troops.

These one hundred and ten thousand troops had been rushing around during this time, with each soldier marching an average of more than five hundred kilometers.

Using their mobility, they continuously concentrated superior forces to divide and encircle the enemy, gradually weakening them.

It could be said that this campaign was fought on foot. Many soldiers had blisters on the soles of their feet and were suffering greatly.

Of course, compared to dying in battle, the soldiers could still endure this level of hardship.

With the concerted efforts of the entire army, they had achieved great results in the Xuzhou campaign.

So far, they had eliminated one hundred and ten thousand Qing army soldiers. The fourty thousand in Xuzhou were also trapped, meaning they had eliminated one hundred and fifty thousand Qing soldiers in this campaign.

For the Qing Dynasty, this was more than just a scratch; it was damage to their internal organs.

Of these one hundred and ten thousand people, only thirty thousand died in battle, with the remaining eighty thousand captured.

In addition to the personnel gains, the other weapons and equipment were countless.

In short, it was more than enough to equip five more divisions.

At the same time, many important cities near Xuzhou had also announced that they had fallen into the hands of the Great Hua army.

For these huge war spoils, the Great Hua army also paid a considerable price.

In this campaign, the soldiers who died in battle alone numbered more than nine thousand four hundred, close to ten thousand.

There were also nearly two thousand seriously wounded, and countless others with minor injuries, which the Great Hua army didn’t even bother to count.

The Pei County field hospital alone received more than one thousand three hundred seriously wounded.

There were more than forty doctors and one hundred and fifty nurses treating the wounded.

In the endless tents, there were screams everywhere.

Some cavalrymen had very serious injuries, even to the point of needing amputation.

The anesthetic drugs currently used by the Great Hua army were still mafeisan, which had poor anesthetic effects.

For surgeries like amputation, this anesthetic effect was almost non-existent.

Fortunately, not many soldiers needed amputation. The main injuries were various gunshot wounds to the infantry.

Xiao Li Zi, Li Erhu of the 25th Division, was also shot, in the thigh.

This made him very embarrassed because the nurse who changed his dressing was a woman.

He had never even held a girl’s hand, nor had he been touched by a girl’s hand.

Suddenly, he had his pants pulled down by a pretty nurse. He was as embarrassed as he could be.

“Changing the dressing.”

Nurse Wen Ni came over with a tray to change the dressings for the wounded soldiers, arriving first at Li Erhu’s bed.

“I’ll do it myself.”

Li Erhu said.

Previously, he was seriously injured and didn’t have the strength to resist, so he let a stranger change his dressing.

But now, he was too embarrassed and wanted to do it himself.

“Stop talking nonsense. You do it? Do you know how to apply it? Do you know how much to use? Can you see the wound clearly?”

Wen Ni scolded him with a triple attack.

In the special environment of the wounded camp, the status of women had evolved, taking on a bit of the flavor of women of later generations.

In other parts of Great Hua, women still emphasized the three obediences and four virtues, being reserved and elegant.

But in the wounded camp, because of their work, those women had to abandon those worldly restraints.

Only in the wounded camp could their ‘unreservedness’ be respected. At least the soldiers wouldn’t laugh at them or insult them for being promiscuous.

After all, these were the people who were saving their lives.

In this special environment, these nurses were respected and sought after by the soldiers.

As a result, they developed attributes that only women of later generations had: tsundere.

They could rely on their popularity to show some ‘stubbornness’.

If they scolded a grown man in other places, the scolded man would definitely feel humiliated and cause conflict.

But in the wounded camp, the female nurses could communicate with the soldiers in this way.

Moreover, this method was forced out by those soldiers.

Many young soldiers had shy attributes like Li Erhu.

When treating and caring for these soldiers, they were always very awkward, which made the ladies have to give up their soft voices and become domineering.

After being scolded by Wen Ni, Li Erhu could only admit defeat and let Wen Ni handle it.

Seeing this, the other wounded soldiers immediately booed and jeered, which was also a way for them to relieve their boredom.

After all, being injured would definitely make them feel depressed.

Seeing a fool who didn’t know how good he had it, they unceremoniously teased him, and watching Li Erhu’s anxious look, they could feel happy.

“What are you booing about? You’re all the same.”

Li Erhu’s face turned red from the booing.

“We’re not the same as you. We wish the fairy sister would come and change our dressings. Only you, you silly boy, are embarrassed. You must be a virgin.”

A veteran teased, and the others laughed again.

Chapter 486: A Love Story in the Wounded Soldiers’ Camp

Li Erhu was furious, but there was nothing he could do about those guys, so he simply ignored them.

Meanwhile, Winnie was already tending to his wound, first removing the old herbal medicine and then applying a fresh batch.

This was delicate work, and Winnie was being very careful.

During the process, her small hands inevitably touched Li Erhu’s skin several times, giving him a different kind of feeling.

Seventeen or eighteen years old was the age when hormones were overflowing.

At this age, when even seeing a beautiful woman’s portrait could make him restless, he was being touched on the skin by a woman from time to time. How could he stand it? Inevitably, he had some wild thoughts.

This embarrassed him to death. He was both ashamed and annoyed, wanting to suppress those thoughts, but he couldn’t.

Winnie, on the other hand, looked normal. She had encountered similar situations many times before.

More importantly, she used to be a courtesan.

Her ability to accept such things was much stronger.

Unlike some innocent little nurses, who refused to treat wounds on some private parts no matter what.

Winnie didn’t care, but Li Erhu didn’t know that.

Becoming more and more embarrassed, he started yelling that he didn’t want to change the dressing anymore.

“If you talk nonsense again, I’ll call your company commander over,” Winnie scolded.

This trick worked, and Li Erhu didn’t dare to say anything more.

However, he could no longer forget the image of Winnie scolding him. He vaguely felt that this was probably happiness.

Having a woman who cared about him and often scolded him was a kind of happiness.

It wasn’t that he had masochistic tendencies, but it was a normal thought that ordinary people would have.

After all, not every man has great ambitions and is a chauvinist.

After having this thought in his mind, Li Erhu began to worry.

He didn’t know what to do, because no one had ever taught him such things.

In the village, everyone would reach a certain age, save enough money, and their parents would arrange a formal marriage. Then, the couple would go through a ceremony and live together.

That kind of arranged marriage didn’t require a man to master any skills, as long as he could farm and earn money.

But now, he hoped to marry Winnie and live together.

No one was acting as a matchmaker for him, and he didn’t know how to bring it up.

After changing the dressing, Winnie went out to dispose of the dirty water.

Li Erhu’s eyes were still fixed on Winnie’s back, and he was feeling restless.

“Hehe, do you think Nurse Winnie is very beautiful?”

The old veteran Chen Haoyang asked with a sly smile.

Li Erhu, who was already lost in thought, didn’t realize the problem and nodded, “She is indeed beautiful.”

“Oh, so you want to marry her as your wife?”

Chen Haoyang continued to probe.

Li Erhu was about to answer, but then he woke up in time and quickly denied, “Bullshit, I think you’re the one who wants to. You old lecher.”

Chen Haoyang laughed, not caring about the title of old lecher at all.

An old man wouldn’t care about such fleeting things, and might even feel honored by the title of old lecher.

People’s worldviews are just so different.

He smiled and said, “I do want to, what’s so embarrassing about that? I not only want to, but I even told Nurse Winnie, but she thinks I’m too old. If you like her, just tell her directly, and you’ll definitely have a chance.”

Li Erhu didn’t believe him at all, thinking that Chen Haoyang just wanted to trick him into talking, and then continue to laugh at him with the others.

Therefore, he refused to admit it.

However, a young man like him had almost all his thoughts written on his face. How could an old veteran like Chen Haoyang not see it?

Chen Haoyang continued, “If you like her, just go and say it. It’s not something to be ashamed of, and it’s not without precedent. In the Twenty-fourth Division, there was a company commander who was injured, and later hooked up with a little nurse, and they even got married.”

“But he’s a company commander, and I’m just a soldier.”

Li Erhu’s personality was relatively unconfident.

“Don’t worry, as long as you don’t dislike Nurse Winnie, she definitely won’t dislike you,” Chen Haoyang said with a smile. He was well-informed and had heard a lot of gossip, knowing that many of these nurses used to be women of the night.

And Winnie was one of them.

Women of the night naturally wouldn’t be so picky and insist on marrying a rich man.

“I won’t be daydreaming. Nurse Winnie is so beautiful, there are plenty of high-ranking officials who want to take her as a concubine,” Li Erhu sighed.

“Silly boy, come closer, I’ll tell you a secret,” Chen Haoyang told Li Erhu about Winnie being a prostitute, but Li Erhu slapped him in the face, saying that he was slandering Winnie.

First impressions are too important. In Li Erhu’s eyes, Winnie was a fairy.

Now someone was saying that this fairy was a prostitute, and Li Erhu’s mentality of protecting his idol exploded.

“Damn you, I kindly helped you, but I got slapped in the face. I’m really wronged to death,” Chen Haoyang said, on the verge of tears. He could understand Li Erhu’s thoughts, but he just felt too wronged, his kindness being treated as a donkey’s liver and lungs.

“If you dare to spread rumors about Nurse Winnie and slander her again, I will definitely break your legs,” Li Erhu threatened.

He didn’t believe Chen Haoyang’s words, didn’t want to believe them, and didn’t want such rumors to continue to spread.

Their conversation was overheard by Winnie outside the tent.

For a moment, her heart was filled with mixed feelings. Both moved and worried.

Her former identity was a stain on her.

Of course, she couldn’t be blamed for this. She was sold to a brothel by her family during the famine years.

Once, she was lost and couldn’t find the meaning of life.

Until Yang Xiaoxiao went to work as a nurse, and she followed suit, she rediscovered the direction of her life.

Watching the wounded soldiers being saved in her hands, the psychological satisfaction made her extremely happy, feeling that her life had undergone a sublimation.

Serving men, whether in a brothel or in a wounded soldiers’ camp, the psychological satisfaction was vastly different.

In short, Winnie was very satisfied with her job as a nurse.

She could earn money to support herself, save lives, and be praised.

Of course, living in this world, there couldn’t be only work.

Her lifelong happiness was her biggest headache.

Old bachelors like Chen Haoyang in their forties certainly wouldn’t dislike her, but she really couldn’t accept them.

As for younger lads, she felt that she was not worthy of them, and was even more worried that she would be disliked and bullied because of her past.

Now, seeing Li Erhu defending her so much, Winnie was also a little tempted.

However, this Li Erhu was too introverted and refused to speak up. As a girl, she had no way to speak first.

If Li Erhu didn’t take advantage of his hospitalization to make this matter clear, there would be no chance in the future.

Unless Li Erhu got injured again.

Chapter 487: Times Have Changed

Xuzhou City, in the military camp, the morale of the Qing army had plummeted to its lowest point.

Every day, people were running away and disappearing.

This situation of being surrounded on all sides put immense pressure on the soldiers.

In Wanyan Yechen’s residence, Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde jointly received the envoy from the Great Hua army.

At this point, both Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde were inclined to surrender.

They had no choice but to surrender. Xuzhou was completely surrounded, and the Great Hua army could break through the city at any time. They themselves felt they couldn’t hold it.

They had forty thousand troops in name, but their morale was completely gone, and the soldiers seemed on the verge of collapse at any moment.

What’s more, the ship that was the Qing Dynasty was already taking on water and looked like it was about to sink.

Continuing to be loyal to the Qing Dynasty was unwise.

“Our Commander said he hopes that the two generals can surrender unconditionally, leave a way out for the soldiers under your command, and stop letting them die in vain,” the envoy said.

“A wise bird chooses a tree to nest in. It’s not impossible for us to submit. However, what kind of position will we hold after we surrender? Did Commander Liu say anything about that?” Wanyan Yechen asked.

This was what they were most concerned about. They still wanted to preserve their wealth and status and continue to lead troops, so they needed to secure a certain amount of power first.

“Regarding surrendered officials, we in Great Hua have a mature system in place, so the two generals can rest assured. According to custom, you will both be sent to the Nanjing Military Academy for further study. Finally, military positions will be assigned based on your performance in the academy.

Of course, if you two are tired of military life, you can also choose to be wealthy gentlemen in Nanjing, with complete freedom,” the envoy said with a smile.

“If that’s the case, then the envoy can go back and tell Commander Liu that we will fight to the death and will not surrender!” Wanyan Yechen said with a cold snort.

The envoy’s words were equivalent to not promising any extra benefits.

If they wanted to lead troops in the future, they would have to pass the military academy’s assessment and compete with other ordinary people. Their current status would not give them any special treatment.

They had heard a little about that military academy and knew that passing the assessment was not easy.

In short, this offered them no guarantees.

They were currently generals leading tens of thousands of troops. If they couldn’t even get the position of a regiment commander or brigade commander after surrendering, the drop would be too great for them to accept.

It was perfectly normal for Wanyan Yechen to be so angry.

“Is this a little too harsh? Can’t you let us continue to serve in the military? Even a regiment commander would be acceptable,” Kong Youde said, trying to smooth things over. They couldn’t really send the envoy away; otherwise, there would be no hope.

Accepting surrender was terrible, but not accepting it was even worse. Once the Great Hua army attacked, it wouldn’t be a surrender but a capture.

From a Prince of the Qing Dynasty to a regiment commander in the Great Hua army, Kong Youde had already made a huge concession.

“Lord Kong, times have changed. To be honest, it’s already a great act of kindness that Great Hua isn’t pursuing your past actions. You’re still not satisfied? Moreover, no guarantees doesn’t mean you won’t have opportunities in the future.

Our Emperor has always promoted talented people regardless of their background. If you can show your talent at the military academy, you will naturally be valued.

Besides, I’m here to persuade you to surrender, just to inform you, not to beg you.

Whether you surrender or not doesn’t really make much difference to our army. It’s just a matter of a few more deaths and wasting some ammunition,” the Great Hua army envoy earnestly advised.

He hoped that Kong Youde and the others could recognize reality and stop having illusions.

Wanting job guarantees now was no longer possible.

The positions in the Great Hua army were highly sought after, and countless people were eyeing them. There was no way they would go to surrendered generals.

He said that there would be opportunities in the future, but it was highly likely that Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde would only be able to retire in Nanjing.

“Allow us to consider it further and give Commander Liu an answer tomorrow,” Wanyan Yechen said.

After sending off the Great Hua army envoy, Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde couldn’t help but sigh.

It was true that a phoenix fallen on the ground is not as good as a chicken. They were core members of the Qing Dynasty’s high command and held the title of Prince, belonging to the noble class.

But now, the treatment Great Hua was offering them was the same as that given to ordinary generals.

As long as someone was a military officer, they could go to the military academy for further study. And they were just going to the military academy for further study.

This kind of treatment even had a hint of humiliation.

In the past, they would never have agreed to it, even if they were beaten to death.

But now, they had no choice.

Surrendering was not for wealth and status but to save their lives.

If they continued to resist or tried to break out, surviving would depend on luck.

Wanyan Yechen and Kong Youde discussed it for a long time and finally decided to agree to the Great Hua army’s demands.

As long as there is life, there is hope.

They needed to preserve their lives first, and as for future wealth and status, they could find a way to get it later.

They believed that with their abilities and connections, they would definitely have a chance to make a comeback in the future.

If that didn’t work, they could just be wealthy gentlemen, which was better than losing their lives.

After making up their minds, Xuzhou held a grand surrender ceremony three days later.

Nearly forty thousand troops laid down their weapons and unconditionally left the city to accept the Great Hua army’s reorganization.

Most of the technical troops would be retained, but the ordinary soldiers, unfortunately, could only go to build railways and mine.

The Great Hua army’s soldiers had too high benefits, and they couldn’t afford to support too many people.

Currently, Great Hua had one hundred thousand main force troops, two hundred thousand second-line troops, and two hundred thousand local garrison troops, totaling about five hundred thousand people.

As the Qing army grew weaker, Great Hua no longer needed to maintain so many troops.

Some civil officials had even proposed reducing the size of the army to alleviate financial pressure.

Several military大佬 were working hard to mediate, hoping to maintain the current number of troops.

As for further expansion, they shouldn’t even think about it.

The capture of Xuzhou announced that their main task of this Northern Expedition had been completed.

Next was to divide the troops to take over the cities surrounding Xuzhou and then let Nanjing send civil officials to take over the rule of these places.

The battle in Xuzhou was basically over, and the progress of Dong Tianbao’s troops attacking Henan was also relatively smooth.

Zhumadian, Zhoukou, Shangqiu and other places had been taken, and they were now advancing on Xuchang.

The Qing army had concentrated its resources on the central army, and the local troops were so weak that they were unrecognizable. Some troops didn’t even have muskets and were purely cold weapon units.

When these troops encountered the Great Hua main force, they were basically cannon fodder and had no ability to resist.

It would be more accurate to say that Dong Tianbao’s troops were on an armed parade rather than attacking cities and seizing territory.

They would go to a place, fire a few cannons, shoot a few guns, and show off their advanced weapons, and the other side would basically surrender.

Liu Hansan sorted out the battle reports and then sent someone to Nanjing to report the good news.

Chapter 488: Martyrs’ Memorial

Wu Changqing had anticipated the great victory at the Battle of Xuzhou. If they couldn’t win with so many advanced weapons and equipment, he would have to hold the commanding officers accountable.

He needed to let them know that he not only knew how to promote people, but also how to demote them.

Wu Changqing didn’t need to worry too much about how many enemies were killed or captured, as these wouldn’t affect the overall situation.

Only things that had a significant and far-reaching impact were worth his attention.

For example, the merit system he was currently establishing.

This was a major move to further win over the hearts of the soldiers.

Wu Changqing decided to establish the Golden Saber and Silver Saber Medals, specifically to recognize outstanding generals and soldiers in battle.

The Golden Saber would be awarded to generals, and the Silver Saber to soldiers, each divided into three grades.

Based on the size of their contributions, they would be awarded a First-Class Golden Saber, a Second-Class Golden Saber, or a Third-Class Golden Saber.

This was an honorary award, unlike a noble title with a stipend, so it wouldn’t create an additional burden on the treasury.

However, even so, this award was extremely precious, and Wu Changqing didn’t plan to issue too many. Moreover, he would personally hand each Golden Saber to the recipient at the award ceremony.

He would also personally award the Silver Saber to a select group of soldiers, as a sign of his favor.

In this way, he would grant the officers and soldiers the highest honor.

Those who were awarded the Golden and Silver Sabers would naturally become his loyal supporters.

Those who didn’t receive the award would strive for this honor and fight even more bravely in future battles.

The Golden and Silver Saber Medals only covered a small number of people. To win over the hearts of more soldiers, Wu Changqing also decided to erect a Martyrs’ Memorial in the large square, build a large Great Hua Military History Museum next to the square, and build a Martyrs’ Cemetery in the suburbs.

As a time-traveler, he had a great advantage: he could directly transplant the systems he thought were good from later generations.

Those measures that had stood the test of time, even if he didn’t understand their deeper meaning, would definitely be correct and beneficial.

The Martyrs’ Memorial was used to commemorate all the soldiers of the Great Hua army who died in battle, equivalent to a Shrine of Loyalty for the entire army.

In the past, only commanders with great merit were qualified to have a Shrine of Loyalty erected for them. Now, Wu Changqing was including the soldiers, thereby affirming the contributions of ordinary soldiers.

This move would naturally win the support of the lower-level soldiers.

As for the generals, they were now receiving high salaries and enjoying privileges, so they wouldn’t have much objection to sharing some of the honor with the soldiers.

The Martyrs’ Memorial wasn’t just for winning over the hearts of the soldiers, but also for educational purposes, to remind future generations of history, and to not forget who drove away the Qing Dynasty invaders, who founded this Great Hua, and who saved the world.

It was very important to instill a sense of honor in ordinary soldiers.

It was also very important to make ordinary people respect soldiers.

The Great Hua Military Museum would collect various historical materials, record the journey of the Great Hua army, and also record in detail the touching deeds of the figures in the Great Hua army.

Of course, the focus would be on recording Wu Changqing’s wise measures and emphasizing Wu Changqing’s personal role.

These deeds could inspire worship of Wu Changqing and also stimulate the patriotism of ordinary people, creating a sense of collective honor.

When a nation has a sense of collective honor, it is invincible.

Although Great Hua was already close to invincible, a little more collective honor wouldn’t hurt.

The Martyrs’ Cemetery was a place for the people to remember the martyrs, and it also had great educational significance.

If possible, the bodies of Great Hua soldiers would be transported back and buried in the Martyrs’ Cemetery.

If not possible, or if they had already been buried, a memorial tablet would be erected and placed collectively in the cemetery.

In the past, only emperors were qualified to have a special cemetery. Now, Wu Changqing’s move was a great favor to the soldiers.

A simple measure could win the favor of the soldiers.

Wu Changqing drafted the general regulations and handed them over to the Ministry of Rites for improvement. Finally, the Ministry of Rites publicized them in the newspapers, and the Ministry of Industry was responsible for starting construction.

In the Great Hua Daily, Wei Ziwen’s article occupied the front page. He introduced the significance of the Martyrs’ Memorial and other buildings to the public in detail, and greatly praised Wu Changqing’s wisdom and divine power, and the Emperor’s boundless grace.

His writing level was very high. As many people read his words, they felt the hardships and contributions of the soldiers, and thus empathized and had more respect for the soldiers.

In the past, in the eyes of the literati, soldiers were just crude and uneducated, representatives of barbarism and ignorance, and lower-class people.

In the eyes of the people, soldiers were like bandits.

After Wu Changqing’s deliberate guidance, the attitudes of all classes in Great Hua towards soldiers had obviously changed.

After all, the Qing Dynasty was driven away by these soldiers, which was an indisputable fact.

Anyone with a little conscience would recognize the contribution of the Great Hua soldiers.

In addition, the Great Hua army had strict military discipline and not many incidents of disturbing the people, so the reputation of the Great Hua soldiers was much better than that of the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty.

In the folk, these reports didn’t have much effect.

The common people might be inspired to join the army after listening to the storytellers.

However, the main force of newspaper readers, the scholars, didn’t have many people who wanted to join the army.

After all, being a soldier meant risking your life.

If you really wanted a noble title, you could still study and take the path of scientific research, so there was no need to take that risk.

The real focus of this report was the soldiers in the army.

Most of the soldiers were illiterate, but it didn’t matter. The newspaper couldn’t possibly have a copy for every soldier.

Under normal circumstances, a platoon could only receive one newspaper.

The platoon leaders in the Great Hua army were definitely literate. Those who were illiterate were not qualified to be officials.

They could gather the soldiers together to read the newspaper and listen to the news during training and learn about the major events in the world.

The ancients had limited access to information and were very interested in reading newspapers.

It could satisfy their curiosity and also understand some policies that were closely related to their interests.

Every time an officer had to read the newspaper, the soldiers would gather together and listen attentively.

“His Majesty said that a Martyrs’ Memorial will be established in Nanjing. All soldiers who die in battle can be rated as martyrs, and their families can be rated as martyrs’ families and enjoy tax exemption.

At the same time, the names of the martyrs will be registered and stored in the Great Hua Military Museum for eternal storage, for the public to visit on weekdays. Did you hear that? Everyone has the hope of being famous in history. This is a treatment only available to high-ranking officials.

If you can do something touching and heroic, you will be famous all over the world.”

The platoon leader in charge of reading the newspaper laughed, and the other soldiers were filled with tears.

To be famous in history, they never thought that they would have such a day. It was worth dying in battle.

In the past, many literati commanders committed suicide after defeat in order to be famous in history.

However, there were no soldiers who committed suicide, because even if they committed suicide, no one would know their deeds, and no one would record their deeds.

Those soldiers wanted to be loyal, but they had no reason to be loyal.

Now, they can also enjoy the same treatment as those commanders, and their heroic deeds can be recorded in history and be famous in history.

This is a fatal temptation for some soldiers.

Chapter 489: Currency Reform

Besides strengthening his control over the military, the most important thing left for Wu Changqing was to develop the economy.

Only by developing the economy could the people live a good life.

To this end, Wu Changqing began to promulgate the Currency Law.

He was about to make a move on currency.

Before making his move, he couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. After all, this matter had a significant impact, and if handled poorly, it could even cause social unrest.

The new Currency Law stipulated that only the imperial court had the power to mint coins. Other private institutions minting coins would be illegal and a serious crime punishable by confiscation of property and execution.

Of course, in the past, private minting of copper coins was also a serious crime.

However, in the past, it was extremely difficult for the imperial court to supervise private minting of copper coins.

The difficulty of minting copper coins was extremely low, and even money houses with a little strength could imitate them.

Moreover, the copper coins they minted would have a lower copper content than the imperial court’s copper coins.

Don’t underestimate the small amount of copper that could be reduced in a single copper coin, but when the number minted increased, reaching millions or even tens of millions, the profit in it would be considerable.

As for silver, there was no fixed standard in the past, and its value was determined by weight.

Many unscrupulous merchants would melt silver ingots and then mix in other metals.

Eight qian of silver could be used as one tael.

The demise of the Ming Dynasty was actually closely related to silver as a currency.

With the large influx of silver, the Ming Dynasty established a silver standard system.

However, the Ming Dynasty’s court did not have the corresponding means to control this silver.

This led to the value and flow of silver being beyond the control of the government, and then the court experienced a ‘money shortage’.

On the one hand, the amount of silver in the hands of private merchants increased, and prices rose sharply.

On the other hand, the main tax revenue of the Ming Dynasty came from farmers who didn’t have much silver, so they couldn’t collect much silver tax at all.

Coupled with years of war, the imperial court became poorer and poorer, and in the end, it couldn’t even pay the soldiers’ salaries, so the soldiers were naturally unwilling to risk their lives.

And those silver taels that went into the hands of merchants had nowhere to be spent, so they could only hoard them and hide them in cellars.

Wealth that does not participate in circulation has little meaning and cannot promote economic prosperity.

According to authoritative statistics, the amount of silver hoarded in cellars by the people at the end of the Ming Dynasty was as high as two hundred and fifty million taels.

If these bastards hadn’t hoarded so much money, Great Hua’s economy could not have taken off so quickly.

In the past, merchants had money but nowhere to spend it, and no profitable projects to invest in.

But now Great Hua has many projects and many luxury goods. Then they dug out the silver from their cellars, either for enjoyment or for investment.

Silver flowed into the market, creating unprecedented prosperity.

If it weren’t for the wealth hoarded by these merchants in the past, no matter how high the profits of Great Hua’s current projects were, making money would still require time and a process. It would not be possible to increase tax revenue so much overnight.

This money was all the wealth that those landlord masters had saved in the past, and now it was just being taken out.

From this perspective, the Ming Dynasty was actually quite pitiful, having paved the way for Wu Changqing.

They earned so much silver, but it had nothing to do with the imperial court, and now it all benefited Great Hua.

In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Ming Dynasty, Wu Changqing was determined to control the currency in his hands, and minting coins was only the first step.

In order to prevent private minting of coins and increase the difficulty of minting coins, Wu Changqing stipulated the standard for future currency.

The government ordered several coin minting machines for this purpose and created some dies with very complex patterns.

The people do not currently have the ability to create such complex dies, which means that they cannot imitate and counterfeit them. Others can tell the authenticity of the minted currency at a glance.

The new currency minted by the government is round, similar to the silver dollars of later generations, but divided into three denominations.

The largest denomination is ten yuan, corresponding to the previous ten taels. There are also one yuan and fifty cents, corresponding to the previous one tael and five qian.

However, the face value is ten yuan, but its silver content is far less than ten taels, at most nine taels.

The government also wants to take advantage of this wave of coin minting to earn some fiscal revenue.

This income should not be underestimated, which is equivalent to a profit of ten percent.

Minting one hundred million yuan can earn ten million yuan.

This is just silver coins. In terms of copper coins, Great Hua will also use new dies to increase the difficulty of minting coins.

Then, they will uniformly mint Yongxing Tongbao, with one thousand Yongxing Tongbao equal to one yuan, setting an official exchange rate, no longer like before, where the exchange rate between copper coins and silver often fluctuated.

With fluctuations, merchants can take advantage of the opportunity to make money by using exchange rate fluctuations.

Now, setting a fixed exchange rate can solve this problem.

Of course, a fixed exchange rate also has risks, that is, as the amount of silver on the market increases, the value of silver itself will decrease.

At that time, a very funny scene may appear. A commodity worth one yuan requires one yuan to buy with silver coins, but only nine hundred copper coins to buy with copper coins.

And the official exchange rate is one to one thousand, which will lead to people deliberately collecting copper coins and being unwilling to receive silver coins and unwilling to spend copper coins in transactions.

This situation will inevitably affect the economy.

After all, a large number of commercial activities require the use of change.

The issuance of currency often affects the whole body, and it is easy to cause problems if it is not handled properly.

Therefore, Wu Changqing wants to firmly control the right to mint coins in the hands of the government.

Only when the government can control the amount of silver coins and copper coins on the market can it control prices.

Then, by increasing or decreasing the amount of currency, they can control inflation and deflation. Appropriate inflation can stimulate the economy, and appropriate deflation can improve people’s quality of life.

These are very complex and macro means, and Great Hua cannot play with them for the time being, lacking corresponding economic talents.

If they rashly carry out regulation, problems may also occur.

However, after firmly controlling the right to mint coins, they will have the means to regulate at any time.

In addition to silver coins and copper coins, Wu Changqing also launched official unified silver notes.

Wu Changqing defined silver notes as a kind of bill, not a kind of currency. But in fact, this is paper money, just a different way of saying it.

This is paving the way for full paper currency in the future, first allowing a small amount of paper currency to circulate on the market, and restoring people’s confidence in paper currency.

When the time is right in the future, they will promote full paper currency.

Wu Changqing stipulated that private money houses would not be allowed to issue silver notes privately in the future.

All silver notes can only be issued by the Royal Bank.

The silver notes issued by the Royal Bank have the characteristics of being beautiful and having strong anti-counterfeiting capabilities. They use the latest inkjet printing technology, a high-tech that no one in the private sector has mastered for the time being.

At the same time, the Royal Bank promises that silver notes can be cashed for the equivalent amount of silver coins at any time.

With the Royal credit as a guarantee, as long as these silver notes come out, the silver notes of other money houses will have no room for survival.

After all, how can the reputation of private money houses compare with Wu Changqing, the eternal emperor?

The silver notes are temporarily set at three denominations: ten yuan, one hundred yuan, and one thousand yuan.

One thousand yuan is already a considerable amount of money, and only super-rich people can use this denomination.

As for a denomination of ten thousand yuan, it is not needed at all.

Businesses exceeding one hundred thousand yuan at a time are very rare, and one hundred thousand yuan is only one hundred one-thousand-yuan silver notes, which is very convenient.

The issuance of silver notes can also bring a huge income to the imperial court.

After all, as long as those silver note holders do not rush to withdraw money at the same time, the Royal Bank does not need to hoard an equivalent amount of silver coins.

Generally speaking, preparing one-fifth or even one-tenth of the amount of silver coins is enough.

And the extra silver coins can be spent.

This is equivalent to the fact that as long as the government issues one hundred million silver notes, it can have one hundred and eighty million yuan to use, earning a full eighty million for nothing.

Of course, Great Hua needs to ensure that the economy can continue to grow and that there are abundant investment opportunities to play like this.

If economic development stagnates and investment opportunities decrease, merchants will have nowhere to spend their money and will continue to hoard silver as before.

At that time, there will be a large number of bank runs, which will ruin the Royal Bank, lead to the bankruptcy of the Royal Bank’s credibility, and cause social unrest.

The current economic situation in Great Hua is very good, so there is no need to worry about this problem.

Increasing the exploitation of private capital is what they should be doing now.

Chapter 490: The Merchants Stir Up Trouble Again

Wu Changqing didn’t know, and couldn’t predict, what repercussions the currency law would cause after its implementation.

However, regardless of the situation, this was something that had to be done.

After the promulgation of the currency law, the Royal Bank began issuing new currency.

To Wu Changqing’s surprise, the new currency was met with a buying frenzy.

This was because the new currency was simply too beautiful, practically a work of art.

The old silver was just a small lump, as ugly as could be. Only the large ingots of official silver were somewhat presentable, but even that was limited to their shape.

The new silver coins, however, had the map of the Great Hua Empire engraved on one side and a dragon pattern on the other.

In terms of appearance, shape, and refinement, the new silver coins completely surpassed the old silver.

Moreover, in terms of weight, they were completely up to standard.

The government’s strength was such that it wouldn’t reveal any flaws when diluting the silver.

At the same time, the new currency was standardized, making it more convenient to use, unlike the old silver, which had to be weighed every time it was used.

In every aspect, it was better than the old silver, so it was only natural that it was well-received.

The common people and some small merchants took their silver ingots to exchange for the new silver coins, and the one million taels of silver coins that the Royal Bank had reserved were exchanged in three days.

Left with no choice, the mint could only work overtime, constantly minting new coins.

And the irregular silver ingots from the common people poured into the Royal Bank in large quantities.

The Royal Bank naturally made a killing on this opportunity.

Not only could it skim ten percent during minting, but it could also collect a “melting fee” when exchanging currency.

After all, most of the silver ingots from the common people were not pure silver and contained impurities.

The official explanation was that refining these impure silver required costs, so a small melting fee had to be charged.

Of course, this melting fee was very low, in order not to discourage the people from exchanging.

Although the fee was low, it couldn’t withstand the large volume.

With the large number of exchanges, this melting fee was enough to cover the Royal Bank’s operating costs.

And the income from minting became pure profit.

The Royal Bank’s little trickery naturally couldn’t be hidden from those shrewd big merchants.

However, even if those big merchants knew, there was nothing they could do.

They wouldn’t dare to go to the streets to popularize and expose the Royal Bank’s tricks.

After all, that was Wu Changqing’s private bank.

Exposing Wu Changqing’s dirty secrets would be like courting death.

After all, Wu Changqing was not Chongzhen. If it were Chongzhen, it would be easy to deal with. Just bribe a group of censors to scold the emperor in the court every day for competing with the people for profit.

With Chongzhen’s face-saving personality, he would have to give up after being scolded a few times.

But Wu Changqing was different. If anyone dared to scold him a few times, they would probably be sent to the execution grounds.

Throughout history, a strong emperor is not necessarily wise and mighty. But an emperor who can be called wise and mighty must be very strong.

If the emperor is not strong enough, it is not easy to do anything.

After all, no matter how good a policy is, it is impossible to take care of all classes at the same time. Those classes that do not benefit will generally cause trouble.

At the Jinling Chamber of Commerce, many merchants gathered again to discuss the impact of the currency law.

“The impact is naturally huge. If we exchange all the silver in our homes for new silver coins, our wealth will shrink by nearly ten percent, which is no small amount.

Secondly, wealth cannot be hidden. A small amount can be hidden, but if you want to exchange millions of taels, will the imperial court not have a record? Although the imperial court will not openly rob us even if our wealth is known.

But our current lord has many tricks. If he knows that someone has millions of taels of silver hidden at home, it is hard to guarantee that he will not have any ideas.”

Hong Tailin complained, Wu Changqing’s move was really too ruthless.

“Boss Hong is right. If the common people completely accept the new silver coins in the future, we will not be able to spend the silver in our hands. If we want to spend it, we must first exchange it for new coins.

After the imperial court completely controls the silver in the world, they can add as many impurities as they want to the silver coins. By then, even if we work hard to earn ten percent of profit a year, the government will add twenty percent of impurities when minting coins, and my profit will turn into a loss.”

Pang Yuanming echoed.

Although they didn’t understand the theory of inflation, they could think of such methods and know some of the initial effects of this inflation.

It can be said that the class that dislikes this currency policy the most is the big merchants.

The loss of ten percent of the profit is a small matter. The most important thing is that the imperial court controls the right to mint coins, and they will be subject to the imperial court in everything in the future.

Their real wealth has also become uncontrollable and depends on the imperial court’s mood.

“Then there is no way, could it be that you want to get the technology of minting silver coins, and then privately mint your own silver into new coins? That is a matter of losing your head.”

Cui Mingchong said helplessly, he didn’t want to take that kind of risk.

“We will naturally not do things that will lead to beheading, but we cannot sit still and wait for death. At least, we cannot let the issuance of new coins proceed too smoothly.”

Hong Tailin said.

“Then what should we do?”

Cui Mingchong asked.

“It’s not difficult to say it’s difficult, and it’s not easy to say it’s easy. The people with the most silver are not us merchants. As long as we maintain a tacit understanding and don’t exchange, how much can be exchanged by relying on those ordinary people and small vendors?

One million yuan in three days sounds like a lot, but it’s actually just that. As long as we collectively don’t exchange, that little bit of new coins cannot completely replace the old silver.

As long as the old silver can continue to circulate and use, and the new coins are not allowed to grow, the impact on us will not be great.”

Hong Tailin suggested.

As long as their circle is connected, it is indeed enough to hinder the issuance of new coins.

“This, if His Majesty finds out, I’m afraid he will be angry.”

Cui Mingchong said nervously.

To make this kind of collusion effective, the scope must be large.

And the larger the scope, the faster things will be exposed. After all, in such a large chamber of commerce, it is impossible for every merchant to be of the same mind. There may be royalists and pro-imperial parties inside.

“Be angry if he’s angry, could it be that he can punish us all in a fit of anger. As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses. If he dares to punish all of us, the foundation of Great Hua will be shaken.”

Hong Tailin said disdainfully.

“That’s true, but we merchants alone cannot fight against the government. I wonder how the progress of supporting mouthpieces in the court is going?”

Han Sanli asked.

“We have already funded several censors, but the officialdom of Great Hua is quite different from that of the Ming Dynasty. The censors have less say. As for those important ministers of the court, the progress is not very smooth. It seems that those important ministers are very afraid of our current lord.”

Hong Tailin said.

The more important the ministers, the more they come into contact with Wu Changqing, and the more they know about Wu Changqing, the more they fear Wu Changqing’s methods, so naturally they dare not act rashly.

The reason why the civil officials were not afraid of Chongzhen in the past was because Chongzhen only dared to deal with them individually after tossing and turning, because he had no military power in his hands.

But now, Wu Changqing has a firm grip on military power.

If those civil officials dare to collectively anger Wu Changqing, he can completely wipe them out and then promote a batch of officials.

Anyway, the most abundant thing on this land of Great Hua is people who want to be officials.

After some discussion, Hong Tailin and others decided to collude secretly to hinder the issuance and circulation of new coins.

Chapter 491: The Merchants Suffer Another Defeat

The exchange rate for the new currency suddenly plummeted, which was obviously not a normal phenomenon.

Wu Changqing had been closely monitoring the issuance of the new currency. After noticing this situation, he summoned Qin Fen from the intelligence division, asked a few questions, and learned that the merchants were colluding.

After all, such things were quite easy to find out.

The difficulty lay in how to handle it.

Directly confiscating the homes and beheading all the merchants involved in the collusion was obviously not an option.

The merchants in the entire Jinling Chamber of Commerce controlled some of the most important businesses in Great Hua, and most of them were in a monopoly position.

If their collective resistance was triggered, Great Hua might experience some internal strife.

Although this turmoil would not shake the foundation of Great Hua, it would stagnate Great Hua’s economic development, which was unnecessary.

Moreover, even if this group of merchants was killed, the next group would probably be the same. This was a unique attribute of their class, which was difficult to change.

Compared to the simple and crude method of beheading and confiscating homes, Wu Changqing had other methods.

A simpler method would be to forcibly compel those people to exchange for the new currency and forcibly collect the silver circulating in the market.

With the current powerful military force of Great Hua, it would not be difficult to do this.

But this was still not a good idea. Forcing people would inevitably lead to dissatisfaction.

This dissatisfaction might not show any negative effects in the short term, but in the long term, it would definitely have negative effects. At the very least, it would affect the image of the imperial court, give people an impression of being overbearing and unreasonable.

This kind of influence was very bad. It would cause the government to lose credibility, dampen the enthusiasm of merchants for investment, and increase the people’s dissatisfaction with the government.

Just like how countries in later generations treated demolitions, if the government was determined to complete the plan, how could ordinary individuals have the ability to resist?

However, the government would not carry out forced demolitions at all costs, in order to take into account the government’s image.

It was precisely because of these checks and balances that governing a country was not an easy task.

After pondering for a long time, Wu Changqing decided to adopt some slightly gentler methods.

First, officials’ salaries would be paid entirely in the new currency from now on. This alone would increase a large amount of new currency in the market.

Secondly, he also stipulated that the tax department would only accept the new currency for tax collection.

If you want to pay taxes, fine, bring the new currency. As for the old silver, sorry, our government doesn’t recognize it.

This regulation seemed to be detrimental to the issuance of the new currency. After all, accepting the old silver for tax payment could still be used to mint the new currency. Now, not accepting the old silver would reduce the source of raw materials for minting coins.

But in fact, the most fundamental aspect of issuing the new currency was not how to obtain the raw materials for minting coins, but how to make everyone accept and rely on the new currency.

No matter how much silver was obtained, it would be useless if no one exchanged it for the new currency.

However, if people were forced to use the new currency through some means, they would have to exchange for the new currency.

The regulation that Wu Changqing made was to create a demand for the new currency for those people.

Paying taxes was a hurdle that everyone in Great Hua could not avoid.

If you want to pay taxes, then bring the new currency.

If you don’t have the new currency, sorry, we don’t accept tax payments.

Don’t think that the government not accepting tax payments is a good thing. When the tax department comes to impose fines and confiscate your home after a while, they will have something to cry about.

At that time, they can’t blame the government, after all, the government is acting in accordance with the law, and it is not within the scope of being unreasonable.

As soon as this move came out, the merchants were dumbfounded.

Especially for those merchants who were just about to reach the tax payment deadline, they were about to cry and faint at the Great Hua Tax Bureau.

The silver and old-fashioned silver notes they brought were not recognized, only the new currency was accepted.

If they could not pay taxes in time, the lightest punishment would be to pay an extra fine.

As a result, those who couldn’t hold on could only rush to the Royal Bank to queue up to exchange for the new currency.

For a time, there were more people exchanging for the new currency.

What was even more deadly was that because the minting speed of the new currency was limited, the new currency was quickly exchanged.

What about those who did not exchange for the new currency but needed to pay taxes?

There was no way, they could only run to the streets to hold up signs to buy the new currency. Signs asking for ninety-eight yuan for one hundred taels of silver, and ninety-five yuan for one hundred taels were common.

Those who had exchanged for the new currency earlier saw this and thought, “Oh, there is such a good thing.”

In this case, who the hell would go to work? Wouldn’t it be enough to go to the Royal Bank every day to queue up to exchange for the new currency to make money in the future?

There were many people with this idea, and some people had even more novel ideas, and directly gave birth to a rumor about this phenomenon.

It was said that the silver of those who held up signs to ask for exchange was mixed with inferior silver, and they wanted to use this method to cheat money. If you exchanged with them, you would definitely suffer.

There were also rumors that the government would limit the issuance of the new currency, and would stop issuing it after issuing a part, so it was particularly precious and should be treasured as a family heirloom.

There were also rumors that the silver content of the one yuan new currency issued by the government now was more than one tael, and then it was discovered by black-hearted merchants who wanted to buy it and melt it to make money.

In short, a lot of versions of rumors were born in a short period of time. Some were so outrageous that people couldn’t look directly at them, but some people still believed them.

No matter how many rumors there were, these rumors all led to one result, that is, the people became more and more recognized the new currency and were unwilling to exchange the new currency for old silver.

This situation made those big merchants want to cry without tears.

They also had no way to explain and refute the rumors to the people one by one. They wanted to publish a few articles to refute the rumors in the Great Hua Daily, but they were rejected by the Great Hua Daily because ‘the matter was too small and unqualified’.

The Great Hua Daily was the mouthpiece of the government. It was simply a dream for merchants to want the Great Hua Daily to speak for them.

Of course, the merchants actually controlled a newspaper that specialized in serving them, which was the Business Daily.

The key was that those who read the Business Daily were all merchants, and the people didn’t pay much attention to this kind of newspaper. Publishing articles to refute rumors in this newspaper was meaningless.

After all, those who would read the Business Daily would know that it was a rumor without reading their articles.

The merchants still wanted to struggle, but after a merchant had a conflict with the tax department because of late tax payment, the merchants no longer insisted.

The merchant who had a conflict with the tax department was labeled with a hat of tax resistance and his home was directly confiscated.

Everyone knew that the merchant’s crime did not deserve this, and this was the government killing the chicken to warn the other monkeys.

If the other monkeys were still ignorant, it might be them who would suffer.

The government would not clean up too many unscrupulous merchants at one time, but it was still no problem to take down a few each time.

No one could guarantee whether the unlucky one was themselves.

As a result, the collusion activities disappeared overnight, and countless merchants ran to the Royal Bank to pre-order the new currency.

Wu Changqing also took the opportunity to launch silver notes and clearly stipulated that silver notes could be used to pay taxes, and old silver could be directly exchanged for silver notes of equal value.

As soon as this order came out, those merchants who were eager to pay taxes began to exchange for silver notes.

Wu Changqing’s decree not only solved the issuance of the new currency, but also completed the issuance of silver notes.

Moreover, this decree did not allow those merchants to find too many problems.

The merchants of Great Hua suffered another defeat.

Last time they were defeated by Ruan Dacheng, this time they were defeated by Wu Changqing.

Chapter 492: Control

The Great Hua government anticipates raking in around fifty million yuan in wealth from this round of coinage. The majority of this will come from the large landlords and wealthy merchants who once hoarded countless silver taels.

The reason the government wants this money isn’t because Wu Changqing is looking to line his own pockets.

To Wu Changqing, the entire country is his. He has no need for personal wealth.

The reason for continuing to gather wealth is naturally to better develop the economy.

Wu Changqing’s goal is to concentrate the money scattered among individuals to accomplish great things.

This money has a negligible effect when it’s dispersed among individuals.

But when it’s concentrated, fifty million yuan can have a huge impact.

More importantly, the wealthy merchants have money, so Wu Changqing feels justified and even a little smug about squeezing them dry.

The feeling of toying with capitalists is incredibly satisfying.

After the mint predicted the profits that could be made from this coinage, the bigwigs from various departments began to frequently appear before Wu Changqing, their aim being nothing more than to get a piece of the pie and request more budget.

After all, no one thinks they have too much money, especially when the economy is developing rapidly and there are so many places where money is needed.

Wu Changqing ignored these guys. He already had plans for the money.

To better develop the economy, he allocated a budget of ten million yuan to support the development of the steel industry.

He stipulated that the next step was to support ten steel mills specifically for producing agricultural tools.

Any newly built steel mill that promised to produce a certain number of agricultural tools within a year would receive tax subsidies.

This is because non-official steel mills are currently unwilling to produce agricultural tools due to the low profit margin.

Impoverished people are so poor that they can only afford to use primitive tools to till the land, and they can’t afford to buy iron farm tools.

To sell agricultural tools, steel mills have to lower prices, which naturally eliminates profits, making it far less profitable than producing machine parts for large merchants or manufacturing weapons for export overseas.

Merchants are profit-driven and short-sighted.

They don’t realize that, from a macro perspective, exporting weapons in exchange for a large amount of silver doesn’t make much sense and only accelerates inflation.

Giving people more agricultural tools will free up more labor and reduce their labor costs.

Or perhaps they do realize this, but they hope other merchants will be good people and make selfless contributions, while they quietly make money.

As for the contributions others are making now, freeing up labor, they will also be able to enjoy those labor dividends in the future.

It’s hard to say whether merchants are short-sighted, but they are definitely selfish.

Selfishness is the label of merchants.

There’s no other way; this thankless task can only be promoted by the government.

With ten million yuan invested, productivity can be increased by at least double. There is still a lot of arable land in the country.

In the long run, there are many benefits.

As for the remaining forty million, Wu Changqing drafted a plan to support small and medium-sized enterprises.

Currently, many industries are monopolized, and other small merchants are unable to compete.

This situation isn’t good, but Wu Changqing can’t simply and rudely start breaking up those giants.

How could the wise and brilliant him do something that would damage his reputation?

So, he uses money to support those small and medium-sized merchants, increase their competitiveness, and let them all enter the market and grab market share from those giants.

This can both dismantle the monopolistic advantages of those giants and make the small and medium-sized merchants grateful, killing two birds with one stone.

Even if those giants see through Wu Changqing’s intentions, they have nothing to say.

This policy can also divide the merchants internally, creating two opposing camps of large merchants and small and medium-sized merchants.

Although those small and medium-sized merchants will become selfish and self-interested after they grow up with the support, they are easier to control and manipulate than those giants.

With tax subsidies, small and medium-sized merchants don’t have to worry about the giants starting a price war, and they also have competitiveness.

As soon as this policy came out, small and medium-sized merchants naturally shouted “Long live the Emperor!”

For a time, a large number of small and medium-sized merchants began to run to the government, wanting to apply for this opportunity and then start investing in building factories.

Faced with this situation, those large merchants were very helpless.

They finally realized that they were not Wu Changqing’s favorite sons.

In the past, Wu Changqing gave them technology and policies, supporting them like a favorite son, not because he liked them, but purely because the situation at the time required their capital.

And now, they have grown too large, so Wu Changqing is starting to deal with them.

Some timid people have already begun to actively divide their family property, dividing the industry that originally belonged to the eldest son alone among the other sons.

In this way, the monopoly giants become several medium-sized shanghao, losing their monopoly attributes.

After all, even close brothers keep separate accounts. It is impossible for brothers who have divided their families to be of one mind.

Not to mention that most of the brothers are born of different mothers and have a natural estrangement.

Dividing the family will reduce the competitiveness of the family business a little, but the benefit is that they don’t have to worry about being targeted by Wu Changqing and can sleep more soundly at night.

These people may not be stupid; in some ways, they are living wisely.

Anyway, even if they split up their businesses, they will still be rich and live the life of the elite.

Of course, these people are only a minority.

Most of the giants’ thinking is still stuck in the past, unwilling to give up their monopolistic advantages.

Faced with Wu Changqing’s suppression, they are not resigned to their fate but are thinking about how to fight back.

Of course, their counterattack is against those small and medium-sized merchants who have entered the market to compete with them, not against Wu Changqing. Even if they were given the courage, they would not dare to directly confront Wu Changqing.

However, their counterattack is likely to fail.

After all, Wu Changqing is standing on the side of the small and medium-sized merchants.

At that time, as long as he introduces some policies that are beneficial to small and medium-sized merchants, he can make those monopoly giants vomit blood.

Of course, these small and medium-sized merchants who have temporarily gained Wu Changqing’s support don’t need to be happy too early. After they become rich, Wu Changqing will start thinking of ways to harvest their wealth and then subsidize the bottom people.

While taking into account development, minimizing the gap between the rich and the poor as much as possible and achieving common prosperity is one of Wu Changqing’s governing directions.

In order to develop the economy and concentrate resources on major tasks, he needs to let some people get rich first.

But in order to achieve the goal of common prosperity, he will find ways to constantly harvest the wealth of those rich people.

At this time, autocratic imperial power shows a little bit of advantage.

In later generations of capitalism, the country is in the hands of those capitalists. How could they possibly redistribute the wealth they have acquired to the poor?

Milk would rather be poured into the river than be reduced in price. On the one hand, the bottom people are too poor to buy milk, and on the other hand, capitalists can only pour milk into the river because the poor cannot afford it.

This is capitalism.

Even if a ruler suddenly has a conscience and wants to improve the lives of the poor, he cannot confront the entire bourgeoisie. The consequence of insisting on doing so is that the capitalists will replace him with another spokesperson.

But now, with autocratic imperial power, Wu Changqing has supreme power and can barely do this.

He can harvest the wealth of those rich people, and they can’t do anything about it.

Unless the power of their merchant class can reach the point of being able to compete with the emperor.

This possibility is not nonexistent. If someone weaker or less capable were to sit in this position, it could evolve to that point over time.

But with Wu Changqing in this position, those merchants can forget about it.

Wu Changqing’s ability may not be that strong, but the key is that he has a lot of knowledge.

In the current world, there isn’t even a word for “capitalist,” but Wu Changqing knows the essence of capitalists.

He knows the terrible aspects of capitalists and also knows their weaknesses.

Relying on knowledge far beyond this world, he has the means to control these capitalists, so that they won’t take control of the world while playing around, then overthrow him, and then complete the process from feudal dynasty to capitalist society.

Chapter 493: Merchants Laying Plans

The merchants might not have known Wu Changqing’s grand ambitions, but they could sense that Wu Changqing was targeting them.

Only a minority were willing to accept things lying down. Most of the major merchants were actively working to increase their class’s influence.

In Yangzhou, at a restaurant, the Prefect of Yangzhou, Fei Wei, was hosting a dinner for several major merchants.

He had to invite them. The secret to getting promoted in the Great Hua bureaucracy was to please the big merchants.

Because economic development had become the most important performance indicator for local officials.

Local officials who could develop the economy were promoted quickly.

Conversely, if they pursued long-term stability and security like the previous Ming Dynasty, they were doomed, with no hope of promotion.

Moreover, as more and more talented individuals entered the Great Hua bureaucracy, these people would eventually have to make way for the newcomers.

This was a major advantage of the Great Hua Dynasty: a bureaucracy full of vitality.

In the old Ming Dynasty, promotions depended on seniority, and dismissing incompetent officials required consideration of their past service.

This led to capable people being unable to attain important positions, forced to wait for their turn.

Incompetent officials, however, could occupy positions indefinitely, drawing salaries for doing nothing.

Of course, any long-lasting regime would face this problem.

But now, the Great Hua Dynasty didn’t need to consider past service when dismissing officials, because they had no past service to speak of.

Over ninety percent of the civil officials in the Great Hua territories were former surrendered officials. What merit or hard work could they possibly have contributed to Great Hua?

Without seniority, there was no need to consider their feelings or opinions. They could be dismissed at will.

This left no room for the incompetent to survive.

Moreover, because Great Hua had risen so quickly, the official promotion mechanism hadn’t yet developed rigid rules. There were no regulations requiring a promotion every three years.

It was common for capable individuals to be promoted out of turn.

Although, as time went on, the Great Hua bureaucracy would inevitably become a place where seniority mattered, at least for now, it was still full of vitality.

It was precisely because of this that ambitious officials in the Great Hua bureaucracy were working very hard, because there were so many opportunities.

As long as they performed well, it was possible to soar into the inner cabinet.

Fei Wei was an ambitious man. Although the position of Prefect of Yangzhou was lucrative, it couldn’t satisfy his appetite.

Therefore, he was doing his best to develop the local economy.

In the process, he naturally encountered many difficulties.

Originally, Yangzhou was a place with great advantages. Since the Sui Dynasty, it had been a famous town. Connected to the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, its water transport was extremely developed.

Its economic development had always been among the best.

However, the invasion by the Manchus caused a sharp decline in population.

Moreover, Great Hua’s northward advance was relatively late, and its incorporation into Great Hua was slow.

By the time Yangzhou was incorporated into Great Hua, the development of Nanjing, Songjiang, and Suzhou was already in full swing.

In this situation, Yangzhou’s capital flowed to Nanjing and Songjiang, and Yangzhou’s development declined.

Now, Yangzhou’s infrastructure was poor, its industrial base was weak, and its talent drain was severe.

For many reasons, the cost of building factories and producing goods in Yangzhou was much higher than in Nanjing.

This meant that Fei Wei, despite his desire to develop the economy, was in a situation where even a skilled housewife couldn’t cook without rice.

Helpless, he had to put aside his pride and host a banquet for local wealthy merchants, hoping that they would consider their hometown and invest in building factories in Yangzhou to develop the city.

Everyone first drank wine and ate meat, talking about the current good life and the promising future.

Then, Fei Wei found an appropriate opportunity and said, “Although Great Hua is developing vigorously, our Yangzhou is lagging behind, which is a shame for the famous city of Huai, and the beautiful land of Zhuxi.”

The other merchants smiled but remained silent. They knew Fei Wei’s purpose before they came.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want their hometown to develop, but the return on investment in Yangzhou was low, far less than making money in Nanjing.

“Alas, there’s nothing we can do. Nanjing and Songjiang took the lead,” a cloth merchant said.

He had built a textile factory in Nanjing, serving as a supplier to the Wu family.

Thanks to extensive mechanization, his production costs were extremely low, and he had made a lot of money.

But if he opened a textile factory in Yangzhou, the costs would be uncontrollable.

For example, if a machine suddenly broke down.

In Nanjing, it was easy to find a professional repairman, but in Yangzhou it would be difficult, even impossible. He would have to send someone to Nanjing to hire one.

The cost of hiring someone was a small matter, but the time wasted in traveling back and forth would delay the project, and the losses would be incalculable.

Besides this, the procurement of raw materials, the sale of goods, and so on, were not as convenient as in Nanjing.

Nanjing had formed an agglomeration effect. Doing business in Nanjing was very convenient, while in other places there were many difficulties.

“Mr. Cheng is mistaken. Nanjing has only been developing for two years. A mere two years is not long in a long-term investment. As long as everyone invests in building factories in Yangzhou, relying on Yangzhou’s excellent geographical location, we can quickly catch up. As long as we have more factories here, other talents and capital will flock to Yangzhou, and then form the same advantages as Nanjing.

Moreover, this is an inevitable trend. The imperial court cannot only develop Nanjing. In the future, it will support the development of important places, and Yangzhou is definitely one of them.”

Fei Wei had obviously done his homework, and his reasoning was smooth.

But it was useless. Merchants were profit-driven.

Since they could make money in Nanjing, why bother pioneering in Yangzhou? Why not wait for other merchants to endure the early stages in Yangzhou, develop the city, and then return?

Seeing that the merchants wouldn’t budge, Fei Wei was helpless and continued, “Please, for the sake of your fellow villagers, do me a favor. If there’s anything I can do for you in the future, I won’t forget this favor.”

The merchants began to show enthusiasm upon hearing this.

They had always wanted to seek more influence, and befriending officials was the best way.

Now, a great opportunity was before them.

As long as they gave up a little profit and helped Fei Wei, they would gain an ally.

Moreover, if they could develop Yangzhou and elevate Fei Wei into the central cabinet, their benefits would be even greater.

The emperor couldn’t handle everything personally. Cabinet ministers could make many decisions on their own.

If Fei Wei favored them, they could reap countless benefits.

However, they needed to assess Fei Wei to determine whether he was worth allying with.

If Fei Wei was a loyal royalist, or a fickle and despicable man, their investment would be in vain.

“We admire Prefect Fei’s concern for the people, and we are also willing to contribute to our hometown. However…”

Next was some exchange of interests. Everyone spoke vaguely, but those who could sit in this position were not mediocre. Everyone could understand.

Fei Wei knew their demands and felt very conflicted.

Once he became their spokesperson, it wouldn’t be easy to get out. In the future, he might have to do something illegal to repay them.

But Fei Wei had no choice. He had to rely on these big merchants to climb up.

So, after some bargaining, the two sides finally reached a cooperation.

These merchants promised to invest three million wen in Yangzhou in the early stages to build factories.

And Fei Wei also promised to provide the greatest convenience. Whatever land they wanted, he would take care of it.

Chapter 494: Outbound Ceremony

Early May, Nanjing Wharf.

A grand send-off ceremony was underway, with hundreds of large ships lined up on the river.

Even Wu Changqing himself came to bid farewell to this outbound fleet.

Because among this fleet were ten warships.

Some of them were escorting the fleet, while others were under Wu Changqing’s orders to carry out missions at sea.

The main task was to explore sea routes. Routes to Australia, the Americas, and Europe needed to be surveyed to gain a clear understanding, so that large-scale operations could be carried out in the future.

If a large fleet were sent out rashly without knowing the routes, a single accident could cause Wu Changqing considerable pain.

Each large ship was loaded with goods worth tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Whether for future trade or overseas dominance, Wu Changqing needed a large number of people familiar with the routes and experienced sailors.

Therefore, he took money out of his own pocket to fund the navy’s exploration efforts.

Besides the warships, the rest were merchant ships, a collective voyage of several large families and a large number of small merchants who had agreed to travel together.

Most of them were going to sea for the first time and felt insecure.

So they came up with this plan to increase the scale, so they would be qualified to ask the government to send the navy to escort them.

With such a large amount of property at stake, the Great Hua government also attached great importance to it and readily agreed to the merchants’ request for escort.

Of course, this kind of escort service was not free, and the fees were not low.

On the dock, many women were crying.

Most of them were concubines of the masters of large families, seeing off their own sons.

Going to sea meant being away for several months or even a year or two, with an uncertain future. For mothers like them, it was impossible to remain calm.

“Silence! His Majesty is not far away, what are you crying about? This is in response to His Majesty’s call, what do you mean by crying like this?”

Tong Youwei reprimanded his third concubine, telling her to watch her image.

Upon hearing this, the woman dared not cry anymore, but the worry in her heart was written all over her face.

Other noble ladies were much the same.

In stark contrast were the family members of small wealthy families and the family members of the poor.

Although they were also sad, they also had a sense of anticipation.

For small wealthy families, going to sea meant gambling their entire fortune for wealth. If successful, their family property would multiply several times; if not, they would be ruined.

As for the poor who went to sea as sailors, they were purely after the high wages.

The families of those poor people were counting on this salary to live on.

The various aspects of life on the dock fell into Wu Changqing’s eyes, strengthening his determination to support overseas trade.

To enable the people of the whole country to live a good life, developing technology was one aspect, but exploiting and plundering other foreigners was also unavoidable.

The land of Great Hua was not particularly rich in resources.

To meet the needs of all its people, it could only plunder overseas resources.

Those countries in history that had achieved hegemony had all developed in this way.

Before the ships set sail, he gave a speech as usual, expounding on the great significance of going to sea for trade, and sending blessings to the brave men who were going to sea.

The speech was not long, but it gave the seafarers some encouragement. This was recognition from His Majesty.

“Fire the salute, set sail!”

Feng Debao shouted loudly, and sixty-six cannons were fired, symbolizing smooth sailing.

Then, the fleet began to set sail.

Hundreds of large ships of varying sizes, but all over five hundred tons, set sail, the scene was truly spectacular.

The children on the dock couldn’t bear to leave. Among them, there would surely be someone who, inspired by this scene, would make a dream of becoming a captain or sailor in the future.

The fleet sailed to Songjiang, made a brief stop, and then continued its voyage.

The Western Europe merchants in Songjiang were stunned when they saw this fleet.

This was too huge.

The Western Europe merchants wanted to cry but had no tears. When they went to sea for trade, three or five ships were considered a fleet, and it was rare to have more than ten ships, because they could not gather enough people and goods.

In fact, there were often single ships sailing out to sea.

Where had they ever seen such a large merchant fleet? It simply left no way for other merchants to survive.

They only transported a hundred tons of goods per trip, while the Great Hua fleet transported at least tens of thousands of tons of goods at a time, which would probably have a major impact on the Western Europe market and lead to a decline in commodity prices.

After all, things were valued when they were scarce. With so much cargo, prices would definitely be affected.

And the drop in prices would naturally affect the income of these Western Europe merchants. For Western Europe consumers, the Great Hua fleet was good news.

But for these Western Europe merchants, it was simply bad news.

Once the Great Hua fleet became familiar with the routes, where would they find a way to survive in the future?

However, faced with this situation, they were helpless. They couldn’t even think about robbing them. Didn’t they see that the Great Hua merchants were enjoying the escort of steam warships?

“Rousseff, I’ve decided, I want to join Great Hua and become a Great Hua citizen.”

Wester blurted out after seeing this scene, almost scaring his companion.

“Wester, are you sick?”

Rousseff asked.

“Of course not, I’m very clear-headed now. Great Hua is too powerful a country, and joining Great Hua must be a great experience. You should remember that after our Dutch fleet was attacked and robbed by the British, our country’s noble rulers didn’t even dare to fart.

But look at Great Hua, merchants even have warships escorting them when they go to sea.

If I were a Great Hua citizen, I could also go to sea to do business with such a fleet. I wouldn’t have to worry about pirates or the British anymore.”

Wester said. He had been robbed by pirates before.

Although they were called pirates, everyone knew in their hearts that those people were English merchants, or even the English navy.

“Well, although what you said is true, do you know how to join Great Hua? And do you think Great Hua will accept us? You know, our appearance is obviously different from theirs.

Even the color of your hair is different from theirs. We used to get strange looks when we wandered around the city. Do you think you can integrate into life in Great Hua?”

Rousseff asked a series of questions, each one quite fatal.

“It depends on human effort. I won’t be satisfied until I try. Maybe the Great Hua Emperor will be moved by my sincerity and agree to accept me. As for how to integrate into Great Hua, I don’t think there’s a big problem.

As long as I treat people kindly and learn their etiquette, they won’t deliberately make things difficult for me, right? We’ve been in Great Hua for a long time, and although those people look at us strangely, no one has ever made things difficult for us, have they?”

Wester became more and more excited, as if he saw hope.

“Well, I can only wish you good luck. If you succeed, I might consider it in the future. To be honest, Great Hua is a really good place. After staying here for a long time, I really don’t want to go back to those stinky cities in Europe.

Just in terms of environmental hygiene, Great Hua is heaven, and Europe is a stable.”

Rousseff complained about the sanitation in Europe. In comparison, Songjiang’s sanitation was much better.

Chapter 495: Number One Great Hua Fan

Wester began his activities. He first found the officials of Songjiang and submitted his request to become a citizen.

Such a bizarre request was a first for the Songjiang officials, and they didn’t know how to handle it for a while.

The more you do, the more mistakes you make.

This was a principle in officialdom. The Songjiang officials had never handled anything like this before, so they didn’t dare to deal with it casually.

If they didn’t handle it according to the Emperor’s wishes, they would be patting the horse’s leg instead of its back.

Therefore, the Songjiang officials pushed the matter to the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, telling Wester to go to Nanjing and find the people from the Ministry of Revenue.

Helpless, Wester could only pack his luggage and prepare to go to Nanjing.

Before leaving, he suddenly thought that to integrate into Great Hua, he first had to take a Great Hua name.

His appearance was something he couldn’t change, but anything else he could change, he would change without hesitation.

However, his Great Hua language skills were limited to basic communication. He didn’t understand the Great Hua writing system or the various profound meanings contained within the characters.

Therefore, he couldn’t handle the matter of choosing a name on his own.

Left with no choice, he had to spend a lot of money to hire a down-on-his-luck juren to name him.

“Wester, Wester, I think you should change your surname to Wei. The sound is similar. Moreover, Wei is a prominent surname in Great Hua. There have even been emperors with the surname Wei.

Wei, Wei, Wei… Wei Xianghua, yes, let’s call you Wei Xianghua.”

Zeng Guangyuan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a name.

“Wei Xianghua, Wei sounds the same as ‘for’. This name can express both ‘hearts towards Great Hua’ and ‘changing name for Great Hua’…”

For the sake of the silver, Zeng Guangyuan tried his best to exaggerate.

Wester didn’t understand much of what he said, but it didn’t matter. Seeing the other party shaking his head and looking profound, he thought the name was very impressive.

Commonly known as, “I don’t understand, but it sounds awesome.”

“Good, thank you, sir. From now on, I will be called Wei Xianghua, haha.”

Wei Xianghua said happily, while Zeng Guangyuan tried hard to suppress the smile on his face, feeling like he was about to burst out laughing.

He hoped that there would be more fools like Wei Xianghua among the Western Europeans, so that he could have an extra source of income.

Perhaps, I should be more proactive?

Zeng Guangyuan decided to wait and see. If Wei Xianghua really succeeded in becoming a citizen, he would decide to actively help some Westerners who wanted to become citizens, and then collect some handling fees along the way.

Wei Xianghua packed his luggage and came to Nanjing alone.

Then, while enjoying the city of Nanjing, which he was so fascinated by, he inquired about the location of the Ministry of Revenue and actively made his way there.

With silver paving the way, Wei Xianghua finally found the Ministry of Revenue and presented his request to the person in charge.

“This kind of matter should belong to the Diplomatic Office of the Ministry of Rites. You should go find them.”

The person in charge of the Ministry of Revenue said.

Unless it was clearly stipulated that it was a matter for the Ministry of Revenue, he would only handle it with care.

In Wei Xianghua’s case, he couldn’t make the decision and didn’t know what the higher-ups’ attitude was.

Disturbing the higher-ups for such a small matter, he didn’t know if it would be a blessing or a curse.

Therefore, he pushed it away as much as possible, pushing it to the Diplomatic Office.

Currently, diplomacy was not a particularly important department for Great Hua, so it was not a separate ministry, but was attached to the Ministry of Rites as a department-level office.

When Wei Xianghua arrived at the Diplomatic Office of the Ministry of Rites with a bitter face, the director of the Diplomatic Office, Jin Sheng, was very interested in this.

Because the Diplomatic Office’s presence was too weak, and there were almost no important matters from above to handle.

The people in the Diplomatic Office were naturally unwilling to accept this, and wanted to find something to do to prove the necessity of their department’s existence, so as to avoid being suddenly cut off one day.

Jin Sheng warmly received Wei Xianghua and promised to do his best for him.

This made Wei Xianghua, who had always been disliked, feel warmth for the first time, and he almost burst into tears.

Jin Sheng did not perfunctorily deal with Wei Xianghua, but took the risk of finding Qian Qianyi, hoping that Qian Qianyi could give him an idea.

After all, accepting a Westerner was not a big deal, but there was no precedent, and no one knew whether accepting him was right or wrong, or whether it would cause any controversy.

“Why bother doing such a thankless task?”

Qian Qianyi complained.

“I’m also considering the prestige of Great Hua. After all, our Great Hua is the Celestial Empire, a land of ceremony and propriety. We should at least respond to the requests of the barbarians.

Moreover, this Wei Xianghua’s heart of allegiance is extremely sincere, and he will surely be of use to Great Hua. His Majesty has always been tolerant and should not object.”

Jin Sheng persuaded.

“Well, I’ll mention it to His Majesty when I have the chance. If I don’t have the chance, then forget it. It’s a trivial matter.”

Qian Qianyi said.

If Wei Xianghua was an envoy from another foreign country, he would pay more attention to it.

Unfortunately, Wei Xianghua was just an ordinary foreigner. Such a small matter was not worth alarming someone at the level of shangshu.

It was only because the Ministry of Rites was a little idle that Qian Qianyi would pay attention to it.

If it were the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce, Ruan Dacheng and the others would not have time to pay attention to such trivial matters. They were so busy that they were losing a lot of hair.

Qian Qianyi told Jin Sheng to wait, and this wait lasted for more than half a month.

Once, when Qian Qianyi and Wu Changqing were discussing the questions for the palace examination, they talked about foreign policy.

Then, Qian Qianyi told Wu Changqing about Wei Xianghua’s desire to become a citizen as an interesting anecdote.

Wu Changqing listened and pondered for a while.

This matter was a small matter at the moment, but it would definitely be a big matter in the future.

When his army reached all parts of the world, and people all over the world knew about the power and wealth of Great Hua, the number of people who wanted to become citizens would definitely circle the earth.

That would be a big problem, so corresponding rules had to be formulated now, and they couldn’t be accepted unconditionally.

Of course, they couldn’t be completely rejected either.

Giving those foreigners no hope at all would only arouse their national emotions and resistance.

Giving them a little hope, they would try their best to obtain that hope, and their desire to resist would be lower.

In order to avoid a large number of foreigners becoming citizens, the conditions for acceptance naturally had to be set strictly.

“This is a very serious issue, and I need to consider it in more detail.”

Wu Changqing said.

This was somewhat unexpected to Qian Qianyi. He knew that Wu Changqing was not a very diligent emperor and generally only dealt with important matters.

He originally thought that Wu Changqing would immediately express his opinion after hearing such an unimportant matter.

Unexpectedly, Wu Changqing solemnly stated that he needed to consider it carefully.

A matter that Wu Changqing needed to consider carefully was obviously not a small matter. Qian Qianyi couldn’t help but start thinking about what the significance of this matter was and why it would make Wu Changqing pay so much attention to it.

However, because he didn’t know Wu Changqing’s attitude towards foreign barbarians, he couldn’t guess for a while.

Chapter 496: Foreign Policy

Wu Changqing thought for a long time and finally decided to adopt India’s caste system for dealing with foreign ethnic groups.

He had no choice; he had to ensure the nobility of the Great Hua ethnicity.

And how to highlight that nobility? By having other ethnicities to contrast against, of course.

A person’s happiness is often born from comparison.

Even if his monthly income is only one thousand wen, he can feel extremely happy as long as others only earn one hundred.

If others earn ten thousand wen a month, he would feel depressed even with a monthly income of ten thousand.

A sense of superiority is the same; it needs contrast and comparison.

If everyone is equal, where does the sense of superiority come from?

Therefore, the Great Hua ethnicity must not be equal to other ethnicities.

A sense of superiority isn’t just a fleeting cloud; it’s a very important spiritual attribute.

The stronger the national sense of superiority, the higher the recognition of the court, the stronger the cohesion, and the lower the cost of governance.

Conversely, if the people are all inferior and yearn for foreign countries, it will be troublesome, inevitably leading to a series of problems such as talent loss.

Although these wouldn’t affect the foundation of the country, having a sense of national superiority is far better than worshiping foreign cultures.

This is why Wu Changqing decided to adopt the caste system, which later generations would criticize.

Regardless of how much this system is criticized, it only harms the lower caste groups. The higher caste strata are always the beneficiaries.

And in Wu Changqing’s plan, the Great Hua ethnicity would naturally be the only high caste.

This Great Hua ethnicity would roughly include the fifty-six ethnicities of later generations.

He could only do it roughly. Although Wu Changqing would like to directly refer to the fifty-six ethnicities of later generations as the Great Hua ethnicity.

However, everything needs to consider the current actual situation.

If he insisted on including one or two ethnic minorities with significant differences in appearance from the Han people as part of the Great Hua ethnicity, his ministers probably wouldn’t understand.

Roughly classify the fifty-six ethnic groups of later generations as first-class ethnicities, while Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese, Persians, and others who look similar to the Han people are classified as second-class.

Although people from Western Europe have differences in appearance, they still have common ground in aesthetics. The beauties of Eastern Europe are also quite attractive.

They can be classified as third-class, and as for the last, fourth-class, it is naturally the primitive people of Africa.

That place is now like a forgotten world, without civilization, all primitive tribes.

Most importantly, they don’t fit the Great Hua aesthetic.

As someone from later generations, Wu Changqing certainly supports the idea of equality for all.

But that is a product of a highly developed future society. It is definitely not feasible in the current era and must be stratified.

Otherwise, the people of Great Hua might rebel and overthrow him.

“What, you say those dark-skinned people are equal to us? Screw you! You go be equal with them. I won’t be equal with them.”

This is definitely the true reflection of the hearts of the Great Hua people in this era.

Before experiencing foreign invasions, the Great Hua people still have a sense of superiority as the Celestial Empire. They look at Koreans and Japanese as barbarians, let alone Africa, a place without even writing.

Great Hua hasn’t even been unified yet, and he’s already considering how to rule the world.

Thinking of this, Wu Changqing found it a bit funny.

Then, he picked up his pen and began to formulate regulations for the naturalization of foreign barbarians.

First of all, the fourth-class are never allowed to naturalize, and fourth-class people are not allowed to marry first-class people. The current Great Hua people would definitely applaud this.

Third-class people need to make significant contributions to Great Hua to be allowed to naturalize.

These significant contributions include inventions, creating profits, donating huge amounts of property, etc.

If Wei Xianghua were to donate one million wen now, Wu Changqing would give him an ID card without hesitation.

As for second-class people to naturalize, it’s simpler.

They also need to contribute to Great Hua, but the requirements are not so high, perhaps donating one hundred thousand wen.

This kind of threshold alone is enough to reject ninety-nine point nine nine nine… a lot of nines… of people.

However, after naturalization, they can upgrade their status and even become first-class people.

This system gives foreign elites some hope, but excludes most people.

It can both disintegrate the other party’s will to resist and ensure the nobility of the Great Hua ethnicity.

This is already the best system Wu Changqing can think of, one that best suits the current era.

The system was set up, but Wu Changqing instructed Qian Qianyi not to announce it for the time being, and to implement it secretly.

After all, even the Great Hua mainland has not yet been unified, and to divide the people of other places into different classes seems a bit ostentatious.

And once leaked, it is easy to suffer collective resistance from people in other places.

If they unite, Great Hua will also have to pay a great price, which is not worth the loss.

It is better to use tricks to let them fight among themselves first, and then enter the field to harvest in the end.

When the imperial edict was handed to Qian Qianyi, his heart was shocked.

He never expected that Wu Changqing’s heart would be so big, that he would want to take the entire world for himself.

He has now read a lot of popular science books and knows that the entire Great Hua is actually very small in the world, and the world is very big and very far away.

Being able to unify Great Hua is already a remarkable achievement. If he could unify the world, his achievements would be unimaginable, even surpassing the First Emperor of Qin.

Qian Qianyi suddenly sighed. Liu Rushi asked the reason, and he said, “I am sighing that I don’t have much time left, and I am afraid that I will not see His Majesty’s true heroic posture.”

He is already very old and may die one day.

And unifying the world is bound to be a long process, even taking decades or hundreds of years.

Not to mention him, even Wu Changqing may not be able to wait until that day.

Unable to see that scene with his own eyes, Qian Qianyi would naturally feel a little regretful.

“Why worry about this for no reason? I say you might as well retire early and go back to your hometown, and be less worried,” Liu Rushi said.

Women are certainly not as obsessed with power as men.

It is impossible for Qian Qianyi to abandon his official position.

He doesn’t even want his face for this position, how could he give it up.

After staying up late to refine the rules set by Wu Changqing, Qian Qianyi also gave Jin Sheng face-to-face instructions.

Jin Sheng was naturally very happy to learn about Wu Changqing’s ambitions.

As long as Wu Changqing has ideas about overseas affairs, there will be more places where the Diplomatic Office will be used in the future, and his status will naturally rise. It is not impossible for the office to be promoted to a ministry in the future.

Wei Xianghua stayed in Nanjing for half a month, and in the end, the naturalization matter was not completed.

However, Jin Sheng gave him great hope.

Jin Sheng said that as long as Wei Xianghua continues to maintain trade with Great Hua, he can naturalize when the total trade exceeds a certain amount.

Moreover, in order to show sincerity to Wei Xianghua, Jin Sheng also gave Wei Xianghua a fan with his autograph.

With the autograph of the Director of the Diplomatic Office, as long as Wei Xianghua does not commit crimes, he will not be bullied in Great Hua.

This made Wei Xianghua very happy and also strengthened his determination to naturalize.

Anyway, the total amount of trade is not too difficult for him. He only needs to run two more Western Europe routes to reach the amount.

At that time, he can become the first Western European to naturalize in Great Hua as he wished.

In his opinion, this is an honor.

Chapter 497: The Imperial Examination

In early June, the final exam of Great Hua’s first imperial examination, the palace examination, was held in the Hall of Preserving Harmony within the Imperial City.

The palace examination was different from the previous examinations. It only tested one subject: policy essays.

There were also fewer than three hundred people participating in the examination. Some special talents among the tribute students who had been admitted earlier had already been directly granted official positions and did not need to participate in the palace examination.

Great Hua was different from the past in many ways, something that the people of Great Hua had almost become accustomed to.

Only a little over two hundred and thirty people participated in the palace examination, so the competition was somewhat less intense.

The palace examination had a total of five questions, one each on economics, military affairs, people’s livelihood, official governance, and education. Candidates chose one of these questions as their primary subject and the other four as supplementary subjects.

When the scores were tallied, the score of the primary subject was the most important. If the scores of the primary subject were similar, then the scores of the supplementary subjects would be considered.

Wu Changqing’s purpose in designing this scoring standard was very simple: he needed talents with strong expertise.

In Wu Changqing’s view, someone who scored eighty in every field was not as good as someone who scored above ninety-five in a single subject.

However, because these were the most outstanding talents in the empire, their breadth of knowledge must also be wide, so they could not be tested on only one aspect. They did not need to be proficient in other aspects, but they had to at least pass.

If there were major deficiencies in other areas, such a person would be destined to be of little use.

Faced with this novel rule, some candidates were happy and some were worried.

However, they could all guess the court’s intention: to choose the direction of their official careers based on their primary subject scores.

Those who answered questions on economics would naturally go to the Ministry of Commerce or the Ministry of Industry. Those who answered questions on education would naturally go to the Ministry of Rites.

Therefore, for them, choosing the primary subject was very important.

They could not choose a subject just because they were good at it, but also had to consider their own preferences.

Some people would even consider the degree of competition in various departments. For example, the competition in the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Personnel was definitely the greatest, making it more difficult to pass.

Choosing the less popular Ministry of War might make it easier to stand out.

In short, different people would have their own different choices.

The palace examination ended quickly in just one day.

However, it took a long time to grade the papers, because this was the final review, and the scores had to be given very carefully.

Many papers required two or more officials to discuss and score together.

After all, policy essays were not like mathematics, physics, and chemistry, which had fixed answers.

In fact, some of the questions were so difficult that even the officials grading the papers did not know how to answer them.

These were all problems that Great Hua needed to solve at the moment. If they had brilliant solutions, they would have already presented them to Wu Changqing to gain merit.

Some candidates’ answers were so unexpected that the examiners exclaimed their brilliance.

After seven or eight days, the examination papers were finally graded.

On June 8th, the candidates gathered in the Hall of Preserving Harmony to await the announcement of the results.

“The Emperor has arrived.”

With a loud shout, the candidates hurriedly bowed.

It was not a kneeling salute. Great Hua’s rules generally did not require kneeling. Only bowing was required.

Kneeling was only required for major sacrifices, celebrations, and court meetings.

This was also a small favor that Wu Changqing gave to the officials, allowing them to retain their dignity most of the time.

As for publicly pulling down ministers’ pants and spanking them, that was even less likely to happen in Great Hua.

Anyone who committed a crime would simply be demoted. There was no need to humiliate them.

Wu Changqing sat on the dragon throne and said a few simple words: “Although the results of the examination have been released, this does not mean anything. The knowledge on paper and the problems encountered in actual officialdom are often different.

I have always emphasized practical ability. Even if you don’t do well in the exam now and start a little lower, you can still be entrusted with important tasks in the future if you perform well in actual work. Conversely, those who do well in the exam now but are rigid, inflexible, and only know how to talk on paper will be eliminated in the future.”

After he finished speaking, Feng Debao began to announce the results.

The candidates ranked from fifty-fifth to two hundred and thirty-second were all third-class graduates. They would not be granted official positions on the spot, but would need to go to the Ministry of Personnel to be decided.

However, their official positions would generally be eighth-rank or junior seventh-rank.

The candidates ranked from fourth to fifty-fourth were second-class graduates. They would also not be granted official positions on the spot, but their starting point would definitely be better than that of the third-class graduates.

The top three were first-class graduates, the Number One Scholar, the Second Place, and the Third Place, who would be directly granted official positions.

The first to be announced were the third-class graduates. The candidates whose names were called all looked depressed.

After all, anyone who came to the palace examination was at least a third-class graduate.

They worked hard to pass the exam, all aiming for the second-class and first-class.

Li Yao listened nervously to Feng Debao’s announcement, fearing that his name would be called.

After all, his provincial examination results were not good, and the possibility of him being a third-class graduate was very high.

However, to his surprise, he did not hear his name even after the entire list of third-class graduates was read.

This made him overjoyed, and he almost couldn’t control his joy.

Being able to pass the second-class meant that his starting point would be at least a seventh-rank official, which was already quite high.

If this seventh-rank official was also a county magistrate in charge of one area, then he would have made a fortune and would have a bright future.

The list of second-class graduates continued to be read, but Li Yao still did not hear his name.

This made him panic. He didn’t believe that his talent could get him into the first-class.

If his name was not on the third-class or second-class lists, it was very likely that he had failed. This had happened before.

Some tribute students who performed too poorly in the palace examination, so poorly that the emperor couldn’t bear to look at them, would have their status as tribute students revoked.

Thinking that he might have encountered this situation, Li Yao was furious and resented the examiner who graded the papers for not having the vision to see his talent.

Cai Zhongyuan was equally depressed. He was the second place in the provincial examination, but now he had not even passed the first-class, which was a failure.

“The Third Place of this examination, Li Yao from Changzhou, is granted the position of Director of the Zhejiang Department of the Ministry of Revenue.”

When Feng Debao announced the Third Place of the first-class, Li Yao was dumbfounded.

What was going on? Did I have some talent that I didn’t even realize, and then was discovered by His Majesty?

Li Yao’s mood went up and down, it was really too exciting.

What confused him even more was that he had chosen official governance as his primary subject, so why was he assigned to the Ministry of Revenue?

Li Yao was confused and secretly delighted, while Feng Debao continued.

“The Second Place of this examination, Qian Xuemin from Suzhou, is granted the position of Director of the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Industry.”

“The Number One Scholar of this examination, Ouyang Shiqi from Jiujiang, is granted the position of County Magistrate of Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture.”

The granting of official positions in Great Hua was so arbitrary.

According to common sense, first-class graduates would be granted the position of Editor of the Hanlin Academy to revise history books and cultivate prestige.

After a certain number of years, they would come out and directly become high-ranking officials.

Wu Changqing didn’t do this. It would be a waste to send real talents to be librarians.

It was more effective to throw them directly into positions to gain experience than to read history books.

The things in history books were very different from the current society.

If reading history books could govern a country, then all officials should read history books in the future.

Hearing the official positions they were granted, Ouyang Shiqi and the others did not have too obvious reactions. Anyway, there were many strange things in Great Hua, and everyone was used to it.

Chapter 498: Personnel Preferences

Among the top three Jinshi, Ouyang Shiqi held the lowest rank, a seventh-rank official, while the other two were both sixth-rank.

However, the importance of an official position and its future potential cannot be judged solely by rank.

The Vice Minister of War is several levels less important than the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry.

Similarly, Ouyang Shiqi’s seventh-rank position is more than twice as important as the other two.

Because the place he was going to was special: Shanghai County.

Currently, the two most prosperous places in Great Hua are Nanjing and Songjiang.

And within Songjiang Prefecture, Shanghai County is the most prosperous. Huating County and Qingpu County are still largely undeveloped, like heaven and earth compared to Shanghai.

It can be said that the essence of the entire Songjiang Prefecture lies within Shanghai County.

Even more specifically, it’s the area along the west bank of the Huangpu River in Shanghai County. As for other areas, they haven’t been developed much and remain much as they were before.

The importance of Shanghai County even surpasses that of Fujian Province.

The significance of the Shanghai County Magistrate’s position is self-evident.

In fact, it’s already quite inappropriate for Shanghai County, as a county, to have a chief official of only the seventh rank.

Elevating Shanghai County to a prefecture would make the area too small.

The best solution would be to follow later generations and make it a centrally administered municipality.

However, since the country is not yet unified, Wu Changqing is not in a hurry to redraw administrative divisions.

It won’t be too late to reorganize the current administrative divisions in one go after the Manchus are destroyed and the North is unified.

There are more important matters to handle now, so for the time being, he will stick to the previous divisions.

Wu Changqing’s intention in placing Ouyang Shiqi in this position is clear: to allow him to accumulate political capital and build a reputation.

As long as Shanghai County develops well in the future, he can rely on this experience to justify future promotions.

And given the current situation, it’s hard for Shanghai County not to develop well.

Anyone with even a slight understanding of Shanghai’s situation would be green with envy upon hearing that Ouyang Shiqi had been appointed as the Shanghai County Magistrate.

This is practically the treatment of a favorite son.

It’s fortunate that Wu Changqing is young. If he were twenty or thirty years older, people would suspect that Ouyang Shiqi was his illegitimate son.

Wu Changqing has such high expectations for Ouyang Shiqi mainly because his performance was too extraordinary.

Achieving the Triple Crown in the Imperial Examinations was already remarkable, but his performance in the Palace Examination was nearly perfect.

His answers were so flawless that even several senior ministers couldn’t find fault with them, and they could only grudgingly award him full marks.

Such talent naturally needs to be placed in the most important position for training.

As for the third-ranked Tanhua, Li Yao, he was personally selected by Wu Changqing.

His performance was actually not good enough to be in the top three.

But there was nothing to be done, as Wu Changqing had spoken.

The Emperor’s arrangements take precedence.

Reading Li Yao’s answers, Wu Changqing felt that this guy was like those angry young men of later generations who liked to criticize everything, denouncing the shortcomings of the court above and scolding the chaos of society below, acting as if he was the only one who understood anything.

The only difference was that his criticisms were well-reasoned and based on evidence.

He was very emotional and had a touch of idealistic romanticism.

With this personality, he still wanted to enter the Ministry of Personnel. Wu Changqing didn’t know what he was thinking. He estimated that he would offend all his colleagues on the second day of his tenure. Then he would spend his life in obscurity, occasionally writing poems lamenting the state of the nation and satirizing the court.

If he offended some powerful figures in the court, he might be forced to live in seclusion in the mountains, leaving behind an image of indifference to fame and wealth for future generations.

This kind of personality cannot be said to be bad, but it cannot be said to be good either.

In short, Wu Changqing first sent him to the Ministry of Revenue for training, where he would be useful during land reform.

A hothead like him who is not afraid of trouble is suitable for carrying out radical reforms. He will definitely face difficulties head-on and offend the entire landlord class without fear.

If an experienced and worldly official were sent, they would probably try to smooth things over and change things only superficially.

Of course, this was just Wu Changqing’s feeling. He wasn’t sure if Li Yao was suitable.

But it didn’t matter. If he found that he wasn’t suitable in the future, he could just give up on him.

The Imperial Examination is held every three years, so there’s no need to worry about a lack of talent in the world.

After the examinees left the palace, the atmosphere immediately became lively.

“From now on, we must address Brother Liu as Lord Liu.”

“Hahaha, the same to you, Lord Chen.”

Two familiar examinees joked.

From now on, they would have official status and could be addressed as “Lord” by others.

This represents a change in status and position, a crucial milestone in their lives.

“Congratulations to Brother Ouyang on achieving the Triple Crown. Such great talent is rare in the world.”

Some people were eager to start flattering Ouyang Shiqi.

A county magistrate governing a region is a place to gain experience. Generally, third-class Jinshi do not have this opportunity.

Moreover, Ouyang Shiqi is going to Shanghai County, which is simply a promising future.

“I am honored by the Emperor’s favor, it’s just luck,”

Ouyang Shiqi said. Even though he had never been an official, he already had a sense of maturity beyond his years.

Whether in dealing with people or handling affairs, he could make others feel his calmness, never revealing his emotions.

This alone already makes him a mature official.

In contrast, even though Li Yao also wanted to control his expression and not let others see that he was too pleased with himself,
his expression still betrayed him.

Anyone could see his smug inner thoughts on his face.

However, everyone would not say anything, after all, Li Yao is now riding high, starting as a secretary in the Ministry of Revenue.

As long as he continues to persevere, he could become a director, vice minister, or even the Vice Minister of Revenue.

The Vice Minister of Revenue is also a crucial position in the empire.

Although they disliked Li Yao, many people congratulated him very ‘sincerely’.

They flattered him with their words, but in their hearts, they were secretly competing.

None of those who made it this far were fools. They all had absolute confidence in themselves and would not be convinced just because Ouyang Shiqi and others were in the top three.

As Wu Changqing said, the results of this examination do not determine future development.

Like those bigwigs in the current court, their results in the Palace Examination were not particularly outstanding.

Hong Chengchou was the fourteenth in the second class, Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying were also in the second class, and Qian Taoli was even from the third class. Gu Yanwu was even more impressive, he didn’t even pass the Jinshi examination, he only entered the Imperial Academy as an Imperial Academy Student by donating money.

But he is now the Vice Minister of Personnel, which was the most popular official position in the court in the past.

And the top scholars who were contemporaries with these bigwigs, few people remember their names now.

The world is unpredictable, seizing opportunities is the key.

The current Great Hua is a rising power, and there are not yet so many unspoken rules and regulations.

As long as you can seize the opportunity, you can rise.

For them, it is a great era.

The examinees in a few years will not have the opportunity to soar to the sky. Even the top scholar must be patient and take their time.

Chapter 499: Each Their Own Path

To become wealthy and not return to one’s hometown is like wearing brocade at night. This holds true both in ancient and modern times, and across cultures.

After making it big, one naturally wants to show off in front of acquaintances; otherwise, there’s no sense of a successful reversal.

Li Yao organized a gathering of West River Academy alumni, ostensibly to connect with his former classmates, but in reality, it carried a slight air of showing off.

After all, there were quite a few people who looked down on Li Yao in the past.

But now, of those who looked down on him, only one managed to pass the third tier of the imperial exam, while the others didn’t even make it past the provincial exam.

Over thirty acquaintances booked the Dragon Leap Pavilion in the 得胜楼 (De Sheng Lou) for a hearty feast.

“Congratulations to Brother Li and Brother Su on passing the exam and bringing honor to our West River Academy. Especially Brother Li, scoring as the third scholar in the first tier, thoroughly suppressing those from the Imperial Academy.”

One scholar said, knowing that Li Yao had always disliked the students of the Imperial Academy, so he chose words that Li Yao would enjoy hearing.

“The people in the Imperial Academy are merely relying on the advantage of entering the academy earlier,”

Li Yao said dismissively.

This imperial examination saw the Imperial Academy suffer a complete defeat, failing to secure even one first-tier candidate, only managing a few second-tier scholars.

Moreover, the passing rate was far below external expectations.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that everyone in the Imperial Academy was useless.

Rather, the truly exceptional individuals in the Imperial Academy didn’t participate in the imperial examination, as there was no need.

Those who were leading research projects, even third-rank officials had to treat them with courtesy.

Having reached that level of status, why would they bother taking the top score in the imperial examination and then become a seventh-rank official?

The Imperial Academy’s poor performance in the imperial examination wasn’t because it lacked talent, but precisely because its members were too talented, their abilities allowing them to take an unconventional path.

Moreover, the Imperial Academy heavily favored science and technology over literature, with the academic atmosphere emphasizing mathematics, physics, and chemistry, and few people studying policy essays and articles.

This resulted in them being at a disadvantage in the palace examination.

Li Yao’s smugness made his classmate Zeng Liwei feel disgusted, considering Li Yao to be a very hypocritical person.

The former Li Yao had vehemently opposed the new imperial examination and new-style learning.

Who knew that this guy was secretly working hard to study while outwardly opposing it? Too shameless.

Although this guy was indeed smart and capable, Zeng Liwei just couldn’t stand him.

He sneered, “Didn’t Brother Li used to criticize the new imperial examination? I wonder what Brother Li’s views on the new imperial examination are now?”

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

Striking someone doesn’t mean striking their face; his words were too inflammatory.

However, everyone wasn’t surprised, as the two of them had never gotten along.

Li Yao was left speechless by this question. The new imperial examination that he had once vehemently opposed had made him a beneficiary.

Someone with a thicker skin would have simply admitted that they were wrong in the past, and it would have been fine.

But Li Yao wasn’t willing to do that.

He said, “The new imperial examination is naturally not perfect and has various drawbacks. Fortunately, His Majesty is wise and can still discover talent in this imperfect imperial examination…”

“Brother Li, let’s not talk about this today. Let’s discuss some insights from the palace examination essays so that everyone can learn some skills, bask in your glory, and hopefully pass the exam in the future.”

Su Jiakang, who had also passed the exam, tugged at Li Yao, hinting for him to be cautious in his words.

Before, they were students, so it didn’t matter what they said. Great Hua was relatively tolerant of students’ opinions, allowing them to have their own thoughts.

But now that they had become members of the officialdom, they needed to pay attention to their stance.

Regardless of their views on the imperial examination, they couldn’t easily express them. This imperial examination was designed by Wu Changqing himself; continuing to criticize the new imperial examination was equivalent to going against the Emperor.

Receiving an official position bestowed by the Emperor, taking the court’s salary, and then criticizing the court – only censors could do that.

If other officials expressed such views, it would become a point of attack if it reached the ears of other officials.

When serving as an official, it’s best to be cautious in speech and action.

With Su Jiakang smoothing things over, the atmosphere became slightly more harmonious again.

Li Yao continued to hold forth, talking about his experiences in the palace examination: “When answering questions, you must be bold, incisive, and dare to directly point out the shortcomings of the court…”

Such advice might benefit those who believed it, but it might bring even more misfortune to others.

While Li Yao was at the alumni gathering, Ouyang Shiqi was studying the place of Shanghai.

Becoming the magistrate of Shanghai was quite a lot of pressure.

After he was appointed as the magistrate of Shanghai, several high-ranking officials sent him congratulations and words of encouragement.

This made him even more aware of the unusual nature of his position.

Before going to take office, he also received an audience with Wu Changqing.

This was the only seventh-rank official that Wu Changqing had summoned alone, which was already very telling.

“Governing Shanghai is easy in some ways and difficult in others. You only need to remember that the economy is the most important indicator, and everything else is secondary.”

Wu Changqing instructed him, “When governing Shanghai, you must be bold, dare to do things that others dare not do, and not be bound by some old-fashioned views. For example, some old and foolish people like to make an issue of women working, but you must not be bound by this traditional thinking.

Everything is changing now, and thinking must also change. There’s nothing wrong with women working. Letting them stay at home all the time is a huge waste of labor, which is not conducive to economic development.”

There were still many opinions circulating in the market, such as women working being detrimental to social customs, railway construction affecting feng shui, the sound of machines being too noisy, and merchants valuing profit over morality.

If he was influenced by these opinions and didn’t dare to let go and act, it would obviously not be to Wu Changqing’s liking.

“Your subject will keep His Majesty’s teachings in mind,”

Ouyang Shiqi said.

He strongly agreed with Wu Changqing’s words, because during his time in Nanjing, he had personally witnessed the benefits brought about by economic development.

Because he came from a poor family, he clearly knew that there were still many people in the world who couldn’t get enough to eat.

For those people, eating their fill and living a good life was the most important thing, and etiquette and morality were all secondary.

In his rural hometown, there was no such thing as women not being allowed to show their faces in public, and no one bound women’s feet.

Because, in the countryside, women also had to work in the fields; otherwise, relying solely on men wouldn’t be enough to support a family.

“There are many things that will be different in Shanghai compared to other places, and I can’t explain them all to you one by one. You still need to personally understand and practice them.

In short, follow one principle: whether it’s a black cat or a white cat, the cat that catches mice is a good cat. As long as you can maintain the high-speed development of Shanghai’s economy, any means are acceptable.

The problems that arise during development can be solved later when we become richer.”

Wu Changqing said.

His words could be said to be very radical, even implying that Ouyang Shiqi didn’t need to be too law-abiding.

As long as he could develop the economy and make money, some illegal means could also be used appropriately.

Ouyang Shiqi was quite surprised by these words, but he could also feel Wu Changqing’s emphasis on the economy and grasped the key point of governing Shanghai.

The next day, he packed his luggage and took a boat south to Shanghai.

Meanwhile, Li Yao, Qian Xuemin, and others also went to report to their respective departments.

The talents selected in Great Hua’s first imperial examination began their official careers.

Chapter 500: The Top Scholar in Shanghai

Ouyang Shiqi encountered a problem on his second day in Shanghai.

Several merchants wanted to buy some land along the river to build warehouses, but this land belonged to the government.

In fact, these merchants had brought this matter up a long time ago. However, the former Shanghai County Magistrate had not agreed.

For an official to privately sell the imperial court’s property, that would be akin to being tired of living.

Ouyang Shiqi looked at this request and fell into thought.

It was obviously unacceptable for officials to privately sell the imperial court’s assets. If Shanghai took the lead, and officials in other places followed suit, selling off all the government’s assets to merchants at low prices, what would happen?

Perhaps, the imperial court’s assets would be sold off completely overnight.

At that time, would this world belong to the imperial court, or to the merchants?

Daring to do such a thing would definitely result in impeachment.

However, not selling this land would clearly be detrimental to Shanghai’s development.

Because the government had no money. It had a piece of land there, but no silver to carry out infrastructure construction.

Leaving those lands vacant would only be a waste of resources.

And the merchants who had money and urgently needed those lands could not buy them due to policy reasons, causing them to suffer unspeakably.

“Is there a compromise solution, such as suitable private land that we can negotiate and broker?”

Ouyang Shiqi asked the County Deputy, as he had just arrived in Shanghai and was not yet particularly familiar with the specific details.

Deputy County Magistrate Zhang shook his head and said, “Shanghai’s current development relies entirely on the ports along the river. In other words, only the land along the west bank of the river is desirable, but most of this land belongs to the government.

“There is a large area of private land on the north bank of the Wusong River, but there are no good ports there. It is separated from us by the Wusong River, and transportation is inconvenient. No one wants to go there.”

“Would building a bridge work?”

Ouyang Shiqi asked.

“We don’t have the technology or financial resources for that yet. The river surface alone is several dozen meters wide, and considering that ships have to pass under the bridge, the bridge would have to be at least a hundred meters long to build, which is no easy feat.”

Deputy County Magistrate Zhang said.

It seemed that the only option in front of Ouyang Shiqi was to sell the land.

“Help me contact those merchants and tell them that I am preparing to lease the land to them.”

Ouyang Shiqi thought of another trick. He couldn’t sell it, but he could lease it.

Things that were leased still belonged to the government and did not count as overstepping boundaries.

“Your Excellency, Magistrate Li had already thought of this method, but the merchants simply didn’t agree. They are not comfortable with leased land.

“After all, they have to build many large warehouses, factories, and high-rise buildings on the land they buy, which requires huge investments. Once the construction is completed, if our government takes the land back, wouldn’t they cry themselves to death?”

Deputy County Magistrate Zhang’s tone carried a hint of disdain. He felt that this top scholar who had achieved first place in all three levels of the imperial examination was nothing more than this. When faced with this problem, he was equally at a loss.

“If they are not comfortable, we can sign a ninety-nine-year lease.”

Ouyang Shiqi said.

This was his way of being flexible. Leasing it for ninety-nine years was actually no different from selling it.

Who would care about what happens ninety-nine years later?

The beauty of this method was that he didn’t sell the imperial court’s land. He just leased it for a longer period of time.

As long as the explanation was reasonable, he could do it.

If the former Wu Changqing hadn’t told him to be bold, he might have been more cautious.

But now, he felt that as long as there were no obvious loopholes that could be attacked by other officials, it would be fine. If it was merely controversial, the Emperor would definitely stand on his side.

“This…”

Deputy County Magistrate Zhang was immediately dumbfounded. He had never thought of such a method.

Although this method was very rogue-like, it sounded like it had a real possibility of being implemented.

As expected of the top scholar who had achieved first place in all three levels of the imperial examination, his mind was really flexible.

Deputy County Magistrate Zhang quickly put away his contemptuous thoughts. After all, he and the former County Magistrate had been troubled by this problem for three months and couldn’t think of a solution.

But the top scholar in front of him, who didn’t even have a particularly good understanding of the situation in Shanghai County, was able to think of such a wonderful method, and was bold enough to do it as soon as he thought of it.

Based on this alone, it could be seen that Ouyang Shiqi was definitely not an ordinary person.

Could someone who had achieved first place in all three levels of the imperial examination be an ordinary person?

When several major merchants learned of Ouyang Shiqi’s solution, they all praised it as ingenious.

Although they didn’t buy the land, what did it matter? Ninety-nine years was enough for them to earn dozens of times their profit.

Moreover, they would be long gone in ninety-nine years, so there was no need to think so far ahead.

Leasing for ninety-nine years and buying the land were just different ways of saying the same thing.

“This Lord Ouyang is truly a rare talent of our time.”

“That’s right, the top scholar of this year’s imperial examination, achieving first place in all three levels, personally selected by His Majesty.”

“Most importantly, it seems that he strongly supports commercial development and has sophisticated methods.”

The last sentence made everyone smile.

They didn’t care whether Ouyang Shiqi was smart or not. They only cared about how much benefit Ouyang Shiqi could bring them.

After waiting for a moment, Ouyang Shiqi appeared and gave them a lease proposal.

Ouyang Shiqi considered it very carefully. He did not set a fixed rent, because he knew that with economic development, the rent would definitely rise in the future.

If he leased these lands out now at a fixed rent, it would be a big mistake. The future Shanghai County Magistrate would definitely impeach him after discovering the loss.

“One thousand taels of silver per mu in the first year, increasing every five years, with the increase based on the selling price of surrounding land… Lord Ouyang, what does this mean?”

A merchant asked.

“This is very easy to understand. One thousand taels of silver per mu for the first five years. After five years, if the surrounding land prices have not increased, then the rent will not increase. If the surrounding land prices have doubled, then the rent will also double.”

Ouyang Shiqi explained.

“This won’t work, that’s too expensive, and it will make our costs uncontrollable. We can’t accept it.”

Boss Tong said.

“Oh, is this your opinion, or can you represent everyone? It doesn’t matter whether everyone agrees or not, we can still be friends if the deal falls through.”

Ouyang Shiqi said, he was not worried that these lands would not be leased out.

Boss Tong certainly couldn’t represent everyone else. Some merchants felt that Ouyang Shiqi’s plan was relatively fair.

After all, if the surrounding land prices had increased, paying a little more rent wouldn’t be a loss.

Moreover, if the surrounding land prices had increased, it meant that the economy was more prosperous, business was easier to do, and there would be even less chance of losing money.

If it really didn’t work out, they could still sublet it to others.

In short, no matter which angle they looked at it from, they couldn’t suffer a loss, it was just not as profitable as paying the rent all at once.

This could only mean that Ouyang Shiqi was smart and had a long-term vision. When dealing with smart people, it was best to be content. It was not so easy to take advantage of smart people.

So, although Boss Tong still had grievances, there were still several merchants who signed the lease and leased the hundreds of mu of land near the river.

Chapter 501: The Number One Scholar is Raising Money

Ouyang Shiqi quickly discovered that the key to governing Shanghai lay in how to raise money.

The government could achieve many things: repairing bridges and roads, building infrastructure, expanding commercial and industrial zones…

All of these required a massive amount of silver.

With money, these things were easy to do.

Without money, these things were difficult.

How to raise money became Ouyang Shiqi’s daily concern.

To this end, he had to resort to various means.

For example, he planned to build public horse-drawn carriage tracks from the train station to the docks, and from the industrial zone to the residential area.

This required a lot of silver.

The Nanjing horse-drawn carriage project had central government funding, but he couldn’t expect the same here. There were too many places in the country that needed money, and they couldn’t spare any for a single horse-drawn carriage track here.

Ouyang Shiqi had to find his own way. He announced that he would lease the agency rights for the horse-drawn carriage tracks, and in the same old way, the lease would be for ninety-nine years, which was essentially selling it.

He let it be known that whoever paid for the construction would be in charge of the road in the future.

This was quite tempting for merchants.

With management rights, they could profit from the horse-drawn carriage track.

Of course, they wouldn’t set the ticket price as low as the government, nor would they pay as much attention to safety.

In short, their goal was to make a profit, not to benefit the people.

Controlling the horse-drawn carriage track also had other benefits.

For example, when transporting goods, they could refuse to transport the goods of competitors, and they could also take advantage of the transportation rights to raise prices arbitrarily.

In short, as long as the management rights were handed over to merchants, they would have plenty of ways to use this power to directly or indirectly earn huge profits.

And in this process, some undesirable phenomena were very likely to occur.

Handing over the management rights to merchants involved some risks, but Ouyang Shiqi couldn’t worry about that too much.

Moreover, he felt that these risks were controllable. If the merchants really did something that would harm the interests of the government and the people, he could shamelessly intervene directly.

Unless those merchants suddenly had the crazy idea of rebelling, they would generally compromise.

As long as no major incidents occurred, he could let them go ahead and do it.

By this method, he could have two more horse-drawn carriage tracks in Shanghai in a short period of time, which would be a very impressive achievement.

As soon as the news came out, merchants with ideas began to study the project.

After all, the investment in horse-drawn carriage tracks was not small, and the initial income was not high, requiring a very long time to recoup the investment.

Most people were unsure whether it was worth it.

“Build it.”

In the Jiang family, Old Master Jiang Yu made the decision.

As a generational large landlord, his family property had accumulated to several million over four or five generations.

In the past, this was a lot of money.

But with the rapid development of industry and commerce in Shanghai, Jiang Yu had personally witnessed other people’s assets doubling in a year. The speed at which they made money was dazzling.

He realized that he needed to change.

If he didn’t change, his family would soon become second-rate.

Burying the silver in the cellar had become the most foolish choice. Not only could it not generate money, but it was also slowly depreciating.

Therefore, Jiang Yu urgently needed to find good investment projects.

He looked down on small-scale businesses.

And the popular businesses were very competitive.

Jiang Yu had not found a good project until Ouyang Shiqi leased the agency rights for public horse-drawn carriages.

This was a huge project with long-term benefits, which was perfect for him.

Moreover, as an old landlord, he was still quite obsessed with power.

In the past, he had a lot of land, and the local officials had to give him some respect.

He felt that as long as he had the management rights of the public horse-drawn carriages in the future, controlling the transportation in Shanghai, the Shanghai officials would have to give him even more respect.

And this implicit status had many benefits.

Since Jiang Yu had spoken, there was naturally no opposition from the Jiang family.

After repeated consultations with Ouyang Shiqi, the two parties signed an agreement, and then the silver in the Jiang family’s cellar was dug out cart by cart, and the Shanghai Public Transportation Company was established.

The company initially planned three routes: the riverside route, the train station to the dock route, and the industrial zone to the residential area route.

These were the three busiest routes now and in the future. As long as the routes were built, there was no need to worry about not having business.

The horse-drawn carriage track was settled, and he had achieved something, but Ouyang Shiqi still had no money.

So he used his brains and issued an order to license BMWs and rickshaws.

The reason was that a BMW took up the space of four or five pedestrians, and they needed to pay an additional road occupation fee.

This road occupation fee was collected in the form of a license.

BMWs and rickshaws that had paid for a license were allowed on the streets. Vehicles without a license would be fined every time they were caught.

As soon as this order came out, the rich people in Shanghai were almost angered to death. Countless people in Shanghai were scolding Ouyang Shiqi for being obsessed with money.

Ouyang Shiqi didn’t care and firmly implemented the order.

After the rich merchants scolded him, they could only pay helplessly.

Because Ouyang Shiqi didn’t charge much. A BMW only cost fifty yuan a year, which was acceptable compared to the cost of one or two thousand yuan for a BMW.

They had already spent two thousand to buy a car, so would they throw the car in the yard because they were reluctant to spend fifty yuan more?

If they didn’t pay, they wouldn’t dare to go on the streets without a license, because Ouyang Shiqi was serious, and those without a license would be fined.

Being fined a little money was a small matter. Losing face was the most unacceptable thing for the rich.

Sitting in a BMW, they enjoyed that feeling of dignity.

But now, because they were reluctant to spend fifty yuan more to get a license, they were stopped on the street by the constables and dragged to the yamen, which was extremely embarrassing.

The people wouldn’t bother to distinguish whether the government’s policy was reasonable or not. They only saw that the so-called rich people couldn’t even afford fifty yuan.

They might as well not envy such rich people.

And this was precisely the Achilles’ heel of those rich people.

The price set by Ouyang Shiqi was naturally the result of careful consideration.

It had to be as much as possible, but also within the affordability of the rich.

This fifty yuan was just right.

And the rickshaw license was cheaper, only five yuan a year.

The rickshaw pullers would definitely find a way to pass this little bit of money on to the customers, by raising the price slightly.

For those who liked to take rickshaws, the cost of living increased a little, which didn’t have much impact.

But for the government, every little bit added up. This license order alone could raise about one hundred and twenty thousand yuan of income for them every year.

With one hundred and twenty thousand yuan, they could do many things.

Of course, one hundred and twenty thousand was far from enough to do big projects. Ouyang Shiqi’s road to raising money was still far away.

Chapter 502: Eradicating Smallpox

Compared to Wu Changqing, Ouyang Shiqi was fortunate; he only needed to worry about money.

Wu Changqing, on the other hand, had to consider everything.

The economy needed to develop, people’s livelihoods couldn’t be neglected, and all sorts of social problems needed to be addressed.

He knew that with drastic social changes, a series of problems would inevitably arise.

For example, the impact of the wealth gap couldn’t be ignored.

This wealth gap didn’t refer to the gap between common people and the rich, which had existed since ancient times.

Wu Changqing needed to pay attention to the impact of the wealth gap between common people.

In his previous life, he was a rural man born in the eighties, and he had personally witnessed the happiness issues brought about by this change.

In the rural areas of the eighties and nineties, every family was poor, but everyone often gathered in the square to chat and laugh, finding joy in hardship.

But as some daring people went out to work and earned several times more money than farming, the wealth gap between the common people became prominent.

When the people around them suddenly lived better lives than themselves, the remaining people could no longer laugh, and then they frantically entered the big cities to work.

Money increased in every household, and material life changed dramatically.

But an astonishing fact was that their sense of happiness decreased.

Every household was secretly competing, and comparison had become the only goal in their lives.

Wu Changqing had personally seen countless people who were clearly not worried about food and clothing and had savings at home, frowning all day long, with couples erupting in quarrels every day.

The reason might be that their car was a lower grade than their neighbor’s.

There were even people who committed suicide because of this.

Wu Changqing felt that all of this was caused by the wealth gap between acquaintances.

People generally don’t compare themselves with strangers; no matter how rich Jack Ma is, ordinary people won’t envy or be jealous.

They usually compare themselves with acquaintances. When an acquaintance who was originally at the same level as themselves suddenly becomes rich, they will feel a sense of loss.

It’s not that people are afraid of being poor, but that they are afraid of the gap between each other.

The Great Hua was now experiencing this change.

Those who were bold and dared to venture into big cities could mostly earn much more income than farming.

And how could these people not return to their villages to show off their wealth?

To be rich and not return home is like wearing brocade at night.

This led to a sharp decline in the happiness of some people in rural areas.

This was actually a question of whether the people themselves could see it openly, but Wu Changqing, as an emperor, the highest authority, couldn’t ignore it.

The happiness of the people below was also his political achievement, something he pursued.

How to make the people happy?

Of course, he couldn’t directly give money to the poorer people. First, there wasn’t that much money, and second, it would only suppress the enthusiasm of those who worked hard.

If there were subsidies for not working hard or taking risks, why would anyone work hard?

What Wu Changqing could do was to make some compensation in other areas.

For example, solving the diseases that plagued the people.

Reducing the number of diseases among the people could, to some extent, improve their sense of happiness.

Most importantly, this kind of thing was relatively simple and easy for Wu Changqing to do.

Such as eliminating the smallpox virus.

The number of people killed by the smallpox virus in human history was no less than the number killed by war.

The current era was still an era where people turned pale at the mention of smallpox.

Once infected with the major smallpox virus, the mortality rate was as high as thirty percent. Even with the moderate smallpox virus, the mortality rate was about fifteen percent.

Even those who were lucky enough to survive would have many pitted scars on their faces, commonly known as pockmarks.

Such a terrible infectious disease brought unprecedented panic.

The most famous incident was when Emperor Shunzhi was choosing an heir, he hesitated whether to choose his second son, Fuquan, or his third son, Xuan Ye.

The Western Europe missionary Johann Adam Schall von Bell made him make up his mind with one sentence. Johann Adam Schall von Bell said that Xuan Ye had had smallpox, while Fuquan had not.

Xuan Ye had already passed through this gate of hell, while Fuquan had not, so Emperor Shunzhi chose Xuan Ye to inherit the throne, who later became Emperor Kangxi.

Don’t think that Emperor Shunzhi was being alarmist and overly cautious.

Among his eight sons, four died young, and the remaining four, except for Xuan Ye, did not live past the age of ten.

The children of the imperial family were like this, and the children of ordinary people were naturally no better off.

The death of children was actually a common thing in this era.

And among the many reasons for these deaths, smallpox was an important one.

Before, he was busy with development, and Wu Changqing didn’t have the time or energy to do this beneficial thing for the country and the people.

Now, he finally took the time out of his busy schedule and wrote on paper, “National Hygiene Campaign, starting with the elimination of smallpox.”

He wanted to popularize hygiene concepts throughout the country, requiring people to drink boiled water and also requiring frequent hand washing and other hygiene matters.

Of course, the main event was the elimination of the smallpox virus.

Don’t look at how terrifying the smallpox virus was in human history, but it was actually quite easy to eliminate, much easier than eliminating the common cold.

Because the viruses that cause the common cold are constantly changing and evolving, while the smallpox virus remains unchanged.

As long as a person is vaccinated once with cowpox, which is harmless to the human body, they can be immune to the smallpox virus for life.

All Wu Changqing had to do was tell this method to the doctors, and then send the doctors to promote it throughout the country, looking for cows with cowpox.

As long as some time and silver were spent, solving the smallpox virus would not be difficult.

And this political achievement was enough to rival Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs and Yu the Great controlling the floods.

At that time, he would be further mythologized.

Having gained the hearts of the people, the regime would be even more stable.

Wu Changqing wrote down everything he knew, and then ordered someone to send it to the Imperial Hospital and the Ministry of Revenue, asking them to work together to do this well.

When Wu Changqing said that cowpox could prevent smallpox, the people in the Imperial Hospital were stunned.

They only knew that inoculation with human smallpox could prevent smallpox, but they had never heard that cowpox could also.

Moreover, Wu Changqing confidently said that the harm of inoculation with cowpox to people was extremely low and could be ignored, which was an exaggeration.

You should know that the failure rate of current human smallpox inoculation is extremely high.

The so-called human smallpox inoculation is actually to take the pus from the sores of smallpox patients and apply it to the skin.

This inoculation method depends on luck, because the symptoms of major, moderate, and minor smallpox are exactly the same. If you are lucky enough to be inoculated with minor smallpox, the survival rate is high.

If you are unlucky enough to be inoculated with major smallpox, then you can slap yourself in the face.

After all, not being inoculated may not necessarily be infected, and even if infected, there is only a one-third mortality rate. And inoculation also has a one-third risk of death, which can be said to be a huge loss.

“No danger, is that possible?”

The Imperial Hospital envoy couldn’t help but say a sentence. His words were a bit rebellious, daring to question the emperor.

However, the matter was of great importance and contrary to common sense, he couldn’t help but doubt.

The Imperial Hospital judge said, “Lord Lu, be careful, this is what His Majesty personally said. When has His Majesty ever been wrong? All we have to do is verify it, prove it is effective before promoting it. If it is ineffective, then report the truth, and we won’t be accused of disrespect.”

Lord Lu felt that what he said made sense, so he began to follow the method given by Wu Changqing, taking people to find cowpox and begin testing.

Chapter 503: The Qing Dynasty is Fleeing

When the news of the Great Hua’s nationwide hygiene campaign reached the North, the people there were moved to tears with envy.

Hygiene? Was it really that important?

Spending so much money on something unnecessary was considered being idle and full.

Indeed, the South was so wealthy that they had money to burn and nowhere to spend it.

How could the people of the North not envy such a society?

At this point, the people of the North were on the verge of collapse, with uprisings erupting one after another across the region.

The reason was simple: the Qing Dynasty was preparing to flee back beyond the pass.

Although they still controlled a large amount of territory, even an eight-year-old child now understood that they couldn’t defeat the Great Hua’s army. Continuing to fight would only weaken their own strength.

Just two more battles like the one in Xuzhou, and the Qing Dynasty’s men would be almost wiped out.

At that point, it wouldn’t just be the fall of a nation, but the extermination of a race, which was even more terrifying.

Even if Great Hua didn’t attack, they wouldn’t be able to maintain their rule within the pass with their core forces alone.

The Green Standard Army generals, seeing the weakness of the Eight Banners, had already begun to disobey orders and establish their own domains.

In this situation, the territory within the pass was no longer a resource for the Qing Dynasty, but a burden.

The Qing Dynasty’s leadership had reached a consensus: they couldn’t defeat Great Hua, so they had to avoid their advance and recuperate.

Staying within the pass meant certain death. Fleeing beyond the pass would allow them to take advantage of the terrain, stretch the Hua army’s supply lines, and continue to resist.

To this end, they began a massive migration, forcing the people of the Central Plains to move beyond the pass.

Of course, population alone wasn’t enough. To support these people and overcome the difficult early stages, they needed silver and wealth.

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty was now conducting the most extensive plunder possible in the areas they controlled, trying to loot every bit of wealth, down to the last needle and thread, and take it beyond the pass, leaving a mess for Great Hua to deal with.

Creating civil administration problems for Great Hua and diverting their energy to win time to recuperate was Fan Wencheng’s idea.

This move was vicious and effective.

Given Great Hua’s attitude towards the people, they couldn’t ignore the devastated North.

At that point, even military rations would have to be used for disaster relief, and they would definitely not have the ability to attack beyond the pass.

Once this policy was implemented, the people of the North suffered greatly.

Some families even had their iron pots taken away, as iron was also an important resource.

If they were stealing iron pots, there was no need to mention other wealth. Those people didn’t let go of anything they could move.

People who resisted were either beaten or killed to silence them.

They no longer wanted this territory, so they didn’t need to care about the people’s hearts.

This inhumane policy naturally aroused great dissatisfaction among the people of the North, and some areas with fierce customs were already spontaneously organizing resistance.

This kind of resistance was naturally vulnerable in the face of regular troops.

However, there were so many of them.

Faced with countless peasant armies, the Qing Dynasty’s remaining troops were simply not enough.

After all, the only forces the Qing Dynasty could still command were the Eight Banners troops. The Green Standard Army could no longer be relied upon at all.

As the building was about to collapse, chaos arose everywhere.

The current North could be summed up in one word: chaos.

“When has the Regent Prince arranged for us to leave?”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang asked.

Some of the Qing Dynasty’s nobles had already set out, carrying wealth to flee beyond the pass.

“No need to rush. The Hua army is still in Jining, a thousand li away from Beijing. If the Emperor leaves now, it will cause panic and trigger unrest,” Dorgon said.

He was brewing a plan, a plan to kill Emperor Shunzhi.

Only by killing Emperor Shunzhi could he completely seize power.

He was tired of being the Regent Prince.

After all, there was still an Emperor above the Regent Prince, and he could never truly do as he pleased.

He needed to carry out some reforms that would infringe on the interests of others in order to continue resisting Great Hua beyond the pass, and he needed even greater power.

Of course, another reason was that he also wanted to experience the taste of being an Emperor.

Only as Emperor could he get his hands on Xiaozhuang. Xiaozhuang had become his obsession. If he couldn’t get her in this lifetime, he would be left with lifelong regret.

Therefore, Dorgon wanted to delay the Emperor’s retreat, preferably until the Hua army attacked. Then he could send his confidants to kill Emperor Shunzhi in the chaos and blame it on Great Hua.

At that time, he could rightfully inherit the Qing Dynasty.

“But Beijing is already unstable. For the Emperor’s safety, it’s best for us to withdraw first,” Xiaozhuang argued.

“Don’t the Han people have a saying, ‘The Emperor guards the nation’s gate’? Only when the Emperor guards the front line will the soldiers below fight to the death. If the Emperor withdraws first, the soldiers below will instantly lose their object of loyalty and collapse,” Dorgon continued to insist.

What he said was not wrong, of course.

But Xiaozhuang also knew that the last Han Emperor who guarded the nation’s gate, Emperor Chongzhen, was forced to hang himself by the situation.

Guarding the nation’s gate was not so easy.

Xiaozhuang sighed. Without Dorgon’s troops to escort her, she wouldn’t be able to return beyond the pass.

Now the outside of the city was already in chaos. A group of ragged peasant soldiers wielding hoes and wooden sticks could suddenly appear on the road.

Such an army would naturally be defeated with one blow when they encountered regular troops, but they could also unleash two hundred percent of their combat power when they encountered ordinary migrating groups.

“We should still make some preparations as soon as possible, so as not to be caught off guard when the Hua army attacks.”

Xiaozhuang didn’t know Dorgon’s thoughts and could only continue to emphasize her desire to leave.

After Dorgon left, Suma began to complain, “The Regent Prince has changed. He doesn’t even listen to the Empress Dowager anymore.”

“Alas, this is human nature. People are selfish,” Xiaozhuang said, understanding.

“Hmph, he can only be fierce at home. When facing Great Hua, he doesn’t do anything,” Suma snorted.

She used to admire Dorgon, thinking he was wise, brave, and invincible.

But after comparing him to Wu Changqing, she realized that Dorgon was too useless.

Dorgon was Nurhaci’s favorite child since he was young. He began commanding troops and accumulating prestige at a young age, and later controlled the forces of two Eight Banners.

When Wu Changqing started his uprising with a few hundred people, Dorgon was already the Regent Prince, controlling millions of troops.

As a result, in just two years, Dorgon was beaten by Wu Changqing to the point where he could only flee.

The difference in their abilities was enormous.

“Now that Great Hua is so strong, even if we flee beyond the pass, they will attack, right? What should we do then? We can’t possibly flee back to the grasslands. Alas, I’m used to living within the pass,” Suma continued to complain. If she could, she still wanted to live in Beijing.

Xiaozhuang didn’t know what the future held. Now she was just taking things one step at a time. As a woman, she couldn’t influence the situation.

Chapter 504: A Thousand Li Raid

Jining, currently the main force location of the Northern Army Corps.

Liu Hansan naturally learned the news that the Qing Dynasty was planning to escape beyond the passes, which gave him a headache.

For them, taking Beijing was no longer difficult.

However, this required time.

No matter how fast they advanced, they couldn’t possibly be faster than the Qing Dynasty, who were determined to escape, especially since the two sides were still separated by a straight-line distance of one thousand li.

“Alright, let’s hear it. What should we do? If they escape beyond the passes, it will be troublesome. Our supply line from Nanjing to beyond the passes will be unimaginably long.”

Liu Hansan stated the problem first, asking everyone to come up with ideas.

For them, fighting in the Beijing area was far less difficult than going to the Northeast beyond the passes.

The grain, weapons, and ammunition they needed all had to be transported from Nanjing.

They couldn’t raise grain in the North.

They learned from the lessons of the Ming Dynasty and didn’t want to fight the Qing army beyond the passes.

The former Ming Dynasty was clearly much stronger than the Qing Dynasty, but it repeatedly suffered defeats in the military in Liaodong. One of the important reasons was that the Qing army was fighting on their home turf, while the Ming army was fighting away from home.

It was already difficult for the North of the Ming Dynasty to feed its people, and the army’s grain could only be transported from the South.

However, transporting one shi of grain from Jiangnan to beyond the passes would consume two shi on the way.

Such a huge loss was a huge burden on the treasury, resulting in the front-line troops often not receiving sufficient supplies.

Some big shots in the court pretended to be smart and ordered the transportation of silver directly instead of grain.

They sent the silver to the army and let them buy it themselves.

The loss of transporting silver was much lower, but it created a new problem.

That is, there was no grain in the North, and a large amount of silver poured in to buy grain, and the price of grain naturally soared.

In the end, even though the military pay was calculated to be sufficient, it was often far short of the actual amount.

If the pay was insufficient, the soldiers would naturally be unwilling to risk their lives.

The transportation capacity of the former Ming Dynasty could not solve this problem at all.

Although the Great Hua was better, they didn’t want to pay such a huge loss.

Therefore, eliminating the Qing army in the area within the passes was the best choice.

Moreover, not to mention the difficulty of transportation for fighting beyond the passes, according to the current situation, the first thing to do after taking the North may be to provide disaster relief and save the people.

Fighting beyond the passes, who knows how long it would drag on.

This was undoubtedly a very troublesome thing for the Hua army.

“Let’s take a risk. Let’s have a thousand-li raid. Directly ignore the surroundings, ignore the logistics, and go straight to Beijing. Hold them tight and prevent them from retreating.”

Tang Guozhen said a crazy idea.

A lone army raiding a thousand li, without logistical support, surrounded by enemy troops, this isn’t a raid, this is going to die.

“This is too risky. With our current fleet transport capacity, we can only transport one division for a raid at a time. And the current Qing Dynasty’s Eight Banners still have nearly sixty thousand soldiers. Although the weapons and equipment are poor, this number cannot be ignored.

More importantly, this raiding force needs to hold out in the Beijing area for about seven or eight days before the main force can arrive.

This is really a test of the troops’ resilience.”

Xu Yuxian analyzed the two major difficulties of this raid.

“Bring more ammunition, and find a favorable terrain. It is entirely possible for ten thousand people to resist sixty thousand poorly equipped enemies. Moreover, this is the last force of the Qing army, and they will definitely not dare to fight us to the death.

As for the food problem, we can only rely on the soldiers to overcome it. At the same time, the main force does not necessarily have to arrive in seven or eight days. We can completely let the cavalry troops act alone. The cavalry troops will probably only need four days to arrive.”

Tang Guozhen said.

“Division Commander Tang, what you said is too idealistic. You directly ignore all the unfavorable factors for our army. Have you ever thought about it, if the Qing army can still command the Green Standard Army, then their army will be more than sixty thousand.

If the enemies on the road resist, the cavalry will not be able to penetrate thousands of li. If the Qing army fights desperately, the raiding force may not be able to stop them.

Moreover, how to collect intelligence when the lone army is in Beijing, and how to effectively contain the enemy’s retreating troops, have you considered these?”

Duan Qiming was not saying that he firmly opposed Tang Guozhen’s method, but was discussing the feasibility of this method together.

The more you debate, the clearer it becomes. The Hua army relied on such debates to come up with many tactics and avoid many wrong decisions.

“These problems can be overcome by willpower. I dare not say about other troops, but if you give this task to our division, we will definitely be able to do it.

Although the risk is greater, it is completely worth taking a gamble compared to the benefits. If we let the Qing Dynasty transfer its troops and wealth to beyond the passes, the price we will have to pay in the future will be even greater.”

Tang Guozhen simply volunteered to take on this task, so as to shut up the others.

You think it’s not okay, it doesn’t matter, I’ll do it myself.

“What do you mean by that? Is it only your division that has the will to fight?”

Others were unhappy when they heard what Tang Guozhen said. Their rational analysis was countered by Tang Guozhen, making them seem afraid and timid.

Tang Guozhen’s sentence that the benefits were greater moved Liu Hansan, and he also felt it was worth a gamble.

If it fails, it will only be a loss of one division’s strength.

Although it’s also quite tragic, compared to the possible benefits, this risk is worth taking.

Fighting a war, there is no reason not to take risks.

“Okay, stop arguing. I have decided to agree to this plan. Next, everyone will discuss and improve this plan in this direction. Hurry up, we have to decide before tomorrow morning. The logistics department will start preparing materials now and fully satisfy the 21st Division. If there are no materials, borrow them from other divisions first, and other troops must not refuse.”

Liu Hansan directly set the direction, so that everyone can save time, don’t have to argue about whether it will work, but focus on thinking about how to make it work.

The commander has spoken, regardless of whether it is right or wrong, the people below must execute it. This is the rule in the Hua army.

As a result, there was no sound of arguing in the hall. The division commanders of each division and the many staff officers of the staff headquarters began to study the map to refine the raid plan.

They had to be so cautious, after all, this was an operation deep behind enemy lines, and if it failed, the entire army would be wiped out.

Their hundreds of thousands of people fought a fierce Battle of Xuzhou with the Qing army’s two hundred thousand people, and the total number of deaths was less than ten thousand.

And now this thousand-li raid plan may make them lose a division.

If this really happens, Liu Hansan, the supreme commander of the Northern Army Corps, will not escape punishment, and at least he will be demoted and reflect.

Chapter 505: The Terrified Qing Dynasty

The next day, the Hua army’s 21st Division, thirteen thousand strong, boarded ships and sailed along the Grand Canal towards Beijing.

Many towns along the canal were still Qing army territory, but they couldn’t stop the Hua army’s fleet. After all, the Qing army hadn’t set up any coastal defense artillery in any particular location.

The Qing navy was no match for the Hua army, so they could only watch helplessly as the Hua army rampaged through their territory.

At the same time, a cavalry force of twenty thousand men also began to rush towards Beijing.

Their journey to Beijing was much more difficult than the fleet’s, as the Qing Dynasty’s army could still pose some threat to them.

Of course, that was assuming those people dared to come out and fight the Hua army’s cavalry.

Fortunately, the entire route was a plain, providing the Hua army with ample space to maneuver, so there was no need to worry too much about harassment from the Qing army.

The twenty thousand men had more than forty thousand horses, with the extra horses used to carry supplies.

One man with two horses wasn’t considered excessive. Truly elite cavalry units had one man with three horses: two for alternating rides and one for carrying heavy loads.

The Hua army had a relative shortage of horses and couldn’t afford such extravagance.

One man with two horses was already enough to ensure their marching speed.

If they weren’t disturbed, they could reach Beijing in three or four days.

However, that was unlikely. After all, the North was still Qing Dynasty territory, and it was highly improbable that they wouldn’t be disturbed at all.

The main infantry force set out last, their primary task being to take over Qing army territory along the way.

The Hua army’s fleet was discovered by Qing scouts as soon as it left Jining, but their speed of sending messages north on land couldn’t even keep up with the Hua army fleet’s advance.

Not every place had the conditions to use the eight-hundred-li urgent report system. It wasn’t until they reached Liaocheng that the Qing army stationed there had the authority to use it, and they began sending urgent reports to Beijing.

This speed was naturally faster than the Hua army’s fleet, and the fleet couldn’t always travel in a straight line. The Qing scouts took a much more direct route.

However, the Hua army didn’t care. They hadn’t expected to keep their northward advance a secret.

All they wanted to do was arrive as quickly as possible.

It would be a huge undertaking for the Qing army to retreat, so there was no need to worry that they could set off immediately after receiving the news.

“What is the Hua army trying to do? The front lines haven’t even fallen yet!”

The garrison commander of Liaocheng muttered to himself, completely unable to understand the Hua army’s actions.

In Beijing, Dorgon and the others were equally confused when they saw the first urgent war report, unsure of what the Hua army’s sudden appearance north of the Yellow River meant.

Then, the second urgent war report arrived.

The report showed that the Hua army’s fleet had reached Dezhou.

Then, the third showed that the Hua army had reached Cangzhou.

It was only then that Dorgon and the other generals suddenly realized.

The enemy’s target was Beijing.

Upon discovering the Hua army’s intention, Dorgon and the other generals gasped.

It had to be said that this plan was too bold and too crazy.

“Outrageous! They simply have no respect for us!”

Shuose exclaimed angrily.

The Hua army’s military action was too arrogant, as if to say, “I don’t care about your tens of thousands of troops at all. I’m delivering myself to your doorstep. Come and get me if you dare.”

Despite his anger, Shuose didn’t volunteer to resist.

Because he knew that even if he brought all his troops, he might not be able to do anything to the enemy.

Their advanced equipment had been almost completely lost by Hauge.

Most of the remaining troops were still using cold weapons.

“It seems that the enemy doesn’t want us to retreat beyond the pass. They want to send an elite force to keep an eye on us,” Jirhalang sighed. If the Hua army really intended to do that, their trouble would be great.

It was already a very troublesome thing to retreat beyond the pass with over one hundred thousand people, even without anyone harassing them.

With an elite force nearby, they couldn’t expect to do it at all.

As long as the enemy launched a charge, the entire marching formation would be thrown into complete chaos.

It would be too difficult for those noble lords and women who had never been on the battlefield to remain calm.

The Qing army couldn’t protect this marching formation with just tens of thousands of soldiers; they couldn’t protect everyone.

For them, the best way was to eliminate the Hua army force.

Otherwise, they would have to abandon the old, weak, women, and children, or even abandon the common people, and only leave with the army and a small number of nobles.

But this would greatly damage the Qing Dynasty’s vitality and completely lose the people’s hearts.

“Although the enemy only has over ten thousand people, the troops who dare to take on such a mission must be the elite of the Hua army. We must take them seriously. On the one hand, we must send troops to intercept them, and on the other hand, we need to speed up the pace of retreat. Throw away some things that are not valuable, and just pick up some valuables.”

Fan Wencheng reminded everyone not to let their guard down just because the Hua army had few people.

Of course, this reminder was somewhat redundant. Now, the Qing army, from top to bottom, was suffering from “Hua-phobia,” and they were more likely to overestimate the Hua army than underestimate them.

“Immediately order the towns along the canal to intercept this fleet and sink ships to block the canal. Shuose, you lead one banner of soldiers to the Langfang area to guard the last line of defense. The others will assist the main force in retreating. Order each household to discard unnecessary bulky items and only take valuables and food.”

Dorgon’s orders basically adopted Fan Wencheng’s suggestion.

Sinking ships to block the canal was a very damaging move, but it was indeed effective.

As long as they forced the Hua army ashore, they could carry out containment and harassment.

After the plan was determined, Fan Wencheng added, “Regent Prince, we should prioritize letting His Majesty retreat first. The further back we go, the more likely the retreating troops are to panic and accidents are likely to occur.”

“Don’t worry, our Qing Dynasty emperors are all emperors on horseback, and they won’t be unable to cope with this little thing. His Majesty staying in Beijing can also give the soldiers on the front line some encouragement,” Dorgon said.

This…

Fan Wencheng was stunned. Although Dorgon’s words made a little sense, a closer examination revealed that they were wrong.

The emperor’s life was much more important than boosting morale.

Fan Wencheng was also a shrewd person, and he could sense some of Dorgon’s intentions from his attitude, and then cold sweat broke out on his back.

He was trying to put the emperor to death! This was treason, but he had no way to stop it.

Knowing Dorgon’s intentions, he could only pretend that he didn’t know anything and protect himself.

However, after discovering Dorgon’s intention, Fan Wencheng was completely disheartened with the Qing Dynasty.

When it came to the moment of life and death, the Qing Dynasty was still thinking about fighting for power and profit. How could such a regime have any hope? It was exactly the same as the Hongguang regime of the former Ming Dynasty.

Seeing no hope, no future, Fan Wencheng was confused.

Chapter 506: Joyfully Welcoming the Royal Army

Reality isn’t a strategy game where Dorgon issues an order and his subordinates instantly execute it with a “biu” sound. It’s not that simple.

In short, Dorgon issued the order, but within this regime riddled with anxiety, achieving efficient execution was far from easy.

Shuose received the order and prepared to gather his own troops.

However, several company commanders under him were nowhere to be found. Upon investigation, it was discovered that two company commanders had already privately led their soldiers and families towards Shanhaiguan.

The men of the other two companies made all sorts of excuses, claiming either their weapons weren’t ready or their food supplies were insufficient.

In essence, their core message was: they didn’t want to go to the front lines and fight the Great Hua army.

Because previous armies that had fought the Great Hua army had been annihilated, with a large number of soldiers dying on the battlefield. They didn’t want to follow in their footsteps.

During a dynasty’s peak, subordinates wouldn’t dare to disobey orders easily, because doing so would likely result in punishment.

But after a dynasty enters a period of decline, subordinates don’t have to worry too much about the consequences of disobeying orders.

Because a declining dynasty needs to unite all available forces, it doesn’t dare to be too harsh on its subordinates. Otherwise, they could surrender to the enemy or become bandits at any moment, establishing their own kingdoms.

Moreover, a declining dynasty doesn’t have the time or energy to deal with rebellions.

This kind of chaos existed in both the Great Ming and the Qing Dynasty.

Upon deeper investigation, it could be attributed to human nature.

Human nature is such that no one can easily change it.

Shuose used to have a violent temper. He would severely punish subordinates for even minor offenses, even going as far as beheading them.

But now, facing the various chaotic behaviors of his subordinates, he was powerless.

Unless he completely disregarded the Great Hua army and focused solely on fighting those who were fleeing, he might be able to capture and execute all the deserters.

However, that would be meaningless. It wouldn’t scare those who were determined to flee or surrender, but would instead provide the Great Hua with a spectacle, a joke.

What goes around comes around. They once gleefully mocked the chaos of the Great Ming, mocking its corruption and incompetence. But now, it was their turn to taste that flavor.

Only at this point did some Qing army generals suddenly realize that they had been able to defeat the Ming army not because they were more valiant, but simply because the circumstances favored them.

Of the twenty thousand men Shuose had planned to take, only fourteen thousand ended up setting out with him, a pitiful sight.

Even worse, those who had already set out were regretting it to death.

They hadn’t fled not because they weren’t afraid of death or were determined to fight the Great Hua army to the death.

It was purely because they had misjudged the situation. They thought that disobeying orders and fleeing at this time would be punished, so they hadn’t dared to run.

But now, they were surprised to discover that those who had already fled hadn’t been punished by Shuose, or rather, Shuose hadn’t immediately pursued them.

This made them regret it immensely. If they had known it would be like this, they would have run too.

Of course, it wasn’t too late to realize it now.

After arriving at Langfang from Beijing, Shuose’s fourteen thousand men had dwindled to twelve thousand, almost making Shuose vomit blood from anger.

They hadn’t even encountered the enemy yet, and they were already in this state. Could these people be relied upon when they officially engaged the Great Hua army?

How could the once brave and invincible Eight Banners soldiers suddenly have fallen to such a state?

Shuose was filled with despair, and then he had a somewhat self-destructive mentality, much like Zhu Yujian back then.

If Shuose, who was in charge of the Eight Banners, was like this, one could only imagine the state of the Green Standard Army stationed in various places.

They received Dorgon’s order to scuttle ships, and they all dismissed it with disdain.

What a joke, how expensive are ships? In this time of great chaos, these are their private property.

Asking them to scuttle ships? Don’t even think about it, unless the imperial court transports some ships for them to scuttle.

As for blocking the Great Hua army’s fleet, they were too lazy to carry it out. It was a thankless task.

They now preferred to observe the development of the situation. If the Great Hua army won, then they would surrender to the Great Hua.

If the Qing army won, there was no need to worry. A dynasty that had entered a period of decline would show great tolerance towards the power of its subordinates.

Even if they hadn’t carried out orders before, the Qing Dynasty wouldn’t pursue their responsibility, because it wouldn’t dare to.

Once they wanted to pursue responsibility, those people would not hesitate to defect to the Great Hua.

The relationship of subordination between the two sides, with the weakening of the Eight Banners army, had slowly turned into a cooperative relationship.

In Langfang, the Great Hua army’s fleet encountered the interception of Shuose’s forces, and had to choose a place to dock.

However, this no longer mattered.

Langfang was only ten to fifteen kilometers away from the Qing army’s retreat route, about half a day’s march at a fast pace.

After disembarking, the Great Hua army didn’t rush to engage Shuose’s forces. Their mission this time wasn’t to eliminate as many enemies as possible, but to contain the enemy.

Therefore, preserving their own strength was more important than eliminating the enemy.

Sitting on a boat for a long time had also made some soldiers physically and mentally exhausted.

Their current state wasn’t suitable for combat.

They needed to find a place to rest and adjust their condition first.

Entering the enemy’s heartland was originally an extremely dangerous thing, requiring constant vigilance against attacks and worrying about being exposed.

However, this time the Great Hua army didn’t encounter this situation.

The local people, and even some small county towns, opened their doors to joyfully welcome the royal army.

That’s right, the people in the Qing army’s hinterland were actually closer to the Great Hua army.

Counting it up, the Qing Dynasty’s rule over the North had only been three years, and moreover, they had been plundering fiercely during these three years. The people at the bottom didn’t recognize their regime at all.

As Han Chinese, they had been under the rule of the Great Ming for hundreds of years, and that mark on their bodies couldn’t be easily erased.

When the Great Hua army appeared before them, they didn’t feel that the Great Hua army was the enemy, but rather felt that the Great Hua army was the royal army coming to save them.

Therefore, the problems behind enemy lines that some generals in the Great Hua army were worried about didn’t appear at all.

No people went to report to the Qing army, but instead, many people volunteered to help Tang Guozhen gather information, which moved Tang Guozhen to tears. He once thought he was fighting on his home turf.

In addition to helping with intelligence, the people of the North also gritted their teeth and provided as much help as possible in terms of daily life.

They didn’t have much food, but at least they could provide some seasonings and some cooking tools, so that the Great Hua army soldiers could eat hot food instead of gnawing on dry rations.

This also had a significant effect on boosting morale and combat power.

Providing food, providing accommodation, providing intelligence.

Tang Guozhen’s troops enjoyed the treatment of a people’s war.

Seeing these people so devoted to the Great Hua, he knew that he would definitely win this battle.

Chapter 507: Straight to the Point

The next day, the Great Hua army, having rested for a full day, headed straight for Xianghe County, not at all interested in fighting Shuose’s forces.

Tang Guozhen planned to take Xianghe County and then defend it based on its simple city walls.

In the plains, a county town was a decent defensive structure, much better than being exposed in the open.

If the Qing army retreated from Beijing to Shanhaiguan, they would have to pass through the vicinity of Xianghe County. Garrisoning troops here would be like a nail hammered into the enemy’s main artery.

Of course, the Qing army could also take the Miyun-Chengde route, crossing a range of hills and mountains to reach beyond the pass. They could also go via Datong, bypassing the grasslands to reach beyond the pass.

There were many routes to return beyond the pass, but all of them had one thing in common: they were difficult.

These routes were quite strenuous for the army to traverse.

As for ordinary people, the experience would be extremely unpleasant.

If the Great Hua army pursued them from behind on those routes, the entire force wouldn’t even have a direction to escape.

If the Qing army wanted to return beyond the pass on a large scale, they still had to go through Shanhaiguan.

Arriving at Xianghe County, Tang Guozhen had expected a fierce battle.

However, before they could even get into an attacking formation, the Green Standard Army inside mutinied, killing the Qing’s supervising officers and opening the gates to welcome the King’s army.

The reason for this was that there were too few adult Manchu men.

The number of Manchu Eight Banners troops supervising the battle in Xianghe County was only about two hundred, while the Green Standard Army soldiers numbered two thousand. The risk of mutiny was greatly reduced, and the probability of such an event occurring naturally increased significantly.

“The trend of the times, this is what they call the trend of the times. Even if Huang Taiji were resurrected, he couldn’t save this Qing Dynasty.”

Tang Guozhen said with emotion, then led his troops into the city and took over the defense of Xianghe County.

Seeing the Great Hua soldiers each with a rifle and three grenades hanging from their belts, the Green Standard Army soldiers couldn’t help but drool with envy.

This was just in terms of weapons. In other aspects, they were equally envious.

Iron helmets, entrenching tools, multi-functional daggers, uniforms full of pockets, canned food, leggings…

The Great Hua soldiers were covered in all sorts of things.

In contrast, the Green Standard Army soldiers had only a single blade and were otherwise practically naked, without any other equipment. Even the Great Hua soldiers couldn’t help but sympathize with them.

The Great Hua soldiers couldn’t understand how they could still fight with just a broadsword these days.

After the Great Hua army entered the city, they quickly set up defenses.

The Green Standard Army soldiers were also allowed to assist on the side.

Originally, Tang Guozhen looked down on them, but he couldn’t resist the enthusiasm of Cheng He, the Green Standard Army officer, and could only reluctantly accept Cheng He’s good intentions.

On the city walls, some Green Standard Army soldiers were stationed next to the Great Hua soldiers.

Naturally, they couldn’t suppress their curiosity.

“Why do you bring a shovel when you fight? Isn’t it heavy?”

Er Hu Zi was a Green Standard Army soldier, and this was the first time he had seen the Great Hua army, so he was full of curiosity.

Yan San, a Great Hua army corporal, gave him a contemptuous look and said, “Don’t underestimate this entrenching tool. In wartime, it can be used to dig trenches to avoid artillery shells. In peacetime, it can be used as an iron pot for cooking. Pliers, scissors, saws, hooks, there’s no end to its uses. It can be used for anything.”

Er Hu Zi and the others immediately became country bumpkins, revealing the awkward and envious eyes of villagers.

They never knew that there were so many intricacies to fighting.

Such a thing could never happen to them.

If they were to be equipped with entrenching tools, the Qing army generals would rather forgo the trench in wartime and let the soldiers be bombed by artillery shells.

Because these entrenching tools were too expensive, they couldn’t afford them.

It was more cost-effective to lose some soldiers in wartime, after all, human lives were cheaper.

“What’s this?”

Er Hu Zi pointed to a tin can.

People like to show off.

Looking at the country bumpkins in front of him, Yan San also felt like showing off, took out the precious canned food, cut it open with the entrenching tool a few times, and opened the can.

There was definitely no fragrance; the Great Hua army had not yet developed the technology to make canned food fragrant.

However, the meat inside was real.

Yan San ate a piece himself and then handed the can to Er Hu Zi, letting him taste it too.

Er Hu Zi immediately picked up a large piece of fatty meat and devoured it.

This was meat, meat! He hadn’t eaten meat in over half a year.

Moreover, it was fatty meat, which was really rare.

In this era, fatty meat, which was more filling, was more popular than lean meat.

When the other Green Standard Army soldiers saw Er Hu Zi eating meat, they immediately started drooling.

A bolder person directly approached and grabbed a large piece.

Before Er Hu Zi could scold him, the dozen or so pieces of meat in the can were divided up, making Yan San feel a slight pang of heartache. They weren’t allocated many of these cans.

Showing off was certainly great, but sometimes it came at a price.

There were many Green Standard Army soldiers on the city wall, but only a dozen or so around Er Hu Zi had eaten the meat.

The others who hadn’t eaten the meat could only stare at the cans on the other Great Hua soldiers.

One Great Hua soldier, annoyed by the staring, scolded, “If you keep looking, I’ll beat you up. This is my military rations.”

“Don’t be like that, share a piece of meat to try. When the enemy attacks later, how about I block arrows and bullets for you?”

A Green Standard Army soldier said, willing to risk everything for a piece of meat.

“The way you say it, it’s like your speed can keep up with bullets.”

The Great Hua soldier ruthlessly retorted.

During the interaction, most of the Great Hua soldiers restrained their desire to show off and kept their cans.

However, there were also a few Great Hua soldiers who were too enamored with the feeling of being admired and took out a can to share with everyone, experiencing what it was like to be a city dweller.

“Fragrant, so fragrant. You even have meat to eat when you march and fight. It’s like the life of a wealthy landlord. Can you discuss with your officer and say that I also want to join you?”

After tasting the canned food, Er Hu Zi and other Green Standard Army soldiers began to think about this.

There was nothing they could do; their lives in the Qing army were too miserable.

In such a stark contrast, they felt that being a soldier in the Great Hua army was as happy as being an immortal.

“That’s difficult. If you’re brave in the upcoming battle and make contributions, there might be a chance,”

Yan San said.

Nowadays, it was becoming increasingly difficult to join the Great Hua army; they didn’t lack manpower.

Hearing Yan San’s words, many Green Standard Army soldiers were tempted.

As long as they went all out once, they would have a chance to join the Great Hua army and live a good life. This risk was worth taking.

The enemy hadn’t arrived yet, so they didn’t need to be too nervous for the time being. They had plenty of time to chat.

Mainly, the Great Hua soldiers were talking, describing the prosperity of Nanjing, and the Green Standard Army soldiers were showing envious and disbelieving expressions.

“Impossible, impossible. There’s no iron lump that can move on its own. You’re bragging…”

The Green Standard Army soldiers said.

Chapter 508: A Rare Siege Defense

The news of the Chinese army occupying Xianghe County reached Beijing, and Dorgon began to panic.

He realized that Xianghe County was crucial to their position. Losing it meant cutting off their route to Shanhaiguan.

Relying on routes through Chengde and other directions wouldn’t allow for the transfer of a large army.

“Order all main force troops to annihilate the enemy force in Xianghe County at all costs! In this battle, a reward of five taels of silver will be given for each enemy killed. Capture Xianghe County, and all officers will be promoted by two ranks!”

Now, Dorgon had no choice but to boost morale at any cost.

He needed to return beyond the pass to have any hope of making a comeback and couldn’t afford to be tied down by this Chinese army unit.

With the orders issued, the loyalists began to move, rushing towards Xianghe County.

As for the evacuation of the imperial family, no one cared about it anymore.

Inside the Forbidden City, the imperial palace was in chaos upon hearing that the Chinese army had reached the walls of Beijing.

Some eunuchs and palace maids began to steal things in the confusion, others slipped out of the palace to escape, and still others were gripped by panic, lost and bewildered.

Of course, these were just the low-ranking eunuchs and maids.

The personal maids of the imperial concubines and the trusted eunuchs were busy packing their belongings.

Although no one had told them when they could evacuate, they were preparing, ready to leave at any moment.

“Lord Fan, can you contact any troops loyal to the Emperor to escort us away?”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang urgently summoned Fan Wencheng, hoping he could provide some assistance.

As for Dorgon, she no longer had any expectations.

“It’s difficult. Almost all the troops now obey the Regent Prince. More importantly, Xianghe County has been occupied by the Chinese army, blocking the road to Shanhaiguan. If we go through Chengde, I fear the Empress Dowager and His Majesty’s health will not endure it.”

Fan Wencheng said helplessly. This was the helplessness of a civil official.

Their power depended on the legal system.

Once chaos arrived and the legal system collapsed, no troops would listen to them, and they would be useless.

When the government was stable, their power was enormous. But in the current chaotic times, even a low-ranking soldier could ignore them.

“What can we do? The Regent Prince completely disregards our lives.”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang said anxiously.

“Now, Empress Dowager, you can only wait patiently for the Regent Prince’s victory on the front lines. As long as the Regent Prince retakes Xianghe County and opens the road to Shanhaiguan, evacuation will still be possible. After all, the main force of the Chinese army hasn’t arrived; it’s just an isolated force.”

At this point, Fan Wencheng was too lazy to offer any more advice and just gave a perfunctory response.

In any case, this was the inevitable trend of the times, and not something he could change with a few schemes.

Seeing Fan Wencheng’s perfunctory attitude, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang felt wronged and wanted to cry.

Helpless, she could only turn to her family, her brother Wu Keshan.

She even began to prepare for both possibilities. On one hand, she had Wu Keshan send people to protect her and her son as they retreated beyond the pass. On the other hand, she had Wu Keshan go to the Chinese army and negotiate surrender.

Voluntarily surrendering was very different from being captured. Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang hoped that when the situation was completely hopeless, she could still secure a way out.

Although voluntary surrender would mean the fall of the country and the loss of power, it might save the lives of her family.

Xianghe County, a place that was usually unremarkable, had now gathered more than sixty thousand troops.

Among them, the Chinese army and the Green Standard Army numbered about fifteen thousand, while the Qing army numbered about fifty thousand.

In terms of troop strength, the Qing army had an absolute advantage.

In terms of weaponry, the Qing army also had the advantage in artillery. They had nearly one hundred cannons, while the Chinese army had none.

They didn’t bring any because they were not conducive to maneuver.

Apart from artillery, the Chinese army had the advantage in all other weapons.

Overall, the strength of the Chinese army was not inferior to that of the Qing army.

This could be seen from Tang Guozhen’s relaxed expression and the solemn expressions on the faces of Dorgon and other Qing generals.

“Order a continuous general offensive from all sides! Don’t give the enemy any chance to breathe! Take the city in one go!”

Dorgon ordered.

He knew that whether or not they could take Xianghe County depended on the first few waves of attacks.

Once the first few waves of attacks were unsuccessful, the morale of the army would plummet, and the situation would be even more hopeless.

Therefore, Dorgon didn’t even bother with any probing attacks and immediately adopted a desperate posture.

He didn’t even follow the ancient strategy of leaving one side open during a siege, but instead attacked from all four sides simultaneously, just to maximize their slight advantage in numbers.

The Chinese army was stationed on three sides of the city walls, with nearly five thousand men on each side.

But stationed on four sides of the city walls, each side could only deploy more than three thousand men, which made a significant difference.

The cannons on the west side fired first, and after a barrage, the Qing army began to attack simultaneously from all sides.

On the west side was Dorgon’s Plain White Banner, with nearly twenty thousand men, including more than three thousand musketeers.

They formed the main force of the assault, pressing towards the city walls.

Upon entering the firing range, the Chinese army began to shoot, and the Qing army retaliated without hesitation.

Through this exchange of fire, the Qing army could barely inflict some casualties on the Chinese army.

However, the Qing army on the other three sides were not so lucky.

They had no ranged weapons and could only adopt the most primitive siege method: scaling the walls.

Although they also carried some siege equipment such as siege towers, they still didn’t play much of a role.

They suffered heavy casualties during the charge.

And once they reached the base of the city walls, their nightmare began.

Faced with the Chinese army’s high-angle grenade bombardment, the Qing army had no temper or solution.

Even the Chinese army would have a headache when facing enemies with grenades during a siege, let alone these poorly equipped Qing troops.

Grenades were simply one-sided slaughter for them.

In the first wave of attacks, the Qing troops on the other three sides advanced quickly and retreated quickly.

There was no way they could endure the situation on the front lines, where they could only be beaten.

Now, they could only hope that the Qing army on the west side could break the deadlock.

But at this time, the Qing army on the west side was not having an easy time either.

They could barely fight back during the ranged exchange of fire, but once they tried to attack the city walls, they encountered the same situation.

Although some of them were also equipped with grenades, the number was far less than that of the Chinese army.

Moreover, the Chinese army had the geographical advantage of defending the city.

This advantage was extremely rare in the Chinese army’s combat history. They had always been on the offensive, at a disadvantage in terms of terrain.

But now, it was finally their turn to occupy the city walls and defend, and they only had one word in their hearts: awesome.

“Defending the city is so great! I feel that as long as we have enough grenades and bullets, the enemy will never be able to break through these walls.”

The Chinese soldiers on the front lines were extremely optimistic at this time.

Chapter 509: Full Retreat

“Regent Prince, this kind of assault won’t work. We should pull the troops back and use artillery to blast open the city walls first.”

One of his subordinates advised. Charging directly like this was tantamount to suicide.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have enough artillery shells.”

Another general reminded him.

“Then dig tunnels and bury explosives to blow up the walls. In any case, charging directly like this is definitely not feasible. Everyone is clear about the enemy’s situation; they don’t have a shortage of ammunition.”

“Dig tunnels? That’s not so easy.”

The men engaged in a heated debate, unable to reach a consensus.

In the end, Dorgon made the final decision: continue the all-out assault.

He did not adopt any of the ideas his subordinates had put forward.

Of course, this was not because he was stubborn, but because his subordinates’ suggestions all had various limitations.

There weren’t enough shells to bombard the city walls, digging tunnels would take too long, and a night raid would be too difficult. In short, they were all flawed suggestions.

The gap in weapons and equipment meant that they had very few tactics to choose from.

Helpless, Dorgon could only hope for a miracle, that they could wear down the Great Hua army with a continuous stream of attacks.

After all, the Great Hua army had a limited number of soldiers, and after being spread out across the four city walls, they didn’t even have reserves for rotation.

Soldiers stationed on the city walls for long periods of time were actually very prone to mental and physical exhaustion.

And they, with their large numbers, could take turns attacking and wear down the Great Hua army’s energy.

Of course, their attacks came at the cost of soldiers’ lives, making them even worse off than the Great Hua army.

Now it was a contest of which side could hold out the longest, and whoever lasted until the end would have the last laugh.

The first to be unable to hold on was Shuose’s unit on the east side. They had attacked twice without even getting onto the city walls once.

Each time they paid a heavy price to get close to the city walls, they were blown back by the Great Hua army’s hand grenades.

This thing was truly a great weapon for defending the city.

After the third attack order was issued, the soldiers and generals below refused to carry out Shuose’s orders any longer.

“Prince Heshuo, we can’t keep fighting like this! The brothers can’t take it anymore! Only two waves of attacks, and thirty percent of our brothers have been killed or wounded. If we keep fighting, all the men of our Banner will be gone!”

His subordinate advised.

“But if we don’t continue fighting, it won’t just be our Banner that’s finished; the entire Eight Banners will be finished!”

Shuose sighed. The situation was pressing, and he knew it wouldn’t work, but he had to try.

“But the key is that we can’t take it down! If we could take this city by sacrificing all the men of our Banner, we would go all out. But the current situation is that even if we all die, we may not be able to get in.

Rather than that, we might as well retreat directly to beyond the pass and preserve the last spark. As for the people in Beijing, let them disperse and retreat along small paths. Save as many as we can.”

His subordinate proposed a way to cut their losses in time. He had already given up the illusion of being able to evacuate all his clansmen.

His idea couldn’t be said to be wrong.

However, he was not the Regent Prince, so his idea would ultimately remain just an idea.

Shuose still wanted to arrange for continued attacks to hold back the Great Hua army’s soldiers and share Dorgon’s pressure.

However, the soldiers below were already close to being out of control, and he had no choice but to suspend the attack first.

The situation was similar in the other two directions.

Without advanced weapons, they really had no way to deal with this small county town.

Dorgon continued to attack on the west side for a whole day, but Xianghe County remained unmoved.

Although the Great Hua army’s soldiers were indeed exhausted from the repeated attacks,
the Qing army on the attacking side was in an even worse state.

In this day’s attack, the Qing army had lost more than thirteen thousand men, with nearly ten thousand wounded.

It could be said that this unit had been crippled and ruined.

In the evening, Dorgon decisively decided not to fight anymore; it was simply impossible to fight.

“Next, I need a great general to volunteer to stay behind to defend and hold back the enemy, covering our clansmen’s retreat.”

Dorgon said.

Hearing this, everyone fell silent.

Staying behind to cover the retreat was a truly terrible task, tantamount to suicide.

In the past, they could arrange for the Han Chinese Green Standard Army to do this job, but now they no longer trusted the Han Chinese at all.

Looking around, no one responded, and Dorgon was furious.

“Prince Heshuo Shuose, this task is entrusted to you. I will allocate the only batch of flintlock gun troops to you. Please be sure to hold back the enemy.”

Dorgon directly named Shuose, the unlucky one.

Shuose was quite helpless about this and could only accept the task.

The Qing army left ten thousand men outside Xianghe County to confuse and keep an eye on the Great Hua army.

They did not dismantle their tents, creating a false impression.

Dorgon and the others returned to Beijing overnight and then arranged a plan for a full retreat.

He divided the hundreds of thousands of people who needed to retreat into several groups, retreating simultaneously from multiple directions such as Shanhai Pass, Chengde, and Yanqing.

He no longer considered how difficult the roads were, nor how many people would die on the way, nor how many people would be left behind.

In short, they would save as many as they could.

There was nothing wrong with Dorgon’s arrangement, but the problem was that he arranged for Emperor Shunzhi to take the route through Shanhai Pass.

Now that the Great Hua army was still in Xianghe County, this route was the most dangerous.

But he insisted on arranging it this way.

Faced with Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang’s questioning, Dorgon argued, “Only this route is the easiest to travel. The other routes require crossing mountains and ridges, and you and His Majesty’s bodies will definitely not be able to withstand it.”

“How could we not be able to withstand it? Don’t forget that I also grew up on horseback, and Fulin is already ten years old. He’s not that delicate.”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang retorted.

“Don’t worry, a small number of the Great Hua army’s troops are now trapped by us in Xianghe County. They can’t get out.”

Dorgon continued to insist.

Some other important officials watched them argue but remained silent, as if it were none of their business.

If they could, they actually didn’t want to go on the road with Dorgon and the others. It would be better to stay in Beijing and wait for the Great Hua army to attack and then surrender.

For them, it was just a matter of changing their allegiance, and their starting point as officials would be lower.

Although there would be a sense of frustration from the weakening of their power, it was better than going with Dorgon to the northeast to live a life of exile.

However, they had no choice.

Dorgon also knew that a regime could not rely on force alone; it also needed these civil officials to be responsible for governance.

Therefore, he forcibly demanded that these Han Chinese ministers go on the road with him, and those who were unwilling would be killed directly.

He would rather kill them than leave them to Great Hua.

It had come to this point, and Dorgon had become insane and could do anything.

Before he left, he also ordered that Beijing be set on fire.

Anyway, he was clear in his heart that his chances of being able to fight back in the future were not great. It would be good enough to be able to gain a foothold in the northeast and protect his own territory.

As for the interior, he would try to cause some damage and leave a mess for Great Hua.

However, Beijing was an ancient city with thousands of years of history, and burning Beijing would have too bad an impact. As a result, those civil officials who were afraid of death strongly opposed the idea of burning Beijing.

As for those low-level generals who received specific orders, they could not bring themselves to do it.

Faced with the opposition of the crowd, Dorgon was also busy fleeing and could not bother with causing destruction, which allowed Beijing to escape a disaster.

Chapter 510: Mental Blow

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang finally compromised. There was no other way, as all military power was now in Dorgon’s hands.

The few hundred loyalists of the Plain Yellow Banner were no match for Dorgon.

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang didn’t know what the consequences of her firm opposition would be, whether it would force Dorgon to turn hostile on the spot, leading to internal strife between the two Banners.

If that happened, they would truly become a laughingstock, letting the world see the Qing Dynasty’s embarrassment.

Having settled the imperial family, the Qing Dynasty, a machine on the verge of falling apart, began its final operation.

Large numbers of Manchus, along with a small number of Han and Mongol Eight Banners soldiers, left Beijing, retreating north in five routes under the supervision of a small number of soldiers.

The massive scale of the retreat caused chaos.

The cries of children and women never ceased.

Especially for those who were unwilling to leave, there was extreme resentment towards this forced migration. Some even deliberately lagged behind to delay the process.

Among the many retreating groups, the one heading towards Shanhaiguan was the largest.

It included not only members of the imperial family but also a large number of Han officials and the families of various nobles.

This group was personally escorted by Dorgon’s troops.

In the process, Dorgon could arrange many things.

When they reached Tongzhou, the emperor’s carriage inexplicably broke down.

The imperial family had no choice but to stop to repair the carriage, letting others go ahead.

At the same time, Tang Guozhen in Xianghe County had received news that the main force of the Qing army had begun to retreat.

The Qing army’s little bit of disguise was a joke. The Qing Dynasty was now in a state where everyone was connected with Great Hua.

Too many people were passing information to Great Hua, hoping to leave a good impression so they could have a slightly better life after surrendering.

Therefore, Tang Guozhen had no shortage of informants.

Upon learning that the Qing Dynasty’s retreating forces had set out, Tang Guozhen immediately ordered an active attack.

Of course, first, they needed to defeat the Qing army outside the city.

With the order issued, the city gates opened wide, and the Great Hua army began to deploy.

Shuose, upon receiving the news, immediately launched an attack. He wanted to attack before the Great Hua army completed its deployment, so he could gain a slight advantage.

Once the Great Hua army completed its formation, they would have no chance.

The city gate had limited space, and not many Great Hua soldiers could come out at once, giving the Qing army an opportunity.

However, the Qing army did not seize this opportunity well. During the charge, they were all sluggish, hoping that others would rush to the front.

After all, charging towards a flintlock rifle unit meant almost certain death for the soldiers in the front, which was common knowledge.

In the past, their military discipline was strict, and they had no choice but to charge.

But now, their military discipline had collapsed. Moreover, this mixed force consisted of soldiers from three different Banners, lacking the unity of a single Banner.

The command was also quite chaotic.

In short, the current Eight Banners Qing army was just like the garrison soldiers of the former Ming Dynasty, with all sorts of small problems.

These small problems accumulated into big problems.

This was the case now. If they had seized the opportunity of the Great Hua army’s slow exit from the city, they could have charged to the front of the Great Hua army at a smaller cost and then engaged in a fair melee.

Unfortunately, such a good opportunity was wasted.

By the time they were about to charge to the front of the Great Hua army, two regiments of the Great Hua army had already formed their formation.

Then, they fired a volley before the Qing army got close.

It was just a volley, and then the two sides entered a melee.

However, the casualties and deterrent effect brought by this volley could not be ignored.

This volley alone caused nearly a thousand Qing soldiers to fall. After all, it was almost like shooting them in the face.

The Qing soldiers in the front row almost all fell, and the Qing soldiers behind were scared half to death, either because they couldn’t stop or because they had rushed to the front of the Great Hua army, forced to engage in melee.

But their minds were no longer on the battle, and their combat power was naturally not worth mentioning.

After only two rounds of thrusting, the Qing army began to rout.

Someone took the lead, and a chain reaction immediately occurred.

Immediately afterward, the Qing army began a great rout.

Those supervising officers fled even faster than the ordinary soldiers.

A battle that looked very fierce was actually one-sided.

The Great Hua army hadn’t even exerted their strength, and the Qing army had already fallen.

The Green Standard Army, following behind the Great Hua army, was so excited that they burst into tears. Fighting alongside such an army was so enjoyable. There was no danger at all, and they could just pick up the spoils behind them.

Facing the defeated enemy, these Green Standard Army soldiers could also show unparalleled bravery, feeling like seasoned veterans.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong may not be the nature of everyone, but it is the nature of most people.

Before long, this Qing army was completely wiped out.

Except for a small number who died in battle, the others were captured.

Even the commander, Shuose, did not escape and became a prisoner of the Great Hua army.

Tang Guozhen didn’t have time to deal with these prisoners, handing over all seven or eight thousand of them to Cheng He, who was responsible for guarding them.

The Great Hua army began to split into multiple groups, rushing towards the Qing army’s retreating army.

They wanted to intercept as many scholars, officials, materials, and wealth as possible, and not let them go to beyond the pass, increasing the Qing army’s strength.

The Qing army’s retreat was divided into several sections, stretching for several li.

Therefore, the Great Hua army was also divided into several parts, pursuing separately.

When Dorgon, in the center of the army, saw the Great Hua army appear, he cursed Shuose as a piece of trash.

He was too useless. Ten thousand troops failed to play any role in delaying or obstructing them. He even suspected that Shuose had actively surrendered to Great Hua.

Otherwise, how could the Great Hua army have arrived so quickly? It far exceeded his plan.

In his plan, by the time the Great Hua army reacted, his group would have retreated to Tangshan at least, so they could escape the pursuit of the Great Hua army.

But now, before they even crossed Sanhe, they were entangled by the Great Hua army.

In this situation, wanting to retreat with peace of mind was like a fool’s dream.

“Regent Prince, give up these burdens, there’s no other way.”

Sortu advised. After Hauge’s death, he fled back to Beijing and had already joined Dorgon. As for Oboi, he had surrendered to Great Hua.

Now it seemed that Oboi’s choice was smarter. Sortu was now following Dorgon like a stray dog, fleeing east and west.

“Without these people, talents, and resources, how can we develop beyond the pass?”

Dorgon’s anger rose to his head, and he suffered another severe mental blow.

The last time he suffered such a blow was in Huai’an.

“Let’s focus on surviving first and then think about how to develop. Didn’t the Taizu also start with dozens of people and a few sets of armor and swords?”

Sortu advised. If life was gone, then everything was gone.

As long as life was still there, there would still be opportunities. What if Wu Changqing suddenly died tomorrow? This possibility was very small, but no one dared to say it was impossible.

People, when they are in extreme despair, can only rely on imagining some extremely low probability events to numb themselves.

Chapter 511: Capturing Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang

Successive failures caused Dorgon immense pain. More importantly, in the current situation, he couldn’t even save Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

He lost his empire and power, and now he was losing the woman he loved.

Someone with a weaker constitution would probably have already slit their throat.

After all, continuing to live would mean these two events would haunt him like nightmares, becoming psychological shadows in the future.

However, Dorgon possessed more resilience and forbearance than Hauge.

His mother was forced to death by Huang Taiji, his throne was seized by Huang Taiji, the woman he loved was taken by Huang Taiji, the throne was then snatched by Huang Taiji’s son, he was defeated by Wu Changqing, and his brother died in battle.

He had endured all of that.

Now that Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was about to be taken as well, he could only continue to endure.

The Ninja Turtle Dorgon listened to Soltu’s advice, abandoned his troops, and retreated directly with a portion of his cavalry.

He chose to abandon those infantrymen; anyone who could be caught up by the Great Hua army on foot was a burden.

Before leaving, Dorgon instructed those infantrymen to fight to the death with the Great Hua army, making a final, desperate struggle.

After Dorgon left, these people immediately chose to surrender.

When the great tree of the Qing Dynasty fell, the performance of the Eight Banners soldiers was similar to that of the Ming Dynasty garrison troops of the past; they weren’t necessarily braver, and were perhaps even more pathetic.

The Great Hua army intercepted the retreating troops in the middle and front sections, forcing them to turn around and return to Beijing.

In the rear section, however, the Great Hua army encountered some resistance.

A portion of the True Yellow Banner loyalists, attempting to protect Emperor Shunzhi and others, put up a desperate resistance.

The fighting will displayed by these people was quite impressive, but unfortunately, their numbers were too small, and their weapons weren’t sophisticated enough.

After sacrificing over a hundred lives, the Great Hua army annihilated this force.

“Commander Tang, this is Shunzhi.”

A eunuch next to Tang Guozhen pointed out with a smile.

But Tang Guozhen didn’t seem interested at all, and asked, “Where is Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang?”

That was who he was interested in.

Or, more accurately, who he was forced to pay attention to.

Once, Wu Changqing had inadvertently expressed some admiration for Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, which some people had taken to heart.

Although, since the Wenzhou rebellion, Wu Changqing had explicitly warned many core members of the army to focus on the war and not to get any funny ideas.

But!

As the saying goes, the emperor’s heart is hard to fathom. Even if an emperor is fond of women, he will pretend not to be in order to maintain his image.

If the people below really think the emperor doesn’t like it, that’s just plain stupid, or even malicious.

To give a recent example, Emperor Chongzhen.

In his heart, he always wanted to negotiate peace with the Qing army, then concentrate his energy on fighting Li Zicheng, avoiding fighting on two fronts.

However, he absolutely couldn’t say this, or even admit it.

He had to wait, wait for those ministers who understood his intentions to bring it up, then he would firmly oppose it, the ministers would insist, he would oppose again, and the ministers would insist again.

After repeating this several times, the emperor would reluctantly agree, so that he could save face.

“Look, it’s not that I, the emperor, am afraid of those barbarian Manchus, it’s those damn ministers who are afraid and insist that I negotiate peace. I’m being forced.”

In every dynasty, when faced with such embarrassing matters, ministers and emperors would play this game, cooperating quite well with each other.

But this didn’t work in Chongzhen’s reign, because Chongzhen didn’t like to take responsibility, so the ministers knew what Chongzhen was thinking, but they kept their mouths shut.

They couldn’t bring it up. Chongzhen would definitely be happy when the suggestion was made.

But when others used this matter against him in the future, Chongzhen would definitely shirk responsibility and push it onto the proposer.

That was his personality, so many ministers knew what Chongzhen was thinking, but they just wouldn’t speak up.

Finally, a man named Chen Xinjia secretly plotted with Chongzhen to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, but the matter was leaked. Chongzhen was accused by the ministers, and then he said that he didn’t know about it, and then killed Chen Xinjia.

Compared to Emperor Chongzhen, Wu Changqing’s way of handling such matters made the officials of Great Hua more comfortable.

After the matter was exposed, Wu Changqing didn’t kill Lu Guangzu in order to deny his lustful nature. He only scolded Lu Guangzu severely on the surface, but didn’t give any substantial punishment.

Chongzhen wanted to be both a whore and have a monument, while Wu Changqing threw away the monument after his whore identity was exposed.

It was precisely because of this personality that Liu Hansan was determined to help Wu Changqing fulfill his wish, and specially reminded Tang Guozhen to capture Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang at all costs when heading north.

Liu Hansan thought very clearly. Perhaps doing so would inevitably leave Wu Changqing with an image of being unprofessional, and might even anger Wu Changqing.

However, this was also a good opportunity to show loyalty.

His approach was equivalent to telling Wu Changqing, “I know it’s wrong to do this, but I’m being filial. I’d rather make a mistake than not be filial to you.”

Showing loyalty was very important to Liu Hansan.

Seeing that the country was about to be unified, as the saying goes, “When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked; when the birds are gone, the good bow is stored away.”

Once the country was unified, the former good helpers would become the emperor’s targets of suspicion.

At that time, being relieved of military power with a cup of wine would be considered a good ending. If Wu Changqing killed meritorious officials like Zhu Yuanzhang, that would be terrible.

Although Liu Hansan couldn’t be considered to have reached the highest ranks of the court, his power in Great Hua was among the top five.

He didn’t dare to hope for too much power, just being able to maintain the status quo would be enough.

It was precisely because of these considerations that Liu Hansan, knowing that he would be scolded and punished, still instructed Tang Guozhen to capture Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

Tang Guozhen was quite disdainful of this, but Liu Hansan had given him the grace of promotion, and since Liu Hansan had spoken, he couldn’t help but do his best.

It’s hard to be an emperor, hard to be a minister, hard to be a person.

Hearing the other party call her name, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang felt a little relieved.

This meant that the lives of herself and the others were definitely safe.

It wasn’t that she was worried about her own life. As a beautiful woman, in times of war, she only needed to worry about being humiliated, not about her life.

She was worried about Fulin’s little life. The special status of the Qing Dynasty emperor meant that Fulin’s ending wouldn’t be too good.

“I am she. May I ask, General, who are you?”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang said.

Tang Guozhen heard this and sized up Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, and was quite surprised.

She was over thirty years old, but still maintained the appearance of someone in their late twenties. If he didn’t know her identity, he wouldn’t have been able to tell that the woman in front of him was over thirty.

Maintenance was one aspect, but her appearance was also top-notch.

When appearance reached a certain level, it was difficult to compare who was better. At least Tang Guozhen felt that the Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang in front of him was about the same as the current Empress.

Of course, Tang Guozhen knew that the most attractive thing about this number one beauty of Manchuria and Mongolia wasn’t her appearance, but her identity and temperament.

“I am Tang Guozhen, commander of the 21st Division of the Second Army of the Northern Military Region of Great Hua. Please order the others not to resist and return to Beijing with us. You can rest assured that your lives will definitely not be in danger.”

Tang Guozhen said. He didn’t want to use force against Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang. Who knew if she was a vengeful person, and who knew if she would be favored by Wu Changqing in the future.

It was better to avoid trouble. Tang Guozhen didn’t want to offend anyone.

“Commander Tang, I had already sent an envoy to discuss surrender and allegiance with your army. Why is your army still using force like this?”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was still making a final struggle. The treatment enjoyed by those who surrendered voluntarily and those who were captured was completely different.

“I didn’t see your envoy, and you are now trying to retreat, so our army is forced to act. Please return to Beijing first. I can’t make decisions on political matters, and someone will come to discuss them with you soon.”

Tang Guozhen said.

His attitude was very respectful, and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang couldn’t find any fault with it.

Now that things had come to this, she had no other choice but to return to Beijing with the Great Hua army.

Chapter 512: Preliminary Unification

Throughout the entire process, Fu Lin clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in secret.

He felt both anger and helplessness.

Ever since he began receiving imperial education, he had known that he was the emperor, the supreme ruler, and that everyone should respect and obey him.

After hearing it so much, he came to believe it.

But now, he was not enjoying that kind of treatment. The people of Great Hua not only did not respect him, but also wanted to capture and kill him.

Now reduced to a prisoner of war, a captive, it was naturally difficult for him to accept this reality.

The way later generations would build up an athlete or celebrity pales in comparison to the way imperial education builds up an emperor.

The higher you are raised, the harder you fall.

It could be said that the moment the Qing Dynasty fell, Fu Lin was also ruined. He could not possibly face everything with the same equanimity as an ordinary person.

He would certainly continue to live in luxury and enjoy a life that many ordinary people could only dream of.

But for Fu Lin, such a life would still be painful, agonizing, and torturous.

This was the consequence of being built up too high, the tragedy of his status.

During the pursuit, the Hua army intercepted only a little over ninety thousand retreating troops. It was estimated that at least another seventy or eighty thousand had escaped.

Tang Guozhen couldn’t do anything about it.

When the Hua army’s cavalry arrived, they were furious to find that they hadn’t gotten any credit at all, and that Tang Guozhen had taken it all.

Unwilling to accept this, they pursued the enemy in the direction of their retreat, and after several days, they brought back another twenty thousand or so people.

After that, it was time to clean up the mess in the North.

In order to show goodwill and strive for preferential treatment, Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang took the initiative to issue an edict in the name of Emperor Shunzhi, demanding that all places in the North abandon resistance and submit to Great Hua.

This would allow Great Hua to receive the North with fewer obstacles.

She also sent an edict to beyond the pass. As for whether Dorgon would listen, that was another matter.

In any case, Dorgon would definitely vomit blood again when he saw this edict.

The edict and the Great Hua army went to the surrounding areas of Beijing together.

Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi were taken first. As for other, more distant places, they would have to come slowly.

Receiving so many places in one breath was no easier than taking them by force.

The main problem was that the North was short of food, money, and supplies. It was lacking everything, and there were disaster victims everywhere.

Disaster relief, pacifying rebellions, and settling accounts became the three main tasks of Great Hua in the North.

Most areas within the pass announced their surrender upon receiving the edict. A small number of warlords, with limited vision and unable to see the general trend of the world, still fantasized about rising up in the chaos and continued to resist stubbornly.

Armies that couldn’t even defeat the Eight Banners soldiers wanted to take advantage of the chaos to rise up and fight the Hua army. It had to be said that power makes people crazy.

After teaching a lesson to one or two rebellious forces that were not very bright, the others all knew the strength of Great Hua and surrendered one after another.

And the work of settling accounts was also constantly underway.

The Qing Dynasty had plundered so much property in the past, and now it all had to be returned.

The land that had been seized was returned to its original owners, and if the original owners had died, it was confiscated by the state.

In addition, the imperial estates of the Zhu family and the fiefdoms of the princes were all confiscated by the imperial court.

The income from this part of the land alone was an enormous figure.

In addition to land, cash, antiques, and other properties were also confiscated.

For those Manchus, not killing them was already the greatest grace.

As for their property, they should not even think about retaining any of it. If they could leave a small portion for them to maintain their livelihoods, they would have to kneel down and thank them.

If they wanted to survive in the future, they could only work. The days when they enjoyed themselves by sucking the blood of others were gone forever.

In the process of settling accounts, there would naturally be a lot of resistance.

The difference in status from being a superior person to being exploited was also very large, and some people who couldn’t see past it and were unwilling to accept it would often do some impulsive things.

However, the Hua army would not show mercy when faced with these resistances, and would directly carry out the most cruel suppression.

For a time, people were beheaded in Beijing from time to time, and those who were at risk of being settled were all panic-stricken.

This was the most basic phenomenon when two regimes changed, and it was not surprising to the common people living in Beijing.

After Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he massacred a group of wealthy people in order to plunder wealth.

After the Qing Dynasty entered Beijing, they massacred another group of wealthy people in order to plunder wealth.

Now it was Great Hua’s turn, and they did the same.

There was no other way, they were all short of money.

They worked hard to risk their lives, just so that after the victory, they could redistribute the wealth.

A large part of these plundered wealth would be used for the army, and a small part would be handed over to the Ministry of Revenue.

By July, almost all of the plains in the North had been recovered by Great Hua.

In the South, Jiangxi and the Pearl River Delta area of Guangdong had also been recovered.

The battles in the South were uneventful. The Hua army relied on its strength to push all the way through.

And Emperor Yongli, Zhu Youlang, once again displayed the style of Zhu the Runner, just like in history.

As soon as the Great Hua army arrived in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Zhu Youlang, who was in Zhaoqing, insisted on fleeing to Guilin, Guangxi, against the opposition of his ministers.

He had to run. He had summarized a rule: his uncles, brothers, and cousins who stood up to supervise the country in his place all ended up in a bad way.

Prince Fu died, Prince Lu died, and Prince Tang died. If he didn’t run, he would definitely die too.

Zhu Youlang took the lead in fleeing, and the soldiers in front were even less willing to fight.

Soon, Ganzhou fell, Nanxiong fell, Shaoguan fell, the Pearl River Delta fell…

When the Pearl River Delta fell, Zhu Youlang had already fled to Kunming, Yunnan.

He had only one principle: he had to maintain a distance of more than five hundred kilometers from the Hua army.

Only beyond this distance did he feel safe.

At this point, all of eastern China had fallen into the hands of Great Hua.

Only the Northeast, Inner Mongolia, the central Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, and the southwestern Guangxi, Yunnan, and Tibet had not yet been recovered.

Among these places, Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan were more important, and the others were poor and remote places.

With the current transportation capacity, those places could not be developed at all.

It was difficult to fight, and there were not many benefits.

Therefore, in Wu Changqing’s plan, those places could be taken slowly. After taking the central Hunan, Hubei, and Sichuan, they could develop with peace of mind.

After the production of steel was further increased and the country began to build railways on a large scale, it would be easier to fight those remote areas.

Otherwise, the supply alone would be enough to give Great Hua a headache.

To transport fifty kilograms of grain to Xinjiang, the loss on the road would be at least one hundred and fifty kilograms.

Although, with the national strength of Great Hua, it could fully support such a war, it was not necessary.

That would inevitably require a lot of exploitation of the people, which would affect development and be a losing proposition.

Chapter 513: Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang Enters Beijing

On July second, the fleet escorting Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen and Fu Lin departed from Beijing for Nanjing.

This was Fu Lin’s first time seeing a steamship; he had only seen pictures before.

Before the fleet even started, black smoke billowed from the steamship’s chimney.

It took a little time to heat the water before a steamship could start.

Once the water boiled, the ship began to move forward.

“This is the power of technology.”

Watching the large ship, weighing hundreds of tons, move forward automatically, Fu Lin sighed with emotion.

“Then do you know the principle behind this steam engine?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen asked.

“It uses the thermal expansion and contraction of gas to do work, converting steam energy into mechanical work,”

Fu Lin said.

“Well, after you go to Nanjing, you can concentrate on learning this scientific knowledge and no longer need to study Zuo Zhuan and Zizhi Tongjian.”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen hoped that Fu Lin could complete this transformation of identity and stop thinking about becoming emperor again. Those books about learning imperial strategies were unnecessary and could no longer be read.

No matter which emperor it was, he would not allow a surrendered emperor to read those books again.

Continuing to study imperial power techniques meant that he hadn’t given up, and this hidden danger had to be eliminated.

Fu Lin remained noncommittal upon hearing this. Even though he was still young, he was unwilling in his heart.

He could be said to be all alone now, and there was nothing he could do about his unwillingness.

Of course, this didn’t mean he was ready to listen to his mother. He already had his own ideas and plans, planning to secretly read those books again, bide his time, and wait for an opportunity to act.

After several days of travel, the fleet arrived in Nanjing.

“This is Jiangnan, truly a fairyland on earth.”

Su Mo’er couldn’t help but sigh as she saw the carriages and pedestrians coming and going at the dock.

Such a scene could not be seen in the North.

Afterward, they disembarked and got into carriages, entering the city under the protection of guards.

On the way, they saw the rumored train.

A train about three hundred meters long, with fifteen carriages, was running on the tracks, occasionally emitting a “woo woo woo” sound.

Although the train was not fast, people who saw this scene for the first time were amazed.

It was too magical. Who knew how heavy that long iron lump was, yet it moved on its own like a living thing.

The route from Nanjing to Zhenjiang had been completed and open to traffic for more than ten days.

However, curious people still came to the roadside to watch every day. They found it interesting just to watch the train run.

“Ah, Empress, look quickly, a train! This is the train mentioned in the newspaper.”

Su Mo’er was very excited.

“Divine craftsmanship,”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

In addition to the train, they also saw mature versions of bicycles on the road.

Today’s bicycles not only had chains but also simple rubber tires, effectively reducing bumps and making them practical.

As soon as bicycles were launched, they were immediately welcomed by men.

Compared to riding a rickshaw, riding a bicycle gave a sense of control, making it a favorite among young people.

Owning a bicycle had become the dream of many teenagers, and even middle-aged men.

Riding a bicycle at high speed gave a feeling like the wind.

“Jiangnan has so many tricks.”

Looking at the dazzling array of new things, Su Mo’er had already begun to like this place.

She had seen a lot in her life, from the most primitive Mongolian grasslands, to Later Jin with fixed buildings, to the ancient Central Plains cultural city of Beijing, and now to the prosperous Jiangnan.

“Soda, soda! Thirst-quenching iced soda, five wen a bottle! Mung bean popsicles, only five wen each!”

“Cola, cola…”

“Novel Newspaper, Record of Grievances in the Martial World, the heroine is drugged and in critical condition…”

As soon as they entered the city, various hawking sounds rang out one after another.

“What is soda?”

Su Mo’er asked the escorting officer.

“It’s a kind of tea to relieve the heat, with a slightly sweet taste.”

After speaking, he directly bought a few bottles and handed them to Su Mo’er and the Empress Dowager.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen wanted to appear more composed, but she couldn’t resist Su Mo’er’s encouragement and eventually took a sip.

Soda was just that flavor, not necessarily better than sour plum juice.

But it was their first time drinking it, with the added bonus of novelty, so after taking a sip, they loved it.

Especially in this hot summer, having a bottle of soda was wonderful.

Now, soda was the best-selling thirst-quenching drink in Nanjing.

Passing by a bus route, they saw Nanjing’s public horse-drawn carriages.

“This thing is very convenient for the people. This is Great Hua, even ordinary people can take a carriage. In the Qing Dynasty, only officials and nobles had this kind of enjoyment.”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen commented.

From this alone, one could see the difference in strength between the two forces, one in heaven and one on earth.

They tried their best, but they were not as good as Great Hua doing it casually.

“Clearly, there are only two horses, why can they pull so many people at once?”

Su Mo’er, who didn’t understand friction, continued to be puzzled.

Passing by a large square, they saw the Martyrs’ Memorial, flower beds, and fountains.

Such man-made scenery was much more refined than the wonders of nature.

Especially those fountains that sprayed out various shapes from time to time, which were shocking to see.

People who didn’t understand the principle couldn’t figure out how to control the shape of the water column, no matter how hard they racked their brains.

There were many places worth visiting in Nanjing, but they were not here for tourism, so they had no chance to appreciate them one by one for the time being.

They came all the way to the hotel where they were staying, the Jinling Hotel.

This was a new type of hotel, completely different from the previous restaurants.

First of all, it was several times larger in scale than the previous restaurants, and it was all brick and stone structure, with a total of five floors, higher than the buildings in the imperial palace.

The construction of this building caused a controversy at the time.

Some ministers felt that how could civilian buildings be higher than the imperial palace?

What if some daring guy climbed to the highest point and used a telescope to spy on the emperor’s harem?

In the end, Wu Changqing spoke and allowed the Jinling Hotel to be built.

However, the location had changed from the original plan, and the current location was far from the imperial palace.

The hotel owner was also afraid that some bastard would go spying.

After all, people’s curiosity can sometimes drive them crazy.

The Jinling Hotel was currently the most luxurious and highest-standard hotel in Nanjing.

People with power and influence liked to enjoy themselves in this hotel.

Even the entrance of the hotel was covered with Shu brocade red carpets, which was outrageously luxurious.

Needless to say, the interior of the hotel was full of glittering gold and silver, with various potted plants and ornaments.

Even Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen and Su Mo’er, who had seen the luxury of the imperial palace, marveled at this hotel.

And this kind of hotel, anyone with money could stay in.

After checking into the hotel, they needed to wait patiently for Wu Changqing’s summons.

Whether it was Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen or Su Mo’er, they were clear about the fate of a beautiful woman.

It was either relying on this man or relying on that man.

Chapter 514: The Plans of the Civil Officials

With the realm newly pacified, Wu Changqing was busy planning to award meritorious service to the military generals, while the civil officials also began their own maneuvers.

In a secret residence, seven or eight men were gathered.

Anyone familiar with the Great Hua bureaucracy would be shocked to see these people, because this secret residence had gathered many heavyweight figures.

Gu Yanwu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel; Qian Qianyi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites; Dai Li, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Industry; Wen Junxuan, the Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Rites; Wang Lang, the Left Policy Advisor of the Ministry of Personnel; Hua Wu, the Supervising Imperial Censor…

Assistant Ministers and Vice Ministers were all important officials of the court, the core of the empire.

Although the Policy Advisors of the Six Ministries and the Supervising Imperial Censors were not of high rank, they were all officials responsible for criticizing the court officials and the emperor, and their words carried great weight.

Naturally, these people were not gathering together out of boredom to chat about which courtesan in the Qinhuai River was more beautiful.

These few people, more or less, shared a common label: the Donglin Party, or rather, the remnants of the Donglin Party.

The Donglin Party represented the interests of the Jiangnan gentry and officialdom. Even after being repeatedly squeezed out by the Wanli Emperor, suppressed by Wei Zhongxian, persecuted by Ruan Dacheng, and suppressed by Wu Changqing, it could not be completely eliminated.

The main reason was that on this land of Great Hua, interpersonal relationships had always been the basis of society.

The relationships between people were maintained by personal connections, not by the rule of law.

After a successful candidate in the imperial examination became an official, he would naturally join the party of his hometown, such as the Donglin Party, the Zhejiang Party, the Qi Party, the Xuan Party, and so on.

Or, when a candidate passed the provincial examination, he would automatically join the faction of his chief examiner, after all, the chief examiner was like the benefactor who helped them succeed.

Or, because of other interests, they had to join a certain faction.

In short, it was almost impossible to be promoted as an official in the court alone.

Wherever there were people, there would be factions and party strife.

And Jiangnan was the most prosperous place in the world, and the Donglin Party, which represented the interests of Jiangnan, had an extremely large and deeply rooted influence, so it was naturally impossible to completely destroy it.

Officials from the Jiangnan scholar-official group had to serve this group.

Currently, the Jiangnan gentry group had a very urgent demand, which was to increase their say in the court and restrict imperial power.

Currently, Wu Changqing’s power was too great, so great that he could have the final say on everything, which was unacceptable to the officials and the Jiangnan gentry.

Without a say, they had no sense of security.

How could the emperor increase taxes as he pleased, carry out reforms as he pleased, and fleece them as he pleased?

Without restricting imperial power, no matter how much money they earned now, it might not be their own.

As long as Wu Changqing made a rule at will, their wealth might shrink drastically, and then it would be equivalent to making money for Wu Changqing.

This kind of thing was unacceptable to big merchants.

In the past, when the world was in chaos, everyone tolerated this situation in order to support Wu Changqing in pacifying the world first.

But now that the world was unified and there were no strong external enemies, they would begin to engage in internal power struggles.

Later generations watched ancient dramas and felt that the emperor could do whatever he wanted and kill whoever he wanted, but that was not the case at all.

This world, from ancient times to the present, had never belonged to one person, but to one or more groups.

A power institution was often an organization of compromise among a group of people.

There had never been a situation where one person could control the world.

In the court, the emperor and the officials were nominally subordinate, but in reality, they were more like a cooperative relationship.

Everyone jointly controlled this world, the emperor ate the fattest piece, then the official class ate the rest, and the ruled class ate dirt.

No emperor had ever dared to let himself and the people live a good life, and then let the officials live a hard life.

If an emperor dared to do this, he would be overthrown in minutes.

This cooperative relationship was most obvious in the late Ming Dynasty.

The Wanli Emperor wanted to abolish the crown prince and change to another heir, but the officials did not agree.

Because the crown prince at that time had a better relationship with the Donglin Party, and the Donglin Party preferred the crown prince as a partner.

Faced with this situation, Wanli had no choice but to protest by not attending court, but he could not remove or kill all those officials.

It was even more so during the Chongzhen period. Chongzhen wanted to collect taxes from merchants, but that was a dream.

The civil official group, which represented the interests of the large landlords and merchants, firmly disagreed.

And those officials could directly scold him for wanting to compete with the people for profit. The people they talked about referred to the gentry class, not the people at the bottom.

And Chongzhen had no choice but to be so angry that he hanged himself.

Before he died, he shouted that all the civil officials in the world should be killed.

However, before he died, he did not order the officials he hated to be killed, because he knew in his heart that even if he issued such an order, no one would listen to it.

It was just a cooperative relationship. When there was profit to be made together, everyone would respect you as the emperor and wish you ten thousand years of life.

After the cooperation was no longer profitable, who would care about you, the emperor?

After Chongzhen died, not even one official was willing to collect his body. To put it bluntly, everyone looked down on this partner who had no ability.

During the Chongzhen period, the power of the civil officials reached its historical peak.

Chongzhen ordered his ministers to write memorials, and the ministers could directly refuse. Chongzhen had the right to remove those who refused to write, but the people who were replaced would definitely refuse to write as well.

In the end, it was often Chongzhen who gave in, not the civil officials.

Now, the Jiangnan gentry class also wanted to restore their former say.

Only by mastering enough say could the money they earned truly belong to them.

Of course, this was difficult, after all, Wu Changqing controlled the army.

However, the civil officials were not without any means. How to hollow out the emperor, this class had studied it for thousands of years.

“Now that the world is newly settled, it is time to select concubines for His Majesty. His Majesty also needs to enrich the harem. Currently, His Majesty’s descendants are too few, which is not a sign of revival.”

Wen Junxuan said.

His words seemed to be thinking for Wu Changqing’s sake, but everyone present was smart and instantly understood what he meant.

They all knew that Wu Changqing was a wise and martial emperor, who was knowledgeable in both civil and military affairs, and knew the real situation of the people, so there were not many weaknesses to exploit.

Unlike some emperors, who did not even know how much an egg cost, they could only be manipulated by the officials.

Being lustful might be the only weakness they currently had.

As long as they made good use of it and found enough stunning beauties to make Wu Changqing indulge in them, that would be enough.

If Wu Changqing indulged in beauty, he would naturally have no time and energy to deal with state affairs. Those things would have to be handed over to other ministers, which would be equivalent to delegating power.

At that time, if the appointment and removal of officials were decided by the Ministry of Personnel and did not need to be reported to Wu Changqing, then other officials would naturally try their best to please the Ministry of Personnel. Who would care about Wu Changqing, the emperor?

After all, this emperor only knew how to enjoy himself and did not care about anything, and did not care about their wealth and glory.

If Wu Changqing overindulged in sexual affairs, leading to premature aging and early death, that would be even better.

Support Wu Changqing’s young son to ascend the throne, continue to let Wu Changqing’s family enjoy wealth and glory, and then they would actually control the world.

At that time, this world would still nominally belong to the Wu family, but in reality, it would all be controlled by their civil official group.

And this was the state they most desired.

They did not mind having an emperor above them, enjoying the best material life, they just wanted their class to be able to live an extremely luxurious life as well.

“Lord Wen is right, and currently, most of His Majesty’s concubines have improper origins and eccentric behavior, which is very bad. As concubines, they are actually writing books for profit, which is a disgrace to the royal family.

If this matter is leaked, outsiders will think that the royal family is abusing them. What’s more, some of them are even engaged in work and often come into contact with other men, which is simply ridiculous.

The subsequent selection of concubines must be from the families of scholars and gentry, selecting well-educated and reasonable young ladies, so that they can abide by their duties.”

Wang Lang added a point that could be criticized, that was, Wu Changqing was too tolerant of his concubines.

They had a lot of opinions about Wu Changqing’s current women.

In their opinion, those concubines should spend all day thinking about how to squeeze the emperor dry, to the point of exhaustion.

What kind of system was it to spend their minds on writing books, saving people, and playing mahjong?

Chapter 515: Submitting Memorials

“Lord Qian, what do you say?”

After some discussion among the younger members, they ultimately sought Qian Qianyi’s opinion.

After all, Qian Qianyi was once the leader of the Donglin Party, and his prestige was well-established.

Moreover, he was now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, holding a high and powerful position.

As for Gu Yanwu, although he had more power, he couldn’t compare to Qian Qianyi in terms of prestige.

“Everything should be approached gradually, step by step. In the past, our predecessors devoted decades to achieving the most harmonious relationship between ruler and ministers.”

Qian Qianyi didn’t really want to get involved in such matters anymore. After all, he was getting old, and his greatest wish was to preserve his power and enjoy his later years in peace.

However, being in this position, he had no choice.

If he, as the leader of the Donglin Party, didn’t stand up to support them, how would the other Donglin Party members view him in the future?

His sense of fulfillment in life came from the admiration and respect of his subordinates. Wu Changqing couldn’t give him that feeling.

To continue enjoying this feeling of being above others, he had to maintain his position. If he didn’t exert his influence as a leader, the Donglin Party leader might be replaced.

He had become a leader by being at the forefront of the struggle, even at the cost of being demoted or losing his official position, which had earned him prestige.

Power never comes from nowhere. The Donglin Party members entrusted the power of leadership to Qian Qianyi because he would lead them in their struggles.

If he tried to escape, others would immediately strip him of his power and replace him with someone else to lead them.

The emperor’s power stemmed from cooperation with and recognition from the officials.

Qian Qianyi’s power stemmed from cooperation with and recognition from the Donglin Party members.

“Lord Gu, what do you think?”

After Qian Qianyi finished speaking, he also asked Gu Yanwu.

After all, Gu Yanwu was now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Appointments, with greater influence, and would eventually take over the position of Donglin Party leader.

Therefore, Qian Qianyi couldn’t ignore his opinion.

“Appropriately increasing our say is acceptable, but we must not neglect the practical matters that need to be done. Don’t forget the lessons of the previous dynasty. If the country is thrown into chaos, we will all suffer.”

Gu Yanwu reminded them that the Donglin Party couldn’t deny their responsibility in the downfall of the Ming Dynasty.

“That’s natural. The Great Hua has a bright future, and we wouldn’t want to see it collapse,” Wen Junxuan said.

In fact, the gentry were very satisfied with the development of the Great Hua.

Their only dissatisfaction was the decline in their relative status. The status of military officers had greatly increased, the status of researchers was also respected, and even artisans had been removed from the registry of the lowborn.

What they couldn’t tolerate was that their own status as officials, which should have been the most esteemed, had not been elevated, but had instead declined.

The next day, a memorial was delivered to Wu Changqing’s desk.

Chen Bin, a Left Policy Critic from the Ministry of Rites, first praised Wu Changqing’s achievements, and then stated that such outstanding achievements should be rewarded with even greater enjoyment.

Therefore, Chen Bin suggested expanding and renovating the palace, and holding a nationwide selection of beauties to expand the imperial harem.

The Donglin Party members hoped to use these personal matters of the emperor to exhaust Wu Changqing’s energy, so that he would have less time to deal with the major affairs of the country.

Wu Changqing was just an ordinary person before. Although he was knowledgeable and well-informed, he lacked the innate political acumen of a statesman.

Therefore, when he first saw this memorial, Wu Changqing simply smiled, thinking it was just an official trying to flatter him, and didn’t take it to heart.

Moreover, seeing Chen Bin’s filial piety, Wu Changqing even gave a reply.

“The country has just been stabilized, and everything needs to be rebuilt. This matter will be discussed later.”

Naturally, the officials were dissatisfied with this response.

First, minor figures like Chen Bin jumped out to offer advice, and then some influential officials began to offer advice, hoping that Wu Changqing could hold a selection of beauties to fill the harem.

Moreover, it wasn’t just the Donglin Party members who were offering advice, but also officials from other factions, who were cooperating very tacitly.

Although, in the usual power struggles, other parties and the Donglin Party members were at odds with each other, wishing to put the other to death. However, in the matter of vying for the emperor’s power, their goals were surprisingly consistent with those of the Donglin Party members, all hoping to weaken the imperial power.

Ideally, the emperor would be immersed in pleasure all day long, leaving the affairs of the country to be managed by the officials.

Policy critics from the Ministry of Revenue, Imperial Censors, and Vice Ministers of the Ministry of Rites all stepped forward, begging Wu Changqing to hold a selection of beauties.

This abnormal phenomenon finally awakened Wu Changqing.

He carefully pondered it, recalling the knowledge he had learned before, and finally understood the ministers’ intentions.

“These bastards are trying to give me sugar-coated bullets.”

Wu Changqing gritted his teeth.

Of course, he hated those who had ill intentions and wanted to arrest them all and throw them into prison.

However, he couldn’t do that.

Even if he wanted to do that, he would have to find another reason.

After all, the officials’ advice to hold a selection of beauties seemed to be for Wu Changqing’s sake, showing filial piety.

To be convicted for this would be too outrageous, and what would the people of the world think?

Officials weren’t stupid. Even if they wanted to compete with the emperor for power, they would use methods that the emperor couldn’t find fault with.

It was absolutely impossible to confront the emperor directly.

The emperor didn’t dare to abolish all the officials at once, but he had an absolute advantage in dealing with individual or a few officials.

He could demote whoever he wanted, and even if he wrongly killed a few people, it wouldn’t be a particularly big deal.

For the emperor, it wasn’t easy to deal with the officials.

For the officials, it was even more difficult to seize even a little bit of power from the emperor.

Seeing through the intentions of these officials who were offering advice, Wu Changqing also began to ponder what to do.

It would be natural to scold those people and warn them not to mention it again. However, this method of handling things wasn’t subtle enough, not clever enough.

Ignoring it didn’t seem to work either. These officials didn’t have to do anything every day, and they had plenty of energy to submit memorials and argue.

In the end, Wu Changqing decided to adopt a compromise solution: delay.

Wu Changqing issued the latest instruction, meaning that the country had just been stabilized and was still poor, so don’t engage in these wasteful activities. Let’s wait another year or two.

He didn’t say no, but gave the officials a little hope.

Delay it for a year or two, and then talk about it.

If it really didn’t work in the future, then simply hold a selection of beauties.

Anyway, those women who were brought into the palace didn’t necessarily have to be favored. As long as he could resist the temptation and not put all his mind on women.

Of course, this was difficult.

People who play games know that playing games doesn’t help personal growth, but they still can’t help but play, because they can get great pleasure in a short period of time.

And a stunning beauty is definitely more fun than a game.

It was difficult, really too difficult, to resist the temptation of beauty.

Not to mention the future, there was already the number one beauty of the Manchus and Mongols in Nanjing, and he hadn’t been able to resist for a few days. He still had a lot of things to deal with, but he had already had Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen brought into the palace.

Chapter 516: It’s a Pity You Only Belong to Me

Actually, the image of Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen in Wu Changqing’s mind came entirely from the television series Xiaozhuang Mishi from later generations.

Therefore, whenever others mentioned Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang in the past, the image that appeared in his mind was always that of Ning Jing, the actress who played her.

After seeing Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen in person, Wu Changqing realized that it wasn’t like that at all. Although she was also a top-tier beauty, her appearance was quite different from Ning Jing’s.

If he had to find a similar female celebrity to compare her to, it would be Gao Yuanyuan, who played Zhou Zhiruo in the Alec Su version of Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre, and the Gao Yuanyuan after she was forced to take an oath and turned dark by Abbess Extinction.

Her face gave off a sense of fortitude from having suffered hardships. She was clearly a weak woman, but her eyes were very firm, lacking that pitiful and delicate appearance.

Wu Changqing felt that this might be related to her experiences. The young Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen should have had a naive appearance as well, but unfortunately, he didn’t see it.

Of course, she was good as she was now. There were plenty of stunning beauties with naive appearances, but someone with Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s legendary experiences was rare in the world.

Therefore, the aura on Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was also unique.

This kind of aura wasn’t innate, but needed to be polished by experience to possess.

Wu Changqing was sizing up Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen, and Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was also sizing up Wu Changqing.

Although a female etiquette official had warned her that palace rules didn’t allow directly looking into the emperor’s eyes, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen didn’t do so.

As someone who had been in contact with countless heroic figures, she knew that the higher the status and the more capable a man was, the broader his mind would be. How could he care about being looked at a few times?

Only those pseudo-heroes who were fierce in appearance but weak in reality would hope to rely on some rules to make others feel awe towards them.

When facing a true hero like Wu Changqing, being obsequious and blindly following etiquette regulations would be a disadvantage.

Moreover, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen also wanted to see Wu Changqing’s appearance clearly, to see what the person who had almost single-handedly overthrown the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty looked like.

After seeing him, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen felt quite complicated.

Young, he was really too young, so young that he even seemed a bit immature.

Southerners naturally had less body hair than northerners, and with Wu Changqing’s age, even his beard wasn’t thick enough. Therefore, his appearance was indeed very immature in Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s eyes.

Although his temperament exuded a sense of maturity, matching it with this appearance gave her a sense of incongruity.

Especially when she thought about serving someone who looked like a teenager later, it was really awkward, like an old cow eating young grass, giving her a feeling of taking advantage.

Along with the awkwardness, there was also a feeling of looking up to him.

Because the achievements Wu Changqing had made were truly unbelievable.

Achieving such accomplishments at such a young age, his future was even more immeasurable.

In the past, Dorgon and Huang Taiji were already remarkable figures in her eyes. With a single command, ten thousand people would respond. But now, seeing Wu Changqing, she realized that there was truly a heaven beyond heaven, and people beyond people.

“Bumbutai… Forget it, I think your face is quite round, how about I call you Yuanyuan in the future?”

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang’s real name was a bit difficult to pronounce, so Wu Changqing simply used his habit of changing women’s names again.

Calling her Yuanyuan, Yuanyuan, was also more relatable.

Unsurprisingly, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was also a bit stunned.

Fortunately, having gone through great storms, she didn’t care about this kind of thing at all.

Whether it was Bumbutai, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen, or Yuanyuan, what did it matter? A title was just a title, it couldn’t affect the present, change the future, or determine fate.

“If Your Majesty likes it, then it’s naturally excellent,” Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said unassumingly. Her Chinese was extremely standard.

This attitude was already the limit of what she could do.

To fawn over Wu Changqing like a demon, she really couldn’t do it.

In order to protect her son’s life and wealth, she could allow Wu Changqing to do as he pleased. But to painstakingly try to please someone who was seventeen years younger than her, she was really a bit awkward.

She was old enough to be Wu Changqing’s mother, and her eldest daughter was already twenty years old, older than Wu Changqing.

“Not bad, truly a stunning beauty. I heard that Hong Chengchou was persuaded to surrender by you?”

Wu Changqing asked. This matter was debated in later generations’ academic circles, and no one could convince anyone else, and no one had enough evidence, because there were too few related historical materials.

Wu Changqing was certainly curious about this question as well. It would definitely be difficult to get an accurate answer by asking Hong Chengchou, so he now chose to ask Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen herself.

“It’s just a rumor. Lord Hong already had the intention to surrender at the time, and he was just acting according to the situation. My few words were just giving him a way out,” Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

Her words basically admitted to personally persuading him to surrender.

Of course, how much of a role her beauty played in this matter, Hong Chengchou himself probably couldn’t say for sure.

“It’s a pity, Hong Chengchou is still a bit lacking in ability after all. Dorgon is too patient and not decisive enough. They can only imagine it in their hearts.

So many men have ideas about you, but you can only belong to me in the end. Just thinking about it feels great. Hahaha…”

Wu Changqing’s words were quite chuuni.

Fortunately, he was the emperor, and no one dared to laugh at him.

If someone else said this, it wouldn’t be surprising if one or two people died of laughter.

In fact, even Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was extremely embarrassed to hear Wu Changqing’s words, wanting to complain but not daring to, so she could only hold it in.

“Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven, the supreme ruler, naturally others can’t compare to you,” Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

“Let’s get to the sleeping arrangements.”

After chatting for a few words, the main event began.

After eating too many grapes and apples, occasionally eating persimmons (persimmons taste better the riper they are) wasn’t bad either.

Young girls had the flavor of young girls, and aunties had the flavor of aunties.

Compared to other naive young girls, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen understood men better and knew how to serve men better.

“The civil officials’ move is really vicious, ruthless, and accurate.”

After a round of lovemaking, Wu Changqing couldn’t help but sigh in his heart.

If every woman selected in the draft was the best of the best, and each had their own unique charm, and one could obtain unparalleled enjoyment from them.

Who could withstand this?

Even though he had already seen through the civil officials’ thoughts, Wu Changqing was still slightly worried.

This move was hard to defend against, too fatal.

Sometimes Wu Changqing would feel that if he didn’t have to be a wise ruler, then the days ahead would be incomparably wonderful.

No matter how he changed the way he played, the officials would definitely support him immensely.

As long as he was willing to delegate power, the officials would do their best to satisfy all his personal enjoyment needs.

After all, no matter how licentious and extravagant a person was, the resources they consumed were limited and not worth mentioning.

Chapter 517: Some People Don’t Focus on Real Work

Wu Changqing said the imperial consorts selection would be postponed for two years. Logically speaking, the demands of the civil officials had been somewhat satisfied, and they should have known when to stop.

However, some people felt that this achievement was too small and the waiting time too long.

“Perhaps, we can use the Empress as a point of attack,” Wen Junxuan said.

“Oh? How so?” the others involved in the conspiracy asked.

“We can sacrifice a censor and have him impeach the Empress, accusing her of jealousy. Under normal circumstances, when the Empress encounters such a thing, she will try to clear her name.

And the best way to clear her name is to find women for the Emperor. At that time, regardless of whether His Majesty agrees or not, the Empress may take it upon herself to conduct the selection.” Wen Junxuan said.

Being an Empress wasn’t easy. In the palace, she had to take the lead in everything, manage palace affairs fairly, and couldn’t monopolize the Emperor for too long…

Among all the possible offenses an Empress could commit, jealousy was one of the most common and most serious.

After all, the Empress controlled the management of the inner palace, and the Emperor generally had no right to interfere in its affairs. Her power in the inner palace was immense.

Once the Empress was jealous, there were many things she could do. In severe cases, she could interfere with the number of the Emperor’s offspring. Therefore, it was a very serious accusation.

“This plan is excellent. Perhaps we can also contact Xue Guiren and attack the Empress. He might be even more enthusiastic than we are,” Wang Lang said with a smile.

Xue Guiren, as those who knew him were aware, was allied with the Consort Xian.

And Consort Xian, thanks to the merit of giving birth to the eldest son, was currently the most likely person to threaten the Empress’s throne.

If there was an opportunity, Xue Guiren would definitely not mind lending a hand in the dark.

Although the civil officials looked down on the military generals, they had to admit that the generals controlled the army and had a lot of influence.

“This still requires caution. We must not let him get hold of any evidence. There’s no need to be too explicit, just give him a hint. If he’s smart enough, he’ll understand.

If he can’t even understand the hint, it means that person’s brain is unreliable. There’s no need to unite with such a person, as it’s easy to be implicated,” Wen Junxuan said.

He was still relatively cautious about the military generals, after all, the current army was quite loyal to Wu Changqing.

One careless move and things could be leaked.

Moreover, military generals and civil officials were actually two different class groups, and their demands were not the same.

The military generals would not think about restricting imperial power, because after restricting imperial power, the extra power would definitely fall into the hands of the civil officials.

What’s more, in Great Hua’s officialdom, there has always been a tradition of discord between civil and military officials.

Now that the military and politics were relatively separated, the military generals didn’t have to be governed by civil officials like in the Ming Dynasty. Without mutual subordination, the military generals didn’t like to pay attention to civil officials.

“Wait, your plan has to be postponed,” Qian Qianyi suddenly said.

“Why?” Wen Junxuan asked.

“If I remember correctly, the Empress is about to give birth in the next month or two, and it’s a dangerous time. If she is attacked and her emotions fluctuate, and something unexpected happens, His Majesty will definitely investigate thoroughly,” Qian Qianyi said.

A woman’s emotions are not easily stable during pregnancy.

If she is suddenly slandered, some people may not be able to withstand it.

If it leads to tragedies such as premature birth or miscarriage, the Emperor will definitely arrest the official who spoke first and torture him severely.

At that time, this matter may not be resolved peacefully.

It’s okay to criticize the Empress at ordinary times, but it’s absolutely impossible at this time.

Obviously, Wen Junxuan and the others were not as well-informed as Qian Qianyi and did not know when the Empress was pregnant.

Receiving Qian Qianyi’s warning, they could only sigh.

It’s difficult to be an official. When fighting with superiors, there are too many things to consider.

“Let’s put this plan on hold for now and talk about the matter of troop reduction first,” said Dai Li, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry. Their group of civil officials was already quite dissatisfied with the huge military expenditure.

Now that the world has been initially pacified, they also have reason to suggest troop reductions to reduce the size of the army.

The current main force of Great Hua’s army has reached as many as four hundred thousand, and the second-line troops plus the local garrison are even more, a full six hundred thousand.

Such a huge army is not necessary at all, because Great Hua can no longer find a strong enemy around it.

“Is it a little inappropriate to propose troop reductions just after they have won a battle?” Wang Lang asked.

“What’s wrong with that? Do we need to be polite with that group of military men? I already proposed troop reductions before they finished fighting. Now, I’m just making the momentum bigger.

It’s too wasteful to support so many troops every year. As long as we reduce the army by five hundred thousand, we can save at least twenty million in military expenses. And the money saved can be used in various civil affairs departments.”

Dai Li, who was in the Ministry of Industry, cared most about funding. As long as there was enough funding, it would be too easy for their department to gain political achievements. Opening a few more factories would be considered an achievement.

Currently, the only thing restricting them from gaining political achievements and getting promoted was insufficient funding.

“It’s really not necessary to keep so many troops. Whether it’s the main force or the local troops, they can be appropriately reduced. Isn’t taking the elite route their military’s slogan?”

Qian Qianyi was very supportive of troop reductions.

He was not afraid of fighting with the military, he was more afraid of fighting with the Emperor, because Wu Changqing gave him an elusive and dangerous feeling.

“This is a collective matter for our civil officials. We can’t be the only ones rushing to the front and offending the military. Other civil officials must also stand up,” Wen Junxuan said.

If this matter was successful, the entire civil official group would benefit, so naturally, it couldn’t be just their Donglin Party members who came forward.

…

Everyone was still excitedly discussing and studying how to submit a memorial, but Gu Yanwu felt a little tired looking at this scene.

He even wanted to tear off the label on his body and keep his distance from these people.

Although he also wanted to maintain the interests of the Donglin Party group, he really disdained some people’s methods in the party.

Just like the proposal to slander the Empress, he really didn’t want to slander an innocent woman like that. It was not something a gentleman should do.

Moreover, some people in the party really didn’t do practical things and just thought about attacking this or that all day long.

As a pragmatist, Gu Yanwu couldn’t stand it.

If it weren’t for the fact that he was born into the Donglin Party and had long been a leading figure in the Donglin Party, Gu Yanwu really wanted to withdraw and then become a lone minister, wholeheartedly burying himself in doing practical things.

He was not very interested in fighting for power and profit with other parties, or fighting for power and profit with the Emperor.

He really liked Wu Changqing’s saying that the total wealth of this society should be increased, instead of thinking about transferring wealth from one group of people to another.

Chapter 518: The Dispute Over Troop Reduction

Several days later, a memorial reached Wu Changqing’s desk.

[Proposal for Troop Reduction]

It discussed the necessity of reducing the army, suggesting halving the number of troops to cut expenses and using the money to develop the economy and improve people’s livelihoods.

Memorials submitted to Wu Changqing generally fell into two categories: public and confidential. Public memorials would first be reviewed by the cabinet before being submitted to the emperor. Having passed through the cabinet, they would essentially be known to all officials.

Confidential memorials, on the other hand, would be delivered directly to Wu Changqing.

This “Proposal for Troop Reduction” was not a confidential matter, so it was submitted publicly.

As a result, the military was immediately informed that some civil officials were clamoring for troop reductions, infuriating them.

They had just won major victories in the South and North, and having just returned to Nanjing for rest and reorganization, they were expecting rewards and consolidation of their power.

However, the civil officials had pulled this stunt, which was truly hateful.

Less than a day after the “Proposal for Troop Reduction” reached Wu Changqing, several leading figures in the military submitted memorials arguing for the importance of maintaining the army’s size.

Some, relying on their good relationship with Wu Changqing, even requested an audience to argue their case in person.

They all stated that it was too early to reduce troops at this time. In the Northeast, there was still Dorgon; in the North, there were still the Mongols; in the Northwest, there was the Yarkand Khanate.

In the Central Plains, there were still He Tengjiao and Zhang Xianzhong’s forces; in the Southwest, there were still remnants of the Ming army; overseas, there were Japan and Western Europe…

In short, Great Hua still had many people to deal with and needed so many troops.

The debate between the civil and military officials was actually futile. Wu Changqing had his own plans and would not easily waver due to their arguments.

One million troops was not a large number for a great empire.

Of course, the current military expenditure was indeed too high. The military expenditure of a country should ideally not exceed ten percent of its tax revenue.

But this year’s military expenditure accounted for a full forty percent of tax revenue.

The key reason was that the manufacturing of weapons and equipment was still in the realm of high technology, and the costs were very high.

Although with the development of technology, the technology of grenades and bullets was constantly improving and maturing, and their manufacturing costs were also decreasing rapidly.

However, with the development of technology, various more advanced and expensive weapons were also being equipped in the army, such as various large-caliber cannons, bicycle mobile units, and ironclad warships.

Therefore, if military expenditure was to be reduced in a short period of time, other methods had to be considered.

Wu Changqing thought of the garrison system. The garrison system devised by Zhu Yuanzhang certainly had various drawbacks, but it was not without its merits.

The idea of making the army self-sufficient was good. As for why it failed later, it was mainly due to a lack of supervision, which led to military officers exploiting the soldiers at the bottom.

As long as the power of the military officers was restricted, the soldiers were given the power to supervise their superiors, and the central government established a sound supervision system, then this garrison system of land reclamation would work.

Let them engage in production themselves in peacetime and be self-sufficient, so that military expenditure could be greatly reduced.

Having thought of this method, Wu Changqing convened a court conference.

Since his ascension to the throne, he had rarely held such court meetings, mainly because they were inefficient.

However, this time, how to settle the army and reduce military expenditure was related to all the officials. Gathering them together to discuss it could also give the officials a sense of participation.

Otherwise, if everything was decided by Wu Changqing’s words, those officials would probably not have the experience of being officials and would become mere executors.

Moreover, everyone discussing together could also pool their wisdom, identify omissions, and play some role, however small.

Wu Changqing certainly had extraordinary insights, but when thinking about problems, he could not possibly consider everything.

At the court meeting.

Dai Li was the first to open fire, listing a series of figures in an attempt to prove that the military was wasting a lot of military expenditure.

His data was not fabricated out of thin air, and some of it was indeed true.

For example, nearly a thousand shells were used to attack a small county town.

Another example was that some military uniforms that had not even been worn out were discarded, and the uniforms were frequently changed. Another example was the high salaries of certain special forces, which were even close to those of eighth-rank officials.

“Lord Dai, you should really be sent to the battlefield and asked to charge and climb the city walls. Only then will you understand what kind of psychological pressure the soldiers face when breaking through the city.

Then you won’t stand here and talk without back pain. The enemy’s morale is smashed down by our army’s shells, not by a name of our army that can scare the enemy’s souls away.”

Li Shaobin spoke out in rebuttal.

If it weren’t for the powerful firepower, how could they have captured territory so easily when attacking cities?

In the past, it would take months to besiege a strong city. The Great Hua army had not encountered this situation when attacking cities and seizing territory.

Basically, after a burst of bombardment, the enemy would be frightened and then defeated with one blow.

“Then how do you explain the matter of the military uniforms? Such good military uniforms, without even a patch, were abandoned by you. You can’t say that wearing new military uniforms makes soldiers more fearless and bulletproof, can you?”

Imperial Censor Hua Wu questioned.

“The image of the army is the face of our Great Hua. What’s wrong with dressing better? Lord Shi, wearing patched clothes will not affect your work, nor will it affect your loyalty to His Majesty. Why do you have to dress so brightly?”

Dai Zhijun retorted.

Hearing Dai Zhijun compare ordinary soldiers to himself, Shi Hua Wu’s beard trembled with anger. What frustrated him was that he could not refute it.

Although he looked down on ordinary soldiers in his heart, he could not show it. It was like eating Coptis chinensis—bitter but unspeakable.

Such debates often occurred when discussing major issues in the court.

However, this was just an appetizer.

First, a tone was set, a direction was determined, and then the problem was solved in this direction.

For example, this time, after a fierce debate, the civil officials gained a slight upper hand.

The excessive proportion of military expenditure was an objective fact.

Most importantly, Wu Changqing spoke in person. He said, “The current proportion of military expenditure is indeed a bit high. Focus your minds on how to solve this problem. Don’t just think about relying on simple and crude methods such as troop reduction. I need more ingenious solutions.

It is best to be able to reduce military expenditure significantly without large-scale troop reductions, while maintaining the army’s combat effectiveness.”

His words were equivalent to setting the tone: troop reductions were necessary, but the scale should not be too large. Reducing five hundred thousand was absolutely impossible.

Moreover, to reduce troops, reduce military expenditure, and maintain combat effectiveness was the most troublesome thing.

The civil officials were not particularly satisfied with this tone, but it was still acceptable. After all, Wu Changqing said that he wanted to reduce troops, which could be regarded as a small achievement.

The military was about the same. While depressed, they could barely accept it.

After all, the civil officials were calling for a reduction of five hundred thousand, and now Wu Changqing said that there would be no large-scale troop reductions, which could be regarded as them holding on to a little bit of ground.

With the tone set, the next step was to pool everyone’s wisdom and come up with ideas together.

And this was the time to test the officials’ abilities.

Everyone could spray people before.

If you don’t have any good suggestions or insights when solving problems and only know how to spray people, you will definitely not please the emperor.

Chapter 519: Endless Arguments

How to raise as many troops as possible with the least amount of money, while also ensuring the army’s combat effectiveness?

This was a rather large topic.

Emperors throughout history had racked their brains over this problem and considered many solutions.

Military agricultural system, recruitment system, regional military commission system, garrison system, Eight Banners system…

Upon closer inspection, all these systems shared a common point: soldiers had to farm and engage in production during peacetime to support themselves.

If they did nothing but train and practice combat skills every day, they would naturally become elite soldiers capable of winning every battle.

However, that was unaffordable. In an era of low productivity, these soldiers who did not produce anything and consumed a lot were a huge burden.

Therefore, historical military systems invariably involved soldiers farming.

Professional soldiers were a product of large-scale industrialization.

Before productivity was fully developed, Wu Changqing also planned to follow the path of soldiers farming and producing.

“The collapse of the garrison system lies in the lack of supervision. I suggest establishing new garrisons and assigning civil officials to be responsible for daily management and supervision,” said Shi Zhaoji, the Vice Minister of Revenue.

As soon as he spoke, the military faction exploded.

Military generals naturally hoped to implement the garrison system to facilitate their own enrichment.

However, they would never allow civil officials to interfere in their internal affairs.

They would never agree to a situation where military officers were completely controlled by civil officials, as in the Ming Dynasty.

If Wu Changqing insisted on supporting the civil officials in this way, some might incite the army to rebel.

“Civil officials in charge of military affairs? Have you forgotten the lessons of the Ming Dynasty? It hasn’t been that many years since then,” Li Shaobin snorted.

“Without civil officials to control and supervise, wouldn’t your self-sufficient military agricultural system become a new regional military commission?” Dai Li also stood up to question.

Most of those who spoke were mid-level civil officials. The real bigwigs were protecting themselves and would not easily express their opinions.

Letting the people below do the dirty work was enough.

Even if the words of those below displeased the emperor and they were demoted, it would not affect their overall strength.

The regional military commission that Dai Li mentioned referred to the state of affairs in the mid-to-late Tang Dynasty, where the military was able to be self-sufficient and therefore not controlled by the state, somewhat like warlords.

No centralized court would allow this situation to exist.

Regional military commissions were even more poisonous than the garrison system.

“Don’t slander us! We are the most loyal to His Majesty. You civil officials are the biggest problem, each one of you is a weathervane,” Wang Dayong directly retorted.

There was no helping it, his cultural level was only so high, so his words were inevitably direct.

His words offended a large number of civil officials, and even some military officers.

After all, he was talking about the issue of surrender.

In the Great Hua court, everyone would consciously or unconsciously ignore this issue and was unwilling to mention it.

After all, more than eighty percent of the civil officials and sixty percent of the military officers had a record of surrender.

No one was happy when this issue was brought up.

“Commander Wang’s words are inappropriate. The Ming Dynasty was decrepit and corrupt, how can it be compared to our Great Hua? Under His Majesty’s wise leadership, we are all sincerely convinced and willing to dedicate ourselves to His Majesty until our dying breath…” Qian Qianyi had to say something to end the topic.

Once positions were taken, discussions often turned into arguments.

In the end, neither side was thinking about solving the problem, but only about how to belittle the other.

Helpless, Wu Changqing could only order the court to adjourn.

Since that group of bastards had no good suggestions, he could only rely on himself.

Setting up a system alone was inevitably prone to loopholes.

However, Wu Changqing felt that there was also an advantage to doing this alone, that was, he had no position and would not favor any one side, and could certainly be fair and just.

Combining his own knowledge and experience with the current situation, Wu Changqing had a preliminary plan in mind.

First, reduce the army by two hundred thousand.

Establish public security departments, abolish the original yamen runner system, and replace yamen runners with police.

The vast majority of the police would come from the disbanded army.

Only a small number of experienced yamen runners would be transferred to the police and be responsible for guiding and training the soldiers on how to handle security incidents.

This method was actually to deprive the original large number of yamen runners of their benefits, and then distribute these benefits to the disbanded army.

After all, the army had contributed to Great Hua, while the original yamen runners had not made any contributions in the rise of Great Hua.

With no contribution, it was only natural that they were abandoned now.

Those who were purged would have to rely on their own abilities to earn a living in the future.

Either go to work in a factory, or farm or do business.

Anyway, Great Hua was developing very rapidly now, and as long as they were willing to look for it, there was no shortage of work.

If all else failed, they could go dig coal.

Although it was a bit hard, it was definitely no problem to feed themselves.

This kind of reform would more or less cause some small disturbances.

After all, many of the current yamen runners were actually hereditary, with sons succeeding their fathers. They had also spent a lot of money to get this secure job.

Now that their secure job was being taken away, some people would definitely be dissatisfied.

However, these yamen runners usually only bullied honest people, and they had to bow and scrape to merchants with a little power.

These people had extremely limited energy and were relatively scattered. Although they were also a small interest group, they lacked contact with each other and had no ability to organize themselves.

Therefore, they could not accomplish anything big.

In all likelihood, a small number of people would make a fuss, and then most people would choose to accept their fate.

And those who made a fuss could basically be honest after being taught a lesson.

This class had pitiful aspects and hateful aspects. Abolishing it would still be beneficial in the long run.

Having soldiers-turned-police maintain law and order was much better than having yamen runners with no loyalty.

After all, the Great Hua army often had patriotic education classes, and the soldiers’ loyalty to Great Hua was much higher than that of other classes.

Assuming an average of fifty yamen runners per county, this would be enough to absorb about fifty to sixty thousand disbanded soldiers.

Then, rural grassroots cadres could absorb about one hundred thousand, and organizing fifty thousand people to mine would basically give these disbanded soldiers a place to go.

Although the jobs were not very good, they were not much worse than being a soldier, and there was no danger to their lives.

Overall, the disbanded old and weak soldiers should be able to accept this change.

In the past, being a soldier meant that they only received military pay when they were needed. Once the war ended and the army was reduced, they were directly repatriated, and the court would not arrange jobs for them.

Compared to the past, the plan that Wu Changqing had formulated now was much better.

In fact, in the current society, the people at the bottom were relatively easy to satisfy.

Whether they were civilians or ordinary soldiers, they would be grateful for any small arrangement.

The most difficult to deal with were the officials, gentry, and big merchants, these bastards were greedy without limit.

Even if they were given benefits, they still wanted more.

Chapter 520: Solution

The newly established Ministry of Public Security can be considered as a way to appease the civil official group.

After all, on the surface, the Ministry of Public Security belongs to the civil official group, increasing their power.

However, Wu Changqing certainly won’t let them get their wish.

He will try his best to make the Ministry of Public Security a relatively independent department, separated from both the military and the civil officials.

Similarly, Wu Changqing also formulated a new system: the appointment and removal of officials in the Censorate would be decided internally by the Censorate, without going through the Ministry of Personnel’s assessment.

This change will also have a relatively large impact.

On the surface, it is increasing the power of the Censorate and weakening the power of the Ministry of Personnel.

But in reality, Wu Changqing wants to separate the Censorate from the civil official group, making it a relatively independent department like the Ministry of Public Security.

If the promotion of officials in the Censorate is decided internally, then the officials in the Censorate will no longer need to please the Ministry of Personnel. Without any entanglement of interests, the risk of collusion will be reduced.

Of course, with the Censorate’s power increasing, new problems will inevitably arise within it.

There is no perfect thing in the world; when weighing the two, choose the lesser evil.

Wu Changqing plans to make these changes for now, and then find ways to solve the problems that arise later.

The most important thing to do now is to slightly separate the civil official group and reduce the chances of officials protecting each other.

It is too easy for those responsible for supervision and those being supervised to collude if they have entangled interests.

In addition to this, Wu Changqing also established a new garrison system.

Soldiers in some special areas are allowed to carry out land reclamation, mainly in remote areas.

Soldiers in areas like Jiangnan do not need to reclaim land at all. With the richness of Jiangnan and the low cost of maintaining an army without long-distance transportation, the cost of raising an army will be relatively low.

Moreover, the Jiangnan area is the core of Great Hua and also needs a professional army that trains every day to defend the central government and deter the surrounding areas.

Areas like Northeast, Southwest, and Northwest need to establish garrisons, requiring the local troops to find ways to make money themselves.

The new garrison system stipulates that land reclamation does not necessarily mean farming. In mountainous areas, fruit trees can be planted; by the sea, they can go out to fish; and where there are mines, they can mine.

In short, they should rely on the mountains if they are near mountains, and rely on the water if they are near water, adapting flexibly.

To prevent these land reclamation institutions from becoming corrupt, Wu Changqing also established a new supervisory department, the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office.

The beauty of this office is that it is under the jurisdiction of the military, but its administrative expenses are allocated by the Ministry of Revenue.

This is equivalent to giving the civil officials an opportunity to supervise the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office, preventing the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office and the military from colluding.

However, the Ministry of Revenue only has a little supervisory power and no direct power to intervene.

In this way, civil officials cannot control the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office. However, in order to make things difficult for the military, they will definitely try their best to carry out strict supervision.

In the end, neither the military nor the civil officials can benefit from this supervisory office, only the emperor benefits.

Of course, this is just Wu Changqing’s ideal state.

After the specific implementation, will it evolve into the Ministry of Revenue withholding the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office’s funds, forcing the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office to obey the Ministry of Revenue? Or will the military secretly fund the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office, allowing the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office to get rid of its dependence on the Ministry of Revenue?

Wu Changqing doesn’t know any of this, and it’s even difficult to predict.

In short, any perfect system will inevitably have problems when implemented by imperfect people.

Humans are too cunning. For the sake of profit, they can always find loopholes in the system to profit from.

This is why previous dynasties liked to promote rule by rites, hoping to use etiquette and morality to restrain the officials. With the rule of law, no matter how good the regulations are, they are implemented by specific people.

Of course, this kind of rule by rites has also been proven useless, at least for the vast majority of people.

In the face of interests, etiquette and morality are just clouds.

Land reclamation is a way to increase revenue. In addition, Wu Changqing also gave guiding opinions on the development of the military.

Prioritize the vigorous development of the navy, and then go overseas to seize resources.

What is faster than plundering resources when it comes to making money?

Merchants have to spend money to purchase goods overseas, while the cost of seizing resources is linked to military force.

With strong military force, the cost of plundering is low.

Subdue the natives with two or three cannons, and then you can plunder as much as you want.

If you can’t subdue them, then the trouble will be great, and you will fall into a quagmire of long-term war.

Although China has not yet been completely unified, Wu Changqing is already eager to advance overseas and plunder resources.

After all, China’s territory is its own, and it costs money to govern after taking it down. Just like the current North, it needs disaster relief and support for its infrastructure.

It will probably take two or three years for the North to transfer resources to the central government.

Overseas, there is no need to build anything; just plunder like crazy.

Therefore, fighting in the Northeast and Southwest now is purely an expenditure, with no income.

Fighting overseas, on the other hand, can sustain the war with war, and if you fight well, you might even make a lot of money.

The first stop, Wu Changqing set his sights on Japan, who made this place have so many gold and silver mines, and it’s also close.

From Shanghai to Japan, it is only one thousand five hundred li, which is closer than from Shanghai to Beijing.

Moreover, it is all sea transportation, which is low in cost.

At this time, Japan is in the Edo period, which is the Tokugawa shogunate era.

Japan had already implemented a policy of national isolation six years ago, retaining only a few trading ports.

With the prosperity of overseas trade, Great Hua’s merchants will definitely be dissatisfied with Japan’s policy of national isolation, because the goods they produce cannot be conveniently and freely transported to Japan for dumping.

It can be said that if the military wants to attack Japan, Great Hua’s merchants will definitely be very enthusiastic in providing assistance.

Whether it is from the perspective of plundering resources, opening up dumping markets, or geographical location, Japan needs to be completely occupied.

And the sooner the better.

After all, assimilation takes time. While Japan’s national consciousness is not strong enough, it is easier to assimilate after occupation.

The longer they isolate themselves, the stronger their national consciousness will be.

Establishing the Ministry of Public Security, separating the Censorate, establishing the Land Reclamation Supervisory Office, establishing land reclamation garrisons, and providing guiding opinions on the development of the military—these are a series of policies that Wu Changqing used to solve the military expenditure problem.

It took Wu Changqing two days just to build the general framework.

After all, this thing is easy to say, but to consider the countless problems that may arise in the specific implementation, it is necessary to formulate many comprehensive detailed rules.

This is very brain-draining, and most novelists will not write about it in detail; they don’t have that ability.

After formulating the framework, Wu Changqing summoned the relevant departments and asked them to improve it according to this framework.

The summoned civil officials were immediately tearful again. They found that they had become tools again.

In the most important matters, their arguments and opinions did not seem to play a very important role. In the end, Wu Changqing had the final say.

Although they can play a role in formulating detailed rules.

However, this role is really too small.

Many civil officials sighed in their hearts. Since ancient times, it has been most difficult to be a subject of a founding emperor, because founding emperors are generally very strong.

What makes this generation of Great Hua officials even more desperate is that Wu Changqing is still very young. If nothing unexpected happens, he will be emperor for at least thirty or forty years, or even longer.

These officials are basically forty or fifty years old and will definitely not outlive Wu Changqing.

Chapter 521

While the various policies were still being refined, the civil officials in the court began to fight amongst themselves again.

People from various factions were eyeing positions such as Vice Minister and Assistant Minister.

Although it seemed like an unimportant department, it was, after all, a separate ministry.

Moreover, although this department appeared to have little power, it controlled armed forces.

At critical moments, it could play some role.

For example, if they wanted to start an internal rebellion or something, this force could come in handy.

Now that the civil officials had completely lost jurisdiction over the military, they were eager to have an armed force they could control.

Currently, this ministry was the best option.

From this perspective, it was quite important.

Therefore, people from various factions hoped that their own people could get this position.

Currently, the imperial court was divided into several factions.

The members of this group came from very diverse backgrounds, including Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, within and outside the Pass, and so on.

With the North’s incorporation, their faction might disintegrate over time.

The original members might be divided according to region again.

At that time, there might be more factions in the court…

After all, their interests mainly came from the emperor’s support, not from the gentry.

In short, the relationships between them were very complex, and an official’s identity was also very complex.

In addition to these factions, there were also some solitary officials in the court.

For example, Ruan Dacheng and Ma Shiying, although they held high positions, did not interact with other officials, appearing indifferent to everything.

Ruan Dacheng knew very well that Wu Changqing did not like officials forming cliques, so he pretended to be a solitary official to protect himself.

Ma Shiying, on the other hand, was ostracized by the Donglin party because of his close personal relationship with Ruan Dacheng.

Originally, Ma Shiying was a member of the Donglin faction, but after being ostracized, he saw through it, became disheartened, and chose to be a solitary official like Ruan Dacheng.

In other words, they would not consider the interests of their hometown, nor would they cater to the interests of a certain group; they would wholeheartedly serve the emperor.

This kind of solitary official was the type the emperor liked most, and the ministers all understood this.

But why didn’t others choose to do this?

The reasons were varied, and most people were forced to do so, with their own difficulties.

To give a simple example, if someone promoted you from a commoner to an official, this favor was too great, and you could never repay it in your lifetime.

Since ancient times, being an official has never been a very comfortable thing.

Behind the glamorous facade, there were always many difficulties.

In the competition, the Jiangxi faction was the most active.

They joined relatively early, had a large influence in the court, and therefore had greater ambitions.

By having more say, they could promote the development of Jiangxi more quickly.

Seeing the earth-shaking changes taking place in Jiangnan every day, the eyes of people in other places were so red that they needed to see a doctor.

People in other places also hoped that the imperial court could issue some support plans and open factories.

The benefits of the world couldn’t all go to the Jiangnan region, right?

And the more say they had, the faster it would be their hometown’s turn.

As soon as the news came out, Liu Shijin recommended the former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, Zeng Yi, to Wu Changqing.

Zeng Yi also stayed up all night writing a memorial, elaborating on his understanding and views on the functions of the ministry, as well as some management ideas.

Competing with Zeng Yi were Wen Junxuan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, and Liao Jinxuan, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

They were all Assistant Ministers from less important departments. People like the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, and the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel were willing to remain as Assistant Ministers rather than become Vice Minister.

After all, their positions were crucial.

As long as they waited until the Vice Minister above them retired, they could rise to the top in one fell swoop and become important ministers.

Among all the competitors, Zeng Yi had a relatively advantage.

After all, the functions of the ministry seemed to be some of the functions of the former Ministry of Justice.

Zeng Yi had experience in this area.

The insights and analysis in his memorial were also quite insightful.

Unlike Wen Junxuan’s memorial, which was full of impractical and idealistic things, saying that it was necessary to strengthen ideological education, with rites as the main focus and punishment as the auxiliary.

Wu Changqing threw it away before he finished reading it.

In Wu Changqing’s view, the level of morality was improved by social productivity, and education didn’t have much effect.

If a person was about to starve to death, no matter how you educated him, he would have to rob to survive; it was instinct.

If all the people were rich, even if they were a little bad by nature, they would not rob, because there was no need.

As someone born in the eighties, Wu Changqing felt this deeply.

When he was a child, in villages where people didn’t kill each other over disputes over water sources, they could be rated as harmonious villages. As for petty theft in the village, it was even more numerous.

The same group of people, in the twenty-first century, everyone became amiable, and no one competed for small benefits. It seemed that everyone had become casual, and petty theft was almost extinct; everyone cared about face.

When villagers had difficulties, they would also come together to donate money to help each other.

Those were all adults who had not experienced any more ideological education, but such earth-shattering changes had taken place.

The root cause was that everyone had money.

Therefore, Wen Junxuan’s so-called strategy of relying on etiquette and education was completely unappealing to Wu Changqing, and was naturally rejected.

Zeng Yi’s various plans were much more practical and realistic, giving people a sense of reliability.

Therefore, Wu Changqing appointed Zeng Yi as Vice Minister.

But how could the Donglin party be willing to accept this result?

Next, they would definitely search for Zeng Yi’s dirt and then impeach him.

This was basically the daily routine of the ancient officialdom.

Chapter 522: Eunuchs Also Harbor Wild Ambitions

“These bastards, not a single one is any good.”

Wu Changqing looked at the memorials impeaching Zeng Yi and couldn’t help but curse.

If those who were impeaching Zeng Yi genuinely wanted to restore integrity to the bureaucracy, Wu Changqing would naturally have no objections. Corrupt officials should be impeached.

Impeachments meant the bureaucracy was still functioning normally and healthily.

If there were no impeachments, that would be a major problem, indicating that the officials below had reached a compromise, protecting each other and colluding to deceive those above.

Impeachments were good, but considering the recent power struggles, Wu Changqing knew that those impeaching Zeng Yi simply didn’t want him to take the position of Vice Minister of Public Security.

With such ulterior motives, the accusations couldn’t be fully trusted.

Civil officials usually acted high and mighty, but when it came to slander, they were more ruthless than anyone else.

“These outside officials are never as comfortable to use as household slaves.”

Wu Changqing usually liked to chat with Feng Debao and a few other close eunuchs. Feng Debao knew Wu Changqing’s temperament, so he dared to speak very directly.

What he meant was that outside officials always had their own agendas and were backed by interest groups.

In comparison, eunuchs were easier to use.

Eunuchs were the emperor’s household slaves, existing by relying on the emperor. All their power came from the emperor, so they were definitely the most loyal to him.

It could be said that the people who least wanted the emperor to fall were the eunuchs.

This had been proven countless times in history.

As soon as Chongzhen came to power, he listened to the Donglin Party and brought down the grand eunuch Wei Zhongxian.

But when Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, it was a eunuch who accompanied him, trying to escape the city. When he committed suicide, it was still a eunuch by his side.

From this perspective, Feng Debao’s words were not wrong at all.

“You say that, wanting to relive the glory days of eunuchs in power, right?”

Wu Changqing retorted.

In Great Hua today, eunuchs had no real power.

Without real power, and with their physical disabilities, they were even more looked down upon.

Naturally, the eunuch community was unwilling to accept this.

Already disabled, without the pursuit of women, they naturally needed some psychological pursuits.

And Wei Zhongxian had set an example for them.

If they could be as glorious as Wei Zhongxian, it would be extremely satisfying.

Therefore, Feng Debao belittled outside officials, praising the eunuchs, hoping that Wu Changqing could re-employ the eunuch community.

“This servant deserves to die.”

Feng Debao quickly knelt down. The emperor’s heart was unpredictable, and he didn’t know Wu Changqing’s true thoughts.

“But what you said isn’t wrong. Although household slaves have their own agendas, they are much more loyal than outside officials.”

Only a fool would think that everyone should be loyal to them. Wu Changqing understood very well that others had their own interests.

“That’s natural. Everything we household slaves have is thanks to Your Majesty’s reward, so we are naturally grateful. To be loyal, we household slaves are willing to give our lives.”

Feng Debao spoke cautiously, secretly delighted in his heart.

Wu Changqing’s attitude indicated that there was still hope for them eunuchs to participate in politics again and regain power.

This was great news for them.

If he could promote this process, he would naturally become an object of respect for other eunuchs in the future.

This was the value of his life in his eyes, his pursuit and dream.

People who didn’t have to worry about food and clothing needed some pursuit to avoid boredom and confusion.

Whether or not to let eunuchs hold power was something Wu Changqing was also hesitating about.

There were too many things involved in governing a country, and sometimes he really felt tired.

But if he didn’t personally oversee some things, the people below would definitely deceive him.

This was a problem faced by all emperors. Faced with this problem, different people had different choices.

Zhu Yuanzhang chose to be a workaholic, working more than twelve hours a day, doing everything himself. Later, the Qianlong and Jiaqing Emperors were also top-notch workaholics.

The Zhengde Emperor, on the other hand, didn’t care about anything, focusing solely on women.

The evaluations of Zhu Yuanzhang and Qianlong were naturally countless times higher than that of Zhengde, but in terms of who lived more comfortably, Zhengde probably surpassed them several times over.

They were two extremes, and there were also moderate choices, which was to do some work and then delegate some power.

And this delegation of power, some was delegated to outside officials, some was delegated to eunuchs, and some was delegated to relatives of the emperor.

But no matter which choice, there were advantages and disadvantages.

Sometimes Wu Changqing wondered, was there really a difference in these choices?

In history, there had been prosperous times with eunuchs in power, and there had been chaotic times caused by eunuchs in power.

And outside officials and relatives of the emperor had also had prosperous and chaotic times.

If you thought about it from this perspective, it seemed that whether a country was well governed had nothing to do with who was in power.

Wu Changqing didn’t study it in depth and wasn’t sure if his idea was right or wrong.

However, he only knew one thing.

As long as he insisted on technology as the core and insisted on developing social productivity, even if he delegated power to outside officials, the world would get better and better.

Similarly, delegating power to eunuchs would also have the same result.

Liberating productivity was the ultimate solution to all social problems. As long as everyone in the world was so rich that they hated having too much money, there would be no conflicts or power struggles in this world.

Of course, this was almost impossible.

“First, pick out some clever people to study. I will have use for them in the future.”

Wu Changqing instructed Feng Debao.

He hadn’t decided whether or not to use eunuchs.

However, he could prepare in advance and cultivate some eunuch talents first, so that there would be people available when he needed them in the future.

Even eunuchs had to have the ability to be entrusted with important tasks.

If they were stupid or illiterate, giving them power would be like letting civil officials play with them like cats playing with mice.

So, the truth was that among the eunuchs in history, there were many talented people whose talents were no worse than those of civil officials.

Like Zheng He, he was first-class in military affairs, calligraphy, painting, diplomacy, and so on.

The ability of someone who could command a fleet was self-evident.

“This servant obeys.”

Feng Debao suppressed the excitement in his heart and thanked him. With Wu Changqing’s words, he had taken a big step closer to the eunuchs’ power.

He could only pray now, praying that the civil officials would act up a little more, and when Wu Changqing couldn’t bear it anymore, it would be the day they came out and took the stage.

And by then, as long as he hadn’t retired, he would be the head of the eunuchs, the next Wei Zhongxian.

Although Wei Zhongxian’s ending was very tragic, Feng Debao didn’t care. Anyway, everyone had to die eventually. It was all worth it to be able to be glorious before death.

Chapter 523: Medal Award Ceremony

Zeng Yi was impeached, and according to the rules, he naturally couldn’t take office immediately.

Regardless of whether he was guilty or not, he had to go through the process and undergo an investigation first.

Only after he was proven innocent could he take office.

Sometimes, if such matters dragged on for too long, the Emperor might find it troublesome and simply replace him with someone else. After all, an important department couldn’t be without a leader for an extended period.

However, the establishment of the department still required some time, so there was no need to rush.

Therefore, Wu Changqing didn’t consider other candidates and instead urged the Censorate to find out the truth as soon as possible.

The power struggles for positions like Vice Minister and Assistant Minister would still alarm the Emperor.

However, Wu Changqing was unaware of the competition for official positions below the rank of Assistant Minister.

During this competition, all factions used every trick in the book. In the end, the Donglin faction benefited the most.

There was no other way; Gu Yanwu was the Minister of Personnel. Although he couldn’t have the final say in the appointment and removal of low-level officials, his voice carried the most weight.

As long as he was willing to show favoritism, he could secure significant benefits for the Donglin faction.

The Ministry of Personnel had always been the most important department.

While these people were busy fighting for power and profit, Wu Changqing held the first medal award ceremony for the army to commend those who had made great contributions.

This award ceremony was large in scale, involving many officers and soldiers.

Because this was a unified award ceremony, it meant that anyone who had made significant contributions throughout the entire process, from the time he started his uprising until now, would be awarded a medal.

Even some who had already died in battle would be posthumously awarded.

For example, the soldier who used his last bit of strength to send a message when they were attacking Xuancheng was posthumously awarded the Second-Class Silver Saber Medal.

Another example was Zhao Xin, the commander of the 213th Regiment, who held off Hauge’s main force during the Battle of Xuzhou. He had also died in battle and was the highest-ranking officer to die in battle.

He was posthumously awarded the Second-Class Gold Saber Medal.

The benefits attached to the medal would be received by their families.

Of course, the benefits were relatively low; the more important thing was the honor.

A medal personally awarded by the Emperor was of extraordinary significance.

Families with this kind of honor wouldn’t be bullied even by corrupt officials.

Otherwise, if they found a way to cry before the Emperor, the Emperor would definitely severely punish those corrupt officials in order to create an image of caring for loyal subjects.

No one received the First-Class Gold Saber Medal this time. Only fifteen people received the Second-Class Gold Saber Medal, a very small number. The three elders, plus Wu Yi, accounted for four of those spots.

The other recipients all had remarkable battle achievements.

For example, Tang Guozhen’s thousand- li raid, deep behind enemy lines.

Another example was Yan Chonglou, whose sniper company had accumulated hundreds of enemy officers killed in dozens of battles.

Furthermore, the commander of the grenadiers, who had repeatedly led the charge at the forefront, was also awarded the Second-Class Gold Saber.

There were more recipients of the Third-Class Gold Saber Medal: division commanders of the main forces who had achieved some battle results, regimental and brigade commanders who had made minor contributions, and company and battalion commanders who had made major contributions.

These people all received the Third-Class Gold Saber Medal, numbering more than sixty people.

Compared to the entire army, the number was not large and was very precious.

Those who received the medals walked with a bit more swagger.

On the soldiers’ side, no one received the First-Class Silver Saber Medal. Eight people received the Second-Class Silver Saber Medal, all of whom had made significant contributions to the army.

For example, sending a message before death, shooting Bolo, carrying explosives to blow up the city wall, and being the first to climb the city wall of Nanjing…

It was more difficult for soldiers to receive medals than officers; basically, they had to give their lives.

There were more recipients of the Third-Class Silver Saber Medal, a total of one hundred people, which was considered to give ordinary soldiers some hope, after all, the Second-Class was too difficult to obtain.

Even if they were willing to give their lives, they had to have the opportunity to make a contribution.

The list was the result of discussions among many officers, with Wu Changqing ultimately making the final decision and personally awarding the medals.

He personally awarded the Second-Class Gold Saber and Second-Class Silver Saber, while the Third-Class was awarded by Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and Wang Dayong, three military elders.

The award ceremony was held in the large square, and the people could also come to watch.

Wu Changqing wanted to use this method to tell the people who had won this world and to make the people have more respect for the army.

At the same time, it was also to stimulate the desire of ordinary people to join the army.

People who voluntarily joined the army were definitely stronger in combat will than those who were forced to join.

When several ordinary soldiers received medals from Wu Changqing, tears streamed down their faces.

This was being personally awarded by the Emperor; how could this have happened before?

They were even patted on the shoulder by Wu Changqing; what an honor that was.

The people below who saw that scene were gnashing their teeth, only hating that it wasn’t them being awarded above.

And the watching people were particularly excited, as if they had a share in the honor of those soldiers.

This was because the people at the bottom regarded the soldiers as their own, believing that the soldiers represented them. They would also be happy when the soldiers received honors.

Some wealthy merchants and gentlemen’s families were staring at the officers who had been awarded the Gold Saber Medal.

“A thousand- li raid, deep behind enemy lines, a true man should be like that.”

A young man said excitedly. He had already decided to apply to military academy and then join the army.

After all, only by joining the army could he have the opportunity to earn this honor.

Don’t ever count on becoming a civil official.

The current imperial court was quite unwelcoming to civil officials. Some civil officials had even reached the position of Vice Minister, but they couldn’t even get the lowest-level noble title.

If you want to become a noble, it’s most practical to join the army.

After all, not everyone can succeed on the path of scientific research; that stuff depends on talent.

“What, women can also be awarded medals?”

Suddenly, a shocked voice rang out.

It turned out that head nurse Tong Yan was also awarded the title of ‘Female Hero’ and was awarded the Third-Class Gold Saber.

The reason was that this head nurse had saved more than three hundred soldiers in previous major battles.

Saving more than three hundred people was certainly an exaggeration; some people wouldn’t have died even without her treatment.

However, Wu Changqing was doing this to set an example, gradually and subtly improving the status of women, so he exaggerated her achievements and wanted to shape her into a heroine.

It was estimated that the ministers wouldn’t be able to use the awarding of a medal to a woman to make a fuss and object.

As long as the ministers defaulted, the resistance would be even smaller next time when awarding two more or going a step further in other aspects.

In short, everything Wu Changqing did had a deep meaning.

Some wealthy young ladies who came to watch the excitement were greatly impacted by this scene, as if a door to a new world had been opened.

It turned out that the most enviable thing in life was not marrying a good husband, but earning honor with one’s own hands, earning honor that most men could not get.

This change in concept should not be underestimated.

As long as women have the initiative to want to change, it will be easier to promote the liberation of women in the future.

The impact of awarding medals to female nurses was far-reaching, and in the present, the most obvious impact was that it led some wealthy women to clamor to become nurses.

Of course, Wu Changqing didn’t care about how their families would stop them, whether they would submit or run away from home.

He was only responsible for guiding the general direction, and everything else depended on the evolution of society itself.

Chapter 524: Naval Shipbuilding Plan

The awarding ceremony caused a great deal of discussion, and the status of soldiers was further elevated.

At this time, Wu Changqing also issued internal documents to the military.

The “Guiding Opinions on Military Development” benefited the navy the most.

After this document was issued, the navy personnel in the headquarters walked with smiles on their faces, making the army personnel want to slap them.

After all, the total military expenditure was fixed. To vigorously develop the navy, the development speed of the army would naturally have to be slowed down.

Although they were unhappy, the senior generals of the army did not say anything or try to resist.

After all, there were indeed fewer land battles now.

Moreover, because Zhao Kuangyin and Zhu Yuanzhang had set a very bad example, the founding generals were generally more honest, fearing that they would be stripped of their power and purged if they did something wrong.

Their goal was to preserve their existing power, and they wouldn’t think too much.

Therefore, now that Wu Changqing wanted to develop the navy, then develop the navy. In short, don’t go against the emperor.

Moreover, no matter what, the navy also belonged to the military.

When fighting against the civil official group, everyone still had to stand on the same front.

With Wu Changqing’s instructions, Wu Yi immediately discussed and studied with the navy bigwigs for several nights, and then proposed the navy’s shipbuilding plan.

Wu Changqing was speechless after reading this plan.

The navy planned to build fifty pure ironclad warships of one thousand tons each, twenty ironclad warships of two thousand tons each, ten of five thousand tons each, and one of ten thousand tons, the Divine Emperor, within the next five years.

Wu Changqing wouldn’t complain about the quantity. With more money spent, the quantity wouldn’t be a problem.

The key was the ten-thousand-ton Divine Emperor. Were they serious?

With the current power of steam engines, it was just right to propel a one-thousand-ton ship, and it was very difficult to exceed fifteen hundred tons.

There was no way around this; they could only wait for the improvement of steam engine power.

Of course, the serious plan produced by the navy would naturally not be too brainless.

They also had solutions, which was to add more steam engines. They planned to install four steam engine propulsion units on the Divine Emperor.

Moreover, they also adopted a hybrid power mode.

That is to say, while having steam engines, they continued to retain sails.

All of this was just to be able to propel this behemoth.

The speed of this behemoth would definitely not be fast. Installing more powerful firepower would only be a display, and its practicality would be extremely limited. It was just a prestige project.

A ten-thousand-ton giant ship! If it were really built, it would probably make people admire it to the extreme.

The shock it would bring to the people would not be less than that of a train.

Of course, whether it was useful or not was not the point. The point was that the budget for this warship was three million yuan.

This was approximately equal to the cost of eighty steam warships.

And the total number of steam warships currently in the navy was only about fifty.

Three million was only the construction cost. To equip this behemoth with artillery and other equipment, the navy itself couldn’t estimate the cost of this warship and could only vaguely quote five million.

“You have to eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time. Taking too big a step at once can easily pull your groin,” Wu Changqing said.

Wang Dayong, who was next to him, burst out laughing. It was always a pleasure to see others being criticized.

Wu Yi was embarrassed. He also knew that this plan was a bit outrageous.

However, if you don’t ask for the sky, how can you bargain on the ground?

First, ask for an impossible price, and in the end, you can put on a very aggrieved look and accept the emperor’s counter-offer.

“This is a long-term plan, with appropriations spread over five years. On average, there won’t be much each year,” Wu Yi said.

“If you build these ships and put them on the riverbank for viewing, of course, there won’t be much. The total plan is twenty million yuan, and only five million each year,” Wu Changqing continued to complain.

What’s the use of just building the ships? They also have to be equipped with artillery and combat personnel. These are all money.

These personnel have to eat, drink, and be paid salaries. Moreover, there are currently very few qualified naval personnel, and these people need training. These expenses far exceed the warship itself.

Adding the later maintenance costs, if this plan is really approved, then the cost to the navy cannot be less than fifteen million each year.

And the current total military expenditure of the military is only forty-seven million, and it will be reduced somewhat next year, and it is estimated that it will be at most forty million.

In this way, the army can only get twenty-five million. The problem is that the army has to support eight hundred thousand people, and the total strength of the navy is only about thirty thousand.

In other words, the cost of supporting a navy is about sixteen times that of the army.

This is too much. The army might turn the world upside down.

“It’s probably only a little over ten million a year. Judging from the current economic growth rate, this is really not much,” Wu Yi simply took the economic growth rate into consideration. According to the current rapid development of Great Hua, the annual tax revenue may reach three to four hundred million in five years.

If this is really the case, then a little over ten million a year is really not much.

“Alright, stop arguing with me. Redo the plan and cut the budget in half. Moreover, the focus of warship manufacturing must also be changed. The number of warships is enough. Build more transport ships.

On overseas land, we still have to rely on the army to fight,” Wu Changqing countered, cutting it in half.

He would not be fooled by Wu Yi. Although this year’s economic growth rate was very terrifying, it might reach fifty percent.

However, as the volume gets larger and larger, this growth rate will definitely show a downward trend.

“Wouldn’t half be too little? Just the Divine Emperor alone…”

“Stop, don’t mention the Divine Emperor,” Wu Changqing interrupted him and continued, “Don’t worry about large ships and giant ships. We have to consider the current level of technology. Without excellent welding technology, ten-thousand-ton giant ships may sink before they even leave the port.

Everyone, be more pragmatic and save the money to invest in scientific and technological research and development. As long as the technology improves, ten-thousand-ton giant ships will be a piece of cake in the future. Sooner or later, I will build a one-hundred-thousand-ton giant ship, and then let you take the fleet around the world for a tour, to show off.”

Wu Changqing drew him a big cake. Wu Yi was immediately excited when he thought of driving a one-hundred-thousand-ton warship.

One hundred thousand tons! He couldn’t even imagine what it would look like.

“Your Majesty, after you say that, I even want to switch careers and join the navy,” Wang Dayong said with emotion. After all, the navy’s equipment looked more high-end.

Compared with the navy, their army always felt like country bumpkins.

Even for a cannon, the army could only carry a few two- or three-thousand- Jin cannons at most.

And the navy, five- or six-thousand- Jin cannons could be installed casually, and the arsenal was already developing ten-thousand- Jin cannons for the navy.

With that kind of cannon, one shot could probably blow the city wall to smithereens.

Chapter 525: A Bloody Purchase

The construction of all-ironclad warships required a great deal of advanced technology.

Traditional welding techniques would result in one hundred percent leakage.

Current welding was still in the stage of fusion welding and segment welding, with low temperatures and unconcentrated energy, making it impossible to perform large-area, long-seam welding.

Welds made with this kind of technology might look fused together on the surface.

But under a microscope, you could find a large number of bubbles, gaps, cracks, and faults in the welded area.

These problems had no impact under normal circumstances.

But they would quickly cause problems when subjected to enormous pressure or seawater corrosion.

If you wanted to build ironclad ships, you had to master welding.

The best option was of course argon arc welding, but unfortunately, argon arc welding required electricity, which was a bit difficult.

Currently, the most suitable method was still oxygen-acetylene welding, increasing the oxygen ratio to raise the flame temperature.

As for oxygen, the people at the academy had already separated it out and could produce it on a small scale.

These were all related supporting technologies, but the most crucial was still the steam engine.

As long as the power of the steam engine was increased, the other supporting technologies would be relatively easy.

It was a bit too much to expect Feng Xianzhong and the others to develop a super high-temperature and high-pressure steam engine in such a short period of time.

If Feng Xianzhong could develop a super high-temperature and high-pressure steam engine within two or three years, then he was definitely not a genius, but a time-traveler, and would have to be arrested and severely interrogated.

Leapfrog technological advancements still had to rely on time-travelers, or even time-travelers with systems.

Therefore, Wu Changqing made a bloody purchase.

He spent one million tech points to purchase high-temperature and high-pressure cylinder manufacturing technology, and three hundred thousand to purchase related supporting technologies.

This was not enough. Just having the manufacturing process was useless. The key to high-temperature and high-pressure cylinders was the alloy material.

If the material was not up to par, everything was just empty talk.

So, Wu Changqing spent another eight hundred thousand resource points to purchase a large batch of raw materials for manufacturing high-temperature and high-pressure cylinders.

Some of these raw materials were used for manufacturing, and others were used to study their composition, and then obtain the raw material formula and ratio, so as to master the technology of manufacturing this raw material.

Having the finished product and then reverse-engineering the formula would make the researchers feel like they had won the lottery. Compared to aimless exploration and experimentation, this method of reverse-engineering the formula was countless times easier.

In addition to steam engine technology, Wu Changqing also purchased rifled cannon technology.

It always felt a bit out of place to continue using smoothbore cannons on ironclad ships, so it was more appropriate to equip them with rifled cannons.

Of course, this was quite appropriate for Great Hua, but quite inappropriate for the navies of other countries.

Foreign navies would definitely regret choosing the naval profession after encountering ironclad ships with rifled cannons while using wooden sailing ships with smoothbore cannons.

After a round of bloody purchases, the total expenditure was one million six hundred thousand tech points and nine hundred thousand resource points.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Current territory area: one million two hundred thousand square kilometers, total resource points: thirty-six million, remaining: thirty-three million five hundred thousand.

Current jurisdiction population: seventy-two million four hundred thousand, total tech points: seventy-two million four hundred thousand, remaining: forty-eight million three hundred and twenty thousand.

Although he spent a lot, the total amount had also increased significantly due to the recent surge in territory.

Plus, because of his habit of thrift, Wu Changqing’s resources were always in a very sufficient state.

Just like an old farmer with a huge deposit, he was reluctant to withdraw money unless it was absolutely necessary. On the surface, he wore tattered clothes, but in fact, he was loaded.

Wu Changqing first carefully sorted out these exchanged resources and materials, and then sent someone to deliver them to Feng Xianzhong.

After receiving these things, Feng Xianzhong was a mess in the wind. His mood at the moment was complicated.

“Suddenly, I realized that I am really useless. Except for waiting for the teacher to give guidance, I have never had any breakthrough research results.”

Feng Xianzhong lamented.

People around him envied his intelligence, because his research on technology was deep enough.

Hearing this kind of praise too much, he would also increase his demands on himself, hoping that he could research some major results to prove that he deserved these evaluations.

But reality was always cruel. Every time he encountered a bottleneck in his research, he needed Wu Changqing’s guidance.

“Teacher Feng, you’re thinking too much. How could a useless person be qualified to be guided by His Majesty? Even if these things were not researched by you, teacher, you are the specific person in charge. Just quickly digesting His Majesty’s research results and applying them to practice is also a remarkable talent.

In the whole world, there are no more than five people with this kind of talent. As for His Majesty, why should we compare ourselves with the wise and martial, unparalleled God Emperor? His Majesty is a true dragon reincarnated, we are just mortals.”

Feng Xianzhong’s assistant advised.

Anyway, he had resigned himself to fate. He could compare himself with anyone, but he would not compare himself with Wu Changqing.

Comparing himself with Wu Changqing was arrogant, brainless, and rebellious.

“What’s even more terrifying is that His Majesty usually has to deal with official duties. I’m afraid these studies are conducted in his spare time.”

“Maybe His Majesty thinks in his dreams.”

“I’m afraid all the knowledge in the world is in His Majesty’s mind.”

Others echoed.

Logically speaking, these people engaged in scientific research should not be superstitious.

However, some things about Wu Changqing were too strange. They could not explain this phenomenon according to the conventional way of understanding, so they could only interpret it in an unconventional way.

If Wu Changqing was not the emperor, they could maliciously suspect that these research results were actually from others, but Wu Changqing used his power to take them as his own in order to seek fame.

But Wu Changqing was the emperor, and they dared not have this idea, let alone say it, otherwise it would be treason.

“Alas, it seems that I only have this little effect. Tell everyone to stay up late tonight to thoroughly understand His Majesty’s research results, and don’t delay His Majesty’s important affairs.”

Feng Xianzhong sighed.

He was not as open-minded as his assistant. After all, he was a genius, and how could a genius easily submit to others?

Real geniuses all had a fairly strong sense of pride.

However, as he was crushed by Wu Changqing more and more times, Feng Xianzhong was almost convinced.

He had to be convinced, because reality was right in front of him.

No matter how hard he tried, he could never catch up with Wu Changqing’s casual efforts.

He couldn’t even see through how much knowledge Wu Changqing had mastered, let alone catch up.

As soon as he heard Feng Xianzhong’s request for everyone to stay up late, everyone wanted to cry but had no tears.

Although scientific research had high benefits and good treatment, it was also very hard and consumed a lot of energy.

Many young people had already started to lose their hair.

Chapter 526: Help!

The battle for the position of Vice Minister ultimately ended with Zeng Yi’s victory.

After an investigation into Zeng Yi, it was discovered that there weren’t any major issues, except for leaving behind a massive financial mess in the region when he moved from the local level to the central government.

However, he couldn’t be entirely blamed for this, as Nanchang was already a mess when he took over.

And if they really wanted to investigate the source of those deficits, they would have to go all the way back to the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, Wu Changqing ignored this minor issue and directly appointed Zeng Yi as Vice Minister.

To appease the Donglin Party and stop their agitation, he also supported one of their members for the position of Left Vice Minister.

This was a compromise of interests.

Now that the deficit issue was over, they could find other things to attack him with.

After a period of turmoil, the political situation in the imperial court entered a period of calm.

After all, they all had a lot of work to do and couldn’t spend all day fighting without getting anything done.

Doing so would likely make the Emperor extremely displeased.

With the civil officials not causing trouble, the court seemed unusually peaceful for a time. For over ten days, nearly half a month, nothing major happened, which was previously unimaginable.

As September arrived, the Empress gave birth to a princess.

This directly caused Chen Yuyan to faint from anger. This outcome was devastating.

Wu Changqing didn’t mind; having a daughter was even better.

In his opinion, his crown prince probably wouldn’t have a happy life, and might even die before him, like Zhu Yuanzhang’s son, Zhu Biao.

Spending his whole life as the crown prince, without ever having the chance to sit on the Dragon Throne.

This would be a tragedy for the crown prince himself.

And even knowing this, the crown prince was unlikely to give up his position. His life was destined to be without choice.

In October, a Korean delegation arrived in Nanjing.

They were there to seek help. Dorgon, after fleeing back beyond the pass, hadn’t given up and was determined to fight his way back into the country.

But this required strength, advanced weapons, and a large number of soldiers.

To this end, Dorgon increased his exploitation of Korea.

However, King Yi Jong of Korea wasn’t stupid. Seeing that many adult men of the Manchus had died in battle, he thought his chance for independence had come. So, he openly rebelled and declared independence.

However, they were quickly taught a lesson by Dorgon’s army.

Yi Jong had clearly not been educated by advanced weaponry. He only saw the decrease in population and troops and attempted to declare independence.

The result was, unsurprisingly, that his fifty thousand troops were met by Dorgon’s twenty thousand, with over ten thousand killed and the rest terrified and captured.

Thus, Yi Jong’s dream of independence was shattered.

Faced with the even more stringent conditions proposed by Dorgon, Yi Jong refused to agree. He fled south to Busan while sending a delegation to Nanjing to seek help from their “father.”

Previously, they had been loyal to the Ming Dynasty and were a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty.

But now, times had changed. Even if they sought help from the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youlang wouldn’t be in the mood to care about them.

After all, the Ming Dynasty, which was barely surviving, could hardly protect itself.

The Koreans weren’t stupid.

Kim Keo-rye, who was in charge of leading the delegation, was stunned when he stepped off the ship. Everyone who came with him was also stunned.

At the pier, piles of cloth were stacked seven or eight meters high, covering several mu of land.

This was enough to make a pair of underwear for every Korean.

Quantitative change led to qualitative change. Although it was just ordinary cloth, the sheer amount of it piled together gave people a shocking feeling.

At the same time, Kim Keo-rye and his group also noticed some strange-looking iron frames on the dock. These iron frames, operated by workers, were moving giant iron blocks from the cargo ships.

These were pulley mechanical frames, using pulleys and levers to move extremely heavy objects, such as rails.

Just by looking at them, one could tell that those rails were incredibly heavy.

But Kim Keo-rye saw these large iron blocks being easily moved by the mechanical frames and placed onto carts.

The carts then pulled these rails to a place not far away, where workers were transferring them onto a long, armored iron serpent.

Strangely, this serpent was made of iron and was two or three hundred meters long.

“What is this thing?”

Everything was so new and strange that Kim Keo-rye couldn’t help but mutter to himself, but no one could answer him.

His companions had never even heard of a train, let alone seen one.

Fortunately, the train didn’t start or move during the time they disembarked and left.

Otherwise, Kim Keo-rye and his group might have been so scared by seeing this inanimate object moving that they would have wet their pants.

But just the sights before them were enough to leave Kim Keo-rye dazed and confused.

He didn’t understand why those iron blocks had to be cast into such a long shape. What was the use of it?

Shouldn’t such precious iron be used to make weapons like swords?

Was there so much iron that it could be used for decorations?

Also, how could that iron frame move such heavy iron blocks? What were they going to do with those iron blocks on the iron serpent?

At this moment, Kim Keo-rye’s mind was full of questions, filled with a hundred thousand whys.

If he wasn’t in a hurry to find the officials and take care of important business, he would definitely stay and ask someone to explain it to him.

He couldn’t stop thinking about it until he figured out these questions.

They quickly left the dock. Although they didn’t see the train that could move on its own, the things they saw along the way made Kim Keo-rye wonder if he was dreaming, or if he had come to a celestial realm.

Otherwise, why were there so many strange things on the streets?

A vehicle with only two wheels, which people could ride on and move without falling over – this defied common sense.

Some timid followers, seeing bicycles passing by, would take a few steps back in fright.

They didn’t know what was so scary about these things, but they were afraid.

“Calm down, don’t embarrass Korea. Those things are being ridden by people, so they must have been tamed. There’s nothing to worry about.”

Fortunately, Kim Keo-rye said this in Korean, otherwise the people next to him might have laughed their heads off.

Chapter 527: Opportunity for the Ministry of Rites

Kim Keo-rye was able to be an envoy to Great Hua, so naturally he understood Chinese and could read Chinese characters.

In fact, during this period, both Korea and Japan were deeply influenced by Chinese culture.

Their writing was mainly Chinese characters.

The upper class in these two places took pride in using Chinese characters and speaking Chinese.

Great Hua people might have difficulty communicating with the common people in these two places, but there were no major problems in communicating with the upper class.

After some inquiries, Kim Keo-rye finally found the Court of State Ceremonial, which had been renamed the Foreign Affairs Department and was under the Ministry of Rites, specializing in handling foreign affairs.

Subsequently, Kim Keo-rye stated his identity and explained his purpose.

The Foreign Affairs Department took this matter very seriously and immediately reported it.

After all, Korea had always been a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, so the people in the Foreign Affairs Department naturally assumed that Korea was their vassal state.

If a vassal state was being bullied by the Qing Dynasty, the suzerain state had to intervene, otherwise, where would their face be?

The people in the cabinet also took it seriously. Qian Qianyi directly sought an audience with Wu Changqing and then made a suggestion, hoping to take this opportunity to regain Korea as a vassal state.

Korea being taken by the Qing Dynasty was an extremely embarrassing matter for the former Ming Dynasty.

And if Great Hua could now regain this vassal state, then their faces would naturally be infinitely glorious.

Even the most stubborn people, after experiencing these things, would definitely not miss the Ming Dynasty anymore and would be more willing to accept this powerful Great Hua Empire.

Therefore, recovering Korea was very important to Great Hua and could strengthen the legitimacy of the Great Hua regime.

“I was planning to fight Dorgon next year, but if we send troops now, I’m afraid the army won’t be ready yet, and military expenses are also a problem,” Wu Changqing said.

Going to the North was too far, and the transportation of weapons and food faced huge losses.

Moreover, the North was currently engaged in large-scale disaster relief, and their food reserves were not very abundant.

These words left Qian Qianyi speechless. He also knew that sending troops to fight was not child’s play, and you couldn’t just go whenever you wanted.

It was a pity, as this was a very good opportunity for their Ministry of Rites.

If they could facilitate the return of Korea, it would be an extremely bright achievement for their Ministry of Rites.

He was still regretting it, but Wu Changqing spoke again: “You go and talk to them first, and see what conditions they can offer. As long as the benefits are big enough, sending troops is not impossible.

Of course, just becoming a vassal state is definitely not enough.”

Perhaps the previous emperors would be satisfied with the title of a suzerain state, but Wu Changqing would not.

He paid more attention to practical benefits. What he wanted was to completely annex that place, incorporate Korea into Great Hua, and make it part of Great Hua.

“Annex Korea? I’m afraid the Korean royal family won’t agree to that,” Qian Qianyi said with difficulty.

Even Dorgon hadn’t made such harsh demands. At least he would retain the royal status of the Yi family of Korea and retain Korea’s autonomy.

What Dorgon wanted was wealth and population, and he didn’t even dare to ask for land.

Insisting on completely occupying Korea would probably arouse the desperate resistance of the Korean ruling group.

At that time, the price to be paid would be even greater.

Of course, if they could completely suppress it and completely annex it, it would naturally be very beneficial in the long run.

“Do they have a choice now? As long as they agree, I can at least guarantee their wealth and make their descendants upper class.

If they don’t agree, then they can wait to be killed by Dorgon. Even if they can survive Dorgon’s challenge now, they will still be overthrown when I free up my hands.

In short, whether they agree or not, I don’t really care. Of course, it would be better if we could persuade them to agree, and that will depend on your eloquence.”

Wu Changqing threw this task to Qian Qianyi and let him handle it.

If it really worked out, it would naturally be a good thing.

If it didn’t work out, it wouldn’t matter much.

This didn’t matter much to Wu Changqing, but it mattered a lot to Qian Qianyi.

Compared to other departments, the Ministry of Rites was relatively idle, with not much to do usually, and few opportunities to gain political achievements.

Now that there was finally an opportunity knocking on the door, if he didn’t seize it, there would be no need for him to continue as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Therefore, for Qian Qianyi, this was a task that had to be accomplished.

However, demanding that a kingdom’s regime completely give up its ruling position was too difficult.

Anyone with even a little ambition would not agree to such a request.

Qian Qianyi returned to the Ministry of Rites and gathered everyone together, asking them to pool their wisdom and find a way to persuade Kim Keo-rye and King Yi Jong of Korea.

Hiss…

When Qian Qianyi said that he wanted everyone to persuade Yi Jong to give up his ruling power and completely merge into Great Hua, everyone gasped.

Such outrageous conditions were unimaginable to them. They couldn’t imagine whether Yi Jong would be furious or vomit blood in anger after hearing it.

This kind of thing seemed to have no precedent.

Throughout history, if you wanted to annex a place, you had to rely on absolute force to conquer it and wipe out its original royal family.

As long as there was still a royal family, there would be resistance.

Just like the Ming Dynasty in the Southwest, they all knew that the Ming Dynasty was no match for Great Hua and would be eliminated sooner or later.

However, they still would not surrender.

They would live as local emperors for as long as they could.

“Why is everyone so surprised? Is this difficult? Have you forgotten that there was a ready-made example not long ago?” said Hao Keming, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

“What does Master Hao mean?” Wen Junxuan asked.

“Shunzhi, didn’t they give up their royal status and choose to surrender?”

Everyone thought about it and realized that it was indeed the case.

However, Wen Junxuan shook his head and said, “No, no, no, the two are completely different. First of all, Emperor Shunzhi couldn’t make the decision at all. The decision to surrender was made by Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang.

Women, their desire for power is far less strong than men’s. Secondly, they were prisoners of war and had no choice.

But now, Yi Jong is a man. Secondly, our army has not yet been sent to Korea and has not yet controlled Korea.”

Hao Keming smiled upon hearing this and continued to argue, “Yi Jong is already over fifty years old, so his mentality will naturally not be so firm. There is nothing wrong with enjoying his old age.

Although our army has not yet reached Korea, it is only a matter of time. As long as Yi Jong understands this, he will not be entangled in whether it is now or in the near future.

In short, there is an opportunity to persuade him to surrender. The key is how we do it.”

The two continued to argue for a while, but in the debate, Hao Keming had gradually gained the upper hand.

Moreover, Qian Qianyi also appreciated Hao Keming’s point of view, after all, Hao Keming’s point of view was more positive.

Chapter 528: The Three-Step Plan

In the end, Qian Qianyi spoke, demanding that everyone focus on persuading them to surrender, and to develop strategies and rhetoric around this goal.

After a night of intense discussion, the Ministry of Rites officially took action.

They dispatched Hao Keming to accompany Kim Keo-rye on a tour of Nanjing, including its factories and military.

They intended to showcase the power and prosperity of Great Hua to Kim Keo-rye.

This was absolutely necessary. Only if Great Hua was powerful enough could Kim Keo-rye and Yi Jong feel despair.

Only if Great Hua was prosperous enough could Kim Keo-rye and Yi Jong yearn for it.

Only by achieving both of these things could they have any chance of persuading them to relinquish their rule.

This was the first step. The second step was to take Kim Keo-rye to the Qinhuai River for a sugar-coated bullet offensive, to corrupt him.

As long as they could win over Kim Keo-rye and get him to speak on behalf of Great Hua, it would be equivalent to winning over half of Yi Jong.

The third step was to analyze the situation for Kim Keo-rye and then explain Great Hua’s policies toward Korea.

With such a barrage of persuasion, unless someone possessed an iron will, they would be affected.

Kim Keo-rye waited anxiously in the hotel, unaware that Great Hua had already plotted how to annex Korea.

If he knew, he would probably be so angry that he would return to Korea on the spot, without looking back.

Hao Keming, of course, wouldn’t directly tell him his thoughts, but instead used the excuse that the higher-ups were still deliberating and that he needed to wait.

Then, he extended an invitation to Kim Keo-rye to tour Nanjing.

Although Kim Keo-rye was anxious, he also knew that a government needed to conduct research and discussion before making a decision, so he didn’t dare to rush them.

He now had a mindset of waiting for Great Hua to bestow something upon him, acting very cautiously and behaving extremely respectfully.

Kim Keo-rye felt that rather than waiting idly in the hotel, he might as well take this opportunity to thoroughly explore Great Hua and learn the reasons for its strength.

Therefore, he chose to accept Hao Keming’s invitation.

Subsequently, the two of them went out into the street, chatting and laughing.

However, one was laughing from the heart, while the other was forcing a smile against his will.

“Such prosperity, truly a paradise on earth!”

When they arrived at the West Market, Kim Keo-rye couldn’t help but exclaim.

“For the common people, it is even more so. If you’re interested, Sir Kim, you can stop any old farmer and ask them about their living conditions,”

Hao Keming suggested.

“A good idea. The most direct way to see if a country is strong is to look at the lives of the common people.”

Kim Keo-rye was completely unaware that this was a trap. The location where they stopped was specially chosen by Hao Keming.

Sure enough, Kim Keo-rye approached an old farmer selling chili peppers. This old farmer had already been informed by the government and knew what to say.

“Hey, I used to farm in the village. In a good year, I couldn’t even save one tael of silver. In a bad year, I couldn’t even get enough to eat. Since the current Emperor established Great Hua, he introduced chili peppers for us to grow.

Now I can earn twenty yuan a year, which is twenty taels. If I’m frugal, I can save fifteen yuan a year. The current Emperor is truly beyond words, just three words: wise and mighty…”

Kim Keo-rye didn’t laugh at the old farmer’s inability to count clearly; he only felt envy.

The people of Great Hua had been living too well since Wu Changqing became emperor.

At this time, Hao Keming also took the opportunity to say, “There are thousands of old farmers like him in Nanjing alone. How does their standard of living compare to that of the people in your country?”

Kim Keo-rye smiled bitterly upon hearing this. Was there even a comparison?

Now, ordinary people in Korea could barely survive without selling their children.

Even the small landlords and wealthy people were suffering from the Qing army’s exploitation, living even worse than the ordinary people of Great Hua.

Hao Keming continued, “When the lives of the common people improve, the lives of merchants become even better. Look at that small business owner selling drinks; his annual income is at least one thousand yuan.

As for those big merchants, they are even more terrifying. In Great Hua, we can find at least ten merchants who earn five million yuan a year.”

Hao Keming was exaggerating wildly. Kim Keo-rye really wanted to disbelieve him, but the prosperity before his eyes made him lack the confidence to question it.

Five million! Korea’s total annual income wasn’t even that much.

And Great Hua had more than one person who was so wealthy.

“Living in Great Hua is truly a blessing,”

Kim Keo-rye said with envy.

His words already revealed some yearning for Great Hua.

Hao Keming secretly rejoiced while continuing to accompany Kim Keo-rye on his tour.

The process was very successful.

After all, with Nanjing’s prosperity laid out before Kim Keo-rye, it was hard for him not to be envious.

Afterward, Hao Keming accompanied Kim Keo-rye to visit Great Hua’s factories.

Due to time constraints, Hao Keming couldn’t take him to visit too many factories, so he could only choose the most impressive ones.

The first choice was naturally the steel factory, because the production of steel represented a country’s strength.

Arriving outside the steel factory, Kim Keo-rye was shocked by its scale.

Huge factory buildings were connected one after another.

Countless steel materials of various strange shapes were constantly being transported.

Kim Keo-rye couldn’t wait to enter the production workshop to see how so much steel was produced.

Entering the workshop, his shock continued.

He saw how Great Hua produced steel bars. He saw molten iron flowing into a groove, then undergoing preliminary cooling and casting, forming a square block of iron slightly larger than a fist.

After this red-hot iron block was formed, it was transported by a worker-operated machine toward a track.

Then, a cutting blade powered by a large hydraulic press directly cut off the iron block, which was larger than a fist, as easily as cutting tofu.

The cut iron block continued to move forward under the drive of the machine, arriving under the hydraulic press, where it was crushed by enormous pressure.

The fist-sized iron block quickly turned into several finger-thick round iron bars…

The entire process took only ten minutes, and a steel bar was declared complete.

This completely stunned Kim Keo-rye. He estimated in his mind that if Korean blacksmiths were to forge such a steel bar, it would take about three months.

Subsequently, Kim Keo-rye’s worldview collapsed.

This difference was truly the difference between gods and mortals.

Looking at those hydraulic presses weighing several tons, Kim Keo-rye couldn’t figure out how they moved up and down.

Even people from later generations would find those giant machines spectacular when they saw them for the first time, let alone Kim Keo-rye in this era.

The most shocking thing he had seen before was the Hongyi cannon.

Looking at the workers in the workshop working so closely together, he seemed to see the most beautiful painting in the world.

The noisy roar of the machines sounded like a symphony to him.

He thought that if Korea had such a national treasure, it could arm all its citizens in less than three days.

Chapter 529: Persuasion

Steel factories, textile factories, machinery manufacturing plants…

After visiting several factories, Kim Keo-rye had become taciturn.

He was envious, jealous.

He was frustrated, wondering why his own country didn’t have these things.

“The happy life of the Great Hua people relies on these cornerstones of the nation,” Hao Keming said.

“Alas, it’s a pity. I don’t know when my people will be able to live this kind of life,” Kim Keo-rye sighed.

“Master Kim, there’s no need to sigh. When your people can live this kind of life actually depends on you,” Hao Keming said, probing the other party’s intentions at the opportune moment.

These words stunned Kim Keo-rye for a moment, then he seemed to be lost in thought.

He vaguely guessed what Hao Keming meant, but he wasn’t sure.

Hao Keming didn’t delve deeper into the topic, and he couldn’t ask directly.

Afterward, Hao Keming took him to visit the army.

To cooperate with the Ministry of Rites’s actions, the military also exceptionally held a military exercise.

It was called a military exercise, but it was more of an equipment display, with less actual combat content.

After all, a real combat exercise wasn’t easy; it required careful planning and was extremely costly.

The equipment display alone was enough to make Kim Keo-rye prostrate himself in admiration.

And when the air force made its appearance, Kim Keo-rye was once again speechless.

Humans could actually fly into the sky and bomb ground troops from above.

This was simply being in an invincible position.

People on the ground couldn’t even reach the enemies in the sky.

“Master Kim, don’t say things like the Qing army is very powerful when you’re in Great Hua, or you’ll become a laughingstock. You should know that our army has never lost a battle against the Qing Dynasty.

Every battle has seen the enemy fleeing in disarray, without the slightest ability to fight back. Therefore, no one in Great Hua looks up to the Qing Dynasty,” Hao Keming said with a smile.

If someone in Great Hua said the Qing Dynasty was powerful, they would indeed be ridiculed by others.

Was the Qing Dynasty powerful? Why didn’t I feel that way?

This was the most genuine mindset of the Great Hua people.

“I am utterly impressed by the power of Great Hua, and I hope that Your Excellency can persuade His Majesty to send troops as soon as possible. With the bravery of your army, you will surely be able to easily eliminate the Qing army and rescue my Korean compatriots,” Kim Keo-rye said.

He now absolutely believed that Great Hua could crush the Qing army.

“Master Kim, don’t be anxious. This matter is very complicated. Although the people in our Ministry of Rites want to help your country, those in the military have always been people who don’t get up early without a profit. Without benefits, they will never send troops. There’s nothing our Ministry of Rites can do about this,” Hao Keming said, putting on a helpless look.

“If your army assists us, our kingdom will definitely repay you handsomely, honoring the Great Hua Emperor as our emperor for generations, and paying tribute as vassals. Our sovereign will only ever call himself a king, never an emperor,” Kim Keo-rye said, but Hao Keming didn’t respond, making Kim Keo-rye very anxious.

In the evening, Hao Keming began the second step of his plan: to corrupt Kim Keo-rye.

He took Kim Keo-rye to the most famous brothel on the Qinhuai River, which had the most comprehensive range of pleasures and the most top-notch enjoyment.

During the day, Kim Keo-rye had a worried look on his face, appearing concerned about his country and people.

However, after being here for less than half an hour, he seemed to have forgotten all his troubles.

If the top courtesan here couldn’t handle a man, what qualifications did she have to charge one thousand yuan a night? Did she really think one yuan of Great Hua wasn’t worth anything?

Kim Keo-rye was considered a man of firm will, but he couldn’t resist the onslaught of this gentle embrace.

After completing these two steps, Hao Keming came to discuss serious matters with Kim Keo-rye the next day.

“Master Kim, I have some bad news to tell you,” Hao Keming said, scaring Kim Keo-rye as soon as he arrived.

“What is it? Could it be that the ministers in the court are unwilling to help? Please help me get an audience. I hope to meet His Majesty the Emperor of Great Hua,” Kim Keo-rye said anxiously. This news was really too bad.

“Master Kim, don’t worry. The people above aren’t saying they won’t help, but there are conditions,” Hao Keming said.

“What conditions? Please tell me, Your Excellency,” Kim Keo-rye said.

As long as Great Hua was willing to send troops to save Korea, he was prepared to agree to any conditions.

Anyway, before he came, Yi Jong had given him very great authority, and he could agree to almost any condition.

After all, Korea was quite far from Nanjing, and it took nearly half a month to travel back and forth. Without some autonomy, the negotiations couldn’t proceed at all.

If he had to ask for instructions back and forth, by the time they reached an agreement, the entire territory of Korea would have fallen.

“Master Kim, didn’t you say that you also hope that the people of Korea can live this kind of good life? Now the opportunity has come. As long as Korea completely submits and merges into Great Hua, then the people of Korea will naturally be the people of Great Hua and can enjoy the same treatment.”

Although Hao Keming’s tone was very calm, it sounded like a thunderclap to Kim Keo-rye.

He understood. Great Hua wasn’t preparing to save Korea, but to annex Korea, just like Dorgon, with the heart of a wolf.

“Master Hao, what do you mean by this? What’s the difference between Great Hua’s actions and those of the Qing Dynasty?” Kim Keo-rye said angrily.

“The difference is huge. If you are annexed by the Qing Dynasty, sooner or later you will still be annexed by Great Hua along with the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty’s annexation of Korea can only bring heavy taxes to Korea.

But Great Hua’s annexation of Korea can bring you advanced production technology and allow your people to live a good life.”

“But what about the royal family? If even Korea is merged into Great Hua, what will become of my sovereign’s royal family?” Kim Keo-rye continued to question.

He was very angry, but he couldn’t leave in a fit of pique.

Just as the people in the Ministry of Rites had analyzed, Korea had no choice now. No matter how harsh the conditions, they had to accept them.

“As for the royal family, they can move to Nanjing and continue to enjoy wealth and glory. I don’t think Master Kim would think that the capital of Korea is comparable to Nanjing,” Hao Keming said, stating the facts and reasoning, leaving Kim Keo-rye speechless for a time.

Putting aside power, the enjoyment that could be obtained in Nanjing was naturally far greater than in Hanseong.

Seeing that Kim Keo-rye was already wavering, Hao Keming continued to persuade: “Master Kim, you have no choice. If Great Hua doesn’t help you, you will definitely not be able to defeat the Manchus.

Rather than being enslaved by the Manchus, what’s wrong with being a subject of Great Hua? If you let your people choose for themselves, I believe they would definitely choose to submit to Great Hua.

As for the royal family, accepting this condition is the best choice. Preserve wealth and glory, or be enslaved by the Manchus—the choice is yours.

Besides, Master Kim, you have to consider yourself as well. You have seen the wonders of Nanjing. If you can stay here forever and enjoy them, why not?

Those top-notch pleasures are quite expensive. If Master Kim wants to continue enjoying that kind of service, you have to make some contributions to Great Hua…”

Hao Keming said a lot, making Kim Keo-rye feel flustered, disoriented, and his mind filled with various intense ideological struggles.

Chapter 530: Expanding Territory

After Hao Keming’s barrage of words, Kim Keo-rye relented. It wasn’t that he was defeated by the sugar-coated bullets, but because he had no other choice.

The reason Yi Jong was able to retain his throne in the past was because the Ming Dynasty didn’t want to spend a great deal of effort to conquer Korea; it wasn’t worth it.

Similarly, the Qing Dynasty hadn’t completely annexed it for the same reason.

The cost of completely conquering Korea and supporting a puppet regime to govern Korea was vastly different.

But now, the Qing army had entered a state of madness, completely disregarding the lives and deaths of the Korean people.

As long as they could squeeze a little benefit from Korea, they wouldn’t hesitate to massacre, completely disregarding long-term development and its adverse effects.

In this situation, it was no longer possible for Yi Jong to maintain his throne, because Dorgon no longer needed him as a puppet.

He could only place his hopes on Great Hua. When Great Hua couldn’t help him keep his throne, he would be helpless.

Yi Jong had only three paths before him. The first was to fight the Qing Dynasty to the death, create some trouble for them, and then die a heroic death.

The second was to completely merge into the Qing Dynasty, lose power, become a prisoner, and then be exploited by the Qing Dynasty.

The third was to completely merge into Great Hua, lose power, and then come to Great Hua to be a wealthy man, while the people of Korea could also live a good life.

Anyone with even a little conscience would choose the third option.

Fortunately, Kim Keo-rye had a little conscience and cared about his people.

Therefore, after a difficult ideological struggle, he chose to agree in principle.

Next, they had to discuss some details, such as how much silver Yi Jong could receive each year for his retirement after coming to Nanjing. Also, how should the original officials of Korea be settled?

Those vested interests in Korea needed to be properly appeased, otherwise some of them would definitely be unwilling and would stand up to rebel.

There were many such details, but as long as the general direction was determined, the details were easy to discuss; it was just a matter of spending more money.

Spending an extra ten or twenty thousand yuan a year was not a big deal.

Being able to make the people of Korea willingly submit and not resist would save Great Hua a huge amount of governance costs.

After all the conditions were negotiated, Kim Keo-rye collapsed directly; he already felt mentally and physically exhausted.

Hao Keming, on the other hand, took the agreed-upon details to Wu Changqing to claim credit.

Wu Changqing was satisfied with this agreement.

It stipulated that Great Hua would send troops to drive the Qing army out of Korean territory, and then Yi Jong would announce his abdication and declare that the country would completely merge with Great Hua, becoming a province of Great Hua.

Completely abandoning autonomy in diplomacy, military affairs, internal affairs, and economy, and completely integrating into Great Hua.

In this way, Great Hua would really be getting a great deal. After all, with Yi Jong’s abdication edict, those ambitious factions in Korea would have no way to rebel under the banner of the Yi family.

As for rebellions without slogans, they were bound to fail.

Moreover, as long as Yi Jong’s abdication edict was publicized as much as possible, the ordinary people below would not be easily bewitched by ambitious people to rebel.

Without the support of the common people, any rebellion would not be able to make waves.

Without these troublesome rebellions, Great Hua would not have to station too many troops in Korea, and the cost of governing Korea would be low.

More importantly, without rebellion, there would be no suppression, and without suppression, there would be no antagonism with the Korean people, making assimilation easier.

If the two sides were constantly fighting, it would be impossible to assimilate, because they would forge a deep blood feud with each other.

If it weren’t for this reason, Wu Changqing wouldn’t have bothered to send someone to painstakingly win over Kim Keo-rye. With Great Hua’s military strength, it would be too easy to occupy Korea.

However, occupying a place was easy, but governing a place was difficult.

Unless absolutely necessary, Wu Changqing didn’t want to solve the problem with pure force.

Once pure force was used, it would inevitably lead to bloodshed and devastation. This was not the result Wu Changqing wanted.

After Wu Changqing read it and found no problems, he signed the contract.

Then, on the one hand, he announced it to the world, and on the other hand, he had the military prepare for action.

Announcing it to the world was naturally to publicize Wu Changqing’s achievements.

After all, since ancient times, there were not many dynasties that could completely annex Korea. Most of the time, they could only conquer it and list it as a vassal state.

But now, Great Hua was directly annexing it, and the significance of this was completely different.

As soon as the news came out, with the guidance of official public opinion, ordinary people would naturally think that this was a great joy, a symbol of Great Hua’s strength.

Only those with culture would think a little deeper.

For example, if Koreans also became citizens of Great Hua, could they also run to Nanjing to compete with the locals for jobs?

The locals in Nanjing now looked down on jobs paying less than one yuan and fifty cents, forcing some businessmen to raise wage levels.

And it was said that people in Korea couldn’t even get enough to eat. If those businessmen went to Korea to transport a batch of free workers, wouldn’t the locals lose their jobs?

Wages that the locals looked down on might be a gift in the eyes of Koreans.

Now, it didn’t cost money to go to elementary school in Nanjing. If Korean children ran over, wouldn’t they take up some opportunities for advancement?

Children who had suffered in Korea would definitely study very hard, right? Could their own precious little ancestors compete with them?

In short, those who thought less were immersed in the joy of Great Hua’s growing strength, while those who thought more had some faint worries.

Of course, Wu Changqing had considered this situation.

After all, in his later life, he had experienced the problems of urbanization and seen the international immigration problem.

Heh heh, these were all unsolvable problems.

However, Wu Changqing was in a different era, and there was an opportunity to solve them.

This kind of problem would not become prominent for at least seven or eight years, or even longer, so he didn’t need to pay attention to it for the time being.

What needed to be done now was to send troops to Korea as soon as possible.

And sending troops required money. The previous military expenses were all planned for use, and there was no extra surplus.

Now, to attack Korea, at least two million in initial military expenses had to be prepared. He had to think of other ways to get this money.

In the end, Wu Changqing had no choice but to take out his private money.

The money in the other national treasuries had various uses and could not be misappropriated.

In addition, he had shares in many businesses, so his private treasury had always been quite substantial.

Annexing Korea was his emperor’s political achievement project, so it was reasonable to take out his private money.

With funding, the army was quickly mobilized.

Not much was needed. The plan was to send only thirty thousand troops to solve the Korean problem.

And these thirty thousand soldiers would all arrive in Korea by sea.

Chapter 531: Sending Troops to Korea

The selection of personnel for the expedition to Korea was also a matter of intense competition within the Great Hua army.

After all, Great Hua currently had few major battles, and opportunities to earn merit were limited, so everyone wanted to seize them.

In the process, some factional competition within the military was also involved.

However, compared to the factional struggles of the civil officials, the factional competition within the Great Hua military was relatively benign.

This was because the factions they belonged to were not fixed.

Sometimes, when someone from the North Military Region was transferred to the South Military Region, their stance would change accordingly.

Therefore, their competition was mostly for personal gain, rather than for a particular faction or group.

In the end, Tang Guozhen, who had already been promoted to army commander, won the position of commander of the expeditionary force. Xu Yuxian, Duan Qiming, and Qian Sule won the positions of commander of the three main divisions.

After winning this opportunity, their troops were immediately re-equipped, discarding their flintlock muskets and replacing them with the Great Hua Type One rifles, which were breech-loading rifled guns.

There were not many of these guns in the entire Great Hua army at the moment. Production was halted after only twenty thousand were made because they were too expensive, and there was no need to produce so many.

Equipped with the new weapons, Xu Yuxian and the others grinned from ear to ear.

In this way, their three divisions became the three most elite divisions in Great Hua.

Subsequently, with the assistance of the navy, they boarded troop transports and sailed towards Incheon, Korea.

At this time, Dorgon had already advanced from the North to the South, reaching the Daegu area.

The only parts of Korea that had not yet been conquered were Gwangju, Busan, Jeju Island, and a few other places.

Dorgon dismounted his horse, stood on a mountain, and looked down at the distance, full of pride.

He had suffered so much humiliation at the hands of Great Hua, and he was now taking his revenge on the Koreans.

Using advanced firearms against cold weapon troops was simply too enjoyable.

At this time, Dorgon was like a high school student who had been bullied by street thugs and then found a middle school student to vent on.

This is commonly known as the kick-the-cat effect, which means that when people are angry at someone stronger than themselves, they often vent their anger on someone weaker.

Of course, Dorgon’s campaign against Korea was not just to vent his anger, but also to plunder resources and labor.

These were all crucial to his resurgence.

“There is no match for me in all of Korea.”

Dorgon said proudly, at this moment, he had become that spirited young man again.

“Flintlock muskets have been proven countless times to be obsolete. There is no need to retain cold weapon troops in the future.”

Soltu said.

Seeing Dorgon able to regain his spirits, Soltu was also very pleased.

Coupled with the smooth progress of the Korean war, everything seemed to be developing in a positive direction. A resurgence was not impossible.

However, Dorgon and his men did not rejoice for long.

In mid-October, Dorgon received a battle report stating that Great Hua’s army had landed in Incheon and was advancing towards Seoul.

This news instantly changed Dorgon’s expression, who had been very happy.

He rushed to the map and began to check his location and the location of Seoul.

“Oh no, the enemy wants to cut off my retreat and wipe us out in one fell swoop. This plan is so vicious.”

Dorgon almost gritted his teeth as he said these words.

“Damn it, these Great Hua people, we have clearly retreated beyond the border, yet they still won’t let us go. They want to eradicate us completely, this is outrageous.”

Another general said hatefully.

However, his words were quite naive. If they didn’t eradicate the root, would they leave a hidden danger beside them?

“Your Majesty, let’s retreat first. With Great Hua’s intervention, it is no longer realistic to completely occupy Korea. It is more important to return to our old home and continue to lie low, preserving our strength.

Our army is no longer suitable for fighting Great Hua. We need to recuperate and wait for the next generation of young men to grow up.”

Soltu said. Their biggest crisis now was that there were too few adult men.

After another one or two bloody battles, they would be close to extinction.

Therefore, this battle must not be fought.

Even if they won, the gains would definitely not outweigh the losses.

These adult men were the key to the reproduction of their tribe.

Although they had now stipulated that the young men in the tribe must marry when they turned fourteen, it was difficult for a fourteen-year-old to support a family.

Of course, Dorgon also knew the seriousness of the matter, so he did not pretend for the sake of face and very decisively agreed to Soltu’s suggestion to retreat.

However, how to retreat next was a big problem.

If it was just a matter of withdrawing the soldiers, it would not be difficult. They could simply take the small mountain roads in the northeast.

However, they had now captured a large number of Korean laborers, as well as a large amount of material wealth.

If these things could not be taken back home, then this battle would be a bit of a waste.

Dorgon felt very sorry for this and was unwilling to accept it.

However, if they wanted to take these spoils back, they would have to find a way to take the main road, which required passing through Seoul.

This was too dangerous, and Dorgon felt frightened just thinking about it.

“Let’s take the mountain road, go slowly, and try to conceal our movements as much as possible. Maybe we can get through. At the same time, we have to send an army to make a feigned attack to attract the attention of the Great Hua army.”

Soltu suggested.

If the Great Hua army did not see their movements for a long time, they would definitely be suspicious.

Sending an army to make a feigned attack to attract the attention of the Great Hua army was very important.

Of course, this task was also extremely dangerous.

If they were not careful, they could be surrounded and annihilated by the Great Hua army.

Dorgon was afraid of this risk again. He was now particularly fond of his subordinates because he really could not afford to lose them.

“Let’s abandon some of the prisoners. It is most important to protect our army. The Great Hua army cannot be stationed in Korea for a long time, as that would be a considerable expense for Great Hua.

After their army withdraws, we can always come back. With Korea’s military strength, we can come and go like the wind. Perhaps, we can also use Korea to drag down Great Hua, consume Great Hua’s energy, and make them unable to attack our old home.”

Dorgon said.

His words seemed to make some sense, but Soltu vaguely felt that it was not that simple.

Great Hua had mobilized a large army at great expense. Would they leave if they did not achieve any results?

What if they were stationed in Korea all the time?

However, Soltu only had a vague guess. He could not guess the specific thoughts of the Great Hua army, and he was not good at strategy.

It was only because a large number of civil officials and strategists were intercepted during the great retreat that they were now short of talent. He was now the best of a bad bunch, and he was almost a strategist.

In the end, Soltu did not refute Dorgon’s decision.

On the one hand, they abandoned a large number of prisoners and some less valuable materials.

On the other hand, they also sent out a large number of scouts to give early warning and prevent the Great Hua army from catching them off guard.

Chapter 532: One Hundred Li Defense Line

After the Great Hua army arrived in Seoul and just began to set up a siege formation, the Qing army garrisoned inside scattered and fled.

Most of the remaining Eight Banners troops had fought against the Hua army and knew how formidable they were.

Even those who hadn’t fought the Hua army had at least heard of their prestigious reputation.

The Eight Banners soldiers who had survived until now were all clever and lucky.

After taking Seoul, the staff department of the Great Hua Expeditionary Force was studying the next course of action using a map.

The maps they had were very rudimentary and couldn’t compare to the military maps of Great Hua.

Not only were there no detailed contour lines, but some mountainous areas didn’t even have their sizes marked. Many places lacked place names, and mountain trails were completely absent.

Looking at this map, Tang Guozhen and the others were frustrated.

They couldn’t get much useful information from this map, and they didn’t even know how many escape routes the Qing army might have.

They brought in local Koreans, but ordinary Koreans only knew the names of places around them. As for pointing them out on the map, they were completely clueless.

For a moment, Tang Guozhen and the others felt like they had arrived in a wild and desolate land, among primitive tribes.

“This is not easy. We are blind now and don’t even know where the Qing army is,” Xu Yuxian complained.

The goal of their operation was still to eliminate the Qing army’s active forces. Only by destroying the enemy’s troops could they weaken their strength.

As for the gains and losses of a city or a place, it was no longer important.

Even if they recovered the entire Korea, it would be useless if they didn’t eliminate the Qing army. The Qing army was too close and could come back at any time.

They couldn’t stay here forever and wear down the Qing army. It was also not suitable to go deep into the Qing army’s lair; the risk was too great.

“There’s no way around it. The Koreans’ map-making skills are just like this. Next, it’s important for us to explore the surrounding terrain. Without knowing the situation well, we can’t formulate tactics,” Qian Sule said.

“I say, are you all being too cautious? Although we are fighting away from home and are not familiar with the place, the Qing army is also fighting away from home, and they are not familiar with the terrain either.

In this regard, we don’t suffer any disadvantage, so there’s no need to worry too much. Slightly disperse our forces and spread them across the entire defense line, not giving the Qing army a chance to slip away.

As long as the Qing army shows their faces, people from other places can provide support. As for worrying about being divided, surrounded, and annihilated by the Qing army, I’m not looking down on them, but they really don’t have the guts…”

Duan Qiming directly drew a line on the map, meaning that he wanted to deploy troops at intervals along this line, covering the entire defense line.

In this way, the enemy would have no chance to slip away.

However, because the battle line was too long, the number of soldiers stationed in each section would not be large.

If the troops were too dispersed, they would be easily defeated one by one.

In short, this idea had both advantages and disadvantages.

If the support between each section was fast enough, there was hope to hold back the Qing army.

“We can try it. It just so happens that the weapons we are currently using are also suitable for small-scale operations. Taking advantage of the Qing army’s unfamiliarity with our new weapons, we might be able to severely damage the enemy again,” Tang Guozhen thought for a while and finally approved the plan.

After detailed argumentation, the Hua army left three thousand people to garrison Seoul, and then divided the remaining approximately twenty-eight thousand people into sixty units, basically one battalion per unit.

Key areas had two to three battalions. These sixty units were distributed along a three hundred li defense line.

Theoretically, there would be a battalion of troops stationed every five li, which seemed too sparse.

But in reality, some places were impassable and didn’t need to be defended.

So, sixty units were enough to keep an eye on all the Qing army’s retreat routes.

Before the army set off, they tried their best to bring more than one hundred locals who could communicate and were familiar with the terrain.

Being unfamiliar with the terrain was indeed a significant problem.

They advanced from southwest to northeast along the line drawn on the map, leaving one or two battalions at each place that needed to be defended.

Then, the others continued to advance.

As they went along, the team became smaller and smaller.

Until the northernmost coast, the team was only one battalion.

At this point, their defense line was properly set up, waiting for the Qing army to return.

They didn’t wait long, because the Qing army had been on their way back while they were setting up the defense line.

At this time, the scouts of their vanguard had discovered the Hua army’s position.

Then, they quickly returned to report the situation.

“What? The Hua army has also set up a defense line on this mountain road? Damn it,” the vanguard commander, Mondar, said hatefully.

“The enemy only has three hundred people. Why don’t we just surround them and wipe them out?” a subordinate suggested.

“Do you have a brain? Can you guarantee that you will eliminate everyone and not let one escape? As long as one person escapes to report, they will know our movements and will gather here. By then, it won’t be so easy to escape,” Mondar scolded.

“Then what should we do?” the subordinate continued to ask.

It was too difficult if they couldn’t even eliminate the enemy.

Mondar, who was able to be a vanguard scout, had some brains.

On the one hand, he sent people back to report to Dorgon. On the other hand, he sent scouts to other directions to find a way around.

His principle was to avoid contact with the Hua army as much as possible and not expose their whereabouts.

The Qing army’s scouts spread out, but as time went by, the intelligence gathered by the scouts made Mondar’s back feel cold.

Enemy troops were found on the hillside at the left intersection, and Hua army troops were also stationed on a small road six li away on the right. There was another unit eleven li away on the right…

Mondar had vaguely guessed the Hua army’s plan.

As more and more information gathered, his guess was constantly being confirmed.

“These people are determined to block our way back. They are really vicious,” Mondar cursed.

Now, the Qing army generals especially liked to say that the Hua army was very vicious, as if the Hua army should let them off.

Coincidentally, the Ming Dynasty’s army had also evaluated the Eight Banners troops in this way before.

Unable to defeat the opponent in strength, they tried to point fingers at the other party morally.

“Prince, what should we do?” the subordinate asked.

“I don’t know. Pass the situation to the higher-ups and let them make the decision. I guess they might concentrate their forces and break through from somewhere in one go,” Mondar could only think of this method.

Chapter 533: The Qing Army Plans to Flee

After Dorgon and the others learned about the situation at the front, they gathered their subordinates to discuss it.

Their plan was indeed similar to Mondar’s.

However, relatively speaking, their plan was more refined.

First, they would send a force to attack the Great Hua army’s No. 15 position, creating the illusion that they were trying to break through from the No. 15 pass and flee north.

Once the Great Hua army redeployed troops from other locations to reinforce the No. 15 pass, their main force would launch a fierce attack on the No. 17 and No. 18 positions, breaking through in one fell swoop.

Then, they would detach a portion of their forces to defend and block, while the rest would quickly pass through these two passes.

The reason for choosing the No. 17 and No. 18 passes was, of course, after much consideration and not a random selection.

First of all, the terrain from the No. 15 to No. 19 pass was mostly mountainous. The distance between these four passes was long, and the battle line was extended, so the Great Hua army’s reinforcements would be slower.

Some passes, such as the No. 1 and No. 2 passes, were only four li apart, making it easy to reinforce. The Great Hua army could easily concentrate its forces in those places, making them unsuitable for a breakthrough.

Secondly, there were two main peaks at the No. 17 and No. 18 passes, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The Qing army was not stupid enough to attack more difficult places. They also had their considerations.

In their view, launching a surprise attack would make it relatively easy to break through one or two mountain passes.

The difficulty lay in the fact that their large army would need a long time to pass through, perhaps as long as a day or two.

This time was too dangerous. If they were attacked by the Great Hua army during this time, they might be completely wiped out.

However, as long as they occupied the No. 17 and No. 18 heights, they could rely on the dangerous terrain of these two heights to build a defensive line, sending a small number of troops to block the Great Hua army and protect the main force to pass safely through the area between the No. 17 and No. 18 passes.

The Qing army’s entire operational strategy was to minimize losses as much as possible.

For them, it was meaningless how many enemies they killed. The key was how many of their own people they could save.

After formulating the plan, the Qing army officially began to act.

First, Mondar’s unit moved to the No. 15 pass to feign an attack on the Great Hua army on the hillside.

They did not need to, and could not, take this hillside.

Instead, they had to create pressure on the Great Hua army here and force them to ask for reinforcements, attracting the garrison troops from the No. 16, No. 17, and No. 18 passes.

The difficulty of this task was not in capturing the Great Hua army’s stronghold, but in making the act look real, so that the Great Hua army would believe that they were going to break through from here.

However, they also needed to be careful when acting, and not break through all at once.

If they broke through, the Great Hua army might abandon this stronghold and rebuild a defensive line elsewhere, or have other countermeasures. In short, there would be variables.

The Qing army did not like surprises. The best result was to attract the Great Hua army from other places here.

On October 28th, Mondar’s unit, with more than four thousand men, launched an attack on the Great Hua army’s No. 15 stronghold.

Due to the terrain, it was impossible for more than four thousand people to charge at the same time.

In their first charge, there were about one thousand people.

Among these one thousand people, only three hundred or so had flintlock guns.

Mondar only had a total of one thousand five hundred flintlock guns in his hands.

This ratio was already considered very high. Dorgon’s army of thirty thousand men only had five thousand guns in total.

The rest were still using cold weapons.

This was all that Dorgon had left.

In the Qing army’s first charge, there were more than three hundred flintlock guns, while the Great Hua army’s garrison only had three hundred and forty people.

In Mondar’s view, he had a clear advantage.

However, little did he know that the Great Hua army had already changed their weapons.

A closer look would reveal that the Great Hua army had dug many trench positions on the hillside. These were not for defense against artillery fire, but for defense against enemy bullets.

These people were all staying in the trenches, only exposing the parts of their bodies above their shoulders, and wearing steel helmets on their heads.

Unless they were shot in the face, they were almost not in much danger.

With the accuracy of flintlock guns, it was too difficult to hit the other party’s face. Even if it was a sharpshooter, the accuracy of a flintlock gun beyond fifty meters was all up to fate.

Only rifles with breech-loading bullets were suitable for this kind of trench. If it was still a flintlock gun, it would be quite troublesome to load bullets while standing in the trench.

In the past, the trenches dug by the Southern Ming army were used to defend against artillery fire. When the real fighting started, people had to walk out of the trenches and expose their bodies.

The Qing army was charging. When they were two hundred meters away from the Great Hua army, the Great Hua army had already begun to fire.

This made some Qing soldiers laugh. They felt that this was because the Great Hua army had few people and was afraid, so they made such a naive move.

At this distance, wanting to hit the enemy was simply wishful thinking.

However, their smiles did not last long.

As several people fell one after another around them, the Qing army realized that something seemed wrong.

If these people were all just lucky shots by the Great Hua army, there were too many of them.

They were still charging stupidly, just feeling that something was wrong. This was not a reason to stop moving forward.

The closer they got, the more people fell.

When they charged to a distance of one hundred meters, they had already fallen about one hundred people, accounting for about one-tenth.

This was a bit terrifying. In the past, they had almost zero casualties in this distance. The next one hundred meters would be a bloody road, a difficult journey.

However, now that they had just embarked on a bloody journey, one-tenth of them had already died.

Ninety meters, eighty meters, seventy meters…

The closer the distance, the higher the Great Hua army’s hit rate.

When they reached fifty meters, they could almost kill an enemy with two shots.

After all, the Qing army’s charge was to directly expose themselves completely in the Great Hua army’s field of vision, without using trees, large rocks, or small mounds to cover their bodies.

They simply did not have this kind of tactical thinking in their minds.

Only after fighting the Great Hua army with breech-loading rifles a few more times would they realize this problem and then make changes.

Many tactics are forced out.

And now, they were like the soldiers charging at machine guns in World War I.

They were completely unaware of the seriousness of the problem.

This kind of backward tactical thinking was the most fatal.

When they charged to fifty meters, nearly forty percent of them had already fallen.

Next, even the stupidest people were unwilling to charge any further, and they all turned around and ran away.

Even more tragic was that even when they turned around to escape, they did not know how to hide and avoid, only knowing to speed up their pace.

In the process of escaping, they died nearly one hundred more people.

In this charge, they lost nearly half of their soldiers, but they did not even touch a hair of the Great Hua army.

Chapter 534: Dorgon’s Despair

In reality, the Great Hua army also suffered casualties.

One soldier’s rifle exploded while firing, directly killing him.

However, this was the only casualty for the Great Hua army.

Seeing the Qing army retreat, Zang Miao, the battalion commander of the Sixth Battalion, couldn’t help but chuckle.

His laughter wasn’t a hearty “hahaha” kind of laugh.

Instead, it was a slightly contemptuous sneer.

Like seeing someone make a fool of themselves due to their own stupidity, and being unable to suppress a gloating feeling.

The other soldiers of the Great Hua army followed suit, laughing heartily.

“These Qing soldiers thought we were using flintlocks; they’ve been fooled. This charge probably scared them to death.”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, these guns are invincible for defense. I can’t imagine how the Qing army will attack. I can’t help but feel sorry for them.”

“This is too much of a one-sided beatdown. Maybe we should slow down our firing later, or the enemy might be too afraid to attack again, and we’ll earn fewer merits.”

Many soldiers jokingly mocked the Qing army.

Having defended their position so easily, they naturally wouldn’t request reinforcements.

However, they still lit the signal smoke.

The Great Hua army had prepared two ways to light signal smoke. Lighting one plume of smoke meant they were telling friendly forces in other locations that they had encountered the enemy, but they could hold their ground.

Lighting two plumes of smoke meant they had encountered a large enemy force and urgently needed reinforcements.

If they lacked technology, they would make up for it with wisdom.

Using this method, they could accurately transmit some simple information.

The Great Hua army’s position was filled with joy, while the Qing army’s side was permeated with fear, disappointment, and sorrow.

It was too tragic. In the past, although they suffered losses in terms of weaponry, they could at least charge to the enemy’s front. After paying a price, they could at least fight.

But now, they couldn’t even get close.

Although they hadn’t sent all their men at once, Mondar knew that sending them all would probably be useless.

Because the Great Hua army hadn’t even had time to use their grenades just now.

Even if they charged to the front of the Great Hua army, they would still be subjected to a wave of grenade attacks.

After such repeated blows, even soldiers made of iron couldn’t withstand it.

What to do, what to do, what to do?

Mondar paced back and forth anxiously, like a headless fly.

He was anxious because the longer the retreat was delayed, the more disadvantageous it would be for them.

The other soldiers and generals looked at Mondar with worried expressions, hoping that Mondar could come up with some new ideas, and not fight like they had just done.

“Immediately go to the central army and report the situation here to His Majesty, saying that the Great Hua army has new weapons and requesting new strategies.”

Mondar directly passed the problem to Dorgon, letting them figure out a solution, while he would simply execute the orders.

The two armies were only about twenty li apart, so the news quickly reached Dorgon.

This news almost made Dorgon collapse again.

“New weapons, new weapons, why do they keep having new weapons? The artisans in our armory are all useless trash. I’ll go back and behead them to offer as sacrifice to the heavens.”

Dorgon overturned the table, constantly cursing and venting his anger.

This was too infuriating. He had finally managed to create a batch of flintlocks by scraping together resources and exhausting his family fortune, thinking that this would allow him to compete with Great Hua to some extent.

However, Great Hua repeatedly used new weapons to bully them.

Howitzers, hydrogen balloons, sniper rifles, flamethrowers…

The previous ones weren’t even main battle equipment, so Dorgon could barely tolerate it.

But now, Great Hua had even updated the basic equipment of their main battle force, the soldiers’ rifles. This was simply too much.

Even their guns were inferior. How could they fight this war?

He had experienced using cold weapons against flintlocks and knew the feeling of being crushed by weaponry. Therefore, even without seeing the Great Hua army’s new guns, he knew how much of a disadvantage they would face.

In particular, the messenger’s report clearly described the superior performance of the enemy’s new guns.

A range of over two hundred meters, high accuracy, and a high rate of fire.

Who could withstand that? It was simply the perfect firearm, without any flaws.

The Qing Dynasty had also been researching how to solve the problems of the flintlock’s rate of fire and accuracy, but they had no clue and made no progress.

It was precisely because of this that Dorgon knew how difficult it was to solve these problems.

But now, Great Hua had solved them again.

“What do we do now?”

“It’s too difficult. Great Hua’s weapon and equipment updates are too fast. We can’t keep up at all.”

“I wonder if the enemy has equipped all their troops with this equipment. If so, we may truly be in dire straits.”

The crowd discussed, now they urgently needed to know whether only that battalion of the Great Hua army was equipped with new weapons, or whether all the soldiers were equipped with them.

“Your Majesty, we must prepare for the worst. Formulate a plan to deal with the situation if the enemy has fully equipped themselves with new equipment. We cannot be complacent. In my opinion, it is very likely that they have equipped everyone.”

Soltu reminded him.

The No. 15 stronghold they attacked was just an ordinary one among all the Great Hua strongholds, with nothing special about it. It was unlikely that the Great Hua army would give special treatment to the soldiers at the No. 15 stronghold alone, giving them advanced weapons.

Therefore, the most likely scenario was that the Great Hua army had equipped everyone with this weapon.

“Soltu, do you have any ideas?”

Dorgon asked. He had no idea what to do now.

“Now, we can only cut off our wrist like a brave warrior. No matter how advanced the weapons are, they still need people to use them. They only have so many people in one stronghold. As long as we charge without regard for the cost, we will definitely be able to break through.

As for how many can break through, and how many can escape before the enemy arrives, that is hard to say.”

Soltu said through gritted teeth. This brute-force method was more than just cutting off a wrist; it was practically dismembering the entire arm.

However, as things stood, they really had no other choice.

If they continued to hesitate, and the Great Hua army determined their exact location and surrounded them, they would be waiting for total annihilation.

“If we lose too many soldiers, how will we compete with Great Hua after returning to our homeland?”

Dorgon said angrily.

How to compete?

Soltu really wanted to tell him that there was no hope at all.

Back then, they were able to enter the pass in their prime, all thanks to the internal strife of the Ming Dynasty.

But now, the Great Hua’s political situation was stable, and the world was tending towards peace. They would have no chance at all.

The best way was to imitate Nurhaci of the past, submit to Great Hua and pay tribute, choosing to become a vassal state of Great Hua, and then wait for an opportunity.

If they insisted on claiming the title of emperor and were obsessed with that title, they would be doomed.

Chapter 535: A Desperate Gamble

Dorgon was just venting his anger. After calming down, he knew that he had no choice but to use Soltu’s method.

Better to cut off a limb than lose the whole body.

As for how to fight Great Hua in the future, that was a matter for later. He needed to deal with the present first.

Maybe Wu Changqing would suddenly die.

Dorgon had fantasized about Wu Changqing’s sudden death many times, because that was his only hope.

Wu Changqing dies, his subordinates fight for power, internal strife, and he takes the opportunity to re-enter the pass, and another Wu Sangui-like figure surrenders to him…

Sometimes, he needed the pleasure brought by this kind of fantasy to barely fall asleep.

If he didn’t fantasize and faced reality in his mind every day, he would easily have nightmares.

The next day, the Qing army launched a general attack on the Great Hua strongholds numbered seventeen and eighteen.

Even Mondar’s unit was transferred back to the central army.

They didn’t bother with any feint maneuvers. The price to pay for such tactics was too high, outweighing the benefits.

Seeing the mountainside suddenly swarming with enemies, the four battalions of soldiers stationed at stronghold seventeen almost vomited blood.

“Light the double smoke signal.”

Battalion Commander Lü Songqing said urgently. He didn’t even wait for the enemy to launch an attack and very simply lit the distress signal.

Because there was no need to try. Anyone with a bit of brains wouldn’t think that their three hundred plus men could resist the enemy’s ten thousand plus.

Although their weapons were sharp, the number of bullets they could fire at one time was limited.

Numbers, no matter when, have a certain effect.

Once the enemy got close to them, they would be completely finished.

Stronghold eighteen also lit a double smoke signal. Seeing this, Lü Songqing immediately understood that the enemy was launching a general attack, and it should be the kind of all-out attack regardless of the cost.

This was a good thing for the Great Hua Expeditionary Force. It meant that the Qing army had run out of options and was forced to fight a decisive battle.

In such a decisive battle, they would definitely win and achieve great results.

But this was not a good thing for the four battalions.

Before the friendly forces arrived, they would face the pressure of being completely annihilated.

“Check weapons and ammunition, and prepare for a desperate fight. Brothers, the opportunity has come. As long as we can stop the Qing army, we will get at least a third-rank silver saber as a reward, and maybe even a second-rank one. As for silver and land, those are not a problem. We haven’t seen the people above treat meritorious officials badly.”

Lü Songqing tried to boost morale. He turned a huge crisis into a great opportunity.

After all, there were too many enemies on the other side. Saying otherwise would bring great psychological pressure to the soldiers.

“Hahaha, I’ve been waiting for this opportunity.”

Some soldiers responded, while others remained silent.

Those who responded might not be afraid at all. Saying that might be to embolden themselves.

However, no matter what they thought in their hearts, they did not retreat.

Staying might not mean death, but running away would definitely mean death. In that case, it was better to stay and fight. As long as they could survive by luck, they could live a good life in the future.

Combining kindness and power has always been the principle of the Hua army.

This approach is also quite effective.

While they were talking, the Qing army had already rushed over.

Fortunately, the high ground where the four battalions were stationed was easy to defend and difficult to attack. Only one side could go up, and this side was not large, about thirty meters wide.

The Qing army invested only two thousand troops in the attack at a time. More wouldn’t fit.

These two thousand people rushed madly towards the Hua army’s position. Dorgon promised that killing an enemy would be rewarded with a woman.

Dorgon now only had women to offer as rewards. Other supplies were very scarce.

Of course, women were also scarce, but after this battle, they would not be scarce, because a large number of people would definitely die in battle, and the wives and daughters of those people could be distributed to the survivors.

Dorgon did a good job with this cost-free business.

The Qing soldiers charged like they were on drugs. Their crazy appearance looked quite scary.

If it was close combat, this momentum could scare people.

Unfortunately, everyone was using guns now, and this effect was much smaller.

As long as they could steady their hands and not shake, it didn’t matter.

After the enemy entered the Hua army’s range, the Hua army pulled the trigger.

“Come on, eat Grandpa’s bullets, hahaha.”

On the Hua army’s side, some people also went crazy under the enormous pressure.

One soldier was too lazy to hide in the trench and jumped out of the trench to fire wildly.

No one cared about him. Everyone was too busy.

Moreover, at this time, no one in the Qing army was firing back. Standing outside the trench was actually not a problem.

Bullets kept falling into the Qing army’s camp, and Qing soldiers fell one after another.

However, this number of people was insignificant to the huge charging team.

They were still charging. When they reached about one hundred meters, those holding flintlock guns stopped to fight back, while the soldiers holding cold weapons continued to charge.

The Qing army hoped to create some damage and suppression effect on the Hua army with flintlock guns.

However, their purpose was not achieved.

Their bullets either went too high and shot into the sky, hitting nothing.

Or they were too low and shot in front of the Hua army’s position, or on the sandbags of the position.

In short, very few were able to hit Hua army soldiers.

This was the biggest advantage of breech-loading guns. People using breech-loading guns could hide their bodies and say goodbye to lining up to be shot.

Flintlock guns, which used to be extremely lethal, suddenly seemed extremely weak in the face of this situation.

Just like matchlock guns encountering flintlock guns, there was already a generation gap, and they couldn’t compete at all.

Compared with breech-loading rifled guns, flintlock guns also had a generation gap.

A flurry of operations as fierce as a tiger, but looking at the results, one feels bitter.

One or two hundred Qing soldiers responsible for suppression fired two shots, but didn’t hit a single person.

This naturally did not have a suppressive effect. The Hua army didn’t even blink and continued to shoot, as if the Qing army’s suppression didn’t exist.

Seeing this situation, the soldiers who were still charging were desperate and hesitated to stop.

“Keep charging. Those who are afraid of battle will be killed without mercy. Not charging is also death, so let’s fight hard.”

The Qing army general threatened and reasoned.

After much persuasion, he finally forced the team to continue moving forward.

However, as the distance between the two sides got closer and closer, the Qing army suffered more and more casualties.

Finally, they approached the Hua army and could rely on throwing grenades to kill the Hua army.

And the Hua army had already started throwing grenades at them.

Compared to guns, grenades are definitely more efficient at killing.

The two sides threw grenades at each other, but the Hua army still had the advantage.

They were high above, taking full advantage of the terrain.

Chapter 536: A Desperate Battle Under Special Circumstances

Having charged to the front of the Great Hua army, the Qing army soldiers had exhausted the last shred of their courage.

If they could have charged up in one go, that would have been one thing, but after being bombarded by another wave of grenades and seeing no hope of breaking through, some Qing soldiers completely lost control.

Having lost their minds, they didn’t think about the serious consequences their escape would bring to their side, nor did they think about the serious consequences it would bring to themselves.

Their actions were now dictated solely by instinct.

Seeing this, Mondar’s liver ached with anger.

All his previous efforts were wasted, utterly wasted!

The Qing army retreated like a tide, and this attack ended in failure.

“Behead all those who retreat and display their heads as a warning!”

Dorgon said coldly.

In times of crisis, severe punishments must be used.

Dorgon understood that if he didn’t kill all those who retreated, the new troops that replaced them wouldn’t fight to the death either. They would charge for a bit and then retreat, hoping that others would fight to the death.

There was no helping it; ordinary soldiers had this kind of blindness and lacked a sense of the bigger picture.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not!”

His subordinates cried out in alarm.

There were still over one thousand two hundred men who had retreated. Killing them all would be too cruel and too bloody.

“Those who try to dissuade me will be killed along with them! Executioners, do it!”

At this moment, Dorgon had fallen into madness.

The executioners had no choice but to obey.

Instantly, wails of grief echoed from the foot of the mountain.

Some soldiers couldn’t help but shed tears as they watched those being beheaded.

They empathized, knowing that they might face the same fate later.

“Your Majesty, stop! I will personally lead them to charge one more time to redeem themselves!”

Mondar couldn’t bear to watch any longer and stopped the executioners.

Killing them like this was too ruthless and too wasteful.

“Do you think they still have the courage to charge?”

Dorgon said coldly.

Mondar didn’t reply. He went directly to those who hadn’t been beheaded yet and shouted, “Is there anyone who doesn’t want to die such a cowardly death? Follow me! If we are to die, let us die on the path of charging forward!”

“I am willing to follow Prince Mondar to fight to the death!”

One soldier shouted, taking the lead, and immediately a large number of soldiers responded.

It wasn’t necessarily that they were moved by Mondar’s heroism, but they simply had no other choice.

And so, they were once again given weapons and followed Mondar to charge towards the Great Hua army’s No. 17 stronghold.

At this point, their numbers had dwindled to only six or seven hundred. The beheadings had claimed the lives of four or five hundred men.

The scene was so horrific that even the Great Hua soldiers on the mountain couldn’t bear to look at it.

Such a large-scale massacre of one’s own soldiers was extremely rare.

A new round of charging began.

Behind these six or seven hundred men followed the Qing army’s new assault troops, whose task was to supervise these six or seven hundred men and to charge as well.

Dorgon had issued a death order: either take the mountain or die on the mountain. Anyone who retreated would be beheaded without exception.

Although this kind of order could deter those soldiers who feared battle, it would also have endless troubles after the war.

No one would be willing to be loyal to such a tyrant. In the future, as long as they had the opportunity, the soldiers would escape, or some would unite and kill Dorgon.

The Qing army launched a second round of attack, and Lü Songqing was starting to panic.

Clearly, the Qing army had gone mad.

Madmen were still very scary.

He swallowed and continued to encourage them, “This is the enemy’s last wave of attack! As long as we withstand this wave, they will definitely not have the courage to attack again. Brothers, hold on!”

Although the words sounded good, many Great Hua soldiers’ legs were still trembling.

The first wave had already been quite dangerous.

And now that the enemy continued to attack, they didn’t even have a chance to catch their breath.

The Qing army’s suicide squad charged forward, howling, with Mondar taking the lead.

If he hadn’t seen through things, he wouldn’t have volunteered.

At this point, he no longer cared about his own life or death.

Having such a high-ranking officer leading the charge could have a very good leading effect on the soldiers.

Even the officers were charging like this, so what reason did they have not to charge?

Many soldiers only cared about fairness.

“Shoot! Fire at will!”

Lü Songqing shouted, taking the lead and firing the first shot.

Gunfire erupted, but the Qing army was not affected at all, charging forward madly.

For a time, the Great Hua soldiers were also under tremendous psychological pressure.

The Qing army’s suicide squad kept falling, but they never stopped.

Soon, they charged within ten meters of the Great Hua army’s front line.

They were not equipped with grenades, so at this distance, they continued to charge, charge, charge.

This seemingly brain-dead way of attacking was extremely effective.

Even though they only had two hundred men left, the momentum they unleashed was stronger than the two thousand men behind them.

The Great Hua army’s grenades could not stop these people’s madness. As long as they could still move, they kept approaching.

Soon, some of them rushed into the Great Hua army’s position.

Although those who rushed in were immediately stabbed to death, their effect was enormous. They at least caused three Great Hua soldiers to stop firing their guns and throwing grenades.

And this gap led to more Qing soldiers charging onto the Great Hua army’s position.

Then came a chain reaction.

Although the Qing army’s suicide squad now had only a dozen or so people left, and even Mondar had died in the chaos, they had completed their mission.

They restrained the Great Hua army’s energy, and the more than two thousand Qing soldiers behind them had also rushed to the front of the Great Hua army’s battlefield, and then engaged in close combat.

“Brothers, the time has come to be loyal to the country!”

Lü Songqing knew that his life was going to end here. Once the enemy had charged onto the position, it was impossible to defend it no matter what.

It was impossible to say that he wasn’t afraid.

But even if he was afraid, he had no choice.

If he died in battle here, his family would receive preferential treatment. His father and two younger brothers would be able to live a good life because of it.

But if he ran away, the outcome would also be death, and his family would be punished because of it.

From the moment he became an officer, he knew that this scene might happen in the future.

Every junior officer knew this rule, but there was still an endless stream of people who wanted to become officers.

After all, situations where they needed to fight to the death were still quite rare.

At this time, he could only sigh at his bad luck.

The soldiers under Lü Songqing didn’t have this kind of worry, but they didn’t run away or retreat either.

They and their families had enjoyed many benefits from Great Hua, and at this time, when Great Hua needed them, they were not willing to let Great Hua down.

Most people didn’t run away, and the few who wanted to run were both afraid of being executed and felt like they would lose face.

In this atmosphere, almost all the Great Hua soldiers chose to stay and continue to fight to the death.

Under normal circumstances, the Great Hua army’s tolerance for casualty rates was generally between thirty and forty percent. But in special circumstances, there were also examples of fighting to the death.

And this time, Lü Songqing’s Fourth Battalion once again became such a special case.

Chapter 537: Outpost Lost

Although the Great Hua soldiers fought to the death, it didn’t mean they transformed into Gundams, suddenly able to take on ten enemies at once.

Aside from increased resolve, their martial prowess remained virtually unchanged.

The scenario of shouting “Long live!” and single-handedly charging into the enemy ranks, killing several before falling, was extremely rare.

In a one-on-one fight, Great Hua soldiers had a slight advantage, but against two opponents, they struggled to cope.

And when a large number of Qing army soldiers flooded the position, the Great Hua soldiers faced far more than just two opponents.

Therefore, the Great Hua soldiers were falling rapidly.

Killing over three hundred people was actually quite fast.

In just over ten minutes, the Great Hua position was littered with corpses, with fewer than thirty Great Hua soldiers remaining.

“Go destroy the smoke signal. The rest of you, follow me and keep fighting!”

Lü Songqing issued his final order.

He sent soldiers to blow up the smoke signal, informing friendly forces that their position had been lost and requesting them to speed up their reinforcements.

After issuing the order, Lü Songqing and the others continued to wield their bayonets, fighting fiercely with the Qing army soldiers.

Before his death, Lü Songqing took another enemy life.

The others were similar, managing to take down an enemy as a last stand. But that was the end of it.

“Stop those two!”

The Qing army general saw two Great Hua soldiers rushing towards the smoke signal. Although he didn’t know what they were going to do, stopping them was definitely the right move.

Unfortunately, he shouted too late. As the Qing soldiers arrived, they used grenades to destroy the two places where smoke was being lit, extinguishing the signal.

Having done all this, they threw their remaining grenades at the enemy, forgetting to save one for themselves.

Faced with such a desperate struggle, the remaining Qing soldiers were extremely angry.

After stabbing these two soldiers to death, they continued to vent their anger on their corpses.

At Great Hua’s Outpost Number Eighteen, the Great Hua soldiers saw the smoke signal from Outpost Number Seventeen disappear, immediately realizing that Outpost Number Seventeen had fallen. They were extremely anxious.

The battle situation on their side was far less intense than at Outpost Number Seventeen.

Because Dorgon was not personally supervising the battle here, the Qing army launched two consecutive and repeated assaults, but were beaten back each time.

After that, the Qing army hesitated.

Without Dorgon’s bloody and terrifying methods, the Qing army here did not exhibit the same will to fight to the death.

However, the Great Hua soldiers at Outpost Number Eighteen were barely holding their ground and were unable to support Outpost Number Seventeen.

“Alas, what is Old Lü doing? How could he lose the position? He has truly failed His Majesty’s grace.”

The Eighth Battalion’s company commander cursed, feeling disappointed.

Of course, he could guess that the Fourth Battalion must have suffered a fierce attack.

But in the Great Hua army, failure has no excuses; defeat is defeat.

“I wonder how the men of the Fourth Battalion are doing. With the enemy having stormed their position, the outcome is probably grim.”

The soldiers at Outpost Number Eighteen discussed, all of them knowing that the men of the Fourth Battalion were likely in dire straits.

“Cheer up! We must not lose this position. If we can hold on for another half an hour, friendly reinforcements will definitely arrive.”

The Eighth Battalion’s company commander encouraged, knowing that morale must not waver at this time.

This was all he could do. As for Outpost Number Seventeen, there was nothing he could do about it.

At this time, two companies of reinforcements from Outpost Number Sixteen were almost at Outpost Number Seventeen.

“Damn it, the Fourth Battalion has fallen!”

Third Company’s company commander, Qin Dazhuang, slapped his thigh.

“Old Qin, what should we do?”

Another person asked.

“What else can we do? Charge over immediately and find favorable terrain to harass them. We’re definitely not the only ones coming to reinforce. As long as we can hold on for a while, we’ll be able to wait for friendly forces to arrive.”

Qin Dazhuang said.

Without much discussion, they quickly decided on a plan.

Then, guided by a local, they arrived at the top of a hill.

From this hilltop, they could see the Qing army fleeing north.

“This distance is a bit too far to have a good harassing effect.”

Qin Dazhuang said helplessly. They were almost two hundred meters away from the Qing army. Although they could shoot at the Qing army, the killing effect would be limited.

If the Qing army was determined to escape, they could completely ignore them.

“Let’s try it first. If we can attract the enemy to attack, that’s best. If they dare to ignore us, we’ll consider whether to get closer.”

Qin Dazhuang issued the order. Then, they each found a position and began firing at the Qing army.

The gunfire almost startled Dorgon off his horse.

Having finally broken through the Great Hua’s defenses, it would be disastrous to encounter another ambush. After all, good subordinates like Mondar were hard to find.

Fortunately, Dorgon was slightly relieved to see that there were not many Great Hua reinforcements.

More importantly, the Great Hua’s reinforcements had arrived in a hurry and had not found a good ambush location. This was Dorgon’s luckiest break.

If Qin Dazhuang and the others had been able to find a place similar to the heights of Outpost Number Seventeen, it would have given Dorgon a headache.

“Ignore them! The entire army accelerates its retreat! Let Soltu also retreat to our side and retreat from here!”

Dorgon ordered.

From attacking Outpost Number Seventeen, Dorgon knew how difficult it was to attack the Great Hua’s positions.

Therefore, he did not expect Soltu to break through either, and simply ordered Soltu to escape from his side as well.

After issuing the order, Dorgon took the captured Yongxing Type Two rifles and left first.

These rifles were Dorgon’s only gain this time.

He could use these three hundred or so rifles to form an ultra-elite unit, and he could also hope that the artisans would reverse engineer them and master the manufacturing technology of this rifle.

In the future, they would all use this type of rifle to close the gap with Great Hua.

Of course, this was just Dorgon’s self-consolation.

Anyone with a realistic perspective knew that by the time they had fully understood this gun, Great Hua’s new weapons would definitely be launched.

At this time, all the Great Hua units on the entire battlefield were in action.

The Great Hua troops from Outposts Fourteen and Fifteen had sent reinforcements to Outpost Seventeen.

Outposts Nineteen and Twenty were also rushing to Outpost Eighteen. These were all orders issued by company commander-level generals.

In this mountainous area, in order to race against time, they had no way to ask their superiors for instructions. They could only follow the original plan, combined with the current situation, and act on their own initiative.

This was quite a test of the officers’ military skills. People without some ability could not analyze whether the enemy was feinting to the east and attacking in the west, or launching a full-scale offensive, and so on.

The Great Hua Military Academy had been running for two years and had trained a large number of excellent mid-level officers, which was also a strength of the Great Hua army.

If it were any other army, it would definitely not be able to make so many correct choices.

But the current Great Hua army was operating rapidly and efficiently without orders from superiors.

This was quite rare.

In the Korean War of later generations, the Volunteer Army also relied on the superb military skills of its low- and mid-level officers, constantly interspersing and attacking, to beat the United Nations forces into a rout.

Chapter 538: The End of the War

On the main battlefield, both sides were deploying their troops.

The Great Hua troops who arrived at the center of the battle would find a hilltop to defend. Although they weren’t in contact with each other, they could coordinate in simple ways, causing great trouble for the Qing army.

If the Qing army stopped to fight, they would be delayed; if they ignored the Great Hua troops, they felt uncomfortable.

Although each stronghold didn’t inflict much damage, there were just too many of them.

Accumulatively, the casualties were quite significant.

Moreover, the situation where they were being shot at by the enemy without being able to retaliate was extremely demoralizing.

What angered the Qing army even more was that some Great Hua soldiers didn’t know what was good for them. Their disregard only emboldened the Great Hua troops to take even more audacious actions.

For example, Qin Dazhuang actually led two hundred men to chase after several thousand Qing soldiers.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought the Qing army wasn’t retreating, but running away from Qin Dazhuang.

Enough is enough!

Some Qing soldiers, unable to endure any longer, voluntarily stayed behind and fought Qin Dazhuang’s unit.

However, these were just isolated skirmishes that didn’t affect the overall situation; they were merely the Great Hua army expanding their gains.

Completely annihilating Dorgon was no longer possible.

After breaking through the defensive line, Dorgon seemed to have grown two extra legs, escaping incredibly fast.

While eliminating Dorgon’s forces was impossible, Soltu’s unit was held back.

When Soltu arrived at Stronghold Number 17, the Great Hua reinforcements had reached over six hundred men.

Moreover, Soltu was being pursued by the combined forces from Strongholds Number 18 and 19.

The Great Hua troops from Stronghold Number 20 were also on their way.

Although Soltu’s unit still had ten thousand men, the mountainous terrain made it difficult to move quickly.

With interception ahead and pursuers behind, morale plummeted.

Despite having a numerical advantage, they couldn’t utilize it at all.

As more Great Hua troops flooded the battlefield, Soltu’s unit finally collapsed, and large numbers of Qing soldiers began to surrender en masse.

They all knew that Dorgon had escaped and that they had been abandoned.

Besides surrendering, there was no other way out.

Two days later, the Great Hua army tallied the results of the battle.

In this campaign, they killed approximately four thousand three hundred Qing soldiers and captured nine thousand.

According to intelligence, Dorgon had taken out about twelve thousand men, which meant that more than four thousand were missing in the mountains.

In total, they had eliminated eighteen thousand Qing soldiers. It was like delivering a heavy blow to the Qing Dynasty, which was already ailing.

After this battle, it was estimated that Dorgon would no longer have the ability or the desire to invade Korea. He could only hide at home and lick his wounds.

The small force he had left would make maintaining control a challenge.

Moreover, given Dorgon’s brutal methods, it was questionable whether his subordinates would continue to be loyal to him.

This was also an intangible gain, a great benefit for Great Hua.

As long as the Qing Dynasty lacked a leader and descended into internal strife, their future advance into the northeast would be much easier.

In terms of losses, the Great Hua army’s casualties weren’t too high, except for one battalion from the 25th Division that was wiped out, which was quite tragic.

In total casualties, they had only six hundred deaths, less than one thousand, a ratio of about seven to one.

As Dorgon fled, the various regions of Korea were effectively recovered.

After all, Dorgon couldn’t leave any troops behind in Korea. Every soldier was precious to him now.

On November 5th, Yi Jong, who had been hiding in Busan, returned to Seoul with his officials.

However, Yi Jong’s return to Seoul was not filled with joy.

Although the war had been won, the country no longer belonged to him.

Whenever he thought of this, Yi Jong felt quite resentful.

He even entertained the idea of going back on his decision.

Now that the Qing army was greatly weakened, as long as he drove away the Great Hua army, he could continue to live as a local emperor in Korea.

Of course, this thought only surfaced occasionally, and each time, he forcibly suppressed it.

Not to mention the consequences of offending Great Hua, Yi Jong had no idea how to drive away this expeditionary force.

The previously invincible Dorgon, upon learning of the Great Hua army’s arrival, reportedly didn’t even think about fighting them, focusing solely on escape.

Even so, this escape could be described as a complete failure.

He lost two-thirds of his troops, a large amount of weapons and equipment, and didn’t manage to take away even a single hair of the looted supplies.

So pathetic, and it was all caused by just a few battalions of the Great Hua army.

Although the Great Hua army had sent thirty thousand men, less than five thousand had actually participated in the fighting, the rest were just there for a tour.

Even among those five thousand who participated in the fighting, several thousand were just watching from the sidelines.

Only about one thousand had actually engaged in intense combat with the Qing army.

One thousand men had made Dorgon, who commanded an army of thirty thousand, cry for his parents.

Yi Jong really couldn’t think of any way to drive away this terrifying heavenly army.

In the eyes of the Koreans, the Great Hua army was already a heavenly army.

“Thank you, Commander Tang, for saving our people from the fire and water…”

Yi Jong even bowed to Tang Guozhen, as he didn’t have many days left to be a king.

Once he went to Nanjing, he would be a nobleman without any real power.

And the person in front of him was a rising star in the Great Hua military, vaguely showing signs of surpassing the three grand elders, with a limitless future, and possibly becoming the number one figure in the military.

He had to curry favor with such a person.

“Your Majesty, you are too kind. This is what we should do,” Tang Guozhen said.

In the agreement between the two sides, after Yi Jong announced his allegiance, Wu Changqing would bestow upon him the title of Prince Ci, which was even higher than Li Shaobin’s title.

However, no one would envy or be jealous of this, after all, Yi Jong was originally a king. Now he was reduced to a mere figurehead with no real power, only a title, which was truly pathetic.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, everyone returned to the main hall.

Next, it was no longer the military’s business. The Ministry of Rites and Yi Jong were discussing the specific details of the allegiance and merger.

This process would naturally involve countless disputes.

Yi Jong had many things to fight for in these final moments.

For example, Koreans should enjoy the exact same treatment as the Great Hua people. Also, at least how many of the original Korean officials should be retained.

As long as he could retain some officials to continue governing Korea, then he, Yi Jong, could still maintain some influence over Korea.

In short, there were many things to fight for.

However, in the end, both sides would be able to reach a compromise, as neither dared to fall out.

Many of Yi Jong’s requests were temporarily agreed to by the Great Hua Ministry of Rites.

Anyway, as long as they weakened Yi Jong’s influence over Korea, there would be plenty of time to make changes in the future.

Many of Great Hua’s requests could only be agreed to by Yi Jong, for fear of angering the other party.

Chapter 539: Abdication Edict

On November 11th, Yi Jong formally issued his abdication edict.

“I, with meager talent, inherited the throne, intending to bring renewal to the world, but…”

The meaning of the abdication edict was: I, Yi Jong, relied on my limited abilities to inherit the throne, originally intending to bring a better life to the people and renew all things. However, my abilities are limited, and I am unable to shoulder this heavy responsibility.

During my reign, I failed to fulfill my responsibility to protect the people…

Now, in the North, there is still the Qing Dynasty, a pack of wolves and tigers, eyeing us covetously. I am powerless to protect everyone…

Great Hua and Korea are as close as lips and teeth, with generations of friendship, and our ancestors were originally one family. Now, thanks to Great Hua’s rescue, the Korean people have been able to escape the Qing Dynasty’s enslavement.

Therefore, after careful consideration, I, Yi Jong, feel that I should no longer continue to lead everyone. Instead, I should hand over this important task to the wise and martial Emperor of Great Hua.

From now on, Korea will become a part of Great Hua, and the Korean people will also be Great Hua citizens. The people can celebrate. From now on, they don’t have to worry about being bullied by the Qing Dynasty and Japan, and they can live a good life, blah blah blah…

In the abdication edict, Yi Jong described himself as a good-for-nothing.

Although this was the truth.

However, this was not what he wanted to write. Instead, the Ministry of Rites of Great Hua insisted on writing it this way.

The purpose, of course, was to make the people of Korea hate Yi Jong and dislike Yi Jong.

If they told the Koreans that Yi Jong was a good king, wouldn’t that make the Koreans continue to think about Yi Jong in their hearts? This was definitely not a situation that Great Hua wanted to see.

Next, Great Hua would have a series of measures to weaken Yi Jong’s influence on Korea and then de-Koreanize it.

Great Hua wanted to make Korea like other provinces of Great Hua, just a place name, no longer having special significance.

This would take a long time.

After the abdication edict was issued, Great Hua left twenty thousand troops in Korea, and one division was transferred back to the country for rest and reorganization.

Returning to Nanjing with this division were the Yi Jong family and the families of some important Korean officials.

This was the price they paid for continuing to serve as officials in Korea: handing over hostages.

If they dared to mess around in Korea, their families would suffer. The men would basically be killed, and the women would be sent to the brothels.

After the abdication edict was issued, a large number of officials went to various places to read it aloud and answer the people’s questions.

During this process, Great Hua officials were naturally supervising to prevent anyone from adding their own opinions, saying things like Yi Jong was forced to do so, and Great Hua was bullying them.

When the news of Yi Jong’s abdication and Korea’s incorporation into Great Hua spread among the upper classes of Korea, many people were extremely shocked.

This was abdication, this was annexation!

“How can this be? Our Korea has been an independent country since ancient times!”

A scholar said angrily.

“An independent country? How much time has our country been independent, and how much time has it existed by relying on others? Kim Jing-ri, don’t be angry.

There is nothing wrong with joining Great Hua. At least our safety is guaranteed.”

The minister who read the edict said. This Kim Jing-ri was a well-known talented person in Korea, and his family also had some influence. He could not be ignored and needed to be appeased.

“But, won’t we be enslaved and exploited by Great Hua in the future?”

Kim Jing-ri was not stupid. He knew that after a country’s regime was lost, the original people would definitely be enslaved.

“You can rest assured about this. Great Hua has promised to give us fair treatment. It is written in the agreement between King Yi and Great Hua that we will be tax-free in all of Korea for the first year, which is already very good.”

The minister continued to patiently persuade.

However, after the minister left, Kim Jing-ri still tried to instigate others, hoping that others could unite to resist Great Hua and maintain autonomy.

Kim Jing-ri’s idea was that becoming a vassal state of Great Hua was acceptable, but it must not be merged.

However, not many people responded to his proposal.

“Brother Kim, what can we use to resist? Use our mouths to scold the Great Hua army until they are ashamed and embarrassed to leave? Don’t say that this is impossible, even if a miracle really happened and they were scolded away. But when the Qing army comes, won’t we still have to run to Great Hua for help?

If that kind of situation really happened, I would be too embarrassed to ask Great Hua for help again. Even though Great Hua’s annexation of us is selfish, we can ask ourselves, why should we ask Great Hua to treat us selflessly?”

Another scholar said.

When strength is inferior to others, what can be done?

“But, are you willing to see the country destroyed like this? Aren’t you worried about your future?”

Kim Jing-ri continued to argue.

“Didn’t the agreement say that we can also participate in Great Hua’s imperial examinations? Moreover, aren’t there still many ministers who have retained their positions and continue to serve as officials? If they can do it, why can’t we?”

“But those are Great Hua officials, not Korean officials anymore.”

“Korean officials are officials, doesn’t being an official in Great Hua still come with a salary?”

…

The debate was still quite intense. These people with culture and ideas would definitely not accept this situation so easily.

Of course, these were not problems.

As the saying goes, scholars rebel, and it won’t be successful in ten years.

They are good at arguing, but if they really had the ability and courage to rebel, would they have been chased and beaten all the way by Dorgon?

The truly brave people basically died when resisting Dorgon’s invasion.

How many warriors could survive by hiding?

Unlike the controversy among the upper classes, the people in the Korean countryside did not have a very obvious reaction after learning about Yi Jong’s abdication.

Obviously, everyone was disappointed in Yi Jong.

Yi Jong did not bring anything to the people, so naturally he had no popular support.

When they learned that they could be exempt from taxes for one year after joining Great Hua, and that seeds and tools would be distributed in the future, they immediately shouted “Long live Great Hua!”

If you expect them to love their country, the key is, has this country of Korea ever loved them?

Yi Jong, as the ruler, had not been stingy in exploiting the people at the bottom.

It would be good if these people didn’t hate Yi Jong. How could they be expected to have any nostalgia for Yi Jong?

Joining Great Hua, having security guarantees, and being exempt from taxes gave them hope for survival. This was enough. Many people even rejoiced at this moment that they had become citizens of Great Hua.

The propaganda at the bottom of the countryside achieved relatively good results.

This made the people of the Ministry of Rites very happy. As long as the people at the bottom recognized Great Hua, then everything would be easy.

Even if a few ambitious people in the upper classes wanted to rebel, they would have to have people at the bottom to work for them. They would not take the lead in battle.

Without people at the bottom to work for them, rebellion could only rot in their stomachs.

As time passed, the concept of the country of Korea would gradually disappear from this land, and there would only be the concept of Korea Province.

In the future, they would standardize writing and transportation, eliminate local dialects, and burn Korean history books. After a series of operations, the next generation would be able to fully integrate into Great Hua.

Chapter 540: A Growth Rate of Sixty Percent

The war in Nanjing and Korea, as well as Korea’s integration into Great Hua, didn’t cause too much of a stir.

Compared to the decisive battle of Xuzhou, the fighting in Korea felt like child’s play.

Moreover, with the New Year approaching, Great Hua had many things to take care of and couldn’t spare much attention for the Korean affair.

For the Great Hua bureaucracy, the most important thing recently was, of course, the financial budget.

This concerned the allocation of over one hundred million yuan in wealth, a major event that would determine whether the coming year would be prosperous or difficult.

Each department was keeping a close eye on next year’s budget.

According to statistics and estimates, Great Hua’s fiscal revenue for the second year of Yongxing would be one hundred and thirty million, a sixty percent increase compared to last year.

Among them, tax revenue was one hundred million, a seventy percent increase.

The remaining thirty million came from confiscated land and seized assets in the North.

In fact, this sum was far more than just thirty million.

The civil officials estimated it to be at least one hundred million, and accused the military of embezzling seventy million. Several memorials impeaching the military were piled up on Wu Changqing’s desk.

The military naturally denied it, accusing the civil officials of slander.

Wu Changqing chose to keep all the memorials related to this matter, meaning, “Stop arguing, all of you.”

From the information Wu Changqing had gathered from his intelligence system, the sum was probably around fifty million.

The military had privately spent twenty million, which, of course, was used to improve the welfare of the troops, such as replacing uniforms, buying meat, and adding some auxiliary equipment.

There was no large-scale corruption among officers.

Only no large-scale corruption, there would definitely be a few officers who embezzled in this, which was a normal phenomenon, it would be strange if there wasn’t.

As long as there was no widespread corruption, the problem wasn’t too big and could be solved slowly in the future.

As for the military using the money to improve the living conditions of the troops, Wu Changqing chose to acquiesce.

After all, the troops worked hard fighting outside, and the looted wealth was considered spoils of war. If the military wasn’t allowed to touch it at all, they might have complaints.

Wu Changqing wasn’t too concerned about the looted wealth, as it was a one-time thing. With the recovery of the North, there wouldn’t be many such opportunities in the future.

Places like the impoverished and remote Southwest wouldn’t yield much wealth even if they were recovered.

Wu Changqing was most concerned about the tax revenue growth, as this was the foundation and source of wealth for Great Hua.

Seventy percent, he was very satisfied with this figure.

In later generations, an economic growth of seven or eight percent was considered a rapid growth rate, but now Great Hua’s economic growth was as high as seventy percent.

This was due to the rapid development of technology. Great Hua’s technological advancement in the past two years was roughly equivalent to fifty years in his original timeline.

Therefore, this economic growth rate was actually still relatively slow.

Mainly because Great Hua hadn’t fully digested the dividends brought by those technologies yet. In the future, these technologies could continue to boost Great Hua’s economy.

After all, if those advanced technologies were popularized in the vast North, it would generate countless benefits.

If the dividends brought by these technologies were fully digested, the total social wealth could be multiplied several times over.

In short, Great Hua’s prospects were excellent, so good that the heads of state of later generations would definitely shed tears of envy, and would also make the kings of other countries at the time shed tears of envy, shouting, “Great Hua, Daddy, teach me!”

This growth rate was simply too fast.

Not only was Wu Changqing satisfied, but the officials of Great Hua were also very satisfied.

An increase of seventy percent in one year, wouldn’t it double in another year?

Now that the imperial court had money, shouldn’t everyone’s salaries be raised a bit?

Of the one hundred million in tax revenue, industry, commerce, and finance accounted for eighty percent, and the proportion continued to increase. Although the total amount of agricultural tax also increased slightly, the proportion was decreasing.

After agriculture in the North recovered, the total amount of agricultural tax would have a small increase.

However, there was no doubt that the proportion would continue to decline, because the development of agriculture was definitely slower than that of industry and commerce.

After Qian Taoli finished explaining the income situation, the officials’ faces were full of smiles.

“Everyone, don’t be happy too soon, I haven’t talked about this year’s expenditures yet.”

Qian Taoli said with a straight face.

“Even if we spend a lot, it’s impossible to spend one hundred million yuan.”

Ma Shiying said, he couldn’t imagine how one hundred million yuan could be spent.

“That’s right, that’s right, I don’t believe there will be a fiscal deficit this year.”

Zhao Mingchong chimed in.

Qian Taoli smiled contemptuously, laughing at these people for underestimating Great Hua’s ability to spend money.

Then, he said, “This year’s expenses are also not small. In terms of military spending, we have already spent fifty million so far, exceeding the expected budget by three million.

Paying off last year’s fiscal deficit of eleven million, investment in industry reached forty-six million, exceeding the expected budget by thirteen million.

Other expenses totaled thirty million, which means that not only do we not have a surplus this year, but we also have a fiscal deficit of seven million. Slightly better than last year.”

Qian Taoli smiled, obviously not taking the seven million fiscal deficit to heart.

In fact, the reason why there was still a deficit was purely because there were too many unexpected expenses.

The construction of railways, disaster relief in the North, the nationwide hygiene campaign, and so on.

This didn’t even include the Korean military expenses that Wu Changqing had personally supported out of his own pocket.

“Alright, alright, we’re not interested in these past events. Just tell us how much the fiscal budget will be next year. We in the Ministry of Rites have suffered for a year this year, and we can’t suffer again next year, otherwise the people under me will collectively resign.”

Qian Qianyi said pitifully, even saying things like collective resignation, leaving everyone speechless.

“You in the Ministry of Rites are miserable? Are we in the Ministry of War more miserable? With the current state of Great Hua, I feel that there is no need for the Ministry of War to exist.”

This was a complaint from Ma Shiying. After the separation of military and political affairs, the Ministry of War had almost become a decoration, and its function was not as good as a department under the Ministry of Industry.

“We are all miserable, only the Ministry of Industry is living the most comfortably. Hehe, look at the new office of the Ministry of Industry in the city, the decoration is so luxurious.”

Qian Qianyi began to shift the fire, letting everyone continue to aim at the Ministry of Industry.

Ruan Dacheng was too lazy to pay attention, anyway, he wasn’t worried.

As the most important department in Great Hua, Wu Changqing wouldn’t agree if the Ministry of Industry’s funding was reduced.

Ruan Dacheng said faintly, “Don’t argue about these useless things, let’s listen to Lord Qian first and see how much the fiscal budget will be next year.”

Qian Taoli waited until these guys had said enough before speaking again.

“The people in the Statistics Department estimate that our growth rate next year should be fifty percent, which means that next year’s fiscal budget will be around one hundred and ninety million yuan. After deducting this year’s deficit, next year’s fiscal budget is set at one hundred and eighty million.”

Hearing this number, everyone began to ponder how much they should ask for.

Chapter 541: Educational Vision

Compared to last year, the military and cabinet bigwigs didn’t fall into fierce arguments again, because after experiencing the last budget battle, many people realized:

The key to how much budget they could get actually lay with Wu Changqing, not in arguing with other departments.

As long as they could convince Wu Changqing, they would naturally get more funding.

After all, the one who ultimately made the decision was always Wu Changqing.

If the allocation plan didn’t satisfy Wu Changqing, even if they won the argument, Wu Changqing would reject it.

If they could convince Wu Changqing, even if they suffered a loss in the allocation plan, they could still cry and beg for sympathy in front of Wu Changqing when they ran out of money in the future.

For example, the military was like this, not only did they receive Wu Changqing’s private funding, but Wu Changqing also turned a blind eye to their private appropriation of spoils of war.

This was all because the military pleased Wu Changqing, so Wu Changqing favored the military.

In last year’s budget battle, the military suffered because they were uncultured and inarticulate, but didn’t Wu Changqing ultimately compensate them?

Therefore, instead of arguing with other departments, it was better to find a way to win over Wu Changqing.

Qian Qianyi wrote a long article, detailing the importance of education.

[The biggest obstacle to current economic development - lack of talent.]

Yes, Qian Qianyi directly threw out a point, and then began to elaborate on it.

He pointed out that the fundamental reason why current economic development was not fast enough was the lack of relevant talent. There was a large amount of advanced technology, but only a small group of people mastered it.

This was not acceptable, this was simply a waste of advanced technology.

Therefore, it was necessary to vigorously develop education, invest in education, and focus on long-term development.

This article was written to a very high standard, and was well-reasoned. No matter who read it, it would be difficult to find fault with it.

Qian Qianyi had put in a lot of hard work for this article, and had diligently studied knowledge related to economic development.

Now, even if he was thrown into the Ministry of Commerce, he could do a great job.

Wu Changqing was very impressed after reading this article, and he planned to increase investment in education next year and systematize the education system.

The current education is actually an elitist education.

First, a large number of talents are selected, and then they rely on their self-study ability to grow wildly, and finally stand out.

This method can select talents, but it will also bury a large number of students with average abilities.

This couldn’t be helped, because the previous teaching staff was limited, and there were not so many qualified teachers.

But now, after more than two years of development, more and more people have the level to be teachers, and comprehensive education can be slowly started.

The education system formulated by Wu Changqing will be different from that of later generations, and will only be divided into three levels: elementary school, middle school, and university.

Four years of elementary school, four years of middle school, and three years of university, a total of eleven years, which is five years faster than the sixteen years of later generations.

The reason for this change, of course, was to combine it with the current actual situation.

Children in later generations were still playing in the mud at the age of seven or eight, carefree, so they were very late to mature. Teenagers were playing around, and there was no pressure to survive.

Children in this era, because of the difficulty of survival, are generally very sensible at the age of five or six.

Those who are not sensible will definitely be beaten until they are sensible.

Just like a child breaking a bowl, in later generations, the family would just smile. But in today’s rural families, breaking a bowl would result in a spanking.

It’s hard for children to not be sensible.

Without considering individual cases, generally speaking. Compared with children in later generations, children in this era are more able to endure hardship.

Elementary school in later generations lasted for six years, but there was actually not much content. As long as the child is willing to learn, and as long as the teacher is strict, four years is enough to master it.

And in this era, the teacher’s words are sometimes more effective than the parents’ words, and few people dare not respect the teacher. The teacher can be very strict.

Children are more sensible, this is one aspect.

On the other hand, there is relatively little content to learn currently.

Anyway, Wu Changqing only knows a little bit about relativity, and has no way to systematically organize it into knowledge and compile it into textbooks.

Regarding relativity, Wu Changqing can only wait for the emergence of a genius, and then find an opportunity to give a few pointers, and point out the direction for the other party.

This pointing out the direction is actually very effective.

Many geniuses are actually just missing a flash of inspiration.

This is a reform in terms of school years, and other aspects have also been changed according to the actual situation.

For example, increasing the flexibility of subject selection.

Although music is not a compulsory subject in later generations, everyone in the class still has to shout a few words during music class.

In Wu Changqing’s view, this is too extravagant and a waste of time.

The current Great Hua doesn’t have time to waste like this. These children need to become talents as soon as possible, and then join the army to build Great Hua.

Therefore, some unimportant subjects are offered as electives, and those who have not chosen them can completely not study them, and concentrate their time on other subjects.

It is best to concentrate on a few related subjects.

For example, those who major in physics don’t need to study biology, it’s too time-consuming, and studying biology has extremely limited help for physics research.

Although this will lead to a large number of people being specialized in one subject and unable to cultivate all-round talents.

However, this is indeed the most efficient way.

Great Hua still needs to focus on development now. We can talk about cultivating all-round talents later.

Wu Changqing first read Qian Qianyi’s memorial and praised him for his insightful views.

At the same time, he also listed the education system he envisioned, and then handed it over to Qian Qianyi for him to refine.

For example, stipulate that mathematics, physics, and chemistry are a systematic subject, and to study physics, one must study mathematics in depth.

Stipulate that geography and astronomy, and mathematics are related subjects, and to study astronomy, one must first study geography and mathematics.

Then stipulate from which year students will be exposed to physics and which year they will be exposed to chemistry.

These need to be carefully studied and then decided, and it is definitely not as simple as stipulating it.

Students have limited acceptance ability before a certain age, and learning physics too early may not be a good thing. But too late will affect efficiency.

These details need to be studied by the people from the Ministry of Rites, Wu Changqing doesn’t care.

Otherwise, what are they raising so many people for?

Qian Qianyi’s article was praised by Wu Changqing, and he was very proud.

It was necessary to publish it in the Great Hua Daily, and he couldn’t help but show off in front of other officials.

Most importantly, whenever he mentioned funding, he would bring up his article, saying that this was a theory recognized by His Majesty.

Therefore, education next year is the top priority, and its importance even exceeds the investment in industry, making the other department bosses speechless, wishing they could take off their shoes and stuff them in his mouth.

And some people, seeing Qian Qianyi playing the trick of pleasing the emperor, immediately followed suit.

Isn’t it just pleasing the emperor, isn’t it just writing articles, as if no one else can do it.

Chapter 542: Splitting the Ministry of Industry

[On the Promotion of Commercial Activities to Industry and Agriculture.]

[Comprehensive Industrialization: Industry as the Foundation and Core of Everything.]

[Completing Agricultural Reform Comprehensively: Releasing Labor is the Prerequisite for Comprehensive Industrialization.]

The heads of the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Industry, and Ministry of Revenue all wrote lengthy essays, forcing Wu Changqing to read them, which was both necessary and tiring.

Even more speechless, the Ministry of Justice joined in the fun, writing a piece on ‘The Great Role and Influence of Maintaining Social Order on Economic Development.’

Wu Changqing really wanted to call Zhao Mingchong over and point at his nose, asking him to explain exactly how great this ‘great’ role was. If he couldn’t explain it clearly, he would be punished to copy the memorial one hundred times.

It was outrageous! They were all tormenting him for funding.

Although Wu Changqing wanted to beat them up, he patiently read the memorials.

As the saying goes, “Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the mastermind.”

Moreover, these three were not just cobblers.

Their insights, more or less, had some merit.

Some points Wu Changqing hadn’t even considered.

After reading these insights, he had some new ideas for next year’s plans.

Then, he suddenly realized that he was, after all, influenced by those memorials.

But this wasn’t a bad thing, as it was a positive influence.

Seeing the civil officials so active, the military couldn’t sit still either.

Several of the more cultured people in the army got together and came up with a memorial as well.

[National Unification, the Great Promotion of Overseas Resources and Markets to the Economy, and the Military’s Five-Year Plan.]

The military formulated a five-year plan to unify the Northeast beyond the passes, the central Sichuan and Hubei, and the southwest within five years. They also planned to occupy Treasure Island (Taiwan), Fusang (Japan), and Luzon (Philippines) overseas.

The content of the military’s plan was not new and did not attract Wu Changqing’s attention.

However, one number caught his eye.

Five years.

He remembered that the five-year plan of later generations was very important, and many countries would implement five-year plans.

Why plan for five years at a time instead of planning every year? Of course, there was a reason for this.

For super-large projects like shipbuilding, railway construction, and heavy industry, which could not be completed in one or two years, long-term plans were needed.

You couldn’t plan to invest twenty million in railways this year and then stop the plan next year due to a disaster or only invest ten million. This would inevitably disrupt the project’s progress and have a significant impact.

If not handled well, it could even become an unfinished project.

Therefore, this kind of long-term plan was very necessary.

Estimating how long a project would take, the possible troubles encountered, how to solve them, the total investment required, and what results to achieve.

These plans were all very important.

Thinking of this, Wu Changqing gave instructions to his subordinates, requiring all departments to make some long-term plans.

The most important, of course, was the Ministry of Industry. Several large projects had to have long-term plans, and they couldn’t just spend money as they pleased once they got the budget, nor could they spend blindly.

Ruan Dacheng was worried after receiving the instructions.

Long-term plans were not easy to make, as there was no experience at all.

Especially now that society was changing so drastically, there were too many factors to consider.

Fluctuations in price levels and rising wages for workers all needed to be considered.

If the plan was made according to current prices and labor costs, there definitely wouldn’t be enough money by then.

A five-year plan for a large project would require massive calculations just for various deductions.

However, since Wu Changqing had spoken, he had to grit his teeth and do it no matter how difficult it was.

First, he hired a large number of students with good arithmetic skills from the university as temporary workers, considered as extra staff.

The Ministry of Industry’s funds would pay their salaries, and they would not have any official rank.

However, Ruan Dacheng also stated that anyone who had worked as a temporary worker in the Ministry of Industry would be given special consideration for employment by the Ministry of Industry if they failed the imperial examinations in the future.

With this guarantee, the students of the mathematics department of the university immediately became interested and entered the Ministry of Industry to help with various calculations.

And the status of the mathematics department in the university was once again elevated to a higher level.

The importance of the mathematics department was becoming increasingly prominent, giving people the feeling that no matter what subject they majored in, mathematics was essential and must be learned.

Physics and chemistry required calculation, astronomy and geography also required calculation, and many tasks in life also required calculation.

Mathematics had become as important as literacy.

The Ministry of Industry started a craze for five-year plans, while some other departments could only stare blankly.

Departments like the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Justice were almost ignored by Wu Changqing.

These two departments couldn’t come up with any five-year plans either.

They couldn’t possibly plan how many criminals to catch in five years, and if they dared to make such a plan, they would be waiting to be demoted by Wu Changqing.

Departments like the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Public Security were also not suitable for five-year plans.

Only the Ministry of Rites, in terms of education, could come up with a five-year long-term plan, planning how many primary schools and universities to build within five years, and how many teachers and students to train.

In short, the main focus of this five-year plan personally ordered by Wu Changqing was on the Ministry of Industry.

And this, naturally, aroused the dissatisfaction of some officials.

Therefore, Wen Junxuan of the Ministry of Rites submitted a memorial, stating that the Ministry of Industry should be split up to reduce Ruan Dacheng’s burden and improve administrative efficiency.

The words sounded nice, but anyone with eyes could see that the people of the Donglin Party were still holding grudges for past events and were jealous of Ruan Dacheng’s power.

Now, Ruan Dacheng, relying on his position as Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, had become the most prominent official in Great Hua.

This was definitely the most upsetting thing for the Donglin Party.

Although Wu Changqing knew Wen Junxuan’s little thoughts, he didn’t want to interfere in that kind of factional struggle. He only cared about whether the matter itself was necessary.

If it was necessary, then split it up; if it wasn’t necessary, then ignore it.

After thinking about it, Wu Changqing felt that it was still necessary.

The current functions of the Ministry of Industry were too large, almost equivalent to a combination of the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Railways, and the National Development and Reform Commission of later generations.

It was not good for a department to have too many functions, and too strong a voice was prone to breeding problems of autocracy and corruption.

Wu Changqing’s ultimate plan was to benchmark the various departments of the imperial court against those of later generations, but this had to be done slowly, not all at once, and needed to be changed according to the actual situation.

If he were to create a family planning commission now, it would definitely be a joke.

Everything had to be combined with reality, combined with reality.

Now was an opportunity, and Wu Changqing took advantage of someone bringing it up to start splitting up the Ministry of Industry.

The initial plan was to split it into two, becoming the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Transport.

Tasks such as railway construction, bridge construction, official road construction, and port construction were all separated from the Ministry of Industry to form a new department.

Chapter 543: Matters of the Inner Palace

The new Ministry of Transportation was of no small importance, at least more so than the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War.

Especially now that the entire country was vigorously building roads, and the streets in major cities were being paved with cement or cinder.

Some official roads were also being expanded and covered with sand.

More important, of course, were the railways. The Beijing-Songjiang line was already more than halfway completed and would soon be fully operational.

Even before this route was finished, several other routes had been placed on the table for planning.

Shanghai to Hangzhou, Nanjing to Jiujiang, and Nanjing to Beijing.

These were the three routes currently planned, and they were all of great significance to Great Hua.

In particular, the Nanjing to Beijing route would greatly strengthen the central government’s control over the North.

Once this railway was built, it might even be possible to reduce the size of the army.

Because troops could be deployed quickly, it would no longer be necessary to station troops in some central cities. A few police officers would be enough to maintain order.

In the event of a rebellion, troops could take the train and arrive in a day or two, suppressing the rebellion in minutes.

There would no longer be any need to worry about a situation like before, where it took months for the imperial army to arrive after a rebellion broke out in a certain place.

With developed transportation, the difficulty of local rebellions would increase dozens of times.

The people in the court could see the importance of the Ministry of Transportation, and the position of Vice Minister naturally became a subject of contention.

Ruan Dacheng had no reaction to the splitting of the Ministry of Industry.

Having studied history thoroughly, he knew that emperors of all dynasties would try to strengthen central power, which was a normal thing.

Without sufficient ability, one should never resist.

Like Hu Weiyong, who did not know how to advance or retreat and wanted to play with the ambitious Zhu Yuanzhang, his end would naturally not be good.

Subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang also abolished the position of Prime Minister, seizing all power for himself.

In Ruan Dacheng’s view, Wu Changqing was even more terrifying and unfathomable than Zhu Yuanzhang.

All his methods seemed gentle, but they left the people below with no chance to resist.

Ruan Dacheng believed that his talent was inferior to Wu Changqing’s, so he did not want to and dared not resist for that little bit of power.

Let it be split, even if he was demoted now, he could accept it.

With this mindset, Ruan Dacheng naturally had no reaction to Wu Changqing’s splitting of the Ministry of Industry.

Ruan Dacheng also did not participate in the competition for the position of Vice Minister of Transportation.

Zhang Guoxi, the former Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Industry, had a good relationship with him and asked Ruan Dacheng to recommend him to the Emperor, but Ruan Dacheng refused.

Zhang Guoxi was very surprised. He thought that Ruan Dacheng would support him in competing with Dai Li, because Dai Li was a member of the Donglin Party and Ruan Dacheng’s mortal enemy.

But he did not expect that Ruan Dacheng would refuse so decisively.

Ruan Dacheng’s health had recently deteriorated, and he had become indifferent to many things.

Ruan Dacheng did not participate, but the competition for the position of Vice Minister of Transportation was still fierce.

There were as many as five people competing for this position.

The most competitive were Dai Li, the former Left Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Zhang Guoxi, the Right Assistant Minister.

Both of them were from the original Ministry of Industry, and their expertise matched the position.

Budget disputes, competition for the position of Vice Minister of Transportation, disputes between civil and military officials, disputes between the navy and army, disputes between the North and South…

In a great empire with a population of nearly one hundred million, the trivial matters that played out every day were unimaginable.

Wu Changqing could only turn a blind eye to many things. If he had to manage everything, he would not even have time to eat.

As long as any disputes did not harm the foundation of the empire, he would let those officials fight among themselves.

And he preferred to spend his time on entertainment rather than managing them.

In the inner palace, Wu Changqing was exercising with several concubines and palace maids.

Playing badminton.

Playing mahjong.

Before becoming emperor, he was one hundred percent certain that handling government affairs was more fun than playing badminton.

But after being emperor for two years, he sometimes preferred to play badminton or mahjong.

“Come, whoever wins the most silver today can have me for the night. Each person starts with one hundred taels of silver, and those who lose it all are out.”

Wu Changqing laughed heartily. Although it was absurd, it was very interesting.

Absurdity was, in itself, unbridled and unrestrained indulgence.

In front of these women, Wu Changqing often did not have to pretend and could expose his true nature, which was very relaxing.

When the concubines heard this, they were beside themselves. They had to win.

Each time they spent the night with the Emperor was an opportunity to conceive, and they had to seize it.

They had to seize the opportunity to get pregnant while the Emperor had few women. It would be difficult in the future.

It was said that some damned ministers had even suggested to the Emperor that he hold a nationwide beauty pageant, which was really hateful.

“I’ll go first.”

Several concubines rushed to take their places, and those who did not get a place could only wait patiently.

The first to play were Miao Ping, Guo Xiang, and Dong Qiao’er.

Dong Qiao’er was originally a palace maid, but she was also very beautiful. Wu Changqing had taken her on a whim one time.

All the women in the entire inner palace were his, and he could take whoever he wanted without any problem.

Dong Qiao’er had thus become a phoenix overnight and became the Emperor’s woman, but she had not yet been given a title.

She still felt very insecure because her appearance was not stunning and could not compare with Guo Xiang, Miao Ping, and others.

She was able to become the Emperor’s woman purely by accident.

Once Wu Changqing’s novelty wore off, she might be permanently forgotten.

The days of a concubine who had lost favor were not easy.

Therefore, she now needed to take advantage of the time when she was still favored to squeeze Wu Changqing a few more times.

Only by conceiving a dragon seed and giving birth to a child could she have security and a spiritual sustenance in the future.

Miao Ping and Guo Xiang did not have to worry about losing favor. With their age and appearance, they could remain favored for at least another seven or eight years.

However, being able to conceive a dragon seed as soon as possible was also a good thing for them.

Therefore, they were quite active in grabbing positions.

Unlike Sun Yunxuan, who was obsessed with creation and did not care about this at all, she was out of place with the other concubines.

The game began. The more someone cared about winning or losing, the more they could not be calm and patient. When they were waiting for a tile to complete their hand, they could not help but change it.

As a result, sometimes they could change it correctly, but sometimes they would change it incorrectly.

Dong Qiao’er’s luck was not good today. She kept changing incorrectly and was extremely depressed.

If she were playing with other people, she would have lost her temper.

But with Wu Changqing present, no matter how depressed and angry she was, she could endure it first.

After she lost all her silver and was forced to leave, she could only find a place alone and secretly wipe away her tears.

Yang Xiaoxiao came to replace her. She played mahjong very passively, just playing casually. But she could not help but have good luck, winning one hand after another.

She did not wait for three, six, or nine in the suit of characters, but insisted on waiting for the isolated one of ten thousand, and she actually got it.

The Empress, who was watching from the sidelines, exclaimed that she could not understand her playing style.

“So, all the mahjong skills I’ve summarized for several months are wrong?”

Chen Yuyan complained, and her appearance made Wu Changqing laugh.

When playing mahjong, luck is far more important than skill.

Chapter 544: Rectifying the Officialdom

In the end, Yang Xiaoxiao won the right to serve the Emperor that night, leaving the others green with envy and secretly determined to study mahjong more diligently.

Yang Xiaoxiao claimed she was just playing randomly, but no one believed her.

In the eyes of the other consorts, that scheming woman must have figured out some profound strategy but was unwilling to share it.

In a secluded room within the imperial palace, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was reading a book.

Not every woman of the Emperor gets to live in a palace; the imperial palace simply doesn’t have that many palaces.

Only the Empress and the Imperial Concubines have their own palaces with accompanying buildings.

The next level down gets their own house, but it’s smaller and lacks other functional buildings.

And then there are those of an even lower rank, like the newly entered ladies-in-waiting, who live together in the Waiting-for-Selection Palace.

In those rows of houses, each person only gets one room.

Due to her status, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen would likely never be conferred the title of Imperial Concubine in this lifetime. Having her own secluded house was already the highest privilege she could enjoy.

“Your Ladyship, you’re still reading? What good is reading this book? Today, all the Emperor’s consorts were playing mahjong with His Majesty, and whoever won got to serve him tonight.”

Su Mo’er complained, hoping that Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen could live a better life.

And the only way to live a better life was to compete for favor and win Wu Changqing’s affection.

Ideally, she should have a child with Wu Changqing.

“I don’t know how to play mahjong,” Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

“What do you mean you don’t know how to play? You just don’t want to interact with the others. Mahjong has such simple rules; I think I could learn it after seeing it a few times. With Your Ladyship’s intelligence, as long as you’re willing to learn, you’ll be unbeatable in less than three days.”

Su Mo’er said.

“So what if I am? It’s all like fleeting clouds. Su Mo’er, let’s just live this kind of peaceful life from now on and not think too much.”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen advised. She really didn’t want to call those young girls “sister,” it was too awkward. She could be some of their mothers.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen refused to compete, and Su Mo’er couldn’t do anything about it.

Outside, the competition for the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transportation intensified.

Wu Changqing received many more memorials impeaching Zhang Guoxi and Yan Fu, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce.

Moreover, the methods were exactly the same as the previous impeachment of Zeng Yi.

“Here we go again, will this ever end? Feng Debao, go and summon Qin Fen and Wu Sande from the Intelligence Agency.”

Wu Changqing was furious. He planned to use this opportunity to deal with a group of censors as a warning to others.

He wanted to let those people know that he favored officials who did real work and hated those who only thought about scheming against each other all day long.

The officialdom needed to be rectified from time to time, or some people would forget their place.

Seeing the Emperor’s anger, Feng Debao quickly scurried off to inform Qin Fen and Wu Sande of the Intelligence Agency.

On the way, Feng Debao was also excited. He couldn’t wait for Qin Fen and the others to dig up more dirt on the civil officials and increase Wu Changqing’s dislike for them.

Qin Fen and Wu Sande were summoned with great haste. Wu Changqing said, “From now on, thoroughly investigate who is behind the impeachment of Zhang Guoxi and Yan Fu. Also, investigate the previous impeachment of Zeng Yi as well. After finding out who it is, investigate their own problems.”

“How deep should we dig?”

Qin Fen asked.

Who was pushing things from behind? That was hard to say, and it depended on Wu Changqing’s determination.

“Dig as deep as you can, but if you dig up anything on a Vice Minister, proceed with caution and report it immediately.”

Wu Changqing didn’t want to replace the Vice Ministers of the various ministries for the time being. After all, the current Vice Ministers had been in their positions for some time and were more familiar with the work.

Frequently replacing important court officials was not a good habit.

The Vice Minister determined the operation of an entire ministry, and their style often influenced the entire ministry.

Whether the style was aggressive or conservative, it wasn’t a big problem; each had its own advantages and disadvantages.

The problem was that the style couldn’t change too quickly. If a Vice Minister with a different style was replaced, the people below would have to get used to it again, affecting efficiency and easily leading to inconsistent policies.

“Understood.”

Qin Fen and Wu Sande received their orders and then withdrew.

The situation outside continued to escalate, but the people of the Intelligence Agency were quietly taking action.

First, two Imperial Censors were taken away for investigation, and then a Supervising Secretary was taken away.

The Intelligence Agency was very special in Great Hua’s power structure. It didn’t belong to any department and was directly responsible to the Emperor. Its salaries came from the Emperor’s private purse and didn’t go through the Ministry of Revenue.

Normally, the people of the Intelligence Agency had almost no contact with the officials, as if the Intelligence Agency didn’t exist in Great Hua’s officialdom.

As a result, the Intelligence Agency had very little presence in Great Hua’s power structure.

However, when the Intelligence Agency really took action, others would realize its power.

They could bypass the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice, without going through any formal procedures. They could arbitrarily take away any official, detain them, interrogate them, and even use torture.

This was quite terrifying, equivalent to the Eastern Depot and Western Depot of the Ming Dynasty.

As people were successively taken away by the Intelligence Agency, some people had already smelled something unusual.

At first, those taken away were just small fry, but when Wen Junxuan, a Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, was also taken away, everyone knew that things had gotten serious.

“How is it? Did you find out why Lord Wen was taken away?”

Dai Li came to Qian Qianyi’s house to inquire about the news.

“I didn’t go to inquire, and I advise you not to either. Quietly wait for this storm to pass. Otherwise, you’ll easily get involved, and no one will be able to save you.”

Qian Qianyi said with his eyes closed. He was a little scared in his heart.

No official was absolutely clean; everyone had some blemishes on their record, and Qian Qianyi was no exception.

If Wu Changqing was determined to deal with him, he could definitely find an excuse.

Resistance was futile; it was better to accept fate and wait.

If it was a blessing, there was no need to hide; if it was a disaster, there was no way to avoid it.

Now, Wu Changqing was too powerful, holding absolute control of the military, and the civil officials had no room to resist.

Qian Qianyi sighed in his heart. He had repeatedly advised Wen Junxuan not to be too aggressive and not to be too impatient.

The process of fighting for power often took decades. Finding opportunities and waiting for the right time was the most important thing.

Frequent actions were sure to lead to misfortune.

And sure enough, something had happened so soon.

Hearing this, Dai Li also felt a wave of fear. In the past, Wu Changqing rarely used thunderous methods, leading them to think that Wu Changqing was a kind and soft-hearted person.

But now that Wu Changqing had taken action, they realized that even if a tiger always showed a smiling face, it still ate meat.

Seeing that Qian Qianyi didn’t dare to wade into this muddy water, Dai Li didn’t dare to think about rescuing Wen Junxuan. He didn’t even want to compete for the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transportation anymore.

Right now, self-preservation was the key.

Chapter 545: Severe Torture

The Intelligence Bureau’s interrogation didn’t start with severe torture right away.

The current Intelligence Bureau had just been established not long ago and hadn’t had time to become corrupt.

Therefore, without solid evidence, they wouldn’t randomly arrest people.

Arresting someone meant they had already obtained evidence.

Only after a long time, when everyone feared this institution, would the people inside become inflated and arrogant enough to arrest people even without evidence.

Many institutions were initially established with good intentions, but as time evolved, various problems would arise.

“On November 15th, who did you meet and what did you discuss?”

Qin Fen asked.

“After so many days, I’ve long forgotten,”

Hua Wu snorted.

As a remonstrating official, he was one of those who wasn’t afraid of trouble.

A timid person probably wouldn’t dare to be a remonstrating official. After all, remonstrating officials often had to go against the emperor and criticize the big shots in the court.

“How did you acquire that mansion in Confucius Temple worth nine thousand yuan?”

Qin Fen continued to ask.

“That is my private property; I don’t need to answer,”

Hua Wu’s words were very tough, but in his heart, a trace of worry had already risen.

That mansion was given to him by a merchant, in order to have him speak up for the other party at a crucial moment.

Accepting a bribe of nine thousand yuan was no small crime.

You should know that even though Great Hua officials now implement a high-salary policy to encourage integrity, a seventh-rank official’s annual salary is only three hundred yuan.

Even a first-rank senior official’s annual salary is only three thousand yuan.

This mansion would require Hua Wu to work for thirty years.

“Let me tell you this, we have already grasped the evidence of all the things you have committed. Questioning you now is just to make a record.

If you answer truthfully, you can still get a chance to confess and receive leniency. If you don’t speak, not only will you not be able to escape punishment, but you will also suffer some physical pain. Consider the choice yourself.”

Qin Fen reminded him that he did indeed have evidence of Hua Wu accepting bribes.

However, to make this case airtight, it was best to have more details and more corroboration.

Make it an airtight case, so as not to be accused by the civil officials of extracting confessions by torture, of being a malignant tumor.

“If one is determined to condemn me, a pretext can always be found. Today’s Intelligence Bureau is yesterday’s Embroidered Uniform Guard. Don’t even think about extracting a confession from me by torture,”

Hua Wu gritted his teeth and said.

Whether civil or military officials, they all hated the Embroidered Uniform Guard immensely.

Because the Embroidered Uniform Guard didn’t follow regular procedures, completely disrespected their status and didn’t give them a chance to escape.

If it were to go through judicial procedures, the Censorate would first file a lawsuit, then the Ministry of Justice would accept it, and finally, the Court of Judicial Review would conduct a joint trial.

During this process, whether he had friends in the Censorate, or friends in the Ministry of Justice, or even friends in the Court of Judicial Review, they could all make certain accommodations, so as to escape a disaster or reduce the crime.

It could be said that the regular judicial procedure protected the human rights of officials, but it also gave them a lot of opportunities to avoid punishment, with both advantages and disadvantages.

As the saying goes, officials protect each other, and the relationship between officials is intricate, with countless conflicts of interest.

It was very difficult to rely on officials to clean up officials.

This was why, even though there was a complete and seemingly very reasonable judicial system, the emperor still had to set up a secret service agency like the Eastern Depot.

Sometimes, without mobilizing secret agents, it was impossible to rectify some officials with great energy and strong connections.

As the emperor, he couldn’t supervise every case throughout the entire process. There were too many opportunities for the offending officials to find ways to get out.

Therefore, in the current era, it was actually very necessary for the emperor to establish such an institution.

The secret service agency was separated from the civil officials, with no conflicts of interest. People who committed crimes had no way to rely on personal connections to escape punishment, so naturally they hated this secret service agency immensely.

This was simply a knife hanging over the necks of their hundreds of officials, and it was still a completely uncontrolled knife.

Speaking of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, no official didn’t hate them.

The regular judicial procedure had advantages and disadvantages, and so did the secret service agency.

Therefore, Wu Changqing usually handed over minor matters to the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice and other departments to handle.

However, once there was a case with a major impact, he would mobilize the Intelligence Bureau. Only by relying on the Intelligence Bureau, which was separated from the civil official group, could the truth be found.

This was actually just the result under Wu Changqing’s ideal state.

Wherever there were people, there would definitely be problems.

After a long time, the Intelligence Bureau would also inevitably breed some problems because of too much power.

The Ming Dynasty emperors’ solution to this problem was to set up the Western Depot to supervise and check the Eastern Depot.

This kind of infinite Matryoshka doll method would lead to the entire national institution becoming bloated, supporting a large number of idle people, unnecessary people.

What to do if the Intelligence Bureau became corrupt in the future, Wu Changqing hadn’t thought about it yet.

Anyway, this would take a long time, so there was no need to worry about it for the time being.

Since Hua Wu was stubborn and wouldn’t confess, Qin Fen wouldn’t be polite with him anymore.

As the director of the Intelligence Bureau, Qin Fen was very clear about his responsibilities.

What he had to do was to assist the emperor in solving problems, regardless of the means, and then bear the infamy for the emperor.

“Arrange for torture.”

Qin Fen snorted coldly.

“You dare, you won’t have a good end doing this…”

Hua Wu was both shocked and frightened, and could only rely on cursing to embolden himself.

However, this was meaningless.

Soon, all kinds of strange-shaped torture instruments were moved in, hanging in the room, a dazzling array, making Hua Wu tremble with fear.

“I’ll give you one last chance…”

“I have a clear conscience and stand upright, how can I be afraid of you despicable villain.”

Hua Wu interrupted Qin Fen’s words, and Qin Fen was too lazy to talk nonsense, and ordered people to start torture, until Hua Wu was willing to speak.

As for him, he went to the next room to interrogate Wen Junxuan.

As soon as he entered Wen Junxuan’s room, heart-wrenching screams came from next door.

That kind of sound was chilling just to listen to.

At least, Wen Junxuan’s legs were already shaking.

Seeing Qin Fen come in, he quickly said: “This lord, I am innocent, I am completely loyal to His Majesty, and I have never done anything rebellious. Please give me a chance to see His Majesty.”

“Forget about seeing His Majesty, His Majesty doesn’t have that kind of free time. If you don’t want to suffer that kind of physical pain like next door, you can honestly confess your problems.

With the little things you’ve committed, even if you confess, it’s not enough to be beheaded. Why do you have to taste that kind of physical pain, right?”

Qin Fen persuaded.

“But I really haven’t committed any crimes, I’m innocent.”

Wen Junxuan said, crying.

“No crime? On July 15th, who did you meet, what did you say, what did you do, confess everything. I’m just making a record, and then comparing it with the evidence I have. Even if you don’t confess, I know what you’ve done.”

Qin Fen snorted coldly, these words directly scared Wen Junxuan and he fell to the ground.

Chapter 546: A Consensus Between Ruler and Subject

Wen Junxuan knew exactly what he had done on the fifteenth of July.

On the fifteenth of July, he and several others had conspired to corrupt the Emperor.

Although their conversation hadn’t revealed a single piece of evidence, not a single sentence had directly stated their intentions, the Emperor didn’t need concrete proof.

The mere fact that seven or eight of them had gathered was enough to arouse the Emperor’s suspicion.

Moreover, they had secretly gone to a secluded residence to meet. Were they really just drinking, chatting, and playing with women?

There was no need to know the specific content of their conversation. In such a situation, labeling it as a conspiracy was never wrong, and no one would be wrongly accused.

Things that could withstand scrutiny didn’t need to be done in secret.

“Your Excellency misunderstands. I was merely chatting with Imperial Censor Hua Wu about the current prosperity of Great Hua. I mentioned that such a golden age was all thanks to His Majesty, and suggested that we propose a consort selection for His Majesty, to fulfill our duty as subjects and show our filial piety.”

Wen Junxuan had already recognized Hua Wu’s screams from next door, so he directly implicated Hua Wu.

As for the others, he was in a difficult position.

Especially Gu Yanwu and Qian Qianyi. These two big shots absolutely couldn’t be exposed, or he wouldn’t be able to stay in the Donglin Party.

Compared to the Emperor, they had more ruthless ways to deal with him, including his family and clan.

“Anything else? It couldn’t have just been the two of you.”

Qin Fen asked.

“Your Excellency, please spare me. We were really just chatting casually, with absolutely no ulterior motives.”

Wen Junxuan pleaded.

Qin Fen ignored his pleas and continued to argue, “Since it was just a casual chat, then there’s even less to worry about. Just confess the other ministers involved, explain the situation clearly, and everything will be fine.

His Majesty isn’t a tyrant who would kill indiscriminately. Besides, confessing is actually for your own good. I’m asking you to give you a chance. Even if you don’t confess, I know who was involved.”

Qin Fen coaxed and deceived him, but in reality, he didn’t know exactly who had attended the secret meeting.

Although their Intelligence Bureau was powerful, it couldn’t possibly monitor every move of every official.

To achieve that level, heaven knows how much funding would be needed to bribe the servants, maids, and concubines of the ministers. How could it be possible without a large sum of silver?

If they could really monitor every move of every official, no official would dare to act recklessly.

The actual situation was that the Intelligence Bureau only spent a lot of effort and money to collect intelligence for specific tasks.

And in normal times, they also needed to consider costs and collect intelligence in a limited way.

The information about Wen Junxuan and others meeting at an old house in the city on the fifteenth of July came from Wen Junxuan’s coachman.

He was only responsible for taking Wen Junxuan to the meeting place and wasn’t qualified to enter, so he didn’t know who participated in the meeting.

But Wen Junxuan didn’t know if Qin Fen was telling the truth.

What if Qin Fen was telling the truth?

At this moment, Wen Junxuan was truly in a dilemma.

In the end, he could only gamble, gambling that Qin Fen was bluffing.

He could only pray, pray that the big shots outside would save him.

“He refuses to speak. Use torture.”

Qin Fen didn’t have any better options. Torture was the most basic method.

On this day, Wen Junxuan and Hua Wu weren’t the only ones being tortured. The screams in the prison never stopped.

Outside, the Donglin Party members were naturally not completely sitting idly by.

Qian Qianyi and other big shots couldn’t conveniently step in, but some lower-level censors could speak out.

Although those who stood up at this time knew that this move was very risky, how could it be so easy to get promoted without taking some risks?

There were only so many official positions in the world, and every three years, a large number of talents would pour in, all eyeing those positions.

If they weren’t willing to take risks, there were plenty of people who were willing to take the risk.

Trying to stay out of trouble often meant being eliminated first.

In the officialdom, people couldn’t help themselves.

Fortunately, the censors had an advantage: even if they said something wrong, as long as they didn’t commit other offenses, the Emperor couldn’t punish or kill them.

Otherwise, the Emperor would be criticized for blocking the channels of speech, which was a very bad reputation that no Emperor liked.

If the Emperor demoted them, that would be even better.

Without an official position, they could become heroes in their party and gain huge political prestige.

Then they could travel around, contact the interest groups in the party, promote their political ideas, continue to build prestige, and gain support.

Those interest groups liked nothing more than spokesmen who dared to oppose the Emperor.

Once their prestige reached a certain level, coupled with a little opportunity, they could soar into the sky and even enter the cabinet.

Zhou Yanru, Qian Qianyi, and others were like this in the past.

How could someone who had never been demoted and dared to oppose the Emperor have the nerve to be a leader?

Several Imperial Censors directly submitted memorials criticizing Wu Changqing, saying that his establishment of the Intelligence Bureau was actually doing the work of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The harm of the Embroidered Uniform Guard had long been proven by history. A large part of the Ming Dynasty’s decline was due to the excessive power of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which harmed the normal order of the officialdom.

They demanded that Wu Changqing abolish the Intelligence Bureau, release the people, and then have the Censorate, the Ministry of Justice, and the Court of Revision jointly conduct a trial.

If they were guilty, they should be punished. If they were innocent, Hua Wu and others should be given justice.

That’s the good thing about censors: they could criticize anyone.

Of course, they could criticize, and Wu Changqing could ignore them.

In this way, it seemed that the censors were useless.

But in reality, the role of the censors was very important.

The Emperor and the officials were a cooperative relationship, and cooperation naturally required a consensus.

The consensus and tacit understanding between the two sides was that the Emperor couldn’t ignore the suggestions of the censors and had to deal with them.

Although they couldn’t forcibly force the Emperor to deal with them, if the Emperor repeatedly broke the consensus between the two sides, the officials would become estranged from the Emperor and no longer wholeheartedly maintain this cooperative relationship.

Just like after Chongzhen became estranged from the officials, the officials didn’t have the means to forcibly force the Emperor, but they could use the means of non-cooperation to disgust Chongzhen, and finally directly bury the world.

Turning a win-win situation into a lose-lose situation.

Therefore, generally smart emperors would try to maintain this consensus.

As long as the officials saw that the Emperor was willing to maintain this consensus and wanted to continue cooperating, they would still wholeheartedly assist him, protect the pie together, and then exploit the lower-level people together.

So, on the surface, it seemed that Wu Changqing was fine if he ignored those censors, anyway, they could only move their lips and criticize people.

However, ignoring them had great harm to the relationship between the ruler and his subjects.

This harm wouldn’t erupt at once and produce direct results.

But when it accumulated and the problem was realized, it was basically too late.

Chapter 547: A Game of Chess Between Ruler and Subject

Even emperors find criticisms from censor officials to be a headache, and Wu Changqing was no exception.

He was pondering whether he should be a wise ruler in the eyes of the officials, a foolish ruler, or a tyrant.

Being a foolish ruler was the easiest; he would be comfortable, the officials would be happy, but the common people would suffer.

Being a wise ruler was the most unpleasant; he wouldn’t be comfortable, the officials would be happy, but the common people would still suffer.

Being a tyrant for the people was the most satisfying; the officials would be the most depressed, the common people would be happy, but it was easy to ruin the country.

Each had its advantages and disadvantages.

In the end, Wu Changqing decided to be a wise ruler, but not the kind the officials wanted, but the kind he envisioned himself.

He wanted to be comfortable, make the officials feel helpless, and ensure the happiness of the common people.

This was difficult, but Wu Changqing wanted to give it a try.

To deal with the attacks from the censor officials, Wu Changqing summoned Wei Ziwen, a secretary in the Ministry of Rites’ Propaganda Department.

As the emperor, he naturally couldn’t personally engage in verbal sparring with the censor officials.

First, it would damage his dignity; second, he didn’t have the time; and third, it wasn’t proper.

But this didn’t mean the emperor was helpless. In fact, as the highest authority, the emperor could always gain some advantage in the struggle with the officials.

If an emperor was at a disadvantage in the struggle with the officials, it was enough to prove that he was a useless person.

Wu Changqing summoned his confidant, Wei Ziwen, one of the representatives of the imperial faction, to argue with those censor officials.

Censor officials were officials, and Wei Ziwen was also an official, so there was no problem with them arguing.

“Take a look at these memorials.”

Wu Changqing threw the memorials from those censor officials in front of Wei Ziwen, who quickly examined them.

Actually, there was no need to look closely. This wasn’t a private matter for the censor officials to scold, but something brought up in court.

Therefore, Wei Ziwen already knew about it.

“These people have no respect for hierarchy and don’t know what’s good for them,” Wei Ziwen said.

“Although they don’t know what’s good for them, the challenge is to handle it in a way that convinces them,” Wu Changqing said.

“To deal with this kind of thing, you can generally use debate to persuade them, or you can use etiquette and morality to debate with them, distracting their energy. Alternatively, you can collect their private issues and then attack them, making them busy defending themselves and distracting their energy.

If you can collect solid evidence, you can even dismiss them from their posts, send them to the military, or imprison them. You can also mobilize public opinion to put pressure on them.

Currently, Your Majesty has extremely high prestige among the people. Revealing their ignorance to the people will surely make the people stand on Your Majesty’s side, which can create some psychological pressure on them.”

Wei Ziwen came up with multiple solutions in one breath.

“You are responsible for handling it. It’s best to use three or even more methods together to quell this voice as soon as possible.”

After Wu Changqing finished explaining the official business, he chatted with Wei Ziwen about personal matters: “Some of the important court officials’ thinking is still stuck in the old era, unable to keep up with the development of the empire. Unfortunately, some have seniority and cannot be dismissed without a reason, which would chill the hearts of the old officials.

But these people are holding onto their positions without doing anything, so you capable people have no way to move up. This is definitely not acceptable. You new generation must grow up as soon as possible and be ready to take over their positions at any time.”

Wu Changqing was hinting to Wei Ziwen that he should work hard, and there would be a place for him in the cabinet in the future.

Saying that some of the current important officials’ thinking was corrupt was hinting that they should attack those Vice Ministers from time to time.

This was a basic application of power, dividing the relationship between high-ranking officials and middle-level officials, creating conflicts between them.

Directly telling the people below that they couldn’t become Vice Minister wasn’t because they lacked ability, but because the people above were occupying the positions.

Those who believed Wu Changqing’s words would definitely be unhappy and unwilling towards their superiors.

If they wanted to move up, they couldn’t be of one mind with their superiors, but instead aim to defeat them.

Only by defeating their superiors could they move up.

In this way, conflicts would arise.

A very simple method could provoke conflicts between middle-level and high-level officials.

Unless the middle-level officials had no ambition, or were too smart to be fooled.

For those who had no ambition, dismissing them would be the end of it.

For those who were too smart to be fooled, the emperor also had a way.

He could directly find those old officials and say that the young people these days were really outrageous, wanting to move up without any seniority.

The emperor had severely reprimanded them, and the ministers didn’t need to worry; he would remember their contributions and hard work.

When those old officials heard this, they would naturally be dissatisfied with their subordinates who wanted to replace them, and then try to suppress their subordinates.

At that time, conflicts would arise again.

If both the middle-level and high-level officials happened to be old foxes who wouldn’t be fooled, that would also be simple. He could transfer them to different departments and choose honest people to sow discord and create conflicts.

If the middle-level and high-level officials were foxes among foxes, deliberately putting on a show to deceive the emperor, making the emperor mistakenly believe that their conflicts had intensified, but in reality, they were of one mind in private, the emperor also had means to solve this, but it would be much more complicated.

The relationship between ruler and subject was like a game of chess. The emperor and his ministers were chess players, and the game between them was quite interesting.

This game had been played on the land of China for one or two thousand years, with each side having its wins and losses.

The overall trend was that the emperor had a slight advantage.

The chess players changed again and again, and the chess skills of both sides were summarized more and more completely.

At this time, it was necessary to see who was more skilled and could create some new moves to be sure of victory.

“Your student understands,” Wei Ziwen said, bowing his head.

Of course, he knew that Wu Changqing was using him to deal with those old ministers in order to prevent the officials from uniting.

As long as the officials were not united, playing one-on-one with the emperor was definitely impossible.

But once the officials were united, the emperor’s troubles would be great.

Knowing that he was being used, Wei Ziwen had no choice.

Unless he didn’t want to be an official and was willing to resign and retire to the mountains.

Otherwise, this was a dead end, unless he could come up with a more brilliant and creative move, otherwise he would have to follow this pattern.

First get rid of Qian Qianyi, and then be eliminated by his own subordinates in the future.

Wei Ziwen used “student” instead of “minister,” actually wanting to maintain his teacher-student relationship with Wu Changqing.

He hoped that when his power grew in the future, Wu Changqing would remember their teacher-student relationship when he dealt with him and not be too ruthless.

Demotion would be fine, but not execution.

“Well, go down and do your work first.”

Wu Changqing patted him on the shoulder.

As the emperor, he had too many chess pieces to use, taking full advantage of the situation.

He was confident that he could play this game of chess well.

Because, as a person from later generations, he could use his knowledge and system cheat to create some new moves.

And this was a condition that other emperors did not have, and it was Wu Changqing’s greatest advantage.

Chapter 548: The End of the Turmoil

December arrived, but the atmosphere in Great Hua’s officialdom was far from the usual festive cheer. Undercurrents surged beneath the surface.

Those arrested by the Intelligence Agency were still not released.

And in the imperial court, disputes arose.

A group of censors accused Wu Changqing of reviving the Embroidered Uniform Guard system and demanded its abolition.

Another faction of younger officials argued for the necessity of the Intelligence Agency’s existence, accusing the opposing side of disrespecting the emperor.

His Majesty’s achievements were unprecedented and inviolable, they argued, and he deserved even better treatment than ordinary emperors.

Whether their arguments were reasonable or correct was irrelevant.

Those with fixed positions could never be persuaded by reason. The side with the loudest voice usually won.

Wei Ziwen’s people didn’t need to win. They only needed to keep the censors busy with endless debates, distracting them and preventing them from harassing the emperor. That was their mission.

At the same time, the Intelligence Agency, in cooperation with Wei Ziwen, provided compromising information about some of the censors.

Then, Wei Ziwen and his allies immediately began impeaching these officials, urging the Censorate to file cases and the Ministry of Justice to expedite the investigations.

Liu Shijin of the Censorate, a member of the Jiangxi faction, saw that most of those arrested were members of the Donglin Party. He chuckled. How could he miss this opportunity to kick them when they were down?

Although he also hoped that Wu Changqing would abolish the Intelligence Agency and improve the human rights of officials,
such matters could be pursued later.

Relatively speaking, seizing the current opportunity to severely damage the Donglin Party and cut off its wings was more in line with the interests of the Jiangxi faction.

Another point was that Liu Shijin could see that Wu Changqing was very determined this time and would not easily compromise.

In other words, forcing Wu Changqing to abolish the Intelligence Agency at this time was not a good idea.

Forcing the issue would probably be ineffective.

After careful consideration, Liu Shijin chose to side with the emperor and immediately filed the cases in a very cooperative manner.

Once the Censorate filed the cases, those censors no longer had the mind to criticize the emperor. Their top priority was to find ways to defend themselves and prove their innocence.

Those who had nothing to hide could get through this period without much trouble.

But those who had problems and had been caught red-handed were in trouble.

The most important thing for a censor was their reputation.

Those with a bad reputation were never allowed to be censors.

Now that their financial problems or other moral failings were exposed, their previous words and proposals would have the opposite effect.

After all, people are emotional creatures.

Their support for the censors’ proposals might not be because they understood them, but because they felt that the censors were good people who cared about the country, so their proposals must be good too.

But if they were exposed as morally flawed, then they were bad people, and others would easily conclude that the proposals of bad people were bad.

Bad people’s proposals equaled bad proposals. That made perfect sense.

At least, those with an IQ below one hundred, or those who were too emotional, would certainly think so.

After they were investigated by the Censorate, Wei Ziwen immediately launched his third move, reporting the crimes of these censors and their criticisms of the emperor in the Great Hua Daily.

Of course, this required some skillful writing, deliberately avoiding mentioning that the censors had suggested abolishing the Intelligence Agency, a special agency, and focusing on the fact that they were bad people who opposed the emperor, ignored his achievements, and showed no respect or etiquette, which was extremely disrespectful.

Wu Changqing had a high reputation among the people. Once this newspaper was published, many commoners, as well as scholars and literati who admired Wu Changqing, were immediately enraged.

Thousands of people gathered at the Nanjing Shuntian Prefecture Yamen to petition the emperor to severely punish those rebellious censors.

Of course, this was also inseparable from Wei Ziwen’s secret organization.

Of course, this also required prestige.

If Yang Guang or Chongzhen wanted to organize such a petition, no one would pay attention to him.

If the people didn’t like you, how could they speak for you?

But now, when the people heard that bad people were criticizing the emperor they respected, how could they tolerate it?

Even without Wei Ziwen’s organization, the people would probably spontaneously organize and shout slogans to overthrow so-and-so.

Now, with Wei Ziwen’s secret push, it only accelerated the speed and expanded the scale.

A petition of thousands of people, including a large number of scholars and literati, could not be ignored by any dynasty.

Liu Dahua, the Nanjing Prefect, immediately submitted a memorial, requesting the Ministry of Justice to speed up the trial of those censors and quickly convict them to appease public anger.

In fact, Wu Changqing didn’t need to make such a big fuss.

A few censors were not a big deal to deal with.

But he insisted on doing so, in fact, to show his methods to the officials, telling other officials that if they wanted to fight with him, they were still too young.

With the petition of thousands of people, he would not leave a handle for the officials.

See, it’s not that I want to block the channels of speech, it’s the people who demand the punishment of these bad people. I’m just following the will of the people.

This roundabout way of handling things was much more clever, leaving the officials unable to find any points to criticize.

Some other officials who originally wanted to intercede for those censors retreated when they saw this situation.

To intercede at this time would be to tell the people that they were bad people like those censors. They couldn’t wear this hat. If they did, their doors would easily be splattered with feces in the middle of the night.

With Wu Changqing’s continuous combination of punches, the Donglin Party was filled with sighs.

They knew that they had lost this time and could not save it, so they could only cut their losses.

This struggle also showed them Wu Changqing’s methods, which were full of tricks and not inferior to any great ruler in history.

When the Donglin Party gave up the struggle, things were quickly calmed down.

Among the five censors interrogated by the Ministry of Justice, three were found to have committed acts of corruption and bribery.

One who embezzled ten thousand yuan was sentenced to death, and the other two with smaller amounts were sentenced to exile to work in the mines.

At the same time, their homes were confiscated and all their property was seized.

The other two who had no financial problems were also found to have problems with their private morality and were dismissed from their posts and reduced to commoners, never to be employed again.

Without these few people jumping up and down, no one would talk about the Intelligence Agency anymore.

A few days later, the Intelligence Agency also completed this purge.

A total of twenty-three officials were arrested, including two vice ministers of the third rank, three directors of the fifth rank, and the rest were censors of the seventh rank.

Among these people, some were Donglin Party members who participated in the conspiracy, and others were innocent officials who were inexplicably implicated.

The Intelligence Agency would not reveal its true intentions, so on the surface, it was fighting in the name of investigating corruption.

In order to confuse the public, they also arrested some pure corrupt officials.

They were the most innocent group in this incident.

Of course, it was their own fault for being corrupt.

Of the twenty-three people, four were beheaded, and the others were exiled and their homes were confiscated.

Among those sentenced to beheading, three had actually been tortured to death in prison. For example, Wen Junxuan and Shi Hua Wu.

This situation made other officials more or less afraid, worried that they would end up in such a situation in the future.

After this incident, the officialdom would be calm for a while, at least.

Of course, it was only for a while.

Chapter 549: Go to the Cabinet

The purge had cast a pall over the officialdom, replacing laughter with an air of grimness, and the officials had become more subdued in their daily lives.

Even the budget debates, which usually erupted into fierce arguments, were completed quietly.

After all the arguing, it was only to secure a little benefit for their own departments.

If they ended up like Wen Junxuan and the others, dying tragically, all the gains would be meaningless.

For them, the most pressing matter was how to persuade the Emperor to abolish the inhumane Intelligence Agency.

Budget debates were trivial matters.

In the budget for the third year of Yongxing, the military received sixty million yuan, an increase of thirteen million, but its share decreased from forty-seven percent last year to thirty-three percent.

This was a relatively rapid decline, but it was a positive trend, indicating that the country was experiencing fewer wars and moving towards peace.

The higher the proportion of military spending, the greater the problems facing the country.

Civil affairs received a budget of one hundred and twenty million yuan, with the Ministry of Industry still taking the lion’s share at fifty-five million.

The Ministry of Rites saw the largest increase, with twelve million this year, three times that of last year.

The Ministry of Personnel saw little change, with only a slight increase. This department did not require much funding, and the increased budget was used to improve the living conditions of officials and reduce the likelihood of them accepting bribes.

The Ministry of Commerce increased by two million, to three million.

The Ministry of Revenue increased from eleven million last year to fifteen million, also a relatively small change.

The same was true for the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Public Security.

The most attention was probably focused on the Ministry of Transportation.

This newly established department, which had not even appointed a Vice Minister, received twenty-five million yuan in funding, second only to the Ministry of Industry.

If the Ministry of Industry had not been split, it would have taken ninety million yuan alone.

Money equals power, and the right to use twenty-five million yuan was enough to make the position of Vice Minister of Transportation a highly sought-after prize.

With the budget allocated, the officials of Great Hua could relax a little, wait for the New Year, and then welcome an even better year ahead.

Several days later, the position of Vice Minister of Transportation was filled, to everyone’s surprise.

Ma Shiying, the Minister of War, was transferred to the Ministry of Transportation. Although it was a lateral move, his power doubled.

The original Deputy Minister of War, Zuo Zongwu, took over Ma Shiying’s position and also became a Vice Minister.

However, to Zuo Zongwu’s great embarrassment, he did not receive an order to enter the Cabinet.

According to custom, the head of each ministry could enter the Cabinet.

But this was only a custom, not a written rule. Wu Changqing did not speak, and the people below were naturally too embarrassed to shamelessly move their personal belongings into the Cabinet office.

If they really did that, not to mention what the Emperor would think, the other ministers would laugh themselves to death.

Now that Great Hua had nine ministries, the two Vice Ministers of War and Public Security had not yet received orders to enter the Cabinet office, and the two could only cry together.

Without entering the Cabinet, they could not participate in the decision-making of major affairs and could not be considered the central core.

The Ministry of War alone had very little to deal with.

Zuo Zongwu did not know if Wu Changqing had forgotten or simply did not intend to expand the number of Cabinet members.

Helpless, he could only send a memorial today and another tomorrow.

Today, he thanked His Majesty for bestowing him with an official position, tomorrow he congratulated His Majesty on the New Year, the day after tomorrow he said he had obtained a pot of good wine and wanted to show his filial piety, and the day after that he saw a three-legged rabbit, which was an auspicious sign, implying that Great Hua would accelerate its progress and run faster next year.

After Wu Changqing could no longer bear it, he issued an edict.

【Go to the Cabinet.】

The use of the word “go” directly became a joke on Zuo Zongwu, and others joked about his anecdotes.

Cabinet ministers were divided into on-duty and acting. On-duty meant staying in the Cabinet all day to handle government affairs. Acting meant helping out when the Cabinet had a lot of work to do. Usually, they could stay in the Cabinet or go to handle matters in their own ministry.

Of course, acting ministers could also participate in decision-making on major issues.

There was no doubt that the three on-duty ministers were the core, and the other acting ministers were auxiliary.

The three on-duty ministers were rotated by the Vice Ministers of the six important ministries.

Although he only got an acting position in the Cabinet, Zuo Zongwu was still as happy as if he had won the lottery.

This was a Cabinet minister, the pinnacle of life.

He was only forty-five years old now, and as long as he didn’t make mistakes, he could wait for more than ten years for others to make mistakes, and maybe he could even become the Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, reaching the highest position a subject could achieve.

Thinking about it, he was a little excited.

December 20th.

The five-year plans of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Transportation were released.

The Ministry of Transportation planned to build five more railways within five years.

They were the Song-Hang Line from Shanghai to Hangzhou, the Jing-Jiu Line from Nanjing to Jiujiang, the Shuang-Jing Line from the north bank of Nanjing to Beijing, the Jing-Guang Line from Jiujiang to Guangzhou, and the Xu-Zheng Line from Xuzhou to Zhengzhou.

Among the five lines, the Song-Hang Line would be the first to start construction, followed by the Jing-Jiu Line and the Xu-Zheng Line.

The principle was to build the easy ones first and the difficult ones later.

The route from Jiujiang to Guangzhou, for example, would have to cross mountains and ridges, and with the existing construction technology, the cost would be very high, making it a project that would burden the people and waste money.

However, this route had to be built.

After all, in Wu Changqing’s view, the importance of the Pearl River Delta region was second only to the Jiangnan region in the country.

The development of the Pearl River Delta was bound to take off in the future.

Such an important place naturally needed to be strengthened.

Otherwise, with the economic scale of the Pearl River Delta region in the future, it would be easy to cultivate a powerful force.

In addition to railways, the Ministry of Transportation also proposed plans to expand and build new official roads, with several routes planned.

However, compared to railways, building official roads was much cheaper. Naturally, it was not as eye-catching and attracted less attention.

This was the Ministry of Transportation’s five-year plan, and the Ministry of Industry’s five-year plan was even more extensive.

Expand the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, build new steel plants in Tianjin, Jiujiang, and other places, and strive to quadruple steel production within five years, forming multiple industrial zones.

Expand rubber factories and strive to popularize the use of rubber within five years.

Expand machinery factories and strive to meet the mechanical supply of the entire industry within five years.

Build a new Shanghai Shipyard and strive to master the manufacturing of five thousand-ton ironclad ships within five years, with an annual shipbuilding capacity of twenty thousand tons.

…

A total of more than twenty major projects, each of which was of great significance.

As long as these twenty-plus major projects were completed, Great Hua could declare that it had initially completed industrialization.

At that time, Wu Changqing could also carry out the Second Industrial Revolution, represented by electrification.

Without completing the First Industrial Revolution and building a basic industrial system, the Second Industrial Revolution would be out of the question.

Wu Changqing wanted to let Great Hua complete its initial industrialization in five years. He didn’t know if this step would be too much.

Chapter 550: A Tragic Comedy of Industrialization

As the New Year approached, Nanjing once again saw a wave of people returning to their hometowns.

Large numbers of workers refused to work overtime during the New Year holiday and set off on their journeys home after collecting their wages.

The people heading back to Zhenjiang and Changzhou were fortunate, as they could take the train home.

Although the tickets weren’t cheap, many people gritted their teeth and bought them anyway.

This was the most fashionable means of transportation in Great Hua right now. If you went to Nanjing and didn’t even take a train, how could you have the face to brag to the villagers back home?

The ticket price wasn’t too outrageous, about ten days’ worth of their wages. It was something they could manage if they tightened their belts.

But workers heading in other directions weren’t so lucky. They could only choose to walk, take a horse-drawn carriage, or ride a bicycle.

Bicycles weren’t cheap these days, and ordinary people couldn’t afford them.

However, not everyone in this world knew how to be frugal.

Several seventeen or eighteen-year-old youths had saved up a year’s worth of wages just to buy a bicycle.

The feeling of speeding along on a bicycle, like the wind, was worth it.

They rode their bicycles, luggage strapped to the back seats.

Along the way, they would collectively press the bell whenever they saw someone.

Ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-ding-a-ling, I’m riding my bicycle, feeling so happy. Others have to walk, but I’m cool.

That wasn’t exactly what they were thinking, but the meaning was similar.

At that moment, being watched by others, they were overjoyed.

Of course, whether they would be beaten to death by their parents after returning home was another matter entirely.

It was a pity that the social atmosphere wasn’t open enough yet. Otherwise, if they had a girl on the back, holding onto their waist, they would be so proud they’d fly up to the ninth heaven, shoulder to shoulder with the sun.

Joy and happiness were the main themes.

However, if you zoomed in with a microscope to observe each individual, you would find that not everyone wore a smile on their face.

Compared to last year, Qin Er-Hu didn’t have a smile this year.

He and his group hired a horse-drawn carriage, with two people lying inside.

These were two fellow villagers who had gone to the factory with him. They had been accidentally injured by the machines while working.

One had a comminuted fracture of the thigh, and the other had his arm crushed and amputated by a machine.

Both of them had become disabled, and just supporting themselves in the future would be a problem, let alone supporting a family.

What was even more hateful was that the factory claimed they were careless and hadn’t followed the rules for using the machines, which led to the tragedy. They said that they had caused delays in the factory’s work schedule and lost a lot of money.

Therefore, the factory was only willing to give them a token compensation of ten yuan each.

Qin Er-Hu and the others naturally refused, but they had nowhere to turn for help.

They didn’t know who to ask for help. After much trouble, under the factory’s coercion and enticement, they had no choice but to accept the compensation of twenty yuan each.

Twenty yuan was only a year’s worth of their wages.

If they hadn’t been disabled, they could have earned that in a year, and at least several dozens of twenty yuan in their lifetime.

But there was nothing they could do. They couldn’t fight the factory boss.

As the one who brought them to the factory, Qin Er-Hu naturally felt full of self-blame and didn’t know how to explain it to the two families.

With such disabilities, it would be difficult to marry and have children in the future.

It could be said that their lives were ruined.

Qin Er-Hu had decided to give his income for this year to the two families, treating it as if he had worked for free for a year.

This was the most he could do.

And if he did that, his own family would probably have a very difficult New Year.

Things like what happened to Qin Er-Hu’s fellow villagers weren’t isolated incidents.

Because the workers had low levels of education, short training periods, and high labor intensity, such things actually happened in all the major factories, and quite often.

On average, a factory with one thousand people would see two or three people become disabled each year.

Some unscrupulous businessmen pursued output, and the accident rate was even higher, with five or six people.

Moreover, after these people became disabled, only government-run factories could obtain higher compensation, about one hundred yuan or so.

As for private factories, hmph, being compensated twenty yuan wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

The worst-case scenario was not getting a single penny, then going to sue the officials, and finally being secretly dealt with by the black-hearted businessman.

There were all sorts of problems, including involvement with the underworld and collusion between officials and businessmen.

Of course, no matter how much darkness and tragedy there was in the process of industrialization, it wasn’t really a big deal.

Because before industrialization, the people were even worse off.

As long as they encountered a slight famine or disaster, large numbers of people would die, wiping out entire villages and counties. “Exchanging children for food” was definitely not a fabricated story to scare people.

Although some workers now encountered tragedies, the vast majority of people benefited from industrialization and gained happiness.

Therefore, the process of industrialization was necessary.

The misfortune encountered by a few individuals in this process could only be borne by them.

Of course, as he gained more money in the future, Wu Changqing would also establish relevant relief organizations to provide welfare and treatment for the disabled.

Things like the underworld and collusion between officials and businessmen would also have to be dealt with and improved gradually.

For now, he couldn’t take care of so much.

What he had to do was to use his own strength to fight against the selfishness of all living beings in the world, which was too difficult.

Qin Er-Hu returned to the village, and various ethical dramas continued to unfold.

He obtained the understanding of Family A, but was cursed and demanded huge compensation by Family B. A brawl broke out between Qin Er-Hu’s family and Family B, and the village elders mediated.

Qin Er-Hu’s wife complained, the couple argued, there was domestic violence, and his friend Qin Lin helped…

“What are you planning to do next year? The factory is so dangerous. Why don’t you follow me and grow chili peppers and coriander? I’ve planted a few new varieties this year, and the sales are good,”

Qin Lin advised.

“No, I still want to go to the factory. In fact, as long as you’re careful, the factory isn’t that dangerous. Moreover, I’ve now been sent to training in the factory to learn the manufacturing of precision instruments, and I’ve made some progress.

When I’m assigned to the new department next year, my salary can be doubled. Moreover, I can’t swallow my anger about what happened to Ah Shui and Er-Zhu, it was clearly because they were in a hurry to ship the goods and added too many raw materials that caused the machine to malfunction.

I want to find a chance to go to the city and find an official to tell them about my grievances and make that black-hearted factory go bankrupt,”

Qin Er-Hu said through gritted teeth.

He always felt sorry for Ah Shui and Er-Zhu, but his own abilities were limited, and he had to support his family, so he was really powerless.

He could only hope to find the government and then let the government judge, to see if he could get a little more compensation.

“Alas, I know your personality, I’m afraid I can’t persuade you. You be careful,”

Qin Lin comforted him.

“You’re still good, you can stay at home every day with your wife, and you even have a son,”

After talking about sad things, Qin Er-Hu changed to a festive topic.

“Hehe, you also hurry up, there’s more than half a month of vacation during the New Year,”

Qin Lin laughed.

“It’s difficult, we just had a fight, and she’s ignoring me now,”

Qin Er-Hu said.

“You, you should still apologize,”

Qin Lin said.

…

Chapter 551: More Failures

Nanjing, Xuanwu Street, a housewarming celebration for Lu Dasheng.

He was moving his family to a large mansion on the bustling Xuanwu Street.

Having co-invented the bicycle with the university, he rightfully obtained a portion of the patent rights.

This portion of the patent rights alone earned him thirteen thousand yuan this year.

Thirteen thousand yuan! Thirteen thousand yuan was an astronomical figure for an ordinary worker, an amount that some people couldn’t earn in several lifetimes.

Lu Dasheng never imagined that he would one day become so wealthy; it felt like a dream.

If it weren’t for the imperial court’s patent law, he would never have had the chance to turn his life around.

Now, he could finally live a life of affluence.

“Congratulations, Master Lu!”

“Best wishes, Master Lu!”

The people who came to the banquet offered their congratulations.

Lu Dasheng not only had money, but his social status had also greatly improved, and many people admired him.

After all, inventing the crucial bicycle was a remarkable achievement.

Old Lu had smoothly transformed into Master Lu.

In the inner courtyard, Lu Dasheng’s wife was chatting with other women.

“Madam Lu is so fortunate to have such a talented husband. She can just sit at home and money will come in,” one woman said admiringly.

“Oh, I strongly supported him when he was tinkering with that thing, allowing him to focus on his research. Fortunately, he succeeded, and my support wasn’t in vain,” Madam Lu said with a smile, secretly rejoicing in her heart.

She was glad that her husband hadn’t listened to her, or their lives wouldn’t have undergone such a dramatic change.

She had scolded Lu Dasheng half to death when he stopped working to tinker with the bicycle at home.

Fortunately, Lu Dasheng didn’t give up because of her opposition.

“No wonder Master Lu was able to succeed; it turns out it was all thanks to Madam Lu, his virtuous helper,” another woman flattered, making Madam Lu feel extremely comfortable.

“The current imperial court is so much better. If it were still the Ming Dynasty, how could ordinary people like us have such an opportunity to turn our lives around?” one woman sighed.

“The Ming Dynasty? Don’t even mention that trash dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, I never had a full meal or a decent piece of clothing. Fortunately, the Zhu family emperors are all dead, or we wouldn’t have such good days now,” Madam Lu said, getting angry at the mention of the Ming Dynasty. If Great Hua had taken over the world sooner, she wouldn’t have had to endure so much hardship, and her previous children wouldn’t have starved to death.

The crowd chatted and laughed, celebrating the Lu family’s housewarming.

Meanwhile, in the northwest corner of Nanjing, on Jia Er Road, a family was arguing.

“I told you not to mess with this, not to mess with this, but you wouldn’t listen. Now all the money is gone, and our good home is gone. How are we going to live in the future?” a woman lamented, her voice laced with sobs.

“Woman’s perspective, long hair, short insight. Once I find the right photosensitive material and invent this imaging technology, I’ll be able to make a fortune. Then, you can have whatever you want,” Mi Hong, who had learned about pinhole imaging and some optical principles, had a bold idea in his mind.

As long as the target image was focused onto the film in a dark box through a convex lens, and the different reactions of light and different substances were used, the focused light spots could be revealed to form the target image.

In this way, all painters could put down their brushes in the future, because the paintings created by painters would definitely not be as accurate as the images obtained through this method.

Currently, Mi Hong had solved all the other problems and only needed to find a photosensitive material to restore the captured image.

Mi Hong had explained this idea to his wife ten times, but his wife still looked blank, unable to understand it at all.

Not to mention his wife, even some well-educated people and scholars who had learned new knowledge couldn’t understand what he was talking about.

On the one hand, Mi Hong’s ideas were too far-fetched and ethereal. On the other hand, Mi Hong’s ability to express himself was limited, and he couldn’t clearly and accurately convey his ideas in words.

Therefore, he repeatedly ran into walls when seeking funding from wealthy merchants.

Helpless, he gritted his teeth and stomped his foot, selling the mansion on Xuanwu Street and moving with his wife and children to this cheap place at the foot of the city, into a small house.

All the money he got from the sale was used for scientific experiments.

However, tragically, he hadn’t succeeded even after all the money was spent.

His wife naturally wanted to throw herself into the river out of anger.

Originally, their family was not particularly wealthy, but at least they were well-off. Not as good as the best, but better than most.

But now, their family had fallen so low that they didn’t even know where their next meal would come from.

“I just have long hair and short insight. I never thought about having a fortune. The original days were good. But now, what are we going to eat tomorrow? Wuwuwu…”

“I’ll borrow some money from my elder brother to get through this,” Mi Hong said.

“Dream on. I already went to beg your elder brother and sister-in-law. They all said you’ve been possessed by a demon and lost your mind, and they won’t lend you a single penny. I don’t care about you anymore. I’m taking the children back to my parents’ house. You can starve to death yourself,” Madam Mi said, packing her things.

“How dare you? Are you trying to make me lose all face?” Mi Hong said angrily. If his father-in-law knew that he couldn’t even support his wife and children, where would he put his face?

“If you don’t want to lose face, then go get some money! The rice jar at home is empty. Do you want to starve us to death?” Madam Mi scolded.

Mi Hong’s lips moved, but he didn’t know what to say.

He wasn’t good at socializing and didn’t have any friends. The only person he could rely on was his elder brother.

If his elder brother didn’t help him, he really wouldn’t have any means.

He was so obsessed with his invention dream that he didn’t even notice that the family was out of food.

At this moment, a huge problem was placed before him, almost causing him to collapse.

Watching his wife leave with his crying son, Mi Hong was both angry and helpless.

He knew that it was the best choice for his wife and children to return to her parents’ home, at least they would have food to eat. However, he also resented his wife for being unfeeling and abandoning him in his most difficult time.

“Go, get out, and don’t come back. When I succeed in my invention, I’ll marry ten concubines and line them up to death!” Mi Hong roared.

“Crazy, crazy, you’re already crazy. Go die!” Madam Mi cursed, dragging her crying son away.

…

Extreme examples like Mi Hong were not many, but similar examples were not few.

Some people succeeded and became rich overnight.

More people failed, losing time and money.

Mi Hong was the worst off, even losing his wife and children.

Chapter 552: Tong Youwei Reads the Newspaper

December 29th, Tong family.

Tong Youwei was reading the last issue of the Great Hua Daily for the second year of Yongxing.

Front page headline.

[Summary of Achievements in the Second Year of Yongxing.]

In the second year of Yongxing, under the leadership of the wise and martial Sacred Son of Heaven, our dynasty has achieved earth-shattering changes.

Among them, steel production reached fifty thousand tons, five times more than last year, and fifty times more than during the Ming Dynasty.

Grain production reached sixteen million tons, thirty percent more than last year, and twice as much as during the Ming Dynasty, basically solving the problem of food and clothing for the whole country. The number of new births increased by about thirty percent.

Tax revenue reached one hundred and thirty million yuan, sixty percent more than last year, and ten times more than during the Ming Dynasty.

…

These figures are actually not very accurate.

With the current statistical capabilities, accurate statistics would require a lot of time, money, and manpower.

Therefore, Great Hua did not conduct precise statistics, and many values were based on theoretical calculations.

Quoting them directly in the newspaper isn’t a big problem.

Anyway, even the imperial court cannot accurately know the data, so how could ordinary people know, and naturally they wouldn’t have the confidence to question it.

Moreover, the focus of this report is not to let ordinary people know the specific values, but to convey the message that Great Hua is getting better and better.

In fact, the comparison with the Ming Dynasty is the core content of this report.

By comparing with the Ming Dynasty, others can clearly feel the goodness of Great Hua.

Tong Youwei nodded as he looked at the article. The better the situation in Great Hua, the more beneficial it would be for his family. After all, he was deeply dependent on Wu Changqing’s existence.

The second article.

In August of the second year of Yongxing, the wise and martial Sacred Son of Heaven gave important instructions, pointing out that the method for the Imperial Hospital Director to prevent smallpox was inoculation with cowpox.

After Director Lu’s research and experimentation for as long as four months, it has been proven that the Sacred Son of Heaven’s method is effective.

The mortality rate for those inoculated with cowpox is zero, and the success rate of obtaining immunity is as high as ninety-eight percent.

The Sacred Son of Heaven instructed that comprehensive inoculation should be given priority in the worst-hit areas of the country in the spring of next year, and comprehensive inoculation should be gradually implemented in other areas, striving to completely eliminate smallpox within three years.

From then on, the people will no longer have to worry about being tortured by smallpox.

Such achievements are truly the first in all ages. Long live my Emperor, long live, long live…

“Hiss… such a major event has been completed quietly. Eliminating smallpox, its merit is comparable to Shennong tasting hundreds of herbs.”

Tong Youwei couldn’t help but say.

It was too amazing. Smallpox, which everyone feared, was about to be eliminated. It was simply unbelievable.

“Daddy, what’s wrong?”

Tong Xiangyu asked.

“His Majesty has discovered a way to prevent and treat smallpox. From now on, the common people can save their lives, and you don’t have to worry about getting smallpox and having pockmarks on your face.”

Tong Youwei said.

“Daddy is talking nonsense, I won’t have pockmarks.”

Tong Xiangyu said.

“That’s not certain. Look at your second uncle, he got smallpox when he was a child, and that’s why he has so many pockmarks on his face. Fortunately, he survived.

More people didn’t make it through and died. You haven’t had smallpox yet, and it’s hard to say in the future. So, after the inoculation starts next year, you should also get inoculated to prevent accidents.”

Tong Youwei said.

“Inoculation, what is inoculation?”

After Tong Youwei explained inoculation, she refused even more, saying that she would not agree to it no matter what, it sounded disgusting.

Tong Youwei didn’t care and continued reading the newspaper. After all, girls don’t go out often, and the chance of getting sick is very low.

The third article.

Yesterday, the Sacred Son of Heaven gave important instructions.

The Sacred Son of Heaven spoke at length about the harm of foot binding for women, and ordered that all female relatives of officials must not have bound feet. Those who violate this will be suspended from their duties, fined, and made to reflect.

Moreover, the Sacred Son of Heaven ordered that foot binding be prohibited throughout the country from next year. Those who violate this will be fined one hundred yuan.

…

The Great Hua Daily had previously published many articles about the harm of foot binding.

However, at that time, it was only advocating not to bind feet, and there was no mandatory prohibition.

Some people believed in such articles, and many did not.

And those who believed it, would not give up foot binding for many reasons.

Just like some people know that plastic surgery is bad for the body, but some people spend a lot of money to suffer.

Some women today have to bind their feet in order to cater to the preferences of some powerful men.

Therefore, the government’s advocacy did not have much effect.

This time, Wu Changqing was determined to ban foot binding.

Of course, his ban is actually very gentle, not killing it with one blow.

The ban stipulates that officials who violate it will only be suspended from their duties and made to reflect, and will not lose their official positions completely.

Ordinary people who violate it only need to pay a fine of one hundred yuan.

This is a buffer zone for some persistent wealthy people.

They can spend some money to continue to maintain their beliefs and fetishes.

If there were no such regulations and everyone was forced to release their bound feet, it would probably cause a strong backlash.

These accumulated concepts and customs are not so easy to change.

In particular, some wealthy people have this fetish. Where there is demand, there will be trade, and it is impossible to completely prohibit it.

Now that it is stipulated that a fine must be paid, it shows the court’s determination to release feet, and it also provides another reason for fines, which can also increase income, killing many birds with one stone.

“Dad, I want to release my feet too.”

Tong Xiangyu said.

She couldn’t tell whether foot binding or foot release was better, but the Sacred Son of Heaven said that foot release was good, so she, a little fan girl, naturally chose to believe it.

“Release them then, His Majesty’s words are never wrong. However, in this way, the suffering you suffered when you were a child will have been for nothing.”

Tong Youwei said with a smile. As a staunch supporter of Wu Changqing, he unconditionally supported all of Wu Changqing’s policies.

“Dad, aren’t you very appreciated by His Majesty? Why don’t you find an opportunity to offer me to His Majesty?”

Tong Xiangyu said.

As soon as these words came out, Tong Youwei’s face darkened.

“Can you girls be more dignified and reserved? With your crazy appearance, the palace would have to send your body back the next day after you entered the palace.”

Tong Youwei felt very tired, feeling that his daughter was spoiled.

“Does that mean that if I learn to be reserved, you will agree to send me to the palace?”

Tong Xiangyu asked.

“Life in the palace is not as good as you think.”

Tong Youwei reminded earnestly.

“I don’t care, I just want to enter the palace.”

Tong Xiangyu said.

“Wait for an opportunity, the palace is not a place you can enter if you want to.”

Tong Youwei did not object to his daughter serving the emperor, but he did not support it either.

After all, there are so many women of the emperor, and being the emperor’s woman is by no means a happy thing.

His family is neither short of money nor greedy for power, so there is really no need for this.

However, Tong Xiangyu was too worshipful of the emperor and wanted to serve the emperor wholeheartedly. Tong Youwei had no choice but to turn a blind eye and treat it with a Buddhist mentality.

Chapter 553: New Year in Different Places

December 30th, New Year’s Eve.

As one of the most important festivals in China, nothing can stop the Chinese people from celebrating the Spring Festival.

The Manchus, already accustomed to celebrating the Spring Festival, naturally brought this custom back to beyond the pass.

However, this year’s festival is not going to be easy for them.

A few days ago, several assassins attempted to assassinate Dorgon.

Then, the Qing Dynasty’s officialdom also experienced a period of turmoil.

A large number of officials and military officers were purged, and some who participated in the rebellion were beheaded.

For a time, the capital, Shengjing, was awash with blood. In the windless weather, the stench of blood lingered, adding a touch of terror to the city.

Relying on extremely tough measures, Dorgon quelled this wave of rebellion, regained control of power, and firmly grasped the Qing Dynasty in his hands.

However, his control relied on bloody suppression.

The people below were outwardly obedient but inwardly unconvinced, and there was still a risk of further unrest.

But Dorgon didn’t care.

It was the New Year, and he was going to enjoy himself. After all, he didn’t know if he would have the chance to enjoy it next year.

Fine wine, good meat, beautiful women, and opera troupes – Dorgon certainly knew how to enjoy himself.

At the same time, the ordinary people of Shengjing were struggling with whether to cook a little more rice for the festival.

Usually, few families could afford to eat their fill because food was too scarce and expensive.

They basically ate only half full and then slowly endured the rest of the time.

But now, it was finally the Spring Festival. Not having meat was already miserable enough, so they should at least have one full meal, right?

Some people gritted their teeth and cooked a little more food, while others continued to starve.

There was no choice. The Qing Dynasty court exploited them too harshly, taking almost everything they could and leaving them with only the bare minimum for survival.

So, even during the Spring Festival, they could only celebrate in spirit. Materially, it was almost the same as usual.

Some ordinary people, unable to bear such a life, took advantage of the relaxed Qing army defenses during the New Year and quietly fled south towards Great Hua.

They would rather accept the rule of Great Hua than continue to follow Dorgon, who was of the same ethnicity.

What if they were of the same ethnicity? Being of the same ethnicity couldn’t fill their stomachs.

Although they were of the same ethnicity, the degree of exploitation was even greater than that of foreign races. They were better off without such kin.

Some people who couldn’t survive fled southwest under the cover of night, snow, and the cold winter.

Only a few were able to escape to Great Hua.

Most either starved to death on the road, froze to death on the road, or were discovered and killed by the Qing army on the road. Then, they became a subject for future scholars to write about.

Compared to the Northeast, the people of Kunming were slightly better off.

The officials in Kunming were also exploiting the people, but they weren’t doing it as ruthlessly.

After all, Dorgon was still vigorously developing weapons and equipment, trying to continue to confront Great Hua.

But Zhu Youlang and the other officials in Kunming had already given up on the idea of counterattacking Jiangnan.

They were just living day to day, muddling through.

Without frantically expanding their military, they naturally didn’t need to collect taxes so ruthlessly.

The ordinary people were still living a hard life, but they didn’t need to flee in the snowy night like the people of the Northeast.

In a restaurant, several high-ranking court officials gathered to drink, eat meat, and play with women.

For them, the next step was to wait for Great Hua to attack, then surrender to Great Hua and continue to live such a life.

While Emperor Yongli was incompetent, they would take the opportunity to plunder as much wealth from the people as possible to enrich themselves.

The food on their tables was quite extravagant, including not only ordinary meats but also seafood from Nanjing, chili peppers, cilantro, monosodium glutamate, and other seasonings.

They could enjoy the same life as the high-ranking officials in Nanjing.

As long as they paid, there were plenty of merchants willing to travel over mountains and rivers to sell the good things from Jiangnan to Kunming.

And the prices, of course, were very exaggerated.

A packet of monosodium glutamate in Kunming cost fifty times the price in Nanjing.

After several hours of singing and dancing, the group dispersed.

The leftover delicacies were discarded at will.

“Behind the vermillion gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road lie the bones of those who have frozen to death.”

In ordinary people’s homes, there wasn’t a trace of oil. They barely managed to eat a full meal.

They didn’t even think about Spring Festival couplets, firecrackers, or new clothes. When they couldn’t even eat their fill, how could they be in the mood to bother with that?

Putting up one more Spring Festival couplet meant enduring one more meal of hunger, and putting up Spring Festival couplets couldn’t fill their stomachs.

Ordinary people were very realistic. Comparing the two, they could only temporarily abandon tradition and pick it up again when they had the means in the future.

Without Spring Festival couplets, firecrackers, and the like, the New Year naturally had no festive atmosphere at all.

At this time, they also hoped that the Great Hua army could attack sooner and end the rule of this Ming Dynasty.

It was said that Great Hua’s taxes on the people were extremely low. Just thinking about it made people envious.

Compared to the people of Kunming, the people of Jinan were slightly better off.

This place had suffered from years of turmoil, ravaged by various forces, coupled with various natural disasters, and had once been close to collapse.

Fortunately, at a critical moment, Great Hua attacked.

Then, Great Hua’s grain was transported to provide disaster relief.

Tsk, tsk, tsk…

This was the most decent disaster relief the people of Jinan had ever seen. In the past, most of the disaster relief consisted of rice husks.

But Great Hua’s disaster relief consisted of white rice.

Wasn’t this the exclusive staple food of the noble lords? Since when were disaster victims qualified to eat it?

Some disaster victims who received the grain were reluctant to eat it and chose to exchange it for coarse flour or millet from the landlords.

“We lowly people can’t eat such good grain; it’s easy to get diarrhea.”

No one knew which imaginative person came up with such a theory, but it was actually agreed upon by many disaster victims.

For a time, more and more people exchanged relief grain for coarse grain.

Of course, this wasn’t a loss for the disaster victims. After all, one shi of rice could be exchanged for two shi of millet, which would last them longer.

They could even sell a little rice and use the money to hire scholars to write a few festive couplets, praying to God to bless them with a better life next year.

They could also buy a few ounces of meat or a few eggs to improve their diet.

Life needed a sense of ritual. Only in this way could they feel that they were truly alive.

If every day was just a repetition of hardship, it was easy to despair.

So, even though reason told them that they shouldn’t be so extravagant and that the money for meat should be used to buy grain that would last longer, many people still chose to have a good New Year.

Of course, when they ate meat, they would not forget that it was all thanks to Great Hua’s relief.

“Great Hua is good. We’ve only been citizens of Great Hua for a few months, and so much relief grain has been distributed. We paid taxes to the Ming Dynasty for more than twenty years, and we never ate any of the Ming Dynasty’s relief grain.”

An old farmer said with tears in his eyes.

The contrast was too obvious.

Chapter 554: Development Disparities

Looking at the people across the land of Great Hua, the main theme is still hardship.

The only people who can truly be said to be living happy lives are probably those in the rural areas around Nanjing and Shanghai.

The people in these two areas have been influenced by the economic radiation of the big cities and are the first to enjoy the benefits of the era.

The most typical example is Hexi Village, where Qin Er-Hu lives. Because of its proximity to Nanjing, they are well-informed and have seized many opportunities.

Moreover, any good policies benefit them first.

Whether it’s receiving free farm tools or building water conservancy projects and reclaiming wasteland, they have all the advantages.

There’s no other way; under the emperor’s eyes, things must be done beautifully. Otherwise, if Wu Changqing sees it, none of the officials in Jiangning will have a good end.

More importantly, because of its proximity to Nanjing, the surrounding people have more opportunities to make money.

Qin Lin, for example, has become wealthy simply by growing special foreign vegetables.

Compared to before, his income has at least increased tenfold, as unreal as a pipe dream.

And he’s not an isolated case. Zhang the hunter earns three or four times more than in previous years by providing wild game to Nanjing.

Some wild game used to be unsellable, but now it is in great demand in Nanjing.

This is mainly because there are more wealthy people in Nanjing, and the demand for wild game has naturally increased greatly.

With demand increasing and production remaining the same, prices naturally rise.

Not only wild game, but Nanjing’s demand for all kinds of meat has increased.

Old Zhang, who used to farm in the village, gave up farming and switched to raising ducks professionally, raising two thousand in one go, and then a big boss from Nanjing came to buy them.

This year was also a great harvest for Old Zhang.

These are still the people who have become wealthy in the village, and they are still in the minority.

The most common thing is still families who make money by working in Nanjing.

Although working in a factory cannot make you rich, the income is two or three times higher than before.

This extra money can greatly improve their lives.

Therefore, except for a small number of conservative families, most families in Hexi Village are beaming with joy.

Hexi Village today is already greatly changed.

Although Er Gouzi was beaten up when he returned home, he was beaten at home, and outsiders didn’t know.

In front of outsiders, riding his bicycle around, he was as proud as could be.

He rode in front, and a group of children followed behind.

Some young girls, seeing him, were extremely curious and found Er Gouzi much more pleasing to the eye.

Er Gouzi swaggered around the village for many days until one day the chain broke with a snap, and after Er Gouzi was beaten up by his old father again, he became honest.

Especially seeing others save money to marry a wife, he seemed to understand that bicycles are all fleeting clouds, and girls are the key.

You can’t sleep with a bicycle at night.

“I’ll work hard for another year.”

Er Gouzi wasn’t too depressed. As long as the factory still had work, he wouldn’t have to worry about not making money.

Another year of hard work, and a wife would be in hand.

Being able to see hope at all times is the happiest thing for the people of Hexi Village.

Er Gouzi wasn’t the only one who was vain, but some people expressed it differently. One guy wore a Western suit similar to a Zhongshan suit during the New Year.

Because of the good material and the new style, he looked very energetic.

Some young girls had never seen such an energetic young man and were immediately smitten.

If the atmosphere weren’t open enough, they would have rushed over to ask questions.

But they didn’t need to be too anxious. When the villagers saw Qin Da Pao like this, they deduced that Qin Da Pao had made money.

Families with daughters could take the initiative to talk to him.

“Da Pao, what kind of clothes are you wearing? It’s so weird.”

Some children chased after him, watching and asking.

“Don’t touch it, don’t feel it, this is a suit, clothes specially worn by big bosses in the city. Also, don’t call me Da Pao in the future. My manager gave me a nice name, Qin Jingye. You have to call me Brother Jingye in the future.”

Qin Jingye said proudly. After going to the city, he already had a sense of superiority when facing the country bumpkins in the village. He became disdainful of associating with the villagers and hoped that he could match the city people.

Of course, he could only match second-rate figures in the city. Only senior staff at the manager level would wear this kind of suit. Real tycoons still preferred to wear Hanfu.

Qin Jingye naturally didn’t understand this. In his eyes, his manager was already a superior person.

Naturally, some people in the village couldn’t stand Qin Jingye’s attitude and would scold him from time to time behind his back.

However, some people admired him very much and took Qin Jingye as their goal, also preparing to venture into the city.

Although some people in the village were injured while working in the factory, this didn’t scare the others.

At this time, death in the village was too normal.

As long as they could live a better life, what was there to fear from this danger? People used to rush to join the army when it was so dangerous.

Compared to Hexi Village, the people in Nanjing lived even better lives.

In Nanjing, as long as you are willing to work, you don’t have to worry about not finding a job.

Moreover, many jobs have considerable income.

For example, intermediaries.

Some wealthy businessmen come to Nanjing to buy houses and land to set up factories, and they need some Nanjing locals to help them.

These intermediaries rely on their familiarity with Nanjing to carry out various matchmaking businesses.

This kind of work is easy and profitable.

If you are ruthless, you can use various tricks to deceive outsiders and then make a lot of money.

Another example is beverage shops. Relying on having houses in the prosperous areas of the city, opening a beverage shop can generate considerable income every day.

Locals have advantages in all aspects, and those who have made good use of these advantages have already turned over.

There are not many people who become rich overnight, but there are many people who have achieved a comfortable life and entered the ranks of the well-to-do.

These people are the middle class of Great Hua.

Nanjing is full of laughter and singing.

Kunming is lifeless and desolate.

And Shengjing is bleak, sparsely populated, and like a dead city.

The development differences in different places are huge.

The level of development in Nanjing is almost at the level of the year eighteen hundred in the original timeline.

And Kunming is still stuck in the sixteen hundreds.

Shengjing is regressing in a straight line. Apart from the army, in terms of people’s livelihood, they are probably not as good as the Ming Dynasty in the fifteen hundreds.

A gap of two or three hundred years is not small.

It can be said that for the people of Shengjing, Nanjing is a paradise on earth.

For the people of Western Europe, Nanjing is the paradise they dream of.

Chapter 555: Things Change, People Remain

Nanjing, Hongwu Road, this area is mostly where officials reside.

The Jin Residence.

Mandahai’s residence. He has now changed his name to Jin Hai.

After joining Great Hua, he re-established himself in Nanjing and married a Banner woman.

He wanted to marry a Han woman to prove his complete assimilation.

However, he looked down on those who were too inferior, and those who were better had reservations and were unwilling to marry him.

Although he is now rich and powerful, his identity still seems like a ticking time bomb.

At first, not to mention marrying a wife, even hiring servants, Han people were reluctant to work for him.

However, he offered prices two or three times higher than other dignitaries. Moreover, as time passed, some of the people’s hatred diminished, and Han people slowly began to come to his door to work as servants.

However, most of the people in his mansion are still Manchus who did not have time to escape and were captured.

Mandahai forced all these people to change their names and stipulated that they must speak Chinese at home.

As a surrendered official with a special identity, he acted cautiously, not seeking merit but avoiding mistakes.

Under this philosophy, he has lived a peaceful life for the past two years.

No one targeted him, and no one fawned over him. He seemed to have little presence in Great Hua’s officialdom.

But in reality, he holds significant military power, commanding more than ten thousand directly subordinate cavalry troops, and also serving as the deputy commander of the cavalry.

Someone with such great power and yet so little presence is quite unique.

Now, in the Jin Residence, they wear Han clothes and speak Chinese. People who don’t know the situation would never guess that many of the people here are actually Manchus.

Lying on a grand master’s chair, listening to a servant read a novel, Mandahai’s life is quite comfortable.

Many of the Manchus who surrendered with Mandahai have also gained a foothold in the army and have been accepted by the Hua army.

These people are currently doing well and have integrated relatively thoroughly.

Occasionally, there are even situations where Manchu soldiers and Han soldiers are seen drinking together, arm in arm.

Integration in the military is much faster than in civilian life. After all, everyone has to fight side by side and needs to trust each other.

And after several battles, everyone has come to accept each other.

Meanwhile, at a government-run coal mine in Huainan, more than three thousand Manchu men are digging coal under the supervision of guards.

When they came, there were more than four thousand of them.

These are all people who refused to surrender at the time and were assigned to the mines to do hard labor.

Now they want to surrender again, but unfortunately, Great Hua is no longer giving them the opportunity.

Why would they let them surrender when they have such good free labor?

After surrendering, they would become citizens of Great Hua, and they would have to be treated fairly and paid wages.

The Mineral Resources Department in charge of this coal mine would never agree to such a thing.

This is an important source of income for the Mineral Resources Department, their money bag.

A choice made in a moment of misjudgment has led to completely different lives.

And the Qing Dynasty they were loyal to has now had at least half of its people surrender and integrate into Great Hua.

They have heard some rumors about these things.

The anger in their hearts is imaginable.

From time to time, people commit suicide in the mine.

After all, their former persistence and beliefs have been proven to be a joke by reality.

Nanjing, the Xue Residence.

Xue Guiren is also a surrendered official, but now not many people remember that. All they know is that he is the commander of the Fourth Army, holding a high position and great power.

Moreover, with the relationship to the Imperial Concubine Xian, his future development potential is immeasurable.

His life is much better than Mandahai’s. He doesn’t have so many worries and can enjoy himself to the fullest, in a high-profile manner.

Among the surrendered officials, the timing of surrender is very important.

Those who surrendered early have already become army commanders.

Those who were slightly slower are division commanders.

Those who came later have lower official positions.

Their power and ability are not directly proportional but are greatly related to the time of their surrender.

For example, Kong Youde’s ability is certainly stronger than some of those who came from the wild.

When he was a Qing Dynasty prince of a different surname, Xue Guiren was just a chiliarch.

But now, Xue Guiren is an army commander, and Kong Youde is just a staff officer of a regiment in the army.

Not only is his rank low, but he is also a staff officer without real power. The difference in their status is worlds apart.

Of course, for those who have already died in battle, he is considered relatively lucky.

Shang Kexi, one of the Three Kings, insisted on following Dorgon to gamble, and was later directly emptied and handed over to the Hua army by his son.

Now his son, Shang Zhixin, has become a battalion commander in the Great Hua army, while Shang Kexi has become a prisoner.

There is a similar pattern among civil officials.

Basically, the earlier you surrender, the higher your official position. The earlier you join, the higher your official position.

For example, Qian Taoli was just a Provincial Governor before, but because he followed Wu Changqing early, he relied on his status as a veteran to directly become the Vice Minister of Revenue.

In terms of ability, there are many people who are stronger than him.

Qian Sule and Xiong Rulin, who had served as Vice Ministers, which one of them is worse than Qian Taoli?

The later you surrender, the fewer benefits you get.

There are many talents in the Zhejiang faction, but their voice in the court is very low.

Who told them to be loyal to Prince Lu and Prince Fu and fight against Great Hua? Being able to continue to earn a living in the officialdom is already Wu Changqing’s generosity.

As for the Xuan faction, Qi faction, and other officials from the North, not a single one has been able to reach a high position. Who told them to surrender even later?

If these local officials want to restore their former glory, they can only rely on rising stars and produce a few top scholars in the imperial examinations.

Of course, a few outstanding individuals have also been exceptionally promoted.

For example, Hong Chengchou, Ma Shiying, and Liu Dahua.

However, this is only a minority after all.

Because of a turmoil, the world has changed beyond recognition.

People who were once famous and powerful may now become unknown in Great Hua.

And people who were once unknown may now become famous in Great Hua.

Some famous people have died, such as Bolo, Dodo, Huang Daozhou, and Yang Minghua.

Some famous people are lingering on, such as Dorgon, Zhang Xianzhong, and Zhu Youlang.

Some people have changed their names and hidden in the mountains, bidding farewell to worldly disputes.

For example, Wu Sangui, after rescuing Chen Yuanyuan from Beijing, he and several confidants lived in seclusion in an abandoned mountain village and began a life of farming.

He knew that his past sins were deep, and the officialdom of Great Hua could hardly accommodate him, so he simply changed his life.

Although sometimes he is unwilling to use his skills for farming, life has so many helplessness.

In just a few years, the world has undergone tremendous changes.

On the stage, one sings, and then another takes the stage.

Everyone has their own new destiny.

Chapter 556: The Inaugural Science and Technology Expo

In the third year of Yongxing, everything was refreshed, a new atmosphere prevailed.

On the third day of the new year, Wu Changqing issued the first decree of the year.

[Nanjing will hold the inaugural Science and Technology Expo on February 1st.]

Wu Changqing will personally attend and comment on this Science and Technology Expo.

Anyone with relatively significant inventions, major research findings, or theoretical concepts can participate and showcase their work before the Emperor.

Ultimately, the Emperor will evaluate and award prizes based on the value of their achievements.

Winners will receive official bonuses, certificates of honor, and subsequent research funding.

The last point is key. This kind of research funding starts at ten thousand yuan and has no upper limit.

If anyone has ideas and clues for researching internal combustion engines, Wu Changqing will invest in them, no matter how much money they want.

Money can be earned again, but technology and resource points are gone once spent.

The main reason Wu Changqing created this expo was to discover talent among the people, save on technology points, and send a signal that he values technology.

Although the number of technology points is not finite (it can be increased with continuous population growth), there is a rough upper limit. He can’t force people all over the world to have babies to get more technology points, which is unrealistic.

It is impossible to light up all the technologies with a limited number of technology points.

Therefore, if he wants to develop the world to the level of the twenty-first century in his lifetime, he still needs the wisdom and concerted efforts of everyone in the world.

This expo will allow Wu Changqing to discover talent and save technology points.

Some inventors are very smart, but they often get stuck on a certain point and can’t figure it out, falling into a bottleneck.

At this time, Wu Changqing can use his knowledge from later generations to give them some guidance.

For a simple example, if someone wants to invent the light bulb now, and all the problems have been solved, but they are struggling to find a suitable material for the filament.

Then Wu Changqing can tell him to use tungsten.

A simple sentence can allow the other party to break through the bottleneck and achieve success.

Without Wu Changqing’s guidance, the other party may have to experience more than three thousand failures, spending a lot of money and energy.

For another example, if he wants to unlock the technology of radio, it will cost at least two million technology points.

However, as long as he tells someone with talent in electricity the working principle of radio, then with the other party’s talent, they may be able to develop radio.

In this way, it is equivalent to him saving millions of technology points with his words.

As a time-traveler, it would be a waste not to make the most of his knowledge.

Moreover, guiding others can also make him appear knowledgeable.

Although, as an emperor, he no longer needs this kind of vanity, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little more.

It feels pretty good to be admired and looked up to by a group of geniuses.

In addition to organizing the Science and Technology Expo, Wu Changqing also newly established a Science and Technology Department, which does not belong to any particular ministry.

The Science and Technology Department will eventually be upgraded to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

It is just that its temporary importance is not enough to make it a separate ministry.

As a department, it is not easy to be affiliated with any ministry.

It should have been under the Ministry of Rites, but the Ministry of Rites now manages too many things.

So, Wu Changqing simply established it as a separate department, but not affiliated with any ministry.

This is not a big problem. Departments such as the Office of Transmission and the Shipping Department are not affiliated with the Six Ministries. Anyway, these departments are not core power institutions, and they are more inclined to technical matters rather than administrative departments, so it doesn’t matter whether they have jurisdiction or not.

After issuing the first decree, the second one quickly arrived.

[The circulation of illegal currency is prohibited.]

The decree stipulates that all silver ingots and old-style copper coins are illegal currency, not recognized by the government, and prohibited from circulation.

All silver ingots and copper coins must be submitted to the Royal Bank for exchange into standard currency.

Any transaction using illegal currency will not be protected.

This means that if you use standard currency for transactions and get cheated, the government will uphold justice. But if you use illegal currency for transactions and get cheated, then you deserve it, and the government will not care.

Although the use of standard currency has been promoted all along, the circulation of other currencies has also been allowed, and there has been no mandatory requirement for people to exchange them into standard currency.

But now, the imperial court is a bit stricter.

Non-standard currency can still be buried in cellars without breaking the law.

Carrying it on your person is also fine.

But if you want to take it to the market to buy things, sorry, this is illegal.

If you don’t want to break the law, first take these silver coins to the Royal Bank to exchange them into standard currency.

In this way, it is equivalent to defining the silver ingots and copper coins of the previous dynasty that the imperial court originally recognized as illegal currency.

Although they still have value-preserving properties after being defined as illegal currency, they no longer have the property of circulation value.

There is no problem using them for collection.

But when used, they have no value.

This trick is quite ruthless, equivalent to completely denying other illegal currencies and forcing everyone to exchange them for standard currency.

The new currency decree has little impact on ordinary people.

Anyway, these poor people don’t have silver for collection. Money is used for circulation.

If you have to use standard currency, then use standard currency, there is no difference.

However, for some large landlords who have countless savings of silver, this trick is quite deadly.

In the past, although the silver at home could not be used to pay taxes, it could at least be circulated and traded among the people, and the impact was not particularly large.

But now, after the new currency decree is issued, it will be difficult for them to buy things with silver ingots in the future.

Others are very likely to refuse to accept silver ingots and insist on standard currency.

If they don’t do this, and there is a dispute in the transaction, then wouldn’t that be terrible?

When most people start refusing to accept illegal currency, the silver in their hands will no longer have circulation value, and will no longer be a currency, but will become a precious metal, a commodity.

Just like a bolt of cloth, it still has the value of goods, but it has no circulation value.

A bolt of cloth can be sold for one yuan, but if you want to use a bolt of cloth to buy ten Jin of pork worth one yuan, Zhang the butcher will definitely not agree.

Even if this bolt of cloth is indeed worth one yuan, Zhang the butcher cannot take this bolt of cloth to buy things, which is neither convenient nor recognized by others.

It can be said that after this move, those who are still hoarding silver must hurry up and exchange it for standard currency.

After all, the price of a commodity fluctuates, and it may depreciate in the future.

Moreover, who knows if the imperial court will issue another decree to reduce the exchange rate between silver ingots and standard currency, which would be too deadly.

Silver loses its circulation value, and it cannot be eaten when stored, so the more you hoard, the more you lose.

Chapter 557: The Impact of Government Decrees

The new year started with two government decrees, and those engaged in scientific research and invention naturally cheered “Long live the Emperor!”

The inaugural Science and Technology Expo was extremely important to them. Not only could they showcase their work to wealthy merchants, but they could also receive comments from the Emperor himself. This was practically a chance to take off!

Of course, that was assuming they had good projects.

For a time, everyone involved in scientific research began working overtime, striving to make a splash in February.

Some folk inventors were also preparing, hoping to turn their lives around with this opportunity.

The wealthy merchants naturally welcomed the Science and Technology Expo with open arms. This saved them the trouble of searching for projects one by one; they could simply choose whatever they liked at the expo.

Of course, they might also encounter competition from other wealthy merchants.

Overall, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

Compared to the second decree, the Science and Technology Expo caused less of a stir.

The ban on the circulation of illegal currency infuriated some large landlords and merchants.

This was simply blatant robbery, without even a pretense of concealment.

If the Imperial Bank didn’t charge a melting fee, then they might as well exchange it.

But the Imperial Bank insisted on charging a melting fee, and the silver content of a one-yuan coin was far less than one tael.

This was equivalent to giving money to the Imperial Bank to earn. The common people didn’t care about this little bit, but the merchants cared a lot.

“I won’t exchange it. I refuse to believe that the silver will become useless just because the imperial court says it can’t be circulated,” a Liu family landlord in Xuancheng angrily declared. He had two hundred thousand taels of silver hidden in his cellar.

If he exchanged it all, he would lose at least five thousand taels in melting fees.

Moreover, he would be contributing twenty-five thousand yuan in profit to the Imperial Bank.

He couldn’t swallow this pill.

He was green with envy when he saw others earning a single yuan, and now he was supposed to contribute more than twenty thousand in profit to the Imperial Bank? He couldn’t tolerate it.

“Master, we should still exchange it. What if no one wants this silver in the future?” Madam Liu advised.

“Shut up, you have the insight of a woman! As long as this silver is still made of silver, it’s impossible for no one to want it. If it really comes down to it, I’ll melt this silver myself and cast it into new coins. I’ll never let the Imperial Bank earn this money,” Master Liu roared. He was in a foul mood and wanted to curse at anyone he saw.

“Privately minting coins is illegal.”

Slap!

Before Madam Liu could finish speaking, she was slapped.

“Do I need you to tell me that? Get back to your room!” Master Liu continued to vent his anger.

He was just talking big. He would need the ability to privately mint coins.

The manufacturing technology for standard currency was still very cutting-edge, and there was no way for ordinary people to imitate it.

Master Liu was naturally unwilling to let things go like this, so he arranged for servants to exchange some silver for standard currency for daily use. The rest, he continued to hoard.

At the same time, he went to see the county magistrate to share his thoughts and express his demands.

If he was the only one doing this, the effect would definitely be minimal.

However, when several landlords gathered at the county government to discuss this decree with the magistrate, the magistrate couldn’t ignore their demands.

This county magistrate was also a member of the Donglin Party. He then wrote a secret letter containing everyone’s demands and ideas and sent it to his teacher.

His teacher, after collecting more demands and opinions, relayed them to Donglin Party officials holding positions in the central government.

Faced with the demands of the interest groups behind them, the Donglin Party members in the court were very helpless.

The previous purge had not been over for long, and they were all somewhat fearful.

If they jumped out to oppose this decree at this time, they might not have a good end.

Of course, saying nothing was also not an option.

If they didn’t speak out, the interest groups behind them would definitely be disappointed in them, and they couldn’t expect any financial assistance in the future.

Moreover, some officials themselves belonged to this class, with countless silver taels hidden in their homes.

In addition to money and class reasons, there were also various factors such as personal relationships that forced them to express their position.

One censor chose to submit a memorial advising that the Imperial Bank should not compete with the people for profit and should not charge that little melting fee when exchanging new coins.

The wording in the memorial was much milder than the last time, using advice instead of criticism.

Moreover, it didn’t say to abolish the decree, only that it shouldn’t rely on the decree to forcibly earn the people’s money.

This memorial expressed to the interest groups behind him that he had done his best, without angering Wu Changqing, which was a helpless move in a special period.

Wu Changqing kept this memorial without comment, ignoring it.

The meaning behind it was for the person who wrote the memorial to understand himself.

Was the Emperor angry, or did he not care?

Don’t guess the Emperor’s thoughts; it’s a waste of time.

In a secret residence, Qian Qianyi and several Donglin Party members gathered again to discuss countermeasures.

They couldn’t let things continue like this; otherwise, the financial backers behind them would be dissatisfied.

Moreover, they themselves were part of that group, and Wu Changqing’s decree had also damaged their interests.

“Lord Qian, we can’t let things continue like this. If we keep compromising, our influence will become weaker and weaker. Why don’t we emphasize the necessary etiquette norms?” someone suggested.

Restraining imperial power had always relied on the Ministry of Rites, whose role was the greatest.

The Ministry of Rites could stipulate a series of etiquettes for the Emperor to abide by, such as greeting the Empress Dowager every day, when to worship ancestors, and what to pay attention to at ordinary times.

By using these miscellaneous matters to consume the Emperor’s energy and restrict the Emperor’s freedom.

If the Emperor really listened to the Ministry of Rites, then being the Emperor would be like being a prisoner.

“No, His Majesty hates these etiquette rules the most. If we dare to make such a request, he might abolish the Ministry of Rites,” Qian Qianyi quickly denied. This was simply playing with fire.

Wu Changqing was the most etiquette-averse person he had ever seen, even completing the important event of the enthronement ceremony casually.

How could he be expected to follow etiquette?

How could someone who rose through the ranks by leading troops be expected to abide by etiquette?

“Then what should we do?” the others asked. They didn’t have many means to restrain imperial power, and etiquette was the most important one.

“Take it slow. I’ll promote some people with clean backgrounds. In the future, if anything happens, these people without blemishes can go to the front lines.

As long as they don’t have any weaknesses, His Majesty will have many concerns when dealing with them, and those people will be safer.”

Qian Qianyi still wanted to delay, to delay until his retirement. He didn’t want the conflict with the Emperor to intensify before his retirement, so that he wouldn’t be able to die peacefully.

Qian Qianyi discovered that Wu Changqing still followed some principles when doing things and wouldn’t act recklessly like a foolish or tyrannical ruler.

In the previous incident, Wu Changqing used the excuse of investigating corruption to deal with Wen Junxuan and others.

Although everyone knew that the root cause wasn’t corruption, it was because of corruption that Wu Changqing’s handling was legally justifiable.

Dealing with corrupt officials was reasonable and justified.

However, those censors who had absolutely no blemishes were not punished because Wu Changqing had to consider his image.

Since that was the case, then he could take advantage of this point.

Cultivate a few subordinates without blemishes to fight Wu Changqing, so that they wouldn’t be defeated so quickly.

Chapter 558: Land Reform

The large landlords’ troubles had only just begun.

Wu Changqing had already been very tolerant in letting them enjoy two years of good times.

One of the major causes of the widespread chaos in the world was land annexation.

Nine out of ten of those large landlords were bad eggs.

Of course, there were also many bad eggs among the common people, but the common people had little power, and their wickedness did not affect the foundation of the country.

But these large landlords had great power; if they were wicked, then the country was in trouble.

This year, Wu Changqing planned to carry out land reform and completely eliminate the large landlord class.

Wu Changqing could not accurately predict the potential impact and turmoil this might cause.

However, it was something that had to be done.

Otherwise, when a new round of land annexation began in the future, countless people would be unable to survive, and history would repeat itself.

Because of the significant impact on the fundamental interests of the large landlord class, Wu Changqing could not simply issue a decree like he did with the standard currency law; he had to treat it with caution.

Otherwise, the resistance he would encounter would be immeasurable.

First, he needed to gain the support of his ministers, at least the support of most of them.

If the ministers collectively opposed him, he couldn’t very well send the army to the countryside to carry out land reform, could he? That would truly be a mess.

Land reform still needed to be implemented by his officials; Wu Changqing couldn’t personally go to the countryside and do everything himself.

He had to gain the support of his ministers; he couldn’t just issue orders and force them to carry them out with a knife to their throats. If he did that, their cooperative relationship would instantly collapse.

What would follow would certainly be widespread chaos.

Those officials and the local landlord class might pull someone out of some corner, claim he was a descendant of Zhu Yuanzhang, and raise the banner of “Overthrow Great Hua and Restore the Ming Dynasty.”

Or, they might simply announce their allegiance to Zhu Youlang in Kunming and joyfully welcome the royal army into Jiangnan.

If something like that were to happen, Zhu Youlang of the Southern Ming and Dorgon beyond the pass would probably laugh in their dreams.

Gaining the support of his ministers was the prerequisite for this reform.

On January 16th, just after the Lantern Festival, Wu Changqing announced that he would hold a court meeting the next day to discuss important national matters.

Great Hua’s court meetings were held infrequently, so when one was called, everyone knew that something important was about to happen.

Almost every official was pondering and guessing what it could be.

If they could guess what it was and prepare in advance, performing well in court would be more important than doing a lot of practical work.

The emperor was busy with countless affairs, and it was difficult for him to notice how much practical work the people below were doing.

But if they had a brilliant performance in court, they could directly leave a deep impression on the emperor, making it easier to get promoted in the future.

But what did His Majesty want to discuss?

Many people scratched their heads, feeling a headache coming on.

Some people, however, didn’t need to have such a headache because they had received instructions from Wu Changqing in advance about what to say the next day.

Wu Changqing couldn’t just shout out that he wanted to carry out land reform, saying, “I’m very unhappy with you bastard large landlords, and I want to confiscate your wealth and redistribute it.”

If he really said that, those below would either rebel directly or hold a grudge against Wu Changqing from then on.

A relatively better approach was to have his confidants raise the issue first, and then have the proposer and the opponents engage in a heated debate.

Even if Wu Changqing wanted to express his support, the proposer had to win the debate.

If they couldn’t win the debate, the land reform plan might have to be postponed.

In short, Wu Changqing couldn’t show too obvious a bias; he needed to act as a fair referee, not a player on the field.

As long as he didn’t personally enter the game, the first people those large landlords would hate when the reform was carried out would be the guy or group who first proposed land reform.

Of course, smart people might understand that this was a trick played by the emperor, but as long as it wasn’t out in the open, there would be a buffer zone for the conflict.

Even if they rebelled, they could use the slogan of “Cleansing the Emperor’s Entourage,” not completely breaking with the emperor.

In the future, when they marched to the capital, the emperor could also kill those reformists to appease the situation, leaving room for both sides to reconcile.

If they completely broke face, it would be a life-or-death situation, and the risk was too great.

Neither Wu Changqing nor the landlord class wanted to escalate things to that point all at once.

Wu Changqing controlled the army and had absolute military power, but he wouldn’t use force at every turn when governing.

If force was used too often, it wouldn’t be good if the army’s power became too great.

Civil officials could be corrupt, and so could military generals; they were all made of flesh and blood, and everyone had their desires.

Therefore, using some political skills was still necessary.

The seventeenth, early morning.

A large number of officials got up early, ate breakfast, and arrived at the palace gate to wait.

Although everyone now had watches and could know the exact time at any moment, there was no need to be at home until the last minute.

If they were late due to some unexpected event and lost their official position, they would probably become the laughingstock of the world.

How could they not cherish the efforts of ten years of hard study?

Therefore, all the officials arrived early; none of them would be greedy for a little extra sleep.

While waiting at the palace gate, the officials also exchanged greetings and speculated about the matters to be discussed in court later.

“Lord Gu, have you received any hints? Do you know what we’re going to discuss in court?”

Liu Shijin asked.

“How would I know? If you want to know, you probably have to ask Lord Wei,” Gu Yanwu said.

“Secretary Wei?”

Liu Shijin knew that although Wei Ziwen’s official position was not high, he belonged to the Emperor’s faction and had a good private relationship with the emperor, so sometimes his information was more accurate.

“Yes.”

Gu Yanwu said.

Liu Shijin ultimately didn’t go over; there was no need.

Some people did go to inquire with Wei Ziwen, but Wei Ziwen pretended not to know anything and didn’t reveal a thing.

As the time reached seven o’clock, the palace gate opened on time.

“Gentlemen, warm yourselves by the fire first, and drink some soup to warm your bodies. We have spicy, sour, and sweet flavors.”

Feng Debao said.

In terms of material enjoyment, Wu Changqing had never mistreated these people.

The weather in January was still very cold, so Wu Changqing had specially instructed the Department of Palace Affairs to prepare some benefits.

“His Majesty is truly considerate of us.”

Liu Shijin warmed his hands and took a sip of warm wine.

The other officials naturally enjoyed it as well. In terms of enjoying themselves, they could clearly feel that it was much better than during the Ming Dynasty.

Even the number of times they had to kneel had been reduced a lot. If Wu Changqing was willing to delegate more power, then everything would be perfect.

After briefly warming their hands, the group entered the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Chapter 559: The Imperial Court Cannot Be Too Direct

“Long live the Emperor! Long live, long live, ten thousand years!”

After a simple bow, the hundred-plus ministers divided into several rows.

These positions also followed certain rules.

Those with higher status naturally stood at the front.

As for the seventh-rank officials at the very back, they were essentially there to observe and accumulate experience. They rarely had the opportunity to speak; they simply weren’t qualified.

Unless those at the top were unwilling to speak, they might have a chance to say a few words.

“I apologize for making everyone rise early this morning. However, as the new year begins, everything is renewed. To make even greater strides this year, we need to plan well and lay a solid foundation at the start.

Therefore, the main purpose of this imperial court session is for everyone to speak freely and share their views and insights on major issues facing the court, society, the economy, and so on.”

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly said they didn’t mind the early start.

At the same time, they began to ponder what to say next.

Wu Changqing emphasized the words “major issues,” so their speeches had to address significant problems. Bringing up trivial matters would inevitably displease the Emperor.

But how easy was it to discuss major issues?

Problems that could be easily solved weren’t considered major.

Without sufficient ability, what views and insights could they offer?

Therefore, everyone hesitated for the moment.

“Your Majesty, I have a report.”

“Speak.”

Subsequently, a fifth-rank Vice Director from the Ministry of Revenue spoke up.

“The people regard food as their heaven. No matter how important industry is, it is built on the foundation of feeding the people. The grain issue has always been the most important issue since ancient times. Although our dynasty currently relies on the divine rice bestowed by Your Majesty, which has greatly increased grain production,
the people have also increased their birth rates as a result. After the world is stable, the population will inevitably explode, and grain will still be a major problem. To solve the grain problem, I believe that we should build large-scale water conservancy projects to prevent natural disasters.

Without natural disasters, everything is under control. Once we encounter natural disasters, chaos is inevitable.”

Tan Sijin was also a member of the Emperor’s faction.

However, he didn’t immediately talk about land reform, because that would be too obvious.

In officialdom, everything emphasizes subtlety and implicitness.

Often, people only say half of what they mean, leaving no handle for others to grab.

Those without a certain level of intelligence wouldn’t be able to understand the other party’s subtext, and they wouldn’t be able to survive in officialdom.

Wu Changqing wanted land reform, but he couldn’t show it directly and hastily.

Therefore, he had Tan Sijin talk about water conservancy issues first.

Water conservancy issues were basically a problem that ran through the entire history of the dynasty, and could be brought up at any time.

More importantly, this problem was not easy to solve.

Therefore, there was a high probability that they would only say half of what they meant, and then temporarily shelve it.

At that time, others could then follow up on the grain issue and raise the land issue, which would be very logical and not feel abrupt at all.

If the water conservancy problem couldn’t be solved, then they could solve the land problem, which could be solved.

Of course, this kind of trickery could only deceive ordinary officials. True shrewd individuals could definitely see through it at a glance.

Some officials didn’t know that Tan Sijin was a member of the Emperor’s faction. Seeing him speak first, and the problem he raised was indeed a problem, they felt somewhat dissatisfied, feeling that Tan Sijin had taken a shortcut.

However, there was nothing they could do about their dissatisfaction; the matter had already happened.

And some cunning and well-informed people who knew Tan Sijin’s identity began to think about the Emperor’s intentions.

Holding a grand imperial court session was to discuss the management of floods? This was probably unlikely and unreasonable.

These deep-thinking people were still pondering, so naturally they didn’t express their opinions.

After Tan Sijin raised the issue, some ministers had already begun to express their views.

Even though Wu Changqing didn’t plan to solve the flood problem for the time being, he still listened patiently. People who do great things have this kind of patience.

“With steel and cement, the construction of dams will be much easier…”

The crowd argued for half an hour, and at the end of the debate, they were left with a core question.

Should they prioritize the development of industry or agriculture? After all, managing floods and building water conservancy projects mainly required money.

As long as there were financial allocations, the construction of water conservancy projects had been done by previous dynasties, and everyone had experience, so it was not a difficult task.

What’s more, now there were two major weapons, steel and cement, which made building flood control dams much easier than before.

The key was money, money, money.

At this point, some discerning people had already given up the argument.

This kind of thing had been decided at the end of last year. In the third year of Yongxing, the focus was still on comprehensively promoting industrialization.

Therefore, there was no way to grab the money for developing industry.

With the preliminaries over, the main event was about to begin.

Li Yao, a sixth-rank Principal of the Ministry of Revenue, stepped forward and said,

“I believe that the construction of large-scale water conservancy dams is extremely costly and does not conform to our dynasty’s development plan for the time being. And solving the grain problem does not necessarily require the construction of water conservancy projects; it can also be solved from the land aspect.

When I visited and investigated in Zhejiang, I found that for one mu of paddy field with the same fertility, the grain yield of self-cultivating farmers was generally higher than that of large landlords’ estates.

After in-depth investigation, I found that the self-cultivating farmers were very careful and meticulous when managing their paddy fields. However, the long-term workers of the large landlords’ families often muddled through because the level of grain production was not related to their income.

Therefore, I propose that if the land of the landlords is distributed to other landless people, it can greatly mobilize the enthusiasm of the people for production. Accumulated nationwide, grain production can be increased by at least ten percent.”

A ten percent increase in production was already quite considerable.

Hearing this estimate, many people gasped.

However, what shocked them even more was Li Yao’s suggestion.

Distributing the land of the landlords? What a joke.

We are the orthodox central court, not rebels like Li Zicheng. How can we directly plunder the land of the landlords like Li Zicheng?

Since ancient times, only rebels would shout the slogan of distributing land when rebelling. The orthodox court would never say such a thing.

Moreover, even if those rebels really succeeded and completed the change of dynasty, they would immediately forget their previous slogans.

The reason was also very simple: rebellions without the support of the large landlords class had never succeeded.

Whether the court won or the rebels won, their supporters were actually the wealthy class.

Without the wealthy class providing financial support, no force could succeed.

After all, even if the coerced people were willing to risk their lives, you still had to feed them.

And this required money, and money was in the hands of the rich.

Perhaps, they could directly rob.

However, robbing money was only a one-time thing and could not be sustained. A force that completely offended the landlord gentry and powerful class could not even find talents to govern the local area, because most of these cultured people and scholars came from this class.

To summarize in one sentence, the dynasty’s regime actually relied on the large landlords, gentry, and powerful class to support its rise to power.

Then, the dynasty would exploit the people and maintain the interests of the wealthy class.

It had been like this since ancient times. Now that Li Yao proposed to distribute the land of the landlords, he was essentially advising Wu Changqing to rebel against himself.

Chapter 560: Heated Debate

“Absurd, simply absurd! Why doesn’t Lord Li divide his own salary among his subordinates? That way, their enthusiasm for work would also increase greatly.”

Dai Li, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, was the first to stand up and retort sarcastically.

What a joke! His father still had over three thousand mu of land in Huzhou. Now Li Yao wanted to divide it with a single sentence? He was only refraining from taking action out of consideration for Wu Changqing.

Anyone else would probably be panicking inside after being reprimanded by an official six or seven ranks higher than them.

But who was Li Yao? He was someone who could scold all the Vice Ministers during the imperial examination. How could he be afraid of a mere Dai Li?

Li Yao said, “It’s a waste that you’re the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry. Can’t you see? Distributing land to poor farmers and increasing their enthusiasm for production increases the total amount of social wealth. But distributing my salary to my subordinates is just a transfer of wealth between people. The total amount doesn’t increase.

If giving my salary to my subordinates could create wealth out of thin air for society, I would be happy to do so.”

It was easy to talk without skin in the game. Li Yao dared to say anything, knowing that no one would actually ask him to divide his salary.

Dai Li was immediately depressed by these words.

He had been too excited just now, so he hadn’t thought through the issue carefully and had made a slightly inappropriate analogy, which Li Yao immediately seized upon.

“Lord Li, you can’t say that. Taking other people’s private property for no reason is just robbery! That’s definitely not acceptable. No one wants to be deprived of their wealth.”

Another official stood up to reject Li Yao’s proposal from a practical perspective.

“Private property? Under the whole sky, all land belongs to the Emperor; on the shores of the whole land, all people are the Emperor’s subjects. Everyone is His Majesty’s subject, his child. Is there a problem with an old father taking a little something from his rich son to help his poor son?

Moreover, did those large landlords till their land with their own hoes? They all used various despicable means to carry out land annexation.”

Li Yao went all out, making the other opponents want to vomit blood.

Saying “Under the whole sky, all land belongs to the Emperor” was just lip service. Even the Emperor himself wouldn’t take it seriously.

But Li Yao was acting like a simpleton, pretending not to understand and insisting on using it as an argument.

However, the other officials couldn’t refute it.

Although the Emperor wouldn’t think that all private property in the world belonged to him, the officials couldn’t say that.

If anyone dared to say directly that some things in the world belonged to private individuals and the Emperor had no right to take them, they would be charged with disrespect.

In short, Li Yao took a clever approach, first standing on a position similar to a ‘moral high ground’ in the debate.

That was, you all know that my words are just sophistry, but you can’t refute them. Refuting them is immoral and disrespectful to the monarch.

The opponents hated Li Yao as much as the world hated hypocrites.

This wasn’t a rational discussion, it was purely showing off shamelessness.

Qian Qianyi, Gu Yanwu, Ruan Dacheng, and others had not spoken until now.

Only now did they understand that Wu Changqing wanted to carry out land reform and divide the landlords’ land.

Among the three, Ruan Dacheng wasn’t particularly surprised because he understood Wu Changqing better. He knew that Wu Changqing disliked the landlord class and was bold enough to do things that others wouldn’t dare to do.

For the Emperor to forcibly divide the landlords’ land among the common people was a bit like rebelling against himself.

Only Wu Changqing dared to do this. Ruan Dacheng believed that it would be impossible for anyone else to do such a thing.

Gu Yanwu and Qian Qianyi were a little confused about Wu Changqing’s intentions. They couldn’t understand why Wu Changqing wanted to do this.

If Wu Changqing wanted to seize the land and turn it into imperial estates, everyone could understand it as the Emperor being greedy.

But now, Wu Changqing wanted to divide the land among the common people.

They really wanted to remind Wu Changqing that his foundation of rule was the large landlords, gentry, and powerful families, not the ordinary people.

What Mencius said, “He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world,” referred to the educated landlord and gentry class, not the ignorant commoners.

In the past, the Emperor and the landlord class had jointly exploited the people, but now Wu Changqing wanted to abandon the landlord class and cooperate with the exploited. It was simply unbelievable.

Those who were exploited were uneducated and didn’t know how to govern the country. Cooperating with them would only ruin the country.

In short, Wu Changqing’s operation was very mysterious.

Hong Chengchou closed his eyes, looking like it was none of his business.

He could stay out of this matter.

After all, because he had first surrendered to the Manchus and then to Great Hua, his family members who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty had not forgiven him. He had no interest group to represent behind him.

He was now an isolated official among the surrendered officials and only needed to take care of his own small interests.

Although he didn’t need to participate, he was shocked and admired Wu Changqing’s plan.

No emperor had ever overthrown the ruling class and rebelled against himself. Wu Changqing was the first, awesome.

If Wu Changqing insisted on carrying out this reform, leading to being overthrown by the landlord class, this piece of history would be recorded as an excellent negative example.

It could make future emperors and crown princes smile knowingly when studying the boring history books.

The debate continued.

“This is impossible. People are selfish. This land has become their property. Rashly seizing it will inevitably lead to chaos in the world, and the losses will outweigh the gains.”

Liu Dahua couldn’t help but say. His family also had a lot of land, which had been accumulated by four or five generations of his family. They couldn’t just divide it up.

“Although it is important to increase the enthusiasm of the people, forcibly seizing property is not advisable.”

Wu Changqing spoke, ostensibly supporting Liu Dahua.

However, smart people wouldn’t ignore the first half of Wu Changqing’s statement.

Increasing the enthusiasm of the people is very important. Doesn’t this mean that the Emperor is very interested in the suggestion of dividing the land?

Those who understood the Emperor’s thoughts and wouldn’t be harmed by the land reform could now step forward.

Like Yuan Zishou, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, he directly and clearly expressed his support for Li Yao.

Anyway, his family had completely switched to business and didn’t have a single field. He couldn’t wait to divide up the land of those large landlords and weaken their strength.

After all, many of those large landlords also worked part-time in business and were Yuan’s family’s competitors.

It was a pleasure to see the imperial court directly plunder the wealth of those competitors.

Your position determines your thinking. Most of the debates in this world are not about right or wrong, but about interests.

What is in your own interest is right, otherwise it is wrong.

Chapter 561: The Main Battlefield

“Without His Majesty’s wise and brilliant leadership, those large landlords would have long become slaves of the Manchu Tartars. Our dynasty liberated them, so how can asking them for a little land be considered extortion? At best, it’s just their belated expression of gratitude.”

Li Yao continued his full-throttle assault.

“Lord Li, you can’t say it like that. Of course, His Majesty deserves the greatest credit for driving out the Manchus. But in this process, many landlords also donated money and grain. You can’t ignore their contributions.”

Seeing Wu Changqing’s attitude, some officials were already anxious and kept trying to argue.

It seemed they were arguing with Li Yao, but their words were actually meant for Wu Changqing’s ears.

“Oh really? Please, Lord Liu, give some examples. Did they contribute a lot? Did they contribute more than the soldiers? If we’re measuring merit based on contribution, then the soldiers from countless common families should be allocated land even more.”

Li Yao continued to retort.

Whether or not land should be distributed isn’t a simple matter of one plus one equals two. There’s no standard answer to this kind of thing.

When there’s no standard answer, there’s bound to be contention. At this time, it’s a battle of talent and volume.

In short, the first day of the court session didn’t produce any results.

These things can’t be resolved in a single day.

The ministers argued for fourteen years about whether Emperor Wanli should replace the crown prince.

The debates in the imperial court aren’t actually the main battlefield for the game.

The real contest takes place outside the court.

The reformists began to promote their reform ideas in newspapers, explaining the benefits of reform in order to gain public opinion and the approval of some important figures.

Of course, they wouldn’t directly say, “We want to divide the land of the large landlords.” An official that stupid wouldn’t last three days.

The reformists made it sound very appealing, saying that the reform was for the good of the large landlords, allowing them to shed the burden of land, invest their money in industry and commerce, and earn even greater profits.

And by distributing the land to the people, they could improve production efficiency and increase the overall wealth of society.

When the people become wealthy and have purchasing power, it’s equivalent to expanding the consumer market.

The landlords who invest in industry and commerce can then earn money back from the people, which is much more cost-effective than farming.

Of course, no matter how eloquently they spoke, the large landlords didn’t even glance at it.

Distributing the landlords’ land to those peasants for free is for the landlords’ own good?

To say such a shameless thing is unprecedented and will never be heard again.

Even if the reformists’ words made sense, those whose property was about to be divided wouldn’t agree.

The articles written by the reformists weren’t meant for the large landlords to read, or rather, not for the purely large landlords.

What they wanted to win over was the support of the merchant class and the large landlord class who were engaged in commerce.

Expanding the consumer market is something merchants like, they like it very much.

Currently, some products are already facing overcapacity.

For example, glass mirrors. This thing isn’t easy to break, and the number of people who can afford it is limited. When it’s shipped overseas, it’s easily broken due to turbulence.

This is the current predicament of the glass mirror industry, and the solution to similar predicaments is to expand the consumer market.

If ordinary people could afford glass mirrors, wow, the consumer market would increase by at least thirty times.

Therefore, merchants greatly appreciate the reformists’ point of view.

Currently, the Great Hua merchant class is also an important force, and gaining their support would be of great help.

Of course, the main purpose of these views of the reformists is to win over those neutral officials.

Such as Hong Chengchou and Ruan Dacheng.

If these cabinet ministers in the court were persuaded to unanimously support Wu Changqing in carrying out reforms, then everything would be easy.

With the support of key ministers, the guarantee of military force, and the reformists charging forward, the reform could begin.

While the reformists were trying to win over these neutral officials, the opposition was even more actively running around to make connections.

After all, if the reformists failed, they would simply give up the reform and suffer no losses.

But if the opposition failed, it would be a direct loss of wealth.

The opposition felt angry at the thought of having to divide their fields with others. Is there any justice or law left in this world?

“Lord Hong, you can’t remain silent at this time. You are a cabinet minister on duty, and your words carry a lot of weight. For the prosperity of the empire, you can’t let those petty men of the reformist faction deceive the emperor and let them run amok, ruining the foundation of our Great Hua.”

Dai Li persuaded.

Hong Chengchou was speechless. If it was really those people deceiving the emperor, it would be easy to handle.

But the key is that His Majesty is determined to carry out reforms. Opposing him is going against the emperor. The risk is too great, and the benefits are too small.

“Lord Dai is overthinking it. The empire may not necessarily fail to prosper after the reforms,”

Hong Chengchou said.

“There will definitely be an impact. If the landlord class is pushed too hard and rebels, the world will be in chaos again,”

Dai Li said.

“Lord Dai is overthinking it. It’s wishful thinking for those landlords to rebel with the power they have in their hands. The more they dare to rebel, the more miserable they will die,”

Hong Chengchou snorted coldly. These words were actually a warning to Dai Li not to have any crooked ideas.

Hong Chengchou knew very well that Dai Li was backed by the landlord group.

Dai Li’s attitude was equivalent to the attitude of those people. If Dai Li wanted to rebel, then there would be nothing to say.

At that time, he, Hong Chengchou, would definitely stand on His Majesty’s side without hesitation.

After all, letting those landlords fight against Wu Changqing, who holds a large army, is like an ant trying to stop a chariot.

Hong Chengchou hoped that Dai Li could calm down and see the reality.

“Hey, I’m just saying what if, what if there is such a possibility. As subjects, we naturally have to find ways to prevent such a possibility from happening.

Moreover, Lord Hong, your family also has thousands of mu of fertile land. If His Majesty really approves this reform plan, your family will have to live a hard life in the future,”

Dai Li continued to persuade. He had also done his homework beforehand.

“This is an excellent opportunity for you to repair your relationship with your family. As long as you stand up for the interests of your family, they will definitely understand your past difficulties.

Mother and son recognizing each other, how touching. Returning home in glory, how glorious.”

This was a sore spot for Hong Chengchou. Even though he was in a high position, he couldn’t return home in glory, like wearing fine clothes at night.

“Well, I’ll think about it. Lord Dai, please go back first. All I can say to you for now is that resistance is possible, but you must take reasonable measures. If you dare to have any crooked ideas, I will be the first to oppose it,”

Hong Chengchou warned again as he saw him off.

Although the landlords’ rebellion would definitely fail, the resulting turmoil would also affect commercial activities.

Hong Chengchou still hoped that the world could remain peaceful.

“Your subordinate respectfully obeys your teachings,”

Dai Li left.

Chapter 562: This is the Real Plan

In the palace, Wu Changqing basked in the sun, enjoying the sunflower seeds that Consort Shu had shelled for him, thoroughly content.

Having decided to initiate reforms, he had naturally anticipated the current situation.

The reaction from the court officials was somewhat better than he had expected.

Apart from Qian Qianyi and Liu Shijin expressing the need for caution in reforms, the other Vice Ministers hadn’t explicitly stated their positions.

This at least indicated that the opposition wasn’t too fierce.

If all the Vice Ministers had stood up in opposition, Wu Changqing would have been in quite a bind.

But as it stood, he could continue.

Proposing a plan and stirring up controversy was only the first step of Wu Changqing’s plan.

Next would be the second step: having the reformists propose new solutions.

Indeed, Wu Changqing had never intended to distribute the landlords’ land for free from the start; that would be too difficult.

As the saying goes, “Taking a man’s wealth is like killing his parents.” No one can tolerate such a thing.

No matter how eloquently the reformists argued, trying to directly seize someone else’s property would inevitably lead to bloodshed and require force.

The Emperor might be able to bully a single, ten, or even a hundred landlords without issue.

But trying to bully tens of thousands of landlords across the land simultaneously was a much bigger problem.

If those people could truly work together, it would be enough to give him a headache and shake the foundations of the empire.

Therefore, Wu Changqing had never actually planned to distribute the landlords’ land for free.

He would first put forward a plan that the landlords found completely unacceptable, and then pretend to make concessions, offering a slightly less outrageous plan, which the landlords would then be more likely to accept.

This was a simple application of human psychology, used everywhere from business negotiations to selling clothes on the street.

First, offer an unacceptable price, then make a concession, revealing your real price and giving the other party the feeling that they’ve gotten a good deal.

Wu Changqing’s real plan was to force the landlords to sell their land themselves.

The specific details were that future agricultural taxes would be levied based on the area of land owned.

For land under fifty mu, the tax would be one-tenth of the harvest.

For land between fifty and one hundred mu, the tax would be two-tenths.

For land between one hundred and two hundred mu, the tax would be three-tenths.

For land between two hundred and five hundred mu, the tax would be four-tenths.

For land between five hundred and one thousand mu, the tax would be five-tenths.

For land over one thousand mu, the tax would be eight-tenths.

At that point, Wu Changqing could say, “I didn’t seize your land; I only increased taxes.”

And increasing taxes was something every emperor had done throughout history. Legally speaking, it was perfectly justifiable.

However, Wu Changqing’s method of increasing taxes was enough to make the large landlords vomit blood.

Others increased taxes on everyone, but Wu Changqing was directly targeting the large landlords.

Currently, the input-to-output ratio for one mu of land was about one to two.

That is, to harvest fifty Jin of grain, it required an expenditure of about twenty-five Jin in costs. This input-to-output ratio was actually quite good.

In the past, the input-to-output ratio might have been only eight to ten.

A one-to-two output ratio meant that to avoid losing money, the tax rate had to be below five-tenths.

Considering other factors, in reality, it should be below four-tenths to make a profit.

This meant that those with more than two hundred mu of land would make no profit; they would be working for the government for free.

And those with more than five hundred mu would be in an even more interesting situation: not only would they be working for free, but they would also be paying the government to produce grain and pay taxes.

And a large landlord wouldn’t dare call himself a large landlord without at least five hundred mu of land.

This also meant that if those large landlords didn’t sell off their land, they would be paying the government to produce grain every year.

Wu Changqing was using this method to force the landlords to sell their land.

Then, an even more interesting thing would happen.

If all the landlords sold their land at the same time, would the land still be valuable? Scarcity makes things valuable. A concentrated sell-off would inevitably lead to a sharp drop in land prices.

At that point, the large landlords would probably vomit another mouthful of blood.

Moreover, Wu Changqing didn’t have to worry about anyone buying up large amounts of land at low prices to become new landlords.

After all, under this new tax policy, only someone with water in their brain would buy large amounts of land.

Land bought under these conditions wouldn’t be wealth, but a heavy tax burden.

Even better, this wouldn’t affect landless commoners from buying land.

After all, landless commoners didn’t have much money and wouldn’t be able to buy too much anyway.

And as long as the land didn’t exceed one hundred mu, the tax rate would still be quite good.

In fact, Wu Changqing had even prepared a backup plan.

What if the commoners didn’t even have the money to buy fifty mu of land?

Don’t panic, the imperial court would provide land purchase loans to the common people, interest-free.

As long as they bought less than fifty mu, it would be interest-free. Fifty to one hundred mu, low interest. Over one hundred mu, no loans, because he was worried they wouldn’t be able to repay them.

Anyone who bought more than one hundred mu of land under this tax policy was probably out of their mind, and the imperial court wouldn’t dare lend money to such people; it was unlikely they would ever get it back.

What if the large landlords were willing to pay the land tax and then abandon the land to retaliate against the central government?

Wu Changqing would also establish regulations that uncultivated land would be immediately confiscated.

This was the ultimate move that Wu Changqing had come up with to solve the land problem.

In theory, there was nothing wrong with this plan. If implemented smoothly, the landlords could cash out a large amount of silver and invest it in industry and commerce.

This would not only boost industry and commerce but also allow wealth to circulate.

And the common people could obtain enough land to support their families and have a surplus, increasing their wealth and boosting their consumption power.

This would also have huge benefits for the overall prosperity of society.

The system was good.

But what would happen in actual operation?

That was hard to say; anything could happen, and Wu Changqing wasn’t sure.

Any perfect system, when executed by imperfect people, could no longer be perfect.

However, no matter how many problems he encountered during the implementation process, Wu Changqing would not give up on this policy.

He had prepared enough time and energy to follow up on this reform.

When problems arose, he would find ways to solve them and never retreat or compromise.

Anyone who dared to stop him from carrying out this reform would face his wrath.

Reforms, of course, wouldn’t be smooth sailing; the process would inevitably be accompanied by bloodshed. Wu Changqing was mentally prepared for this.

Wu Changqing wanted to solve the problem of land annexation, which other emperors had been unable to solve for thousands of years.

And this achievement would be worthy of being recorded in history.

This kind of achievement was what Wu Changqing was pursuing.

Now that he had reached the pinnacle of material enjoyment, he could only pursue some spiritual enjoyment.

And becoming a wise ruler for all time was his goal.

To achieve these accomplishments, he naturally had to do something different, something that other emperors wouldn’t dare to do.

Chapter 563: Aligning Themselves

On the twentieth day, the second imperial court session was held.

The disputed issue remained land reform.

Compared to the last time, more officials expressed their views this time.

Some firmly opposed it, some said it needed careful consideration, and some chose to support it.

Relatively speaking, there were more opponents.

After all, most of the officials belonged to this class.

This concerned their vital interests, and they had to fight for it, no matter how dangerous.

Faced with this situation, Wei Ziwen spoke.

He put forward ‘his own’ insights, namely Wu Changqing’s solution, the tiered tax rate proposal.

This proposal surprised both the opposition and the neutral parties.

Because this plan sounded very ingenious, and it didn’t seem like it was thought up on the spur of the moment. It seemed like a plan that had been prepared for a long time.

Many aspects were considered in detail, and the opposition couldn’t find the problem with the plan for a while.

Considering Wei Ziwen’s identity, many things became clear.

This was not Wei Ziwen’s suggestion at all, it was clearly Wu Changqing’s compromise plan.

The opposition was about to vomit blood, this was really too bullying.

The Emperor’s side was carefully planning, one link after another, well prepared.

But their opposition had been responding hastily.

Dealing with preparedness in a hurry, they would naturally suffer a big loss.

For a while, they couldn’t even think of good arguments to refute.

Faced with this plan, the opposition was naturally still dissatisfied. Such a taxation system was not much better than forcibly distributing land for free.

Although the form was different, the ultimate result was that the land in the hands of the large landlords would be transferred to the poor.

The means seemed much gentler, but that was meaningless.

Their core demand was to protect the land in the hands of the large landlords.

Losing the land meant losing everything.

However, although they were dissatisfied, their opposition was not as intense as before.

On the one hand, they were running out of words, and on the other hand, they lacked the confidence to confront head-on.

In any case, the Emperor had made a concession.

If they wanted to negotiate a result, they had to make some concessions themselves, just like bargaining in the market. Only with mutual concessions could they proceed and ultimately reach a compromise and complete the transaction.

If they continued to insist on their previous attitude, the Emperor might overturn the table, which would not be good for either side.

If they wanted to bargain, they couldn’t just bargain casually.

Too much, and they wouldn’t be able to continue the discussion; too little, and they would easily suffer a loss.

This kind of thing should have taken time to study, but now it was in the midst of debate, and there was no time for the opposition to study it.

At this time, it was a test of the officials’ abilities.

“In order to guarantee the private property rights of the landlords, and also to improve the enthusiasm for production, I believe that we can continue to maintain the landlords’ ownership of the land.

However, through government orders, landlords can contract their land to other people for rent. The people pay a fixed rent, and all the extra grain produced belongs to the people.

In this way, the people will work harder to increase their income. And the landlords will be more likely to accept this plan, so there will be no major backlash and turmoil.”

Qian Qianyi personally entered the arena and put forward his compromise plan.

This plan would cause the landlord class to suffer a little loss, and they would not be able to exploit the people without limit.

However, compared to the land being divided up, this result was many times better.

If they could win this condition, it would be considered a victory for their opposition.

Moreover, when the policy was specifically implemented, the landlords could use their own capital advantage to continue to maintain their rights and interests.

For example, a mu of paddy field could be set at a very high rent, and regardless of drought or flood, the rent would be the same.

In a good year, the people might be able to taste some sweetness. But once they encountered a disaster year, the yield might not be enough for the rent.

At that time, the people would owe the landlords a lot of debt and would be even more afraid to resist the landlords’ exploitation and enslavement.

As long as there was enough time, the landlords could find ways to gradually destroy a household, and then annex its land, and then annex its population.

Turn these people into unregistered population, hide them, and evade taxes.

Wu Changqing’s system showed that there were about eighty-three million people under his rule, but the current registered population was less than seventy million, plus the uncounted infants and the wild people in the wilderness, probably only seventy-eight million.

That is to say, at least five million people were hidden in the current large landlord manors.

This was not a small number. If these five million people were counted, there would be another objective tax revenue.

“Lord Qian’s method is probably not appropriate. If the land is not in the hands of the people, they will never be able to obtain the power to have equal dialogue with the landlords. The landlords can arbitrarily increase the rent, and can also decide whether to continue to rent it out next year, in order to coerce the people.

In short, if the land is not in the hands of the people, the landlords will have ways to continue to exploit the people, causing a new round of land annexation. I think I don’t need to say more about the harm of land annexation.”

Wei Ziwen retorted.

The two sides continued to debate, in order to win the support of those neutral parties.

From their debate, some officials had already made a decision.

“I think the tiered tax rate is feasible. It gives the landlords the power to choose, and also solves the problem of the people’s enthusiasm for production, and at the same time, it is also conducive to the development of industry and commerce.”

Hong Chengchou spoke, he chose to support.

As long as this decree was issued, many landlords would inevitably sell their land.

And the only way out for the money they sold was to invest in industry and commerce.

This was a good thing for the Ministry of Commerce.

Hearing Hong Chengchou’s clear support for the reform, the opposition felt depressed.

Immediately afterwards, Ruan Dacheng, who was even more important, also chose to support the reform.

His reason for choosing reform was also very simple, because this was what the Emperor wanted to do. As a solitary minister, he naturally had to unhesitatingly support the Emperor’s policies.

Among the eight ministries, two had chosen to support the reform, and two opposed it.

As the debate continued, Ma Shiying and Zuo Zongwu also supported the reform.

In this way, the supporters of the reform accounted for half.

The last ones who had not yet expressed their views were Zhao Mingchong of the Ministry of Justice and Zeng Yi of the Ministry of Public Security.

Their attitude was very critical. As long as one of them supported the reform, then the reformists would have a majority, Wu Changqing would have a reason to agree to the reform, and the opposition would have nothing to say.

Zhao Mingchong and Zeng Yi were actually officials who represented the interests of the landlord class.

However, they were very hesitant at the moment.

They saw Wu Changqing’s determination to reform. If they chose to oppose and tied with the reformists, then this matter would probably never end.

This was not a good thing for the court.

Out of many considerations, Zhao Mingchong finally expressed his support for the reform, but hoped that the means would be more gentle in the specific formulation of the plan.

After all, not all the wealth of the landlords was obtained illegally.

Some landlords relied on the accumulation of their ancestors for generations.

Some people also made money through business and then legally purchased it.

These people need to be treated with a little bit of subtle differentiation. Otherwise, it would be inevitable to accidentally injure some innocent people.

# Chapter 564: Temporary Compromise

Zhao Mingchong's demands were considered reasonable and negotiable by the reformists.

As long as he supported the overall direction of the reforms, the reformists would consider him one of their own.

With the majority of Vice Minister-level officials supporting them, the reformists were riding high, full of ambition and satisfaction.

The opposition, on the other hand, glared at Zhao Mingchong and Zuo Zongwu.

Their attitudes had completely exceeded the opposition's expectations.

With these bigwigs taking the lead, a large number of officials below followed suit with their superficial stances.

Assistant Ministers, Department Directors, and others chose sides based on their factions and other considerations.

"Since the majority support the reforms, I cannot go against the will of the people. We shall establish a temporary, specialized Land Reform Committee on an auspicious day. Officials will be selected from various departments to serve concurrently, forming a team to research, refine, and implement the reform plan.

Furthermore, they will be dispatched to various parts of the country to oversee the reforms. The Reform Committee will have one Imperial Commissioner, ten Reform Commissioners, and fifty Reform Special Envoys..."

With the support of the majority, Wu Changqing also revealed his hand, no longer pretending. He directly stated what he wanted and instructed the officials to carry it out.

The opposition could only grit their teeth in hatred, yet they were helpless.

When the officials were no longer united but divided into two groups, one group could not contend with the emperor.

Even if they collectively resigned, the other half could barely keep the government running and select new officials.

With the matter settled, the opposition sighed in unison.

As things stood, unless they chose to revolt, they could not stop the reforms from proceeding.

Rebellion, however, was not something they had seriously considered.

Helpless, they could only continue their battles in the bureaucracy.

Unable to stop the reforms, they at least had to be able to influence and supervise them.

Therefore, the position of Imperial Commissioner of the Reform Committee and the positions of Reform Commissioners became their targets of contention.

No matter what the system, it still had to be implemented by people.

As long as they filled the Reform Committee with their own people, they would have plenty of room to maneuver.

By making some modifications to the details, they could completely save the landlords through indirect means.

However, their wishful thinking did not match reality.

Those who advocated for reform had finally secured the reform plan, and now they naturally wanted to consolidate their gains.

No matter what, the reformists would not let the opposition pick the fruits by taking the position of Imperial Commissioner of the Committee.

Not to mention the Imperial Commissioner, even the Reform Commissioners could not be given to the opposition, lest those guys come in and cause trouble, affecting the progress of the reforms.

Of course, it was impossible for the reformists to completely prevent the opposition from joining; the opposition would never agree.

The struggles in the bureaucracy often required compromise between the two sides.

Therefore, after turning the imperial court and the Six Ministries into a marketplace and arguing for several days, the two sides finally reached some compromises.

Hong Chengchou was responsible for the Imperial Commissioner. Originally, the reformists had hoped that Ruan Dacheng could serve concurrently, but the opposition did not agree.

Compared to Ruan Dacheng, Hong Chengchou was more moderate and would not use overly harsh methods in the reforms.

Ruan Dacheng, because of his many affairs in his own ministry, was not very enthusiastic about this position and did not compete for it.

For the reformists, Hong Chengchou was acceptable; at least he was not one of the opposition.

Among the ten Reform Commissioners, the reformists occupied eight positions, and the opposition only managed to secure two.

Moreover, these two people were very likely to be marginalized.

The opposition's main purpose in placing these two people on the committee was to act as a supervisory force, preventing the reformists from going too far and adopting too radical measures.

If the reformists were to forcibly use large-scale military force to compel the landlords to submit, they would definitely not agree and would have to make a scene in front of Wu Changqing again.

In short, even if the reforms had been decided, they would not be smooth sailing in the future.

In the process, a large number of troubles would definitely arise.

But Wu Changqing did not need to worry about this; he only needed to grasp the overall direction.

As for the small troubles in the process, the reformists would actively handle them, so he did not need to worry.

Among the fifty Special Envoys, the reformists accounted for one-third, the neutral faction accounted for the vast majority, and a small number of opposition members.

It was not that the reformists were willing to delegate power, but because their faction did not have many people to begin with, and they were short-handed.

Li Yao, who first proposed the reforms, also managed to get a Reform Commissioner position. Although his official rank was still Sixth Rank, the matters he was responsible for were very important, which was the so-called low position with great power.

Relying on this charge, Li Yao became famous overnight, from an unknown kid to a thorn in the side of the opposition.

Li Yao would have to bring two more guards when he traveled in the future; there would definitely be many people who wanted to assassinate him.

With the establishment of the Reform Committee and the confirmation of personnel, the next step was the discussion of various details.

This would also be a long process, and the entire reform would probably take two to three years to complete.

At this time, the benefits of having officials in the court were reflected.

Dai Li, Liu Dahua, and others sent their confidants back to their hometowns to inform their families to sell their land as soon as possible.

While the news of the reforms had not been completely leaked, the current land sales could still fetch a good price.

If they waited until the plan was finalized and announced, the land price would definitely drop by more than half, or even more.

At that time, those landlords would be crying.

Land reform had a far-reaching impact and was a major event in Great Hua.

However, in Great Hua, there were many other major events.

At the end of February, Tao Dongcheng took command, leading the Third Army and Fourth Army, a total of four divisions, one independent brigade, and two independent regiments, a total of sixty thousand people, up the Yangtze River, preparing to attack Hubei, Hunan, and other places.

Li Shaobin, Wang Dayong, and Liu Hansan, the three veterans, stayed in the Nanjing Military Academy for further studies and recuperation.

The emperor euphemistically said that he was showing consideration for them and not letting them overwork.

In reality, he did not want them to make too many more contributions, otherwise it would be difficult to give them any rewards.

On the other hand, it was also necessary to discover military talents and cultivate fresh blood.

Whether it was the bureaucracy or the military, an unchanging situation was not good; officials needed to be able to undergo slow, orderly changes.

If official positions were solidified and people below had no channels for promotion, they would probably not be willing, and there would be some negative effects.

In addition to Tao Dongcheng's central army, the Southern Army in Guangzhou, led by Lu Guangzu, also led a division, plus a small number of affiliated troops, a total of twenty thousand people, to march towards Guangxi.

In the Northern Army, the Northern Army Group was also planning to advance into Guanwai after the weather warmed up slightly.

On the naval front, a plan to enter Fusang had been formulated.

The large-scale decisive battles in Yongxing three years were not as many as last year, but there were many scattered battles in various directions.

Chapter 565: His Majesty Wants to See Erotic Pictures

Just as Tao Dongcheng’s army departed, the inaugural Nanjing Science and Technology Expo commenced.

The venue was the Imperial Palace. Wu Changqing would personally attend, and officials without pressing duties were also welcome to visit. Wealthy merchants with means had also received invitations.

Besides these, there were the carefully selected participants.

Who wouldn’t want the chance to showcase themselves in the Imperial Palace?

Some shameless individuals, carrying large kites on their backs, claimed to have invented single-person aircraft and insisted on performing in the palace. Such people had to be weeded out first.

Otherwise, no one knew how long the expo would last or how many jaw-dropping things would occur.

The task of selection fell to several learned scholars from the research institute.

After all, it was difficult for the average person to distinguish between a lunatic invention and a stroke of genius.

Before hydrogen balloons took to the sky, anyone who claimed to have a tool that could fly would probably have been considered insane.

In this selection process, it was possible that some truly brilliant ideas were eliminated.

Outside the palace walls, at the expo’s registration office, a commotion drew everyone’s attention.

“Why won’t you let me in? I’m an inventor too!”

Mi Hong said.

“You need to register in advance, and then the Science and Technology Department will review your application. Only those who pass can enter. This is the Imperial Palace. You didn’t register beforehand, and now you’re suddenly clamoring to get in. We don’t have time to investigate you. Who knows if you’re an assassin?”

The clerk retorted.

Discovering talent was important, but it couldn’t be more important than the Emperor’s safety.

Every participant had undergone a rigorous investigation. Only those with no issues were allowed to pass.

After all, technology was so advanced now that many dangerous items were difficult to prevent. If someone invented a new type of explosive and detonated it while the Emperor was reviewing their work, it would be a huge disaster.

“Sir, I beg you, I’m really not an assassin. I’m completely loyal to His Majesty. I was so engrossed in my research these past few days that I didn’t notice the announcement. Please, sir, make an exception.

If I don’t get the chance to showcase my invention and secure investment, I won’t be able to continue my research.”

Mi Hong pleaded.

Such a godsend opportunity, yet he hadn’t received the news in time. It was a fatal blow.

Although he spoke sincerely, he ultimately failed to persuade the clerk.

Moreover, the others around him understood and supported the clerk. After all, it concerned the Emperor’s safety, and they couldn’t afford to be lenient out of pity.

“Go back and wait for the next one. There will be a second expo around this time next year,”

The clerk said.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a big deal. Anyone else would just wait another year.

However, Mi Hong’s financial situation meant he couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity.

When his hopes were dashed, he immediately became emotionally unstable and tried to cause a scene at the registration office.

As a result, he was immediately apprehended by the palace guards.

The other participants shook their heads at the sight. People driven mad by their inventions were nothing new, and he certainly wouldn’t be the last.

Before success, no one could tell whether they were madmen or geniuses.

For example, someone had recently flown a kite in the rain, insisting on capturing lightning from the sky.

Such a preposterous, insane act, yet the man was eventually invited into the Science and Technology Department’s research institute.

Rumor had it that he had succeeded and was now conducting research on lightning.

This world was becoming increasingly difficult to understand.

People were even trying to steal ideas from the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning. Who knew when the Jade Emperor would be next?

Mi Hong was taken away, but the palace guards didn’t make things difficult for him or throw him in jail.

After all, Mi Hong’s crazed appearance and demeanor were too similar to those of other scientists.

To call him an assassin would be an insult to the profession.

The remaining participants entered in an orderly fashion, taking the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals, exchange ideas, and spark inspiration.

Great Hua’s technological field was just beginning, and those who had entered this field were still relatively pure, without much cunning or malice.

They were more admiring than jealous of their peers.

At noon, Wu Changqing arrived.

Then, the participants, according to their numbers, took turns standing before Wu Changqing and the wealthy merchants to showcase and explain their creations.

The first participant was named Ge Yunfei, and his creation was called the “Magic Lantern,” which was essentially a slide projector.

He made a grand display, first having people set up a completely black tent before explaining it to everyone.

“This device is called the Magic Lantern. It uses the principle of pinhole imaging to project images from slides onto a large screen, magnifying them several times, even ten times…”

Ge Yunfei first explained his invention, then demonstrated its operation and function.

Seeing the painting appear on the black cloth, the merchants marveled, but no one was moved.

The reason was simple: they didn’t know what practical value this thing had or how to make money from it.

Although it was novel, it didn’t seem very fun, and it was troublesome to use, requiring a dark room.

After much deliberation, the merchants realized that this thing seemed only useful for watching erotic pictures with their concubines.

That market didn’t seem very big.

Ge Yunfei was anxious when he saw the merchants shaking their heads slightly, showing no interest.

“A very good invention.”

Just when he was about to despair, Wu Changqing spoke.

Instantly, Ge Yunfei was so excited that he was about to cry.

To him, Wu Changqing’s voice was like heavenly music, so pleasant to hear.

The merchants felt a mix of emotions upon hearing Wu Changqing’s praise. They didn’t dare to scorn the Emperor’s opinion, but they couldn’t figure out what use this thing had.

Could it be that the Emperor wanted to enjoy erotic pictures with his many concubines?

After all, these erotic pictures became enormous after being projected, suitable for multiple viewers.

If the Emperor had this hobby, this invention would be worth investing in.

Whether ordinary people could afford it didn’t matter; presenting it to the Emperor and pleasing him would be enough.

“Have you noticed that the human eye has a persistence of vision? Simply put, an image tends to linger in the eye for a very short time, about one-tenth of a second.

During this lingering time, if another similar image enters the eye, it will create a continuous effect…

Someone, bring me a book.”

Wu Changqing was worried that these people wouldn’t understand his words with their limited intelligence.

So, he simply demonstrated.

The demonstration was extremely simple: draw a stick figure on the corner of a book, and on each page, draw a similar stick figure with slightly different movements.

Then, quickly flip through the pages, and an animation would appear.

Chapter 566: He’s Making a Fool of You, Your Majesty

Seeing this magical effect, Ge Yunfei slapped his thigh and exclaimed, “I understand now! If one were to create a film with numerous similar images and move it rapidly in front of a lens in a certain way, the images projected onto the large screen would appear to move, forming a continuous animation. Your Majesty’s wisdom surpasses mine by a millionfold!”

Ge Yunfei was completely convinced. He had actually tinkered with this thing without knowing its potential use.

If he had known, he would have already sought investment from wealthy merchants.

It was precisely because he didn’t know that he reluctantly came to the Science and Technology Expo.

He never expected that something he had pondered for months without a clue would be solved by His Majesty with just a single glance, who even pointed out the direction for further research.

If the effect of persistence of vision could be used to create animated films, it would be much more interesting than a boring still picture.

Such a fun thing would then possess some practical value.

The images could move continuously!

Hearing this, the wealthy merchants were even more speechless. Sure enough, His Majesty still wanted to use this thing to view illustrations from Jin Ping Mei.

However, these would be transformed into moving illustrations.

Wait, moving Jin Ping Mei illustrations?

As many people thought about it, they suddenly realized the appeal of this thing.

They had seen the illustrations in the books, one by one. If these pictures were linked together to form a moving scroll and projected onto a screen, wouldn’t they come to life?

This thing is wonderful, absolutely a good thing!

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to draw portraits of the Eight Beauties of the Qinhuai River, turn them into animated films, and enjoy them at home?

Wu Changqing didn’t expect that someone would actually come up with a slide projector so early.

The difficulty of this thing wasn’t actually that high; the key was that few people would be idle enough to think about it.

Even those who did think of it would abandon further research because it lacked practical value.

Therefore, this thing appeared relatively late.

But now, Ge Yunfei was fortunate enough to meet him, allowing this invention to avoid being buried.

Besides Wu Changqing, probably no one else knew the use of this thing.

This was the foundation of animation and film! Continuing research and experimentation in this direction would eventually lead to the creation of movies.

And movies, as one of the most important forms of entertainment, were naturally indispensable.

“This thing is good. Let’s call it a slide projector. Continue researching along the lines I’ve provided, first develop animated films, and then report back to me. I will provide further ideas,” Wu Changqing said.

These words made Ge Yunfei overjoyed. This meant that his invention had caught the Emperor’s eye, and he would no longer have to worry about investment problems.

If the Emperor said it was good, would he still need to fear a lack of investors?

Other contestants were also very excited to see that the first invention to be presented had already pleased Wu Changqing so much.

Even something seemingly useless like Ge Yunfei’s invention could catch the Emperor’s eye, so theirs must be no worse.

Moreover, if they could receive His Majesty’s personal guidance, they would surely benefit immensely.

After Ge Yunfei stepped down, the second inventor, Zhang Han, stepped onto the stage with great enthusiasm.

He took out a wooden model of a carriage, which looked a bit strange, and then took out two magnets.

Then he said, “I discovered that there is a very strong repulsive force between two magnets, like this.”

Zhang Han demonstrated, and one magnet was pushed forward a short distance due to the repulsion of like poles.

The crowd didn’t react much, after all, the repulsion of like poles in magnets had been discovered long ago.

Then, Zhang Han explained.

As long as a sufficiently strong magnet was placed in front of the carriage and another sufficiently strong magnet was placed behind the carriage, the rear magnet could use its repulsive force to push the front magnet forward.

And since the front magnet was tied to the carriage, it could drive the carriage forward.

In this way, the court could save a lot of horses and coal.

“Currently, I only have one problem, which is the need for sufficiently strong magnets. As long as Your Majesty allocates some funds for me to find such magnets throughout the land, I can create a perpetual motion machine,” Zhang Han said.

“…”

Wu Changqing was stunned, not knowing what to say.

He recalled Stephen Chow’s movie From Beijing with Love, where Stephen Chow was showing the emperor his inventions, and the eunuch next to the emperor said, “Your Majesty, he’s making a fool of you!”

Wu Changqing couldn’t tell if this guy was mentally challenged or deliberately trying to make a fool of him.

After Zhang Han finished speaking, he looked at the crowd with a smug expression, waiting for the Emperor’s praise.

Wu Changqing didn’t say anything, and the other wealthy merchants didn’t dare to express their opinions.

In the past, if these wealthy merchants encountered such a salesman insulting their intelligence, they would have unhesitatingly taken off their size forty-two cloth shoes and hit him with them.

But now, strange things were happening more and more frequently in Great Hua, and unbelievable things were happening more and more often.

Even going to heaven was possible, and even the God of Thunder had been captured.

A perpetual motion machine didn’t seem too outrageous.

Because of the rapid development of technology, these wealthy merchants had begun to doubt their own intelligence and become insecure.

Even though something was clearly absurd, they worried that their own intelligence couldn’t comprehend it.

Therefore, each of them, like the people who saw the Emperor’s New Clothes, maintained an admiring or thoughtful expression.

In short, no one expressed their inner doubts.

After all, if they questioned it and the Emperor praised it, it would be too embarrassing.

They had to pretend to understand, so they wouldn’t lose face.

The merchants’ admiring expressions made Zhang Han beam with joy.

Wu Changqing didn’t have to worry about making a fool of himself. With three or four hundred years of extra knowledge, he knew what was an invention and what was madness.

He asked, “Since it’s a perpetual motion machine, how does it stop?”

This…

A simple question left Zhang Han speechless.

If it could stop, it wouldn’t be a perpetual motion machine. If it really was a perpetual motion machine, there would be no way to stop it.

“Your invention won’t work. Change direction, or read more books,” Wu Changqing said, not wanting to discourage others’ enthusiasm, only hoping that this kid could be more practical in the future and not imagine things out of thin air.

“Your Majesty, this invention is definitely feasible, as long as there are magnets,” Zhang Han said excitedly after being rejected by the Emperor.

He couldn’t understand why his concept, which was clearly much grander than Ge Yunfei’s, was not valued.

This was the ultimate artifact that could eliminate coal!

“Presumptuous! If His Majesty says it won’t work, then it definitely won’t work! How dare you question His Majesty?” Feng Debao scolded. These people were too ignorant of etiquette and hierarchy.

Wu Changqing was too lazy to explain to him, waved his hand, and had someone take this guy out.

The other participants couldn’t help but shake their heads, lamenting that there were all kinds of birds in a big forest.

Fortunately, the current Emperor was magnanimous. If it were a tyrant, being tricked like this would have resulted in a charge of deceiving the Emperor.

Chapter 567: Good Things Keep Coming

Zhang Han was dragged off like a dead dog, and the next inventor came on stage.

The newly arrived Lei Jianping wasn’t showcasing an invention, but rather a concept.

He had improved the way letters were delivered, proposing the concept of the envelope.

Currently, only famous people were suited to using the postal service for letters, because famous people and those with status were easy to find.

For ordinary people, or those without a fixed address, it was very difficult for postmen to deliver letters in a timely and accurate manner.

These ordinary people often had to rely on acquaintances to help deliver letters.

If no acquaintances were traveling far, there was no way to send a letter.

But Lei Jianping’s current concept was to standardize the way letters were delivered, so that ordinary people could also use the postal service.

He proposed that senders should specify the recipient’s name on the envelope, as well as various detailed information, relationships, detailed address or workplace, and designated recipients.

This would make it easier for postmen to find a stranger from multiple angles, which could improve the success rate and reduce the time spent searching.

Even, for some specific places, collectively used mailboxes could be set up.

For example, in famous places like Xuanwu Street in Nanjing, or Qinhuai River Street, mailboxes could be set up.

If someone sent a letter to someone living on Xuanwu Street, they only needed to indicate the Xuanwu Street address. The postman would deliver the letter to Xuanwu Street, and the local person in charge would then carry out the next level of delivery.

Locals would naturally be much more familiar with the residents on the street.

There were many similar methods, all aimed at improving the convenience of letter delivery as much as possible.

At the same time, in order to maintain this operation, a fee would be charged for sending letters.

In this way, people could get rid of the previous reliance on acquaintances for sending letters, making it possible for two ordinary people to communicate.

This concept wasn’t exactly ingenious, and didn’t give people a sense of amazement.

However, in practical application, it still had a certain positive significance.

The complete disappearance of letters would have to wait until the advent of mobile phone text messages.

Later, whether it was wired or wireless telegraphs, they were used to transmit important information. Ordinary people wouldn’t send a telegram for a family letter; it wasn’t that extravagant.

Before that, ordinary people would have a long-term need for letters.

Wu Changqing hummed, indicating his approval of the concept.

Afterwards, he could arrange for officials from the Ministry of Revenue to provide some cooperation, and then implement this new way of sending letters throughout the country, increasing information exchange between people.

The value generated by this kind of information exchange shouldn’t be underestimated. Many times, more communication could produce unexpected benefits.

A simple concept, yet it was recognized by the emperor, making many people somewhat disdainful.

It also made some people more confident, feeling that their things would be even more likely to impress the emperor.

The next one, an inventor named Chu Xuan, directed several people to carry up a huge cylindrical frame.

Others might be unfamiliar with this thing, but Wu Changqing recognized it at a glance: it should be a primitive astronomical telescope.

Astronomical telescopes are very different from ordinary telescopes that observe scenes on Earth. They use a reflective structure.

First, the image light is gathered, then reflected onto a plane mirror, and then reflected by the plane mirror into the eyepiece.

The extra reflection process will lose some light, and the instrument is also more delicate, bulky, and expensive.

In short, there are many disadvantages.

However, these shortcomings cannot hide its great advantages, that is, it can be made large enough, with a large focal ratio, which is conducive to imaging and observing images from extremely far away.

With this reflecting astronomical telescope, the difficulty of studying the starry sky was suddenly simplified dozens of times.

In the past, relying entirely on naked eye observation was a huge torment for people.

For astronomy, the invention of this astronomical telescope was of extremely important significance, and could even be said to be a milestone event.

However, merchants were not very interested in this thing, because it was purely for research and had no commercial value. Investing in this kind of thing didn’t make money.

Moreover, wealthy merchants didn’t understand what the significance of studying the starry sky was.

They haven’t even figured out what’s happening on the ground, what’s the use of studying the starry sky? Could it be that they can fly into the starry sky in the future?

“Not bad, this thing is very good.”

What seemed like a useless thing to the wealthy merchants was once again praised by the emperor, making the wealthy merchants who came to watch feel very embarrassed.

They had never thought that they were so foolish, always unable to see the value of something.

This was truly a terrible discovery.

After the astronomical telescope, finally came an invention that merchants were interested in.

The kerosene lamp.

The beautiful appearance, ultra-high brightness, and advanced fuel immediately attracted the merchants’ attention.

The market for this thing was too big. From the inner courtyards of the palace to the homes of ordinary people, lighting was essential.

And the core standard for measuring lighting tools was brightness. This kerosene lamp could beat candles and previous oil lamps.

Previous oil lamps were too simple, not windproof, unsafe, and inconvenient to use.

The kerosene lamp invented by Zhu Yuheng almost solved all the problems of the old-fashioned oil lamps.

The exquisite appearance made of glass gave it a high-end feel.

The ultra-high brightness was the best choice for lighting tools.

The glass cover could prevent wind, improve safety, prevent lamp oil from spilling, and facilitate movement.

Wooden houses in this period were very afraid of fire.

The palace was even more so. Once a fire broke out, a large area would be burned.

Without considering the common people, just for the safety needs of the palace, this kerosene lamp was an extremely good invention.

And considering the use by the common people, this kerosene lamp was even more rare.

“Very good, this is a people-benefiting invention. Inventions don’t have to be high-end, and they don’t necessarily need to be so profound. Some simple principles, coupled with novel ideas, inventing tools that benefit the people in life is also a good invention…”

Wu Changqing gave high praise.

The emergence of this kerosene lamp could greatly increase Great Hua’s utilization of petroleum, accumulate understanding of petroleum, promote the use of petroleum, and promote the invention process of internal combustion engines.

First of all, there must be a deep understanding of petroleum, as well as a high level of refining, which is the foundation of internal combustion engines.

This was still a long-term benefit. Leaving that aside, the fact that it benefits the people alone was of great significance.

In the original timeline, even in the nineteen eighties in China, there were still a large number of kerosene lamps in rural areas.

The popularization of electricity was much more difficult than the discovery of electricity.

Even if generators were invented in the future, only a few large cities would benefit at first.

God knows how long it would take to popularize it in rural areas.

And this kerosene lamp was an important substitute before the popularization of electricity.

Chapter 568: Voltaic Pile

At the exposition, Wu Changqing discovered many good things.

This further strengthened his resolve to enlighten the people and rely on civilian talent to promote technological development.

There is strength in numbers. Even with the system, he alone could not compare to the power of the masses.

As education becomes more widespread, more talent will surely emerge from the populace.

And he only needs to play the role of a guide, a key figure.

For example, providing assistance in some major technological fields.

The last inventor to appear was Wu Changqing’s student, Fei Yufeng, a genius no less than Feng Xianzhong.

Long ago, Wu Changqing had already guided Fei Yufeng to study electricity, instructing him on some basic theories and various research directions.

He almost directly exchanged for a generator for him.

But even with so much help, the process of creating something from nothing was still extremely difficult. The various difficulties involved could not be explained in just a few words.

After more than a year of research, Fei Yufeng has finally achieved some success and was brought by Wu Changqing to the exposition to showcase his work.

Fei Yufeng had people bring up some strange things that the merchants couldn’t understand.

Then he explained, “In nature, there exists a special energy, essentially the same as lightning, but with far less power.

His Majesty named this energy electricity, and it is actually everywhere. The ability of a sweater to attract small pieces of debris after being rubbed is an example of static electricity.

When two different metals are brought close together, there will be a potential difference between them, thus generating an electric current…”

These words were spoken to the wealthy merchants, but not really.

After all, these words were like a heavenly book to those wealthy merchants, leaving them completely bewildered.

Fei Yufeng’s words were even more difficult to understand than those of Zhang Han, the inventor of the perpetual motion machine.

Fei Yufeng spoke for a long time, but couldn’t produce any ‘electricity’ for everyone to see. It was just an ethereal concept, too taxing on the brain.

They thought that Wu Changqing would soon have Fei Yufeng taken away.

But they were wrong once again.

Wu Changqing listened very patiently. When the other wealthy merchants saw Wu Changqing’s appearance, they quickly followed suit and listened attentively.

Even if they didn’t understand, they had to at least put on an act.

Otherwise, wouldn’t they be telling others that they didn’t understand, telling others that they were fools?

After Fei Yufeng explained for a while, he officially began the demonstration.

What he had created was the voltaic pile.

By sandwiching paper soaked in salt water between different metals, a potential difference is created between the two metals. Then, by stacking multiple such units together, the potential can be added up to a considerable level.

This is the so-called voltaic pile, the most primitive battery.

Through the voltaic pile, Fei Yufeng obtained a relatively stable, weak current. When this current passed through a tungsten filament with extremely high resistance, the tungsten filament emitted a faint red glow.

At this point, the demonstration was over, and the merchants were completely dumbfounded.

That’s it? That’s it?

After talking about so many mysterious things, he only managed to produce such a weak reaction?

They really wanted to take off their size forty-two cloth shoes and point at Fei Yufeng, asking what this thing was good for.

That faint red glow was a hundred and eight thousand li worse than a kerosene lamp.

Kerosene lamps are so simple and beautiful.

And Fei Yufeng’s voltaic pile was ugly in appearance and bulky in size.

No matter how you looked at it, this thing couldn’t compare to a kerosene lamp.

Besides lighting, the wealthy merchants couldn’t think of any other use for this thing.

After all, after Fei Yufeng spoke so much gibberish, he only made a small piece of metal undergo a tiny change.

This was even more unreliable than the person who invented the perpetual motion machine.

At least Zhang Han outlined a very grand prospect, wanting to completely replace coal and horses, which sounded high-end.

Wu Changqing wasn’t surprised by the merchants’ reaction.

If an ordinary person could easily understand a scientific research result, then this kind of thing would have been discovered, invented, and used long ago.

It was precisely because electricity was too ethereal, invisible, and intangible, and difficult for ordinary people to understand, that its development was so slow.

The voltaic pile was invented in eighteen hundred, but it took fifty-one years for Faraday to use the magnetic field effect to create induced current.

For example, Henry discovered the principle of radio in an experiment, but he, a scientist studying electricity, didn’t even realize how important this technology was.

Now that these merchants only see the most primitive battery and don’t think much of it is only normal.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing knows the importance of electricity.

Therefore, he must now start encouraging more people to study electricity.

Discovering electricity and then utilizing and using it is a long process that requires constant and vigorous promotion, and continued support in the days without results.

Only in this way can we strengthen the confidence and enthusiasm of those scholars who study electricity and accelerate the development of electricity.

If there was enough support, it wouldn’t have taken fifty-one years from the voltaic pile to electromagnetic induction.

The emperor’s support is most reassuring.

Therefore, Wu Changqing said, “This is the most important discovery I have ever seen, with profound and significant meaning.”

His first sentence startled the wealthy merchants and other officials. This evaluation was too high.

So high that others had to wonder if Wu Changqing was favoring Fei Yufeng.

After all, even if this thing was useful, could its effect be greater than the steam engine?

The current consensus of Great Hua is that the steam engine is the most powerful and important.

This so-called voltaic pile? Can it pull a train? What a joke.

However, since the emperor said it was of great significance, then it must be of great significance. No one was foolish enough to argue with the emperor.

Anyway, as long as they don’t have to pay, everything is fine.

But if this electricity research wants them to pay, then there is absolutely no way they can agree.

And Wu Changqing was just expressing his attitude.

Let everyone know that he attaches great importance to this research.

He will personally pay for the funding needed for the electricity research institute. He has never expected other merchants with limited vision to do so.

And some of the profits from the things he personally sponsors will go into his pocket in the future.

It is precisely because of these profits that his private money has always been abundant.

Private money is also very important. It is easier to get things done with money.

For example, when he thought of holding a science and technology exposition, he immediately held it, without having to discuss it with the cabinet, because he was paying out of his own pocket, which was his private affair.

Holding this science and technology exposition will also cost Wu Changqing a lot of money, because he will next score these inventions and creations, and award prizes and bonuses to outstanding inventions and creations.

Chapter 569: Lack of Security

The first prize was awarded to Fei Yufeng’s ‘Electricity Research,’ with a reward of ten thousand yuan. The project received three hundred thousand yuan in royal funding for the first year, with subsequent annual increases.

Furthermore, the lead researcher, Fei Yufeng, was granted the title of Viscount.

This result was unexpected by everyone, and many were dissatisfied.

But there was nothing they could do. Wu Changqing was using his own money to run the expo. If they were unhappy, they could host their own and be the judge, giving first place to whomever they wanted.

Of course, some were envious.

That was a Viscount, after all, equivalent to completing the transformation from commoner to noble. In the future, they wouldn’t even need to kneel when meeting a first-rank official, and they’d even have a seat during trials if they committed a crime.

Whether in terms of prize money, funding, or titles, Wu Changqing’s generosity exceeded everyone’s imagination.

The second prize was another surprise, awarded to Chu Xuan’s reflecting telescope.

The prize money was five thousand yuan, and the project received one hundred thousand yuan in royal funding for the first year, with annual increases thereafter.

However, Chu Xuan didn’t receive a title this time. The Great Hua’s titles were quite rare and not so easily obtained. But Chu Xuan didn’t mind; the one hundred thousand yuan in research funding was enough to make him grin from ear to ear.

Being able to get second place had already exceeded his expectations.

This was normal; besides Wu Changqing, no one else could realize the importance of this thing right now.

The third prize went to the kerosene lamp, with a reward of three thousand yuan and fifty thousand yuan in royal funding for the first year. Zhu Yuhuan could also choose to give it up and accept offers from other merchants instead.

Basically, Zhu Yuhuan accepting a merchant’s offer was a foregone conclusion.

After all, the commercial value of this invention was huge. Even electricity research could get three hundred thousand yuan; in the eyes of the people at the moment, its commercial value definitely dwarfed electricity research.

The subsequent inventions could choose to accept offers from merchants, while some that didn’t receive royal funding had to rely on ordinary merchants for support.

Wu Changqing no longer participated in the following events, leaving ahead of time.

The merchants and inventors then began negotiations and competition.

“Mr. Ge, I’m the owner of BMW Car Company. I’m very interested in your magic lantern. Could we talk in private about your project?”

Tong Youwei didn’t aim for the more profitable kerosene lamp but chose the magic lantern.

This was because the Tong family was no longer short of money.

The BMW car, rickshaw, and cement businesses had made them extremely wealthy.

Especially now that the whole country was building roads and houses and engaging in infrastructure construction, his family’s cement never had any inventory.

Everything was pre-ordered before it was even made.

Tong Youwei didn’t lack money, only a sense of security.

Judging from Wu Changqing’s currency reform, the Emperor wasn’t someone who completely looked out for merchants. Sometimes, he would forcibly plunder wealth by relying on his power.

This currency reform wasn’t too severe, but no one knew how heavy the next one would be.

Therefore, merchants actually lacked a sense of security.

Some thought about uniting to confront Wu Changqing, but others took a different approach, choosing to tie themselves to Wu Changqing.

Like Tong Youwei, since Wu Changqing entered Nanjing, he had been Wu Changqing’s most loyal supporter.

In the beginning, he even emptied his family’s coffers to support Wu Changqing’s development. Even now, his family’s cement adhered to the principle of small profits but quick turnover, without taking advantage of its monopoly to raise prices arbitrarily.

Relying on this absolute support, his family’s relationship with the royal family was very close, no less than the Chen family’s.

Therefore, when choosing investment areas now, Tong Youwei also chose those that could enhance his relationship with the royal family.

Since Wu Changqing was interested in this animation, then he would invest in it. Making the Emperor happy as soon as possible was enough.

As for whether it could make money, Tong Youwei really didn’t care.

As long as Wu Changqing didn’t strip him of his cement monopoly, everything else was negotiable.

Tong Youwei wasn’t the only one with this idea.

“Boss Tong, that’s not very interesting, is it? His Majesty said that we should have free and fair bidding. Why do you want to pull people aside to talk in private?”

One merchant said.

“That’s right, Boss Tong, you already have the BMW car and cement industries. Please leave a way out for the rest of us.”

Pang Yuanming complained.

His words carried a hint of jealousy.

The reason was simple: Tong Youwei’s monopoly on cement hadn’t been stripped, but his monopoly on salt fields had been stripped in August of last year.

The imperial court, considering the importance of the salt industry and the need to meet the needs of more places, chose to open several official salt fields.

Although the government had fulfilled its promise and hadn’t given this salt-making technology to other merchants, it was doing it itself.

Faced with this situation, Pang Yuanming didn’t dare to ask anything or say anything, only silently making small money.

After all, in the short term, the government’s salt fields couldn’t significantly affect his profits.

But, after all, he had lost his monopoly.

After seeing the harmonious relationship between the Tong family and the government, Pang Yuanming also wanted to take this path, clinging to Wu Changqing’s thick thigh.

And now that there was an opportunity to please Wu Changqing, he naturally didn’t want to miss it.

Although he didn’t know how much it would cost to invest in an animation project, in his opinion, anything less than one million wasn’t a problem.

Pang Yuanming’s words resonated with several other merchants, and he wasn’t the only one jealous of Tong Youwei.

“Hehe, I thought everyone looked down on this little thing. Since everyone likes it, let’s have a fair bidding together.”

Tong Youwei smiled, revealing the appearance of a good-natured person.

It sounded nice, fair bidding.

But when it came to financial resources, how could others compare to him? This so-called fairness was not fair at all.

Everyone was helpless about this; they couldn’t unite and demand that Tong Youwei withdraw from the competition, they didn’t have that ability.

Afterward, several people who were interested in animation sat down with Ge Yunfei to discuss investment matters.

Ge Yunfei wasn’t familiar with these merchants, so he could only choose the one with the highest bid.

A high bid meant that the other party was strong.

Cooperating with a strong person was always better than a weak one.

The more money invested, the more painters and workers he could hire to speed up the research progress.

After a fierce competition, the one who finally won wasn’t Tong Youwei, but Pang Yuanming.

Pang Yuanming promised an investment amount of five hundred thousand, and subsequent additions would be made as appropriate depending on the situation.

It wasn’t that Tong Youwei didn’t have money, but he valued harmony and didn’t want to fight Pang Yuanming to the death and offend people.

Anyway, this animation was just a bonus for him, something he could do without. But for Pang Yuanming, it was a must-have; the determination of the two sides wasn’t on the same level.

Chapter 570: Fierce Competition

The competition for the animated film wasn’t so intense.

The most intense competition was for the kerosene lamp partnership.

The market prospects for kerosene lamps were too broad, and the profits were unimaginably large.

As long as they secured the patent rights and turned it into a monopoly, they could become the next Chen family or Tong family, a top-tier presence in the business world.

“Mr. Zhu, partner with our Jiao family. We, the Jiao family, have ten large coal mines and extremely rich experience in mineral extraction. The key to your kerosene lamp is obtaining the kerosene, and the Jiao family has an advantage in this area,” said Jiao Zhu from Huainan. Mining coal had made his family rich, but no one ever felt they had too much money.

If there was a good business opportunity, he still wanted to get involved.

Another reason was that these coal mine owners were somewhat looked down upon in Nanjing.

In the eyes of bosses in other industries, their wealth came from wisdom. These coal mine owners didn’t have any business acumen; they just relied on having coal mines and mindlessly extracting coal.

There was a chain of contempt in every industry, and the business world was no exception.

Therefore, some coal mine owners with vision were also trying to transform their businesses and squeeze into the top business circles of Nanjing.

Some far-sighted businessmen were thinking about what to do after the coal was all mined.

Transformation was inevitable.

“What a coincidence, my Zhong family also has rich mining experience. Moreover, I, Zhong Xueyan, am generous and forthright. You definitely can’t go wrong partnering with me,” another coal mine owner chimed in.

“Mr. Zhong, what do you mean by that? Are you saying I’m not as generous as you?” Jiao Zhu was displeased.

Zhong Xueyan could brag about himself, he had no problem with that. But, it was a bit much to belittle others while bragging about himself.

“Hahaha, if you want to think that way, then I’ll admit it,” Zhong Xueyan didn’t care about the principles of being smooth in social interactions. He believed in letting money do the talking.

“Mr. Zhu, the sales channels are the key to your business. And my Sun family has excellent sales channels, backed by the government, with strong strength. Partnering with me can save you a lot of trouble. No one in the entire city of Nanjing would dare to cause me trouble.”

Zhong Xueyan’s words were unpleasant, but still acceptable.

But Sun Daoming’s words made many businessmen uncomfortable.

This already had a hint of threat, bordering on unfair competition.

“He’s just relying on having a niece in the palace, and she’s not even a favored concubine. Mr. Chen’s daughter is the Empress, and he’s never been this arrogant,” two close businessmen whispered to each other in the distance, complaining.

Sun Daoming’s domineering behavior wasn’t new, and many people were angry but dared not speak out.

“Damn it, when my daughter grows up, I’ll send her to the palace, and I’ll be even more arrogant than him,” another businessman cursed. He had a very delicate and beautiful daughter who had been a beauty since she was a child. Unfortunately, she was still too young, only thirteen years old.

But, there was no need to worry.

After all, the current Emperor was not old, and there would be many more imperial concubine selections in the future.

“Hey, Lao Song, didn’t we talk about arranging a betrothal? Why are you thinking about sending her to the palace?” An old friend was unhappy.

“Boss Fang, you can’t blame me for this. If your son was any good, I wouldn’t have gone back on my word. But look at your son now, he doesn’t want to join the army, doesn’t want to do research, doesn’t want to become an official, and doesn’t know how to do business. He spends all day with a bunch of playboys going to brothels, casinos, and ballrooms. How can you have the nerve to let him ruin my daughter?” Boss Song complained.

These words almost made Boss Fang die of anger, and he prepared to go back and beat his son without saying a word.

If Boss Song wanted to marry his daughter to someone else, Boss Fang could still make a fuss.

But Boss Song said he wanted to send her to the Emperor, and there was really nothing he could do about it. Otherwise, those who wanted to harm him could accuse him of vying with the Emperor for a woman.

He couldn’t bear that accusation, he really couldn’t bear it.

The kerosene lamp business was ultimately won by Zhong Xueyan.

Although Sun Daoming was arrogant, he didn’t scare Zhu Yuhuan.

More importantly, Zhong Xueyan offered much better terms than the others, proving his declaration of being generous.

The best terms offered by others were only an initial research and development investment of one million, and then they wanted seventy percent of the profits from the business.

But Zhong Xueyan was willing to directly invest two million, and increase it as appropriate depending on the situation.

Moreover, he only wanted fifty percent of the profits.

These terms were as if he was an employee working for Zhu Yuhuan. Other bosses couldn’t accept such terms.

And they also extremely despised Zhong Xueyan’s disruptive behavior.

In the eyes of most businessmen, Zhong Xueyan didn’t have any business acumen. He was rich now purely because his ancestors happened to have a few mountains, and Great Hua happened to need coal now.

And now Zhong Xueyan’s profit-sharing behavior confirmed everyone’s views.

Let alone giving up fifty percent of the profits, which was equivalent to working for the other party.

Just investing two million alone was riskier than the return.

Although the prospects for kerosene lamps were good, how long would it take to popularize them throughout the country, and how low a price would they have to sell them for so that everyone could afford them?

Would the government limit the price of this kind of livelihood product?

Could the refining of kerosene be further reduced in cost?

This series of questions were all unknown risks.

Rashly investing huge sums of money could end up being a waste of money.

No one reminded Zhong Xueyan of this.

Everyone just wanted Zhong Xueyan to mess around, and when Zhong Xueyan had messed up the finished product and spent all the money, they would use means to cut off Zhong Xueyan’s funding chain, bankrupt Zhong Xueyan, and then everyone could come out and reap the rewards.

There were quite a few people with this idea.

In addition to kerosene lamps, other practical small inventions, inventions praised by Wu Changqing, were sought after by businessmen.

The amount of investment in subsequent research and development started at a minimum of one hundred thousand.

More like the kerosene lamp received two million, and less also had hundreds of thousands.

In short, a large number of inventors found ideal partners and were no longer short of funding.

Of course, there were also a few inventions that no one cared about.

These were basically inventions that Wu Changqing had ignored.

The businessmen couldn’t judge the prospects of some inventions themselves, so they simply didn’t bother to think and distinguish, and chose to believe in Wu Changqing.

Anyway, Wu Changqing hadn’t made any mistakes so far.

The projects presided over by Wu Changqing, the things favored by Wu Changqing, were ultimately proven to be good things.

Therefore, everyone believed in Wu Changqing’s vision.

If the research on electricity hadn’t been privately funded by Wu Changqing, I’m afraid the research on electricity would also have been sought after.

Now the businessmen of Great Hua are not short of money, they are just short of good projects.

Especially after those hoarded silver were dug out, there was much more silver money on the market.

There was a lot of extra money, but there were no corresponding goods. This would lead to a batch of ‘hot money’. Money that had nowhere to be used.

Keeping this money in hand would only depreciate, so it was necessary to spend it to be worthwhile.

It was best to invest in business, look for business opportunities, and use money to make money.

And the best business project in front of them was technological inventions.

Chapter 571: Commercial Genius

A large amount of hot money poured into the market, seeking out projects.

However, there were also some unconventional geniuses who set their sights on this hot money.

Just like when everyone rushes to mine gold, there are always one or two smart people who choose to sell shovels.

Xu Fu was an unlucky third-generation rich kid.

His grandfather and father had their glory days, but during the war, their family property was looted by unruly soldiers.

By his generation, although he didn’t lack for daily expenses and lived better than most people, he had fallen out of the top-tier business circle and become an ordinary person.

Naturally, Xu Fu was unwilling to accept this situation.

He wanted to make a comeback and restore his ancestors’ glory, but he lacked the capital.

An ordinary person would probably start a small business steadily, starting from scratch and accumulating capital.

But Xu Fu had no such plans. He knew that it was too difficult to make big money from small businesses.

A one hundred yuan business, even with a one hundred percent profit, only earns one hundred yuan.

A one million yuan business, even with only a ten percent profit, earns one hundred thousand yuan.

The difference between the two is like heaven and earth.

Therefore, Xu Fu set a goal for himself to be big. Whether he could make money or not didn’t matter; he had to get the scale up first.

How to do it without capital?

He could only rely on deception.

After carefully observing the commercial situation in Nanjing, Xu Fu discovered that there were many large landlords from the countryside. They had money, but because they had limited knowledge and lacked access to information, they didn’t know where to invest their money.

This made Xu Fu realize an opportunity.

For example, he could first swindle a project at the Science and Technology Expo, and then exaggerate the project to the heavens, making those ignorant wealthy people believe that this thing could make big money.

Then, he would launch a joint-stock system and sell shares in the project.

By faking it and creating the illusion that these shares were in short supply, he wouldn’t have to worry about those wealthy people not taking the bait.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing hadn’t met this talent who played with concept stocks yet; otherwise, he would have had to promote him to Director of the Financial Department of the Ministry of Commerce.

Before stocks and stock exchanges had even appeared, this guy had already taken the first step, learning to use concept stocks to swindle money and harvest leeks. He was a talent.

Such a talent should either be heavily used or killed. In any case, he couldn’t be left uncontrolled in society, harming the world.

Xu Fu chose an invention with relatively less intense competition to start with. Something too popular wouldn’t work; there would be too many competitors, and his poor ghost status would easily be exposed.

Originally, he really wanted to cooperate with the guy who invented the perpetual motion machine. After all, the idea of a perpetual motion machine was very tempting and could paint an extremely magnificent future picture for investors.

But who would have thought that that guy would be thrown out by the imperial guards at the expo? He was probably already famous, and this project would easily be exposed.

Therefore, he chose a slightly more stable project.

The steam carriage.

The steam carriage sounded very high-end.

Using a steam engine to provide power, replacing horses, and achieving full mechanization.

At first glance, this project seemed promising, because the current steam engines could even propel such heavy ships and trains.

Propelling a small carriage should be even easier.

However, an invention concept that made businessmen salivate was rejected by Wu Changqing and deemed impractical.

As a person from later generations, Wu Changqing knew that in the original history, someone had tried to build a steam car, but it had failed.

Because the work of reducing the size of the steam engine was extremely difficult.

By the time there was technology that could reduce the size of the steam engine to a practical value, the internal combustion engine would appear.

Compared to the internal combustion engine, the steam engine was a younger brother.

Then, the steam car naturally died in the womb.

Historically, only one steam car was ever released, and it had a lot of shortcomings.

Low efficiency, low power, large size, troublesome to use, and so on.

Therefore, this was an invention destined to fail.

Wu Changqing didn’t want the other party to take a detour. After all, the other party was a talent to be able to come up with this invention direction.

However, in this world, having talent doesn’t necessarily mean success.

Every successful person needs some opportunities and luck.

Wu Changqing personally explained the several unsolvable problems of the steam car and then asked the other party to focus their research on other aspects that needed to provide power.

Wu Changqing’s golden words personally spoken immediately reduced other businessmen’s interest in this project.

And this gave Xu Fu an opportunity.

Although Wu Changqing personally said that this thing was a bit impractical, he didn’t completely say it was impossible, and he didn’t have the imperial guards throw the other party out like he did with the person who invented the perpetual motion machine.

This showed that this thing was still somewhat controversial.

As long as his eloquence was good enough, he could justify himself and fool the investors.

Because Wu Changqing didn’t have the imperial guards throw the other party out, it was a bit difficult for people who didn’t attend the Science and Technology Expo to know about this.

It was enough to fool those who weren’t well-informed.

In a corner of the exhibition, Wei Hong was racking his brains about which research direction he should switch to next.

The steam car was rejected by Wu Changqing, and he was quite depressed.

If someone else had rejected his research, he might have chuckled and laughed at their shortsightedness.

The steam engine can propel ships and trains, so why can’t it propel a smaller carriage?

However, the one who rejected him was Wu Changqing, the Divine Emperor, the Sage Ruler, the smartest person in the world.

He didn’t dare to question the words of the smartest person too much.

However, after such a perfect idea was shattered, he was really unwilling.

Just then, Xu Fu approached him.

“Dr. Wei, your project is a bit of a pity.” Xu Fu was very polite.

“Alas, I’m still too naive and didn’t consider it thoroughly enough.”

Wei Hong smiled bitterly.

“No, no, no, I think Dr. Wei’s project is still promising.”

Xu Fu said.

“How is that possible? His Majesty said that the difficulty of reducing the size of the steam engine cylinder and other parts is very high. How can there be any promise?”

“As long as Dr. Wei believes in me, I can get investment for your invention and continue the research. As for whether it will succeed, it depends on fate. Maybe you’ll be lucky, favored by the heavens, and have a flash of inspiration, thinking of a way to shrink it.

At that time, this will be a world-renowned invention. Now, a BMW car can earn countless amounts of money. Just imagine, if this steam car is made, wouldn’t you become the richest man in the country?”

Xu Fu painted a picture for Wei Hong, which made Wei Hong quite tempted.

Just as Xu Fu said, what if he was lucky and favored by the heavens?

Unless Wu Changqing was the heavens, he couldn’t be one hundred percent correct, right?

Although this idea of questioning Wu Changqing was a bit rebellious, Wei Hong couldn’t help but think about it.

After all, this was his hard work.

Chapter 572: Marching into Huguang

The inaugural Science and Technology Expo came to a perfect close, with both the Great Hua Daily and the Great Hua Business Journal giving it prominent coverage.

Fei Yufeng’s research on electricity left everyone bewildered, but they were quite used to it.

Science, after all, should be profound, preferably to the point where one couldn’t understand it at all, to truly be considered science.

Anything easily understood was just literature, and popular literature at that.

Ordinary people, upon seeing those incomprehensible words and strange symbols that looked like scribbles, could only think, “Awesome!”

But Fei Yufeng taking first place and being granted the title of Viscount filled everyone with envy.

That was hundreds of thousands of yuan in research funding, and a peerage that was almost impossible to come by.

Simply put, he was a winner in life.

“Dad, I want to be a scientist when I grow up too!”

A young boy, inspired by Fei Yufeng’s achievements, developed a desire to become a scientist.

“Becoming a scientist isn’t that easy. At the very least, you need to be at the top of your class every day. If you want to be a scientist, you need to study hard from now on…”

Parents, seeing their children with such lofty ambitions, were naturally pleased and took the opportunity to give them a heartfelt lecture.

Even some who didn’t have such ambitions, simply because of the parents’ recognition of scientists, began to plan for their children’s future: “You must study hard and become a scientist in the future…”

Some were determined to become scientists because Fei Yufeng received a peerage, while others were inspired by the huge profits made from kerosene lamps.

The kerosene lamp receiving two million yuan in investment was truly astonishing and unbelievable.

Many people didn’t understand how there could suddenly be so much money in the world.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty court often made a joke of being unable to come up with two million taels of silver for military expenses, causing armies to turn back halfway, requiring temporary solutions through tax increases, a truly embarrassing event.

Why, in just a few years, did it seem like there was an endless supply of silver?

Even a simple kerosene lamp invention could receive two million yuan in investment.

After paying attention to the amazing deeds of these amazing people, everyone also paid attention to the interesting stories at the expo.

Someone claiming to have invented a perpetual motion machine tried to deceive the Emperor and was dragged away by the imperial guards.

That was quite something.

In a calm and dull life, one needed to laugh at other fools to find happiness.

In a teahouse, several wealthy men were drinking fine Longjing tea while reading the newspaper and chatting.

“Tsk, tsk, two million yuan, can this thing earn that much back?”

Wealthy man Wang complained.

In his opinion, earning two million was too difficult. His family had accumulated wealth for several generations, and it was only a few hundred thousand.

Investing two million in one go would make him feel so much pain that he couldn’t sleep. Every moment, he would have to watch that project, making sure he could see it every time he opened his eyes to feel at ease.

“Old Master Wang, don’t underestimate this monopoly business. Look at the Chen family, the Tong family, the Pang family, the Sun family, and the Hong family’s assets. Which one hasn’t increased by millions or even tens of millions in a year or two?”

Another landlord said.

“Times have changed, but unfortunately, we’re one step behind again. These good things have gone to others.”

Wealthy man Wang lamented the speed of change in the world.

“Are we just going to watch others get rich?”

Several people sighed.

“Hey, look at this advertisement.”

Just as they were sighing, Wealthy man Wang saw Xu Fu’s advertisement.

[The greatest opportunity of the steam age, the steam locomotive…]

Their eyes lit up at once.

“This steam locomotive sounds good.”

Landlord Liu said.

“But, if it’s such a good project, why wasn’t it favored by His Majesty?”

Someone raised a question.

“Doesn’t it say here? Because the concept is too advanced and requires a huge investment, the court intends to postpone the steam locomotive project. In other words, the court doesn’t have the money.”

Wealthy man Wang said, but this didn’t sound very convincing.

If it really had enough value, would the court be short of a few hundred or a thousand million yuan?

Under normal circumstances, they might have been able to control themselves and remain rational.

However, now they were eager to find investment projects.

Therefore, when they were thinking about the problem, they abandoned their spirit of questioning and instead had a sense of luck.

Landlord Liu said, “No matter what, we should try it out and learn more about it. Maybe it really is an opportunity. The steam locomotive seems to have a lot of potential.

The construction of railways is too difficult and cannot benefit all places. The transportation of carriages is still irreplaceable.

And carriages are obviously outdated and cannot remain unchanged.

From the looks of it, turning them into steam locomotives is the only direction. This steam locomotive is bound to develop.”

The more he spoke, the more excited he became. As he spoke, he actually convinced himself. He was quite talented.

Of course, it’s not his fault for being foolish.

Following his line of thought, this speculation was indeed flawless, and everything was reasonable.

There was no way around it, this was the limitation of the historical figures’ vision.

Regardless of whether they were smart or foolish, without experiencing the beating of internal combustion engines, they would never understand why steam locomotives wouldn’t work.

Not to mention them, even some people who had participated in the Science and Technology Expo were confused and couldn’t tell right from wrong after seeing Xu Fu’s advertisement.

Did this steam locomotive have potential or not?

They reserved their opinion on this.

Even they couldn’t determine whether this project was reliable, let alone those who hadn’t participated.

In the following days, articles and advertisements about steam locomotives clearly increased.

These articles were all vigorously touting the inevitability of steam locomotives and their prospects.

And the advertisements were also creating the illusion that the steam locomotive project was very popular.

…

Nanjing’s development was in full swing, a scene of prosperity.

Everyone was concerned about how to get rich and focused on investment.

For a time, few people cared about the war. Some people didn’t even know that the court’s army had set out and was about to engage in a major battle with the enemy.

In stark contrast to this was the situation in the three towns of Wuhan, namely Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang.

This was He Tengjiao’s base of operations, the most essential core area of the entire central region.

The moment Tao Dongcheng’s army set out, spies who had been lurking in Nanjing quickly reported the military situation to Wuchang.

The speed of a single person was much faster than that of the Great Hua army.

When the main force of the Great Hua army had just arrived in Jiujiang, He Tengjiao received the news.

Immediately, there was a commotion in Wuchang city.

Upon learning that the Great Hua army was coming, some people began to pack their belongings and prepare to take refuge in the countryside.

Others packed their things and prepared to flee to Kunming, or even to Jiujiang.

In short, it didn’t matter which side they fled to, as long as they didn’t stay in the war zone.

Otherwise, guns and cannons had no eyes. If they were accidentally injured by the army’s shells, there would be no place to reason with anyone.

Chapter 573: Deciding on War

In Wuchang, He Tengjiao gathered his subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

“The Great Hua army is pressing down on us. What do you all think we should do?”

He Tengjiao’s tone was tinged with frustration as he spoke.

Originally, he had wanted to submit to Great Hua.

However, he wanted a conditional surrender, where Wu Changqing would grant him the position of Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei, allowing him to station troops in those provinces.

The people from the Ministry of Rites of Great Hua didn’t even bother reporting this request to Wu Changqing, rejecting it outright.

They knew very well that Wu Changqing would never agree.

Officers were not allowed to have private armies. In Great Hua’s military system, even the leading officers had no power to interfere with the recruitment, training, or payment of soldiers.

In short, Wu Changqing would not allow any officer to have a private army.

All the troops belonged almost entirely to Wu Changqing. Other officers merely served as temporary commanders.

Even the three founding elders who had risen in revolt with Wu Changqing did not have private troops and could be transferred at a moment’s notice.

How could He Tengjiao, someone who wanted to surrender, expect to keep his private army?

Forget about keeping his army, no one in Great Hua would even agree to make him Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Great Hua’s refusal to even negotiate was something He Tengjiao was not used to.

He felt that even if Great Hua thought he was too greedy, they should at least offer a counter-price to discuss.

To refuse without saying anything was simply too disrespectful.

He Tengjiao was also a regional tyrant with over one hundred thousand troops under his command, and he had his pride.

So, in a fit of anger, he chose to pledge allegiance to Zhu Youlang in the southwest. Zhu Youlang was so moved that he shed tears, proclaiming that he saw true friendship in times of trouble and loyalty in times of national crisis.

Then, he directly bestowed upon He Tengjiao the title of Prince of Jingzhou and appointed him Governor-General of Hunan and Hubei, giving him full military and political power over the two provinces.

Just like Wu Changqing’s control over the Southern Metropolitan Region back then.

It wasn’t that Zhu Youlang didn’t want to learn from past mistakes and prevent He Tengjiao from becoming too powerful, but he had no other choice.

Being able to use a title to win over He Tengjiao and have him stand on the front line against Great Hua was already a great advantage.

The treatment Zhu Youlang offered was just about the highest a subject could receive.

So, He Tengjiao gritted his teeth and agreed.

“Better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox,” was He Tengjiao’s saying.

In reality, it was mainly because he resented being looked down upon by Great Hua.

Now that the Great Hua army was approaching, he regretted it.

This chicken head was not easy to be.

Although he had one hundred and fifty thousand troops under his command, while Great Hua only had sixty thousand infantry and five thousand marines, He Tengjiao had no confidence at all.

Zhu Yujian had relied on Western Europeans to produce a batch of flintlock guns.

The Qing Dynasty had relied on stealing secrets and gathering the strength of the entire North to create a batch of flintlock guns.

But what did He Tengjiao have? He didn’t have Zhu Yujian’s geographical advantage, nor did he have the Qing Dynasty’s strength.

Although he was also trying to steal the secrets of flintlock guns and researching them, his progress was much slower than the Qing Dynasty’s.

So far, he had only equipped ten thousand flintlock guns in his army.

The other one hundred and forty thousand troops were still using cold weapons, severely lagging behind the times. These people were only good for scaring ordinary people and defending cities.

Other than that, they were useless.

Great Hua’s sixty thousand troops, on the other hand, were not only fully equipped with flintlock guns, but twenty thousand of them were already equipped with the Yongxing Type Two rifles.

Although He Tengjiao didn’t know how powerful this new rifle was, since it was the latest development, it must be more advanced than the flintlock gun.

Completely behind in terms of weaponry, He Tengjiao had no idea how to fight this battle.

“Why don’t we just surrender?”

Wan Dapeng said cautiously.

In any case, he didn’t want to fight the Great Hua army.

Even the Qing Dynasty was no match for Great Hua and had been driven beyond the pass. How could they possibly win?

If they couldn’t win, then they had to surrender.

Moreover, Great Hua was also a Han Chinese regime, so surrendering wouldn’t bring any infamy.

This was also why he dared to directly suggest surrender.

Anyway, there were many people in this room who wanted to surrender, not just him.

“Hmph, surrender? Surrender and go farm for Great Hua, paying taxes on time? Or did Great Hua promise you some official position?”

He Tengjiao snorted coldly.

Surrendering or not wasn’t the key. The question was what kind of treatment they would receive after surrendering.

If he had to start as a common soldier after surrendering, then He Tengjiao would rather die on the battlefield than agree.

“A nobody like me, Great Hua wouldn’t even bother with me if I offered myself up. How could I expect to be promised any official position?”

Wan Dapeng mocked himself.

“So, everyone doesn’t need to mention the matter of surrendering anymore. After all, the other side is unlikely to give us any benefits. In fact, they are unlikely to allow us to surrender. Would their commander be willing to come all this way for nothing?

There are cases of killing good people to claim credit. Killing prisoners of war is even less risky. Who knows if they will kill the surrendered soldiers and take their heads back to claim credit.”

He Tengjiao set the tone, encouraging everyone to strengthen their resolve to resist.

If they didn’t resist, they would have to hand over everything they had.

And this was something most of the officers couldn’t accept.

“Fight! They only have sixty thousand people. I don’t believe we can’t beat them with one hundred and fifty thousand.”

Liu Tiren, a fierce general formerly under Li Zicheng, said.

He had never fought against the Great Hua army, so he always had doubts about their strength.

When he was following Li Zicheng, he relied on human-wave tactics and fought against the elite imperial troops, so he had a lot of experience in winning against stronger opponents, and he was confident.

As long as they had more troops than the enemy, they could use more tactics.

“General Liu is right. We have no choice but to prove ourselves with strength, to let Great Hua know that we are not to be trifled with. Only then can we force them to sit down and talk.”

He Tengjiao once again revealed his thoughts, still wanting to negotiate. He was somewhat similar to Zheng Zhilong back then.

In the end, it was because Great Hua’s strength was too great, which led them to have no confidence to fight Great Hua to the end.

So, even if they were determined to fight Great Hua, it was only to make Great Hua recognize their ability, to make Great Hua hesitate, and to force Great Hua to sit down and talk.

Even the commander-in-chief didn’t have the will to fight to the death, let alone the people below.

Although everyone in the meeting was shouting to make Great Hua pay and to fight to the end, they would probably not hesitate to surrender to save their lives when the time came.

What was the point of clinging to power and influence if they lost their lives?

With the tone of war established, they then began to study how to fight this battle against Great Hua.

Chapter 574: Tactical Game

Considering the quality of the soldiers and the weapons, He Tengjiao and the others ultimately decided to focus on defense and avoid decisive battles in the field.

They knew their own capabilities. Putting these men in the open against the Great Hua army would likely result in a rout at the slightest setback.

But staying in the city, with no way to retreat, would greatly increase the soldiers’ ability to withstand casualties.

Their primary focus was naturally the defense of the three towns of Wuhan: Wuchang, Hankou, and Hanyang.

These three areas were actually very close together, and in later generations, they would simply form one city. But now, they were divided into three separate cities, each with its own walls, a rather extravagant arrangement.

The three towns of Wuhan were a strategic area.

Controlling this area essentially allowed one to dominate the entire Han River Plain and areas like Hunan.

The three cities were separated by the Yangtze River and the Han River.

Wuchang was south of the Yangtze River, while Hankou was north of the Yangtze and east of the Han River. Hanyang was north of the Yangtze and west of the Han River.

The three cities could support each other.

If one city was in trouble, the other two could provide very rapid assistance.

The prerequisite was control of the Yangtze River.

If the navy was lost, and control of the Yangtze River was relinquished, then mutual support would become impossible.

For He Tengjiao and the others, how to deal with the Great Hua navy was a major problem.

If they had enough cannons, it would be simple: just deploy them along the shore and bombard the enemy.

The problem was, they didn’t have that many cannons, only two hundred.

And even that was the result of them almost selling their underwear to scrape together an artillery force.

“Maintaining contact between the three towns is still very important, so I suggest concentrating these cannons, not for defending the city, but for blockading the river.

Deploy them on Tianxing Island to block the river and prevent the Great Hua fleet from advancing, thereby ensuring our passage on the river,” Wang Jincai suggested.

“No, no, that’s too dangerous. It’s like putting the artillery, which has the weakest self-defense capability, on the front line. It would be easily eaten up by the enemy.

I suggest defending at the mouth of the Han River, deep within our territory. This would both ensure communication between our three towns and prevent the enemy from attacking our artillery,” Zhang Kuang objected. Putting the artillery outside the sphere of influence of the three towns, he didn’t know what Wang Jincai was thinking.

If the Great Hua army sent a force to Tianxing Island, then this artillery would be meat on the enemy’s chopping block, to be hacked and sliced as they pleased.

Zhang Kuang’s suggestion was approved by the others, who were unwilling to lose this precious artillery force easily.

In addition to planning to ensure contact between the three towns, the group also studied specific plans for defending the cities, discussing them with great enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, on the flagship Jiangnan of the Great Hua army, the senior officers of the Great Hua army were also studying how to attack Wuhan.

They had it much easier than He Tengjiao and the others, because they had an absolute advantage in strength.

These men could walk sideways in the field, without worrying about being ambushed by the Ming army.

As long as the Ming army dared to leave the city, they would be greeted with a warm welcome of firepower.

This meant that they were unlikely to encounter battles in the field, so what remained was only siege warfare.

And siege warfare was something the Great Hua army was very familiar with, they just needed to follow the steps.

“We still need to consider the support between the three towns. After all, we are outnumbered. When launching a general attack on one place, we need to be careful to prevent the other two towns from flanking and ambushing us,” Xiong Rulin said cautiously, considering the situation comprehensively.

“Is it really necessary? If the enemy is using cold weapon troops to support, one regiment of our army can block tens of thousands of troops. No matter how fierce the general attack is, it shouldn’t be a problem to send out two regiments to intercept them.

Moreover, I seriously doubt whether the city we are attacking can hold out until reinforcements arrive. After all, if they suddenly collapse, the siege will only take a few hours,” Li Lianfan of the 32nd Division complained, feeling that Xiong Rulin was too cautious and his combat thinking was seriously outdated.

That’s right, in the past, being surrounded in battle was a major taboo for military strategists. The surrounded army had to face enemies on all sides, which could easily lead to chaos and a shortage of manpower.

But would the current Great Hua army worry about facing enemies on all sides, or about chaos?

Obviously, that was impossible.

Any tactic needs to be formulated according to the actual situation.

Since they were not afraid of being surrounded, why bother trying to stop the enemy’s reinforcements?

Wouldn’t it be better to besiege the city and strike at the reinforcements?

Shi Shouye thought the same thing as Li Lianfan, so he suggested that when attacking Wuchang, they should not use too much force, but rather give the defenders of Wuchang the illusion that they could barely hold on.

Then, attract reinforcements from the other two towns and annihilate them in one fell swoop, saving the effort of attacking the city.

Although they were not actually afraid of attacking the city, it was best to have a decisive battle in the field if possible.

“Didn’t His Majesty say that our army needs to be thrifty and overcome the problem of insufficient military expenditure? Sieges consume a lot of ammunition, and casualties will be slightly higher than in field battles.

In short, attracting the enemy to a decisive battle in the field is definitely more cost-effective than attacking the city. Saving a lot of military expenses, at that time, can also impress His Majesty,” Shi Shouye said.

There were too many ways to defeat the enemy, leading their officers to formulate combat plans from an economic perspective.

If He Tengjiao and the others knew about this, they would probably be furious and smash things again.

Too hateful, too arrogant.

“If we can save a sum of military expenses, it’s worth a try. The army’s life is not easy now, and it will be even harder in the future. Those civil officials are watching us all the time,” Commander Tao Dongcheng said.

He also had a lot to consider. With the current Great Hua’s overwhelming strength, it was impossible to show his tactical skills.

Even if a regimental commander came to command, it was unlikely that they would lose this battle.

Therefore, simply winning this battle would not have much impact on Tao Dongcheng’s personal record.

However, if he could win very beautifully, he would probably receive Wu Changqing’s praise.

And that was what he was pursuing.

“Those civil officials are the worst, all they know how to do is talk,”

“We should tie them to the battlefield and let them feel the cruelty of war.”

The crowd began to criticize the civil officials, a topic they could talk about until tomorrow.

Finally, Tao Dongcheng interrupted the topic.

Since the commander had spoken, the others naturally stopped complaining. They began to study together how to lure the enemy out.

This was not an easy task. Their reputation was now well-known, and ordinary people really did not dare to have any initiative to attack them.

Chapter 575: The Ming Army Gets Excited

In the end, after a fierce discussion, the Great Hua army decided to attack Hankou first, one of the three towns of Wuhan.

Attacking Hankou first would easily create an opportunity for the Ming army to encircle them.

If they attacked Wuchang first, the Ming army would be less likely to be tempted.

Because the defending forces of Hankou and Hanyang would come to support from the same direction, which is the North.

As long as the Hua army discovered it in time, they could retreat south and would not be easily surrounded.

Without being able to encircle the Hua army, it would naturally be difficult to leverage their numerical advantage and create psychological pressure on the Hua army.

With such low returns, the Ming army might not be willing to risk this opportunity.

The enemy was too weak and cowardly, and the Hua army was helpless, having to consider everything from the enemy’s perspective.

However, attacking Hankou could tempt the enemy.

At that time, the defending forces of Hanyang could cross the Han River and circle around to the northwest of the Hua army.

And if the defending forces of Wuchang cooperated well, they could circle around from the Yangtze River to the east of the Hua army, thus completely encircling the Hua army on all sides.

Because the Han River and the Yangtze River were to the west and south, this would take advantage of the terrain to surround the Hua army on all sides.

Retreating on land was easy, but retreating from land to boats on the river was not easy at all.

If things went wrong, all the supplies would have to be abandoned, and it might even cause panic and chaos within the Hua army.

If this really happened, they could close in step by step, forcing those who didn’t have time to board the ships into the water to drown.

If this really happened, then the Ming army would create history, leaving behind a classic battle comparable to the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Defeating an army equipped with modern equipment using primitive cold weapons would be something to boast about no matter how much they exaggerated.

To put it bluntly, if the Hua army wanted the enemy to take the bait, they needed to put themselves in danger first.

Only by letting the Ming army see a large enough reward would they be tempted.

According to this line of thinking, they should actually go deep into the hinterland and attack Hanyang first, which would be even more dangerous.

But doing so would make their intentions too obvious.

Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to attack Hanyang in the rear first. Something abnormal must be afoot, and the Hua army doing this would inevitably arouse the Ming army’s vigilance.

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, the Hua army chose to attack Hankou first.

Moreover, to further give the Ming army confidence, they had to put on a show first.

They would pretend that several troop transport ships had problems and were stranded in the Tianxingzhou area, pretending to be aground.

They couldn’t transport all sixty thousand troops to Hankou at once, because they weren’t sure if He Tengjiao’s courage would be frightened by the sixty thousand troops and he wouldn’t dare to leave the city.

For the sake of foolproofness, and to give the Ming army hope, they planned to send forty-five thousand people over first, and then the remaining people would pretend to be stranded, staying in the Tianxingzhou area.

In this way, it would be really difficult for the Ming army not to be tempted.

If they didn’t eat the forty thousand-plus troops sent into the tiger’s mouth, then this kind of commander shouldn’t be fighting wars, he wouldn’t be able to seize any opportunities. Most commanders wouldn’t encounter such a godsend opportunity even once in their lifetime.

In fact, the Hua army was playing with fire by formulating such a plan.

If more than forty thousand troops were surrounded by more than one hundred thousand, people with slightly weaker mental qualities would be so frightened that they would kneel down, how could they still fight?

The Hua army mainly relied on the enemy’s lack of understanding of them, as well as powerful weapons and strong soldier quality.

Only the Hua army dared to play this tactic.

If any other army played this tactic, it would be a sign of brain damage, and their commander should be dragged out and beheaded without hesitation, and there would be no injustice.

Unless you are Xiang Yu, don’t burn your boats and sink your pots, otherwise it will easily become a joke.

With the tactics formulated, the Hua army began to act.

This was not difficult, because the Ming army’s scouts were observing from a distance and could not get close to them.

As long as they stopped a few troop transport ships at Tianxingzhou and sent people around to find boatmen to repair the ships, they could easily create the illusion that the ships had problems and were stranded.

February 4th.

After leaving nearly twenty thousand people behind, the remaining troops continued to advance westward, putting on an arrogant appearance.

Anyway, their image had always been arrogant.

There was no need to pretend too deliberately, the Ming army could feel it.

The army directly landed near the city of Hankou, and the Ming army did not care, because they could not.

The Ming army’s navy was far inferior to Great Hua’s. Those navies still had to be used to control the Yangtze River and ensure contact between the three towns.

If they were directly sent up to fight with Great Hua’s navy, it would certainly cause some losses to the Hua army, but the Ming army would have no reliance on the river.

Unless He Tengjiao’s brain was flooded, it was unlikely that he would directly use his trump card to exchange with the enemy upon contact.

Hanyang, where He Tengjiao’s headquarters was located.

Originally, his headquarters was in Wuchang, but considering the upcoming battle, Hanyang was slightly safer.

So, he moved the general headquarters to Hanyang.

At this time, he received a report from the scouts saying that some of the Hua army’s ships had malfunctioned and were stranded, and only about two-thirds of the fleet continued to advance and landed in Hankou.

“Is that really so?”

He Tengjiao was overjoyed when he heard this, this was simply heaven helping him.

“That’s right, some of the Hua army are looking for shipwrights around to repair the ships,” the scout said.

“There should be no mistake. It is said that Great Hua’s steam engines are easily damaged. I guess this time it was also a machine failure. It won’t be easy to repair.”

Wang Jincai laughed loudly.

“But, why didn’t they stop advancing even after encountering this kind of accident?”

Zhang Kuang vaguely felt that something was wrong, but he couldn’t figure out what it was.

“Hmph, isn’t that because they have won too many battles and have become arrogant and conceited? If they weren’t so arrogant, how could they ignore my one hundred and fifty thousand troops? An arrogant army is bound to be defeated. This time, we will teach them a lesson.”

He Tengjiao said angrily, he was still entangled in the matter of being ignored.

The thought of being underestimated by Great Hua made him extremely unhappy, and his self-esteem felt insulted.

“Since this is the case, we can seize this opportunity to trap them in Hankou and launch a general offensive from all sides at the same time to defeat them in one fell swoop.

At that time, let’s see if they dare to underestimate us. When we seize the equipment of their forty thousand troops, our strength will increase several times.

At that time, I’m afraid Great Hua will have to take the initiative to come to us to negotiate, hahaha.”

Wang Jincai laughed loudly.

Among the more than forty thousand people, there were not only more than twenty thousand flintlocks, but also twenty thousand of the Hua army’s most advanced Yongxing Second Year Type rifles.

With this batch of equipment, Great Hua really couldn’t underestimate them.

The more everyone talked, the more excited they became, as if Zhou Yu had seen Cao Cao’s iron-chained ships, seeing the key to victory.

This gave them great anticipation.

Many people who lacked composure had already begun to fantasize about the benefits they could obtain after defeating the Hua army.

Chapter 576: Is This a Feigned Attack?

“Scout again, I need more detailed intelligence.”

He Tengjiao said.

He was, after all, a supreme commander. He didn’t lose control of himself because of the enormous temptation.

Those kinds of people had long been eliminated in the competition for higher positions.

He Tengjiao’s ability to climb to the position of Governor-General of the Two Jiangs and become a Prince of a different surname in this chaotic world proved his capabilities.

His many seemingly embarrassing actions before were only because he encountered a more powerful opponent.

When facing other opponents, he was also quite impressive.

After ordering further scouting, He Tengjiao didn’t just sit and wait for news. Instead, he began a series of preparations.

He ordered all units to mobilize their soldiers, preparing to rush to Hankou at any moment and deliver a thunderous blow to the Hua army.

From his perspective, this series of commands was actually very competent.

A great battle was on the verge of breaking out.

And in Hankou, the great battle had already begun.

The Hua army had to make the act look real, so naturally, they had to launch an attack on Hankou.

The Hua army split into two parts. One part launched a feigned attack on Hankou city, while the other began to build fortifications around the army.

In the plains, there was no natural defense to rely on.

If they didn’t build some fortifications, facing a sea of enemies would be quite dangerous.

The Ming army only needed to stretch the battle line as much as possible, thinning the depth, to make things difficult for the Hua army.

If they responded, their forces would be extremely dispersed.

If they didn’t divide their forces to respond, the enemy could easily reach their flank or even their rear.

Several thousand or ten thousand troops weren’t too afraid of being surrounded, as they could build a defensive circle.

But if a small force of several hundred or a thousand was surrounded, they would have to defend in four directions, which would greatly weaken their firepower, to the point where the enemy could easily rush in for melee combat.

It was for this reason that building fortifications became very important.

With fortifications, they could use fewer troops to block more enemies.

At the same time, it could greatly reduce casualties.

As soon as the order to build fortifications was given, the Hua army soldiers threw down their packs, took out their engineer shovels, and began working enthusiastically.

Only the Hua army had the ability to build fortifications anywhere. Other armies simply didn’t have the resources.

Old-style armies utilized favorable terrain.

New-style armies created favorable terrain.

The Hua army was building breastworks, not digging trenches.

Digging trenches was also an option, but the defensive power of trenches was weaker than that of breastworks. After the enemy rushed to the front, they would be forced into melee combat.

Building a breastwork that was just over a meter high meant that even if the enemy rushed to the front, they would still have to climb over the wall, greatly increasing the difficulty.

Of course, building a breastwork that was just over a meter high wasn’t easy.

The Hua army used a large number of sandbags and various wooden stakes, greatly increasing the speed of construction.

At the same time, they also set up barbed wire in some areas.

These barbed wires had very sharp barbs, and the thought of trying to pass through them was enough to make one’s teeth ache.

The Hua army didn’t have much barbed wire; it was mainly used for testing.

Their armory was constantly producing new things, and each new piece of equipment wouldn’t be mass-produced at first.

Instead, it would undergo theoretical testing, proving ground testing, and then battlefield testing.

Only after passing this series of tests and proving to be useful would it be manufactured on a large scale.

Barbed wire was just one of the new pieces of equipment being tested this time.

On the other side, the Hua army’s feigned attack had already begun.

Hundreds of cannons were aimed at Hankou city and began a fierce bombardment.

This kind of artillery fire was just a feigned attack in the eyes of the Hua army. But where had Zhou Daqi, the defending general of Hankou, ever seen such a fierce bombardment? He immediately defined this attack as a general offensive.

“Quick, send a message to the Governor-General, saying that the enemy has already launched a general offensive, attempting a quick victory, and our army is fighting bitterly.”

The Hua army’s infantry hadn’t even begun to approach, and he was already saying that he had encountered a bitter battle.

The messenger quickly ran towards Hanyang, and after the Hua army’s bombardment, the infantry also began their attack.

Mortars, breech-loading rifles, flamethrowers, air force bombing units, grenade launchers…

The Hua army had all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. No one was seriously attacking the city, such as carrying ladders to climb the city walls.

Yet, these things made the Ming army miserable. There were figures being beaten everywhere, but not much counterattack power.

As soon as they poked their heads out, the Hua army’s breech-loading rifle units would open fire, with a very high hit rate.

Lying down wasn’t useful either. The Hua army’s mortar shells blew the soldiers hiding behind the city walls head over heels.

After finally grabbing some shelters like turrets, the air force’s big bombs were dropped, blowing the turrets and shelters to smithereens.

The Hua army’s flamethrower soldiers walked around under Hankou city like they were strolling through their own garden, chatting as they went.

After seeing the wooden city gate, they picked up their flamethrowers and sprayed.

The flammable liquid was sprayed on the city gate, and a raging fire ignited.

At this rate of burning, it wouldn’t be long before the city gate was burned to ashes.

Seeing this scene, Zhou Daqi almost vomited blood and died on the spot.

This was too much, really too much.

“Don’t hide, all of you get up and fight, stop them. Those who are afraid of battle will be killed without mercy.”

Zhou Daqi gave a harsh order.

The Ming army soldiers cursed while cautiously fighting back.

Their counterattacks were also varied. Some were still shooting arrows, and some were slowly loading their matchlock guns.

There were also some flintlock rifle soldiers who were shooting at the Hua army’s mortar soldiers.

The effect was, more or less, there.

But compared to the losses they suffered, it was far from enough.

“General, let us rush out and fight them to the death.”

Subordinate General Zhao Ben suggested.

The Hua army had too many long-range attack methods, and it was unwise to engage in long-range combat with them.

The best way was still to rush over and engage in melee combat.

As long as they rushed to the front of the Hua army, the flamethrower soldiers, grenadiers, mortar soldiers, and some soldiers with strange things all had very weak self-preservation abilities.

Of course, the premise was that they could rush to the front of the enemy.

Zhou Daqi understood that as soon as he opened the city gate, the Hua army’s flamethrower soldiers and artillery would temporarily retreat, and the infantry would rush to the front.

And wanting to charge into the Hua army’s infantry formation was just courting death. The Qing army had learned this lesson with blood and tears, and the Ming army would naturally not forget it.

In any case, they couldn’t foolishly charge into the Hua army’s infantry formation like that.

“No, without the city walls, we will be defeated even faster.”

Zhou Daqi said.

“But, now that we have the city walls, we are still suffering a great loss. It’s better to try. Although there is a risk, it is completely worth a try compared to the possible results.

Those flamethrower soldiers and artillerymen are also treasures in the Hua army. It would hurt to kill even one of them. If we kill all the technical soldiers under the city, the Hua army’s commander would be so angry that he would vomit blood.

Moreover, as long as we catch them off guard, the enemy may not have time to react. The deployment of soldiers also takes time. As long as we rush to their front before they complete their deployment, everything will be fine.”

Zhao Ben was still trying to persuade him. He really couldn’t stand this situation where they could only be beaten.

Chapter 577: Infuriating, Ah!

In the end, Zhou Daqi agreed to Zhao Ben’s request, because he was also feeling extremely frustrated.

Anyone who suffered such bullying would inevitably feel angry.

Moreover, his greatest advantage now was his superior number of troops.

Even if the counterattack failed, losing some soldiers wouldn’t be a big deal.

But if they achieved an unexpected victory, it would be a huge surprise.

Those special forces were also precious assets in the Huaxia army.

The training of each one required a huge investment.

Losing these special forces would be enough to make the Huaxia army’s heart ache.

Moreover, as Zhao Ben said, troop deployment took time. It wasn’t possible for every unit of the Huaxia army to be an elite force capable of reacting so quickly.

These factors led Zhou Daqi to agree to Zhao Ben’s request.

When it came to war, you had to take risks when the opportunity arose.

Subsequently, Zhao Ben had people use water to extinguish the fire on the city gate, opened it, and led a vanguard of three thousand soldiers to charge out.

Another three thousand troops were held in reserve, ready to act as the situation dictated.

If Zhao Ben’s charge went smoothly, they would follow to expand the victory.

If Zhao Ben’s charge didn’t go well, they would find a way to cover the retreat and defend the city gate.

The opening of the city gate did surprise the Huaxia army.

They couldn’t understand why the Ming army would abandon the protection of the city walls and actively come out to seek death.

However, their excellent training immediately became apparent.

The flamethrower troops and artillerymen immediately retreated in an orderly manner, while the infantry quickly moved forward to block them.

Throughout the entire process, without the command of regimental-level officers, each company, and even each platoon, reacted immediately based on the situation on the battlefield and according to the regulations in the combat manual.

They had trained on how to deal with such possible emergencies.

At this time, they only needed to follow the training and act step by step according to the operational codes in the tactical manual.

Elite troops were defined by this kind of well-trained force, capable of responding to any emergency.

These were all built on a foundation of extensive training.

And training meant consumption, requiring a lot of money.

So, the Ming soldiers on the other side had not received this kind of training at all.

They spent most of their time resting to conserve energy, reduce food intake, and reduce grain consumption.

The factors influencing the outcome of a battle were far from simple.

The national strength behind it was also a major factor.

In fact, in the long run, it was the only factor.

The Huaxia army’s reaction speed was faster than Zhao Ben had anticipated.

Unfortunately, it was too late to regret it now. They had already charged halfway, only fifty meters away from the Huaxia army.

They couldn’t turn around and return to the city at this point.

If they did, their morale would plummet to rock bottom.

Moreover, given the quality of their soldiers, they probably wouldn’t be able to maintain order if they turned around now.

Zhao Ben could only continue to charge, hoping to break through the enemy directly in front of them in one fell swoop.

After all, there weren’t many enemies directly in front of them, only about four or five hundred, and they had a numerical advantage.

“Fire! First volley, free fire!”

This team of over four hundred men was armed with flintlock rifles.

But that was enough to deal with an army wielding broadswords.

Gunshots rang out, and a large number of Ming soldiers fell.

They continued to charge, but the Huaxia army used this time to reload.

“Prepare, volley fire, then counter-charge!”

The Huaxia army officer shouted. They were too familiar with this procedure.

A volley fired from less than ten meters away once again stunned and panicked the Ming soldiers.

At this moment, the four hundred plus Huaxia army soldiers shouted ‘Kill!’ in unison, and then pressed forward, actively charging towards the Ming army.

Seeing a row of dense bayonets approaching them, a small number of Ming soldiers collapsed first.

With them leading the way, others followed suit.

As for Zhao Ben, who could have restrained them, he was unfortunately shot and fell during the charge.

Under bullets, all were equal.

The charge of three thousand men instantly disintegrated, and they were chased and killed by hundreds, a sight that Zhou Daqi couldn’t bear to watch.

Disgraceful, truly disgraceful.

The three thousand reserves still in the city, at this time, didn’t even bother to expand the victory, and were too lazy to save their comrades outside the city. They directly closed the city gate, abandoning those people.

They were worried that if they closed the gate too slowly, the Huaxia army would take the opportunity to enter the city.

Thus, on such an intense battlefield, a scene of capturing prisoners appeared, which was quite incongruous.

The Huaxia army in other directions was still attacking the city in an orderly manner, while the Huaxia army here was happily capturing prisoners.

This action was like a slap in Zhou Daqi’s face, a blatant humiliation.

“Damn it, damn it.”

Zhou Daqi was so angry that his liver hurt, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

He could only hope that when the Huaxia army launched a siege later, he could use the small number of grenades he had to give the Huaxia army a lesson.

This was their best chance to kill a large number of Huaxia soldiers.

However, to Zhou Daqi’s dismay, the Huaxia army made a big show of it and then withdrew, not attacking anymore.

Fortunately, Zhou Daqi was a person who had experienced ups and downs, and setbacks.

If it were a general with a fragile heart, who had been bullied, teased, and humiliated like this one after another, he would have lost his mind long ago.

Zhou Daqi didn’t. He just gritted his teeth and endured, swallowing all the bitterness.

He was waiting for the arrival of reinforcements, waiting for the reinforcements to surround the enemy, and using absolute numerical superiority to launch a full-scale attack.

At that time, it would be his turn to bully the Huaxia army.

Thinking of that scene, he was a little excited.

He Tengjiao did not disappoint Zhou Daqi. After learning that the Huaxia army had launched a general offensive against Hankou, he decisively ordered the entire army to attack.

The troops in Wuchang City were fully mobilized, taking boats to cross the river, going around behind the Huaxia army, and launching an attack.

He, on the other hand, led his main force, crossed the Han River, and then launched a full-scale offensive from the north of the Huaxia army.

At that time, Zhou Daqi in Hankou City would also take the initiative to attack, launching an offensive from the west of the Huaxia army.

The three armies would form a large pocket, driving the Huaxia army towards the river.

As long as one of the three armies completed a breakthrough, they could rely on their numerical advantage to advance into the Huaxia army’s interior, and then carry out various divisions and encirclements.

At the same time, they would launch a full-scale melee.

If they really had one army complete a breakthrough, it would indeed be quite dangerous for the Huaxia army.

Perhaps they wouldn’t be completely defeated because of this, but they would definitely pay a heavy price.

After entering a melee, the Huaxia army’s advantage would be greatly reduced.

If they could force the Huaxia army to retreat continuously, retreating to the river, or force the Huaxia army into chaos and collapse, that would be even better.

At that time, they could also experience the feeling of capturing prisoners all over the world.

Chapter 578: The Decisive Battle Begins

The Ming army in Hanyang and Wuchang had just begun to move when the Chinese army’s central command received the news.

Hot air balloons, dedicated to observing the enemy’s movements, were in the sky, with soldiers equipped with the latest signal flares.

The smoke from these signal flares was very dark and dispersed slowly, making them easily visible during the day, even from several kilometers away.

Upon receiving the message, the central command immediately launched its own signal flares.

A signal relay point five li away from the central command also immediately launched signal flares.

After four or five relays, the Chinese army on Tianxingzhou knew that the enemy had begun their advance.

They immediately began preparations to set sail and support the central battlefield.

Forty thousand soldiers could hold back hundreds of thousands of enemy troops, but launching a counterattack to achieve significant gains would not be easy.

Stalling in a stalemate with the Ming army was not the Chinese army’s intention.

They wanted the troops stationed on Tianxingzhou to suddenly appear on the central battlefield, breaking the deadlock and stabbing the enemy right in the heart.

As soon as this force appeared on the battlefield, it would be as good as telling the Ming army, “You’ve fallen into our trap! Run, or you’ll be annihilated!”

Once the Ming army began to flee, the Chinese army could happily pursue and expand their victory.

The Chinese army was quite skilled at this sort of thing.

If He Tengjiao was smart enough and had enough courage to continue fighting despite knowing they had been tricked, it might be a bit frustrating for the Chinese army, but it wouldn’t be a major issue.

With those twenty thousand fresh troops, they could encircle one part of the Ming army, gradually eliminate them, and then move on to other units.

This was already the worst-case scenario the Chinese army could face.

In fact, according to Tao Dongcheng and others, the Ming army was unlikely to be able to do this.

If the generals above were in disarray, the soldiers below would be even more so.

Hundreds of thousands of troops capable of fighting to the death even after being tricked were elite. If He Tengjiao had such elite troops, he would have expanded in all directions long ago.

It was unlikely that He Tengjiao, after occupying Hubei for a year, had made any significant progress, or even actively attacked areas with only a small number of Chinese troops stationed there.

He simply didn’t dare. After being trimmed down, their troops were still weak, just without the old, weak, and disabled.

At least, compared to the Chinese army, they were still a rabble.

Both armies were rapidly mobilizing, and the distance between the three towns was very short, so this deployment didn’t take much time.

As He Tengjiao’s troops arrived in Hankou and made formal contact with the Chinese army, the decisive battle began.

The Ming army launched an attack on the Chinese army from three directions.

He Tengjiao’s force had a total strength of forty thousand, with three thousand flintlock riflemen and the rest armed with cold weapons.

Blocking their path was the Chinese army’s 32nd Division, Li Lianfan’s unit, with a total of twelve thousand men.

Five thousand Type Two Yongxing rifles, five thousand flintlock rifles, and about two thousand other technical troops.

Grenadiers, flamethrower troops, mortar crews, signalmen, military police, medics…

The Chinese army had many different types of troops, so many and varied that it dazzled the enemy.

There were even dedicated battlefield observers.

These were officers who were unconcerned with anything else, their only job being to observe and record the various situations on the battlefield.

After the battle, these detailed records would be used for research and to summarize experiences.

Don’t underestimate their role; in later generations, they would be present at every major battle.

Li Lianfan’s twelve thousand men had to defend a line that was fully ten li long. If any point was breached, the entire line would lose its meaning.

On average, there was about one soldier per meter, which seemed like a lot.

However, battles couldn’t be calculated that way; there had to be reserves.

Otherwise, every soldier killed would mean one meter of the line lost.

At that rate, their line would collapse after a few hundred casualties.

In any case, the enemy couldn’t spread out their attack evenly across the entire line, and the Chinese army couldn’t spread out their defense evenly either. It was all done in sections, with different focal points.

Some sections had a dense concentration of defenders, while others had no one at all.

Then, based on the enemy’s attack locations, troop deployments were constantly adjusted.

The battlefield was constantly changing, extremely complex, and couldn’t be explained in a few words.

In short, it was very difficult for ten thousand men to defend a ten-li long line.

Moreover, due to the urgency of the situation, the fortifications in some sections had not yet been completed.

That’s how it was on the battlefield; nothing could ever be calculated precisely.

When faced with such difficulties, it came down to which army could overcome them better.

“Kill!”

After finalizing his attack plan, He Tengjiao shouted “Kill!”

Subsequently, his troops were divided into about ten groups, advancing towards seven different sections, while the other three corps remained on standby.

In fact, He Tengjiao understood that dividing his troops into smaller units could better weaken the Chinese army’s advantage.

However, he couldn’t do that because the quality of his officers couldn’t compare to that of the Chinese army.

The so-called squad leaders and company leaders had almost zero military skills; usually, they were just fierce, brave, or good at schmoozing.

It was only at the level of centurion that officers began to understand a little bit about tactics.

The quality of their officers determined that they couldn’t conduct small-scale battles.

If they were all scattered, some squads might turn around and run away, some might not be able to keep up, some might advance too quickly, and some might not even be able to walk straight, running into the attack positions of friendly forces.

In short, anyone without command ability would inevitably throw an army into chaos on the battlefield.

Ten groups, each with about four thousand men.

After seeing the enemy’s deployment through binoculars, the Chinese army began to adjust rapidly.

This adjustment was done independently by company-level units, with the company commander or battalion commander making the judgment and then independently ordering the repositioning of troops.

Without telephones, relying on signalmen running back and forth was completely impractical for such frequent movements.

Therefore, Li Lianfan directly delegated authority to his subordinates, allowing them to adjust on their own.

Li Lianfan had confidence in his subordinates, all of whom had attended military academy and successfully graduated.

It might be difficult for them to formulate brilliant tactics, but simple adjustments on the battlefield were definitely not a problem.

After all, it wasn’t some profound knowledge. It was simply a matter of quickly converging on the location where the enemy was focusing their attack.

When encountering the enemy dividing their forces, they would also divide their own forces in proportion to the enemy’s numbers.

Of course, attention to detail was still required, but that was all.

Relying on the solid quality of the Chinese army’s junior officers, the Chinese army quickly completed its adjustments, denying the Ming army the opportunity to concentrate superior forces to attack weak points.

Chapter 579: Pure Suicide

He Tengjiao watched the Great Hua army’s adjustments, his mouth agape, unable to speak for a long time.

Too terrifying.

He had never seen an army adjust so quickly, nor had he seen an army where basic-level officers could boldly make decisions on their own without orders from above.

Weren’t they worried about making wrong decisions that would lead to failure?

Wouldn’t they have to bear responsibility if that happened?

He Tengjiao couldn’t understand it.

Of course, the Great Hua army had its own internal mechanisms.

After a battle, during the post-battle summary, officers who made wrong decisions would be allowed to explain their reasoning. Superiors would then assess their abilities based on the actual situation at the time.

In general, the punishment wouldn’t be too severe.

It was thanks to this mechanism that the Great Hua army’s junior officers had the opportunity to practice and improve their abilities.

This kind of quality, if thrown into He Tengjiao’s army, would be at least a chiliarch, or even a general.

“I thought the Great Hua army was full of nobodies, people like Li Shaobin and Liu Hansan, who were just centurions before. But I didn’t expect their low-level officers to be of such caliber,” He Tengjiao lamented.

He used to think that the fact that someone like Li Shaobin could become a leading figure in the Great Hua army meant that the army must be suffering from a severe talent shortage, a desperate measure.

Now he finally realized he was wrong. The Great Hua army simply had too much talent, so it didn’t matter who the commander was.

When making decisions, there was a staff headquarters to pool ideas, and on the battlefield, low-level officers could handle things on their own.

Apart from making the final decision, it seemed like the commander didn’t really have any other role.

While He Tengjiao was sighing, the Ming army had entered the Great Hua army’s mortar range.

The cannons roared, and shells began to fall into the Ming army’s formation.

At this time, the Ming army’s quality was highlighted. They didn’t dare to spread out their troops to reduce casualties.

Because once they spread out, the entire army’s command system would be disrupted, and soldiers wouldn’t be able to find their officers, and officers wouldn’t be able to find their soldiers.

Once the soldiers lost the restraint of their officers, they would immediately start to rout.

Unlike the Great Hua’s soldiers, who were divided into several ranks.

Without officers, the privates would be under the jurisdiction of sergeants, staff sergeants, and other veteran soldiers, and wouldn’t be in chaos.

It could be said that the Great Hua army was already a mature modern army. The tightness of its organization was completely incomparable to He Tengjiao’s troops.

“Free fire,” a Great Hua army regiment commander ordered.

In fact, even without his order, some of the Great Hua army’s soldiers had already begun firing their guns spontaneously after judging that the enemy had entered their range.

Their unit used the Yongxing Second Year Type rifle, which had a long range and great power.

They started firing early, causing the charging Ming army to suffer unspeakably.

There were still nearly two hundred meters to the Great Hua army’s position. Even if they ran at full speed, it would take at least half a minute.

What’s more, they couldn’t run at full speed; they had to save some energy for the final battle.

So, they could only jog.

This would take at least a minute.

And this time was enough for the Great Hua army to fire six or seven shots.

What did six or seven shots mean? It meant that by the time the Ming army charged in front of the Great Hua army, at least two thousand people would have been lost.

And the Ming army in this direction only had four thousand people in total, which was equivalent to losing half.

If there were people in the Ming army who were good at calculations, they probably wouldn’t let the soldiers continue to charge.

There was no way to charge; it was bound to fail.

It was wishful thinking for an army to continue fighting after losing half of its strength; it was impossible.

Unfortunately, no one in the Ming army realized this problem.

Or rather, they hadn’t yet experienced the power of breech-loading guns.

They continued to charge, but more and more people fell.

Slowly, they also discovered the problem.

But at this time, the Ming army generals began to shout, “Run at full speed! We’ll win when we reach the enemy!”

This kind of order sounded brain-dead.

Running at full speed for one hundred meters to reach the enemy would at least require them to catch their breath before continuing to fight.

And when they reached the Great Hua army, would the Great Hua army give them time to breathe?

Probably, grenades and other things would be thrown directly at them.

But the Ming army generals were also helpless. Apart from doing this, they had no other choice.

If they didn’t let the troops launch a brainless charge at this time, the army would probably retreat.

More and more casualties had already made the soldiers below afraid.

Only by relying on this kind of full-scale charge, an attack with no way out, could the soldiers not have time to think wildly, and could suppress this panic.

However, the time that could be suppressed was also extremely limited.

Before they even reached the Great Hua army, some Ming army soldiers with full points in survival skills were already running to both sides.

In order to avoid the Great Hua army’s frontal attack.

For them as individuals, this choice was undoubtedly correct, and could greatly increase their chances of survival.

But for the entire charging team, the impact was very bad.

They were unwilling to attack the enemy head-on, and neither were the others. No one was much dumber than anyone else.

They could bypass it, and naturally others would no longer foolishly attack head-on.

Subsequently, a new problem arose: those Ming army soldiers who tried to avoid the Great Hua army’s frontal firepower immediately found themselves in a situation where there were no senior officers to command them.

And the Great Hua army made real-time adjustments, not giving them a chance to exploit loopholes, and they still had to face the attack of bullets.

So, should they continue to charge, or choose to retreat?

Of course, there were people who continued to choose to charge, but there were also many who chose to retreat.

For a time, the entire charging corps was in chaos.

Some were charging forward, some were detouring, and some were retreating. It was as chaotic as a farmers market during a rural fair.

The Great Hua army was clearly close at hand, but they couldn’t charge in front of them.

Instead, the army collapsed when they were about to charge.

Of course, this couldn’t really be blamed on the Ming army soldiers being afraid of death.

This kind of charge, without any cover, completely exposing themselves to the Great Hua army’s guns, was a wrong decision no matter how they charged.

The correct way was to use obstacles, crawl forward, or divide into three-man cells and launch a full-scale attack spread out across the entire front.

Or, retreat to the deep mountains to fight guerrilla warfare. In short, a frontal charge simply wouldn’t work.

However, the Ming army either didn’t understand this kind of tactic, or didn’t have the ability to do this kind of tactic, or for other reasons.

In short, they didn’t do it this time.

This unit that charged the unit equipped with new rifles completely collapsed, and didn’t even touch the Great Hua army’s hair, which was quite embarrassing.

In comparison, the unit that charged the flintlock gun unit was in a much better situation.

Chapter 580: Barbed Wire

The Ming army attacking the section defended by the flintlock rifle regiment also suffered terribly, but they fared slightly better than the other units.

After all, the accuracy of flintlocks was much worse.

Having paid the price of nearly one thousand lives, the Ming army finally reached the front of the Chinese army.

However, their nightmare was far from over.

A simple breastwork gave them a considerable headache. Some were dumbfounded by the barbed wire in front of them.

What to do? No one had ever encountered this thing before. How should they deal with it?

Charge straight through? No one dared to try. Those gleaming hooks looked terrifying.

“Charge! Are you waiting here to die?”

The Ming army officer roared.

Forced into this situation, some soldiers attempted it.

But as soon as they touched it, they screamed in pain, scaring the others even more.

“Cut it with your swords, you pig-brained idiots!”

The Ming army officer raged.

However, if barbed wire could be easily cut, it wouldn’t be everywhere on the battlefields of later generations.

Cutting it required time.

And while they were cutting the barbed wire, the Chinese army wouldn’t just sit by and watch the show.

Taking advantage of their inability to break through, they were mercilessly beating a dog in the water.

Close-range shooting made them almost laugh with joy. They had never experienced such an easy battle.

Some in the Ming army fought back, but the Ming army’s ranged attack units were far fewer than the Chinese army’s.

No matter how they retaliated, they suffered heavy losses.

“Throw the corpses on it! Step over on the corpses!”

The Ming army generals weren’t just anxiously watching; they were also thinking of ways.

One general noticed that some Ming soldiers had died on the barbed wire while trying to climb over, and their bodies had bent the wire a lot.

Immediately, he thought that if there were more such bodies, wouldn’t they be able to push down the barbed wire, or create a ‘corpse road’?

Use corpses?

The Ming soldiers felt a wave of sorrow in their hearts.

They had a certain reverence for corpses, feeling that they shouldn’t be used. It was a great disrespect to the dead.

Of course, soldiers were more realistic.

After all, if they weren’t realistic, their lives would be in danger.

So, some soldiers threw their comrades’ bodies onto the wire, and it actually worked.

After several bodies were piled on, the barbed wire couldn’t bear the weight and collapsed in some places.

And those Ming soldiers could step on their comrades’ corpses and rush over.

If they had thought of this method from the beginning, perhaps they would have really broken through the Chinese army’s defense this time.

However, they had hesitated for too long.

During this time, they had suffered fierce attacks from the Chinese army.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have found it so easy to find corpses when looking for them; they could just grab one from nearby.

With such heavy losses, although they found a way to get through the barbed wire, they still retreated.

The Ming army attacking the barbed wire section suffered heavy losses, and those attacking the breastwork were in a similar situation.

The breastwork was only about one meter twenty or one meter thirty tall.

For soldiers, they could just jump up and grab it to get over.

But that was if no one was paying attention. The Chinese army still had a large number of soldiers here.

As they climbed, the Chinese army only needed to stab them with a bayonet to render them unable to fight.

More importantly, this breastwork slowed down the Ming army’s charge.

After suddenly slowing down, a large number of soldiers gathered in front of the breastwork.

And the Chinese army’s grenades were thrown over in a timely manner.

Immediately, screams rang out.

The Ming army blocked in front of the breastwork couldn’t advance or retreat.

If they retreated, the price they had paid for the previous charge would be completely wasted.

Consuming the Chinese army’s ammunition was pointless because the Chinese army usually had plenty of ammunition.

Unlike their Ming army, although some soldiers were equipped with grenades, they were pitifully few.

Apart from some who fell on the way to the charge, the remaining small number of people also threw grenades at the Chinese army, causing some casualties.

But it didn’t mean much; they needed to get over this wall.

In the heat of the battle, the Ming army began to dismantle the wall in desperation.

Because the breastwork temporarily built by the Chinese army didn’t have time to consider whether it was sturdy or not.

In some places, a sandbag was pulled down with force by the Ming army.

After pulling down a few more sandbags, a large part of the wall would collapse.

However, this action had extremely limited effect and was very time-consuming.

By the time they had dismantled it enough, almost everyone was dead, encountering the same awkward situation as the barbed wire side.

On the entire front line, some people did successfully climb over the wall.

However, it didn’t mean much unless the number reached a certain scale.

The Chinese army could quickly deal with it. When the Ming army finally managed to get nearly one hundred people over, which could cause greater trouble for the Chinese army.

Something that made these one hundred people collapse happened again.

Some of the soldiers who hadn’t crossed the wall finally had their psychological defenses collapse and chose to flee.

During the charge, they had lost nearly twenty-five percent of their troops, which was already a huge casualty rate.

During the standoff in front of the breastwork, although they also inflicted casualties on the Chinese army, the rate of their own losses was also quite fast.

After losing ten percent, the total battle loss reached thirty-five percent. Under this battle loss, they collapsed, and some people began to flee.

Out of three people, it meant that one person had died or was seriously injured. Who would dare to stay?

If they had already defeated the Chinese army, it would be fine, and everyone could continue fighting.

But the problem was that the two sides were still in a stalemate.

This meant that a large number of people would continue to die, and they might not even be able to win.

“Damn it, it’s really damn it.”

Seeing that his efforts had fallen short, He Tengjiao was furious.

“General, since that position is the enemy’s weak point, then focus on attacking this position. With a little more effort, we can take it next time.”

His subordinate advised.

Compared to other places, their progress at this position was considered the best.

“Weak point? Which eye of yours saw that it was a weak point? Can a weak point make our people collapse?”

He Tengjiao lost his temper in anger and directly cursed at his subordinate.

Of course, he couldn’t be blamed for losing control of his emotions; the progress of the army was really unsatisfactory.

So many people were lost, but not a single place was broken through.

He began to doubt whether his overall offensive plan was correct.

In terms of the current situation on his side, it was undoubtedly a failure.

Heavy losses, but no gains.

However, to evaluate a battle, one often cannot only look at the part, but must look at the whole.

Although they suffered losses here, they at least held down a large number of Chinese troops and energy.

If at this time, the other two sides had a key breakthrough in one direction, then the victory of their battle would still belong to them.

Of course, the premise was that the other two directions had made key progress.

“Order, maintain continuous small-scale attacks, feints, and abandon large-scale offensives.”

He Tengjiao ordered.

Too many people had died; they couldn’t just charge like this, otherwise the soldiers wouldn’t be able to take it.

Continue to feint, and only carry out small-scale containment.

Now, He Tengjiao could only hope for the other directions.

Chapter 581: Artillery Blockade

On the west side, the Great Hua army was the 33rd Division, Shi Shouye’s unit.

Their troop deployment was almost identical to Li Lianfan’s.

The only difference was that this division had over one hundred twelve- Jin cannons.

These cannons were incredibly powerful, far more so than the previous six- Jin Hongyi cannons, and they could also fire shrapnel shells.

However, Shi Shouye’s side had not built any fortifications.

After all, they had originally been on the offensive towards Hankou.

Zhou Daqi was in charge of attacking Shi Shouye’s forces, with a force even larger than He Tengjiao’s, reaching fifty-five thousand.

Faced with so many enemies and no fortifications, Shi Shouye was not flustered at all, because of those one hundred cannons.

The existence of these hundred-plus cannons meant that they didn’t have to defend the entire line like Li Lianfan.

Shi Shouye only needed to send people to defend these cannons and the artillery positions, leaving plenty of open space elsewhere.

With a range of five or six li, these cannons could cover the entire front line.

Zhou Daqi wouldn’t dare, even if he had a hundred guts, to ignore the Great Hua army’s cannons, bypass them through the gaps, and attack Li Lianfan’s rear.

Being bombarded by the Great Hua army’s cannons while passing through that area would truly mean that no amount of soldiers would be enough to die.

The destructive power of these cannons on the plains battlefield was several times greater than during a siege.

After all, these shells relied on scattered shrapnel to kill the enemy, and without fortifications like city walls, the shrapnel could effectively kill the enemy.

Zhou Daqi had no choice but to eliminate this Great Hua army artillery unit in order to pass through here and coordinate with He Tengjiao.

Shi Shouye was also very clear about this.

As soon as he discovered that the enemy had taken the bait according to plan and launched a full-scale counterattack, he arranged for the artillery to retreat some distance, and then the infantry guarded them tightly, putting on a posture of defending to the death.

They didn’t have the protection of breastworks, but they were dense enough, several times denser than Li Lianfan’s dispersed defense.

And the denser the formation, the more advantageous it was for the Great Hua army.

Therefore, facing the overwhelming Ming army, Shi Shouye was not flustered at all, and even a little impatient.

The feeling of bullying opponents with advanced weapons was quite good.

Zhou Daqi divided his troops into three routes, but in reality, the interval between each route was only about half a kilometer.

The central route attacked head-on, while the left and right flanks went around to the Great Hua army’s flanks to launch attacks, forming a three-pronged pincer attack, trying to maximize the advantage of their troop numbers.

They strived to attack as many Great Hua army soldiers as possible at the same time.

By dividing into three routes, the Great Hua army’s cannons would not be able to focus on one unit to bombard, and it could also reduce the pressure on a single unit being bombarded.

If there was only one route head-on, the bombardment of the cannons alone would make them vomit blood.

Without cannons to restrain the opponent’s cannons, charging towards the cannons was a huge disadvantage.

Before the charge, Zhou Daqi’s subordinate general advised, “Should we transport the cannons deployed in Hanyang over here? It’s too disadvantageous without cannons.”

Their cannons were originally used to prevent the Great Hua navy from driving straight in and cutting off the Yangtze River.

But at this time, they had already started the final battle, so blocking the river became less important.

If they won the final battle, the Great Hua army would inevitably flee.

If they lost the final battle, they would not be able to block the river or defend the three towns of Wuhan.

In short, this final battle in Hankou could determine everything, so naturally, all forces needed to be invested.

“There’s probably not enough time.”

The other two flanks had already launched their attacks, and he couldn’t stand by and watch while waiting for the cannons.

Otherwise, the Great Hua army would have the leisure to support other units.

Having said that, Zhou Daqi still sent a portion of his men to transport the cannons over.

He wasn’t sure how long this final battle would last, or whether cannons would be needed later.

A small unit went to transport the cannons, while the remaining main force began the attack.

Of the three units, the two flanks were to be faster, and the central route was to be slower, in order to maintain synchronization in the upcoming attack.

As the enemy began to move, the Great Hua army’s cannons resolutely sounded. Their twelve- Jin cannons theoretically had a range of five or six li.

The actual effective range was also about one to one and a half kilometers.

Even if the two armies were still very far apart, the cannons could already reach them.

When the cannons sounded, the first few shots didn’t hit, and the shells landed in the open spaces without any Ming soldiers.

Tens of thousands of people seemed like a lot, but when scattered on this battlefield, they didn’t seem like much. Many places were still empty, without a single Ming soldier.

The Ming army was not happy about this, because they could all see the Great Hua army’s observation balloons in the distance.

In the observation balloons, Great Hua army soldiers determined the landing points of the shells, and then transmitted the information to the people below, adjusting the firing parameters of the shells.

After a few adjustments, the Great Hua army’s shells began to land in the Ming army’s soldier formations.

What followed was a nightmare for the Ming army. From now until they approached the Great Hua army, they would be subjected to the slaughter of shells.

And they had no way to resist, they could only endure and move forward.

Moreover, even if the shells landed around them, they were not allowed to run, they still had to walk at a normal pace.

After all, the road was still very long, and if they started running now, half of them would die of exhaustion halfway.

Not being allowed to accelerate was a torment to the soldiers’ minds. Watching the shells land in their own formations, the soldiers instinctively wanted to run.

Boom.

Another shrapnel shell landed in the Ming army’s formation and exploded, with at least hundreds of pieces of shrapnel being ejected.

A large number of shrapnel pieces hit the Ming army soldiers. Those who were hit in the head were basically directly killed.

However, most of them were hit in the torso and limbs.

Those who were hit generally could no longer move forward.

Even if an arm was hit, the pain was so severe that there was no way to continue fighting. It was better to retreat to clean the wound and seek treatment, maybe it could be saved.

The wounded were left behind, and the uninjured continued to move forward.

“Disperse the formation a bit, increase the distance between the front and rear, ensure five body lengths.”

In order to reduce losses, the Ming army general issued an order.

Increase the distance between the front and rear, making the formation sparse.

However, this formation greatly slowed down the advance of the troops, which had both advantages and disadvantages.

The Great Hua army’s hundred-plus cannons were attacking the three routes of the army at the same time, averaging out to only thirty-plus cannons per route.

This number was nothing compared to the vast number of Ming troops.

Therefore, even though their cannons could hit from time to time, the Ming army’s advance was not affected at all, and they continued to move forward.

Chapter 582: How to Fight?

More than the threat of artillery, the Ming army was actually more afraid of Great Hua’s air force.

On the city walls, the Great Hua air force’s airdrops were relatively difficult to achieve results.

But in the plains, they could just drop them blindly. Unless they were completely untrained recruits, it was impossible to miss.

The Third and Fourth Armies weren’t equipped with many air forces. They only had one air force battalion, with a total of forty-odd hydrogen and hot air balloons, and only about thirty of them could be used to drop bombs.

As the Ming army approached, Great Hua’s air force also ascended into the air and entered the battlefield.

Seeing those airships, the Ming Dynasty soldiers felt panicked.

After all, they had witnessed the power of those aerial bombs in the city before.

A city tower as big as a house could be destroyed by a single bomb.

The effect of dropping such bombs into a pile of soldiers was self-evident.

“Heavenly soldiers, the heavenly soldiers of Great Hua are here!”

The lower-level soldiers were already trembling.

“Calm down! There are only a few balloons in total, what’s there to be afraid of? What are the odds that we’ll get bombed? Keep moving forward!”

A Ming army officer scolded.

Although he was also afraid in his heart, he had no choice but to put on a calm appearance.

Although that’s what he said, when the hot air balloons floated above them, and the huge shadows were cast on the soldiers, they panicked.

Immediately afterward, a black dot fell.

The soldiers who had been watching the air force saw the black dot and estimated where it would land.

Then, some soldiers who felt they might be hit by the blast quickly scattered and ran away, causing chaos in the formation, which made the officers curse.

In fact, the Ming army soldiers’ estimations were completely inaccurate.

They hadn’t learned about free fall, nor did they understand inertia, so they instinctively thought that the shells would fall vertically.

But in reality, under the influence of inertia and gravity, the trajectory of the shells was actually a curve.

Therefore, a very awkward scene appeared in the Ming army.

Those who should have run didn’t, and those who shouldn’t have ran did.

Some extremely unlucky soldiers who originally would have been fine if they hadn’t run, ended up running right into the center of the bomb’s impact point, thinking they were being clever.

Boom!

The sound of the aerial bomb exploding was slightly different from that of artillery.

But that wasn’t important, what was important was the difference in power.

The power of the aerial bomb was too terrifying.

Within a dozen meters of the impact point, no one could stand up again.

Even outside the bomb’s kill radius, anyone who was too close would be knocked over by the shockwave.

Boom, boom, boom…

The continuous explosions brought great deterrence to the soldiers who were still moving forward.

They couldn’t do anything, they could only keep praying to God to bless them and not get bombed.

Fortunately, Great Hua’s air force was still small in number.

If there were a few more air force battalions, it was estimated that they would be able to defeat Hauge like last time, relying solely on the air force, without the need for infantry to do anything.

Under the double ravaging of artillery and air force, the Ming army struggled to complete a stretch of road.

The Ming army from the three directions was less than two hundred meters away from the Hua army, almost close enough to launch a charge.

This was originally something to be happy about, but the current Ming army couldn’t be happy at all.

Because, after being ravaged, they had suffered heavy losses.

On average, each route had lost at least two thousand men.

This was more than ten percent, which was a very serious loss.

Under normal circumstances, they would have almost collapsed and fled by now, after all, they were a rabble.

The reason why they hadn’t collapsed yet was mainly because they hadn’t expected so many to die.

By the time they realized that so many of their own had died, they had already walked through this bombed stretch of road.

But the deadly thing was that this wasn’t over at all.

In the next two hundred meters, they wouldn’t be bombed by the air force anymore, but they would still be shelled and shot at.

The sound of bullets killing people was far less imposing than that of shells.

But in terms of lethality, it was even greater than artillery.

Because there were more people with guns.

Shi Shouye’s artillery and air force combined were only a little over a thousand people.

And the infantry with guns numbered nearly ten thousand.

The Ming army generals were actually worried whether their subordinates could survive this stretch of road and complete the charge.

Many people were pessimistic, they found that they had underestimated Great Hua’s firepower.

It was too terrifying.

There was no turning back once the bow was drawn, and when they discovered that Great Hua’s firepower far exceeded their estimates, it was already too late.

At this time, it was impossible to retreat the way they came, no matter what.

That way, they would be bombed by the artillery again, and they wouldn’t be able to inflict any casualties on the Hua army.

If they really did that, the soldiers who fled back would probably scatter without saying a word.

No soldier would like that kind of battle where they couldn’t fight back, just get bombed and go home.

Of course, as long as they continued to fight, they would find that it didn’t seem so bad to go back after being bombed. At least, it was better than continuing to charge.

“Jog, charge!”

The Ming army issued the latest order.

Although the order to jog was given, the speed of the Ming army soldiers was obviously faster than jogging.

They were all afraid, and couldn’t wait to rush to the enemy.

As if that would make them safe.

“Hey, these little bastards have really good stamina.”

Seeing the enemy start running from afar, some of the Hua army soldiers were still in the mood to joke.

Because they all knew that starting to run at this distance wouldn’t work unless it was an elite unit.

With the Ming army soldiers’ skinny appearance, it was hard to see how much stamina they could have.

“By the time they run to us, they’ll be tired, and then they’ll find that they can’t win, and they can’t escape, so they can just sit on the ground and surrender.”

Another soldier made a bold prediction.

While saying that, they started shooting.

The Ming army ran fast in front, and entered within fifty meters of the Hua army at a smaller cost.

But at this time, some soldiers already felt obvious fatigue.

Although they could continue to run the remaining fifty meters, their legs would be sore by the time they rushed to the enemy.

How could they fight then?

How to fight?

This was a question that had always run through the minds of the Ming army generals.

From the beginning until now, Zhou Daqi had been thinking about how to fight.

But thinking about it now, all the decisions he had made had not played any role in the face of the Hua army’s superior equipment.

How to fight next was always a headache for Zhou Daqi.

There wasn’t so much time on the battlefield for him to think and study, and those frontline soldiers, without good tactics to command, once again fell into a situation of being beaten.

They couldn’t advance, and they couldn’t retreat.

If there were no officers supervising the battle, some people would probably sit down and surrender.

Chapter 583: Ten Thousand Surrendering Together

How to fight? This question, even if you asked Tao Dongcheng, he wouldn’t be able to answer.

If he had to give an answer, it would be: there’s no way to fight.

When the equipment gap reaches a generational difference, there’s no way to fight.

Rely on ingenious tactics? It’s not that easy.

The more advanced the equipment, the more tactics are available. Unless the commanding skills of the two sides’ generals differ too much, there’s no way to win.

In this battle, the Ming army will inevitably be defeated.

Moreover, they can’t blame their officers for being useless when they lose.

Because even if they didn’t fall for the trap and single-mindedly defended the city, they wouldn’t be able to hold it.

At best, they would inflict a little more casualties on the Great Hua army.

But now, the Ming army can’t even manage to kill more Great Hua soldiers.

By the time they charged in front of the Great Hua army, they had already suffered heavy casualties and their morale was low.

Plus, without a reasonable distribution of physical strength, they were already pathetic.

Facing the Great Hua army, which was waiting in full battle array, their pitiful impact couldn’t shake the Great Hua’s formation at all.

If they were all mindless death warriors, perhaps they could fill the gap with their lives and create a breakthrough.

However, they are all flesh and blood, and they are afraid.

Under such heavy casualties, they collapsed again.

Moreover, it wasn’t a collapse in a single direction, but a collective collapse on almost all three defense lines.

The Ming army on the west side began to rout; they were also defeated.

And the reinforcements from Wuchang were defeated even faster.

When they formed their formation, before their charge towards the Great Hua army had even reached halfway, a large number of Great Hua soldiers appeared behind them.

Those were the Great Hua’s ambush troops.

Liu Tiren understood instantly, but it was too late.

Eighty percent of his troops were committed to the charge, leaving only twenty percent, about six thousand men, how could they resist the assault of twenty thousand Great Hua soldiers?

The Great Hua army’s charge was much easier than the Ming army’s.

Liu Tiren only had a few thousand flintlock rifle troops, and he had already committed them to the attack.

The remaining people watched helplessly as the Great Hua army approached, without many effective means of attrition.

This kind of charge was countless times easier than the Ming army’s difficult charge.

Even more infuriating to Liu Tiren was that the Great Hua army only charged to about one hundred meters, and then they stopped charging.

Relying on their advanced weapons, they directly engaged in long-range attrition, forcing Liu Tiren to counter-charge.

At that moment, Liu Tiren really wanted to vomit blood.

He had never fought such a frustrating battle in his life.

Charge proactively, and you’ll suffer a great loss.

Don’t charge, and you’ll be constantly worn down.

Fighting the Great Hua army in the field was indeed the most foolish decision of his life. Even with a numerical advantage, you must never do this.

Unfortunately, he realized it too late.

Before long, Liu Tiren’s force suffered a devastating blow.

The soldiers in front responsible for the charge couldn’t break through and were preparing to retreat.

But when they turned their heads, good heavens.

The rear was even worse than the front; the soldiers in the back were already being chased and killed by the Great Hua army’s ambush troops, and people were throwing away their weapons and surrendering from time to time.

As for the commander, Liu Tiren, he had long disappeared, no one knew if he had escaped or died in the chaos.

But none of that mattered anymore; the collapse of the rear guard meant that their retreat route was cut off.

They couldn’t break through in the front, and there were enemy troops approaching from the rear.

There was no way, they could only flee to both sides.

Moreover, the gaps on the left and right sides were very small, and they were constantly shrinking.

The commander responsible for leading the charge saw this and thought, what’s the point of running? He simply ordered the entire army to throw away their weapons and surrender collectively.

No one objected; everyone had wanted to do this for a long time, just waiting for him to speak.

It was fortunate that he gave the order in time; if he had been any slower, someone would have probably killed him so that everyone could surrender.

As soon as he said to surrender, everyone instantly threw away their weapons; the uniformity of their movements almost made him cry.

If they had had such good discipline during the charge, they wouldn’t have been beaten so badly.

The surrender of tens of thousands of people was quite a spectacular sight.

In order to receive these prisoners and control them, the Great Hua army had to expend a lot of effort and couldn’t promptly surround Zhou Daqi’s and He Tengjiao’s forces.

At this time, He Tengjiao and Zhou Daqi both received Liu Tiren’s notification that they had been tricked.

The remaining twenty thousand Great Hua soldiers had not been stranded at all; they had already appeared in Hankou and defeated Liu Tiren.

It was expected that they would arrive soon.

Liu Tiren had fled, and before fleeing, he had notified He Tengjiao and Zhou Daqi to escape quickly, or else their troops wouldn’t be saved.

Upon receiving the news, Zhou Daqi actually spat out a mouthful of blood this time, and the whole person fell to the ground, suddenly looking many years older.

Before, no matter how badly they fought, no matter how embarrassing they were, at least they were still fighting according to plan, and there was a sense of initiative in their hands.

However, after learning that they had been tricked, Zhou Daqi realized that he had been played.

From beginning to end, he had been played all over.

He was like a mouse caught by a cat, being played from beginning to end.

Not only had they lost in terms of weapons and equipment, but they had also been completely crushed in terms of courage and tactics.

At this time, Zhou Daqi seemed to understand why the Great Hua army looked down on He Tengjiao.

Because their hundreds of thousands of troops were really not worthy of the Great Hua’s attention; they could be manipulated as they pleased.

It wasn’t the Great Hua who was wrong; it was that they had overestimated their own abilities.

They had previously thought that with the hundreds of thousands of troops in their hands, even if they couldn’t win, they could drag it out for a few months and kill ten thousand Great Hua soldiers.

However, the reality was that they hadn’t even lasted three days.

Excluding travel time, just counting combat time, it was probably less than a day.

“General, quickly order a retreat.”

His subordinate reminded him.

“Retreat, what retreat? Can we escape the first day, but can we escape the fifteenth? Just surrender, don’t let the soldiers die in vain.”

Zhou Daqi said tiredly.

“But…”

“There’s no ‘buts.’ Those who don’t want to surrender can escape on their own. Don’t make things difficult for each other; let’s part ways peacefully.”

Zhou Daqi said.

In the army, there were still some who were loyal to He Tengjiao.

However, Zhou Daqi had completely given up hope on He Tengjiao.

The difference in strength was too great; they were not on the same level.

The Great Hua army was as easy as the regular army bullying civilians.

The more they resisted, the more they would die.

Zhou Daqi spoke, and some who were loyal to Zhou Daqi, as well as some who wanted to surrender, issued orders one after another, telling the soldiers to surrender.

There were also a few generals who wanted to take their men away, wanting to follow He Tengjiao to live the life of a local emperor, a mountain king.

However, when they tried to summon their subordinates to leave, there were very few respondents.

Many people didn’t want to fight anymore, and besides, Zhou Daqi had already ordered them to surrender, so they had even more reason to surrender.

In the end, only a small number followed these people to leave.

The remaining tens of thousands of people surrendered one after another, causing the Great Hua army to be busy again.

Chapter 584: Recapturing the Three Towns

Although He Tengjiao didn’t vomit blood and collapse upon receiving the news of his entrapment, he wasn’t in much better shape than Zhou Daqi.

The contrast between believing he could defeat the Great Hua main force and dominate the Hubei region, and then being completely wiped out due to a trap, was simply too great. It was like going from heaven to hell.

And it happened so fast, barely a day apart. He hadn’t even had his fill of this dream of dominance.

Most people simply couldn’t withstand such a blow.

He Tengjiao was a bit stronger than the average person. Faced with this blow, he at least managed to react, taking a small number of his trusted subordinates and fleeing.

He didn’t dare take everyone, because the more people he took, the slower they would be, and the easier it would be to get caught.

He only took a few elites; he didn’t want the other troops, and couldn’t save them even if he wanted to.

With He Tengjiao fleeing with his men, the remaining troops naturally gave up resisting, some fleeing, some surrendering.

The main theme on the Hankou battlefield became capturing prisoners.

This process lasted an entire day.

When the final tally was made, wow, they had captured a full one hundred thousand prisoners.

For this decisive battle, He Tengjiao had thrown all his troops into this battlefield, exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand men.

In the fighting, roughly forty thousand were killed, and about ten thousand others fled or went missing.

The rest were captured by the Great Hua army as prisoners.

One hundred thousand people, an endless expanse.

Just figuring out how to accommodate these one hundred thousand people was enough to give Tao Dongcheng a headache.

For every extra day these one hundred thousand people spent in the open, dozens would fall ill and die due to their poor health.

Bringing these people into the city was also risky, as it could cause trouble.

Helplessly, Tao Dongcheng even abandoned the pursuit of He Tengjiao’s remnants, instead leaving the main force behind to specifically guard the one hundred thousand prisoners, waiting for civil officials to come and take over.

Some of these one hundred thousand people would be sent to the mines to dig, and some would be sent to the Ministry of Transportation, under the unified dispatch of the Ministry of Transportation, mainly to be sent to build official roads and railways.

The victor is king, the loser is villain. These defeated soldiers would hardly get a good ending. After all, Great Hua was not short of soldiers now.

In the past, they would have had the opportunity to enter the Great Hua army, but now that opportunity was gone.

To give these people a glimmer of hope, Great Hua did promise that as long as they worked in the mines for three full years, they could be released and gain their freedom.

As for whether they could survive those three years, that would depend on their own luck.

Whether it was mining or road construction, the labor intensity was quite high.

People with any illnesses or hidden injuries would probably be in for a tragedy.

And the relevant departments of Great Hua didn’t have the energy to screen them one by one.

After He Tengjiao was defeated, he directly abandoned Hanyang, not even thinking about defending the city.

With the morale at that point, there was no way to defend it.

He took his remaining troops and a large amount of gold and silver jewelry, and went south along the Yangtze River, preparing to flee to Changsha.

He didn’t want the territory of Hubei anymore.

With the loss of his army, he couldn’t hold it.

Even retreating to Changsha was just a temporary measure.

When the Great Hua army chased after him, he wouldn’t necessarily be able to find a way to deal with them.

Therefore, on the road to escape, He Tengjiao began to ponder his future path.

After thinking it over, in the end, he could only think of a way to retreat to Guizhou and Yunnan, using the complex terrain of the mountains to continue working for Zhu Youlang, resisting Great Hua.

There was no other way. Only with Zhu Youlang could he still get some respect and have some value.

He also wanted to surrender to Great Hua, but Great Hua wasn’t giving him the chance.

Several days later, the news that the Great Hua army, with sixty thousand men, had defeated He Tengjiao’s one hundred and fifty thousand strong army, killing countless and capturing one hundred thousand, spread to Sichuan, to Chengdu.

At this time, the situation in Sichuan was very different from the situation in the original timeline.

In the original timeline, as early as last year, Zhang Xianzhong had been fighting and maneuvering with the Qing army.

Then, in order to feed the army, he carried out ultra-bottom-line plundering of the people of Sichuan.

What is ultra-bottom-line?

It means that other places plundered the people, but at least left enough food to barely feed them.

Only if these people continued to live could they continue to grow grain to pay taxes and provide sustained tax revenue.

However, because Zhang Xianzhong needed too much military grain, he couldn’t feed so many troops even if he robbed all the people’s grain.

Therefore, their plundering of the people was without any bottom line.

Everywhere they went, they robbed everything.

As for the lives of the people afterwards, he couldn’t care so much for the time being.

If he didn’t maintain so many troops, he would soon be defeated by the Qing army.

People who couldn’t even take care of the present had no mind to think about the future.

Therefore, he firmly implemented the all-gone policy.

And this was bound to arouse resistance from the people.

Anyway, for the people, resistance was death, and non-resistance was also death, there was no difference at all.

And the people’s resistance brought great difficulties to Zhang Xianzhong’s rule.

So, he simply killed all the people who resisted.

If he didn’t kill them, those people would continue to resist.

Killing them was actually just doing it himself. He hadn’t killed them before, but robbing all the grain was also indirectly killing them all.

Because he had to resist the huge pressure from the Qing army, Zhang Xianzhong did a lot of tragic things, resulting in a large reduction in the population of Sichuan.

Later, the Qing army attacked Sichuan and slaughtered it again. Under such repeated ravages, the population of Sichuan became less than one in ten.

On average, out of ten people, not even one survived, which was not an exaggeration at all.

However, in the present, such a tragedy had not occurred in Sichuan.

Because in the year before last, the Qing army had encountered great pressure from Wu Changqing, so they had no energy to fight Sichuan at all.

The Jiangnan region was far more important than Sichuan.

This led to Zhang Xianzhong having more than a year and a half of peaceful days in Sichuan.

The Qing army in the North didn’t attack him, He Tengjiao in the East didn’t attack him, and the Ming Dynasty in the South didn’t bother to attack him.

He felt like he had been forgotten, shrinking in Sichuan, developing in peace.

Without war, consumption was naturally greatly reduced.

For long-term development, Zhang Xianzhong was not brainless enough to force the people to death all at once.

Therefore, in the past year and a half, although the people of Sichuan lived hard, they were able to survive.

After enjoying more than a year of peace, they even lived slightly better than some of the people in the North.

And Zhang Xianzhong himself, because he didn’t go to fight the Qing army, so he wasn’t hit by an arrow, and was still alive and kicking.

He established the Great Western regime in Sichuan, set up the Five Armies Chief Military Commission, set up the Six Ministries, and even held imperial examinations, making it look like a small central court.

If he could hold Sichuan, he could be compared to Liu Bei’s separatist regime.

However, with the defeat of He Tengjiao’s troops, he would next have to face the troops of the Great Hua army head-on.

Chapter 585: Controversies in the Great Western Court

The news of He Tengjiao’s defeat shocked all thirty-odd ministers in the Great Western regime’s court.

They had all guessed that He Tengjiao would be defeated, but they hadn’t expected him to be defeated so miserably.

One hundred and fifty thousand against sixty thousand – that was a huge numerical advantage!

Although their weapons were a bit inferior, it shouldn’t have resulted in such a disastrous outcome.

Not only had they suffered tens of thousands of casualties and nearly one hundred thousand captured, but the number of Great Hua soldiers they had killed was also embarrassingly low.

Their scouts hadn’t obtained detailed and accurate figures, but it was estimated that He Tengjiao hadn’t even killed two thousand Great Hua soldiers in the entire battle.

Even if they sent one hundred and fifty thousand pigs charging at sixty thousand people, the trampling damage should have been more than two thousand.

“The Great Hua is just too strong, invincible,” the ministers in the court discussed, each with an anxious expression.

There was no way around it; the Great Hua brought them too much pressure.

“Is it that He Tengjiao is too weak, or the Great Hua army too strong?” Zhang Xianzhong asked the crucial question.

Either way, the outcome was absurd.

“There should be reasons on both sides. He Tengjiao has fought us before. Although he’s not our match, he’s generally at a forty-sixty split in terms of strength.

Moreover, I heard that he has manufactured a large number of flintlock guns in the past year, so his strength must have increased significantly. Even under these circumstances, to achieve such a result, although there were tactical errors, the strength of the Great Hua army is undeniable,” said Li Dingguo, Zhang Xianzhong’s adopted son.

“This is troublesome. If the Great Hua attacks, I’m afraid we’ll be difficult to resist,” Sun Kewang sighed. If He Tengjiao could have performed even a little better, they would at least have the courage to fight again.

However, He Tengjiao, whose strength was about equal to theirs, suffered such a crushing defeat when encountering the Great Hua army, allowing them to immediately see the true strength of the Great Hua.

This strength filled them with despair.

They couldn’t think of any very effective way to resist the Great Hua army.

“How about we take the initiative to surrender to the Great Hua, abolish the title of Great Western, and only ask for the title of King of Sichuan, to continue guarding Sichuan?” said Chief Minister Wang Zhaolin, not worried about Zhang Xianzhong getting angry.

After all, he knew that there were many people in the court who shared his thoughts.

Against such a powerful Great Hua, resistance was a dead end, like an ant trying to stop a chariot.

Wang Zhaolin’s words really made Zhang Xianzhong very unhappy.

His desire for power was extremely strong. When he was still quite weak in Wuhan, he had proclaimed himself king, established the Great Western, and learned from others to set up officials and hold imperial examinations, pursuing that set of formalities.

He was short-sighted and didn’t think that doing so would be detrimental to dominating the world, but was just eager to experience the feeling of being an emperor.

After being defeated and forced to enter Sichuan, he couldn’t wait to start this all over again.

He didn’t care about the size of his strength, he just wanted to set up a central court and enjoy the addiction of being an emperor.

In order to satisfy his addiction to being an emperor, he had never been tempted by the Qing army’s surrender offers, holding the determination to rather drag the entire Sichuan down with him than surrender.

He wanted to be an emperor, even a local emperor, as long as he was an emperor, he was happy.

But surrendering to the Great Hua would definitely mean he could no longer be an emperor.

Without that superficial title, even if he could continue to be a local emperor in Sichuan and actually control Sichuan, he wouldn’t be too happy.

He was addicted to formalism and couldn’t extricate himself.

Therefore, he didn’t consider Wang Zhaolin’s suggestion of surrender at all.

Even if he couldn’t win, he would fight to the death.

Anyway, there was no way he would abdicate.

Those who understood Zhang Xianzhong immediately refuted Wang Zhaolin’s suggestion, putting on a loyal appearance to Zhang Xianzhong, which made Zhang Xianzhong very happy and Wang Zhaolin disgusted.

With such a huge gap in strength in front of them, could they just ignore it?

They would rather die in battle than be a king with real power?

Wang Zhaolin couldn’t understand it.

“Submitting to the Great Hua is also worth considering. After all, the Great Hua is a Han Chinese dynasty, not the Manchus. What’s more, the Great Hua is now thriving, and the people live and work in peace.

Wu Changqing is even a great leader, with outstanding talents in both military and political affairs. It would be a blessing for the people to hand over the world to him to govern,” Right Chief Minister Yan Xi also agreed to surrender. Really, there was no better way than to surrender.

In the court, most of the civil officials advocated surrender, while the military generals did not express their opinions.

But the attitude of the civil officials was useless.

Because this Great Western was not a normal and healthy regime at all. All the power was actually in the hands of the army, including taxation.

The civil officials originally had no say. They were purely set up by Zhang Xianzhong to satisfy formalism. Although they often attended court, their opinions were rarely adopted.

Therefore, no matter how excited these civil officials were, it was useless if the military generals didn’t express their opinions.

And the military generals were all Zhang Xianzhong’s direct troops who had fought with him before, and everything was based on Zhang Xianzhong’s lead.

Whatever Zhang Xianzhong said, they would do.

Even if some people were afraid of the Great Hua and wanted to surrender,
they wouldn’t dare to express this attitude unless Zhang Xianzhong spoke. Otherwise, they would definitely die before the Great Hua arrived.

“Although the Great Hua is strong, it has many enemies. Moreover, their main enemies are the Ming Dynasty in the south and the Manchus in the north. By the time they have solved those places and come to fight us, who knows how long it will take.

Therefore, we don’t need to rush to discuss this issue. Right now, we should increase taxes and build a strong army. If the army is strong, we will have the initiative, and we can decide whether to fight in the future,” Zhang Xianzhong interrupted the ministers’ debate and directly stated his attitude, which was not to surrender.

Seeing his attitude, Wang Zhaolin, Yan Xi, and a group of civil officials were speechless.

For his own selfish interests, he was going to harm the people again.

Now the people of Sichuan were already suffering from heavy taxes. If he increased taxes again, it would probably incite a popular uprising.

Even worse, even if he increased some taxes, the army he built would not be able to compete with the Great Hua army.

They often read the Great Hua Daily now. From the Great Hua Daily, they clearly knew that the Great Hua’s annual steel production had reached fifty thousand tons.

And their Great Western? Not even fifty tons. The gap was so absurd.

How could they fight like this?

This was the simplest and most direct gap.

If they considered the various technical gaps, it would be even more impossible to face.

Even if they were given fifty thousand tons of steel now, they couldn’t make breech-loading guns, or even flintlock guns, making them even worse than He Tengjiao.

Chapter 586: The Chaotic Remnants of the Ming

The news of He Tengjiao’s defeat reached Kunming, scaring Zhu Youlang into wanting to move the capital again, this time to Dali.

This idea nearly drove the officials in the court to madness.

Wuhan was still over two thousand five hundred li away from Kunming. Even if the entire route was undefended, it would take the enemy months to arrive.

Given the terrain of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the enemy would be half-dead from exhaustion just trying to climb up.

At this distance, they couldn’t understand what Zhu Youlang was afraid of.

After much persuasion, they finally managed to dissuade Zhu Youlang.

However, the court officials were now racking their brains about what to do next.

Unlike the Great Western regime, they didn’t need to discuss whether to surrender or not; they only needed to discuss how to resist.

As the representatives of the Ming Dynasty’s legitimacy, they could never surrender.

In fact, if he could, Zhu Youlang would quite like to surrender to Great Hua.

He didn’t ask for anything else, just to keep his life and wealth. As for power and such, Zhu Youlang didn’t particularly care.

In his opinion, being a prince in the past was more comfortable than being an emperor now.

However, he couldn’t voice his true feelings, or he would be criticized by the officials below.

Frankly, he was now being held hostage, a puppet for the officials to pursue their own self-interests.

Although the officials would still outwardly treat him as their monarch and provide him with luxurious food and clothing, they were also pushing him down a path to certain death.

There was no good end to opposing Great Hua.

These bastard officials could enjoy wealth and power if they won, reaping huge profits and wielding immense influence. If they lost, they could surrender to Great Hua and continue to enjoy affluence.

But what about him? If they lost and he was captured, he would face certain death.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youlang felt a wave of sorrow.

This emperor business was better left undone.

“My esteemed ministers, do you have any solutions?”

Zhu Youlang asked symbolically, knowing the answer without even needing to ask.

This question stumped everyone.

Many people directly revealed a discouraged look, clearly not optimistic about the future.

Even He Tengjiao, with his hundreds of thousands of troops, had been easily defeated. What could they possibly do?

“We can continue to encourage the Prince of Jingzhou, allowing him to continue resisting in the Hunan area. At the same time, we can utilize the terrain of Guizhou to set up a second line of defense in Guizhou, building some natural barriers to block the Great Hua army.”

Zhang Tongchang, the great-grandson of Zhang Juzheng, suggested.

His method sounded like a way to prolong their survival, slowing down the Great Hua army’s advance.

But that was all it was. There was no chance that this method could revive the Ming Dynasty.

“Then let Minister Zhang serve as the Governor-General of Guiyang, fully responsible for the second line of defense in Guizhou.”

Zhu Youlang casually bestowed the position of Governor-General. In any case, official positions and titles in the Ming Dynasty had become extremely worthless.

Anyone you picked out at random would have official positions and titles that could scare people to death.

However, these official positions and titles were just for their own amusement.

The people of Great Hua would just laugh it off.

He Tengjiao was still the Prince of Jingzhou, but the envoys he sent to Great Hua were barely acknowledged. No one took him, this prince, seriously at all.

Just as Zhu Youlang decided to send Zhang Tongchang to Guizhou, an urgent military report was submitted.

Lu Guangzu of the Great Hua army, leading twenty thousand troops, had departed from Guangzhou and was advancing towards Wuzhou in Guangxi, soon to arrive at Zhaoqing.

This news made Zhu Youlang panic again, and he proposed the idea of moving the capital.

After all, Zhaoqing was much closer to Kunming, only two thousand li away.

At least, it was closer than Wuhan.

Not only did Zhu Youlang panic, but the other ministers also began to panic.

Their Ming Dynasty’s purse strings depended on places like Zhaoqing and Wuzhou.

Yunnan, in particular, didn’t have much wealth.

If Zhaoqing and Wuzhou were lost, their future days would be even more difficult.

More importantly, if Wuzhou fell, the gateway to Guangxi would be wide open, and the entire Guangxi would be in danger.

If Guangxi were lost, then even Yunnan would be in danger.

In short, compared to the Great Hua army still far away in Wuhan, Lu Guangzu’s force posed a much greater threat to them.

Moreover, He Tengjiao was still able to fight and restrain the Great Hua army in Wuhan.

But in Guangxi, they had no famous generals.

The entire court was devoid of talent.

Zhang Tongchang might have some ability, but he had just been appointed to Guizhou.

There was also Qu Shisi, who was capable.

However, the officials were not very confident in Qu Shisi.

After all, this guy’s hometown was Changshu, belonging to the Jiangnan region, and he had many connections in Jiangnan.

Qian Qianyi, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites of Great Hua, was his teacher.

This relationship made others worry that Qu Shisi would rebel.

After all, if they rebelled and joined Great Hua, they would basically not gain any benefits. They might have to start from scratch, with no power at all.

But Qu Shisi was different. He could rely on the merit of surrendering, plus Qian Qianyi’s influence, and the support of the Jiangnan interest groups, to continue to thrive in the Great Hua bureaucracy.

Therefore, when Zhu Youlang expressed his hope that Qu Shisi would go to Wuzhou to oversee the war, the other officials opposed it.

They didn’t worry about scarcity but about inequality. At this time, everyone had to endure hardships together, and no one could be allowed to thrive alone.

Even at this point, they still hadn’t forgotten to engage in internal strife.

Of course, their concerns were not without reason.

Qu Shisi was indeed preparing to surrender to Great Hua.

The reason was the same as the other officials suspected.

Of course, another reason was that Qu Shisi really looked down on Zhu Youlang’s pusillanimous appearance.

He wanted to move the capital at every turn, doing nothing all day long except thinking about moving the capital.

There was no future in following such a person. It was better to join the embrace of Great Hua as soon as possible.

Moreover, Great Hua was also a Han Chinese regime, and there was no moral burden in surrendering.

Now, in the Jiangnan region, in the eyes of the people, Great Hua was the legitimate Han Chinese court.

The Ming Dynasty, entrenched in a corner, was the rebel who disobeyed the court in the eyes of the people.

“Hmph, you don’t want me to go to Wuzhou? Then you should choose a suitable person! Can you guarantee that Wuzhou won’t fall? I can.”

Qu Shisi snorted.

If he wanted to surrender, he definitely had to go to the front line to have a chance.

Therefore, he needed to win the position of Governor-General of Wuzhou, to win the power to supervise the battle in Wuzhou.

The others couldn’t refute Qu Shisi’s words.

The key was that no one had the confidence to fight the Great Hua army on the front lines.

It was much safer to stay in the rear. On the front lines, guns and cannons had no eyes, and you wouldn’t even know how you died.

“Esteemed ministers, there is no need to argue. Since Minister Qu is willing to resist the enemy, then let Minister Qu go.”

Zhu Youlang said.

Not only was he timid, but his political acumen was also poor. He had no idea what risks his appointment would entail.

Chapter 587: Administrative Region Changes

In Nanjing, Wu Changqing looked at the battle report from the front lines in Wuhan and felt very satisfied.

Two thousand casualties to eliminate an enemy army of one hundred and fifty thousand. This was definitely a remarkable achievement.

Then, he set the battle report aside.

He found that governing the country was much harder than conquering it.

To conquer, you just needed a stronger fist. You didn’t need to be merciful to the enemy.

If they didn’t submit, you beat them until they did. If they still didn’t submit even when facing death, you beat them to death. Simple, brutal, and easy.

But in governing the country, many brutal methods couldn’t be used.

There were many problems in the court that needed to be resolved.

For example, factional strife, and the Donglin Party, this interest group.

The Donglin Party’s influence was too great. It had to be dismantled, or the longer it went on, the harder it would be to deal with this group.

Before the country was pacified, Wu Changqing didn’t want internal turmoil, so he had been putting this issue aside.

But now, it was about time to start studying how to deal with it.

This wasn’t an easy task. It wasn’t as simple as killing all the Donglin Party officials in the court.

If it were that simple, governing the country wouldn’t be difficult at all.

Anyway, he held the power of the military and could kill any disobedient minister.

Even, if he was ruthless enough, he could kill all the civil officials.

At most, the government agencies of the court would stop functioning for a while, but it wouldn’t necessarily lead to chaos in the country.

But the reality was that killing one disobedient minister would only result in another disobedient person taking their place.

Killing all the ministers wouldn’t guarantee that the new ministers would all be obedient.

Unless all the ministers were puppets, as long as they had self-awareness and thoughts, they couldn’t truly obey the emperor completely.

They would prioritize their own interests first, and then the interests of Great Hua.

And these kinds of officials could actually be considered good officials.

What was worse was that some officials only cared about their own interests and completely ignored the interests of Great Hua.

Even worse, some officials would sell out the core interests of Great Hua for a tiny bit of personal gain.

For example, selling steam engines to Western Europeans for a few ten thousand yuan.

Killing people wouldn’t solve the problem.

Killing the Donglin Party, and the people who replaced them would be collectively funded and corrupted by the Jiangnan gentry.

Killing all the Jiangnan gentry, and a new batch of vested interests would slowly evolve into a new interest group.

This was an unsolvable dead end. Wu Changqing never expected to solve it completely. He only wanted to take some measures to reduce the harm this group caused to Great Hua.

For example, internally dividing the Jiangnan gentry, splitting this large group into several smaller groups.

After the division, their power would be dispersed, and they would naturally be less able to resist the imperial power.

Dividing them wasn’t easy. It required slowly boiling a frog, taking it one step at a time.

First, Wu Changqing’s first step was to start working on adjusting the administrative regions.

The current Southern Metropolitan Region had too much power, including most of Jiangsu, Shanghai, and southern Anhui in later generations.

It had to be divided. For example, Wuhu, Tongling, Xuancheng, and Chuzhou could be assigned to Anhui to increase Anhui’s strength and weaken the Southern Metropolitan Region’s strength.

This kind of administrative division would help divide the Jiangnan group.

Those places that were assigned to Anhui would prioritize the interests of Anhui in the future, and there would be conflicts of interest with the Jiangnan group in the Southern Metropolitan Region, and they would no longer be of one mind.

To give a simple example, if Wu Changqing wanted to support the development of a province, reduce taxes for the province’s merchants, or help them build an industrial zone.

The original Jiangnan group would definitely work together to try to get the Southern Metropolitan Region to win this spot.

However, after Wuhu and Tongling were assigned to Anhui, the Wuhu merchants and landlords who originally belonged to the Jiangnan group would inevitably oppose the Jiangnan group and try to get this spot for Anhui.

Because this would be most in line with their interests.

In this way, the Jiangnan group would be divided.

The so-called Jiangnan group, they weren’t gathered together because of some kind of belief, which is why they would unite to fight against the emperor.

It was because they had common interests that they would unite.

Once they no longer had common interests, or even had conflicting interests.

Then, they could quickly go from being as close as family to mortal enemies.

This was also one of the reasons why administrative regions had to be divided, to balance the power of all parties and prevent one party from becoming too powerful.

It would be best to assign part of the Jiangnan group’s power to Anhui. Anyway, the original Xuancheng faction was very weak, and even with an increase in power, it would be unable to contend with the emperor.

And weakening the power of the Jiangnan group was of great significance.

In addition to assigning Wuhu, Xuancheng, and other places to Anhui, Wu Changqing also separated Songjiang Prefecture and Nanjing City from the Southern Metropolitan Region, making them a centrally administered prefecture, which was the so-called circuit.

In this way, the power of the Jiangnan group was further weakened.

This weakening, in the short term of one or two years, would definitely not show obvious changes.

However, as time went on, as the Southern Metropolitan Region, Anhui Province, Songjiang Circuit, and Nanjing Circuit fought for tax incentives or other benefits every year.

The original close-knit interest group would no longer be of one mind and would become three or four groups.

It would be a blessing if they didn’t fight.

Over time, this interest group would be invisibly divided, and the Donglin Party forces centered on the Southern Metropolitan Region and its surrounding areas would be greatly reduced.

The advantage of this method was that it was gentle and not easily noticed.

Although it would take longer, the effect was much better than forcibly dividing the Jiangnan group.

In addition to the current Southern Metropolitan Region being divided into Anhui, Jiangsu, and Songjiang Circuit, the administrative regions of some other places also needed to be changed.

For example, the current Huguang was too large, and its geographical location was also good, so it could develop in the future.

If it wasn’t split up, it would become another large group in the future.

Therefore, the current Huguang had to be split into Hubei and Hunan.

Wu Changqing, in order to be lazy, directly copied the administrative divisions of later generations.

He couldn’t be lazy. He had countless things to deal with every day. Where would he have the time to carefully study the specific division of each city?

Anyway, the administrative regions of later generations would be like that, so there must be an inherent logical reason, which was the result of many people’s research. It was definitely correct to use it directly.

Just like Chongqing, after Wu Changqing took Sichuan, he would also list it as Chongqing Circuit, splitting it from Sichuan.

In addition to the Jiangnan area needing to make some major adjustments, other places didn’t need too much change.

Chapter 588: Divide and Conquer

Wu Changqing issued an edict directly to the cabinet without consulting any of the Grand Secretaries, demanding the adjustment of administrative regions.

Furthermore, Wu Changqing presented a rough plan, tasking the cabinet ministers with refining and fine-tuning it.

The new administrative divisions would be provinces, directly-administered circuits, prefectures, sub-prefectures, and counties.

A total of three levels.

Among them, provinces and circuits were first-level administrative regions, prefectures and sub-prefectures (prefecture-level cities) were second-level administrative regions, and counties were third-level. Below counties, townships would be further subdivided in the future.

Provinces and circuits were directly under the central government, while sub-prefectures were directly under the provinces.

For example, Nanxiong sub-prefecture was within the jurisdiction of Shaoguan prefecture, but because Nanxiong was slightly more important than other counties, it was elevated to a sub-prefecture.

Thus, Nanxiong sub-prefecture would be directly under the jurisdiction of Guangdong province, and some matters would be beyond the control of Shaoguan prefecture.

However, the counties under Shaoguan prefecture would have to fully obey Shaoguan prefecture.

These divisions, which seemed insignificant on the surface, would actually have a significant impact on future administration.

The cabinet ministers and officials were all trying to figure out why Wu Changqing suddenly wanted to change the administrative regions.

Some couldn’t figure it out, while others seemed to understand something.

After the new administrative regions were divided, the Southern Metropolitan Region became history, replaced by Anhui, Jiangsu, Nanjing Circuit, and Songjiang Circuit.

This was a significant change. What far-reaching impact would this change have?

This was something that had to be deeply considered.

Some who understood the situation felt a chill down their spines.

For example, Qian Qianyi realized that with the division of the Southern Metropolitan Region, the Jiangnan interest group would be divided into four.

This was clearly a means of differentiation employed due to dissatisfaction with the Jiangnan group.

However, the Jiangnan group had no way to deal with this tactic.

This wasn’t a major issue, and the Donglin Party couldn’t find a reason to refute it.

If Wu Changqing wanted land reform or monetary reform, the censors could still clamor that Wu Changqing was forcibly seizing and plundering from the people, and criticize him.

However, Wu Changqing wanted to change the administrative regions, and the censors couldn’t find a reason to attack him.

They couldn’t directly say, “Your reform will divide our group, so we firmly disagree.”

If they really said that, other factions would laugh their heads off.

Now, all the factional struggles were secret, and couldn’t be brought out into the open.

If the Donglin Party brought the Jiangnan gentry and powerful families to the forefront, clamoring to unite and disagree with the division, wouldn’t that indicate their intention to rebel?

In short, if they wanted to fight, they had to find a suitable reason and excuse.

If they couldn’t find one, they could only watch Wu Changqing carry out the reform.

Qian Qianyi inwardly praised Wu Changqing’s move.

This was top-notch imperial art.

The stupidest way to deal with an interest group was to destroy it. The smartest way was to divide it, causing internal strife, and then the emperor would step out as the referee.

At that time, the group that was originally united and could resist imperial power would become several small groups fighting each other.

These small groups would not be able to defeat each other, and if they wanted to gain benefits, they could only rely on the referee’s care, and they could only work hard for the referee and please the referee.

What was even more terrifying was that even if the several divided small groups knew that this was Wu Changqing’s tactic, they couldn’t change it.

Wu Changqing had many ways to prevent them from uniting, such as continuously favoring a certain place. People in other places would inevitably suspect that the people in that place were already in cahoots with the emperor.

Even if they didn’t suspect, it would be impossible not to be jealous when they saw the other party getting benefits every day.

Qian Qianyi didn’t understand why Wu Changqing, who came from a non-traditional background and had not received an education in imperial art, was becoming more and more skilled in playing power games.

This was really bad news. There was no hope of winning against such an emperor.

Qian Qianyi even wanted to retire early. Retiring now, while still at the peak, would ensure a good ending.

How the Donglin Party fought with the emperor in the future would be none of his business.

However, he was reluctant to give up the power he held.

Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, this was a position that countless people dreamed of.

For this position, some people even dared to do things that could cost them their heads, and they would take any risk.

But he was sitting firmly in this position and taking the initiative to retire, wouldn’t that be crazy?

Now that he was in this position, everyone was respectful to him.

Once he retired, others would only be superficially respectful to him.

If he couldn’t bring benefits to others, who would care about his past achievements?

Society was so realistic.

The adjustment of administrative regions did not cause much impact among the people. The common people didn’t pay attention at all.

What Anhui people, Jiangsu people, weren’t they all Great Hua people? What difference could there be?

The merchants, however, were short-sighted and couldn’t see the far-reaching impact.

After all, Wu Changqing hadn’t immediately supported a certain province.

The only ones who would care about and pay attention to this administrative change were the officials of Great Hua.

The division of the Southern Metropolitan Region directly created several more positions of second rank and third rank.

Provincial Administration Commissioner of Anhui, Provincial Administration Commissioner of Songjiang Circuit, Surveillance Commissioner of Anhui…

Third-rank officials belonged to the high-level of Great Hua.

Becoming a third-rank official was considered a true top figure and important person in Great Hua.

Those who yearned to improve their status naturally began to take action, trying every means to seek these positions.

When more official positions were created, some people would benefit, and some people would definitely have their power weakened and their influence diminished.

The one whose power was most dispersed this time was actually Wu Changqing himself.

Wu Changqing had not established the position of Provincial Administration Commissioner of the Southern Metropolitan Region before, and had always held it concurrently. Some unimportant affairs were handled by Liu Dahua, which was relatively irregular.

Now that the new administrative regions were officially divided, Wu Changqing had to delegate the power to govern the local areas.

At least, the power to govern Anhui, Jiangsu, and Songjiang Circuit had to be handed over to his ministers. At most, he could also concurrently hold the position of Provincial Administration Commissioner of Nanjing Circuit.

Delegating power was not a big deal for Wu Changqing.

Anyway, he felt that there were too many official duties on weekdays.

This delegation of power would also allow him to have fewer trivial matters to deal with in the future, and he could spend more time paying attention to the progress of science and technology and accelerate its development.

At the same time, after reducing trivial matters, he would also have more time to enjoy life.

For example, researching new tricks with his concubines.

Or, finding a few beauties to guide them in postmodern dance, and imparting advanced dance concepts to them in advance.

Chapter 589: The Emperor’s Heart is Hard to Fathom

After delegating authority, Wu Changqing had more time for leisure.

He went to the imperial harem, intending to care for the concubines’ lonely lives, soothe their solitary hearts, and improve the overall happiness index of humanity.

But in the harem, he found Sun Yunxuan and several palace maids playing with two pets.

Seeing the appearance of the pets, Wu Changqing exclaimed, “Well, look at this!”

Their chubby bodies, round heads, black and white markings, and those perpetually sleepy dark circles all displayed their esteemed qualities.

These were actually two young giant pandas. Judging by their size, they were probably only one to two years old.

“Where did these come from?”

Wu Changqing didn’t really know much about the history of giant pandas, and he didn’t know when they started to become endangered.

There were definitely more of them in this era than in later generations, but probably not by much.

“My uncle sent them to me to relieve boredom. They’re very cute,” Sun Yunxuan said.

The concubines in the palace would keep small pets to pass the time, such as cats, goldfish, or birds.

She didn’t really like those pets, so her family sent her these two treasures.

“What are these animals called?” Wu Changqing asked curiously. He guessed they probably weren’t called pandas, as that name seemed to be a later invention.

“I don’t know. The person who delivered them said they’re called flower bears,” Sun Yunxuan said.

“Flower bear doesn’t sound good. Panda sounds better,” Wu Changqing said.

“…” Sun Yunxuan was speechless.

She had heard a little about Wu Changqing’s habit of renaming his concubines.

But she never expected that even the name of an animal would be changed by the emperor.

Panda it is, then. She didn’t have any objections anyway.

Afterward, Wu Changqing also joined in the fun of playing with the pandas.

What could he do? In later generations, these things were so precious that ordinary people had no way to get so close. Just a glimpse from afar cost hundreds in ticket fees.

These animals all lived much better lives than people.

But now, Wu Changqing could play with them however he wanted.

If he suddenly got a craving one day, he could even try panda meat.

“I heard that these pandas are rare and must be protected. Hunting them should be forbidden, and violators should be jailed and beheaded. Only in this way can we prevent the extinction of these pandas,” Wu Changqing said.

Although issuing such an edict in this era would probably be seen by the officials as neglecting his duties.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t care. He just wanted to issue such nonsensical edicts from time to time to make the officials unable to figure out his thoughts and ideas.

Let them guess, let them think, even if they thought until they lost all their hair and racked their brains, they would never be able to guess.

Seeing those ministers troubled by this was probably an amusing thing.

“That’s a good idea. Such cute pets should indeed not be killed,” Sun Yunxuan and the other women naturally approved of this edict with both hands.

Wu Changqing played with the pandas for an entire afternoon, and naturally stayed the night with the Consort Shu.

The other concubines were furious upon hearing this news.

At the same time, they also sent people out of the palace to inquire about where pandas were sold, or other beautiful and exotic animals.

[Edict on Protecting Pandas, Pandas, also known as Flower Bears, are black and white all over…]

Some people were extremely speechless when they saw the new edition of the daily newspaper.

Strange things happened every year, but this year was especially strange.

Since when did an animal need to be protected? Hunting them was forbidden, and the crime was almost the same as armed robbery. It was too outrageous.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t been so wise and mighty in the past, the people would have suspected that Wu Changqing was a foolish ruler who indulged in pleasure and neglected his duties.

But now, more people were inclined to believe that this edict contained a deeper meaning.

If they couldn’t understand it, it was probably because their talents were limited, not because of the emperor’s problem.

Some people with rich imaginations immediately used this as evidence to speculate that Wu Changqing was the reincarnation of Chi You from ancient times.

Because according to legend, Chi You’s mount was a giant panda.

And these pandas were the descendants of Chi You’s mount.

Now that Chi You was reincarnated, seeing the descendants of his mount, he felt grateful for the mount’s past protection, so he wanted to protect the pandas.

The person who wrote the book wrote it with great detail, and at first glance, it really seemed to make some logical sense.

Chi You’s reincarnation was just one of countless versions.

People with culture just laughed it off, and no one took it seriously.

However, they couldn’t figure out why Wu Changqing wanted to protect the pandas.

While others couldn’t figure it out, Sun Daoming happily ate an extra bowl of rice.

He didn’t expect that the two flower bears he had obtained unintentionally would allow the emperor to issue a special edict for them.

He had originally just wanted to relieve his niece’s boredom. Fortunately, he didn’t let the kitchen kill them because he thought the two pandas looked good.

Otherwise, how could there be such a good thing now?

Wu Changqing’s preferences, this information alone was worth a lot.

Knowing the emperor’s preferences allowed one to accurately please him, so as not to pat the horse on the leg.

“Go to Sichuan and Shaanxi again, inquire about and buy these pandas. Buy as many as you can. Be careful to raise them well. If you kill one, I’ll make you suffer,” Sun Daoming instructed several servants to go to the pandas’ habitat to capture more to offer to the emperor.

The initial intention of an edict may be good, but the effect it has in reality may not be.

Wu Changqing ordered that hunting pandas was forbidden, but this made some people value the pandas even more, and instead sent people to hunt them specifically.

If he hadn’t issued this edict, very few people in the entire Great Hua would have known about pandas.

Sun Daoming was not the only one preparing to hunt them. After all, there were no airtight walls in the world.

Under the inquiry of interested people, some people also learned that Wu Changqing made this edict because there were two such animals in the palace.

And these animals were very pleasing to the concubines and the emperor.

Therefore, there was such an absurd edict.

The people below didn’t care whether the edict was absurd or not. The emperor liked it, that was the key.

Especially the Donglin Party members, they were overjoyed when they learned that Wu Changqing had this hobby.

They had been trying to find Wu Changqing’s weakness, but they couldn’t find it.

They never expected that Wu Changqing liked novelty and pets. This was too wonderful.

They weren’t afraid that he was playful, they were only afraid that he wasn’t playful.

This hobby was difficult for ordinary people to satisfy, but Wu Changqing was the emperor.

The Donglin Party members passed this news to the people behind them, and those merchants immediately began to act, looking for pandas and other exotic animals.

Tigers, elephants, peacocks, and phoenixes, they had to get some of everything.

If they could find the legendary Qilin, that would be even better.

Wu Changqing, because he was the emperor, even his slightest actions would have a great impact on this empire.

Chapter 590: Refused Entry to Port

Even with Wu Changqing’s continuous negligence for several days, the operation of the Great Hua Empire was not affected in any way.

A mature power structure has its own stable operating methods, with everyone performing their respective duties.

It really wasn’t a big deal if the Emperor skipped work for a few days.

After Wu Changqing made a decision on many matters, the rest depended entirely on his subordinates.

For example, the Great Hua’s ocean-going fleet, once at sea, was entirely under the command of Fleet Commander Bao Shun’an, who directed everyone to carry out their mission according to plan.

After experiencing numerous dangers at sea and more than seven months of sailing, they passed through the Strait of Gibraltar at the end of February of the third year of Yongxing, heading straight for the city of Gibraltar on the Iberian Peninsula in Europe.

Gibraltar is the strategic choke point between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, making its strategic position extremely important.

At the same time, it is also a distribution center for goods in the Mediterranean, similar to the role of Shanghai, and its commerce is extremely prosperous.

Because of its excellent geographical location, almost every country wants to possess this place.

Currently, Gibraltar temporarily belongs to Spain, but later, due to the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain would seize the opportunity to occupy it.

Then, Britain and Spain would squabble over this place for more than three hundred years. Until the moment Wu Changqing transmigrated, the ownership of this place was still unclear.

The actual control, however, was in the hands of Britain.

In short, neither Spain nor Britain was willing to give up, but Spain dared not fight, and could only verbally protest, occasionally declaring its sovereignty over the area.

A fleet composed of hundreds of ships over five hundred tons was quite conspicuous. When crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, they were already spotted by the Spanish, Portuguese, and Moroccans.

Then, the Spanish fleet sailed out of Gibraltar and intercepted Bao Shun’an and his men.

No country would dare to allow such a fleet to approach its cities.

After all, modern ocean-going ships would definitely have cannons.

If these hundreds of ships fired their cannons together, it would not take half an hour to blast Gibraltar to smithereens.

The Spanish dared not let Bao Shun’an approach, and led their entire fleet to the front of the Great Hua fleet, ordering them to stop.

“Look, what are those chimney-like pillars?”

Spanish naval soldiers pointed and commented on the Great Hua fleet. At this time, the Great Hua steamships were not using their steam engines, but were propelled by sails.

This was simply to save coal.

The amount of coal they brought when they set sail was limited, and there were very few places along the way where they could replenish it, so they had to use it sparingly.

Most of the time, those steam engines were just for show.

Of course, in some critical moments, these steam engines played a huge role, such as driving away pirates.

Even though their fleet was extremely large, there were still daring pirates who tried to take advantage of the speed and flexibility of their ships to make a quick buck.

Ordinary merchant ships would suffer a lot when encountering these pirate ships, but once the steam engines of the Great Hua fleet were started, combined with the speed of the sails, they thoroughly thrashed those short-sighted pirates.

A dozen pirate ships were sunk by the Hua army, and countless pirates on the other ships were either killed or wounded.

The pirates were so frightened that they fled hundreds of li in one breath without looking back.

From then on, the survivors made a rule that they must never approach any fleet with a yellow flag and a blue dragon.

“I don’t know, could it be cannons?”

Another soldier guessed.

“Have you ever seen a cannon with its muzzle pointing vertically at the sky? If this kind of cannon fires, wouldn’t the cannonball end up hitting itself?”

“Maybe the muzzle can be lowered when fighting.”

“Have you ever seen a cannon with such a large caliber?”

“I think it’s just a chimney, used to make cooking easier.”

……

The Spanish naval soldiers were in lively discussion, like country bumpkins seeing a novel toy, full of incomprehension, and their guesses were all very outrageous.

Both sides made flag signals to stop, and the Spanish dared not attack rashly.

After all, they had not yet figured out who the other party was, and it was not appropriate to take action.

The Spain of today was no longer the maritime hegemon of the past.

The Spanish fleet commander, Fodes, sent a small boat to negotiate with the Great Hua fleet.

Under some guidance, they arrived at the flagship Jiujiang.

Naturally, there were translators fluent in Spanish on the flagship.

Without translators, they would not dare to go to sea rashly.

Besides Spanish translators, their fleet had translators for almost all Western European languages.

Of course, they mainly focused on French, English, and Spanish, followed by a few people who understood Portuguese and German.

In fact, there were more or less some similarities between these languages.

If you were to make a comparison, it would be similar to Cantonese and Mandarin.

It would definitely be impossible to have fluent communication between them, but with a little gesturing and other body language, there wouldn’t be much of a problem for a Spaniard to communicate with a Frenchman.

“We are a merchant fleet from the Great Hua Empire of East Asia, here to trade with your country. Why have you stopped us like this?”

The Great Hua translator translated Bao Shun’an’s words in real time.

It was too difficult to express the meaning completely accurately.

For example, the tone, context, and emotions in the words could not be translated at all.

However, the Spanish understood the basic meaning.

So they were here to do business, which was also what they expected. They had not offended any country recently, and there could not be a war for no reason.

It was just that the size of this merchant fleet was too large, which made them feel quite shocked.

The Spanish naturally welcomed those who came to do business.

However, they demanded that when the Great Hua merchant ships entered the port, they needed to retract the muzzles of their cannons into the ship’s hold, and not expose them, so as to prevent them from suddenly launching an attack, and to avoid causing panic to the people on shore.

After all, no matter who it was, they could not remain calm when being aimed at by rows of dark cannon muzzles.

Bao Shun’an could accept this request.

However, Bao Shun’an could not agree to the next request no matter what.

The Spanish demanded that only merchant ships were allowed to dock.

And the nine warships of the Great Hua could only stay in the Mediterranean Sea, and then rely on small boats for supplies.

They also had to retract the muzzles of their cannons into the ship’s hold, and accept real-time monitoring by the Spanish navy.

This, in fact, also made sense.

No country could casually allow the warships of others to enter their own ports.

Moreover, it was nine main battleships at once.

If these warships suddenly launched an attack, the people on shore would definitely not have time to react. After being bombarded, the reputation of Gibraltar would be ruined.

Chapter 591: Picking the Softest Persimmon

“No, our warships must stay with the merchant ships to protect their safety.”

Bao Shun’an’s attitude was also firm.

With so many priceless goods, he was genuinely worried that others would be tempted by the sight of wealth if they sailed into someone else’s territory without armed protection.

If these goods were robbed or the merchants on board were killed, he wouldn’t have enough heads to answer for it when he returned.

“If that’s the case, then we will not allow you to enter the port to dock.”

The Spanish envoy’s attitude was also very tough.

“If you don’t allow us in, we’ll just fight our way in and let these people know how powerful we are!”

Bao Shun’an’s deputy was furious. They had traveled thousands of miles to do business, only to be rejected. It was simply outrageous.

Great Hua had never stopped foreign merchant ships before.

Negotiations between the two sides reached a deadlock, with neither willing to budge.

Some of the more emotional Great Hua sailors were already shouting about attacking Spain and capturing the Spanish king.

Of course, that was just talk. Bao Shun’an certainly wouldn’t dare to do that.

No matter how superior their warships were, they could only be arrogant at sea.

Once they landed, the ultimate competition would still be about numbers.

Even if every cook on their fleet picked up a weapon, the number of professional soldiers was only fifteen hundred.

And Spain, as a country, had at least one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers.

Moreover, the weapons of the Spanish army were not much worse than those of Great Hua; they also used flintlock guns.

It would be truly foolish to launch an attack on a major country with a fleet mainly composed of merchant ships.

Bao Shun’an was caught in a dilemma, and negotiations with Spain had stalled.

Helpless, he could only gather some important figures to discuss a solution.

“Captain, why don’t we go to Ceuta in the south?”

Ellios, a European expert, suggested. He was a Portuguese man whose ship had been wrecked at sea, resulting in the loss of the ship and most of the crew. He and a few others had drifted to the mainland and survived.

Then, they each found a job.

Ellios served as a guide and consultant for Great Hua’s fleet because he was familiar with Europe.

Because of his familiarity with Europe, Bao Shun’an valued him quite a bit.

As Ellios thrived in the Great Hua fleet, he became even more proactive.

“Tell me more,” Bao Shun’an asked.

“Ceuta is located about four or five li to our south and is also an important strategic stronghold on the Strait of Gibraltar, facing Gibraltar across the sea.

It also has a relatively prosperous trade market. Most importantly, Ceuta is currently in the hands of the Portuguese. Portugal’s national strength is much weaker than Spain’s, so perhaps their attitude won’t be so firm.

If they refuse, we can directly attack. Compared to attacking Spain, attacking Portugal is a better option.”

Ellios spoke extremely fluently when teaching Bao Shun’an how to attack his own country, without a trace of embarrassment on his face, which amazed Bao Shun’an and the others.

However, that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that Ellios had provided a slightly better plan.

“But we’re here to do business with Europeans. Ceuta is in Africa, right? Who are we going to sell our goods to?”

An adjutant with poor geography skills asked.

“Although Ceuta is in Africa, it’s close to Europe. There’s no need to worry about that at all. Europe has long been coveting Great Hua’s goods. As long as we move the goods to Ceuta and spread the news to Gibraltar across the way, countless merchants will rush over to buy them.

If not, we can occupy Ceuta and then send one ship at a time to Gibraltar to unload goods. That way, even if they are robbed, we don’t have to worry about being robbed all at once,” Ellios said.

After considering everyone’s opinions, Bao Shun’an decided to adopt Ellios’s suggestion.

Picking the softest persimmon is a universally accepted principle.

Currently, Spain was stronger, so Gibraltar belonged to Spain, and Portugal had to snatch Ceuta from Morocco.

In later generations, the stronger Britain seized Gibraltar, and then Spain could only reluctantly snatch Ceuta from Portugal, and then Portugal would go to the weaker South America to occupy some territory…

Bao Shun’an and the others didn’t dare to fight Spain now, so…

The fleet turned around and sailed towards Ceuta.

Naturally, they also encountered interception from the Portuguese garrison outside the port of Ceuta.

After learning of Bao Shun’an’s request, they also refused outright.

The Portuguese were unsure whether Bao Shun’an and the others were there to do business or were actually there to seize territory under the guise of doing business.

What if they were allowed to approach and suddenly launched an attack, taking out all the coastal defense cannons?

This was an irreconcilable contradiction. After all, neither side could completely trust the other and dared not hand over their vital points to the other.

“Hmph, if you don’t allow us to enter the port, then we will force our way in!”

Bao Shun’an said angrily.

When had he ever suffered such treatment in Great Hua?

No matter which foreign country it was, they would have to call Great Hua “father” upon hearing its name.

Now, they were being ignored even when they just wanted to find a port to dock in. It was simply damaging to Great Hua’s prestige.

Bao Shun’an, who was full of anger, naturally didn’t want to hold it in any longer.

If they couldn’t reach an agreement, then they could only fight.

“How dare you! This is Portuguese territory. Forcing your way in is an invasion!”

The Portuguese said nervously. They were actually afraid.

After all, with their limited strength in Ceuta, they really couldn’t compete with Great Hua’s fleet.

Although the mainland was close to here, supporting them would be a matter for the future. Ceuta would definitely be damaged.

“Go back and convey my ultimatum. I’ll give you half an hour to consider your reply. If you don’t agree, we’ll force our way ashore.”

After speaking, Bao Shun’an began to command the others: “Start boiling water in the steam engines. Everyone else, battle stations! Prepare for combat!”

The Portuguese envoy hurriedly returned to Ceuta and told Ceuta’s Governor Palici about Bao Shun’an’s warning.

This made Palici so angry that he almost died. Just a fleet dared to clamor at him.

His country was less than fifty li away from Ceuta.

By boat, it would only take a meal’s time.

He couldn’t understand where Bao Shun’an got his confidence from. In any case, he would never accept such a threat, as it would make Portugal lose face.

If he did, other countries in Europe would probably see through Portugal’s paper-tiger facade more easily.

At that time, there would probably be more people coming to seize Portugal’s territory.

Therefore, in any case, Palici needed to defend Ceuta and protect Portugal’s face.

Thus, Palici refused without hesitation and began to arrange the port’s defenses. He wanted to see what kind of arrogant capital this fleet from the East had.

Chapter 592: Bombarding Ceuta

With the ultimatum expired, Bao Shun’an gave the order to attack.

At this moment, the thick smoke billowing from the operating steam engines spewed wildly into the sky, drawing amazed comments from the Spanish watching the spectacle from afar.

They had kept two ships trailing behind the Great Hua fleet to observe and monitor, and those on board were fortunate enough to witness the operation of the steamships firsthand.

“Hahaha, look, I guessed right, it’s a chimney. The Great Hua people are preparing a meal. I envy them; their sailors must have excellent food when sailing at sea.”

A Spanish sailor laughed loudly.

“Does cooking require such a huge commotion?”

Some remained skeptical.

At this moment, six warships of Great Hua broke away from the fleet and charged directly towards the port of Ceuta, attempting to land.

Parraguez immediately ordered the coastal artillery and navy to retaliate.

The coastal artillery roared to life, and the Hua army quickly retreated. They weren’t foolish enough to face both the Portuguese warships and the coastal artillery simultaneously.

They withdrew beyond the range of the coastal artillery and then began bombarding the Portuguese navy.

The Portuguese navy in the port of Ceuta only had five ships. Such was their national strength; five warships were already a considerable number for them.

Of the five, only two exceeded five hundred tons; the other three were medium-sized galleons of about three hundred tons. Their warships were actually designed for both commercial and military use.

They were used as warships in times of war and as merchant ships to transport goods in peacetime.

The performance of such warships was completely incomparable to that of specialized warships.

To ensure cargo capacity, galleons had flat hulls and very large holds, making them slow and inflexible. In contrast, the Great Hua’s specialized warships had slender hulls, carried more cannons, and were faster.

With their limited national strength, the Portuguese were reluctant to build specialized warships that could only be used for fighting. They generally opted for dual-purpose ships that were more economical.

They had to make full use of every ship.

Naturally, the performance of these warships could not compare to that of the Great Hua’s specialized warships.

However, at this moment, the Portuguese fleet had no chance to demonstrate the performance of their warships, as they were blocked in the port and unable to get out.

Then, the two sides began to exchange fire, competing in the power of their cannons.

In this, the Hua army was the clear victor.

They were using explosive shells, while the Portuguese were still using solid shot.

Solid shot could be quite effective against wooden ships, but only if they hit.

The Hua army’s warships, relying on their superior mobility, moved constantly, making it impossible for the Portuguese to aim. They could only make various predictions.

But it was much easier for the Hua army to hit them. The Portuguese warships were trapped in the small area of the port, with no room to turn around.

The continuous sound of cannons delighted the Spanish watching from afar.

Onlookers never mind a big spectacle. Seeing Great Hua and Portugal fighting was truly a welcome sight.

Of course, some more mature and prudent individuals took the opportunity to gather intelligence.

“Their warships are very fast, much faster than ours. If we fought, we would probably suffer losses,” a Spanish captain assessed.

“I’ve long heard that there is a powerful empire in the East. Now it seems that it lives up to its reputation. Fortunately, they are not in conflict with us, otherwise we would probably suffer some losses without understanding them.”

“Fight us? Do they dare? We still have the final say in the Mediterranean.”

The captain’s words carried a hint of indignation.

They had the final say in the Mediterranean, but outside the Mediterranean, the British basically had the final say.

Their once glorious era was over, and the empire had entered a period of decline.

In the distance, the Great Hua-Portuguese war continued.

Countless shells flew back and forth, most of them falling into the sea, sending up plumes of water.

Judging by the momentum, the water columns created by the Great Hua’s shells were not as high as those of the Portuguese.

However, in terms of actual power, the Great Hua’s shells far surpassed those of the Portuguese.

An explosive shell landed on a Portuguese warship and exploded. Instantly, all the soldiers within a few meters were affected.

Although only three or four died directly, there were a dozen or so injured and screaming on the deck.

This lethality was too terrifying. It should be known that their entire ship only had a little over one hundred combat personnel.

This one shell had taken out nearly one-fifth of them. There was no point in fighting.

More importantly, the Hua army had too many cannons.

Their flagship, the Jiujiang, had more than sixty cannons on one side of its broadside.

In other words, one ship could fire sixty shells at a time.

Now they had six ships bombarding the Portuguese.

Moreover, because the Portuguese fleet was in a fixed area, it was like shooting at fixed targets. Therefore, the Hua army’s hit rate was terrifying.

In just three rounds of shelling, the Portuguese fleet suffered heavy casualties.

“Governor, please order the white flag to be raised and surrender. We can’t fight any longer. Half of our sailors are about to die.”

Someone rushed to Parraguez and pleaded. This battle was unwinnable; the preparations were too inadequate.

“Nonsense, we must never surrender. Those damned Spanish are still watching from the sidelines. Do you want to make us Portuguese lose face and be laughed at by the Spanish for the rest of our lives?”

Parraguez was both angry, furious, and helpless.

“But, Governor, what should we do now? The navy is no match for them.”

His subordinate asked.

“Abandon the ships, all go ashore, and move the cannons ashore to defend with the coastal artillery. I don’t believe they dare to attack our coastal artillery.

They are sailing overseas, and every ship is extremely precious to them. They would never dare to use warships to exchange fire with our coastal artillery. Our Ceuta is a hedgehog, making it impossible for them to attack. When our warships come to support us, they will be doomed.”

Parraguez prepared to resist to the end. He had already sent someone back home to report the news, and reinforcements should arrive soon.

More importantly, Parraguez was certain that the Great Hua navy would not dare to attack Ceuta head-on, because using warships to exchange fire with coastal artillery was definitely an insane move.

The reason why their Ceuta had not been annexed by Spain was not because the Spanish didn’t care or couldn’t defeat them.

The main reason was that they had deployed a large number of coastal artillery pieces. For Spain to capture Ceuta, they would have to pay a heavy price, which was not worthwhile.

If Spain did not have Gibraltar and needed a strategic location to contain the Strait of Gibraltar, then they would definitely attack at all costs.

But Spain already had Gibraltar, so the need for Ceuta was greatly reduced, and whether to capture Ceuta needed to be weighed from an economic perspective.

This was why Ceuta was in the hands of the Portuguese.

And this was also where Parraguez’s confidence lay. He didn’t believe that the Great Hua people could be more courageous than the Spanish and dare to use warships to bombard coastal artillery.

Chapter 593: No Turning Back

Unfortunately, Palichi miscalculated this time.

For Bao Shun’an, he had been forced to a point where he had to secure a foothold at any cost.

Moreover, Great Hua had enough strength to withstand such a loss.

With extremely limited overseas experience, they dared to send out a fleet of hundreds of large merchant ships.

For Great Hua, losing this fleet would be very painful, but it wouldn’t damage their vitality or foundation.

But for those small countries in Western Europe, such a fleet was almost their entire fortune. Losing it once was equivalent to national destruction.

Larger countries like Spain were slightly better, but losing hundreds of large ships at once was also a serious blow.

It would take them twenty or thirty years to recover from this injury.

This was the difference in national power. Others were reluctant to suffer losses and dared not attack Ceuta, but Bao Shun’an didn’t have too many concerns.

Even if their entire fleet was wiped out, it wouldn’t be a big deal for Great Hua. Next time, they might send out an even larger fleet.

After blasting the Portuguese warships into silence, Bao Shun’an began to attack the coastal defense artillery positions.

On the distant merchant ships, the Great Hua merchants were waiting for the outcome.

Some were optimistic, discussing how long the battle would last.

Along the way, it wasn’t the first time they had fought with others.

When they replenished food and fresh water in India, they had a fight with the locals.

They naturally crushed those natives.

So, they were no longer strangers to war, and they weren’t very afraid.

The idea of the Celestial Empire still influenced them, making them somewhat look down on the barbarians overseas, thinking that it would be easy to teach them a lesson.

There were also some timid people who were anxious and nervously waiting for the result.

In the past, when they did business, where did they need to fight a war before trading?

Was this doing business, or robbing? It was hard to tell.

If they were in Great Hua, they wouldn’t be so afraid.

However, they were now tens of thousands of li away, and no matter how powerful Great Hua was, it couldn’t control things here.

If they offended a country, they might be implicated.

In short, there were all kinds of worries.

“Young Master, let’s go back to the cabin. Weapons have no eyes.”

On the Tong family’s merchant ship, Tong Xuyou was watching the battle with binoculars.

Although he didn’t plan to join the army in the future, it was always good to learn more knowledge, no matter what it was.

Learning some naval warfare skills would prevent him from panicking when encountering pirates alone in the future.

Now that Great Hua was sailing collectively with naval protection, it might not be the same in the future.

In the future, doing business would depend more on themselves.

The Great Hua government was only helping them explore the way this time, and along the way, Tong Xuyou felt that he had learned a lot.

He could even speak some Portuguese now.

This also had certain advantages when doing business, at least he didn’t have to worry about being deceived by his translators.

“Governor, the enemy has launched an attack on our coastal artillery positions.”

In fact, he didn’t need his subordinates to remind him. Palichi had eyes and could see it.

However, he couldn’t understand why the Great Hua navy was doing this.

He had no life-or-death grudges with them, so why did they have to fight to the death?

The more he couldn’t understand, the angrier he became.

It was really an unprovoked disaster. He was staying here peacefully, and was inexplicably attacked. Who could he complain to?

Of course, when they invaded Morocco in the past, the local commander of Ceuta also thought the same way.

“Resolutely fight back, let them taste the bitter fruit they brewed.”

Palichi snorted coldly.

Their coastal defense guns numbered nearly three hundred, which could deter any fleet that had ideas about them.

Palichi wasn’t worried about exchanging fire.

However, his thinking was still stuck in the war mode of solid-shot cannonballs, and he felt that the lethality of cannons was just so-so.

Compared to the destructive power of cannons on ships, the destructive power of cannons on artillery positions was much smaller.

However, the Portuguese artillerymen on the front line didn’t think so.

A cannonball landed among the Portuguese artillerymen, exploding with a ‘bang’. The scattered shrapnel directly wiped out all the operators of the cannon.

A large number of soldiers lay on the ground, wailing, with blood flowing from the parts of their bodies that had been hit.

Faced with these wounded, the Portuguese soldiers were in a dilemma.

Saving them would waste time, and now they were in a fierce battle.

Not saving them, they couldn’t bear to see their comrades wailing in pain.

This was a typical case of suffering from a lack of understanding of weapons.

If Palichi understood high-explosive shells, then he should have built some simple shelters to protect against shrapnel on his artillery positions, so that not too many soldiers would be killed or injured at once.

In addition, he had to prepare a dedicated medical team to treat the wounded at any time, save the soldiers, and save morale.

And so on.

Faced with different weapons, many details needed to be changed accordingly, otherwise it would be easy to suffer a big loss.

High-explosive shells were not invincible, but the Portuguese didn’t understand, and were directly stunned.

Some timid artillerymen even wanted to escape, but they were killed by officers in time, deterring the others.

“Counterattack, resolutely counterattack. As long as we sink one of their ships, they won’t dare to exchange fire with us again.”

The officer was drawing a pie in the sky for the soldiers.

They didn’t know what impact would be produced after the hope was shattered, they couldn’t care so much, they had to take care of the present first.

A large number of cannons were aimed at the Great Hua warships for shelling, and some results were achieved.

Many cannonballs smashed the wooden decks of the Great Hua army to pieces, and some masts were also broken.

Because they were too close, the Great Hua navy could not exert the flexible maneuverability like just now, the space was too small. Therefore, the number of times they were hit obviously increased.

However, they did not back down.

The moment Bao Shun’an decided to go to war, they had no way out.

As long as they retreated, and were considered easy to bully, then the goods of their fleet would not be kept. There would definitely be countless desperadoes coming to take advantage of the situation.

At that time, even if their Great Hua navy was brave and invincible, they would not be able to fight against so many people.

What’s more, cannonballs, coal, and even food and fresh water were limited in their fleet.

If they didn’t find a port to replenish supplies in time, they could be dragged to death by the enemy without fighting.

Therefore, Bao Shun’an had no choice.

Not to mention being sunk one ship, even two or three ships, he had to continue fighting.

He wanted to show his ferocity and barbarism.

Let all those who had ideas about him first weigh whether they could afford the losses of taking advantage of the situation.

Chapter 594: No Way to Bite

The two sides continued their exchange of fire, giving the Spanish watching from afar goosebumps.

This Great Hua is ruthless and not to be trifled with.

Many Spanish soldiers felt a sense of admiration for the Great Hua navy. After all, in this day and age, there weren’t many fleets that dared to go head-to-head with coastal artillery.

It would be so heartbreaking to have a warship sunk.

However, what shocked them even more was that the Portuguese were the first to buckle under the barrage.

After losing nearly thirty percent of their artillerymen, they began to collapse.

It was a joke. How could they fight this battle? When the cannonballs came, they had no means of defense and could only wait to die.

Having rarely fought hard battles, they couldn’t withstand this casualty rate and quickly fled.

Palichi didn’t stop them, because he was also distressed.

Those were all professional gunners, not cheap infantry.

He felt a pang of pain with every death.

In previous artillery battles, the rate at which artillerymen died was far lower than this time.

This time, Palichi was truly on the verge of tears.

“Quick, everyone retreat to the star fort and await reinforcements.”

Palichi continued to give orders.

Ceuta, a small port city far from mainland Portugal, was occupied by the Portuguese, leaving Morocco, Spain, and other countries helpless. It must have its unique advantages and couldn’t be easily captured.

With the fleet and coastal artillery failing, Palichi and his men retreated to the star fort.

This type of star fort was purely a military fortress, and its defensive capabilities were comparable to those of Great Hua’s cities.

In some respects, it was even slightly better.

The walls of the star fort were not flat, but had multiple protruding sections, preventing enemies from attacking without blind spots.

This shape of wall was actually more conducive to defense.

Of course, the technology and cost were also higher.

The thickness of its walls was also quite astonishing, making it unrealistic to knock them down with cannons.

Before the advent of armor-piercing shells and large-caliber artillery, the only way was to fill it with human lives and wear it down.

It was precisely because of its powerful defensive capabilities that this type of star fort was currently very popular and was the preferred building for Western European countries when establishing strongholds overseas.

With a star fort, coupled with sufficient firearms and ammunition, and a garrison of one or two thousand men, it was almost invincible.

Even if the natives had tens of thousands of people, they couldn’t do anything about this type of star fort.

When the Hua army landed, Bao Shun’an felt his scalp tingle as he looked at the star fort.

He had transferred from the army’s general staff to the navy, and he had considerable experience in conquering territory and attacking cities.

He didn’t even need to try to attack that kind of star fort. Just one look told him that this thing was a military fortress, not easy to attack, not easy at all.

They didn’t dare to waste human lives, after all, they were now an isolated army without any support. Every soldier who died was one less.

Their primary consideration in battle was not to eliminate the enemy, but to preserve themselves.

What should they do now?

Bao Shun’an had a headache.

The enemies in this star fort couldn’t be left alone. If they didn’t take down this star fort, they wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully at night and would have to be on guard against their sneak attacks at all times.

Bao Shun’an was not feeling well, and Palichi in the star fort was even worse off.

This time, the Portuguese had completely lost face.

A military fortress was so easily defeated, and the enemy successfully landed. It was simply a disgrace.

This time, no matter what the outcome of the battle, he would definitely lose his position as governor.

“Everyone, let’s talk about what to do next. A direct assault is definitely not an option. Our soldiers can’t afford to die.”

Bao Shun’an first set the tone: no direct assault.

If they couldn’t attack directly, they could only outsmart them. Everyone started racking their brains.

However, facing this new thing like a star fort, it was a bit of a stretch to ask them to come up with a solution without understanding it.

Helpless, Bao Shun’an could only look to Elliot, hoping that this expert on Europe could provide some ideas.

“With our current capabilities, I’m afraid we can’t take down this star fort. When the Dutch seized the Portuguese stronghold of Malacca, they lost more than three thousand men trying to break through that castle guarded by only two thousand men, and they couldn’t shake it.

In the end, they relied on a six-month siege, and the Portuguese inside ran out of food and other supplies, forcing them to surrender.”

Elliot was also helpless. At present, the star fort was indeed a porcupine, with no way to bite it.

“I suggest that we focus on negotiations. We can’t afford to lose, and the Portuguese certainly don’t want to lose any more. Perhaps we can negotiate with them, return their ships and cannons to them, and then exchange them for Ceuta.”

Elliot suggested.

Unlike Great Hua, which likes a fight to the death and insists on unifying the world, Western Europeans like to negotiate.

Because the size of their countries is relatively small, a fight to the death can easily lead to the destruction of the country and the extermination of the race.

Neither side can afford this kind of loss.

After a turmoil in Great Hua, even if tens of millions of people die, it still jumps around.

In Western European countries, the death of a few million people will lead to the complete destruction of the country and the extermination of the race.

Therefore, many times, Western European countries hate each other to death, but they still have to sit at the negotiating table.

Moreover, the winning side is often willing to negotiate and call it quits.

Because they can’t afford the losses if they continue to fight.

On the other hand, this is a tacitly agreed upon rule, and everyone abides by it, so that they can surrender if they can’t win in the future, which is a way out.

Over time, this has become their tradition.

Throughout European war history, it is almost always like this. Often, a country loses a battle and then surrenders in a rush.

Then the victorious country sees the advantage and stops, not killing them all.

After a while, the defeated country can recover its strength, and may even beat up the original victorious country, and then the victorious country surrenders neatly.

The most typical example is between Germany and France.

The two countries have fought each other for hundreds of years, and it is difficult to count the number of times they have surrendered to each other.

France has even won a meme because of this: no army can occupy Paris before France surrenders.

The meaning is that France will surrender very decisively as long as the front line suffers a major defeat, and will not give the enemy a chance to attack Paris at all.

During World War II, France still had one or two million troops on the front line, and they dared to surrender directly in the rear.

This is absolutely impossible in Great Hua.

But in Western Europe, this is very common.

Even more outrageous is that the surrendered party can often get along well with the other party.

It is precisely because of these factors that Great Hua likes unification and Western Europe likes negotiation.

As long as they can reach an agreement, a place with tens of thousands of people can become a country.

In Bao Shun’an’s view, he had unreasonably taken the initiative to attack Portugal, and Portugal was probably hating him to death at this time and would definitely shout to fight to the end, to the death.

But Elliot, who was familiar with Western Europe, said that as long as they were willing to talk and could negotiate a plan that both sides could accept, the Portuguese would not take the previous battle to heart.

Chapter 595: Negotiations Break Down

Bao Shun’an was dumbfounded by Elliot’s introduction and analysis, but for him, it was good news.

Because he couldn’t afford to lose either.

If they could stop the war, he would accept returning the ships and cannons to the enemy, and even paying a little money.

As long as Ceuta could be given to him, everything would be fine.

Bao Shun’an sent out envoys, and Palichi also received them politely.

Although Palichi made a ‘righteously indignant’ accusation against the Great Hua army’s envoy, almost spitting on his face, he never said he would drive them away.

Elliot was one of the Great Hua envoys. He ignored Palichi’s various angers and said, “Governor, you must have seen the power of Great Hua.

And what you have seen is just the tip of the iceberg of Great Hua. Great Hua has several fleets of the same size as Lord Bao’s. Moreover, dozens of them can be built at any time.

Our Great Hua Empire has one hundred million people, which is seventy times that of Portugal. Of course, such a powerful Great Hua is not an unreasonable country. We are a land of etiquette, and we respect people with reason and virtue.

This action was only because your side was too rude. You prevented Great Hua and Morocco from freely trading in Moroccan territory.

For your rude actions, we can only give you a slight punishment. In order to respect your human rights, our fleet commander has sent me to discuss a solution with you.”

“What’s your name? Your accent is clearly from Lisbon.”

Hearing Elliot speaking with the unique accent of Lisbon, Portugal, and saying ‘Our Great Hua Empire’ every now and then, Palichi’s lungs were about to explode.

“I grew up in Lisbon, but so what? In Lisbon, I have no land and no property. Apart from the right to pay taxes, I have never enjoyed any rights in Lisbon.”

Elliot complained.

In any country, there will be people at the bottom who are dissatisfied with the country.

They really don’t love the country, but it is somewhat unfair to define them as completely bad people.

Many people in this era don’t expect the country to love them, as long as it doesn’t exploit them. But for most people at the bottom, this kind of thinking is a luxury.

For Elliot, Great Hua had never exploited him, but also saved him and gave him a job, which was much better than his own country.

“Then I’ll be blunt. You have launched an aggressive attack on the Kingdom of Portugal without authorization, which is a declaration of war against our country. Now, unless your king makes a public written apology and war reparations, we will retaliate to the end.”

Palichi roared loudly. The Han Chinese envoys who didn’t understand the Portuguese thought that the negotiations had broken down when they saw him like this.

However, Elliot was not flustered at all. The more the opponent pretended to be tough, the greater the psychological pressure, and the easier it would be to win.

On the contrary, if the other side was calm and indifferent, it would be really troublesome. That meant that the other party didn’t care whether the negotiation could succeed.

Elliot retorted unhurriedly: “First of all, Ceuta originally belonged to Morocco, not Portugal’s inherent territory. Great Hua wants to trade freely with Morocco, not to invade Portugal.

Secondly, it was because you forcibly prevented our free trade that we were forced to fight back.

You can forget about the Great Hua Emperor’s apology, anyway, you can’t understand the words. As for compensation, as long as you give us Ceuta, everything can be discussed.”

Palichi regarded the previous words as Elliot farting, but the key was the latter paragraph, where he got useful information.

Great Hua was willing to compensate, which was good news.

Great Hua wanted to seize Ceuta, which was bad news.

Ceuta was still quite important to Portugal.

“If you want Ceuta, then there’s nothing to talk about. You can attack as much as you like. I want to see what means you have to take down this star fort.”

Palichi snorted coldly.

The first negotiation ended without success, and Palichi’s attitude was tough.

Elliot analyzed to Bao Shun’an that Palichi was probably waiting for reinforcements from the mainland.

Because of the reinforcements from the mainland, Palichi had the confidence to be so tough.

Therefore, Elliot suggested that they only need to besiege the star fort.

Then, if they defeated the Portuguese fleet that came to rescue at sea, Palichi would be helpless.

At that time, even if Palichi was unwilling to surrender, the Portuguese mainland might take the initiative to give up Ceuta.

Of course, the premise was that the Great Hua navy could beat the Portuguese navy badly.

Bao Shun’an decisively adopted this plan. After all, their combat capability on the sea was much higher than on land.

Naval warfare was advantageous for them.

Rather than attacking this hedgehog-like star fort, he would rather fight the enemy at sea.

After determining the strategy, the Great Hua army began to get busy.

First of all, they organized the merchants’ sailors and mercenaries to build fortifications to prevent the enemy in the star fort from counterattacking.

When the navy went to the sea to meet the Portuguese fleet, the land could only rely on the merchants themselves.

The merchants had a large number of sailors, and they could organize more than three thousand people to deal with the enemy. They also had sufficient guns and cannons.

The only problem was that this was a mob.

It looked scary, but if a fight really broke out, maybe a shell would fall in the middle of them, killing a few people, and the surrounding people would be scared to run away.

This was not unfounded worry, but a very likely thing to happen.

Faced with this situation, Bao Shun’an had no way to do anything. He couldn’t train these people into elites in just a day or two.

The only way was probably to promise heavy rewards after the war started.

However, organizing them was actually just in case.

With Palichi’s two thousand people, it was unknown whether they would dare to rush out to face the Great Hua army’s three thousand militiamen.

After all, it was not easy to see from the surface that these three thousand militiamen were a mob.

In Gibraltar, the Spanish people learned that the Great Hua fleet had easily attacked Ceuta, and they were also very shocked.

“Why are these Portuguese so useless? If I had known it could be taken down so easily, I would have taken action earlier.”

Fos complained, feeling as heartbroken as if he had missed out on one hundred million.

“It seems that they have a new type of cannon, which is very powerful. Unfortunately, it is too far away, and we didn’t see clearly what the cannon looks like.”

The soldier in charge of observation said.

“Interesting, it seems that Great Hua lives up to its reputation. We can sit aside and watch the show, watch them fight, and then collect information about Great Hua, especially the cannon you mentioned.

If we have new weapons and equipment, we may be able to revive the glory of the Spanish navy.”

Fos yearned.

Chapter 596: Engagement

A large-scale naval battle isn’t something that happens on a whim.

Although Portugal is very close to Ceuta, the Portuguese royal family debated for a full two days before finally deciding to go to war with Great Hua.

They dispatched one-third of their entire nation’s navy. Another third was stationed in various overseas colonies, and the remaining third was kept as a last resort.

Sending out the entire fleet at once carried the risk of unforeseen circumstances, such as a surprise attack from Spain, which could lead to the complete destruction of their navy.

If that were to happen, they would have to consider negotiating a merger with Spain.

And such a thing was highly likely, as Spain was constantly looking for opportunities to annex them.

Portugal had been annexed multiple times in the past.

Basically, whenever Portugal weakened, Spain would give them a beating, and then they would come to the negotiating table and announce the annexation.

Then, when something happened to Spain, or Portugal managed to develop some strength on their own, they could ignore Spain and declare independence again.

No problem, this is very European.

One-third of their fleet was still a considerable force, consisting of thirty five-hundred-ton capital ships and nearly thirty auxiliary vessels.

Sixty ships against the Hua army’s nine gave them an absolute numerical advantage.

This was one of the main reasons why the Portuguese dared to engage in a decisive battle.

They and the Dutch were the first Western European countries to reach China, and they had a relatively good understanding of the country on the Chinese land, knowing that Great Hua was a behemoth and not to be trifled with.

If they didn’t have absolute confidence in winning this battle, they wouldn’t have easily chosen to offend Great Hua.

Now, the Portuguese royal family was hoping to win this war, seize that batch of goods, and make a fortune from the war.

With that batch of goods and ships from Great Hua, Portugal could rise again.

The sixty warships, led by Naval Commander Meng Jiusi, set off from Lisbon and headed straight for the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, the Great Hua navy had already left the Strait of Gibraltar and was waiting in the Atlantic Ocean.

They didn’t want to fight a major battle with the Portuguese in the Strait of Gibraltar. The strait was too small, making it difficult for the Hua army to utilize its speed advantage for maneuvering and finding favorable battle opportunities.

Nor did they want to engage in the Mediterranean, fearing that the Portuguese would abandon their attack on them and instead directly attack Ceuta.

Although Ceuta had many coastal defense guns, the people on Ceuta were all sailors hired by merchants.

Of course, they could fire the cannons, but their ability to withstand casualties was a big question mark.

If they were defeated and the Portuguese re-occupied Ceuta, the Great Hua people on Ceuta would basically be beheaded.

This was something Bao Shun’an would absolutely not allow to happen.

After much deliberation, he finally decided to place the battlefield in the Atlantic Ocean, using their speed advantage to take the initiative in the engagement.

With speed, they could move freely and choose a comfortable engagement position.

And this, if used well, could greatly weaken the Portuguese numerical advantage.

The Spanish, British, and even the French, who had long received the news, all sent ships to observe the battle.

These professional observation ships didn’t carry any cannons and had no offensive capabilities.

They reduced all weight to increase speed, making it harder for the warring parties to take them out.

After all, the two sides fighting certainly didn’t like being watched like monkeys, and they didn’t want to reveal any of their secrets.

They would rather join forces first and eliminate the spectators.

But when the observers switched to these special speedboats, the warring parties were helpless. They couldn’t catch them, couldn’t shake them off, and could only accept it.

Attacking them would mean getting entangled with those rascals, which could easily delay important matters.

In the Atlantic Ocean, the Great Hua and Portuguese navies met.

“Turn thirty degrees to port.”

The Hua army made a change in direction. After turning thirty degrees to port, their broadsides would be roughly aligned with the bows of the Portuguese navy. This way, they could fire as many of their own shells as possible while taking the least amount of fire.

In naval warfare terms, they were seizing the “crossing the T”.

The Portuguese naturally wouldn’t allow this to happen. They also turned to port, trying to maintain a parallel formation with the Great Hua navy.

In a parallel formation, their fleet had a large number of ships, giving them an advantage.

As for seizing the “crossing the T”, they also wanted to, but they were worried that after they seized the “crossing the T”, the Great Hua navy would simply run away without engaging.

At that time, chasing them would also be a troublesome matter.

They didn’t understand Great Hua well enough, thinking that the merchants on Ceuta were the same as the merchants in their country, all desperate people.

Therefore, they didn’t have any intention of attacking Ceuta, fearing too much loss.

Both sides wanted to resolve the issue at sea, which was convenient, lacking in conspiracies and intrigues, just a direct confrontation.

Both sides were adjusting their courses, and as they adjusted, the distance between them was also closing.

And at this time, the Hua army’s speed advantage was displayed.

Because of their faster speed, they also turned faster.

Although the Portuguese tried their best to avoid falling into the “T” tail, they still formed an angle of about sixty degrees with the Great Hua navy when they were about to enter firing range.

Less than one-sixth of their cannons could aim at the Great Hua warships to fire, while at least half of the Great Hua’s cannons could fire.

However, the Portuguese weren’t completely without options. They adopted a tactic of dividing their forces, with another fleet charging towards the Great Hua navy at a different angle.

This way, as long as they adjusted well, at least some of their ships could maintain a parallel formation with the Great Hua navy, or even hold the “crossing the T” against the Great Hua fleet.

Of course, this was their plan, and the Great Hua navy would have corresponding countermeasures.

Naval warfare is all about seizing favorable positions and bombarding each other, monotonously.

Before entering firing range, they relied on adjusting their course, speed, and other factors to play the game.

And in this game, the most eye-catching thing was Great Hua’s steam engine.

Without extra power, everyone’s speed was about the same, and it was impossible for Great Hua to seize the “crossing the T” and gain an advantage.

However, because Great Hua had steam engine acceleration, they were able to do this.

This was actually very terrifying.

Now, Portugal has a large number of ships, so this battle can still be fought.

If the numbers on both sides were similar, and one side had an absolute speed advantage, then the picture would be almost one-sided. The slower side would undoubtedly lose.

Speed is a very crucial part of naval warfare.

Many people have been studying how to increase the speed of ships, but unfortunately, there has been no progress.

And now, Great Hua’s steam engine has stunned the naval observers from Western European countries.

Chapter 597: Naval Battle

“That steam engine adds way too much speed. Their ship speed is at least fifty percent faster. How are we supposed to fight this?”

A Spanish observer complained.

“Fortunately, their cannons don’t have much more range than ours, or we’d really be screwed.”

On another ship, a British observer was also recording the performance data of the Great Hua ships.

“This kind of steam engine… the Great British Empire must have it!”

British Rear Admiral William clenched his fist. As a naval officer, he naturally craved the steam engine.

“Yes, it’s a necessary prerequisite for us to dominate the seas. We must obtain this steam engine at all costs.”

Sir Johnson, a British viscount traveling with him, said.

“There’s an opportunity right now. As long as the Portuguese defeat the Great Hua navy, we can step in to mediate and force the Great Hua navy to hand over the secrets of the steam engine.”

William smiled, having already come up with a clever plan.

If their fleet wasn’t scattered all over the world, he wouldn’t have to resort to such methods; he’d just send the navy to seize it directly.

The British Royal Pirates weren’t famous for nothing.

“Then we can only pray that the Portuguese put up a good fight. I suspect they’ll have a hard-won victory.”

Johnson smiled. As outsiders, they were in the mood for jokes.

Meanwhile, the Portuguese, in the midst of battle, were growing increasingly tense.

The Great Hua cannons had already opened fire. In the first round of shooting, one lucky shot landed on a Portuguese flagship.

Then, they witnessed the uniqueness of the Great Hua shells.

The Great Hua shells caused surprisingly little damage to the hull, not even breaking the deck.

However, these shells exploded.

The soldiers around the shell were the first to experience this.

“Fire! Return fire!”

Meng Jiusi ordered, and the Portuguese cannons began to fire as well.

Then, they were embarrassed.

Their gunners’ experience was stuck in the past.

Because ships were constantly moving, naval battles required calculating lead. They didn’t aim directly at the enemy ship, but calculated the ship’s course and speed, then fired into empty space.

In the end, whether the shell hit the ship or the ship ran into the shell was hard to say.

In short, they needed to predict, estimate, and lead their shots.

All of this required extensive experience.

The Portuguese navy was used to fighting slower opponents, and suddenly encountering an opponent with such high speed left them a little disoriented.

They had no choice but to slowly adapt and adjust. Until then, they could only rely on quantity to get lucky.

Anyway, they had a lot of cannons, firing hundreds at a time.

A rain of shells blocked the Great Hua navy’s advance, and some were bound to hit.

Of course, the hit rate was lower than before, and even lower than Great Hua’s.

They suffered a great loss in the cannon battle.

However, Meng Jiusi didn’t think they had lost because of this.

The Great Hua cannons could only kill their soldiers, but did very little damage to the ships.

And their shells were actually very destructive to wooden warships.

As long as they could land a few more hits, they could sink the Great Hua warships.

Without ships, the survivors could only wait to be captured.

Of course, that was assuming they didn’t collapse first due to heavy casualties before sinking the Great Hua ships.

The Great Hua howitzer shells were no joke when it came to killing soldiers.

A ship only needed to take a few hits, and most of the soldiers would be killed or wounded.

Their ability to withstand casualties was just so-so.

It was to be expected that a country accustomed to resolving issues through negotiation wouldn’t have soldiers who could withstand heavy casualties.

The Vis, a Portuguese flagship.

Less than ten minutes into the battle, before either side had fired many rounds, the soldiers on board wanted to flee.

Because their ship was unlucky enough to be hit by three shells in a row.

There were a total of one hundred and thirty soldiers on board. The three shells injured eighteen and killed twenty-six, resulting in a casualty rate of over one-third.

How the hell were they supposed to fight? At this rate, everyone on the ship would be gone in half an hour.

So, their ship couldn’t help but slow down. They were afraid.

Better a dead friend than a dead me. They wanted to let others go first.

Other ships weren’t as unlucky as the Vis, but those at the front had all taken a hit or two, resulting in significant casualties.

Meng Jiusi didn’t notice this in time, as communication between ships wasn’t easy.

He also had to pay attention to the overall situation on the battlefield, leaving him no time to worry about the casualties of individual ships.

At this moment, Meng Jiusi desperately hoped that the detached squadron could block the approach of the Great Hua forces and engage in boarding actions or close-range shooting to wear them down.

“Commander, do we bypass the squadron ahead or charge straight in to engage?”

At this time, Bao Shun’an was also facing a decision.

He didn’t have much time to think. After all, bypassing them required preparation, and if he hesitated any longer, he might miss the opportunity.

“Charge straight in and scare them once and for all.”

Bao Shun’an said, deciding to take a risk and try to end the battle quickly.

Because they were running out of shells.

If they fought for another hour or two, they would run out of ammunition, which was a major concern.

And if they continued to exchange fire with the enemy at long range, the naval battle might not end for another two hours.

Once they ran out of shells, they would have to rely on melee combat, and they would definitely be no match for the Portuguese.

Therefore, he could only adopt an aggressive and risky strategy.

Charge directly at the squadron trying to intercept them, and then engage in close-range shooting.

This way, they could inflict heavy casualties on the enemy in a very short time.

However, they would also be subjected to a large number of shell attacks, making them more likely to be hit and even sink.

Currently, several of their ships had already been hit, but fortunately, the hits were on the decks, not the waterline of the hull.

So, for now, the problem wasn’t too serious.

But if the two sides got too close, they would inevitably pay the price of a few sunken ships.

Bao Shun’an made his decision, and the flagship Jiujiang signaled with flags.

So, they actively charged towards the Portuguese detachment trying to intercept them, maintaining an angle.

The Portuguese detachment was worried that the Great Hua forces would rely on their speed to escape, but they didn’t expect the Great Hua forces to come at them, which naturally made them very happy.

They also wanted to end the battle quickly. A long battle was prone to accidents.

Who knew if the Spanish or British would suddenly appear to steal the victory? Those two countries were no good.

Chapter 598: Tacit Agreement to Peace

Both sides were eager for a quick resolution, making the situation like dry wood meeting a spark, ready to ignite at any moment.

They rapidly closed the distance, with the Great Hua forces maintaining a slightly advantageous angle, which the Portuguese accepted.

What followed was another round of tedious artillery bombardment.

Most engagements after the initial clash devolved into this pattern.

Boarding actions had become obsolete decades ago.

As for fire ship attacks, the Portuguese had prepared them.

However, after observing the speed of the Great Hua navy, they abandoned the idea.

Their fire ships simply couldn’t keep up.

“We’ve taken a hit on the port side and are taking on water! Seal it quickly!”

The Yangzhou was unlucky, suffering successive hits to its hull, causing it to rupture and flood.

Generally, a ship in this condition was doomed.

Current ship waterproofing was still very poor, unlike later warships that could take on thousands of tons of water and continue fighting as if nothing had happened.

The sinking of the Yangzhou was only a matter of time. All the crew could do was try to delay the inevitable.

Before going down, they would fire as many shots as possible.

Upon receiving the order, sailors rushed into the hold with repair materials, nailing new planks over the breaches and applying waterproof tung oil.

However, this would only delay the process.

The pressure of the seawater would inevitably overwhelm the repairs, first seeping through, then relentlessly widening the gaps until a torrent of water rushed in.

The Yangzhou continued to return fire while attempting repairs.

All the ship’s cannons were firing, and even those at unfavorable angles were hastily discharged.

There was no point in saving the ammunition; if the ship sank, everything would be lost.

Firing now, even if most shots missed, might at least intimidate the enemy.

Perhaps, with a stroke of luck, a shot or two might even hit.

After all, the angles were only theoretically bad, and with both sides moving, anything could happen.

With the Great Hua forces unleashing their full firepower, the Portuguese fleet was immediately in trouble.

At this close range, a barrage of cannonballs rained down on their ships, and exploding shrapnel filled the decks and gun emplacements.

Many experienced gunners were wiped out, leaving no one to operate the cannons.

Some soldiers, unable to withstand the pressure, simply jumped overboard or cowered in the hold, trembling.

Initially, the Portuguese had been able to put up a fight, but after a few volleys, the sound of their cannons became sporadic.

The soldiers were either dead or hiding.

This was critical, as it meant they were becoming weaker and less able to inflict damage on the Great Hua.

Noticing this, Meng Jiusi frowned. This naval battle was proving to be more difficult than anticipated.

Not only were the Great Hua forces faster, but their cannonballs were also slightly more effective.

If this continued, wiping out the enemy would likely mean the destruction of his own fleet.

Although the ships hadn’t sunk, the sailors and gunners were skilled personnel who couldn’t be replaced by just any farmer; they required extensive training.

If these men died, it would take a long time for the fleet to recover.

Meng Jiusi really didn’t want to fight to the death unless absolutely necessary.

Such battles were only suitable when facing a single opponent.

But now, the Portuguese had to constantly worry about Spain or England. They needed to maintain some strength to deter their rivals at all times.

Bao Shun’an was even more reluctant; if they all died, the consequences would be even more severe.

So, with neither side eager to continue fighting, a tacit agreement to disengage emerged.

The Great Hua and Portuguese interceptor fleets passed each other, exchanging a final volley.

Then, the Great Hua forces retreated, and the Portuguese fleet did not pursue, effectively agreeing to a draw.

During that brief exchange, the Portuguese suffered several hundred deaths and nearly one thousand wounded. Combined with the earlier casualties from the bombardment, their total losses in this battle reached over two thousand three hundred.

This number was staggering, exceeding the casualties of any previous Portuguese naval battle.

In the past, although more ships might have been sunk, the loss of life was usually lower, as the crew could be rescued.

This time, they had managed to save their ships, but the casualties were devastating.

The Great Hua forces also suffered significant losses. The Yangzhou and Zhenjiang were both heavily damaged and had to be abandoned after leaving the battlefield.

Large amounts of seawater flooded the holds, and the ships couldn’t make it to shore.

Reluctantly, the crew had to abandon ship.

Most of the crew were rescued, but everything on board was lost.

With two warships lost and over one hundred casualties, the Great Hua’s losses were also quite heavy.

Of course, compared to the Portuguese, they had fared much better.

After this battle, neither side was keen to resolve the issue through force; the cost was simply too high.

Seeing the Great Hua and Portuguese forces cease hostilities, the watching British and Spanish were greatly disappointed. They had hoped the two sides would fight to the death.

The current outcome meant that both the Great Hua and Portugal still had fighting strength, greatly increasing the difficulty and cost of seizing an advantage. They would have to reconsider their options carefully.

“Let’s go. We’ve gathered a lot of intelligence; it wasn’t a wasted trip.”

“Now, we need to hurry. Hopefully, those fellows in Parliament won’t drag their feet and will intervene as soon as possible to secure some benefits.”

Having watched the spectacle, William and Johnson began their return journey.

This naval battle had been quite enlightening for them.

At least, they had learned about steam engines and explosive shells, two new weapons and equipment. Having a direction would accelerate their research progress.

The Portuguese navy, upon returning, quickly reported the situation to the royal family, urging them to resolve the dispute through negotiations.

Continuing the fight would only lead to more severe consequences.

Although the Portuguese king was frustrated, he had no choice. There were times when he had to swallow his pride.

If not for his ability to endure, he would have been annexed by Spain long ago.

To maintain independence, he had conceded many benefits to Spain.

Maintaining a certain level of retaliatory capability to make Spain wary, while also offering concessions to encourage them to be content, was the survival strategy of this small nation.

Therefore, compromise was something the Portuguese king was accustomed to.

He had long since lost all sense of shame.

Portugal and Bao Shun’an held a second round of negotiations. This time, the representatives were high-ranking officials and members of the royal family from Portugal itself.

Palichi had been dismissed and recalled home.

Regardless of how wronged he felt, he had failed to handle the situation properly, leading to war with the Great Hua. This was his fault.

Chapter 599: The Great Hua-Portugal Ceuta Treaty

At the negotiating table, Elias and the Portuguese diplomats argued until their faces were red, occasionally slamming the table and hurling insults at each other in languages that others couldn’t understand.

The scene was slightly different from diplomatic negotiations in later generations, with less elegance and more authenticity.

It felt like two stallholders arguing in a farmers market.

However, no matter how they accused and insulted each other, the main factor influencing the final outcome of the negotiations was the strength of both sides.

In the end, Portugal and Great Hua reached a final agreement.

Great Hua would immediately release the besieged Portuguese, return their cannons, ships, and some other property.

At the same time, Great Hua would purchase the port of Ceuta from Portugal for one million taels of silver worth of goods.

The content of the treaty was very simple, because neither side had time to delay.

The British were already clamoring to mediate, claiming to establish a peaceful order in the Strait of Gibraltar.

Neither the Portuguese nor Bao Shun’an paid any attention to them. If another party were added, they would have to give up some of the benefits.

But if they kept refusing, they were afraid that the unreasonable Royal Pirates of Britain would come and stir up trouble.

Therefore, neither Portugal nor Bao Shun’an formulated any detailed rules. Anyway, both sides got what they needed.

Great Hua obtained a base, a strategic port, and a foothold, achieving its goal.

Portugal, on the other hand, could tell its people that they had rescued their citizens, recovered their property, and received one million in compensation.

They wouldn’t say that the one million came from selling Ceuta, but that it was compensation from Great Hua for their defeat.

As for Ceuta, which was originally part of Morocco, they now simply felt that Ceuta was useless and a burden, so they took the initiative to withdraw their troops.

Of course, this was the superficial explanation to their people.

In reality, this treaty was a humiliation for Portugal, equivalent to a forced sale.

But there was no other way. The situation was such that they had to compromise.

Rather than fighting Great Hua to the death in Ceuta, only to have the Spanish and British take advantage of them, it was better to take the one million.

Then, they could go to Morocco and seize a free piece of land. Wouldn’t that be even better?

Tangier was a good place, although not as good as Ceuta, it was still a decent port.

When the Spanish seized Gibraltar from them, they thought the same way and did the same thing.

Now, it was just happening again, and they were very familiar with the process.

Therefore, the most disadvantaged party in this incident would be Morocco, who watched the whole process without saying a word.

With the war over, Western European merchants also learned that there were more than a hundred ships of oriental goods in Ceuta.

As a result, a large number of merchants began to flock to Ceuta.

There were merchants from Venice, Spain, France, and even the Ottoman Empire.

They brought a lot of gold and silver, as well as their own specialties.

Seeing Great Hua’s countless silks and porcelains, some Western European merchants almost drooled.

Any one of these goods was worth a fortune, but they were casually piled together by the merchants of Great Hua, which was simply a desecration of these precious items, making these merchants feel sorry for them.

In addition to traditional goods such as silk and porcelain, Great Hua also brought a large number of high-tech products this time.

For example, high-powered microscopes, grandfather clocks, watches, and so on.

These things were all treasures that Western Europeans liked. The market for microscopes might be slightly smaller, but watches were hot commodities.

This thing was really impressive to wear on the wrist, and it was also very practical.

Watching those merchants, with the help of translators, engaging in fierce bargaining with the merchants of Great Hua, Bao Shun’an finally breathed a sigh of relief.

This mission was finally roughly completed.

But it wasn’t over yet. He realized that to do business with these Western European merchants, it was still important to have a port of his own.

Therefore, he planned to station himself in Ceuta for a long time, and wrote a memorial to Wu Changqing, requesting to send more soldiers over.

The reason they were able to be stable now was mainly because those countries didn’t want to spend too much to fight him.

If those countries attacked regardless of the cost, they would definitely not be able to hold on.

Sending more troops was very necessary.

A large number of Western European merchants set their sights on the goods of Great Hua, but some people set their sights on the steam warships of Great Hua.

Fos of Spain approached Bao Shun’an, hoping to buy a warship from Bao Shun’an. The price was negotiable, and he told Bao Shun’an to name his price.

This condition was quite generous. If Wu Changqing hadn’t reminded him before he went to sea, he might have been tempted.

But now, Bao Shun’an directly rejected Fos’s request.

“Our army doesn’t have many warships left, so we can’t sell them anymore. If you are interested, you can send someone to our Great Hua to buy them. Great Hua has many such warships, and we can build ten ships a month. As long as you have money, you can buy anything.”

Bao Shun’an drew a pie for Fos. He needed to give Fos some other hope.

If he directly told Fos that Great Hua would not sell steam engines, Fos might wholeheartedly try to deal with him.

If this happened, Bao Shun’an would be in trouble, after all, Spain’s strength in the Mediterranean was still quite strong.

“Great Hua is too far away.”

Fos said helplessly.

He had also had the idea of robbing them, but after careful study, he found that it was not easy to rob them.

The warships of Great Hua were too fast. If they couldn’t beat them, they would run away, and it was too difficult to capture them.

If they couldn’t get that kind of warship, it wouldn’t make much sense to take Ceuta, and it would completely offend Great Hua.

If Great Hua really came with hundreds of steam warships, it would not be worth it.

In comparison, going to Great Hua to buy one was a better option.

“It’s not too far, it only takes about a year to go back and forth.”

Bao Shun’an said.

“Then I’ll give it a try. Maybe the King will send me to Great Hua to establish diplomatic relations. Then, I can go and see the legendary paradise.”

Fos smiled.

“I can assure you, you will not be disappointed.”

Bao Shun’an also smiled. At this time, everyone had no conflicts for the time being, and they could communicate happily like friends.

The British, French, and Dutch had the same idea as Fos.

Any country with a bit of ambition needed a strong navy. Building it in the traditional way was too slow, so they all wanted to take shortcuts to obtain warships from Great Hua.

However, in the end, Bao Shun’an rejected them all with the same reason.

Hearing that they could buy steam warships by going to Great Hua, some people were already tempted.

As long as they could buy this kind of warship, spending a year or two wouldn’t be a big deal.

Chapter 600: Strategy Towards Great Hua

The mysterious Eastern country, Great Hua, had snatched Ceuta from Portugal.

This was a hot topic in Europe, with many countries paying close attention.

Furthermore, the flood of Great Hua goods into the European market had sparked a “Great Hua fever.”

Wearing a silk garment, displaying exquisite porcelain at home, or sporting a fine watch on one’s wrist had all become status symbols.

“Made in Great Hua” had become a fashionable trend.

For the upper class, lacking anything “Made in Great Hua” on their person or in their home was a sign of decline.

Failing to mention topics related to Great Hua in conversation was a sign of ignorance.

Previously, Western Europe had also seen goods “Made in Great Hua,” but the quantity was small, and when spread across the continent, they seemed even scarcer.

Many people rarely saw merchandise from Great Hua at all.

But this time, Great Hua had brought a whole fleet of cargo ships, and these goods were being sold primarily in Spain, France, and Italy.

As a result, the nobles in these regions could acquire these goods relatively easily.

For a time, the upper class was filled with nobles using products “Made in Great Hua.”

As this “Made in Great Hua” trend gained momentum, more Western European merchants began preparing to set sail, embarking on journeys to seek their fortunes in Great Hua.

This was the reaction among the common people and nobles of Western Europe, while the rulers of Western European countries were now beginning to seriously consider the nation of Great Hua.

In Spain, King Carlos I convened numerous ministers to discuss their strategy towards Great Hua.

At this time, Spain’s naval power was already waning, relegated to second-rate status.

On land, only a final stubborn resistance remained.

Historically, they would engage in a major conflict with France this year, suffer defeat, and lose their dominance on land, beginning a complete decline from then on.

At this time, Carlos I was already aware of the conflict with France.

Therefore, he urgently needed ways to increase his strength.

The appearance of the Great Hua people gave him a glimmer of hope.

Just as Fos had said, as long as they could buy Great Hua’s steam warships, they could restore their naval strength and gain an advantage in fighting France.

If they defeated France, they would be invincible on land again, and then they could wholeheartedly develop their navy and regain their former glory.

This was the scenario Fos had painted, and Carlos greatly admired it.

“Fos, I officially bestow upon you the title of Count of Spain. I hope you will represent me on a mission to Great Hua and establish good diplomatic relations with them. Most importantly, you must buy steam warships.”

After discussions among the ministers, Carlos officially issued the order.

“Please rest assured, Your Majesty, I will certainly not fail in my mission and will complete the task.”

Fos was full of vigor. He had been promoted a rank before even setting out. If he successfully completed the mission in the future, wouldn’t he be promoted to Marquis?

Marquis was pretty much the limit for someone of his less-than-stellar background. To be granted the title of Duke, one’s lineage was the most crucial factor.

At the same time, in London, England.

“We must increase our understanding of Great Hua. They will be our greatest enemy in the future, without exception. It is said that their country has one hundred million people. What does that even mean? That’s more than ten times the population of our country.

More importantly, their navy is more advanced than ours. Gentlemen, their navy is more advanced than ours.”

William raised his voice.

As an island nation, England placed immense importance on its navy.

As long as the navy was strong enough, they would never have to worry about the safety of their homeland.

Moreover, to dominate the world, the navy was also crucial.

Previously, after England defeated Spain, the entire nation unanimously believed that their navy was the most powerful in the world.

But now, they had seen the advanced performance of the Great Hua navy’s warships.

This could not be ignored.

“Impossible, there can’t be a navy in this world more advanced than ours. Moreover, no country has as many warships as we do.

If this Great Hua you speak of is really so powerful, why aren’t they seen in the Americas or India? Vast amounts of treasure lands have already been seized by us?”

Some people didn’t believe William’s words, thinking he was exaggerating to create alarm.

“That’s because they were in a civil war for the past few years, and now the civil war is almost over. The fact that they’re sending trade missions to Europe is proof that they’ve begun to set their sights overseas.

Soon, our overseas territories will face threats and challenges. If we continue to revel in our past achievements, we will definitely regret it in the future.”

Johnson chose to side with William.

After some discussion, a majority of the ministers agreed that Great Hua should be taken seriously as an opponent.

After all, Great Hua’s land area and population made them feel extremely threatened.

Moreover, Great Hua’s steam warships also indicated that the Great Hua navy had surpassed them in some aspects.

Having established a consensus, the next step was to discuss solutions.

On this point, Johnson and William had a disagreement.

William hoped to seize Ceuta with overwhelming force and obtain the secrets of the steam engine.

However, Johnson advocated for a slightly more moderate approach, such as purchasing it, corrupting Bao Shun’an, or going to Great Hua to buy it, or salvaging the Yangzhou and Zhenjiang from where they sank.

In short, they should not easily start a conflict with Great Hua, otherwise the consequences would be pathetic.

“Johnson, your approach is foolish. You can’t possibly believe Bao Shun’an’s words and naively think you can buy such warships in Great Hua, can you?

I can tell you with certainty, dream on. Dutch merchants have long tried to buy this kind of machine in Great Hua, but they were rejected. They tried every possible method, but failed to obtain a steam engine.

They only managed to get some books from Great Hua, as well as some small parts of steam engines.”

William had more up-to-date information, having learned more about Great Hua from merchants who had returned before.

“Just because they weren’t willing before doesn’t mean they won’t be willing in the future. William, you need to understand what kind of opponent you’re provoking. If they’re determined to retaliate against us, our overseas territories will never be at peace, especially India, which may be lost.

Even our homeland will be threatened. As for the navy, there’s no need to say more. In the future, our fleets will have to be on tenterhooks overseas.”

Johnson’s reasons were also very sound. In terms of war potential, they were inferior to Great Hua.

Moreover, their enemies were not limited to Great Hua. If they put all their energy into Great Hua, then countries like France and Spain would take the opportunity to rise.

These countries posed a greater threat to them than Great Hua because of their proximity.

After some debate, they finally decided to try a peaceful approach first, and consider force only if that failed.

Chapter 601: The Kagoshima Incident

While things were heating up in Western Europe, Great Hua’s battles were also incessant.

In Guangdong, Lu Guangzu had already taken Zhaoqing and was advancing towards Wuzhou. Meanwhile, Great Hua’s navy had also begun its campaign to conquer Japan.

This year was the first year of vigorously developing the navy and conquering the globe.

There would be many overseas battles.

As a nation of etiquette, Great Hua naturally couldn’t attack Japan without a reason.

On March fifth, the Great Hua navy found an excellent excuse.

A Great Hua merchant who went to Japan to sell cloth was robbed by a group of ronin from the Satsuma Domain while doing business in Kagoshima.

How could this be tolerated?

Great Hua, as a celestial empire, a great nation, wouldn’t bully others for no reason; others should be burning incense in gratitude.

But now, someone dared to bully Great Hua, daring to directly rob the property of Great Hua’s citizens. This was simply intolerable.

The matter was immediately brought to the court for discussion.

The military and the government intentionally fueled the flames, while the Great Hua Daily launched a media offensive to gain public support.

On the surface, it seemed that public support didn’t matter much, but in reality, it had an impact.

The most direct point was probably that it could shift domestic conflicts.

Although Great Hua was developing rapidly, in this process, many people at the bottom were living quite miserably.

The wealth of the rich was increasing, and the gap between the rich and the poor was widening.

The conflict between the poor and the rich was becoming more and more prominent.

At this time, having an external conflict could shift the attention of the people at the bottom to the outside.

For example, a worker works very hard in a factory every day, holding a belly full of anger, wishing he could smash the boss’s head with an iron rod.

However, once there is an external conflict, they will vent their anger on external targets.

The Japanese robbed Great Hua’s things, which means they robbed their own things, and they must work hard, produce more steel to make weapons, and beat the hell out of them.

Identification with Great Hua will unite them when facing the outside world.

With this idea, the worker will no longer be in the mood to smash the boss’s head.

Of course, not all workers will be affected, but some people will definitely think this way.

And this is only part of the effect of public opinion.

In many subtle aspects, it has a certain positive effect on maintaining rule.

Otherwise, the government wouldn’t be full and do nothing to publicize it so much.

With the military and government pushing, merchants were even more active.

They intended to use this opportunity to pry open Japan’s trade door.

In the past, doing business with the Japanese was sneaky and troublesome.

Negotiations were impossible; those people in Japan were very firm and refused to agree to free trade.

Japan, such a big country, naturally has capable people who know that as long as they agree to free trade, the country’s economy will completely collapse.

The prices of domestic merchants’ goods are completely uncompetitive with those of Great Hua.

Without national isolation, local merchants would go bankrupt instantly.

And the Japanese shogunate, of course, has the support of a large number of merchants.

Except for the primitive tribes of Africa, in any civilized place, the rulers rely on the support of the rich. The rich and the rulers form an alliance of interests to exploit the people of their own country together.

And these rulers, when formulating national policies, naturally give priority to the large merchants and large landlords.

With the military supporting, officials supporting, merchants supporting, and the people supporting, for a time, the voices of conquering Japan were incessant.

The people’s support was only verbal, while some large merchants directly took action.

They promised to use their ships to help transport logistical supplies, or lend their ships to the navy for use first, or provide some food and military uniforms for free.

Of course, they were not patriotic, but for profit.

Taking down Japan can expand their dumping market.

Supporting the navy now can gain the favor and goodwill of the military, so that if they encounter trouble doing business in Japan in the future, they can also ask the navy for help.

Or, some merchants directly set their sights on Japan’s gold and silver mines, wanting to take the opportunity to seize them.

They have no force, so they can only cooperate with the military.

There is no official exchange between Japan and Great Hua for the time being. Japan has not come to recognize the legitimacy of Great Hua, and Great Hua has not sent anyone to Japan to announce that it has become the master of China.

However, in the private sector, exchanges between the two sides have always been frequent.

In Shanghai, there are some Japanese merchants or spies.

Of course, they also read the Great Hua Daily, which is an important means for them to understand Great Hua.

Seeing the various remarks in the Great Hua Daily clamoring to attack Japan, the Japanese in Great Hua were afraid.

Being in Great Hua, they certainly knew the power of Great Hua and knew that they absolutely couldn’t fight Great Hua.

“Damn it, those stupid ronin, those stupid Satsuma Domain.”

A spy from the Tokugawa family cursed.

Japan currently adopts a system of joint rule by the shogunate and the domains, that is, everyone nominally respects a nominal emperor. Then, the shogunate controlled by the Tokugawa family controls the central government, using the emperor to command the feudal lords.

The daimyo in various places are the feudal lords, and they have their own territories, called domains.

In this system, the feudal lords and the shogunate are of one mind only when facing foreign enemies, and they usually fight fiercely with each other.

The shogunate wants to completely unify Japan and centralize power.

The various domains are developing secretly, waiting for the opportunity to drive the Tokugawa family off the stage, occupy the capital, and become the new generation of shogunate.

As a spy of the Tokugawa family, he naturally couldn’t get along with the people of the Satsuma Domain.

Now that the people of the Satsuma Domain have caused trouble, leading to the country suffering, their anger towards the Satsuma Domain is also reasonable.

“Lord Oshima, we must immediately return to report to the head of the family and ask him to send someone to Great Hua to explain and clarify the misunderstanding.”

Another spy said.

“It’s useless, those high officials are short-sighted and parochial wastes. They don’t know that the world is changing drastically, and they still think that Great Hua is the same as the Ming Dynasty in the past. They won’t take the threat of Great Hua seriously.

Wanting them to send someone to apologize to Great Hua, don’t even think about it, it’s impossible.”

Oshima Yura sighed.

He has great opinions on the closed-door policy made by the higher-ups. He understands that the closed-door policy is only beneficial to the rulers, but it is extremely harmful to Japan as a whole.

Even if he himself is also a merchant class, he would rather the people above damage his interests than continue to close the country.

Unfortunately, he is just a small person and cannot influence the thoughts and decisions of the people above.

“You go back to the country to report the news first, and I will continue to stay in Great Hua to find out the situation and see if I can find a solution.”

Finally, Oshima Yura made the final decision.

Chapter 602: Sending Troops to Japan

The imperial court and the common people quickly reached a consensus, and Wu Changqing swiftly approved the military’s action plan.

This time, sending troops to Japan, they needed to achieve several objectives.

First, demand that Japan open treaty ports and allow free trade.

Second, occupy Tanegashima, Ōsumi Province, or Kagoshima; in short, they had to possess a territory in Japan to station troops.

Third, obtain the mining rights for gold and silver mines.

The silver mine located in Shimane Prefecture was Japan’s largest, and even the world’s largest.

Before the discovery and exploitation of gold and silver mines in the Americas, the silver mine in Shimane Prefecture accounted for approximately one-third of the world’s current silver production.

And basically all of this silver flowed into Great Hua.

Although the Tokugawa Shogunate implemented a policy of national isolation, many samurai, ronin, merchants, and common people still took risks to engage in various smuggling activities.

Exchanging goods for Japanese silver was too slow and too costly.

After all, manufacturing goods also required time, raw materials, and the hard work of Great Hua’s workers.

Many commodities were not even used by the people of Great Hua themselves. To earn silver, they did not hesitate to transport them thousands of miles to Japan for sale.

Trade was far less efficient than robbery.

Directly seizing the silver and leaving those goods for the people of Great Hua to use would be even better, wouldn’t it?

With the objectives set, the joint naval and land forces boarded ships in Nanjing.

This time, they mobilized a total of about two hundred ships, including fifty warships of various types, one hundred transport ships for carrying supplies and soldiers, and fifty other types of auxiliary vessels.

To deal with the Japanese navy, fifty warships was a conservative estimate; in fact, they didn’t need that many at all.

Because the Japanese navy was extremely weak.

Under the policy of national isolation, they were not enthusiastic about shipbuilding at all.

Not to mention comparing them to the countries of Western Europe, they were far behind even the former Zheng Zhilong.

Moreover, this referred to the entire Japanese naval force; if one were to speak solely of the Satsuma Domain’s navy, it probably couldn’t even compare to the Qing army.

Therefore, in terms of naval power, Great Hua could completely crush Japan.

As for the army, Great Hua dispatched an enhanced division of fifteen thousand men this time.

Compared to the navy’s advantage, they were much weaker.

Don’t underestimate Japan’s small size; it has a considerable population.

Currently, besides Nanjing and Songjiang Prefecture, the most populous place in the world is Edo (Tokyo) in Japan. This city alone has nearly one million people.

More than places like London and Paris.

The entire Japan currently has nearly twenty-five million people, about as many as England, Spain, and Portugal combined.

With a large population, there are naturally many soldiers.

Normally, Japan can maintain an army of five hundred thousand, and in wartime, it’s not a problem to conscript two and a half million.

Of course, one can’t expect much from their combat effectiveness.

In this era, combat cannot be judged solely on numbers; one must also consider weapons.

In the past, with cold weapons, one had to cut with a blade, and who knows how many cuts it would take to hit someone.

But now, with a light pull of the trigger, someone on the other side dies, and with a cannon blast, a whole group dies. In terms of killing efficiency, hot weapons are a leap forward compared to cold weapons.

However, even so, facing such a large army, Great Hua’s fifteen thousand men would definitely suffer greatly.

Fortunately, Japan is not united internally.

If Great Hua attacks the Satsuma Domain, the other domains and the shogunate probably won’t come to their rescue.

Therefore, these ten thousand-plus men only need to deal with the Satsuma Domain, which is basically enough.

The army set sail, first arriving at Tanegashima, southeast of Kagoshima, and then launched an attack on Tanegashima.

Kagoshima Port is located inside Kagoshima Bay, and it would be troublesome for the army to enter rashly in case of any accidents.

Although this possibility is very small, it must be guarded against.

Therefore, the Hua army’s plan was to first occupy Tanegashima, and then the army would land on Tanegashima first, taking it as a stronghold.

Then, the navy would eliminate the Satsuma Domain’s navy, cutting off the danger.

After it was completely safe, the navy and army would jointly attack Kagoshima, carry out a landing operation, and force the people of the Satsuma Domain to submit.

At a small port in southern Tanegashima, Great Hua’s warships forcibly entered.

Before the Tanegashima clan could react, the few ships in the port were blasted to smithereens by cannons.

After intimidating the enemy, the Hua army began to land.

However, to Wu Yi and Qian Sule’s surprise, the Tanegashima clan was not intimidated; instead, they took up arms and set up defenses at the port.

It seemed that they intended to resist.

They also had some firearms in their hands, and the models were a mess, with all sorts of things.

There were relatively advanced flintlock guns, matchlock guns, arquebuses, and some bows and arrows.

These were all exchanged when they traded with Western Europe merchants. Compared to the interior of the Japanese mainland, Tanegashima, due to its geographical location, traded more frequently with the outside world.

This made their weapons and equipment somewhat superior.

Of course, this was compared to their fellow Japanese.

Compared to Great Hua’s standard weapons, their weapons were ridiculously shabby, almost like beggars.

Seeing those barbarians firing at their side, the Hua army was immediately enraged, they were simply ungrateful.

Therefore, they suspended the landing and aimed their cannons at the Japanese holding weapons on the island, bombarding them.

The shells landed among the Japanese, instantly blasting them beyond recognition.

Having never suffered such intense shelling, the Japanese were also unable to withstand it and retreated one after another.

However, they did not retreat too far, but stayed in the distance, waiting for an opportunity to launch an attack after the Hua army landed and was no longer protected by the navy’s artillery.

After the Hua army shelled for a while, they landed again.

This time, they did not encounter any resistance. Great Hua’s army landed smoothly, and then the vanguard advanced into the island, penetrating deeper.

Before they had gone far, they were attacked by the Tanegashima clan again.

Then, the Tanegashima clan discovered that the weapons they relied on so much were not working well.

In the exchange of fire, the Japanese fell one after another.

They were completely exposed to the Hua army’s guns, and no one knew to dodge.

On the Great Hua side, the soldiers were lying on the ground or hiding behind obstacles, occasionally sticking out their guns, aiming, and firing.

The Japanese had never seen this kind of fighting style; it was simply rogue-like.

Hiding like this, how could they hit anything? Shouldn’t battles be fought with both sides standing together and fighting fairly?

The Japanese couldn’t understand; they only felt annoyed and frustrated.

Their guns couldn’t hit the enemy, but their own people were falling one after another.

With this ebb and flow, they were becoming increasingly unable to hold on.

Chapter 603: Occupying Tanegashima

The Japanese couldn’t understand it, and the Great Hua soldiers couldn’t understand it either. Why weren’t these people running away when the disparity in strength was so great?

Looking at the world, the Japanese are among the most fearless people when it comes to death.

This has nothing to do with whether a race is superior or not.

It has to do with their living environment. Japan experiences many earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, typhoons, and tsunamis.

Such harsh living conditions mean they often die unexpectedly and feel very insecure.

If you are too afraid of death, you will live a very painful life, and your body will secrete hormones that are bad for your health.

And humans themselves have an instinct to hate pain and seek advantages.

Therefore, subconsciously, in order to make their bodies and minds more comfortable, they believe in concepts such as reincarnation, believing in the afterlife to reduce their fear of death.

Over hundreds and thousands of years, this nation has become more open to death, forming a culture where they like to commit suicide at the drop of a hat.

If you take life and death lightly, you don’t have to worry about accidents happening at any time.

Anyway, death is also a kind of relief.

Of course, this is from an overall perspective. In general, the Japanese are less afraid of death.

However, the development of each individual has its uniqueness and differences, and cannot be generalized. There are also very afraid-of-death people among the Japanese.

For example, the head of the Taneshima clan, Taneshima Yasuyasu, he belongs to the ruling class, living a good life every day, so naturally he is reluctant to die.

Seeing that the Great Hua army was too powerful, he took a few people and slipped away first, leaving his son Taneshima Hidemitsu to negotiate with the Great Hua people and ask why they were being beaten.

Until now, they don’t know why they were beaten.

Taneshima Hidemitsu was very helpless, holding a white flag, and was shot dead by the Hua army.

Raising a white flag is equivalent to surrendering. Not every soldier knows this. They are more likely to accept the method of throwing away their weapons and kneeling on the ground.

With the unfortunate death of Taneshima Hidemitsu, the others lost their backbone.

Either run away or be at a loss.

Then the Hua army rushed over and captured those who had thrown away their weapons.

In this battle, the Hua army killed more than one hundred enemies and captured more than two hundred.

The losses on their own side were negligible. One or two casualties could occur even during normal training.

At the same time, they occupied this unknown small fishing village.

The Japanese in the small fishing village curiously and nervously sized up the Great Hua army, looking a little at a loss.

“Didn’t they say that Japan is mostly mountainous? Why does this small island have so many plains? It’s a good place to grow grain.”

Qian Sule lamented.

This Tanegashima has no high mountains, and it looks like all plains, actually a fertile land.

However, the development of the land here seems to be very limited. Many places are still wasteland and have not been reclaimed, which is a great waste.

A subordinate familiar with Japan replied: “Other parts of Japan are indeed mostly mountainous. Yakushima, not far away, is full of mountains. This Tanegashima is an exception. It is very suitable for land reclamation and can become our granary for garrisoning troops in Japan, so we don’t have to rely too much on logistical supplies from the mainland.”

“Then order to thoroughly pacify this island by company-level units, and arrest the people who manage this island.”

Qian Sule ordered. He had to kill the daimyo in charge here. Without a ruler, he could rule this place.

Tanegashima is not big, ranging from five to twelve kilometers east to west, and fifty-seven kilometers north to south, with a total population of about ten thousand.

The usual army is estimated to be only about five hundred.

The previous battle basically killed and captured those samurai. The rest of the island is basically civilians.

The Hua army dispersed into companies and began to push from south to north, directly killing or capturing anyone who resisted.

As for those who were farming, they ignored them.

They advanced very quickly and pushed forward one-third of the way in just one day, encountering almost no resistance along the way.

On the second day, Taneshima Yasuyasu sent an envoy to find the Hua army, requesting communication.

In the words of the envoy, everything is negotiable. You can take whatever you like, just say the word.

This attitude is as humble as it can be.

Taneshima Yasuyasu had no choice. He couldn’t win if he fought, so he could only rely on admitting defeat to survive.

What made him even more depressed was that the Great Hua people didn’t say why they were attacking.

If they wanted money or women, it would be easy to negotiate.

“Tell your head of the family to come over. Our division commander wants to see him.”

A battalion commander of the Hua army said.

Taneshima Yasuyasu was troubled after learning of this request. He didn’t know what the attitude of the Hua army was and how they would deal with him.

Therefore, Taneshima Yasuyasu took his confidant samurai, some treasures, and sailed out to sea overnight to Kagoshima, preparing to complain to Shimazu Mitsuhisa, the lord of the Satsuma Domain.

The current Tanegashima nominally submits to the Satsuma Domain and belongs to the Satsuma Domain.

The Satsuma Domain has a responsibility to come forward when Tanegashima is attacked.

Of course, this is the theory, but in reality…

In theory, the Satsuma Domain also belongs to Japan, but it is extremely difficult for the shogunate to command the Satsuma Domain.

Just like during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao both respected Emperor Xian of Han, but Yuan Shao would not pay attention to an imperial edict issued by Emperor Xian of Han.

In Japan, there are countless such large and small separatist forces, which are more chaotic than during the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

Taneshima Yasuyasu ran away, and the Hua army spent some effort to completely control Tanegashima.

All the samurai and ronin were arrested and transported to Great Hua to build railways.

As for the farmers, they were allowed to continue farming.

These farmers do not yet have a strong sense of national identity, so they are easy to manage.

As long as the taxes are not more harsh than Taneshima Yasuyasu, they will not resist.

If the taxes are a little lower than Taneshima Yasuyasu, they will even celebrate with singing and dancing.

“Has His Majesty said how to deal with these people in the future?”

Qian Sule pointed to the Japanese farmers and asked Wu Yi.

Currently, Wu Changqing has not yet promulgated specific policies for dealing with foreigners, so he doesn’t know how to deal with them.

Should he be cruel? Or gentle?

Wu Yi is closer to Wu Changqing and knows more.

He said: “It seems that His Majesty is also hesitating and has not yet made a decision. In short, it is right to send the men back to the country to build railways. Anyway, the people in the Ministry of Transportation have been complaining that they can’t recruit workers and can’t pay salaries. They don’t mind how many of these free laborers are transported over.”

“What about the women?”

Qian Sule asked.

“They can also be transported back. The beautiful ones go to brothels, and the ugly ones go to textile factories. In short, we need to immigrate to this Tanegashima from our country. Only when the people on the island are our own people can we sleep peacefully.”

Wu Yi said, he wants to completely Sinicize Tanegashima.

Chapter 604: Unable to Protect Himself

Kojima Eiko arrived in Kagoshima and sought an audience with Shimazu Mitsuhisa, where he tearfully recounted the ‘crimes’ of Great Hua.

Kojima Eiko’s words made Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s heart sink.

Although the shogunate demanded national isolation, he had been secretly doing business with Great Hua to earn some money and purchase some much-needed goods for Japan.

Naturally, he also understood that Great Hua had undergone a great transformation and had once again restored its unity, prosperity, and strength.

Ever since there had been exchanges between China and Japan, whenever a unified dynasty appeared in China, Japan had no choice but to submit.

The difference in size between the two sides was simply too great.

Although Japan also had a large population, it lacked resources. Even if they could muster an army of one million, they couldn’t produce enough iron blades. They couldn’t possibly fight with wooden sticks.

Moreover, their small amount of land was already barely enough to support the current population. If a war were to break out, there would immediately be a shortage of food.

In short, Japan had almost never considered directly confronting Great Hua. At most, they would occasionally have some ideas about the Korean Peninsula.

Hearing Kojima Eiko say that he had been bullied by Great Hua, Shimazu Mitsuhisa felt very helpless.

He could only comfort him by saying, “I will send someone to ask about it as soon as possible to see why they attacked you.”

That was all Shimazu Mitsuhisa could do. As for sending troops to help Kojima Eiko regain Tanegashima, he shouldn’t even think about it.

Before Shimazu Mitsuhisa could take action, the next day, the Great Hua fleet rushed into Kagoshima Bay.

Now he didn’t have to think about how to help Kojima Eiko solve the problem; he had to solve his own problem first.

Fighting was out of the question. With their small sailboats, the Great Hua navy wouldn’t even need to fire their cannons; they could just ram them and capsize them.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa hurriedly sent envoys to inquire about the reason.

When he learned that it was because a Great Hua merchant had been robbed by a ronin samurai, he was almost infuriated to death.

Was such a trivial matter worth sending a large army over?

If merchants from Great Hua were robbed here, hadn’t Japanese merchants been robbed in Great Hua?

Since when was the life of an ordinary merchant worth such importance?

Shimazu Mitsuhisa, filled with anger, chose to continue to suppress it.

He stated that he would capture the culprit as soon as possible, give the merchant justice, and compensate for the corresponding losses.

With the situation not in his favor, Shimazu Mitsuhisa had no choice.

However, Great Hua would definitely not agree to his conditions.

Wu Yi proposed that he must personally participate in the capture to ensure that the person caught was the real culprit and not just someone randomly chosen to take the blame.

And to participate personally meant that the Great Hua army would have to set foot on the territory of the Satsuma Domain, which Shimazu Mitsuhisa could not tolerate.

He was, after all, a great lord, the most powerful daimyo on Kyushu Island, and he had to save face.

He would not easily agree to such an act of selling out sovereignty.

Thus, the initial negotiations broke down.

After the Great Hua envoy returned to the ship and conveyed Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s attitude, Wu Yi ordered the cannons to open fire and bombard Kagoshima.

This infuriated Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Although he was afraid of Great Hua, he was still a powerful daimyo. How could he endure such humiliation?

Immediately, he summoned all his retainers and ordered the samurai to prepare for battle.

As for the navy, Shimazu Mitsuhisa didn’t count on them at all. He simply abandoned the port, withdrew his troops to a place beyond the range of Great Hua’s cannons, and then built fortifications.

Wu Yi bombarded for a while, and after seeing no resistance, he ordered the army to begin landing.

The first troop transport ship docked, and the infantry began to disembark.

At this moment, the Japanese samurai charged over, waving their swords.

It seemed that their leader knew a little about military tactics, knowing to strike at the halfway point, knowing that a unit was most vulnerable during landing.

However, the ideal was full, but the reality was very skinny.

When the Great Hua soldiers saw that the enemy dared to charge over, they immediately dropped their backpacks and raised their guns to intercept.

This set of actions took quite a bit of time, and the Japanese samurai had already charged more than halfway, only a few dozen meters away from them.

However, these few dozen meters were the nightmare of the Japanese samurai.

The gunshots of the Great Hua army rang out, and samurai fell continuously.

However, they had a large number, and there were still few Great Hua soldiers who had landed, only more than fifty, not even a company had disembarked, and the enemy had already charged over.

The Great Hua soldiers on the ship didn’t bother to disembark and raised their guns to provide fire support from the ship.

There were many more Great Hua soldiers on the ship. With one round of shooting, nearly two hundred of the more than one thousand samurai who had charged over fell.

Judging from the distance between the two sides, they could fire another shot before the enemy reached them.

Some of the people on the ship were firing in support, while others were seizing the time to disembark.

The strength of the troops on the shore was still a bit weak.

In the distance, Shimazu Mitsuhisa watched the battlefield with a frown.

Of course, he knew about firearms. Some of his troops were equipped with them, and he had even used them himself.

However, most of the ones he used were matchlock guns, and the best were only flintlock guns from Western Europe.

He could clearly feel that the Great Hua army’s guns were more powerful and had a faster rate of fire than the flintlock guns he had used before.

In just a few dozen meters, nearly four hundred of them had fallen.

Fortunately, their samurai had finally reached the Great Hua army.

“Second wave, charge!”

After seeing hope, Shimazu Mitsuhisa sent out the second wave of samurai.

And on the front line, the soldiers of both sides had already engaged in close combat.

The Japanese were indeed not afraid of death, and they dared to charge against standard military formations.

However, the result was that those who were not afraid of death often died faster.

However, the Japanese’s fearless charge also caused some losses to the Great Hua army.

The Great Hua soldiers were also made of flesh and blood, and they could not be invulnerable to swords and blades.

“Quick, quickly land to support, flamethrowers!”

The Great Hua army officers urged, not knowing that their current situation was so critical.

In fact, the Japanese samurai had suffered heavy casualties, and many were already hesitating whether to run away.

After all, the gunshots of the Great Hua army had never stopped.

Because the hit rate had been greatly improved, the current Great Hua soldiers were not too worried about accidental injuries, as long as they did not kill those who were fighting in close combat.

There were also some who had not yet come into contact with the Great Hua soldiers, and these were the popular shooting targets on the ship.

This was very fatal for the Japanese samurai. If these people died, there would be no one to supplement the melee combat.

More importantly, their large number of deaths frightened the other samurai.

There was no safe place on the entire battlefield.

Finally, as the second wave of support arrived, the first wave of samurai, who had suffered heavy losses, had already collapsed.

Chapter 605: The Helpless Shimazu Mitsuhisa

Shimazu Mitsuhisa watched his soldiers fleeing in defeat, but he didn’t blame them.

He saw that his soldiers had fought bravely.

But it was no use. Great Hua had too many guns, and they fired too fast.

In those short ten-odd minutes, they suffered heavy casualties and had no power to fight back.

In particular, the soldiers in the Hua army who used flamethrowers terrified him.

The flamethrowers weren’t particularly lethal, but the visual effect they created was horrifying.

Other soldiers would fall directly after being shot, at most letting out a few wails.

But those hit by the flamethrowers wouldn’t die immediately, nor would they fall. They would just run around and scream like headless flies.

The sight was truly frightening.

As the Japanese samurai retreated, the Hua army didn’t pursue.

For them, a smooth and successful landing was the most important thing.

As for expanding their gains, there would be plenty of opportunities later.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa led his remaining troops out of Kagoshima port and retreated to Shiroyama mountain, using the terrain to defend their position.

At the same time, he issued orders to gather troops from other areas.

Since their weapons were inferior to the enemy’s, all he could do now was rely on numbers.

He had about fifty thousand soldiers in his entire territory. If he made a temporary conscription, he could get even more.

This strength ranked among the top three among all the daimyo in Japan.

Only the shogunate and the Kanazawa Domain were stronger than them. There were many others with similar strength, such as the Choshu Domain, the Fukuoka Domain, and the Hiroshima Domain.

“Lord, judging by the scale of the enemy, there are at least ten thousand of them, and their weapons are much better than ours. Even if we have reinforcements, it will be difficult to fight them. We should ask other feudal lords and the shogunate for help,” his subordinate, Koizumi Shinji, suggested.

With the strength of their domain alone, they certainly couldn’t compete with Great Hua.

Moreover, Great Hua’s invasion of Kagoshima was not just a matter for the Satsuma Domain.

“Alas, other daimyo are unlikely to come without benefits. As for the shogunate, I don’t know if they are willing to come, and even if they are, how will they get here?

The sea has already been blockaded by Great Hua. If they take the mountain road by land, the war will be over by the time they arrive,” Shimazu Mitsuhisa sighed. After thinking for a while, he realized that his situation was extremely unfavorable, and it was difficult to count on others.

He was a million times unwilling to fight Great Hua alone.

Not to mention whether he could win, even if he did win, the losses would be incalculable. Perhaps other daimyo would take the opportunity to seize his territory.

Having said that, Shimazu Mitsuhisa still sent people to notify the surrounding domains and ask for help.

Who knew, maybe someone with grievances against Great Hua would come to help.

After the Hua army landed and built their base camp, they launched an attack on the mountain where Shimazu Mitsuhisa was located.

Leaving an enemy force near them was always a hidden danger.

Stationed on the mountain, Shimazu Mitsuhisa finally gained a bit of geographical advantage, able to throw large stones and other things down.

Being high up, they could also gain a bit of advantage when fighting.

However, the effect was extremely limited.

The Hua army wasn’t in a hurry to charge. They slowly advanced up the mountain, and when they saw someone stick their head out, they would fire a shot.

Although the hit rate wasn’t high, it forced the Japanese to not be able to counterattack with stones as they pleased.

Moreover, as the distance decreased, the Hua army’s suppression ability became more prominent.

After entering fifty meters, the Japanese samurai didn’t dare to look up.

As soon as they looked up, bullets would come their way.

“Damn it, this battle can’t be fought,” one samurai cursed, feeling extremely frustrated.

“Let them come up and fight with swords. Then they won’t be able to shoot,” another samurai suggested.

While they were still discussing countermeasures, the Hua army had already approached.

With the advantage of equipment, the war could also become very elegant.

In this situation, the Hua army could fight with extreme patience.

They didn’t rush up to fight the Japanese head-on. Although they could win, the losses would definitely be significant, which was unnecessary.

After approaching the Japanese samurai, they threw grenades at the enemy’s position. They first carried out a wave of bombing to destroy the enemy’s morale, and then the battle would be easier to fight.

First artillery, then firearms, and now grenades.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s subordinates were on the verge of collapse. They couldn’t adapt to all kinds of novel weapons for a while.

“Charge out, charge out and fight them!” some generals shouted. Melee combat was their only hope.

When they charged down, they were met by the well-organized Hua army.

The Hua army was almost always in squads, conducting coordinated combat on this hillside.

The Japanese samurai, on the other hand, fought on their own without any coordination.

It seemed like the two sides were engaged in a melee, and the number of Japanese samurai was not small.

However, locally, the Hua army was basically fighting with more against less, and some Japanese samurai found themselves unable to find enemies and had no position to attack.

They wandered on the battlefield, quite awkwardly.

Even when they entered the fairest melee combat, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was surprised to find that his side didn’t have an advantage at all.

And as the Hua army’s professional grenadiers and flamethrowers came over, these Japanese samurai became even more difficult.

The lethality of these flamethrowers was not particularly terrifying, but their deterrent power was very strong.

And those grenadiers were the real main force in killing the enemy.

When the enemy couldn’t threaten them, these grenadiers were like small turrets, and the grenades they threw were small bombs.

The Japanese samurai couldn’t hold on again and turned around to flee again.

Running up the mountain was not easy, and most of them were eventually captured.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa had already fled in advance, as he saw no hope.

The battle lasted less than an hour, and the Hua army completely occupied Kagoshima port and some important surrounding intersections and heights.

Occupying these places was equivalent to occupying Kagoshima.

Next, the Hua army would use this as a base, like a nail stuck in the enemy’s chest, and then make Shimazu Mitsuhisa uncomfortable, forcing Shimazu Mitsuhisa to sit at the negotiating table.

Now the Hua army had limited energy and could not invest too many troops in Japan.

Therefore, their principle was to carry out small-scale battles, but to avoid large-scale battles.

Qian Sule’s plan did not include the intention of eliminating Shimazu Mitsuhisa. If he really did that, the entire Japan would be shaken, and then, feeling the same way, they would unite and jointly resist Great Hua.

If that happened, Qian Sule would have something to cry about.

Wanting to deal with hundreds of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of troops with just over ten thousand people, no matter how advanced the weapons were, it would be useless.

Chapter 606: Policy Towards Fusang

Before Qian Sule came to Fusang, he was summoned by Wu Changqing, who discussed with him the initial methods for dealing with Fusang.

The most important point was to avoid a full-scale war.

A united Fusang was terrifying.

Although, even if Great Hua mobilized a large army, a united Fusang would still be defeated.

However, everything required considering the cost.

If the gains from sending troops to Fusang were less than the investment, it would be a huge loss.

Great Hua could now use the strength of the entire nation to destroy Southern Ming in a month. But it wasn’t necessary to sacrifice the economy and a large number of lives to achieve a nominal unification; it was too uneconomical.

Wu Changqing didn’t plan to send too many soldiers into Fusang, at least not in the next year or two.

Even if the mainland was completely unified in the future, he would only send four or five thousand men to Fusang at most, no more than that.

The logistical support for fifty thousand men was no small matter.

With limited troops for Fusang, they naturally couldn’t act recklessly.

Wu Changqing’s strategy was to provoke internal strife among the Fusang people, let them fight each other, and consume each other’s strength.

Then, they would sit on the sidelines and profit from the war.

Once they had exhausted each other, they would step forward and clean them all up in one fell swoop.

This plan was not wishful thinking, but absolutely promising.

The discord between the shogunate and the domains was the biggest problem in Fusang right now.

Daimyo like the Kanazawa Domain, Satsuma Domain, and Choshu Domain all had ambitions to control the central government and the Emperor.

As long as Great Hua secretly provided the Satsuma Domain with some advanced equipment and encouraged them to attack the shogunate and unify Fusang, could Shimazu Mitsuhisa not be tempted?

If he wasn’t tempted, could the Choshu Domain and Kanazawa Domain not be tempted?

If none of them were tempted, couldn’t they support the Tokugawa family in weakening the domains?

In short, there were many talented people in the Great Hua court when it came to playing power games. When the time came, sending a group of eloquent people over would definitely turn the Fusang political situation into a complete mess.

Then, they could support whoever was weaker, maintain a balance of power between them, and let them continue to tear each other apart, fight, and preferably kill more Fusang men.

As a later generation Chinese, he certainly wouldn’t have a good impression of Fusang, and Wu Changqing was the same.

Of course, the sins of the later Fusang people couldn’t be blamed on their ancestors.

But that didn’t stop Wu Changqing from disliking the Fusang people.

Therefore, he couldn’t do the kind of massacre of the Fusang people.

However, if the Fusang people did this kind of thing to each other, Wu Changqing said that he couldn’t control it.

Letting them fall into a mixed war and greatly reducing the adult male population was Wu Changqing’s strategy.

When the time came, all the women of Fusang would be brought to Great Hua and married to the men of Great Hua.

After one or two generations, the Fusang ethnicity would probably be difficult to exist.

This was from an emotional point of view. From a practical point of view, Wu Changqing also needed to do this.

If those adult males weren’t consumed in large numbers, they would always remember the label of Fusang people on their bodies.

It was very difficult to assimilate ambitious adult men.

Assimilating women and children, on the other hand, was much easier.

If they wanted to govern the land of Fusang at a low cost, they had to assimilate.

Otherwise, with their fearless personality, they would rebel every now and then, and no one could stand it.

Having received Wu Changqing’s personal instructions, Qian Sule knew that he couldn’t have a large-scale decisive battle with Shimazu Mitsuhisa, let alone destroy Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

In the future, he would have to establish a good cooperative relationship with the Satsuma Domain.

It would be bad to kill too fiercely now and forge a feud.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa summoned his forty thousand troops and stationed them ten li northeast of the Hua army, putting on a posture of being ready to fight to the death.

However, he wasn’t preparing to attack the Hua army, but just to make a gesture to Great Hua.

He wanted to let Great Hua know that he still had the strength to fight back, and if provoked, he could fight to the death.

With these forty thousand troops as a backing, he once again sent an envoy to negotiate with the Hua army.

Negotiations depended on the strength of both sides, the role of eloquence was not great, and showing muscles was very important.

While negotiating, he was also delaying time. He was waiting to see if any friendly forces would come to help.

If there were, then he could be tougher in the negotiations and reduce losses. If not, then there was no way, he could only suffer more losses and spend money to avoid disaster.

This was Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s plan.

Koizumi Shinji came to the Hua army and met Qian Sule.

“Greetings, Your Excellency, the Supreme General of Great Hua.”

Koizumi Shinji said.

Qian Sule didn’t bother to dwell on the other party’s strange title and said, “Get straight to the point, what does your lord mean by mobilizing a large army? Is he going to fight or negotiate? If he wants to fight, we are ready to accompany him at any time. If he wants to negotiate, show some sincerity.”

“My lord is very sincere and is willing to agree to the Supreme General’s previous demands.”

His reply naturally failed to satisfy Qian Sule.

Qian Sule sneered, “Before was before, now is now. Our army died more than seventy soldiers and consumed more than two thousand shells to get ashore. How is this debt to be settled?”

“…”

Koizumi Shinji just wanted to curse.

They didn’t force Great Hua to attack, Great Hua picked things up on their own.

Moreover, Great Hua only died more than seventy people, but what about them? A full one thousand people died, more than two thousand were captured, and countless houses were destroyed.

Who should they go to for this loss?

Despite having a lot of reasons, Koizumi Shinji had no way to say them, anyway, it was useless to say them.

This Great Hua was clearly here to bully people.

There was no point in reasoning with robbers, they could only use force to make the other party afraid, let the other party take advantage and stop, and reach a plan that both parties considered worthwhile.

“Then what other compensation does Your Excellency want? As long as it is within a reasonable range, my lord can consider it.”

Koizumi Shinji said helplessly.

“The demands of our Great Hua are very simple and reasonable. First, hand over the murderer. Second, allow free trade. This is a right that the people of our dynasty and your people should have, and must not be obstructed. Third, in order to protect the safety of the people of our dynasty in Fusang, our dynasty must station troops in this Kagoshima. Fourth, the people of our dynasty have equal rights, such as opening factories, hiring workers, and mining minerals.”

After saying the four conditions, Koizumi Shinji was already dumbfounded.

This was simply too much.

In any case, they could not accept these four requirements.

The first one was easy to handle, this was what they were prepared to do.

But the second one was difficult to handle. They still had to accept the jurisdiction of the shogunate in name and follow the shogunate’s orders.

The shogunate required isolation, but they were playing free trade. Wasn’t this forcing them to fight against the central government? This was really difficult to accept.

They couldn’t beat Great Hua, but they couldn’t beat the shogunate either.

Chapter 607: Compromise

Although free trade was difficult to accept, there was room for compromise on this point.

For example, not mentioning free trade on the surface, but conducting free trade in secret.

This way, Great Hua could get practical benefits, and the Satsuma Domain would have an explanation for the shogunate.

Although everyone might know what was going on, having an excuse would make all the difference.

At least in this situation, the shogunate would not necessarily have to send troops to the Satsuma Domain.

But if they didn’t do this, and the Satsuma Domain openly agreed to free trade, it would be the same as negating the shogunate’s national policy. Then there would be no room for negotiation, and they would have to fight, otherwise where would the shogunate’s authority lie?

In short, although the second point was difficult, Koizumi Shinji knew that Shimazu Mitsuhisa might accept it.

But the third point was too outrageous. Kagoshima was their Satsuma Domain’s administrative center, equivalent to their domain’s capital.

To have the administrative center occupied, how could that be allowed? Wouldn’t that be like slapping Shimazu Mitsuhisa in the face?

As for the fourth point, it was even more difficult. The first three points were basically about saving face, but the last point was about real, tangible benefits.

And benefits are often more important than face.

The current Satsuma Domain was extremely backward in even handicrafts, a completely agricultural country.

This meant that they couldn’t meet their own needs for many daily necessities and luxury goods, requiring trade.

And this completely depended on the few gold mines within their territory.

As for grain, it was barely enough to satisfy the population of their own domain, with no surplus to sell.

Without these gold mines, the lives of their nobles would plummet.

The shogunate had coveted these gold mines for a long time, always wanting to seize them.

However, whenever the shogunate showed such intentions, Shimazu Mitsuhisa would put on a posture of being ready to die together.

Other issues were negotiable, but the gold mines were off the table.

“I’m afraid we can’t agree to this,” Koizumi Shinji said.

“If you can’t agree, then we’ll fight, fight until you feel you can agree, then we’ll talk again. However, by that time, we’ll have to add a demand for compensation for our military losses.”

Qian Sule continued to be unreasonable and tyrannical. Anyway, no matter how unreasonable he was, the other side wouldn’t dare to get angry and stop talking.

“Our Satsuma Domain has fifty thousand elite soldiers, and we can recruit another two hundred thousand at any time. If you want to fight, then fight. Do you really think that two hundred thousand of us can’t beat your ten thousand plus?”

Although Koizumi Shinji was afraid in his heart, he couldn’t show weakness.

“If you’re still at your previous level, two hundred thousand might not really be able to beat us. And even if you can beat us, can you accept the result of two hundred thousand deaths?

Moreover, you can recruit two hundred thousand soldiers, can’t we also transfer troops from our homeland? You think two hundred thousand is a lot, but our Great Hua has six hundred thousand regular troops, and that doesn’t include other security forces.”

Qian Sule reminded Koizumi Shinji not to say rash words. If a fight really broke out, the Satsuma Domain would have no chance.

These four demands were harsh, but they were much better than the deaths of two hundred thousand adult men.

If two hundred thousand adult men died, their Satsuma Domain would be finished.

“We have the resolve,” Koizumi Shinji said.

“Since that’s the case, then let’s try it. Some people can’t see their own limits, they always have to try to find out. I’m also very eager to see which army can fight to the death of two hundred thousand without collapsing,” Qian Sule said.

Negotiations stalled. Koizumi Shinji was really in a dilemma. Leaving was not an option, and staying exposed his own nervousness.

A weak country has no diplomacy. The weak are really helpless at the negotiating table.

“General, my lord will definitely not be able to agree to the demands you’ve made. Your side has many talented people, you must understand my lord’s difficulties.

If you sincerely want to reach an agreement, you must at least make some compromises,” Koizumi Shinji said helplessly. These words were equivalent to exposing his bottom line of being nervous and not daring to fight.

And this allowed Qian Sule and others to gain a huge advantage.

“Compromises, tell me about them,” Qian Sule said.

“First of all, to express our goodwill, we will unconditionally accept your army’s first demand,” Koizumi Shinji said with a flourish. This insignificant demand was turned into their goodwill by him.

Unfortunately for Koizumi Shinji’s eloquence, Qian Sule didn’t react at all.

Koizumi Shinji cursed inwardly while continuing, “As for the second demand, we can agree to it in principle, but it cannot be made public.

In the future, when Great Hua merchants come to our Satsuma Domain to do business, we will not set any conditions, only require them to pay taxes.”

Qian Sule nodded at this compromise, feeling it was acceptable.

What he wanted was practical benefits, there was no need to force a written stipulation in order to humiliate Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

“Third, Kagoshima is impossible, asking for Kagoshima is asking for my lord’s life. However, in order to provide your army with a place to stay, we can provide Yakushima to your troops, Tanegashima is also fine.”

Koizumi Shinji continued to play his little tricks. Yakushima was a worthless place with no good ports, not very important.

As for Tanegashima, it had already fallen into the hands of Great Hua, and he didn’t expect Great Hua to give it back. So, he simply acknowledged it on the surface, with no further actual loss.

If he could exchange it for Great Hua not stationing troops in Kagoshima, that would be a great profit.

“Continue,” Qian Sule said, preparing to listen to all of Koizumi Shinji’s suggestions at once before replying.

“Fourth, opening factories is acceptable, but mining ore is not. This is the bottom line that we can accept,” Koizumi Shinji said.

Qian Sule closed his eyes and pondered for a while.

Koizumi Shinji waited anxiously on the side, he knew that Qian Sule was weighing the situation, so he was particularly nervous.

If Qian Sule didn’t agree, then it would really be troublesome.

If a fight really broke out, it would be a catastrophe for their Satsuma Domain.

Without the deaths of tens of thousands of people, it would probably be impossible to repel the Great Hua army. This was still an optimistic estimate, pessimistically, even the deaths of tens of thousands of people might not win.

After a while, Qian Sule opened his eyes and said, “The first and second demands are acceptable. For the third, we can not station troops in Kagoshima, but we must permanently lease the Ibusuki area to station our troops. The fourth demand is non-negotiable, we must jointly share the right to explore and mine ore with you. Of course, we will not pay less in taxes.

I don’t think you have any reason to refuse this. After all, with your mining capabilities, you can’t mine that much gold anyway. We can help you mine, which can greatly increase your tax revenue.

Moreover, as long as you sign this treaty and establish friendship, our army can also provide you with a batch of high-quality knives, armor, and even muskets and cannons. This will make your strength far exceed other domains, even exceeding the shogunate.”

After saying that, Qian Sule showed a knowing smile.

Strength far exceeding other domains, hehe, this was interesting.

Chapter 608: The Land Reform Begins 1

Having strength far exceeding other domains meant one thing: the ability to shift harm onto others.

When someone suffers injustice in the face of the strong, they can only vent it on the weak. This is an international norm, a phenomenon common throughout the world.

The Satsuma Domain, having suffered losses at the hands of Great Hua, could completely rely on the weapons provided by Great Hua to then plunder the territories, wealth, and population of other domains, thereby making up for their own losses.

Moreover, as long as they were ruthless, vicious, and cruel enough, they might even profit in addition to making up for their losses.

Although Shimazu Mitsuhisa might know that Great Hua had ill intentions, he couldn’t resist such temptation.

Koizumi Shinji pondered Qian Sule’s demands, sighing inwardly.

He felt that this might be Qian Sule’s bottom line.

And this demand, he believed, Shimazu Mitsuhisa would still find difficult to accept.

After all, Ibusuki was located at the exit of Kagoshima Bay, completely capable of controlling ships entering and exiting Kagoshima Bay.

Ceding Ibusuki was equivalent to handing over the maritime trade routes entirely to Great Hua.

If other foreigners wanted to do business with the Satsuma Domain, they would probably have to look to Great Hua’s face; otherwise, their goods could be intercepted at any moment.

As for Qian Sule’s statement that they currently lacked the capacity to mine so many gold mines, while true, these gold mines could be mined later.

As a power, it was impossible not to consider long-term development, not to think of extracting all the gold mines at once. They would definitely want to conserve them. Why would they need Great Hua’s help?

Koizumi Shinji returned to the military camp with the negotiation results. As expected, Shimazu Mitsuhisa angrily overturned the table.

“Too much! This is simply too much!”

“Ceding territory, opening up gold mine exploitation rights—are these things a human would do? If we really do this, then does the Satsuma Domain belong to us, or to Great Hua?”

After venting, Shimazu Mitsuhisa sat dejectedly on the ground. He didn’t have the courage to make the decision to fight Great Hua to the death.

“Let’s delay it first and see if anyone will come to help us. If not, we can only agree,” Shimazu Mitsuhisa sighed.

The Great Hua Daily reported that the Great Hua Expeditionary Force had captured Tanegashima and successfully landed in Kagoshima.

While these news stories attracted the attention of the nation, the land reform, which was even more important and had a greater impact on Great Hua, had begun.

After a period of research and discussion, the cabinet and the Land Reform Committee reached a final plan.

Next, people would be sent to all parts of the country to implement it.

The first place to be affected was naturally the area around Nanjing.

In Hexi Village, Li Yao, with several staff members, was conducting land measurement with land registers in hand.

Some landlords had only one hundred and several dozen mu of land listed on the register, but in reality, they had at least ten to twenty percent more, or even one to two times more.

There was no most outrageous, only more outrageous. Heaven knows how much tax these people had underpaid, causing how much financial loss to the imperial court.

Otherwise, how could an ordinary landlord’s family, relying solely on selling grain each year, have tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of taels of silver stored in their cellars?

People cannot get rich without ill-gotten wealth, and horses cannot grow fat without grazing at night. Without doing something illegal, how could wealth be accumulated so easily?

Even those large factories in Nanjing, with advanced technology, inevitably did something illegal when making money.

For example, deducting wages, not compensating workers for injuries, and evading taxes.

And in rural areas, where the central imperial court’s management was weak, there were even more kinds of illegal activities.

In every dynasty, one often finds that the tax rates set by the imperial court seem not high, but the people at the bottom still live in dire straits.

This is actually easy to understand. The rulers in the central imperial court want to live well, and so do the local officials.

If the imperial court wants one-tenth of the harvest, the local officials dare to collect two-tenths.

Besides the officials wanting to live well, so do the landlords.

If the government dares to collect two-tenths from them, they can collect three-tenths from the people.

Layer upon layer of exploitation will ultimately be added to the class being exploited.

Farmers, tenant farmers, artisans, and so on.

“Have you investigated clearly? Do you know which lands belong to Qin Hao’s family?”

Li Yao asked a man with a missing left hand next to him. This was a disabled soldier who had been assigned to the countryside as a security chief.

On the surface, he was maintaining law and order, but in reality, he had many things to do.

For example, now, cooperating with the imperial court’s land reform.

It was not easy for people from the central government to know which lands belonged to the landlords. The local people were quite afraid of the landlords and might not dare to report them.

They were afraid that once these officials left, they would be retaliated against by the landlords.

Moreover, the people actually distrusted the officials of this era. Heaven knows if they were in cahoots with the landlords and would carry out so-called reforms to entrap them.

If they really believed it and reported, exposing their dissatisfaction with the landlords, it would be difficult to get through this hurdle if the landlords caught wind of it.

Perhaps the original few mu of land would have to be offered up to avoid disaster, turning from a self-sufficient farmer into a tenant farmer.

It was difficult to rely on the people’s cooperation.

At this time, those retired soldiers came into play.

They had stayed in the countryside for a long time and must know a lot about local affairs, making it easier to investigate.

And these people who had fought on the battlefield would naturally not be afraid of a landlord.

If they suffered injustice and bullying, the army would stand up for them.

“Basically, everything has been figured out. For example, this piece in front of us is not on the register. Because when it was registered, this piece of land had not yet been reclaimed. And after it was reclaimed later, I don’t know what method Qin Hao used to avoid registration,” Xue Hu pointed to a paddy field in front of him, which looked to be about five or six mu.

“First measure and register it, and then have a good talk with our Landlord Qin,” Li Yao said with a sneer.

The regulations from above did not allow for forced seizure, but there was a prerequisite: that the landlord had not violated the law and would actively cooperate.

If they had committed a crime, then there would be variables, depending on the specific land reform members.

Some were more lenient and would not bother to pursue it.

Some were stricter and could use it as an excuse to severely punish the landlord or confiscate their land and property.

Then there were landlords who gave the person in charge of the land reform a sum of money and escaped the disaster.

Or they gave the person in charge of the land reform a large sum of money and used this land reform to cheat ordinary people again.

In short, Great Hua was too big, and no matter what happened on this land, don’t be surprised.

When the forest grows large, all kinds of birds can be found.

Just as they were about to measure the land, several ruffians walked over with wooden sticks.

Looking at these people, Li Yao sneered inwardly.

What was meant to come, would eventually come.

Chapter 609: Land Reform in Progress 2

“You’re not allowed to measure! This is my family’s land, what’s there to measure?”

A leading young man stood in front of the surveyors.

“How dare you! We are officials of the court! Do you know the crime of obstructing official business? The light punishment is one hundred strokes of the rod, and the heavy punishment is exile for three thousand li!”

Li Yao shouted loudly.

This angry roar frightened the group of ruffians. Usually, in front of honest farmers, they were naturally arrogant and domineering, acting as if they feared nothing in heaven or earth.

But in reality, they were just a bunch of cowards who looked fierce but were timid at heart.

The mere title of court official from Li Yao made them feel uneasy.

“So what? We’re not obstructing official business. If you want to measure, go measure the landlord’s land, don’t come and measure the land of us poor farmers.”

The instruction given to the rascal Li Qing was to interfere and obstruct as much as possible, and to cause trouble for the land reform personnel.

“Call the troops.”

Li Yao said, and one of his men blew a whistle.

Someone with a better temper might have reasoned with Li Qing and the others, or tried to prove that Li Qing and the others were not the owners of the land, putting them in the wrong.

That would be a more proper approach, making it easier to convince people.

But Li Yao, with his fiery temper, would never bother with such nonsense.

In his view, he was doing a great undertaking that benefited the country and the people, and this rascal dared to come and cause trouble, truly deserving death.

Even if Li Yao was convinced that these were ruffians, even if he wronged them, Li Yao would not have a trace of guilt.

During the reform process, it was impossible to achieve perfection.

Harsh measures, accidentally hurting a small number of people, were completely acceptable. As long as the great achievement of land reform was completed, the merits would naturally outweigh the demerits.

This kind of personality was certainly not very good.

But it must be said that in terms of efficiency, few people were as effective as him.

Before Li Qing and the others could even start acting like rascals or obstructing official business, Li Yao ordered the troops cooperating with the land reform to be called in.

Regardless of whether Li Qing and the others were wrong or not, they would be beaten up first.

For a time, screams and cries for mercy echoed in the fields, making some of the onlookers in the distance feel a chill down their spines.

This god of death in front of them was absolutely not to be trifled with.

In the Qin family’s residence, Qin Hao was pacing back and forth, as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

Damn the imperial court, they actually stipulated that a portion of land above fifty mu would be subject to higher taxes, which was simply unreasonable.

However, he, a small landlord, was like a local tyrant in Hexi Village, but he was helpless in the face of the court’s policies.

Sending ruffians to cause trouble was his last act of defiance. At least, it proved that he still wanted to resist.

“Master, something bad has happened! Li Qing and the others were beaten up by the army, Li Qing’s leg was broken, and he’s still lying in the field unable to move. Er Gouzi and the others said that we must add some medical expenses this time, otherwise they will turn themselves in and expose you, Master.”

The steward ran over to report the latest bad news.

“Outrageous! Outrageous!”

Qin Hao cursed angrily, not knowing whether he was cursing Li Yao or Li Qing.

“Master, what do we do?”

The steward asked.

“How much do they want?”

Qin Hao decided to spend some money. At this time, he must not leave any more handles for the land reform officials.

“Twenty yuan,” the steward said.

“These bastards, wait until this storm passes, and I’ll skin them alive.”

Qin Hao cursed, and then asked the steward to take twenty yuan.

However, in the end, Li Qing and the others only received fifteen yuan, because Li Qing only wanted ten yuan. Then, the steward gave them an extra five yuan as hush money, and he pocketed five yuan for himself.

After surveying, Li Yao confirmed that Qin Hao’s family had a total of three hundred and thirty-five mu of land, of which forty-eight mu were unreported.

Then, he came to Qin Hao’s house to announce the decision.

“The unreported forty-eight mu will be confiscated directly as a warning. I hope Qin Yuanwai will remember this lesson and abide by the law in the future. The remaining two hundred and eighty-seven mu will be subject to the new tax rate starting from the last ten days of September. Qin Yuanwai has no objection to this, right?”

Li Yao asked.

“Sir, these forty-odd mu of land were just not reported in time. I will report them immediately. Please show mercy, sir.”

Qin Hao pleaded, but seeing Li Yao’s expressionless face, he knew that he was begging in vain.

“Qin Yuanwai, let me be frank with you. This time, His Majesty’s determination to reform is unshakable. You must not harbor any illusions. No one can change this policy.

Therefore, I advise you to sell your land as soon as possible and go to the city to do business. Business is good in the city now, and many people are making money. If you really don’t want to, keeping fifty or one hundred mu of land will still allow you to live well.”

After saying that, Li Yao left directly, as he still had to go to the next village.

As soon as Li Yao left, Qin Hao fell into a dilemma.

Just as Li Yao had guessed, he had indeed harbored illusions before, hoping that some ministers in the court would stand up to stop it.

However, Li Yao’s words just now made him waver.

Could any minister really stop His Majesty’s determination?

The current Emperor was a hegemon who had fought his way out of thousands of troops. Did those sycophants who only knew how to surrender have the courage to fight the Emperor?

Qin Hao was somewhat fearful of Wu Changqing, who was already becoming a mythical figure. At the same time, he recalled that the Liu family in the neighboring township had been selling land on a large scale some time ago, and he suddenly understood.

The Liu family had someone in the court, but they still chose to sell their land. Didn’t this mean that the minister in the Liu family’s court had given up struggling? Otherwise, why would they sell their land?

You should know that merging these lands was not just a matter of words, it required a lot of operations and a lot of time and energy.

Having figured this out, Qin Hao decided to sell his land as well. Anyway, business in the city was indeed profitable now, and he also had a shop in the city.

Turning the land into money and opening a few more shops in the city would be about the same.

However, when Qin Hao released the news and contacted a few friends to say that he wanted to sell his land, he wanted to cry.

Land that was originally worth twenty yuan per mu instantly dropped to five yuan.

And that was just the price offered by some speculators. If they didn’t offer a price, relying on selling to the common people would be even worse.

The common people were willing to spend more money to buy land, anyway, anything below fifty mu was worth it.

But the problem was that they didn’t have that much money to buy it. Who knew that the price of land would suddenly plummet so badly today? If they had known, they wouldn’t have taken a wife last year, and saved the money to buy a few more mu while they had the chance.

And now, those who would still buy land were mostly speculators.

These speculators wanted to gamble, betting that the court’s policy could not be fully implemented. When that time came, the batch of land in their hands would be a fortune.

Chapter 610: The Land Reform in Progress 3

Qin Hao was considered a relatively honest landlord and didn’t put up fierce resistance.

But in other places, some landlords resisted strongly.

Not everyone could see the court’s determination from the decrees. Some even thought that making a fuss might make the officials back down.

Such things had happened before.

In Hedong Village, separated from Hexi Village by a river, the large landlord Wu Zhaoshen organized his household guards to beat up the land reform workers who were trying to measure his land.

One land reform official suffered a head wound, bleeding profusely, and another had his leg broken.

Upon hearing the news, Li Yao immediately contacted Company Commander Zhang, who was cooperating with his land reform efforts, and demanded that Company Commander Zhang use the harshest means to suppress the resistance. He emphasized the words “harshest means.”

This meant that even those with minor offenses should be severely punished to serve as a warning to others.

The land reform had just begun, and there could be no sign of weakness.

People bully the weak and fear the strong. Showing a tough stance now would deter those hesitant onlookers.

If they showed any hesitation or weakness now, the landlords would resist even more fiercely. After all, no one wanted to suffer such a huge loss for nothing.

Company Commander Zhang, having received Li Yao’s instructions, had no choice but to obey.

Without a word, he led his men to Wu Zhaoshen’s house. Without any preamble, they smashed open the gate. Anyone who resisted, or even those who had weapons and attempted to resist, were killed without exception.

The armed force of an ordinary landlord’s family was no match for the regular Hua army.

They didn’t even have time to fire a shot or swing a knife before they were taken down by the soldiers.

After all, the household guards would hesitate before acting, considering the consequences of going against the government.

But the soldiers who had been through the battlefield dared not hesitate for even a moment. On the battlefield, hesitation could mean death.

In less than two minutes, the battle was over.

The Wu family was in a terrible state.

Those with weapons, of course, were dead.

Even those without weapons died, which was also normal. Knives and guns have no eyes, and there were plenty of accidental injuries.

To avoid casualties among their own soldiers, they would even throw a grenade into a room before attacking.

Those inside the room were extremely unlucky, not even having a chance to surrender.

In short, twenty-three of the dozens of people in the Wu family compound died in those short two minutes.

The rest were all kneeling on the street, tied up.

The cries of women, the pleas of men, and the wails of children rose and fell.

Wu Zhaoshen was taken to the village center, and the army notified all the villagers to come and denounce Wu Zhaoshen’s crimes.

There was no need to worry about no one coming forward. Li Yao directly said that anyone who spoke out about being oppressed by Wu Zhaoshen would receive corresponding compensation.

Now, even those who hadn’t been bullied before would make up a story.

Anyway, many things were impossible to verify, so as long as the story sounded plausible.

In no time, Wu Zhaoshen became an unforgivable, heartless villain.

Although somewhat exaggerated, it wasn’t entirely unjust.

After the crowd’s accusations, Wu Zhaoshen was publicly beheaded, and his head was hung at the entrance of the village.

The bodies of other resisters were also hung up as a warning to others.

This was the hard approach. After killing to establish authority, Li Yao conducted policy propaganda in the village.

“Wu Zhaoshen was extremely wicked, exploiting the people and resisting the court. He deserved to die ten thousand times. After his death, his land will be returned to the people by the government at extremely low prices.

However, it should be noted that each family can only purchase up to fifty mu to avoid becoming new landlords. If you are too poor to afford it, it doesn’t matter. The government will rent the land to you at extremely low prices.

This is because His Majesty cares about the suffering of the people and is determined to…”

This policy naturally won the cheers and support of the people.

This was also why Li Yao dared to offend those landlords. At most, there were only one or two landlords in a village, while there were hundreds or thousands of common people.

Offending one landlord to gain the support of thousands of people, was there any need to worry about trouble?

Without the help of the people, what could a few landlords do?

Li Yao’s bloody methods directly frightened the landlords in the surrounding area, their legs trembling.

Too brutal, even more brutal than the corrupt officials of the past.

The remaining landlords had to carefully consider whether their courtyard walls could withstand the army’s cannons before resisting.

The result was obvious.

For a time, the landlords who had been preparing to resist decided to swallow their anger and wait and see.

And this was the effect Li Yao wanted.

As long as these guys were temporarily honest, it would be easy to complete the land reform.

If they didn’t unite in righteous indignation to resist during this period, they would be even less likely to have such determination after this period.

Moreover, the longer the time dragged on, the more landlords would sell their land.

Once they sold their land, they would no longer be in the same camp as the original landlords.

In short, time was both a medicine and a poison, which could slowly disintegrate the will of those landlords and make them accept reality.

Even if Li Yao’s methods were extremely brutal.

But there were still a very small number of landlords who were audacious and incorrigible, preparing to rather die than submit.

Then, a large portion of their household guards immediately fled.

The household guards weren’t stupid. When Company Commander Zhang rushed into the Wu family compound, the first to die were the resisting household guards. Wu Zhaoshen, on the other hand, lived for another hour or two.

If the family property belonged to those household guards, they might have risked their lives.

But this family property belonged to the landlord, so what reason did they have to die for it?

If they were really willing to give up their lives, why didn’t they join the army in the first place?

The possibility of death was smaller, and the benefits were greater.

Without the help of the household guards, the landlords were all alone, helpless.

Not to mention resisting the court’s army, their homes were burglarized that very night. Without enough household guards to watch the door and protect the house, they were perfect targets for the hooligans.

Moreover, now that the government was wholeheartedly focused on land reform, they didn’t even have the mind to care about these hooligans. It was a great opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

On the first day, they only stole.

After discovering that there was no danger, they became bolder on the second day and turned to robbery.

These landlords who tried to resist the government to the end were taught a lesson by the rascals before the government even arrived.

Land reform seemed to be just a land reform, but it affected all aspects.

Chapter 611: Influence

The landlords were fighting back with all their might, and the officials who supported them were also struggling to survive.

Less than three days after the land reform began, more than a dozen memorials impeaching Li Yao had already been submitted. They furiously denounced Li Yao for disregarding rules and procedures, abusing force, indiscriminately slaughtering the innocent, and causing extreme public resentment…

Wu Changqing shelved all of these without comment.

Public resentment?

He hadn’t heard any of that. On the contrary, he’d heard many people praising the reforms.

The only ones who were angry were those landlords.

Wu Changqing would not punish Li Yao at this critical juncture. He had long anticipated, and even authorized, the use of some force during the land reform process.

There’s a saying: “One doesn’t shed tears until one sees the coffin.” This isn’t just a joke people make when they’re full and have nothing better to do; it’s a lesson learned from countless examples.

Some people simply won’t listen to reason without the use of force.

Wu Changqing’s tacit approval of Li Yao and his methods caused many ministers in the court to groan inwardly.

This attitude was far too obvious. He clearly intended to carry out the land reform to the end and completely eliminate the landlord class.

Many officials couldn’t imagine what it would be like if this class, which had existed for over two thousand years, suddenly disappeared.

Would the court become wealthier? Would the common people live better lives? Or would a new batch of landlords emerge over time? Or would the landlords who had lost their land unite and rebel?

No one knew for the time being.

Where would these landlords, who had lost vast amounts of land, go in the future?

This change had actually already appeared in Great Hua, but it was relatively small and didn’t seem obvious.

Previously, because of the profits to be made from doing business, many daring landlords had already sold their land and raised capital to enter the commercial world.

And with the issuance of the land reform order, even more landlords entered the market.

After all, not everyone was so tough that they dared to fight the government.

Many landlords were also resigned to their fate. If they couldn’t beat the court, they would respond to the court’s call and invest in business. It was just a change of lifestyle, better than dying in the land reform.

However, people who knew how to farm didn’t necessarily know how to do business.

A large amount of capital poured into the market, and for a time, they couldn’t find suitable projects. This capital would become blind and invest in some unprofitable areas.

Nanjing, Qinhuai Street, in a certain building.

Xu Fu and Wei Hong stood on the stage and lectured, while the audience was full of merchants and former landlords.

They were all attracted by the grand vision described by Xu Fu.

Invest for one year and get a fifty percent profit, and you can continue to profit for decades.

This kind of profit could drive people crazy. It meant that assets could double in less than two years.

For traditional landlords, doubling their assets often took several years. If it was a large family business, it would take more than a decade, or even longer.

And now, a business with a fifty percent profit was in front of them. How could they not be tempted?

“In a few years, there will be no more horses on every street and official road in Great Hua. There will only be steam locomotives driving automatically.

A BMW costs one thousand yuan. It’s not too much to charge two thousand yuan for our steam locomotive, right? As long as one in ten thousand people in Great Hua buy a steam locomotive, we can sell ten thousand vehicles, and the sales will be twenty million yuan.

Is it possible that only one in ten thousand people will buy one?

There are only a thousand people on this Qinhuai Street, but there are more than one hundred and thirty BMWs…”

Xu Fu constantly listed various real or false survey data, making people’s blood boil.

Smart people could see that Xu Fu was changing the concept.

People who could live on Qinhuai Street were originally rich people, so of course there were more BMWs. If you go to the slums to count, there wouldn’t be a single BMW in an area of tens of thousands of people.

People who weren’t careful were often easily fooled by this kind of data.

This kind of rhetoric was very common in Xu Fu’s speeches and descriptions.

And some people who saw through Xu Fu’s tricks didn’t expose him.

Because Xu Fu had already explained his fundraising method, which was to sell a total of ten thousand stock certificates, each for two hundred yuan.

Of course, this wasn’t the key. The key was that these certificates could be freely traded privately. When it came time to distribute profits in the future, anyone holding a stock certificate could share the dividends proportionally.

This was interesting. That is to say, if someone thought this thing was worth more than two hundred yuan and was willing to spend two hundred and fifty yuan to buy it, then there would be fifty yuan in profit.

And some smart people had already seen that after Xu Fu’s repeated hype, there were many people who believed that this project could make a lot of money.

Therefore, a share of two hundred and fifty yuan was completely acceptable to some people.

Today was the day Xu Fu publicly issued stocks.

He came up with a very tantalizing way to buy tickets: a lottery.

People who wanted to buy these stocks couldn’t just buy them if they had money; they also had to rely on luck.

Everyone first declared their quota, and then received the corresponding number of tickets. Finally, Xu Fu and his team would draw some winning numbers from the tickets.

People who won the lottery could buy a prescribed amount of stock. As for those who didn’t win, sorry, they could only wait for others to sell. If no one sold, in Xu Fu’s words, it was a pity that this dreamlike business had nothing to do with you.

Xu Fu came up with this sales method, saying that it was because there were too many people who wanted to buy stocks, and they didn’t need so much investment at all.

As a last resort, in order to be fair and not favor anyone, they adopted this method, and everyone relied on luck.

But in reality, it was just to create the illusion that this thing was very, very precious and rare.

Look, you can’t buy this thing even if you have money. Hurry up!

This kind of routine was quite tempting for the old moneybags who were just preparing to enter the business world.

However, to the disappointment of these old moneybags, most of them had very bad luck.

A large number of stocks were bought by other merchants. Only a very small number of old moneybags were lucky enough to buy a few.

Naturally, there was no such thing as such a coincidence in the world.

Most of these people who bought stocks were smart people who knew Xu Fu’s tricks and cooperated to a certain extent.

And these stocks were Xu Fu’s reward.

Two hundred yuan a piece, that was nothing.

According to Xu Fu’s estimate, after going through the process according to his routine, this thing would be hyped up to at least five hundred yuan a piece.

Therefore, buying it now for two hundred yuan was extremely cost-effective, as long as someone took over later.

Would someone take over later?

Looking at the landlords who looked like they had missed out on one hundred million because they didn’t win the lottery, those who successfully bought the stocks laughed. It seemed that there was no need to worry at all, just wait for the other party to send the money to their door.

Chapter 612: Impact 2

The impact of land reform goes far beyond just that.

Many changes that seem unrelated to land reform are actually due to it.

For example, some factories have started to increase the wages of their skilled workers and core management.

This isn’t because capitalists have suddenly developed a benevolent heart, feeling that the workers have worked hard and wanting to reward the working class.

It’s purely because of competition between capitalists, which has benefited ordinary workers.

A large number of landlords who lost their land and received cash in hand flooded the market with their money, investing in factories and various industries.

However, running a factory isn’t just about having money; you also need technology and skilled workers.

Is it easier and more cost-effective to cultivate your own talent, or to poach existing talent from other factories?

Previously, capitalists, without any competition, only needed to pay a skilled worker two yuan a month and then profit five yuan from that worker.

But the newly arrived capitalists took out their abacuses and calculated that the cost of training a new skilled worker would be four yuan, leaving them with a profit of only three yuan.

If they could easily poach a skilled worker with a monthly salary of three yuan, they could immediately earn a profit of four yuan from that worker.

The choice was obvious.

The blindness of capital was once again highlighted.

Ideally, what these capitalists should have done at this time was sit down together and discuss a plan where the original bosses would give the new bosses a compensation of 0.5 yuan per worker per month.

This way, the original capitalists could still earn 4.5 yuan, and the newcomers could earn 3.5 yuan without poaching, which would be acceptable to everyone.

This way, the cost of hiring a worker could always be controlled at two yuan, and everyone would profit together.

However, in reality, not all capitalists can be completely united; they also have internal struggles.

To have everyone sit down together and discuss how to exploit workers requires a strong organization, like the capitalist governments of later generations.

A group of businessmen form a government and then regularly sit together to study how to get rich and how to oppress the lower classes.

With a strong organization, these businessmen can always reach a tacit understanding and exploit workers together, thereby avoiding competition among themselves.

Currently, Great Hua doesn’t have such a strong organization of businessmen. The imperial court still belongs to a feudal dynasty, and power is controlled by Wu Changqing, not yet seized by the merchant class.

According to the laws of historical development, as industry and commerce develop, the power of merchants will become stronger and stronger.

Then, the contradiction between the emerging bourgeoisie and the feudal monarchy will become irreconcilable.

Finally, the merchants will unite to overthrow Wu Changqing and establish a constitutional monarchy, or even abolish the emperor and directly transition to a capitalist country.

The world is bustling, all for profit; the world is bustling, all for gain.

As long as Wu Changqing resolutely opposes the merchants, this kind of resistance will definitely occur.

As for who will win in the end, it’s hard to say.

Wu Changqing has the advantage of foresight and can always be prepared to suppress the sparks of resistance while they are still weak.

The merchants also have advantages, namely, their numbers.

Once industry and commerce are highly developed, their influence will be embedded in every corner of society.

However, those are things for the future.

Currently, the merchants of Great Hua do not yet have a strong, unified organization, so such negotiations are difficult to achieve.

The original factory owners are unwilling to inexplicably subsidize the new bosses by 0.5 yuan, and the newcomers are unwilling to earn only 3.5 yuan; isn’t four yuan more appealing?

Currently, merchants only have some chambers of commerce, which occasionally sit together to study how to squeeze more oil from the lower classes, reaching some compromises to avoid malicious competition.

And the batch of landlords now pouring in are precisely the old rich who haven’t had time to join the chambers of commerce.

Therefore, they can’t be bothered to communicate with other merchants and choose to poach workers for their own personal gain.

After they brutally break the rules, the original factory owners have no choice but to raise wages to cope and protect their interests.

When the snipe and clam fight, the fisherman benefits.

Workers who couldn’t get a raise even when they waved wrenches and hammers in the past are now getting a raise for no apparent reason, which is truly the impermanence of the world.

Those who don’t see the impact of land reform may continue to live their lives as usual.

But some who have discovered this impact can find business opportunities in it.

Some far-sighted merchants feel that after this wave of land reform, the growth rate of luxury goods sales may slow down, while the demand for low-end products will increase significantly.

This is because a large number of landlords have seen their wealth shrink, and their sources of income will become more unstable.

This will suppress their desire to consume and reduce their consumption of unnecessary luxury goods.

And this group of people has always been the main force of luxury consumption.

Once their desire to consume decreases, the luxury goods business will not be as good as before.

However, because ordinary people can obtain a large amount of land, their wealth increases, and they will have extra money after eating their fill, making them relatively well-off.

At that time, buying a slightly better fabric to make a new dress or buying a mirror to bring home and please their wives will become reasonable.

As the consumption power of ordinary people increases, the demand for low-end products will usher in an explosion.

It’s still not too late to enter the market now and make a fortune.

Moreover, if this land reform policy can be fully implemented, the consumption power of the people can remain stable in the future, and low-end products will always have a market, so these businesses can be done for a long time.

Although the profit of low-end products is low, the market is huge.

How many rich people are there in the whole country, while the base of ordinary people at the bottom is terrifying, and they can completely take the path of small profits but quick turnover.

The impact of land reform is liked by some and hated by others.

The original landlords naturally hate it and wish a new hero would stand up and call for action.

Then, they would not hesitate to pay to support him.

Unfortunately, no such figure has yet appeared in Great Hua.

And the people, turning over to become masters of their own destiny, naturally welcome this policy with gongs and drums.

As the news of land reform gradually spreads, more and more people actively cooperate with the land reform personnel to fight local tyrants and distribute land.

The merchant class, on the other hand, has some who benefit from it and some who suffer losses, so their attitudes are polarized.

Some support it, and some oppose it.

However, regardless of whether they support or oppose it, no one dares to stand up and take the lead in calling for action.

And that’s enough for Wu Changqing.

As long as their dissatisfaction is kept in their hearts, this dissatisfaction will slowly disappear over time.

Chapter 613: Stocks

Night fell in the imperial palace, inside the Bearing Palace.

Wu Changqing and Sun Yunxuan had just finished their lovemaking and were chatting idly before sleep.

A little pillow talk was necessary to maintain their relationship. He wouldn’t want to just hop off the bed after a quick romp and leave, like a rooster, acting like a beast.

“I heard there’s a newfangled thing in the city called stocks. It’s all the rage. They say if you can buy some, you can just sit back and count the money as the stock value rises. The little eunuch who serves me, Xiao Chunzi, wanted to buy a share to make some pocket money, but he couldn’t even get one. They’re so sought after.”

Sun Yunxuan wasn’t just bringing this up for idle chatter. Her father, Sun Daoming, wanted her to get a sense of the Emperor’s opinion on the matter.

Sun Daoming wanted to know if this stock thing was worth getting involved in.

Xu Fu’s tricks might fool some simple-minded landlords and wealthy merchants.

But someone as well-informed and worldly as Sun Daoming could see through Xu Fu’s scam at a glance.

However, he didn’t expose it. He wanted to know Wu Changqing’s take on the whole thing.

If Wu Changqing approved, then he could play this game too.

And if he entered the game, he wouldn’t be like Xu Fu, just making a small profit of two million and calling it quits. He would do it more cleverly and make much more money.

For example, he could create a real project and run a long-term scam.

Instead of like Xu Fu and his crew, who created a project that was never going to work and would be exposed in a couple of months.

Moreover, Sun Daoming even thought that even without scamming the shareholders, this method of raising funds was still valuable and had its merits.

It could gather scattered funds to do great things and make big money.

Taking out a loan from a bank required paying high interest, while raising funds through stocks was much cheaper and less risky.

Anyway, if it lost money, the shareholders would bear the burden.

Sun Daoming wanted to play with such a good fundraising method.

But he was cautious, knowing that this method was in a legal gray area.

There were no laws saying it was forbidden, but there were also no laws saying it was allowed.

Rushing into it rashly could lead to trouble.

So, Sun Daoming used his own advantages, having Sun Yunxuan probe Wu Changqing’s opinion.

“Stocks?”

Wu Changqing was slightly surprised.

There had been partnerships and shares before, but those were collaborations between a few acquaintances and friends. They weren’t called stocks, and they weren’t traded on the open market.

But the stocks that Sun Yunxuan was talking about already had the flavor of stocks from his later life.

“Yes, like the stocks issued by the Jinling Steam Engine Company. They say the steam engine has a very bright future and can make a lot of money. So their stocks are very valuable. Once you buy them, you can just sit back and wait for dividends every year…”

As Sun Yunxuan explained what she knew, Wu Changqing immediately understood.

The key was the words “steam engine,” which caught his attention. This was a direction he knew wouldn’t work.

He remembered that at the Science and Technology Expo, he had clearly pointed out that this thing was unreliable, but now someone was still messing with it. It was clear that they didn’t trust him.

More importantly, this guy was actually using this as a gimmick to swindle money, which was simply intolerable.

Although he was swindling the landlords’ money, landlords also had human rights. In Wu Changqing’s eyes, they were all his subjects.

Wu Changqing just didn’t want them to occupy large amounts of land and wanted all his subjects to be a little more equal. He didn’t have any problem with the landlord class as a whole.

“This is a deceptive trick…”

Wu Changqing showed off his knowledge in front of Sun Yunxuan.

He usually wouldn’t show off so obviously in front of ministers or other people, as it would damage his wise and mighty image.

But in front of his own woman, he didn’t need to worry so much.

An occasional display of knowledge was a nice feeling.

“Your Majesty is so amazing, you saw through it at a glance…”

Wu Changqing got what he wanted. Sun Yunxuan’s cooperation and praise made him feel comfortable.

“The guy who came up with this stock thing is quite clever, but he’s also a bad person. I didn’t think this thing would appear so quickly. It seems there are quite a few financial talents among the people.”

Wu Changqing complained.

And Sun Yunxuan also got Wu Changqing’s attitude towards stocks, which was disapproval.

This could be considered avoiding a landmine for her family. If they rashly stepped into it, they might get blown up.

The next day, Wu Changqing summoned the Intelligence Bureau and asked them to thoroughly investigate the ins and outs of the stock matter.

This wasn’t a secret matter. In Nanjing, stocks were already being traded quite enthusiastically.

So, the Intelligence Bureau easily obtained the details about stocks and presented them to Wu Changqing.

Looking at the report submitted by the Intelligence Bureau, Wu Changqing had a clear understanding of the whole matter.

“This guy is a financial talent, but it’s a pity he’s not a good person.”

Wu Changqing complained.

Xu Fu was putting on an act for his own personal gain, turning everyone around in circles, he certainly wasn’t a good person.

In the past, he would have hated such unscrupulous merchants who didn’t do business honestly.

But now, he was reluctant to arrest Xu Fu and kill him or anything like that. After all, this guy could create a stock trading system from scratch, which was clearly a talent.

He had a unique understanding of finance and a keen sense of smell.

“This is simple, Your Majesty can use him to do things first, and then settle the score with him when you don’t need him anymore.”

Feng Debao made a suggestion after hearing Wu Changqing’s sigh.

His suggestion was quite tempting.

“You’re even worse than him.”

Wu Changqing complained.

Using others first and then turning against them later was something that bad guys or villains should do.

Moreover, they often didn’t have a good ending and were easily retaliated against by the person they used.

However, Wu Changqing knew that this was the most suitable way for him to handle it.

“This old servant is naturally as bad as he can be to outsiders. As long as it can help Your Majesty, this old servant can do anything, no matter how bad.”

Feng Debao simply admitted his badness. Throughout history, emperors needed a few bad people by their side.

Anyway, his badness was directed at outsiders. As long as he maintained sufficient loyalty to the Emperor, there was no problem.

“Then you go and handle this matter. Do it as beautifully as possible. Don’t make too much noise. It’s best to resolve it silently and try to recover the losses of those who have been deceived as much as possible.”

Wu Changqing instructed.

Those landlords who honestly sold their land and prepared to do business were a relatively docile group who were willing to accept their fate.

They were already pitiful enough. If they were deceived like this, they would be even more pitiful.

Chapter 614: Capital Surplus

Solving the stock market scam is easy; just arrest Xu Fu, and it’s done.

However, solving the problem of capital surplus is difficult.

Silver is money, and more money isn’t always better. Ideally, the amount of money should be slightly more than the total value of goods in society, but not too much more.

Currently, Great Hua is vaguely experiencing a silver surplus.

For the past century, overseas silver has been continuously flowing in, but most of it has been hoarded in cellars by landlords and gentry.

Since it wasn’t circulating in the market, the problem wasn’t significant. There were even times when there was a shortage of currency.

But Wu Changqing, with his standard currency and the current land reform, forced those people to dig out their money, and it all flooded into the market at once.

As a result, Great Hua is now experiencing a capital surplus. On the surface, capital surplus looks like inflation, with too much money in circulation.

However, there is a difference between the two. During inflation, everyone has too much money, leading to rising prices for goods.

But with a capital surplus, only a certain group of people have a lot of money that they can’t spend, and the prices of goods in the market haven’t risen too much.

This money is concentrated in the hands of a few people, so it’s impossible to digest it through consumption alone. The only options are investment or burying it back in the cellar.

Burying it in the cellar will only lead to gradual devaluation, while most merchants who invest make money. Given this comparison, the wealthy will naturally find the choice easy.

But the problem is that the speed at which Great Hua is cultivating talent can’t keep up with the speed of social development.

Those people have money but can’t find the right talent to invest in various industries.

And some infrastructure projects that urgently need money but don’t have good development prospects aren’t attractive to the wealthy.

For example, building official roads. How can you get a return on that investment? You can’t just set up toll stations on the road.

Not being able to spend this money is a big problem.

The most direct impact is naturally the dissatisfaction of this group of people with Great Hua.

Great Hua seized their land and deprived them of their livelihoods but didn’t arrange new ways for them to get rich. They will definitely be anxious and angry.

The only way to completely solve this problem is to wait for more talent to be cultivated.

And during this waiting period, a way must be found to solve their immediate needs.

Establishing a stock market is one way to solve this problem, and countries all over the world use it in later generations.

With a stock market, these people can throw their idle money into the stock market and create the illusion that they are very rich.

This money is only money when it’s in the stock market.

For example, if the entire stock market has a total value of ten billion, this ten billion is a virtual wealth. If all the shareholders suddenly want to cash out and turn this ten billion into cash to buy things,

They will find that, oh, pork that used to cost one yuan per 500g now costs two yuan per 500g, and after calculating with their fingers, it seems that the money they cashed out doesn’t help improve their lives at all.

They originally thought they were richer, but in reality, nothing has changed.

Real wealth depends on the quantity of goods. If there are only so many goods, printing more money is meaningless.

The beauty of the stock market is that, under normal circumstances, not all shareholders will cash out at the same time.

This money stays in the stock market, which will not cause too much fluctuation in social prices, and can also give shareholders the illusion that they are very rich.

Moreover, it’s not particularly fake. As long as everyone doesn’t cash out at the same time, individuals can indeed turn the wealth in the stock market into real money for consumption and improve their quality of life.

As long as everyone doesn’t sell collectively, the money inside is still money.

The fear is that everyone will suddenly sell, and then this virtual bubble will be punctured, causing a financial crisis, and people will say that so much money has evaporated.

This evaporated money was originally just a number, and there weren’t that many goods in society to correspond to it.

In a way, it’s very similar to the way landlords used to hide money in their cellars.

As long as not all the landlords dig out their silver to spend at the same time, then the money they save is real wealth.

But as soon as everyone digs out the silver to spend, they will find that the value of this silver will be evaporated by more than half.

This virtual wealth stored in the cellar, or the money in the stock market, can solve the anxiety of those landlords.

As long as they feel that they are very rich, anyway, these people’s money used to be buried in the cellar and would not be spent at all.

Their lives don’t need so much money at all. What they need is just a feeling that they are very rich, a feeling of watching their wealth grow.

It’s the same in the stock market. As long as they don’t cash out all their money and leave it in the stock market as a number, it won’t have a big impact on society.

And they themselves can indulge in the illusion of constantly growing wealth.

The stock market is a way to solve the capital surplus, but Wu Changqing still needs to consider whether to use it.

After all, the stock market has its uses, but also its risks.

Once a stock market crash occurs and a financial crisis occurs, it will also be a big problem and cause great damage to the economy.

At this time, it depends on the ability of the government, or rather, on Wu Changqing’s ability.

If he can do a good job in macro-control and always prevent the stock market from collapsing, then the stock market can continue to operate.

If he doesn’t do a good job in macro-control and leads to a financial crisis, then he has to find a way to launch a war against the outside world to plunder wealth and shift national hatred.

Preventing the occurrence of a financial crisis?

Even in later generations, no one dares to say such a thing.

This is an inevitable law of capital market development, and it is also cyclical and cannot be prevented.

However, Wu Changqing felt that his situation was special and that he might be able to avoid it for the rest of his life.

Because he has various high technologies brought by the system, which can make society develop rapidly.

In short, he can make the speed of manufacturing goods in society keep up with the speed of money growth.

This is something that no country in the original timeline can do, because none of them have a time-traveler, and no one has a system cheat.

Their social development is slow. An increase in productivity often takes years, decades, or even centuries.

But Wu Changqing can now make society develop rapidly and allow goods to show explosive growth.

Just like steel production, it doubles every year.

Therefore, he doesn’t have to worry about the little wealth in the stock market not being matched by goods.

Since there is no such worry, then there seems to be no problem in establishing a stock market.

Wu Changqing thought a lot and finally decided to start the stock market.

Chapter 615: Handling the Situation

The stock market that Wu Changqing wanted to establish would definitely be different from the one in later generations.

First of all, it would be a game for the wealthy; ordinary people wouldn’t be qualified to participate for the time being.

After all, there were no computers, no mobile phones, and not even radios yet, making it impossible to obtain real-time price change information.

At the same time, due to the inconvenience of transactions, it wouldn’t be suitable for small transactions, as there wouldn’t be enough manpower to handle them.

In later generations, electronic trading allowed stockholders to operate independently, eliminating the need for labor costs; a simple click would suffice.

However, in the early days of the stock exchange, each transaction would require a trader to register it on a blackboard.

By the end of the day, the blackboard would have to be wiped countless times.

If small transactions were allowed, it would be impossible to operate.

The small profits generated by small transactions probably wouldn’t even be enough to pay the salaries of those stock traders.

In establishing the stock market, Wu Changqing could only set up a mature and complete framework; the specific implementation would have to be left to his subordinates.

And that person was Xu Fu, who was kneeling before Wu Changqing.

At this moment, Xu Fu was scared out of his wits.

He couldn’t understand how he, who had only cheated a little money, would be dealt with by the people from the Shuntian Prefecture, even if he had committed a crime. Why was he being brought before the Emperor?

The Emperor was occupied with countless affairs every day, and matters that reached the Emperor’s ears were no small matters.

Having never encountered such a crisis, how could he not be afraid?

“How much did you profit from this fraud?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“This humble subject… deserves to die ten thousand times.”

Xu Fu was on the verge of tears.

“His Majesty is asking how much you profited!”

Feng Debao scolded.

Xu Fu naturally didn’t dare to hide anything. The Emperor’s aura was too powerful. He said, “This humble subject profited a total of eight hundred and fifty thousand yuan, and hasn’t spent a single cent yet. I am willing to hand it over in full, begging His Majesty to spare my life.”

“Take a look at this first.”

Wu Changqing said, and Feng Debao immediately brought the things Wu Changqing had written to Xu Fu.

Confused, Xu Fu didn’t dare to ask any questions. Since the Emperor wanted him to read it, he could only obediently read it.

At first, he read with trepidation.

But as he read, he became increasingly shocked.

Because what was written on the paper was Wu Changqing’s understanding and vision for the stock market.

The role and benefits of stocks for the imperial court, the positive role and benefits for society, the potential dangers, and so on.

It could be said that every point profoundly impressed Xu Fu.

He had come up with the idea of stocks simply because he thought it could be used to cheat money, but he had never thought of designing a complete stock system, let alone using this system to benefit society.

It was clearly the same thing, but in his hands, it was a tool for cheating money, while in Wu Changqing’s hands, it was a means of benefiting the world.

The difference between the two was like the difference between the sun and a candlelight.

He had only heard before how wise and martial Wu Changqing was, and Xu Fu hadn’t had any obvious feeling about it.

But now, seeing Wu Changqing’s vision for how to establish stocks, he truly felt Wu Changqing’s unfathomable talent.

“His Majesty’s wisdom is a million times greater than this humble subject’s. This humble subject is short-sighted and only knows how to use petty tricks to cheat money. Compared to His Majesty’s concern for the world, it’s like…”

“You wretch, how dare you compare yourself to His Majesty?”

Feng Debao scolded, and Xu Fu immediately wanted to vomit blood.

Serving the Emperor is like serving a tiger; even flattering him requires caution. Otherwise, what you think is flattery can easily be mistaken for self-aggrandizement.

“After reading it, what are your thoughts? Do you have the confidence to ensure that the stock system plays its due role?”

Wu Changqing asked.

These words stunned Xu Fu.

What was going on? Wasn’t he guilty of a capital crime? Why did it sound like His Majesty wanted to entrust him with an important task?

Could it be that this was His Majesty’s habit of torturing people? First, give the prisoner a great surprise, and then announce the execution of the criminal, to achieve the purpose of tormenting and teasing the criminal?

Like a cat playing with a mouse?

It couldn’t be blamed on Xu Fu for having such strange ideas. After all, throughout history, emperors had all sorts of strange habits, even more outrageous and perverted than psychologically torturing criminals.

When a person is no longer restrained, they often expose some perverted nature. And the Emperor is the person who is closest to having no restraints.

“Are you answering?”

Feng Debao saw that Xu Fu didn’t answer for a long time and wished he could kick him.

“This… this humble subject is willing to devote myself heart and soul, working day and night to do a good job.”

Xu Fu said.

When he said this, he didn’t feel any joy at being reused, but was full of apprehension.

He wasn’t sure if all of this was real, or if the cat was playing with the mouse.

“First, register in the Financial Division of the Ministry of Commerce. I will have Hong Chengchou cooperate with you to get this stock trading charter done well. However, in the government, there is no opportunity to make mistakes.

If you ever again seek personal gain, cheat others of their money, and endanger Great Hua, you will know the consequences. In the officialdom, you only have one chance.”

Wu Changqing reminded him.

If this kid didn’t change his ways, there would be even more things he could do with the power in his hands.

Moreover, because stocks were a new thing, most people would be confused when they saw them, making it difficult to send someone to supervise Xu Fu. Because the person sent would most likely be led around by the nose by Xu Fu.

And Wu Changqing himself certainly wouldn’t have that much time to stare at him.

Therefore, Wu Changqing could only hope that the aura of a true king on his body could scare this guy and make him work honestly.

If not, then he could only be killed.

After all, killing a talent who cannot be controlled is the easiest way.

“This humble subject swears that I will never dare to do anything that harms the interests of Great Hua again, and will not forget His Majesty’s teachings.”

Xu Fu said tremblingly.

Having escaped death, his spirit was still in a state of high tension, with no joy, only fear, and a trace of good fortune.

After leaving the palace, Xu Fu sat down on the ground, his legs were weak, and he couldn’t walk.

Just now in the palace, he was extremely nervous and didn’t have time to be afraid.

And now, recalling the danger he had just experienced, he began to feel afraid.

He almost took a trip to the gates of hell.

Feng Debao didn’t despise Xu Fu’s appearance. The first time he entered the palace to serve the Emperor, he wasn’t much better.

The weight of the two words “Emperor” was too heavy, and it could give people an invisible, suffocating pressure.

“You send Master Xu off.”

Feng Debao instructed the little eunuch to get a rickshaw, and then said to Xu Fu, “Master Xu, although joy has fallen from the sky, I must remind you that the Emperor’s heart is unpredictable. Today, His Majesty is happy and can pardon your death sentence and even grant you an official position, but tomorrow he can also throw you into prison.

The only thing you can do is to do your best to maintain your life and wealth.”

“Thank you, Eunuch, for the reminder. This official will keep it in mind.”

Xu Fu said.

Chapter 616: Dorgon Begs for Mercy

Xu Fu was assigned to the Financial Division as a minor clerk. Although his official rank was low, everyone knew that he had been personally and exceptionally appointed by the Emperor, and the matters he was in charge of were very important.

Subsequently, the Jinling Steam Engine Company was shut down for lacking qualifications, and it was revealed that it had illegally issued stocks, rendering all stocks invalid.

Anyone who had been deceived could go to the government with their stock certificates to obtain compensation.

Of course, the compensation would definitely not be the original price. Each share could only be compensated with one hundred and fifty yuan.

The remaining fifty yuan was spent partly by Xu Fu and Wei Hong, and partly used for the government’s expenses in handling the matter.

For those who bought the first batch of stocks, this compensation was completely acceptable.

Although they suffered losses, at least the government did not make them bear all the consequences, which could be considered a conscientious government.

But for some people who bought second-hand or third-hand stocks, this regulation would make them vomit blood.

Because when they bought in, the price of the stock had already risen to two hundred and fifty, two hundred and eighty, or even three hundred yuan per share.

This thing, as long as someone believed in it, it wouldn’t be strange for it to rise to any outrageous price.

Those who took over at the end were now taking their stocks to the government to receive compensation, which was equivalent to losing one hundred and fifty yuan per share.

They had no chance to see a fifty percent profit, but a seventy-five percent loss was staring them in the face.

Those who bought a lot of shares would have the desire to die.

Some resigned themselves to their fate and exchanged their shares for compensation, while others began to search the world for Xu Fu and Wei Hong, wanting to tear them into eight pieces.

Still others went to their previous sellers, demanding that they share the losses, and even took the matter to the government.

In short, there were many messy things happening.

And just as these messy things were happening, the government officially announced the establishment of a stock exchange, and announced various regulations and rules for stock trading.

There were very, very many articles above, and they were very detailed, looking like a very mature set of rules and regulations.

Not to mention ordinary people, even some professional merchants felt a headache after reading them.

However, they also extracted some key points from it.

For example, only well-known enterprises and large companies with good economic benefits could issue stocks.

Ordinary companies that did not even have a physical entity, or unprofitable companies, were not allowed to issue stocks.

Otherwise, some companies preparing to go bankrupt and run away, or shell companies, would use the issuance of stocks to swindle money.

In a society with slow information transmission, this kind of scam was easier to succeed.

Any company that wanted to issue stocks needed to go through strict review.

At the same time, after issuing stocks, the finances needed to be made public.

And so on and so forth.

All of this was only to prevent stockholders from being deceived.

Some people who understood the court’s intentions naturally nodded and applauded.

The stock exchange had just been established, and many things were not understood by everyone, so the enthusiasm was actually limited, and only a small number of people in the industry were still concerned.

Others were paying attention to other major events in Great Hua.

The current Great Hua was experiencing major events every moment.

In mid-March, the Qing Dynasty’s envoy came to Nanjing and proposed to abolish the title of the state and become a vassal of Great Hua.

After being persuaded by his subordinates and after careful consideration, Dorgon decided to abandon the last bit of dignity and become a subject of Wu Changqing.

He had no choice but to do so. Seeing that the weather was getting warmer and warmer, the possibility of Great Hua advancing into Guanwai was getting higher and higher, and Dorgon and others were panicked.

They were not prepared to deal with it at all, nor did they have the ability to resist Great Hua’s attack.

The vitality damaged on the Korean battlefield had not yet recovered.

In fact, it was unlikely to recover in a few years, or even more than a decade.

It takes time for a child to grow from birth to adulthood.

In this case, continuing to confront Great Hua was tantamount to courting death.

No matter how much he hated Wu Changqing in his heart, Dorgon had to face the cruel reality.

If he didn’t beg Wu Changqing for mercy, his subordinates would unite and kill him.

After all, no one wanted to follow a lunatic.

Abolishing the title of the state and no longer calling himself emperor was an extremely embarrassing thing, meaning that they were no longer a country, but just a local force.

This was a show of weakness, in order to tell Great Hua that they had no intention of competing with Great Hua for the world.

At the same time, they also requested to become a vassal of Great Hua, paying tribute as a subject.

This was a complete admission of defeat. As long as Great Hua accepted, they would be safe.

After all, Great Hua couldn’t be shameless enough to attack its own vassal state, right?

Losing all dignity, Dorgon was only seeking an opportunity to bide his time.

They needed to lie low, slowly restore the population, and wait for the opportunity.

The envoy came to Nanjing and requested to see Wu Changqing through the Ministry of Rites.

Wu Changqing let the cabinet discuss this matter first.

In fact, this was just a process deliberately gone through to make the government look more formal.

In Wu Changqing’s heart, he had already rejected the Qing Dynasty’s request for peace.

Great Hua did not need any vassals, only complete submission.

Or rather, the current Qing Dynasty was not worthy of being a vassal state of Great Hua. It would be more acceptable if it were Britain, Spain, or France.

With the strength of the Qing Dynasty, they were no longer qualified.

Although he rejected it in his heart, Wu Changqing still symbolically handed it over to the cabinet for discussion.

The cabinet discussed it first, and the emperor made the decision. This was the process.

The problem was thrown to the cabinet, and then several cabinet ministers gathered together to discuss the handling plan.

However, from the number of people participating in the discussion, it could be clearly felt that the cabinet was actually not concerned about this matter at all.

Ruan Dacheng and Hong Chengchou, the two big shots, did not participate and went to do other things. What they left behind was that others would make the decision, and they had no opinion.

From this, it could be seen that the cabinet’s big shots did not care at all whether to fight or make peace.

Or rather, they actually knew the result without discussion.

The result must be no agreement.

People who could enter the cabinet must have some understanding of Wu Changqing’s ideas and concepts.

It was not a secret that Wu Changqing did not like vassal states and liked to completely rule a place.

Moreover, the Qing Dynasty and Great Hua had a feud, so it was even more impossible to accept reconciliation.

So this was actually not a matter that needed to be discussed.

Soon, the cabinet quickly reached a consensus.

The plan they gave was to demand that Dorgon immediately surrender unconditionally, and then personally come to Nanjing to confess his guilt, while Guanwai had to accept all the arrangements of Great Hua.

Of course, they did not expect Dorgon to agree to this condition. It was purely a show, telling other foreign countries that Great Hua would still consider your opinions.

As for whether to agree after consideration, that was not certain.

Chapter 617: Tavern Brawl

Great Hua gave its reply to the Qing Dynasty’s envoy and published the matter in the newspapers.

The Qing Dynasty’s envoy naturally left with a sigh; their mission this time was a complete and utter failure.

The people of Great Hua were extremely happy to see how the court handled the situation.

“That’s how it should be handled! We should be this tough when dealing with those barbarians!”

“Now that they can’t win, they want to beg for mercy and ask us to let them off? No way!”

“These Manchus are really useless, actually begging for mercy. How shameless! We were beaten so badly back then, and we didn’t beg for mercy.”

In a tavern, people were discussing state affairs from the newspapers.

When they talked about the court rejecting Dorgon’s plea for mercy, everyone cheered with satisfaction.

After all, they had been bullied by the Qing Dynasty before, so naturally, they hoped the Qing Dynasty would suffer as much as possible.

Seeing the Qing Dynasty in misery made them happy.

Once they identified with the Great Hua government, they developed a sense of shared honor and disgrace with Great Hua.

If Great Hua was awesome, they could also feel proud.

If Great Hua was humiliated, they would also feel angry.

Everyone was very happy, but at a table in the corner, the guests all wore angry expressions.

Fulin and a few attendants were tired of the food at home and wanted to come to the tavern for a change, but they didn’t expect to hear such comments.

These few belonged to those who had not yet integrated into Great Hua and still constantly thought about the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, hearing someone mocking the Qing Dynasty made them feel extremely depressed.

In contrast, there was a Manchu at another table who didn’t care.

He was even happily eating meat and drinking wine with two Han Chinese friends.

Someone recognized him and teased him, “Jin Xiangrong, do you still miss the lands beyond the pass?”

Jin Xiangrong smiled and said, “I’m very comfortable in Nanjing, why would I miss a place beyond the pass where people freeze like dogs?”

Everyone laughed again upon hearing this.

Some even suggested creating an idiom for him, like “happy and forgetting the pass,” or “happy and forgetting home,” or “happy and forgetting the Manchus.”

Jin Xiangrong didn’t care, and couldn’t afford to care; this was the way for a small person to survive.

If he showed even a hint of concern, he would easily be ostracized by the Han Chinese.

Seeing Jin Xiangrong being teased and ridiculed by the Han Chinese, Fulin angrily smashed his cup on the ground.

He hated it, hated that his former subjects had no backbone, dared not resist, and lived in humiliation.

His action immediately attracted everyone’s attention.

However, others didn’t know why he smashed the cup. Plus, Fulin was still young and not very tall, so everyone just thought he was a child making trouble for no reason.

However, Jin Xiangrong recognized Fulin.

No matter how ordinary Fulin had become, he had, after all, been an emperor, and Jin Xiangrong was still somewhat afraid of him.

Therefore, he looked at Fulin with some dodging, not daring to look directly at him.

“You, they mock you like this, aren’t you ashamed?”

Fulin rebuked.

The other attendants wanted to dissuade Fulin from causing trouble, but Fulin was clearly worked up and ignored them.

Jin Xiangrong didn’t answer and still wanted to avoid the situation.

However, his friends were not happy.

They didn’t understand why a little kid had the right to lecture their friend.

So, they retorted for Jin Xiangrong, “What do you think you are? You haven’t even grown all your hair yet. Whose pants were loose that they let you slip out?”

As soon as this was said, everyone burst into laughter, and Fulin almost exploded with anger.

He had never been spoken to like this since he was a child.

Angry as he was, he couldn’t do anything about it.

He couldn’t win in a fight, and he couldn’t order his subordinates to drag them out and behead them like before.

Helpless, he could only continue to question Jin Xiangrong. Because only Jin Xiangrong still had some respect for him and would give him some leeway.

Other Han Chinese wouldn’t take him seriously at all.

However, although Jin Xiangrong was an honest man, he wasn’t stupid.

At first, he was afraid of Fulin, mainly because of Fulin’s former status.

Now, seeing that Fulin was no longer imposing in the face of others’ ridicule, he suddenly understood.

The Qing Dynasty was over, the former emperor was no longer the emperor, and the person in front of him was just like him, a Manchu living in humiliation.

So, Jin Xiangrong’s courage also grew, and he retorted, “What do I have to be ashamed of? They are my friends, and it’s just a joke between friends.”

“Hahaha, friends? Do they treat you like a friend? Or perhaps, do they treat you like a human being?”

Fulin said angrily.

“Of course, I have a job here, food to eat, a place to live, and I don’t have to risk my life on the battlefield. Great Hua treats me like a human being. But in the former Qing Dynasty, I had to risk my life on the battlefield. The superiors gave some rewards, but after the various officials took their share, there was nothing left for us soldiers. The Qing Dynasty never treated me like a human being, it was just using me all the time.”

Jin Xiangrong accused.

These words stabbed Fulin’s heart. When the Qing Dynasty was strong, his teachers told him that the Qing Dynasty was thriving under his rule.

But now, Jin Xiangrong told him the truth.

Even during the Qing Dynasty’s prosperous period, the people at the bottom lived a very hard life and had no sense of identity with the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty was just the Qing Dynasty of their nobles and had nothing to do with ordinary people.

“You, you dog slave, hit him for me!”

Fulin was speechless and, in a fit of anger, just wanted to solve the problem with violence.

His few attendants were also helpless and could only step forward, wanting to go through the motions.

However, Jin Xiangrong and his friends would not agree, and they directly fought with them until the government officials came and took them away one by one.

“Let me go, do you know who I am?”

In the court, Fulin struggled hard.

“Besides your identity, what else do you have to rely on?”

The magistrate sneered.

His words once again stabbed Fulin’s heart.

Besides his former identity as emperor, he really had no special skills. He was just an ordinary person, powerless in the face of most things.

The feeling of the collapse of that belief after Fulin, who had always thought he was the Son of Heaven and destined by fate, was beaten by social reality was also quite painful.

In the end, the matter was dropped.

Although most of the officials of Great Hua wouldn’t take Fulin seriously, there was no need to deliberately step on him.

In case this kid had no guts and cried to his mother like a woman, it might cause trouble.

It was said that Fulin’s mother was not very favored in the palace, but she had not been neglected and seemed to be pregnant.

This was not easy to provoke. No matter how little status Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had in the palace, she was still a member of the palace.

Chapter 618: The Despised Task of Compiling History

The tavern brawl eventually came to Wu Changqing’s attention.

Of course, not from Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen.

With her intelligence, she would only deliberately downplay it, not be foolish enough to hope that Wu Changqing would show favoritism.

Fu Lin was always an awkward presence.

Wu Changqing had people monitoring Fu Lin, so naturally, he knew about the incident.

This incident made him feel gratified because those lower-level Manchus were almost assimilated and integrated.

Perhaps, in Fu Lin’s eyes, Jin Xiangrong was being humiliated.

But in Wu Changqing’s view, it was just some banter between close friends.

Such things happened not only to Jin Xiangrong and his friends. Among Han Chinese friends, if someone had a flaw that could be ridiculed, those close friends wouldn’t let it go either.

This kind of teasing was precisely because they regarded the other person as one of their own.

Otherwise, it wouldn’t be teasing but exclusion, hostility, or even violence.

It was evident that the lower-level Manchus were almost completely integrated.

Those who still remembered the Qing Dynasty were probably some former Qing nobles.

These people were certainly not living as comfortably as they did during the Qing Dynasty.

It was only natural that they were dissatisfied with Great Hua.

However, these people didn’t need too much attention, as they couldn’t stir up any trouble anyway. Those who were open-minded would choose to adapt, while those who weren’t could only live a life of bitterness and resentment.

To strengthen the integration between various ethnic groups and regions, Wu Changqing issued a new decree to promote standard Mandarin.

That is, Mandarin Chinese, using written language as the standard spoken language.

He didn’t choose the dialect of the Nanjing area, as that dialect was too difficult to promote and popularize.

By using written language as the standard, anyone who had studied could understand it.

After hearing it often, they would also be able to speak it, making it easier to promote.

If a dialect that couldn’t find a corresponding written form was promoted, the difficulty would be many times greater, and people from other places would find it difficult to accept.

Dialects were a significant obstacle to communication, and there was really no need to preserve them.

Dialects, apart from reminding a certain group of their distinctiveness, didn’t have much benefit.

As for the so-called cultural traditions and customs that couldn’t be lost, that was also nonsense.

Any tradition that hindered social development was dross, such as foot binding, chest binding, and minority languages and scripts.

Promoting Mandarin Chinese was a long-term process, taking ten, twenty, or even more years.

There was no need to rush to complete it, and rushing wouldn’t help.

In addition to promoting standard Mandarin, he also stipulated some seemingly insignificant but significant orders.

Confiscate non-Chinese books, seal them, and prohibit their dissemination.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s greatest contribution was not unifying the country but issuing the decrees of “same script for writing,” “same gauge for carts,” and “standardized weights and measures.”

It was precisely the “same script for writing” that made people across China have a consensus that China was a whole, and thus a unified set of values was produced.

It was this consensus that prevented China from splitting into small countries like Western Europe.

The “same script for writing” was very important. All non-Chinese books were reminding a certain group of people, reminding them that they were once different from the Han Chinese, reminding them of their differences.

This was very bad. The books in other languages had to be sealed up and treated as history. Great Hua people could no longer be allowed to learn them.

Compiling the History of Ming and the History of Qing should also be put on the agenda.

Originally, this kind of thing needed to wait until the other party was completely destroyed and became a true history before doing it.

However, now that Great Hua had the upper hand and didn’t need to worry about being overturned, making the compilation of history a joke.

Great Hua had been established for so long, and it was time to compile history for its opponents to prove its legitimacy.

Compiling history books used to be a major event, which had to be presided over by people of high moral standing and prestige.

Top talents such as the top scholars in the imperial examination often participated in it to build their reputation. Once the history books were completed, they could soar into the sky and rise rapidly in their careers.

Compiling history books could achieve many goals, such as smearing the previous dynasty, negating the previous dynasty, and beautifying the current dynasty.

For example, when compiling the History of Ming, some external factors could be deliberately ignored, and it could be emphasized that the decline of the Ming Dynasty was due to the lack of virtue and ability of the Zhu family.

For example, the Tang Dynasty compiled the history books for Yang Guang, blackening Yang Guang to the point where he couldn’t be any blacker.

In this way, Great Hua’s reasons for rebellion could be made more sufficient, and the reasons could be made more pleasant to hear.

Severely blackening the previous dynasty could beautify the rebellion as saving the common people and overthrowing the decrepit and corrupt rule, etc.

This was very important for a dynasty and could prove their legitimacy.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t pay much attention to this matter, and other officials didn’t pay much attention to it either.

The officials were also clear in their hearts that smearing the previous dynasty in the compilation of history was nothing more than worrying that the people still remembered the previous dynasty and worrying about causing instability in the rule.

However, if the people lived better than in the previous dynasty, how could this society be unstable, and how could they want to rebel?

People were very realistic animals. Now there was still a Southern Ming in the southwest, but not many people ran over to pledge their loyalty because they missed the Ming Dynasty.

On the contrary, many people surrendered from Southern Ming to Great Hua.

Therefore, Great Hua didn’t actually need to do this kind of thing of smearing the previous dynasty in the compilation of history books.

Even if they told the people that Wu Changqing was a schemer and a traitor who rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, no one would care.

They would rather have an emperor from a traitorous background who could bring them a good life than an emperor from the Zhu family who was so-called orthodox but would only exploit them.

The emperor and ministers didn’t pay attention to this matter, so no one had ever mentioned compiling history books.

When Wu Changqing expressed his desire to compile history books, none of the ministers showed a desire to take on this task.

The reason was simple: this history was not easy to write.

Smearing also required skill and couldn’t be too outrageous.

More importantly, there were a large number of surrendered officials in the court now.

When recording history, how to evaluate these people and how to record their deeds was a big problem.

Praising them was definitely not acceptable; people who read history books in the future would probably be disgusted.

Criticizing them was also not very good; those people were still in power in the court. Where would they put their faces?

If they were to record the truth without mercy, they would probably offend most of the important ministers.

Why bother? What was the point?

Therefore, as soon as Wu Changqing said he wanted to compile history books, those clever ministers said that they were very busy and had no time.

Or they said that they were not talented enough to take on such an important task.

Wu Changqing was also very helpless about this.

He could only choose a few people who were not well-known and had very low official positions to compile it.

Anyway, completing it would be a great achievement and could lead to promotion.

There was no shortage of people in the court who were willing to offend others to get promoted.

Chapter 619: The Battle of Wuzhou

Guangxi, Wuzhou.

Lu Guangzu’s army had arrived outside the city for several days, but had not yet launched an attack.

If it could be taken easily, there was no need for a strong assault.

Cannonballs cost money, and if the city walls were damaged, Great Hua would have to pay for repairs later.

So, Lu Guangzu was waiting, waiting for Qu Shisi’s inside help in the city.

After Qu Shisi came to Wuzhou to supervise the battle, he immediately sent a letter to Lu Guangzu, requesting to cooperate from the inside and outside to seek allegiance.

There was no one in Great Hua who wanted to defect to the Southern Ming, but there was a constant stream of people in the Southern Ming who wanted to defect to Great Hua.

Great Hua generally didn’t bother with people who didn’t have some weight.

Someone like Qu Shisi, the governor of Guangxi, nominally the highest official in Guangxi, was still worth Great Hua’s attention.

However, it was only slight attention.

If he asked for too much like He Tengjiao, Great Hua would still ignore him.

Qu Shisi didn’t mention any treatment after surrendering to Lu Guangzu. Others might be ignored for their internal and external cooperation, but he certainly wouldn’t be.

Who told him he had someone behind him, someone with connections above?

As long as he asked his mentor Qian Qianyi for help, and let the people from his hometown contribute, he could gain a higher starting point with this achievement.

Therefore, he didn’t need to ask Lu Guangzu for any guarantees.

Inside Wuzhou City, Qu Shisi had successfully won over two generals.

Afterwards, they formulated a plan to cooperate with Great Hua from the inside and outside.

The garrison in the city was less than thirty thousand in total, and Qu Shisi had already won over two generals, controlling nine thousand soldiers.

The next day, Lu Guangzu led his army to the north gate and launched an attack.

While the generals at the other city gates were anxiously waiting for news, the north gate was opened, and the Hua army directly entered the city, and then launched attacks on the enemies in other directions.

“What? Lu Qi of the north gate betrayed us and opened the city gate?”

When the other generals heard this news, they were furious.

However, they were not angry that Lu Qi had betrayed them, but that Lu Qi had not called them when he betrayed them, which was not enough.

This initiative to defect and surrender was definitely better than being captured.

They had also had the idea of surrendering before, but they had never dared to bring it up, for fear that others would not agree.

How could they know that someone had already contacted the Hua army in secret, discussed the matter of colluding with the enemy, and hadn’t brought them along, which made them extremely depressed.

“General, what should we do?”

The people below asked.

“What else can we do? Surrender, otherwise do you think you can stop them?”

As soon as the defending general said this, the others immediately threw away their weapons with a crash.

They had been waiting for these words for a long time.

It wasn’t just the generals who wanted to surrender, the soldiers on the ground wanted to surrender even more.

It was just that they hadn’t been able to figure out the generals’ thoughts before, and didn’t dare to show it easily, for fear of being punished.

But now, finding that their general also wanted to surrender, then everyone could show their cards and didn’t need to pretend anymore.

After the Hua army entered the city, they did not encounter any decent resistance.

As soon as many Ming soldiers saw the Hua army, they threw away their weapons before the Hua army could speak, not giving the Hua army a chance to shoot them.

After all, there were regulations in the Hua army that forbade shooting enemies without weapons.

A siege battle quickly turned into a clearing operation.

The Hua army acted in squads or platoons, scattered to capture surrendered soldiers.

Occasionally encountering a little resistance, a few squads or platoons could quickly defeat the enemy.

Most of the Ming army in this Wuzhou was still using cold weapons.

Its strength was far inferior to the previous Longwu regime.

And Lu Guangzu’s troops, because they were front-line troops, had already taken the lead in replacing them with new rifles.

Using this kind of rifle to fight against people holding broadswords was simply a complete beatdown.

By the time a major battle was over, the number of Hua army deaths had not exceeded thirty.

This was the gateway to Guangxi, a city with quite complete fortifications.

In the past, it would have been impossible to take such a city without besieging it for several months and killing thousands or tens of thousands of people.

Even if using tricks to attack the city from the inside and outside, it would be impossible to die so few people in the street fighting in the city alone.

But now, the Hua army had taken a heavily guarded town garrisoned by nearly thirty thousand people at such a small cost.

This battle can be described as extremely beautiful.

“Lord Qu, it’s not kind of you to surrender without bringing us along.”

Among the many prisoners waiting for Lu Guangzu to come and inspect, someone complained to Qu Shisi.

Qu Shisi only turned against two generals, but did not contact the others.

This made the generals who had not been contacted have a lot of resentment.

“Time is tight, and I have no choice. But General Liu, don’t worry, starting from now to surrender to Great Hua, there will still be opportunities to be reused in the future.”

Qu Shisi said.

These words made others gnash their teeth. Actively surrendering and being captured were not the same.

As Lu Guangzu came over, some surrendered generals hurriedly shouted that they were willing to surrender, asking Lu Guangzu to be merciful.

The news of Qu Shisi’s rebellion and the fall of Wuzhou spread to Kunming, Yunnan.

In the court, there was a deathly silence.

Qu Shisi’s rebellion stabbed another knife into the chest of the already precarious Southern Ming.

“I want to surrender to Great Hua, does anyone have any suggestions?”

Zhu Youlang opened his mouth.

He had figured it out, and saw it clearly.

With his ability, there was no way to compete with Wu Changqing, no way to compete with Great Hua.

Since it was a situation where he was bound to lose, why not choose to surrender now?

Perhaps, Wu Changqing, seeing that he took the initiative to surrender, could leave him a small life and let him be a rich man.

As long as he could save his life, Zhu Youlang was already very satisfied.

What power, he didn’t care at all.

Zhu Youlang’s words directly stunned the officials.

An emperor taking the initiative to surrender, this was really cowardly enough.

Many officials sighed in their hearts, the former Liu Adou was not so useless.

At least Liu Adou surrendered after the enemy had reached the city and the officials asked him to surrender.

But the one in front of him, the enemy was still thousands of li away from Kunming.

Moreover, no official had proposed the matter of surrendering, and he, an emperor, was the first to bring it up himself, which also set a precedent.

“Your Majesty, you can’t give up like this. We still have millions of territories and more than two hundred thousand elite soldiers, and we still have the power to fight.”

A minister stood up and cried.

“Elite soldiers, are they the kind of elite soldiers who open the city and surrender as soon as the enemy comes?”

Zhu Youlang said sarcastically.

The Wuzhou soldiers were also the so-called elite soldiers in the mouths of these ministers, but when facing Great Hua, they did not have the slightest intention of resistance despite occupying the geographical advantage, and surrendered like this.

Even his most trusted Qu Shisi had surrendered, and Zhu Youlang trusted no one even more.

Chapter 620: Seeking Shortcuts

Zhu Youlang was dead set on surrendering. No matter how the other officials at court tried to dissuade him, he was determined.

In his eyes, the officials who opposed his surrender were simply trying to harm him to death.

This left the other officials feeling very melancholy. It was the first time they had seen someone so afraid of death.

Some officials who were completely disillusioned with Zhu Youlang had also become too lazy to speak out, tacitly agreeing to Zhu Youlang’s decision to surrender.

As the saying goes, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. Many officials had chosen to give up on Zhu Youlang, this lump of mud.

After fussing for two or three days, Zhu Youlang directly dispatched a delegation, ordering them to rush to Nanjing to explain his position of surrender to Wu Changqing.

Before the delegation set off, Zhu Youlang instructed them to hurry and make sure to get things done before the enemy reached Kunming.

“Understood.”

Lü Songqing, who was in charge of the mission, waved his hand and said impatiently, no longer treating Zhu Youlang as an emperor at all.

Moreover, it wasn’t just him. At this time, the other officials had completely lost respect for Zhu Youlang.

After seeing Lü Songqing off, these ministers didn’t even bother to inform the emperor before leaving.

After that, some ministers even dared to brush past Zhu Youlang without greeting him.

Those who had been kneeling before him just a moment ago now regarded Zhu Youlang as a clown.

Anyway, Zhu Youlang had already decided to surrender.

Once he surrendered, Zhu Youlang would be an ordinary person, perhaps even inferior to them, the officials.

They, as officials, still had hope of continuing to serve in Great Hua and wield power.

As for Zhu Youlang, the best he could hope for was to be a wealthy commoner.

If Wu Changqing was ruthless enough and didn’t want to leave any future trouble, killing Zhu Youlang wouldn’t be considered inappropriate by anyone.

In other words, these people were destined to live better lives than Zhu Youlang in the future.

From now on, it should be Zhu Youlang who tried to please them.

Faced with the sudden change in the attitude of his ministers, Zhu Youlang didn’t care.

The position of emperor came with enormous mental pressure every day, and he was quite uncomfortable sitting on it.

Zhu Youlang’s delegation deliberately took the route through Guangxi.

Before going to Nanjing, they needed to pay a visit to Lu Guangzu and request that he slow down his offensive.

They were going to Nanjing to seek surrender. If they succeeded, Lu Guangzu wouldn’t have to bother attacking anymore.

Lu Guangzu was truly depressed when he learned of Zhu Youlang’s plan.

He had already been fantasizing about taking Kunming and then going to Nanjing to claim credit.

With the current morale of the Ming army, this was not difficult for Lu Guangzu, it was just a matter of time.

But now, Zhu Youlang was actually going to surrender.

If he surrendered, then Lu Guangzu would have no way to obtain the credit for personally destroying the Southern Ming.

Taking Guangxi was completely different from taking Yunnan and personally killing Zhu Youlang.

One was just occupying a place, which many generals of Great Hua had done, ordinary and unremarkable.

The other was destroying the Southern Ming, destroying a regime. Among the generals of Great Hua, only Liu Hansan and Wang Dayong had done this before, when they destroyed Zhu Yihai and Zhu Yujian.

This kind of event with strong symbolic significance often earned greater merit.

After all, events like this were generally rare.

“Sir, how about we do it once and for all, send a team to impersonate bandits and kill the entire delegation? That way, we can pretend to be unaware and continue to attack Yunnan.”

Lu Guangzu’s subordinate, Lin Xiaodao, offered a bad idea.

He and Lu Guangzu were similar, both liked to seek shortcuts.

The last time he snatched someone else’s wife, he also personally handled it.

The benefits he received were naturally considerable.

At least, Miao Ping’s family gave Lin Xiaodao a lot of thank-you gifts. He also gained absolute trust in front of Lu Guangzu, reaping both money and power.

Having tasted the sweetness, he was now hatching another wicked scheme.

As long as Zhu Youlang’s delegation was eliminated, Nanjing wouldn’t know, would they?

In a poor and remote place like Guangxi, encountering bandits and robbers was perfectly reasonable.

“This, the risk is a bit too great.”

Lu Guangzu was very tempted, but also very worried.

Many people in Kunming must know about Lü Songqing’s delegation.

If someone revealed this to Wu Changqing in the future, then his crime would be a bit too great, amounting to deceiving the emperor.

“As long as we do it cleanly, no one will know. As for the people in Kunming, we can kill all those with status and position when we enter Kunming. The remaining small fries, where would they have the opportunity to report to His Majesty?

Or, how could those small fries know that we killed the delegation? They have no evidence. In short, it’s not so easy for things to be exposed.”

Lin Xiaodao analyzed, and what he said made some sense.

Now, Wu Changqing’s focus was on the Jiangnan area. Those surrendered officials in Yunnan, whether they would have the opportunity to become officials in Nanjing in the future was a question, let alone meet Wu Changqing.

If Wu Changqing didn’t know, it wouldn’t be a big problem if other officials knew, unless he had offended someone and someone wanted to use this as an excuse to get rid of him.

Otherwise, other officials would turn a blind eye. At most, the Censorate might intervene.

Lu Guangzu was caught in a dilemma. On the one hand, he really wanted to seize this opportunity.

As long as he took Kunming first and destroyed the Southern Ming, plus some of the merits he had accumulated before, then a division commander’s position would definitely be his.

Without this merit, it was not certain.

The competition in the army was very fierce now. He couldn’t compare to those meritorious veterans.

Those rising stars from military academies also brought him great pressure.

He knew he was no match for them in terms of talent.

Moreover, there were major battles in Hunan, the North, and Fusang, and other officers were making contributions every moment.

Without any outstanding performance, it would probably be difficult for him to stand out.

Losing the opportunity to destroy the Southern Ming, he might never have another chance.

After all, the only places worth Great Hua’s attention now were Sichuan and beyond the pass, and it was unlikely to be his turn.

There would be some battles overseas, but that was the navy’s business.

After weighing the situation, Lu Guangzu realized that this was almost his last chance.

So, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind, agreeing to Lin Xiaodao’s suggestion.

The head of an army was already a core member of Great Hua’s high command.

He had to seize this opportunity, rise to the position of division commander, receive a good title, and then he could retire.

As long as things weren’t exposed, he could become a noble, and even his descendants could benefit endlessly.

Chapter 621: A Battle is Still Necessary

The next day, Lu Guangzu quietly escorted the envoy team away.

Then, Lin Xiaodao led another group of men on a detour, ambushing and killing the entire envoy team in a deserted mountain area.

Against professional soldiers, these envoys naturally had no ability to resist.

After finishing everything, Lu Guangzu acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to command the army and advance towards the interior of Guangxi according to the planned schedule.

Almost everywhere they went, cities surrendered at the mere sight of them.

Many county towns, without even waiting for the Great Hua army to set up siege formations, eagerly opened their gates, offering delicacies such as chicken, duck, fish, and meat, and welcoming them.

Occasionally, when they encountered cities that still wanted to resist, Qu Shisi would step forward to persuade them to surrender, and that would usually settle the matter.

Even the Governor-General of Guangxi had surrendered, so those below him had even less reason to resist.

Soon, Lu Guangzu and his men reached Guigang, and then headed straight for Nanning.

At the same time, in Kagoshima, Japan, Qian Sule’s forces were also facing battle.

Qian Sule didn’t know why, but the Kumamoto Domain, located in the northern part of the Satsuma Domain, had sent reinforcements to support Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Perhaps it was because they were geographically close and feared that the fall of one would lead to the fall of the other, or perhaps Shimazu Mitsuhisa had promised the Xichuan family some benefits.

In any case, none of that mattered.

What mattered was that in the current situation, Shimazu Mitsuhisa would probably not yield unless they fought a battle and subdued the enemy.

The Kumamoto Domain had sent a force of about fifteen thousand men, which, added to Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s own forty thousand plus troops, brought the total to nearly sixty thousand.

Qian Sule had left one thousand men on Tanegashima, leaving him with less than fourteen thousand men in Kagoshima.

However, if they were unable to win, they could retreat to the vicinity of the port and request artillery support from the navy, so there was no real danger.

“Let’s hear your thoughts, how should we fight this battle?”

Qian Sule convened a war council.

Although they had an absolute advantage in terms of weaponry and equipment, he had to be cautious in the face of such a large number of enemies.

“I think that instead of passively defending, we should take the initiative and attack. If we wait for the men from the Kumamoto Domain to reach the outskirts of Kagoshima, then we will have too many directions to defend, which will easily lead to a dispersal of our forces.

Instead of that, we might as well divide a force and take the initiative to go to Oyama-cho, the enemy’s only route, and engage in a decisive battle with the enemy, defeating the men from the Kumamoto Domain in one fell swoop,” said Staff Chief Dong Zhong. He was the son of Dong Tianbao, the commander of the Fourth Army. With a good father and outstanding talent, his rise was like a rocket.

In just a year or two, he had gone from a battalion commander to the current position of Staff Chief, making him the fastest-rising of all the children of high-ranking officers.

The children of Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and others were still young and had not yet entered the army so quickly.

“But what about Shimazu Mitsuhisa in the northeast? He has even more troops,” another staff officer asked.

“The rest of us can directly transfer to Mount Castle. This will prevent Shimazu Mitsuhisa from sending troops to join up with the men from the Kumamoto Domain, avoiding our army from being surrounded and attacked from both sides.

If Shimazu Mitsuhisa wants to take the opportunity to attack our remaining troops, trying to eliminate this force, that would be even better. We occupy the favorable terrain of Mount Castle, which will allow Shimazu Mitsuhisa to see our defensive capabilities.

In fact, in order to attract him to attack, we should even take a little risk, not leaving too many people behind, and transfer the main force to attack the men from the Kumamoto Domain.

We should strive to defeat the Kumamoto Domain in the shortest possible time, and then quickly return to support and jointly attack Shimazu Mitsuhisa,” Dong Zhong continued. He was also a very radical person, willing to put his troops in danger in order to achieve a greater victory.

If too few troops were left behind, accidents could happen.

And once the defense line was breached, and they were caught in close-quarters combat, they would face the risk of being completely annihilated.

If they were to lose thousands of men even fighting Japan, they would be punished.

“The risk is too great, I think we should be more cautious. As long as we advance steadily, we will surely win, there is no need to take risks,” another staff officer disagreed with the plan.

“Although the risk is great, the reward is also great, we can completely crush Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s psychological defenses with one blow. As long as this battle hurts him and leaves a deep impression, I don’t think he will dare to have any ideas about us in the future, it will be a permanent solution.

And the original treaty can also be appropriately revised, I don’t think he would dare to object,” Dong Zhong said.

The two sides argued for a long time, even arguing about the details of various operations, discussing the feasibility of the plan.

In the end, Qian Sule adopted a compromise plan.

He adopted Dong Zhong’s plan, leaving four thousand men to defend Mount Castle. However, he retained a regiment a dozen or so li west of Mount Castle as an emergency force.

If the situation for the defenders of Mount Castle became unfavorable, this force could quickly provide support.

It might not be able to reverse the situation, but at least it could help them break out of the encirclement, so that the defenders of Mount Castle would not be completely wiped out.

The remaining nine thousand men would attack the men from the Kumamoto Domain, not needing to completely annihilate them, but only needing to inflict heavy damage on them, scaring the enemy into retreating.

After the battle plan was formulated, the Great Hua army began to take action.

They directly divided into three routes, one heading to Oyama-cho, one hiding, and four thousand men constructing fortifications on Mount Castle.

The Great Hua army was constantly monitoring the movements of the Japanese, and the Japanese were also constantly monitoring their movements.

After learning that the Great Hua army had sent its main force to attack the reinforcements from the Kumamoto Domain, Shimazu Mitsuhisa decisively led his troops to attack immediately.

This was his last chance, if he didn’t launch an attack while the main force of Great Hua was away, it would be even more difficult for him to find an opportunity to attack in the future.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa didn’t think about completely annihilating the Great Hua army, because that would create a great feud between the two sides, and Great Hua might send more troops over as a result.

Therefore, Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s purpose was actually just to hurt the Great Hua army, to prove to the Great Hua army that they also had the power to resist, so that the Great Hua army would have some concerns.

Then, in the subsequent negotiations, he could get Great Hua to make some concessions.

This was Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s plan.

He was also very helpless, that’s how weak countries are, they don’t dare to retaliate too harshly when they are bullied, they have to pay attention to the degree.

Unless, they have the determination to die for their country.

At present, eliminating the Great Hua forces on Mount Castle was very much in line with Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s interests.

Eliminating several thousand men from Great Hua would not completely enrage Great Hua, and would also demonstrate his strength.

More importantly, this task seemed to be within his capabilities.

If Great Hua had left ten thousand men to defend Mount Castle, he would not have dared to attack proactively.

But with four thousand men, and him with forty thousand men, a ratio of ten to one, Shimazu Mitsuhisa felt he could give it a try.

Chapter 622: Siege

Both sides began to move. As the main force of the Great Hua army engaged the Kumamoto Domain troops, Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s forces also arrived at the foot of Mount Kumamoto and launched their attack.

Last time, the Great Hua army attacked while he defended. This time, the roles were reversed.

The sound of cannons roared.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa had spared no expense for this great battle, bringing out every last bit of his reserves.

He had scraped together over forty cannons.

However, only a few of these cannons were large-caliber guns of the Hongyi cannon level.

The rest were all “bowl cannons,” similar to the Great Hua’s earlier Thunderbolt Cannons, with very small muzzles and light bodies, making them easy to carry.

However, their range was also very short, requiring them to be carried close to the enemy before use.

But these bowl cannons had one advantage: they fired not solid shot, but a large number of small iron balls.

Although the hit rate was extremely low, each shot contained hundreds of small iron balls, making them devastating against dense formations of enemies.

The first to fire were the few heavy cannons, as only they could reach that far.

These few cannons posed almost no threat to the Great Hua army.

Their main purpose seemed to be to embolden the Japanese soldiers.

In addition to cannons, he had also gathered various types of firearms, totaling about one thousand.

However, their performance was questionable.

Whether these firearms were as useful as swords was a matter of debate.

After firing a few shots, the Japanese launched a general attack from three less steep directions.

Enemies swarmed across the mountains, and the Great Hua army’s cannons also roared to life.

In fact, their cannons could have reached the enemy earlier, but to lure the enemy into a charge, the Great Hua army had deliberately held their fire.

Now that the Japanese had launched their attack, they could unleash their full firepower.

Dozens of cannons fired simultaneously, their power far exceeding that of the Japanese cannons, belonging to entirely different levels.

More terrifying than the sound was, of course, the destructive power.

Armies unaccustomed to fighting cannons often made mistakes, such as charging in dense formations.

If soldiers maintained sufficient spacing, the destructive power of current cannons would be extremely limited.

Even against cannons of later generations, maintaining a large distance could greatly reduce casualties.

But the problem was that most countries and regions’ armies still had their combat thinking stuck in the age of cold weapons, lacking experience in fighting large numbers of cannons.

Without experience, they naturally couldn’t develop tactics to counter cannons.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s troops charged up the mountain in a very dense formation, and cannonballs landed among them, blasting away large swathes of soldiers with each explosion.

It was fortunate that the Great Hua army didn’t have many cannons. If they had deployed hundreds of cannons, they wouldn’t even need infantry; the cannons alone could have driven the enemy to collapse.

As it was, although the Japanese suffered heavy losses, they were still within their tolerance.

They continued to charge, eventually reaching the range of the Great Hua infantry.

Gunshots rang out, and the nightmare of the Japanese samurai began.

How to safely cross this stretch of ground was their biggest problem.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s solution was to rely on numbers.

No matter how powerful the Great Hua army’s rifles were, they still needed someone to use them. One person could only use one gun, and the rate of fire of one gun was limited.

Therefore, the number of bullets fired each time was limited, and the number of enemies killed was limited. As long as their own soldiers far outnumbered the bullets, they could reach the enemy after a batch of soldiers died.

Four thousand Great Hua soldiers needed to defend three directions, each about three hundred meters wide.

With just over one thousand men, defending such a wide area was not easy.

After all, they couldn’t eliminate an enemy with every bullet. Most of the bullets actually missed.

The Japanese samurai charged continuously, and some who carried guns also aimed at the Great Hua army and began to shoot after entering the range.

However, they were using smoothbore guns, none of which were accurate.

They were only responsible for firing; whether they hit or not depended on fate.

Unfortunately, those bullets had no fate with the Great Hua army, because the Great Hua soldiers basically only exposed their shoulders and above, with the rest of their bodies hidden behind fortifications.

This kind of defense could even effectively defend against their own rifles, let alone the smoothbore guns in the hands of the Japanese samurai.

Except for a few extremely unlucky soldiers who were hit, the others continued to shoot as if nothing had happened.

Occasionally, when one or two bullets flew over their heads or hit the ground in front of them, they couldn’t help but laugh, not taking it seriously.

The probability of being hit by enemy bullets was about the same as the probability of their own rifles exploding.

After firing a few shots, the Japanese samurai with guns also realized this awkward problem.

Although they were both guns, the difference was huge.

So, some samurai simply abandoned the long-range function of the guns and charged forward, preparing for close combat.

Some smarter samurai continued to shoot from a distance, knowing they wouldn’t hit.

After all, the farther they were from the Great Hua army, the lower the risk factor.

Those Great Hua soldiers would prioritize attacking those closer to them.

Whether they could hit the enemy was not important; being able to reduce the probability of being hit by the enemy was already a good effect.

“Run left and right, don’t go in a straight line.”

On the battlefield, some officers in charge of command also kept observing the battle and slowly accumulating experience.

They found that changing the route from time to time during the charge, and not always going in a straight line, would make it more difficult for the enemy to hit.

So, some officers began to give reminders.

This was probably the earliest tactical charge.

And some smart soldiers were also summarizing experience in battle. Some people knew to look for the Great Hua army’s blind spots when charging.

First, they would run to a blind spot or behind an obstacle, and then look for the next safe area, continuing to charge to the next safe position.

In this way, they constantly approached the Great Hua army’s position.

They might not know the reason behind it, but intuitively, they had summed up this effective method.

This method was actually very effective, and the difficulty for the Great Hua army to kill these soldiers directly increased several times.

However, smart soldiers were always in the minority. Most soldiers still needed officers to teach them after the war.

And now, the officers had not yet summarized a good method, and were still letting them charge mindlessly. So, most of the samurai were charging mindlessly.

A large number of Japanese samurai fell in such charges.

Chapter 623: Utterly Convinced

One hundred meters, fifty meters, twenty meters…

The distance between the two sides grew shorter and shorter, but the casualties among the Japanese samurai also increased.

At this moment, the numerical disadvantage of the Great Hua army became apparent. Even though they had inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy, the enemy continued to rush forward relentlessly.

The anticipated collapse of the enemy did not occur.

Moreover, those Japanese artillerymen who had gotten close began firing their bowl cannons.

These things were much more powerful than their guns and could pose a greater threat to the Great Hua army.

After all, the number of iron pellets fired at once was truly significant.

Being hit by one or two, or even a dozen pellets, wouldn’t be fatal to a soldier, but their combat effectiveness would definitely be lost. The pain would make it impossible to continue fighting.

“Throw grenades, then retreat to the second line of defense!”

The Great Hua army officer ordered.

They had previously constructed a large number of fortifications. In addition to this first line of defense, there was a second line of defense a few dozen meters behind.

They didn’t want to engage in melee combat with the enemy, planning to exhaust them with a wave of attacks before retreating.

Upon receiving the order, the Great Hua soldiers stopped firing and threw the grenades they carried down the slope.

Immediately, a series of explosions rang out, causing another commotion among the Japanese samurai.

In fact, those Japanese samurai were already eager to retreat.

However, due to the suppression by their officers, they had no chance to escape.

Taking advantage of this chaos among the Japanese samurai, the Great Hua army quickly retreated.

By the time the Japanese samurai reacted and went to pursue, it was already too late.

They were exhausted from climbing the mountain and their physical strength was far inferior to the Great Hua soldiers who had been waiting in ambush, so they couldn’t catch up.

However, they had at least captured the first line of defense. After capturing the second line of defense, the Great Hua army would have nowhere to retreat.

Moreover, the distance between the first and second lines of defense was very short, only a few dozen meters, making it easier to charge across.

The Japanese samurai resumed their advance.

These few dozen meters were another tragic journey.

“How can these people be so stupid? Knowing it’s a dead end, they still keep charging?”

A soldier in the Great Hua army couldn’t help but complain. The enemy on the opposite side had entered a state of frenzy, which he found difficult to understand.

“If they don’t charge, what else can they do?”

Another soldier answered his comrade’s question with a question.

When weapons are completely outmatched, the only options are to flee or charge at the enemy for melee combat. Apart from that, there doesn’t seem to be any other better way.

Every army that fights against Great Hua has to face this dilemma.

The Japanese samurai held their last breath and continued to charge, but when they reached the second line of defense, a strange iron net blocked their path.

The iron net wasn’t high, but it was impossible to jump over.

More importantly, the wire mesh was covered with sharp barbs and spikes, which looked terrifying.

Instinctively, they didn’t charge directly, but instead tried to cut the wire mesh with their swords, trying to create an opening.

However, this took time.

And the Great Hua soldiers, who were close at hand, naturally wouldn’t allow them to destroy the wire mesh.

At this distance, it was truly one shot, one kill.

Some soldiers, for convenience, were too lazy to even load bullets and simply used their bayonets to stab, which was even faster.

In addition to bayonets and bullets, the Japanese samurai were also greeted with grenades.

The Great Hua army had a wide variety of weapons, making the Japanese samurai suffer unspeakably.

Finally, some people couldn’t withstand the pressure and chose to retreat.

They failed once again.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa, watching from the foot of the mountain, felt his heart bleeding. Although he hadn’t counted, he could roughly estimate that his side’s losses were absolutely devastating, at least two or three thousand men.

His determination wavered once again.

At this point, he could only hope for breakthroughs in the other two directions.

If there were breakthroughs in the other two directions, this battle could still be fought.

If the other two directions also encountered this kind of predicament, then it was time to give up.

At this rate of casualties, even if he won, he would be severely weakened.

The two directions that Shimazu Mitsuhisa had placed high hopes on were also fighting hard.

Although one direction had once charged onto the Great Hua army’s position.

However, when they charged up, there weren’t many people left.

There were only a few dozen, and after a round of melee combat with the Great Hua army, they were completely annihilated.

And the reinforcements behind them didn’t replenish in time.

This was the best opportunity for the Satsuma Domain, and they failed to seize it.

After that, the Great Hua army never gave them another chance.

Or rather, their samurai were unwilling to engage in such meaningless charges anymore.

Two samurai preferred to commit suicide rather than obey orders to charge.

Under such circumstances, the generals could only report the situation to Shimazu Mitsuhisa and let him make a decision.

“How many casualties in each unit?”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa asked.

After statistics, more than three thousand men were killed on Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s side, and more than five thousand men were killed on the other two sides. Adding some seriously wounded, this basically wrote off ten thousand men.

Adding some lightly wounded who could no longer fight, he now had about twenty-five thousand men he could use.

Losing ten thousand men was within Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s tolerance, but the problem was that more than ten thousand men had died without achieving any results, which was equivalent to dying in vain.

How many more people would need to die to completely eliminate this Great Hua army of several thousand men?

Ten thousand, or twenty thousand?

At that time, would the other soldiers still be willing to fight?

Not to mention then, even now, the samurai below were unwilling to fight anymore.

With an army of twenty-five thousand men in hand, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was no longer able to fully utilize this force.

“Alas, it’s truly helpless.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa sighed.

Many of Great Hua’s opponents had experienced this kind of sigh.

It was really impossible to fight. They had never fought a battle with such a huge gap, and they couldn’t see any hope at all.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa felt that the only way to contend was to also have Great Hua’s weapons, otherwise there was no way to fight.

“Retreat. Send someone to inform Xichuan-kun and tell him to retreat quickly. We can’t win. I’m ready to compromise with the Great Hua.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa planned to compromise first, then increase trade with Great Hua, work hard to govern, and strive to replace his army’s equipment with Great Hua’s weapons as soon as possible.

This would give him a chance to defeat other domains, defeat the shogunate, and unify Japan.

Only by unifying Japan and relying on the overall size of Japan could he obtain greater development and have the capital to make Great Hua wary.

This was Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s plan. Even if he unified Japan, he only wanted to make Great Hua wary of him, and he never thought of competing with Great Hua.

One battle almost convinced him completely.

Chapter 624: Comprehensive Suppression

At Ono-machi, the Great Hua army encountered Nishikawa Mochiyoshi of the Kumamoto Domain.

The Great Hua army didn’t delay and immediately launched a full-scale attack.

At this time, their tactics were very different from when they used flintlock rifles. They no longer advanced in tight formations.

Although that formation was imposing, it also made them vulnerable to casualties.

Whether it was the enemy’s cannons, arrows, or muskets, they could inflict damage on such dense formations.

Previously, the Great Hua army had no choice. To maintain their firepower, they had to maintain this formation.

But now, after using the new rifles, the Great Hua army’s firepower no longer needed to rely on this formation. Naturally, they wouldn’t use it anymore, avoiding unnecessary casualties.

They used a scattered assault pattern, advancing freely in units of companies or platoons.

They wouldn’t charge right up to the enemy but would try to maintain a suitable distance.

This allowed them to avoid being hit by the enemy while still inflicting effective damage.

After receiving their orders, each company and platoon advanced.

Upon entering the firing range, they immediately sought cover or favorable defensive positions, deployed, and then opened fire, whittling down the enemy.

If the enemy fled, they would continue to pursue.

If the enemy exchanged fire, they would continue to exchange fire.

If the enemy took the initiative to charge, they would be more than happy to take advantage of their defensive position to inflict casualties.

This was equivalent to forcing the enemy to attack them, then taking advantage of the defense.

This tactic was quite shameless.

No matter the situation, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi’s troops would suffer, and suffer greatly.

This tactic also allowed the Great Hua army to most effectively ensure low casualties.

As the battle began, a certain company rushed to a small hillside. Too lazy to even dig fortifications, they directly used the terrain of the rice paddy ridges to shoot at the enemy.

After being attacked, the first reaction of the samurai was to charge forward.

They had no choice. Most of them were armed with melee weapons. To kill the enemy, they had to charge at them first. This was a matter of course.

But their charge only lasted a short while before the samurai in the front quickly found places to hide.

It was too dangerous. The surviving samurai discovered that about a third of those who had charged with them had already fallen.

The remaining samurai hid behind cover, at a loss.

Continuing to charge seemed impossible. The casualties were too heavy. Retreating was even worse, as that would be tantamount to defeat. Exchanging fire was also not an option. They didn’t have many ranged weapons.

The Japanese generals and samurai were in a very awkward situation, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Similar situations were happening across the entire battlefield.

Almost everywhere, it was more or less the same. It was just that in some places, the Japanese died more miserably, and in other places, they didn’t die as miserably.

“Let Kawashima-kun lead people to break through that mountain pass, and then we can go up the mountain from behind the enemy and attack from both sides, eliminating the enemy on this small hillside.”

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was not a complete waste. He was also trying to think of countermeasures.

The current tactic was the best he could think of.

Because a nearly one-thousand-man unit of the Great Hua army had advanced too far and become isolated on a hillside, providing the Japanese with an opportunity to encircle and annihilate them.

However, if the Japanese wanted to sneak up on this isolated force from behind, they had to first break through another mountain pass to get on the road up the mountain.

It wasn’t that other places couldn’t be climbed, but it was very difficult.

In comparison, breaking through the mountain pass guarded by the Great Hua army’s one hundred-plus soldiers was the best option.

The entire battlefield was divided into many small pieces. Nishikawa Mochiyoshi made many such deployments.

He could only try his best to deploy, hoping to use tactics to make up for his side’s disadvantages.

This idea was certainly not a problem, but in the specific implementation, it was fraught with difficulties.

Breaking through the mountain pass guarded by the Great Hua army’s Fourth Company was not that easy.

The mountain pass was only wide enough for a dozen people to walk side by side. With that width, a company was more than enough to guard it.

Nearly a thousand Japanese samurai launched an attack on this mountain pass, and they were greeted by countless bullets.

All those who charged in the front died, without exception.

They could no longer get closer than thirty or forty meters from the Great Hua army.

The remaining people were trembling, afraid to charge forward. They would rather take a detour up the mountain.

No matter how difficult the mountain road was, at least they wouldn’t lose their lives.

However, this would waste a lot of time.

Their progress would also affect the situation on the entire battlefield.

They had invested more than a thousand people here and still hadn’t broken through the Great Hua army’s blockade. The situation was even worse in other places.

It should be known that the number of Nishikawa’s army was not much larger than that of the Great Hua army.

Their deployment of one thousand people to deal with one hundred Great Hua soldiers meant that they also had places where their forces were at a disadvantage.

And those places where their forces were at a disadvantage were now facing a catastrophe.

The Great Hua army didn’t need to pay attention to any tactics. They could just push forward directly.

The Japanese could only keep fleeing, keep fleeing.

If they didn’t flee, they would be almost wiped out after two or three rounds of shooting.

As a result, the right wing of Nishikawa’s army collapsed first.

The collapse of one place triggered a chain reaction in other places.

“Lord, retreat quickly! The enemy is too strong. We are no match for them.”

Seeing that the situation was not good, the other generals advised Nishikawa Mochiyoshi to retreat.

Originally, this battle had little to do with them. Shimazu Mitsuhisa had only promised them one million taels of silver as a reward for their hard work afterward.

At this time, they realized that this money was not easy to earn, so naturally, they had to run away decisively.

It would be terrible if they tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead.

“Retreat. Let the Satsuma Domain and the shogunate worry about the Great Hua people.”

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was also very decisive. Seeing that there was really no way to fight, he immediately chose to retreat.

However, it was not easy for them to retreat at this time. The Great Hua army would not give up this opportunity to beat a dog in the water.

They wanted to scare Nishikawa’s army once and for all, making them have enough fear of Great Hua.

In this way, the people of the Kumamoto Domain would be more honest in the future.

Although Great Hua’s strength far surpassed that of the Japanese, they didn’t want to be constantly targeted.

It would be troublesome if they were patrolling or mining in the mountains in the future and were ambushed by the enemy.

Guerrillas have a hard time deciding the outcome of a war, but they are definitely first-class when it comes to messing with people’s minds.

The best way is to give the other party a psychological shadow, making them afraid to resist.

In this way, the Great Hua army could walk sideways in Japan in the future, and no one would dare to provoke them. That would be much more comfortable.

Chapter 625: The Kagoshima Treaty

The Nishikawa army’s retreat was another tearful tale.

After much trouble, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi finally managed to escape.

Afterwards, he tallied up his side’s losses and felt like crying.

In a battle that didn’t last long, he lost nearly three thousand samurai.

Each of these samurai was worth at least ten taels of silver. Adding in the loss of weapons and other equipment, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi lost at least fifty thousand taels this time.

Not only did he not make any money, but he lost fifty thousand. He was already considering whether he should ask Shimazu Mitsuhisa to compensate him.

Thus, the war between Great Hua and Japan came to an end.

In this battle, the Japanese side had a total of nearly ten thousand killed in action, plus some seriously injured who could not be saved, resulting in a loss of at least twelve thousand people.

The losses weren’t particularly large.

However, compared to the results they achieved, this loss was enough to make them wail.

In this battle, the total casualties of the Hua army were more than two hundred and sixty, about one-fiftieth of the Japanese.

The gap was that exaggerated.

Advanced weapons and advanced tactical concepts, when facing the Japanese army, were like a difference of centuries, like a civilized society fighting primitive people.

After this battle, Shimazu Mitsuhisa and Nishikawa Mochiyoshi became honest.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa took the initiative to send Koizumi Shinji to Qian Sule to convey his willingness to agree to the four demands made by Great Hua.

However, after this battle, how could Great Hua be satisfied with just these four points?

After receiving Wu Changqing’s secret decree, Qian Sule revised the content of the treaty.

First, the first and second articles remained unchanged.

The Hua army still wanted the murderer. This was related to the legitimacy of Great Hua’s dispatch of troops. Even if there was no actual benefit, it must be insisted upon.

It was necessary to make everyone believe that Great Hua sent troops because it wanted to seek justice for Great Hua merchants, rather than eyeing the Japanese people’s gold and silver mountains.

The second article, free trade, did not need to be written in a written document.

Great Hua was not worried about the Japanese going back on their word. If they dared to do so, that would be best, and Great Hua would have another reason to beat them up.

As for the third article, this time the Hua army wanted more than just Ibusuki City. They also demanded a garrison in Kagoshima, with three thousand troops stationed there.

Leaving some troops stationed in Kagoshima would allow them to react more quickly in case of trouble.

After all, in terms of geographical location, Kagoshima was much better than Ibusuki. In the future, the main place for Great Hua merchants to do business would definitely be Kagoshima.

This condition made Koizumi Shinji regret it, but it was too late, and he had no choice but to grit his teeth and agree.

The first three articles were fine, but the fourth article was what made the Satsuma Domain feel the pain.

The Hua army stated that Great Hua had suffered heavy losses in this war and spent countless amounts of money.

And all of this was because the Satsuma Domain was ignorant. Therefore, they needed to punish the Satsuma Domain and demand that they compensate ten million taels of silver.

If there was no cash, it didn’t matter. Great Hua would go to the Satsuma Domain’s territory to explore minerals and dig it themselves, without bothering them.

Ten million, this was simply an astronomical figure for the Satsuma Domain.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to pay cash and could use mineral resources to offset the debt.

Otherwise, even if they held a gun to Shimazu Mitsuhisa and forced him to sell his underwear, he wouldn’t be able to raise ten million taels.

In addition to these four articles, Great Hua also added a seemingly unimportant requirement.

Allow the people of the two countries to come and go freely, marry, and work.

In other words, they must allow Great Hua to recruit workers in Japan to work in Great Hua, and also allow Japan to recruit workers in Great Hua to work in Japan.

And, allow the people of the two countries to marry freely.

It seemed like a fair treaty, aimed at both sides, with no one suffering a loss.

However, Koizumi Shinji almost left in anger after reading this article.

With the wealth of Great Hua and the poverty of Japan, only a crazy woman from Great Hua would marry into Japan.

On the contrary, some Japanese women would definitely go to Great Hua in pursuit of a better life.

Women meant descendants, meant population.

The loss of women was a very serious problem.

Nowadays, whether it was Great Hua or Japan, they were relatively short of women.

Because rich people often occupied two or several, naturally there would be a large group of bachelors.

Moreover, the number of women, no matter how many, was not a burden.

With a man’s energy, it was more than enough to cope with two or three women.

If men died in battle, it would be fine for one man to be matched with several women, which would not affect the speed of reproduction too much.

But if there were fewer women, no matter how many men there were, it would be useless, they couldn’t get pregnant.

The number of women often determined the number of descendants.

Therefore, women were very important.

More importantly, compared to men, women’s sense of territory and national consciousness were not very strong.

It was difficult to get a Japanese man to regard Great Hua as his own country.

But it was easy to get a Japanese woman to regard Great Hua as her own country, just let her have a child of Great Hua.

In the patriarchal era, women were extremely dependent on men, and it was much easier to change them.

Great Hua’s move was simply to cut off the Japanese people’s lineage.

Once this treaty was issued, the population of their Satsuma Domain would decline significantly.

As for the other article allowing both parties to freely recruit workers, it was also clearly biased towards Great Hua.

Only Great Hua had so many factories and so many jobs.

And Japan could only farm, which was not attractive to the people of Great Hua at all.

Koizumi Shinji firmly refused to agree to this article, and Qian Sule then gave a little sweetness.

Qian Sule said that as long as the Satsuma Domain signed this Kagoshima Treaty, the Hua army would promise to fund the Satsuma Domain with ten thousand standard flintlock guns, one hundred thousand hand grenades, and fifty artillery pieces.

This batch of arms was enough to make the Satsuma Domain the strongest domain in Japan in one fell swoop, allowing them to have the strength to threaten the shogunate.

Qian Sule also promised that if the subsequent cooperation was pleasant, he would provide more arms.

Anyway, for Great Hua, flintlock guns were already facing complete elimination, and even the local police were not very willing to use them.

After all, in security incidents, this flintlock gun was completely useless, unable to hit bad people, and also worried about accidentally injuring the public, far inferior to a broadsword.

Now the flintlock guns that Great Hua had replaced were piled up in warehouses, and they were trying to sell them overseas.

They were not worried that the enemy would be able to contend with Great Hua after possessing this weapon. With Great Hua’s weapon development speed, there would definitely be more advanced weapons in the future.

After throwing out a sweet date, Koizumi Shinji fell into deep thought.

Finally, not daring to make a decision, he reported the situation to Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was melancholy for a long time, and finally chose to agree.

He couldn’t disagree, with Great Hua’s nature, if they didn’t agree, Great Hua would definitely continue to use force to coerce them.

Unless they had the determination to die together, they could only agree.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa did not have the courage to die together, and even, he was worried that even if he was determined to fight to the death, the final result might be that the fish died, but the net was not broken.

Chapter 626: Heading to Great Hua

The Treaty of Kagoshima didn’t mention Tanegashima. The Great Hua army didn’t need to mention it either; they had already completely occupied it anyway, and there was no need for the Satsuma Domain to acknowledge it.

The people of the Satsuma Domain were too lazy to bring it up. Anyway, even if they did, Great Hua wouldn’t return Tanegashima to the Kojima clan, only causing further embarrassment.

After the treaty was signed, Kojima Eiko, the overlooked daimyo, could only find a corner to cry alone before seeking comfort from a mama-san at a brothel.

Young and beautiful women rely on their looks, while older mama-sans rely on their endless tenderness.

For those who have suffered psychological blows and trauma, these mama-sans are more popular than young girls.

After the Treaty of Kagoshima was signed, the Great Hua army left three thousand men in Kagoshima, while the rest moved to Ibusuki.

The Japanese in Ibusuki didn’t have strong resistance to this. Anyway, they didn’t have much loyalty to the Shimazu clan of the Satsuma Domain.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa collected taxes too harshly, and many people even wished he would die soon.

At first, the Japanese were just not resistant, but with the arrival of Great Hua merchant ships, they became joyous.

Previously, a bolt of cloth in Japan cost three taels of silver, while Great Hua’s cloth only cost two taels.

The price difference between the two places was enormous.

After all, in Japan, picking up a piece of silver in the mountains was easier than weaving a bolt of cloth.

With the price greatly reduced, the locals were naturally overjoyed.

This meant that they could live a better life in the future.

Before, they might only be able to wear a piece of linen, but now they might be able to wear a decent piece of clothing.

Don’t underestimate this little change; it is quite effective in improving happiness, especially for women.

However, two taels of silver is still a huge number for ordinary people, and most of them still can’t afford it.

What should they do?

The people of Great Hua would tell them not to worry, Great Hua is absolutely considerate and loving.

Great Hua merchants promised to buy yarn from the Japanese at high prices, encouraging them to plant more mulberry trees.

At the same time, Great Hua merchants would also provide them with jobs, allowing them to work in Shanghai.

Men would go to build roads, and women would enter textile factories, with monthly salaries as high as two yuan and one yuan, and with free room and board.

This price was half the cost of recruiting locals in Shanghai.

The people of Ibusuki might not even earn two yuan in a year in Ibusuki, so the Great Hua merchants were happy, and the Japanese people were also happy.

Hearing this news, many Japanese were tempted.

After all, after paying taxes in Japan, there was almost no surplus left.

But going to Great Hua to work not only provided free room and board, but they could also save more than ten taels of silver a year. Even women were accepted, which was a considerable benefit.

In Japan, besides brothels, there were no other side jobs for women.

Not all women were willing to go to brothels, and even if they had to go to brothels, going to Great Hua’s brothels would earn more money.

Of course, not all Japanese would be tempted. Some people were afraid of the unknown and dared not easily travel across the ocean to Great Hua.

Some were worried about the language barrier, fearing that it would be inconvenient to live in Great Hua.

Others were worried about being bullied in a foreign country.

In short, there were many reasons, and everyone would have their own considerations and choices.

But overall, there would be many people who would go to Great Hua, as the desire for a better life is human nature.

At the port of Ibusuki, nearly one thousand Japanese were preparing to board the ship.

Among them, women were the majority.

They were workers about to go to Shanghai.

Sako was one of them, and she was full of fear for the future.

But she had no choice, because if she didn’t board the ship, her family would sell her to a brothel.

They had no choice but to sell her, as her family was already broke, and Shimazu Mitsuhisa had recently added a national crisis tax.

When this happened, ordinary people could only sell their children.

Compared to being sold to a brothel, Sako chose to work in a factory in Great Hua.

Although the money might be less, at least she wouldn’t have to face different men every day.

To go to Great Hua, the merchants of Great Hua would also prepay a sum of money to help her family through the difficulties.

It was for these reasons that she embarked on a ship to Great Hua.

There were six or seven hundred women like her.

Once everyone boarded the ship, the topic became Great Hua.

They were all full of curiosity about the place they were about to go to.

“I heard that Great Hua is full of gold, and there is uneaten food thrown everywhere.”

One woman said.

Surprisingly, many people believed such outrageous words.

“I heard that women in Great Hua don’t have to work. If we marry a man from Great Hua, will we be able to eat without working every day?”

Another woman said.

“Aren’t you afraid of marrying a Great Hua man? You won’t understand anything they say.”

“We can learn, I learn dialects very quickly. I stayed in Edo for two months and learned Kanto dialect.”

“I just want to earn more money in the factory and send it home.”

…

Sako listened to everyone’s discussion, and her mood improved a lot, and her worries lessened.

The optimistic attitude of others influenced her, making her feel that Great Hua shouldn’t be that scary.

After more than two days of sailing, they finally arrived in Shanghai.

Looking at the ships coming in and out of Shanghai Port, these Japanese women opened their mouths one by one, surprised and speechless.

In Ibusuki, they had only seen fishing boats that could carry a dozen people at most.

This time, the merchant ship of Great Hua was already the largest ship they had ever seen.

They originally thought that this was the largest ship in the world.

However, when they arrived in Shanghai, they realized that the ship they were on could only be considered medium-sized.

Some ships that were several stories high passed by them, causing them to look up involuntarily.

Countless large ships were just the first shock Great Hua gave them.

The goods on the dock were even more dazzling.

They really couldn’t figure out how many people it would take to use up so many goods.

After getting off the ship, they were taken to a collective dormitory.

Then, they had to undergo three days of language training, not to master communication skills, but at least to understand some basic instructions.

For example, they needed to master some words such as “okay”, “no”, “continue”, and “stop”.

After the language training, they would also receive skills training.

Using machines to spin and weave is also a skill, but this skill is relatively simple and can be easily learned.

After learning the basic skills, they can officially work, work during the day, and learn Chinese at night.

Great Hua wanted them to fully integrate, and not being able to speak Chinese was absolutely not allowed.

These factories would not lose money even with such a large investment.

Because these female workers signed a ten-year long-term contract, they could be exploited for many years.

Chapter 627: Discussing Immigration

On one hand, Great Hua was recruiting people in Japan to go to Great Hua.

On the other hand, they were also recruiting people to go to Tanegashima overseas to farm.

Qian Sule wanted to completely Sinicize Tanegashima, gradually drive away the Japanese people on it, and then plunder those lands, or forcibly buy and sell them, and distribute them to the people of the country.

However, the initial effect was not ideal.

The people of Great Hua had too deep a longing for their homeland.

Unless they were unable to make a living in their homeland, people generally wouldn’t consider going overseas far from home.

And now the national conditions of Great Hua were good, and few people were unable to make a living; at least they had food to eat.

Under such circumstances, recruiting people to go to Tanegashima became a rather difficult task.

“The immigration issue is a major issue. Although immigration is not the focus of our work now, in a few years, immigration will be our most important task.

Therefore, how to formulate immigration policies needs to be carefully studied.”

Wu Changqing took the lead in speaking, and the next step was brainstorming.

The cabinet ministers and some other important officials were a little surprised to hear Wu Changqing say that immigration would be the most important task in the future.

They didn’t expect that Wu Changqing had considered so far ahead and made a rough plan for the development in a few years.

Even more unexpectedly, in Wu Changqing’s eyes, the inconspicuous immigration issue was of paramount importance.

According to common sense, shouldn’t it be further industrialization to improve the people’s living standards?

For the ministers, not being able to guess the emperor’s mind was a very painful thing.

At this time, they could only cram for the immigration issue. Very few ministers had done their homework in this area before.

Qian Taoli from the Ministry of Revenue had done some homework. He first introduced the importance of immigration to the others.

“Our Great Hua will definitely conquer overseas territories in the future and recover a large amount of territory occupied by barbarians. After we take those places back, how to effectively manage them is a big problem.

If the local natives continue to resist, it will greatly increase management costs, which is very uneconomical. The best way is to drive all the locals away and then move our Han people there.

The people who move from the homeland will naturally know who they should be loyal to.”

“Wouldn’t this immigration scale be too large? It’s better to strengthen ideological education and assimilate them,”

Qian Qianyi asked.

Overseas was such a large place. If they wanted to move all the Han people there, how many would that be? One million? Ten million?

Perhaps, fifty million wouldn’t be enough.

“Assimilation is necessary, and immigration is also necessary. These two policies do not conflict, and even complement each other. Is it possible for one person to assimilate ten people? It is much easier for ten people to assimilate one person.

Therefore, if we want to assimilate the other party, we must first move enough Han people with the universal values of our Great Hua. At least, we must reach half of the other party’s number to have the possibility of assimilating them.”

Qian Taoli further explained Great Hua’s future policy.

Assimilation and immigration, a two-pronged approach.

Move a large number of foreigners to Great Hua, and at the same time move a large number of Great Hua people to foreign countries, so that the number of Han people is dominant.

What Qian Taoli didn’t say was that this policy was actually only aimed at Korea, Japan, and West Asia.

There would be other policies for the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

However, those were too far away. Wu Changqing didn’t reveal too many plans, and Qian Taoli didn’t know either.

In short, in Korea and Japan, the policy was assimilation plus immigration.

Korea was relatively easy to deal with. After all, the national consciousness of this country was not strong for the time being, and the population was small, the strength was weak, and it was a peaceful merger.

The difficult part was Japan, which was a place with more than twenty million people. Looking at the world, there were not many countries that had as many people as them.

It was quite difficult to completely digest this nation, and it was a project of more than ten or dozens of years.

“It’s hard to leave one’s homeland. There are only two ways to get people to move: coercion and enticement. Coercion may not be good, as it can easily lead to their dissatisfaction with the imperial court, which will lead to high management costs in the future.

Therefore, we should focus on enticement. Maybe it will cost a little more money at the beginning, but at least it can be done once and for all. And it won’t be long before we can collect taxes from them and get our money back,”

Hong Chengchou reminded.

Previous dynasties had also thought about solving some land problems through immigration, but often because of insufficient funds, they could only force people to move, and the effect was very bad.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou hoped that Great Hua could adopt an enticing approach to make people willing to move.

“How much money would that cost?”

Qian Qianyi said with heartache.

“It’s not like we have to take it out all at once. The immigration work is still small for the time being, and the imperial court can still take out this money. As for large-scale immigration in the future, I haven’t figured out a solution to this problem. I suggest putting it on hold for the time being,”

Qian Taoli said.

Seeing that everyone had discussed it enough, Wu Changqing made a summary.

“Immigration must be enticing and not forced. As for this enticement, it doesn’t necessarily have to be direct money. We can distribute land. All Great Hua people who go to Tanegashima can get fifty mu of land per household, and single people can get twenty mu per person.

Moreover, the land allocated is tax-free for three years, and after three years, the tax is half of that of the mainland, for a period of ten years.

In this way, the imperial court does not need to spend any money, and it can also make the people tempted.”

The reward given by Wu Changqing was already quite large. At five yuan per mu, a single man could get one hundred yuan worth of property for free as long as he went to Tanegashima.

Moreover, the government would provide seeds, farm tools, and even plowing cattle.

Throughout history, there has never been a better immigration policy than this.

The land on Tanegashima was not wasteland, but farmland that had been planted by the Japanese.

As soon as they went there, they could have a harvest in one season.

It can be said that as long as you dare to go to Tanegashima, turning over is only a matter of half a year.

“Wouldn’t this be too much of a loss for the imperial court? This reward is too generous. I think it can be appropriately reduced. At least, the tax doesn’t have to be exempted so much, so that the imperial court can have more income,”

Ruan Dacheng said. He actually wanted Wu Changqing to add more taxes to the people so that more money could be invested in industry.

Moreover, Ruan Dacheng felt that the current tax burden on the people was too light, even less than half of that during the Ming Dynasty.

There were quite a few people who had the same idea as Ruan Dacheng.

In their opinion, it was already a great achievement for the imperial court to ensure that the people could eat and dress warmly. This was something that no dynasty had ever done before.

They had done it, and that was enough. There was no need to do more.

To let the people live the life of landlords, this seemed really unnecessary.

As long as they could eat and dress warmly, no one would rebel.

Chapter 628: Immigration Policy

“Lord Ruan is mistaken. Lowering taxes allows the people to become wealthy. Eventually, the money they save will be spent, stimulating economic prosperity.

And we can then collect this money through commercial taxes, which is much better than directly collecting agricultural taxes,” Hong Chengchou said.

Of course, what he said wasn’t entirely correct. Some people, having been poor for too long, might hoard their money and be reluctant to spend it, which would actually be detrimental to Great Hua’s economy, far less effective than direct taxation.

However, this is only a short-term disadvantage.

Extending the time frame to five years or more, this impact wouldn’t be too significant.

After saving for a few years, people will eventually feel secure enough to spend some money, ensuring a virtuous cycle.

“There’s no need to mention increasing agricultural taxes. I set such low tax rates primarily to encourage people to have more children. No matter how much our technology develops, we need people to control it. People are the greatest productive force.

Considering Great Hua’s territory, supporting five or six hundred million people is not a problem, as long as we cultivate those lands and fully promote the planting of hybrid rice and potatoes.

Plus, with the population needed for future overseas immigration, my Great Hua’s people must number over two billion. Therefore, encouraging people to have children is a fundamental national policy that cannot be shaken.”

What Wu Changqing didn’t say was that more people also meant more tech points.

Two billion?

Everyone was shocked by the number Wu Changqing proposed, a figure that exceeded their comprehension.

Moreover, they didn’t believe that Great Hua’s territory could support six hundred million people.

This was because Wu Changqing hadn’t yet developed fertilizers. Based on current grain yields, it was indeed impossible to support that many.

After hearing Wu Changqing utter a series of unbelievable numbers, the people below began to suspect that their lord had been blinded by a series of victories and was becoming prone to grandiose schemes.

This was actually understandable. For an emperor, material enjoyment was no longer something to be deliberately pursued; there were specialized people who would rack their brains to ensure he received the best enjoyment.

Therefore, for an emperor, the only thing left to pursue was spiritual enjoyment.

Specifically, the pursuit of unprecedented achievements.

This wasn’t a good sign, as it meant the emperor was prone to making unrealistic decisions.

However, Wu Changqing was only just showing slight signs of this, so the others couldn’t say much.

With Wu Changqing’s current achievements, even if he occasionally made a mistake, it wouldn’t be a big deal, and no one would dare to pursue it.

Since Wu Changqing said he wanted to reduce taxes and encourage childbirth, then encourage childbirth it was.

The ministers felt that as long as they didn’t forcibly set a target of two billion people when handling specific matters, then the problem wouldn’t be too big.

At this point in the discussion, the immigration policy was basically finalized.

That was to use overseas land as an enticement to attract people to go.

Tanegashima would be Great Hua’s first pilot project.

If the results were good, it would be vigorously promoted in the future.

If any problems arose during the immigration process, they could be identified and corrected in time.

The new immigration policy was launched, first in Jiangsu, specifically in the Suzhou area.

Grassroots officials went to various villages to publicize and register those who were preparing to immigrate.

Once enough people were gathered, they would collectively set sail for Tanegashima and Korea.

“By order of His Majesty, families who relocate to Tanegashima or Korea will be allocated up to fifty mu of land for free, and individuals will be allocated twenty mu of land. At the same time, the government will provide seeds and farming tools. The newly allocated land will be tax-exempt for three years…”

The village chief’s announcement attracted a large crowd of villagers.

“Village chief, is this true?”

Some people didn’t believe it. Twenty mu of land, allocated for free, was too much.

“What do you mean? Does the wise and mighty Emperor need to specifically deceive an ignorant commoner like you? Our Great Hua’s soldiers have already conquered a large territory overseas, and there is plenty of land there,” the village chief explained.

So it was land seized by the court, which explained it.

The villagers therefore believed the village chief’s words, but they were vaguely worried that if those who had been robbed were not convinced and fought back, what would happen?

Of course, some people who were slightly better informed knew that Great Hua’s army was now invincible and there was no need to worry about such things.

Twenty mu of land was still quite tempting for many people.

For example, the younger sons of some families in the countryside.

At this time in the countryside, many places did not divide family property; it was all inherited by the eldest son, and the younger sons got nothing.

This ensured that at least one person could survive. If it was divided equally, it was likely that everyone would starve.

The younger sons usually could only live with their elder brother, helping him with work and getting a meal.

When the harvest was bad, they were often driven out.

As for whether they could marry a wife in the future, it completely depended on the family’s financial situation and the elder brother’s conscience.

In this situation, it was often a tragedy.

In the past, when faced with this situation, the younger sons in the family either chose to join the army, work as long-term laborers for landlords, or become eunuchs in the imperial palace or servants in wealthy families.

And now, they had another way to go to work in the city.

However, not everyone liked to go to factories.

Some people had grown up in the fields since childhood and only liked farming.

These people now also had a new way out: going overseas, to Tanegashima, to Korea, to have their own land.

In Lei Qiu Village, a family was having dinner.

“Brother, give me some money tomorrow. I’m going to go to Tanegashima overseas to make a living,” Zhao Shiping said.

His father had passed away, and he had an elder brother and a younger brother.

Everything in the family was decided by his elder brother, Zhao Shiming.

The family had a total of twenty-odd mu of land, which was enough to support a family, but it was difficult to support two families.

If Zhao Shiming didn’t divide the land to Zhao Shiping, no one would be willing to marry their daughter to him.

Everyone knew that Zhao Shiping’s life depended entirely on his elder brother’s charity.

As long as Zhao Shiming cut off the supply, Zhao Shiping would have no livelihood. Who would dare to entrust themselves to such a person?

“Why go overseas to take risks when things are going well? I still want to apply to the government to rent a few more mu of land. Plant a few more mu of land, earn some money, and then buy a few more mu of land. If we keep doing this, we can save some money for you to marry a wife,” Zhao Shiming said. If it was before, he would have been happy for his younger brother to leave, so he could get rid of a burden and not be pointed at by the villagers.

But now it was different. The government had a lot of land to rent cheaply, which he could rent and cultivate, which was very cost-effective.

And this required Zhao Shiping’s labor. Without Zhao Shiping, he couldn’t manage it alone.

Therefore, he didn’t want his younger brother to leave now.

“I’ve already decided,” Zhao Shiping said firmly.

Chapter 629: Setting Sail

A father figure as the eldest brother, no matter how much dissatisfaction Zhao Shiping had towards his elder brother, he wouldn’t dare voice it.

The truth was, he no longer wanted to be exploited by his elder brother.

Even working in a factory would be better than farming at home.

Farming at home provided nothing more than food to eat.

All the family’s income was controlled by his elder brother.

When Zhao Shiping was young, he didn’t care much.

However, watching his peers get married, take wives, and have children, while he remained an old bachelor,
it was impossible not to feel anxious.

Just now, Zhao Shiming had said that the money earned from renting land would be used to buy more land.

As for his marriage, it was put on the back burner.

If things continued as Zhao Shiming said, he didn’t know how long it would take to get a wife.

Zhao Shiping realized that as long as he continued to follow his elder brother, no matter how much land they cultivated or how much money they earned, it would all belong to his elder brother and have nothing to do with him.

And his elder brother would rather buy his wife a good piece of cloth to make clothes than save money for him to get married.

In that case, going out on his own and making a name for himself became his only option.

“The family doesn’t have any spare money right now,”

Zhao Shiming said unhappily.

He couldn’t stop his second brother, so he could only vent his dissatisfaction with sarcastic words.

“How can there be none? Didn’t we just sell a batch of grain last time? I put in a lot of effort for that grain too,”

Zhao Shiping said angrily.

“I plan to use that money to buy two more mu of land. Now is the time when landlords are selling off land in large quantities. If we don’t buy now, there won’t be such a good opportunity in the future,”

Zhao Shiming said.

“Buy, buy, buy, no matter how much you buy, it’s all yours, I don’t get a share.”

…

The twelve-year-old third brother watched them from the side, silently not daring to say a word.

Influenced by what he saw and heard, he was starting to worry about his own future.

There were many families like Zhao Shiping’s.

And the choices of those younger sons were mostly the same as Zhao Shiping’s.

Anyone with a bit of backbone and courage wouldn’t be content to be subservient to others.

Even if they were often treated unfairly, even if some were lucky enough to have a good elder brother, they would still want to leave.

After all, leaving would allow them to obtain free land and become their own masters.

Besides people like Zhao Shiping, there were also some who chose to immigrate for other reasons.

For example, Cheng Liang, who had lost all his family property gambling and still owed the casino a large sum of money, saw immigration as a way to escape.

Or Liu Liang, who had lost all his capital in business, had no choice but to immigrate, hoping to make a comeback.

Or Guo Huai, who had a conflict with his elderly father and wanted to go out and make a name for himself.

…

The next day, Zhao Shiping set off with five hundred wen, a pittance fit for a beggar.

He didn’t know how he would survive until the next harvest season with this five hundred wen, but he couldn’t care less. He didn’t want to stay in that house for another moment.

Following the government officials to the port, there were more than three hundred people waiting to board the ship, just like him.

Without exception, they were all young men around his age.

Only young people like them dared to take such a risk.

Families with wives and children wouldn’t dare to take such a risk.

On the ship, most people had expectant smiles on their faces.

In their original homes, they all lived uncomfortably for various reasons.

So, even though going overseas was dangerous, it was also a kind of liberation for them.

On the ship, everyone greeted each other and made new friends.

In a strange place, sticking together was key; one more friend meant one more hope.

It was very easy for them to become friends. They only needed to talk about their respective experiences, and they would immediately want to cry together.

Because their experiences often had amazing similarities.

They were all in the same boat, that’s what they were.

Having the same experiences, empathizing with each other, becoming friends became a matter of course.

After two days of drifting, they finally arrived at Tanegashima.

Some people who were seasick were already weak in the legs and dizzy.

However, they were all young people, and they could get through this little problem by persevering.

On Tanegashima, the army had already marked out a piece of land for them and driven the Japanese people in that area to other places or taken them to Great Hua.

These immigrants not only had land but also ready-made houses to live in.

Although they were all dilapidated thatched huts and wooden houses, everyone was very satisfied.

There couldn’t be a better start than this. They had even worried that they would have to sleep in the open for a few months, fearing that their bodies wouldn’t be able to withstand it.

They never expected that in addition to land, there would also be houses.

When it came time to allocate the fields, everyone was surprised again.

Because it was an island, many seabirds often stayed here, leaving behind a lot of bird droppings.

And these bird droppings mixed with the soil, resulting in the land here being quite fertile.

Moreover, there were many rivers on Tanegashima, and the water source was very abundant.

This kind of field would be classified as top-grade in Great Hua.

“These are all mine, all mine,”

A young man happily planted a simply made flag, marking his land.

“Look at you being so petty, what are you doing with this, do you think we can steal your land? It’s not like we don’t have any,”

Others complained.

Rural people were afraid of being poor. Suddenly having such a large fortune, they were really uneasy, so they wanted to put up some signs to prove the ownership of these things.

Others complained, but some also followed suit and made marks in a similar way.

The immigrants’ surprise didn’t stop there.

The next day, a ship carrying a large number of iron farm tools arrived at Tanegashima, providing these people with free farm tools.

“Everyone, work hard and grow more grain. When your grain can support two or three people, we will also give you wives. Japanese women are very gentle and obedient. If you want them, we will ship a batch to you in the future,”

The officer in charge of managing Tanegashima laughed.

As soon as these immigrants saved some money, he could go to Ibusuki and abduct a batch of Japanese women.

Compared to going to Great Hua thousands of li away, coming to Tanegashima was more attractive to Japanese women.

“Long live Great Hua, long live Great Hua, long live His Majesty.”

Immediately, a young man shouted excitedly.

They never thought that the imperial court would also give out wives. This was really wonderful.

Although living with a Japanese wife might not be as convenient as with a Great Hua woman, so what?

As long as they could cook and have children, that was enough.

They couldn’t ask for so much from free things.

Having been on Tanegashima for less than three days, these people had already fallen in love with this place.

Chapter 630: Grain Import Subsidies

Wu Changqing wasn’t particularly concerned about the current pilot immigration program.

It was just a pilot program; they could test it out first.

The current focus of development wasn’t immigration, but rather accelerating industrialization.

How to accelerate industrialization?

The cabinet, Wu Changqing, and several other bigwigs gathered again to study how to promote accelerated industrialization.

Although Wu Changqing rarely attended the morning court sessions, he actually held quite a few cabinet meetings.

Often, even if Wu Changqing already had a good idea in mind, he still needed to go through the motions and listen to everyone’s opinions.

Moreover, sometimes he could gain something from it.

“The biggest problem right now is the lack of workers. Moreover, this is a rather unsolvable problem, because we can’t recruit too many farmers to become workers, otherwise there will be a shortage of food again,” Qian Taoli said.

The people are the foundation of the nation, and food is the paramount necessity of the people. Throughout history, all dynasties have attached great importance to the common people.

If there are fewer people farming, there will be less food, and it will not be possible to feed so many people, which will lead to chaos in the world.

Throughout history, all dynasties have liked to emphasize agriculture and suppress commerce, and this is for good reason.

Compared with other dynasties, Great Hua is already the least concerned about the number of farmers. A large number of people have been transformed into workers.

If it were any other emperor, they would probably have panicked long ago in the face of this situation.

Once there is not enough food, it is the beginning of chaos in the world.

At present, the degree of ‘agriculture to industry’ conversion in Great Hua is still acceptable. If there were more, there might be a situation where there is land but no one to cultivate it.

“If we don’t have food, we can buy it from overseas. Otherwise, what are we keeping all that silver for?” Hong Chengchou said.

“It’s not easy to buy. Merchants may not be willing to import grain,” Ruan Dacheng said.

In the current maritime trade, there are relatively few grain imports, almost none. Because Great Hua is not short of grain now, and grain prices are not high, it is not cost-effective to import grain.

The profit from transporting grain back is far less than transporting other materials.

Although transporting more grain back is beneficial to Great Hua, capital is profit-seeking. Why would those merchants be willing to do something that is not profitable?

If the government were to do it, the government would not have that much budget.

Everyone began to have a headache when it came to money-related issues.

Everything in this world is easy to handle, except for not having money.

After much discussion, the only thing everyone could think of was to increase taxes.

After all, this is a common method used by all dynasties.

Wu Changqing didn’t like raising taxes on the people, so let’s raise taxes on merchants a little more.

The current commercial tax in Great Hua is actually quite heavy, but because commercial trade profits are high, merchants can still earn a lot. If they have to add a little more tax, those merchants have no choice.

However, Wu Changqing was not very satisfied with their method.

He didn’t like raising taxes rashly unless it was absolutely necessary.

Raising taxes can easily bring shocks to all walks of life.

Originally, an industry only had ten percent profit, which could barely be maintained.

If the imperial court increases taxes, their profits will decrease by five percentage points, and they will immediately go bankrupt.

From the perspective of encouraging industry and commerce, raising taxes is not advisable.

“It seems that the government can only take out a portion of the money to subsidize it,” Wu Changqing said after thinking for a while.

This is what countries in later generations often do. For a commodity that needs to be stored in large quantities but is not cost-effective, the government can only provide subsidies to allow merchants to make a profit.

One advantage of this is that the imperial court does not have to spend too much money. Merchants pay the bulk of it, and the imperial court only subsidizes a small portion.

As long as there are enough grain reserves, Great Hua can allow more farmers to switch to workers.

At the same time, it also has the confidence to allow more workers to learn a profession and advance their production skills.

Only when the number of skilled workers increases can the speed of industrialization be accelerated.

Otherwise, capital alone is not enough.

This kind of subsidy requires continuous consumption of the imperial court’s money, but Wu Changqing is not worried at all.

As long as industrialization is accelerated and the production capacity of industrial products is increased, these are not problems.

When the production capacity of industrial products increases, it can also increase additional tax revenue, and this money will come back.

Government subsidies increase merchants’ enthusiasm for importing grain, grain increases, workers increase, the number of industrial products increases, and tax revenue increases.

This is a perfect virtuous circle.

The final result is that the people of Great Hua can still have enough to eat, but the industrial production capacity has been improved, and the industrialization process has also been improved.

Merchants dump industrial products overseas and exchange industrial products for grain.

A steel plant with one thousand people can exchange the steel produced and transported overseas for grain, which can at least be exchanged for the food of ten thousand or even tens of thousands of people.

This is a very cost-effective trade, far more cost-effective than growing grain yourself.

Of course, this kind of trade will definitely harm the interests of those countries overseas, bankrupt the handicrafts in other places, and block their industrialization process.

However, this is exactly what Wu Changqing wants.

Of course, there must be talented people with unique vision in other countries who will discover this problem, and then may take measures such as prohibiting grain exports.

At that time, the warships of Great Hua can play a role again.

Wu Changqing spoke, and everyone thought about it and felt that this method was better than their own, so naturally it was quickly passed.

When passing, the ministers all felt a little regretful in their hearts, after all, this method was thought of by the emperor again, and it had little to do with them.

When this kind of thing happens too often, it seems that they are very useless, and the experience of being an official is extremely poor.

Many people are secretly studying non-stop, wanting to improve themselves.

But no matter how hard they try, they find that they are still often inferior to Wu Changqing.

The plan was approved.

Next, it is to study how to subsidize and how much to subsidize.

How much subsidy will not affect domestic grain prices, but also allow merchants to make a profit and mobilize their enthusiasm.

This is a very detailed job.

At this time, other ministers can finally play their role, because Wu Changqing never participates in this specific numerical setting.

In addition to promulgating the Grain Import Act, Wu Changqing also required the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Rites to cooperate in running a professional technical school for adults in the society.

It does not teach conventional knowledge in the classroom, but specializes in cultivating the professional skills of ordinary people.

For example, car repair, machine tool processing, decoration, and even chefs, etc., as long as it is an industry that requires skills, relevant training courses can be set up.

Although New Oriental and Lanxiang in later generations are often ridiculed, it has to be said that these two schools have trained a large number of people who can make a living by technology.

If there is no this technology, those people may only be able to go to electronics factories to work as assemblers, and there will be no future.

A skill may not make people rich, but it is enough to make a person live better than many people.

The talents cultivated by these vocational schools are destined to be flawed, but Great Hua really needs them.

Chapter 631: Selling Armaments

The grain import subsidy program promulgated by Great Hua immediately received the support of the chambers of commerce.

Individual merchants might only consider their personal interests, but some large chambers of commerce would consider things from a strategic level.

They also realized that importing more grain could free up more labor.

This way, there would be more workers, and their labor costs could be reduced.

Currently, many factories and merchants are still in a state of labor shortage.

Now that the imperial court had issued a decree to take care of their merchant class, they were actively promoting it.

They began to arrange for people to go to Annam, Siam (Thailand), and India, all of which were major grain-producing areas.

Places like Siam and Annam, being in tropical regions, could harvest rice three times a year.

As for India, the vast Ganges Plain was a heavenly plain envied by the whole world.

The goods Great Hua brought were mainly weapons, supplemented by porcelain and cloth.

At this time, Annam was experiencing the Trinh-Nguyen War, so the demand for weapons was far greater than other luxury goods.

The North of Annam was controlled by the Trinh family, while the South was controlled by the Nguyen family. Both sides wanted to destroy the other and unify Annam.

The war had been going on for nearly twenty years. Without external interference, according to the original historical process, they would fight for more than a hundred years.

The Great Hua merchants did not care why the Nguyen and Trinh families were at odds; they only cared about profit.

The fleet carrying a large number of weapons arrived at Haiphong. Ordinary merchants transported steel knives and armor, while the officials transported three thousand flintlock guns.

Whether it was steel knives or armor, they were very popular in Annam because steel knives were durable.

Annam had high humidity, and there was a lot of moisture in the air, so iron products rusted very easily.

An ordinary iron knife would become unusable due to rust in a few months.

Steel knives, which were not prone to rust, naturally became the favorite of the Annamese army.

Even more beloved was the armor with excellent protective capabilities.

In the age of cold weapons, an army without armor encountering an army equipped with armor could basically only rely on speed to escape.

If they insisted on fighting head-on, they would often die miserably.

Because one side only needed to defend a few parts such as the neck and face, while the other side had weaknesses all over their body.

However, armor was only useful in the age of cold weapons.

When encountering guns, armor was all just fluff.

Although the accuracy of flintlock guns was poor, their power was truly great.

Firing at armor within fifty meters could penetrate two-and-a-half millimeter armor. Within thirty meters, even three-millimeter armor could not withstand the impact of the firearm.

And the thickness of armor during this period was basically between one point two and two point six millimeters, with very few reaching three millimeters.

If it exceeded three millimeters, the weight of a set of armor would be at least twenty-five kg.

Wearing this kind of armor, soldiers would not be able to fight, let alone do ordinary marching.

When encountering such an army, one could keep a distance from the opponent and tease them at will until they were exhausted.

“Whose goods are these? We are requisitioning them.”

As soon as the goods on the ship were unloaded, the Trinh army came over, trying to seize them by force.

As for spending money to buy them, that was too difficult for them.

During wartime, whether it was the army, the civilians, or the imperial court, everyone was short of money, as if all the wealth had suddenly disappeared.

This was mainly because people did not dare to spend too much money in troubled times, and commerce was not so prosperous.

“They are from Great Hua. If you want them, exchange them for money or grain.”

Zhou Kangnian, the owner of this batch of weapons, said disdainfully. The Great Hua behind him was his confidence. This was not his first time doing business in Southeast Asia, and no country’s officials had dared to attack Great Hua’s merchants.

“According to the latest regulations, these are prohibited goods, and I have the right to confiscate them.”

The leading officer said.

“Try it. If you dare to take my ship of goods today, Great Hua’s warships will be here tomorrow.”

Zhou Kangnian was not afraid at all. Those who dared to do arms business were naturally not good people.

In fact, most arms dealers were in a strong position when trading.

Because the people who bought their weapons were generally weaker countries.

Seeing Zhou Kangnian being so arrogant, that person couldn’t wait to stab Zhou Kangnian to death with a knife, but he didn’t dare.

If it really caused a diplomatic incident and attracted Great Hua’s warships, he couldn’t bear the consequences.

Just then, a higher-ranking officer came to smooth things over.

“What’s going on?”

Li Yuansheng asked.

The subordinate babbled a lot, and Li Yuansheng said to Zhou Kangnian: “We want this batch of goods. How much do you want? Name a price.”

“The price is easy to negotiate. In the South, steel knives are four taels of silver, and armor is twenty taels. If you, General, are willing to establish a long-term trade relationship with us, I can give you a ten percent discount.”

Zhou Kangnian mentioned the Nguyen Dynasty in the South, meaning that if you think it’s too expensive, I’ll sell it to the South.

If Zhou Kangnian really dared to reload these weapons and transport them to the South, then Li Yuansheng would probably stop him at all costs.

Their North would never allow this batch of weapons to fall into the hands of the Nguyen family in the South.

“Okay, give us the goods first, and we’ll pay later.”

Li Yuansheng said.

But Zhou Kangnian shook his head, indicating that he wanted cash on delivery and no credit.

“Don’t be ungrateful. Do you believe that even if we rob you of this batch of equipment, your Great Hua can’t do anything to us? Don’t think we haven’t fought with the Central Plains before. We’re not afraid.”

The previous general threatened again.

What he said was true. When Annam broke away from the Ming Dynasty, it resisted the Ming Dynasty’s attack, proving that the terrain in this broken place was difficult to invade.

Yes, they were able to win entirely because of the terrain.

Compared to real combat power, they couldn’t even beat the Ming Dynasty.

To fight with the current Great Hua was simply a dream.

And now, if Great Hua wanted to fight them, there was no need to cross mountains and ridges. They could directly go by water and land troops at Haiphong.

At that time, they would have no defenses to rely on.

“Saying these harsh words is useless. Hurry up and raise money or grain. I’ll stay here for three or four days at most. If I can’t find a buyer with strength, then I can only choose to leave.”

Zhou Kangnian reminded him, he had no interest in wasting time with the other party here.

His words made the people in Annam very unhappy, but with Li Yuansheng suppressing them, no one dared to act rashly.

“Then please rest in Haiphong for a few more days. I will find a way to raise money.”

Li Yuansheng was also helpless. He needed to take the country into consideration when doing things, otherwise he could really just rob them directly.

And now, he could only think of other ways.

Chapter 632: Arms Dealing

The trade between the Annamese troops and individual merchants of Great Hua was just child’s play.

The main event was still the communication between the Zheng Group and the Great Hua military.

Those three thousand flintlocks were very important to the Zheng Group.

Although they could also buy some flintlocks from the Dutch and Portuguese, the quantity was far less than what Great Hua offered, and the supply wasn’t as stable.

Even in terms of price, Great Hua’s was more favorable.

The Dutch and Portuguese’s main business wasn’t arms dealing; they were selling the Zheng Group weapons they were already using themselves. Selling them meant the Dutch would have less for themselves, so naturally, they were expensive.

But for Great Hua, these weapons were purely for export.

Several flintlock production lines in Suzhou and Nanjing hadn’t completed their transition and were still producing flintlocks that the Great Hua army didn’t want.

These manufactured weapons could only be used for export to generate profit; they had no other use.

The Zheng Group valued Great Hua’s weapon supply chain.

However, they had a fatal problem: they were broke.

“We definitely want this batch of weapons, but could we perhaps delay payment? Once we unify all of Annam, this debt won’t be a problem,”

The Left Minister Zheng He of the Lê Dynasty chuckled, his smile tinged with embarrassment.

After all, people at their level shouldn’t be saying such naive things.

But they were broke, so they could only try.

Anyway, the worst that could happen was that Great Hua would look down on them; there wouldn’t be any real loss. A person without shame is invincible, and those who care about face can’t reach his position.

“If you don’t have money, there are other things. Great Hua doesn’t necessarily need money. As long as Lord Zheng allows us to mine coal in Cẩm Phả, we can give you this batch of weapons for free,”

Shen Sanguan said, sneering inwardly.

They still wanted to unify Annam? They should ask if Great Hua would allow it.

Cẩm Phả in Annam had an open-pit coal mine with excellent quality anthracite, perfect for use in warships.

The coal in Cẩm Phả was not only abundant, easy to mine, and of high quality, but also close to the port, making transportation convenient.

In short, the coal in this place had almost all the advantages coal could have.

This place was a must-have for Great Hua.

Mining coal here was more economical than mining it in their own country.

They would start with diplomacy. If they could obtain the mining rights through peaceful means, they wouldn’t resort to force for now.

Great Hua couldn’t afford to wage war in too many places at once.

But if Annam was stubborn, Great Hua would have no choice but to occupy it by force.

In short, Great Hua was determined to get this place.

“Coal, that’s a treasure,”

Zheng He smiled.

He wasn’t an ignorant person; he often paid attention to the surrounding dynamics and knew that Great Hua was using machines on a large scale, causing the price of coal to skyrocket.

It had suddenly transformed from something only used for burning into industrial grain.

“No matter how precious it is, it depends on who holds it. Lord Zheng is holding this treasure in his hands, waiting for the Nguyễn clan from the South to attack and then hand it over?”

Shen Sanguan asked with a smile.

Annam didn’t have machines that used coal, and even in winter, it wasn’t cold. To the Annamese, that coal was just a pile of useless black rocks.

“Lord Shen is joking. The Nguyễn clan of the Mạc Dynasty should burn incense if they can hold on; where would they have the strength to counterattack?”

Currently, the Lê Dynasty was much stronger than the Mạc Dynasty and had been on the offensive.

However, because of the terrible terrain in central Annam, which was extremely favorable to the defending side, it was very difficult for the Lê Dynasty to attack.

In Zheng He’s view, this batch of flintlocks could hopefully catch the enemy off guard.

Therefore, he was determined to get this batch of weapons.

“It’s hard to say. What if they get support from the Dutch or Portuguese? Even if they don’t attack, doesn’t Your Lordship want to attack them?

If Your Lordship doesn’t want to, that’s fine too. Anyway, there are many people in India waiting to snap up this batch of weapons and subsequent equipment.”

Shen Sanguan continued to argue tit-for-tat. Anyway, he had an absolute advantage and wasn’t worried that Zheng He wouldn’t agree.

Sell to India?

Zheng He wasn’t too worried about that. He was worried that if he couldn’t get this batch of weapons, Shen Sanguan would sell them to the Nguyễn clan of the Mạc Dynasty, which would be a huge disaster.

Although Shen Sanguan said he would sell them to India, Zheng He didn’t believe a word of it.

They were all adults; no one would be so naive as to believe everything the other person said.

“It’s not impossible to want the mining rights for the coal in Cẩm Phả, but three thousand guns are too few. You have to add more,”

Zheng He relented first. Anyway, that coal really had no practical use for them.

Currently, only Great Hua wanted coal globally; other countries and regions didn’t want it. So, it wouldn’t work for them to mine it themselves and sell it.

As long as Great Hua issued a decree prohibiting the import of coal they mined, they could only stare blankly at that pile of coal.

Rather than that, it was better to sacrifice some benefits.

Anyway, as long as they could unify Annam, this sacrifice was completely acceptable.

“Three thousand is already a lot. If trained properly, three thousand flintlock soldiers can beatdown ten thousand enemy troops. Our army relied on this kind of weapon to chase and kill hundreds of thousands of enemies back then.”

Zheng He complained that it was too little, while Shen Sanguan refuted in various ways.

In short, after haggling like a wet market auntie, the two sides reached an agreement.

Great Hua would provide the Lê Dynasty of Annam with five thousand flintlocks, ten thousand hand grenades, and ten thousand sets of steel knife armor for free.

In return, the Lê Dynasty would cede all the coal in the Cẩm Phả area to Great Hua and allow Great Hua to station a small number of troops in Cẩm Phả to protect the mining operations.

Neither side lost in this treaty.

The Lê Dynasty exchanged a pile of things that were useless to them for tangible benefits.

And Great Hua lost even less. The amount of coal in the Cẩm Phả area was enough for them to mine for decades.

Moreover, providing Annam with advanced weapons was also Great Hua’s plan.

Great Hua hoped that the people of the Lê Dynasty and the Mạc Dynasty would kill each other more fiercely, exhausting both sides’ strength, making it easier to conquer them in the future.

In the past, when they fought with cold weapons, the death rate of soldiers was too slow.

Next, they would equip both sides with flintlocks and teach them how to play line-battle tactics, letting them tear each other apart.

This new type of combat would definitely make both sides feel extremely refreshed.

The casualty rate of line-battle tactics was at least twenty to thirty percent higher than that of cold weapon combat.

While the two sides were killing each other to their heart’s content, Great Hua could resell weapons to both sides, earning a fortune.

Chapter 633: Treaties Being Signed

Shen Sanguan was in charge of the Lê Dynasty in the North, while Great Hua’s other representative, Qi Lian Zhan, was responsible for the Nguyễn Dynasty in the South.

The Nguyễn Dynasty lacked coal, so Qi Lian Zhan demanded they exchange it for grain.

Of course, Lord Ruan Wenji was unwilling. Grain was also a crucial resource during wartime. Without enough grain, the soldiers wouldn’t be well-fed, and weapons alone wouldn’t suffice.

Since he was unwilling, Qi Lian Zhan indicated he couldn’t help.

Ruan Wenji was unwilling to let Qi Lian Zhan leave, pleading bitterly, “Why doesn’t Lord Qi want gold and silver? As the saying goes, ‘Gold in troubled times,’ such things that hold their value are valuable at any time.”

Ruan Wenji was frustrated. He wanted to use a batch of gold, silver, and other valuables to trade for Great Hua’s weapons.

But the problem was that Qi Lian Zhan simply didn’t care for these inedible items.

Although these gold and silver valuables did hold their value, and could be used to exchange for money and goods when transported back to Great Hua.

However, that was for individuals.

For Great Hua as a whole, the importance of gold and silver was far less than that of grain.

Great Hua was now gradually promoting paper currency. Once paper currency was fully adopted, those gold and silver would be even more useless, only needing to keep a small portion of gold as a reserve deposit.

In the end, Qi Lian Zhan agreed to exchange a little over one thousand flintlock guns, along with some other equipment, for the Nguyễn Dynasty.

This was also a matter of necessity. If they didn’t slightly support Ruan Wenji, he might be defeated by the Lê Dynasty in a single battle, which would not be in Great Hua’s interest.

Therefore, when trading with the Nguyễn Dynasty, Great Hua could only take a slight loss, treating it as supporting this incompetent little brother.

“Lord Ruan, if you really don’t have money, I have another way for you,” Qi Lian Zhan said.

They had gone through so much trouble to make a trip overseas, it was impossible for them to simply focus on acquiring grain.

In fact, acquiring grain was only the main task, and there were various other miscellaneous tasks that they needed to handle.

For example, Qi Lian Zhan had a mission to find suitable places in Southeast Asia to plant rubber trees.

Great Hua was already using rubber on a small scale, and had theoretically proven the broad prospects of rubber.

Therefore, it was foreseeable that Great Hua would have a very large demand for rubber in the future.

And of all natural rubber, only the Brazilian rubber tree was of practical value.

Rubber from other plants would have some defects, more or less.

Brazil was too far away from Great Hua, and each transport was quite difficult. To prevent a rubber shortage in the future, Great Hua had already begun to plan.

They sent people to Brazil to collect seeds of the Brazilian rubber tree, preparing to transport them to Southeast Asia, where the climate was similar to the Brazilian rainforest, for planting.

Southeast Asia was close to Great Hua, and the climate was suitable for planting rubber, making it the best choice.

“Oh, please enlighten me, Lord Qi,” Ruan Wenji said.

“Plant rubber. As long as you plant the rubber that Great Hua needs here, we will provide corresponding support.”

“What rubber? Is it the kind of tree that produces resin?” Ruan Wenji had heard the word “rubber” for the first time, but he could vaguely guess what it was, because there were many ‘resin trees’ in their territory.

“We also want the kind of resin you mentioned, but it’s not very valuable. We will provide you with seeds of the Brazilian rubber tree. The rubber scraped from that kind of rubber tree is valuable,” Qi Lian Zhan said.

What kind of rubber it was, was not important to Ruan Wenji.

He was now in desperate need of Great Hua’s support. Not to mention helping Great Hua plant rubber, even if Great Hua wanted to lease their ports, or even cede a piece of land, it would be easy to discuss.

Current countries did not have a strong sense of territorial sovereignty, and would not feel that selling a piece of land was shameful.

As long as the money was right, the buying and selling of territory was commonplace.

For example, in the original timeline, the United States bought more than half of the central region from France, and bought Alaska from Russia, and so on.

With Ruan Wenji having this need, the following negotiations became very smooth and easy.

After intense debate between the two sides, they finally reached a new round of agreement.

The Nguyễn Dynasty would plant one hundred thousand mu of Brazilian rubber trees for Great Hua, and Great Hua would provide initial funding for two thousand flintlock guns, fifty thousand hand grenades, as well as a batch of steel knives and armor.

Subsequently, a certain amount of funding would continue to be provided every year.

Of course, the premise was that the Annamese people would have to keep the rubber trees alive.

If they killed those rubber trees, they could forget about the funding. If Great Hua got angry, they might even beat them up.

After settling the Nguyễn Dynasty, Qi Lian Zhan went to the next stop, Siam, next to the Nguyễn Dynasty.

At this time, Siam had been peaceful for a long time. In addition, it was sparsely populated, and had a lot of arable land, so it always had a surplus of grain.

Siam, with its grain, was very willing to exchange grain for advanced weapons with Great Hua.

Although they had been peaceful for a long time, they had the hereditary enemy Burma to the west, the soon-to-be-insane Nguyễn Dynasty to the east, and the Dutch, Portuguese, and other Western Europeans harassing them from time to time on the sea.

Their environmental safety had been greatly threatened.

Their king, Akat, was quite anxious about the current situation. This batch of weapons could be said to be a timely help.

They signed a trade treaty with Great Hua, mainly Great Hua using weapons, as well as some luxury goods and other commodities, to exchange for Siam’s rice.

At the same time, the King of Siam, Akat, also vaguely expressed his hope to become a vassal state of Great Hua, and then exchange for Great Hua’s protection.

When invaded by other enemies, he hoped that Great Hua could send troops to help.

Qi Lian Zhan did not agree to this.

Great Hua was different from the previous dynasties. They did not like to recognize a bunch of vassal states.

After all, vassal states had no practical benefits for Great Hua, except for a good reputation.

Even the so-called tribute was often that they offered a batch of treasures, and Great Hua had to reward them with a batch of materials of equal, or even higher, value.

This was to show Great Hua’s strength, wealth, and generosity.

This kind of vanity could satisfy the vanity of the previous emperors, feeling that the whole world had to submit to them.

In fact, those vassal states took the rewards and turned around, laughing at those emperors in their hearts for being fools.

Wu Changqing understood this so-called vassal system, so he was never enthusiastic about the so-called submission and tribute from other countries.

If others proposed it, he would not directly refuse to appear too ruthless, but he would not pay attention to it either.

He used this method to express his attitude.

The senior officials of Great Hua knew Wu Changqing’s national policy, so naturally they would not agree to Akat’s request.

“This matter belongs to the Ministry of Rites. You can send someone to the Ministry of Rites to ask. I don’t know,” Qi Lian Zhan passed the buck to the Ministry of Rites.

“I will send a delegation to Nanjing in a few days. I hope Lord Qi will have the opportunity to say a few good words,” Akat said.

Chapter 634: The Craze for Learning a Trade

Ship after ship of rice was unloaded in Bangkok and then transported back to Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Nanjing.

These three cities were Great Hua’s current focus for development, with the largest concentration of workers and the greatest need for food.

With vast amounts of grain filling the warehouses, Great Hua ushered in a new wave of migrant work and apprenticeship.

“Free training, including room and board during the training period, and guaranteed instruction. Upon completion, guaranteed job placement with a starting monthly salary of three yuan. For families in financial difficulty, a half-year’s salary can be advanced…”

In Dazhou Village, Panyu, Guangzhou, the village chief was announcing the imperial government’s decree to the villagers.

“Free training, but what skills will we learn?”

One of the villagers asked.

In these times, finding a master to learn a trade was extremely difficult. Not only did you have to pay, but you also had to be obedient, and you were often subjected to all kinds of errands, beatings, abuse, and exploitation by the master.

Many people went mad from enduring it all just to learn a skill to make a living.

But now, the government was actually saying that they would teach skills for free. This was something unheard of.

“There are many things to learn, such as making watches. Have you seen watches? It’s this thing. The cheapest watch costs five yuan. If the government hadn’t given me one, I wouldn’t be able to afford it at all.

This thing is used to keep time, and it can accurately record every moment, every breath.”

The village chief held out his wrist, showing a rather simple-looking watch.

For the most basic civil servants, having this was already quite good.

Moreover, only grassroots officials in places like Nanjing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou were given them. In places like the Northwest, even county magistrates weren’t given one; they had to buy it themselves if they wanted one.

Although the watch was simple, in the eyes of the villagers who had never seen the world, this watch was as exquisite as a divine artifact or immortal treasure.

They only dared to look at it, their hands reaching out halfway before retracting, afraid of damaging this treasure.

“Besides making watches, you can also learn steelmaking. It’s the latest steelmaking method, not the kind of blacksmithing you see in our village’s blacksmith shop. You can also learn all kinds of carpentry, machine repair, all very useful skills.”

The village chief said.

Hearing what the village chief said, many people began to feel tempted.

“Sounds good. Learning a skill means you won’t have to worry about food and drink for the rest of your life.”

“And this apprenticeship doesn’t cost any money. It’s much better than learning carpentry from Zhang the carpenter.”

“More than that, the village chief also said that as soon as you learn, you’ll be assigned a job and start earning money. If you follow Zhang the carpenter, even after you’ve learned, you still have to work for him for free for a few years before you can become a master.”

After the imperial government issued this decree, Zhang the carpenter from their village was constantly being dragged out and flogged metaphorically.

In the past, when villagers saw Zhang the carpenter, they would nod and bow to please him, after all, Zhang the carpenter was the only one in the surrounding villages who had carpentry skills and could make coffins and furniture, which was in high demand.

The hardships one had to endure to learn from Zhang the carpenter were numerous.

Moreover, even after enduring those hardships, one would still owe Zhang the carpenter a favor.

After all, he was imparting a skill to make a living, which was a great kindness.

Respecting teachers and valuing the Way was a virtue, but once bad people took advantage of this virtue, the tragedies they caused were more serious than those caused by genuine bad people.

After all, bad people could be arrested directly for doing bad things, but there was nothing anyone could do about these so-called mentors when they did bad things.

Apprenticeships were so difficult in the past, yet people still wanted to learn a trade to make a living, let alone now.

With such a good training policy, the people didn’t know how long it would last, or whether there would be no places left because too many people were going.

Therefore, not long after the decree was announced, the temporary schools set up in Guangzhou were crowded with people who came to learn a trade.

“Old man, you’re too old. We only recruit people under the age of thirty. You should go back to farming and leave this opportunity to the younger generation.”

The staff member in charge of registration said helplessly. Standing in front of him was an old man who was at least fifty years old.

It cost them a considerable amount to train a worker, so they naturally had to consider maximizing efficiency.

Even if an old man in his fifties learned the skill, how many more years could he work?

At this time, fifty years old was already considered old. Not only was his strength diminished, but he also had many ailments and could pass away at any time.

“Your notice didn’t say that old people couldn’t apply.”

The old man was very stubborn. He was actually here for the advance of half a year’s salary.

“Old man, get out of the way. Have you no shame? Can you still carry fifty kilograms?”

“If you don’t move, we’ll throw you out.”

The other young people who came to register chimed in, mocking the old man.

“The world is going downhill, the world is going downhill. There’s no virtue of respecting the old and caring for the young anymore. I disdain to learn skills in a place like this.”

The old man left angrily, unable to bear being mocked collectively by so many people.

“Hahaha…”

The crowd laughed at the sight.

A small interlude did not affect the registration.

In the distance, several traditional artisans gathered together, looking at the bustling registration scene in the distance, feeling sour in their hearts.

Great Hua’s move had caused them the greatest losses.

In the future, there would be no more obedient apprentices to be dispatched.

This would reduce their income, reduce the number of people they could order around, and even reduce their sense of superiority.

No one would treat them as lofty masters anymore, no one would look up to them, which was quite painful for them, even more painful than losing money.

“Hmph, how can you learn real skills with so many students taught by a few masters?”

Zhang the carpenter snorted coldly.

“I heard that what they learn will be very simple, and one person only needs to know a part of it. In the future, when they work, each person will only need to do a part.”

Another artisan who weaved baskets said.

“Is that kind of skill even considered a craft? Let them be happy for a while. When they find out that they can’t learn anything, they’ll still have to come and beg us.”

Zhang the carpenter said.

“I’m afraid that’ll be difficult. One of my apprentices told me yesterday that he wasn’t going to learn anymore and was going to the training school. I was so angry.”

Another artisan complained.

In his opinion, Great Hua was spending so much money and promoting this kind of skills training so vigorously, it must be effective.

The government couldn’t be messing around.

This meant that their future would definitely become more and more difficult.

“It seems that we have to be nicer to our apprentices, and we must not let them all run away.”

“Alas, this world is changing so fast, it’s becoming more and more incomprehensible.”

“Yes, teaching so many people skills at once, will these people have so much work to do in the future? If so many people don’t grow food, what will we eat in the future?”

…

These artisans sometimes complained and sometimes sighed.

The drastic changes in Great Hua had left them feeling somewhat lost.

Chapter 635: The First Batch of Listed Companies

June 1st, Nanjing Stock Exchange, the first batch of enterprises were listed, with their initial public offerings.

The Financial Secretary who attended the event was someone else, named Zhu Yun.

Xu Fu didn’t come, to avoid making some wealthy merchants uncomfortable, or even having someone throw a shoe at him. That would have been awkward.

Xu Fu had tricked them once, and then transformed into a court official.

It was impossible for those who had been deceived not to be angry.

Fortunately, the Great Hua court had provided a safety net, giving most of them compensation, preventing them from suffering too much, which averted large-scale unrest.

Otherwise, regardless of whether Xu Fu was a court official or not, someone would have wanted his life.

“The first batch of listed companies includes Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, BMW Car Dealership, Tong’s Cement, Drunk Fragrance Perfume, Jinling Machinery Manufacturing, Shunfeng Shipbuilding…”

Zhu Yun announced, but the merchants below already knew this information.

There were not many companies in the first batch, only eight, all well-known brands with super strong strength.

Among them, Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant and Jinling Machinery Manufacturing were jointly operated by the government and merchants, and the other five were private enterprises.

State-run enterprises were still not very suitable for listing.

But now most of the large enterprises were state-run, or jointly run by the government and merchants.

There were not many purely private large enterprises.

For this reason, Wu Changqing had to ask Tong Youwei to take the lead and list his family’s enterprise to get the stock market going first.

He didn’t want the stock exchange to be too deserted when it opened.

The Tong family had always actively responded to Wu Changqing’s various calls, playing a leading role in everything.

Anyway, Tong Youwei calculated that listing didn’t seem so bad.

Although he would have to pay dividends to others at the end of the year, selling stocks could gather a large amount of funds, which could be used to further expand market business.

Now, in addition to Nanjing and Shanghai, some other large cities in Great Hua were also gradually developing, and opening a branch factory in those places could also reduce some transportation costs.

Especially for commodities like cement, which were measured in tons, most of the cost came from transportation.

If a branch factory was opened in Tianjin, and Tianjin supplied the surrounding areas, the profit could be increased by several points.

In addition to Tianjin, the development potential of places like Suzhou, Yangzhou, Guangzhou, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, etc., should not be underestimated.

Laying out the entire country as soon as possible could truly monopolize the national cement business.

And to build factories in so many places required a huge amount of capital.

Therefore, Tong Youwei allowed Tong’s Cement to be listed.

Of course, these were actually secondary.

The most important reason was to cling tightly to Wu Changqing’s thigh.

Drunk Fragrance Perfume was the Chen family’s industry. Even an outsider like the Tong family was closely following Wu Changqing’s steps, so the Chen family, as the most prominent in-law family, naturally could not lag behind.

For the Chen family, whether listing would make a profit or a loss was not important. What was important was that Wu Changqing intended to promote the development of the stock market, and he needed to stand up and support it.

As long as they could hold on to the emperor’s coattails, they would not have to worry about wealth and glory.

No matter how Wu Changqing reaped other merchants, he would not reap his own family.

No matter how other merchants hated Wu Changqing, the Chen family would always stand with Wu Changqing.

As long as Wu Changqing’s throne was secured, their family could continue to enjoy preferential treatment.

The reason for Shunfeng Shipbuilding’s listing was completely different from that of the Tong and Chen families.

After Hong Tailin put all his assets into the shipbuilding industry, he discovered that the cost of building the current ocean-going ships was too high, and the speed of capital return was too slow.

Of course, this was also related to his rapid expansion. In less than two years, he dared to open three shipyards in Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Shanghai, starting construction at the same time.

At this time, they were building eight or nine ships simultaneously every month, and the money spent every moment was enormous. Hong Tailin had borrowed money in various ways and owed a lot of foreign debts.

Fortunately, because the prospects of the shipbuilding industry were so good, their orders had already been received for next year, so even if they were heavily indebted now, they were still favored by countless people, and many people were still willing to lend him money.

Yes, even if he was heavily indebted now, there were still many people willing, even wanting, to lend him money.

However, Hong Tailin didn’t dare to ask for it anymore. Who knew what these lenders were up to?

If those creditors colluded and suddenly launched an attack, forcing him to repay the money, the shipyard might be taken away.

Helpless, Hong Tailin could only list the company to get some working capital to prevent risks.

He would rather give others a little dividend at the end of the year than keep this business going.

The other two companies had different reasons from the Hong and Tong families, but the unified feature was that they lacked money, but had good prospects.

The government would not allow companies with poor prospects to be listed.

At the beginning of the stock market, Wu Changqing hoped that these companies could play a leading role and did not dare to let some garbage companies enter the market to cheat people.

Although this would inevitably happen in the future.

But in the early stage, it was necessary to establish some credibility and increase the confidence of those who played stocks.

If people were constantly being deceived and scammed from the beginning, it would not be conducive to the development of the stock market.

The stock exchange was full of people. Although stocks were still unfamiliar to most people in Great Hua, the common sense of stocks had been basically popularized in the merchant circle.

The recent ten or so issues of the Commercial Daily had articles introducing stocks in every issue.

From the concept to the gameplay, everything was clearly introduced.

As long as people who could read the Commercial Daily basically understood what this thing was.

Compared with depositing money in the Royal Bank, stocks had a much higher return, dozens or hundreds of times higher, depending on the earnings of the listed company.

There was no need to worry about losing money with the earnings of companies like Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant and Tong’s Cement.

Even if they had not disclosed their income situation before, other merchants could roughly guess their profits.

Although the upper limit of returns was high, the lower limit was low enough. If the company was poorly managed and did not make money, then dividends would naturally be out of the question.

Moreover, not only would there be no dividends, but as the outside world’s confidence in the company declined, the stocks in their hands would also depreciate, which was the most terrible thing.

Of course, it was also the most attractive thing for merchants.

Merchants liked things with large fluctuations, high risks, and high returns.

Putting money in the Royal Bank was safe enough, but few merchants were willing to do so.

Merchants simply didn’t care about that little interest.

Most of the people who deposited money were ordinary people, and merchants were thinking of ways to borrow money.

If stocks were just investments, and then waiting for dividends, it would not be very attractive.

If it only had this function, other people would rather set up their own factories.

The most core attribute of stocks was actually the freely tradable circulation mechanism.

Chapter 636: The Temptation of Stocks

Whether it’s depositing money in a bank or investing in a company, waiting for returns and dividends is a long process, and you get nothing if you pull out midway.

Stocks don’t have this problem. If you urgently need money and want to exit, you can sell them off at any time.

Once you see the stock price rise and want to take profits and run, you can also quickly sell.

This is what everyone likes most: high degree of freedom, and a lot of room for maneuver.

Many people remembered the trick that Xu Fu played: first, use various means to hype up a certain stock, making everyone think that the stock is very valuable, and then sell it.

Buy low and sell high, this was the favorite thing for grain merchants to do in the past, but they could usually only do it once or twice a year.

And now stocks are also about buying low and selling high, but the frequency is much higher. Not to mention a year, you can do it two or three times a day, as long as you operate well.

In the past, grain merchants were all rich, which is enough to show the profits contained in buying low and selling high.

Therefore, now that stocks have appeared, how can these merchants not be tempted?

More importantly, if they don’t speculate in stocks, there are no other industries where they can buy low and sell high.

The grain industry has been strictly controlled by the government, and prices always fluctuate within a very small range, making it unprofitable.

A large number of grain merchants either change careers, engage in deep processing of grain, or earn hard-earned money.

Most of the people who come to buy stocks are thinking about buying low and selling high.

The number of people who really want to sit and wait for dividends is small.

“Old Li, which stock are you planning to buy this time?”

Several old men gathered together to exchange ideas. They were among the victims of the last Xu Fu incident.

Even though they had just suffered a loss not long ago, they did not reject stocks because of this.

Because some of them made money in the Xu Fu incident.

For example, a few people got lucky and bought original shares at a price of two hundred yuan, and later found someone to take over, selling them at a price of two hundred and eighty yuan.

In less than seven days, they earned almost thirty percent profit. This speed is fascinating.

There is no way to make money so quickly by doing legitimate business.

Only speculating in stocks and gambling.

However, the risk of gambling is uncontrollable, and the element of luck is too great, which merchants cannot control, so they don’t like it very much.

But stocks are different. They believe that they have figured out the rules and routines, and know how to operate to trick newbies out of their money.

Therefore, in the eyes of some people, speculating in stocks is risk-free. As long as they are smart enough to buy in time and sell in time, they can still make a lot of money.

Although, the merchants are also clear in their hearts that they are smart, but others are not stupid.

However, in the moment when the gambling addiction comes, people often become blindly confident.

At this time, when they think about problems, they will subconsciously ignore all the factors that are unfavorable to them, and then only see the factors that are beneficial to them, and finally come to a feasible conclusion.

Many gamblers are extremely sober afterwards, knowing that the chances of winning against the house are very small, and they should not go.

But once they enter the arena, those rational thoughts will be left behind.

This is a natural weakness of human beings.

“Let’s still buy the steel factory. It’s state-owned, so it should be more reliable. The government can’t possibly deceive people, right?”

Old Li said somewhat tiredly.

“Yes, the government won’t deceive people. If they want something, they can just rob it.”

Another person sneered, obviously still resentful about the land reform.

As soon as this was said, everyone felt as tired as Old Li.

When the court wants to rob by force, they have no power to resist. It’s too sad.

This makes them extremely insecure. Without security, there is no point in making more money. Who knows if the money earned today will be forcibly taken away by the court in the future.

If so, then what is the point of working hard to make money now?

In the past, when the court was short of money, they would find ways to plunder the common people, and the gentry and merchant classes were always safer.

However, Great Hua just doesn’t take the usual path. When it has money, it subsidizes the people, and when it doesn’t have money, it targets the rich, which makes these rich people miss the old Ming Dynasty.

However, they can only miss it.

In Yunnan, the Ming Dynasty has not yet fallen, but not many rich people who have been bullied by the court have bankrupted their families and ran to Yunnan to support Zhu Youlang.

They would rather place their hopes on the ministers in the court, hoping that the ministers can form a force to restrain the emperor, and no longer expect the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty in the south is already a hopeless case.

Forcing to help can only exhaust yourself.

“Land is a physical object, and we can’t hide when the court wants to rob us. But they may not be able to rob this silver. As long as we find out that the court wants to rob money, we can directly take the money and go to Nanyang to make a living.”

Another old man said quietly.

“Mr. Liu, you are too naive. They can also rob money by force. Just like issuing standard currency, they won’t rob too much at once. From time to time, they issue a new currency, forcing us to exchange it. What can you do?

What’s more, the court is now fully promoting paper money. If silver coins are completely replaced by paper money in the future, you can’t even run away with money. If you bring a bunch of paper money, will other places recognize it?

Moreover, don’t count on Nanyang. Which of those small countries in Nanyang dares to offend Great Hua? When the warships arrive, those countries will have to hand you over.”

These words were really heartbreaking, and several gentlemen were panicked.

They couldn’t understand why their property was still so insecure even though the troubled times had ended.

“Therefore, we still have to unite. Only when we merchants unite and say no to the court can we make the court fear us.”

Liu Zongbei said.

These words were already somewhat rebellious, a bit like opposing the court and rebelling.

However, the people around him were not surprised or anything by these words, because everyone sitting here was a merchant.

On the issue of ensuring the security of their private property, everyone here is naturally in the same camp.

“Oh, Mr. Liu, what’s your brilliant plan?”

Mi Jian asked.

In fact, he and Liu Zongbei were singing a duet, saying it for others to hear.

The purpose is just to pull others into the chamber of commerce.

To unite, there must be a strong internal organization.

For the time being, what they can think of is the chamber of commerce.

“Mr. Sun has already relaxed the restrictions on joining the Jinling Chamber of Commerce and lowered the threshold. Everyone can join as long as they are interested. As long as all our merchants join the chamber of commerce, then the voice of the chamber of commerce will be enough to influence the court.”

Liu Zongbei said.

Taking advantage of the stock issuance and the gathering of merchants, some merchants with ideas have begun to collude.

Chapter 637: The Stock Market Opens

Their behavior was, in fact, an attempt to subvert Wu Changqing’s intentions, though they hadn’t voiced it yet.

This was, in fact, inevitable.

The Industrial Revolution was bound to create a new class of bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie would inevitably have irreconcilable conflicts with the traditional imperial power.

The traditional imperial power needed to strengthen central power, while the emerging bourgeoisie needed a freer market.

As industrialization deepened and the power of the bourgeoisie grew, the conflict between the two sides intensified, and the death knell of imperial power was sounded.

That was how the British monarchy was stripped of its power.

When the power of the emerging bourgeoisie grew to a certain extent, they united, overthrew the imperial rule, and established a constitutional monarchy.

They restricted the power of the monarchy, depriving the emperor of the power to arbitrarily deprive others of their private property and the power to control the market.

Whether this transition from feudal society to capitalist society was a step forward is hard to say.

If the emperor in a feudal society was extremely incompetent, only knowing how to exploit the people together with the officials and gentry, then it was definitely a step forward.

Overthrowing the emperor meant getting rid of a huge burden that required countless resources to support.

But if the emperor was a wise ruler, then it was somewhat of a step backward.

After all, in the era of imperial power, after the emperor satisfied his own desires, he would still want his people to live a good life, and would more or less favor the common people.

In a capitalist society, all the capitalists had to completely satisfy their own desires before they would consider the life and death of the exploited.

Satisfying all the capitalists was too difficult, and it might never happen.

The transition from imperial power to capitalism was equivalent to satisfying one person versus satisfying a group of people.

After informing everyone that Sun Daoming had lowered the threshold for entering the chamber of commerce, Liu Zongbei said no more.

Those who wanted to join the chamber of commerce would definitely seek him out for details later.

But for now, of course, they had to pay attention to the stocks first.

They wanted to engage in struggle and make money, wanting to have it both ways.

After Zhu Yun read out some basic information, the person in charge of the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant took the stage.

First, he introduced the company’s current output, revenue expectations, financial status, and other basic information.

Then, he announced the number of shares the company was issuing.

They divided the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant into ten million shares, with the original investors holding seven million shares, and three million shares being offered to the public.

The issue price of each share was ten yuan, meaning that the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant was valued at one hundred million yuan.

This valuation was actually somewhat low, even though the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant’s personnel and equipment weren’t worth one hundred million yuan.

However, this enterprise was currently the largest steel plant in the country, with unlimited potential.

Given the current momentum, the value of this factory would definitely double in a year or two.

This meant that the value of the shares in their hands would double as long as they held them for a year.

This expected return was very considerable.

Therefore, upon hearing the share price of the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, everyone was excited, thinking of using all their money to buy the steel plant’s shares.

As long as they bought enough shares in the steel plant, they wouldn’t have to do anything in the future, just sit and wait for the appreciation.

Because there were too many people who wanted to buy, the exchange had to adopt a lottery system, giving every merchant who came a chance to buy.

After determining each person’s purchase quota, the subscription process was smooth.

Stocks worth thirty million yuan were instantly snapped up, leaving Zhu Yun dumbfounded.

He never expected the merchants in Great Hua to be so wealthy.

There were less than two hundred merchants who came to the stock exchange, which meant that each person took out an average of one hundred and fifty thousand yuan to buy.

One hundred and fifty thousand yuan in spare money was quite a lot.

Before there was a stock exchange, a place where the wealthy could gather, Zhu Yun had no idea how many rich people there were in this world.

But now, he had a rough understanding, though it wasn’t entirely accurate.

After all, there were still many wealthy people far from Nanjing who hadn’t received the news, or hadn’t come for other reasons.

The Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant’s shares being snapped up also reassured the subsequent companies a lot, so they no longer had to worry about the embarrassing situation of no one buying.

Next up was the Tong family’s BMW dealership, but they weren’t nearly as popular as the steel plant.

After all, these merchants were very shrewd. The steel market was almost limitless, and could never be satisfied.

There were too many places in life where steel was needed.

With a large market, the potential was naturally great.

And the BMW dealership, although it was also a good business, and even close to a monopoly.

But the key problem was that the market prospects for this industry were relatively average.

The number of wealthy people was limited, and not many wealthy people were added each year. And BMW cars were positioned as luxury goods for the wealthy.

Although they had also expanded into the rickshaw business, the ability to make profits was no match for the steel plant.

The BMW dealership was valued at twenty million yuan, divided into five million shares, of which two million shares were put up for sale, with an issue price of four yuan per share.

In the end, it was sold out.

The price of four yuan was not high, and many people felt that the BMW dealership was worth this price, and there was still some room for appreciation in the future.

After that, the other companies successively issued their shares, and the situation was generally very good. They basically completed their predetermined goals, and there were no unsold shares.

With the subscription over, the stock market officially opened.

Next, merchants could freely trade their shares in the stock market.

They could go through a stockbroker and write down the shares, quantity, and price they wanted to sell on the blackboard.

And other merchants who saw someone selling, and felt the price was right, could ask the stockbroker to subscribe.

At the same time, some merchants could also ask the stockbroker to write down the purchase information on the other end of the blackboard, indicating the type of stock they wanted to buy, the quantity, and the price they were willing to pay.

Other merchants who wanted to sell, and felt the price was right, could ask the stockbroker to help sell and complete the transaction.

During this process, the exchange needed to extract a small amount of commission.

Of course, merchants could also conduct transactions privately, which was currently allowed. Great Hua had not yet made any regulations in this regard.

However, the imperial court would be responsible for transactions through stockbrokers, ensuring that neither party was deceived.

As for private transactions between merchants, the government would also intervene if something happened, but would not be responsible.

That is, if the government could not help the merchant recover the loss, the government would not be liable, and the merchant would have to accept the loss.

Chapter 638: Flourishing

In the first couple of days after the stock exchange opened, trading wasn’t frequent; one could even say it was a bit deserted.

There were a dozen or so requests to buy shares in the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, and the asking price had already soared to twelve yuan and fifty cents per share, but no one was selling.

Good stocks are for holding onto.

It was mostly businessmen playing around, so there wasn’t much blind speculation.

Although selling immediately would yield a twenty-five percent profit, that amount of return was far less than holding for the long term.

In those two days, only one transaction took place.

The volume was three thousand shares, for a total of thirty-seven thousand five hundred yuan.

The moment the transaction was completed, cheers erupted from within the stock exchange.

This was a historic moment.

Once there’s a first, there will naturally be a second, and a third…

After that, trading in the stock exchange slowly began to pick up.

The most buy orders were still for the Iron and Steel Plant and Shunfeng Shipbuilding.

The Iron and Steel Plant was understandable, since those shares were in high demand.

But the large number of buy orders for Shunfeng Shipbuilding stock seemed a little unusual.

After all, Shunfeng Shipbuilding’s stock wasn’t necessarily better than that of BMW Motors or the Machinery Manufacturing Plant.

Why were there fewer buy orders for the other stocks, but so many for Shunfeng Shipbuilding?

Some astute businessmen had already realized that after a company went public, there was another way to take it over: by owning a larger percentage of the shares than anyone else.

Some businessmen who had designs on Shunfeng Shipbuilding were already laying the groundwork, buying up large quantities of Shunfeng Shipbuilding stock.

In their estimation, as long as Hong Tailin continued to expand, he would continue to face capital shortages.

When that happened, if Hong Tailin issued more shares, they could continue to buy them, until they exceeded Hong Tailin’s holdings, and then directly seize control of Shunfeng Shipbuilding.

Moreover, even if Hong Tailin didn’t issue more shares, given the current state of the shipbuilding industry, Shunfeng Shipbuilding’s stock was worth buying, and they could sit back and wait for dividends and appreciation.

If you had enough money, buying Shunfeng Shipbuilding stock was a sure thing.

Based on this consideration, there were also many requests to buy Shunfeng Shipbuilding, and the prices offered were thirty percent higher than the issue price, leaving many businessmen scratching their heads.

Those who hadn’t fully guessed the buyers’ intentions really couldn’t understand why Shunfeng Shipbuilding could rise so sharply.

This was a direct increase of thirty percent! Making money was too easy.

But no matter, the stock price was rising, which was a good thing for everyone who wanted to play the stock market.

Only when some stocks rise can everyone make money; that’s what a bull market is.

Besides the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant and Shunfeng Shipbuilding’s big gains, the other stocks also had small increases to varying degrees.

Stocks were still a novelty, and investors had a strong belief in them, willing to hold them for the long term.

With fewer people willing to sell, buyers who wanted to buy had to raise the price.

At this rate of increase, some businessmen soon discovered that the total value of all the stocks in the entire exchange had risen by fifteen percent overall.

In other words, more than twenty million yuan of wealth had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

Some people whose minds couldn’t quite grasp it were a little confused about where this twenty million yuan came from, feeling like it had fallen from the sky.

“Ah, I sold my stock too early.”

An owner wearing a traditional Chinese long gown looked at the buy orders on the blackboard, feeling a little depressed.

He had sold his shares yesterday for eight yuan apiece, but today they had risen to eight yuan and fifty cents.

He had sold a total of five thousand shares, which was two thousand five hundred yuan.

Even for a businessman of his level, two thousand five hundred yuan was not a small amount.

For ordinary people, earning two thousand five hundred yuan in a day was even more unimaginable.

“Hahaha, Owner Qiu, I advised you to keep holding on, that Drunk Fragrance Perfume was bound to rise again, but you wouldn’t believe me. Regret it now, don’t you?”

A friend of Owner Qiu mocked.

Actually, what he had said yesterday was just a casual remark; he had no evidence to prove his analysis.

However, since reality had now proven his prediction, he could now rant and rave to his heart’s content, enjoying that sense of intellectual superiority.

“Owner Ma, then tell us, which stock should we be optimistic about recently? Let us have something to refer to.”

Someone immediately chimed in.

Stocks were new, and no one understood much about them; everyone was still in a daze.

At this time, as long as someone was thick-skinned enough to stand up and spout nonsense, others would easily think it made sense.

Seeing that everyone was holding him in such high regard, Owner Ma had no choice but to be pushed onto the spot, and he gave a speech about his own insights.

He was very nervous when he spoke, because he himself wasn’t sure if his theory was correct.

However, seeing that everyone else looked thoughtful, he suddenly became full of confidence again.

It was like a poor xiucai giving lessons to children; it didn’t matter if he had any real knowledge, as long as he was facing a group of people who were even more ignorant than him, everything would be fine.

Of course, there were also some businessmen who already had a good understanding of stocks.

These people naturally wouldn’t hang out in the same circles as Owner Ma and the others; the topics they discussed were much more high-end.

“I heard that Bright Glass is preparing to go public soon. What’s the specific date, and who’s in charge?”

Cui Mingchong asked.

They all knew that the best way to steadily profit, and profit a lot, in the stock market was to snap up initial public offering shares.

Even the scam that Xu Fu had pulled off last time still made money for those who had managed to get their hands on IPO shares.

As long as they sold before the scam was exposed, there would be absolutely no problem.

Not to mention these legitimate listed companies, which had all been audited by the imperial court and proven to be promising companies.

Maybe they might make some operational mistakes in the future, but right now, their prospects were definitely bright.

If there was potential for development, there was room for price increases.

Buying IPO shares was naturally the most profitable.

However, buying IPO shares required a lottery, and you had to rely on a bit of luck; you couldn’t just buy them if you wanted to.

Therefore, some unwilling businessmen were thinking about whether they could take a shortcut, such as finding the person in charge of Bright Glass in advance and discussing pre-ordering some shares with them.

“I heard it’s the day after tomorrow, but the person in charge is a blockhead, someone who doesn’t respond to persuasion or threats. It won’t be easy to convince him,”

Han Sanli complained.

Cui Mingchong only believed half of what he said. Who knew if Han Sanli was trying to reap the benefits alone, deliberately making up stories about the person to make him give up?

It was best to try it himself to be sure.

As long as he could grab a large number of IPO shares, he could just wait for the price to rise by a few tens of percent and then sell them, and he could sit back and collect money.

This kind of money-making speed was much faster and easier than collecting land rent or running a factory.

Chapter 639: Resistance

Initially, stocks were merely an internal affair within the merchant circles.

However, as the parking lot of the stock exchange became filled with BMWs every day, leading to a shortage of parking spaces, the common people also became aware of the existence of the stock exchange.

From rumors, they heard that it was a place where people made money from money, easily earning tens of thousands in a day.

However, those without capital couldn’t enter, as the registration deposit alone was at least ten thousand wen.

The idea of making money just by sitting in a building was hard for ordinary people to believe.

However, the wealthy people going in and out every day confirmed those rumors.

If it weren’t truly possible to make money, why would those people come every day?

These were the views of the illiterate.

Others who were literate and read the business newspapers already knew what the stock exchange was all about.

Even those who only read the Great Hua Daily had some understanding of the stock exchange.

“I heard that yesterday, an old rich man made ten thousand wen in a single day at the stock exchange.”

Some scholars gathered together and discussed the current hot news.

This news of earning ten thousand a day was a publicity stunt created by the merchants to make more people aware of stocks and attract more wealthy individuals who wanted to get rich.

The more people who entered the market, the more people who bought, and with a limited number of shares, the stock price would naturally rise.

And this news of earning ten thousand a day was the work of the Chamber of Commerce.

The buying and selling parties were both members of the Chamber of Commerce. With just a single transaction between the two, they created the news of earning ten thousand a day. The cost was only a hundred wen in handling fees.

Spending one hundred wen on an advertisement had a very good effect.

This was an inconspicuous collaboration within the Chamber of Commerce. In the Jinling Chamber of Commerce, there were many more collaborations between merchants.

Creating some fake news was just child’s play.

The Jinling Chamber of Commerce was planning something quite frightening. They wanted to gain the power to contend with the government and protect the wealth in the hands of merchants from being infringed upon.

In the past, perhaps no one would have seen anything wrong with this.

However, combined with some of Wu Changqing’s current policies, discerning people knew that these merchants were trying to go against the Emperor, which was simply audacious.

It wasn’t just the merchants who were audacious. Many people who were unwilling to have their interests harmed didn’t take Wu Changqing seriously.

Loyalty to the Emperor was a joke.

They didn’t care how wise and mighty Wu Changqing was or what achievements he had made.

In short, taking their wealth was unacceptable.

Xuancheng, Shen Village.

Shen Family Manor was under strict martial law. Shen Kuo, the head of the Shen family in the manor, was pacing back and forth.

He had caused trouble, big trouble.

He had clashed with the court officials in charge of land reform. In a fit of anger, he had ordered someone to kill a land reform official.

And now, he had received news that the imperial army was on its way.

The Shen family was the strongest large landlords in the area, owning tens of thousands of mu of fertile land, and they usually privately maintained an armed force of over a thousand people.

Whether during the Ming Dynasty or the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court valued his abilities and didn’t send anyone to deal with him, choosing appeasement instead.

This kind of local tyrant was very difficult to provoke. Defeating them was easy, but after defeating them, this area would never be peaceful.

It was precisely because of the imperial court’s previous fear that Shen Kuo had become extremely arrogant and domineering. Usually, when the county magistrate came to ask him to pay taxes, he had to beg him nicely.

This time, facing the imperial court’s land reform policy, some of the surrounding large landlords chose to soften their stance, but he resolutely refused to implement it.

During the conflict, he even ordered his men to take action in a fit of anger.

After the death, Shen Kuo also regretted it.

In the end, he was just a large landlord. With his power alone, he couldn’t contend with the imperial army.

At this time, he had already sent his servants to the surrounding areas, wanting to unite the surrounding large landlords to resist together.

Including the surrounding large landlords, they could gather a force of at least five thousand people, which, numerically, was quite terrifying.

Unfortunately, the sent servants had been gone for six or seven hours, and he still hadn’t received a definite answer.

Rebellion wasn’t that easy.

The surrounding large landlords also very much wanted to respond to Shen Kuo’s call, but they were afraid.

Not rebelling only meant losing some wealth. Their families could still enjoy wealth and prosperity, and they could still go to the city to do business in the future. It didn’t seem like they were in a desperate situation yet, and they still had enough ways out.

However, once they raised the banner of rebellion, it would be a capital crime.

The other large landlords had to carefully consider this terrible consequence.

In the end, most of the large landlords chose to wait and see.

They wanted to see the imperial court’s attitude first. If the imperial army came and only taught Shen Kuo a lesson, and didn’t intend to kill the Shen family, then they would also join in the trouble.

It was causing trouble, not rebelling.

They were all smart people and knew that with the current situation in the world, it was almost impossible to succeed in rebelling.

They were causing trouble just to make the imperial court compromise.

As long as the imperial court agreed to abandon the new land policy, they would still be willing to pay taxes according to the old rules.

With this in mind, most people chose to wait and see. Only one large landlord who had family ties with the Shen family chose to send three hundred family servants to support Shen Kuo.

This result made Shen Kuo very disheartened.

“They are all short-sighted, timid as mice. Do they think they will be fine if they shrink their tails? Today, the imperial court dares to seize land, and tomorrow, the imperial court will dare to directly seize money…”

Shen Kuo cursed and scolded all the surrounding large landlords.

But in reality, he was actually forced to rebel because he accidentally killed a court official.

If this had happened to someone else, he would definitely have chosen to wait and see first.

People are all profit-driven and avoid harm. If everyone wasn’t afraid of death, how could the imperial court have been able to exploit the people for thousands of years?

“Master, what should we do?”

The militia head instructor asked. He didn’t have any confidence in fighting the Great Hua army.

He had once had the good fortune to see the training of the Great Hua army, and the momentum was quite terrifying.

He looked at the militiamen in the manor and had no confidence at all.

“Don’t worry, they won’t dare to act rashly. Do they dare to kill all several thousand of us?”

At this time, Shen Kuo could only hope that the Great Hua army wouldn’t use force.

His words left the militia head instructor speechless. Wasn’t this the same as waiting for the other party to forgive them?

This was indeed a solution, but if they really wanted to do this, they should at least show sincerity, at least send someone to the Hua army to beg for mercy.

Setting up a military formation to confront the other party didn’t look like the posture of someone begging for mercy.

Thinking of this, the militia head instructor no longer had any hope for Shen Kuo and was only thinking about how to save his life if a conflict broke out later.

Chapter 640: Struggle 1

The force coming to quell the rebellion wasn’t the main force of Great Hua, but a second-line unit stationed in Xuancheng. They weren’t numerous, only about one thousand five hundred men.

Great Hua only had this one army around Xuancheng. The rest were peacekeeping police.

Overall, the number of Great Hua’s troops was maintained at a relatively low level.

One thousand five hundred men were more than enough to deal with the situation around Xuancheng.

Unless the opponent could instantly gather a force of over ten thousand, they wouldn’t be a match for this regular army.

For a landlord to put together a force of ten thousand in a short period was basically impossible.

Regimental Commander Lei Shaofeng led his troops to the outside of the Shen Family Manor and immediately sent out envoys to shout from outside the walls.

The envoy wasn’t shouting to Shen Kuo. From the moment Shen Kuo killed the government official, he was already facing a death sentence.

The envoy was shouting to those underlings who were working for Shen Kuo, trying to get them to lay down their weapons.

Many of these people were ignorant fools deceived by Shen Kuo, and their crimes didn’t warrant death.

“The Prefect of Xuancheng has decreed that Shen Kuo killed a government official. His actions are extremely egregious, and he deserves to die. The army will now enter the manor to arrest him. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy.

Some of you are Shen Kuo’s house slaves, committing evil deeds, and should be punished along with Shen Kuo. However, if you lay down your weapons now, the court will spare your lives.

Some of you are tenant farmers, people who have been oppressed by Shen Kuo. Are you now willing to risk your lives for a little reward from him?

Even if Shen Kuo really intends to fulfill his promises and reward you, do you think you’ll live long enough to enjoy that money?

The imperial army is…”

“Shoot! Shoot! Don’t listen to his nonsense! The imperial army wouldn’t dare attack…”

The envoy’s words were interrupted by a middle-aged man, and that man’s words were interrupted by gunfire.

Over a hundred meters away, a soldier pulled the trigger, accurately shooting and killing the gesticulating agitator.

At this distance, they could have already shot the guards on the walls, but Lei Shaofeng didn’t want to cause too many unnecessary casualties.

Those civilians were valuable labor.

However, there was no need for any mercy towards the core members.

They were all ‘upper-class’ people accustomed to exploiting others. Even if they were spared, they were unlikely to farm or do anything else to create value.

It was highly likely that they would still engage in illegal activities to maintain their upper-class lifestyle.

These people were basically worthless to Great Hua. Keeping them around would only waste food.

As soon as the Shen family’s young master died, there was a commotion on the walls.

The impact of seeing a living person die in front of you was still quite significant.

These civilians holding weapons could easily imagine what would happen to them if those bullets hit them.

The thought alone was terrifying.

Shen Kuo was also on the wall, but he didn’t stand up and shout. The Hua army didn’t know he was the real leader.

Otherwise, they would have taken him out with a single shot, and that would have been the end of it.

At this moment, Shen Kuo’s anger was unimaginable when he saw his son die.

He had always been the one bullying others, and he had never been bullied by anyone. Now, he was being bullied to the point where his son was killed. How could he tolerate this?

“Shoot them! Kill a soldier, and I’ll reward you with one hundred yuan!”

Shen Kuo offered a terrifying reward.

These tenant farmers holding weapons had never earned one hundred yuan in their lives.

Hearing this reward, many were tempted.

They knew that their side might have a hard time defeating the imperial army, but that was in the future.

They thought that as long as they could withstand this wave of attacks from the government, they could take the reward and flee far away.

With this one hundred yuan, they could survive anywhere.

Of course, some tenant farmers knew that this reward would be hard to get, and they might even lose their lives trying.

However, out of fear of Shen Kuo, they didn’t dare to drop their weapons and surrender, fearing that Shen Kuo would punish them first.

They were hoping that someone would take the lead in surrendering to test Shen Kuo’s attitude.

If Shen Kuo didn’t kill those who dropped their weapons, then they could follow suit and surrender.

Or, if many people surrendered, they could also surrender.

Everyone was counting on others to take the lead, seemingly clever, but actually foolish.

They didn’t dare to surrender, nor did they dare to resist. The atmosphere was quite awkward.

In the distance, Lei Shaofeng watched as the people on the walls didn’t surrender, and he shook his head helplessly.

“Issue a final ultimatum, then launch a full-scale attack.”

Lei Shaofeng didn’t want to waste any more time with them. Since they wouldn’t surrender, then he would kill them.

If he killed a few more people, they would basically be scared.

The Hua army told the envoy what to say, and then the envoy began to issue the final ultimatum.

“This is my last stern and solemn warning. If you don’t immediately lay down your weapons and surrender, our army will launch an immediate attack. At that time, weapons have no eyes, and it will be difficult for you to survive.”

After speaking, the envoy was too lazy to pay attention to these troublemakers and ignorant fools. He turned around and returned to the army.

While the people on the city walls were still hesitating, the Great Hua army had already begun their siege.

Over a hundred men with Yongxing Type Two rifles raised their guns and aimed, preparing to suppress the enemy.

In addition, some soldiers with cold weapons pushed up a siege vehicle.

Although the walls were only two meters high, it was impossible to climb them barehanded. Breaking through the gate was still quite necessary.

The strength of the gate of this small village was incomparable to that of a city gate.

It would definitely break after being rammed a few times by the siege vehicle.

Besides these people, there were also grenadiers approaching, preparing to use terrifying firepower to intimidate the enemy and prevent them from attacking the soldiers attacking the gate.

Each unit performed its duties, carrying out the simplest cooperation.

This kind of cooperation seemed quite crude to the regular army, and there were many flaws in the coordination. However, compared to the militiamen on the walls, their cooperation was incredibly seamless.

The people on the city walls had no cooperation at all.

Or rather, they hadn’t even decided whether to surrender or fight. Everyone was confused.

They hadn’t even decided whether to fight, so how could they cooperate?

Only the Shen family members and a few desperate individuals who formed the core members were prepared to resist.

Resisting the Great Hua army was certain death. Not everyone was clear about this fact that many people knew.

These people, who were usually accustomed to being tyrannical in the village, now wanted to challenge the power of the Hua army.

Chapter 641: Struggle 2

As the siege vehicles approached, people began to appear on the walls of the Shen Family Manor, shooting arrows at them. Some even brought out a few old muskets and fired at the Great Hua army.

For the Great Hua soldiers without armor, the arrows still posed a considerable threat.

However, immediately afterward, the Great Hua army’s gunfire rang out in succession.

Those soldiers responsible for suppression pulled the triggers on those on the city walls who were trying to shoot arrows.

At this distance, the hit rate of the new rifles was extremely high.

Even though these people’s training level was really not that great, they relied on the advanced weaponry and managed to shoot and kill seven or eight die-hards in one round of shooting.

The total number of these die-hards was less than one hundred, and in the blink of an eye, one-tenth of them were dead.

Even a regular army couldn’t withstand this rate of casualties.

One by one, they quickly crouched down, not daring to show their heads.

“Counterattack! Counterattack for me, or I’ll take your lives and kill all your wives and children!”

Shen Kuo hurriedly threatened the other tenant farmers who were still hesitating.

It had to be said, this kind of threat was quite effective.

Because Shen Kuo had always followed through on his various threats to the tenant farmers. He had really killed disobedient tenant farmers in the past.

Over time, many honest people were quite afraid of Shen Kuo, feeling that Shen Kuo was a ruthless person.

As for whether the Great Hua army was ruthless or not, they didn’t know yet.

Some ignorant people began to fight back with trembling hands.

And this kind of counterattack, however, angered the Great Hua army’s suppression force.

Originally, the Great Hua army had no intention of killing these hesitant people at all.

However, their resistance could potentially cause casualties on their own side. Now the Great Hua army was no longer polite with them. Those grenadiers entered throwing range and collectively threw grenades at the walls.

This height of wall was almost nothing to the grenadiers, and they threw them onto the top very easily.

Boom.

A series of explosions rang out.

The lethality of grenades was much more terrifying than bullets.

These ignorant people, who had absolutely no combat experience, were all standing very close together on the wall, trying to embolden themselves with this dense number of people.

But under the grenade attack, this density of positioning allowed them to deeply see the power of the grenades.

A wave of grenade bombings caused dozens of people to fall on the wall.

Even regular troops would be afraid of this terrifying killing effect, let alone these honest and simple farmers who had never been on the battlefield.

With just one wave of throwing, these tenant farmers ran away like crazy, throwing away the weapons in their hands.

At this moment, they didn’t think at all about the consequences of running away, or whether they would be retaliated against by Shen Kuo afterward.

When people are nervous, they don’t have time to think about this, and many of their actions are completely instinctive.

Not only did the ordinary tenant farmers run away, but even some die-hards were secretly slipping away.

A hundred people were killed or injured in a breath, there was no point in fighting.

The most tragic battle they had ever fought before was nothing more than a large-scale brawl with a neighboring village.

With a scale of one thousand people, both sides would urgently compromise after two people died.

Compared to the tragedy now, the so-called large-scale brawls in the past were really like children playing house.

As soon as they took the lead in running away, the people still in the manor thought they had been defeated. Relying on the convenience of their location to escape, they simply threw away their weapons and sneaked back to the residential area to hide.

A wave of bombing directly blew the morale of Shen Kuo’s side to a negative number.

The Great Hua army outside the wall was still ramming the gate, but no one paid any attention to it anymore.

Soon, the gate was breached.

“How could this be? How could this be?”

Shen Kuo muttered to himself. He hadn’t figured out why things had developed so quickly to this point, completely beyond his understanding.

When he was a child, he had also seen his father confront the government because of tax resistance. Relying on the advantage of the walls, they could contend with the government soldiers.

In the end, it often had to be resolved through negotiation.

Shen Kuo knew that the Great Hua army was stronger than the previous Ming army, otherwise it would not have been possible to defeat the Manchus.

However, he only knew that the Great Hua army was stronger.

He had no concept of how strong it was.

Now, he clearly saw the gap, but it was all too late.

With things having reached this point, it was impossible to end with negotiation.

Moreover, he couldn’t think of any reason why the other party would want to negotiate with him.

The gate was breached, and Great Hua soldiers poured into the manor, and then began the arrest operation.

Organized resistance on a large scale was gone.

In the process, there was only some sporadic resistance.

It was clear that the Great Hua army was already so powerful that it suffocated them, but there were still people resisting. No one knew what these people were thinking, because they were all dead.

Having already killed so many before, the Great Hua army didn’t mind killing a few more.

After more than an hour of searching, the entire manor finally became quieter.

Shen Kuo’s legs had been broken because he refused to kneel.

What remained was some tedious work. Lei Shaofeng needed to separate the Shen family from the tenant farmers, and then, through questioning, pick out those evil servants who usually did all kinds of evil deeds.

Annihilating the Shen family was not difficult for Great Hua at all.

The difficulty for them lay in how to reduce the negative impact of this incident.

If they just wiped out the Shen family and killed so many people without any reason, it would probably make all the other landlords feel cold and lead to other people being bewitched.

At that time, the landlords who empathized with them might secretly unite again to use the ignorant people to cause trouble.

In order to avoid this situation, Great Hua used a method of division.

The accompanying civil officials had already begun to act. They wanted the tenant farmers to stand up and tell about the crimes Shen Kuo had committed in the past, and they wanted those ignorant people who had been bewitched to stand up and talk about the process of being bewitched.

At first, because of the fear of Shen Kuo’s long-term tyranny, no one dared to stand up.

However, when they saw Shen Kuo’s legs broken and dragged in front of them like a dog, these people finally woke up.

Shen Kuo was no longer the Shen Master he used to be, but had become a stray dog.

Some of the bolder people stood up to accuse Shen Kuo of his crimes, and then more people stood up to accuse him.

Without exception, these tenant farmers must have been subjected to Shen Kuo’s anger, otherwise, they would be embarrassed to say that they were tenant farmers.

The civil officials were recording these accusations of Shen Kuo’s crimes on the side, which needed to be reported and notified to other landlords.

The government wanted to let other landlords know that Shen Kuo deserved what he got, and that they were beating Shen Kuo was reasonable and not without reason.

This was also releasing a signal to other landlords. Telling other landlords that as long as they did not resist the government, they would not be criticized by the people and nothing would happen.

Chapter 642: Struggle 3

In the end, Shen Kuo, along with the core members of the Shen family, and some evildoers were sentenced to death, a total of forty-three people.

All the female members of the Shen family were thrown into the brothels, where a tragic life awaited them.

Of course, they weren’t entirely innocent either.

Everything they had enjoyed before was blood sucked by Shen Kuo from the common people.

To some extent, they were also accomplices, at least beneficiaries.

Not many people sympathized with them being thrown into the brothels, which speaks volumes.

The rebellion at Shen Family Manor was quickly suppressed, causing the surrounding landlords to tremble with fear. They once again felt the power of the Great Hua army.

Trying to resist with their armed forces was simply a pipe dream.

Many landlords were thinking about whether they should find a way to get a batch of guns to better protect themselves.

However, most landlords became pessimistic after thinking about it.

Not to mention whether they could defeat the Great Hua army after getting guns, few dared to make the decision to fight against Great Hua.

Moreover, without land and unable to exploit others, what would they rely on to support an armed force in the future?

After thinking about it, most of the landlords could only sigh.

They were powerless to resist the Great Hua court.

They could only pin their hopes on the officials in the court, hoping that the forces in the court could help.

In fact, those officials had been working hard all along.

However, the things that civil officials could do without the support of the army were extremely limited.

Not to mention, there was a large group of officials in the court who supported land reform.

“Lord Wang, please be a little more gentle with the land reform that follows. His Majesty didn’t ask you to complete it immediately. Many things can be discussed. If you continue like this, I don’t know how many people will die under my jurisdiction. Those who die are all young and strong laborers, the most valuable resources.”

Yao Dacheng, the Prefect of Xuancheng, complained to the official in charge of the land reform in this area. The dead were all people under his jurisdiction.

“Lord Yao means that there are still many rebels like Shen Kuo under your jurisdiction?”

Wang Juyi retorted.

He was killing rebels. If they weren’t rebels, why would he worry about too many deaths?

These words infuriated Yao Dacheng, who retorted, “How can there be any rebels? Weren’t they forced into rebellion by you?”

“Forced into rebellion by me? I’m just acting on orders. Could it be that Lord Yao thinks His Majesty forced them into rebellion?”

That was indeed the case.

However, Yao Dacheng couldn’t admit it.

He could only argue, “His Majesty asked you to carry out land reform, but he didn’t allow you to kill indiscriminately. In your actions this time, more than forty innocent commoners were killed or injured. These are all valuable labor. If you continue like this, don’t blame me for reporting you to His Majesty.”

The two argued red-faced. Wang Juyi represented the reformists, while Yao Dacheng represented the landlord class. The contradiction between the two sides was irreconcilable.

The people below quickly came out to persuade and smooth things over. In the end, both sides took a step back.

Wang Juyi promised that when encountering stubborn elements, Yao Dacheng would be allowed to communicate first.

As for whether Yao Dacheng would use some means to save the landlords’ losses during this communication, it was hard to say.

However, in order to complete the task of land reform, Wang Juyi also needed Yao Dacheng’s cooperation.

To complete this task, it was destined to be impossible to go smoothly.

Wang Juyi had already prepared himself for this.

The only thing he was thankful for now was that the Emperor always stood on their side.

He knew that there were countless memorials impeaching them in the court now, all of which were ignored by Wu Changqing.

Therefore, he was not afraid of Yao Dacheng reporting him, he was just afraid of Yao Dacheng using other means.

For example, using the power of the Prefect to force the people and landlords to reach a fake sales agreement, seemingly cooperating to complete the land reform.

After Wang Juyi and others left, they would tear up that agreement and restore it to its original state.

The central government couldn’t keep an eye on Xuancheng all the time. As long as Yao Dacheng was willing to stand on the side of the landlords, there were still ways.

If the local officials were willing to be completely in line with the central government, then land reform would not be difficult at all.

But the reality was that most of the local officials were unwilling to cooperate with the central government in such reforms.

Even some big shots in the court had given some instructions to local officials, telling them not to cooperate.

In Xuancheng, the Shen family’s little resistance was just child’s play, and its impact on Great Hua was insignificant.

After all, it was close to Nanjing, and the local officials didn’t dare to make too much trouble.

However, in places far away from Nanjing and the central government, the local officials and their courage were not so small.

Yao Dacheng only dared to make some dissuasion, but some local officials directly colluded with the local landlords.

For example, in Nanxiong in northern Guangdong, the mountains were high and the Emperor was far away. People here didn’t take the Emperor too seriously.

When the land reform decree arrived, the local large landlords directly stated that they would rebel.

And the magistrate of Nanxiong County was completely in cahoots with them. Magistrate Gan Lulin himself was a large landlord, with tens of thousands of mu of fertile land in his family.

How could he agree to confiscate his family’s land?

Therefore, when facing the land reform personnel, they began to play all kinds of tricks and schemes.

First, they signed land sales contracts with the people, seemingly completing the land reform quickly.

However, this degree of smoothness made Yan Jin, who came to Nanxiong for land reform, feel unreasonable.

It was too smooth. It was fine if the landlords were so cooperative, but where did the people get so much silver all of a sudden? They actually bought tens of thousands of mu of land in Nanxiong.

When did the people become so rich?

Nanxiong was a lower-class county, a place so poor that even bandits were unwilling to come.

Such a place should be the most difficult place to break through in land reform.

Something was amiss.

Noticing something was wrong, Yan Jin naturally wouldn’t leave so casually to report back. That would be too irresponsible.

He began to take people to the countryside to investigate in person. But at first, their investigation didn’t achieve any results, because the local people didn’t trust them.

The people knew that these court officials would leave sooner or later, and Gan Lulin would have the final say in Nanxiong.

It was not worth it to leak the secret now and face Gan Lulin’s torture later.

Most of the people had this idea.

However, in such a large Nanxiong, there were naturally people who had been forced to the point of being unable to survive.

And when this kind of person found Yan Jin, everything became clear.

These people were all holding on to the mentality of treating a dead horse as a living one. If they could bring down Gan Lulin, that would be great. If they couldn’t, they would just admit their bad luck.

Chapter 643: Rebellion Begins

Yan Jin finished writing his memorial impeaching Gan Lulin and sent it to Shaoguan Prefecture, with a copy to Nanjing.

Of course, he didn’t have the authority to directly remove Gan Lulin from his post; he could only report it to his superiors and await their orders.

However, Yan Jin was not cautious enough. He should have known that Nanxiong was Gan Lulin’s territory.

The fact that people were informing Yan Jin had long been reported to Gan Lulin.

This frustrated Gan Lulin, as such things were difficult to prevent unless he could completely control the mouths of everyone in the county.

The matter was ultimately exposed, which made him very upset.

Once his superiors found out, they would definitely remove him from his post and punish him.

Gan Lulin was naturally unwilling to accept such an outcome, so he prepared to go all out, sending people to intercept and kill the messengers.

At the same time, he devised a plan to fake Yan Jin’s death.

These were all desperate measures by Gan Lulin, so the plans were not particularly brilliant.

In the end, Yan Jin was indeed killed by him, but the matter was also exposed.

The people sent to intercept the messengers were unsuccessful.

The postal station responsible for delivering the letters did not belong to the civil service system but was under military jurisdiction.

Gan Lulin held sway over civil affairs in Nanxiong, but he had no influence over military matters.

Knowing that the matter was destined to be exposed, Gan Lulin simply went all in, contacting the landlords in and around Nanxiong, demanding that everyone collectively rebel.

By rebelling, he hoped to force the court to compromise and offer them amnesty.

Gan Lulin’s thinking was relatively simple. He felt that his demands were not high, and he didn’t even need the court to offer any compensation. He only wanted the court to acknowledge the status quo and maintain the previous state of affairs.

With such simple conditions, the court would likely agree.

This kind of thinking was typical of the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, during the rebellions of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the court mainly focused on appeasement and supplemented it with suppression.

As long as the rebellious areas were willing to accept amnesty and return to allegiance, the court was often happy to accept, unwilling to fight.

Both Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong had been granted amnesty before rebelling again.

And it wasn’t just them; in the past, most rebellions were negotiable as long as the rebels didn’t raise the slogan of wanting to become emperor.

After all, in essence, this kind of rebellion was similar to gathering a crowd to cause trouble, just on a different scale.

They were all aimed at achieving some kind of demand and did not involve overthrowing Great Hua.

In Gan Lulin’s view, this level of rebellion was not a complete break with Great Hua.

As long as they could withstand some attacks from the Great Hua army and make the central court feel a headache, they would be qualified to sit down and negotiate with the court.

This kind of thinking would have been perfectly fine in the Ming Dynasty.

However, times had changed.

The current Great Hua had the ability to suppress any rebellion, and they did not need to compromise with the rebels.

The former Ming Dynasty had both internal and external troubles and did not want to fight a two-front war against the rebels and the Qing army, which is why they compromised.

But the current Great Hua did not have this problem.

Although the current Great Hua was fighting on multiple fronts, it did not lack money to pay military salaries.

Gan Lulin’s coordination was very successful, after all, he had a high reputation in this area, and those landlords were indeed unwilling to hand over the land in their hands for nothing.

With the county magistrate taking the lead, they also had more confidence.

As a result, Gan Lulin raised his arms, and countless people responded.

To cope with the imperial army that would arrive in the future, Gan Lulin asked the landlords to contribute men and money to form a force of nearly twenty thousand people.

This could be considered warmongering. Relying solely on this broken place of Nanxiong to support an army of twenty thousand people was extremely difficult.

It was impossible to expect the landlords to contribute the bulk of the money, and in the end, it had to be imposed on the people, making the local people miserable.

Some ignorant people even blamed the court’s land reform policy. If there had been no such policy, they would have lived their previous lives, which, although poor, were at least survivable.

But now, they were living even more difficult lives than before.

And all of this was because of the court’s land reform policy.

Although the intention of this policy was to allow them to live a better life, the people didn’t really buy it until the court had achieved it.

Ignorant people, those who could think clearly wouldn’t be called ignorant people, nor would they be easily bewitched.

The news of the rebellion in Nanxiong reached the central government and became another reason for the conservatives to propose stopping the land reform.

They said that if they continued to forcibly implement it without considering the actual situation, there would be more and more situations like Nanxiong. At that time, the world would be in chaos.

Many officials even brought up the history of the Sui Dynasty, hoping that Wu Changqing would be cautious.

They said that the current situation of Great Hua was quite similar to that of the Sui Dynasty.

In the early Sui Dynasty, there was also a scene of prosperity, the court was rich, and the people were also wealthy.

Various massive projects were started as soon as they were said to be done.

Everything looked powerful on the surface, but in reality, it was full of crises.

Once someone took the lead in rebellion, it would cause chaos throughout the world. Like the Sui Dynasty, it would only benefit others in the end.

If it weren’t for the good foundation laid by the Sui Dynasty, where would the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty have come from?

Now, Great Hua had also laid an excellent foundation.

Anyone who took over could create a prosperous era.

At this time, the most important thing to do was to seek stability and not to engage in land reform, a movement with such a huge impact. It was unnecessary.

The reasons were, of course, very reasonable, but Wu Changqing did not listen.

It was precisely because he considered the impact to be very significant that Wu Changqing had been delaying until now to carry out land reform.

At the same time, he also understood that once land reform began, there would be no turning back.

If this time failed, there would be no chance in the future.

After all, once the landlords had successful experience in resisting, they would be more skilled and confident in resisting land reform in the future.

Wu Changqing had no way out, he had to make it happen.

As for the alarmist talk of some officials, he didn’t take it too seriously.

Although the current Great Hua was similar to the Sui Dynasty, it was also different.

The biggest difference was that the central government of Great Hua now controlled absolute military power.

Unlike the Sui Dynasty, where the central army only had slightly more numbers and training than the local troops. In reality, the gap between the two sides was not large, and they could fight.

This balance of power made rebellion easy to succeed.

But now, the central army of Great Hua was using the most advanced Yongxing Second Year Type rifles, which were breech-loading rifled guns.

And the rebels, they were still using broadswords, spears, and bows and arrows. Even the number of bows and arrows was not that high.

The gap between the two sides was more than one generation, at least a thousand years.

With such a gap, was there still a need to worry about not being able to quickly quell the rebellion?

Wu Changqing felt that as long as he firmly grasped the army in his hands, he would be sure of victory.

Chapter 644: Rewarding Loyalty and Exercising Authority

While the civil officials were caught up in endless arguments, Wu Changqing convened a high-level military conference.

He wanted to further unite with the military and tighten his grip on military power.

He wasn’t worried about the soldiers; over ninety-five percent of them were from the lower classes, not from landlord families, and they were absolutely loyal to Wu Changqing.

However, the vast majority of the officers in the army came from gentry and powerful families.

Ordinary soldiers lacked education, making it too difficult to learn tactics and command. Very few people could climb from the rank of soldier to officer.

In other words, this land reform was actually harming the interests of the vast majority of officers.

However, the officers all knew Wu Changqing’s power and feared him, so they didn’t complain like the civil officials.

They silently endured and spent money to avoid trouble.

The military was much more sensitive than the civil service system. If they dared to voice opposition, their careers would often be ruined.

The Emperor would never entrust the military to someone who opposed his policies.

The civil officials didn’t have this worry because the Emperor knew they could only complain verbally.

Moreover, according to tradition, civil officials did have the right to advise the Emperor.

Wu Changqing knew that the military’s lack of dissenting voices didn’t mean they genuinely supported him; they were just afraid to speak out.

This seemingly complete control still carried some risks.

To be on the safe side, Wu Changqing needed to soothe the emotions of the officer class.

“What do you think about the rebellion in Nanxiong?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Just send troops to suppress it. It’s just a small Nanxiong county,” Liu Hansan said first.

His family was originally just a small landlord, but they prospered thanks to Wu Changqing and became a top aristocratic family of Great Hua.

Then, the amount of land his family owned back home rapidly expanded, turning them into thorough large landlords.

After Wu Changqing introduced the land reform policy, Liu Hansan quickly had his family sell off their land as soon as possible. Losing some money didn’t matter; the important thing was to support the court’s policy and not resist.

Liu Hansan was still quite afraid of Wu Changqing and didn’t dare let him find any excuse to punish him.

He was also very clear that as long as he held his position, his family could live a life of luxury and wealth even if they did nothing.

There was no need to oppose the Emperor for that little bit of property; the consequences would be uncontrollable.

Selling the land and starting a business in the city could still lead to success.

He wouldn’t even need to ask for favors; smart people would naturally offer some concessions when doing business with the Liu family.

As long as his family wasn’t hopelessly stupid, they couldn’t possibly fail to make money.

“Nanxiong is easy to deal with, but the reason for the rebellion in Nanxiong is what worries me,” Wu Changqing said.

Some people understood his words, while others didn’t.

Some clever generals had already guessed that Wu Changqing was worried that the officers, due to their class background, might also rebel.

This made many people panic, fearing that the Emperor would suspect them.

At this time, they didn’t have any good solutions and could only express their loyalty.

Each of them wished they could directly tell Wu Changqing that they had sold off their land and were firmly supporting the land reform policy.

Li Shaobin said, “I believe that all officers must be separated from their families and not be allowed to maintain contact with them…”

Li Shaobin suggested a seemingly stupid method. This suggestion made him seem foolish, but at least it showed his loyalty.

Therefore, whether the person who said such a thing was truly stupid or pretending was something few people knew.

“Your method is impractical. I already have a plan. I want to establish a military-industrial investment bank and allow officers to invest in it with their land.

The investment bank will invest in profitable areas of Great Hua that ordinary people cannot access, such as weapons factories, the Royal Bank, energy extraction, and so on.”

This was the compensation Wu Changqing offered to the officers. After they handed over their land, he would give them a new way to make money.

Weapons factories and energy extraction were industries where money practically fell from the sky.

Moreover, these areas were firmly controlled by the court, and ordinary merchants had no way to get involved.

Wu Changqing used this method to compensate the officers, which could reduce their resentment.

Although the land was gone, at least it didn’t have to be sold cheaply. Instead, it could be invested in the military-industrial investment bank at a higher value, and then they could sit back and wait for dividends.

With the special status of the military-industrial investment bank, the money earned would definitely be considerable. In the long run, receiving dividends might be more profitable than collecting rent every year.

Hearing Wu Changqing’s arrangement, everyone felt much more relieved.

However, they weren’t greedy for these small benefits. In fact, the senior officers present didn’t care at all about the small losses that land reform brought to them.

With their power and influence, that little bit of land was not important to them at all.

Wu Changqing’s policy mainly relieved their pressure.

They might not care about the land, but the middle and lower-level officers under them did.

And when they, the senior officers, fought battles, they still had to rely on those middle and lower-level officers.

If the middle and lower-level officers had opinions about the court, it would be a huge hidden danger for them. Fighting with such subordinates was quite stressful, and they didn’t know when they might be shot in the back by their own men.

But now, Wu Changqing provided benefits to the officers, allowing those officers to feel the Emperor’s differential treatment and favoritism, which would definitely make them feel very comfortable.

More importantly, their interests were more closely linked to the Emperor’s.

The key to the military-industrial investment bank’s ability to make big money was that it enjoyed privileges and could enter those particularly profitable areas.

And this privilege was given by Wu Changqing.

Therefore, as long as these officers still wanted to enjoy this benefit, they would have to support Wu Changqing even more and not let him fall.

If Wu Changqing fell and was replaced by an Emperor who favored civil officials, it would be too terrible.

In the past, the vast majority of Emperors of the Ming Dynasty favored civil officials, and military generals often had no status or dignity. They didn’t want to return to that era.

Resolutely supporting Wu Changqing’s leadership was the most important thing for them.

In fact, even if Wu Changqing didn’t do this, with his prestige in the military, absolutely no one would dare to rebel for the time being.

After all, the three military leaders of Great Hua were all Wu Changqing’s loyal followers.

There were also a large number of the Emperor’s protégés and absolute confidants in the military.

Moreover, ordinary soldiers absolutely supported Wu Changqing and would not obey the orders of officers to rebel.

However, relying solely on prestige to make others fear him was not a long-term solution.

Rewarding loyalty and exercising authority, making subordinates fear him and giving them benefits to make them obey him, was the true path to success.

Chapter 645: Vigor and Decay

Having settled matters with the military, Wu Changqing returned to the imperial court, halted the arguments between the conservatives and reformers, and announced his latest order: He Jian would lead a division to quell the rebellion.

Those familiar with He Jian immediately understood Wu Changqing’s attitude.

This meant a suppression to the death, because He Jian was Wu Changqing’s confidant, one of his most loyal generals, who followed Wu Changqing’s lead in everything.

Sending him was clearly meant to prevent others from interfering with the suppression, ensuring it would be completely wiped out.

This caused another wave of sighs among the conservatives, who felt a deep sense of helplessness when facing Wu Changqing.

Once Wu Changqing made a decision, no matter how they protested, it seemed to have no effect.

Imperial power was unprecedentedly concentrated.

Throughout history, only Zhu Yuanzhang’s power could compare with Wu Changqing’s; all others paled in comparison. Every other emperor had to rely heavily on the civil official group.

But now, Wu Changqing didn’t need to.

Zhu Yuanzhang didn’t need to either, but Zhu Yuanzhang relied on doing everything himself, personally supervising and handling everything.

Relatively speaking, Wu Changqing was even more clever. He usually didn’t handle political affairs much, delegating power to the civil officials.

However, in the grand scheme of things, the civil officials were never able to influence Wu Changqing’s decisions.

They had become mere executors, with little decision-making power.

Without decision-making power, they naturally couldn’t be considered to have grasped power.

Therefore, current power was actually a high concentration of imperial power.

“Forget it, let’s just endure it. With His Majesty’s current shrewdness, we have no chance. We can only make this generation suffer, and leave the task of restoring the most harmonious relationship between ruler and ministers to future generations,” Qian Qianyi said at a private gathering of the Donglin Party.

Everyone understood what he meant.

After all, by learning from history, they could find a fatal flaw in imperial power.

That was, the emperor’s sons couldn’t always be intelligent.

Someone as wise and martial as Wu Changqing was one in a million.

His son couldn’t possibly continue to be so clever.

Even if his son continued to inherit his intelligence, it might deteriorate by the time it reached his grandson’s generation; it couldn’t continue to be so powerful forever.

Taking the Ming Dynasty as an example, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di were both ruthless characters, but so what? By the third generation, they were no longer capable.

As long as the emperor was slightly incompetent, it would be much easier for other officials to seize power from the emperor.

If the royal family had some accident and no adult inherited the throne, that would be even better.

Like when the Wanli Emperor inherited the throne, a child of a few years old wouldn’t understand anything, and all the power immediately fell into Zhang Juzheng’s hands.

Then the ministers could set countless etiquette rules for the ignorant emperor, tormenting the Wanli Emperor to the point where he was no longer human.

In his early years, the Wanli Emperor had etiquette regulations for everything, even eating a meal, and his life was extremely uncomfortable.

In short, officials were always shrewd, because they were elites who had fought their way out from countless people.

But the emperor inherited the throne; as long as they had a good background, even a fool could become emperor.

Therefore, as long as they had enough patience, the final result would always be that civil officials could successfully seize power.

That was what Qian Qianyi meant now: Wu Changqing was too powerful, so don’t provoke him; deal with Wu Changqing’s descendants in the future.

It was natural for him to have this idea; after all, he was already this old, and a smooth completion of these few years and a successful retirement would be the perfect ending.

However, the younger members of the Donglin Party were not willing to give up.

They were still young, with decades of official careers ahead of them.

It wouldn’t be easy for them to endure for decades.

Some people felt dissatisfied with Qian Qianyi when they heard his words, feeling that Qian Qianyi had not played a good leadership role.

They didn’t need a leader who lacked the will to forge ahead.

Of course, they wouldn’t say it directly now, but this idea had already been planted in their hearts.

Although Qian Qianyi was the leader of the Donglin Party, he couldn’t completely control the Donglin Party.

Just because he told everyone to lie low didn’t mean that others would listen.

Some ambitious people even saw opportunities in it.

For example, Dai Li felt that Qian Qianyi was too old and decaying. If he could stand up and confront the emperor at this time, other members of the Donglin Party would naturally submit to him, and he would be able to become the new generation of Donglin Party leader.

Although this was dangerous, how could he reach the peak of his life without taking risks?

Don’t look at Qian Qianyi’s current appearance of being detached from the world; when he was young, he charged at the front lines, more fiercely than anyone else.

He had done things that could cost him his head, such as exam fraud, forming cliques for private gain, embezzlement, and factional struggles.

In the struggles with Wei Zhongxian, Zhou Yanru, and Emperor Chongzhen, he had been repeatedly demoted, fined, and flogged as many as four or five times, walking on the edge of death many times.

If it weren’t for such a desperate performance, how could others have submitted to him and let him be the leader?

It was only after becoming the leader that Qian Qianyi began to fear death, after all, he was already a high-ranking official and lacked further pursuits.

People are often more willing to fight when they haven’t achieved their dreams, and they tend to become more afraid of death after reaching high positions; this is a normal phenomenon.

Now, Dai Li also wanted to replicate Qian Qianyi’s path to success, wanting to seek wealth and status in danger.

When others didn’t dare to stand up, he would stand up and take responsibility.

After making a decision, Dai Li began to collude with a group of radicals and then formulate a plan.

They didn’t plan to persuade the emperor to stop the land reform; they had also seen that it was useless, and the emperor wouldn’t change his mind.

They could only find another way, playing the factional struggles and framing that they were best at.

If they couldn’t bring down the land reform policy, then they would bring down the people who implemented the land reform.

Without people to implement it, then this policy would naturally be meaningless.

How to bring down an official? That was easy.

Didn’t those officials in charge of land reform have some dark history in the past? Dai Li didn’t believe it.

Even if they didn’t, they would have to find a way to fabricate some out of thin air.

As long as they seized the problems of those land reform officials and then impeached them on a large scale, the emperor certainly couldn’t ignore it.

According to regulations, officials who were impeached had to be temporarily suspended from their duties.

As long as they could suspend the land reform, they could buy more time to think of ways to deal with the land reform.

Moreover, for Dai Li, he might not even need to really solve the problem of land reform.

He only needed to let other members of the Donglin Party see his efforts and the role he played in this matter, and that would be enough.

Everyone would see him charging at the front line, disregarding his own safety, and naturally recognize his role; these were all political prestige.

Chapter 646: No Peace

Learning from the previous lesson, Dai Li and the others were very cautious this time.

Everything was done according to the rules, following the procedures, not giving Wu Changqing a chance to find fault with them.

This way, even if the impeachment failed, they wouldn’t lose their official positions.

First, they collected enough evidence, and then they proceeded with the impeachment.

First of all, they caught Li Yao, this stubborn element of the reform faction.

If you were to ask who the civil officials hated the most right now, it would definitely be Li Yao.

Although everyone knew that Li Yao must have been authorized by the emperor to be the first to propose land reform.

However, everyone didn’t dare to blame the emperor, so they could only vent their resentment on Li Yao.

Someone dug deep into Li Yao’s past, and they were shocked by what they found.

This Li Yao, when he was at West River Academy, had actually said many rebellious remarks.

For example, he fiercely criticized the imperial court for not holding the imperial examinations, criticized Wu Changqing for having the heart of rebellion, and criticized the new-style imperial examinations as Wu Changqing’s blind changes that disregarded the scholars of the world and were not in accordance with the rites.

There were even rumors that Li Yao had incited other scholars to go north and defect to the Qing Dynasty to resist Great Hua.

These scandals were enough for Li Yao to suffer.

People with big mouths are often not suitable for being officials.

There are actually many people who have Li Yao’s ideas, but others hide them in their hearts and don’t say them out loud, so others don’t have any leverage.

But Li Yao, in order to express his emotions, often said what was on his mind.

And this often makes it easy for others to leave him with a handle.

Dai Li sorted out a lot of information, such as Li Yao’s quotes, as well as the time, place, witnesses, and so on.

Then, he submitted the memorial through the Six Ministries process.

The first person to see this impeachment memorial was Ma Shiying, who shook his head after reading it.

He didn’t care whether the content was true or false. In short, submitting this kind of impeachment memorial at this time was definitely for one reason: to suppress the progress of land reform.

Getting rid of Li Yao would, to some extent, make others involved in land reform have some misgivings.

Ma Shiying really wanted to throw away and tear up this memorial, because he knew that this memorial would only make the emperor angry and wouldn’t do much good.

However, he couldn’t do that, it wasn’t in accordance with the rules.

He couldn’t even secretly suppress this memorial, because the memorial couldn’t be decided on whether to submit it after only he had read it.

For this kind of impeachment memorial, at least three Grand Secretariat ministers had to read it, and the opinions of three people were needed to make the final decision.

This was certainly a good way to prevent shielding, and if one Grand Secretariat minister could decide whether to submit it, the problem would be quite big.

Once the person being impeached and the Grand Secretariat minister who happened to see it were of the same faction, then naturally there would be a situation of shielding.

And now, with three Grand Secretariat ministers needing to read it together, this perfectly solved the problem.

Within the Grand Secretariat, no faction’s power reached three people.

No matter which faction’s officials were impeached, it was unlikely that they would be shielded.

This advanced system was a bit unfavorable at the moment.

Ma Shiying had no way to make decisions according to his own ideas, he could only give his own opinion and instructions, and then pass it on to the next Grand Secretariat minister.

He only hoped now that the next two people who saw this memorial were from the reform faction, so that there might be a chance to sink this impeachment memorial.

Unfortunately, his wish was ultimately dashed.

Gu Yanwu saw this impeachment and immediately gave the opinion to submit it.

As a result, this impeachment memorial was finally sent to Wu Changqing, who kicked over the table in front of him, scaring the surrounding eunuchs and palace maids to kneel down and lower their heads, not daring to make any sound.

He rarely got angry, but this time he was really angry.

Wu Changqing felt a little tired. He just wanted to govern the country well and achieve common prosperity for everyone. Why was it so difficult? There were always some people trying to make trouble for him in various ways.

Wu Changqing knew that he was now infringing on the interests of the landlord class, but he believed that he was not doing too much and did not push the landlords to the point where they couldn’t survive.

In his opinion, the common people were his subjects, and so were the landlords and merchants. He just wanted to distribute the wealth a little more fairly.

If the landlords were oppressed and exploited, he would also stand up for them.

But some people just didn’t understand his good intentions and insisted on making trouble for him.

This kind of impeachment was not like the previous impeachments.

The previous impeachments were about the methods of land reform officials in the process of doing things, which were controversial. Whether that approach was right or wrong was not stipulated and was open to discussion.

And now, this kind of memorial that brings out evidence to impeach the other party’s loyalty, corruption, and private morality, according to the rules, Li Yao needs to be suspended first, and only after proving that there is no problem can he continue to work.

Wu Changqing faced a problem: whether or not to abide by the rules.

If he abided by the rules, he would have to detain Li Yao for investigation, then the officials who had tasted the sweetness would definitely work harder and target other land reform officials.

At that time, the land reform work would be difficult to continue.

The current land reform officials have accumulated a lot of work experience, and the work is being carried out very efficiently.

If he replaced them with new people, there would inevitably be a lot of new troubles.

Moreover, if the people who were replaced were still firm reformers, they would definitely continue to be impeached. If the people who were replaced were not firm reformers, then they would easily collude with the local landlords, muddle through, deceive those above and conceal those below, and act in a way that outwardly complied but inwardly opposed.

In short, direct detention was definitely not an option.

However, if he continued to let Li Yao do it, this would be destroying the rules of the court for many years.

This would have a very negative impact on Wu Changqing.

Not even abiding by the last bit of rules was equivalent to the last bit of cooperative consensus between the monarch and his ministers being gone, and the officials would be even more disappointed and alienated.

Even Emperor Chongzhen, who had already been alienated from the officials, did not dare to do this.

“Let the people from the Intelligence Bureau come over.”

Wu Changqing instructed Feng Debao.

He was going to deal with this Dai Li, to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

He would not give Dai Li a chance to be demoted. He would not act unless he was sure, and once he acted, he must find Dai Li’s major problems and then execute him directly.

If Dai Li didn’t have this kind of problem, it would be more difficult.

Wu Changqing didn’t think that far for the time being, he would let the Intelligence Bureau investigate first.

As for Li Yao, he asked someone to pass a message to Li Yao, asking him to work while conducting a written self-defense, which was also an explanation to the other officials.

This was a bit of a violation of the rules, but Wu Changqing didn’t care.

If there were still officials nagging, he would be a little tempted to be a tyrant, kill all the disobedient ones, and then arrange some obedient officials, without caring about their abilities.

Wu Changqing believed that with his own ability, even if he led a group of puppets, he could govern this world well.

Chapter 647: The Tragic State Beyond the Pass

The struggles in the imperial court continued, as did the struggles in the regions, and even the struggles overseas and with other countries never ceased.

Looking at the entire history of humankind, it is essentially a history of struggle.

Wherever there are people, there will inevitably be struggle.

Compared to other creatures, humans are the most ferocious species.

Only humans will try every possible means to kill their own kind; this doesn’t happen in the animal kingdom.

Even for the all-important right to mate, the struggle between males is kept within reasonable limits; there’s no need to kill the other party.

Only humans will kill their own kind because they want to live a little better, or want to vent some anger, or for other trivial reasons.

When it comes to other creatures, everything is edible.

Humans also have the broadest diet; there are very few things they won’t eat if given the chance.

Beyond the Pass, several Manchus were beheaded.

The reason was simple: they wanted to escape into the Pass.

For such a simple reason, an action that wouldn’t harm anyone, they still died, cruelly murdered and beheaded.

Because Dorgon had issued an order that anyone attempting to flee into the Pass would be killed without exception.

Their heads were to be hung at the crossroads, forming a jingguan [a mound of corpses or heads displayed as a warning].

He wanted to use this terrifying decree to scare those below who wanted to escape, preventing the loss of population.

Whether a power is strong or not, population is a crucial factor.

Dorgon was short of people now, very short of people.

However, because of his cruel rule, many commoners beyond the Pass were barely able to survive. Coupled with the good policies within the Pass—free land distribution, seeds, and tax exemption—
in comparison, every commoner wanted to make a living within the Pass.

“Alas, we can’t stop the killing no matter how much we kill. What can we do? We can’t really kill them all, can we?”

One soldier said, his spirit on the verge of collapse.

Although his family hadn’t suffered as much exploitation because he was still in the army, they were still living a very difficult life.

He understood that once he died in battle, his family’s fate would be the same as those fleeing into the Pass.

Because these refugees were all families without adult men to serve in the army, and thus were exploited to the point where they couldn’t survive.

In the past, these families were almost no different from the families of soldiers like him.

To maintain the current military strength, Dorgon had stopped all compensation for the families of soldiers who died in battle, and even increased the exploitation of families without soldiers.

After all, the families of those soldiers couldn’t be exploited too much for the time being, otherwise the soldiers would revolt.

However, exploiting the families of soldiers who had died in battle would also completely chill the hearts of those soldiers.

The soldiers who were still alive understood that they couldn’t die; if they died, their families would suffer the same fate.

Such an army, seemingly still having fighting power, was actually a disorganized mob, and no one would risk their lives anymore.

In Funing, a group of Manchu refugees, scantily clad and emaciated, knelt before the county government, begging the Great Hua army to advance beyond the Pass and rescue their people.

These people tearfully recounted their escape route, denouncing Dorgon’s current brutal rule beyond the Pass, and describing the dire situation of the people beyond the Pass.

Hearing these people’s stories, the Han Chinese people in Funing felt a mix of emotions.

On the one hand, they felt very happy, because these people had once lorded over them.

On the other hand, they felt a little sympathy because these people were so miserable that they couldn’t bear to look at them.

Compared to the Han Chinese people, the Manchu people who originally remained here were filled with sympathy.

Although they didn’t live very well in Funing, at least they didn’t suffer any oppression. The government clearly stipulated equality between the two ethnic groups.

Although some fierce and unreasonable Han Chinese people didn’t obey the orders and would occasionally bully them, they didn’t dare to go too far, and complaints to the government would be accepted.

In general, they could still survive.

Compared to beyond the Pass, it was really ten thousand times better.

Hearing the stories of these refugees, they couldn’t imagine how those people survived.

Each person didn’t even have one hundred grams of grain a day. This was more than what they would consume even if they were lying down, let alone working.

“I will report your requests to the higher-ups in a timely manner and let them send troops as soon as possible,”

the magistrate of Funing County said, then arranged for people to give these refugees some food for relief.

As long as these people were saved, they would be another batch of laborers. The value of their future output would far exceed this little bit of relief.

In fact, the magistrate of Funing County didn’t want to deal with this kind of troublesome matter, but he couldn’t help it because that was how the imperial court stipulated it.

He didn’t quite understand many of the current Great Hua policies, but it didn’t matter. To keep his official position, he just had to honestly implement them.

In the military camp of Funing, Tang Guozhen and others were also studying how to attack beyond the Pass.

After studying it, there was only one problem: logistics.

From Funing to Shengjing (Shenyang) was almost five hundred kilometers, and to get to Harbin and the border, it would be even farther.

Moreover, the large number of refugees beyond the Pass was also the reason why they didn’t want to attack.

If they didn’t attack, the suffering of those refugees was all Dorgon’s fault.

Those who were suffering hated Dorgon in their hearts.

If they attacked and took it down, then those people would become the citizens of Great Hua, and they would have the obligation to provide relief.

If the relief wasn’t in place at that time, those people would hate Great Hua in their hearts.

Providing relief to the North within the Pass had already become a considerable burden for Great Hua, and the ministers in the court were extremely opposed to attacking beyond the Pass now.

In their view, beyond the Pass was a burden.

It was precisely because of these many considerations that Tang Guozhen and the others could only train every day, and occasionally deduce how to attack beyond the Pass, but they had never been able to take real action due to the lack of logistical supplies.

Now, the military focus of Great Hua was in the Central Plains and overseas, and supplies were given priority to the troops in these areas. It was extremely difficult for the troops in other areas to receive supplies, as if they were stepchildren.

The Central Plains Military Region and the overseas troops could apply for supplies and get them approved every time.

Especially overseas, the Fusang Military Region.

Now, the military was paying special attention to this place, because this place could bring a lot of wealth to Great Hua, and also bring a lot of wealth to the military.

With the advanced exploration technology provided by Wu Changqing, Great Hua had already explored two large gold mines in the Satsuma Domain and was about to enter the mining stage.

At that time, the wealth would be continuously transported back to the country.

Fighting overseas was super profitable. Attacking beyond the Pass was a money-losing plan, so naturally it was not welcomed.

Tang Guozhen even wanted to apply to go overseas, but was opposed by many people in the military.

After all, he couldn’t have all the good things in the world.

Chapter 648: The Current State of Fusang

Fusang, Satsuma Domain.

Kagoshima at this time had undergone a tremendous transformation, with its port and docks expanded.

Previously, it could only accommodate a few large ships, but now it could berth more than a dozen simultaneously.

There were more houses on the shore, and more people coming and going.

There were also many more ships, and the docks were much more lively. People bustled back and forth, and the warehouses and open spaces on the shore were piled high with all kinds of goods.

The port, which was already quite bustling, now had a hint of prosperity.

As a large ship dropped anchor, a large number of bare-chested Fusang men got up on the shore, waiting for the people to disembark, and then crowded around, asking questions in very broken Chinese.

These stevedores had become one of the first groups to master Chinese.

There was no other way, they were driven by profit.

Working as a stevedore at the docks earned several times more than farming for the daimyo.

If Shimazu Mitsuhisa hadn’t strictly limited the number of people coming to the docks, no one would be farming anymore.

Fortunately, Shimazu Mitsuhisa wasn’t stupid; he knew that grain was a crucial resource at all times, and he always had to maintain the number of farmers.

Of course, this in turn led to a labor shortage.

Therefore, Shimazu Mitsuhisa imported a large number of steel farming tools from Great Hua to improve production efficiency and free up labor.

For this, Shimazu Mitsuhisa owed Great Hua a large sum of money.

To repay the money, Shimazu Mitsuhisa racked his brains, even going so far as to encourage Fusang women to engage in the flesh trade in Great Hua to earn foreign exchange for the country.

At the same time, he also encouraged Fusang people to work in Great Hua, encouraging them to work for the people of Great Hua.

He could only rely on selling labor to earn some money to repay his debts.

Of course, this kind of cooperation was actually a win-win situation.

The Fusang people improved their farming efficiency and obtained a large number of iron tools, while Great Hua obtained cheap labor and manufactured more industrial products.

This phenomenon was an inevitable result of free trade.

However, this was not the main trade between Great Hua and Fusang.

The main trade between Great Hua and Fusang was actually the sale of copper.

To be precise, Great Hua brought copper over and exchanged it for the Fusang people’s gold and silver.

The reason was simple: Fusang lacked copper, severely lacked it, but had a lot of gold and silver.

Therefore, the exchange rate between gold, silver, and copper was very different between the two countries.

In Great Hua, one tael of gold was roughly equal to nine taels of silver, which was roughly equal to nine thousand copper coins.

In Fusang, one tael of gold was roughly equal to eight taels of silver, which was roughly equal to four thousand copper coins.

In other words, in Great Hua, one could exchange one hundred taels of gold for nine hundred thousand copper coins, transport them to Fusang, and then exchange them for more than two hundred taels of gold, making a net profit of one hundred percent.

Of course, this was the theoretical value.

Copper exports were taxed, and gold imports were also taxed. Taxes had to be paid again on the Fusang side, plus freight, labor costs, and so on. The final profit was probably only about fifty percent.

A profit of fifty percent was still incredibly terrifying, after all, this was Fusang, not Western Europe. The distance between the two was short, and the risk was low.

A round trip took, at most, half a month, or as little as a week.

Apart from the newly emerging stock market in Great Hua, there was no industry that made money faster than this.

A business with a fifty percent profit was hard to find even with a lantern.

Of course, it wasn’t easy to do this kind of business.

Ordinary people, what qualifications did they have to do currency business?

Whether it was copper or gold, they were both currencies. The imperial court’s control over the import and export of such things was quite strict.

If restrictions were relaxed casually, whether too much copper flowed out or too much gold and silver flowed in, it would affect the country’s monetary system and have a certain impact on the economy.

The impact on Great Hua might be smaller, after all, Great Hua was large.

Shipping in tens of millions of taels of silver was not a problem.

But for Fusang, the impact was very large.

The influx of a large number of copper coins led to the rapid devaluation of copper coins.

Well-informed upper-class figures used this information to exchange gold and silver from the lower classes with copper coins long ago.

As soon as the copper coins devalued, the common people who exchanged them for copper coins suddenly suffered unspeakable hardship. Their wealth had shrunk by a third, or even more, for no apparent reason.

This also had a significant impact on some commercial activities.

“Lord Shimazu, we must strictly control the import and export of precious metals, we can’t continue like this. The prices of many things on the market have fluctuated sharply due to the influx of a large number of copper coins, which can easily cause unrest.”

There were also capable people in the Satsuma Domain who realized that doing business with Great Hua was too dangerous.

Because Fusang was small, it was easily affected.

If Great Hua wanted to mess with them, they could easily destroy their economic structure.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was very helpless when he heard this. He wanted to, but the two sides had signed a free trade treaty, and he didn’t dare to stop it at all.

Not to mention stopping it, even the formulation of tariffs had to be discussed with Great Hua and couldn’t be set casually, otherwise the Great Hua army would shout about fighting again at the slightest provocation.

“Kumakawa-kun, I know everything you said is right, but there’s nothing I can do, that’s just the way things are.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa said.

“To solve this problem, we can only rely on our own strength to build a large steel plant, produce our own steel, and reduce our dependence on Great Hua.”

Kumakawa Ichiro continued to advise.

“How easy is that? The capital is easy to say, as long as I sell everything, I can scrape it together. The key is the technology? The talent? Great Hua’s steelmaking technology is hundreds of times more advanced than ours.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa really didn’t want to mention the words Great Hua now. Every time he mentioned it, he felt nothing but depression.

“Although it’s difficult, this is after all a matter of long-term development. We can’t always rely on them, so this steel plant will have to be built sooner or later.”

Kumakawa Ichiro was considering the issue from the perspective of the entire Fusang, but Shimazu Mitsuhisa was thinking more from the perspective of the Satsuma Domain.

For the Satsuma Domain, the most important thing at this time was not development, but annexation and expansion.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa wanted to unify Fusang first, and then integrate the resources of the whole country for development, which would be faster.

This was without a doubt, but there was only one prerequisite, and that was that he could unify Fusang. If he couldn’t, then both unification and development would be delayed.

Could he unify it?

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was quite confident in this. The musket unit under his command had been training for some time, and he was ready to take them out and fight the Kumamoto Domain to the north.

Last time, because of the remuneration, he and Nishikawa Mochiyoshi had completely fallen out, and friction had occurred between the two sides at the border.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa refused to pay, and Nishikawa Mochiyoshi directly sent people to collect taxes and rob in the Satsuma Domain, which infuriated Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

With this excuse, he was planning to start a war in the near future.

Chapter 649: Gold Mine

Seeing Shimazu Mitsuhisa prevaricate on the matter of building a steel mill, Kumakawa Ichiro was helpless and could only bring up another matter.

“Lord Shimazu, shouldn’t we think of a way to prevent women from leaving? In less than three months, our Satsuma Domain has lost nearly five thousand women.”

Kumakawa Ichiro had heard many people complaining that it was becoming more difficult to find a wife, and he was very worried.

“Lord Kumakawa is overthinking it. Most of the women have only gone to work, and they will return when they have earned money. The current national affairs are difficult, and we need their efforts,” Shimazu Mitsuhisa said helplessly.

Come back?

Kumakawa Ichiro wasn’t so sure. After seeing the wonderful life in Great Hua, would those women still be willing to return to this poor and remote place called Japan?

“I think we should contact other feudal lords and the shogunate. It’s time to unite. Otherwise, we Satsuma Domain alone cannot cope with Great Hua’s various methods.”

Kumakawa Ichiro continued to express his recent insights and opinions, but Shimazu Mitsuhisa didn’t buy it.

Or rather, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was more realistic.

He knew that it was impossible to achieve the unification of Japan through negotiations and alliances.

Only by force could true unification be achieved.

And suffering some losses from Great Hua before unification was unavoidable.

As long as he could gain Great Hua’s support and achieve unification, these losses would be worth it.

In the end, Kumakawa Ichiro did not get the result he wanted from Shimazu Mitsuhisa. Helpless, he prepared to set off for Edo to lobby the various domains, hoping that all the daimyo could unite.

Besides uniting, he couldn’t think of any other way to contend with the powerful Great Hua Empire.

Qian Sule was well aware of Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s little schemes and supported them.

He was waiting, waiting for Shimazu Mitsuhisa to beat up the others before secretly selling weapons to the others, letting them fight among themselves.

For now, he didn’t need to pay too much attention. He would focus his energy on economic plunder.

On July 1st, a large ship arrived in Kagoshima.

This ship that came to Kagoshima was not here to sell goods, but was carrying professional mining experts from Great Hua.

They were here to be responsible for the mining of the two gold mines in Kawabe Town.

“First, post recruitment notices. This time, we need to recruit at least five hundred people,” said Xu Jie, the person in charge.

Subsequently, his subordinates began to work.

There were special translators at the port who could easily be hired to explain and promote the recruitment to others.

Mining was both hard and somewhat dangerous, and the Japanese didn’t really like it.

However, the wages offered by Great Hua Dongshan Mining Company were twice as high as others.

Therefore, their recruitment went very smoothly.

As long as the money was right, people would do any job, no matter how hard, tiring, or dangerous.

After easily recruiting more than five hundred people, they began to head to Kawabe Town.

Also on the road were several large machines, which were used to crush ore.

The most labor-intensive part of hard rock gold mining was crushing the ore.

With these machines, the speed of gold mining and smelting could be greatly increased, and costs could be reduced.

At the same time, Great Hua also sent a force of more than three hundred soldiers to protect them and these machines.

Although, even if the Japanese were to steal these machines, with their industrial base, they would definitely not be able to figure them out, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to replicate them.

But after all, they were important national assets, and they needed to be protected.

Moreover, the gold mine also needed protection. Perhaps some people with a death wish would want to try their luck.

“Damn it, you call this a road?”

Xu Jie cursed all the way. The guide said there was a road to Kawabe Town.

However, the guide’s concept of a road was completely different from Xu Jie’s concept of a road.

In the guide’s concept, a road that people and carriages could pass was a good road.

However, for Xu Jie, who was used to the super-large, super-flat, and super-straight official roads of Great Hua, the road in front of him couldn’t be called a road at all.

“Get used to it. Japan is so backward. We’ll be living here for a long time in the future,” said Tu You’an, another person in charge.

The frustration caused by the difficult journey disappeared instantly when they arrived at the gold mine and saw the quality of the ore.

The two gold mines in Kawabe Town were also the type that were easy to mine and of high quality.

With current exploration technology, the gold mines that were found were often of this type.

As for those very difficult to mine mineral deposits, with current exploration technology, they often couldn’t be found.

“At least one hundred grams of gold can be extracted from one ton of ore,” Xu Jie estimated, his face full of joy.

This gold production ratio was several times, even ten times, higher than that of several gold mines in the country.

In other words, mining here was several times more profitable than mining in the country.

Even domestic gold mining was a super-profitable business.

Mining this kind of gold mine was truly a sure-fire way to make a huge profit.

“Almost. The surrounding Shimazu clan’s own gold mines are about the same ratio,” Tu You’an said.

“First, have people build housing.”

Although a gold mountain was in front of them, they couldn’t rush it.

Since they would be working here for a long time, housing was the most important thing.

The first thing these recruited workers did was not mining, but building houses, finding water sources, and even planting some vegetables.

In short, they were doing all kinds of trivial things.

Several days later, they officially began mining.

Although it wasn’t an open-pit mine, it wasn’t much different. After scraping off the surface layer of rock, what was below was gold-bearing host rock.

These rocks were first blasted open with gunpowder, then initially crushed into small pieces, loaded onto carts, and transported to the crusher for further crushing.

After crushing, they were ground, washed, screened, subjected to displacement reactions, refined, screened…

The whole process had at least a dozen steps and was very complicated.

Of course, compared to the harvest, these complicated processes were worth it.

After all, the dozen or so steps only took a few days.

On average, they could refine about ten tons of ore a day, extracting about two Jin of gold, which was about eighteen yuan.

And the current price of grain in Great Hua was that one yuan could buy two hundred Jin of high-quality rice.

In other words, their harvest for one day could buy about four thousand Jin of grain.

Moreover, this was just the beginning.

As the workers became more skilled in their work, and as more machines and manpower arrived, the daily gold production here would definitely increase greatly.

Their plan was to produce at least one hundred Jin of gold per day.

Once they reached this scale, the revenue of their gold mine could reach over three million yuan per year.

Three million yuan was not a small sum for Great Hua either.

Chapter 650: The Japanese Civil War

While Great Hua quietly mined in Japan, making a fortune, the Japanese themselves started fighting.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa led an army of thirty thousand, heading straight for the Kumamoto Domain to his north.

Accompanying the army was an observation and guidance team from Great Hua.

After all, it would probably take them a long time to figure out the tactics of using flintlocks on their own.

To show their customers that flintlocks were indeed useful, they had to send instructors to prevent these Japanese from using them as spears.

The army advanced to Yatsushiro City, where they engaged Nishikawa Mochiyoshi’s army in battle.

The two sides lined up face to face, forming their ranks.

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was not fighting Shimazu Mitsuhisa for the first time, and the two were quite familiar with each other.

However, this time Nishikawa Mochiyoshi suffered a great loss because he didn’t know that Shimazu Mitsuhisa now had expert guidance.

In other areas of the battle, things were similar to before, with both sides exchanging blows and fighting evenly.

But in the center, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was quickly defeated by Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s flintlock infantry and grenadiers.

Especially the grenadier units. Relatively speaking, the Satsuma Domain’s soldiers were more fond of grenades than flintlocks.

This was because their military discipline was lax, and using flintlocks required strict discipline and obedience, which made them uncomfortable.

The requirements for throwing grenades were much less demanding and more convenient, and the destructive power was astonishing.

If they were to fight Dorgon, these grenadiers wouldn’t be very effective because the Qing army already had a series of methods to deal with them.

But Nishikawa Mochiyoshi didn’t know this and still arranged dense infantry formations, not understanding the need to spread out his soldiers.

In one encounter, the Kumamoto Domain suffered heavy losses.

The Kumamoto Domain’s men were fleeing in defeat, while the Satsuma Domain’s men were chasing behind them, the scene as chaotic as a brawl between thugs.

On the hilltop, the Great Hua observation team members lowered their binoculars and shook their heads repeatedly.

Through the battle they just watched, they were completely disappointed with the Satsuma Domain’s soldiers.

They had clearly tried their best to teach them, but those undisciplined soldiers simply couldn’t handle the “line up and fire” tactic.

Not to mention anything else, they couldn’t even march in step properly. Some people walked fast, and some walked slowly, making the entire line a curve.

On the surface, it didn’t seem to have much of a negative impact on the battle.

But they just hadn’t encountered experts. If they were up against Great Hua’s army, their formation would quickly reveal flaws and a lot of detailed problems.

“Fortunately, it’s enough to deal with the more primitive Kumamoto Domain.”

Dong Zhong said with emotion.

If the troops he was guiding lost to a primitive army, he would feel embarrassed and lose face.

“Haha, Staff Officer Dong, this is a good thing. It just shows that Japan is an easy opponent to deal with.”

Another observer laughed.

He didn’t regard the Satsuma Domain as his own people. Teaching them was just a task from above, and he was even a little afraid of training the Satsuma Domain’s people into elites, which would make them harder to deal with in the future.

Now, seeing their training results, he was relieved.

“That’s true. I just don’t know if the Kumamoto Domain’s people will be frightened by this battle and wake up in time.”

Dong Zhong smiled. Their mission wasn’t really to help the Satsuma Domain destroy the Kumamoto Domain, but to beat Nishikawa Mochiyoshi to the point where he would ask them for help.

Then, they could sell arms to both sides.

If the Satsuma Domain’s people didn’t scare Nishikawa Mochiyoshi, their goal would fail.

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was more clever than Great Hua had imagined. After the defeat at Yatsushiro City, he quickly contacted the Great Hua people active in Kumamoto City.

Through those spies, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi contacted the person in charge of Great Hua in Kumamoto City and discussed the purchase of weapons together.

The Kumamoto Domain was slightly poorer than the Satsuma Domain, but Nishikawa Mochiyoshi asked for ten thousand guns and two hundred thousand grenades.

Now that the situation was urgent, if he didn’t strengthen his military strength, he might be annexed by the Satsuma Domain. Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was already anxious.

In desperation, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was willing to accept a much lower bottom line.

In the end, the two sides reached an agreement.

Great Hua would sell five thousand flintlocks, one hundred thousand grenades, and other military supplies to the Kumamoto Domain.

In return, the Kumamoto Domain would open a port for trade with Hua and also allow Great Hua to mine minerals in Kumamoto.

Basically, it was similar to the Kagoshima Treaty.

After the treaty was signed, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi began to find ways to raise money.

He also knew that this batch of arms could only allow him to protect himself at most. If he wanted to defeat the Satsuma Domain, or even destroy it, he would need to purchase a large number of arms in the future.

Putting aside whether Great Hua was willing to sell them, even if they were willing, he had to have money.

Great Hua sold these arms at exorbitant prices, even a consumable grenade cost five taels of silver.

He had no choice but to buy them, otherwise, he would suffer a great loss when the enemy’s grenades were thrown over.

Sometimes, a grenade could kill or injure three or four people, in which case, those five taels of silver were quite worth it.

Raising money was a very difficult thing for an agricultural country.

The only thing they could use for export was grain, but grain was very cheap in Great Hua.

If they wanted to exchange grain for weapons, they wouldn’t be able to exchange for much even if they starved to death.

The only thing they could rely on was those one or two silver mines.

However, mining took time, and the Kumamoto Domain’s various expenses were relying on these two silver mines.

If the money from the silver mines was used to buy arms, the entire administrative apparatus would have to stop operating.

Relying on silver mines alone couldn’t solve the money problem.

Fortunately, someone reminded Nishikawa Mochiyoshi that Great Hua was also interested in one thing: the women of Japan.

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was reluctant to part with those women, of course, but he had no choice. If he didn’t sacrifice the women under his rule, he wouldn’t even be able to keep his position as daimyo.

Therefore, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi issued an order to increase taxes in the Kumamoto Domain.

He levied a national crisis tax on the people, three taels of silver per person.

This amount was basically forcing those people to die.

At this time, a team specializing in buying people also went to the countryside.

Women and girls, they wanted them all, setting different prices according to age and appearance.

Basically, they were five to ten taels each.

Those people who were forced to the end of their ropes had no choice but to sell their daughters with tears in their eyes and then use the money they sold to pay taxes.

Not everyone was willing to do this, and many people resisted.

However, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi dared to do this because he was confident and knew that this level of exploitation wouldn’t cause a major rebellion.

A few resisting people were either killed as a warning to others or were caught and forced to work as coolies in the mines. It wasn’t a big problem.

Chapter 651: Permanent Employment System

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi, in this way, managed to procure ten thousand women in one fell swoop.

Then, he contacted You Xinweng, the Great Hua representative in the Kumamoto Domain.

You Xinweng was shocked when he heard that Nishikawa Mochiyoshi wanted to engage in human trafficking.

Great Hua’s current laws explicitly prohibit the buying and selling of people.

However, due to historical reasons, this regulation has not been effectively enforced in practice.

Some refugees, if they don’t sell their sons and daughters, they won’t be able to survive, nor will they be able to support their children.

At this time, if the local officials don’t know how to be flexible and insist on following the law, they will only force those people to their deaths.

Therefore, in Great Hua, there are still some instances of human trafficking.

And the government turns a blind eye, as long as the buying and selling is not carried out in a high-profile manner, they don’t really care.

Of course, this is limited to private transactions between individuals, and the term “trafficking” is not used; it’s called “adoption.”

Great Hua still cracks down on professional human traffickers.

The nature of these people’s trafficking is completely different from that of private individuals. In order to make money, these people are capable of anything.

Stealing, robbing, kidnapping, scheming, coercion, etc., in order to obtain sources of goods, these people are often unscrupulous.

These people operate on a large scale, and their impact on society is extremely bad, making them a key target of government crackdowns.

Right now, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi wants to sell nearly ten thousand people to Great Hua, making him a professional human trafficker.

Moreover, the scale is too large, so large that he doesn’t dare to make a decision on his own.

What if he agrees, wouldn’t that leave a handle for other countries, leaving an image of Great Hua lacking etiquette and morality?

You Xinweng could only urgently request instructions from Qian Sule, who is currently the chief person in charge of Japan affairs.

Qian Sule was also shocked when he heard the news, secretly thinking that Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was a ruthless person.

Ten thousand women, even if Great Hua were to gather them, it wouldn’t be an easy task.

But this Nishikawa Mochiyoshi was actually able to obtain so many in such a short period of time.

Of course, Qian Sule didn’t know that in Japan, selling sons and daughters was a common occurrence for people to survive.

Qian Sule has a high position, so he naturally knows more about Great Hua’s strategies than You Xinweng.

He knew that Wu Changqing wanted to absorb a large number of Japanese women into Great Hua, and then instigate internal strife in Japan, a two-pronged approach to reduce their population and greatly increase the population of the Great Hua ethnicity.

Therefore, these ten thousand women must be accepted.

Of course, how to accept them requires skill. Directly buying them with money is definitely not an option, as that would damage Great Hua’s glorious image.

They didn’t do that in the Satsuma Domain, or if they did, it was only on a small scale, and it was all spontaneous behavior by the common people; the government didn’t participate in leading it.

The government’s current way of acquiring Japanese women is still through free marriage. At most, they use some incentives, but there is never any coercion.

For those Japanese women who want to marry into Great Hua, they will provide some assistance, nothing more.

In short, they need to pay attention to their image.

Qian Sule discussed with his subordinates and finally decided to adopt a new term: permanent employment.

They are not buying people, but recruiting female workers.

However, the employment period will be relatively long, as long as a lifetime.

After being employed, they must accept all arrangements made by Great Hua, and without Great Hua’s permission, they cannot unilaterally terminate the employment contract or return to Japan at will.

This is fundamentally different from Great Hua’s employment of female workers in the Satsuma Domain. The female workers they recruit in the Satsuma Domain enjoy basic rights such as taking leave to return to Japan to visit relatives.

But Qian Sule’s current permanent employment system deprives the employed female workers of this right.

It’s just using a nicer term; in reality, it’s human trafficking.

With the method determined, the next step is to negotiate the price.

A person, especially a woman, is quite valuable.

Qian Sule is very clear about this, and Nishikawa Mochiyoshi is also very clear.

Therefore, his asking price is fifty taels of silver per person for ordinary women, and one hundred taels or even more for a few exceptional ones.

Qian Sule and You Xinweng can actually accept this price. The value that a woman can produce in her lifetime is far more than fifty taels.

Especially some beautiful people, needless to say.

However, asking them to take out seven or eight hundred thousand taels of silver at once requires them to be cautious.

Seven or eight hundred thousand taels is of course not much for Great Hua, but Great Hua is a large family with many places where money needs to be spent.

Therefore, Qian Sule instructed You Xinweng to bargain, as much as he could.

“Lord You, these are all young women, some are still children, each one is a money tree, fifty taels is really not expensive.”

The person in charge of the Kumamoto Domain said.

“Lord Katō, of course I know that if I were to buy one individually, I naturally wouldn’t think fifty taels is expensive. But, you’re bringing ten thousand at once, it’s very difficult for me.

We’re actually not very willing to do this kind of thing, because even if these people come to Great Hua, we can’t sell them all to brothels. We must respect their choices and treat them as citizens.

Therefore, they may not all be money trees to us, and may even be burdens.”

You Xinweng said his difficulties, which made Katō Mai speechless.

He felt that the people of Great Hua were a bunch of hypocrites, clearly wanting it in their bodies, but refusing to admit it in their mouths, too hypocritical.

He also couldn’t understand why the people of Great Hua respected these women so much.

According to his thinking, these are commodities, goods, where is there a need to respect something?

But there’s no way, the people of Great Hua like to play this game, and he can’t do anything about it.

Katō Mai could only use Great Hua’s sympathy, saying: “Lord You, if you don’t accept these people, their fate will be even worse. We don’t have that much food to support them for nothing, nor do we have that many brothels to accommodate them.”

His words were almost directly saying that if Great Hua didn’t accept this group of people, they would be abandoned and starve to death.

Although You Xinweng knew this was impossible, he still went along with it, saying: “Alas, it seems that Great Hua can only display its compassionate virtues and reluctantly accept to rescue this group of women.

However, it costs a lot to support these people, and they can’t earn much money from working. Therefore, the price of employing them needs to be slightly reduced by your side. After all, we are accepting and rescuing this group of women not to make money from them, but to give them a better life…”

Listening to You Xinweng’s words, Katō Mai couldn’t help but want to draw his katana and cut him into eight pieces.

If you want to bargain, just say it directly, is it interesting to babble so much?

And using the word “employment” over and over again, it’s infuriating to hear.

Chapter 652: Stirring Discord

Although he despised Yu Xinweng in his heart, Kato Mai still patiently accompanied him, exchanging hypocritical words.

Then, within these words, they haggled over the price.

Finally, the two parties agreed on a price.

Those under fourteen years old would be thirty taels each, as they still needed to be raised for several years.

Those between fourteen and thirty years old would be forty taels each, as they were in their prime.

Those over thirty years old would be thirty-five taels each.

Then, those with exceptionally outstanding appearances would be priced separately.

The final negotiated total price was around five hundred thousand taels.

Five hundred thousand taels could allow Nishikawa Mochiyoshi to buy another one hundred thousand hand grenades, or ten thousand flintlock rifles, greatly increasing his strength.

With the new equipment, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi immediately changed his defeated demeanor on the battlefield.

Although they hadn’t had time to train much with the new weapons, they were now on the defensive, giving them a defensive advantage.

Guarding the city walls or other high places, holding flintlock rifles didn’t require training in formations; they just needed to know how to fire.

Anyway, once the bullets were fired, there was a chance of hitting the enemy.

And the use of hand grenades was even simpler. As long as they weren’t deliberately trying to time it perfectly, there was no difficulty at all.

Mastering these two weapons required a lot of training.

However, if only a basic understanding was required, it was actually very easy, much faster and simpler than training a qualified swordsman or rifleman.

With these new weapons, they immediately inflicted heavy casualties on Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s troops during the defense.

Upon hearing this news, Shimazu Mitsuhisa rushed to Qian Sule in anger, demanding an explanation.

“Lord Qian, what is the meaning of this? Why are you selling weapons and equipment to the Kumamoto Domain? Don’t you know that I am at war with them?”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa said angrily, feeling as if he had been played.

“Well, I’m not sure either. Our Great Hua’s administrative system is very complex, and I’m completely unaware of the matter of selling weapons to the Kumamoto Domain.”

Qian Sule said without blushing or skipping a beat.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa didn’t know whether to believe this, but that wasn’t the point.

He continued, “I demand that you fulfill the contract and immediately stop assisting the Kumamoto Domain.”

“Does the contract stipulate that we cannot sell weapons to other domains? I don’t remember such a clause. Of course, Lord Shimazu, don’t be angry. I’ll ask about this first. If it’s someone from my faction who is responsible for selling military equipment to the Kumamoto Domain, I can use my influence and connections to stop it. However, if it’s not from my faction, then it will be difficult.”

Qian Sule continued to spout nonsense, but his nonsense was quite convincing.

In most organizations, the military has factions.

If it was between different factions, it would definitely be impossible to stop.

“Lord Qian, you must help stop this, otherwise your assistance to me will be meaningless.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s tone weakened. He knew that no matter how angry he was, it would be useless, and he would ultimately have to rely on Qian Sule.

Even if Qian Sule didn’t help, he was actually helpless.

“How can it be meaningless? The assistance at least ensures that you don’t suffer losses in terms of weapons. If it weren’t for my assistance, you would be bullied right now. Of course, as a friend, I will do my best to help you. Even if I can’t stop my rivals from selling troops to them, I can increase my assistance to you.”

These words were utterly shameless.

Qian Sule used both the carrot and the stick, leaving Shimazu Mitsuhisa unable to stop, wanting to cry but having no tears, and could only sigh silently.

The great war between the Satsuma Domain and the Kumamoto Domain attracted the attention of other daimyos in Japan.

When the other daimyos saw that they were using even more terrifying weapons, they immediately felt a thump in their hearts.

Good heavens, the situation was not good.

Although it was just the two of them fighting fiercely now, it didn’t affect them.

But what if they suddenly attacked them? Wouldn’t they suffer a great loss?

Seeing the crisis, the other daimyos also began to think about replacing equipment and increasing their military strength.

In particular, the Kuroda clan of the Fukuoka Domain, which bordered the Kumamoto Domain, was afraid that the people of the Kumamoto Domain would suddenly attack them while fighting, in order to occupy their territory and plunder their wealth.

Thinking of this possibility, the Kuroda clan was also trying to contact the people of Great Hua to buy weapons and equipment.

However, Great Hua ignored the Kuroda clan.

The time was not yet ripe.

If they sold weapons and equipment to the Kuroda clan now, giving them sufficient deterrent power, how could they lure Nishikawa Mochiyoshi to attack the Kuroda clan?

If they didn’t fight, how could they become enemies?

If they didn’t become enemies, how could they start a chaotic war and deplete their national strength?

Therefore, even though there was business coming to their door, Great Hua would rather not take it and not be greedy for that little bit of money.

They were waiting for the moment when Nishikawa Mochiyoshi became insane.

As long as Nishikawa Mochiyoshi continued to fight with the Satsuma Domain, he would consume a lot of wealth and become extremely short of money.

At that time, normal means would definitely not be able to save the economy within the domain. The only way was to launch a war against the Fukuoka Domain and annex it.

The Fukuoka Domain, which did not have Great Hua’s weapons, had weak military strength, and because there was no war in its territory, it was relatively wealthy.

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi couldn’t possibly not be tempted by a wealthy daimyo who had no self-defense capabilities.

In terms of the use of scheming, Great Hua was second to none in this regard.

Of course, the Japanese were actually not bad either.

It was mainly that their strength was weak, and many strategies could not be used.

In Japan, there were also many insightful people.

For example, Kumakawa Ichiro, he could see Great Hua’s sinister intentions.

Then, he began to travel between the various domains, explaining the stakes to the other daimyos, hoping to bring all the daimyos together to form a more closely-knit government.

Only a stronger government, uniting all the forces, could make Great Hua fear them in the game with Great Hua.

His idea was naturally very good. If he succeeded, then he would be the Su Qin of his time.

For Japan, he would definitely be a superhero.

Faced with a unified Japan, Great Hua would have a headache, and the cost required to completely conquer the other side would be unimaginably large.

Kumakawa Ichiro’s wisdom was naturally sufficient.

However, the wisdom of a single person is actually very weak when faced with the selfish desires of countless people.

Many daimyos were very interested in Kumakawa Ichiro’s vision, but one of the most core issues could not be resolved.

Who would be in charge of the new government, and what status would the other daimyos have in this government?

This was a very complex and unsolvable problem.

To strengthen the central government, it was necessary to weaken the power of the daimyos of each domain.

However, those daimyos were worried that once their power was weakened, they would not be able to maintain their power in the future and would be completely annexed by the shogunate or others.

Individual interests and collective interests clashed violently at this time.

Chapter 653: Tokugawa Iemitsu

In Edo, the shogunate was also discussing strategies to deal with Great Hua.

They had begun paying attention to Great Hua when it was at war with the Satsuma Domain.

However, initially, they took no action, hoping to use Great Hua to weaken the Satsuma Domain and then swoop in to pick up the pieces.

They never expected the Satsuma Domain to be defeated so quickly.

The Satsuma Domain’s swift defeat made Tokugawa Iemitsu aware of Great Hua’s strength. When formulating strategies to deal with Great Hua, he became somewhat hesitant and couldn’t make up his mind.

After all, this concerned the fate of the entire nation, his own fate, and the fate of his family.

While he hesitated, the Satsuma Domain signed a ceasefire treaty with Great Hua without his consent, infuriating him.

This was simply disregarding him completely.

The shogunate issued a statement refusing to recognize the Kagoshima Treaty.

However, neither the Satsuma Domain nor Great Hua paid any attention to them.

Anyway, they were just talking, without taking any practical actions such as sending ships to intercept or sabotage.

It wasn’t that Tokugawa Iemitsu didn’t want to, but their navy lacked the capability.

With their ships, not to mention encountering Great Hua’s navy, they would worry about being capsized by Great Hua’s large merchant ships.

“Great General, time is of the essence. We must react as soon as possible and not allow Great Hua to continue to encroach upon us.”

Kumakawa Ichiro’s lobbying tour had reached Edo.

As an expert in international affairs, Tokugawa Iemitsu received him with great respect.

“What do the other lords say?”

Tokugawa Iemitsu asked.

“The Sendai Domain and Hiroshima Domain have clearly stated that they are willing to follow the shogunate and obey its orders. As for the Kanazawa Domain and Choshu Domain, their attitudes are somewhat ambiguous. I estimate that the other lords are fence-sitters, leaning towards whoever is stronger.”

Kumakawa Ichiro’s efforts during this period had yielded some results.

At least two major domain lords had been persuaded by him to prioritize the interests of Japan and to work with the shogunate to resist Great Hua and deal with other domains.

However, the largest domain outside of the shogunate, the Kaga Kanazawa Domain, had not made a clear statement.

Nor had the Choshu Domain, which had a feud with the Tokugawa family.

If they could win over these two domains, their group’s power could sweep across the other lords.

But, obviously, the Maeda family of the Kanazawa Domain had designs on Edo, wanting the shogunate to fight Great Hua first, and then hide behind to pick up the pieces.

If the shogunate and Great Hua were both weakened, they would have the opportunity to enter Edo and replace them.

This was a very tempting and very likely scenario.

As for the Mori clan of the Choshu Domain, they might have similar ideas.

Although their strength was slightly weaker, in times of chaos, the final victor was not necessarily the strongest. With good maneuvering, anything was possible.

“Those short-sighted fellows, Maeda and Mori, if they don’t drive out the people of Great Hua, Japan will belong to them. And they still want to enter Edo?”

Tokugawa Iemitsu was both angry and amused, laughing at the stupidity of the other two families, and angry at their stupidity.

“At this time, we can only give them more benefits and solve the problem of Great Hua first.”

Kumakawa Ichiro suggested that at this time, any form of internal friction was undesirable, and they could only adopt the form of negotiation to preserve national strength.

However, Tokugawa Iemitsu did not quite agree with this suggestion.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was slightly more realistic. He felt that a loose alliance lacked combat power and could not compete with Great Hua.

The only way was to take advantage of the fact that Great Hua’s energy was not yet fully focused on Japan, and first eliminate the other disobedient lords.

Like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, to completely grasp power, Japan could become strong.

A unified Japan was still quite powerful. During Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s brief unification, they destroyed Korea and attempted to encroach upon the Central Plains.

Now Tokugawa Iemitsu also wanted to replicate Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s great achievements, unify Japan, and then compete with Great Hua.

Tokugawa Iemitsu still admired Kumakawa Ichiro.

Therefore, he did not tell Kumakawa Ichiro his true thoughts, but instead asked Kumakawa Ichiro to stay and help with reform and development.

Whether it was uniting with other domains, or destroying other domains first and then fighting Great Hua, the shogunate needed to do one thing, and that was to increase its strength.

The army needed training, and more firearms needed to be built. The navy also needed to build more ships.

Without ships, it would be inconvenient to fight between the islands.

In addition to military affairs, the economy also needed to be developed.

Without enough money to support the battle, the result would definitely be a complete defeat.

The two began to discuss how to enrich the country and strengthen the people, and Kumakawa Ichiro’s suggestion was to thoroughly learn from Great Hua.

After all, the successful example of Great Hua was right in front of them. There was no reason not to learn from it, and instead explore on their own.

The difficulty of exploring alone was far greater than imitation, and the results were not necessarily correct.

The cost of trial and error was too high, and they could not afford to lose.

“Developing trading ports, the consequences will be very serious.”

Faced with Kumakawa Ichiro’s suggestion, Tokugawa Iemitsu hesitated.

Once trading ports were fully opened, the interests of the country’s merchants would be greatly impacted.

At that time, whether those merchants would continue to support him was a question. Merchants had always been short-sighted.

“Now, it is impossible to not use strong medicine. Without opening trading ports, it will be difficult for us to even upgrade our weapons. Those flintlock guns are only in the hands of Great Hua and Western Europeans. If we rely on ourselves to build them, who knows how long it will take.”

Kumakawa Ichiro said.

In his opinion, opening trading ports had advantages and disadvantages, but from a long-term perspective, the advantages definitely outweighed the disadvantages.

As long as the people of the country were diligent and hardworking, and learned with an open mind, they would eventually master the relevant technologies, open their own factories, and get rid of their dependence on Great Hua.

Kumakawa Ichiro was very confident in the industrious nature of the people of his country. Their nation was also known for its endurance, very able to endure hardship, and good at learning.

In Kumakawa Ichiro’s view, as long as the country ended its isolationist policy, Japan could quickly catch up with Great Hua in all aspects.

When the country had those advanced technologies, and opened factories in the country, relying on the advantage of low freight costs due to geographical proximity, they would have every hope of driving Great Hua’s goods out of Japan in the future.

Even, after having the technology, closing the country again would be much better than closing the country now.

Closing the country now was a kind of slow death.

Although the homeland seemed to be able to live a peaceful and peaceful life, as long as Great Hua fully invaded in the future, they would be doomed.

“I’ll think about it again.”

Tokugawa Iemitsu had been almost persuaded, but, as it was a major issue, he still could not directly agree, and needed to find other important figures for detailed consultation and discussion.

Chapter 654: Urea

Kumakawa Ichiro was attempting to master Great Hua’s technology and catch up by opening treaty ports and sending students to Great Hua to study.

This idea was not bad, and under normal circumstances, it might have had some effect.

However, Great Hua’s technological progress was now abnormal.

Historically, technological advancements relied on the tireless research of geniuses over many years, slowly driving progress forward.

Those who came later to study could often avoid detours and directly pursue research in the right direction, naturally spending less time.

However, the development of Great Hua’s technology now mainly depended on Wu Changqing’s system, making the speed countless times faster than normal.

It was impossible to catch up with Great Hua by studying.

By the time they learned to build trains, Great Hua would basically be able to build airplanes.

By the time they learned to build airplanes, Great Hua would basically be able to enter the internet age.

Moreover, Wu Changqing had adopted many measures to block some core technologies to prevent leaks.

In Nanjing, Wu Changqing did not handle government affairs but came to a heavily guarded research institute.

This was where he had designated the ammonia project.

To be precise, it was the urea synthesis and ammonium phosphate project.

There were two main difficulties in urea synthesis: one was the production of ammonia, and the other was the synthesis of urea itself.

Urea synthesis required ammonia and carbon dioxide to be synthesized under high temperature and high pressure.

Because of the research on steam engines, Great Hua’s current high-temperature and high-pressure furnace technology was already very good and could meet the requirements for synthesizing urea.

The remaining difficulty was only the production of ammonia.

And this was naturally not difficult for Wu Changqing. He directly spent one hundred thousand technology points to unlock the relevant technology for ammonia production.

Then Wu Changqing discovered that the production of ammonia was actually quite simple: just use nitrogen and hydrogen, and add a very special catalyst.

It could be said that fifty thousand of the value of these one hundred thousand technology points was in the discovery of this catalyst.

People who didn’t know this catalyst, even if they knew the theory that nitrogen and hydrogen could synthesize ammonia, would fail countless times in actual production.

And each failure would be confusing, unable to understand the reason for the failure.

Historically, the discovery of this catalyst was often due to various coincidences, not the result of research.

In science, there were also some unreasonable things that happened.

Now, Great Hua’s researchers no longer had to be tortured by this kind of thing. Wu Changqing directly told them to add this catalyst.

Then, ammonia was easily produced.

Next was the synthesis of urea, which Wu Changqing no longer needed to watch.

Ammonium phosphate fertilizers were obtained by neutralizing phosphoric acid with ammonia, and nitrogen-ammonium compound fertilizer could be obtained by processing.

This type of fertilizer was suitable for almost all soils and was the most widely used fertilizer.

Nitrogen-ammonium and urea, these two fertilizers could almost meet the fertilizer needs of all crops.

The difficulty in producing ammonium phosphate also lay in ammonia, which was now solved together.

Several days later, someone brought the finished urea and nitrogen-ammonium to Wu Changqing.

Smelling that familiar smell, Wu Changqing was very sure that this was the fertilizer he used most often in his previous life when farming: urea and nitrogen-ammonium.

Urea and nitrogen-ammonium were of great significance to agriculture. If they were fully promoted, they could at least double the current grain yield.

Of course, if they wanted to fully promote it, it would probably take another year or two, or even several years, before they could be officially put into use.

Because with the current level of technology, the cost of synthesizing urea and nitrogen-ammonium was still quite high, and it was not particularly cost-effective to use them as fertilizers.

It was possible that the money from selling the grown grain would not be enough to buy chemical fertilizers.

But it didn’t matter, as long as they continued to optimize the process flow, improve efficiency, and find ways to reduce the cost of synthesis, this thing could be mass-produced cheaply sooner or later.

At that time, these two fertilizers could become a great weapon in agriculture.

Doubling the yield meant that with the current land, they could feed another one hundred million people.

Plus, the mechanized reclamation of a large amount of land could feed countless more people.

As long as they reached the level of later generations, Great Hua alone could feed more than one billion people.

In the future, if they occupied the Ganges River basin in India and the Mississippi Plain in North America, feeding three billion would be no problem.

With enough food, they could free up enough labor to develop industry.

This was an advantage that other countries could not learn. In Japan, with its backward agriculture, at least eighty percent of the population needed to work in the fields to feed everyone.

Of the remaining twenty percent, after being divided up by various industries, there were not many left.

Without labor, even with technology, industry could not develop.

Even a populous country like Japan could not muster enough labor, and other countries would have even more difficulty.

In the original timeline, the British Industrial Revolution was built with the blood and tears of countless people at the bottom.

It relied on starving a large number of people at the bottom and plundering food from colonies, starving the people of the colonies, to maintain the food supply of factory workers and maintain the development of industry.

Although Britain took the lead in the Industrial Revolution and became an incredibly powerful country,
the living conditions of the people at the bottom were actually not as good as those of the Qing Dynasty at the same time.

Unless Japan also developed its industry in the same way as the British Empire, by overdrawing the lives of the people at the bottom, it would not be able to develop.

This was why Wu Changqing attached so much importance to agriculture and grain yield.

He wanted both rapid industrial development and to ensure that everyone was well-fed, without the reduction in the agricultural population leading to a decrease in grain yield.

“From now on, you don’t have to do anything else. It’s best to even have someone feed you so you can save all your time to study ways to reduce costs. This is a major issue concerning the food of the people of the whole country.

If you solve this problem within a year, I will reward you with a Duke title. If it takes three years, then only a Marquis. If it takes five years, only an Earl. As for if you haven’t solved it within five years, you are not allowed to say you are my student in the future.”

Wu Changqing said to Lian Fujin. This person was also one of his first students.

His first batch of students had now almost all become successful, but their achievements varied.

A few had already achieved significant results in some important fields, some were working hard, and some had limited talent and could only study less important fields.

But, compared to others, this batch of students could be considered talented.

“Your student will remember your teachings, teacher.”

Lian Fujin said. Of course, he couldn’t really find someone to feed him. However, he also felt from Wu Changqing’s words how much Wu Changqing valued these two fertilizers.

A Duke title, currently, no one with a different surname has obtained this title in Great Hua.

Chapter 655: Methodology

Besides applied science, Wu Changqing also valued the development of theoretical science.

Applied science refers to science and technology based on experiments that can be visually confirmed and demonstrated in the real world.

For example, steelmaking, directly smelting steel, this technology is applied science.

Theoretical science, on the other hand, conducts research theoretically, speculating on sciences that are difficult to experiment with.

For example, relativity, black hole theory, string theory, etc., these are all speculations, sciences that are impossible or difficult to prove.

There is no clear boundary between the two, and they complement each other.

Applied science needs to follow theoretical science as a direction for research, existing theories, and then research real-world applications based on the theory.

And with the development of applied science and technology, it can in turn confirm more theoretical conjectures.

In short, both are very important.

At the end of August, a unique grand debate was held at the University Hall, and Wu Changqing personally attended the debate.

The debate brought together all the scientific researchers in the University Hall, as well as various great Confucian scholars, wise men, and celebrities in society.

No matter what theoretical research results or philosophical discussions, they can speak in this grand debate and conduct ideological collisions.

This kind of ideological collision of elites has greatly improved the progress of science and technology.

Just like in the original timeline, Albert Einstein debated quantum mechanics with the Copenhagen school led by Werner Heisenberg at the Solvay Conference.

In this kind of fierce collision, winning or losing is not important, what is important is that this kind of ideological collision accelerated the development of quantum mechanics.

Although Einstein lost, the ‘light box’ thought experiment he designed to refute the Copenhagen school greatly helped Niels Bohr prove the uncertainty principle.

If it weren’t for Einstein, it would be a question of whether the people of the Copenhagen school could come up with this kind of thought experiment, which requires all kinds of flashes of inspiration.

Debates and discussions between great minds are very important to each other.

Closing the door and building a car will definitely not have as good an effect as academic discussion.

At this debate, Wu Changqing also met some historical figures.

For example, Wang Fuzhi.

He, Gu Yanwu, and Huang Zongxi are known as the three great thinkers of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Historically, he had always been loyal to the Ming Dynasty and actively participated in various anti-Qing activities.

Now, he recognizes Great Hua’s contribution to expelling the Tartars, but he is also resentful of Wu Changqing’s usurpation of the throne.

Therefore, although he lives in Great Hua, he does not resist Great Hua, nor does he serve as an official in the Great Hua court. Instead, he devotes himself to academic research.

Now, the emergence of a large number of scientific knowledge in Great Hua has opened his eyes and deepened his understanding of the world to a much higher level than in the original timeline.

This time, he proposed “Methodology.”

The so-called methodology is a theoretical method for understanding the world and transforming the world.

The birth of this methodology is actually Wang Fuzhi’s criticism of the idealism of the old era.

There was too much idealism in the previous various knowledge theories, which made him very speechless.

A celestial dog eating the sun is a symbol of disaster?

Wang Fuzhi does not object to this kind of conjecture, but he requires people who propose this conjecture and support this conjecture to come up with theoretical basis, instead of talking nonsense based on feeling.

In fact, anyone who is a little smarter knows that the so-called celestial dog eating the sun, auspicious omen, and divine right of kings are very nonsense statements, all relying on a mouth, without any theoretical basis and real evidence to prove it.

However, people in the past knew it, but in the face of this kind of idealism, they did not have a good way.

Before there is a better way, others’ understanding of the world is not based on subjective views?

And Wang Fuzhi proposed a method to solve this problem, namely methodology.

Methodology mainly promotes natural science and dialectics.

That is, using falsifiable natural science to dialectically analyze all problems, paying attention to basing on facts and rejecting idealism.

His methodology caused a great sensation at the debate from the beginning.

After all, before this, idealism was the mainstream on the land of China.

For example, the great master Zhu Xi of the Song Dynasty was the culmination of idealism.

And idealism has always been the doctrine promoted by the official.

After all, it is very effective to use idealism to rule the people. Just give the people a sentence, life and death are destined, wealth is in the sky, let you bitter people believe that fate is so, do not be dissatisfied with the society, your poverty is your life, not the country’s fault.

People who believe in this theory will naturally be more obedient.

Official promotion will naturally easily become the mainstream of society.

However, in Wang Fuzhi’s view, this theory has not kept up with the times.

For example, Zhu Xi’s theory of yin and yang and the five elements, which believes that all things in the world are composed of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, this subjective view has been defeated by the current objective achievements in Great Hua.

For example, Great Hua has now separated more than a dozen gases such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide from the air.

The so-called gold, Great Hua has also confirmed the existence of more than a dozen metal elements such as gold, silver, copper, and iron.

In the face of this iron-like fact, it is very stupid to continue to promote Zhu Cheng’s Neo-Confucianism.

When Wang Fuzhi proposed methodology, he criticized Zhu Cheng’s Neo-Confucianism at the debate, causing an uproar at the scene.

Among them, it is not only because this theory attacked the previous great masters.

More importantly, this methodology directly refuted the theoretical basis of the divine right of kings, and was a direct challenge to the loyalty belief system.

Why are Zhu Cheng’s Neo-Confucianism and Confucianism liked by the court? Because these two doctrines emphasize the idea of loyalty to the emperor.

Now Wang Fuzhi directly denies the sanctity of the emperor, which is a great disrespect.

Many people cautiously looked at Wu Changqing, wanting to see the emperor’s reaction.

People who were far away saw nothing.

People who were close saw it more clearly.

However, to their surprise, Wu Changqing did not seem angry and looked indifferent.

Of course, Wu Changqing would not be angry, because he himself is a materialist and hates the hypocritical idealism the most.

Moreover, in Wu Changqing’s view, it does not matter whether the people below are loyal or not.

In the past, Confucianism promoted the idea of loyalty to the emperor for thousands of years, but as long as people cannot survive, there will still be countless rebellions.

Now, as long as the people below are fed and live a good life, even if Wu Changqing jumps into the street and says that I am a usurper and a rebellious minister, others will applaud and say, “Good usurpation, good usurpation.”

As the saying goes, it is easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one’s nature.

Human nature is selfish, and trying to use a set of ideas to obliterate human nature is simply wishful thinking.

Chapter 656: Double-Blind Testing

Wang Fuzhi risked a great deal by criticizing the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi in front of the Emperor.

Any remotely normal emperor would have had him dragged out and beheaded.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing wasn’t quite normal, so he didn’t do that, letting Wang Fuzhi say whatever he wanted.

In fact, he personally liked this methodology quite a bit.

Promoting a scientific approach to studying things would help society progress.

As for the impact on imperial power, Wu Changqing didn’t care.

As long as he wasn’t overthrown during his lifetime, he wouldn’t worry about what happened afterward.

He even knew that the empire he was building with his own hands would eventually fall apart, which was an inevitable trend.

Wang Fuzhi’s views sparked opposition from many people, and a fierce debate ensued.

In the end, neither side emerged victorious.

Because once people have taken a stance, it’s impossible to persuade them otherwise.

However, that doesn’t mean such debates are meaningless.

The purpose of both sides debating wasn’t to defeat the other, but to reason through debate, allowing others who haven’t taken a stance to discern the truth.

From this perspective, Wang Fuzhi clearly won. His methodology was well-reasoned and evidence-based, making it more persuasive than the opponents’ somewhat illusory arguments.

If the audience at the debate had been ordinary people, the opposition might have won.

Because ordinary people dislike, or rather, find it difficult to understand profound principles, and instead tend to favor idealistic arguments that align with their subjective desires.

Unfortunately, those attending the debate were all intelligent people. They might have specialized in different fields, but they all had one thing in common: intelligence.

These intelligent people weren’t so easily fooled; they respected facts and evidence more.

This debate led more people to abandon the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi and become interested in Wang Fuzhi’s methodology.

Following Wang Fuzhi’s research methods made it easier to trace the truth of this world.

The debate wasn’t just about this one topic.

After Wang Fuzhi, another scholar, Lu Chenghua, the director of the Imperial Hospital, proposed the double-blind testing method for drug trials.

His proposal was also related to Wang Fuzhi’s methodology.

However, Wang Fuzhi’s was the general outline, while Lu Chenghua’s was a specific rule for practical application.

Lu Chenghua proposed that to verify whether a drug is effective against a disease, the double-blind testing method must be used; otherwise, the results obtained may be incorrect.

Current traditional Chinese medicine basically relies on experience.

For example, if someone coughs, takes medicine A, and continues to cough. Then they take medicine B and stop coughing, thus concluding that medicine B can treat coughs.

Conclusions drawn from this kind of empirical observation are sometimes correct, but often incorrect.

It’s possible that medicine A actually had an effect, but it was slow to take effect.

It’s also possible that both medicine A and medicine B were ineffective, but the person’s body healed itself while taking medicine B, which happened to coincide.

Or, medicine B might only be effective for certain specific groups of people, and so on.

This world is extremely complex, and trying to draw conclusions from simple observations is often inaccurate.

It was precisely because no one had previously summarized this problem that treatment often relied on doing one’s best and leaving the rest to fate.

If the patient was cured, it was the doctor’s credit; if not, it was fate.

Yes, more idealism.

The reason why bad people love idealism is that idealism cannot be falsified.

They say it’s fate, and no one can prove them wrong, because fate simply doesn’t exist.

Lu Chenghua’s double-blind testing method wasn’t as complete as later double-blind testing methods; for example, it didn’t consider the placebo effect.

He can’t be blamed for this, as he was just a doctor, not a psychologist.

However, his double-blind testing method still had very positive and progressive significance. If implemented, it could elevate traditional Chinese medicine to a whole new level.

Current medicine is simply too backward.

Even the Compendium of Materia Medica, which is hailed as a masterpiece, contains extremely absurd prescriptions.

For example, dust from roof beams can cure strangulation.

Dust from roof beams can save those who have hanged themselves not long ago.

Li Shizhen was a sage who made many contributions and certainly wouldn’t record things randomly.

It’s very likely that someone who hadn’t completely died from hanging was stimulated in their nose and mouth by the dust, causing them to cough.

From an outsider’s perspective, it would appear that dust from roof beams could treat strangulation.

Basically, the prescriptions recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica or other medical books are all based on experience.

These experiences are effective for some people but not for others.

The reason is that there isn’t a scientific method of research, experimentation, and summarization.

The double-blind testing method solves this problem.

Just like Wang Fuzhi being criticized, Lu Chenghua’s proposed double-blind testing method was also severely criticized.

Some people always blindly believe in authority.

When a certain work or ideology has achieved great success, people will develop a certain reverence for it, thereby blindly believing in its correctness.

This is true not only for contemporary people, but even in later generations, if someone says that the Compendium of Materia Medica has shortcomings, a large group of people will definitely jump out and scold them for forgetting their ancestors, saying things like, “Without the Compendium of Materia Medica and other medical books, the Chinese nation wouldn’t have survived to this day.”

When they scold, they forget that the Compendium of Materia Medica doesn’t exist in other parts of the world, and other people still live healthy lives.

Wang Fuzhi didn’t say that the Compendium of Materia Medica was bad; he only said that the prescriptions in the Compendium of Materia Medica needed to be verified one by one, and he was immediately attacked by some people.

“I think this double-blind testing method is very good, and the future development of medicine should be in this direction. However, it’s not suitable for the present. Currently, we don’t have enough medicinal materials, energy, or financial resources to conduct such experiments.

Of course, it’s still possible to conduct some small-scale double-blind tests. We should also conduct this kind of testing for some common ailments.”

Wu Changqing, feeling annoyed by the opponents’ remarks, simply spoke up himself, interrupting the controversy.

In his opinion, double-blind testing is correct, and there’s no need to argue about it.

However, in reality, what is correct isn’t necessarily applicable.

Like this double-blind test, even in later generations, it’s an extremely troublesome, time-consuming, energy-consuming, and costly thing to do.

Given the current situation of Great Hua, it’s not applicable.

Currently, we still have to use prescriptions summarized from experience.

This method of treating diseases based on experience is actually quite advanced compared to the rest of the world.

In Europe, bloodletting is currently popular. When encountering difficult and complicated diseases, they resort to bloodletting when they are at a loss.

Some patients can actually recover on their own after a period of time, relying on their own immunity.

When they are about to recover, they bleed them, and then when the person gets better, everyone will say that it was the merit of bloodletting.

And more often, the blood is all drained, the person dies, and the disease is still not cured.

Chapter 657: The Wave-Particle Duality of Light

The most interesting part of the debate was the argument about light.

Thanks to the textbooks written by Wu Changqing, the people of Great Hua were at the forefront of the world in their understanding of light.

Prism experiments, and the like, had been done countless times.

The people of Great Hua not only knew that light was composed of various colors, but also roughly knew that the speed of light was three hundred thousand kilometers per second.

This was what Wu Changqing had told them, but no one knew why it was that speed.

Some people had taken measurements, but the results they obtained differed greatly from what Wu Changqing had said.

Measuring the speed of light was actually possible with current technology, but it required very sophisticated experimental equipment, which no one had yet conceived of.

Wu Changqing knew this, but he didn’t have that much time to measure the speed of light.

Even if he did measure the speed of light, it wouldn’t have a particularly large impact on real life.

Everything else he was doing was at least as meaningful as measuring the speed of light.

Although no one had accurately measured the result, not many people questioned it, most believing that their measurement skills were insufficient.

Theoretical research was ahead of measurement. Now, the study of the nature of light had split into two factions, arguing whether light was a particle or a wave.

“If light is a wave, then what is its medium?”

Asked Yin Zhijing, of the light-particle theory.

The propagation of waves requires a medium, but there was no obvious medium in the empty sky.

“There must be a colorless, odorless, invisible, and extremely small primordial energy filling every corner of the world. Light propagates through this primordial energy.”

Zhou Yanxue of the wave theory put forward a guess. Wu Changqing thought, isn’t this the Western ether theory?

However, the name Zhou Yanxue proposed was more imposing, calling it primordial energy, making it sound like a fantasy novel.

“If there is primordial energy in the world, please, Mr. Zhou, prove it.”

Yin Zhijing was also a pragmatic believer in methodology, emphasizing evidence. He couldn’t be convinced without evidence.

“The inability to prove it temporarily does not mean it doesn’t exist, just like various rare gases are constantly being proven. Before they are discovered and proven, no one can say they don’t exist.

From the currently observable light phenomena, we can know that light is definitely a wave, otherwise, its reflection and refraction phenomena cannot be explained.”

Zhou Yanxue’s theory was not a random guess, but a result based on real-world observations and then theoretical deductions.

This was fundamentally different from pure speculation.

Moreover, he also said that the wave nature of light was a hypothesis, not that this theory was necessarily correct, but that it was the most self-consistent in the current situation.

This was the attitude of doing science. People doing science would never say that their theory was the truth, and they welcomed others to question and argue.

Idealism, on the other hand, emphasized a belief in correctness and did not allow others to question it.

“Since you say that light is a wave, then how do you explain its diffraction phenomenon?”

Yin Zhijing smiled. The diffraction phenomenon was something that Zhou Yanxue could not currently explain, and Yin Zhijing immediately seized upon it.

However, this could not defeat Zhou Yanxue.

Because Yin Zhijing’s light-particle theory could only explain the straight-line propagation and reflection phenomena of light, and could not explain the more complex diffraction phenomenon either.

This diffraction phenomenon had tormented countless scientists in the original timeline, allowing the particle theory and wave theory to repeatedly gain the upper hand, with neither being able to deny the other.

Neither side could convince the other. At this time, Wu Changqing spoke again.

“Why must you argue about who is right and who is wrong? Haven’t you ever thought that light may be both a particle and a wave? We can call it the wave-particle duality of light.”

Wu Changqing was not a scientist in his previous life, but only a technology enthusiast.

He knew that light had wave-particle duality, and he also knew the famous double-slit experiment.

However, he only knew the concept, but not the specific details, and could not replicate the double-slit experiment.

However, this didn’t matter. Just the sentence ‘light may be both a particle and a wave’ could bring great inspiration to Zhou Yanxue and Yin Zhijing.

Previously, they had never thought about this, because the wave-particle duality of light was very difficult to understand.

If someone else said this, Zhou Yanxue and Yin Zhijing would just smile and say nothing.

However, Wu Changqing was both the emperor and the enlightenment figure in the field of science, and no one would think that Wu Changqing was just talking casually.

Many people regarded Wu Changqing’s words as the truth.

Whenever Wu Changqing spoke, his words were very meaningful.

Zhou Yanxue and Yin Zhijing were still pondering, and Wu Changqing continued: “Perhaps we can design an experiment, using…”

Wu Changqing roughly described the double-slit experiment as he remembered it, mainly to give Zhou Yanxue and Yin Zhijing an idea.

As for whether they could comprehend it and create the experiment, it depended on their own abilities. He didn’t have time to guide them.

Moreover, his ability ended there. If he really had to guide them, he couldn’t.

It was like he knew the conclusion of relativity, but it would be very difficult for him to explain relativity.

After listening to this experimental concept, Zhou Yanxue immediately shouted ‘Long live His Majesty!’

He understood, he completely understood the ingenuity of the experiment Wu Changqing was talking about. And he was very sure that the experiment Wu Changqing was talking about could prove the nature of light.

This made him very excited, as this was a problem that had troubled him for a long time.

At the same time, it made him even more admire Wu Changqing’s knowledge.

Sometimes, he would occasionally be narcissistic, because his research was ahead of most people, giving him a feeling of loneliness at the top, seeing everyone as ignorant.

But now, he found that old ginger is still spicier, and His Majesty’s knowledge is still deeper.

Although others didn’t understand very well, seeing Zhou Yanxue’s reaction, they also knew that what Wu Changqing said must be very correct, otherwise Zhou Yanxue wouldn’t have such a big reaction.

After all, Zhou Yanxue was always known for his arrogance.

To make him convinced, identity alone was not enough, he had to have real knowledge.

Similar to Zhou Yanxue’s feelings, others also admired Wu Changqing’s knowledge.

Most of the time, they believed in science.

But when looking at Wu Changqing, these people couldn’t help but have a kind of superstition in their hearts.

Among them, some people actually believed the saying that Wu Changqing was a reincarnated immortal.

If he wasn’t a reincarnated immortal, there was no way to explain why Wu Changqing could understand so much at such a young age. This, this is unscientific.

Chapter 658: Snatching the Credit

While Great Hua enjoyed prosperity and peace, other places were engulfed in war.

Tao Dongcheng’s army had occupied Changsha with hardly any effort.

This was because He Tengjiao knew that neither a pitched battle on the plains nor defending the city could withstand the Great Hua army.

Left with no choice, He Tengjiao had to abandon the plains, retreating continuously to Huaihua, which bordered Guizhou.

He planned to use the terrain of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau to gradually negate the Hua army’s advantage.

“Commander, Lu Guangzu in the south has already captured Nanning and is advancing towards Baise.”

A subordinate reported on the progress of the allied forces, partly to understand their movements and coordinate efforts. On the other hand, Tao Dongcheng also wanted to enter Kunming before Lu Guangzu.

Everyone wanted this credit.

However, Tao Dongcheng’s forces faced a disadvantageous situation: the enemy they faced was stronger than the one Lu Guangzu faced.

Although He Tengjiao had suffered significant losses in Wuhan, his remaining troops, combined with forces from other regions, still numbered tens of thousands.

To deal with He Tengjiao, Tao Dongcheng had to lead his army in a steady advance, which naturally slowed down their speed.

Supplying ten thousand men was completely different from supplying sixty thousand.

“At this rate, Lu Guangzu will definitely reach Kunming before us. Commander, we can’t afford to be so cautious anymore. We have an equipment advantage, so we only need to send an elite force to drive straight in. There’s no need to occupy every city and piece of land like we’re doing now,” Li Lianfan said.

He wanted to secure the position of vanguard, personally leading a division to Kunming and capturing Zhu Youlang alive.

“Isn’t that too risky? How would we solve the supply problem? You don’t think the soldiers can carry enough food to last until Kunming, do you? If we don’t take the areas along the way, how can the logistics units safely transport supplies to you?” Xiong Rulin retorted.

“We don’t need logistical support. We can adopt the method of ‘obtaining food from the enemy’,” Li Lianfan said.

Everyone understood what he meant. In the past, armies often “obtained food from the enemy,” which meant seizing food from the civilians in the enemy’s territory.

While this could solve the food problem, it would ruin the army’s reputation.

Tao Dongcheng and Xiong Rulin both disagreed with this.

Great Hua placed great importance on the army’s reputation.

If anyone dared to harm the people, they would be finished if reported.

“We can adopt a flexible approach. We’re not going to rob food; we’re going to buy or borrow it. We’ll bring silver and buy as much as we can. If we don’t have enough money, we’ll give the people promissory notes, and then you, Commander, can repay them after you advance to the area,” Li Lianfan said.

Of course, he wouldn’t directly rob people; that would be a serious crime.

Instead of directly robbing, they could forcibly borrow.

As long as they repaid the debt afterward, the people would not harbor any resentment and might even speak well of Great Hua.

After all, the Hua army might be the only army that borrowed and repaid.

This…

Everyone began to consider the feasibility of Li Lianfan’s plan.

Sending an elite force to drive straight in, without waiting for logistical support, would definitely be several times faster than their current pace.

Moreover, as Li Lianfan said, they would eventually have to push all the way through, conquering every place and bringing it under Great Hua’s rule.

Repaying the borrowed food at that time would not have a significant impact on the Great Hua army’s reputation.

“But how can Commander Li be sure that the local people have food? What if they don’t have any?” Xiong Rulin continued, exploring the feasibility of the plan.

“That’s unlikely. At most, they might be short, but it’s impossible for them to have nothing at all. At that time, the soldiers can endure it a little. As long as we capture cities along the way, we certainly won’t starve to death,” Li Lianfan said.

Of course, he knew there were risks involved, but in war, it was impossible to avoid all risks.

In his opinion, the risk was manageable. If it really came down to it, they could rob the people a little, but it wouldn’t lead to the starvation of the entire army.

Tao Dongcheng fell into thought upon hearing this.

Even though Li Lianfan had proposed the suggestion, he could not escape responsibility if something went wrong, as he was the one who approved the decision.

Of course, if Li Lianfan was the first to enter Kunming, he would also get half the credit, as it was his decision.

After some thought, Tao Dongcheng agreed to the suggestion.

He believed that Li Lianfan wouldn’t starve an entire division to death.

As for whether being isolated and deep behind enemy lines would lead to encirclement and annihilation, he wasn’t worried about that either.

With their weapons and equipment, they wouldn’t have much of a problem even if they were deep behind enemy lines.

Tang Guozhen’s forces dared to drive straight into the plains, let alone the mountainous regions of the Southwest.

As long as they chose a mountain to defend, the Ming Dynasty would be as helpless as if they had encountered a hedgehog.

With the plan decided, they began to act.

The best equipment in the entire army was concentrated in Li Lianfan’s 24th Division, and they carried as much food as possible. Each soldier carried twice the usual weight.

In other armies, carrying such a heavy load would make marching a problem.

However, the Great Hua army had good food and the soldiers were full of energy, so it wasn’t a big problem.

The 24th Division set off first, entering from Changde, taking the route through Zhangjiajie, Zunyi, and Bijie, avoiding the main force of He Tengjiao gathered in Huaihua.

Tao Dongcheng’s main force, on the other hand, temporarily remained in Changsha, waiting for the next batch of logistical supplies to arrive before advancing fully, simultaneously attacking Huaihua, Guilin, and other places.

Every place with a city had to be visited, clearing out the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty, or clearing out those local armed forces that did not submit to Great Hua.

Only by eliminating those people could those places be completely incorporated into Great Hua’s rule.

This process was actually quite difficult, at least much more difficult than in the plains.

In the plains, transportation was convenient, and the local bullies didn’t dare to be arrogant because the Great Hua army could arrive at any time.

But in the mountains, it was different. The local bullies and the forces of some ethnic minorities were very stubborn.

They knew that the imperial army could not be stationed in these places permanently, so they often submitted on the surface, but started making trouble again as soon as the Great Hua army left.

They could even use their familiarity with the terrain to fight guerrilla warfare against Great Hua.

However, Tao Dongcheng and the others didn’t need to do too much. They just needed to deal with those who were clearly resisting Great Hua.

As for how to strengthen the management and rule of these places, that was a matter for the civil officials.

In fact, how to manage these multi-ethnic areas in the Southwest was a major topic in itself.

Whether to continue using the old policy of replacing native officials with regular officials, or to adopt new policies, had not yet been decided in the Great Hua court.

There were too many things to deal with, and they couldn’t spare the time.

Chapter 659: Borrowing Grain

The 24th Division conducted its final resupply in Changde before entering the mountains, heading towards Dayong County, now known as Zhangjiajie.

They carried no artillery or other heavy equipment.

Even so, these mountain roads were a great hardship for the Great Hua soldiers.

They had to rest several times a day, their legs simply unable to endure it.

As they walked, they were almost attacked by a tiger.

Fortunately, there were many of them, and the tiger roared at them a few times before retreating, scaring several soldiers who nearly fell.

The tiger had appeared so suddenly that they didn’t have time to raise their guns.

If the tiger had recklessly pounced at that moment, they would certainly have suffered casualties.

Without weapons, humans are simply prey against a tiger, a creature of both strength and agility.

After discovering the presence of tigers, the soldiers became more vigilant. They shot and killed two tigers along the way, and that evening, everyone had a sip of tiger soup.

Two tigers divided among thirteen thousand men meant that getting even a bowl of soup was considered lucky.

Anyone who managed to eat a piece of meat was considered to have struck gold.

The journey was almost entirely devoid of human habitation.

It wasn’t until they crossed the mountains and reached Dayong County that they finally saw people.

The woodcutters who came to chop firewood were nearly scared to death when they saw the Great Hua army.

Although they knew that these soldiers were certainly not there for them, the sheer scale of the army brought them a sense of invisible pressure.

Led by several woodcutters, the 24th Division arrived outside Dayong County.

They wanted to disguise themselves and sneak into the city, but they didn’t have enough clothes.

Reluctantly, they could only march towards the county town in full view.

The people of Dayong County, seeing a strange army suddenly appear, immediately chose to close the city gates and hide.

Subsequently, the Great Hua army sent an envoy forward. “Our army is the Fourth Division of the Second Army of Great Hua, here to recover lost territory. You had better open the city gates and surrender!”

The Ming army soldiers on the city walls panicked upon hearing that it was the Great Hua army and quickly sent someone to ask the county magistrate to make a decision.

County Magistrate He Cheng was also at a loss upon seeing the Great Hua army, unsure of what to do.

As the local official, he had a duty to defend the territory.

However, he also understood that he was powerless to resist.

The soldiers in his county town numbered only a little over five hundred. The situation had arisen so suddenly that he didn’t even have time to hire and recruit militiamen to assist in defending the city.

The Great Hua army on the other side, visibly numbered over ten thousand, making it an impossible fight.

Under the persuasion of the Great Hua envoy, He Cheng finally ordered the city gates to be opened and surrendered.

He didn’t dare to anger the Great Hua army, fearing that resistance would provoke them into committing brutal acts.

Such things used to happen quite frequently.

After the Great Hua army entered the county town, they immediately gathered the wealthy people in the city and demanded that they lend grain.

Borrowing from the wealthy landlords was certainly easier than borrowing from the common people. These landlords were very afraid of death and would rather spend money to avoid disaster.

Ordinary people, on the other hand, might fight to the death for their last bit of life-saving rations.

In places where there were wealthy people, it was possible to choose to borrow only from them.

However, once they left the county town, in places without county towns or concentrations of wealthy people, it would be impossible to borrow only from the wealthy.

The road ahead would be a long one without county towns, with at most some villages.

Therefore, they had to take the opportunity to plunder as much as possible now.

“Gentlemen, our army is borrowing grain from you. Look, we’ve even prepared the receipts. In the future, you can use these receipts to claim grain from Great Hua at any time.”

Li Lianfan had people bring out a pile of receipts, one for each of the eight landlords present, each for ten thousand Jin.

A total of eighty thousand Jin of rice was collected. It sounded like a lot, but it wasn’t much when divided among everyone. Each soldier only needed to carry six or seven Jin.

For the 24th Division of the Great Hua army, this was only enough for six or seven days of rations.

However, for these landlords, ten thousand Jin of grain was still a considerable amount.

After all, Dayong County was not a wealthy place, and there was little arable land.

Even the so-called landlords were not very wealthy.

One of the wealthy men, named He Ruda, angrily stated that he didn’t have that much grain. He didn’t believe that Great Hua would repay them, and that this was simply robbery.

Originally, everyone was unwilling, but now that someone had taken the lead in resisting, the others remained silent, wanting to see how Li Lianfan would deal with He Ruda.

If he was beheaded directly, then they would quickly hand over the grain to save their lives.

If the Great Hua army had concerns and didn’t dare to be too forceful, then they would also resist.

Ten thousand Jin of grain could not be lost for nothing.

Li Lianfan stared at He Ruda with cold eyes, making him feel somewhat flustered.

However, he had already spoken the harsh words, and he couldn’t immediately go back on his word, as that would be too embarrassing.

He Ruda refused to change his tune, and Li Lianfan was filled with anger.

Since he had said it was a loan, he naturally couldn’t openly rob them.

Li Lianfan called He Cheng to the back room and pressed him to tell him if He Ruda had ever done anything that offended heaven and reason.

He Cheng immediately understood upon hearing this. They were looking for an excuse to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

He had no choice. He knew that if he didn’t sacrifice He Ruda to satisfy these soldier bandits, then it wouldn’t just be He Ruda’s family that would suffer, but the entire city would be doomed.

In times of war, it was foolish to reason with soldiers.

Therefore, He Cheng revealed some of the things that He Ruda had done to oppress the good people in the past.

In this remote and impoverished area, almost none of the local tyrants were innocent. They all had many problems.

Subsequently, following He Cheng’s guidance, the Great Hua army found some of the victims from the past and, under the guise of seeking justice for the people and eliminating harm for the people, directly confiscated He Ruda’s home.

The people didn’t understand the reason, so they naturally applauded and cheered.

However, they would not receive any of the benefits of the confiscation.

The other landlords, seeing He Ruda’s fate, immediately came to the military camp and offered grain.

One particularly shrewd landlord offered an additional twenty thousand Jin.

His only request was to take over He Ruda’s land and other real estate.

He was very clear that the soldiers would only want gold, silver, and grain, and would certainly not want land and property.

These things, however, were treasures to them, the landlords.

Li Lianfan looked at this man who was profiting from the misfortune of others and was too lazy to comment. In any case, for him, obtaining grain was the most important thing.

After the confiscation and the generous loans from the other landlords, the Great Hua army collected a total of one hundred and ten thousand Jin, three thousand Jin more than expected.

Since there were no dedicated porters to transport the grain, it was all distributed to the soldiers to carry themselves.

Each person was allocated nearly ten Jin, another heavy burden.

But there was no choice. They could only march on with the heavy load.

Chapter 660: The Difficulty of Marching

After several days on the road, the soldiers actually began to miss the days when they first started carrying their burdens.

Although the things they carried at the start were heavy, at least they had food on their shoulders and didn’t panic.

But as the food dwindled and the mountain road seemed to stretch on forever, the soldiers couldn’t help but worry about running out of supplies.

As a result, during the march, the soldiers kept a close eye out, constantly watching for prey along the roadside.

Along the way, tigers, wild boars, wild cattle, black bears, and other large animals suffered.

Every now and then, gunshots would ring out in the mountains, followed by cheers.

This wild game wasn’t very tasty, because they lacked seasonings. Basically, they just roasted or steamed it and ate it directly.

However, this meat was oily and filling.

Eating half a Jin of meat provided more energy than eating one Jin of rice.

After several days of marching, they only occasionally encountered small villages.

The scale of those villages was too small. A village of a few dozen households could only yield two or three thousand Jin of grain at most.

The Great Hua army didn’t issue IOUs in these places, but directly exchanged gold and silver for the supplies.

As for what these villagers would do with the inedible gold and silver, the Great Hua army didn’t care.

Li Lianfan believed that as long as they could communicate with the outside world, they should be able to buy food.

Along the way, they encountered several such small villages. Relying on these villages, they managed to survive without having to rely on hunting for a living.

After traversing countless mountains, the 24th Division arrived at Huahuan County.

They hadn’t even fought a battle yet, and five men had already died.

Three died from illness, and two fell to their deaths on the road.

In Huahuan County, the 24th Division finally encountered resistance.

This place wasn’t too far from Huaihua, so it was under the Ming Dynasty’s strong control. The one responsible for defending the city was a loyal general under He Tengjiao.

“This battle needs to be resolved quickly, to prevent the Ming army’s support troops from arriving.”

Li Lianfan ordered.

He wasn’t afraid of He Tengjiao’s troops coming. As long as they defended in place, he was confident that he could hold off several times their number.

However, his purpose in this trip was to conquer Kunming, not to eliminate He Tengjiao.

Therefore, fighting with He Tengjiao was meaningless and would only delay their advance.

To avoid this situation, Li Lianfan wanted a quick victory, to quickly take Huahuan County, and then quickly resupply and leave.

The city walls of Huahuan County were basically the same as the walls of some wealthy people’s courtyards, only about two meters high.

Their main purpose wasn’t to defend against armies, but to defend against bandits and mountain robbers.

The Great Hua army didn’t even need to make ladders to attack such a city.

They directly rushed to the city walls, and then used their rifles to suppress the Ming army, preventing them from raising their heads.

Then, they tied multiple grenades together to make a simple large bomb and blew open the city gate.

Behind the city gate, the Ming army had deployed heavy troops for defense.

But it was useless. Facing the Great Hua army’s wave of grenade bombings, the more densely they stood, the more miserably they died.

After a wave of charging, the Ming army quickly collapsed.

With this, Huahuan County fell.

The remaining Ming soldiers scattered and fled, but the Great Hua army didn’t chase after them, they didn’t have time.

As for those soldiers who surrendered, the Great Hua army didn’t care, they didn’t even leave anyone to watch over them.

After quickly looting all the grain in the city, the Great Hua army immediately set off on the road.

Poor Huahuan County was robbed by the Great Hua army, but that wasn’t the worst of it.

The worst part was that after the Great Hua army left, those original surrendered soldiers were no longer under anyone’s control.

Subsequently, these surrendered soldiers also revealed their true nature, thoroughly ravaging Huahuan County, and then left the city to become bandits in the mountains.

Their looting was much more ruthless than the Great Hua army. The Great Hua army only wanted grain, and would even leave some for the people as rations.

But these mutinous soldiers, who had made up their minds to become bandits, didn’t let go of grain, gold, silver, or even women.

The news of the Great Hua army’s sudden appearance in Huahuan County startled He Tengjiao. If the Great Hua army went south from Huahuan County and attacked Huaihua, they could even cut off their retreat.

“You’re saying that they broke through the county seat, only looted the grain, and then went west?”

He Tengjiao asked while thinking.

“Lord, the enemy is trying to detour and strike directly at Kunming.”

Wan Dapeng said.

The Great Hua army’s intention was too obvious. Anyone with a little understanding of the map could see it at a glance.

There was no need to march like this unless they were going straight for Kunming.

“These guys are really impatient.”

He Tengjiao sneered.

“Lord, do we need to go back to reinforce?”

Another general asked, but his question drew cold and mocking glances from the others.

This question was indeed quite stupid. They themselves were barely able to protect themselves, so how could they talk about going back to reinforce?

Moreover, since fighting with Great Hua, Kunming had sent nothing but honorary awards and encouragement, with no other substantial support.

He Tengjiao and his subordinates no longer had any loyalty to Zhu Youlang.

The reason why they were still fighting with Great Hua was purely because there was no way to surrender. Great Hua didn’t care about his surrender, and he was unwilling to be just an unknown nobody.

“The safety of Kunming is none of our business.”

“But if Kunming falls, we will have no retreat and will be completely surrounded by the Great Hua army.”

“Maybe we can go north to Sichuan and rely on Zhang Xianzhong.”

…

The crowd argued endlessly. At this time, He Tengjiao sneered: “There’s no need to rush for now. It’s not so easy for the Great Hua army to go straight to the heart of the matter. Supplies in the mountains are not so easy to obtain.

If they can’t collect enough food, they might starve to death in the mountains. That would be the most interesting thing.”

When the crowd heard He Tengjiao’s words, their eyes lit up.

This was definitely something that could happen. Although the possibility was low, at least they could look forward to it.

“Perhaps, we can also send elite squads to disrupt them, arriving at the places they will pass before them, and taking away or burning the grain in those places.

Give them a scorched earth tactic. Then their advanced weapons and equipment will be useless. They can’t eat those iron rods and gunpowder to fill their stomachs, can they?”

Wan Dapeng laughed.

Sending out squads of dozens of people would definitely be faster than a large army.

As long as they accurately predicted the Great Hua army’s route, it was entirely possible to achieve Wan Dapeng’s idea.

“This plan is excellent. If we starve them to death, that batch of equipment will be ours. With this batch of equipment, plus the advantage of defense, maybe we can continue to fight against the Great Hua army.”

The other generals echoed, they still coveted the equipment in the hands of the Great Hua army.

In their opinion, as long as they also had that kind of equipment, they would no longer be afraid of the Great Hua army.

Chapter 661: Zhu the Runner

“Damn it, this is the first time I’ve realized that walking is scarier than exchanging fire with the enemy.”

On the road, some soldiers of the Great Hua army couldn’t help but complain.

The speaker was a veteran who had experienced battles of lining up and shooting with flintlocks, battles where life and death were truly in the hands of fate.

But now, he was complaining that he would rather go back to exchanging fire with the enemy than continue walking.

Exchanging fire, no matter how dangerous, was only a matter of an hour or two.

But the torment of marching now was day and night, with no end in sight.

Many soldiers’ shoes were already worn through, exposing their toes.

This was no small problem. If they accidentally kicked a stone, their toes would immediately become red, swollen, and painful.

In normal times, this kind of swelling and pain would be fine after a few days of rest. But now, with intense marching, even this slight swelling and pain could ruin their legs.

In this situation, they really couldn’t afford to be injured at all.

Some of the injured could only be left behind in the mountain villages along the way.

Whether they would settle down here or find their own way back to the Central Plains after recovering, it was up to them.

Although the march was difficult, there were no deserters along the way.

In this unfamiliar place, they didn’t dare to desert. Their chances of survival were lower if they escaped alone than if they stayed with the main force.

After more than ten days of marching, the army finally arrived at Zunyi, one step ahead of the sabotage team sent by He Tengjiao.

The small force sent by He Tengjiao also encountered the same marching problems as the Great Hua army.

And when it came to overcoming these problems, they did much worse than the Great Hua army.

After the 24th Division arrived at Zunyi, they immediately launched an attack without rest.

Zhang Tongchang was responsible for defending Zunyi. He had set up the second line of defense in the Zunyi and Guiyang area.

The city walls of Zunyi were somewhat like city walls.

But, only somewhat.

Areas like this on the periphery had never been the main battlefield, and large-scale battles rarely occurred.

Therefore, the city walls were not high.

The Great Hua army made some simple ladders and prepared to attack the city.

Zhang Tongchang was very shocked when he discovered the Great Hua army.

Although he was in charge of the second line of defense, in fact, he himself was not very optimistic about this line of defense.

Moreover, he didn’t plan to defend the city to the death, but rather to use the mountains to maneuver with the Great Hua army, fighting mobile warfare and harassment warfare.

He never expected that the Great Hua army would suddenly appear.

Could it be that He Tengjiao had already surrendered to Great Hua?

A thought popped into Zhang Tongchang’s mind. This was very likely to happen.

Not to mention He Tengjiao, even he himself had thought about surrendering.

As long as someone came to persuade him and give him a way out, he would surrender.

Unfortunately, Great Hua was very stingy and didn’t send anyone to persuade him.

He couldn’t bring himself to bring up the matter of surrender.

“The First, Second, and Third Regiments are responsible for defense. The other troops retreat. We will harass them along the way, not confront them head-on.”

Zhang Tongchang decisively gave the order. He knew that there was no chance of confronting the Great Hua army head-on, even with the city walls.

Therefore, he still implemented his tactical concept, deciding to gradually block and harass the Great Hua army on their way forward, to make them annoyed and mentally collapse.

Then, Zhang Tongchang left more than three thousand men to cover the rear, and he retreated with eight thousand men.

They left in a hurry and didn’t have time to take away food and other supplies.

And the troops left behind didn’t hold out for long. In less than an hour, the Great Hua army had climbed the city walls of Zunyi, and then the Ming army collapsed, and the battle entered the final stage.

After capturing Zunyi, Li Lianfan did not order the troops to pursue the victory, but instead ordered the troops to rest in Zunyi for three days.

Their legs had almost been ruined during this time, and they had to rest well to recover.

If they continued to walk, some soldiers might really go crazy.

Kunming.

The news that the Great Hua army had captured Zunyi reached Zhu Youlang’s ears.

At the same time, there was even worse news: Lu Guangzu’s troops had captured Baise.

The two armies were now less than five hundred kilometers away from Kunming, which had exceeded Zhu Youlang’s psychological bottom line.

He didn’t feel safe unless he was more than five hundred kilometers away from the enemy.

Zhu Youlang didn’t know how the envoys to Nanjing were doing. All he knew was that the enemy hadn’t stopped.

This time, Zhu Youlang wasn’t just talking about running away. He directly ordered the inner court staff of the palace to start packing their luggage. He was going to flee south.

He didn’t even discuss it with his ministers. Anyway, whether the ministers agreed or not, he was going to run.

First, he would flee to Dali, and then he would decide based on the situation.

If the situation became bad enough, fleeing to Myanmar was also one of his options.

The news that Zhu Youlang had ordered the Department of Internal Affairs to pack his luggage quickly reached the ears of other ministers.

This made many ministers laugh in anger. They really didn’t expect that there would be such a cowardly emperor in the world.

Even if other emperors were afraid of death in their hearts, they would at least pretend on the surface.

But this lord didn’t want any face at all.

Some ministers simply stopped caring about government affairs and went home to sleep, waiting for the arrival of the Great Hua army.

Anyway, they were unwilling to run away with Zhu Youlang again.

In Kunming, at least it was still like a local separatist regime. Being a high-ranking official in such a regime could still be impressive.

But what would it be like to go to a small place like Dali? To be a mountain king?

If the officials followed Zhu Youlang to Dali, there would probably be more rulers than ruled. It would be difficult to find someone to serve them.

The main reason they were still following Zhu Youlang now was that they could enjoy power and wealth in Kunming.

They wouldn’t agree to suffer in Dali.

Of course, there were also some ministers who, for various reasons, ran to Zhu Youlang and cried, begging Zhu Youlang not to run away and to stay in Kunming and continue to defend it.

Zhu Youlang simply ignored these people. If he didn’t lack real power, he would have ordered all these people who wanted him to stay to be killed.

In his opinion, these were all people who wanted to harm him to death, and their intentions were punishable.

Besides these people, there were also some ministers who were willing to go on the road with Zhu Youlang.

This was beyond Zhu Youlang’s expectations and made him quite moved.

These ministers who chose to continue to follow Zhu Youlang were actually people with no fame or even no ability.

For them, following Zhu Youlang and continuing to wave Zhu Youlang’s banner could still scare some other people and enjoy some power.

Without Zhu Youlang, they would be completely reduced to ordinary people.

Chapter 662: Ambush

After resting, the 24th Division set off again, heading straight for Bijie.

Entering the mountains once more, it was a familiar feeling.

However, this time there were a few more twists and turns.

While passing a narrow path, the Chinese army was ambushed.

Over a thousand Ming soldiers threw off their disguises and suddenly jumped out of the nearby ravines, charging towards the Chinese army.

At such close range, the Chinese soldiers only had time to unload the burdens on their backs, but they didn’t have enough time to load bullets and fix bayonets. They could only fight back hastily.

Fighting against the Ming army’s broadswords with rifles that had no bayonets was a huge disadvantage.

Their stabs at the enemy were like mosquito bites, but a single slash from the enemy could be fatal.

Moreover, they had high mountains behind them, so they couldn’t escape. If they dared to turn their backs to the enemy and run towards the mountains, they would die even faster.

Being ambushed is always an extremely dangerous situation.

Fortunately, the Ming army was not large in number. The other Chinese soldiers who were not attacked quickly dropped their packages, fixed their bayonets, and charged towards the Ming army.

They couldn’t shoot because the attacked troops were already engaged in close combat with the enemy.

These men with bayonets rushed into the melee, making the narrow path crowded, with people pressed against each other in a chaotic mess.

Relying on their numerical advantage, the Chinese army slowly turned the initial disadvantage into an advantage after enduring the initial setback.

Ming soldiers fell one after another, causing the remaining soldiers to lose their fighting spirit and retreat hastily.

If they didn’t retreat, they would be surrounded and annihilated.

As the Ming army fled, the Chinese army did not pursue, but took the opportunity to load their guns and shoot at those who were running away, killing as many as they could.

Having just been ambushed, they were still in shock and couldn’t organize a pursuit.

Moreover, in this kind of terrain, a pursuit could easily lead them into another enemy ambush.

If the Chinese army’s goal was to eliminate this enemy force, they might have risked a chase to expand their gains.

But their purpose this time was to reach Kunming, and there was no need to deal with the enemies along the way. Preserving their strength was the most important thing.

The Chinese army did not pursue, and those Ming soldiers who were lucky enough to survive escaped.

On a distant hilltop, Zhang Tongchang watched this scene and shook his head.

This ambush was originally very successful. They had instantly rushed in front of the Chinese army, not even giving them a chance to fix their bayonets.

The Ming soldiers with broadswords had a great advantage against the Chinese soldiers with iron rods. The Chinese army could only barely cope and had no power to fight back.

However, the unfortunate thing was that the area suitable for ambushing soldiers was too small, only enough to hide about a thousand men.

If they could have ambushed several thousand men, they might have been able to annihilate the entire Chinese army.

Unfortunately, that kind of terrain was impossible to find. The ambush site in front of them was already very good, otherwise the Chinese army would not have been caught completely off guard.

Although only a little over a thousand men were arranged for the ambush, as long as these men fought to the death, they could still inflict great casualties on the Chinese army.

However, Zhang Tongchang overestimated the fighting will of his soldiers.

When the ambush was initially successful, they were able to maintain high morale.

But once the Chinese army reacted and began to surround them, they began to fear and retreat, abandoning the great opportunity to inflict casualties on the Chinese army.

This was human nature, and Zhang Tongchang couldn’t do anything about it.

Those were living soldiers, not puppets.

Zhang Tongchang wanted to use these soldiers to die together with the Chinese army, but how could the soldiers below completely obey?

Killing the enemy was not as important as saving their own lives.

As soon as they saw that the situation was not right, they abandoned the opportunity to effectively inflict casualties on the Chinese army and chose to prioritize their own survival.

The thoughts of generals and soldiers are often different.

“What a pity, what a great opportunity.”

Zhang Tongchang sighed, but he didn’t overly criticize the soldiers.

Putting himself in their shoes, he would have run away without hesitation in that situation.

Killing the Chinese army was only beneficial to the commander and the Ming Dynasty, and had little to do with the common soldiers.

They came to be soldiers just to make a living, not to risk their lives.

Afterwards, Zhang Tongchang also began to retreat.

This ambush was just the beginning. He had arranged other methods behind to wait for the Chinese army.

The Chinese army cleaned up the battlefield, and the battle damage results were also tallied.

In this battle, they killed a total of over three hundred Ming soldiers and captured over two hundred.

The remaining several hundred Ming soldiers escaped the battlefield.

However, it was uncertain whether those people would return to the Ming army headquarters.

In short, they had approximately eliminated a thousand-man team.

And their own battle damage was not small. About two hundred men died, and three to four hundred were injured.

Fighting against the enemy’s broadswords and spears with rifles that had no bayonets and could not be loaded was too disadvantageous.

They could only inflict damage on the enemy by smashing, and unless they hit the enemy’s head, they basically couldn’t kill them.

But it was much easier for the enemy to kill them. Whether it was a slash or a stab, the damage to them was fatal.

Throughout the history of battles between the Ming army and the Chinese army, such an extremely unfavorable situation for them was extremely rare.

Having suffered a great loss, the Chinese army was also somewhat annoyed. They had almost never fought such an embarrassing battle, with a casualty ratio close to one to one.

If this were known to other friendly forces, they would probably be mocked.

The angry soldiers began to vent on the prisoners, and some even suggested that Li Lianfan kill all the prisoners.

“That’s probably not appropriate.”

Li Lianfan hesitated. He had to abide by military discipline and appease the emotions of his soldiers, which was quite difficult.

“Commander, times have changed. If we don’t kill these prisoners, then the Ming army will be even less afraid of us and will continue to ambush us.

But if we kill all these prisoners and let them know the consequences of ambushing us, they probably won’t dare to ambush us again in the future.”

Someone advised, and what he said made some sense.

“Moreover, we can’t possibly take them on the road if we don’t kill them. If we let them go, not only will they return to the Ming army to continue fighting against us, but they will also bring back a lot of intelligence.”

Someone stood up and supported killing these prisoners.

After thinking for a while, Li Lianfan felt that what his subordinates said made sense, so he agreed to this suggestion.

Anyway, there were not many prisoners, only a little over two hundred people. Killing them would not have a big impact.

After encountering this ambush, Li Lianfan ordered the entire army to be vigilant. All other equipment was carried on their backs, and rifles had to be held in their hands, so that they would have enough time to fix bayonets when encountering an ambush.

As long as they could fix bayonets during combat, they would not be at a disadvantage.

They couldn’t fix bayonets on their rifles while marching, as that would be quite dangerous.

If they fell, the bayonet could easily injure themselves or their comrades.

Even if someone walked a few steps faster, or if the soldiers in front paused, the bayonet could stab someone.

Chapter 663: Confluence at Kunming

The next day, as they passed through a valley, they were ambushed again.

This time, they had time to fix bayonets, but unfortunately, the Ming army didn’t get close at all. They just threw large rocks and fireballs from the top of the canyon.

There were even a few hand grenades.

Luckily, there weren’t many, or they would have had a real headache.

After taking a beating for a while, the Great Hua army organized a counterattack.

Relying on the advantage of their weapons, even though they were in the valley below, the damage they inflicted on the enemy with their guns was far greater than the damage the Ming army inflicted on them.

So, after the Great Hua army fired back for a while, the Ming army began to retreat again.

This infuriated Li Lianfan. They really didn’t have a good way to deal with this kind of small-scale harassment tactic from the enemy.

Of course, the Ming army didn’t have a good way to deal with them either.

These harassments, apart from slowing down the Great Hua army’s speed and irritating them, didn’t have much effect.

They would be lucky to kill a few dozen or a hundred Great Hua soldiers with this kind of small-scale ambush.

And for an army of over ten thousand, losing a hundred or two wasn’t a big deal.

After driving away the Ming army, the 24th Division continued to advance, but increased the scouting range a bit.

On the third day, they didn’t encounter any more ambushes.

Because Zhang Tongchang had received news that Zhu Youlang had retreated to Dali.

This infuriated him so much that he almost cursed the emperor in front of everyone.

They were doing their best to resist on the front lines, but Zhu Youlang not only didn’t try to provide support and encouragement, but kept running away. This was really disheartening.

Not only was he disheartened, but the other generals and soldiers were too.

At this time, even if he continued to ask the soldiers to fight, they wouldn’t agree.

Zhang Tongchang’s unit abandoned the harassment and retreated to Bijie, then discussed future plans with his subordinates.

“Let’s surrender, what else is there to consider?”

His subordinate Ding Kui said.

“Surrendering now, I’m afraid we won’t have a good ending. The previous ambush probably completely angered them, and even the prisoners were beheaded.”

Zhang Tongchang said helplessly.

If he had known that Zhu Youlang would do such an outrageous thing, he would have simply given up trying to cause trouble for the Great Hua army and surrendered directly. Maybe he could have gotten some benefits.

“Then what can we do? Go north and join Zhang Xianzhong?”

Another person complained.

They were following Zhu Youlang, nominally still loyal to the legitimate dynasty.

And Zhang Xianzhong was also a rebellious traitor like Wu Changqing.

Going to join Zhang Xianzhong was far inferior to joining Wu Changqing.

After all, Wu Changqing’s strength was greater. Joining Wu Changqing would mean they would never encounter this kind of predicament again.

But if they joined Zhang Xianzhong, they would probably face another choice like this in the near future when facing the Great Hua’s attack.

“So, let’s still join the Great Hua. At worst, we won’t have wealth and glory, and we’ll go to Nanjing to be peaceful citizens of Great Hua. With the money we’ve plundered, it should still be no problem to live out our old age peacefully in Nanjing.”

Ding Kui didn’t want to go through any more trouble. He felt lucky to have survived to this day after a lifetime of battles, and he didn’t want to live that kind of anxious life anymore.

The scene fell into a heated debate. Some said they wanted to join the Great Hua, others said they wanted to join Zhang Xianzhong.

Still others said they wanted to join He Tengjiao and continue to resist the Great Hua.

Even more extreme, some proposed going into the mountains to become bandits and mountain kings.

After a fierce discussion, the people who supported surrendering to the Great Hua ultimately prevailed.

The other suggestions were more or less unreliable.

Joining the Great Hua would only mean losing all power and influence, but at least their lives would be spared.

Moreover, there would be opportunities in the future. If they could find a way to maneuver, they might have a chance to make a comeback.

Zhang Tongchang didn’t have to worry too much about the future. After all, he was a descendant of Zhang Juzheng. When he got to Nanjing, the officials in the bureaucracy would give him some face.

There were also many officials in the Nanjing bureaucracy who had personal connections with him, and they might be able to help him out.

When the 24th Division arrived in Bijie, they originally thought there would be a fierce battle.

They never expected that the Ming army would directly surrender.

Some of the generals in the 24th Division were quite unhappy about this, because if they accepted their surrender, they couldn’t hold them accountable for the previous ambush.

And Zhang Tongchang’s ambush made them very unhappy.

In the end, Li Lianfan still took the overall situation into consideration and agreed to Zhang Tongchang’s surrender request.

If they didn’t accept it, attacking the city would cost at least several hundred more casualties, which wasn’t necessary.

After accepting Zhang Tongchang’s surrender, they no longer had any obstacles on their way to Kunming.

Along the way, with Zhang Tongchang taking the lead in shouting, the guards at the checkpoints basically chose to surrender.

However, they were one step behind Lu Guangzu.

Lu Guangzu had arrived in Kunming one day ahead of them and had executed many high-ranking officials in Kunming.

“Division Commander Lu, why did you kill these officials?”

Li Lianfan was confused by this. They didn’t have this tradition before. They had always rarely killed civil officials, unless they were stubborn elements.

“These people refused to surrender and even cursed His Majesty as a rebellious traitor. They were simply treasonous and deserved to die,”

Lu Guangzu said.

He was just worried that Nanjing would find out about Zhu Youlang sending envoys, so he killed some of the people who knew about it.

Li Lianfan was still somewhat doubtful about Lu Guangzu’s explanation.

However, it was just the death of some enemy civil officials, so Li Lianfan didn’t take it too seriously.

What he was concerned about now was Zhu Youlang’s whereabouts.

“Division Commander Lu has worked hard all the way. Why don’t you stay in Kunming to rest? My unit will work a little harder and take a trip to Dali,”

Li Lianfan said with a smile.

“No, no, no, we arrived first and have already rested for a whole day. On the contrary, Brother Li, you have been trekking through mountains and rivers all the way, and your brothers must be exhausted.

Let me take on the hard task of going to Dali.”

Lu Guangzu said quickly. He wasn’t just trying to grab credit now, but also to prevent things from being exposed, so he was very eager.

“Well, my men probably won’t agree,”

Li Lianfan said helplessly. He knew that everyone had worked so hard to travel thousands of miles for Zhu Youlang’s head, and no one would give up at this time.

“My brothers won’t agree either. Moreover, our army was the first to enter Kunming, and this credit should belong to us.”

Lu Guangzu and Li Lianfan continued to argue for a while, but they didn’t come to a conclusion.

Early the next morning, before dawn, Li Lianfan had his soldiers get up to cook, wanting to set off before Lu Guangzu’s men.

However, soldiers soon reported that Lu Guangzu’s unit had already set off more than an hour ago.

“That bastard, he’s gone crazy for credit. Order everyone to cook quickly, and we’ll march quickly after eating,”

Li Lianfan said angrily.

Chapter 664: A Lonely Victory

The Twenty-Fourth Division ate this meal with righteous indignation, as if the food in their mouths was Lu Guangzu himself.

After a month of arduous forced marches, to have someone else snatch the fruit of their labor would be enough to make them die of anger.

Barely halfway through their meal, they threw down their bowls and chopsticks and hurried on their way.

At first, they couldn’t catch sight of Lu Guangzu’s troops.

However, Lu Guangzu’s troops couldn’t keep marching forever; they would get hungry and need to cook.

This delay allowed the Twenty-Fourth Division to catch up. Through binoculars, the two sides could see each other.

As a result, Lu Guangzu didn’t even bother to pack up properly before immediately ordering his men to set off again.

Seeing hope, the Twenty-Fourth Division gritted their teeth and resisted the urge to cook, instead gnawing on dry rations and continuing the chase.

This determination astonished Lu Guangzu. On one hand, he urged his subordinates to speed up their march, and on the other, he began to hatch a devious plan.

After crossing a wooden bridge, Lu Guangzu left behind a company to guard the bridge and prevent the Twenty-Fourth Division from crossing.

He didn’t dare to destroy the bridge directly, as that would be too much and easily give the Twenty-Fourth Division an excuse to retaliate.

The company commander of the personal guards left behind wanted to cry. Asking his hundred-odd men to stop the Twenty-Fourth Division? He was afraid of being strung up and beaten.

“Don’t worry, we’re all friendly forces. They wouldn’t dare to kill anyone, would they?”

Lu Guangzu reassured him.

Of course, he didn’t want them to fight the Twenty-Fourth Division head-on, but merely to slow down their pursuit.

Soon after, at the wooden bridge.

“Get out of the way, are you looking for death?”

A regimental commander from the Twenty-Fourth Division roared.

However, the men on the bridge remained unmoved.

Their mission was to prevent the Twenty-Fourth Division from crossing the bridge, so how could they let them pass?

“Sorry, I’m under orders from our division commander to occupy this important thoroughfare. Without his orders, no one can pass.”

The company commander guarding the bridge said.

They were simply acting like rascals. Anyway, they knew that the men of the Twenty-Fourth Division wouldn’t dare to use force against them.

“Bullshit, is there even any need to garrison this place? Don’t think we don’t know what you’re up to. I order you to move aside immediately, or we’ll take action!”

The men of the Twenty-Fourth Division cursed loudly, but they were hesitant to use force directly. After all, they were friendly forces, and fighting would be a serious violation of military discipline.

The side that struck first would definitely face severe punishment.

No one could bear that kind of charge.

The men at the front cursed while reporting to Li Lianfan.

“A bunch of useless trash, can’t you just charge through?”

Li Lianfan said angrily.

After speaking, he personally came to the bridgehead.

As a division commander, he naturally carried a sense of authority, and the men guarding the bridge immediately felt the pressure.

“Put down your guns and just charge.”

Li Lianfan ordered his subordinates to attack, but without using weapons.

However, they put down their weapons, but the men guarding the bridge hadn’t. They were all a little worried.

“A bunch of fools, what are you afraid of? Would they dare to use weapons?”

Under Li Lianfan’s scolding, the vanguard of the Twenty-Fourth Division put down their guns and charged towards the men on the bridge with loud shouts.

The guards on the bridge also panicked.

Just as Li Lianfan had guessed, they didn’t dare to use weapons either.

Without weapons, how could their small number compete with the men of the Twenty-Fourth Division?

Immediately, chaos erupted on the bridge. The men at the front kept pushing and shoving, trying to force the men on the bridge off.

The small wooden bridge was shaking precariously under the weight of so many people, looking as if it was about to collapse.

In the end, the Twenty-Fourth Division had the advantage in numbers and strength, forcing Lu Guangzu’s troops to retreat continuously.

Driven to desperation, they directly swung their fists.

Unfortunately, they had fists, and so did the men of the Twenty-Fourth Division.

After a chaotic brawl, Lu Guangzu’s troops naturally ended up in a miserable defeat.

Their weapons were confiscated by the Twenty-Fourth Division, and some of them even had black eyes and swollen faces.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured or killed.

After taking control of Lu Guangzu’s company, the Twenty-Fourth Division quickly crossed the bridge.

Although Lu Guangzu’s obstruction plan had failed, it had at least played a certain role in delaying them.

At least, the men of the Twenty-Fourth Division had lost sight of Lu Guangzu’s troops again, indicating that the distance between them was at least several li.

This distance, although not too far, was somewhat unattainable with both sides on the move.

Li Lianfan could only urge his subordinates to speed up, feeling frustrated. He planned to catch up and have a good talk with Lu Guangzu.

It was too much; he was actually deliberately obstructing the advance of friendly forces.

After a day of pursuit, the Twenty-Fourth Division finally arrived in Dali and caught up with Lu Guangzu’s troops.

However, to their surprise, Lu Guangzu’s troops had not captured Zhu Youlang.

Zhu the Runner wasn’t called that for nothing. As soon as they entered Kunming, Zhu Youlang had set off again, retreating towards Yongchang (Baoshan), not giving them a single chance.

Lu Guangzu’s troops and the men of the Twenty-Fourth Division had almost run their legs off, only to end up with a lonely victory.

Upon learning that Zhu Youlang had already fled, Li Lianfan couldn’t help but laugh wildly, mocking Lu Guangzu’s ridiculousness.

He had used every means possible, but what was the result? He had gained nothing.

After laughing, Li Lianfan didn’t bother to argue with Lu Guangzu about the incident on the bridge. Anyway, his interests hadn’t suffered any real losses.

It wasn’t worth souring relations with friendly forces over such a small matter.

“Division Commander Lu, perhaps this is fate, that the heavens want us to share this credit. Let’s not argue, and let the brothers rest well tonight before setting off together tomorrow, what do you say?”

Li Lianfan suggested.

He didn’t want to argue with Lu Guangzu anymore, as it would only make things harder for the soldiers below.

This kind of high-intensity marching was simply deadly.

“Division Commander Li is right, it seems that’s how fate has decreed it. The brothers are all tired today, I think we should let them rest well and set off after nine o’clock tomorrow.”

Lu Guangzu sighed and agreed to Li Lianfan’s suggestion.

“That’s the way, we’ll share the credit equally.”

After the two sides made an agreement, they each went to rest.

After a day of high-intensity marching, even those riding horses were exhausted, let alone the soldiers.

With the agreement in place, Li Lianfan went to sleep soundly.

However, before nine o’clock the next day, he was woken up by his personal guard.

“Division commander, something bad has happened! The Thirty-First Division has set off early again!”

It turned out that Lu Guangzu had only made the agreement on the surface to lull Li Lianfan into a false sense of security.

This guy had no intention of sharing the credit and still wanted to seize the first merit.

“I have never seen such a shameless person!”

After hearing the news, Li Lianfan cursed angrily.

He was shocked by Lu Guangzu’s shamelessness. To treat one’s words as mere farts was a skill in itself, and most people would be too embarrassed to do so.

But Lu Guangzu, a division commander of a main force division, who could be considered a prominent figure in the Great Hua military, could be so shameless time and time again. Impressive, truly impressive, Li Lianfan was convinced.

Chapter 665: Marching into Burma

Lu Guangzu abandoned all his principles, but in the end, he was still defeated by Zhu the Runner.

By the time they reached Yongchang, Zhu the Runner had already fled to Mandalay in Burma.

Hearing this news, Lu Guangzu looked utterly dejected.

He really wanted to say to Zhu Youlang, “I have never seen anyone who can run like you.”

Now things were a mess; he hadn’t caught the person and had also offended Li Lianfan.

After being caught up with again, Li Lianfan didn’t give him any more pleasantries.

Lu Guangzu could only wear a smile and say, “Division Commander Li, what should we do next? We need to discuss this carefully.”

Zhu Youlang’s escape to Burma immediately complicated matters.

Burma was an independent country and naturally wouldn’t allow the armies of other countries to enter its territory.

Forcibly barging in would be tantamount to declaring war.

The consequences of that would be quite severe.

They were just a division commander, after all. Under normal circumstances, they naturally wouldn’t have the authority to decide whether to declare war on another country.

If Tao Dongcheng were here, he could barely make that decision.

“What else can we do but ask for instructions from Nanjing?”

Li Lianfan gave a standard answer. Asking for instructions from Nanjing was definitely the right move.

“Brother Li, you are mistaken. We are four to five thousand li away from Nanjing. A round trip would take at least three months. By then, Zhu Youlang might have already taken a boat from Burma and fled to some unknown place.”

Lu Guangzu raised a very real problem. It was too far from Nanjing, and the roads were difficult to travel.

“But, are we going to declare war on Burma?”

Li Lianfan was a little worried. Although what Lu Guangzu said made sense, directly declaring war on Burma might lead to uncontrollable developments.

“When a general is in the field, he may disobey the ruler’s orders. Besides, we are not disobeying orders, but merely making appropriate decisions based on the real situation.

In my opinion, we don’t need to worry too much. Unless the Burmese king is completely oblivious to the world, he must know the power of our Great Hua.

We are afraid of conflict and war, but they must be even more afraid than us. As long as our army presses the border, forcing the Burmese king to hand over Zhu Youlang, would he dare to refuse?”

Lu Guangzu carefully analyzed the possible mindset of the Burmese king.

His analysis made a lot of sense.

Putting themselves in the Burmese king’s shoes, they wouldn’t offend an incredibly powerful empire for an unimportant Zhu Youlang.

“That’s true, but why should I believe you’re telling the truth and not trying to trick me?”

Li Lianfan said sarcastically.

“Oh, my dear Brother Li, why are you still holding onto that little thing? A prime minister should have the breadth to sail a boat in his belly. Snatching credit is harmless, but how could I possibly do something like harm a friendly army?”

Lu Guangzu pleaded pitifully, looking quite sincere.

However, Li Lianfan also knew that this fellow had a bad reputation and was a guy who would use any means to achieve his goals.

But Li Lianfan wasn’t worried. He believed that Lu Guangzu would at most trick those who had just surrendered and hadn’t yet integrated into the Great Hua army.

He was now a pivotal figure in the Great Hua military. Lu Guangzu wouldn’t dare to trick him, no matter what.

After the two agreed, they marched towards Burma the next day.

Unsurprisingly, they were blocked by the Burmese military, and a standoff occurred in Hsenwi.

“You have entered Burmese territory. Please withdraw immediately,” said the envoy sent by Burma.

“The remnant Ming emperor Zhu Youlang is a criminal that Great Hua wants to capture. How dare you harbor him? Great Hua will never agree to this. Hand over the remnant Ming emperor immediately, or our army will drive straight in and kill our way to Mandalay!”

Lu Guangzu shouted.

His mere imposing manner stunned the Burmese envoy.

The Burmese also knew that the dynasty to the north was very powerful. Whether it was the former Ming Dynasty or the current Great Hua, they were not opponents they could provoke.

The envoy actually couldn’t understand why his king would accept the Ming emperor. Wasn’t this just asking for trouble?

“In any case, it is wrong for you to trespass into our territory without permission. We hope you will immediately return to Great Hua. As for the matter of the Ming emperor, this requires negotiations between the two countries…”

“Bullshit, negotiations? Are you even worthy? I’ll reiterate one last time, I’ll give you two days. If you don’t give us a satisfactory answer in two days, we will attack directly.”

Lu Guangzu directly interrupted the Burmese envoy and told him to get lost.

He was deliberately acting so unreasonable and barbaric, because people are more afraid of rascals and hooligans. If you try to reason with them, they will often become emboldened and engage in all kinds of quibbling.

On the other hand, when faced with rascals, people generally prefer to suffer a small loss to avoid further trouble.

The Burmese envoy returned with a belly full of anger. Although Burma was not as strong as Great Hua, it was still an independent country. Being humiliated like this was really unacceptable.

He told the situation to the garrison commander Anaukpetlun, who was so angry that his beard bristled and his eyes widened.

If any other country around them were so presumptuous, he might have directly sent people to fight.

But, facing Great Hua, he could only swallow his anger and send people to report the situation to the rear.

Whether to fight or not was not something he could decide.

Once a war started, the consequences would be unimaginable.

In Mandalay, the current king was Pindale, who was relatively friendly to the Ming regime. After all, they had always been a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty and had paid tribute to the Ming many times.

Moreover, Mu Tianbo, who had been stationed in Yunnan for many years, had a lot of contact with him and had a good relationship.

Now that the Ming emperor was in trouble, he chose to take him in for various reasons.

Hearing that the Great Hua army at the front was so unreasonable and barbaric, Pindale was also angered, and thus determined to protect Zhu Youlang.

Of course, the most important reason was that he didn’t understand the current strength of Great Hua, and thought that Great Hua and Ming were opponents of about the same level.

And although the former Ming Dynasty was stronger than their Toungoo Dynasty, the degree of strength was limited. The cost for Ming to attack Burma would be very high.

Pindale felt that even if he had a conflict with Great Hua now, future relations should still be based on negotiations.

Fighting all the time would be unbearable for both sides.

The logistics and supplies required for Great Hua to maintain a war in Burma would make them balk.

Based on this judgment, Pindale told Anaukpetlun at the front to hold firm until the Hua army retreated due to logistical difficulties.

He wanted to use this tough attitude to tell Great Hua that he was also a king with a temper and strength, and would not allow himself to be manipulated.

Chapter 666: Vast Disparity

The reaction from Myanmar was somewhat unexpected to Lu Guangzu and Li Lianfan. However, things had reached this point, and they couldn’t possibly slink back to Yunnan with their tails between their legs. That would be a true loss of face.

Now, they were like an arrow on the string, with no choice but to fire.

“It seems we have no choice but to fight. Just one battle will be enough to show them the difference in strength,” Lu Guangzu said.

“Let’s hope so. Anyone who can become a king shouldn’t be a complete idiot,” Li Lianfan replied.

The two reached a consensus and then formulated a battle plan.

The plan was simple: a direct, forceful assault.

They already felt a bit embarrassed about using breech-loading rifles to bully those armed with swords and spears.

If they were to start playing tactics and scheming against the enemy with such a significant equipment advantage, they would feel even more ashamed.

The army marched directly to Guigai and arrayed themselves for attack.

Guigai was called a city, but it didn’t even have proper city walls, only a fence, a wall made of wood.

Its height was only about two meters.

As for its thickness…

It was fortunate for them that the Great Hua army hadn’t brought any battering rams; otherwise, one ram would have smashed the wall to pieces.

Lu Guangzu and his men naturally didn’t take such a flimsy wall seriously.

They arranged their forces, with the 31st Division leading the main attack and the 24th Division standing by to provide support.

Upon seeing the Hua army genuinely launch an attack, Anawrahta panicked slightly. He hastily organized his troops, armed them with bows, arrows, and bamboo spears, and ordered them to defend the walls.

Due to a shortage of iron, they didn’t have many bows and arrows. Most of their arrows were simply sharpened bamboo.

The power of these arrows was extremely limited, at most capable of wounding an enemy. Killing someone with them was highly unlikely.

The bamboo spears were javelins made of bamboo, which could be thrown and had a bit more power.

However, their throwing range was far shorter than that of the bows and arrows.

This army had numbers, reaching over fifteen thousand men.

But their equipment was truly appalling, with even iron blades being scarce.

Those who had iron swords were the core elite of this army.

Even the equipment of these elites was inferior to that of the Great Hua police force.

As the Hua army advanced step by step, the Myanmar soldiers on the wall pointed and commented on the iron rods in the Hua soldiers’ hands. They couldn’t understand why the Hua army would forge precious steel into such strange shapes, which didn’t seem sharp at all.

They didn’t seem to have any power.

But they would soon learn they were wrong.

When the Hua army reached within one hundred meters, they stopped.

They were also quite confused, because the enemies on the wall weren’t hiding or fighting back, just standing there as if they had nothing to do.

At the very least, they should shoot a few arrows as a token gesture, right?

Having reached within one hundred meters, the Hua army no longer needed to advance. The officers ordered them to open fire at will.

The plan was to scare the enemy first and then breach the city, which would result in fewer casualties.

Upon receiving the order, the Hua soldiers began to fire.

At this distance, their accuracy was quite considerable.

As the gunshots rang out, some Myanmar soldiers fell one after another.

This startled them, as they didn’t know how their comrades had died.

The Myanmar officers had some knowledge and knew that the Hua army was using firearms.

However, their understanding of firearms was limited to the matchlock stage.

They hadn’t taken the Hua army’s firearms seriously at first, but as casualties mounted, they realized that the Hua army’s firearms were not simple.

“Crouch down, take cover!”

Their commander instinctively ordered.

Fortunately, there was enough wood used to build the fence, and it was thick enough to barely block the bullets.

However, they could no longer stand up to fight back.

Just hiding like this was definitely not a solution.

Before long, a group of Hua army grenadiers approached, unnoticed by them.

Then, a large wave of grenades was thrown at them.

The soldiers saw the grenades appearing above their heads and knew to avoid them to prevent being hit.

But they didn’t know that it wasn’t necessary for the grenades to hit them; they only needed to land nearby.

As explosions rang out, followed by various screams, the grenades caused massive casualties. At least a quarter of the soldiers on the entire wall were hit.

This wasn’t even the most devastating part. The most devastating part was that, until now, they hadn’t been able to mount any effective counterattack, because the Hua army’s infantry hadn’t even entered their range.

Although the grenadiers had entered their range, they were in a state of panic and had no intention of fighting back.

A few soldiers did manage to shoot bamboo arrows. One Hua soldier who was hit panicked for a moment, but then he was mocked by his comrades.

Because the bamboo arrow hadn’t penetrated deeply and had no barbs. It fell off by itself without anyone pulling it out.

This kind of arrow had no killing power at all.

Those who could still calmly shoot arrows were the elite. Most of the other Myanmar soldiers were already thinking about how to escape or were lost in confusion.

Anawrahta was lost in confusion. He had no solution to this situation.

Everything had happened so suddenly, far beyond his imagination. The war was completely different from what he had imagined, and he didn’t know how to respond, having no experience in this area.

It wasn’t until his subordinates reminded him that he ordered a retreat.

He needed to take a break, find a place, and take some time to calm down.

As the order to retreat was issued, the Myanmar army collapsed. Everyone wanted to leave first, hoping that others would stay behind to cover their retreat.

Lu Guangzu and Li Lianfan would trip each other up just to compete for a bit of credit, let alone now, when they were trying to escape for their lives.

In extreme panic, they had no concept of comradeship.

Anyone who stood in their way, blocking their path to survival, was an enemy.

The Myanmar army was in chaos, and the Hua army easily stormed into Guigai and then cleared the battlefield.

In this battle, the Hua army’s casualties were only a few individuals. These were all accidents that occurred after entering the city. During the siege, no one had died.

The Myanmar side suffered terribly. Of the fifteen thousand soldiers, fewer than three thousand followed Anawrahta to retreat to Lashio.

This battle completely destroyed their fighting spirit, and they hadn’t recovered yet.

Helpless, Anawrahta quickly reported the situation here to Mangda, asking him to make the latest decision.

In Anawrahta’s view, this battle was definitely impossible to continue.

They hadn’t even touched the enemy’s clothes before their own side collapsed. What was the point of fighting?

The battle report had been submitted, but before Myanmar could react, the Hua army had already arrived at Lashio.

This time, Anawrahta didn’t even bother to struggle. He retreated to Mandalay in a panic, while the Hua army, caught up in the excitement of the chase, pursued all the way to their capital, Mandalay.

At this point, Mangda finally reacted and quickly sent envoys to sue for peace.

If they didn’t sue for peace, the capital would soon be impossible to defend.

“This Burma is too easy to conquer, isn’t it? Why don’t we just take the whole of Burma and incorporate it directly into the territory of our Great Hua?”

Lu Guangzu grumbled.

With the strength of their two divisions, they really had the ability to do so.

“I’m afraid that won’t do. Without the court’s order, how can we privately destroy a country? Even if this is beneficial to the court, such unauthorized actions of ours may make His Majesty wary,”

Li Lianfan advised.

Privately entering Burma and provoking war was already a huge political risk. If they directly destroyed Burma, Wu Changqing would definitely be even more dissatisfied.

The army must be Wu Changqing’s army, not the army of generals like them.

Making too many unnecessary decisions privately is a major taboo.

“What a pity, this is a good opportunity to expand our territory,”

Lu Guangzu said.

“Why is Division Commander Lu in such a hurry? After the country stabilizes in the future, it will definitely expand outwards. It won’t be too late to take Burma then.

Taking Burma now, how to govern it is a big problem. Unless we govern them without treating them as human beings, but I guess His Majesty won’t do that,”

Li Lianfan analyzed.

As the two chatted, the Burmese envoys arrived at the military camp, offering them good wine and meat, saying it was a reward for their efforts.

The Great Hua army first had a few prisoners test the food for poison before deciding whether to enjoy it.

However, this was not the main point.

The main point was the following negotiations. The Burmese envoys stated that Mangda was willing to hand over Zhu Youlang and others, but wanted the Great Hua army to promise to withdraw from Burma.

Although this was Lu Guangzu’s original plan, Lu Guangzu saw that the other party seemed genuinely frightened, so he took the opportunity to raise the stakes, demanding that Burma, in addition to handing over Zhu Youlang, also compensate them for a sum of military expenses.

In Lu Guangzu’s words, fighting in Burma wasted a lot of their military supplies, which all cost money, and must be borne by the Burmese side.

The Burmese envoys were naturally unwilling. Being beaten and having to pay compensation to the beaters was unheard of anywhere in the world.

However, Lu Guangzu threatened to attack the city at every turn, saying he would go to the Burmese palace to get the money himself. If Li Lianfan hadn’t played the good cop and held him back, Lu Guangzu would have really gone out and given the order.

Lu Guangzu’s actions frightened the Burmese envoys, turning their faces pale.

They couldn’t imagine what the consequences would be if Lu Guangzu really ordered an attack on the city.

Helpless, they could only agree to Lu Guangzu’s request without authorization, because they were really afraid of Lu Guangzu’s fiery temper and wouldn’t give them a chance to go back and ask for instructions.

They didn’t know that Lu Guangzu was pretending, that Lu Guangzu had no intention of occupying Burma.

If they refused and the Great Hua army attacked, destroying the country, it would be truly ridiculous.

In the end, the Burmese envoys promised to pay one hundred thousand taels of silver in compensation, and Lu Guangzu was finally satisfied.

Zhu Youlang knew something was wrong when he learned that the Great Hua army was rushing towards Mandalay. At that time, he was ready to continue fleeing south.

However, this time he failed to get his wish.

Mangda had already sent people to monitor him. In order to give the Great Hua army an explanation, he didn’t dare to lose Zhu Youlang.

Zhu Youlang’s entourage tried to resist, but dozens of them were killed.

The remaining hundreds of people were placed under house arrest.

The dignified Ming Dynasty, at this point, only had a few hundred people left.

Moreover, most of them were still Zhu Youlang’s family and the Mu Tianbo family’s servants.

Some other so-called ministers were still insignificant figures a few years ago.

After Mangda and Lu Guangzu reached an agreement, these people were quickly sent to the Great Hua army’s camp.

Mangda hoped that the Great Hua army could leave quickly. Having a force that could break through his capital at any time made it impossible to sleep soundly at night.

Zhu Youlang and his party were escorted to the Great Hua army’s camp, where they met Lu Guangzu and Li Lianfan.

“Greetings, Division Commander Lu, Division Commander Li,”

Zhu Youlang said respectfully. Now, he had no choice but to bow his head.

“Zhu Youlang, you have been fleeing all the way, refusing to accept the judgment of our Great Hua. Do you still want to resist to the end, trying to make a comeback?”

Lu Guangzu didn’t say anything else and immediately put a label on him, saying that Zhu Youlang’s escape was due to his unwillingness to accept defeat.

Zhu Youlang almost vomited blood when he heard this. This question was really difficult for him to answer. If he admitted it, his life would be in danger.

If he denied wanting to make a comeback and said he just wanted to survive, it would be too embarrassing.

He was, after all, someone who had been an emperor. Saying such things in front of so many soldiers was really too humiliating.

In the past, when he fled, he only discussed it with ministers who had status and position, and he didn’t use the words “escape” or “retreat,” but rather said he was going hunting.

The meaning was that he wasn’t escaping, but just happened to want to go hunting in Dali, hunting in Baoshan, hunting in Mandalay.

After hesitating for a while, Zhu Youlang finally decided to put aside his dignity. His life was more important.

He said, “I have absolutely no such intention. In fact, as early as a few months ago, I sent…”

“Still dare to quibble!”

Lu Guangzu suddenly attacked, slashing Zhu Youlang’s neck with a knife.

His actions startled Li Lianfan. He didn’t know why Lu Guangzu did this.

“Kill all these people!”

Lu Guangzu ordered, and Lin Xiaodao immediately took action.

“No, not all of these people need to be killed, right?”

Li Lianfan advised, as there were many women among them.

“Brother Li, if we don’t kill these people for His Majesty, are we going to escort them to Nanjing to embarrass His Majesty? If we kill these people, we’ll at most get a bad reputation, but His Majesty will definitely be happy.

If we escort Zhu Youlang to Nanjing, our reputation won’t be ruined, but isn’t that making His Majesty the villain? I think Brother Li understands this principle, right?”

Lu Guangzu whispered in Li Lianfan’s ear.

What he said also made some sense.

If they were escorted to Nanjing and Wu Changqing issued an order to execute Zhu Youlang, then he would truly be confirmed as a rebellious traitor.

But if they weren’t killed, keeping them would always be a hidden danger.

Therefore, for the Zhu family, what Wu Changqing wanted most was for them to die accidentally.

That was also why Zhu Yihai, Zhu Yujian, and others were killed by the generals at the time, and none of them were sent to Nanjing.

“Let the women go. Those who are willing to commit suicide can be given a white silk, and those who are unwilling can be sent to Kunming as slaves,”

Li Lianfan said.

Li Lianfan naturally didn’t have much opinion on the life or death of Zhu Youlang and his son. Their identities destined them to have no good end.

As for the other women and servants, they were somewhat innocent.

“Division Commander Li is really kind-hearted. Fine, let’s do as you say,”

Lu Guangzu said with a smile. He wasn’t too worried that these women who were under control could leak secrets to Nanjing.

Chapter 668: The Great Purge

The news of Zhu Youlang’s death would take a long time to reach Nanjing, but Wu Changqing already knew in advance that the Southern Ming had fallen.

Because in the system data, the area of his territory had increased significantly.

This meant that a large area of land in the southwest had been incorporated into the rule of Great Hua and had become his territory.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Current territory area: two million four hundred thousand square kilometers, total resource points: seventy-two million, remaining: sixty-eight million five hundred thousand.

Current jurisdiction population: eighty million four hundred thousand, total technology points: eighty million four hundred thousand, remaining: fifty-six million three hundred twenty thousand.

Two million four hundred thousand square kilometers seemed small compared to later generations, but in fact, the essential parts had already been included.

Although places like Xinjiang, Tibet, the Northeast, and Mongolia were large, they didn’t have much use other than providing Wu Changqing with some resource points, so there was no need to rush to recover them.

They were all sparsely populated places, and recovering them was basically not difficult, it just required more manpower, financial resources, and material resources.

While the southwest was being pacified, the rebellion in Nanxiong had also been quelled.

In front of the Great Hua regular army, those who rebelled with pure cold weapons were a joke.

Not only were their weapons backward, but their tactical thinking was even more backward.

They didn’t know how to fight guerrilla warfare, nor did they know any other tactics, they simply relied on the city walls to defend to the death.

Unfortunately, what they didn’t know was that times had changed.

The high and thick city walls could no longer provide them with any security.

With just a few packs of explosives, a large section of the Nanxiong city wall was destroyed.

Then, the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians gathered by Gan Lulin scattered in a complete rout.

Gan Lulin was escorted to Nanjing to be beheaded and displayed to the public, while some other landlords who followed Gan Lulin in the rebellion were executed in public in Nanxiong.

They didn’t even have the qualifications to be sent to Nanjing. In front of Great Hua’s violent machine, they were as small as ants.

Great Hua was the same with or without them, without any impact.

As external troubles were resolved, a new round of cleansing began within the Great Hua court.

Any rebellious force, from a group of people getting together to cooperate to its final form, would without exception undergo cleansing in the middle.

It’s not to say that those who are purged must be bad people, but their existence is definitely not conducive to the unity and development of this force.

In order to improve efficiency, for the stability of the force, and for many other aspects, a force must eliminate those different voices.

Wu Changqing had not carried out this kind of cleansing since he started his uprising, which was already a very abnormal situation.

He originally wanted to use rapid development to resolve the conflicts of interest between various classes and groups.

Although it did achieve some results and delay the time when the conflicts broke out.

However, the problems always existed and were not eradicated.

Wu Changqing’s tolerance did not satisfy those who were not of one mind with Wu Changqing, but instead made them jump up and down to make trouble even more.

There was no need to keep such people in the court anymore.

Those who could not be of one mind with him were a disaster to keep.

The targets of Wu Changqing’s cleansing this time were mainly the Donglin Party.

However, in order not to make the targeting too obvious, Wu Changqing also added some other corrupt officials from other factions to the cleansing list.

These corrupt officials were also ignorant of what was good for them, and they deserved to be punished.

Official corruption is a world problem that has never been solved in this world.

Therefore, regarding the corruption of officials, Wu Changqing did not, like Zhu Yuanzhang, start a massacre and stipulate that those who were greedy for dozens of taels of silver would be beheaded.

Doing so actually didn’t have much effect.

Wu Changqing was still studying and pondering how to reduce bribery and corruption, and had not yet come up with a very good solution.

Before that, he only punished those who embezzled huge amounts of money as a warning to others.

As for those small amounts of bribery and corruption, this could only be left to be resolved in the future.

The current focus of work was not on dealing with corrupt officials.

In October, a large number of officials were successively taken away by the people from the Intelligence Bureau for questioning.

There were officials from the central court in Nanjing, as well as some local officials.

There were three officials involved with the rank of Senior Third Grade, seven with the rank of Junior Third Grade, twenty-two with the rank of Senior Fourth Grade, and more than eighty below the rank of Senior Fourth Grade.

This was the largest rectification campaign since the founding of Great Hua.

On the surface, it was investigating corruption and bribery, but in reality, it was cleaning up the people of the Donglin Party.

To be more precise, it was cleaning up those Donglin Party members who were obstructing land reform.

Among these people who were arrested, except for a few who were purely corrupt officials, the others were basically officials who were secretly obstructing land reform.

Some officials were even so bold as to try to gather people to rebel.

In the secret prison of the Intelligence Bureau, screams had not stopped since the rectification campaign began.

Most people held a bit of luck and were unwilling to take the initiative to admit and explain the problem.

And the people from the Intelligence Bureau would not be polite to them.

It was not that they really liked to abuse those officials, but more that they hoped to maintain the image of a cruel official, so that other officials being questioned would be afraid of them.

Many officials could not survive in the prison.

This cleansing operation came fiercely, and the officials in the court were all on pins and needles, panicking all day long, and even unable to sleep at night.

After all, most officials had some problems, and no one was clean. Therefore, they didn’t know whether they would be the next one to be taken away.

At this time, they didn’t even have many means of self-help, and could only secretly pray to God and worship Buddha.

As the rectification campaign continued, some cabinet ministers were also implicated.

Qian Qianyi was summoned to the palace by Wu Changqing for a conversation, and no one knew the content of the conversation.

In short, after Qian Qianyi came out of the palace, he announced that he was physically unwell and unable to bear the heavy responsibility of Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites.

Wu Changqing then issued an imperial decree to retain him again and again, but Qian Qianyi declined again and again, insisting on retiring to his hometown to recuperate.

In the end, Wu Changqing reluctantly agreed with regret.

This was the relationship between the monarch and his ministers seen by the people.

And the ministers in the court knew very well that Qian Qianyi had been demoted.

However, Wu Changqing thought that he was old and had done a lot for Great Hua, and that he was not too active in obstructing land reform, but only allowed his subordinates to mess around.

It was precisely because of this that Wu Changqing gave Qian Qianyi a peaceful end, allowing him to retire and spend his old age in peace.

As for the matter of power, don’t get involved anymore.

This was the opportunity Wu Changqing gave him. If Qian Qianyi was still not safe after being demoted, and would continue to make trouble below by using his connections and prestige.

Then, next time, he would not be able to demote him again, but only behead him.

Even the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites had been overthrown, and other officials were even more worried and afraid.

Some of the more timid Donglin Party members even began to change their positions and chose to support land reform.

This was an attempt to save themselves. Some enlightened people knew that this cleansing was mainly aimed at the land reform opposition.

Chapter 669: Removing Obstacles to Land Reform

After nearly half a month of purges, Wu Changqing finally called a halt to the operation.

Everything must be done in moderation; too much is as bad as too little.

If all the officials were so frightened that they dared not hold office, the country would be finished.

Although that was unlikely to happen, managing officials could not rely solely on harsh measures; a balance of kindness and severity was needed.

With the purges over, the officials who had survived breathed a sigh of relief.

They knew that they were safe for the time being and could enjoy a period of good times again.

However, this was only temporary.

How could they ensure their safety permanently?

Many officials were pondering this question. In reality, it was not difficult to achieve. Like Ruan Dacheng and others, becoming an isolated minister was often a safe bet.

However, in the officialdom, one’s fate was not one’s own.

There were very few people who were qualified and had the conditions to be isolated ministers.

Many people were labeled as belonging to a faction even before they entered the officialdom.

In this great purge, more than forty officials were executed, and more than twenty died in prison. The rest were either exiled or reduced to commoners.

However, they all had one thing in common: their homes were confiscated.

The extent of the confiscation varied depending on the severity of the crime.

Those officials who were demoted to commoners only needed to hand over the amount they had embezzled, plus a fine.

As for those officials who were exiled, their homes were completely confiscated, leaving their families with only a small amount of property to maintain their livelihoods.

As for those who had been sentenced to death, their situation was even more miserable. The families of these people would definitely hate the court and the emperor.

Therefore, these people could not be allowed to roam freely in society; they were unstable elements.

The male members of these officials’ families were all sent to mine or build roads, while the women were sent to the Ministry of Education’s brothels to serve as official prostitutes.

After confiscating the homes of these one hundred-plus officials, the imperial court directly gained nearly twenty million yuan in revenue. On average, each family had about two hundred thousand yuan confiscated, which showed how wealthy they were.

Among them, the most confiscated was from the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry, Dai Li, with a total of nearly two million yuan.

And this was only the bribes he had received in the Great Hua for just over two years.

The Ministry of Industry was a department where there were plenty of opportunities to make money as long as one dared to.

Qian Qianyi was demoted, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry Dai Li was executed, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel Mi Fang was exiled, Chief of the Ministry of Rites Che Yan was executed, the Provincial Governor of Yangzhou was exiled…

The unified charge was one: corruption.

As soon as the punishment was announced, the people applauded.

As ordinary people, they all had some resentment towards the rich.

Seeing corrupt officials being punished, it was difficult for the people not to be happy.

Of course, they might not have imagined that the people who were replaced would basically be corrupt officials in the future.

Moreover, the silver that was confiscated was all put into the national treasury and had nothing to do with them.

But this did not prevent them from being happy and celebrating. Being able to see corrupt officials suffer was itself a cause for celebration.

After the great purge, there was no more resistance to land reform.

Without officials supporting them from behind, it was extremely difficult for the landlords to collude with each other.

Without an effective organization, they were just a pile of loose sand and could only be defeated one by one.

If the landlords across the country resisted at the same time, the Great Hua would be finished.

Unfortunately, not every landlord had such awareness.

People always had a fluke mentality. Most people always hoped that others would resist and fight, that others would take risks, and then they would hide behind and enjoy the benefits.

Faced with aggression, most people, although they hated it in their hearts, also hoped that others would resist. Only a few dared to stand up.

The people were like this, and the landlords were even more so. They were all smarter than anyone else, so how could they be willing to risk their lives?

A pile of loose sand of landlords finally lost to the Great Hua’s land reform policy.

Faced with the Great Hua’s land reform policy, they could only choose to submit.

A large number of landlords chose to sell their land and switch to business.

Continuing to hold those lands was equivalent to paying the imperial court to grow food. Only a sick person would do that.

Moreover, the Great Hua was currently relatively friendly to merchants, and doing business was also a way out.

As long as they could make money, what they did was not important.

A large amount of land was sold off, and the price of land fell again and again, eventually falling to almost three or four yuan per mu.

However, even at this price, there were still a large number of people who wanted to buy but could not afford it.

In response to this situation, Wu Changqing came up with a loan program, lending money to the people at low interest rates to buy land.

Or, the government directly bought the land from the landlords and then rented it to the people for cultivation at a low price.

With multiple measures, a large number of tenant farmers and poor farmers began to own land.

A large family could live a fairly good life by planting fifty mu of land.

With the current population, dividing the current land was barely enough.

But Wu Changqing also knew that in peacetime, the population would grow very quickly.

In another ten or twenty years, the population of the world would increase by several times, or even double.

At that time, there would not be enough land to divide.

For this reason, Wu Changqing also prepared follow-up measures.

One was to build water conservancy projects and continue to reclaim wasteland.

Currently, there was still a lot of wasteland that could be reclaimed in the Great Hua. As long as the canals were built and there was enough water for irrigation, many places could be reclaimed into fertile land.

Another was to continue to improve seeds and increase the planting area of potatoes and corn.

These crops had low requirements for land and could be planted on a large scale.

Another was to produce more fertilizer and promote the use of fertilizer.

Increasing the amount of land, increasing grain production, and overseas immigration were Wu Changqing’s three major means of solving the land problem.

With these three moves, the contradiction between population and land could basically be solved.

As land reform was implemented step by step, it brought great shock to the people.

These people had never thought that the imperial court would give them land.

Those people who had experienced the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty had always thought that the imperial court would only collect taxes and oppress the people, and would not do anything else.

They never expected that the Great Hua would actually distribute land and provide agricultural tools and fertilizers.

This was simply unbelievable, like a dream.

People who had been poor were more likely to know how to be grateful.

Some people whose land had been plundered regained their land. They could not express their gratitude to the imperial court in words.

All they could do was ask someone to make a statue of Wu Changqing and enshrine it at home.

They would worship it three times a day, worship it when there were major events, and worship it whether there was anything to do or not.

For a time, Wu Changqing’s prestige among the people reached a high point.

Under the propaganda of the grassroots cadres, the people knew that all their happy lives were brought to them by Wu Changqing.

As long as this idea was popularized, others would have no chance of rebelling in the future.

Chapter 670: How Lonely It Is To Be Invincible

As the New Year approached, officials of Great Hua were about to begin their annual summaries.

In the third year of Yongxing, Great Hua once again achieved leapfrog development.

The Jing-Song Railway, which had taken a year and a half to build, was fully completed and officially opened to traffic.

Moreover, the speed of the train had been increased from the original twenty kilometers per hour to forty kilometers per hour, and could reach thirty-five kilometers per hour when fully loaded.

This was a leap forward, all thanks to the technological development of high-temperature and high-pressure boilers.

Now Great Hua’s steam engine technology had entered a mature period, and some ultra-high temperature and high-pressure steam engines had been manufactured.

Moreover, steam engines had been applied to various industries to provide power, greatly saving labor.

In the past, it would take at least three or four days to travel from Nanjing to Shanghai.

But now it only took seven or eight hours by train, which was a qualitative leap, closely connecting Shanghai and Nanjing.

The cost of transporting goods from Nanjing to Shanghai was directly reduced by more than half.

In addition to the Nanjing-Shanghai route, Great Hua also completed several sections of railways this year, including Nanjing to Wuhu, the north bank of Nanjing to Yangzhou, and Shanghai to Hangzhou.

These were all parts of several major lines, and they were currently building and operating the railways simultaneously.

Therefore, several places in Great Hua had now been connected by trains, and trains had become a part of the lives of the people of Great Hua.

Hearing the roar of the train again, not many people felt curious anymore.

No matter how novel something was, people would get tired of it after seeing it for more than a year.

Thanks to the improvement of steam engine technology, Great Hua’s shipbuilding industry had improved even more this year.

The number of merchant ships had greatly increased this year, and the tonnage had also greatly increased, with thousand-ton freighters appearing.

This kind of merchant ship could transport nearly a thousand tons of cargo at a time, compared to a horse-drawn carriage that could only pull one ton at a time, its transportation capacity could be described as heaven-defying.

Because of the emergence of bicycles, trains, and steamships, the price of horses in Great Hua had dropped to a certain extent.

In the past, horses were very precious and were strategic materials. During wartime, they were often unavailable even with money.

But now, horses were slowly becoming less popular.

In terms of transportation, which was the biggest use for horses, people no longer liked to use horses for transportation because the cost was too high.

Of course, shipping required rivers, and railways only benefited the surrounding areas. There were still many places in Great Hua that needed horses.

Horses were just slightly less popular, but it would take many years to completely eliminate them.

The development of ships had not only greatly improved in quantity and tonnage, but also in other aspects.

For example, a large number of paddle wheel drives had been changed to propeller drives, making them safer and more convenient.

And the navy’s warships had all been converted to propellers, which greatly reduced the probability of their power being destroyed by enemy shells.

In addition to installing propellers, the navy’s warships also had iron sheets added to their surfaces to increase the warships’ protection.

After adding the iron sheets, ordinary small-caliber artillery could not even cause damage to them.

When facing large-caliber artillery, the protection ability was also greatly improved.

This kind of pseudo-ironclad ship, or semi-ironclad ship, was in an invincible state in the waters near Great Hua.

Only the British navy could compete with Great Hua’s navy in terms of quantity.

However, Great Hua had not had any direct conflict with Britain for the time being. The navy could only increase its loneliness by building these warships.

This situation also made the army people greatly dissatisfied, feeling that the navy was purely wasting money.

The warships built with huge sums of money had no use.

Of course, the army also had such problems.

The arsenal had developed twenty Jin cannons, whose power was earth-shattering.

However, the Hua army basically could not use them. The strongest enemy, the Qing Dynasty, had been crippled, and the remaining enemies were too weak.

For the Hua army, the only factor restricting their conquest was logistical support.

If the logistics could keep up, they could take Xinjiang and Tibet and other places within a month.

In addition to cannons, in terms of guns, the arsenal had also produced hand-cranked multi-barreled machine guns, which could fire more than one hundred bullets per minute, causing other generals to exclaim that they could not afford this thing.

When they used rifles, they did not think bullets were expensive.

But after they calculated the bullet consumption speed of this machine gun, they felt their scalps tingle.

In the end, only a dozen were equipped in each main division, and other troops were not equipped at all.

In fact, even if they were equipped, it was just for show.

This hand-cranked multi-barreled machine gun only had a little effect in defense. In offense, it was not easy to use because it was extremely bulky.

But the problem was that all forces were avoiding Great Hua, so how dare they take the initiative to attack them?

Therefore, they had a defensive weapon, but they had no chance to defend.

It was precisely because of this beatdown-like strength that the air force did not receive any more investment this year, and there was not much development.

In the words of other arms, the air force was already invincible, so why continue to improve?

The arsenal was still continuing to develop more advanced aircraft, but after they were developed, they would not be equipped to the troops because there was no money.

Everything that was newly developed had a common characteristic, that was, it was expensive to manufacture.

Unless there was a special need, the arsenal only researched and did not mass-produce equipment for the troops.

Just like mortars, the technology in the arsenal was now very mature.

However, only the seven or eight main divisions in the army were equipped with new mortars, and the other troops did not have them.

The only ones who could replace their equipment without any scruples were the Guards.

Their current equipment level was almost at the level of the armies of World War One in the original timeline.

The guns were already semi-automatic rifles, using all-metal bullet casings and smokeless gunpowder, which made them fire faster.

Well-trained soldiers could fire more than a dozen shots per minute.

And each company was equipped with a machine gun. Their task was to defend, and they did not need to attack much, so the demand for machine guns was very high.

The hand grenades were also improved versions, lighter in weight and more powerful. A soldier could carry four or five at the same time.

In addition to these conventional weapons, the Guards were also equipped with real sniper rifles, with scopes and a range of four to five hundred meters.

Well-trained soldiers could accurately kill people five hundred meters away was no longer a joke, and even with good luck, they could kill people seven or eight hundred meters away.

There were also a lot of other mortars and rocket launchers.

It could be said that if Great Hua’s Guards divisions were sent to fight the Japan people head-on, and neither side used tactics, a Guards division could defeat at least two hundred thousand troops.

Before the ammunition was used up, they were invincible.

However, the Guards were never sent to fight foreign enemies. Their only role was to guard against the country’s own troops.

Chapter 671: Achievements in Infrastructure

In terms of basic infrastructure for the people’s livelihood, Great Hua also achieved significant results this year.

Nanjing, after planning, has built several slum areas.

However, the infrastructure in these slum areas is even better than some places in the city.

Although the houses are smaller and the population is highly dense.

However, they are all red brick houses or red brick bungalows, which are very comfortable to live in.

Various small shops are lined up inside, selling some cheap goods. All kinds of facilities are very complete.

Sometimes, some poor people in the city will come here specifically to buy things because they are cheaper.

Those four slum areas alone now have a population of nearly four hundred thousand.

The entire city of Nanjing has a population of over two million.

In this era, this number is terrifying.

How to manage these two million people is a very headache-inducing thing. After Liu Dahua became the mayor of Nanjing, he gained several white hairs.

The food, drink, and sanitation of these two million people are a big problem.

If it weren’t for the railway and several official roads leading to the surrounding areas, the food needed by these people every day could not be supplied.

Liu Dahua is now starting the reconstruction project of the entire city’s sewers, preparing to apply for a sum of money to systematically plan and rebuild the sewers of Nanjing.

At the same time, two more water plants must be built.

With a large population, Nanjing’s original clean water resources have been polluted.

Those wealthy areas have already installed tap water, otherwise, water use would be a big problem.

The wealthy areas have it, and Liu Dahua thinks the slum areas should also have it, but this requires money again.

In Nanjing, two large squares have been built, and several parks for leisure have also been built.

In some leisure places, there are also football fields and basketball courts, among which basketball courts are the most numerous.

Football requires too much space, and the number of people required to complete a match is too large, making it difficult to organize.

Considering this factor, Wu Changqing also brought out basketball.

Basketball takes up less space, and ten or six people can play it, which is more convenient than football. Moreover, in terms of confrontation, it is not worse than football.

Being an emperor has this kind of benefit, you can change the world according to your preferences.

Wu Changqing likes basketball and football, so he can issue a decree to promote them.

No official would object to this kind of harmless decree.

And Wu Changqing doesn’t like polo, so he doesn’t promote it, and even orders it to be banned.

Polo is too dangerous and costly, and it is not suitable as a sport to promote.

Even as a noble sport, there is no need.

And golf, which he doesn’t like, is destined to be unable to land in Great Hua in the future.

Who made him the emperor? The things he doesn’t like are destined to have no way to be promoted.

In Nanjing, there are already four public carriage routes, passing through most of the densely populated areas.

Taking public carriages has become a daily routine for people in Nanjing and Shanghai.

But it hasn’t appeared in other cities yet.

The gap between Nanjing and other places is very large.

In addition to public carriages, a significant change in Nanjing is the increase in high-rise buildings.

On Hongwu Road, Confucius Temple, and the Qinhuai River area, which are far away from the imperial palace, there is no limit to the height of buildings, and they can be built as they please.

The increase in population has led to rising land prices, and the construction of high-rise buildings has become a trend.

The abundance of building materials and the improvement of construction standards have made the construction of high-rise buildings possible.

Last year, the Jinling Hotel was still the tallest building in Nanjing, with four floors and eighteen meters high.

But this year, the Jinling Hotel can’t even squeeze into the top three.

Due to the increase in students, the University Hall had no choice but to build an eight-story teaching building and a six-story dormitory building.

At first glance, it is almost the same as the schools of later generations, full of modern atmosphere.

And BMW Motors built a ten-story building, forty meters high, to show its strength, temporarily ranking first.

Other major companies have also built their headquarters high to show their strength or save land.

The headquarters of Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant under construction is expected to be thirteen floors, and the first position of BMW Motors headquarters will not last long.

Of course, eleven or twelve floors are about the current limit.

Before the elevator is invented, too high buildings are not convenient.

Only when the elevator appears will the height of the buildings usher in another rise.

In addition to high-rise buildings, the prosperous streets of Nanjing have been paved with cement roads and even street lights have been erected.

The street lights use kerosene, and it is quite troublesome to add kerosene every time.

However, this allows these streets to be brightly lit at night, and there is no need to go to bed early anymore. A group of night owls has begun to appear in these places.

Without looking at other places in Great Hua, just looking at the prosperous areas of Nanjing, it has almost reached the level of major cities in the early twentieth century.

These are the basic constructions in Nanjing. Outside Nanjing, the construction of official roads is also quite complete.

The official roads leading to several surrounding big cities have been completed, and even roads have been built in the villages around Nanjing, making travel extremely convenient.

After several years, Qu Shisi, who returned to Nanjing, was directly stunned by the changes in Nanjing.

Although he often reads newspapers in Yunnan to understand the changes in Great Hua.

However, the descriptions in the newspaper always lack a sense of picture and are far from the shock brought by seeing it with his own eyes.

Everything in Nanjing has become unfamiliar to Qu Shisi.

Those steamships spewing black smoke and trains running wildly on land spewing black smoke are all incomprehensible to him.

Not to mention those trains and steamships, even a small bicycle can make them dumbfounded.

Walking into Nanjing, he almost got lost. Many landmark buildings in Nanjing have been demolished and replaced by some new-style buildings.

Walking on the streets of Nanjing, every new thing that catches his eye makes Qu Shisi feel a powerful aura.

These were all created by the Son of Heaven of Great Hua, truly a divine person. It’s no wonder that the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty were defeated by him.

Qu Shisi sighed in his heart.

In his opinion, the changes in Nanjing are more incredible than Great Hua’s defeat of the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty.

The person who can bring about this kind of change is really incredible.

After sighing, he also began to visit old friends and seek opportunities to re-enter the government.

Today’s Great Hua is thriving, and he is unwilling to stand aside as a spectator. Only by participating in this great historical process can he gain a sense of accomplishment.

Unfortunately, he came a step late. If he had arrived earlier, Qian Qianyi could have helped him.

But now, Qian Qianyi has been demoted, and he has lost his biggest helper.

Whenever he thinks of this, Qu Shisi is extremely depressed.

Chapter 672: Major Changes Among the People

Wang Yue was a salesman whose daily job was to hand out flyers in wealthy neighborhoods, promoting his winery’s new grape red wine.

This was a newly emerging profession from the past year.

With the appearance of a large number of new things, many people couldn’t keep up with acquiring all the information.

This created a need for businesses to ensure consumers understood their products.

However, it was generally high-end products that were willing to spend money to hire people specifically for promotion.

Ordinary people were often hesitant to try this new profession.

Wang Yue had entered the industry by chance, and because the competition wasn’t too fierce, the job brought him a decent income.

The base salary was one yuan a month, but the sales commission was high.

He could earn about one yuan in commission for every ten bottles sold.

Last month, he sold a total of fifty bottles.

Of course, he wouldn’t tell anyone about this, to prevent others from flooding in.

However, even if he didn’t advertise, the company would.

Recently, he had noticed some competitors appearing, and competition had begun.

After eating breakfast, he hurried downstairs. He vaguely felt that everyone’s pace of life seemed to have sped up a lot.

Although he was earning more money, he no longer had the same leisure as before.

He first went to the mailbox, took out the two newspapers he subscribed to, and then boarded a public carriage to go to the company. On the way, he took the time to read the Daily News and the Business News.

At the company, he collected a large number of flyers, as well as contracts and red wine samples. He boarded the public carriage again and headed to the wealthy neighborhood.

On the streets of the wealthy neighborhood, he handed out a flyer to everyone he met.

If the other person was interested and willing to listen, he would introduce the wine in more detail, and even take out samples for them to taste.

In addition to handing out flyers on the street, he also had to go door-to-door to ask for meetings.

However, he was mostly met with closed doors.

In this era, most people were still not used to letting a stranger into their home.

After a day of hard work, Wang Yue returned home, first checked the mailbox for any letters addressed to him, and then went back inside.

However, his wife hadn’t prepared a meal at home. Instead, she directly ordered a meal from a nearby restaurant and brought it back.

His wife was no longer a housewife, but was working in a women’s lingerie store in the city.

Those kinds of stores only allowed women to enter, and the shopkeeper and staff inside were all women.

Due to the prevailing environment, if anyone dared to hire a male clerk, it was feared that no female customers would dare to go in to buy such private items.

If they did, people would gossip again.

It was precisely because of these special industries that more and more women were entering society and taking jobs.

Wang Yue’s wife’s job paid well, averaging about three to four yuan a month.

The two of them were originally ordinary people, but thanks to the newly emerging professions, their wealth was rapidly increasing.

If they were thrifty, they could live a petty-bourgeois life.

Because both husband and wife had jobs, no one was taking care of their child, which was a major headache for both of them.

There were many others who had the same worries as them, and some people had keenly noticed this change and were already starting to establish nurseries, specifically responsible for taking care of children for families who didn’t have time.

Where there was profit to be made, there would be people to exploit it.

Many things and professions didn’t need Wu Changqing to bring them up; they would appear naturally.

With the rapid development of Great Hua, many new professions had emerged in Nanjing.

For example, professional athletes, professional managers, newspaper editors, novelists, translators…

These emerging industries often had considerable incomes.

However, these were all emerging fields, and there were not many people engaged in them yet.

The main occupation of the people of Nanjing was still as workers.

The hundreds of large and small factories in the suburbs of Nanjing absorbed at least two to three hundred thousand laborers in Nanjing.

In addition to those well-known large factories and enterprises, many small factories had also sprung up in Nanjing.

For example, nail factories, with limited capital, did nothing but specialize in manufacturing iron nails.

Their specialization led to the quality and price of their factory’s iron nails being better than those produced by the Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant itself, so their business was quite good, supplying most of the iron nail demand in Nanjing.

Another example was iron chain factories, specializing in the production of bicycle chains.

This was a craft that required relatively high technical skills, and ordinary people couldn’t do it.

The factory owner was originally a senior technician at a machinery factory. After mastering the craft, he raised investment and built such a factory.

With excellent quality, bicycle manufacturers were willing to order iron chains from him, giving up their own production.

After all, it would take time and cost to research and produce them themselves, which was far less cost-effective than directly purchasing iron chains and assembling them.

In fact, the largest bicycle manufacturer, Lu’s Bicycle Shop, was almost reduced to an assembly plant.

They purchased a large number of parts from other factories, which was cheaper.

After two years of evolution, a kind of industrial chain model had formed in the Nanjing area.

Factories producing a certain product no longer needed to master all the technology.

As long as they mastered the core technology, or obtained patent authorization, they could open a factory. Then, most of their parts could be found from suppliers in this industrial area.

Such a complete supply of parts existed only in this one place in the world. Shanghai had not yet developed such a complete industrial chain.

The factories in Shanghai were temporarily still mainly engaged in import and export trade, and their development was also a little slower than Nanjing.

The formation of this industrial chain had a very significant impact on society.

The improvement of human work efficiency often largely depended on the division of labor and cooperation.

Doing a single job was the most efficient.

A skilled and comprehensive worker might need a month to manufacture a bicycle.

But thirty workers with incomplete skills, working together, could produce at least several hundred bicycles in a month.

Speeding up was one aspect, but more importantly, they didn’t need to be fully skilled.

Training a fully skilled worker might take three or four years.

But training a worker who mastered a single skill might only take one or two months.

Ultimately, there were few people who had the conditions to grit their teeth and study for three or four years. Being able to start earning money after studying for one or two months was fatally attractive to ordinary people.

The formation of the industrial chain meant that Great Hua’s industry would usher in rapid development.

However, this development was limited to Nanjing.

In other places, Great Hua’s industry was still very backward.

To achieve comprehensive prosperity and comprehensive development, the next key task was to promote the Nanjing model to other major cities.

This was not easy, after all, Nanjing had the most complete industrial chain, making it the most convenient and cheapest place to set up a factory.

It wasn’t a wise choice to abandon such a good place and develop in other cities.

Chapter 673: A Boon for Bachelors

The year is Yongxing 4. After the New Year, all things are renewed.

The first edition of the Great Hua Daily published a piece of joyous news.

Electrical expert Fei Yufeng invented a hand-cranked generator, successfully achieving a stable output current.

In the future, this event will surely be recorded in the history books of Great Hua and the world. This is an epoch-making invention, signifying that electrical research has entered a new field.

Next, all that’s needed is to replace the hand-crank with other power sources to obtain a continuous and stable current.

The day when humanity uses electric lights, uses electricity, and enters the electrical age is just around the corner.

However, at present, this news is not attracting much attention.

Because the vast majority of people simply don’t know what electricity is, let alone what a generator can be used for, or how significant it is.

Moreover, the Great Hua Daily often reports on the invention of this or that.

After seeing it so many times, it’s no longer novel.

What’s more, there are many more interesting news items in the Great Hua Daily than Fei Yufeng’s invention of the generator.

For example, the Great Hua Daily reported that a batch of Japanese women in Shanghai, after training, have mastered basic Chinese and can communicate normally with people.

Any bachelor in Great Hua can go and claim one for free to be his wife.

Of course, there are conditions. At least you must have a house; you can’t just take someone to the wilderness.

At the same time, you must also have the ability to support her.

There are quite a few bachelors who can do this.

The imperial court giving wives to bachelors without requiring betrothal gifts is definitely the most interesting thing in Yongxing 4. Whether merchants, scholars, or common people, everyone is talking about it with relish.

Although they are Japanese women, they are still women, and they can all have children. There’s no difference.

Moreover, the bachelors who go to claim these women often have their own reasons for not being able to find a wife. Such people are in no position to be picky.

As soon as the decree was issued, those who were not directly involved treated it as a joke, an amusing story to chat about and laugh at during their leisure time.

But for those bachelors near Shanghai who had ideas, this was a major event.

The number is not large, only a few thousand. If you go late, there won’t be any left.

As a result, a large number of bachelors flocked to Shanghai.

In Shanghai, the government organized a super-large matchmaking event.

Of the ten thousand women they transported from the Kumamoto Domain, dozens died on the way. The remaining ones who successfully landed have survived and learned Chinese.

Subsequently, the government divided these people into two groups. Those with outstanding looks were arranged by the government.

As for those with ordinary looks, the government followed their wishes.

Those who were willing to go to brothels were arranged by the government, and their rights would be guaranteed.

Those who wanted to go to factories and support themselves were also arranged by the government.

However, those days would be more difficult.

The wages in textile factories are lower than in other factories because those jobs don’t require technical skills, and most people can do them.

If you have a house in Great Hua and no other additional expenses, working in such a factory can support yourself.

However, these Japanese women have nothing. If they want to survive on this little wage, they will inevitably live a hard life.

In addition to those who were willing to work, there were more than six thousand remaining, all of whom were uniformly arranged by the Great Hua government to marry.

Although marrying a strange man made them feel worried, having a man to support them at least meant they didn’t have to worry too much about eating in the future.

As for those women with outstanding looks, the government made mandatory arrangements for them.

They spent tens of thousands of yuan, and this money couldn’t be spent in vain. They had to find a way to get some of it back.

These women with outstanding looks were either bought by rich people to be concubines, or sent to brothels to receive guests. There were only these two paths.

They had no chance to go to the factory. The person in charge would not agree; that would be a great waste.

Their value lies in their looks, not their strength.

Selling them to rich people as concubines generally cost more than one thousand yuan, depending on their appearance.

Moreover, when two or more people competed, the price often rose easily.

Some people with extremely outstanding looks were even contested to a sky-high price of thirty thousand yuan.

Some old lechers are really generous.

This batch of women with outstanding looks alone allowed them to recover their costs and even make a slight profit.

As for those Japanese women with ordinary looks, they were all given out as welfare.

At the matchmaking event, there were men from eighteen to fifty-eight years old.

Most of them were concentrated between twenty-five and thirty-five. In this era, if you were not married at twenty-five, you were an old bachelor.

At this age, they were generally as anxious as ants on a hot pot.

Not to mention Japanese women, they might even take a black pearl if you gave them one.

Once the candles are blown out, it’s all the same.

“My family has seven brothers, and I didn’t get any land. But I’ve worked in a steel factory for two years and saved more than twenty yuan. I can rent a cheap rental house in Nanjing and support you. Are you willing to come with me?”

A young man from Nanjing said. He had no house or land in his hometown, and he was almost destined to be a bachelor for life.

But now, he saw hope.

In front of him was a girl of about eighteen, with average looks, the kind who would require a betrothal gift of three hundred thousand in later generations.

But at this time, she was in no position to be picky. When she was sold by her family to pay off debts, she even knew that she was very likely to go to a brothel and serve different men constantly.

But now, she was brought to Great Hua and had the right to marry someone. This was the best ending for her.

The young man in front of her looked honest and even stuttered a little because of nervousness.

She had seen this kind of person in her hometown. They were very honest and reliable.

So, she nodded, indicating her willingness.

After that, the two of them could go to register.

Great Hua values efficiency.

Not to mention that they talked for a while, even if there was no verbal communication, if they took a fancy to someone, they could just pull them up and leave. The person in charge probably wouldn’t have much opinion.

Anyway, these women are going to get married, and it’s all the same who they marry.

Similar scenes were constantly happening at the matchmaking event. A large number of people determined their relationship with just a few words, then registered and left.

Those who received a free wife left laughing, truly as happy as they could be. From time to time, someone would shout “Long live Great Hua, long live His Majesty!”

This kind of good thing only happens in Great Hua, when Wu Changqing is the emperor. Of course, they have to bless Wu Changqing to live ten thousand years.

# Chapter 674: Assimilation

More than six thousand people were claimed in just two days, and those who were late were left in tears, as if they had missed out on a fortune.

"Don't worry, everyone. If you work near Shanghai, you still have a chance. There are still over four thousand Japanese female workers at the Fuding Textile Factory, and we can arrange another matchmaking event.

However, this batch of female workers still have families in Japan and may want to return in the future. You need to consider carefully whether you have the confidence to keep them here," the person in charge, Bao Butong, said.

Currently, there are four to five thousand Japanese female workers in Shanghai, but they are all independent, and Great Hua has no right to arrange anything, only to act as a matchmaker.

However, Bao Butong believed that some girls would be willing to marry Great Hua men.

After all, their employment contracts are for ten years, and even if they can go home during these ten years, the holidays are extremely short.

Marrying in Japan is not an option.

Therefore, for them, the best choice is to marry a Shanghai man and live together.

Perhaps, if they could marry a wealthy man, they could even redeem themselves from the textile factory early and end that arduous work.

The work at the textile factory is not particularly tiring, but it is certainly not easy, and some people cannot bear it.

As long as they pay the textile factory a penalty, they can terminate the contract.

Some people who cannot endure the hardship have already gone to brothels, letting the brothels pay the penalty, and then engage in easier and more profitable work in the brothels.

Hearing Bao Butong's words, some were happy and some were disappointed. Some people who did not work in Shanghai naturally could not enjoy this opportunity.

Some were worried that their partners would often want to return to Japan after marriage, which would also be a headache.

However, some people were willing to take such risks, so this opportunity was also good for them.

Several days later, Shanghai held its second matchmaking event. This time, there were far fewer successes, only over one thousand couples.

Some Japanese girls probably had not given up hope or had not yet recognized the reality.

Or, they had not found someone they were satisfied with at the matchmaking event.

These were not major issues. Anyway, Great Hua would continue to hold similar matchmaking events in the future.

Besides Japanese girls, there were also Korean girls, with a variety of choices.

Nanjing, in the affordable housing district, He Youjin and his wife, whom he had brought back from Shanghai, began a new life.

After bringing the girl back to Nanjing, he also invited a few coworkers to celebrate briefly and held a ceremony, which was considered a wedding.

Seeing He Youjin's wife, Caizi, his coworkers were filled with regret, regretting not going with He Youjin.

After all, according to their aesthetic standards, Caizi was definitely considered a beauty.

More importantly, she was acquired for free.

After the simple wedding, He Youjin took two days off to accompany his wife, and then had to start his six-to-six job.

Caizi temporarily stayed at home as a housewife.

"I also want to find a job to help with household expenses," Caizi suggested during a casual chat before bed one night.

"No need, I can support this family on my own," He Youjin said heroically. He didn't want Caizi to think he was useless, so he was willing to take on more work.

If Caizi were a brainless, pleasure-seeking woman, she would probably be happy to accept this situation.

But Caizi had to consider the long term. Currently, they did not have a house and lived in affordable housing.

Although there were no problems with their current life, what about when they had children in the future?

"But I have nothing to do at home every day, and it's very boring. Help me look around and see if there's any work suitable for me," Caizi insisted on working.

"Okay, after work tomorrow, I'll ask the government. I heard from my coworkers that the government has established a new department called the Employment Center, which specializes in helping people find jobs and even provides skills training," He Youjin said.

"The Great Hua government is so good, always thinking of the people. In Japan, the lords only know how to make us pay taxes," Caizi said with emotion. After comparing it with Great Hua, she realized that Japan was truly hopeless.

"Hehe, isn't that right? This is all thanks to the Emperor's grace," He Youjin said with a smile.

He was able to marry a wife thanks to the government, so he naturally admired the government very much.

The next day, He Youjin finished his day's work and went to the Employment Center in the city to inquire about relevant matters.

"Is her communication with us smooth? Is she compassionate? If she is gentle enough and communicates well, she can work at the nursery. Two nurseries have been established in the city, specializing in taking care of children. This job is more suitable for women, and there is still a shortage of people," the staff member said, looking through the job postings.

"No problem, she speaks very fluently with me, and she is also very gentle," He Youjin said.

"Then tomorrow, bring her to 23 East Lake Street for an interview. Take this sign, and you can get an interview opportunity. But whether she can be hired depends on her performance," the staff member handed He Youjin a sign filled with words and then began to call the next person.

The Employment Center had just been established and was short-handed, with a lot of work.

A large number of people at the bottom had too few channels to obtain information and did not know where to find work.

At this time, the Employment Center played a significant role.

They specialized in collecting recruitment information from various industries and factories and then, based on the situation, introduced different people to them.

Every day, they helped hundreds of people find jobs.

Caizi passed the interview and got the job, with a monthly salary of two and a half yuan, only one yuan less than He Youjin, which was quite good.

Taking care of children sounded easy and interesting.

Caizi also liked this job, and she liked children herself.

"This job is not easy. The children you take care of may be the children of officials and nobles. Those children are very naughty, and you may be wronged," He Youjin said worriedly.

In his eyes, people who could live in the city were all officials and nobles.

But in fact, the real officials and nobles had servants to take care of their children, so there was no need to send their children to nurseries.

Only the working class, out of necessity, would send their children to nurseries.

"It's okay, I can endure grievances," Caizi did not think she would be wronged. The staff there treated her with great respect.

And this kind of respect was something she had never encountered in Japan before.

In Japan, the status of women was even lower than that of women in Great Hua.

Therefore, many things that others considered grievances were so ordinary to her.

After living in Great Hua for a while, she had begun to like it here and was becoming reluctant to think about Japan.

Chapter 675: Return

In the fourth year of Yongxing, Wu Changqing proposed many keywords.

Technology, development, ocean, trade…

Comprehensive domestic development and active overseas expansion.

The domestic wars had been basically quelled, and the next step was comprehensive development.

The army’s military spending was reduced again, saving money for development.

However, the navy’s military spending was steadily increasing.

The next military activities would mainly take place overseas.

For example, Brazil was a key strategic direction for Great Hua in the fourth year of Yongxing.

The reason was simply that Great Hua was short of natural rubber, very short.

Currently, only Brazil had it. Planting in Southeast Asia had just begun, and it would be a while before harvesting.

If they wanted natural rubber at this time, they had to go to Brazil.

With such a large demand, they could no longer allow the source of raw materials to be controlled by others.

If Portugal suddenly banned the export of rubber, it would have a significant impact on Great Hua’s economy.

Moreover, even if the Portuguese didn’t cause trouble, Great Hua needed to establish a base in Brazil to facilitate Great Hua’s merchants doing business there.

Without a base, not understanding the situation there, they would often suffer losses in trade.

Establishing a base there could provide detailed information on local prices and even help Great Hua’s merchants with purchases. It could also intervene in a timely manner when Great Hua’s merchants were bullied, protecting their rights and interests.

In early February, a Great Hua expeditionary force set off for Brazil.

They were the vanguard of Great Hua’s global strategy. Their actions meant that Great Hua was officially engaging with global opponents and competing for resources around the world.

At the same time, merchant ships heading to Europe successfully returned to Great Hua.

They brought back ships full of leather, gold and silver, spices, and other specialties.

Nowadays, there were not many commodities in Western Europe that Great Hua found appealing.

In this world, where was there more advanced industrial manufacturing than Great Hua? Nowhere.

Therefore, the goods that Great Hua imported were basically various raw materials.

And raw materials meant cheap prices, so while they brought back raw materials, they often brought back some gold and silver as well.

Making a round trip like this basically doubled, or even tripled, their profits.

The continuous influx of large amounts of gold and silver into Great Hua also caused headaches for Great Hua’s officials.

Now, Great Hua’s officials had become smarter, knowing that too much gold and silver wasn’t very useful.

The most beneficial thing for Great Hua was to spend this gold and silver.

However, what troubled them was that there weren’t many valuable things overseas, and it was difficult to spend all this money.

Great Hua’s officials didn’t have a good solution to this problem for the time being.

Moreover, this problem was also a compulsory question on this year’s imperial examination.

Many keen-nosed candidates had already been able to guess the question from the trends in the Great Hua Daily.

However, such questions that could be easily guessed were often very difficult to answer well.

Banning the inflow of gold and silver was definitely not an option, as that would greatly reduce the volume of trade between other countries and Great Hua.

After all, they couldn’t come up with so many good things to barter with Great Hua.

Without enough goods, and not accepting gold and silver, those foreign merchants would naturally have to return home.

This was not a good solution for the economy.

Letting these gold and silver flow in without taking any measures also seemed impossible.

In this trade alone, more than twenty tons of gold and more than seven hundred tons of silver flowed into Great Hua, with a total value of nearly fifteen million yuan.

Even for the entire country of Great Hua, this was not a small sum.

“Third Brother, Third Brother, tell me quickly, what is Western Europe like? I heard that the people there all have blond hair and blue eyes, and they don’t take a bath for a year, is that true?”

At the Tong residence, Tong Xiangyu was pestering Tong Xuyou to tell her about his experiences on this trip.

“Don’t be ridiculous, your brother still needs to go out and receive guests.”

Tong Youwei was hosting some friends to celebrate his son Tong Xuyou’s successful return.

Tong Xuyou’s trip to Western Europe earned him about three hundred thousand yuan.

This was quite good for someone doing business for the first time and was worth celebrating.

However, for Tong Xuyou, the real gain from this trip was that he had gained a lot of knowledge and become more mature.

After completing this voyage, Tong Xuyou was the first to achieve financial freedom.

Tong Youwei would not take the money he earned; it all belonged to Tong Xuyou himself.

Whether he wanted to start a company and do his own thing in the future, he could make his own decisions.

This treatment made his other brothers very envious.

His brothers still needed Tong Youwei to give them their monthly expenses, and they couldn’t live too luxuriously, after all, the Tong family’s discipline was very strict.

But Tong Xuyou, who had achieved financial freedom, could spend as he pleased.

“I’ll tell you when I have time later.”

Tong Xuyou smiled and went out to receive guests.

In the future, he would need to make connections if he wanted to do business.

He wasn’t qualified to attend such occasions before. Now, it was as if Tong Youwei had recognized his ability and was sharing his network of relationships with him.

The increasingly mature Tong Xuyou was at ease in this kind of social interaction, earning praise from everyone and making Tong Youwei feel proud.

The money that Tong Xuyou earned was merely icing on the cake for the Tong family.

But for those small companies that had bet their fortunes on going to sea, this income doubled their assets.

The shareholders each received huge profits, and their confidence in ocean trade was even greater.

Many people were already thinking about how to expand their scale and go to sea again.

With experience, they also knew which goods were more popular and which routes were more cost-effective.

The bosses earned a lot, and the sailors who went to sea to make a living also earned a lot.

Although this voyage was hard, it was very worthwhile.

In Great Hua, their monthly income was about one or two yuan.

The sailors who completed this voyage each received at least one hundred yuan, and some received as much as two hundred, depending on whether the boss was generous enough.

One voyage directly elevated them to the middle class.

With this money, they could buy twenty or thirty mu of land from the government, marry a wife, and live a peaceful life from then on, realizing the transition from the proletariat to the propertied class.

They could also use this money to do some small business and transform themselves into bosses.

They could also go to brothels, restaurants, and gambling dens to enjoy themselves, then return to square one overnight, and then go back on the ship and continue their wandering life at sea.

Different people had different choices, but most of them continued to choose to be sailors.

They were used to the days at sea, and it was difficult for them to adapt to farming or doing other things.

Chapter 676: Handling Government Affairs

The Great Hua fleet returning this time also brought some Western European scholars who were extremely interested in Great Hua’s technology and wanted to come and study.

The Japanese had the same idea. They also sent a delegation of young students, hoping to get the opportunity to study at the university.

However, their goal was to return home after completing their studies to enrich and strengthen their country.

If it were just one or two people, the university might not have taken it seriously.

But with several hundred people added up before and after, the university had to take it seriously and reported the matter to Wu Changqing for a decision.

This made Wu Changqing quite embarrassed. To refuse directly would make Great Hua seem too stingy and narrow-minded.

How could the Celestial Empire prevent the spread of advanced culture?

But if he agreed, what if these guys returned to their countries after completing their studies to support their homeland’s development, and then came to fight against Great Hua? That would be troublesome enough.

Wu Changqing thought for a long time and finally agreed to the request of these scholars.

He thought that if these people were willing to stay in Great Hua after completing their studies, that would be the best.

If they were unwilling, then don’t blame the intelligence bureau for detaining them.

On the land of Great Hua, Wu Changqing was confident that he could manipulate them at will, so he wasn’t particularly worried.

Even if there were some who slipped through the net and escaped back to their countries, the power of individuals was ultimately limited.

Relying on the talent of one or a few people to change a country was unrealistic.

Moreover, whether their country still existed after they returned was an unknown.

At least, by the time the Japanese scholars had completed their studies, Japan would almost certainly have been incorporated into Great Hua’s rule.

Wu Changqing planned to completely resolve the Japan issue within five years. The current speed was slightly slower. At this rate, he was afraid he wouldn’t live to see the unification of the globe.

However, the biggest problem restricting Great Hua’s expansion now was transportation.

Once the ship speed was improved, and after automobiles appeared, the speed of conquering the globe could be greatly accelerated.

After writing down his guiding opinions, Wu Changqing began to look at the next memorial.

The King of Ryukyu sought investiture and asked Great Hua to help restore his country.

The Ryukyu Islands, that is, Okinawa Prefecture of Japan in later generations, had a US naval base.

This area belonged to China a long time ago, and later became independent as the Ryukyu Kingdom. A dozen years ago, it was invaded and occupied by the Satsuma Domain of Japan, and Okinawa Prefecture was established.

However, the Ryukyu royal family had not been completely destroyed, and some people had fled to Great Hua.

Now, the succeeding King of Ryukyu hoped that Great Hua could help restore his country, and then he was willing to be a vassal and pay tribute for generations.

Wu Changqing suspected that this King of Ryukyu was playing him. Asking him to help restore his country and also wanting to become a vassal state of Great Hua was probably living in a dream.

So many small countries around had no requirements and just wanted to become vassal states of Great Hua, but Great Hua had never agreed.

Great Hua didn’t need younger brothers, only submission.

What’s more, the true identity of this so-called King of Ryukyu was already difficult to identify. Maybe he was another Liu Bei, saying that he was a descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan whenever he met someone.

If it weren’t for the title of king on his head, matters related to him wouldn’t have reached Wu Changqing’s desk.

“Order the navy to occupy Ryukyu, incorporate Ryukyu into the territory of Great Hua again, and establish Ryukyu County.”

Wu Changqing gave his instructions.

Due to its geographical location, Ryukyu was a transit station for maritime trade and had high economic value.

Moreover, its strategic position was also good.

After taking Ryukyu, the East China Sea could become Great Hua’s inland sea.

In case any country was blind and wanted to attack Great Hua from the sea, the navy in Ryukyu could also provide early warning.

However, these were actually secondary reasons.

Anyway, Wu Changqing wanted to incorporate the surrounding territories into Great Hua, and even completely assimilate them. It was just a matter of time.

Now that someone had reminded Wu Changqing that there was still Ryukyu that had not been recovered, he simply issued an order.

Occupying a small Ryukyu was just a small matter for Great Hua.

In addition to recovering Ryukyu, Wu Changqing also summoned senior military generals and asked them to formulate a plan to recover Taiwan as well.

After recovering Taiwan, they could control the Taiwan Strait and control the entire maritime trade route from Southeast Asia to Great Hua and Japan.

At least, they could eliminate those pirates and make this route safer.

Great Hua’s attitude towards pirates was to resolutely crack down on them.

Recovering Taiwan was actually not difficult. There were no major forces on Taiwan at present.

There was only a remnant Ming regime supporting Zhu Yujian’s brother, Zhu Yujian, and a pirate group headed by Zheng Zhibao, as well as other miscellaneous small forces.

Zhu Yujian’s brother, Zhu Yujian, fled to the sea and to Taiwan when Guangzhou fell.

Then, using the identity of a descendant of the Ming Dynasty’s Zhu family, he gathered a group of Han people and established a regime.

The east side of Taiwan was inhabited by the Gaoshan people, and the habitable area on the west side was inhabited by a large number of Han people from Fujian and Zhejiang.

When they migrated, the Central Plains was still under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the title of Prince of Ming had a certain appeal and deterrent effect on these Han people.

As for Zheng Zhibao, he lacked the talent to govern a place, and he didn’t have relevant talents under his command, nor did he have appeal.

Therefore, he could only be a pirate leader, relying on robbing merchant ships to maintain his livelihood.

Defeating these forces was easy, but completely eliminating those pirates would take a lot of effort.

Looking at the world map, Taiwan was just a small piece.

But in reality, there were countless small islands in the surrounding sea area.

And these islands harbored pirates.

When dealing with formal forces, Great Hua was invincible.

But dealing with these pirates who didn’t even need a base was a very headache. They could play hide-and-seek and guerrilla warfare with Great Hua.

It was more like finding pirates than fighting pirates.

If they could be found, they could be completely eliminated.

If they couldn’t be found, they could only stare blankly.

The navy received two plans at the beginning of the new year, so naturally they were very happy.

There were two more reasons to ask for military expenses.

The army could only watch from the sidelines, envious, jealous, and hateful.

They had also formulated many plans, such as pacifying Sichuan, recovering the Northeast, and advancing into Mongolia.

Each plan was made in great detail, waiting for Wu Changqing to agree, and they could act immediately.

However, these plans were temporarily suppressed by Wu Changqing, and he did not give them a clear answer.

This made the army very anxious. Without war, their sense of existence would decline, which was not a good sign for them.

Chapter 677: Recapturing Ryukyu

Attacking Ryukyu didn’t require considering the Satsuma Domain’s feelings.

After all, this place wasn’t originally the Satsuma Domain’s territory.

If Shimazu Mitsuhisa dared to object, Great Hua could shut him up with a single sentence.

Great Hua didn’t deploy many people or ships; only three warships and five troop transports in total.

However, these three were Great Hua’s newest semi-ironclad ships, with a layer of iron plating covering various important positions on the ship.

This layer of iron wasn’t thick enough to completely defend against enemy cannonballs, but it could increase defense.

Before, without this layer of iron, a single enemy cannonball could breach the hull.

But with this layer of iron, the first cannonball could only cause minor damage. To completely destroy the hull and cause it to take on water, at least two cannonballs would need to hit roughly the same spot.

This greatly improved the warship’s defense. It wasn’t easy for enemy cannonballs to hit even once, let alone twice in roughly the same location, which required even more luck.

Ignoring the element of luck, it could be said that their current warships no longer needed to worry about being sunk.

Using these warships to attack Ryukyu was really bullying.

After all, the Japanese who currently ruled Ryukyu wouldn’t have many cannons.

Attacking Ryukyu was actually just letting these three warships test their performance in actual combat.

Including other small ships, the entire fleet consisted of sixteen vessels, with a total force of about three thousand soldiers.

The Japanese garrison in Ryukyu only had a total force of one thousand, with no professional fleet, only some merchant ships.

Deploying a force of three thousand soldiers was a major event for other countries and regions.

But for Great Hua, it was insignificant.

The fleet arrived in Ryukyu, and the Japanese in Ryukyu noticed them in advance, quickly sending a small boat to negotiate.

Fight if you can win, reason if you can’t, this was the common practice around the world.

The Japanese representative boarded Great Hua’s ship and stated that this was Japanese territory.

“Japanese territory? That’s not what the King of Ryukyu told us.”

Fleet Commander Lü Jianshang laughed.

“The King of Ryukyu? There is no King of Ryukyu now. We Japanese have managed this place for decades, it is already our Japanese territory.”

The Japanese envoy said angrily.

“Hahaha, your theory is very correct. So, after we drive you away and manage this place for decades, then it will also be an inseparable part of our Great Hua.”

Lü Jianshang used the other party’s theory to reply, leaving them speechless, because they really had no right to reason.

They couldn’t possibly say to Great Hua, “We Japanese can seize it, but you Great Hua can’t.”

If he dared to say that, he would probably be thrown into the sea to feed the fish immediately.

After thinking for a moment, the Japanese envoy could only change direction and said, “My Satsuma Domain has already signed a friendly treaty with Great Hua, this is a betrayal of faith.”

“The problem is, can you represent the Satsuma Domain? Alright, I’m too lazy to waste words with you. I’ll give you one hour to reply, whether you choose to withdraw voluntarily, or be driven away by us, the choice is yours.”

Lü Jianshang issued the ultimatum.

He wasn’t worried about the Satsuma Domain, because although Ryukyu was now under the jurisdiction of the Satsuma Domain, it couldn’t be completely considered as belonging to the Satsuma Domain.

The relationship between them was like that of the Zhou Emperor and the Spring and Autumn lords.

The Ryukyu daimyo nominally respected the Satsuma Domain as their master, and offered tributes from time to time.

But in reality, the Satsuma Domain couldn’t manage Ryukyu’s affairs, nor did it have an obligation to protect Ryukyu.

If equally matched people invaded Ryukyu, the Satsuma Domain, in order to maintain its prestige as the big brother, would stand up for its little brother.

But if the person bullying the little brother was too powerful, the big brother would usually immediately disclaim any relationship with the little brother, so as not to bring disaster upon itself.

The daimyo of Tanegashima had a much better relationship with Shimazu Mitsuhisa than the daimyo of Ryukyu, but Shimazu Mitsuhisa didn’t stand up for the Tanegashima clan.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, but that he didn’t have the strength.

The envoy returned to the island in a huff, and reported the results of the negotiation to the daimyo, which made the Akimichi clan curse in various ways.

Too much bullying, simply too much bullying.

At this moment, Akimichi’s mood was similar to that of the former King of Ryukyu.

All were angry, aggrieved and helpless.

However, Akimichi didn’t intend to yield.

Although he was also afraid of failure, and knew that he would definitely fail if he really fought, the most rational choice was to leave voluntarily.

But, he was unwilling.

Ryukyu was everything to him. With Ryukyu, he was still a daimyo, but if he lost this territory, then he would be nothing.

Their family had been operating on this archipelago for decades, and the accumulation of decades of hard work had to be defended even at the cost of their lives.

Therefore, Akimichi began to arrange defenses, promising heavy rewards and mobilizing his subordinates.

After an hour passed, Lü Jianshang saw that the other party still hadn’t expressed their position, so he didn’t waste any more words and ordered the attack to begin.

The Japanese all went ashore, not intending to fight a naval battle with Great Hua.

Therefore, Lü Jianshang didn’t bombard the ships in the port, those were spoils of war to be collected later.

Those ships were trash to the army, but they were still quite valuable to sell to civilian merchants.

The primary target of the Hua army’s attack was the port’s coastal defense guns. Only by removing these nails could the troop transports safely approach the shore and land.

Otherwise, allowing those cannons to attack the troop transports would easily lead to heavy losses.

The sounds of cannons from both sides rang out, and the Japanese were immediately embarrassed.

Of their fifty-odd coastal defense guns, only twenty-odd could hit the Hua army, the others had insufficient range due to their small caliber and short barrels.

This was only because their gun emplacements were built at a high altitude, which increased the range.

Without the height bonus, none of their cannons could hit Great Hua’s navy.

These cannons were actually enough to deal with other pirates or warships from other countries.

However, the cannons on these three semi-ironclad ships had also been upgraded to new cannons, with improved performance in all aspects, especially the range.

The range of the artillery fire was very important. Having a range advantage allowed them to kite the opponent on the sea, as well as many other benefits.

The sounds of cannons from both sides rang out, and the contrast wasn’t obvious at first.

But soon, the hit rate of Great Hua’s cannons began to increase sharply, causing the Japanese artillerymen to wail and scream.

Like the Portuguese in Western Europe, their gun emplacements didn’t have fortifications to protect the artillerymen, and the artillerymen suffered heavy casualties.

In contrast, most of the Japanese cannonballs landed on the sea, splashing up high columns of water.

The few that could hit near the Hua army warships were also due to luck, and rarely hit.

Occasionally hitting one or two, at most only killing a few Hua army soldiers. Apart from that, there were no other significant effects.

Wanting to sink Great Hua’s latest warship with these cannons was undoubtedly a pipe dream.

Chapter 678: Distance Equals Victory

The Japanese shelling was a mere tickle to the Great Hua army, while the Great Hua shelling was utterly devastating to the Japanese.

After a few rounds of bombardment, the Japanese warriors on the gun emplacements were either dead or had fled, leaving the positions completely deserted.

With the artillery threat neutralized, the Great Hua troop transports entered the harbor and began landing under the protection of the warships.

Akita Kikuji’s men dared not approach the docks to interfere, for the moment they showed their faces, the Great Hua cannons would roar.

Left with no choice, Akita Kikuji had to position the battlefield where the Great Hua artillery couldn’t reach, sacrificing the advantage of attacking the landing troops before they could establish a foothold.

His approach wasn’t wrong, but against such an overwhelming disparity in strength, even the right move was futile.

The Great Hua army leisurely completed their landing, with nearly two thousand five hundred soldiers setting foot on the island. Instead of attacking, they directly set up camp to rest.

After a day of travel at sea, many soldiers were exhausted, and some even felt unwell.

Therefore, Brigade Commander Cheng Tianbo, who was leading the troops, chose a steady, cautious approach, prioritizing getting his soldiers back into top condition.

In any case, as long as the enemy couldn’t bear to abandon this island, they couldn’t possibly escape.

That evening, Cheng Tianbo ordered increased security and then went to rest without a care.

He wasn’t worried about Akita Kikuji launching a night raid; in fact, he almost hoped for it.

Armies that dared to proactively attack the Great Hua army usually ended up retreating in tears.

As night fell, Akita Kikuji’s mind was in a state of extreme turmoil.

One voice told him he had to seize the opportunity for a night raid, or certain defeat awaited him on the morrow.

Another voice warned that it was surely a trap set by the Great Hua army, and going would mean certain death.

Neither voice could convince the other, and eventually, he drifted off to sleep in a daze, not knowing when.

He was awakened by someone shaking him violently.

“Lord, the enemy is forming ranks, it looks like they’re about to attack.”

Akita Kikuji’s personal guard said urgently.

The Great Hua army was finally launching their attack, which felt like impending doom to them.

“Prepare for battle!”

Akita Kikuji didn’t even bother to wash or eat, directly donned his armor, and left his house to reach the small hillside they were defending.

Calling it a hillside was generous; it was more like a small mound, no more than ten meters vertically above the surrounding ground.

Even if both sides were using cold weapons, standing on it offered little advantage.

However, Akita Kikuji had no choice.

He wanted to move the battlefield to the mountains in the north, but the problem was that the port was here, and the heart of Ryukyu was in this area.

If he took his men to the northern mountains, the Great Hua army might not even bother with him.

Akita Kikuji arrived at the front line, leading by example.

He saw the Great Hua army approaching slowly, with a leisurely air.

Such an army probably didn’t have much fighting strength, he thought with a hint of doubt.

Then, he began to hear gunshots.

At this point, the Great Hua army was still over one hundred and fifty meters away.

At that distance, they had no means of retaliation.

Akita Kikuji could only endure for now, waiting for the Great Hua army to get closer.

However, the Great Hua army didn’t comply with his wishes.

They simply stayed at a distance and fired.

Since their mission didn’t specify a deadline, there was no need to rush for efficiency. Instead, they had plenty of patience to minimize casualties.

The best way to minimize casualties was to stay far away from the enemy.

As long as the enemy couldn’t hit them, they were absolutely safe.

And so, they stood at a distance, taking careful aim and firing, forcing the Japanese to charge forward.

Charging at a line of flintlock muskets was a path to certain death, and charging at breech-loading rifles with greatly increased firing rates was even more suicidal.

In the age of cold weapons, archers were so highly valued and feared because of one attribute: long range.

“I can hit you, but you can’t hit me,” which easily caused the opponent to break down.

When it came to killing efficiency, bows and arrows couldn’t compare to broadswords in melee combat.

If ten arrows managed to hit and eliminate one enemy, one could already thank the heavens.

The Great Hua army was in a similar situation: “I can hit you, but you can’t hit me.”

More importantly, their killing efficiency was far greater than that of bows and arrows.

At a distance of one hundred and fifty meters, well-trained soldiers could manage two shots per kill, or even one shot per kill.

Even the new recruits, after a few shots of aiming, could usually hit someone.

After two rounds of shooting, the Japanese side had already suffered heavy casualties.

“Take cover! Take cover!”

Akita Kikuji shouted.

But the other warriors looked bewildered. Where could they take cover?

This small mound had no trees, no large rocks, not even a deep pit.

They were completely exposed to the Great Hua army’s line of sight.

After shouting, Akita Kikuji realized it was useless and became as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

He didn’t dare lead his troops in a charge; they were already outnumbered, and abandoning their position to charge would guarantee defeat.

At this point, he could only tell his men to endure.

He had faced archers before, and as long as they endured until the archers’ arms lost strength, or until they ran out of arrows, the storm would pass.

This idea, while foolish in hindsight, wasn’t too problematic in the past.

However, he had underestimated the performance of the Great Hua army’s rifles.

With these guns, firing dozens of shots at a time was tiring, but certainly not enough to cause exhaustion.

And while bullets were relatively expensive, with ten bullets costing one Great Hua dollar, the army could definitely afford them.

Their ammunition consumption was actually not that high, because the enemies of this era were relatively foolish and didn’t dig trenches to take cover.

In later wars, sometimes dozens or even hundreds of bullets wouldn’t kill a single enemy.

But currently, the Great Hua army could kill an enemy with an average of five bullets, which was already quite good data.

The value of a soldier’s life, no matter how it was calculated, was more than ten or even dozens of times higher than five bullets.

“How can these people be so stupid? They don’t even know how to take cover or run away?”

On the Great Hua side, ordinary soldiers even had the leisure to complain while firing, showing how relaxed they were.

“There’s no helping it, they’re barbarians, how smart can they be? I heard they don’t even have their own writing, they use our Great Hua characters.”

A sergeant said.

His words made several illiterate soldiers feel awkward. The sergeant’s words sounded like he was saying that illiterate people were stupid.

Although there wasn’t much wrong with that view, the few of them still felt uncomfortable.

However, they secretly resolved to work harder in their cultural lessons, so they wouldn’t be looked down upon.

Moreover, knowing how to read had many practical benefits, like the sergeant in front of them. He wasn’t particularly outstanding compared to the others, but simply because he could read, he had been promoted to sergeant.

Chapter 679: Establishing Ryukyu Prefecture

After several rounds of shooting, the Japanese on the earthen mound, having suffered nearly twenty percent casualties, finally broke down.

Anyone would go crazy waiting to be executed.

They split into two groups: one group ran away, while the other charged towards the Great Hua army, screaming.

Heaven have mercy, this wasn’t Akita Kikuji’s fault. He hadn’t given such an idiotic order; it was purely a spontaneous action by his subordinates.

And the fate of these people was, of course, tragic.

The Great Hua army naturally prioritized shooting those who posed a threat to them. Under concentrated fire, they couldn’t even get within fifty meters of the Great Hua soldiers.

Soon, those who weren’t afraid to die were all dead.

And those who were afraid to die were subsequently captured by the Great Hua army.

“This tactic is excellent and worth promoting in the army. It allows us to distinguish the enemy, kill those who aren’t afraid to die, and enslave those who are easily subdued. Truly brilliant!”

One of the battlefield observers laughed loudly.

These enemies would definitely be captured and taken to Great Hua to build roads, and those who weren’t afraid to die were often extremely difficult to manage and prone to causing trouble.

During the construction of railways in Great Hua, such disturbances had occurred more than once.

Each riot caused some losses to Great Hua.

But now, this tactic could kill those stubborn elements who weren’t afraid to die, leaving behind docile people who were easy to rule. It was truly wonderful.

The others laughed upon hearing this. The feeling of bullying people was quite satisfying.

In this battle, the Great Hua army achieved a zero-casualty record. The firearms were also very cooperative, with no instances of explosions.

But Japan suffered miserably, with a full third of their forces killed in action, over three hundred people dying with resentment.

The rest were basically captured. The Great Hua army controlled the port, and they had no way to escape the island, with no ships to sail away.

Even Akita Kikuji was captured alive, but was quickly beheaded in public at the urging of the Ryukyu natives, to appease public anger.

“I heard that these people were all Han Chinese hundreds of years ago, so managing them shouldn’t be too much trouble in the future.”

Looking at the cheering people below, Lü Jianshang said to Chu Fang, the civil official accompanying him.

Chu Fang was the first county magistrate of Ryukyu County, having just been appointed a few days ago.

Great Hua was now so arrogant that it appointed civil officials even before taking over a place, and then directly sent them out with the army, so they could take over the area as soon as possible.

Unlike before, when the Great Hua army conquered a place, it still had to continue employing the original local civil officials, and then wait for the central government to send new officials.

After employing the original officials, it would be difficult to deal with those people in the future.

But now, Great Hua had the ability to have civil officials accompany the army, not giving the surrendered officials a chance.

Compared to other conquered lands, the civil official group of Great Hua was naturally a collective, and it would find ways to leave the benefits to the internal people first, instead of continuing to leave the benefits to those surrendered officials.

There were still many people within them who wanted to become officials, but there were only so many positions, and there had already begun to be a situation where there were not enough official positions, requiring fierce competition.

“Hmph, returning to the embrace of Great Hua is a blessing they have cultivated for three lifetimes. Anyone who dares not be grateful will be killed without mercy. Brigade Commander Lü still needs to leave some troops here to assist this official in suppressing stubborn rebels at any time.”

Chu Fang snorted coldly.

He actually felt resentment in his heart for being an official in this overseas land.

After all, how could this barbaric land compare to the comfort of Jiangnan.

With resentment in his heart, he naturally couldn’t vent it on the Ministry of Personnel that arranged his work for him; he wasn’t that brave.

According to the kick-the-cat effect, he very naturally vented this resentment on the people of Ryukyu.

There was no risk in venting his anger on these people.

At this time, he wasn’t afraid of the people causing trouble, he was only afraid of the people not causing trouble.

As long as someone caused trouble, he could make a big deal out of it.

“Lord Chu, please take it easy. After all, this place is going to be integrated into Great Hua.”

Lü Jianshang reminded him. Great Hua had different policies for different places.

For areas like this that were preparing to be fully incorporated into Great Hua, they often had to pay attention to winning the hearts of the people and couldn’t rely on brutal rule.

If the people rebelled repeatedly, it would be troublesome and costly for them to come and quell the rebellion.

Lü Jianshang just mentioned it, but he couldn’t control whether Chu Fang would listen.

After occupying the main island of Ryukyu, the Great Hua army also carried out a cleanup of the surrounding islands, arresting those who refused to submit and then transporting them all to Great Hua to build roads.

After completing these tasks, the Great Hua army left a small number of troops to garrison, and the rest left triumphantly.

They weren’t even worried that the Japanese would come back to retake this place. As long as the Japanese dared to come, Great Hua would have another reason to launch a war and teach Japan a lesson.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa chose to remain silent after learning that Ryukyu had been occupied.

He had no choice but to remain silent. He was becoming increasingly dependent on Great Hua.

Without Great Hua continuing to provide him with military supplies, he would have to worry about the Kumamoto Domain annexing him.

He knew in his heart that Great Hua was watching the tigers fight from the mountain top, but he, this tiger, had no choice but to fight with the other tiger.

Because once he stopped, Great Hua might take the initiative to intervene and slaughter him, this tiger.

Of course, Shimazu Mitsuhisa wasn’t resigned to his fate. He was still working hard.

In the battle with the Kumamoto Domain, he had already begun to pursue preserving his strength as the main goal.

He hoped that Nishikawa Mochiyoshi could understand his meaning and then fight a tacit battle to show Great Hua.

His idea was good, but achieving true tacit understanding was not easy.

The situation of the Kumamoto Domain was even worse than that of the Satsuma Domain, because they didn’t have as many mineral resources as the Satsuma Domain, so their sources of income were quite limited.

In order to maintain expenses, Nishikawa Mochiyoshi had to divide his forces into two groups, one to deal with the Satsuma Domain perfunctorily, and the other to fully attack the Fukuoka Domain and the surrounding small domains.

Those weak daimyo immediately suffered, and were instantly wiped out by the people of the Kumamoto Domain.

However, the Fukuoka Domain was a large domain, with a large size, so it wouldn’t be defeated so quickly.

Moreover, Great Hua repeated its old trick, and people had already been active in Fukuoka, waiting for the people of the Fukuoka Domain to take the initiative to come to them for military supplies.

At first, the daimyo of the Fukuoka Domain stubbornly disagreed with the various harsh terms proposed by Great Hua.

But after the people of the Kumamoto Domain attacked, and his army was repeatedly defeated, he finally began to worry, and then agreed to the Great Hua conditions in one go, just to get a batch of military supplies to protect himself.

After several months of sowing discord, Kyushu Island was now in a complete mess.

The battle between the three major domains had never stopped, and some daimyo who had lost their territories were also using the wealth they had accumulated throughout their lives to buy weapons from Great Hua, and then led their confidants to various uprisings and disturbances, trying to regain their former territories.

Chapter 680: A Four-Nation Free-for-All

Compared to Kyushu Island, Shikoku Island was even livelier at this time.

Kyushu Island, with its relatively favorable geographical location, larger population, and better economic development, had formed three major domains.

In contrast, Shikoku Island seemed like a country bumpkin compared to the other three major islands, a wild and barren land.

It lacked the conditions to form large domains, consisting instead of small domains of roughly equal strength.

The battles between them resembled the squabbles between two clans in Great Hua fighting over a water source.

The smallest domain on Shikoku Island had a total population of less than one thousand people.

Each time they fought, all the adult men in the domain had to take up arms, but even then, they could only muster two to three hundred people.

As for weapons, a bamboo spear was considered good. Most people had to make do with a thick wooden stick.

Despite their small numbers, they were fiercely independent.

Those who weren’t had long been swallowed up by others. Those who survived possessed, to some extent, a brutal streak.

It was because this place was inhabited by a group of near-crazed people, willing to risk their lives for a little water, that the surrounding large domains were too lazy to conquer it.

It simply wasn’t worth it. The benefits gained from conquest were far outweighed by the cost.

Great Hua had also begun its strategy of conquest in this area.

Their methods were very simple: trading weapons for women.

On Shikoku Island, only women were worth anything; everything else was worthless.

Moreover, the weapons Great Hua offered weren’t firearms or grenades, but cold weapons like steel swords, shields, and armor.

These items, on the verge of being phased out in Great Hua, were absolute weapons on Shikoku Island.

Wielding a steel sword and wearing armor against people armed with wooden sticks made it easy to create a myth of taking on a hundred enemies single-handedly.

The Tosa Domain was considered a large domain on Shikoku Island, with a population of over nine thousand.

With over nine thousand people, they had more than five hundred professional samurai. Each time they fought, they could gather a force of two to three thousand men, including adult males.

Around Tosa Province, they were considered a relatively dominant force.

Their daimyo, Ikehara Okura, was also an ambitious man who had always wanted to conquer the surrounding areas and become an influential daimyo.

However, in the past, their strength wasn’t enough to achieve a beatdown, so his battles with other domains were mostly symbolic, not daring to go all out for fear of suffering too many losses.

In ordinary struggles for profit, no one would fight too hard. But if one wanted to annex the other, they would surely fight to the death.

Faced with a group of people willing to fight to the death, Ikehara Okura had to be cautious and consider the gains and losses.

However, since purchasing a large number of Great Hua’s iron weapons, he had become arrogant, directly destroying a small domain of two thousand people next door and seizing their land and population.

Among them, the young women who were captured were all used to pay off Great Hua’s debts.

These steel weapons were very cheap in Great Hua, but they were sold at exorbitant prices on Shikoku.

However, Ikehara Okura felt he wasn’t at a loss. He not only obtained these weapons but also acquired the land and some of the population of the neighboring domain.

With these weapons, he could continue to expand.

However, when he began to attack the second daimyo, he encountered trouble.

The daimyo next door weren’t fools. They had seen clearly when Ikehara Okura invaded others.

Seeing Ikehara Okura’s strength greatly increased, the other daimyo couldn’t sleep peacefully. They inquired about the news and then learned the reason for Ikehara Okura’s increased strength.

As a result, the other daimyo began to exchange women for weapons.

Some daimyo who couldn’t afford it for the time being also began to buy on credit, getting the weapons first, and then invading other domains to seize land and women.

Everything they had plundered in the past was theirs, but now only the land they plundered was theirs; the women had to be used to pay off debts.

However, this was better than being plundered.

Therefore, other daimyo began to purchase weapons from Great Hua.

Among them, some daimyo knew that this couldn’t go on, that it would benefit Great Hua and harm the foundation of Japan.

However, they suffered from the lack of a strong figure to stand up. Everyone was fighting their own battles.

If you resisted Great Hua alone, the only outcome would be being occupied by other domains.

In such a situation, even some far-sighted daimyo had to purchase weapons from Great Hua.

In fact, they bought even more.

Because they had lofty ambitions, trying to unify Shikoku and then form a strong force to resist Great Hua.

Although what he thought was different from other daimyo, what he did was the same. On the surface, no one was qualified to laugh at anyone.

Ikehara Okura encountered trouble. He was attacking a domain with a population of more than five thousand, and more importantly, this daimyo had bought more than four hundred steel swords.

These steel swords could take a person’s life with a single strike.

In the first battle between the two sides, more than six hundred people died, which was quite terrifying.

In the past, when everyone used wooden sticks, it was difficult to kill a person even after a long time.

But now, as long as you were slightly careless and got hit by a sword, you would die.

The result of the greatly increased killing efficiency was that the two sides quickly became mortal enemies.

In the past, their disputes were not a big deal if one or two people died. After the dispute ended, everyone could still have contact.

But now, with hundreds of people dead on each side, the feud couldn’t be resolved.

Unless they completely killed each other, they would be afraid of revenge in their sleep.

After all, everyone lived too close, only half an hour’s walk away.

Every time they went to sleep, they had to worry about the other side coming to set fire to their houses.

Based on this consideration, both sides wanted to destroy each other.

As a result, the second battle was even more tragic, with almost all adult men wounded.

In the end, Ikehara Okura won by virtue of his superior numbers and successfully annexed the other side.

However, his strength did not increase.

The population had increased a lot, but the women had to be used to pay off debts and exchange for some luxury goods.

And the adult men on his side suffered heavy casualties, greatly reducing the number of soldiers available. Although he also captured some adult men, these people were not trustworthy and could only be used for slavery, unable to be quickly transformed into his own troops.

These prisoners of war were different from the surrendered soldiers in Great Hua.

On the battlefields of Great Hua, most of the soldiers were professional soldiers, making a living. It was the same to them who they followed, with no position.

But here in Shikoku, there was a natural opposition between two villages.

The women of those who were defeated were robbed, and their land was also robbed. It was unlikely, very difficult, to expect them to fight for him as soldiers.

Unless Ikehara Okura could treat everyone equally, giving these surrendered adult men land and women.

However, even if Ikehara Okura had such courage, he could only offer land at most; there were no women, as they had all been sent to Great Hua.

Chapter 681: The Impact of Japanese Women

Ikehara Okura temporarily calmed down, wanting to first digest the fruits of his victory and recover some vitality.

However, he forgot that he had already become a fat sheep.

Before, he had more than two thousand combat-ready soldiers, but only occupied one domain.

But now, he only has one thousand combat-ready soldiers, yet he sits on three domains.

He wanted to be a good person and live without conflict, but the surrounding daimyo wouldn’t allow it.

Several daimyo joined forces, attempting to invade Tosa Domain.

However, even though Tosa Domain only had a little over a thousand troops left, the weapons in their hands were still sharp.

The daimyo who came to try and take advantage all suffered losses. After thinking about it, the only way was still to buy weapons from Great Hua.

Having bought weapons, they attacked Tosa Domain again.

This time, Ikehara Okura finally couldn’t resist and was destroyed by several daimyo. He himself also died a heroic death.

The land and population of Tosa Domain were divided up, and such a matter involving multiple parties could not satisfy everyone.

One moment they were allies, the next they became enemies.

Even if they didn’t have conflicts, Great Hua would find ways to create some conflicts between them.

In short, the atmosphere between these domains began to become tense, and they were always worried that the other party would suddenly come and burn their house down in the middle of the night.

Once this worry was sown, there was no way for them to coexist peacefully.

What happened in the Tosa area was just a microcosm of Shikoku Island.

Similar things were happening in other places as well.

It was just that Great Hua didn’t have that much energy for the moment. If they put all their energy into this, it wouldn’t be long before they could bring down Japan and then completely take it over.

Unfortunately, Great Hua’s energy still had to be focused on its own development. The manpower and financial resources used to deal with the situation in Japan were limited, and there was no way to further expand the area of trouble-making.

However, the current results were not bad. Ship after ship of Japanese women and children were transported to Great Hua.

Out of humanitarianism, Great Hua also accepted the children of those women when receiving them.

Of course, mainly Great Hua felt that as long as these children were raised in Great Hua for a few years, they would basically forget Japan and become obedient citizens of Great Hua.

As long as they can forget Japan and regard themselves as people of Great Hua.

Then, Great Hua would treat them equally.

After all, everyone looks pretty much the same. In fact, many people of Great Hua felt that they were the ancestors of the Japanese.

Now that the descendants have returned, they can’t be too harsh.

The current people of Great Hua have not experienced the wars between the two countries in later generations, so they don’t have much hatred for the Japanese.

However, it depends on the person.

Some women of Great Hua would be full of hostility towards these Japanese women.

Before these Japanese women came, they were still very popular because of their scarcity.

However, with a large number of Japanese women coming, they were not so popular.

These Japanese women have experienced the devastation of war and the trampling of being bought and sold at will. Their dignity has been almost destroyed, so their tolerance is amazing.

If a woman of Great Hua is beaten, she is afraid that she will make a scene at her parents’ home.

These Japanese women would definitely shed tears silently if they were beaten.

Because these Japanese women were extraordinarily docile, the men of Great Hua liked them very much.

It was no longer just some people who couldn’t get a wife who came to claim a Japanese wife. Some men who had the ability to marry local women also chose to marry Japanese women after some consideration.

After all, no one likes to marry a shrew and have their authority as a husband undermined.

The men of Great Hua benefited, while the women suffered losses, so they naturally hated those Japanese women.

Unfortunately, no matter how much they hated, they couldn’t change this situation.

After all, this situation was beneficial to the men of Great Hua, and the current Great Hua was a patriarchal society, where all power was in the hands of men.

Although Wu Changqing had intentionally raised the status of some women, on the whole, women still needed to rely on men to exist for the time being.

It would not be easy for women to hold up half the sky.

If Wu Changqing really dared to do this, he would definitely be overthrown.

This was more serious than land reform. Land reform only infringed on the interests of one class. Achieving gender equality, on the other hand, infringed on the interests of all men.

Under normal circumstances, this would never happen.

In the original timeline, the status of women was able to undergo earth-shattering changes, on the one hand, because they themselves worked hard enough, and on the other hand, they had to thank the war.

A large number of adult men died in battle, and the labor force was so scarce that it could not be added.

A large number of women were forced to rush to the front line of production, mastered production resources, mastered economic power, and their status naturally rose accordingly.

In addition, some Western politicians kept trying to please women in order to win votes.

Many reasons have led to the continuous rise in the status of women.

The improvement of women’s status requires timing.

The current Great Hua does not have such conditions.

Anyone who dares to shout a word of gender equality will probably be laughed at for the rest of their lives.

Even women would laugh at his wishful thinking.

The situation where the influx of Japanese women leads to a decline in the status of women in Great Hua is not serious for the time being.

Because Great Hua’s size is too large, these twenty or thirty thousand women cannot cause too much waves.

Moreover, among these twenty or thirty thousand Japanese women, only a little over ten thousand have temporarily married men of Great Hua, and a large number of them have not yet settled down.

Those who are more seriously affected are probably the prostitutes of Great Hua.

Many of those Japanese women have entered brothels to work.

After all, this is a relatively easy job for them.

Moreover, they often have no choice.

After Japanese women entered brothels, they were very popular with madams because of their good service attitude.

Moreover, prostitutes of Great Hua are protected by the government, and there are relevant regulations that at least twenty percent of the money earned can be distributed to them.

And these Japanese women temporarily belong to the legal blind spot, and all the money they earn belongs to the brothel.

How much they can get basically depends on the madam’s conscience.

As a result, the madams began to dislike the local girls, began to dismiss some local girls, and then specialized in finding goods among the Japanese women.

This is undoubtedly a very fatal blow to the local prostitutes of Great Hua.

They have completely lost their competitiveness in comparison with Japanese women.

Unless they also learn the service attitude of those Japanese women, and at the same time accept the madam’s exploitation and actively demand a reduction in wages.

Otherwise, they will no longer be able to engage in this industry.

However, having become accustomed to high-split income, it is difficult for them to return to the hard days of the past.

It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

Returning to the past, the psychological gap in their hearts is too great.

Helplessly, a large number of local prostitutes in Great Hua can only change careers.

Chapter 682: The Battle for Sea and Land

However, there weren’t many jobs suitable for them.

Textile factories were too strenuous, and they would be looked down upon for positions like childcare workers or saleswomen due to their past experiences.

The most suitable option for them was probably as battlefield nurses.

Other than that, they could only go to other places, live under assumed names, and marry someone.

Those with good looks could find a wealthy man to be a concubine.

Those with less appealing looks could find an honest man.

Those who were unwilling to do any of that could also go to a nunnery and see through the vanity of the world.

There were also those who couldn’t even see through the vanity of the world and chose to drown themselves in a lake.

In short, in such a vast empire, all sorts of stories were happening, a plethora of tragedies and comedies.

The large influx of Japanese women had a significant impact on the individual courtesans, but it didn’t have much impact on Great Hua as a whole.

After all, the number of courtesans was already small, and even fewer were forced to change careers.

With Great Hua’s size, it was quite easy to absorb these women.

Of course, as more Japanese women flooded in, there would definitely be an impact on Great Hua in the future.

While the Great Hua Navy was attacking Ryukyu, it was also attacking Taiwan.

This year, the navy received a lot of funding, so it had the ability to support such an operation.

If there weren’t enough warships, they would spend some money to requisition civilian merchant ships.

Armed civilian merchant ships were perfectly capable of dealing with pirates.

A total of thirty thousand men were involved in the attack on Taiwan, including ten thousand navy and twenty thousand army soldiers.

The navy was responsible for destroying the enemy’s surface forces and clearing out pirates.

The army was responsible for capturing various locations on Taiwan.

In order to get the army to move, the navy also paid some price to appease the army’s dissatisfaction.

“Commander Wu, I think our navy should form its own marine corps, so that we don’t have to ask the army for help no matter what mission we carry out in the future,” Shi Zaoming suggested.

Now that the navy and army were at odds, the navy had a headache when it came to missions that required landing combat, and they needed to ask the army for help.

It wasn’t that their navy couldn’t defeat the enemy, but each profession had its own expertise. Their combat effectiveness on land was definitely far inferior to that of the army.

They lacked professional land combat equipment, the soldiers lacked land combat experience, and the officers were not good at land combat tactics, and so on.

If they fought the enemy on land with their half-baked skills, the casualties would definitely be significant.

However, in Shi Zaoming’s view, this problem could be solved as long as the navy specially trained a group of marine soldiers.

They didn’t need too many people, one to two thousand would be enough.

After all, the places they were going to conquer were generally not very strong, and one to two thousand people would be enough to deal with them.

And the navy didn’t care about the little money it would take to support one to two thousand army soldiers.

They spent tens of thousands of yuan to build a ship.

In short, the navy had plenty of money.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. The army will have objections,” Wu Yi shook his head. This was equivalent to stealing the army’s job, and it was estimated that the army would directly turn against them. The impact would be too great, and he didn’t dare to provoke such a dispute.

During last year’s competition for military spending, there was already a huge rift between the navy and the army.

The army even proposed building a large number of coastal defense guns at the mouth of the Yangtze River, which made Shi Zaoming scold Liu Hansan directly.

After all, their navy was now invincible, and the enemy couldn’t even get close to Great Hua’s ports, so how could they possibly go straight into Nanjing from the Yangtze River?

These coastal defense guns were not to defend against foreign enemies, but to guard against their navy rebelling.

How could this not make the navy angry? They shouted that they were loyal to His Majesty and refused to allow the army to build coastal defense guns that could block the river.

Because they said that once Nanjing was in danger, the navy could quickly rescue it.

These words almost directly said that they were worried that the army would rebel.

In short, it was a complete mess, and both sides were very unhappy.

It was not easy to calm down, and Wu Yi did not want to stimulate the army guys for the time being.

“However, even if we don’t do this, the army has already started doing it. They are now engaged in a so-called surface special operations team, ostensibly to facilitate the transportation of soldiers and small-scale inland river battles. But in fact, the ships equipped by their water warfare team are equipped with cannons, and they are already a navy,” Shi Zaoming said indignantly. He also couldn’t stand the army’s approach, so he wanted to engage in the Marine Corps.

“This, they are doing that because they need it,” Wu Yi said.

The navy and army belonged to two different systems, and sometimes it was very inconvenient in terms of command and coordination.

Even if it was a regimental headquarters, the army had no way to command a company headquarters of the navy. They all needed to report to a higher level, and then the senior navy and army officials would negotiate, reach a consensus, and then order cooperation.

By the time the whole process was completed, the day lilies would be cold.

In order to improve efficiency, the army built some ships for the army to use.

At first, the intention was to make it easier, so that some small-scale water operations would not need to ask the navy for help.

However, there were also bad people in the army who wanted to make this surface special operations team bigger and reach the point where it could compete with the navy.

If the army wasn’t poor and couldn’t invest too much money, I’m afraid the scale of this surface special operations team would be even larger.

Wu Yi knew all these things in his heart.

However, he didn’t want to argue with the army, for fear of affecting unity.

Unfortunately, his subordinates didn’t think so.

Whether it was the navy or the army, the most important theoretical basis when competing for funding was how much work they had done.

The more work they did, the more funding they got.

Now that the army had created such a surface special operations team, which had taken a lot of work from the navy, the other side would definitely get a lot less funding next time.

Therefore, they wanted to engage in the Marine Corps.

They also had sufficient reasons, and it was also for convenience.

In some small island battles, they wanted to avoid delays in combat opportunities due to different command systems. The reasons were exactly the same as the army.

It was very difficult for the army to engage in surface troops, but it was much easier for the navy to engage in the Marine Corps. Who made the army worthless? The money for the equipment of a few guns, the navy said that they didn’t care at all.

“Although that’s what you say, the brothers below are not convinced. I have a memorial here. The commander can take a look at it first. If there is no problem, I will present it to His Majesty and let His Majesty make the decision,” Shi Zaoming handed over a “Memorial on the Establishment of the Marine Corps,” which discussed his views on the establishment of the Marine Corps.

Of course, there was not a trace of contradiction with the army mentioned in it. The whole article was discussing the benefits of establishing the Marine Corps, mainly to improve efficiency.

These arguments were indeed not wrong. The establishment of the Marine Corps would definitely help to improve efficiency.

Wu Yi finally agreed to submit the memorial, but he felt that His Majesty should not agree.

After all, this little improvement in efficiency was dispensable for Great Hua.

And the navy’s establishment of a strong Marine Corps would threaten the safety of Nanjing.

Chapter 683: Marching on Formosa

Wu Changqing was actually quite conflicted about the dispute between the navy and the army.

He recalled the relationship between the navy and army of Japan in his previous life. The navy spent a fortune buying blueprints and technology from Germany, and then the army ran to buy another set.

Faced with such a huge pie, the Germans couldn’t help but complain, “Aren’t you from the same country’s military? Can’t you share this kind of thing?”

But the truth was, they really couldn’t.

Wu Changqing didn’t want the relationship between the Great Hua navy and army to become like that of Japan in his previous life.

Of course, he was also happy to see some discord between the navy and army.

Discord between the navy and army could create checks and balances, reducing the risk of his subordinates rebelling.

If the navy and army were completely in cahoots, that would be truly dangerous.

In the end, Wu Changqing gave his opinion, allowing the army to form a surface special operations team, but with no more than five thousand men and no more than thirty ships.

Similarly, he allowed the navy to form a marine corps, but with no more than ten thousand men.

At the same time, he stipulated that both sides must share technology.

He didn’t want the navy to spend hundreds of thousands to research large-caliber artillery technology, and then the army to spend hundreds of thousands as well, causing a waste of resources.

Regardless of which side made a research breakthrough, it must be provided to the other side free of charge.

This regulation would allow the army to take advantage.

After all, the army was poor and invested less money in weapons research, while the navy invested more.

If there were results, the army could freeload.

With Wu Changqing’s word, the navy and army temporarily calmed down.

The prestige of the founding emperor was far greater than that of the emperors in the middle and late periods of the dynasty. The people below were more afraid of the emperor, especially the generals, who were afraid that Wu Changqing would find an excuse to strip them of their military power with a cup of wine.

Therefore, whenever Wu Changqing gave guidance, the people below would honestly carry it out.

On such major issues, the military was more cautious.

On some other minor matters, the military would be more reckless.

For example, when the Great Hua navy set off from Fuzhou, a unit composed of the military and police broke into Zheng Zhilong’s home and took him away for investigation.

The military suspected him of informing the great pirate Zheng Zhibao, and even had ‘evidence’.

Zheng Zhilong actually had a chance to change his fate, but he was careless. He thought he would be safe after surrendering, and didn’t try to curry favor with the people above, nor did he try to integrate into the Great Hua military or the circle of civil officials.

He just wanted to protect the wealth he had accumulated in the past and live a peaceful life.

But reality was not so beautiful. A person without power or influence, possessing so much wealth, was like a child parading around with gold bricks.

He had been able to live until now only because Great Hua had not been in a hurry to attack Formosa.

Now that Wu Changqing had decided to recover Formosa, the military immediately began to deal with him, and the civil officials also supported it.

Of course, what they were doing was illegal, and they were deceiving their superiors.

But Wu Changqing might not even have the opportunity to know about this kind of thing.

His intelligence agency generally only focused on major events that would affect his rule, and could not be all-encompassing, investigating everything in the world.

Of course, even if Wu Changqing knew, he wouldn’t care too much.

A commoner being executed and his family property confiscated for informing pirates was a minor matter that happened several times a year in Great Hua.

Zheng Zhilong was sitting at home, and disaster came from the sky.

Of course, he was not innocent. The money in his family was all the people’s hard-earned money, stained with the blood of others.

Zheng Zhilong’s home was raided, and a total of nearly three million wen worth of wealth was seized.

This money could improve the army’s food, improve the living conditions of officials in Fuzhou, and a large part of it could be turned over to the national treasury. In short, everyone was happy, except for the Zheng family.

The fleet landed in Hsinchu, and then the army divided into two routes.

One route advanced north, and the other south.

In terms of military strength, the Great Hua army was absolutely invincible, but they chose to subdue people with virtue when attacking Formosa.

Before each attack, they sent people to explain the current situation to the local rulers and advise them to surrender.

If they were willing to surrender, Great Hua was too lazy to make a big fuss.

As for those who were unwilling, Great Hua would not be polite.

In Hsinchu, they did not encounter resistance. The local person in charge decisively chose to surrender.

Because it was close to the mainland, they knew more about the situation on the mainland and knew that resistance was futile.

After leaving a few civil officials and a unit of several hundred people, the rest continued to sail south.

They landed in Taichung and Tainan respectively.

Taichung also did not encounter resistance. When the other party saw the Hua army’s huge formation, they simply chose to submit.

Anyway, the Hua army had promised them that after incorporating Formosa into Great Hua, they would still be appointed to manage Formosa.

In the eyes of Great Hua officials, Formosa was a desolate place, and not many people were willing to come here to be officials.

Appointing the original managers was the easiest solution.

If Formosa was a prosperous area like Jiangnan, these original rulers would basically end up like Zheng Zhilong.

If these people were not removed, where would there be room for others?

But now, because the place was too bad, these people saved their lives, and even retained a certain status and power.

This condition was undoubtedly very generous to the local rulers, so those people naturally had no intention of resisting and surrendered very readily.

However, in Tainan, the Hua army’s progress was not so smooth.

Ruling here was the remnant Ming regime, which had an irreconcilable hatred with Great Hua. Zhu Yuao knew that he would die if he surrendered, so he could only resist to the end.

Moreover, their strength was much stronger than the forces in other parts of Formosa, and they had a certain amount of confidence to resist.

With the firearms they had obtained in the past, as well as the tall city walls, they were confident that they could contend.

“This city built by the Dutch is quite distinctive.”

Qiu Yuru, the commander-in-chief of this siege, said.

Tainan City was originally a castle built by the Dutch. Unlike Great Hua, who liked squares, the walls of their castle were arched.

“This city wall is a bit difficult to attack. Why don’t we borrow some cannons from the navy to blow down the city wall?”

His subordinate advised. They didn’t bring cannons this time.

“Borrow from those grandsons in the navy? It’s not that easy. There will be no shortage of sarcastic remarks, and they will have to share half of the spoils.”

Qiu Yuru cursed.

“That’s right, we must not let the navy look down on us. So what if we don’t have cannons? Does that mean our army can’t siege the city without cannons?”

The other generals echoed, they would rather put in more effort than ask the navy for help, that’s how much backbone they had.

Subsequently, Qiu Yuru ordered his subordinates to overcome difficulties and find a way to dig tunnels to blow up the city walls.

In short, he would not ask the navy for help because of this trivial matter.

Chapter 684: Taiwan Prefecture

On the city wall, Zhu Yuao could only hold himself steady by supporting himself against the ramparts as he watched the Great Hua army below.

He was afraid.

Once the city fell, he would certainly die.

And so far, there wasn’t a single city that Great Hua hadn’t been able to conquer.

Zhu Yuao knew very well that he was doomed this time.

If surrendering could save his life, he would surrender without hesitation.

But after learning of Zhu Youlang’s fate, he knew that surrender was also a dead end.

“Defend to the death.”

Zhu Yuao ordered, then retreated to the imperial residence.

He wanted to enjoy himself with a concubine before he died.

However, under such high mental stress, his little brother wouldn’t cooperate.

In a fit of rage, he could only draw his sword and kill.

If he couldn’t have it, he wouldn’t allow anyone else to have it either.

At the same time, the battle outside the city had already begun.

Great Hua’s infantry formed a massive covering formation, protecting the demolition team as they dug pits at the foot of the city walls.

Placing explosive charges at the base of the wall, no matter how many, wouldn’t bring it down; they had to dig under the wall.

Most of the defending soldiers on the city wall were from the mainland and were knowledgeable.

As soon as they saw Great Hua’s actions, they immediately knew that Great Hua was going to blow up the city wall.

Therefore, they began to desperately try to stop them.

All their sense of security came from this tall wall.

If the city wall was blown open, there would be no fighting left.

“Those who fear battle die! All of you, get up and shoot, stop the enemy from blowing up the city wall!”

The defending officer shouted.

Under the officer’s coercion, some soldiers reluctantly got up and aimed at the demolition team on the city wall.

However, the demolition team hid under a large wooden cart covered with thick cowhide.

With multiple layers of protection, bullets couldn’t penetrate it, and grenades couldn’t destroy it.

However, this wooden cart could only protect a few people digging pits. Others without the protection of the wooden cart were shot and killed by the defending soldiers.

However, their losses seemed insignificant compared to the losses of the defending soldiers.

It was no joke to have thousands of Great Hua soldiers providing cover.

As long as the defending soldiers dared to show their heads, at least one out of ten would die.

This terrifying casualty rate made the defending soldiers on the city wall tremble.

“Sir, why should we defend to the death? Why not just surrender?”

A squad leader asked his superior a soul-searching question. He couldn’t think of a reason to defend to the death.

Zhu Yuao had no kindness to them, nor could he bring them wealth and security.

In short, Zhu Yujian couldn’t give them too many benefits, and it wasn’t worth risking their lives for such a person.

“This… requires timing.”

His superior said.

Zhu Yuao also had a group of confidants; otherwise, the others would have surrendered long ago.

It was because of that group of confidants supervising the battle and exerting pressure that others didn’t dare to take the lead.

As long as someone took the lead, they would definitely be able to kill those supervisors.

However, the person who took the lead would definitely be violently suppressed by the supervision team, basically a certain death.

Therefore, many people were waiting, waiting for someone else to take the lead.

It was because of this weakness in human nature that a small number of people could rule a large number of people.

“Keep going.”

A batch of people responsible for digging the pits died, and Great Hua immediately replaced them with another batch.

Under the demolition team’s hard work, a pit several meters wide was finally dug under the city wall.

Next, loading explosives was much easier.

When the defending soldiers on the city wall saw that Great Hua had begun loading explosives, some of them hurriedly fled from that section of the city wall, and the supervision team couldn’t stop them.

Everyone knew that if they didn’t escape, they would be crushed to pieces when the explosives detonated, and they wouldn’t even be able to find their bones.

In this situation, the supervision team’s knives became less terrifying.

Some soldiers, in extreme fear, fought with the people from the supervision team, and then, relying on their numerical advantage, broke through an opening and fled into the city.

When breaking through the supervision team’s defense line, these people exploded with two hundred percent of their combat power.

But once they broke through this opening, they instantly fell into a disadvantage against the supervision team.

Everyone was thinking about escaping into the city as soon as possible, rather than fighting the supervision team to the death.

The soldiers on the city wall fled, which made it easier for Great Hua to detonate the explosives.

With a loud noise, a huge gap was blown open in the massive city wall.

The number of people killed by the falling bricks alone was at least in the double digits.

Before the dust had settled, Great Hua launched an attack.

However, they charged into emptiness.

There was no one defending behind the city wall. The soldiers in the city had completely lost their will to resist the moment the city wall was blown up.

Great Hua rushed in and began to clean up the battlefield, clearing out the remaining soldiers.

The soldiers’ weapons had to be confiscated, and the soldiers had to be captured and taken to repair roads or mine, in short, to be managed uniformly.

If they were allowed to stay here, these people would easily become bandits or pirates.

It was difficult to expect these people, who were used to licking blood from the edge of a knife, to honestly farm again.

One by one, soldiers were brought out of the houses. Great Hua had rich experience in distinguishing soldiers from ordinary people, and they could usually confirm by looking at their palms.

The calluses on the hands of ordinary people were very different from the calluses on the hands of soldiers.

In addition to capturing prisoners, some of Zhu Yuao’s loyalists needed to be eliminated.

At the same time, Zhu Yuao’s imperial residence was also captured.

When Great Hua arrived, Zhu Yujian was already dead, and he hadn’t even put on his pants before he died.

It seemed that it wasn’t suicide.

Great Hua was too lazy to investigate. Anyway, whether it was suicide or homicide, as long as he was dead, his head was a credit to these Great Hua soldiers.

The Great Hua soldiers who arrived first went directly to add a few more cuts and cut off his head.

The soldiers who arrived late could only be envious and jealous, and then began to loot other property in the imperial residence.

Although the looted property had to be handed over, the more they looted, the more rewards they would get.

At this point, Treasure Island basically came under the rule of Great Hua.

As for the eastern mountainous areas, Great Hua temporarily had no energy and no need to conquer them.

Conquering those tribes would not yield any profit, but would cost a lot, which was not cost-effective at all.

It was enough to occupy the plains along the western coast.

The civil officials who came with the army began to issue decrees in various parts of Treasure Island, announcing that the island would be named Taiwan, and Taiwan Prefecture would be established, under the jurisdiction of the Fujian Provincial Administration Commission.

Taiwan Prefecture would have four counties: Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, and Tainan.

The Prefect of Taiwan Prefecture and the four magistrates were appointed by the Ministry of Personnel of Great Hua, but the officials below the county magistrate were some of the original rulers of Taiwan Island.

With only seven or eight civil officials and a three-thousand-strong army, they could completely control Taiwan Prefecture.

In this way, Great Hua could complete the rule of this area at the lowest cost.

Chapter 685: Eradicating the Pirates

The enemies on Taiwan Island were basically wiped out, but the surrounding area was not safe.

There were still a large number of pirates on the surrounding islands.

While the army was attacking Tainan, the navy also began a clearing operation on the sea.

Based on intelligence from scouts, they moved towards those suspicious islands.

For the Great Hua navy, the most important part of clearing out pirates was finding their hideouts.

Once their lairs were found, the subsequent battles would be much easier.

These pirates didn’t even have muskets, because for their small-scale battles, a broadsword was more useful than a musket, so they naturally didn’t bother equipping them.

A group of pirates using cold weapons against the Great Hua army’s breech-loading rifle troops was as aggrieved as could be.

After several pirate dens were destroyed in succession, some pirates in the surrounding area who received the news quickly packed up their belongings and went to Southeast Asia, to the Luzon (Philippines) area.

There was no other way, they could only avoid them if they couldn’t win.

Fighting the Great Hua navy only meant being abused by them.

But in Luzon, they could bully the native Southeast Asians.

However, it was hard to leave their homeland, and these pirates were unwilling to leave the Great Hua territory unless absolutely necessary.

Some of the pirates who received the news escaped, while others simply took a chance and went into hiding temporarily.

As long as they survived this Great Hua purge, they could live normal lives again in the future.

After all, the Great Hua navy couldn’t carry out such clearing operations often.

Most of these people who took a chance would be ferreted out by the Great Hua navy.

Of course, there were also a few lucky ones who really got away.

After all, in this vast sea, humans seemed very small.

It was simply unrealistic to completely clear every island.

Many small islands were not even marked on their maps.

Those surviving pirates were often small-time pirates, while the lairs of large pirate groups were too big to hide.

Among them, Zheng Zhibao’s pirate group was the largest, so their hideout was the easiest to find. The Great Hua navy had long planted spies.

At this time, with the spy leading the way, they went straight to Zheng Zhibao’s lair, the Penghu Islands.

The Hua army knew that Zheng Zhibao was in the Penghu Islands, and Zheng Zhibao also knew that the Hua army had set sail.

However, he had hesitated before and did not escape in time.

With a large family and business, it was impossible to escape as easily as other small pirates.

On the one hand, he was reluctant to give up this family business and this good place.

On the other hand, he had no good place to go for the time being.

Other small pirates could make a living by finding a small island and robbing one or two merchant ships a year.

But Zheng Zhibao had more than three thousand pirates under his command, and the number of people including family members exceeded ten thousand.

So many people needed to eat, and they couldn’t just find a place to support them.

They had to find a large island, robbing, farming, and trading.

That large island had to be near the shipping lanes, while also being suitable for farming, and the forces on the island couldn’t be too strong.

In short, many factors led to Zheng Zhibao’s extreme entanglement.

Before he could make a decision, the Great Hua navy was about to come to his door.

It was not until this moment that Zheng Zhibao felt regret.

If he had known this would happen, he should have cut his losses and evacuated with some of his men.

But now, it was difficult for him to escape.

“Order everyone to board the ships, scatter and rush out. Whether you can escape depends on fate. Brothers who escape, gather in Luzon and start a new business in Luzon.”

Zheng Zhibao ordered.

This was a bit like throwing themselves into the net, but it was his best option at the moment.

If they continued to stay on the island, it would be a dead end.

If the Hua army blocked the port, they would be like rabbits without legs, waiting to be caught.

Rushing out like this might allow some of them to escape.

After all, there were roads everywhere on the sea, as long as they weren’t afraid of getting lost.

Zheng Zhibao issued the order, and his men immediately began to act in a panic.

They had been entrenched on this island for several years and accumulated considerable wealth.

As people who valued money as much as their lives, they were unwilling to give up this wealth and young women even when they were escaping.

Some pirates even had families, and ruthlessly chose to abandon them, while others chose to take them with them.

A large number of people and goods were loaded onto ships in the port, and the whole scene was chaotic.

“Not good, the Great Hua navy is here.”

A person in charge of observation put down his binoculars and shouted in a hurry.

This shout scared many people.

Now that they had seen the Great Hua ships, there was very little time left for them to escape.

“Stop loading, weigh anchor, weigh anchor.”

Zheng Zhibao shouted.

“Master, my mother hasn’t boarded the ship yet.”

Zheng Zhibao’s concubine pleaded, but Zheng Zhibao kicked her into the sea.

At this time, he would ruthlessly kick away any factor that would delay him.

Zheng Zhibao’s core team quickly weighed anchor and set sail, and he no longer cared about the rest.

He wouldn’t shed tears until he saw the coffin. Now that he saw the Great Hua navy, it was like seeing his own coffin, and he was about to cry.

“Sir, a fleet of enemies wants to escape.”

“Want to escape, how naive. Tell the stokers to add coal and increase the power to the maximum. I want these pirates to feel what despair is.”

The captain laughed.

Pirate ships were generally lighter, in order to gain a speed advantage. Speed was needed to catch up with merchant ships.

However, the pirates’ proud speed was still slightly inferior to the Great Hua army’s steam warships.

Subsequently, thick smoke billowed from the ship’s chimneys, and several steam warships quickly approached Zheng Zhibao and others.

“Row for your lives.”

Zheng Zhibao said anxiously. In addition to sails providing power, their ships could also be rowed manually.

Unfortunately, these were all in vain. The Great Hua warships were getting closer and closer, until the sound of artillery fire rang out.

The distance between the two sides was already within the range of the artillery.

“It’s over, it’s over, everything is over.”

Zheng Zhibao’s expression began to become numb. Facing the Great Hua steam warships, they had no power to fight back.

Even if they could burst out with the will to fight to the death, it would be useless. They didn’t even have the chance to get close and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Great Hua. The Hua army only needed to maintain a distance from them and use artillery to kill them until they collapsed.

“Scatter and run, take care of yourselves.”

Zheng Zhibao used this method again.

Their fleet had eight ships, and only five warships were chasing them. Theoretically, they still had three ships that could escape.

Of course, this was only in theory.

The Great Hua warships were equipped with large-caliber artillery, and also carried solid shot.

The power of that kind of shell was enough to sink the pirates with two or three shots. Hitting the mast, one shot could cause their ship to lose power.

Chapter 686: The Power Seizure Plan

In the end, only one ship from Zheng Zhibao’s fleet managed to escape.

Zheng Zhibao himself wasn’t so lucky and was captured by the Great Hua navy.

On the other side, those pirates who hadn’t had time to leave the harbor were rounded up by Great Hua in one fell swoop, with almost no one escaping.

With this, the Penghu Islands were pacified, and Great Hua established a county there.

The original pirate families became the residents of this county.

The pirates, except for a few leaders who were executed, were generally pardoned.

Even though they were guilty, they couldn’t all be killed. Otherwise, wouldn’t their families hate Great Hua to death, making it difficult to manage them?

They were spared the death penalty but couldn’t escape the living one. Most of their property was confiscated.

From now on, they would have to honestly till the land.

With this, the Taiwan war was basically over.

Nanjing, at a residence.

Several senior civil officials gathered together, and surprisingly, they included people from multiple factions, which was rare.

“Gentlemen, take a look at this.”

The newly appointed Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Tang Ruowen, took out a secret memorial for everyone to circulate.

Tang Ruowen was a civil official who had been working with Wu Changqing since Suzhou. His abilities were average, but he had a lot of experience.

Wu Changqing didn’t have a suitable candidate for Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites for the time being, so he let him do it first.

However, Tang Ruowen was also a traditional civil official.

A traditional civil official is someone who looks down on military generals, believes in the idea that the world needs to be governed by civil officials, and hopes to restore the civil-military relationship of the Ming Dynasty.

The military generals in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty had no status in front of the civil officials. That was the model they civil officials liked the most.

Now, Tang Ruowen gathered many senior civil officials to weaken the power of the military generals and seize power from them.

His secret memorial recorded the matter of Lu Guangzu plotting to harm the Southern Ming envoy.

He keenly felt that this was the best entry point for seizing power.

Through this matter, they could portray the military generals as arrogant and domineering, deceiving their superiors and subordinates, acting arbitrarily, and holding onto their troops.

No emperor likes his military generals deceiving their superiors and subordinates and holding onto their troops, because that means those people are very likely to rebel, which means insecurity.

Therefore, as long as they can make Wu Changqing suspicious and wary of the military generals, they can demand that civil officials be sent to supervise the army.

Supervising the army seems to only play a supervisory role on the surface and does not have much real power.

However, in reality, as long as they have the power to supervise the army, those military generals will have to please their civil officials, or even depend on them.

After all, few military generals can be flawless. When leading troops, they will definitely encounter some problems.

If these problems are reported by the supervisors, they will lose their official positions at best, and be sentenced to death at worst, which no military general can stand.

The power of the Ming Dynasty military generals was gradually lost step by step in this way.

“Feasible.”

Liu Dahua only said two words, but everyone understood what he meant.

When they saw this secret memorial, everyone knew Tang Ruowen’s plan.

“It is too unsafe for military power to be completely in the hands of military generals. We do need to supervise and control it to avoid chaos.”

Zhao Mingchong said.

“Let me say something. I think it’s better to delay it for the time being. Now His Majesty’s mind is on construction and he doesn’t like accidents to disrupt his construction plans.

Bringing it up at this time, leading to fierce struggles between civil and military officials, I am afraid it will make His Majesty angry. Therefore, I don’t think we can be in a hurry. We must wait until His Majesty is in a particularly good mood, or when there are no major domestic affairs to deal with, the effect will be better.

Anyway, we have already grasped the evidence of their crimes, and they can’t escape. Let them jump around for a few more days. If they continue to act arbitrarily like this, and we collect more evidence of their crimes, the probability of success will be even greater.”

Hong Chengchou spoke.

He usually doesn’t get involved in this kind of thing. He is more interested in development and construction.

Of course, as a traditional civil official, he naturally tends to the idea that civil officials can check and balance military generals.

In his opinion, civil officials are always more reliable than military generals, because civil officials are subject to education on loyalty to the emperor.

In short, his identity determines his position, and he must lean towards the civil officials.

Hong Chengchou’s words made everyone fall into deep thought.

After spending a few years with Wu Changqing, these people have more or less understood Wu Changqing’s temper and know that Wu Changqing is very different from other emperors.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were extremely strict and wary of military generals. Any military general who behaved a little out of line would be dealt with first.

For example, during the Chongzhen period, Huang Taiji led his troops around Mongolia and attacked Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan brought his troops back to rescue without authorization, and was ordered to be executed by Chongzhen.

He didn’t care whether Yuan Chonghuan was concerned about his safety, nor did he care how great a loss it would be to execute Yuan Chonghuan. In short, it was not allowed for a general leading troops to bring his troops to the city of Beijing without orders. It was too dangerous.

Who knows if they are here to rescue or to rebel.

But now Wu Changqing is actually more tolerant of military generals.

When military generals are fighting on the front line, they have great autonomy.

Just like Lu Guangzu and Li Lianfan who invaded Myanmar without authorization, they were not punished in any way, and even promoted and ennobled for destroying the Southern Ming.

Considering Wu Changqing’s attitude towards military generals and his attitude towards development, everyone felt that Hong Chengchou’s words made some sense.

These people can sit in their current positions, so naturally they are not short of patience.

Therefore, even though a great opportunity is in front of them, they can endure it, wait for the opportunity, and wait for an opportunity to seize power completely.

“At present, we should focus on the imperial examination and the selection of consorts. Didn’t His Majesty say two years ago that he would start selecting consorts in two years? Now that the country is prosperous and the people are safe, it is a good time to select consorts.”

Gu Yanwu said.

The officials all hoped that Wu Changqing could spend more time on women and enjoyment, and not hold on to power so tightly.

Otherwise, their experience as officials would be extremely poor.

Even though they are cabinet ministers and Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, they cannot make decisions on some major matters.

In the past, the emperor was a rubber stamp, but now they are more like rubber stamps.

“Yes, yes, yes, Lord Gu is right. Now His Majesty’s children are still too few. The royal family, of course, should have more children and more blessings.”

Another minister echoed.

Now Wu Changqing already has two sons and two daughters, which is of course a lot for later generations.

But in this era, the number of children is even less than that of ordinary people.

For an emperor, it is even less.

Of course, what the civil officials care about is not how many children Wu Changqing has, but the time and energy Wu Changqing spends on having children.

“This, we can let the people below start submitting memorials. Presumably, His Majesty should have no excuses this time.”

Tang Ruowen said.

Chapter 687: Internal Combustion Engine Project

Just as the ministers had guessed, Wu Changqing was now wholeheartedly devoted to development and construction.

Other issues like territorial expansion, central centralization, and official corruption were relatively easy for him to solve and not core problems.

What he cared about most was the progress of social technology.

He had already selected some people from the new batch of students to form a new research team to work on the internal combustion engine.

Previously, Wu Changqing felt that it was too early to develop internal combustion engines because there was a lack of relevant talent reserves.

Even if he presented samples and design drawings, no one would be able to create them.

Moreover, the steam revolution was only taking place in a few cities like Nanjing, Shanghai, Suzhou, and Guangzhou, while most other places were still stuck in the agricultural age.

How to fully promote the steam revolution was the top priority.

However, this year, Wu Changqing suddenly felt that he didn’t need to stick to the rules.

Just because history dictated that the steam revolution preceded the electrical revolution didn’t mean he had to follow that process completely. He could do both simultaneously, and they weren’t particularly conflicting.

In fact, if the electrical revolution was successful and developed quickly, some industries could even skip the steam age and directly enter the electrical age.

For example, the steam locomotives currently being produced would eventually be eliminated.

If an internal combustion engine could be invented, then internal combustion engine-powered trains could be built directly, saving the steam train process.

This would save money and increase efficiency.

In the original timeline, some parts of Europe completed the steam revolution before entering the electrical revolution.

In some Asian countries, such as Japan, the electrical and steam revolutions took place simultaneously.

Those industries that could be replaced by electricity skipped the research on steam power.

Wu Changqing felt that he could do the same, first concentrating resources in Nanjing to lead the electrical revolution, and then, after achieving results, promoting it to the whole country.

In this way, some other regions could skip the steam revolution and directly enter the electrical age. This was the most efficient method to enter the information revolution in his lifetime.

Otherwise, if he developed step by step, Wu Changqing would hardly be able to play computer games again in his lifetime.

“Study these drawings and this sample, disassemble them, master the manufacturing methods, and apply them to various fields.”

Wu Changqing reluctantly spent two million technology points to redeem the design drawings and manufacturing process of the internal combustion engine.

He also spent five hundred thousand resource points to redeem two internal combustion engine samples.

The reason why it was so expensive was mainly because these technologies far exceeded the current overall technological level. If he waited a few more years, until the overall technological level of society improved, the price would be lower.

The prices of goods in the system are not fixed. In the past, redeeming a ton of pig iron required two hundred resource points. Now, due to the development of ironmaking technology, pig iron in the system store only costs one hundred resource points.

Technology also follows this principle.

When steam engines had not yet been invented, redeeming internal combustion engine technology would cost at least three million, but now it was much cheaper.

Wu Changqing could understand this. After all, before the steam engine, high-temperature and high-pressure technology had not yet been solved.

And internal combustion engines also use this technology.

Once a technology has been mastered, the system store will automatically reduce the corresponding price.

Wu Changqing had someone demonstrate the use of the internal combustion engine. After adding refined gasoline, the internal combustion engine drove the rotating shaft to spin rapidly, stunning everyone.

Some clever people had already realized the terrible prospects of this thing.

Such a small object can have such great power, wouldn’t it be possible to create a miniature version of a train?

They understood a principle through bicycles and trains: the speed of the wheels equals the speed.

The faster the wheels turn, the faster the car runs.

With such a fast speed of the internal combustion engine in front of them, if it was installed on a bicycle, wouldn’t it take off?

In short, everyone realized that this thing was no small matter.

At the same time, they also felt the pressure.

Things that His Majesty personally ordered must have a significant impact. If they didn’t do it well, they would probably have to bear His Majesty’s thunderous anger.

“This is the conversion of internal energy into mechanical energy, right?”

One of them, named Huo Jiange, asked.

The textbooks they studied contained very little about internal energy and mechanical energy because Wu Changqing himself didn’t understand it very well, so he didn’t write much about it.

Anyway, he only knew that internal energy was converted into mechanical energy, so he wrote this sentence and then let the students ponder, comprehend, and understand it themselves.

The textbooks he wrote were almost like this.

People who could learn something from the textbooks he wrote were definitely geniuses.

Less intelligent people would see such textbooks as if they were looking at heavenly books.

Of course, future students would be happier because many missing contents had been gradually supplemented by specialized talents.

With just that one sentence, some people deduced something from the literal meaning and related incomplete content.

For example, Huo Jiange saw at a glance that the working principle of this so-called internal combustion engine was the conversion of internal energy into mechanical energy.

“That’s right, it’s the conversion of internal energy into mechanical energy. What’s your name?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Anyone who could discover this must be extraordinary.

However, this batch of students were all from the second and third phases of the University Hall, and he had not personally taught them, so he didn’t recognize them.

“Your Majesty, this student is Huo Jiange, a student and assistant of Teacher Feng Xianzhong.”

Huo Jiange said.

“Good, being able to keenly discover this proves that you have worked hard in your studies. This project will be handed over to you to be responsible for, and you should thoroughly understand this internal combustion engine as soon as possible. The significance of this internal combustion engine is no less than that of the steam engine.”

Wu Changqing’s words made Huo Jiange extremely excited.

Although the completion of a project is definitely the credit of a team, how can ordinary people remember so many people? They often only remember the leader.

For example, in the steam engine project team, the people can only remember Feng Xianzhong. Others are defaulted by the people as unimportant people who help Feng Xianzhong.

Therefore, the title of person in charge is still quite important.

“This student will abide by the holy decree and will definitely work day and night.”

Huo Jiange said, suppressing the excitement in his heart.

The others were jealous at this moment, and some were even unconvinced.

After all, Huo Jiange only said that this was the conversion of internal energy into mechanical energy. This was not something that only Huo Jiange knew.

It’s just that others didn’t say it like Huo Jiange.

People who can be selected are all one in a million geniuses, and they will not easily accept others in their hearts.

Chapter 688: Weathervane

Research and development of internal combustion engines had already begun, and large-scale oil extraction was put on the agenda.

Currently, Great Hua already had small-scale oil extraction, and the oil was used in many places, mainly for refining kerosene for lighting.

Even with just this limited use, current oil extraction couldn’t keep up with market demand.

Once internal combustion engines were put into use, the oil shortage would skyrocket.

To prevent a situation where there were machines but no fuel, Wu Changqing arranged for several oil exploration teams to explore for oil in the North China region.

Actually, this was quite easy to explore. Just go to places where oil seeped out of the ground.

Being able to seep out of the ground directly indicated that the oil reserves in this place were definitely considerable and easy to extract.

Compared to reserves, ease of extraction was the key at this time.

If the oil was stored tens or hundreds of meters below the surface, even if it was explored, it would be useless without the technology to extract it.

Wu Changqing remembered that there was oil in the North China region.

Some of Great Hua’s current oil also came from the North China region.

The Daqing Oilfield and some oilfields in Xinjiang might be more famous and have more reserves, but they were not suitable for extraction at the moment.

The main problem was transportation. Railways to North China could be opened in the next year or two.

But railways to Xinjiang, the Northeast, and Daqing were nowhere in sight.

It wouldn’t do to dig up the oil and transport it by wheelbarrow. That would be too expensive, and few people could afford it.

Transportation costs were a problem that had to be considered.

If large oil tankers could be built and transportation capacity increased, then occupying the Middle East would be the most cost-effective option.

Wu Changqing was a weathervane, and countless people were watching his every move.

After all, his every move was destined to have a significant impact.

When Wu Changqing newly established the internal combustion engine project team, many big merchants who received the news began to make arrangements.

On the one hand, they cultivated relevant talents, and on the other hand, they studied the changes that internal combustion engines might bring, as well as the fields in which internal combustion engines were applicable.

As long as they made arrangements in advance, and could gain a little advantage in this field in the future, the benefits would be immeasurable.

Just like the Shen family of Great Hua now, when Great Hua began to develop steam engines, their family spent a lot of money to study relevant knowledge and cultivate relevant talents.

Today, their family is the only private enterprise that can manufacture steam engines besides the government.

Although the performance of the steam engines they made was much worse than the official ones, they still made a fortune.

Currently, the demand for steam engines in all walks of life is almost unlimited, and the official steam engines must be given priority to the military and state-owned enterprises.

Private enterprises have to queue up to buy steam engines.

And some fields don’t actually have high requirements for steam engines, and don’t necessarily need to reach a certain power.

The Shen family can meet the needs of these people.

And the needs of these people are often greater than the military and state-owned enterprises combined, so the Shen family’s orders are also scheduled for the year after next.

With such forward-looking strategic vision, the Shen family has become one of the top wealthy families in Great Hua.

Moreover, this kind of wealthy family is not like the Chen family and the Tong family, who developed by relying on the royal family.

The Shen family really developed on their own, and everyone has to give a thumbs up when they talk about the Shen family.

Other big tycoons, seeing the success of the Shen family, also began to study and invest in steam engines.

However, they were ultimately one step behind.

Although they will definitely be able to get a share of the pie in the future, they will ultimately be one step behind if they want to compete with the Shen family.

Therefore, some powerful tycoons are staring at the government and Wu Changqing’s actions, wanting to obtain similar opportunities.

There are still many such business opportunities, such as the rubber field and the fertilizer field.

As long as you are willing to study these, you can get some business opportunities from them.

When Wu Changqing specially gathered a group of people to engage in the internal combustion engine project, some people with keen sense realized that the prospect of this thing might not be lower than that of steam engines.

In that case, what are you waiting for? The earlier you enter the market, the more hope you have of becoming the next Shen family.

In fact, many business opportunities can be obtained from Wu Changqing.

Just like when he sent out oil exploration teams, many people also smelled opportunities from it.

Anyway, they all believe in a rule, that is, things that Wu Changqing personally pays attention to are definitely not trivial matters, and must be of great significance.

Wu Changqing sent people to explore for oil, which means that Great Hua will definitely be short of oil next.

Otherwise, how could the emperor, who is so busy every day, be full and pay special attention to this trivial matter.

After learning about this business opportunity, some people also quickly sent people to secretly explore, preparing to buy the places with oil at a low price, and then lie down and make money, just like those coal mine owners.

The nouveau riche in Huainan are really enviable.

Because Great Hua has not yet promulgated relevant laws, the minerals found on private land currently belong to private individuals, and only a very high tax needs to be paid during mining.

But even so, this industry of directly digging money is much easier than other industries engaged in production.

Currently, there are many big tycoons in Great Hua making arrangements, secretly sending some people to the countryside and mountainous areas to find mines.

If they find one, they will spend money to buy it and then apply for mining.

As various minerals are extracted, the value of those worthless things in the past has skyrocketed overnight, making many people unable to understand this world.

After finishing the development, Wu Changqing returned to the palace to read memorials.

Aside from the many benefits of being an emperor, being an emperor is actually quite tiring, far inferior to being a carefree playboy who doesn’t have to do anything every day, only responsible for enjoying himself.

In the memorials, Wu Changqing once again saw the proposal to hold a nationwide imperial selection.

“These people, all they think about all day long is finding women for me?”

Wu Changqing complained.

“This is the filial piety of the ministers. Your Majesty’s harem does need to be enriched. Throughout history, no emperor has had as much merit as Your Majesty, and it is only natural to enjoy it.”

Feng Debao also persuaded.

On this issue, he and the civil official group have a common interest appeal, and both need Wu Changqing to put more time on enjoyment, so that they have the opportunity to share some of the power in Wu Changqing’s hands.

“That’s true, I’ve worked hard for so long, it’s time to enjoy it.”

Wu Changqing said.

It is human nature for men to be fickle. There have been no new faces in the palace for a long time. It is good to choose a few beauties to come up and feast your eyes on.

However, Wu Changqing did not intend to agree to the civil officials’ request directly.

Since the civil officials have such demands, wouldn’t it be a waste not to take advantage of it?

Chapter 689: Raising the Status of Women

Wu Changqing wanted to use this opportunity to raise the status of women by establishing a women’s academy and mandating that girls, like boys, attend school to learn knowledge.

As for girls over the age of fourteen, it would not be mandatory, allowing them to choose freely.

Wu Changqing estimated that this decree would be opposed by the ministers.

The reason was simple: if women had knowledge and talent, their need to depend on men would decrease, and their status would rise.

The rise in the status of women would naturally mean a relative decline in the status of men.

Now that the court was full of male officials, Wu Changqing’s actions were harming their interests.

To give a simple example, a woman without culture, unable to support herself, but very beautiful, could easily be obtained and wantonly played with by these ruling classes.

Because these women, without men, had no way to survive on their own.

But if the woman had studied and had independent thoughts, then she would certainly not be so easily subdued to become a concubine.

With the ability to support themselves, they would not have to rely on men to support them.

This would damage the interests of men, and they would certainly not be happy to agree.

As for morality and respect, these were all nonsense.

People are selfish. It is too difficult to respect others without satisfying their own needs.

The improvement of women’s status in later generations did not rely on the morality and respect of men, but on their own hard work to earn money.

Those women who were unable to support themselves, even if they lived in an era of superficial gender equality, still had little status at home.

Before Wu Changqing’s transmigration, he had a question.

Why was it that in the nineteen-sixties and seventies, marriages were combined without any emotional basis, but there were still very few divorces?

And in the twenty-first century, with the proliferation of love elements, most marriages were the result of love, but the divorce rate was terrifyingly high.

As a result, an old man in the village woke him up with a single sentence.

In the old man’s words, “How dare women divorce in the past? If they divorced, there were no factories to work in, and they had no land of their own. How would they live?”

No matter how badly they were beaten, they had to endure it.

In the twenty-first century, anyone with hands and feet could support themselves.

In that case, why suffer?

The status of women is often proportional to the value they can create. At least, that’s the way it is overall.

Wu Changqing’s current goal of improving women’s abilities would inevitably allow them to have the ability to create greater value and get rid of their dependence on men.

The current Great Hua also had such women, but they were a minority. The ruling class would not care, anyway, there were still many incompetent women for them to enjoy.

Wu Changqing wanted to establish a women’s academy and turn most women into this kind of person, then the other ruling classes would definitely not be happy.

At that time, the days when they wanted to manipulate women at will would be gone forever.

Regardless of whether the ministers agreed or not, Wu Changqing would promote this policy.

After all, not letting women read and learn skills was a huge waste of human resources.

According to the one-to-one ratio of men and women, if the potential of these fifty to sixty million women was unleashed, the energy that could be unleashed would be terrifying.

Waiting for the current children to grow up was too slow, so Wu Changqing had to rely on these female laborers.

The ministers would probably disagree, so Wu Changqing could use the imperial harem selection as a bargaining chip.

Unless they agreed to open a women’s academy, he would not agree to the imperial harem selection.

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but laugh at himself for being an emperor to this extent.

The next day, he convened the cabinet for a small-scale high-level meeting.

The agenda was naturally the imperial harem selection and the opening of a women’s academy.

“For those participating in the imperial harem selection, a condition must be added: they must have both talent and beauty. It is not enough to just be beautiful; they must be knowledgeable. Moreover, it must be new knowledge, physics, chemistry, mathematics, or talent.”

“Well, in short, add an examination link. Those who fail to meet the examination standards will be eliminated.”

Wu Changqing said.

He could issue a decree to open a women’s academy, but how to attract women to take the initiative to enroll?

After all, this era valued the idea that a woman’s lack of talent was a virtue. Even if you were doing it for their own good, they might not appreciate it.

Therefore, Wu Changqing added this requirement in order to set an example for the world.

Let others know that he liked this kind of woman.

If you want to enter the palace and become a consort, study hard, ladies.

In this way, it would naturally attract a group of women to study hard.

More importantly, Wu Changqing, as the emperor, was a role model.

People with great influence can have a huge impact on others with every move they make.

The emperor liked cultured women, so how could other ministers be embarrassed to marry illiterate women?

When these upper-class figures competed to pursue cultured women, the common people would definitely follow suit.

This was like how rich people drinking a cup of coffee could make ordinary people feel that drinking coffee was a kind of high-class thing.

As long as this trend was started, then women’s reading would become a necessary demand.

At that time, women’s reading could become the norm.

And when women read and have knowledge, there would be more positions they could engage in.

Women with talent would certainly not be willing to be housewives for the rest of their lives, and would also take the initiative to find things to do and realize their life value.

In this way, their human resources could be fully liberated.

In the future, Wu Changqing would also allow women to become officials.

It was certainly impossible to achieve gender equality, but they could work towards that goal. Progress was good, and it was not necessary to achieve it completely.

“This, I’m afraid it’s difficult.”

Tang Ruowen said helplessly.

Who would learn physics and chemistry if they were proper women?

Wu Changqing’s taste made him very melancholy.

However, the emperor liked this, and he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t force the emperor to change his taste, he didn’t have the guts.

Not to mention that Wu Changqing’s hobby was normal, even if the emperor was a pervert who liked young children, they could only turn a blind eye.

There were emperors who had done this in previous history.

“I didn’t say they had to score high, just choose the best. First select the beauties, then let the beauties take the exam, and pick out the top few.”

Wu Changqing said.

“People who are knowledgeable and reasonable are usually more courteous, so His Majesty’s request is reasonable.”

Gu Yanwu said.

Since Wu Changqing was willing to agree to the imperial harem selection, that was the best result. There was no need to dwell on such trivial matters.

If they made the emperor unhappy and he said he wouldn’t choose, wouldn’t everyone cry to death?

So, since the emperor liked it, then let them take the exam.

Chapter 690: Political Discussion

“Currently, we are wasting a portion of our potential labor force, not fully utilizing it…”

Wu Changqing’s words made everyone prick up their ears.

One of the significant factors restricting the development of Great Hua is the lack of labor. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need to import grain on such a large scale.

The grain produced domestically is actually sufficient to feed the population.

Importing grain allows more people who would otherwise be farming to be involved in industrial construction.

Hearing Wu Changqing say that there was still untapped labor, they all fell into thought.

Some clever individuals had already vaguely guessed which group Wu Changqing was referring to.

“Many jobs in society can be competently done by women. In some industries, women’s attention to detail is even an advantage. For example, in the service industry, anything a waiter can do, a woman can certainly do as well, and probably even better.

Then there are translators, accountants, teachers, and textile workers. Any job that doesn’t require too much physical strength can be handled by women after training. And women’s wages generally don’t need to be as high as men’s, which can reduce costs in some industries.

After women take over these jobs, the strong men can go to factories or construction sites. It’s too difficult to find road construction workers now. If we had enough workers, road construction would be faster.

And the importance of transportation to development is especially significant…”

Wu Changqing said a lot.

The reasoning was clear to everyone.

However, everyone had a concern.

Tang Ruowen said, “But if these women all go to work, I’m afraid it will cause controversy. Like being a waiter, there will inevitably be hooligans taking advantage, which will have serious consequences for the women’s reputations.

If women become accountants or translators, they will inevitably have a lot of private communication and contact with the boss, and there will inevitably be scandalous things happening.”

Currently, there are already many women in Great Hua working outside the home, but they are mostly in special fields, such as textile factories, which are female-dominated.

The workers inside are all women, so there aren’t many problems.

But if they enter other industries, there will be many troubles and controversies.

A woman’s reputation is still very important. Some women whose reputations are damaged would rather commit suicide than bear the public’s criticism.

“We can formulate relevant laws to protect women from being humiliated, and at the same time, conduct some public opinion guidance. There are already women engaged in work now, I think the people will eventually be able to accept and adapt.”

Ma Shiying said. As the Vice Minister of Transportation, he had been worried about the difficulty of recruiting workers.

Now that Great Hua has abolished corvée labor, it is very difficult to recruit workers to build roads.

Therefore, he strongly supported Wu Changqing’s idea of letting women take over those jobs that do not require physical strength, forcing the men to build roads.

“Laws are not omnipotent. Even if the bad guys are punished, the humiliated women will probably not be able to face anyone in the future.”

Gu Yanwu said.

“However, it is indeed a great waste not to utilize the labor resources of tens of millions of women in our Great Hua.”

Ruan Dacheng said.

Those radicals who hoped for the rapid development of Great Hua mostly supported Wu Changqing’s idea.

And some conservatives, like some officials in the Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Personnel, and Ministry of Justice, hoped that there would be fewer drastic changes in society, and that the current days were already good enough.

After a round of debate, the radicals gained the upper hand.

This was mainly because Wu Changqing supported them, and the conservatives did not dare to argue too fiercely, for fear of angering Wu Changqing.

With weaker momentum, they naturally couldn’t win the argument.

In the end, Wu Changqing made the final decision: “Development is necessary, but it must also be combined with the current situation and proceed gradually. Some industries that are prone to controversy will not be encouraged for women to enter for the time being.

However, some industries with little impact will be encouraged for women to engage in. For example, book translation, scientific research, literary creation, gynecology doctors, etc., which can be completed at home.

Most of these industries require cultural knowledge, so I have decided to establish a special women’s college, which only accepts female students. At the same time, it is stipulated that girls must also enroll in school like boys, and when they grow up and become accomplished, they will be promoted to the women’s college…”

Wu Changqing took the opportunity to propose the establishment of a women’s college.

This request was reasonable, after all, he was compromising with the conservatives, preventing those women from doing jobs such as waiters, vendors, and agents that require frequent contact with men.

To allow those women to engage in industries where their reputations are not easily damaged, they need to master certain cultural knowledge.

This, of course, requires the establishment of a special college to impart knowledge.

It was not until this time that everyone knew Wu Changqing’s purpose.

But it was too late to know, and they couldn’t find a good reason to object at this time.

After all, development is the basic national policy of Great Hua. Anyone who dares to prevent the development of Great Hua is against Wu Changqing and the entire world, and such a pedantic person must be resolutely eliminated.

“I think Your Majesty’s method is very good. It not only obtains a large amount of labor, but also does not cause too much controversy. Let the Propaganda Department guide more on the newspapers, and the people should be easily accepted.”

Ma Shiying said.

The days when women first entered textile factories to work also caused a lot of controversy in society.

However, when those women took their wages home, that voice became much smaller.

Saying a thousand words, saying ten thousand words, nothing is more important than improving life.

The wives of other families earn one or two wen a month and bring it home, while their own wives eat dry food at home every month. Under this strong contrast, those people naturally accepted the phenomenon of going to textile factories to work.

“I second that.”

…

Several other ministers chose to agree, and Tang Ruowen and Gu Yanwu could only helplessly choose to agree.

After all, their opposition was meaningless.

They only have the power to make suggestions to Wu Changqing, and whether or not to listen in the end depends on Wu Changqing.

That is to say, they have no decision-making power on major matters.

In the current Great Hua, imperial power is highly concentrated.

The emperor’s power is much greater than during the Ming Dynasty.

They are just executors, and their power is much smaller than that of the Shangshu during the Ming Dynasty.

This is also why they are willing to take risks and try their best to divide power from Wu Changqing, because the power they have now is too small.

If the power is too small, they cannot guarantee the interests of their class.

If they cooperate well with Wu Changqing now, the wealth and prosperity of their class will still be guaranteed.

But if Wu Changqing suddenly turns his face one day, they have no ability to resist, which is too terrible.

If they work hard to earn wealth for ten or twenty years, and Wu Changqing takes it all away at once, they will be so angry that they vomit blood and die.

Although this possibility is extremely small, they have to guard against it.

Chapter 691: Implementation of Government Orders

In early February, the Great Hua Daily published two important news items.

The first was that the Emperor was holding a draft.

The article first helped the people recall Wu Changqing’s achievements, listing the accomplishments of Great Hua.

First, there was a round of praise, and then it was stated that, at the insistence of the civil and military officials, the Emperor reluctantly agreed to hold a draft to bestow imperial grace.

When others take concubines, it’s for personal enjoyment.

When the Emperor takes concubines, it’s to bestow imperial grace.

After all, there are too many women who want to be the Emperor’s consorts, and the draft is to give those people a chance, which is naturally a grace.

Whether you believe this or not, it doesn’t matter much.

However, the rules of this draft made many people feel interested.

In addition to competing in appearance, they also need to compete in talent.

Either they have a unique and amazing talent, or they pass Wu Changqing’s assessment.

The content of the assessment involves astronomy, geography, physics, chemistry, writing, and arithmetic.

In short, as long as you have real knowledge, it’s fine, just like taking the imperial examination.

However, the draft is ultimately only a matter for a small number of people.

The eligibility requirements for the draft alone eliminate more than ninety-nine percent of women.

To be of good family background, young and beautiful, knowledgeable and reasonable, it is not easy to meet these three conditions at the same time.

Fortunately, Great Hua has a large population, so it can pick out people who meet these requirements.

If it were a small country, it would be impossible to choose anyone with such conditions.

The draft only involves a small number of people, but allowing women to engage in more industries, as well as the establishment of women’s colleges, is related to almost every family.

“Women can go to school too, I want to go to school and study.”

In a merchant’s family, a girl of about fourteen or fifteen years old said.

In fact, she had always been literate, but she had been learning things like the Thousand Character Classic and female virtues, which were boring and tedious.

She wanted to learn interesting knowledge like physics and chemistry, but unfortunately, her family didn’t have enough money to splurge on hiring a teacher who had mastered the new knowledge.

The government would not allow such talents to be lost at will, and they all needed to go to various schools to teach.

Relying on self-study, it is easy to get confused if you are not a genius.

“Go if you want, it’s not a big deal.”

Her father said with a smile.

Wu Changqing may not have expected that there would not be so much resistance to letting women go to college.

Because, although men want women to be of low status, they certainly don’t want their own daughters to be of low status.

As the saying goes, even tigers don’t eat their cubs. People who like to play with other people’s daughters often don’t want their own daughters to be wantonly played with by others.

Therefore, wealthy families often let their daughters study along, to be sensible and prevent them from suffering after they get married.

Now, it’s just a matter of sending these people who originally studied at home to colleges to study.

They may not be at ease sending them to colleges with male students, but no one resists sending them to colleges that specialize in teaching women.

Although, some men do not want other people’s daughters to understand so much knowledge, but they have no right to interfere in other people’s affairs.

Unless they are willing to damage the interests of their own daughters and resist this policy.

Unfortunately, they are not united.

When a few individuals do this, the result is often that other people’s daughters are constantly becoming more cultured and talented. And those who work hard to fight and maintain the interests of men, their own daughters often suffer.

Those who can understand this logic ultimately send their daughters to women’s colleges helplessly.

They can’t stop others, the only thing they can do is to prevent their daughters from suffering.

However, these are all women from wealthy families.

Poor families are not so active, they are more inclined to let their daughters work to earn money.

Anyway, they are all money-losing goods who will be married off in the future, and squeezing them as much as possible is the kingly way.

Except for a small number of people who love their children, most people actually think this way.

The improvement of women’s status has a long way to go.

However, it is much better than before.

These poor girls have more industries to engage in and can find jobs more easily to earn money.

As long as they can earn money, their social status will definitely be improved.

Moreover, as long as they have the opportunity to engage in work, they have the opportunity to obtain upward mobility and change their destiny.

“Dad, I found a job washing and cooking in the yamen, the monthly salary is one wen.”

In the slums, a girl said to her father.

In the past, this kind of work was often only allowed to be done by older women. Unmarried women were absolutely not allowed, as it was easy to attract gossip and they might not be able to marry in the future.

But now, the government has clearly stipulated that everyone should be treated equally.

Therefore, this girl has now easily found a job.

In the past, she could only go to a textile factory.

However, the textile factories have long been full of people. Unless a new factory appears, it is very difficult to squeeze in.

“That’s good, hard work, Xiao Kui.”

Her father said.

Poor families don’t have so many rules and regulations, and they are too lazy to worry about rumors.

Moreover, a more important reason is that they are located in the city.

If it were in the countryside, it would be troublesome if such rumors appeared. The surrounding villages would soon know, and then they would be afraid of losing face and would not dare to propose marriage.

People whose reputation is damaged are very likely to be unable to marry.

But in the city, they don’t have this worry.

The people their daughters marry in the future are very likely not to know her past. Nanjing is too big.

There are countless single men who come to Nanjing to work, and they are often not so picky.

Their union is much simpler than in the countryside.

In short, their daughters can now engage in this kind of work, which can not only subsidize the family, but also not worry about not being able to marry in the future.

In order to reduce the concerns of the people, the Great Hua Daily is also vigorously promoting the need to eliminate some of the bad habits of the old dynasties.

The government labeled some bad habits as Ming Dynasty habits, so that the people would be more actively changed.

After all, living in Great Hua, it is the most rational choice to clear relations with the Ming Dynasty.

Foot binding, prohibiting girls from going out to go shopping, widowhood…

These have been labeled as bad habits of the Ming Dynasty, and then publicized and popularized the badness of these bad habits, the terribleness of these bad habits.

Mastering the tools of public opinion, it is actually relatively easy to change the people’s ideas.

After all, the people have no culture, and they can only unconditionally believe in authority.

Unlike later generations, the people have enough knowledge to distinguish right from wrong. If those experts want to fool people, they often only provoke a burst of ridicule.

This era is different, the people’s ability to judge right and wrong is limited.

If His Majesty says that foot binding is bad, they are likely to believe that foot binding is bad.

If His Majesty says that widowhood is wrong, those widows can justifiably remarry.

If anyone dares to scold them, they can say, ‘How dare you question the imperial decree of the Holy Son of Heaven?’ Guarantee that those who gossip will shut up immediately.

After all, not many people like things that are thankless. In the past, scolding widows for remarrying was because there was no price to pay, no risk, and it was not necessarily that those people hated this phenomenon so much.

Chapter 692: A Daughter Coming of Age

Everyone was busy with their own affairs, and every class was busy with its own concerns.

Ordinary people were still thinking about having their women find jobs to supplement the family income, while the families of merchants and officials regarded the emperor’s selection of consorts as a top priority.

Whether they could rise to prominence depended on this one opportunity.

If they could be successfully selected and gain favor, the future benefits would be immeasurable.

At the very least, they would become relatives of the imperial family; there was no telling how high they could climb.

With the Empress yet to give birth to a prince, anything was possible.

There were quite a few people who held this idea.

“Alas!”

At the Pang residence, Pang Yuanming sighed deeply.

Originally, he had been waiting for the emperor’s selection of consorts.

As a result, his daughter was almost eighteen years old, and he had not yet arranged a marriage for her.

Pang Yuanming had always believed that his daughter’s appearance was definitely not a problem. However, he never expected that the current Emperor would also test talent during the selection.

This was his daughter’s weakness. It wasn’t that she was stupid, just that she was rather ordinary.

And the difficulty of the selection was often greater than the imperial examinations.

The imperial examinations had hundreds of successful candidates each time, while the selection of consorts usually only chose a few, at most a dozen. Even if selected, whether one could gain the Emperor’s favor was also a question.

The intensity of the competition was far beyond what the imperial examinations could match.

Therefore, the word “ordinary” already meant being eliminated.

In this vast world, how many people were both talented and beautiful?

No matter how harsh the Emperor’s requirements were, the people below could find someone who met them.

“Father, there are still one or two months before the selection examination. If I seize the time to catch up, I might still have a chance.”

Pang Feiyan said through gritted teeth.

The initial selection was for beautiful women.

After entering the preliminary selection, there would be a background check, and finally, they would all enter the palace to take a written test.

This process would take one or two months. Considering the selection in other distant places, this time might be even longer.

During this time, cramming might still offer a chance.

Pang Feiyan knew that her family intended to send her to the palace. She had been learning court etiquette, how to observe people’s expressions, and how to serve others for two years.

Of course, she was unwilling to give up just like that.

In Pang Feiyan’s view, although she had never learned new knowledge such as physics and chemistry, others probably hadn’t either.

Everyone was at the same starting line, and she still had a chance.

“Yes, I will spend a lot of money to invite people from the university to teach you.”

Pang Yuanming said.

Anyway, they had already delayed for two years, so what was two more months?

Even if the hope was slim, they had to try. What if she succeeded?

At the Tong residence, Tong Youwei called his daughter over and told her the good news.

For Tong Xiangyu, this was definitely good news, because Tong Xiangyu was curious and had been learning those new types of knowledge.

Compared to others, she could be said to have a head start.

“Are you saying that women can also go to college to study, and even teach?”

Unexpectedly, Tong Xiangyu ignored the selection of consorts and instead cared about the establishment of women’s colleges.

“Yes, His Majesty personally issued the decree. Women will have a better life in the future.”

Tong Youwei did not notice his daughter’s unusual behavior.

“Then I don’t want to enter the palace. I want to go to a women’s college to study, and then become a teacher in the future. I want to be famous all over the world, with thirty million students.”

Tong Xiangyu said.

These words made Tong Youwei’s face turn black. This change was too fast.

Before, Tong Xiangyu had even taken the initiative to ask to enter the palace, but in the blink of an eye, she had changed her mind.

“Why? Didn’t you want to enter the palace before?”

Tong Youwei couldn’t help but ask.

“That’s because I didn’t have a place to realize my life’s value before. In the past, my fate was to marry and raise children. Since I had to marry anyway, why wouldn’t I marry the Emperor?

But now it’s different. Women can also be teachers, which is what I want to do even more. But if I marry His Majesty and stay in the palace all day, I definitely won’t have the opportunity to be a teacher.

So, I don’t want to enter the palace anymore.”

Tong Xiangyu said, with reason and evidence, and Tong Youwei couldn’t refute her.

Of course, Tong Youwei didn’t care.

It was Tong Xiangyu who had taken the initiative to propose entering the palace before, so he had paid a little attention.

Now that Tong Xiangyu said she didn’t want to enter the palace, he didn’t care either.

He was still very fond of this precious daughter.

As for losing the opportunity to become a relative of the imperial family, Tong Youwei was not worried.

His current status and wealth were all obtained by being loyal to the Emperor.

As long as he continued to adhere to this principle, there would basically be no major problems.

Being a relative of the imperial family was just icing on the cake for him, not a lifeline in the snow.

“Whatever you want.”

Tong Youwei said.

In Suzhou, Wu Jiang County.

County Magistrate Ding Chengfeng frowned and felt melancholy after learning about the rules for selecting consorts.

He was a mediocre person, and it was very difficult to advance his career any further.

Coincidentally, he had a daughter who could topple cities and ruin empires, so he had the idea of sending his daughter to the palace.

If she became a relative of the imperial family, he could also go to Nanjing to get a position as a capital official, and the whole family could move to Nanjing to live.

The current Nanjing was the place that all Great Hua people yearned for.

The newest, most fashionable, and best life was in Nanjing.

Unfortunately, the sudden addition of a test to the selection rules greatly reduced his hopes.

“Wan Jun, you must seize the time to learn some of those subjects. Your father will hire the best teachers to teach you.”

Ding Chengfeng instructed.

“Understood.”

Ding Wanjun smiled.

Unlike her father’s melancholy, she was very happy in her heart, because she didn’t want to enter the palace or live in the palace.

She knew that being the Emperor’s woman was not a happy thing. Besides being able to live without worrying about food and clothing, there were no other benefits.

And being born into an official’s family, she already had no worries about food and clothing.

In the past, she couldn’t disobey her father’s orders, so she could only agree even if she was unwilling.

Now that the new selection rules were out, she could fail without angering her father.

As long as she scored zero on the written test, she could live a free life.

“Second Sister, you’re afraid you’re happy too soon.”

Her third younger brother, Ding Chundong, couldn’t help but remind her when he saw her happy.

“Why do you say that?”

Ding Wanjun asked.

“His Majesty added this rule just to set an example and encourage women to learn and master new knowledge. This doesn’t mean he doesn’t like beautiful women.

With your unique, city-toppling appearance, as long as he sees you, no matter how many points you score on the exam, you will definitely be selected.”

Although Ding Chundong was young, he was intelligent and saw things clearly.

“Ah, then what should I do?”

Ding Wanjun felt that her third brother’s words made a lot of sense. Which man didn’t like beauty?

“What else can you do? Leave it to fate.”

Ding Chundong said. He didn’t dare to contradict his father and ruin his dream of becoming a relative of the imperial family.

Chapter 693: The Launching of the Zhouwu

The fifth day of the second month, in the fourth year of Yongxing.

Wu Changqing attended the launching ceremony of the navy’s Zhouwu warship.

To facilitate distinction, Wu Changqing divided the navy’s warships according to their displacement.

Five hundred tons, one thousand tons, two thousand tons… one hundred thousand tons, a total of eight grades.

And named them after the sequence of Heaven, Earth, Black, Yellow, Universe, and Wilderness.

The one hundred thousand-ton warships were named “Heaven-something-something,” while the fifty thousand-ton class were named “Earth-something-something.”

In this way, one could roughly know the tonnage of a warship simply by mentioning its name.

For example, the Zhouwu was a warship with a displacement of two thousand tons.

If it were just a displacement of two thousand tons, it wouldn’t be worth Wu Changqing’s personal attendance.

Before this, they had already built passenger ships with a displacement of up to two thousand tons.

The current Zhouwu not only had a displacement of two thousand tons, but its hull had also achieved semi-ironclad status, with some important parts being fully ironclad.

The navy wanted to fully ironclad it, but the large-scale welding technology remained a problem.

Wu Changqing provided the technical theory, but the navy had not yet trained welders who were proficient in this skill.

In fact, even if they trained one or two, it would be useless. A large ironclad ship needed too many places to be welded, and one or two welders would have to weld until the year of the monkey.

Although it was a semi-ironclad ship, the Zhouwu’s protection capabilities were basically enough to allow it to run rampant.

Unless it was parked and allowed the enemy’s artillery to bombard it continuously, it was feared that other countries’ current artillery technology would not be able to sink it.

However, it would be relatively easy to destroy it with Great Hua’s latest large-caliber artillery.

When dealing with foreign countries, this Zhouwu was still invincible.

Of course, whether it was invincible or not was not important. There were not many navies that dared to fight with Great Hua at the moment.

This Zhouwu was basically used to show off its power, and the possibility of actual combat was small.

It was also for this reason that this ship had many flashy things that were not practical, but looked quite scary.

First of all, the outer skin was completely covered with iron armor. Without peeling it open, others would not know that it was a wooden ship.

If the Japanese saw a pure ironclad warship, they would basically be scared shitless.

With their current wisdom, they would probably not be able to understand how a large lump of iron could float on the sea and travel quickly.

In addition to the armor, even more terrifying were the weapons on it.

The caliber of its main gun could fire forty Jin shells, eight times that of ordinary Hongyi cannons.

Basically, one such shell could destroy any warship other than the Zhouwu.

Such terrible power could only be used to scare people.

The main gun could not even be turned. To aim, it had to perform complex maneuvers to find a good position.

And the larger the ship, the worse its maneuverability.

In addition, the main gun was very difficult to operate. If it could fire one shot in ten minutes, it would basically be a blessing from heaven.

More importantly, the accuracy of the main gun was particularly poor. Unless it was a close-range bombardment, it was basically hopeless.

In short, it was just a decoration.

If it really encountered a naval battle, this warship would mainly have to rely on other secondary guns.

The appearance of the Zhouwu was not due to the navy’s love of boasting.

The main reason was that they had no experience before, so they built such a thing, which was an experimental ship.

After building the Zhouwu, the navy had accumulated a lot of experience.

It should be much easier to build Zhou-class warships next time.

Regardless of whether it was easy to use or not, it was a milestone and worth commemorating, so Wu Changqing attended in person.

At the same time, this ship would also be test-sailed in the Yangtze River in front of the people.

This kind of mighty and domineering big toy was helpful in enhancing the people’s sense of pride and identity.

When a country is strong, the people will identify with it.

If a country is weak, the people will be disappointed and even resentful towards the imperial court.

Tens of thousands of people gathered by the river.

Then, they saw an extremely spectacular scene.

Several ships dragged the Zhouwu from the land into the water.

The moment the Zhouwu entered the water, the waves it created were several meters high, splashing onto the shore and reaching several meters away, soaking some of the people who came to watch.

However, they didn’t care at all.

At first glance, this method would definitely cause the Zhouwu to capsize directly into the river.

However, unexpectedly, the Zhouwu slid into the river, swayed a few times, but did not capsize. It was very magical.

Of course, a few university students who had studied fluid mechanics would not think so.

“My God.”

A burst of exclamations came from the crowd. The scene of the ship launching was really spectacular.

They had never seen such a scene before. It was simply a visual enjoyment.

“This is Great Hua’s ironclad ship, invincible in the world.”

Someone said, and others agreed.

Although they had never fought in a naval battle, and didn’t even know how naval battles were fought.

However, this did not affect their belief that the Zhouwu was invincible.

Because the Zhouwu was big, and big often meant powerful. This logic was not too flawed and applied in many situations.

“Tsk tsk, look at that main gun. I heard it can fire forty Jin shells. What’s the point of city walls in this world?”

An army officer put down his binoculars and couldn’t help but complain.

How difficult it was to build a city wall, and this cannon could knock it down with just one shot.

Therefore, wherever the Zhouwu could reach, the city walls became meaningless.

Unless the city walls were made thicker.

“The navy is really taking advantage of us. It’s useless to give this kind of cannon to our army.”

Another officer said helplessly. Their army’s artillery mobilization still relied on horses.

“I heard that His Majesty is now working on an internal combustion engine project, which is said to have amazing power, even more powerful than a steam engine. In the future, we can create small trains that don’t rely on rails, so we can use large-caliber artillery.”

“Speaking of which, do we need such large-caliber artillery? Who are we going to use it to fight?”

…

After the warship was launched, the crew boarded the ship and began various preparations.

Then, they began the test voyage.

No matter how mighty and domineering a ship looks, it only has meaning if it can move.

If it can’t move, it’s just a decoration.

As thick smoke billowed from the ship’s chimneys, the Zhouwu began to move slowly.

At this point, it was basically announced that there were no problems with the Zhouwu.

The people cheered, this was their Great Hua’s treasure.

In the crowd, a few Korean people were also infected by this atmosphere.

At this moment, they couldn’t help but forget their Korean identity. They also cheered and regarded themselves as Great Hua people.

Great Hua was awesome, which meant they were awesome.

If anyone dared to say that they were not Great Hua people, they would get angry and spray the other person with ‘You’re the Korean, your whole family is Korean.’

Chapter 694: A Foreign Student’s Letter

Among the visitors were not only people from Great Hua, but also foreign students from Japan and Western Europe, as well as merchants from Western Europe and South Asia.

Nanjing today is an international metropolis, gathering foreigners from all over the world.

For people from other countries, they would be embarrassed to say they’d been abroad without visiting Nanjing once in their lives.

Going abroad without going to Great Hua, without going to Nanjing, is a soulless experience.

“This is a miracle, simply a miracle. If this were a merchant ship, imagine how much cargo it could carry at once, how much money it could make!”

A Western European merchant exclaimed.

A warship with a displacement of two thousand tons is a behemoth, giving people a strong visual shock. People in front of such a warship often feel very small.

Even merchants who frequently go to sea find it incredible to build such ships.

What’s more, this warship has a steel surface, which is even more incredible.

At the same time, he felt that it was a waste for Great Hua to use resources to build warships. This technology should be used to build large freighters for business, which is the most correct approach.

Some Western European students were impressed by the technological content contained in this two-thousand-ton warship.

“If it were us in England, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to build such a ship even after five years.”

Said Johnson, a British student.

“Be confident, Johnson, remove the ‘I’m afraid’.”

Harris, a Spanish student, added a jab. The relationship between their two countries is not very good, and naturally the relationship between the people is not very good either.

“So what? Anyway, you won’t be able to build it in ten years.”

Johnson laughed.

His country is not as good as Great Hua, but at least it is better than Spain.

Therefore, in Johnson’s view, the people of Great Hua are qualified to be proud in front of him, but the Spanish are absolutely not.

This sentence was quite hurtful, and Harris fell silent.

There were also students from France, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries around. When they heard Johnson’s words, they all closed their mouths, even though they had originally wanted to speak.

Their countries are not as good as Spain, so it’s best not to jump out and make themselves uncomfortable at this time.

What if Johnson and Harris said a few more hurtful words? Wouldn’t that be asking for trouble?

They all wanted to complain, everyone is a weak country, why should weak countries make things difficult for each other.

The students from Western Europe were only a minority. The largest number of foreign students were actually Japanese, accounting for at least three-quarters of the total number of foreign students.

There was no other way, who told them to be closer and more convenient to come to Great Hua.

In addition, Japan is now suffering from Great Hua’s bullying, so the daimyo of various domains are more actively sending students, hoping that these people will learn some skills and return to revitalize Japan.

These people study with a strong purpose, and they are usually more diligent.

“Mr. Kuroda, did you see that? This is a real warship. Compared with the wooden boats in our country, it is simply worlds apart. If Japan had twenty, no, if we had ten Zhouwu-class ships, we could resist any enemy from the sea.”

Kanya Shinki shook his companion’s body excitedly. The aura of this Zhouwu-class ship completely shocked him.

“Stop dreaming, Japan will probably never be able to build such a warship.”

Kuroda Shimaqi sighed. He is a pessimist, or a realist.

He felt from some of Great Hua’s policies towards Japan that Great Hua was not very friendly to Japan.

It is impossible to expect Great Hua to help Japan with construction.

He didn’t know that Great Hua was still selling arms behind the scenes and sowing discord, otherwise he would probably be even more desperate.

“Mr. Kuroda, don’t be too pessimistic. As long as we study hard, we can do it one day. The people of Great Hua are not necessarily smarter than us.”

Kanya Shinki said disdainfully. In the academy, their Japanese students are often the most diligent.

So overall, their grades are slightly better.

This also led to Kanya Shinki having this mysterious confidence.

Kuroda Shimaqi wanted to remind his companion that if the people of Great Hua were not as smart as the Japanese, then why was Great Hua’s technology hundreds of years ahead of Japan?

In order not to discourage his companion, Kuroda Shimaqi chose to bear this cruel truth alone.

“Let’s go back, it’s time to continue reading.”

Kuroda Shimaqi said, and his words were agreed by other companions.

If it weren’t for seeing the launch of the Zhouwu-class ship, they wouldn’t have left the academy.

Now that they have seen everything they should see, they should continue to live the life of an ascetic monk.

After returning to the academy, Kuroda Shimaqi picked up his pen and began to write letters to his family and friends in his homeland.

“Father… Great Hua’s prosperity is a hundred times greater than Japan’s…”

Kuroda Shimaqi wrote down what he saw and heard in Great Hua, as well as various feelings.

Between the lines, there was a sense of pessimism and despair.

He really couldn’t think of a way for Japan to catch up with Great Hua. After all, he had seen the rural areas of Japan and the cities of Japan.

Compared with Great Hua, the gap between the two is really so big that it is despairing.

The longer he stayed in Great Hua, the stronger this feeling of despair became.

Especially after seeing Great Hua’s steel manufacturing, machine tool industry and trains, he really couldn’t imagine how Japan could establish its own industrial system.

“Now, the only way is to become a vassal of Great Hua, completely surrender to Great Hua, and let Great Hua relax its vigilance, so that we can learn the essence of Great Hua. After a hundred years, there may be a chance to catch up and surpass…”

Kuroda Shimaqi conservatively gave a figure of one hundred years. He believed that surpassing Great Hua, such a great feat, could not be achieved by one generation alone, but required the simultaneous efforts of several generations.

Moreover, they must first become a vassal state of Great Hua, regard themselves as Great Hua’s younger brother, and follow Great Hua’s lead.

Only in this way can they get Great Hua’s sincere help. Otherwise, Great Hua’s core technology will be tightly covered, and they will have no chance at all.

It was actually very difficult for Kuroda Shimaqi to make such a suggestion.

After all, the Japanese are still relatively ambitious, otherwise they would not have invaded Korea and coveted the Central Plains of China in the past.

It is quite difficult to get the proud of them to take the initiative to come up with the idea of becoming a vassal of Great Hua.

Kuroda Shimaqi was writing letters, and some other Western European students were also writing letters.

However, the content of their letters was not as concerned about the country and the people as Kuroda Shimaqi’s.

Most of them were introducing the good life in Great Hua and various things they saw and heard to their hometown people. Rather than introducing, it was more like showing off their knowledge.

After living in Great Hua for a period of time, these Western European students had the capital to show off to their hometown people.

Their hometowns have been regarded as the countryside by them.

Chapter 695: Pillow Talk

Night.

After serving Wu Changqing, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen chatted about an amusing anecdote she had heard.

It was said that a brawl broke out in a tavern because some Japanese were mocking Koreans for having lost their country.

This infuriated the Koreans, who insisted that they had always been Great Hua citizens, and that Korea was simply returning to the Central Plains, so there was no such thing as national subjugation.

The two groups fought over this issue and were taken to the police station and locked up for the night.

“These Koreans are integrating quite quickly, which is normal, I suppose. Life is good in Great Hua now, and there are many who want to become Great Hua citizens…”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

She wasn’t just bringing this up for idle chatter. The main reason was that people from her hometown had come to Nanjing, hoping she could whisper in Wu Changqing’s ear and get him to send troops to the northeast as soon as possible.

The Khorchin Mongols were already unable to endure Dorgon’s brutal rule.

A power that doesn’t know how to develop, only knowing how to recklessly expand its army and engage in endless wars, will collapse from within without needing to be attacked by others.

This was the current situation of the Qing Dynasty. Great Hua completely ignored them, but they lived in constant fear, relying on maintaining a large army to feel even a little safe.

However, maintaining such a large army would inevitably lead to a lack of development and construction, weakening the country.

Even without Great Hua attacking, the Qing Dynasty would inevitably fall apart in another two or three years.

They could barely survive before, and Dorgon could at least treat the Manchus and Mongols equally.

But as resources dwindled, he could only favor the Manchus to protect his base.

The Mongols of Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s clan were basically abandoned by Dorgon and treated as objects of enslavement.

Therefore, they were also on the verge of collapse.

Fortunately, their clan produced a stunning beauty who could be fully utilized.

Bearing this mission, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had no choice but to risk mentioning this matter to Wu Changqing.

She rarely made requests, precisely to save the opportunity for moments like this.

“Oh? For example?”

Wu Changqing asked, following her lead.

“For example, our Mongols now desperately want to break away from the Qing and join Great Hua,”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

“Is it the entire Mongol, or just your Khorchin tribe?”

Wu Changqing asked.

The current Mongol was a very loose alliance, composed of many tribes.

Those tribes were not subordinate to each other, and their relationship with the Qing Dynasty was only one of cooperation, not necessarily requiring them to obey the Qing’s orders.

The Dzungar tribe in central and western Mongolia would certainly not heed the Qing’s orders now, as the Qing was powerless to punish them.

The Khorchin tribe was in a slightly worse situation. Their location was in what would later become Tongliao City, very close to Shenyang.

Therefore, they still needed to be wary of the Qing and endure.

Without the help of Great Hua, they would not dare to rebel against the Qing, as they could easily be destroyed.

“The only thing I can guarantee is the Khorchin tribe. With me here, they will definitely submit to Great Hua one hundred percent. As for the other tribes, after seeing the good life in Great Hua, they should also want to join,”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

She could only influence her own Khorchin tribe. As for the Dzungar, Khoshut, and Dorbet tribes, she had no way to control them.

“This sounds like a good idea. Let the Khorchin tribe join first, and the other tribes can come or not. After they see the changes in the Khorchin, they will probably want to join on their own. This is also subduing the enemy without fighting,”

Wu Changqing said with a smile.

Of course, he was just saying that casually and didn’t take it seriously.

He believed that ordinary Mongols certainly yearned to join Great Hua, but the rulers might not.

As the saying goes, better to be a head of a chicken than the tail of an ox. No matter how miserable their tribal leaders were now, they were at least local emperors, with no one to control them.

But after joining Great Hua, they would have to watch Wu Changqing’s every move.

Even some high-ranking officials in the court could point fingers at them.

Such a life would certainly not be as carefree as being a local emperor.

Wu Changqing had never expected these tribal leaders and nobles to voluntarily submit. What he wanted was for the Mongol herders at the bottom to have this idea.

As long as the common people were willing to become Great Hua citizens, then it would be easy.

Those tribal leaders and nobles were just a minority, and they could simply be killed off.

“Then when does Your Majesty plan to send troops to the northeast? The people there are all looking forward to the arrival of the royal army,”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

Although Dorgon had helped her a lot in the past.

However, for the sake of her people’s interests, she had no choice but to wish for Dorgon to die soon.

Beneath her gentle appearance, her heart was actually quite ruthless, lacking the emotional sentimentality of ordinary women.

She had to do this. She couldn’t let him enslave her people just because he had helped her in the past.

“Almost. I just need to tell the people in the military department,”

Wu Changqing said.

In fact, the people in the military department had been submitting memorials to Wu Changqing, asking him to quickly recover the northeast and bring it under the rule of Great Hua.

However, Wu Changqing wanted to prioritize development and had not approved it.

But now, the time was almost ripe.

After more than a year of disaster relief in the North, coupled with the promotion and planting of potatoes, the problem of food and clothing had been basically solved.

Without this burden, they could confidently fight in the northeast without worrying about internal troubles.

“That would be great. Thank you, Your Majesty,”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen said.

“How will you thank me?”

Wu Changqing asked with a smile.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was, of course, prepared for how to thank him.

She spent her days doing nothing but researching how to make the emperor comfortable, and she was an expert in this area.

The next day, Wu Changqing took out the memorials he had put aside and made an endorsement.

Resolve the matter in the northeast as soon as possible, and prioritize ensuring the supply of materials to the North.

With just one sentence, the logistics department of the military immediately made adjustments, diverting some of the materials originally intended to supply the Central Military Region to the Funing garrison of the Northern Army.

A few days later, a convoy arrived in Funing, bringing massive amounts of wool sweaters, leather clothing, leather boots, and other warm and cold-resistant clothing.

At the same time, there were also large quantities of grain, cured meat, and canned food.

In terms of military supplies, they also provided sufficient bullets and shells, as well as some new weapons.

In this way, everything was ready except for the east wind.

With the guarantee of follow-up material supplies, Tang Guozhen set the plan to attack the northeast.

Everyone had been waiting for this moment for more than a year, almost two years.

As for the many generals of the Central Military Region, they were quite depressed.

They were preparing to advance into Sichuan, but now it seemed that they would have to delay it for a while.

Chapter 696: Cannons

In the offensive against beyond Shanhaiguan, Great Hua deployed two main force divisions, totaling approximately twenty-five thousand soldiers.

However, they were followed by over ten thousand garrison troops.

The main force divisions were responsible for fighting their way forward, while the garrison troops were to take over the captured territories.

When necessary, they could also be thrown into the battlefield as reinforcements.

After all, the equipment of these garrison troops was not inferior to that of the Qing Dynasty’s main forces.

However, such a scenario was unlikely. If the two main force divisions couldn’t defeat the current Qing Dynasty, Tang Guozhen would offer his life as an apology.

“What kind of cannon is this?”

Tang Guozhen asked.

“This is the latest cannon developed by the military. Currently, there are battles in the Northeast, so I specifically brought a battalion here to test the cannon’s performance in actual combat,” Lu Qing, the artillery regiment commander from the Imperial Guards, said with a smile.

All the best equipment in the military was given to the Imperial Guards first.

Only during these kinds of tests could other units get a little bit of the benefit.

“How is the performance of this cannon?”

Tang Guozhen asked.

Compared to previous cannons, the barrel of this cannon was two or three times longer. From its appearance alone, it gave off a sense of being extraordinary.

“It’s much stronger than the Hongyi cannon and mortars. The inside of this barrel has rifling, which greatly increases its accuracy. Moreover, the lengthened barrel gives the shell an extremely high initial velocity when it’s fired, resulting in considerable kinetic energy.

You can see that the shells are no longer spherical, but cylindrical with a conical warhead. These shells have a strong penetrating ability and are called armor-piercing shells.

When these shells hit a city wall, they can embed themselves into the wall and explode violently. This cannon has both the kinetic energy of a solid shot and the destructive power of a howitzer shell.”

Lu Qing explained with a smile.

Tang Guozhen gasped as he listened. If this cannon was truly as Lu Qing described, wouldn’t it be invincible?

“You’re not exaggerating, are you?”

Tang Guozhen was still a bit skeptical.

“Well, why don’t we try it out at Shanhaiguan and see?”

Lu Qing said confidently.

This cannon had already achieved success in the testing grounds, otherwise it wouldn’t have entered the actual combat testing phase.

The army arrived at Shanhaiguan. The defending general, Guarjia, almost wet his pants when he received the news.

His long defense of Shanhaiguan wasn’t due to his extraordinary abilities, but purely because Great Hua hadn’t attacked yet.

In reality, he lived in constant anxiety.

Because Guarjia knew that Great Hua would definitely attack, it was only a matter of time.

Now that Great Hua had really arrived, he couldn’t remember any of the many plans he had prepared in his mind.

After he remembered them, he felt that there were many problems and that they were useless.

However, the situation didn’t allow him to think too much.

He first came to the city wall and saw the Hua army’s cannons.

“What kind of cannon is that?”

At least he could tell that it was a cannon.

The others shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know.

“Waste, waste, a bunch of useless people. I told you every day to pay attention to collecting intelligence, and now you can’t even recognize the enemy’s cannon. How am I supposed to deal with them?”

Guarjia cursed.

If he wasn’t afraid of causing chaos, he would have killed someone to establish his authority.

“Your Excellency, don’t worry too much. We have built a large number of bunkers, so there’s no need to worry about their howitzer shells,” a subordinate said.

They had been stationed at Shanhaiguan for so long, and they hadn’t been idle.

At least, the city wall of Shanhaiguan had been completely changed by them, with many bunkers added to resist shrapnel.

When the Hua army fired their cannons, their soldiers could hide in the bunkers to reduce casualties.

In addition, they had built many fortifications to defend against the Hua army’s weapons.

It could be said that if the Hua army didn’t have new equipment this time, it would definitely not be easy to take Shanhaiguan, and they would have to pay a considerable price.

Hearing about the bunkers, Guarjia felt a little more at ease.

But he also knew that if the Hua army was determined to take Shanhaiguan, they probably still wouldn’t be able to hold it.

All he could do was try his best to hold on.

On the Hua army’s side, the cannon battalion had adjusted the eighteen cannons and was ready to fire at any time.

With Lu Qing’s command, the cannons roared.

The sound of the cannons was different from that of the Hongyi cannon.

But no one cared about that. Everyone was waiting to see the effect of the shelling.

Boom!

Explosions rang out.

The shells hit the city wall of Shanhaiguan, sending bricks and stones flying.

Each shell, after exploding on the city wall, caused some vibration on the front of the wall.

Its power was more than ten times greater than that of the Hongyi cannon.

At this rate, it would probably take less than half an hour to collapse this majestic pass, known as the First Pass Under Heaven.

This was something that no one had dared to imagine before.

If it were the Hongyi cannon, its shells could only tickle this majestic pass.

“What’s going on?”

Guarjia said in shock.

With this level of vibration, he thought that the Hua army had buried explosives under the city and detonated them.

But that was impossible. The Hua army had only just arrived at the city, so there was no time to dig tunnels.

“Your Excellency, this is caused by the enemy’s new type of cannon. The power of this cannon is terrifying.”

A subordinate had witnessed the whole process, and a warm, wet sensation involuntarily appeared in his crotch.

This cannon was too terrifying. In front of this cannon, what was the point of city walls? What was the point of a majestic pass?

This…

Guarjia was shocked.

Immediately afterward, the Hua army’s second round of shelling arrived.

Some shells hit the so-called bunkers, and the shells directly penetrated the bunkers and fell inside.

The Qing army soldiers in the bunkers were dumbfounded when they saw this thing that had suddenly appeared.

However, this was only for a moment.

Then the shells exploded, blowing up the entire bunker. Bricks and stones flew everywhere, and a rain of bricks and stones fell.

“Your Excellency, retreat to the city quickly. These bunkers are not safe.”

The subordinate quickly reminded Guarjia again.

The bunkers they had built with huge sums of money and painstaking effort had become a joke.

Guarjia didn’t stand on ceremony when he heard this and quickly retreated from the bunker and into the city.

With him taking the lead, other senior generals had a reason to retreat as well.

A group of people retreated into the city, and then they looked at each other, unable to speak.

Although they could retreat into the city to save their lives, if the city couldn’t be defended, their fate would be extremely miserable.

With Dorgon’s almost insane temper now, they would probably be sentenced to death for losing Shanhaiguan.

However, none of them dared to be the first to suggest surrendering.

After all, their families were in the rear.

As long as they surrendered, Dorgon would kill all of their family members without leaving a single one alive.

Dorgon had now become extremely bloodthirsty.

This couldn’t be helped. If he didn’t use such brutal methods, he wouldn’t be able to suppress the wavering hearts of the people below.

If he wasn’t so brutal, a large number of people would have taken the initiative to surrender to Great Hua long ago.

Chapter 697: Breaking Through the Pass

The Great Hua army’s artillery bombardment continued, while the Qing Dynasty’s defending soldiers had gradually retreated into the city.

If they didn’t retreat, they would lose their lives on the city walls.

With such intense shelling, who would dare to remain on the walls?

Soon after, the walls of Shanhaiguan collapsed with a thunderous roar. Multiple locations experienced chain reactions, with the total length of the collapsed wall reaching dozens of meters.

To withstand such cannons, concrete fortifications were the minimum requirement.

These brick-and-stone walls had become utterly useless.

The Great Hua army’s cannons fell silent, and the general offensive began.

“The Hongyi cannon can be phased out,” Tang Guozhen remarked, watching the effects of the bombardment.

Compared to the Hongyi cannon, this cannon was simply superior in every way.

“That will probably take some time. Cannons won’t be equipping the troops so quickly; they’re too expensive and cost too much money,” Lu Qing said.

The cost of the shells was only one aspect.

Another aspect was that the current equipment of the Great Hua military followed certain default rules. Only after the Imperial Guards had better equipment would the ordinary troops begin to be equipped on a large scale.

Just like machine guns, now that the Imperial Guards had been equipped with Maxim guns, Gatling guns were being equipped to the main divisions on a large scale.

Therefore, if the Great Hua army wanted to use these cannons, they would have to wait until the Imperial Guards had better artillery.

Of course, this wasn’t absolute.

“It seems I’ll have to ask Brother Lu to stay and do a few more tests,” Tang Guozhen said helplessly.

Since they couldn’t be equipped in a short time, they had to cherish this testing opportunity and use them a few more times.

Lu Qing naturally had no reason to refuse this small request.

Anyway, a few more battles would yield more data, and the test results would be more comprehensive and accurate.

It wasn’t enough to declare that these cannons were problem-free just because they were effective in this battle.

Perhaps they would become inaccurate in the colder weather beyond the pass.

Weather, terrain, barrel life—many factors could affect the performance of these cannons. There was no harm in testing them a few more times.

While the two were chatting, the Great Hua army had launched a general offensive, and the infantry began to charge.

The charging ranks included more machine gun squads this time.

Several soldiers pushed wheeled machine guns forward, then seized high ground to suppress the enemy with firepower.

These Gatling guns looked primitive, but their rate of fire was anything but slow.

A rate of one or two hundred rounds per minute was enough to break the Qing army.

However, even without the assistance of the Gatling guns, the Qing army had already collapsed.

Most of the Qing soldiers still alive had fought against the Great Hua army and knew how formidable they were.

The moment the city walls collapsed, they knew that the city could not be defended.

Now, the only way out was to find a way to surrender.

As for escaping, these low-level soldiers hadn’t considered it.

Those stationed on the border were in the best position to see the situation inside and outside the pass.

Inside the pass, everything was thriving; outside the pass was like a living hell.

Although they were soldiers, their families in the rear were not doing well.

As for those families without anyone serving in the military, it went without saying that their situation was even worse.

Large numbers of soldiers threw down their weapons or first sneaked into civilian houses.

Only a very small number were still resisting.

“My lord, let’s retreat quickly!”

Seeing the Great Hua army rushing into the city, the Qing army’s senior officers quickly urged Guarjia.

If they didn’t retreat now, they might not have another chance.

“Alas!”

Guarjia sighed deeply.

He had never felt comfortable fighting the Great Hua army; every time, it ended in frustration.

Moreover, every time, he felt that he had lost inexplicably.

His first encounter with the Great Hua army was with Hao Ge, in the decisive battle in Xuzhou.

As a result, the Great Hua army had completely collapsed their firearms troops, which had taken one or two years to build, with just an air force unit.

Now, the defensive works they had painstakingly built for more than a year were easily destroyed by the Great Hua army with just a few cannons.

In short, the Great Hua army had never competed with him fairly, always bullying him with advanced weapons.

This made him extremely frustrated. He felt that he had not lost to Tang Guozhen, but to the Great Hua’s inventors.

Subsequently, Guarjia began to flee with his personal guards and some senior officers.

However, some officers quietly dropped out of the group, wanting to take the opportunity to surrender to the Great Hua army.

After all, losing Shanhaiguan meant that even if they escaped, they might not survive.

Some people cared more about their families, but some cared more about their own lives.

In short, everyone had their own choices.

With these senior officers running away, the low-level officers and soldiers who had lost their command had even less intention of resisting and surrendered one after another.

The Great Hua army hadn’t even broken a sweat, and Shanhaiguan was captured.

The only pity was that the city walls had been severely damaged, and it would cost a lot to repair them.

However, given the current rate of development of artillery, Tang Guozhen felt that there was no need to repair the city walls.

Many of the Qing army’s senior officers escaped, but Tang Guozhen didn’t care.

As long as there were no soldiers left, it didn’t matter if the Qing army only had officers.

After clearing out the remaining enemies, they counted the spoils of war.

In this battle, they killed about one thousand five hundred people and captured more than thirteen thousand.

Their own casualties were only twenty-three dead and just over one hundred wounded.

Anyone who didn’t know better would have thought they had attacked a small county town.

Even taking a small county town with such low casualties would be considered remarkable.

But in reality, they had captured Shanhaiguan, the first strategic pass of Liaodong.

In the past, to capture this city, it would have been impossible without the deaths of thousands or tens of thousands of soldiers.

There were countless soldiers who died under this strategic pass, and there were many impressive figures who died under this strategic pass as well.

“One mountain, one river, heading towards Yuguan, a thousand lamps in the deep night.”

“One gust of wind, one flurry of snow, shattering the homesickness, my old home has no such sound.”

Tang Guozhen recited.

“Good poem, good poem! A good poem written by the general!”

A subordinate immediately flattered him.

“This isn’t my poem, but one written by His Majesty two years ago. We can be considered to have finally fulfilled His Majesty’s wish, and we must quickly send someone to report the good news to the capital,” Tang Guozhen said with a smile.

Everyone was shocked to hear this. If Tang Guozhen hadn’t said so, they wouldn’t have known that Wu Changqing could write poetry, and it seemed to be quite good.

However, when they thought about the mysterious and unpredictable Wu Changqing, everyone was relieved.

Anyway, no matter how many miraculous things Wu Changqing did, they would no longer be surprised because they were already used to it.

“After hearing His Majesty’s poem, I feel a little homesick. Let’s pacify beyond the pass as soon as possible. I haven’t been back to Nanjing for almost two years,” another general said.

His words resonated with everyone. Nanjing was far better than this broken place.

Chapter 698: Dorgon’s Response

Shengjing. Dorgon received the news that Shanhaiguan had been breached and, as expected, flew into a rage and ordered the execution of the Guarjia family and others.

Only in this way could he quell his anger.

Although Dorgon knew that Shanhaiguan alone couldn’t stop the Great Hua army, he never expected it to fall so quickly.

To have the “First Pass Under Heaven” breached in just one day, what else could it be but the incompetence of the generals?

After venting his anger by killing people, Dorgon began to consider how to deal with the Great Hua army’s offensive.

In fact, he and his subordinates had discussed this issue countless times, perhaps even hundreds of times.

After all, this was a problem they would inevitably face sooner or later.

“As things stand, our only option is to avoid their strength and strike at their weakness, lure the enemy deep, attack their logistics, and then use the weather to freeze them to death,” Bayala said.

This was the best plan they had determined after repeated and thorough research.

They might be weak, but they weren’t stupid.

Everyone knew that they absolutely couldn’t win in a head-on battle with Great Hua, and defending the city was also out of the question.

The only thing they could defeat was the Great Hua army’s supply train.

Therefore, their only option was to use the terrain and weather to fight a mobile war, ambushing the Great Hua army’s supply lines. Then, they could starve the enemy or force them to retreat.

Fortunately, it was still February, and the weather outside the pass was unbelievably cold.

When the weather was warmer, an army could survive for two or three days without food.

But in this weather, an army without food would freeze to death in a single day.

After all, in this kind of weather, people have to rely on eating to generate heat and maintain body temperature.

“It is said that they have canned food, and one can is equivalent to several steamed buns. Even if their supply lines are cut off, the food the soldiers carry with them can last for four or five days.

If they reach Shengjing in those four or five days, then it will be troublesome,” another person said.

In the past, a successful raid on the supply route would inevitably force the enemy to retreat.

Because in the past, attacking a city would take three to five months, or even a year or several years.

Once the supply route was cut off, there was no point in continuing to attack the city.

But the current Great Hua army was different. They only needed one day to attack Shanhaiguan. Attacking Shengjing would probably only take half a day.

Even if the supply route was cut off, they could resolve the crisis as long as they captured Shengjing in time.

Almost all of the Qing Dynasty’s stored grain was in Shengjing.

“Order a scorched-earth policy, bringing all the grain and people from the surrounding area to Shengjing. Then we will relocate the capital and retreat to the old capital, Hetu Ala (Xinbin County, Fushun), leaving them an empty city,” Dorgon said through gritted teeth.

In their planned strategy, they would ambush a force north of Jinzhou. When the Great Hua army left Jinzhou and headed towards Shengjing, and reached the halfway point, they would attack Jinzhou.

But the problem was that Jinzhou wasn’t too far from Shengjing, and it would only take five or six days for a forced march.

If the Great Hua army ignored their rear and recklessly rushed towards Shengjing, they wouldn’t be able to stop them.

Therefore, they had to retreat and lengthen the battle line.

Moving all the grain and people from Shengjing, and leaving an empty city for the Great Hua army, would completely starve and freeze the Great Hua army to death.

To eliminate this force of the Great Hua army, Dorgon didn’t hesitate to relocate the capital.

After all, he had exhausted all other means.

Hetu Ala was the capital during Nurhaci’s time, and Dorgon wanted to replicate his father’s success, rising again from Hetu Ala.

Hearing Dorgon’s words, everyone was quite surprised.

Relocating the capital was no easy task.

The road from Shengjing to Hetu Ala was not easy to travel.

Especially with the weather so cold and food so scarce. Forcing a relocation would definitely lead to the deaths of some elderly and vulnerable people along the way, without a doubt.

Everyone felt Dorgon’s determination and dared not say more.

Dorgon couldn’t tolerate any dissenting voices anymore.

As long as someone dared to object, he would directly draw his sword, without any regard for reason.

Many people sighed inwardly, feeling that life was unbearable.

After making the decision, everyone dispersed and began to execute the plan.

Dorgon would personally lead their remaining elite troops, ten thousand cavalry and ten thousand musketeers, to Jinzhou to set up an ambush.

The remaining old and weak troops would be responsible for relocating the capital, forcing the people to retreat to Hetu Ala.

Dorgon issued a death order, stating that anyone who disobeyed would be killed directly.

After everyone dispersed, Barta, Dorgon’s loyal follower, made a shocking decision.

He was going to inform the Great Hua army.

Although he used to be a loyal follower of Dorgon, Dorgon had become like a madman in the past two years. He really couldn’t stand it anymore and was completely disappointed in Dorgon.

Dorgon no longer treated anyone as human.

Barta wanted Dorgon to die quickly, so that he could save the entire Manchu people and himself.

If Dorgon continued to rule, they would perish on their own in two or three years, even without the Great Hua army attacking.

Barta sent his confidants to deliver the message.

And he wasn’t the only one taking such action.

In the past two years, Dorgon’s rule seemed stable on the surface, but in reality, he had completely lost the hearts of the people.

The people below didn’t rebel only because the time wasn’t right, and resistance would cost them their lives.

Or perhaps, it was just because they lacked a leader.

If there was a brave man to lead the rebellion against Dorgon, others would follow. Perhaps even without the Great Hua army attacking, Dorgon’s subordinates would send Dorgon to the execution ground.

Unfortunately, in the past two years, no such brave man had appeared among them. Everyone chose to protect themselves, wanting others to take the lead, being very cunning.

And now, the opportunity they had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Ambush the Great Hua army, defeat the Great Hua army?

This was just the idea of Dorgon and a few others who had gone mad with Dorgon.

Many people actually hoped that the Great Hua army would attack and didn’t want the Great Hua army to fail.

Under the rule of Great Hua, they might lose a large part of their power, but at least their lives would be guaranteed.

Under Dorgon’s rule, they really didn’t know when they would lose their lives.

In the past two years, many people had lost their heads for no apparent reason.

Dorgon was unaware of everything his subordinates were doing.

Dorgon still thought that those who remained were loyal to him. Those who could survive until now were hiding themselves extremely well.

Dorgon led the army straight to Jinzhou and began to fantasize about the beautiful dream of defeating the Great Hua army.

As long as he defeated the Great Hua army this time, he could gain a few more years of respite.

Although he didn’t know what the point of a few more years of respite would be without development.

But as long as he could defeat the Great Hua army, he would gain unparalleled satisfaction.

Now, he could only take things one step at a time, having lost the conditions to make long-term plans.

Chapter 699: Luring the Enemy

Tang Guozhen set out from Shanhaiguan and advanced smoothly along the Liaoxi Corridor. He encountered almost no significant resistance along the way, and marched all the way to Jinzhou.

As a strategic location, Jinzhou, like Shanhaiguan, saw the Qing army flee as soon as its city walls fell.

“This battle is so boring,” a Huaxia army general complained.

This didn’t feel like a war at all, but more like an armed parade.

They simply paraded all the way without any obstacles.

“Don’t worry, there will be a major battle soon.”

Tang Guozhen held some letters in his hand. He had previously met with several Manchus.

These people and letters revealed Dorgon’s plan to him.

If only one person had informed him of this, he would have suspected it was a double agent scheme.

However, with three people informing him at the same time, he truly believed them. Dorgon had completely lost the support of the people outside the pass.

Tang Guozhen passed these letters around for the other generals to read, and they all cheered after reading them.

They hated going to find the enemy the most. It was great that the enemy was coming to them.

“Well, we probably need to put on a show and pretend to be fooled in order to lure them in. Otherwise, they might retreat if they see that the situation is not good,” someone said.

A plan is a plan, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be executed.

If they just stayed in Jinzhou, Dorgon would definitely not be foolish enough to attack the city.

Although they wouldn’t suffer any losses then, they wouldn’t gain any advantages either, and they would still have to spend energy chasing Dorgon.

Therefore, if they wanted to lure Dorgon in, they had to make some arrangements.

“I plan to leave two regiments in Jinzhou, and then take the rest towards Shengjing, pretending to be fooled, to lure Dorgon to attack Jinzhou. Then I will send a fast-moving mobile force back to encircle them from the front and rear,” Tang Guozhen said.

It wasn’t easy for them to lure Dorgon in. At least, they couldn’t leave too many people in Jinzhou, as Dorgon would be wary.

But they couldn’t leave too few either, lest Dorgon actually capture it and burn the supplies.

In the past, leaving more than two thousand people would definitely not have been enough, after all, Dorgon had twenty thousand elites, and ten thousand of them were equipped with flintlock guns.

But now, with machine guns, leaving more than two thousand people was enough to defend the city.

He planned to leave all the machine guns behind, so that Dorgon could have a good taste of their power.

“I am willing to stay and defend Jinzhou, but Commander, you have to leave me a few more machine guns,” Brigade Commander Qin She volunteered. However, he and Tang Guozhen had the same idea, wanting to take advantage of the enemy’s unfamiliarity with machine guns to give them a surprise.

Although they used machine guns to attack Shanhaiguan before, they basically didn’t play much of a role before the enemy was defeated. Dorgon probably didn’t know the terror of machine guns yet.

Seeing that Qin She had taken the lead, everyone was slightly depressed. The credit had been snatched away again.

This task was not difficult, so Tang Guozhen didn’t think too carefully about it.

Since Qin She expressed his willingness to do it, he agreed to his request for battle.

After that, it was the specific deployment of the battle.

When the troops heading to Shengjing should turn back, these details needed to be calculated and designed.

What they wanted was not just to defeat Dorgon, but to eliminate him in one fell swoop, so that it would be easier.

After formulating the plan, they began to act.

The troops heading to Shengjing brought enough food with them, just in case. If Jinzhou fell, they would have enough food to support their return to Shanhaiguan.

Both sides began to mobilize, and the Qing army was constantly sending scouts to observe the movements of the Huaxia army.

They were familiar with the terrain here, which was very convenient.

However, the Huaxia army didn’t need to be so troublesome. People were constantly informing them and reporting Dorgon’s location.

Of course, these people weren’t doing it for nothing.

After they destroyed Dorgon, these people who risked their lives to deliver messages would definitely enjoy some preferential treatment.

Both sides knew each other’s location, but the Huaxia army knew themselves and their enemy, while Dorgon only knew the enemy and not himself.

Having an inside agent on one’s side was really fatal.

When Tang Guozhen’s troops passed Panjin, Dorgon’s army had also arrived outside Jinzhou.

At the moment Dorgon launched an attack on Jinzhou, a brigade of Tang Guozhen’s troops, mostly cavalry, began to turn around and head towards Jinzhou.

The rest of the people also began to turn around.

There was no need to rush to capture the cities outside the pass. As long as Dorgon was eliminated, those places would surrender.

Thanks to the Huaxia army’s cannons, one side of Jinzhou’s city wall was in a collapsed state.

This was a good thing for Dorgon, after all, he didn’t bring any cannons with him.

If the city wall hadn’t collapsed, he would have had to find a way to blow up the city gate and the city wall. Now, it was much more convenient.

However, this was not necessarily a bad thing for the Huaxia army.

If they didn’t deliberately leave some flaws for the Qing army, how could they be foolish enough to attack?

On the ruins, the Huaxia army built simple fortifications, mainly a few places where machine guns could be placed.

Together with the machine guns on the city wall, they established a three-dimensional network of fire.

If Dorgon knew the power of machine guns, he would probably rather attack the city walls in other directions.

Unfortunately, he didn’t know, so he directly ordered the cavalry to charge.

He was a little reluctant to use infantry.

After all, the infantry was slow. By the time they rushed to the Huaxia army, about half of them would be dead.

Therefore, Dorgon unprecedentedly ordered the cavalry to attack the city, using their speed to quickly reach the city, and then dismount and kill.

Although this would consume valuable cavalry and warhorses, Dorgon had no choice.

For him, infantry was also very precious now. After the sharp decline in population, everyone was precious.

The cavalry swarmed towards the ruins of the city wall, and then gunshots rang out.

Among the gunshots, there were both rifle sounds and machine gun sounds.

Dorgon had sharp ears, and when he heard the sound of machine guns, his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He was now really afraid of the Huaxia army’s endless stream of strange things. Therefore, once something unfamiliar appeared in the Huaxia army, he would panic.

Facts proved that his worry was indeed necessary.

From the mouths of the machine guns, bullets sprayed out, their speed making the rifles envious.

The current Gatling machine guns were actually not very easy to use. They were bulky, slow to move, difficult to adjust the angle of the muzzle, and the barrels were prone to overheating.

If the Qing army adopted skirmish tactics, the lethality of these machines would actually not be great.

However, the current Qing army was still like before, suffering from unfamiliarity.

They were still using dense charges, which was simply free food for Gatling guns.

Those bullets were all sprayed into their charging ranks.

For a time, men and horses fell.

Soldiers and warhorses were all hit by bullets.

Chapter 700: A Wretched Death

“What’s going on?”

Dorgon threw down his telescope, exploding in rage. It was unclear if he was talking to himself or questioning his subordinates.

No one dared to speak up. They didn’t know why the cavalry were falling so quickly.

Based on past experience, the casualties shouldn’t have been this high.

Some observant individuals had noticed the Huaxia army’s machine guns, but they chose to remain silent to avoid incurring Dorgon’s wrath.

Dorgon had lost his mind. It wasn’t as if a correct answer would guarantee safety.

If Dorgon was in the mood to kill, whether you stepped with your left or right foot could be his reason.

The best approach was silence, letting Dorgon rage on his own.

Unable to get any feedback, Dorgon snatched a telescope from another person and continued to observe the battle.

The situation on the battlefield was very unfavorable for the Qing army, extremely unfavorable.

The large number of cavalry falling had caused chaos among those behind them.

For a moment, the soldiers were at a loss, unsure whether to continue charging or turn and flee.

Such indecision was a major taboo on the battlefield.

If they had gone all out and continued charging the Huaxia army, they might have posed a threat, given the Huaxia army’s smaller numbers.

Or, if they had decisively turned and fled, they could have reduced their losses.

But this hesitation left them stuck, unable to advance or retreat, and their losses grew heavier.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, are the Qing army’s brains frozen? Why do they seem so stupid?”

One Huaxia army soldier couldn’t help but complain.

To linger in the line of fire was the height of stupidity.

The Qing army’s first charge ended without success, costing them over two thousand cavalry.

Such heavy losses in less than thirty minutes sent a chill down the spines of many Qing generals.

How could they fight like this?

Any sane person would retreat, figure out the machine guns, and then fight again later.

But Dorgon was no longer sane.

So, after the cavalry retreated, he replaced them with musketeers, sending the infantry to charge and exchange fire.

These flintlock soldiers had some ranged attack capability, which could pose a threat to the Huaxia army’s machine gunners.

That was Dorgon’s thinking.

The infantry formed ranks and advanced towards the ruins of the city wall.

As they entered the firing range, the Huaxia army’s machine guns remained silent.

First, to allow the barrels to cool down.

Second, to let the enemy get closer.

If they opened fire from a distance and scared the enemy away, they wouldn’t achieve a significant victory.

By waiting for them to get closer, more enemies would die as they fled.

There was no mercy on the battlefield. They racked their brains to kill as many enemies as possible, to make them afraid and terrified.

As they entered within one hundred meters, the Huaxia army’s machine guns roared again, along with the rifles.

Maintaining a dense formation against machine guns was suicide.

The soldiers fell in rows, like the old days of firing squads, except the rate of falling was faster and continuous.

In the past, after a firing squad shot down a row, there was a period of safety while the enemy reloaded.

But now, the Huaxia army had no reloading time. The bullets never stopped.

This was nothing short of a massacre.

A few Qing soldiers tried to return fire, but their flintlocks were inaccurate.

Even if they had a batch of Yongxing Second Year breech-loading rifles, they couldn’t fight machine guns like that. It was like holding a lantern in the outhouse – courting death.

As more and more soldiers fell, the Qing army finally collapsed. Some soldiers simply dropped their guns, wanting only to run faster.

The hellish scene had driven them insane.

“Damn it, damn it!”

Dorgon smashed another telescope.

Then, he personally drew his sword and went to the front lines, joining the supervisory team to stop the fleeing soldiers.

“Stop! No one is allowed to run without my order!”

Dorgon killed two people in a row, roaring.

He didn’t blame the soldiers for being cowardly; he hated them for disobeying orders.

They could only flee if he gave the order.

But these guys dared to run without his command. Wasn’t that rebellion?

The logic of an abnormal person was often outrageous, and that’s what Dorgon thought.

Dorgon’s killing frightened the fleeing soldiers.

They were afraid of Dorgon.

But their fear of the machines was no less than their fear of Dorgon.

A soldier quietly loaded his gun and, from less than eight meters away from Dorgon, raised his gun, aimed, and fired in one smooth motion.

The gunshot rang out, and a cloud of blood mist erupted from Dorgon’s head.

The once-great Dorgon kicked the bucket.

Powerful people often have wretched deaths.

In history, Dorgon also went riding during the height of his power, fell off his horse, got injured, and then died of illness, quite wretchedly.

Now, although he died on the battlefield, he was shot in the head by a small soldier in his own camp.

This death was no better, filled with absurdity.

Dorgon’s sudden death shocked and bewildered everyone.

Their hearts were filled with mixed feelings. Some breathed a sigh of relief, some wept with joy, and some fell into confusion.

In short, their mood was complex at that moment.

The soldier who fired the shot was captured, but he wasn’t even hacked to death.

This was enough to show that too many people in the Qing army wanted Dorgon dead.

Several remaining Qing generals were stunned when they learned of Dorgon’s death.

It was too unexpected. They weren’t prepared at all.

“Let’s retreat first,”

Bayala suggested.

Everyone had lost the will to fight, so they agreed.

They retreated a dozen li to set up camp before discussing what to do next.

Dorgon had left no heir, and among the remaining people, there was no one whose prestige beatdown everyone else.

So, this remnant force had lost its backbone.

A little carelessness, and they would disintegrate.

“In my opinion, we should just surrender. We can’t possibly be Great Hua’s opponent,”

Barta said.

Dorgon’s body was not yet cold, and his subordinates were already saying such things, yet no one stood up to vehemently object.

“Surrendering to Great Hua might not lead to a good life. We still have over ten thousand people in our hands. Why not retreat to the Mongolian grasslands and dominate the grasslands?”

Bayala said.

They certainly couldn’t beat Great Hua, but with this all-firearm force, they could beatdown Mongolia.

So, dominating the Mongolian grasslands was entirely feasible.

Chapter 701: Monetary Hegemony

During the meeting, the generals engaged in fierce debate.

Everyone had their own ideas, and without a central figure to guide them, it was impossible to reach a consensus.

At first, they could argue reasonably, but later it became a matter of defending their own positions, to the point where they were ready to fight at the slightest disagreement.

In the end, over three thousand men broke away from the main force and headed for the Mongolian grasslands.

The remaining eleven thousand or so men stayed in the main camp and sent envoys to Jinzhou to surrender.

By the time Tang Guozhen’s troops returned to Jinzhou, they had already completed the handover ceremony.

So, Tang Guozhen’s return trip was essentially pointless.

But it didn’t matter. With Dorgon dead and the last military force of the Qing army surrendering, the next step was to occupy the cities, appease the people, and provide disaster relief.

The vast Northeast, with its two million plus square kilometers of territory, now belonged to Great Hua, increasing Great Hua’s land area by nearly double, which was quite astonishing.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty’s territory included not only the Northeast of later generations but also a large part of Russia.

For example, places like Vladivostok and Sakhalin Island were currently under the Qing Dynasty’s control.

With the fall of the Qing Dynasty, various regions successively submitted to Great Hua, and these places naturally became Great Hua’s territory as well.

Although the territory was vast, it didn’t offer much benefit or help besides increasing Wu Changqing’s resource points.

After all, the population here was very small, with fewer than five hundred thousand people in over two million square kilometers of territory. It was incredibly sparsely populated.

And until the Little Ice Age passed, this area wasn’t very suitable for immigration either; it was too cold.

The future granary of the North was still a wilderness, not yet suitable for cultivation.

Only when the weather warmed up would the Songjiang and Nenjiang plains be effectively developed and become granaries.

Nanjing.

Wu Changqing only glanced at the memorials reporting Dorgon’s death and the successive submission of cities in the Northeast, not paying much attention to them.

After overcoming the early difficulties and capturing Nanjing, he had become arrogant. In his eyes, the heroes of the world were like straw men waiting to be cut down.

He wouldn’t even sigh over their deaths.

At this moment, Wu Changqing was busy grading the examination papers for the imperial examination.

In this examination, one question stumped most of the candidates: how to deal with the large influx of silver.

A severe outflow of silver was bad for the country, but an excessive inflow of silver was also not good.

This question had stumped many bigwigs in the cabinet.

Putting this question on the exam was also intended to see the wisdom of the people.

After grading several papers, Wu Changqing didn’t see any answers that caught his eye.

In fact, some of the answers were quite outrageous.

Some candidates suggested banning the use of silver in foreign trade and resorting to bartering.

Wu Changqing gave such views a zero score.

If the use of silver was prohibited, the scale of foreign trade would immediately shrink by more than eighty percent, and tens of thousands of people in Great Hua would immediately become unemployed and bankrupt.

The reduction in trade would also have a significant impact on Great Hua’s economy.

As he continued grading, Wu Changqing finally saw an answer that made his eyes light up.

[Establish a global standard currency.]

The candidate suggested that the internal standard currency of Great Hua could be promoted to global trade.

It could be stipulated that the purchase of goods from Great Hua must be made using Great Hua’s standard currency.

What if they didn’t have it? No need to panic, just take your gold and silver to the bank for exchange.

Of course, Great Hua would definitely charge some melting fees and handling fees in the process.

In this way, in addition to earning a melting fee, Great Hua’s standard currency could become the world’s universal currency.

And when Great Hua’s silver coins became the only standard currency in world trade, the benefits would be very, very, very numerous.

For example, if Great Hua ran out of money, it could add more cheap metal to the silver coins it minted next time, and the money would appear out of thin air, how wonderful.

If paper money could be promoted and all countries in the world could recognize Great Hua’s paper money and circulate it in the future, that would be even more wonderful.

When there’s no money, just print it like crazy.

Printing money for use within Great Hua to harm its own people is naturally not good.

But using it to cheat foreigners would be wonderful.

Of course, the candidate wouldn’t be so superficial as to say it so simply.

In fact, the article was very long and considered everything very carefully.

For example, what if foreigners took the extra paper money printed by Great Hua and came to Great Hua to buy goods? The article also had solutions.

Moreover, fleecing the sheep was only a short-sighted benefit.

In fact, the focus of the article wasn’t on fleecing the sheep. After Great Hua’s currency became the world’s standard currency, there would be many ways to control foreign economies.

Just playing a little monetary policy could cause the economies of other small countries to collapse.

After all, not every country could have such a large size as Great Hua, with all kinds of goods available.

Some small countries, in order to maximize efficiency, often focus on exporting one or two advantageous commodities.

For example, Siam only exports rice to Great Hua. Once Great Hua suppresses these two commodities and increases import tariffs on rice, the economy of Siam will collapse.

At that time, Great Hua could achieve victory without war, and the other party would have to honestly agree to any demands, otherwise, they would have to wait for the national people to lose their jobs and go bankrupt.

There were many such methods, and there were even more complex and irresistible means.

This article was quite profound; at least Wu Changqing didn’t fully understand it after reading it once.

But that didn’t matter; even if he didn’t understand it, Wu Changqing knew that what the other party said was correct.

Because he had seen a lot.

Wasn’t the dollar hegemony of later generations like this?

Although the dollar hadn’t completely become the only standard currency, just being linked to oil was enough for the dollar to do many things.

People in later generations often said that the United States could print money to fleece the sheep when it ran out of money. This statement was of course very superficial and not that easy.

However, the United States could indeed use dollar hegemony to obtain many benefits.

Wu Changqing wasn’t an economist, so he didn’t really understand how to operate it specifically.

But it didn’t matter, wasn’t there such a person right in front of him?

Being able to keenly discover the hegemonic role of currency was definitely a talent.

Full marks, personally appointed as the top scholar.

The candidate’s other subjects, or even other questions, didn’t need to be looked at; Wu Changqing directly appointed him as the top scholar of this examination.

Economists like this were extremely rare, not only in Great Hua but also in the world.

Their way of thinking was very different from ordinary people.

It could be said that this was a talent, a talent that couldn’t be learned through acquired learning.

Chapter 702: The Second Imperial Examination

In the fourth year of Yongxing, the Great Hua’s second imperial examination came to an end.

When the final list was determined, it sparked some controversy.

The top scholar, Wu Kezhang, did not have outstanding overall scores, only ranking in the middle of the two hundred plus successful candidates.

However, he was personally selected by the Emperor as the top scholar.

Fortunately, this top scholar was a year older than Wu Changqing, otherwise conspiracy theorists would have suspected him of being the Emperor’s illegitimate son.

Even now, some people suspect there is some kind of family relationship between them, after all, they both share the same surname, Wu.

Of course, for some well-informed people, it was easy to investigate Wu Kezhang’s ancestry.

Clearly, Wu Kezhang and Wu Changqing were not related.

The reason he was able to become the top scholar was purely because he had qualities the Emperor liked, and outstanding talent in a certain area.

The Emperor is the ultimate authority; if he said Wu Kezhang should be the top scholar, others could only swallow their dissatisfaction.

Fortunately, the top scholar’s starting position was not very high, reporting to the Financial Department with the rank of Sixth Grade Junior.

However, the starting positions of others were even lower. The second and third place candidates both started at Seventh Grade Senior, and most of the second-class graduates started at Eighth Grade Junior, with only a few outstanding individuals managing to get a Seventh Grade county magistrate position.

Moreover, most of them were county magistrates in remote areas.

They had no chance of becoming magistrates in the superior counties of Jiangnan.

With the stabilization of the political situation, future promotion channels would become even more difficult.

Now they could at least get a Seventh Grade county magistrate position, but the next batch of candidates might not even get that.

The rate at which officials retire often cannot keep up with the rate at which candidates are selected through the imperial examination.

And there were only so many official positions in the country. The number of positions in local areas could increase somewhat with territorial expansion, but the number of central government positions increased much more slowly.

However, this was an inevitable trend in the development of a dynasty. Those who passed the imperial examination were well aware of this and had nothing to complain about.

At most, they would regret not having come to join Wu Changqing when he launched his rebellion.

Now, it was all too late.

Among the successful candidates this time, there were two particularly special individuals.

One was a Korean, and the other was a Manchu. Both were granted the title of “Presented Scholar by Imperial Grace.”

The meaning of “Presented Scholar by Imperial Grace” was that their scores were not sufficient to be accepted as successful candidates, but the Emperor’s grace was vast, and he specially granted them a status equivalent to that of successful candidates.

They were both successful candidates, but the difference was still significant.

At least, they were now both reserve officials, and had to wait until there was a vacancy before they could get a position.

The reason for specifically accepting two ethnic minorities was naturally to send a signal to those two groups, that Great Hua treated everyone equally and did not bully or enslave them.

As long as they studied diligently, they could enjoy the same treatment as the Han people.

This attitude could appease the elite among those two groups.

The ordinary people of the two groups were still very happy to integrate into Great Hua, because they gained tangible benefits.

However, the interests of the original nobles and elite classes of the two groups were greatly deprived.

These people were certainly dissatisfied with Great Hua.

Accepting candidates from the two groups as “Presented Scholars by Imperial Grace” this time was a kind of appeasement, giving them a little hope of becoming officials.

Otherwise, these people would definitely be unwilling and cause trouble.

Their trouble-making was like mosquitoes biting people, unable to cause serious harm, but annoying and disgusting.

Too many mosquitoes would also affect the normal development of Great Hua.

“Damn the eight-legged essay!”

In a restaurant, several failed candidates were drinking and acting crazy.

“Haha, Brother Liu also suffered from this. I thought I was the only one who suffered!”

Another failed candidate mocked himself.

These people, through studying the scores of the successful candidates, discovered a shocking fact.

That was, the eight-legged essay scores of those people were extremely poor.

Even more importantly, the grading of the eight-legged essay this year was extremely strict.

An eight-legged essay that could have gotten ninety points in previous years could only get sixty points this time.

The purpose, of course, was that the imperial court was continuing to suppress the weight of the eight-legged essay, causing those who specialized in it to fail.

On the surface, the eight-legged essay was still an important elective subject like physics and chemistry, but in reality, physics and chemistry, as long as you studied hard, had a good chance of getting ninety-five points.

But the eight-legged essay, no matter how well you wrote it, would only get sixty or seventy points at most.

As a result, candidates who specialized in the eight-legged essay suffered a hidden loss.

Those who could participate in the provincial examination were not fools. They could see the imperial court’s little tricks clearly. Or perhaps, the imperial court never intended to hide it from them at all.

It was using this differential treatment to force them to change their study direction and learn more practical skills.

“I’m also preparing to change direction. I think the most popular subject right now should be economics. As long as you do well in economics in the next examination, you will definitely be exceptionally admitted, just like this year’s top scholar.”

Another candidate analyzed.

Economics was a new elective subject added to this imperial examination. The fact that the imperial court specifically added it naturally indicated that the imperial court attached great importance to it, or rather, was very short of talent in this area.

Following the imperial court’s needs was the easiest way to get an advantage in the examination.

Just like this imperial examination, the person with the highest score in economics only had eighty-something points, but was exceptionally admitted.

The highest scores in other subjects were basically above ninety-five, making it much more difficult.

“Maybe the trend will change in the next examination. Three years later, the imperial court may have already gathered talent in this area.”

“Impossible, the imperial court’s main way of gathering talent is still through the imperial examination. The shortage of talent in economics cannot be filled so easily. It will definitely still be popular in the next examination.”

“In any case, don’t study the eight-legged essay anymore. It’s a stepchild subject. It has been suppressed non-stop since His Majesty launched his rebellion. I heard that now official documents are required to be written entirely in colloquial language and vernacular, and are not allowed to use proper essay formats.”

“The world is going downhill.”

……

This batch of failed candidates who didn’t pass would definitely have opinions about the changes in the content and form of the imperial examination.

People, when faced with failure, instinctively like to look for external causes and shirk responsibility.

Of course, they would not admit that they were shallow and lacked talent, but attributed it to the court’s favoritism.

Every imperial examination would have people shouting injustice, but no one would pay too much attention to it.

Many people shouted, in fact, to give an explanation to the elders and folks in their hometown.

After all, those elders and folks had worked hard to support their studies, and they had no face to face those people if they didn’t pass the examination.

However, shouting a sentence of injustice could resolve this awkwardness.

They could explain to the elders and folks in their hometown that it was not because they didn’t work hard or lacked talent, but because the imperial court was unfair.

It was precisely for this reason that even if they shouted injustice, or even shouted that someone was engaging in favoritism and corruption, the officials of the government would not reprimand them, but let them shout.

Anyway, they couldn’t stir up any trouble in the past, and now they had even less chance.

Most likely, after shouting, they would hide in some corner again, continue to study hard, and change direction along the way.

If they couldn’t change the imperial court, they could only change themselves.

Chapter 703: The Imperial Harem Draft

After the imperial examinations, the public’s attention shifted to the imperial harem draft.

People like to gossip when they are full, as the saying goes, “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”

And the gossip of the imperial family is obviously more attractive than that of ordinary people.

Great Hua is relatively lenient with speech, and even matters of the imperial family can be freely discussed.

Anyway, Wu Changqing felt that this would not have any adverse effects.

The more control there is, the more curious the people will be about the privacy of the imperial family. Without avenues for understanding, even more malicious speculations will arise.

Rather than that, it would be better to be more open, giving the people some topics to chatter about, as long as it’s not a big deal.

It’s not as if a few commoners will start chatting and then feel that the emperor has too many women, leading to the idea that the world is unfair, and then rise up in rebellion, right?

Currently, there is no concept of equality for all. It is taken for granted and considered a matter of course that the emperor enjoys privileges.

Since Wu Changqing doesn’t care, the people below naturally don’t bother to control it.

As a result, there were many reports about the imperial harem draft in the gossip newspapers, and the people also liked to hear about these things, out of curiosity.

In the past, they only knew that the emperor was going to select concubines, but they didn’t know what the selection process was actually like.

But now, with reporters covering it, they could watch the whole process.

The more curious they were, the more the newspapers published content on this topic, ensuring sales.

And so, an imperial harem draft became a topic of national discussion.

Great Hua Oddities News.

[Madam Zhen, a wealthy merchant from Hangzhou, has a second daughter who is sixteen years old, with a face that could launch a thousand ships and a beauty that puts the moon to shame. She is proficient in all the arts: music, chess, calligraphy, and painting…]

The description isn’t the key point; the key point is the illustration, which depicts an unparalleled beauty.

The portrait was commissioned from a master, and its quality is naturally beyond words.

The people don’t know if Madam Zhen’s daughter is really as beautiful as the portrait, but just looking at the portrait alone is enough to make them marvel.

“A celestial fairy, nothing more than this.”

[There is a girl in Shaoxing named Jing, who has been helping her father set up a stall to provide porridge for the needy since she was seven years old, for ten years without a break…]

Some promote beauty, while others promote love, filial piety, and talent. There are all kinds, somewhat like celebrities in later generations creating a persona.

They attach a likable label to themselves in order to gain the audience’s favor.

“I think Madam Zhen’s daughter should be selected; she’s too beautiful, like a fairy.”

“No, no, no, I think the girl named Jing should be selected. Heaven will bless such a kind-hearted person to be selected.”

“Our Great Hua values filial piety. Miss Liu, who knelt before the Buddha for a month, praying for medicine for her mother, should be selected. His Majesty’s woman should set an example.”

In teahouses and taverns, those idle people could often argue over this issue, even to the point of turning red in the face.

Although winning the argument wouldn’t affect the results of the imperial harem draft, they still wanted to win or lose.

In the imperial palace, after two rounds of selection, there were still forty women in the final round.

Among the forty, women from the South, especially Jiangnan, made up the majority, accounting for nearly two-thirds.

One reason is that Jiangnan is closer to Nanjing, and they received the news of the emperor’s selection more promptly.

In the North or Lingnan, by the time they heard the news, the first round of auditions had already begun, and some people didn’t have time to prepare.

Another reason is that women from the North are relatively more mature and taller than those from the South.

Women, of course, the younger the better.

Moreover, petite and delicate, leaning on others like a bird, is the current standard of beauty. Those who are tall and sturdy can be the emperor’s female bodyguards.

In addition to Han Chinese women, there was also a Korean girl who made it to the final round.

Korean girls of this era are still all-natural, so there’s no need to worry that their beauty is the result of plastic surgery.

From the southwest, there was also a Miao girl selected, whose specialty is singing folk songs.

In the selection rules, in addition to those women with good academic skills who can be selected, those with special talents also have a chance.

Of course, the prerequisite is that it’s a talent that Wu Changqing likes.

Something like being able to eat many bowls of rice in one meal, or being able to spin hundreds of hula hoops around their body, that definitely wouldn’t work.

Originally, the imperial harem draft was handled entirely by the Empress. The Empress had the final say on who was selected, and the Emperor had no right to interfere.

However, Wu Changqing did not follow these rules.

Chen Yuyan is not a mind reader after all, and she certainly doesn’t know his true tastes. It’s inevitable that she would select some people he doesn’t like and miss those he does like.

Even with Chen Yuyan’s petty nature, Wu Changqing was worried that she would deliberately select some women with ordinary looks, so that he wouldn’t be interested in them, and he would spend more time by her side.

This is definitely possible, and it has happened in history.

Some empresses have powerful families, and the emperor needs to compromise.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing doesn’t need to, so he can break the rules and come to the main hall in person.

When the women saw Wu Changqing, many of them were scared to death.

This is the Emperor, the one who controls the lives of tens of millions of people in the world.

One by one, they lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at the Emperor.

“Raise your heads, raise your heads. How can His Majesty see your faces if you keep your heads down?”

As soon as Feng Debao said this, those people quickly raised their heads.

Having finally reached this point, except for a very few, most of them hoped to be selected.

In this situation, Ding Wanjun, who was still keeping her head down, seemed particularly conspicuous.

“Why are you still keeping your head down?”

Wu Changqing asked. Ding Wanjun didn’t know that Wu Changqing was calling her name until Feng Debao reminded her, and then she raised her head in alarm.

The Emperor was talking to her, which made her feel a burst of nervousness.

This is the Emperor. The weight contained in these two words can only be felt by the people of this era.

Not to mention ordinary people, even those officials who were being received by Wu Changqing for the first time might have trembling legs from nervousness. This is very normal.

After all, the man in front of them could punish them at any time, even kill them, or even wipe out their clan.

The reaction of ordinary people when facing Wu Changqing is similar to their reaction when facing a god, all being fearful and apprehensive.

Wu Changqing asked her a question, and she didn’t know how to answer, or even worried that her thoughts of not wanting to enter the palace would be seen through by the Emperor, and she was scared to death.

Fortunately, Feng Debao softened his heart a little and said, “Your Majesty, she is probably nervous.”

This was a very reasonable answer, and Wu Changqing also thought it should be so.

However, after Ding Wanjun raised her head, he was amazed by Ding Wanjun’s beauty.

If absolute beauty is ninety-five points, then this Ding Wanjun would have to be ninety-eight points.

On the surface, they are all about the same.

But if you observe carefully, you will feel that she is different.

Wu Changqing couldn’t find the words to describe the difference between Ding Wanjun and other women, but the feeling in his heart wouldn’t deceive him.

Among the many women, only this one could make his heart flutter with just one glance.

Chapter 704: Top Ten Beauties

Subsequently, these women were divided into two groups.

One group took the examination, while the other performed their talents.

Those taking the exam sat down and began to write their answers.

Wu Changqing, on the other hand, went to another hall to watch the talent performances.

Currently, entertainment was scarce, or rather, some entertainment options were not suitable for Wu Changqing. He couldn’t frequently leave the palace to watch football matches.

Therefore, selecting a talented woman could provide some relaxation in his free time.

Quite a few people chose to perform their talents, a total of eighteen.

As for the level of skill, it was quite varied.

Some may have been praised by their families since childhood and, lacking comparison, felt their talents were good, so they came to show off in front of Wu Changqing.

In reality, their level was far from that of true experts, barely at the entry level.

Others had truly worked hard, and it was clear they had been cultivated since childhood, perhaps even enduring many beatings for it.

One woman performing a dance expressed her charm vividly in her movements, earning her many points.

Wu Changqing had Feng Debao take note, and Feng Debao knew that this lucky woman was selected.

This woman could provide some exotic dance performances when Wu Changqing’s kidneys were tired.

Another woman who played the zither well was also favored by Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing had always liked music.

Listening to this ancient-style melody was a kind of enjoyment.

Singing, dancing, calligraphy, and painting were all relatively normal talents.

There were also some very rare talents, such as contortion, which relied on natural gifts.

One shortlisted woman showed off her flexibility in front of Wu Changqing, her entire body seeming to have no bones, twisting and turning as she pleased, like a snake demon.

Wu Changqing also took her in.

Her almost demonic talent might allow her to play some special tricks in bed.

After enjoying too many beauties, he could seek novelty.

Of course, the most important thing was that this person was also beautiful.

Being able to enter the preliminary selection from millions of people, and then stand out from thousands to reach the top forty, everyone who reached this stage was a beauty.

Another also won by talent. Her tongue was particularly long, much longer than normal, and when she stuck it out, it could almost reach her eyes, terrifyingly so.

Wu Changqing decided it was better to keep this kind of monster for himself, to avoid letting her out to harm others.

Ordinary people couldn’t handle it.

On the talent show side, Wu Changqing personally selected four candidates, and the others were eliminated.

Four out of eighteen, the elimination rate was quite high.

Those who were selected were naturally filled with joy, while those who were not selected could only feel sad.

Perhaps some women, like Tong Xiangyu and Ding Wanjun, had ideals and pursuits and were unwilling to enter the palace.

However, most women longed to enter the palace, transforming from a wild pheasant into a phoenix overnight.

Once in the palace, everything was possible, with the potential to become the empress and reign over the world.

This was the highest height a woman could reach, and there must have been many women who had fantasized about this position.

After watching the talent show, the written test was also nearing its end.

The exam was only symbolic; Wu Changqing didn’t plan to choose a top scholar as his wife.

Therefore, the exam questions were actually quite simple, just some common-sense questions, such as whether the Earth was round or square, what the boiling point of water was, and why apples fell from trees.

Anyone who was willing to memorize books for a month or two could get a high score or a perfect score.

However, even with these kinds of questions, some people still scored zero.

Wu Changqing was speechless at Ding Wanjun, who scored zero.

After so much publicity from Great Hua, everyone who read books and newspapers should know the common knowledge that the Earth was round.

But this Ding Wanjun even chose ‘square’ for this question.

If others scored zero, it wouldn’t matter; they would just be eliminated. There were plenty of women with big breasts and no brains in the palace, so he didn’t need more.

But the problem was that Ding Wanjun happened to be someone he liked and was very beautiful.

Therefore, Wu Changqing still personally selected her.

As for the so-called exam, it was just to put on a show for the world.

Of course, to make the show look more realistic, the woman who scored full marks and took first place was also selected.

At the same time, the Korean woman and the Miao woman were also directly selected.

Although it was said to be choosing women, every matter of the emperor affected the entire world, so it was not his personal matter. Many aspects needed to be considered.

Letting the Korean woman and the Miao woman be selected was to release a signal of equality.

This was also why Japan didn’t send anyone to participate in the selection; otherwise, they would basically be selected.

It wasn’t that Japan didn’t want to, but it wasn’t easy to find someone who could speak Chinese, was beautiful, and knew etiquette in a short period of time.

At the end of the selection, Wu Changqing selected a total of ten.

He felt it was a bit too many, but Feng Debao said it was too few.

In any case, they could be selected first, and whether or not they would be favored in the future was another matter.

However, Wu Changqing ultimately didn’t do that.

Selecting them and then leaving them in the waiting palace would be too cruel and heartless. It would be better to let them leave and find a good home among the people.

Full-mark scholar Tang Yiliu, stunning beauty Ding Wanjun, Korean original Kim Soo-hyun, boneless snake demon Cui Xianghan, gifted Fang Zhitao, Joey Wong look-alike Liu Piaoxu, Maggie Cheung-esque Ning Caiju, top dancer Lai Tianjiao, zither master Gao Jianxiang, Miao nightingale Ma Shenxi.

Feng Debao announced the final list of selected candidates, and immediately some were happy and some were sad.

For example, Pang Feiyan, who had worked hard for more than a month, but unfortunately her talent was limited, and she hadn’t learned much knowledge. Her exam results were very poor, and she didn’t have any other special qualities, so she was ultimately not selected.

This month, or rather, the preparation of the past year or two, was wasted.

This blow was quite big for her.

There was also Ning Jingxiang from Shaoxing, whose father had spent a lot of money to buy public opinion and create an image of filial piety for her, but it didn’t work.

Wu Changqing was busy with countless affairs every day, so he didn’t have time to read that kind of entertainment newspaper.

Moreover, even if he saw it, he wouldn’t choose based on whether the other party was filial or not.

His mother had countless people in the palace vying to be filial to her, so there was no need for Ning Jingxiang to be filial again.

The most depressed were not those who were not selected, but Ding Wanjun.

She had deliberately scored zero on the exam, but she was still selected.

Beauty can break everything.

Being beautiful can ignore all rules.

Ding Wanjun finally understood that the emperor’s so-called golden words only took effect when they were beneficial to the emperor. When they were not beneficial to the emperor, they were just fart.

This made her very melancholy and worried.

She had heard that serving the emperor was like serving a tiger. If she accidentally made the emperor unhappy, it would be terrible.

Chapter 705: The Ultimate Experience

Wu Changqing felt that the emperors of ancient times really didn’t know how to have fun.

Their only tricks were things like a wine pool and meat forest, blindfolded games, or the Leopard Chamber.

Now that he was the emperor, he naturally had to spice things up.

Picking names from a tablet? Screw that, that method was too boring.

Wu Changqing had a large roulette wheel made, divided into ten equal sections. He would spin the wheel and then throw a dart from a distance. Whichever section the dart hit, that was who he would favor that night.

If the dart happened to land on the line between two sections, he could even have both of them.

This way, every result was full of uncertainty.

Wu Changqing could throw the dart himself, have Feng Debao throw it, or even just find a palace maid to throw it.

He also had a lottery machine made, with ten balls numbered to correspond to the ten beauties. He would start the machine, and the first ball to pop out would determine who received his favor that night.

Of course, these were just occasional ways to play.

Usually, he would still choose freely based on his own preferences.

He definitely favored women like Ding Wanjun and Cui Xianghan and would visit them more often.

As for Jin Xiuxian and Tang Yiliu, who were more like political assignments, he would visit them once or twice to complete the task.

He would see how things went after that. If they could please him, he would favor them more in the future. If not, they would be neglected.

This was the fate after entering the palace; some were destined to be ignored.

This was just one way to spice things up with the selection process. He could also organize fashion shows and model shows with these long-legged beauties.

He never got to see a Victoria’s Secret show in person in his previous life, so in this life, he could only make up for it by watching a few Ming Dynasty’s Secrets shows.

He never got to see bikinis on the beach in his previous life, so in this life, he could only create an artificial beach in the palace and have these beauties and palace maids wear bikinis for a game of intense beach volleyball.

Wu Changqing still quite liked sports. He really just wanted to watch the ball.

It wasn’t convenient to go out of the palace to watch the ball, so having some beach volleyball in the palace wasn’t a big deal.

He didn’t know what a “Hainan Rendez-Vous” was in his previous life, but in this life, he could host his own personal version.

Fortunately, the weather in Nanjing was also warming up.

Night fell.

The first to be favored was Ding Wanjun.

This was a case of “the more you want something, the less you get it; the less you want it, the more you get it.”

The others were eagerly awaiting the emperor’s favor, but the only one who didn’t want to be favored was the first to be visited.

No matter how unhappy she was, Ding Wanjun didn’t dare to show it and tried her best to cater to him.

After all, the person in front of her could elevate her family to the heavens with a single word or have her entire family executed.

She couldn’t afford to offend him, she really couldn’t.

Although she hid it well, Wu Changqing had seen many people and his ability to read people was now completely different.

From Ding Wanjun’s expression and posture, he could sense her inner resistance.

However, this only stimulated him, making him want to favor her even more.

Men, after all, liked to be cheap sometimes.

Complete obedience was too boring.

He liked those who clearly didn’t like him but could only submit and cater to him.

If you analyzed it deeply, experts would say that it was a power trip, a desire for control, and not that Wu Changqing was a bad person.

After giving Ding Wanjun a less-than-pleasant experience, Wu Changqing fell asleep. Unlike couples in later generations, he didn’t need to have any post-coital conversation to make her happy.

This made Ding Wanjun get a preliminary sense of the dangers of the palace.

The next day, in broad daylight, Wu Changqing suddenly felt like it during his afternoon nap and threw a dart.

Soon after, the boneless snake demon Cui Xianghan was sent over.

It was another experience with a special flavor. Those with natural gifts could often do things that others couldn’t.

“I’m exhausted, Your Majesty. Did you like it?”

Unlike Ding Wanjun, Cui Xianghan was much more proactive, and she knew how to act spoiled and cute.

Otaku in later generations couldn’t resist this kind of gentle offensive at all.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing was already used to it and could resist it a little.

“Reward her.”

Dating in later generations was too difficult. You had to constantly pay attention to the other person’s emotional changes, take care of them carefully, and so on.

But now, Wu Changqing’s way of being good to a woman was simple and crude: reward her.

Money, treasures, fame, whatever she wanted, he would just reward her.

And those women loved these rewards. They entered the palace for these rewards.

In the evening, Wu Changqing simultaneously favored Liu Piaoxu and Ning Caiju.

These two looked and felt similar to two famous Hong Kong stars from later generations. Wu Changqing had also watched many of their movies.

Things like A Chinese Ghost Story, City Hunter, and Comrades: Almost a Love Story.

Like many otaku, after watching movies, he would always fantasize about certain things.

Unfortunately, he could only think about it at most.

But now, Wu Changqing could bring these two people, who were once unattainable, under his command and play with them, playing some role-playing games.

“I want to give you two new names. From now on, you will be called Joey Wong, and you will be called Maggie Cheung. How about that? Sounds good, right?”

Wu Changqing once again indulged in his bad habit of renaming people.

“Of course it sounds good, I like it very much.”

Liu Piaoxu said.

How could it not sound good? Who would dare say that a name given by the emperor didn’t sound good?

Besides, being given a name meant that you had left a deep impression on the emperor’s heart, which was a good thing.

When the emperor had more women in the future, it would be very difficult to be favored often.

In fact, there were many women who had been visited by the emperor that he wouldn’t even remember.

Being able to leave an impression on the emperor’s heart meant that he would think of them first when he wanted a woman, greatly increasing their chances of being favored. It was a good thing.

In the following period, Tang Yiliu, Jin Xiuxian, Asō Nami, and others were also favored one after another.

“I’m doing this to set an example and lead the trend of women reading. I’m also doing it to appease various forces and for the stability of the world. It’s really too difficult for me.”

Wu Changqing said.

That was the good thing about being the emperor: you could take advantage and still act virtuous.

If any man in later generations had a relationship with so many women, he would be immediately labeled as a scumbag, and there would be no mistake about it.

But now, Wu Changqing could be so pretentious.

He was indeed having relationships with those women for the sake of the world.

He agreed to the beauty pageant to appease the civil officials.

He chose Tang Yiliu to lead the fashion trend and encourage more women to study.

He favored Jin Xiuxian and Asō Nami to appease the forces in remote areas and reduce unrest in the world.

Even favoring the others was to increase the number of royal offspring and reassure the people.

Yes, that was it.

Being promiscuous for the sake of the world, Wu Changqing felt that he was somewhat great.

Just as he had this thought, a clap of thunder suddenly sounded in the clear sky.

As someone who believed in science, he didn’t panic at all and immediately ordered someone to install a lightning rod.

Chapter 706: The Civil Officials Launch an Attack

Emperor Chongzhen said before he hanged himself that all the civil officials in the realm deserved to die.

Wu Changqing felt that if he ever found himself bedridden, he could also blame the civil officials and say something similar.

He felt his self-control wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t resist such allure.

Each one possessed unparalleled beauty, and more importantly, each was unique.

Any one of them could have been worshipped by countless people in later generations, but now they were all concentrated on him. He couldn’t handle it, he really couldn’t handle it.

“Old Feng, next time remember to keep track of my… times. Limit me to once a day, and stop me if I go over,” Wu Changqing said.

Feng Debao wanted to cry but had no tears. He wouldn’t dare to stop the Emperor when he wanted a woman, even if he had ten times the courage.

But now, Wu Changqing was making such a request, truly putting him in a difficult position.

The number of memorials the Grand Secretariat received each day generally fell within a fixed range.

The civil officials could clearly see how many memorials the Emperor had read and how much state affairs he had handled recently.

In the days after the selection of imperial consorts, the number of memorials Wu Changqing processed clearly decreased, and the number of decisions made by the Grand Secretariat clearly increased.

The officials exchanged knowing smiles, everything understood without words.

However, they didn’t rejoice for many days. Soon, Wu Changqing resumed his usual workload, almost making the officials vomit blood.

Since the Emperor wouldn’t let them be comfortable, they wouldn’t let the Emperor be comfortable either.

Originally, they had planned to launch the ‘Overthrow Lu Guangzu’ campaign a little later, but now they couldn’t hold back any longer.

Imperial Censor Li Bing took the lead, impeaching Lu Guangzu for his illegal activities last year.

Wu Changqing was slightly taken aback when he saw the memorial.

This was the crime of deceiving the Emperor, no ordinary matter.

This was different from Lu Guangzu’s previous snatching of a woman. That time, it could be said that he wholeheartedly wanted to show filial piety to the Emperor, and at least he had reported the rebellion, only concealing some details.

But now, Lu Guangzu had killed the Southern Ming envoy without authorization, purely for his own selfish gain.

Moreover, he had completely concealed it afterward, without reporting it.

Not only that, but to conceal the truth, he had also killed a large number of informed people in Kunming.

Although those people were enemies at the time, Great Hua’s regulations did not allow indiscriminate killing when the other party was not resisting.

Last year, he had promoted Lu Guangzu to army commander for destroying the Southern Ming and killing Zhu Youlang, but now this kind of thing came out, which was a bit of a slap in his face.

“Have the people from the Intelligence Bureau investigate,” Wu Changqing said.

On the one hand, Wu Changqing had the Intelligence Bureau investigate secretly, and on the other hand, he had the Censorate intervene. With a two-pronged approach, the conclusions would be more impartial.

He actually already believed what Li Bing said, after all, it was too detailed, and Li Bing also vowed that there were witnesses and physical evidence, obviously prepared.

If there was no evidence, the people from the Censorate would not dare to impeach an army commander holding tens of thousands of troops, who was already a senior military officer of Great Hua.

Liu Hansan, Li Shaobin, and others with higher official positions than him basically no longer managed affairs or handled specific matters.

Therefore, military officers at their army commander level were already the most powerful group of military officers in Great Hua.

To prevent accidents, Wu Changqing transferred Lu Guangzu to Nanjing to accept the investigation, using an excuse and not telling him the truth.

It would be troublesome if he was cornered and something unexpected happened.

Although this possibility was extremely small, and the people below would not rebel with Lu Guangzu.

However, Wu Changqing was still prepared for any eventuality and had the Imperial Guards strengthen the security of Nanjing.

Wu Changqing was a little too worried. Lu Guangzu didn’t think that the matter had been exposed and rushed back to Nanjing excitedly, then was imprisoned, and interrogated by people from the Censorate and the Intelligence Bureau together.

This situation startled Lu Guangzu.

Although the Intelligence Bureau had never touched the military before, that didn’t mean he didn’t know how powerful the Intelligence Bureau was.

Moreover, the people from the Censorate and the military were natural enemies.

When the other party revealed their identities, Lu Guangzu knew that things were very bad, and that the assassination of the Southern Ming envoy must have been exposed.

Apart from this matter, he had not done any other serious bad things.

Although he had also accepted some bribes using his authority, those were minor matters. Even if they were known, their military would conduct internal accountability.

In the army, he had strong connections, and internal accountability in the army could be lenient.

Now, he was being interrogated by the Censorate and the Intelligence Bureau, so there was no room for sentimentality.

“Army Commander Lu, do you know why we are looking for you?” Hai Qing, the Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, said with a sneer.

“I don’t know. I want to see His Majesty and accuse you of arresting people without authorization. I am the Army Commander of the Fifth Army of Great Hua, with outstanding military achievements. How can you petty officials be qualified to interrogate me?” Lu Guangzu said.

“Army Commander Lu doesn’t need to be agitated. The person next to me is Qin Fen, Deputy Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Lord Qin. That is to say, arresting you is His Majesty’s intention, so you don’t need to shout to see His Majesty. His Majesty doesn’t want to see you at this time,” Hai Qing said.

His words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Lu Guangzu’s chest hard.

As long as the Emperor supported him, he was not afraid of anything.

But now that the Emperor wanted to take him down, he lost his greatest support.

Although he wanted to appear calm, the sweat on his forehead had betrayed his inner thoughts.

“It must be you treacherous officials who have slandered me and deceived His Majesty. Director Qin, please plead with His Majesty for me. I want to see the Emperor and personally defend myself,” Lu Guangzu said, wanting to go to Wu Changqing to complain and beg for mercy.

As long as the Emperor was willing to pardon him, then everything would be easy. At worst, he would lose his official position, but at least he could save his life.

“Army Commander Lu, just truthfully confess your problems. How to deal with it then, His Majesty will make his own decision. Thunder and rain, are all the Emperor’s grace,” Qin Fen did not agree to Lu Guangzu’s request.

He didn’t know whether Wu Changqing would spare Lu Guangzu, and he wasn’t interested in knowing. He just wanted to find out the ins and outs of the case.

“Humph, I don’t know what to confess. I am innocent. I want to see the Emperor!” Lu Guangzu’s words left Qin Fen speechless. He had seen too many people like this.

Everyone was shouting to see the Emperor. Not to mention that this kind of request was outrageous, even if they did see him, what could they do?

If you commit a crime, you will be punished, and you can’t escape it.

“Lord Lu, there’s no need to be stubborn now. How could we arrest someone without absolute certainty? We have already grasped the details of your interception and killing of the Southern Ming envoy in Wuzhou last year.

Letting you speak now is just to get a complete confession. Even if you don’t say anything, we have sufficient witnesses and physical evidence to convict you. Therefore, if you want to suffer less physical pain, it’s better to confess honestly,” Hai Qing advised.

However, this kind of persuasion was useless at all.

Lu Guangzu was too clear about their routine. If he spoke, he would die without a doubt. If he didn’t speak, there was still a glimmer of hope. What if they were just bluffing?

Chapter 707: Avoiding Him From Afar

Lu Guangzu was, after all, a military commander, carrying much more weight than a mere vice-minister.

Therefore, the people from the Censorate and the Intelligence Bureau did not resort to torture. Instead, they presented the evidence and pointed out each of his wrongdoings.

Seeing that the other party had indeed produced evidence, beads of sweat formed on Lu Guangzu’s forehead.

However, he still refused to confess.

Confessing would make it difficult to recover, while denying the charges would allow him to wait for someone to rescue him.

He had been in the army for so long, he couldn’t be completely without friends.

Outside, upon learning that Lu Guangzu had been arrested, Wang Dayong was quite surprised.

As Lu Guangzu’s former superior, and given Lu Guangzu’s previous filial piety towards him, he certainly couldn’t stand idly by at this time.

So, Wang Dayong used some of his connections to inquire about the situation, eventually learning about Lu Guangzu’s assassination of the envoy.

This made him burst with anger.

If Lu Guangzu was innocent and had been framed by the civil officials, he would definitely do his best to help.

Not only him, but the entire military would stand up for him.

Even if Lu Guangzu had committed some minor offenses such as corruption or bribery, he could still plead with Wu Changqing to help him out.

He would risk being scolded by Wu Changqing to protect Lu Guangzu.

However, Lu Guangzu had now committed the serious crime of deceiving the emperor, which made it difficult for him.

To help him now would be going against the emperor, wouldn’t it?

Lu Guangzu was just a former subordinate, not his son.

When it came to relationships, Wu Changqing and he were on better terms.

If Lu Guangzu hadn’t been his former subordinate, Wang Dayong would have taken the lead in requesting severe punishment for such a person who deceived the emperor.

Now, all Wang Dayong could do was notify Lu Guangzu’s family.

Lu Guangzu’s family, upon hearing this news, naturally felt like they had been struck by lightning, as if the sky was about to fall.

The crime of deceiving the emperor was a serious crime punishable by confiscation of property and extermination of the family.

Now, not only was Lu Guangzu in trouble, but his family was also fish on the chopping board, their lives no longer their own.

“His crime has basically been determined. Now, the only thing you can do is plead with His Majesty, try to get a punishment like exile, and avoid death,” Wang Dayong reminded them.

“But, how can we see His Majesty?” Lu Guangzu’s son looked desperate. He had relied on his father to get a position as a battalion commander in the army, and his abilities were quite ordinary.

Now that his father was in trouble, he panicked and lost his direction.

“Well, you might be able to ask Consort Li for help,” Wang Dayong continued to advise.

Consort Li was Miao Ping, the woman Lu Guangzu had snatched and presented to Wu Changqing.

Although her origins were not very honorable, she was very pleasing to Wu Changqing and became a consort, one rank below a concubine.

Moreover, she had given birth to a son for Wu Changqing.

No matter how much of a bastard Lu Guangzu was, from Miao Ping’s point of view, Lu Guangzu had always been somewhat kind to her.

If it weren’t for Lu Guangzu, she would just be an ordinary man’s concubine, and her family would not have had the opportunity to live in Nanjing and enjoy the most luxurious life.

Now that her benefactor was in trouble, it would be a bit unreasonable not to help.

Of course, it depended on what Miao Ping thought. Even if she watched coldly and protected herself, no one could do anything about it.

After receiving the guidance, Lu Guangzu’s son went to the Miao family.

He certainly wasn’t qualified to enter the palace to see Miao Ping, so he could only ask Miao Ping’s mother to help pass on the message.

Favor was greater than heaven, and Miao Ping’s family, even though they were extremely unwilling to get involved in such a matter, couldn’t refuse.

Otherwise, if the Lu family broke the net and went everywhere to publicize that the Miao family was ungrateful, they would have no face to stay in Nanjing in the future.

Afterward, Miao Ping’s mother entered the palace and told Miao Ping about this matter.

This made Miao Ping very embarrassed. Her position in the palace was neither high nor low.

If she could reach the level of a concubine, or if she had given birth to the eldest son, or if her background was better, she could still act spoiled in front of the emperor.

However, she was just a consort, and she had given birth to the second son.

Although she was one of Wu Changqing’s only two sons, being one step slower made her less valuable.

Due to the values of this era, she ultimately chose to ask to see Wu Changqing.

Then, she asked about this matter.

“Don’t get involved in this kind of thing, lest you get dragged in too,” Wu Changqing’s words frightened Miao Ping into not daring to say more.

Wu Changqing wasn’t just making a scare. He could feel that the civil officials would make a fuss about this matter.

At that time, in order to completely kill Lu Guangzu, these guys might dig up old accounts and reveal Miao Ping’s matter as well.

At that time, Miao Ping’s origins would be a stain.

Miao Ping retreated. No matter what kindness Lu Guangzu had shown her, she now had to prioritize protecting herself, her child, and her family.

Moreover, Lu Guangzu had forcibly abducted her after all, and it was entirely out of selfishness and for the purpose of using her. This kindness couldn’t be considered great.

Outside, there were quite a few people who initially wanted to rescue Lu Guangzu.

However, upon hearing that Lu Guangzu had committed the crime of deceiving the emperor, ninety-nine percent of them were frightened away.

Everyone’s kindness is closely related to the price they have to pay.

Everyone is willing to persuade others to study hard, a kind of kindness that requires no cost.

Giving alms to beggars requires paying a price, and the number of people willing to do so decreases sharply.

If the price is higher, the number will be even smaller.

Lu Guangzu committed the crime of deceiving the emperor. To rashly save him might mean dragging oneself in.

This price far exceeded the range that others could bear.

For a time, many people avoided the Lu family from afar, and closed their doors to hide from Lu Guangzu’s son’s requests to see them.

Lu Guangzu’s criminal facts were confirmed with conclusive evidence, both human and material.

It could be said that his matter had basically been determined.

However, bringing down Lu Guangzu was not the real intention of the civil officials.

Bringing down one Lu Guangzu was meaningless to them.

They just wanted to use Lu Guangzu’s matter to prove that the army needed supervision and rectification. Then, they could extend their hands into the army and seize the power of the army.

So, soon a memorial was submitted to the cabinet.

The memorial requested Wu Changqing to establish a system of military supervisors, with civil officials serving as supervisors to oversee all illegal activities in the army.

As soon as this memorial came out, the military exploded.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing was strong now, and the military didn’t dare to mess around.

Otherwise, some people might have shouted “Clear the Emperor’s side” like Zuo Liangyu in the past, leading the army to Nanjing and forcing Wu Changqing to execute those civil officials who made the suggestion.

Establishing a system of military supervisors violated the core interests of the military.

They had relied on fighting to the death with the enemy on the battlefield to stand up again and gain their current status.

They would never agree to return to the Ming Dynasty period, to the situation where they were arbitrarily manipulated by civil officials.

Chapter 708: The Military’s Fury

“Outrageous! Not a single one of these civil officials is worth a damn.”

Liu Hansan smashed his teacup to smithereens. Soldiers, after all, were known for their fiery tempers.

“Commander, we must immediately seek an audience with His Majesty! We absolutely cannot allow those civil officials to deceive the Emperor.”

The other officers still stationed in Nanjing echoed their desire to see Wu Changqing and pledge their loyalty.

They wanted Wu Changqing to know that Lu Guangzu was an isolated case and did not represent the military as a whole.

Li Shaobin remained silent, a sense of unease in his heart.

As the saying goes, “When the birds are gone, the good bow is stored away; when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked.”

Now that the realm was largely pacified, with the exception of Sichuan, there were hardly any enemies left.

Moreover, even if there were enemies, with their overwhelming weapon superiority, anyone could be sent to achieve victory.

In other words, they, the senior military officers, were no longer as important as they once were.

One could even say they were a burden on the empire.

At times like these, what emperors loved to do most was find an excuse to kill meritorious officials.

Although Wu Changqing had never done such a thing, who knew if he might do so in the next moment?

Previously, to put Wu Changqing at ease, the three commanders and three veterans had all voluntarily requested to step down to the second line, doing some other auxiliary work and no longer directly leading troops on the front lines.

This was to show their loyalty and signal that they had no ambition.

However, their influence on the army remained, and no emperor would truly be at ease with that.

Therefore, unlike Liu Hansan’s fury, Li Shaobin was rather detached.

He didn’t want to get involved. He would rather lose prestige in the military and focus on being his Duke of Jing in the future.

“It’s all my fault for being too lenient with him in the past. I’ll tell him tomorrow to beg for death and atone for his sins.”

Only now did Wang Dayong realize the gravity of the situation. It was no longer a question of whether to save Lu Guangzu, but that Lu Guangzu had to die.

The civil officials might be willing to let Lu Guangzu off, but the military would never forgive him.

Because of him, the military was now in deep trouble.

Because of Lu Guangzu’s misdeeds, the military’s image had been greatly damaged, and in the eyes of the people, they had become arrogant and domineering.

The civil officials had not only submitted memorials but also used newspapers to publicize some of the military’s misdeeds, stirring up public sentiment and causing the people to lose faith in the army.

“It’s meaningless to say this now. Old Li, say something! We’ll enter the palace tomorrow to seek an audience. Let’s unify our opinions first.”

Liu Hansan said.

“What can I say? The biggest problem now is that His Majesty is worried that we in the military are deceiving him, acting arbitrarily, and that we have ulterior motives.

At a time like this, if we still appear so united, wouldn’t that be adding fuel to the fire, making His Majesty even more wary?”

Li Shaobin said unhappily.

Although it was true that he didn’t want to get involved, what he said made a lot of sense.

The more united the military appeared at this time, the more worried the Emperor would be.

Discord between civil and military officials, discord between the navy and army, discord between military regions – these were the states that the Emperor liked to see most.

The more disunited the people below were, the more they needed to rely on the Emperor’s power, and the more stable Wu Changqing’s throne would be.

Conversely, if the people below were united, the Emperor would have trouble sleeping at night.

“Damn it, are we just going to sit here and wait for our deaths?”

Liu Hansan cursed.

Neither option was good; it was too frustrating.

They were truly no match for the civil officials when it came to playing these power games. They all looked gloomy.

“How about we take the initiative to ask His Majesty to establish a regulatory mechanism, but demand that the people responsible for regulation must be from our military, or at the very least, from the Ministry of War? In any case, we must not agree to let the Censorate supervise the military,” Chief of Staff Liao Yu said.

This time, the military had to make some concessions, or else they might not be able to get through this.

Therefore, Liao Yu suggested retreating in order to advance, proactively sharing power.

As long as the power didn’t fall into the hands of the civil officials, it would be acceptable.

Letting the military regulate itself, although they wouldn’t be able to be so carefree in the future, at least they were all one family, and if something happened, it could be resolved internally, preventing the civil officials from taking the opportunity to attack.

Moreover, Liao Yu also felt that some of the fanatics in the army really needed to be regulated.

Some people in the army often broke the rules and were always a hidden danger.

If another Lu Guangzu incident happened next time, it would be too outrageous.

Such things were clearly tarnishing the military’s reputation.

“This plan is feasible. Let us regulate ourselves.”

Li Shaobin said.

Liu Hansan didn’t like the idea of an extra layer of supervision, but as things stood, he had no choice.

If the military didn’t make some concessions, those civil officials would definitely keep biting down and not let go.

If Wu Changqing became suspicious, it would be a truly irreversible disaster.

After the group agreed on a plan, they began to submit secret memorials seeking an audience.

Some people in the military could directly submit secret memorials to Wu Changqing without going through the cabinet.

Wu Changqing also felt a slight headache when he saw the memorials from Liu Hansan and the others.

Solving the problem of the military deceiving superiors and subordinates was not so easy.

Letting civil officials supervise would probably turn the military into an appendage of the civil officials, which was absolutely unacceptable.

As long as the civil officials supervised, they would definitely be able to seize the military officers’ weaknesses, thereby completely controlling those troops.

The separation of civil and military affairs was Wu Changqing’s principle, and he would never allow them to interfere with each other.

Civil officials without the support of military officers could not accomplish anything. Military officers without the planning and assistance of civil officials could only cause small-scale disturbances and could not affect the foundation of Great Hua.

But once there was a conflict of interest between them, it would be easy for collusion to occur.

Letting civil officials supervise was not an option, and letting military officers supervise themselves would probably have extremely limited effects.

Self-regulation would have no effect at all.

When problems arose, the military would still resolve them internally, not wanting the Emperor to know and affect their image.

As a result, there would still be various instances of deceiving superiors and subordinates.

Another option was to let eunuchs supervise.

Eunuchs were Wu Changqing’s personal servants, so there was no need to worry that they would serve the civil officials or the military. Their safety was guaranteed.

However, this could also easily lead to problems.

Eunuchs’ psychology was more or less abnormal, which could lead to some bizarre behavior.

Liking to take money to do things was a minor problem. The real fear was that someone with a twisted mind would use their power to humiliate military officers, chilling their hearts.

The Battle of Yellow Turban Rebellion in the Three Kingdoms period and the Tumu Crisis of the Ming Dynasty were largely the fault of eunuch supervisors.

There were many examples of eunuchs supervising the army in history, but the effects were not very good.

In short, because of the selfishness of human nature, it was impossible to completely solve the problem of military discipline through a supervisory system.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing, as a person from later generations, could draw on some of the methods used by the military in later generations, summarize some experience, and formulate corresponding measures.

Chapter 709: The End of the Disturbance

[Regulations for Military Discipline Inspection]

Wu Changqing didn’t give the civil and military officials a chance to argue. The main theme of Great Hua now is development, not infighting. There’s no need to waste energy on meaningless disputes.

Infighting never leads to any results. The struggle for the crown prince during the Wanli era lasted for over a decade.

It’s outrageous that the people pay taxes to support these bastards, only for them to eat and drink their fill and then start arguing.

In situations where both sides have their own valid points, only a strong figure can forcefully end the discussion. There’s no possibility of one side convincing the other.

Since arguing is pointless, then just don’t argue.

Wu Changqing directly presented the solution. Those who are satisfied can secretly rejoice, and those who are dissatisfied can keep it to themselves.

Anyone who has objections and dares to endlessly whine and complain shouldn’t blame him for resorting to thunderous measures again.

The last purge wasn’t very large in scale, so perhaps it didn’t scare some people enough.

Another one wouldn’t be out of the question.

Wu Changqing’s solution drew on the experience of later generations’ military police and combined it with the current situation.

He adopted a dual-oversight system, where both eunuchs and soldiers’ committees jointly supervised and reported on illegal and disciplinary violations by officers and soldiers in the army.

If only soldiers’ committees were established, the effect would probably not be very good, because soldiers will always be afraid of officers.

Sometimes, even if officers violate military rules and discipline, soldiers are unwilling to offend them in order to protect themselves.

Therefore, this monitoring system has flaws.

And having only eunuch supervisors also has problems.

Combining the two can solve this problem to some extent.

Soldiers may not dare to report, but eunuchs do.

If eunuchs dare to abuse their power, the soldiers’ committee can report and restrain them.

With mutual checks and balances, the probability of problems occurring will be relatively small.

However, any system is rigid, while people are flexible.

Over time, there will definitely be cunning individuals who can find loopholes and exploit them.

But that’s all in the future. Wu Changqing can only take things one step at a time and find solutions when problems arise.

Moreover, he understands that this kind of thing, like corruption, can never be completely eliminated.

As long as the problem can be controlled within a very small range and doesn’t affect the stability of the government and the combat effectiveness of the army, that’s enough.

Wu Changqing’s quick response stunned the civil officials who were still reveling in their joy.

Before their plan could even get off the ground, Wu Changqing directly stepped in and resolved it.

Moreover, the final result had nothing to do with them, the civil officials.

The military generals’ power was indeed reduced, but the beneficiaries were the eunuchs and ordinary soldiers.

They, the ones who contributed the most and jumped the highest, didn’t get any benefits and even deeply offended the military.

These people were certainly unwilling and continued to submit memorials, elaborating on the various drawbacks of eunuch supervisors.

However, Wu Changqing simply threw these memorials into a corner and ignored them.

Smart people saw the trend and stopped making noise. If they continued, the Emperor would get angry.

But some people who couldn’t see the situation clearly and couldn’t guess Wu Changqing’s thoughts were still making trouble.

It wasn’t until Wu Changqing ordered the dismissal of two Imperial Censors and a Secretary of the Ministry of Rites that the others finally woke up and stopped making noise.

After all, the last purge hadn’t been that long ago, and they hadn’t forgotten it.

“These people are too impatient.”

Hong Chengchou complained.

He had previously reminded others that the timing wasn’t right, and the Emperor’s mind was focused on development.

Jumping out at this time was purely adding to Wu Changqing’s troubles.

If they could be patient and wait for an opportunity, such as Wu Changqing himself becoming dissatisfied with the army, then jumping out to expose the matter and add fuel to the fire would definitely have a great effect.

It’s a pity that people are too impetuous now.

Hong Chengchou smiled and didn’t pay any more attention to it.

Anyway, he had already reached the rank of minister, and he didn’t have any interest groups behind him, so he didn’t need to consider too many trivial matters. He just needed to do his job well.

Although he wasn’t an isolated minister, he was close to it. The affairs of the civil official group had little to do with him.

Having failed to seize power, many civil officials were quite disappointed.

They had failed in their power struggles with the Emperor many times, almost never winning.

Even Wu Changqing’s hard-won agreement to hold a beauty pageant was only a brief indulgence before he quickly returned to government affairs.

Having failed so many times, some officials were already disheartened or afraid of Wu Changqing.

“I think we should just be honest officials. Leaving the matter of raising the status of civil officials to our next generation wouldn’t be too late.”

Liu Dahua occasionally advised some of the more stubborn elements in this way.

He didn’t want to keep causing trouble. If he angered the Emperor, losing his life would be too much of a loss.

Liu Dahua’s words were recognized by some civil officials.

Fighting with Wu Changqing was too tiring. It was better to hope that Wu Changqing’s son wouldn’t be so smart and realistic.

Although they might not live to see that day, being able to enjoy their current wealth and honor in peace for the rest of their lives was also a blessing.

The civil officials were very depressed after failing to seize power.

And the military generals were in even worse moods.

The civil officials only didn’t gain anything, but they lost tangible benefits.

Originally, they could do many things casually, but now they had to be mindful of the supervising eunuchs and the soldiers’ committees, which was extremely frustrating.

They had always looked down on eunuchs.

They had only used soldiers in the past, and few people took soldiers to heart or even noticed them.

But now, these people had the power to supervise them, which was a real pain in the neck.

In the future, any violation of military discipline would be reported, recorded, and affect their promotion. In serious cases, they could even lose their official position or their lives.

Like Lu Guangzu, the final punishment had been decided.

Death penalty, public execution.

Fortunately, the Emperor, considering his past merits and hard work, didn’t confiscate his family’s property or exterminate his clan, but only punished him alone.

His family members were not implicated. Even his son’s position as battalion commander was retained.

Lu Guangzu was naturally filled with remorse when he learned of the punishment.

However, he couldn’t show any resentment, otherwise Wu Changqing might change his mind and include his family as well.

Therefore, even at the moment before his execution, Lu Guangzu faced the imperial palace in front of countless people, kowtowed to thank the Emperor for his grace, and admitted his guilt.

Lu Guangzu wasn’t the only one beheaded. The military officers who were directly responsible for assassinating the Southern Ming envoys were also sentenced to death.

As for the soldiers, they were sent to the mines to dig coal.

With this, this disturbance came to an end.

Chapter 710: Local Development

The turmoil in the Imperial Court was, to some extent, heard of in the localities.

However, being an official in the localities had its advantages. Some matters of the court didn’t need to be meddled with.

As long as the locality was well-governed, one could be promoted.

Songjiang Circuit, Shanghai Prefecture.

The current Songjiang Circuit roughly overlaps with the Shanghai Municipality of later generations, including Jiading County, Qingpu County, Jinshan County, and other places. It is directly under the central government, and its administrative structure is equivalent to a province.

The original Shanghai County has been upgraded to a prefecture, governing Shanghai City, Huating County, and Qingpu County.

The Shanghai Prefect is a Fourth Rank official, the Shanghai City Magistrate is a Fifth Rank official, and the Huating County Magistrate is a Seventh Rank official, a significant difference.

Ouyang Shiqi is currently the Shanghai City Magistrate. He has been promoted, and very quickly at that.

However, although his official rank has risen, the matters he manages and the territory he governs have not changed. It is still the same area of Shanghai City.

He can’t even manage the adjacent Huating County.

This frustrates Ouyang Shiqi because the land along the Huangpu River is becoming increasingly scarce.

As a result, many workers can only live in Huating County, where the rent is cheaper. Factory owners and company bosses prefer to build employee dormitories in Huating County.

Building dormitories for employees in Shanghai City is too extravagant; not many companies can afford it.

However, although Huating County is close to Shanghai City, there is still some distance.

To facilitate employees’ commutes, Ouyang Shiqi discussed with Wang Zhangwu, the magistrate of Huating County, about building a public carriage route from the workers’ residential area in Huating County to Shanghai City.

Ouyang Shiqi’s idea was that the construction of this route would benefit both sides, so the cost should naturally be shared.

Moreover, Shanghai City is wealthier, and Ouyang Shiqi is willing to pay the lion’s share, only requiring Huating County to bear a small portion.

Unfortunately, Wang Zhangwu is very cunning. He knows that Ouyang Shiqi is eager to build this route to reduce employee commute times and improve efficiency.

Therefore, he refuses to contribute any money.

Not only does he refuse, but he also demands that Shanghai County give him some subsidies, or he will evict all the workers from Huating County.

This rogue-like behavior infuriated Ouyang Shiqi, who directly submitted a memorial to the higher authorities, accusing Wang Zhangwu of hindering the development of Great Hua for his own selfish interests.

However, Ouyang Shiqi also knows that such an impeachment is useless.

Because Wang Zhangwu also frequently impeaches him, saying that he only cares about the development of Shanghai City and refuses to help the surrounding poor areas, leading to a huge gap between the rich and poor in the two places, causing great resentment among the people.

The higher authorities often respond to such matters with a verbal criticism and will not interfere.

After all, these things are difficult to manage. Each has their own reasons. No matter which side is favored, the other side will have objections.

Although they are all officials of Great Hua, everyone has their own selfish motives and is considering their own political achievements and future prospects.

What are political achievements? Naturally, it is the development of one’s own jurisdiction and the tax revenue contributed each year.

And to develop the economy of one’s jurisdiction, it is necessary to improve infrastructure, which requires a large amount of financial investment.

Therefore, every official carefully calculates their financial budget, squeezing every penny.

They will not let go of any opportunity to take advantage of the other party.

Speaking of which, Ouyang Shiqi has also taken advantage of the surrounding counties quite a bit.

Using the advantage of geographical location, he makes big money by manufacturing industrial products and then buys cheap agricultural products from the surrounding counties.

The surrounding counties are envious of Shanghai City’s ability to make money and want to raise the price of agricultural products. Ouyang Shiqi dares to directly import from other places, angering the magistrates of Huating County and Qingpu County, who have impeached him several times.

Of course, Ouyang Shiqi has his reasons for doing so. In his words, it is to concentrate resources to develop advantageous areas, let some people get rich first, and then let the rich people drive the surrounding areas.

There is nothing wrong with this statement. Now, the officials of Great Hua understand what is meant by cluster effect and siphon effect.

Concentrating resources leads to faster development.

But the problem is that Wang Zhangwu and the others have been waiting for a year or two and feel that Shanghai should be very rich and can start to drive the surrounding areas. However, Ouyang Shiqi insists that Shanghai is not rich enough and still wants to suck the blood of the surrounding areas.

This inevitably leads to a bad relationship with the surrounding areas. It is fortunate that they are officials of the same court. If they were two different countries, they would have already started fighting. How could they have tolerated it until now?

Unable to rely on Wang Zhangwu to do good deeds, Ouyang Shiqi has no choice but to find another way.

He once again set his sights on the large area north of the Wusong River.

Thanks to the rapid development of Great Hua’s current construction level, they now have the ability to build bridges of this kind of length, hundreds of meters long.

The current problem is, no money.

Shanghai City is very rich, but there are many places where money needs to be spent.

Ouyang Shiqi is a relatively radical person. He immediately invests any money he has into development and basically does not keep any money to deal with special situations.

And building a steel bridge with the highest technological content and the largest scale requires an astronomical amount of money, at least one million yuan to start.

Because there is no relevant experience, it is impossible to predict how many difficulties will be encountered during construction.

Engineers cannot guarantee how much money is needed, but they say that it is best to prepare two million yuan before starting construction.

Two million, this is not a small amount for the entire Great Hua.

For a Shanghai City, it is even more so.

It is only because Shanghai City is relatively wealthy that it dares to have such an idea.

If it were other big cities such as Xuzhou or Zhengzhou, the Prefect would directly ignore it if you said you wanted to spend two million on infrastructure construction.

Two million, are you still dreaming?

Ouyang Shiqi doesn’t care much about two million. After all, he has spent tens of millions of yuan on infrastructure construction in Shanghai in the past few years.

At the same time, he also knows that spending this money is definitely worth it and has great benefits for long-term economic benefits.

But the problem is, where to get this money?

Shanghai City is wealthy and has high tax revenue. Last year’s tax revenue reached twenty-five million yuan.

However, a large part of this money must be handed over to the central government to support construction throughout the country.

A small part must be sent to Songjiang Circuit to support the construction of other places in Songjiang Circuit.

The real local finance left for Shanghai City is less than ten million.

A financial budget of ten million a year, if it were in other places, those officials would be able to laugh in their dreams.

In poor places like Guizhou, a province’s annual fiscal revenue is less than one million.

But for Shanghai, which is developing rapidly every day, ten million is really not much.

Ouyang Shiqi has already determined where this ten million will be used, and there is no way to divert it now.

“I have to find a way to raise money again.”

Ouyang Shiqi patted his forehead. This is what he has done the most in the three years he has been in Shanghai.

He sometimes feels that he is not an official, but more like a businessman.

Chapter 711: Ouyang the Skinflint

“Sir, the governor has sent an invitation, requesting your presence at a banquet at the Wusong Hotel the day after tomorrow.” In a mansion, the butler handed an invitation to the wealthy merchant, Tang Hong.

“What? Another shindig from Ouyang the Skinflint? I’m not going.”

Tang Hong tossed the invitation aside.

Ouyang the Skinflint was the nickname Shanghai merchants had given to Ouyang Shiqi, because Ouyang Shiqi had fleeced them of a lot of wealth.

Ouyang Shiqi had been busy in Shanghai for the past three years.

Especially when it came to making money, his methods were endless, making many merchants both love and hate him.

They loved that Ouyang Shiqi had greatly improved Shanghai’s transportation and infrastructure, making business very convenient.

They hated that Ouyang Shiqi tried every possible way to steal and grab money from their pockets, reducing their income.

For example, the import tariffs on goods were stipulated by the imperial court, and Ouyang Shiqi, as a mere governor, naturally couldn’t change them.

But to increase Shanghai’s fiscal revenue, Ouyang Shiqi invented a port service fee.

He built a lot of infrastructure at the docks and then charged merchant ships a service fee.

On the surface, it was a voluntary transaction.

But in reality, merchant ships that were unwilling to pay this service fee and refused to accept the government’s berthing and cargo services had no way to dock.

Anyway, the government had plenty of reasons to make things difficult for those merchant ships.

The amount of the service fee set by Ouyang Shiqi was cleverly calculated, enough to make the merchants feel the pinch, but not enough to make them risk smuggling to save that little bit of money.

If they didn’t pay, it would delay things and they would suffer losses. If they paid, the government would benefit, and they would still suffer losses.

For another example, Ouyang Shiqi also invented something called value-added tax. When some properties were bought and sold, they had to pay a value-added tax to the government.

As soon as this tax came out, the merchants were in an uproar.

In the past, there was no such thing as paying taxes when buying and selling houses. Moreover, other places in Great Hua didn’t have such rules.

Why did Shanghai have to be like this? They were not convinced.

But who was Ouyang Shiqi? He was a Zhuangyuan (top scholar in the imperial exam).

When it came to reasoning, he could engage in a war of words with many scholars without blushing or panting.

In Ouyang Shiqi’s words, “Can other places compare with Shanghai?”

Houses in other places were for living in.

Only houses in Shanghai and Nanjing could be frequently bought and sold to earn price differences, turning them into a business.

Since houses already had the attributes of commodities, buying and selling them naturally required paying taxes. It was reasonable and well-founded.

Moreover, Ouyang Shiqi directly scolded these merchants.

He questioned everyone, “Don’t you understand why houses in Shanghai are so valuable?”

“Isn’t it because the Holy Son of Heaven is wise and martial, and strongly supports the development of Shanghai? The imperial court has allocated huge sums of money to support Shanghai’s infrastructure construction.”

“It is precisely because of this infrastructure construction that Shanghai’s economy has taken off, which has driven up Shanghai’s housing prices.”

“Therefore, the increased value of these houses is all thanks to the imperial court. Everyone who sells houses and makes money must bow in the direction of Nanjing to thank the Holy Son of Heaven.”

“The imperial court only charges a little value-added tax, which is already the Holy Son of Heaven’s benevolence.”

“Otherwise, these houses should all be directly confiscated by the imperial court and sold uniformly.”

“Anyone who has any objections is ungrateful, disloyal, and unfilial to the emperor.”

When Ouyang Shiqi engaged in a war of words with the merchants, they were really scared and immediately agreed to pay the value-added tax.

If they didn’t pay, they would be labeled as disloyal and unfilial, which was simply too fatal.

In short, there were many similar things between Ouyang Shiqi and them.

Shanghai merchants who hadn’t been squeezed a little bit by Ouyang Shiqi would be embarrassed to say that they were doing business in Shanghai.

That’s why Tang Hong got angry as soon as he heard it was Ouyang Shiqi’s banquet. He had been exploited quite a bit.

Moreover, could there be anything good about Ouyang Shiqi’s banquets?

Tang Hong didn’t even need to go to guess that Ouyang Shiqi was short of money again.

Otherwise, did he really think that the governor was so free that he could afford to host a banquet at such an expensive Wusong Hotel?

Two days later, Tang Hong still came to the Wusong Hotel.

It was okay to complain at home, but he wouldn’t be so stupid as not to attend the governor’s banquet, unless he didn’t want to stay in Shanghai in the future.

Moreover, Shanghai merchants both loved and hated Ouyang Shiqi.

There was hate, but there were also things they liked.

For example, Ouyang Shiqi could always help them solve some very practical problems, and Ouyang Shiqi was also very supportive of commercial development.

Otherwise, if he only knew how to fleece them, the merchants would have rebelled long ago.

At the entrance, Tang Hong met some other bosses.

Then, he carefully noticed that the people who came seemed to have a common characteristic, that is, they had a large amount of land in the area along the Jiangbei bank of the Wusong River.

“It seems that Ouyang the Skinflint wants to do something with Hongkou.”

Tang Hong had a guess in his mind.

When several merchants met, they couldn’t help but smile bitterly at each other.

Everyone understood this expression. It was nothing more than dealing with the difficult Ouyang the Skinflint again.

They entered the hotel together, and all kinds of fine wines and delicacies had already been served.

“Everyone, let’s celebrate the major progress made in the development of our Shanghai. The port throughput and the number of factories and companies have increased by more than thirty percent compared to last year.”

Ouyang Shiqi raised his glass, and everyone followed suit.

Speaking of development achievements, many merchants were also very happy.

The better Shanghai developed, the better business would be.

“All thanks to His Majesty’s wise leadership and Governor Ouyang’s diligence and dedication, Shanghai has achieved such results.”

Someone immediately started flattering him.

However, Ouyang Shiqi changed the topic and said, “However, the development of Shanghai is still not fast enough. It can be faster.”

Everyone listened quietly.

“There are still many places in Shanghai that can be utilized and developed that have not been effectively developed. For example, the east bank of the Huangpu River, and the Hongkou on the Jiangbei bank of the Wusong River.

Everyone here has a large amount of land in Hongkou. Now the land price on the Huangpu side is nearly one hundred wen per mu, while the land price in Hongkou is only thirty wen per mu. Can everyone be content with this?

But if we want to raise the land price in Hongkou, we must solve a transportation problem. For this reason, I have decided to build a steel bridge across the Wusong River.”

“Hiss… That river surface is nearly one hundred meters wide. Considering that ships have to pass under the bridge, this bridge has to be built more than one hundred meters high. Is there such technology now?”

A merchant asked. A bridge spanning one hundred meters was something they had never dared to imagine before.

However, in the past, they also couldn’t imagine that Shanghai could have buildings thirty or forty meters high.

Having seen more, their level of surprise had also decreased a lot.

“There is definitely no problem with the technology. The key is that we are short of money.”

Ouyang Shiqi said.

Here it comes, here he comes again.

Hearing Ouyang Shiqi mention money, everyone was speechless. Familiar recipe, familiar taste.

Chapter 712: Cross-River Bridge

“Sir, all my cash is tied up in business. I don’t have any money on hand,” Tang Hong said, annoyed.

“That’s right. Who has spare cash these days? It’s all being used for business. Nobody keeps large amounts of liquid capital on hand; that would be a waste of capital,” the others chimed in.

“No money is fine. You have land anyway, use that as collateral for a loan. You don’t think you can just sit back, not contribute a single penny, and wait for me to build the bridge so you can enjoy the rising land prices, do you?” Ouyang Shiqi cut to the chase.

The crowd fell silent. They wanted to see what Ouyang Shiqi could do to them if they refused to pay.

Even the imperial court didn’t directly seize land; they only used increased taxes to force landowners to sell. As long as they paid their taxes, the court couldn’t force a sale.

“Let me put it this way: anyone in the Hongkou area who owns a lot of land but refuses to contribute will have their land forcibly acquired, or rather, requisitioned, at the current price.

If I decide to build a road through the middle of your land, it becomes public land, and I have the right to requisition it. So, think about it: either contribute money now to build the bridge, or hand over your land.” Ouyang Shiqi resorted to strong-arming.

The imperial court could forcibly requisition land that hindered Great Hua’s road construction.

The problem was, there was no need to build a road through their land.

But if Ouyang Shiqi insisted on doing so, they couldn’t find fault with it, and it would be a lose-lose situation.

The crowd didn’t doubt Ouyang Shiqi’s words. They all knew he had the Emperor’s backing, so he acted without fear.

In the few years he’d been in Shanghai, he’d been impeached more times than other officials in their entire lives, but nothing ever happened. He just kept getting promoted.

Other officials didn’t dare to be too ruthless, but this Zhuangyuan dared.

So, the best way to deal with Ouyang Shiqi was to compromise, not to oppose him.

“But building a bridge costs so much money. Even if the land prices rise, they won’t rise that much,” Tang Hong complained.

“That’s right, that’s right. If we really have to pay for everything, I’d rather sell the land,” the others echoed.

“Of course, you won’t have to pay for everything. Besides, building a bridge isn’t necessarily a losing proposition. I’ll also establish a company to collect tolls at the bridgehead after it’s built.

The money collected will be used to repay the bank loans. Think about it, with Shanghai’s current population growth rate, how terrifying will the traffic flow across this bridge be in the future? Do you need to worry about losing money?” Ouyang Shiqi said.

This idea was quite bold. Only during times of war would the imperial court set up checkpoints at important intersections to collect lijin tolls to increase revenue.

Now, in peacetime, Ouyang Shiqi was actually doing the same thing, which would surely lead to another impeachment.

However, if Ouyang Shiqi could withstand the pressure from above and collect tolls on the bridge, it would indeed be a good business.

After all, a bridge had a lifespan of at least several decades.

If the tolls were collected continuously, the final profit would definitely be very good.

“Is this allowed by the imperial court?” someone asked.

“Don’t worry, there definitely won’t be a problem. After all, this is a special situation. Just change the name to something nicer, like a bridge service fee,” Ouyang Shiqi assured.

With the prospect of profits, these merchants immediately became enthusiastic about contributing money.

Building the bridge without losing money was also a great benefit for them.

Seeing the others suddenly become active again, Tang Hong was speechless.

This scene was all too familiar.

Every time Ouyang Shiqi raised money, it was pretty much the same process. The merchants would start with dissatisfaction and reluctance, and then slowly be coaxed by Ouyang Shiqi into actively participating.

Tang Hong knew that cooperating with Ouyang Shiqi wouldn’t lead to losses, but making big money was definitely out of the question.

Ouyang Shiqi would calculate everything precisely, allowing the merchants involved in the project to earn a little money, while the bulk of the profits went to the government.

Like the public carriage project in the city, the Jiang family was now so depressed that they wanted to vomit blood.

Although it could make money, it made very little, and recouping the investment was a distant prospect.

If they invested this money in other projects, they would definitely earn more than they did with the public carriages.

However, the Jiang family, having already fallen into the pit, couldn’t abandon the project, and they couldn’t find anyone to take over, so they could only continue to persevere.

Although the profits were small, they were stable and guaranteed against drought or flood.

For those without great ambitions, it was a good business.

In short, this was Ouyang Shiqi’s characteristic. No matter how good he made it sound, he was actually just fooling people.

Once they fell into the pit, they would feel like they had eaten a chicken rib – tasteless to eat, but a pity to throw away.

Anyway, Tang Hong had decided that donating some money was fine, but he would never invest in that company Ouyang Shiqi was setting up.

There were so many opportunities to make a fortune in Shanghai now. Investing money in any other industry would definitely be more profitable than investing in a bridge company.

However, not everyone was as clear-headed as Tang Hong.

Some were a little more foolish, or perhaps some hadn’t been tricked by Ouyang Shiqi enough times.

Or perhaps, some people just liked stability, and Ouyang Shiqi’s projects were generally very stable.

So, even though Tang Hong didn’t invest, Ouyang Shiqi still raised enough funds.

Those who owned land in Hongkou donated according to the amount of land they owned, raising about three hundred thousand yuan.

Then, he pulled in one million two hundred thousand yuan in investment, totaling one million five hundred thousand yuan, and construction had already begun.

As for whether one million five hundred thousand yuan would be enough in the future, that would be dealt with later.

Building a hundred-meter bridge was no less difficult than building a railway from Nanjing to Shanghai. The time required would definitely be measured in years. It would be considered a success if it could be completed in one or two years.

And in those one or two years, even if there was a shortfall, Ouyang Shiqi could take some money from the local budget to make up for it.

The news that Shanghai was building a hundred-meter-long cross-river bridge immediately made it to many newspapers.

Great Hua Daily, Commercial Daily, Curiosity News, Songjiang Times, and so on.

When the people saw this news, they all gasped.

A hundred-meter-long cross-river bridge – how magnificent that would be!

This wasn’t a pontoon bridge floating on the water, but a bridge that large ships could pass under.

“How magnificent is our Great Hua! We can now build a hundred-meter cross-river bridge, and a thousand-meter one will be no problem in the future. When that time comes, the south and north banks of Nanjing can be connected by bridges,” some people in Nanjing exclaimed.

The number of shocking projects in Great Hua was increasing. Dozens of meters tall buildings, thousands of li of railways, and now, a cross-river bridge.

They had never even imagined these things before.

Chapter 713: Heavy-Handed Tactics

The trans-river bridge was just one of many large-scale projects in Shanghai. There were many other eye-catching projects that had already been completed or were under construction.

For example, the Songjiang Comprehensive Gymnasium, a massive stadium that could accommodate twenty thousand people at once.

The gymnasium was over ten meters tall and covered more than one hundred mu of land.

Such a building was common in later generations, but at the time, it felt incredibly grand and imposing.

Standing in front of the gymnasium, one could only feel their own insignificance.

Looking at such a building, a sense of superiority as a citizen of Great Hua would naturally arise.

It was mainly used for football matches, but of course, it could also be used for other purposes when there were no football matches.

Previously, the people of Shanghai would never have dared to imagine such a large building.

But now, the Songjiang Comprehensive Gymnasium had become a landmark of Shanghai, clearly visible from afar on the river.

For tourists visiting Shanghai, a trip to the gymnasium was a must.

And if you didn’t watch a football game and experience the atmosphere and spectacle of ten thousand people cheering together, it was also a wasted trip.

Another example was the Pudong Shipyard, a newly established company that was preparing to build a dock capable of constructing ten-thousand-ton freighters.

Although Great Hua did not yet have the technology or plans to build ten-thousand-ton freighters, some people were forward-thinking and believed it was only a matter of time.

And shipbuilding was always a matter of long-term planning.

If they waited until Great Hua had the technology to build ten-thousand-ton freighters before building the dock, it would be too late.

By starting to build the dock now, Great Hua’s shipbuilding technology would be almost ready to build ten-thousand-ton freighters by the time the dock was completed.

The shareholders of the Pudong Shipyard were quite optimistic about Great Hua’s technological innovation.

Who would have thought one or two years ago that Great Hua would be able to build a one-hundred-meter-long trans-river bridge? Now, with the optimization of steel materials and the emergence of special steel, the difficulty of building the bridge was suddenly solved.

The mere mention of ten-thousand-ton freighters had already made this newly established company the focus of attention.

Even the Nanjing Stock Exchange hoped that the company could be listed, as it was a stock with great potential.

The Bund docks.

Two large cranes, over ten meters tall, were particularly eye-catching, another major construction achievement during Ouyang Shiqi’s term.

These large cranes, powered by steam engines, could move and unload two tons of cargo at a time.

Their unloading efficiency was dozens of times that of manual labor, which was quite astonishing.

The appearance of the cranes led to the unemployment of many dockworkers, and in the early days of the cranes, they were met with a joint boycott by the dockworkers.

These dockworkers were often organized into gangs and were very difficult to deal with.

Ouyang Shiqi adopted an iron-fisted approach, arresting all troublemakers and assigning them to road construction.

Anyway, Great Hua needed labor in many places, so there was no need to worry about not being able to arrange work for them.

Such valuable labor could not be wasted too much on the docks.

Ouyang Shiqi agreed with some of Wu Changqing’s development ideas: use machines wherever possible.

Although using machines would impact the interests of workers in a particular industry, causing them to lose their jobs, it was only a temporary pain.

These unemployed workers could always find work in other industries and continue to create value.

Some people might do better after changing careers, while others might not do as well as they did at the docks.

But those who could not keep up with Great Hua’s pace could only lick their wounds alone.

If they had to worry about the lives of certain workers and were afraid to boldly promote the use of machines, then society would not be able to develop.

The storm of dockworkers gathering to cause trouble was huge, and Great Hua even dispatched troops to suppress it before it was finally quelled.

Although it caused some negative impact, the result was good.

This gave the Ministry of Transport an additional workforce, and road construction became faster.

And at the docks, because of the cranes, things were not delayed.

In fact, because of the use of machines, the cost of transporting goods was reduced, making merchants more willing to do business in Shanghai.

If they had to consider the interests of those dockworkers and not use cranes, the result would be that the cost of transporting goods would remain high, the dockworkers would still earn hard-earned money, and Great Hua’s road construction would be slower.

In summary, labor would not be liberated and would not be rationally allocated and used.

For those individuals whose interests were harmed, this was very unfair, and their human rights were violated. But for Great Hua as a whole, it was very beneficial.

In this incident, the centralism of the feudal dynasty demonstrated the superiority of the system.

They didn’t have to care too much about human rights and could make the decisions that were most conducive to development.

The people are blind, and giving them too much freedom is not necessarily a good thing.

If they respected the human rights of these dockworkers, they would definitely object to the government using cranes, which would lead to their unemployment.

They would only focus on their immediate interests and could not be great enough to consider Great Hua and voluntarily give up their interests.

Like the power system of a certain country in later generations, it was very old and often broke down, requiring constant repairs.

The government wanted to replace the old wires with new ones, but there was no way.

If the wires were replaced, the workers who specialized in repairing the power lines would lose their jobs. They would not think that they should voluntarily sacrifice their interests for the development and construction of the country.

On the contrary, most of them relied on their freedom to march and constantly protested and caused trouble.

For these individuals, it was about keeping their jobs and livelihoods. But for the country as a whole, it was a disaster.

Aging power systems often lead to tragedies.

In some very developed capitalist countries in later generations, there are often some very backward infrastructures, and this is partly the reason.

Of course, it’s only part of the reason.

Capitalist countries, in the process of development, also experienced an era of highly centralized power. In order to develop, governments used extreme violence.

The Great Purge didn’t just happen in one country; in fact, there have been Great Purges in countries with different systems.

Sometimes, violence is the best way to solve problems.

It’s just that those who control the dominant power of world opinion are often able to erase some of this history more cleanly.

But they can’t completely erase it; there are always some things that can’t change the past.

How can a place that doesn’t even have basic rights have the nerve to talk about human rights?

For example, in the era when power reigned supreme, what inviolability of private property, what declaration of private property that “wind can enter, rain can enter, but the king cannot enter,” were all jokes in the face of power.

Chapter 714: The Development of Guangzhou

Democracy has its advantages, and so does centralized power. It’s hard to say which is better or worse, right or wrong.

However, for Great Hua right now, centralized power is definitely superior to democracy.

After all, Wu Changqing is like a cheat code.

He knows the most correct direction for history to take.

With power in his hands, he can lead Great Hua down the right path, avoiding detours and wrong turns.

But if democracy were implemented, hehe, those blind and inexperienced people would definitely take many detours and do some very outrageous things.

If every commoner had the right to vote, the first thing they’d do would be to vote to kill all the rich people and divide up their money.

Who doesn’t want to get something for nothing?

As for the fact that killing the rich isn’t a sustainable development path, not many commoners know what sustainable development is. Immediate benefits are what truly matter.

Given the number of commoners in Great Hua, the number of votes in favor would definitely crush the number of votes against.

Wu Changqing no longer seeks material enjoyment, so he pursues spiritual enjoyment, a sense of accomplishment.

Therefore, he can selflessly think of all the people of Great Hua.

His happiness comes from the continuous strengthening of Great Hua, not from the increase of personal wealth.

If he were selfish, he wouldn’t need to share all the technology; keeping it for the royal family to make money would be the best, allowing them to control the wealth of the world.

Having power concentrated in Wu Changqing’s hands is most beneficial to the people.

Once there’s democracy, Wu Changqing loses absolute power.

Then, every interest group, every organization, and every individual will prioritize their own interests when doing things.

Very few people are willing to sacrifice their own interests for the development of Great Hua.

Moreover, if these people don’t have enough power, their sacrifices often won’t be effective.

The most likely scenario would be chaos and nothing getting done.

The current consolidation of Wu Changqing’s regime is actually related to his selflessness.

In the past, in any dynasty, daring to confiscate the landlords’ land would definitely lead to chaos.

Taking someone’s wealth is like killing their parents. An emperor who wants to go against the elite class is definitely courting death.

But why hasn’t Great Hua caused large-scale rebellions? Because everyone has eyes to see.

Throughout the land, the one who has sacrificed the most is none other than Wu Changqing himself.

So much advanced technology that could make a lot of money, monopoly technology, Wu Changqing has given out selflessly, sharing it with the people.

The emperor himself is sacrificing his own interests, so the other landlords naturally won’t feel so aggrieved and unbalanced about losing some money.

If the emperor himself were stingy, only knowing how to hoard money in the Imperial Household Department, yet asking other landlords to give up land to distribute to the people, who would be convinced?

Although Wu Changqing often does things that harm the interests of the gentry class and subsidize the people,
in fact, Wu Changqing still has a lot of prestige among the gentry class. Everyone admires his example of leading by example.

This is also a kind of personal charisma, which Chongzhen didn’t have.

When Chongzhen was fighting wars and didn’t have money, he wanted the officials to donate, but no one agreed, not even his father-in-law was willing to contribute.

Were those people really that stingy?

The real reason was that Chongzhen himself had a lot of money in his private treasury, but he didn’t take it out to pay the soldiers.

The world belonged to Chongzhen, not the other officials. Even he was reluctant to spend money to protect his imperial power, so how could others possibly spend money?

In short, leaders must lead by example.

Leading by example and taking the lead will make others sincerely convinced.

Currently, the best-developed places in Great Hua are Nanjing, followed by Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Suzhou.

But in terms of development potential, Shanghai and Guangzhou are far stronger than Nanjing.

Guangzhou was recovered much later than Shanghai, but its development is not slow, because of its superior geographical location.

As early as the Ming Dynasty’s closed-door policy, many people in the Guangzhou area went overseas to smuggle and trade, and even did business in the Nanyang area for a long time.

The mountains are high and the emperor is far away; Beijing can’t control Guangzhou.

Therefore, before Great Hua was established, Guangzhou’s foreign trade was much greater than Shanghai’s, completely on a different level.

Later, it was only because Great Hua fully supported Shanghai’s development, plus Shanghai was close to Nanjing, making it easier to enjoy the benefits of technology, that Shanghai surpassed Guangzhou.

However, Guangzhou is also developing quite well now.

Compared to Shanghai, Guangzhou has a distinct characteristic: it’s flat.

Shanghai’s prosperity is highly concentrated along the west bank of the Huangpu River, with industrial and commercial areas highly concentrated.

But Guangzhou isn’t like that. There aren’t very large-scale industrial areas here, but there are many small industrial areas, and they’re relatively dispersed.

Guangzhou, Panyu, Foshan, Dongguan, and Shunde all have a large number of industrial areas, but they’re not connected.

The reason for this phenomenon is related to historical heritage and geographical transportation.

Long ago, Guangzhou’s trade was developed, so people in various places accumulated capital and formed a certain industrial scale in their respective hometowns.

Unlike Shanghai, which started from scratch, almost all foreign capital intervened. The natives had no capital accumulation and no hometown feelings. Foreign capital chose the small area with the most convenient transportation.

There’s also the transportation factor. Shanghai only has the Huangpu River and the Wusong River.

In Guangzhou, the water network is dense and water transportation is very developed.

The Pearl River isn’t just one river, but a basin, the collective name for three rivers. The East River, West River, and North River have countless tributaries, forming a network of waterways.

In short, water transportation is developed here, so the dispersion of industrial areas doesn’t have as much impact on cooperation as it does in Shanghai. There’s no need to concentrate in one place.

Precisely because of these reasons, there are few skyscrapers and large factories in Guangzhou.

However, there are many small workshops and small factories, densely packed.

The industries in the two places also have significant differences. Most of Shanghai’s industries are heavy industry, as well as industries with large-scale production, mainly for ocean trade.

Guangzhou, on the other hand, mainly focuses on light industry and handicrafts.

And their trading partners are often in the Nanyang area, with less ocean trade.

Because they’re all light industry and handicrafts, the added value of the products is low, and the profit is low. Selling these products in ocean trade would result in a huge loss.

Guangzhou mainly relies on flexibility, relying on its proximity to Nanyang and low transportation costs to carry out various small profits but quick turnover.

Chapter 715: Supporting Local Development

The development of Guangzhou and Shanghai are not the only differences; in fact, the development across the Great Hua territory varies greatly.

Some places have already begun modernization and industrialization, while others remain purely agricultural societies.

Wuhu, having been recovered early, close to Nanjing, and possessing mineral resources, has benefited from its geographical advantages.

During the early days of Great Hua, it was one of the wealthiest regions in the country.

However, with the rise of Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other places, its development has slowed down.

In fact, apart from steel manufacturing and related industries, other aspects of its development have stagnated.

There’s no helping it; those who want to make money have long since run off to Nanjing. Who would invest in Wuhu?

Opening a steam engine factory in Wuhu would mean sourcing parts from Nanjing, which is very inefficient.

Today, five out of ten workers in Wuhu are steelworkers, making it very one-dimensional.

Huainan is similar in its one-dimensional development, having become synonymous with coal mines.

Now, when people in Nanjing mention Huainan, they immediately think of coal.

And then… there’s nothing else.

What else does Huainan have besides coal? They don’t know, and they’re not clear.

Of course, this is normal, because Huainan really doesn’t have much besides coal.

The coal mining industry here is very developed, with all kinds of large-scale mining machinery and equipment being the most advanced in Great Hua.

However, they can’t even manufacture the simplest coal transport truck and have to purchase everything from Nanjing.

Those coal merchants who have made a fortune rarely stay in their hometowns, with most moving to Nanjing to live the good life.

It is foreseeable that once the coal here is exhausted, the area will rapidly decline.

Compared to Huainan, Nanchang is even worse off.

Its development conditions are far inferior to those of coastal cities.

Forget about expecting others to invest in industry here; even some of the original porcelain workshops in Nanchang have closed down one after another, choosing to go to Shanghai instead.

After all, Great Hua’s porcelain is mainly for export, and producing it in Shanghai can save a lot of transportation costs, making the products more profitable.

Today, Nanchang has been reduced to Great Hua’s largest cotton-producing area, a raw material supply base, specializing in agriculture.

Industry? That won’t develop for the time being unless the central government provides support.

But that will have to wait. There are too many cities of the same importance as Nanchang in Great Hua; it’s impossible to support them all.

However, Nanchang is still considered lucky. At least water transportation is relatively convenient, and the Poyang Lake area is suitable for developing large-scale agriculture. By growing cotton, the income of the people here has also increased a lot.

Places like Ganzhou are basically no different from the Ming Dynasty, still a typical traditional society of men farming and women weaving.

The impact of Great Hua’s rapid development has not yet reached these remote areas.

Wu Changqing has always been aware of the gap in regional development.

Moreover, he has already begun to work on planning in this area.

Some important places must be given some financial support to promote their development.

Previously, he only focused on top regions like Nanjing and Shanghai, but now that Great Hua’s development is on track, it’s about time to implement a national layout.

Only by utilizing the resources of all parts of the country can the overall development of Great Hua be accelerated.

For example, Wuhan, Nanchang, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Tianjin, and other places all contain the potential for development…

Supporting the development of Wuhan has benefits beyond just developing Wuhan itself; it can also drive the surrounding areas.

Just as Nanjing can drive the development of its surroundings, the development of Wuhan can also drive its surrounding areas, radiating across a large area.

The scope that a city can radiate is limited. No matter how well Nanjing develops, its impact on the Hubei area is extremely limited.

But as long as Wuhan’s industry is developed, then Wuhan can drive the entire Hubei.

However, the central government’s finances are limited, so it is impossible to support all places at the same time. Which places to support first requires careful consideration.

Wu Changqing and the central cabinet ministers need to weigh the pros and cons, considering from multiple angles to choose the first batch of places to be supported, striving to spend the money wisely.

As for the local officials, they don’t need to consider so much and will give one hundred percent support to their own area being supported.

Even the Prefect of Guiyang, far away in Guizhou, submitted a memorial to the cabinet, expounding the importance of Guiyang’s development.

Whether what he said made sense or not was not important; what mattered was the attitude.

The Prefect of Guiyang himself knew very well that this request would definitely not be approved. There was no way it would be Guiyang’s turn, a provincial capital that no one would know about if mentioned.

However, submitting a memorial to fight for Guiyang could at least show his thirst for development and demonstrate his positive work attitude.

When the news that Wu Changqing was going to support local development leaked out, local officials from all over the country began to submit memorials one after another, vying for a place to be supported.

After all, the most important indicator of their performance for promotion is the local economic development.

Some places were purely joining in the fun, such as the Prefect of Guiyang and the Prefect of Wuzhou.

In some promising places, local officials regarded this matter as their most important task at present.

For example, officials from Wuhan, Nanchang, Ningbo, and other places were determined to get this support.

In order to expound the development advantages of their localities and persuade the emperor, these officials desperately studied relevant knowledge.

If they couldn’t even explain a single advantage clearly, how would the imperial court dare to give them money casually?

Currently, most of the local officials in various places are traditional officials left over from the past, and they are not very good at developing the economy.

But now they also know that if they want to obtain funding and policy support, they must prove that they can develop the economy and can transform the imperial court’s support into benefits.

Supporting development and poverty alleviation are two different things. The former has requirements for returns, while the latter does not.

Officials who lack the ability or confidence may not dare to apply for a support quota.

If they get a quota but fail to develop the area, the imperial court will definitely hold them accountable.

Of course, most people who can reach the position of Prefect are capable and ambitious. Even if they are not good at developing the economy themselves, they can consult others.

Getting the quota first is the key.

One memorial after another was sent to the cabinet and to Wu Changqing’s desk.

However, Wu Changqing would not read most of them.

He had a rough idea in his mind of which cities would be supported in the first batch.

Those outside this range would be wasting their time, no matter how well the officials below spoke.

Wu Changqing identified a batch of cities and then handed them over to the cabinet for discussion, asking them to select ten from this batch.

Chapter 716: Top Ten Supported Cities

“Nanchang definitely deserves a spot. After all, Nanchang is the most important city in the central region, capable of influencing a large surrounding area. Moreover, the Nanchang area has a large population and abundant talent, with sufficient development potential.

As long as we provide some support in terms of policies, technology, and funding, Nanchang can quickly develop…”

Liu Shijin was a member of the Jiangxi faction, but he didn’t shy away from recommending Nanchang directly.

After all, Nanchang was indeed as he described.

No one objected to including Nanchang as one of the cities.

The problem was that Liu Shijin was not only vying for Nanchang but also for Jiujiang.

This was unacceptable to the others. There were only ten spots in total, and Jiangxi Province wanted to take two, which was too much.

“Lord Liu, why not support Ji’an and Ganzhou as well?”

Zhao Mingchong retorted.

“Lord Liu, don’t even think about it. Jiangxi only gets one spot. Nanchang or Jiujiang, choose one.”

Other cabinet ministers expressed their views one after another, jointly suppressing Liu Shijin.

“Gentlemen, can we be less selfish during our discussions? Otherwise, the results we come up with will definitely be criticized by His Majesty. In any case, Wuhan must have a spot,”

Hong Chengchou reminded them.

Liu Shijin had set a bad precedent by trying to secure benefits for his hometown or the interest groups behind him, regardless of the consequences.

If everyone acted like this, the results of the debate would definitely not satisfy Wu Changqing.

Because there were no ministers in the current cabinet representing the interests of Wuhan, Wuhan would definitely be left out.

The importance of Wuhan was self-evident and absolutely could not be ignored. They couldn’t make decisions that were too outrageous due to factional disputes and anger the Emperor.

“That’s right, let’s be objective. Zhengzhou must also have a spot. Zhengzhou is located in the center of the Central Plains, close to Luoyang and Kaifeng, with a large population and abundant coal and other mineral resources.”

“Tianjin must also have a spot. It has a canal and a port, making transportation convenient. There are also mineral resources nearby, and it is close to Beijing, with a certain historical and cultural heritage. Most importantly, the North needs a city that can drive the surrounding areas.”

…

Thanks to Hong Chengchou’s reminder, the subsequent discussions became much more rational.

Everyone knew that Wu Changqing didn’t like factional disputes, or rather, he didn’t like things being delayed because of them, so they didn’t dare to fight too fiercely and had to compromise.

The only fierce contention was between Qian Taoli and the others. Qian Taoli, a member of the Zhejiang faction, stated that he wanted two spots, one for Hangzhou and one for Ningbo.

The others disagreed, and Qian Taoli engaged in a war of words, explaining the necessity of focusing on the development of these two places.

Hangzhou, of course, needed no further explanation. It was an ancient city with a deep heritage, and in terms of transportation, it already had a railway directly to Shanghai, and water transport was also developed.

The point of contention was Ningbo. Ningbo’s heritage was also very rich. As early as the Ming Dynasty, it was the designated landing port for envoys from various overseas vassal states.

The atmosphere for doing business here was very strong, and the conditions were also very good.

Coupled with the huge advantages of port cities today, it was not excessive for Qian Taoli to bring it up.

But the reality was that no matter how reasonable Qian Taoli’s words were, the others would not agree to Zhejiang taking two spots at once.

Zhejiang wanted to take all the benefits, but there was no way they would allow that.

In the end, after much bargaining, the first batch of supported cities was released.

They were Wuhan, Nanchang, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, Jinan, Tianjin, Changsha, Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Xi’an.

One per province, that was the fairest.

Qian Taoli played a little trick, leaving the only spot to Ningbo instead of Hangzhou, which had greater development potential.

The reason was that Hangzhou was already developing well, close to Shanghai, and could develop even without support.

Therefore, Qian Taoli gave the spot to Ningbo, wanting Zhejiang to cultivate two economic centers.

These selected cities all had great development potential. Cities without development potential could not be supported. Great Hua was not rich enough to that extent.

The list was presented to Wu Changqing, who looked it over and approved it, finding no major problems.

These cities would receive two million yuan in financial allocations each year for the next few years, while also enjoying some preferential policies.

For example, factories in the industrial zones of the supported cities could enjoy a certain amount of tax reduction.

The reason why industrial development in those cities was not taking off was mainly because it was not cost-effective to build factories there.

With tax reduction policies, it would naturally attract some people to set up factories in those places.

And as long as the industrial zone reached a certain scale, it could form a chain effect and reduce production costs.

Compared to Nanjing, these places also had their own advantages.

For example, the transportation costs of shipping coal from Pingxiang to factories in Nanjing were much higher than shipping it to Nanchang.

Furthermore, the wages of workers in Nanchang would be much lower than in Nanjing.

After all, Nanjing had many factories, and workers had many choices. Some factories had to improve workers’ benefits in order to compete.

In Nanchang, a barren land of industry, it was very difficult for people to earn money.

As long as there was a factory, people would work even if the wages were low, as long as it was more profitable than farming.

In addition to financial support, another important support was technology.

Any enterprise that set up a factory in those supported cities could directly apply to the imperial court for any technology they needed, and the imperial court would help solve it.

The imperial court would also find ways to coordinate any technical personnel needed.

This was the advantage of centralized power, which could uniformly arrange students in those technical schools and allocate them rationally.

If those people were allowed to choose freely, they would definitely only want to stay in Nanjing and Shanghai.

At that time, there would be a surplus of skilled workers in Nanjing and Shanghai, while other places would lack talent.

Now, the imperial court’s semi-mandatory arrangement of these people could solve this problem well.

Although the planned economy of later generations failed, this did not mean that the planned economy was bad.

In fact, the planned economy still had many merits.

Especially in the development of heavy industry, the planned economy was much more efficient than the free economy.

When the planned economy was at its peak, the achievements it made were the envy of many Western countries, and the person who proposed the planned economy won the Nobel Prize in Economics for it.

Of course, the planned economy also had its drawbacks. Wu Changqing would not fully implement the planned economy, nor would he fully implement the free economy, but rather combine the two.

In terms of people’s livelihood and trade, he would adopt a free economy.

In heavy industry, in order to avoid the problems caused by the blindness of the free economy, a planned economy must be adopted.

A detailed plan must be formulated for every major project.

Chapter 717: The Emergence of the Telegraph

The regions being supported had begun their steam revolution, evolving from agricultural societies towards industrial ones.

Nanjing, on the other hand, had taken the lead, stepping half a foot into the electrical age.

Strictly speaking, it couldn’t yet be considered fully in the electrical age; it merely had electricity.

In May, Nanjing’s first thermal power plant was completed and put into operation.

The principle of power generation was actually quite simple; the difficulty lay in discovering that principle.

Having mastered electromagnetic induction, Fei Yufeng began working on the research of generators.

With Wu Changqing’s technical support, and even generator samples, Fei Yufeng quickly grasped the generator’s workings and had the machinery factory mass-produce a batch for the construction of power plants.

The Jinling Power Plant was undergoing trial operation.

A dozen workers, stripped to the waist, began adding coal to the boiler and heating water as Fei Yufeng gave the order.

The water was converted into steam, and the steam pressure drove the steam engine to rotate, which in turn drove the generator to produce electricity.

This process seemed quite low-tech.

However, modern nuclear power plants also use nuclear energy to generate heat, then boil water, and use steam pressure to drive the machines to rotate and generate electricity.

Compared in this way, boiling water suddenly seemed much more sophisticated.

There’s a joke that humanity’s highest technology is boiling water, and it’s not entirely a joke.

“It’s lit up! It’s lit up!”

As the light bulb illuminated, cheers erupted in the factory.

In the original timeline, even after electricity was discovered and invented, it took a considerable amount of time before it was put into practical use.

But Great Hua didn’t need to endure that period. With Wu Changqing’s guidance, when the power plant was completed, the Jinling Light Bulb Factory was also built, and it produced practical light bulbs.

Wu Changqing only needed to tell the researchers to use tungsten as the filament, and he directly solved the biggest problem for the researchers.

If Edison knew about this, he would cry himself to death in the bathroom. This was just bullying.

The power of a time-traveler was terrifying.

With the material problem solved, all that remained was the experimental process.

In fact, the light bulb appeared even before the power plant.

After the power plant was completed, Nanjing immediately began laying power lines, preparing to install electric lights in several prosperous areas and industrial zones of Nanjing first.

Because electric lights had just been invented, their safety still needed to be verified, so they were not installed in the imperial palace immediately.

After all, for the imperial palace, safety was always the most important thing.

Installing electric lights in prosperous areas only served to provide a little convenience for the people, and its developmental significance was not great.

The most helpful thing for development was installing electric lights in factories.

Previously, factories used kerosene lamps, which were costly, unsafe, and had too low brightness, making them unsuitable for workers to work overtime.

But after installing electric lights, this problem was completely solved.

In the past, factories only produced for about ten hours a day.

Now, with electric lights, they could implement two shifts, producing non-stop twenty-four hours a day, directly doubling production efficiency.

This increase in efficiency was quite exaggerated, allowing factory owners to earn nearly twice the profit out of thin air, and also creating nearly twice the number of jobs.

This was definitely a good thing for development.

Of course, for workers, it would definitely be more tiring.

With the popularization of electric lights, the first batch of humans with inverted work schedules was about to appear.

When a certain factory took the lead in installing electric lighting and tasted the sweetness, other factories suitable for overtime work began to scramble to install electric lights.

For a time, electric lights became a hot topic in the Great Hua Daily.

Many people, even after reading the newspaper, didn’t fully understand why the light bulb would light up, but that didn’t matter. Anyway, the people knew that this thing was used for lighting.

Lighting was a civil application.

In the military, Great Hua was already building a telegraph line from Nanjing to Shanghai.

The technology of wired telegraphy was not difficult, but it was difficult for ordinary people to imagine.

In the original history, shortly after electricity was discovered, someone thought of using the terrifying transmission speed of electric current to quickly transmit information.

As long as twenty-six wires connected the two places, each wire representing a letter, then one end would be energized, and the other end would react, thereby transmitting information.

Energize, produce a reaction.

The principle was simple, but it was very important. Countless seemingly extremely high-end technologies in later generations still used this basic principle.

However, this method consumed a bit too much wire and had no practical value.

With the theoretical basis in place, the following people were thinking about reducing costs and researching how to reduce the number of wires.

Then, a painter named Morse invented the most primitive form of programming.

He felt that energizing could represent a signal (0), and de-energizing could represent a signal (1), and the length of time of energizing was also a signal (2).

Then, these three signals could form countless codes. For example, 000 was me, 001 was you, 0010102 was horse…

Theoretically, these three different signals could be combined infinitely to represent all the words, or even more complex information.

In this way, only one wire was needed to transmit all the information.

All that was needed was to compile a codebook in advance, stipulating what signal represented what word.

The principle of transmitting information was the same, but the method was more convenient.

In fact, it could be further simplified.

Later generations’ code only needed the numbers 0 and 1.

Wu Changqing knew this idea, so he didn’t need to spend any technology points. He directly called the people researching the telegraph and told them to do it this way. They were immediately enlightened, and then they worshiped and admired Wu Changqing in various ways.

Now, the military had encoded every word in the Great Hua dictionary and printed a thousand copies in one go.

Because they attached too much importance to this thing.

In war, the importance of intelligence was self-evident.

There were countless defeats in history due to the untimely transmission of intelligence.

With this telegraph, there was no need to worry about this problem anymore.

In the past, if a rebellion occurred in a remote area, it would take several days, or even more than ten days, for the news to reach the capital, delaying matters.

But as long as there was this telegraph machine, once a rebellion occurred in a remote area, a telegram could be sent, and Nanjing could know it instantly, then immediately send troops to minimize the losses.

In June, the first telegram from the Nanjing Cabinet to the First Division’s garrison outside the city was successfully sent.

The content of the telegram was only a few words: “Immediately launch signal.”

The First Division’s telegraph room recorded the code based on the flashing signals, and then compared them one by one with the codebook, successfully obtaining the information.

Signal flares rose into the air, and countless cheers erupted from the telegraph room in Nanjing.

This meant that the telegraph was a success.

Chapter 718: The Role of Telegraphs

After the successful wired telegraph experiment, the military paid great attention to it.

Even though the army was as poor as a church mouse, they gritted their teeth and supported the laying of telegraph lines.

Their initial plan was to lay two telegraph lines.

One would start from Shanghai, run along the Yangtze River to Wuhan and Changsha, and then to Chengdu in the future, connecting all the important cities along the way.

The other would run north-south, from Shengjing to Guangzhou, connecting the important cities along the way as well.

The two routes would form a rough cross, covering most of the north and south.

This was the initial plan. In the subsequent complete plan, the military intended to connect all the cities in the country to form a telegraph network.

However, the money required would be an astronomical figure.

The current cost of telegraph wires was extremely high, as they were made of pure copper, and copper coins were still one of the important currencies of Great Hua.

The outer layer of insulation was made of rubber, as plastic had not yet been invented.

And rubber was currently not much cheaper than copper.

Money, money, money, the military’s heads were aching for money.

After thinking about it, their final solution was to ask Wu Changqing for it.

After all, not everyone was a BUG; the military’s ability to raise money was extremely limited.

“Don’t be rigid. Telegraphs can be used not only to transmit military intelligence but also for civilian use. By charging telegraph fees, the money earned can be used to support the laying of subsequent routes,” Wu Changqing pointed out a way for the military. He was annoyed by the military’s constant complaints.

Helpless, Wu Changqing could only point out a way to solve the money shortage.

Although he also felt that the telegraphs used by the military and civilians should be separated to avoid problems, Great Hua’s current conditions were not luxurious enough.

Therefore, Wu Changqing could only make do for now, using them for both military and civilian purposes, and solve the problem when conditions allowed in the future.

More importantly, Great Hua had no rivals in military affairs, so there was no urgent need for telegraphs. On the contrary, they were more needed for civilian use.

For example, in terms of train transportation, current trains could only run one or two trips a day and could not be too frequent.

This was because the current train technology was not very mature. Basically, trains would have a breakdown about once a week.

If the train frequency was too high, and the train in front broke down, the trains behind would not be able to get the news in time, and they would definitely crash.

The current operation of Great Hua’s trains still relied on relay stations.

Once a train broke down, the nearby relay station would be immediately notified, and then an urgent message would be sent eight hundred li to notify the subsequent trains to suspend departure.

The speed of information transmission determined the efficiency of rail use.

With telegraphs, using them to transmit messages, trains could increase from the current one or two trips a day to five or six trips, or even more.

In this way, the volume of goods transported would directly increase by three or four times, which was quite terrifying, and could greatly reduce transportation costs.

Lower transportation costs were a prerequisite for the prosperity of commercial trade.

In the past, in the era of low transportation capacity, the transportation cost often exceeded the value of the goods themselves, so trade was out of the question.

The faster transmission of information also had a huge impact on collaboration.

For example, if a machine in a factory in Shanghai broke down, and replacement parts had to be bought in Nanjing, the time wasted going back and forth would result in a lot of money lost.

But now, with just a telegram sent to Nanjing, Nanjing could immediately ship the goods to Shanghai, saving nearly half the time.

For another example, if the price of a certain commodity in Shanghai rose sharply, people would have to jog all the way to Nanjing to purchase goods, and if they were late, the price might fall, or someone else might get there first.

But now, again, just a telegram could have Nanjing send the goods over.

Nanjing and Shanghai were close, so the effect of this faster information transmission was not particularly obvious.

Once the telegraph station from Nanjing to Beijing was built, the effect would be astounding.

The greater the distance, the greater the role of the telegraph.

In short, faster information transmission had a huge impact on development.

Wu Changqing’s suggestion for the military to put telegraphs into civilian use was not something the military was very happy about.

Mixing the two together could easily cause some problems, such as leaks, or the priority of sending telegrams, etc.

In the military’s eyes, national security came first, and slower development didn’t matter.

But they had no choice, who told them they were poor?

They could only follow Wu Changqing’s instructions and seek cooperation with big merchants to jointly fund the telegraphs.

Otherwise, relying solely on their own military funding, they didn’t know how long it would take to build that telegraph network.

Many merchants were extremely interested in this telegraph, because those who were in business understood the meaning of business opportunities too well.

Sometimes, being one step ahead of others was a business opportunity.

The emergence of the telegraph could allow them to be many steps ahead of others.

Therefore, there were many merchants willing to cooperate with the military, and the conditions they offered were also very good.

Cooperating with the military, they did not dare to be too greedy, after all, the military gave people the impression of being unreasonable and violent.

With the participation of merchants, the development of the telegraph business was much faster.

Now Great Hua had a considerable amount of private capital. As long as there was a good project, there was no worry about investment.

With the use of electricity, Nanjing had another emerging industry.

Light bulb factories, wire factories, and telegraph machine factories were established one after another.

And in the university, students who studied electricity became popular.

After all, electricity was quite dangerous.

If you wanted to play in this industry, you had to have professional talents to guide you.

Because of the scarcity of talent in this area, the salaries offered by major companies when recruiting people were quite generous.

Those who had previously dismissed the study of electricity were now regretting it.

Great Hua had changed too much, and many people were unable to keep up with the changes.

The use of electricity was very wide, and most industries could use electricity to improve efficiency.

However, now that electricity had just appeared, it was impossible to promote its use and enter the electrical age in an instant.

The current electricity was still quite expensive, and only some high-efficiency factories could afford it.

Ordinary people could not afford to install electric lights for the time being.

Price was one aspect, and technology was another.

The current power plants could only supply electricity to the surrounding areas, and it would not work further away.

The difficulty of electricity transmission was directly proportional to the distance.

If you wanted to transmit electricity to a farther place, this involved the technology of using high voltage to reduce resistance, which was no simpler than power generation.

In short, the current Nanjing could only be considered to have stepped into the electrical age with half a foot, and it was still far from the real electrical age.

Currently, it was still mainly steam.

Chapter 719: Wester Becomes a Citizen

Nanjing, Qinhuai Street, evening.

Wester, who had already adopted the Chinese name Wei Xianghua, looked at the brightly lit street lamps and was filled with emotion.

This was his fourth time in Nanjing, and each time he came, the changes in Nanjing amazed him.

The first time he came to Nanjing, the cleanliness, order, and cement roads had left a deep impression on him.

The second time, it was Great Hua’s steamships that amazed him.

The third time, it was Great Hua’s trains that he found incredible.

He never expected that after only seven or eight months, when he came to Nanjing again, there were street lamps here.

Moreover, these street lamps used neither candles nor kerosene, and he couldn’t even understand the principle of their illumination.

However, the more profound something was, the more high-end it felt.

Wei Xianghua knew that this was another remarkable advancement of Great Hua.

He could even proudly say to those Western European merchants that he had witnessed the development history of Nanjing.

Because of the street lamps, the Qinhuai River streets were also quite lively at night, with the beginnings of a night market.

Night snack shops, food stalls, lodging houses, brothels, casinos…

These places were even more bustling than during the day. The rich nightlife made Nanjing look like a city that never sleeps.

Only a super city like Nanjing, with its large population, could gather so many night owls.

If it were anywhere else, even with street lamps installed, there wouldn’t be so many frivolous people.

Respectable people should be in bed sleeping at this hour.

“Tongfu Hotel.”

Wei Xianghua hailed a rickshaw and gave double the fare.

As a Westerner in Great Hua, although he hadn’t encountered any serious discrimination, he was often treated differently.

With his rich experience, he had also figured out a way to live in Great Hua, which was to throw money around.

Like calling for a rickshaw now, as long as he paid double the fare, he could get excellent service without worrying about the driver taking detours or other tricks.

He was going to Tongfu Hotel to treat Jin Sheng, the director of the Ministry of Rites’ Diplomatic Affairs Department, to dinner, to thank Jin Sheng for helping him successfully obtain citizenship.

Yes, he had now obtained a Nanjing hukou and become a genuine Great Hua citizen.

To obtain citizenship, he had donated a full one million yuan to Great Hua to support the construction of roads.

Therefore, the Holy Emperor, moved by his loyalty, accepted this foreigner with unparalleled magnanimity, allowing him to come into the embrace of Great Hua and become a subject of Great Hua.

One million was a lot of money, the hard-earned money that Wei Xianghua had made over the years, but Wei Xianghua felt it was worth it.

As a citizen of Great Hua, he could mingle in the Great Hua merchant circle and obtain more business opportunities.

Relying on the title of Great Hua citizen and his understanding of Western Europe, he could become the best intermediary, a super comprador, between the two.

In the future, he could make a lot of money just by doing some matchmaking, becoming a middleman that Western European merchants envied.

Moreover, as a citizen of Great Hua, he could permanently reside in Nanjing, in what he saw as a fairyland.

Why a fairyland and not paradise?

Having already become a Great Hua citizen, Wei Xianghua had a rather high level of awareness and directly abandoned his former faith.

Of course, this merchant and pirate of his had never had any faith before.

In short, Wei Xianghua made many efforts to integrate into Great Hua.

When expressing surprise, he would say “My heavens!” instead of “My God!”

Because of his understanding, his integration into Great Hua was relatively successful.

The next day, the Great Hua Daily also published the news of Wei Xianghua’s naturalization.

When the people of Great Hua saw this news, they immediately felt an unparalleled sense of pride.

See, those foreign barbarians are desperately trying to become Great Hua citizens. And we are born Great Hua citizens.

The people of Great Hua were certainly resistant to these foreigners, but they also welcomed a small number of them.

For example, someone like Wei Xianghua, who donated one million yuan and was sensible.

This one million would be spent on people’s livelihood, benefiting the people of Great Hua.

It was difficult for the people of Great Hua to reject such a filial fellow.

Even happier than the Central Plains people of Great Hua were the Koreans.

Because they were not originally Great Hua citizens, but they did not need to pay any money and directly obtained Great Hua citizenship.

Compared with Westerners, they felt full of happiness, as if they had saved one million yuan.

The Koreans living in the Central Plains have basically completely integrated into Great Hua.

When introducing themselves to others, they all called themselves people of Great Hua’s Seoul Prefecture or Great Hua’s Pyongyang Prefecture.

In short, they deliberately did not mention the word Korea, wanting to dilute this symbol.

The reason was very simple. Saying that they were Korean would not give them any sense of superiority or pride.

After all, Korea had been bullied by Ming Dynasty, bullied by Japan, and bullied by Qing Dynasty. That history was unbearable to look at.

But saying that they were Great Hua citizens would give them an extra sense of pride out of thin air.

Now Great Hua had destroyed both Ming and Qing, and was still vigorously bullying the Japanese.

Saying that they were Great Hua citizens, they could instantly transform from a weak person who was bullied and humiliated into a strong person who bullied others.

Didn’t someone in later generations summarize a phenomenon, saying that those with a monthly salary of three thousand talk about patriotism, while those with an annual salary of one million travel the world? This is because the weak, or rather ordinary people, need to rely on the strength of their motherland to generate a sense of superiority.

It’s not entirely like that, but there are reasons in this regard.

Also published in the newspaper with Wei Xianghua was Great Hua’s naturalization system.

Seeing this system, the little bit of imbalance in the hearts of the Japanese living in Great Hua was slightly soothed.

They found that although they could not directly naturalize like Koreans, the difficulty of their naturalization was far lower than that of white and black people.

Compared with those people, they were also considered to be treated preferentially, enjoying privileges, and belonging to a group that was taken care of.

The naturalization system stipulates that Japanese women who marry Great Hua men automatically obtain Great Hua household registration, and the children born are even more Great Hua household registration.

As for Japanese men, as long as they sincerely want to become Great Hua citizens and are willing to be loyal to Great Hua’s Emperor, they can apply to become Great Hua citizens.

Generally speaking, as long as they have worked in Great Hua for a few years, or made a little contribution, or have a little special talent, they can successfully naturalize without any difficulty.

As for children, there is even less of a threshold.

Compared with the harsh naturalization conditions in Western Europe, they were already lucky enough.

This was still now. According to Wu Changqing’s plan, when the territory of Japan was completely annexed in the future, those Japanese could also directly obtain Great Hua household registration like the Koreans.

After all, at that time, the place of Japan would be a province of Great Hua.

Chapter 720: Keep Having Babies

“Chris, are you really going to apply for Great Hua citizenship?”

In the university hall, a companion was surprised by Christiaan Huygens’ decision.

Huygens, the same Huygens from the original timeline who studied ellipses, hyperbolas, and plane curves.

He had remarkable achievements in mathematics, optics, astronomy, and mechanics.

Scientists of this era were often very versatile, quite different from the scientists of later generations who specialized in one field.

Because of Wu Changqing’s arrival, Great Hua’s technological level was far ahead of other places.

Therefore, some scientists who regarded Great Hua as a sacred land did not hesitate to travel thousands of miles across the ocean to study in Great Hua.

Huygens was one of them.

In Great Hua, he learned many novel things and witnessed Great Hua’s various incredible technologies.

This made him very grateful for his decision, believing he had found the best place to live.

However, Great Hua was not entirely without things that troubled him.

For example, because of his identity, he was always unable to enter Great Hua’s core technology circle.

The last time he applied to be Fei Yufeng’s assistant, he was politely refused.

The reason, of course, was his identity. Great Hua was afraid that this guy would learn the knowledge and run back to Europe.

What Fei Yufeng was researching was the most cutting-edge electrical science in Great Hua at the moment, how could he let others touch it casually?

Other international students also had the same worries as him.

But there was no way, when you’re under someone else’s roof, that’s just how it is.

In order to learn more exquisite knowledge, Huygens had the idea of becoming a citizen of Great Hua.

“That’s right, only in this way can I become Fei Yufeng’s assistant,”

Huygens said.

“But, wouldn’t that be tantamount to betraying your own country?”

His companion asked.

“Menges, as scientists, we must look at problems from the perspective of all mankind. What country or not, I am a person who wants to contribute to all mankind,”

Huygens laughed.

His statement easily convinced Menges.

Because in this era, the concept of country and national identity was relatively weak.

Like Huygens, there were many other Western European international students who decided to become citizens of Great Hua.

It was much easier for them to become citizens than ordinary people.

After all, Great Hua also needed these talents.

The most, of course, were the international students from Japan.

There were many reasons for them to choose to become citizens.

Some, like Huygens, just wanted to make it easier for themselves to learn more advanced knowledge.

Others were disappointed with the current situation in Japan. The internal strife in Japan made some insightful people choose to give up. They knew in their hearts that Japan was doomed sooner or later.

Still others simply admired Great Hua as a strong country, and thus chose to become citizens.

There were even some with ulterior motives who wanted to become citizens to learn more cutting-edge technology, preparing to escape back to Japan after they had learned something.

There were thousands of reasons, each different.

Great Hua’s review of these people was not very strict.

Anyway, with just these dozen or twenty people, what kind of storm could they stir up?

The biggest factor currently affecting Great Hua’s complete annexation of Japan was actually population.

If Great Hua had enough adult population now, Wu Changqing would have completely annexed Japan long ago and started immigration.

Unfortunately, Great Hua did not have enough for the time being. Even if it annexed Japan now, there would not be enough people to immigrate there, and it would not be possible to become the main ethnic group in Japan.

Without becoming the main ethnic group, it would be quite difficult to assimilate the other party, and the cost of rule would be greatly increased.

In a place where rebellions happen every two or three days, the plundered wealth is far from enough to pay for the suppression of the rebellion.

Population has always been Wu Changqing’s biggest concern.

Population is the foundation. Without population, even the highest technology is useless.

Just like the British Empire, without population, it would only be at its peak for a while at most. One world war caused it to lose most of its adult men, and it immediately lost its hegemonic status.

Another one, and it would completely lose the ability to control those overseas colonies.

Without assimilating a place, occupation is meaningless, and sooner or later it will split.

If it weren’t for considering this issue, Wu Changqing would have sent people to occupy all those overseas places long ago.

With the current strength of the Huaxia army, a fleet plus the strength of a division could completely control a country with a population of several million.

However, that kind of occupation is not very meaningful.

Exploiting the locals too harshly will only increase the hatred between the two sides.

If you don’t exploit them harshly, the income from the occupation will not be enough to cover the expenses of ruling those places.

In short, what Wu Changqing wants is complete occupation, with great plans.

Fortunately, the people of Great Hua are very fertile, so there is no need to worry about a shortage of people in the future.

The current population in Great Hua’s jurisdiction has reached one hundred and thirty million.

In the second year of Yongxing, the population in Great Hua’s jurisdiction was only more than forty million, in the third year it was more than eighty million, and now in the fourth year of Yongxing, the population has reached more than one hundred and thirty million.

Of course, not all of these are births, many are from newly occupied territories.

However, in recent years, Great Hua’s birth rate has also been very high.

Although Wu Changqing has not sent people to investigate in detail, he can make some estimates based on the total population. The result of the estimation is that in the past three years, Great Hua’s population growth rate has exceeded ten percent.

This is quite terrifying. According to this growth rate, the population in the fifth year of Yongxing can reach about one hundred and fifty million, one hundred and sixty-five million in the sixth year of Yongxing, one hundred and eighty-three million in the seventh year of Yongxing, and two hundred million in the eighth year of Yongxing.

This is still the most conservative estimate. If the population of Sichuan and Japan is added, the number will be even greater.

Perhaps, two hundred million can be reached in the seventh year of Yongxing.

As long as there is food and people can eat their fill, Wu Changqing doesn’t have to worry too much about the growth rate of the population.

Don’t think that the goal of two billion is still far away, but the increase in population is the same as usury, compound interest. The larger the population base, the faster the population increases.

Now, a ten percent growth rate only adds more than ten million people a year.

But if it is a base of one billion people, under a ten percent growth rate, one hundred million people can be added in one year.

However, the children born now need to wait until they grow up. These people are not labor force for the time being, and are even a burden.

Wu Changqing can’t wait for more of such burdens.

In another ten years or so, when these people grow up, Great Hua can usher in a wave of demographic dividend.

As long as there are enough people, he can fully advance overseas.

He will not be like those Western European countries, just occupying a stronghold and plundering resources.

If he wants to occupy, he will occupy it completely.

To this end, Wu Changqing is also encouraging childbirth.

Anyone who gives birth to a child can get some subsidies from the imperial court, beautifully named milk money.

Although not much, it can at least reduce the burden on some families and stimulate their desire to have children.

For some families who really can’t afford to raise them, the imperial court will also take those children away and raise them on their behalf.

In short, Great Hua will not and will not allow abandoning children now. Whoever dares to do so will wait to be caught in the mines and serve a life sentence.

Chapter 721: Buying and Selling Territory

The Great Hua’s population policy had some impact on the surrounding countries.

Among them, Japan was the most affected because of its proximity and frequent trade.

Because Great Hua encouraged childbirth, it subsidized grain imports.

As a result, many Great Hua merchants came to Japan to buy grain.

This caused the price of grain in Japan to rise considerably.

However, the rise in grain prices was not necessarily a good thing for ordinary people.

When the Japanese people sold grain to the local big grain merchants, the price was about the same as before. Only those big merchants who controlled the right to trade with Great Hua made money from the rise in grain prices.

And those big merchants were often the Daimyo and nobles of Japan.

In order to maintain their luxurious lives, and to always have luxury goods such as perfume and scented soap, they could only continue to rely on exporting grain to earn money, in exchange for Great Hua’s industrial products and military supplies.

But the problem was that Japan itself also lacked grain, and their purchase price from the people was not high, so the people were certainly unwilling to sell.

As a result, the nobles of Japan had no choice but to raise the price of salt and some other necessities.

In this way, they could force the Japanese people to rely on selling grain to obtain necessities such as salt.

The lives of the Japanese people became more and more difficult, and their desire to have children also decreased greatly.

They couldn’t afford to have children, couldn’t afford to raise them, and couldn’t live happily.

The Japanese people did not know the root cause of their increasingly difficult lives, but they could intuitively feel that life was becoming more and more difficult.

Where there is oppression, there is resistance.

If there is no resistance, it means that the oppression is not enough.

In the past, the Japanese people were also exploited in various ways, but there were no peasant uprisings or anything like that, after all, everyone was just living hard, but they could barely survive.

But now, in some parts of Japan, people really couldn’t survive.

In southern Kyushu, Japan, that is, the peninsula area west of Ibusuki, where Great Hua troops were stationed, a peasant revolt recently occurred.

Some villagers, in order to resist the Daimyo’s tax increase, spontaneously launched a revolt, killing several tax collection teams of Shimazu Mitsuhisa and openly rebelling.

The problem with this kind of thing is when someone takes the lead.

Once someone takes the lead, the entire area is like a powder keg, instantly ignited and out of control.

They had wanted to do this for a long time.

A large number of people rose up and formed a volunteer army, occupying the southern Kyushu area and confronting the Satsuma Domain.

This situation worried Shimazu Mitsuhisa to death. He had just gained some advantage in the battle with the Kumamoto Domain, and was about to reach Kumamoto and become the overlord of Kyushu Island.

As a result, this kind of thing suddenly appeared behind him, which made him worried.

He had to take care of the fire in the rear.

However, he had no spare troops in the rear now.

Otherwise, those people would not dare to riot one after another.

It was because the first place where the riot occurred was not suppressed in time that other places dared to follow the riot with confidence.

Now, it was not so easy for Shimazu Mitsuhisa to quell the rebellion again.

Those people had already become a force, and if he sent too few troops, he was afraid that he would not be able to defeat them.

If he sent too many, he might lose the opportunity to eliminate the Kumamoto Domain on the front line.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa paced back and forth, very irritable.

“Lord, perhaps, we can borrow the power of Great Hua.”

His subordinate strategist Miyazaki Ichiro suggested.

“Oh, tell me more.”

Now Shimazu Mitsuhisa hated hearing the words Great Hua. He felt irritable and disgusted as soon as he heard these two words.

But now that things had come to this, as long as the people below had a way to solve the rebellion, he couldn’t care so much.

Miyazaki Ichiro’s method was very simple, that was to sell southern Kyushu to Great Hua.

In this way, he could not only obtain a sum of military expenses, but also throw the hot potato of rebellion to Great Hua and let Great Hua have a headache.

If Great Hua used force to suppress it, they could publicize it widely among the people, increase the people’s hatred for Great Hua, and increase cohesion.

If Great Hua took face into consideration and did not dare to carry out a bloody suppression, it would not be able to completely rule the southern Kyushu area, which would be equivalent to wasting money.

If this method were put in later generations, Shimazu Mitsuhisa would definitely shoot him as soon as he proposed it.

Selling territory was selling sovereignty.

But in this era when the awareness of sovereignty was weak, selling land was not a big deal.

As long as Great Hua was willing to spend money and come up with an astronomical figure, Shimazu Mitsuhisa could sell Kagoshima.

So, selling territory was not a problem for Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa pondered for a while and felt that this idea was indeed feasible.

Although, this would lose a large area of territory. But if he didn’t sell it, and he didn’t have the strength to quell the rebellion, this piece of land would essentially be out of the control of the Satsuma Domain.

In the long run, it was naturally not right to sell it.

But combined with the current difficult situation, selling this burden and exchanging it for some military supplies to eliminate the Kumamoto Domain and occupy all the territory of the Kumamoto Domain was the most cost-effective choice.

“You go and communicate with Great Hua, try to sell it for a good price. That is a large area, if it is less than five million taels of silver, then there is no need to talk.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa gave Miyazaki Ichiro a bottom line for the negotiation, five million taels of silver.

This area was not small, it was larger than the entire city of Nanjing.

It was the entire Nanjing jurisdiction, including the suburbs and villages, not just the city of Nanjing alone.

When Miyazaki Ichiro found Qian Sule and talked about this matter, Qian Sule was a little stunned for a moment.

After all, as a Great Hua citizen, he could not understand selling territory.

If it were Great Hua, no matter how much money others offered, they would not sell territory, because it was not necessary and it was also very embarrassing.

However, seeing Miyazaki Ichiro taking the initiative to come to him, he also knew how miserable the Satsuma Domain was now.

In order to make a living, they had even reached the point of selling territory, which was really miserable.

“I need to ask the higher-ups for instructions on this matter. I can’t make the decision.”

Qian Sule first stated his difficulties, so that he could lower the price in the subsequent negotiations.

Qian Sule could not make a judgment on whether to buy it or not for a while, but lowering the price first was definitely not wrong.

“Master Qian is joking, you are the Director-General of Great Hua’s affairs in Japan, this small matter is not something you can decide with a word.”

Miyazaki Ichiro said.

He knew that because of the inconvenience of communication, Qian Sule had great autonomy in Japan, and he could make decisions on many things first and then report them.

“Mr. Miyazaki is flattering me. Five million taels must be approved by the imperial court. I’m afraid I can’t make the decision.”

Qian Sule smiled, the more anxious the other party was, the happier he was.

On the one hand, he pretended to be uninterested, and on the other hand, he kept thinking in his heart whether this place was worth buying.

Chapter 722: Assimilation Policy

Qian Sule’s words weren’t just a perfunctory response to Miyazaki Ichiro. With a sum of over one million involved, he really couldn’t make the decision himself.

After appeasing Miyazaki Ichiro, he quickly reported the matter to the imperial court.

Clipper ships, with their terrifying speed of thirty knots, were specifically used to deliver urgent letters.

It only took about twenty hours to travel from Ibusuki to Shanghai.

These ships were slender, with narrow interior spaces, and were equipped with steam engines for propulsion. The entire design of the ship revolved around speed.

These ships were like scouts for the army, lacking any combat power, but extremely fast.

Qian Sule’s memorial was presented to Wu Changqing, with suggestions from cabinet ministers already written on it.

The cabinet members weren’t interested in this deal and suggested that Wu Changqing ignore it.

Not only were the civil officials taking this stance, but the military wasn’t very enthusiastic about the deal either.

After all, in the military’s view, if they really wanted this place, they could just send a force to take it. Why spend money to buy it?

Five million was enough for the military to fight several major battles.

The civil officials’ main concern was that the price was too high and they didn’t see the need.

After all, in terms of geographical location and natural resources, southern Kyushu was lacking and didn’t have anything that would entice Great Hua.

Spending five million on such a place simply wasn’t worth it.

That five million could be invested in construction and accomplish so much more.

Buying southern Kyushu would only satisfy the vanity of expanding territory, and seemingly offer no other benefits.

If Great Hua hadn’t annexed Korea, then for the sake of that vanity, they would have spent not just five million, but even ten million.

But now that Great Hua had already annexed Korea, Ryukyu, and even had a foothold in North Africa,

Great Hua had expanded enough territory, and a little more wouldn’t have any symbolic significance.

Wu Changqing wasn’t satisfied with the suggestions from the cabinet and the military. He actually wanted to buy it.

Although buying it would definitely result in a short-term loss, in the long run, it would definitely be a profitable venture.

More importantly, Wu Changqing needed a platform to showcase the good life in Great Hua to the people of Japan.

The upper echelons of Japan mostly knew that the lives of the people in Great Hua were much better than those in Japan, but the common people of Japan didn’t know much about it.

Not to mention in this era, even in the twenty-first century, taking a long trip wasn’t easy.

The price of a boat ticket from Japan to Shanghai alone would deter ninety-nine point nine percent of the Japanese.

Without having been to Great Hua, it was impossible to directly experience the goodness of Great Hua.

Without knowing, they naturally wouldn’t envy it, which wouldn’t be conducive to Wu Changqing’s assimilation policy.

But as long as they took southern Kyushu and vigorously supported it, building it up beautifully and allowing the Japanese people there to live a good life,
one could imagine what the surrounding Japanese people would think.

The pursuit of a good life was human nature.

At that time, the Japanese daimyo would probably have to find a way to seal off the borders to prevent the people below from seeing the truth, just like the Kim dynasty in later generations.

Otherwise, those people who saw the obvious contrast would frantically flood into southern Kyushu, flock to Great Hua, and voluntarily hope to become subjects of Great Hua.

Not to mention in this era where national consciousness was relatively weak, even in later generations, there were still a lot of people desperately trying to sneak across borders.

Patriotism was ultimately a state of mind pursued by a minority.

The common people just wanted to eat their fill, eat a little better, and dress warmly.

And there was nothing wrong with that.

Wu Changqing wanted to build southern Kyushu into a platform to showcase the life in Great Hua to the Japanese people, in order to divide the relationship between the Japanese people and the Japanese nobles.

Although the relationship between the Japanese rulers and the people was already bad.

However, under the influence of the Japanese rulers, the Japanese people below would also hate Great Hua.

Once this seed of hatred was planted, it would be more difficult to rule and assimilate them in the future.

But if there was such a platform, allowing the Japanese people to see through the rulers’ deception, they would side with Great Hua.

This kind of intangible recognition was invaluable.

In short, Wu Changqing felt that it was definitely worth more than just five million.

Afterward, Wu Changqing summoned the high-level members of the cabinet and the military to give them important instructions.

“Since ancient times, the difficulty of ruling a place has been far greater than the difficulty of conquering it. This is especially true for Great Hua, because we are basically invincible militarily.

Therefore, compared to conquering a place, we need to pay more attention to how to effectively govern it after conquering it.

The assimilation policy is our basic national policy, and I hope you all don’t forget that.

So, how can we more effectively assimilate those barbarians? Have you thought about it?”

Wu Changqing said a lot, and the people below didn’t dare to breathe loudly.

Because they misunderstood, they thought Wu Changqing was angry, dissatisfied with their ability to understand.

But in reality, Wu Changqing was just pursuing efficiency.

Instead of wasting time with various hints and allusions to get them to understand, wouldn’t it be the same to just tell them directly?

Even though he had been in this world for several years, Wu Changqing’s way of thinking was still a little different from the people of this era.

“I believe that the place of southern Kyushu in Japan must be bought. The best way to assimilate the people of a place is to make them actively generate the idea of joining us in their hearts, rather than forcing them.

People all have a rebellious mentality. The more you force them, the more they resist. On the contrary, the more you disagree with them joining, the more they will often desperately want to join.

For example, Wei Xianghua and others, isn’t that the case?”

Ruan Dacheng said.

At his age, he had to study very hard in order to keep up with Wu Changqing’s pace.

Therefore, as soon as Wu Changqing spoke, he understood.

“But, wouldn’t it be okay to just attack it directly? Why spend money to buy it? This place isn’t even under the control of the Satsuma Domain anymore.”

Liu Hansan asked.

“Commander Liu, Lord Ruan just said it. The more we use force to coerce them, the more dissatisfied they will be. Buying it with money will make the other party accept it willingly.”

Hong Chengchou explained.

“I need someone to handle this matter specifically, and it needs to be handled beautifully. Don’t worry about spending money, we must achieve the desired effect. For example, during the negotiations, we can’t just talk to Shimazu Mitsuhisa, we also have to bring in representatives of the rebels.

While buying this land, we also have to buy the hearts of those rebels. Ideally, we should find a way to make those rebels actively seek our help, and then we step forward to help them in their time of need.”

Wu Changqing proposed the idea, and the specific plans and details were left for these ministers to think about.

With these people’s ability to engage in officialdom struggles, it shouldn’t be difficult to come up with a win-win solution.

Chapter 723: Nobody’s a Fool

Hong Chengchou, amidst his busy schedule, personally made a trip to Japan and met with Qian Sule in Ibusuki.

After conveying Wu Changqing’s instructions to Qian Sule, he discussed the specific plans with him.

Subsequently, they summoned Miyazaki Ichiro again.

“Mr. Miyazaki, this is our Great Hua’s Vice Minister of Commerce, the Imperial Envoy in charge of this negotiation, Lord Hong Chengchou.”

Qian Sule’s words made Miyazaki Ichiro’s heart skip a beat.

Although he was meeting Hong Chengchou for the first time, he had long been familiar with the name.

Now that the exchanges between Japan and Great Hua were becoming increasingly close, many people in Japan were studying Great Hua’s technology, systems, and high-level figures.

And Hong Chengchou was definitely at the core of Great Hua’s high-level leadership, so Miyazaki Ichiro was naturally no stranger to him.

He knew that Hong Chengchou’s position was extraordinary. The fact that Hong Chengchou was dispatched showed that Great Hua attached particular importance to this negotiation.

Previously, Great Hua had only sent Qian Sule to sign the Kagoshima Treaty.

“I have long admired Mr. Hong’s name.”

Miyazaki Ichiro flattered Hong Chengchou with a few words.

After the pleasantries, they got down to business.

“Five million is really too much. This place, for our Great Hua, actually has no use. It doesn’t matter whether we have it or not…”

From the start, Hong Chengchou began to plead poverty, making Miyazaki Ichiro want to take off his wooden clogs and slap Hong Chengchou a few times.

Great Hua pleading poverty was like a rich person in later generations saying they had no money. Everyone knew they were pretending, but they couldn’t call them out on it.

As for Hong Chengchou saying that Southern Kyushu was not important to Great Hua, Miyazaki Ichiro didn’t believe a word of it.

If it wasn’t important, why would they send an Imperial Envoy to personally oversee the negotiations?

Clearly, Great Hua attached great importance to it.

But why Great Hua would attach so much importance to it was something Miyazaki Ichiro wasn’t entirely clear about.

He didn’t know that Great Hua’s appetite was so big that they wanted to annex the entire Japan.

In his view, Great Hua’s purpose in selling arms to Japan was only to sow discord and then reap the benefits.

He couldn’t be blamed for thinking that way, because since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasties had never intended to annex Japan.

“Lord Hong is joking. With Great Hua’s wealth, five million is nothing. The price of any railway in Great Hua is more than that.

Moreover, Southern Kyushu is such a large area, with countless fertile fields and mineral resources. If my lord wasn’t in dire need of money, he definitely wouldn’t sell it. If Lord Hong doesn’t seize the opportunity now, we won’t sell even if you want to buy it after we get through this difficult period.”

Miyazaki Ichiro appeared calm on the surface. Anyone who didn’t understand the inner workings of the Satsuma Domain would probably believe his words.

Unfortunately, Qian Sule and Hong Chengchou were both clear that the Satsuma Domain’s situation was very bad, extremely bad, and the economy was on the verge of collapse.

“But, you and I both know that there is a group of rioters there now. Buying it would be like holding a hot potato. If you are willing to sell Kagoshima, we will pay immediately without saying a word. Southern Kyushu is still in turmoil. We need to consider such a place even if it is given to us for free, let alone if we have to pay for it.”

Hong Chengchou continued to guide the topic: “So, if you can quell those rebellions first, then our interest will be much greater.”

Great Hua’s plan was to have the people of the Satsuma Domain first carry out a bloody suppression in Southern Kyushu, intensifying the conflict between the Satsuma Domain and the rebels.

By forcing the rebels in Southern Kyushu to seek help from Great Hua, Great Hua could then step forward and naturally gain the favor of the people of Southern Kyushu.

These words made Miyazaki Ichiro have the urge to take off his shoes again. If they could easily quell those rebellions, why would they need to sell this place?

It was because there was a rebellion there that they wanted to pass this trouble on to Great Hua, which was why they had the idea of selling it.

“To be honest, our army is currently unable to spare the manpower to quell the rebellion.”

Miyazaki Ichiro said truthfully. Anyway, even if he didn’t say it, Great Hua would definitely know about it.

There were now many Great Hua spies active in Japan, and both sides understood each other quite well.

“You can temporarily cease hostilities with the Kumamoto Domain and then quell the rebellion first. In this regard, we can help a little by facilitating a ceasefire between you and the Kumamoto Domain.”

Qian Sule wasn’t bragging. As the largest arms supplier to the Satsuma Domain and the Kumamoto Domain, it was very easy for them to interfere in the fighting between the two sides.

The side that dared not listen would have its arms sales stopped directly, which would cause the other side to collapse.

Seeing that Great Hua was determined to have them quell the rebellion first, Miyazaki Ichiro sighed inwardly.

He knew that he probably wouldn’t be able to trick Great Hua this time.

They had decided to sell Southern Kyushu to Great Hua not only to get some money but also for many deeper reasons.

One of the reasons was to shift the conflict, letting Great Hua’s army fight with those rebels.

If Great Hua’s army carried out a bloody suppression, they could stir up the emotions of the lower-level people, causing them to shift their conflict with the Japanese rulers to Great Hua.

It would be best if they could resist Great Hua’s goods and if no one would work in Great Hua’s mines.

Or, they could constantly create some trouble for Great Hua.

If Great Hua adopted a gentle policy, then the rebels in Southern Kyushu would definitely act like overlords, which would give Great Hua a headache.

In short, Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s idea was very beautiful, but Great Hua was not stupid at all and resolutely refused to be fooled, insisting that they quell the rebellion.

Qian Sule even proposed sending troops to the Kumamoto front to maintain peace and urge them to cease hostilities with the people of the Kumamoto Domain.

The meaning was too obvious.

Great Hua had the ability to quell the rebellion, but they just wouldn’t do such a thing that would offend the people.

“If that’s the case, then this deal probably won’t work.”

Miyazaki Ichiro said calmly.

He had to appear nonchalant and not let Hong Chengchou see through him.

Hong Chengchou smiled and didn’t care, letting Miyazaki Ichiro leave.

He had discussed it with Qian Sule beforehand and felt that the Satsuma Domain had no choice and would definitely sell in the end.

If Shimazu Mitsuhisa was really so tough or stubbornly refused to sell, they could use other means.

For example, increase arms aid to the Kumamoto Domain to allow them to reverse the situation.

Or, give the rebels a little arms aid to allow them to continue to expand and even attack Kagoshima.

At that time, it would definitely force Shimazu Mitsuhisa to submit. Unless Shimazu Mitsuhisa suddenly went crazy and prepared to fight to the death.

Based on Qian Sule’s understanding of Shimazu Mitsuhisa, he believed that Shimazu Mitsuhisa did not have that kind of courage.

With absolute strength, Great Hua had the advantage in the game.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou and Qian Sule were not in a hurry at all, just waiting for Miyazaki Ichiro to come again.

Chapter 724: All According to Plan

Miyazaki Ichiro brought back terrible news, leaving Shimazu Mitsuhisa feeling dejected.

To be tricked so many times by Great Hua, and then to be seen through when trying to trick them even once, was truly frustrating.

“Now that things have come to this, what should we do?”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa inquired.

“There’s no other way, we can only do as they say. They even dispatched important officials from their court for this matter. If they don’t achieve their goals, I fear they won’t let it go easily,”

Miyazaki Ichiro said helplessly.

This…

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s mental state crumbled. He originally thought it was just a failed scheme, and that they simply didn’t gain any advantage.

But now, hearing Miyazaki Ichiro say this, it seemed like he would have to suffer some losses to end this matter.

Thinking of this, Shimazu Mitsuhisa felt somewhat dissatisfied with Miyazaki Ichiro, blaming him for coming up with such a terrible idea.

“Humph, I won’t let them get their way, let’s see what they can do to me. If they push me too far, I’ll just turn against them,”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa said coldly.

These words startled Miyazaki Ichiro. This was not the time to be impulsive.

Not to mention that Great Hua’s overall strength was dozens of times greater than Japan’s, they might not even be able to handle the twenty thousand or so troops Great Hua had stationed in Japan.

“Lord, please calm down. Now that things have come to this, I think we still need to bide our time. We must not confront Great Hua head-on, or we will be doomed.

We can sell Southern Kyushu to them first, and then cause some trouble in Southern Kyushu in the future to annoy them. The people of Southern Kyushu are all Japanese and won’t easily accept Great Hua,”

Miyazaki Ichiro advised.

He was a little too worried. Shimazu Mitsuhisa was just saying things. How would he dare to really turn against Great Hua?

Although he felt a million times unhappy, he could only agree in the end.

However, he asked Miyazaki Ichiro to sell it for a higher price to comfort his wounded heart.

Raising the price was a small matter for Great Hua. Anyway, they had already decided to spend five million, so what did they care about another one or two million?

What’s more, they didn’t even have to pay real money, but instead paid with equivalent military supplies and luxury goods.

The production cost of seven million worth of goods in Great Hua was probably less than one million.

The arms and luxury goods business was just that profitable.

The second negotiation between the two parties quickly reached a consensus.

Subsequently, Great Hua dispatched a troop to Kumamoto for training, blocking the armies of Kumamoto Domain and Satsuma Domain.

The people of Kumamoto Domain didn’t have much of an opinion. They were already exhausted from fighting on two fronts, north and south, and they were eager to cease fire with the people of Satsuma Domain, and then concentrate on resolving the Fukuoka Domain first.

After the two sides tacitly ceased fire, the people of Satsuma Domain dispatched an elite force of five thousand men back to Southern Kyushu and began to suppress the rebellion.

Not to mention facing an army equipped with flintlock guns, even facing a regular army with cold weapons, these rebels holding bamboo spears and hoes could not possibly win.

People always easily remember stories of successful rebellions because these stories are exciting.

This also creates an illusion that rebellion is easy.

But in fact, the number of failed rebellions in history is at least hundreds or thousands of times greater than the number of successful ones.

Those who succeeded all gathered the right timing, geographical advantages, popular support, and luck.

And this time, the riot in Southern Kyushu, Japan, did not gather these factors.

Therefore, when faced with suppression, they retreated step by step and quickly lost most of their territory.

The rebel leaders, Miyazaki Shikamaru and others, naturally thought of every possible solution when faced with this desperate situation.

Some methods were as unreliable as they could be.

A riot without the leadership of an elite class is really difficult to succeed.

Not long ago, they were still farmers.

And Miyazaki Shikamaru was just a more knowledgeable, more capable, and more prestigious worker.

When they were about to despair, someone among them came up with a solution.

And this person was naturally the undercover agent bought by Great Hua.

Kobata Masao said, “Now that things have come to this, we can only ask for help from the people of Great Hua. Only they can deal with the Shimazu family.”

“But, will they help us?”

Miyazaki Shikamaru was not considered smart, but he was not stupid either.

They were not related to Great Hua, so why would they help?

“Now that things have come to this, we should at least try, right? Does anyone have a better idea?”

Kobata Masao asked rhetorically. These words left everyone speechless. Of course, they had no idea.

So, in the end, everyone could only agree to let Kobata Masao go to Ibusuki.

Everything was proceeding according to Great Hua’s plan. Soon, Kobata Masao returned to Makurazaki and brought back ‘good news’.

“Great Hua is willing to help us, but there are conditions.”

“Tell us quickly, what conditions?”

Miyazaki Shikamaru and others urged. They were now like drowning people, excited to see even a straw.

“The people of Great Hua said that this is an internal affair of Japan, and it is inconvenient for them to intervene. However, if our Southern Kyushu can be incorporated into Great Hua, then this will become a matter between Great Hua and the Shimazu family, and they will have a reason to come forward to resolve our problems,”

Kobata Masao said.

As soon as these words came out, everyone fell into a brief silence.

Being able to stand out from a group of rioters and become a leader, they were naturally not stupid and understood what it meant to be incorporated into Great Hua.

Anyone with a little ambition would not be happy about this.

They had been Japanese since they were young. Although they also hated the rulers of Japan, this did not mean that they did not identify with their Japanese identity.

Now that they had to abandon this identity and become people of Great Hua, they were more or less unwilling.

However, compared to death, changing one’s identity was not impossible. At least some people were inclined to agree.

“The people of Great Hua also promised me that as long as we are incorporated into Great Hua, we will not only enjoy the same treatment as the people of Great Hua, but also be exempt from taxes for one year. Moreover, they will also provide us with agricultural tools and seeds,”

Kobata Masao continued.

Hearing that they could enjoy tax exemption, everyone was even more tempted.

“Miyazaki-kun, why don’t we agree? This will be beneficial to us and our families,”

Some people who were tempted had already begun to persuade Miyazaki Shikamaru.

“Then how will Great Hua arrange for us?”

Miyazaki Shikamaru asked.

“At that time, Southern Kyushu will become a prefecture of Great Hua, and Great Hua will send officials to manage it. As for us, we can get one or two county magistrate positions, and several county clerk positions. The treatment may not be particularly good, but it’s better than being killed by the people of the Shimazu family,”

Kobata Masao said.

Miyazaki Shikamaru was more or less dissatisfied with this treatment. He also wanted to keep the army in his hands.

Unfortunately, Great Hua would definitely not agree to this.

“Go talk to them again, we want better treatment,”

Miyazaki Shikamaru said.

Although Miyazaki Shikamaru did not immediately agree, Kobata Masao smiled in his heart.

Chapter 725: Southern Nine Prefectures

Miyazaki Shikamaru wanted better terms, but Great Hua didn’t agree.

After all, they were the ones in a hurry, not Great Hua.

So, although somewhat unwilling, they ultimately had to agree.

The following matters were easy to handle. Great Hua’s army directly entered Southern Kyushu, informed the Satsuma Domain, and the Satsuma Domain withdrew from Southern Kyushu.

Seeing how easily the Satsuma Domain was repelled, Miyazaki Shikamaru and the others regretted it.

They would still rather be independent Daimyos than submit to Great Hua.

Unfortunately, it was too late. They had driven away the jackal of the Satsuma Domain, only to welcome the tiger of Great Hua.

They couldn’t even handle a jackal, let alone a tiger that even jackals had to avoid.

So, some things, they could only think about.

Subsequently, Hong Chengchou, Miyazaki Shikamaru, and Miyazaki Ichiro sat at the negotiating table and signed a tripartite agreement.

In reality, it was mainly Great Hua and the Satsuma Domain negotiating; Miyazaki Shikamaru was just there to make up the numbers. He didn’t have the opportunity to express his opinion throughout the entire process.

Finally, the new treaty was signed.

The treaty stipulated that Great Hua would pay six million taels of silver to redeem Southern Kyushu.

From then on, Southern Kyushu would be clear of any ties with the Satsuma Domain.

After signing this treaty, Great Hua legally possessed sovereignty over Southern Kyushu.

The representatives of Southern Kyushu unanimously agreed to merge into Great Hua, and the Satsuma Domain also recognized this result. None of the three parties had any objections.

This territory was acquired too legitimately.

Apart from the shogunate shouting a couple of times that they didn’t recognize it, no one else jumped out to protest.

After all, it was just Southern Kyushu; it couldn’t attract the attention of other Daimyos.

If the entire Kyushu Island were incorporated into Great Hua, they would be up in arms.

As it was, some Daimyos were actually a little envious of the Satsuma Domain and wanted to sell some unimportant islands or territories to Great Hua.

Unfortunately, Great Hua refused them all.

One demonstration platform was enough.

As soon as the treaty was signed, Great Hua announced that Southern Kyushu would be renamed the Southern Nine Prefectures, and all original residents of the Southern Nine Prefectures would be exempt from taxes for one year.

This news instantly won the hearts of the people in the Southern Nine Prefectures.

These common people thought simply: whoever treated them well, they would be loyal to.

Great Hua helped them drive away the brutal Satsuma Domain and also gave them a tax exemption.

Compared to the rulers of the Satsuma Domain, they were practically like their own fathers.

This bit of benefit was only temporary.

Great Hua wanted to build this place into a demonstration platform for the outside world, a model pilot zone, so how could they only give a little tax exemption?

Soon, two companies were established in the Southern Nine Prefectures.

One was a textile factory integrating silk reeling, spinning, and weaving.

It was used to purchase silkworm cocoons from Japan and manufacture cloth.

This company alone could create thousands of jobs.

The other was a salt factory. This company could rely on advanced salt production technology to cause the price of salt in Japan to collapse, even threatening the foundation of rule in other parts of Japan.

After all, controlling salt prices was a very important means for other Daimyos to harvest the wealth of their people.

They could control the salt merchants in their territories, but they couldn’t control Great Hua’s salt merchants. They would have a headache then.

The two factories could create about one thousand five hundred jobs in the Southern Nine Prefectures. With the ripple effect, it could allow at least two thousand people to have income other than farming.

This was the key to the people of the Southern Nine Prefectures becoming rich.

In fact, a lot of labor in Japan was being wasted because they had a large population but little land, so there wasn’t enough land to farm.

Sometimes, the people of Japan could only sit idle and stare blankly.

But now, the people of the Southern Nine Prefectures were officially saying goodbye to such days.

They could enter the factory and keep earning money.

Although it would be a little hard, compared to the small money they received, this bit of hardship was nothing to them.

These were all the benefits given by Great Hua. Correspondingly, Great Hua also had some requirements for the people of the Southern Nine Prefectures.

For example, learning Mandarin.

In official matters, Mandarin and Chinese characters must be used.

Among the people, they were also required to learn Mandarin as soon as possible.

In the newly established schools, they were also learning Chinese characters.

This was a long-term task. Although it couldn’t be rushed, it couldn’t be neglected either.

Because it wasn’t a mandatory requirement for them to immediately learn and change their habits, at most the enemies would be unhappy, but they wouldn’t cause trouble because of it.

Having just fought a war with the Satsuma Domain, they were not unscathed. On the contrary, many people had died.

The bloody lesson was right in front of them, and they temporarily didn’t have the courage to start another riot.

In Edo, Tokugawa Iemitsu learned that the Satsuma Domain had privately sold territory to Great Hua. He could no longer sit still and declared the Satsuma Domain a traitor and that he would lead troops to attack the Satsuma Domain.

Of course, Edo was too far from Kyushu, and it wouldn’t be easy to attack.

Traveling by land required passing through the territories of many Daimyos. Unless those Daimyos were of one mind with him, don’t even think about passing through.

Traveling by water was even more dangerous. If Great Hua intervened and attacked his warships, transport ships, or logistics lines, they would immediately fail.

Compared to land, water was even less secure.

Therefore, the not-so-stupid Tokugawa Iemitsu actually didn’t plan to attack the Satsuma Domain immediately; that wasn’t realistic.

He just wanted to use the excuse of attacking the Satsuma Domain to carry out centralization and attack those Daimyos who didn’t obey him.

The main targets were the Maeda clan and the Mōri clan. As long as he dealt with these two Daimyos, he would basically be ruling Japan, and then he could confront Great Hua head-on.

Tokugawa Iemitsu’s primary target was the Maeda clan of Kanazawa Domain, and the excuse was ready.

He only needed to fly the banner of sending troops to the Satsuma Domain, and he could, in the name of the Emperor, demand that the Maeda clan send troops to the Satsuma Domain together.

After all, in law, all Daimyos were still loyal to the Emperor.

If the Maeda clan dared not send troops, then Tokugawa Iemitsu could, in the name of the Emperor, lead other Daimyos who followed him to attack the Maeda clan together.

If the Maeda clan endured humiliation and obeyed the Emperor’s order to send troops, Tokugawa Iemitsu could annex them or kill them.

Or, he could continue to demand money from the Maeda clan.

In short, under the banner of the Emperor, he could force the Maeda clan to rebel in righteousness.

The upper echelons of Japan were very fond of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Even their subordinates used the term “Lord” to address the Daimyos.

In later generations, works related to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms were as numerous in Japan as they were in the Central Plains.

Tokugawa Iemitsu, who was well-versed in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, was very familiar with the trick of “holding the Son of Heaven hostage to command the lords.”

Of course, the head of the Maeda clan was not behind in this aspect either.

With Great Hua’s gradual encroachment, the internal strife in Japan entered a climax.

In the past, it was a mixed fight between various Daimyos, but now, the shogunate, representing the central government, was entering the fray, which was bound to cause greater chaos.

Chapter 726: Declaration of War

Besides Japan, Great Hua invested the most in Southeast Asia.

After all, it was close and the interactions were frequent.

In Southeast Asia, there were even many Han Chinese settlers from the Central Plains.

Quite a few Great Hua merchants traveled back and forth to Southeast Asia.

In early July, Great Hua merchant ships were detained by the Spanish in Luzon on the grounds that the Great Hua merchants had not paid customs duties.

This amused the Great Hua merchants.

You should know that at this time, the Philippines didn’t even have a proper country, so where did the idea of customs duties come from?

At this time, the Philippines was divided into several parts.

In the Mindanao area, there was the Sultanate of Sulu, formerly a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, which was now actively seeking to continue being a vassal state of Great Hua.

The population of the Sultanate of Sulu was very complex, with Persians from West Asia, local indigenous Malays, and mixed descendants of both.

In the northern Luzon area, the Spanish had established a colony in Manila, ruling, or rather influencing, the surrounding area.

The population composition in this area was also very complex, with Spaniards, Han Chinese, local indigenous Malays, and mixed descendants of these people.

The Spanish relied on their powerful military force to dominate this area and plunder resources.

However, because they were few in number, they did not effectively rule this area.

North of Manila was Luzon, where clan and tribal forms were more common.

These tribes generally would not provoke the Spanish, but if the Spanish were too oppressive, they would unite to resist.

In short, in the current complex situation, various forces had reached a fragile balance.

Spain did not truly rule here, so Great Hua had never paid taxes when doing business in Luzon.

Because Luzon was close to Great Hua, and the locals knew Great Hua people relatively well, they were not foolish enough to provoke Great Hua merchants.

Everything had been fine before, until the Spanish became jealous of the Great Hua merchants making money, and then sent a fleet to detain the Great Hua merchant ships, wanting to extort some protection money.

They hadn’t completely lost their minds and didn’t directly rob them.

Direct robbery was equivalent to slapping Great Hua in the face, and Great Hua would one hundred percent send warships to uphold their dignity.

But merely detaining them, and finding a plausible excuse, made the conflict less intense.

Of course, this was the idea of Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teodoro Franco Bahamonde, the Governor-General of the Philippines.

This isn’t padding the word count; this guy’s name was just that long.

Spanish names are composed of a given name plus a paternal surname plus a maternal surname plus some other miscellaneous things. However, people usually only call each other by their given name, or given name plus paternal surname.

Francisco felt that he was only asking to collect some commercial taxes, which was a perfectly normal request.

Didn’t Great Hua also pay taxes when doing business in Western Europe?

Even if Great Hua was unhappy, at most they would protest, and then everyone would sit down and negotiate, each side making concessions.

Unfortunately, Westerners and Easterners have significantly different ways of thinking. Westerners prioritize interests above all else.

But Great Hua people care more about face.

Francisco felt that it was not worth it for Great Hua to send troops over such a small matter.

However, after this incident was published in the Great Hua Daily and the Business Daily, public opinion exploded.

Great Hua, a dignified celestial empire, had not bullied your tiny Spain, yet you dared to bully Great Hua. Wasn’t this like bringing a lantern to the outhouse?

Heaven have mercy, Francisco never thought of bullying Great Hua, nor did he have the guts to bully Great Hua.

He just wanted to act like a rascal, hoping Great Hua would become annoyed and give them some benefits.

This was a typical misunderstanding caused by different ways of thinking.

In short, after Great Hua learned of this news, merchant groups were mobilizing their respective forces to put pressure on the imperial court, requesting the court to send troops to teach Spain a lesson and provide them with a comfortable business environment.

And the common people, this time, stood on the side of the merchants, strongly demanding that the imperial court send troops to teach Spain a lesson in order to promote national prestige.

Although Great Hua sending troops would not bring any substantial benefits to these common people, it could at least satisfy their psychological needs.

Great Hua teaching the enemy a lesson would make them feel very good.

The military’s plan to attack Sichuan had already been formulated, and the troops had already set off.

Therefore, the army’s desire to send troops to the Philippines was not strong.

But the navy was willing. The navy directly stated that they didn’t need the army’s help, nor would they take the opportunity to compete with the army for logistical supplies. They would overcome the difficulties themselves.

Their Marine Corps had also been established for some time and could be sent out to accumulate practical experience.

As for military expenses, weren’t those merchants so enthusiastic?

Verbal enthusiasm was not enough; they had to donate some money as a token of their sincerity. Otherwise, don’t blame the navy for putting them on the blacklist and creating obstacles for them when they do business in the future.

In short, the navy didn’t have to worry too much about military expenses.

Since the navy had said so, the army naturally didn’t have much objection.

With the whole country supporting the dispatch of troops, Wu Changqing did not spoil everyone’s enthusiasm.

Just fight, it’s not a big deal.

Anyway, it was just attacking a Spanish colony, not Spain, so there was no need to consider so much.

After Wu Changqing approved it, Great Hua officially delivered a declaration of war to the Spanish envoy stationed in Nanjing, which almost made Carlos, the Spanish envoy stationed in Nanjing, faint on the spot.

Now, several of the more powerful countries in Western Europe had sent envoys to establish diplomatic relations with Great Hua.

Moreover, England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands had also left permanent envoys in Nanjing, specifically responsible for communication between the two sides.

Secretly, they also did some reconnaissance and intelligence work.

Having lived in Nanjing for a period of time, Carlos had long been completely impressed by the power of Great Hua.

Even if he had ten times the courage, he would not dare to let Spain fight Great Hua.

Therefore, Carlos kept requesting to see the Great Hua Emperor, saying that it was a misunderstanding, and he was willing to personally go to the Philippines to let the Governor-General of the Philippines release the people and apologize.

Carlos’s attitude was very humble, and Great Hua could not ignore it, so they gave him half a month.

When Carlos set sail, many people in the navy wanted to secretly send warships to follow him and sink Carlos’s ship in a deserted place.

After all, this guy was very likely to ruin their chance to send troops.

It was difficult to gain merit without a war, which was unbearable for some impatient people.

However, when these people thought of Lu Guangzu’s fate, they could only endure it.

Chapter 727: It’s Over

Half a month was too tight. To save time, Carlos abandoned the comfortable passenger ship and chose the fastest clipper ship instead.

Passenger ships were not only slow but also had scheduled departures, requiring waiting.

Currently, apart from merchants, there weren’t many people traveling long distances. Therefore, there were no passenger ships from Nanjing to Luzon at all, and only one trip to Guangzhou per month.

Clipper ships, on the other hand, could set sail at any time and were very fast.

However, because of their shallow draft, these ships were very bumpy.

Anyone not used to traveling on such ships would definitely vomit up everything they had eaten the day, day before, day before that, and day before that.

Fortunately, Carlos didn’t get seasick.

But the journey was still a torment.

He finally arrived in Manila and, disregarding his fatigue, went straight to the Governor-General’s office to see Francisco.

“Oh, my dear Carlos, weren’t you going to Great Hua as an ambassador? What brings you to the Philippines?”

Francisco gave him a warm hug, which infuriated Carlos.

If Francisco hadn’t been so brain-dead, he wouldn’t have had to suffer this ordeal.

Immediately, he didn’t waste any words and said directly, “Governor Francisco, do you know you’ve made a grave mistake? Take a look at this yourself.”

Carlos took out a large stack of newspapers, but unfortunately, Francisco couldn’t read them.

Carlos had to translate and explain them to him one by one.

Afterward, Francisco said with some confusion, “Is it really that serious?”

“More than serious! The Great Hua navy is already preparing. If I hadn’t used my connections to request an audience with the Emperor of Great Hua and given him a chance for mediation, the Great Hua navy would already be on its way.

Governor-General, what were you thinking? Why provoke the lion that is Great Hua for no good reason? Great Hua has three main fleets, totaling over a hundred steam warships, more than a dozen semi-ironclads, and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Where did you get the confidence to challenge it?”

Carlos complained, exhausted.

The strength of Great Hua made him feel despair. It was only because Great Hua was far enough away from Western Europe that logistical problems couldn’t be solved.

Otherwise, this army would be enough to sweep across Europe.

“This… I didn’t expect it to be so serious. What should we do now?”

Francisco was now a little regretful, feeling it was somewhat unnecessary.

Although he still didn’t quite believe it, feeling that what the Great Hua newspapers said was somewhat exaggerated and that Carlos was being alarmist.

However, he didn’t intend to continue detaining those Great Hua merchants, after all, the returns weren’t proportional to the risks.

If the returns were very high, he really wouldn’t compromise so easily.

But just for the sake of taxes from a few merchant ships, it really wasn’t worth antagonizing Great Hua.

Although Francisco was greedy, he wasn’t stupid.

“It’s simple. First, release the people immediately. Second, compensate the merchants for their losses. Third, personally go to Nanjing to apologize,” Carlos said.

He felt that as long as these three steps were completed, Great Hua would have no reason to send troops again in order to maintain its image of being reasonable.

However, Francisco’s face was already extremely ugly after hearing these three requests.

Releasing the people was easy.

But he was reluctant to compensate them.

He had finally wanted to make some extra money by being unreasonable, but instead of making extra money, he had to pay money back. This was terrible.

Paying money was a small matter. Based on the principle of settling things peacefully, Francisco could grit his teeth and cut some flesh.

But he couldn’t apologize in person.

He couldn’t bring himself, as a dignified Governor-General, to admit his mistake to others.

At this time, the Governor-General’s power could be said to be very great, similar to the princes in the Han Chinese enfeoffment system, that is, they only nominally respected the Spanish royal family as the overlord.

But in reality, the Governor-General was basically all-powerful.

The further away from the Spanish mainland, the greater the power.

Once the royal power of the mainland weakened, they would seize the opportunity to become independent.

In later generations, these Governors-General would basically choose to become independent, becoming new countries.

For example, Canada, the United States, Australia, Brazil, etc. Listing this list would probably fill an entire chapter.

The new countries established in these places were not the local natives overthrowing the colonists, but the original colonists rebelling against their original motherland and becoming new countries.

Even many newly established countries would still nominally and legally respect the original royal family as their ruler.

Like Canada, Australia, etc., although they are independent countries, their legal supreme ruler is still the Queen of England.

These countries all belong to the Commonwealth.

In short, these Governors-General were all high and mighty local emperors, and it was difficult, very difficult, for them to apologize to other kings.

“Just because of this little thing, I need to apologize? Great Hua is bullying people too much,” Francisco snorted coldly, obviously disagreeing with Carlos’s suggestion.

“Governor-General, it’s just an apology. You can’t ruin the Philippines that you worked so hard to build just for the sake of this face,” Carlos said unhurriedly.

He understood the people of his country and would definitely prioritize practical interests.

Between interests and face, Francisco would definitely choose practical interests.

Therefore, despite Francisco’s current small emotions, Carlos believed that he would definitely agree.

Sure enough, after Francisco sulked for a while, he decided to accept Carlos’s suggestion.

However, he would not go to Nanjing in person. At most, he would send a confidant to apologize on his behalf.

Carlos didn’t refute his proposal.

As long as this confidant could represent Francisco, it would be fine.

Just as they were still discussing the details, someone suddenly came in to report.

“Governor-General, those detained Great Hua people tried to escape and clashed with the guards. To prevent those Great Hua people from escaping, the guards opened fire during the pursuit, killing a total of twenty-three people. The rest have basically been recaptured.”

This news from his subordinate directly made Carlos feel dizzy and almost faint.

What the hell, there was nothing left to talk about.

Carlos knew that this time the joke had gone too far, and there was probably no other way but to fight.

After all, so many people had died, and a simple apology was no longer enough to quell the anger of Great Hua, unless extremely high compensation was given and the attitude was put extremely low.

And this was obviously beyond Francisco’s bottom line.

If Francisco really had to do this, Francisco would definitely prefer to fight.

Despite the fact that Francisco had previously prepared to compromise, he was still very brutal and bold in his bones, otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to become the Governor-General of the Philippines.

This position was not something that ordinary people could sit in.

Chapter 728: Expeditionary Fleet

Silence descended in the living room. Carlos and Francisco hadn’t spoken for a long time, unsure of what to say.

Things had turned out so巧, rendering all their previous efforts futile.

“Governor-General, what are you planning to do next?”

After a long while, Carlos asked.

No matter how wrong Francisco was, they were still in this together.

So, at this moment, Carlos was still thinking of Francisco.

“As things stand, I can only request reinforcements from the mainland. On the other hand, we must seek peace with Great Hua. If they want to keep their base in Ceuta, they will have to resolve this at the negotiating table with us.”

Francisco said.

In the Philippines, their strength was insignificant compared to Great Hua.

However, in Ceuta, Spain’s strength could still deliver a beatdown to Great Hua’s base.

Francisco wanted to use this to make Great Hua wary.

“No, no, no, Governor-General, you mustn’t involve the mainland this time. You must bear all the responsibility yourself. You don’t understand Great Hua’s national situation. If we dare to attack Ceuta, they might formally declare war on us.

We might be able to resist Great Hua alone due to the distance. But if Great Hua colludes with the French, we will face utter destruction.

The conflict between the mainland and the French is deepening, and we can’t afford to make another enemy at this time.”

Carlos firmly opposed Francisco’s proposal to threaten Great Hua with Ceuta. The Spain of today was not the Spain of the past.

They were bullied at sea by England and on land by France. They couldn’t survive if they provoked Great Hua on top of that.

Carlos’s words disappointed Francisco. Their colonial efforts abroad, constantly sending raw materials and other wealth back to the mainland, were in the hope that the mainland would provide some support when they encountered difficulties.

But now, when faced with a strong enemy, the mainland actually wanted to disclaim any responsibility.

In that case, why should he recognize the Spanish royal family?

The atmosphere became awkward. Finally, to appease Francisco’s emotions, Carlos said that he would do his best to mediate in Nanjing.

After a strained parting, Carlos began his return voyage.

He was going to make one last attempt. If it really didn’t work, he would have to disassociate Francisco and Spain from the matter.

The various Western European countries were not stupid and valued their relationship with Great Hua.

On the one hand, they wanted to maintain trade relations and make money together.

On the other hand, they also wanted to improve their relationship with Great Hua and obtain Great Hua’s advanced technology.

In short, it was absolutely impossible for Spain to risk antagonizing Great Hua for the sake of a Philippine colony.

Spain had at least dozens of colonies like the Philippines around the world.

When Carlos returned to Nanjing, the people who had escaped from the Philippines had also reported the situation there.

From then on, no one paid any attention to Carlos.

If Carlos hadn’t clarified in time that Francisco’s personal actions had nothing to do with Spain and that Spain would not interfere, Great Hua would have expelled Carlos.

However, even if he wasn’t expelled, his days ahead wouldn’t be easy.

The British, French, and Dutch embassies in Nanjing were secretly laughing, even stirring up trouble and jumping up and down in the middle.

In mid-July, the Great Hua navy set off from Shanghai, heading straight for the Philippines.

As for Francisco’s plea for peace, it was directly ignored by Great Hua due to a lack of sincerity.

They thought they could quell Great Hua’s public anger with a little money? It wasn’t that easy.

With strong strength to back them up, the people of Great Hua now seemed very warlike.

The military, needless to say, hoped for war every day so they could obtain various extra funds and opportunities to earn military merits.

The main force of this expeditionary fleet was not large, with only ten warships, six of which were semi-ironclads, and the rest were wooden ships.

Classified by type, there were four Hong-class battleships, three Huang-class cruisers, and three Huang-class frigates.

Battleships were the main warships, large in tonnage, with many cannons, and very powerful firepower.

The two main guns used the technology of carronades and could fire armor-piercing shells.

Against wooden ships, basically one shot could solve the problem.

However, these battleships were slow, consumed a lot of coal, and had poor endurance.

They were only useful for decisive battles and were too expensive to use on a regular basis.

Therefore, after having battleships, the Great Hua navy built some cruisers.

These cruisers were much smaller than battleships, basically around five hundred tons, and their firepower was weaker, with only some small-caliber cannons.

These cruisers were generally used for secondary missions.

For example, cruisers were used for maritime patrols during peacetime.

There was no other way, naval construction had to consider the cost.

The cost of one battleship was equal to four or five cruisers. If they built all more powerful battleships, that little military expenditure would not be enough to build many ships.

And Great Hua’s coastline was so long, and there were many places where warships were needed, so it was necessary to ensure a sufficient number of ships.

In the Great Hua navy, the number of cruisers was much larger than the number of battleships.

Compared to cruisers, frigates didn’t have much difference in firepower, but they had shorter endurance and were faster.

These warships were not suitable for patrolling, but they were suitable for driving away enemies, reconnaissance, pursuit, and other tasks.

Based on the needs of various maritime missions, Great Hua had evolved these three main warships.

The other ships were all auxiliary ships.

Only some of those main warships were semi-ironclads, and some were wooden ships.

And those auxiliary ships were all wooden.

Although only ten warships were dispatched this time, there were as many as thirty auxiliary ships.

Among them were ten troop transports, five coal transports, ten equipment and material transports, and several other small ships for communication, guarding, and so on.

These ships, which were specifically used for transportation, had almost no cannons installed in order to maximize their transportation capacity and needed to rely on the protection of warships.

Without the protection of warships, they were just fat sheep.

A total of more than forty ships, with a total tonnage of about twenty thousand tons, formed a fleet with independent combat capabilities.

This fully equipped fleet could handle almost any maritime mission.

And Great Hua had a total of three such fleets.

One was in Shanghai, one was in Zhoushan, and one was in Hong Kong.

Any one of them could easily raze an agricultural country with a million people or defeat an agricultural country with five million people.

This was not bragging. After all, in addition to being invincible at sea, the fleet was also equipped with five thousand marines.

These marines, equipped with new rifles, machine guns, and mortars, were basically invincible.

Chapter 729: Battle of Manila Bay

The Huaxia army’s aggressive advance truly alarmed Francisco.

He never imagined that Great Hua’s resolve would be so firm and their actions so swift.

So much so that he didn’t even have time to react.

Of course, even if he had another month, he wouldn’t have been able to come up with a solution.

Now, Francisco could only grit his teeth and prepare for battle.

Sitting around waiting to die wasn’t his style, and he had won battles against superior forces before.

After deciding to fight to the death, Francisco sent out his entire fleet, a mere thirteen capital ships, to ambush the Huaxia army in a bay about fifteen kilometers from Manila.

Francisco wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could defeat the Great Hua navy in a head-on battle. Aside from the quality of the warships, he was at a disadvantage in terms of sheer numbers.

That’s why he was using his defensive advantage to set up an ambush.

The Huaxia army would definitely attack the Manila stronghold; there was no doubt about that.

This allowed him to accurately predict the Huaxia army’s movements, leaving no room for error.

Francisco planned to have his fleet suddenly appear from behind the Huaxia army and attack their logistics and troop transport ships while they were attacking his coastal artillery.

As long as he inflicted significant losses on the Huaxia army, he could make Great Hua reconsider and return to the negotiating table.

This was typical Western thinking: profit above all else. They rarely thought about completely annihilating the enemy in war, believing that it was enough to subdue them.

Most naval battles in Western Europe were like this. They were afraid of suffering heavy losses and rarely annihilated the enemy.

Basically, the two sides would fight a battle, recognize each other’s strength, and then leave it to the politicians to negotiate.

In the previous Anglo-Spanish naval battle, Spain surrendered directly before their losses even reached fifty percent.

Even in the future Battle of Jutland, the largest and most intense naval battle, it was the same.

Germany deployed ninety-nine warships, and Britain deployed one hundred and fifty-one. The two sides fought for nearly a day and a night.

Germany lost over two thousand men and six capital ships, while Britain lost over six thousand men and fourteen capital ships.

And then, nothing.

Having suffered so many losses, both sides were afraid and couldn’t bear such heavy losses, so they didn’t dare to continue fighting.

After that, the German fleet retreated to its military harbor, relying on coastal artillery for protection, and dared not go out to battle again. Britain didn’t dare to attack, or rather, didn’t see much point in attacking.

This kind of thinking was passed down through the generations.

At this moment, Francisco believed that as long as he sank four or five Huaxia warships, the Huaxia army would be distressed by the losses and retreat, then seek to resolve the issue through negotiations.

He suffered from not understanding the people of Great Hua. If he did, he wouldn’t even have the thought of resisting. He should have tucked tail and run as soon as the Huaxia army arrived.

Because for Great Hua now, it was either easily killing the enemy or spending a lot of money to kill the enemy. There was absolutely no possibility of compromise with the enemy.

The pride of the Huaxia people did not allow the military to compromise.

Not to mention compromise, even if the enemy wanted to surrender to the Huaxia army, it had to be unconditional.

Those who liked to make demands were basically ignored by the Huaxia army. That’s how confident and domineering they were.

On the twentieth, after the escort ships confirmed the safety of the surrounding waters, the expeditionary fleet entered Manila Bay.

Then, three battleships approached the port and began exchanging fire with the Spanish coastal artillery.

There was no other way. If they didn’t clear those coastal artillery, the Marine Corps couldn’t land rashly.

Otherwise, a few rounds of shelling from the coastal artillery would send the landing forces crying for their parents.

Those coastal artillery had a prominent feature: large caliber.

Because they didn’t need mobility, the weight of the cannons didn’t matter. In order to pursue power, these coastal artillery were built as large as possible.

Some of the Spanish coastal artillery even had cannons weighing several thousand Jin, capable of firing twenty-Jin shells.

Even warships with iron armor on the surface probably couldn’t withstand the impact of such shells.

However, the Huaxia army was not afraid. Their cannons were even more powerful than the Spanish ones.

The main guns of the Hongwu, Hongzhong, and Hongguang battleships fired shells weighing almost twenty Jin, and they were armor-piercing shells, with incomparable power.

As these three battleships entered the firing range of the Spanish artillery, their cannons fired first.

They relied on the height of the gun emplacements to gain some range advantage.

Actually, there wasn’t much of an advantage. The main guns of the Hongguang had a much longer range than the Spanish cannons.

However, there were only two main guns, and relying on these two guns, it was unknown how long it would take to completely destroy the enemy’s artillery positions.

Moreover, the number of shells equipped for each cannon on a warship was limited, basically around forty.

Therefore, to destroy the Spanish artillery positions, they needed to use the secondary guns as well.

But the range of those secondary guns was slightly shorter, so they had to get a little closer.

The Spanish cannons roared, and soon the Huaxia cannons roared as well.

Boom.

An armor-piercing shell struck next to a cannon, and the huge explosive force blew the entire gun crew to the ground.

Some people were unlucky, and their heads hit the gun barrel when they were blown up, and they died instantly.

And a few people who were hit by shrapnel had incomplete bodies, without a single complete one.

Those soldiers who were not hit by shrapnel or hit their heads were also buzzed in the head and were somewhat unconscious for a while.

At the same time, a large number of shells fell into the Spanish artillery positions and exploded, madly slaughtering their artillerymen.

And the damage they did to the Great Hua warships made Francisco dumbfounded.

In the first round of shelling, they had three shells hit the Great Hua battleships.

A hit rate of about two percent was not low. If the Great Hua ships were traditional wooden boats, these three shells would have been enough to sink one.

But now, because the hits were all small shells, these shells hit the hull of the Great Hua ships, only causing the Great Hua warships to shake a little.

If you looked closely, you could still see some dents in the hit areas.

However, through a telescope, it was impossible to see such subtle changes.

In Francisco’s eyes, the Great Hua warships took a few shells and were unscathed.

What the hell was there to fight?

Francisco almost vomited blood. This situation made him too uncomfortable and too aggrieved.

Now, he could only hope that his fleet could catch the Huaxia army off guard.

Otherwise, his port would be one hundred percent doomed.

In the distance, after hearing the sound of gunfire, the Spanish fleet immediately raised their sails and set sail, heading straight for Manila Bay.

Chapter 730: Instant Defeat

The Spanish fleet arrived quickly. The distance was less than ten kilometers, and they covered it in just over half an hour.

By this time, the Huaxia army hadn’t even dealt with the Spanish coastal artillery yet.

After all, their cannons had a slow rate of fire and weren’t very accurate.

The Huaxia army’s frigates were the first to spot the enemy fleet and immediately signaled a warning.

Despite being ambushed, the Huaxia army didn’t panic.

Only three battleships were exchanging fire with the coastal artillery. They still had one battleship, three cruisers, and three frigates protecting the transport ships, which was still a formidable force.

The Spanish, lacking experience in fighting steam-powered fleets, misjudged the situation.

With pure sailing ships, in a bay with little wind, it’s difficult for a fleet to turn around or change direction.

The Spanish thought that by the time the Huaxia army noticed them, it would be too late to rearrange their formation, and they could take advantage of the transport ships that lacked firepower.

That was the point of the ambush. If it weren’t for this small advantage, they wouldn’t have bothered with it.

Anyway, naval battles ultimately came down to lining up and exchanging fire.

However, the Spanish didn’t consider that the Huaxia army’s main ships were all steam-powered, or steam and sail hybrid-powered.

They quickly completed their turn and stood in front of the transport ships, waiting for the Spanish fleet to arrive.

The Huaxia warships’ rapid maneuvering stunned the Spanish.

For a moment, they were all embarrassed.

If they continued to charge, they would suffer losses.

Even if they could win, they would suffer heavy casualties.

If they retreated, what would happen to Manila?

Without Manila, they wouldn’t even have a place to resupply and would be forced to wander at sea.

While they were in this dilemma, they had already approached the Huaxia army.

At this point, they really had no choice but to fight.

“Open fire.”

On the Hongyuan, the captain, who was also the supreme commander of this fleet, Liu Wanghai, gave the order to fire.

He was the number three figure in the Great Hua navy, second only to naval veterans Wu Yi and Bai Bainian.

He had participated in the Fuzhou naval battle, the Taijiazhuang battle, and the Kagoshima battle, and could be considered a veteran of many battles.

The cannons roared, and the Hongyuan’s main guns unleashed their fury.

Naval artillery fire usually has a very low hit rate.

However, this time they were particularly lucky. The Hongyuan’s main gun hit a Spanish warship with its first shot.

Then, the Spanish sailors on the other ships would never forget what they saw.

The armor-piercing shell went straight through the ship’s side and into the interior of the ship, where it exploded.

The explosive power of the armor-piercing shell was already terrifying, but the explosion also ignited the gunpowder in the hold.

The explosion blew the deck off and split the warship in two, breaking it in half in the middle.

At the site of the explosion, flames were burning, and seawater was pouring in.

In previous naval battles, the scene after a ship was hit was called seepage, but this scene was called flooding.

The seawater poured directly into the two halves of the ship, and the ship immediately sank. The few survivors didn’t even have time to save themselves and fell into the sea.

Many of the Spanish sailors on the other ships went weak in the knees when they saw this scene, and some even wet themselves in fear.

It was too terrifying. In the past, soldiers wouldn’t die so easily when a ship was hit. They had time to escape and save themselves in small boats.

But now, the power of the Great Hua artillery was beyond their imagination.

Facing artillery that could kill them with a single hit, there was no point in fighting.

In addition to the Hongyuan’s main guns, the other secondary guns, as well as the guns on the cruisers and frigates, also opened fire.

Although the power of these guns was far less than that of the Hongyuan’s main guns, they had the advantage in numbers and hit more often.

Moreover, the power of these guns was only considered small compared to the Hongyuan’s main guns.

Compared to the Spanish cannons, they were still ridiculously strong.

Several shells landed on the deck and exploded, killing a large number of Spanish sailors.

It wasn’t until the Great Hua navy had fired a wave of artillery that the Spanish remembered to return fire. They had been too frightened before.

Although they remembered to return fire, with the huge gap between their artillery and the Great Hua artillery, this retaliation was meaningless.

They were even lucky, because the Great Hua cruisers were moving at low speed, so several Spanish shells hit the Huaxia army’s warships.

Then, their commander also experienced the same feeling as Francisco.

Watching the Great Hua warship that had been hit by a shell but suffered no damage, the Spanish commander collapsed.

“Retreat, retreat quickly! Their ships have been enchanted and are unsinkable warships!”

Some commanders directly shouted for retreat, not wanting to fight anymore.

This left those Spaniards who were still resisting extremely speechless. They had only fired their cannons twice, and they were already retreating?

Although they were unwilling, they had no choice.

If their allies were retreating, wouldn’t they be left behind to die?

The Spanish fleet that came to support quickly turned around and tried to escape.

But how could the Huaxia army let them get away with it? Taking advantage of their speed advantage, several frigates and cruisers followed behind, constantly bombarding the Spanish fleet.

This made the Spanish even more panicked and completely lost command.

One ship after another scurried around like headless flies. Two ships even crashed into each other in their panic, leaving the Huaxia army extremely speechless.

Even pirates wouldn’t be this bad, would they?

The Spanish navy wasn’t usually this bad, of course, but it wasn’t surprising that they would make some outrageous moves after being scared out of their wits.

The Spanish fleet arrived quickly and was defeated quickly.

Francisco on the shore watched this scene and fell into silence, no longer issuing any orders.

It seemed like he had given up on himself.

At this time, the Spanish artillery had also collapsed and fled due to excessive casualties.

Everyone would be afraid and terrified when they saw the people around them dying one by one.

In addition, Francisco hadn’t arranged for any provost marshals to conduct strict supervision, so these people naturally chose to flee without hesitation.

As the sound of cannons gradually subsided, the Huaxia army approached the dock, preparing to land.

Francisco had originally set up a defensive line at the dock, but after seeing the troops’ low morale and fearing the Great Hua artillery, he came to his senses and issued an order to defend Fort Santiago to the death.

At this point, he could only rely on the fort’s solid fortifications to wear down the Great Hua army until they couldn’t hold on any longer.

If he couldn’t hold on first, then he would surrender.

For Western Europeans, as long as they tried their best in battle, it was okay to surrender if they couldn’t win. This was the standard procedure.

Chapter 731: Turtle Shell

The Spanish retreated to the fort, abandoning their attempt to prevent the Huaxia army from landing, so the landing went quite smoothly.

After landing, the Huaxia army was in no hurry to attack, but instead diligently set up camp.

Those who had returned from Ceuta brought back some intelligence about the fort.

Therefore, Liu Wanghai knew that this kind of castle was difficult to attack, especially without artillery.

The Manila fort was some distance from the port, and the Huaxia army warships’ cannons did not have sufficient range, so they could only dismantle some of the cannons that could be taken apart.

By the next day, the military camp was built, and most of the detachable cannons from the ships had been moved down, totaling three hundred.

Those who pursued the Spanish navy had also returned to the bay.

Relying on their speed, they basically sank and captured all the warships, with only one or two managing to escape by luck.

But that was no longer important. Those warships that had lost their supply base basically had no combat power left.

Even if they wanted to return to Spain, they would need a bit of luck.

If Dutch and Portuguese strongholds along the way discovered these isolated warships, they would inevitably have malicious intentions and seize them.

With cannons, the Marine Corps launched a tentative attack on the Manila fort.

First, they carried out a large amount of shelling, but the effect was not ideal.

The fort had many defensive measures, and the howitzer shells did not cause much damage to the enemy.

Afterward, the Huaxia army switched to solid shot, trying to knock down the enemy’s walls.

However, the thickness of these walls exceeded Liu Wanghai’s imagination.

The defensive power of this fort was several times higher than that of the walls of the Tai Family Village.

After hundreds of cannonballs, the walls did not even budge.

“This is not easy to attack.”

Guan Yunqi, the brigade commander of the Marine Brigade, put down his binoculars and said helplessly.

He had transferred from the army to the navy in his early years and had some experience in land warfare, so he was not completely ignorant.

Just looking at the shape and height of the fort, he knew it would be difficult to attack.

After testing the thickness with artillery, he was even more certain of his judgment.

“Brigade Commander Guan, do you have any ideas?”

Liu Wanghai asked. Although he was the commander-in-chief, the specific tactical arrangements on land still had to rely on Guan Yunqi.

“Either a long-term siege to starve the people inside, or send someone back to Nanjing to transport another batch of solid shot and bombard them day and night. Or dig tunnels to see if we can bury gunpowder. I don’t recommend a direct assault. Even if our rifles have an advantage, it won’t be easy to break in.”

Guan Yunqi gave several options, none of which sounded good.

A long-term siege was definitely not feasible. This fort was as big as a small county town in Great Hua, and who knew how much food was stored inside.

If there was enough food and water, it would take forever to besiege them.

If it took too long, even if they captured this place, the evaluation they received would definitely be very low, and they might even be punished.

Going back to transport ammunition was not a problem, but Liu Wanghai was worried that even if they brought back these shells, they might not be able to collapse these walls.

After all, if they could not knock them down in a short time, the enemy could take the opportunity to repair them at night or when the shelling was paused.

At that time, wasting ammunition would be a minor matter. Great Hua did not lack this little bit of money, but the important thing was wasting time.

Digging tunnels was worth a try, but they could not have too much hope.

As for a direct assault, Liu Wanghai was even more opposed to it.

As a commander, he had to consider many aspects.

If the Marine Corps suffered too many casualties in this attack on Manila, the army would probably take the opportunity to make things difficult.

For example, they might accuse the navy of not being good at land warfare and try to transfer the training and command authority of the Marine Corps to the army, which would be troublesome.

If the army succeeded, he would bear the main responsibility.

Therefore, Liu Wanghai not only had to capture Manila, but also had to do it beautifully, proving it to the army and silencing those who liked to nitpick.

“Brigade Commander Guan, this battle concerns the reputation of our navy, so you must fight it well.”

Liu Wanghai patted Guan Yunqi on the shoulder and then left first. He handed over the command of the attack on the fort entirely to Guan Yunqi, letting him handle it.

It was both power and pressure.

Guan Yunqi also had a headache looking at the fort.

He had no better solution for the time being, so he could only order to secretly dig tunnels first.

If they could successfully blow up those walls, then everything would be fine.

While Guan Yunqi was worried, Francisco was even more worried.

He was the one being besieged and bullied.

Francisco locked himself up and drank alone.

Halfway through, he calmly stopped.

Because there was not much wine stored in the fort. If he did not make a long-term drinking plan, he would be in trouble when the wine ran out later.

Not only was there not much wine stored, but there was also little food, enough for them to eat for only two or three months at most.

After eating for these two or three months, he did not know what to do.

Thinking of this troublesome matter, he felt a burst of inexplicable irritability.

In the end, he slept with one of the maids who served him, which relieved some of his anger.

But this was only temporary. The sword hanging over his head was always a major concern.

“Governor-General, why don’t we take the initiative to sue for peace?”

His subordinates advised. It was already clear that they could not win, and continuing to fight was meaningless.

“No, wait a while longer. Let them know how powerful our fort is before we sue for peace. Otherwise, they will think I am easy to bully and might propose some very harsh conditions.”

Francisco had also decided to sue for peace. After all, no matter how strong the fort was, they would have to surrender after the food ran out.

Since it was destined to be impossible to defend, suing for peace was the only way out.

But he did not want to sue for peace now, as that would make him look too weak.

It would be better to hold on first and let Great Hua know how powerful the fort was. Then, when he sued for peace, Great Hua might consider the cost-effectiveness and agree to negotiate.

At that time, he would not be completely passive at the negotiating table.

Francisco’s idea could not be said to be wrong.

In fact, historically, there were many examples around the world where people thought the same way.

Although the attacking side had a winning trend, they would eventually accept negotiations considering the losses.

However, the current Great Hua was a little different from those previous regimes.

Because of the strength of Great Hua, they had a strong sense of superiority from top to bottom, among all the people.

Therefore, their way of thinking was often different from that of previous forces.

If Francisco unconditionally surrendered and begged for mercy now, Great Hua might spare him in order to maintain an image of broad-mindedness.

But if he was ignorant and tried to make Great Hua afraid, then he would simply be courting death.

Because of the superiority complex, Great Hua would not be afraid no matter how difficult the place was to attack.

The stronger the enemy, the more stubborn they would be.

Chapter 732: Reinforcements Arrive

“Fall back quickly, there’s poison gas!”

A pungent odor suddenly filled the tunnel being dug by the Huaxia army, causing them to retreat in haste.

Less than two-thirds of the men who had entered the tunnel made it out alive.

The Spanish were using poison gas made from sulfur, which wasn’t particularly toxic. However, in the confined space of a tunnel where breathing was already difficult, such an irritant could be lethal.

The tunnel tactic was declared a failure.

When the enemy is constantly on guard against tunnel attacks, the success rate of such an offensive is greatly reduced.

After all, destroying a tunnel is much easier than digging one.

It’s incredibly demoralizing to spend days painstakingly digging a tunnel only to have the enemy destroy it in a matter of moments.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army attempted to dig pits to bury explosives, with a large number of infantry providing cover with their rifles. Men then pushed ox-hide carts to the base of the city walls to dig the pits.

However, when blowing up ordinary city walls, a small pit was sufficient.

To blast through these several-meter-thick walls, they needed to bury a massive amount of gunpowder, requiring a very large pit.

The Spanish, with their advantage in height, continuously dropped bombs, inflicting considerable casualties on the Huaxia army.

Reluctantly, they had to abandon this method as well.

“Regimental Commander, why did you order us to retreat? Even if it cost us a few hundred lives, I don’t believe we couldn’t have dug that pit!”

The Second Battalion Commander grumbled, feeling utterly frustrated.

“A few hundred men would be a ten percent loss in combat strength.”

Guan Yunqi said.

Their marine brigade only had five thousand men in total. Losing a few hundred would be a significant blow.

The Huaxia army only experienced such high casualty rates in the early days. Since the founding of the nation, they had rarely seen such losses. Their naval marine corps couldn’t set such a precedent.

They were only fighting a single battle, not an entire campaign. There was no need to take the place within a set time frame.

Therefore, casualties had to be controlled.

Guan Yunqi was still pondering when, a little over ten days later, the men who had gone to replenish solid shot brought back good news.

Wu Yi, upon learning of their predicament, pleaded with Wu Changqing and managed to borrow an artillery regiment from the Imperial Guards to provide support.

This was an artillery regiment equipped with cannon, and cannon could fire armor-piercing shells. Any city wall would be nothing more than clouds before them.

Guan Yunqi smiled as soon as the cannon arrived.

With such a powerful weapon, what city wall in the world couldn’t be breached?

Just as Guan Yunqi was entertaining Lu Qing and discussing the next day’s attack plan, Francisco actually sent an envoy, seeking to negotiate peace with Great Hua.

“Lord Guan, I believe you have no reason to refuse. A ceasefire would be beneficial for both sides. Continuing the fight will only increase unnecessary casualties on both sides.”

The Spanish envoy, Castro, said.

Negotiations should never reveal one’s bottom line.

Therefore, even though Castro desperately wanted to broker a peace, he remained quite arrogant on the surface.

He was trying to convey the message that they were not afraid to continue fighting.

Before the cannon regiment arrived, Guan Yunqi would have been infuriated by Castro’s face.

But now, he saw Castro as nothing more than a clown.

Only his self-control prevented him from laughing outright.

However, the disdain in his expression still leaked out unintentionally.

This made Castro very angry. He felt he wasn’t getting the respect he deserved, that Guan Yunqi was insincere and unserious.

He had taken the initiative to request peace talks, yet Guan Yunqi offered no response. It was simply too much.

As he was feeling angry and confused, Guan Yunqi spoke: “Go back and tell Francisco that tomorrow, everyone must lay down their weapons and open the city gates to surrender unconditionally. Otherwise, our army will launch a full-scale attack tomorrow.”

“…”

Castro couldn’t understand how this man could hold a command of five thousand troops in Great Hua.

Commanding five thousand troops would make him a high-ranking officer in Spain.

Too naive, not knowing what’s good for him.

Castro certainly didn’t believe Guan Yunqi’s so-called full-scale attack. After all, they had seen the methods of Great Hua, and there was nothing special about them.

So, Guan Yunqi’s words, in Castro’s view, were just a bluff.

For a general commanding five thousand troops, this was extremely childish.

At that moment, Castro even wanted to become an official in Great Hua.

He felt that with his reliable qualities, he could definitely achieve a high position.

Guan Yunqi didn’t know what this guy was thinking; otherwise, he probably would have burst out laughing.

After Castro returned to Fort Lings, he reported the entire process without omission. Francisco didn’t believe him.

He didn’t believe that Guan Yunqi would have such an attitude, would say such outrageous things. It defied common sense.

Great Hua clearly had no way to deal with him, so where did he get the confidence to demand unconditional surrender? It was simply absurd.

“Your Excellency Governor, I swear in the name of God that I have not uttered a single lie. That damned Huaxia man, he is just that foolish.”

Castro even risked swearing on God’s name.

“Alas.”

Francisco sighed. Although he used to enjoy mocking others’ foolishness, he was not in the mood this time.

Instead, he hoped that Guan Yunqi would be shrewd, recognize the situation, and then everyone could shake hands and make peace, and stop fighting.

He had been having a very uncomfortable time lately.

Although it seemed that Great Hua had no way to take their Fort Lings, this was based on the premise that they were highly focused on defense.

As long as they relaxed slightly, the Huaxia army’s tunnels might reach the walls, they might sneak onto the walls at night, or they might use other means.

In short, Great Hua was suffering from the pain of being unable to attack, while they were suffering from the pain of having to defend at all times.

In just the past half month, the soldiers below had been complaining incessantly, one by one becoming mentally exhausted.

These days of constantly being in danger of losing their lives, of being on tenterhooks, were truly not fit for humans.

The only reason they were still able to persevere was because they had no other choice.

If there were any other way out, those soldiers might have deserted.

Therefore, Francisco really wanted to make peace as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, Great Hua was not cooperating, and Guan Yunqi’s ‘foolishness’ made him extremely uncomfortable.

Francisco could only order everyone to hold on for a while longer.

He believed that as long as he held on for a while longer, the Huaxia army would definitely be unable to bear it and collapse.

He guessed correctly that the Huaxia army had indeed been very depressed and uncomfortable before.

However, when those eighteen cannon arrived, the Huaxia army became excited.

The next day, the Huaxia army’s artillery was once again deployed, aiming at Fort Lings.

Upon hearing the news, Francisco came to the watchtower and, seeing that the Huaxia army was still the same as before, couldn’t help but let out a sneer.

Chapter 733: It Still Comes Down to Weapons

“Fire!”

With Lu Qing’s command, the cannon regiment began to fire.

The other Hongyi cannons followed suit, better than nothing, at least it would have some effect.

If nothing else, it could boost morale and create psychological deterrence for the enemy.

A large number of shells struck the city walls, but those solid iron balls were all mocked by the thick walls.

At this moment, the armor-piercing shells showed their power.

Limited by the current technology of cannons, the power of these armor-piercing shells was not particularly great. At least, they couldn’t penetrate the city walls; only a small section of the head pierced into the wall.

Immediately afterward, the part that pierced in exploded, blasting the bricks and stones into the air.

Wherever the armor-piercing shells hit, they left a large pit, like a large scar.

However, it was still far from blowing down the city wall. This city wall was unbelievably thick; who knew how much effort the Spanish had put into building it.

“What’s going on?”

Francisco’s smile gradually disappeared. He saw the flying bricks and stones and suddenly had a bad feeling.

For a moment, his subordinates didn’t know what was happening.

Moreover, the Huaxia army’s artillery fire was very dense, and they didn’t dare to go over to check.

But there was no need to check; after a few rounds of bombardment, they could clearly see that some of the city walls had been severely damaged.

“What kind of shells are these?”

Francisco asked again, but still no one responded.

In their understanding, the larger the volume and the greater the mass of the shell, the greater the power.

However, there were no particularly large cannons in the Huaxia army’s artillery positions.

If there were cannons of the level of coastal defense guns, they would be able to see them at a glance, as they would be too conspicuous.

Moreover, even those cannons wouldn’t have such great power.

Before the advent of rifled cannons, the damage to the walls of Fort Lings by shells was extremely limited. Otherwise, Western Europeans wouldn’t be so fond of this type of military fortress.

“Look, it seems to be fired from those cannons with very long barrels.”

An officer pointed to the direction of the cannon regiment in the Huaxia army’s formation.

Several other officers with telescopes raised their telescopes and saw the unusual cannons in the Huaxia army.

Although they didn’t know why these cannons were so powerful, they at least determined that it was this type of cannon that brought the disaster.

“Move the cannons to the city wall, aim at the enemy’s long-barreled cannons, and destroy those dozen cannons.”

Francisco said.

They actually had a batch of cannons in the city, but they hadn’t taken them out to counterattack no matter how the Huaxia army bombarded them.

Because they knew that it was not cost-effective to counterattack the Huaxia army with their dozens of cannons.

They had been saving them, wanting to suddenly take them out to slaughter the infantry when the Huaxia army launched a large-scale general offensive.

This was a backup plan that Francisco had kept, but now, out of fear of the Huaxia army’s cannons, he couldn’t care less about keeping a backup plan.

Solving the immediate problem was the key.

The Spanish began to take action, and cannons were moved onto the city wall one by one and launched a counterattack.

The Huaxia army’s artillerymen were immediately delighted. They had been trying to force the enemy’s cannons out, but they hadn’t succeeded, which made them afraid to launch a general offensive casually.

Now, the enemy’s artillery had finally appeared.

Those ordinary artillerymen who hadn’t made much contribution to destroying the city walls now replaced their shells with shrapnel shells and aimed at the enemy’s artillery to start shooting.

They were not good at attacking city walls, but they were good at killing artillerymen.

Not only them, but even the cannon regiment also suspended their attack on the city walls at this time and aimed their muzzles at the enemy’s artillery.

After all, the city wall was an inanimate object and posed no threat to them. They could attack it at any time.

The enemy’s artillery, although its lethality was touching, still had some lethality after all.

These artillerymen who operated the cannons were all treasures who had studied and had a high level of education. Lu Qing would feel heartache if one of them died.

In order to avoid unnecessary losses, the enemy’s artillery became the priority target.

As a result, the Spanish artillery immediately suffered.

The number of Huaxia army’s cannons was seven or eight times that of the Spanish, and the shells were more lethal, and the artillerymen were more experienced.

With many advantages, the Huaxia army’s artillerymen immediately took the absolute advantage after turning their muzzles and beat the Spanish artillerymen into a rout.

It was terrible. Some artillery groups were bombarded by two shells at the same time, and the shrapnel was scattered almost without dead ends.

After being bombed by such a wave, only three out of ten people in an entire artillery group survived.

Even more tragic were the artillery groups hit by the cannons. The huge explosive power blew people away.

The people in the center of the explosion were completely destroyed.

At that moment, many Spanish artillerymen collapsed directly.

“Governor-General, we can’t fight anymore, let the artillery retreat.”

Someone hurriedly suggested.

Those were all valuable artillerymen, not cheap infantry.

The training of each artilleryman was not easy, and they could not afford to lose them.

Francisco wiped the sweat from his forehead and then issued an order for the artillery to retreat.

He knew that it was impossible to counterattack the Huaxia army’s artillery, and he also knew that it was even more impossible to retreat the artillery.

However, he had no choice.

Everyone watched as the city wall was gradually thinned, and some places had large gaps.

At this rate, their city wall would be blown open in less than two hours.

At that time, they would have no defense to rely on.

“Your Excellency, Governor-General, why don’t we raise the white flag and surrender?”

Castro advised. He finally understood why the Huaxia army was so arrogant yesterday, and it was too late to regret it.

As things stood, they had no choice but to surrender.

“Surrender? Do you think they will let us go if we surrender? Order to prepare for the defense of the gaps. The people of Great Hua are all cowards and cannot afford losses at all, otherwise they would have launched a general offensive long ago.

Therefore, as long as we defend the gaps and cause some damage to them, we can force them back.”

Francisco said angrily.

From Great Hua’s attitude yesterday, he realized that he had missed the opportunity to surrender.

If they surrendered now, the ordinary soldiers below would definitely be able to save their lives, but he and those high-ranking officials would definitely not have a good end and would most likely be executed.

Rather than that, it was better to fight to the death.

In his opinion, the Huaxia army was more afraid of death, and he still had a chance.

Getting Francisco’s reminder, several commanders also strengthened their determination to resist.

However, the determination was made, but the fear in their hearts could not be dispelled.

They were all afraid, afraid that the Huaxia army would attack and their lives would be lost.

The Spanish were still deploying defenses in the city, while the Huaxia army’s artillery continued to bombard wildly.

About two hours later, that city wall was finally blown out with a gap of dozens of meters long.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army also issued an order for a general offensive.

At this moment, the Marines had been waiting for more than half a month and had been suffocating for a long time.

Chapter 734: Capture

The destroyed city wall wasn’t exactly removed.

In reality, the ruins left after the bombardment were still two to three meters high, but it was impossible to stand on them or place defensive materials, greatly reducing their defensive capability.

This was enough for the Huaxia army. The reason they hadn’t launched a full-scale attack before was because they were still being attacked from multiple directions on the city wall.

But now, they only had to face some temporarily deployed enemy troops on the ruins, greatly reducing the areas they needed to defend.

The defending side still had a slight advantage, but this advantage was very small. The Huaxia army could use their weapon advantage to offset this disadvantage.

As the Huaxia army approached, the troops on both sides were responsible for suppressing the enemies on the still-standing sections of the wall, while the central troops were responsible for attacking and breaking into the city.

As gunfire erupted, the Spanish in the city began to fight back.

However, it was inconvenient to stand on the ruins, so there weren’t many defenders on the ruins.

And the power of their flintlock guns mainly came from dense firing, and accuracy was out of the question.

With fewer people, the power was naturally smaller.

The Huaxia army was too lazy to return fire and charged straight in.

After getting close, they advanced according to infantry tactics.

One person provided cover while the other charged, advancing alternately.

Or, one group was responsible for cover, and the other group charged, advancing alternately.

In this way, they could both maintain a threat to the enemies on the ruins, preventing them from easily showing their heads, and gradually advance, which was better than simply shooting at each other or blindly charging.

After arriving under the ruins, the Huaxia army assault team first threw a wave of grenades.

Then, taking advantage of the smoke and the enemy’s confusion, they climbed up the ruins and entered melee combat.

The Spanish were outnumbered, and the ruins were quickly lost.

However, behind the ruins, they had formed a new line of defense, firing at the Huaxia army on the ruins.

The Huaxia army didn’t panic, using some of the rubble on the ruins to take cover and fight back.

Their rifles were much more accurate than the Spanish guns. More importantly, they could shoot while hiding their bodies, while the Spanish needed to expose their bodies to the Huaxia army’s line of sight because of the difficulty of reloading.

In this shootout, the Huaxia army had all the advantages.

They could easily kill the enemy, while the Spanish often couldn’t hit their opponents for a long time, shooting into emptiness.

At first, the Spanish could still hold on, but as more and more people fell, some of their soldiers didn’t dare to show their heads anymore and hid behind cover.

So, the Huaxia army took the opportunity to advance, rushed into the grenade throwing range, launched another wave of grenades, and then advanced through the smoke.

By the time the Spanish reacted, the Huaxia army had already rushed in front of them.

When the battle reached this point, the Spanish had already lost their fighting spirit.

This was only because they were fighting the people of Great Hua. Because they didn’t understand the people of Great Hua and were afraid of massacres, they were able to resist until now.

If they were fighting the familiar French, they would have raised a white flag the moment the city wall collapsed.

Spanish soldiers constantly surrendered. The smart ones knew to drop their weapons or kneel down, showing their harmless side.

The Huaxia army soldiers could understand their meaning at a glance.

There were also some who were more foolish or nervous, shouting funny things like “I want to surrender, I give up.”

Unfortunately, the Huaxia army soldiers couldn’t understand what they were saying.

With the Spanish’s relatively fast speech speed, those who couldn’t understand would often think they were cursing.

Seeing that they refused to put down their weapons and kept gesticulating and cursing, the Huaxia army soldiers, for safety’s sake, shot them directly.

Gunfire, explosions, and screams echoed constantly in the fortress, a scene of chaos.

It took the Huaxia army a full hour to completely control Fort Lings.

In this battle, more than seven hundred Spanish were killed, and more than fourteen thousand one hundred were captured.

However, among these fourteen thousand people, only about four thousand five hundred were Spanish, and nearly ten thousand were local natives.

They were previously slaves of the Spanish. After the war started, the adult men among them were conscripted to serve as soldiers.

Among the four thousand plus Spanish, only more than one thousand were professional soldiers, and nearly one thousand were also temporarily conscripted ordinary people.

The rest were the old, weak, women, and children.

This was why there were clearly still many people in the fortress, but they surrendered directly after a few hundred people died.

They were all a rabble. When the city wall hadn’t collapsed, they could still hold on. Once the city wall collapsed, their psychological defenses were also broken.

The Huaxia army only lost more than eighty people, about one-tenth of the enemy, which was a good result, considering they were the attacking side.

A lot of ammunition was consumed, but the Huaxia army didn’t care.

After all, making ammunition was much easier than raising a person to the age where they could become a soldier.

“We can’t fight without cannons and advanced weapons now.”

Liu Wanghai mocked himself.

As an old general, he had experienced the era of cold weapons.

Back then, it was a blessing to be able to win a war, let alone hope to control casualties.

But now, the Huaxia army had become very delicate.

Without advanced weapons, they would rather spend time waiting than risk lives to attack.

Liu Wanghai didn’t know if this change was good or bad. Although it could reduce casualties, he was always worried that such an army wouldn’t be able to fight tough battles, which was a hidden danger.

“Then let the armory people develop more advanced weapons and always beat the enemy. This feeling is pretty good.”

Guan Yunqi said optimistically.

“Next, Brigade Commander Guan will also have an armed parade around the area to clean up those who are not convinced. Since we’ve come here, we can’t return empty-handed.

Luzon and the islands to the south must be included in the territory of our Great Hua.”

Liu Wanghai said.

Expanding territory was a merit that couldn’t be given up.

“That’s easy. The Spanish are the strongest armed force on Luzon Island. The others don’t even have many guns. The natives in the south even lack cold weapons.

However, it’s easy to conquer, but difficult to maintain rule. We have to send a memorial to the imperial court and ask them to send officials over as soon as possible to establish administrative institutions.”

Guan Yunqi said.

After the two discussed some follow-up plans, Liu Wanghai planned to take the main fleet back in a few days, leaving Guan Yunqi to preside over the overall situation here.

With the Spanish fleet destroyed, there would only be some pirates in this area. Leaving the main fleet here was simply a waste. Leaving a few escort ships could scare those pirates to death.

Moreover, some of the warships had been damaged in the naval battle and needed to be repaired.

At the same time, ammunition and other supplies also needed to be replenished.

Chapter 735: Whaling Industry

Two days later, Liu Wanghai led Francisco and other major criminals back to Nanjing, while Guan Yunqi began to conquer the surrounding areas and eliminate the local independent armed forces.

The Spanish nominally ruled this area, but in reality, their control over the lower levels was very weak. They could only unscrupulously plunder mineral resources, and they couldn’t even collect taxes.

Great Hua would certainly not be satisfied with this. With Great Hua’s strength, there was no need for that. They could establish a more solid rule.

Moreover, according to Great Hua’s national policy, a group of immigrants would soon arrive here.

And some of the natives here would be forcibly relocated to other places.

In short, Great Hua wanted to maintain a demographic advantage in the areas it ruled and then Sinicize the local population.

After Francisco was escorted to Nanjing, he was sentenced to death by Great Hua and was to be beheaded in three days.

Carlos was still actively trying to save Francisco’s life.

Of course, it wasn’t because he was kind-hearted, but mainly to save face for Spain.

Their Spanish governor was being tried by people from another country, which was simply outrageous. The ambassadors of England and France were secretly laughing at the side.

If this joke spread to Europe, it would be enough for Spain to become a laughingstock among many countries.

Carlos’s efforts ultimately failed to change Francisco’s fate.

The Great Hua court cared more about public opinion and the attitude of merchants than the feelings of the Spanish.

Spain was just a small country, and offending them was no big deal.

While the ambassadors of other countries were secretly laughing, they also lamented Great Hua’s strength.

They needed to be more careful in their dealings with such a powerful country in the future and not offend them.

Otherwise, the next person to lose face might be their own country.

They really couldn’t afford to provoke them.

After Francisco was executed, Carlos began to write letters to his country, reporting the entire process of the incident and offering some of his own suggestions.

Carlos’s suggestion was to swallow their pride and let Great Hua have the Philippines, and not try to retaliate.

If they really fought, Spain would definitely suffer.

It wasn’t that he was timid, but after seeing Great Hua’s national power, he concluded that Spain was far from being a match.

The prosperity of Nanjing amazed Carlos, and he had said more than once that it was a paradise on earth.

And Great Hua’s degree of industrialization made him feel even more hopeless.

At the same time, Carlos also suggested that the King should further strengthen relations with Great Hua, preferably through marriage, by marrying a princess over.

Arranging marriages was a favorite tactic among Western European royal families, commonly known as “bed politics.”

Looking at the history of the royal families of Western European countries, one could find that they were basically all relatives, and very close ones at that.

For example, the Habsburg family, which currently ruled Spain, had at least a dozen kings among its family members.

Holy Roman Empire, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Portugal…

The kings of these countries during certain periods were all members of the Habsburg family.

For example, the King of France and the King of England were also family members during some periods.

This explained why they liked to surrender to each other during wars.

They were all family members fighting, so there was no reason to fight to the death.

In addition to Carlos making this suggestion to his country, the ambassadors of other countries in Great Hua were doing almost the same thing as Carlos.

They all faced a very cruel reality, which was that they had nothing of equal value to offer to Great Hua.

If they wanted to exchange for steam engines and other high-tech products from Great Hua, they could only hope for marriage alliances.

In their eyes, some of the top beauties in their countries were indeed as beautiful as angels.

Of course, some foreign women were indeed very beautiful.

In terms of aesthetics, the two places still had some things in common.

In the palace, Wu Changqing didn’t know that someone was thinking of sending him women again, otherwise he would have to sigh again.

After having power, he really didn’t need to think about enjoying himself. There were plenty of people below who would go to great lengths to provide him with the best enjoyment.

Including food, clothing, housing, and transportation, eating, drinking, and having fun, in all aspects.

On this day, his lunch included lobster, whale meat, and sturgeon roe, which was caviar in later generations, costing more than twenty thousand yuan per 500g.

“What kind of meat is this?”

Wu Changqing pointed to the whale meat. He had eaten caviar before, but this was the first time he had seen whale meat.

From the outside, he couldn’t tell what kind of meat it was.

“Your Majesty, this is whale meat sent by the Emperor’s brother-in-law. It is said to be from whales in the sea. Those whales are more than ten meters long.”

Feng Debao replied.

“Whales, are there many people whaling now?”

Wu Changqing asked.

The whaling industry had actually existed a long time ago, but in the past, due to technical limitations, it was basically just a legendary story. There was no technical inheritance, and it had not formed a stable industry.

But as Great Hua’s ocean-going technology improved, the whaling industry would naturally develop.

After all, the whale was a treasure trove. Its whale oil could be used for lighting and was also an important industrial raw material.

For example, it could be used to make high-grade candles, soap, and leather, and it could also be used as a lubricant, tempering bath, and so on.

This natural lubricant was very popular among major factories.

And its bone meal could be used as feed, the fish meat could be eaten, and even the internal organs had some special uses.

In terms of utilizing resources, no creature was as thorough as humans.

Even a pile of dung could be used as fertilizer.

Historically, when ocean-going technology improved, the whaling industry would enter a period of rapid development, with various countries competing to hunt them.

At its peak, five or six thousand whales were killed worldwide every year.

In the end, the whale population was drastically reduced.

Whales, as large mammals, had a relatively poor reproductive capacity, and it was not easy for a young whale to grow up.

Therefore, their reproduction speed was far behind the speed of human hunting.

In the end, the result was that whales were nearly extinct and had to be listed as protected species.

Wu Changqing took a bite and thought the whale meat was not bad.

After all, it was a type of meat that sold for more than one hundred US dollars per 500g in Japan in later generations. Eating it occasionally was definitely a delicacy.

“Your Majesty, there weren’t many before. However, since the first whale was caught and entered the market this year, many merchants have discovered that whaling is very profitable.

In just over half a year, there are already several ocean-going whaling companies in Nanjing, and it is said that there are even more in Shanghai. This servant doesn’t know the exact number.”

Feng Debao said.

Chapter 736: Royal Zoo

Merchants pursue profit. Once they discover that whaling is highly profitable, they immediately act like sharks that have smelled blood.

Wu Changqing knew that the whales of this time and space were also destined to encounter such a disaster.

Of course, he could arbitrarily issue an order to ban whaling.

But doing so would be pointless except to make people think he was crazy.

To expect people of this era to protect rare animals is simply wishful thinking.

Moreover, in Wu Changqing’s view, even if a certain species becomes extinct, it is not a big deal.

In the history of the Earth, haven’t many species gone extinct? The Earth still keeps turning.

What’s more, even if Wu Changqing’s compassion overflowed and he issued an arbitrary order, it would not protect the whales.

After all, he can only prohibit the people of Great Hua from whaling. Can he also control the Western Europeans?

If they don’t hunt them, there will be plenty of others who will.

Rather than letting other countries benefit, Wu Changqing felt it was better to take advantage of this opportunity himself first.

Just like some developed countries in the original timeline, they first relied on advanced technology to hunt whales to the point of endangerment, and then demanded that the whole world come together to protect them.

They call it loving animals and protecting endangered species.

This operation is truly shameless to the extreme.

They killed all the whales and then demanded that other countries join them in protecting them.

They made a fortune by polluting the environment, and then demanded that other countries join them in protecting the environment.

They made enough initial capital by selling Africans into slavery, and then demanded that other countries stop the slave trade and respect human rights.

Although protecting endangered species, protecting the environment, and respecting human rights are all right.

However, they do the bad things first, make enough profits, and then demand that others not do them. This is outrageous.

Some public intellectuals in later generations, seeing that a certain country was the first to propose the ban on whaling, touted that this country was so loving.

Their brains probably have a water content of more than ninety-nine point nine nine percent.

Wu Changqing felt that he could also let Great Hua increase its whaling efforts and then use these resources to develop national power.

When other countries also have whaling technology, he will issue a ban on whaling, requiring all countries in the world to protect whales together.

Whoever dares to disobey, beat him up.

If you can’t stop others from being shameless, then you might as well be shameless yourself first.

Then control the public opinion and severely condemn those uncivilized and barbaric places.

How can you hunt whales? Do you have any love?

Thinking of this, Wu Changqing felt very refreshed.

As long as you have strength, you can whitewash as many bad things as you want.

Or, everyone knows it in their hearts, but due to the other party’s strength, they can only pretend to be confused.

Sitting on a tiger skin chair, holding ivory chopsticks, and picking up a piece of whale meat, the emperor’s life is so simple and unadorned.

After dinner, he also accompanied his son and daughter to the zoo in the palace to see rare animals.

Tigers, lions, pandas, golden monkeys, elephants…

“I want to ride a tiger.”

The eldest son, Wu Gang, said in a childish voice.

Few people can make Wu Changqing speechless, but this little brat did it.

Wu Changqing didn’t even know how to explain to his son that he didn’t dare to ride this thing himself.

“Don’t be naughty, the tiger will eat you.”

Luo Min said.

“If it dares to eat me, I’ll eat it first.”

Wu Gang said.

Wu Changqing found that this little brat was particularly bold because the eunuchs had treated him like an ancestor since he was a child.

He couldn’t tell whether this kind of personality was good or bad, but whether it was good or bad, he didn’t have a good solution.

He was destined not to have so much time to personally educate his children, and letting eunuchs accompany Wu Gang to grow up would inevitably make him arrogant and domineering.

Letting civil officials educate him, who knows what ideas those civil officials would instill in Wu Gang.

Wu Changqing didn’t think of a good solution for the time being, but he wasn’t in a hurry.

In fact, he felt that Wu Gang probably wouldn’t have the chance to succeed him as emperor.

After all, he is only twenty years old now. If he takes care of himself, plus the various special medicines in the system, living to eighty or ninety years old is not a problem at all.

On the issue of establishing the eldest son, establishing the virtuous, or establishing the talented, Wu Changqing is inclined to establish the talented.

At that time, he can choose a capable one from the princes and grandsons to take on the heavy responsibility, and he can rest assured.

If he establishes the eldest son, if the eldest son is a fool, no matter how much power he gives him, he will still be played around by the civil officials.

These are all very distant things in the future, and Wu Changqing hasn’t thought too much about them for the time being.

For his children, he prefers them to live happily and doesn’t need them all to be successful.

Of course, only Wu Changqing would think this way.

For the mothers of those princes, they would not ignore their sons’ education.

Like Miao Ping’s second son, Wu Yu, who is only two and a half years old, is very well-behaved. This is the result of Miao Ping’s strict teaching.

Because the people have to avoid the imperial family’s names, Wu Changqing tried his best to choose uncommon characters when naming his children.

As for the meaning of the name, he doesn’t care much. Anyway, the name is just a code.

Born in an ordinary family, even if his name is Zhao Ritian, he can’t become emperor.

“Benben, I’m coming.”

Chen Yuyan’s eldest daughter, Wu Nianci, ran towards the two pandas. The pandas were gentle and not kept in cages.

“Oh, my princess.”

Two young eunuchs hurriedly chased after her. Although pandas are gentle, you never know what might happen.

If there is an accident, those who are responsible for taking care of them will definitely be blamed. They dare not take this risk and must pay attention to the safety of the emperor’s descendants at all times.

The eunuch in charge of taking care of Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s second daughter was much luckier. Wu Nianjiao was quiet.

She likes dogs, and Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen also raised a big yellow dog for her.

Because dogs have followed humans for a long time, they are intelligent and safer than other pets.

Wu Nianjiao lay on the back of the big yellow dog, and the big yellow dog did not resist at all.

Instead, it kept staring at the animals in the cage, blocking Wu Nianjiao’s body, maintaining a vigilant look, as if preparing to protect its master at any time.

It has to be said that dogs are the most intelligent species of all animals.

Even though it is the eunuch who feeds it, it actually knows to focus on Wu Nianjiao. It never pays attention to the eunuch who feeds it, which is quite amazing.

Now Wu Changqing already has five children, and another is the third son recently born by Yang Xiaoxiao.

In addition, Chen Yuyan is also pregnant with a second child.

Among the several women selected in the last draft, two are already pregnant.

This year, Wu Changqing had a great harvest and frequently won the lottery.

In just four years, there are already eight.

Thinking of this, Wu Changqing had a headache.

He was worried that in twenty years, he would not be able to recognize all his children.

Chapter 737: The Children of Great Hua

The zoo wasn’t just about animals; it also had other entertainment facilities, making it more like an amusement park.

In the adjacent garden, there were elaborate trampolines. Wu Gang took the lead, scrambling up and frolicking with abandon.

There was also a pool filled with small balls, a favorite among children.

Slides, seesaws, swings—these simple but novel contraptions were all available.

Not just the children, but even the palace maids, when the supervising eunuchs weren’t around, loved to play on them.

After visiting the zoo, the Wu Changqing family went to the Projection Hall.

This was a newly built palace specifically for showing animated films.

With the current technology, creating animated films was actually quite difficult.

However, difficulty is often linked to money. As long as you’re willing to spend, there aren’t many insurmountable challenges in the world.

The main constraint on the development of animated films was the poor quality of paper, which was easily damaged during projection.

But if you were willing to spend money, this problem was easily solved by painting on cloth instead.

This was extremely extravagant. The amount of canvas used for a single Journey to the West animation could fill the entire projection room.

When Tong Youwei presented three animated films to the palace, Wu Changqing couldn’t help but criticize him for being too wasteful.

This animation technology didn’t have much impact on people’s livelihoods and could be improved slowly without such urgency.

Of course, despite the scolding, he accepted the films. After all, they couldn’t be wasted.

Of the three animated films, one was Journey to the West, intended for the princes and princesses.

Another, similar to The Golden Lotus, was for the Emperor and his consorts to watch privately.

The third was a feature film: an animated version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

This was intended for foreign countries, to show the barbarians the wonders of Great Hua and promote Chinese culture.

Tong Youwei had considered everything thoroughly, so Wu Changqing only scolded him verbally but was secretly pleased.

Wu Changqing had watched many animated films in his previous life, such as Journey to the West and Rainbow Cat Blue Rabbit.

He vaguely remembered working harder than anyone else in the fields as a child to finish the farm work early, just to not miss the five thirty PM cartoon.

In short, animated films were very appealing to children.

And in this era, they were also very attractive to adults, mainly because they were novel.

Some time ago, Wu Changqing had specially granted a group of meritorious individuals permission to enter the palace and watch the animated Romance of the Three Kingdoms together, and many were captivated.

When the animation started, there were dedicated people responsible for narrating and voicing the characters’ lines.

This was actually quite challenging and required a good sense of rhythm.

Speaking too fast or too slow would affect the overall effect.

Moreover, they needed to speak with emotion and produce various unique sounds.

However, as long as you were willing to spend money, no matter how difficult something was, people would learn and study it.

The world was vast, and there were many talented individuals.

Some people couldn’t memorize a text even if their life depended on it, while others could recite it backward.

These narrators and voice actors were all talented individuals.

They managed to turn a silent animation into a sound animation.

These people were probably the world’s first voice actors.

Of course, maintaining this group of people was also costly.

“I, old Sun, am off!”

Wu Gang wasn’t well-behaved while watching the animation. He imitated Sun Wukong, causing a ruckus in the projection hall, and was beaten by Luo Min as a result.

However, he wasn’t afraid of being beaten at all.

Only Luo Min dared to hit him; everyone else treated him like a little emperor.

And Luo Min’s beatings were mostly for show, rarely with real force, so he didn’t care at all.

The only person he was probably afraid of was his father, Wu Changqing.

Although Wu Changqing had never hit him, he was naturally afraid of him.

While causing trouble, he accidentally rolled in front of Wu Changqing. Seeing his father, he immediately became well-behaved and ran to Luo Min, hugging her leg.

Wu Changqing frowned slightly at this sight. This child wasn’t close to him.

Of course, this was normal. He spent most of his time dealing with official business and didn’t have much time to cultivate father-son relationships.

In comparison, Wu Nianjiao was closer to Wu Changqing and liked to be held by him.

Wu Changqing suspected that perhaps he unconsciously carried an air of authority when dealing with his son, while showing more affection when facing his daughter.

In any case, it was a subtle thing that Wu Changqing only noticed and didn’t delve into.

After watching the animated film, Wu Changqing went to attend to official business.

This half-day of playing with the children was mainly to cultivate family affection and avoid the family becoming too estranged.

Taking care of children was, after all, not his main job.

Although they lacked paternal love, the children of the imperial family were still very happy in comparison.

At the Liu family, several children aged four to eight were reading and writing.

Although Wu Changqing had established a noble school, hoping that high-ranking officials and wealthy people would send their children there for joint teaching, saving teacher resources.

However, some wealthy people still preferred to hire teachers to come to their homes and teach their children privately.

However, those low- and mid-level officials with low salaries, as well as small merchants, began to send their children to school for centralized teaching.

There was no other way. Teachers capable of teaching new knowledge were very scarce, and ordinary people simply couldn’t afford them.

“Ah, when can I go to the zoo?”

Liu Shihuo, the grandson of Liu Dahua, sighed.

Not only was there a zoo in the palace, but there was also a zoo in Nanjing, open to the public.

With just two hundred wen for a ticket, one could visit, which was very cheap for the rich and a favorite among children.

Liu Shihuo was even more miserable than the princes, not only lacking paternal love but also having to study hard from a young age.

After all, this was an era where all other professions were inferior, only studying was valued.

Whether one wanted to pursue scientific research or take the imperial examinations, one needed to study hard from a young age.

Their family needed to rely on talent and official positions to maintain their wealth and status.

Places like zoos and amusement parks, which were considered to be detrimental to one’s ambition, had strict limits on how many times those being groomed for success could visit each year.

Even worse off were some middle-class families. Two hundred wen for a ticket was somewhat extravagant for them.

The children of middle-class families begged bitterly, and at most, they could only go once or twice a year.

As for the children of poor families…

The characteristic sound of newspaper vendors on the streets still existed.

Although Great Hua had launched a postal system, with numbered streets and dedicated mailboxes, newspapers could be delivered directly.

However, the profession of selling newspapers on the street still existed.

After all, unless one was particularly wealthy and subscribed to multiple newspapers, most people only subscribed to one copy of the Great Hua Daily or a newspaper they needed or liked.

Whenever there was news that they were interested in but not in their subscribed newspaper, they had to buy a copy temporarily.

At the same time, people from out of town also bought a few newspapers.

In the short term, the profession of street newspaper vendors would not disappear.

Chapter 738: Entering Sichuan

The Great Hua now implements a semi-free education system, with no tuition fees for primary and intermediate classes.

However, not all children enter the classroom as a result.

Some are naturally mischievous and don’t want to study, while others are forced by the pressures of life to earn money to eat and support their families, leaving them with no time to study.

Nevertheless, the Great Hua’s current education coverage rate is the highest in the world.

Just wait a few more years, and when this batch of children grows up, the Great Hua’s illiteracy rate will be greatly reduced.

This is simply impossible in other countries.

Only a strong central dynasty has the ability to promote free education.

The newspaper boys on the street are not the most miserable children.

At least they can earn money, and they can also see all kinds of people, increasing their knowledge.

When they grow up, even if they are uneducated, they won’t have a bad life.

The more miserable ones are the children in the countryside, especially those in remote rural areas. They seem to be isolated from the world, and the Great Hua’s dramatic changes have not had much impact on them.

These people’s lives are even more hopeless than those of the poor children in Nanjing.

Of course, the most miserable are the children abroad who can’t get enough to eat.

The Great Hua has temporarily solved the problem of starvation, but there are still plenty of children starving to death in other parts of the world.

Different people, different fates.

Some people are starving to death, while others are full and have nothing to do.

Speaking of representative figures who are full and have nothing to do, that would be His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin of the Great Hua.

As Wu Changqing’s younger brother, the officialdom doesn’t welcome him, fearing Wu Changqing’s suspicion. The military doesn’t welcome him either, fearing that they would be responsible if this guy died.

The business world doesn’t welcome him, fearing that he would use his status to bully others. Those engaged in scientific research don’t welcome him either, disliking him for not having the talent.

Therefore, besides loafing around and engaging in entertainment, Wu Zheng has no other choice.

As he played, Wu Zheng became the top dog in the entertainment industry.

His football team has won the Nanjing league championship for three consecutive years.

Then, Nanjing’s football development stagnated, and many strong teams and football masters ran to Shanghai.

There was no other way, who told Wu Zheng to be the only prince of the Great Hua? His team, winning a little in ordinary times is fine, but in the knockout stage, who dares to win?

Winning the game but losing your life is not worth it.

Therefore, some people who are interested in football have run to Shanghai to start anew, creating a league in Shanghai, and not playing with Wu Zheng.

Winning all the time, Wu Zheng’s interest in football has also greatly declined. He has recently become obsessed with bicycles and started a bicycle race.

He specially raised a group of people who are full and have nothing to do, to compete on who can ride faster.

Those poor people who are barely full and are still working hard for a better life cannot understand the happiness of those people at all.

Is riding a little faster worth being so happy about?

In addition, Wu Zheng grabbed two well-known novel authors to the royal palace, asking them to write novels for him to read every day, providing food and wages, but requiring fast updates.

The two authors are also suffering unspeakably, and a few white hairs have been added out of thin air, after all, sometimes they really can’t think of a plot.

Wu Zheng has done a lot of similar absurd things.

As long as it’s not too outrageous, Wu Changqing doesn’t care.

And other officials also turn a blind eye.

As long as Wu Zheng doesn’t go so far as to forcibly take civilian girls, they can tolerate it, who told him to be a prince?

While Nanjing was singing and dancing, Yiling at this time was already full of artillery fire.

The Huaxia army officially launched an attack on the Great Western regime entrenched in the Chongqing area of Sichuan, carrying out the final part of the Huaxia unification war.

As long as Zhang Xianzhong is destroyed and Sichuan is recovered, the Great Hua can declare that it has completed basic unification.

As for other places such as Tibet and Xinjiang, the people of the Central Plains have never really valued them. The taxes collected in these places are often not enough to cover the cost of governing them.

If you want to profit from these places, you have to exploit them severely, which will force the local people to rebel.

The civil officials of the Great Hua do not want these places.

Only the military, for the sake of expanding the territory, will work hard to promote the work of recovering these royal lands.

Yiling had previously been occupied by the Great Western regime and was the Great Western regime’s outpost to resist the Great Hua.

Responsible for guarding Yiling was Zhang Xianzhong’s adopted son, Ai Nengqi. He stationed twenty thousand troops in Yiling, responsible for preventing the Huaxia army’s navy from entering the Three Gorges and preventing the Huaxia army from advancing westward.

If the Huaxia army wants to attack the Great Western Dynasty, the easiest way is by water.

Whether entering Sichuan from Hanzhong in the north or from Bijie in the south, it will greatly test the Huaxia army’s logistics capabilities.

And going by water, going upstream from the Yangtze River is much easier. The Huaxia army’s water transport capacity is currently the best in the world.

In the past, armies entering Sichuan were willing to take the Hanzhong route.

If you go through the Three Gorges, because it is upstream and the water flow has a large drop, large ships lack the power needed to move forward.

In some places, even trackers are needed to pull on the shore.

Therefore, it was quite difficult to travel by water in the past.

What’s more, shipbuilding was not developed in the past, and there were not so many ships to transport soldiers and supplies.

But now, the Huaxia army has steamships, which solves the biggest problem of power, and there is no problem going upstream from the Three Gorges.

Moreover, they also have enough ships.

It is precisely for this reason that the Great Western regime placed the focus of its defense on Yiling.

In the Hanzhong area, instead, there were not many defenses deployed.

Times are changing, and the Great Western is also following these changes to formulate corresponding defense strategies.

However, the idea is right, but the effect is not flattering.

The obstacles set up by the Great Western army on the water were easily cleared by the Huaxia army’s artillery.

It is really too naive to try to block the Huaxia navy’s advance with wooden stakes and some reefs, burying some naval mines would be more like it.

Unfortunately, they don’t have that kind of technology.

After clearing those obstacles, the Great Hua’s warships approached Yiling City, and then began the doctrine of artillery.

Now when the Huaxia army fights, regardless of the consequences, they first bombard for a while, to scare the enemy first.

Under this fierce artillery fire, Yiling City quickly became crumbling.

“General, this won’t work, we have no advantage in defending the city at all, let’s withdraw.”

The subordinate looked at the collapsing city wall and quickly persuaded Ai Nengqi.

With such fierce shelling, they had no courage to resist.

Not to mention, the Great Hua also has other advanced weapons.

If they don’t withdraw now, it will be too late to withdraw after the Huaxia army’s infantry lands.

“Damn it.”

Ai Nengqi hammered the city wall, he had never fought such a frustrating battle.

The soldiers on both sides had not even made contact, and the outcome had already been decided.

The twenty thousand troops under his command had become decorations.

This was simply impossible in the past.

Chapter 739: Ai Nengqi

Ai Nengqi wasn’t stupid. The moment the city wall collapsed, he knew his side was defeated.

Not to mention the vast difference in weaponry, even if the Huaxia army came at them with broadswords, they wouldn’t be able to hold out.

The city wall was the defenders’ psychological defense line. Once the city wall was captured or destroyed, the defenders’ morale would plummet.

What’s more, the Huaxia army was now equipped with all kinds of new weapons. Ai Nengqi and his men only had a small number of flintlock guns and some matchlock guns.

With such inferior weapons, there was no hope.

“Withdraw.”

Ai Nengqi had no choice but to issue the order to retreat.

They retreated into the mountains, but they didn’t head directly towards Chongqing.

Ai Nengqi still harbored a glimmer of hope. He wanted to lie low in the mountains for two days. Once the main force of the Huaxia army entered the Three Gorges, he would lead his troops out and recapture Yiling.

Without a doubt, Yiling, as a transit station, would definitely have a large amount of supplies stored there.

Capturing Yiling would be equivalent to cutting off the Huaxia army’s logistics.

If they could hold it, the Huaxia army would surely be defeated.

Even if they couldn’t hold it, they could set fire to those supplies and disrupt Great Hua’s plan to attack Sichuan.

The Huaxia army was unaware of Ai Nengqi’s plan, but they didn’t neglect Yiling as a logistics base. Instead, they left a three-thousand-man force to garrison it.

The main force of twenty thousand soldiers then boarded ships and entered the Three Gorges.

“My lord, the enemy’s main force has set off. There are probably two or three thousand troops left in the city to garrison.”

Two days later, a scout returned to report.

“Three thousand men, that’s still quite a lot. It seems Tao Dongcheng didn’t underestimate us.”

Ai Nengqi said with a headache.

Although he had twenty thousand men under his command, he didn’t have a sure chance of winning, especially with his outdated weapons.

“Now that things have come to this, we can only seek wealth and honor in danger. My lord, as long as we take Yiling and seize their weapons and equipment, our army’s strength will immediately double. At the same time, we can cut off the enemy’s supply line and achieve a great victory.”

His subordinate advised.

The temptation was indeed very great.

Their Great Western Dynasty didn’t lack manpower. They had a total of three hundred thousand soldiers, which was almost half of Great Hua’s total.

However, they lacked weapons.

If they could capture Yiling, seize a large number of weapons, and even defeat Tao Dongcheng, then their strength could indeed be greatly improved.

This was indeed a godsend opportunity for the Great Western Dynasty.

Even knowing it was dangerous, Ai Nengqi was still persuaded.

“Let the brothers rest now. Tonight, we’ll launch a night raid.”

Ai Nengqi was able to stand out from Zhang Xianzhong’s hundreds of adopted sons and become one of the four most capable, so he definitely wasn’t stupid.

He had been stationed in Yiling for a long time, bordering Great Hua. He knew a lot about Great Hua and how terrifying their advanced weapons were.

He knew that he had no chance of winning with a conventional, head-on battle.

Therefore, he chose to gamble on a night raid.

Attacking at night was a major test for his army.

However, once they could quietly approach the Huaxia army’s city walls, they would have a considerable chance of winning.

“Wouldn’t a night raid be too difficult? Why don’t we just charge over there now?”

His subordinate advised. Not everyone could see the difference in strength between the two sides as clearly as he could.

“No, attacking during the day will result in heavy casualties. I’m afraid these people won’t be able to withstand it.”

Ai Nengqi explained.

Many of the soldiers in their Great Western Dynasty’s army were conscripted young men who had no loyalty to the Great Western Dynasty at all.

They were fine with easy victories, but once they encountered significant casualties, it would trigger a complete rout of the army.

Many officers were unwilling to launch a night raid, but since Ai Nengqi had spoken, they could only obey.

Yiling. Several Huaxia army officers were patrolling the city walls, one of them occasionally taking out binoculars to look at the distant mountains.

“This Yiling city is too close to the mountains. If the enemy rushes out of the mountains, we won’t have time to react at all.”

Yang Yiqing said.

“Regimental Commander Yang is worrying too much. The enemy sees us like mice see cats, hiding as far away as possible. How would they dare to launch a sneak attack?”

Deng Ming, the commander of another regiment, smiled and didn’t take Yang Yiqing’s words to heart.

“Regimental Commander Deng is wrong. The enemy hasn’t surrendered, which means they’re not willing to fail. They’ll definitely struggle. We have to be prepared.”

Yang Yiqing said.

The two of them had completely different personalities, one being carefree and the other being cautious.

“Regimental Commander Yang doesn’t need to worry. We still have five machine guns here. If they dare to come, I guarantee they’ll come crying and go back crying.”

Seeing Yang Yiqing’s serious expression, Deng Ming still didn’t take it seriously.

“If the enemy sneaks up on us and gets on the city wall before we can react, the machine guns will become decorations. They might even fall into the enemy’s hands. Besides, even if we can hold it, it’s better to prepare in advance and reduce the losses.”

The two argued for a few sentences. Deng Ming was unhappy, but he didn’t want to say it directly.

After all, if this kind of argument was known by the higher-ups, they would definitely stand on Yang Yiqing’s side without hesitation.

In fact, he himself felt that Yang Yiqing’s words made sense.

However, strengthening the guard meant increasing the workload, which was a chore.

Deng Ming just didn’t want to do such a meaningless thing. He felt that the enemy had retreated without resisting when they had twenty thousand men, so they must have been scared out of their wits and would never come back to counterattack.

Deng Ming stopped talking nonsense. Yang Yiqing was helpless and could only arrange for his own men to stand guard at night and strengthen the alert.

After all, he and Deng Ming were of equal rank, and neither could command the other.

Those who were assigned to guard duty were more or less dissatisfied with Yang Yiqing.

After all, others could go to sleep, but they had to stay up all night on guard duty, which was difficult to accept.

This was also why Deng Ming didn’t like to cause trouble, he just didn’t want his subordinates to resent him.

As night fell, around twelve o’clock, Ai Nengqi’s men were woken up, ate some dry food, and then headed towards Yiling.

The mountain roads were difficult to walk, and they didn’t dare to light too many torches.

After all, if too many torches were lit, the people on Yiling’s city walls would be able to see something was wrong at a glance, and the night raid would be meaningless.

Without torches to light the way, most of the soldiers in the army also suffered from night blindness. This journey exhausted them, and at least several hundred people fell behind.

Some didn’t keep up with the team and went in the wrong direction, while others deliberately left the team and deserted.

This was why Ai Nengqi’s subordinates didn’t want to launch a night raid. At night, they couldn’t control the team, and those who had long wanted to escape could take the opportunity to do so.

The battle hadn’t even started, and the number of people had decreased by several hundred.

However, fortunately, they finally left the mountainous area. The next section of the road to the city wall was relatively easy to walk.

“Everyone, wealth and glory depend on this battle. If we take Yiling, I will ask my godfather to promote each of you three ranks.”

Ai Nengqi made a promise to boost morale.

Chapter 740: The Great Western Army’s Night Raid

On the Yiling city wall, there were two sentries every fifteen meters or so. At the same time, a patrol team would pass by every so often.

The sentries and patrol teams belonged to two different units, supervising each other, which prevented either side from slacking off.

If a sentry was caught sleeping by a patrol, they would be in trouble. If a patrol team dared to slack off and didn’t complete enough patrols in a night, the sentries could report them.

Of course, if all the sentries and patrols colluded to deceive their superiors, there was nothing that could be done about it.

Any system, as long as it’s executed by people, will inevitably have loopholes.

However, a good system can increase the difficulty for those people to violate it.

Like now, this method of mutual supervision prevented the night watchmen from slacking off casually.

It was very difficult for all the sentries and patrols to collude at the same time.

If there was even one hothead among them, there would be a risk of leaks.

Moreover, trust between two different units was also a problem.

Before colluding, they would at least have to test each other.

In short, the difficulty was very high.

Rather than risk colluding, it was better to just endure it. After all, it was only one night of hard work, and the next day it would be another unit’s turn.

It was thanks to this relatively advanced system that the soldiers on the Yiling city wall were quite dutiful.

The most they did was chat with each other, not focusing enough, but no one was sleeping.

“Shh, Da Zhuang, did you hear that? There’s movement to the east.”

Suddenly, a soldier with very good hearing interrupted his companion, then closed his eyes and listened carefully.

The movement of tens of thousands of troops, no matter how careful, was bound to make some noise.

The sound of people’s footsteps, the sound of horses’ hooves, the occasional metallic sound of weapons colliding, and so on.

“What sound?”

The soldier called Da Zhuang muttered, but soon his expression changed.

As the enemy got closer and closer, the sound began to be loud enough for him to hear clearly as well.

“Enemy attack, sound the alarm!”

“Enemy attack, sound the alarm!”

After confirming, they shouted quickly.

They weren’t the only ones who confirmed the enemy attack. Soldiers in other positions also discovered the enemy attack.

“Ooo… woo…”

As a result, an alarm similar to an air raid siren in later generations sounded on the city wall. This was an alarm equipped by the Huaxia army.

They weren’t worried that sounding the alarm would scare the enemy away. That was impossible.

Preparing and executing a night raid was a very arduous task. If the Great Western Army retreated at the last minute, rendering all previous efforts futile, it would be a huge blow to morale.

Before retreating, ordinary soldiers didn’t really have a clear understanding of the strength comparison between the two sides, so they still dared to fight the Huaxia army.

However, after fleeing without a fight, even ordinary soldiers would have a clear judgment in their minds, that their side was far from being the enemy’s opponent.

Once they had this idea in their minds, they could no longer expect the troops to have any morale.

Therefore, when Ai Nengqi heard the alarm sounding on Yiling city, apart from cursing angrily, he didn’t order a halt to the advance. Instead, he ordered the entire army to light torches and rush to the city as quickly as possible to attack.

They were actually only three to four hundred meters away from the city wall, very close.

During the day, they could have rushed to the city in a few minutes.

But at night, this speed would be at least three or four times slower.

The deployment of troops was very difficult.

Ai Nengqi’s unit quickened its pace, while the Huaxia army was also in a chaotic rush.

Hearing the alarm, the soldiers in the barracks quickly got up and assembled urgently.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army had similar training, so the assembly speed was very fast.

If it were any other army, it would be impossible to assemble in less than half an hour.

In the face of the Huaxia army’s iron discipline, a large number of soldiers had already assembled on the parade ground in just a few minutes.

Some soldiers didn’t even have time to put on their coats or trousers, and were bare-chested, wearing only their underwear, but they didn’t drop their weapons.

No one laughed at this ridiculous scene.

Being ambushed was a very critical and serious matter.

At this time, no one would look at him twice even if he was stark naked and carrying a gun to shoot, let alone wearing a pair of underwear.

“Count off!”

“One, two, three, four… First platoon, all present!”

“One, two, three, four… Second platoon, one missing!”

…

“Second company, all present!”

The company commander shouted. There were still two or three missing who knows where, but this was basically equivalent to all present.

“Second company, go support the east side first!”

The battalion commander quickly made arrangements. The assembly speed of each company varied, and the fastest ones were directly sent to the most dangerous places.

Subsequently, other companies also completed assembly one after another and were assigned tasks in an orderly manner.

The last to arrive was the fourth company, and their company commander could already see the anger on the battalion commander’s face in the firelight.

The assembly speed of their company was obviously substandard.

“Get your asses over to the southeast side and redeem yourselves!”

The battalion commander cursed angrily. These people could only rush to the southeast wall, while cursing the enemy’s ancestors for three generations in their hearts.

If Yiling city fell this time, they would definitely bear a great responsibility.

Even slower than them were Deng Ming’s subordinates.

The style of a general often easily influenced the people below. Deng Ming didn’t care about sneak attacks, and neither did his soldiers.

But this influence was no longer significant. Yang Yiqing’s troops were enough to hold out for a while, until Deng Ming’s unit arrived.

East city wall.

Although the Huaxia army’s assembly speed was already very fast, it was still slower than Ai Nengqi’s unit.

Before the Huaxia army’s support troops arrived, their troops had already leaned ladders against the city wall and began to attack.

And the Huaxia army had already started shooting.

They only needed to aim at the torches to shoot, and they basically hit.

Unfortunately, they were few in number. The sentries plus the patrol team, on this several-hundred-meter-long city wall, there were only more than sixty people in total.

This little firepower couldn’t stop the enemy from approaching at all.

“Throw grenades, stop shooting, damn it!”

A lieutenant cursed.

At this time, the soldiers on the city wall came from multiple units, making command inconvenient, so the one with the highest rank stood up and took over the command.

This ensured that the Huaxia army had a better organization at the first moment and didn’t fall into chaos.

If it were any other army, encountering this kind of sneak attack would basically have meant defeat.

Daring to resist without retreating with only a few dozen people, not many armies could do that.

As the sound of grenades exploding rang out, screams rang out under the city wall.

And the support troops in the city were even more anxious.

Their side had already started using grenades, which meant that the enemy had already arrived at the city.

“Speed up, run faster!”

The officers continued to urge.

Chapter 741: Multiple Setbacks

Outside the city, Ai Nengqi was still assigning tasks.

“Liu Bai, you lead your men to the southeast. The city wall there has already collapsed, so you must break into the city from there. Hao Zhou, you lead your men to the northeast to pin down the enemy and look for an opportunity to breach the city.”

Ai Nengqi arranged a three-pronged attack, leaving one route open for the Huaxia army to escape, to avoid a desperate last stand.

All he wanted were supplies. Killing a few more or a few less Huaxia soldiers made little difference to him.

He had high hopes for the southeast and east directions. The former had a collapsed city wall, and the latter had already reached the foot of the wall and begun the assault before the Huaxia army reinforcements arrived.

This night raid, while not perfect, could barely be considered half successful.

On the eastern city wall, the Huaxia army was outnumbered, and some of the Great Western army had climbed onto the wall.

The situation had reached a critical point. Fortunately, reinforcements arrived.

“Charge over there and push the enemy down!”

In close combat, the Huaxia army didn’t have time to slowly load and fire their guns. They directly charged forward with bayonets.

At such close range, bayonets were much faster at killing enemies than shooting.

Of course, it was also much more dangerous.

The Huaxia army had an advantage in bayonet fighting, but it wasn’t a significant one, not enough to completely dominate the enemy.

Fortunately, the Huaxia soldiers were all aware of the consequences if they didn’t push the enemy down in time.

So at this moment, the combat power they unleashed was quite astonishing.

For Ai Nengqi’s troops, however, morale was dealt another blow.

The Huaxia army’s alarm earlier, announcing the failure of their night raid, had already lowered their morale once.

Now that they had finally climbed onto the city wall, the Huaxia army’s reinforcements had arrived, declaring the failure of their plan to quickly take the wall.

This was another blow to morale.

Morale sounds abstract, but it’s actually quite important. It’s like fighting, where when both sides are evenly matched, it comes down to who is more ruthless.

Soon, relying on high morale, the Huaxia army killed the few enemies on the wall and began attacking the enemies below.

The Great Western army’s morale was low, and they were not resolute enough in their siege, lacking those who would fearlessly charge forward and fight to the death.

If it were daytime, having reached this point, the Great Western soldiers would definitely have been able to take this section of the wall.

But now, their organization below the city was in chaos.

Basically, the soldiers were attacking based on their own initiative. The generals could hardly find their own soldiers, and the soldiers couldn’t find their superiors.

That’s the downside of a night raid: difficulty in command.

The more disorganized the rabble, the less they dare to fight at night.

Although Ai Nengqi’s troops had fought for many years, their soldiers were basically a rabble.

It was hard to imagine that they could maintain an army of three hundred thousand with just a small piece of land in Sichuan.

These soldiers usually didn’t train at all, in order to save energy and food expenses.

Zhang Xianzhong also knew that quality was more important than quantity, but he couldn’t reduce the size of his army.

This was the lifeline of the warlords. The power of Zhang Xianzhong’s subordinates all came from the soldiers, so they would desperately maintain the number of soldiers under their command, hoping that the cuts would be made to others.

Cutting their soldiers was equivalent to weakening their power, and they would never agree to it.

Zhang Xianzhong definitely couldn’t afford to support so many troops, so he could only let them solve part of the problem themselves.

As a result, they could only harm the people, ignoring future production and only caring about immediate plunder.

In such a vicious cycle, even without the Huaxia army attacking, Zhang Xianzhong’s power would face internal problems in at most two or three years.

The Huaxia army was just relying on its strength and didn’t bother to wait.

The sooner they entered Sichuan, the more people they could save.

The Great Western army was pushed off the city wall and couldn’t organize an effective counterattack in time.

And this basically declared that the Great Western army had lost its chance.

After the Huaxia army gained a firm foothold on the city wall, they immediately began to build defenses.

Two machine guns were set up, and they began to strafe the areas below the city where there was light.

Immediately, the Great Western army suffered, and screams of agony echoed below the city.

If they could see the situation clearly in the dark, they would have collapsed at this point.

Even now, their situation was very bad. Some clever soldiers estimated the situation from the screams and began to flee in the chaos.

It was quite convenient to escape at night.

On the southeast side, although the city wall here had collapsed and had not yet been repaired, the Huaxia army reinforcements arrived before the Great Western army due to the distance, and built a defense line on the ruins.

After the Great Western army arrived, they launched a general attack without stopping.

Then, the Huaxia army’s gunfire rang out.

“Damn it, there are so many people.”

Liu Bai cursed. Facing the prepared Huaxia army, a frontal assault was deadly.

But Liu Bai had no other choice. At this time, the only way was to break through the Huaxia army’s defense line with courage.

“Charge in, everyone gets a three-rank promotion, and three days of unlimited looting.”

Liu Bai shouted.

The so-called unlimited looting meant that after entering the city, they could kill and rob at will for three days.

Zhang Xianzhong basically used this trick to boost morale.

The soldiers under his command were no different from bandits, and even more terrible than bandits.

Bandits wouldn’t rob everything and kill everyone at once. They all knew to give others a way out, so that they could continue to live and produce.

That way, there would be something to rob next time.

The Great Western army wasn’t like that. They did a one-time business.

Because when they were wandering around in the past, they couldn’t hold a place they conquered, so there was no need to take a sustainable development approach.

Having developed this habit, they still maintained this style even after they had territory.

Hearing Liu Bai’s promise, the morale of the Great Western army improved slightly.

Especially for those hooligans among them, their eyes lit up with excitement.

For these people who had lost their humanity, slaughtering the city and looting were the happiest things.

Unfortunately, this little bit of morale was not enough to change the balance of power on the battlefield.

Under the Huaxia army’s machine gun fire, the Great Western army’s charge without cover was a death sentence.

Even if they relied on numbers to force their way to the Huaxia army, they were at the end of their rope. Less than sixty percent of them could reach the Huaxia army.

After another wave of grenade attacks by the Huaxia army, there were even fewer people who could charge onto the ruins and engage in close combat with the Huaxia army.

Such heavy casualties caused the remaining Great Western army to collapse in despair.

This group came fiercely and was defeated quickly.

Chapter 742: Utterly Crippled

In the rear, Ai Nengqi grew increasingly anxious.

The longer it dragged on, the worse it would be for him.

The attack had been going on for over half an hour, and no good news had arrived from the front. This was a very bad sign, indicating that the attack was failing.

“General, we’ve been defeated! The enemy’s firepower is too strong; our brothers can’t break through.”

Before long, Ai Nengqi received news of the retreat from the west.

Soon after, reports came from the southeast and northeast, all bearing the same grim tidings.

“Damn it, a bunch of good-for-nothings!”

Ai Nengqi could only fume in silence; there was nothing else he could do.

He had basically completed his task by devising the night raid plan.

Now that the night raid had failed, it was because his subordinates were too weak, not his fault.

At least, that’s what Ai Nengqi thought.

“General, we should retreat quickly! It will be even harder to retreat once it’s daylight,” his subordinate advised.

“Tell Liu Bai and Hao Zhou to gather their troops and return to the assembly point in the mountains.”

Ai Nengqi didn’t try to be a hero and personally lead the charge. By now, everyone understood that there was no chance of capturing Yiling.

Continuing to charge would only be throwing their lives away.

Moreover, even if they were determined to fight to the death, they couldn’t organize the soldiers below.

Trying to reorganize thousands of men after they had fallen into chaos at night was simply a pipe dream.

The Great Western Army began to retreat, which was no easy task.

Due to difficulties in command and communication, many soldiers didn’t even know that the army had begun to retreat.

Some soldiers knew that the army was retreating but didn’t know where to retreat to, and thus lost their way.

Still other soldiers simply didn’t want to follow Ai Nengqi anymore and chose to desert in the chaos.

It was fortunate that the Huaxia army didn’t dare to pursue them, or their entire force would have collapsed instantly.

On the city wall, Deng Ming very much wanted to pursue, but he was afraid of being ambushed.

Recalling his previous carelessness, Deng Ming’s back was covered in cold sweat.

If it hadn’t been for Yang Yiqing’s proper arrangements, Yiling might really have been captured by the enemy.

The consequences would have been too terrible.

Therefore, Deng Ming chose to follow Yang Yiqing’s lead, not acting on his own initiative, in order to show goodwill and prevent Yang Yiqing from reporting him to higher-ups.

Deng Ming deferred to Yang Yiqing, and Yang Yiqing preferred to be cautious, so naturally, he wouldn’t pursue.

In Yang Yiqing’s view, even if they pursued and gained a few more victories, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

They weren’t the main force; eliminating the enemy wasn’t their mission. Moreover, eliminating only a few hundred or a thousand more enemies wouldn’t affect the overall situation.

However, if Yiling were lost, it would affect the overall situation.

For them, firmly defending Yiling was much more important than eliminating the enemy.

Therefore, even though Yang Yiqing knew that the enemy was truly retreating and not feigning defeat, he still chose not to pursue.

Yang Yiqing ordered his subordinates to remain vigilant until daybreak, when they began to clean up the battlefield.

In the darkness of night, the Huaxia army didn’t know how the battle had gone.

But after daybreak, seeing the corpses beneath the city, several new recruits immediately vomited.

It was too gruesome. The ground below was densely packed with corpses.

It wasn’t that the enemy had suffered an unusually large number of casualties; there had been plenty of battles with more deaths. It was mainly because the corpses were concentrated in one place, piled together, making the visual impact more intense.

After counting, they had killed more than four thousand enemies last night.

This number was quite staggering. The Huaxia army didn’t know how they had killed so many people.

They had simply kept firing at the lights and throwing grenades down the city walls.

At the same time, they didn’t understand why the Great Western Army was so fierce, collapsing only after more than four thousand deaths.

It wasn’t that the Great Western Army was fierce, but rather that they didn’t realize how great their losses had been while they were attacking the city.

The Great Western Army had suffered more than four thousand deaths, while the Huaxia army had only lost a little over two hundred.

Most of these deaths occurred during the hand-to-hand combat when they were driving the enemy off the city walls.

Apart from these casualties, the Huaxia army’s losses were extremely low. The kill ratio was enough to make the Great Western Army despair.

The difference in weapons, coupled with the advantage of defense, resulted in a huge disparity in casualties between the two sides.

In the mountains, at the Great Western Army’s camp.

Ai Nengqi also counted the number of men after daybreak, and the result made him almost unable to believe it.

Of the twenty thousand men, only a little over four thousand had returned successfully.

Ai Nengqi didn’t know how many of the remaining fifteen thousand had died in battle, how many had gone missing, or how many had deserted.

But it didn’t matter anymore. No matter how those people had disappeared, it didn’t change the fact that they had only four thousand men left.

His force was finished.

Forget about attacking Yiling; even attacking a bandit stronghold would be difficult now, because the morale of the entire army had plummeted.

They had to be constantly vigilant, because any moment of carelessness could result in soldiers quietly deserting.

When they deserted, they would also take one or two weapons with them, making Ai Nengqi want to vomit blood.

He didn’t really care about the soldiers, after all, the Great Western Army didn’t lack manpower.

However, they lacked weapons.

Some of their soldiers didn’t even have an iron knife.

If more weapons were taken away by deserters, it would be too terrible.

“General, we should retreat back to Chongqing and join the King,” Liu Bai advised.

They had now become an isolated force, and staying here was not a solution.

“Now that things have come to this, that’s all we can do,” Ai Nengqi sighed.

They had only fought two battles with Great Hua, but Ai Nengqi already had a deep sense of powerlessness.

In the past, when they fought with the Ming Dynasty’s official army, although they were always at a disadvantage, and even a Zuo Liangyu could chase them around, they had never despaired.

Because they all knew that Zuo Liangyu had to be careful when fighting them.

If Zuo Liangyu made a mistake, they might have a chance to defeat him.

In short, there was still a fight to be had.

However, when fighting the Huaxia army, Ai Nengqi felt like he had no way to use his strength.

The first time the Huaxia army attacked, he clearly had twenty thousand men and occupied the advantage of defending the city.

But in the end, he had to take the initiative to retreat and abandon the city.

And this time, he had successfully reached the city walls.

No matter how you looked at it, the preliminary steps of this night raid were successful.

But in the end, he had to retreat again.

Ai Nengqi couldn’t understand why this was happening, and as a result, a sense of powerlessness arose in his heart.

Although he had decided to retreat back to Chongqing and join his adoptive father, Ai Nengqi was actually very pessimistic.

Because he imagined that even if Zhang Xianzhong gave him those nearly three hundred thousand troops, he wouldn’t know how to use that force to defeat the Huaxia army.

Chapter 743: Outlaws

September 15th, the thirtieth day of Tao Dongcheng’s entry into Sichuan.

“These bandits are truly despicable.”

In Chengdu, Tao Dongcheng was in a foul mood, even on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Initially, the entry into Sichuan went smoothly. They advanced almost like a hot knife through butter, and wherever they went, the enemy abandoned their cities and fled.

However, he soon witnessed the true nature of the Great Western Army.

On the surface, the Great Western appeared to be a regime, with a court, officials, and administrative bodies.

But in reality, they were just a band of outlaws.

Faced with the powerful Huaxia army, they simply avoided direct confrontation.

They had no attachment to their territory, not contesting a single city or piece of land.

Even Chengdu was taken by the Huaxia army without firing a single shot.

But Tao Dongcheng couldn’t be happy, because unless Zhang Xianzhong’s army was eliminated, occupying those territories had little significance.

Now, Zhang Xianzhong’s two hundred thousand troops had scattered throughout Sichuan, roaming within the province and constantly causing destruction.

Burning, killing, looting, raping, and pillaging, they committed all kinds of atrocities.

If they were allowed to continue like this, Sichuan would soon be ruined, and Great Hua would have to spend a lot of energy and money on disaster relief.

The Great Western Army often moved in groups of several thousand or tens of thousands. No matter how advanced the Huaxia army’s weapons were, those small county towns simply couldn’t hold out. The Huaxia army didn’t have enough main force to disperse and defend every county town.

And when their main force moved out to pursue, the Great Western Army would flee as if they had greased their legs.

At first glance, they seemed even more difficult to deal with than the Qing army.

But this didn’t mean that the Great Western Army was more powerful than the Qing army, it just showed that the Qing was a proper regime, considering future sustainable development, so they had a great need for territory and wouldn’t abandon it easily.

As for the people in their territory, although they were enslaved, they wouldn’t be completely exterminated. They still needed those people to live, farm, and pay taxes.

But the Great Western Dynasty was just a band of outlaws, only concerned with the present and not thinking about the future at all.

When they had food, they would coerce the people wherever they went, and then when attacking cities, they would drive the old and weak to the front to fill the moats and consume the Huaxia army’s ammunition.

If they didn’t have food, they would simply kill and rob everything.

In short, they didn’t treat Sichuan as a base at all, but completely treated Sichuan as Great Hua’s territory to sabotage, as if killing the people of Sichuan would make Great Hua angry.

And it had to be said, doing so did make the Huaxia army very angry. They didn’t want to occupy a Sichuan without people.

However, the Huaxia army couldn’t possibly be frightened into withdrawing from Sichuan and giving this place to Zhang Xianzhong for this reason.

Now, both sides were very depressed.

If the Great Western Dynasty continued like this, it would be destroyed sooner or later, it was just a matter of time.

But they didn’t care, they just lived for the moment.

Or rather, they had no choice but to keep fleeing in order to avoid being completely annihilated.

The early Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong were like this.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty wasn’t unable to defeat them, but it was difficult to completely encircle and suppress them.

The government army at that time could achieve a one-sided beatdown when dealing with the rebel army.

However, the rebel army simply wouldn’t fight the main force of the imperial court, and would keep roaming across provinces in Henan, Shanxi, and Shaanxi.

If the Ming army wanted to encircle and suppress them, it required the cooperation of generals from various places, which was very difficult.

The armies in various places often didn’t work together.

Many generals were often very brave in fighting within their own jurisdiction, but once the rebel army roamed to other provinces, they would be too lazy to pursue.

These people drove the rebel army back and forth, but they couldn’t completely eliminate them, which was also a very ridiculous thing.

Chengdu, Huaxia army staff headquarters.

Many senior generals of the First Army gathered together to discuss how to eliminate Zhang Xianzhong.

As long as Zhang Xianzhong and his adopted sons were eliminated, the Great Western Army would collapse.

“First, report on the current movements of the enemy.”

Tao Dongcheng said.

The head of the intelligence department immediately stood up and began to introduce the situation on the map.

“According to the latest news, the enemy is currently divided into three main forces. One force is led by Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang, active in the Nanchong area.

Another force is led by Li Dingguo, active in the Bazhong area. And another force is led by Liu Wenxiu, active in the Yibin area. There are also some small groups of enemies, whose locations are constantly changing and difficult to determine.”

As soon as this was said, everyone had a headache.

They were too scattered, making it difficult for them to handle.

Their main force entering Sichuan was only thirty thousand. After leaving some troops to guard the main cities, there were only twenty-three thousand in Chengdu now.

If they engaged in a direct battle with the Great Western Army, these twenty thousand people wouldn’t even be afraid of the Great Western Army’s two hundred thousand.

However, now that the Great Western Army was scattered, it was difficult for them to deal with.

“Those sons of bitches, wouldn’t they be trying to go north to Hanzhong and south to Yunnan?”

Staff Officer Luo Bing of the division said something that made everyone’s headache even worse.

Now that the enemies were still staying in Sichuan, it was relatively convenient for them to pursue.

Once the Great Western Army entered Hanzhong and went south to Yunnan, they would be even more passive.

The local garrison troops in those places would find it difficult to resist the main force of the Great Western Army.

No matter how trash the Great Western Army was, that was compared to the regular army of Great Hua.

Compared to the garrison troops of Great Hua, they were evenly matched.

Moreover, in order to reduce the pressure of military expenditure, the Huaxia army’s garrison troops had been greatly reduced.

In some places in the Central Plains, such as Henan, the entire province’s garrison troops numbered only more than ten thousand people.

If the Great Western Army now roamed to Henan and other places, the damage to Great Hua would be extraordinary.

“We must at least find a way to eliminate Zhang Xianzhong and Li Dingguo’s forces. As for Liu Wenxiu in Yibin, we can ask the 33rd Division stationed in Kunming to send troops to solve it.”

Fang Ce suggested requesting help from friendly forces. The closest regular army to them was the 33rd Division stationed in Kunming.

“That’s right, our troops are limited and can’t be divided any further. If they are divided too much, it will be difficult to say whether we are encircling the enemy or the enemy is encircling us.

We can’t afford to lose a battle, not even one. Once we lose a battle and the enemy seizes our weapons and equipment, their strength will immediately increase greatly. They don’t lack people, they just lack weapons.”

Many people agreed with Fang Ce’s suggestion.

With everyone talking at once, they quickly reached a consensus and focused their goals on Zhang Xianzhong’s and Li Dingguo’s forces.

It wouldn’t be easy to eliminate these two forces, mainly because Zhang Xianzhong and the others would run away, which was very troublesome.

Under normal circumstances, the encircling army often needed to outnumber the encircled.

But now, the Huaxia army’s forces in Sichuan were far fewer than the Great Western Army’s, but they were the ones encircling, which made it difficult.

Chapter 744: Flitting About

The Huaxia army wasn’t having an easy time, and Zhang Xianzhong’s side was naturally having an even harder time.

They were forced into a corner, which was why they resorted to this desperate measure.

It could be said that from the moment they became roving bandits again, Sichuan no longer belonged to them. They had lost the hearts of the people.

Even if the Huaxia army withdrew now, the people of Sichuan would spontaneously organize to resist.

This group of bandits had committed too many heinous acts.

Currently, Zhang Xianzhong had to deal with the Huaxia army’s pursuit on one hand, worry about the people’s resistance on the other, and also fear defections from his subordinates. The pressure on him was immense.

If the intelligence wasn’t timely, or if there was a mistake, or some other accident occurred, it would delay their escape and they would be caught up by the main force of the Huaxia army.

At that time, they would be lucky to escape with their lives.

It was impossible to keep the intelligence accurate and avoid accidents all the time.

From this point of view, they were destined to fail. The only question was how long they could last.

On September 18th, Zhang Xianzhong received the latest intelligence: the main force of the Huaxia army had already departed from Chengdu and was heading towards them.

Zhang Xianzhong quickly gathered his generals to discuss what to do next.

“Foster father, let’s attack Chongqing. The garrison in Chongqing now only has four thousand men. With our seventy thousand troops, wouldn’t it be easy to take it down?

After taking Chongqing, we can go down the river to Wuhan and wreak havoc in the heartland of Great Hua. The heartland of Great Hua is now empty and wealthy, perfect for our mobile warfare.”

Sun Kewang suggested.

“That’s true, but it’s much easier for the Huaxia army to send troops to Wuhan than to Sichuan. In Sichuan, we only need to deal with Tao Dongcheng’s thirty thousand men, but if we go to Wuhan, we’ll have to face many more enemies,”

said another of Zhang Xianzhong’s adopted sons.

“We don’t need to occupy Wuhan. As long as the enemy comes to attack, we’ll enter Henan and Shanxi and turn the world upside down,”

Sun Kewang said.

People of different levels have different perspectives.

People like Wu Changqing, Dorgon, and even Li Zicheng aimed to seize the entire country.

But Sun Kewang’s ambition was only to have big fish and meat to eat every day.

He didn’t consider the consequences of ruining the world at all.

As long as his immediate desires were satisfied, he didn’t care about anything else.

Within the Great Western Army, there were many people who thought like Sun Kewang. After all, this was their traditional characteristic.

“Attacking Chongqing might not be easy. What if the Huaxia army sees through our intentions and deploys heavy troops in Chongqing in advance to hold us back? That would be troublesome,”

Zhang Xianzhong said. He was actually very confused now.

He wanted to find a place to establish a base and continue to reign supreme.

However, he simply didn’t have the strength and could only resort to flitting about.

“We can pretend to flee south, making it look like we’re going to enter Guizhou and Yunnan. Then, we can suddenly turn towards Chongqing midway, pay a price to take Chongqing, and seize some weapons and equipment. If we don’t improve our weapons, we’ll never be able to defeat the Huaxia army,”

Sun Kewang continued to urge Zhang Xianzhong to attack Chongqing.

Another chaotic discussion followed. In the end, Zhang Xianzhong yielded to the wishes of the majority and decided to adopt Sun Kewang’s suggestion.

Subsequently, the Great Western Army set off, taking the men, women, and children of Nanchong with them.

The young and strong were incorporated into the army as cannon fodder, while the women, children, and elderly became hostages.

If those young and strong didn’t risk their lives, they would slaughter the women, children, and elderly.

At the same time, if the Huaxia army caught up, they could throw these people on the road to disgust the Huaxia army and delay them.

As for how many of these people would die from the hardships of the march, most of the generals in the Great Western Army didn’t think about it.

Of course, not everyone was so insane.

Huo Jianqi was a garrison commander under Zhang Xianzhong.

The official positions were all given out randomly by Zhang Xianzhong. In any case, Huo Jianqi also had five thousand men under his command.

However, these five thousand men were not completely under his control. Only when he could bring benefits to his subordinates would they obey him and listen to him.

If Huo Jianqi said he wanted to surrender to the Huaxia army, the outcome would be hard to say.

Huo Jianqi had been in the Great Western Army for a long time. Seeing the actions of Zhang Xianzhong and others, he had long been disheartened and wanted to leave.

However, unless he left quietly by himself, there was no way he could take people with him.

After it was decided to attack Chongqing and then flee to the Huguang area, Huo Jianqi made a decision.

He sent his confidants to send a letter to the Huaxia army, hoping that the Huaxia army could use this information to destroy Zhang Xianzhong.

The human heart is something that seems ethereal, but it can play a vital role in many situations.

This is why those leaders pay special attention to winning people’s hearts.

If they don’t, their subordinates will betray them at any time.

The Great Western Army fled south all the way, and Tao Dongcheng also received Huo Jianqi’s secret letter during the pursuit.

Tao Dongcheng took this intelligence very seriously, but it also gave him a headache.

He couldn’t accurately judge whether Huo Jianqi was truly defecting or whether it was a trick used by the enemy to deceive him into putting his troops in Chongqing, and then easily flee south to Yibin to join Liu Wenxiu.

Tao Dongcheng pondered for a long time and even called in several other important staff officers to study it together.

In the end, they concluded that this was not a scam.

Because in the past, Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Wenxiu had taken the initiative to split into two parts to escape, in order to avoid being wiped out by the Huaxia army in one fell swoop.

Therefore, the reason for a long-distance raid to join forces now was not sufficient. There was no reason for the Great Western Army to do so.

More importantly, even if they were tricked, it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Huaxia army.

It would be even more convenient for them to deal with Zhang Xianzhong and Liu Wenxiu after they joined forces.

After figuring this out, Tao Dongcheng began to deploy, preparing to completely eliminate Zhang Xianzhong’s forces in Chongqing.

He first ordered some of the garrison troops around Chongqing to quietly enter Chongqing to increase the defensive strength.

Then, Chongqing would hold back Zhang Xianzhong’s forces.

Tao Dongcheng, on the other hand, led the main force in several groups to block the routes Zhang Xianzhong could escape and trap Zhang Xianzhong’s forces in this area.

That was the general idea. The specific deployment was much more complicated.

They had to pretend that they didn’t know the Great Western Army’s plan and needed to cooperate with the Great Western Army’s exercise.

Of course, no matter how complicated it was, it couldn’t stump the Huaxia army’s staff department. Their profession was to do this.

After a detailed calculation, they finally made a detailed deployment.

They were countless times stronger than the Great Western Army just in this respect.

The Great Western Army only discussed a general direction and then began to implement it. There were actually no plans for the details. Instead, they took it one step at a time. This was their characteristic.

Chapter 745: Rabble

By the end of September, Zhang Xianzhong’s contingent within the Great Western Army successfully arrived beneath the walls of Chongqing, and everything seemed to be progressing smoothly.

Upon reaching Chongqing, their army had swelled to one hundred and fifty thousand.

However, only about one hundred thousand of them could even lift a weapon.

Experienced veterans numbered less than fifty thousand.

The true elite consisted only of the personal guards of the generals.

Their numbers totaled no more than ten thousand.

The Huaxia army had already made preparations in Chongqing, with five thousand main force soldiers and over seven thousand second-line garrison troops, totaling over twelve thousand soldiers.

If they conscripted the able-bodied men from the city, they could squeeze out several thousand more.

In short, the defending general, Shi Shouye, was very confident in holding Chongqing.

In his eyes, the Great Western Army was nothing more than a rabble.

After the Great Western Army arrived at Chongqing, they wasted no time and immediately launched an attack on the city.

Tao Dongcheng’s main force was on its way behind them, only two or three days away.

This meant that if they failed to capture Chongqing within two days, they would face the danger of being attacked from both the front and the rear.

“Oldest, you lead the main force to attack the north. Sixth, you take the young and strong to attack the west. Eighth, you take the old, weak, women, and children to the east to tie down the enemy’s forces. Thirteenth, you take people to the river to prevent the enemy from escaping.

We don’t have much time. We must capture Chongqing within a day, or we will be doomed. Therefore, we must take this city at all costs.”

Zhang Xianzhong arranged the attack deployment, disregarding the principle of leaving one side open, and directly surrounded Chongqing on all sides.

He not only wanted to capture Chongqing, but also wanted to seize the weapons in the hands of the Huaxia army.

Subsequently, the Great Western Army began to move.

Sun Kewang led the main force and launched an attack from the north.

In front of the main force were some conscripted young men, who began to fill the moat under the coercion of the Great Western Army’s swords.

“Open fire.”

Shi Shouye said without hesitation.

The Huaxia army had encountered similar situations before, but in the past, the Huaxia army chose to let the enemy fill the moat.

However, this did not mean that the Huaxia army had to do so.

In the Huaxia army’s command manual, there were no explicit regulations, and everything needed to be judged by the commander on the spot.

Shi Shouye had little sympathy for those young men carrying sandbags. In his opinion, having been forced to this point, they should fight to the death.

Rather than gamble on the slim chance of survival, they refused to resist. Such people deserved to die.

There were actually many people who thought the same way as Shi Shouye. It was just that everyone usually didn’t express it.

As Shi Shouye gave the order, the Huaxia army’s gunfire rang out.

Those unprotected young men fell one after another.

“Damn it, didn’t they say the Huaxia army doesn’t kill civilians? Liars, hypocrites, I knew the government never had anything good.”

Sun Kewang cursed and was filled with righteous indignation.

He had originally planned to take advantage of the Huaxia army’s weakness and let those civilians charge ahead to attack the city.

Unfortunately, his wish had now been shattered.

Sun Kewang’s subordinates didn’t dare to say anything when they saw his appearance, and could only complain in their hearts.

Sun Kewang had done far more bad things; the Huaxia army’s actions were just child’s play.

Before long, those young men responsible for filling the moat refused to go forward.

The casualties were simply too high.

Going once basically meant a thirty percent chance of dying.

Those who could go two or three times in a row without dying were blessed by the heavens.

Faced with such a high mortality rate, those young men dared not go again.

“Kill them, kill all those who don’t go, leave no one alive.”

Sun Kewang ordered.

Bandits could not possibly have humanity. Sun Kewang had done this kind of thing so many times that he probably couldn’t even remember.

Sun Kewang’s direct personal guards began to kill the chickens to scare the monkeys, and launched a massacre against those young men who refused to go forward.

However, even so, there were still a large number of young men who refused to go, preferring to be hacked to death by the Great Western Army’s broadswords.

After all, this way they could die a quick death. If they were hit by the Huaxia army’s bullets, they would have to suffer for a while before dying.

On the city wall, Shi Shouye shook his head as he watched this scene.

This was the common people, purely living in this world by instinct.

Heroes were ultimately in the minority; this kind of rabble was the mainstream.

“General, it won’t work to keep killing like this. If we keep killing, there will be no one left.”

Sun Kewang’s subordinate advised.

In the past, as long as they killed a few people, it would have the effect of deterring others.

But now, they had already killed hundreds of people in a row, but they had not been able to scare those people.

“Since they are unwilling to fill the moat, then what difference does it make whether they are here or not? Continue killing, kill them all.”

Sun Kewang said.

“General, why don’t we arrange for people to make some shields for them, so they can have some psychological comfort.”

The subordinate continued to offer suggestions.

People, as long as they have a little hope, they will not choose to give up.

Giving those young men a shield could allow them to see a glimmer of hope for survival, and they might take action.

“Hmm, feasible.”

Of course, Sun Kewang also hoped that those people could die on the road to filling the river, rather than being killed for nothing.

Subsequently, the Great Western Army took out some shields, as well as some wheelbarrows and other tools, to facilitate the young men in filling the moat.

Sure enough, with these things, a large number of young men chose to set out again, to gamble on that little bit of hope.

Shi Shouye shook his head as he watched, and he couldn’t bear to continue killing these poor people.

If he had a choice, he would definitely give up killing.

However, Chongqing was too important to them and could not be lost.

More importantly, if they retreated this time, the Great Western Army would be even more likely to use the people to lead the charge in the future, which would instead harm those people who were coerced by the Great Western Army.

In short, after weighing the pros and cons, Shi Shouye did not stop his subordinates from killing.

Those young men carrying sandbags and holding shields cried and shouted as they moved forward.

Living was really too difficult.

Facts proved that those shields were equivalent to waste paper under the Huaxia army’s new rifles.

After filling the moat a few times, those young men once again refused to move forward.

They all had eyes and saw the tragic situation, knowing that those shields were useless.

“Damn it, change another batch of people, continue.”

Sun Kewang cursed.

These people, who had been completely frightened, could no longer be used and could only transfer new young men over.

Others were afraid when they saw this situation.

Even a moat was so difficult to deal with, wouldn’t even more people die in the subsequent siege?

Thinking of this, the soldiers’ legs were shaking. After all, they would have to rush up during the siege phase. It was impossible to rely on the young men to attack the city.

These soldiers began to hope that the moat would not be filled, so that they would not have to attack the city.

Chapter 746: Impenetrable

The generals in charge of the other two city walls weren’t as brutal as Sun Kewang. After killing some cannon fodder proved ineffective, they simply gave up.

In any case, their side was only responsible for containing the Huaxia army soldiers, preventing them from concentrating all their forces on the north side.

The main attack point of the Great Western Army was the north. If the main force on the north side couldn’t break through, there was even less hope for the rabble in other areas.

On the north side, Sun Kewang finally managed to fill in a few sections of the moat after sacrificing several batches of cannon fodder, barely enough for the assault troops to pass through.

But this had a huge hidden danger. Once the attack failed and the troops needed to retreat, stampedes and crushing accidents would occur.

Sun Kewang ignored this point and didn’t care.

He really had no choice. Filling in this little bit of the moat had already consumed a large portion of the cannon fodder.

If he continued to force those cannon fodder to fill it, they might resist at all costs.

“Who is willing to take the lead?”

Sun Kewang looked at the generals.

No one answered below. Everyone knew that the Huaxia army’s city was difficult to attack. Those rushing to the front would definitely face a nine-out-of-ten chance of death.

“General Liang, you go first. General Huo, follow behind…”

Since no one volunteered, Sun Kewang directly assigned the tasks.

Liang Cheng, who was named, cursed inwardly but didn’t dare to object, otherwise he might be killed right now.

Even if he wanted to defect, he had to find an opportunity.

Helpless, Liang Cheng arranged for his three thousand-plus men to attack the city.

“Sir, this battle is impossible to fight. With just our numbers, we’ll basically be wiped out once we reach the city walls. Not to mention climbing the walls, it’s difficult to even touch the edge.”

Liang Cheng’s subordinates had a clear-headed person who saw at a glance that the Huaxia army’s firepower was too fierce and understood the gap in strength between the two sides.

“Then what do you say we should do? Why don’t you go kill Sun Kewang, and then we’ll run away?”

Liang Cheng complained.

How could he not know that this battle was impossible to fight? But many things were like that. You clearly knew it wouldn’t work, but you couldn’t change it.

Liang Cheng’s ‘treasonous’ words didn’t surprise anyone.

Although they were under Sun Kewang’s jurisdiction, they weren’t Sun Kewang’s people.

Sun Kewang had never paid them military salaries. They relied on their own looting. Moreover, they often had to hand over a portion of the looted wealth.

Therefore, they had no loyalty or goodwill towards Sun Kewang.

That clear-headed person obviously didn’t dare to kill Sun Kewang and could only obediently command his subordinates to start charging.

“These guys, their tactical thinking is still stuck in the cold weapon era.”

On the city wall, several generals of the Huaxia army complained.

In the cold weapon era, even if they couldn’t capture the city in one go, this kind of attack could consume the defending side’s defensive supplies, as well as the defenders’ physical strength and energy.

Picking up stones to throw at people was also very tiring.

Using the advantage of troop strength to attack continuously, exhausting the defenders’ physical strength and energy, and then taking the city in one fell swoop was an important method of siege warfare in the cold weapon era.

But now, times were different.

In the past, the city walls could only hold a few thousand large stones at most. Now, the Huaxia army could put tens of thousands of bullets without taking up much space.

Consuming the Huaxia army’s defensive supplies was a joke.

As for consuming the defenders’ physical strength, that was also wishful thinking. Continuous shooting did consume some energy, but compared to throwing stones, this consumption was much smaller.

Relying on exhausting the defenders to the point of exhaustion would require tens of thousands of deaths, which the Great Western Army absolutely couldn’t afford.

By then, it would be hard to say who was consuming whom.

In short, in the age of firearms, it was best to capture the city in one go as much as possible.

Attrition warfare was definitely not going to work.

Even if it was consumption, it wasn’t this kind of consumption.

The Great Western Army came quickly and retreated quickly.

Before they even reached the city walls, they left behind a pile of corpses and ran away, not causing any consumption to the Huaxia army, infuriating Sun Kewang in the rear.

“Sir, we can’t fight like this. No matter how many people we have, it won’t be enough to die.”

Other subordinates advised one after another. They didn’t want their men to die in vain. After all, these men were their power.

Once they lost their subordinates, these lone commanders would have no value.

“Did the Huaxia army put all their forces on the north side? This firepower is at least three or four thousand people. Did they not arrange anyone to defend the east and west sides?”

Sun Kewang noticed something was wrong.

Then, he immediately sent people to inquire about the situation on the east and west sides, preparing to change the direction of attack.

Attacking the weak points of the Huaxia army still had a chance to get on the city walls.

However, not long after, the feedback from the west and east sides was that there were also many Huaxia army stationed there.

“Could it be that there are more than four thousand defenders in this Chongqing city? Did the intelligence go wrong?”

Sun Kewang reported the situation, and Zhang Xianzhong’s heart skipped a beat.

Incorrect intelligence was not a small problem.

Incorrect intelligence would lead them to make wrong decisions.

Even, he needed to consider it further. Why did the intelligence go wrong? Why were there so many more defenders in Chongqing?

“In any case, there is no hope of taking Chongqing in a short time. We should turn to other places as soon as possible to prevent being caught up by the Huaxia army.”

Sun Kewang said.

Having seen the Huaxia army’s defensive capabilities, he no longer mentioned attacking Chongqing.

“Where should we go? I don’t have much food left now. We must capture one or two large cities to replenish our food.”

Zhang Xianzhong said that their one hundred thousand people consumed tens of thousands of Jin of grain a day, which was a huge expense.

Previously, they had been attacking small county towns and looting small towns all the way, and the gains were far less than the consumption.

This was also why Zhang Xianzhong wanted to take Chongqing. He needed the supplies in the city.

Zhang Xianzhong’s question silenced the generals again.

When they fled, they didn’t bring those civil officials with them in order to reduce the burden. As a result, there was no one in the Great Western Army who could come up with ideas.

“Why don’t we throw away the old and weak? Carrying those people is also a burden.”

Another adopted son of Zhang Xianzhong suggested.

However, his words were ignored by everyone.

These people also wanted to throw away the old and weak, but that would make it impossible to threaten the conscripted young and strong.

“First, let’s fill in the moat on the west side as well, and try a different direction tomorrow. Everyone, this battle is related to the survival of our army. We must take Chongqing at all costs. Anyone who is afraid of battle will be beheaded.”

Zhang Xianzhong finally made a decision. He still wanted to take a risk. After all, he was also a person with ambitions and didn’t want to wander around all the time.

Taking Chongqing, seizing advanced weapons, and then attacking the Central Plains by surprise might give him a chance to make a comeback.

Of course, this was just his idea. Among his subordinates, many people felt that Zhang Xianzhong had gone mad.

Chapter 747: A Tiger Among Sheep

As night fell, desertions began to occur within Zhang Xianzhong’s ranks.

It wasn’t just individual soldiers running away; instead, generals were leading entire units in organized escapes.

These men had realized that following Zhang Xianzhong was a dead end, and it was better to seize the opportunity to flee.

Whether they became bandits in the mountains or surrendered to Great Hua, their fate would be better than continuing to follow Zhang Xianzhong.

The next day, when Zhang Xianzhong prepared to attack the city again, he discovered that over four thousand men were directly missing from his army.

Compared to his hundreds of thousands of troops, four thousand might not seem like much.

But the problem was that those four thousand who fled were his elite soldiers.

He relied on these veterans to attack the city.

The sudden loss of four thousand men was a huge blow to him.

Upon hearing the news, he even considered abandoning the attack on Chongqing and pursuing the traitors.

However, the last shred of reason told him not to do so, as it would only benefit Great Hua.

“We will attack the city according to plan,” Zhang Xianzhong said through gritted teeth.

At the same time, thirty-odd li away, Tao Dongcheng’s troops were rushing towards Chongqing.

His forces were divided into three units, blocking all possible escape routes for Zhang Xianzhong.

The Great Western Army launched a surprise attack on the west side, and initially, they achieved even better results than the previous day, nearly managing to scale the city walls.

After all, the Huaxia army had indeed deployed fewer troops on this side compared to the north.

With insufficient manpower, the firepower was also lacking.

The Great Western Army desperately climbed, enduring heavy casualties.

However, the stage of climbing the city walls was also the most difficult phase of the siege.

The Huaxia army relied on hand grenades to barely hold off this wave of attacks from the Great Western Army.

However, in their haste, the Huaxia army had used up almost all of their hand grenades.

And the second wave of the Great Western Army’s attack followed closely behind. Just at this critical moment, reinforcements from the north arrived.

Sun Kewang, who was in charge of the siege, nearly fell off his horse when he saw the reinforcements defending the city.

He knew it was too late.

As if it never rains but it pours, at this moment, the Great Western Army also received news from their outer scouts that Tao Dongcheng’s unit from the Huaxia army was less than five li away from them.

“You trash, why are you only reporting the military situation now?” Zhang Xianzhong drew his saber and pointed it at the scout who had come to report.

What he feared most was the main force of the Huaxia army behind him, so he had deployed many scouts in the rear to prevent the Huaxia army from approaching.

In his plan, he had to maintain a safe distance of fifty li from the Huaxia army at all times. Once the Huaxia army approached within fifty li, he would lead his men to continue wandering.

But this time, the Huaxia army had actually approached within five li before he received the news, how could he not be angry?

At a distance of five li, whether he could escape was a problem.

Moreover, even if he could escape, he certainly wouldn’t be able to save the main force.

“Your Majesty, spare me! It’s all because the enemy scouts’ horses are all Akhal-Teke horses, and the enemy also has weapons that can be fired from horseback. Our scouts were basically killed on the way back to report.

If it weren’t for one scout dragging his bullet-ridden body back to report, we wouldn’t have been able to grasp the enemy’s movements until now,” the messenger quickly explained.

He was telling the truth. This time, it really wasn’t that their scouts were lazy or anything.

It was purely because Tao Dongcheng had equipped his scouts with the best horses in the army and also equipped them with pistols.

In the skirmishes between scouts, the Huaxia army had taken all the advantages.

And the Great Western Army suffered heavy losses due to a lack of understanding.

“Excuses, all excuses!” Zhang Xianzhong killed the man with a single slash after hearing this.

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe him, he just wanted to kill someone to vent his anger.

All his previous efforts were about to be in vain, and this feeling was terrible.

“Foster father, while the enemy hasn’t caught up, let’s take the elite troops and leave the main force to find the Third Brother in Yibin. We can still make a comeback,” Sun Kewang quickly advised.

Now was not the time to lose his temper. A moment’s delay in making a decision would increase the risk.

“Eighth Brother, take your men to hold off the enemy, then find a chance to catch up. We’ll go find the Third Brother first,” Zhang Xianzhong arranged.

Although the Eighth Brother had ten thousand reasons to be unwilling to accept his foster father’s arrangement, he could only agree.

Zhang Xianzhong only liked and relied on Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi. Although the others were also adopted sons, they were expendable at critical moments.

The Great Western Army began to organize their retreat in a panic, which was not an easy task.

They had to take some grain from the logistics department and also take away those valuable things.

And in this process, they also had to face the questioning of other subordinates. In short, there were a lot of troubles, and they couldn’t just click on “retreat” like in a game and have the army retreat immediately.

Just as Zhang Xianzhong led five thousand elite soldiers to set off, the Huaxia army arrived at their camp.

The Huaxia army didn’t hesitate at all and launched a general attack directly.

Zhang Xianzhong’s eighth adopted son led a group of veterans to resist on the front line, but they couldn’t even hold on for a quarter of an hour.

The Huaxia army shot while charging, causing the Great Western Army to flee in disarray.

“What a rabble,” a Huaxia army general in the rear commented.

The Huaxia army’s breech-loading rifles had been equipped for several years, and even with the most backward reconnaissance capabilities, they should know that it was impossible to resist with their bodies.

But this Great Western Army didn’t dig trenches and didn’t avoid the Huaxia army’s charge, which was simply courting death.

Before the Huaxia army even reached the Great Western Army, the Great Western Army collapsed.

Tens of thousands of veterans ran faster than anyone else.

They were very experienced in running away.

With their line of defense broken, the Huaxia army only had one thing left to do: capture prisoners.

Don’t look at the fact that the Great Western Army had hundreds of thousands of men, only one or two thousand of them were truly capable of fighting.

Zhang Xianzhong took away a part, and another part was defeated by the Huaxia army’s charge. The threat posed by the remaining people was even less than that of the bandits in the mountains.

“Kneel and you won’t be killed, surrender and you’ll be spared.”

The Huaxia army shouted as they charged.

Those members of the Great Western Army who had lost their backbone and were left unattended threw away the spears or bamboo spears in their hands and knelt down obediently.

The Huaxia army didn’t even need to stay behind to tie these people up. They simply passed through these people and continued to pursue those fleeing veteran ruffians.

And these people could be left to the troops behind them, without having to worry about them suddenly rising up and launching an attack on the Huaxia army.

If they really had the courage to do so, they wouldn’t have been reduced to this point.

This scene was a bit like a tiger rushing into a flock of sheep. The sheep that were not bitten could only watch the tiger eat, and would not use their horns to resist.

Chapter 748: Desperate Situation

The work of accepting the surrender of over one hundred thousand people was no easier than defeating them.

While the Huaxia army cleaned up the aftermath, they dispatched elite troops to continue pursuing Zhang Xianzhong.

The five thousand men Zhang Xianzhong led were the absolute elite of the Great Western Army.

Not only were they equipped with some flintlock guns, but also a large number of hand grenades.

At the same time, their soldiers were all muscle, unlike the abandoned rabble, who were as skinny as skin and bones.

Zhang Xianzhong had always fed these soldiers well with good wine and meat.

Their physical strength was not much worse than that of the Huaxia army, making it difficult for the Huaxia army to catch up for a while.

Fortunately, Tao Dongcheng had made thorough arrangements, deploying soldiers to block Zhang Xianzhong’s escape route.

A regiment of over one thousand two hundred men was responsible for the blockade, occupying a mountain pass.

Zhang Xianzhong either had to force his way through or detour more than fifteen kilometers.

If he chose to detour, he would one hundred percent be caught up by the Huaxia army.

So, Zhang Xianzhong really had no choice.

“Damn it, you, boss, take one thousand men to set up a defense line behind us, and I’ll take the rest to charge.”

Zhang Xianzhong spoke with a hint of panic.

Everyone knew that they had reached a moment of extreme crisis.

Breaking through the Huaxia army’s interception offered a glimmer of hope for survival.

If they couldn’t break through, they were completely done for.

“Rest assured, Godfather, I will definitely stop the enemy.”

Sun Kewang gritted his teeth.

Afterward, they split into two groups. Sun Kewang went to the rear to set up a defense line to prevent the Huaxia army from chasing them.

Zhang Xianzhong personally took to the field, charging at the mountain pass guarded by the Huaxia army.

“Brothers, how have I, the Great King of the Eight Great Kings, treated you usually?”

Zhang Xianzhong asked.

“Great King treats us like his own sons.”

The people below immediately shouted.

It couldn’t be said that these people were blindly loyal. Zhang Xianzhong was inhuman and demonic to others, but he was indeed very good to these people.

Those among them whose thinking hadn’t reached a certain level naturally wouldn’t think Zhang Xianzhong was a bad person.

“Everyone has been hungry before, and we’ve also lived a good life. If you want to continue living a good life, follow me and charge now. The enemy is very strong, and we must risk our lives to have a chance to win. Are you afraid?”

“No, we’re not.”

“Good, worthy of being my soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong, kill them all.”

Zhang Xianzhong shouted loudly and then took the lead in the charge.

Of course, he was protected by his personal guards on all sides. But this was actually quite dangerous. If he was unlucky, he could still be hit by a bullet.

Now, Zhang Xianzhong couldn’t care so much.

“Kill.”

These people burst out with high morale and charged towards the mountain pass guarded by the Huaxia army.

“Fire, block them, absolutely do not let an enemy pass. As long as we block them, Zhang Xianzhong is a turtle in a jar.”

Ding Yong, the Huaxia army regimental commander responsible for guarding this place, shouted, a trace of cold sweat appearing on his forehead.

He saw the enemy’s madness. This kind of crazed enemy could ignore casualties and not value their lives, which was very terrifying.

Gunshots rang out, and the Great Western Army fell continuously.

However, this could not stop the Great Western Army’s footsteps.

The distance between the two sides was only two hundred meters. At full speed, it wouldn’t take much time.

The Huaxia army only had time to fire their machine guns before the Great Western Army rushed to their front.

Then, the people guarding the front line were plunged into melee combat.

“Aim at the people behind and shoot them.”

Ding Yong ordered.

There were still few Great Western Army soldiers who could rush to the front of the Huaxia army for melee combat, so there was not too much to worry about.

As long as the follow-up troops of the Great Western Army were killed, they could still hold on.

“Let the gun teams fire back, let the people in front throw hand grenades, indiscriminate attacks.”

Zhang Xianzhong was also commanding.

The so-called indiscriminate meant not caring about friendly troops. As long as there were enemies, they should throw bombs as hard as they could.

As for accidental injuries, it didn’t matter.

Anyway, they had a lot of people. As long as they could achieve a one-to-one exchange, they wouldn’t lose out.

This approach would definitely lead to soldiers feeling disheartened afterward.

However, at this moment, the effect was really good.

A large number of hand grenades were thrown into the melee area, blowing both sides’ people over.

Then, the Great Western Army continued to advance with a steady stream of troops.

“Damn it, these people are really ruthless.”

Ding Yong cursed, and at the same time, he was still shouting: “No retreat is allowed, those who are afraid of war will be killed without mercy. We raise soldiers for a thousand days, to use them for one moment. For your families, hold the position to the death.”

When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave win. Ding Yong didn’t dare to let his subordinates retreat a step.

Although, if they fought and retreated at this time, and then fought again after the Great Western Army’s madness passed, it wouldn’t be so dangerous.

However, retreating at this time was very likely to trigger a rout.

Ding Yong didn’t dare to bear such consequences, so he could only use human lives to fill the gap.

The Huaxia army soldiers heard the order and fought back while being afraid.

They were also afraid of death, but they didn’t dare to retreat.

After all, the Huaxia army’s military law was quite strict. If it was said that deserters would die, then they would definitely be beheaded, without any room for negotiation.

Moreover, the treatment received by the families of soldiers who were beheaded for desertion and those who died in battle on the front line was very different.

The families of those soldiers who were beheaded for desertion not only did not receive pensions, but were also looked down upon by the people around them.

The families of those soldiers who died in battle not only received considerable pensions, but also received commendations as glorious families, and could be respected by others in the area.

Therefore, now the soldiers who joined the army, before departure, their families would implicitly express that they hoped they would not be deserters.

With rewards and punishments, such a clear contrast led to the Huaxia army soldiers rarely fleeing when faced with danger.

Huaxia army soldiers were constantly rushed to the front by the enemy, and then launched into melee combat.

Some soldiers, after being stabbed, would use their last bit of strength to throw a hand grenade.

This wasn’t to say that they had a high level of ideological awareness, but more that they had resigned themselves to fate.

The two sides launched an extremely tragic fight at this mountain pass, and neither side retreated.

This situation made Zhang Xianzhong’s scalp tingle.

This was also the first time he had faced the Huaxia army head-on. The Huaxia army’s fighting will was far beyond his imagination.

If there were any other options, Zhang Xianzhong would retreat and not fight those lunatics.

Unfortunately, he had no choice now. If he couldn’t break through, he would die.

“Follow me and continue to charge, life and death are destined, wealth is in heaven.”

Zhang Xianzhong personally rushed out, rushing to the front.

He had hidden in the protection of his personal guards countless times. However, this didn’t mean he was a cowardly person.

Without some courage and responsibility, he couldn’t have reached his current position.

So, when it was time for him to risk his life, he wasn’t afraid at all and rushed to the front.

“Kill.”

When the others saw that the commander was risking his life, they had even less reason to be afraid of death.

At this moment, the fighting will of the Great Western Army was unparalleled.

Chapter 749: Preliminary Unification

The Great Western Army charged madly, but a sudden turn of events occurred midway.

Zhang Xianzhong, the famous King Eight Great, was shot.

Of course, this wasn’t exactly unexpected.

Those charging at the front had a higher probability of being hit.

In the past, it might have been effective for a commanding general to lead the charge. However, the Huaxia army now possessed breech-loading rifles, which were extremely accurate.

And Zhang Xianzhong was so conspicuous that any Huaxia army soldier with a brain knew to aim their gun at him.

Being targeted by so many guns, being hit was almost inevitable and not unexpected.

Zhang Xianzhong fell, which brought great shock to the Great Western Army.

Although Zhang Xianzhong was just a mortal, his long-accumulated prestige had imbued his physical body with much significance. His death was something people couldn’t accept immediately.

It was like hearing an ordinary person died of illness, and the people would just say “Oh.”

But if they heard that Wu Changqing died of illness, they would exclaim, “What!”

“The King is dead!”

“Avenge the King!”

Some were screaming, some were roaring and continuing to charge, while others seemed to have lost their souls and were plunged into confusion.

Zhang Xianzhong was their spiritual sustenance, or rather, their faith.

After their faith collapsed, their frenzy also disappeared.

Some soldiers who had calmed down began to fear, began to think about their escape routes, and began to flee for their lives.

The battle continued, and those fanatics were still charging.

However, compared to the entire army, fanatics were always in the minority, and these fanatical madmen were also just mortals who couldn’t withstand bullets.

Soon, these fanatical madmen fell on the road of charge.

The few who rushed to the front of the Huaxia army failed to make any waves.

And the remaining Great Western Army either fled or surrendered.

This army completely lost hope the moment Zhang Xianzhong died.

On the other side, Tao Dongcheng’s troops also caught up and engaged Sun Kewang.

However, they didn’t fight for long. After only a short while, Sun Kewang received the news of Zhang Xianzhong’s death.

If it were Li Dingguo, upon learning of such news, he would probably have fought the Huaxia army to the death.

However, Sun Kewang was a more selfish person.

He certainly had some loyalty to Zhang Xianzhong, but not to that fanatical extent.

Now that Zhang Xianzhong was dead, he was more concerned about himself.

Seeing that continuing to resist was a dead end, Sun Kewang ordered the entire army to surrender.

During the process, a few of Zhang Xianzhong’s loyalists were disappointed in Sun Kewang and suddenly rose up, attempting to kill him.

However, how could the clever Sun Kewang not have guarded against this?

After killing these few people, there was no more resistance to the surrender.

Zhang Xianzhong had been very good to these people in the past, but now that Zhang Xianzhong was dead, many were using this as an excuse to convince themselves.

Thus, Zhang Xianzhong’s main force was completely annihilated.

Of these five thousand elites, more than two thousand five hundred were killed in battle, several hundred went missing and escaped, and nearly two thousand surrendered.

Although Sun Kewang surrendered, he was already on the Huaxia army’s kill list, and surrender would not save him from death.

This wasn’t because the Huaxia army was ruthless or untrustworthy, but mainly because Sun Kewang had done too many bad things.

At least several hundred people died directly at his hands. The number of people who died indirectly at his hands was impossible to count, but the unit must be in the tens of thousands.

A person like this, not killing him was not enough to appease the public’s anger.

The Huaxia army did not kill him immediately, but instead escorted him to Nanjing.

On the one hand, it was to put him on trial and have the people bear witness. On the other hand, killing him too early would increase Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu’s will to resist.

Before those two forces were dealt with, Sun Kewang could still cling to life.

After eliminating Zhang Xianzhong, Tao Dongcheng allowed the troops to rest for two days, and then went straight to Yibin.

Liu Wenxiu’s abilities were inferior to both Zhang Xianzhong and Sun Kewang.

The military strength under his command was also weaker.

Even Zhang Xianzhong couldn’t defeat the Huaxia army, so Liu Wenxiu naturally couldn’t escape the fate of being annihilated.

In the Huaxia army’s encirclement and suppression, Liu Wenxiu’s forces were quickly eliminated, and Liu Wenxiu also died in the chaos of the army.

At the same time, Li Dingguo in Bazhong decisively abandoned the old, weak, women, and children, and only took twenty thousand people willing to follow him, heading north into Gansu province.

He didn’t go to Hanzhong, because he knew that he was no match for Great Hua no matter what.

Escaping to Hanzhong was no different from staying in Sichuan, as he would still be besieged and suppressed.

If he couldn’t win, he could only hide.

Currently, Great Hua had only recovered parts of Shanxi and Shaanxi, while the Gansu area was still in a state of chaos.

Within its borders, there were not only the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty, but also the remaining forces of the Manchus, as well as some forces that had taken advantage of the chaos to establish themselves as kings.

These forces occupied their own territories, and often fought each other, making it a complete mess.

These forces were not large. Some forces had a total military strength of only a few thousand people, and the larger ones had only ten or twenty thousand.

They could only be arrogant in the Gansu area, and did not dare to offend Great Hua’s borders at all.

Not to mention Great Hua, even the Yarkent Khanate to their west was an opponent they couldn’t defeat and didn’t dare to attack.

If the Huaxia army didn’t have too many places to conquer and had no time to take care of this place, they would have sent a detachment to destroy these forces long ago.

It was precisely because Great Hua didn’t value this place for the time being, and there were no powerful forces, that Li Dingguo decided to develop in Gansu, preparing to destroy those local forces.

Then, Li Dingguo hadn’t figured out what to do next.

He was a talented general, but not a commander, and had no long-term plans, so he could only take things one step at a time.

If Zhang Xianzhong hadn’t died at the hands of Great Hua, he would have actually wanted to surrender to the Huaxia army.

After all, he had seen Great Hua’s ability to govern the area.

In Li Dingguo’s opinion, it would actually be a good choice for Wu Changqing to rule the world.

Li Dingguo fled to Gansu, and with this, Sichuan was basically recovered.

Next, there would be some disaster relief and bandit suppression work, which would not affect the overall situation.

Tao Dongcheng even handed over these tasks to his subordinates and returned to Nanjing first, preparing to participate in the unification celebration.

Previously, Wu Changqing had released news that after pacifying Sichuan, he would hold a celebration to celebrate the basic unification of the world.

At the celebration, merits would be rewarded, and military generals would be promoted, just like when Wu Changqing proclaimed himself emperor and formally established the country.

Celebrations of this level would basically not happen again in the future.

Unless the entire Europe was occupied, or the entire America was occupied, but that was too far away.

This time’s awarding of honors was very important for them military generals. It could be said that it would basically lay the foundation for the future military structure.

Chapter 750: Five Military Regions

In Nanjing, while reviewing the system, Wu Changqing noticed that his territory had increased by more than five hundred thousand square kilometers, and knew that the Great Western regime had been destroyed.

Then, he began to study the matter of awarding merits and determining rewards, as well as the division of the national military regions.

He had been preparing for the division of military regions for some time.

He was just waiting for the recovery of Sichuan before he could officially announce it.

In Wu Changqing’s plan, the country would be divided into five military regions to facilitate command and control, and to better govern remote areas.

These were the Northeast Military Region, the Northwest Military Region, the Central Military Region, the Western Military Region, and the Southern Military Region.

The Northeast Military Region would be responsible for the area beyond the Shanhaiguan Pass and the Korean Peninsula. The Northwest Military Region would be responsible for Shanxi, Shaanxi, and parts of Mongolia.

The Central Military Region would be the largest, governing Hebei, Shandong, the Central Plains, Jiangnan, and the Hubei and Hunan area.

These were all places with extremely convenient transportation, allowing troops to be deployed quickly.

The Southern Military Region would include Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan.

The Western Military Region would be responsible for the Sichuan and Chongqing area.

In his plan, Wu Changqing would retain thirty main force divisions, totaling four hundred thousand men, and three hundred thousand local garrison troops.

Of the thirty main force divisions, the Central Military Region would have ten, as this was the core of Great Hua.

The Northeast Military Region would only have three divisions, as there were basically no powerful enemies there. It would only need to maintain control and guard against Tsarist Russia.

At this time, Tsarist Russia was quite arrogant in Europe, but in East Asia, it only had a small expeditionary force and was very weak.

Three main force divisions, coupled with some local troops, would be enough to deter any troublemakers.

The Northwest Military Region was assigned four divisions. Although the territory they needed to control was small, they would be responsible for conquering Gansu, the Dzungar Khanate in Mongolia, and the Yarkent Khanate in the future.

Placing these four divisions here was also to allow them to adapt to the environment of the Northwest in advance, so that they would not be defeated by the environment and climate when they went on expeditions in the future.

The Western Military Region was assigned five divisions, partly to suppress bandits and partly to conquer the Tibetan areas in the future.

The Southern Military Region was assigned six divisions, in order to conquer the Southeast Asian region in the future.

Two more divisions were stationed in Japan, in order to conquer Japan in the future.

The Central Military Region had no enemies around it, yet it had the most, ten divisions.

What they were guarding against were the other military regions.

In those places far from the center, it was easier to deceive superiors and conceal information, and the chances of rebellion were also greater.

In the event of such a situation, the Central Army could be dispatched quickly.

Moreover, the Central Military Region’s forces were being watched by the Imperial Guards.

The Imperial Guards were a reinforced division, with a strength of up to twenty thousand men.

If the Central Army rebelled, Nanjing could at least hold out for a month or two, by which time the troops from other military regions could arrive to defend the emperor, and the navy would have enough time to come to the rescue.

Of course, these were actually just superfluous constraints. The possibility of the military rebelling against Wu Changqing was too small, as small as Wu Changqing being struck by lightning.

On October 10th, a celebration was held in Nanjing. Millions of people took to the streets to revel, and hundreds of thousands of people crowded into the central square to watch the celebration.

First, Wu Changqing announced the unification of the country, followed by officials from the Ministry of Rites reading out the achievements of Wu Changqing and the Huaxia army.

After that was the awarding of honors, which was the most important thing for the military generals.

Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and Wang Dayong had not led troops to fight recently, which meant that they had not made any contributions recently.

However, they could not be forgotten when rewarding the ministers.

After all, the three of them had seniority and were endowed with some symbolic significance.

If they were not given a promotion, how would the younger generations dare to accept rewards and be on an equal footing with the three of them?

Whether it was to win people’s hearts or for other purposes, Wu Changqing could not forget these three veterans who had started out with him.

Previously, the three of them were first-rank divisional commanders. This time, Wu Changqing promoted them all to first-rank commanders-in-chief.

In theory, there should only be one commander-in-chief.

Therefore, these three commanders-in-chief were actually just honorary positions and had no specific duties.

Their actual positions had actually become consultants to the Strategic Planning Office.

In fact, they were being supported and allowed to do some research.

In short, they would no longer be bothered with the matter of leading troops.

In addition to the promotion in position, they were also promoted to the rank of marshal in the military, and they were marshals with titles.

They were the Loyal and Resolute Marshal, the Loyal and Brave Marshal, and the Loyal and Tranquil Marshal, enjoying super-rank treatment.

In general, it was similar to the Three Dukes and Three Lone Ministers among the civil officials, an honorary title without real power.

In terms of nobility, the three of them were also promoted to dukes, hereditary and irreplaceable.

Wu Changqing ultimately did not grant the title of king, but duke was not bad either. At least Li Shaobin and the others were very satisfied.

They had now truly achieved a position of being second only to one person and above ten thousand.

Whether it was being granted the title of king or duke, the difference was actually not that great.

After granting titles to these three symbolic veterans, the next step was the main event.

There were naturally five military region commanders for the five military regions.

These five people were Tao Dongcheng, Tang Guozhen, Xue Guiren, Dong Tianbao, and Xiong Rulin.

Among these five, the first four were undisputed and were all veterans. As for Xiong Rulin, he was more or less like choosing a general from among dwarfs.

If Xiong Rulin was not chosen, there would still be controversy if someone else was chosen.

The prestige of the others was somewhat insufficient.

Wu Changqing saw that Xiong Rulin’s research on tactics was relatively outstanding, so he let him be the commander of the Northeast Military Region first.

The Northeast Military Region was the least important, and the most important was naturally the Central Military Region. This position ultimately fell to Xue Guiren.

Of course, this was both a good thing and a bad thing for Xue Guiren.

The commander of the Central Military Region would definitely have less autonomy than the other commanders, and Wu Changqing would directly intervene in many affairs.

As an emperor, how could Wu Changqing be willing to hand over ten divisions directly to someone?

If the commander of the Central Military Region rebelled, that would be fatal.

These were the five people with the highest real power in the army. Of course, Wu Changqing did not forget the navy.

In the navy, Wu Yi was also arranged to go behind the scenes, enjoying a treatment that was half a level lower than Li Shaobin and the others, and half a level higher than Tao Dongcheng.

The people with real power equal to Tao Dongcheng and the others were Liu Wanghai and Bai Bainian. They were each responsible for a fleet, and their status was half a level lower than Tao Dongcheng and the others.

However, as the center of the war shifted overseas, their status would soon catch up with Tao Dongcheng and the others.

The current scale of the navy was much smaller than that of the army, but in the near future, the number of big shots in the navy would definitely exceed that of the army.

To conquer the world, two fleets were not enough, at least twenty would be needed.

Chapter 751: Different Mindsets

Although Tao Dongcheng and the other four held the same official rank, there were still differences in their status.

This was especially evident in their peerages. Xue Guiren and Dong Tianbao were already Marquis, and hereditary Marquis at that, albeit with reduced privileges.

Tao Dongcheng was also a Marquis, but his title wasn’t hereditary.

However, he didn’t need to worry. If he performed another great service, it could become hereditary with reduced privileges.

Great Hua already had a mature system for awarding peerages.

These five, along with the two from the navy, plus the Chief of the General Staff and the Minister of Logistics, formed the core of Great Hua’s military power.

As for the second tier, it consisted of the commanders of the main divisions and the heads of special forces.

This group was much larger, numbering about sixty.

These sixty-odd people were roughly divided into two factions: the old guard and the new generation.

The old guard consisted of those who had risen through seniority, such as Li Lianfan, Xu Yuxian, Qian Sule, and Ning Xiang.

The new generation consisted of those who had graduated from military academies with excellent grades and strong abilities, but lacked military merit due to fewer battles fought.

This group was represented by Zou Jing, Tang Hu, and Liu Bolong.

Although both were in the second tier, there was a significant gap in their status, or rather, influence.

For example, Ning Xiang, the commander of the air force, would have already squeezed into the first tier if the air force wasn’t so small.

Unfortunately, the development of the air force had stagnated, failing to make breakthroughs. Compared to other weapons, it was too expensive, leading to the military’s lack of interest.

As a result, the air force couldn’t expand, and Ning Xiang was helpless.

However, no matter what, he was still the top figure in the air force, with much more power than the average division commander.

Plus, he had seniority and a high peerage.

Slightly behind him were people like Li Lianfan, who had participated in many battles and accumulated a lot of merit, giving them higher peerages than the new generation.

This situation led to a phenomenon in the Huaxia army.

The veterans generally became conservatives, while the new generation was very radical, actively promoting plans to conquer the surrounding areas.

A careful study would reveal that the conservatives were generally in the Central Military Region, while the radical division commanders were in the frontier military regions.

Wu Changqing only announced the awards for these two tiers. As for the third tier and below, the military would announce them after the celebration.

Wu Changqing certainly didn’t have enough time to announce them one by one at the celebration.

The number of people in the third tier was almost ten times that of the second tier.

Of course, Wu Changqing didn’t only recognize the high-ranking officials.

He also selected some low-ranking officers and soldiers who had made great contributions to be recognized and decorated. Among them, five were awarded the Second-Rank Golden Saber, and even more were awarded the Third-Rank Golden Saber.

The number of soldiers who received the Silver Saber Medal was even higher than that of officers.

Wu Changqing personally awarded medals to those with the Second-Rank Golden Saber and Second-Rank Silver Saber. As for the Third-Rank, the military would take care of it afterward.

The entire celebration lasted nearly a day, and it took almost half a day just to read out the heroic deeds of those honored.

Of course, this time was well spent.

The common people who came to watch were all moved by the heroic deeds.

The propaganda effect was quite good.

“After this awarding of honors, who knows when the next major reward will be,” Xu Yuxian complained.

He hadn’t been able to squeeze into the first tier, and he felt somewhat unwilling.

In terms of merit, his wasn’t lower than Xiong Rulin’s, and in terms of ability, he didn’t think he was inferior to the other.

Unfortunately, Xiong Rulin had become a military region commander, while he was still just a division commander.

Although their peerages weren’t that different, there was a significant gap in their status.

More importantly, Great Hua wouldn’t have any major wars for a long time to come, making it as difficult as ascending to heaven to earn merit.

In other words, he had no chance of climbing higher.

“What’s the rush, Lord Xu? Great Hua has only been established for four years. You’re already halfway to becoming a commander. If you wait a few more years, the commander’s position won’t run away,” Duan Qiming comforted him. He was quite satisfied with the current situation.

In fact, the promotion speed of these veterans wasn’t slow.

In peacetime, how could a general have a chance of reaching the top in just thirty or forty years?

“That’s true, but we all started from regimental commander or even brigade commander, and we’ve only been promoted one or two levels after so many years. And look at our younger generation. They came out of military academies, from battalion commander to division commander, and some have only taken less than two years,” Xu Yuxian said helplessly. There was no harm without comparison. The main reason was that there were too many rapidly rising stars in the Huaxia army, which made him feel a sense of loss.

“Why don’t you apply to His Majesty to switch to the navy, Old Xu? It’s easier to get promoted in the navy. Look at Bai Bainian. He started even lower than us, but because he switched to the navy, he’s now so successful.

Moreover, His Majesty’s intention to vigorously develop the navy is no secret. I estimate that the navy will have several more fleets soon. If you get a fleet commander position, that’s also the first tier,” Li Lianfan suggested a bad idea.

Although the idea was a possibility, if Xu Yuxian really applied, he might be scolded by Wu Changqing.

What was it to leave the army to join the navy?

In the past, the navy was short of talent, so there was no other choice.

But now, the navy had a complete talent training process, and officials were promoted internally, with very few accepting paratroopers from the army.

“I think you’re all worrying too much. The world is so big, are you worried about not having wars to fight? Next door there’s Japan, to the west there’s Yarkand and Tibet, in Southeast Asia there’s Annam and other countries, and in South Asia there’s India. Can the Marine Corps solve all these problems with their limited manpower? In the end, we still have to rely on our army,” Zhang Yingyuan complained.

He felt that Xu Yuxian and the others were worrying about nothing. At their current promotion speed, a military region commander and a marquis were definitely within reach.

After all, there were still plenty of places in the world that hadn’t been recovered.

When the territory became too large, a governor or something similar might have to be added above the military region commander, otherwise it would be inconvenient to manage.

Zhang Yingyuan felt that instead of worrying about not having wars to fight, they should worry about Wu Changqing using his power to prevent his subordinates from becoming too powerful and freezing them out, just like Li Shaobin and the others. After their official positions were promoted to commander-in-chief and their peerages were raised to duke, they were stripped of their actual power, given honorary positions, and then sent to retire.

Of course, at that level, they were already high-ranking officials, and there was really nothing to pursue.

Chapter 752: Four Years of Achievements 1

November. With nearly two months until the New Year, the Great Hua court was already preparing its annual summary, compiling the nation’s development achievements for the year.

The civil officials were doing this, in reality, to try and get a raise.

Although the salaries of Great Hua officials weren’t low to begin with, due to relatively comprehensive oversight, the opportunities for officials to line their pockets had greatly decreased compared to the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, their overall income hadn’t increased.

If it were just a matter of no increase, that would be fine, but the key was that Nanjing now had more and more good things, consumption was getting higher and higher, and there were too many places to spend money.

If they wanted to live a top-tier life, relying on that little salary was far from enough.

The Chinese land had always been a society where officials held the highest position, the most elite class.

However, now those merchants and researchers were living more comfortably than they, the officials, which left many officials feeling dissatisfied.

Seeing those military generals constantly receiving rewards and promotions, they were even more unwilling to accept it.

When had civil officials fallen to this point? It was simply unbearable.

So, they prepared a very impressive report, summarizing the development achievements of these years.

And these development achievements were naturally the credit of them, the civil officials.

The fifteenth, morning court.

The Great Hua’s morning court hadn’t been completely abolished, but it had been changed to twice a month, with additional sessions added at any time for major or urgent matters.

The fifteenth was the routine morning court, but this time there was nothing that needed to be discussed.

This morning court was mainly to announce the development achievements of Yongxing Year Four, or rather, of Great Hua over these four-plus years.

“Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor! Long live, long live the Emperor!”

Wu Changqing had abolished many kneeling rituals. Most of the time and in most situations, Great Hua officials didn’t need to kneel.

However, they still had to kneel once during the morning court.

This wasn’t Wu Changqing’s requirement, but rather the officials themselves who didn’t agree to abolish it, which was very strange.

Wu Changqing couldn’t pry open their brains, so he didn’t understand why they didn’t agree.

Perhaps, maybe they just wanted to maintain the inherited system of hierarchy. Too much change at once would make them uncomfortable and anxious.

“Rise, be seated.”

In this regard, Wu Changqing was much more generous than the emperors of the past, not requiring them to stand during the meeting.

This time, Great Hua also invited some foreign friends to attend as observers.

Firstly, to flex its muscles, and secondly, to show off a bit.

Great Hua was developing so well, of course it had to let foreigners know and make them envious.

Looking at the envious little eyes of the foreigners, it was truly as satisfying as could be.

Thirdly, it could also attract some foreign capital.

The better Great Hua developed, the greater its attraction to capital, talent, and even ordinary people.

After a few routine procedures, the various departments began to report their development achievements.

First up was the Vice Minister of Transportation, Ma Shiying.

“Since the railway construction began in Yongxing Year Two, our nation has now completed three railways, namely Nanjing to Shanghai, Shanghai to Hangzhou, and Nanjing to Jiujiang, with a total mileage of one thousand kilometers.

There are six under construction, namely Nanjing to Beijing, Beijing to Shengjing, Xuzhou to Zhengzhou, Jiujiang to Guangzhou…

These railways under construction have also achieved partial opening of some sections, with an operating mileage of more than five hundred kilometers and a construction mileage of ten thousand kilometers.

Compared to Yongxing Year One, our nation’s transportation capacity has increased more than a hundredfold.

Once the railways currently under construction are completed, the transportation capacity will increase by about another twentyfold…”

How Ma Shiying came up with this hundredfold increase wasn’t really important.

Anyway, it had increased many times over, that was for sure.

This was just the achievement in railways. Ma Shiying didn’t stop there, and continued to report on the construction achievements in highways and waterways.

In terms of highways, Great Hua has now built three ten-plus-meter-wide imperial roads, equivalent to expressways, only without speed limits.

Of these three imperial roads, only the Nanjing to Shanghai one had a thin layer of cement laid, while the other two were paved with sand or cinder.

The main problem was cost. There was no need to build routes that weren’t particularly important too well.

In addition to these three imperial roads, the old official roads between other cities had also been renovated.

Highway transportation had also developed greatly, but in terms of perception, it wasn’t as shocking as the railways.

In terms of waterway transportation, Great Hua had also achieved good results.

The previous Grand Canal often became blocked and needed to be cleaned of silt regularly.

In the late Ming Dynasty, they couldn’t even scrape together military expenses, let alone manage river channels.

After Great Hua recovered the North, it manufactured a batch of professional dredging ships. The effect of clearing silt from the riverbed was very good, several times that of manpower.

After using steam engines to provide power, the efficiency increased several times over.

Now, the Grand Canal had been thoroughly dredged, and shipping efficiency had increased two or three times compared to the Ming Dynasty.

What had increased even more was naturally maritime transport. Great Hua had now built more than a dozen large ports.

Shanghai, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Ningbo, Tianjin, and so on.

The cargo throughput of its ports was at least ten thousand times that of the Ming Dynasty, it was that exaggerated.

“Not bad, to get rich, first build roads.”

Wu Changqing almost shouted out the slogan ‘Have fewer children and raise more pigs’, fortunately he braked in time.

“The construction of railways needs to be accelerated, make full use of private capital…”

After Ma Shiying finished reading out the achievements of the Ministry of Transportation, Wu Changqing gave a speech.

He still attached great importance to transportation. As long as transportation was developed, it could drive economic prosperity, which was the historical experience he had seen in later generations.

Wu Changqing was satisfied, and the officials below all showed relieved expressions after listening.

As for those foreigners who came to observe, their expressions were varied after hearing these figures.

The Japan representative was afraid. Great Hua was growing stronger every day, and the threat to Japan was getting bigger and bigger. They knew that once Great Hua had sorted out its internal development, it would be very likely to expand outwards, and their Japan would inevitably bear the brunt.

The Spanish representative, Carlos, was shocked. He knew what ten thousand kilometers of railway lines meant, enough to connect all the important cities in Spain.

Carlos imagined what it would be like if Spain had ten thousand kilometers of railways, and then sighed.

Now Western Europe was vigorously researching steam engines, but the United Kingdom, which was making the fastest progress, had only just produced a five-horsepower steam engine.

Moreover, after running for an hour, that experimental machine broke down.

Other countries haven’t even built such an experimental machine yet.

So, Carlos didn’t know when Spain would be able to build a locomotive, didn’t know when it would be able to have railways.

Chapter 753: Four Years of Progress 2

Fear, shock, worry, envy, dread…

These expressions were all present on the faces of the representatives from various countries.

The officials of Great Hua glanced at the foreign representatives from time to time, feeling extremely pleased.

After Ma Shiying finished reading, the next was Qian Taoli, the Vice Minister of Revenue.

He reported on the achievements in agriculture.

“In the fourth year of Yongxing, our dynasty produced approximately thirty million tons of grain, achieving an average daily ration of one and a half Jin per person, initially solving the problem of basic needs…”

Thirty million tons was actually an estimated figure and not entirely accurate.

Moreover, of these thirty million tons, some were rice, some were wheat, and some were potatoes, corn, and sweet potatoes.

If all thirty million tons were rice and wheat, that would be truly remarkable.

However, even if it wasn’t all rice, this grain yield was still incredibly astonishing.

Because of the Little Ice Age, most parts of the world were experiencing reduced grain production, while Great Hua was still increasing production. This was a terrifying thing.

This yield could indeed solve the problem of basic needs.

Coupled with Great Hua’s continuous import of grain, Great Hua now had a significant surplus of grain, leading to the rapid development of the breeding industry.

Hearing that Great Hua had solved the problem of basic needs, the representatives of other countries were stunned like wooden chickens.

It wasn’t their fault for being so surprised, because this was the seventeenth century, and nowhere in the world had completely solved the problem of basic needs.

In most places, even if people didn’t starve to death, they couldn’t possibly have one and a half Jin of rations per person per day like in Great Hua. That was the life of a small landlord!

In other words, Great Hua was now living the life of a landlord per capita.

These foreign representatives secretly rejoiced that the lower-class people in their countries didn’t know about this situation, otherwise they would break their heads trying to come to Great Hua to live.

In Great Hua, being a slave was better than being a poor peasant in their own country.

“With the promotion and use of nitrogen fertilizer and urea, it is estimated that grain production next year can be increased by another ten percent. The scale of poultry farming is more than three times larger than in the third year of Yongxing and is developing rapidly. In the future, meat will no longer be a luxury…”

Qian Taoli also stepped down after speaking.

“Very good. Food is the paramount necessity of the people, and all development is based on the premise that the people are fed. Moreover, the people also have the right to pursue happiness. They must not only be fed but also eat well.

Increasing the proportion of meat can improve the physical fitness of the entire population, which is very important.”

Wu Changqing was speaking the truth, but his truth was driving the envoys of other countries crazy.

They really wanted to rush to Wu Changqing and slap him a few times, telling him that the people in their countries were still starving, and he actually wanted all the people of Great Hua to eat meat.

Wasn’t the living standard of a landlord per capita enough? Did he want the living standard of an aristocrat per capita?

Excessive, it was too excessive.

These foreign envoys felt that Wu Changqing was really too much.

Subsequently, Ruan Dacheng, the Vice Minister of Industry, also began to report on the achievements in industry.

“In the fourth year of Yongxing, our dynasty’s steel production reached one million tons, completing the five-year plan ahead of schedule. Three machine tool factories and five machinery manufacturing factories were added, all completing the five-year plan ahead of schedule.

In terms of minerals, coal mining reached five million tons, iron ore mining reached three million tons. Oil production reached ten thousand tons, and the total amount of other rare metal mining reached two hundred thousand tons…”

They couldn’t listen anymore, they really couldn’t listen anymore.

Some foreign representatives wanted to leave early. They regretted attending this imperial court session, which was simply masochistic.

Any of the development achievements of Great Hua were enough to crush the rest of the world.

This made other countries feel despair and fear.

Many people had a thought in their minds: if all the other countries in the world united, could they destroy Great Hua and divide everything of Great Hua?

Some people thought it was difficult, while others thought there was hope, but they all knew that this fantasy was meaningless. It wasn’t that easy to unite the whole world.

Now, there were many contradictions between countries all over the world.

Not to mention uniting the whole world, even uniting the whole of Europe was very difficult.

However, these representatives had already decided to write letters to their countries, suggesting that their kings promote the European Grand Alliance.

Only in this way could they compete with Great Hua.

Just as these guys were daydreaming, the representative of the Great Hua military also stood up and announced the construction achievements of the Great Hua army.

The military strength of the military was a secret and naturally could not be made public.

Therefore, Li Shaobin was basically just reading out data randomly, in order to deter those foreigners.

“Our army has a total of five thousand field guns, ten thousand small cannons, two million rifles, ten million hand grenades, and a total army of two million people.

In terms of the navy, there are three five-thousand-ton warships, thirty two-thousand-ton warships, one hundred one-thousand-ton warships, five hundred tons…”

Foreign envoys knew at a glance that this data was nonsense.

However, they knew that although the people of Great Hua exaggerated a bit, even with a discount, their military strength was still terrifying.

Alas, hoping to unite to defeat Great Hua was probably hopeless. It was better to suggest that their country vigorously develop science and technology. Only when science and technology caught up with Great Hua could they catch up with or surpass Great Hua.

Many envoys knew in their hearts that the greatest contributor to these great achievements of Great Hua was ‘science and technology’.

As long as science and technology progressed, their country could also develop rapidly like Great Hua.

Give us twenty years.

William, the representative of England, prayed in his heart. He felt that England must not go to war with Great Hua now. They must endure for a dozen or twenty years and use this time to develop science and technology to catch up with Great Hua.

Perhaps the officials of Great Hua heard his inner voice, the representative of the Scientific Research Department, Ma Ruzhong, stood up and announced the achievements Great Hua had made in science and technology in recent years.

“Under the leadership of His Majesty, who is wise, martial, and omniscient, our dynasty has made great discoveries in science and technology. Steam has been initially popularized, research on electricity has also entered a stage of rapid development, and internal combustion engines have also shown promise. The first internal combustion engine has been successfully test-run and has been working continuously for six hours.

It is estimated that after only half a year of improvement, the internal combustion engine can be put into practical use…”

Ma Ruzhong’s words made William completely despair.

Although he didn’t even quite understand what an internal combustion engine was, he knew what a steam engine and electricity were.

He suddenly realized that the gap between the West and Great Hua in science and technology was even greater than in other aspects.

If they wanted to catch up with Great Hua in science and technology, unless the people of Great Hua collectively gave up research and then killed all the scholars.

But that was simply impossible.

Chapter 754: The Thoughts of Various Nations

This morning court session lasted a very long time.

Besides transportation, industry, agriculture, military affairs, and technology, the officials also reported on the development achievements in education, commerce, and people’s livelihood.

Every single one of these achievements brought tears to the eyes of the foreign representatives.

If it weren’t for maintaining appearances, they would have left crying.

Great Hua’s morning court session was a heavy blow to them.

At the Japan House, two envoys representing the shogunate sat facing each other on their knees.

“Mr. Kinoshi, there is only one way left to hinder and disrupt Great Hua’s development.”

“Oh? What way?”

Kinoshi Takumi asked.

“Assassinate the Emperor of Great Hua. Although the Central Plains is vast and rich in resources, you and I both know what the Central Plains used to be like. All these changes originate from the Emperor of Great Hua.

As long as the Emperor of Great Hua is killed, even if it cannot completely halt Great Hua’s development, the blow to Great Hua will be like the eruption of Mount Fuji. Moreover, the Emperor of Great Hua’s children are still young. As long as Wu Changqing dies, the powerful officials under him will definitely fall into a chaotic power struggle.

If we can split Great Hua, that would be the best.”

Naizumi Sugami said. He had pondered all night and could only come up with this method.

“The risk is too great. Once it fails, Japan will be doomed. Moreover, even if it succeeds, Great Hua will still retaliate against us.”

Kinoshi Takumi shook his head. He was frightened by Naizumi Sugami’s suggestion.

Assassinating the Emperor of Great Hua, there is probably nothing more insane than this in the world.

“Mr. Kinoshi, don’t be naive. Even if we call the Emperor of Great Hua ‘Father,’ he will not let Japan off the hook. Everything he is doing in Japan now is simply to destroy the roots of our Yamato race.

Now, we only have one choice: to fight with the determination to perish together.”

Naizumi Sugami was much more fanatical and smarter.

Although Great Hua has not fully invaded Japan, Naizumi Sugami knew that Great Hua had the intention of completely annexing Japan.

“That’s true, but it’s not easy to assassinate the Emperor of Great Hua.”

Kinoshi Takumi sighed.

Wu Changqing usually stays in the palace and only goes out when he goes to inspect.

However, every time Wu Changqing goes out, he is surrounded by guards, making it impossible to attack.

“We can exploit his weakness for beauty and find a stunning beauty, preferably not Japanese. Then, we can find a way to send her into the palace and let her find an opportunity to kill Wu Changqing. This way, we can also shift the blame to others.”

Naizumi Sugami’s suggestion sounded tempting, but Kinoshi Takumi knew that it would be very difficult to implement in practice.

First of all, although Wu Changqing is fond of women, he is not lacking in beauties. Many people want to send beauties to Wu Changqing, but it is not easy to send them to Wu Changqing’s side.

Moreover, how to make that woman obey orders is also a huge problem.

To have a chance to assassinate Wu Changqing, she must be extremely favored.

But here’s the problem: someone who is extremely favored in front of Wu Changqing has already achieved a woman’s ultimate pursuit. Why would she assassinate him? Wouldn’t that be crazy?

In short, it is very difficult to complete this operation.

Facing Kinoshi Takumi’s question, Naizumi Sugami said, “I know it’s very difficult, but we still have to try. Even if there is only a glimmer of hope, it’s better than sitting still and waiting for death.”

“Okay, you can handle this matter. However, you must always remember one principle: we must not be exposed, we must not be exposed, we must not be exposed as Japanese.”

Kinoshi Takumi reminded him three times not to be exposed, because Great Hua was really not someone they could afford to provoke.

Afterwards, the two continued to discuss some details. Naizumi Sugami did not place all his hopes on women. He also decided to train a team of death warriors and then look for opportunities to assassinate Wu Changqing.

While the Japanese were thinking about how to deal with Great Hua, the envoys of other countries were also thinking about this issue.

Moreover, Naizumi Sugami was not the only one who thought of assassination.

After all, everyone could see Wu Changqing’s importance to Great Hua.

Killing Wu Changqing might not completely eliminate Great Hua, but it would definitely greatly damage Great Hua’s vitality.

The best outcome would be for Great Hua’s powerful generals to fight each other and split Great Hua, which would be perfect.

Of course, not everyone would act as soon as they thought of it, like Naizumi Sugami.

After all, the consequences of doing so were too serious.

Carlos wrote a letter back to his country, suggesting that they increase the number of people studying in Great Hua to learn Great Hua’s science and technology, increase trade with Great Hua, and then find a way to form a marriage alliance with Great Hua.

They should not only send women to the Emperor of Great Hua, but also to the important officials of Great Hua, trying to make the relationship between the two countries better and closer.

The English ambassador, William, suggested to his country that they send more spies to steal Great Hua’s technological achievements, increase domestic research on technology, and increase the plunder of colonies.

At the same time, if conflicts occur with Great Hua overseas, William advised them to temporarily give way.

Compared to those ambitious countries, the ambassadors of some other small and weak countries had completely different ideas.

Like the people of the Siamese dynasty, they hoped that the king could increase his sincerity and strive to become a vassal state of Great Hua.

Not the previous kind of vassal state that retained political, military, and diplomatic rights. The Siamese ambassador, Song Pasan, suggested becoming a complete appendage of Great Hua.

The idea was to hand over military, diplomatic, and other powers to Great Hua, allowing Siam to become a part of Great Hua.

This suggestion can be said to be somewhat rebellious, even a traitorous suggestion.

But Song Pasan still risked a great deal to analyze the pros and cons to the King of Siam.

However, he also knew that the possibility of this suggestion being adopted was extremely low.

After all, no king would be willing to hand over all power to others and become a wealthy man.

No matter how superior a life Great Hua could guarantee him, it would not be as good as holding power in his hands.

Compared to the envoy of Annam, Song Pasan was actually considered lucky.

The envoy of Annam was not qualified to think so much. The only thing they had to do was to find ways to please Great Hua, their daddy, and get Great Hua to give them more military support.

Now, the Lê dynasty and the Mạc dynasty in Annam were fighting inextricably, and both sides had suffered extremely heavy losses.

The daimyo in Japan were fighting, but because they were afraid of a third party, they did not dare to fight too fiercely, fearing that their peaches would be stolen.

But the Lê dynasty and the Mạc dynasty did not have this concern. They only needed to fight to the death, and they could kill each other.

Therefore, when they fought, they fought without reservation.

The tragic nature of the battlefield was even worse than in Japan.

Now, both the Lê dynasty and the Mạc dynasty were almost unable to hold on.

And their only way was to seek the support of Great Hua.

Chapter 755: The Temptation of Great Hua

Kyushu Island, South Nine Provinces.

After several months of construction, South Nine Provinces has undergone a tremendous transformation.

The roar of machinery constantly echoes from five or six factories.

Ships come and go in the harbor, and the docks are bustling with activity.

And the people living in South Nine Provinces are all radiant with health.

This is unbelievable to the Japanese in other areas because just a few months ago, the Japanese in South Nine Provinces were all sallow and emaciated, as thin as skin and bones from hunger.

A single typhoon could blow away several of them.

But now, the people in South Nine Provinces no longer have that sickly look, and even walk faster than before.

Tsugami Matsukiyo is from Minamimaru, a town north of South Nine Provinces.

The two places are very close, and his maternal grandparents are from South Nine Provinces.

This time, Tsugami Matsukiyo brought his younger sister to his grandparents’ house to visit them.

Along the way, the observant Tsugami Matsukiyo noticed some changes in the people of South Nine Provinces and felt very puzzled.

After all, South Nine Provinces had recently experienced a rebellion, which was suppressed by the daimyo, and was eventually sold to Great Hua.

In Tsugami Matsukiyo’s impression, places that have experienced war are often in dire straits, and it takes a long time to recover.

However, Tsugami Matsukiyo now found that the people of South Nine Provinces seemed to be living very well.

“Grandfather.”

Tsugami Matsukiyo and his sister arrived at his grandfather’s village and shouted as soon as they entered.

“It’s Matsukiyo and Nanako, come in quickly.”

Tsugami Matsukiyo’s grandfather, Yamagata Aritomo, greeted them.

“Mother asked me to bring these flatbreads.”

Tsugami Matsukiyo took out a package of food, but he found that Yamagata Aritomo casually took it and casually put it aside.

This situation surprised Tsugami Matsukiyo again, because his grandfather’s family had always been relatively poor, often not having enough to eat, and needing his family to help them out.

The last time he brought food, Yamagata Aritomo’s reaction was quite excited when he saw the food.

But now, Yamagata Aritomo’s reaction was too bland.

“What does Nanako want to eat? Grandma will make it for you.”

Nanako’s grandmother said happily.

“Just make something simple.”

Tsugami Matsukiyo said sensibly.

“How can that be? It’s not easy for Nanako to come, tell Grandma what you want to eat, and Grandma will make it for you.”

Nanako’s grandmother always felt that she owed these two children, and had never been able to treat them well before. Now that she had the ability, she naturally didn’t want to be casual anymore.

Nanako was still young and didn’t understand, so when she heard her grandmother’s words, she immediately recalled the best food she had ever eaten in her life.

She said, “I like to eat fish balls.”

Although Japan is full of coastlines, this does not mean that it is easy for them to eat fish.

Just a fishing boat that can go to sea has stumped countless families.

Moreover, the fishing technology at this time is not very reliable. Fish is also a relatively rare dish for ordinary Japanese people.

Tsugami Matsukiyo was about to reprimand his sister for being ignorant, but Yamagata Aritomo readily said, “Okay, Grandpa will buy it for you, it will be quick.”

Nanako ate the fish balls as she wished. At the dinner table, Tsugami Matsukiyo asked about these changes.

Yamagata Aritomo said, “This is all thanks to our Great Hua Emperor, who sympathizes with the people of South Nine Provinces, so he has set up many factories here.

Your uncle and aunt are working in the factory, and the money they earn in a day can buy several Jin of fish. Moreover, the lands that originally belonged to the daimyo and samurai were also bought by the Great Hua Emperor with money and then distributed to us to cultivate.

We don’t need to pay taxes this year, and we only need to pay half the taxes next year. We will never have to worry about not having enough to eat again.”

“Great Hua Emperor?”

Tsugami Matsukiyo was confused by these words.

“This is Chinese, meaning the Great Hua daimyo. Now the people of our South Nine Provinces are no longer Japanese, but Great Hua people. We have also learned a lot of Chinese for this.”

Yamagata Aritomo explained.

“Oh.”

Tsugami Matsukiyo said “oh” and didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with his grandparents’ attitude.

The concept of the country is quite vague for people at the bottom.

Their identification with the country is not even as strong as their identification with the place of South Nine Provinces.

“Why is the Great Hua daimyo so good to you?”

Tsugami Matsukiyo was still confused, because the Great Hua Emperor was too good to the people of South Nine Provinces, far exceeding the Shimazu clan.

“How would I know? Maybe the Great Hua Emperor is benevolent. Moreover, Great Hua is very rich. Your uncle said that the Great Hua people in the Central Plains eat white rice every meal and have meat with every meal.

They wear silk, cover themselves with cotton quilts, and don’t have to walk when they go out. They have trains that move on their own…”

Yamagata Aritomo talked endlessly about what he had heard. In fact, he had never heard those rumors either.

However, thinking that Great Hua had exempted him from taxes, he felt that this kind of thing was very possible.

If Great Hua was not so rich, how could they not even collect taxes?

“Alas, it’s a pity. If you were also in South Nine Provinces, you could also enjoy this kind of treatment.”

Yamagata Aritomo sighed. He knew that the Japanese people in other places, except for South Nine Provinces, were living in dire straits.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was scraping even harder than before in order to maintain the war.

“I can ask my father to sell the land at home and move to South Nine Provinces.”

Nanako said, even though she was only eleven years old, she also knew that her family’s life was not as good as that in South Nine Provinces.

“It’s not that easy. The Shimazu clan won’t let you leave. Moreover, there are many people who want to move to South Nine Provinces now. Great Hua doesn’t accept just anyone. Unless you have a skill, or have money, or are a girl.

Nanako can come over and become a Great Hua person, but it’s difficult for Matsukiyo, unless you can prove that you have a skill. As for your parents, it’s even more difficult.”

Yamagata Aritomo said.

“You can go back and discuss it with your father and mother. If they want to come over, I’ll have your uncle think of a way.”

Nanako’s grandmother said.

They were living a good life, so naturally they also hoped that their daughter’s family could also live this kind of good life.

After staying at their grandmother’s house for a day, Tsugami Matsukiyo and his sister returned home, and then told their fellow villagers about what they had seen and heard, making their fellow villagers’ hearts surge.

There are countless examples like Tsugami Matsukiyo.

There are many Japanese people who come to South Nine Provinces, and they can’t help but tell the people around them what they have seen.

As more and more people spread the word, the surrounding Japanese people became more and more aware of South Nine Provinces.

And after understanding, they were filled with infinite yearning for South Nine Provinces.

Tax exemption for farming, and jobs, no discrimination, this is simply heaven.

Going to South Nine Provinces and becoming a Great Hua person has become a hot topic among the Japanese people around South Nine Provinces for a while.

Chapter 756: A Land of Yearning

Compared to the Japanese, it was much harder for Western Europeans to obtain information about Great Hua, and the timeliness was far worse.

After all, it took at least three months to travel from Great Hua to Western Europe, even at the speed of a steamship.

If it were a pure sailing ship, it would take nearly a year.

They needed to wait for the monsoon to set sail; without that wind, they could only stay in port and wait.

Without wind, they couldn’t sail. Trying to row there with manpower would exhaust them to death before they even reached Great Hua.

Communication between the two places was difficult, but it couldn’t stop the Western Europeans’ curiosity about Great Hua.

Therefore, after the first Great Hua fleet arrived in Western Europe and established a base in Ceuta, Western Europeans became particularly fond of a certain Great Hua commodity: newspapers and books.

Some Great Hua officials worried that newspapers and books spreading to Europe would accelerate Europe’s development.

However, most people didn’t really care.

After all, the books that could circulate on the market weren’t anything confidential.

Even if Great Hua wanted to strictly prevent it, it would be difficult to completely stop it, so they simply ignored it.

Anyway, the people of Great Hua believed that the development of other places couldn’t possibly be faster than Great Hua.

This was the invincible confidence built up by Great Hua’s continuous victories, and it was hard to say whether this confidence was good or bad.

In short, Great Hua’s newspapers and books could freely circulate to Western Europe.

And as the best way to understand Great Hua, Great Hua’s newspapers and books became bestsellers in Western Europe.

This stuff had low costs and high selling prices, and Great Hua merchants liked to bring a bunch of it after discovering this.

After more than a year of trade, Western Europe now had many Great Hua newspapers and books.

And through those newspapers and books, plus the Western European merchants’ various boasts about Great Hua, Western Europeans now regarded Great Hua as paradise.

“Hurry up, Olgana, we’re going to be late.”

A sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl urged, while the girl called Olgana was still hurriedly dressing up.

As a girl who had been constantly praised for her beauty since she was a child, Olgana didn’t allow herself to be seen in an imperfect state.

“My God, you’re already beautiful enough, and you still need to dress up. Can you give your best friend Juliet a chance to live? If you continue like this, you’ll lose your only friend.”

Juliet complained.

Olgana was too beautiful; other girls didn’t like being with her, as it made them seem less pretty.

Only Juliet had grown up with her since childhood and could only endure it helplessly.

“Okay, hurry, hurry, hurry, we’re going to be late.”

Olgana got into the carriage and instead urged Juliet, making Juliet extremely annoyed. She swore that she might one day lose control and kill Olgana, with a certain umbrella as the murder weapon.

The two hurriedly arrived at a castle, where there was a gathering today. The famous writer Albert would chat with fans about what he had seen and heard in Great Hua.

Albert was originally a nobleman, but his family later declined, and he was forced to go to sea to do business. Unfortunately, he encountered a storm, and all his goods were destroyed.

After arriving in Great Hua, he quickly mastered Chinese through intelligence and diligence. Then, he worked as a translator and middleman, accumulating a fortune. After that, he bought another batch of goods and returned to Western Europe.

As a result, he encountered royal pirates in the English Channel, and his goods were robbed.

Fortunately, the royal pirates didn’t go too far and didn’t take their lives.

After returning to France, Albert felt that he might not be suitable for business, so he wanted to find other work.

When he had nothing to do, he wrote down his experiences in Great Hua and published a book.

Unexpectedly, the book became an instant hit, arousing Western Europeans’ strong interest in Great Hua.

Western Europeans had endless curiosity about the paradise-like Great Hua.

This made Albert famous, and he gained a large number of fans.

So, at the strong request of his fans, he was invited to a noble’s house to chat with fans about his experiences in Great Hua.

After all, the stories written in the book needed to be concise and not detailed enough.

“Are you Mr. Albert?”

After entering the living room, Olgana asked the person who seemed to be Albert, as she was eager to learn everything about Great Hua.

Albert was stunned for a moment before he reacted.

He was amazed by Olgana’s beauty, and he fell in love with this girl in an instant.

He began to get excited, because the last time he was invited to chat in the Netherlands, he ended up sleeping with a female fan.

Albert couldn’t wait to perform well and conquer Olgana.

“That’s right, I’m Albert. May I ask for the lady’s name?”

“My name is Olgana.”

Their conversation almost ignored Juliet’s existence, and Juliet couldn’t help but want to find an umbrella.

Fortunately, Albert was only momentarily distracted. After he came back to his senses, he realized that he had almost made a big mistake and quickly asked for Juliet’s name.

Olgana just smiled inwardly at Albert’s embarrassment. She had encountered this situation too many times and was already used to it.

There were more than a dozen people attending the exchange meeting, mostly girls, with only four boys.

Everyone sat on the sofas, while some could only sit on the carpet.

Even if the host of this house was a nobleman, there couldn’t be that many sofas in the house. Western Europe couldn’t be that wealthy.

Having a carpet was already a symbol of noble status.

“Mr. Albert, please tell us, what is Great Hua like? Is it really as beautiful and rich as you said in your book?”

Someone who was impatient urged.

“Of course, I didn’t exaggerate at all. In fact, because I was worried that readers would think I was bragging, I deliberately wrote some places in Great Hua as not so good.

For example, their trains can pull three hundred carts of goods at a time, instead of one hundred carts.”

Albert said.

Everyone gasped when they heard this. Three hundred carts of goods—they had never seen so many goods at once, and they couldn’t imagine how to move forward with so many goods.

“I don’t believe it. That’s impossible. There’s no power in the world strong enough to pull so many goods at once.”

August, one of the four boys, expressed his doubts.

His suspicion was actually very reasonable.

People who didn’t doubt at all were really out of their minds.

A boy who had never seen a steam engine and didn’t understand the principles of a steam engine certainly couldn’t understand how such heavy goods could be pulled.

“August, there’s nothing strange about this. Even if you haven’t seen fire ships, you should have seen Great Hua’s steamships, right? Those steamships transport more goods at a time than a fire ship. Not to mention steamships, even sailing ships can pull so many goods by using the power of the wind.”

Albert directly gave an example, leaving August speechless.

Chapter 757: The Air in Great Hua is the Sweetest

“Mr. Albert, are the streets in Great Hua really as smooth as mirrors, without any garbage or stench, and no beggars?”

Olgana asked the question she was most concerned about.

The hygiene of current Western European cities was simply terrible.

Many families dumped their excrement directly onto the streets, and the passing cattle and horses left behind large amounts of manure.

The worst smell came from fish entrails. Because the consumption of fish was very high in the cities, a large number of fish were slaughtered every year, and there was no one specifically responsible for handling the inedible entrails and intestines.

Even Olgana, who lived in a relatively clean wealthy area, could not escape the stench. She was completely disgusted with this place full of foul odors.

“Like a mirror is a figure of speech; it’s definitely not to that extent, but their streets are indeed very flat, without any potholes.

And they are very clean. Not to mention excrement, there isn’t even any other household garbage. In Great Hua, littering is fined. The first time, not knowing the rules, I was fined one Great Hua dollar.

My God, that was half a month’s worth of bread money for me! I still feel a pang of heartache when I think about it.”

Albert was very witty and humorous, and he even fabricated some embarrassing stories about himself to give a sense of sincerity.

As he spoke, he secretly paid attention to Olgana’s expression.

To his disappointment, everyone else was laughing, but Olgana appeared extremely calm.

Helpless, Albert could only continue chatting: “There are also horses on their streets, but not many. Occasionally, when horses leave manure, there are people specifically responsible for cleaning it up.

Every few hundred meters along the street, there is a trash can specifically for pedestrians to throw away garbage. Every morning, someone comes to take this garbage away.

Moreover, there are no beggars in the cities of Great Hua. Their beggars are specially taken care of. Every wisp of air in Great Hua is so sweet.”

Albert struck a pose of intoxication.

His words filled everyone present with infinite longing. They also wanted to live in a place where the air was sweet.

People in Western Europe at this time did not bathe often.

This was not because they didn’t like to wash, but simply because they didn’t have the means.

After taking a bath, going out would make them smelly again.

Precisely because of this reason, the only commodity in Western Europe that could compete with Great Hua was perfume.

The perfume industry in Western Europe was very developed, not at all inferior to that of Great Hua.

This was simply because all the cities in Western Europe reeked, and for the nobles, life was simply unbearable without carrying a bottle of perfume at all times.

“I really want to go to Great Hua.”

Olgana said. Others echoed, all wanting to breathe the air of Great Hua.

“Is it convenient for us Western Europeans to live in Great Hua? Will the people of Great Hua be hostile to us?”

Juliet asked a question that everyone was concerned about.

Albert chuckled inwardly upon hearing this. This was the best moment to fish.

He only needed to tell these naive girls that he had connections to go to Great Hua and could help them live there, and then he could have a romantic encounter that night.

“It’s both convenient and troublesome.”

Albert played coy, whetting everyone’s appetite before continuing, “The people of Great Hua don’t really discriminate against us, but it’s not easy to live in Great Hua.

As foreigners, you must have a legitimate reason to reside in Great Hua long-term. Either you do business in Great Hua, or you study in Great Hua, or at the very least, you must have a job.

And to obtain permanent residency, you can only join the Great Hua nationality. But it is very difficult to join the Great Hua nationality. You must make significant contributions to Great Hua to have any hope.”

Albert’s words made several girls reveal expressions of disappointment. They didn’t know how to do business, didn’t know what kind of work they could do, and didn’t have enough money or connections to study in Great Hua.

Olgana, however, did not have this worry. Her father was a Count, and her family was wealthy.

The main problem she faced was whether her family would agree.

Albert first scared everyone a bit, then changed the subject, saying, “Of course, that’s for people without connections. As long as you have connections, living in Great Hua is not a problem at all.

Like me, after being shipwrecked and stranded in Great Hua, I relied on my talents to get to know a Great Hua official. Not only can I reside in Great Hua long-term, but I also easily earned a lot of money in Great Hua.”

Hearing Albert say this, several girls became excited again and asked, “Mr. Albert, will you go to Great Hua again?”

They’re hooked, they’re hooked.

Albert was very excited, but when he saw Olgana’s indifference, he felt a little disappointed again.

Albert said, “I probably will. This time back, I hope to spend more time with my mother. However, I will definitely go to Great Hua again after a while, after all, that is paradise.”

“Can you take me with you?”

One impatient girl immediately asked.

“This, it’s hard to say, I need to consider it carefully. Let’s not talk about this today. What else do you want to know? You can ask anything. I lived in Great Hua for half a year and already know everything about Great Hua.”

Albert continued to play the long game.

“Mr. Albert, can you talk about the deeds of the Great Hua Emperor?”

Olgana’s eyes sparkled.

She was not ignorant of Great Hua. Her family bought many Great Hua newspapers and books and hired translators to translate the text.

Olgana knew some things about the Great Hua Emperor from the newspapers, knowing that Wu Changqing was a hero of Great Hua, as brave, great, and legendary as Julius Caesar.

Albert was a thirty-year-old man with a wealth of experience. From Olgana’s eyes, he sensed that Olgana had a trace of admiration for the Great Hua Emperor.

But towards himself, she was very indifferent.

Albert was very helpless. He wanted to slander the Great Hua Emperor.

However, he didn’t dare to.

Although he was now in Europe, he knew the terrifying strength of the Great Hua Emperor.

If the Great Hua Emperor wanted to deal with him, he couldn’t escape even if he was far away in Europe.

Although unwilling, Albert still told the truth: “The Emperor of Great Hua is a legendary figure. A few years ago, Great Hua was still ruled by foreign tribes.

And the Emperor of Great Hua was only sixteen years old at the time, leading three hundred people in an uprising against the foreign tribes. He always won with fewer troops, often defeating enemies several times his size.

On the battlefield, he was a god of war, never suffering a single defeat. In just over two years, he used three hundred people to defeat more than one million troops of the foreign tribes.”

“Impossible, that’s bragging, you’re definitely bragging. Three hundred people, how could they defeat more than one million troops? Moreover, how could a country have more than one million troops?”

A Dutch teenager couldn’t listen anymore. He knew that the total population of the Netherlands at this time was only two or three million.

Chapter 758: The Willful Olgana

Albert smiled, looking as if he couldn’t be bothered to argue with a child, and said, “The Great Hua Empire has over one hundred million people. Do you even know how much one hundred million is?”

That question stumped the young man.

It wasn’t easy for someone who hadn’t been educated to grasp the concept of one hundred million.

Afterward, Albert didn’t bother with the young man anymore and continued to recount Wu Changqing’s deeds.

Of course, he embellished some of the stories to make them more impactful.

Things like leading from the front and strategizing, which made the young girls’ eyes sparkle.

Some later generations claim that the Japanese like to worship the strong.

That’s nonsense. Worshipping the strong is a common human trait. No nation truly worships cowards.

As these girls listened to Wu Changqing’s heroic deeds, their minds wandered.

Although Wu Changqing was out of their reach, it didn’t stop them from fantasizing.

Through this gathering, Albert gave these people a deeper understanding of Great Hua.

He even influenced some people’s decisions.

After the gathering, Albert invited Olgana to dinner, but she refused.

Olgana wasn’t stupid. She knew what accepting a man’s invitation meant.

She didn’t have much admiration for Albert. After all, Albert was too ordinary. If it were the Emperor of Great Hua, she wouldn’t be able to refuse.

Albert wasn’t too upset after being rejected by Olgana.

As an experienced middle-aged man, he knew his own worth and had long accepted the reality that he was just an ordinary person.

These kinds of people were the most practical. Snatching food from the pot while eyeing what’s in the bowl was their specialty.

If he had a chance to pursue Olgana, he would try.

But when he realized the chances were slim, he immediately turned to a more easily conquered girl.

He was destined not to become a hero like Wu Changqing, enjoying the most exquisite women, but his life would certainly not be too bad, and he would never lack freckled girls who admired him.

After the young men and women returned home, some of them expressed their desire to go to Great Hua to their parents.

This included Olgana.

No matter how vividly Albert described it, it wasn’t as good as seeing it with one’s own eyes.

“Go to Great Hua? No, no, I’ve already discussed it with Alphonse. In a while, you’ll marry his son, Firmin.”

Olgana’s father, Adrian, dropped a bombshell.

“What? Why haven’t you ever told me this? I won’t marry him!”

Olgana said angrily.

Firmin, she wasn’t very familiar with him, but she had heard some of his stories.

A playboy who did nothing all day, liked to fool around with women, and had extremely poor taste, not letting go of anyone from teenagers to those in their fifties, even hooking up with some widows in their forties and fifties.

Marry such a person?

Olgana would rather marry Albert.

“It’s not up to you, child. You need to understand our family’s current predicament. Although your father still holds the title of Earl, our family has nothing left but that title.”

Adrian said.

Olgana was actually aware of this situation.

Although her family was noble, Adrian’s incompetence and poor management had almost bankrupted them.

Alphonse, on the other hand, was a shrewd businessman whose wealth ranked among the top in all of France.

The thing that such wealthy but lowly merchants liked to do most was to marry into noble families to elevate their status and enter high society.

And those fallen nobles also liked to marry such merchants to obtain large sums of money to maintain a decent life.

It was a win-win situation.

“I don’t care, I don’t agree anyway.”

Olgana said.

However, her resistance didn’t last long.

Because in the following days, her family’s creditors came to their door one after another, forcing them to repay their debts.

Nobles valued face very much. Without face, they would be too embarrassed to continue mingling in noble circles.

Adrian’s family had been pushed to the brink. Some of the family’s valuables were being taken out to pay off debts. If this continued, their family would be completely disgraced.

Olgana experienced what it meant to be unable to control her own fate and felt the less warm side of family affection.

In short, she was forced to agree to marry Firmin.

She knew her life was over. All her beautiful fantasies had vanished, shattered by reality.

Olgana was unwilling, so she suddenly made a rather shocking request: the wedding must be held in Great Hua.

Because going to Great Hua was her wish, and she had to fulfill this wish, or she would rather die than marry.

Beautiful people always have the capital to be willful.

If an ordinary woman made such a request, she would probably remain unmarried for the rest of her life.

But she was beautiful.

Firmin agreed very readily, without even giving his father time to weigh the pros and cons.

In his opinion, as long as he could get Olgana, he would pay any price.

Even if Olgana wanted to go to a primitive tribe in Africa for an African-style wedding, he would agree.

Firmin was already fantasizing about how all the men in Europe would envy him after he got Olgana.

Having such a useless son, Alphonse was very tired.

However, his son had already agreed to the other party, and he couldn’t go back on his word, as it concerned his face.

Moreover, in Alphonse’s opinion, holding a wedding in Great Hua was also a very impressive thing that could make his family famous throughout Europe.

Although the cost of holding a wedding in Great Hua was more than ten times higher than in Europe, the coincidence was that he lacked face and status, but he didn’t lack money.

Alphonse also agreed to this request, and the two families began to get busy.

Holding a wedding in Great Hua wasn’t just about Firmin and Olgana going there. At least the important relatives and friends had to be invited to make it lively.

From this alone, one could see how much of a burden Firmin was to his father.

The cost of one person going to Great Hua was a huge sum, and they were inviting a group of people to travel to Great Hua, the cost of which was truly astronomical.

What’s more, going to Great Hua would take a lot of time. Even if they hired a Great Hua steamship, it would take seven or eight months for a round trip.

These relatives and friends weren’t as idle as Firmin. Many of them were very busy, okay?

To support and bless their wedding, the time wasted and the losses incurred had to be compensated in some way.

Those relatives and friends would certainly not ask for money, but their support was equivalent to selling Alphonse a favor.

This kind of favor had to be repaid in the future.

Chapter 759: The Qinhuai

It was only because Olgana was arrogant enough, Firmin was scoundrel enough, and Alphonse was doting enough that such an absurd thing happened.

If any one of them had been even slightly normal, this could never have been accomplished.

Therefore, the rare and bizarre wedding of Firmin and Olgana caused a sensation throughout Europe. After all, this place wasn’t very big; even a fart could stink up the neighboring countries.

The onlookers were constantly adding romantic elements to this marriage.

At least, in the eyes of some young girls who didn’t know the inside story, it was simply too romantic.

A global wedding, witnessing love in the legendary paradise…

“Whoever can take me to Great Hua to get married, I will marry him.”

A pretty girl shouted in a certain square, and several petty thugs were tempted. However, with their capabilities, they could only take her to hell at best.

In short, this grand wedding attracted the attention of the entire Europe.

The Alphonse family gained face, but of course, they also paid a huge price.

They spent three hundred thousand taels of silver to rent a Great Hua steamship.

Originally, this ship was supposed to carry some goods back to Great Hua and do business along the way.

But Alphonse was rich and generous, so he directly paid to charter it, and even made some modifications to make it more habitable.

Including the expenses along the way, the expenses in Great Hua, and the return expenses, the Alphonse family estimated that this wedding would cost about one million taels of silver.

Even in Great Hua, this was not a small sum.

In Europe, it was an even greater fortune.

To save as much money as possible, Alphonse, who was feeling the pinch, came up with a way: selling tickets.

The two families had confirmed that more than one hundred people would go to Great Hua, and the Qinhuai they rented could carry as many as one thousand people at a time if it only carried passengers.

The extra space couldn’t be wasted.

Thus, the Qinhuai became the first passenger ship in history from Western Europe to Great Hua, pioneering history.

The tickets were very expensive, but they were still in high demand.

After all, there were too many people who yearned for Great Hua. They all wanted to travel to Great Hua, or live in Great Hua, or pan for gold in Great Hua.

In short, there were thousands of reasons, and thousands of people.

On the day of departure, Olgana boarded the ship in full dress with complex emotions.

In a casino at the dock, a hoodlum named Jack was gambling with a group of people.

Among the gamblers was a man who had bought a ticket for the Qinhuai.

Unfortunately, this guy had terrible luck and was heavily addicted to gambling. He lost all his living expenses for going to Great Hua.

With only a ticket, he might starve to death even if he got to Great Hua.

So, he put the ticket up as a bet.

“Get that away, what is this thing?”

Jack said contemptuously.

“This is a ticket to paradise, do you dare to bet on it? Bet all your gold coins.”

The passenger said.

At this time, someone exclaimed, because they knew this was a ticket for the Qinhuai.

Many people were tempted. It was a ticket to Great Hua, a ticket to paradise.

“I’ll bet you.”

Jack didn’t really know what he could do in Great Hua, but it was paradise. If he had the chance to go to paradise in this lifetime, did he need to think about it?

Shuffle, deal, look at the cards.

“Oh, oh, oh…”

The casino erupted in howls. Jack grabbed his drawing board, took the ticket, and headed straight for the dock, boarding the Qinhuai.

Jack felt that this was probably the most glorious moment of his life.

When he saw Olgana, he was even more grateful for his decision just now.

What a beauty she was.

Jack, this little hoodlum, didn’t have much education and didn’t know how to describe her at all.

In short, he was completely fascinated.

Unlike Albert, the rational uncle, Jack was young and vigorous, and had a fearless, rogueish air about him.

He soon learned that she was Firmin’s fiancée.

He also knew that he was a penniless hoodlum living in the lower hold.

But so what?

He found an opportunity to strike up a conversation.

…

Great Hua had a strong attraction to other places, which was a very bad situation for some people.

For example, some impoverished nobles in Korea.

After Korea was incorporated into Great Hua, Great Hua carried out appeasement of the people in order to stabilize Korea.

Tax reductions, support, and disaster relief were all done, and these all cost money.

This money couldn’t be expected from the imperial court. The imperial court was still counting on collecting taxes in Korea to provide blood transfusions to the central government.

Therefore, this money could only be paid by the original ruling class of Korea.

In fact, it couldn’t be said that the ruling class was paying the money, but only that the taxes that the people originally paid to them were taken away.

But this was fatal enough. After some of the original ruling class lost the support of others, their families began to decline.

For example, Kim Jong-li. His father, Kim Tae-am, used to be a cabinet minister in the Korean dynasty.

Relying on this power, he occupied countless lands and could use his power to seize other people’s businesses and engage in monopolies.

After Korea was incorporated into Great Hua, the official position that Great Hua gave to Kim Tae-am was very small, only a vice prefect.

Moreover, after he continued to be corrupt and pervert the law, Great Hua completely deprived his family of their official position and threw Kim Tae-am into prison.

There were many families like Kim Jong-li’s in Korea.

This was actually a very normal situation. In the transition of new and old forces, this kind of thing would inevitably happen.

Not to mention Korea, there were many similar situations in the Central Plains.

Those declining families in the Central Plains chose to swallow their anger, conform to the general trend, honestly do business, or study for the imperial examinations, and follow Great Hua’s rules to rise.

However, these declining families in Korea were full of resentment towards Great Hua because of their sense of identity.

In their view, everything they encountered was because of Great Hua.

At this time, of course they would not remember that if it were not for Great Hua, they would have been enslaved by Dorgon long ago, and their end would have been even more miserable.

They only remembered one thing: they used to be nobles, but after merging with Great Hua, they became poor people.

Kim Jong-li and others felt that they were being oppressed, so they wanted to resist, wanting to make Korea independent again and establish a new country.

As long as they succeeded, they could restore their previous power, or even go a step further.

However, many Koreans now yearned for Great Hua, were close to Great Hua, and were unwilling to rebel and cause trouble with them.

This was undoubtedly a very bad situation for them. They could not stir up the resentment of the lower classes towards Great Hua, and they could not start an incident by relying on themselves alone.

They needed to incite the dissatisfaction of the lower classes with Great Hua, and then let these people act as soldiers in the rebellion.

As for them, they positioned themselves as commanders and would not charge into battle.

Chapter 760: Insurgents

In a traditional courtyard house in Seoul, a dozen strong men gathered, with lookouts posted at the entrance.

“Lord Cui, we can’t wait any longer. Let’s start the uprising. If we keep dragging this on, the chances will only diminish further,” Kim Jong-li said to a man in his forties.

Cui Shanjian was a former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel from the previous dynasty. After the merger of Korea and Great Hua, he was dismissed from his post for failing to follow the rules of the Great Hua court.

Although he lost his official position, his prestige remained.

These people who were trying to rebel and seize power now looked to him as their leader.

“But our preparations are severely inadequate. Our weapons and equipment are too poor, and we don’t have enough manpower,” Cui Shanjian sighed.

From the moment he was demoted, he felt extremely dissatisfied with Great Hua and tried to restore Korea’s independence.

And after he was dismissed, his determination only grew stronger.

He spent his entire fortune secretly promoting the rebellion, becoming the leader of the insurgents.

Initially, Cui Shanjian thought this would be easy. After all, Korea was Korea, and the Central Plains was the Central Plains. It was impossible for Koreans to accept the rule of Great Hua so quickly.

Therefore, he thought inciting the people would be an easy task.

But he never expected that Great Hua would treat the Korean people so well, enacting such low taxes and easily winning the hearts of the people.

The people were living good lives, so why would they be willing to follow them in rebellion?

“Regardless of how the preparations are going, we must act now. Currently, Great Hua’s economy is maintaining rapid growth, and the people’s lives will only get better.

If we don’t start an uprising now, there will be even less opportunity in the future. At least now there are still some impoverished areas that Great Hua hasn’t taken care of, and they are still willing to rebel with us.”

Kim Jong-li’s words were agreed upon by some people. They really couldn’t wait any longer, or there would be even less chance.

As transportation between Korea and Shanghai became more convenient and faster, Korean specialties such as ginseng and furs found markets. It also became easier for Koreans to work in Shanghai, and their incomes increased, leading to better lives.

The longer they waited, the fewer people would rebel with them.

“But Great Hua has more than three thousand soldiers in Seoul and more than ten thousand soldiers in Korea. We can only muster up to five thousand people for an uprising, and we can only equip three thousand with weapons. How can we succeed?”

Kim Jong-li and his group belonged to the radical faction, and where there were radicals, there were naturally conservatives.

In the conservatives’ view, their current strength was too weak, and rebellion was simply courting death.

If the common people were dissatisfied with Great Hua, that would be easy to handle. As long as they rose up, they would naturally receive widespread support.

But now that they were starting an uprising, those who could survive would definitely stand by and watch.

Very few would be willing to risk their lives with them.

Everyone present was educated, cultured, and knowledgeable.

They all knew that every successful uprising in history occurred when the people could no longer survive. There had never been a large-scale uprising during a prosperous era, let alone a successful rebellion.

And Great Hua was currently in a golden age.

“We don’t necessarily need to completely defeat the Great Hua army. We can choose to start an uprising in remote mountainous areas and then rely on the terrain to maneuver against Great Hua.

As long as we make Great Hua feel troubled, they will have to consider the cost of suppressing the rebellion and may offer us amnesty. At that time, we can restore our power and influence,” Cha Eun-mul said.

His goals were different from the others. He wasn’t particularly concerned about whether Korea could be restored; he just wanted to regain a life of wealth and glory.

Therefore, as long as Great Hua was willing to restore his official position, he would be willing to settle down.

There were quite a few people like him.

Restoring the country was just a slogan; the goal was power and a better life.

“You’re talking nonsense! What we want is to restore the country. How can we wag our tails for a few scraps?”

Kim Jong-li harbored deeper resentment towards Great Hua, so compared to restoring his former power, he wanted to retaliate against Great Hua even more.

Of course, if he succeeded in retaliating, he would naturally gain power.

“Cha Eun-mul, don’t be too naive. Wu Changqing of Great Hua has always been known for his toughness. How could he choose to offer amnesty? He will definitely suppress us to the death. So, I hope you don’t harbor such illusions,” Cui Shanjian said with a headache.

He really had a headache. The situation was already very pessimistic, but some people in the team were not firm enough in their resolve, which was really deadly.

Cha Eun-mul immediately fell silent, but he was already considering retreating.

Because he really didn’t believe that they could defeat Great Hua and drive the Great Hua army out of Korea.

He hadn’t forgotten that even Dorgon, who had been crushed and forced to flee by Great Hua, had crushed them and forced them to flee everywhere.

His change in expression did not escape Cui Shanjian’s eyes, and it aroused Cui Shanjian’s murderous intent.

Rebellion was a high-risk endeavor that did not allow for the slightest accident.

“Although we shouldn’t expect Great Hua to offer amnesty, we should indeed choose a mountainous area for our uprising, preferably the Daegu area. It is surrounded by mountains and is easy to defend and difficult to attack,” another member suggested.

The location chosen for the uprising and the establishment of a base was very important.

The local people had to be very poor, and the area had to be easy to defend and difficult to attack, as well as convenient for farming, and so on.

The group discussed for a long time and finally reached a consensus: the uprising must be accelerated and could not be delayed any longer.

With this consensus reached, everything else was easy to handle. Everyone just needed to work towards this goal.

After formulating a detailed division of labor and assigning tasks to everyone, the meeting adjourned, and everyone began to take action.

However, Cui Shanjian called his confidants and asked them to keep an eye on Cha Eun-mul and the other two who were not firm enough in their attitude, to prevent them from betraying them and informing the authorities.

In addition, he needed to contact smugglers from Japan to continue purchasing weapons.

He didn’t dare to buy from Great Hua merchants, fearing that the matter would be exposed, so he could only go through a roundabout route and buy from the Japanese.

Although it was more expensive, it was safer.

At the same time, he had to send people to continue to go deep into the rural areas of Daegu to spread rumors and incite the people.

In short, they had quite a lot to do.

Cui Shanjian thought he was being very secretive, but in reality, Brigade Commander Qi Baili, who was stationed in Seoul, had already heard some rumors.

However, Qi Baili pretended not to know anything and allowed them to do whatever they wanted.

Qi Baili had calculated very clearly that it would be very difficult to capture all the rebels if he took action now.

Instead of doing that, it would be better to wait for them to start an uprising. At that time, it would be much easier to arrest people.

As for the harm that Cui Shanjian and others would cause after the uprising, Qi Baili didn’t really care.

In his opinion, if the rebels could withstand him for three days, he could apply to the military for dismissal.

Qi Baili didn’t take the rebels in Korea seriously at all.

Chapter 761: Migrant Workers 1

It wasn’t just the Korean traitors who disliked Great Hua’s attractiveness. Some Great Hua citizens also weren’t too fond of foreigners entering Great Hua and competing with them for jobs.

For example, textile workers from Japan were particularly popular with factory owners because of their low salary demands.

The local women who lost their jobs because of this were very hostile towards these foreigners.

Of course, while they were disliking the foreigners, they were also being disliked by the city dwellers.

To be precise, it was the city dwellers of Nanjing and Shanghai who disliked the villagers.

In other places, because development wasn’t so rapid, this contradiction wasn’t so obvious.

But in Nanjing and Shanghai, it was already quite serious.

Shanghai, Huating County.

A young boy, about ten years old, returned home with his schoolbag and said to his father, “Dad, our principal said that we have to start paying tuition next year.”

“What? Wasn’t it supposed to be free?”

The man put down the bicycle chain he was holding and asked.

In Shanghai, primary and secondary schools had always been free, only charging for lunch.

Poor people could even bring their own food to school, truly not spending a single penny.

If it weren’t for this, Wei Dalan wouldn’t have brought his two children to live in Shanghai.

Wei Dalan was just an ordinary mechanic, and his wife was just an ordinary textile worker. This kind of income could beat the folks back in his hometown, but it was impossible to live in Shanghai.

They couldn’t afford the accommodation fees in the city, so they lived in Huating County, where the rent was cheaper.

Not only did they have to rush to work every day, but their two children also needed to start their journey to school at five in the morning.

Even so, they persisted.

They wanted their children to enjoy a better education and broaden their horizons.

Staying in the countryside playing in the mud would make it much harder to have a promising future.

But now, the child was saying that the school was going to charge fees, which gave him a headache and made his already poor family even worse off.

“I don’t know, anyway, people with Shanghai residency can continue to be free, but those of us from the countryside have to pay.”

Wei Xiaobao was also angry. He was usually discriminated against by the city people, but now they weren’t even allowed to go to school, cutting off his future. It was really frustrating.

“Why? What kind of logic is that?”

Wei Dalan was directly angered. Wasn’t this just bullying outsiders?

The next day, Wei Dalan and several others who shared his anger came to the school to demand an explanation.

The school dared to issue such a regulation, naturally with some confidence. This couldn’t possibly be a brainless decision.

The principal said, “This school is a private school, not run with government money. It was founded with donations from Master Jiang and several other masters.

They are doing you a favor by letting your children study for free. It’s also reasonable if they don’t accept your children. Even if you make a scene with the government, Master Jiang and the others are in the right.”

In one sentence, these migrant workers were left speechless.

Most of them were honest and simple farmers. They were grateful if the rich didn’t bully them, so how could they dare to act shamelessly and take advantage of the wealthy landlords?

When they heard this reasoning, their momentum weakened.

Even they themselves felt that the school didn’t owe them anything.

“But, why was it free before, and now it’s not? There must be a reason, right?”

Wei Dalan said unwillingly.

“Yes, yes.”

The others echoed.

“Reason? The reason is very simple. You villagers are desperately sending your children to our school. Our school is only so big, how can it accommodate so many people?

If you didn’t send your children here, one teacher would only need to teach ten children. Now that you’ve all sent your children here, they have to teach thirty each. The children of those masters can’t even receive a better education.

Plus, you village children are all naughty and don’t study hard, which has driven two of our teachers away…”

The principal said a lot, some true and some false.

At least, the city kids were much naughtier than the village kids, and they were even less likely to study hard.

The reason why the school did this was actually very simple.

The locals felt unbalanced. They felt that the local wealthy landlords donated the money, so the school’s various resources should also belong to the locals.

Now, a large number of village children were coming to compete with their children for learning resources, and they were naturally unhappy.

In addition, the children from the countryside studied particularly hard, and the locals were worried that their own children would not be able to compare with those from the countryside in the future.

Common people, of course, couldn’t consider issues from a national perspective. They only cared about their own little bit of interest.

Therefore, the locals put pressure on the school, demanding that they reduce the number of out-of-town students.

It just so happened that the school’s principal was also a local, so he naturally agreed without hesitation.

He was also very clever. He didn’t directly say that out-of-town students weren’t allowed to attend the school, which would give others something to criticize.

He simply said that the large number of students had increased the school’s expenses, and in order to maintain the school’s normal operation, he would charge tuition fees to out-of-town students.

He knew that as long as he charged tuition, a large number of families would not be able to afford it and would be forced to take their children away.

The principal’s words made a lot of sense, and Wei Dalan and the others couldn’t argue with them at all.

But they were unwilling. Although they were all uneducated people, it was precisely because they were uneducated that they understood the importance of knowledge even more.

They definitely wouldn’t agree to let their children lose the opportunity to receive an education.

They didn’t know what correct methods to use to achieve their goals, so they could only instinctively make various reactions.

Some people shouted that it was unfair, some knelt down and begged the principal for mercy, and some went to find ways to raise money. In short, there were all kinds of actions.

“Stop arguing. I’ll give you a clear path. Go to Shanghai First High School across the street. It’s a government-run school and it’s also free.”

The principal said.

When these people heard that there was still a way out, they immediately went to the First High School across the street.

Faced with this situation, Zhao Zhipeng, the principal of the First High School, was in a great fix.

He didn’t reject these villagers, but the problem was that the First High School was only so big, and there were only so many teachers. There was no way to accept so many students all at once.

Moreover, he was a government employee and couldn’t refuse these students like a private school could.

After all, the imperial court’s laws stipulated that every child had the right to receive an education.

Helpless, Zhao Zhipeng could only appease the migrant workers while reporting to the higher-ups and applying for more education funding.

Whether it was expanding the school or hiring more teachers, it would all be a considerable expense.

Chapter 762: Migrant Workers 2

Wei Dalan and the others didn’t get any results, and then they had to rush back to work.

After getting off work, they couldn’t wait to continue inquiring about news at the school.

Exhausted from a day’s work, they didn’t even have the strength to walk. In order not to delay things, they reluctantly paid for the public carriage.

This was their first time riding a public carriage, and they were all very reserved.

“Hey, hey, why are you people so unhygienic, dirtying the seats? How are others supposed to sit?”

Just as Wei Dalan and the others sat down, they were angrily rebuked by a four-eyed guy with a briefcase.

They had just come from the construction site and didn’t have time to shower, so they were dirty and smelly.

Being reprimanded, Wei Dalan and the others weren’t angry, but rather felt a little apprehensive, worried that they would be kicked off the carriage.

So, they could only get up from their seats and wipe them with their dirty sleeves, but the more they wiped, the dirtier it became.

“Alright, alright, this is really annoying. Our taxes are used to serve you country bumpkins.”

The four-eyed guy said angrily.

He also had a reason to be angry. Great Hua had now introduced personal income tax laws.

Anyone whose monthly income exceeded five wen had to pay personal income tax.

According to the imperial court, the taxes they paid would be invested in public construction. In other words, the establishment of this public transportation system had his contribution of zero point zero zero zero one.

Because of their low income, very few migrant workers could meet the standard for paying personal income tax.

In the eyes of the four-eyed guy, those migrant workers had not contributed to this public transportation system and were not qualified to enjoy it.

He wouldn’t think that the migrant workers had contributed just because they built the railway, because the workers were all paid wages.

Wei Dalan and the others could only squat in the aisle between the seats on both sides. At first, it was nothing, but as more and more people got on and off the carriage, they caused some trouble for those people.

“Why don’t you sit in the seats when there are seats available? Why do you have to squat in the aisle and get in the way? It’s really incomprehensible.”

Several newly arrived passengers said angrily.

Wei Dalan and the others were swallowing bitter medicine, unable to express their suffering.

They were not treated like human beings either way, and they were very annoyed in their hearts, but they didn’t dare to express it.

Finally, they arrived at the school’s station, and they got off the carriage in a hurry.

When they arrived at the school, it was a pity that the school was already off work and closed, so they made a wasted trip again.

In order to save money and avoid being bullied, they could only drag their tired bodies back to their residence on foot.

How glorious it was when they returned to their hometown for the New Year, how embarrassed they were now.

There were many such things in the city.

However, these were actually just minor problems.

As long as the city people didn’t drive them away, they could still make money here, and they could accept being bullied a little.

Even if their children could no longer enjoy free education, they could send their children back to their hometown.

Compared to Wei Dalan and the others, the problems encountered by Wang Tiezhu and the others were even more serious.

Wang Tiezhu was a construction worker who came to Shanghai with more than seventy fellow villagers, following Wang Yongbo, an experienced migrant worker from their village, to make a living.

However, they hadn’t received their wages for more than half a year.

Although the other party was still providing food and accommodation, they had fallen into extreme anxiety because the New Year was approaching.

They couldn’t miss this most important festival in China no matter what.

Wang Tiezhu and the others wanted to go home for the New Year and wanted their wages.

On this day, these workers simply didn’t go to work and blocked Wang Yongbo in the construction site dormitory.

Wang Yongbo was originally a prominent figure in their village, one of the first people to go out to work. Relying on his hard work, he had now become a foreman, bidding farewell to the days of hard labor.

However, at this moment, Wang Yongbo encountered a huge problem.

Wu Jinrong, the contractor in charge of this project, hadn’t paid him for more than half a year.

Previously, Wu Jinrong had constantly made promises, relying on coercion and inducement, coaxing and deceiving him for more than six months.

But when the New Year was approaching, Wu Jinrong turned his back on him.

“Either stay and continue working for me, or get lost.”

Wu Jinrong said to Wang Yongbo, who was bending over and nodding obsequiously in front of him.

He wanted to play rogue, he knew that those people were anxious to go home.

If those people gave up their wages and went home, he could save more than one thousand wen, which was already a huge sum for a small contractor like him.

In the middle of winter, Wang Yongbo’s forehead was still sweating, and he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

“Brother Wu, Brother Wu, you can’t do this. My dozens of people are waiting for the money to go home for the New Year. Please give us some, and we will continue to work for you next year.”

Wang Yongbo pleaded, he hated that he couldn’t kill this bastard in front of him with a hoe, but he couldn’t, and he didn’t dare.

There was no way, he could only beg, plead.

“Get lost, who the hell cares about you? Don’t you look at the work you’ve done? The developers have scolded me several times, saying the quality is not good.”

“Hurry up and play cards, are you done yet?”

Another person urged.

“Two of circles.”

Wu Jinrong played a two of circles.

“I win, a small win.”

Wu Jinrong’s underling, another hoodlum, said.

“Damn it.”

Wu Jinrong glared at Wang Yongbo, as if blaming Wang Yongbo.

They were laughing and scolding, completely ignoring Wang Yongbo, who was anxious about the livelihood of dozens of people.

“Brother Wu, Brother Wu, I beg you, my people can’t live without wages.”

Wang Yongbo could only plead.

He only came out to work earlier and had a little more knowledge, but he was not much different from his fellow villagers.

When encountering problems, he could only rely on begging.

He didn’t dare to sue the officials, because the Wu Jinrong in front of him was a semi-underworld figure with several thugs under his command, and he couldn’t afford to offend him.

He didn’t know which official to tell his grievances to, he didn’t even know where the Shanghai government office was.

“Are you fucking annoying? Don’t fucking disturb me from playing cards. You want to talk about problems, right? Okay, sit down and play ten rounds with me first.”

Wu Jinrong said.

“Brother Wu, please spare me, I don’t even have money for food, I can’t afford to sit at the table.”

Wang Yongbo quickly refused.

The villagers only saw his glorious side, but they didn’t see how hard he worked in the city.

Even if he became a foreman, he had to try his best to please contractors like Wu Jinrong.

He had played mahjong with Wu Jinrong before and lost a lot of money.

It wasn’t that his mahjong skills were not good, it was that Wu Jinrong and the others were too rogue when playing cards.

When Wang Yongbo wanted to pong or kong, those bastards could go back on their word about the cards they had played. From time to time, they would take advantage of his inattention to make a false win. Anyway, if he found out, he wouldn’t dare to ask Wu Jinrong and the others to pay.

And if he dared to imitate them, he would be beaten.

In this extremely unequal situation, playing cards with them was like giving away money.

Chapter 763: Migrant Workers 3

Shanghai City Hall, Ouyang Shiqi’s office.

He held a report in his hand, detailing the various problems faced by migrant workers in the city.

These included schooling and wage arrears.

It wasn’t easy for Ouyang Shiqi to obtain these reports.

After all, these weren’t issues that the migrant workers had actively reported to the government; rather, they were the results of investigations he had ordered.

He didn’t blame the migrant workers for their ignorance, because he himself had come from the countryside and understood the rural mindset.

For other officials, discovering these problems without being reported would be difficult.

After all, lower-level officials might not share the same concerns as the local governing authority.

For example, the staff member in charge of the Economic Development Section had accepted money from Grand Building Group.

Even if migrant workers went to report problems to officials, they would be blocked at the person-in-charge level.

And the staff member in the Education Section, a Shanghai resident, sided with the city dwellers.

Even if people reported problems to him, he wouldn’t tell Ouyang Shiqi about them.

There were quite a few lower-level officials willing to work with Ouyang Shiqi, but there were even more who deceived their superiors for personal gain.

This wasn’t just the case in Shanghai; it was the same all over the country.

Great Hua had made some progress in official corruption compared to the former Ming Dynasty, but there were still many problems, and reform had a long way to go.

How to change things was something for the central government bigwigs to consider; Ouyang Shiqi could only rely on his own abilities to carry out his work in this situation.

Fortunately, his personal abilities were strong.

Other officials might think all was well if no one reported problems.

However, Ouyang Shiqi sensed something abnormal in this calm.

In his view, the massive influx of migrant workers was bound to lead to a series of problems.

Having problems was normal; not having any problems reported was the biggest problem of all.

Therefore, while developing the economy, he also sent people down to conduct in-depth investigations.

And sure enough, the investigation uncovered a whole host of problems.

Faced with these problems, Ouyang Shiqi was also very troubled.

“Sir, these are some unavoidable problems in economic development. Compared to the former Ming Dynasty, we’ve already done a good job, so you don’t need to blame yourself.

His Majesty instructed us to focus on economic development, so you don’t have to worry about these problems,” Zeng Jin, Ouyang Shiqi’s trusted advisor, advised.

Solving these problems wouldn’t be easy, and spending too much energy on these matters would inevitably affect economic construction.

Ouyang Shiqi understood this, of course, but his background determined that he couldn’t ignore them.

As someone who came from the countryside, with a deeper understanding of the people’s suffering, Ouyang Shiqi’s feelings for the people were something that officials from large families couldn’t comprehend.

“Care? How can we not care? These problems are major obstacles to economic development and must be addressed. If we don’t solve the children’s education problems, how can those workers work with peace of mind? If we don’t help those migrant workers recover their wages, who will come to the city to work in the future?”

Ouyang Shiqi immediately elevated the issue to a higher level.

In fact, the situation wasn’t as serious as he made it out to be.

Even if the education problem wasn’t solved, those workers would continue to work, but they would leave their children in their hometowns, sacrificing the children’s interests.

Those migrant workers who were owed wages were ultimately just a small portion.

If they didn’t come to the city to work, others would.

In short, these problems didn’t have much impact on development.

The reason why Ouyang Shiqi exaggerated the impact of the problems was simply to resolve to rectify them.

“Sir, these problems aren’t easy to deal with. Private schools have no obligation to accept students. And expanding government-run schools requires a lot of money.

The problem of wage arrears is also difficult to solve; most of those contractors have gang connections. If we crack down on them in this area, they’ll do other illegal things. It’s not realistic to expect them to work honestly,” Zeng Jin said.

“I’ll issue an order later, requiring private schools to fill a corresponding number of student places according to their size,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

Expanding government-run schools would take time and funding, which would have to be done slowly and couldn’t be achieved overnight.

To alleviate the problem, they still had to rely on private schools.

And it wasn’t that those private schools couldn’t accommodate so many students; they just didn’t want to accept so many.

Now Ouyang Shiqi simply issued a mandatory order.

“Sir, this may displease the merchants who donated money to build the schools,” Zeng Jin advised.

Ouyang Shiqi’s development and construction in Shanghai couldn’t be done without the help of those merchants.

If Ouyang Shiqi did this, he was afraid that he would offend those merchants, and when he needed those people in the future, they might not cooperate so actively.

“Don’t worry about so much, if they’re unhappy, they can just hold it in. I think they’re all living too comfortably, and I have to find a chance to knock them into shape,” Ouyang Shiqi snorted coldly.

Although, legally speaking, it wasn’t illegal for those private schools to refuse to accept students from other places.

But in terms of reason, it was very excessive for those private schools to do so.

Ouyang Shiqi wouldn’t indulge those people, and if necessary, he would let those people see his cruel side.

Relying on Wu Changqing’s support, he could be more unrestrained in his actions, without having to be timid.

Anyway, even if problems arose, Wu Changqing would cover for him.

If it weren’t for Wu Changqing backing him up, he would have been thrown into prison long ago for those illegal operations he had done in office.

The memorials impeaching him could fill several sacks.

“Also, have Old Liu from the Public Security Bureau come to see me. I’m launching a campaign to crack down on organized crime and eliminate evil, arresting all those local bullies and thugs. Those with minor offenses will be fined and imprisoned, and those with serious offenses will all be sent to the mines.”

The biggest difficulty in the migrant workers’ wage arrears problem was those gang bullies; people who did business properly wouldn’t take such risks for such petty profits.

And those gang bullies, seemingly without much power, were actually very difficult to deal with.

After one wave was eliminated, there would be another wave.

All Ouyang Shiqi could do was try to eliminate some of these bad people as much as possible, but he couldn’t cure the problem.

“Yes.”

Zeng Jin went to convey the order, but sighed in his heart.

As Ouyang Shiqi’s trusted advisor, his wealth and glory were tied to Ouyang Shiqi, so he sincerely hoped that Ouyang Shiqi could go further and enter the central government.

He didn’t think much of Ouyang Shiqi’s two decrees, feeling that they deviated from the theme of focusing on economic development.

And now that Great Hua was assessing officials, economic construction was the most important indicator.

As for education and public security, although they were also important, they were far less important than economic development.

Chapter 764: Development and Fairness

With the promulgation of Ouyang Shiqi’s policies, Shanghai was once again thrown into chaos.

Forcing private schools to increase their student intake was a minor matter; the wealthy could endure it.

Moreover, for those who were extremely rich, they could simply hire teachers to come to their homes and provide individual instruction to their children, ensuring they received a better education.

Ordinary local people harbored grievances, but as long as they didn’t unite, there wouldn’t be any major problems.

However, the policy of cracking down on gangs displeased the influential big merchants.

The rapid economic development of Great Hua, in fact, benefited to some extent from these gangs. These hooligans and bullies helped the big merchants to exploit the common people.

To protect themselves and avoid breaking the law, the big merchants needed to rely on the gangs to do certain things.

A simple example would be a project where, through normal means, an investment of ten thousand yuan would only yield a profit of one thousand yuan for the developer in a year. This naturally reduced its ability to attract investment, and few businesses would take on such a project.

However, with the help of gangs, they could resort to illegal methods, such as deducting workers’ wages or simply not paying them at all.

They would disregard the legal ten-hour workday for laborers, provide no compensation for injuries or disabilities, and employ child labor.

By illegally cutting costs through these means, they could earn more, increasing their interest in investing.

This actually helped Great Hua’s overall development to some extent, but it came at the expense of the common people.

Of course, this was an inevitable consequence of development, a stage that had to be experienced.

In the original timeline, John Bull’s Industrial Revolution was also achieved by exploiting the blood of its colonies and its own people.

During that period, John Bull’s economy soared, and its overall national strength skyrocketed, but the living conditions of its people were not even as good as those of the Qing Dynasty at the same time.

And it wasn’t just John Bull; many countries in the early stages of development relied on exploiting their people to concentrate resources and accomplish great things.

Only after concentrating resources to achieve development, they have the ability to give back to the people.

Governments that provide welfare to their people after becoming prosperous are good governments.

For example, to support national industrial development, farmers had to prioritize paying public grain, even if they didn’t have enough to eat.

Once the country’s industry developed and became wealthy, the government could abolish the public grain system.

The country and its people working together, striving for national development, this was originally a heartwarming picture.

Unfortunately, some people who developed by exploiting their people completely forgot how they developed and thought it was all due to their own abilities.

They created various obstacles for farmers to live in the cities.

From ancient times to the present, both in China and abroad, the common people have always suffered the most.

This is both a natural law of development and an unchangeable phenomenon.

After Ouyang Shiqi’s crackdown on gangs had been going on for some time, some Shanghai merchants began to complain incessantly and were already considering transferring their investments to Hangzhou or other places.

Without the gangs, they could no longer find cheap contractors to take on their projects. Without the gangs, the workers in the factories became bolder and demanded higher wages.

In short, without the gangs, the profits of the big merchants were greatly reduced, and they faced a mountain of troubles.

And other cities, in order to attract investment, turned a blind eye to this kind of exploitation of the people.

In comparison, some merchants naturally began to transfer their capital.

After capital fled, the number of factories in Shanghai would decrease, and the number of jobs would also decrease, making it harder for the people to find a way to make a living.

So, being exploited wasn’t necessarily a complete loss.

Of course, being exploited all the time was not right either.

How to coordinate the relationship between development and fairness was a question that Wu Changqing was constantly pondering.

In this regard, he didn’t have any deep insights and could only do things according to his own understanding.

He leaned more towards prioritizing development, letting the people suffer a little first, and concentrating resources to accomplish great things.

Wu Changqing did this not because he was biased towards capitalists.

He simply believed that he would not change his original intention. Once the country became wealthy, he would definitely find a way to achieve common prosperity and reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

Although he would definitely encounter great resistance at that time, he was confident that he could do it.

To realize this long-cherished wish, he even thought about revolting against himself in the later stages, directly transitioning from feudal society to communist society.

However, that was decades away; current development was the most important thing.

The most important thing for economic development was capital.

After capital fled, Shanghai’s economy would naturally be affected.

Of course, this impact wouldn’t be too great, but it was still a loss for Ouyang Shiqi.

What was more important than the loss was his harmonious relationship with those investors. In the past, no matter how the merchants called him Ouyang the Skinflint, everyone was willing to cooperate with him.

After all, cooperating with him wouldn’t result in too much of a loss, so the merchants were happy to support him.

If Ouyang Shiqi said he wanted to build a road, he built a road; if he said he wanted to build a bridge, he built a bridge; everyone was willing to donate money.

But now, after everyone donated money, Ouyang Shiqi began to turn his back on them, not protecting their interests, which really disgusted the merchants.

Ouyang Shiqi’s measures would inevitably lead to the bankruptcy of some poorly managed companies and greatly reduce the profits of many companies.

In a guild hall, a group of merchants gathered together to complain and discuss ways to deal with Ouyang Shiqi.

“It’s useless to impeach him; he’s like the emperor’s own son, their relationship is very close,”

one merchant complained.

They had long used their connections to get people in the court to impeach Ouyang Shiqi in various ways, but it was all in vain.

“We have to do the opposite, help Ouyang Shiqi get promoted, so that we can get him transferred away, and our lives will be better.”

These people were impressed by Ouyang Shiqi’s various methods and didn’t want to compete with him; they wanted to change opponents.

And helping him get promoted was a very common method.

In the past, those treacherous merchants and powerful figures also had a headache when they encountered upright and incorruptible officials with strong backing.

To deal with such people, they could only spend money to bribe people in the court, help the other party get promoted, and transfer them away.

“Damn it, wouldn’t that be benefiting this guy?”

Someone was unhappy; they were being bullied and had to help the other party, which was very frustrating.

“Hey, think positively. Promotion is not necessarily a good thing for Ouyang Shiqi. Even if he is given a Provincial Governor of the third rank, it may not be as good as his current position as the fifth-rank leader of Shanghai. In the words of those officials, it’s a promotion in name but a demotion in reality.”

Another merchant was more optimistic, comforting everyone in this way.

However, they probably forgot that people in the officialdom knew better than these merchants which official position was more important.

Chapter 765: Two Rising Stars

Unless someone has made a mistake, or failed in a political struggle, they would be promoted in name but demoted in reality.

Ouyang Shiqi doesn’t fall into either of those categories. If the court wants to promote him, it must be to a position more important and promising than a Shanghai city leader. It’s impossible to transfer him to an unimportant department.

Whether it’s the current Great Hua or the former Ming Dynasty, official promotions have always had a complete and well-established system.

Unless there’s an imperial decree for special promotion, official promotions basically follow that system.

For example, during the Ming Dynasty, to be promoted to the Grand Secretariat, one had to be from the Hanlin Academy.

The promotion trajectory for a top scholar of the first rank was clearly defined: first, enter the Hanlin Academy, starting as a reader.

Then, cultivate prestige for a period, and assist others in presiding over an imperial examination, also to build prestige.

After that, go to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices or the Imperial Academy to cultivate prestige for a while. Once enough prestige is accumulated, be responsible for presiding over an imperial examination, and then enter the Six Ministries as a Vice Minister, and finally become a Vice Minister.

Scholars of the third rank or second rank were generally sent out to be a county magistrate. After three years of assessment, if they had some political achievements, they would be promoted to prefect, then to Prefect, then to Provincial Governor, and finally to Financial Commissioner.

They want to enter the Grand Secretariat, unless there are special circumstances, such as outstanding ability or special appreciation from the emperor.

As for those who were worse among the third-rank scholars, and those juren who were directly selected as officials, they were even more miserable, starting as a county assistant or registrar.

Even if they made political achievements, the county magistrate would take most of the credit.

Moreover, they were generally responsible for less important trivial matters, so it was basically impossible to make political achievements.

Their promotion trajectory was completely different from that of the first and second rank scholars.

Although Great Hua’s promotion rules are somewhat different from those of the Ming Dynasty, there is also a set of regulations. Except for the early days when things were more chaotic, now they are basically handled according to this set of rules.

Great Hua’s current method of cultivating key talents is a combination of central and external postings. First, go to the local level for a period, then to the central government, then back to the local level, changing every three years.

For example, when Ouyang Shiqi’s three-year term in Shanghai is up, if he does well, he will be transferred to an important position in the central government. If he doesn’t do well, he will be transferred to an unimportant position in the central government.

Three years later, if he does well, he will be sent back to the local level to govern a region. At that time, he will basically be a Provincial Governor or Financial Commissioner.

After being transferred back to the central government, he will basically be a Vice Minister.

The advantage of this promotion trajectory is that it can increase experience in local governance.

In the past, during the Ming Dynasty, those who were promoted all the way from the Hanlin Academy had no experience in governing local areas, and when formulating national policies, they were prone to being out of touch with reality.

And if a local official has no experience working in the central government, they may not be able to deeply understand the central government’s policies when governing the local area.

In short, it is best to have experience in both aspects.

Relatively speaking, Great Hua’s is definitely better.

Only by going deep into the local areas, understanding the local areas, and then formulating national policies in the cabinet, can it be more stable, so as not to promulgate policies that seem good but are not in line with reality.

After the merchants in Shanghai discussed it, they began to use their connections to lobby, trying to keep Ouyang Shiqi in the central government or transfer him to another place when he reported on his work.

These big merchants have great influence and have dealings with some high-ranking officials in the court.

They only need the people in the Ministry of Personnel to give some suggestions that are beneficial to them when selecting officials for Ouyang Shiqi.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Ouyang Shiqi was summoned back to Nanjing to report on his work.

When others report on their work, they go to the Ministry of Personnel.

But Ouyang Shiqi is a student of the Emperor, the champion selected by the Emperor himself.

Reporting to the Ministry of Personnel is just a routine matter.

The real highlight is the Emperor’s audience.

Wu Changqing is satisfied with Ouyang Shiqi’s three years in Shanghai.

Bold, decisive in his actions, unique in his thinking, and innovative in his methods, these are the impressions Ouyang Shiqi left on him.

After the assessment by the Ministry of Personnel, the final opinion given by the Ministry of Personnel was to promote Ouyang Shiqi to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, a position of the third rank.

The Vice Minister of Great Hua is very different from the Vice Minister of the Ming Dynasty.

Wu Changqing thought that he would have to change all the official titles of Great Hua when he had time.

But for the time being, he was too lazy to bother.

Ouyang Shiqi was promoted to the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, and the specific position he was responsible for was the national economic plan. The main person in charge of this plan was Hong Chengchou.

In other words, Ouyang Shiqi was assisting Hong Chengchou to accumulate experience.

There is a big difference between developing the economy of a region and developing the economy of the whole country.

These are all things Ouyang Shiqi needs to learn.

In Shanghai, Ouyang Shiqi can be bold and adopt radical measures.

But when formulating a national economic development plan, there are many more things to consider.

These are also the things Ouyang Shiqi needs to learn and explore.

Hong Chengchou may not be more outstanding than Ouyang Shiqi in terms of economic development, but Hong Chengchou is better in terms of stability.

From a directly subordinate leader, directly promoted to Right Vice Minister, this promotion can be said to be a leap.

The next time he is sent out, he will at least be a second-rank leader. When he returns to the central government, he will be a Vice Minister.

Once he has enough qualifications, entering the cabinet is only a matter of time.

This speed can basically infuriate ninety-nine percent of the officials in Great Hua.

Li Yao, who was in the same class as him, was also as successful. Li Yao’s trajectory was the opposite of Ouyang Shiqi’s. He was first in the central government and then in the local government.

He worked in the Ministry of Revenue for three years and shone brightly in the land reform, once attracting more attention than Ouyang Shiqi.

Now he has been sent to Guangzhou as the Prefect of Guangzhou, also a position of the third rank.

The Prefect is not the point, the point is the Prefect of Guangzhou.

This position is destined for Li Yao to have a bright future.

The two of them are the two rising political stars in Great Hua, the objects of contention for various parties, and the ideal husbands in the eyes of many women.

Coincidentally, neither of them is married yet, and they are currently extremely popular.

Even Wu Changqing’s younger sister, Princess Wuyou, wanted to marry Ouyang Shiqi, but Wu Changqing did not allow it.

Wu Yu’s husband is destined not to be a very promising person. This is a tradition in China for many years, and Wu Changqing has no intention of changing it.

Compared with Ouyang Shiqi and Li Yao, the others in their class of scholars are doing slightly worse.

The highest-ranking one is currently only a Director of the fifth rank.

Of course, it is only worse compared to the two of them. In fact, as the first batch of scholars in Great Hua, their overall promotion speed is not slow.

Chapter 766: Marriage

The more outstanding a person is, the busier they become.

Even if they want to slack off, others will come knocking on their door.

It’s also because of this that Ouyang Shiqi and Li Yao haven’t gotten married yet.

However, they are already in their late twenties, which is considered absolutely old for unmarried men in this era. If they delay any longer, people might suspect they have…other preferences.

So, this matter can’t be delayed any further.

Taking advantage of the New Year, when they had some free time, matchmakers came in an endless stream.

Their parents were also anxiously screening potential candidates.

Their families were fully qualified to do so.

Princess Wu You is also eighteen this year, reaching the age where she needs to get married, and the Empress Dowager is also helping her to arrange it.

Wu Yu insists on marrying an outstanding man, either a high-ranking official, a wealthy merchant, or a great hero.

However, Wu Changqing hopes she will marry a researcher.

Marrying an official makes it easier for that official to get promoted. Marrying a merchant makes it easier for that merchant to bully others. Marrying someone from the military isn’t ideal either.

In comparison, marrying a researcher has the least impact.

“You need to think carefully. The more outstanding a man is, the more women he will have around him. If you marry a top scholar, don’t come back to me crying later, saying you’re not favored.”

During a royal family banquet, Wu Changqing reminded her.

“I am a princess. Marrying me is their good fortune. How dare they take concubines?”

Wu Yu snorted.

Wu Changqing was speechless. Although they could indeed do that by relying on the power of the royal family,
it would inevitably lead to resentment in the other party’s heart, and they would naturally not be good to Wu Yu anymore.

Even if the other party didn’t take concubines in the future, their married life would certainly not be happy.

Wu Changqing felt that Wu Yu would be better off finding an ordinary person, so that the other party could treat her like a treasure, like an ancestor.

However, a girl’s dream is unlikely to be marrying an ordinary person.

“Forget it, seeing that your brain won’t pick people, I’ll arrange it for you. Just marry Fei Yufeng, he’s outstanding enough.”

Wu Changqing said.

Fei Yufeng is someone who is obsessed with scientific research and definitely doesn’t have the mind to be a playboy.

Moreover, Fei Yufeng is also an outstanding person.

Apart from worrying that Fei Yufeng might be a bit dull and not know how to please women, he is a perfect choice in every other aspect.

“Ah, the kind of person who spends all day in the laboratory? I don’t want that.”

Wu Yu didn’t like it. She preferred those suave young men.

“I’m choosing for you, so if you feel wronged in the future, I can stand up for you. If you choose yourself, and you don’t live comfortably in the future, don’t come to me to complain, and don’t cause me trouble.”

Wu Changqing was just making a suggestion, whether she listened or not was up to her.

Compared to national affairs, he wasn’t particularly concerned about his sister’s marriage.

If it hadn’t been brought up during the family banquet, he wouldn’t have even noticed that his sister was old enough to get married.

“A’Yu, listen to your imperial brother, your imperial brother’s judgment of people is never wrong. Besides, that young man Fei Yufeng is really good. The newspapers say he’s a genius.”

Chen Yuyan and Wu Yu had a very close relationship. They used to play mahjong together often, so she kindly offered a word of advice.

However, Fei Yufeng seemed to be a few years older than her, and she called him a young man, this…

Under the advice of Wu Changqing, the Empress Dowager, the Empress, and the Prince of Qin, they finally persuaded Wu Yu.

The next thing was easy. Wu Changqing invited Fei Yufeng to have a private meal together and asked for Fei Yufeng’s opinion.

Facts proved that Wu Changqing’s respect was a bit redundant.

For ordinary people, marrying into the royal family is a great honor.

Although Fei Yufeng didn’t covet this honor, he didn’t have any intention of refusing when he learned that the Emperor had this intention.

Rejecting the princess would be the same as looking down on the royal family, which was really unnecessary.

His requirements for a wife weren’t high, as long as she wasn’t ridiculously ugly. Although he hadn’t met the Eldest Princess, he hadn’t heard that she was ugly either.

“The Eldest Princess is willful and headstrong, please bear with her more in the future.”

Wu Changqing said.

“It is this student’s good fortune to marry the Eldest Princess. This student will definitely treat the Eldest Princess with respect.”

Fei Yufeng said.

The Eldest Princess’s marriage was arranged so hastily. Of course, most marriages in this era were this hasty.

The Eldest Princess getting married is news in Great Hua, but it’s not a big deal. It’s just something for the common people to watch for fun.

If the Eldest Princess were to marry a high-ranking official or powerful minister, I’m afraid many more powerful figures would pay attention.

But marrying a researcher who has a high political status but not much real power will not have any impact on the political landscape.

Rather than paying attention to the Eldest Princess’s marriage, it’s better to pay attention to Ouyang Shiqi and Li Yao’s marriages.

Soon, Ouyang Shiqi’s marriage was also settled.

He didn’t marry an official from the Jiangxi faction, nor did he marry a wealthy merchant from Jiangxi. He unexpectedly chose the daughter of a small merchant from Nanjing.

The reason was that the girl was studying at a women’s college, had excellent grades, and was a progressive woman.

In fact, this was because Ouyang Shiqi didn’t want to get involved in factional struggles and didn’t want to be too deeply connected to the Jiangxi faction. He wanted to be an imperial party member, not a Jiangxi party member.

Another meaning was that he was firmly responding to the Emperor’s call, taking the lead in marrying educated women and challenging the traditional concept that ‘a woman’s lack of talent is a virtue’.

Of course, another reason was that Ouyang Shiqi really preferred intellectual women.

As for beauties, he could always take concubines in the future.

When he was in Shanghai, he saw many foreign beauties.

With more and more beauties coming to Great Hua to make money, beauties are no longer worth much in Great Hua.

His choice relieved officials from other factions. They were afraid that Ouyang Shiqi would be tightly bound to the Jiangxi faction, which would be a huge threat to them.

After all, as long as Ouyang Shiqi doesn’t make mistakes, it’s almost certain that he will enter the cabinet in the future.

Compared to Ouyang Shiqi’s caution, Li Yao was much more high-profile.

However, his choice was actually quite surprising. He belonged to the Zhejiang faction, but he married the daughter of Yuan Shicheng, the Prefect of Qingzhou.

And Yuan Shicheng was from Jiangxi, belonging to the Jiangxi faction.

This made the people of the Zhejiang faction very angry. They hoped that Li Yao could speak more for the interests of Zhejiang in the court.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that Li Yao was mixed up with the Jiangxi faction. He purely married her because Yuan Shicheng’s daughter, Yuan Sanjiao, was beautiful.

He didn’t think so much about it. He liked her, so he married her.

His flamboyant personality was destined to not care too much about these messy things.

The marriages of the two rising stars came to an end. The officials of Great Hua just paid attention to it.

In fact, this kind of marriage alliance is important in some ways, but not particularly important in others.

Chapter 767: Camera

Yongxing Year Five, the Lantern Festival.

After the Lantern Festival, officials and the common people would officially return to work, beginning a year of busy life.

Therefore, the people attached no less importance to the Lantern Festival than to the Spring Festival.

It could be said that this was everyone’s last day of revelry.

The Imperial Palace.

Wu Changqing gathered his family and invited a photographer to take a family photo.

After electricity was discovered, Ge Yunfei combined a simple battery with slide technology to achieve a breakthrough in camera technology, successfully creating the camera.

Mi Hong, who had initially researched camera technology, had disappeared without a trace. No one knew if he was dead, mad, or had seen through it all and given up scientific research to return to a simple life.

In short, the people of Great Hua now knew Ge Yunfei, but no one knew Mi Hong.

This was actually a very normal phenomenon. Success often required many factors, not just intelligence.

James Watt was not the first to invent the steam engine, but he was the one remembered by the world.

Mi Hong’s ideas were too advanced, so much so that no one could understand them, and he couldn’t get investment. He also lacked luck, and before electricity even appeared, he had already run out of capital to continue his research.

Ge Yunfei, on the other hand, was not necessarily more talented than Mi Hong, but he was fortunate enough to live in a wealthy family with enough money to let him experiment and withstand countless failures.

And so, he succeeded.

He became a celebrity in Great Hua and could make a fortune using the camera in the future. He even received an award from the Emperor of Great Hua.

Reality was so cruel. People couldn’t believe in fate, but they couldn’t deny it either.

The invention of the camera was of great significance.

It meant that history could be truthfully recorded.

In the past, history could only be recorded in writing, and its authenticity was questionable.

Those who recorded history often included their own biases, leading to historical distortions.

But with the camera, some scenes could be photographed, making it much harder to distort history.

No matter how much the government boasted that Yongxing Year Five was a golden age, it wouldn’t be as convincing as a photo of the current state of rural life.

Of course, the camera’s greatest function was to preserve memories.

In the future, there would be no need to worry about forgetting the past, just leave a photo.

When you got old and took out those photos, you could awaken memories from the depths of your heart.

This didn’t seem to help improve life, but it could satisfy some of people’s spiritual needs.

Wu Changqing’s family lined up in three rows. In the very center was the Empress Dowager, with Wu Changqing to her left and the Empress to her right.

The arrangement of seats was also important. The higher the status, the closer to the center.

Those with lower status stood on the sides.

The children squatted in the front row or were held by their mothers.

“Everyone, smile a little, don’t be so serious.”

Wu Changqing reminded everyone. In his previous life, he had seen photos of concubines from the Qing Dynasty that were so ugly they almost ruined his values, and he seriously doubted the emperor’s aesthetic sense.

Later, he researched and realized that it was because those concubines were afraid of new things, so they couldn’t relax, and their expressions were very serious and tense.

In this state, the pictures would be very ugly.

But in the Republican era, when social customs were more open, many photos of beautiful women with sweet smiles were left behind.

Wu Changqing didn’t want to be laughed at for his taste in the future, so he reminded everyone.

Although Wu Changqing had spoken, not everyone could manage to keep smiling.

The favored concubines could naturally smile naturally, from the heart.

Those who were not favored were more afraid of not smiling enough, so they often smiled unnaturally.

A real smile was different from a forced smile.

Bang.

With a sound similar to a gunshot, the photo was taken.

Some of the younger princes and princesses were so frightened by the sound that they cried.

After the family photo was taken, there were also individual photos and group photos of some of the favored concubines with Wu Changqing.

As for those who were not favored, they could only find a place to wipe their tears.

This was the imperial family. Those who were not favored had nowhere to complain about their grievances.

The emperor was busy with state affairs, so he didn’t have the time to listen.

The camera had only been invented for a short time, but it had already become popular in Nanjing.

For wealthy families, it would be a pity not to take a few photos as a memento.

Before there were cameras, wealthy people had to find professional painters to leave portraits for their descendants to see.

Now that there was a more convenient camera, all the better.

Those women and noble ladies liked to take photos the most.

For them, the thing they feared most was growing old, and the thing they missed most was their former beauty.

It was really necessary to take pictures with a camera as a memento.

These were private uses, while the government needed to use cameras to record historical moments.

For example, the grand occasion of the people celebrating the Lantern Festival together in the square, the launching of large warships, the completion of large factories, the current state of society, and so on, all of these were worth recording.

“This world is getting more and more amazing.”

At the Tong residence, Tong Youwei held a developed photo and sighed incessantly.

The trains and steamships of the past were already difficult for him to understand, and he only understood the principles with the help of his son’s explanation.

But now the camera was even more incomprehensible to him. This time, even his son at the university couldn’t understand the principles and couldn’t explain it to him.

However, this didn’t matter. He just needed to know how to use it.

Just like people in the twenty-first century, how many people knew the operating principles of televisions and mobile phones, but they still lived their lives.

“Ah, why am I photographed so ugly? Take it away and burn it, burn it.”

Tong Xiangyu looked at her photo, on the verge of tears.

No one reminded her to keep smiling, so her expression was very unnatural when taking the picture.

“Could it be that the photographer’s skills are not good?”

Tong Youwei muttered.

“It should be that the current camera technology is not good enough. After all, it is a newly invented thing, and we have to wait for it to be improved.”

Tong Benwen guessed.

Although the photos taken were not very good-looking, as a novelty, it still felt very magical.

Cameras, cartoons, and electric lights, these novelties, made those with strong curiosity puzzled.

Some people even lost their appetite because of this.

Some people even made up some superstitious remarks.

However, more people became very interested in science and technology and changed the direction of their studies, turning to scientific research.

For those with strong curiosity, decryption was the greatest pleasure.

Chapter 768: Yongxing Year Five

The Lantern Festival had just passed, and Wu Changqing and many officials threw themselves back into their work.

Great Hua had a heavy workload this year, with many goals set to be achieved.

The first goal was to seize important ports for ocean trade, such as the river mouth (Singapore), the Cape of Good Hope, and Colon (Panama), to provide security for Great Hua’s ocean trade.

Currently, Great Hua’s merchant ships often encountered problems when they needed supplies along the way.

For example, they were refused entry to ports by locals, or they were extorted and forced to buy supplies at high prices.

To make ocean trade safer, it was necessary to establish a complete supply chain.

The second task was to further encroach on Japan, Annam, the South Seas, and other places, and promote the process of Sinicization.

Sinicization was Great Hua’s overseas immigration policy. It was easy to recover overseas territories by force, but this was not Great Hua’s ultimate goal. Great Hua wanted to completely incorporate those places into Great Hua’s rule.

The third task was to advance into India, Australia, and the Americas, establish strongholds, and act as pioneers for future large-scale immigration.

Having strongholds also made it easier to plunder local resources.

Just like the colony that Great Hua had now established in Brazil, they could obtain rubber at very low prices by relying on that colonial stronghold.

After the initial unification of the land, Great Hua’s focus of development shifted to the ocean.

As for the recovery of the western regions, there was no rush.

Wu Changqing planned to wait until automobiles appeared before recovering the west, as this would save the most resources.

Transporting grain and ammunition to the northwest region by horse-drawn carriage resulted in astonishing losses along the way.

Attacking now, although they could win, would cost too much and was not necessary.

Anyway, those places were there and couldn’t run away.

In terms of the ocean, with the popularization of steamships, they already had the conditions for full-scale development.

Before steamships became widespread, using sailing ships for trade meant only one trip a year, and the profits were not particularly high, and the risks were great.

Now, Great Hua’s ocean-going vessels, whether warships or merchant ships, were basically equipped with steam engines.

In the cabinet, Wu Changqing and the cabinet ministers, as well as military leaders, were discussing plans to advance into the ocean.

“Because manpower is limited, it is not realistic to fully recover overseas territories. Therefore, the first phase of the goal is to recover important strongholds.

For example, the river mouth (Singapore), the Cape of Good Hope, and Colon (Panama) are all important transit stations in ocean trade. These places must be in our hands,”

Wu Changqing said.

The river mouth and the Cape of Good Hope were both high-quality natural ports and were also essential routes, so their importance was self-evident.

As for Colon, as long as the canal was dug through, its value would be no less than that of the river mouth.

Digging through the Colon Canal could shorten the voyage from Great Hua to the eastern part of North America by more than ten thousand kilometers.

“Will this lead to a full-scale war with Western European countries and affect our trade with them?”

Hong Chengchou asked.

Although Great Hua was now very powerful, there was no need to challenge the whole world at the same time.

If all trade with Western Europe was cut off, it would also be a major blow to Great Hua’s economy.

“What’s there to be afraid of? Even if a full-scale war breaks out, we can defeat them,”

Wu Yi said. As a veteran of the navy, he naturally firmly supported overseas expansion, so that the naval force could continue to expand.

“It’s only a matter of time before we clash with them, unless we are willing to give up overseas interests. As for affecting trade, there is no need to worry too much. At worst, we will monopolize all overseas trade,”

Wu Changqing smiled. Great Hua’s population base made it the world’s largest production base and consumer market.

It could be said that even if Great Hua lost Western Europe, it could still live very well.

But if Western Europe lost Great Hua as a consumer market and wholesale market, that would be fatal.

Wu Changqing knew very well what kind of people those Western European countries were. As long as they were more powerful, even if they were bullied, they would continue to do business with Great Hua.

Since Wu Changqing had set the tone, no one else would have any objections.

A policy that could potentially lead to a full-scale war with countries around the world was decided so casually. This was the advantage of centralized imperial power, and also the disadvantage of centralized imperial power.

For the time being, the advantages outweighed the disadvantages, which improved administrative efficiency.

“In addition to seizing important ports, the recovery of overseas territories must also be put on the agenda. In this regard, Western European countries are nearly two hundred years ahead of us.

Now, all over the world, except for Australia, most places already have Western European colonies. We cannot lag behind them in this regard…”

Wu Changqing decided to kick off the recovery of overseas territories and advance into India, Australia, and the Americas.

The fastest way to acquire wealth was through plunder, and development was secondary.

…

At the cabinet meeting, Great Hua determined the ocean development plan.

Soon, in the Nanjing stock market, the stock prices of industries related to ocean trade rose in a wave.

Those businessmen knew that Great Hua had placed its focus on overseas development, and some support policies would definitely be introduced next, and ocean trade would definitely become more prosperous.

Having someone in the government made it so easy to make money.

Relying on getting the news in advance, they fiddled with the stocks in their hands, and the money was in their pockets.

Now, the stock market had further relaxed the conditions for entry. This was no longer just a game for the rich. Ordinary well-off families could also participate.

Buying a few shares, waiting for them to appreciate, and then selling them had become a daily routine for some people.

As more and more people participated, Great Hua’s stock market ushered in its first wave of prosperity.

Of course, this kind of prosperity was not all good.

In a restaurant, several businessmen were gathering and chatting.

“What business is Boss Li planning to do recently?”

Zhang Wei asked.

“I’m planning to open a shipyard. Opening a shipyard now is a guaranteed profit,”

Li Xing said.

“Boss Li, you are wrong. The most profitable thing now is the stock market. Honestly building ships is too stupid,”

Zhang Wei laughed.

“What do you mean?”

Li Xing was puzzled.

“Building a shipyard takes a year or even several years, and building a large ship also takes years, so making money is too slow. The fastest way to make money now is to open a shipbuilding company, and then find a way to list it and sell the company’s stock.

If all goes well, you can cash out and leave in half a year, with profits as high as one hundred percent or even higher. With capital and manpower, opening several such companies at the same time, earning several million a year is not a problem,”

Zhang Wei explained.

His words shocked Li Xing. He didn’t know much about the stock market. Hearing what Zhang Wei said, he felt that it was a fraudulent organization.

Wasn’t it illegal to do this? Did the imperial court not care?

Chapter 769: Stock Market Bubble

It was definitely illegal, but the stock market was a new thing. Not to mention the lack of experience among the people, even the government lacked management experience in this area.

Currently, the people in the Financial Department only saw the increasing taxes paid by the stock market and thought that the stock market was developing well.

Little did they know that the current stock market was like a powder keg, just waiting for someone to strike a spark.

In the current Great Hua stock market, there were many shell companies.

They used various means to collude with the reviewing officials to get shell companies listed, and then they would sell the company’s shares and be done with it.

Most of the people who bought stocks didn’t know that this was a shell company.

A small number of well-informed people knew about it, but they wouldn’t say anything.

Anyway, the people who came to play in the stock market weren’t coming for the year-end dividends.

They mainly bought low and sold high, earning the difference in price.

As long as there were people who continued to buy those stocks, whether the company was a shell company or not didn’t matter to those speculators.

This kind of game was easy to collapse when the economy was not good.

But now the economic situation in Great Hua was very good, which led to ordinary people having a lot of confidence in the stock market, believing that the stocks in their hands would definitely rise.

This led to those shell companies being able to exist for a long time without being discovered.

No one knew when this powder keg would explode, but it was certain that it would explode.

After learning about the stock market, Li Xing also took a tour of the stock market.

Then, he keenly discovered the hidden problems in the stock market and was shocked by these situations.

For example, Dingsheng Shipyard, the issue price of the stock was ten wen per share, and now it had 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炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒作炒

Chapter 770: A Storm Arises

The market was suspended.

This action by the government stunned those who were speculating in stocks.

It felt like everyone had gathered to gamble, and then the government suddenly sent people to confiscate the game.

Those who had already won money naturally didn’t care, and might even be secretly rejoicing. But those who had lost money and were waiting to make it back were cursing in their hearts.

Some stockholders, unaware of the situation and still in the dark, didn’t panic. They were just waiting for the stock market to reopen so they could continue playing the game.

However, those who were well-informed and knew that the government was going to rectify the chaos in the stock market began to panic.

They knew that some of the stocks they held were valuable, some were overvalued, and some were worthless.

The stocks of those shell companies would become worthless as soon as the imperial court announced the situation.

This was simply deadly.

As a result, some people began to trade privately, trying to get rid of their stocks.

Unfortunately, things always go wrong when you try to hide something. Their attempts to sell at a lower price only made people more suspicious and unwilling to take over.

At the same time, the Intelligence Agency began arresting people.

At first, the officials in the government panicked, thinking that it was another round of arrests for corruption.

Everyone was implicated in that regard, so they could only pray for good fortune.

Fortunately, they soon discovered that the Intelligence Agency was mainly arresting people from the Financial Department, and the officials from other departments breathed a sigh of relief.

It’s said that it’s better for a friend to die than for oneself to suffer. As long as their own safety could be ensured, they would be happy to see all the people in the Financial Department arrested and convicted.

Unlike the ease of other departments, the people in the Financial Department felt like the sky was falling.

Some were taken away, some began to use connections to seek protection, some were afraid and went to confess voluntarily, some hanged themselves, and some tried to escape quietly, creating a scene of chaos.

“What’s wrong with the people in the Financial Department? Almost half of them have been arrested.”

“I heard that the people responsible for reviewing listed companies messed around and listed a batch of shell companies, which had an extremely bad impact. His Majesty is furious.”

“Hehe, serves them right. Those people in the Financial Department usually act like they’re all that. Even a small clerk can ignore us.”

…

People in other departments were worried, some were watching the excitement, and some were gloating.

In addition to arresting officials in the court, the Intelligence Agency also arrested unscrupulous merchants in the private sector.

Great Hua temporarily couldn’t do anything about those who made a quick buck and then ran away.

However, there were very few such people. Most people wanted to make another fortune after making one, so they stayed in Nanjing.

Under torture, the officials of the Financial Department confessed one after another, and none of the unscrupulous merchants escaped.

“See, the most important thing in doing business is not to do anything that harms the interests of Great Hua, and to abide by laws and regulations. It’s better to earn a little less, and wealth can be accumulated slowly.

Those illegal businesses that can make you rich overnight are meaningless. No matter how much money you earn, it’s just being held in trust for the imperial court, and eventually you have to spit it out, even losing your family fortune.”

In the Tong family, Tong Youwei was lecturing the stewards of the family.

When the stock market was hot, even Tong Youwei was envious, and the stewards in the family were also advising him to invest money in the stock market to make quick money.

However, Tong Youwei saw through the trickery in the stock market at a glance and resolutely refused to participate.

As it turned out, his choice was right.

The Chen family had a similar philosophy to the Tong family. They were clear-headed on matters of principle and did not try to take advantage of small gains.

As for Cui Mingchong, Han Sanli, and others, they were now racking their brains on how to deal with the stocks in their hands.

Now they could be sure of one thing, that after the stock market reopened, the stocks in their hands would plummet. If they didn’t sell now, they would definitely suffer heavy losses.

Of course, they were not the worst off.

They were only losing some money, while in the Sun family, it was now in complete chaos.

The head of the Sun family, Sun Daoming, had just been taken away by the Intelligence Agency.

Sun Daoming not only participated in stock speculation, but also personally went into the market and opened a large number of shell companies.

Relying on the fact that he was a relative of the emperor, Sun Daoming made a lot of money.

Before the Intelligence Agency came to deal with it, the officials in the government gave him face and did not make things difficult for him.

But this time, the Intelligence Agency took action, and his status as a relative of the emperor was not so useful.

“Quick, quick, go find Consort Shu.”

Sun Daoming’s wife said, Consort Shu was their greatest reliance.

The Sun family took action. Sun Daoming’s sister-in-law, Sun Huangshi, who was also Consort Shu’s mother, came to the palace, met Sun Yunxuan, and told her about Sun Daoming’s arrest.

“It’s no use telling me, I’m not favored in front of the Emperor.”

Sun Yunxuan said helplessly.

When she first married Wu Changqing, she was quite favored.

However, as time went on and Wu Changqing had more women around him, Wu Changqing rarely looked for her.

If it were other concubines, they would rack their brains and try to please the emperor in every possible way when they encountered this situation.

But Sun Yunxuan was not like that. After being neglected, she simply focused on writing.

She didn’t take the initiative, while other concubines were studying how to please the emperor all day long, and the result was that she was increasingly neglected.

What was even worse was that she was unlucky and had not conceived a child, so her status continued to decline.

Although she was still a concubine, some concubines and beauties in the palace no longer took her seriously.

Now, her family suddenly wanted her to intercede with the emperor, which was really embarrassing for her.

“I’ve always advised you not to write those broken articles. A woman’s virtue is to be without talent, and pleasing the emperor is the most important thing, but you just won’t listen.”

Sun Huangshi complained.

Their family’s wealth all depended on Sun Daoming.

If something happened to Sun Daoming, the huge family would decline, and the livelihood of hundreds of people in the family would be a problem.

“It’s my uncle’s fault for doing those illegal things, and this time he’s caused such a big disaster.”

Sun Yunxuan was also aggrieved. Other small matters would have been fine.

However, she heard that Wu Changqing had lost his temper over this matter a few days ago.

“No matter what, you have to try. You can’t just watch your hundreds of relatives suffer and not save them, can you?”

Sun Huangshi said.

A married daughter is like water thrown out, in Sun Huangshi’s eyes, Sun Yunxuan was not even as important as the uncles in the family. She didn’t consider Sun Yunxuan at all, and just wanted to use Sun Yunxuan to save the situation.

Sun Yunxuan sighed. Even if she was unwilling, she could only agree.

After all, that was the education she had received, to prioritize the interests of the family.

If she didn’t save her uncle in distress, the infamy in the family would be enough to break her down.

Chapter 771: Disposition

While Wu Changqing was taking his afternoon nap, Sun Yunxuan requested an audience.

Wu Changqing, of course, guessed her purpose, but Consort Shu was one of the few consorts he favored, so he naturally wouldn’t ignore her.

Sun Yunxuan entered with tears streaming down her face. As soon as she came in, she grabbed Wu Changqing’s leg and knelt before him.

“I beg Your Majesty to show leniency. My uncle was just temporarily confused, bewitched. He is old and cannot withstand the tortures of prison.”

Sun Yunxuan pleaded.

“You don’t need to concern yourself with such matters,” Wu Changqing said.

“He is, after all, my uncle. I beg Your Majesty to spare his life, considering the contributions he once made to Great Hua.” Sun Yunxuan said.

“Rest assured, he will be spared his life. At most, it will be confiscation of property and a fine.”

“But, the Sun family has hundreds of people. Without money, without a livelihood, how will they live?” Sun Yunxuan continued to cry, it’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.

The Sun family, accustomed to a life of splendor, would likely have many starve to death if their property were confiscated.

After all, besides a group of elites, there was also a group of parasites in the Sun family who only knew how to eat and wait for death. Like Sun Yunxuan’s father, he had almost no ability and relied entirely on her uncle to support him.

“Then what do you want? Surely you don’t expect me to release him without punishment? If I did that, how would the people of the world be convinced?” Wu Changqing snorted coldly.

The imperial family enjoyed various privileges, which the people could accept, as long as it wasn’t too excessive.

Just like Sun Daoming previously used his status as a relative of the imperial family to engage in market bullying, although everyone was unhappy about it, they could tolerate it.

But if it was too much, and such a serious mistake was not punished, it would chill the hearts of the people.

“I beg Your Majesty to give the Sun family another chance. I will definitely advise them well and ensure they abide by the law in the future.”

Sun Yunxuan was still trying, but unfortunately, she was no longer favored.

If it were Cui Xianghan, who was currently favored, she might be able to act coquettishly and get Wu Changqing to be lenient.

Unfortunately, Sun Yunxuan no longer had that leverage.

However, Wu Changqing was not a particularly ruthless person after all. Seeing Sun Yunxuan so pitiful, he couldn’t completely ignore her.

So, he said, “I will give instructions to not confiscate too harshly during the property seizure, and leave your family some money to maintain a decent life.

However, for the sake of fairness, your title of Consort Shu will be removed. Do you agree?”

Wu Changqing gave her a choice. If she was willing to give up the title of Consort Shu, he would give the Sun family a way out. Otherwise, he could only handle it according to the law.

There were only nine spots for imperial consorts, so they were quite valuable.

Those women who had not yet received a title were working hard to serve Wu Changqing, hoping to obtain the status of a consort.

Taking back the title of Consort Shu and bestowing it upon Cui Xianghan would also be a reward for Cui Xianghan’s efforts.

“This concubine thanks Your Majesty for your kindness,” Sun Yunxuan said, crying. She originally wanted to say that she couldn’t do it, after all, the status of Consort Shu was quite noble.

With this status, her monthly allowance would be much higher, and other women would respect her more.

And if she lost this status, her income would be much less, and it would be more difficult to gain respect in the circle of the emperor’s women.

Sun Yunxuan was quite reluctant, but she had no choice but to agree.

Otherwise, hundreds of people in the Sun family would end up on the streets.

And she would probably be condemned by everyone.

Several days later, those who should be arrested had basically been arrested, and those who should be interrogated had basically yielded results.

This was just a normal commercial case, not a political struggle, without the complicated relationships of officials protecting each other, so most people confessed easily.

More than thirty officials were implicated in this incident, but most of them were low-ranking officials of the seventh or eighth rank, and the biggest fish was only of the fifth rank.

They were all people who handled specific matters, and they used their power to deceive their superiors, embezzle, and accept bribes.

It is said that officials in the capital are naturally superior, and this is indeed true.

Officials in Nanjing, even if they are of a very low rank, often have a great deal of power and can easily make money.

In this incident, a registrar of the eighth rank accepted bribes amounting to more than one hundred thousand yuan, which was one thousand times his annual salary.

Of the thirty-five officials, two principal offenders with serious circumstances were sentenced to death.

They used their power of review to list as many as fifty shell companies, embezzled more than five million yuan, and caused huge losses to the imperial court.

Confiscating property alone was far from enough to serve as a deterrent.

Among the other thirty-three low-ranking officials, all were dismissed from their posts, twenty of whom had their property confiscated, some were sentenced to several years in prison, and some were exiled.

There were also thirteen officials who were forced to go along with the tide because they were in the officialdom.

These people received lighter punishments, all were suspended from their duties for inspection, all embezzled gains were confiscated, and they were fined heavily.

This punishment was quite moderate.

And those merchants who offered bribes were given corresponding punishments according to the amount of bribes, the amount of fraud, and the losses caused.

The most serious offender was Sun Daoming, but the most severely punished was not him.

Sun Daoming was sentenced to twenty years in prison, most of his property was confiscated, and several principal offenders in his family who participated in the incident were also sentenced to three to five years.

Another merchant, Tang Sijin, was sentenced to death and had his property confiscated for listing only four shell companies and cashing out more than eight million yuan, and his family members were also severely punished.

Even the innocent women were filled into the brothels.

Only in this way could there be deterrence. If the head of the family could bear all the crimes without affecting his family, I am afraid that more merchants would choose to take the risk of committing crimes.

Tang Sijin committed a lesser crime, but received a heavier punishment, but the people did not feel that the emperor was biased.

After all, the emperor also removed Consort Shu and punished Sun Daoming.

In the eyes of the Great Hua people, this was already quite fair.

Other merchants also received corresponding punishments according to the severity of their circumstances.

The main punishments were confiscation of property and fines.

With this wave, Great Hua received an income of sixty million yuan.

This number startled Qian Taoli, who was responsible for counting the confiscated money.

He didn’t expect that the upper class of Great Hua had become so wealthy.

It should be known that this time, only middle-level figures were involved, those arrested were small officials, and the merchants who were punished were not top tycoons.

But even so, they were able to confiscate as much as sixty million.

It is conceivable that if the homes of a few high-ranking officials or a few top wealthy people were confiscated, the harvest would be unimaginable.

Thinking of this, Qian Taoli showed a wicked smile. He wished that Great Hua would have such things happen from time to time, so that the central government’s finances could be much more abundant.

Chapter 772: Palace Intrigue

The government’s rectification campaign had ended, but the repercussions were far from over.

When the stock market reopened, a chorus of wails immediately filled the air.

The stocks of those shell companies that had been exposed instantly became worthless.

Other stocks with inflated prices also experienced declines.

The only ones that weren’t greatly affected were the established, well-known enterprises, such as Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant, BMW Dealership, and so on.

These companies were very stable, with continuous profit dividends, and shareholders had extremely strong confidence in them.

Those shareholders who had suffered significant losses formed a group to demand an explanation from the government.

They were unwilling to suffer such losses, and they were also envious of the government’s confiscated wealth.

In their words, the money that had been confiscated was the money they had been swindled out of, and the government should return it to them.

However, they were clearly thinking too much.

It wasn’t that the Great Hua court coveted their little bit of money, but mainly that if it was returned to them, they would only become more blind and reckless in the future.

Wu Changqing would rather have these guys hate the court in their hearts, to give these people a lesson, and to give others a warning, to let everyone know that the court would not pay for their greed and stupidity.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t go too far.

Of the sixty million confiscated, forty million was taken as a special fund to help enterprises in difficulty and individuals living in poverty.

In short, the core purpose was to teach those people a lesson, but not to make them unable to survive and lose hope.

In addition to this compensation, more detailed and comprehensive rules were introduced for the management of the stock market.

In this turmoil, most people were losers.

Although the court confiscated some money, it was still somewhat at a loss compared to the adverse effects caused by the turmoil.

Those officials and businessmen who had committed crimes lost everything.

The only winner, perhaps, was Consort Rou, Cui Xianghan, who had just been conferred the title.

If Consort Shu hadn’t been demoted, Wu Changqing might not have conferred the title on Cui Xianghan so quickly.

After all, the number of imperial concubines was limited, so he had to save them a bit, in case he met someone he liked more in the future, it would be convenient to confer the title.

“That vixen got ahead of me again.”

Ning Caiju threw her pillow around in anger. She also had vases, but she was reluctant to smash them.

After all, she was only a concubine, and couldn’t afford to be so extravagant.

Among the ten beauties of the same period, she was doing quite well, at least she had a title.

However, compared to Cui Xianghan, she was still a bit behind.

“Your Highness, don’t be angry, there’s nothing we can do about it. Who told her to be so uniquely gifted? I heard the palace maids around the Emperor say that she…”

Ning Caiju’s personal maid leaned close to Ning Caiju’s ear and whispered.

“How is that possible?”

Ning Caiju tried it herself, and found that she couldn’t do it at all.

“That’s why I say she’s a demon. I think she must be a snake demon reincarnated.”

The maid said.

“That’s right, she’s a snake demon who brings disaster to the country and the people. Spread the word about this.”

Ning Caiju’s eyes suddenly lit up, and she told the maid to spread rumors, playing palace intrigue.

The so-called palace intrigue is actually about finding ways to make oneself more favored and make others lose favor.

The methods are relatively gentle. There are almost no cases of killing the other party’s child, or giving the other party medicine to cause a miscarriage or disfigurement, because the risks are too high.

Their palace intrigue is actually just some small tricks to disgust the other party.

For example, if they find out that someone is going to serve the Emperor at night, they will secretly dirty or tear the other person’s beautiful clothes.

Or, they will steal the jewelry that the Emperor has bestowed on the other party, so that they can’t account for it in front of the Emperor.

Or, like Ning Caiju now, they will spread rumors about the other party, saying that the other party is a snake demon reincarnated.

If the Emperor is superstitious, he probably won’t visit Cui Xianghan again, just in case.

These palace intrigues will more or less have some impact on the opponent.

However, one must be strong oneself. The most important thing for women in the palace is to find ways to get the chance to serve the Emperor and to please him.

There are still many ways to get the chance to serve the Emperor, such as pleasing and bribing the popular eunuchs around the Emperor.

Sometimes Wu Changqing doesn’t decide who will serve him, and in those cases, the eunuchs arrange it.

You can also curry favor with the favored concubines, such as currying favor with the Empress, the Virtuous Consort, and so on.

As long as you serve those people well, there are benefits.

For example, if Wu Changqing wants the Virtuous Consort to serve him, but the Virtuous Consort happens to be having her period, then the Virtuous Consort can recommend someone to take her place.

Since they have to give the opportunity to someone else anyway, they will of course give it to someone who is attached to them.

In addition, they must seize every opportunity to show themselves.

For example, Wu Changqing sometimes comes to the harem to relax and have fun with the concubines, and they can seize this opportunity to be seen by the Emperor, show their outstanding side, impress the Emperor, and please him.

Of course, these methods are actually very limited.

The competition in the harem is very cruel, and most people have had the experience of secretly wiping away tears at night.

Getting the chance to serve the Emperor doesn’t mean you can successfully gain favor.

In fact, each of them has had at least two opportunities to serve the Emperor.

However, some people can make the Emperor very satisfied, while others are somewhat unsatisfactory.

If you don’t seize the two opportunities, it will be difficult to get the chance to serve the Emperor in the future.

After all, Wu Changqing doesn’t lack women.

Therefore, how to serve the Emperor and make him satisfied is also a highly technical job, and it is worth them spending a lot of time to study and learn.

Cui Xianghan relies on her unique gifts and characteristics.

Ding Wanjun relies on her beauty, and Ning Caiju relies on her charm, and they are all doing well.

But the bookworm Tang Yiliu is not doing so well. Although she is talented, Wu Changqing is busy with official duties and has no time to appreciate her talent.

If your skills are not good, you can only be neglected.

For example, Gao Jianxiang, who is very good at playing the zither, Wu Changqing doesn’t have so much time to listen to her play the zither.

Suddenly, a rumor appeared in the palace that Cui Xianghan was a snake demon reincarnated, who came specifically to bring disaster to the country and the people.

When Cui Xianghan heard this rumor, she smashed a lot of furniture in anger to relieve her anger.

It was really too hateful. This was clearly jealousy that she had been promoted to consort.

While angry, she was also afraid, worried that Wu Changqing would believe this rumor.

Once the Emperor believed it, it would be a very fatal blow to her.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing didn’t believe this kind of talk.

Wu Changqing was not very clear about the palace intrigues of those concubines, and he didn’t have time to pay attention to them. However, he also knew that palace intrigues definitely existed.

As long as they didn’t fight too fiercely and cause any ethical tragedies, Wu Changqing would turn a blind eye and be too lazy to care.

Chapter 773: The Pain of Patriotic Individuals

The stock market turmoil poured cold water on those hot-headed businessmen, making many realize that the most stable way to make money was still through real industry.

Although investing in real industry requires large capital and a long cycle, once you get through the initial stage, you can pretty much lie back and make money.

Take the shipbuilding industry, for example. Although Great Hua has been supporting it, its production capacity still cannot meet the market demand.

Not to mention the Western European countries crying and begging for orders, even domestic orders cannot be met by the shipyards.

After all, shipbuilding is a huge investment industry, and not many people can afford to play it.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua formulated a plan to vigorously develop overseas markets and provided support for the shipbuilding industry.

First, foreign capital was allowed to enter.

Previously, in order to prevent the secret of the steam engine from being leaked, Great Hua did not allow foreigners to open shipyards.

It’s not that it was forbidden, it’s just that if foreigners opened shipyards in Great Hua, the government would not provide them with steam engines.

But now, some Western European countries have gradually obtained some steam engines through various means. The secret of the steam engine has almost been uncovered.

Technological blockade is no longer necessary, so Great Hua allows foreign capital to enter to speed up the production capacity of the shipbuilding industry.

Of course, factories built with foreign capital will definitely be treated differently.

For example, the argon arc welding technology that Wu Changqing recently developed will not be provided to them.

However, domestic capital shipyards can enjoy free technical support, and the government will provide them with argon arc welding equipment and personnel.

With argon arc welding, it is possible to start building pure ironclad ships.

As for semi-ironclad ships, with the help of argon arc welding, the effect can be doubled with half the effort.

“The Emperor’s grace is mighty, truly the Emperor’s grace is mighty. With such a benevolent Emperor who loves his people like his own children, those businessmen who do not engage in real industry but choose to speculate deserve to die.”

Li Xing said excitedly when he learned that the government would provide argon arc welding equipment and technology for free.

Exclusive technology means wealth. If the imperial court wanted to compete with the people for profit, it could completely use this technology to monopolize the shipbuilding industry.

However, the imperial court did not do so, but continued to support and support, helping them solve the most difficult problems in real industry.

Li Xing strongly defended such a good imperial court.

There are many businessmen who think the same way as Li Xing. Everyone’s eyes are not blind, and they can feel what the imperial court has done for them.

“Great Hua is the paradise for us businessmen. I must try every means to join Great Hua and become a Great Hua citizen.”

Garcia, a great merchant from Spain, said with emotion.

After seeing Great Hua’s various support for businessmen, his eyes almost popped out with envy.

After all, this kind of thing does not exist in Spain at all.

The Spanish royal family and private merchants are in a competitive relationship, wishing to grab money from private merchants. How could they provide valuable exclusive technology to merchants for free?

Doing business in Spain is much more difficult than doing business in Great Hua.

“It’s not easy to obtain Great Hua citizenship. Wester (Wei Xianghua) paid a huge price for it.”

Another companion, Herrera, said.

As a fellow businessman, he also wants to join Great Hua. This is the most suitable soil for them to survive.

“So what? You don’t see the benefits of Wester becoming a Great Hua citizen.”

Garcia smiled wryly.

Today’s Wei Xianghua can be described as infinitely glorious. Relying on his identity as a Great Hua citizen, he can make money lying down.

The simplest example is that Western European businessmen who want to open shipyards will not do so in their own name, as they will not be able to obtain technical support from the Great Hua imperial court.

They all give the money to Wei Xianghua and build the factory in Wei Xianghua’s name.

In this way, they can obtain the technical support of Great Hua.

And in this process, Wei Xianghua doesn’t have to do anything, doesn’t need any investment, and those foreigners have to provide him with twenty percent of the dry shares.

The minimum investment to build a shipyard is several million.

In other words, Wei Xianghua can pick up hundreds of thousands or millions for nothing by building a factory in his own name.

How could other Western European businessmen not be envious of this kind of benefit?

Now, more and more people want to join Great Hua citizenship. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is responsible for the review, has more than doubled in size, but it is still short of manpower.

They are also very serious in their review, not only considering the other party’s contribution value, but also considering the other party’s loyalty.

People with ulterior motives are definitely not wanted.

In the year of Yongxing four, the number of people who joined Great Hua citizenship reached more than six hundred thousand, most of whom were Japanese from the Southern Nine Prefectures.

Apart from Japan, only a dozen people have obtained Great Hua citizenship.

But these dozen people alone have contributed several million to Great Hua.

This year, the Foreign Affairs Department was also separated from the Ministry of Rites and became the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

And the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ quota for Western Europeans to join the country this year is thirty people. If all of them are completed, it can bring in nearly ten million.

As for the Japanese, it is much easier to join the country, with almost no restrictions.

Because of this little bit of differential treatment, some Japanese people have a good impression of Great Hua.

In their opinion, Great Hua is still treating them like their own son.

Some people are desperately trying to join Great Hua citizenship, of course, there are also some people who still love their country.

They will not want to join Great Hua because Great Hua is strong, but want to make their country as strong as Great Hua.

They come to Great Hua to study with the intention of saving the country and strive to become stronger.

These people are admirable, but these people are bound to live in pain.

Saving the country is not that easy, and Great Hua will not give them a chance.

Whenever any country wants to rise, Great Hua can send troops to suppress it, or impose economic sanctions on it.

Of course, it is okay not to send them. Great Hua is really not afraid of comparing development speed.

Great Hua’s technology is already decades or hundreds of years ahead of the world. Unless other countries also have people with cheats, it is impossible to catch up with Great Hua’s speed through normal means.

Those who try to save the country will most likely have to watch their country being bullied by Great Hua, but be powerless.

In the process of seeking to save the country, they will inevitably experience despair again and again.

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but look forward to that scene after learning that the number of foreigners studying in China this year had doubled.

As for whether these people will use the knowledge they have learned to go back and save the country, Wu Changqing is not worried at all.

What he is comparing with these people is speed. By the time these people learn to make steam engines, he will have already made internal combustion engines.

When those people think that their skills can save the country, they find that Great Hua has completed technological innovation again. I wonder if they will be so angry that they vomit blood on the spot.

Wu Changqing is looking forward to this kind of thing.

Chapter 774: People of the Celestial Dynasty

Japan, Kagoshima.

A new term has recently emerged here: “People of the Celestial Dynasty,” referring to the people of Great Hua.

To curry favor with the people of Great Hua and show their respect, the Japanese specifically call them “People of the Celestial Dynasty,” much like the “foreign masters” of the original timeline.

When the Japanese use this term for the people of Great Hua, it represents a term of respect. However, when progressive Japanese use this term for other Japanese, it carries a mocking undertone.

People of the Celestial Dynasty enjoy various privileges in Japan. For example, if a person of the Celestial Dynasty kills a Japanese person, the Japanese government has no authority to arrest or try them; they must be handed over to Great Hua for trial.

And such trials usually end without resolution, at most with some monetary compensation.

If killing someone is no big deal, then bullying the Japanese on a regular basis is even less of a problem.

It’s fine if it doesn’t escalate to the government, but if it does, the bullied party often has to apologize.

“Giddy up.”

Zhao Mang and two other friends rode their horses wildly through the city of Kagoshima, scaring the Japanese into dodging and weaving. Many roadside stalls were overturned in the chaos, causing a scene of utter chaos.

“Hahaha, awesome! I’m already starting to like this place.”

Liu Qingjun laughed loudly.

Born into a small wealthy family, he belonged to the lower-middle class in Nanjing and always had to keep a low profile.

After coming to Japan to do business, he was treated like an ancestor by the Japanese, a feeling that was simply amazing.

Liu Qingjun had already decided that he would never return to the Central Plains again. How could the Central Plains compare to Japan?

Although Nanjing was prosperous, he preferred enjoying this feeling of superiority.

“Hahaha, how about we snatch a couple of Japanese women off the street and have some fun?”

Zhao Mang suggested.

“That might not be a good idea. If it causes public outrage, it’ll be hard to explain to Master Qian.”

Wang Lang, who was slightly more gentle in nature, felt it was inappropriate.

Although they enjoyed privileges here and bullying the Japanese wouldn’t cause any trouble, if things got too out of hand, Great Hua would protect them but also impose some penalties.

“Brother Wang is right. There’s no need to make trouble for ourselves. If you really want women, find those brokers; they’ll send them over proactively,”

Liu Qingjun laughed.

Some local Japanese brokers served them like ancestors, and a few women were a small matter.

The three dismounted and went to an izakaya, where the tavern owner hurried out to greet them personally.

Seeing the bow that was bent at a full ninety degrees, all three of them laughed.

“Esteemed officials, please come in. Our shop has just received a batch of the finest sake,”

Mao Litaro said, bowing deeply, speaking in standard Chinese.

This was forced upon them by Great Hua. Great Hua only stipulated that Chinese must be spoken in the Southern Nine Prefectures; Great Hua couldn’t control the people of Kagoshima.

These Japanese people voluntarily learned Chinese. Learning Chinese had many benefits; at the very least, they could become brokers, relying on the power of the people of the Celestial Dynasty to bully the locals.

“That kind of sake isn’t even as good as horse piss; you can’t get drunk at all,”

Zhao Mang said with disdain.

“Hai, compared to the fine wines of the Celestial Dynasty, sake is of course not presentable. However, it’s too difficult to get the fine wines of the Celestial Dynasty in Kagoshima,”

Mao Litaro said.

“Then bring some sake and some good dishes.”

Zhao Mang was just saying it casually, showing off his sense of superiority.

Although Japanese sake couldn’t compare to the fine wines of Great Hua, it wasn’t as bad as he made it out to be. In some ways, it even had a unique flavor.

“Has Tsuda Mitsuyoshi arrived? He’s the one who invited us.”

Liu Qingjun asked.

They were here to discuss business with someone.

“So you are Lord Tsuda’s guests. Lord Tsuda has been waiting in the private room for a long time,”

Mao Litaro quickly led them to the private room.

Nowadays, the Japanese in the Satsuma Domain like to do business with the people of Great Hua.

There was no other way; this was all forced upon them by Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Having fallen into a quagmire of war, Shimazu Mitsuhisa was having a very difficult time and was short on money everywhere.

Helpless, he could only set his sights on those merchants, constantly raising taxes, making it difficult for them to earn money.

As a result, some smart Japanese merchants began to cooperate with the people of Great Hua to do business.

With the participation of the people of Great Hua, Shimazu Mitsuhisa did not dare to increase taxes arbitrarily.

He wouldn’t care if he raised taxes on the people of Great Hua, and if he dared to use force, Qian Sule would be more than happy to oblige.

With just a little excuse, Qian Sule could conduct a military exercise in Kagoshima, making Shimazu Mitsuhisa uneasy even in his sleep.

Therefore, Shimazu Mitsuhisa had been avoiding offending Great Hua.

He often turned a blind eye to businesses with the participation of the people of Great Hua.

“Lord Zhao, Lord Liu, Lord Wang, we’ve been looking forward to your arrival.”

Tsuda Mitsuyoshi stood up to greet them, his attitude extremely respectful.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, they began to talk about business.

Tsuda Mitsuyoshi wanted to open a silk reeling factory and needed to rely on Zhao Mang and others’ connections to purchase equipment from Great Hua. He also needed to rely on Zhao Mang and others’ status to deter Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Tsuda Mitsuyoshi was basically providing the money for the factory.

Zhao Mang and others only needed to bring the machines over, and each of them would receive twenty percent of the shares.

Tsuda Mitsuyoshi not only provided most of the money but also had to put in the effort to manage the business, ultimately only being able to get forty percent.

This was the sorrow of Japanese merchants.

Tsuda Mitsuyoshi was very sensible, and the cooperation was naturally very pleasant.

Soon, the cooperation was agreed upon.

Tsuda Mitsuyoshi clapped his hands, and the beauties who had been prepared long ago came in to serve Liu Qingjun and the others.

These Japanese women served very carefully and attentively.

They all hoped to please Liu Qingjun and the others. If they could take this opportunity to become the wife or concubine of a person of the Celestial Dynasty, it would be a great gain.

At least, they wouldn’t have to worry about being oppressed by the government in the future.

Moreover, they could obtain Great Hua citizenship.

Even if they couldn’t obtain official status and were just playthings, they would be willing.

People of the Celestial Dynasty were rich, and serving them earned a lot of money.

There were even some Japanese women who admired the people of the Celestial Dynasty and took pride in serving Celestial Dynasty men.

Of course, there were also some Japanese beauties with backbone who were unwilling to rely on the people of Great Hua.

They had to be careful and reduce the number of times they went out on the streets.

Otherwise, if they were seen by the people of Great Hua, they would easily get into trouble.

Having backbone was not a problem, as long as you had money.

The problem was having backbone and no money, which would be very painful.

Unless they were willing to starve to death, they would most likely be sold to Great Hua to engage in the flesh trade.

There were not many suitable jobs for them, and selling themselves was the fastest way to make money.

Nowadays, the brothels of Great Hua were almost being conquered by Japanese women and Korean girls.

There was no other way; who told them to be cheap? Great Hua women had no competitiveness in front of them.

Chapter 775: A Japan Traitor

Inside another private room of the izakaya, a Great Hua man and a Japanese man were kneeling opposite each other.

“Mr. Oshima, have you thought it through? If you miss this opportunity, it won’t be so easy for me to apply for funding next time.”

Hao Jiwen was from the Intelligence Bureau, specializing in underground work.

Now, he was conspiring with Oshima Hayanami from Japan to rebel.

Oshima Hayanami was from Kanoya in the Satsuma Domain. The people in the Kanoya area were already living in dire straits, and many were unable to survive. The situation was similar to that of Southern Kyushu before, with armed tax resistance or even armed rebellion likely to erupt at any moment.

Great Hua would naturally not miss this opportunity. Qian Sule wanted to replicate the Southern Kyushu strategy, letting the Japanese rebel themselves, and then secretly providing them with military support.

This time, Qian Sule was planning a big move, supporting Oshima Hayanami to eliminate Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Then, he would ask Oshima Hayanami to voluntarily incorporate the Satsuma Domain into Great Hua, making it part of Great Hua’s territory.

If this plan succeeded, the entire Satsuma Domain could be annexed directly.

Although Qian Sule could quickly occupy the Satsuma Domain by force and annex it.

However, doing so would arouse the resentment of the Japanese people and provoke their national sentiment.

Once the other party had national sentiment and regarded Great Hua as an enemy, the cost of ruling the Satsuma Domain would greatly increase, and the difficulty of assimilation would be very high.

This was obviously not cost-effective, far inferior to the Southern Kyushu model.

Southern Kyushu, on the surface, voluntarily requested to be incorporated into Great Hua, and Great Hua even spent money to help them redeem themselves from the Satsuma Domain.

Therefore, the Japanese people of Southern Kyushu were very kind and grateful to Great Hua.

In addition, on the surface, everyone looked equal. In Southern Kyushu, not many Japanese people hated the people of Great Hua, and the process of Sinicization was very fast.

It was for this effect that Qian Sule went to great lengths to support Oshima Hayanami.

“Completely merging into Great Hua is too much trouble. The shogunate will definitely not agree, and the people below may not be willing either. Why can’t we just become a vassal state of Great Hua? I can even give up the military and diplomacy, and only retain some administrative power,”

Oshima Hayanami said.

He was not a small figure lacking in knowledge like Miyazaki Shikamaru. He knew what merging into Great Hua meant, it meant betraying his country.

Although the daimyo in various parts of Japan did not submit to the shogunate, they would all acknowledge that they belonged to Japan.

There was no problem with a daimyo defecting to another daimyo.

But if a daimyo defected to Great Hua and incorporated his territory into Great Hua, that would undoubtedly be treason.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa had already almost ruined his reputation just by selling Southern Kyushu.

If Oshima Hayanami sold the entire Satsuma Domain after becoming the lord of the Satsuma Domain, he would probably be forever nailed to the pillar of shame.

“What if the shogunate doesn’t agree? Our Great Hua’s army will teach them a lesson. As for the people below, as long as they live a better life than before, will they still have any objections?”

Hao Jiwen said.

“But, after merging into Great Hua, can the people really live better?”

Oshima Hayanami asked.

“You can take a look at Southern Kyushu.”

“The situation in Southern Kyushu is different. That’s just a small place, and Great Hua can support it with a little money. But the Satsuma Domain is so big, how much money would Great Hua have to spend to make all the people of the Satsuma Domain live that kind of life?”

Oshima Hayanami was not easy to fool. In his understanding, annexing a place was to exploit that place for profit.

There was no reason to spend a lot of money to obtain a place, and then not only not exploit it, but also provide a lot of support.

Although Great Hua was rich, it was impossible to waste money.

Just like Korea now, although it has also been incorporated into Great Hua, the support it receives is actually limited.

The lives of some Koreans have indeed improved, but most Koreans are still living in poverty.

It was impossible to reach the living standards of Southern Kyushu for everyone.

Southern Kyushu was a special case, a face-saving project that Great Hua was losing money on.

“Mr. Oshima, rest assured, our Great Hua’s support doesn’t require a lot of money to make those people live a good life. As long as those technical restrictions are lifted on the Satsuma Domain, you can use these technologies to create a lot of wealth yourselves.

Besides, our Great Hua treats Japan as its own people. You should be able to see this from Great Hua’s naturalization policy.”

Hao Jiwen continued to deceive.

Treating the Japanese as their own people could be done on the surface.

But in reality, it was impossible.

Just like the Manchus living in Great Hua now, although the imperial court said that the two races were equal, how could they be equal in reality?

Those resources were basically in the hands of the Han people. People of other ethnic groups had opportunities to rise, but the difficulty was definitely much greater than that of the Han people.

This was not to say that Wu Changqing was biased, but it was a kind of spontaneous atmosphere among the people.

However, this situation would slowly weaken over time.

Oshima Hayanami also understood that Hao Jiwen’s words could only be believed halfway.

However, even just half of it made him a little tempted.

Not to mention letting the people of the Satsuma Domain live the life of Southern Kyushu, he would be satisfied with half of it.

Although it was psychologically difficult to accept being ruled by Great Hua.

But the practical benefits were too great, at least they could live like human beings. Continuing to be ruled by Shimazu Mitsuhisa meant living like livestock.

As long as he could help the people of the Satsuma Domain escape from suffering, Oshima Hayanami was willing to bear some infamy.

Of course, this was his way of comforting himself.

In the end, he still hoped to use the power of Great Hua to turn himself around, become a superior person, and gain greater power.

“With Mr. Hao’s promise, I feel much more at ease,”

Oshima Hayanami said.

His words meant that he had accepted Hao Jiwen’s suggestion and agreed to cooperate.

This made Hao Jiwen very satisfied.

However, Oshima Hayanami was actually only agreeing on the surface. In reality, he had not completely made up his mind, or rather, he was prepared to take things one step at a time.

If there was no opportunity in the future, he would have to fulfill the agreement.

But if there were changes that were beneficial to Japan, such as Great Hua falling into internal strife, or the shogunate defeating the Great Hua army, or other opportunities, he could break his promise, refuse to merge into Great Hua, and become an independent daimyo.

“Mr. Oshima, this is a wise choice. Let’s first wish us a happy cooperation. Time is of the essence, let’s discuss the specific plan.”

Hao Jiwen was not very clear about Oshima Hayanami’s thoughts.

However, Hao Jiwen was not worried about Oshima Hayanami breaking the contract. If that kind of thing really happened, the Great Hua army would teach the other party how to behave.

Great Hua could support a person, and also destroy a person.

Chapter 776: The Japan Uprising

In early February, a peasant uprising broke out in Kanoya City on Kyushu Island.

The main body of the rebel army was made up of people who couldn’t survive, but the leaders were all from well-to-do aristocratic classes.

This was actually quite normal. The common people lacked knowledge and culture, and didn’t understand much. It was one thing to get them to violently resist taxes, but it was too difficult for them to revolt with a plan, purpose, organization, and action program.

With Qian Sule’s secret support, Oshima Hayanami’s uprising was very successful.

Although the rebels were a bunch of rabble, they had a large number.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s troops had all been transferred to the front lines, leaving the rear empty, and it was quickly captured by the rebels.

In less than three days, the rebel forces occupied the entire peninsula and began to advance north.

This startled Shimazu Mitsuhisa. He realized what it meant to be beset by internal and external troubles.

“What should we do now? Our troops are all in Kumamoto Castle, and the rebels are coming on strong.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa paced back and forth, as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

“Lord, as things stand, we can only seek peace with Nishikawa Mochiyoshi. The current situation in Kumamoto Domain is not much better than ours, so there is still hope for peace. After the ceasefire with Kumamoto Domain, we can transfer the troops from the front line back to suppress the rebellion.”

Miyazaki Ichiro suggested.

That being said, Miyazaki Ichiro didn’t have much hope.

He had already seen that Great Hua wanted Satsuma Domain and Kumamoto Domain to continue fighting. If the two of them shook hands and made peace, Great Hua might not agree, and might even stir up trouble from it.

“Distant water cannot quench immediate thirst. In addition to negotiating peace with Kumamoto Domain, Miyazaki-kun should also go to the Great Hua military camp to find Qian Sule and request Great Hua to send troops to help suppress the rebellion.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa was still making his calculations, hoping that Great Hua would be willing to send troops to help.

If successful, the people in the rebellious areas would hate the Huaxia people to death. If it failed, it would also weaken the Huaxia army’s strength.

Miyazaki Ichiro was speechless at Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s order. He didn’t believe that Great Hua would help.

He said, “Lord, as things stand, how can we still rely on Great Hua? Our greatest enemy is Great Hua. In my opinion, we should now declare our allegiance to the shogunate and ask the shogunate to help drive out the Huaxia people.”

Miyazaki Ichiro had already seen through Great Hua’s ambitions and knew that cooperating with Great Hua was like seeking skin from a tiger.

This…

Shimazu Mitsuhisa hesitated. He felt that Great Hua just wanted to take advantage of them and might not be interested in occupying the entire Satsuma Domain.

After all, Great Hua was too far away, and completely occupying Satsuma Domain might not be a good thing.

But Nishikawa Mochiyoshi and Oshima Hayanami were different. They were both seeking the entire territory of Satsuma Domain, which was the most fatal.

For Shimazu Mitsuhisa, losing to Great Hua, losing Tanegashima, and losing Southern Kyushu were all minor problems. He was still the lord of Satsuma Domain.

But if he lost to Nishikawa Mochiyoshi or Oshima Hayanami, then he would lose the entire Satsuma Domain.

He weighed the importance of the two very clearly.

“It is unrealistic to drive out Great Hua, and the shogunate does not have that much strength. Let’s think of a way to quell the rebellion first, and talk about the rest later.”

Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s words made Miyazaki Ichiro feel completely disheartened. He realized that Shimazu Mitsuhisa was just a short-sighted guy and not a wise ruler worth assisting.

Great Hua’s attempt to蚕食 Japan was already well known, but Shimazu Mitsuhisa was still retreating step by step for his personal gain.

Miyazaki Ichiro sighed and was already thinking about a new way out.

However, before leaving, he was still helping Shimazu Mitsuhisa.

Although Shimazu Mitsuhisa was a waste, he was still good to him.

At the Huaxia army’s garrison, Miyazaki Ichiro met Qian Sule and made a request to Qian Sule to send troops to suppress the rebellion.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. This is your own business, and it is not convenient for Great Hua to interfere.”

Qian Sule said.

These words almost made Miyazaki Ichiro laugh. Great Hua was very active in the Southern Kyushu matter before. Why didn’t they say it was inconvenient at that time?

“Lord Qian, sending troops to suppress the rebellion is not only for our Satsuma Domain, but also for the sake of your Great Hua merchants. Under the control of Lord Shimazu, Satsuma Domain can still guarantee the interests and safety of Great Hua merchants.

But if the mob controls Satsuma Domain, they may not be so polite.”

Miyazaki Ichiro said.

“Mr. Miyazaki doesn’t need to worry about this. I believe that no matter who rules Satsuma Domain, they will need to protect the interests of Great Hua.”

Qian Sule smiled and didn’t take Miyazaki Ichiro’s reminder to heart.

Not to mention that Oshima Hayanami was supported by him, even if he wasn’t, no one would be stupid enough to provoke Great Hua.

If such a freak really appeared, there would be a good excuse to send troops, and there would be no loss either way.

Miyazaki Ichiro tried his best, but ultimately failed.

Fortunately, the negotiations with Kumamoto Domain went smoothly.

As Miyazaki Ichiro said, the situation in Kumamoto Domain was also very bad.

A large number of adult men died in battle, died of exhaustion, and some old and weak people died of illness, starvation, and escape.

The population of the entire Kyushu Island has decreased sharply by thirty percent compared to previous years.

Among them, men died the most, as they were the main force in the war.

Some villages have become veritable widow villages.

Economically, Kumamoto Domain has also fallen into a state of collapse.

As long as Great Hua suspends aid, they will immediately starve another group of people to death.

Nishikawa Mochiyoshi also saw through Great Hua’s intentions and didn’t want to fight with the people of Satsuma Domain anymore.

In this negotiation, the two sides hit it off and quickly reached a ceasefire agreement.

Then, the people of Kumamoto Domain hid aside to lick their wounds.

They won’t be able to restore their pre-war vitality for at least a dozen years.

And Satsuma Domain was even worse. They had even more population losses, as high as forty percent.

Most of the extra ten percent were women. It was more convenient for them to go to Great Hua, so a large number of Japan women went to Great Hua to make a living in order to escape the war and slavery.

This terrible situation is still continuing. Shimazu Mitsuhisa still needs to quell the rebellion. In this process, another large group of people will die.

Unless he is willing to give up his position to Oshima Hayanami.

This is impossible. Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s ideological awareness is not that high.

Shimazu Mitsuhisa wanted to negotiate peace with Oshima Hayanami, and even offered the position of Great General.

Unfortunately, Oshima Hayanami refused.

It’s not that Oshima Hayanami didn’t want to, it’s just that he didn’t dare.

If he dared to play tricks on Great Hua and turn around to cooperate with Shimazu Mitsuhisa, Great Hua would probably attack immediately. At that time, the people of Satsuma Domain would suffer again.

The treatment of actively merging and being conquered by force cannot be the same.

Chapter 777: The Fall of the Satsuma Domain

After the Satsuma and Kumamoto Domains ceased fighting, Shimazu Mitsuhisa redeployed his frontline troops to the vicinity of Miyakonojo, where he engaged the rebel forces in a decisive battle.

Although Shimazu Mitsuhisa only had ten thousand men, they were all elites who had survived the flames of war.

When the decisive battle began, his ten thousand men quickly routed the thirty thousand strong allied forces of Oshima Hayanami.

Qian Sule remained unmoved by this situation, continuing to watch the infighting from the sidelines.

He would only make his move once both sides were completely exhausted.

Although Shimazu Mitsuhisa defeated Oshima Hayanami in one battle, it was not easy to completely eliminate him.

When Qian Sule stopped selling grain to Shimazu Mitsuhisa, a mutiny broke out in Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s army, and Oshima Hayanami seized the opportunity to counterattack.

Subsequently, Shimazu Mitsuhisa suffered a major defeat.

When Shimazu Mitsuhisa’s main force was completely wiped out, those who had been oppressed by him rose up in revolt.

In less than a month, Shimazu Mitsuhisa lost all his territory and could only flee to Great Hua to seek political asylum.

Oshima Hayanami and the thirteen allied forces occupied the entire Satsuma Domain, but their troubles also arrived.

There were many troubles, but they all boiled down to one thing: lack of money.

The rebel army had enthusiastically launched the uprising, hoping to live a good life after the uprising.

However, after driving away the Shimazu clan, they discovered that the Satsuma Domain was a complete mess.

Not to mention living a good life, if they didn’t find a way to get money to appease the soldiers and the people, I’m afraid a new round of uprisings would break out.

In Kagoshima, Oshima Hayanami and the heads of the other twelve forces, as well as some respected elders, gathered together to discuss and find a solution to the current predicament.

“As things stand, we can only seek help from Great Hua.”

Said Nishi Yasuyoshi, a minor leader of the rebel army.

However, many people had thought of his method.

“But why should Great Hua help us, and what benefits do we need to exchange?”

An old man raised a question, he didn’t believe that Great Hua was a great philanthropist.

Although in South Kyushu, Great Hua seemed like a philanthropist.

However, that kind of superficial appearance was not credible.

“This requires us to negotiate, the key is that we must first discuss a bottom line internally, what benefits can we exchange.”

Oshima Hayanami spoke.

“We’re about to starve to death, what bottom line is there to talk about? In my opinion, as long as Great Hua is willing to help, any conditions must be agreed to.”

Nishi Yasuyoshi had already been bought by Great Hua and was actively agitating.

Some people agreed with his statement, while others opposed it.

After a round of arguing, the meeting decided to let Oshima Hayanami first contact Great Hua.

This was just a formality for Oshima Hayanami, he had already negotiated the conditions with Great Hua.

After taking a trip to Great Hua, Oshima Hayanami convened a second congress and then announced the conditions of Great Hua.

Merge into Great Hua.

As soon as this condition came out, the whole place was in an uproar.

This was national subjugation, even more unacceptable than ceding territory.

“The people of Great Hua have the hearts of wolves, we must never agree.”

Radical Matsuda Kikujiro immediately stated.

He originally thought that his words would be echoed by many people.

But, to his surprise, everyone did not share his outrage.

These people were very realistic, knowing that saying a few words of satisfaction was meaningless and could not solve the real problems.

“Actually, if we can let the people of our hometown live a life like those in South Kyushu, merging into Great Hua is not a bad thing.”

Nishi Yasuyoshi spoke, and the others fell into deep thought.

They had all been to South Kyushu and seen the changes in South Kyushu.

Excluding national sentiments, from the perspective of thinking about the people, merging into Great Hua was indeed not a bad thing.

“In fact, we have no better choice.”

Oshima Hayanami also took the lead in expressing his position, he needed to do his best to promote this matter.

If anyone disagreed, he could only choose to take action and destroy the other party.

“Oshima Hayanami, did you receive benefits from the people of Great Hua, that’s why you colluded with them to do this kind of thing.”

Kikujiro questioned.

These words made Oshima Hayanami very angry, and even aroused murderous intentions.

Nishi Yasuyoshi sneered from the side: “Speaking of which, we have all received benefits from the people of Great Hua, without their supply of weapons and ammunition, could we have defeated Shimazu Mitsuhisa?”

These words left everyone speechless again, because what Nishi Yasuyoshi said was the truth.

“But, this is not a reason for us to merge into Great Hua.”

Kikujiro was still arguing on principle.

“Mr. Matsuda, if you have a better way, you can say it.”

Oshima Hayanami asked.

“We can rely on the shogunate, as long as we survive this year, next year’s grain will not be a problem.”

Matsuda Kikujiro said.

Because the war led to a sharp decline in population, the per capita land area was a little more. If they survived this year and restored production, they could indeed achieve self-sufficiency.

“Matsuda, don’t be so naive, okay? The shogunate itself is short of food, how can it have food to provide disaster relief to us? What’s more, if we don’t give any benefits to Great Hua, will the people of Great Hua be willing?

As long as they block the sea, can the grain from other places be transported to us?”

Nishi Yasuyoshi retorted.

At the meeting, the main arguments were between Nishi Yasuyoshi and Matsuda Kikujiro.

On the first day, they did not reach a result.

However, that night, Kikujiro was assassinated.

Who killed Kikujiro, there was no evidence, but everyone knew who it was.

But it didn’t matter, because most people actually tended to agree to Great Hua’s request. Kikujiro thought he was representing everyone in defending the bottom line, but in reality, everyone found him an eyesore.

Now that he was dead, that was for the best.

The following discussion was much more harmonious, mainly about fighting for their own rights and benefits.

They had to first confirm what benefits they could get after merging into Great Hua.

For these people’s requests, as long as they were not too excessive, Great Hua basically agreed.

Anyway, there were not many of these people, as long as the Satsuma Domain could be smoothly and stably merged into Great Hua, it was completely worth paying this little price.

With both parties willing, the negotiations would be very smooth.

After a period of bargaining, the two parties reached an agreement.

Basically, it was to copy the South Kyushu model, and all the territory of the Satsuma Domain was merged into Great Hua.

Then use Chinese characters, learn Chinese, and learn the customs and traditions of Great Hua.

After reaching the agreement, Qian Sule, with the help of Oshima Hayanami, arranged for a large number of people to provide disaster relief in the Satsuma Domain.

While providing disaster relief, they were also publicizing, weakening the symbol of Japan, and letting the people of the Satsuma Domain know that the world had changed.

Publicizing these things while providing disaster relief was much more effective than at ordinary times.

After all, people always have more gratitude for those who saved their lives.

The words of benefactors, naturally, must be listened to.

Chapter 778: A Strong Sense of Déjà Vu

The Satsuma Domain announced its incorporation into Great Hua, becoming a province of Great Hua, Satsuma Province, with Qian Sule as its governor.

The Tokugawa shogunate immediately declared its non-recognition and stated its intention to recover the Satsuma Domain by force.

The betrayal of the Satsuma Domain greatly stimulated the other daimyo of Japan. The Mōri clan suspended its battle with the Tokugawa family.

Several other daimyo who were originally in the midst of a chaotic war also temporarily ceased fighting and gathered together to discuss how to deal with Great Hua.

They were not fools and knew that if they continued to fight among themselves, only Great Hua would benefit in the end.

Previously, they still harbored illusions, imagining that Great Hua’s appetite was not so great, only wanting some ports and free trade.

But now, Great Hua’s ambition was completely exposed.

An entire Satsuma Domain, more than half of Kyushu Island, had been annexed by Great Hua.

Moreover, it was not a temporary occupation.

The people of Great Hua were already buying the hearts of the local people, clearly intending to annex it permanently.

If Great Hua could annex the Satsuma Domain today, it would naturally not let them go tomorrow.

Although Great Hua said nice things, claiming to sympathize with the people of the Satsuma Domain and reluctantly agreeing to accept the Satsuma Domain’s request for incorporation.

But these words could only fool ignorant people. Those in the ruling class who had studied knew that all of this was being promoted by Great Hua in secret.

Dozens of the more powerful daimyo of Japan sent representatives to Edo to attend the conference.

The conference discussed how to deal with Great Hua.

The direction was actually easy to determine, which was to use force.

Of course, they would not be foolish enough to think that they could recover the Satsuma Domain through negotiations.

The direction was easy to determine, but when it came to specific implementation, there were many points of contention.

For example, the number of troops to be sent, how many people each daimyo should send, they argued for three days.

Everyone hoped that others would send more people, preserve themselves, and weaken others. In this way, after driving away Great Hua, they could obtain more benefits.

Although they all knew that they needed to be united at this time.

However, knowing was one thing, and doing it was another. It required everyone to be selfless.

As long as one person was selfish and set a bad example, the situation would become very troublesome.

In the end, it took three days and intense bargaining before they worked out the number of troops each would send.

And this was just the beginning.

Next, they had to discuss the amount of food and supplies each needed to provide, as well as the attribution of command.

These matters were enough for them to argue for ten days or half a month.

Koizumi Shinji felt extremely tired looking at this scene.

He hated, hated that these people were not united even at the most critical moment.

Based on their current performance, Koizumi Shinji had no hope at all.

It should be known that Great Hua’s military strength far surpassed theirs.

Unity was only the foundation for them to defeat Great Hua. If they could not even achieve unity, there was no need to send troops at all. There was no chance.

Miyazaki Ichiro had the same idea as Koizumi Shinji. He did not defect to Great Hua like Shimazu Mitsuhisa, but escaped from the Satsuma Domain and came to Edo to join the Tokugawa shogunate.

He was also disappointed by the scene before him.

Afterwards, Koizumi Shinji and Miyazaki Ichiro, because of their shared aspirations, became confidants for a time.

The two talked all night, seeking a way to save the country.

They no longer relied on those corrupt daimyo. They felt that this loose shogunate system was the root cause of Japan’s backwardness.

The two studied all night and finally decided to emulate Great Hua and implement central centralization.

There must be a hero who stands up, relying on unparalleled courage and wisdom, to lead Japan to stand up again.

This person did not even need to be found, it was definitely the Emperor.

After all, only the Emperor could convince everyone.

As for whether the Emperor was wise and martial, this was actually not important. Koizumi Shinji and Miyazaki Ichiro would do their best to assist him, gather the wisdom of all people, and jointly create an unparalleled image of the Emperor.

After the two agreed on a route, they began to promote their ideas in Japan, seeking like-minded people.

The current Emperor was only a symbol and had no real power.

If they wanted the shogunate and those daimyo to return power to the Emperor, it would not work by just talking. In the end, war would definitely be unavoidable.

Although Koizumi Shinji knew that Japan could no longer withstand civil war, he believed that war was worth it in order to achieve central centralization.

As long as they could defeat the shogunate and other feudal lords, their Japan would still have a chance.

Otherwise, there was no chance at all.

Koizumi Shinji and Miyazaki Ichiro’s theory was still recognized by many people.

In fact, many daimyo knew that Koizumi Shinji and the others were right, but central centralization would damage their interests, and they were unwilling to admit it.

However, the people with lofty ideals in Japan quickly accepted Koizumi Shinji’s theory and began to follow Koizumi Shinji to promote it, secretly organizing forces to overthrow the shogunate in an attempt to help the Emperor regain power.

Some Japanese students who had returned from studying in Great Hua believed that if they wanted to save Japan, they must pursue an industrialization.

These people formed another faction, engaging in industry in Japan while promoting their theory of saving the country.

Among them, some people recognized Koizumi Shinji’s theory and tried to unite the two factions.

The shogunate was frightened when it learned that someone was trying to subvert its rule, and it hurriedly arrested the patriots on a large scale.

Tokugawa Iemitsu was not sure whether those people could save the country.

He only knew that if those people succeeded, he would lose his life and power.

This was something he could not tolerate, so he might as well let Japan be ruled by Great Hua. In that case, he could at least be the governor of Satsuma Province, a high-ranking official of the second rank.

While suppressing the patriots, Tokugawa Iemitsu had to discuss sending troops to Kyushu Island with other daimyo, and he also secretly attacked the forces of other daimyo.

In short, the current Japan can only be described with one word: ‘chaos’.

When the information about the current situation in Japan was sent to Wu Changqing, he really couldn’t help but laugh, laughing very happily, laughing so hard that Feng Debao and other eunuchs and palace maids were confused.

Wu Changqing admired those Japanese people who were working hard to save their country, but he would not be polite to those people.

He was not worried that those people could really save Japan. If a revolution wanted to succeed, it would take time.

And Wu Changqing would not give those people a chance. He would completely occupy Japan within ten years. If all went smoothly, it might even be possible in five years.

Next, he would increase his investment in Japan, speed up the plan to occupy Japan, and nip the revolution in the bud.

Although the revolution created by Koizumi Shinji and the others was still very naive, Wu Changqing knew that he must not let them succeed. Once they succeeded, the consequences would be endless.

Chapter 779: The Eagle

Wu Changqing put down the report on Japan and picked up another one.

This report came from the Army, detailing the current situation in Annam and requesting permission to deploy troops.

The situation in Annam was even worse than in Japan.

Japan had many factions, and although they fought among themselves, they held back to avoid being exploited by a third party.

However, Annam only had two factions: the Lê dynasty and the Mạc dynasty.

When they fought, they didn’t need to hold back. They only needed to kill the other side to unify Annam.

Both sides were fighting with everything they had, resulting in a very tragic situation.

Compared to a few years ago, Annam’s population had decreased by twenty percent.

In Japan, only the populations of Kyushu Island and Shikoku Island had decreased, while in Annam, the entire country’s population had decreased by twenty percent.

By now, both the Lê and Mạc dynasties were exhausted.

The dissatisfaction of the people had reached a critical point.

Recently, uprisings had erupted within both the Lê and Mạc dynasties.

Annam had fallen into complete chaos, and the Army suggested deploying troops to bring Annam entirely under the rule of Great Hua.

The Army had already come up with reasons for the deployment.

The northern part of Annam used to be the territory of the Central Plains, and its people were naturally citizens of Great Hua.

Now, a large number of people were dying in the war due to the power struggles of those in power.

As the former administrator of these people, Great Hua had an obligation to save them.

Moreover, from a purely moral standpoint, Great Hua, as a great power, should protect ordinary people.

Wu Changqing felt a little embarrassed reading this reason. Wasn’t this forcing him to act?

“Fine, for the sake of the nearly ten million common people of Annam, I will play the rogue.”

Wu Changqing found a reason for himself and agreed to the Army’s plan.

Although the reputation wasn’t good, it was indeed satisfying.

After the plan was finalized, the Army began preparations.

At the same time, the Propaganda Department of the Ministry of Rites of Great Hua began to cooperate with the Army, issuing statements and explaining Great Hua’s military actions.

This was actually a bit redundant. Did the people of Great Hua even need a reason to bully others?

This wasn’t the twentieth century, the era of emerging civilization.

It was only 1650, and the world of the seventeenth century was still in a barbaric age. Might makes right, and all etiquette, morality, and humanity were just clouds.

Western European countries were still in feudalism, and some were still in slavery.

Domestically, they were enslaving the lower classes. Externally, they were colonizing the Americas and had begun slaughtering the local people. The infamous triangular trade had also begun.

In the eyes of these people, human life was not necessarily life, but just a commodity.

Compared to these countries, everything Great Hua was currently doing was saintly.

Sometimes, those foreigners didn’t understand why Great Hua still needed to find a plausible reason when ‘recovering’ territory.

Wasn’t might already right?

After thinking about it, these foreigners could only attribute it to Great Hua being a land of etiquette, obsessed with saving face.

Of course, this idea wasn’t wrong.

The current Great Hua was constantly striving to maintain its image as a land of etiquette when dealing with the outside world, establishing a set of etiquette standards, and trying to promote these standards to the world, which could be considered a form of cultural invasion.

This cultural invasion was currently going quite smoothly for Great Hua.

After all, Great Hua was now the most powerful.

The standards set by the strong were naturally good standards. Who would dare say otherwise?

Moreover, worshiping the strong was a common human trait.

Some Western European students even believed that Great Hua’s strength was related to its emphasis on etiquette and conveyed this idea to their home countries.

In foreign countries, a craze for learning Great Hua’s standards had emerged.

Compared to Great Hua, they all seemed like country bumpkins.

If country people wanted to gain the recognition of city people, they had to learn the standards of city people.

Learning Chinese characters, practicing Chinese, and wearing Han clothing had become a trend in Western European upper-class society.

As for Japan, there was no need to say more. In their eyes, everything from their Great Hua father was good, except that Great Hua was a bit too domineering.

Saving those ordinary people, this righteous and sanctimonious reason of Great Hua could more or less appease some kind-hearted people.

Moreover, it could also appease and paralyze some envoys from other countries.

It let the envoys of other countries not be afraid, Great Hua would not casually interfere in the internal affairs of other countries, as long as they treated the people as human beings.

But if any country treated its people badly, Great Hua, as a great country concerned about the world, had to stand up and uphold justice. This was called the responsibility of a great power.

The foreign envoys in Nanjing felt a chill in their hearts when they saw Great Hua’s actions.

This kind of reason could only fool ordinary people. For these envoys, they were naturally clear about the cause and effect of the matter.

The rulers of the Lê and Mạc dynasties were primarily responsible for the current tragic situation in Annam, but Great Hua could not escape blame either.

However, knowing was knowing, and they could only watch helplessly.

The envoys of the Mạc and Lê dynasties took action, trying to reach a reconciliation on the one hand, and contacting diplomats from other countries on the other hand, trying to unite to protest to Great Hua.

The idea was good, but it was difficult to achieve the goal.

These countries were not of one mind, and it was difficult to twist them into one rope.

For example, the Foreign Minister of Siam ignored the Annamese envoys’ proposal.

Anyway, they now had a good relationship with Great Hua, and Great Hua had even promised to send troops to help when Siam encountered foreign enemies.

Although there was no explicit provision for a tributary relationship, it was actually about the same.

As for those Western European countries, because of the distance and the lack of significant interests in Annam, there was naturally no need to get involved.

Even if they helped Annam prevent Great Hua from advancing into Annam, it would not benefit the Western European countries much.

If they angered Great Hua because of this matter, it would be even more unworthy.

In short, the Annamese diplomats did not achieve much, at most the people of the Lê and Mạc dynasties reached a truce agreement.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The Southern Military Region of Great Hua had made preparations and would not stop this operation no matter what.

It should be known that this military operation was of great significance to the Army.

The Army needed to prove that it still had a use in order to demand a larger share of military spending.

If they didn’t make some noise, the Navy would really be riding on their necks.

In order to promote this operation, the Army had actually spent a lot of effort and cost.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing agreed to send troops, and the preparations made by the Army were worth it.

Chapter 780: Opportunity to Earn Merit

The imperial court was going to attack Annam! This news greatly excited the army.

Both those who wanted to make a name for themselves and those who wanted to coast along started to take action.

They all knew that attacking Annam would definitely be the business of the South Military Region.

Those in the South Military Region who wanted to coast along naturally tried to transfer out to avoid going to the battlefield.

Although Great Hua had an absolute advantage in strength, as long as you went to the battlefield, there was a risk of death.

Of course, these people were only a minority. More were officers who wanted to squeeze into the South Military Region.

If you wanted to be promoted, the battlefield was undoubtedly the best choice.

Honestly garrisoning a place could only get you seniority, and you were destined never to touch the core of power in your entire life.

Anyone with a little ambition wanted to go to the battlefield.

With Great Hua’s current strength, going to the battlefield would inevitably lead to meritorious service.

Too many people applied to transfer to the South Military Region, making it too difficult to be selected.

Those with connections had already started making moves.

Li Lianfan was currently in the Central Military Region, and it wasn’t easy to transfer an officer of his rank, so he didn’t expect to be able to transfer to the South Military Region himself.

He came to Zhang Yingyuan’s house to plead for his son, Li Junji, hoping that Zhang Yingyuan could transfer Li Junji to the South Military Region.

“This is your Uncle Zhang.”

“Hello, Uncle Zhang.”

Li Junji gave a military salute.

“Wow, Lao Li, your son is much more handsome than you.”

Zhang Yingyuan said with a smile, fully aware of Li Lianfan’s purpose.

Li Lianfan said with a serious expression, “A man’s appearance is the most useless thing. I just think his appearance isn’t manly enough. He needs to be sent to the battlefield to get a few scars to look the part.”

“You’re really ruthless.”

Zhang Yingyuan complained.

Afterwards, they sat down and chatted for a few words, and Li Lianfan deliberately steered the topic to the upcoming Annam War.

Zhang Yingyuan helplessly complained, “Lao Li, you don’t know, there are too many people who want to go to the South Military Region now, and the higher-ups are watching closely.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m not asking for any important position, just give him a battalion commander position. When this brat graduated from military academy, his overall score was in the top twenty, so he won’t mess things up.

With our friendship, don’t tell me you can’t even handle a battalion commander position.”

Li Lianfan said.

Zhang Yingyuan smiled bitterly. Faced with Li Lianfan’s shameless offensive, he could only agree to help in the end.

The force entering Annam this time would have two divisions, and a battalion commander position wasn’t particularly eye-catching.

Li Junji had a good father, making it much easier to transfer to the South Military Region.

Other officers without power or influence, or with insufficient backgrounds, could only worry anxiously.

Although they were also working hard, the chances were slim, and they couldn’t find a way in.

After learning that Li Junji could be transferred to the South, many military academy graduates had some complaints.

“It’s too unfair. Why can he go to the South to make a name for himself, while we can only coast along here?”

“Hey, Brother Wu, when has this world ever been fair? Relatively speaking, our Great Hua is much fairer than the previous Ming Dynasty. At least there’s still a chance to rise if you’re good enough.”

One of the reserve officers said.

He was referring to Nie Ping’s transfer order. Nie Ping came from a small merchant family. This kind of background was very strong for ordinary people, but in Great Hua’s ruling class, it was the bottom of the barrel.

However, Nie Ping had received an order to be transferred to the South Military Region.

Everyone knew that the imperial court wanted to cultivate Nie Ping, and specifically put him on the battlefield to gain experience and accumulate military achievements.

Nie Ping was treated favorably not because of his background, but because of his ability.

In the graduation assessment, his score was ranked first.

Therefore, in Great Hua’s army, as long as you were good enough, you still had a chance to stand out.

Of course, people with backgrounds always had more opportunities.

“What do you mean? Are you saying I’m not good enough?”

The officer surnamed Wu questioned.

He was being somewhat unreasonable, and no one paid any attention to him.

Instead of wasting time talking to him, it was better to look for other ways. Maybe he would be lucky and be transferred to the South.

Nanning, Southern Command.

Xue Guiren looked at the group of officers in front of him, who were between twenty and thirty years old and lacked murderous aura, and his face was very ugly.

It was no wonder he was angry. As the commander-in-chief of the South Military Region, he attached great importance to this Annam War.

His requirement was that they must fight beautifully.

He wanted them to fight beautifully, not just to win.

Because victory was inevitable. If the current Great Hua couldn’t even take down Annam, it would be a huge joke.

Xue Guiren didn’t even consider the possibility of failure. Simple victory couldn’t satisfy him. He needed to win beautifully.

And if he wanted to win beautifully, it was naturally best to use veteran soldiers and generals.

However, the army headquarters didn’t think about the problem that way. The army headquarters was more concerned with letting the troops gain experience and cultivating more new generation officers.

The new generation of officers was the future. If they didn’t get experience now, they couldn’t always rely on the old generals, right?

Therefore, the army headquarters sent a group of young officers and a unit with less combat experience.

Among these young officers, there were many second-generation military officers who had come through connections.

Xue Guiren didn’t have a good impression of these second-generation military officers and was very worried that these guys, who were used to a pampered life, would mess things up on the battlefield.

If there was any phenomenon of desertion, he would also lose face.

“I don’t care what kind of method you used to get here, and I don’t care how strong your backing is. When you get here, if you’re a dragon, coil up. If you’re a tiger, lie down. If you’re a coward, get out of here immediately.

If you’re afraid of death on the battlefield, give blind commands, or do anything that damages the reputation of my South Military Region, don’t blame me for not being polite…”

Xue Guiren kept cursing and scolding mercilessly.

Of course, he had the qualifications to do so.

Some young officers were very unconvinced, but at the moment they could only hold it in. Then, they couldn’t wait to go to the battlefield, ready to prove themselves on the battlefield and make Xue Guiren look at them with new eyes.

Of course, among them, there were also a very small number of people who were greedy for life and afraid of death, but they had come to report for duty because they were forced to by their fathers.

These few people were already panicking when they heard Xue Guiren’s reprimand.

After the reprimand, these officers were assigned to various units, serving as battalion commanders, company commanders, and even platoon leaders.

For someone who had never been on the battlefield, this was a very good starting point.

Although Great Hua wanted to cultivate them, it wouldn’t hand over the power of the army to them all at once. After all, the Huaxia army still needed to ensure victory in battle, and it couldn’t put all its bets on them.

Chapter 781: Semi-Automatic Rifle

“This is the semi-automatic rifle His Majesty instructed us to develop?”

Xue Guiren picked up a rifle and examined it carefully.

Since Wu Changqing personally directed and requested its development, it must be a good thing. Xue Guiren firmly believed this.

The longer one followed Wu Changqing, the more one developed a mysterious trust in him.

Because Wu Changqing had to hide the fact that he had a system, he was very secretive when taking out resources and technology. Even his closest guards didn’t know the source of those things.

Over time, Wu Changqing became surrounded by an aura of mystery.

Many people, when faced with an incredibly mysterious Wu Changqing, would feel a sense of fear and awe.

“Yes, this rifle is extraordinary. It can empty a magazine in a few seconds,” said Wu Yu, the battalion commander of the Imperial Guards, who was responsible for leading the team to test the new weapon this time.

This was also an old tradition of the Huaxia army. New weapons were first produced on a small scale, and then taken to the battlefield to test their actual combat performance.

Only after confirming that they were useful would they be produced and equipped on a large scale.

This semi-automatic rifle was the latest rifle manufactured by the armory according to Wu Changqing’s instructions and the provided technology.

This rifle was much more powerful than the Yongxing Year Two rifle. With the Yongxing Year Two rifle, soldiers had to manually pull the bolt to eject the spent cartridge after each shot.

But this semi-automatic rifle didn’t require that. You just had to keep pulling the trigger.

The gunpowder gas could automatically eject the spent cartridge, allowing the bullet to automatically load into the chamber.

Its firing speed was several times faster than the Yongxing Year Two rifle.

In a shootout, unless you were a sharpshooter, hitting the enemy required some luck.

In the same amount of time, the side that fired more shots had a higher probability of hitting the enemy.

Xue Guiren tried firing a few shots and then complained, “There’s no need to test this thing. It’s something for you Imperial Guards. We poor army guys can’t afford it.”

On the battlefield, the faster the rifle’s rate of fire, the better, of course.

However, the faster the rate of fire, the faster the ammunition was consumed.

Ammunition wasn’t exactly expensive, but it wasn’t cheap either.

If the entire army switched to semi-automatic rifles, those spendthrifts would fire wildly, and the logistics department would go crazy.

“Commander Xue is joking. Just because we can’t afford it now doesn’t mean we won’t be able to afford it in the future. People used to say the army couldn’t afford machine guns, but now the troops are equipped with machine guns.

Compared to the even more extravagant machine guns, this semi-automatic rifle is much cheaper,” Wu Yu said with a smile.

He was in the Imperial Guards and didn’t have to worry about consumption issues like the army.

“Dealing with those barbarians who are still using flintlock guns, the Yongxing Year Two rifle is already enough. This semi-automatic rifle probably won’t have much of a chance to show its skills,” Xue Guiren said.

Despite saying that, he still arranged for this Imperial Guard battalion to go to the battlefield to complete the testing mission.

The Imperial Guard battalion had to test not only semi-automatic rifles but also some other equipment.

Such as waterproof leather shoes, leather jackets, water bottles for holding clean drinking water, and lighters for easy fire starting.

This equipment was specially equipped for the climate of Southeast Asia.

Annam’s climate was rainy and humid, with rain falling for at least three-quarters of the year.

People who weren’t used to this climate would have their legs rot after wearing cloth shoes in mountain combat for a short time. Waterproof leather shoes and frequent sock changes were very important.

Although there was water everywhere in Annam, there wasn’t much clean water suitable for drinking. Drinking it randomly could easily lead to diarrhea and diseases such as malaria.

Fighting in Annam might result in more non-combat attrition than direct combat deaths.

To make the soldiers comfortable in Annam, Wu Changqing also approved a batch of equipment to supply the South Military Region.

Among them, the limited number of lighters were all supplied to the South Military Region.

In Annam, matches were extremely prone to moisture damage and failure, so a lighter was very important.

Cooking, heating, and smoking all required lighters.

When distributing the lighters, the people in the logistics department tirelessly told the frontline troops to protect this thing.

There were only two per squad, and it would be difficult to replenish them if they broke.

For these ordinary soldiers, lighters were magical things.

After getting them, they couldn’t help but try them out.

“You spendthrift, do you want to die?”

The guy who was having a great time playing with it was kicked by the squad leader.

“See, every time you use it, it consumes the fluid inside. Once it’s used up, it won’t light. Are you going to rub wood to make fire then?”

The squad leader continued to scold, and the soldiers realized the problem and carefully kept the lighters, not daring to use them randomly anymore.

In early March, the South Military Region’s 21st Division, 26th Division, attached artillery regiment, Imperial Guard battalion, and other auxiliary soldiers, a total of more than twenty-eight thousand people, set off from Nanning, Guangxi, and advanced towards Lang Son in Annam.

They refused the navy’s help. The navy kindly wanted to help them land from Haiphong and directly attack the Le dynasty’s capital, Hanoi.

They didn’t want the navy to interfere, lest the navy would claim credit again.

Not long after the army set off, the Le dynasty received the news.

Immediately, the Le dynasty’s high-level officials were in chaos.

“These bastards have finally revealed their true colors,” Zheng He cursed.

“I said long ago that we should be wary of Great Hua, but you insisted on doing business with them,” Le Thang Long said, playing Zhuge Liang after the fact.

When cooperating with Great Hua, he didn’t object, and neither did anyone else.

Because they all hoped to get help from Great Hua to unify Annam.

Unfortunately, they were still a bit naive. Relying on external forces to help them achieve unification was inherently absurd.

“There’s no point in saying all this. Let’s discuss what to do first,” Zheng Gen, the current de facto ruler of the Le dynasty, stopped the meaningless arguments.

“First, take back their coal mine in Cam Pha, arrest all the Great Hua merchants in our territory, confiscate their property, and behead them,” Zheng He said.

He also knew that his side couldn’t defeat Great Hua’s regular army, so he could only vent his anger on the Great Hua merchants.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. Great Hua cares about face. Once their merchants are affected, it will be a situation of endless conflict,” Wu Tuan Son, an important minister of the Le dynasty, expressed his opposition.

Now that the two sides were at war, even if they lost, they could still surrender to Great Hua in the future and pledge allegiance to Great Hua.

At most, their power would be stripped away, but they could still live a wealthy life.

But if they did something cruel and angered Great Hua, then they would definitely be held accountable and beheaded by Great Hua after the defeat.

Wu Tuan Son didn’t want to fight Great Hua to the death. He preferred to leave a way out for himself.

And this was actually the idea of most people.

Chapter 782: Advance Camp

Although Great Hua is powerful, it’s impossible to expect the Zheng family of the Lê dynasty to surrender without a fight.

Those who have wielded power are the most unwilling to lose it.

An ordinary person who rises from commoner to high-ranking official is usually very content.

But a powerful figure who goes from emperor to high-ranking official will definitely feel extremely lost. In fact, most would rather die in battle than compromise.

Therefore, Zheng Gen decided to resist to the end.

They weren’t simply like a mantis trying to stop a chariot; they had some confidence in their ability to resist Great Hua.

They had the advantage of fighting on their own territory, were familiar with the terrain, had greater support from the local populace, and had shorter supply lines.

The Huaxia army, on the other hand, had come from afar, wasn’t suited to the climate of Annam, and faced logistical difficulties. These were all advantages for Annam.

Annam didn’t need to defeat Great Hua; it only needed to drag the war out, until Great Hua became weary of the conflict and decided that the war wasn’t worth the cost, leading them to withdraw their troops.

On March 10th, the advance force of the Huaxia army, a battalion from the 21st Division, entered Annam.

Leading the battalion was none other than Li Lianfan’s son, Li Junji.

After entering Annam, the Sixth Battalion increased its vigilance.

This mountainous area was a good place for ambushes.

The Huaxia army had no choice, as there weren’t many roads leading to Lạng Sơn. The one the Sixth Battalion was currently taking could even be considered a main road.

Some of the other brother units were taking smaller paths, which were even more treacherous.

On their first day in Annam, the Huaxia army didn’t encounter any enemies.

This caused many soldiers to relax their guard. When they set up camp for the night, the soldiers chatted while sitting around the campfire.

“These uncivilized barbarians must be hiding,”

Private Lou Dazhuang said.

“Oh, you’ve learned a few words and now you think you’re cultured,”

The other soldiers weren’t used to Lou Dazhuang’s way of speaking and jeered at him.

“Tsk, the company commander said I have ambition. Unlike you guys, you don’t seize the opportunity to study when you have it,”

Lou Dazhuang said disdainfully.

The others were too lazy to argue with him about this topic and continued to talk about the Annamese.

Their attitudes were similar, looking down on the Annamese and considering them barbarians.

This attitude was very dangerous. Company commander Sun Yizhou came over and said, “Don’t let your guard down. A lion uses its full strength even when hunting a rabbit. Complacency is often the biggest cause of failure.”

The soldiers echoed his words, but most of them were just paying lip service and didn’t really take it to heart.

This was a problem caused by the Huaxia army winning too many battles.

As they were talking, suddenly a gunshot rang out, followed by a series of gunshots.

“Stay calm, no panicking, prepare for battle!”

Sun Yizhou shouted. In night battles, the worst thing is chaos. Once things fall into chaos, it’s all over.

“Damn it, where are the enemies coming from? What about the sentries?”

Li Junji said angrily. This was his first real battle, and he didn’t want to perform poorly.

Others only saw the benefits of having a powerful background, but they didn’t see the pressure that came with it.

If he didn’t do well, it wouldn’t just be his face that was on the line, but also his father’s.

For someone who didn’t care about such things, this pressure might not be much. But for someone who cared a lot about face like Li Junji, this pressure was very stifling.

“I don’t know, maybe they were taken out,”

The adjutant said.

“Have each unit defend their position. As long as we don’t panic, they won’t be able to do anything to us,”

Li Junji continued to give orders.

This response could only be considered average.

Not too good, but it was stable.

Sending people to pursue rashly would be very dangerous.

In this unfamiliar terrain, it was possible to get lost even during the day, let alone at night when you couldn’t see anything.

Without Li Junji giving the order, the company-level and platoon-level units stayed in place and fired wildly at the places in the forest where muzzle flashes appeared.

They didn’t expect to hit the enemy; they just wanted to scare them and make them retreat.

The sound of gunfire from both sides rang out. Soon, Li Junji noticed something was wrong and ordered again, “Tell those brats to conserve their ammunition. Are they trying to use up all their bullets in one night?”

Each soldier was equipped with fifty rounds of ammunition, which was actually a relatively small amount.

However, it also depended on how it was used.

If they could directly engage the enemy in a frontal battle, they might not even need to use ten bullets to defeat the enemy.

But if they were just providing suppressive fire to prevent the enemy from approaching under the cover of darkness, then fifty bullets wouldn’t be enough.

Li Lianfan had more than one son. The reason he dared to throw Li Junji onto the battlefield was because Li Junji had some skills.

While others were still in fear from the ambush, Li Junji had calmed down and noticed the ammunition problem.

He deduced that the enemy was just there to harass them and wouldn’t charge over.

Even if they did charge over, he wouldn’t be afraid.

Bayonet fighting was also a strength of the Huaxia army.

After the order was issued, the junior officers also realized the ammunition problem and immediately scolded the soldiers, telling them to conserve their ammunition.

The veterans immediately stopped firing when they heard the order and began to observe and assess the enemy’s intentions.

The new recruits, on the other hand, were still firing because they were afraid since it was their first time on the battlefield.

One reason was to try to force the enemy back, and the other was to embolden themselves.

“Damn it, I told you not to fire randomly, didn’t you hear me?”

The new recruits were quickly beaten.

“I knew you new recruits couldn’t be relied on. You’re all as timid as mice.”

After getting over the initial panic, the veterans were now very calm and even in the mood to mock the rookies.

They all knew that as long as the unit didn’t fall into chaos, they were basically safe.

“Don’t be afraid, did you forget that when we set up camp, we were at least one hundred meters away from the forest? At that distance, the enemy’s flintlock guns can’t hit us accurately…”

There were also some veterans with even higher qualities who took the opportunity to impart various experiences to the new recruits.

These experiences were very valuable. As long as the new recruits learned them carefully, the chances of them being killed in action would be greatly reduced.

Veterans leading new recruits was a common model in the Huaxia army. Although the combat effectiveness of such a unit was slightly worse than a unit composed entirely of veterans, it could quickly train a new batch of veterans.

“Battalion commander, it’s not a solution to just keep dragging this out. We can’t just not sleep. Let me take two squads over there and teach the enemy a lesson.”

After the large-scale gunfire stopped, only sporadic gunshots remained.

Clearly, the Annamese didn’t intend to charge over. So, Sun Yizhou came to Li Junji to request permission to fight. Although they were safe now, the trouble was still there.

If they didn’t drive away the enemies who came to cause trouble, they wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight, which was absolutely unacceptable.

“Alright, be careful.”

Li Junji naturally knew that they couldn’t just keep waiting and had to take the initiative.

He wasn’t sure if the enemy needed to sleep, but his own troops had to sleep, or else they wouldn’t have the energy to march tomorrow.

Chapter 783: Battle Damage

Sun Yizhou called up two squads and moved towards the enemy’s position.

“No firing without my order,” Sun Yizhou said.

To drive away the enemy was actually easy. A headlong rush would guarantee their retreat.

However, that was pointless.

The enemy could always return after running away.

That was the ultimate meaning of harassment.

Therefore, what Sun Yizhou had to do was not just drive away the enemy, but also inflict casualties. Only by hurting and scaring them would those people dare not come again.

It would be even better if they could seize some of the enemy’s weapons.

Now that Great Hua and Annam were at war, domestic arms dealers had also stopped selling weapons to Annam.

For the Annamese, guns were even more precious than the lives of soldiers.

The two squads quietly moved forward, while shots were fired from the woods from time to time.

Sometimes, bullets even flew past Sun Yizhou and the others.

For veterans, as long as the bullet didn’t hit them, flying by nearby was no different from flying by in the distance.

But for new recruits, it would bring great psychological pressure.

One new recruit estimated that the distance between the two sides was less than twenty meters, a distance at which even a flintlock gun could be accurate.

Afraid, he couldn’t help but fire back.

“Which little bastard? Fix bayonets and charge!”

Sun Yizhou was half-dead with anger. This was the drawback of leading new recruits, and there was nothing to be done about it.

Fortunately, these were still minor problems. After the battle, they could be educated through criticism and punishment, and the combat experience could be summarized.

The soldier who fired first knew he had caused trouble and was terrified.

To make up for it, he fixed his bayonet and charged ahead.

The Annamese obviously didn’t expect the Huaxia army to charge up, and they also panicked a bit.

Taking advantage of the darkness, the two sides fought for a while.

Then, the Annamese commander shouted a few words of gibberish, and the Annamese soldiers began to retreat in the chaos.

The darkness was their greatest reliance. They were particularly familiar with this kind of woodland terrain and could escape with their eyes closed.

The Huaxia army, on the other hand, needed to be careful when pursuing, or they would bump into trees, be tripped by vines, or be bitten by poisonous snakes and insects.

“Don’t chase.”

Sun Yizhou blew the whistle to stop the pursuit. Chasing further could lead to an ambush. Even if there was no ambush, they needed to be careful of getting lost.

Sun Yizhou and the others cleaned up the battlefield and found a total of twelve Annamese soldiers’ bodies and picked up six guns.

However, they also lost three men, all killed in close combat.

Five others were injured, one of whom was bitten by a poisonous snake, and everyone was helpless.

After returning to the camp, the poisoned soldier was already dying.

Including the two soldiers who had just died in the camp, they had lost a total of six people in this night attack, and twelve were injured.

Being ambushed and suffering a casualty ratio of one to two would naturally be cause for celebration for other troops.

However, this was definitely a disastrous defeat for the Huaxia army.

Their total force entering Annam was less than thirty thousand, while the Annamese army had at least three hundred thousand. If they fought according to a casualty ratio of one to two, the Huaxia army would definitely be the first to be unable to withstand it.

“Strengthen the defenses, put two squads in the woods, don’t get separated, prevent assassinations. Everyone else sleeps, no need to get up without orders.”

Li Junji made a series of arrangements. He let two companies rest and handed over the task of guarding to another company.

This way, at least he could ensure that two companies could get some rest.

He was worried that the Annamese would come back to harass them later. After all, the Annamese didn’t have the courage to fight a decisive battle with the Huaxia army. Harassment and sneak attacks would be the Annamese’s main tactics, and they needed to be more vigilant.

Li Junji guessed right. In the second half of the night, the Annamese launched another sneak attack.

However, this time they failed to get close to the Huaxia army’s camp and instead fought with the soldiers guarding the perimeter.

The gun battle between the two sides lasted for more than half an hour. Seeing that they couldn’t gain any advantage, the Annamese chose to retreat.

The Huaxia army didn’t pursue, and they just waited until dawn.

In the second night attack by the Annamese, another four people died, while only one person was injured on the Huaxia army’s side.

However, the Huaxia army’s ammunition consumption was terrifying.

After dawn, the Huaxia army counted the consumption.

After one night of fighting, their fifty bullets were reduced to an average of thirty-three per person.

A small-scale battle consumed one-third of the bullets, and Li Junji’s face was a little strained.

“Battalion Commander, I think our response last night was quite satisfactory, without any major problems. As for the ammunition consumption, this is due to insufficient estimation by the military. We should report it in a timely manner and ask the logistics personnel to send a batch of bullets as soon as possible,” Sun Yizhou said.

“It seems that this broken place is not easy to fight,” Li Junji said with emotion.

Although they had an absolute advantage in firepower, these Annamese people would not fight them head-on at all, and they were like monkeys scurrying around in the woods. They really didn’t have a good way to deal with them.

“It will be easier to fight when we get to the towns. After we get out of this mountainous area, we can occupy their cities in the plains. There’s no need to pay attention to these mountainous areas,” Sun Yizhou said.

Not to mention that the mountainous areas of Annam were difficult to fight, even the mountainous areas of Great Hua were difficult to fight. No matter how advanced the weapons were, when thrown into these vast mountains, they would feel insignificant.

When facing this situation, Great Hua often chose to occupy the towns, control the grain-producing areas, and then ignore those who were fighting guerrilla warfare in the mountains.

As long as they controlled the grain in the plains, the bandits in the mountains would not be able to hold out for long and would eventually have to come down the mountain to grab food.

The Huaxia army, with its advanced weapons, could give those guerrillas who came to grab food a good lesson during defensive operations.

Of course, the guerrillas also had other means, and it was difficult to completely eliminate them.

In the southwestern mountainous areas of Great Hua, there were still many bandits to this day, and the Huaxia army didn’t have a good way to deal with them. It wasn’t that they couldn’t defeat them, but that they needed to consider the cost.

Now, in Annam, the situation was similar.

The Huaxia army’s strategy was to occupy the plains and the towns in the mountains.

Then, they would use administrative means to solve the problem of those resistance forces.

For example, they could distribute land to the bandits, or support local forces and let the locals clear out those locals, or simply ignore those mountainous areas.

Anyway, as long as they occupied those prime areas, Great Hua would be able to obtain great benefits from them.

Imperial power does not extend to the countryside. In this era of very backward transportation and communication, it was very unrealistic to want to rule every corner.

Wu Changqing planned to solve this problem after there were cars in the future.

With cars and highways, every corner could be grasped in their hands.

Chapter 784: Approaching Lạng Sơn

During the daytime march, the vanguard battalion was ambushed again.

However, the Huaxia army, having anticipated this, relied on its superior firepower and repelled the enemy with only two casualties, leaving behind more than a dozen corpses.

The Annamese soldiers’ weapons were too poor; there was no way around it.

If the Annamese had been equipped with the same rifles as the Huaxia army, this ambush could have killed at least several dozen Huaxia soldiers.

Of course, if the Annamese had such good weapons, the Huaxia army wouldn’t be marching so brazenly and would have adopted more cautious tactics.

After more than a day’s march, the vanguard battalion finally arrived at a small town and occupied it without bloodshed. The Annamese hadn’t stationed any troops there.

They had a clear understanding of the disparity in strength between the two sides and didn’t put up a futile resistance.

There were many Annamese people in the town, and they all sized up the Huaxia army soldiers with strange eyes.

Although these lower-class Annamese also hated the cruel ruler of the Zheng family, they were even more afraid and wary of the unfamiliar presence of Great Hua.

Coupled with some deceptive propaganda from the Zheng family, they were even more hostile towards the Huaxia army, these outsiders.

After the Huaxia army occupied the town, one of its most important tasks was to explain its purpose to these people.

Simply occupying this area wasn’t enough; they also had to win the hearts of the people.

Fortunately, there were many people of Great Hua descent in this nameless town.

After all, this area had previously been ruled by the Ming Dynasty, and many Han Chinese had migrated here.

With these people, the Huaxia army had enough translators and didn’t have to worry about communication problems.

Moreover, these people of Huaxia descent had a natural affinity for the Huaxia army.

After receiving the Huaxia army’s promises, they cooperated even more diligently.

The Huaxia army said that as long as they cooperated well, this area would be managed by those of Huaxia descent in the future.

This was their chance to turn the tables and become masters of their own destiny; how could they not cherish it?

“His Majesty is too kind to these barbarians.”

Watching those posting public notices to reassure the people and promote policies, a platoon leader couldn’t help but complain.

He was a veteran who had followed the Rebel King, the Ming Dynasty, the Manchus, and now Great Hua. Remembering the cruel things he had done in the past, he felt that the Huaxia army was too gentle.

“You don’t understand, do you? His Majesty is good to these people to make it easier to rule them. As long as they don’t cause trouble, we can collect more taxes. When the imperial court is rich, won’t it benefit the people of our Great Hua?

If the imperial court doesn’t have money, where will the divine rice seeds and free farm tools for your families come from? So, all of you better behave yourselves. If anyone does anything to stir up resentment among the locals and ruin His Majesty’s grand plan, I won’t let them off lightly,” Li Junji explained.

The people of Great Hua in this new era had a higher-level understanding of wealth acquisition.

The ruling class of the past only knew how to plunder.

But the intellectuals of Great Hua in this new era understood a principle: the better the lower classes develop, the more wealth they can plunder.

Therefore, they didn’t mind the imperial court giving alms to those foreign races, as long as the imperial court was still dominated by the Han people.

“Don’t worry, we’re not stupid. We won’t violate military discipline for a woman. If we want a woman, we can just buy a Japanese girl. They’re very cheap and prettier than these Annamese women,” the old veteran said.

The Huaxia army’s propaganda was very effective. After a day, the local people’s hostility towards the Huaxia army soldiers had greatly decreased.

The main reason was that the Huaxia army did well and didn’t disturb the people.

You have to know how rare it was for an army to do this in this era.

The Annamese army itself couldn’t even do this for its own people.

After such a stark contrast, the people began to doubt the Zheng family’s propaganda.

The Zheng family said that the Huaxia army were all bad people, but the bad people didn’t rob them of their property or insult their women.

On the contrary, the Zheng family’s army had done all these bad things.

After developing a good impression of the Huaxia army, some people immediately informed on them, revealing the location of the Zheng family’s army.

Led by guides, Li Junji sent troops to destroy the enemy’s stronghold.

Although they only killed a little over a hundred enemy soldiers, they occupied the enemy’s stronghold and seized all the supplies.

Without these supplies, the Zheng family’s army could only retreat, unable to ambush and harass the Huaxia army.

Several days later, the vanguard battalion received supplies and continued to advance.

The subsequent troops of Great Hua also arrived at this small town.

The Huaxia army in other directions had also advanced to their designated locations.

During the advance, several units were ambushed and harassed. Some units performed well, while others performed very poorly.

Nie Ping’s right-wing army directly designed a trap to lure the enemy and annihilated all the enemies who tried to harass them in one fell swoop.

However, Gu Wenyuan, the nephew of Vice Minister Gu Yanwu, suffered heavy losses due to his slow reaction, with more than forty people killed and a large amount of supplies lost.

The front-line commander Zhao Yuxuan didn’t give Gu Yanwu any face and immediately removed Gu Wenyuan from his position as battalion commander, allowing him to continue his apprenticeship in the army.

As for his unit, it was replaced by an officer from a commoner background.

The army is the easiest place for ordinary people to turn their lives around.

In other fields, relationships are very important.

But in the army, ability is the most important and valued attribute.

This is why so many people want to join the army. Compared to other fields, the army is the fairest.

Zhao Yuxuan was a veteran who had followed Wu Changqing all the way and whose position was second only to Xue Guiren, Tao Dongcheng, and others. He was a leading figure in the third echelon.

Although his status was far inferior to Gu Yanwu, he belonged to the military and didn’t need to pay too much attention to Gu Yanwu.

After changing generals, the army continued to advance towards Lạng Sơn.

Several days later, several armies approached Lạng Sơn.

Then, they encountered resistance from the Zheng family’s troops.

Although the Zheng family didn’t want to engage in a direct battle with the Huaxia army, they had to defend the important town of Lạng Sơn.

If they directly abandoned Lạng Sơn, the blow to morale would be very great.

Lạng Sơn at least had some geographical advantages. Once Lạng Sơn fell and the Huaxia army reached the plains, the Lê Dynasty would be even more hopeless.

The Zheng family’s troops built a defense line on the south side of the Kỳ Cùng River, seemingly wanting to defend the river.

The Kỳ Cùng River is nearly one hundred meters wide in some places and thirty meters wide in narrow places. The current is swift, making it difficult to cross.

The Huaxia navy couldn’t enter here, and it would be very difficult for the army’s inland river navy to reach here, requiring a lot of effort.

Zhao Yuxuan didn’t want to waste time and decided to use simple bamboo rafts and other small boats to forcibly cross the river.

Chapter 785: Crossing the River

“Open fire.”

Forcing a river crossing wasn’t a mindless charge. Without artillery cover, the enemy could freely mow down the Huaxia army’s crossing troops from the banks.

To avoid significant losses during the crossing, they had to first bombard the enemy positions, blasting them until they didn’t dare to show their faces.

Under the cover of artillery fire, the Huaxia army’s crossing went smoothly. The Annamese army didn’t react at all.

However, as soon as the Huaxia army reached the shore and the shelling stopped, a large number of Annamese emerged from underground and charged towards the Huaxia army.

It turned out that the Annamese had dug deep tunnels in this area long ago and ambushed a large number of soldiers inside.

When the Huaxia army came ashore, they rushed out to engage in melee combat.

They knew that exchanging fire with the Huaxia army was not cost-effective, so they simply abandoned the original purpose of their guns and instead charged at the Huaxia army for hand-to-hand combat.

They emerged very close to the landing point, less than twenty meters away.

In the blink of an eye, the two sides were locked in a chaotic battle.

The Huaxia army only had time to fire one volley of bullets before they had to fix bayonets.

Although they inflicted some casualties on the Annamese, it wasn’t enough to break their morale.

The two sides fought fiercely on the shore for a while, but in the end, the Huaxia army was outnumbered and had to retreat temporarily.

This round was a defeat for the Huaxia army.

This was just a small, local setback, not a big problem. At least they had figured out the Annamese’s defensive strategy.

Zhao Yuxuan and the other officers watched the first wave of the crossing through binoculars.

“Gentlemen, what do you think?”

Zhao Yuxuan asked.

Because the number of ships was limited, and they were all small boats, the most soldiers that could be transported at one time was only two or three hundred, and weapons like heavy machine guns couldn’t be brought over.

Relying on so few people to establish a solid defensive position after landing was a bit difficult.

“We can cross in segments. Tunnels that even artillery fire can’t destroy must be very deep. This is a big project, and the enemy can’t have dug those kinds of tunnels everywhere.

Find a section without tunnels to cross. As long as a battalion can get across and establish a defensive line, then the enemy’s plan to defend the river will fail.”

One of the staff officers said.

Everyone nodded in agreement, thinking that this idea of avoiding the enemy’s strength and attacking their weakness was good.

However, Nie Ping frowned, seemingly having a different idea.

“Battalion Commander Nie, do you have a different opinion? Feel free to speak. Our army values collective wisdom, and everyone can offer suggestions.”

Zhao Yuxuan called out Nie Ping’s name.

Then, Nie Ping didn’t hold back and said, “Dividing the troops is too troublesome, and artillery deployment is not easy. Without artillery cover, the enemy doesn’t even need tunnels; they can just build an earthen wall and shoot at the crossing troops, and the losses won’t be small.

I suggest using the firepower advantage of the Guards Battalion to break through directly from the front.

Although the enemy’s tunnel entrances are very close to the landing point, posing a great threat to troops equipped with old-fashioned rifles, the Guards Battalion, equipped with semi-automatic rifles, will be a nightmare for those who try to charge over.”

His words awakened everyone. They realized that their tactical thinking was still stuck in the past and hadn’t kept up with the development of weapons.

Old-fashioned rifles had a slow rate of fire and couldn’t deal with the swarming Annamese.

However, the Guards Battalion, equipped with semi-automatic rifles, didn’t need to be afraid. Twenty-odd meters was enough distance for them to empty a magazine.

Firing so many bullets in a short time would inevitably inflict heavy casualties on the enemy and deal a major blow to their morale.

They would also have the upper hand in the subsequent bayonet charge.

As long as the Guards Battalion could hold out for half an hour, the next batch of troops would arrive on the other side and completely tear apart the enemy’s defenses.

This tactic was quite bold, but if it succeeded, it could give the enemy a profound lesson.

“Battalion Commander Wu, what do you think? Are you confident in establishing a position?”

Zhao Yuxuan asked Wu Yu, seeking his opinion.

Although he could directly issue an order, and Wu Yu would most likely obey, they weren’t from the same system. To avoid trouble, Zhao Yuxuan chose to let Wu Yu make the decision himself.

“I can,” Wu Yu said.

The Guards had few opportunities for actual combat. Now that they were here, they had to cherish the opportunity to train their troops.

Having obtained Wu Yu’s agreement, Zhao Yuxuan and the others determined the direction of the attack, and the next step was to arrange the details.

To ensure a breakthrough across the Ky Cung River in one go, Zhao Yuxuan decided to execute both a focused breakthrough and a comprehensive breakthrough.

On one hand, they built more bamboo rafts and wooden boats, preparing for a comprehensive breakthrough from multiple directions.

On the other hand, they placed the Guards Battalion in the center, preparing for the general offensive.

This arrangement was relatively safe. In case the Guards Battalion failed to break the deadlock, there might be breakthroughs in other directions.

If all directions could break through the enemy’s defenses, that would be even better.

The Huaxia army spent two days preparing, and made many more bamboo rafts and wooden boats.

Then, the general offensive began.

First, the usual routine: artillery bombardment began. Then, the air force’s hydrogen balloons began to ascend.

At the same time, the river-crossing troops set off.

This could be considered a very rudimentary joint operation of the army, navy, and air force.

Compared to the joint army, navy, and air force operations of later generations, their coordination seemed a bit comical and naive.

But in the current situation, this rough coordination could also make the Annamese despair.

The Annamese commander-in-chief, Vu Dai Van, was hiding in the mountains behind the defensive line. At this moment, he was holding binoculars, observing the Huaxia army’s offensive.

His brow was furrowed, obviously troubled by the Huaxia army’s offensive.

“It seems we can only rely on the second line of defense.”

Vu Dai Van didn’t expect to be able to stop the Huaxia army in Lang Son. The renowned Huaxia army couldn’t be that weak.

Therefore, he had deployed a second line of defense based on harassment and guerrilla warfare in the mountains south of Lang Son.

He hadn’t thought about completely defeating the Huaxia army; he only wanted to wear them down.

“Lord, you’re too pessimistic. We have more than thirty thousand troops here, more than the enemy’s total number. As long as we prevent them from using their rifles to their full advantage, we won’t lose.”

His subordinates were somewhat unconvinced.

Although the Huaxia army was rumored to be very powerful, there would definitely be some people who didn’t take it seriously among those who hadn’t personally fought them.

“I hope so, but the deployment of the second line of defense can’t be neglected. We must prepare for the worst.”

Vu Dai Van was relatively cautious and didn’t have blind confidence.

“Yes.”

Although the others didn’t quite agree with Vu Dai Van’s judgment, Vu Dai Van was the commander-in-chief, and no one dared to disobey his orders.

# Chapter 786: The Enemy Flees in Defeat

Once the Huaxia army's river-crossing force approached the southern bank, the artillery barrage immediately ceased to avoid friendly fire.

As soon as the cannon fire stopped, the Annamese commander immediately urged the soldiers in the tunnels to rush out.

They had no time to rescue the soldiers who had been buried alive by the shelling.

The outcome of a battle sometimes hinges on a single moment.

They had to race against time and charge towards the Huaxia army as quickly as possible after they landed.

A large number of soldiers surged out of the ground and charged towards the Huaxia army.

They didn't even notice that there were more hydrogen balloons in the sky compared to last time.

However, they soon discovered them.

The bombs falling from the sky sent these guys flying.

What is this thing?

Many Annamese soldiers were stunned; they had never seen the Great Hua's air force, and many hadn't even heard of it.

"Charge! Don't stand there! You'll be safe once you reach the enemy!"

The Annamese commanders were still able to remain calm and continued to give orders.

So, the Annamese soldiers charged towards the Huaxia army, regardless of everything.

Their courage was commendable, but reality was cruel.

The air force, high above, could slaughter them unilaterally.

Because they were in the midst of a charge, they didn't pay too much attention to the casualties on the battlefield.

If they had noticed, they might have collapsed immediately.

Bombs and bullets rained down on the Annamese.

Some were shot dead by bullets from nowhere as soon as they emerged from the tunnel entrances.

After landing, the Guards Battalion didn't even have time to put down their backpacks. They lined up directly and fired at the enemies charging towards them.

Dozens of people firing semi-automatic rifles simultaneously had the same effect as several light machine guns.

The Annamese couldn't break through, even with a distance of only fifteen or twenty meters.

To make matters worse, the terrain here was a very flat beach with no cover.

When they couldn't break through, they had nowhere to hide, except to retreat back into the tunnels.

However, retreating into the tunnels was impossible because people were still pouring out.

An Annamese soldier rushed out of a tunnel and was immediately stunned.

He saw that the ground in front of him was covered with corpses.

There was no planned melee; the Huaxia soldiers were lined up in several rows, firing, and no Annamese soldier got close to them.

Why is this happening?

The soldier couldn't understand and didn't have a chance to think.

A bullet hit him, causing him to lose consciousness.

Some soldiers who escaped began to return to the tunnels, colliding with those who were trying to come out, causing chaos.

"Damn it, why are you going back?"

"Run for your lives! The Huaxia army outside is too fierce! We can't reach them at all. The people above are basically dead!"

The deserter shouted, causing the other soldiers' scalps to tingle. The news was too bad.

For a moment, they didn't know what to do.

In the Annamese command post, the commanders were dumbfounded. They couldn't understand why this unit of the Huaxia army had such powerful firepower.

Although their army was equipped with flintlock guns, it wasn't as if they didn't have the Yongxing Year Two rifles in their army; they had two or three.

They knew something about the Yongxing Year Two rifles and knew the intensity of their firepower, which was why they formulated this defensive tactic.

But now, the firepower of the Huaxia army was a whole level higher, turning their melee tactics into suicide tactics.

"This must be the Great Hua's new weapon! Damn the Great Huaxia people! They only know how to bully people with weapons! Despicable and shameless! A victory by unfair means!"

An officer cursed loudly. Besides cursing, they had no other way.

Vu Dai Van slapped the cursing officer in the face. He hated this kind of useless person who only looked for excuses.

"Order the entire army to retreat! Retreat as many as you can!"

Vu Dai Van gave up struggling.

"Sir, we can't retreat! We can fight again!"

Someone advised.

In fact, although the Annamese who rushed out suffered extremely heavy casualties, the proportion was not large overall. The total number of deaths was only about two thousand, less than ten percent.

As long as the remaining Annamese continued to charge desperately, they could still wipe out the Huaxia army's river-crossing force.

However, Vu Dai Van understood that this ideal situation was impossible.

Their soldiers were also human, and humans were afraid of death.

If they could see a glimmer of hope, the soldiers might still risk charging.

But if they couldn't see hope, they would reveal their true nature.

The soldiers on the position had been frightened by the Huaxia army's firepower. They had numbers but no fighting spirit.

The most correct way at this time was to withdraw these soldiers and let them rest for a few days in the rear, and they would be able to restore their combat power.

If they were forced to charge now, the entire army would probably collapse immediately.

"Execute the order immediately! Those who disobey will be executed!"

The situation was urgent, and Vu Dai Van had no time to explain to his subordinates.

If they dragged on any longer, it would be a problem to retreat after the main force of the Huaxia army crossed the river.

Of course, it was not easy for them to retreat now.

The soldiers were all in the tunnels, making it inconvenient to convey the order.

The first to receive the retreat order were the soldiers in the rear tunnels, who were not even aware of the defeat at the front.

However, they were not resistant to the retreat order.

It was naturally best not to fight.

The Annamese soldiers at the front were relieved when they received the retreat order, and then scrambled to flee backwards in panic.

The tunnels were so big, and most places could only accommodate two people at the same time.

Those who were afraid of falling behind inevitably clashed, and the tunnels were once again in chaos.

Some people went out of the tunnel entrances and tried to retreat from the ground.

Among these people, some succeeded, while others became targets for the Huaxia army to shoot.

"Company commander, it seems that the enemy wants to retreat. We can take the opportunity to rush up and capture prisoners."

A company commander in the Guards Battalion said.

"Our mission is to hold this landing point. As long as we hold it, we will win this battle. Although there is an opportunity to expand the results by rushing over to pursue the enemy, it would be terrible if it was the enemy's trick."

Wu Yu wasn't blind and naturally saw the situation on the battlefield and guessed that the enemy might be running away.

However, he chose a steady approach to secure victory and not give the enemy a chance.

This approach, of course, cannot be said to be wrong, it can only be said that the officer's personal style is different.

The style of Wu Yu's subordinate was more aggressive, and he was very disdainful of Wu Yu's choice.

After all, the enemy was running away right in front of them. The situation was too obvious. Where was the ambush?

Chapter 787: Pursuit

After the second batch of Huaxia army’s river-crossing troops passed, they immediately pounced on the enemy’s positions, pursuing and killing the routed soldiers.

This was a great opportunity to snatch merit, and everyone was more eager than the last.

The Guards Battalion, however, remained on the shore to guard against any eventuality.

“Battalion Commander, why don’t we let them garrison here and we go after them?”

The subordinates had complaints again. Pursuing routed soldiers was the best assignment, both safe and meritorious.

“What do you know? The greatest credit for crossing the river has already been taken by our Guards Battalion. If we still go and snatch merit from our brother units, what will the other units think of us?

If we still try to grab credit now, next time there’s a difficult task, they’d rather bite the bullet and do it themselves than hand it over to us. That’s not good for the war effort.

Besides, we are the Guards. We don’t need so much credit to live well. We’ve eaten the meat, so we have to give the brother units some soup, or others will have complaints,” Wu Yu lectured.

Knowing how to conduct oneself is still very important. People like Wu Yu, who are good at it, climb the ladder faster.

The main force began a full-scale pursuit, and the other two landing points also broke through the enemy’s blockade.

When Vu Dai Van’s retreat order was issued to all units, the Annamese defense line completely collapsed, and a general retreat began.

Vu Dai Van’s retreat order was decisive, but because a large number of soldiers were hiding in the tunnels, the retreat did not go smoothly.

Some soldiers who didn’t have time to escape could only surrender.

There were also some who were unwilling to surrender and continued to resist stubbornly in the tunnels.

Unfortunately, they had become turtles in a jar. The Huaxia army had many ways to deal with these people.

Throwing a few grenades down could cause heavy casualties to the enemy.

Not to mention, they could also pour water into them, smoke them out, or block the vents.

In short, it didn’t take long to force the Annamese soldiers out of the tunnels.

Those who hadn’t come out were basically dead in the tunnels.

The Huaxia army’s pursuit force chased all the way into the woods, and then gave up.

In the woods, the Huaxia army was really no match for the Annamese, not even close.

These Annamese were used to fighting in this kind of forest, as agile as monkeys.

As for the Huaxia army, they would be tripped by branches or vines if they ran a little faster.

The battle ended with the Huaxia army losing more than three hundred men, most of whom died in the first river crossing.

The consumption of ammunition was not small. Two base numbers of shells were used up, leaving only one base number, which meant each gun had only sixty shells left.

The Guards Battalion also consumed two base numbers of bullets, with an average of only forty bullets left per soldier, urgently needing replenishment.

To ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, they needed to stop and wait for ammunition replenishment.

Compared to the results, this consumption was nothing.

In this battle, they killed nearly four thousand enemy troops and captured more than nine thousand.

Only seventeen thousand Annamese escaped. Counting the missing and deserters, it would be a blessing if fifteen thousand Annamese retreated this time.

In this battle, Vu Dai Van’s troops directly lost half their strength, which can be described as a heavy loss.

This also made Vu Dai Van realize that in fighting the Huaxia army, no matter what terrain advantages they occupied, they could not fight a large-scale frontal decisive battle.

To fight the Huaxia army, they had to fight small-scale guerrilla warfare.

These are all stories for later. After the river-crossing battle, Vu Dai Van was arranging the guerrilla tactics of the troops.

The Huaxia army, on the other hand, was stationed in Lang Son to build bridges. Those artillery pieces had to be transported over bridges. Using ships was too troublesome.

Moreover, the Huaxia army was prepared to occupy this place for a long time, and building bridges was a must.

At the end of March, Wu Changqing received a battle report from the front line, reporting on the progress of the Annamese war.

With the Annamese war going smoothly, Wu Changqing began to deal with the rebellion in Korea.

It was unknown whether the Korean rebels had received news of Great Hua’s use of force against Annam, but they chose to launch a rebellion at this time.

In Wu Changqing’s view, this rebellion was just a small problem. Not to mention shaking the foundation of Great Hua, it would not have much impact on Great Hua’s rule over the Korean Peninsula.

In the past, when the Sui Dynasty, Ming Dynasty, and other dynasties conquered Korea, there was actually only one problem: difficult logistics and transportation.

A few deaths on the battlefield were nothing to the Central Plains, which never lacked people.

The difficulty was transporting grain and grass to the front line, which would put enormous pressure on the imperial court’s finances, eventually forcing them to give up.

Now, Great Hua had solved the transportation problem directly through maritime transport.

In this situation, Korea still wanted to break away from Great Hua and become independent, which was simply a dream.

Not to mention that it was only a small group of rebels causing trouble, even if the entire Korea collectively rebelled, Great Hua could beat them into calling them daddy in minutes.

[Be sure to quell the rebellion as soon as possible, reduce the impact, and restore production. No acceptance of surrender is allowed. All ringleaders are to be beheaded, and all rebels are to be captured and sent to mine.]

Wu Changqing gave instructions.

In another memorial, the cabinet suggested killing Yi Jong and other members of the Korean royal family.

After all, the slogan of this Korean rebellion was to restore Korea and welcome the Yi family royal family.

Keeping Yi Jong would only make it easier for those rebels to find a slogan.

It had only been a few years since Korea was incorporated into Great Hua, and the Korean royal family still had some influence in Korea, more or less.

After considering it, Wu Changqing finally rejected this suggestion, only instructing the intelligence bureau to keep a close eye on Yi Jong.

If Yi Jong dared to contact the Korean rebels and provide assistance, he would be directly arrested and killed.

But if Yi Jong was honest enough, there was no need.

On the one hand, the Korean rebels had nothing to do with him, and it was somewhat excessive to involve him.

Moreover, as long as Yi Jong did not collude with the rebels, keeping him was not a bad thing.

At least, Yi Jong’s attitude could make the Korean rebels feel disheartened and disappointed.

They risked their lives to restore the royal family for Yi Jong, but Yi Jong didn’t appreciate it. This would definitely be a huge blow to the rebels.

As for keeping Yi Jong would give those rebels a legitimate slogan, it actually wouldn’t have much impact.

The common people were not very attached to the Yi family dynasty.

Especially after being incorporated into Great Hua, the lives of those people had improved somewhat.

Giving up the good life in front of them, insisting on resisting with their lives, and then welcoming Yi Jong back to live a hard life?

Probably not many people would be willing to do that.

The best way to eliminate rebellion is actually development. As long as the economy is good and the people are fed, there is no need to worry about rebellion.

Keeping Yi Jong can also serve as a demonstration, reassuring the kings of other regions.

Yi Jong can be treated favorably after surrendering and submitting, and so can others.

There is no need to conquer by force where it can be taken without bloodshed, as it easily increases the resentment between the two sides, which is not conducive to future rule.

Chapter 788: Revising History Books

After reviewing the important memorials, Wu Changqing summoned key officials from the Ministry of Rites, including the Vice Minister Tang Ruowen.

He intended to systematically compile a history book and forcibly incorporate history as a subject into schools, requiring students to study it.

Studying history might seem insignificant on the surface, but it was actually quite useful, especially for students from regions outside the Central Plains, such as Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

By slightly modifying history, they could reduce many rebellions and increase a sense of belonging.

For example, they could emphasize in history that Korea was a part of Great Hua.

Current historical records stated that the Gongsun family only occupied a small portion of Korea during the Three Kingdoms period. With a slight modification, they could change Korea into Great Hua’s territory since the Three Kingdoms period.

Since it had been Great Hua’s territory since ancient times, it would be reasonable for it to be incorporated into Great Hua now, a return to its roots.

Korean children who learned such a history would naturally have the idea that they were born as people of Great Hua.

With a sense of belonging to Great Hua, they would naturally not think about rebelling.

When the generation that learned this new history grew up, if anyone told them that Korea was conquered by Great Hua, they would get angry with them.

Then they would curse, “You were conquered! Your whole family was conquered!

The recovery of lost territory, can that be called conquest?”

This was the modification of Korean history. For Japan, modifications were also needed.

For example, regarding the origin of Japan, they must only retain one theory: that they were Central Plains people who migrated there during the Qin Dynasty.

As for other theories, they would all be burned, sealed, and not allowed to be spread.

It was necessary to establish that the people of Great Hua were the ancestors of the Japanese people. This way, after Japan was incorporated into Great Hua, the sense of belonging would be stronger.

Being conquered by one’s ancestors was not shameful; being conquered by foreign tribes was.

In short, the core idea of the new history book was to classify all people who looked similar to the people of the Central Plains as descendants of Great Hua.

Wu Changqing attached great importance to the revision of history, and the people of the Ministry of Rites attached even greater importance to it than Wu Changqing.

They had already rolled up their sleeves, ready to smear the Ming Dynasty on a large scale. How could they prove that Wu Changqing’s overthrow of the Ming Dynasty was “what the people wanted” if they didn’t blacken the Ming Dynasty to the extreme?

As for the truth of history, that was no longer important.

“Let’s set the year Emperor Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms as the first year of the Common Era, and then arrange the following years accordingly,” Wu Changqing said.

Previously, Great Hua recorded historical time using the reign titles of each dynasty, which was very troublesome. People who were not familiar with history could easily get confused.

To make it easier for those students to learn, Wu Changqing simply adopted a new way of recording time.

Of course, he did not set the birth of Jesus as the first year of the Common Era, after all, he was not a religious believer.

Not only did he not set the birth of Jesus as the first year of the Common Era, but he also planned to promote Great Hua’s standards to the whole world.

As the most powerful country in the world, it was naturally qualified to set all standards.

For example, writing, language, weights and measures, morality, etiquette, universal values, and so on.

Anything that was different from Great Hua’s standards was heresy and had to be corrected.

Wu Changqing did not think it was good for women to stay at home and not be seen, nor did he think it was right to remain a widow. But he also didn’t think it was good to walk around in public places wearing a thong, or to mess around.

When Great Hua conquered those western places, he would definitely promulgate some laws to restrain such behavior.

This was also the joy of being an emperor, being able to require people all over the world to cater to their own values, without having to cater to other people’s values.

“Your Majesty’s method is good, this way the records will be much clearer,” Tang Ruowen flattered Wu Changqing.

“Your Majesty, in addition to requiring those foreign countries to study history books, we also need to promote Confucianism, strengthen the loyalty education of those people, let them know etiquette, and remove ignorance,” Wen Youliang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, suggested.

He also studied Confucianism, and naturally hoped that Confucianism could be carried forward and promoted to the whole world, becoming a universal value.

This made Wu Changqing hesitate for a moment.

Confucianism had a high historical role and status, but Wu Changqing did not completely agree with the ideas inside.

Some ideas were good and worth promoting, but Wu Changqing didn’t like the aspect of loyalty to the emperor.

Although he was the emperor himself, he didn’t think that the people should unconditionally be loyal to the emperor.

If the emperor was a good emperor, who would think of the people, then loyalty would be fine.

If the emperor was昏庸無道, and exploited the people, and still demanded that the people be loyal to him, then it would be too shameless.

What was even more disgusting was that often those who were more stupid and simple-minded would believe in that set of doctrines of loyalty to the emperor, while those cunning villains were using that set of doctrines to enslave the people.

In short, Wu Changqing didn’t really like the people of Great Hua believing in loyalty to the emperor. He hoped that the people of Great Hua would have more independent ideas.

What’s more, he also planned to end the feudal system at the end of his career.

Emphasizing the idea of loyalty to the emperor now would undoubtedly increase the difficulty in the future.

Wu Changqing didn’t want to do this, but reality had this demand.

Promoting Confucianism and the idea of loyalty to the emperor in those conquered places could more effectively rule those places and reduce the cost of rule.

Why not use the good Confucianism and teach those conquered foreign tribes to have a spirit of resistance? Wouldn’t that be asking for trouble for himself?

If Wu Changqing really did this, even if the ministers didn’t say it, they would probably regard him as mentally retarded in their hearts.

“Okay.”

Wu Changqing finally compromised with reality. He would consider the future later, and take care of the present first.

Wu Changqing’s reaction made Wen Youliang and others quite speechless.

They couldn’t figure out why Wu Changqing still needed to consider this issue.

Originally, the emperor cared more about this kind of thing than anyone else, and it was often the emperor who took the initiative to ask for it.

Now that Wu Changqing had not mentioned this matter, Wen Youliang only mentioned it, but he never expected that the emperor would hesitate. It was simply unbelievable.

If an incompetent emperor showed such hesitation, Wen Youliang might despise him in his heart.

However, the one in front of him was Wu Changqing, the man who was about to be deified.

When facing Wu Changqing, the ministers of Great Hua had a kind of incomprehensible fear.

Therefore, when Wu Changqing showed hesitation, Wen Youliang believed that he must be too stupid and not smart enough to understand. It was Wu Changqing who was too profound, not that there was something wrong with Wu Changqing’s reaction.

The matter of revising the history book was settled. Wu Changqing didn’t need to worry too much.

Traditional officials were very good at how to use words to influence other people’s thoughts and serve the rulers.

Finally, there was an opportunity to perform, and these people were ready to do a great job, to prove their value to those emerging officials.

Chapter 789: Automobile

Wu Changqing could leave the writing of history books to others; he had other matters to attend to.

April 1st, the Imperial Palace, the plaza before the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Wu Changqing examined the automobile, surrounded by his consorts and children who had come to watch.

They were all curious about this novel invention.

It had a steering wheel and four wheels. From the outside, it certainly looked like an automobile.

“What’s the top speed? What’s the load capacity? How long can it run continuously?”

Wu Changqing asked for some straightforward data. As for thermal efficiency, he didn’t even bother asking; he figured the designers hadn’t even developed such a professional term yet.

“Your Majesty, the average speed is about ten kilometers per hour, roughly the speed of a light jog. The top speed is twenty kilometers per hour. It can operate normally with a load of up to two hundred and fifty kilograms, but if the load reaches five hundred kilograms, the engine is prone to stalling.

After numerous tests, the longest continuous operation was ten hours. With proper maintenance, an engine can last from one to several months,” Huo Jiange explained.

“What’s the cost?”

Wu Changqing continued to ask. Although the automobile’s performance metrics had reached a practical level, whether it could be mass-produced depended on the cost.

If the cost was too high, it would only be a toy for the wealthy to show off. It certainly wouldn’t be suitable as a primary means of transportation to save on shipping costs.

“We’re still in the exploratory phase, and many parts are produced individually, so there’s no economy of scale, making the cost very high.

Currently, building one automobile costs nearly fifty thousand yuan, which has no practical value. However, once the manufacturing plan is finalized and mass production begins, the cost can be reduced by about five times.

With continuous technological improvements and optimized processes, we believe the manufacturing cost can be reduced to around five thousand yuan in about six months.”

Huo Jiange provided their estimated figures.

Five thousand yuan was still an astronomical sum.

Currently, an average textile worker’s monthly salary was only three yuan, and even a steelworker’s was only five yuan.

That meant a steelworker would have to work for ten years without spending a penny to afford an automobile.

It didn’t seem too outrageous, actually.

Wu Changqing recalled his previous life, where he had also worked for ten years before buying his first car.

Of course, he hadn’t lived like a monk while working.

For ordinary people to use automobiles, they would have to wait a long time, at least until the price dropped to one thousand yuan.

After all, people couldn’t just save every penny to buy an automobile without eating or drinking.

However, for the wealthy, automobiles didn’t seem too expensive.

Currently, a BMW carriage on the market cost one thousand yuan. Adding the cost of raising the horses and paying the coachman, a carriage for transportation cost around two thousand yuan.

Automobiles were much more high-end than carriages, so even if they were several times more expensive, they would surely be snapped up.

“We can manufacture and sell while improving the technology. In the early stages, we can sell them at a higher price. The wealthy people who like novelty items will definitely be willing to spend the money.

All the money earned should be reinvested into research and development to reduce manufacturing costs as quickly as possible. After all, the greatest use of automobiles isn’t for the rich to show off, but for transporting goods.

Only by reducing manufacturing costs can we improve our country’s transportation capacity,” Wu Changqing instructed.

The investment in the internal combustion engine project had been ongoing for nearly two years, costing Wu Changqing nearly five million yuan of his private funds, which was no small amount.

If they were to continue investing, Wu Changqing wouldn’t have that much money, so this thing had to start making a profit now.

“As you command,” Huo Jiange said.

“Who wants to test drive it and show me how it works?”

As soon as Wu Changqing finished speaking, the researchers eagerly stepped forward, volunteering themselves.

Opportunities to show their faces in front of the Emperor were rare.

“You,” Wu Changqing pointed to someone close to him.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Huang Zhiming said joyfully, then got into the automobile and started it.

With a series of banging noises, the automobile began to move, slowly driving around the plaza.

“It’s really moving! How interesting,” Miao Ping said.

“What’s so strange about that? The train I took when I went back to my parents’ home was much bigger than this automobile, and it moved on its own too,” Yang Xiaoxiao said.

“Traveling will be much more convenient in the future.”

“That automobile is emitting black smoke. It might not be very elegant to ride in.”

…

“I want to ride in the automobile! I want to ride in the automobile!”

The eldest imperial son, Wu Gang, struggled in the arms of the eunuch An Lugui, shouting to ride in the automobile.

“My little ancestor, you can’t go! It’s too dangerous,” An Lugui said, refusing to let go no matter how much Wu Gang pinched and twisted him.

If something happened to Wu Gang, he couldn’t bear the responsibility.

However, Wu Gang wasn’t easy to deal with. He stomped on An Lugui’s foot, causing An Lugui to loosen his grip, and Wu Gang broke free, chasing after the automobile.

“Come back here! Are you looking for a beating?”

Wu Changqing scolded, and Wu Gang stopped, running behind Luo Min.

He was a little afraid of his imperial father.

Normally, Wu Changqing didn’t bother to discipline Wu Gang when he was naughty.

But now, the automobile’s performance was still uncertain, and if there was a malfunction, the driver might lose control, which could be dangerous.

Being bold had its advantages, but being recklessly bold was not good.

Huang Zhiming dared to step forward and drive, so his skills were naturally good.

He drove around the plaza twice before stopping smoothly.

“Alright, let me try it,” Wu Changqing said.

He naturally knew how to drive. It had just been many years since he had driven, and he didn’t know if his skills had become rusty. Moreover, this primitive version of the automobile was very different from the mature automobiles of later generations and would be much more difficult to control.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not! It’s too dangerous,” Feng Debao and the others advised.

If something happened to the Emperor, they would inevitably be punished.

At that time, no one would investigate whether Wu Changqing wanted to drive himself. In any case, if something happened to the Emperor, it would be the fault of them, the servants and officials.

“I can ride a horse faster than this thing. What danger could there be? Step aside,” Wu Changqing retorted.

If the automobile’s top speed could reach fifty or sixty kilometers per hour, he would need to worry about getting hurt.

But, with a top speed of only twenty kilometers, what could happen even if it overturned?

Besides, he wasn’t stupid and wouldn’t operate it recklessly. As long as the automobile didn’t malfunction, nothing would happen.

Wu Changqing was determined, and no one else could do anything. They only dared to dissuade him verbally but didn’t dare to stop him physically.

Chapter 790: The Emperor’s Test Drive

Wu Changqing sat in the driver’s seat, while Huang Zhiming was in the passenger seat, responsible for explaining how to operate it.

Although it was slightly different from the cars of later generations, the principles were roughly the same.

After Huang Zhiming explained it once, Wu Changqing said he understood.

Huang Zhiming hesitated, secretly lamenting his situation.

As the saying goes, serving a ruler is like serving a tiger. It wasn’t just a saying. Being by the Emperor’s side was a skill.

For example, right now, Huang Zhiming had to worry about the Emperor’s safety, afraid that Wu Changqing wouldn’t remember everything, and wanted to explain it again. However, he was also afraid that revealing this concern would anger the Emperor.

After all, worrying that the Emperor wouldn’t understand after one explanation, wasn’t that questioning the Emperor’s intelligence?

In short, he was in a dilemma.

These kinds of things happened often when serving the Emperor, and Feng Debao had a lot to say about it.

Wu Changqing started the car. Except for the carefree princes and princesses, everyone present had their hearts in their throats.

Feng Debao even mentally prayed to Buddha, Guanyin, and all the gods, hoping that Wu Changqing would be safe.

In Feng Debao’s opinion, his prayers might have worked.

The car drove smoothly, and their worries were somewhat unnecessary.

“I want to ride in the car too! I want to ride in the car too!”

As soon as Wu Changqing left, Wu Gang started making a fuss again.

Luo Min slapped him on the bottom.

Wu Gang was the eldest prince in front of others, but in front of Wu Changqing and Luo Min, he was just someone to be spanked. If he didn’t listen, he would be beaten.

“Sister, I think this car is quite safe. Why don’t you let that Huang guy take the child for a ride later?”

Chen Yuyan said with a smile, seemingly doting on Wu Gang.

Said without thinking, heard with intention. Luo Min seriously suspected that the Empress had ulterior motives.

If Wu Gang had an accident in the car, Chen Yuyan’s son would have one less powerful rival for the throne.

After all, as it stood, the only ones with a real chance of inheriting the throne in the future were Wu Gang and Chen Yuyan’s second child, Wu Hong.

“Thank you for the Empress’s kindness, but this child is too pathetic and unruly. I can’t let him get his way.”

Luo Min declined Chen Yuyan’s ‘kindness’.

The others listening to their conversation, the clever ones sensed something unusual, while the less clever ones thought they were just chatting casually.

The other concubines didn’t say anything, but they didn’t give up in their hearts.

After all, as long as Wu Changqing didn’t name a crown prince, they still had a chance.

Or rather, even if Wu Changqing named a crown prince, as long as they waited patiently, they would still have a chance, just a smaller one.

There was plenty of time, and who could say for sure what would happen in the future?

Throughout history, not many emperors had been the legitimate crown prince.

Wu Changqing also drove around a couple of times before stopping.

“Your Majesty is truly a peerless genius! You mastered the driving method after only one try. This subject learned it after dozens of tries, I am truly ashamed.”

Finally, it was over. The big stone in Huang Zhiming’s heart fell, and he could finally flatter the Emperor without worry.

Wu Changqing didn’t know what to say. He used to learn to drive, and failed the second part of the test many times.

He felt unworthy of this flattery.

Fortunately, no one else knew about this.

“Arrange it. In a few days, I want to do a test drive in the city center square to endorse this car and make it famous.”

Wu Changqing said with a smile.

An Emperor’s test drive, the advertising effect of this would crush any celebrity endorsement.

At that time, no matter what the car’s performance or price was, there would be no shortage of orders.

After all, it was his private property, and Wu Changqing was quite concerned about the future of the car.

“As you command.”

Huo Jiange was secretly delighted. The more successful the car was, the more rewards he would receive in the future. Maybe he could even be granted a marquisate, catching up with his teacher Feng Xianzhong.

Two days later, everything was arranged, and Wu Changqing left the palace and arrived at the central city square.

The people and officials who had received the news had already arrived at the square and occupied good positions.

An Emperor’s test drive, how could they miss this historic moment?

Moreover, the concept of the car had already been repeatedly popularized in the newspapers, and these people were very curious about the so-called car.

Near noon, Wu Changqing slowly arrived.

After a brief speech, he introduced the importance of the car.

Then, he came down from the stage and got into the car.

The car started slowly and then passed in front of the people.

“It’s moving! It’s really moving!”

A cheer rang out from the crowd. This was simply another miracle.

And these kinds of miracles often brought great convenience to life.

In the past, coal was very expensive, but because of the railway, the price of coal had dropped by more than half.

These real benefits were what the people cared about most.

“It’s really amazing, just like a train.”

“This is much more convenient than a train. Trains have to run on rails, but this car looks like it can run on any road.”

“Hey, it can really move on its own. Does that mean we don’t have to raise horses in the future?”

“Those who raise horses are going to be unlucky. The price of horses will plummet, and the stock price of BMW car dealerships will probably be affected as well.”

The people were curious, while some businessmen saw the future trends from the car.

The appearance of the car would inevitably have some impact on carriages.

“With this car, it won’t be so hard to go to my post in the provinces in the future.”

“A national treasure, another national treasure. With this car, the world will be easy to travel.”

“The Emperor’s grace is mighty! The Emperor’s grace is mighty!”

The officials were also discussing the car.

Those with short-sightedness saw the convenience that the car brought to life.

And those with a slightly longer-term vision saw the car’s terrifying potential.

Although trains were faster and carried more than cars, trains had a fatal flaw, which was that they needed to lay tracks.

Building railways was not an easy task, and it was impossible to build too many railways across the country.

In other words, the number of trains and railways would have a limit, and it was impossible to build them indefinitely.

But cars didn’t have this problem. The roads needed for cars were everywhere, easy to build, and the construction cost was low.

Moreover, cars were more flexible and convenient than trains.

It was foreseeable that cars would become the mainstream in the future.

Watching Wu Changqing drive the magical car past, the people and officials were all immersed in joy.

This was something worth celebrating across the country, a great historical moment.

Of course, not everyone was happy at this moment.

On the roof of a restaurant, a dark gun barrel stretched out, aiming at Wu Changqing, who was driving.

The muzzle moved with the car, and then the finger pulled the trigger.

Chapter 791: A Chaotic Mess

“Bang.”

Several gunshots rang out in quick succession.

As the shots echoed, those who had been watching Wu Changqing noticed a spray of blood erupt from his shoulder.

Immediately after, Wu Changqing’s car spun out of control, crashing into the crowd and sending people flying.

Screams erupted, and some of the ministers present fell from their seats, their composure utterly ruined.

“Protect the Emperor!”

“Assassins!”

“Protect the Emperor!”

Feng Debao sprinted towards Wu Changqing with the speed of a champion runner, belying his nearly sixty years. Qian Taoli, in his forties, was left far behind, unable to keep up.

Eunuchs have always been fiercely loyal when it comes to protecting their masters.

Even the infamous Wei Zhongxian, upon seeing the Emperor fall into the water, immediately jumped in to save him, despite not knowing how to swim.

A portion of the Imperial Guards rushed towards Wu Changqing’s location, while others followed the sound of the gunshots to find the assassin.

The common people, however, were thrown into a panic, desperately trying to escape, creating a scene of utter chaos.

The car wasn’t traveling at high speed, so it came to a stop after hitting a few people.

Wu Changqing was thrown from the vehicle, landing amidst the crowd.

Gunshots rang out again.

“Protect the Emperor!”

The people around Wu Changqing immediately surrounded him, some even pressing down on top of him.

Not all of these people were seeking to gain merit through this opportunity; many were genuinely motivated by their affection for Wu Changqing.

Actions speak louder than words, and the people were watching.

Since Wu Changqing’s ascension to the throne, he had implemented numerous policies that benefited the people, allowing them to live better lives. The people had seen this and remembered it in their hearts.

In this critical moment, their instinct was to protect Wu Changqing, fearing the loss of such an emperor.

Two more sprays of blood appeared on the backs of the people covering Wu Changqing, proving that the gunman had not escaped and was still firing, clearly determined to kill him.

At this moment, Wu Sande, the commander of the Imperial Guards, was more anxious than an ant on a hot pot, desperately searching for the assassin’s location.

Many others were equally anxious and working hard to find the shooter.

“There!”

An Imperial Guard shouted, pointing his gun at the assassin’s location, and without hesitation, emptied his magazine, not even bothering to aim.

He wasn’t hoping to kill the assassin, only to scare him into stopping the shooting.

As soon as he fired, more Imperial Guards spotted the assassin, and gunfire erupted from all directions.

“Stop shooting! Take him alive!”

Wu Sande shouted.

Now that Wu Changqing was surrounded by people, the gunman had no chance.

At this point, a living assassin was far more valuable than a dead one.

Wu Sande didn’t need to say much; those selected for the Imperial Guards were generally quick-witted.

While others provided suppressing fire, other Imperial Guards rushed towards the assassin’s location.

Only by capturing the assassin alive and uncovering the mastermind could they fulfill their duty.

Unfortunately, they were disappointed.

This was clearly a carefully planned assassination, and the assassin was a dedicated suicide operative.

By the time the Imperial Guards reached the assassin’s location, he had already shot himself through the head.

The gun was positioned under his chin, seemingly to obliterate his face, showing a ruthless determination.

“This is troublesome. Seal off the city immediately!”

Wu Sande said with a headache.

The assassin’s death immediately severed the most important lead.

“Sir, this man appears to be Japanese. Moreover, he was using the latest semi-automatic rifle. These are all important clues.”

Wu Sande’s adjutant, Ge Minghui, quickly identified two important leads with a glance.

“Secure the scene. Continue your investigation, and don’t overlook even the slightest clue.”

After giving these instructions, Wu Sande immediately inquired about the Emperor’s condition.

He breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that Wu Changqing’s life was not in danger.

As long as he was alive, that was all that mattered. If Wu Changqing had died, the Imperial Guards would have been severely punished, with him, the commander, bearing the brunt of the blame.

Now, although punishment was inevitable, he should be spared the death penalty.

After being shot in the shoulder, Wu Changqing had immediately steered the car into the crowd. It wasn’t a mistake; it was deliberate, for survival.

He had actually experienced two previous assassination attempts, but the assassins had been caught and dealt with by his guards before they could even get close.

As Emperor, Wu Changqing understood that there were many people in the world who wanted him dead, so he had a certain level of awareness and preparedness.

The best way to deal with a ranged assassination attempt was, of course, to blend into the crowd.

Staying in an open area would only make him a target for a sniper, even if he was moving.

He didn’t dare to rely on the assassin making a mistake; anyone chosen to be an assassin would undoubtedly be an exceptional marksman.

Therefore, Wu Changqing adopted the simplest method, using the people to shield himself.

Although it was somewhat selfish, few would likely find fault with this approach.

The result was as he expected: after falling into the crowd, he was protected by the people.

Although he was pressed down upon like in Stephen Chow’s version of Royal Tramp, with people shouting “Protect the Emperor!” in his ear, Wu Changqing didn’t have the urge to execute their families. Instead, he felt a sense of relief.

This at least showed that he still had some popular support.

It would have been too awkward if the people had avoided him in this situation.

After the gunshots stopped, the Imperial Guards pulled the people off Wu Changqing.

Two people had died, and five others had been injured by the car, three of them seriously.

However, no one cared about them.

The Imperial Guards were only concerned with examining Wu Changqing, who was not seriously injured.

Of course, this action was seen as reasonable by the people.

Not only in an era of imperial supremacy, but even in later generations, important figures would receive such treatment.

People are always different.

“Properly settle these fallen heroes and injured civilians. Be sure to provide the best treatment for the injured.”

The Imperial Guards needed to quickly escort Wu Changqing away from the plaza, as no one knew if there was only one assassin, and they dared not be careless.

Before leaving, Wu Changqing still gave these instructions.

Others could take it for granted that these people had died for a worthy cause, but he couldn’t do that.

Whether to put on a show, create a good image, or out of genuine feeling, Wu Changqing needed to properly appease those who had risked their lives to save him.

“Your Majesty, return to the palace quickly. This old servant will take care of everything here and will certainly not mistreat the meritorious martyrs.”

Feng Debao said urgently.

“Your Majesty, please return to the palace.”

The surrounding people also pleaded.

“Alas, I am indebted to these heroes today.”

After saying this, Wu Changqing was escorted back to the palace by the Imperial Guards and the ministers.

Chapter 792: A Show of Loyalty

The Emperor’s assassination attempt was probably the most significant political event in Great Hua this year.

The rectification of the stock market, the expedition to Annam, and the establishment of a province in Japan paled in comparison to the impact of the assassination attempt.

Once the Emperor was attacked, no one cared about anything else.

The people stopped their work, discussing who the assassin was and worrying about the Emperor’s safety.

Football fields, opera houses, mahjong parlors…

All major entertainment venues were closed.

With the Emperor assassinated, who would dare to go to the opera or play mahjong? Wouldn’t that show they didn’t care about the Emperor’s life?

Although, under normal circumstances, no one would target ordinary people.

However, at this time, the proper gestures had to be made to avoid giving others a handle to use against them.

Moreover, most of the people were genuinely concerned about Wu Changqing’s condition.

At the university, students were outraged when they learned that the Emperor had been attacked and injured.

They immediately went on strike and gathered to shout, demanding that the assassin be found and severely punished. Some had already begun to write, preparing to condemn the assassin’s actions.

Their actions didn’t actually help to catch the assassin.

However, the president and teachers of the university did not stop the students’ patriotic fervor.

If this were to reach the Emperor’s ears in the future, it would make him happy.

If the students could still study peacefully after the Emperor was attacked, it would seem heartless, which was a major taboo.

Not only the students, but even the ministers put down their work and gathered to wait for news.

Some important ministers even went to the palace to wait for an audience with the Emperor.

Although everyone knew that the Emperor would definitely be too busy to see them at this time.

However, the gesture had to be made. Otherwise, they would inevitably be seen as not caring about the Emperor’s safety.

The most anxious were the imperial consorts in the harem.

They existed solely by relying on Wu Changqing, their wealth, power, and status all dependent on him.

If Wu Changqing died, their lives would not be so easy.

The imperial consorts were all clamoring to see the Emperor, but few were granted an audience.

Only Empress Chen Yuyan and Consort De, Yang Xiaoxiao, were summoned.

Yang Xiaoxiao was summoned because she used to be a nurse and knew about nursing.

At this time, Yang Xiaoxiao, not trusting others, or perhaps wanting to seize the opportunity to show her loyalty, personally cleaned Wu Changqing’s wound and applied medicine.

Wu Changqing’s injury was not serious; only a small piece of flesh had been grazed from his shoulder.

It was quite painful, but it didn’t injure any bones or tendons. It was a near miss, a stroke of luck within misfortune.

As long as he was careful to prevent inflammation and waited for the flesh to grow back, he would be fine.

Of course, Wu Changqing used the best things for himself, directly exchanging the best medicines from the system. Just in case, he also got a tetanus shot.

“You’re the Emperor now. Why do you need to do this yourself? Just assign a minister to do it,” Chen Yuyan said, weeping beside him, unsure if she was truly sad or just acting.

Anyway, almost all the consorts outside the hall were weeping. Wu Changqing didn’t believe that everyone was so heartbroken for him.

“Don’t cry. I’m fine,” Wu Changqing said.

“You’re fine this time, but what about next time?” Chen Yuyan said.

“Alright, I’ll go out less in the future,” Wu Changqing said.

Wu Changqing wasn’t someone who wasn’t afraid of death. He hadn’t had enough of the enjoyable life of being an emperor.

This assassination attempt had made him more vigilant.

Times had changed. In the past, in the era of cold weapons, preventing assassination was relatively easy, as long as there were enough guards around.

But now with guns, bombs, and artillery, the difficulty of preventing assassination had greatly increased.

Fortunately, this time it was just a gun. If the other party had thrown a powerful bomb at him, even the people helping to block it wouldn’t have been able to stop it.

The flesh was incredibly fragile in the face of these hot weapons.

“Your Majesty, Lord Gu, Lord Ruan, and Lord Hong are all waiting outside the hall for an audience,” Feng Debao said, seeing that Wu Changqing’s wound had been bandaged.

“Do these people still have the face to ask for an audience? They’re all a bunch of good-for-nothings, unable to handle even a small matter, and needing Your Majesty to personally take action. What are we feeding them in the court for?” Yang Xiaoxiao also complained.

“Alright, you two are just women, where do you get so much foresight? You two should withdraw first. I need to meet with them,” Wu Changqing said, asking them to leave before meeting with the cabinet ministers.

As soon as Hong Chengchou and the others entered, they knelt on the ground and wept, begging for forgiveness, using the same rhetoric as Yang Xiaoxiao.

In their words, it was all their fault for being useless and unable to share the burden of government affairs for His Majesty, which led to Wu Changqing’s assassination attempt, so all the blame was theirs.

The sovereign’s worries are the subject’s shame; the sovereign’s humiliation is the subject’s death.

This was a set of Confucian doctrines, meaning that if the emperor had troubles, it was because the subjects had not done their jobs well, which was the subjects’ shame. If the emperor was humiliated, it was because the subjects had not done their jobs well and should atone for their crimes with death.

“Alright, I wanted to test drive it myself. It has nothing to do with you. The most important thing now is to catch the assassin, find out the truth, and restore normal work order. Immediately lift the city lockdown and increase the investigation,” Wu Changqing said.

Nanjing, as Great Hua’s most important city, would suffer enormous losses from even a single day of lockdown.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not! The danger has not been eliminated. The city must be locked down to prevent the evildoer from escaping,” Ruan Dacheng said.

The economy was important, but it was nothing compared to the Emperor’s safety.

“Can you guarantee that locking down the city will catch all the assassins? There will always be people who want to kill me. Are we going to keep the city locked down forever?

Just some petty thieves. How could I possibly take them seriously?” Wu Changqing said dismissively.

In any case, he was someone who had fought enemies on the battlefield. Compared to emperors who grew up in the palace, he had more courage.

He wouldn’t take his anger out on others just because he had been assassinated, and then make a mess of the world.

“Your Majesty’s considerations are naturally correct, but this subject suggests locking down the city for three days to capture as many key figures as possible. Reopening it after three days won’t have too much impact on the economy,” Hong Chengchou said, which was echoed by everyone else. They all wanted to make a show of loyalty, and in short, they couldn’t show the Emperor that they didn’t care about his safety.

If Wu Changqing didn’t agree, they would probably kneel here and beg.

“Then lock it down for three days. You can all leave now. Don’t delay normal work,” Wu Changqing said, reaching a compromise with them. He was worried that if he continued to insist, these ministers would wail in the hall.

These cabinet ministers were all old men over fifty years old. There was no need to make things difficult for them.

Chapter 793: New Intelligence Agency

Nanjing was under lockdown. Entry was permitted, but exit was not.

This was a disaster for some merchants who urgently needed to deliver goods, as they would inevitably miss their delivery deadlines.

However, these merchants dared not complain.

Compared to catching the assassin, their profits were nothing. If they dared to utter a word of complaint, they might be reported for disrespecting the Emperor.

In such sensitive times, being labeled as disloyal would have severe consequences.

After the lockdown, the Imperial Guards began arresting people, or rather, inviting them in for questioning.

Anyone who knew the assassin, or had any contact with him, was taken away for questioning.

Anyone connected to the new rifle was also taken away for questioning.

The city was in an uproar, and those implicated lamented their misfortune.

Those with minor involvement were fortunate, only facing questioning and making statements.

But those more deeply involved would inevitably suffer some unwarranted disasters and endure some torture.

For example, those who had a good relationship with the assassin, those who frequently contacted him, and the officials responsible for managing firearms.

These people were all under strong suspicion of colluding with the assassin.

Of course, it was only suspicion.

The Intelligence Bureau investigated for two days without finding any leads.

The Japan assassin rarely interacted with others, and no one even knew his real name. The landlord who rented him the room only knew him as Xiaoquan.

According to the landlord, Xiaoquan was reclusive, often staying at home and never going out, and no one knew what he was doing.

The Intelligence Bureau continued to investigate along Xiaoquan’s trail, but found no valuable clues.

“Is there even a need to investigate? The assassin is Japanese, so the mastermind must also be Japanese. They just had a large area taken from them, so they must be resentful.”

This was currently the most widely accepted guess on the street. Of course, those actually handling the case would not be so superficial.

The fact that the assassin was Japanese actually suggested that the Japanese were the least likely suspects.

After all, the Japanese leadership would not be foolish enough to use their own people for assassination. If exposed, it would be suicide.

Even if the assassination succeeded and Wu Changqing was killed, it would not change the power gap between Great Hua and Japan.

Killing Wu Changqing would be satisfying, but it was clearly not worth the disaster it would bring.

Two days later, the case made a new breakthrough.

The new rifle was traced back to a Han Chinese man in Nanjing who had spent a fortune to buy it from the armory.

In the palace, Wu Changqing kicked over some objects, venting his anger.

The pain from his wound made him irritable.

When people are in a bad mood, they are prone to anger and have extreme thoughts.

Wu Changqing was very angry at this moment.

If the people who wanted to kill him were Japanese, fallen Korean nobles, Western Europeans, or Annamese, he could understand and would not be too angry.

What he could not tolerate was that the person who wanted to kill him was Han Chinese.

He asked himself, and believed that he had been good enough to the Han Chinese.

Although his decrees ostensibly promoted equality among all ethnic groups, in practice, he always tacitly approved of officials prioritizing the interests of the Han Chinese.

He could not understand why, after being so good to those people, they still wanted to kill him.

At the same time, he was angry with the officials at the armory.

They were paid high salaries, yet they still sold Great Hua’s confidential weapons for money.

These greedy officials deserved to die.

Wu Changqing was a little tired. He was working hard for the country, but those officials only cared about their own selfish interests.

For a little personal gain, they even sold out state secrets.

For a moment, he felt disheartened, feeling that his efforts to think for the people and try to achieve common prosperity for everyone were unappreciated.

Rather than that, he might as well be a corrupt ruler, enjoying himself and not worrying about those annoying things.

Moreover, Wu Changqing also felt that, given Great Hua’s current leading advantage, even if he started being a corrupt ruler now, Great Hua could no longer be bullied.

Of course, he only thought about this for a moment, and soon calmed down.

Life, after all, still needs some pursuit.

For him, the only thing he could pursue was to make his empire a true golden age.

“Old Feng, withdraw two million wen from the Imperial Household Department and find some reliable people to form a new department, call it the Bureau of Investigation. Its function will be similar to the Intelligence Bureau, but with a focus on the safety of the imperial family.”

The Intelligence Bureau focused on the country of Great Hua, and had too many areas to cover, with broad business but not refined enough in certain areas.

Therefore, Wu Changqing planned to create another intelligence agency specifically to serve him.

It would only be responsible for investigating matters related to him. As for ministers wanting to embezzle state property, which would harm Great Hua, they would not need to worry about it.

What they had to do was eliminate all potential threats to the Emperor, ensure the Emperor’s safety, and so on.

This was a supplement to the Intelligence Bureau. Compared to the Intelligence Bureau, the Bureau of Investigation had a smaller scope of authority, but greater power, and could even supervise the Intelligence Bureau.

If the Intelligence Bureau was like the Eastern Depot, then the Bureau of Investigation could be seen as the early Western Depot, roughly the same.

“This old servant obeys the decree.”

Feng Debao suppressed his inner joy and thanked the Emperor.

He had finally waited for this moment. Their eunuch group could finally regain power.

This was all he had worked hard for. In the future, the eunuchs of Great Hua would have to enshrine him and honor him as their leader.

This was also Feng Debao’s life pursuit.

Wu Changqing knew the disadvantages of eunuchs holding power, and even the previous emperors were clear about it.

But eunuchs had always been able to hold power, and could even make a comeback after occasional setbacks, with extremely tenacious vitality, naturally there were benefits to it.

At least, the Emperor could trust them and not worry about them betraying him.

These eunuchs were even more loyal than the Emperor’s women.

Wu Changqing established the Bureau of Investigation, and the most angry about the eunuchs regaining power were the civil and military official groups.

Although the Bureau of Investigation’s scope of authority was not large now, they feared that after this start, the department would expand and eventually develop into a department like the Western Depot.

At other times, those officials would probably shout for death and oppose Wu Changqing’s decision.

However, at this juncture, those officials were in a dilemma.

Stepping out to oppose at this time would easily give people the impression that they did not care about the Emperor’s safety and wished for the Emperor’s death.

If they offended the Emperor’s wrath, they would probably not have a good end.

Everyone had not forgotten the last great purge that Wu Changqing had carried out.

For the time being, they did not dare to be too radical, lacking a few leaders.

Therefore, although they also submitted memorials to advise, their attitude was not very firm. Without this resistance, the Bureau of Investigation was successfully established.

Chapter 794: Assembly Line

Investigating the assassins was not something that could be done overnight, but life had to go on.

Three days later, Nanjing was unsealed, and everything returned to normal. People went to work, and vendors set up their stalls.

However, there was a tense atmosphere in the city, and squads of guards frequently passed through the streets.

“Who are they going to arrest this time?”

Passersby couldn’t help but gossip with curiosity.

“Who knows? The assassination of the Emperor is a big deal, I’m afraid it won’t be settled easily.”

“Those assassins were blinded by greed. Why would they want to assassinate the Emperor? Life is much better now than before. Where can you find an Emperor like this?”

“You don’t understand, do you? It’s said that it was done by the Japanese. Great Hua recently occupied a large area of Japan, and it’s estimated that the Japanese are using such despicable means because they can’t swallow their anger.”

…

The assassination incident had become a topic of conversation for the people after meals.

However, everyone just gossiped about it, and life went on as usual, with little impact.

The large-scale production of Benz cars was also put on the agenda.

In the industrial zone, the people from the Imperial Household Department directly bought more than a dozen adjacent factory buildings, all of which were used to produce Benz car parts.

Wu Changqing highly admired the assembly line production model. He had vigorously promoted it before, even demanding it strictly.

Therefore, the term “assembly line” had already taken root in people’s hearts.

And those who had tried the assembly line production model had praised it.

The large factories in the industrial zone had already adopted the assembly line production model.

For example, in ceramic factories, there were now very few pure ceramic workers. Instead, there were only mud diggers, mud transporters, mold makers, soil mixers, painters, kiln workers, and so on.

The work that used to be done by one person was now divided into more than a dozen processes, and each person only needed to complete one of them.

The assembly line production model had far too many advantages over traditional artisans.

The improvement in efficiency was secondary. The most important thing was that it saved time in training workers.

In the past, if a person wanted to learn how to make porcelain, they couldn’t learn it without five or six years.

If they wanted to master all the skills, they would have to immerse themselves in it for more than ten or twenty years.

By the time an apprentice became a master, the day lilies would be cold.

But now, except for the mold makers and painters who needed to spend more time training, the other jobs in several links were basically ready to go to work in two or three days.

The super-short training time made people feel at ease.

If it still took several years to master the skills and get a job like before, not many people would dare to take that step to learn the skills.

If they couldn’t learn it, many people couldn’t afford the consequences.

The emergence of the assembly line greatly reduced the cost of trial and error for those who were trying to enter the factory.

Even if they couldn’t learn it, it would only take a few days or a few months.

It was precisely because of this that Great Hua was able to produce so many qualified workers in a short period of time.

If the assembly line production model had not been adopted, Great Hua’s development speed would have been at least several times slower.

Assembly line production, seemingly without much high-tech content, but the value of this concept is no less than some high-tech inventions.

Just like containers, just a very simple tin box.

But this concept can greatly improve collaboration efficiency, enough to change the world.

The Benz car factory had not yet officially started construction, but Wu Zhiyue, the person in charge of the Imperial Household Department, had already made arrangements in advance, breaking down the entire production process of a car.

Those who produce wheels specialize in wheels, and those who produce seats specialize in seats.

The main factory only needs to master the core technology of the engine, and other parts can even be outsourced to other companies.

In this way, the scale of the Benz car factory can be made very large at once.

It is estimated that when these production lines are all built and put into use, the production capacity can reach one hundred vehicles per month.

In this era, this speed is already very fast.

Of course, this little production capacity is far from meeting the needs of the market.

The Benz car factory had not yet officially started construction, and its orders had already been received for next year’s share.

There are too many rich people in Great Hua now, and many people have so much money that they have nowhere to spend it.

As a high-end and fashionable item, cars are destined to be sought after.

For those wealthy people, money is not a problem.

In addition to civilian orders, there are also many military orders.

However, what the military requires is not the kind of comfortable and compact car. What they want are transport vehicles with large carrying capacity, high speed, and more reliable performance.

With cars, the military will no longer have to worry about transportation problems.

At that time, their dream of conquering the world will have a chance to become a reality.

With orders, there is sufficient funding, and the development of the Benz car factory has not had any problems for a while, and it is smooth sailing.

While arranging production, Wu Zhiyue also set up a research department, and even began to arrange professional training schools, starting to train car production workers from now on.

The market for the car industry is really too big. If only one hundred vehicles are produced each month, I am afraid that the demand will never be met.

Wu Zhiyue’s plan is that by this time next year, the output of cars must reach one thousand vehicles per month.

Therefore, it is now necessary to start training a large number of skilled workers and various technical research personnel.

These workers are likely to be poached by other companies after they have completed their studies, and it is difficult to say whether the Benz car factory can retain them.

However, the Benz car factory did not care, and did not even force the students who came to sign up for the training to sign a training contract, and did not use the contract to bind those people.

After all, the Benz car factory is Wu Changqing’s private property. What Wu Changqing pursues is not only profit, but also the overall development of this society.

As long as it is something that is beneficial to social development, the Imperial Household Department generally does not pursue profit too much.

This is what Wu Changqing requires, anyway, he is not short of money.

As long as he is short of money, he will exchange some advanced technology from the system store.

Any business is a unique business, and you can lie down and count money.

What’s more, the Royal Bank is also his private property.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing does not want to plunder wealth, otherwise he can become richer than the country simply by using this Royal Bank, which is the only one that can issue currency.

His money, in addition to supporting the royal family, is used for the country.

Those ministers know that the Emperor is rich and generous, and they like to cry poor in front of Wu Changqing, and they can often make Wu Changqing take out his private money.

Since ancient times, emperors have been supported by the people of the world.

Wu Changqing is the first person in ancient and modern times to earn money by his own ability and use the money to develop the country.

Sometimes Wu Changqing feels that he is selfless and great, and many ministers also think so.

Chapter 795: The Truth Emerges

The investigation into the Emperor’s assassination attempt continued. The mastermind behind it had clearly planned meticulously, and many leads ended up dead ends.

The assassin, Koizumi, was a loner with few contacts.

Those he had contacted were mostly arrested, but none yielded any particularly useful information.

That lead was temporarily cut off.

As for Meng Shengfan, who bribed He Yu, the manager of the arsenal, to buy the new rifles, he was a playboy who bought the guns because he liked them and wanted to use them for hunting.

However, after bringing them home, they were stolen.

Because of the stolen new rifles, Meng Shengfan didn’t dare report the theft. Over a month had passed, and there were no leads left.

That was the situation the Intelligence Agency had uncovered so far. If Meng Shengfan wasn’t lying, that lead was also dead.

In Qin Fen’s opinion, Meng Shengfan was probably telling the truth.

After all, Meng Shengfan didn’t look like a suicide bomber at all; he was a typical playboy.

Such a person wouldn’t be able to withstand torture and wouldn’t be lying.

After much effort, on April tenth, there was a new development in the assassination case.

After a large number of interviews, a commoner recalled a clue: a man named Qihar had contacted the assassin twice.

Moreover, their contact was secretive. When Qihar met the assassin Koizumi, he carried a long black cloth bag.

The commoner who saw this didn’t pay attention at the time and didn’t report it. But now, he felt that the black cloth bag might have contained the rifle.

The mastermind’s arrangement was actually very clever, but the net of heaven is wide, and nothing escapes its mesh.

Under the full investigation of the Intelligence Agency, they still found clues.

Following these clues often led to more leads.

By the time Qin Fen sent someone to find Qihar, Qihar was already dead.

But it didn’t matter. Covering up evidence was like lying. Once you told the first lie, you often had to use more lies to cover it up.

Then, like a snowball, there were more and more loopholes.

The same went for erasing clues. To erase one clue, you often left more clues behind.

Although Qihar was dead, the Intelligence Agency could continue to investigate those who had contact with Qihar.

This was a massive undertaking. If it were a normal case, the government would have given up long ago.

It wasn’t worth it to spend so much to solve a small case, and the reality didn’t allow it.

But this wasn’t a small case; it was the Emperor’s assassination attempt.

Not to mention investigating everyone who had contact with Qihar, even if they found that the person who instructed Qihar was still not the mastermind, they would continue to investigate until they found him.

After a large number of investigations, Qin Fen finally focused on a Manchu, Ilbutai.

This Ilbutai’s identity was extraordinary. He was Fu Lin of the House of Aisin Gioro’s personal old servant.

The fact that the matter involved Fu Lin gave Qin Fen a headache.

No matter how unpopular and down on his luck Fu Lin was now, he still had his birth mother as a backer.

Qin Fen was unwilling to provoke her if he could avoid it.

But this time, he had no choice. Qin Fen didn’t hold back and still arrested Fu Lin and Ilbutai.

However, during the interrogation, he only used torture on Ilbutai and mainly questioned Fu Lin.

“Name.”

Qin Fen asked.

Fu Lin, who was already fifteen years old, sat opposite Qin Fen and snorted coldly.

Although he was down on his luck and few people looked up to him anymore, no one around him dared to do anything to him.

Therefore, he still developed an unruly personality.

Even after entering prison, he wasn’t afraid.

“You ask. Keep asking until he’s willing to answer normally.”

Qin Fen summoned a subordinate. Although he couldn’t use torture, he could mentally torment the other party.

Depriving a person of sleep for a long time could also cause extreme pain.

Then, Qin Fen’s subordinate repeated Fu Lin’s name like a broken record.

After getting tired, he changed to another person, and they launched a war of attrition. Anyway, they had no shortage of manpower.

Finally, Fu Lin couldn’t take it anymore and gritted his teeth and said, “Aisin Gioro Fu Lin.”

“Where is there an Aisin Gioro surname now? Is it Guan Fu Lin or Tong Fu Lin?”

The interrogator asked.

Currently, most Manchus had changed their surnames, and the so-called Aisin Gioro clan was no longer seen. There were quite a few people who changed their surnames to Guan and Tong.

“I am the Aisin Gioro clan, not some damn Guan or Tong clan.”

Fu Lin said angrily.

The interrogator ignored him and silently recorded Fu Lin’s words.

Based on Fu Lin’s attitude alone, he could be charged with longing for the old dynasty and attempting to rebel.

As long as someone wanted to mess with him, making an issue of this would be enough to make Fu Lin suffer.

…

It was destined that no effective answers could be obtained from Fu Lin.

Qin Fen focused his breakthrough on Ilbutai and other physical evidence.

By searching Fu Lin’s residence, Qin Fen and his men found many of Fu Lin’s diaries.

They couldn’t really be considered diaries, but rather random notes that Fu Lin wrote when he was depressed. There were poems and articles.

The content of these poems and articles revealed a sense of unwillingness and resentment towards Great Hua.

At this point, the situation was actually very clear.

Qin Fen sighed in his heart and then ordered people to use torture on Ilbutai to make the case ironclad.

Ilbutai was initially stubborn, but after several rounds of torture, he finally relented.

He admitted that he had sent people to steal the guns, contacted Koizumi, who also harbored hatred for Great Hua, and provided weapons and funding, orchestrating the assassination.

However, he insisted that Fu Lin was completely unaware of this and that it was all his own doing.

Of course, Qin Fen couldn’t believe this nonsense.

“Ilbutai, you really are a tough guy. You’re still lying even after being beaten like this.”

Seeing that Ilbutai still wanted to quibble, Qin Fen interrupted, “Don’t bother explaining. Whether you admit it was your own idea or admit it was Fu Lin’s instruction, your ending will be the same.

Do you think anyone can protect your master after something like this happens? There are too many people who want your master dead. They won’t give up this opportunity.”

These words that killed people’s hearts finally made Ilbutai panic and struggle non-stop.

However, he had no way to change any of this.

He could only shout that he did it all himself and that Qin Fen should not harm the innocent.

However, this appearance of his, in the eyes of everyone, was just a living clown.

Chapter 796: Execution

The investigation concluded, and Qin Fen quietly delivered the results to Wu Changqing.

As for how to sentence them, that was not his concern.

Although Qin Fen acted discreetly, there are no walls that don’t leak wind.

Fu Lin had been arrested and not released. After the ministers sent people to inquire, they basically knew everything.

Therefore, they began to submit memorials one after another, requesting Fu Lin’s execution.

Such a hidden danger was always a threat and should be eliminated as quickly as possible.

With Fu Lin alive, some slow-witted Manchu remnants still harbored hope.

These people even frequently visited Fu Lin’s residence, displaying their foolish loyalty.

This was something that many ministers could not tolerate. Who knew if these people were gathering to plot a rebellion?

Even if they did rebel, they wouldn’t succeed.

However, like now, even a little assassination attempt could cause trouble for Great Hua.

Previously, they had to consider Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen and lacked an excuse, so the ministers turned a blind eye, not wanting to quarrel with the Emperor over such trivial matters.

But this time, they had an opportunity and were unwilling to let it go, wanting to completely eliminate those few stubborn elements.

Killing Fu Lin was also to vent their anger.

If this kid hadn’t orchestrated the assassination attempt, Wu Changqing would have had no reason to establish the Investigation Bureau, allowing the eunuchs to regain power.

The ministers needed someone to vent this frustration on.

They certainly couldn’t vent their anger on the Emperor, so they could only target Fu Lin, this turd-stirrer.

The ministers received the news, and Mandahai was no exception.

After Fu Lin was arrested, Manchu remnants immediately reported to Mandahai and asked for help.

Mandahai was the only Manchu in the Great Hua court who could still speak up a little.

Although other Manchus were not exploited or oppressed, they were basically far removed from the ruling class.

Ninety-nine percent of the officials in the court were Han Chinese, with other ethnic groups only accounting for a tiny fraction, and they were all in insignificant positions.

These Manchu remnants were destined to be disappointed.

Mandahai was satisfied with the status quo and wanted to live his peaceful life.

He didn’t want to care about Fu Lin, his cousin, and was too lazy to do so.

He had advised Fu Lin once before, telling him that if he behaved himself, he could enjoy a lifetime of wealth and luxury, with no shortage of money or women.

However, Fu Lin ridiculed him for betraying his ancestors and being servile.

Since then, Mandahai had cut off contact with Fu Lin to protect himself.

Maintaining contact with someone full of dissatisfaction with Great Hua was not a wise choice.

Those Manchu remnants were rebuffed by Mandahai and had to ask someone to pass a message to the palace.

Now, only Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had any hope of saving Fu Lin.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen was Fu Lin’s biological mother and couldn’t ignore him.

When Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen received the news, tears immediately streamed down her face.

Assassinating the Emperor was even more serious than rebellion. How could she save him?

The court might even offer amnesty to rebels.

However, no emperor would ever spare someone who tried to assassinate him.

“Your Ladyship, quickly beg His Majesty for mercy!”

Su Mo’er said anxiously.

“How can I beg? What do you think I am to him? When I was still a novelty, he might have glanced at me. But now, that novelty has worn off, and I’m getting old and losing my beauty. How could he care about my feelings?”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen lamented.

The imperial family was the most ruthless. The Emperor’s women were naturally infinitely glamorous when they were favored.

After falling out of favor, they were not even as good as ordinary concubines.

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had long known that all her efforts could only barely save Fu Lin’s life.

Therefore, she had always warned Fu Lin to be peaceful and forget the past.

However, because she couldn’t be by his side, she was ultimately unable to change Fu Lin’s arrogant and irritable personality, and he had caused a great disaster.

“But Your Ladyship, we can’t just watch the young master be executed. If you plead for mercy, maybe His Majesty will soften his heart and there will still be a chance.”

Actually, Su Mo’er didn’t need to say much. After all, he was her own son, and Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen couldn’t ignore him.

She took Wu Nianjiao, the daughter she had with Wu Changqing, and went to the Hall of Mental Cultivation to request an audience.

“Your Ladyship, please return. His Majesty does not wish to see you now. Also, the princess will be temporarily taken care of by us.”

Feng Debao stopped Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen outside the Hall of Mental Cultivation and snatched Wu Nianjiao away.

This was Wu Changqing’s bloodline and had to be protected.

What if Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen had a moment of madness and used the child for revenge?

“Eunuch, you can’t do this. Let me see His Majesty. I want to see His Majesty and plead guilty.”

Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen cried miserably, but Feng Debao remained unmoved and ordered the eunuchs to drag Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen away. This was Wu Changqing’s order.

Wu Changqing didn’t want to see Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen because he didn’t know how to face her.

Fu Lin would definitely be executed. After all, Fu Lin had already tried to harm his life, and this was an irreconcilable conflict.

If he didn’t kill Fu Lin, those who wanted to kill Wu Changqing in the future would be even more unscrupulous, since the Emperor was soft-hearted.

As Emperor, he must not give people the impression of being soft-hearted, otherwise, he would end up like Zhu Yunwen.

He would rather be a tyrant reviled by others than a benevolent ruler with a soft heart.

In short, Fu Lin must be executed.

And Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen would definitely come to plead for mercy.

Wu Changqing still retained some of the thinking of later generations, feeling that it was too ruthless to not give Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen any face.

Therefore, he simply didn’t see her. Out of sight, out of mind, this could save him some trouble.

As for whether Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen would hate him in the future, he couldn’t care about that.

After this incident, Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen would most likely be thrown into the Cold Palace.

This was the sorrow of being in the imperial family.

Several days later, all the interrogation work had been completed, and the case was finalized.

Wu Changqing agreed to the Dali Temple’s punishment proposal, beheading Fu Lin and other direct participants, and even those indirectly involved were beheaded and their families confiscated.

People like He Yu and Meng Shengfan did not commit crimes punishable by death.

But unfortunately, they had bad luck and caused a bad influence, so they had to be executed as a warning to others.

In the future, those people would probably have to think twice before committing crimes.

Fu Lin and others were secretly executed, and the matter was not publicized.

After all, this matter involved the Emperor’s woman, which was somewhat disgraceful.

As for the charges of assassinating Wu Changqing, they were thrown onto the Japanese.

Since the ones responsible for the attack were Japanese, they deserved to be unlucky.

Of course, they were not wronged.

After all, there were quite a few Japanese who wanted to assassinate Wu Changqing, but they just hadn’t had the chance to do so yet.

Chapter 797: The Effects of Military Agricultural Colonies

Wu Changqing’s assassination attempt had, for a time, affected the war on the front lines.

Every department was worried about Wu Changqing, to the point that the transport of supplies to the front was delayed for several days.

It wasn’t until Nanjing was unblocked that everything returned to normal.

The generals and soldiers on the front lines were shocked to learn of Wu Changqing’s assassination and, for a time, had no heart to fight.

Xue Guiren was even considering how he could quickly return to Nanjing in case something happened there.

After all, if Wu Changqing were to pass away, the next act would certainly be the drama of vying for the throne.

For him, supporting the eldest son, Wu Gang, was imperative. And there would certainly be a faction supporting the Empress’s son, Wu Hong.

Helping Wu Gang ascend the throne was far more important than conquering Annam.

However, as news of Wu Changqing’s condition arrived, Xue Guiren immediately put his mind at ease.

And the morale in Lang Son also stabilized.

If something were to happen to Wu Changqing, the soldiers at the front would certainly have no heart to fight.

“Latest news, His Majesty is unharmed, and the mastermind behind the scenes is still under investigation.”

Xue Guiren held the latest telegram, feeling slightly relieved.

Although Wu Changqing’s death would actually be an opportunity for him to advance further in his position, he still didn’t want, and was even afraid, of Wu Changqing dying.

As for the reason, he himself wasn’t sure.

Perhaps it was the habit of Wu Changqing’s leadership; if he suddenly lost Wu Changqing’s leadership, even if he were in power, he would feel lost and not know what to do next.

In short, it was a lack of ability.

“By my calculations, this happened seven days ago. I estimate Nanjing has already caught the culprit by now,” the chief of staff said.

Great Hua now had several telegraph lines, namely Nanjing to Beijing, Nanjing to Wuhan, and Nanjing-Shanghai-Fuzhou-Guangzhou.

Xue Guiren’s telegram was sent from Nanjing to Guangzhou, and then delivered by express horse to his headquarters.

The time it took was more than half a month faster than before there were telegraphs.

“In that case, we can let the soldiers on the front lines launch an attack,” another staff officer suggested. The war had been dragging on for some time and couldn’t be delayed any longer.

With Xue Guiren’s order issued, the army stationed in Lang Son began to prepare their meals, ready to set off after eating.

The departure meal, like a condemned man’s last meal, was usually quite lavish.

After all, after this meal, they would be risking their lives, and could die at any time.

However, the Huaxia army soldiers knew that they had a very large advantage, and the probability of dying in battle was relatively small. Therefore, they ate this meal very happily, with a completely different mentality from a death row inmate eating their last meal.

Smoke rose, and the aroma wafted over.

The people in Lang Son city were drooling when they smelled the fragrance.

“This Lingao salted dried fish is really good.”

Sun Yizhou opened a box of salted dried fish from Lingao, and the soldiers smelled the aroma and drooled.

“This is something made by the garrison regiment stationed in Lingao. I heard that the 385th Regiment has made a fortune by fishing and making canned goods.”

Sun Yizhou laughed.

Since the military department issued the order for the army to be self-reliant, the garrisons in various places had begun to show off their skills.

Those with land cultivated it, those with mountains grew fruits and herbs, and those with ponds raised fish and ducks.

The 385th Regiment, stationed by the sea, started making salted dried fish cans because it was convenient to dry salt and fish.

Over the years, Lingao brand salted dried fish cans had become well-known in Great Hua and sold well in Jiangnan.

Not only were they often supplied to the military internally, but the surplus was also taken to the market to sell, earning a lot of money for the army.

Some of the money earned was handed over, and the other part was left to the 385th Regiment to improve their lives.

The current 385th Regiment was living a very comfortable life.

The army used this model to mobilize the production enthusiasm of the local garrison troops.

Of course, this also easily bred some problems.

The soldiers in the army had guns in their hands. If they used this force to compete with local enterprises, ordinary people could only retreat.

At first, a large number of such problems did occur in the garrison troops.

But soon, this trend was strangled by the supervising eunuchs.

The corruption of power takes time. The eunuchs had only recently taken power and had not yet had time to become corrupt. They encountered this opportunity to report meritorious service and cherished it very much, showing a selfless side.

Some local military officers also tried to bribe the supervising eunuchs, but the results were not good, and they were reported by the eunuchs instead.

After several cases were reported to Wu Changqing, a large number of people were punished, and the military lost face.

Li Shaobin and Liu Hansan and several other big shots lost their temper, demanding that the entire army conduct self-examination and self-investigation, and gave the soldiers’ committee greater power.

Rather than being discovered and reported by the eunuchs, it was better to let the soldiers report and then handle it internally.

Under the dual attack of the supervising eunuchs and the soldiers’ committee, the phenomenon of local troops bullying others with their power was strangled in the cradle before it had time to develop and grow, making the atmosphere of military agricultural colonies much better.

Of course, all of this was temporary.

When those eunuchs had their fill of power for this period of time, they would pay more attention to actual benefits in the future. Their resistance to gifts from military officers would definitely decrease, and they might even actively solicit bribes.

At that time, there would definitely be no shortage of collusion between them.

And this situation was actually within Wu Changqing’s expectations.

But he was not in a hurry. Anyway, the current focus was on development.

Future corruption problems would be solved later. It was impossible to abandon the policy of military agricultural colonies for fear of problems.

Because they could not bully others with their power, they needed to honestly abide by the law.

Therefore, the situation of military agricultural colonies across the country was mixed.

Good places, like the 385th Regiment in Lingao, could not only be self-sufficient, but also provide financial support to the military.

Some of the poorly managed places not only had no results, but some even lost money.

These soldiers were good at fighting, but they didn’t have the ability to farm and raise livestock.

Whether it was farming or breeding, it was a technical job.

Nothing in this world is easy.

However, overall, the army’s military agricultural colonies still had good results, saving the imperial court a lot of military expenses and supporting a large number of garrison troops.

In terms of combat effectiveness, these garrison troops were lax in training and were definitely slightly weaker. If this continued for a long time, they might become the next hereditary military household system.

However, they were more than enough to deal with local bandits and powerful landlords.

That was enough. There were no strong enemies in the local areas of the country that needed them to solve. Such good things as fighting against the regular armies of other countries and regions would not be the turn of these local garrison troops.

The thirty-odd field divisions of Great Hua were still in line.

Chapter 798: A Comparison of Meals

“Add some chili, soy sauce, and MSG, and pour in more oil, Old Liu.”

Old Liu from the cooking squad was cooking, while the others were heckling him from the side.

“Get lost, get lost, you even want MSG? Do I look like MSG to you? There’s not much oil left either, gotta save it.”

Old Liu said with a smile and a scold.

However, despite the scolding, he still added a little MSG in the end.

This was a perk given by the higher-ups, only two packets, and once it was used up, there would be no more.

This kind of MSG was a good thing, a seasoning that ordinary people couldn’t afford.

“So fragrant.”

Corporal Lou Dazhuang took a bite and was moved to tears.

“Take it easy, don’t stuff yourselves, we still have to march later.”

Sun Yizhou looked at the soldiers who were devouring their food and complained.

After the meal, each soldier was also given an orange.

And Sun Yizhou, as the commander, also received an apple.

This was a foreign variety that had only been introduced to Great Hua in recent years and was now being grown in large quantities in the Shandong area.

Because the quantity was not large, it was still a luxury fruit for the time being.

After eating the fruit, those soldiers with a smoking habit also lit up a “Real Fragrance” brand cigarette.

This was not a military-supplied item, but something that soldiers had to buy with their own money.

In principle, the higher-ups did not support soldiers smoking.

However, there was no explicit prohibition. Those soldiers who had money and were willing to spend it to buy cigarettes were tacitly approved by the higher-ups, who turned a blind eye.

“Company commander, company commander, give me a puff.”

“Company commander, can I have a cigarette butt?”

Several soldiers who were envious and stingy, unwilling to spend money, liked to surround Sun Yizhou at this time.

“Take it, there are only a few left, you bunch of bastards.”

Sun Yizhou was annoyed and distributed the remaining cigarettes.

There were only a few cigarettes, but there were more than a dozen people.

Basically, everyone took a few puffs, and when it was the last person’s turn, it was almost too hot to hold in their mouth.

After taking a few hard puffs, they hurriedly spat it out when it burned their mouth, causing a burst of laughter.

The canned salted fish from Lingao, the cured meat from Liuzhou, and the “Real Fragrance” brand cigarettes from Guangzhou were all things from the local garrison troops.

Coupled with rice, salt soda, and fruit, the Huaxia army’s departure meal was quite rich. Even the small landlords in Annam didn’t eat as well as them.

In their dry food bags, they also had biscuits, candy, and shortbread.

This was also why fighting a war was expensive. This meal alone cost an average of about five jiao per soldier.

The jiao was a new currency unit created by Great Hua, with one jiao equal to 0.1 yuan, approximately equal to one qian of silver in the past. And one fen was approximately equal to one wen in the past, with one hundred fen equal to one jiao, which was slightly different from later generations.

With the promotion of standard currency, currency units such as qian and wen had gradually been eliminated.

Five jiao, which was half a yuan, was the equivalent of three or four days’ wages for an ordinary worker.

Converted to the calculations of later generations, it was equivalent to eating a five or six hundred yuan feast, which was quite extravagant.

This kind of departure meal was rare in the Huaxia army. The usual food expenses for marching were only about fifty fen, which was also quite expensive.

On the other side, in the jungle, the Annamese army was also cooking.

One of the teams, with about thirty people, set up two large pots and poured about three Jin of millet into the pots to cook porridge.

On average, each soldier could eat about fifty grams of rice.

What was even more deadly was that there was almost no oil in this porridge, only some snake meat and toad meat that had been cut into minced meat, and it was not known whether it was poisonous.

The salt was also pitifully little, only a few grams were poured into each pot, which was almost the same as not pouring it. Anyway, these soldiers definitely couldn’t taste any saltiness when drinking the porridge.

There was too little rice, and most of the porridge was some unknown wild vegetables.

Even so, these Annamese soldiers were still scrambling to eat. In no time, the two pots of porridge were wiped out by these soldiers.

However, after eating, most people were still hungry.

“Kid, don’t eat this kind of sour fruit, the more you eat, the hungrier you get.”

After drinking the porridge, a skinny soldier picked a few fruits that were not yet ripe. However, another ragged old soldier reminded him that this kind of fruit could not be eaten indiscriminately.

“If I don’t eat, I’ll starve to death now.”

The new recruit didn’t care so much and ate it.

“I heard that the Huaxia army has meat every three days, and rice is always available, even the military dogs eat white rice.”

The old soldier touched his still hungry stomach and couldn’t help but sigh.

Comparing people is infuriating.

What was even more infuriating was that their food wasn’t even as good as a dog’s.

It was fine if their weapons were backward, but even the food was so far behind the Huaxia army, which made them feel unworthy.

“I heard that the Huaxia army has established a self-defense force in Lang Son, and they are all Annamese people. Those who join the self-defense force can eat two dry meals a day.”

Another soldier who was only skin and bones said.

He was talking about the Huaxia army establishing a self-defense force in Lang Son. The Huaxia army had limited troops. There was no problem with attacking, but it was not enough to disperse to various places to maintain local security.

Therefore, the Huaxia army could only organize some pro-Huaxia elements, or some selfish elements without a concept of the country, give them some knives and swords, and let them establish a self-defense force to maintain the security of the occupied areas.

As soon as this soldier spoke, several other soldiers immediately had different ideas in their hearts.

Some of them didn’t like the Great Hua people, or rather, they didn’t trust the Great Hua people. However, they didn’t necessarily like to work for the Zheng family.

Many of them joined the army for a meal and had no concept of defending their country. Since the Great Hua side could eat better, what reason was there not to go?

What’s more, being in the self-defense force was so safe, dealing with those honest and unarmed ordinary people.

And working for the Zheng family was to deal with the Huaxia army soldiers who were like wolves and tigers, with complete guns and artillery.

The contrast between the two was too obvious.

If it weren’t for the fact that they didn’t trust the Huaxia army enough, they would have probably surrendered long ago.

“Shut up, what nonsense are you talking about, are you looking for death?”

The squad leader noticed their conversation and scolded angrily.

Compared to those ordinary soldiers, his loyalty to the Zheng family was much higher.

Although he was a low-level officer, he was at least a manager in the lower ranks, with a little bit of privilege.

At least, after drinking the porridge, he could take out a pancake from his package to eat.

But that was it.

There was almost no fat on his body either.

Just then, the scout ran over and said that the Huaxia army had already set off and the advance troops had entered the forest.

Suddenly, these people became nervous.

What was coming was bound to come.

“Continue to scout, the others check their weapons and equipment, and prepare for battle.”

The squad leader said.

Chapter 799: Eve of the Decisive Battle

The Huaxia army set out, advancing towards the Red River Plain.

Li Junji’s advance battalion was the first to enter the forest and, near dusk, was ambushed by the Annamese.

However, the Annamese fought this ambush in a rather anticlimactic way.

They only fired two volleys before being frightened by the Huaxia army’s counterattack and fleeing in disarray.

Relying on their familiarity with the terrain, they quickly shook off the Huaxia army’s pursuit.

But this was nothing to celebrate, as they left behind four corpses and only managed to wound two Huaxia soldiers.

The two Huaxia soldiers who were shot seemed to be in serious condition, but as long as they were sent to the field hospital in the rear for timely treatment, their lives were not in danger, resulting in zero fatalities.

Overall, the Annamese suffered a great loss.

During the pursuit, the Huaxia army also captured a prisoner.

Saying they “captured” him is a bit of an exaggeration. In reality, this Annamese man actively raised his gun and walked towards the Huaxia army to surrender.

Unfortunately, his Chinese wasn’t very good, only knowing the words “surrender,” “spare me,” and “hungry.”

The Huaxia army couldn’t communicate with him, so they could only tie him up and send him to the rear along with the wounded soldiers.

More than the Annamese soldiers, the Huaxia army was actually more afraid of the Annamese weather.

The weather had been fine just moments before, but suddenly, it began to rain heavily.

The Huaxia army quickly set up camp, as spending the night in the rain would be deadly.

And at this time, the Annamese’s advantage came into play again.

As if they didn’t care about catching a cold from getting wet, they braved the heavy rain and attacked, engaging the Huaxia army, which was busy setting up camp, in another battle.

The Huaxia army suffered casualties in this battle, with a total of three deaths, and a batch of supplies was also destroyed.

Of course, the Annamese suffered even greater losses.

The Annamese initially charged quite fiercely, and if they could have maintained that morale, they could have inflicted significant losses on the unprepared Huaxia army.

However, the Annamese only persisted for a short while before collapsing.

During the melee, the Huaxia army didn’t kill many enemies.

But when the Annamese retreated, the Huaxia army relied on machine gun fire to kill more than a dozen.

“I thought these Annamese monkeys were all fearless, but it seems they are normal people too. This makes things much easier,” Li Junji laughed.

As long as the enemy was afraid of death, this battle would be much easier to fight.

If the Annamese were all fearless, constantly harassing them in the jungle would be enough to give the Huaxia army a headache.

But as long as the Annamese were also afraid of death, then a few major battles to inflict pain on them would be enough to make them lose their fighting spirit and surrender.

Other units that entered the jungle also encountered the Annamese, and the situation was almost a replica of the advance battalion’s experience.

First, the Annamese ambushed, and then the Huaxia army relied on its superior firepower to repel them.

As the Huaxia army continued to advance, the two sides’ armies became intertwined, with each side having elements within the other.

But even in such a chaotic situation, no major battles erupted.

The two sides would make brief contact, and then the Annamese would quickly flee.

In reality, the Annamese commander-in-chief, Vu Dai Van, had planned an encirclement in the jungle.

He wanted to take advantage of his side’s familiarity with the terrain and, after the Huaxia army entered the forest, concentrate superior forces to encircle and attack isolated Huaxia army units.

His wish wasn’t great, only hoping to annihilate one or two Huaxia army regiments would be enough to satisfy him.

However, even this small wish, he failed to achieve.

Communication in the jungle was too difficult, and the Annamese troops didn’t dare to gather together, fearing that the target would be too large and difficult to escape.

After dispersing the troops, communication between them became a major problem.

As a result, when the Huaxia army’s advance battalion passed through this forest and reached the edge of the Red River Plain, which is the Beijiang River, Vu Dai Van’s encirclement plan had not been successfully implemented.

Some Annamese units that rashly launched attacks on the main force of the Huaxia army paid a heavy price.

After crossing this forest, the Huaxia army began to occupy cities and villages everywhere, taking control of these places.

As long as they occupied these grain-producing areas, the Annamese soldiers in the jungle would find it difficult to replenish their supplies and would soon be unable to hold out, forcing them to come out.

At that time, the Huaxia army could wipe them out in one fell swoop.

If those people could survive in the jungle by eating wild fruits and not come out, the Huaxia army could ignore them and occupy the major cities.

The Huaxia army would definitely not waste time with the Annamese in the jungle; they weren’t that stupid.

The Huaxia army’s crossing of the jungle also meant that Vu Dai Van’s defensive strategy had failed.

Zheng Gen immediately dismissed Vu Dai Van from his post and replaced him with Le Thang Long, who advocated a decisive battle with Great Hua, to be responsible for the front-line battles.

It can’t be blamed on Zheng Gen for being too impulsive, but the situation was really not optimistic.

Currently, the Huaxia army’s advance battalion was only sixty-some kilometers away from Hanoi. A forced march would take them about a day to reach.

Although they had gathered an army of two hundred thousand in this area, Zheng Gen had no confidence at all.

Like a drowning man clutching at straws, Zheng Gen was like a seriously ill patient at this time, willing to try any prescription, no matter how useful it might be.

Since Vu Dai Van couldn’t stop them, he would replace him with a general who advocated a different strategy.

He would treat it as trying anything to save a dying horse.

Le Thang Long advocated taking advantage of the Huaxia army’s fatigue after just emerging from the jungle, concentrating superior forces to annihilate the Huaxia army at the edge of the jungle.

His tactical ideas, well, sounded somewhat promising.

However, no one was sure whether it would work or not.

In any case, Le Thang Long had already gone to the front lines.

His first order after arriving at the front lines was to order an attack on the Huaxia army’s advance battalion. At the same time, he ordered the troops still in the jungle to immediately turn around and return to launch a pincer attack.

“Sir, should we call them all back? Why not leave some people in the jungle to continue harassing the Huaxia army and attacking their supply lines?”

His subordinate suggested.

“Alright,” Le Thang Long said. Anyway, he didn’t expect the group of soldiers in the jungle, who had almost lost their organization, to play any role. His hopes were all pinned on this army of two hundred thousand.

This was the Le Dynasty’s last stand. Once it was wiped out, they could announce their surrender.

Among these two hundred thousand troops, a full fifty thousand were equipped with flintlock rifles, and three thousand were equipped with Yongxing Year Two rifles. Field artillery, grenades, and flamethrowers were all available.

These were all purchased from the Huaxia army at great expense in the past. Great Hua even sent officers to guide them on how to use them.

And now, they were going to use these troops to spar with their teacher.

Of course, Great Hua didn’t lose out either.

By selling these outdated weapons, Great Hua earned a large amount of wealth in the Le Dynasty, allowing the armories to make a fortune and have enough money to invest in the research and development of new weapons.

Chapter 800: Feigning Weakness

Of the two hundred thousand troops, only fifty thousand were equipped with firearms.

As for the remaining one hundred and fifty thousand, they were still using swords and shields.

However, this kind of army could still be considered elite in Southeast Asia.

The neighboring Lan Xang army still had many bamboo weapons. Don’t be surprised to see their soldiers going to the battlefield with large wooden sticks.

While fighting the Mạc dynasty to the south, the Le dynasty still had the leisure to conquer Lan Xang.

Now, Lan Xang is a vassal state of the Le dynasty of Annam, which is quite comical, considering the Le dynasty is about to be destroyed by Great Hua.

At the end of April, Le Thang Long launched an attack on the border towns of Shijin, Kefu, and Taiping in Beijiang.

The Huaxia army had set up defenses in these three places, stationing three regiments, nearly five thousand troops.

Le Thang Long invested sixty thousand troops in this wave of attacks, including twenty thousand firearm troops.

These twenty thousand men attacked Shijin, defended by Nie Ping, which was Le Thang Long’s main target.

As for Kefu and Taiping, cold weapon troops were used for containment and infiltration.

If the defending troops in Kefu and Taiping went to support Shijin, the Annamese could also use their massive numerical advantage to attack the Huaxia army’s position, using their lives to carve out a victory.

In Shijin, Nie Ping was directing the conscripted laborers to dig trenches and build defensive positions.

They did not stay in the town but went to a high ground next to the town.

Although the terrain of this high ground was not very dangerous, it had some terrain advantage.

His regiment, more than one thousand six hundred men, was stationed on this mountain, responsible for containing the enemy.

As long as they did not lose Shijin, this forward position, the enemy would not be able to cross Shijin and set up a defense line on the south bank of the Canghe River, and the main force of the Huaxia army would be able to cross the river smoothly.

In fact, for the Huaxia army, losing Shijin was not a big deal.

Whether it was crossing the river or attacking the city, as long as it was a large-scale decisive battle, the Huaxia army did not have to worry too much.

They had an absolute advantage in strength, and there were many tactics to choose from.

However, Nie Ping demanded that his subordinates hold Shijin.

In his words, if they ran away and retreated when they encountered the Annamese troops, they would not have the face to see anyone in the army in the future.

Although he said that, Nie Ping actually wanted to feign weakness, attract the enemy to attack, and then consume the elite troops of the Annamese.

Although Annam had experienced a long period of war and its population had decreased sharply.

But because of the large population base, the population was still relatively large, and there were too many troops, so it was necessary to eliminate some to make things easier.

Only by eliminating the main force of the Annamese could they be forced to surrender.

On the nameless hill, trenches were dug out, divided into several tiers.

In front of the trenches, landmines and barbed wire were also arranged.

The only thing Nie Ping needed to worry about was the enemy rushing to their troops for close combat, so their numerical disadvantage could not be made up for.

As long as they didn’t let the enemy get close, they were safe. This time, they brought sufficient ammunition supplies.

“The ammunition platform for magazines and grenades should be dug on the right side of the gunner.”

“The air-raid shelter should be dug deeper.”

“This place has to be a little curved, can’t dig it too straight.”

The Huaxia army soldiers kept directing the farmers. There was a lot of knowledge in digging trenches.

Just like the ammunition platform in the foxhole, the position should be on the right hand side, and the height should be moderate. This way, in the heat of battle, soldiers can change magazines and throw grenades more conveniently and quickly.

“So, there is so much knowledge in fighting, this old man has really learned a lot.”

An old Han Chinese farmer sighed. His father’s generation lived in the Guangzhou area. Later, he lost his land and owed usurious loans, so his family moved to Annam.

Now that Great Hua had attacked, he was also very actively cooperating with the work of the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army promised them that as long as Great Hua controlled this area, he could be a village chief or a town chief or some other small official.

“Nonsense, you think fighting is just about brute force? Now fighting is all about brains.”

Lou Dazhuang said disdainfully, showing off his knowledge in front of ordinary people, which made him secretly happy.

Through the joint efforts of the soldiers and the laborers, their regiment finally completed the fortifications before the enemy arrived.

On May 1st, Hu Jinjun, a subordinate of Le Thang Long, led two divisions to Shijin and launched an attack on Nie Ping’s troops.

Before the charge, the Annamese bombarded the mountain where the Huaxia army was stationed.

This was the infantry-artillery coordination that the Huaxia army taught them, and the Annamese learned it well.

However, infantry-artillery coordination also requires enough artillery and ammunition to work.

Hu Jinjun’s artillery only lasted for a short while before it stopped, probably because he was reluctant to use shells, or he didn’t have that many shells.

When the artillery fire stopped, their infantry had rushed to a place two hundred meters away from the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army blew the bugle, and the soldiers hiding in the air-raid shelter came out one after another.

The Annamese were still using the old Hongyi cannon, which had very limited damage to the soldiers in the air-raid shelter.

Except for a dozen unlucky guys who were accidentally killed, everyone else was fine.

The Annamese’s artillery fire was more like boosting their morale than killing the enemy.

The Huaxia army soldiers began to enter the trenches to prepare for battle, and the mortar soldiers had already begun shelling.

Their vanguard did not bring those heavy mountain guns, but they did bring a lot of mortars, with a full two battalions, one hundred mortars of different calibers.

More than one hundred artillery pieces bombarded the swarming enemy troops.

It was really a random bombardment, and there was no need for too precise aiming, just aim at the places with many people.

The power of the Huaxia army’s shells was much greater than that of the Annamese’s exploding shells.

One shell would knock down the soldiers within a few meters around it.

What was even more deadly was that the Annamese soldiers lacked cover during the charge.

Without machine gun cover, the soldiers would not use shell craters and large rocks, but would rush forward in a swarm.

For the Huaxia army, these people were a group of living targets.

The difficulty for the Huaxia army to kill these people was easier than target practice during daily training.

The targets during target practice were not as dense as the Annamese.

“Fire, free fire.”

With an order, the Huaxia army soldiers opened fire.

Suddenly, gunfire rang out on the position.

The sound of machine guns, rifles, sniper rifles, and artillery fire continued one after another.

Accompanying the gunfire was the casualties of the Annamese, and a large number of soldiers fell in pieces.

The Huaxia army taught them how to fight the Mạc dynasty, but did not teach them how to deal with the powerful Huaxia army.

In the first fight with the Huaxia army, they immediately suffered a big loss.

Before they even rushed to the Huaxia army, they left behind more than one thousand corpses and retreated.

Chapter 801: Learning to be Clever

“Sir, this isn’t working. The enemy’s firepower is too intense.”

The adjutant of Hu Jinjun said.

This sentence was probably the most frequently uttered by units fighting against the Huaxia army.

Any commander with a bit of sense could tell that such a charge was doomed to fail just by looking at the scene.

They didn’t understand the Huaxia army’s weapons and tactics, but they understood human nature.

Losing one or two thousand men in a single charge was a level of casualties their army couldn’t sustain.

Hu Jinjun’s brain was working furiously.

Even an average military enthusiast from later generations would know to use things like shell craters and rocks to make it harder for the Huaxia army to aim.

However, Hu Jinjun couldn’t think of it. It wasn’t because later generations’ military enthusiasts were smarter than him, but simply because he lacked experience.

The best tactic he could come up with was to reduce the number of men charging each time, and then have different units take turns to wear down the Huaxia army’s ammunition.

This idea was so stupid it deserved to be shot ten times over.

However, when Hu Jinjun proposed this tactic, his subordinates all agreed.

They really didn’t have a better solution. If they could trade the lives of some soldiers for victory in this battle, they would still come out ahead.

Anyway, they weren’t short on soldiers. As long as they could inflict pain on the Huaxia army, paying some price was worth it.

From the start of the war, the Annamese hadn’t thought they could defeat the Huaxia army, only that they could make Great Hua pay a terrible price and then voluntarily withdraw from their territory.

After formulating the new tactic, the Annamese once again approached the Huaxia army’s position.

This time, they simply skipped the artillery barrage altogether.

“There are a lot fewer enemies this time,”

Li Junji said, putting down his binoculars.

“Isn’t that a good thing? It’ll reduce the pressure on us,”

Sun Yizhou said.

“Of course it’s good, but something feels off. The enemy can’t possibly think they can take our position with just a few hundred men,”

Li Junji, as a mid-level officer, was thinking further ahead, even trying to guess what the enemy commander was thinking.

The Annamese who charged again were naturally beaten back after taking a beating.

However, some Annamese officers watching from the rear noticed something interesting about this charge.

Because this time the charge wasn’t required to reach the Huaxia army’s position, the Annamese soldiers’ primary mission changed from reaching the position to preserving their own lives.

Under this shift, some clever soldiers used their brains and spontaneously came up with some methods.

For example, walking in a zigzag route, or crawling forward, and of course, some people used the shell craters and various obstacles on the road.

Some of these methods were effective, and some were ineffective.

This scene was naturally noticed by the officers watching from the rear.

They were also constantly thinking about and summarizing combat experience, and actual combat was precisely the fastest way to gain experience.

In the next wave of Annamese charges, they began to widely use those charging techniques at the officers’ request.

“Damn it, these monkeys are getting smarter.”

Lou Dazhuang and other soldiers noticed the Annamese’s improvement and couldn’t help but curse.

If they could, they would have preferred the Annamese to remain stupid forever.

“Even if they get smarter, it’s useless. They’re dreaming if they think they can break through our position with so few people,”

Another soldier scoffed.

Although that was said, this wave of Annamese charges made the Huaxia army less relaxed than before.

They used more effort and finally managed to repel this wave of enemy attacks.

However, immediately afterward, the next wave of Annamese attacks came.

In the rear of the Annamese army, Hu Jinjun was also studying this new type of charge with several officers.

“If we adopt this type of charge, we can definitely reach the Huaxia army’s position. Therefore, there’s no need to use this piecemeal tactic anymore, and we should launch a large-scale, all-out charge,”

One officer said.

This statement was agreed upon by many people, which made Hu Jinjun feel a little unhappy.

After all, his attrition tactic was being called a piecemeal tactic by the other party. Although it was quite vivid, it wasn’t pleasant to hear.

However, as a pragmatic person, he felt that the other party’s words made some sense, so he naturally didn’t insist on his previous mistake, but corrected it in time.

The Annamese’s fourth wave of attacks turned into an all-out offensive again.

Before the all-out offensive, they also launched an artillery barrage, killing more than a dozen Huaxia army soldiers who didn’t have time to enter the air-raid shelter, and injuring more than a dozen others.

“These monkeys are just firing randomly, without any rhyme or reason,”

Lou Dazhuang complained in the air-raid shelter.

When they came out after the artillery barrage, they gasped.

They saw the Annamese charging in a relatively sparse formation, stretching out as far as the eye could see. It looked like at least four or five thousand people were participating in the attack.

Nie Ping, Li Junji, and other officers could see even more clearly through their binoculars. They even saw that among the enemy’s main force, there was actually a small unit using the same Yongxing Type Two rifles as them, numbering about five hundred.

This made Nie Ping frown. This group of enemies would be difficult to deal with. They had the ability to engage in long-range firefights with the Huaxia army, which would inevitably cause greater casualties to the Huaxia army.

“Remind all units, this is the enemy’s all-out offensive, increase vigilance. Wake up the reserve team and have them prepare,”

Nie Ping ordered.

“Attention, the enemy has launched an all-out offensive. Give them a hard beating later and teach them a lesson,”

The company commanders and battalion commanders of each unit were also reminding their subordinates.

This time, the enemy army had obviously gone all out, and there would inevitably be a tough battle.

However, as long as they could repel this enemy attack, they would definitely be able to get some rest time next.

After holding out for several hours in a row, the soldiers’ spirits had actually become fatigued.

“Fire.”

With an order, the Huaxia army’s machine guns roared, and the rifle fire followed closely behind.

And when they opened fire, the Annamese’s commando battalion also began to counterattack.

They didn’t charge with the main force, but found some cover along the way, and then used the cover to exchange fire with the Huaxia army.

Their counterattack caused no small amount of trouble for the Huaxia army.

At least, the Huaxia army soldiers couldn’t be as casual as before. They needed to carefully protect themselves and couldn’t expose too much of their bodies, otherwise they would easily get shot.

The commando battalion played the role of cover and fire support. The Annamese’s other cannon fodder troops used the latest charging techniques to charge towards the Huaxia army’s position.

When they reached fifty meters, suddenly an explosion sounded.

The Huaxia army’s landmines began to play their role. This minefield of dozens of meters would be the enemy’s road to hell.

Chapter 802: Aborted Success

The Vietnamese soldiers who triggered the landmines were still clueless, thinking they had been hit by Huaxia army artillery shells.

Landmines were a new piece of equipment for the Huaxia army, so the Vietnamese naturally didn’t know about them.

However, as more and more people were blown up, the soldiers began to realize there was a problem.

“That area explodes.”

One hesitant soldier kept explaining to his superior.

The minefield had a very strong deterrent effect on them, especially since they didn’t understand landmines.

They didn’t know that landmines could only explode once, and thought that the land could explode continuously.

If that were the case, it would be too deadly.

“Impossible, charge! Otherwise, I’ll shoot you dead immediately.”

The officer in charge of commanding threatened. The order from above this time was a general offensive, and they must not retreat in fear of battle.

The officers in charge of supervising the battle successively beheaded several people, which forced the lower-level soldiers to continue their charge.

Those soldiers rushed forward like madmen, clearing the mines with their bodies.

It had to be said that this method was dozens of times faster than having engineers clear the mines, but it was a bit wasteful of people.

By the time those people rushed through the minefield, only a few dozen of the Vietnamese assault team remained.

These people were once again embarrassed when faced with the barbed wire.

They didn’t carry large pliers, and the army didn’t even have such tools.

Some people who had gone crazy charged directly at the barbed wire, and naturally died on it.

Even if a person was crazy, their body’s stress response was still there. When they suffered severe pain, they couldn’t stay crazy.

Almost the entire assault team of one thousand five hundred people died, but this was nothing to the Vietnamese. The follow-up troops had already arrived at the minefield.

The Huaxia army began to feel the pressure. This second wave of enemies numbered more than two thousand.

The key was that the two sides were only a few dozen meters apart, a matter of a blink of an eye.

At this distance, they could even shoot at each other with flintlocks.

The second wave of Vietnamese troops saw hope, their morale greatly increased, and they excitedly charged forward.

The Huaxia army, on the other hand, opened fire with all their might. First, a barrage of bullets, and then, as the enemy approached, grenades began to rain down.

Although the Vietnamese were constantly approaching, they also paid an extremely heavy price. The corpses almost paved the way forward.

Then, they rushed to the barbed wire.

Some Vietnamese soldiers broke down. They had survived the shelling and gunfire, and were finally about to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Huaxia army, but there was still an obstacle.

Faced with this obstacle, they didn’t know what to do for a moment.

Some soldiers tried to jump over, but all failed.

However, when their bodies were pressed against the barbed wire, the inspiration of other soldiers was inspired. They immediately picked up the bodies of their companions and threw them onto the barbed wire.

On the battlefield, they had no time to hold any reverence for the corpses.

Every second they stayed in front of the barbed wire meant more danger.

The Huaxia army soldiers were right in front of them, basically getting one shot per person.

Although some of them were using guns to shoot back and provide cover, they still couldn’t stop the Huaxia army from slaughtering them.

After paying a heavy price, they destroyed the barbed wire defenses, and the remaining people could step on the barbed wire to pass.

After passing the barbed wire, they could take a few more steps and engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Huaxia army.

Just when they were about to succeed, the Huaxia army’s reserve team arrived and fired a volley at the Vietnamese.

A large number of Vietnamese fell again, and only a little over a hundred people were able to reach the Huaxia army’s position.

The remaining Vietnamese soldiers were either killed in battle or turned around and ran away.

Not everyone could withstand such terrifying casualties.

The Vietnamese soldiers who rushed up engaged in a brief melee with the Huaxia army, but because there were so few of them, they ultimately failed.

However, they also successfully killed more than thirty Huaxia army soldiers.

To pay such a high price for such a small victory was obviously extremely uneconomical.

The retreating Vietnamese soldiers from the second wave disrupted the formation of the third wave of soldiers who were preparing to charge.

Moreover, seeing the defeat of the second wave of attacking soldiers also caused great psychological pressure on the third wave of soldiers. They didn’t want to rush up and die.

Someone took the lead in running away, and others thought of the principle that the law does not punish the masses, and also retreated, giving the Huaxia army time to consolidate their defenses.

Seeing this scene, Commander Hu Jinjun and others were furious, wishing they could immediately rush up and kill all the retreating soldiers to vent their anger.

They were only one last step away. As long as the third wave of soldiers rushed up, they would be able to completely break into the Huaxia army’s position.

However, these soldiers chose to retreat when they were about to succeed.

In fact, it wasn’t that the third wave of soldiers were stupid and couldn’t see it.

They knew very well in their hearts that they could rush into the Huaxia army’s position.

However, rushing into the Huaxia army’s position didn’t mean the battle was over. They still had to fight the Huaxia army in close combat, and the chances of dying were still very high.

In the end, the ones who would benefit were the troops behind them.

The heavy casualties of the first two waves of soldiers had already shocked them, and they didn’t want to follow in their footsteps.

This was a common phenomenon among ordinary soldiers in the old era: shortsightedness and selfishness. They cared more about their own lives than the victory of the battle.

They didn’t even think that if they didn’t fight now, the Huaxia army would bury the landmines and repair the barbed wire by tomorrow.

At that time, they would still need to charge and pay an even more painful price.

Hu Jinjun led the supervisory team to the retreating soldiers and questioned them why they were retreating.

The soldiers all lowered their heads, neither arguing nor resisting.

“All of you go back! You are not allowed to come down until you take the enemy’s position!”

Hu Jinjun scolded angrily.

However, not a single soldier moved.

Hu Jinjun was even more angry and shot a soldier who was very close to him.

When the others saw that Hu Jinjun had killed someone, they still didn’t resist or obey. At first glance, it had a bit of a non-violent non-cooperation flavor.

They all knew very well in their hearts that as long as everyone didn’t turn around, Hu Jinjun couldn’t kill all the deserters.

Looking at these lifeless people, Hu Jinjun was really helpless.

“Sir, why don’t we call it a day and fight again tomorrow?”

His subordinate advised.

The soldiers had completely lost their morale. It was impossible for them to immediately return to the battlefield and charge.

Instead of doing so, it would be better to take a good rest for the night and make generous promises tomorrow. Perhaps they could regain their morale.

“Damn it!”

Hu Jinjun had no better way and could only order them to cook and rest.

They, the commanders, were also tired after fighting for almost a day.

As for the ordinary soldiers, they were even more tired than dead dogs.

Some of the retreating soldiers simply fell asleep.

Chapter 803: A Crippled Army

The retreat of the Vietnamese gave the Huaxia army a slight respite.

They re-laid the landmines and erected barbed wire fences.

After blocking several Vietnamese attacks, the Huaxia army also suffered significant losses, with nearly two hundred soldiers killed in action.

Most of them were killed by grenades.

Some Vietnamese soldiers were equipped with grenades, and they rushed to the front of the Huaxia army’s lines, throwing grenades and causing considerable trouble for the Huaxia army.

Although many people died in battle, the Huaxia army did not have too many frustrated emotions, because the Vietnamese losses were much heavier than those of the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army did not keep statistics, but roughly estimated that the Vietnamese had lost at least four thousand people in these few waves of attacks.

With a casualty ratio of one to twenty, the Huaxia army naturally couldn’t be depressed.

If they continued to fight like this, the Vietnamese would definitely be the first to be unable to withstand it, and definitely not them.

“Regimental Commander, our ammunition consumption is very serious, almost half of it is gone.”

At the regimental headquarters, the logistics officer reminded Nie Ping of the ammunition situation.

“So fast?”

Nie Ping was slightly taken aback.

“How could it not be fast? Those people are charging as if their lives are worthless, it’s already good enough that we can hold on.”

As a new generation officer, Li Junji had never experienced any major battles before, nor had he seen any big scenes.

Today’s bloody battle made him a little uncomfortable.

The mountains and plains were covered with corpses, it was really terrifying.

“Hold on for one more day tomorrow, and then retreat at night. Send someone to contact the friendly forces of Kerfu and let them prepare for the reception.”

This place is very important to the Vietnamese, but it is dispensable to the Huaxia army.

Therefore, Nie Ping’s tactics can be very flexible.

If they can’t hold on without ammunition, then retreat.

However, it is not easy to retreat. The Vietnamese’s goal is to wipe out their regiment, so they have deployed blocking forces on the possible retreat routes of the Huaxia army.

If they had sufficient ammunition, they could have fought back smoothly.

But without ammunition, retreat is also very dangerous.

After arranging the tasks, everyone went to rest and recuperate.

The next day, the Vietnamese launched another attack.

However, they did not launch a large-scale charge again, but sent out their commando battalion to exchange fire with the Huaxia army using various bunkers.

Obviously, the Vietnamese could not withstand such heavy casualties either.

They clearly had a lot of troops, but they couldn’t use them.

This is the helplessness of backward weapons and equipment. In the face of advanced weapons, the advantage of troop strength does not count as an advantage.

“Save ammunition, just don’t let the enemy get close enough to throw grenades, anyway, those people’s marksmanship is very poor.”

Sun Yizhou reminded.

The soldiers of the Huaxia army usually train, and each soldier is fed at least hundreds of bullets, which is how they have developed some decent marksmanship.

And bullets are also valuable supplies for the Vietnamese.

During normal training, they just hold their guns and practice shooting postures. Real live ammunition training is very limited, and their marksmanship is naturally not flattering.

The Vietnamese commando battalion came up to exchange fire with the Huaxia army, although the battle damage was reduced, the threat to the Huaxia army was also greatly reduced.

Of course, the Vietnamese did not expect to take down the Huaxia army with this commando battalion, they had other plans.

The two sides were shooting at each other when suddenly artillery fire sounded.

The Vietnamese artillery began to fire.

It turned out that they were using the commando battalion to force the Huaxia army to stay on the position, and then tried to use artillery to inflict casualties on the Huaxia army.

If the Huaxia army hid in the air-raid shelter, then the commando battalion could take the opportunity to rush to the position.

At first glance, this tactic is okay.

But in fact, the operating difficulty is still quite high.

Without remote communication equipment, the commando battalion and the artillery behind them could not communicate in real time, and could only make plans in advance.

Therefore, the artillery did not know when they should stop firing.

If they don’t control it well, it is very easy to accidentally injure friendly forces.

For the sake of victory, the Vietnamese no longer cared about this problem.

The Vietnamese’s method of fighting also created some trouble for the Huaxia army.

It was not okay to hide, and continuing to stay on the position required them to endure some casualties.

“Leave some people on the position, and the rest go into the cave.”

Nie Ping ordered.

As the Huaxia army adjusted, the Vietnamese commando battalion advanced under the artillery fire of their own people.

At the same time, the Vietnamese main force also moved out, preparing to launch another wave of attacks.

However, the faces of these soldiers who were about to charge were filled with fear.

Any army that has fought a large-scale decisive battle with the Huaxia army is prone to suffering from Huaxia-phobia.

The Huaxia army’s endless methods can easily make those ignorant enemies feel fear.

Under the coercion of the officers, they once again launched an attack on the Huaxia army’s position.

However, this time, those soldiers learned to be smart, and quietly loafed around after running behind the bunkers.

An officer has to supervise dozens of people, as long as you are bold, the chance of being discovered is not very high.

What these soldiers were thinking about was no longer how to take down the Huaxia army’s position, but how to protect themselves and then get the next meal.

In this case, they naturally could not defeat the Huaxia army.

After the Vietnamese charged, the soldiers of the Huaxia army came out of the air-raid shelter under the artillery fire, and the machine gun fire on the position sounded again.

This sound was like a death knell to the Vietnamese, and they all shrank back, not daring to show their heads.

Those Vietnamese officers were scolding and threatening.

Suddenly, a bullet flew and hit an officer’s head, and the supervising officer fell down.

Then, the soldiers around him immediately scattered like birds and beasts, and began to flee down the mountain.

When someone takes the lead, others will follow suit. When people have no opinion in the chaos, they like to follow the crowd.

Subsequently, the Vietnamese were defeated again.

“General, these people can no longer be used. Unless new troops are brought up, there is no need to attack, it will only increase casualties and damage morale.”

Hu Jinjun’s subordinates advised.

The army in front of them, which had been frightened by the Huaxia army, could only be used to fight other people, and could no longer be used to fight the Huaxia army. Otherwise, all that awaited them was defeat.

“New troops lack experience in fighting the Huaxia army, and it is not necessarily feasible to replace them.”

Hu Jinjun sighed.

Having said that, in the end, he still chose to exchange the troops responsible for the encirclement and blocking with the group of defeated soldiers in front of him. He transferred the troops who had not yet fought against the Huaxia army and prepared to attack the next day.

Other than that, he had no better way.

However, the Huaxia army began to retreat that night.

And the retreat route happened to be the route where the defeated soldiers were stationed.

The two sides fought again, and the Vietnamese collapsed at the first touch.

Originally, the Huaxia army was preparing to retreat, but when they saw that the opportunity was so good, they couldn’t help but chase and kill the enemy for two hours, killing hundreds of enemy troops and capturing more than one thousand prisoners.

The Huaxia army who came to meet them only received loneliness.

At this point, the Vietnamese’s plan to eliminate Nie Ping’s unit was declared a failure.

Chapter 804: A Massive Number of Prisoners

The Annamese army pursued the Huaxia army to Ke Fu, attempting to launch a fierce attack while the Huaxia army was short on ammunition.

However, after only one day of attacking, the Huaxia army’s reinforcements arrived, completely shattering Le Thang Long’s plan.

With the arrival of the main force of the Huaxia army, the offensive and defensive positions of both sides immediately reversed. Le Thang Long abandoned the initiative to attack and instead began to rely on those cities to build a defensive line, attempting to prevent the Huaxia army from advancing to Hanoi.

The Huaxia army rested for two days and then launched a fierce attack on Beijiang.

Hundreds of field guns bombarded the Annamese positions, causing the Annamese to flee in disarray.

They had been poorly prepared and had not dug bomb shelters in time, so the soldiers could only hide in simple trenches.

This simple protection could not guarantee the safety of those soldiers.

Before the shelling stopped, the Huaxia army launched an attack.

They seemed to want to give the Annamese a lesson on the spot, teaching them how to coordinate infantry and artillery.

True infantry-artillery coordination meant that the shells exploded in front, and the soldiers followed the impact points, with the soldiers only a few dozen meters away from where the shells landed.

Before the Annamese could even poke their heads out, the Huaxia army had rushed in front of them.

This kind of infantry-artillery coordination could currently only be done by Great Hua, because only their cannons had such accuracy.

If other countries used their artillery like this, the number of their own people killed might be more than the number of enemies killed.

After all, the enemies were hiding in the trenches, while their own soldiers were exposed as they charged.

The Huaxia army did not have this problem and achieved standard infantry-artillery coordination.

And this cutting-edge tactic naturally left the Annamese at a loss.

By the time they reacted, the Huaxia army had already rushed in front of them.

In the past, they would have been eager to engage the Huaxia army in close combat, as bayonet fighting was always better than fighting with firepower.

However, that was under the premise of being organized.

Right now, the Annamese were not prepared for bayonet fighting at all. The soldiers were scattered in the trenches, and some of them didn’t even have time to fix their bayonets.

Disorganized encounters with organized, even melee combat would suffer a great loss.

What’s more, the Huaxia army was not just purely engaged in melee combat. They also had many sharp weapons for close combat.

For example, the pistol squads, who used the convenience and speed of pistols to rush to the front and launch the first wave of attacks on the enemy.

There were also flamethrower soldiers, who were best suited for dealing with enemy gathering places, as well as bunkers and trenches.

There was also the Huaxia army’s Guards营, whose semi-automatic rifles could be used as primitive submachine guns.

Their continuous firing ability allowed them to maintain continuous combat capability in this close combat situation.

The coordinated cooperation of various arms of service made the Annamese want to cry but have no tears.

Many of them didn’t even know what was happening before they were shot or captured.

Immediately afterward, a rout occurred on the Annamese positions.

When those soldiers saw the friendly troops in front of them desperately fleeing backward, they couldn’t bother to continue resisting and joined the ranks of the fleeing.

Once this kind of large-scale rout occurred, even a god couldn’t save it.

An Annamese officer shouted and led a dozen fanatical lunatics against the tide, shouting slogans and charging towards the Huaxia army.

Unfortunately, the surrounding routed soldiers were not moved by them and continued to flee on their own.

Another Annamese officer led a dozen people in front of the routed soldiers, demanding that they return to battle.

A gunshot came from the routed soldiers. No one knew who fired the shot, but the officer was directly shot in the head, and the remaining dozen people did not dare to stop these routed soldiers.

The rout came so quickly and so fiercely that it exceeded Le Thang Long’s imagination.

As a result, he didn’t even have time to escape and was captured alive by the Huaxia army’s spearhead troops.

At this point, Beijiang fell.

The most important central point of the defensive line deployed by Le Thang Long’s one hundred and ninety thousand troops was breached in one day.

Of the eighty thousand troops, only a few thousand died in battle, more than ten thousand escaped, and the remaining nearly sixty thousand became prisoners.

These prisoners successfully bought time for the friendly troops on the left and right wings to retreat, because these sixty thousand prisoners were like a bomb in the hands of the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army’s total strength was only more than twenty thousand, less than half of these prisoners.

Although these prisoners had no weapons, even with their fists, this was a terrible force.

If it weren’t for the Huaxia army’s tradition of not killing prisoners, Xue Guiren would have liked to bury these sixty thousand people alive.

Only by killing these prisoners could he free up troops to advance to Hanoi.

Instead of staying in Beijiang like now, guarding these prisoners.

“Starve them for two days first, so they won’t have the strength to launch a rebellion.”

Xue Guiren said.

“Commander, some of them haven’t eaten for a day. If they starve for another two days, I’m afraid many people will die.”

Zhao Yuxuan reminded.

Of course, he wasn’t soft-hearted and pitying these prisoners.

These prisoners were valuable free labor, the kind of labor that the Ministry of Industry liked the most.

Building railways and mining mines, those jobs with high labor intensity and high mortality rates, could only be done by these people.

The Ministry of Transportation hated using Great Hua workers to build roads. Not only did they demand a lot of wages, but if one or two died accidentally, their families would come to the door, and they couldn’t be sent away without a generous pension.

Given the Ministry of Transportation’s current funding conditions, if they relied on recruiting workers to build railways, I’m afraid no road could be built.

“Die, then die. What’s the problem? Our army doesn’t have surplus food.”

Xue Guiren said.

“However, in this way, the Ministry of Transportation is afraid that it will have opinions and may even impeach the commander.”

Zhao Yuxuan said.

“It’s really troublesome. Send a telegram to Nanjing and let the people from the Ministry of Transportation come and take the people as soon as possible. By the way, let them transport more ammunition and food to exchange for them. Also, report the battle situation to His Majesty and let the imperial court send some civil officials to deal with the mess here.”

Xue Guiren only wanted to quickly reach Hanoi and was quite impatient with these burdens.

However, fighting was for profit.

These prisoners were spoils of war and could not be thrown away if he wanted to.

If he dared to throw away these prisoners, the Ministry of Transportation might not pay attention to him when his troops needed to transport supplies in the future.

If it were other departments, the military might not buy it.

But the Ministry of Transportation was one they dared not offend easily.

After all, the movement of their troops and the transportation of logistics now largely depended on the Ministry of Transportation.

After explaining these, Xue Guiren also ordered Guangzhou to transfer two more garrison divisions to reinforce.

Annam was too big, with a full three hundred and thirty thousand square kilometers, equivalent to three Jiangsu. Relying on two divisions could capture it, but it was impossible to occupy it.

If they wanted to incorporate all places into Great Hua, they would probably have to use local people to form self-defense forces, there was no other way.

Chapter 805: Annam Seeks to Surrender

With the fall of Beijiang, Hanoi was in shock.

Losing was something they could understand; after all, Great Hua was stronger.

However, what they couldn’t accept was how quickly they had lost.

“This Le Thang Long is ruining the country and harming the people.”

Zheng Gen cursed, finding himself missing Vu Dai Van at this moment. Unfortunately, he had personally removed Vu Dai Van from his position. Reinstating him now would be like slapping himself in the face.

“As things stand, we have no hope left. We should surrender.”

Zheng He voiced the thoughts of the other ministers. Fighting Great Hua was a losing game.

Perhaps they could retreat into the jungles, scatter across the country, and wage guerrilla warfare against Great Hua.

However, they had no chance of holding Hanoi.

Retreat into the jungle?

These pampered aristocratic lords were unwilling. They would rather surrender to Great Hua and continue as subjects of Great Hua.

Their power might diminish a little, but preserving their wealth shouldn’t be a problem.

Great Hua would want to govern Annam at a low cost, so they would inevitably rely on people like them.

“Did you have this idea long ago?”

Zheng Gen questioned with a cold smile. The others didn’t have much psychological resistance to surrendering. Only he, as the one in power, was unwilling, or perhaps afraid.

He had read history books and knew that rulers who surrendered often met a bad end.

Even Liu Shan, the last ruler of Shu, shamelessly said that he was too happy to think of Shu, but he still couldn’t escape death in the end.

“It’s not that I had this idea, but that everyone has this idea. We are forced into this by reality,”

Zheng He said.

Subsequently, several other ministers echoed his sentiment.

Seeing this situation, Zheng Gen understood that if he insisted on fighting, those below him might find a way to get rid of him first.

The supreme power of a ruler only took effect when everyone acknowledged him.

In the current situation, if he wanted to kill a minister without reason, even the executioner probably wouldn’t carry it out.

“Surrender isn’t impossible, but at least we need to negotiate terms. We can’t surrender unconditionally.”

Zheng Gen relented, and Zheng He immediately stepped forward, expressing his willingness to negotiate with Great Hua.

Zheng He wanted to latch onto Great Hua’s coattails. If he could help Great Hua achieve its goals in the negotiations, he might be the one calling the shots in Annam in the future.

As for Zheng Gen, he would naturally be swept into the dustbin of history.

“Alright, my requirement is that Great Hua immediately withdraw its troops, and then Annam will become their vassal and pay tribute.”

Zheng Gen coldly proposed a condition that Great Hua would never agree to, causing Zheng He to back down.

Such insincere negotiations were doomed to fail.

Subsequently, there was a heated debate in the court, discussing what the bottom line for negotiations should be.

In the end, Zheng Gen made the final decision on the bottom line and the envoy.

The envoy was his confidant, Hu Xiangdao. As for the surrender conditions, Annam could nominally merge into Great Hua, but Great Hua had to help them eliminate the Mo Dynasty in the south.

Then, Annam would allow Great Hua to station troops in Annam, and they would abolish their regular army, retaining only some local defense forces and security forces.

Diplomatic power would also be handed over to Great Hua.

What Zheng Gen wanted was the power to govern the entire Annam.

In other words, he wanted the position of Governor-General of Annam. Moreover, he wanted a Governor-General who could retain some military power and the right to collect taxes.

Hu Xiangdao arrived at Beijiang, met with Xue Guiren, and conveyed Zheng Gen’s words.

Xue Guiren was naturally dissatisfied with this condition.

Great Hua currently only had one Governor-General in Kagoshima, and the others were at most provincial governors.

Xue Guiren himself wanted a powerful position like Governor-General.

And now, Zheng Gen, a man who couldn’t even control his own life, actually wanted such a high position. He was clearly dreaming.

Despite his dissatisfaction, the Annamese had at least sent an envoy, so he couldn’t completely ignore them.

Everyone still remembered Lu Guangzu’s unauthorized killing of envoys.

Coincidentally, Xue Guiren needed to detain prisoners and didn’t have the ability to attack, so he kept the envoy and reported the news, waiting for instructions from the central government.

Fortunately, they could take a boat to Guangzhou, and then communicate with the central government via telegram in Guangzhou, which wouldn’t take much time.

The telegram was sent to Nanjing, and the imperial court immediately convened a meeting to discuss Annam’s request to surrender.

This was a major event of expanding territory, and the value of Annam’s land was much greater than the northern grasslands, the northwestern deserts, and the southwestern mountains.

The Annam Plain had a considerable area, and the water area was vast, with abundant rainfall, so there was no need to worry about irrigation. Moreover, it was located in the tropics, and rice could be harvested three times a year, making it an excellent grain-producing area.

Moreover, because it was all coastal areas, sea transportation was convenient.

Such a good place was worth Great Hua’s attention.

After a heated debate in the imperial court, the ministers were divided into three factions.

One faction advocated accepting this condition, using the Annamese to govern the Annamese, which could save a lot of trouble and was the most cost-effective option.

Their reasoning was that Great Hua’s current focus should be on domestic development, and it didn’t have much energy to manage Annam.

Temporarily letting the Annamese manage the Annamese wasn’t harmful. Once domestic development reached a certain level, they could strengthen their control over Annam.

This view wasn’t without merit.

Another faction chose to continue negotiating. They felt that the conditions offered by the Annamese were too poor.

At the very least, the right to collect taxes could no longer be left to the Zheng family, otherwise, how could it be considered annexing Annam?

In addition, some civil officials didn’t agree to Annam continuing to be controlled by the Zheng family.

The entire territory of Annam, with more than three hundred thousand square kilometers, wasn’t small, and the population was in the millions. This meant that governing Annam would require many officials.

It was naturally impossible to give all those official positions to the Zheng family.

Of course, the most important reason for this faction was another: they felt that the conditions offered by the Annamese were definitely not the bottom line and could be forced further.

Perhaps, as long as they scared them a little more, they could get all the rights to taxation and administration.

As for the final hardline faction, they said that there was no need to pay attention to Zheng Gen. In any case, Great Hua’s army was invincible and could completely uproot the Zheng family and completely rule Annam, turning Annam into a province like the Central Plains.

The advantage of doing so was that it was a one-step solution, which was conducive to quickly assimilating Annam.

However, there were also risks in doing so.

Completely conquering by force would inevitably lead to some people who had lost their power fighting to the end.

At that time, those people would go to the countryside, to the jungles, to remote mountainous areas to oppose Great Hua, which would also greatly increase the cost of ruling.

Those people might not be able to overthrow Great Hua’s rule in Annam, but they would definitely greatly increase the cost of ruling.

This faction was led by senior military officials, and they formed a confrontation with the other two factions, engaging in fierce debates.

Chapter 806: A Feast of Plunder

“Actually, we can just follow the model of the Satsuma Domain in Japan. If Zheng Gen doesn’t agree, we can replace him with someone who does to manage the affairs of Annam.

I believe there must be Oshima Hayanami-like figures among Zheng Gen’s subordinates. If we are willing to support them to become the next Zheng Gen, I think the conditions they would offer would far exceed our demands.”

Ouyang Shiqi rose from his chair and expressed his opinion.

Nowadays, Great Hua officials no longer have to stand during court sessions; they have dedicated chairs to sit on.

Next to the chairs are tables, and on the tables, there are tea supplies.

Whenever they are thirsty, they can take a sip, and no one will accuse them of disrespecting the Emperor. After all, this is all Wu Changqing’s doing.

Giving these officials a little extra salary might make them feel it’s their due, and they wouldn’t be very grateful.

However, relieving them of the hardship of standing and providing small favors like tea can move these ministers to tears of gratitude.

Most importantly, this kind of favor doesn’t cost much.

“I second that. We can prepare for two possibilities: on one hand, we talk to Zheng Gen; on the other hand, we contact Zheng Gen’s subordinates. We can also have the military launch one or two attacks from time to time.

If we can capture as many prisoners as we did in the Beijiang battle, such battles are not a loss at all.”

Zhao Zhijian, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Transportation, said.

Following that, Wei Ziwen also seconded the proposal.

The speeches of Ouyang Shiqi, Zhao Zhijian, and Wei Ziwen signify the rise of the new generation in the court, who are now able to express their own opinions on major issues.

“Then let’s do it according to the Japan model. However, the situations in Annam and Japan are not exactly the same. You need to study and discuss the details further to ensure we do our best.”

Wu Changqing spoke, and as soon as he did, he set the general direction, and there was no need for further discussion.

If any minister still had different opinions, they could submit them to him privately, but they could no longer argue in court.

This was also to ensure administrative efficiency; otherwise, if arguments were allowed to continue, the three factions of ministers could argue until tomorrow.

Perhaps they didn’t like it either, but for the sake of the interests they represented, they had no choice but to do so.

For example, those ministers who advocated agreeing to the Annamese were likely representatives of nationalists among the Han people.

They didn’t like other territories being completely incorporated into Great Hua; they preferred a colonial plunder model.

This way, they could completely disregard the human rights of the conquered and wantonly exploit and plunder.

They had objections to the Manchus, Koreans, and Japanese becoming citizens of Great Hua.

Those who advocated the complete military conquest of Annam represented the interests of the military and some nobles.

Expanding territory was their pursuit.

In short, the ministers’ disagreements were not due to different preferences. To a large extent, they were driven by interests.

These different interest groups pulling each other down would only reduce administrative efficiency.

Wu Changqing didn’t like this, so he simply made a final decision.

The news that the Annamese were surrendering and that Annam was to be incorporated into Great Hua spread.

As a result, Great Hua’s merchants began to take action.

They brought funds and went to Annam one after another.

The bolder ones dared to go without bringing a single penny.

They went to Annam, naturally, to seize and plunder.

If there were no benefits after winning the war, the merchants and citizens would not be so enthusiastic about supporting the court in fighting wars.

Whenever a place is conquered, merchants, or rather, capitalists, are the most excited.

They come to the conquered land with capital and buy assets and resources from the conquered at extremely low prices.

If the other party refuses to sell, they can ask the military to help find fault.

Some stubborn elements, after being conquered by Great Hua, often face the disaster of having their homes confiscated and their families exterminated.

The military certainly doesn’t have the energy to manage the real estate they leave behind, so they generally sell it to domestic capitalists at a low price.

The mineral resources are also coveted by capitalists.

Domestically, it is not easy to obtain a mining qualification certificate. Even with a certificate, how to persuade the people in the mining area to move away is also a problem.

In the conquered places, these are not problems.

Mines are basically mined at will, and qualification certificates are not needed. The court turns a blind eye to this kind of thing, using this method to stimulate the enthusiasm of capital.

Mining in the conquered areas also allows them to disregard the interests of the locals. If anyone dares to refuse, the military’s guns and cannons will not reason with them.

At the same time, the labor costs for mining in the conquered areas are also very low.

Those who have suffered from the war are willing to work as long as they have food to eat, unlike the coal miners in Great Hua, who must be provided with accident insurance.

If the capital is strong enough, they can also organize some private armed forces and then buy prisoners from the military, using these free laborers to work.

In short, doing business in the conquered areas is very low cost and has many opportunities.

As long as you have the ability, you can even start from scratch without spending a penny.

This can be referenced in the movie “Schindler’s List,” where the protagonist relies on his status as a citizen of the victorious country, using the conquered people’s fear of them, playing both sides, coaxing and deceiving, and establishing a factory without spending a penny, becoming a superior person.

This kind of thing is very common in wartime.

The capitalists of Great Hua have even done this kind of thing more than once. After the Satsuma Domain was incorporated into Great Hua, those people went to Japan to grab things madly.

The bold get full, and the timid starve.

Some people can seize a gold mine by bluffing and then leap to become capitalists.

As for some ruthless capitalists, they rely on pleasing the military to plunder wildly, becoming top capital forces in Great Hua in one fell swoop.

The Great Hua court is temporarily acquiescing to these behaviors.

Society is developing too fast, and Great Hua has many problems, and it is a luxury to solve them all at once. The Great Hua court can only deal with the important ones first, and those social problems that have little impact are temporarily shelved.

These acts of plundering capital from other countries have little impact on the lower-level people in the conquered areas; they are encroaching on the original bourgeoisie.

As long as the ordinary people are not oppressed, there is no need to worry too much about the people rising up in revolt.

Even for those who have no national feelings or national concepts, seeing the people who originally oppressed them being bullied by the Great Hua people, those people will stand by and cheer.

War is a disaster for the losers, but a feast for the victors.

How many countries and forces have risen to prominence through a victory.

Annam, this piece of fat meat, is destined to be gnawed on by some capitalists of Great Hua.

Chapter 807: Pirates With Nowhere to Run

Zamboanga, a place in the Philippine Islands, located in the southern part of Mindanao.

It is currently occupied by a gang of pirates from Great Hua, led by Jiang Timing. This group was formerly part of Zheng Zhibao’s forces.

When Zheng Zhibao was wiped out, a few of their ships managed to escape and fled south.

They first fled to the Luzon area to make a living, but later, Great Hua attacked, forcing them to continue south to Panay.

Later, Great Hua advanced into Panay, and they had no choice but to flee south to Zamboanga.

However, recently Jiang Timing received news that the Huaxia army was preparing to advance into Mindanao, making their location unsafe once again.

“The imperial court is trying to wipe us out, leaving us no way to survive. Where else can we run? We can’t possibly escape to Western Europe, and we don’t even know where Western Europe is.”

Jiang Timing’s subordinate, Wang Mao, said through gritted teeth.

“I’ve made a decision, I’m going to surrender to the imperial court.”

Jiang Timing spoke, his words shocking several of his key brothers.

Their former identity was that of remnants of Zheng Zhibao’s forces. Surrendering to Great Hua might spare them the death penalty, but they wouldn’t escape punishment.

Although they were currently living a life of licking blood from their blades, their days weren’t bad.

Compared to the local natives, their equipment could be considered strong ships and powerful cannons.

Relying on their equipment advantage, as well as their knowledge and culture, their abilities were a beatdown to the locals. After arriving here, they taught the surrounding pirates a lesson and incorporated them into their ranks.

Now their team was quite large, with more than five thousand people. More than three thousand of them were men who could go to sea to rob and kill, making them a significant force.

Here, they were mountain kings.

Surrendering to the imperial court would mean losing all of this.

“Boss, absolutely not. If we surrender to the imperial court, we’ll have no way to survive.”

Wang Mao objected.

“Don’t worry, everyone, this isn’t a decision I made on a whim. The reason I didn’t touch that Western European woman before was to find a way out for everyone.

As long as we offer that Western European woman to Ma Rusong, perhaps we can get Ma Rusong to incorporate us, transforming us into the Great Hua Navy.”

Jiang Timing said.

The Western European woman he was talking about was Olgana.

The unfortunate Olgana didn’t encounter an iceberg or a storm, but instead encountered pirates.

An ordinary woman encountering pirates would be in terrible trouble.

But Olgana was no ordinary woman, her beauty was enough to make people put aside their prejudices.

The Great Hua people had always thought that Western Europeans were ugly, but seeing Olgana, Jiang Timing and others’ views changed slightly.

After capturing Olgana, Jiang Timing almost lost control of himself.

However, his mentality was like that of a country bumpkin who drinks white liquor every day, suddenly obtaining a bottle of ’86 vintage red wine.

He was reluctant to open the bottle, or felt that he was not worthy.

In short, Jiang Timing had been keeping Olgana.

He wanted to touch her, but he was reluctant.

Until now, he suddenly thought that this woman might be an opportunity to change his fate.

Although he now had many subordinates, he had no sense of security at all, and every time he went to sleep, he worried that Great Hua’s shells would fall on his head.

He was afraid of Great Hua and wanted to submit to Great Hua.

However, he had done a lot of bad things in the past and had a lot of assets in his hands.

Going to submit to Ma Rusong, the Great Hua Navy captain stationed in Manila, in this state would definitely result in him being eaten clean.

But now, he had the capital to surrender.

As long as he sent the priceless Olgana up, perhaps he could get Ma Rusong to ignore his little pots and pans.

In the eyes of the big shots, his broken ships and guns were just pots and pans compared to Olgana.

An exquisite beauty could sometimes be worth more than thousands of troops.

For example, Chen Yuanyuan, at her peak, her influence once surpassed tens of thousands of soldiers.

Everyone was excited when they heard Jiang Timing’s words.

In fact, they didn’t want to live this kind of wandering, precarious life either.

However, they were also unwilling to hand over all their property.

Now that Jiang Timing would solve this problem, they were happy for Jiang Timing to do so.

Anyway, no matter what Jiang Timing did, Olgana was not for them.

Jiang Timing was spending his private property to seek a way out for his brothers, so everyone naturally agreed.

After gaining everyone’s approval, Jiang Timing went to discuss it with Olgana.

Although it would be fine to directly send her to Ma Rusong by force, it would naturally be better if Olgana was willing.

“Miss Olgana, I plan to send you to a big shot.”

Jiang Timing said bluntly.

Olgana was speechless when she heard this. She was naturally unwilling to be sent to a big shot by force.

However, she was even more afraid of continuing to stay in this pirate den.

Although the pirates hadn’t touched her yet and were treating her well, she understood that this was only temporary.

As a woman, ending up in a pirate den, the ending didn’t need to be thought about too much.

“If nothing unexpected happens, you can be sent to Great Hua, isn’t that your wish?”

Jiang Timing asked.

Hearing the words Great Hua, Olgana finally reacted. She asked, “Who am I going to be sent to, is it a decrepit old man in his fifties?”

She was afraid of having to serve that kind of old man with skin like a dried corpse, that kind of scene would make her sick to her stomach.

“I don’t know about that, the person I’m sending you to is probably in his forties. However, according to my estimation, he will eventually send you to someone with an even higher status.

Actually, I’m just here to inform you, you don’t have the power to choose. Of course, if you have any requests, I can still try my best to satisfy you, for example, releasing your family.”

Jiang Timing told the truth and didn’t hide anything from Olgana.

“Thank you, besides my family, I hope you can release Jack too.”

Olgana said.

When the pirates invaded, her original partner, Firmin, was so frightened that he wet his pants and was then cut down by the pirates with a single blow.

And when she encountered a pirate’s molestation, Jack, who was on the same ship, saved her and was beaten and injured for her.

Although Jack was not a Prince Charming, he at least saved her in a moment of crisis and was more than a hundred times better than Firmin.

“This… alright. But I hope you can remain calm, your family’s lives are in your hands. If you are no longer a virgin, your value will be greatly reduced.”

Although Jiang Timing would not give her and Jack a chance to mess around, he still reminded Olgana.

“I understand.”

Olgana said.

Of course, for the sake of her family, she could sacrifice herself to agree to marry Firmin, and now she could naturally protect her value for the sake of her family’s lives.

“Then I’ll go prepare. Miss Olgana doesn’t need to be depressed. If you can really climb up to a top noble in Great Hua, such as an official of the second rank or higher, your future will definitely be a hundred times better than in Western Europe. At that time, I hope Miss Olgana will not forget everything I did for you today.”

Jiang Timing still wanted the other party to remember his good deeds.

Chapter 808: Paradise

Jiang Timing was successfully co-opted.

Ma Rusong had been troubled by the unpredictable movements of the pirates. Being able to recruit and control them was already a good option, especially since Jiang Timing had also sent a stunning beauty.

She was truly a beauty. Ma Rusong felt much like Jiang Timing, reluctant to enjoy her himself.

He chose to send her upwards, all the way to Wu Yi.

If she were an ordinary woman, Wu Yi would have enjoyed her himself.

But this Olgana was the best of the best. More importantly, Olgana was a Western European woman, which gave her a special appeal.

The current Emperor wasn’t lacking in women, so any woman who could attract his attention had to be unique and possess special qualities.

Olgana’s Western European identity was a selling point.

Therefore, Olgana’s greatest value lay in being offered to the Emperor.

However, Wu Changqing had previously made it clear that officials were forbidden from proactively sending women to the palace, as it would have a negative impact.

So, it wouldn’t be easy for Wu Yi to present this woman to Wu Changqing. Without some finesse, he might not only fail to gain any benefits but also get scolded.

“Send her to Nanjing, then help her become famous, so she attracts the attention of the Imperial Household Department.”

Wu Yi made the arrangements.

Although officials couldn’t send women to the Emperor directly, Feng Debao had people under him who specialized in finding interesting things in the common world to present to the Emperor, including top-tier beauties.

So, as long as Olgana became famous in Nanjing and attracted the attention of the Imperial Household Department, and Feng Debao took the initiative to approach her, it wouldn’t be considered Wu Yi actively currying favor.

This way, he could gain benefits without damaging his reputation.

“Being an official isn’t easy,” Wu Yi sighed.

Olgana didn’t understand the bureaucratic ways of Great Hua, so she naturally didn’t understand why she was being sent around, with no one lusting after her body.

However, this was a good thing for her.

She didn’t want to sleep with someone she didn’t like.

She was first sent to Shanghai, then took a train to Nanjing.

Upon arriving in Shanghai, an ironclad ship five or six stories high passed by her passenger ship, causing her to look up in awe.

This ship was much larger than the Qin Huai that she had previously ridden.

This large ship was the latest luxury cruise ship launched by Shunfeng Shipbuilding, the Cloud Palace Cruiser, which traveled the Nanjing-Shanghai-Guangzhou route.

Those who could afford to travel on the Cloud Palace Cruiser were either rich or powerful.

With a displacement of over three thousand tons, the Cloud Palace Cruiser not only had luxurious accommodations but also swimming pools, casinos, concert halls, and fancy restaurants.

A journey on the Cloud Palace Cruiser would never be lonely.

In Shanghai, Olgana checked into the most luxurious Oriental Hotel.

The entrance of the hotel was covered in red carpet.

The hotel didn’t serve people who were improperly dressed or had dirty shoes.

Inside the hotel, the floor was smooth marble, like a mirror, without a speck of dust.

Every so often, a cleaner would come by with a rag to wipe it down.

Olgana was shocked by Great Hua’s cleanliness. Even the royal palaces in her country weren’t this luxurious and clean.

She looked up, and a huge crystal chandelier caught her eye.

The exquisite patterns and ingenious workmanship were breathtaking.

Even the front desk had intricate and beautiful wood carvings, giving it a high-end feel.

After the staff took Olgana to her room, they didn’t leave immediately but instead introduced her to the room’s features.

There were many new products here, and if they weren’t explained to the guests, some wouldn’t know how to use them.

“This is a bathtub, and this is a showerhead for showering. If Miss Olgana wants to take a bath, just let us know, and there will be hot water in half an hour.

This is a flush toilet, just sit on it…”

The staff demonstrated how to use the toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, and toilet.

“Incredible.”

Olgana was already in love with this place. Everything here made her feel new and curious.

She fell onto the bed and bounced up a little.

She lifted the quilt, and the staff continued to introduce, “This is a spring bed, with many springs installed underneath, which is much more comfortable than an ordinary wooden bed.”

“Good heavens, so extravagant.”

She didn’t recognize other things, but she knew what springs were.

In France, a shock-absorbing carriage with springs installed cost five times as much as one without springs.

Springs were very valuable in Western Europe, and there were none for sale.

However, such valuable things were being used by the people of Great Hua to make an entire bed. How extravagant was that?

Olgana wasn’t a professional merchant, so she naturally didn’t know that springs were only expensive in Western Europe. In Great Hua, they were no longer a rare item.

If Great Hua hadn’t restricted the export of springs, the price of springs in Western Europe would have plummeted.

“This is mascara, lipstick, perfume, facial cleanser, eyeshadow. Let me teach you how to put on makeup.”

Wu Yi had provided Olgana with a high-level personal maid, Xiaocui, who was also a makeup artist.

Nowadays, maids were also divided into levels, and the more advanced skills they possessed, the more popular they were.

As a result, there were many talented maids in Great Hua.

Some were makeup artists, some were fashion designers, some were stylists, hairdressers…

“Hurry, hurry, I want to put on makeup.”

Olgana said excitedly.

The love of beauty is universal.

Moreover, Olgana also knew that her foundation was her beauty, so she naturally cared most about her appearance.

While putting on makeup, Olgana exclaimed that Great Hua had so many different kinds of things.

“Just too much free time,” Xiaocui explained with a smile.

The words were crude but the principle was sound. The birth of these things was sometimes due to a casual suggestion from Wu Changqing, and sometimes due to the rich having too much time on their hands and messing around.

The top tycoons of Great Hua had reached the point where they didn’t know how to spend their money.

With the demand to spend money, naturally, some people would rack their brains to figure out how to earn these people’s money.

As a result, things like lipstick, eyeshadow, and facial cleanser were born.

“Life in Great Hua is so wonderful,” Olgana exclaimed.

“Life is only wonderful in Great Hua if you have money. If you don’t have money, you can only stare blankly. Miss Olgana, do you know how much it costs to stay in the top-tier room of this Oriental Hotel for one night?” Xiaocui retorted.

“How much?” Olgana asked.

“Three hundred yuan a night. Three hundred yuan could feed an ordinary family for ten years.”

Xiaocui made a comparison with the consumption of ordinary people, and Olgana was secretly shocked.

She knew that there was no free lunch in the world. If she received this kind of luxurious enjoyment, she would definitely have to pay a great price.

However, she was willing to pay whatever it took, as long as she could continue to live in this paradise and enjoy this kind of life.

Chapter 809: Celebrity

The next day, Olgana boarded the legendary train and, after enjoying the rural scenery of Great Hua, arrived at Nanjing East Railway Station.

The railway station was built outside Nanjing, quite a distance from the inner city. Wu Yi’s BMW car was already waiting when they got off the train.

Subsequently, they began their journey into the city.

On the road, a car drove past them.

Olgana immediately looked on with curiosity, and the young men in the car noticed her as well.

Wu Yi’s plan was for Xiaocui to take Olgana out and about in Nanjing, such as shopping, watching ball games, and attending gatherings of officials’ wives.

The idea was to spread the word about her beauty and attract the attention of the Imperial Household Department.

But in reality, Wu Yi’s preparations were somewhat superfluous.

Some people are like fireflies in the dark, a focal point no matter where they appear.

The playboys in the car had never seen such an exotic beauty, and they were all stunned.

“Beauty, riding in a carriage is too shabby. Why don’t you come and sit in our car? There’s still room,” Tong Xuming, the second son of Tong Youwei, teased.

If she were a Great Hua woman, he wouldn’t dare to be so presumptuous.

But since she was a foreign woman, even if she was teased, she couldn’t do anything about it.

Olgana didn’t feel like she was being teased. She was quite eager to try out the self-propelled iron carriage.

“Are you blind? Can’t you see the license plate? Do you know whose carriage this is?” Xiaocui scolded.

Although they were riding in a car, their status was definitely prominent, but no matter how prominent, they couldn’t be more prominent than the Commander of the Navy.

In all of Great Hua, there were fewer than ten people whose status was more noble than Wu Yi.

Tong Xuming was enraged, but his companion was cautious and deliberately slowed down to look at the carriage.

As the saying goes, in the capital, you can trip over a third-rank official just by throwing a watermelon rind.

Being a playboy in the capital required caution, or you might offend someone you couldn’t afford to offend.

The companion glanced at the license plate of Olgana’s carriage and was immediately taken aback.

【甲10086】(Jia 10086)

The character 甲 (Jia) meant that the owner of the carriage had a noble title. The license plates of ordinary officials started with the character 乙 (Yi). As for merchants and commoners, they used the character 丙 (Bing).

Although Tong Xuming and his friends were riding in a car, their license plate was still 丙00258 (Bing 00258).

With this kind of license plate, they still had to be inspected at the city gate.

“Brother Tong, a 甲 (Jia) license plate starting with 1 means at least a Marquis, a military officer of the first rank or deputy first rank. We can’t afford to offend them.”

The 甲 (Jia) in 甲10086 (Jia 10086) represented nobility, and the number 1 at the beginning represented the first rank or deputy first rank.

Wu Changqing hadn’t paid attention to license plates, so his subordinates had created this hierarchical system.

They used this method to highlight the nobility of titles and official positions.

“So it’s from Commander Wu’s residence. Please forgive us. I am Tong Xuming. May I ask who this young lady is in the residence?”

After seeing the license plate, Tong Xuming immediately knew the other party’s identity.

Although his family’s status was far inferior to the Wu family, his father had a good relationship with the Emperor, so he didn’t need to be too humble in front of the Wu family.

“This is Commander Wu’s adopted daughter. She’s a Western European woman whom Commander Wu rescued at sea. Show some respect,” Xiaocui snorted.

So she was just an adopted daughter.

Tong Xuming smiled inwardly. If she were Wu Yi’s biological daughter, it would naturally be difficult for him to get his hands on her. Even marrying her as his wife might not be something the Wu family would consider.

But an adopted daughter was different.

With his status, he was worthy of Wu Yi’s adopted daughter.

“Can she speak Chinese?” Tong Xuming asked.

“Of course.”

It wasn’t Xiaocui who answered Tong Xuming, but Olgana.

She had studied Chinese for several months on the ship, and then for several more months in the pirate den.

Now, apart from some rare words and dialects, she had no problem communicating with Chinese people.

That “Of course” melted Tong Xuming’s heart.

Tong Xuming returned home and asked his mother to help him propose marriage.

Meanwhile, Olgana began her journey to fame in Nanjing. She had many advantages over the women of Great Hua.

Even though Great Hua had been encouraging women to go out into the streets, centuries of tradition were not so easily changed.

The women of Great Hua were still mostly reserved.

Even when they went out, they often liked to wear a veil.

Even if they didn’t wear a veil, they would still be careful to maintain their image and distance when interacting with other men.

Olgana didn’t have such concerns. She showed her true face openly and entered various places.

With her beauty, she was the focus of attention wherever she went.

When watching ball games, the old men often forgot to watch the game on the field and instead chose to watch the “ball” in the stands.

Some old scholars, while verbally scolding her for being immoral, couldn’t help but steal glances at her.

As for the young lads with excessive hormone secretion, they naturally drooled all over the place.

In a few days, Olgana became a celebrity in Nanjing, followed by a large group of followers, mainly composed of playboys.

The word “celebrity” was born.

Snowflake Brand Skin Cream created a historical precedent by having Olgana as their spokesperson.

Their slogan was, “Use Snowflake Brand Skin Cream and become as beautiful as Olgana.”

In fact, the boss of Snowflake Brand had always wanted to find a spokesperson, but those famous women were too proud of their status and unwilling to use their image to make money.

Those who were willing to earn this money were either unknown or had a bad reputation.

It wasn’t until Olgana appeared that this problem was solved.

Olgana had a good image, great fame, and lacked the reserve of traditional Great Hua women, making her a perfect fit.

As a result, Olgana earned her first sum of money in Great Hua: one thousand yuan.

It was a win-win situation. For a time, the word “endorsement” appeared in newspapers and became a topic of conversation among the people.

Olgana earned money and increased her fame.

Snowflake Brand Skin Cream, on the other hand, took advantage of Olgana’s fame to complete its comeback.

In this era, advertising was not particularly rampant, and ordinary people lacked immunity to advertisements, easily believing them.

The advertisement said that Olgana had become beautiful by using this brand of cosmetics, and many women actually believed this.

Becoming beautiful was the wish of all women, and as long as there was a glimmer of hope, they would rather kill by mistake than let it go.

And when more people used this brand, its reputation became a household name.

In the future, even if everyone discovered that this cosmetic couldn’t make people as beautiful as Olgana, it didn’t matter. People would be using the brand’s reputation.

Using Snowflake Brand was a matter of face, just like buying a BMW for a carriage.

A Swift Brand carriage with similar performance just felt a grade lower.

Chapter 810: Negotiating While Fighting

May twelfth, Hanoi.

The diplomats of Great Hua sat down with Zheng Gen and others to formally begin negotiations.

“After careful consideration by our court, we have unanimously decided to adopt the following plan. First, Annam will abolish its title as a nation and be established as Annam Province. Second, the appointment and removal of all officials within Annam Province will be decided by the central government. In principle, half of the original officials’ positions will be retained, and some redundant official positions will be abolished.

Third, Annam will abolish its army and only be allowed to retain a police force. The central government will assume all of Annam’s external defense responsibilities. Fourth, Annam’s tax revenue will be uniformly formulated and collected by the central government, and administrative expenses will be allocated by the central government…”

There were many terms, more than a dozen major ones, and hundreds of detailed rules.

They involved politics, economy, military affairs, and culture.

Politically, Annam was required to abolish its national title. Economically, Annam was required to hand over tax revenue. Militarily, Annam was required to abolish its army. Culturally, Annam was required to use the Chinese language and characters.

If these conditions were agreed to, it would not take many years for Annam to truly become a province of Great Hua.

Before Cai Si, the diplomat of Great Hua, could finish reading, he was interrupted by Zheng Gen.

“Envoy, please pause for a moment. Are these truly the demands of your Great Hua? If this is the case, then there is no need to talk.”

These conditions were too harsh, and some even required him to take a position in Nanjing, which Zheng Gen would never agree to.

Once he arrived in Nanjing, he would become a fish on the chopping board, at the mercy of others.

“Lord Zheng, if you agree to these conditions, at least half of you can retain your power and status. If you wait for the Huaxia army to attack, then you will have nothing left. Not only will you lose your power and status, but your lives will also be difficult to protect,”

Cai Si reminded.

“Are you threatening us?”

Annam Minister Wu Qiang slammed the table, but the Great Hua side remained calm.

They knew very well that the other party was just putting on a show of arrogance.

The more they did this, the more it showed that they lacked confidence and needed to rely on bluster to act shamelessly.

If the Annamese really didn’t want to talk, they would have probably slammed the table and left directly after hearing the conditions.

“Envoy Cai is mistaken. Our army still has more than one hundred thousand men. It won’t be so easy for you to attack. Moreover, once we are determined to resist to the end, I am afraid you will also be in a state of anxiety.

Therefore, we are not only left with the choice of surrendering,”

Zheng Gen said.

“Since that’s the case, then let the troops fight a little more first,”

Cai Si smiled and ignored Zheng Gen’s reminder.

What Great Hua feared was the difficulty of governing after the occupation, but they did not pay any attention to the hundreds of thousands of regular troops in Annam.

Since Zheng Gen felt that those hundreds of thousands of troops were bargaining chips, then they might as well let the military eliminate them, and then return to the negotiating table.

Cai Si’s words almost made Zheng Gen angry to death.

The first negotiation between the two sides was suspended in an unfriendly atmosphere.

Negotiations that determine the fate of a country naturally cannot be settled in one go. It is possible to talk for several months, or even a year and a half.

What gave Zheng Gen a headache was that this first negotiation made no progress. He only saw Great Hua making exorbitant demands.

After the negotiation broke up, Great Hua began to prepare on two fronts.

On the one hand, they secretly contacted Zheng He, who had not said a word at the negotiating table. On the other hand, they notified the military to fight a battle of annihilation to cooperate with their actions at the negotiating table.

In Beijiang, two garrison divisions from Guangzhou had arrived. They could be responsible for guarding prisoners of war and some minor military tasks.

The other two main divisions advanced towards Hanoi and encountered the enemy in the Ci Mountain area.

The Huaxia army first advanced on both flanks, occupying both sides of Ci Mountain. One elite force broke through to the rear of Ci Mountain, cutting off the retreat of the Ci Mountain defenders and also responsible for blocking reinforcements coming to rescue Ci Mountain.

The fifty thousand Annamese troops at Ci Mountain were surrounded by more than thirty-six thousand Huaxia army soldiers.

Although Great Hua had fewer troops, it was not difficult to surround fifty thousand people.

The other three directions responsible for the encirclement each had only about three thousand people.

The troops attacking from the front, however, numbered as many as twenty-five thousand, enough to fight two against one.

After this tactical maneuver was completed, Zheng Gen and others hurriedly found the Great Hua delegation and requested to resume negotiations.

They were all anxious. This battle could not be fought. The more they fought, the fewer bargaining chips they would have in their hands.

Cai Si did not refuse and started the second round of negotiations with the Annamese.

However, the military operations of the Great Hua army did not stop because of this.

It was commonly known as negotiating while fighting.

Great Hua was happy to fight this kind of large-scale annihilation battle. On the one hand, it could eliminate the Annamese’s vital forces, and on the other hand, it could capture a large number of prisoners.

These were all free labor, a sweet pastry in the eyes of capitalists.

If they didn’t take the opportunity to fight a few more battles and capture some now, they would have no reason to obtain free labor after the negotiations were over.

After all, after Annam was incorporated into Great Hua, theoretically Annam was also a part of Great Hua, and the Annamese could also enjoy the protection of Great Hua law.

At Ci Mountain, the artillery fire of Great Hua relentlessly bombarded the Annamese positions, trying to destroy the Annamese’s fighting spirit.

After the shelling lasted for most of the day, the Huaxia army launched a full-scale general attack.

On those Annamese positions that had been bombed beyond recognition, the soldiers had been bombed into a daze and no longer knew how to resist.

The Huaxia army easily broke through the first line of defense and then advanced towards the second line of defense.

In the Annamese army behind, some officers already had the idea of surrendering.

“Hanoi is already negotiating with Great Hua, and it is estimated that the result will definitely be a success. That is to say, there is no point in us resisting now.

If we lose, we will lose our lives. If we win, we will only earn some benefits for those high-ranking officials, and we will not get any benefits.”

This kind of talk appeared in the Annamese military camp. This was the effect of the Great Hua hot air balloon spreading leaflets over them.

Although ordinary soldiers could not understand those leaflets, some of the low-level officers could.

Seeing that they were risking their lives on the front line, but the officials in the rear were negotiating to surrender, some low-level officers did not want to fight anymore.

More importantly, they also knew that they were surrounded, unable to break through, had no reinforcements, and were no match for Great Hua. Continuing to resist would only lead to death.

Therefore, they actively explained the contents of the leaflets to the soldiers, encouraging the soldiers to surrender together.

The soldiers did not want to fight in the first place. If it were not for the officers suppressing them, they would have surrendered long ago. There was no need to encourage them.

As a result, in some places, the entire company and the entire regiment threw their weapons into the warehouse, and then everyone sat together, waiting to be captured by the Huaxia army.

When the Huaxia army rushed in front of them, they were all dumbfounded.

This battle was too easy, so that the new Huaxia army soldiers did not have any battlefield experience.

Chapter 811: The May Sixteenth Coup

The second round of negotiations in Hanoi had not yet yielded any substantial progress when news of the defeat at Mount Ci arrived at the negotiating table.

Zheng Gen and the others had lost their temper; they really couldn’t win.

Subsequently, Zheng Gen and his people softened their stance. They no longer outright rejected Great Hua’s proposals, but merely requested some modifications to certain aspects.

Seeing their weakened attitude, Great Hua also seized the opportunity and made some concessions.

Great Hua didn’t want to push Zheng Gen too hard, either. If they forced him to leave Hanoi and turn his nearly one hundred thousand troops into guerrillas fighting in the mountains, it would be very troublesome.

In the second round of negotiations, the two sides reached some consensus.

However, these were all compromises on minor issues. On major issues, the differences between the two sides remained significant.

Continuing to haggle might eventually lead to an agreement. However, Great Hua had a better option.

Internal discord within Annam was a point that Great Hua could exploit.

Therefore, Great Hua placed its hopes on Zheng He.

The two sides quickly reached an agreement: Great Hua would help Zheng He complete a coup to seize power, and Zheng He would agree to Great Hua’s conditions in subsequent negotiations.

Great Hua sent an elite team to sneak into Hanoi, a small group of just over fifty people.

However, their equipment was even better than that of the ordinary Guards Battalion.

They not only had semi-automatic rifles, but also four light machine guns for easy carrying and rapid advance.

Lighter hand grenades, sniper rifles, and smoke bombs were all available.

They would cooperate with Zheng He’s trusted troops to capture the Zheng Royal Palace, and capture or kill Zheng Gen alive.

As long as Zheng Gen and his few staunch confidants were eliminated, Zheng He would be the most prestigious remaining figure. At that time, regardless of whether the other ministers were happy or not, they would have to respect Zheng He as their leader.

May sixteenth, night.

Gunshots suddenly rang out in several places in Hanoi.

Among them, the area with the most intense gunfire was the Zheng Royal Palace.

During this special period, Zheng Gen naturally did not relax his protection. The vast Zheng Royal Palace was guarded by more than four hundred guards.

Moreover, after the battle broke out, he could mobilize the garrison in the city.

Zheng He needed to capture the Royal Palace before the garrison arrived. Then, if he threw Zheng Gen’s head in front of the garrison in the outer city, they would naturally make the right choice.

But if they failed to capture the Royal Palace before the garrison arrived, and those garrison troops could still see hope, they might continue to be loyal to Zheng Gen.

If that happened, it would be troublesome to fight. No matter how elite the Huaxia army was, with such a small number, they would be no match for so many enemies.

“Da da da.”

The Huaxia army’s machine guns fired continuously, and the fierce firepower directly prevented the guards on the wall from raising their heads.

Those who raised their heads were already dead.

After suppressing the enemy, the Huaxia army’s special forces rushed to the gate of the Royal Palace and placed explosive packs.

With a loud bang, the gate of the Royal Palace was blown open.

The Huaxia army’s machine guns led the way, and Zheng He’s troops followed closely behind.

The turmoil in Hanoi made the hearts of other ministers clench.

Some people didn’t know what was happening and tried to go out to stop the riot.

However, some ministers knew that this was an internal power struggle within the Zheng family, and they could just watch from the sidelines.

In any case, no matter who won in the end, they could not be blamed. In order to win people’s hearts, they would instead please and rely on them.

In short, they were in an invincible position.

Of course, at this time, they could also provide assistance to Zheng Gen in his hour of need.

If they succeeded, there would be many benefits. But if they failed, they would definitely be liquidated by Zheng He in the end.

Only a few people made this choice.

Most of the officials chose to stay at home honestly and wait for news.

Since the ruling class chose to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight, the ordinary people participated even less.

They all hid in their homes and hid their valuable property and young women.

During this period of turmoil, the most dangerous thing was the rioting soldiers who took advantage of the chaos to loot.

Their worries were not superfluous. The fifty Huaxia army soldiers were still doing their best to help Zheng He attack the Royal Palace, while some of Zheng He’s troops were taking the opportunity to rape and plunder.

In the Royal Palace, the Huaxia army took the lead and rushed in, continuing to suppress the Royal Palace guards with firepower.

This made Zheng Gen furious. He had spent a lot of money to equip this guard team.

Even if they faced one or two regiments, these people would be able to hold on for a while.

What he never expected was that Great Hua would send special forces to help Zheng He.

“Hold on, reinforcements are coming soon. As long as you defend the Royal Palace, each of you will be rewarded with one hundred taels of silver afterwards.”

Zheng Gen once again spent a lot of money.

However, the effect was not obvious.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s machine guns, their firepower was severely insufficient, and they could only rely on throwing grenades to prevent the enemy from approaching.

At this time, Zheng He also used human wave tactics, organizing a suicide squad to rush in, not seeking to break through the Royal Palace’s defense line, but only to consume the Royal Palace guards’ grenades.

At the same time, the Huaxia army’s special forces were demonstrating their fancy attack skills.

Using engineering shovels, they quickly dug a small pit under the wall and then blew up the second courtyard wall in the yard.

Subsequently, the second line of defense of the Royal Palace was completely exposed to the Huaxia army’s special forces and Zheng He’s subordinates.

The two sides fired bullets indiscriminately, and in the end, the attacking side with more firepower won.

The Royal Palace guards suffered heavy casualties, and Zheng Gen also retreated to the inner courtyard.

However, facing the heavily besieged Royal Palace, he had nowhere to escape.

However, at this time, the garrison in the city had also arrived.

The time had come to test Zheng He. He was prepared for this and sent his confidants to negotiate with the supporting garrison troops to delay time.

His trick was quite effective. In the absence of clear information about the battle situation, the garrison general was very hesitant.

And Zheng He also offered very generous recruitment conditions, which made him very tempted.

While he was hesitating, the inner wall of the Royal Palace was also breached, and Zheng Gen was killed on the spot.

Soon, the news reached the reinforcements. The defending general knew that the overall situation was settled, so he naturally agreed to Zheng He’s request and began to send troops to maintain order in the city.

At the same time, they were clearing out Zheng Gen’s confidants and die-hard followers.

Zheng Gen had been in charge of Annam for many years, and naturally he had a group of die-hard loyalists who would not compromise.

Great Hua required Zheng He to eliminate these people, lest they escape and continue to resist under the banner of Zheng Gen.

Without Great Hua’s reminder, Zheng He would do the same.

From the moment he launched the coup, he was in an irreconcilable conflict with those people. He had to cut the grass and eliminate the roots as soon as possible.

Because the coup was launched suddenly, Zheng Gen’s subordinates were caught off guard and almost all were eliminated.

As for the one or two who slipped through the net, they were just small fries and could not cause any trouble.

At this point, the May Sixteenth Coup was basically over.

The Zheng Gen era was over. Next, it was Zheng He’s time to perform. Or rather, it was Great Hua’s time to perform.

Chapter 812: Hanoi Province

Zheng Gen was killed, and Zheng He then spent another two days purging Zheng Gen’s faction from the court, while also eliminating dissidents who disagreed with him.

The Annam court was in chaos, but the ministers were used to it.

They had already been in disarray when Great Hua attacked. Some officials had long begun to collude with Great Hua, seeking self-preservation and a way out.

After consolidating the internal situation, Zheng He restarted negotiations with Great Hua.

At this point, he was not as easy to talk to as before.

Before his betrayal succeeded, Annam wasn’t his, so he didn’t care how many conditions he agreed to. It was like a son selling his grandfather’s land—he felt no pain.

But now, he had become the supreme ruler of Annam. Until the negotiations were concluded, the Lê dynasty of Annam was, in theory, all his property.

He was unwilling to give all of this to Great Hua.

Therefore, he argued his case in the negotiations, trying to retain more power.

“Lord Zheng, don’t forget how you came to power,” Cai Si privately reminded Zheng He after a new round of negotiations.

The meaning of these words was clear: Great Hua could put him on the throne, and naturally, they could put another obedient person in his place.

He had just appeased his subordinates, and his control over the court was not even as strong as Zheng Gen’s had been.

These words made Zheng He feel uncomfortable, but he was also helpless.

In desperation, he could only face reality and agree to Great Hua’s conditions.

Only in this way would Great Hua support him and consolidate his position.

After a series of discussions, the two sides officially completed negotiations on June first.

In the end, Annam abolished its national title, reign titles, and all other symbols of a nation. From now on, Annam would be a province of Great Hua, abbreviated as Hanoi Province.

The reason for not calling it Annam Province was to dilute the national flavor of the name Annam, and to try to make people only know Hanoi in the future, and not Annam.

In terms of economy, the tax revenue of Hanoi Province would also be collected uniformly by the central government, and administrative expenses would also be allocated by the central government.

In this way, the central government completely controlled the purse strings of Hanoi Province.

If Zheng He and others wanted to cause trouble in the future, they would face the predicament of having no money.

Others would have to rely on Great Hua for their livelihood, and they might not be willing to follow Zheng He in causing trouble again.

Zheng He ultimately obtained the position of Governor of Hanoi Province, but this governor could only manage civil affairs.

He could not interfere in military or judicial matters. His power was extremely limited, and he was not comparable to Qian Sule, the Governor-General in Japan.

Qian Sule’s position as Governor-General not only controlled civil affairs, but also military affairs, and even judicial matters to some extent.

However, that was only temporary, due to the lack of senior officials in Great Hua.

Once the new generation of officials grew up, Qian Sule’s position as Governor-General would definitely be abolished.

Although he was only a governor, this was a very good treatment for Zheng He. A governor in Great Hua was also considered a senior official.

The country of Annam was reduced to Hanoi Province, and a large number of official positions were abolished.

At the same time, some of them had to be held by Han Chinese.

In this upheaval, at least half of the old Annam officials lost their jobs and became commoners.

Great Hua didn’t care much whether these people would be dissatisfied.

In any case, Annam didn’t even have its own army anymore.

The remaining seventy thousand troops were partially reduced by Great Hua and reorganized into police forces to maintain law and order. The remaining twenty thousand were reorganized into Great Hua’s second-line troops.

However, these twenty thousand people would not continue to be stationed in Hanoi Province. Instead, they would be scattered and assigned to several units of Great Hua, and then used to attack the Mạc dynasty in the south.

Or they would be transferred to Japan, Luzon, India, and other places to fight. In short, they could not stay in Hanoi Province.

The fate of these people would most likely be cannon fodder.

If they were lucky enough to break a leg or an arm and retire from the battlefield, they would be able to save their lives.

Otherwise, endless wars would await them in the future.

In terms of culture, Hanoi Province must learn Chinese characters and speak Mandarin in the future.

A three-year period was set. Those who had not learned to speak Mandarin in three years would be subject to additional taxes.

As for customs, there was no mandatory requirement to change them. It would not bring much benefit and would easily cause dissatisfaction among the local people, which would outweigh the gains.

The history of Annam would naturally have to be revised as well.

The people of the Ministry of Rites of Great Hua already had experience in this and were very skilled.

After this wave of turmoil, a portion of the propertied class in Hanoi was purged, and the capitalists from Great Hua ultimately benefited.

The local people of Hanoi, on the other hand, were free from the previous heavy taxes and levies, and their lives improved somewhat.

More importantly, Hanoi stopped the war with the Mạc dynasty, and their burden was not as heavy as before.

It was precisely because the tax burden was alleviated that the people of Hanoi did not have a strong resistance to joining Great Hua, nor did they recognize it.

This was not something that could be done overnight, and it required a long period of gradual influence.

This was the responsibility of the civil officials.

The Huaxia army advanced towards Yongshan, the border between the Lê and Mạc dynasties.

Along the way, the military of Great Hua would also sort out the opposition forces in Hanoi Province.

Although Zheng He, as the supreme commander, issued orders for all regions to accept the results of the negotiations, not every place would honestly accept them.

These places would need to be sorted out by the army of Great Hua.

They were all ignorant traditional forces who thought they had a say just because they had some people in their hands.

However, after the army of Great Hua flattened a few villages, the remaining villages lost their voices and announced their allegiance, acknowledging that Hanoi was a part of Great Hua’s territory and that they were Huaxia people.

Before long, the army of Great Hua entered Yongshan.

At the foot of the mountain, Huaxia army officers could see the fortifications built by the Mạc dynasty on the mountain range through binoculars.

This used to be the most intense battleground between the Lê and Mạc dynasties, and the most important defense line for the Mạc dynasty against the Lê dynasty.

This mountain range, which cut off the north and south, was a natural barrier.

The side responsible for defense had a great advantage in terms of terrain.

Of course, this was on the premise that the strength of the two sides was not too different.

If the strength of the two sides was vastly different, this advantage was actually fleeting.

Great Hua only needed to use its navy to attack Thuận Hóa of the Mạc dynasty to cut off the various supplies of the Mạc dynasty’s front-line troops.

At that time, Great Hua might not need to waste a single shot to eliminate the enemies guarding Yongshan.

As for attacking Thuận Hóa, this was also very easy for Great Hua.

With warships covering them, there was no risk in landing.

As long as the main force landed, the Mạc dynasty’s army would definitely not be able to stop them.

Speaking of which, the military strength of the Mạc dynasty was even worse than that of the Lê dynasty.

Therefore, the complete unification of Annam was only a matter of time.

Chapter 813: The Emperor is Busy

On June third, Wu Changqing received the memorial reporting the completion of the negotiations.

He read it carefully, found no issues, and set it aside, picking up two other memorials clipped together.

These two memorials concerned the same matter.

One was a protest from the Portuguese ambassador, Miguel, and the other was a battle report from the navy, detailing the Huaxia army’s capture of the River Mouth (Singapore).

Miguel stated that Great Hua’s occupation of the River Mouth was an invasion and a declaration of war against Portugal.

However, the navy claimed that the bombardment of the River Mouth was because the Portuguese refused them permission to dock for supplies.

Both sides had their own perspective.

From the Portuguese point of view, they had occupied the River Mouth, so it was Portuguese territory.

But from Great Hua’s point of view, the River Mouth didn’t originally belong to Portugal, and they were only requesting to dock for supplies. Although their attitude wasn’t the best, the request was entirely reasonable.

The Portuguese refusal was completely unacceptable.

Therefore, the Huaxia navy fired a few shots, intending to scare the Portuguese. The Portuguese, however, considered it an invasion and chose to retaliate.

Thus, a war began.

At the River Mouth, the Portuguese had built coastal artillery to block the strait, but these cannons were no match for the Huaxia artillery.

After half an hour of exchanging fire, the Portuguese hurriedly retreated into Fort Lings.

But the problem was that when they built Fort Lings, the range of their cannons was only one or two li.

Therefore, their Fort Lings was only five li from the sea.

And now, the Huaxia artillery could reach seven or eight li at its maximum range.

The Portuguese Fort Lings was completely within range of the Huaxia artillery.

Subsequently, Great Hua bombarded their Fort Lings with artillery, and after blasting a hole in it, two charges were enough to take the River Mouth.

Apart from killing over two hundred Portuguese and three hundred local natives, the remaining two thousand were captured by the Huaxia army.

This battle, from the outbreak of conflict to the end of the fighting, took less than a day.

Fort Lings, which the Portuguese had built for one or two years, became pathetically fragile under the Huaxia army’s giant cannons.

The impact of this event was quite significant. At least after other Western European countries found out, they probably wouldn’t be so enthusiastic about building Fort Lings in the future, and would instead be keen on researching artillery technology.

Even if they wanted to build Fort Lings, they would have to keep it as far away from the sea as possible, so as not to be exposed to the gunfire of warships.

That was the situation. The Portuguese regarded this as a top priority and negotiated with Great Hua. Wu Changqing glanced at it and put it aside.

As the Emperor of the Great Hua Empire, he didn’t need to explain anything to the Portuguese ambassador. The people from the Ministry of Rites would deal with Miguel.

In fact, there was no need to appease them much. Anyway, the Portuguese could only protest verbally; they couldn’t take any real action.

This was an era where might makes right, and countries even regarded this kind of bullying of the weak as a matter of course.

Just like what they did in the Americas, it was all about the strong bullying the weak.

The next memorial concerned the rebellion in Korea.

After two months of suppression, the Korean rebellion had been completely quelled.

The leaders of the rebellion had all been executed.

The ringleader was named Cui Shanjian, a name Wu Changqing didn’t recognize, so he probably wasn’t a big shot.

With the rebellion quelled, Great Hua took the opportunity to severely crack down on the old aristocracy and gentry class in Korea.

After two crackdowns, the former gentry class in Korea had been greatly reduced, and the remaining ones were all law-abiding ordinary people.

These people were the fastest to integrate into Great Hua.

Although this rebellion caused some losses, overall, the benefits outweighed the disadvantages.

In the future, basically no one would want to separate Korea from Great Hua, and Great Hua could confidently carry out construction in Korea.

Wu Changqing continued to read the next memorial, which came from the navy.

The navy’s advance team, during their exploration of Australia, discovered a treasure land: Java, which would later be known as Jakarta.

Rice could be harvested three times a year there, and more importantly, the soil on its plains was a sedimentary layer formed from volcanic ash, making the soil extremely fertile and a good place to raise people.

However, this place had already been taken by the Dutch. The navy requested Wu Changqing’s permission to attack Jakarta.

At this time, the Netherlands was much stronger than Portugal, and going to war with the Dutch would have a great impact, easily alerting Western Europeans to Great Hua’s ambitions, thus making them vigilant.

Therefore, before attacking, the navy chose to ask Wu Changqing for instructions, not daring to make a decision on their own.

Wu Changqing considered it for a while and told the navy not to touch Jakarta for the time being.

For the time being, Great Hua didn’t have enough adults to immigrate, so there was no need to rush.

After a few more years of recuperation, that batch of teenagers would have grown up, and then Great Hua could start a large-scale wave of immigration.

Putting down this memorial, the next one was from the civil administration.

The Vice Minister of Revenue, Gan Zhu, suggested that Wu Changqing could provide some funds for building water conservancy projects to prevent floods.

In the years since Great Hua was founded, the heavens had been quite kind.

Although the North was getting colder, the climate in the South was at least not too bad, and there had been no particularly serious floods.

This was not easy. You should know that in the past, floods were commonplace on the land of China.

But in the past few years, Great Hua had only experienced some minor floods, to the point that some officials had forgotten this hidden danger.

Fortunately, Gan Zhu still remembered it. He felt that Great Hua’s finances were now relaxed and that they could take the opportunity to build some dams, clear the river channels, and build some flood control water conservancy projects, just in case.

Wu Changqing agreed to this.

He wasn’t short of money, and as for the workers, there were nearly one hundred thousand prisoners in Annam who could be conscripted for use, thus solving the labor problem.

With money and people, they could naturally engage in some century-long projects.

Managing water disasters was truly a century-long project.

Even with such advanced technology in later generations, it was impossible to completely solve the problem of water disasters, let alone now.

The next memorial was a plan from the Army General Staff for advancing into the Shaanxi and Gansu areas.

Although Wu Changqing didn’t plan to recover those places in the near future, the army didn’t care and continued to make the plans as usual.

This way, at least it could appear that they were doing something, rather than drawing their salaries and doing nothing.

Moreover, if they made the plans now, they could act immediately once Wu Changqing agreed.

There were still half a meter of memorials behind, so Wu Changqing chose to rest for the time being.

The trivial matters of a small village could make a village chief uneasy.

Not to mention an empire with an area of more than six million square kilometers and a population of one hundred and sixty million.

Great Hua had endless things to deal with every day, and Wu Changqing’s desk was never empty.

Many things that seemed very important in other countries might be piled up in memorials in Great Hua and not be dealt with for several days.

Chapter 814: The World Has Become More Complex

Not only was the Emperor busy, but in fact, those Grand Secretariat ministers were even busier than Wu Changqing.

A major reason for this situation was that the world had become more complex, requiring more major issues to be handled, and there were not enough officials.

In the past, in a purely agricultural society, there were actually not many things that needed to be dealt with in the entire country.

This can be seen from the division of the Six Ministries. After all the fuss, it was still just agriculture and military affairs.

Moreover, there was another characteristic of government affairs in the past.

Matters that could be resolved locally often did not need to be reported.

And matters that needed to be reported often could not be resolved by the central government, and in the end, they could only be left unresolved.

Such as floods, famines, and so on.

The only thing the entire country needed to focus on was agriculture.

A good harvest meant peace and prosperity. A bad harvest easily led to unrest, and then just suppressing the rebellion could cause the entire court to be in a state of chaos.

In general, in an agricultural society, officials did not need to handle many things.

The fact that the Wanli Emperor did not attend court for more than ten years and the country could still function was due to this reason.

The fact that they could argue for more than ten years over a trivial matter like establishing an heir apparent was enough to show how idle they were.

At least, compared to officials in later generations, they were much more idle.

For example, officials in the Song Dynasty had one hundred days of vacation a year, ranking first among all dynasties.

And in the mid-to-late Ming Dynasty, an official had fifty or sixty days of vacation each year.

Now, Great Hua has entered the industrial age and commercial civilization.

The whole world has suddenly become much more complex, and many things have undergone tremendous changes.

After entering the industrial age, the pace of life of officials and commoners has accelerated imperceptibly.

In the past, after finishing their farm work, the common people could sit in the courtyard under a big tree and chat.

If they didn’t chat, they had nothing to do.

But now, with the popularity of kerosene lamps and candles, women can also embroider, raise silkworms, or make simple handicrafts at night.

In short, they can all find work to supplement their household income.

Men are no exception. After finishing their farm work, they still have to pull pigweed, raise pigs and cattle.

In the past, they could go to bed at six or seven in the evening, but now, people working in factories often have to work until twelve o’clock, and then get up again at six or seven the next morning.

Their time is fully arranged, and there are no more idle people.

Officials are not relaxed either. They need to manage more things, and they are more urgent.

In the past, if a bridge had a problem and affected traffic.

From discovering the problem to reporting the problem to solving the problem, it took at least three months, and at most a year or two. In short, the processing efficiency was extremely low.

And such low efficiency had little impact on the country.

In the past, there was little commercial activity, and cutting off this road only reduced a small amount of trade.

But now it is different. If a bridge collapses or a section of railway track is torn up, it is a major event that must be dealt with immediately, without delay.

If it is delayed for one more day, the goods piled up at the railway station can fill the warehouse, and the loss will be at least ten thousand yuan.

If this continues for a period of time, many merchants will go bankrupt due to breach of contract, and many workers will not be able to get their wages.

Things have become urgent.

At the same time, officials need to handle more things.

In the past, there were even no special diplomats. When something happened, people from the Ministry of Rites would handle it as a side job.

But now, Great Hua has professional diplomats who are responsible for dealing with foreigners every day.

Eight Western European countries have established embassies in Nanjing, and Persia, the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, and Siam and Burma in Southeast Asia have also established embassies.

Nanjing has become the political center of the world.

Not only are there many things to do, but the things are also new, and Great Hua’s officials also need to learn relevant knowledge.

For example, if officials in the Ministry of Commerce do not understand economic theory or the basic laws of economic development at all, they often cannot sit firmly in their positions.

The world was too simple in the past. There were only a few reasons for agricultural failures, and they could be solved in a targeted manner.

But now, the reasons for the good or bad economic development of a place are very complex, and many officials do not even understand the reasons, let alone find solutions.

They have to work during the day and study and make up lessons at night.

Great Hua’s officials are much more tired than those of the previous dynasty.

However, no matter how hard or tired they are, they are all rushing to do it. If they don’t do it, there are many people behind them eager to take their place.

Feeling this situation, and with the current political situation stable, Wu Changqing began to thoroughly reform the administrative organs.

In the past, adding a Ministry of Transportation or a Ministry of Foreign Affairs was just child’s play and could not be considered a reform.

But this time, Wu Changqing is preparing to transition to an administrative system similar to that of later generations in one step, subdividing various departments, stipulating the scope of power of each department, and increasing administrative efficiency.

This is a major event for Great Hua, and its importance exceeds the Annam War, the dispute with Portugal, and even the situation in Japan.

The reform of the official system is destined to harm the interests of some people, and others will benefit from it.

This is a matter of vital interest to all officials, and it is difficult for them not to care.

When Wu Changqing convened the Grand Secretariat ministers to discuss building a new administrative system, many officials began to inquire about news from those Vice Ministers.

They all wanted to get some information from the Vice Ministers to gain an advantage.

There were also some officials who predicted possible changes based on some clues and began to prepare for the future.

For example, some officials believe that as the importance of coal, oil, and iron ore increases day by day, a special Ministry of Natural Resources should be established to manage them.

They must not allow those merchants to wantonly occupy and profit from them as they do now.

These natural resources must be in the hands of the central government, so that the court will not lack money.

The officials who discovered this also took action.

They conducted in-depth research on this issue, and then submitted memorials to Wu Changqing, discussing their views and suggestions on this issue.

If the research results can be recognized by the emperor, after this department is established, they will naturally be able to sit in important positions in this department.

At the same time, some officials even took this opportunity to carry out some subtle court struggles.

For example, they suggested continuing to split up the Ministry of Industry in an attempt to weaken Ruan Dacheng’s power.

Or, they expressed some industrial planning views that differed from Ruan Dacheng’s.

If they could gain the emperor’s approval, they might be able to squeeze Ruan Dacheng out.

After all, Ruan Dacheng is not young, and he has been in the Ministry of Industry for so long. It is reasonable to retire.

Those ambitious people who want to rise to the top are naturally impatient and take the opportunity to make trouble.

“This is the court.”

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but sigh.

Even a slight change can cause a shock in the court, allowing all kinds of monsters and ghosts to surface.

Chapter 815: Reform

How can we improve administrative efficiency while also ensuring fairness and integrity?

A major problem in the current administration is that everything needs to be reported to and approved by superiors, for fear of taking responsibility for one’s own decisions.

Minor local matters need to be reported to high-ranking provincial officials, slightly larger matters need to be discussed by the cabinet, and important matters, without exception, need to be reviewed by Wu Changqing.

This keeps Wu Changqing and the cabinet very busy, with endless matters to handle.

However, not doing so is not an option. If people below could make decisions on their own without seeking instructions, they would easily run wild.

The only way to solve this problem is to shift from rule by people to rule by law, so that all actions of officials have a legal basis.

We need to formulate a general legal framework similar to a constitution, so that officials can act according to the rules of the constitution.

As long as they do not violate the constitution, they will not exceed their authority.

With a constitution, lower-level officials do not need to seek instructions from their superiors on everything, which can save decision-making time and reduce the burden on superiors.

Wu Changqing was not a politician in his previous life, nor even someone within the system, so his understanding of the system is very limited and superficial.

This reform of his is more based on his own understanding and thinking, combined with the current situation of Great Hua, resulting in something that seems a bit of a hodgepodge.

Wu Changqing first separated the Censorate from the cabinet and renamed it the Supreme Court.

It has three departments under its jurisdiction: the Supreme Court, the Procuratorate, and the Ministry of Public Security.

Its actual functions include adjudication, law enforcement, and supervision.

From now on, the Supreme Court will be an independent system, not subordinate to the cabinet, and directly responsible to the emperor.

Of course, the Grand Justices of the Supreme Court will no longer be allowed to enter the cabinet and participate in policy decisions as before.

This undoubtedly raises the status of the Supreme Court. In a system based on the rule of law, those who hold judicial power, to some extent, even surpass the cabinet.

The court is an adjudicative body. Below the Supreme Court are provincial courts and county courts, which supervise each other.

If a criminal is not satisfied with the judgment of the county court and suspects that the county court did not make a judgment in accordance with the law, they can appeal to the provincial court.

In theory, this is how it should be, but Great Hua’s concept of the rule of law is still relatively weak.

After being judged, it is estimated that few ordinary people would have the courage to appeal.

This provision is more like serving the upper classes who are educated and knowledgeable.

The Procuratorate has many functions, but the most important one should be to supervise the courts and ensure that they make judgments in accordance with the law.

As for the Ministry of Public Security, it is the specific law enforcement department.

As a feudal empire, Great Hua does not have a House of Lords or a House of Representatives, let alone a People’s Congress. Therefore, legislative power is basically in the hands of Wu Changqing alone.

He plans to temporarily form a legislative team to improve Great Hua’s various laws.

Legislation is almost a one-time task. Once it is done, it only needs to be repaired and patched up in the future.

But no matter what, legislative power is always in his hands, and this power alone is already infinitely great.

The reformed cabinet is roughly equivalent to the State Council of later generations, and its status has declined compared to before.

The judicial departments are no longer under their control and can supervise them, the army is not under their control and can check them, and even the secret service agencies controlled by the eunuchs are not under their control.

In short, there are more and more areas that the cabinet cannot control.

But the cabinet is still the most important institution in Great Hua, responsible for the decision-making and execution of national affairs.

There are sixteen departments in the cabinet.

They are the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industrial Development, the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Commerce, the Great Hua Bank, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of National Security, the Auditing Department, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Science and Technology Development.

Among them, the Ministry of Personnel has not changed much, and is still responsible for the assessment and appointment of officials in the administrative departments.

The Ministry of Rites was split into three parts: Foreign Affairs, Education, and the Ministry of Rites.

The remaining Ministry of Rites still has a lot of power, and needs to be responsible for handling ethnic relations, the education of social morality and etiquette, and the management of cultural and sports undertakings.

The ethnic relations alone are extremely important.

As Great Hua occupies more and more places, there are more and more ethnic groups within its jurisdiction. How to handle the relationship between them is a big problem.

The importance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also been improved, as has the Ministry of Education.

Especially education, they still have a lot to do next, and need to continue to reform the imperial examination system.

The imperial examination needs to be split into civil service examinations and ordinary college entrance examinations.

The civil service examination is for selecting officials, while the college entrance examination is for cultivating various talents. There is no need for all candidates to try to become officials. With the popularization of education, there are more and more scholars, and there are not so many official positions in the world.

On the contrary, the society is in urgent need of talents in other fields.

The Ministry of Revenue was also split into the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources, and the Auditing Department.

The former Ministry of Revenue had too many things to manage, and the Ministry of Revenue had reason to intervene in everything.

With the development of Great Hua, the importance of some work began to become prominent, and it was no longer suitable to continue to be subordinate to the Ministry of Revenue.

For example, the Ministry of Finance, which is in charge of national taxation, has more power than the Ministry of War when taken out separately.

Another example is the Auditing Department. With the acceleration of industrialization, data statistics have become very important. The formulation of many plans requires data to support them.

With the large-scale use of various mineral resources, the importance of land and resources is no longer suitable to be placed under the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of War is still the Ministry of War. The name has not changed, but the specific functions have changed.

From now on, the Ministry of War will only be responsible for one thing: the management of retired soldiers.

If Great Hua wants to implement a compulsory military service system in the future, the Ministry of War will also need to worry about it.

However, this is basically impossible. The treatment of Great Hua soldiers is much higher than that of ordinary workers, and there is hope for promotion. Now everyone is rushing to join the army.

What’s more, Great Hua currently has no strong enemies, and there is no need to engage in such a large-scale compulsory military service.

The changes in the Ministry of Industry are not significant. Although the Ministry of Industry is very important, it is no longer suitable for further division.

The Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Transport have not changed much, except that they used to be one of the nine ministries, but now they have become one of the sixteen ministries, and there are many more institutions at the same level as them.

Therefore, their status has also declined somewhat.

The Vice Minister used to be very respected, but now the number of ministers has increased greatly. Although they are equivalent to the Vice Minister in rank, they are definitely not as valuable as the Vice Minister used to be.

In addition to the division of these departments, some departments have also been added to the cabinet.

For example, the Ministry of National Security, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Science and Technology Development.

Of course, what attracts the most attention is the addition of the Great Hua Bank.

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Chapter 816: The Rise of Entertainment

The Great Hua National Bank was actually a product of the Royal Bank’s split.

From now on, the Royal Bank would be just an ordinary private bank, similar to Jinling Bank and Songjiang Bank.

Wu Changqing transferred the Royal Bank’s right to issue currency to the Great Hua National Bank.

The most domineering aspect and sharpest weapon of the Royal Bank was its control over currency issuance.

Relying solely on this power, it could essentially control a country’s economic trends.

Now, Wu Changqing once again displayed his selflessness by handing this power over to the imperial court.

Whether the power to issue currency is held by the imperial court or by the emperor mainly affects future emperors; it doesn’t make much difference to Wu Changqing.

Anyway, he now had the power to make decisions, and he would ultimately decide how currency was issued.

As for the Royal Bank earning less money without the right to issue currency, that didn’t matter either.

The money Wu Changqing earned from the bank ultimately subsidized various departments anyway, and he couldn’t spend that much himself.

The current imperial family was small and spent little money, unlike the old Zhu family, which had to support millions of people.

Handing over the right to issue currency to the cabinet could also set a leading example.

Since the emperor had made a sacrifice, other officials whose powers were weakened naturally wouldn’t dare to complain.

Otherwise, it would be inappropriate.

During this reform, some people’s powers were greatly weakened.

For example, Vice Minister Qian Taoli of the Ministry of Revenue had now become the Minister of Finance. To put it simply, his power was reduced to a quarter of what it used to be.

To appease him, Wu Changqing gave him the title of Earl, non-hereditary.

It wasn’t easy for civil officials to become nobles, so this noble title was a form of compensation.

Others whose powers were weakened also received similar compensation.

As for those officials whose powers were enhanced due to the reform, there was naturally no compensation for them.

However, Wu Changqing also promised that as long as they could achieve results, they would have opportunities in the future.

Wu Changqing planned to give them a non-hereditary noble title when they retired, which would demonstrate imperial grace without creating too many nobles.

Anyway, by the time they reached retirement age, they basically didn’t have many years left to live, and the title wasn’t hereditary, so it would be taken back by the court upon their death.

The officials could all see this point, but it was better than nothing.

The reform of the official system was a relatively long process. Even if the basic framework had been determined, the changes would be implemented step by step, gradually, rather than all positions being changed at once.

If that were the case, the administrative agencies would probably be in chaos.

To completely complete these reforms would take at least a year and a half, or even longer.

Although this reform was destined to have a profound impact, its impact on the present was not particularly obvious, so the people didn’t pay much attention to it.

Ordinary people like to pay attention to information that provides quick feedback, or rather, they care more about the results and not the process.

Another point is that there is a lot of news in Great Hua currently.

Compared to those interesting news stories, the changes in the court seemed very boring.

Not to mention the various wars overseas, even Olgana’s concert had a higher level of attention than the court’s reforms.

People who were used to Great Hua songs felt that foreign language songs were completely different.

Although most people couldn’t understand the lyrics, it didn’t matter; they could feel the quality of the song from the melody alone.

Music has no borders, and a good melody, no matter what language it is sung in, is pleasing to the ear.

Moreover, Olgana spoke very good Chinese and often sang Chinese songs.

Because she was a foreigner, she was not bound by the previous format of Chinese songs, and her lyrics were very straightforward and easy to understand.

Simply put, previous Chinese songs were more literary, while she sang pop songs.

Although more literary things may have higher artistic achievements, their audience certainly cannot compare with pop songs.

Just like the current very famous traditional song “Nian Nu Jiao: Reminiscences of Chibi,” people without a bit of literary knowledge can only listen to the excitement and don’t understand what it’s singing about at all.

Previous musicians wrote songs and composed music while following this format.

But Olgana didn’t care so much and directly wrote a song “Welcome to Jinling.”

“Walking through the crowded streets, the whole city shines with light…”

Most people can understand these lyrics.

Moreover, this song is all about the beauty of Nanjing, which makes the people of Nanjing very satisfied.

Regional discrimination has existed since ancient times and will never disappear.

Currently, Nanjing is the capital of Great Hua, and the locals have a natural sense of superiority, often looking down on people from other places.

Olgana praised Nanjing, and they felt a sense of pride for some reason.

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether Olgana sings well or not, as long as she is beautiful.

Singing well just makes her more popular and more welcome.

Olgana became famous in Nanjing, and so did a Korean woman named Yoon Hye-eun.

Yoon Hye-eun also has a stunning appearance and the voice of a lark.

Of course, Great Hua also has many women with this talent, but Great Hua women cannot show their faces like Olgana and Yoon Hye-eun.

In this case, Olgana and Yoon Hye-eun became popular first, and the two set off a star-making craze.

Many businesses began to discover the role of celebrities and pay attention to them.

Celebrity topics are very eye-catching, and ordinary people like to pay attention to these things the most. Using celebrities to advertise is much more effective than other methods.

So, many businesses began to try to get Olgana and Yoon Hye-eun into their hands, or create their own stars.

Daughters of noble families are unwilling to show their faces, but there are many courtesans on the Qinhuai River.

It’s just a matter of teaching them some new skills, such as pop songs.

Fame and fortune are the strongest driving forces in this world. With profit to be made, Great Hua’s entertainment industry has also accelerated its pace.

Those who started cultivating stars were a little slow.

Currently, the two most popular stars in Nanjing are Olgana and Yoon Hye-eun.

And this, naturally, did not escape the attention of the Department of Internal Affairs.

One of the most important functions of the Department of Internal Affairs is to find entertainment for the emperor.

Operas, acrobatics, cartoons…

The people of the Department of Internal Affairs will report all kinds of interesting entertainment in the world to Wu Changqing, or directly arrange for the emperor to appreciate it, enriching his daily life.

Wu Changqing had seen most of the previous entertainment projects and had lost their novelty.

But Olgana’s singing and dancing performances had a unique exotic flavor.

The people of the Department of Internal Affairs also brought Olgana and Yoon Hye-eun to the palace with a try-it-out mentality, letting them perform for the emperor.

Chapter 817: Women as Officials

Upon entering the palace, both Olgana and Yin Hye-eun were excited.

Olgana was an extraordinary woman possessing both beauty and talent, and her intelligence was naturally high.

The fact that Wu Yi, a high-ranking official, hadn’t taken her for himself made her realize that Wu Yi intended to offer her to someone of even higher status.

And those who held higher positions than Wu Yi were few, with the Emperor being the most likely candidate.

To become the Emperor’s woman?

Olgana was thrilled. After all, back in her homeland, she had been curious about that legendary figure.

In her eyes, Wu Changqing was a hero.

Beauty loves a hero; it’s a law of nature, and Olgana was no exception.

Now, having the opportunity to enter the palace to perform for the Emperor was her chance, hence her excitement.

As for the other woman, Yin Hye-eun, her reasons for excitement were somewhat different from Olgana’s.

Yin Hye-eun wasn’t her real name; her surname was actually Cui, and she was the daughter of Cui Shanjian, a rebel leader from Korea.

When Cui Shanjian launched his rebellion, he had considered the consequences of failure. Thus, he arranged for some of his family members to leave Korea and cross over to Japan. This included Yin Hye-eun, her elder brother, younger brother, mother, and a dozen others.

However, upon arriving in Japan, they were robbed by ruffians.

It was the shogunate who rescued her and her family.

Later, she experienced a series of upheavals. In short, out of gratitude and for the sake of her family’s future, she accepted the shogunate’s arrangements and was secretly sent to Great Hua for training.

Afterward, they arranged a new identity for her, allowing her to rise to prominence and gain the opportunity to get close to the Emperor.

And her mission was to assassinate the Emperor of Great Hua.

Yin Hye-eun had been afraid, but the Japanese were skilled at training assassins. At least now, Yin Hye-eun dared to carry out her mission.

As for whether she would succeed, that was hard to say.

Finally able to meet the Emperor, Yin Hye-eun was both excited and terrified.

It meant she could complete her mission, but it also meant her death was near.

The two women entered the palace with excitement, but reality proved harsh.

Entertainment was merely an activity for Wu Changqing’s leisure time, but currently, Wu Changqing had many things to attend to and had no time to appreciate their performance.

If Wu Changqing remained busy, they would have to wait in the palace indefinitely.

They could only wait for the Emperor; there was no way the Emperor would wait for them.

Releasing them from the palace was out of the question, in case Wu Changqing suddenly felt inclined to watch them perform.

As for whether keeping them in the palace would hinder their entertainment careers outside, Feng Debao didn’t care.

Heaven and earth were great, but the Emperor was the greatest.

Even if they were delayed by the Emperor, it was their honor. Many people wanted to be delayed but didn’t have the chance.

In fact, there were several others in the palace who, like Olgana and Yin Hye-eun, were waiting.

In the Talent Reserve Palace, there were several beauties collected by the eunuchs for any unforeseen needs.

In case the Emperor wanted some novelty, they had to be ready to supply it at any time.

But if the Emperor didn’t mention it, these women would have to spend several years in the Talent Reserve Palace.

Until they grew old, they might be released from the palace.

Such was the nature of imperial society; everything had to serve the Emperor.

At this time, Wu Changqing was very busy, reviewing the legislative work of his subordinates, handling various national affairs, and further improving the country according to his own knowledge.

In July, he announced an order.

He established a new agency, the Women’s Rights Protection Bureau, which was not under the jurisdiction of the cabinet but directly under the management of the Imperial Harem, with the Empress as the nominal manager.

The actual management, however, was to be handled by other women.

Most importantly, Wu Changqing assigned ranks to the positions in charge of management, with the Director being a Fifth Rank official, and specified that the position be held by a woman.

Other positions such as Deputy Director and Chief also had ranks.

Although the ranks were not high, they were still official positions.

More importantly, these positions were designated to be held by women.

In other words, Great Hua had initiated the precedent of women serving as officials.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t entirely new, as the Imperial Harem had always been managed by the Empress since ancient times. Although there were no ranks, it was similar to being an official.

However, the current Women’s Rights Protection Bureau was entirely different in significance. It was not a domestic affair within the palace but was responsible for women throughout the country, becoming a matter of national importance.

Its managers also became formal officials.

Women serving as officials was indeed something that many people couldn’t understand.

However, the Emperor was determined to do so, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

There were certainly voices of opposition, and their reasons, in the eyes of people of this era, were quite reasonable.

Of course, if people of later generations were to evaluate them, their reasons would be quite absurd.

But none of that mattered; those people could oppose all they wanted, but Wu Changqing ignored them.

After all, only a small number of people opposed it. The interests of the majority were not greatly affected, so they had no need to go against the Emperor for something that was not related to them.

The Women’s Rights Protection Bureau was established, and its authority was actually quite small, mainly to seek justice for women who had been abused.

What constituted abuse?

Great Hua’s current standard was relatively broad; at least, visible injuries were required to be considered abuse.

If it was just a slap or two, it would obviously not be accepted.

Of course, even if it was just an occasional slap or two, women could generally tolerate it.

Even so, it was a significant improvement compared to the past.

In the past, if women were beaten or abused at home, the only power they could rely on was their natal family. The government would not interfere in such matters.

If the woman’s natal family was strong enough, they could naturally seek some justice.

But if the woman’s natal family was not strong enough, being beaten was just being beaten, and there was nowhere for them to seek redress.

Moreover, these beaten women often found it difficult to gain sympathy from society.

After Wu Changqing created this agency, those abused women at least had a place to file a complaint.

However, it would probably be difficult to solve the problem of women’s low status in the family through this agency alone, as the current social atmosphere did not advocate divorce.

If they filed a complaint with the government, and the government punished their husbands, they would still have to return to their husbands’ sides in the end.

If the men were honest, they might change in the future.

But if they encountered someone with a bad temper, they might become even more violent.

Therefore, it was hard to say whether women would use this method to protect their rights in the future.

Changing the world was a long and arduous task. Wu Changqing simply did it as a side project. If it had an effect, great; if not, then so be it. He couldn’t focus his energy on such matters.

After all, whether women’s rights could be protected or not did not have a significant impact on the conquest of the world.

# Chapter 818: Supply Station on the Sea Route

Mid-July, Sri Lanka, south of Colombo.

A Huaxia army fleet landed here and engaged in a 'friendly' negotiation with the local natives.

The Huaxia army first expressed its enthusiasm with one hundred and twenty-eight cannon salutes, and then commemorated those who died from accidental injuries caused by the cannon salutes with gunfire.

Finally, the Huaxia army also paid a large sum of compensation to the local chiefs.

The local chiefs, impressed by Great Hua's etiquette, generously chose to forgive and granted Great Hua a port and a piece of land as a temporary base.

Then, Great Hua began to build a military base and supply station here.

Its main purpose was to provide coal, fresh water, food, and other supplies to Great Hua's ocean-going ships.

Of course, in the future, they could also expand trade and do business with the locals.

The Huaxia army left one thousand people stationed in Colombo and then continued to the next stop, Hai Shan (Cape Town), which is a few dozen kilometers north of the Cape of Good Hope, a natural harbor.

Unlike Colombo, Hai Shan was now occupied by the Dutch, who had established a colony.

When dealing with natives, the Huaxia army could make them compromise by firing a few cannons and shooting a few guns to scare them.

But dealing with the Dutch was not so easy.

Before the Suez Canal was dug, Hai Shan was a necessary stop for trade between Great Hua and Europe.

Even after the Suez Canal was dug, there would still be many ships passing through this place.

If it weren't for the importance of Hai Shan, Great Hua wouldn't want to break up with the Dutch for the time being.

But now, the Great Hua's navy no longer cared so much; they were determined to get this place.

Moreover, the navy felt that even if they fought with the Dutch, it wouldn't be a big problem.

After all, the Dutch had only occupied Hai Shan for a year or two, and the ownership of this place was still unclear.

In August, the Huaxia army fleet arrived at Hai Shan and requested to enter the port for supplies.

Naturally, Governor Cruzo of Dutch Hai Shan refused this request.

If it were Great Hua's merchant ships, he might have agreed, considering the need to maintain relations with Great Hua.

However, what Great Hua had sent this time were warships.

Letting warships into the port was too dangerous. If the Huaxia army went crazy and bombarded the buildings on the shore, their one or two years of construction here would be wasted.

These were all Cruzo's hard work, and he was unwilling to take this risk.

In Cruzo's view, the port was his, and refusal was justified.

However, the Huaxia army had come to pick a fight; even if there was no excuse, they would create one.

Now that Cruzo had taken the initiative to provide an excuse, it was even easier.

Ding Maochu, captain of the Hongyuan warship of the Great Hua Navy Expeditionary Force, sent an envoy again.

"Hai Shan has never belonged to you Dutch, and our army needs to dock for supplies. You have no right to refuse," the envoy said.

"Ceuta is not Great Hua's territory either. Can my warships enter?" Cruzo retorted with a sneer. What "since ancient times"? This was a world where strength mattered.

Whoever had the stronger fist owned the territory.

"Of course," the Huaxia army envoy agreed without even thinking.

Anyway, Ceuta was nearly ten thousand kilometers away from here, and Cruzo couldn't verify it immediately.

They would take this place first, and then argue about the future.

Cruzo was immediately choked and said shamelessly, "Impossible, I don't believe it. In short, my port does not allow any warships to enter."

"Is that so? If that's the case, then our army can only force its way in," the Huaxia army envoy issued the final ultimatum.

"You dare? You are declaring war on the Netherlands, destroying the friendly relations between the two countries. You will be fully responsible," Cruzo said.

The first two words, "You dare," were tough, but the rest of the sentence revealed his lack of confidence.

Truly awesome people don't need to threaten or intimidate.

The two sides ultimately failed to reach an agreement. The Huaxia army envoy had delivered the message and completed his mission.

Afterward, he returned to report.

As soon as he left, the others in the room began to argue.

"I don't think we should risk offending the Great Hua people. We should agree to their request," Luni said. He knew more about Great Hua's strength and felt that they couldn't confront Great Hua head-on, as it would not end well.

"Isn't letting them in a risk? I don't think we need to be afraid. They came as an isolated force. As long as we defend Fort Lings, they won't be able to hold out for half a month without supplies," another hardliner advocated for war.

"I think we can compromise. We don't agree to let their warships enter the port, but we agree to help them with supplies. However, we will use our ships to transport the supplies outside the port," this person's suggestion made Cruzo's eyes light up.

He didn't want to offend Great Hua, and he was afraid of going to war with Great Hua, but he was reluctant to give up this territory.

Therefore, the last subordinate's suggestion was exactly to his liking.

"This is a good idea. Alonso, go negotiate immediately and say that we are willing to help them with supplies," Cruzo said.

Luni didn't comment on Cruzo's choice.

He felt that the Huaxia army was obviously looking for an excuse. They should either be tough to the end or agree completely, without giving Great Hua an excuse.

However, Cruzo was the supreme commander, and everyone could only follow orders.

Alonso prepared to negotiate, but it was already too late.

The Huaxia army's final ultimatum was just a formality, for the sake of having something to say when arguing with the Dutch in the future.

In fact, whether this process existed or not didn't make much of a difference.

After the final negotiation failed, the Huaxia army launched an attack.

The transport ships stayed outside, and three warships directly broke into the port, then began shelling the Dutch coastal defense guns.

As for the buildings in the port, the Huaxia army didn't plan to destroy them.

It would be a pity to destroy them, as they would have to rebuild them themselves later.

As long as they occupied this place, everything here would belong to them in the future.

The sound of cannons startled Alonso, who was just about to board the ship, and also frightened Cruzo.

What he feared most was what came to pass. He was most afraid of going to war with Great Hua.

As a result, Great Hua really acted unreasonably and used force.

"Damn it, these insidious and despicable Easterners," Cruzo cursed.

"Sir, counterattacking is more important now," a subordinate reminded him.

Cruzo's face was cold, and he quickly arranged the counterattack mission.

They still had some advantages on land.

As long as they could prevent the Huaxia army from landing, or defend Fort Lings and prevent the Huaxia army from getting supplies, the Huaxia army would have to retreat.

It was extremely difficult for an isolated army to fight overseas.

They had paid a considerable price to seize this place from the natives.

Therefore, even though they knew that Great Hua's weapons and equipment were very advanced, Cruzo and others were not completely without confidence.

In their view, as long as they fought well, they still had a good chance.

Chapter 819: Contesting the Cape of Good Hope

No order from Cruzo was needed; his men had already launched their counterattack on their own.

No army would be foolish enough to take a bombardment without returning fire.

If they had waited for Cruzo’s command, they would have been blown to smithereens long ago.

Even before the Huaxia army’s first round of shelling ended, they had already begun their retaliation.

The Dutch placed great importance on Hai Shan because most of their colonies were in Asia. South America belonged to Spain and Portugal, while North America was the territory of England and France.

With their colonies primarily in Asia, their fleets all needed to pass through this area.

Occupying this location would safeguard their own shipping lanes while also curbing England’s growing influence in India.

Currently, England’s development had surpassed Spain and the Netherlands, leading the entire Europe.

If they didn’t contain it, England could dominate Europe.

Therefore, they had deployed a strong defensive force here, with forty to fifty cannons, all of large caliber, mainly targeting the English.

They never expected that their first opponent would be the people of Great Hua.

The power of these cannons was considerable; against wooden ships, one or two shots could destroy a vessel.

However, when these shells, which they believed to be immensely powerful, struck the Hongyuan, a scene of despair unfolded for the Dutch.

The iron ball slammed into the side of the Hongyuan, causing it to shake slightly, before the ball fell into the sea.

It didn’t even penetrate the Hongyuan’s hull, nor did it leave much of a mark.

The Hongyuan was Great Hua’s newest warship, an advancement over the previous semi-ironclad ships, and the first true ironclad warship in the real sense.

Although the Hongyuan didn’t appear large, its hull weighed at least three or four times as much as a ship of similar size.

To achieve this, the Hongyuan had sacrificed some speed.

This sacrifice resulted in powerful defensive capabilities.

Not to mention the primitive cannons of the Dutch, even if the Huaxia army’s field guns were used to bombard it, they couldn’t sink it.

The Hongyuan, costing nearly two hundred thousand yuan to build, was even hailed as an unsinkable warship.

This battle was its maiden voyage, specifically to test its combat performance.

Once the test data was sent back home, proving its effectiveness, the semi-ironclad ships would likely face obsolescence, and pure ironclad ships would become the mainstream.

The Hongyuan’s shaking caused several inexperienced rookies on board to fall, one of whom hit his head on a gun mount and passed out.

This was the only result of the Dutch shelling.

Well, at least it caused some casualties for the Huaxia army, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

Of course, the Dutch wouldn’t feel gratified by this.

They were terrified by the defensive capabilities of the Huaxia warship; direct hits had no effect, so how could they fight?

Even more deadly was the fact that the Huaxia cannons were causing great damage to them.

One shell landed near a cannon, wiping out the entire gun crew.

Another shell landed in front of a cannon, destroying the cannon itself.

Some artillerymen began to flee, trying to retreat into Fort Lings to take cover.

Others continued to resist stubbornly; among them were many desperate individuals.

At the same time, the Dutch warships in the harbor had already begun to sail towards the Huaxia army, attempting to engage in boarding actions.

Their cannons had limited power, so they could only resort to this method.

Moreover, they had one advantage: numbers.

The main force of the Huaxia army consisted of only three ships, which also had to fight against the shore batteries.

The Dutch, on the other hand, had eight warships in the harbor and far more manpower.

The eight warships charged towards the Huaxia army, forcing the Huaxia to turn their guns.

The distance between the two sides was not far, and by the time the Huaxia had adjusted, the Dutch were already very close.

However, at this moment, the Huaxia army’s cannons were aimed at the approaching enemy and fired again.

One shell struck a warship, piercing its hull directly, and the shell penetrated the hold and exploded.

The entire deck was blown away; the wooden hull was like paper in front of the Huaxia army’s cannons.

In one volley, the Huaxia army destroyed two Dutch warships.

At the same time, the machine guns on the Hongyuan began to unleash their power.

Heavy machine guns were defensive weapons, and the navy certainly wouldn’t disdain them.

Cannons were used for offense, while machine guns were used for defense.

With the advantage of superior equipment, the Huaxia army no longer liked engaging in melee combat with the enemy.

In fact, in the past two years, the Huaxia army’s melee combat capabilities had been declining sharply.

Soldiers cherished their lives more and were not as brave as they had been in the early days of the nation.

However, this problem was temporarily masked by Great Hua’s weapon superiority.

The machine guns equipped on the Hongyuan were different from those used by the army.

The army, for the sake of mobility, focused more on the weight of the machine guns.

The navy didn’t need to consider this issue, so they naturally favored power.

Therefore, the machine guns on the navy ships were of very large caliber; they could be called machine guns, but it wouldn’t be wrong to call them cannons.

To be precise, these were automatic cannons, with astonishing power and rate of fire.

A series of machine gun bullets struck the Dutch ships, causing the Dutch to scream in agony.

Those bullets could pierce two or three people.

The hull was also riddled with splinters, and soldiers hiding behind the wooden planks were also killed.

There was no safe place on the entire ship.

Many soldiers chose to jump into the sea to escape; staying on the ship was simply courting death.

By the time the Dutch charged to the front of the Huaxia army, only four of the eight ships remained, and two of them had very few personnel left.

Only two ships still maintained combat effectiveness, but that didn’t mean they were particularly good; it was just that the Huaxia army hadn’t targeted them yet.

However, it was their turn next.

Therefore, the captain of one of the ships quickly ordered the white flag to be raised in surrender; he didn’t want to be swept by the Huaxia army’s automatic cannons.

Getting close only meant that they could start a boarding action, not that they could immediately take down the Huaxia army.

With the Huaxia army’s firepower, if they were swept for two minutes, they would suffer more than half of the casualties.

Therefore, there was no hope of winning; surrender was the only option.

As a result, the officers and soldiers of the Huaxia army saw a rather shocking scene.

The Dutch had gone through hardships and paid a heavy price, all for the sake of rushing to their front to surrender.

If they had known this, why didn’t they just surrender directly?

The Dutch didn’t know what the Huaxia army soldiers were thinking; if they did, they would probably vomit blood and curse.

They didn’t want to surrender either, but they didn’t want to die even more.

Before they came, they didn’t know that the Huaxia army’s firepower would be so fierce; it was simply a one-sided massacre for them.

They didn’t vomit blood, but Cruzo, who was watching the battle from the shore, did vomit blood. His fleet had charged over so valiantly, only to surrender.

If this were to be said, it would be a great humiliation.

With the fleet surrendering and the artillerymen on the shore fleeing, Cruzo had lost the power to counterattack and could only retreat everyone into Fort Lings to make a final stand.

Chapter 820: The Great Hua Threat

Fort Lings was a porcupine to the armed forces of other countries, but to Great Hua, it was just a groundhog curled up in its burrow.

The Huaxia army landed at their leisure, built up defensive lines, and then brought the warships closer to bombard Fort Lings.

The only thing the Huaxia army needed to worry about was the consumption of ammunition; other than that, there were no problems.

This fleet of theirs was specifically sent to seize territory and carried no cargo, only a large amount of ammunition.

After bombarding for more than an hour, the Dutch fort was blasted with a large gap.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army launched a general offensive.

The Dutch weapons were decent enough, having already popularized flintlock guns.

However, the Huaxia army was already using breech-loading rifled guns, and there was no comparison between the two.

More importantly, the Huaxia army also had other advanced equipment.

Several flamethrower soldiers, under the cover of friendly fire, rushed to the gap and sprayed flames at it.

The Dutch, who had never suffered such an attack, were immediately scared out of their wits.

The deterrent power of flamethrowers has always been greater than their lethality.

A dozen or so Dutch soldiers, their entire bodies engulfed in flames, unable to die for the time being, ran around, rolled, and wailed on their positions.

The scene was as horrifying as it could be.

“Your Excellency Governor, surrender. These warriors should not suffer such hellish torment.”

Luni advised.

Just as Cruzo was still hesitating, the vanguard of the Huaxia army had already broken through their gap defense and rushed into the city.

Cruzo helplessly ordered the raising of the white flag, surrendering.

“These barbaric Great Hua people, I will protest to their emperor. This is a declaration of war.”

Cruzo said fiercely, maintaining his last bit of stubbornness.

The Dutch surrendered, and the battle for Hai Shan was declared over.

In this battle, the Huaxia army invested a total of three warships, five transport ships, and a total force of three thousand five hundred men.

The Dutch invested a total of eight warships, fifty coastal defense guns, and a total force of about six thousand men, three thousand of whom were black slaves they had captured.

The result was that the Huaxia army had twenty-two killed in action and thirty-four wounded, mainly casualties during the attack on Fort Lings.

The Dutch, on the other hand, had more than one thousand eight hundred killed, five warships destroyed, and the other three captured.

Of course, the remaining four thousand two hundred surviving soldiers, as well as more than seven thousand civilians, merchants, and family members, were all captured by Great Hua.

This was an unequal battle, and the Huaxia army achieved a crushing victory.

After the battle, Cruzo expressed a stern protest to Ding Maochu.

Then, Ding Maochu liberated the more than two thousand black slaves.

As for the Dutch soldiers, Ding Maochu chose to enslave them. As for the Dutch civilians and merchants, he chose to release them.

They were allowed to continue to live in Hai Shan, but they needed to pay taxes to the Huaxia army and accept the jurisdiction of Great Hua.

Those liberated black people had a good impression of the Huaxia army and chose to stay to serve them, which Ding Maochu gladly accepted.

This was also something that couldn’t be helped; they were seriously short of manpower.

Some of the Dutch chose to stay, simply because they had to hand over a portion of their income, which was within their acceptable range.

In fact, even if they didn’t hand it over to the Huaxia army, they would still be exploited by the Dutch homeland, so it was about the same.

There were also some people who did not trust the Great Hua people and chose to leave.

Either return to Europe or go east to find new colonies.

These were not things that Ding Maochu was concerned about.

On the one hand, he reported the battle situation to the country, asking the country to immigrate people over as soon as possible. On the other hand, he also sent a warship to Côte d’Ivoire.

Also known as the Ivory Coast, it was also known as the Gold Coast, an important port in West Africa.

In the triangular trade, Western Europeans loaded black slaves here, then transported them to the Americas to exchange for raw materials and gold, then returned to Europe to exchange for weapons, and then transported the weapons to the Ivory Coast to exchange for black slaves and ivory and other items.

In short, this was an important trading hub, currently more prosperous than Hai Shan.

Great Hua naturally couldn’t ignore such a place and had to join in the fun.

If there was an opportunity, they would take it down; if there was no opportunity, they would still occupy a place and establish a port supply station.

After taking the Ivory Coast, the route from Great Hua to Ceuta would be more stable, and supplies would become very convenient.

Great Hua launched a major operation, and the news reached Western Europe in August.

The news they received was only that the Huaxia army had occupied Portugal’s river mouth colony.

However, this move also meant that the Huaxia army had begun to expand its overseas power and began to compete for colonies.

This put great pressure on Western European countries, especially Britain, the Netherlands, France, Spain, and Portugal.

They had known for a long time that this day would come sooner or later.

No capable country would let go of the huge benefits of colonies.

In the past, Great Hua’s civil war had not ended, but now that Great Hua had finally ended its civil war, it was reasonable to conquer overseas.

How should they respond to the threat from Great Hua?

Many smart people in Western Europe began to use their brains and think about countermeasures.

Among them, a Frenchman named Littmann put forward a thesis called the Great Hua Threat Theory.

Moreover, he also wrote a book in which he expounded his views.

Littmann said that Great Hua was too huge, almost equal to the entire Europe.

With a population of over one hundred million, if they went all out, they could arm five to six million troops.

Looking at the Western European countries, none of them could arm five hundred thousand troops.

The entire Western European army combined could not even make up five million.

Therefore, when Western European countries confronted Great Hua, no country could stand alone and must unite.

In addition, they must increase investment in technology and strive to catch up with Great Hua in technology.

Otherwise, even if they united, they would not be a match for Great Hua.

The appearance of Wu Changqing finally had a major impact on the pattern of Western Europe.

In the normal course of history, at this time, Britain would severely strike at the naval power of the Netherlands, defeat it, and then officially become the global hegemon, embarking on a path of rapid development.

France would also defeat Spain on land and begin to dominate the European continent.

In short, during this period, Western European countries fought fiercely with each other.

But because of the appearance of the powerful enemy of Great Hua, these countries had a sense of crisis, and some people even proposed that Western European countries should abandon their struggles, form an alliance, and jointly resist the threat from Great Hua.

This argument was endorsed by many elites in Western Europe.

Although they had fought fiercely with each other before, they were at least familiar with each other and had origins.

But Great Hua, for them, was completely a stranger, a foreign enemy.

In the presence of a foreign enemy, they should naturally defeat the foreign enemy first.

Chapter 821: The European Landscape

Littman’s writings were recognized by many elites, and some politicians began to actively seek alliances in Europe, but the reality was somewhat harsh.

King Louis XIV of France had just completed centralization at this time and was ambitious.

Historically, he was the longest-reigning emperor of France, lasting for seventy-two years. During his reign, he not only defeated the Holy Roman Empire, but also defeated Spain and the Netherlands, becoming the overlord of continental Europe.

Therefore, after Louis XIV read Littman’s works, although he agreed with Littman’s views in his heart, he wanted to unify continental Europe first.

Then, he would rely on the power of France to fight against Great Hua.

This idea cannot be considered wrong.

If he could quickly defeat the surrounding countries and complete unification, then the power of a unified Europe would be more concentrated.

Centralization makes things easier. A loose alliance is destined to have many conflicts of interest. When doing things, there will definitely be many disputes and countless arguments.

Of course, the premise is that he can quickly defeat the surrounding countries. If he can’t, it will plunge continental Europe into a quagmire of war, making it impossible for countries to develop and forcing them to invest their wealth in war, making it even more impossible to compete with Great Hua.

At that time, he would be the sinner of Europe.

Louis XIV was young and vigorous, and coupled with his ability and arrogance, he wanted to try it first.

Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, on the other hand, strongly agreed with Littman’s views, and the two countries had already reached an alliance. Currently, they also wanted to persuade the Netherlands to join.

On the surface, it was to resist the threat from Great Hua, but in reality, it was also to guard against Louis XIV and the Ottoman Empire.

At this time, France was rising, while the Ottoman Empire had reached its peak and was about to decline.

But a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. The Ottoman Empire’s land forces could still beatdown the European countries.

Therefore, the Ottoman Empire had never given up its expansion to the west.

There were two main reasons why Spain and the Holy Roman Empire were able to quickly reach an agreement on a defensive alliance.

The first was that the rulers of the two countries were from the same family, the Habsburgs.

The second was that they had common enemies: France and the Ottoman Empire.

Currently, these four countries were the main players on the European continent. The Netherlands had decent naval power, but its land forces were too small. If Louis XIV was not worried about Spain, he would probably have already begun annexing the Netherlands.

Of course, judging from the current trend, it would happen soon.

As for Germany, it was still a loose federation belonging to the Holy Roman Empire.

Another polar bear, the Grand Duchy of Moscow, had not yet risen. It would have to wait until Peter the Great appeared before they would have a role to play on the European continent.

As long as France and the Habsburgs could reach a consensus, then a European alliance would not be a problem.

However, a European alliance might not be in Britain’s interest.

Due to its geographical location, Britain preferred a divided European continent.

Therefore, they had always played the role of a troublemaker. Whoever on the continent showed a tendency to become stronger, they would attack.

However, the emergence of Great Hua forced some British nobles to consider whether continuing to let the European continent remain divided was right or wrong.

This was a profound question that required in-depth study.

In politics, countries were studying how to deal with the threat posed by Great Hua.

In terms of economy and technology, European countries were also striving to catch up.

In the fourth year of Yongxing, Britain produced the first practical steam engine.

This steam engine, named “Hope,” ran continuously for four hours.

Now, Britain’s research on steam engines had reached a new level, applying steam engines to various fields and successfully installing them on ships.

However, they had not yet mastered high-temperature boiler technology, so the steam engine’s power was very small.

It would probably take another year or two to build a mature steamship.

This speed was actually a leap forward.

This was thanks to the unscrupulous merchants of Great Hua.

Europeans used all means to obtain the secrets of steam engines.

It was actually easy to find loopholes in the vast Great Hua Empire.

Some merchants, unafraid of death, smuggled steam engines through various loopholes to earn huge fortunes.

A steam engine that cost one thousand yuan could be sold for one hundred thousand taels of silver, or even more, in Europe.

With such huge profits, there were too many merchants willing to risk beheading for it.

And Western Europe obtained many steam engines from Great Hua in this way.

Then, by disassembling and studying them, and then imitating them, the speed was naturally much faster.

However, they encountered some problems in materials research, so they had been unable to produce high-temperature and high-pressure boilers.

In addition to steam engines, Great Hua’s breech-loading rifle technology was also stolen by several Western European countries, and they also mastered the technology of high-explosive shells for artillery.

However, although they had mastered the technology, it would still take some time to achieve low-cost manufacturing.

Wu Changqing was actually aware of these countries stealing technology.

However, there was nothing he could do.

He would never truly believe that everyone would be loyal just because they called him “Long Live.”

Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost. Human nature is selfish.

In the face of huge profits, it was impossible for everyone to maintain noble morals.

To completely prohibit it, unless Great Hua itself prohibited its use, but this was obviously impossible. Great Hua’s development was inseparable from those machines.

Therefore, Wu Changqing only strengthened the control of core technologies from time to time.

For example, internal combustion engines and generators must be strictly controlled for the time being and must not be stolen.

By controlling these most advanced technologies, there was no need to worry about foreign theft.

No matter how much foreigners stole, they could not keep up with the speed of Great Hua’s development.

By the time Europeans manufactured high-temperature steam engines, Great Hua might have already popularized internal combustion engines.

By the time Europeans manufactured steam warships, Great Hua’s all-ironclad ships would have already sailed to their doorstep.

By the time Europeans manufactured ironclad ships, Great Hua’s aircraft carrier formations might have been completed.

As long as they maintained technological suppression over foreign countries, Great Hua could always beatdown them without worry.

After all, Great Hua was large enough, had enough population, and had the ability to unify the world.

Unlike Britain, even if its technology led the world, it could not unify the world. The size of its population was its weakness, and its upper limit was relatively low.

Therefore, for Wu Changqing, the most important thing was to have the people of Great Hua have more children.

There were large tracts of land overseas waiting for them to occupy. There was no shortage of land, only a shortage of people.

Chapter 822: Global Layout

In October, a joint Huaxia army and merchant fleet arrived in the Persian Gulf.

Prior to this, Great Hua and the Persian Empire had negotiated a land deal where Great Hua spent one million taels of silver to purchase Bahrain from the Persian Empire.

This was a controversial deal. The navy strongly opposed it, but the civil officials strongly supported it.

In the military’s view, if they needed Bahrain, they could just conquer it directly. Was it really necessary to spend money to buy it?

However, some civil officials stepped forward and used an abacus in court to calculate that the military’s cost of conquering Bahrain would far exceed one million taels.

Moreover, it would antagonize the Persian Empire.

Of course, Great Hua wasn’t afraid of the Persian Empire, but since Great Hua had no plans to reclaim Persia at the moment, there was no need to offend them in advance.

Having too many enemies wasn’t a good thing.

Therefore, the civil officials suggested directly buying Bahrain.

Anyway, the Persian Empire was quite in favor of the deal, so both sides were happy.

After some debate, the civil officials won, and Wu Changqing approved the plan to purchase it.

And so, Great Hua purchased the small territory of Bahrain from the Persian Empire.

Great Hua bought this place because they were interested in its oil resources.

Great Hua also had a lot of oil in its own territory, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to use it all up even if they mined it.

But the problem was that Great Hua’s oil was buried deep underground, making it difficult to extract.

In comparison, the oil in the Middle East was very easy to extract. In some places, you could even dig a well and find oil.

Therefore, with the current level of technology, Great Hua would rather mine in Bahrain and then transport it back home.

Although it was a bit troublesome, at least there were no technical bottlenecks, and it was achievable.

Wu Changqing was determined to get the oil in the Middle East.

Therefore, there was no harm in laying out plans in advance, so he agreed to the plan.

For the Persian Empire, selling territory was somewhat dishonorable.

If the Ottoman Empire had made this request, they would have refused without hesitation.

But the buyer was Great Hua.

Faced with the incredibly powerful Great Hua Empire, the Persian Empire chose to curry favor.

Anyway, selling a small place like Bahrain for one million taels of silver wasn’t a loss.

In Persia, where the commercial economy wasn’t very developed, one million taels of silver was a huge sum of money.

This one million taels would be enough for their royal family to squander for a long time.

At the same time, Great Hua’s first fleet to North America landed in San Francisco.

The Spanish had already arrived in San Francisco in 1542, but they were unable to occupy it immediately, mainly because they were few in number and couldn’t compete with the local natives.

It wasn’t until the mid-eighteenth century that the Spanish sent a large number of people to actually occupy the San Francisco area.

Before that, the Spanish only had nominal control.

They claimed that this area was theirs, but the various European countries ignored this nonsense, and the local natives ignored it as well.

Great Hua’s textbooks even stated that the entire world was Great Hua’s territory, but it had only been temporarily occupied by barbarians and hadn’t been reclaimed yet.

Other countries chose to ignore these words, except for cursing them as shameless.

In any case, when Great Hua’s gold-digging fleet, composed purely of merchants, arrived in San Francisco, they didn’t encounter any fighting.

In the port of San Francisco, there were only two Spanish buildings, and no more than twelve Spanish people lived there permanently.

When they saw Great Hua’s dozen or so large ships emitting thick smoke, they didn’t even know what they were.

Western Europe was already very familiar with steam engines, but there were still many places in the world that had never heard of them.

Great Hua sent nearly three thousand people at once, including three shanghao: the Tong family of Nanjing, the Chen family of Nanjing, and the Du family of Songjiang.

Of the three thousand people, more than two thousand were laborers hired by the three families, and more than four hundred were armed forces, their respective retainers.

The rest were mineral experts and servants.

Faced with such a large team, those few Spanish people didn’t even dare to emphasize or claim that this was their territory.

As for the locals, they wanted to express their dissatisfaction.

The two sides, who didn’t speak the same language, were just talking at cross purposes when they argued.

Before they had argued for a few minutes, the argument turned into pushing and shoving, then into a brawl. Finally, the Huaxia people chose to open fire, killing hundreds of people at once, which scared the natives away.

From then on, Great Hua had its first base in North America and began to explore the surrounding area based on this base.

The main goal was to find gold mines, which were said to be abundant here.

This news was naturally leaked by Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing wasn’t actually sure, but he vaguely remembered that there were many gold mines in San Francisco.

The greatest motivation for driving people to sea was gold mines.

A Huaxia army fleet passed through Java, arrived on the Australian continent, and established a base there.

Because they were there to look for gold mines, they named the place Jinshan (Gold Mountain) for good luck.

In fact, it was Darwin.

Jinshan was an even more desolate area than San Francisco. San Francisco at least had natives and Spanish.

When the Great Hua fleet arrived in Jinshan, they didn’t encounter a single person, only some strange animals.

The Australian continent was isolated from other continents, forming a unique climate and environment.

Therefore, the animals here were basically unique.

However, the Huaxia people weren’t here to admire the novel animals, but to find gold mines.

In the riverbeds, they found a small amount of gold dust, which made them extremely excited.

This meant that there were indeed gold mines here.

As long as they followed the river upstream, they would eventually find the gold mines.

After establishing a base, they divided into two groups. One group stayed behind to continue searching for gold mines, and the other group returned to Great Hua to report the situation and relocate more people.

Regardless of whether there were gold mines or not, there was no reason to leave this large area of unclaimed land empty. It would be good to use it for farming.

At home, buying one mu of land cost seven or eight wen, and you couldn’t exceed fifty mu.

But abroad, there were no relevant regulations yet, and you could exceed the limit of fifty mu.

More importantly, overseas land was free.

As long as they went there, placed two stones on the ground, and declared that this place was theirs, Great Hua wouldn’t care.

As long as they weren’t too outrageous and declared that the entire Jinshan was theirs, the imperial court wouldn’t care.

Or rather, wouldn’t care for the time being.

Only when a large-scale immigration wave began and immigration problems formed would Great Hua be likely to introduce new laws.

These unclaimed lands were a major attraction for immigrants.

Chapter 823: Key Strategy

In other places, Great Hua is merely laying the groundwork.

But in Annam and Japan, Great Hua is focusing its main efforts.

Annam has already been occupied for nearly two-thirds of the country, and the rest is estimated to be completely recovered by next year.

Japan is a bit slower, mainly because the Japanese elite class has a stronger sense of national identity and a stronger will to resist.

The Trinh family of Annam would choose to surrender if they couldn’t win, but the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan certainly wouldn’t.

However, this actually depends on Great Hua’s attitude.

After discovering that the common people of Japan were relatively receptive to Great Hua’s rule, Qian Sule submitted a memorial suggesting accelerating the pace of conquering Japan.

There was no need to proceed step by step as before; direct occupation was also an option.

As long as those elite classes and rulers were all killed, then the remaining Japanese people would be the best citizens.

Even without killing them all, it was estimated that killing half of the elite would turn the remaining half into loyal lackeys, just like Oshima Hayanami and others.

Therefore, in September, the Huaxia army stationed in the Satsuma Domain marched towards the Kumamoto Domain, intending to occupy the entire Kyushu Island.

The Kumamoto Domain had long been exhausted from its battles with Shimazu Mitsuhisa, and now facing the fierce Huaxia army, it was no match at all.

Only three days after the start of the war, Kumamoto Castle fell, and Nishikawa Mochiyoshi fled to the mountainous areas to continue his resistance.

However, this resistance was nothing more than a death throe.

The Huaxia army continued to advance, quickly annihilating Nishikawa Mochiyoshi and completely annexing the Kumamoto Domain.

Immediately afterward, Great Hua continued north, attacking the Fukuoka Domain.

The Fukuoka Domain was the last major domain on Kyushu Island.

After defeating the Fukuoka Domain, it would be almost equivalent to occupying Kyushu Island.

The situation in the Fukuoka Domain was slightly better than that in the Kumamoto Domain, as it had not experienced such a long period of war, only fighting with the Kumamoto Domain for a while.

Their better situation referred to the lives of the people and the economy within the territory.

In terms of military strength alone, they were even inferior to the Kumamoto Domain.

The Kumamoto Domain at least had a large number of weapons and equipment aided by the Huaxia army, and they had even helped them train their troops.

In terms of combat power, they far surpassed other daimyo.

The Fukuoka Domain received less assistance, and now even flintlock guns have not been popularized in the army. There are still a large number of matchlock guns, as well as swords, bows, and crossbows.

How could such an army be a match for the Huaxia army?

A round of shelling before the war sent the Fukuoka Domain’s army scattering in all directions, and the Huaxia army’s infantry didn’t even have a chance to perform.

In October, the Huaxia army had advanced to Torikai, forty kilometers away from Fukuoka.

As for the islands and ports on the periphery of the Fukuoka Domain, such as Nagasaki and Sasebo, they had already been captured by Great Hua.

As long as Fukuoka, the last major city, was taken, the Fukuoka Domain would have to declare its demise.

However, at this moment, the Japanese allied forces organized by the shogunate landed in Fukuoka.

They sent a total of sixty thousand troops this time, joining forces with the twenty thousand remnants of the Fukuoka Domain, and came to Ono to set up defenses.

The Huaxia army, after continuous battles, had only about seven thousand men left who could continue fighting, excluding those who were still resting.

The difference in strength exceeded tenfold, and the Japanese were still defending, and the terrain of Ono was a canyon corridor in the middle, with mountains on both sides, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Therefore, the Huaxia army suspended its attack and waited for reinforcements.

As long as there was a battle, the Ministry of the Army would accept all comers.

If the imperial court had no money, it didn’t matter; they could find their own way.

Either they could sell their misery to Wu Changqing, or they could seek donations from the people, or they could tighten their belts internally.

In short, they had a way to raise the military expenses for departure.

Since it didn’t cost the imperial court any money, those civil officials had nothing to say.

And Wu Changqing did not discourage their enthusiasm, approving their plan to transfer two more divisions to Japan.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also announced the expansion of five more divisions.

As the territory grew, it was necessary to appropriately increase the number of troops.

Those newly recovered places needed to station more troops to deter petty thieves.

Two divisions of the army went to Japan to fight, and before they set sail, the Chamber of Commerce organized a grand send-off.

It could be said that the people who liked war the most, besides the military, were the merchants of Great Hua.

Every foreign war allowed them to follow behind and obtain huge profits.

Therefore, they were the most staunch advocates of war.

If the army had no money to go to war, it was easy to handle.

As long as they told the Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce would organize public donations.

And these donations mainly came from merchants.

Of course, there were also some patriotic activists.

As soon as they heard that the imperial court was going to recover territory, they were particularly excited, and they would rather save money and food to donate some money and contribute some effort.

Although the donations were not much, there were many people who donated, and the accumulated amount was quite considerable.

The national title of Great Hua had taken root in the hearts of the people, and most of the people of Great Hua had begun to be proud of being a citizen of Great Hua.

In this case, patriotism was very marketable, which was completely opposite to other countries.

Other countries lacked money to fight wars and could only rely on force to increase taxes and apportion them. It was simply a dream to expect the people to donate voluntarily.

At the port, people waved colorful flags, cheered, and shouted slogans similar to “Great Hua is invincible.”

Some caring people also prepared some local specialties and snacks to stuff into the hands of the soldiers lining up to board the ship.

It was just that the atmosphere in Great Hua was still relatively conservative; otherwise, these soldiers fighting for the country might have had beauties to praise and comfort them on the night before their departure.

These actions made the soldiers who were about to go on the expedition feel very comfortable.

In the past, joining the army to fight was to make a living and get a meal.

But now, joining the army to fight could gain respect, praise, and recognition.

This gave the soldiers an extra layer of collective honor, and they were even more embarrassed to run away during combat. It could also be said that they already had a primary belief.

Among the people who came to see them off, there were even some Japanese women.

This was also thanks to the Propaganda Department under the Ministry of Rites of Great Hua. They naturally would not say that Great Hua was going to occupy Japan, but rather to rescue the poor people of Japan.

In the words of Great Hua, the rulers of Japan were too cruel and did not treat the people as human beings.

As the ancestors of Japan, Great Hua naturally could not allow this to happen, so they were going to eliminate those rulers and rescue the ordinary Japanese people.

These words were not entirely nonsense, so naturally some Japanese people believed them.

Especially these Japanese women living in Great Hua, who used to be oppressed classes in Japan.

After coming to Great Hua, although they lived not as well as the people of Great Hua, they were much better than before, at least they could eat their fill.

Therefore, they were very supportive of Great Hua and deeply believed in Great Hua’s propaganda.

Gradually, they had already regarded themselves as a part of Great Hua.

This was even more true for those women who had married men from Great Hua.

Chapter 824: Military Intelligence Express

Early December, nearing the end of the year, Great Hua routinely conducted its annual summary, reviewing the development achievements of the year. Then, these achievements were published in the newspapers to share the joy with the people.

When the people of Great Hua saw the reports of Great Hua becoming increasingly powerful, it boosted their confidence in the imperial court and increased their support for it.

On December first, early in the morning, the newspaper office opened its doors and arranged for people to distribute the newspapers.

Newspaper news emphasized timeliness, so there was no room for delay.

Horse-drawn carriages carried the newspapers, shuttling through the streets.

Servants were already waiting at the gates of wealthy families, while ordinary wage-earning families had mailboxes at their doorsteps, where the newspapers could be placed directly.

This was the scene in the wealthy district, and only in the wealthy district was the public order so good that no one stole newspapers.

As for the poor districts, the newspaper office delivered more than a thousand copies of the newspapers to the local newsstands, which were responsible for selling them.

People in the poor districts rarely subscribed to newspapers.

They usually only went to the newsstand occasionally to buy a few copies they needed, or waited to read the newspapers that others had finished reading and thrown away.

In the Duke of the Nation’s residence, Li Shaobin maintained his habit of waking up early.

After breakfast, he routinely read the newspapers.

His family subscribed to many newspapers, including the Government Affairs Report, the Great Hua Daily, Military Intelligence Express, the Odd News Report, and the Novel Report.

The predecessor of the Government Affairs Report was the official gazette, and officials were required to subscribe to it.

The Great Hua Daily was the newspaper with the largest circulation, and most people subscribed to it.

The Military Intelligence Express was a newspaper dedicated to publishing military developments, which others could choose not to subscribe to, but military officials rarely did not subscribe to it.

The Odd News Report contained entertainment gossip and other anecdotes, which he read when he was bored.

The Odd News Report and the Novel Report were subscribed to for the women in his family.

Li Shaobin first picked up the Military Intelligence Express, because he was a soldier.

Today’s Military Intelligence Express also summarized the military achievements of the fifth year of Yongxing.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua launched a total of twenty-one large-scale battles, including the Annam War, the Japan War, the Korean Rebellion Suppression, the Sichuan Bandit Suppression, the Hunan Bandit Suppression, the Hekou Battle, the Hai Shan Battle, and so on.

The largest in scale was naturally the Annam War, which involved a force of eighty thousand troops before and after, and lasted for as long as half a year, and is still ongoing.

Of course, the results were also quite gratifying, adding Hanoi Province to Great Hua, with nearly ten million people.

The results of the Japan War were also very good, with almost the entire Kyushu Island about to be incorporated into Great Hua.

Moreover, the people on Kyushu Island were very supportive of merging into Great Hua.

These were all relatively high-profile battles. The bandit suppression battles in Sichuan and western Hunan were less noticed, but in reality, the scale was not small at all.

The defeated soldiers left over from the former Ming Dynasty and the Great Western Army formed hundreds of bandit gangs in these mountainous areas.

Some gangs had dozens or hundreds of people, while others had thousands or tens of thousands.

These people did not farm, did not work, did not engage in production, and were of no benefit to the development of Great Hua.

What was even more deadly was that these people still had to eat, drink, and have fun, so they would loot everywhere, as if they were sucking the blood of Great Hua.

Great Hua had no mercy on these bandits and launched a full-scale sweep with a large army.

It took a year to screen the two most bandit-ridden areas, basically eliminating the banditry.

In this bandit suppression campaign, the Huaxia army suffered more than two thousand deaths and tens of thousands of injuries, almost matching the Annam War.

In this campaign, they uprooted a total of two hundred and forty-five bandit dens, killing more than eighteen thousand seven hundred bandits and capturing more than one hundred and seventeen thousand people alive.

Of these one hundred and seventeen thousand prisoners, more than two thousand were directly beheaded for their heinous crimes.

The remaining one hundred and fifteen thousand people were all押解to the mines to mine, or to build highways and railways, and dig canals.

In any case, Great Hua had plenty of work for them to do.

Great Hua loved these free laborers the most.

Of course, because they were people of Great Hua, the imperial court still gave them a glimmer of hope.

As long as they served for five years, they could be released and start a new life.

As for the prisoners from Annam and Japan, they would have to work until they died.

Although Great Hua promised them that they would be released after serving eight years, their labor intensity was much higher than that of the captured bandits.

Those who could survive three years in the mine were all gifted.

Wanting to persist for eight years was simply a pipe dream.

The workload of these prisoners was equivalent to that of three paid laborers.

Currently, Great Hua had about four hundred thousand free laborers nationwide.

Most of them were Japanese, Annamese, Manchu Eight Banners soldiers, Ming army prisoners, Great Western Army prisoners, and other criminals.

“Another year of brilliant achievements. At this rate, there will soon be no wars to fight.”

Li Shaobin smiled and continued reading.

In addition to introducing the achievements of the war, the newspaper also reported on the development of military equipment.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua had many new types of equipment.

Among them, the most eye-catching was the all-ironclad battleship. With argon arc welding technology, Great Hua’s shipbuilding capabilities had been raised to a new level.

These all-ironclad ships were simply behemoths on the sea.

Before they ran out of ammunition and food, these behemoths were invincible.

Another big toy was the Dongfeng truck.

Although this was not a weapon, its effect was better than most weapons.

With these trucks, it was much easier for the Great Hua army to transport troops and supplies.

Currently, the production capacity of the arsenal was limited. In a few months, the army was only equipped with one hundred Dongfeng trucks.

This made Li Shaobin somewhat dissatisfied. He felt that the speed should be accelerated so that he could attack Shaanxi and Gansu in advance, and then fight all the way to the Western Regions.

With truck transport, there was no need to worry about logistics issues.

In addition to the big toys, Great Hua also had many achievements in individual equipment this year.

Hand grenades had been improved from stick grenades to hand grenades.

In comparison, hand grenades were lighter and more powerful.

Because the surface of the hand grenade was engraved with uneven grooves, the hand grenade could be divided into more fragments when it exploded.

The surface of the stick grenade was smooth. Sometimes the explosion only blew a hole in the iron skin surface, and the shrapnel would not fly in all directions.

Wu Changqing knew this principle a long time ago. However, in the past, the processing technology was not advanced enough, so knowing it was useless.

Only now that Great Hua’s industrial level had improved could it manufacture this kind of hand grenade.

Rifles had also been improved, and some ace troops were already re-equipping with more advanced semi-automatic rifles.

In terms of sniper rifles, optical sights had also been added to reduce the difficulty of training sharpshooters.

Rocket launchers, grenade launchers, grenade launchers, and light machine guns were also equipped in small quantities to some special forces.

Chapter 825: Agricultural Achievements

The most avid readers of the newspaper aren’t actually the people of Great Hua.

It’s the ambassadors and spies from various countries who are the most dedicated readers.

Although the reports in the Great Hua newspapers contain a mix of truth and falsehoods, they can still glean a great deal of useful information from them.

Of course, their meager gains are essentially a last-ditch effort, unable to sway the overall trend.

Carlos, the Spanish ambassador to Great Hua, was eating fried dough sticks and drinking soy milk, holding a copy of the Great Hua Daily.

Today’s Great Hua Daily reported on the development achievements of the fifth year of Yongxing.

These were the areas Carlos was concerned about. He needed to understand Great Hua’s development speed and current situation, and send this intelligence back to his country so that the high-level officials could choose a strategy towards Great Hua based on this information.

[In the fifth year of Yongxing, our dynasty produced a total of forty million tons of grain, achieving an average daily ration of one kg per person. Among them, about twenty million tons of rice, eight million tons of wheat, three million tons of corn. Potatoes, soybeans, sweet potatoes, sorghum and other coarse grains nine million tons…]

Carlos found it difficult to imagine what forty million tons actually meant, but it was a lot, very lot.

However, Carlos could feel the effect of this grain production figure from the living standards of the Great Hua people.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s breeding industry developed rapidly, and a large amount of meat entered ordinary people’s homes.

This alone was enough to show how abundant Great Hua’s grain supply was.

The breeding industry consumes a lot of grain. Although Great Hua has now developed feed, feed is also made of grain.

The prosperity of the breeding industry and the prosperity of the brewing industry are the best proof of a great grain harvest.

In addition to the breeding industry, Great Hua’s fishing industry also developed rapidly this year.

This year, Great Hua hunted more than two thousand whales.

This alone provided Great Hua with one hundred thousand tons of meat.

The catch of other fish was no less than that of whales.

If you were to ask the people of Great Hua what the biggest change in the fifth year of Yongxing was, one of their answers would definitely be that they ate meat many times this year.

“It’s really enviable. We must not let the ordinary people in our country know about the life in Great Hua, otherwise they may try every means to come to Great Hua.”

Carlos said with emotion.

The living standards of the people of the two countries were simply worlds apart.

[Breakthroughs have been made in fertilizer synthesis technology, and costs have been reduced by forty percent. It is expected that in the sixth year of Yongxing, our dynasty will use a large amount of fertilizer, and grain production will increase by more than fifty percent.]

The optimistic estimates in the newspaper made Carlos want to cry.

Great Hua’s output is already high enough, and the growth rate is so fast. He didn’t understand what Great Hua needed so much grain for.

Of course, he didn’t know that Great Hua’s population was currently in an explosive period.

People aged ten to fourteen or fifteen accounted for a very large proportion.

And people in this age group are the most capable of eating, and one person can even eat the amount of two adults.

“We must find a way to steal Great Hua’s fertilizer technology. This is more important than the steam engine. As long as we can increase grain production, we can feed more people.”

Carlos silently recited in his heart that a major reason restricting Spain’s development was its small population.

Although Spain was already declining, it still had many colonies. Spain had not yet fully digested Mexico and Latin America because their population was too small.

As long as enough people migrate to Latin America, they can nativize Latin America.

Nativization and colonization are fundamentally different.

Colonization can only suck blood from the colonies and cannot turn the colonies into Spain’s true strength.

In terms of overseas colonization, Carlos strongly agreed with Great Hua’s strategy. It must be nativized, completely conquered, and assimilated, otherwise it would be of little significance.

Henan, Shangqiu, a farming family is reclaiming land.

In fact, the current cultivated land area of Great Hua is still far smaller than that of later generations.

Even in the plains of Shangqiu, there is still some arable land.

In the past, it was not reclaimed, mainly because of war, no time, no farm tools, no food to eat, and no strength, among other reasons.

Now, these problems have been solved by Great Hua.

As for Great Hua’s policy of fifty mu of land per household, these people don’t care.

They are just ignorant, not stupid. They are second to none when it comes to playing petty tricks.

If a family can only plant fifty mu, then they can divide the family.

In the past, a family often had three generations living under one roof, with a dozen or twenty people.

Now, these families tend to split into small families of a few people.

Small families with only a few people have limited reclamation ability, and it is unknown how long it will take to reach the upper limit.

Therefore, the policy of a fifty mu limit does not affect them, but only affects those large landlords.

The government does not care about this behavior among the people, and even provides support.

Anyway, the more land reclaimed, the more beneficial it is to Great Hua, and it is also a political achievement for local officials.

As for not being able to collect too much tax on the reclaimed land, this is not a problem at all.

The Great Hua court’s means of making money have long been separated from this low-level form of taxation, and more rely on manufacturing industrial products for exchange.

These people work hard for a lifetime, and the money they save may be drained by a car, a house in the city, or a harvester.

Hebei, Quyang, a farming household received potato seeds sent by the government.

The Little Ice Age has not yet passed. The rainfall in the North is very low, and the temperature is also low. In the past, wheat could be planted, but now there is no guarantee that wheat will be harvested.

Great Hua does not have hybrid wheat, and the people in the North can only sigh in admiration for the South.

For this reason, Great Hua is vigorously promoting the planting of potatoes in the North.

This thing is highly adaptable, has low requirements for the environment and climate, and has a large yield.

Although it is not customary to use it as a staple food, one meal of potatoes and one meal of noodles is acceptable.

What’s more, potatoes can be sold to the South for cooking, and can also be exchanged for some rice from the South.

From a cost-effective point of view, growing potatoes is better than wheat.

Northeast, Great Hua is promoting the planting of corn here.

There is a lot of fertile land in the Northeast. Currently, Great Hua is also increasing the development of the Northeast and has migrated many people from within the borders.

Although the Northeast is very cold, Great Hua has now mastered the technology of briquettes and is widely using them in the North.

With briquettes for heating, a large amount of arable land, and farm tools and seeds provided by the government, making a living in the Northeast has become a good choice.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua achieved considerable success in agriculture.

At this rate, Great Hua’s grain output can maintain continuous growth for many years.

The food problem that has plagued the world for thousands of years has been completely solved in Great Hua.

Chapter 826: Transportation and Communication

“Send this letter back to the country.”

After reading the latest issue of the Great Hua Daily, William, the British ambassador to Great Hua, wrote a report and prepared to send it back home.

At this moment, he felt a little depressed.

Because the telegraph technology was in the hands of Great Hua, and some of the content in his report could not be known by Great Hua, he could not use the telegraph.

Otherwise, he could have used the telegraph to send it to Guangzhou instantly, and then shipped it from Guangzhou back to his country.

Starting from Guangzhou would save more than a week compared to starting from Nanjing.

For him, it was very important to report the situation of Great Hua to his country as quickly as possible.

“The communication and transportation of Great Hua are really enviable.”

William sighed after finishing the report.

Being in Great Hua, communicating with his home country was quite difficult, making him realize the importance of rapid communication even more.

Only by mastering this method of rapid communication can one effectively rule a vast empire.

William imagined that if England had mastered telegraph technology, Scotland in the north would probably be more obedient and not cause trouble every now and then.

Unfortunately, he could only think about it for the time being.

Great Hua kept the principles and technology of the telegraph strictly confidential. William inquired in many ways, but he had no clue.

Helpless, William could only turn to the newspaper again for reports on Great Hua’s transportation and communication.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s telegraph developed rapidly. With the all-out efforts of the royal family, the military, and private merchants, Great Hua’s telegraph lines were built very quickly, much faster than railway construction.

Not only had telegraph lines been erected along the already open roads, but they had also connected Nanjing to Guangzhou, Nanjing to Beijing, Nanjing to Wuhan, and many other important routes.

Now, the imperial court’s orders could be transmitted to Wuhan in the center in an instant, which was eight or nine days faster than before.

The central government’s control over local areas had directly reached a new level.

The emergence of the telegraph had a great impact on Great Hua, saving a lot of time and money.

In the past, if Great Hua’s newspapers wanted to appear in Wuhan, they had to be transported to Wuhan by speedboat, and then the printing factory in Wuhan would start work, which was several days behind in terms of timeliness.

But now, Great Hua only needed to send the content via telegraph, and the printing factory in Wuhan could start work directly, saving time, effort, and money.

The impact on commerce and the economy was even greater.

In the past, due to backward communication, it was impossible to grasp the prices of goods in various places in a timely manner, and it was easy to lose money.

But now, with developed communication, merchants in Nanjing knew the market conditions of goods in various places like the back of their hands.

People who could keep up with the times and were good at using the telegraph could always be one step ahead and make a fortune.

In the stock market, after the telegraph was available, the stock prices of the Nanjing and Shanghai stock exchanges also tended to be the same, and no longer had the huge differences as before.

The impact of the telegraph on people’s livelihood was not particularly great, mainly because sending telegrams was not cheap.

The imperial court and merchants were willing to spend the money, but ordinary people could not possibly send telegrams to communicate with others. Only a very small number of wealthy people could afford such luxury.

Inter-city communication between ordinary people was still mainly through letters.

However, with the increase in the number of telegraph operators and receivers, and the progress of technology, the price of sending telegrams would become lower and lower.

In the newspaper, William also saw a word: telephone.

This was a technology project that Great Hua was currently researching. It was said that after the telephone was successfully developed, two people in different places could talk directly and hear each other’s voices.

William felt that this was a bit of a fantasy and outrageous. However, he was not sure whether Great Hua was bragging.

After all, many technologies of Great Hua seemed outrageous in the past, but now they had really been realized.

It seemed reasonable for something magical to appear in the future.

Compared to the still illusory telephone, William was more concerned about Great Hua’s transportation construction.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, the mileage of Great Hua’s railways had reached two thousand five hundred kilometers, an increase of nearly two thousand kilometers compared to last year, achieving rapid development.

Two thousand five hundred kilometers of railways, if these two thousand five hundred kilometers were laid in England, it would be enough to connect several major cities in England.

The role of this kind of transportation capacity in promoting the economy was exciting to even think about.

William learned that his country had developed a steam engine that could work continuously, and he was a little excited and a little worried.

He was excited that his country had finally achieved a technological breakthrough, but he was worried that Great Hua would develop faster, and catching up would still be a distant dream.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua added five new shipyards, with an annual increase in shipbuilding capacity of more than forty ships, with a total tonnage of thirty thousand tons.

At present, Great Hua’s shipbuilding capacity can build about one hundred ships of various sizes every year, with a total tonnage of more than eighty thousand tons.

This number was about fifty times that of the United Kingdom, and this was just a comparison of tonnage, not quality.

British wooden sailing ships were no match for Great Hua’s steam ships. Not to mention Great Hua’s pure ironclad warships, which were equipment of two different dimensions.

Seeing Great Hua’s maritime power, although William didn’t want to admit it, he couldn’t deceive himself. He admitted a reality.

That is, the United Kingdom can never surpass Great Hua.

In the latest report, William had already suggested that the king marry a princess over, preferably to form a marriage alliance with the emperor of Great Hua. If that was not possible, marrying the Prince of Qin or a first-rank minister would be fine.

Wu Changqing was also quite surprised by the achievements in transportation, and at one point suspected that the people below were falsely reporting their achievements.

You know, in addition to the two thousand kilometers of railways, Great Hua also completed ten thousand kilometers of highway expansion in the fifth year of Yongxing.

Although it was only widening, straightening, and paving sand or cement on the original basis, the number of ten thousand kilometers was still quite amazing.

There were official roads connecting major cities.

However, when he thought that Great Hua currently had more than four hundred thousand prisoners of war and nearly three hundred thousand hired workers building roads, all of this seemed understandable.

A large project of six to seven hundred thousand people was an unprecedented feat.

Looking at the world, only Great Hua’s national strength could support the consumption of this kind of project.

Other small countries, let alone whether they had the strength to support this consumption, it would be impossible to gather so much labor.

By the sixth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s railway planning could shift from economic priority to strategic priority.

Some railways with general economic benefits but great strategic significance should also be put on the agenda.

For example, there must be a railway connecting the Western Regions.

There must also be a railway entering Sichuan.

Railways connecting Korea, Yunnan, and Hanoi Province should not be lacking either.

Chapter 827: Tax Revenue Exceeds Four Hundred Million

As the year drew to a close, it was once again time for the annual budget battle.

In the fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s tax revenue reached four hundred and fifty million yuan, an increase of thirty-six percent.

The growth rate of Great Hua’s tax revenue had been declining, but that was because Great Hua’s tax base was becoming increasingly large.

While the growth rate decreased, the total increase in revenue actually improved.

Four hundred and fifty million yuan was a figure that most people couldn’t comprehend.

Of this four hundred and fifty million, only fifty million came from agriculture and animal husbandry, just over ten percent.

Industry, commerce, and finance accounted for about sixty-five percent, resource and mineral taxes accounted for more than ten percent, and other areas accounted for about half a percent.

The proportion of tax revenue from resources and minerals was increasing year by year, mainly because Great Hua’s consumption of minerals was accelerating.

The exploitation of natural resources had become a more profitable industry than manufacturing.

Otherwise, Great Hua wouldn’t have established a dedicated Ministry of Natural Resources this year.

Tax revenues were encouraging, and this year, all previous national debts and fiscal deficits were officially paid off.

This meant that the imperial court had spare money and could increase the salaries of officials.

Four hundred and fifty million yuan in tax revenue was a lot, but no one could say exactly how much it was, as there was no point of reference.

Therefore, the people in the Auditing Department made a rough estimate based on the situation of various countries abroad and provided tax revenue data for each country.

This data was indeed ‘rough’. Much of it had no evidence to support it and was based on pure speculation.

Finally, the Auditing Department compiled a ranking of the major countries’ tax revenues.

Great Hua, of course, ranked first, far ahead of the others.

Second place went to Great Britain. The Auditing Department speculated that Great Britain’s tax revenue this year should reach twenty million yuan.

No one knew what their theoretical basis was, and those who doubted it couldn’t provide more effective data, so they could only believe the Auditing Department’s conclusion for the time being.

Third place was the Spanish Empire, with sixteen million. Even though it was in decline, a starving camel was still bigger than a horse.

Fourth place was France, with fifteen million.

Fifth place was the Ottoman Empire, with fourteen million.

…

Tenth place was Japan, with seven million. This was a relatively accurate figure because Great Hua had many spies in Japan who had obtained a large amount of information about Japan’s financial situation.

The estimated figures satisfied Great Hua’s officials.

Because, according to this calculation, the tax revenue of all other countries and regions in the world combined was not as much as Great Hua’s.

Wu Changqing only glanced at this prediction and ignored it. It wasn’t of great significance; it could only satisfy vanity and provide a sense of accomplishment.

The Auditing Department estimated that Great Hua’s economic growth rate in the sixth year of Yongxing should reach twenty percent, meaning that tax revenue in the sixth year of Yongxing could reach five hundred and forty million.

Therefore, the fiscal budget for the sixth year of Yongxing was set at five hundred and thirty million, with ten million left over as a precaution.

After a fierce debate, all parties finally reached a compromise.

Of this five hundred and thirty million, twenty million would be used to increase the salaries of officials.

Even workers’ wages were constantly rising, and officials couldn’t remain stagnant.

Without high salaries to discourage corruption, more corruption would inevitably arise.

Therefore, Wu Changqing also agreed to increase the salaries of officials.

However, he also issued the latest instructions: if corruption and bribery still occurred after the salary increase, severe punishment would be imposed.

Arresting a batch of corrupt officials every year had become a common practice in Great Hua.

In this way, on the one hand, it could serve as a deterrent, and on the other hand, it could provide fresh blood for the government and eliminate some incompetent people.

Of the remaining five hundred and ten million, the military received one hundred million, accounting for nearly twenty percent.

In later generations, this proportion would naturally be very high.

However, in this era, in this period of constant warfare, this proportion of military spending was not high.

In neighboring Japan, military spending had already exceeded one hundred percent. All tax revenue was invested in the military, and they still owed huge debts.

Even the Persian Empire, which was temporarily not at war, had a military spending ratio of thirty percent.

Countries like France and Great Britain had military spending ratios exceeding thirty percent.

Of the one hundred million in military spending, the army accounted for seventy million and the navy thirty million.

It seemed like a lot, but it wasn’t enough.

A Dongfeng brand truck cost the military three thousand yuan. They planned to equip two thousand vehicles next year, which would cost six million.

This was just one piece of equipment. The army had too much equipment to purchase, plus soldiers’ salaries.

Obviously, the army would have to continue to live a hard life and continue to rely on their own efforts.

The navy was relatively better off. After all, the navy had fewer people, and salary expenditures were much lower than the army’s.

However, thirty million was not enough for the navy either.

A two-thousand-ton pure ironclad ship cost as much as three hundred thousand to build, and the navy planned to build ten ships next year.

This one piece of equipment alone accounted for one-tenth of the military spending.

In short, one hundred million in military spending was definitely not enough. If there were large-scale wars next year, Wu Changqing would inevitably have to dip into his own pocket again.

The remaining four hundred and ten million would be divided among a dozen departments.

The largest shares still went to the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Transportation, and the Ministry of Education, all of which were spending departments.

Other departments, such as the Ministry of Appointments, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, only spent on personnel salaries.

The Ministry of Industry received one hundred and fifty million, and the Ministry of Education received one hundred million…

And then, this money had to be distributed to the local areas.

Those cities that were being given priority development would naturally receive more funding.

The same was true for education. Each province was breaking their heads to get more education funding.

At this time, what was being compared was the talent cultivation results of each province, which was somewhat similar to the college enrollment rate in later generations.

The places with high enrollment rates would naturally receive more funding.

The places with poor results would naturally receive less. In this way, principals in various places could be motivated to focus on education.

Looking solely at the enrollment rate was naturally not very good, but it was the most effective way.

In the competition for industrial funding, Guangdong, Hubei, and Anhui had a greater advantage. The development speed of Guangdong and Hubei was much faster than other places.

In the competition for education funding, Jiangxi stood out.

Since ancient times, Jiangxi had been the region that valued education the most, and the number of various academies far surpassed other places.

This strong atmosphere of reading was something that other places could not cultivate in a short period of time.

But sadly, Jiangxi’s development conditions were not very good. Those talents who had learned knowledge and skills all ran to Guangzhou or Nanjing and Shanghai, leaving no opportunity to display their talents in Jiangxi.

Jiangxi had become a talent export base.

Chapter 828: To Whom Does the Title of Hero Belong?

In terms of education, Great Hua’s illiteracy rate has dropped to sixty percent, roughly equivalent to the level of the nineteen sixties.

Of course, there are some issues with this statistical standard.

Anyone who can recognize more than one thousand characters is defined as non-illiterate.

Even with this standard, Great Hua’s educational achievements are astonishing.

You should know that in the twenty-first century, the illiteracy rate in Curry Country is about the same.

During the Ming Dynasty, using one thousand characters as the standard, the illiteracy rate was probably over ninety-five percent.

Great Hua has achieved such terrifying results mainly due to two aspects.

One is free education for children of school age, and the other is adult education and training.

Although the illiteracy rate was high during the Ming Dynasty, almost all illiterate people recognized one truth: that studying changes destiny.

People in the past didn’t not want to study, they just didn’t have the conditions to study.

After Great Hua implemented free education, almost all school-age children were sent to school.

This age group accounts for about twenty-five percent of the population.

The other is due to adult re-education.

In the army, soldiers have night school to attend, and they are forced to learn to read.

In factories, a large number of positions require literate people to fill them.

Therefore, all large factories have night schools, which train workers’ skills on the one hand and teach them to read on the other.

It is difficult to get these people to master any profound knowledge, but it is not difficult to teach them to read.

After Great Hua promoted pinyin, teachers no longer needed to teach one character at a time.

As long as they learn pinyin pronunciation and use a dictionary, the difficulty of self-study is greatly reduced.

Learning to read has a very obvious effect on wage increases, which stimulates individual initiative.

The enthusiasm of those adults for learning is no less than that of children.

As a result, over the years, almost everyone working in urban factories has escaped the category of illiteracy.

This group of workers has become Great Hua’s most valuable asset, the most qualified workers in the world.

Among these workers, countless ordinary people have emerged and achieved a reversal in their lives.

Some have invented small objects, some have improved machines, and some have optimized processes.

These talents are snatched up by major factories because their value is immeasurable.

For a simple example, a worker in a factory in Nanjing optimized a process and increased the thermal efficiency of the internal combustion engine by two percentage points.

The value brought by this optimization exceeded one million yuan, and in the long run, it even exceeded ten million.

This part of the workers accounts for eight percent of the non-illiterate population.

The remaining seven percent are the elite group, students who aim to become officials, engage in scientific research, and so on.

Great Hua’s largest illiterate group is now the rural population.

Farming doesn’t require much literacy, so they naturally don’t have the motivation to learn.

Or rather, the benefits they can get from learning to read are not high.

Of course, this situation is gradually changing.

When chemical fertilizers began to be used on a large scale, literate farmers also had some advantages, which gave some people the motivation to learn to read.

The Imperial Palace.

Wu Changqing was quite satisfied with Great Hua’s development this year.

Taking advantage of the emperor’s good mood, Zhang Anhai, the little eunuch in charge of Wu Changqing’s entertainment life, recommended Olgana’s performance to Wu Changqing.

The most famous female star in Nanjing is actually a European, which was a bit of a surprise to Wu Changqing.

But after seeing Olgana’s appearance, he could understand.

Olgana’s appearance is similar to Audrey Hepburn in his impression, a natural star look.

This kind of person has an inherent temperament, and every frown and smile is a classic scene.

Wu Changqing was sizing up Olgana, and Olgana was also sizing up Wu Changqing. She was not a traditional Great Hua woman and didn’t know that she shouldn’t look directly at the emperor.

What disappointed Olgana was that Wu Changqing’s appearance was very ordinary, just with a bit more aura than ordinary people.

Afterwards, Olgana began her singing performance.

Wu Changqing was surprised again. Olgana sang Chinese songs without the stiffness of a foreigner. This alone can be regarded as a gift.

“Your Majesty, this kind of straightforward song is called pop music. It is a very popular style of song in Nanjing now,” Zhang Anhai explained.

“Pop song, you think I don’t know?”

Wu Changqing said disdainfully.

As everyone knows, men like to show off in front of beautiful women, and Wu Changqing is no exception.

Usually, when dealing with national affairs, he naturally has a serious face.

But now is the time for relaxation and entertainment, and he can be very crazy.

“Watch me.”

Wu Changqing personally went down to the stage, instructing the musicians on how to arrange the music, and then sang himself.

His actions naturally made others very curious.

They had never heard that Wu Changqing could sing.

Even Olgana looked at Wu Changqing curiously with her big watery eyes.

She thought that after Wu Changqing saw her, he would use his power to directly take her as his own.

She never expected that after the emperor heard her song, he would also sing.

Afterwards, the musician blew the suona.

“The sky—is—darkening.”

“The moon—is—like—new.”

“Thousands of miles—of rivers and streams, let me fly across.”

“The song—stops.”

“People—look—around.”

“Invite the moon—to stay overnight, deep in the green mountains.”

“To whom does the title of hero belong? It belongs to none other than me.”

“Having gone through thousands of hardships.”

“Just to exchange for your heart to remain the same.”

…

Wu Changqing sang Bian Liunian’s “To Whom Does the Title of Hero Belong?”, the theme song from Tai Chi Master, which was also a song that impressed him deeply.

If it were any other song, he really couldn’t remember the lyrics and singing style for a while.

This song is just right, it can be accompanied by traditional opera tunes, and the artistic conception of “To Whom Does the Title of Hero Belong?” is also suitable for him to sing.

If he sang “Mice Love Rice,” that would be truly shocking and would make the eunuchs and maids in the palace doubt their lives.

After the song was finished, these people didn’t applaud, they just knew how to cheer.

“Your Majesty, this song is majestic, heroic, passionate, and inspiring. It is truly a masterpiece of our time…” Zhang Anhai said.

“Stop, read more books before you flatter me, otherwise I’ll feel embarrassed listening to it,” Wu Changqing complained.

When the emperor is in a good mood, the eunuchs and maids are also more relaxed.

“Your Majesty is right,” Zhang Anhai said.

“How is it? I sang pretty well, right?”

Wu Changqing, of course, didn’t care about Zhang Anhai’s praise. What he cared about was Olgana’s opinion.

Olgana was a little better than Zhang Anhai, not so flattering.

But what else could she say about the emperor’s performance? Of course, she had to cheer.

“Your Majesty sang out the heroic spirit, and the commoner girl admires it very much,” Olgana said.

Of course, this was not purely flattery.

Although Wu Changqing sang generally, the key is that pop songs are just developing now, and there are very few people who can sing pop songs. In this way, Wu Changqing’s ordinary level seems quite good.

Chapter 829: Yongxing Year Six

It had been a long time since Wu Changqing had enjoyed himself like an ordinary person, and he felt pretty good.

In his happiness, he naturally took Olgana as his own.

The most outstanding woman, of course, belonged to him; this was only right and proper.

Learning that Olgana was Wu Yi’s adopted daughter, Wu Changqing pondered, suspecting that Wu Yi was deliberately sending him a sugar-coated bullet.

But, even if it was a sugar-coated bullet, there was no reason not to accept it.

European beauties gave a completely different feeling.

The next day, the Emperor singing became the talk of the palace, much to the chagrin of many concubines.

Making the Emperor happy was no easy feat; it was a sign of gaining favor.

Clearly, Olgana had done it, even making Wu Changqing play without regard for his image.

Thus, some concubines began to study popular songs, wanting to develop good voices to please the Emperor.

Of course, there were also favored concubines who clamored for Wu Changqing to sing for them as well.

If successful, they could enjoy the feeling of being doted on.

This was the lifelong pursuit of those concubines.

Olgana was favored, and within two days, so was Yin Hye-eun.

However, Yin Hye-eun’s origins were not clear enough, posing some security risks.

Therefore, when she was favored, the process was like something out of a TV drama: first, she was bathed, then wrapped in red cloth and carried to the Emperor’s bed, and all jewelry and accessories were removed from her head.

During the act, there were even female bodyguards watching to prevent Yin Hye-eun from being an extraordinary person, born with immense strength, who could strangle the Emperor.

In short, after experiencing the assassination attempt, Wu Changqing’s protective measures were very thorough.

In comparison, Olgana enjoyed much better treatment.

After all, she was Wu Yi’s adopted daughter, someone who could be trusted.

Wu Yi would never send a dangerous person to the Emperor; otherwise, he would be implicated if something happened to the Emperor.

The people of Great Hua had a nationwide carnival for the Spring Festival, and in the blink of an eye, it was Yongxing Year Six.

All work was restarted.

Each department formulated its development plan for Yongxing Year Six, each one a major project, ambitious and grand.

The rapid development of Great Hua, achieving various world-renowned achievements, not only gave Wu Changqing a sense of accomplishment, but also gave the officials a great sense of achievement.

Although the general direction was decided by the Emperor, it was these officials who were responsible for the specific implementation. Even if they had no merit, they had put in hard work; they were also witnesses to history.

The military also began a new year of campaigns.

With automobiles, the army once again proposed a plan to advance into the Northwest region, and Wu Changqing agreed.

Although the economic value of the western region was not high, taking it sooner rather than later had its benefits, as it could accelerate the influence over those places.

Taking these places did not necessarily mean immediately supporting their development; maintaining the status quo was also an option.

While Great Hua was celebrating the Spring Festival, Japan was experiencing a great war, with artillery fire filling the sky.

The Huaxia army and the Japanese allied forces fought at Ono, and the Japanese allied forces were defeated and fled north. Subsequently, Fukuoka was captured by Great Hua, and the entire Kyushu Island was recovered by Great Hua.

Then, Kyushu Island was renamed Kyushu Province, and Lu Zibu, a rising political star of Great Hua, was appointed as the provincial governor.

Qian Sule handed over administrative power to Lu Zibu, and he was only responsible for military affairs.

The temporary position of governor could not be held by him for a long time, as it could easily lead to problems.

After unloading the administrative tasks, Qian Sule felt much more relaxed and could focus on military affairs.

Relying on absolute superiority, he led his army from Northern Kyushu to Honshu Island, continuing to pursue the remnants of the Japanese allied forces.

Xue Guiren’s progress in Annam stimulated him; Annam was not much smaller than Japan.

However, Xue Guiren was about to recover the entire territory of Annam. Moreover, the military operations in Annam started much later than those in Japan.

Qian Sule naturally did not want to be outdone, so he accelerated the actions against Japan, planning to completely recover the entire territory of Japan in Yongxing Year Six.

Thirty thousand soldiers crossed the sea and arrived on Honshu Island.

Facing the aggressive Huaxia army, Mōri Teruhiro, the daimyo of Chōshū Domain, panicked. He chose to completely rely on the shogunate, hoping to obtain assistance from the shogunate.

Originally, the Mōri clan and the shogunate were not on good terms, but now, he could only completely rely on the shogunate; otherwise, the shogunate would not mobilize all its forces to rescue him.

Unfortunately, the Mōri clan’s surrender came too late, and the Huaxia army’s progress was too fast.

Before Mōri Teruhiro could negotiate the terms with the shogunate, the Huaxia army advanced to Isa and marched towards the Yamaguchi mountain pass.

The Mōri family’s army retreated repeatedly and could only continue to retreat, while the Huaxia army chased relentlessly behind, chasing Mōri Teruhiro out of the territory of Chōshū Domain.

Along the way, there were no fierce battles.

Because the Japanese were very clear that they were no match for the Huaxia army.

Therefore, as soon as they heard that the Huaxia army was coming, they began to run, without any intention of resisting.

As for what to do in the future, the soldiers would not think about it, and the daimyo did not have time to think.

Everything happened too fast; Great Hua did not give them time to think.

Along the way, Mōri Teruhiro was like a stray dog, constantly retreating to the east and north.

At this rate, it would not be long before all his territory was lost.

During this escape, Mōri Teruhiro finally reached an agreement with the shogunate, completely submitting to the shogunate and handing over military power.

Subsequently, the shogunate reorganized the allied forces and, using the name of the Emperor, commanded other daimyo to declare war on Great Hua together.

Other daimyo more or less understood the principle of “if the lips are gone, the teeth will be cold,” so they put aside their contradictions and temporarily united around the shogunate.

On January 10th, the shogunate’s allied forces arrived in the Chiyoda-Hiroshima area, where they would build a defense line to prevent the Huaxia army from continuing to advance east.

The number of their allied forces reached as high as one hundred thousand, while the Huaxia army left a portion of its troops to garrison the rear and maintain order, and the troops continuing the eastward expedition numbered only twenty thousand.

Judging by numbers alone, the Japanese allied forces had an absolute advantage.

However, Japan still chose to defend, not wanting to eliminate the Huaxia army, but wanting to wear down the Huaxia army.

Even with one hundred thousand soldiers, they did not dare to fight the Great Hua head-on.

The advantage in troop strength was meaningless in the face of Great Hua’s advanced weapons.

Now, Japan was basically taking things one step at a time. Great Hua had given them several years, but they had not figured out a way to deal with Great Hua.

Now that the war had arrived, they were even more at a loss.

Even within their ranks, some daimyo were inclined to surrender.

They saw no hope of defeating Great Hua and did not want to fight to the death with Great Hua.

As long as Great Hua could preserve their aristocratic status, surrendering to Great Hua was not unacceptable.

Chapter 830: Mercenaries

Two thousand troops were enough for sieges, but occupying such a vast territory was proving difficult.

Scattering two thousand men across a map was like sprinkling a grain of sand on a beach.

On average, they couldn’t even station a hundred men in each town.

Therefore, Qian Sule began to accept and utilize mercenaries, that is, Great Hua soldiers composed of Japanese.

This was the only way to quickly occupy and control Japan.

Sending more troops from the mainland was impossible; it was too expensive.

Using mercenaries was much cheaper. They demanded lower pay, required no compensation if they died in battle, no treatment for serious injuries, and didn’t need excellent food.

The money to support one Huaxia army soldier could support more than five mercenaries.

By the time the Huaxia army reached the Chiyoda front lines, their troop numbers had reached over sixty thousand, nearly forty thousand of whom were mercenaries.

These forty thousand mercenaries were divided into two groups. Over twenty thousand were recruited from the Satsuma Domain. This group was relatively loyal to Great Hua and considered themselves people of Great Hua.

This group was very useful; they showed no mercy when fighting other Japanese.

The other group consisted of surrendered troops from the Fukuoka Domain and Kumamoto Domain.

These people were weathercocks, leaning whichever way the wind blew. Their fighting spirit was extremely low, and they could only fight when they had the upper hand. If the battle turned against them, they might rebel again or desert.

However, Qian Sule accepted them all the same, using them as cannon fodder.

As soon as a battle started, they were forced to charge ahead.

If they dared disobey, the machine guns of the rear guard would teach them a lesson.

As long as the Huaxia army was strong enough, these weathercocks could be used without worrying about them defecting at the last moment.

When the sixty thousand Huaxia army soldiers arrived at the front lines, Tokugawa Yoshikuni, the commander of the shogunate’s allied forces, smashed a telescope in anger.

“Baga! These cowards! These traitors deserve to die! They are unworthy of being part of the Yamato race!”

Tokugawa Yoshikuni cursed.

They already had only a slight advantage in troop numbers and were trying to use this advantage to stretch the Huaxia army’s lines, gradually wearing them down.

But now, the Huaxia army had brought so many mercenaries, nullifying their advantage.

Even worse, these mercenaries had received some equipment support from the Huaxia army. In terms of equipment, they were even better than the shogunate’s allied forces, only lacking in fighting spirit.

If these mercenaries could muster a high fighting spirit, the shogunate’s allied forces’ defenses might not even hold without the Huaxia army’s intervention.

“General, what should we do now? I’m afraid we can’t defend,”

Maeda Kenjiro said worriedly. The situation was becoming increasingly unfavorable, and the pressure on high-ranking officials and nobles like them was immense.

“These cowards are not worth worrying about. As long as we strike hard, we can defeat them,”

Oshima Shiro, a daimyo with less territory, said. He didn’t want to retreat any further; another retreat would mean losing his domain.

If this line of defense fell, his territory would be occupied by Great Hua, and he would become a daimyo without a domain.

What kind of daimyo was one without land?

Oshima Shiro didn’t want to become a wandering samurai, completely dependent on the shogunate. If he had to be a subordinate, why not serve the more powerful Great Hua?

Within the allied forces, morale was far from unified, with each person having their own thoughts and plans.

After some debate, the allied forces decided to hold their ground.

They planned to avoid strength and strike at weakness, focusing on attacking the mercenaries first and defeating those with poor fighting spirit.

As for how to deal with the Huaxia army soldiers next, they hadn’t figured it out yet and could only play it by ear.

Playing it by ear had become the norm for their high command; they lacked an effective strategic plan.

In Edo, a scholar had written a book, On Protracted War, suggesting that they cede territory to Great Hua and disperse all regular troops into the countryside and mountains to wage guerrilla warfare.

They would use the vast territory to stretch the Huaxia army’s lines, trapping Great Hua in a people’s war.

With Great Hua’s limited forces, trying to control all of Japan would inevitably lead to extremely dispersed troop deployments.

Then, they would have a chance.

However, this suggestion was ignored by Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Abandon Edo? What a joke! He would never agree to that, even if it killed him.

Tokugawa Iemitsu wasn’t stupid; he understood very well.

As for the common people standing on his side, that was unlikely.

Although Great Hua was an outsider, he, as a local, had never treated the people well. Many exploited commoners hated him to the bone.

The Japanese had no strategy; they could only devise specific tactics for individual battles.

Even if they couldn’t defeat the Huaxia army on the battlefield, even if they occasionally won a few battles, this kind of fighting without a strategy was destined to fail. It was only a matter of time.

On the Huaxia army side, the staff department was also formulating tactics.

Even though everyone in the Huaxia army knew that victory was inevitable, they wouldn’t underestimate the enemy in specific battles.

To gain military merit, they were all striving to fight beautiful battles.

This time, Qian Sule wanted more than just breaking through the defensive line. That was too easy; even without formulating tactics, they could achieve it by charging mindlessly.

Compared to occupying territory, the Huaxia army preferred killing the enemy’s active forces and annihilation battles.

With one hundred thousand enemy troops gathered in this area, it was a good opportunity to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

How to annihilate this force was the question the Huaxia army’s staff department had to study.

“We can ask the navy for help and send an elite force to land behind Hiroshima, then occupy Saijo and Kihara, cutting off the enemy’s retreat first.

After forming a large net, we can launch a fierce attack on the enemy,”

Xiong Changling said. He was the second son of Xiong Rulin, a second-generation meritorious official.

Currently, many generals in the Great Hua army were of this background.

The first choice for the descendants of these meritorious nobles was to join the army. Only those who truly lacked the talent to join the army would take the imperial examination or go into business.

This led to a group of second-generation meritorious officials in the army.

Of course, these people also had some genuine skills; otherwise, they couldn’t climb the ranks based on connections alone.

They only had more opportunities than ordinary people. The army was the most serious and unforgiving place. Those in charge wouldn’t dare use someone without ability; it could easily lead to major problems.

“This is a bit risky. Our troop strength is already inferior to the enemy’s, and now we have to encircle them. If they concentrate their forces to attack one of our points, we might not be able to withstand it,”

Another staff officer asked.

He wasn’t opposing Xiong Changling’s plan, but rather raising his concerns.

Only if Xiong Changling gave an answer that satisfied everyone would this plan have a chance of being approved.

Chapter 831: Operation Plan

“There’s no war without risk, and these risks are all within a controllable range. Even if we encounter unfavorable situations, at worst, the encirclement fails…”

Xiong Changling explained.

After deliberation, many staff officers agreed with this operation plan.

The main reason was that they all had confidence in their own troops.

Several days later, the Huaxia army began its operation.

One regiment set off from the north, bypassing Chiyoda to capture Kihara.

Another brigade, escorted by the navy, landed at Anpu and attacked Saijo.

Headquarters gave them three days. After three days, regardless of whether they succeeded or not, the main force would launch a general offensive against the enemy from the front.

If those intercepting troops failed to complete their respective tasks within three days, the encirclement plan would be declared a failure, and the enemy could retreat to the rear through those two locations.

This was the drawback of planned operations.

Each unit had to complete its plan on time to achieve the desired coordination.

For example, according to the plan, the vanguard troops needed to clear the firing points on the road at a certain time. Therefore, the people responsible for carrying out the task had to complete it at that time.

Because other troops were charging according to the plan.

If the firing point was not blown up at the planned time, the charging troops would be strafed by machine guns.

A single sweep of a machine gun could take down a large area, and what was even more deadly was that too many casualties among the charging troops would affect the subsequent capture of the hill.

In planned operations, one link was connected to another. If one link had a problem, other aspects would be affected.

This drawback could only be resolved after telephones became widespread.

With telephones, the vanguard troops could notify other troops preparing to charge, telling them to delay their charge by five or ten minutes, giving the soldiers clearing the firing points time to complete their task through other means.

The instantaneous communication of telephones could temporarily adjust the operation plan on the battlefield.

This was information warfare. Information warfare could constantly change and adjust combat missions based on the battlefield situation.

Unfortunately, the army at that time did not have such advanced equipment.

Planned operations had many drawbacks, but they also had many advantages. For example, they could leave the enemy with no time to react.

Once a planned operation was launched, it was like a tidal wave of offensives.

If the Huaxia army did not follow this operation plan and chose to wait until the rearguard troops had taken Kihara and Saijo before launching an attack, it would give the enemy a lot of breathing room.

Without telephones, it would take time for the intercepting troops to transmit messages from Saijo and Kihara to the rear.

And this time would give the enemy a chance to adjust their deployment. The enemy could then concentrate superior forces to encircle and attack the intercepting troops.

No matter how strong the Huaxia army was, it would not be able to completely withstand enemies ten or twenty times its size.

What was even more deadly was that if the soldiers delivering the message encountered an accident, it would add more variables.

But if the operation was carried out according to plan, the Huaxia army would launch a general offensive the moment the enemy learned that their retreat route had been cut off, and they would have no time to react.

As long as the Huaxia army’s general offensive went smoothly, the enemy would fall into rout.

In an era of backward communication, planned operations were a very effective method of combat.

This method of combat also required troops with very strong execution capabilities to use.

If it were the Japanese, they wouldn’t be able to handle this.

Two days later, the battles of Kihara and Saijo broke out almost simultaneously.

There were not many Japanese stationed in Kihara, only a little over one thousand.

They really didn’t expect the Huaxia army to dare to go deep behind enemy lines and attack their rear.

Such deep penetration operations had always been extremely dangerous actions.

The battle ended quickly. The Japanese held out for less than an hour before being defeated by the Huaxia army.

After occupying this key point, the Third Regiment immediately began to dig trenches, build earthen walls, and construct various defensive fortifications in a hurry.

They were now deep behind enemy lines, and if the enemy gathered ten times their strength, they would be in danger.

This was the enemy’s retreat route, and it was inevitable that the Japanese would counterattack.

On the other side, the battle of Saijo was much more intense.

This location was more important. It was not only the Japanese retreat route, but also the place where the Japanese stored various logistical supplies.

Here, the Japanese had stockpiled more than five thousand people.

And the Huaxia army that came to attack this place was only a little over four thousand, of which two thousand were puppet troops.

Attacking this place was important, but the general offensive on the front was also important, and the Huaxia army’s main force was needed in every direction.

Therefore, in the operation to capture Saijo, the Huaxia army had to bring two thousand puppet troops.

These two thousand puppet troops were recruited from the Satsuma Domain. Their loyalty was sufficient, but their tactical skills were much worse. The Huaxia army did not bother to train them carefully, and they were just used as cannon fodder.

What was even more deadly was that the terrain here in Saijo was also easy to defend and difficult to attack.

There were only two roads up the mountain on the front, one of which was very narrow, only allowing two people to charge up at a time.

At the gate of this road, it was very spacious, accommodating a dozen Japanese soldiers.

A dozen gun muzzles were enough to block this road, and it was fortunate that they did not have machine guns.

“Mortars, all of you, aim accurately!”

The Huaxia army officer in charge of the attack on this road cursed loudly. Because they were supposed to be carrying out a surprise attack, they did not bring field guns, but only carried some small-caliber mortars.

The power of these mortars was a little small. Even if a shell hit accurately, it would only kill some Japanese soldiers and could not destroy the enemy’s defensive fortifications.

And the Japanese had no shortage of people. Whenever a batch was killed, the reserve soldiers behind would be immediately rushed up to block the Huaxia army trying to charge.

This road that needed to be charged was more than two hundred meters long, and it was extremely difficult to charge through under such a barrage of fire.

“Keep charging! Whoever can charge to the enemy’s front, I will apply for a Silver Saber Medal for him!”

The officer made a promise, which moved many soldiers.

The Silver Saber Medal was the highest honor they could receive. Moreover, the actual benefits were also very numerous.

“Er Gou, Little Hu, follow me!”

A strong man picked up a light machine gun, greeted two fellow villagers, and then charged towards the enemy’s fortifications.

At this time, a mortar shell landed in the enemy’s fortifications, and the enemy’s gunfire temporarily stopped for a moment.

“Charge!”

The strong man shouted and led a few people towards the enemy.

In order to run faster, he did not even bend over, but sprinted forward like a hundred-meter race.

“Covering fire!”

The Huaxia army had extremely high tactical literacy and paid great attention to cooperation.

At this time, they didn’t care whether there were any enemies poking their heads out of the fortifications. It was right to keep firing, and it would be perfect if they could suppress the enemy so that they didn’t dare to poke their heads out.

Machine guns and rifles were all firing at full power at this moment, and the bullets were pouring out as if they were free.

Chapter 832: The General Offensive Begins

If the Huaxia army claimed to have high tactical proficiency, the Japanese would definitely disagree.

In their opinion, if they had the same weapons and equipment as the Huaxia army, and could waste ammunition like them, they could perform even better.

A large number of bullets rained down on the Japanese fortifications, and several people who tried to stand up and fight back were immediately hit.

Only a small number of soldiers could use cover to shoot at the Huaxia army through small holes.

However, their numbers were greatly reduced. The pressure on the charging Huaxia soldiers was reduced a lot.

However, the distance was too far. Halfway through the charge, the two leading soldiers were shot.

The Huaxia army’s covering fire couldn’t last forever either. At least during the time it took to reload, the Japanese could poke their heads out.

As the men in front fell, the men behind picked up the machine guns and continued to charge.

This road was already littered with corpses.

After charging another dozen meters, the man also fell.

But it didn’t matter, there were still people following behind.

Among those charging, some chose to take the risk for various reasons.

Some were for honor, some were for the practical benefits of meritorious service, some were to avenge their fellow villagers or comrades, and some were fanatics of war.

In short, with the continuous follow-up of personnel, several Huaxia soldiers finally approached the enemy’s fortifications.

The soldier in the front swept with his machine gun, while the soldiers behind continued to charge and threw grenades.

After a burst of fire, the firepower in the fortifications paused.

The Huaxia army took advantage of this opportunity to rush into the fortifications and engage in close combat with the enemy.

At this point, it could basically be declared that this place had been taken. The Huaxia army’s follow-up troops were constantly pouring in.

There were several similar fortifications along this road.

Relying on the firepower suppression of mortars and heavy machine guns, the Huaxia army took them all down after paying some price.

Although the attack was difficult now, it might not be a bad thing.

When it was their turn to defend this place, those Japanese without mortars and heavy machine guns would probably get weak in the knees just looking at it.

This kind of place could truly be called a strategic pass, impregnable to ten thousand men.

On the other side, where the terrain was not so dangerous, the Huaxia army launched a general offensive. After suffering more than two hundred casualties, they also successfully broke through into the enemy’s position.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army attacked from both sides, causing the Japanese to completely lose their composure.

Before long, this nameless mountain peak was taken by the Huaxia army.

The Japanese defenders had a total of more than one thousand seven hundred killed in action, and the seriously wounded were also directly bayoneted to death by the Huaxia army. The remaining people were all captured, and none of them were able to escape.

The Huaxia army paid the price of more than three hundred casualties to take this mountain peak, like a nail hammered into the Japanese artery.

If the Japanese wanted to retreat from here, they had to take this mountain peak. Otherwise, the Huaxia army’s machine guns could aim at the retreating soldiers and sweep at will, which the Japanese would definitely not be able to bear.

And if they wanted to take a detour, all the supplies would have to be abandoned, and it would take more time, and the Huaxia army could attack at any time.

In short, losing this place was very uncomfortable for the Japanese.

“Seize the time to build fortifications. Next, we just need to wait for good news. It is expected that the headquarters will launch a general offensive in three hours.”

The Second Brigade Commander looked at his watch and smiled. The only difficulty of this mission was to quickly capture this place.

After taking this strategic point, they would be very relaxed next.

Not to mention that the enemy had no time to organize their forces to counterattack, even if the enemy came, relying on this excellent terrain, he was confident that he could hold it for ten days or half a month.

Three hours later, news of the fall of Saijo and Kihara had just reached Hiroshima.

Then, Tokugawa Yoshikuni heard the sound of artillery.

“General, the enemy has launched an attack.”

Maeda Kenjiro said.

“It’s over, they want to annihilate us in one fell swoop. The only two escape routes have been occupied by the enemy.”

Oshima Shiro blurted out the Huaxia army’s intention. Everyone’s heart sank when they heard this.

Before, they were a little puzzled as to why Great Hua had to go so far out of their way to occupy Saijo and Kihara.

Now that Oshima Shiro reminded them, they suddenly understood.

“What a big appetite, aren’t they afraid of bursting? Excluding the troops in Saijo and Kihara, the Huaxia army can definitely use less than fifty thousand people on the front, most of whom are puppet troops composed of cowards.

With these people, they want to break through our defense line? As long as we hold on and inflict heavy damage on the enemy, we can turn around and eat the isolated troops in Saijo and Kihara, and win a great victory.”

Tokugawa Yoshikuni said some things that he himself didn’t believe.

But he had no choice. At this time, he, as the commander, had to put on a confident look, otherwise the morale of the people below would be even more unstable.

Tokugawa Yoshikuni ordered a full-line defense, with no retreat allowed.

At the same time, he did not send troops to attack Kihara or Saijo.

In his opinion, if the defense line could be held, the enemies behind would not be a concern.

If they couldn’t hold it, attacking Kihara and Saijo would be meaningless.

If they couldn’t even defend, how could they attack?

Tokugawa Yoshikuni was very clear about the equipment gap between the two sides.

Upon receiving the order to defend to the death, everyone’s reactions were different, but no one objected.

As a result, the various generals and daimyo went to the front line to personally supervise the battle.

On the front line, the Huaxia army launched a full-scale attack from five locations, with the entire front line stretching for more than one hundred kilometers.

The key attack areas were supported by artillery, and these two areas were the central and southern parts.

These were also the key defense areas for the Japanese. Breaking through these two areas would allow the Huaxia army to drive straight in.

For the Japanese army, losing these two areas would also allow them to organize their troops to retreat. Otherwise, without the terrain advantage, the Huaxia army could fight them however they wanted.

After half an hour of continuous shelling, the Huaxia army began to charge.

Those puppet troops were charging in the front.

A small number of Huaxia troops acted as supervisors, following behind them.

Among these puppet troops, some were excited, while others were afraid.

The excited soldiers were because they had better weapons. They were not only equipped with Yongxing Type Two rifles, but also equipped with grenades and flamethrowers.

These were all equipment that the Huaxia army was about to eliminate, but for the Japanese, these were still advanced equipment.

Those soldiers who were still afraid were purely cowards.

Even if they were given machine guns, they would not feel safe.

However, under the supervision of the supervisors, these people could only follow forward.

They were just timid, but that didn’t mean they were stupid.

The enemies in front only had flintlock guns, while the supervisors behind were equipped with machine guns and semi-automatic rifles.

The chances of surviving a charge against bullets were definitely much higher than running away.

Chapter 833: Encirclement

The intense artillery barrage didn’t completely wipe out or terrify the defending troops on the position. Once the collaborationist forces entered the firing range, the Japanese army began to retaliate.

But at this time, the artillery bombardment from the Great Hua side hadn’t stopped.

The Japanese didn’t care about the lives of their own soldiers, and the Huaxia army certainly wouldn’t care about the lives of the collaborationist troops.

Accidental injuries were acceptable, as long as they could hit the enemy.

Moreover, the accuracy of the Huaxia army’s artillery fire had actually improved a lot. The number of enemies hit far outweighed the accidental injuries, making it entirely worthwhile.

The sound of cannons continued, and the collaborationist troops complained endlessly.

And so did the Japanese on the position.

After they poked their heads out, they were directly exposed to the Huaxia army’s artillery fire.

The artillery fire greatly interfered with the Japanese army’s defense. Some soldiers chose to temporarily hide, some soldiers’ vision was blocked, and some soldiers were killed or wounded by the shells.

In short, the Japanese defense firepower was weak, and the first wave of collaborationist troops rushed onto the position.

Then, the Huaxia army’s artillery fire finally stopped.

The two sides engaged in close combat, but it wasn’t entirely bayonet fighting.

The collaborationist troops also had pistols, grenades, flamethrowers, and other close-range weapons combined with the use of bayonets, gradually advancing.

They didn’t completely rush up and mix with the enemy; they didn’t dare to fight that kind of melee.

Among the Japanese defenders, there were some more crazy and desperate people who charged towards the collaborationist troops with loud shouts, and then engaged in bayonet-to-bayonet melee combat.

This kind of battle was a contest of fighting will, and the collaborationist troops were far from being a match for the Japanese.

Soon, the collaborationist troops were defeated by the opponent’s momentum and began to retreat involuntarily.

At this time, the Huaxia army rushed up, set up a machine gun, and opened fire on those retreating and charging Japanese.

Then, both the collaborationist and Japanese armies collapsed, fleeing in opposite directions.

The collaborationist troops were luckier; they were safe once they fled to the Huaxia army’s side.

But the Japanese army still had to face the Huaxia army’s pursuit.

The position fell too quickly, and everything happened too suddenly. The Japanese army didn’t have time to react at all.

Although they still had a second and third line of defense, as the defeated soldiers from the first line retreated with panic, the Japanese troops behind them also fell into panic.

A minor daimyo led more than two thousand of his subordinates to raise the white flag and surrender, and a gap appeared in the second line of defense.

The Huaxia army then swarmed up. The Japanese troops on the second line didn’t even fire a few shots before they began to rout again.

If they didn’t escape, they would be left on this position.

The Japanese commanders were hysterically shouting not to retreat and to rebuild the defense line, but the defeated soldiers didn’t care about that at all.

They weren’t commanders and didn’t know the overall situation. They only knew that the Huaxia army had rushed in front of them and that they couldn’t stop them.

As a result, there was a large-scale rout on the battlefield.

The Japanese army had a large number of soldiers, but not many were willing to fight to the death.

At this moment, quantity became their disadvantage.

The large number of defeated soldiers made them unable to control the situation.

Not long after the Huaxia army’s general offensive began, the southern front collapsed, and more than twenty thousand defeated soldiers fled towards Hiroshima.

The central front was the same. They held out a little longer than the southern front, but then they also chose to retreat towards Hiroshima because they were no match for the enemy.

When they retreated halfway, they were depressed to find that the road to Hiroshima had been occupied by the Huaxia army.

This situation once again triggered panic in the army. Some soldiers chose to surrender, some chose to take a detour, and some turned around and fled to Chiyoda.

The actions of these defeated soldiers, lacking unified command, were completely chaotic.

On the Huaxia army’s side, they were constantly advancing according to plan, compressing the enemy’s area of activity, and driving the enemy towards Hiroshima and Chiyoda.

If the enemy scattered completely, it would be difficult for the Huaxia army to annihilate them all.

Therefore, concentrating the enemy first was the best choice.

Two days later, the Japanese army had been divided into two parts. About twenty thousand people were trapped in Chiyoda Castle, and another sixty thousand were trapped in Hiroshima, waiting for ships to pick them up and evacuate.

The retreat routes on land had been blocked by the Huaxia army. They could only hope to take a boat to Shikoku Island first, or directly retreat to Osaka and other rear areas by boat.

Although the Great Hua navy was awesome, only one fleet, with a dozen ships, was deployed in Japan.

It was impossible for a dozen ships to completely block this sea area. There were too many small ports here.

Moreover, because it was an inland sea, any small broken boat could go to sea, making it impossible to defend against.

Sixty to seventy thousand troops had no intention of fighting anymore and were just waiting to retreat, a bit like Dunkirk.

The Huaxia army was also divided into two parts. A small part was guarding the enemy in Chiyoda, while the main force came to Hiroshima and then bombarded Hiroshima with artillery.

With sixty to seventy thousand troops gathered in such a small area, the Huaxia army didn’t need to aim much. A shell would always kill a few people.

This kind of long-range strike brought the Japanese army close to collapse.

They counterattacked, trying to destroy the Huaxia army’s artillery positions.

However, the Huaxia army’s defensive capabilities once again made the Japanese despair.

They couldn’t even reach the Huaxia army before they were killed and wounded.

After one charge, no soldiers were willing to charge again. Even if the officers of the supervising team pointed guns at those soldiers, those soldiers were unwilling to move.

“General, we have reached a dead end.”

Maeda Kenjiro didn’t say everything, but everyone understood what he meant.

Now, only surrender could save their lives.

If they continued, they would all be killed by the Huaxia army’s shells.

Even if the Huaxia army launched a wave of attacks now, they would collapse directly.

This unequal battle had no meaning to continue.

“Bastard, do you want to surrender?”

Tokugawa Yoshikuni said angrily.

“We don’t want to surrender, but please, General, point out a way out. Is it a counterattack or swimming to the other side? Please give us an instruction, instead of waiting here to die.”

Another daimyo snorted coldly.

Now, he was no longer afraid of offending the shogunate.

There were more than just him who were dissatisfied with the shogunate.

“Okay, I now order you to take your subordinates to counterattack and destroy the enemy’s artillery.”

Tokugawa Yoshikuni said in a fit of pique.

“Sorry, I can’t command my subordinates anymore. You can let your people go to counterattack.”

Kawashima Okura retorted tit-for-tat.

The Huaxia army’s shells were still exploding over their heads, but they were having meaningless arguments here.

This was a major problem with loose alliances. When things were going well, the internal contradictions of the alliance could be covered up.

Once the war was unfavorable, the internal contradictions of the alliance would erupt.

Some other people with unstable positions lost even more confidence when they saw this scene.

Chapter 834: Surrendering in Style

A group of high-ranking officials argued for half a day without reaching a single conclusion.

That night, several soldiers gathered to discuss surrendering.

Unfortunately, they were overheard by a samurai because they were talking too loudly.

The soldiers were startled and quietly began to reach for their guns.

“Don’t be alarmed. I’ll take you to surrender. You don’t speak the Huaxia language. You might get killed by mistake before you even reach the Huaxia army.”

The samurai said.

It wasn’t just ordinary soldiers who wanted to surrender; many low-ranking military officers were also filled with despair.

Some weren’t necessarily afraid of death, but they felt it wasn’t worth dying like this.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers were overjoyed. Led by the samurai, they took advantage of the darkness to leave Hiroshima and head towards the Huaxia army’s position.

Upon arrival, the samurai shouted in the Huaxia language from a distance that they were surrendering.

Actually, his action was somewhat unnecessary. The Huaxia army had already anticipated this situation and had arranged Huaxia collaborationist troops at the front lines.

Even if the surrendering soldiers didn’t speak the Huaxia language, it wouldn’t matter.

These soldiers raised their weapons high and entered the Huaxia army’s position. After handing over their weapons, the weight in their hearts finally lifted.

Without weapons, they felt even safer.

The samurai was actively communicating with the Huaxia army officers, hoping to join the Huaxia collaborationist army.

After all, these professional soldiers had no other skills besides fighting; this was the only way they could make a living.

They weren’t the only group of Japanese surrendering.

Over the course of the night, over one thousand three hundred people came to surrender to the Huaxia army.

The next day, Kawashima Okura led his loyal troops to Saijo, claiming he was going to secure a retreat route.

Although Tokugawa Yoshikuni didn’t believe him, Kawashima Okura’s reason was legitimate, and he couldn’t object.

Kawashima Okura led over four thousand troops to Saijo, but instead of attacking, he sent envoys to discuss surrender.

As a daimyo with status and position, his surrender couldn’t be like those of ordinary soldiers and low-ranking samurai, unconditional.

Kawashima Okura needed some promises from the Huaxia army, some guarantee of treatment.

A slightly lower standard of treatment was acceptable, but there had to be some.

If the Huaxia army offered nothing, he would rather fight to the death or disband his troops and scatter to escape.

The Huaxia army only controlled the main road; the Japanese could still escape through other small paths.

However, the number of people who could pass through those small paths at a time was limited, and large weapons and equipment couldn’t be carried, making them vulnerable to Huaxia army pursuit and ambushes.

The Japanese army wouldn’t consider those routes unless absolutely necessary.

Kawashima Okura’s demands weren’t high, so the Huaxia army agreed to his requests, promising to reorganize his troops after the surrender and accepting this batch of prisoners.

In Hiroshima, a general announced that he was going to launch a counterattack.

But in reality, he had already been turned by the Huaxia army’s spies.

He took Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s few remaining weapons and ammunition to the Huaxia army’s position and completed his surrender.

One bad news after another reached Tokugawa Yoshikuni, almost driving him to commit seppuku out of anger.

The situation was already difficult, and these constant surrenders were a huge blow to morale.

“General, let’s surrender too. Even if the Great General knows our situation and sends troops to rescue us, it will be too late. In less than three days, the soldiers below will all run away,”

His subordinate advised.

“You also want to surrender? Very good, very good.”

Tokugawa Yoshikuni said, suddenly drawing his sword and killing the subordinate.

This scene shocked everyone else, who feared that Tokugawa Yoshikuni had gone mad and would harm them.

People under constant high pressure can easily go crazy.

Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s actions accelerated the pace of his subordinates’ surrender.

Not just at night, but even in broad daylight, soldiers were fleeing towards the Huaxia army’s position.

Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s trusted soldiers chased after them, all the way to the Huaxia army’s position, where the Huaxia army launched a small skirmish to rescue the deserters.

This gave the deserters a ridiculous feeling, making it difficult to distinguish friend from foe.

The next day, over three thousand more people surrendered to the Huaxia army through various means.

Adding in the soldiers killed by artillery fire and those who died from injuries and illness, Hiroshima’s original seventy thousand troops were now only about fifty thousand, and morale was close to zero.

Seeing that the time was ripe, the Huaxia army immediately launched a general offensive on Hiroshima.

Tens of thousands of troops charged towards Hiroshima from multiple directions, instantly breaking through the Japanese defenses.

In recent days, the Japanese had dug many trenches in Hiroshima and built many fortifications in the city’s streets.

But it was all useless.

What determines the outcome of a war is people. When the soldiers have no fighting spirit, even the strongest fortifications are useless.

Moreover, their fortifications weren’t very strong, and their weapons were outdated.

Faced with the high-spirited and aggressive Huaxia army, these Japanese soldiers had no determination to resist and only thought about saving their lives.

Some frantically squeezed towards the coast to compete for the few ships available. Others threw away their weapons and hid in civilian houses, pretending to be civilians.

Of course, most stayed where they were and raised their hands in surrender.

Before anyone surrendered to the Huaxia army, the Japanese were very resistant and worried about surrendering.

However, as more and more people surrendered to the Huaxia army, others no longer felt as much shame in surrendering.

People have a herd mentality.

One person surrendering would feel very shameful, but if everyone surrendered, it wouldn’t be as shameful.

More importantly, those who surrendered weren’t massacred or abused, which reassured others who were preparing to surrender.

Previously, they didn’t surrender mainly because their officers deceived them, saying that Great Hua didn’t keep prisoners and that surrendering would lead to slaughter.

But as more and more Huaxia collaborationist troops appeared, these soldiers saw the truth and realized they had been deceived.

The operation to attack Hiroshima was less of an attack and more of an operation to receive prisoners.

The Huaxia army didn’t encounter any significant resistance along the way, but the speed of advance wasn’t fast because there were too many prisoners to process.

However, Hiroshima was only so big. Two hours later, the Huaxia army had advanced through two-thirds of the area and was about to reach the Japanese army’s command headquarters.

At this time, Tokugawa Yoshikuni had already taken off his upper garment and begun the seppuku ritual.

He was powerless to do anything about the outside battle situation.

At the same time, he didn’t want to surrender and disgrace the Tokugawa family.

With a muffled sound, the short sword was inserted into his abdomen.

At this moment, his close aide raised his long sword and cut off Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s head.

This was the kaishakunin, the assistant who helped the seppuku performer alleviate the pain.

Chapter 835: First Encounter with the Bear

Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s suicide formally marked the end of the Battle of Hiroshima.

With the supreme commander dead, there was no more resistance from the Japan army.

Of the more than fifty thousand soldiers, less than four thousand were killed or missing, and the rest became prisoners of Great Hua.

Qian Sule was unaware of World War II in another timeline, nor had he witnessed the madness of the Japan people during that period. Otherwise, he would not have believed his eyes.

How could the Japan people have become so afraid of death?

But now, the surrender of the Japan people seemed reasonable to Qian Sule and the other Great Hua officers and soldiers.

On the contrary, Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s suicide seemed abnormal to some.

Nevertheless, Qian Sule still arranged for someone to find a coffin and bury Tokugawa Yoshikuni.

This was partly due to Tokugawa Yoshikuni’s status and position, and partly because a person who dared to commit suicide was worthy of respect.

After the fall of Hiroshima, the Japan army trapped in Chiyoda did not persist either, choosing to surrender en masse outside the city.

In this battle, the Huaxia army gained nearly seventy thousand prisoners at once, and so many prisoners were not easy to manage.

Converting them all into Huaxia Collaboration Army was also not feasible. Continuing to let these Huaxia Collaboration Army manage Japan would be tantamount to facilitating the growth of guerrilla forces.

Great Hua’s final solution was to use these people separately. Twenty thousand of the physically strong were reorganized and transferred to overseas strongholds such as the River Mouth, Hai Shan, and Ceuta.

Great Hua had too few troops stationed in those strongholds and was severely short of manpower.

Sending these Huaxia Collaboration Army over, far from their homeland, would alleviate concerns about these people rebelling again.

The remaining prisoners were transported to Great Hua to build roads, or remained in Japan to mine. In short, the goal was to find ways to reduce the number of Japan soldiers.

As for maintaining local security, the Huaxia army transferred a batch of Huaxia Collaboration Army composed of Annamese people from Annam.

Although outsiders were not familiar enough with Japan and their efficiency in managing the area would be lower, the advantage was that they were safer.

After the Battle of Hiroshima, Japan was already powerless to defend the large area west of Osaka and could only choose to abandon it, focusing on garrisoning the Osaka area.

The Osaka area was more developed in terms of agriculture and economy, and the value of a small area was greater than the entire western region.

However, the terrain of Osaka was even less suitable for defense. In Qian Sule’s view, it was a piece of meat right next to his mouth.

However, he did not immediately send troops to attack, but instead focused on consolidating the already occupied areas.

Occupying these places was not the end of the matter. Great Hua also needed to establish effective and solid rule in these areas.

And this difficulty was no less than occupying the area, even more difficult, requiring more time.

The army needed to rest and reorganize, and also needed to cooperate with civil officials to crack down on those scattered small forces and maintain security. The Huaxia army was temporarily unable to advance eastward.

The Japan Allied Forces, having lost one hundred thousand soldiers in one go, were severely weakened and unable to organize any effective counterattacks, so they could only hide aside and lick their wounds. The war in Japan entered a period of calm.

However, insightful people in Japan knew that all of this was temporary.

Once Great Hua had consolidated its gains, it would definitely advance eastward again.

What should they do then?

A large number of Japan people began to think about this question and tried to find an answer.

However, it was like an unsolvable math problem. The more they studied it, the more headaches they got, the more chaotic their minds became, and the fewer answers they found.

In the sixth year of Yongxing, the countries bordering Great Hua were trembling, afraid that one day they would wake up and find the Great Hua army had reached their doorstep.

However, not all countries were afraid of Great Hua. There were always some ignorant people who tried to provoke the tiger’s whiskers of Great Hua.

For example, the Russian Far East Army.

Since Ivan IV came to power, Russia had been actively expanding eastward.

He also wanted to expand westward, but the strength of the Western European countries was much greater than his, and Russia could not defeat them.

So, picking the soft persimmon to pinch, Russia expanded all the way east, towards the sparsely populated Siberia.

There were not many people in Siberia, so naturally there was no unified government, let alone any resistance.

The Russian army passed through a place, then declared that the place belonged to Russia, left two soldiers, and then the place really belonged to Russia.

During this period, expanding territory was so easy and casual, almost like a game.

Other countries were completely indifferent to Russia’s behavior, with an ‘whatever makes you happy’ expression.

If any country were to declare sovereignty over Antarctica now, it probably would not be opposed by any country.

No one wants those worthless places.

It was precisely because of this reason that Russia’s eastern expedition was extremely smooth, and it easily ‘occupied’ the entire Siberian region.

The country with the largest current territory is not Great Hua, but Russia.

Great Hua can’t even be ranked second, because Portugal declared that all of Brazil was their territory, but not many people paid attention to them.

Although most of Russia’s territory is ‘meaningless’ territory, in theory, they are indeed the largest.

The eastern expedition was very smooth, which also inflated the Russian army quite a bit.

When they reached the Bering Strait, they were not satisfied and began to try to advance south, all the way to the border of Great Hua.

This border was actually very vague. Great Hua did not erect a monument at the border, but only announced internally that this place belonged to Great Hua.

In fact, in the area north of the Heilongjiang River, Great Hua’s rule was extremely weak, and they could not even collect any taxes here. The local officials were too lazy to care.

Rather than spending a lot of money to collect those few taels of silver in taxes, it would be better to pay for it themselves.

The money spent in this way is far less than sending troops.

In short, the Russian army did not know that they had entered the border of Great Hua, and then robbed the people of Great Hua.

The local officials could not ignore this kind of thing, as it involved the face of Great Hua.

Lu Xiang, the Prefect of Heilongjiang, sent people to negotiate with the Russians, declare sovereignty, demand that the Russians apologize and compensate, and withdraw from the territory of Great Hua.

However, it was like a scholar meeting a soldier; reason doesn’t work.

Those bears simply ignored the so-called Great Hua.

Is Great Hua very powerful?

They didn’t know, hadn’t heard of it. All they knew was that they could run rampant in this area.

The so-called Great Hua, compared to those villages in Siberia, was nothing more than having one more person in charge, and they still couldn’t see any decent army.

After the negotiation failed, Lu Xiang could only send a report to Shengjing, and at the same time ask the garrison outside the pass to go north to prepare for battle.

The ministers on the border have relatively large power. This is a helpless choice when communication is backward.

If they had to wait for instructions from Nanjing before taking action, the day lilies would be cold.

Therefore, after the provincial governor of Shengjing learned about the situation on the front line, he reported to Nanjing on the one hand, and on the other hand, he asked the army to come forward.

It was an invitation, not an order.

Even the provincial governor could not directly command the field army.

Chapter 836: Expedition

Xun Yang, the commander of the 312th Division stationed in Shengjing, perked up the moment he heard that Great Hua’s border had been invaded.

Being stationed in this place was simply too depressing. On one hand, the weather was cold, and the environment wasn’t as comfortable as the South. On the other hand, there were no battles here, which meant no military merits.

Seeing his contemporaries fighting all over the world, their positions constantly rising, and their honors piling up, Xun Yang was incredibly envious.

He had submitted several reports to his superiors, hoping to be transferred to Japan or Annam, or even Hekou if that wasn’t possible, as long as there were enemies nearby.

Unfortunately, there were too many officers with the same idea, so it wasn’t easy for him to get his turn.

Helpless, Xun Yang could only bide his time here.

Now, suddenly hearing that there were enemies to the north, Xun Yang was overjoyed.

He saw an opportunity to earn merit, an opportunity to leave the Northeast.

So, when the provincial governor of Shengjing asked him to move out, he agreed without hesitation, without even considering whether his own supplies were sufficient.

As long as he could leave, all difficulties could be overcome.

Xun Yang went to the military camp, told his subordinates the good news, and then carried out an emergency mobilization.

Among his subordinates, there were many who had the same thoughts as Xun Yang.

Therefore, the mobilization was very successful, and soon the men of the 312th Division gathered with high morale.

“Who are we going to fight?”

“I heard it’s the Tsarist Russians.”

“Who are the Tsarist Russians?”

“I don’t know, but they’re like barbarians, covered in hair and ugly.”

The soldiers discussed among themselves, not even knowing who the Tsarist Russians were.

“Why are we going to fight the Tsarist Russians?”

“I heard that the Tsarist Russians invaded our Great Hua’s territory, robbed several villages, and killed some villagers.”

“Is that so? These Tsarist Russians are like the old man who hanged himself, looking for death.”

The soldiers were immediately enraged. They were already being merciful by not bullying others. And now, someone was actually taking the initiative to come to their door, which was simply outrageous.

Afterwards, Xun Yang came to the drill ground and gave a speech.

The content was basically about the Tsarist Russian invasion, requiring the soldiers to fight bravely.

After a passionate speech, the troops set off.

Although there were already cars in the country, they were hot commodities, and every military region and unit was vying for them. The Northeast, a place that no one cared about, had not yet been allocated one.

Therefore, they still had to rely on their own two legs, as well as horses and mules, to march.

Fortunately, because the railway undertook the main transportation, Great Hua had freed up a large number of horses, so there was no shortage of horses in the Northeast.

Among the 312th Division, there was even a dedicated cavalry regiment, with a total of one thousand three hundred people.

They were equipped with sabers and pistols, belonging to the light cavalry.

After several days of marching, the 312th Division finally arrived at Jiamusi. After resting for a day, they continued north.

According to the scouts’ reports, the Tsarist Russian army had arrived in the Heilongjiang River area, looting along the river, and at the same time declaring those places to belong to Tsarist Russia.

They were having a great time playing this self-amusing game.

The Tsarist Russian army was not large, only about seven thousand people, and they were very scattered.

Xun Yang directly brought an entire division over, not just to defeat the enemy, but to take the opportunity to wipe out this Tsarist Russian force and then occupy the area of Eastern Siberia.

Admittedly, this place was not of great value, but it was, after all, land.

Occupying these lands might not be a great achievement, but at least it would be considered expanding the territory for Great Hua.

For those emperors who were fond of boasting and seeking quick success, this would definitely be a great achievement.

Xun Yang wasn’t sure whether Wu Changqing was fond of boasting and seeking quick success.

The emperor was too far away from him. He had only seen him once, and there was no actual contact, so he didn’t understand Wu Changqing.

He could only study and speculate on the emperor’s thoughts through some of Wu Changqing’s policies.

In Xun Yang’s opinion, Wu Changqing was actually a little fond of boasting and seeking quick success.

Therefore, taking the area of Eastern Siberia would definitely make Wu Changqing happy.

“Report, Division Commander, enemy troops have been discovered in Lihe Village, thirty li away from us, about one hundred people. In addition, enemies of varying numbers have also been discovered in Hanzhuang, Kengwei, and other places.”

The scout reported the enemy situation, and Xun Yang and his other subordinates studied how to fight this battle.

“It won’t work to look for the enemies one by one like this. Once they realize that we are not their opponents, they might run away. Chasing them would be a great trouble.”

The chief of staff said.

“Perhaps we don’t need to look for them. We can wait for them to come to us. First, send a regiment to Lihe Village, and then garrison it there.

As long as the enemy is interested in this place, they will definitely try to wipe out our troops. At that time, the enemy army will take the initiative to gather and attack Lihe.

Then our cavalry can rush up to support and cut off the enemy’s retreat, and we can wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop.”

Zhou Ren, the commander of the cavalry regiment, said.

Participating in the discussion were not only the accompanying staff officers, but also the commanders of each regiment, and even some battalion commanders also participated in the meeting, and could express their opinions.

“This method is good, it saves trouble.”

Zhou Ren’s method was immediately approved by others.

“What if the enemy doesn’t take the initiative to attack, but chooses to run away?”

Someone also raised a hypothesis.

“If that’s the case, then we’ll just keep chasing them. But I don’t think that’s very likely. The enemy has gone through all kinds of hardships, marching tens of thousands of li to occupy this territory, it’s impossible for them to run away directly without fighting a battle.

In that case, what’s the point of their expedition?”

Zhou Ren analyzed.

The more people debated, the clearer things became. As others continued to put forward hypotheses, and others gave answers, a battle plan was also born.

Xun Yang adopted Zhou Ren’s suggestion, the main force remained still, and a regiment was sent to attract the enemy to gather, and then the main force would pounce on them and wipe them out in one fell swoop.

The difficulty of this plan lies in hiding the main force and attracting the enemy to gather.

As for the frontal battle, no one in the Huaxia army took it seriously.

As long as this Tsarist Russian army is eliminated, the entire Eastern Siberia region can be taken into possession.

At that time, the Huaxia army only needs to imitate the Tsarist Russian army, take a walk through those villages, and then leave two people in the villages with a large population, and announce that this place belongs to Great Hua.

As for whether Tsarist Russia recognizes it, it doesn’t matter.

It was already very difficult for Tsarist Russia to put together such an army. As long as this army is destroyed, they will not send troops again for the sake of Siberia, which is not worth much, it would be a losing proposition.

As for other countries, they wouldn’t care.

Chapter 837: Engagement

Spearheading the advance was the First Regiment of the 312th Division. They swaggered into Lihe Village and encountered the southward-bound Tsarist Russian army.

Although the Tsarist Russians were arrogant and unruly, they weren’t stupid. When a hundred of them met over a thousand, they turned tail and ran.

Theoretically, if both sides had the same speed, the pursuers wouldn’t be able to catch up.

But anyone who’s played tag as a child knows that the pressure on the one running away is far greater than on the one chasing.

The Tsarist Russians panicked and fled without choosing their path carefully, and the road ahead wasn’t as smooth as a highway.

They fled north and encountered a small river after only two kilometers.

They could have crossed the river with a little time, but with pursuers on their heels, they couldn’t spare even that small amount of time.

The two sides exchanged fire, and some of the Tsarist Russians were equipped with firearms.

However, due to a lack of logistical support, they usually used swords and sabers when dealing with civilians.

Now, they weren’t stingy with ammunition, but they were still no match for the Huaxia army.

By the time they fumbled to load their weapons with trembling hands, the Huaxia army had already opened fire.

After a few volleys, thirty or forty Tsarist Russians were dead.

The remaining men didn’t even bother reloading and fled to both sides, but naturally, they couldn’t escape either. Most of them were captured by the Huaxia army.

Only a few escaped, and they were deliberately let go by the Huaxia army.

Afterward, the First Regiment moved into Lihe Village, waiting for the arrival of the main Tsarist Russian force.

Several Tsarist Russian soldiers who successfully escaped found the main force and reported the situation ahead.

This infuriated Nicholas, the commander of the Tsarist Russian army. From the Volga River to here, he hadn’t encountered any decent resistance, let alone suffered any losses.

But now, a single engagement with the Huaxia army had cost him nearly a hundred soldiers. How could he not be angry?

They had virtually no logistical support for this army, and no reinforcements. Every death was a loss.

“Those damned Great Hua people, I’ll make them pay the price! Send my order, the First Company will advance and attack Lihe!”

Nicholas said.

“Commander, be cautious! According to the intelligence brought back by the returning soldiers, the enemy’s weapons are clearly very advanced, and their loading speed is faster than ours. I suggest recalling the Second and Third Companies to advance on Lihe together.”

The seven thousand plus Tsarist Russians were divided into four companies.

Nicholas wanted to attack Lihe with one company, but was opposed by his subordinate, Groven.

From the weapons used by the Huaxia army, Groven sensed that Great Hua was not to be trifled with.

An army that could equip firearms on a large scale was rare in the East.

“You underestimate our warriors too much. Gathering everyone is too troublesome. Let the Second Company and part of the Third Company come to reinforce us. The remaining troops will continue to advance south according to the original plan. We will occupy all the fertile land in the South.”

Nicholas reluctantly accepted Groven’s suggestion and said something quite arrogant.

Trying to occupy Great Hua with seven thousand men was a joke that would have made the Huaxia army laugh themselves to victory if they had heard it.

After several days of waiting, Nicholas finally completed the assembly of his troops.

In this cold North, everything moved slower than in the South.

Nicholas’s five thousand strong army advanced slowly, taking another two days to reach the outskirts of Lihe.

The Huaxia army stationed in Lihe immediately reported the situation to the rear.

Only five thousand came, not seven thousand. The situation was somewhat different from what they had expected.

However, Xun Yang and the others didn’t care too much. War was like this; it was never possible to proceed exactly according to one’s plans.

Only five thousand came, but that was enough. After annihilating these five thousand, the remaining stragglers would be nothing to worry about.

“Regimental Commander Zhou, set off immediately to cut off the enemy’s retreat. We’ll be there soon.”

Xun Yang ordered the planned action to commence, and the 312th Division began to march toward Lihe.

The Tsarist Russians were completely unaware of the Huaxia army’s large-scale movements. With their limited horses, their scouts could only cover an area of a dozen li around them.

They were powerless to reach further.

More importantly, they hadn’t fought any major battles before and didn’t pay much attention to scouting.

They were completely in the dark about the Huaxia army’s actions.

But the Huaxia army was fully aware of their movements.

In this respect alone, the Huaxia army was already in an invincible position.

After arriving at Lihe, Nicholas immediately launched an attack.

They fired a few token shots and then launched a charge.

At this moment, the Huaxia army’s mortars also began to fire.

The shells landed among the Tsarist Russian soldiers, killing and wounding many.

“What kind of cannon is that?”

Nicholas lowered his binoculars and asked in confusion.

He had never seen such a small and exquisite cannon, yet its power was considerable and its rate of fire was fast.

It was love at first sight for Nicholas. He wanted to seize it for himself.

They had brought many cannons with them when they left Moscow.

But because they were too cumbersome, they sold some of them for scrap metal along the way, exchanging them for food and fur coats. These things were much more useful than cannons.

In Nicholas’s view, such small, lightweight cannons were simply the best helpers for the army.

“I don’t know.”

His subordinates shook their heads, indicating they didn’t know.

Mortars alone certainly couldn’t completely stop the Tsarist Russian charge.

Then, gunfire began to erupt from the Huaxia army’s position.

The Huaxia army’s rate of fire once again astonished Nicholas.

It was fortunate that Lihe was freezing cold, and the Huaxia soldiers’ hands were affected by the cold, slowing down their firing speed.

If it were the normal rate of fire, Nicholas would probably have been scared to death.

However, even with the much slower rate of fire, the firepower was still formidable.

After a few rounds of gunfire, a large number of Tsarist Russian soldiers fell.

The sudden attack panicked the remaining Tsarist Russian soldiers, who quickly turned around and fled.

They needed to slow down and sort things out.

Nicholas wasn’t particularly angry about this. He regarded this failed charge as a probing attack, at least they had identified the two main weapons of Great Hua.

“Commander, this is a bit difficult. The enemy’s firepower is very strong. If we want to charge in front of the enemy, I’m afraid we’ll have to pay a heavy price in casualties. It’s best to order a full-scale attack, attacking from multiple directions simultaneously.”

Although Groven felt that the Huaxia army’s weapons were sharp, he was still confident in charging in front of the Huaxia army.

Not only did he think so, but the other officers were even more optimistic than him.

Chapter 838: Heavy Losses

After a short rest, Tsarist Russia launched its second offensive.

This time, they didn’t skimp on artillery shells, bombarding for a full half hour with several cannons.

As for the casualties inflicted, they were extremely limited.

Against some uncivilized armies, this kind of shelling might have had a deterrent effect.

But the Great Hua army was long accustomed to artillery bombardments and being bombarded.

So, Tsarist Russia’s shelling didn’t even achieve a deterrent effect.

After the shelling, it was still a infantry charge.

This time, they attacked from three directions simultaneously.

This put some pressure on the Huaxia army. After all, Li River was just a small village without any natural defenses.

Moreover, in this freezing cold place, even digging trenches was more difficult than in other areas.

The Huaxia army hadn’t even dug many proper trenches, only piling up some simple breastworks with sandbags and earth.

The defensive power of this kind of fortification was much worse than trenches, and with just over a thousand men to defend three directions, the difficulty was considerable.

As the drums sounded, the Tsarist Russian soldiers charged towards the Huaxia army’s position.

Immediately following was the sound of the Huaxia army’s cannons and gunfire. These two sounds intertwined to form a deathly symphony.

During the charge, Tsarist Russian soldiers fell from time to time.

The others acted as if they didn’t see it, continuing to roar and charge, not knowing if they were emboldening themselves or trying to scare the Huaxia army.

They attacked a large area with relatively dispersed forces, so even though many people died, it didn’t look particularly tragic, without the kind of mountain-of-corpses scene.

In this situation, their morale didn’t collapse, and they could continue charging.

At some weak points in the Huaxia army’s defense, areas that weren’t heavily defended, the Tsarist Russians even charged right up to the Huaxia army.

Then, the Huaxia army’s hand grenades began to show their power.

This unit was still using wooden-handled grenades; the newest type of grenade hadn’t reached them yet. Moreover, they couldn’t just throw away the wooden-handled grenades that they already had.

Even wooden-handled grenades were more powerful than bullets.

The platoon stationed in this section threw their grenades simultaneously, and the effect of the explosions was no worse than that of several field guns.

Many Tsarist Russian soldiers who had finally charged up to the Huaxia army were knocked down by this wave of explosions.

“What is this thing again?”

Nicholas paced back and forth in the rear, furious.

With great difficulty, a unit had charged up to the Huaxia army, and it looked like they were about to achieve victory.

But then the Huaxia army suddenly threw out this thing, blowing his brave subordinates into a daze.

The feeling of hope being extinguished was just too terrible.

No one could answer Nicholas’s question.

However, a bad feeling rose in the hearts of the other generals.

The Huaxia army had too many tricks, emerging one after another, all things they had never seen before.

These things brought great variables to the battlefield, making it impossible for them to see the direction of the situation. They finally began to realize one thing: they didn’t have a guaranteed victory in this war.

On the battlefield, after being bombarded by hand grenades, only a dozen soldiers remained in this charging squad.

They did charge into the Huaxia army’s position, and then engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the Huaxia army.

Dozens of people engaged in a fierce battle, and in the end, the Huaxia army relied on its numerical advantage to achieve a pyrrhic victory.

A platoon of more than thirty men was reduced to less than twenty.

As for the Russian squad, they were completely annihilated.

This kind of local danger didn’t affect the Huaxia army’s entire defense line.

If there had been more Tsarist Russians just now, they might have been able to achieve a local breakthrough.

However, Tsarist Russia didn’t have that many troops.

Although their forces were more than three times that of the Huaxia army, it was impossible to put them all into the battlefield at once; they had to keep some reserves.

Plus, they were attacking on three fronts, further dispersing their forces.

The forces allocated to any one point were not many.

Of course, it couldn’t be said that Nicholas’s all-out offensive tactics were flawed. If they didn’t disperse, the Huaxia army could also concentrate their forces on key defenses, and wouldn’t give the Tsarist Russians a chance to charge up to them.

Moreover, attacking from a single side with soldiers packed too densely would be like delivering food to the Huaxia army’s artillery.

In short, the reason why Tsarist Russia failed to seize the opportunity to complete a local breakthrough just now was not because of a problem with their tactics, but because of the difference in strength.

If the Huaxia army’s weapons and equipment were even a little worse, they wouldn’t have been able to stop this wave of attacks from Tsarist Russia.

But now, Tsarist Russia was being suppressed by the Huaxia army’s powerful firepower, unable to lift their heads, and encountering a very awkward situation.

They spent a great price, but the result was that they couldn’t break through.

On the entire front line, there were occasionally one or two points where they could charge up to the Huaxia army, but unfortunately, there was a lack of follow-up troops, and they fell short.

And in those places that were heavily defended, the Russian army couldn’t move an inch.

Their offensive failed.

Helplessly, Nicholas could only order a temporary retreat. Even if he ordered them to continue attacking, the soldiers below wouldn’t obey.

After retreating, the Russian army counted their losses, and the results made these high-ranking officials feel chills in their hearts.

In the two offensives, the Russian army lost a total of one thousand seven hundred soldiers, accounting for more than thirty percent of their total strength.

Nicholas couldn’t accept this kind of loss. With thirty percent casualties, his unit was practically half-crippled.

Even if they took Li River in the future and eliminated the Huaxia army’s unit, they would still be a failure.

“Commander, we have to admit, we were careless,” Groven said.

These words made Nicholas very dissatisfied, but he couldn’t refute them.

“Perhaps, our southern expedition should end here. It’s enough to hold on to the territory we’ve already acquired. There’s no need to provoke Great Hua again,” another subordinate said.

When he discovered that Great Hua was not easy to provoke, he chose to retreat.

“Do you think that if we don’t provoke them, they will let it go?” Nicholas snorted coldly. The two sides had already torn face, and they were bound to fight a battle to determine the outcome.

Unless he was willing to surrender and then resolve the conflict through negotiations.

Otherwise, the Huaxia army would not stop there.

But this was impossible; their pride would not allow them to do so.

“I mean, send envoys to negotiate. We still have five thousand troops, and the Great Hua people definitely don’t want to be enemies with us. The chances of successful negotiations are high.”

One defeat had caused divisions within the army.

Nicholas hoped to continue fighting the Huaxia army and eliminate this unit.

On the one hand, it was to show Great Hua their strength, and on the other hand, it was to take revenge.

Nicholas was unwilling to suffer such a great loss at the hands of the Huaxia army.

Several other subordinates were inclined to negotiate and make peace with the Huaxia army, not wanting to waste the army’s strength any further.

Unfortunately, Nicholas was the commander, the supreme commander.

So, the general direction was still decided by Nicholas.

Chapter 839: A Dilemma

Nicholas had decided to fight, but he had no idea how to fight.

Continuing a mindless charge was definitely not an option. The previous battles had already proven that charging was suicide. But besides charging, what other options were there?

Previous forms of warfare involved two armies meeting and engaging in melee combat to determine the victor.

Even with the advent of firearms and cannons, the process still involved a bit of ranged attrition before the two armies closed in for melee combat to decide the outcome.

In essence, there hadn’t been much change.

When faced with a situation where they couldn’t charge at the enemy, Nicholas and his men suddenly became incapable of fighting.

“Perhaps, we can capture the people of their country and push them forward, with our soldiers following behind,” an officer suggested.

“But what if this method doesn’t work, and the enemy still opens fire?” Nicholas’s concern wasn’t about the morality of such an action, but whether the Huaxia army would hesitate.

Generally, armies would directly shoot in such situations.

On the battlefield, there was no room for mercy.

“At least we can try. Unless you have a better idea.”

This sentence made Nicholas determined, because he didn’t have a better idea, and neither did anyone else.

Subsequently, Nicholas issued an order for his troops to capture the people of Great Hua.

While they were carrying out this order, the Huaxia army was rapidly approaching.

The Russian army was the first to spot the Huaxia army’s cavalry.

When Nicholas heard that a force of over one thousand cavalry had appeared behind them, he panicked.

That was cavalry! In this flat terrain, cavalry was invincible.

If the Huaxia army had enough patience, that single cavalry force could wipe out the Russian unit.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s cavalry, they only had one option: to set up camp.

But setting up camp wasn’t a long-term solution; supplies were a problem.

If they retreated, the cavalry could pursue and attack them. One charge would scatter their infantry.

To defend against the cavalry’s charge, they had to form a defensive formation.

While they were in formation, the Huaxia army’s cavalry could watch from a distance and wait. Infantry couldn’t maintain a formation forever.

Once they started marching, the Huaxia army’s cavalry could mount up and charge again.

In the plains, as long as they kept their distance, the cavalry could drive the infantry crazy, giving them no time to rest.

So, hearing that there were Huaxia cavalry, and as many as one thousand, Nicholas was devastated.

He urgently summoned his subordinates to discuss how to retreat.

He had already given up on the unrealistic idea of attacking Great Hua. He just wanted to preserve his forces and retreat, holding onto the territory of Eastern Siberia.

After all, it was their only achievement in this eastern expedition.

“Over one thousand cavalry, where did they come from? Why didn’t we have any information about this before?”

Groven and the others were also collectively alarmed upon hearing this news, and they questioned the source of the information.

They all knew how dangerous the situation had become.

“Let’s retreat quickly, or we’ll all die here.”

“How can we retreat? Do you think the enemy’s cavalry will just watch us leave?”

“We’ve already captured over three hundred people from Great Hua. Perhaps we can take them with us. If the Huaxia cavalry dares to charge, we’ll kill the hostages.”

The crowd discussed and argued, unable to reach a consensus. In the end, they decided on the plan to use civilians.

Unfortunately, Siberia was sparsely populated. They spent a day or two and only managed to capture over three hundred people.

If this were Jiangnan, a single village would have more people than that.

“Three hundred hostages are still too few. Compared to the merit of killing thousands of enemy soldiers, I think they will definitely charge without hesitation.”

Nicholas put himself in the position of the Huaxia cavalry commander and felt that the Huaxia army wouldn’t care about the lives of a few hundred civilians.

The entire room fell silent again as they continued to argue.

They were all anxious and helpless.

Finally, they sent envoys to negotiate with the Huaxia army on one hand, and searched for more people of Great Hua on the other.

The demands made by their envoys were ridiculous. Nicholas stated that they could withdraw from the territory of Great Hua and return the stolen property, but the Huaxia army was not allowed to attack them again.

The Huaxia army naturally ignored this kind of request.

The Huaxia army gave their demands, requiring the Russian army to lay down their weapons and surrender unconditionally.

Those soldiers who had committed crimes would be punished.

The Russian army naturally couldn’t accept this kind of request either, and the negotiations broke down after only one meeting.

After the negotiations broke down, the Russian army fell into an awkward situation.

Staying in place meant waiting for death, while retreating meant being attacked by cavalry.

The Huaxia army wasn’t in a hurry at all, waiting for the main force to arrive and attack.

The advantage of cavalry lay only in mobility. If the Russian army didn’t leave the camp, the cavalry wouldn’t have a good way to deal with them.

After two days of stalemate, Nicholas and the others received another piece of bad news: a large Huaxia force had arrived, with as many as seven or eight thousand soldiers.

Including the original troops, the Huaxia army had gathered over ten thousand soldiers.

At this point, Nicholas was completely desperate.

After the Huaxia army’s main force arrived, they didn’t waste any time and immediately launched an artillery bombardment against the Russian army, preparing for a general attack.

As for the civilians in the Russian army’s camp, they could only pray for their own good fortune.

Just as Nicholas had thought, in the face of great military achievements, this bit of loss was completely worth it.

The value of one soldier was at least equivalent to three or four civilians.

And the Russian army still had five thousand soldiers. Eliminating this force would be a painful blow to Russia.

For Great Hua, the death of a few hundred civilians was insignificant. After all, the population of Great Hua had already exceeded two hundred million.

Continuous and fierce artillery fire caused chaos and panic in the Russian army’s camp.

“Kill those people of Great Hua!” Nicholas shouted angrily.

He wanted to vent his anger by killing people.

“Commander, calm down! If we kill those people of Great Hua now, we’re doomed. If we keep them, we might have a chance to surrender and survive,” Groven advised.

“Bullshit, you coward! I don’t care about the enemy’s revenge. I want to fight to the death for honor!” Nicholas shouted.

However, very few people shared his sentiment. Most people wanted a chance to live.

Although the order to massacre the civilians had been issued, no one carried it out.

At this moment, Nicholas had lost control of the army.

After the artillery bombardment, the Huaxia army launched a general attack.

Chapter 840: System Notification

The equipment of the Guānwài Army could only be considered second-rate within the Huaxia army.

No light machine guns, no air force, no grenades, no semi-automatic rifles.

But even so, their equipment was still a beatdown against Tsarist Russia.

Relying on old-fashioned rifles like the Yongxing Second Year model, the Huaxia army steadily advanced towards the Russian positions.

They didn’t need to charge like the Russians; in fact, the Huaxia army didn’t even need to engage in close combat with the Russian soldiers.

They simply stood at a distance, maintained that distance from the Russian soldiers, and exchanged fire.

Then, they casually brought up the mortars and continued to bombard the Russian military camps.

By maintaining distance, the Huaxia army could reduce casualties.

The Russians quickly couldn’t stand this kind of fighting. They would have preferred the Huaxia army to charge onto their positions, and then have a real man-to-man physical confrontation.

On the eastern front, the Russian army couldn’t stand this tactic and proactively charged out.

On the southern front, the Russian army couldn’t stand this tactic and raised the white flag.

The majority of the Russians who charged out fell on the way.

The ones who managed to reach the Huaxia army did inflict some casualties.

But they suffered even more grievous losses themselves. Except for a few who suddenly saw the light and surrendered, the rest died.

The Russian army on the southern front chose to surrender, and their fate was slightly better. The Huaxia army did not kill these prisoners.

With the collapse of these two lines of defense, the Russian headquarters also raised the white flag.

Nicholas, who had been shouting about fighting to the death, didn’t commit suicide either. Instead, he obediently raised his hands like everyone else.

Of the more than five thousand people, only about seven or eight hundred died in battle, which was less than the number who died during their first attack on Li River.

The rest all became prisoners.

Of the five hundred or so civilians captured by the Russian army, more than two hundred died in the chaos.

Some were accidentally injured by artillery fire, and some were massacred by Russian soldiers.

After capturing these Russian soldiers, the Huaxia army conducted a simple investigation.

It was simple because no evidence was needed.

As long as the Great Hua citizens came forward to identify someone, the identified person was dragged out and shot directly, regardless of their cries of injustice. The Huaxia army paid no attention.

After all, the Huaxia army didn’t have the time or energy to investigate the truth.

During this trial process, many people would inevitably be wrongly killed.

But who cared?

Even the Russian soldiers themselves didn’t care much, as long as it didn’t involve them.

After a round of trials, more than six hundred prisoners were shot.

The remaining people were sent to Shengjing to contribute to the construction of Great Hua.

The officers, led by Nicholas, shouted that they wanted to negotiate with the higher-ups of Great Hua, but were naturally ignored.

Nicholas was secretly taken away and executed. Keeping such a person around would always be a problem, and feeding him would be a waste of food.

The other officers were also taken away and dealt with separately from the soldiers.

Otherwise, it would be easy for problems to arise.

After annihilating the Tsarist Russian army corps, the Huaxia army’s actions did not end.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army dispersed its units and began to clear out the remaining Tsarist Russian forces in Eastern Siberia one by one. They also announced the occupation of those areas, leaving behind a few soldiers to be responsible for governing.

They advanced all the way like this, encountering several small-scale battles with the remaining Russian forces along the way.

Without exception, the Huaxia army won every time.

Flintlock guns had no real ability to resist against breech-loading rifled guns.

A single shooting stance allowed the Huaxia army to reduce the chance of being hit by more than ninety percent, while the Russian soldiers were just living targets.

After firing a few shots, the Russian soldiers began to flee. Then, they would be caught by the Huaxia army’s cavalry.

The Huaxia army pushed north all the way, even reaching the Bering Strait area.

Then, they went west all the way, reaching the Lena River area.

Everywhere they went became the territory of Great Hua.

Wu Changqing’s system also acknowledged this occupation.

In Nanjing, Wu Changqing had been dumbfounded for several days.

The territory area in the system was constantly increasing dramatically, sometimes increasing by hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in a single day. It was simply outrageous, and he couldn’t understand it.

For a time, Wu Changqing couldn’t figure out where this territory was coming from.

Even if the Tokugawa family in Japan announced their surrender, it wouldn’t be that big.

And apart from Japan and Annam, Great Hua didn’t have any major wars. Where did this territory come from? It was quite magical.

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but sigh, the empire was too big, and it was unrealistic to fully control it.

The fact that hundreds of thousands of square kilometers of territory had been occupied without anyone reporting or requesting instructions was simply outrageous.

What if those frontier generals used this as an opportunity to become independent? That would be too much of a slap in the face.

However, as the report from Shengjing arrived in Nanjing, Wu Changqing’s doubts were resolved.

It turned out that the Guānwài Army had fought its way to Siberia and occupied Siberia.

Wu Changqing was quite speechless about this.

Siberia was a place that didn’t matter much whether they had it or not right now. Even if there were many mineral resources, it was impossible to develop them now.

Of course, it wasn’t a bad thing to have taken it.

A few days later, the system suddenly gave a prompt, which surprised Wu Changqing quite a bit.

Since he had the system, it had never proactively prompted any information, just like a dead object.

[System Notification: The host’s territory area has reached ten million square kilometers. Please continue your efforts and speed up your pace. When the territory area reaches one hundred million square kilometers, the system will undergo a major update.]

Looking at this prompt, Wu Changqing was stunned.

The previous encouragement was all nonsense, the key was the words “major update” at the end, which made him fall into deep thought.

He certainly understood what an update meant, it was probably like a game version update.

Perhaps some content would be modified, perhaps some new content would be added.

A major update meant that the changes would be significant.

But what exactly would the changes be? Why did the system abandon its aloof persona and choose to remind him in advance?

Wu Changqing felt that this update should be very important, which was why the system reminded him in advance.

From the time he obtained the system until now, the system had never harmed him.

Therefore, since the system had prompted him to speed up his pace, it meant that this update would definitely be beneficial.

Wu Changqing was deeply convinced of this.

“It seems I have to speed up the occupation of territory.”

Wu Changqing muttered.

He couldn’t guess how the system would update, but he couldn’t deny that his curiosity had been piqued.

In that case, he would speed up the expansion of his territory. As long as he took Asia, Africa, and North America, that would basically be enough for one hundred million square kilometers.

Conquering Europe or the Middle East, places with long histories and cultures, might be difficult, but the Americas, Oceania, and Africa could be taken relatively easily.

If he didn’t pursue localization, the speed would be even faster.

Chapter 841: National Celebration

A few days later, the news that Great Hua had recovered Siberia, expanding its territory by three million square kilometers, reached Nanjing.

Those who knew what Siberia was didn’t take the news too seriously.

After all, those three million square kilometers of Siberia weren’t even worth a tenth of Shanghai’s thirty thousand square kilometers, nor were they as valuable as Japan’s Kyushu Island.

However, for those who loved to boast and exaggerate achievements, this was a great victory to write about.

Three million square kilometers! It directly increased Great Hua’s territory by half.

Just from this number alone, it was a leap forward.

The people of Great Hua went out to buy firecrackers and fireworks, celebrating with songs and dances.

Great Hua’s growing strength, coupled with the Minister of Propaganda’s long-standing patriotic education, meant that the people of Great Hua now had a super strong sense of identity with their country.

Having identified with the country, Great Hua’s glory was their glory.

Great Hua’s territory had expanded, so they naturally had reason to celebrate.

Some merchants even took the opportunity to launch patriotic promotions, and the market was filled with a festive atmosphere.

As for the academies, the patriotic atmosphere was even more intense.

Many students were determined to assist the current Emperor in recovering all the lost territories of the world and achieving true unification.

Upon learning that more territory had been recovered, these students were so excited that they were almost beside themselves.

The foreign envoys, seeing Great Hua’s fervent atmosphere and desire for territory, felt both surprised, fearful, and angry.

They were angry at Great Hua’s audacity.

What did they mean by saying that the whole world had been Great Hua’s territory since ancient times, only occupied by barbarians?

The foreigners could only curse such a statement as shameless in their hearts.

They were afraid of Great Hua’s greed.

Even Great Hua valued a barren land like Siberia, so would they let go of the rich lands of Europe, America, and India?

From Great Hua’s occupation of Siberia, the other envoys could see an ambitious Great Hua with an infinite greed for land.

This was terrible news, even a nightmare, for their countries.

Especially for countries close to Great Hua.

The King of Siam had repeatedly hoped to offer his princess to the Emperor of Great Hua, wanting to add another layer of marital relations, just for fear that Great Hua would get too excited about occupying territory and take Siam along the way.

The pressure that Great Hua exerted on other countries was now much greater than that of the American Eagle in later generations.

At least, the American Eagle was not as greedy as Great Hua in terms of territory.

Moreover, the American Eagle of later generations could not achieve a beatdown, as there were at least two or three forces that could compete with it.

But now, Great Hua, unless the whole of Europe united, would have a little ability to resist.

Facing Great Hua alone, they would all be beatdown.

Therefore, other countries faced great pressure when facing Great Hua.

If calling Wu Changqing “Daddy” could avoid being annexed, many kings would probably have already done so.

While the people were enthusiastically celebrating Great Hua’s recovery of its homeland, some officials in the imperial court also suggested celebrating.

Qin Xianglu, the Director of the Construction Department under the Ministry of Industry, submitted a memorial suggesting that a huge statue of Wu Changqing be built on Purple Mountain in the Xuanwu District of Nanjing to commemorate Wu Changqing’s great achievements.

This was purely an attempt to show off his presence. The Construction Department was responsible for Great Hua’s national infrastructure projects and was a very important department.

However, its importance had not reached the level where it could be established as a separate ministry.

Therefore, whenever there was an opportunity, Qin Xianglu of the Construction Department would submit memorials to show his presence in front of Wu Changqing, while also vying for some significant projects.

For example, Qin Xianglu had proposed the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.

Undertaking and completing these projects could enhance the Construction Department’s visibility and presence, giving it the opportunity to be promoted to a separate ministry.

However, this proposal was strongly opposed by the Minister of Science and Technology, because Great Hua did not yet have the ability to build a bridge across the Yangtze River.

Starting construction rashly would be too risky.

The investment for this level of engineering would be at least five to six million yuan.

If it failed, it would be a major loss.

More importantly, if there were any problems with the bridge, the people in the Ministry of Science and Technology would definitely be implicated.

They didn’t want to go crazy with Qin Xianglu and firmly opposed it.

The people from the Ministry of Transportation expressed their opposition, because they felt that any project related to roads belonged to their department.

The Yangtze River Bridge was rejected, and now Qin Xianglu had proposed building a statue for Wu Changqing, which was a vanity project, but of great significance.

Moreover, no minister dared to oppose this proposal.

Although many ministers felt that such impractical projects were unnecessary, could they say this to the Emperor? Of course not.

However, this proposal was rejected by Wu Changqing.

Building a statue, Wu Changqing was actually quite happy about it.

Although it was just vanity, having his statue placed in the most conspicuous place for the world to worship was also a pretty good feeling.

However, Wu Changqing felt that it was a bit too early to build a statue now. The technology was not good enough, so the construction would naturally not be too large.

Below one hundred meters would be meaningless.

In the future, there would be many buildings exceeding one hundred meters, and a statue less than one hundred meters would naturally appear less majestic.

The Statue of Liberty is almost one hundred meters tall.

Wu Changqing felt that the achievements he had made now, and the significance they represented, were a little bit higher than the Statue of Liberty.

The plan to build a statue was rejected, and the other ministers were secretly cheering. They were a little disgusted by Qin Xianglu’s flattering face.

Some people even collected some evidence to impeach Qin Xianglu for his poor performance and embezzlement.

The purpose was naturally to get rid of Qin Xianglu and then compete for the position of Director of the Construction Department.

Although it was just a department, the position of Director of the Construction Department was quite important, because Great Hua now had too many infrastructure projects.

As the prices of cement and steel continued to fall, all kinds of high-rise buildings were springing up.

The affordable housing built by the imperial court was also constantly expanding.

By the sixth year of Yongxing, there were three hundred thousand sets of affordable housing in Nanjing and one hundred and fifty thousand sets in Shanghai, directly causing many ambitious Great Hua real estate developers to die prematurely.

They had no opportunity to speculate. The imperial court provided housing for the people and workers at a loss, and they couldn’t sell the houses they built.

Now, Great Hua’s real estate developers can only do high-end market, that is, build gardens, villas, or some office high-rise buildings, hotels, stadiums, landmark buildings, and so on for the rich.

These high-end markets are also very profitable, supporting a large number of real estate developers.

However, as long as Wu Changqing is around, they will never be as brilliant as they were in later generations.

Wu Changqing will control the real estate sector to death, so that Great Hua will not have so many mortgage slaves.

Chapter 842: Diverse Architecture

The plan to build a statue was rejected, but the Construction Department was still very busy because Great Hua had been engaged in a frenzy of infrastructure construction for the past few years.

Nanjing South Railway Station, a major project that began construction the year before last, was completed this year.

The entire railway station covers an area of three hundred thousand square meters, which is equivalent to more than forty football fields.

The railway station has two floors. The upper floor is for trains to stop, and the lower floor is a hall for ticket purchases and future bus stations.

As for the subway, that is still a bit far off. If they really wanted to dig, they could use primitive technology, but the investment would not be proportional to the returns.

From the outside, the entire South Station is shaped like a crouching tiger, majestic and imposing.

For many people, the South Station can be considered a scenic spot.

After three years, Provincial Governor Liu, returning to Nanjing, came out of the station and admiring the South Station with reluctance.

“Magnificent and imposing.”

Because Great Hua does not value the Four Books and Five Classics, the literary talent of the officials has greatly declined.

For such a remarkable building, Provincial Governor Liu actually summarized it with two idioms.

If this were the previous dynasty, there would have been articles like “Farewell to the South Station” or “Visiting the South Station on Returning to the Capital.”

It is a pity that the literary style is declining, and literary talent is a thing of the past.

The characteristic of the railway station is its size, while the Nanjing Commercial Building is tall, with a full thirty floors and more than fifty companies residing inside.

One of the floors is the famous stock exchange.

A Frenchman wearing a hat stood below the Commercial Building, looking up, even dropping his hat on the ground.

A person in a suit passed by and helped him pick up the hat.

“Thank you,”

Alfred said.

“You’re welcome,”

Said Jia Baoshan.

“What is this building used for? It’s built so high.”

Alfred, who had just arrived, exclaimed. Before coming to Great Hua, the tallest building he had seen was the cathedral, which was less than twenty meters tall.

“For trading stocks,”

Jia Baoshan said.

“Stocks, what are those?”

Alfred asked.

“It’s when large companies divide their equity into several shares and then put them here for trading. If you think a company is doing well, you can buy their stock and wait for it to appreciate…”

Jia Baoshan briefly introduced the nature of stocks.

Alfred was a businessman with a flexible mind. After Jia Baoshan said this, he understood and said, “Isn’t this just a disguised form of gambling, except that the gambling tool has become stock certificates?”

“…”

Jia Baoshan was speechless for a moment, because according to Alfred’s way of understanding it, it couldn’t be said to be completely wrong.

Jia Baoshan explained, “The two are completely different. With gambling, we can’t control luck, nor can we judge the trend of luck. But stock trading is completely different. As long as you are familiar with the market conditions of various industries and have a keen sense of the market, you can accurately judge which stocks will rise and which will fall…”

This time, Jia Baoshan explained the gameplay of stocks in depth, which immediately brightened Alfred’s eyes.

In Europe, he was engaged in speculative business, never in real industry.

When it comes to speculation, that is his specialty.

Most importantly, the mechanism of stocks allowing for quick wealth made him completely tempted.

He came to Great Hua to make money, but doing business honestly has made it difficult to encounter opportunities to get rich quickly. Moreover, the cycle of traveling back and forth from Great Hua to Europe is too long.

Stocks met all his needs.

“Sounds very interesting. I happen to have some research on the market. I believe I can become a stock expert,”

Alfred said.

“Go for it, I believe you can,”

Jia Baoshan said with a smile, and then added in his heart, “When you become an expert, that’s when your wallet will be empty.”

Don’t ask Jia Baoshan why he is so sure, because he used to enter the stock market with this idea.

His stock trading skills have improved, and his wallet has become flatter. It’s a sad story.

Qinhuai River, Drunken Dream House.

This is a brothel, a special brothel.

Its special feature lies in the shape of its building. The overall shape is a large ship.

There are decks, cabins, and even sails.

Of course, the interior decoration is more luxurious and comfortable than a real ship by dozens of times.

Looking from a distance, this shaped building stands out from the crowd, unique and quite characteristic, and quite beautiful.

Among the many brothels, it is the most eye-catching.

Just this shape alone has made it famous in Nanjing. Visiting the Qinhuai River without visiting Drunken Dream House is a regret.

In the past, this style of architecture would have been impossible.

The architectural styles of the past were relatively fixed, and strange styles were easily criticized and regarded as oddities.

However, today, Great Hua has undergone too much social change, and there are too many things that the old conservatives need to complain about.

Even women can become officials and study, and can communicate with strange men.

These are the areas that the old conservatives focus on criticizing, so they don’t have time to complain about this strange style of architecture.

Because the changes are too drastic, there are too many new things emerging, and too many new things pouring in from overseas, which has led to a much higher degree of tolerance for various things in Great Hua.

There are fewer restrictions on doing things.

This is certainly a good thing, as it allows people to better exert their creativity.

It is precisely because this creativity can be fully utilized that Nanjing’s first overpass was able to appear.

In order to alleviate traffic congestion, someone proposed building overpasses in some prosperous sections of the road to reduce intersections and save waiting time.

With overpasses, people who need to cross the road no longer need to wait as before.

The headquarters of Chen’s Perfume Company covers an area of more than three hundred square meters, is three stories high, square, and quite conventional.

However, this building exudes a luxurious atmosphere all over.

The exterior uses a large area of glass, giving a magical feeling.

The only stone parts are also smooth marble, and the floor is also made of marble.

The roof is made of glazed tiles, resplendent and magnificent.

This kind of building makes people know at a glance that it is extraordinary.

People who are not properly dressed do not need the reminder of the etiquette小姐, they are embarrassed to go in.

Large, tall, gorgeous, and artistic are the elements pursued by current Great Hua architecture.

Nanjing Railway Station, Commercial Building, Drunken Dream House, Chen’s Building, these are the representatives of Great Hua’s new era architecture. There are many similar buildings, and these buildings construct the brilliant capital city culture.

Whether they are outsiders or foreigners, when they come to Nanjing and see these unique buildings, they are easily lost in this city and intoxicated by this city.

In the eyes of foreigners, this is paradise.

In the eyes of Great Hua people, this is fairyland.

Chapter 843: Technology Upgrade

Wu Changqing was inspecting new scientific research achievements at the Royal Academy of Sciences.

As early as six months ago, he had selected a group of people to form a special research team to study plastics.

The importance and significance of plastics are basically comparable to technologies such as steam engines, internal combustion engines, and rubber.

This can be seen from the exchange price. The technological principles of plastics, as well as the manufacturing methods, process flow, and other related knowledge, cost Wu Changqing three million technology points.

In later generations, plastics have deeply embedded themselves in human life, and humans have become completely inseparable from them.

Although plastics are difficult to decompose and cause environmental pollution,
compared to the convenience they bring to life, this pollution is completely acceptable.

Plastics have many advantages, such as strong corrosion resistance, light weight and strength, easy and cheap processing, and a wide range of uses.

They can be used for daily necessities, as insulation materials, and for special purposes.

“Your Majesty, after our tireless research, we have successfully mastered a low-cost method for producing plastics,” said Qiao Guofeng, the project leader.

With the complete set of technology provided by Wu Changqing, they had actually produced plastics a long time ago and manufactured some daily necessities.

Such as plastic basins, plastic buckets, and the like.

However, being able to manufacture and being able to manufacture on a large scale at a low cost are very different.

If the cost cannot be reduced, there is no point in making them.

This thing is for ordinary people to use. Rich people don’t really care about it. They have aluminum products available.

Only by reducing the cost so that it can be sold very cheaply can it be convenient for people’s daily lives.

Even for industrial use, it needs to be cheap, otherwise no factory can afford it.

Now, they have finally lived up to Wu Changqing’s trust and mastered a cheap production process.

Next, they only need to promote this method, and plastic products will soon enter thousands of households.

Wu Changqing looked at the plastic basin they produced and felt that it was rougher than those of later generations, but it was acceptable.

So, he said, “Not bad. After a while, I will have people from the Ministry of Rites study the rewards. However, this is just the beginning. The study of plastics is very profound, and you need to spend your entire lives researching it.

Plastics have a wide range of uses, and you need to increase your efforts to explore them. Of course, I will also provide some ideas. For example, color-changing plastics, heat-conducting plastics, and bulletproof plastics.

Don’t be constrained by convention, dare to let your minds fly, imagine boldly, anything is possible. While researching, you must also pay attention to cultivating relevant talents.

Great Hua has more than two hundred million people, and there will be five hundred million, one billion in the future. Relying on a few of you cannot support the development of Great Hua. You must spread this knowledge and gather the strength of the people…”

Wu Changqing said a lot, the core of which was two points: continue research and cultivate talents.

After confirming that the plastic technology was mature, Great Hua also announced the news, and then encouraged merchants to open plastic factories.

The imperial court would provide technical support, and they only needed to pay a fee.

As soon as the news came out, a large number of merchants flocked to the office to apply.

However, only one in a hundred could get the application.

Some people with great connections had already learned of this internal news in advance and seized the opportunity.

The number of plastic factories supported by Great Hua in the first batch was limited. After most of them were snatched by these people, the remaining places were obtained by lucky ones.

Of course, merchants who did not get a place do not need to be discouraged.

If they really want to do this business, they can inquire about who has obtained the support places.

Among them, there must be some family members of meritorious officials. They grabbed the places, but they did not have the management skills or capital.

Therefore, they grabbed that kind of place just to sell it for money.

As long as they promise to give these people some shares in the new factory, they can get this kind of support place.

People with power and influence don’t do anything, and people send them money while sitting down. This is not a joke, but the most cruel reality in this world.

Wu Changqing had even heard about this situation to some extent, but he had no time to deal with it.

After all, this kind of thing is not a big deal, and its harm is not even as great as the corruption of officials.

Wu Changqing had more important things to deal with.

He exchanged for more advanced steelmaking technology, the top-blown oxygen converter steelmaking method, and then handed it over to several government-controlled steel plants, asking them to upgrade their technology.

The reason why he didn’t directly exchange for this advanced technology before was because the technology for producing oxygen was too low-level and the cost of producing oxygen was too high.

Moreover, the knowledge level and skill level of the previous steelworkers were too low.

Using the most advanced steelmaking method directly at one time, those people may not be able to master it.

The application of technology requires gradual progress.

Therefore, Wu Changqing exchanged for the new steelmaking technology only when the time was right.

After the technical upgrade is completed, Great Hua’s steelmaking capacity can be increased by about three or four times, which can greatly increase the output of steel.

Now Great Hua’s steel production does not need to consider the problem of overcapacity at all. How much is produced will be used up.

No matter how much the steel plants work overtime, they are always unable to meet the national steel demand.

Suspending production for technical upgrades is a major event for steel plants.

If this new steelmaking technology was not brought out by Wu Changqing, those steel plants would not dare to take such a big risk to carry out technical upgrades.

If it fails, the loss will be immeasurable.

However, this was brought out by Wu Changqing.

Therefore, the directors of the major factories carried out the order without hesitation.

They have a mysterious trust in Wu Changqing. As long as Wu Changqing tells them to do something, it will be correct to do it.

This is the prestige accumulated by Wu Changqing’s consistent correctness.

To put it another way, even if it is wrong, they have to bite the bullet and carry it out.

Questioning the emperor’s orders and disobeying them is not a small crime.

As soon as Wu Changqing’s order was issued, the major factories announced that they would work overtime to produce a batch of steel to meet market demand, and at the same time notify those customers in advance that production would be greatly reduced next, so that customers could be prepared.

A few days later, they began to upgrade their technology based on the information provided by Wu Changqing, and at the same time train those more talented workers to master the relevant theoretical knowledge.

As the technology became more and more profound, the requirements for workers became higher and higher, and they were forced to improve the workers’ abilities.

Steel, steam engines, shipbuilding…

In many fields, Wu Changqing is always paying attention to it, and then according to the development process of the industry, he constantly provides technical support to make the technology upgraded and innovated.

Chapter 844: Casual Chat

Inside the palace, in the inner courtyard, Wu Changqing was chatting idly with several of his concubines.

He was using this method to gather information about the outside world and the common people.

In truth, he very much wanted to go on incognito trips to see the true state of Great Hua under his rule.

However, he also worried about encountering assassins.

In this world, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of people loved him, but tens of thousands hated him.

There were enough people who wanted to assassinate him to fill a train.

Perhaps, every moment, someone was watching from a restaurant outside the Meridian Gate, and as soon as he left the palace, assassins and suicide attackers would be ready to pounce.

For safety’s sake, he couldn’t leave the palace easily.

As for going on incognito trips for ten days or half a month every now and then, like in TV dramas, that was even more impossible.

If he disappeared from the palace for just three days, the world would be in chaos.

Only a mentally deficient emperor would frequently go on incognito trips.

Unable to leave the palace, Wu Changqing could only listen to his concubines talk about what was happening outside.

He had relatively loose control over his concubines, and they could often leave the palace to go shopping or visit their families.

Wu Changqing wasn’t too worried about whether this would lead to him being cuckolded; the chances were small.

Moreover, the concubines were watched overtly and covertly whenever they left the palace. Unless they were brain-dead, they wouldn’t risk their lives to cuckold the emperor.

There probably wasn’t anyone that desperate in this world.

Besides, if, in the unlikely event, he was cuckolded, it wouldn’t be a big deal; he could just have them executed.

“There are more and more cars on the streets now, and it’s not safe at all. Last time, I saw the son of the Vice Minister of Revenue hit a pedestrian with his car, throw down a few coins, and drive off. I don’t even know if that little bit of money is enough for medical expenses.”

Guo Xiang spoke of her experiences in the city.

Wu Changqing listened silently, then noted the matter in his mind, preparing to issue an order later.

In the future, people must pass a driving test before driving on the streets. Those who drive without a license must be fined, and fined heavily.

Drivers who kill people without a license must be sentenced to prison.

Drunk people are also not allowed to drive.

In any case, just follow the rules of later generations.

As for the son of the Vice Minister of Revenue hitting someone, he was too lazy to deal with it.

Even if he were to intervene, he would solve the problem from a systemic, global perspective, rather than targeting a particular纨绔.

There were at least eight thousand, if not ten thousand,纨绔 in the world, and every one of them was a bastard. He couldn’t possibly deal with them all one by one.

“I don’t like riding in cars; they have a nasty exhaust smell.”

Miao Ping interjected.

Wu Changqing noted it in his mind, preparing to issue an order to gradually relocate the factories in Nanjing to the Wuhu or Zhenjiang area.

In the future, Nanjing would just be a political center, a cultural center, and a financial center.

Industries with heavy pollution would be moved to other places.

Although this was a transfer of harm, no one would say anything, and many would certainly support it.

After all, Nanjing was the capital, the place where the Son of Heaven lived, and it certainly had to be treated preferentially.

“Are there any newsboys or beggars in the city?”

Wu Changqing asked.

As soon as he asked, the concubines began to vie to answer.

Finally, Ding Wanjun took the lead and said, “There are still newsboys, but far fewer than before. Now, most people have chosen long-term subscriptions, and some places have even set up newsstands, so the newsboys’ business is much worse. As for beggars, I haven’t seen any. I heard that whenever beggars appear, the police will take them away and force them to work.”

“What about those with intellectual disabilities who beg because of their low intelligence?”

Wu Changqing asked. Those people had no ability to work.

He wondered how the people below were solving the survival problems of these people.

The concubines didn’t know the answer to this question.

They mainly went shopping when they left the palace and wouldn’t delve into these social issues.

“Are there many women on the streets now?”

Wu Changqing asked another question.

“Yes, far more than when I was a child. But they are mainly Korean women, Japanese women, and other foreign women. There are also Great Hua women, but they are mainly concentrated in Women’s Street, which is a commercial street specializing in women’s products.”

Guo Xiang compared the present with when she was a child, seven or eight years ago.

Now, women on the streets were very common, and the people of Great Hua were almost used to it.

Through chatting with his concubines, Wu Changqing learned a little about the situation outside. However, most of what he learned was superficial.

To understand in depth, he still needed to go on incognito trips, quietly.

He couldn’t make too much noise, otherwise the officials who received the news would definitely make various preparations in advance, ensuring that Wu Changqing would see a scene of prosperity and splendor.

Relying on the concubines’ experiences, the intelligence reports submitted by the Intelligence Bureau, and some information obtained through other channels, Wu Changqing could grasp the situation outside fairly well even in the palace.

“Your Majesty, when can we go to West Lake to play? I’m tired of staying in Nanjing all day.”

Guo Xiang said coquettishly.

“What’s so fun about West Lake? When I have time, I’ll take you to Hainan Island. To the beach to see the sea and sunbathe.”

Wu Changqing said.

Other emperors still had recreational activities like hunting, and he certainly needed to find some entertainment for himself.

However, he didn’t like hunting. Going to the beach and watching his concubines play beach volleyball was still acceptable.

At that time, with the sky as a blanket and the ground as a bed, wouldn’t that be delightful?

“Okay, it’s best to go in winter. I heard that Hainan Island isn’t cold at all in winter.”

Guo Xiang said. She was relatively afraid of the cold, and Nanjing’s winter was quite cold.

Speaking of traveling, the other concubines became energetic and acted coquettishly in front of Wu Changqing, wanting to get a chance to go out and play together.

Wu Changqing chatted with them to get some information about the outside world and to maintain their relationship, or rather, their kinship.

And they chatted with Wu Changqing more to compete for the opportunity to serve him in bed at night.

After the competition, Guo Xiang finally won and got the chance to serve him at night.

In the evening, Wu Changqing didn’t go straight to bed; that would be too unoriginal.

Now, he preferred to play some tricks.

For example, role-playing or something.

According to the appearance in his memory, he prepared a set of chivalrous woman’s clothing for Guo Xiang, which looked even more immersive.

Guo Xiang naturally cooperated one hundred percent with Wu Changqing’s perverted tastes. There was no way around it; the person she had to please was the emperor.

Wearing the clothes that Wu Changqing had specially prepared for her, and then performing a scene written by Wu Changqing.

After completing the foreplay, the main event followed.

Only at this moment was Guo Xiang satisfied.

Everything she did was just to conceive the dragon seed as soon as possible.

Chapter 845: Lawyer

The driver’s license regulations were quickly promulgated. At the same time, the traffic laws were also supplemented with some laws and regulations, mainly targeting automobiles.

The law stipulated that drunk driving was illegal, and there were relevant regulations such as paying compensation and imprisonment for accidents.

The laws of Great Hua were somewhat chaotic, not perfect, and not systematic enough.

Often, a problem was discovered, and then a law was added to supplement it.

After such patching and mending, although the laws of Great Hua still had many flaws, they were quite perfect compared to other countries.

As soon as these laws were promulgated, those lawyers began to study them in depth, line by line.

In previous dynasties, there were also legal advisors, but their numbers were small.

After all, in the past, there was less communication between people, less assistance, and naturally fewer conflicts and disputes.

Some disputes in the countryside could be resolved within the clan.

But now, with the economic boom in Great Hua, communication and cooperation between people have become very close, and many businesses are done with strangers.

This situation has led to far more cases in Great Hua now than before.

With more cases, there was a market for legal advisors.

As a result, lawyers who specialized in studying the imperial court’s laws and then helping people with lawsuits were born.

The imperial court also recognized these lawyers.

With these lawyers, a lot of trouble could be saved.

At least, lawyers could tell those who wanted to sue what procedures to follow, instead of kneeling in front of the officials and shouting grievances as before.

If you really asked them what their grievances were, they basically couldn’t explain the ins and outs of the matter for half a day.

The uneducated and ignorant people were already nervous when they saw the officials, and their language skills were poor.

Their cries of injustice were more about seeking sympathy than solving the problem.

If every commoner with a grievance went to the officials or judges to kneel and seek sympathy, without following normal procedures, then the judges wouldn’t have to do anything else, and efficiency would be very low.

When the court heard the case, if the opposing parties were uneducated, the debate would often go off-topic and turn into a shouting match.

Presenting facts, reasoning, and providing evidence – these people couldn’t do any of that. What they were good at was selling misery to gain sympathy and being unreasonable.

It was a very headache for judges to communicate with these people.

With lawyers, before seeing the officials, these people at least knew what procedures to follow, without wasting time.

During the trial, lawyers also knew which were meaningful words and which were unnecessary nonsense.

The debate between lawyers would be much clearer.

It would be easier to communicate with the judge through a lawyer.

More importantly, lawyers were an important reliance for ordinary people to resist authority and power.

Without professional lawyers, judges could judge as they pleased. Those who had been wronged often only knew that they were wronged, but they couldn’t explain exactly where the injustice lay, and they couldn’t argue with professional judges.

If they encountered a昏庸 (hūnyōng - muddle-headed) or malicious judge, the people often had to suffer.

Professional lawyers prevented judges from acting recklessly, because they knew everything, and the judges couldn’t fool them.

Of course, if the rich and the judges colluded with the lawyers, there was no way to stop it.

No matter how perfect the system, as long as it was executed by people, there would be problems.

However, a country cannot abandon the lawyer system just because there were some drawbacks.

The existence of lawyers, on the whole, was of great significance to the progress of society.

There were definitely bad lawyers, but there would definitely be more good lawyers, or rather, conscientious lawyers.

The existence of these lawyers could not completely eliminate the darkness in the world, but at least it could reduce the darkness.

Because of the existence of lawyers, the difficulty for those rich people or bad judges to do evil would be increased many times.

People who had been scammed by lawyers naturally wished they could shoot all the lawyers.

But if their dreams came true and there were no lawyers in this world, they would find that the world was even darker.

In short, the existence of lawyers was a reflection of social progress.

The government of Great Hua affirmed the lawyer system and also gave some guidance, requiring lawyers to abide by some lawyer ethics.

For example, not fearing the powerful, regarding money as dirt, having a high level of morality, and so on.

Of course, all these requirements were pale and powerless.

Human nature was inherently selfish, so there were always bad people.

Even the people who scolded others for being bad people were themselves bad people, but they didn’t have the opportunity to do evil.

When the new laws were promulgated, the bad people among those lawyers began to study the loopholes in them.

The more loopholes they mastered, the easier it was to help their clients escape punishment, which made their business ability seem stronger.

Such people were naturally the favorites of employers, and they could get more litigation fees.

For money, these people basically had no bottom line.

Among the lawyers, there were also those who were full of a sense of justice.

These people needed to study the law even more.

As the saying goes, if an honest official wants to survive in the officialdom, he must be more cunning and sly than corrupt officials, otherwise, he will not be able to survive in the officialdom.

And if a law-abiding and good lawyer wants to fight against unscrupulous lawyers who do everything possible, then his business ability must be stronger than those unscrupulous lawyers.

In this complex world, it is often difficult to say clearly what is a good lawyer and what is a bad lawyer.

A few days after the supplementary regulations to the traffic law were promulgated, a case occurred in Nanjing.

Tong Xuming of the Tong family ran over a Manchu old man while driving, killing him.

Then, the old man’s son, Yan Wangbei, hired a relatively famous lawyer, Bao Longxing, and sued Tong Xuming in court, demanding that Tong Xuming be sentenced to five years in prison according to the criminal law.

Bao Longxing was known for being upright, not fearing the powerful, and being resourceful.

As soon as he appeared, many onlookers became excited.

The Tong family was quite famous in Nanjing. If they could bring down the Tong family, it would be a very gratifying thing.

Tong Xuming did not surrender. The defense lawyer he hired, Xu Hanwen, was also a star in the legal profession, and his popularity was no less than that of Bao Longxing.

Of course, his reputation was infamous.

He was known for having no bottom line and being eloquent. He could distort the truth for money.

Many people hated him, but some people liked him.

Those rich people liked Xu Hanwen because he could help them escape punishment at critical moments.

Bao Longxing and Xu Hanwen had faced each other many times, and both sides were very familiar with each other.

Bao Longxing hated Xu Hanwen very much, but Xu Hanwen did not hate Bao Longxing. On the contrary, he admired him somewhat. This was a bit magical, but not particularly strange.

It was like a woman who became a prostitute for money. They often admired those women who would rather eat green vegetables and keep themselves clean.

Faced with this case, both Bao Longxing and Xu Hanwen frowned, because this seemingly ordinary case was actually not simple.

Chapter 846: The Debating Process

An ordinary lawyer might only focus on the current case.

However, the meticulous Xu Hanwen learned from the files that Yan Wangbei’s father had been in a car accident not long ago and received compensation.

Two car accidents in such a short period – what are the odds?

Of course, it’s possible, but Xu Hanwen didn’t believe he’d be the one to encounter it.

Through investigation, Xu Hanwen discovered something interesting.

That was, this car accident might not be Tong Xuming’s fault. Yan Wangbei’s father might bear more responsibility, because he had deliberately gotten himself hit.

And then used this method to extort money.

More importantly, Yan Wangbei’s father was a Manchu, which was also an advantage for Tong Xuming.

Based on Xu Hanwen’s experience, judges tend to favor Han people when ruling on disputes.

In fact, this was an unspoken rule throughout Great Hua, and many people understood it.

On the surface, Great Hua did not divide the various ethnic groups into different classes, but in reality, Han people were favored in all aspects of life.

Other ethnic groups and Koreans were second-class, Japanese and Annamese were third-class, and people from the Middle East and Western Regions were temporarily fourth-class, but once Great Hua conquered those places, they would probably be raised to the level of the Japanese.

As for white people from Western Europe, they were fifth-class, and people from uncivilized places in Africa were even lower, in sixth-class.

Once the government found these people in the Central Plains, they would be immediately repatriated, only allowed to live outside the Central Plains.

Through analyzing the case, Xu Hanwen said he could help Tong Xuming avoid criminal charges, at most pay some money, and not go to jail.

For Tong Xuming, that was enough.

A little money was nothing to him, as long as he didn’t have to go to jail.

Actually, if it weren’t for Bao Longxing, Yan Wangbei and Tong Xuming might have reached a settlement privately.

After all, Yan Wangbei just wanted to extort some money.

But in the end, someone died, the matter blew up, and Yan Wangbei only valued Bao Longxing’s ability, forgetting that Bao Longxing was inflexible.

Yan Wangbei just wanted to put pressure on the Tong family to get more compensation.

But Bao Longxing insisted on bringing Tong Xuming to justice, not caring how much compensation Yan Wangbei could get.

In Bao Longxing’s view, Tong Xuming committed a crime that resulted in death and should be held criminally responsible. If paying money could exempt him from punishment, wouldn’t the rich people in the world be even more unscrupulous?

Therefore, Bao Longxing insisted on pursuing Tong Xuming’s criminal liability.

Bao Longxing also collected a lot of evidence, such as Tong Xuming driving without a license, Tong Xuming’s past misdeeds, and Tong Xuming’s failure to take effective evasive action in the accident, which was subjectively intentional homicide, and so on.

Both sides collected evidence, and then confronted each other in court, the debate process was quite intense.

Xu Hanwen started by proving that Yan Wangbei’s father was a professional victim, saying that professional victims were lawbreakers, not worthy of sympathy, and not worthy of legal protection.

Bao Longxing naturally disagreed. In his words, the law was originally intended to protect vulnerable groups.

If vulnerable groups could not enjoy legal protection because they violated the law, then the world would be in chaos.

As long as vulnerable groups committed a minor offense, those in power could use it as an excuse to kill them.

This involved a debate on the essence of law, which Bao Longxing ultimately won.

Because criminals also have human rights, which is written in the law.

Of course, Bao Longxing won the debate, but lost the hearts of the people.

The jurors who came to the trial were initially sympathetic to the person who was killed, but after learning that the other party was a professional victim, this sympathy vanished into thin air.

Ordinary people are emotional. They don’t think as deeply as Bao Longxing, and they don’t understand how important it is to protect the human rights of criminals.

In short, the victim was a professional victim, so he deserved it. This was the idea of most ordinary people.

Bao Longxing won the debate on the surface, but actually lost.

Afterwards, the two sides conducted the next round of debate, arguing about whether Tong Xuming subjectively intentionally killed someone.

In this debate, the two sides were actually evenly matched, and neither could convince the other.

At this time, Xu Hanwen’s advantage came out. The judge favored Xu Hanwen, and then made a conclusion with a sentence of “presumption of innocence”.

Presumption of innocence, that is, Bao Longxing could not produce solid evidence to prove that Tong Xuming subjectively wanted to kill someone, then it was defined as an accidental accident.

The judge’s decision was recognized by the jury.

But Bao Longxing was not discouraged. Even if it was an accident, Tong Xuming was still driving without a license and still killed someone, so he could be convicted.

And Xu Hanwen still used the other party’s professional victim status to argue about the responsibility for the accident.

The two sides argued for half an hour. In the debate, Xu Hanwen was actually at a disadvantage.

But it didn’t matter, the judge would favor him.

Therefore, seeing that the situation was not good, the judge announced a recess and adjourned the trial to another day.

The judge was complaining in his heart about Bao Longxing’s insensitivity. In fact, according to his idea, this case was too simple. Let the Tong family pay some money and it would be over.

Anyway, the person who was killed was not a Han, so even if the verdict was a little unfair, it didn’t matter.

Maybe other Han people would be secretly happy and agree with this kind of verdict.

Even people of other ethnic groups would silently accept this result.

It was already very rare for Great Hua to give them equality on the surface. The world was like this, and they didn’t dare to expect more.

Even if Great Hua divided people into different classes on the surface, they could only silently accept it.

Inequality between the Han and other ethnic groups was an unspoken rule. Although everyone didn’t say it on the surface, everyone understood it and followed it.

Bao Longxing ignored this unspoken rule, insisting on the written regulations like a blockhead, which made people angry and helpless.

After that, the case was tried two more times, and finally ended with Yan Wangbei taking the initiative to withdraw the lawsuit.

Yan Wangbei fired Bao Longxing, and then reached an out-of-court settlement with the Tong family.

The Tong family paid Yan Wangbei five hundred wen, Yan Wangbei withdrew the lawsuit, and the matter ended.

The case was over, and Yan Wangbei was not very satisfied, but he could accept it.

Tong Xuming was naturally more satisfied, it only cost him five hundred wen.

Xu Hanwen was the happiest. He completed the employer’s task, showed his ability, and gained both fame and fortune.

The judge was also satisfied, and finally he didn’t have to make a difficult judgment.

In the whole incident, the only depressed person was probably Bao Longxing.

He couldn’t figure it out, and he was a little frustrated.

He felt that he was upholding the truth, but no one understood.

Those Han people said he was a traitor, those who had been victims of professional victims said he was helping the evildoers, and even Yan Wangbei fired him and didn’t appreciate his efforts.

The only person who would sympathize with him was Xu Hanwen.

Chapter 847: The Western Regions Strategy

After the case, in a chance encounter, Xu Hanwen and Bao Longxing were eating at the same restaurant.

Bao Longxing naturally looked at Xu Hanwen with disdain.

Xu Hanwen, however, was all smiles, shamelessly insisting on sharing a table with Bao Longxing.

Once they were together, the conversation inevitably turned to the case.

Then, Bao Longxing couldn’t help but lament, expressing his confusion as to why he lost despite having conclusive evidence.

Xu Hanwen laughed and said, “Brother Bao, in this world, there are both explicit and implicit rules. Only by conforming to both can things be handled well.

Violating the explicit rules can easily lead to a lack of legitimacy and leave you vulnerable. But violating the implicit rules can easily lead to resistance.

Taking our case as an example, you were too rigid, completely adhering to the explicit rules. But you didn’t realize that people’s hearts weren’t with the victim.

They weren’t Han Chinese, so everyone would default to a lighter sentence. You insisted on a heavy sentence, which the judge didn’t like, and the people wouldn’t agree to.”

“Hmph, if everything is based on implicit rules, then what’s the point of explicit rules?”

Bao Longxing couldn’t accept this argument for the time being.

“Of course, they have meaning. After all, some implicit rules can’t be brought out into the open. If it were explicitly stated that people are divided into different classes, those in the lowest class would definitely be dissatisfied and rebel.

But as long as it’s not explicitly stated, those people are more likely to accept it silently. To give a simple example, prostitutes know what they are and how customers see them.

As long as the customers don’t say it to their faces, they don’t care. But if you say they are cheap to their faces, they definitely won’t be happy.”

Xu Hanwen laughed.

Although Bao Longxing was intelligent, his personality made it difficult for him to understand this kind of logic.

“No matter what you say, I will stick to my principles and stay true to myself.”

Bao Longxing said.

“Good, I admire you for that. If you changed your mind because of my words, I wouldn’t appreciate you as much.”

Xu Hanwen laughed.

Their conversation wasn’t too pleasant, but at least it didn’t escalate into a conflict.

The operation of a country requires the joint efforts of many people.

An incident like Tong Xuming running someone over could be resolved by the lower-level officials and wouldn’t even reach the Emperor’s ears. He was completely unaware of these matters.

Wu Changqing was focused on national affairs, such as the strategy for the Northwest region.

The Northwest, the Western Regions, and other places definitely needed to be taken, but how to do it was important.

The military’s report was simple: send in a large army and push straight through.

If there were no other options, Wu Changqing might have approved it directly.

However, he now had a better plan in hand.

The memorial was submitted by Nie Jiang, the principal of the military academy, who stated that a direct attack was not a good idea.

If they attacked directly, the various countries in the Western Regions would feel that Great Hua was invading them, and they would definitely have strong resistance in their hearts.

They might temporarily submit while the army of Great Hua was in the Western Regions, but after the army of Great Hua left, some ambitious people would take the opportunity to cause trouble.

Great Hua could not station too many troops in the Western Regions for a long time. If they had to station so many troops, the military expenditure would be very high, and it would also waste manpower.

Taking the Western Regions in a different way would have a completely different effect.

For example, secretly reach an agreement with Li Dingguo in the Shaanxi area, provide Li Dingguo with weapons and ammunition, and let Li Dingguo take the lead in attacking the various countries in the Western Regions.

After Li Dingguo conquered the Western Regions, Great Hua would then help the various countries in the Western Regions beat up Li Dingguo and drive him away.

If the two sides cooperated well, they could eliminate the ruling class of the various countries in the Western Regions and make the people of the various countries in the Western Regions grateful to Great Hua, the savior.

In this case, it would be much easier to rule and manage the Western Regions in the future, without having to worry about those ambitious people who were trying to rebel all the time.

Without the support of the people, their whereabouts would be difficult to hide. Without the support of the people, they would not be able to obtain enough soldiers.

In short, acquiring the territory of the Western Regions in this way would be much better than attacking it ourselves.

As for Li Dingguo, let him bear the infamy and fight all the way to Europe.

Bearing the infamy in exchange for Great Hua’s material assistance, Li Dingguo would probably not refuse this deal.

If Li Dingguo refused, then find someone else who agreed to cooperate.

Wu Changqing liked this plan very much after reading it.

Although, in this era, countries were vying for territory and invading each other. Invasion was not a big deal.

However, being able to acquire territory with a different statement and a different name would at least sound better in terms of reputation.

As for the actual benefits, there were even more. It could reduce the cost of governance, killing two birds with one stone.

“Nie Jiang.”

Wu Changqing read the person’s name and felt that he was a strategic talent who could be transferred to the General Staff Department.

Doing what he thought of was the Emperor’s prerogative.

Wu Changqing transferred Nie Jiang to the General Staff Department, asking him to explain this plan to the military and advance into the Western Regions according to this plan.

This plan seemed simple, but it was actually quite troublesome to implement.

At least, the play had to be acted out convincingly.

If weapons and equipment were sent directly to Li Dingguo’s military camp, even a fool would see that Li Dingguo and Great Hua were in cahoots.

It had to be done in a more clever and subtle way.

For example, an army of Great Hua transporting weapons and ammunition was ambushed by Li Dingguo, and then abandoned the supplies and fled in panic.

Or, for example, the military could sell the supplies to unscrupulous merchants, and Li Dingguo could then buy the supplies from the unscrupulous merchants.

Although there were more cumbersome processes, it could clear up the relationship between Great Hua and Li Dingguo.

Of course, this kind of thing could only deceive the common people and low-level officers.

For those at the higher levels, one or two times might be considered an accident, but after a few more times, they would definitely be able to sort out the relationship.

But it didn’t matter, as long as they could hide it from the ordinary people and low-level officers in the Western Regions.

Those high-level rulers in the Western Regions were all doomed under Li Dingguo’s blade in the plan.

If these rulers were not killed, how could they obtain those riches?

Looting the people was not a good idea.

Nie Jiang promoted the plan in the General Staff Department for a few days and finally convinced several big shots in the military to agree to the plan.

Of course, the reason they agreed was not because they thought the plan was so good, but because Wu Changqing asked them to do so.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t asked, the military would not have agreed.

After all, according to this plan, it would be difficult for them to gain any great merit.

There could be no hard battles between them and Li Dingguo. At that time, it would all be acting, and taking the Western Regions would not be their credit.

The military naturally didn’t like this kind of plan.

In their opinion, the best option was to attack directly.

Chapter 848: Discussion

In early March, Li Dingguo met with a mysterious man named Black Eagle.

Black Eagle proposed a cooperative venture to Li Dingguo, outlining the details of their proposed partnership.

This surprised Li Dingguo greatly. He hadn’t expected Great Hua to seek cooperation with him.

Since the fall of the Great Western regime, he had led his army to the Shaanxi-Gansu area.

After a period of eastward and westward conquests, he had eliminated the remaining Qing forces entrenched there. Some remnant Ming forces were also driven to desperation and had no choice but to surrender and be incorporated.

He had also fought a battle with the Yarkand Khanate to the west, deterring them from advancing eastward again.

Now, his territory included a portion of Shaanxi, most of Gansu, and small parts of Qinghai and Ningxia, covering a total area of over three hundred thousand square kilometers.

The number of troops within his territory had reached one hundred thousand.

However, this number was already considered military excessiveness. Continuing to maintain this level of military strength would completely collapse the economy of his regime.

Li Dingguo had been troubled by this matter.

He didn’t dare to attack Great Hua to the east.

If he attacked to the west, he worried that Great Hua would take advantage of the situation and invade.

“Why should I trust you?”

Li Dingguo asked.

“Because I represent the Great Hua Empire. You don’t think the dignified Great Hua Empire needs to deceive a small warlord like you, do you? Besides, as long as you agree, we can send you a batch of supplies first. Have you ever seen such a way of deceiving people?”

Black Eagle laughed.

Great Hua wasn’t worried that Li Dingguo would take the supplies and renege on the agreement. If he did, it would be a situation of irreconcilable conflict, and Li Dingguo couldn’t withstand Great Hua’s wrath.

“I need to consider this further.”

Li Dingguo said.

This matter concerned his future fate, and he couldn’t make a decision immediately. He needed to consult with his confidants and key subordinates to weigh the pros and cons.

The conditions Great Hua offered on the surface were very good, but in reality, once they accepted, they would become a band of roving bandits, unable to establish a base.

Any territory they conquered would ultimately have to be handed over to Great Hua.

Once they were unwilling to wander and chose to settle down somewhere to establish a base, Great Hua would definitely cut off their supply of materials.

“General Li, please consider it carefully. You can come find me whenever you’ve made up your mind.”

Black Eagle left his contact address and departed.

Afterward, Li Dingguo summoned several confidants and key subordinates and explained the situation.

“What? Such a thing? What is the Emperor of Great Hua thinking?”

Li Dingguo’s subordinate, Ma Bing, said in surprise. As someone who had once engaged in burning, killing, and looting, and committed all kinds of evil deeds, he couldn’t understand Great Hua’s behavior.

In his understanding, the strong should just fight their way through, killing anyone who didn’t submit.

Once all the disobedient people were killed, the remaining people would be easier to manage.

As for what to do if too many people were killed, just let the survivors keep breeding. In a few decades, the world would be overcrowded again.

“What else could they be thinking? They want to be a whore while also erecting a monument to chastity. They want us to do the dirty work, and then they’ll play the saint.”

Another general, Niu Shangmang, sneered.

“I don’t care if they want to be a saint or not. I only care if it’s beneficial to us.”

Ma Bing was very pragmatic.

Was it beneficial?

The other generals began to consider this question. The ultimate conclusion was similar: it was beneficial.

“Actually, we basically have no choice but to agree. Otherwise, the Huaxia army will attack. Although I’m very reluctant to admit it, the reality is that we can’t beat them.”

Li Dingguo reminded everyone.

Great Hua seemed to give them a choice, but did they really have the power to choose?

The crowd fell silent upon hearing this. Not even one person spouted nonsense.

Only someone with a brain disease would say they could defeat Great Hua.

Looking at Great Hua’s battle record, they had hardly ever suffered any defeats.

The forces that opposed Great Hua had either been destroyed, surrendered, or were currently being beaten into submission.

Although Li Dingguo and his men had territories of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers and an army of over one hundred thousand, they were all clear that their strength was somewhat superficial.

Their true strength was not even comparable to Annam and Japan, and not even as good as the former Great Western Army.

Resisting Great Hua at this time?

They hadn’t forgotten how the former Great Western Army was defeated. When tens of thousands of Huaxia army soldiers attacked, their hundreds of thousands of troops immediately fled in disarray, not even daring to engage in battle.

Now, more than two years had passed, and Great Hua had become much stronger, while they had become weaker.

If Great Hua attacked now, they believed that it was very likely that the scene of the former Great Western Army would be repeated, with one hundred thousand people fleeing without a fight.

“If that’s the case, then agree to their terms and let the brothers use Great Hua’s advanced weapons. The guys under me are drooling over Great Hua’s weapons.

With Great Hua’s weapons, we can also experience the feeling of bullying people. Imagine the feeling of sweeping those who use swords and spears with gunfire, it’s exhilarating just thinking about it.”

Ma Bing laughed loudly.

Their entire army coveted Great Hua’s weapons.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t buy them directly, and could only obtain a small number of them through special channels, and the prices were extremely expensive.

“If we agree to their terms, we’ll be a bunch of roving bandits from now on.”

Niu Shangmang sighed.

Many of them had experienced the feeling of being a force without a base, forced to wander.

When Zhang Xianzhong first started his rebellion in the Hubei area, he was in a state of being a roving bandit, wandering around, attacking places that were unguarded, and fleeing whenever the imperial army arrived.

Without a base, there was no logistics.

At that time, their survival would be entirely in Great Hua’s hands.

When Great Hua still needed them, they would let them live.

When Great Hua no longer needed them and felt that they were no longer necessary, they would cut off their supplies.

“So what? Besides, can’t we look for opportunities? When we kill our way to the Western Regions, or to Europe, and occupy a piece of land there.

Then the mountains will be high and the emperor far away. Even if Great Hua wants to deal with us, they won’t be able to do anything about it. We might even be able to establish a new world in Europe.”

Ma Bing said with longing.

The scene he described moved many of the generals.

As Ma Bing said, although Great Hua was using them, it wasn’t as if they had no chance at all.

If they could use the weapons provided by Great Hua to conquer a large area of land and control a large population, they might really have a chance to establish a country that could compete with Great Hua.

Although this possibility was very small, for them, who had been licking blood off their blades for many years, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, that was enough. Where in the world was there so much certainty of success?

When they first started their rebellion, the hope was even smaller, but they still rebelled.

Chapter 849: Bargaining

Just as Li Dingguo had anticipated, the vast majority chose to agree.

A few individuals harbored concerns, but none voiced opposition.

They had no better choice.

Having reached a consensus, Li Dingguo approached Black Hawk to begin negotiating specific terms.

For instance, Li Dingguo and his people hoped to leave a portion of their families in Great Hua, requesting that Great Hua treat them well and preserve their lineage.

They would be traveling west extensively, and bringing their entire families would be inconvenient and dangerous.

Splitting their families into two parts, one going to the Western Regions and the other remaining in Great Hua to multiply and thrive, ensured that the family’s ancestral line would not be severed, regardless of what happened to either group.

Despite being ruthless soldiers who wouldn’t bat an eye at killing, Li Dingguo and his men still held strong beliefs in ancestral worship and traditional values.

Diversifying investments had been a strategy since ancient times.

The most skilled practitioners were the Zhuge family during the Three Kingdoms period, who directly divided themselves into three parts, investing in Wei, Shu, and Wu respectively. Ultimately, these three families were instrumental in dividing the empire into three.

And members of the Zhuge family became important officials in all three states.

Their abilities and foresight were truly unmatched.

Great Hua naturally had no objections to this.

Taking in these families could serve as a form of hostage, providing Li Dingguo and his men with some degree of attachment and consideration.

Of course, if Li Dingguo and his men gained a foothold in Western Europe and had the capital to establish a country, they certainly wouldn’t care about the lives of these hostages.

This condition was quickly agreed upon by both sides. Next came the most important issue: aid in the form of weapons and equipment.

For Li Dingguo, the more the better, and the more advanced the better.

For Great Hua, however, the considerations were cost and benefit. They needed to provide enough for the Great Western Army to overcome the various nations in the Western Regions, but not so much that the Great Western Army became too powerful and uncontrollable.

“Ten thousand semi-automatic rifles, fifty thousand Yongxing Year Two rifles, twenty million rounds of ammunition, one hundred field guns, three types of mortars, two hundred of each type, one hundred thousand hand grenades, fifty machine guns…”

Black Hawk interrupted Li Dingguo before he could finish.

“General Li, are you asking for aid or robbing us? Do you know how much all of that costs? With that kind of money, our army could march straight to Europe! What would we need you for?

Besides, even if we gave you one hundred field guns, would you even know how to use them?”

Black Hawk complained, Li Dingguo’s demands were simply outrageous.

Li Dingguo smiled, not at all bothered by Black Hawk’s complaints.

He was simply asking for the moon, waiting for Black Hawk to make a counteroffer.

“Then tell me, how much support can you provide? We’re the ones risking our lives on the front lines. If we don’t have good weapons, my men might not be willing to put their hearts into their work,”

Li Dingguo reminded him.

Black Hawk then revealed the Huaxia army’s plan.

They were only prepared to provide the Great Western Army with five hundred semi-automatic rifles. These were for equipping a commando battalion, not for making semi-automatic rifles their main weapon.

It was a joke. Great Hua still had many main force units using Yongxing Year Two rifles. The Great Western Army wanted to be equipped with semi-automatic rifles? They were dreaming.

As for the Yongxing Year Two rifles, Great Hua was prepared to provide five thousand. Enough to equip one regiment, which they could use for attacking fortified positions in future battles.

As for secondary tasks, the second-line units using flintlock rifles would be able to handle those.

Currently, not many of the armies in the Western Regions were equipped with flintlock rifles.

Great Hua would provide five million rounds of ammunition, averaging one thousand rounds per rifle, enough for them to train and fight.

They would only provide twenty field guns, mainly because they were high-tech weapons, and the entire Great Western Army couldn’t find anyone who knew how to use them.

Great Hua would have to send a group of technicians disguised as prisoners of war to the Great Western Army. Otherwise, even if they gave them the cannons, they would just be lumps of iron.

There would be no hand grenades, but they could give them all of their stockpiled stick grenades. As for other equipment like machine guns and flamethrowers, they would only provide a very small amount.

These were mainly for surprise attacks, not for use as conventional weapons.

“You’ve cut it down too much! You’ve reduced it by a factor of ten!”

Li Dingguo complained.

“General Li, if you can’t open up a situation in the Western Regions with this equipment, then we’ll have to question your abilities. Besides, this is just the first batch of supplies. If you perform well, there will naturally be subsequent aid.”

Great Hua’s aid wouldn’t be delivered all at once. It would definitely depend on Li Dingguo’s subsequent performance.

If Li Dingguo couldn’t defeat the Yarkand Khanate to the west with such good equipment, or if he wanted to use the equipment to counterattack Great Hua, then there would definitely be no further aid.

Li Dingguo naturally understood this principle.

However, bargaining was about fighting for every inch.

With the general direction established, these kinds of disputes weren’t a problem. Both sides compromised, and eventually determined the quantities and reached an agreement.

The number of semi-automatic rifles was increased from five hundred to one thousand. In Li Dingguo’s words, they needed not only a commando battalion, but also a bodyguard unit equipped with semi-automatic rifles to supervise the battle.

This would be used to protect the generals’ safety and to supervise the troops on the battlefield.

The number of Yongxing Year Two rifles was also negotiated to eight thousand, enough for the Great Western Army to equip five regiments.

Coincidentally, there were five main forces within the Great Western Army. In the end, these rifles would likely be divided among the five main generals of the Great Western Army.

The ammunition remained at five million rounds. If they needed more later, they could talk about it.

If they wanted subsequent supplies, they would have to show results.

The same was true for hand grenades. They were given thirty thousand to start.

Thirty field guns were provided, along with one hundred professional artillerymen, one hundred other types of technicians, and a dozen officers.

These officers were responsible for helping train the Great Western Army and for supervising them.

If the Great Western Army had any ulterior motives or disobeyed orders, these people could report it to Great Hua in a timely manner.

Mortars, machine guns, flamethrowers, and sniper rifles were also provided in small quantities.

These were mainly for dealing with special situations, not as conventional weapons, so they had to be used sparingly.

When they ran out or broke, when they could get replacements would depend on Great Hua’s mood.

In addition to these weapons, other supplies were also provided.

Such as cotton blankets, water bottles, shoes, various canned goods, and food.

This batch of supplies was enough to equip a main force division of Great Hua, and was of considerable value.

With one hundred thousand men and this batch of equipment, as long as Li Dingguo wasn’t incompetent, he could walk sideways in the Western Regions.

And Great Hua’s military was quite impressed with Li Dingguo’s abilities.

Without ability, it would have been impossible to pacify the Shaanxi and Gansu regions with just over ten thousand men.

Chapter 850: Re-equipping

Several days later, a Great Hua transport team was ambushed.

However, the Great Hua side didn’t suffer any casualties. Only some soldiers who couldn’t escape in time were captured.

At the same time, several Great Hua merchants and the Great Western Army concluded a deal.

Through this method, Great Hua delivered this batch of supplies into the hands of the Great Western Army.

Moreover, it didn’t attract too much attention.

With the supplies in hand, the main generals of the Great Western Army gathered to divide the spoils.

“Brother, give me more equipment. In future battles, my unit will always be in the vanguard,” Ma Bing said.

“It’s not like only you are willing to be in the vanguard. Give me those field guns and semi-automatic rifles, and I can be in the vanguard too,” Niu Shangmang retorted, not wanting to be outdone.

“No need to argue. I want two thousand Type Two Yongxing rifles. The remaining six thousand, you four each get one thousand five hundred to form a main force regiment,” Li Dingguo decided directly.

Li Dingguo was the strongest and had the most men under his command, so it was reasonable for him to get a larger share. The decision was considered fair, and no one objected.

“What about the semi-automatic rifles?” Niu Shangmang asked.

“Half of the semi-automatic rifles will be used to form a commando battalion. Of the remaining five hundred, each of you gets one hundred to form a commando company. The commando battalion will be under my direct command, and the commando companies you form will be your personal guards,” Li Dingguo said, once again taking the lion’s share. This distribution left some people feeling dissatisfied.

However, they couldn’t do anything about it unless they were prepared to break ties with Li Dingguo. This was no joke and couldn’t be done based on a whim.

The other supplies were distributed according to roughly the same principle: Li Dingguo took the largest share, and the others divided the rest equally.

As for the field guns, they needed to be used centrally, so they couldn’t be divided.

The newly formed field gun regiment was naturally also under Li Dingguo’s control.

Of course, Li Dingguo promised that he would immediately send artillery support when others needed it.

Afterward, the generals took the supplies and equipment and distributed them to their soldiers.

“Good stuff! This is the Great Hua’s Type Two Yongxing rifle. You can shoot lying down, and it’s accurate and has a long range,” one soldier said excitedly, examining his new rifle.

“It really is a good rifle from Great Hua. Where did we get this? We’re going to make a fortune,” another soldier said.

At this moment, the officer in charge of distributing the rifles spoke up.

“These were bought at a high price from Great Hua arms dealers by the general through scrimping and saving. They weren’t easy to get, so you must take good care of them. Remember, this rifle is more important than your wife. You can lose your wife, but you can’t lose this rifle.

In the future, you must train hard and master the use of this rifle. Anyone who doesn’t meet the training standards will be eliminated and sent to other regiments to continue using flintlock rifles.

There are many soldiers eyeing these rifles, so if you don’t cherish them, others won’t be polite.”

“Why wouldn’t we train hard with this rifle? We’re not that stupid,” one soldier interjected, causing the other soldiers to laugh.

They all knew how powerful this rifle was and naturally didn’t want to go back to using flintlock rifles.

“Besides rifles, there are also grenades, made in Great Hua,” the quartermaster said, opening a box filled with grenades.

In fact, the Great Western Army was also equipped with many homemade grenades.

However, the grenades they made were much less powerful than those from Great Hua, and they were also heavier.

The Great Hua grenades were also treasures to them.

“Hahaha, with these treasures, we’ll never have to worry about fighting again. Who can stand against us?”

“I can’t wait to fight the enemy and test the power of these weapons.”

“What else is there? Is there anything else?”

Everyone discussed excitedly. Having new weapons, their arrogance had increased a lot.

Since rifles and grenades were bought, there should be other things as well.

The quartermaster smiled and took out several sniper rifles and two machine guns, saying, “This time, the general also bought thirty field guns with a range of five kilometers. In future battles, we won’t have to worry about being shelled anymore. Our artillery can destroy the enemy’s artillery first.”

Hearing this news, the army naturally cheered again.

Being able to gain an advantage in artillery was really good news for them infantrymen.

Of course, not all the soldiers of the Great Western Army were cheering.

Those who didn’t get new equipment watched their comrades re-equip from afar with envy.

“We’re all stepchildren,” one soldier grumbled sourly.

“It’s not all bad news. At least they can give us their old flintlock rifles, which is better than using swords,” another soldier said optimistically.

The regiment that was re-equipping was originally the main force, and their original weapons were the best in the army.

This re-equipment would naturally free up a portion of flintlock rifles.

“I heard that this time, the general not only bought guns but also a lot of cannons. Fighting will be easier in the future.”

“It’s more than just cannons. I heard from my cousin who’s a guard for the general that this time, not only were guns and cannons bought, but also the most advanced machine guns and semi-automatic rifles from Great Hua.

With that kind of rifle, you just aim at the target and keep pulling the trigger. You can fire seven or eight shots in one breath.

Besides weapons, he also bought a lot of comfortable and durable military shoes and cotton quilts. There are even canned fish and canned beef.”

The crowd discussed, and as they talked, they began to drool.

Whether it was fish or any kind of meat, it was the food they dreamed of.

They hadn’t eaten meat in a long, long time in this poor and remote area.

On the other side, those artillerymen ‘captured’ by the Great Western Army were training some selected soldiers.

The number of captured artillerymen was limited, and they were all in indispensable positions.

Relying on them alone was not enough to operate the artillery.

Transporting shells and loading shells could be done by ordinary soldiers with some simple training.

“Gently! You’re holding an explosive shell, not a rock,” curses were naturally unavoidable during the training process.

These Huaxia army artillerymen had been cursed out like this during their training.

“Damn it, these captives are really arrogant,” the soldier being scolded thought unhappily.

“If you knew how to fire a cannon, you could be even more arrogant than them. Be obedient and listen to the instructions. If you have a conflict with them, we’ll definitely be the ones punished, not them,” another soldier reminded him.

As long as you have the ability, your identity and background don’t matter.

Moreover, these Huaxia army soldiers were only captives in name. In reality, they were technical instructors with very high status.

Chapter 851: Southeast Asia

After changing their equipment, the Great Western Army did not immediately launch their western expedition.

They needed to train for a period to familiarize themselves with the equipment and new tactics.

If they were to take the new rifles and still line up to be shot, the advantage of the new rifles would be minimal. That’s not how weapons are used.

Meanwhile, in Southeast Asia.

The Huaxia army had already marched into Laos, occupied the main population centers, and declared Laos to be territory of Great Hua.

Laos used to be a vassal state of the Annam Lê dynasty, and now the Annam Lê dynasty had become Great Hua’s Hanoi Province.

Therefore, Great Hua rightfully took over the interests in Laos.

Initially, the Lao administrators refused, hoping to take this opportunity to achieve independence.

However, as soon as the Great Hua army arrived, these people immediately cowered.

In the end, not only did they fail to gain independence, but even their country’s name was abolished.

There would be no more Laos, only Great Hua’s Anxi Province.

Laos was just a remote and impoverished place, so even setting up a province was not big news in Great Hua.

The big news was that the Huaxia army had landed in Saigon and surrounded it.

Once Saigon was captured, Annam would be completely gone.

On March 10th, the Huaxia army launched an attack.

Great Hua sent a total of fifty thousand troops, of which more than twenty thousand were Huaxia Collaboration Army, with the real Huaxia army only making up half.

The Huaxia army was responsible for the main assault, while the Huaxia Collaboration Army was responsible for the encirclement and clearing of some outer strongholds.

The defending forces in Saigon were not many. Nguyễn Phúc Lâm of the Mạc dynasty knew that they were no match for Great Hua, so he sent some troops out, dispersing them into the countryside and mountains, preparing to wage guerrilla warfare.

In Saigon city, there were only over thirty thousand defenders.

With inferior forces, inferior weapons, and inferior morale, the Huaxia army captured Saigon in just half a day.

Then, the southern region of Annam was also established as a province, abbreviated as Saigon Province.

Many civil officials that Great Hua had prepared long ago entered Saigon and began to take over the Saigon government.

The Huaxia army and the Huaxia Collaboration Army had not stopped.

Some of them were assigned to suppress bandits, preparing to comb through Saigon Province, eliminate or incorporate the remnants of the Mạc dynasty army, and complete the true rule of Saigon Province.

Another main force was arranged to advance westward to Cambodia.

At this time, Cambodia was in a dark period, without a unified central dynasty, with various tribes ruling themselves.

Some tribes were larger, ruling several tribes.

Some tribes were smaller, with each tribe being self-contained and not affiliated with any force.

These tribes often fought each other for survival resources, but they were all small-scale battles, similar to the battles between the daimyos on Shikoku Island in Japan.

Great Hua liked places without a central government the most.

This meant that the people here had no one to be loyal to, and no common faith or national concept. As long as these places were conquered, it would be easy to make these people feel a sense of belonging to Great Hua.

In places with a central government, the people would always have a concept in their minds, that is, what kind of people they were.

Erasing this concept was not an easy task.

Cambodia’s terrain was mostly plains, with the Mekong River running through it, providing abundant water, making it a good place to support people.

Now, Cambodia was in chaos, which greatly affected agricultural production, which was really not right.

As the benchmark of civilization in this world, and the leader striving for the happiness of all mankind, Great Hua naturally could not ignore this situation.

This was the official statement of Great Hua’s advance into Cambodia.

However, none of this mattered.

Great Hua had even attacked places like Japan and Annam, which had unified governments, so not many people really cared about attacking Cambodia.

The only one who would care was probably Siam.

Because once Great Hua took Cambodia, they would be neighbors with Great Hua.

These days, being a neighbor of Great Hua was very stressful.

No one cared about the mood of the King of Siam. Anyway, after Great Hua took Saigon, they immediately pounced on Cambodia.

The first force they encountered was a tribe with more than four thousand people.

In a tribe of more than four thousand people, there were more than one thousand five hundred warriors.

Men from fifteen to fifty years old were given an iron knife or a bamboo spear, and then declared to be warriors.

They had always done this in previous conflicts with other troops.

More than one thousand five hundred people left the tribe, seemingly wanting to scare the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army’s troops were divided into multiple branches, advancing side by side.

There was only one battalion, nearly five hundred people, in this direction of the Huaxia army.

Of course, this disadvantage in troop strength was ignored by the Great Hua officers.

The Huaxia army sent envoys and translators. They had collected a group of people from Saigon who could speak Khmer.

The languages in the border area between Saigon and Cambodia were similar and could be mutually understood.

“We are the Heavenly Army of Great Hua, and we are here to take over your territory under the order of the Emperor of Great Hua…”

The envoy said.

“What bullshit Great Hua, I’ve never heard of it. This is our territory. If you don’t leave, don’t blame us for being rude.”

The original words of the tribal leader were certainly not these, but the meaning was similar.

Then the envoy kindly reminded the other party of the power of Great Hua’s military force, and that it was very foolish to oppose Great Hua.

Then the tribal leader shot a friendly arrow at the Great Hua envoy.

The negotiations between the two sides were declared broken, very hastily.

Communicating with places that have not yet established civilization is almost like this.

Then, the Huaxia army launched an attack.

The process, of course, was appalling.

The tribal leader took the lead in charging towards Great Hua, and was shot dead by a sniper in the first moment.

Immediately afterwards, the tribal leader’s son continued to lead the charge, shouting to avenge his father.

His fighting spirit was quite high.

If the Mạc dynasty army had such high morale, the Huaxia army might not have taken Saigon so easily.

Of course, this high morale was due to ignorance; ignorance is fearless.

This kind of fighting spirit quickly disappeared as a large number of companions died.

They had not even reached the Huaxia army, and nearly a third of them had died on the way.

Basically, the people charging in the front were all dead.

The people behind were frightened and ran away.

In the past, when they fought with other troops, it was difficult to have more than a hundred casualties even after fighting for a long time.

But now, in just one charge, almost all of their people were dead.

If they could continue to charge in this situation, it would mean that the genes in their bodies had mutated and they were not normal humans.

The remaining people began to flee, into the forest, into the distance.

However, the strong men could escape, but the old, weak, women, and children in the tribe did not have this ability.

The Huaxia army directly entered the tribe, and those men who had fled could only cry and shout and run back to surrender, without Great Hua having to send anyone out to chase them.

Chapter 852: Rebellious Betrayal

The tribal chief was dead, and so was his eldest son.

After beheading his youngest son as well, the tribe was left leaderless, a disorganized mess.

The Huaxia army’s demands were met with complete obedience; they were exceptionally compliant.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army appointed a new leader to manage the tribe.

The position of leader falling from the sky, Xituo Fenghai was overjoyed to the point of tears, completely forgetting that his uncle had just been killed by the Huaxia army.

Xituo Fenghai declared that he would wholeheartedly be loyal to Great Hua and help Great Hua manage the tribe well.

With this tribe settled, the Huaxia army continued its advance.

Great Hua didn’t even need to leave behind a few soldiers for such a small tribe.

The recent battle had already shattered the tribe’s will to resist.

Even without soldiers to intimidate them, the tribe wouldn’t dare to harbor any rebellious thoughts in the short term.

Moreover, Xituo Fenghai’s power depended on Great Hua’s support, so he would undoubtedly do his utmost to serve Great Hua.

The Huaxia army continued westward, and after encountering two more similar small tribes, the unit finally encountered a large tribe.

Its population reached over twenty-five thousand, with as many as ten thousand capable of fighting.

This number posed a significant risk for a battalion to challenge; they would need to occupy favorable terrain.

If it were a flat plain on all sides, the enemy could attack from all four directions simultaneously, creating some threat to the Huaxia army.

Perhaps victory would still be possible, but it would certainly come at a price.

Such casualties were unnecessary. The battalion found a strategically advantageous and easily defended location, waiting for reinforcements.

The next day, a regiment of the Huaxia army arrived to support them, and then formally engaged the tribe in battle.

At the regimental level, there were a considerable number of machine guns and mortars.

These heavy weapons had barely made their appearance before the Khmer tribe suffered heavy losses.

They couldn’t reach the Huaxia army and couldn’t abandon their village to flee. But staying in the village meant being bombarded by Great Hua’s artillery.

In short, with the intelligence of the tribe’s chief, Nuofeng, he couldn’t think of a way to cope.

Helpless, in order to preserve the lives of his people, Nuofeng chose to surrender.

This presented the Huaxia army with a dilemma. If they accepted, Nuofeng would remain alive, and the tribe would still have cohesion, making it difficult to rule.

But if they didn’t accept, it wouldn’t comply with military regulations.

Great Hua’s military regulations forbade the continued slaughter of enemies who surrendered.

Reluctantly, the Huaxia army ultimately chose to accept Nuofeng’s surrender.

In this battle, not a single Huaxia soldier was killed; only two unlucky ones were injured, and neither was caused by the enemy.

Nuofeng’s tribe, on the other hand, lost over a thousand people, but they didn’t dare to complain.

“Regimental Commander, what should we do with these people? We still need to continue west, and we don’t have enough troops to leave behind to guard them,” a subordinate asked.

“Pick out five thousand strong men and escort them to Saigon, let the adults there handle it. I imagine they’ll be very fond of these laborers,” Regimental Commander Zou Shilin said. There were too many adult men in this tribe; leaving them unchecked was a significant hidden danger.

Once they rebelled, it would take at least a regiment to quell them.

And the Huaxia army units that had entered Khmer totaled only four regiments, making their manpower stretched thin.

After dispatching a battalion to escort the prisoners to Saigon, the Huaxia army rested in the tribe for two days, finally leaving a company to garrison the area, while the remaining troops continued westward.

Just as the Huaxia army had feared, these people immediately launched a rebellion after the main force of the Huaxia army left.

What did these rebels plan to do to cope with Great Hua’s suppression? Weren’t they afraid that Great Hua would kill the five thousand prisoners who had been escorted away in retaliation?

No one knew.

Sometimes, the occurrence of some things is illogical, or perhaps it’s due to some accidental factors, and so on.

In short, Nuofeng launched a rebellion, launching a sneak attack on the Huaxia army’s company headquarters in the middle of the night.

The company responsible for guarding the area had never truly trusted Nuofeng, so their sentry duty was done very well.

Nuofeng’s sneak attack didn’t work, so they could only launch a frontal assault.

This battle was extremely fierce; the Khmer people charged towards the Huaxia army from all directions as if their lives were worthless.

The Huaxia army had deliberately chosen an easily defended location for their camp, but the cliff behind them, which they used for defense, backfired.

Because the frontal battle was too intense, the Huaxia army relaxed their defense of the cliff.

The Khmer people climbed up the cliff and ambushed the Huaxia army company from behind.

In the end, the company was almost completely wiped out, with only a few people escaping to report the news.

Zou Shilin, upon receiving the news, was furious. If it weren’t for the various military regulations, he would have rushed back to slaughter the tribe as a warning to others.

Zou Shilin hurriedly led his troops back, and to his surprise, Nuofeng and the others hadn’t run away.

Zou Shilin couldn’t understand this.

The reason was actually very simple: Nuofeng and the others couldn’t escape.

Such a large tribe consumed a massive amount of food every day.

Hiding in the mountains could temporarily evade the Huaxia army’s pursuit, but they would eventually starve to death.

Moreover, whether the elderly, weak, women, and children could withstand the harsh mountain environment was also a problem.

If only all the young and strong were to flee, it wouldn’t be a problem.

However, they were worried that after they ran away, the elderly, weak, women, and children would be killed by the Huaxia people.

Even if the Huaxia people didn’t kill them, people from other tribes would come to take advantage of their misfortune.

The reason why their tribe was so large was because they occupied a lot of land. And that land wasn’t given to them by heaven, but was won battle by battle.

The tribes around them almost all had grudges against them.

If these young and strong men escaped, these elderly, weak, women, and children would definitely not escape their doom, and their fate might be even worse than being slaughtered by the Huaxia army.

This was the reason why they couldn’t escape.

Since they didn’t escape, the Huaxia army naturally saved trouble.

In a frontal battle, they were no match at all.

After fighting for half an hour, they could only surrender again.

This time, they weren’t as lucky as last time. Nuofeng and his family were executed, and those who participated in the rebellion were also executed.

Those soldiers who were coerced into participating in the rebellion were once again taken away to do hard labor.

Moreover, the hard labor that these people did was different from that of the previous group.

The previous group could at least eat their fill while working.

But these rebellious elements were criminals, and they had to continue to endure various punishments and abuses while doing hard labor. These people would definitely not survive.

After such a screening, nearly eighty percent of the men in the tribe were gone.

The tribe was filled with cries, but Zou Shilin didn’t soften his heart.

This tribe had caused him to lose one hundred and twelve soldiers and six officers. Not slaughtering the village was already him exercising great restraint.

This battle was bound to become a stain on his resume.

Chapter 853: Saigon Pacified

“Why do the military regulations prohibit the slaughter of cities? It’s too good for these barbarians.”

A Huaxia army soldier asked, puzzled. He had no sympathy for these barbarians; he felt more for the one hundred plus comrades who had died.

Among those one hundred plus people, two were from his hometown, and more than a dozen were people he knew.

Overnight, the two sides were separated by life and death, and many Huaxia army soldiers were furious.

Hearing the soldiers’ discussion, a Huaxia army officer approached and explained, “If we allow the slaughter of cities, then the army fighting abroad can do evil at will.

Anyway, after committing evil deeds, they can just slaughter the city, making it impossible to verify anything, and the imperial court will have no way to deal with it. Our Great Hua is a land of propriety. It is only natural to recover lost territory, but we cannot lose our humanity in the process.”

There was another reason he didn’t mention: slaughtering the city would only exacerbate the conflict between the two sides, which would not be conducive to future rule.

Great Hua was here to recover lost territory, not to loot and leave, so there were many aspects to consider.

During the advance into Cambodia, similar incidents had occurred several times. Great Hua had paid the price of hundreds of casualties to recover only a small portion of Cambodia.

Then, due to insufficient troops, they had to temporarily stop advancing and digest these areas first.

In Saigon province, the Huaxia army and the Huaxia Collaboration Army’s bandit suppression operations were also coming to an end.

They had previously spread out a large net, clearing from south to north, forcing the remnants of the Mạc dynasty to retreat continuously, compressing their living space.

In the process, they had also clashed with those guerrillas several times.

Basically, the Huaxia army won.

Although the remnants of the Mạc dynasty had concluded that they could only rely on guerrilla warfare to resist Great Hua, they had not mastered the essence of guerrilla warfare.

Their movements were not agile enough, their secrecy work was not done well, and most of their ambushes were ineffective.

If they had been given more time to summarize their experiences, they might have been able to train a unit proficient in guerrilla tactics in the future.

Unfortunately, Great Hua did not give them this time. After a period of suppression, the remnants of the Mạc dynasty were forced to the Phước Long area.

To the east was a lake, to the west were mountains, to the north the Huaxia army had already occupied and cut off the road in advance, and to the south was the Huaxia army’s bandit suppression brigade.

The remnants of the Mạc dynasty were basically surrounded in this area.

After completing the encirclement, the Huaxia army began to close the net.

“Fire!”

With an order, the Huaxia army’s artillery began to fire.

Countless shell craters immediately appeared on the Mạc dynasty’s front-line positions.

Many of the people hiding in this position were also killed.

Subsequently, the Huaxia Collaboration Army took the lead in charging towards this high ground.

The Huaxia Collaboration Army’s fighting will was not high, but the morale of the Mạc dynasty’s guerrillas was actually very low.

They could not see the hope of victory, and they lacked the support of faith.

Continuing to be guerrillas was mostly for a bite to eat, and only a few elites were fighting with the belief of restoring the country.

The areas guarded by these elite troops saw fierce fighting, and at one point pushed back the Huaxia Collaboration Army’s charge.

However, those troops lacking faith quickly collapsed under the Huaxia army’s attack.

The positions guarded by those elite troops immediately became protruding parts, and were attacked by the Huaxia army from three sides.

Even the most elite troops would have a headache when faced with this kind of attack.

What’s more, their weapons and equipment were at a great disadvantage, and the Huaxia army soldiers were far more elite than them.

The Mạc dynasty’s remnant army held out for a day, and the first line of defense was broken.

Within the Mạc army still in Phước Long, disagreements arose. Some wanted to defend this place and perish together with Great Hua, while others wanted to take a small path and escape the encirclement.

Still others didn’t say it, but had already decided to surrender.

The demoralized troops quickly split.

Some people tried to sneak away along the small path, but unfortunately, the Huaxia army had already laid a dragnet.

These enemies who tried to escape were ambushed by the Huaxia army, suffering heavy casualties.

Some surrendered, while others retreated back to Phước Long.

Immediately afterwards, the Huaxia army launched an attack on the second line of defense.

The second line of defense was slightly stronger than the first, holding out for another day.

Of course, the main reason was that the Huaxia army did not send in its main force, but let the Huaxia Collaboration Army charge and wear them down.

When they were almost worn down, the main force of the Huaxia army began to move in.

Their firepower was much stronger than the Huaxia Collaboration Army, and the soldiers had a strong fighting will and high tactical literacy.

One charge opened a gap in the enemy’s second line of defense.

Then, the Huaxia Collaboration Army swarmed up and engaged the enemy in close combat, advancing rapidly with overwhelming force.

At this point, the Mạc army’s second line of defense was breached, leaving only Phước Long, a small city with no defensive advantages.

The Mạc army sent representatives to surrender, and the bandit suppression campaign was declared over.

In this operation, the Huaxia army suffered a total of more than six hundred casualties, and the Huaxia Collaboration Army suffered more than two thousand casualties.

The results of paying this price were also very good.

They cleared out about forty thousand remnants of the Mạc dynasty, killing nearly ten thousand and capturing the remaining thirty thousand.

Those high-level officers were sentenced to death, and the remaining prisoners were押押 to Cẩm Phả to mine coal.

Free labor, those Great Hua merchants were scrambling for it, even bidding for it, buying it with clearly marked prices.

The imperial court also tacitly approved of this.

There was no better way than tacit approval. If the prisoners were handed over to the imperial court for disposal, the imperial court would also have to arrange for some to be given to those merchants.

The construction of Great Hua was not only the projects presided over by the imperial court.

Many private projects also needed labor.

With the bandit suppression completed, Saigon province returned to peace.

Compared with the past, there were many more Great Hua people on the streets, and many more new things.

In the suburbs outside the city, many factories were being built, and many people found work here, living better than before.

These people were even the beneficiaries of this war.

The only ones whose interests were truly harmed were the original rulers of the Mạc dynasty.

Many of these people died in the war, or were judged by Great Hua.

Whether they could save their lives was another matter, but all of their property was divided up.

The wealth of these people alone made Great Hua quite satisfied.

As for the ordinary people who had no wealth, Great Hua had not even thought about exploiting them.

If these people were exploited again, they would not be able to survive and would rebel, which was not necessary.

Not to mention that these were people with thoughts, even cattle and horses without thoughts had to be fed so that they could work and earn more value.

Not only could they not be exploited, but they also had to create jobs here and give these people a way to survive.

Of course, the merchants came here to open factories for the cheap labor here, and both sides were mutually beneficial.

Chapter 854: Artificial Fibers

While foreign lands were engulfed in war, the Great Hua was enjoying peace and prosperity.

In Nanjing, Wu Changqing was arranging for people to research combine harvesters.

The advent of internal combustion engines and diesel engines had essentially solved the biggest technical difficulty in creating combine harvesters.

The reason they hadn’t been invented yet was mainly a lack of inspiration.

Or rather, the current Great Hua researchers didn’t prioritize agricultural machinery research, being more enthusiastic about industrial machinery.

Since no one was researching it, Wu Changqing had to take it upon himself to provide the design for such a harvester and arrange for its research and manufacture.

Great Hua had quite a few plains areas, and using combine harvesters in these places could greatly liberate labor.

“This is truly ingenious! If we can build this harvester according to the blueprints, farming will be much easier in the future.”

Several researchers were shocked by the concepts Wu Changqing provided; the idea was simply too brilliant.

However, considering Wu Changqing’s various miraculous feats over time, they understood.

He was, after all, a reincarnated God-Emperor, naturally possessing wisdom beyond ordinary people.

The researchers took the blueprints and went to work, while Wu Changqing pondered.

He realized that the land reform and distribution of land he had previously implemented might be somewhat detrimental to the promotion of this kind of large agricultural machinery.

Ordinary families definitely couldn’t afford such expensive machinery.

And buying such a large toy for just a few dozen mu of land was like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

A single combine harvester could harvest four to five hundred mu of land in a day. Was it worth buying a harvester to use it for only one or two hours a year?

If it were the large landlords of the past, they could buy this kind of agricultural machinery and reduce the number of long-term workers and tenant farmers to avoid losses.

Of course, these were still minor problems.

If necessary, they could adopt a rental system, with the government purchasing the harvesters and helping farmers with harvesting, charging a small fee for fuel.

The real trouble was that harvesters could only help during the harvest season; people were still needed for planting.

In other words, harvesters only liberated manpower for a certain period, not completely freeing up this labor.

These people couldn’t be completely converted into workers and could only do odd jobs.

Moreover, Wu Changqing’s greatest hope was to completely free these people from their dependence on the land and then have them immigrate to the Americas.

This required more agricultural machinery and full mechanization to achieve.

This would take time.

Wu Changqing could provide the designs for the relevant agricultural machinery, but there had to be enough people to manufacture them.

And even if they were manufactured, there had to be enough people to learn how to use them.

All of this required people, and knowledgeable people at that.

Back in the palace, Wu Changqing was processing government affairs when he saw a set of data.

The number of textile businesses was increasing, but tax revenue wasn’t, and the memorial stated that the textile industry’s profits were declining.

Great Hua’s textile industry, after six or seven years of development, had entered a bottleneck period.

Although there was still profit to be made, it wasn’t as lucrative as it had been initially.

Some merchants were even starting to transform their businesses, shifting to other, more profitable industries.

The fundamental reason the textile industry was becoming less profitable was the rising price of raw materials.

After too many people entered the textile industry, the supply of raw materials couldn’t keep up.

How could the speed at which people raised silkworms keep up with the consumption of factories?

With limited raw materials and an increasing number of people entering the industry, the price of raw materials naturally rose.

The end result was that those who controlled the acquisition channels for mulberry cocoons made a fortune, while the fabric factories at the end of the chain were earning hard-earned money.

As for the people raising silkworms, they were still earning hard-earned money, and their enthusiasm for raising silkworms wasn’t very high.

Whoever controlled the raw material acquisition channels had the say in this industry.

Seeing this situation, Wu Changqing naturally had to find a way to solve the problem.

Encourage people to raise more silkworms?

That was too slow, and the speed at which raw materials were obtained through silkworm farming could never keep up with the consumption speed of factories.

Furthermore, if more people raised silkworms, fewer people would farm, affecting grain production, which was unacceptable.

As for restricting the export of cloth to satisfy domestic demand first, that wasn’t a good solution either.

Those exported cloths could bring back more raw materials and gold and silver to Great Hua.

This seemingly troublesome problem was nothing to Wu Changqing.

In later generations, there weren’t many people raising silkworms, but everyone had a dozen sets of clothes, and there was never any shortage of fiber raw materials.

And all of this was thanks to artificial fibers.

Artificial fibers could be made into rayon, artificial cotton, and artificial wool, with a very wide range of uses.

Cloth, sweaters, cotton-padded jackets—all fiber products could be made with artificial fibers.

Wu Changqing spent one million science points to redeem the technology and process for artificial fibers from the system.

This technology wasn’t actually that difficult; what was more important was that the raw materials for manufacturing artificial fibers were abundant, seeming like something common compared to silk.

Bamboo, wood, sugarcane, and so on were all materials for manufacturing artificial fibers.

These things were everywhere, cheap, and abundant.

Only by creating artificial fibers could various cloth products become widespread.

Currently, ordinary people only dared to spend money on buying cloth when making clothes.

As for curtains, tablecloths, bedspreads, and other cloth products, those were things for wealthy families.

In ordinary people’s homes, even pillows might just be a piece of wood.

Even when making clothes, it was a very luxurious act for an ordinary family to be able to change into a new set of clothes once a year.

Most families might only buy a new set of clothes every two or three years.

Those who took good care of their clothes often had the father wear them, then the eldest son, then the second son. A piece of clothing wouldn’t be thrown away until it had more than a dozen patches.

Wearing pants with a hole in the butt to greet the bride was a common occurrence, and not many people would laugh.

The scarcity of materials in this era was unimaginable to people of later generations.

Textiles made from artificial fibers were prone to hardening when wet, and might not be as comfortable as pure natural fibers, but the difference wasn’t significant.

Most importantly, they were available in large quantities and could be sold very cheaply.

In short, artificial fiber was something that benefited the entire world.

Without artificial fibers, it would be impossible for ordinary people to dress colorfully.

If he hadn’t seen this memorial, Wu Changqing wouldn’t have remembered this good thing for a while.

He had too many things to do every day, and because he was the emperor, he didn’t lack anything, so he didn’t think about this problem.

He continued to find another group of highly intelligent people and had them research and manufacture according to the methods in the data.

Before long, the people of Great Hua would be able to use these fiber products.

Chapter 855: Joint Promotion

The core technologies of Great Hua are basically provided by Wu Changqing.

However, the technological advancement of this world is not driven by Wu Changqing alone; others are also working hard.

The research personnel of Great Hua naturally haven’t made any breakthrough inventions in a short period, but they have done a lot of improvement work on existing technological inventions.

For example, with the steam engine, after Wu Changqing provided some core technologies, the remaining improvement work was handed over to the steam engine team.

There are many improvements to be made. A steam engine has dozens or even hundreds of parts, and improving any one of them can improve the performance of the steam engine.

Great Hua’s technology star, Feng Xianzhong, has been devoted to the research of steam engines and has never changed his focus.

He has improved no less than eighty or a hundred parts.

Even though Great Hua now has more advanced technologies such as internal combustion engines, he is still researching steam engines.

After all, a single steam engine project requires him to spend his entire life’s energy.

Hard work pays off. In April of Yongxing six, the steam engine team led by Feng Xianzhong manufactured a steam engine that could generate pressure as high as five megapascals.

This is dozens of times higher than early steam engines.

To put it more vividly, the speed of the previous steam engines was only dozens of revolutions per minute.

Now, the steam engine improved by Feng Xianzhong has reached three hundred revolutions per minute, which is five or six times faster than before.

Using this new steam engine to propel ships of the same weight can increase the speed by two or three times.

The increase in power also means that ships with larger tonnage can be manufactured.

Previously, ships with a displacement of only five thousand tons could be built at most, and more than that, the steam engine could not propel them.

Now, Great Hua theoretically has the ability to manufacture ten thousand-ton ships. If cost-effectiveness is not considered, installing a few more steam engines can even barely produce ships of twenty or thirty thousand tons.

Ten thousand-ton behemoths are exciting just to think about.

In the future, the speed of trains can also be greatly improved, and various steam-powered machines can be reduced in size, increased in speed, and improved in efficiency.

The progress is comprehensive, and the promotion of industry is also comprehensive, which is of great significance.

After learning of this news, Wu Changqing awarded the steam engine research team the glorious title of Collective First Class Merit.

Some people with outstanding contributions also received many rewards, including titles of nobility.

And Feng Xianzhong was also promoted from his original Marquis to Duke.

This is quite remarkable, as Li Shaobin is currently only a Duke.

This award gave great encouragement to the research personnel of Great Hua.

More and more people are beginning to invest in scientific research. This is the easiest way to obtain a title of nobility, and it is also the safest way.

Those who are working hard in research are not just the steam engine team.

The people in charge of the internal combustion engine project have also successfully miniaturized the engine and then manufactured motorcycles.

Compared to cars, motorcycles are cheaper and more flexible, and can travel on various narrow paths.

For some people who cannot afford cars, motorcycles are also a good choice.

In the past few years, bicycles were a fashion trend.

But soon, this fashion trend will be led by motorcycles.

For some teenagers, riding a motorcycle on the road is the happiest thing. As for safety, some people really don’t care.

The people in the rubber project team also successfully synthesized rubber.

Their progress was forced out. There is too little natural rubber. Relying solely on purchasing rubber from Brazil cannot meet Great Hua’s huge demand.

Under this circumstance, the project team tried artificial synthesis based on the characteristics of rubber.

After many failures, they finally succeeded in their research.

Although the current synthesis technology is still very crude and the cost is high.

But these are not problems. Solving the problem of going from zero to one makes the following things easier.

As long as they continue to research, they will soon find a way to reduce costs and solve Great Hua’s rubber shortage problem.

With the increasing use of oil, Great Hua is also learning more and more about oil.

When refining oil, Great Hua also obtained many by-products.

Such as asphalt.

Asphalt is the residue after crude oil is distilled, and it can also be produced when coal is coked.

The role of asphalt is also very wide, and it can be used in coatings, plastics, rubber and other fields.

Of course, its main role is to repair roads, which is commonly known as asphalt roads.

Compared with cement roads, asphalt roads are softer, and vehicles are more comfortable and quieter on them.

It is also more adaptable to road sections where the foundation is not strong enough.

Although it is slightly more expensive than cement roads, if the asphalt is not used to repair roads, it can only be thrown away, causing waste.

Therefore, these asphalts are basically used to repair roads.

In the medical field, Great Hua has also made considerable achievements.

Wu Changqing has come up with many medical theories, and even some drug samples. The doctors have explored these theories and mastered many methods of treating diseases.

Based on the samples of those drugs, they have successfully reverse-engineered and imitated many advanced drugs.

The development of medicine is also due to the development of microscopes.

As the magnification of microscopes increases, people’s understanding of microorganisms and bacteria becomes more profound.

Mastering the pathology provides a clear direction for treatment.

All walks of life are actually complementary to each other.

A breakthrough in one industry can often promote the rapid development of another industry.

These are relatively major advances, and the small-scale improvements, upgrades, and inventions are even more numerous.

A more convenient light switch, a better braking component, a fan that can rotate on its own, these all belong to inventions and creations.

Although these small inventions do not have a particularly large impact on society, there are so many of them.

Countless similar small inventions jointly promote the progress of this society.

If Wu Changqing didn’t leave the palace to take a look at the current Nanjing, he would definitely be shocked.

The current Nanjing has spawned many daily necessities that only existed in later generations.

The whole society presents a very strange scene.

On the one hand, some people still take carriages, feeling like they have traveled to the Middle Ages.

On the other hand, some people ride bicycles, feeling like they have traveled to the nineteenth century.

Some people drive cars, and there are street lights on the roadside, feeling like they have traveled to the twentieth century.

In the history of the original timeline, no place would have formed a scene like the current Nanjing.

This scene would seem absurd and awkward to a person from later generations.

But for the people of Nanjing in this era, they are very used to it.

In their eyes, the development of the world should be like this.

Chapter 856: A Whimsical Idea

Comparing Great Hua to a machine isn’t quite accurate.

After all, the operation of each part of a machine is fixed and regular.

But the components that make up Great Hua, that is, those individuals, all have independent thoughts and creativity.

This is true in the field of technology, and it is true in other fields as well.

Great Hua’s strategy towards Japan initially focused on assimilation, using relatively gentle means.

Later, Qian Sule accelerated the process of conquest due to personal reasons, choosing a simple and crude occupation.

And now, experts on the Japan issue, based on their understanding of Japan, have proposed a new plan to conquer Japan.

Lian She was originally a military observer and social observer, specializing in observing problems and phenomena in the military and society.

He stayed in Japan for two years and gained an in-depth understanding of Japanese society.

Then, he submitted a new Japan plan to Qian Sule. Qian Sule read it and thought it was good, so he forwarded it to Wu Changqing.

In his analysis, Lian She pointed out that, in fact, the Japanese people now hope to surrender in their hearts, including soldiers and the elite class, and even some daimyo.

It’s just that they can’t get over the hurdle in their hearts.

Well, to put it bluntly, they lack a good-sounding reason to surrender.

Surrendering directly is too embarrassing.

But if there is a reasonable reason, except for the Tokugawa shogunate, the Japanese people, from top to bottom, are actually very willing to surrender and merge into Great Hua.

And this reason was found by Lian She.

It would be a very meaningful thing to allow Japan to actively surrender and merge into Great Hua.

Forced occupation will encounter many troubles in future rule.

After all, there are many Japanese lunatics. At that time, those people will shout “Long live the Emperor” and risk their lives to do anything.

If they can be allowed to surrender voluntarily, this problem can be largely solved.

Lian She’s plan is quite creative.

He found that although the Emperor has no real power in Japan, his symbolic significance is extremely strong, and many ordinary people and samurai are willing to believe in the Emperor.

Even the shogunate, which is now in power, is doing so in the name of respecting the Emperor.

At the same time, he also found that in Japan, women can actually be emperors. In history, there have been female emperors because the emperor had no children.

If that’s the case, then it’s easy to handle.

Just secretly assassinate the current Emperor and the Emperor’s son.

Then, theoretically, the most suitable person to inherit the throne will be Princess Aiko, the niece of Emperor Go-Sai.

Her given name is Aiko, Keigu is her title, and Princess is her peerage.

Of course, this is not important, what is important is that this Miss Aiko is a very beautiful woman.

As long as Miss Aiko inherits the throne and then announces her marriage to the Emperor of Great Hua, on the surface, Great Hua and Japan will not be in-laws.

Japan belongs to the Emperor, and the Emperor has married the Emperor of Great Hua, so the entire Japan is equal to the dowry, and it also belongs to Great Hua.

This logic is acceptable to the Japanese.

They originally wanted to surrender and wanted to live, but they lacked a reasonable excuse, a step down.

The Emperor’s marriage is this step.

At that time, those who surrender can comfort themselves in this way.

It’s not that I’m afraid of death and don’t want to fight to the end, but to obey the Emperor’s orders and choose to obey my husband’s family.

Although, perhaps many people understand that this is just an excuse, a fig leaf.

But many things in the world often need such a false excuse.

For example, when chasing a girlfriend, even if you have already caught her and she has already accepted that you can sleep with her, the man still has to find an excuse for the girl, such as the school gate is closed and you can only stay in a hotel for one night.

Without this excuse, more than ninety percent of the girls would not agree, it would make them seem not reserved enough.

Now the Japanese are also like this. They already want to surrender in their hearts, but without an excuse to appease and persuade them, it is difficult for them to accept.

After research, Lian She felt that this plan was highly feasible.

Assassinating Emperor Go-Sai is not difficult. Great Hua’s undercover agents have already lurked around the Emperor and can add something to his food at any time.

As for whether Miss Aiko will accept marrying Great Hua, Lian She has also studied this and feels that Aiko will not refuse.

Because Aiko is more resentful of war, values the lives of the people, and at the same time admires and yearns for Great Hua, and is also a very rational, intellectual, and cultured woman.

People like this will definitely take the overall situation into consideration.

As long as Aiko agrees, the Tokugawa family will be easy to deal with.

Now the Tokugawa family has lost all prestige due to successive defeats.

As long as the Emperor orders it and Great Hua provides military support, other daimyo will definitely solve the Tokugawa family.

This plan is very ingenious, but the reason why Qian Sule values it is not because it is very ingenious, but because he thinks this plan is very interesting.

Let the Japanese Emperor marry the Emperor of Great Hua as a concubine, tsk tsk tsk, it’s exciting to think about it.

Another reason is that Qian Sule doesn’t know if Wu Changqing likes this kind of thing.

What if Wu Changqing is very interested in the Japanese female Emperor, but he rejects this plan, wouldn’t that make the Emperor unhappy?

Being able to quickly annex Japan is very important to Qian Sule.

But whether it will annoy the Emperor is more important to Qian Sule.

Just in case, Qian Sule presented this suggestion to the Emperor completely, and persuaded Wu Changqing to sacrifice himself and agree to this plan in a tone of advice.

As long as Wu Changqing is willing to ‘sacrifice’ his appearance, he can save thousands of Great Hua soldiers from dying in battle, and he can reduce many obstacles in governing Japan in the future…

Qian Sule almost made himself sick with these words.

But there is no way, you can’t be too straightforward and tell Wu Changqing that the Japanese female Emperor is very beautiful and exciting, take her down quickly, and pick up a Japanese country by the way.

If you really say that, the Emperor will definitely be embarrassed to agree.

Don’t say that the Japanese need a false excuse, who in the world is not like this?

When the former emperors wanted to escape, they needed the name of hunting.

When the former officials wanted to surrender, they needed the name of the people.

Even a deserter would say it was because he was worried about his old mother at home.

Today’s Great Hua is actually much better, and there are fewer disgusting rules.

For example, the appointment and removal of officials is just a matter of the Emperor’s words.

In the past, for the appointment of some important positions, the Emperor often had to issue several appointments, and then the officials repeatedly declined, and finally had to agree in order to thank the Emperor for his kindness.

When some high officials were demoted, the Emperor would not issue an order, but would ask the officials to submit a memorial to resign and retire.

Then the Emperor repeatedly tried to persuade them to stay, and finally reluctantly agreed.

Hypocrisy is an important part of the adult world.

Chapter 857: Action

Wu Changqing pondered for a long time after receiving Qian Sule’s memorial.

He was stunned by the plan and admired Lian She’s cleverness. A normal person could never have come up with such a bizarre idea.

However, although the plan was strange, according to Lian She’s research and demonstration, it really had great feasibility.

To reduce the war and to reduce resistance when ruling Japan in the future, what harm was there in sacrificing himself?

Wu Changqing felt that for the sake of this world, it was perfectly acceptable for him to occasionally sacrifice himself.

Solving the Japan problem and adding a female emperor to his harem was killing two birds with one stone.

Wu Changqing was now troubled by how to ‘subtly’ reply to Qian Sule. If he directly said that the plan was good and to execute it quickly, he was afraid of being looked down upon.

“Old Feng, do you have anyone under you with good writing skills to help me write a memorial?”

Wu Changqing asked.

In front of his ministers, he needed to pay attention to his image and pretend a little.

But in front of his house slaves, there was no need for that.

Feng Debao found a young eunuch named Zhang Dean. Wu Changqing directly told him that he wanted to agree to the plan, but he couldn’t express it too obviously, and he needed to make sure Qian Sule could understand his meaning.

This kind of obviously difficult request couldn’t stump Zhang Dean.

Soon, a well-written reply was completed.

Wu Changqing read it and felt very satisfied.

After receiving the reply, Qian Sule studied it carefully.

Fortunately, he was born as a top scholar in the imperial examination and had considerable literary attainments.

If it were some of the current officials, they might not be able to understand this reply.

“Has His Majesty’s writing improved?”

Qian Sule muttered to himself.

But none of that mattered. What mattered was that the Emperor had agreed to the plan.

Since that was the case, then he had to handle this matter well and properly.

If he told the Emperor that there was a beautiful woman in Japan, aroused the Emperor’s interest, but then failed to bring the beauty to the Emperor’s side, that would be a bit like teasing the Emperor.

Qian Sule wouldn’t dare to do that even if he had ten times the courage.

Having confirmed the Emperor’s intentions, Qian Sule immediately put all his attention on this matter and arranged for his most capable subordinates to carry it out.

The first step was naturally to poison the current Emperor and his son.

This was not difficult. The spies in Edo, after receiving instructions, immediately launched their operation.

At the end of April, Emperor Go-Sai and his son died suddenly, the cause unknown, suspected poisoning.

Tokugawa Iemitsu almost vomited blood when he heard the news. He was currently issuing various orders to other daimyo in the name of the Emperor.

Now that the Emperor was dead, he couldn’t even command other forces.

It was too bad that this happened at such a critical moment.

Tokugawa Iemitsu immediately sent people to investigate thoroughly.

There were too many people with motives. Great Hua was one, and other daimyo were also possible.

While sending people to investigate, Tokugawa Iemitsu needed to establish a new Emperor.

But the problem was that Emperor Go-Sai only had one son, and other direct relatives had also died out.

Tokugawa Iemitsu searched and searched, and found that the only one qualified to succeed the Emperor was Emperor Go-Sai’s niece.

This was truly a sad story, but Tokugawa Iemitsu couldn’t care so much and directly announced Aiko as the new Emperor, Princess Imperial Akiko.

Anyway, for Tokugawa Iemitsu, he just needed a decoration.

As long as the Emperor was in accordance with the law, it didn’t matter whether it was a man or a woman, old or young.

Princess Imperial Akiko successfully ascended the throne and was recognized by other daimyo. Everything was under the control of Great Hua.

After Princess Imperial Akiko ascended the throne, Great Hua began to contact Aiko and then persuade her.

“Your Majesty Princess Imperial Akiko, Japan has now reached its most critical moment and may be destroyed at any time. As the Emperor, you cannot stand idly by and watch your people die.”

Lian She said.

“Isn’t this all caused by you, Great Hua?”

Aiko said dissatisfied.

“Indeed, this is partly due to Great Hua, but this is the law of development of this world. Whenever one side becomes strong, it will expand to the surrounding areas. In the past, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was strong in Japan, didn’t he also invade Korea?

The world is like this, no one is qualified to say anything about anyone. We need to calm down and rationally seek solutions.”

Lian She’s words left Aiko speechless.

Because what Lian She said was the truth. If it was not righteous for Great Hua to invade Japan, then it was not righteous for Japan to invade Korea in the past.

Everyone was as bad as each other, so there was no point in blaming each other.

“Solutions, unless Great Hua is willing to stop the war, what other way is there to save my people?”

Aiko sighed. She was also a person who insisted on reading newspapers and knew Great Hua very well.

The more she understood, the more desperate she became. She couldn’t see any possibility of defeating Great Hua.

“This is actually very simple. Great Hua only wants to annex Japan, not to eliminate the Japanese people. Look at the Japanese people on Kyushu Island, aren’t they living better than before? Great Hua has not mistreated them.

If you go to Kyushu Island now and ask the local people whether they would rather be Japanese or Great Hua people, I can tell you with certainty that their answer will disappoint you.

Those daimyo keep shouting about defending Japan, but in the final analysis, it is only for their personal gain. The people of Japan may not be willing to risk their lives for their personal desires.

If you are a person who really cares about your people, you can no longer allow those daimyo to use the people to carry out meaningless resistance.”

Lian She said a lot, which made Aiko silent for a long time.

Although Lian She’s words were very hurtful, Aiko knew that what he said was very pertinent and basically the truth.

Ordinary Japanese people only want to be well-fed and clothed. As for whether they are Japanese or Great Hua people, not many people really care.

Changing a title can fill their stomachs, and many Japanese people are willing to accept this.

Integrity is something that people who are well-fed and have satisfied their survival needs will care about.

The reason why Japan is still resisting now is simply because those daimyo are afraid of losing their power after being annexed by Great Hua, so their resistance is the most intense.

Of course, if these people give the people a good life after successfully resisting Great Hua, then these people are not too bad.

But Aiko knew that after these bastard daimyo successfully resisted Great Hua, they would definitely continue to exploit the people.

Aiko hated those daimyo, so she could listen to Lian She’s words.

“How exactly can I save my people? Please advise me, sir.”

Aiko asked.

She knew in her heart that Lian She had gone to great lengths to see her, and he must have something in mind.

Chapter 858: Conspiracy

“It’s very simple. All you need to do is marry His Majesty of Great Hua. You are the spiritual leader of the Japanese people, and they will surely listen to your orders. As long as you order Japan to merge into Great Hua and tell the people not to resist, they will naturally be grateful for your decision.

Who would want to die if they could live well? In fact, most of the Japanese people already want to surrender and no longer resist stubbornly. Rather than being captured by Great Hua later, it is better to surrender voluntarily,” Lian She said.

A male leader might feel insulted by such a suggestion, because men have a stronger sense of territory, a greater desire for control, care more about face, and are more belligerent.

But Aiko is a woman, and she cares less about that illusory face, focusing more on practical benefits.

Her personality is also more gentle.

As Lian She said, even if they don’t surrender now, they will be captured eventually.

And the fate of prisoners is not good; they will be forced to do hard labor.

In contrast, those who surrender voluntarily can be exempted from labor.

You can refer to the people in the Satsuma Domain. They have not been forced to work; it is all an employment relationship, and they can get paid for their work.

“The Tokugawa family will definitely not agree,” Aiko said.

“You can rest assured about that. We will help you solve the problem of the Tokugawa family.”

Lian She was very happy. Aiko’s tone already revealed that she agreed to the plan.

As long as Aiko herself agrees, that is equivalent to solving the biggest problem.

The only thing left to do is to get rid of the Tokugawa family.

Afterward, Lian She and Aiko continued to discuss the plan in depth.

Aiko fought for the interests of her people in many ways.

For example, she demanded that after Japan merged into Great Hua, it could enjoy the same treatment as Great Hua, that is, the Japanese people could participate in the Great Hua imperial examinations and serve as officials in Great Hua.

Lian She agreed without hesitation.

As long as the grading and admission rights are in the hands of the Han people, it doesn’t matter if the Japanese people participate in the imperial examinations.

At that time, give them a few consolation places every year, and give them a few unimportant positions to show fairness.

That is how Great Hua currently treats Korea and other ethnic groups.

Other ethnic groups and Koreans can participate in the Great Hua imperial examinations, but with the literary foundation of those ethnic minorities and Koreans, how could they be a match for the Han people in the imperial examinations?

Basically, if there are one or two juren, it is Great Hua who is giving them charity.

In case people from these places suddenly become enlightened in the future and their academic performance improves, Great Hua can also use the power of grading to treat them differently.

In short, Great Hua will give them some fairness, but the premise is that the Han people are the main body.

Therefore, allowing the Japanese people to participate in the imperial examinations is not a problem; Great Hua originally planned to do so.

Secondly, Aiko demanded that all the Japanese people who had been captured be released after Japan merged into Great Hua.

Lian She was not so happy about this. If he really agreed, the people from the Ministry of Industry would dare to block his door and find a chance to beat him.

Lian She said that this issue needed to be considered in the long term.

All he could guarantee was to help those prisoners get some wages and to help them get a term of service.

Now those prisoners are permanent laborers, but Lian She can try to get them a term of three or five years, and they can be released after they have served their time.

The request was not met, but Aiko could accept it.

After all, among the laborers captured by Great Hua, there are not only Japanese people, but also some Han people.

Those Han people have a term of service; they can only be released after they have served for a certain number of years.

“After merging into Great Hua, our Japanese customs must be allowed to be preserved,” Aiko continued.

“Customs can be preserved, but all texts must use Chinese characters, and the language must also be Chinese. There is no room for negotiation on this,” Lian She stated his bottom line.

If the language cannot be unified, how can there be any possibility of assimilation?

“Okay.”

Aiko hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she could only agree.

After all, Japan is currently using Chinese characters, and only a few characters and symbols are derived from Chinese characters.

The only thing that is more difficult to accept is that they must use Chinese, but the situation is like this, and Aiko has no choice.

Negotiation is a process of mutual compromise. If neither of them makes concessions, the negotiation cannot continue.

After discussing these issues that are easy to reach a consensus on, the next step is the division of interests, which is the troublesome part.

After Japan merges into Great Hua, how many Japanese people should occupy the various official positions in Japan, how many Great Hua people should occupy them, and which ones should be occupied, all of these need to be debated.

What Great Hua wants is to completely rule Japan, not just a nominal rule.

Therefore, after Japan merges into Great Hua, those important positions must be controlled by the Han people.

And Aiko is also afraid that after Japan merges into Great Hua, Wu Changqing will deny everything, so she needs to retain a certain amount of capital.

She wants to win enough official positions for the Japanese people and retain a certain degree of control over Japan.

In this way, Great Hua will have some concerns and will not dare to mess around.

The control of Japan is the core issue, and Lian She and Aiko engaged in a fierce confrontation.

Although Aiko is smart, she is still too young, and her experience is not as rich as that of an old fox like Lian She.

In the debate, Lian She set many traps for Aiko to jump into.

For example, Lian She gave up a higher-ranking official position and then asked for a lower-ranking official position, which seemed like a loss.

However, the importance of many official positions is not equal to their rank.

The deputy governor of Great Hua is still a third-rank official, but his power is not even comparable to that of a fifth-rank official in the Ministry of Industry.

These are just more obvious traps, and there are some more hidden traps.

For example, some important official positions are now given to Japan, but in the future, the central government can completely reform some official positions, turning the originally important official positions into idle positions, and changing the inconspicuous official positions into positions of real power.

In short, as long as Great Hua wants to take back power, there are still many ways.

Of course, if it is done too much, it will also cause dissatisfaction among the Japanese people.

However, at that time, will their dissatisfaction still be meaningful?

After the Japanese people recognize Great Hua, those few rulers will not be able to make any waves.

You can refer to the current Korea.

In Korea, those original ruling classes whose interests have been damaged are now quite dissatisfied with Great Hua, and they can’t wait to rise up and overthrow Great Hua.

But it is useless. The ordinary people of Korea have already recognized Great Hua, and no one will follow those people to mess around.

The last Korean rebellion, with so few people responding, is the best proof.

Without the people, these ruling classes are nothing.

Chapter 859: Coup d’état

Bullying a little girl made Lian She feel somewhat embarrassed.

But for the sake of Great Hua, he could only cast aside his old face.

Naturally, Aiko didn’t realize she had been tricked. After some debate, she felt that the conditions she had secured were quite good.

At least, these conditions could allow the people to live a better life than they were living now.

The people of Japan had truly reached a point of utter destitution.

To maintain the war and their own enjoyment, the rulers’ exploitation of the people had crossed all boundaries.

Families with daughters could only rely on selling them to survive, while those without daughters could only endure. Some who couldn’t endure could only wait for death.

And all of this was based on the premise of not falling ill. Once disease struck, it was practically a death sentence.

They didn’t even have enough to eat, let alone money for treatment.

Some people with connections had begun to flee to Kyushu Island.

With a consensus basically reached, Great Hua began its next phase of action.

Contacting those daimyo whose positions were wavering, as well as those dissatisfied with the Tokugawa clan, then discussing conditions and cooperation with them to overthrow the rule of the Tokugawa clan.

This process was very cumbersome, and Great Hua’s spies in Japan all went into action.

Those cunning and treacherous daimyo were far more difficult to deal with than Aiko.

Difficult to deal with in the sense that they wanted a lot of benefits. As long as the benefits were sufficient, these people were even easier to persuade than Aiko.

What Japan, what Great Hua, they only cared about their own interests.

Great Hua actually loathed these people, but there was no choice. At this stage, to overthrow the Tokugawa family, they had to rely on the power of these people.

Letting other daimyo overthrow the Tokugawa family was an internal affair of Japan, and the Japanese would only watch the spectacle.

But if Great Hua directly sent a large army to wipe out the Tokugawa family, it would arouse the anger of the Japanese people.

It was a very strange psychology. Qian Sule, although he didn’t know the principle behind it, understood this phenomenon.

Therefore, he did not send a large force, but sent a special forces unit to assist other daimyo in overthrowing the shogunate.

On May first, several wooden boats docked at Yokohama, and a team of soldiers disembarked.

This was Great Hua’s special forces, come to carry out the mission of rescuing the Emperor and assassinating Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Both of these tasks were very difficult, because Tokugawa Iemitsu and the Emperor were both in Edo, the shogunate’s lair.

Great Hua had dispatched a total of five hundred special forces soldiers, three hundred of whom were to rescue and control the Emperor.

The other two hundred were to cooperate with other daimyo in launching a coup, responsible for assassinating Tokugawa Iemitsu.

As long as Tokugawa Iemitsu died, the shogunate would be in chaos, and other daimyo would have a chance to eliminate the shogunate.

Landing in Yokohama was also for concealment.

Landing in Edo, this strangely dressed force would be too conspicuous.

If their whereabouts were exposed, the surprise attack would be meaningless.

Yokohama was not far from Edo, only about twenty kilometers.

The Huaxia army arrived below Edo Castle the next day, and then lay in ambush, waiting for nightfall.

As night fell, the Huaxia army took out their flashlights and advanced.

Because the war between Japan and Great Hua was concentrated east of Osaka, far from Edo, the defenses here were not strict.

The Huaxia army threw hooks onto the city walls and climbed up with the help of ropes.

Every soldier in the special forces was one in a hundred, and with the help of these simple tools, they climbed up in no time at all.

Almost half of the men had climbed up before the Japanese patrol team discovered them.

Immediately afterwards, the patrol team’s death was at hand.

The Huaxia army had been prepared for a long time, and a volley of crossbow bolts was fired. The five patrolling soldiers didn’t even have time to scream before they were shot dead on the spot.

Although the Huaxia army had eliminated bows and arrows, they were still continuing to research and improve crossbows.

These special equipment have special uses in specific situations.

For example, now, if there were no crossbows, killing these patrolling soldiers with guns would expose them.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army silently killed some sentry soldiers on the city. After hiding the bodies of these Japanese, the Huaxia army entered the city and then split into two groups.

When attacking the Emperor’s residence, the Huaxia army released a signal, allowing the armies of other daimyo in the city to begin their actions.

Attacking the Emperor’s residence was naturally to control and protect Princess Aiko.

If Tokugawa Iemitsu, in the face of crisis, ordered Aiko to be killed in a frenzy, then everything the Huaxia army had done before would be in vain.

After Aiko’s death, the most suitable successor to the throne would not be a woman. Moreover, it would not be easy to find a female emperor like Aiko who was both beautiful and willing to cooperate.

Therefore, Great Hua must ensure that Aiko survives this turmoil.

A burst of rapid gunfire rang out, and the Huaxia army opened the curtain of attack.

Huaxia army soldiers, holding newly launched submachine guns, swept all the way.

The bullets fired from submachine guns were much less powerful than rifles, and the range was also shorter. But it was lighter than a machine gun, faster than a rifle, and had fierce firepower. It was an excellent weapon for close-quarters combat.

Where had the Japanese seen this kind of weapon before? Swept by a burst of submachine gun fire, they immediately shrank their necks and dared not show their heads again, hiding in the corners of the wall, feeling the firepower of Great Hua, shivering.

Not daring to show their heads also meant no counterattack, and the situation was entirely under the control of the Huaxia army.

“Charge.”

With an order, the Huaxia army rushed into the wall and rushed towards the top of the mountain.

Aiko lived in a pavilion on the top of the mountain, guarded by more than five hundred elite soldiers of the shogunate.

Of course, the title of elite soldier was conferred by the shogunate. These special forces soldiers of the Huaxia army would not think so.

They only felt that the process of advancing was so easy, they only needed to guard against the enemy’s grenades, and there was no great danger in other aspects.

Those so-called elite soldiers did not even have many opportunities to fire back.

Whoever dared to show their head, a burst of bullets from the Huaxia army would be shot over.

This submachine gun of Great Hua was a bit like the Soviet PPSh-41 submachine gun of later generations, the one with a large disc for loading bullets.

This kind of submachine gun had a large ammunition capacity, and one disc could hold one hundred and twenty bullets.

And the guards in the hands of these Japanese were still using the Yongxing Second Year Type rifles of Great Hua, and not everyone was equipped with them.

This kind of equipment that was rotten on the streets in Great Hua was the most advanced treasure in Japan.

They had to pull the bolt after firing a shot, while the Huaxia army pulled the trigger and a dozen bullets were fired.

If they were not afraid of wasting ammunition, they could even fire a magazine in a few seconds.

The firepower of one Huaxia army soldier was stronger than a platoon of Japanese.

Guns were only one advantage of the Huaxia army. The advantages in other equipment also crushed the elite of the Japanese.

This kind of unequal battle was without suspense, and the Japanese could only be passively beaten.

The Huaxia army rushed all the way, and hardly encountered any decent resistance.

Soon, they rushed to the top of the mountain.

Chapter 860: Overthrow the Shogunate

The remaining dozens of shogunate soldiers guarded the courtyard, leaderless and unsure of what to do.

Without instructions from higher-ups, they didn’t dare to attack the Emperor.

They continued to resist stubbornly, but soon, the Huaxia army forced its way in.

Immediately, bullets flew, and several Huaxia soldiers fell, while the Japanese side was completely wiped out.

“Stop shooting, switch to blades, lest we accidentally injure their Emperor.”

The commander said, and they switched to other weapons and charged into the inner courtyard.

After a fierce fight, they cleared out the remaining enemies.

“Miss Aiko, we have secured this place; you are safe now.”

Lian She also participated in this mission, mainly responsible for communicating with Aiko.

“Thank you, sir.”

Aiko breathed a sigh of relief; the intense gunfire had made her quite nervous.

Outside, the Huaxia army began surveying the terrain and building defenses.

Taking this hillside didn’t mean the mission was over; they still had to protect Aiko until the matter was resolved.

They not only had to guard against the Tokugawa family, but also against other daimyo.

Who knew if any ambitious figures among those daimyo would try to take control of the Emperor in the chaos?

Meanwhile, Edo Castle, including the area outside the city, was in complete chaos.

The other daimyo who wanted to overthrow the shogunate naturally wouldn’t be unprepared.

They had not only infiltrated a large number of soldiers, but also secretly brought a portion of their army to the outside of Edo Castle.

The soldiers in the city were responsible for assassinating Tokugawa Iemitsu, while the soldiers outside the city were responsible for eliminating the shogunate army loyal to the Tokugawa family.

The Shogun’s Palace, the residence of Tokugawa Iemitsu.

The Shogun’s Palace was now engulfed in flames, with constant gunfire.

The Huaxia army’s special forces served as the main force, attacking the main gate.

The troops of the other daimyo attacked the back gate and blocked the shogunate army coming to reinforce them.

In the chaos, it was already difficult enough to complete such simple tasks.

At the front, the Huaxia army used a small mountain gun to fire several shots at the main gate, blowing it open.

Just as the Huaxia army was about to charge in, the sound of a Gatling gun rang out.

Tokugawa Iemitsu didn’t know where he had gotten two machine guns, blocking the gate.

Although the Gatling gun was very primitive and had many problems, in this situation, these two machine guns played a significant role.

Their powerful firepower sealed off the gate.

“Where are the cannons? Aim and fire a few more shots.”

Fortunately, the Huaxia army had the machine gun’s nemesis: mortars.

After test-firing a few shots, the artillery adjusted the parameters.

Immediately afterward, several shells landed in the enemy’s machine gun emplacements.

The Gatling gun’s ability to withstand damage was too poor; it malfunctioned when hit by the shells.

The newly arrived Japanese machine gunner was sweating profusely, unable to fix the problem.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army launched a second attack.

At the same time, those responsible for demolition blew a large hole in the courtyard wall.

Tokugawa Iemitsu had deployed many elite soldiers in the Shogun’s Palace, making it extremely well-defended.

After the Huaxia army charged in through the main gate, they were attacked by grenades.

After finally finding cover and preparing to suppress the enemy with firepower, a group of ronin wielding samurai swords suddenly appeared.

These ronin appeared so suddenly that they were right in front of the Huaxia soldiers, making it impossible for them to fire their guns, forcing them into hand-to-hand combat.

Fighting those people with submachine guns was obviously a disadvantage.

However, the Japanese ronin didn’t have it easy either.

Those who didn’t engage the Huaxia soldiers were mowed down by bullets.

The Huaxia army suffered some casualties, but these ronin samurai were completely wiped out.

At the same time, the Huaxia army that entered through the breach began a massacre.

Their sudden appearance caught the Japanese off guard, and they were slaughtered by the Huaxia army.

Relying on their powerful firepower, this Huaxia squad broke through the Shogun’s Palace’s defenses, disrupting the Japanese defenses. Their position even appeared behind some Japanese soldiers.

What followed was a chaotic battle. Fortunately, the guards of the Shogun’s Palace were all elites, and they were still able to fight in this situation.

If it were an ordinary unit, caught in this situation of being attacked from both sides, they would have collapsed and fled, or surrendered long ago.

But they didn’t; they fought to the last moment.

The Huaxia army paid a considerable price to reach the core of the Shogun’s Palace, not far from Tokugawa Iemitsu.

At the same time, the daimyo army led by the Maeda clan completed their breakthrough from the back gate.

However, their breakthrough was purely achieved by filling the gate with human lives.

The corpses at the gate almost blocked it completely.

The Shogun’s Palace was attacked from both sides, and reinforcements were late in arriving. The situation was extremely critical.

“Damn it, these rebellious subjects are traitors to Japan!”

Tokugawa Iemitsu cursed.

One of his subordinates, listening nearby, didn’t say anything, but in his heart, he was criticizing Tokugawa Iemitsu for being shameless.

After all, if you were to talk about traitors to Japan, Tokugawa Iemitsu would be number one.

He had rendered the Emperor powerless and didn’t have the ability to unify the country.

For his own selfish interests, he had planned to use Great Hua’s hand to weaken the strength of other daimyo when organizing the coalition, leading to internal divisions within the alliance, which allowed Great Hua to take advantage.

Such a selfish person was now scolding other daimyo for harming the country and being traitors to Japan. He really had no shame.

Perhaps others were qualified to scold other daimyo, but Tokugawa Iemitsu was clearly not.

This was not just the thought of this one subordinate.

Otherwise, it would have been impossible for no reinforcements to arrive.

Those reinforcements that came were likely just putting on a show, not genuinely wanting to help.

Otherwise, how could the small number of people infiltrated by those daimyo have been able to hold back those reinforcements?

Tokugawa Iemitsu’s current situation was the total eruption of problems accumulated over time. He had lost the hearts of the people and the military.

“General, should we prepare a short sword?”

The subordinate asked.

At this time, if he were still a man, he should commit seppuku.

Tokugawa Iemitsu glared at this subordinate, feeling very annoyed.

It wasn’t the final moment yet; how could he commit suicide?

What if he committed suicide now, and then the reinforcements arrived?

His fantasy was quickly shattered. The Huaxia army charged into the inner courtyard and began firing at them.

The Huaxia army didn’t need prisoners; they just needed to kill Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Faced with this fierce attack, Tokugawa Iemitsu rolled on the ground in a panic, hiding behind cover.

However, this was only a temporary reprieve.

As the Huaxia army checked and finished off the wounded, Tokugawa Iemitsu was captured alive.

The Huaxia army had no use for him and was about to execute him on the spot, but Maeda Yoshio, who had arrived, stopped them. They wanted Tokugawa Iemitsu alive, so they could force him to order the troops coming to support him to surrender.

This would save a lot of trouble.

Chapter 861: The Four Provinces of Japan

The fighting was fierce at the General’s residence, and the Emperor’s residence was also under attack by shogunate troops.

Amidst the chaos, they hadn’t received any orders from Tokugawa Iemitsu.

They could only rely on their own judgment to act.

It was unacceptable for the Emperor to fall into the hands of unidentified people.

Therefore, a shogunate army launched an attack on the Emperor’s residence, hoping to recapture him.

They didn’t even know that the General’s residence was on the verge of falling.

The Japanese attacks surged towards the Huaxia army like a tide. In the hearts of ordinary Japanese people, the Emperor was sacred and inviolable.

Rescuing the Emperor was different from ordinary warfare; they had the added bonus of faith.

However, this morale boost couldn’t make their flesh resist bullets.

The rain of bullets caused countless Japanese to fall on the path of their charge.

“Who exactly are these people, and what weapons are they using?”

Commander Kimura Hisaichi asked in alarm.

He had been stationed in the rear and had never fought against the Huaxia army, so he didn’t know much about them.

Although he had heard of semi-automatic rifles, he had never heard of submachine guns.

“They should be people from Great Hua. I’m not sure what the weapons are,”

the adjutant said.

“Damn it, the Emperor has fallen into the hands of the people from Great Hua.”

Kimura Hisaichi became even more anxious. It was a disgrace for the Emperor to fall into enemy hands.

Japan launched two more waves of attacks, but finally, they couldn’t attack anymore, and no one was willing to charge again.

Everyone who charged had died, not a single one had survived.

With such a one hundred percent mortality rate, who would dare to charge?

Before long, news of the situation at the General’s residence reached Kimura Hisaichi, making him even more confused.

The situation was a complete mess, and someone of his level didn’t even know what was happening.

As dawn approached, Tokugawa Iemitsu’s orders arrived, telling Kimura Hisaichi and the others to lay down their weapons. The Maeda clan would take over Edo.

Outside the city, the armies of various daimyo launched a surprise attack on the shogunate troops stationed outside the city and won.

The shogunate army was defeated, and only a small number escaped.

At this point, the anti-shogunate operation could be declared a basic success. All that remained was to clean up the mess.

The chaotic situation continued for several days, with the remaining shogunate troops engaging in some battles with the armies of other daimyo.

During this process, some of the smaller daimyo were inexplicably destroyed.

And some previously inconspicuous figures suddenly rose to prominence overnight.

This grand drama would be excellent material for future films, and could be made into a movie called “Edo Stories.”

After the political situation returned to stability, the格局(géjú) of Japan underwent significant changes.

The Tokugawa clan was destroyed, and the Maeda clan became the leader.

The Ikeda family, the Todo family, and the Date family were in the second tier. If the three families joined forces, their strength could exceed that of the Maeda clan.

Of course, none of this mattered much, because Great Hua was now the one actually in charge of Japan.

If they dared to disobey or wanted to become a new shogunate to resist Great Hua, Great Hua could turn them into the next Tokugawa Iemitsu in a matter of minutes.

On May fifteenth, Emperor Jingong issued an edict, announcing a marriage alliance with Great Hua, marrying into the Great Hua Emperor’s family. From then on, Great Hua and Japan would become one family.

At the same time, Japan abolished its national title and merged into Great Hua.

From now on, every emperor of Great Hua would be the Japan’s Sun Goddess Emperor, half a level higher than the Emperor, and would have the highest ruling power over Japan.

And the descendants born to Emperor Jingong could inherit the position of Emperor.

Of course, it was just a nominal title, and they would even need to live in Great Hua for a long time.

With a higher-level Sun Goddess Emperor, the symbolic significance of the Emperor would be greatly reduced. After another ten or twenty years, perhaps the Japanese would only know the Sun Goddess Emperor and not what an Emperor was.

After merging into Great Hua, Japan would be divided into four provinces.

Among them, Kyushu and Shikoku Island would be merged into Kyushu Province, the area west of Osaka on Honshu Island would be Changzhou Province, the central region would be Kyoto Province, and the northeast region plus Hokkaido would be Beizhou Province.

The highest officials in each province would be Han Chinese, and most other official positions would also be appointed by Great Hua.

However, in terms of quantity distribution, in principle, the Japanese would occupy half of the seats.

Moreover, Maeda Tsunanori, Ikeda Yoshikawa, and others would still have fiefs, and they would be hereditary, equivalent to the native chieftains in the southwest region of Great Hua in the past.

These people were allowed to retain a certain number of troops, but the rights to taxation, diplomacy, and culture belonged to the Great Hua court. They only had some executive power.

However, these were only temporary measures. In the future, Great Hua would slowly, like boiling a frog in warm water, gradually strip them of their power, ultimately achieving an effect similar to replacing native officials with Han officials.

Currently, these compromises were being made to ensure a smooth transition.

Giving so many preferential treatments to these daimyo brought even greater benefits to Great Hua.

First, the entire territory of Japan theoretically became the territory of Great Hua. Although the small daimyo on Shikoku Island might not admit it, their opinions were no longer important.

As long as the Maeda clan, the Ikeda clan, and others were obedient, the small village chiefs on Shikoku Island would soon be wiped out by Great Hua.

Second, Great Hua’s occupation of Japan had legitimacy.

The people would recognize Emperor Jingong’s orders and acknowledge that Japan was part of Great Hua.

Of course, perhaps they weren’t particularly convinced yet. But Great Hua would next exert its efforts in culture, carrying out extensive propaganda.

If they persisted for a few years, these people would be able to accept it.

The third benefit was naturally that Great Hua would lose fewer soldiers.

Moreover, when governing Japan in the future, they wouldn’t have to worry and wouldn’t have to be enemies with the Japanese people.

This point was actually very important. If they lacked this legitimacy, the Japanese people would not be convinced and would try to resist. Great Hua would inevitably have to suppress them, and the hatred between the two sides would become deeper and more irreconcilable.

It was easy to occupy a place, but it was quite difficult to completely assimilate it.

In this regard, Great Hua was currently doing quite well.

At least, the people in Korea had almost all recognized their identity as people of Great Hua.

Great Hua had unparalleled productivity compared to other countries, enough to drive these places to become rich and live better lives.

And this was also a great weapon to eliminate contradictions and assimilate the other party.

In this world, it was ultimately the masses who mattered most.

As long as these people could live better lives, they wouldn’t care whether they were people of Great Hua or Japanese.

In the future, when they saw the Western Europeans being bullied by Great Hua, they might even be glad that they had become people of Great Hua.

Some might even become more loyal to Great Hua than the Han Chinese because of this.

After all, there were too many benefits to be gained from being tied to Great Hua, both materially and spiritually.

Chapter 862: A Sensation

It would still take some time for Emperor Jingong to travel to Great Hua, but Nanjing had already received the news.

For Great Hua, this was naturally a matter of prestige, worthy of extensive coverage.

Although the official announcement was somewhat subtle, stating that the Empress of Japan was to marry into Great Hua.

However, the people of Great Hua knew that the Emperor already had an Empress.

Therefore, the Empress of Japan was coming to be a concubine, with little status.

Using a concubine’s position to gain a country’s dowry was a worthwhile deal.

Writers knew the psychology of newspaper readers, who liked to see good news and stories of Great Hua’s strength.

Therefore, the wording was carefully chosen to depict Great Hua as having gained a great advantage, making ordinary people happy.

This was a super eye-catching news item, and various newspapers devoted their front-page headlines to it.

The Emperor taking a concubine was not usually big news.

But if this concubine was a foreigner, and a foreign Empress at that, it was a different story altogether.

After the news spread, it caused widespread discussion in society.

The most intense reactions came from the Japanese students studying in Great Hua.

They had been planning to study hard and return to build their country.

But before they could finish their studies, their country was gone, a truly sad story.

Some people were stunned by the news.

“How could Her Majesty the Emperor do this?”

Yoshikawa Hayato couldn’t understand it. After all, in his mind, the Emperor was supreme. How could she marry into another country?

He was less shocked because it was Great Hua she was marrying into.

If she had married into some small country, Yoshikawa Hayato might have opposed it at all costs.

Now, because of his sense of inferiority when facing Great Hua, he felt that the Emperor marrying the Emperor of Great Hua wasn’t particularly demeaning, just a little hard to accept.

Because the Emperor had also issued an imperial edict, announcing that Japan would be completely integrated into Great Hua, becoming several provinces of Great Hua.

This was something that some people found difficult to accept.

Although Japan was just a symbol, they had identified with the concept of Japan since childhood, and it wasn’t easy to change overnight.

“What’s impossible about it? Even if Her Majesty the Emperor didn’t do this, Great Hua annexing Japan was only a matter of time. The previous war proved everything. Great Hua could easily defeat us without using its full strength.

And Her Majesty the Emperor is now sacrificing herself, at least winning many rights and benefits for the Japanese people.”

Another international student, Kurosawa Shigetaka, said.

He was more rational, knowing that Japan being annexed by Great Hua was inevitable, the only difference being the method used.

He felt that the current method was acceptable, at least better than being conquered by force.

“Good or bad, at least I feel a sense of relief.”

Sanada Tsusan, another Japanese student, stretched.

In the past, the most frequent topic of discussion in their circle of international students was studying hard and then returning home to build Japan and catch up with Great Hua.

But Sanada Tsusan knew that catching up with Great Hua was just wishful thinking, it was simply impossible.

It was painful and depressing to do everything possible to complete an impossible task.

He had thought of giving up, but was afraid of being ridiculed by his companions.

Now he could finally unload this burden with confidence, and Sanada Tsusan and some other international students felt a sense of relief.

“So what do we do now? Do we just pretend nothing happened?”

Yoshikawa Hayato felt a strange sense of irritability in his heart.

“What else can we do besides obey the Emperor’s orders? Besides, becoming a citizen of Great Hua isn’t a bad thing. At least we can apply to be assistants to Teacher Feng or Teacher Fei in the future, without worrying about being rejected again.

In the future, we can learn more advanced knowledge and technology. What’s wrong with that? Besides, after learning that knowledge, we can also return to Edo to build our hometown.”

Kurosawa Shigetaka said.

In the past, they wanted to study in depth and had made some applications, such as joining the steam engine research group or becoming assistants to tutors studying internal combustion engines.

However, without exception, they were rejected with various excuses and reasons.

They all knew that the real reason was only one: they were Japanese.

Now that Japan was gone, they had become citizens of Great Hua, and theoretically there was no reason to be rejected.

Although the country of Japan was gone, their hometown was still there, and they could still contribute to the construction of their hometown.

Kurosawa Shigetaka’s words made many people’s eyes light up.

Learning more advanced knowledge was their pursuit.

Now that they had the opportunity to realize their dreams, it was always a happy event.

Everyone began to discuss excitedly which tutor to choose next.

Looking at these people who had almost forgotten Japan because they had gained some benefits, Yoshikawa Hayato was desperate.

The crowd continued to discuss the changes after joining Great Hua, but the atmosphere was no longer depressing, but rather festive.

The happiest people about Japan joining Great Hua were not these international students, but the Japanese women living in Great Hua.

In the past, because of their Japanese identity, they generally suffered losses in Great Hua.

For the same job, they had to ask for lower wages than women from Great Hua, and they also needed more patience.

Even if they were treated unfairly, they had nowhere to complain or defend their rights.

Now that Japan had joined Great Hua, they had also become citizens of Great Hua.

They were looking forward to this, hoping to receive some fair treatment in the future.

For those women who had already married men from Great Hua, Japan joining Great Hua was even more of a happy event.

In the past, their husbands were worried that they would not return to Great Hua after returning to Japan to visit their relatives, so they had always been unsupportive of requests to return home to visit their families.

Now, this concern of men from Great Hua should be less.

Also happy were the Japanese businessmen doing business in Great Hua. In the past, because of their identity, they would more or less encounter some discrimination.

And now, even if they might still encounter discrimination, at least it wouldn’t be so obvious, which was always a good thing.

Moreover, after they had the status of citizens of Great Hua, there would be fewer restrictions on purchasing machines and technologies from Great Hua, and it would be more relaxed.

These were all benefits for businessmen.

In general, the only ones who suffered losses from Japan joining Great Hua were the Tokugawa family and the daimyo who were wiped out in the coup.

The Maeda family, the Ikeda family, and several other daimyo also suffered some losses.

Apart from that, the rest of the people were able to obtain some obvious benefits after joining Great Hua.

Chapter 863: Discussions

A small number of Koreans living in Great Hua were a little unhappy about this news. After all, they had no good feelings towards the Japanese, who had invaded Korea in the past.

Previously, they could rely on their identity as people of Great Hua to enjoy a sense of superiority when facing the Japanese.

But now, everyone was the same.

Naturally, no one cared about their little dissatisfaction.

Koreans in Great Hua were quite lacking in presence.

Europeans had complex feelings about Japan’s incorporation into Great Hua.

On one hand, they felt they should despise or sympathize, after all, Japan didn’t even have a country anymore, which was a very sad thing.

But on the other hand, they felt a kind of inexplicable, faint envy in their hearts.

After all, the Japanese easily obtained Great Hua citizenship, while they, as Europeans, needed to make significant contributions to join Great Hua.

Several years had passed, and no more than fifty Europeans had successfully naturalized as citizens of Great Hua, making it very difficult.

In addition to sympathy and envy, they also had a sense of foreboding.

Today it was Japan that was annexed, who would be next?

They didn’t think their own countries were much stronger than Japan, the only advantage being distance.

But with the development of technology, this distance advantage was quickly disappearing.

In the academy, some scholars were also discussing this matter.

“This suddenly adds four provinces, and many more official positions. This is a good thing for us. The difficulty of passing the imperial examination next year should be lower,”

Ge Jinming said.

“Not necessarily. The number of candidates next year will definitely be one or two times more than the previous session, and the difficulty may be even greater. By the session after next, there will be even more candidates, which is really terrible,”

Another person said.

“I hope the imperial court will occupy more places, so that there are enough official positions to accommodate us. There are really too many scholars in the world now,”

Ge Jinming also sighed.

In the past, there were few scholars in the world, and taking the imperial examination was extremely difficult.

But now that Great Hua has implemented universal compulsory education, the number of scholars has directly increased several times, or even more than ten times.

Although a large part of them are not studying for the sake of the imperial examination, there are still many people who try to take the imperial examination.

If they don’t pass the exam now, when the next batch of students grows up and participates in the imperial examination, the competition will be even more fierce.

“That’s for sure. Isn’t the imperial court fighting everywhere now? When the time comes, the whole world will be recovered. It is said that our current territory of Great Hua only accounts for a little over one-tenth of the entire world.

If all the other places are recovered, wouldn’t there be more than ten times more official positions?”

Yan Shigai looked forward to that kind of scene.

Although recovering those places would also mean receiving those populations.

But they were not worried, because the imperial court always favored the Han people, and the official positions assigned to the Han people would definitely be more.

This kind of thing was happening in Korea and Annam. Next, Japan would be the same, and other places would most likely be the same.

In the chamber of commerce, a group of businessmen were also discussing the impact of Japan’s incorporation into Great Hua.

“This is a happy event, at least those gold and silver mines belong to us,”

Cui Mingchong said.

“Boss Cui, didn’t you read the news? The imperial court has already announced that all mine resources belong to the imperial court. When did they become ours?”

He Wenjin, a newly emerging energy tycoon, asked back, his words carrying a bit of resentment.

In the past, mining was easy, and there were not so many restrictions.

Now it was different. Great Hua had designated all mineral resources as assets of the imperial court. To mine, one had to go through strict application and review, and pay more taxes.

“It’s better than being in the hands of the Japanese, right? In the hands of the Japanese, we had no hope at all. Now, as long as we follow the rules of the imperial court, we can still make a small profit,”

Cui Mingchong said, feeling that the imperial court’s policy was fine.

Besides, mining itself was a lucrative business, and even if the imperial court increased taxes, it was still a very good business.

“There are still benefits. At least we don’t have to pay tariffs to sell things to Japan in the future.”

“Why sell things over there? We can also directly open factories in Japan. The labor there is cheap, and we save on shipping costs.”

“But the transportation and supporting facilities there are very backward.”

“Edo is still good. It will develop sooner or later, just like Guangzhou. The geographical location determines that it has a future.”

…

The crowd studied the business opportunities brought about by Japan’s incorporation into Great Hua, looking for new ways to make a fortune.

In a factory dormitory, the workers didn’t go to sleep and rest immediately after get off work, but always chatted for a few words.

Sometimes, there would be literate people who would read the newspaper to everyone.

They naturally did not miss such big news as the recovery of Japan.

“Good, our Great Hua is still powerful. This little Japan dared to fight us, it’s simply courting death,”

One worker cheered, in fact, he didn’t even know where Japan was.

But that didn’t matter, he only knew that Great Hua had won, and he should be happy.

“How can the emperor of Japan still be a woman?”

“What’s so strange about that? Empress Wu Zetian was also a woman.”

“I wonder if the Japanese female emperor is pretty. If she isn’t pretty, wouldn’t His Majesty be at a disadvantage?”

Compared to scholars and businessmen, these guys’ focus was on gossip.

“Shh, don’t talk nonsense. In the future, she will be our Great Hua’s imperial concubine. If you spread rumors and slander like this, be careful the government comes to clean you up,”

One worker suddenly said seriously, in fact, he didn’t know if the government would care about this kind of trivial matter.

However, seeing that the other workers were frightened by him, he felt particularly proud.

In the countryside, several teenagers returned home and talked to their parents about this news during dinner.

Their father ate his meal, unmoved.

What was Japan?

He didn’t know at all. What he was thinking about was whether he should plant some other cash crops.

Although the yield of grain was high now, the price of grain had been unable to rise. No merchants came to collect grain, and they could only sell it to the government.

Although they could eat their fill now and life was better, people were creatures who didn’t know how to be satisfied.

After eating their fill, they wanted to eat better.

And this required money. It was difficult to make a lot of money by growing grain, and many people were trying to find other ways.

“Eat your meal. What does the matter of Japan have to do with you? Studying hard is the right thing to do. Don’t care about these useless things,”

The old farmer listened impatiently and scolded.

The scolded teenagers immediately shut up, but they were very disdainful in their hearts.

He felt that there was no way to communicate with his ignorant father. As the saying goes, family affairs, national affairs, and world affairs, scholars should care about everything.

Chapter 864: Seeing Du Shaofu off to His Post in Northern Prefecture

Nanjing, the riverside docks.

It was yet another farewell gathering. The word “yet” was used because such scenes had become very common at the docks and train stations of Nanjing over the past two years.

These officials were heading to places like the Philippines, Annam, or Siberia.

Some were going even further, to Ceuta in North Africa, or Rio in South America.

Before their departure, close friends and lovers would come to see them off.

“Brother Du, this journey to Northern Prefecture will mean we won’t see each other again for three years.”

Fang Jingling said, feeling the sadness of parting.

“Haha, it’s just three years, a blink of an eye. It feels like only yesterday that we took the imperial examination together three years ago.”

Du Jun, on the other hand, was taking it in stride. Applying for the position in Northern Prefecture, Japan, was his own choice, and he had prepared himself mentally.

If he stayed in Great Hua, he would only be a county magistrate.

But going to Northern Prefecture meant he could get a deputy provincial-level position, two ranks higher than a county magistrate.

Although life in Northern Prefecture would definitely not be as comfortable as in Great Hua, this bit of hardship was nothing to those who wanted to climb the ladder quickly.

“I just don’t know if those Japanese people will be easy to govern. Brother Du, you must be careful in everything there.”

Fang Jingling took out a very exquisite pistol and gave it to Du Jun for self-defense.

At the farewell, Fang Jingling was suddenly inspired to write a poem, “Seeing Du Shaofu off to His Post in Northern Prefecture.”

“This departure spans a thousand li, we sleep at different hours.”

“The moonlight shines on me, I tell my thoughts to my shadow.”

…

“Stop, Brother Fang, take a break. I’ll take my leave first.”

Du Jun quickly interrupted Fang Jingling’s poem and boarded the ship as if fleeing.

After all, Fang Jingling’s poem was too sentimental.

The general meaning of the poem was that after this separation, they would be thousands of li apart. Because of the difference in time, they wouldn’t even be able to sleep at the same time.

The moonlight shone on him, and he would treat his shadow as if it were the other person, telling it his thoughts.

Scholars nowadays knew that the Earth rotated and had the concept of time zones, knowing that at the same moment, it was a different time of day in different places.

With increased scientific knowledge, literary talent had greatly declined.

Of course, that wasn’t the main point. The main point was that this poem was too sentimental. Du Jun was afraid of being misunderstood, so he could only flee in disarray.

On the ship, Du Jun greeted the other colleagues.

He wasn’t the only one going to Japan this time. There were several officials of various ranks, and more would follow.

Although Japan wasn’t large, it had nearly twenty million people, making it far more valuable than a place like Siberia.

“Magistrate Li is fortunate, his post is in Kyoto Province. I heard that Northern Prefecture, where I’m going, is very desolate.”

Du Jun chatted with a newly acquainted official. Since they would both be serving in Japan, it was beneficial to make connections.

“The more people there are, the harder it is to govern. What’s more, the area I’m in charge of also has the Ikeda clan as a local chieftain, which is really troublesome.”

Li Xueliang complained.

These officials were well aware of what kind of existence chieftains were, as they could refer to the situation in the southwest in the past.

Dealing with chieftains was not an easy task. If they weren’t careful, the other party would rebel.

Although Great Hua’s army would have no problem suppressing the rebellion, if a rebellion occurred, it would mean that the local officials were incompetent and couldn’t handle relationships.

Moreover, once a rebellion broke out, these local officials were likely to be killed.

“Magistrate Li is overthinking it. Those Japanese daimyo shouldn’t dare to cause trouble in the short term. In a few years, you can be transferred back to the Central Plains.”

Du Jun said.

The two chatted idly to pass the time.

In Eastern Siberia, Great Hua had also established a province called Northern Frontier Province. It was the largest province in Great Hua in terms of area, but the smallest in terms of population.

With an area of three million square kilometers and a population of less than five hundred thousand, there was an average of one person every six square kilometers, truly embodying the meaning of sparsely populated.

The population density of Nanjing City was already close to five hundred people per square kilometer, three thousand times that of Northern Frontier Province.

In the vast Northern Frontier Province, there was only one provincial governor. The positions of some deputy governors and various bureau chiefs were still vacant, as Great Hua officials were unwilling to come.

Although the conditions in Japan were more difficult, at least there was a chance to achieve political success.

But in Northern Frontier Province, officials were almost idle.

Neither agriculture nor industry could be developed here for the time being.

Governor Qian Ke was still quite diligent. After arriving in Siberia, he tried to start some industries.

But after some struggling, he chose to give up.

The people here had almost no purchasing power. Even if they produced goods, they couldn’t sell them.

As for selling them to the Central Plains, that was nonsense. The transportation costs would make their goods uncompetitive.

The only advantageous commodity here was fur.

The troops stationed here often went out hunting to obtain various animal furs.

But this was the military’s business, and Qian Ke couldn’t get involved.

As for natural resources, Qian Ke believed that there must be many in such a large place, but the key was that no one was willing to come to explore and exploit them.

The costs were too high, and Great Hua wasn’t particularly short of resources right now.

Having been in Northern Frontier Province for only a few months, Qian Ke was already trying to use connections to get transferred back to the Central Plains.

Not to mention the Central Plains, even going to the mountainous areas of the southwest would be more promising than here.

In the Philippines, the Great Hua officials stationed here were doing better than in Northern Frontier Province.

At least there was a maritime trade transit station here, and commerce was relatively developed. Moreover, it had a tropical climate with plenty of sunshine and rainfall, making it very suitable for developing agriculture.

The industrial aspect was somewhat weak, and it would be difficult to develop.

But with commercial and agricultural tax revenue, officials here could easily achieve political success.

Of course, even that couldn’t compare to the Central Plains.

Almost all Great Hua officials hoped to be stationed in the capital, followed by the Central Plains.

Officials in the border regions and overseas hoped to return to the Central Plains at all times.

Having enjoyed the life of a developed society in Nanjing, going to those overseas places was like going to a primitive society, which was very uncomfortable.

No electric lights, no cars, no ball games, no high-end brothels, and not even clean roads.

Entertainment was scarce, and the food was monotonous.

Even wanting to read a newspaper often meant only seeing news from more than ten days ago.

Officials overseas would occasionally leave behind a poem or two, expressing their feelings directly and conveying their frustrated mood.

After all, the officials who were relegated to overseas posts were nothing more than a few types.

One type had made mistakes and been demoted overseas.

Another type had failed in political struggles and been squeezed out overseas.

And another type lacked a good background and connections, and could only pick up such a poor job.

These people would naturally have a sense of frustration.

Chapter 865: The Emperor’s Journey West

On May 25th, the Great Hua First Fleet escorted the Moon Palace cruise ship to Edo.

The Moon Palace was Great Hua’s most luxurious passenger liner, usually sailing the Nanjing-Shanghai-Guangzhou route.

However, at this time, to welcome Imperial Concubine Jing (Emperor Jingong), the ship was temporarily requisitioned by the government.

As for those passengers who were going from Nanjing to Guangzhou, they would have to wait a while longer.

Their affairs were naturally not as important as welcoming the Emperor.

Not only was the Moon Palace requisitioned, but Great Hua’s First Fleet and East China Sea Fleet were also mobilized to escort it.

There were not only the latest-style all-ironclad cruisers, but also the five-thousand-ton behemoth, the Zhou Wu-class battleship.

Using the First Fleet for escort was like using a nuclear bomb to scare mosquitoes. The pirates didn’t even dare to think about robbery, and were trembling in their lairs.

They were afraid that Great Hua would take the opportunity to launch a wave of extermination, wiping out all the pirate dens along the way.

The First Fleet’s mission, on the surface, was to escort, but in reality, it was to display national power and deter the daimyo of Japan.

When the five-thousand-ton displacement Zhou Wu entered the port, Maeda Tsunanori and others felt chills in their hearts.

The dark muzzles of the cannons could be seen clearly from a long distance.

“I heard that the cannons on the Zhou Wu have a range of over ten kilometers,”

Ikeda Yoshikawa said, this range made all of Japan’s coasts unsafe.

“Our Japan has many excellent ports, we can ask the Imperial Court to build more shipyards here,”

Todo Takayo said to Maeda Tsunanori.

They knew in their hearts that development required talent.

If Great Hua’s shipyards were built in Japan, it could drive many surrounding industries and cultivate a large number of industrial talents.

Japan was an island nation, and the importance of the navy was even greater than that of the army.

As long as the navy was strong enough, no one could approach, and the Japanese mainland would be safe.

Although these people had temporarily submitted to Great Hua, it was only out of temporary helplessness, and they were not necessarily convinced in their hearts, and still had some naive ideas.

“I’m afraid it’s difficult, let’s take it slowly. If one generation doesn’t work, then two generations, we will catch up one day,”

Maeda Tsunanori had no hope for his generation, and could only focus on the next generation.

It would be best if Wu Changqing died suddenly, and then a useless person inherited the throne of Great Hua, then they would have hope.

In a grand ceremony, Emperor Jingong boarded the Moon Palace with her entourage.

This was the first time they had seen such a luxurious passenger ship, and even more so the first time they had ridden on one.

Aiko was a little better, after all, she was the Emperor, and had experienced great ups and downs, so she was able to remain calm.

But her entourage, after seeing Great Hua’s fleet, were all gaping.

They had never seen such a large ship, let alone such exquisite decorations.

On the Moon Palace, even a door or a window was carefully carved.

Those smooth and transparent, uniquely shaped glass wine glasses, exquisite tableware, and a rich variety of fruits and food.

All of this made these people who had never seen the world dumbfounded.

“This cup is so beautiful, is it for drinking tea?”

A maid picked up a wine glass and looked at it.

“This is a wine glass, this is for drinking tea.”

He Jie, a female official from Great Hua, took out a set of tea sets and demonstrated the tea ceremony.

This was something that rich people had come up with, deliberately creating a complex tea-drinking process and calling it the tea ceremony.

If you didn’t drink tea in this way, you would be laughed at by these people.

The lifestyle of rich and powerful people was easily envied and imitated.

Therefore, this tea ceremony was gradually recognized as a more elegant art.

Drinking tea in large gulps became a sign of crudeness.

He Jie’s tea ceremony performance directly stunned these Japanese people.

They didn’t expect that there were so many rules for drinking a cup of tea.

At the same time, they felt inferior for their lack of knowledge, and unconsciously thought that He Jie’s way of drinking tea was very high-end.

Along the way, He Jie was teaching these people the court etiquette of Great Hua, so as not to embarrass themselves in the palace.

Losing etiquette in the palace was a big deal.

If the Empress wanted to deal with them, she could use etiquette to make things difficult for them.

These etiquettes not only needed to be learned by Aiko’s maids, but Aiko herself also needed to learn some court etiquette.

After drifting at sea for a few days, the fleet arrived in Nanjing.

At the dock, a large number of people had gathered to welcome them.

After all, she was the Emperor of Japan, not an unknown person from the common people, so she had to be valued to some extent and given the corresponding specifications.

If the etiquette was not in place, the Japanese would have some resentment in their hearts.

The salute was one hundred and eight guns, which was the specification for welcoming a foreign emperor, while princes only had seventy-two guns.

The carriage was also a ‘motorhome’ pulled by eight horses, all of which were pure white Arabian horses, a type of horse that was more ornamental but had poor endurance and explosive power.

Amidst the cheers of the people, Emperor Jingong got off the ship with a veil and got into the carriage.

She wanted to open the curtains and take a good look at the capital of Great Hua.

However, doing so was not in accordance with etiquette, so she could only suppress her curiosity.

Anyway, He Jie had said that if she got bored in the palace in the future, she could also apply to go out of the palace to play.

Aiko couldn’t see the scenery of Great Hua in the carriage, but her maids who followed outside could see everything.

Their first impression was that there were many people, a sea of people, as if there were people everywhere.

However, these people were very disciplined, standing on both sides of the road, without obstructing the welcoming team.

At the same time, they also found that the roads in Great Hua were really big, compared with Great Hua, the roads in Japan were simply sheep intestines.

Moreover, the road surface of Great Hua was flat, neat and clean.

After entering the city, they also noticed that there were many ‘pillars’ on both sides of the road. Of course, they didn’t know what they were used for, giving off a mysterious feeling.

There were many tall buildings on both sides of the road.

And they were all brick and stone houses, with few wooden houses.

This was very different from Edo, Edo had no tall buildings, and almost all of them were wooden houses.

The walls of some shops selling high-end goods were also replaced by glass windows. Through the windows, they could see all kinds of dazzling and rare things in the store.

They also saw that the people on both sides of the street were radiant and very energetic, and it was obvious that they usually ate well.

Moreover, these people were wearing clothes made of good fabrics.

As for the styles, they were various.

There were traditional Hanfu robes, Tang suits, as well as Zhongshan suits and professional suits that looked very capable.

Women mostly wore long skirts, with bright colors.

From the mental outlook of the people alone, the maids felt the difference between Great Hua and Japan.

Chapter 866: Northwest War

The Emperor taking a concubine didn’t involve any grand ceremony or banquet.

However, Consort Jing’s status was different. The palace held an evening banquet, inviting important officials of Great Hua and some representatives from Japan to go through the motions.

Of course, it was also to foster goodwill.

After the banquet, Aiko finally met Wu Changqing.

At this time, Wu Changqing was only twenty-three years old, in the prime of his life.

This was one of the reasons Aiko agreed to marry him. If Wu Changqing were an old geezer in his seventies or eighties, she probably wouldn’t have been able to make up her mind.

“Can you speak Chinese?”

Wu Changqing sized up Aiko, then began to recall those island country celebrities, making comparisons.

Fortunately, Aiko’s appearance didn’t resemble any movie star, but was somewhat similar to a female athlete in the sports world, Ai Fukuhara, known as the “Porcelain Doll.”

This appearance seemed quite harmless.

“Everyday communication is no problem.”

Aiko replied.

“Japan is fortunate to have you. If it weren’t for your understanding of the big picture, there would inevitably be widespread suffering. You’ve done very well in this regard.”

Political marriages meant even casual conversation was extraordinary.

Aiko didn’t know how to respond. The marriage was just a desperate measure for Japan, not because she was particularly aware of the big picture.

Without much further conversation, maids came forward to help Aiko remove the elaborate formal dress she was wearing.

The dress was beautiful, but its structure was complex. Without help, it might be impossible to take off alone.

What followed was a section of content that was removed.

At the same time, in the Shaanxi-Gansu region, the Great Western Army began their westward expedition, marching towards the Yarkent Khanate.

After a period of training, they had basically mastered the use of new weapons and corresponding tactics.

More importantly, the Huaxia army was constantly urging them to take action.

Great Hua had supported them with so many supplies, naturally wanting to see results, not just letting them continue training.

Of course, Li Dingguo and the others also wanted to fight as soon as possible to see how much their strength had improved.

It was like a swordsman getting a good sword, always wanting to find someone to spar with.

In early June, the Great Western Army sent out fifty thousand troops, rushing towards Jiayu Pass.

The Great Western Army and the people of the Yarkent Khanate had fought once near Jiayu Pass, and the two sides had fought to a standstill.

Although the Great Western Army was repelled, the Yarkent Khanate didn’t gain any advantage either, and the casualties on both sides were about the same.

This time, the Great Western Army was holding back a breath, vowing to get their revenge.

The Yarkent Khanate had been wary of the Great Western Army, but their intelligence work was still a bit lacking. They only knew that the Great Western Army had been training recently, but they didn’t know that some of the Great Western Army had replaced their old weapons with new ones, completing an equipment upgrade.

Therefore, facing the attack of the Great Western Army, Abuladuo, who was responsible for guarding Jiayu Pass, directly led his troops to form a formation, just like last time, to confront the Great Western Army head-on.

Seeing this scene, Ma Bing was immediately delighted, it was like a windfall.

If the enemy had hidden in the city, he would have had to put in a little more effort.

Abuladuo’s decision to leave the city wasn’t entirely due to a lack of brains.

The main reason was that a large part of his army was cavalry, and he had to take advantage of the cavalry to win a battle.

Staying in the city to defend, even if they defended the city, the Great Western Army could retreat calmly, and it would be difficult for them to pursue and achieve a major victory.

Therefore, Abuladuo transferred his troops out of the city, preparing to fight a decisive battle with the Great Western Army in the wild.

Little did he know that the current Great Western Army was no longer the Great Western Army of the past.

East of the city, the two armies could already see each other with the naked eye.

“General, according to the scouts, the enemy’s vanguard only has ten thousand people, and they are still approaching us, I don’t know why.”

Abuladuo’s subordinate, Saiyide, felt very confused.

Whether a field battle can be fought depends on the willingness of the generals on both sides.

If one side feels that they are at a disadvantage, they will definitely not go forward, and the battle will not be fought.

In the end, the battlefield will still fall to the competition for some cities and strongholds.

And now, Abuladuo has brought out nearly thirty thousand troops, and he is naturally happy to fight a decisive battle.

Generally, in this case, the opponent will definitely not continue to advance, but wait for the follow-up troops to catch up, and then send out a similar number of people to fight.

You can’t send too many, otherwise Abuladuo and the others will feel that they are at a disadvantage and retreat back to the city.

Whether a field battle can be fought depends on the willingness of both sides.

This is what confuses Saiyide. He doesn’t understand why the Great Western Army, with such a large disadvantage in numbers, is still advancing towards their side.

“Who knows what’s wrong with their general’s brain, but it just gives us a chance to win a great victory. Fighting a war is about being good at seizing opportunities. Pass on my order, our infantry will continue to advance, and the cavalry will start to outflank them.”

Abuladuo felt that this was an opportunity to win a battle, unwilling to lose this opportunity, and eagerly pressed the entire army up.

Abuladuo was happy, and Ma Bing and another Great Western Army leader, Wang Bowen, were also happy. Among their ten thousand-plus people, there were two fully re-equipped regiments.

“Order the 21st Regiment and the 31st Regiment to charge straight ahead and defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.”

Ma Bing said.

Subsequently, the Great Western Army also moved towards Abuladuo’s troops.

The two sides soon met.

The first to attack was the Great Western Army, their range was longer.

They didn’t look for any favorable terrain, and there was no good defensive terrain here.

Even if there was, it would be useless. If they really occupied a favorable terrain, the other party could retreat completely, retreat back to the city, and not play with them.

Therefore, the Great Western Army simply formed a formation and then took advantage of the range and rate of fire of the new rifles.

Gunshots rang out, and the soldiers of the Yarkent Khanate were a little surprised, after all, the distance between the two sides was still a bit far, not yet within their range.

The officers were still urging them to move forward quickly, so they didn’t notice that many people had fallen in this wave of shooting by the Great Western Army.

However, this situation didn’t last long, and those soldiers realized something was wrong.

After all, living people were falling down beside them, they couldn’t keep ignoring it.

When they looked around carefully, they found that there were a large number of dead people not only on their side, but also in other places.

This was very terrifying. Adding up all the places, they had lost at least several hundred people at this moment.

They hadn’t even entered their own range, and hundreds of people had already died. This was not a small loss.

The two armies had already encountered each other. Although the soldiers had great confusion and fear in their hearts, their actions were beyond their control.

The officers shouted to continue moving forward, so they could only continue moving forward.

It wasn’t until they also entered the range of the muskets that they breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Chapter 867: The Situation in the Northwest

The soldiers of Yarkand grabbed their rifles, began loading them, and prepared to return fire.

At this moment, the Great Western Army unleashed its full firepower.

Ma Bing didn’t believe in saving resources or holding back. He ordered all twenty of his machine guns to open fire.

The effect, naturally, was devastating.

Yarkand soldiers fell in rows, instantly terrifying the survivors.

Of course, this also completely exposed the Great Western Army’s firepower, leaving them with no hidden cards.

Overall, Ma Bing’s actions were somewhat reckless.

But it didn’t matter much. This intense barrage of fire directly routed Abul Khair’s vanguard.

Abul Khair’s vanguard began to collapse. Seeing this, Ma Bing immediately ordered a full-scale pursuit.

Based on past experience, pursuing at this moment could yield significant gains.

The Great Western Army launched its pursuit. Abul Khair, upon learning of the vanguard’s defeat, was both shocked and panicked. He immediately ordered his cavalry to charge the Great Western Army, hoping to restrain them and cover the orderly retreat of his own forces.

The Yarkand cavalry charged forward. The Great Western Army also had cavalry, and they engaged in a fierce battle.

However, the Great Western Army’s cavalry was outnumbered and unable to completely stop the Yarkand cavalry.

Some of the cavalry charged towards the Great Western Army, which, being in pursuit, had essentially no formation to speak of.

Faced with the cavalry, the other miscellaneous troops panicked and began to flee.

Fortunately, the two elite regiments remained calm, formed a defensive formation on the spot, and fought the Yarkand cavalry. Both sides suffered casualties.

In the end, the cavalry, seeing no easy advantage, retreated.

Although they suffered heavy losses, they at least stopped the Great Western Army’s pursuit.

The battle was chaotic, with fighting occurring in multiple directions.

Ultimately, the battle ended in a victory for the Great Western Army.

Yarkand lost over seven thousand men, including more than three thousand killed in action and over four thousand captured.

Among these seven thousand soldiers were over two thousand cavalrymen.

For the Yarkand Khanate, this was a significant loss.

The Great Western Army suffered over one thousand three hundred killed in action and over two hundred seriously wounded.

Ma Bing and Wang Bowen were overjoyed. Such a great victory was rare in the past.

Their behavior, in the eyes of the advisors sent by the Huaxia army, left them speechless.

To fight like this with such a huge advantage in equipment was simply a waste of the advanced equipment provided by the Huaxia army.

If the Huaxia army suffered one thousand five hundred casualties in a battle like this, the commanding officer would definitely be sent to a military court.

While observing the battle, they had wanted to offer suggestions more than once, but ultimately chose to remain silent due to their position, allowing the Great Western Army to gain experience and grow.

After all, it was their first time using such advanced equipment in combat, so some roughness was inevitable.

With more experience and reflection, they should be able to reduce casualties in the future.

The Great Western Army won a great victory, and their morale was high.

The Yarkand forces, on the other hand, were still in shock, and their morale was extremely low.

Two days later, Li Dingguo’s main force arrived and launched a general offensive against Jiayu Pass.

Although the Yarkand forces had a slight defensive advantage, they were overwhelmed by the Great Western Army’s fierce attack and the pass fell.

In this battle, the Yarkand Khanate suffered truly heavy losses. Nearly the entire army of thirty thousand men was wiped out, with only a small number of troops managing to break through and escape to Hami.

The Great Western Army pressed its advantage, successively capturing Hami, Turpan, and Ürümqi, driving the Yarkand Khanate to the Karamay area.

Subsequently, the remaining troops of the Great Western Army in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, along with some of their families, relocated to Hami.

The Huaxia army, without firing a shot, recovered the entire territory of Shaanxi and parts of Gansu.

The remaining people and the families of the Great Western Army were well aware of what was happening, so they welcomed the arrival of the Huaxia army, at least on the surface.

This place had been ruled by the Huaxia dynasties since ancient times, and now it was considered a return, so the people had no resistance in their hearts.

Governing this area was even easier than governing eastern Siberia.

The Great Western Army continued to advance westward, while to the north was the Oirat Mongols.

The region was currently in a state of division, with over twenty large tribes forming a loose Oirat alliance.

The leader of the alliance was Gushi Khan, the leader of the Khoshut tribe.

The alliance also included several major tribes such as the Dzungar, Torghut, and Dörbet.

Historically, in a few years, the Dzungar tribe would conquer the other tribes, complete unification, and destroy the Yarkand Khanate, establishing the Dzungar Khanate.

But for now, the strongest of these tribes was still the Khoshut tribe.

Of course, this was only in relation to the other tribes.

When facing Great Hua, they were all insignificant.

Gushi Khan had actually sent envoys to Great Hua a few years ago, hoping to become a tributary state of Great Hua, but Great Hua had not agreed.

After all, the kind of tributary relationship that Gushi Khan wanted was one where they would casually offer some tribute to Great Hua, and then Great Hua, in order to maintain the face of a rich and powerful celestial empire, would return a large amount of goods.

Then, on the surface, Gushi Khan would submit to Great Hua, but in reality, Great Hua would have no way to interfere in its internal affairs.

This kind of tributary relationship would only be agreed to by emperors who loved vanity or were worried about border unrest.

Wu Changqing was a practical man and would never do anything that didn’t benefit him, so he didn’t agree.

He neither cared about that bit of empty fame nor worried that the other party would invade and plunder.

More importantly, he would later have to advance into these areas and bring them completely under his rule.

If he agreed, wouldn’t that be the same as going to war with his own subjects?

That reputation wouldn’t sound good, and it would be easier to arouse the anger of the local people.

Therefore, Great Hua’s attitude had always been either unconditionally and completely merge into Great Hua, or go play somewhere else.

Gushi Khan chose to go play somewhere else, so the Oirat alliance had been having a difficult time in recent years.

They were more affected by the Little Ice Age, and the lack of rainfall was causing even the grasslands to degrade, and there were fewer and fewer places suitable for grazing.

Moreover, because of Great Hua’s strong defense capabilities, they couldn’t, and didn’t dare to, plunder south, which made their lives very difficult.

Every winter, many people starved to death.

In recent years, the population of Great Hua had been skyrocketing, while the population of the grasslands had been sharply reduced.

After Great Hua recovered Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, it prepared to take over the grasslands as well, advancing all the way north to connect the territory with eastern Siberia.

In this way, Great Hua’s border line could also be shortened, and fewer places would need to be garrisoned, which could save a lot of military spending.

Of course, even without this benefit, they would still advance.

The military had a great enthusiasm for expanding territory.

Chapter 868: Armored Division

Recapturing the Mongolian region wasn’t easy. It wasn’t that the tribes there were particularly strong, but the key was their mobility.

If they found they couldn’t win, they could simply flee far away.

Infantry on two legs certainly couldn’t outrun cavalry.

And without destroying and conquering the enemy’s army, simply occupying the territory was meaningless.

The Mongolian region, including parts of what would later become Inner Mongolia and all of Outer Mongolia, covered an area of two million square kilometers.

It was very difficult to effectively govern such a large area.

It wasn’t like Eastern Siberia. Although Eastern Siberia was also large, its population was mainly concentrated near the Greater Khingan Mountains. The northern part, near the Arctic Ocean, could basically be ignored.

A concentrated population was easier to manage, requiring only a small garrison.

But Mongolia was inhabited by nomadic people, who had no fixed abode and could roam throughout the entire area.

If they couldn’t be made to acknowledge Great Hua’s rule over this territory, it would be a headache for Great Hua.

Throwing one million troops into such a large area would be like pouring a cup of water into the ocean.

Without deploying so many troops, simply declaring that this was Great Hua’s territory was meaningless.

If the tribal cavalry continued to roam this area, wouldn’t that be a slap in Great Hua’s face?

Therefore, occupying Mongolia was meaningless. It was necessary to cripple, hurt, and completely subdue the armies here until they were willing to acknowledge Great Hua’s rule.

The alternative was to build cities in Mongolia and force the locals to live in them.

But this would be very costly, and the imperial court might not agree.

Defeating the Oirat became Great Hua’s only option.

Infantry couldn’t catch up, and as for Great Hua’s cavalry, the Huaxia army really didn’t have the confidence to win.

The Huaxia army had never paid much attention to cavalry, and their combat effectiveness was questionable.

Therefore, in order to advance into the Mongolian region, Great Hua formed a purely mechanized division.

If manpower couldn’t keep up, they could only rely on machines.

Compared to horses, the biggest advantage of machines was their endurance.

When the Huaxia army’s mechanized units caught up, the enemy’s horses would be foaming at the mouth after only a few hours.

The establishment of a mechanized division was not only for advancing into Mongolia, but also to explore the direction of the army’s future development.

The result of the military experts’ discussions in the General Staff Department was that the future direction of the army should be mechanization, as mechanized units had too many advantages.

The ability to move quickly alone was enough to crush ordinary infantry.

This newly formed mechanized division was a unit composed of trucks, motorcycles, and armored vehicles.

Trucks were responsible for transporting soldiers, towing artillery, and transporting supplies. Motorcycle units were responsible for rapid movement and pursuit. Armored vehicles were responsible for attacking fortified positions and providing fire support.

Their armored vehicles weren’t that different from trucks, except that they had machine guns and slightly better protection.

Without Wu Changqing’s reminder, they wouldn’t have thought of building tanks.

Because these armored vehicles were already the nightmare of other forces’ armies, there was no need for tanks at all.

If something wasn’t needed, naturally few people would think about it.

Even if someone did think about it, their research plan wouldn’t be approved.

The Research and Development Department’s money didn’t grow on trees.

Armored vehicles were already sufficient to handle various tasks on the current battlefield.

With armored vehicles rushing forward to cover the charge and provide fire support, other forces’ armies no longer had an advantage in defense.

Using armored vehicles to deal with nomadic people was even more of a waste.

Most of the tribes in the Oirat alliance were still using swords and arrows, with only a few guns.

Because for them, guns weren’t as useful as swords.

It was impossible to fire a gun while riding a horse, and dismounting to fight meant giving up their greatest advantage.

What’s more, they didn’t even have the money to buy food, let alone guns.

Continuing to use swords and arrows, they were about to face Great Hua’s iron torrent.

This was probably the first battle between cavalry and armored vehicles in this timeline, destined to go down in history.

This battle would tell the world that cavalry was outdated and that this was the age of steel.

The armored division was being formed, and countless people coveted the position of division commander.

Everyone with foresight could see the power of this unit. Its mobility and firepower were unmatched by other main force divisions.

Those who had ideas about this position began their respective activities.

On the one hand, they needed to visit several big shots in the military.

On the other hand, they also needed to write memorials to Wu Changqing, explaining their views on the armored division, its use, and so on.

They all knew that the emperor would definitely personally inquire about the position of commander of this powerful armored division.

Wu Changqing was also quite hesitant when faced with these competitions.

Finally, after looking at the resumes of the competitors and listening to the opinions of Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and others, he decided to let Zhang Shuhuan be the division commander.

Zhang Shuhuan’s talent could only be described as average. The reason he was able to win was actually due to his seniority.

He was an old soldier of Wu Changqing’s during the uprising in Jiading. Of the three hundred people who started the uprising, only a little over one hundred remained. Among them, only twenty or so were able to stand out.

The remaining nearly one hundred people were too mediocre and had now been retired. Wu Changqing rewarded them with a leisurely position to enjoy their lives.

The twenty or so people who had been tempered were now doing well.

Among them, Zhang Shuhuan was the most outstanding.

He climbed up from a private to become a battalion commander by the time Nanjing was captured.

When attacking Jiangxi, he was promoted to regimental commander.

After that, he was transferred back to Nanjing for more than a year of study. After graduating, he began to serve as a division commander and had been doing so for several years.

His ability was limited, and he hadn’t had many opportunities to go to the front lines, so he hadn’t been able to advance further.

Of course, he was already very satisfied to be a division commander.

If he hadn’t followed Wu Changqing and had a lot of training and learning opportunities, he might have been an unknown person for the rest of his life.

And now, he was more or less a high-level figure in Great Hua.

Zhang Shuhuan was a veteran and his loyalty was very high, which was what Wu Changqing cared about most.

Such a powerful unit naturally had to be handed over to the most trustworthy person.

As for his ability, that wasn’t a problem.

For example, if the armored division was a submachine gun, then whether it was used by a special forces soldier or an ordinary soldier, it could still make a bandit with a machete scream.

Ability was no longer the most important issue.

What’s more, even if his ability was not good, the staff in the advisory group would give him advice.

As long as Zhang Shuhuan wasn’t so confused that he couldn’t listen to any advice, there wouldn’t be any major problems.

Chapter 869: The Current State of Ceuta

In military affairs, Great Hua is advancing with great strides, invincible wherever it goes.

In economic affairs, Great Hua is also conquering territory, even more dominantly than in military affairs.

As of June sixth, Yongxing year six, Great Hua has established branches of the Great Hua Central Bank in over a dozen overseas cities, including Edo, Khokha, Hai Shan, and Ceuta.

The main business is currency exchange, converting miscellaneous gold and silver currencies into Great Hua’s unified silver coins and banknotes.

These banks have a significant impact on other countries, but this impact is less conspicuous, not as visually apparent as occupying a territory.

Therefore, the ordinary people of Great Hua do not have a deep understanding of this.

However, Great Hua citizens and people from other countries overseas have already noticed this change.

But they are powerless to do anything about it.

Ceuta.

This is one of Great Hua’s earliest overseas bases, and it has been developing for four years now.

Its scale has transformed from a small port into a metropolis.

Its population has grown from over two thousand to over sixty thousand.

Among them, about ten thousand are Great Hua citizens, and the rest are ‘gold rushers’ from all over the world, coming to Ceuta to seek fortune or make a living.

Europeans, Middle Easterners, North Africans, Indians, and Black people, they have it all.

People from different places have different status here.

The highest status is naturally held by the Great Hua citizens, who are the privileged class here.

These Great Hua citizens are mainly divided into four types.

One type is the soldiers, who hold absolute military power and have the highest status.

Another type is the merchants, who are filthy rich, have complex social connections, and have strong backgrounds and backers. Their status is no less than that of the Huaxia army soldiers.

Then there are the family members of soldiers and merchants, whose status is also not low.

The last type is the ordinary Great Hua workers, sailors, and servants who come here to make a living. Compared to the other three types, their status is much lower, but when facing people from other countries, they can still be arrogant and are the objects of flattery from other countries.

Slightly lower in status are the Europeans.

The Europeans are mainly composed of merchants and ordinary people. The merchants come here to do business with Great Hua, and they are all wealthy, with high status.

Ordinary people, on the other hand, do various basic service jobs in Ceuta.

Restaurant waiters, hotel attendants, carriage drivers.

Women, on the other hand, work as prostitutes or maids for the rich.

One level lower in status are North Africans and Middle Easterners.

Basically, it is directly proportional to the strength of the country.

The stronger the country behind them, the higher their status in Ceuta, and vice versa.

Even among Europeans, the status of Danes is far inferior to that of the British.

The lowest status is naturally held by Indians and Black people, because their home countries are the weakest.

In Ceuta, they are almost like slaves.

They do the dirtiest and hardest work, get beaten the most, and receive the lowest wages.

As for grievances, who cares?

If Western Europeans suffer losses, they can complain to their own country for help, and the Western European countries will send envoys to negotiate with Liao Xun, the governor of Ceuta, to express their protests.

But who can Indians and Black people turn to for help?

India’s homeland is already on the verge of falling, and it cannot even protect the rights and interests of its own people, let alone those overseas.

If they want to live in Ceuta, they have to be obedient. Otherwise, even if they are beaten to death, the perpetrator does not need to bear any responsibility.

As for Black people, they don’t even have a country, and they don’t even know what their country is.

Ceuta has also been divided into several areas.

Military garrison, commercial district, entertainment district, shopping street, residential area, and slum.

The largest is the commercial district, where massive amounts of goods are piled up all year round.

The most lively is the entertainment district, which has courtesans from all over the world, as well as countless casinos.

Other countries and regions have very few commodities that they can offer in trade with Great Hua.

With few exports, they naturally have no money to buy Great Hua’s goods.

Therefore, these countries can only organize their women to sell themselves to earn some foreign exchange.

These women are quite miserable. On the one hand, they have to earn foreign exchange for their country, and on the other hand, their work is not recognized by their own people, who feel that they have lost the country’s face.

Brothels and casinos are the most popular places for sailors.

Sailors’ income is higher than that of ordinary workers, and there is no way to spend money at sea.

When they arrive at various ports for rest, they need to relieve their loneliness and pursue the dream of ‘getting rich overnight’.

Many people work hard at sea for several months, and then squander it all in a few days in port.

Either they contribute to the brothels, or they contribute to the casinos.

This makes the brothel and casino business extremely hot. The tax revenue from these two aspects in Ceuta is even equivalent to one-fifth of the tariff revenue, which is quite terrifying.

And Ceuta’s tax revenue is also quite considerable, reaching twelve million last year, accounting for about three percent of Great Hua’s tax revenue.

The most luxurious place in Ceuta is the shopping street.

This place is not big, but it gathers the most high-end goods of Great Hua. Almost all of Great Hua’s luxury goods can be found on the shopping street.

This place is also known as a shopping paradise, and it is the favorite place for noble women from European countries to come.

European noblewomen who have not been to the shopping street in Ceuta are embarrassed to say that their families are rich.

If they don’t wear decorations from the shopping street, they are embarrassed to go to gatherings in upper-class circles.

Made in Great Hua represents high-end, and is a symbol of status.

The residential area is home to a large number of Great Hua citizens. It is not easy for people from other countries to live here and requires an application. Buying houses inside requires spending more money.

The environment inside is very good, inheriting Great Hua’s tradition of cleanliness and tidiness.

Living in this community is a pleasure.

The various living facilities here are also very complete. Many European nobles would rather live here than in those castles.

In stark contrast to this community is the slum in the Southwest corner of Ceuta, which concentrates the entire lower class of Ceuta.

The houses here are small and simple. Many houses are just two pieces of cloth or mats and straw hanging on wooden frames.

If you accidentally bump into it, you can destroy someone’s home.

Various cheap goods, expired food, and cheap red-light districts fill this place.

This place is a synonym for dirt, disorder, and poor sanitation. The public order is close to zero, and the Huaxia army police are reluctant to enter this place.

The slum has its own order, which is a set of unspoken rules established by several gangs.

Chapter 870: In Ceuta

The slums were filled with people from all countries who were down on their luck. However, these weren’t your average, run-of-the-mill poor folks; they were a group of people with a spirit of exploration and courage.

These were people with creativity.

Those honest, timid, and cowardly poor people were still holed up in their own countries.

These creative people could often create miracles.

Some cities developed thanks to a group of penniless folks with a creative spirit.

These penniless people had nothing to lose, so they were more willing to take risks and seize opportunities.

Seks, a French slum dweller, was one such person.

He was a very courageous, lower-class Frenchman who, against his family’s wishes, abandoned their few mu of land and chose to come to Ceuta to make his fortune.

Although his status was low in Ceuta, and he had suffered a lot and endured many hardships, Ceuta had plenty of opportunities. Through diligent study, he quickly mastered Chinese.

With Chinese, he didn’t have to worry about finding a good job in Ceuta; at the very least, he could work as a translator.

However, Seks chose to work as a waiter in a hotel.

He worked very hard and was good at flattery, making everyone feel comfortable around him.

Simply put, he had a sweet tongue and was always willing to help others.

That’s the nice way of saying it; the unpleasant way is that he liked to brown-nose the people of Great Hua.

Europeans would find this kind of person disgusting, but it was difficult for the people of Great Hua to dislike him.

Being brown-nosed could give people a strong sense of superiority.

So, even if the people of Great Hua knew that this guy’s flattery was for a purpose, they didn’t care.

Through brown-nosing, he got some opportunities and seized them, doing some impressive work. Now, he had become a foreman in the hotel, managing more than a dozen people.

For Great Hua, such a position was insignificant.

But for someone from the French lower class, being able to get to this level was actually very difficult and had become the pride of their village.

His monthly salary was more than his parents earned in a year of farming.

Early in the morning, Seks put on a neat suit and left the slums to buy a newspaper.

He couldn’t actually read the Chinese characters on it, but that didn’t matter. There was a Great Hua waiter who was on good terms with him and could read it to him.

After hearing the news, the newspaper would be given to the Great Hua waiter; this was one of the reasons why they were on good terms.

Seks insisted on using this method to increase his knowledge and learn Chinese characters, among other things.

He had a big dream: to one day become a citizen of Great Hua and live in Great Hua itself.

After all, Great Hua was the legendary paradise.

Marie was also from a lower-class background, but she was very beautiful.

If she went to work in a brothel, she could easily earn a lot of money.

But she didn’t do that.

She knew that going to a brothel was not a long-term solution, and once she went to a brothel, she would never be able to get rid of that stigma.

Marie wanted to live a privileged life, but she didn’t want to sell her body to everyone.

So, she chose to sell her body to someone, choosing to brown-nose a military officer stationed in Ceuta.

This officer was called Xu Da, an army battalion commander. He already had a family and had brought his wife to Ceuta.

But Marie didn’t care. She still took the initiative to come to Xu Da’s house as a nanny.

Then, while Xu Da’s wife was pregnant, she offered herself to Xu Da.

After the affair was exposed, she was often bullied by Xu Da’s wife.

But she didn’t care. As long as she could go back to Great Hua with Xu Da in the future, these grievances would be worth it.

Compared to these foreigners who paid a huge price to go to Great Hua, many people of Great Hua liked living here and didn’t want to go back to Great Hua.

Back in Great Hua, they were just ordinary members of hundreds of millions of people, and no one would take them seriously.

But in Ceuta, even if they were just ordinary servants, they could enjoy privileges in front of foreigners.

When those foreigners saw them, they had to call them “Master Hua.”

This was just a relatively illusory vanity, and there were also many practical benefits.

As long as they were bold enough, they could taste the fruit for free when passing by someone else’s fruit stand.

If the stall owner dared to ask for money, they could throw the fruit in their hand and yell a few words like, “I’ve never paid for watermelon in Nanjing!” which would often scare the other party.

When they saw a beautiful foreign girl, it wasn’t a big deal to touch her and take advantage of her.

In theory, they could go to the police station to complain, but there were so many things happening in small Ceuta. The police didn’t even have time to solve murder cases, so where would they find the time to deal with a foreign girl being molested?

These were just the uneducated people who didn’t know how to use their identity as people of Great Hua.

The really smart people could use their identity as people of Great Hua to swindle and deceive beautiful foreign girls into bed.

After all, as long as they were shameless enough to say that they had several apartments in Nanjing, those foreign girls couldn’t verify it.

For a chance to live in Great Hua, there were still many beautiful girls willing to take a gamble.

Among these swindlers, some were even extremely successful, directly mixing into the circles of wealthy Western European women. The combination of wealth and beauty wasn’t just a fantasy.

As long as they were good with words, it was still easy to get by here.

Some people sought beauty, while others sought wealth.

Relying on their identity as people of Great Hua, some people didn’t even need capital. They could earn a lot of money just by acting as intermediaries.

The more high-end ones pretended to be bosses, claiming to have many factories in Great Hua and wanting to find partners.

If they operated well, they could even swindle a large sum of money.

Similar scams were very common in Ceuta.

This wasn’t actually because foreigners were stupid and easily deceived.

The main reason was that Great Hua was strong enough. Those who were deceived had no choice but to curse a few times.

If they complained to the officials of Great Hua in Ceuta, they were often perfunctorily dealt with.

But if they deceived people of Great Hua, then the officials of Great Hua would be particularly active in solving the case, catching them every time.

At that time, the more they cheated, the more they would have to pay back.

After a few scammers tried it, they were all in tears.

In such an unequal game, foreign scammers were naturally no match for the scammers of Great Hua.

These foreign scammers, and the foreigners who were scammed, also had endless resentment towards their own countries.

This resentment might even be transformed into a yearning for Great Hua.

Who wouldn’t want their motherland to be strong and then tolerate them doing bad things and taking advantage of others?

These people were even more eager to obtain Great Hua citizenship and become people of Great Hua.

Of course, some people therefore embarked on the road of national salvation, trying to help their own country rise.

Chapter 871: Currency Invasion

On June 7th, in the city of Gibraltar, opposite Ceuta, a seemingly ordinary little thing happened, but it was a historically significant event.

A Spanish merchant purchased a watch using Great Hua’s paper money.

This was a historic moment, the first time Great Hua’s paper money circulated on European soil.

Spaniards today, of course, wouldn’t think this was a big deal.

It was just a normal transaction, only the currency used was a bit rare.

However, if future Spanish economists saw this scene, they would definitely shed tears.

It meant that Great Hua’s monetary credit had been recognized by the Spaniards and had become an internationally circulating currency.

Once this precedent was set, things would become dangerous later on.

Once Great Hua’s paper money replaced Spain’s legal tender, then Spain’s economy would be completely controlled by Great Hua.

Anytime Great Hua shipped a boatload of paper money over, it could cause Spain’s prices to collapse, its economy to collapse, and then its commodity market to fall into chaos.

This kind of economic blow was no less harmful than war.

Even in some ways, it was even more harmful.

Previously, Great Hua’s silver and copper coins had already been circulating in Europe, but that impact was not as great as the circulation of paper money.

After all, silver and copper coins were made of real precious metals, and Great Hua couldn’t just make as much as it wanted, nor would they easily depreciate.

But paper money was different. Great Hua was not short of paper, and the numbers on the paper could be printed at will.

If the people of Spain recognized Great Hua’s paper money, then Great Hua could completely play rogue and print a bunch of ten thousand yuan bills to bring over.

Before, Great Hua’s paper money only circulated within Great Hua’s territory. People in other places didn’t recognize this stuff and only recognized real gold and silver.

However, as paper money had been circulating and used in Ceuta for several years, Europeans had personally seen that this thing could really be equivalent to silver coins, and goods could be bought with paper money in Ceuta at any time.

Over time, the vigilance of some merchants also declined.

This time, by chance, a merchant ran out of silver coins and could only pay with paper money.

It just so happened that the shop owner often went to Ceuta to purchase goods and knew that this paper money could buy things in Ceuta, so he didn’t care.

Thus, Great Hua’s paper money officially circulated in Spain.

This meant that Great Hua’s paper money already had a credit base in Spain.

At the same time, in a vegetable market in Gibraltar, a man wanted a fish, then took out his wallet, ready to pay.

“Sir, can you pay me with Great Hua silver coins?”

The stall owner saw that the customer had Great Hua silver coins in his wallet, so he refused to accept Spanish silver coins.

In comparison, the silver coins cast by Spain were too ugly, the portraits were not clear, and there were few patterns.

Of course, the most important thing was that one Spanish silver coin was not as valuable as one Great Hua silver coin.

When going to Ceuta to buy things, the people of Great Hua did not accept Spanish silver coins. They had to go to the central bank to exchange them for Great Hua silver coins before they could buy things.

And in the central bank, the value of two silver coins with the same silver content was different. Ten Spanish silver coins could only be exchanged for eight Great Hua silver coins.

The stall owner’s daughter, Marina, wanted to go to Ceuta to play for a day and needed Great Hua silver coins.

Therefore, he made this request.

“You are quite smart, knowing that Great Hua’s silver coins are more valuable.”

The fish buyer laughed.

For those who did not go to Ceuta, Spanish silver coins and Great Hua silver coins were of equal value.

But for those who often went to Ceuta, Great Hua silver coins were more valuable.

Therefore, the customer did not agree to the stall owner’s request.

However, not everyone was as shrewd as him.

Great Hua silver coins had become one of the main currencies in Spain, and many people who did not understand the mystery also had Great Hua silver coins in their hands, and these people would let the stall owner succeed.

Marina therefore had some Great Hua silver coins in her hand, and when she went shopping with her friends, she ‘accidentally’ let her friends see the Great Hua silver coins in her hand.

“Wow, this is Great Hua’s money, so beautiful.”

Her companion exclaimed.

“It’s so exquisite. I heard that the portrait on it is the appearance of the Great Hua Emperor. He looks so handsome.”

Everyone was seeing Great Hua’s currency for the first time, and they were all very curious.

And this made Marina feel very proud.

“I’m going to Ceuta to play in a few days. This is what my father specially gave me for use in Ceuta. In Ceuta, people only accept this kind of money.”

Marina said.

“Oh my god, how can you bear to spend such beautiful silver coins? If it were me, I would definitely use them for collection.”

Her companion said.

Another companion simply proposed to exchange a Great Hua silver coin with Marina, which was naturally met with a ruthless rejection.

In a manor, a nobleman was holding a banquet.

Those who came to the banquet were all rich and noble people. After they got off the carriage, servants immediately came to help them settle the carriage.

And at this time, these people would generally give some tips.

A young man rewarded a Great Hua silver coin with a face value of one jiao, immediately attracting the attention of other guests around him.

“Who is this person, so generous.”

“He uses Great Hua silver coins to reward servants. His family must be very rich.”

“This person is so handsome. I wonder if there is a chance to get to know him.”

The people around whispered.

Great Hua’s silver coins were so magical in Europe.

Compared with Great Hua’s currency, the currencies of other countries suddenly fell behind.

Ceuta, Central Bank.

A carriage entered the backyard. The carriage was filled with silver and gold ingots. The owner, Barros, came to exchange them for Great Hua silver coins.

There was no way. To do business in Ceuta, you had to use Great Hua’s standard currency.

Other currencies were not recognized in the market.

These people recognized Great Hua silver coins mainly because this currency was standard and the face value was fixed.

Unlike the silver and gold coins of other countries, which looked the same on the surface, the gold and silver content would actually have deviations.

Using the currencies of other countries to trade required weighing with a balance, which was very troublesome.

Using Great Hua’s standard currency did not require this. Great Hua’s silver coins were very standard and preserved their value.

Slowly, not only Great Hua merchants only accepted Great Hua silver coins, but even merchants from other countries only accepted Great Hua silver coins.

Other merchants were helpless and could only transport the gold and silver in their hands to the central bank for exchange, and then trade.

And this exchange process would be another way for Great Hua to pluck a few hairs and charge some melting fees.

Relying on collecting this melting fee, the central bank could make a fortune.

Merchants from other countries knew this well, but they were helpless.

The machinery in their countries could not cast such exquisite silver coins, and there was no way to imitate them.

Chapter 872: Cultural Invasion

Economically, Great Hua is quietly gaining control over Europe.

Culturally, Great Hua is also infiltrating and invading Europe, the Middle East, and other regions.

This is driven both by the Great Hua government and by natural development from the people.

Great Hua’s cultural invasion has a very powerful advantage: Great Hua is strong.

When a country is strong, other countries will study it in all aspects, researching the path to its strength.

And in this situation, many different viewpoints will emerge.

Some will think that Great Hua’s political system and the imperial examination system are key. Only by imitating Great Hua’s system and carrying out reforms can they develop.

Others will think that Great Hua’s geographical location has created all of this.

Still others will think that Great Hua’s technology is the foundation.

Of course, there will also be people who think about it from a cultural perspective.

Now, there is a school of scholars in Europe who are touting that Great Hua’s culture is the fundamental reason for Great Hua’s strength.

First of all, the people of Great Hua believe that humans can conquer nature and do not believe in so-called gods. This gives them a stronger creativity and scientific spirit.

Secondly, the people of Great Hua believe in “Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers a special breed?”, which gives the lower classes of Great Hua more fighting spirit and unwillingness to submit to fate.

Instead of being like the commoners in Europe, who actually believe that they are born commoners, and some people are born nobles.

If they even recognize themselves as commoners or slaves, how can they possibly strive?

It doesn’t matter if you don’t analyze it, but once you analyze it, it really seems to make sense.

There are people who don’t believe it, but there are also many people who do.

When these people believe in this theory, they will naturally begin to frantically worship, learn, and spread Great Hua culture.

Great Hua’s etiquette, morality, scientific spirit, and various ideas are all directions for them to learn.

A large number of Great Hua’s works have been translated into various languages: scientific masterpieces, literary masterpieces, even novels and poems.

With the introduction of these books, a trend of learning Great Hua culture has emerged in Western Europe.

These are the people who are trying to learn the way to Great Hua’s strength. There are also some people who learn Great Hua culture simply out of worship.

Great Hua is strong, so in their eyes, everything about Great Hua is good, and the culture is naturally the same.

Therefore, in daily communication, they occasionally pop out a few Chinese characters, such as “howare你” (how are you), which makes them seem particularly cultured and fashionable.

Although, in the eyes of others, perhaps this behavior is very stupid, they don’t think so.

On the Spanish King’s desk, there are basic translated Great Hua books.

They are Thirty-Six Stratagems, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, The Prince, and Natural Science.

The Spanish King is learning the art of war, the art of controlling his subordinates, and scientific knowledge from them.

After reading these books, he has many feelings and has learned many useful things.

Of course, learning is learning. If you think that you can revitalize Spain by learning a little knowledge from the books, then you are too naive.

On the bed of the Spanish Princess Marie Louise, there are also basic Great Hua books.

Romance of the Western Chamber, The Amorous Scholar and the Clever Beauty, and War Nurse are all books with love as the theme.

These books are also quite interesting, reflecting the differences between Chinese and Western cultures.

Western love stories are mainly about princes and Cinderella, where the man is awesome and the woman is ordinary.

Eastern love stories are often about wealthy young ladies and poor scholars, where the woman has a noble status and the man is ordinary.

They all rely on the huge gap in status to create conflicts, but the status of men and women is reversed.

In comparison, Marie prefers to read Eastern love stories.

Because she is a princess herself, it is difficult to put herself in the role of Cinderella.

And the status of the heroine in Great Hua’s love stories is similar to hers.

Moreover, the story of helping a down-and-out man grow, succeed, and then live happily together can also give a woman a sense of accomplishment.

As long as she is a woman, she will have a bit of maternal instinct.

In the study of the great merchant Robas, there are several Great Hua economics books.

Das Kapital, Currency Wars, and Economic Laws.

When the economy is developed, the culture will inevitably develop rapidly, because those scholars don’t have to consider the problem of livelihood at all. There are people who will sponsor them, and they only need to concentrate on creation.

In this case, various Great Hua works have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

The low printing cost and the low price of paper make these books printed in large quantities.

Decades later, when scholars come to study the history of Great Hua in these years, they will have to give this period a name, such as the Hundred Schools of Thought Contend or the Cultural Explosion.

The content of these Great Hua economics books is relatively rough.

Many theories may not be correct. After all, the level of those economists in Great Hua is not very good.

But it doesn’t matter, anyway, the level of these European merchants is even worse.

When they see this kind of systematic theoretical book for the first time, they all feel like they have found a treasure. Even some wrong theories, they think are very reasonable.

Occasionally, there are a few real geniuses who question the theories in the book, and they will be ridiculed and criticized by others.

After all, Great Hua’s economic prosperity is achieved by these knowledge.

This knowledge is authority. Challenging authority, no matter when, will have to bear huge pressure.

In addition to these books, Great Hua has influenced Europe in many other cultural aspects.

For example, in sports, football is very popular among Europeans.

This kind of competitive sport has also begun to develop slowly in Europe.

The reason why it is slow is mainly because there are too few rich people in Europe.

If they can’t get enough to eat, there will naturally be fewer people playing and watching football.

Their economic conditions make them unable to develop football. Currently, the highest level of football will only be in Great Hua. If the World Cup is held, today’s Great Hua is definitely the champion.

Football, basketball, Chinese chess, Go, calligraphy, ink painting, poetry, opera, magic, comics, novels, dance…

After these things were introduced to Europe, they have been developed and sought after.

After all, this is from the strongest country, it must be a good thing, no need to doubt.

Great Hua relies on the developed newspaper industry to have a strong control over public opinion and master the discourse power of public opinion.

These cultural influences, on the surface, do not seem to help Great Hua’s global unification much.

But in fact, the help is quite significant.

As long as the people in these places recognize Great Hua’s culture, it will be easier to govern after these places are occupied in the future.

Different cultural concepts will also cause great conflicts.

And now Great Hua’s cultural penetration into Europe is eliminating these conflicts.

Chapter 873: The Armored Division’s First Battle

On July 1st, the armored division was transported by train to Xi’an.

This was currently the westernmost point of the Great Hua railway. The section from Xi’an to Lanzhou had also been put on the agenda, waiting for the Great Western Army to capture more prisoners in the front lines before construction could begin.

The Great Western Army initially chose to bury alive the prisoners they captured, because as a band of roving rebels, they had no need for population.

When Great Hua merchants saw this, they felt it was a terrible waste. It wasn’t easy for a person to grow to be a teenager or young adult; they were all valuable labor.

Therefore, the Great Hua merchants took the initiative to offer money to buy them, which the Great Western Army was naturally extremely happy to do.

Digging pits wasted time; now they could sell them for money.

Although it wasn’t much, it was better than nothing.

The armored division was unloaded in Xi’an, and then, together with another cavalry division, headed towards Dingchuan County, a small border town of Great Hua, preparing to depart from there and strike directly at the To’erhute tribe of Yinchuan.

As the army drove into Dingchuan County, the local people dropped what they were doing and ran to the roadside to watch the excitement.

The army formed a long snake formation. At the front were the three-seater motorcycle units, with a driver, an infantryman, and a machine gunner.

A machine gun mount was added to the side of the motorcycle, and the machine gunner sat inside.

There were also a small number of two-wheeled motorcycles without machine gun mounts, which were scouts responsible for reconnaissance.

After the motorcycle unit came the armored vehicles, with heavy machine guns on top, looking mighty and imposing.

The cannons towed by trucks behind them were even more daunting.

Dingchuan County, this marginal town, had never even seen a steam engine.

Suddenly, such a group of self-propelled ironclad things arrived, and many people were frightened and trembling.

Fortunately, they knew they were citizens of Great Hua and that these were the soldiers of the Huaxia army.

If these were the enemy’s things, they would have gone home to change their pants.

“What are these things? Why can they walk by themselves?”

One person muttered. He didn’t ask the people around him, because the people around him certainly didn’t know either.

“Is there some kind of divine power pushing them from behind?”

“How is that possible? Why would gods help push so many vehicles?”

…

Everyone guessed wildly, but none of the explanations were reliable.

In contrast, the children were not so surprised. Their worldviews had not yet been formed, and they had a strong ability to accept new things.

In their view, these things could move on their own, so what? Birds could fly into the sky, so what was so strange about that?

Compared to curiosity, they were more interested in getting into those vehicles and experiencing them up close.

The arrival of the Huaxia army broke the tranquility of this small town, giving the people one more topic to chat about after tea and dinner.

The Huaxia army stayed in this town for less than a day, and the next day, they set off again, heading straight for Yinchuan.

The To’erhute tribe was in a semi-nomadic, semi-settled state.

In some barren areas, people moved with the water and grass.

In the Yinchuan area, a large population had gathered to settle down.

After entering the territory of the To’erhute tribe, the Huaxia army quickly encountered the To’erhute tribe’s cavalry.

The Huaxia army had made such a big commotion, it was impossible for them not to receive any news.

However, although they knew the Huaxia army was coming, there was a major disagreement on whether to fight, negotiate, or flee.

As a result, before they could make a decision, the Huaxia army had already arrived in their territory.

Now there was no need to discuss it anymore; they could only fight.

If they fled, they couldn’t take the old, weak, women, and children with them.

If they sued for peace, the conditions offered by Great Hua would certainly be extremely harsh.

Therefore, fighting became the only option.

The To’erhute tribe gathered nearly twenty thousand cavalry to face the Huaxia army’s armored division.

“What should we do? Should we charge straight ahead?”

Sotuo asked his father.

He had no experience in how to fight mechanized troops.

Of course, his father, old Sotuo, had no experience in this area either.

Helpless, old Sotuo could only order them to charge first.

After all, from the surface, the soldiers in the Huaxia army’s motorcycle unit were still exposed, and could be chopped with sabers.

As for how to deal with armored vehicles, old Sotuo had no idea for the time being.

Seeing the enemy charging towards them, Nie Ping, the commander of the motorcycle regiment, immediately ordered them to stop advancing, form a line, and wait for the enemy to come.

Because of his outstanding performance in the battles in Annam, Nie Ping was once again given an important position and transferred to the crucial armored division.

Although it was his first time coming into contact with mechanized troops, Nie Ping was able to make appropriate commands.

He knew that the mechanized division’s training was not yet sufficient, and it was difficult for the machine gunners to aim accurately while the motorcycles were moving.

Therefore, he chose to have the troops stop, so that the shooting would be much more stable.

At the same time, he requested artillery support from the rear.

After all, with the strength of just one regiment, it was somewhat risky to face the charge of tens of thousands of enemy troops.

The Huaxia army officers had developed a habit of pursuing low casualty rates, and he was no exception.

Victory was just the most basic requirement.

Only winning with a smaller price was considered a good fight.

The formation was set up, the machine gunners were ready, the infantry behind the vehicles also raised their rifles, and even the drivers took out their pistols, ready to contribute some firepower.

In the rear, after receiving the request for artillery support, the trucks responsible for towing the artillery also stopped, and the artillerymen began to hurriedly adjust the cannons.

Other infantrymen got out of the vehicles and built some simple fortifications around them to prevent enemy cavalry from attacking the artillery units.

At this time, the Mongolian cavalry at the front line had already charged into the Huaxia army’s range.

“Fire.”

With an order, the Huaxia army’s machine gunners pulled the triggers.

Da da da…

Instantly, countless horses and cavalrymen were hit.

Horses fell, riders were thrown to the ground, and the scene was chaotic.

The cavalrymen who were still charging had a ‘buzz’ in their heads and fell into panic.

This rate of death and injury was too terrible. At this rate, they might not even be able to reach the Huaxia army.

If they couldn’t reach the Huaxia army, how could they threaten the Huaxia army?

Some soldiers were thinking, but this kind of thinking couldn’t change the status quo; they were all being swept forward.

Once the cavalry charged, there was no turning back.

The only way to avoid battle was to run to both sides, avoiding the enemy.

And this was what they were doing now.

The soldiers charging in the front didn’t have any thoughts of dying for their country. They were directly frightened by the tragic casualties, and they turned their horses without hesitation and fled to both sides.

However, they still could not escape the fate of being slaughtered.

Although the Huaxia army’s machine guns were not as flexible as rifles, the covered shooting area was also very large.

When the enemies were fleeing to both sides, some of the machine guns could still shoot them.

Moreover, the Mongolian cavalry behind them were still charging forward, becoming new targets for the shooting.

Chapter 874: The Times Have Changed

“Sir, the times have changed,” Nie Ping’s adjutant said with a smile.

In the past, a charge of ten thousand cavalrymen would have been a terrifying sight.

Unless they were elite heavy infantry, most soldiers would have been scared into turning tail and running, only to be routed by the cavalry.

Or, they would have been kited by the horse archers, whittled down bit by bit.

In short, infantry always suffered a great loss when facing cavalry.

But now, facing such a charge, their lines hadn’t budged an inch.

The enemy couldn’t even reach them.

The Huaxia army soldiers seemed very relaxed, without the slightest hint of panic.

After paying a heavy price, the Mongolian cavalry finally escaped the range of the Huaxia army’s machine guns and began to turn back.

At this time, the Huaxia army’s artillery had also adjusted their cannons and began shelling.

Their preparation speed was actually very poor, too slow to provide effective fire support. If the Huaxia army’s motorcycle unit hadn’t held on, they might have suffered significant losses.

They simply hadn’t trained enough, which couldn’t be helped.

However, it wasn’t a big problem.

The side with an absolute advantage often has a greater margin for error.

Even without timely and effective fire support, things didn’t go wrong.

Now, they could still bombard the fleeing enemies, continuing to eliminate their manpower.

After firing a few shots, the shells began to land among the enemy cavalry.

The flying shrapnel once again caused heavy casualties to the cavalry.

Some horses, unaccustomed to the sound of explosions, even lost control, and the whole scene was a chaotic mess.

Countless people died inexplicably in the chaos.

Even worse, the Huaxia army’s artillery had a very long range, and the Mongolians needed to ride for a while longer to escape the Huaxia army’s shelling range.

During this time, they could only passively take the hits, with no way to fight back or dodge.

As the Huaxia army said, the times had changed.

In the face of high-performance field guns, cavalry was obsolete.

And that wasn’t all. When the Mongolians began to flee, the Huaxia army’s motorcycle unit restarted and pursued the enemy.

When the Mongolian cavalry finally escaped the artillery range, they were surprised to find that the Huaxia army had already caught up.

This was really fatal. Their horses had not stopped since the initial charge and were already very tired.

But they didn’t dare to stop, after all, the Huaxia army’s machine guns had terrified them.

The Mongolian soldiers continued to flee, not even caring about their wives, children, and elderly parents back home.

Old Sotuo had no choice.

Compared to the old, weak, women, and children, these soldiers in their prime were the most important.

As long as they could save these soldiers, they would still have some power to fight back.

Once this force was gone, those old, weak, women, and children still couldn’t be protected.

Old Sotuo was ruthless enough, and could be considered a qualified leader.

One side fled, the other pursued.

The Huaxia army’s motorcycles weren’t fast at the moment, and couldn’t even catch up with the horses.

But they had a huge advantage: they didn’t get tired and could keep chasing.

The Mongolian horses, on the other hand, couldn’t. After continuing to flee for a while, some horses began to foam at the mouth, and some even fell directly to the ground.

The remaining horses that were still persevering were also reaching their limit.

“Great Khan, we can’t escape. These iron beasts of Great Hua don’t get tired. If we continue to flee, we’ll only exhaust ourselves to death,” his subordinate advised.

Old Sotuo naturally saw this as well, but he had no way to deal with it.

Turn around and fight back?

He glanced at his surrounding subordinates and soldiers, and all he saw was frustration, fear, and confusion.

How could such a demoralized force fight again?

Moreover, even if they had the will to fight, blindly charging would only be courting death before they found a way to get close to the enemy.

They couldn’t win, and they couldn’t escape.

After thinking it over, old Sotuo sadly realized that he only had one choice left: surrender.

“Order them to stop, let’s surrender,” old Sotuo sighed. Surrender would at least save their lives, but they would lose all their power and influence.

But not surrendering was basically a dead end.

Better to live shabbily than die gloriously.

What’s more, old Sotuo couldn’t bear to drag his thousands of soldiers to their deaths with him.

As old Sotuo’s order was issued, they began to slow down, then stopped and dismounted.

When cavalry dismounts while being pursued, this action is equivalent to telling the opponent that they want to surrender.

The Huaxia army, catching up from behind, didn’t open fire directly, but surrounded them.

“Drop your weapons and stand over here,” the Huaxia army cautiously directed them, wary of a sudden attack.

If these Mongolians suddenly launched an attack at this time, they might really cause some trouble for the Huaxia army.

Unfortunately, they had all been scared out of their wits and had lost the will to resist.

With old Sotuo taking the lead in dropping his weapon, the others also dropped their weapons one after another, then walked to the side, waiting for the Huaxia army to arrange their fate.

Without their horses and weapons, they became a flock of sheep, all dejected.

The Huaxia army notified the troops behind them, and after enough friendly forces arrived, they escorted the prisoners and horses back to Yinchuan.

At this time, Yinchuan had already been occupied and controlled by the Huaxia army. Without the adult men, the remaining old, weak, women, and children didn’t put up large-scale resistance.

A few people who resisted were taught a lesson, and some even lost their lives for it.

When the Huaxia army escorted the prisoners back to Yinchuan, the family members who heard the news were wailing and crying.

This meant that they had been completely defeated.

They didn’t know what their fate would be next.

Based on past experience, the consequences of being defeated would be very tragic.

The men might be killed, the old and young would be abandoned, and the women would be defiled and taken away.

In war, women are often the easiest to survive.

After each upheaval, there will be more women than men.

And once there are fewer men, the turmoil will almost end, because the remaining people don’t need to risk their lives and can enjoy the resources.

With a smaller population, the land that can be divided is relatively more, and they can survive.

In general, there is such a pattern, but it is not absolute.

These people’s worries were a bit superfluous. The Huaxia army didn’t have the tradition of killing prisoners and insulting women.

In order to avoid these people committing suicide due to random speculation, after the Huaxia army took Yinchuan, they sent those who could speak Mongolian to do propaganda, telling these people the policies of Great Hua and reassuring them.

At first, naturally no one believed their words.

But it didn’t matter much, anyway, they would naturally believe it in a few days.

Chapter 875: The Allied Forces’ Predicament

The prisoners were not transported to the Central Plains, but were left in Yinchuan. This would reassure the elderly, weak, women, and children.

If they were really transported to the Central Plains, their families might not believe it and would still worry that Great Hua would secretly kill them.

Leaving them in Yinchuan was also a show for the other tribes. It was to tell the other tribes that as long as they surrendered, their lives would be guaranteed.

However, these prisoners couldn’t be supported for nothing forever.

The Huaxia army arranged for these people to build the road from Yinchuan to the Central Plains, to facilitate transportation.

As the number of Great Hua automobiles increased, the requirements for roads would also increase.

The old official roads were no longer large enough and needed to be expanded.

News of the Huaxia army’s attack on the Torghut tribe quickly spread to the other tribes on the grasslands.

For a time, all the tribes were living in fear.

How to face Great Hua was the most important issue they needed to study.

The Barut tribe, a small tribe close to the Torghut tribe, was very straightforward. They directly sent envoys to express their willingness to surrender to Great Hua.

Moreover, it was unconditional. They would let Great Hua deal with them as they saw fit.

This was also a desperate measure for them. Great Hua was going to attack them next, and they had nowhere to escape.

Places with water and grass had been occupied by other large tribes.

If they rashly moved there, it would be a dead end.

At that time, the men in their tribe would be killed, and the women would be forcibly taken.

Rather than that, it would be better to surrender to Great Hua.

At least, Great Hua would not kill their men.

The Barut surrendered, but the other tribes had their own ideas.

Gushi Khan of the Khoshut tribe began to send people to contact the various tribes, preparing to gather a large army to prevent the Huaxia army from defeating them one by one. When the number reached a certain level, it could produce a qualitative change.

No matter how advanced the Huaxia army’s weapons were, they would still risk failure when facing enemies ten times their number.

Gushi Khan gathered a large army, not really to fight the Huaxia army head-on, but to put pressure on the Huaxia army, to let the Huaxia army know that he still had the power to resist.

While gathering a large army, he also sent envoys to the Huaxia army, wanting to discuss the matter of surrender with the Huaxia army.

If the Huaxia army could give acceptable conditions, surrender was not impossible.

For the forces on the grasslands, surrendering to the Central Plains dynasty had never been a shameful thing, and was even a tradition.

When the Central Plains dynasty was strong, they would decisively surrender and lie low.

When the Central Plains weakened and fell into chaos, they would seize the opportunity to become independent and move south. This was their way of survival.

At the same time, other tribes were making their own choices.

The Dörbet tribe chose to migrate north, wanting to avoid Great Hua.

Only those at the bottom benefited from surrendering to Great Hua.

Tribal leaders and the aristocratic class would lose their privileges and power.

Many people had the idea of “better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox.”

Therefore, their tribal leaders ordered the migration.

Although the people below were unwilling and complained, they lacked organization and had no ability to resist.

While the various tribes on the grasslands were taking action, the Huaxia army did not stop.

The surrendered Barut tribe received preferential treatment. Except for their army being required to follow the Huaxia army to fight, everything else in the tribe remained the same.

Along the way, the Huaxia army and the surrendered Mongolian soldiers swept through several small tribes.

The Huaxia army completed the beatdown without any suspense. The strength of these tribes was not even as good as the Torghut tribe, so how could they be a match for Great Hua?

The approach of the Huaxia army panicked the people of the other tribes.

In desperation, they began to band together for warmth and unite around Gushi Khan.

They formed an army of one hundred and fifty thousand cavalry, gathered together to avoid being defeated by the Huaxia army one by one.

These one hundred and fifty thousand people were almost half of the adult men on the grasslands.

Eliminating this force would severely damage every tribe on the grasslands, even a fatal blow.

However, the Huaxia army was not in a hurry to launch an attack.

After all, the opponent had one hundred and fifty thousand people.

There was almost no special terrain on the grasslands that could be used. Once a decisive battle occurred, the Huaxia army would need to defend in four directions, which would cause the troops to be dispersed.

Perhaps the Huaxia army could still win in this situation, but the losses would definitely be significant.

In comparison, the Huaxia army had a more sophisticated method.

Huaxia army camp, the general staff headquarters.

Many Huaxia army officers gathered together, and everyone looked good.

“This Gushi Khan is so panicked that he has lost his sense of proportion. These hundreds of thousands of troops gathered together consume an astonishing amount of supplies every day. I want to see how many days they can last.”

A staff officer laughed.

This was Gushi Khan’s fatal weakness. The grasslands were now short of supplies and food.

Gathering so many troops at once was absolutely beyond what the Khoshut tribe could afford.

And transporting food from other tribes to this place would also be a large expense in the middle.

More importantly, even without war, these tribes were living in hunger.

Now that they had to maintain a war, they could not hold on even more.

The Huaxia army estimated that in less than ten days, this allied army would disband, or even have infighting.

As for whether Gushi Khan would take the initiative to attack, the Huaxia army was not worried about this.

Once they found that they took the initiative to attack, the Huaxia army could also retreat to avoid the battle.

On the grasslands, if they did not have an advantage in speed, it would be very difficult to defeat the opponent, because neither side had any place that must be defended.

They could fight if they wanted to fight, and retreat if they wanted to retreat.

“We can’t blame him for this. Putting ourselves in his shoes, what better way could we think of if we were in his position?”

This sentence made everyone’s sense of superiority drop a lot. Everyone was reminded that they could be so relaxed now, not because they were so excellent, but because they were stronger.

“This is the general trend. It is the general trend that Great Hua unifies the world, and anyone who tries to go against the trend, anyone who tries to oppose the Holy Emperor, will fail.”

Zhang Shuhuan said.

The elders spoke like this, and they were politically correct as soon as they opened their mouths.

Everyone heard the words and echoed them one after another. The tent was filled with joy.

At the same time, in the Oirat alliance, the atmosphere was quite depressing.

Their situation was even worse than the Huaxia army predicted.

Only two days after the army gathered, many problems appeared in the alliance.

Gushi Khan also realized this problem and had already summoned the tribal leaders to discuss the bottom line for surrender.

As for starting a war, he had not thought about it, and the other leaders were unwilling to start a war.

Not to mention whether this battle could be won, even if the most optimistic situation occurred and this battle was won, how would they face the wrath of Great Hua next?

Great Hua had only sent two divisions now, and they had to go all out.

And Great Hua had dozens of divisions of this size.

Chapter 876: Conditions

The next day, Gushihan’s envoy arrived at the Huaxia army camp and was received by Zhang Shuhuan and others.

“Serve the envoy some good food. It’s not easy to get a good meal in the allied forces.”

Zhang Shuhuan said with a smile.

The meaning of these words was, “We know about your allied forces’ food shortage.”

A large amount of delicious food began to be served: beef, pork, fish, vegetable, and fruit cans—all kinds of cans, a dazzling array that made Aguduo’s eyes light up.

He tried his best to control himself, warning himself not to expose the allied forces’ lack of food.

Otherwise, the subsequent negotiations would definitely become passive.

“Commander Zhang is joking. Our army also has roasted whole lamb for every meal. We’re almost tired of fresh meat,” Aguduo said.

That’s what he said, but facing those delicacies, his human instincts betrayed him, and he swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Beef, pork, and fish were all luxuries on the grasslands. Most people had never tasted them in their lives.

They ate mutton and horse meat, lacking seasonings, and the taste of these meats was far from comparable to the Great Hua’s canned goods.

Moreover, now even mutton was only available to a very few people in their allied forces.

“Oh, it seems that the envoy doesn’t like our food, then we’ll just have to enjoy it ourselves.”

Nie Ping said, reaching out to take away the food in front of Aguduo. Seeing this, Aguduo quickly stopped him, saying, “How could that be? The Central Plains’ cuisine is unique, and I have long admired it.”

Seeing this, some people laughed directly, while others were more subtle and chuckled in their hearts.

After teasing Aguduo for a few words, everyone then talked about serious matters.

Aguduo stated his intention, of course, his words were very euphemistic, but everyone understood the meaning.

Aguduo first emphasized the ‘powerful’ strength of the allied forces, and then said that Gushihan, for the sake of his people, intended to surrender.

The key was, how was Great Hua prepared to settle Gushihan and other tribal leaders?

“If Great Hua cannot properly settle the leaders, we will not hesitate to fight to the death,” Aguduo said.

This kind of harsh talk was only effective in scaring ordinary people.

At the negotiating table, such words only exposed their guilty conscience.

Zhang Shuhuan and others didn’t take Aguduo’s harsh words to heart. Zhang Shuhuan said, “Our policies have always been very clear, and we will not make exceptions because of who the opponent is.

For the Mongolian tribes, our dynasty’s requirement is complete Sinicization. Whether it is military, political, economic, or cultural, all must accept the court’s jurisdiction.

As for the tribal leaders, they can go to the capital to live. There is a life of luxury there that can make people enjoy themselves endlessly, so why stay in the bitter cold of the grasslands?”

Of course, Zhang Shuhuan didn’t say that in Nanjing, enjoying that kind of life required a lot of money.

After these leaders went to Nanjing without special privileges, how to make money and how to maintain a luxurious life would depend on their own abilities. Great Hua wouldn’t care.

As long as these leaders went to the capital, the rule of the grasslands would fall entirely into the hands of Great Hua.

“No, no, no, these leaders are used to the life on the grasslands and are not used to the Central Plains.”

Aguduo wanted to cry but had no tears.

No matter how beautiful Nanjing was, it was only beautiful for the rich and powerful. Ordinary people in Nanjing also struggled to survive.

Although Aguduo had never been to Nanjing, he could guess this.

“It’s okay not to go to Nanjing, but the political system of the tribes on the grasslands must change and be completely in accordance with Great Hua’s political system. The military aspect is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Army…”

Zhang Shuhuan’s requirements were very simple, similar to other places.

After surrendering to Great Hua, the position of tribal leader had to be abolished and replaced with Great Hua’s official system.

After the reform, military power, diplomatic power, and taxation would have to be handed over to the imperial court.

The original tribal leaders could only have a little administrative power, roughly equivalent to a county magistrate or provincial governor.

This kind of power was actually extremely limited, basically equivalent to being completely controlled by Great Hua, without a trace of opportunity to rebel.

Gushihan and other tribal leaders would definitely not be satisfied with this kind of treatment.

After all, they were now in their respective tribes, where their words carried immense weight, and they controlled the life and death of everyone, like a miniature emperor.

The gap between becoming a county magistrate from a small emperor was as high as Mount Everest.

“I’m afraid this won’t work. The situation on the grasslands is different from the Central Plains. Adopting the same official system as the Central Plains may not be suitable. In fact, it is more efficient for the leaders to manage their own tribes.”

Aguduo was still trying.

However, at this time, a Huaxia army officer stood up and said, “Since that’s what you think, then you can go back. If all powers are not handed over to the imperial court, and you can’t hand over any surplus tax revenue, then what are we aiming for?”

These words were very direct, and Aguduo was speechless.

He also knew that Gushihan and the others were too optimistic and had asked for too much.

Gushihan and the others’ thinking hadn’t changed. After all, the previous Central Plains dynasties had relatively low requirements for ruling the grasslands. As long as the grasslands were willing to verbally pledge allegiance and not plunder south, the Central Plains dynasty was very satisfied.

However, now the Central Plains dynasty was Great Hua, with a strength that no other dynasty had ever had.

The Great Hua Dynasty would no longer be satisfied with the previous appeasement.

Aguduo had no choice but to return to report.

Gushihan and others didn’t give him greater authority, and he couldn’t agree to Great Hua’s conditions on behalf of Gushihan and others.

The negotiations failed, and Great Hua didn’t care.

On the allied forces’ side, they fell into anxiety again.

They had placed all their hopes on the negotiations, and now that the negotiations had failed, it was equivalent to their hopes being dashed.

“I said that our demands were too high, and the Great Hua people wouldn’t agree. You insisted on it.”

A small tribal leader said.

Their internal opinions were actually not unified. Some tribal leaders had lower demands, but some large tribes believed that they still had the strength and capital to contend, so they asked for an exorbitant price.

Those small tribes were weak and had no say, so they could only be represented.

Now that the negotiations had failed, this contradiction broke out.

“Why don’t we negotiate again?”

The leader of the Dzungar tribe suggested.

Going again would be a bit embarrassing, but there was no other way now.

“Going again is not a problem, but the key is what extent our bottom line can reach. The Great Hua people’s attitude is very tough, and I estimate they won’t budge anymore,” Aguduo reminded.

His words made everyone fall silent again. If it was really as Aguduo said, they had to agree to the conditions currently proposed by Great Hua if they wanted to reach an agreement.

And that would mean that they would lose a lot of power in the future and become very ordinary Great Hua officials.

Moreover, the official position might not be too high.

Chapter 877: The Final Madness

A division within the alliance was a significant hidden danger.

Even more critical was their dwindling supply of provisions.

Before long, disputes over food erupted within the allied forces, nearly leading to a fight between two small tribes.

The chieftain of one of these smaller tribes, disheartened, decided to leave the main army with his people.

He had already decided that he would surrender if Great Hua attacked, and at worst, he would live a carefree life in Nanjing.

In any case, he had accumulated some wealth over the years. Combined with the subsidies offered by Great Hua after surrender, he could live comfortably in Nanjing.

As for losing his power and influence, he would just have to let it go.

Even if he didn’t give it up willingly, Great Hua would forcibly strip it away. From that perspective, it was better to give it up voluntarily.

His departure set a bad precedent.

Other tribal leaders who harbored similar thoughts began to contemplate whether they should do the same.

“Gentlemen, as things stand, we have only one option left…”

Gushi Khan once again summoned the leaders of the various tribes and revealed his plan.

Gushi Khan proposed a surprise attack on the Huaxia army’s camp to eliminate this force entirely.

If the plan succeeded, they could wipe out nearly thirty thousand of Great Hua’s main forces, inflicting a minor blow to Great Hua’s vitality.

Moreover, they could seize a large amount of advanced equipment, enhancing their own strength.

As for Great Hua’s retaliation afterward, Gushi Khan also had a plan: to flee north and play hide-and-seek with the Huaxia army on the vast grasslands.

This approach was risky, but it offered a glimmer of hope.

Gushi Khan was unwilling to give up his power and influence. He was willing to take a gamble for even the slightest chance.

However, some of the other tribal leaders might not think the same way.

“I agree! We, the sons of the grasslands, are not cowards!”

The leader of the Dzungar tribe took the lead in supporting the idea.

He and Gushi Khan were both leaders of large tribes, wielding supreme power on the grasslands, and were naturally reluctant to relinquish it.

But for some of the smaller tribal leaders, the difference between obeying Gushi Khan and obeying Great Hua wasn’t particularly significant.

Obeying Gushi Khan granted them more power, but obeying Great Hua at least didn’t require taking risks.

“Wouldn’t this be too risky? We are more than fifty kilometers away from the Huaxia army’s camp. Can we really pull off a surprise attack?”

Another tribal leader asked.

“I have already sent messengers to the Huaxia army camp, pretending to agree to their demands to lower their guard. This surprise attack has a high chance of success,” Gushi Khan said.

Such words alone were not enough to convince everyone.

However, no one raised any objections on the spot.

After some discussion, they unanimously agreed to the plan and divided their respective tasks.

To avoid any unforeseen complications, the army set off immediately after the meeting, heading straight for the Huaxia army’s camp.

“Deliver this intelligence to the Huaxia army. Make sure you are fast.”

After the meeting, the leader of the Khorchin tribe instructed his confidant to inform the people of Great Hua.

He didn’t want to risk his life alongside Gushi Khan, nor did he want to live a nomadic life with him.

Right now, he had an opportunity to perform a meritorious service.

As long as he informed the Huaxia army and allowed them to prepare, he and his tribe would certainly receive preferential treatment after the war.

At that time, he could go to Nanjing and live a carefree and leisurely life.

Before the messenger on horseback had traveled even five kilometers, he was ambushed and killed by people lying in wait along the road.

Gushi Khan wasn’t naive enough to believe that everyone was of one mind with him, so he had made preparations in this regard.

He had long arranged for people to lie in ambush on the road to the Huaxia army’s camp, both to prevent leaks and to gather evidence. In the future, he could have an excuse to kill the tribal leaders who betrayed him and annex their tribes, completing his centralization of power.

Gushi Khan’s plan was beautiful, but things were unpredictable. His men caught the messenger from the Khorchin tribe but missed the messenger from another tribe.

There was more than one leader who had such thoughts.

Moreover, the terrain on the grasslands was full of paths.

The messenger from the Kologdu tribe was more resourceful and chose to take a slight detour.

A single cavalryman could certainly move much faster than a large army.

Therefore, the messenger from the Kologdu tribe delivered the intelligence to the Huaxia army camp before the allied forces arrived.

Faced with this intelligence, Zhang Shuhuan and the others were somewhat troubled.

They needed to assess the information and determine whether it was genuine.

“It should be real. If Gushi Khan wasn’t planning a surprise attack, there would be no point in sending us such false information,” Nie Ping analyzed.

His analysis was seconded by everyone.

“Since it’s real, we need to figure out how to respond,” Zhang Shuhuan said.

“That’s simple. Just retreat according to the plan. They can’t catch up with us anyway. In a few more days, their internal divisions will be complete due to the lack of food,” a staff officer said. This was their established plan.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Even if they do split up, we’ll still have to defeat them one by one. If they are determined to escape, it will be difficult for us to chase them.

You must know that we have a limited amount of gasoline. Without gasoline, these iron lumps are as good as useless,” Nie Ping objected.

“Then what do you think we should do? Defend in place? Although we have strong firepower, it would be difficult to defend in all four directions,” another staff officer said.

Nie Ping pondered for a moment and said, “Perhaps we should take the initiative.”

Nie Ping’s words were surprising, but he then explained his thoughts.

In his view, retreating was too passive and wouldn’t maximize their benefits.

If they wanted to smoothly rule these grasslands, it would be best to defeat those with strong opposition. Such as the Khoshut and Dzungar tribes.

If these two tribes were eliminated, the other tribes would surely become obedient.

If these two tribes were not eliminated, even if they temporarily submitted, there would still be a possibility of rebellion in the future.

Moreover, in Nie Ping’s view, defeating these two tribes wasn’t particularly difficult.

Although the enemy was currently rushing towards them, their directions and speeds were different because they wanted to complete the encirclement.

According to the intelligence from the messenger, the Khoshut and Dzungar tribes were located to the northwest and directly in front of the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army could completely ignore the enemy in other directions for the time being, concentrate their forces, take the initiative to attack, and launch a blitzkrieg with lightning speed before the other tribes could join the encirclement, quickly defeating these two tribes.

As long as these two tribes were defeated, the remaining tribes should choose to surrender.

After all, those tribes originally had the intention of surrendering, but they were coerced by the Khoshut and Dzungar tribes.

The Huaxia army had enough troops to fight these two tribes alone.

Chapter 878: Maneuver Warfare

Nie Ping’s plan was somewhat risky, but if successful, the rewards would be considerable.

They had the opportunity to significantly weaken the strength of the Oirat alliance in this battle, and leave them with an indelible impression.

Attacking one hundred and fifty thousand cavalry with less than thirty thousand soldiers, and defeating them.

Such a battle would be remembered by them and their descendants, instilling a fear of Great Hua into their very bones, and making them obedient to Great Hua’s administration.

If the plan succeeded, they would have completed the Mongolian campaign.

If they didn’t execute this plan and chose to retreat, they could certainly still wear down the Oirat alliance.

However, those people might think that they were defeated due to insufficient supplies, rather than on the battlefield.

In the future, once they had enough supplies, they might feel like the sun was shining, the rain had stopped, and they were capable again.

Moreover, if the Oirat alliance disbanded due to lack of food, the Huaxia army would have to defeat them one by one.

Once those people chose to flee, it would be difficult for the Huaxia army to pursue them.

Zhang Shuhuan thought of this, so he was inclined to support Nie Ping’s plan.

Moreover, Nie Ping had always been known as a genius, and Zhang Shuhuan had confidence in him.

“I think it’s feasible. What battle doesn’t involve some risk? Back then, His Majesty personally led a few hundred people and dared to launch a night attack on thousands of enemies. We can’t lose that spirit just because we have advanced weapons.”

Zhang Shuhuan’s words were politically correct, and he also showed off his seniority.

His words were irrefutable; refuting them would be somewhat like negating the Emperor.

Besides, everyone didn’t really have any objections to Nie Ping’s plan.

So, everyone quickly agreed to the plan.

With the direction determined, the next step was the specific arrangements.

Calculating the speed and routes of the various enemy forces, determining the time and place of the attack, predicting the battle duration, formulating plans to deal with emergencies, contacting those tribes who were unwilling to be enemies with Great Hua…

A battle involving hundreds of thousands of people had a great many details.

The entire staff department of the Huaxia army, along with six or seven hundred other relevant personnel, worked together for an entire day to formulate the battle plan.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army began to move.

The army headed northwest, first attacking the Dzungar tribe, then the Khoshut tribe.

Attacking the periphery first would make it easier to escape if anything unexpected happened.

Attacking the Khoshut tribe first without quickly taking them down could lead to being surrounded and attacked from all sides.

One hundred and fifty thousand troops, if truly gathered together, wouldn’t actually take up much space.

But marching couldn’t be done that way; one hundred and fifty thousand people were still spread out.

The Dzungar and Khoshut tribes were several kilometers apart, and the straight-line distance from the easternmost troops was more than ten kilometers, with the diagonal distance being twenty or thirty kilometers.

This was on a flat grassland; if it were in a complex terrain, the battle line of one hundred and fifty thousand troops would be even longer.

With such a long distance, the Huaxia army had room to maneuver.

When Gushi Khan’s sentries discovered the Huaxia army’s movements, there were no longer many secrets between the two sides.

Although Gushi Khan didn’t understand why the Huaxia army took the initiative to attack, he knew that the Huaxia army was indeed coming to fight his side.

This was very different from his plan; he hadn’t set up the encirclement yet.

If he couldn’t launch attacks on the Huaxia army from all directions at the same time, he wouldn’t be able to disperse the Huaxia army’s forces.

Then, the battle would become extremely difficult.

“Damn it, some coward must have gone to report. Don’t let me find out who it is, or I will never forgive him.”

Gushi Khan cursed loudly.

Unfortunately, cursing couldn’t solve the problem.

Subsequently, he issued the latest orders.

He ordered the Dzungar tribe to defend in place and contain the enemy, while he would lead troops to attack the Huaxia army’s flank.

At the same time, he also ordered other tribes to circle around to the rear of the Huaxia army to launch an attack, and also ordered some tribes to circle around to the west of the Huaxia army to implement an encirclement.

Why circle around? Because space was limited.

Gushi Khan’s Khoshut tribe occupied the attacking position on the right flank of the Huaxia army, and other troops had no position in this direction.

Forcibly inserting them might mess up the Khoshut tribe.

Moreover, even if they were inserted, they would only increase the density of soldiers, and would not have the effect of dispersing the Huaxia army’s forces.

Increasing the density might have some effect against cold weapon armies. Against the Huaxia army’s machine guns, it would only increase one’s own casualties.

Gushi Khan’s adjustments were quite satisfactory, but as for the effect, it would only be known after the fight.

Both the cavalry and the Huaxia army’s heavy armored divisions were fast-moving troops. When the sentries of both sides discovered each other, the main force would make contact quickly.

The leader of the Dzungar tribe, Sayid, was in despair at this time. He never expected that the Huaxia army would take the initiative to attack.

This meant that the encirclement plan had failed. If they wanted to defeat the Huaxia army, they would have to pay an extremely heavy price, possibly wiping out a generation.

What was even more deadly was that the Huaxia army’s first target was actually himself.

Sayid could only order his subordinates to charge over, because he had also seen the battle report between the Huaxia army and the Torghut tribe, and knew that fleeing would be even worse, as they would be chased by the Huaxia army until their horses were exhausted.

Charge over, hold them back, and wait for friendly forces to arrive.

The nearby Khoshut tribe was only a few kilometers away, which was only a dozen minutes for cavalry.

Even with the horses’ rest time and preparation time, it wouldn’t exceed half an hour.

By then, they would be able to attack the Huaxia army from both sides.

Sayid’s calculations weren’t too far off, but the Huaxia army had also calculated this time.

What they had to do was to defeat Sayid within this time.

Therefore, the Huaxia army spared no effort, directly ordering the artillery to start rapid firing, regardless of the lifespan of the gun barrels, firing the most shells at the fastest speed.

Shells rained down on Sayid’s army, followed by explosions and the neighing of horses.

As for the screams of people, they were drowned out by these two sounds and couldn’t be heard at all.

A large number of horses and soldiers fell on the road of charge, just like the battle some time ago.

It wasn’t that these cavalrymen were stupid and didn’t know how to change tactics, but they really didn’t have any other better way.

The only difference from the last time was that this time, the Dzungar tribe didn’t turn around and run away, but continued to charge towards the Huaxia army.

They all knew that their tens of thousands of reinforcements would arrive soon.

As long as they charged to the front of the Huaxia army, the situation would immediately reverse.

At that time, it would be their massacre of the Huaxia army.

Chapter 879: The Final Charge

Things look different from different perspectives.

Imagine making a movie about this battle.

From the perspective of the Great Hua people, the Mongolians charging at machine guns is utterly foolish and laughable.

From the perspective of the Mongolians, their charge is incredibly tragic, the last stubborn stand of cavalry, a spirit worthy of song and tears.

However, whether it’s foolish, tragic, or imbued with other random qualities, none of that matters. It doesn’t change the physical laws of the battlefield.

The Huaxia army, with its full firepower, inflicted extremely heavy casualties on the Mongolian cavalry. Only a handful of riders managed to reach the Huaxia army’s lines.

These men had lost their normal reflexes, devoid of fear or dread, left with only numbness.

They slashed at the Huaxia army, only to be struck down by pistol bullets.

Those who were lucky managed to kill several Huaxia soldiers, while the unlucky ones died after killing only one.

The Mongolians could actually accept this exchange ratio.

However, the process of reaching the Huaxia army was just too difficult.

Sayid’s troops didn’t charge all at once, but in several waves.

After the first two waves charged, those behind watched the situation through binoculars.

Seeing that over eighty percent of the soldiers had fallen on the way, the lips of these generals trembled.

Those who died were living, breathing people, not just numbers.

Their Jungar tribe only had seventy to eighty thousand young and strong men to begin with. If three or four thousand died in a single battle, their entire tribe would be crippled.

“Khan, this battle can’t be fought!”

Someone with a slightly weaker character directly voiced his opposition to Sayid.

“Disrupting morale! Drag him away and execute him! Order the entire army to charge at all costs!”

Sayid gritted his teeth and said.

The order was given, but its execution was not so smooth.

Not everyone was as ruthless as Sayid, nor was everyone loyal to him.

People are most loyal to their own instincts.

Several generals who were ordered to continue the charge turned around halfway and chose to flee.

Whether they could survive after fleeing, they didn’t know.

But they knew that continuing to charge would mean certain death.

Whether they could achieve victory by charging, they didn’t care. What did victory after their death have to do with them?

In fact, for some less noble individuals, the closer they were to death, the less they wanted their side to win.

If their side lost, others would die like them, and they could find some solace in that. But if they died while others survived to enjoy their wives and daughters, that would be the worst thing.

Among the Mongolians, there were tragic heroes, cowardly cowards, and even despicable villains.

Therefore, their army split. Some chose to flee.

Others, who were originally prepared to sacrifice themselves, saw that others were fleeing and were unwilling to offer their lives.

As a result, those who continued to charge became the minority, while fleeing and retreating became the mainstream.

Seeing this scene, Sayid was surprisingly calm.

Because he had already guessed that this might happen. It was human nature.

Any general who had been through countless battles would not easily order his men to their deaths, as that would definitely force out a large number of deserters.

In war, the most important thing is to give subordinates hope. Even if it’s deception or trickery, it doesn’t matter. The important thing is to give subordinates something to believe in.

In many battles, a retreat is necessary after one or two tenths of the soldiers have died. It’s not that the loss of that one or two tenths of the soldiers significantly reduces combat power, but rather that this casualty rate makes the soldiers lose hope.

“Where are the Khoshut troops?”

Sayid asked.

At this point, he could only rely on reinforcements.

“The Khoshut troops have arrived and have already launched an attack on the Huaxia army,”

his subordinate said.

“Good! Everyone, follow me for one last charge. We win if we break through!”

Sayid decided to take one last gamble with the remaining men. Others could flee, but he couldn’t. He personally had no way out. Great Hua would definitely not let him, the chief culprit, go.

Sayid still had a group of loyal followers around him, and they launched the final charge with him.

This wave of theirs was much better than the previous two, but some people still fled midway.

These people were not fooled by Sayid. They had their own judgment.

They felt that even with the Khoshut troops joining the attack, they would not be able to defeat the Huaxia army and would still be throwing their lives away.

No one likes to throw their lives away.

At the same time, Gushi Khan arrived. He didn’t waste any time and ordered his men to attack the right flank of the Huaxia army.

Like Sayid, he had no way out.

When he led his army to try to ambush the Huaxia army, he became a target that the Huaxia army would definitely kill.

Now, he had no choice but to go all the way down this dark path.

The Khoshut troops launched their attack, but the Huaxia army was prepared.

They used trucks as barriers, with infantry defending on or behind the trucks.

The machine guns on the armored vehicles were also ready. One armored vehicle unit even took the initiative to attack, targeting Gushi Khan’s location, intending to carry out a decapitation tactic.

As long as Gushi Khan was killed, the Khoshut troops would collapse instantly.

Zhang Fei taking the head of a general from among a million soldiers was obviously an artistic exaggeration and impossible.

However, the Huaxia army officers believed that the armored vehicle unit had a chance to complete the task of forcefully killing the enemy’s main general from among a million soldiers.

They were fast enough, had enough firepower, and could catch the enemy off guard.

This mission was certainly dangerous, but in order to test the feasibility of this tactic, the Huaxia army felt it was worth taking a risk.

Experience comes from trying. You never know if something will work until you try it.

When you have the advantage in the situation, it’s okay to experiment with new tactics.

Success reduces losses, while failure increases losses, but it won’t affect the outcome of the battle.

As a result, this battle area was completely plunged into chaos.

In the front was the charge of the Jungar troops and the defense of the Huaxia army’s motorcycle regiment and infantry regiment.

On the right was the charge of the Khoshut troops, facing the Huaxia army’s armored vehicle and truck defense line.

In the center was the artillery position and the headquarters.

There was also a commando team of a dozen armored vehicles that broke into the Khoshut army from the side, heading straight for Gushi Khan.

The other tribes east of the Khoshut tribe were also in chaos. Several were flanking around according to Gushi Khan’s orders.

Some tribes slowed down their march, wanting to see how the situation developed.

One small tribe simply chose to flee the battlefield, preparing to return to their tribe, organize their people to migrate, and escape this place.

Chapter 880: Total Victory

“Artillery, adjust direction, bombard the Khoshut.”

The Huaxia army adjusted its artillery targets. The Dzungar were already at the end of their rope and posed little threat to the Huaxia army’s defenses.

The Khoshut needed to be the primary target.

They had not yet suffered heavy casualties and still had some morale.

Through the observation balloons, the observers gave instructions for the bombardment.

Several kilometers in front were all within their strike range, so there was no shortage of targets.

They weren’t picky, just firing at places where there were a lot of enemies.

Their mission was to kill the enemy’s manpower and force them to collapse.

The cannons roared, and the Khoshut began to suffer casualties.

Then, they also sped up their charge.

Soon, they entered the Huaxia army’s range.

However, they didn’t face as much firepower as the Dzungar. The Huaxia army had fewer machine guns in this area than in the central army, which made their charge slightly easier.

The Huaxia army deployed a large number of infantry and some armored vehicles in this direction.

Those soldiers with rifles were almost invincible against people charging on two legs.

But dealing with cavalry was relatively more difficult.

Although their rate of fire was fast, the cavalry’s charge speed was also fast.

They didn’t have the time or the conditions to form a formation.

Before long, the Mongolian cavalry charged in front of them.

Of course, the Mongolian cavalry also paid a great price.

More critically, there were not many gaps for them to charge into the Huaxia army’s camp. Most places were blocked by trucks.

The horses could cross simple fences, but they couldn’t cross these tall trucks.

They could only use their sabers to chop at the Huaxia soldiers standing on the trucks, which they could do.

But the problem was that they had to stop, losing the advantage of speed and greatly reducing their speed of killing enemies.

Cavalry killing infantry relied on the impact of speed, one slash at a time, without stopping to find new targets.

But now, the cavalry stopped.

If they were lucky, they could kill one or two Huaxia soldiers, but that was it. The Huaxia soldiers weren’t wooden men.

They prioritized dealing with these enemies who charged in front of them.

Some unlucky cavalrymen didn’t even kill a single person before dying under the Huaxia army’s concentrated fire.

At such close range, everyone was a sharpshooter.

These blocked cavalrymen posed little threat to the Huaxia army.

Only those cavalrymen who charged into the Huaxia army’s camp through the gaps between the trucks caused greater casualties to the Huaxia army.

But that was all. The Huaxia army’s reserves came up and wiped out these stragglers who had charged in.

Those cavalrymen still on the charge were still being taken care of by the Huaxia army’s machine guns, and the number of casualties continued to soar at an extremely rapid rate.

If the cavalry who charged into the Huaxia army’s camp couldn’t quickly break the situation, they wouldn’t be able to sustain it for long under such casualties.

At the same time, the Huaxia army’s armored vehicle unit broke into the Khoshut’s camp from a weak point in the enemy’s formation.

By the time they discovered it and sent people to try to stop it, the armored vehicle unit was already very close to Gushi Khan’s position.

Facing the enemies who rushed over to try to stop them, the Huaxia army was not polite.

The machine gunner on the roof of the vehicle was frantically扫射ing, and most of the cavalry were shot to death before they got close.

Even if a small number of people rushed in front of the Huaxia army, they didn’t have a good way to deal with this steel monster.

Knives couldn’t cut it, and arrows couldn’t penetrate it.

Killing the Huaxia army’s soldiers was difficult and did not have the effect of stopping the Huaxia army.

Impacts were also ineffective. The impact of horses was strong, but they couldn’t knock down armored vehicles.

What’s more, not many horses would obediently crash into them.

They couldn’t stop them and could only worry.

Seeing the enemy getting closer and closer, Gushi Khan’s subordinates suggested that Gushi Khan retreat first.

At this time, Gushi Khan had already started sweating on his forehead. Of course, he was also afraid of death and wanted to retreat.

But the problem was that when the commander retreats when the battle is in a stalemate or unfavorable, it is easy to quickly collapse.

If the commander retreats, where would anyone else be willing to risk their lives?

Without the commander in charge, those mid- and low-level officers would not be able to risk their lives and die.

In short, Gushi Khan could not retreat now, and he could not even move around randomly.

Once the banner moved, even if it was not a retreat, those who wanted to escape could spread rumors that the commander had fled.

At that time, defeat was inevitable.

“Block them, the enemy is only a few hundred people.”

Gushi Khan roared.

Hundreds of people were indeed not very conspicuous in this great melee of tens of thousands of people.

However, in this small area, these hundreds of people were still quite lethal.

They continued to rush towards the banner, and some of Gushi Khan’s subordinates even tried to block them with their bodies, but it was useless.

They had zero experience in fighting armored vehicles, and they didn’t know the weaknesses of armored vehicles or how to deal with them.

In the blink of an eye, Gushi Khan’s position was already within the Huaxia army’s range.

The Huaxia army fired at them while charging.

One of Gushi Khan’s men was hit by a bullet and fell off his horse.

“Retreat.”

At this time, Gushi Khan no longer insisted. There was really no way. He couldn’t just stand there and be a target for the Huaxia army.

As Gushi Khan expected, when the banner moved, the officers in other parts of the battlefield panicked.

They didn’t know that Gushi Khan was just avoiding being hunted down. They thought that Gushi Khan was preparing to abandon the main force and escape.

If they had the advantage, they might have had more patience and waited for Gushi Khan to send someone to give them a reasonable explanation.

However, at this time, they were suffering huge losses every moment.

In this case, they didn’t really want to attack in the first place.

Especially those troops who were about to be sent up, they directly stated that Gushi Khan had fled and refused to fight.

Someone took the lead, and the subsequent development quickly got out of control.

A large number of low-level officers were leading soldiers to escape, or soldiers were coercing officers to escape.

Without the orders of their superiors and the supervision of the supervising team, they really didn’t want to stay in this ‘hell’ for even a second longer.

The wars they had experienced before had never been as cruel as this one.

Even veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles felt their hearts tremble when they saw such a scene and became as cowardly as recruits.

The Khoshut began to rout, while the Dzungar were even worse. Sayid had been shot to death by a machine gun during the charge, and his subordinates had long since scattered.

At this point, the situation on the battlefield took a dramatic turn.

The Mongolian army’s two main attack directions were both fleeing, while the Huaxia army was chasing behind them at a leisurely pace.

Those tribes who had just arrived behind the Huaxia army were dumbfounded. Should they attack or not?

Chapter 881: Pacifying Mongolia

The combined forces of the Dzungar and Khoshut tribes numbered over eighty thousand, more than half of the allied army.

Yet, they couldn’t even hold out for half an hour against the thirty thousand soldiers of the Huaxia army.

Faced with this situation, the chieftains of the other tribes began to assess their own capabilities.

They were inferior to even Gushi Khan and Sayid and were supposed to obey Gushi Khan’s orders. But now, Gushi Khan and Sayid had been utterly defeated.

These chieftains reluctantly acknowledged a harsh reality: they didn’t possess the ability to defy fate.

If Gushi Khan and his ilk couldn’t defeat them, neither could they.

Charging forward would be like moths to a flame.

They tacitly agreed to halt, neither fleeing nor fighting, simply waiting for the outcome nearby.

Not every tribal leader was willing to migrate to the colder, drier North.

Surrendering to Great Hua was preferable to a life of hardship in the Gobi Desert.

This allowed the Huaxia army to pursue the remnants of the Dzungar and Khoshut tribes with greater confidence.

The Huaxia army had killed so many from these two tribes that the feud ran deep. Control over these two tribes would undoubtedly be stricter than over the others.

“Surrender and live!”

The Huaxia soldiers shouted in newly learned Mongolian, pursuing and yelling as they went.

Although their pronunciation was somewhat off, the Mongolian soldiers understood the gist.

After all, the words shouted at such times generally conveyed the same meaning.

Many Mongolian soldiers began to stop and surrender.

Some minor chieftains even led their subordinates in mass surrenders.

Along the way, the Huaxia army pursued, leaving behind troops to control the surrendered soldiers.

Soon, however, the Huaxia army could no longer continue the pursuit, as the number of prisoners was too great for their manpower to manage.

Capturing prisoners was far more troublesome than killing them. Killing required only a single shot.

But guarding a prisoner meant constantly watching out for sudden outbursts.

There were too many fleeing Mongolian soldiers, their numbers even exceeding the total number of Huaxia troops.

Moreover, because they were all mounted, they fled quickly and dispersed widely, making them harder to control than infantry.

By the time the various units of the Huaxia army returned, they had captured as many as twenty thousand prisoners.

Behind them were still a dozen or so tribes, with sixty to seventy thousand troops.

If those sixty to seventy thousand had launched a sudden attack while the Huaxia army was fully engaged in pursuit, the outcome would have been uncertain.

However, the Huaxia army’s leadership had thoroughly understood the psychology of those smaller tribes, knowing that they no longer dared to fight.

Therefore, they saw no need to attack them.

The Huaxia army sent envoys to summon all the tribal leaders to the Huaxia army’s camp to discuss the aftermath.

Those who feared the Huaxia army and had no intention of surrendering had already fled. Those who remained were prepared to surrender.

Therefore, faced with the Huaxia army’s invitation, the tribal leaders all chose to come to the Huaxia army’s camp.

“These are their armored vehicles, completely covered in iron. Swords and sabers are useless against them.”

“Gushi Khan and the others didn’t lose unjustly. No one could defeat these ironclad monsters with swords and sabers.”

“It’s fortunate we didn’t act rashly, or we would have died under these weapons. I heard that Gushi Khan and Sayid are both dead. Before guns and cannons, even the bravest of men cannot become heroes.”

As the crowd entered the Huaxia army’s camp, they inevitably saw the Huaxia army’s weapons.

Dark cannons, menacing machine guns, and impregnable armored vehicles.

These were all instruments of death, a hundred times more terrifying than butcher knives.

These weapons turned traditional valor into a joke.

Gushi Khan was able to become the leader of the alliance entirely because of his unparalleled bravery in his youth, always leading from the front in every battle, earning his position through sheer courage.

But such courage was truly insignificant before guns and cannons.

In the past, if a soldier wanted to kill Gushi Khan, ten or eight of them wouldn’t dare to approach him.

But now, even the weakest soldier could kill Gushi Khan with a single shot.

The times had changed.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s iron torrent, they were utterly despondent.

In the past, when fighting the armies of the Central Plains dynasties, the Central Plains’ weapons were generally superior to theirs, but it didn’t matter. They could capture them by winning battles.

But now, even if Great Hua gave them a batch of cannons and armored vehicles, they wouldn’t know how to use them.

“Move a little closer to the center, squeeze in.”

A voice attracted the attention of the tribal leaders. They noticed a group of soldiers standing in a row, with two people hawking in front of a wooden frame covered in black cloth.

“What is this thing?”

Someone asked curiously.

“This is a camera. The war correspondents are taking pictures of them, and then they’ll send these photos back to Nanjing to be published in the newspapers, so the people can see the war heroes.”

The officer in charge of the reception estimated that these people didn’t know what a photograph was, so he took out a photo of himself and his wife to show them what a photograph was.

The tribal leaders once again transformed into bumpkins who had never seen the world, marveling at the photo.

They couldn’t understand how, without brush and ink, a person’s likeness could be printed on this piece of paper, and so realistically and exquisitely at that.

Afterward, they also saw battlefield doctors and battlefield nurses.

To their surprise, the doctors and nurses not only treated Huaxia soldiers but also treated some of the prisoners.

This made them feel much more favorably disposed toward the Huaxia army, as it at least showed that the Huaxia army regarded them as human beings.

In the past, armies would selectively treat even their own wounded soldiers.

As for wounded enemy soldiers, they would basically finish them off with another blow.

No army would treat the wounds of enemy prisoners, as medicine was not cheap.

They couldn’t understand the Huaxia army’s behavior.

“It seems that after we surrender, we at least don’t have to worry about being made slaves,”

A tribal leader said softly.

“They want to completely rule the grasslands, so how could they kill the goose that lays the golden eggs and commit such massacres? This is winning hearts and minds. Those soldiers who are saved will never be able to resist Great Hua again.

Moreover, when they return to their tribes and spread the word, Great Hua’s good name will be spread. This move is truly brilliant, directly undermining our fighting spirit from the root.”

Another tribal leader said.

In fact, this method was very basic, and they could all see it, and even understood it.

However, they had never used this trick against their opponents before, because they were poor.

They didn’t even have enough medicine to treat their own subordinates, so how could they afford to treat enemy soldiers? If they really did that, their own people would rebel against them first.

Great Hua could do it because Great Hua was rich in resources and had advanced medical care.

The medicines for treating external injuries had already been mass-produced, and there was no shortage of drugs.

In Great Hua’s eyes, a person’s value was naturally far greater than a dose of medicine.

Along the way, they saw many novel things.

Afterward, they were taken to the central army tent, where the Huaxia army’s high-ranking officers were waiting for them.

Chapter 882: Complete Occupation

“Please, everyone, have a seat.”

Zhang Shuhuan gestured for them to sit and also had good wine and meat brought up.

In terms of etiquette, he gave them ample respect.

However, he wouldn’t be so easygoing in the negotiations that followed.

“Either yourselves or your eldest sons, in any case, each tribe must send someone to reside in Nanjing. They will learn the culture and advanced technology of Great Hua, so that they can better develop the grasslands when they return.”

Zhang Shuhuan’s words sounded high and mighty, but everyone knew that this was a disguised form of handing over hostages.

Learning the culture of Great Hua meant being assimilated. If they really stayed in the academy for a few years, would they still be able to ride horses and remember the customs of the grasslands? What advanced technology for developing the grasslands? Did such technology even exist?

In the past, they would never have agreed to give up all power and hand over hostages.

But now, they all chose to remain silent.

They couldn’t refuse, either. The guns and cannons of Great Hua could not only intimidate but also kill.

“Learning the culture of Great Hua is what we should do, what we should do.”

Barude, the leader of the Khorchin tribe, was the first to respond. He had originally sent someone to report the news, but it had failed.

Because it failed, the merit seemed insignificant.

To latch onto the thigh of Great Hua, Barude was particularly proactive.

Seeing this, the other tribal leaders quickly expressed their agreement.

Next, they discussed their respective administrative powers, taxation rights, and the resettlement of the Mongolian army.

These issues determined whether Mongolia would be nominally or actually incorporated into Great Hua.

On these issues, Zhang Shuhuan made relatively harsh demands, taking away all military and tax powers.

And these tribal leaders did not object.

The Mongols, who had been thoroughly defeated, were very easy to talk to.

There was no way around it; the situation was such that they had no choice.

Of course, the main reason was that Great Hua did not push them to the brink. At least it guaranteed them some wealth and status, so they wouldn’t become destitute, giving them hope and security.

However, their future depended on their own efforts.

Having lost their privileges, they would no longer be able to exploit ordinary herders; that was now Great Hua’s job.

Of course, Great Hua would definitely do better than them.

They were sucking blood, fattening themselves while draining the common people.

The Great Hua court, on the other hand, would shear wool, at least raising the common people first before shearing.

Although shearing wool was also exploitation and plunder, at least it wouldn’t harm the sheep’s body.

Relatively speaking, it was much better than sucking blood.

It was already quite good for a feudal dynasty to be able to do this. At least the common people who had experienced the Ming Dynasty were temporarily very satisfied.

Of course, their next generation might explode with dissatisfaction.

People of different eras have different levels of tolerance and desires.

The life that the older generation was content with might not be enough for the next generation.

The leaders of each tribe had their powers reduced, but some administrators in the tribes retained a portion.

According to the final negotiation results, Great Hua would send some people to be responsible for managing these tribes.

Great Hua officials would guide them in breeding livestock according to the needs of the mainland.

At the same time, they would also bring some advanced breeding techniques.

And by the way, arrange for some companies to mine here.

This area is very rich in mineral resources, such as open-pit coal and rare earth resources.

As Great Hua’s industrialization accelerates, coal consumption is soaring every day.

The coal from Huainan alone can no longer meet the needs of Great Hua. Currently, coal mining in Shanxi has also begun.

Inner Mongolia has no less coal than Shanxi, and several are open-pit coal mines, which are extremely convenient to mine, but transportation is a bit troublesome.

Of course, as the demand for coal increases, in order to obtain the coal here, railway lines will definitely be built here.

By then, transportation will not be a problem.

After the negotiations, the tribes began to return and announce their allegiance to Great Hua.

With their cooperation, the process went much smoother.

For the common herders, they didn’t really understand the concept of country and nation. They listened to whatever the high-level people in the tribe said.

Now that the high-level people said they would submit to Great Hua, they would submit to Great Hua.

In addition to these tribes willing to submit, there were also some tribes on the grasslands that were migrating and fleeing.

The Huaxia army pursued them, wanting to control the entire Mongolia.

The entire Mongolia region is very large, and it will take a long time to completely occupy it.

However, after complete occupation, Great Hua’s land area can increase by several million square kilometers.

The news of the recovery of Mongolia spread to Nanjing, and there was another national carnival.

Unlike the recovery of Eastern Siberia and Annam, the recovery of Mongolia was of greater significance, especially for the people in the North.

Since ancient times, the nomadic peoples of the Mongolia region have been the most troublesome problem for the dynasties of the Central Plains.

In order to guard against the looting of nomadic peoples, the imperial court had to spend a lot of military expenses every year, which was a waste of money and manpower.

What was even more tragic was that even after spending so much money, they often couldn’t prevent it.

The people on the border would be looted from time to time, and sometimes they would even lose their lives.

The nomadic peoples were a sword hanging over the heads of the people in the North, and even the Great Wall could not bring them a sense of security.

But now, Mongolia had been completely defeated and all submitted to Great Hua.

This was equivalent to completely solving the Mongolia problem. In the future, the burden on the common people could be lighter, and there would be one less threat, so they no longer had to worry.

More importantly, defeating Mongolia and recovering Mongolia could also give the people of Great Hua a very strong sense of pride.

This was something that many dynasties had not been able to do, but now Great Hua had done it.

Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were only praised for thousands of years for defeating the nomadic peoples.

But now Great Hua had incorporated Mongolia into its rule. No amount of boasting could overstate this great achievement.

For a time, the folk literati began to sing the praises of Great Hua in articles, poems, and operas.

The sixth year of Yongxing can be said to be the year when the people of Great Hua were most satisfied with the imperial court.

Because the imperial court had too many inspiring news this year.

Recovering Japan, recovering Annam, recovering Eastern Siberia, recovering Shaanxi and Gansu, and recovering Mongolia.

This year, Great Hua recovered nearly seven million square kilometers of territory.

Although life was not much better than in the fifth year of Yongxing, this sense of collective honor could still give the people the illusion that this year was much better than last year.

Mainly, there were more times to be happy. When chatting with people around them, the topic was often how incredibly powerful Great Hua was.

With Great Hua being powerful, the people had more confidence in Great Hua.

Sometimes, as long as you give them a hope, they can increase a lot of motivation.

They were all looking forward to, looking forward to a better life in the future.

Chapter 883: World Situation

While Great Hua was frantically expanding outwards, the countries of Europe were doing the same.

In the original historical timeline, the cumulative population of immigrants from England, France, the Netherlands, and other countries to North America at this time was about two hundred thousand, but roughly one-third died from disease.

Early immigration was anything but romantic; it was filled with blood and tears.

Most of the immigrants were people who couldn’t survive in their homelands, so they risked their lives to come to this new land.

This is also why these colonies later became independent. Because most of the people who immigrated here had no good feelings towards their original countries.

To make up for the labor shortage, they chose to buy black slaves. By the mid-seventeenth century, they had transported about one hundred and fifty thousand black slaves over.

These people were basically concentrated in the coastal areas of eastern North America, already forming the prototype of the thirteen American colonies.

Some islands in Latin America and South America were concentrated with immigrants from Spain and Portugal.

These immigrants numbered even more, and they immigrated much earlier. By the mid-seventeenth century, there were about five hundred thousand white immigrants and about three hundred thousand black slaves.

This is the approximate data from the original history.

Now, however, having learned Great Hua’s shipbuilding technology, purchased large numbers of Great Hua’s ocean-going ships, and learned Great Hua’s navigation techniques, the immigration capabilities of European countries have become much stronger.

Therefore, the population they have immigrated to the Americas has greatly exceeded the original historical process. This is the butterfly effect brought about by Wu Changqing.

Currently, the immigrant population of England, France, the Netherlands, Austria and other countries in North America has exceeded three hundred thousand, and the number of black slaves has exceeded two hundred thousand.

The number of immigrants from Spain and Portugal to Central and South America has also increased by thirty percent, with the total number exceeding one million.

Moreover, the number is increasing rapidly.

Compared with the original history, the current Western European countries have a sense of urgency because the rise of Great Hua makes them worried and afraid.

Great Hua is too powerful, and they are all worried that Great Hua will one day invade Europe.

Although they have not yet found a way to deal with the threat from Great Hua, accelerating the pace of development and plunder is certainly the right thing to do.

In the original history, individual will was the mainstream of immigration.

But now, the ruling classes of Western European countries have begun to actively encourage and plan and support immigration.

They need to expand their territory and plunder resources to increase the strength of their countries.

On the other hand, because of the huge threat from Great Hua, the internal strife in Western European countries is also much less than in the original historical process.

France wanted to launch a war, but unfortunately, it had no money.

If they wanted to make money quickly, they could only go overseas to plunder. As a result, France also accelerated its outward immigration and plunder, and the attacks on the Netherlands, Prussia, and other places slowed down.

Especially between England and the Netherlands, they did not want Great Hua to take advantage of their internal strife.

No matter what conflicts there are between England and the Netherlands, they are, after all, both white people, while Great Hua’s skin color is yellow.

Compared to Great Hua, England and the Netherlands are closer.

It should be known that there are a large number of nobles in England who have kinship with the Dutch nobles.

With less war, the two countries can invest more resources in the development of their colonies.

Compared to the original timeline, these European countries have become stronger to varying degrees.

Today’s America has basically become the world of Europeans.

Not satisfied, they set their sights on the treasure land of India, accelerating immigration to India.

As well as the islands of Java and Australia, Europeans have also accelerated their pace in these places.

Great Hua is also currently immigrating to these places, and there have been several conflicts between Great Hua and some European immigrants overseas.

In August, Wu Changqing convened an important meeting to discuss the plan to conquer India and overseas immigration.

“We must speed up the occupation of India, this is very important. Now these places are easy to attack, basically, the natives will surrender after we fire a few cannons.

But if those natives are conquered by the Europeans first, and organized by the Europeans, it will be much more difficult to deal with. In India, we should occupy it first, and then consider assimilation.”

Tao Dongcheng, the head of the military’s General Strategic Department, said. He no longer personally leads troops, and has been studying the strategic situation, giving the opportunity to lead troops to the younger generation.

This is the result of his research for a long time, and it naturally has some truth.

However, there are also many exaggerated elements.

At this time, most of India was under the rule of the Mughal Empire, and the Mughal Empire was at its peak.

The colonies of the Portuguese, Dutch, and British were all located on the fringes of India, in places that the Mughals did not value.

The Mughal Empire did not realize the harm of those Western Europeans at this time, and the Western Europeans in India had no ability to enslave India.

Tao Dongcheng’s statement that Western Europeans would quickly occupy India and use advanced organizational methods to arm India to deal with Great Hua is obviously somewhat nonsense.

The current Western Europe does not have this ability.

“India has a large population and abundant resources, and it should indeed be recovered as soon as possible.”

Hong Chengchou said, and several other civil officials agreed.

Hong Chengchou guessed that Wu Changqing wanted to speed up the pace of expansion, so he expressed his agreement.

Of course, after occupying India, they would not have to pay taxes to the Mughal Empire to sell goods to India, which would promote Great Hua’s economy.

Therefore, Hong Chengchou had no reason to object.

The other civil officials wanted to seize India to seek greater benefits for the merchant groups behind them.

Those merchants, gentry, and nobles had tasted the sweetness in Japan and Annam, and they were even more greedy for India.

India is larger, has more people, and has more abundant resources.

As for eastern Siberia and Mongolia, those merchants don’t value those places at all. They have no development potential, no population, no market, and no resources and wealth to plunder.

They all hope that Great Hua can focus on India, rather than the barren lands in the northwest.

Another important reason is that India has a large population.

A large population means that more managers are needed, and there are more official positions.

These officials all hope to conquer India as soon as possible, so that there will be many more high-ranking officials.

With a population of nearly fifty million in the Indian region, to completely rule it, at least a governor of the first rank needs to be arranged to go there. There will also be many other official positions.

With more official positions, it will be easier for these officials to be promoted.

It is because of these reasons that the civil servants rarely reached a tacit understanding with the military generals, and together they supported the advance into India.

What discord between civil and military officials? That’s all fleeting.

In this world, only interests are the most real.

Chapter 884: Immigration Strategies

“Attacking India is a major undertaking, and we still need to be cautious. According to intelligence from India, the Mughal Empire is currently very powerful. This kind of unified central dynasty is not as easy to deal with as Japan.

To defeat the Mughal Empire, we’d need at least several hundred thousand troops. Such a long journey poses a huge logistical problem.”

Ruan Dacheng offered a reminder. He wasn’t necessarily opposed, but he was cautioning everyone that attacking India would be difficult.

“That’s not a problem. The Mughals only have a large population; the rest is insignificant. Besides, their people aren’t united at all, and their social stratification is severe. With our military strength, we can completely give them a beatdown.”

Tang Guozhen stated the military’s position.

With the military guaranteeing success, Ruan Dacheng naturally didn’t say much more.

After all, Great Hua’s military strength was indeed invincible, so there wasn’t much to worry about.

As for the issue of governing after the conquest, he heard that the Indians were relatively easy to subdue, lacking a spirit of resistance, and easy to rule.

“Since everyone supports prioritizing the attack on India next, then it’s settled. Minister Tao, please develop a detailed plan as soon as possible. Although we have overwhelming strength, we can’t be too careless.”

Wu Changqing made the final decision.

With the first matter settled, the next was the second: immigration.

The people of Great Hua had a strong sense of attachment to their homeland, emphasizing returning to their roots and being reluctant to leave their native soil.

Therefore, the common people weren’t enthusiastic about immigration.

Another reason left Wu Changqing and the others speechless: the living environment in Great Hua was getting better and better.

Now that they could eat their fill and dress warmly, they were even less willing to risk immigrating overseas.

How to get the people to immigrate overseas on a large scale was their second topic for today.

“We could implement mandatory conscription, stipulating that families with more than two sons must have one follow the court’s arrangements and go to live overseas,”

Ma Shiying said. His method was simple and crude.

“No, that would stir up public resentment. Separating a good family by thousands of li, preventing them from reuniting, is a human tragedy. Those who go overseas will also be filled with resentment towards the court,”

Ouyang Shiqi directly objected, regardless of his low status.

Ma Shiying’s thinking was still stuck in the old days, completely disregarding the people, arbitrarily enslaving them, and not considering their feelings.

This kind of thinking violated Wu Changqing’s principles.

“That method is indeed not good. Tyranny easily triggers popular uprisings. Especially for the people overseas, where the mountains are high and the emperor is far away, management is difficult, and we can’t let them harbor resentment towards the court,”

The rising star in the officialdom, Ye Chen, also chose to object. Now, in the court of Great Hua, these rising stars had become a very powerful force.

“We should still focus on encouragement and enticing them with benefits,”

Hong Chengchou suggested.

“But what can attract the people overseas? Now foreigners are desperately trying to come to live in the Central Plains. Would the people in the Central Plains be willing to go overseas?”

Ma Shiying questioned.

“Perhaps, we can use land to attract them. In the Central Plains, each family can only own fifty mu of land, ensuring that there are no large landlords in the country.

However, there must still be many people who want to be landlords. We can stipulate that there is no such restriction overseas, and they can own unlimited land and become large landlords.

In that case, some ambitious people will choose to immigrate,”

Liu Dahua said.

He came from a typical landlord family and had a deep-rooted obsession with land. He regretted having to sell his family’s land during the land reform for a long time.

As someone from this class, he also understood the landlords’ thinking very well.

Land was a symbol of wealth, status, and power.

He believed that as long as they were allowed to own large amounts of land overseas, many people would be willing to take a gamble.

Liu Dahua didn’t know about others, but he would definitely arrange for a branch of his family to go overseas to develop, and provide a lot of financial support.

This kind of wealthy, large family immigration was more advantageous than ordinary people’s immigration.

Because they had money, they didn’t have to worry about not being able to survive after immigrating overseas.

Of course, letting these people immigrate also had risks.

These were people with knowledge, culture, management skills, and capital. Relying on these foundations, they could completely develop into small forces overseas.

Overseas, land annexation was allowed, and after mutual annexation, they would form large forces, and might even be able to confront local officials, or even the central government.

“I think it’s possible,”

Another official said. He had similar ideas to Liu Dahua.

In the Central Plains, no matter how great their power was, they were actually dependent on Wu Changqing. As long as Wu Changqing said a word, a policy could determine their fate.

These days were actually very insecure. They hoped to have some capital and power to contend with the court.

Just like the previous Ming Dynasty, they controlled the economic lifeline of the South, and the court couldn’t attack them.

After Wu Changqing came to power, he gradually confiscated this power, which made them very depressed.

And now, they saw hope again, which was overseas.

Overseas, the mountains were high and the emperor was far away. The central court’s power overseas was definitely much lower than in the Central Plains, making it easier for them to develop some power.

They didn’t have any thoughts of rebelling or anything like that, they just wanted to increase some bargaining chips in their hands, and then be able to play a role in restraining the emperor, so that all the power wouldn’t be concentrated in Wu Changqing alone.

Although some other officials didn’t have the idea of arranging for their family members to develop overseas, they didn’t object at this time.

In the end, Wu Changqing agreed to this suggestion.

He actually sensed the risks involved to some extent, not because he had such a keen political sense, but because he knew history.

Wasn’t the founding of America like this?

Those in the colonies gradually had the ability to compete with the mainland, so they all became independent.

Why pay taxes to the mainland when it’s more enjoyable to collect taxes yourself?

It was precisely because he understood this history that Wu Changqing wasn’t flustered.

As long as he ensured that the central government’s military force had overwhelming strength over the overseas territories, this situation wouldn’t occur.

American independence was also achieved through military force. Moreover, in the American Revolutionary War, the weapons in their hands weren’t much worse than those of the mainland army.

This was England’s mistake, or perhaps their helplessness.

And Great Hua could avoid this problem.

They could suppress the development of the overseas military industry, only allowing overseas territories to develop industries related to people’s livelihoods.

At that time, facing the central government’s airplanes and cannons, where would those overseas colonies, armed with rifles and unable to produce even machine gun production lines, get the confidence to challenge them?

Chapter 885: Immigration Strategy 2

The new immigration policy caused quite a stir among the propertied classes.

The new policy stipulated that any land acquired overseas through one’s own ability would be considered private property, as long as these territories acknowledged their allegiance to Great Hua.

Furthermore, the overseas tax policy differed from that of the Central Plains, not employing a progressive system.

This eliminated concerns about higher tax rates with increased land ownership.

These two conditions alone were enough to entice countless individuals.

The Han people’s obsession with land was a tradition spanning thousands of years, and Great Hua’s land reform hadn’t changed their mindset.

Given the opportunity, they once again aspired to become large landlords.

Their biggest concern now was whether this policy was permanent, and whether Wu Changqing might suddenly demand its revocation.

If that were to happen, it would be utterly disgusting.

Watching everything one owns suddenly vanish would be the most painful experience.

Those interested began leveraging their connections to inquire about the situation with influential ministers in the court, and the results were optimistic.

While the policy wasn’t permanent, it was generally believed that Great Hua wouldn’t undertake a second land reform.

This was because the court had recognized that land reform hindered the promotion and use of large-scale agricultural machinery.

Moreover, with the acceleration of industrialization, people’s dependence on land was far less than in the agricultural era.

In the agricultural era, losing land meant a lifetime of ruin for ordinary people.

But now, many people, even with land, chose to work in the cities and rent their land to others.

Without land, they could still seek opportunities in the cities, and often ended up doing better than those who stayed in the countryside.

Times were changing too fast, and even Wu Changqing and others hadn’t foreseen this situation.

Of course, land reform wasn’t entirely wrong; it had achieved some progress at the time. Furthermore, people in Great Hua’s remote areas were still benefiting from this policy.

However, in the future, Great Hua would certainly not need to strictly control land ownership.

Therefore, those who wanted to become landlords overseas could rest assured.

With these assurances, many large families began to take action.

Men with power and influence often had more than one son.

And Great Hua followed the system of primogeniture, where, in theory, only the eldest son had the right to inherit the family property.

In reality, things weren’t so extreme; other sons could also receive some inheritance, though far less than the eldest son.

Now, a golden opportunity presented itself to these younger and illegitimate sons.

If they were willing to go overseas, the family would provide substantial support.

More importantly, the land they developed overseas and the wealth they earned would belong to them alone, beyond the reach of their elder brother.

This excited many ambitious individuals.

How could ambitious people be content with being subservient to others for their entire lives?

The Tong family, Tong Youwei, once again gathered several of his sons, brothers, and nephews.

Among his sons, the eldest was learning the ropes of business in a conventional manner, while the second son, Tong Xuming, was a scoundrel who had even faced legal trouble recently and was now confined by Tong Youwei.

The third son was making great strides, with his overseas business flourishing, and the fourth son was also doing well, having joined the research team for engine development.

His eldest daughter, Tong Xiangyu, was also excelling, ranking at the top of her class in the academy and planning to take the imperial examination next year, declaring her intention to become Great Hua’s first female Number One Scholar.

With his children having made their choices, Tong Youwei could only offer the opportunity to immigrate overseas to his brothers and nephews.

“Immigrating overseas is an opportunity, a chance for our Tong family to branch out, to flourish and grow. If any of you want to go, speak up, and the family will provide some assistance,” Tong Youwei said.

“I’ll go,” Tong Xuyou said.

“You’ll go? What about your business?” Tong Youwei asked.

“Compared to doing business, I actually prefer adventure and exploration. Seizing land overseas from the local natives is a very interesting prospect. As for the business, it won’t be neglected too much,” Tong Xuyou said.

Having an overseas business wasn’t enough for him; he also wanted his own land.

The eldest son, Tong Xucheng, felt somewhat displeased because Tong Xuyou’s overseas business had already stolen much of his limelight.

Out of jealousy, he didn’t want the family to invest any more resources in Tong Xuyou.

So, Tong Xucheng said, “I’m afraid that’s not appropriate. The overseas business is very important, Third Brother shouldn’t abandon the substance for the shadow.”

“That’s nothing for Eldest Brother to worry about, I can handle both,”

…

After a series of internal family squabbles, the Tong family finally decided on Tong Youwei’s nephew, Tong Xushen, as the one to go overseas.

Tong Xuyou would also go overseas, but he would have to rely on himself, as all the resources provided by the family would be focused on Tong Xushen.

Tong Xuyou couldn’t do anything about it; who told him to be an illegitimate son, and one who didn’t know how to restrain himself at that? It was normal to be targeted.

But Tong Xuyou wasn’t worried; he believed in his own abilities.

Having been in business overseas for many years, he had also accumulated his own network of contacts, and had good relationships with several mid- and high-ranking officers in the navy.

When he encountered trouble while seizing land in the future, he could ask them for help.

The Li family was originally a traditional large landlord class, with extensive experience in matters concerning the fields.

After the land reform, they were forced to sell their land and come to the city to do business.

But due to a lack of business acumen, their business struggled amidst the nationwide frenzy of getting rich.

While they didn’t go bankrupt, they didn’t make much money either.

Upon learning that they could become landlords overseas, the Li family simply sold off all their businesses and prepared to immigrate overseas as a whole family, to pick up their family’s old trade.

Managing land was what they were best at.

The Li family was more thorough than other families, bringing along all members, young and old, preparing to leave the Central Plains, a place of sorrow for them.

In Great Hua’s rapid development, not everyone was a beneficiary; there were a few who fared worse than before.

The Tong family and the Li family were just two of countless large families, and similar decisions were being made in other large families as well.

And in the drama of who would go, countless interesting stories of infighting unfolded.

In some families, no one was willing to go, and they all passed the buck to each other, until the half-dead family head directly designated a candidate.

In other families, several people were vying to go, almost fighting over the opportunity.

The Tong family’s power struggles were relatively mild; in some other families, they even broke ties and split apart because of it.

These various aspects of human nature had little impact on Great Hua’s immigration efforts.

In the second week after the policy was announced, the first batch of overseas immigrants began to take action.

Their destination was the west coast of North America, mainly the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.

Chapter 886: North America

The immigration of large families is completely different from that of ordinary people.

Most ordinary immigrants are young, strong, and single men, without even a decent bundle of belongings. They also travel on Great Hua’s official ships.

But the large families bring their wives and concubines, along with a large number of hired servants. A single family often numbers in the hundreds.

Adding in a large amount of weapons, tools, and living supplies, basically one family occupies the space of an entire ship.

The first batch to set sail consisted of thirteen families, totaling over three thousand people. This is just the beginning; future immigrant fleets will only grow larger.

Accompanying them are the Great Hua Navy and a detachment of marines.

These troops are going to help the immigrants seize territory. It would be a disaster to let these untrained people confront tens of thousands of natives.

Warfare is best left to the professionals.

The Huaxia army will charge ahead, defeat and subdue the local native tribes, and then sell or lease the seized territory to the immigrants at a low price.

At the port, the docks were crowded with people seeing them off, and many commoners came to join in the fun.

“I heard that these people are going to that Gold Mountain in America, which is tens of thousands of li away from here.”

“Tens of thousands of li? Isn’t that practically the edge of the world?”

“It’s not quite the edge of the world, it only takes two or three months to get there. Moreover, I heard that there are countless gold and unclaimed lands there that can be occupied at will. Otherwise, why would these pampered masters be willing to go so far?”

“Really? Now that you mention it, I also want to immigrate to America.”

“Then go ahead. Anyway, the imperial court is now providing support. As long as you register and apply, you can take the government’s free ship there. There are also subsidies for food, tools, and the like.”

…

The commoners who came to watch discussed among themselves, and some of them were tempted when they heard about the gold mines and unclaimed land.

It’s not just the former landlords who want to be landlords; the former commoners also want to be landlords.

And right now, there is an opportunity right in front of them.

Some people with determination and courage are already preparing to act and head to America.

Relying solely on the immigration of large families is not enough, and immigration from a single social class is also not ideal.

Subsequently, the government released a piece of news saying that gold mines had been discovered in San Francisco.

This was to attract those from the lower classes, single men, and speculators.

The allure of gold mines far exceeds any other policies promulgated by the imperial court.

Where there are gold mines, no official encouragement is needed; those who yearn to get rich will flock there.

The first batch of immigrants had barely set off when the second batch was already prepared, just waiting for ships.

In this batch, there were still many people from large families, but there were also more people from the lower classes, as well as some adventurous men.

In addition to these normal methods of immigration, there is also a little-known method.

Guided by the imperial court and secretly carried out by the military.

They go to Korea, Japan, and Annam, and forcibly arrange for some people to go to North America.

It seems like a lot of trouble, but it still has many benefits for national integration.

Going to a strange place with a common enemy, these people will naturally rely on Great Hua’s strength for protection, and they will also unite with each other.

Having gone through thick and thin together, the barriers between ethnic groups will easily disappear.

Another benefit is naturally to weaken the population ratio in places like Korea, Japan, and Annam.

After immigrating these people to America in large numbers, they will then arrange for some Han Chinese to immigrate to Korea, Japan, and Annam, increasing the proportion of the Han population.

This move may seem like a lot of pointless effort, but it is of great help in Sinicizing places like Japan.

North America, San Francisco.

The Great Hua immigrants who came here before encountered a predicament: a severe shortage of manpower.

They only had more than three thousand people, plus the two thousand or so who came later, for a total of just over five thousand people.

Among them were some elderly, weak, women, and children, as well as some honest farmers. These people couldn’t go to the battlefield and fight the natives to the death.

Those who could take up arms and go to battle numbered less than two thousand.

These two thousand people needed to protect the elderly, weak, women, and children in the settlement, protect those who went to mine gold, and protect their own fields from being sabotaged and stolen by the natives.

Even with the advantage of weapons, under the huge numerical disadvantage, they could only protect themselves and could not expand further.

The native population of North America is very large, about thirty million.

Although most of them are in the eastern plains, there are also many on the west coast.

The lack of people made it impossible for Great Hua to expand the scale of mining even after discovering gold mines.

Not long ago, a French fleet also landed in the San Francisco area and learned about the gold mines, sending people to seize them.

The two sides fought, and the French were undoubtedly defeated, fleeing north in a panic, looking very pathetic.

However, these immigrants from Great Hua could only go so far, and there was no good way to deal with these Frenchmen. Because this mining area is too large, throwing a few thousand people into this mining area, you can’t even see a shadow of a person.

After the French discovered that they couldn’t win, they started doing sneaky things, quietly searching for and mining gold in this mining area.

Of course, their lives are not easy either. On the one hand, they have to worry about being discovered by the Great Hua people, and on the other hand, they have to worry about being discovered by the large tribes of local Indians.

Two months later, Great Hua’s large-scale immigration began to arrive in San Francisco and Los Angeles one after another.

Mainly San Francisco, after all, there is a large plain east of San Francisco, which is a good place to grow crops. Gold mines have also been discovered in the northern region, and wealth can be achieved through mining.

At the pier, the Great Hua people warmly welcomed the arriving immigrants.

They prepared food and accommodation.

Of course they would welcome them. Anyway, there is too much land here, and their small group of people can’t occupy it all, so they are not afraid of more people coming to grab it.

More of their own people can also strengthen their own strength and grab more.

If there is too little land here and not enough to divide, they would definitely not be so enthusiastic, and might even refuse.

People are actually very simple.

Now they are like seeing relatives, cheering each other, and having a great time.

These people who have just arrived in America also feel the warmth and feel that immigration does not seem so pathetic.

In their hometown, their relationship with their fellow villagers is not so harmonious. Competing for land, water sources, and firewood is the daily routine.

After resting for a few days and recovering their strength, they followed behind the marines and began to march eastward to occupy more land and establish new villages and towns.

They came here to expand their territory, so of course it is impossible to just stay in San Francisco.

Chapter 887: North American Expansion

New Mountain City, as the Great Hua people call it, is actually the area around Auckland in later generations.

The Huaxia army arrived here, and then Wood Zhang, the battalion commander of the Marine Corps, sent soldiers to escort someone who already knew the local language to negotiate with the local tribes.

Great Hua’s policy towards the natives of North America is to try to bring them into its fold, that is, to make them Great Hua people.

Massacre is bad, massacre is wrong. These are all living people, they are labor.

Although these natives are uncivilized barbarians, as long as they are willing to submit, Great Hua can teach them to be civilized people.

This strategy is completely different from that of Western Europeans, so Great Hua adopts a different approach when seizing land.

Great Hua hopes to resolve things peacefully, such as by buying or deceiving.

In short, if they can avoid using force, they will try their best to avoid it.

Once force is used and large-scale bloodshed occurs, the relationship between the two sides will drop to freezing point.

This is not conducive to the complete rule of these natives in the future and needs to be avoided as much as possible.

Of course, if these natives are stubborn and insist on opposing Great Hua, Great Hua doesn’t mind learning from the Western Europeans.

Communicating with the chief is a painful task because the local natives’ language is very poor in vocabulary.

For example, their language does not have words like economy, good quality and low price, or stunning beauty, and even words like transaction and purchase are difficult to translate.

There is no way around it; the life of primitive tribes is too monotonous and does not require too many words.

They don’t need to trade with others, so there is no way to create the word “trade.”

Translator Lou Yijun could only speak while using various gestures to communicate.

Human communication is an important reason for promoting progress.

Lou Yijun communicated with the chief for a while, and the chief learned something.

During the communication, the chief did not become smarter, but he gained knowledge.

After some communication, Great Hua sent a lot of hoes, iron pots, and other production and living supplies to the tribe.

After that, the Great Hua people began to build walls and houses next to their tribe.

The uncultivated land in the wild was divided and cultivated by the arriving Great Hua people.

In fact, Lou Yijun was not sure whether the chief fully understood his meaning.

His meaning was that Great Hua used those things to exchange for this land with them.

Anyway, the chief had a smile on his face at the time, and Lou Yijun felt that there should be no problem.

Moreover, when they were busy, the people in the tribe were also watching from a distance and did not come to cause trouble. It seemed that they didn’t care about the Huaxia army’s behavior.

Several Great Hua people who were building houses wanted to show off their superiority, took out a piece of meat, and pointed to the wooden boards.

Some of the onlookers understood because other Great Hua people were also carrying wooden boards.

They learned from those people to carry them, and then the Great Hua people gave them a piece of fragrant meat, which made these natives dance an unknown dance and be very happy.

The Great Hua people couldn’t help laughing when they saw this.

For the time being, the two sides get along harmoniously.

However, this kind of scene cannot continue forever.

When the grain they planted is ripe in the future, these natives may go to harvest it.

After all, they used to eat whatever they saw that was edible, and they didn’t have much concept of private property.

At that time, conflicts will inevitably arise between the two sides.

But there is actually no need to worry too much. As long as Great Hua can teach these natives Chinese and enrich their vocabulary, they will be able to communicate normally in the future.

If that doesn’t work, if conflicts arise at that time, it is impossible for the immigrants from Great Hua to suffer losses.

After settling this place, Lou Yijun took people to the next place.

This one place alone cannot accommodate all the immigrants.

Wood Zhang still used the old method, first negotiate.

This time, it was not as smooth as before. The chief of this tribe was hot-tempered and had no patience to communicate.

After a few words were misunderstood, he drove Lou Yijun away.

During this process, pushes and shoves inevitably occurred between the two sides.

“Damn it, these barbarians really don’t know what’s good for them. We came to treat their illnesses, teach them how to plant, give them tools, and improve their lives, but they don’t want any of it. They’re just out of their minds…”

Lou Yijun cursed loudly. He was grazed by an arrow during the pushing and shoving, and a piece of skin fell off, which hurt like hell.

“Battalion Commander, since those people are unwilling to communicate, then just conquer them directly. This can also serve as a warning to others. The previous tribe that cooperated with us lived a good life, while this one that didn’t cooperate with us was destroyed.

When other tribes learn about the situation here, they should be able to make the right choice when facing us in the future.”

A Huaxia army soldier said, and others echoed.

They are soldiers, not immigrants, and they are more eager for war.

“Prepare to attack, and be careful not to kill indiscriminately. Just subdue them.”

Wood Zhang reminded.

Although the other party is a barbarian, they cannot be treated like animals. The military regulations that should be followed must still be followed.

The Huaxia army decided to attack, and the natives of this tribe also rushed out with various primitive weapons. They were not afraid at all.

This tribe is very large, and there are three to four thousand adult men who can fight.

On the Huaxia army’s side, there is only one battalion of regular army, about five hundred people. There are also militia units composed of immigrants, with more than five hundred people.

They did not bring field artillery, but only some light mortars.

However, this is enough.

Facing the natives who were rushing over while howling, the Huaxia army’s artillery calmly opened fire, first consuming the number of enemies.

They don’t have many mortars, so the damage to the natives is not particularly great, at least not enough to scare those natives away. Those natives continued to charge under the leadership of the chief.

Then, the machine gunners also began to fire, and the soldiers also raised their guns.

The powerful firepower instantly caused a large number of natives to fall, and the chief who was rushing in the front was naturally not spared.

But it doesn’t matter, his son is leading the remaining part of the people to continue charging.

The rest of the people were shocked by the corpses around them.

It is human nature to be afraid of death, and they are no exception.

The Huaxia army fired another volley, and the chief’s son was also shot and killed. The remaining natives immediately collapsed and fled back to the tribe in a frenzy.

The militiamen in the Huaxia army who were originally extremely nervous now felt very embarrassed.

They were nervous for nothing. This kind of unequal battle did not require them at all.

The only thing they can do is to clean up the battlefield.

A huge native tribe was conquered so easily.

Those who survived lost their backbone and were at the mercy of the Huaxia army.

Chapter 888: The Merchant Kidnapping Incident

The battles in North America were just minor skirmishes. The Huaxia army’s operations in India were the real battle.

After the plan to conquer India was formulated, Great Hua began to take action.

Great Hua’s initial plan was to first take Bengal. India was too large, and its population too numerous, to swallow in one gulp. It required a process, a gradual nibbling away.

If they presented the posture of wanting to devour the entire country in one bite, the Mughal Empire would definitely fight desperately.

But if they only wanted to occupy Bengal, the Mughal Empire, in order to avoid being destroyed by Great Hua, might just tearfully acquiesce.

First occupy Bengal, then digest it, achieve effective rule over Bengal, and then march westward, continuing to nibble away.

Bengal was actually not small, with an area of over one hundred thousand square kilometers.

Moreover, because it was almost entirely plains, with numerous rivers, abundant water, and fertile land, the population was also large.

Just Bengal alone would not be easy to digest.

In order to take Bengal, the Huaxia army prepared the Third Fleet, as well as a large number of ground troops.

The main force of the Huaxia army consisted of two divisions: the 301st Division, mainly composed of Japanese soldiers, and the 401st Division, mainly composed of Annamese soldiers, plus other logistics personnel, totaling seventy thousand troops.

Of course, these troops could not just sail directly to India.

Before going to war, regardless of whether you are in the right or not, you have to say that you are in the right.

If there is no reason to claim, then you have to find an excuse.

For example, Great Hua merchants getting lost in India, goods being robbed, and envoys being humiliated.

Although, a smart person could see at a glance that this was an excuse, such an excuse to make oneself look like one is in the right was indispensable.

To give an inappropriate example, among two people who have a conflict and fight, the one who feels they are in the wrong often has a more ferocious aura.

And the one who feels they are not in the right often restrains themselves when striking.

There is more or less this kind of pattern between countries.

In short, before going to war, you need to make yourself feel like you are on the side of justice, which can boost morale and bring many other benefits.

Great Hua’s intelligence agency was already in action. They arranged for a merchant ship to deliberately flaunt its wealth in Calcutta, while exposing the fact that it was not equipped with any weapons.

Such behavior was like a child walking in the downtown area holding gold, making it difficult not to be targeted.

As soon as they set sail, Indians immediately transformed into pirates and robbed the ship.

Their intention was to kill everyone to silence them, so that no one would know they did it.

Little did they know, they had fallen into Great Hua’s trap.

When they robbed the ship, the merchants on board had made preparations in advance and all escaped.

The people escaped, but they couldn’t just abandon a ship full of silver coins and goods.

So, the pirates still robbed all the goods and then burned the ship.

It was fortunate that this was an old-fashioned merchant ship. If it were one of the newly built ironclad ships, they might not have been able to damage it at all.

Having seized a large amount of treasure, these people were in a good mood.

Two days later, a Great Hua warship stationed in Colombo arrived in Calcutta with these merchants, demanding to enter the city to search for the pirates.

The Governor of Calcutta, Amir, naturally refused. What a joke! The Mughal Empire was a unified great empire.

It was one thing to allow Great Hua merchants to bring some weapons ashore to do business, but it was completely different to allow Great Hua’s army to enter the city.

Amir said that he would definitely catch the culprits and give Great Hua an explanation.

Great Hua showed its ‘reasonable’ side, giving Amir three days.

In these three days, Amir turned Calcutta upside down and actually caught one of them.

But the trouble was that the rest had already run away. Even more deadly was that the stolen money had already been divided up, and the captured guy had already contributed the money to casinos and brothels.

Amir was furious. He felt that to appease the anger of the Great Hua people, he would probably have to catch the rest of the people and compensate them in full.

Catching people was not difficult. Amir was confident that he could do it with a little more time.

The difficulty was compensation. It was impossible to expect the Mughal Empire’s court to allocate funds for this kind of thing, and it was also impossible to expect Amir to pay out of his own pocket.

Amir had a headache and sent someone to negotiate with the Huaxia army, hoping to give them more time, and subtly expressed that the property might not be recovered, so that the Great Hua people could be mentally prepared.

“What, you haven’t caught them yet? You are just perfunctory, you don’t want to catch people at all. It seems that we can only personally enter the city to search, only in this way can we bring those people to justice.”

Great Hua’s envoy, Qiu Wenxi, immediately flew into a rage, saying that Amir did not take this matter to heart and deliberately did not make an effort.

“This…”

The Indian envoy, Yunus, was dumbfounded.

They expected that Great Hua would haggle over the finances. As for those criminals, was there a big difference between catching them and not catching them?

They never expected that Great Hua’s envoy would not mention the finances at all, and just insisted on catching those robbers.

Moreover, he directly lost his temper.

Something was not right. Yunus smelled something unusual.

If the robbery hadn’t really happened, he would have suspected that the Huaxia army was deliberately picking a fight.

“This is definitely not possible. Master Qiu, give us some more time, we will definitely catch the people.”

Yunus said.

Letting the Huaxia army enter the city was definitely not possible. There was no room for discussion on this matter, as it concerned the face of the Mughal Empire.

Even if they didn’t care about face, if a group of soldiers entered the city to search, the city would be turned upside down.

The reputation of soldiers in the old days was not good. Not only did the Ming Dynasty have soldier-bandits, but other countries and regions also had soldier-bandits.

“I think you are deliberately obstructing and trying to protect some of the robbers. This is something that Great Hua cannot tolerate, and will regard it as a provocation to Great Hua. If you do not agree, then we can only force our way in.”

Qiu Wenxi said.

“You are being unreasonable, you are the ones provoking, you will be fully responsible.”

Yunus said angrily.

This was too much! This was the territory of the Mughal Empire. A Great Hua warship with a few hundred sailors dared to clamor. No one could tolerate it.

Although this warship looked very mighty and domineering, it was still just one ship. Why were they being so arrogant?

“Since that’s the case, then please go back.”

Qiu Wenxi said.

“You…”

Yunus was so angry that he was half dead. The Great Hua people had no attitude of negotiation at all, and were obviously deliberately picking a fight.

Helpless, Yunus could only quickly return to the city to report to Governor Amir, so that Amir could prepare.

“What, the Great Hua people are going to attack?”

Amir was also trembling with anger. This was simply too disrespectful to him.

“Order the army to prepare. I want to see what they can do to us with just a few hundred people, and most of them can’t even land.”

Chapter 889: Stainless Steel

Amir guessed correctly. These few hundred people from Great Hua were naturally untouchable.

A company of a hundred men fired several hundred shots outside Calcutta, exchanged fire with the Indian garrison, and then retreated. Even the warships directly withdrew from the port.

Although the Mughal Empire’s navy was pathetic, many ants could kill an elephant.

Even if those people rowed fishing boats, they could surround and capture Great Hua’s cruiser from all directions.

Although the Huaxia army could inflict great casualties on the enemy, there was no need to risk their lives.

Having achieved the desired effect of creating conflict, they retreated to Colombo, then sent a message back home, awaiting the arrival of the main force.

When the news reached home, the people of Great Hua were outraged.

The tiny Mughal dared to call itself an empire, clearly not taking Great Hua seriously. They even dared to rob Great Hua’s merchants and fire upon Great Hua’s army.

This was intolerable!

With the guidance of public opinion and the promotion by experts, almost all the people supported attacking the Mughal.

The loudest voices came from Japan and Annam.

They were the ones who most wanted Great Hua to expand because after conquering the Mughal Empire, they would no longer be at the bottom of the social ladder. At that time, they could also go to India to lord it over others.

The thought of that was simply wonderful.

With the support of the people, the imperial court followed public opinion, stating that it would immediately dispatch a large army to India, determined to defeat it and ensure the safety of every overseas citizen.

These fine words naturally earned the people’s praise once again.

At the send-off ceremony for the army, countless people came to see them off. The scene was incredibly moving.

In the sixth year of Yongxing, Great Hua not only achieved significant military achievements and continuous victories, but also made remarkable progress in domestic development.

As early as May, Great Hua manufactured its first piece of stainless steel.

To be precise, it was chromium stainless steel.

Stainless steel is a general term for steel that is resistant to air, steam, acids, alkalis, and other corrosive media. There are actually hundreds of varieties.

The most common is chromium stainless steel, which is steel containing a large amount of chromium.

Of course, chromium stainless steel can be further divided into several types depending on the chromium content.

Different chromium content results in different steel properties, and the applicable range naturally varies greatly.

The first stainless steel manufactured by Great Hua was austenitic stainless steel, containing more than eighteen percent chromium and several other trace elements.

This type of stainless steel has good plasticity and toughness, and is suitable for welding, making it particularly necessary for the shipbuilding industry.

Although the shipbuilding industry had already adopted welding technology, the joints were prone to bubbles, rust, and a series of other problems after welding.

It was barely usable, but the maintenance costs were very high.

With this stainless steel, the future manufacturing and maintenance costs could be significantly reduced.

Great Hua had more and more machines, and they were being used in more and more places. The problem of machine rusting was exposed, becoming a huge headache.

Although some people were trying to find a solution, progress was slow.

Finally, Fu Xun, the general manager of the steel plant, shamelessly reported to Wu Changqing, hoping that Wu Changqing could have the Ministry of Science and Technology spare some manpower to form a dedicated research team to tackle this problem.

All along, Great Hua’s major technological advances had been made by science and technology teams.

So Fu Xun also wanted to seek help in this area.

It was reckless to bother the Emperor with such a small matter when he was so busy.

However, what might be a small matter to other officials was not necessarily so in Wu Changqing’s eyes.

After learning about the current market demand for various special-performance steels, he immediately arranged for people to specialize in the research of stainless steel.

This time, he spared no expense, spending a large number of resource points to redeem all kinds of special steel, one hundred Jin of each, all for research purposes.

At the same time, the manufacturing principles, processes, and compositions of each type of special steel were also redeemed with technology points.

The value of these things was priceless at the moment.

Relying solely on the self-driven evolution of society, it would be a pipe dream to expect the stainless steel industry to develop to maturity in less than a hundred years.

But Wu Changqing was essentially taking out the results of more than a hundred years in one go.

As long as these people devoted themselves to research in the future, they could probably fully understand it in two or three years.

After all, with recipes, process flows, and samples, they didn’t need to do in-depth research, just follow the process to manufacture it.

As long as they could make these stainless steels, the underlying principles were not particularly important.

It was the same as with gunpowder and firearms in the past. They didn’t know that bullets were fired because the violent burning of gunpowder generated high temperature and high pressure, and they didn’t know that internal energy was converted into mechanical energy.

But it didn’t matter, it didn’t affect the large-scale use of firearms.

Although it felt like knowing what it is but not why it is, it didn’t really affect development. Theory could be put aside for later study.

The people researching stainless steel were also similar. They didn’t know why steels with different compositions exhibited different properties.

But it didn’t matter, just use them in different places according to their different properties.

Steam corrosion resistant ones were used to make steam engine parts.

High temperature and high pressure resistant ones were used to make boilers.

Acid and alkali corrosion resistant ones were used to make tableware and chemical machinery.

High-strength ones could be used to make turbine blades, engines, and so on.

In addition to these samples and technical drawings, Wu Changqing also redeemed a large number of rare metals.

Chromium, lithium, radium, gallium, rare earths, actinide metals, lanthanide metals…

Whenever there was a very rare metal, one that they didn’t know where to mine for the time being, or one that was extremely difficult to mine, Wu Changqing redeemed a lot of it for research and industrial use.

This was actually a bit wasteful, since these minerals could still be found on Earth as long as people were sent to increase exploration efforts.

However, this took time.

Wu Changqing sent people to explore while also directly redeeming some to meet current industrial needs, so as not to delay the speed of industrial development.

After all, to manufacture those stainless steels, technology alone was not enough, you also needed raw materials.

Wu Changqing did this mainly because the territory had recently exploded in size, and resource points had soared.

This time, Wu Changqing consumed a total of more than twenty million resource points and more than five million technology points.

This resource consumption was directly more than the sum of all previous consumption.

Of course, the resources redeemed this time were enough for the steel industry to use for three or four years.

In three or four years, the mines for these rare metals should also be found, and the demand could be met through mining, achieving a perfect transition.

Chapter 890: Copper

After this round of spending, Wu Changqing checked the system data.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Current territory area: twelve million four hundred thousand square kilometers, total resource points: three hundred and seventy-two million, remaining: three hundred and twenty-eight million five hundred thousand.

Current jurisdiction population: two hundred and twenty million four hundred thousand, total technology points: two hundred and twenty million four hundred thousand, remaining: one hundred and fifty-six million three hundred and twenty thousand.

It seems like there are still a lot of resource points and technology points, but the further you go, the faster they disappear.

Like this time, just for the needs of the steel industry alone, he spent twenty million resource points and five million technology points.

At this rate, they’ll be gone after another ten or twenty times.

The system also prompted that there would be updates in the future. Based on Wu Changqing’s gaming experience, updates are meant to stimulate player spending and will definitely bring out some expensive new gadgets.

Therefore, Wu Changqing can’t use up all these resource points and technology points. He has to save some for a rainy day.

What if the store has materials that achieve superconductivity at room temperature after the update, or controllable nuclear fusion raw materials and technology, or even a divine medicine that can keep a man vigorous even at seventy? Wouldn’t he cry to death if he couldn’t buy them because he didn’t have the resources?

No matter how well Great Hua develops, it’s not as important as staying virile or achieving personal longevity. He’s not a true saint.

The land area on Earth is limited, and Wu Changqing isn’t sure if the system would acknowledge planting a flag on the moon and declaring it Great Hua territory.

As of now, the entire world is under Wu Changqing’s control.

The only thing he can’t control, and that remains mysterious, is this damn system.

Faced with this unknown entity, Wu Changqing is very cautious, neither overusing it nor completely relying on it.

Whether this is the right thing to do, he’s not sure. He’ll only know in the future.

The emergence of stainless steel is an evolution of the steel industry.

Previously, it was about solving the problem of going from nothing to something. Now, it’s about solving the problem of going from something to something better.

With various types of stainless steel, the performance of machines can be greatly improved.

At the same time, some machines that couldn’t be built before can now be made.

For example, high-speed engines. Engines made of ordinary steel couldn’t run too fast, as the parts would quickly be damaged.

Machines that can’t run continuously have no practical value, even if they’re built.

But with the use of special stainless steel, the lifespan of parts can be greatly increased, allowing the engine to run faster.

The improvement in engine performance has a huge impact on the entire industry.

This is also a prerequisite for building airplanes. If the speed isn’t fast enough, it’s impossible to get off the ground.

And now, as long as the engine continues to be improved, it’s theoretically possible to manufacture airplanes.

Hot air balloons and hydrogen balloons have major flaws, and are only useful in military situations to achieve surprising results. They don’t have much use at other times.

With Wu Changqing’s reminder, people are already researching the problem of getting airplanes into the sky.

With special steel, projects that couldn’t be done before can now be put on the agenda, such as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.

This is an important project to connect the north and south railways, and it has been proposed many times.

However, the people in the Ministry of Science and Technology previously stated that the current strength and toughness of steel were not enough. Either the piers would have to be built very low and very densely, with very small intervals, or the steel would collapse due to insufficient strength and toughness.

Building the piers too low and with too small intervals would affect the passage of ships, which wouldn’t be cost-effective.

Therefore, this project has been delayed.

But now, as long as high-strength, low-alloy steel is used, the span of the bridge can be increased, ensuring the passage of ships under five thousand tons.

Although there are still many difficulties, theoretically, they have the ability to build a bridge across the Yangtze River in Nanjing.

Connecting the north and south railways and highways will greatly reduce north-south transportation costs.

Currently, north-south transportation is very troublesome due to the obstruction of the Yangtze River, requiring several transfers along the way.

Coal from the North is transported by train to the north bank of Nanjing, and then transported by ship to the south bank.

Loading and unloading is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

This situation isn’t unique to Nanjing. Wuhan, Zhenjiang, Wuhu, all cities along the Yangtze River have a need to build bridges across the river.

The same is true for other places with large rivers.

Great Hua’s infrastructure projects have only just begun.

Steel is the most used metal in Great Hua, followed by copper and aluminum.

Silver is the best conductive metal, but silver is a high-value currency, and Great Hua can’t afford to use silver to make wires yet.

If they really did that, countless people would be cutting electrical wires at night to sell them.

Those wires strung in the wilderness would definitely not be spared.

When the benefits are high enough, the law struggles to maintain its deterrent effect.

Therefore, Great Hua’s current cables are all made of copper, and the crime of stealing electrical wires is very serious. The minimum sentence is ten years, and causing significant losses results in the death penalty.

Only in this way can thieves be dissuaded from stealing.

In addition to making cables, copper is also widely used in other areas. After the flintlock gun was phased out, Great Hua now uses copper for all bullets and some shells.

Valve, molds, sliding bearings, and other machine parts also require copper.

The Central Plains area is actually quite short of copper. Now, the range of copper applications is widening and the demand is increasing, leading to a situation of supply falling short of demand.

To this end, Wu Changqing also issued a decree that taxes should no longer be collected in copper coins, but only in silver coins and paper money.

This is to allow paper money to completely replace copper coins, so that the copper can be used in industry and other areas.

Using it as currency is too wasteful and unnecessary.

It’s also inconvenient. Now, prices are rising sharply, and one wen is becoming worthless.

Buying things entirely with copper coins would be exhausting.

To avoid causing too much turmoil, Wu Changqing didn’t ban the circulation of copper coins, nor did he forcibly require people to exchange copper coins for paper money.

That would easily cause panic and hoarding.

Moreover, paper money hasn’t become popular in remote areas yet. The main currency is still copper coins.

Trying to get paper money to completely replace copper coins in one go would be taking too big of a step, and could easily backfire.

Anyway, Great Hua isn’t particularly short of copper in industry for the time being, but it may be in the future.

Therefore, there’s no need to rush. Paper money can gradually replace copper coins.

As long as the people find that using paper money doesn’t affect their lives, they will no longer reject using it.

The Great Hua court’s credibility is much better than previous courts, and the people trust the court more. Therefore, the promotion of paper money is going smoothly. It just needs a little more time, and in the future, not only copper coins, but even silver coins will be completely replaced by paper money.

Chapter 891: Heavy Industry 1

Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the Earth’s crust, after oxygen and silicon.

Moreover, aluminum has excellent physical and chemical properties, making it suitable for a variety of uses.

Wu Changqing knew the importance of aluminum in later generations’ industry and life, so he developed the technology to refine aluminum early on.

Aluminum is chemically very active, so it is difficult to reduce, and it was extracted relatively late.

Napoleon’s favorite tableware was aluminum, but he didn’t like silver tableware. This was because aluminum was much more difficult to produce than silver at that time.

Rarity makes things precious, and aluminum was worth more than silver for a long time.

However, as refining technology improved, its price continued to decline sharply.

Now in Great Hua, aluminum doesn’t have that kind of high-profile moment.

After the Ma’anshan Aluminum Plant was built and produced aluminum products on a large scale, the price of aluminum was much lower than that of silver.

Subsequently, aluminum was used in many fields.

In terms of daily life, using aluminum to make rice steamers is much better than iron pots, because aluminum has much better thermal conductivity than iron, and aluminum easily forms a layer of oxide on the surface, which will not rust.

In terms of appearance alone, aluminum products are much better than iron products, smooth and silvery white.

Aluminum pots, kettles, and even pots, bowls, and pans.

Wealthy people can also use aluminum alloys to decorate houses, stair railings, balcony railings, and burglar-proof windows.

These aluminum alloys are lighter than iron products and do not rust, making them perfect metal decorations.

These are just embellishments to daily life. Having them makes life more colorful, but not having them doesn’t change people’s lives.

In industry, aluminum products are indispensable treasures.

Because aluminum alloys are light, they are very useful in automobiles, trains, and ships.

There are two ways to increase the speed of these means of transportation: one is to improve engine performance, and the other is to reduce their own weight.

The demand for aluminum in automobiles and ships is not so strong.

When airplanes are built in the future, aluminum alloys will be truly indispensable.

As the understanding of metals deepens and the use of various metals and alloys increases, Great Hua’s industry has also entered a heavy industry era.

In the past, there was an explosion of light industries such as textiles, papermaking, and ceramics. The heavy industries were steelmaking and machine tools.

Light industry was the main focus, and heavy industry was the auxiliary.

Now, Great Hua’s light industry is still prosperous. After all, the whole world is Great Hua’s dumping market, and it is far from saturated.

However, the imperial court has begun to invest its main energy and resources in heavy industry, prioritizing the development of heavy industry, which is the foundation of national strength.

Some countries in later generations look like they have a high per capita GDP, but without heavy industry, these countries cannot be considered strong countries.

When a war breaks out, the country next door with a per capita GDP of only one-tenth of theirs, but with a large amount of heavy industry, can beat them so badly that they have to go crying to Uncle Sam.

In the past two or three years, a number of heavy industry enterprises have emerged in Great Hua.

There are five steel plants with an annual output of more than two hundred thousand tons, namely Jiangnan Iron and Steel Plant with five hundred thousand tons, Ma’anshan Iron and Steel Plant with three hundred thousand tons, Foshan Baosteel with two hundred and fifty thousand tons, Wuhan Heavy Iron with two hundred and twenty thousand tons, and Shanghai Iron and Steel Plant with two hundred and ten thousand tons.

Other medium-sized steel plants are as numerous as hairs on an ox. Almost every large city with resources and convenient transportation has a steel plant.

There are no small steel plants, because the Great Hua imperial court does not provide technical support to small factories.

One reason is the low return, and the other is to prevent technology leakage.

The annual output of these medium-sized steel plants ranges from ten thousand tons to hundreds of thousands of tons. By the end of Yongxing seven, the national steel output had reached five million three hundred thousand tons, equivalent to the total global steel output in eighteen eighty in the original timeline.

It’s exaggerated, but it’s also a fact.

Great Hua’s steel industry does not lack resources, manpower, markets, or technology.

This is simply the most perfect industrial chain. It would be difficult not to develop rapidly. Even if a pig were to be the factory director, the factory could still make a profit.

A steel output of five million three hundred thousand tons is enough to make the leaders of other countries in the world cry in the toilet.

Surpass Great Hua, catch up with Great Hua?

The emperors of other countries probably have to kneel down and cry, “This subject cannot do it.”

Great Hua is not clear about the current steel output of other countries, but it can be inferred from sporadic information.

The United Kingdom may have fifty thousand tons, about the level of seventeen fifty, nearly a hundred years faster than in the original history. This achievement is worth being proud of, provided that you don’t compare it with Great Hua, otherwise the sense of accomplishment is extremely low.

Spain may have about twenty thousand tons, France about thirty thousand tons, the Austro-Hungarian Empire about ten thousand tons, and the Ottoman Empire has not yet started its reforms, so the annual output is estimated to be only one thousand tons.

Other countries are also insignificant and not worth mentioning.

The output of all other countries combined is not as good as a fraction of Great Hua’s.

The envoys of various countries in Great Hua today do not dare to send the development data of Great Hua back to their countries, for fear that their country’s emperor will be desperate, and that their own people will directly kneel down and call Great Hua “Father.”

When a country becomes strong to a certain extent, it is indeed enough to make people from other countries willingly join and become lower-class citizens.

The gap between various countries and Great Hua in the steel industry is only a quantitative gap. In other aspects, it is a qualitative gap, which is even greater.

For example, Great Hua now has Jinling Machine Tool Plant, Songjiang Machine Tool Plant, Wuhan Standard Machine Tool, and Foshan Longchang Machine Tool, four large machine tool plants.

These standard machine tools are what other countries envy.

Other countries do not have a single large machine tool plant. The technical content is too high, and they can’t handle it.

Not to mention large ones, even small machine tool plants are few.

Machine tools are the mother of industry. Without machine tools, there is no way to mass-produce high-precision machine parts, and other industries cannot develop.

Without machine tool technology, no matter how much steel is refined, it can only be used to make low-level goods such as knives and swords, and high-level goods such as engines cannot be made.

Foreign countries have almost no factories that manufacture machines, while in Great Hua, there are several such factories.

Ma’anshan Manufacturing Bureau, Wuhu Machine Factory, Guangzhou Parts General Factory, Jiangning Machinery Factory, and Jinling Machine Manufacturing General Factory.

These are relatively well-known machine manufacturing plants, and these factories contract Great Hua’s various machine manufacturing tasks.

These large factories only manufacture machines with high technical content. Some machine parts with lower technical content are contracted by various private small factories.

In the industrial zone of Nanjing, an entire park is full of such factories, producing thousands of kinds of machine parts, which is dazzling.

When there is demand, people’s creativity becomes infinite.

Wu Changqing did not participate in the creation of these various parts, but those intelligent laborers still managed to create them.

Chapter 892: Heavy Industry 2

Steel mills, machine tool factories, and machinery plants form the foundation of Great Hua’s industrial prosperity.

These factories allow other industries to flourish.

Take shipbuilding, for example. Great Hua now has dozens of shipyards, five of which are capable of building fully ironclad ships.

These are the Nanjing Xunhang Shipyard, the Shanghai Shunfeng Shipyard, the Shanghai Tongda Shipyard, the Guangzhou Dingsheng Shipyard, and the Hong Kong Deep Water Bay Shipyard.

Including other smaller shipyards, Great Hua’s total annual shipbuilding displacement can reach two hundred thousand tons, of which fifty thousand tons are warships and one hundred and fifty thousand tons are for civilian use.

That’s roughly twice the total of all other countries combined.

At first glance, it seems that the gap is much smaller than that of steel production.

But in reality, that’s not the case at all. Most of the ships in other countries are still wooden ships, and less than one percent of the wooden ships have added steam engine power.

As for ironclads, there are none.

Before solving the power problem, building ironclads is meaningless.

And Great Hua’s warships have completely eliminated wooden ships and are all ironclad.

Commercial transport ships are also gradually eliminating wooden ships.

Therefore, the total tonnage of ships in other countries seems to be very large, but the transportation capacity is actually very poor. As for warships, there is no need to mention them. Great Hua’s warships can sink the opponent’s warships just by ramming them, even without shells.

The gap in ships is far less than the gap in land transportation.

Great Hua has about five hundred locomotives, while other countries have none.

Great Hua has about three thousand cars, while other countries have none.

Great Hua has about fifteen thousand trucks, while other countries still have none.

This is just the gap in the seventh year of Yongxing, and this gap will quickly skyrocket.

Because Great Hua has now built several new automobile factories, and by next year, automobile production will increase several times.

Cars for passenger use actually provide very little help to Great Hua’s development.

The heavy trucks are the ones that can really play a big role. These heavy trucks greatly facilitate the transportation of goods on land.

Although ships have strong transportation capabilities, there are too many restrictions. They must be at sea, and inland they need large rivers.

And trains must have railways, which is also a big limitation.

There are only a few places with rivers, and there are only a few places suitable for building railways. Most of the transportation on land still has to rely on cars.

These trucks are currently mainly used in mining areas.

The development of industry is inseparable from energy and resources.

Coal mines, iron mines, copper mines, oil, and so on.

Many large machines have been used in these mines, such as conveyor belts.

Without conveyor belts, miners can only mine some open-pit mines, and there is no way to mine if they are buried underground.

Relying on manpower to move the underground ore to the ground, the value obtained may not be worth the workers’ wages.

With conveyor belts, workers in underground mines only need to load the ore into斗车 or onto the conveyor belt, and the machine can transport the ore up, greatly saving manpower and improving efficiency.

Open-pit mines are always a minority, and underground mines are the majority.

With the emergence of various deep-well mining machines, Great Hua’s mining volume of various ores will enter a period of rapid increase.

And trucks also allow these ores to be transported more conveniently and quickly.

Today, Great Hua has hundreds of mines, dozens of which are large.

Huainan open-pit coal, Haitian open-pit coal mine, Shanxi Datong coal mine, Ma’anshan iron mine, Ji’an tungsten mine, East China Oilfield, Japan Shimane silver mine…

At the end of the seventh year of Yongxing, Great Hua is planning its development plan for next year.

Some major projects have also been put on the agenda, such as hydropower stations.

Currently, electricity in Great Hua has been widely used, and the demand for electricity from major factories is increasing.

Relying solely on thermal power generation can no longer meet the growing demand.

Relatively speaking, using coal to generate electricity still requires the process of transporting coal, which is troublesome, costly, and uneconomical.

Therefore, Great Hua is now focusing on hydropower stations.

However, hydropower stations cannot be built everywhere. Areas with too little drop and slow water flow are naturally hopeless.

The Three Gorges area is suitable for building hydropower stations, but how to transmit electricity to the eastern region is an extremely difficult problem. With Great Hua’s current technological level, it cannot be solved.

Even if Wu Changqing takes out this technology, it will not work. Relevant talents still need to be cultivated.

This requires step-by-step progress, first solving the distance of fifty kilometers, accumulating technology and experience, and then solving five hundred kilometers.

Large hydropower stations cannot be built, but some small hydropower stations can be started, on the one hand, to provide a small amount of power, and on the other hand, to accumulate experience and cultivate talents.

In the year-end plan, oil fields are the top priority.

With the rapid development of automobiles, the demand for oil will increase.

Great Hua has already discovered oil fields outside the pass, which is the Daqing Oilfield in later generations.

The railway from Beijing to Shengjing is about to be completed, and the transportation problem has been greatly improved. The conditions for exploiting the Daqing Oilfield are already mature.

Daqing Oilfield is a key project of Great Hua, with huge investment.

The discovery of Daqing Oilfield can also drive the development outside the pass.

Oil fields need a large number of workers, and these workers’ wages will not be low, and their consumption power is strong.

People nearby can earn a lot of money just by providing them with food.

It is very common in Great Hua for a mine to drive the economy of a place.

In addition to these, Great Hua has many heavy industrial enterprises.

For example, the Tong’s Cement Plant, which has been moved to Dangtu, has an annual output that is ten times higher than in previous years.

At the same time, Tong’s Cement Plant has also built more than a dozen branches across the country.

Even so, its output still cannot meet market demand.

This year, Wu Changqing has announced the cement production technology, no longer allowing the Tong family to monopolize it, allowing other capital to enter, and increasing cement production.

This is naturally not a good thing for the Tong family.

However, Tong Youwei is very sensible and actively cooperates with Wu Changqing.

He has earned enough in recent years.

Currently, money is no longer important to him. The most important thing is his relationship with Wu Changqing.

As long as he maintains a good relationship with Wu Changqing, everything will be fine.

Wu Changqing just doesn’t allow him to monopolize it, but he is still the leader in the cement industry, and his annual profits are still considerable.

In addition, he has now entered the automobile industry, and he earns more money every year than before.

Cement, fertilizers, rubber, and plastics, these large enterprises are also part of heavy industry.

The vigorous development of these heavy industries is driving the transformation of Great Hua together.

Today’s Great Hua is really changing a little every day and a lot every year.

Most of the people of Great Hua have experienced the Ming Dynasty. Now, looking at Great Hua again, they sometimes feel that this is a dream.

Chapter 893: An Industrial Power Versus an Agricultural Nation

In November, the Great Hua army in India arrived in Calcutta and began its campaign against India.

This was a battle between an industrial power and an agricultural nation, one that would certainly be recorded in history to make Great Hua’s students understand the importance of industry.

History books would record it thus:

On November 1st, the Great Hua warship fleet launched a bombardment of Calcutta.

Transport ships carrying the army and supplies followed a few kilometers behind the warships, a major taboo in military strategy, as transport units were synonymous with weak defenses.

Transport units should always be kept away from the battlefield, especially naval ones.

The Mughal Empire’s navy seized this opportunity, bypassing the Great Hua navy at the front and attacking the Great Hua transport ships.

However, all schemes, tricks, and tactics are futile in the face of absolute power.

Great Hua had completed its industrialization, while the Mughal Empire was still just an agricultural nation.

Great Hua’s transport ships were ironclad vessels powered by steam engines, while the Mughal warships were still wooden ships relying on sails.

The Mughal navy’s flagship, the Delhi, opened fire, launching hundreds of shells, but only one hit the Great Hua transport ship Zhoujing, causing a minor injury to one person.

Seeing the poor effect of the shelling, the Mughal navy chose to close in, attempting to board the ships.

As they approached, the two twenty-millimeter close-in defense guns on the transport ship opened fire, causing serious damage to the hull of the Delhi, which began to take on water.

The other warships were all struck by the Huaxia army’s close-in defense weapons.

After breaking through the firepower blockade, the army on the Huaxia transport ship immediately opened fire, inflicting great casualties on the approaching Mughal navy.

Subsequently, the Mughal navy fled in disarray, with five ships sunk and seven captured by the Huaxia warships that arrived later.

Attacking the supply lines has always been a very important tactic.

If successful, it can yield great benefits.

However, any tactic needs to be combined with the actual situation.

In this farcical naval battle, the Mughal Empire’s navy ignored the actual situation and mechanically applied the tactic.

They did successfully bypass the Huaxia army and reached the logistics units, but so what? They couldn’t even defeat Great Hua’s logistics units.

Who was attacking whom was debatable.

The surviving Indian navy personnel fled ashore, never wanting to go to sea again, never wanting to fight the Huaxia army.

If even the warships transporting supplies were so powerful, one could imagine how terrifying those battleships equipped with large-caliber main guns would be.

They didn’t feel safe even on land. The distant booming of artillery fire was like a hammer pounding on their chests.

“Let’s escape to Delhi. The farther away from the Great Hua people, the safer we’ll be.”

This group of deserters finally decided not to return to Calcutta, choosing to flee for their lives.

Some went to Delhi, some quietly went home, and some went elsewhere. Only a very few chose to return to Calcutta.

On the other side, after two hours of artillery bombardment by the Huaxia army, the defensive works on the shore in Calcutta were destroyed. Then, the Marine Corps took the lead in landing and clearing out any hidden dangers.

The process went smoothly. The Indians were all bombed into shrinking back into the city, afraid to come out again. Those with money and a way out were fleeing from the north gate.

Those who had no connections could only stay in the city and resign themselves to fate.

Leaving this familiar place rashly, they might not even have food to eat in other places.

There weren’t many jobs in the Mughal Empire, and it wasn’t easy to find a job that could provide enough to eat.

After the Marine Corps cleared the threats, the army on the transport ships began to land.

This process was actually quite difficult. They not only had to get people ashore, but also had to move all the artillery, other living supplies, weapons, and equipment to the shore.

It took them two days just to land.

Only two divisions arrived in Calcutta first. One was Great Hua’s main division, and the other was the 301st Division composed of Japanese. Two more divisions would arrive on the next batch of ships.

After the army landed, they didn’t set up camp but went directly to the city of Calcutta.

To call it a city was an exaggeration.

In fact, Calcutta only had a wall two or three meters high.

Moreover, this wall was very small, with a circumference of only seven or eight kilometers, about the size of a small county town in Great Hua.

There weren’t many houses inside the wall, but there were many houses outside the wall.

The population here was large, making it the fourth largest city in India.

The small Calcutta couldn’t accommodate so many people. Therefore, outside the wall, there were a large number of residences and shacks.

The cities of Great Hua had walls surrounding the houses, while Calcutta had houses surrounding the wall, which was very unique.

In other words, this wall had actually lost its defensive value and significance.

“This is the fourth largest city in India?”

One Huaxia army soldier couldn’t help but complain. If the cities in India were all like this, then there was no point in fighting. They could basically just push straight through.

“There are some taller cities in other places. This is a relatively backward area.”

An officer said uncertainly.

He was right. The Mughal Empire was very different from Great Hua. Most of the population here was distributed in rural areas, and there were very few people in the cities.

Moreover, the Mughal Empire didn’t pay much attention to the construction of cities.

“Order the attack. Tell those Japanese soldiers to be honest and not to slaughter civilians and prisoners at will.”

Division Commander Chen Biju said.

The Huaxia army soldiers had strict military discipline, but the soldiers from Japan had much worse discipline.

Of course, this was mainly because the Huaxia army didn’t put their heart into training those people. Anyway, these people were just used to fill the numbers and do what they could.

The people in the Army Department didn’t want to train those people too well either.

Although they were all Great Hua people now, there were still differences between Great Hua people.

After the order was issued, the people of the 301st Division rushed over excitedly.

They had been badly beaten by the Northern Huaxia army before and had developed a fear of fighting.

Now, it was finally their turn to bully others, and this feeling was quite good.

They had gone from cowards who only dared to tremble in the trenches to fierce jackals, howling as they rushed towards Calcutta.

The governor of Calcutta had fled during the Huaxia army’s bombardment, leaving the remaining troops in the city without a leader.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s attack, many troops also began to flee, with only a small number of troops and soldiers resisting spontaneously.

Unfortunately, their resistance was weak and ineffective.

Before the main force of the Huaxia army could even act, the people of the 301st Division had already entered the city and began the mopping-up operation.

Compared to attacking the city, the mopping-up operation was more difficult. After all, they didn’t speak the same language. They could say whatever they wanted, but the locals wouldn’t understand, which was very troublesome.

Chapter 894: A Grand Spectacle

If anyone were to say that the people living in India are generally docile and lack the spirit of resistance, Indians would certainly be unhappy and refute it with song and dance.

However, the people living in this particular region are indeed more docile than those in other places.

This is due to many factors, including culture, tradition, and geographical location.

Among them, geographical location should be considered the most important factor.

Looking at the world, the general situation is that people in harsher geographical environments are more fierce, such as nomads, people in remote and impoverished mountainous areas, and places prone to disasters and difficult to survive in.

In these places, people who are not fierce lose the opportunity to pass on their genes because they cannot grab enough food and mating rights.

Those who are more fierce pass on their combative genes, and their descendants become increasingly fierce.

The Ganges Plain in India, on the other hand, has a very favorable environment.

Even without fighting each other fiercely, they can eat their fill and survive.

There are also some places in Africa where the locals don’t even farm because it’s unnecessary.

The trees are full of fruit, and when they are hungry, they pick some wild fruit.

That kind of environment is too easy to live in, making it unnecessary for those people to study how to plant, and naturally, it is difficult to give birth to civilization.

At the same time, because it is easy to find food, the people there are not very fierce, wasting their muscles.

It is understandable that they cannot defeat guns and cannons, but when they arrive at the plantations in the Americas, they have countless opportunities to kill slave owners, but they have not launched any decent uprisings.

If it were the Huaxia people, they would have already risen up in revolt.

The geographical environment can indeed affect a person’s personality.

In barren places, people have to fight to the death for a mouthful of food.

But in the Ganges Plain, if someone steals a mouthful of your food, you can just go to the field and plant two more mouthfuls. It’s not a big deal, not worth risking your life for.

Over time, people living in this kind of place will form a non-combative cultural tradition. If they are bullied, they simply obey obediently.

Other places gain independence by risking their lives, exchanging countless lives and blood.

Only here, a resistance movement is finally launched, and the scene is so ridiculous.

The so-called non-violent non-cooperation movement is that we don’t agree with you ruling us here. If you don’t want to leave, we will take your things.

We don’t use violence, and we don’t fight back even if you use violence. If you have the ability, then kill us.

In this way, they actually achieved independence.

Sometimes, history is really comical, even more absurd than reality.

In short, the people living in this area are relatively more docile than those in other areas.

Faced with the brutal treatment of those Japanese, there was little resistance in the city, so that the soldiers who wanted to find an excuse to kill and rob were very helpless.

A kick, a slap, and the other party just doesn’t fight back.

The process of controlling Calcutta went very smoothly. The common people living here actually have no concept of the nation.

Being ruled by the Mughal nobles and being ruled by the Great Hua people is still being ruled, there is no difference.

As long as the Huaxia army doesn’t kill them, they can live their lives as they always have.

“These people are really useless, worse than pigs.”

Several soldiers from Changzhou Province commented on the locals. At this moment, he forgot that their Japan had also been conquered.

“I think we can sneak into the homes of those civilians at night, and use the excuse of searching to rape those pretty girls. I bet they won’t dare to resist or complain.”

“Not bad, not bad, that’s a good idea.”

…

Calcutta was captured, and then the Huaxia army began to advance eastward. They wanted to occupy the entire Bengal region and complete their rule over this place.

At least, the power to collect taxes must be grasped, otherwise, occupying this place would be meaningless.

Not only must they collect taxes, Great Hua also plans to build water conservancy projects in this area and promote Wu Rice, turning this place into Great Hua’s granary.

There can never be too much grain.

It is a pity that such a good place is in the hands of the local natives, these people do not have any planting technology.

At the same time, the Mughal Empire also received the news that Great Hua had attacked Calcutta, and the ministers had a debate in the palace.

Some people hoped to talk to Great Hua first, and not declare war casually, after all, the Great Hua people are very powerful.

However, some people also said that they should immediately send troops to show their tough attitude, and must not let Great Hua think that they are easy to bully, otherwise the Great Hua people will definitely take an inch.

There were also some people who did not even know much about the strength of Great Hua. When they heard that someone dared to attack the powerful Mughal Empire, they immediately clamored for Great Hua to pay the price.

In a dispute, Emperor Shah Jahan announced that he would declare war on Great Hua.

This was the heyday of the Mughal Empire, and Shah Jahan valued face more.

Indians are indeed relatively lacking in courage, but this is relative to people in other places, it is not to say that they will not resist at all.

If their territory is occupied, it is impossible for them not to react at all.

Moreover, the lack of courage refers to civilians.

None of these people in power are soft-hearted people, otherwise, it would be impossible to sit in the position of ruler.

Shah Jahan wanted face, and at the same time, he underestimated the strength of Great Hua.

He knew that Great Hua’s guns and cannons were very powerful, but he was still obsessed with the advantage in numbers.

For the Huaxia army who came from afar, they had a huge numerical advantage.

Shah Jahan sent out an army of four hundred thousand, heading straight for Calcutta from Delhi.

This is a very terrifying number. Only Great Hua, the Ottomans, and their Mughal Empire in the world can mobilize so many troops at once.

For an army of four hundred thousand, logistics alone is a huge problem.

It takes several months, or even a year and a half, for an agricultural country to quickly mobilize an army of four hundred thousand to fight.

However, the Mughal Empire was able to mobilize an army of four hundred thousand within a few days, this strength is still quite good.

From Delhi to Calcutta, it is all plains, and food can be requisitioned locally, which greatly reduces the burden of logistics to a certain extent.

It is quite terrifying for an army of four hundred thousand to rush up all at once.

Chen Biju did not dare to be careless after learning the news. Quantitative change leads to qualitative change. Not to mention four hundred thousand people, even if four hundred thousand pigs rushed up, it would be an earth-shattering momentum.

Chen Biju transferred all the troops advancing eastward back, plus the two divisions that arrived later, and put together an army of more than sixty thousand, waiting for the enemy’s arrival in Calcutta.

On November 20th, the army of the Mughal Empire arrived one hundred li west of Calcutta.

The Huaxia army then left the city, preparing to fight a decisive battle with their opponents in the wild, and determine the victory or defeat in one battle.

Chapter 895: Engagement 1

Commanding the Mughal forces was Aurangzeb, the third son of Shah Jahan.

Aurangzeb was a very capable man. Historically, in a couple of years, he would defeat his other brothers and force his father to abdicate, officially becoming the ruler of the Mughal Empire.

Although Shah Jahan was closest to his eldest son, Dara, he dared not joke about military matters and could only entrust the power to the more capable Aurangzeb.

If Dara were to command the army, it would certainly be a complete defeat.

Although Aurangzeb was very capable, he had the same problem as Dorgon, Hauge, and others: he did not fully understand the strength of Great Hua.

Aurangzeb knew that the Huaxia army was strong, but he couldn’t judge exactly how strong from a single battle, nor could he deduce it from some hearsay stories.

Intelligence was still quite important, but they hadn’t done a good job.

Therefore, even though Aurangzeb was very capable, his military arrangements still seemed full of loopholes to the Huaxia army.

Aurangzeb chose to deploy his formation and advance head-on.

Of course, he also made some preparations, such as manufacturing armored vehicles that required five or six soldiers to push forward simultaneously.

These were covered with thick wooden planks and leather to block the bullets of Great Hua.

He also prepared elephant troops in the army, cavalry on the flanks, and a large number of archers in the center.

Among them were some ballistae.

The ballistae used boulders as power to launch, and could fire hundreds of giant arrows at once.

They shot far and with great power, and were a major weapon in the Mughal Empire.

Of course, they didn’t have many of these good things, otherwise they could have attacked Persia already.

The Mughal Empire also had firearms, but they were very backward matchlock guns and a few flintlock guns.

These forces were inconspicuous in their army, and Aurangzeb did not pay attention to them.

“Your Highness, the Great Hua army has come out and is approaching us.”

On the twenty-first, his subordinate reported to Aurangzeb.

Oh?

Aurangzeb was a little surprised.

The Huaxia army only had more than sixty thousand soldiers, only one-seventh of their number.

Such a huge disadvantage in troop strength, yet they took the initiative to attack, which was very surprising.

“Your Highness, let me lead the vanguard to meet them.”

Aurangzeb didn’t understand the true strength of the Huaxia army, and neither did his subordinates.

So, when he learned that the opponent only had sixty thousand people, General Maratha wanted to ask for battle and grab a merit.

As soon as Maratha spoke, others also asked for battle, wanting to grab credit.

Seeing his subordinates’ morale so high, Aurangzeb was also very pleased.

He began to arrange military deployments, letting Maratha lead the armored vehicles and crossbow troops to charge and kill the Huaxia army from the front.

He let another general, Mudra, lead the cavalry to bypass the flanks of the Huaxia army and attack their flanks.

Another general, Bahadur, led the infantry to charge from the center, to fight hand-to-hand with the Huaxia army.

A very conventional frontal field battle tactic, nothing particularly brilliant, but if the Huaxia army was also a cold weapon force, his arrangement would be completely fine.

The two sides made contact around noon, and the vanguards of both sides were less than a thousand meters apart.

As for the main army, it was still in the rear.

Hundreds of thousands of people could not all be piled on the front line.

The Mughal Empire’s four hundred thousand troops almost covered this area, with a depth of several kilometers.

Even for the Huaxia army, the front and rear armies were several li apart, and the left and right battle lines were also several li long, divided into multiple segments.

The vanguards of the two armies made contact and started fighting without saying a word.

The Huaxia army was a brigade from the 301st Division, and the Mughal side was a mixed force of infantry and archers, about ten thousand people.

When the two sides started fighting, the Mughal side set up their formation, with archers in the front and infantry in the rear, and then approached the Huaxia army.

This was their traditional tactic: first let the archers enter the range, then shoot all seven or eight arrows in their hands in the shortest time, and then retreat to the side while the infantry charged.

The reason why the archers carried so few arrows was entirely to pursue a preemptive strike, so they had to shoot as far as possible.

This required pulling the bowstring very fully, which was very strenuous.

Being able to shoot seven or eight arrows in a short time was already considered good.

And don’t underestimate the power of this wave of volleys, it was quite powerful against dense formations.

Unfortunately, this time they encountered the army of Great Hua, which was their tragedy.

In the past, they often were the first to attack, because their archers had a long range.

But this time, the first to act was the Huaxia army, whose rifles had a longer range.

While those archers were still advancing, the Huaxia army opened fire.

Facing these unprotected enemies foolishly lining up, Kudo felt a lot of emotions.

Once, he and his comrades attacked the Huaxia army like the enemy, but were met with fierce attacks from the Huaxia army from afar.

Most of his companions died, but he was more afraid of death. He fell during the charge, and took the opportunity to play dead, and did not continue to charge, saving his life.

“Kill, let these barbarians know the power of my Great Hua.”

A soldier next to him shouted and fired his gun.

He didn’t even realize that at this moment, he had become a true Huaxia person, and was proud to be a Huaxia person.

Gunshots rang out, and at the same time, cannon fire rang out from the rear.

Because of transportation difficulties, the Huaxia army did not bring many artillery pieces this time. The four divisions were only equipped with three artillery regiments, a total of more than one hundred and sixty field guns.

These field guns were the only long-range fire support for the Huaxia army.

When the artillery supported Kudo’s brigade, they didn’t fire at full power, only forty guns were fired. This was because they were worried about scaring the enemy away all at once, and also to save ammunition.

As the cannon fire rang out, the shells accurately landed in the Mughal Empire’s army.

Suddenly, a large number of screams rang out.

Their formation was too dense. Facing the powerful artillery, this kind of formation was simply giving away heads.

“Speed up the advance.”

The Mughal commander shouted quickly, at this time they had not yet entered an effective range, and they could not counterattack even if they wanted to.

Those archers immediately accelerated their pace, but as they advanced, people kept falling down.

A burst of “tat-tat-tat” sounds rang out from the Huaxia army, and a large number of them would fall down.

What’s going on?

This was the confusion in the hearts of all Mughal soldiers.

In the past, they were absolutely safe at this distance, why are people dying now, and a large number of them are dying at once.

Although they couldn’t figure out why, they could also realize that this situation was very bad, very dangerous.

Chapter 896: Skirmish 2

It was fortunate that these longbowmen had a long range, otherwise, they really wouldn’t have been able to hold out until they could counterattack.

And now, after a difficult charge, they had finally entered their firing range.

However, they were all panting somewhat due to the sprint.

Their comrades were still falling one after another, but these men couldn’t bother to catch their breath. They took out their arrows and began to fight back.

But by this point, nearly a third of them had already fallen.

They, who could have originally unleashed a rain of arrows, were now only shooting sporadically, completely lacking their former momentum and deterrent force.

Even worse, they lost many more men just during the time they were shooting arrows.

Their arrows took a while to reach the Huaxia army, but to their dismay, not many of the Huaxia soldiers fell.

The Huaxia army wore iron helmets. Unless the arrows hit their bodies, they would only cause minor concussions.

Such injuries didn’t even require them to rest.

As for those who were shot in the body, they were only injured and not fatally wounded.

“Machine gunners, increase the firepower.”

The Huaxia army, on the other hand, felt that their firepower wasn’t fierce enough, because they wanted to quickly crush the enemy’s morale, so that the enemy wouldn’t even have a chance to hurt them.

Upon hearing this, the machine gunners stopped considering saving ammunition and went full throttle.

More Mughal soldiers fell. Finally, the archers collapsed and chose to turn around and run. Some even threw away their bows and arrows, fearing that they would affect their running speed.

They turned around and ran, colliding head-on with the infantry who were still advancing. Many people fell as a result, cursing at each other.

“Run! We are no match for them!”

Some deserters would kindly give these infantrymen some reminders, but these infantrymen didn’t take it seriously.

These infantrymen were both envious and jealous of the archers, and at the same time, they despised them.

This was because the archers had very good treatment, and they only needed to shoot their arrows and retreat to the rear during battles. The bloody melee combat was the responsibility of them, the swordsmen and shield bearers.

Therefore, they envied and were jealous of the archers’ treatment, and looked down on the archers for being afraid of death and unable to fight tough battles.

Most of the swordsmen and shield bearers didn’t listen to the archers and chose to continue charging.

However, their fate was much more miserable than that of the archers.

The archers at least had some ability to fight back, while they were just moving targets.

And there was more than one person shooting at the targets, but a group of people.

If someone aimed at his armor and missed, someone who didn’t aim at him might hit him.

There were stray bullets everywhere, and they didn’t even know how they died.

After charging for a distance, they realized that something was wrong, and then their morale collapsed and they turned around to flee.

Because the archers were far away from the Huaxia army, they could quickly escape the Huaxia army’s firing range.

But they, the swordsmen and shield bearers, charged too close, and when they fled, they couldn’t escape the Huaxia army’s firing range for a long time.

The bullets continued to pour down on them, and a large number of them fell again.

On the Huaxia army’s position, the soldiers from Changzhou Province laughed wildly.

People who have been bullied by others usually like to bully others to transfer their resentment.

Anyway, these people were very involved in bullying the Mughal soldiers now.

Seeing that the enemy had completely collapsed and fled, they even chose to actively pursue them, enjoying the thrill of chasing down fleeing soldiers.

“Order those people not to chase too deep, don’t act like you’ve never won a battle before.”

The Han Chinese officer in this brigade complained. Chasing too deep could easily lead to being surrounded.

Moreover, they didn’t need to pursue. Anyway, this was a major decisive battle, and there would be more fighting to come.

The order was issued, and the Japan soldiers who were chasing could only regretfully stop chasing, giving those fleeing soldiers a glimmer of hope.

In this skirmish between the vanguards, the Mughal Empire suffered a great loss.

After retreating to a safe area, General Maratha counted the losses and almost fainted on the spot.

Out of the ten thousand men in the vanguard army, they directly lost more than six thousand in this brief engagement, including nearly one thousand five hundred archers.

Most of these six thousand people were killed by the Huaxia army, and a small number deserted in the chaos.

This casualty rate was too high, far exceeding Maratha’s expectations.

Soon, the situation on their side was reported to Aurangzeb in the rear.

Aurangzeb decisively ordered the arrest of Maratha and executed him in public.

Aurangzeb didn’t listen to Maratha’s explanation. No matter how many reasons Maratha had, he couldn’t change the fact that he had crippled a unit.

After killing the man, Aurangzeb began to discuss the upcoming decisive battle with his subordinates.

Based on the skirmish between the vanguards, they had underestimated the Huaxia army’s firepower.

Now that they had the latest intelligence, they naturally needed to make corresponding adjustments.

“This battle may be difficult. The key is how to get close to the enemy. As long as we can rush to the enemy and enter melee combat, we can exert our huge numerical advantage and win.

The difficulty now is how to rush to the enemy. According to intelligence, the enemy’s range is three times that of our archers. It’s too far, this road is not easy to walk.”

Aurangzeb said, hoping that his subordinates could offer some useful suggestions.

“There is no good way, we can only fill it with lives. Let the infantry push the chariots forward, at worst, twenty or thirty thousand people will die. As long as we can rush to the enemy, this loss is acceptable.”

A general said, and Aurangzeb glared at him, cursing inwardly, “Idiot.”

If losing twenty or thirty thousand people could rush to the Huaxia army, he would of course be willing.

But the problem is that people are not animals, they will think and be afraid. If the casualties are too heavy, they will run away.

Not to mention people, even animals will run away.

“Set up a supervision team, use death orders to force those Shudras to advance. Kill anyone who dares to retreat.”

Another general, Jadba, added. He meant to use those untouchables as cannon fodder. Anyway, those untouchables were worthless and didn’t dare to disobey orders, so they were very useful cannon fodder.

The main thing was that Jadba couldn’t think of a better way, and could only think of using cavalry or cannon fodder.

Cavalry was too precious to be sent out casually, so the only remaining option was to use cannon fodder.

“We can also use ballistae to shoot against the Huaxia army and kill the enemy.”

Bahadur said.

Everyone brainstormed, but only made adjustments in the details, and did not put forward any creative tactics.

They were only fighting the Huaxia army for the first time, and they hadn’t had time to study, so naturally they couldn’t think of any good ways.

Chapter 897: Engagement 3

Aurangzeb felt that the reason his side couldn’t come up with better solutions was because they had too few battles with the Huaxia army and lacked experience and understanding.

As veterans, those Japan officers could very responsibly tell them that even if they were given time, they wouldn’t be able to come up with a good solution.

The gap in weaponry was too great; any strategy was futile in the face of such a disparity in equipment.

In the afternoon, the two sides began to engage on a large scale. The center, left wing, and right wing had all approached, and the decisive battle was about to begin.

For the Mughal Empire, which possessed superior forces, their left wing and left flank could continue to advance, bypassing the Huaxia army’s left wing to attack from both sides simultaneously.

The Huaxia army didn’t have a better solution to this either; they couldn’t infinitely extend their battle line to avoid being flanked.

The thickness of the battle line was also very important.

Another point was that the Huaxia army wasn’t really afraid of being flanked.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have chosen to fight a decisive battle against the enemy on the plains.

On the plains, there was no natural defense to rely on, and the number of troops was even more important.

Aurangzeb stood on a huge chariot, observing the Huaxia army through a telescope.

This chariot was four to five meters high and required more than a dozen horses to pull. It was incredibly cumbersome and simply a burden on the battlefield.

But there was no choice; this huge chariot was a symbol of power, a tradition left over from the battlefields of India.

From the tall chariot, Aurangzeb could see a little farther.

However, the things that could be seen through the telescope were also extremely limited.

The sound of cannons rang out, signaling that the Huaxia army had launched an attack.

However, the Huaxia army’s initiative was different from that of the Mughal Empire.

The Mughal Empire’s initiative was an infantry charge, while the Huaxia army’s initiative was to use long-range firepower to force their opponents to charge at them.

If the opponents didn’t charge, they could continue to fire, depleting the enemy’s strength and morale.

If the enemy charged over, it would be exactly what they wanted.

The Huaxia army’s artillery didn’t deliberately search for Aurangzeb’s location. His four-meter-high chariot looked conspicuous, but when thrown into a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, it was insignificant.

Even looking for it with a telescope would be difficult.

The Huaxia army’s artillery simply fired at the densely populated areas of the Mughal forces, depleting the enemy’s strength.

Bombs fell into the Mughal army, blasting out one pit after another, and also killing countless Mughal soldiers.

The start of the Huaxia army’s artillery barrage also meant the start of the decisive battle.

The Mughal side also quickened their pace of advance.

In the center, more than two hundred specially made leather chariots were pushed forward by soldiers, charging ahead.

These super-thick chariots couldn’t be penetrated by bullets.

However, these two hundred-plus chariots couldn’t shield all of the charging troops.

At the same time, their ballistae reached their designated positions and began firing at the Huaxia army.

Their every move fell into the eyes of the Huaxia army.

“Mortars, aim at the enemy’s ballistae and destroy them.”

Before the war, the Huaxia army had done intelligence work and knew that the biggest threat to them in the Mughal army was these ballistae.

These ballistae used mechanical force, and the kinetic energy was very high; even helmets couldn’t block them.

These ballistae were the Huaxia army’s priority target for destruction.

However, because field guns were too troublesome to adjust, and it was difficult to transmit information to the artillery, the task of destroying these ballistae was undertaken by mortars.

“Fire.”

On the Mughal side, the first batch of crossbow bolts was fired.

The accuracy was average, but the power was enormous.

The crossbow bolts that landed in the Huaxia army’s position killed at least a hundred soldiers.

This was because the Huaxia army’s soldiers were relatively dispersed. If they were in the formation of the Cold Weapon era, this wave of casualties would be at least a thousand.

This kind of ballistae was definitely a great weapon of destruction in the Cold Weapon era.

Of course, such awesome weapons would naturally have huge flaws, otherwise, this weapon would have replaced all swords and sabers long ago.

Ballistae also had many flaws. First of all, they were expensive.

Only a unified great empire could afford to play with this thing. Other small forces simply couldn’t afford it.

Secondly, the firing speed was slow.

After firing a wave, the next reloading would take at least ten minutes.

This firing speed was simply hopeless.

However, this was relative to thermal weapons.

The pace of battle in the Cold Weapon era was slow, and the two sides might fight each other for a whole day without being able to determine the outcome.

Over the course of a whole day, these ballistae would fire many times, enough to determine the outcome of the war.

In the end, these ballistae were great weapons of destruction in the Cold Weapon era, but when facing the Huaxia army, these expensive things were just so-so.

When they fired once, the Huaxia army’s shells began to fall among their ballistae.

At first, it was only one or two sporadically, but then a large number of shells concentrated and poured into this area.

Those who were loading crossbow bolts onto the ballistae were immediately blown over.

And those ballistae that were hit by shells were also damaged.

These exquisite things usually required careful maintenance, and even a small problem couldn’t be tolerated, otherwise, they would easily fail to launch.

But now, after being hit by powerful shells, these ballistae were instantly scrapped.

The Mughal officers on the side almost popped their eyes out when they saw this scene. This thing was their treasure of the army, and it was so easily destroyed.

This loss was too tragic. If it weren’t for the fact that this was a decisive battle, this officer would have ordered the ballistae troops to withdraw first.

These ballistae were much more precious than those cannon fodder, and they couldn’t be used for consumption like this.

However, now was the decisive battle, and the charging troops in front needed these ballistae to provide fire support.

Withdrawing rashly would be equivalent to asking those charging soldiers to fight alone.

Just as he was struggling, the Huaxia army’s shells continued to fall in this area.

The Huaxia army’s mortars had a very fast rate of fire. Well-trained soldiers could fire more than a dozen shots in a minute.

One ballista after another was destroyed. It seemed that before they could fire a second time, this ballistae unit was about to be destroyed.

The commander of the ballistae was at a loss. They couldn’t find any way to defend or counter the opponent, and could only stand there and be beaten.

“The enemy has too many cannons. How can we fight this battle?”

A Mughal officer sighed. He began to feel frustrated after only a few minutes of fighting.

After all, in just a few minutes, the weapon they relied on most in the army was almost destroyed by the Huaxia army.

Those infantrymen who were still charging didn’t know that the ballistae in the rear had been destroyed, and they continued to charge forward.

They had entered the Huaxia army’s range, and the Huaxia army’s machine guns and rifles rang out.

However, those thick chariot shields blocked a large number of bullets, preventing them from being as miserable as the previous vanguard troops.

Chapter 898: Engagement 4

“This thing is actually effective. I wonder how thick that wooden board has to be.”

On the Huaxia army side, a commander grumbled.

You have to know, the Huaxia army’s rifle bullets are extremely powerful, capable of easily penetrating even iron armor.

The fact that these war chariots could block bullets only meant one thing: the wooden boards and leather in front of the chariots were very thick and definitely very heavy.

This officer also noticed that the style of the armies in the India region was quite different from the cold weapon troops of the Central Plains in the past.

The armies of the Central Plains emphasized flexibility and lightness for easy maneuverability, while the armies of the India region liked to tinker with these big guys.

Don’t underestimate the power of these big guys, but if a real fight broke out, the cold weapon troops of the Central Plains could beat these Indian armies to a pulp, as long as they didn’t engage in a head-on decisive battle.

Engaging in mobile warfare, it would only take a month to exhaust and wear down the Indian army.

“It doesn’t seem to be particularly effective either.”

Another officer said, he noticed that several chariots had been subjected to continuous machine gun fire and seemed to be falling apart.

As the distance closed, this situation became more obvious.

Finally, one chariot shattered because it had suffered too many hits, and then the chariot fell apart.

However, this chariot at least completed its mission.

The Mughal soldiers rushing in front were less than fifty meters away from the Huaxia army.

At full sprint, it was only a matter of ten seconds or so.

The chariots only reduced the casualties of the Mughal soldiers on the charge to a certain extent.

There were still many soldiers who were not covered by the chariots.

Moreover, the chariots could only protect the soldiers in front. The Huaxia army’s bullets could still reach the soldiers behind who were too far away from the chariots.

The Mughal army’s charge was slightly better than the last time, but that was it.

Under the Huaxia army’s firepower sweep, they still suffered heavy casualties.

Moreover, as the distance got closer and closer, the situation became more and more dire.

Then, their remaining five or six ballistae completed their second round of firing.

The Huaxia army’s mortars had already let them go, aiming their guns at the charging soldiers.

And those Mughal soldiers, under the scolding of the officers, began their final sprint.

Those at the very front were naturally the Shudras.

Their lives were worthless, and even the Shudras themselves vaguely agreed with this idea.

A large number of Shudras used their bodies to block bullets, providing cover for the people behind.

They once rushed within ten meters of the Huaxia army, and then the Huaxia army threw a wave of grenades, pushing back the first wave of people who rushed forward.

But then, their second wave rushed up again.

“These people really don’t value their lives, my gun barrel is almost red.”

A Huaxia army machine gunner complained.

The fact that he was still in the mood to complain meant that the situation was still under control.

The Huaxia army’s defense line was very long. Not to mention that the enemy had not yet rushed into the first line of defense, even if they did, they would not be able to continue to break through.

And the price they paid would be painful.

“Hey, look, they’re retreating.”

The assistant machine gunner said with a smile, he saw the enemy fleeing.

“This is normal, I’m used to it.”

The machine gunner said nonchalantly.

The Mughal charging army retreated, they really couldn’t withstand such heavy casualties.

The Huaxia army did not pursue. Although pursuing at this time was a good opportunity to take advantage of the situation and expand the results.

But there was no need to do so, as there was a certain risk in doing so.

In case the enemy suddenly turned around and fought desperately, the Huaxia army would be in trouble.

If they pursued, they definitely wouldn’t be able to bring the heavy machine guns, and their firepower would be greatly weakened.

Once they were entangled by the enemy and fell into melee combat, the Mughal army would be able to exert their troop strength advantage.

Instead of doing this, it would be better to defend the position and wait for the enemy’s next charge, constantly consuming the enemy.

If the enemy didn’t charge, it didn’t matter. When the enemy retreated, they could still hang behind and pursue.

In short, the Huaxia army had many ways to deal with these Mughal soldiers.

“Your Highness, the central army failed to rush up, and the left and right wings are the same. Our chariots were destroyed, and the ballistae were also destroyed.”

The subordinate reported to Aurangzeb, listening to Aurangzeb’s face turned black.

He couldn’t understand why he couldn’t defeat the Great Hua army with so many troops in his hands.

In terms of bravery, his subordinates were still considered brave.

“Charge again, let the cavalry on the left wing move out, the elephant soldiers on the right wing move out, and push the catapults up to me, all in one go.”

Four hundred thousand against sixty thousand, Aurangzeb didn’t want to retreat. Once he chose to retreat, morale would plummet.

Although the losses were heavy now, the soldiers in the battle did not know the extent of the losses, so morale had not declined too much.

Once they retreated, all the soldiers would know that they had suffered a big loss.

As Aurangzeb’s order was issued, the army in front once again launched a death charge, the main purpose of which was to change from breaking through the defense line to containing the Huaxia army.

He pinned his hopes of attacking on the cavalry on the left wing and the elephant soldiers on the right wing.

There were as many as thirty thousand cavalry on the left wing, which was a very terrifying force, at least Aurangzeb thought so.

Of course, the Huaxia army certainly wouldn’t think so.

When attacking Mongolia, hundreds of thousands of cavalry could not do anything to them.

The cavalry began to charge, and the elephant soldiers on the right wing also led the infantry in the charge.

These elephants were covered in heavy armor. In cold weapon warfare, these elephants were extremely destructive.

Ordinary swords and weapons could not hurt them at all.

However, in front of the Huaxia army, these elephants were just a lump of meat.

“I haven’t eaten elephant meat before, I’ll have a good meal tonight.”

A Huaxia army soldier said.

“Then you may be disappointed, elephant meat is not tasty. Under normal circumstances, the larger the animal, the older the meat, and the more difficult it is to eat.”

Another soldier showed off his knowledge, but others didn’t believe it at all.

As he was speaking, those elephant soldiers had already entered the range.

The Huaxia army’s machine guns fired again, and the armor that could block knives and arrows could not block the Huaxia army’s heavy machine gun bullets.

Those elephants let out huge wails, resounding throughout the battlefield.

The elephants that were hit by continuous bullets were fine, they fell directly.

Those elephants that were hit by one or two bullets, injured but not immediately falling down, caused great trouble to the Mughal soldiers.

These elephants were out of control. No matter how the trainers on them commanded, those injured and mad elephants ignored them and ran wildly in the army.

The impact of this elephant was much more terrifying than that of a horse.

Wherever they went, it was a mess.

They wanted to rely on elephants to attack the Huaxia army, but the result was that they dispersed their own army.

Chapter 899: Rout

The cavalry on the left flank fared no better; they charged even faster than the elephant troops, but they also died faster.

Their charge resembled the Huaxia army’s campaign in Mongolia.

Cavalry were incredibly pathetic against machine guns.

The most elite cavalry proved to be about as useful as cannon fodder, only serving to expend the Huaxia army’s ammunition.

Only a small number of cavalrymen reached the Huaxia army, and they were of little use, inflicting only minor damage before being swiftly killed.

Most of the cavalry turned tail and ran halfway through their charge.

Aurangzeb’s high hopes for his cavalry were completely dashed.

“Your Highness, we need to retreat first, summarize our experiences, and not fight like this anymore. We understand too little about the Great Hua people.”

One of his subordinates spoke the minds of many.

They all felt they couldn’t continue fighting like this; it was hopeless.

Although the Huaxia army’s weapons were powerful, they believed their failure was mainly due to their lack of understanding of the Huaxia army.

With more understanding, a summary of their experiences, and finding the Huaxia army’s weaknesses, they could still fight.

“Damn it, I’ll remember this grudge.”

Aurangzeb gritted his teeth.

This battle was crucial for him; if he defeated Great Hua, he could use that prestige to force his father to abdicate, and others would support him.

He was already thirty-five years old and couldn’t wait to take the throne.

But if he lost, people would question his abilities. Not only would he fail to ascend, but he might also lose his existing advantages, and the throne might fall to his useless elder brother.

Despite his anger, Aurangzeb knew that he couldn’t continue fighting for now.

Continuing would only be throwing away lives.

How could these Great Hua people be so powerful?

Aurangzeb was frustrated; the strength of Great Hua exceeded his imagination, leaving him with a deep sense of powerlessness.

Aurangzeb arranged for a unit to cover the rear, then ordered the army to retreat.

The unit left behind exploded with resentment upon receiving the order.

“Why do they get to retreat while we have to stay and face those oriental devils?”

In the eyes of these soldiers, the Huaxia army had become life-reaping devils.

People in the Mughal Empire were quite superstitious.

When faced with incomprehensible events, they liked to attribute them to gods and ghosts.

The Huaxia army’s bullets, in their eyes, were the punishment of devils.

Only ghosts and gods possessed such magical power.

“We cannot fight devils, that will anger the devils and bring down divine retribution…”

Some soldiers muttered, unsure whether they truly believed this or were just looking for an excuse to flee.

In any case, these soldiers, having witnessed the carnage on the battlefield, were unwilling to stay behind and cover the retreat.

However, they only dared to complain verbally and didn’t dare to mutiny directly.

They were missing a leader, but such a figure was hard to come by.

In the previous battles, the Mughal army had suffered at least fifty to sixty thousand deaths, with tens of thousands more wounded.

Even so, they still had nearly three hundred thousand combat-ready troops.

Retreating with such a large army was not easy, and the Huaxia army was wary of pursuing too deeply.

An army of three hundred thousand still had the potential to counterattack at any moment.

While Aurangzeb’s main force retreated, the Huaxia army advanced steadily, slowly pursuing.

They first engaged the Mughal rearguard, with the Huaxia army taking the initiative to charge, attempting to rout them.

The Huaxia army rarely had the opportunity to charge, and they were all quite excited.

Especially the soldiers from Changzhou Province and Hanoi Province, who charged the most aggressively.

One might think they were deeply devoted to the Great Hua Empire and eager to serve their country.

In reality, they were simply addicted to the thrill of beatdown their opponents.

Of course, they also wanted to earn some merit to improve their standing in the Great Hua Empire.

Although they were not Han Chinese, as long as they earned merit, they would still receive rewards.

Maybe Han Chinese soldiers would receive ten yuan, while they only got five, but at least they got something. Some content people could accept this situation.

The Huaxia army surged forward like a tidal wave, scaring the rearguard into a hasty retreat.

In their eyes, the Huaxia army had become the embodiment of devils, and they didn’t want to fight devils.

Previously, the Mughal soldiers had tried every means to get close to the Huaxia army, only to be killed before they could get near.

But now, the Huaxia army was charging at them, and they dared not engage, instead fleeing rapidly.

This farcical scene left some soldiers with a bit of spirit feeling bewildered and frustrated.

If they weren’t going to fight when given the opportunity for close combat, what was the point of desperately charging forward earlier?

These people wanted to stay and turn the tide, but there were too few of them.

Most were a rabble; as soon as they saw their main force retreating and the Huaxia army charging, their first thought was to flee.

Once someone took the lead, others immediately followed suit, and the officers couldn’t control them at all.

Some officers were even leading the retreat.

An army that was a heap of loose sand was useless, no matter how large.

With one charge, the Huaxia army routed the rearguard. Those who tried to escape couldn’t get away, as several Huaxia army motorcycles blocked their path.

The military had originally wanted to transport a heavy-armored division to India, but the transportation costs were too high, so they had to abandon the idea.

Reluctantly, they only brought a few dozen motorcycles to replace the role of horses.

Now, during the pursuit, this motorcycle company played a huge role.

They charged directly in front of the fleeing soldiers, and with just a dozen motorcycles and less than a hundred men, they blocked the path of the fleeing soldiers.

This force of less than a hundred men could have been trampled to death by the fleeing soldiers if they had just charged forward.

However, the Mughal soldiers, their courage shattered, dared not do so, instead choosing to kneel and surrender.

Surrender was contagious.

Once someone took the lead, others followed suit due to herd mentality, as if afraid that the Huaxia army would immediately massacre those who didn’t surrender.

Thus, the motorcycle company created a legend, capturing nearly five thousand men with less than a hundred soldiers.

On a collapsing battlefield, anything magical could happen.

After defeating the rearguard, the Huaxia army continued their pursuit, hanging on Aurangzeb’s rear, preventing them from even sleeping peacefully.

If they ran even slightly slower, they would fall within the range of the Huaxia army’s cannons.

Under these circumstances, Aurangzeb’s troops fled in disarray, with a large number of people being left behind, caught up by the Huaxia army, and then captured.

These soldiers, besides helping Aurangzeb consume some military rations, had really played no role in this battle.

Times had changed; in the face of firearms, the size of an army had become largely meaningless.

Chapter 900: Negotiations

Aurangzeb fled for over three hundred li before the Huaxia army ceased their pursuit and chose to return to Calcutta.

The Huaxia army’s objective was clear: to defeat the Mughal Empire and force them to acknowledge Great Hua’s occupation of the Bengal region.

They were not yet prepared to annex the entire India region, so there was no need to annihilate Aurangzeb’s forces completely. That would appear as if they were determined to fight to the death, easily pushing Aurangzeb to desperate measures.

Despite the Huaxia army winning battles and eliminating the enemy with their own losses being less than one thousand, it seemed like a huge profit.

However, their ammunition consumption was extremely high.

Two-thirds of the field artillery shells were used up, nearly half of the machine gun bullets were expended, one-third of the rifle bullets were gone, and other types of ammunition were consumed to varying degrees.

In other words, they could barely manage another battle of this scale, and no more.

Moreover, they still needed to expend ammunition to occupy the entire Bengal region.

Maintaining law and order and conducting armed deterrence afterward would also require ammunition, which they couldn’t afford to use up all at once.

Although they could request ammunition support from the homeland in an emergency, they didn’t want to submit such a report unless absolutely necessary, as it would make them appear incompetent and unable to complete their assigned tasks.

In short, considering all the circumstances, the Huaxia army did not continue the pursuit, which allowed Aurangzeb to breathe a sigh of relief and finally have time to assess the losses.

After the statistics were compiled, Aurangzeb received the data and aged several years.

After this battle, his four hundred thousand-strong army was reduced to only two hundred and fifty thousand.

How many of the other one hundred and fifty thousand were killed in battle, how many fled in the chaos, and how many were captured – none of that mattered. What mattered was that he had lost one hundred and fifty thousand troops.

Even though the Mughal Empire had a large population and soldiers were cheap, this loss was still significant.

Moreover, the losses were not just in manpower.

All of the arrow beds were destroyed or seized by the Huaxia army, the elephant troops were gone, and the cavalry lost more than ten thousand warhorses.

As for the losses of armor, swords, bows, and crossbows, they were countless.

Many soldiers threw away their equipment to escape faster.

He now had two hundred and fifty thousand men, but only about two hundred thousand of them had equipment, and there was no heavy equipment at all, except for his chariot, which was more than four meters tall, that was pushed back.

“What should we do next? Have you come up with any plans?”

Aurangzeb asked.

When retreating, they said they would think of a solution after retreating.

Now that they had successfully retreated, where was the solution?

Although the losses were heavy, if they could come up with a way to defeat the Huaxia army, they could still make up for the losses.

As long as they could win a victory, losing some low-level soldiers was nothing.

Silence ensued below.

A solution? How could there be a solution?

Unless the Huaxia army were all fools who threw away their bullets and used their guns as iron rods, they were no match.

The Huaxia army was clearly not foolish, and they were very shrewd.

Therefore, they had no solution.

“Humph.”

Aurangzeb snorted coldly.

His subordinates were quite frightened, but there was nothing they could do. It was impossible to come up with an idea just by being scared.

Aurangzeb had a headache for two days. What he never expected was that the people of Great Hua would help him get rid of this problem.

The Huaxia army sent an envoy to express their position to Aurangzeb.

Great Hua only wanted the Bengal area and had no intention of occupying India, so Aurangzeb could rest assured.

As long as Aurangzeb signed a treaty ceding Bengal, the two sides could stop the war.

Of course, if Aurangzeb didn’t agree and insisted on fighting, Great Hua didn’t care either.

However, Great Hua would then send reinforcements from the mainland, and one Bengal might not be enough to satisfy them.

The Great Hua envoy coaxed and threatened, causing Aurangzeb’s expression to alternate between clear and cloudy.

Great Hua had no intention of advancing westward, which was great news for him. He could finally breathe a sigh of relief and not worry about the Huaxia army marching all the way to Delhi.

At that time, he certainly wouldn’t be able to bear the responsibility, nor could he stop the Huaxia army’s attack.

Now, Great Hua only wanted Bengal.

Although losing Bengal was also a very serious problem, it was much better than losing Delhi.

The Mughal Empire had a very large territory, and losing one Bengal would not affect the foundation of the Mughal Empire.

But if they lost Delhi, their regime might be lost.

When the Great Hua envoy gave his suggestion, Aurangzeb had already accepted it in his heart, but he couldn’t save face and was embarrassed to agree directly.

If he didn’t agree, he had no better solution.

If he agreed, he could at least get through the current crisis.

As for the future, he would think about it later. He couldn’t even take care of the present, so what was the point of worrying about the future?

“I need to consider it further.”

Aurangzeb did not scold the Great Hua envoy, as that would be meaningless.

“Then I will quietly await the prince’s good news.”

The Great Hua envoy smiled. This mission was simply a freebie for him.

Was it possible for Aurangzeb to refuse? Absolutely not.

Anyone in Aurangzeb’s position would not have a better choice than to agree.

One was losing a city, and the other was losing a country. The choice was easy.

After the Great Hua envoy left, Aurangzeb summoned his subordinates, told them about the situation, and asked for their opinions.

Although he said he was asking for opinions, he had already made a decision in his heart. He was just embarrassed to say it and hoped that his subordinates would say it for him.

Most of the people below guessed Aurangzeb’s thoughts and began to weigh the pros and cons.

Should they speak up?

Speaking up could help Aurangzeb resolve his embarrassment, and he would definitely be valued by Aurangzeb in the future.

However, agreeing first would inevitably be attacked by others for selling out the country after the treaty was signed, and his reputation would not be good.

“I think we can agree to their conditions, otherwise we will be in danger. Great Hua has millions of troops in their homeland. If they send more troops, we won’t even be able to defend Delhi.”

Bahadur reminded everyone that the Huaxia army in Bengal was not the full strength of Great Hua.

If they really fought to the death and attracted more Huaxia troops, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Yes, six thousand Huaxia troops are already so difficult to deal with. It would be even harder to fight if ten thousand more came.”

“It’s just a Bengal anyway, we just snatched it before.”

“We should agree and buy time to recuperate. We must also buy those weapons, accumulate strength, and then defeat the enemy in one fell swoop in the future and take back Bengal.”

Everyone spoke up one after another, all choosing to agree.

One was to curry favor with Aurangzeb, and the other was that they really did not dare to fight the Huaxia army again and needed to take a break first.

Chapter 901: Treaty Signed

Everyone was scared witless, and their opinions were unified, so things were easy to handle.

Aurangzeb began to report the situation here to Delhi, emphasizing the invincibility of Great Hua, and then gave his own suggestions.

Aurangzeb suggested agreeing to Great Hua’s demands to gain breathing room, and then trying to find a way to obtain those powerful weapons.

As long as they learned the secrets of those weapons and equipped their nearly one million strong army, defeating the Huaxia army would be as easy as turning their hand.

If they didn’t agree to Great Hua’s suggestion and started a war now, they would definitely not be a match for Great Hua.

When the fighting started, even Delhi might be in danger.

Aurangzeb believed that his father would definitely agree to Great Hua’s demands, because his father was old.

When people get old, they naturally seek comfort and don’t want to make trouble anymore.

As Aurangzeb had guessed, Shah Jahan felt a chill in his heart when he received the news of the disastrous defeat at the front.

He wanted to send more troops to support them, but he was worried about encountering even greater failures.

After all, Aurangzeb’s battle report pointed out one problem: in battles with the Huaxia army, the number of troops didn’t matter much. No matter how many people charged, they would only be walking to their deaths.

Only by solving the weapon problem could they fight them.

Shah Jahan had fought on all sides when he was young, and his battlefield experience was even richer than Aurangzeb’s.

From the battle report, he could imagine the situation.

Moreover, after the war with Great Hua began, he accelerated the collection of intelligence about Great Hua. Recently, he had gained a lot of understanding of Great Hua and knew how terrifying it was.

In desperation, Shah Jahan could only choose to compromise.

He didn’t want his lifelong reputation to be ruined.

Losing Bengal was a small matter. Losing the capital, Delhi, would be a huge joke.

In this era, ceding territory was actually a relatively common thing, at least not particularly shameful.

According to the official statement of the Mughal Empire, Bengal was originally plundered, so losing it was no big deal.

Therefore, although the Mughal Empire was frustrated by the defeat, there were no particularly serious complaints.

At the end of December, Great Hua and the Mughal Empire signed the Calcutta Treaty.

The treaty declared that Bengal would be leased to Great Hua for one hundred years.

This was the sweet treat Great Hua gave them, so that they did not nominally lose this place, but only leased it to Great Hua.

Great Hua, on the other hand, got the actual benefits. As for what to do when the lease expired?

The high-level military officials of the Huaxia army would smile at this.

If the Mughal Empire could last another ten years, they would consider it a loss.

In addition to obtaining Bengal, Great Hua also obtained some other privileges.

For example, if a Great Hua merchant committed a crime in India, he must be handed over to Great Hua for disposal, and the Mughal Empire had no right to interfere.

Also, the tariffs on Great Hua goods entering India would be negotiated by both parties, and the Mughal Empire could not change them at will.

At the same time, they could not prevent people from going to Bengal to live.

There was also a clause that the Mughal Empire would pay Great Hua ten million in war reparations.

This money was used to pay pensions to the families of the hundreds of soldiers who died in battle. As for the tens of thousands of Indian soldiers who died, Great Hua didn’t care.

Shah Jahan and others gnashed their teeth at this, but had to agree. Otherwise, Great Hua would launch a full-scale war and advance into Delhi.

There were many clauses, but these were the main ones.

Among these clauses, the most damaging to the Mughal Empire was actually the loss of autonomy over tariffs.

This made the Indian market lose protection. In the future, Great Hua merchants could earn more money by selling goods here, and they could also sell them at lower prices.

It was not a good thing for India if Great Hua sold goods cheaply.

This would bankrupt all their local merchants, and the entire country’s economy would be controlled by Great Hua.

Now, the high-level officials of the Mughal Empire have not yet recognized the power of this clause. What they are most reluctant to part with is Bengal.

Fortunately, it was only a lease. Although there was no lease fee yet, at least in theory, it could be recovered in the future, which was a little bit of psychological comfort.

With the signing of the treaty, the war between the two sides also ceased.

Except for some troops stationed on the border, the Huaxia army marched eastward.

Although Bengal had been ceded to Great Hua, they had not yet conquered all of Bengal.

Although they could now use the Mughal Empire’s orders to take over, some of the local forces in Bengal would definitely refuse to recognize it and try to take the opportunity to become independent.

In the beginning, there were quite a few people like this.

However, as the Huaxia army’s reputation spread, the remaining people became more and more honest.

Who would want to die if they could live?

There was only one way to go against the Huaxia army: death.

It only took the Huaxia army ten days to occupy almost all of Bengal.

They even crossed the border of Burma and had a fight with the local tribes.

When the news of the Huaxia army’s recovery of Bengal spread back to the country, the people naturally cheered again.

Nearly two hundred thousand square kilometers of territory, millions of people, and countless fertile fields.

This was a super big victory, worthy of pride and self-esteem.

While the people were celebrating, the merchants of Great Hua had already begun to board ships, not even celebrating the Spring Festival, to rush to Bengal to take advantage of the situation.

Based on their previous experience in Japan and Annam, those who went early got the meat, and those who went late could only stare blankly.

These merchants would never miss this opportunity to get rich quickly, this opportunity to get something for nothing.

What was the New Year? That was something that ordinary people, mortals, cared about.

Truly smart people wouldn’t care about a created holiday. As long as they seized the opportunity to get rich, they could eat meat and drink wine every day, and every day would be a holiday.

Those who gave up getting rich in order to celebrate the New Year would only have a few days of fun, and after the New Year, they would continue to live a miserable life.

It was obvious which one was more worthwhile.

The merchants took the first step, and then a group of civil officials followed.

They needed to get to Bengal as soon as possible to complete the takeover of Bengal.

The army was somewhat useful in fighting wars, but governing the local area still depended on these civil officials.

Even during the New Year, they gave up the opportunity to reunite with their families.

After all, anyone who was willing to go to Bengal could be promoted by one rank.

This kind of opportunity was not common and must be seized.

Normally, it would take three years to be promoted by one rank, and even then, you would have to have some achievements in these three years, otherwise it would be out of the question.

It was too difficult to get promoted, but now, as long as you were willing to go to Bengal, you could be promoted by one rank.

This kind of opportunity was quite tempting.

A large number of Great Hua people poured into Bengal and Calcutta, making this dilapidated city a bit more lively.

With the arrival of civil officials in various towns in Bengal, Great Hua officially completed its rule over Bengal.

Chapter 902: The Seventh Year of Yongxing

Time marched on to the seventh year of Yongxing. Great Hua was about to hold its third imperial examination since the founding of the nation.

To keep pace with the times, Great Hua had made significant reforms to this year’s examination.

First and foremost, women were allowed to participate.

When this decree was issued, countless people were stunned.

Women could take the exam and become officials?

This, this was outrageous!

Government officials, government officials, all officials were masters. Why should women be allowed to be masters too?

Regardless of whether the common people understood or not, the imperial court had issued such an order.

Although the people felt a little awkward about it, accepting it didn’t seem like a big deal, as it didn’t have much impact on their own interests.

Moreover, the imperial court had previously stipulated that women could become officials, so now it was just giving women one more way to become officials.

In the past, although women could become officials, the conditions were still very harsh. They had to go through strict screening, and only a very small number of people could enter some special departments.

For example, the Women’s Federation, hospitals, the Imperial Palace, schools, and so on.

The only people who were slightly dissatisfied were those officials and scholars.

However, their opposition was not very strong.

After all, these people also had older sisters, younger sisters, wives, and daughters at home.

With this policy, their female relatives could also benefit.

As long as not everyone collectively opposed it, the policy would be easy to implement.

Over time, everyone would get used to it.

Another reform was the abolition of traditional processes such as the county examination, the prefectural examination, and the provincial examination. Instead, university graduates would automatically be qualified for assessment.

Great Hua had actually been quietly preparing for this reform for some time.

Now Great Hua’s school system had been divided into three levels: primary school, middle school, and university.

Primary school was five years, middle school was four years, and university was two to four years, depending on the major.

Every year in primary school, there would be exams to move up a grade, and the students with the worst scores would be expelled. To enter middle school, students had to take a more rigorous exam, eliminating even more people.

The same was true for middle school students entering university.

Great Hua’s free education implemented an elimination system. Those who didn’t study well were eliminated, and there was no room for sentimentality.

Those who didn’t know how to cherish the opportunity to study for free deserved to be laborers for the rest of their lives.

There were also some people who simply didn’t have the talent. It was a waste to let them continue studying, so it was better to learn a craft or something else earlier.

In short, the broad road of studying was not suitable for everyone.

This elimination mechanism allowed those smart people who wanted to study and change their destiny to work harder.

At the same time, eliminating some people without potential could also reduce the financial burden.

Great Hua had been implementing this system for several years. Today’s university students were almost equivalent to the juren of the past.

Even if university graduates couldn’t become officials, there were still plenty of high-paying jobs waiting for them in society.

Currently, university students were still considered relatively high-end talents.

This imperial examination was also the last imperial examination in Great Hua. In the future, it would be changed to an official selection examination, and the content of the examination would also change a lot.

At least, it would no longer test professional knowledge such as physics and chemistry, but would simply test policy theory and politics.

Those who specialized in physics and chemistry would only be able to enter the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other places that needed them in the future.

This was also an optimized reform made to the examination in order to keep pace with the times.

Because there were too many scholars, if all of them could take the exam to become officials, the elimination rate would be too high.

Another point was that those who devoted themselves to scientific research were indeed not suitable for being officials.

Being an official would also distract them and affect their research.

Great Hua was a machine, and whatever part you were, you had to go to that position.

Those who studied literature and art would naturally go into the entertainment industry.

In short, Great Hua’s now rich and colorful society had plenty of positions for them to shine.

Unconsciously, Great Hua’s division of labor became more and more detailed.

Those who studied physics devoted themselves to physics. Those who studied economics devoted themselves to economics. Unlike the people of the past, who studied all subjects.

The main reason was that the knowledge was becoming more and more complex. The knowledge of a single subject required people to spend all their energy on it.

In middle school, students had to start choosing subjects, and a person could choose up to three subjects.

Then, after entering university, they basically continued to study these three subjects, or one of the three subjects.

Great Hua didn’t have that much time to cultivate all-rounders, so it could only develop students who were good at specific subjects.

Of course, if someone was exceptionally talented and studied all subjects, and studied them all well, the teachers would also support them.

Such people were one in ten thousand.

Nanjing Women’s Comprehensive College was a women’s university that only accepted female students. Men were not allowed.

Once, a man tried to get in by disguising himself with makeup, but he was exposed and chased down the street by dozens of female students, becoming a laughing stock at the time.

The fact that women were allowed to participate in the imperial examination was news to the common people, but these women had known about it for a long time and had prepared for it.

“Ilian, will you participate in the imperial examination?”

Tong Xiangyu asked.

“I don’t know, I’m still hesitating. What if I pass the exam? I don’t know how to be an official.”

Cai Ilian was confused.

Her grades were very good, but she lacked confidence and was also filled with some fear of being an official.

After all, being an official had always been a man’s job.

“If you don’t know how, then learn. What’s so difficult about that? Those men don’t know how either when they pass the exam. They all follow other officials as apprentices first, and only after they learn do they get officially appointed.”

Tong Xiangyu said.

“But, the imperial court is full of men. We’re just women, and we have to deal with so many men.”

Cai Ilian was still afraid.

“So what? It’s more dangerous to deal with one man. A group of men wouldn’t dare to mess around. Besides, we’re going to the government office. How could those officials ruin their future for a little bit of advantage? You underestimate those officials too much.”

After Tong Xiangyu’s persuasion, Cai Ilian finally decided to participate in the imperial examination.

She wanted to take the exam first. Maybe she wouldn’t pass, and then all her worries would be gone.

If those who wanted to pass the exam knew what she was thinking, they would definitely burst into tears.

“Liping, what about you?”

Tong Xiangyu asked another woman.

“I’m not going. I plan to go to primary school to be a teacher after graduation and teach children. I’ve never thought about being an official, and I don’t dare to think about it. It’s not suitable for me either.”

Gan Liping didn’t not want to be an official, she was also afraid of the unknown life, and afraid of communicating with a large number of men, so she chose to get along with children.

Getting along with children didn’t require so many worries, and she could live a more relaxed life.

Moreover, being a teacher could also gain social respect, which was enough.

Compared to writing and drawing in her boudoir for self-entertainment in the past, it was already much better.

Chapter 903: The Last Imperial Exam

Although Great Hua allowed women to participate in the imperial examinations, the number of women who actually chose to take the exam was small.

Most people had various concerns, and traditional ideas were not so easily broken. But once broken, the change would be quite rapid.

Just like women going out on the streets, it was now a common occurrence in Great Hua, and no old die-hards pointed fingers anymore.

They had been pointing fingers for years without any effect, so they could only give up helplessly.

Those female graduates who did not participate in the imperial examinations did not have to worry about their education being wasted.

There were many positions in society suitable for women, such as clerks, teachers, doctors, nurses, and so on.

Moreover, what positions were suitable for women and what positions were suitable for men had begun to blur.

In the past, those who sold things were all shop assistants, all men.

But now, some shops also hired female salespersons to greet customers.

Women had better tempers and always greeted people with a smile, making customers more comfortable when buying things.

Those merchants would not go against money. Since female salespersons were more useful than male salespersons, and they could also pay them lower wages, what reason was there not to use them?

There were also some restaurants and taverns where female service staff began to appear.

Being taken advantage of was ultimately only a small minority. Any man with a normal brain would not risk losing face, making a fool of himself, or even facing a lawsuit just to take advantage of a woman.

Of course, the most popular occupation for women was still childcare.

Nanjing College of Liberal Arts was a university, formerly known as Nanjing University Hall.

In the later period, the University Hall was split into five universities because of its large scale. Among them were a university specializing in science and engineering, a university of transportation, a university of political science and law, and a comprehensive university.

The College of Liberal Arts, as the name suggests, was a college focused on liberal arts. Of course, it also taught physics, chemistry, and mathematics, but the level of the teachers was not as good as that of the University of Science and Technology.

The most cutting-edge researchers were concentrated in the University of Science and Technology. Those people were both researchers and teachers at the same time.

Students at the College of Liberal Arts focused on entering politics, while those at the University of Science and Technology focused on scientific research, and both had good prospects.

“Do you think there will be any beauties who pass the exam this time and become our colleagues?”

A male student chuckled, and that smile already explained a lot.

“Wang Zilang, you have to pass the exam first before you are qualified to call the other party a colleague, otherwise you can only call the other party ‘Your Excellency’ or ‘Sir’.”

Another student named Liu Zhao mocked, and the others immediately laughed.

They imagined the scene of Wang Zilang bowing to a woman and calling her “Your Excellency.”

However, after laughing, they themselves became worried. What if they failed the exam, then they would be the ones bowing.

“Speaking of which, if a woman becomes an official, who should she marry?”

Another male student asked.

Although the status of women was constantly improving, it was still not as good as that of men, and men were the mainstay in the family.

But if a woman became an official and her husband was a commoner, then the relationship would be messed up.

Who would be greater then?

“Marry other officials.”

“Impossible, officials like to take concubines. Women who can become officials are heroines among women. Would they be willing to share a man with others? I think they are more likely to marry an ordinary person and become a shrew.”

“The husband’s authority is not respected.”

“The world is going downhill.”

These people sighed. Women being able to take the exam and become officials meant that they were the only ones whose interests were harmed.

On February 10th, the imperial examination began.

This imperial examination only lasted for one day, as simple as a joke.

But in fact, the candidates had to be university graduates. This one condition was equivalent to having gone through many eliminations in advance.

People who could graduate from university were all talents, and they definitely had the ability.

Therefore, there was not much to assess, just a few questions on policy and some questions to test the students’ political sensitivity.

For example, whether Great Hua had recovered Bengal or occupied Bengal.

If the answer was occupied, it meant that this person was not suitable to be an official.

Many things were clear to everyone, but people in the officialdom could not talk nonsense. They always had to adhere to political correctness.

If an ordinary person said that Great Hua had occupied Bengal, no one would care, and it was not a big deal.

However, it would be very inappropriate for an official who could represent the Great Hua court to say such a thing.

There were many similar places. Officials’ words always needed to be cautious, which could also be understood as political sensitivity. This required talent.

People who liked to blabber were often not suitable to be officials.

One day of assessment determined who could be an official and who could not, which seemed a bit hasty.

But it was not a big problem, because the current Great Hua was not the Great Hua of the past.

In the past, Great Hua had a large number of high-ranking official positions.

But now, they had long been divided up, and some people were still waiting in line.

Therefore, this batch of recruits all needed to start from the grassroots level.

First internship, then become a regular low-level official.

If they did not do well in this process, they would be eliminated at any time.

Therefore, even if the selection of materials was not very accurate, the impact would not be great. In the subsequent actual work, each task was equivalent to an assessment.

Being an official was actually very tiring.

A few days later, the results of the exam were announced.

There were no top scholars or second-place winners, only two situations: accepted and eliminated.

Although there were also score rankings, they were not announced.

Those who were accepted did not need to be too happy, because they could only start from the grassroots level.

Grassroots officials, to put it nicely, were officials, but to put it bluntly, they were more like babysitters.

Of course, they also had power, but there were also many things to do.

In short, their dreams of rising to the top in one step had been shattered, and they would have to climb slowly in the future, or wait for some opportunities.

Those who were not accepted did not need to be sad at all. Finding a job in society often earned more than being an official.

Of course, officials had the opportunity to make money, but they did not.

But making money was risky. Once they went too far and did not pay attention to the boundaries, they would encounter trouble.

After offsetting the two, engaging in other industries was not much worse than being an official.

Talented people could become senior executives in companies and also wield great power.

This term, Great Hua recruited a full two thousand people, seven times more than before, and the acceptance rate was very high.

Among them, a total of twenty-three women were admitted, accounting for just over one percent, which was not worth mentioning.

Among the two thousand people, the Han people accounted for one thousand nine hundred people, and the other ethnic groups together just reached one hundred, accounting for five percent.

And this was just the hurdle at the time of admission. When it came to actual work, the difficulty for people of other ethnic groups to be promoted would be much higher than that of the Han people.

If they only stayed at the grassroots level at that time, they would have no chance to influence Great Hua and could only integrate.

Chapter 904: Ilian Becomes an Official

Both Tong Xiangyu and Cai Ilian were accepted. Tong Xiangyu was assigned to a low-rent housing office under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, working as a minor reviewer.

Her daily work involved reviewing low-rent housing applications from poor immigrants to see if they qualified.

She would filter out those who didn’t meet the criteria and send the qualified applications to her superiors for final approval.

It was a small position, but with considerable power, as her superiors had many things to deal with and generally approved Tong Xiangyu’s selections directly.

It was a typical, lucrative position.

If she wanted to be corrupt, she could turn a blind eye to those who didn’t meet the requirements and receive many red envelopes.

Tong Xiangyu’s father was the famous Tong Youwei, so the position she was assigned was naturally good.

Without Tong Youwei even needing to say a word, the person assigning positions proactively gave Tong Xiangyu the best position she could get.

By doing so, and if Tong Youwei was smart enough, he would naturally remember this favor.

For him, since the position had to be given to a newly recruited official anyway, it might as well be given to someone who could bring him benefits.

In contrast, Cai Ilian, who had no family background, received a less desirable position.

Cai Ilian was responsible for organizing documents, her daily work involving reviewing files, organizing files, and passing files to her superiors, much like a librarian.

A librarian organizes books, while the files she organized were slightly more important than books.

“I can’t believe we’re going to be officials,” Cai Ilian said.

“To be precise, we’re still clerks, far from being officials. I wonder when we’ll get promoted,” Tong Xiangyu said.

Tong Xiangyu’s dream was to become a high-ranking official who could attend court sessions and participate in national policy decisions.

“Being a clerk has its advantages, less pressure. I’m nervous just being a small clerk now. If I were given a high-ranking position, I wouldn’t dare to take it,” Cai Ilian said, with a completely different perspective.

“I don’t know what to do with you. Let’s go celebrate. After all, we are the first women in Great Hua to obtain official positions through the imperial examination. This will be recorded in history sooner or later, bringing us lasting fame. We must celebrate,” Tong Xiangyu invited other women who had been accepted. This was a historic moment.

Several days later, the two went to their respective departments to report for duty.

On their first day of work, Tong Xiangyu was carefree and natural. She was spoiled at home, and outside, people respected her because of her background, naturally developing a fearless personality.

Cai Ilian, on the other hand, was apprehensive and cautious.

However, her worries were unnecessary. As a woman, and a very beautiful one at that, the men were very considerate of her.

Some might have wanted to woo her, others might have simply wanted to show off their gentlemanly manners, and still others might have had no reason at all, purely a male instinct.

“Little Lian, just fill out the form according to this format. You can ask me if you don’t understand anything,” her superior, Li Bin, found a sample form for Cai Ilian and marked the points to note. Copying from a sample was something even an elementary school student could do.

Although it was just a small help, it was very useful.

If it were a man, Li Bin would not have bothered, letting him figure it out on his own. The work would definitely not have been so smooth, and mistakes might have been made.

This was the treatment of a beauty.

“Thank you, Lord Li,” Cai Ilian said gratefully.

As an official, her biggest fear was making mistakes at work.

Now that she had a good superior to remind and guide her, she immediately felt much more relaxed.

After more than an hour, a male colleague came over and handed her a pot of freshly brewed tea. He said, “Ah Lian, you don’t have to keep copying like this. If you finish it all in one day, Lord Li will find something else for you to do tomorrow. Our department doesn’t have anything important, but there’s always endless work to be done.

If you take your time and spend three or four days copying these things, Lord Li won’t say anything.”

Wang Qun was teaching her slacking-off techniques, which he would never easily teach to new male recruits.

In fact, new male officials would often be deliberately made difficult by these veterans, who would dump all the work on the newcomers.

For a beauty, of course, they couldn’t do that.

“Ah, that’s, not very good, is it?” Cai Ilian was indeed a little tired because she wanted to leave a good impression on her superiors and others, so she had been working extra hard.

Another male colleague also came over and said, “Ah Lian, the most important thing about being an official is actually dealing with people. If you give it your all on your first day and score a perfect hundred, then Lord Li will think your ability is one hundred.

In the future, in an emergency, he will ask you to do one hundred and twenty. If you can’t do it, Lord Li will think you’re not working hard and unwilling to share his burden.

But if you only show eighty percent of your ability now, then Lord Li will think your ability is eighty.

In the future, in an emergency, he will only ask you to do one hundred points. If you work a little harder to complete it, Lord Li will think you’re working very hard to solve his problems.”

“This…”

According to this logic, the harder you work, the less pleasing you are, and the more you slack off, the easier it is to be pleasing.

Cai Ilian’s worldview was once again refreshed, but on closer inspection, it seemed to be true.

These workplace skills were something that other newly hired male officials could only figure out on their own.

Those who lacked the ability to understand often ended up doing the most work and being the least liked.

At that time, these people could only sigh to the heavens, denounce the darkness of the officialdom, and then live in frustration.

Those with better literary talent could resign from their positions and live in seclusion, writing poetry and painting to express their frustrated emotions.

In short, those who seemed very smart and talented but were not valued were not necessarily victims of the darkness of the officialdom, but also possibly because they didn’t know how to get along with people.

With the care of her superiors and the love of her colleagues, Cai Ilian felt that work was actually quite easy.

As for the expected embarrassment, difficulties, etc., none of them appeared.

This relieved Cai Ilian and gave her more confidence in doing her job well.

People in the officialdom, if they are content with the status quo and do not think about making progress, can indeed have a very easy time. After finishing their own work, they are very relaxed.

Only those who want to climb up will have endless troubles.

After all, just doing your own job well cannot give people a bright impression, nor can you make any achievements, so promotion is far away.

Cai Ilian was obviously a person who was content with the status quo. She didn’t think about promotion. She was satisfied as long as she could do her job well and not make any mistakes.

Therefore, she was destined to thrive in the government.

Chapter 905: Tong Xiangyu Becomes an Official

Meanwhile, Tong Xiangyu also began her career as an official.

She received much better treatment than Cai Ilian. Others took care of Cai Ilian only because she was a woman and beautiful.

This kind of care was limited. Once it involved interests, others wouldn’t be so easy to talk to.

But Tong Xiangyu was different. She had all the advantages that Cai Ilian had, but she also had an identity that Cai Ilian lacked.

Tong Xiangyu, daughter of Tong Youwei, the boss of BMW car dealerships and Tong’s Cement.

Giving Tong Xiangyu a little more care meant they might get a discount when buying cars from the Tong family in the future.

For these low-level officials, cars were still a luxury.

If they could marry Tong Xiangyu, that would be even more profitable.

For these low-level officials, Tong Youwei’s social status as a businessman was much higher than theirs. Not to mention his wealth, which completely crushed them.

Facing the flattery of her colleagues, Tong Xiangyu remained calm and started working.

Compared to Cai Ilian’s work, Tong Xiangyu’s work was much harder.

Auditing wasn’t just sitting in the office looking at materials; she also had to go to people’s homes to investigate.

Subsidized housing was a policy of the imperial court to subsidize the poor, and it required spending money. Naturally, it had to be done carefully. It was impossible to just hand out houses casually; the imperial court didn’t have that much money to squander.

So, Tong Xiangyu, dressed in somewhat masculine clothing, went to the slums with her colleagues to investigate.

Great Hua had actually abolished the rule that officials must wear official uniforms, except for some major occasions.

Usually, only some senior officials who liked to show off their status would wear official uniforms. Others wore clothes similar to Zhongshan suits and Western suits.

Tong Xiangyu and her colleagues had specially made official uniforms, which were a bit masculine, but they looked quite good, giving people a heroic feeling.

Anyway, Tong Xiangyu liked them very much and wore them to work.

Investigating in the slums was hard work. They were often barked at by dogs and provoked by geese and roosters.

If it weren’t for a male colleague helping her, Tong Xiangyu might not have been able to pass through the territory of these ‘bullies’.

It was also not easy to conduct interviews and investigations. Those uneducated poor people often had difficulty expressing themselves, making communication very difficult.

Especially when encountering people from very far away who couldn’t speak Mandarin, it was most troublesome.

They had to find someone who could speak the other person’s dialect and Mandarin to act as a translator, otherwise it would be like talking to a brick wall.

These were still relatively easy problems to solve. What was even more difficult was that she had to use her wits to fight with those poor people.

Some poor people had already found high-paying jobs, and according to regulations, they were no longer eligible to live in subsidized housing because it had to be given to those more in need.

However, those who had already found high-paying jobs didn’t care about thinking for the imperial court or for other poor people; they often only cared about their own interests.

So, various deceptions and concealments of income happened from time to time.

In this world, most people are selfish.

Those who were irresponsible would be too lazy to investigate deeply and would just approve the quota that needed to be distributed each year.

As for whether those who were even poorer had received their share, that wasn’t a big deal.

Anyway, even if absolute fairness was achieved, there would definitely still be poor people who wouldn’t get a share.

But Tong Xiangyu, as a new official taking office, wanted to make a good impression and had a responsible heart, wanting to do her job well.

With her efforts, she actually discovered a major problem.

Tong Xiangyu discovered that some poor people were using their poor status to apply to buy subsidized housing, and then reselling it to local Nanjing residents after succeeding.

Some of these people who made a quick buck chose to leave Nanjing quietly, while others continued to stay in Nanjing and rent other houses.

There were even more audacious ones who changed their identity and applied again.

Great Hua’s changes were too fast, and there were many loopholes in some systems and benefits.

Those who were bold and cunning could often take advantage of it.

Of course, this was only temporary. Once discovered, they would not only be fined, but they would also not be able to enjoy any benefits in the future and would be blacklisted, which would outweigh the gains.

However, people have a侥幸心理 (jiǎoxìng xīnlǐ; a fluke mentality), and some people still risked doing this.

Some were forced by circumstances and urgently needed money. In short, there were many reasons.

After discovering this situation, Tong Xiangyu immediately launched an investigation. She wanted to completely solve this phenomenon.

If she could do that, it would be a significant achievement.

If other newcomers wanted to accomplish this kind of thing as soon as they took office, it would be destined to be full of difficulties.

The reason why such a thing happened must be due to the help of the previous officials. As long as she investigated, she would definitely find other officials involved.

How easy would it be for someone who had just taken office to fight with those people? The previous official had been in this position for so long, and it was impossible that they didn’t have any connections with others.

If Tong Xiangyu wanted to check the previous files, would others help a colleague they had been with for a long time, or help a newcomer?

Law is secondary to human relationships. China has always been a society that values relationships, and Great Hua’s legal enforcement has only been in place for a few years. Officials’ thinking hasn’t changed that quickly, and they all value the friendship between colleagues.

Internal evidence collection was difficult, and external investigation was not easy either.

Most of the Nanjing locals involved in this matter had some background and wouldn’t buy the account of a ninth-rank petty official.

If ordinary petty officials came to investigate, they would most likely be turned away.

But they were unlucky this time, who told Tong Xiangyu to have an even bigger background?

Tong Xiangyu had a powerful father who doted on her. When Tong Youwei saw that his daughter wanted to accomplish this, he secretly gave her a lot of help.

Tong Xiangyu might not even be aware of these helps.

In short, her investigation went very smoothly. Even those who had violated the law were very cooperative when being interrogated. Some even took the initiative to admit their mistakes and actively compensate to reduce their responsibility.

The several former officials involved didn’t put up any fierce resistance either. They all took the initiative to admit their mistakes and received a punishment of being exiled.

In just a few days, Tong Xiangyu had properly handled a problem that was originally very棘手 (jíshǒu; thorny, troublesome).

Those who didn’t understand the inside story would give her a thumbs up and praise her for being amazing.

Those who understood the inside story naturally felt all kinds of envy, jealousy, and hatred.

In this world, there is no fairness. It is easier to get things done with money and power.

Soon, Tong Xiangyu received a commendation from above.

As long as she didn’t make any mistakes in the future, she would definitely be the first choice when there was a position available above after a while.

If she continued to have people helping her and her own abilities were not bad, she could rise rapidly and might become the first senior female official in Great Hua.

Tong Xiangyu and Cai Ilian, two women, were both thriving in the officialdom.

As for the others, although they weren’t doing as well as them, they were still doing okay.

The things they were worried and afraid of had not happened.

Chapter 906: Telephone

In the seventh year of Yongxing, Great Hua officially entered the age of electricity.

More accurately, it was the Jiangnan area that entered the age of electricity.

Cities like Guangzhou and Wuhan were still in the steam age.

As for the countryside, it was still in the agricultural age.

The Great Hua Empire, as a single nation, spanned several eras.

If this trend continued, by the time the Jiangnan area entered the information age, some remote regions would still be in the agricultural age.

In this year, many electrical appliances were invented.

Simple ones included electric lights, electric fans, and electric bells. More complex ones included refrigerators and electric rice cookers.

Of course, whether simple or complex, these were all for the wealthy to enjoy a novelty. There was still a long way to go before they became widespread, and that would only happen after the cost of these products came down.

In daily life, electrical appliances were still rare, and their impact on society was not particularly significant.

The greater impact was in industry.

Rotation could generate electricity, and electricity could naturally provide power for rotation.

Steam engines were too large and cumbersome to be suitable for many machines.

Therefore, researchers were studying how to convert those machines to be driven by electricity, and they had already achieved some results.

Various forms of electric motors were constantly emerging, improving the efficiency of those machines and accelerating industrial development by several steps.

Of course, this was just the beginning. The role of electricity was much greater than that of steam, and there would be countless places where electricity would be needed in the future.

The Imperial Palace.

Several researchers brought a telephone to Wu Changqing, and several princes and princesses came to join the fun.

Because Wu Changqing had told them that this thing could talk to people several kilometers away, and the princes didn’t quite believe it.

Wu Changqing picked up the phone and said, “Can you hear me?”

“Your subject Jiang Shoude reports to Your Majesty, I can hear you.”

A voice came from the receiver, startling the concubines.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t been there, they might have been terrified.

A human voice actually came from a black iron lump. Could it be a spirit?

The children’s worldviews had not yet been formed, so they were not so shocked, but more curious.

They looked at the telephone, seemingly wanting to explore its mysteries.

“Fire ten salute shots.”

Wu Changqing said.

“As you command.”

Soon, ten cannon shots rang out from the Jiangning camp.

It really could communicate instantly with people several kilometers away. It was truly amazing.

Chen Yuyan said that it was simply incredible.

The other concubines no longer doubted and believed that there really was such a magical thing in the world.

“That’s so fun, fire ten more shots.”

Wu Gang shouted loudly into the phone, which made Jiang Shoude very embarrassed.

He guessed that it was one of the princes speaking. It would be bad not to obey the order, but it would also be bad to obey the order, since Wu Changqing was still there.

“Then fire ten more shots,”

Wu Changqing said with a smile. This was a historic moment, and he was in a good mood.

Subsequently, the Jiangnan camp fired salute shots again, and Wu Gang and the others excitedly made a lot of noise and had a good time.

This successful call was of great significance.

From then on, Great Hua opened the door to long-distance instant communication.

The telegraph didn’t count, as it required sending, receiving, and translating, which was still a troublesome process.

Moreover, the telegraph could only transmit text, not sound.

With the telephone, the central government’s control over the local areas was even stronger, and there would be no more situations where local officials occasionally disobeyed orders.

In the past feudal dynasties, the central government’s control over remote areas was actually very weak. The emperor’s orders might not be heeded by those frontier officials, and the emperor didn’t even have a good way to deal with it.

Those officials could find many excuses. For example, when facing a foreign invasion, if the emperor wanted the local officials to declare war on the foreign country, the local officials could directly throw away the order and say, “His Majesty is so wise, it is impossible for him to issue such a muddled decree. It must be a fake edict.”

Faced with the emperor’s call for help, they could use the story of the beacon fires to amuse the nobles as an example, saying that this might be the emperor trying to amuse his concubines.

Then, they would hold their troops and watch the show from the sidelines.

This was a typical example of too weak control over the local areas, and there were many similar things in history.

Without the telephone, local officials could indeed use similar excuses to disobey orders.

With the telephone, that wouldn’t work. At that time, they couldn’t say that the voice on the phone wasn’t the emperor’s voice, right?

Moreover, even if local officials disobeyed orders, Wu Changqing, who was in the central government, could know about it and respond in a timely manner.

The role of the telephone was far more than that. Its greatest role was in people’s livelihoods, solving the problem of long-distance instant communication and making communication between people more convenient.

Of course, the current telephone was not so magical.

The current telephone could only make one-to-one calls, that is, one wire could only connect two telephones at both ends. If more telephones were connected, it would be impossible to accurately call the person you wanted to talk to.

To solve this problem, you had to rely on a telephone exchange.

The telephone exchange could receive and identify the signals from the dial telephone and then automatically transmit them to the designated receiver.

In this way, one telephone line could transmit multiple calls at the same time.

By dialing, you could accurately reach the person you were looking for.

Only in this way could the telephone enter thousands of households.

Otherwise, there wouldn’t be enough money to build wires.

Great Hua was also working intensively on the research and development of telephone exchanges, and it was expected that there would be results soon.

With the help of the system, Great Hua had no technical bottlenecks.

Its technological development speed was soaring like it was injected with stimulants.

The Great Hua Daily extensively reported on Great Hua’s first successful call, including the process, content, and participants.

These would all need to be included in history books in the future, so that people would remember them.

However, it was a bit far-fetched to say that this was Great Hua’s first successful call. Before this, researchers had already succeeded countless times when researching and debugging, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken it to the palace to show off.

However, their moment of successful testing had no commemorative significance.

This commemorative moment should still be reserved for the emperor.

As a result, the call between Wu Changqing and the Jiangning camp was defined as Great Hua’s first successful call.

Many ordinary people were confused by this telephone, and some even didn’t believe it.

How could people talk to people seven or eight kilometers away? How could anyone’s voice be so loud? Wouldn’t that be a monster?

Those who had studied and understood science believed it.

However, believing was believing, but when the telephone really appeared, these people were also quite surprised.

This technology was really too magical.

In the past, they wouldn’t have dared to imagine that there could be such a magical device in the world.

Some people who thought further ahead were already able to realize the impact of the telephone on the world. The effect was exciting just to think about.

Chapter 907: The Emperor’s Inspection Tour

In the fourth month of the seventh year of Yongxing.

The Great Western Army annihilated the Yarkent Khanate and fought a battle with the Persian Empire, defeating its fifty thousand strong army.

The Great Hua Western Military Region dispatched troops into Tibet, rapidly recovering large swathes of territory.

The Great Hua garrison stationed in Eastern Siberia clashed with the Russian Empire’s Second Army.

The fifth batch of ten thousand immigrants arrived in San Francisco, North America, bringing the total number of immigrants in North America to thirty thousand.

The entirety of Cambodia was incorporated into Great Hua.

Great Hua’s colonial outpost in Brazil was attacked, suspected to be supported by Spain.

One hundred Chinese language academies were completed in the four provinces of Japan, and Mandarin Chinese was popularized in urban areas.

The Great Hua Navy arrived in Panama and occupied Panama.

The first train in England underwent trial runs.

France annexed the Netherlands, captured Bavaria, and the Holy Roman Empire and Spain declared war on France.

A coup occurred in the Mughal Empire. Shah Jahan stepped down, and Aurangzeb promoted reforms, comprehensively studying Great Hua.

The Ottoman Empire invaded Eastern Europe.

Wu Changqing embarked on an inspection tour.

…

The world is vast, and every moment witnesses significant events that could be recorded in history textbooks.

However, due to the difficulty of transmitting information, the common people of Great Hua were unaware of and unconcerned about events in other parts of the world.

They were more interested in Wu Changqing’s inspection tour, which was closer to them and more relevant to their lives.

As for the Ottoman Empire’s invasion of Eastern Europe, most Great Hua citizens didn’t even know what the Ottoman Empire was.

If someone were to conduct a street interview and ask Great Hua citizens what they thought about the Ottoman Empire’s invasion of Eastern Europe, their reaction would likely be:

“What Ottoman Empire? There can only be one empire in this world, and that is the Great Hua Empire. How dare those barbarians call themselves emperors? They’re simply courting death! Why hasn’t the military sent troops to quell the rebellion?”

In the hearts of the people of Great Hua, it was acceptable for those barbarians to call themselves kings, as that still acknowledged the Great Hua Emperor as the sole Son of Heaven.

But declaring themselves emperors was unacceptable. To declare oneself an emperor meant vying for the world with Great Hua, which was a situation of irreconcilable conflict.

In short, the people of Great Hua were most concerned about Wu Changqing’s inspection tour, as it was a rare occasion for the Emperor to leave the palace and inspect the realm.

Many people waited for the latest newspapers every day, eager to see what happened during the Emperor’s tour, what impact it would have on the local areas, and whether any local corrupt officials would be caught and severely punished.

Their expectations might be disappointed.

Wu Changqing’s inspection tour was mainly to observe the development of various regions. It would be difficult to catch corrupt officials, as any official with a sound mind would make preparations in advance and only show the Emperor their best side.

Unless they had done something that couldn’t be concealed.

As for those who had grievances and wanted to rush before the Emperor to seek justice, they basically had no chance. The guards would protect the Emperor tightly, and those people would not be able to approach him.

Great Hua was too vast, and Wu Changqing couldn’t possibly visit every place, so the target this time was only set on some important locations.

The initial plan was to take the train north along the Beijing-North Line, all the way to Beijing, then to Shengjing in the northeast, inspecting along the way.

Then, he would return to Beijing and take the Beijing-Guangzhou Line, from Beijing to Wuhan, and then to Guangzhou. He would stay in the Pearl River Delta in Guangzhou for a period of time, and then take the Beijing-Guangzhou Line again, from Guangzhou to Nanchang, to Jiujiang, and return to Nanjing.

Finally, he would make a trip to Shanghai, and this inspection tour would be completed.

There were many places to go, and it would take a long time.

Therefore, he would bring many people on this inspection tour, very many.

He would bring at least half of the ministers, as he needed to discuss many matters with them and make decisions together.

After he set off on the tour, the memorials regarding major events would be sent to his mobile palace.

Wherever Wu Changqing went, that place would be the center of decision-making.

As for Nanjing, it would only need to maintain the daily operations of the government.

There was no need to worry about any mishaps, as the places Wu Changqing was going to had already been connected by telegraph lines, and he could remotely control Nanjing through telegraphs.

In the event of any emergencies, he could also deal with them in a timely manner.

Since many ministers were to be brought along, there would naturally be even more guards, as safety was the top priority.

And he also had to bring a few concubines, after all, the journey was long, and there were always times when one couldn’t sleep.

It would be troublesome to find someone temporarily when there was a need, and it wouldn’t be safe or sound good.

Of course, a bunch of foreign ambassadors also had to be brought along.

Firstly, those ambassadors were desperately begging to follow, and secondly, he also wanted to show off the achievements of development.

As the saying goes, “To be rich and not return home is like wearing brocade at night.” If one didn’t like to show off, there was no need to work hard.

People are all susceptible to a little vanity, even emperors are no exception.

Some elite members of society also had to be brought along, so that people in the country could feel the strength of Great Hua.

The scale of this inspection tour would be around two thousand five hundred people, of which the Imperial Guards accounted for two thousand.

With the strength of two thousand Imperial Guards, unless some military大佬 launched a rebellion and deployed one or two divisions to attack, they wouldn’t be able to do anything to Wu Changqing.

Compared to a direct assault, he was more concerned about assassination.

This aspect was jointly handled by the Investigation Bureau and the Intelligence Bureau. For this inspection tour, people from those two departments had already cast their nets in the places they were going to, conducting investigations.

Not to mention assassins, even suspicious individuals would be brought under control.

The Emperor’s safety was the top priority.

As long as Wu Changqing didn’t die, Great Hua would inevitably become more and more prosperous.

Many concubines wanted to follow Wu Changqing on the inspection tour, firstly to relax, and secondly, following the Emperor on the inspection tour meant more opportunities to serve him in bed.

In the palace, they had to compete with more than a dozen other women, while following the Emperor on the inspection tour, they might only need to compete with one or two.

The one who probably wanted to follow Wu Changqing on the inspection tour the most was Yin Hye-eun. It was too difficult to assassinate the Emperor in the palace. She couldn’t even secretly hide a sharp weapon, and she would be carefully searched before serving him in bed, and there would be people supervising her during the service.

Yin Hye-eun had never thought that assassinating the Emperor would be such a difficult task.

Now, not only had she failed to assassinate him, but she had been slept with many times, which was a huge loss.

Therefore, she wanted to take advantage of this inspection tour to look for opportunities.

When the Emperor went on an inspection tour, everything on the road would definitely be simplified, and the protection wouldn’t be as strict as in the palace.

Her plan was beautiful, but her luck wasn’t so good.

Not long before the inspection tour, she was found to be pregnant.

This meant that she was no longer suitable to follow the inspection tour and could only stay in the palace.

When other concubines became pregnant, they would basically be overjoyed and cry tears of joy.

Only she, after hearing this news, wasn’t happy at all. If she wasn’t afraid of being seen through, she would have burst into tears.

Yin Hye-eun began to doubt her assassination career for the first time and felt confused. The opportunities were too difficult to find.

And now, she was pregnant. Once the child was born, she would have a bond, and there would be more things to worry about in the future.

What was even more fatal was that the Japanese who had hired her to assassinate the Emperor had now completely surrendered and been incorporated into Great Hua, and they could no longer give her any help.

The one who got the opportunity to follow the inspection tour this time was Olgana, who wanted to admire the scenery of various parts of Great Hua.

The other was Guo Xiang, who was more favored.

The Empress and others, who were even more favored than her, maintained their status and chose to stay in the palace.

The other concubines who wanted to follow Wu Changqing on the inspection tour were not as favored as her.

Chapter 908: Xuzhou Station

The first stop on the tour was Chuzhou.

Because of its proximity to Nanjing, Chuzhou’s development was fairly good.

Its main economic pillars were still agriculture, followed by medicinal herb cultivation and mineral extraction.

Wu Changqing and the others visited the large farms and inspected the use of agricultural machinery.

Although the combine harvesters couldn’t be demonstrated at this time, other machines could.

Moreover, someone provided a detailed explanation of how to use the combine harvester and its efficiency.

When they heard that five people working together could complete the harvesting of five hundred mu of land in a day, the accompanying officials couldn’t help but nod.

This kind of thing was definitely a national treasure.

Great Hua was a major agricultural country, and grain was the foundation.

When the foreign ambassadors saw the farming efficiency of Great Hua’s agriculture, they were all speechless with their mouths wide open.

They knew that their own countries were undergoing reforms and trying to catch up with Great Hua.

But seeing these agricultural machines of Great Hua, they knew that catching up with Great Hua was a joke.

These five high-quality farmers in front of them could grow enough grain to feed at least one thousand people of Great Hua in a year.

That meant that out of one thousand people of Great Hua, more than nine hundred didn’t have to work in the fields and had plenty of time to study, research, and create.

Other countries simply couldn’t compare to these conditions.

Out of their one thousand people, at least eight hundred had to work in the fields to feed everyone.

Of the remaining two hundred, after deducting officials, merchants, and the military, there were basically not many left. With a small population base for scientific research, it was naturally difficult to produce results.

Several Western European ambassadors exchanged glances and saw despair in each other’s eyes.

At that moment, they wanted to hug each other and cry, singing a song of shared misfortune.

In addition to agriculture, Chuzhou had many rock salt and gypsum mines. Rock salt could be processed into refined salt for consumption and was also an important chemical raw material.

These minerals gave Chuzhou many unique industries.

Wu Changqing stayed in Chuzhou for a day, inspected the medicinal herb processing plant, and gave important instructions.

Wu Changqing stated that a country couldn’t only have heavy industry; other industries such as agriculture and medicinal herbs were equally important. Chuzhou should leverage its unique advantages and increase investment in the medicinal herb industry, and not blindly pursue heavy industry.

Wu Changqing specifically mentioned this matter mainly because there was a trend of heavy industry in Great Hua now, as if one had to engage in heavy industry to become rich.

Currently, many places in Great Hua were blindly pursuing the construction of heavy industry, ignoring their own development conditions.

Developing heavy industry was not that easy.

Geographical location, transportation conditions, talent reserves, government support, and so on were all indispensable.

Places where conditions were not yet mature often attempted to develop heavy industry for political achievements, but usually ended in failure.

This was not good and would waste human and material resources.

Having received Wu Changqing’s affirmation, Prefect Liu Wei of Chuzhou breathed a sigh of relief.

Some subordinates had advised him to take advantage of the proximity to Nanjing and choose to develop heavy industry, saying that they could achieve something and then everyone could get promoted and make a fortune together.

But Liu Wei knew that developing heavy industry was not that easy. First of all, there was no chance of obtaining technical support from the imperial court.

The memorials applying for technical support were piled up in the Ministry of Scientific Research, but the Ministry of Scientific Research didn’t have that many people to support them.

Technical support wasn’t just sending a few books over; they also had to send corresponding talents.

And cultivating talents took time. Even though Great Hua was vigorously cultivating them, it was still far from meeting the needs of various places.

Therefore, the applications from those cities and places with poor development conditions naturally sank without a trace.

There were also stops in Bengbu and Suzhou, followed by the key city of Xuzhou.

Xuzhou’s development was now very good, after all, it was one of the first ten supported cities. In the mouths of people from other places, Xuzhou was the imperial court’s favorite son, while other places were stepchildren.

This kind of complaint was understandable. Xuzhou already had good development conditions, but it still received special care.

If you opened a factory in Xuzhou, the imperial court would send technicians to guide you.

If you started a business in Xuzhou, the Royal Bank would give you a loan.

If you engaged in production in Xuzhou, the imperial court would even help you find sales channels.

With such support, Xuzhou had now formed a complete industrial chain.

The imperial court did this naturally not out of favoritism, but mainly to pursue efficiency.

Xuzhou had a large amount of coal mines and was not short of energy. Opening a factory here would save a lot of energy costs compared to those places lacking coal.

Here, ten thousand wen could support a factory, while in a place lacking coal, it would take fifteen thousand wen. The imperial court naturally chose Xuzhou.

Moreover, Xuzhou had more than just coal.

Limestone, iron ore, and potash had very rich reserves, enough to support an industry.

In addition to mineral resources, it was also the transportation center of the Central Plains. In terms of railways, the Jingbei Line passed through Xuzhou, and it was also the starting station of the Xuzhou-Xi’an line.

In terms of water transport, there was also the Grand Canal and the Huai River.

Moreover, since ancient times, Xuzhou had many scholars, making talent cultivation easier.

Many conditions constituted the reason for Xuzhou’s rapid development.

Currently, Xuzhou’s population had reached one million five hundred thousand, making it the tenth most populous city in Great Hua.

Wu Changqing inspected Xuzhou’s steel plant and lime plant.

However, he didn’t go to see those production workshops, there was no need.

From the data submitted below, Wu Changqing roughly knew the development of the factory.

He wanted to understand things that couldn’t be seen at a glance.

Wu Changqing casually called a few workers and personally asked them questions. “How many hours do you work a day?”

The workers who were asked were very nervous. They had been told in advance not to talk nonsense.

However, they didn’t really know what constituted nonsense. The instructions from above were very vague.

Facing the emperor’s inquiry, they didn’t dare to lie.

“Five and a half shi.”

One worker said cautiously.

Wu Changqing sighed in his heart. Eleven hours was a bit too long, after all, this wasn’t a garment factory, but a steel plant that consumed a lot of physical strength.

Working eleven hours a day was basically overdrafting one’s life.

“Are you tired?”

Wu Changqing asked.

The worker hesitated for a moment, nodded, and then said, “It’s worth being tired, earning three or four times more money than farming at home.”

“Have there been any injuries at work?”

Wu Changqing continued to ask.

This question made Xu Aowen, the factory director who was accompanying the inspection, panic a little, fearing that the workers would tell the truth.

The worker who was asked was now in a dilemma. He really wanted to tell Wu Changqing the truth, but he didn’t dare to.

After all, the emperor would only stay here for a few days. After the emperor left, the factory director would still be the boss here.

“I’m not too sure. Not in our group, just occasional bumps and bruises.”

The worker said.

He spoke very implicitly, but Wu Changqing had already heard the meaning behind his words from his expression and tone.

Of course, he could have guessed it even without asking. There must be many workers injured.

Chapter 909: Northern Tour

Worker injuries are an inevitable phenomenon in the development of heavy industry. With immature technology and a lack of experience, how could there be no accidents?

Afterward, Wu Changqing asked Xu Aowen how many people had been disabled or killed due to injuries.

Xu Aowen was a shrewd fellow. Seeing Wu Changqing’s expression, he knew he couldn’t hide anything.

Trying to fool the Emperor would only lead to a worse outcome.

So, he could only tell the truth.

“The year before last, a total of forty-three people were disabled, and three died from their injuries. Last year, the factory’s scale doubled, but the number of injured and disabled decreased to thirty-two, and there were no deaths,” Xu Aowen said, still trying to prove that he had made progress.

Moreover, the numbers he gave were somewhat ambiguous. What exactly constituted a disability? There was no standard.

In Wu Changqing’s view, losing a few fingers would count as a disability.

But in Xu Aowen’s view, only losing the ability to live independently would count as a disability. If someone could still walk and take care of themselves, it didn’t count.

Wu Changqing didn’t have time to verify Xu Aowen’s words. If he really did that, he would have to stay in Xuzhou for several months.

This kind of thing was basically the responsibility of the intelligence bureau. As long as the final numbers weren’t too far off, Wu Changqing wouldn’t bother to investigate further.

In short, Wu Changqing asked about this matter not to investigate Xu Aowen, but to express an attitude, to let the people below know that he cared about the health of the workers.

By releasing this attitude, those who were sensible would pay attention to this aspect in the future.

If they ignored the Emperor’s attitude, then the Emperor would have a reason to punish them in the future.

In Xuzhou, Wu Changqing gave important instructions, demanding that people be put first and that the pursuit of development should not disregard the lives of workers.

Those who were injured and disabled in accidents must be properly cared for, and their subsequent lives must be guaranteed.

Wu Changqing’s speeches were praised by ambassadors from various countries, but they were secretly rejoicing.

They hoped that Wu Changqing would issue more similar policies, so that Great Hua’s money would be invested in improving the lives of vulnerable groups, thus reducing the amount of money available for development.

Their countries, on the other hand, could take advantage of the unrestricted exploitation of workers to overtake on the curve.

Although this curve wouldn’t allow them to overtake by much, gaining a little ground was still worthwhile.

As for the lives and deaths of workers, they really didn’t care. They didn’t care before, and they wouldn’t care in the future.

Wu Changqing’s words were recorded by official reporters and immediately telegraphed to Nanjing for publication in the newspapers.

This instruction naturally won the praise of the working class and the common people.

Although the big capitalists were a little dissatisfied, they didn’t dare to express it, otherwise they would incur public anger.

Of course, some well-intentioned big businessmen, after reading this report, decided to slightly improve the treatment of their workers.

After all, they had already earned enough, and it was time to pursue a good reputation.

Just like the wealthy people of the past who liked to build roads, bridges, and schools, it was all to pursue a good reputation.

Although it was still for their own benefit, the effect could benefit others and was still worthy of recognition.

Improving the treatment of workers would not only earn them praise from the workers, but also be a response to the Emperor’s call, which could be regarded as showing their loyalty.

This was a good deal for those big capitalists.

Wu Changqing was the Emperor, and any word he said could have a great impact.

In Xuzhou, Wu Changqing also visited the site of the Central Plains War and the Martyrs’ Cemetery with the crowd, to remember the martyrs and emphasize that today’s peace was bought with the blood of the soldiers.

The other foreign ambassadors didn’t quite believe these words.

According to their intelligence, not many soldiers of the Huaxia army died in the Central Plains War; it was mostly people from the Qing Dynasty who died.

After staying in Xuzhou for three days, they continued north.

They stopped in important cities along the way.

After half a month, they arrived in Beijing.

Today’s Beijing is not what it used to be.

It used to be the capital of the Ming Dynasty for more than two hundred years, the political and cultural center, a gathering place for high-ranking officials and talented people, and extremely prosperous.

But now, there are only some remnants of the Ming Dynasty and some remnants of the Qing Dynasty.

These people do not resist Great Hua, but they insist on not forgetting the former dynasty. It is difficult for normal people to understand what they are thinking.

Anyway, these people are not harmful to Great Hua, so the government only monitors them occasionally and does not persecute them.

Great Hua is still hoping that one day they will wake up, and this work has indeed achieved some results.

Over the years, some people have gradually changed and returned to normal life, but there are also some stubborn elements.

Looking at the current city of Beijing, Hong Chengchou and some other ministers were filled with emotion.

Many of them had served as officials in Beijing, and some had even lived in Beijing for longer.

Comparing the current Beijing with Nanjing, these people felt like they were in another world, as if a long time had passed.

In fact, they had only left Beijing for about ten years, and some even less.

The reason why they had this feeling was mainly because Nanjing had developed too fast and things had changed too much.

The faster things change, the more sensitive people are to time. Even though a short time has passed, it will feel like a long time.

If life is unchanging, people are less sensitive to time. Even though a long time has passed, it will feel like yesterday.

It’s like when people are young, they feel that the days pass slowly, because children are constantly learning about the world, encountering new things, and need to remember a lot.

But when people grow up, they feel that time passes quickly, because most of the lives of adults are unchanging: going to work, eating, sleeping, and going to work again.

There is very little content worth remembering in life, and most of it is meaningless time that is not remembered by the brain, so it feels like time passes quickly.

There was nothing to inspect in Beijing, after all, Great Hua had intentionally or unintentionally ignored this place and focused on developing Tianjin.

The only place worth visiting was the Ming Imperial Palace.

Wu Changqing originally wanted to turn this palace into a tourist attraction, but the ministers strongly disagreed, saying that there was no need to earn this little money.

The Imperial Palace represents the majesty of the royal family. How could it be allowed for people to casually stroll around the Emperor’s home for a small fee?

The ministers felt that the Emperor still needed to maintain a sense of aloofness and mystery in front of ordinary people.

Because this was a minor matter, Wu Changqing did not argue with the ministers.

He had always been like this, not giving his ministers a chance to object on major issues, but often compromising with them on minor issues.

This was actually very necessary. If he opposed his ministers in everything, it would inevitably cause them to become estranged from him.

Today, many of the buildings in the Ming Imperial Palace have begun to become dilapidated, and only a small part of it, used as a temporary palace, is still being renovated every year.

These places have finally played a role now. Wu Changqing stayed in the Ming Imperial Palace for one night.

Chapter 910: A Little Too Much

On his northern inspection tour, news of major events happening across the realm reached Wu Changqing via telegraph.

In mid-April, the Huaxia army entered Ü-Tsang, what later generations would call the Tibetan region.

Militarily, the Huaxia army encountered no real opposition, only the hardship of marching.

They advanced all the way to Lhasa before encountering any significant resistance.

However, this was quickly crushed by the Huaxia army’s firepower.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army divided into several small units and stationed themselves in the main population centers of Ü-Tsang, declaring Great Hua’s rule over the region.

Theoretically, Ü-Tsang had now become Great Hua’s territory.

After receiving the telegram, Wu Changqing considered the policies for Ü-Tsang.

Firstly, in terms of administration, he decided to appoint Han Chinese officials to manage the region, denying any power to the original ruling class.

Secondly, he would increase educational support for Ü-Tsang, allowing the people there to learn more scientific knowledge.

The high number of religious adherents in the region had led to an extremely low birth rate and a declining population, something Wu Changqing could not tolerate.

However, Great Hua’s policy was one of religious freedom, so he could not force people to abandon their beliefs. He could only increase educational efforts to help them open their eyes to the world.

After reclaiming Ü-Tsang, the Huaxia army marched south again, attacking the Toungoo Dynasty, preparing to reclaim the entire Southeast Asian peninsula.

In this way, the Central Plains, the Tibetan region, Bengal, and Southeast Asia would be connected, making the map look more pleasing.

This was the reason for the Huaxia army’s advance into the Toungoo Dynasty – ridiculous, absurd, but undeniably true.

Simply to make Great Hua’s map look more beautiful, they initiated this campaign to reclaim lost territories.

It was fortunate that the Toungoo Dynasty’s leaders didn’t know the real reason for the Huaxia army’s attack. If they had, they would have felt an indescribable frustration.

It was just too damn insulting.

They could understand occupying territory for land, hegemony, or profit, because that’s how things had always been.

But simply to make the map look better was excessive, completely disregarding them.

Even when dealing with an ant nest, the reason shouldn’t be so casual.

In any case, the Huaxia army fully entered the territory of the Toungoo Dynasty.

Five years ago, the Toungoo Dynasty fought a battle with Great Hua. At that time, the Toungoo Dynasty’s army was utterly defeated, with a Huaxia army detachment reaching their capital.

Five years had passed, and the Toungoo Dynasty had grown much stronger.

Through thrift and selling grain and cash crops to Great Hua, they had acquired large quantities of steel and used it to create many weapons to arm their army.

Their army was no longer like it was five years ago, needing to go to the battlefield with bamboo spears.

Then, the greatly strengthened Toungoo army encountered the rapidly improving Huaxia army.

Entering Toungoo was still a detachment of the Huaxia army, numbering only fifteen thousand.

The Toungoo Dynasty mobilized eighty thousand troops, preparing to rely on the terrain in the northern mountains of Mandalay to resist.

But the Huaxia army detachment chose to detour, bypassing the eighty thousand troops and heading straight for Mandalay.

The tricked Toungoo army quickly turned around and chased after the Huaxia army.

As a result, they were ambushed by the Huaxia army.

They were equipped with semi-automatic rifles and machine guns, various cannons, and they set up an ambush.

Their division commander, Fan Debiao, felt quite embarrassed. He had the feeling that it was like an adult carrying a wooden stick to fight a bare-handed child, and then the adult tricked the child into an alley, and he secretly hid behind the wall, preparing to sneak attack.

This…

Not only did Fan Debiao blush a little, but the Huaxia army soldiers also felt a little embarrassed, feeling it was a bit too much.

Therefore, they were somewhat merciful during the ambush, not fighting to the death.

However, their gentleness was still a catastrophe for the Toungoo Dynasty’s army, the most brutal battle in the world.

Eighty thousand troops were blocked by the Huaxia army in the canyon, unable to advance, unable to ascend, unable to retreat.

The feeling was like Sima Yi being trapped and burned by Zhuge Liang with fire in the Valley of the Gourd.

They were even more miserable than Sima Yi, because there was no God to save them.

After a period of wailing and lamenting, the remaining troops all surrendered.

It wasn’t that they didn’t try hard enough, it’s just that this battle was impossible to fight.

In less than five hours of fighting, they had suffered more than twenty thousand casualties.

And the Huaxia army, casualties did not exceed two hundred.

A battle with a casualty ratio of one hundred to one was not worth persisting in.

The Toungoo Dynasty’s only main force was destroyed, and the capital, Mandalay, was easily captured.

The Toungoo King, Mangda, fled Mandalay, organizing troops while fleeing, trying to continue resisting.

He wasn’t stupid; he knew he couldn’t win.

But so what? He would live one day at a time.

Other ministers could surrender; Great Hua would still need those guys to govern here in the future.

But he would not have a good end, most likely death.

For such stubborn people, the Huaxia army was naturally not polite, chasing all the way, chasing Mangda to the border of Siam, and he fled into Siam, wanting to seek refuge.

This request directly frightened the Siamese King Narai into a shiver. Without saying a word, he had people tie up Mangda and send him to the Huaxia army.

Shelter? What a joke, do I look strong?

Narai couldn’t help but mock himself.

He couldn’t even protect himself now, let alone protect others.

Great Hua’s ambition to expand was well known.

Narai wasn’t stupid; how could he not know that he was next?

After all, he was the only country left on the entire Southeast Asian peninsula that had not been annexed.

Was it difficult to guess what would happen next?

After sending Mangda to the Huaxia army, he was still not at ease. Narai also told Fan Debiao that he hoped Fan Debiao would not attack Siam. He would set off immediately to personally see Wu Changqing in Great Hua to discuss Siam’s incorporation into Great Hua.

Yes, Narai had decided to join Great Hua like Annam.

It wasn’t that he was cowardly, it’s just that there was really no way.

If he had any power to resist, he wouldn’t be like this.

But he didn’t.

His army still used flintlock guns. Facing the Huaxia army’s semi-automatic rifles and large-caliber field guns, they had no power to resist.

Not to mention that once the fighting started, Great Hua’s warships could directly sail to Bangkok and shell Bangkok. What would he use to resist, a navy like fishing boats?

He couldn’t win, he really couldn’t win.

Rather than being conquered, it was better to take the initiative to seek to join.

That way, at least he could have a good ending, like the King of Korea, and enjoy a peaceful life in Nanjing.

As for power, you need to have a life to enjoy power.

If you lose your life, where does power come from?

Being conquered means losing your life and power.主动投降,丢权势保命.

Looking at Mangda’s fate, Narai knew this was a good choice.

Chapter 911: Narai’s Visit to Great Hua

By the time Narai arrived in Great Hua, Wu Changqing had already headed north.

The telegram reached Wu Changqing, and he simply replied, “Let Narai come.”

And so, Narai happily boarded a train and went.

It wasn’t until Shengjing that Narai caught up with Wu Changqing.

After Shengjing was recovered, there was a proposal in the court to change Shengjing back to Shenyang.

But Shenyang was only the name during the Ming Dynasty. Now it was Great Hua, so what was the point of changing it back to Shenyang? Was it to reminisce about the Ming Dynasty?

Therefore, some people proposed changing Shengjing to Dongyang.

Others suggested that Great Hua had, after all, inherited from the Ming Dynasty, so calling it Shenyang was acceptable.

In the end, Wu Changqing scolded those people, and the matter was dropped.

Was the name that important?

Even if Shengjing was still called Shengjing, how many people would miss the Qing Dynasty because of it?

Even if it was changed back to Shenyang, what great impact would it have?

If there were no disagreements, it would be fine to change it after a few discussions, but they had to waste time arguing over a name. Where would they find the time to do real work?

After being criticized by Wu Changqing, no one mentioned changing the name again.

In short, Shengjing was still called Shengjing.

The current Shengjing was developing very well, with many large enterprises and heavy industries, because Shengjing was one of the first cities to receive support.

The area outside the pass was so large that it needed an economic center to drive the development of the surrounding areas.

Shengjing was rich in mineral resources, with the Anshan Iron and Steel Base, the Fushun Coal Base, and the Panjin Oil Base.

It was also a transportation hub, connecting the interior, Siberia, and the Korean Peninsula.

After the railway was built, transportation here was convenient.

In addition, Shengjing was historically the capital of the Qing Dynasty, the most densely populated city outside the pass.

It had no shortage of resources and manpower. With the government’s technical support and financial allocation, it quickly developed.

It wasn’t developing as well as Xuzhou, but it wasn’t far behind.

Narai arrived in Shengjing and was invited to inspect it together.

At the Anshan Iron and Steel Plant, Narai felt what it meant to be a great power and what heavy industry was.

They mainly visited the steel rolling process. Blocks of steel billets were pressed into steel plates under the control of machines. Or, under the control of specific machines, they were directly pressed into tubular and square shapes.

Even more outrageous was that those square shapes could be further shaped by rolling mills and pressed into various shapes of parts.

If it were done by hand, this entire process would take at least a month or two to complete.

But with these machines, it was a matter of moments.

“Narai, what do you think of this production process?”

Wu Changqing called him by his name, and no one felt that there was anything wrong with it.

“Ingenious craftsmanship, miraculous wonders, only the great Great Hua can possess such technology, making people extremely awed,”

Narai said.

His words almost praised Great Hua to the heavens, but the ambassadors of other countries did not think that this was flattery.

Because that’s what they thought too.

Great Hua’s steelmaking process was indeed miraculous.

Wu Changqing smiled and then said to the ambassadors of various countries, as well as domestic ministers and social elites: “I don’t think I need to say more about the role of steel in promoting social productivity.

The more steel is smelted, the better people’s lives will be.

And my Great Hua Empire aims to make people all over the world live a good life, and has been striving for this great goal.

However, some people in some places are still undermining this great cause for their own selfish interests, which Great Hua will not allow. All of you present are smart people and should also make a contribution to the happiness of all mankind.

You need to exert your respective influence to persuade those selfish people to accept the leadership of Great Hua as soon as possible, so that Great Hua’s advanced technology can spread to every corner of the globe…”

Wu Changqing almost directly said that all countries in the world should surrender to Great Hua.

This was obviously wishful thinking, but Wu Changqing’s words were mainly for Narai to hear.

Wu Changqing wanted Narai to know that there was nothing wrong with surrendering to Great Hua. Anyway, other countries in the world would be merged into Great Hua in the future. Joining sooner would give them some preferential treatment.

Narai naturally understood Wu Changqing’s meaning and indeed agreed with Wu Changqing’s statement in his heart.

Unless the whole world united to fight against Great Hua, there would be some chance.

But Narai knew that that was impossible.

Therefore, this world would definitely be conquered by Great Hua. Great Hua no longer had any opponents.

Since it was indeed impossible to resist, it was better to go with the flow.

Narai thought this way because he was close to Great Hua and was about to be invaded by the Huaxia army.

The other Western European ambassadors would not think this way. They only felt that Wu Changqing’s words were shameless.

What did he mean by for the happiness of all mankind? If that was really the case, then he shouldn’t implement a technology blockade and should provide technology to Western European countries now.

Of course, they also knew that this was impossible.

However, they also did not think that Great Hua could unify the world.

After all, Great Hua was too far away from Western Europe, and it would not be easy to attack.

Moreover, these people also considered themselves to be countries in the civilized world and would not be so easily conquered.

They did not have Narai’s sense of crisis, so they were not so afraid.

Of course, not all ambassadors thought this way.

The Dutch ambassador felt that Wu Changqing’s words made sense. He felt that the whole world should be merged into one country.

He thought this way mainly because France had occupied the Netherlands.

He hoped that Great Hua could send troops to help teach France a lesson.

Rather than being occupied by France, it would be better to be ruled by Great Hua. At least Great Hua was the most powerful country, and being ruled by Great Hua would mean not being bullied by other countries.

“His Majesty is absolutely right. We are all human beings and should not be divided. For the happiness of all mankind, the world must be unified.”

“The world, after a long period of division, must unite. It is time to complete a true unification.”

“Those who obstruct the unification of the world and hinder the realization of the happiness of all mankind should be resolutely eliminated.”

Great Hua officials and elites naturally agreed with Wu Changqing’s words one hundred percent. The military spokesperson’s attitude was even tougher, making the ambassadors of various countries panic.

Narai was even more determined to surrender, otherwise Great Hua’s army would one hundred percent kill its way to Bangkok.

After visiting the steel plant, they also visited oil refineries, automobile manufacturing plants, and other famous enterprises.

Without a doubt, any factory made Narai and those foreign ambassadors marvel, worship, and despair.

The power of Great Hua suffocated them.

Especially Narai, who had only heard about everything about Great Hua before.

Written descriptions were never as shocking as seeing it with one’s own eyes. Now that he had personally seen Great Hua’s industrial system, he was truly kneeling.

Great Hua had become unimaginably strong.

Surrendering to such a strong person was not shameful.

Chapter 912: Daqing Station

In the evening, after the banquet, Wu Changqing met with Narai privately.

“After the tour, what are your thoughts?” Wu Changqing asked.

“After seeing it, I only hope that Your Majesty can open his heart and allow Siam to return to Great Hua, allowing the Siamese people to become subjects of Great Hua, and allowing me to contribute to the unification of Great Hua,” Narai said, bowing his head.

He didn’t even discuss conditions anymore. With Great Hua’s strength, anything they were willing to give him was a gift, and he had no way to refuse if they didn’t.

“It’s good that you have this awareness. Tell me, what do you want after surrendering?” Wu Changqing liked obedient people, as it saved a lot of trouble.

For obedient people, he didn’t mind giving some benefits to set an example.

“I have no other requests, only that I can offer my youngest daughter to Your Majesty, so that she may have the honor of serving you. If she later bears a prince, I hope that this prince can have a small fiefdom in Siam. As for me, a place to retire in Nanjing is enough,” Narai proposed his small request.

This request was too small; Wu Changqing got all the benefits.

He gained a beauty and a country for nothing.

As for the prince’s future fiefdom, it wasn’t a loss, since it was his own child anyway.

“With such loyalty, I naturally cannot refuse your good intentions. I can agree to these requests. I will arrange for someone to discuss the specific procedures with you in detail,” Wu Changqing didn’t worry that Narai’s daughter wouldn’t be beautiful. If Narai had any brains, he wouldn’t send an unattractive woman.

The two sides reached an agreement smoothly, as it was the best solution.

Afterward, Narai discussed the specific details with the Ministry of Rites, such as the abdication edict, the timing, and the transfer of power after abdication.

The main point of discussion was the transfer of power.

Although Narai was the King of Siam, it didn’t mean that the country belonged to him alone.

If he dared to promise to give all the official positions to Great Hua, the officials in Siam would definitely not agree, and some desperate people might resist fiercely.

Therefore, Great Hua’s strategy towards Siam was similar to that towards Korea and Japan, taking about half of the official positions.

In this way, they could control Siam without pushing the Siamese officials to the brink, giving them some hope.

After finalizing the details, Narai returned on a Great Hua passenger ship.

Wu Changqing continued to inspect the Daqing Oilfield.

Here, everyone gained a lot of knowledge, learning how oil was extracted.

More than twenty ‘nodding donkeys,’ each over ten meters tall, continuously pumped oil up.

Their massive size and heavy movements gave people a very high-end feeling.

In reality, the principle behind these machines was very simple, just a more complex lever principle.

The principle was simple, but the feeling it gave was incredibly shocking.

Because they were big enough. Being big enough could give people a visual impact.

Even a pile of dung, if it were as big as a mountain, would give people a different feeling, becoming a famous pile of dung.

In Daqing, Wu Changqing made important instructions, stating that internal combustion engines and the oil industry should be vigorously developed.

As long as he released such an attitude, more merchants would increase their investment in the oil industry, and oil-related stocks would rise.

While in Daqing, Hao Baiwen, the commander of the Eastern Siberia Military Region, came to see Wu Changqing, requesting to send troops to Western Siberia.

As early as February, the army stationed in Eastern Siberia Province had a small-scale engagement with the Tsarist Russia Far East Army, driving back the Tsarist Russia troops.

Hao Baiwen felt that if Tsarist Russia could form an army, Great Hua could also form a Western Expeditionary Force and fight all the way to Europe.

Anyway, Tsarist Russia’s strength was very weak, and not many troops were needed, just a heavy armored division would suffice.

When he mentioned forming a heavy armored division, Wu Changqing understood what this guy was up to.

In the end, he wanted to take the opportunity to form an armored division.

The armored division’s combat performance in Mongolia had opened the eyes of the military generals.

After deduction, the people in the Strategic Department had reached a consensus.

In the future, it would be the era of mechanized troops, and traditional infantry could not be the opponents of mechanized troops.

Steel torrents were the mainstream of future battlefields.

Therefore, several major military regions hoped to have an armored division.

Several commanders had submitted applications to Wu Changqing, but Wu Changqing had not approved them.

After all, those large trucks should be prioritized for industrial transportation to create greater value.

As for the army, Great Hua’s army was already invincible, so there was no need to improve it so quickly; it was purely bullying people.

This time, Hao Baiwen specifically used the excuse of the Western Expedition to apply for the formation of a heavy armored division.

After thinking for a while, Wu Changqing finally agreed to this application. After all, the journey to Western Europe was long and arduous, and it was impossible to walk there on foot.

To fight from land to Eastern Europe, an armored division was essential.

What he wanted was global territory, and the millions of square kilometers of land in Western Siberia could not be given up.

Anyway, they would have to fight there sooner or later. If the Northern Military Region wanted to go, then let them go; it wasn’t a big deal.

Most importantly, the current production of automobiles had greatly increased, and equipping the army no longer required the same frugality as before.

As for military expenses, there was no need to worry. Great Hua’s current financial situation was very optimistic, and Wu Changqing’s personal wallet was also very full.

Having received approval, Hao Baiwen happily went to form the armored division. Once the formation was completed, he could march westward.

At the same time, Tsarist Russia’s second expeditionary force also departed from Moscow, heading towards Irkutsk.

When the news of the destruction of the first expeditionary force in Northeast China reached Moscow, the Tsarist Russia high-level officials were furious.

This was a naked provocation to Tsarist Russia, and it could not be tolerated.

They had actually heard some news related to Great Hua from Western Europe, but most of the news sounded very absurd, giving people a sense of unreality. Some of the Tsarist Russia high-level officials regarded this news as a joke.

What trains that could run on their own carrying hundreds or thousands of tons, and giant ships of thousands of tons that didn’t need sails, were simply outrageous, impossible, and fabricated rumors.

Tsarist Russia did not pay attention to Great Hua as an opponent, only thinking that the first army might have been defeated due to carelessness or other reasons.

In short, unwilling to fail and extremely fond of expansion, they chose to set out again, wanting to take back the lost territory, and preferably seize Great Hua’s territory as well.

The Tsarist Russia high-level officials didn’t pay attention, and the lower-level army paid even less attention. It was more difficult for them to obtain information than for those high-level officials, and they knew even less about Great Hua.

They liked fighting as long as there was a war, and only war could bring military merits.

Chapter 913: Cordial Visit

Daqing was the last stop in the North. Afterwards, they returned the way they came, and after arriving in Beijing, they took another railway, the Beijing-Guangzhou line, south to Shijiazhuang.

Shijiazhuang has a very low profile in later generations. People who aren’t good at geography may not even know it’s a provincial capital. Because it has a capital city next to it, what news could it possibly attract attention to?

But in reality, Shijiazhuang’s geographical location is actually quite good, and it was also in the second batch of cities supported for development.

In Shijiazhuang, Wu Changqing received a warm welcome.

Before Wu Changqing set out, he had already issued an order that the people were not required to kneel.

However, after getting off the train in Shijiazhuang, the people disregarded the officials’ orders and spontaneously knelt down and kowtowed.

The people here were suffering. Since Li Zicheng’s rebellion began, there had been no peace here.

The rebel would come to rob once, and then the government soldiers suppressing the bandits would come to rob again. After the war was over, the imperial court had no money, and taxes were increased again.

Coupled with the cooling climate, reduced rainfall, and decreased grain production, the people here lived a miserable life.

After that, the Manchus entered the pass, and their social status was directly inferior, even more pathetic.

From the Chongzhen era to the Great Hua’s recovery of Shijiazhuang, the population here had decreased by more than seventy percent, not far from only one in ten remaining.

The local people living here all knew what kind of life they had lived before.

And since this place was ruled by Great Hua, they began to live a good life.

In the first two years after being recovered, they received a large amount of grain relief, so that everyone could eat their fill and no one starved to death again.

This alone made the people here grateful to the imperial court and to Wu Changqing.

Since then, Great Hua’s assistance to this place has never stopped.

First, a large number of potato seeds, as well as iron farm tools.

After that, land was distributed, so that every household had their own land.

Then there was industrial support, with some factories being established here, allowing the people to engage in some side businesses in their spare time to supplement their household income.

Although Wu Changqing relied on the system to do all this, no matter what, he did have merit in this world, and these people attributed all the credit to Wu Changqing.

“What is this all about? Didn’t I say not to do this kind of thing?”

Wu Changqing was not clear that these people were acting spontaneously, and thought it was the mayor of Shijiazhuang, Wei Jingdao, trying to curry favor.

“Your Majesty, please be aware that I have strictly forbidden the people from kneeling, but Your Majesty’s merits are immeasurable. These people stubbornly refuse and insist on using this method to thank you for your kindness.”

Wei Jingdao said helplessly, but he was not worried. Anyway, this was not deliberately done by him, and he thought the Emperor would be very happy to see it.

He guessed right. Wu Changqing had a stern face on the surface, but he was actually very happy in his heart.

Forcing others to kneel with power is not much of an achievement. Being able to make others kneel spontaneously is the ultimate manifestation of personal charisma.

Although, this took advantage of the times, but no matter what, this was a symbol of his political achievements.

“All rise.”

Wu Changqing personally helped up an old man, who was so excited that he was in tears.

This touching scene was naturally photographed by the accompanying reporters.

However, this photo would have to wait a while before it could be published in the newspaper. Currently, there were only telegraphs that could transmit text, not faxes that could transmit pictures.

Wu Changqing cordially inquired about the people’s lives, and the people all expressed their satisfaction.

The ambassadors of various countries and others could confirm that this was not a pre-rehearsed script.

Seeing the people’s love for Wu Changqing, they felt a mix of emotions.

It should be known that at this time, basically all the people of all countries were mostly dissatisfied with the emperor and the ruling class. Because of low productivity, the ruling class’s desire to enjoy was destined to exploit ordinary people.

If ordinary people don’t have a good life, how can they be grateful to the emperor?

In Great Hua, Wu Changqing took the lead in doing this.

In Shijiazhuang, Wu Changqing focused on inspecting the people’s livelihood.

As for industry, that was not necessary.

In other places, they had already inspected a lot of industries.

Even if they didn’t go to inspect, they could know what the industry in Shijiazhuang was roughly like.

Moreover, Shijiazhuang’s industry was not very outstanding, and the data on paper could only be considered qualified.

Shijiazhuang’s people’s livelihood was doing quite well. The people were able to eat their fill and dress warmly, and their living places were much better than before. Most of the people in the city lived in brick houses, and there were no more thatched huts in the city.

This was thanks to the improvement of Great Hua’s productivity. Whether it was making bricks or tiles, the cost had been reduced a lot, turning bricks and tiles from luxury goods into ordinary goods.

In terms of travel, Shijiazhuang had not changed much. It was still mainly walking, with a small number of bicycles and no horse-drawn trams.

With Shijiazhuang’s level of development, it was not suitable or necessary to build horse-drawn trams.

In terms of cargo transportation, it was completely dependent on trains, while transportation between cities was still mainly by horse-drawn carriages, and cars were very rare.

Wu Changqing randomly visited several farmers’ homes, had cordial conversations with the people, and gave them some daily necessities.

These scenes were all photographed and sent to Nanjing at full speed.

When Wu Changqing left Shijiazhuang and arrived in Zhengzhou, the Nanjing newspapers had already reported on Wu Changqing’s inspection of the people’s livelihood in Shijiazhuang, occupying the front page headlines.

The newspaper article explained the reasons why the people voluntarily knelt down, and listed a large amount of data for comparison, comparing the current living gap of the people in Shijiazhuang with the past.

Then, it excerpted a few sentences of Wu Changqing’s conversation with the people.

The content was naturally Wu Changqing’s concern for the people, and the people’s answers were naturally all kinds of gratitude, and the scene was harmonious.

After that, Wu Changqing’s inspection of the people’s residences, chatting with the people about their daily lives, and giving daily necessities were also reported, and those photos were also included.

The effect of this report was naturally extremely sensational.

In the eyes of the people, the emperor was a mysterious existence, a high and mighty existence.

It was too incredible for the emperor to talk to ordinary people. Such a people-friendly emperor was definitely a wise ruler of the ages.

They had never heard of any emperor in the past leaving the palace to inspect the living conditions of the people of the world and talk to the people.

Compared with the two, Wu Changqing immediately appeared much more wise and martial.

And the report in the article further proved their views.

Under Wu Changqing’s rule, the lives of the people in Shijiazhuang had undergone earth-shattering changes.

In fact, it was not only Shijiazhuang that was like this. The people in Nanjing also felt this change. Even, their changes were even greater than those in Shijiazhuang.

The people in Shijiazhuang were just able to eat their fill and dress warmly, but what about them? They had buses to go to and from work, tap water, often ate meat and fruit, and could buy several clothes a year…

“Risking his own life to understand the people’s sentiments, His Majesty is truly an enlightened ruler for the ages.”

At Nanjing College of Liberal Arts, a student couldn’t help but exclaim after reading the newspaper.

Last time, Wu Changqing was assassinated in Nanjing and almost seriously injured. Going to other places would be even more dangerous.

Therefore, Wu Changqing’s behavior can indeed be considered risking his own life, worthy of respect, and better than the vast majority of emperors in history.

Plus, he also understands the people’s sentiments, which directly surpasses all emperors. Since ancient times, there has never been such a figure.

“His Majesty’s inspection of the country prevents local officials from doing evil, which is truly gratifying.”

Another student said.

Those who are still in school and have not entered the officialdom are relatively more passionate. They take the imperial examination to become officials, also wanting to be good officials who can realize their ambitions.

Of course, after they enter the officialdom, they often forget their original intentions due to various involuntary reasons.

At Nanjing Women’s College, the female students have different focuses.

“So that’s what the Emperor looks like, with extraordinary bearing and dignified appearance, so handsome.”

A female student said.

“Ruo Shui, you’re really brave, daring to comment on His Majesty’s appearance. If this were the previous dynasty, you would be hung up and beaten.”

Another female student frightened her.

“Tch, His Majesty is such an enlightened person, how could he care about such a small matter? If he really cared, he wouldn’t have agreed to put his photo in the newspaper. I think His Majesty must be a very approachable person. If I became his concubine, I could comment on his appearance in person.”

Zhang Ruoshui was not afraid.

“Aren’t you ashamed, you’re daydreaming again.”

Chen Yanyan teased her, but it had no effect.

Nowadays, liking someone is not something that can only be hidden in the heart. Saying it out loud will at most be ridiculed, which is not a big deal.

Some unrestrained women no longer care about this.

“His Majesty had a cordial conversation with the local people, asking about their daily diet…”

A newspaper reader was reading the contents of the newspaper to a group of illiterate people.

Most of these illiterate people are from the bottom of society. Hearing that the emperor actually had a cordial conversation with the people, asked about their well-being, and gave them daily necessities, they were immediately very moved.

Although Wu Changqing’s concern was not directed at them, Wu Changqing’s behavior at least showed that he cared about the people in his heart.

That alone is enough.

Moreover, in recent years, the imperial court has provided a lot of help to the people, and these people remember it in their hearts.

“Is that His Majesty?”

One person pointed to the photo in the newspaper.

Wu Changqing’s photo is a major highlight of this issue of the newspaper.

In Nanjing, there are actually quite a few people who have seen Wu Changqing.

But the people in other places have almost never seen Wu Changqing.

Therefore, upon learning that the young man in the photo was the emperor, many people were very surprised.

So, that’s what the emperor looks like.

Out of awe for the emperor, some people who bought the newspaper chose to keep it carefully. No one was so bold as to use the newspaper to wipe their butts.

In Nanjing, in addition to relying on newspapers to obtain news, there is another way: listening to wired broadcasts.

Wireless broadcasting is much more convenient than wired broadcasting, but the technical difficulty is also much higher. Great Hua is now working intensively on research, but there are only some clues, and it needs to be continuously improved.

At this time, wireless technology is still very rough, unstable, with weak signal strength, and short transmission distance.

When it can be improved to the point where it can be put into practical use is temporarily unknown.

Therefore, even though wired broadcasting is very troublesome, Great Hua still set it up first.

Because wired broadcasting requires pulling wires, it is naturally impossible to popularize it to every household. It is too troublesome and too extravagant.

Currently, Nanjing has only installed loudspeakers in several public places, and then broadcasts news, occasionally songs, advertisements, and crosstalk from six to eight o’clock at a fixed time.

Because it is a new thing, every time the broadcast time comes, a large number of people from the bottom gather under these dozen loudspeakers.

People with status naturally disdain to participate. They have many ways to obtain information.

But for the poor, broadcasting is too suitable.

Listening to the radio does not require literacy, just ears. Unlike reading newspapers, which requires literacy.

Another point is that newspapers cost money, while broadcasting is free.

Entertainment that costs money is too extravagant for the poor. Free entertainment is more suitable for them.

Moreover, the content of the broadcast is also quite interesting, no worse than reading the newspaper.

Listening to the news, listening to crosstalk and songs, is a very comfortable thing for them.

The only thing that is probably annoying is the advertisements inserted in the middle, which are very annoying.

However, after listening to those advertisements several times a day, these listeners were successfully brainwashed and remembered the brands of those products.

The broadcasts are all advertisements for daily necessities, and they are relatively low-end and cheap.

The merchants of Great Hua are shrewd. They know that those who listen to the radio are poor ghosts. Promoting luxury goods to them is a joke. They can only promote daily necessities, and they must be cheap at the same time.

As for the quality, it doesn’t matter.

The main purpose of the imperial court in setting up this broadcast is actually to strengthen ideological education and policy propaganda for the people at the bottom.

However, it is also good to earn a little advertising fee from those merchants. The money earned can be used to lay more routes, and even extend to the countryside.

On the one hand, it is to increase the entertainment life of the countryside, and on the other hand, it is to better educate the rural people.

“His Majesty made important instructions in Shijiazhuang, requiring officials to pay attention to the lives of the people, and to pay attention to improving the quality of life of the people…”

A very beautiful female voice came from the loudspeaker. The people on the square pricked up their ears, for fear of missing a word.

“How does this thing make a sound?”

A newcomer looked at the loudspeaker, completely puzzled.

Fortunately, there are many people like him around. If a person encounters this kind of talking thing for the first time alone, it would not be surprising to be scared to pee their pants.

“This is because there are announcers speaking in the broadcasting station on Xuanwu Road.”

A person who has been there twice showed off his knowledge.

“But, Xuanwu Road is so far away from here, how did it get transmitted here?”

The man continued to ask.

The difficulty of this question exceeded the scope of everyone’s ability, and no one could explain it clearly.

As a result, a listener angrily said: “Listen to the broadcast quietly, why so many nonsense things, it’s enough to have something to listen to, why do you care how it’s transmitted.”

Everyone agreed when they heard the words. The person who was reprimanded thought it made sense. It’s enough to have something to listen to, who cares how it’s transmitted.

Chapter 915: Telegraph Network

Zhengzhou. During his inspection, Wu Changqing watched a performance arranged for him by the local officials.

It was a song and dance performance by a young girl.

The girl was only thirteen years old, but she already showed the potential to be a femme fatale.

Her talent was even more impressive, clearly honed through a great deal of hardship.

Wu Changqing and his ministers were enjoying the show when Hong Chengchou approached with a telegram, saying, “Your Majesty, great news! King Narai of Siam has announced his abdication in Bangkok. Siam is merging into Great Hua, and our dynasty has recovered another six hundred thousand square kilometers of lost territory.”

Upon hearing this, everyone’s faces lit up with joy.

Six hundred thousand square kilometers was a considerable amount of land, almost the size of two Japans.

Moreover, Siam had a large population and fertile land suitable for growing crops, making it a treasure.

Recovering such a place was far more meaningful and difficult than recovering Siberia.

And now, without a single battle, the King of Siam had voluntarily merged into Great Hua. This was a precedent, a cause for celebration.

If such events were to happen more often in the future, pacifying the world would be just around the corner.

“Congratulations, Your Majesty! You have subdued people with virtue, using your charisma to make the lost land willingly return…”

“Your Majesty’s achievements are unprecedented and unsurpassed…”

Wu Changqing disliked unwarranted flattery that he didn’t deserve, but if it was truly his accomplishment, he wouldn’t mind a few words of praise.

The ministers who had been by Wu Changqing’s side for a long time knew his personality, so they seized every opportunity to shower him with compliments.

On the stage, Chu Jiao also stopped her performance, curiously watching those who suddenly knelt down, and equally curious about the only person who didn’t kneel.

Until someone next to her pulled her down to kneel as well.

“Rise, all of you. This is the achievement of all my loyal subjects. Have the Ministry of Rites arrange a grand celebration.”

Wu Changqing was in a very good mood. This was the first time Great Hua had subdued an enemy without a fight.

A vast country like Siam, subdued without a single battle, simply by the strength of Great Hua, was incredibly satisfying.

When the emperor was in a good mood, everyone else felt relaxed and happy, a win-win situation for all.

Those in power were comfortable, and those responsible for the performances also received many benefits.

Wu Changqing generously rewarded them, making their earnings from this one performance exceed all their previous earnings combined.

The biggest winner was the little beauty, Chu Jiao, who was immediately taken away by Feng Debao’s men, ready to be brought back to the palace to perform for the emperor alone.

He had just seen that Wu Changqing was very interested in this little girl.

Of course, Wu Changqing’s interest was purely innocent; he wouldn’t have too many thoughts about a young girl.

But Feng Debao didn’t know that, and in Feng Debao’s eyes, thirteen years old wasn’t too young.

He had seen many cases of girls marrying at thirteen and giving birth at fourteen.

Moreover, even if she was still young, she could be taken into the palace and raised. The vast palace certainly wouldn’t lack a mouthful of food.

From the time King Narai announced his abdication in Siam to the time Wu Changqing received the news, it took less than two hours.

Most of that time was spent traveling from Bangkok to Saigon.

Once the news reached Saigon, it was swiftly sent to Wu Changqing via telegraph.

Now, Great Hua’s telegraph network had been initially established, connecting the major cities within the country.

At the northernmost end, the telegraph had reached Daqing, connecting Changchun, Shengjing, Tianjin, and dozens of other cities along the way, with twenty of them having both sending and receiving stations.

At the westernmost end, the telegraph line had reached Hami, passing through Xining, Lanzhou, Xi’an, and Zhengzhou, with branch lines to Taiyuan, Datong, Hanzhong, Shangluo, and other places, distributed like veins on a leaf.

At the southernmost end, the telegraph line ran from Guangzhou to Guangxi, and then from Guangxi into Hanoi, already connected to Saigon.

As for the easternmost end, the line ran from Shengjing into Korea, connecting Pyongyang and Seoul, and had currently reached Busan. The laying of the submarine cable from Busan to Fukuoka was underway.

Once this cable was completed, events in the four provinces of Japan could be reported to the central government in real time.

This was another historic feat. Once the communication between the two places was connected, Great Hua’s control over Japan could be elevated to a new level.

At the same time, communication between the two places would be infinitely more convenient.

Previously, communication between the two places took at least several days and cost a fortune.

But in the future, relying on the telegraph, the two places could communicate quickly, and it would be much cheaper than sending information by ship.

Busan to Fukuoka was only two hundred-plus kilometers, a short distance, and the water was shallow, so laying the cable was not too difficult.

At least, it wasn’t difficult for Great Hua. Other countries might not even dare to think about such a thing.

In addition to laying submarine cables to the four provinces of Japan, Great Hua was now preparing to extend the telegraph lines to Bengal and Delhi.

Although the upper echelons of the Mughal Empire hated Great Hua so much that they gnashed their teeth, they unanimously approved of building telegraph lines, which benefited both sides.

After all, it would make communication incredibly fast, making it easier for them to communicate with their ambassador in Nanjing.

In civilian terms, there were also many benefits, as they could quickly learn the prices of various commodities on the Great Hua market.

These Indian officials were already using their power to send their families to Great Hua to do business and make money for themselves.

They were all preparing for two possibilities. One was to cooperate with Aurangzeb in actively reforming, trying to make the Mughal Empire rise, so that they could maintain their power.

On the other hand, they were also preparing for the possibility that the Mughal Empire could not withstand Great Hua.

First, they would go to Great Hua to make money, and then they would befriend some high-ranking officials of Great Hua.

That way, even if the Mughal Empire was destroyed by Great Hua, they wouldn’t become destitute. They could still use their connections to maintain their power.

There were many Mughal officials doing this, and even Aurangzeb was aware of it, but he couldn’t eradicate it all at once.

Aurangzeb’s reform journey was also quite arduous.

In addition to Delhi, Great Hua was also preparing routes to Persia and the Ottoman Empire, and finally extending from the Ottoman Empire to Europe and North Africa, in order to solve communication problems with Europe and other places.

Great Hua paid for all these constructions, and other countries only needed to provide land and be responsible for protecting the lines.

Great Hua wasn’t at a loss either, because as long as communication was solved, it could generate greater economic benefits.

More importantly, in the eyes of the Great Hua’s leaders, whether it was South Asia, the Middle East, or Europe, they were all territories of Great Hua and would be taken back sooner or later.

Whether they built it now or later, they would have to build it sooner or later, it didn’t make much difference, it would always be for the service of Great Hua.

Great Hua was willing to pay, and other countries naturally welcomed it with open arms.

Chapter 916: Siam’s Return

Nanjing, an ordinary family of the gentry class.

Wei Xuan used to be a low-ranking eighth-grade official in charge of a warehouse during the Ming Dynasty. Now, he is still a low-ranking eighth-grade official in charge of a warehouse, except the dynasty he is loyal to has changed to Great Hua.

Although there hasn’t been any progress, Wei Xuan is quite content.

He is better than those below but not as good as those above. In the eyes of ordinary people, he is considered one of the successful ones.

Nowadays, Wei Xuan clocks in at nine and clocks out at five, and then spends his time collecting things after work. That’s his entire life.

Since Great Hua started publishing newspapers, he has been clipping them, cutting out important events, historical moments, and so on, and arranging them by date.

Today, he clipped another piece of news: the King of Siam issued an edict of abdication, announcing that Siam would be incorporated into Great Hua and become its territory.

Looking at the news one by one in chronological order, Wei Xuan felt like he was witnessing history.

This feeling gives him a sense of satisfaction.

Having personally witnessed the changes in Great Hua, he has an unparalleled fondness for this newborn dynasty.

Last time, he heard a young man complaining about the imperial court in a tavern, and he directly went up and righteously berated the person for half an hour.

Wei Xuan told those young lads about the days of the Ming Dynasty, which made them feel very ashamed.

Wei Xuan isn’t someone who likes to be a busybody, but he just can’t tolerate anyone being dissatisfied with the imperial court. In his opinion, the Great Hua court is already very, very good.

Nanjing History Museum, a teacher is leading a group of eleven or twelve-year-old teenagers on a visit.

The study of scientific knowledge is important, but ideological education cannot be neglected.

Every middle school student must visit the history museum once to understand the dark period of the Ming Dynasty and the founding history of Great Hua.

The museum contains a large number of heroic stories recorded in writing, as well as many sculptures with stories engraved below them. There are also some portraits, reliefs, and later photographs.

There are various forms of expression, rich and colorful.

Even people who are not interested in history can come and see these sculptures, reliefs, and weapon models.

And for these male middle school students, few are not interested in history.

Some people with richer emotions become instantly passionate after reading those historical stories.

For them, reading this period of history is a happy experience.

Because the dark period of the Ming Dynasty was relatively short, Great Hua quickly rose up in times of crisis.

After that, the historical story changed from frustration to a refreshing one, with Great Hua all the way beating down its enemies and being invincible.

This kind of history easily cultivates a sense of pride and collective honor in these students.

Great Hua is awesome.

As this group of students just left the museum, the wired broadcast’s loudspeaker announced the news that the Kingdom of Siam had surrendered and merged into Great Hua.

These students immediately cheered. Today, they not only visited history but also witnessed it.

“Hahaha, that Narai is quite sensible.”

“If he dared not surrender, our dynasty’s army would have crushed them.”

“With Siam’s surrender, Southeast Asia is almost completely pacified. Next, we should advance into West Asia and South Asia.”

“The Americas must also be taken back as soon as possible, and not be snatched by those European barbarians.”

“I really want to grow up quickly, so I can join the army and personally recover those places.”

…

These students were more excited than the last, and they fantasized about leading thousands of troops to conquer the world when they grew up.

At the same time, Siam.

Many large landlords were also happy to learn that the country had been incorporated into Great Hua.

Because Great Hua promised not to take back their land and would also provide them with hybrid rice seeds.

For them, this was simply great news.

They have three rice harvests a year here, countless fertile fields, and abundant water sources.

Using the original seeds, they could harvest a large amount of grain every year.

After changing to hybrid rice, coupled with Great Hua’s fertilizers, the yield is estimated to at least double, and income will naturally double.

Moreover, after being incorporated into Great Hua, they no longer have to worry about being bullied by Western Europeans.

Previously, some Portuguese, Dutch, and French people came to Siam and acted like overlords in their country.

Now they no longer have to worry, because they are people of Great Hua.

If those Western Europeans dare to be arrogant again, they can fight back in minutes. Anyway, they have the imperial court to back them up.

Therefore, except for those landlords who are extremely attached to the name of Siam, other landlords don’t have much opinion on joining Great Hua, but instead support it.

If those large landlords don’t mind, ordinary people mind even less.

They all have eyes and can see the changes in Saigon before and after.

Since Saigon became the territory of Great Hua, the lower-class people in Saigon have lived much better than during the Nguyen Dynasty’s rule.

In the past, the people of Saigon couldn’t get enough to eat or wear, and were squeezed until they were only skin and bones. People there often fled to Siam. But after Saigon was ruled by Great Hua, people from Siam began to sneak into Saigon to make a living.

No matter how the imperial court publicizes it, the people only believe what they see with their own eyes.

Therefore, they all believe that after Siam is incorporated into Great Hua, they can live a better life.

They also chose to cheer and celebrate Siam’s incorporation into Great Hua.

Of course, not everyone in Siam is happy.

If everyone in the country was happy, that would be truly abnormal.

In the Kingdom of Siam, some more radical youths, some cultural figures with a strong sense of national identity, and some bureaucrats whose interests have been damaged are not happy at this moment.

However, unhappiness is unhappiness, but they don’t have any good solutions.

Narai not only controls the military power but also allowed the Huaxia army to enter Bangkok.

They don’t have the ability to rebel, so they can only arrange for some people to stir up trouble and make some noise.

This is actually not very useful. The army is the foundation. Without a strong army to contend with Great Hua, such a disturbance will not make Great Hua give up the land of Siam.

What’s more, they can’t even make a big disturbance.

Those dissatisfied people were quickly suppressed as soon as they made a little trouble, and they had no chance to make things bigger.

Those who participated in the trouble, and the commanders behind them, none were spared.

These troublemakers were just right to be captured and used as coolies, saving Great Hua the effort of identification. Those wealthy people behind the scenes were just right to have their homes raided and their wealth plundered.

The money obtained can also be used to improve people’s livelihoods and develop Siam, benefiting more obedient people, a good thing.

Great Hua is not afraid of these people making trouble, but is afraid of them quietly lurking.

If they lurk, Great Hua really can’t find a reason to raid their homes.

After one or two waves of turmoil were quickly suppressed, the remaining dissatisfied people chose to be quiet.

This kind of hopeless trouble is meaningless and can only lead to death.

Chapter 917: Torrential Rain

In mid-June, Wu Changqing and his entourage had already inspected Xuchang, Xinyang, Wuhan, Yueyang, and other places, and arrived in Changsha.

However, he was unable to inspect Changsha because of the continuous torrential rain.

It wasn’t just Changsha that was raining; the rain was even heavier in Yichang, Jingmen, and Jingzhou. The entire eastern Chongqing, southwestern Hubei, and northwestern Hunan were experiencing continuous torrential rain.

After nearly a week of continuous rain, Wu Changqing began to worry.

Since the founding of Great Hua, there had been several floods, but they were all relatively small in scale. Moreover, Great Hua had been actively clearing waterways, so its ability to resist floods was many times better than during the Ming Dynasty.

However, because there hadn’t been any major floods, the imperial court had never been determined to invest heavily in flood control.

The officials, including Wu Changqing, all had a fluke mentality, feeling that it was unlikely that they would be so unlucky as to experience a major flood in the next few years.

Therefore, they were more inclined to invest financial and material resources into production, preparing to improve productivity first.

Once they manufactured those large machines in the future, they would then solve the flood control problem all at once.

However, this time the rain was very heavy.

Wu Changqing didn’t know how much flooding this amount of rainfall would cause, but he had a premonition that the situation might be bad.

“The telegraph, I need to know the situation around here.”

Perhaps because of the continuous torrential rain, Wu Changqing’s mood was a bit worse, and he questioned the people below.

A few days ago, he received telegrams from Yichang and Jingzhou saying that there was continuous torrential rain, but in the past two days, the news had stopped. Communications with Xiangyang, Changde, Yueyang, and other places were still open, and the water levels in those places were rising, so the situation was very bad.

“Your Majesty, perhaps the wires have been damaged,”

Xu Wen from the Ministry of Transportation replied. Ma Shiying had retired due to age and health, and he was the rising star who succeeded Ma Shiying.

Qian Qianyi, Ma Shiying, Qian Taoli, Zhao Chongming, and some other ministers had begun to retire due to age and other reasons, and now there were many new faces in the officialdom.

“If the lines are broken, won’t you send people to repair them? If the lines are broken, won’t you send horses to report? Without the telegraph, these people can’t do anything, right?”

Wu Changqing asked.

As the saying goes, when the Son of Heaven is angry, corpses float for a thousand li. When the emperor loses his temper, the consequences are very serious.

Xu Wen quickly went down to handle the matter, arranging for people to travel to the Jingzhou area as quickly as possible to deliver messages and check the lines.

As for the fact that it was dangerous to travel in torrential rain, he couldn’t care about that at this time.

Heaven was dangerous, but the emperor was even more dangerous.

After Xu Wen left, Wu Changqing discussed with the others whether to have Nanjing start preparing disaster relief supplies.

It was uncertain whether a major flood would occur. If they mobilized rashly and there was no flood in the end, it would be a joke.

At the same time, it would waste financial and material resources.

But if they waited until the flood had already occurred to start preparing, they were afraid that it would be too late.

It would also take a lot of time to transport supplies from Nanjing to Yueyang.

This was why Wu Changqing urgently wanted to know the water levels in other places; he needed to make a clearer judgment.

“I don’t think it’s necessary. Let’s wait until the flood occurs before preparing. Throughout history, disaster relief has always been done this way. No one has ever prepared for disaster relief simply because they predicted that a disaster might occur.

Moreover, compared to the past, we now have a huge advantage. Once a flood occurs, we can immediately notify the rear to prepare via telegraph, which is ten to fifteen days faster than before,”

Hong Chengchou said.

It was foreseeable that once a disaster occurred, Great Hua would definitely be able to do better than previous dynasties. This was progress, and there was no need to pursue too high a standard.

But for Wu Changqing, he still wanted to do better.

“I believe that we should prepare early, better safe than sorry. Moreover, some experienced old farmers in the local area judge that this rainfall will definitely cause a flood,”

Another official said.

“Pass down my order, let the people who may be affected by the flood prepare to escape, let the officials in those places prepare to help the people, let the Thirteenth Division stationed in Wuhan prepare for disaster relief, let Nanjing prepare some disaster relief supplies first, and prepare ships at the same time. If there is no flood, then treat it as a drill, which can also accumulate some experience…”

Wu Changqing didn’t immediately carry out disaster relief work in a big way, because he wasn’t sure if a major flood would occur.

However, it was always right to make some preparations first. At worst, it would be a waste of effort, and it could be treated as a drill.

Since the emperor had spoken, the others could only do as they were told.

Besides, Great Hua was rich now and not afraid of wasting money.

Even if a sum of money was wasted, it wasn’t a big deal.

Unlike the previous Ming Dynasty, even if a disaster occurred, there was no money for disaster relief.

Having money gave people many more choices.

Two days later, Wu Changqing received accurate information that Jingzhou was affected by the disaster.

The torrential rain caused a large number of tributary rivers to pour into the Yangtze River all at once. Coupled with the river water pouring in from the middle and upper reaches, it directly exceeded the maximum flow of the Yangtze River in this area.

A large amount of river water began to pour into the low-lying areas on both sides of the Yangtze River, and because the rainfall had not stopped, this situation would become more and more serious.

Floods in the Yangtze River were a little less severe than floods in the Yellow River.

Most sections of the Yellow River were above-ground rivers, and the riverbed was much higher than the surrounding farmland and residential areas, so the water level was naturally higher. Once a flood occurred and the banks broke, the flood could directly submerge the surrounding area, and it was fast and swift, giving people no time to react.

Once the banks broke, the people nearby had almost no chance of survival.

In the Yangtze River basin, only a small number of areas were lower than the water level. In most places, the floodwaters rose slowly, which took time. It was possible to predict and evacuate in advance, which was much less dangerous than the sudden breach of the Yellow River and the flooding.

Of course, there was still great danger in some areas with special terrain.

For example, the Baili Sandbar area of Jingzhou was much lower than the river surface upstream, with a natural terrain drop.

Usually, when the upstream water flow was small, it was fine. Suddenly, a large amount of river water poured down, and the river surface of the Baili Sandbar could not release the flood, and this area would be instantly swallowed by the flood.

Fortunately, there were not many such places, otherwise countless people would be killed or injured.

The people on the riverbank, after discovering that the flood was rising rapidly, as long as they were willing to abandon their property and escape to higher ground, there was not much danger to their lives.

Of course, this was for today’s Great Hua.

If it was the previous Ming Dynasty, escaping from the flooded area was only the first step to survival. The biggest problem was what to do when you were hungry.

Those who were directly drowned by the flood were always a minority. The majority died of starvation and disease after the disaster.

Chapter 918: Disaster Relief Mobilization

Jingzhou suffered from a flood disaster, and Wu Changqing’s prior preparations suddenly seemed incredibly brilliant.

However, those who tried to flatter him on this matter were glared at by Wu Changqing.

At this time, disaster relief was the top priority.

If you want to flatter, you have to wait until after the disaster. Choosing to flatter at this time is like patting a horse’s hoof.

Seeing this, the others quickly put away their thoughts and devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the disaster relief work.

Telegrams were sent to Nanjing at top speed, ordering the prepared disaster relief supplies to be loaded onto ships immediately and transported to Jingzhou.

At a time like this, the faster they arrived, the smaller the losses caused by the disaster would be.

In addition to Nanjing, supplies from other places such as Wuhan and Jiujiang were also being sent to Jingzhou.

At the same time, the garrison in Wuhan was also rushing to Jingzhou.

Wu Changqing didn’t know if this was the first time in history that the army had been involved in disaster relief.

However, this should be the largest and fastest operation.

Upon receiving the order, the military immediately rushed over without stopping.

These troops stationed in Great Hua’s homeland had been away from war for a long time, and it was difficult for them to get a chance to go to the battlefield.

They usually received high salaries and had nothing to do. Now that the imperial court finally had a use for them, the entire army was very enthusiastic.

On the one hand, they wanted to show their worth to the imperial court and earn some credit, and on the other hand, they were eager to go to disaster relief.

Most of these soldiers came from poor families and deeply sympathized with the suffering of the common people.

The entire army first arrived in Yueyang, where they were personally received by Wu Changqing.

After the disaster occurred, Wu Changqing came to Yueyang from Changsha, which could be considered as being on the front line, as Yueyang was also at risk of being affected by the disaster at any time.

Wu Changqing personally mobilized the entire army, asking them to fulfill their duties as soldiers.

The duty of a soldier is to protect the country and its people, which includes eliminating enemies and protecting the common people.

Floods are also a kind of enemy.

Subsequently, the Thirteenth Division rushed to Jingzhou to help the people evacuate, rescue those trapped by the flood, and build temporary dikes to protect areas vulnerable to flooding.

There were many things to do, and the Thirteenth Division alone was not enough. Wu Changqing also transferred the surrounding local garrison troops.

It is estimated that the number of troops participating in the flood control and rescue will reach sixty thousand, which is a considerable scale.

On June 21st, the Thirteenth Division arrived in the disaster area.

What they saw was a hillside where the disaster victims were gathered, numbering over a thousand people.

These people were trapped on the hillside and were not in immediate danger, but it would be difficult to say as the water level rose.

Moreover, those hillsides certainly had no food or anything to keep warm overnight.

The Thirteenth Division immediately divided into several groups, one of which went to search for isolated disaster victims, and another helped to transfer these disaster victims by boat.

Another group prepared sandbags to build temporary dams in some necessary places to avoid greater losses.

Seeing the soldiers rowing over, some of the people on the hillside burst into tears of joy.

Although they had evacuated to the hillside in time, it would be difficult for them to survive without rescue.

After all, floods are not something that can pass in a day or two, and basically last for a long time.

Staying on this hillside, cold and hungry, and worried about being submerged, these people were under great psychological pressure.

There were also some who failed to rescue their relatives when they evacuated, and they were crying bitterly on the hillside.

“Great Hua is good after all, they came to save us so quickly. How could it have been so fast in the past?”

“Old Liu, you’re probably thinking too much. How could the imperial court of the past come to rescue people? They all relied on themselves to wait for the flood to recede, and those who couldn’t survive died.”

“I heard the soldiers say that a cafeteria has been prepared in the city, and we will have food to eat and a place to live as soon as we go there.”

The people on the boat were talking, and when they heard that there was food to eat, everyone became excited again.

This flood had destroyed almost all of their property, and they only had time to take away some valuables.

Originally, they thought that they would use these valuables to exchange for food next, but they never expected that there would be free food.

In previous dynasties, when a disaster occurred, food prices would immediately rise.

Those unscrupulous merchants were waiting for this opportunity to plunder.

“Sir, is this really the case?”

A commoner asked.

In his worldview, the imperial court could not be so reliable, and the soldiers could not be so good.

“What’s so strange about this? Several large granaries in Nanjing have long been filled. Our Great Hua doesn’t lack food at all. Moreover, His Majesty had already foreseen that there would be a flood here, so he had people transport the food over long ago.”

The soldier said.

“His Majesty is indeed the Son of Heaven, and he can also predict things.”

“But isn’t the East China Sea Dragon King in charge of the rain? They are both dragons, why doesn’t His Majesty control the Dragon King’s indiscriminate rain?”

“The Dragon King must have made a mistake. His Majesty should have asked the Dragon King to rain in those water-deficient areas.”

…

All kinds of outrageous remarks emerged on the boat, but it didn’t matter. Anyway, they were all grateful to the emperor for this, and then threw their resentment on the East China Sea Dragon King.

Boatloads of people were sent to the city, where the local officials had made proper arrangements for resettlement.

The county magistrate, who was usually high above, was now personally on the front line, busy before and after, and did not care that his official uniform was covered in mud.

The emperor was not far away in Yueyang, and they dared not be careless.

Moreover, this was also a very good opportunity to perform.

Usually, local officials like them have no chance to be seen by the emperor. Even if they made achievements, all that reached Wu Changqing’s ears was a dry sentence.

And now, their work can finally be seen by the emperor with his own eyes.

It would be great if they could take this opportunity to leave the emperor with an impression of being capable.

Therefore, these local officials were very active in this flood relief.

Not to mention these local officials, even the local rich people wanted to take this opportunity to show off.

Although their good performance could not lead to promotion, as long as they were praised by the emperor, their status would be different in the future.

If others wanted to deal with them again, they could say that the emperor had praised them, which was very deterrent.

When officials, the army, and the rich all began to actively participate in disaster relief, the social mobilization ability was fully tapped. They found that the flood was not so terrible, and disaster relief was actually quite simple.

All that was needed was to arrange food and accommodation for the victims, and then recruit some young and strong people to fight the flood and build dikes.

The reason why previous disasters seemed so terrible was mainly because no one was willing to spend the money to rescue. Of course, Great Hua’s current abundance of supplies is also one of the reasons.

Chapter 919: Disaster Relief Donations

In Nanjing, news of the disaster at the front was constantly arriving via telegraph and then being published in newspapers, so that the people of Great Hua were aware of what was happening in Jingzhou.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also arranged for some respected civilians in Nanjing to rally support and organize disaster relief donations.

In fact, the imperial court had enough money to resolve this crisis without relying on donations from the people.

But Wu Changqing insisted on doing so, on organizing civilian donations.

His aim was to cultivate national cohesion.

After going through thick and thin together, the feelings between the people would be different.

Having received donations from the people of Jiangnan, the people of Jingzhou would be grateful to them. And the people of Jiangnan, having helped so many lives, would also have a sense of accomplishment.

Then, both sides would identify with each other more, treat each other as their own, and have greater recognition of the Great Hua court.

In the future, when they encountered matters requiring unity, it would be easier for everyone to unite.

If everyone only swept the snow from their own doorstep now, they would lack cohesion when everyone needed to unite in the future.

A nation that only cares about itself cannot become strong.

Although Great Hua’s external enemies were relatively weak now, and it was unlikely that there would be a time when everyone needed to unite, it was always better to have cohesion than not.

This spirit could be passed down forever.

There were many techniques for mobilizing the people to donate.

Newspapers and radio played a huge role at this time.

Newspapers constantly published news about the disaster area, and reported tragic stories, such as the losses suffered by the people in the disaster area, in order to gain the sympathy of the people in the Jiangnan region.

At the same time, they reported touching stories. For example, a man gave his last wooden basin to his wife and children in order to save them, and drowned himself.

Another example was soldiers who risked their lives to help the people and lost their lives.

These touching stories could inspire awe, admiration, and awaken a sense of shame in some people’s hearts.

They couldn’t save people like those heroes, but they could do what they could, and donate some money.

Many people would think this way.

The radio was also constantly reporting on the situation in the disaster area. Compared with words, sound had a different effect.

Telling these stories in an emotional voice gave people a completely different feeling.

Sound easily stirred up a person’s emotions.

Emotional reading made articles and stories extremely infectious.

Of course, radio had only appeared recently, and not many people in Great Hua understood its mysteries. Everything was still being explored.

With the vigorous promotion of newspapers and radio, the effect was very obvious.

Long queues formed at the donation collection points on the streets.

Although most people didn’t donate much, it didn’t matter. The imperial court didn’t care about their money anyway, but rather their good intentions.

As long as they donated, and their intentions were there, it was enough.

Ordinary people had donated, so the rich were embarrassed not to donate.

Some smart rich people were very active in donating.

Of course, they had their purposes for donating. They often donated a lot, giving people a shocking feeling, and then attracting attention, using it to become famous or advertise.

People seeking fame would have a much better reputation after donating a large sum of money.

Although it was just vanity, many people liked it.

Some people donated a large sum of money to create a positive image of patriotism and love for the people in order to advertise.

Next time, when people were faced with two similar products, they would definitely be more inclined to choose the product of the good person.

In the past, in an economically underdeveloped era, it would definitely not be cost-effective to spend so much money on such an advertisement, and they wouldn’t be able to earn it back.

But in Nanjing, as long as the advertising effect was good, the donated money could be easily earned back.

In addition, they could also earn a good reputation, killing two birds with one stone.

Merchants who saw through this were actively participating, and the court, seeing that they had contributed real money, didn’t mind helping them promote themselves.

The names, photos, and deeds of those who donated a lot of money could appear in newspapers and on the radio.

They were set up as role models.

A typical example was the Chen family, who donated five hundred thousand yuan in one go.

Chen Daolin was buying a reputation for his daughter. When this matter was mentioned in the future, wouldn’t everyone have to give the Empress a thumbs up?

This kind of folk reputation might seem useless, but sometimes it could really play a decisive role.

For the sake of his daughter’s reputation, and for the sake of his grandson’s smooth succession to the throne in the future, what was five hundred thousand yuan?

Even if he wasn’t sure whether doing so would be useful, Chen Daolin spent the money as if he was buying insurance.

His money was well spent. The newspapers were full of reports about the Empress and her child. For a time, the people vaguely forgot that Wu Changqing had an eldest son, Wu Gang, born to Luo Min, and only knew about Chen Yuyan’s child.

This situation made Luo Min very anxious and depressed. She was distressed that she didn’t have a family outside to make money. The offerings she received were naturally enough for her daily expenses.

But at this moment, it was impossible for her to take out five hundred thousand.

Even Xue Guiren, who wanted to help her wholeheartedly, couldn’t come up with that much money.

Xue Guiren’s family was certainly very rich, but compared to the Chen family, they were like poor people.

There were no more than five families in the entire Nanjing city, or even in Great Hua, who could casually throw out five hundred thousand, and the Chen family was one of them.

Luo Min couldn’t compare, couldn’t compete.

This was Great Hua’s first large-scale donation campaign, and the enthusiasm of the people and merchants was very high.

In just three days, Nanjing alone raised more than ten million yuan, an average of more than three yuan per person.

Ordinary people raised about three million, and the rich raised more than seven million.

Ten million was a considerable sum, even in Great Hua.

Moreover, this was only Nanjing.

Other large cities would also carry out similar activities.

Other places were not as wealthy as Nanjing, but they had larger populations. Nanjing had a population of less than four million, while other places had hundreds of millions.

The donation figures from other places were also slowly being tallied.

Shanghai donated more than six million, Guangzhou more than four million, Suzhou more than three million, Hangzhou more than three million, Ningbo more than two million…

More than thirty large cities donated a total of fifty million in the early stages.

This was only the early stage. If they accumulated for a few more days, it would be no problem to break through sixty million.

Sixty million was equivalent to one-eighth of the country’s annual tax revenue.

This was an exaggeration, which showed the enthusiasm of the people.

Of course, enthusiasm alone couldn’t achieve such good results.

There were also many tricks in this.

Chapter 920: Donation Chaos

Changzhou managed to raise five hundred thousand in donations, which was no easy feat.

After all, Changzhou couldn’t be considered a major city, nor did it have any heavy industry.

The only thing worth mentioning was that a railway line passed through it, making its transportation passable. Additionally, it was close to Nanjing and Shanghai, serving as a supply base for vegetables and livestock for both cities.

Such a place was wealthier than most cities in Great Hua, but certainly not exceptionally wealthy.

A small Changzhou donating five hundred thousand was quite unusual. Even Beijing only donated one hundred thousand, and Wuhu, a place with a high concentration of industry, only donated three hundred thousand.

Changzhou’s five hundred thousand donation seemed unbelievable to people in other places.

Changzhou even made it into the newspapers because of this, gaining some attention.

People in other parts of Great Hua learned that there was a place called Changzhou, and that it was very wealthy.

Outsiders found it curious, but in Changzhou, it wasn’t a secret at all. Even children knew what was going on.

It was simply that the Mayor of Changzhou, Shi Jianxun, wanted to take the opportunity to show his face and achieve some political achievements, so he openly and secretly engaged in apportionment.

Although Shi Jianxun didn’t explicitly order everyone to donate, nor did he specify the amount, those merchants who didn’t donate would receive some special treatment.

There were simply too many reasons for the government to deal with those merchants.

Of course, many of these merchants had backers. If they really brought the matter up, they could make Shi Jianxun suffer.

But Shi Jianxun wasn’t stupid. He had a very good grasp of the degree.

The amount of apportionment wasn’t too much or too little, enough to make those merchants feel the pinch, but not enough for them to fall out over that little bit of money and use their connections.

Connections weren’t eternal, they were consumables. Using them too often would render them ineffective, so they were generally reserved for critical moments.

Bothering big shots with trivial matters would only leave them with the impression that you were clueless.

Therefore, those merchants generally gritted their teeth, cursed a few times behind their backs, and then handed over the money.

Even if a few people couldn’t stand it and wanted to report it, it often came to nothing.

Nowadays, the court officials’ minds were all on disaster relief, and they had no time to deal with such trivial matters.

Even if an investigation was conducted and Shi Jianxun was arrested, he wouldn’t be convicted of any major crime. At most, he would be criticized and have his salary docked.

After all, Shi Jianxun didn’t pocket the money himself, but sent it all to the disaster area.

Although the process wasn’t very glorious, the result still had some positive significance.

Moreover, he was extorting merchants.

Wu Changqing had done this kind of thing before.

Back then, when the Huaxia army first started lacking military funds, didn’t they use this trick to extort those merchants and raise money to support the army?

If the Emperor could do it, why couldn’t the officials?

Changzhou wasn’t the only place doing this. Other places had similar situations to varying degrees.

In extreme cases, not only merchants but even ordinary people were apportioned.

Fortunately, the amount of apportionment wasn’t large, and they didn’t dare to go too far.

Officials everywhere were under pressure to achieve political achievements. Seeing that other places were donating tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands, if their jurisdiction’s economy wasn’t worse than the others, but only raised a few thousand, the big shots in the court would definitely suspect their governing ability, or even suspect them of corruption.

Moreover, most of these officials didn’t think there was anything excessive about such apportionment.

After all, the imperial court was usually so good to the people, reducing taxes and providing support at every turn. What was wrong with apportioning some charitable donations now?

If this were the Ming Dynasty, they would directly increase taxes and rob people directly. After the flood, this tax wouldn’t be canceled, and it would continue to be maintained.

In the end, this kind of tax would end up in their pockets.

Those officials who came from the Ming Dynasty felt that merely apportioning donations was too gentle.

Don’t blame them for thinking that way. In fact, many people thought the same way.

They all felt that the imperial court was much better than before.

A mere temporary apportionment, rather than a tax increase, was simply a joyous event.

Therefore, the process in those places that engaged in apportionment was actually very smooth, and the people were very cooperative.

Corruption existed in Great Hua, but it was relatively rare.

The Statistics Bureau of Great Hua was too powerful, and they had a good understanding of the economic situation in various places.

The Statistics Bureau knew roughly how much a place could donate.

If a huge Shanghai only donated one million, there would be no need for evidence or investigation. It could be directly concluded that the Mayor of Shanghai was corrupt, and he wouldn’t be able to escape.

Therefore, out of fear of the Statistics Bureau, most officials were relatively honest.

Only Zeng Yihui, the Magistrate of Pingxiang County, had greedy thoughts.

Zeng Yihui never expected that his insignificant Pingxiang County could raise fifty thousand in donations. This amount was clearly excessive.

This was mainly because Pingxiang’s mineral resources had been vigorously developed in recent years. There were several coal mines and tungsten mines within its borders, and even a steel factory and other factories had been built nearby.

This allowed Pingxiang to turn over a new leaf, and the surrounding people’s income increased dramatically due to mining.

With money, the people here became very satisfied and loyal to the current imperial court.

Hearing that other places in Great Hua had suffered from floods, the people here actively donated, scraping together fifty thousand.

Therefore, Zeng Yihui had other ideas.

Handing over the fifty thousand would certainly earn him an evaluation of being efficient, and he might even have the opportunity to be promoted.

However, the actual benefits weren’t great.

Being transferred to another place and promoted by one or two levels wasn’t as lucrative as staying in Pingxiang as the County Magistrate.

Since he didn’t need political achievements, he naturally didn’t need to hand over all the money.

Moreover, because Pingxiang was known as a poor place, handing over only ten thousand wouldn’t raise any suspicion. People would just think that this was Pingxiang’s normal level.

Wu Changqing had asked his subordinates to organize donations in order to awaken the love within the country and cultivate national cohesion.

The result, of course, was that some success was achieved.

With subsequent publicity, most people in the region were able to have a greater sense of identity.

However, in those places where apportionment was carried out, the effect was very average, and some people even harbored resentment.

Not to mention, there were places that took the opportunity to embezzle.

This donation drive had some imperfections.

Of course, this was the norm in Great Hua.

The policies issued by the imperial court often changed when they reached the local level.

The situation in Great Hua was still relatively good, at least much better than in the former Ming Dynasty, and much better than in those foreign countries.

Chapter 921: Disaster Relief

In the disaster area, the heavy rain continued, and the affected area expanded further.

Not only Jingzhou, but also Jiangling, Gong’an County, Shishou and other areas were experiencing varying degrees of flooding.

This level of flooding was a once-in-twenty-years event, and the situation was quite serious.

In the past, a flood of this magnitude would have killed at least ten thousand people.

If an epidemic were to break out, the numbers would be even more unpredictable.

But now, since the outbreak of the flood, the number of deaths was less than one hundred, and the number of missing people was about two hundred.

Even if all the missing were dead, the total would only be around three hundred, one-thirtieth of what it used to be, a remarkable achievement.

Wu Changqing was in Yueyang, coordinating the efforts and urging the officials below to carry out disaster relief. Large quantities of supplies were being transported from downstream and then distributed to the disaster areas.

“Your Majesty, the evacuation of the affected people is basically complete. At most, there will be some property damage, but the lives of the people are safe.”

Hong Chengchou reported.

Wu Changqing had instructed that saving lives was the priority, and property could be abandoned if necessary.

Under these instructions, the people in the disaster areas had been moved to safe locations.

The number of people evacuated reached an astonishing three hundred thousand.

The daily food and accommodation for these people was a huge expense. In the past, no dynasty could have afforded it.

But Great Hua managed it, and they were fortunate to have donations, otherwise this disaster would have put a significant financial strain on the imperial court.

Several days later, the heavy rain finally subsided and gradually stopped.

This disaster could be considered over.

Of course, the disaster relief work was far from over.

“Next, we must pay attention to hygiene management to prevent epidemics. We must also do a good job in post-disaster reconstruction for the affected people, so that these people can survive.”

Wu Changqing once again gave important instructions.

Post-disaster reconstruction was another troublesome and expensive matter.

But there was no choice. The land of China had been prone to disasters since ancient times.

While the South was suffering from floods, the North was experiencing continuous drought.

If Great Hua didn’t have a labor shortage and the level of mechanization wasn’t high enough, he would have wanted to start a South-North Water Diversion Project.

This project was imperative, as the North would continue to be short of water.

“How is the research and development of excavators by the Scientific Research Department going?”

Wu Changqing suddenly asked.

For engineering projects, how could one do without excavators?

An excavator could increase efficiency by several percentage points.

A member of the Scientific Research Department immediately stood up and replied, “Your Majesty, it is still under research. The main problems are that the hydraulic technology has not been able to break through, and the engine power is insufficient.”

“Too slow. All the technology has been given to them, and they still can’t develop it even with instructions. What’s the use of the court supporting them?”

Wu Changqing snorted coldly.

He didn’t punish those people, because research was not something that could be sped up by holding a knife to someone’s throat.

He simply expressed his dissatisfaction to urge the people in the Scientific Research Department not to slack off.

This attitude had a great effect, at least the people in the Scientific Research Department were sweating.

The Emperor was angry, a truly terrible situation.

They were preparing to send telegrams back, ordering the people in the excavator project not to go home, but to eat, drink, and sleep in the laboratory, and not to leave until the task was completed.

With the disaster situation alleviated, Wu Changqing and his party continued south.

There were many important matters in the world, and he couldn’t just focus on this one thing.

Moreover, his presence on the front line was just to show an attitude. As for how much actual effect it had, it wasn’t that significant. It’s not as if the heavens gave him face and stopped the rain.

Leaving a minister here to coordinate management would have had a similar effect.

Although Wu Changqing’s personal presence on the front line didn’t have much practical effect, the symbolic significance was still very important.

Various photos were sent back to Nanjing, and newspapers constantly reported on it, allowing ordinary people to understand Wu Changqing’s great deeds, thereby becoming more supportive of Wu Changqing.

After all, throughout history, there were very few emperors who would personally go to the front line for disaster relief.

The people didn’t care whether this personal presence was useful or not, just the attitude alone moved them.

Wu Changqing’s series of unusual actions gave him great prestige among the people. In some areas, the people had an almost fanatical worship of him.

This fanatical worship manifested as an intolerance of any dissatisfaction with Wu Changqing. Even if they felt that there were bad policies, or if they suffered any grievances, they would unanimously believe that it was the work of corrupt officials.

The wise Emperor was only deceived by treacherous ministers.

This fanatical worship made Wu Changqing’s regime extremely solid, with no risk of rebellion.

Anyone with ulterior motives would despair at the extent of the people’s support for Wu Changqing.

In addition to the common people, intellectuals and social celebrities were also taking the opportunity to flatter Wu Changqing in various ways.

They wrote articles praising him, exaggerating Wu Changqing into a sage emperor who surpassed all ancient emperors.

Emperor Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han were now insignificant in front of the Sage Emperor.

Had Emperor Qin Shi Huang ever personally gone to the front line for disaster relief? Had Emperor Qin Shi Huang ever reduced taxes for the people? Emperor Qin Shi Huang only conscripted laborers to do hard labor.

As for Emperor Wu of Han, what else could he do besides engaging in endless wars?

Although Great Hua fought wars more frequently than the Han Dynasty, Great Hua’s wars were profitable, while Emperor Wu of Han’s wars were purely consumptive, with no benefits.

As for Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Taizu of Song, there was no need to mention them.

During the Tang Dynasty, they were only famous in the Western Regions. People in other places had no idea what the Tang Dynasty was.

But now, Great Hua had become famous in all civilized places around the world, and was a holy land in the hearts of people all over the world.

Countless foreigners sharpened their heads, just to become citizens of Great Hua.

Through various comparisons, Wu Changqing’s image became even taller and more majestic.

Of course, he truly deserved it.

Just the fact that he allowed the people of the world to have enough to eat was something that no emperor had ever achieved since ancient times, and Wu Changqing had barely accomplished it.

Not to mention that he had unified the Central Plains and recovered a large amount of lost territory.

The territory of Great Hua was now close to twenty million square kilometers, the largest dynasty in history.

The Great Hua people did not recognize the Mongol Empire.

Moreover, the territorial area of the Mongol period and the territorial area of Great Hua were completely different concepts.

The Mongol central government’s control over the local areas was actually very weak, and it was even divided into several Khanates. The Yuan Dynasty in the Central Plains and the Khanates in other places nominally belonged to Mongolia, but in reality, they were not the same country at all.

Other places could not control the Yuan Dynasty, and the Yuan Dynasty could not control other places.

But now, Great Hua had extremely strong control over all places.

Even Siberia, far away at the edge of the sky, had to fully obey the central government.

This kind of territory was the true territory.

Chapter 922: A Clever Trick

Of course, Great Hua wasn’t the only place with disasters.

All sorts of disasters happen around the globe every minute, some severe, some not so much.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods…

While Great Hua was experiencing floods, the Ganges River basin in India and the Jamuna River in Bengal were also flooded.

However, the disaster relief efforts in the two places differed greatly.

In Bengal, Great Hua’s disaster relief efforts weren’t exactly timely, and at least several thousand people drowned.

However, once the government reacted and started providing relief, the death toll plummeted.

After rescuing and resettling the victims, Great Hua at least had enough food to feed them, preventing them from starving to death.

Just achieving this much was enough to satisfy those affected.

In the past, once a major flood occurred, their lives were left to fate.

But now, their lives were at least guaranteed.

In the neighboring Mughal Empire, the victims didn’t even have this guarantee.

The floods in the Ganges River area were slightly smaller than those in the Jamuna River.

However, nearly ten thousand people died in the Mughal Empire during the relocation, twice as many as in Bengal.

And this was just the beginning. In the following days, tens of thousands more would starve to death due to food shortages.

The Ganges Plain has always been highly productive in terms of grain, but all of this grain was taken away by the Mughal rulers and sold to Great Hua in exchange for other goods.

A large portion of the grain that the Bengal victims were now eating came from India.

Some victims who knew the inside story were furious. This was simply outrageous. It was as if their court had stolen their life-saving grain and used it to save the lives of the enemy’s victims.

Even the most docile lamb couldn’t tolerate this situation. Therefore, some of the more capable victims were inciting others to revolt.

However, there were very few respondents.

Rebellion was too risky; failure meant losing their lives.

But honestly enduring it, surviving this wave of floods, meant they could live for a few more years, even a dozen more.

After all, floods on the Ganges were relatively rare; this year was just particularly unlucky.

In Delhi, Aurangzeb was also worried.

The victims were actually wrong about him. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to save their lives, but that he simply lacked the ability.

He had no grain left in his hands; it had all been sold to Great Hua.

He had no choice but to sell, as the amount of Hua Yuan he could earn from selling onions was far too limited.

Without Hua Yuan, he couldn’t buy those machines from Great Hua, and there was no way to develop.

If the country didn’t develop, there would be no hope, and it would eventually be annexed by Great Hua.

Compared to the lives of a portion of the victims, he cared more about whether the entire country could maintain its independence.

Therefore, he could only let those victims fend for themselves.

Just when Aurangzeb was feeling troubled, Great Hua didn’t forget to add to his woes.

Someone went to those victims and spread the word that there was food to eat if they went to Bengal.

When these victims heard that there was food to eat, their eyes lit up, more excited than a pervert seeing a naked woman.

And so, the army of victims heading to Bengal set off.

Upon hearing the news, Aurangzeb quickly sent troops to intercept them.

The actions of these victims were practically slapping him in the face.

If these people really made it to Bengal, he would lose all face.

Moreover, after these people arrived in Bengal and were saved by Great Hua, they would definitely be grateful to Great Hua. Great Hua would gain tens of thousands of laborers out of thin air. Wasn’t this aiding the enemy?

As for whether stopping these people from seeking survival would harm him to death many, Aurangzeb couldn’t care less.

In his eyes, these victims were no different from his chickens and ducks.

To someone who cared about face, what did the death of a few domestic animals matter? Losing face was the big deal.

Therefore, he absolutely couldn’t allow this to happen.

Aurangzeb gritted his teeth, took out some money from his private purse, and had people set up a few soup kitchens in the disaster area, giving those victims a little bit of hope.

Then, Aurangzeb summoned the ministers in the court to discuss what to do next.

What to do?

When asked this question, the high-ranking officials in the Mughal Empire really wanted to become officials in Great Hua.

If they were officials in Great Hua, they definitely wouldn’t have to think about such difficult problems.

“Great Hua’s officials must be receiving good news every day.”

The ministers couldn’t help but think.

“Perhaps, we can only use hypnosis.”

A minister named Ramal said.

“Oh? How do you hypnotize them?”

Aurangzeb became interested. Now, no matter what the method was, as long as someone could offer a suggestion, he would be excited.

He was like a patient with a difficult disease. No matter how unreliable the old Chinese medicine practitioner recommended by others was, he would be excited as long as someone recommended him.

This was the effect of hope. Many people could live as long as they had a false hope to hang on to.

“It’s about controlling propaganda, deceiving the common people, telling them that Great Hua is very bad, very terrible, and that farmers in Great Hua live worse than death. Then tell them that Great Hua is very weak, and that our army can easily destroy it with one charge. This will enhance the people’s confidence and satisfaction with their own lives.”

Ramal said.

“This…”

Some people were speechless. Wasn’t this just deceiving oneself, a kind of mental victory?

It was already embarrassing for an individual to do this.

If an entire country did this, some of the more thin-skinned ministers couldn’t imagine the scene.

The scene would probably be a group of people holding steel knives and iron swords, not taking Great Hua’s armored artillery seriously, clamoring to fight to Nanjing.

Simply, an eyesore.

However, Aurangzeb didn’t think so. Whether it was self-deception or deceiving others, he only cared whether this method was effective and could help him overcome the current difficulties.

And in Aurangzeb’s view, Ramal’s method couldn’t cure the root cause, but it could treat the symptoms.

As long as he could deceive the people for a few years or a dozen years, that would be enough.

As long as the people believed this, had more confidence in the country, they wouldn’t be so infatuated with foreign things, wouldn’t be so focused on going to Great Hua, could unite more to develop themselves, have fewer complaints, and work hard.

Even if they went to war with Great Hua in the future, they could reduce some fear and increase morale.

Of course, Aurangzeb also knew that this subjective self-paralysis couldn’t change the objective gap in strength between the Mughal Empire and Great Hua.

But it didn’t matter. He was just letting the people indulge in this self-deception; he wouldn’t get lost himself.

Therefore, as long as it could play a role in appeasing the people, that would be enough. He would continue to lead those sober elites to accelerate the speed of reform and development.

When their strength caught up with Great Hua, then the previous deception wouldn’t be considered deception.

Aurangzeb imagined that scene and even had a little expectation.

Chapter 923: The Mughal Military Parade

Controlling public opinion and boosting national confidence is no easy task.

However, when a country mobilizes its resources to promote it, it’s actually not that difficult.

It’s nothing more than fabricating stories to slander Great Hua and then sending people around to spread them.

Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth.

Even in later generations with the internet, it’s very difficult for ordinary people to get to the truth of the world. Basically, people believe whatever the mainstream narrative says.

And in this era, it’s even easier to fool the common people.

Anyway, very few of them have the opportunity to go to Great Hua to see for themselves.

Once the idea that “Great Hua is poor and backward, not as good as India” becomes mainstream and most people believe it, then those few who insist on the truth are easily seen as fools and ignoramuses.

This is the way to deal with those uncultured and ignorant fools.

The Mughal upper echelons also have ways to deal with those who know a little about Great Hua.

Do something that looks impressive to prove that Indians are more awesome than the people of Great Hua.

For example, breaking a stone on one’s chest, swallowing glass shards, splitting a durian with bare hands, and spitting fire to tease snakes. This is to tell the Indian people that people in their country are protected by gods and blessed with divine power, much more awesome than those people from Great Hua.

Such claims of special abilities seem ridiculous to later generations, but there are actually many people who believe them. Even in the twenty-first century, there are still a bunch of people who believe in qinggong (the ability to run on walls or fly using martial arts skills), let alone the people of this era. It’s normal to believe in special abilities; not believing is foolish.

Forming a few troupes of acrobats to perform all over the country will naturally make ordinary people believe that they can beat Great Hua to a pulp because they are invulnerable.

Then, hold a military parade, with seven or eight people riding on a bicycle, passing in formation, showing the heroic posture of the army.

Eight people standing on a bicycle, striking a flying pose, looks quite impressive at first glance, provided that the people of Great Hua don’t see it.

Originally, the Mughal military wanted to buy a batch of motorcycles and field guns.

However, Great Hua wouldn’t sell them, only giving them some bicycles and smoothbore cannons.

A more sensible ambassador would naturally not agree to such an outrageous deal, and would rather not buy anything.

But in the Mughal Empire, corruption is very serious.

The person in charge of this matter was Aurangzeb’s half-brother. After being entertained by a few Japaneses girls and receiving a house in Nanjing, he immediately signed the contract.

The Mughal Empire used tens of thousands of tons of rice and onions to exchange for such a pile of junk, almost making Aurangzeb vomit blood and die on the spot.

However, since they had already bought it, they couldn’t just throw it away.

These things, which are very common in Great Hua, are still very advanced in India.

These bicycles were used to form the Mughal Empire’s mobile force. Compared to infantry traveling on two legs, the marching speed of this mobile force is at least three times faster.

During the military parade, these bicycles can also be used to perform acrobatics.

Aurangzeb and others don’t care how the people of Great Hua laugh; as long as their own people think it’s awesome, that’s enough.

They added some wooden sticks to a bicycle and managed to fit eight people on it, which stunned the Chinese merchants in Delhi.

It’s fortunate that the quality of Great Hua’s manufacturing is up to par; otherwise, the bicycle would have been crushed long ago.

Ordinary people were extremely excited to see it, but some sober-minded high officials couldn’t laugh at this scene.

“Such a mighty army will be invincible and defeat the Huaxia army with ease.”

A military general said.

“That’s right, we can use this formation to directly laugh the enemy to death, and then go pick up their equipment.”

The pragmatic general, Amaye, retorted.

“Do you think you’re very humorous?”

His superior, Parkhande, asked coldly. Of course, he also knew that this military parade was ridiculous, but it was a means to boost national confidence and stabilize the rule, so there was no need to laugh at it.

“I’m only a little humorous; I’m mainly pragmatic.”

Amaye was not afraid and confronted him head-on.

In the army, there are actually many generals who are dissatisfied with this kind of superficial military parade.

“Pragmatic, this is pragmatism. Governing a country can’t be done by imagination alone. For the current Mughal Empire, this is the best way.

If you tell the people the truth, it won’t inspire their ambition to fight for their country; it will only scare them into kneeling down to Great Hua.”

Parkhande snorted coldly.

He wasn’t angry because of Amaye’s sarcasm. In the final analysis, their goals were the same: to revitalize the Mughal Empire. It’s just that one is more inclined to idealism, while the other is more rational.

“Both of you, say less and focus on training the troops.”

Someone else advised.

The two then fell silent, watching the military parade indifferently, watching the cheering people indifferently, not knowing what they were thinking.

Aurangzeb’s mind was full of thoughts on how to develop quickly and how to acquire the technology of Great Hua.

Everything he’s doing now is like an anesthetic, which can temporarily numb the Mughal Empire. But when the effect wears off and the disease hasn’t been cured, the pain will be doubled.

Therefore, he urgently needs to develop.

However, he also knows that Great Hua will not stand idly by and watch him develop.

It’s too difficult to obtain the technology of Great Hua through formal channels and normal means, so Aurangzeb also had some crooked ideas.

His brother being infatuated with women gave him some inspiration.

The people of Great Hua can use this trick on him, so he can completely use this trick on the people of Great Hua.

It’s quite easy to find a batch of beauties in the vast Mughal Empire.

Among their races are Mongolians, Aryans, and West Asians, whose appearances are relatively good-looking and meet the aesthetic standards of the people of Great Hua.

Moreover, there will be some mixed-race people among them.

Some mixed-race people inherit the weaknesses of their parents’ appearance, but some mixed-race people inherit the advantages of their parents’ appearance.

These beauties also have a unique flavor.

These top-quality beauties will be sent to Great Hua to seduce those high-ranking officials, ministers, and wealthy merchants. Obtain various technologies, wealth, and intelligence.

The slightly inferior ones will be sent to the brothels of Great Hua to help the country earn foreign exchange, earn Huaxia Yuan.

Relying solely on exporting grain is not feasible; too many people are starving to death, so where will the labor force come from to develop?

With the country in such a difficult situation, Aurangzeb has no choice but to be forced into a dead end.

As for face, let’s just throw it aside for now.

As long as he can make the Mughal Empire strong again, this period of history can be erased later.

Chapter 924: The Uncontrolled Great Western Army

When the spies reported the Mughal Empire’s military parade to Great Hua, the ministers of Great Hua were quite shocked.

“It’s all our fault for driving them crazy.”

Chief of General Staff Tao Dongcheng laughed.

Wu Changqing didn’t think they should take the blame. It seemed no one had forced them in his previous life, and their military parades were still like this.

Maybe that’s just their preference, and it has nothing to do with him.

These things only brought some joy to the Great Hua court, and after a laugh, they were tossed aside.

Wu Changqing was more concerned about the situation in the Northwest.

The Great Western Army in the Northwest had encountered an unexpected situation. Li Dingguo had not followed his instructions.

Great Hua had ordered Li Dingguo to directly attack Persia and destroy it.

However, after fighting Persia twice, Li Dingguo chose to go north to attack the Lesser and Middle hordes (Kazakhstan).

The supervising army in front questioned Li Dingguo for disobeying orders. Li Dingguo said that he could not defeat Persia.

However, Tao Dongcheng and others analyzed that Li Dingguo might be unwilling to be controlled by Great Hua and wanted to find another way out.

And if he did, he had to be prepared for Great Hua to cut off his logistics.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Li Dingguo did not want to waste his strength fighting the powerful Persian Empire, but instead detoured north to attack the hordes, preparing to break through the hordes and then march all the way to Eastern Europe.

“After winning a few battles, this guy probably thinks he’s capable again.”

Liu Hansan sneered. He was now an honorary elder of the Strategic Bureau, with no real power, but a high status and influential voice.

This time, he was accompanying Wu Changqing on an inspection tour of the country as a founding meritorious official.

“Don’t pay too much attention to him. If he doesn’t attack, we’ll go ourselves. There’s no difference.”

Tang Guozhen said.

Their military was even quite happy with this result.

Following behind Li Dingguo to pick up territory was too boring. They all wanted to take the field themselves.

“Li Dingguo is still very capable. I estimate that he may have mastered the technology for manufacturing bullets and, to some extent, gotten rid of his dependence on our logistics, so he had the idea of becoming a king and hegemon.”

Tao Dongcheng said.

Although Tao Dongcheng was only guessing, he guessed correctly.

Not only the technology for manufacturing bullets, but also the technology for manufacturing mortar shells had been mastered by them.

They were dealing with these things every day and were willing to spend time studying them. Great Hua’s defense against them was not strict enough, and their advantages were far greater than those of Western Europeans.

As a result, Li Dingguo had quietly mastered the manufacturing technology of these two kinds of military fire.

In other words, he could get rid of his dependence on Great Hua.

Why shouldn’t kings, lords and generals be self-made men? Li Dingguo naturally wanted to be an emperor too.

Now that he had a glimmer of opportunity, he would naturally not miss it and wanted to give it a shot.

Although there was a Great Hua watching covetously next to him, he believed that Great Hua would not put too much energy into the Western Regions.

Therefore, he still had a chance.

As long as he reached Eastern Europe, it would be far away from the emperor, and he could establish a country there. And using the powerful force in his hands, he could integrate the human resources of Eastern Europe and establish a powerful country.

If all went well, he could also annex Western Europe and rival Great Hua.

This was their plan, very ambitious.

Of course, they also knew that it would be difficult to achieve.

Therefore, in specific actions, they were very pragmatic.

They did not fight Persia, because Persia was very powerful. Even if they could win, the soldiers in their hands would be almost dead, and in the end, it would still benefit Great Hua.

Moreover, compared to Eastern Europe, Persia was still too close to Great Hua.

Cherish life, stay away from Great Hua.

This was Li Dingguo’s worldview.

After breaking through the Lesser Horde, Middle Horde, and Great Horde, the Great Western Army reached the border of Tsarist Russia and the Cossacks (Ukraine).

Li Dingguo’s initial target was the Cossacks.

The Cossacks had a superior geographical environment and were a good place to support people.

Li Dingguo had become a wild horse, and Wu Changqing didn’t know what the situation in Europe would become next.

But none of this mattered. A wild horse is still a horse.

When he had time one day, he could just use a lasso to catch it.

He didn’t believe that Li Dingguo could rise up and turn the world upside down just by mastering a little bullet manufacturing technology. That would be underestimating Great Hua’s foundation too much.

As long as he wanted to, Li Dingguo could not escape his grasp.

But for now, he was not in a hurry. He would wait until he had built more cars and mined more oil. By the way, he would also repair the road from the Central Plains to the Western Regions first.

Highways and railways were indispensable.

Traveling south along the North-Guangzhou Line, Wu Changqing inspected Changsha, Zhuzhou, and Shaoguan, and then arrived at the most important city in the South, Guangzhou.

Because Guangzhou was closer to Western Europe and Southeast Asia, it gradually became the main port of call for ocean-going trade ships. Looking at this development trend, it seemed to have the momentum to surpass Shanghai.

Today’s North America was not developed, and ocean-going trade was mainly concentrated in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, India, and other places. Therefore, Shanghai’s geographical location was slightly worse than Guangzhou’s.

Geographical location was too important for the development of a place.

Wu Changqing got off the train at the East Station and entered the city.

Today’s Guangzhou city had no city walls.

Originally, Guangzhou’s city walls were not high. Li Yao came to Guangzhou and simply ordered all the city walls to be demolished.

In his words, who would dare to attack Guangzhou now?

These city walls were meaningless and only hindered traffic.

Therefore, Guangzhou took the lead in becoming a large city without city walls.

The roads leading from Guangzhou to various places were like spider webs. Looking around, you could see many of them, which was completely different from other places.

If it were in Nanjing, there would be only one super-large official road at the South Gate. Only after going out for several li would there be some small roads connecting to the official road.

Just looking at those dense highways, you could tell how well Guangzhou was developing.

If the development was not good, there would not be so much money to build roads.

Guangzhou paid a large part of its annual tax revenue to the imperial court, and the rest could be retained for Guangzhou’s development.

The money for building these roads was all paid by the Guangzhou local government and did not cost the imperial court any money.

Entering the city, Wu Changqing arrived at the imperial lodge prepared by Li Yao, located in the area of Yuexiu District and Yuexiu Park in later generations.

There was a rather luxurious hotel here, which was temporarily requisitioned by Li Yao.

The emperor’s food, clothing, housing, and transportation were the most important things. In the past, emperors had to build imperial lodges in many places.

But now, Wu Changqing was not so wasteful.

The owner of the Nanhai Hotel, Ye Feihong, was overjoyed that it was requisitioned.

This was a super glorious thing. In the future, if he put up a sign saying ‘This is where the emperor lived’, wouldn’t customers flock to it?

Chapter 925: Guangzhou Station

In Guangzhou, Wu Changqing first visited the Dingsheng Shipyard, a shipyard that mainly manufactured civilian passenger and cargo ships.

The Deep Water Bay Shipyard in Hong Kong, on the other hand, mainly built warships.

At the same time, it was also the base of the Great Hua Navy’s Third Fleet.

At the Dingsheng Shipyard, Wu Changqing attended the launching ceremony of the Breaking Waves cargo ship.

The Breaking Waves had been built more than a month ago, but they had deliberately waited for Wu Changqing to come before launching it. This cargo ship was the largest ship in Great Hua, and even the world.

Its displacement reached an astonishing twenty thousand tons.

The technical requirements for civilian ships were relatively low, and several shipyards in Great Hua had already mastered this technology. There were also three more under construction.

The technical content of warships was much higher, and Great Hua could currently only build warships with a displacement of less than ten thousand tons.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t build larger ones, but the performance wouldn’t keep up.

If it was slow, easily damaged, and had a high failure rate, that would be a real problem.

Warships had to adapt to various harsh environments and be equipped with various high-tech weapons, which was incomparable to cargo ships.

The Breaking Waves cargo ship was one hundred and fifty meters long and about seventeen meters wide.

This behemoth directly stunned everyone.

Not only were the foreign ambassadors dumbfounded, but even some Great Hua officials who had never seen such a large ship were stunned.

This, this, what magnificence and grandeur!

Compared to the horse-drawn carriages of the past, this thing was indeed a million times more spectacular.

“Can such a big iron lump even move?”

Some people even whispered.

Although they knew the principle of the steam engine, how could such a seemingly simple principle propel such a large thing?

The chief designer of the Breaking Waves was introducing the ship’s performance parameters to Wu Changqing, who nodded in satisfaction after listening.

Although the Breaking Waves was only large in size, its other performance aspects were terrible.

But it didn’t matter. Being able to build this thing based on a bunch of drawings was already very good, and Wu Changqing couldn’t ask for more.

“If Great Hua is willing, we Spanish are willing to exchange half of Brazil for such a ship.”

The Spanish ambassador said. Although this was a joke, it also expressed his evaluation of the ship, worth millions of square kilometers of land.

“Even if Great Hua is willing to sell, our country probably can’t afford it.”

The Persian ambassador shook his head with a wry smile. At this moment, he felt inferior.

“Even if Great Hua gave it to our country for free, we wouldn’t be able to find anyone to start it, and we could only watch it helplessly.”

The Ottoman ambassador, Daierduoan, was even more straightforward, directly mocking his own country.

After all, other countries were carrying out reforms and learning from Great Hua. Only the Ottoman Empire was still indulging in imperial glory and making no progress.

After Daierduoan came to Great Hua and opened his eyes, he was completely disappointed with the Ottoman Empire.

“A great nation’s treasure, with this one thing, there will be no more barriers in the world.”

A Great Hua minister said.

This twenty-thousand-ton cargo ship would have an incredibly terrifying transportation capacity.

The transportation cost of goods would be further reduced.

Countless people marveled at and worshiped this large ship, and felt the insignificance of mankind.

Subsequently, the Breaking Waves was launched in front of thousands of onlookers.

The moment it hit the water, the splashed waves were several meters high, and the momentum was earth-shattering.

For many people, being able to see such a scene once in their lifetime was enough to boast about for a lifetime.

In addition to the Breaking Waves, the Dingsheng Shipyard had built more than one hundred ships of various sizes.

Its total tonnage was almost equal to the total of the entire Western Europe.

After visiting the Dingsheng Shipyard, they went to visit the industrial streets without stopping.

In other cities, industries were concentrated in one place and called an industrial park.

But in Guangzhou, it was not like that. There were no particularly concentrated industrial parks here. Instead, there were many industrial streets, where an entire street was full of factories.

They were basically light industries, and they were all small-scale, family-workshop-style small factories.

Some factories had only one or two machines, and one man could do the work of the boss, worker, and salesman.

Most of the factories had only a dozen people.

However, these small workshops should not be underestimated, mainly because there were many of them.

Here, there was the most complete range of manufacturing industries. Basically, any parts needed could be bought here.

Moreover, regardless of whether the order was for one thousand or one piece, these small workshops would accept the order and not dislike it at all.

Wu Changqing strolled down a street and also picked two factories to go in and take a look.

These small workshop-style factories seemed to be less efficient than large factories, but in reality, the people in these small workshops had very high enthusiasm for production.

This was because it was their own business, while the workers in large factories were definitely less enthusiastic in comparison.

Wu Changqing cordially inquired about the lives of these factory owners, asked about the difficulties in their businesses, and urged local officials to earnestly help these entrepreneurs solve their problems.

This touching scene was naturally captured by reporters.

In addition to visiting these factories, Wu Changqing also visited the commercial streets.

Guangzhou’s retail and small-scale wholesale industries were very developed. Here, almost all desired goods could be bought, which was a bit like Yiwu in later generations.

It was hard to say whether the goods were beautiful, but the prices were indeed very low.

A large number of self-employed individuals came here to purchase goods, then loaded them onto small broken ships and transported them to Annam, the Philippines, and other places.

After selling them in Southeast Asia, they would transport some sugar cane and spices back from Southeast Asia.

Their ships were small, and the transportation costs could not be compared with large cargo ships.

But they had a huge advantage, which was that they could evade taxes.

The number of Great Hua’s navy was limited, and they couldn’t manage so much.

Moreover, there was nothing they could do with these people even if they were caught. People who would risk so much to do this kind of thing were basically just poor and had nothing left but their lives.

And these people also contributed to a different kind of prosperity.

Finally, Wu Changqing also visited Guangzhou’s university town.

This was the most densely populated area of universities outside of Nanjing, and it also had the most international students.

There were seven universities in the university town, and even two technical colleges, schools that specialized in teaching various manufacturing technologies.

Wu Changqing made a high evaluation of these schools, and he emphasized the importance of talent.

“In today’s world, what is the most valuable? It is talent. As long as there is talent, everything else will be there.”

Wu Changqing said.

He wasn’t just saying this as an official statement, but he really meant it.

After all, he could take out the technology at any time, anyway, he didn’t lack resources or technology points now.

Now, he just lacked those who could learn, master, and apply the technology. As long as there were enough talents, Great Hua’s development could continue to soar.

Chapter 926: Conquering Java

When Wu Changqing left Guangzhou, he received good news: Great Hua had taken Jakarta.

The process was quite dramatic.

Because of Wu Changqing’s influence, the history of Western Europe had diverged significantly. Even the Netherlands had been annexed by France.

Of course, their annexation was completely different from the Qing Dynasty’s destruction of the Ming Dynasty or Great Hua’s destruction of the Qing Dynasty.

In the Central Plains, when you killed your opponent, only a very small number of the ruling class survived; most of them suffered.

But France’s destruction of the Netherlands was different. They just beat the Netherlands up, and then the Netherlands submitted, acknowledging French rule.

The whole process wasn’t very bloody, and not many people died.

Then, France symbolically sent some officials to the Netherlands, and that was considered the completion of their rule over the Netherlands.

At the same time, France announced that all overseas colonies of the Netherlands belonged to France.

Some overseas colonies received orders from France and the former Dutch king and chose to obey, declaring their allegiance to France.

However, the Dutch Governor of Jakarta, Eames, refused to acknowledge this. He wanted to take the opportunity to become king himself.

He felt that the mountains were high and the emperor was far away, so it wouldn’t matter if he declared himself king. After becoming king, he wouldn’t have to pay taxes to the homeland.

This infuriated Louis XIV, who immediately dispatched the few warships he had at home to form a large fleet to Jakarta, intending to teach Eames a lesson and seize the entire Java.

Upon receiving the news, Eames panicked. Helpless, he had to send someone to Hekou to find the people of Great Hua and request to join Great Hua.

Eames knew that he had already offended Louis XIV and that there was no way to reconcile with him.

If he wanted to survive, he could only rely on someone even more powerful.

In reality, he only had two choices: England and Great Hua.

England’s strength and influence in the South Seas were very small, and their fleet might not arrive in time from the homeland to protect him.

Therefore, Eames ultimately chose Great Hua.

Great Hua naturally welcomed such a good thing as someone taking the initiative to join them.

Great Hua had wanted to capture Jakarta before, but at the time, they didn’t want to scare the Western European countries into uniting.

Now, they had an excellent reason.

Since Eames had announced his allegiance to Great Hua, this territory was now Great Hua’s, and intervention was justified.

As for the French fleet, they could be wiped out in an instant.

Subsequently, the Fourth Fleet, stationed in Saigon, set off for the Java Sea area, preparing for a decisive battle with the French fleet.

Currently, Great Hua had five main fleets, stationed in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Saigon, Bengal, and Edo.

Among them, the fleets in Shanghai, Saigon, and Bengal were slightly stronger, while those in Hong Kong and Edo were slightly weaker.

The Fourth Fleet in Saigon had one five-thousand-ton battleship, five two-thousand-ton cruisers, ten one-thousand-ton frigates, thirty other auxiliary ships of various types, and twenty transport ships.

Among them, the main warships were all ironclads. Some of the auxiliary ships and transport ships were still wooden, but they had been fitted with steam power.

This scale was similar to the later Beiyang Fleet, only slightly inferior in number and tonnage.

However, at this time, this fleet only had two opponents: Great Hua’s First and Second Fleets.

As for the navies of other countries, Great Hua had never taken them seriously.

Even the Third and Fifth Fleets were no match for the Fourth Fleet.

The Third Fleet had no battleships, only two cruisers, five frigates, some gunboats, and some wooden ships.

In a place like Japan, this configuration was actually a bit of a waste.

The people of the Third Fleet could only think of imaginary enemies to practice against all day long, never encountering a real enemy, and were very lonely.

If it weren’t for maintaining the fleet’s combat effectiveness, they would have used their warships as fishing boats to earn extra money by catching fish.

The number of warships in the Fourth Fleet was far fewer than the French expeditionary fleet. The French expeditionary fleet had nearly fifty warships, plus more than sixty transport and auxiliary ships.

This was equivalent to bringing out almost one-third of their naval assets.

Of course, Great Hua had also brought out about one-quarter of its navy.

Naval battles were very different from land battles. When two countries of similar strength fought on land, it was often a protracted affair.

You come and go, and losing a few battles occasionally didn’t matter at all. Winning a few battles occasionally didn’t mean you could be complacent.

The frequency of battles was high, but decisive battles were rare.

The navy was the opposite. They might not encounter a battle for several years or even decades.

But once they started fighting, it was basically a battle that determined victory or defeat.

Decades of construction could be lost in one battle.

Every large-scale naval battle was almost like betting the fate of the country.

Win and get rich, lose and sell your underwear.

Every naval battle required careful consideration, again and again.

This was for other countries. For Great Hua, there was no need to be too careful, because they could win anyway.

The difference in the number of warships was ignored by Fleet Commander Lin Wancheng, who went straight to the Java Sea.

Two days later, the two sides met thirty nautical miles northwest of Jakarta.

Seeing Great Hua’s navy, the French shuddered.

Fleet Commander Sean panicked, not knowing what Great Hua’s navy was doing here.

Although Great Hua’s navy had not declared war on them, encountering something that could pose a huge threat to them at sea was unsettling.

The French immediately sent out a small boat to meet Great Hua’s navy, wanting to negotiate and inquire.

As for their main force, they immediately changed course, not going to Jakarta, but moving east.

Attacking Jakarta could be done at any time; it didn’t matter if it was delayed.

The most important thing at the moment was to stay away from Great Hua’s navy.

However, when they began to turn, Sean discovered that Great Hua’s navy also began to turn, directly chasing after them.

At that moment, Sean’s heart sank.

He didn’t believe that Great Hua’s navy was chasing them to say hello or anything else. At sea, being chased by another country’s navy meant that war was one hundred percent certain.

Sean couldn’t understand why the Huaxia army wanted to fight them. France had no conflicts with Great Hua before.

If they had conflicts with Great Hua, they wouldn’t dare to send a fleet to the South Seas, to Great Hua’s territory. That would be courting death.

At this time, Sean could only pray in his heart, praying that there was some misunderstanding.

Then, he hoped that the people he sent could clear up the misunderstanding. He really didn’t want to fight Great Hua’s navy.

Chapter 927: Cat and Mouse

“Captain, there’s a small boat approaching from the opposite side.”

“Ram it.”

The Hongjing cruiser, leading the charge, headed straight for the small boat sent by the French.

Negotiate? What’s there to negotiate? Winning the fight first makes negotiations easier, with fewer disagreements and arguments.

Seeing this, the small boat cursed while trying to evade, but it was still overturned by the huge waves, and the crew fell into the sea, splashing and calling for help.

The soldiers on the Huaxia army warship laughed and pointed at these unlucky fellows as if watching a show.

Of course, these people weren’t really unlucky, because the Huaxia army auxiliary ships behind them would definitely rescue them, ensuring their safety.

Those in the French fleet weren’t so lucky. Whether they survived the upcoming barrage depended on fate.

Sean’s idea was too naive. A single deployment by the Great Hua navy cost at least one hundred thousand yuan.

To turn back just because of Sean’s few words of negotiation would be too ridiculous.

The Huaxia army’s purpose was to eliminate this French fleet and tell the Western European countries that the South Seas were Great Hua’s territory, and no one should try to interfere.

As for how enraged France would be, Great Hua didn’t care, and no one even considered it.

France’s anger? What does that have to do with Great Hua?

Anyway, a falling out was inevitable sooner or later, and a falling out now wasn’t a big deal.

Moreover, it was still uncertain whether France would dare to break ties because of this.

The Great Hua navy’s speed far exceeded that of the French fleet.

A warship’s speed being lower than its opponent’s wasn’t a big problem when it had superior strength; at worst, it just couldn’t catch up with the enemy.

But when it was weaker, it was fatal, meaning they couldn’t escape.

After chasing for a while, the distance between the two sides shortened considerably, and some of the main guns of the Huaxia army fleet were within range of the enemy.

However, the Huaxia army didn’t open fire immediately.

After continuing the chase for a while, allowing more cannons to enter range, Lin Wancheng finally ordered the attack.

The sound of cannons shattered the last sliver of hope in Sean’s heart.

Although the Huaxia army had been chasing them, they hadn’t opened fire yet, leaving a tiny bit of hope.

But now, it was gone. Everything was gone.

“Captain, what should we do?”

His subordinate asked Sean. At this time, everyone was counting on him as their backbone.

Sean’s heart was in extreme turmoil, feeling immense pressure on his shoulders.

The survival of the entire fleet rested on his decision.

His choice would determine the life or death of the entire fleet.

This kind of pressure was unbearable for most people.

Looking at the entire history of the world’s navies, those who could become captains were not simple people.

Sean currently faced three choices. The first was to raise a white flag and surrender.

This was the safest option. As long as they surrendered, the Huaxia army would definitely spare their lives.

However, it was also the most humiliating and frustrating choice.

A fleet of hundreds of ships, a fleet that could rank among the best in the world, surrendering without firing a shot? This shame would be enough to make them unable to hold their heads up for the rest of their lives.

Living might be more painful than dying. That kind of regret would accompany them for the rest of their days.

So, surrender was out of the question, at least for now.

Another option was to turn around and engage in battle.

This was a very manly choice, but also the most tragic.

It wasn’t that Sean lacked confidence in his side, but he knew the difference in strength between the two sides.

On his side, there were no more than ten cannons that could threaten the Huaxia army’s ironclads, and they were all specially made large-caliber cannons.

The other cannons could at most injure the soldiers on the Huaxia army’s decks. Trying to sink the Huaxia army’s ironclads was a pipe dream.

And on their side, there were only ten semi-ironclads, and the rest were still wooden ships.

Moreover, these semi-ironclads were basically paper in front of the Huaxia army’s main guns, only offering a little protection against the small-caliber secondary guns.

In short, the difference in strength between the two sides was very large, and engaging in battle would certainly lead to defeat.

The last option was to ignore everything and run away.

This was actually the worst choice, because the Huaxia army was faster than them. Simply running away would only lead to being passively beaten and slowly consumed.

Unless they suddenly encountered a super storm that only blew towards the Huaxia army, they had no chance of escaping.

There was definitely no such storm, so they couldn’t escape. It was better to turn around and make a desperate strike.

However, this was a choice that could only be made under extreme rationality.

When people encounter danger, their instinct is to run away, to harbor a fluke mentality.

Sean hesitated. This decision was too difficult to make.

Meanwhile, the Huaxia army’s shells were continuously falling into their fleet.

Both sides were moving, so it wasn’t easy to hit. A two percent hit rate was considered合格 (hé gé; qualified), and reaching four percent was excellent.

Therefore, the Huaxia army’s cannons were firing loudly, but very few actually hit.

However, once a hit landed, it was a fatal blow.

A French warship with a displacement of about five hundred tons was hit by a shell, and a third of its hull was directly destroyed.

Large amounts of seawater poured into the ship, and the sailors didn’t even have time to save themselves before the ship began to list.

It was hopeless. With just one shot, this French capital ship was declared a write-off.

Of course, not every shell from Great Hua had such power.

The shell that hit just now was fired by the Huaxia army’s main gun.

There were only a dozen or so of these main guns in the Fourth Fleet.

The remaining secondary guns were much weaker.

However, even a hit from them was enough to give the French a headache.

Also a five-hundred-ton warship, it was hit by a relatively small shell from the Huaxia army. The ship didn’t take on water, but the deck was severely damaged, the mast fell down, and the ship’s speed dropped sharply.

The main force couldn’t slow down to wait for this ship, so they were ruthlessly abandoned.

The fate awaiting them was either death or capture.

However, the other ships that hadn’t been hit yet were actually in the same situation, it was just a matter of time.

They were helpless in the face of the Huaxia army’s attacks.

“Captain, we can’t go on like this, turn around and fight them!”

Sean’s deputy advised. Continuing to run like this would only lead to death. The Huaxia army had even deliberately slowed down to maintain the distance, preventing their cannons from firing back.

Now, the battle between the two sides had become a game of cat and mouse.

Slow ship speed, short cannon range, poor hull armor…

It was fortunate that Sean was young and in good health, able to withstand this series of frustrating problems.

If it were someone with a weak heart, they would have been angered to death by now.

Chapter 928: A Fish Trying to Break the Net

“Turn around and fight back, go all in!”

Sean finally made up his mind, he was cornered.

He ordered the transport ships and non-main battle ships to continue fleeing, while all the main battle ships turned around to fight to the death. Those transport ships didn’t even qualify to turn around and fight.

France began to divide its forces into two groups. The main ships, loaded with cannons, turned around one after another, preparing to fight the Huaxia army.

Only the officers knew about the huge gap in strength between the two sides.

Although the lower-level soldiers also knew that there was a gap in strength between the two sides, they didn’t have a clear idea of how big the gap was. Officers generally wouldn’t tell them.

If they were all as clear as Sean, I’m afraid there would have been many deserters by now.

“These people still have some backbone.”

Lin Wancheng said, seeing the French warships turn around.

But before he finished speaking, he continued, “But they’re also quite foolish, this saves us time.”

Everyone laughed when they heard this.

Compared to escaping, they actually preferred that France stop and fight to the death, as it was more convenient and quicker.

“Captain, some of them are still escaping?”

The adjutant reminded him.

“Those should be their transport ships, let the Hongchang and Huangheng, Huangyuan ships pursue them. The rest, aim at the enemy’s main battleships and hit them hard.”

Lin Wancheng said.

The sound of cannons rang out.

This time it was the French artillery that fired first.

Suddenly, the sounds of cannons from both sides continued, scaring away all the fish under the sea in this area.

A large number of shells fell into the formations of both sides, but the effects were completely different.

A French shell hit a Great Hua cruiser, causing some deformation to the side of the ship and a slight shaking of the ship.

But that was it, it didn’t cause any damage to the cruiser.

Another shell was slightly luckier, landing on the deck of the Huaxia army and exploding, killing several Huaxia soldiers.

However, it also angered these soldiers.

They had the main guns aim at the culprit, and on the third shot, they successfully hit it.

The shell directly penetrated its hull and reached the place where ammunition was stored in the cabin.

With a loud bang, the warship was directly blown into two halves, and a fire broke out on the ship at the same time.

Of course, they didn’t need to put out the fire, because the ship was about to sink soon, and the sea would help them put out the fire.

It was the same as being hit, but the difference was so huge.

Seeing this scene, the French naval soldiers were trembling, and some even wet their pants.

“Fire, keep firing, don’t slack off.”

The officers were still shouting, and most of the soldiers were indeed firing non-stop.

But it was useless, their shells could not cause significant losses to the Huaxia army.

Great Hua was stabbing them in the back, but they were helping Great Hua scratch their itch.

Finally, some warships chose to escape.

Those who chose to escape were very smart, because they had a large number of warships. If they all escaped, the Huaxia army could only chase some of them, and many could still escape.

However, it was hard to say whether they could survive in this vast sea after escaping.

Only a few escaped, and most of the French navy was still resisting.

Among them, a warship with a displacement of more than five hundred tons, the Frankfurt, chose to ram a Huaxia cruiser.

They had no choice, their artillery caliber was too small, and its power could not hurt the Huaxia warship at all.

So, they wanted to die together.

Captain Delivie of the Frankfurt was also very cunning, choosing a good angle and rushing over while the Huaxia warship was chasing another French warship.

“For the great France, for the glory of the imperial soldiers, we will die with our opponents.”

Delivie was a very capable person, otherwise so many people would not be willing to die with him.

Delivie’s remarks aroused the blood of these soldiers.

After that, the Frankfurt’s steam engine was turned to the maximum horsepower, and the sails were also adjusted to an angle, so that the ship reached its maximum speed.

This steamship purchased from Great Hua rushed towards Great Hua’s Hongxi ship.

By the time the officers and soldiers on the Hongxi discovered it, the distance between the two sides was less than one hundred meters.

This startled the officers and soldiers on the Hongxi, and they quickly shouted for the ship to turn and for the artillery to turn.

But this all took time.

A distance of less than one hundred meters was only a moment for a steamship sprinting at full speed.

With a loud ‘bang’.

The Frankfurt crashed into the Hongxi, and the Hongxi was shaken violently. Some soldiers who had firmly grasped things were still shaken loose by the impact and hit the ship.

Those who were lucky were slightly injured, and those who were unlucky hit some sharp edges, resulting in serious injuries and deaths.

Of course, there were very few, it was just a moment.

As for the Frankfurt, the violent impact caused the bow of the ship to be directly shattered, and a large amount of seawater began to pour into the hull.

As for the soldiers on the ship, they were thrown all over the place.

Their ship was a warship converted from a merchant ship, lacking anti-collision design. Once a collision occurred, the people on the ship were at the mercy of fate, without even anything convenient to grab.

Fortunately, the structure of their ship was all wood, so even if they hit their heads, most of the people were only slightly injured, and very few died.

Delivie was protected by his subordinates, so nothing happened to him.

Although he was not injured, his heart was very hurt at this time.

He saw that his side’s full blow, betting on their lives, did not cause much damage to the Huaxia army’s Hongxi.

The imagined fish dying and the net breaking did not happen at all.

Their fish was really about to die, but Great Hua’s net was fine.

“Ah…”

Delivie collapsed.

He was like an assassin who had exhausted his efforts and detoured a long way, launched a fatal blow, only to find that the opponent’s armor was not only so high that he couldn’t break through the defense, but also had a counter-injury effect.

On the Hongxi, some Huaxia soldiers didn’t know what had happened.

“What’s going on, were we attacked?”

A loader rubbed his forehead.

“I don’t know, who cares, keep loading.”

The gunner said, at this time they were in a fierce battle, there was no time to think about so many things, their task was to fire the shells.

After that, they continued to work on their own work.

If no one told them afterwards, they might not even know that someone had launched a fatal blow against them.

At this time, the Huaxia soldiers on the deck of the Hongxi reacted.

The close-in defense guns that could reach the angle directly aimed at those people and fired wildly, and some soldiers took out their pistols to provide firepower.

“Stop, you can go and capture the prisoners.”

After strafing for a while, the officer ordered.

The enemy first encountered a collision, and then was strafed. Even the strongest fighting spirit should have been worn away.

Chapter 929: The Tragic French Navy

Dailiwei’s Frankfurt wasn’t actually the most tragic. At least they successfully rammed a Huaxia army warship, a glorious defeat.

Another ship of similar size, the Luke, also attempted a ramming attack.

However, on their way, the Huaxia army discovered their intent and focused all their firepower, forcing the Luke to change course. The Luke took a heavy beating.

Before even getting close to the Huaxia army, the Luke was blown to smithereens. Seawater poured in, and the wreckage was littered with incomplete corpses.

Ramming Great Hua’s warships wasn’t a good idea, and few attempted it.

But engaging in long-range artillery duels with the Huaxia army was an even worse decision.

Those warships that tried to exchange fire with the Huaxia army basically couldn’t last more than a few minutes. One hit was usually the end.

Meanwhile, the Huaxia army could take one or two French shells and act like nothing happened.

“Captain, our shells can’t penetrate their armor!”

A French officer, tears streaming down his face, cried out to the captain.

In this battle, he felt his men had performed exceptionally well. Facing a powerful enemy, they showed great courage and fired more accurately than in training.

But it was useless. The shells couldn’t inflict significant damage on the Huaxia army’s warships, which was incredibly demoralizing.

Many French soldiers teared up at this sight.

The deep sense of powerlessness was enough to make these men cry.

On warships further away, officers were saying similar things.

“Captain, our cannons can’t reach them!”

“Captain, we can’t keep up with their speed!”

“Captain, our ships can’t withstand their shells!”

…

Desperate cries echoed everywhere.

In war, the most painful thing for soldiers isn’t the heavy casualties, but the feeling of helplessness.

As long as there’s hope of winning, even great losses are bearable.

But now, most of them were trapped in a deep despair.

This feeling was like Mongolian cavalry charging the Huaxia army’s armored divisions – truly impossible to break through.

In less than half an hour of fighting, France had lost more than a dozen main warships.

This pace was too fast. Under normal circumstances, a naval battle of this scale should take at least half a day to produce such heavy casualties.

The Huaxia army’s hit rate wasn’t particularly high, around three percent.

But the terrifying thing about the Huaxia army was the power of their shells, often capable of sinking a ship with a single hit.

“Captain, order a surrender. We can’t continue this pointless sacrifice.”

The first officer advised the fleet commander, Sean.

Previously, they wanted to fight to the bitter end, making sure the Huaxia army wouldn’t have an easy time.

But after actually fighting, they realized they couldn’t do anything to the enemy, even if they died trying.

Such suicidal behavior was meaningless and unnecessary.

It was better to surrender than to die like this. Maybe they’d have a chance to escape later, or France would buy them back.

After all, they were highly skilled personnel, each one valuable.

“Raise the white flag, surrender. Our warriors shouldn’t engage in this meaningless battle.”

Sean was still hesitating when the captain of another ship gave the order.

Was it fear of death, or the desire to save his men’s lives?

It didn’t matter anymore. They raised the white flag and stowed their cannons, signaling their non-resistance.

Then, they could only wait for the Huaxia army’s decision.

If the Huaxia army didn’t act honorably and continued to fire, they couldn’t do anything about it.

Seeing the white flag, the Huaxia army naturally turned their guns towards other ships.

The ships that hadn’t surrendered were immediately hit by more shells. The soldiers cursed, and some also raised white flags.

After all, if others were surrendering, but they had to fight to the death, they’d feel resentful.

The surrender of other ships gave those who were still hesitating, or embarrassed, a way out. They could surrender without guilt.

At this point, the French fleet had fallen into complete chaos, lacking command and strategy. Some were still fighting back, some had been hit, some were fleeing, and some had begun to surrender.

Their choices couldn’t be judged as right or wrong; they were all acts of desperation.

Sean saw some warships raising white flags, but he wasn’t particularly angry, only helpless and sentimental.

He had lost this naval battle so terribly, he had no face to return to France and face his countrymen.

Taking advantage of his men’s inattention, Sean jumped into the sea, wanting to die in this place he so deeply regretted.

Sean really didn’t want to live anymore, but his men organized a rescue.

In the ensuing chaos, they managed to pull Sean out of the water.

With Sean’s suicide attempt, the French navy completely lost its command. Except for a few who chose to flee, the remaining ships began to raise white flags and surrender.

The sound of cannons gradually faded, the French army stopped resisting, and the Huaxia army began to clean up the battlefield. One part of the fleet was split off to pursue those who fled, while another part sent small boats to negotiate command with the French.

Because the Huaxia army didn’t have many ships, they couldn’t spare many for the pursuit. But that didn’t matter; they’d chase as many as they could.

The French warships that had raised white flags stowed their cannons and began rescue operations.

After many warships sank, the soldiers and sailors were still struggling in the water, not immediately dead.

The large ships began to lower small boats, one by one, to pick them up.

At the same time, the Huaxia army team that had been split off earlier caught up with the French transport ships.

Those transport ships had basically no ability to resist. Facing the Huaxia army’s attack, they could only choose to surrender, or suffer heavy losses.

Several transport ships were filled with army soldiers, intended to occupy the islands of Java.

Unfortunately, they didn’t even have a chance to land before becoming prisoners of the Huaxia army at sea.

These people were ashamed and depressed after surrendering.

However, when they were escorted to the sea area where the previous naval battle had taken place, and saw that the main force of the navy had also surrendered, their mood immediately improved a lot.

Even the main force of the navy couldn’t win and had to surrender, so their surrender was naturally reasonable and not shameful.

After cleaning up the battlefield, the Huaxia army fleet escorted this large group of prisoners to Jakarta.

In this naval battle, the Huaxia army had a total of sixty-three deaths and more than two hundred injuries. Most of the deaths were caused by French howitzer shells on the deck, while the injuries were due to various reasons.

As for the ships, not a single Huaxia army ship was sunk. Only a few suffered some damage, which could be repaired at the port to restore combat effectiveness.

These losses were almost negligible. And the results were quite dazzling.

Chapter 930: Java

The French army lost a total of twenty-six main battleships in this battle, more than half of their fleet. Twenty were sunk on the spot, and several others were abandoned due to severe damage.

The Huaxia army captured a total of twenty-one main battleships, and nearly sixty transport ships and small auxiliary vessels were all seized.

Only four French warships managed to escape.

In terms of personnel, the French army suffered more than two thousand soldiers killed in action, all of whom were navy personnel.

Nearly eight thousand people were captured, including more than three thousand navy soldiers, three thousand army soldiers, and more than one thousand other personnel.

At first glance, the losses didn’t seem particularly significant, with less than ten thousand casualties.

On land, a single battle could easily result in more losses than that.

However, these were all technical troops.

Training a qualified navy soldier is much more difficult than training a qualified army soldier.

Especially those artillerymen, as well as the engine crew who tinker with steam engines, and naval commanders, these are even more valuable.

And the ships themselves, their value is even more immeasurable.

After this naval battle, France directly lost one-third of its naval power, a serious blow to its strength.

To lose one-third of its army, it would have to lose at least two hundred thousand men.

In Jakarta, Aimes was overjoyed as he looked at the dispirited prisoners.

He hadn’t forgotten the arrogant attitude of the French envoy in front of him before.

Aimes came to Sean and mocked, “Didn’t your French emperor say I would regret it? Why don’t I regret it now? Instead, it’s your emperor who should regret it.”

“Even if our emperor regrets it, he only regrets that his actions were rash, leading to the failure of his grand plan. But what about you? You don’t even have a country anymore.”

Sean didn’t respond, but Dailiwei on the side retorted, each stabbing at the other’s heart.

One was a prisoner, and the other had lost his country. They should have been a pair who cried together and comforted each other, but now they were tearing at each other’s wounds, with no winner.

Although Aimes felt pain in his heart, he refused to admit defeat.

“Country? I am a citizen of Great Hua now, and my country is the incomparably powerful Great Hua. And the France you are loyal to will be trampled down by Great Hua sooner or later.”

Aimes said.

“I admire you for being able to feel superior even as a dog.”

Dailiwei said.

“You are worse than a dog!”

Aimes kicked Dailiwei. When words failed, he could only resort to violence.

Dailiwei, as a prisoner, didn’t act like one. He wanted to fight back after being hit, but was beaten up by Aimes’ subordinates.

It wasn’t until Lin Wancheng noticed the commotion that Aimes stopped.

These were just minor episodes, and Lin Wancheng didn’t take them to heart.

Defeating the French army and taking over Jakarta was a great victory.

On one hand, he reported the good news to the country, and on the other hand, he requested the country to send reinforcements to completely control Java.

Aimes had previously only controlled the Jakarta and Bandung areas, controlling less than one percent of Java. The rest of the area was currently inhabited by natives and a small number of foreigners.

The Dutch were few in number and unable to take the entire Java.

But Great Hua was different. They could take the entire Java, it was just a bit troublesome.

These natives were divided into countless large and small tribes, and it would not be easy to achieve complete rule over these tribes.

There were actually two ways to deal with these tribes. One was the method Aimes was using, to deter the tribes with force, so that they would not dare to resist.

Then, through trade, they could exploit these tribes.

For example, exchanging an iron sword for several tons of grain or a large amount of spices, in short, an unequal trade.

With absolute force and the power to set prices in trade, they could easily exploit them.

This kind of rule was extremely fragile, and could not even be considered a complete rule over these areas.

Those natives always maintained their independence, and would not integrate into the local colonists, nor were they easily assimilated.

However, this method of rule had the lowest cost and the highest initial profit.

Great Hua didn’t like this. They were prepared to adopt another method that was more costly, but had higher subsequent returns.

That was to directly take control of the management rights of those tribes. At least, the selection of tribal chiefs must be designated by Great Hua.

In this way, those who wanted to become tribal chiefs would wholeheartedly listen to Great Hua, and Great Hua could smoothly implement various policies, such as promoting Chinese language and characters, planting techniques, and so on.

It would be easy to be resisted if the people of Great Hua gave orders to these uncultured natives. But if their tribal chiefs gave the orders, it would be much easier.

Therefore, controlling the tribal chiefs became very important.

But wanting to control the appointment and removal of tribal chiefs would definitely cause strong resistance from those tribes.

Those ordinary natives may be very stupid and uncivilized. But those tribal chiefs, one can only say that they were ignorant, but there were not many fools among them. They would definitely not be willing to become puppets.

Java is actually very large. Including Papua New Guinea, the total area exceeds two and a half million square kilometers.

The population is actually also very large, at least no less than twenty million, but because there is no decent civilization, its presence is very low.

Such a large place, broken into small islands, and full of primitive natives who are difficult to communicate with…

To achieve effective rule over Java, the difficulty is no less than conquering Japan.

Attacking these tribes is naturally very easy. Those tribes with primitive weapons cannot be a match for the Huaxia army.

However, how to maintain rule over this area is a headache.

Great Hua cannot leave management personnel in every tribe, the cost would be too high.

This kind of headache does not need Lin Wancheng to worry about, that is the business of civil officials.

He only needs to use force to force those natives to submit first.

At least, the Jakarta and Bandung areas must be completely controlled, and these lands must be in the hands of Great Hua.

Only in the hands of Great Hua can these lands be used effectively.

The soil here is all volcanic ash deposited after volcanic eruptions, which is very fertile, and does not require fertilization for planting.

Moreover, there are many rivers, abundant water sources, and it is in the equatorial zone, with three rice harvests a year.

In short, all the conditions conducive to agricultural development are available here.

If those old farmers on the loess land came to see this kind of black soil, they would burst into tears.

This piece of land can be handed over to Great Hua immigrants, so that the people of Great Hua can use advanced planting technology, coupled with hybrid rice seeds, to turn this place into Great Hua’s granary in Southeast Asia.

Chapter 931: Carrot and Stick

How to conquer Java? Wu Changqing began to ponder this question after receiving the news of the capture of Jakarta.

After several discussions with his advisors, the final plan was actually quite simple and crude: a carrot and a stick.

Give benefits to those who are obedient, and beat those who are not.

It was essential to make the chiefs of those tribes clearly see this differential treatment, so they would understand the consequences of different choices.

With both the carrot and the stick, unless there were chiefs with masochistic tendencies, they would all choose to be obedient.

As for whether any chief would have grand ambitions and unite to resist, there was no need to worry about that at all.

If they truly had such wisdom, they would have already formed a country, instead of being a disorganized collection of tribes.

The abilities of these tribal chiefs were only sufficient to manage a single tribe.

Giving them a little more territory and population would exceed their capabilities, and they wouldn’t be able to manage it. In uncivilized places, where there is no cultural heritage, a tribe of a few thousand people is their limit of governance.

After deciding on the plan, Wu Changqing dispatched Guo Ziming to Jakarta to oversee the affairs of Java.

Upon arriving in Jakarta, Guo Ziming immediately summoned more than twenty tribal chiefs from the surrounding area.

These chiefs had dealt with the Dutch a lot in the past, so compared to the chiefs of other tribes, they had gained a lot more knowledge.

“The Java archipelago has been the territory of our Great Hua since ancient times. Now, His Majesty has great ambitions and is determined to recover the world, and Java is naturally no exception. Now that the royal army has arrived…”

Guo Ziming said a lot, but the main point was that Java originally belonged to Great Hua.

This made many chiefs unhappy, but they couldn’t do anything about it.

Previously, the Huaxia army had invited them to observe military exercises, demonstrating Great Hua’s powerful military force to these people.

That military exercise frightened these chiefs quite a bit.

Some of them had fought with the Dutch before and had been hit by the Dutch’s bullet-shooting contraptions, causing them to scream in pain.

But now, the weapons of the Huaxia army were clearly much more powerful than those of the Dutch.

After the machine guns fired a burst of continuous shots at the target, the entire target was reduced to dust.

They couldn’t help but imagine the consequences of those bullets hitting them.

They were already very fearful of Great Hua’s strength.

Therefore, they did not argue when Guo Ziming said that Java was Great Hua’s inherent territory.

They wouldn’t mind if Great Hua just talked about it.

But if Great Hua took actual action and insisted on seizing it…

This…

The chiefs were troubled by this thought. They were unwilling to hand over their territory. What would they eat without land?

However, the thought of fighting the Huaxia army made their scalps tingle.

Unable to think of a good solution, the chiefs could only remain silent.

Then, Guo Ziming began to offer the carrot.

“We have calculated that your grain yield is about three hundred Jin per mu. If you hand over these lands to us to manage and cultivate, we will give you three hundred Jin of grain per mu every year. This way, you don’t have to work and you can have as much grain as before. We can even hire your tribesmen to work and give them a batch of wages.

You can use these wages to buy Great Hua’s fine wines, delicacies, and various luxury goods to enjoy.”

Guo Ziming raised his glass, and the other chiefs immediately understood his meaning.

Great Hua had too many good things, so many that the chiefs were drooling.

However, they were troubled by the lack of money to exchange for them.

Now, the people of Great Hua had come up with a good way for them to earn money.

For those chiefs who were simple-minded and didn’t think too much, the conditions offered by the people of Great Hua were very good and could be agreed to.

However, some chiefs who thought a little more deeply sensed something was wrong.

As for exactly what was wrong, they couldn’t figure it out.

“*****.”

A chief spoke in obscure and difficult-to-understand syllables. After translation, Guo Ziming realized what the other party meant.

This chief, named Xian Jia, agreed and asked Guo Ziming if he could first send him some iced beer.

Guo Ziming was speechless for a moment, but he still chose to agree.

After all, this Xian Jia was the one who took the lead in agreeing, so he had to give him some benefits to set an example.

Xian Jia smiled happily after receiving the reply, completely unaware that he had handed over the territory left by his father to Great Hua.

Some of the people of Great Hua and the Dutch present were laughing at this Xian Jia, but this Xian Jia was also laughing at Guo Ziming and the others in his heart.

He couldn’t understand why Guo Ziming was willing to offer a rent of three hundred Jin of grain for land that could only produce three hundred Jin of grain.

Wouldn’t that be the same as growing grain for their tribe for free?

Dealing with Xian Jia was pleasant, but some other tribes were not all so easy to talk to.

A chief named Fulangda refused on the spot. Guo Ziming asked him the reason for his refusal, but he didn’t say.

It wasn’t that Fulangda was particularly deep-minded; he really didn’t know the reason.

He was just instinctively wary, feeling that his territory had always belonged to him and couldn’t be given to others.

He didn’t understand why he couldn’t give it to others. Anyway, his old father had instructed him to do so, so he had to follow it.

As for the reason, it really wasn’t needed.

People like this, who were not stupid but not smart either, were very difficult to deal with.

You couldn’t reason with him, temptation was ineffective, and he was stubborn and unyielding.

There was no choice but for Great Hua to use force against him, and Great Hua didn’t even need to do it themselves.

They just needed to lend a batch of weapons to Xian Jia first.

Then, with a hint to Xian Jia, there were still many good things in Great Hua, but they all cost money.

What to do if you don’t have money? Of course, you go and rob.

Taking Fulangda’s territory and population could be used to exchange for Great Hua’s currency and goods.

With someone pointing the way, Xian Jia immediately understood.

With the weapons provided by Great Hua, his tribe also had an absolute military advantage over Fulangda.

More importantly, his land had been handed over to the people of Great Hua to cultivate, and his tribesmen had nothing to do, so they had plenty of time to train.

Fulangda’s tribesmen, on the other hand, still had to work in the fields.

Xian Jia’s tribesmen didn’t have to work, had powerful military force, and needed things to exchange for Great Hua’s goods.

These motivations were all driving them to attack other tribes.

Of course, Great Hua would point out which tribes could be attacked and which tribes could not, so they couldn’t mess around.

Those obedient tribes would not be attacked, and those who were disobedient would not be treated politely.

Of course, these were all things for the future. Great Hua was currently focused on immigrating to Jakarta to increase the number of Han people in Java.

Otherwise, even if they conquered so much territory, Great Hua would not have enough people to manage and cultivate it.

# Chapter 932: Surprise Inspection

After leaving Guangzhou, Wu Changqing traveled north along the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, passing through Huizhou, Heyuan, and Xinfeng, and stopping at Xinfeng Station.

"Your Majesty, there's nothing worth inspecting in Xinfeng. It hasn't been developed much and is primarily focused on primitive agricultural cultivation," said Qu Yan, the Minister of Land and Resources, who had a good understanding of the development situation across the country.

There really wasn't much to see in Xinfeng. If it weren't for the railway passing through and setting up a station, the county town wouldn't have many people.

"Have the others stay behind. A few of you, come with me to Nanxiong."

Wu Changqing simply made the arrangements without explaining to anyone.

As the Emperor, he naturally didn't need to explain his actions to others, and even needed to maintain a bit of mystery.

The places Wu Changqing had inspected before were all notified in advance, and the local officials would definitely make preparations, only showing the good side and hiding all the bad things.

Wu Changqing could only see the good aspects of development, but not the problems that existed. Therefore, inspections were actually just for show.

If he wanted to see more of the truth, he could only launch a surprise attack.

Moreover, the places he attacked couldn't be places like Heyuan and Xinfeng, which he was bound to pass through. Although these places hadn't been told to expect an inspection, the local officials would definitely make some preparations in advance, just in case.

So, Wu Changqing simply went big and directly chose Nanxiong, which bordered Xinfeng.

He believed that no one would guess that he would suddenly go to inspect Nanxiong, so he would naturally be able to see the most authentic side.

Moreover, he had another important reason for going to Nanxiong.

Because he was from Nanxiong in his previous life before he transmigrated.

This time, it wasn't exactly about seeing his hometown, after all, this was a past timeline, or a parallel time, or something else he wasn't sure of.

It just so happened that Xinfeng was close to Nanxiong, and he wanted to conduct a surprise visit, so he decided to go, that's all.

"As you command."

The people below could only hurry to make preparations.

Why the Emperor suddenly wanted to go to Nanxiong, Wu Changqing didn't say, and others didn't dare to ask.

However, they all guessed that Wu Changqing wanted to conduct a surprise inspection, they just couldn't guess why it was Nanxiong.

The main group stayed in Xinfeng, including the foreign ambassadors and the two imperial consorts.

Surprise inspections were likely to reveal some unsavory phenomena, so naturally, the foreign ambassadors couldn't be allowed to see them.

As the saying goes, one should not wash dirty linen in public. One's own problems, one knew about them, and quietly corrected them, there was no need to make the whole world know and damage the image of Great Hua.

Many things have a 'magnification effect' in publicity.

For example, now foreign countries only pay attention to the cities of Nanjing and Shanghai in Great Hua, and they think that all places in Great Hua are like this, and they are extremely envious.

But if others publicize the situation in the rural and mountainous areas of Great Hua and ignore Nanjing and other places, foreigners will think that Great Hua is nothing more than that.

Not to mention the current era of difficult information transmission, even in the later generations with developed networks, this effect still exists.

As for now, it is even more obvious.

In addition to those ambassadors, Wu Changqing's concubines and some old ministers were also left behind, lest they suffer.

Although there was also an official road from Xinfeng to Nanxiong, this kind of official road was small and bumpy.

People in poor health couldn't really handle it.

There were no dangerous places on this section of the road, mainly because the economic value was not great, and there was not much trade between the two places, so the officials of the two places were too lazy to spend money to repair the road.

Fortunately, Wu Changqing was not a delicate person, and he was young and strong, a little bump could not stop his actions.

The reactions of the people were different when the Emperor was going to Nanxiong.

The most nervous of them was Lai Youlin, the magistrate of Nanxiong County.

He originally thought that he would just come to Xinfeng to check in and that would be it. How could he have imagined that the Emperor would not inspect hundreds of counties along the way, but would insist on inspecting his Nanxiong County? He was really unlucky.

Was there anything special about Nanxiong County?

Lai Youlin couldn't think of anything.

But none of this mattered, what mattered was that the Emperor was going to inspect, and he hadn't prepared in advance.

If it were an honest official with a clear conscience, not preparing wouldn't be a big deal, just let the Emperor see it.

But the problem was, he, Lai Youlin, was not an honest official.

Lai Youlin really wanted to advise, Nanxiong is a poor and remote place, there is really nothing to see.

However, he didn't dare to say that.

Whether it was the Emperor or the ministers, in his opinion, they were all shrewd people, smarter than him.

If he advised like this, it would almost be the same as telling them that there was a problem in Nanxiong.

Not only could he not advise, but he also had to show a grateful look.

The motorcycle unit of the Imperial Guards led the way, and Wu Changqing and some important ministers followed in cars.

Lai Youlin, who was originally not qualified to be received by Wu Changqing, was now sitting next to Wu Changqing, introducing the situation of Nanxiong to Wu Changqing.

"Nanxiong is inconvenient to access, has little arable land, and little water. The people live very hard..."

Lai Youlin began to complain, but Wu Changqing was unmoved.

He probably knew more about the geographical conditions of Nanxiong than Lai Youlin.

Tongxian Township, which is later generations' Wujing.

Wu Changqing stopped in this place, entered the village, and saw the most authentic ancient countryside.

Many men's clothes were drying on bamboo poles at the entrance of the village. As for women's clothes, they were generally dried on the back of the house, out of sight.

This custom had not changed until the twentieth century.

A big yellow dog was wandering around at the entrance of the village, but when it saw Wu Changqing and his party, it didn't even dare to bark, as if it was suppressed by the aura of Wu Changqing and others.

The villagers in the village were also nervously looking at them. An old man mustered up his courage and came over, asking in the local dialect.

This is a very niche dialect, a bit like Hakka, but very different from Hakka. Non-locals generally don't understand what they are saying.

Lai Youlin had also been the magistrate here for two years before he could barely communicate. The others who came with him were dumbfounded when they heard it.

"This is His Majesty of Great Hua, you must kneel down quickly."

Lai Youlin shouted at the villagers, and the villagers immediately knelt down.

Among these people, some didn't even know what the concept of the Emperor was, and not many people even knew Lai Youlin. They just saw Wu Changqing and his party were majestic and awe-inspiring, and they were instinctively afraid.

Then, Lai Youlin explained and translated to Wu Changqing.

"Let them get up, I'm just here to take a look and understand their lives."

Wu Changqing looked at the sallow and thin villagers, and he already had some dissatisfaction and confusion in his heart.

Chapter 933: Utterly Heinous

Nanxiong, though poor, shouldn’t be at the point where people can’t get enough to eat, right?

The land has already been distributed, and hybrid rice seeds have also been allocated. As long as a family isn’t lazy and gluttonous, they shouldn’t be starving.

Yet, these villagers before him were sallow and emaciated, their steps faltering, clearly the result of prolonged hunger.

“Old man, do you usually get enough to eat?”

Wu Changqing asked.

Lai Youlin immediately translated, but Wu Changqing was surprised to find that Lai Youlin translated it as, “Old man, are you eating as well now as you used to?”

Although the local dialect of Tongxian Town at this time was slightly different from that of later generations, it was generally the same, and Wu Changqing could understand it.

Interesting. Why would this guy change my words?

Wu Changqing sneered inwardly. He didn’t think Lai Youlin was making a mistake. After all, there’s a big difference between “do you usually get enough to eat” and “are you eating as well now as you used to.”

No matter how much of a mistake it was, it couldn’t be skewed to this extent.

The old man nodded.

“If you’re getting enough to eat, why are you so thin?”

Wu Changqing continued to ask.

Lai Youlin then translated to the old man, and after the old man spoke, he translated back to Wu Changqing.

However, his translation was completely different from the original words.

Lai Youlin said, “This old man says he’s not in good health and has always been like this…”

Before he could finish speaking, Wu Changqing slapped him across the face, knocking Lai Youlin to the ground, where he hit his head on a stone, looking utterly disheveled.

Wu Changqing had fought in battles on horseback before. No civil official could beat him in terms of strength.

The sudden turn of events surprised everyone.

However, for the Emperor to slap someone for no reason was a minor matter.

“You dog, you think I don’t understand this Shaozhou dialect? You dare to deceive me in front of my face! Speak, what shameful things are you hiding from me?”

One slap wasn’t enough to vent his anger, so Wu Changqing kicked him twice more.

If Lai Youlin was merely mediocre and incompetent, failing to govern Nanxiong well, Wu Changqing would at most be disappointed in him, but not angry enough to act.

But to deceive him to his face was intolerable.

Moreover, to risk such a great crime to deceive the Emperor, there must be a reason.

What?

Hearing that Lai Youlin dared to deceive the Emperor, and right in front of his face, the accompanying officials were enraged.

In their anger, they overlooked why Wu Changqing understood the Shaozhou dialect.

However, even if they noticed, they wouldn’t think much of it.

After all, the wise, martial, and incomparably intelligent Holy Emperor, who knew astronomy above and geography below, being able to understand a little dialect was nothing much. Compared to the miracles Wu Changqing had created before, it was simply child’s play, not worth mentioning.

At this moment, Lai Youlin felt dumbfounded, filled with grievance.

He couldn’t understand how Wu Changqing, a native of Zhejiang, could understand this Shaozhou dialect. It was simply outrageous.

Not to mention someone from Zhejiang, even city dwellers in Nanxiong County couldn’t understand this rural dialect very well.

The reason was no longer important; the consequences were.

The crime of deceiving the Emperor left Lai Youlin wanting to cry but having no tears.

He certainly understood the consequences of such a crime, especially since it was in front of the Emperor.

“Your subject deserves to die ten thousand times, your subject…”

Lai Youlin really wanted to find a reason or excuse, but he couldn’t find a suitable one.

To make up a reason at random would be to insult the Emperor’s intelligence, which would be adding crime upon crime.

Helpless, Lai Youlin could only beg for mercy.

Although the ground was mostly yellow mud, there were also some gravel stones on it. Lai Youlin didn’t care and kowtowed repeatedly, begging for forgiveness.

After only a few kowtows, his forehead was already bleeding profusely. Those with soft hearts couldn’t bear to watch; it was a miserable sight.

However, none of the accompanying officials and soldiers sympathized with him.

The crime of deceiving the Emperor deserved death. What was this little bit of suffering? There were even more terrible things waiting for him in the Intelligence Bureau’s prison.

“First, confess your crimes.”

Wu Changqing said coldly.

Now, Lai Youlin dared not hide anything any longer; he couldn’t hide it anyway.

As long as they asked those villagers, his deeds would come to light.

Speaking of which, the crimes Lai Youlin committed weren’t particularly serious; it was just corruption.

However, his methods of corruption were particularly heinous.

Corruption came in several forms. For example, merchants bribing officials to obtain a quota. Although this was also illegal, the impact wasn’t too great. After all, the quota had to be given to someone; it was just a matter of who.

Another type was merchants bribing officials to illegally profit, cutting corners, and so on. These would cause some harm, and the situation was more serious.

And then there was Lai Youlin’s type, profiting by extorting the common people, which had an extremely bad impact.

Lai Youlin embezzled in several areas, one of which was embezzling subsidies.

The imperial court had a policy to encourage childbirth. Children born after the second year of Yongxing would receive a grain subsidy from the court until they were ten years old, a considerable amount.

There was no other way; Wu Changqing was just that greedy for population.

And Lai Youlin embezzled this money, while forcing the people in his jurisdiction to give birth like crazy.

The consequence was that many children were born, but they received very little subsidy, so families had a harder time getting enough to eat.

Some of the more miserable families even starved their children to death, while others gave their children away to wealthy people. Those who couldn’t find a way to give them away simply abandoned them.

Those who weren’t abandoned were also malnourished. In short, they lived miserably.

Therefore, Lai Youlin’s actions were very serious, creating a lot of evil karma.

In a fit of anger, Wu Changqing stayed in Nanxiong for several days, waiting for the statistical results.

At least one hundred infants had died because Lai Youlin embezzled subsidies, and this was just the data from his two years in office.

The number of children who were sent away and sold because of him was over a thousand.

The number of those who were malnourished as a result was even greater.

When the data was compiled, everyone knew that Lai Youlin was doomed.

Not only Lai Youlin, but also the several officials who participated in this matter would not escape.

After all, this was more than one hundred lives, and they were infants, which was too serious morally.

Without severe punishment, it would be difficult to appease the public’s anger.

“I only made a surprise inspection of one place and discovered such a serious matter. Who can tell me how many such places there are in the world? How many shameful things do I not know?”

Wu Changqing roared, and the ministers who had followed him didn’t dare to breathe loudly.

This question was really impossible to answer.

Were there other places?

Definitely.

They didn’t even need to investigate; these officials were certain.

Of course, there probably weren’t many such places. People as depraved as Lai Youlin were, after all, a minority.

However, since Wu Changqing was currently in a rage, these people didn’t dare to explain and could only wait for Wu Changqing’s anger to subside.

Chapter 934: The Western Expeditionary Force

After arranging the affairs in Nanxiong, Wu Changqing returned to Xinfeng and continued his inspection tour.

In Nanxiong, he only vented his anger and expressed his attitude towards corrupt officials.

Perhaps in the next few months, corrupt officials across the country would be frightened into restraint because of this.

However, it wouldn’t be long before they reverted to their old ways.

Scaring them alone isn’t enough to deter those corrupt officials.

But other than that, he didn’t have any better solutions. Such a vast country always needed someone to govern it.

Designing one or two more supervisory systems wasn’t very feasible either.

Governing a country required calculating costs. If supervisory agencies were dispatched to every remote town, the financial and human resources spent each year would be enormous.

More officials meant greater financial pressure, which would lead to lower salaries for officials, and even more corruption.

To solve this problem, it was still necessary to rely on technological development.

Once places like Nanxiong had widespread access to telephones and telegraphs, it would be much easier to monitor and report wrongdoing. Then, those remote areas would be less likely to act recklessly.

At least, they wouldn’t dare to be so blatant or excessive.

In fact, all problems ultimately boiled down to not having enough wealth.

Therefore, the best way to solve the problems was still development.

As long as common prosperity was achieved, even if there were still corrupt officials, at least the impact on poor people wouldn’t be so great, and tragedies like the abandonment of infants wouldn’t occur.

Just like in later generations, although there were still corrupt officials, because the total amount of wealth was enormous, the lives of ordinary people were ultimately much better than those of the ancients.

After thinking it over, the only solution Wu Changqing could come up with was to accelerate the pace of development.

And this was what he had been doing all along.

Wu Changqing briefly stayed in Ganzhou, Ji’an, and Xinyu, but the development in these places wasn’t very good.

It wasn’t until Nanchang that he was slightly satisfied.

As the capital of Jiangxi Province and one of the first cities to receive support, Nanchang hadn’t fallen behind.

Relying on abundant and cheap human resources, Nanchang had done a good job in attracting investment.

Many capitalists were attracted by the low wages and easily satisfied nature of the workers here, and came here to set up factories.

Some more greedy people even signed contracts with those workers for five to ten years, or even longer, and exploited them vigorously.

Even so, there were still people rushing to sign.

Whether it was a slave contract or a high-paying job, it depended on the situation.

Putting this contract in later generations, it would be a proper slave contract. But in the present, it was still acceptable.

Wu Changqing didn’t stop it after he found out. If he stipulated a minimum wage or worker protection, these capitalists might withdraw, which wouldn’t be a good thing for Nanchang’s development.

In short, it had to be done slowly, and increasing productivity was the key.

At the same time, the second armored division of Great Hua was completed, and Hao Baiwen’s expeditionary force was also completed.

This expeditionary force had more than thirty thousand people, including five thousand cavalry, eight thousand in the armored division, ten thousand infantry, and about seven thousand artillery, logistics engineers, and so on.

The core strength was naturally the Second Armored Division.

Unlike the First Armored Division, the Second Armored Division reduced the proportion of armored vehicles and increased the number of transport vehicles.

Because they didn’t need too many armored vehicles, their firepower was enough to deal with any threat.

And the journey to Europe was long, requiring a lot of supplies, especially gasoline and bullets. This couldn’t be plundered locally and had to be transported from within the country.

Therefore, their mission this time was not simply to fight, but also to build roads, to build a highway from Great Hua to Moscow.

The expeditionary force paved the way forward, and the people from the Ministry of Transport escorted the prisoners to build the road behind them. It wasn’t too difficult to build a road that was convenient for cars to pass.

If they were to build a railway, the project would be much larger.

This plan was rejected by Wu Changqing as soon as it was proposed.

He knew how difficult it was to build this railway, and he also knew how many people died building this railway.

Although the completion of this railway would have a decisive impact on the development of Siberia, he still felt that it was not worth building it now.

The Western Expeditionary Force marched westward, and in Irkutsk, they encountered the Tsarist Russian Eastern Expeditionary Force.

Irkutsk, the people of Great Hua called it Beihai City, because Irkutsk was next to Lake Baikal.

Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake in Eurasia and the deepest freshwater lake. The deepest part can reach more than one thousand six hundred meters, which is deeper than many seas, so calling it the North Sea is no problem.

“Sukov, is this the Huaxia army? It’s a little different from what you said?”

Kolovsky, the commander of the Tsarist Russian Expeditionary Force, asked a person next to him. This person was a soldier from the first expeditionary force who had escaped the Huaxia army’s pursuit and fled back to Moscow.

For this expeditionary force, Kolovsky specifically brought Sukov, after all, he had experience, understood the Far East, and also understood the Huaxia army.

Of course, that’s what Sukov said. Now Kolovsky was a little skeptical.

Because Sukov hadn’t mentioned what those rectangular iron lumps were, nor had he mentioned those three-wheeled things.

“Commander, the troops that fought us last time didn’t have this kind of thing, I swear.”

Sukov quickly swore, trying to prove that it had nothing to do with him.

“Then do you know what that thing is?”

Kolovsky asked.

The sentry just told him that there were some iron cars in the Huaxia army that could move on their own, and they were very fast, which surprised him a little.

People who fight wars dislike the unknown the most, because it represents accidents.

Sukov shook his head, which made Kolovsky very helpless.

“Commander, who cares what it is, just kill them directly.”

A subordinate said.

Even though the previous expeditionary force had been defeated by Great Hua, there were still some people among these people who didn’t take Great Hua seriously.

“I think it’s better to be cautious. The Huaxia army is very strong, especially their guns are very advanced, and they shoot fast and far.”

After all, Sukov had fought against Great Hua and didn’t dare to underestimate Great Hua’s strength.

Just as they were discussing, another sentry came in to report that the Huaxia army had begun to move closer to them, as if they were preparing to launch an attack.

While they discovered the Huaxia army, the Huaxia army also discovered them.

Enemies meeting were especially jealous, and there was no need to say more, just fight.

“It seems that we don’t need to struggle, let’s meet the enemy.”

Kolovsky said.

“These Huaxia people are quite confident, they need to be taught a lesson.”

“These Huaxia people are outstanding in the East, maybe they are used to being arrogant.”

…

The Huaxia army was invincible in the East, and the Tsarist Russian army was also invincible in the Siberia area. Therefore, their mentality was actually similar, and they both looked down on each other.

Chapter 935: Artillery Advantage

The Tsarist Russian troops shouted “Hurrah!” as they left the town, but they weren’t foolish enough to charge directly at the Huaxia army.

They formed their ranks, intending to wait for the enemy to come to them.

However, the Huaxia army had always been accustomed to using the performance advantages of their weapons to bully others, and they certainly wouldn’t launch a brainless attack. They had many ways to make the enemy collapse.

The Huaxia army stopped halfway, and then the field guns, relying on their range advantage, opened fire.

The Huaxia army’s tactical manuals clearly stated the basic tactics for field battles: first, use the range advantage of artillery to strike the enemy, forcing them to launch an attack on our side, and then take advantage of the heavy machine guns in defense.

If the enemy chose to retreat, then pursue quickly, forcing the enemy to panic and collapse during the retreat.

A range advantage, if used well, could give the opponent a real headache.

“Fire!”

With an order, the Huaxia army’s cannons roared, and the shells quickly landed among the Tsarist Russian troops.

At first, the shots weren’t very accurate, but soon the artillery adjusted based on the information fed back from the front, and the accuracy of the subsequent shelling improved significantly.

A large number of shells fell into the Tsarist Russian ranks, causing a great deal of casualties and causing some panic in their army.

These soldiers wandered around like headless flies, not knowing what to do.

They had never encountered this situation before. In the past, when they were shelled, the distance to the enemy must have been very close. But now, the Huaxia army was at least one or two kilometers away from them.

“Disperse, disperse first!”

A few relatively calm officers ordered.

Subsequently, the soldiers quickly dispersed to avoid being killed in large numbers at once.

However, this could only reduce casualties to some extent, and it didn’t change the fact that they couldn’t counterattack.

Moreover, after dispersing, because they didn’t know to lie down or dig trenches to hide, their casualties were actually quite high.

“Commander, we can’t just stand here and be bombed! Let the lads charge!”

His subordinate, Alexei, said.

“We can’t charge, Commander! The enemy’s firepower is too fierce. Last time, we collapsed before we even reached the enemy because of the heavy casualties. We need to find suitable terrain to defend, or send the cavalry to attack the enemy’s artillery positions!”

Sukov objected.

“That’s because you’re all a bunch of cowards! My men would rather die than retreat!”

Alexei started to boost morale with his spirit, believing that as long as they weren’t afraid of death, they could win.

…

The unfavorable situation on the battlefield made Kolovsky a little irritable, and the meaningless arguments of his subordinates only made him angrier.

“Enough! Order a full-scale charge!”

Kolovsky finally chose to take the initiative to attack.

Since they had met head-on, retreating without a fight would hurt morale.

Moreover, he didn’t know how to fight the next time they encountered this situation after retreating this time.

After thinking about it, it seemed that there was only one way to go: a hard charge.

The Tsarist Russians began to charge, but their front ranks were very scattered, while the rear ranks were more concentrated.

This was Sukov’s suggestion: the people in front were just to attract the Huaxia army’s attention, cannon fodder to be sacrificed, while the rear was the main force for the assault.

This suggestion was adopted by Kolovsky.

In his first battle with the Huaxia army, Kolovsky found that his past experience was useless, and he could only listen to the various suggestions of his subordinates. He had a bad feeling.

The Tsarist Russian’s relatively dispersed charging formation did bring a little trouble to the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army wanted to fight all the way to Europe, so they naturally had to save ammunition.

But now that the enemy was so scattered, saving ammunition and eliminating the enemy were in conflict, making it difficult to balance both.

“Fire! Be careful not to waste bullets!”

After the Russian army entered the range, the Huaxia army officer gave the order.

He didn’t say to save bullets, but just told everyone not to waste them. The meaning was still to focus on killing the enemy, and then consider saving ammunition on the premise of killing the enemy.

As a result, the machine guns’ continuous fire became burst fire, and the rifles also mainly used burst fire.

If the officers hadn’t reminded them, these soldiers who had just gotten semi-automatic rifles might have fired continuously at one enemy for the sake of safety.

Marksmen were only a minority. Most soldiers, even if they aimed at the enemy, still needed a certain probability to hit, and they needed to fire a few more shots to be more secure.

If there were no officers to remind them, these soldiers who got good guns would just fire all their bullets in one go to have a good time.

With the officers’ reminders, these people restrained themselves a little.

The sound of gunfire wasn’t as dense as when firing at full power, but it still caused considerable casualties to the Tsarist Russian army.

While the Tsarist Russians were charging, the artillery also moved to the designated positions, and then launched an attack on the Huaxia army’s infantry positions to reduce the pressure on the charging infantry.

Their range couldn’t compare to the Huaxia army’s artillery, but it was still no problem to hit infantry.

However, after they fired less than two rounds of shells, the Huaxia army’s artillery turned its guns, abandoned the bombing of the infantry, and aimed at the Tsarist Russian artillery positions, prioritizing the destruction of their artillery.

The Tsarist Russian artillery immediately suffered a major blow.

However, by attracting the Huaxia army’s artillery fire in this way, the charging soldiers felt much better, and they no longer had to advance under artillery fire.

Using artillery to exchange for the safety of the infantry, whether this was a gain or a loss was difficult to say.

In short, Kolovsky’s face was livid and very ugly.

Obviously, he was very dissatisfied with the current situation.

The power of the Huaxia army’s cannons exceeded his imagination, and had vaguely become the master of the battlefield.

In the past, artillery was only an auxiliary weapon on the battlefield, which could only play a role in consuming the enemy’s numbers and attacking the enemy’s morale. In the end, the victory or defeat still depended on the infantry.

However, the Huaxia army’s artillery refreshed his understanding.

Not only him, but Kolovsky’s subordinates were also frightened by the Huaxia army’s artillery at this time.

“What kind of artillery is this? Why does it shoot so far?”

“The rate of fire and power are also extremely outstanding. This kind of artillery is too terrible.”

“We must destroy the enemy’s artillery, otherwise we will lose this battle.”

The generals discussed, all feeling that the Huaxia army’s artillery was too threatening and must be eliminated.

“Let the cavalry attack, at all costs to eliminate the enemy’s artillery.”

Kolovsky also knew that he could no longer let the Huaxia army’s artillery continue to fire like this, so he dispatched his precious cavalry.

Only cavalry could complete this kind of rapid raid mission. Sending infantry would probably be too late.

But the cavalry was his last trump card.

Less than half an hour after the start of the battle, Kolovsky played all his trump cards.

Next, he couldn’t do much else except leave it to fate.

Chapter 936: A Complete Victory

“Sigh, it’s truly lonely at the top. If you were the Russian commanders, how would you fight this battle?”

Hao Baiwen watched the enemy cavalry approach, instantly losing interest in the battle. The outcome was no longer in doubt, as the enemy was following their script perfectly.

From this point on, Hao Baiwen didn’t even need to command personally. His subordinates already knew how to handle the situation.

Hao Baiwen posed the question, and several of his officers frowned in thought.

If they were Russian officers, how would they fight this battle?

“If it were me, I wouldn’t engage you head-on, Commander. I’d have my soldiers constantly sabotage things in front. Destroy roads and bridges, burn down villages along the way, evacuate the population, and implement a scorched earth policy.

Then, I’d send elite troops to circle around and continue to destroy the roads behind us, as well as attack our rear construction teams and supply lines.”

Wang Zhixiang, the commander of the Second Armored Division, said. He was well aware of one of the Huaxia army’s weaknesses: its reliance on road transportation.

While destroying roads wouldn’t kill Huaxia army soldiers, it would make things very difficult for them.

If Kolovsky had really done as Wang Zhixiang suggested, it could have given the Huaxia army a major headache.

Fortunately, Kolovsky didn’t understand the Huaxia army well enough.

“Commander Wang’s method isn’t very effective either. At most, it would only delay our army’s advance; it wouldn’t solve the fundamental problem,”

Another staff officer said.

Wang Zhixiang’s method might seem to add a lot of trouble for the Huaxia army, but that was all it would do.

As long as the Huaxia army advanced steadily, Russia would have no chance.

Once the Huaxia army reached Europe, the heartland of Russia, they would have to defend, and they would still have to fight a decisive battle with Great Hua.

“Being able to delay the marching speed is good enough. If we can delay until winter, maybe we can take advantage of the cold weather,”

Wang Zhixiang said.

After a round of discussion, they still couldn’t come up with a good way to deal with themselves.

Fortunately, it didn’t matter if they couldn’t think of one, because they didn’t have to face that situation.

Only Great Hua’s opponents needed to worry.

Thinking of this, everyone smiled happily.

The Russian cavalry charged towards the Huaxia army’s artillery positions, and were immediately met with resistance from the Huaxia army.

Artillery, a fragile type of unit with almost no defensive capabilities, was always a priority for protection.

The Huaxia army had a dedicated regiment to protect them, and reinforcements were on their way after discovering the enemy’s intentions.

“Fire hard.”

This time, the Huaxia army officer didn’t say anything about conserving ammunition.

The cavalry was too fast, and if they couldn’t quickly inflict significant damage on the enemy, there would be some danger.

At this time, there was no need to save ammunition.

The sound of machine guns rang out, and the Huaxia army opened fire with everything they had.

Then, the Russian cavalry was out of luck.

Similar to the Mongolian army’s cavalry, they charged foolishly, and immediately suffered heavy casualties.

Where the heavy machine guns swept, men and horses fell.

Large numbers of horses were hit and fell, tripping those behind them, creating chaos.

“Kill! Victory is ours if we charge through!”

The Russian cavalry shouted. They had no way out.

And, although they looked miserable, they were still advancing rapidly overall, and there was still a glimmer of hope.

At this moment, the Huaxia army’s rifles and light machine guns also opened fire, creating a wall of fire together with the heavy machine guns, blocking the several hundred meter wide front.

The Huaxia army hadn’t opened fire with everything they had earlier, for fear of scaring the enemy away.

But now that the enemy was close, it was difficult to escape.

Although rifle fire wasn’t as fast as heavy machine gun fire, there were more people using rifles.

Once the rifles opened fire, the firepower immediately increased by one or two times.

More cavalry fell, but they had no way to retreat at this point. They had no choice but to charge.

They didn’t choose to turn and run until they collapsed.

However, even after turning, they were still within the Huaxia army’s range, making them easy targets.

“This battle is even easier than target practice during training. Where else can you find such a dense group of enemies to shoot at during training? You don’t even need to aim,”

One Huaxia army soldier complained.

And this was the true feeling of the other soldiers.

They found that this battle was even easier than training.

How easy it was for them, how miserable it was for the Russians.

Kolovsky and the others dropped the binoculars in their hands, they were frightened by the scene before them.

They never expected that cavalry would be so pathetic in the face of the Huaxia army’s firepower, performing even worse than infantry. At least the infantry wasn’t in chaos.

Of course, it would be soon.

Their artillery had been destroyed, and the Huaxia army’s artillery was aimed at their infantry.

Charging was impossible, and staying in place meant being bombarded by artillery. The Russian soldiers were truly in a dilemma.

When Kolovsky’s order to retreat was issued, they finally turned around and ran, relieved.

But they were too naive.

The best thing about the Huaxia army’s armored division wasn’t its firepower, but its mobility.

The Russian soldiers were running ahead on two legs, while the Huaxia army’s motorized units followed slowly behind.

They could have charged up, but they didn’t. Instead, they gave the Russian soldiers some hope, letting them continue to run until they couldn’t run anymore. Then, the Huaxia army accelerated and caught up, easily capturing them.

Those soldiers whose legs were cramping from exhaustion didn’t want to move at all.

The officers and bodyguards had horses to ride.

But they didn’t seem to be able to escape either. The Huaxia army’s motorcycle units were chasing them.

It was Kolovsky who had a flash of inspiration and ordered them to go into the woods. This time, they got rid of the Huaxia army’s pursuit.

However, whether they could get out of the woods was up to fate.

After this battle, Great Hua occupied Beihai City and annihilated the Russian Second Army.

A total of sixteen thousand people were killed, twenty-one thousand were captured, and this army was completely wiped out. At the same time, a large number of useless weapons were seized.

These flintlock guns were only good for melting down. Even the Mughal Empire didn’t want them, as they were already researching breech-loading rifles.

As for Western Europe, breech-loading rifles had already appeared.

This technology wasn’t actually difficult. With the Huaxia army’s models to disassemble and study, the difficulty was even lower.

However, although they had mastered the technology and principles, and were even able to manufacture them, they posed no threat to Great Hua.

Because they didn’t have the ability to produce on an assembly line. The manufacturing speed was slow, and the cost was extremely high.

The cost of arming a breech-loading rifle unit was very high.

The Huaxia army had already equipped semi-automatic rifles, and their tactical concepts were several levels ahead of Western Europe.

Western Europe had been chasing, but the gap was getting wider and wider.

Chapter 937: Forty-Four Provinces

After defeating the Russian army, the Huaxia army’s westward expedition directly evolved into a road-building project.

Aside from a decent battle with Russia, the rest of the time was spent supervising the prisoners building roads.

And so, they fought their way to Novosibirsk.

Controlling the Novosibirsk area was equivalent to taking Central Siberia into their possession, increasing Great Hua’s territory by more than five million square kilometers.

At the same time, the Australian continent was also judged by the system to be Great Hua’s territory because Great Hua had established strongholds in the habitable coastal areas and declared its occupation of the region.

They even sent advance teams into the interior of the Australian continent.

Perhaps because the Australian continent lacked a civilized government, Wu Changqing’s system had already determined Great Hua’s occupation of the region when it occupied the habitable coastal areas.

At this point, Great Hua’s territory had reached thirty-four million square kilometers, which was larger than the British Empire in its original timeline.

The territory mainly included Siberia, Mongolia, Huaxia, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, the Australian continent, and so on.

Only Europe, West Asia, South Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Antarctica had not been recovered.

The only places that were really worth paying attention to were Europe, West Asia, and South Asia. As for the other places, there were no decent civilizations, so they could be easily recovered.

In October, Wu Changqing inspected Wuhu, preparing to return to Nanjing, and he also noticed the changes in the territory.

Thirty-odd million square kilometers of territory was simply too large, and he needed to sort it out and reset the administrative divisions.

After some research, based on the current situation, Wu Changqing finally finalized the plan.

The thirty-four million square kilometers of territory was divided into forty-four provinces and three directly administered municipalities.

Among them, Nanjing, Shanghai, and Chongqing were the three directly administered municipalities of Great Hua, directly managed by the central government, with the same administrative level as provinces.

The other regions of Huaxia were divided into twenty-three provinces, basically similar to later generations, except that the three northeastern provinces were merged into one province.

Ningxia was incorporated into Inner Mongolia, Hainan was under the jurisdiction of Guangdong, and Taiwan Island was also under the jurisdiction of Fujian.

The five autonomous region jurisdictions remained basically unchanged, except that they were no longer called autonomous regions, but were still provinces.

Outer Mongolia became the twenty-fourth province of Great Hua, abbreviated as Outer Mongolia.

Siberia was divided into two provinces, and Korea was also divided into two provinces, Pyongyang Province and Seoul Province, basically bounded by the thirty-eighth parallel.

Japan was divided into four: Kyushu, Choshu, Kyoto Province, and North Province.

Bengal Province was the thirty-third provincial-level administrative region of Great Hua, including modern-day Bengal, as well as that piece of Indian territory.

The Southeast Asian peninsula was divided into six provinces: Burma, Siam, Laos, Cambodia, Hanoi, and Saigon.

The Java Islands were divided into three provinces: Jakarta, Borneo, and East Java (Papua).

The Philippines was the forty-third province, and the Australian continent was the forty-fourth province of Great Hua.

These would all be incorporated into Great Hua’s geography textbooks, and the junior high school entrance examination, the college entrance examination, and the civil service examination would all conduct varying degrees of assessment to test students’ mastery.

After all, as an elite intellectual of Great Hua, or even a future official, it would be inappropriate not to know how much territory Great Hua had.

These were still the most basic things. In the future, the mineral resources, topography, climate environment, human history, institutional changes, and economic development of these places would all have to be memorized and tested.

Among the forty-seven provincial-level administrative regions, the top three in area were Australia Province (approximately seven million square kilometers), Novosibirsk (approximately five and a half million square kilometers), and Eastern Siberia (approximately four million square kilometers).

Wu Changqing divided these administrative regions mainly based on population and economy, while the size of the area was a secondary factor.

The top three in population were Jiangsu Province (approximately fifteen million), accounting for about seven percent of the country, Guangdong Province (approximately twelve million), and Kyoto Province (approximately eleven million).

The top three in total economic output were Guangdong, Nanjing, and Shanghai.

…

At the end of October, Wu Changqing returned to Nanjing, and the people of Nanjing held a grand welcoming ceremony at the train station.

During Wu Changqing’s inspection tour, the newspapers basically gave full positive coverage, allowing the people of Great Hua to have a clearer understanding of the country of Great Hua.

At the same time, they also learned about the development of various parts of Great Hua.

They naturally admired Wu Changqing’s spirit of taking the lead and doing things himself.

During this period, news of territories being recovered kept coming, and the sense of pride of the people of Great Hua arose spontaneously, and they became even more supportive of Wu Changqing.

Thirty-four million square kilometers of land was an area that the Central Plains dynasty had never had before. It was more than three times the size of the Ming Dynasty at its peak, and six or seven times the size of the Ming Dynasty when it was weak.

Such great achievements could not be praised enough.

After returning to Nanjing, the trip to Shanghai was put on hold.

It was actually quite tiring to be on the road all the time.

Those older ministers were already exhausted, and some even became ill as a result.

At night, Wu Changqing flipped Saliya’s plaque.

Saliya was the daughter of the former King Narai of Siam and had been sent to Nanjing for more than two months. During this time, she had been studying court etiquette. As for Chinese, she had started learning it several years ago, so communication was no problem.

Narai had not thought that such a day would come a few years ago, but he still had Saliya and others learn Chinese in order to be prepared.

Narai was not the only one doing this. Many countries in Western Europe were also cultivating such women. The purpose was self-evident.

“Your Majesty.”

Saliya’s voice had a bit of femininity, of course, not to say that her personality was sinister. It was because the tone of Siamese was like that, sounding very feminine.

Even the most fierce man could give people a sissy feeling when speaking Siamese.

Saliya had not been learning Chinese for long, and her Chinese had a strong Siamese flavor.

Not only her, but Aiko’s Chinese also had a Japan flavor.

Wu Changqing raised her chin and looked her up and down carefully. She was indeed a beauty.

At this time, there was no need to worry about there being ladyboys in Siam, or that what she took out was bigger than his.

“How old are you this year?”

Wu Changqing asked, her appearance looked very young.

“Sixteen.”

Saliya’s voice was a little frightened.

The man in front of her was the most powerful person in the world, the person who directly made her father choose to submit.

If she didn’t serve this man comfortably, there would be disaster for the entire Siam.

Wu Changqing felt her fear. Many women had this situation when they first served him, so he didn’t take it to heart.

That was the good thing about being an emperor, he hardly had to care about the mood of his women, and he didn’t have to think about how to coax them. Anyway, they would adjust themselves.

Chapter 938: Time Flies

Time flies like an arrow. In the blink of an eye, it was Yongxing year eight, then Yongxing year nine, and then, Yongxing year ten.

In these two-plus years, Great Hua temporarily slowed down its actions to recover territory.

The current land area was already large enough, and it needed time to digest it.

A large amount of unclaimed land was waiting for them to occupy, a large number of minerals were waiting for them to mine, and a large number of barbarians were waiting for them to educate and rule.

The entire court, except for the military, did not have a strong desire for territory.

All classes were more concerned with development and improving their living standards.

Previously, only major cities were developing rapidly, but in these three years, all parts of the country were clamoring for development, fairness, and improved living standards.

As some small counties also had railways and highways, these small cities also had the conditions for development.

The back of the hand and the palm are both flesh, Wu Changqing naturally couldn’t ignore the demands of those places.

Therefore, a large amount of funding was invested in those counties, and the proportion of military spending decreased again.

At the same time, Edo, Kagoshima, Calcutta, Saigon, Hanoi and other overseas cities also expressed a strong desire for development.

These three years were also known as the period of great development, and the whole country was working together to build.

And in these three years, the national economy took off again.

The country had seventy-five million kilometers of railway lines, which is about one-fifteenth of the twenty-first century China, and key cities were basically all connected.

Twenty-five million kilometers were under construction, and thirty thousand kilometers of routes had been planned, which were expected to be completed in Yongxing year fifteen.

During the period of great development, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was completed, the Shanghai Pudong Bridge was completed, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was completed…

During the period of great development, Great Hua built the first highway, from Nanjing to Shanghai, with a total length of three hundred kilometers.

And this opened the door to Great Hua’s highways.

With the opening of this highway, the Ministry of Transportation proposed several other route plans, but they were rejected by Wu Changqing.

By Yongxing year ten, Great Hua only had a total of one hundred and fifty thousand motor vehicles. What was the point of having so many highways? To show off?

However, the number of Great Hua cars was increasing rapidly, which was also a fact.

Wu Changqing found that, according to purchasing power, the current Great Hua cars were several times cheaper than those of later generations.

However, Wu Changqing quickly figured it out.

In later generations, China was short of resources, and many resources needed to be imported, so the cost was naturally high.

But now in Great Hua, all resources only had a transportation price.

The high-quality iron ore from Australia was transported to Great Hua, and there was only a little mining cost and transportation cost.

To be precise, it was just a little transportation cost. Those responsible for mining the ore were all Javanese natives or African natives, which cost almost nothing.

The African natives were sold by Western Europeans, and Great Hua did not have any regulations in this regard for the time being. Those merchants in the private sector also engaged in these businesses for profit.

The industries of other countries had not developed, so the various industrial raw materials around the world were so cheap that Great Hua merchants wanted to laugh.

With low manufacturing costs, the selling price was naturally low.

The only problem currently restricting Great Hua’s automobile manufacturing industry was talent.

It was not easy to train workers to manufacture cars, otherwise the output would not be so low.

By Yongxing year ten, cars had become a very common thing in Great Hua, and Nanjing even experienced the first traffic jam in history.

And this scene was also recorded by a camera.

When Great Hua officials heard about the traffic jam in Nanjing, their reaction was not a headache, but a happy smile.

This was a symbol of prosperity. Other countries wanted traffic jams, but did they have them?

In terms of communication, Great Hua’s telephone lines had also been connected to most cities.

However, most of them were used for government, military, and public services.

Private telephones were still relatively rare, and only very wealthy families could afford them.

And these telephones made the world lose distance, and they could communicate instantly even thousands of kilometers apart.

The development of radio also made some progress.

The principle of radio was actually very simple, but the difficulty lay in the manufacture of receiving equipment.

At present, Great Hua’s radio transmitters could not transmit very stable signals. At the same time, the receiving equipment could only receive signals from a short distance, and was greatly interfered by terrain, weather and other factors.

To solve this problem, they could only continue to improve the radio transmitter and receiver.

By Yongxing year ten, Nanjing, the most technologically advanced city, had entered the age of electrification.

Various electrical appliances continued to emerge in these three years, such as electric fans, electric kettles, refrigerators, rice cookers, and even air conditioners.

Its level of development was roughly at the level of the early twentieth century, and in one or two fields, it was even more than that.

Shanghai and Guangzhou were about the same, both close to the level of the early twentieth century.

Taking electric trams, watching movies, and listening to records had become the daily life of the people in the capital.

What some old people liked to do most was to bring a crystal radio to the park, listening to the radio while watching old ladies dance.

Walking birds?

That kind of entertainment was too old-fashioned. For the current people in the capital, pursuing fashion had become a trend and formed a culture.

No matter how much they liked playing with birds, carrying a birdcage on the street would easily be laughed at and despised by others.

Wuhan, Xuzhou, Suzhou and other places developed slightly worse, probably in the late nineteenth century.

Of course, some super-rich families in the city also used the most advanced things.

However, on the whole, it belonged to the late nineteenth century.

At least, these places did not have dedicated cinemas, which were still too extravagant for the time being. If they were built, there would not be enough audiences, and they would definitely lose money.

There were also fewer electrical appliances, mainly because they were expensive.

In terms of performance, the current electrical appliances were actually not very good.

People in Nanjing liked to use them mainly to show off, to prove that they could keep up with the trend, and it was a symbol of status.

Moreover, people in other places were not as rich as those in the capital, so they were naturally unwilling to spend this money.

Cities of the next level, such as Xuancheng, Chuzhou, and Huainan, did not even have electric trams.

The reason was the same as why Suzhou did not have cinemas. The economy of these places was not enough to support the operation of electric trams.

Even if they were built, there would not be enough passengers.

For those poor people, why take a car when they could solve it with their legs? It was a waste.

The development differences in different parts of Great Hua were very large, basically depending on the local wealth.

In some parts of Mongolia, apart from a few large-scale farms, there was not much difference from a few years ago, ten years ago, or even decades ago.

Of course, on the whole, the development of Great Hua had been very, very rapid.

So much so that Wu Changqing was a little surprised.

Chapter 939: Western European Photographs

In the tenth year of Yongxing, August, a set of photographs taken in Great Hua circulated to Europe.

At the same time, a set of photographs depicting the current state of various Western European countries also flowed into Great Hua.

The difference was that the Great Hua photographs were for the Western European nobility to see; ordinary people had no right or means to see them. The Western European photographs, on the other hand, were for the ordinary people of Great Hua, to let them understand the miserable conditions of other countries.

The Western European photographs were published in the Great Hua Daily, causing quite a stir.

“This is the capital of England? How is it similar to the Hongkou District?”

In a teahouse in Shanghai, a well-dressed young man complained to his friend.

In Shanghai, the Huangpu District was the first to develop. Later, as the population of Shanghai continued to increase, the price of land in Huangpu District continued to rise, and it had to extend to the surrounding areas.

Today, Shanghai already has ten districts.

The further away from the city center, Huangpu District, the more backward the development.

Hongkou District is such a relatively backward place, filled with all kinds of dirt and chaos.

Various lower-class poor people, migrant workers, and foreign vagrants gather in this area.

As a result, Hongkou District has become a place that Shanghai people dislike, discriminate against, and make fun of.

“You’re overthinking it. Hongkou District at least has electricity. Do these English people even know what electricity is?”

His friend was even more dismissive of England, feeling that London couldn’t even compare to Hongkou District.

No matter how bad Hongkou District is, it has electricity and trams.

Nowadays, the buses in Shanghai and Nanjing have officially abandoned horses and use electricity to provide power.

Compared to using horses, using electricity is actually more expensive.

However, for the sake of the city’s cleanliness, the government is determined to eliminate horses.

In some places where it is inconvenient to lay tracks, extra-large trucks are also used to replace public transportation.

“Look at this photo, tsk tsk tsk, these Western Europeans don’t even have a decent piece of clothing.”

That was a photograph taken on the streets of London. In the photo, English nobles in flamboyant attire rode in carriages in the middle of the road, while the people on the side of the road were dressed in rags.

The women were slightly better off. Although their clothes were old and worn, they could at least cover most of their bodies.

And some of the men’s tops looked like they were hanging a piece of rag, giving the impression that they were perfunctorily trying to prove that they were wearing clothes.

But in reality, this kind of clothing is really dispensable.

And some children were bare-chested, with only shorts on their lower bodies, and even one or more holes in their buttocks.

This situation is simply inferior to the rural areas of Great Hua, let alone Hongkou District.

At present, although the material life of farmers in Great Hua is still monotonous, clothing, food, housing, and transportation are guaranteed.

Great Hua really does not lack basic necessities such as clothes and quilts.

“This is a vegetable market in Paris? My goodness, why doesn’t the government ban this kind of place?”

In a photo of a Parisian vegetable market, several women were selling fish, and various fish entrails were thrown on the side of the road.

A little kid was pinching his nose and pooping on the side of the road, not knowing whether he disliked his own poop being too smelly or the fish entrails being too smelly.

If you look closely, you can also see that the entrails are covered with flies.

If this kind of place were put in Great Hua, the government would have fined them until they cried.

Great Hua also has vegetable markets, of course, but things that are prone to odor need to be strictly and specially handled, and then quickly transported away, so that no stench appears in the city.

“This is the Westerners’ meal, just a loaf of bread.”

In the photo, an ordinary family is eating. Their food is bread, nothing else.

For those foodies in Great Hua who are accustomed to rich and varied meals, this kind of life is simply unbearable. There are no vegetables at all, too outrageous.

“Look at these few, good heavens, these English merchants are really inhuman.”

“I thought our boss was beastly enough, but compared to the capitalists in England, he is actually much kinder.”

A series of photographs of English workers aroused the anger of many Great Hua people.

In the photographs, there were workers working numbly on the assembly line, disabled workers lying on the road begging, child laborers being whipped, and workers’ bodies being abandoned in mass graves.

In short, they were all unbearable scenes.

The Great Hua people have no good feelings towards the English, but seeing this situation, they couldn’t help but feel a little pity.

Following these photographs was a photograph of an English noblewoman holding a salon.

“Good heavens, if it weren’t for the fact that these people look like Western Europeans at a glance, I would have thought this was a photo of a middle-class family in Great Hua.”

A newspaper reader laughed.

In this photograph, the decorations in the noblewoman’s home are mostly products from Great Hua. Even the decorative style is imitating Great Hua.

If you remove the people in the photo, it really looks like a family in Great Hua.

“The English have also created trains? It seems that we can’t underestimate this country. They are also developing rapidly and must be vigilant.”

“You are worrying unnecessarily. Didn’t you see the introduction above? The speed of this English train is less than ten kilometers per hour, and it has failed three times during the trial run.”

A photograph shows the trial run of a train in England.

Some people with a greater sense of urgency have already developed a trace of vigilance towards England. And some people don’t think so.

Women washing clothes on the Thames, the red-light district on the boulevards of Paris, the barbarians in the bullring in Madrid, the windmills on the Rhine…

One photograph after another gave the Great Hua people a more direct understanding of Western Europe, which is far away.

After seeing these photographs, many people were glad that they lived in Great Hua.

Compared to the cities of Western Europe, Great Hua is really much better.

The main reason why the Great Hua government released these photographs was to show off its achievements.

Through these photographs, the government can let the Great Hua people know how big the gap between other countries in the world and Great Hua is.

And the reason why Great Hua has such a good life is all thanks to their governance.

Of course, the greatest credit goes to the emperor.

However, no one can deny their role.

Through this method, it can also play a role in stabilizing society.

Let those who are dissatisfied with life see the outside world and let them know that it is a blessing to be born in Great Hua.

There is happiness in comparison.

After these photographs were released, some businessmen were also secretly promoting their spread.

They also want to use this method to tell the workers that your current treatment is already very good. Don’t believe it? Look at the workers in England and France.

Some companies are also promoting the spread of these photographs, telling the people that their products are world-renowned brands, and even Western Europeans who are far away are using them.

Chapter 940: Photographs from Great Hua

At the same time, photographs from Great Hua were flooding into Western Europe and West Asia in large quantities.

Words, after all, are not vivid or intuitive enough. Paintings, in the end, lack a sense of reality.

Only photographs can reproduce things one hundred percent.

France, Paris, the town of Versailles.

Louis XIV sat in his carriage, holding a beautifully crafted photo album in his hand.

He had obtained these items at exorbitant prices from smugglers.

The first photo in the album was of the Jinling Hotel in Nanjing.

Its grandeur, magnificence, and exquisite decorations enraged Louis XIV.

He felt that as a head of state, the overlord of Western Europe, the place where he lived was not as luxurious as an ordinary merchant in Great Hua, which was simply outrageous.

“I want to build a palace here, a very, very luxurious palace.”

Louis XIV pointed to a piece of wasteland, which Louis XIII had bought, covering more than one hundred French mu.

In the original timeline, Louis XIV would begin construction of the Palace of Versailles in a few years, eventually taking eighty years to complete, which he himself would not enjoy.

But now, Louis XIV couldn’t wait any longer; the photos from Great Hua had spurred him on.

Moreover, having secretly learned some of Great Hua’s technology, France’s productivity was much stronger than in the original timeline. Therefore, Louis XIV wanted to build something even more magnificent, something that would surpass the Jinling Hotel.

When Louis XIV shared his idea with his other ministers, they were speechless.

They really wanted to ask Louis XIV where the money would come from.

Building a palace that was more luxurious than the Jinling Hotel and dozens of times larger in scale was an unimaginable expense.

But they didn’t dare to ask; Louis XIV was not an easy master to serve.

If they dared to object, they might lose their heads.

After talking about building the Palace of Versailles, Louis XIV was still not satisfied.

He saw the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in Great Hua and immediately had the idea of building a cross-sea bridge to England so that his army could march directly into England.

Fortunately, this idea only existed in his mind for a moment and he didn’t voice it to everyone.

Otherwise, the ministers would have thought he was crazy.

“This is the Confucius Temple pedestrian street in Great Hua, a shopping paradise.”

Spain, the Royal Palace.

Several young women were also admiring the photos from Great Hua. They were indifferent to the tall and magnificent buildings, but they were particularly fond of the exquisitely decorated places.

For example, the Confucius Temple pedestrian street, a street where motor vehicles were prohibited, was full of expensive luxury goods and was a mecca for wealthy women.

Spanish Princess Maria Anna and several maids saw the exquisite shop windows and the exquisite goods, and their eyes lit up.

“I really want to go to Great Hua, but unfortunately, Father doesn’t agree. I really want to run away from home.”

Anna said.

The maids were not surprised to hear the princess say such a thing, because Anna had said it several times before.

“I heard that Olgana of France became a concubine of the Emperor of Great Hua after going to Great Hua and lived in the most prestigious palace in Great Hua. Her father was also named a Marquis by Louis XIV because of this. She’s so lucky.”

One of the maids said.

For the beautiful girls of Western Europe, Olgana was the life they dreamed of.

Forced to marry, going to Great Hua, encountering pirates, being rescued, arriving in paradise, becoming the Emperor’s woman…

These were all real-life fairy tales.

“This is the amusement park in Great Hua. My God, aren’t they afraid of falling?”

One of the maids saw a photo of the amusement park in Great Hua. The photo happened to show several people riding a roller coaster.

Of course, it was a primitive version of the roller coaster, not as exaggerated as the ones in later generations.

But for these country bumpkins in Western Europe, it was still so magical and incredible.

“I’ve decided, I’m going to sneak into Great Hua. You guys have to help me.”

Anna finally made up her mind, and the maids were immediately in a dilemma.

Although they also yearned for Great Hua, they were full of fear about the journey.

They were not as naive as Anna and knew that the cost of living in Great Hua was very high, and it was difficult to move without money.

If they didn’t have money, what could they do even if they went to Great Hua? Go to the brothels in Great Hua to make a living by performing?

“Damn it, damn it, how do they have so many factories?”

England, Member of Parliament Brown was concerned about the industrial areas of Great Hua.

From the photos, the factories in a small Wuhu industrial area were countless, more than all the factories in London.

And as Brown knew, there were several such industrial areas in Wuhu, and Great Hua had a dozen or twenty industrial cities the size of Wuhu.

These all made Brown anxious. Catching up with Great Hua was really an unattainable thing.

“This is the excavator in Great Hua. One scoop can dig up one and a half tonnes of coal in less than a minute. And it takes ten workers half an hour to dig one and a half tonnes of coal.”

Another member of parliament pointed to a photo of an excavator and said.

“This excavator uses an internal combustion engine. Damn it, damn the internal combustion engine technology. Why are the internal combustion engines of Great Hua running all over the streets, and those damn agents still haven’t obtained the secrets of it?”

Brown fell into irritability and anxiety.

He couldn’t help but be anxious. The internal combustion engines of Great Hua had become mass-produced goods, while their steam engine technology had just started.

Although they had built locomotives, locomotives were actually the least technologically advanced.

“I heard that the immigrants of Great Hua in North America have crossed the Rocky Mountains and are expanding eastward. In the Caribbean Sea, their people have also appeared. They have even captured many natives to excavate the Panama Canal. It seems that we and Great Hua will have a war sooner or later, in North America.”

Another member of parliament said.

North America was regarded as England’s exclusive territory. Whether it was France or Spain, they had been defeated if they wanted to get involved in North America.

Moreover, they had declared that the entire North America was the territory of England.

However, the people of Great Hua ignored their declaration and continued to expand in North America. The conflict was irreconcilable.

“Do you have detailed photos of the warships of Great Hua?”

Brown asked.

To go to war with Great Hua, the intelligence of the warships was the most important.

The person who sent the photos shook his head: “There are no details. Our people can’t get on the warships, they can only take some pictures of the exterior from a distance.”

He took out a set of naval photos, which were very blurry.

Just looking at the appearance of these warships was actually useless.

In fact, even if their agents took detailed photos of the warships of Great Hua, it would be useless to them, it would only make them more desperate.

“Damn it, I need to speed up development. At least, I have to seize the European market first. We have a distance advantage.”

Brown said.

It was still quite expensive to transport goods from Great Hua to Western Europe.

And England did have a great cost advantage in this regard. However, in terms of quality, the gap was too big.

Chapter 941: Continued Expansion

After three years of development, Great Hua had nearly digested its existing territories.

The assimilation of the Korean Peninsula was the most thorough. The people there were convinced that the Korean ethnicity had always been a part of Great Hua’s Central Plains. Even if they had separated from the Central Plains for a time, it didn’t change the fact that they were descendants of the Central Plains.

Almost all Koreans emphasized and upheld this fact because they wanted to prove that they were closer to the Han people than the people of Annam and Japan.

Except for a few rural areas, Chinese had become the only language in cities like Pyongyang and Seoul.

The situation was similar in Japan and Annam. The people there had genuinely benefited from the development brought by Great Hua and naturally supported it very much.

Those ruling classes who opposed Great Hua had been purged in the past few years.

The remaining ruling classes who supported Great Hua had also received tangible benefits in recent years. They chose to be completely loyal and stopped thinking about other things.

The promotion of Chinese in these places had been done well. At least, Chinese was used in all official matters.

Among the common people, the smart ones had already mastered it, and the less intelligent ones were working hard to learn it.

Not knowing Chinese had a significant impact on life. You had to hire a translator to do anything with the government.

The assimilation of the people of Siam was slightly worse. They agreed that they were people of Great Hua and recognized that Siam was a part of Great Hua. However, they also felt that they were a relatively special part of Great Hua’s territory, a place that belonged to Great Hua but also to the prince born to Wu Changqing and Saria.

To put it another way, they were like people in a special zone, recognizing that they were people of Great Hua but also recognizing the region of Siam.

These were all minor problems. People from Jiangnan even discriminated against the poor people of Henan because a large number of Henan people came to Nanjing to work, bringing some crime with them.

And people from the Central Plains would also discriminate against remote areas, feeling that the ethnic minorities in remote areas did not understand etiquette.

Such regional discrimination were minor problems. After all, when it came to foreign affairs, they could all ignore regional differences and unite together.

Other regions such as Bengal and Burma were less assimilated than Japan and other places.

However, the common people there also recognized the country of Great Hua.

After all, this country was strong enough to protect their interests.

With the hat of a Great Hua citizen on their heads, no Western Europeans dared to bully them.

Even Java, now all the tribes had been effectively ruled.

The heads of each tribe were appointed by Great Hua, and the locals had no right to choose or decide.

Those appointed tribal leaders naturally obeyed Great Hua in every way.

Moreover, in areas where tribes were densely clustered, there were also resident officials from Great Hua.

At the same time, a large number of scattered tribes were forcibly relocated together, and those lands were distributed to immigrants from Great Hua.

In short, the entire Java Islands were under the control of Great Hua and could provide a lot of revenue for Great Hua.

Even those natives could serve as labor.

In the past three years, Great Hua’s territory had not increased much, but the places that could be mobilized had increased a lot, and its strength had increased greatly, to the point where it could wage war against multiple countries at the same time.

In September, Great Hua began a new round of military operations.

On the fifth, Great Hua occupied the Hawaiian Islands and declared that they belonged to Great Hua.

Previously, the islands were occupied by natives. Great Hua only had a base here, responsible for replenishing fresh water and food for passing ships.

But now, Great Hua had sent troops to defeat the native armed forces on the island and declared its rule over the area.

On the tenth, Great Hua occupied New Zealand and some small islands around the province of Australia.

These were all small actions, not even qualified to appear in the newspaper.

Great Hua’s two largest actions were against the Mughal Empire and the Persian Empire.

Distant friendship and close attack. Great Hua was not very interested in distant friendship, but the strategy of close attack had been implemented all the time.

On the fifteenth, a fleet escorted a large transport fleet to Calcutta.

This was the army formed by Great Hua specifically to deal with the Mughal Empire.

To this end, Calcutta had gathered two hundred and fifty thousand troops, including about one hundred thousand Han soldiers, about forty thousand Japanese soldiers, about forty thousand Annamese soldiers, about thirty thousand Siamese soldiers, about twenty thousand Korean soldiers, and about twenty thousand Javanese soldiers.

Great Hua currently had a lot of troops that could be mobilized, and the people in non-Central Plains areas were very enthusiastic about joining the army.

After all, for these people, the best way to turn over and live a good life was to join the army.

In other fields, it was difficult for them to compete with the Han people.

In the army, it was more equal.

Relatively speaking, it was more equal, but in reality, there was still a big gap, which could be distinguished from the equipment.

The combat effectiveness could be roughly judged from the composition of the soldiers.

The troops composed of Han soldiers had the strongest combat effectiveness. Secondly, Japan and Annam, and the others were even weaker.

The one hundred thousand Han soldiers belonged to three armored divisions and two infantry divisions.

The others were infantry divisions that moved on foot.

It wasn’t that Great Hua didn’t have so many vehicles, it was just too difficult to transport them.

Moreover, the military department of Great Hua felt that it was a bit too much to use three armored divisions to attack the Mughal Empire, and it was completely unnecessary.

After four years of reform, the strength of the Mughal Empire had certainly improved.

However, the gap with Great Hua was even greater because Great Hua was developing faster than the Mughal Empire.

“Good, good, very good, this time the people of Great Hua simply didn’t even bother to find an excuse, it’s really outrageous.”

Hearing that Great Hua had gathered troops in Calcutta, Aurangzeb became angry and threw a small tantrum.

Aurangzeb had also investigated the incident of the Great Hua merchant ship being robbed a few years ago, and it was clearly a play directed by Great Hua.

Although it was quite shameless, at least they made a show of it.

But now, Great Hua didn’t even need an excuse, which was even more excessive.

Faced with such a blatant Great Hua, Aurangzeb had no temper at all.

“Your Majesty, this is the latest telegram from Great Hua.”

Before long, a minister came in with a telegram to report.

Aurangzeb had misunderstood Great Hua. How could Great Hua attack a civilized country for no reason? There must be a reason.

It was just that this time, Great Hua gathered its troops first and then announced the reason, not giving Aurangzeb time to mobilize his army.

“The Mughal Empire sent Gia and others to assassinate the ministers of Great Hua. Did we send female assassins to carry out assassinations? How come I don’t know?”

Aurangzeb looked at the telegram and laughed in anger.

They sent those beauties to Great Hua to earn Hua Yuan. Only someone with a sick mind would carry out assassinations.

Even if they were to assassinate, they would assassinate the emperor of Great Hua. What was the use of assassinating a few ministers other than bringing trouble to themselves?

Chapter 942: Flanking Maneuver

“This is just a pretext that Great Hua has come up with. Your Majesty, what should we do now? Great Hua has already completed the mobilization of its army, and it seems determined to win,” the cabinet minister Singh reminded him.

The current Mughal Empire even imitated Great Hua’s political system, establishing a cabinet.

However, there were some differences in the details.

“What else can we do but fight? Would you have me surrender directly like the coward of Siam?” Aurangzeb let out a cold snort. It was absolutely impossible for him to surrender directly like Narai.

Under his rule, the current Mughal Empire had become increasingly prosperous and powerful.

If there were no external enemy like Great Hua, his rule would surely be recorded in history, leaving behind an evaluation of ‘revival’.

Coupled with the policy of keeping the people ignorant, the people of India were quite satisfied with Aurangzeb’s rule.

Looking at his achievements, Aurangzeb was actually a little proud, feeling that he had done a good job.

He originally wanted to create an illusion to deceive the common people, but as he deceived them, he himself became a little lost.

He still thought that the development of the Mughal Empire was his credit, but he did not know that this was only because of the radiation effect of Great Hua’s development, and had nothing to do with him.

Anyone could have achieved this kind of success by relying on Great Hua.

The ministers like Singh didn’t know what to say, anyway, they didn’t believe they could win.

However, they also knew that this battle had to be fought.

It would be a great joke for the huge Mughal Empire to surrender without a fight.

Many things, even if you know they are impossible, you have to do them.

After determining the main battle, Aurangzeb and those cabinet ministers began to study the specific tactics.

At the same time, the Huaxia army’s staff department was also studying and arranging the attack on the Mughal Empire’s ‘Immortal’ defense line.

The so-called Immortal defense line was the Mughal Empire’s name for it.

They had built a large number of fortifications in the area bordering Bengal.

They used trenches, barbed wire, tunnels, bunkers and other measures.

These were all methods that the Mughals had accumulated and summarized based on intelligence and their own combat experience.

Building such fortifications could effectively reduce casualties.

This defense line was hundreds of kilometers long, with a depth of more than ten kilometers, employing hundreds of thousands of people and costing countless money.

In the official propaganda of the Mughal Empire, this defense line was indestructible.

But in the eyes of the Huaxia army, it was just so-so.

It had some effect, but it was still a hundred and eight thousand li away from being indestructible.

At least, in the eyes of the Huaxia army generals, this defense line was full of loopholes.

“Let the navy help directly, break through from the Ganges River, and go around to attack them from behind. Their defense line is built to only defend against frontal attacks, and has no effect against attacks from behind,” a Huaxia army staff officer said.

The Great Hua’s scouts had long ago used methods such as hot air balloons, infiltration, and bribery to figure out the Mughal’s Immortal defense line.

“We can also concentrate our firepower, break through a point, and then bypass this gap to the enemy’s rear and surround the enemies in the defense line,” another staff officer said.

As long as they concentrated their firepower, the Mughal Empire’s little fortifications were a joke.

The only drawback of this method was that it cost a little money.

The Huaxia army’s idea to break through the Immortal defense line was to get behind it, then encircle it and attack from the rear.

Having determined this idea, the next step was the specific battle plan.

On the twentieth, the Huaxia army launched an attack.

Two infantry divisions, with the help of the Huaxia army, broke through from the Ganges River and then launched an attack from the rear.

Two armored divisions attacked Burdwan on the front, and after breaking through, the armored divisions quickly penetrated and bypassed the enemy’s rear.

The other two divisions went to the southern line to implement a comprehensive encirclement.

Another armored division was on standby at any time, ready to pursue the enemy troops who wanted to escape.

This time, they not only wanted to break through this defense line, but also to annihilate the one hundred thousand Mughal soldiers in the defense line.

Hundreds of thousands of troops acted at the same time, with great momentum.

In particular, the Third Army of the expeditionary force, which mainly attacked Burdwan, had as many as two hundred field guns.

When the war started, the artillery units launched the first attack.

A large number of shells began to pour down on the 201st Highland of Burdwan.

With a loud ‘boom’, a shell landed on the Mughal Empire’s position, directly blasting a section of barbed wire to pieces.

With another loud noise, a shell landed in the position, blasting a large pit.

A shell landed on a bunker, instantly overturning the bunker, and the soldiers inside immediately evaporated from the world.

…

The soldiers of the Mughal Empire hid in tunnels and bunkers, shivering.

The military high-level had been promoting that the Immortal defense line was indestructible and that the Huaxia army could not break through it.

Originally, those soldiers had already believed it, but at the moment when the Great Hua’s shells landed, their confidence was instantly shattered.

The power was too great.

The Great Hua’s field guns had been improved again, with larger caliber, lighter weight and stronger power.

Now Great Hua was equipped with ninety-millimeter, thirty-five-caliber cannon.

The initial velocity of the shells of this type of artillery could reach five hundred meters per second, with a range of about six kilometers.

Not to mention the kind of bunkers built by the Mughal Empire, even the fortifications built by Great Hua with cement could not withstand the bombardment of this kind of shells.

The vibration on the ground was constantly transmitted into the tunnels, and some recruits were so frightened that they wet their pants.

For these recruits, the Great Hua’s artillery was the most terrifying weapon.

“Look at you cowards, you’d probably be scared to death if you encountered the Huaxia army’s machine guns,” an old soldier mocked.

Was artillery terrible? It was.

But no matter how terrible it was, it was not as good as the Huaxia army’s heavy machine guns, which were battlefield harvesters.

“Shut up, Jiao Han, be careful I beat you if you talk nonsense again,” an officer scolded. The recruits were already on the verge of collapse, and it was just adding fuel to the fire to scare them at this time.

“Battalion commander, why doesn’t the Huaxia army’s artillery stop? It’s like they don’t need money for the shells.”

“It seems that the Huaxia army is preparing for a general offensive.”

“General offensive, then where are our reinforcements? When will they arrive?”

…

Out of panic, these soldiers could not calm down.

“Don’t worry, don’t look at how fierce the Huaxia army’s artillery is now, in fact, it can’t kill many people. Our soldiers are hiding in the tunnels, very safe. When they start to charge, our artillery will show its power. Moreover, the King has sent a large army, which will arrive in a few days.”

The battalion commander was still doing all kinds of忽悠, in order to give these ordinary soldiers some confidence and let them forget their fear of the Huaxia army.

Unfortunately, he had just finished speaking when a shell landed directly above them.

The bomb exploded, the tunnel was destroyed, and began to collapse.

Chapter 943: Helpless

The evolution of tactics requires the accumulation of experience.

Clearly, the Mughal Empire’s fortifications were not up to par.

They can’t be blamed, because they lacked experience in this area.

Being able to build something that resembled the real thing was already a decent improvement.

Under the Huaxia army’s artillery barrage, countless Mughal soldiers became victims.

“Out of the trenches to meet the enemy, the Huaxia army is coming.”

Even before the artillery fire stopped, Mughal officers were urging their soldiers to leave the tunnels and take up defensive positions.

Because the Huaxia army was already rushing forward.

With coordinated infantry and artillery, the well-trained Huaxia army could ensure that bombs only exploded in front of them.

The Mughal soldiers emerging from the tunnels were bombed again. When they tried to retreat back into the tunnels, they were stopped by their officers at gunpoint.

“Get to your battle stations! The enemy’s shelling is about to stop. If you don’t get into the fortifications, the enemy will charge into the position!”

The officer shouted.

Many soldiers were aware of this basic knowledge.

However, it wasn’t easy to control fear with reason alone.

In the end, it still relied on the officers’ forceful orders for the soldiers to grit their teeth and rush to their respective areas.

Just as the officer had said, the Huaxia army’s artillery fire gradually ceased.

However, in the short time it took them to emerge from the tunnels, at least several hundred men had been killed or wounded.

Upon entering the defensive fortifications, they saw the Huaxia army up close.

The distance between the two sides was less than one hundred and fifty meters, already within firing range.

“What are those monsters?”

A Mughal soldier shouted, pointing at the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles. It was the first time he had seen one.

Other soldiers also felt a surge of fear upon seeing the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles.

After all, the appearance of those things was too strange, and they could move on their own.

As officers of the Mughal Empire, they knew that these were weapons of the Huaxia army, and had even seen pictures of armored vehicles.

“Those are the enemy’s war chariots! Destroy them quickly!”

The officer shouted.

Upon hearing this, the soldiers immediately aimed and fired. The armored vehicles’ massive size made them easy targets.

However, the soldiers quickly became desperate.

They were hitting the targets, but the problem was that the tracked armored vehicles didn’t react after being hit. They kept moving forward.

“Have they been blessed by divine power?”

A soldier exclaimed in terror.

As a very superstitious country, they attributed anything they couldn’t understand to the realm of the gods.

More than a dozen tracked armored vehicles charged ahead, while the Huaxia army’s infantry followed behind, taking cover behind the vehicles.

This formation clearly gave the Mughal soldiers no chance at all.

Their aim with their guns was already poor, and now that the Huaxia army had armored vehicles for cover, it was even more difficult for them to inflict casualties on the Huaxia army.

“Sir, we can’t hit the enemy!”

Along the entire front line, there were cries of anguish from the Mughal soldiers.

This battle made them feel a deep sense of powerlessness, completely clueless.

At this moment, the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles opened their hatches, and machine gunners emerged from the top of the vehicles, operating the heavy machine guns on the roofs and began strafing.

Cries of agony echoed once again in the Mughal trenches.

The Mughal officers stared intently at this scene, their eyes bloodshot and their expressions filled with pain.

It was a disaster, a complete disaster. They were utterly defenseless.

“Use bombs! Use bombs to blow up their war chariots!”

Some officers were still trying, attempting to use bombs to destroy the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles.

This idea was actually not bad. The Great Hua’s armored vehicles could withstand bullets, but they couldn’t yet withstand the greater power of bombs.

However, the Huaxia army’s infantry were not scarecrows either.

Seeing the Mughal soldiers rushing out of the trenches, carrying a large number of grenades, they could more or less guess what the enemy was planning.

Even if they couldn’t guess, it didn’t matter much. They would ruthlessly aim and shoot at any enemy who showed their head.

“Alas, they are all poor souls.”

In the distance, a Huaxia army officer sighed.

“Hahaha, the cold-blooded and ruthless Zhang, the Devil King, actually has a day of showing compassion, and towards the enemy no less?”

An officer next to him joked.

Another officer chimed in, “It can’t really be said that Regiment Commander Zhang is soft-hearted. The enemy is truly miserable. Their weapons and equipment are outdated, and their tactical thinking is backward. They are helpless against armored vehicles. They finally came up with the idea of using bombs, but the assault troops they sent out don’t know how to conceal themselves, and their comrades don’t provide covering fire…”

They weren’t being pretentious. The Mughal soldiers were simply too pitiful, almost being unilaterally slaughtered.

Their weapons and equipment, tactical skills, and every other aspect were being completely crushed.

This disparity in strength, reflected on the battlefield, was a one-sided massacre.

The Mughal army couldn’t inflict any casualties on the Huaxia army, while they themselves were suffering heavy losses every moment.

The soldiers in one trench were wiped out in a few breaths.

And the Huaxia army’s advance showed no signs of stopping.

Finally, some of the soldiers who witnessed this scene broke down.

This wasn’t a battle; it was clearly a suicide mission.

Who said the impregnable defense line was indestructible? Who said the Huaxia army was weak? Who said the Mughal army had the protection of the gods?

At this moment, many soldiers even underwent a spiritual transformation. They suddenly abandoned their superstitions and no longer believed in those gods.

After all, in such a tragic situation, the gods hadn’t come out to help them.

Some soldiers began to flee to the rear, fleeing like madmen.

Faced with the officers’ attempts to stop them, some resisted, while others allowed the officers to shoot them. In any case, they refused to stop running.

Some of the Mughal soldiers in the rear, who hadn’t yet been battered, couldn’t understand this situation.

However, as the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles appeared before them, and they experienced what the fleeing soldiers had experienced, the survivors among them also joined the ranks of the fleeing army.

In an instant, the Mughal army’s positions were filled with cries of escape.

“The devils are here! The devils are here! Run for your lives!”

The Mughal soldiers didn’t shout that the Huaxia army was coming. That kind of threat might not have been enough, so they directly shouted about devils.

A few, a dozen, or even a few dozen people running away wouldn’t have a big impact on the entire front line.

But if hundreds of people started to rout, the situation would be completely different.

Many soldiers who hadn’t yet been battered saw such a large-scale rout and quickly followed suit.

They didn’t know the situation at the front, but they could guess.

There must have been a major defeat at the front for such a large-scale rout to occur.

It had to be said that these soldiers’ judgment was somewhat accurate.

They had indeed suffered a major defeat at the front.

The Mughal army had no power to resist the Huaxia army’s advance.

Just a dozen or so armored vehicles left the Mughal army helpless.

Chapter 944: Blitzkrieg

To the Mughal officers, the battle with the Huaxia army was expected to be a tough one.

However, they still underestimated the disparity in strength between the two sides.

They didn’t even have the chance for a tough fight; they collapsed as soon as the battle began.

Faced with such a massive rout, the officers were helpless and could only flee or surrender.

This so-called impregnable line was torn open, and the Huaxia army’s armored units immediately plunged through the gap, flanking and encircling.

At the same time, the city of Rajshahi on the Ganges River was under bombardment by the Great Hua Second Army.

This was an important stronghold in the Mughal Empire’s impregnable defense line. To prevent the Great Hua navy from breaking through here, Rajshahi had installed many cannons at the river mouth.

These coastal defense guns were quite effective against the navies of other countries.

However, when dealing with the Huaxia army, these cannons were just for show.

Their range was far shorter than that of the Huaxia warships.

The Huaxia warships simply stopped outside the range of those cannons and then launched a bombardment, raining destruction on the Indian army’s artillery positions.

Then, a scene of despair unfolded once again at the Indian army’s artillery positions.

They tried to fire back a few shots, but they all landed one or two kilometers away from the Huaxia warships, achieving nothing.

Only a few super-large-caliber cannons could barely reach the Huaxia warships.

However, such artillery positions needed sufficient numbers to be effective.

With just these few large cannons, hitting a Huaxia warship was a matter of pure luck.

Perhaps their prayers worked, because the Indian artillery performed beyond their usual level, and one of their shells landed on a Huaxia warship, killing a dozen Huaxia soldiers.

But that was it.

The Huaxia army wasn’t a target; they were ferocious devils.

After a few rounds of shelling, the Indian army’s artillery positions were blown to smithereens.

Not only were a large number of soldiers killed, but many cannons were also destroyed.

In such an asymmetrical battle, the Indian army only held out for a short while before choosing to retreat.

There was no point in staying to die.

The Huaxia army easily eliminated the threat, and the escorted troop transports sailed upstream, quickly reaching Pakur and landing there.

Pakur was located behind the ‘impregnable defense line,’ with few troops stationed there, making it easy to capture.

Then, they cut off the Indian army’s retreat in Pakur and could launch an attack from behind the Indian army.

For the Indian army within the impregnable defense line, the loss of this place was fatal.

The Huaxia army’s actions were too swift, so swift that the Indian army didn’t have time to react or mobilize troops to stop the Huaxia army from landing.

Of course, this only made their defeat slightly less ridiculous.

Even if the Indian generals were brilliant strategists and guessed all of the Huaxia army’s plans, deploying a large force in Pakur in advance, it would only have made it more difficult for the Huaxia army to win.

As for the outcome, that had already been decided the moment the war began.

The Indian army had no way to deal with the Huaxia army’s powerful equipment.

For the Indian army, the best approach would have been to abandon fighting on the plains and retreat to the mountains, to areas where the Great Hua warships and armored vehicles couldn’t go.

That might have caused the Huaxia army more trouble.

As for the outcome, there was still no suspense.

After the Second Army captured Pakur, they left a brigade to garrison it, and then sent a brigade to attack another strategic point, preventing the Indian army in the impregnable defense line from escaping, and also to guard against reinforcements from Delhi.

The remaining troops then launched an attack on the impregnable defense line area.

They wanted to quickly eliminate the Indian army in the impregnable defense line, and then turn around to fight the reinforcements from Delhi.

The battle had been going on for less than a day, and the Mughal Empire’s one hundred thousand strong army had been encircled and divided into two parts, making it one of the most farcical battles in history.

“This blitzkrieg tactic is good.”

Within the Huaxia army, this tactic of using mobile units for rapid突袭, cutting, and then having infantry follow up to divide and encircle was called a blitzkrieg.

This tactic required concentrating forces, attacking a line at a point, and then using armored vehicles to repeatedly冲击, crushing the enemy’s defenses, followed by infantry to mop up the remnants.

“If it weren’t for the need to control all of India, we could have sent an armored unit to突袭 Delhi directly. I think we could take Delhi in three days.”

Chen Biju laughed. Armored divisions were a great weapon in these plains, just like cavalry in the past.

The Huaxia army’s blitzkrieg still had many flaws.

But it didn’t matter. Using tactics against the Mughal Empire was just bullying them.

Even without tactics, they couldn’t win.

And when the Huaxia army used well-prepared tactics, the Mughal Empire’s army collapsed instantly. They had never seen such a novel way of fighting.

The area defended by the one hundred thousand strong army was very large, but it had now been divided into several parts by the Huaxia army, with no way to communicate or coordinate with each other. They were all fighting on their own.

The Huaxia army, on the other hand, had radios distributed to the division level. Each division had two radio telegraph machines, allowing them to communicate with each other in a timely manner and coordinate their actions.

In this situation, even if the Huaxia army had fewer troops, they could still encircle the enemy.

Moreover, the Huaxia army currently had the advantage in troops, weapons, and tactics.

The encircled Indian army was truly miserable.

The senior officers couldn’t receive orders from the decision-makers, didn’t know whether to break out or hold their ground, and didn’t know if there were any reinforcements.

Fortunately, in this awkward situation, the Huaxia army helped them make a choice.

The Huaxia army’s armored units led the way, charging ahead and starting to eliminate the enemies in the encirclement one by one.

Just like the battle when they initially broke through the defense line, the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles left the Indian army at a loss, unable to find a way to deal with them.

Gunfire, swords, bombs, digging trenches.

The Indian army tried every method they could think of.

It couldn’t be said that they had no effect at all, but it couldn’t be said that they had any effect either.

Before they could verify anything, the Huaxia army’s infantry charged up.

After being ravaged by the armored vehicles’ firepower, and then facing the Huaxia army infantry’s charge, these Indian troops quickly collapsed.

Trapped in the encirclement, they had nowhere to escape.

Some simply surrendered directly, others ran around like headless flies for a while before surrendering. And some unlucky ones died in the chaos.

The Huaxia army launched attacks on multiple fronts, eliminating and capturing nearly half of the Indian army in just one day.

At this rate, if they had another day, the one hundred thousand Indian troops in the impregnable defense line would be wiped out.

And at this time, reinforcements from Delhi arrived at the Huaxia army’s outer defense line.

Chapter 945: The Huaxia Army’s Voracious Appetite

The Mughal reinforcements arrived at Durgapur, only to be dumbfounded.

Their plan was to enter the impregnable defense line and use the terrain advantage to wear down the Huaxia army.

Aurangzeb and the others believed that the Huaxia army’s weakness was its supply line.

As long as they could hold the line for ten days or half a month, Great Hua’s ammunition would run out.

Moreover, they were convinced that without artillery support, the Huaxia army, lacking powerful firepower, would be pathetic.

Then, they would launch a full-scale counterattack.

Although the plan wasn’t great, it was still a plan.

But now, they arrived at the front line only to find that the first step of their plan had been thwarted. The impregnable defense line they had relied on so much hadn’t even held for two days.

This…

The highest commander of the reinforcements, Ranchi, wanted to curse. Wasn’t this making things difficult for him?

He now faced a difficult choice: charge forward to rescue the allied forces or lead his troops to escape and retreat to the rear to build a second line of defense.

Rescuing them might mean sacrificing his entire force.

But if he didn’t rescue them, the surrounded allied forces would definitely be annihilated by the Huaxia army.

Reason told Ranchi that he should retreat quickly.

However, abandoning tens of thousands of troops also required a great deal of courage and determination.

It wasn’t something he could just abandon. Afterward, someone would definitely hold him accountable, saying he stood by and watched them die, that he caused the failure of the war, and so on.

With great power comes great responsibility.

“Sir, let’s retreat quickly. Even if we wanted to save them, we wouldn’t be able to break through the Great Hua’s defenses,” Ranchi’s subordinate advised.

Fighting the Huaxia army, even on the defensive, offered no advantage.

If they took the initiative to attack, it would be even worse.

Meanwhile, the Huaxia army was also studying how to deal with the current situation.

Following the plan would naturally be fine.

But Chen Biju had a big appetite, and the Huaxia army had an even bigger one. They not only wanted to swallow the enemies in the encirclement but also wanted to devour the Mughal reinforcements in one gulp.

They needed to divide their forces to encircle, and also divide their main force to attack the Mughal reinforcements.

With the Huaxia army’s current strength, it was difficult to achieve this idea.

“I think the enemy has been scared out of their wits by us, so there’s no need to be too cautious. We can be bolder. Leaving seventy to eighty thousand men to deal with those Indian troops in the encirclement is enough.

We can quickly extract at least one hundred and ten to one hundred and twenty thousand troops to launch an attack on the enemy’s reinforcements. Relying on our marching speed, we can completely leave the enemy behind and surround them again,” said Fu Wenxian, the commander of the Second Army, as he pointed at the sand table with a long stick, indicating which places didn’t need to be garrisoned.

They were currently stretching their lines very long to prevent the Indian troops in the encirclement from escaping, deploying troops at every stronghold and intersection.

This was why they had troops but couldn’t extract them.

Fu Wenxian’s idea was simple: there was no need to encircle them so tightly. With the Indian army’s capabilities, they couldn’t possibly break through. Therefore, they could withdraw the defenses from some strongholds and extract the troops to attack the enemy’s reinforcements.

“I don’t think there’s any need to be so anxious. Let’s first solve all the enemies in the encirclement, lest they break through and scatter to other places. Then, we’ll have to spend time and energy to clear them out.

Being unfamiliar with the area, the clearing task is more difficult than a siege. As for the enemy’s reinforcements, there’s no need to pay attention to such a large main force. They have nowhere to escape and will definitely block the way in front of Delhi.

We don’t even need to look for them deliberately. We’ll encounter them as we advance towards Delhi. Then, we’ll just have another siege,” the chief of staff suggested, disagreeing with Fu Wenxian’s suggestion. He preferred a steady and methodical approach.

His statement, of course, had some merit.

For the Huaxia army, fighting large-scale decisive battles was the easiest thing to do.

If they were divided into small groups to clear out the remaining enemies in the countryside and mountains, it would be very difficult.

Once they failed to clear them out in time and the enemy effectively organized guerrillas, it would be even more troublesome. Unless they were willing to abandon the countryside and only occupy the cities.

Otherwise, they couldn’t allow the existence of guerrillas.

“I think this is absolutely feasible. Don’t even mention whether the enemies in the encirclement can break through now. I don’t think they even have the courage to break through. If we send envoys over, we might even be able to try to persuade them to surrender.

Moreover, a surprise attack on the enemy’s reinforcements now can catch them off guard. If we let them leave now, they can find suitable terrain to build a defensive line,” another division commander chose to agree with Fu Wenxian’s method, in order to reduce casualties.

Although they liked fighting sieges, it didn’t mean they didn’t suffer losses when fighting sieges.

In yesterday’s battle, the Huaxia army had actually killed several hundred people.

These hundreds of casualties would naturally be indifferent to the Mughal Empire. But for the Huaxia army, it was better to die less.

In comparison, the casualties caused by surprise attacks, encirclements, divisions, and defeating the enemy were definitely lower than those caused by sieges.

Both sides’ views had supporters, and the two sides had a not-so-intense debate.

At this time, it depended on the choice of Chen Biju, the commander-in-chief of the front line.

“Divide the troops and launch a surprise attack on the enemy’s reinforcements.”

Chen Biju chose Fu Wenxian’s plan. The reason was simple: surprise attacks were about speed, while sieges were about firepower.

Yesterday’s shelling consumed a large amount of the Huaxia army’s shells. These shells could only be transported from the mainland; Bengal had no ability to produce them.

The transportation of these shells was also very troublesome. If a battle consumed too much ammunition, it would not be able to reflect his command ability.

At that time, when the people of the country talked about this battle, they would all say that the Huaxia army’s firepower defeated the Mughal, instead of saying that Chen Biju defeated the Mughal.

Moreover, consuming less shells could also save the military some money. There were still many benefits.

As for the risk of dividing the troops, Fu Wenxian and others had also analyzed it, and it was really not big.

The current Indian army had been completely frightened, and their intelligence capabilities were poor. They might not be able to quickly receive the news of the Huaxia army’s division, and they would not dare to try to break through.

Chen Biju made a decision, and everyone immediately stopped arguing.

Next, the staff officers had to do was to help Chen Biju improve the plan for dividing the troops and launching a surprise attack.

The army needed discussion, but it also needed a final decision.

Opportunities in war were fleeting, so how could they argue endlessly?

The commander-in-chief made a decision, and the people below only needed to execute it, regardless of whether they agreed with the decision in their hearts.

If it was later proven that the commander-in-chief’s decision was wrong, then the commander-in-chief would bear the responsibility, and it would have nothing to do with the staff officers below.

In the Huaxia army, there was already a complete command mechanism for this kind of thing.

Chapter 946: Last Stand

The next day, the Huaxia army continued to shrink the encirclement on one hand, gradually clearing out the remaining enemies.

On the other hand, they redeployed a large number of troops to intercept the Mughal Empire’s reinforcements.

The two main forces redeployed were armored divisions, tasked with flanking the enemy and cutting off the Indian army’s retreat.

Meanwhile, two infantry divisions were responsible for the main assault, with other units blocking any potential escape routes.

Ranchi quickly learned of the Huaxia army’s movements. After all, he wasn’t completely surrounded yet, and his sentries could still keep watch.

When he realized that the two Huaxia armored divisions were advancing rapidly on both sides, Ranchi knew they were trying to encircle him.

The intention was too obvious. If he couldn’t see that, he wouldn’t deserve to be in his position.

Seeing it was easy, dealing with it was hard.

At that moment, Ranchi’s head throbbed again.

Fighting the Huaxia army meant that their commanders often faced difficult choices.

Yesterday, Ranchi had to make the agonizing decision of whether to rescue his comrades. Today, he faced another: which direction to retreat.

The good news was, he seemingly didn’t have to agonize over the rescue question anymore.

“To the Southwest! The Southwest is mountainous. Once our army enters the mountains, the enemy’s armored vehicles won’t be able to exploit their speed advantage.”

“No, our marching speed will also slow down in the mountains. What if the Huaxia army leaves a force to block us in the mountains, and then the armored divisions head straight for Delhi? We’re the Mughal’s last remaining force. If we go into the mountains, Delhi will be undefended.”

“To the North! There’s still a gap there that the Huaxia army hasn’t reached yet. If we set off now, heading straight for that gap, we can arrive before the Huaxia army and break through.”

“That won’t work either. The north is open country, with no defensible positions. If the Huaxia army catches up, are we supposed to fight them on the plains?”

“Let’s go West. It’s the shortest distance, and we can escape back to Delhi.”

…

Faced with his subordinates’ chaotic arguments, Ranchi grew increasingly agitated.

Suddenly, he roared, “Enough! I’ve decided we’re not retreating. We’re counterattacking!”

Ranchi decided to take a gamble. If they didn’t seize the moment to retreat, their unit would lose the chance entirely, and they’d be forced to fight the Huaxia army to the death.

At that point, it would be a fight to the bitter end.

Moreover, based on their assessment of the relative strengths, the chances of their unit being wiped out were very high.

In other words, Ranchi had made up his mind to lead these men to their deaths.

Ranchi wasn’t being so ruthless because he was crazy or blinded by anger.

On the contrary, Ranchi had never been so clear-headed and rational.

Listening to everyone arguing about how to retreat, Ranchi suddenly realized that retreating was pointless. Even if they managed to retreat successfully, they couldn’t stop the Huaxia army’s advance. At best, they’d inflict a little more casualties.

Since this unit was destined to be defeated and destroyed anyway, they might as well fight to the death now.

Now was when they were at their strongest. The longer they waited, the lower their unit’s morale would drop.

Besides, there was another advantage to fighting now: they could coordinate with the friendly forces.

If they launched a surprise attack on the Huaxia army’s encirclement now, and the encircled troops responded with a counterattack, it would be like attacking the Huaxia army from both sides, greatly increasing their chances of success.

If they could break through the Huaxia army’s encirclement, they could even rescue their comrades, greatly increasing their strength.

Ranchi had even thought out a follow-up plan.

Break through the Huaxia army’s encirclement, then head south all the way to Calcutta.

As for Delhi, Ranchi no longer cared.

He felt that defending Delhi was like being led around by the nose by the Huaxia army, a guaranteed defeat.

Moreover, he didn’t think Delhi could be defended at all.

In that case, they might as well go crazy, abandon the capital, and strike at the Huaxia army’s heartland, wreaking havoc in Huaxia territory, slaughtering everyone in Bengal province, especially the Great Hua people.

That way, they could at least hurt Great Hua.

Although doing so might completely enrage Great Hua and invite unimaginable retaliation.

But what could be worse for the Mughal, who were about to lose their capital, than this?

Probably nothing. Since they were going to lose their country anyway, they might as well give Great Hua a good stab before they died.

The more Ranchi thought about it, the more excited he became. So, he silenced the arguing and made his decision.

Counterattack?

Everyone looked at Ranchi as if he were crazy.

Everyone was racking their brains trying to figure out how to escape, and Ranchi was actually thinking about counterattacking.

“How do we counterattack?”

One subordinate asked cautiously.

“We attack the Huaxia army’s encirclement simultaneously, break into the unyielding defense line, join up with our comrades inside, and then march all the way to Calcutta. Calcutta is now the Huaxia army’s rear, with a weak defense and mountains of supplies. We’ll burn those supplies, and the Huaxia army will naturally retreat.”

Ranchi didn’t mention abandoning Delhi, or someone would definitely object.

Although he was the supreme commander, he still needed these subordinates to get things done. It was never good to have someone objecting.

Although Ranchi didn’t say it, not many of those present were fools.

They only had to think about the plan for a moment to realize how dangerous Delhi would be.

If the Huaxia army ignored Calcutta and attacked Delhi directly, Delhi would be finished.

Delhi was the capital of the Mughal, while Calcutta was just one of Great Hua’s dozens of provincial capitals. The political status of the two was completely unequal.

But as things stood, they had no better choice.

Although they had all been arguing about how to retreat, they had deliberately ignored what to do after retreating.

In fact, they all knew in their hearts that even if they retreated successfully, they wouldn’t be able to defend against the Huaxia army.

Since things couldn’t get any worse, Ranchi’s plan wasn’t too bad.

“I agree. This is the Mughal Empire’s last stand. We must let Great Hua know our resolve. To resist, we’re willing to abandon even our capital.”

“I also agree. Our counterattack will be a surprise, and it might have an unexpected effect. When fighting the Huaxia army, we can’t follow the rules, or we’ll have no chance of winning.”

“I also agree. It’s better to die gloriously than to retreat pathetically.”

Everyone agreed, inspired by Ranchi’s fighting spirit. Of course, this was also the result of long-term oppression by Great Hua, which had accumulated and finally erupted at this moment.

When there was a gap in strength, they had to rely on some ingenious strategies.

Succeed, and be remembered forever. Fail, and be a laughingstock.

There were countless examples of this in history.

The Mughal Empire had been driven to the brink, with no choice but to make a final, desperate gamble.

Chapter 947: The Composed Huaxia Army

“What? The enemy is attacking Durgapur and Bolpur?”

Shortly after Durgapur was attacked, the Huaxia army headquarters received the radio message.

This gave the Huaxia army command ample time to react. Without the radio, it would normally take at least several hours, or even longer, to receive such news from the front lines.

Even so, the Indian army’s actions still surprised many Huaxia army officers.

They had expected the Indian army to be fleeing in panic at this point.

Instead, the Indian army gave them a surprise.

“Well, well, this kid actually wants to counterattack. He’s a tough one.”

Fu Wenxian commented.

To be able to make such a bold, desperate gamble in this predicament was worthy of respect.

“It’s a pity their strength is a little weak. Otherwise, he might really have succeeded.”

Another officer smiled.

The atmosphere in the entire command post was quite relaxed. No one panicked because of the sudden news.

This was the confidence brought by overwhelming strength.

As a saying within the Huaxia army went, in the face of absolute strength, all schemes and tricks are futile.

“Ranchi is abandoning the capital? Isn’t he afraid of winning the battle but losing his life?”

An officer, about fifty years old, said. His age indicated his identity as a traditional official left over from the previous dynasty.

Traditional officials had a stubborn idea that the emperor’s safety was the most important thing.

Even if half the country was lost, the capital could not be lost, and the emperor could not be placed in danger.

Ranchi’s behavior would absolutely be considered treason in the Great Ming or Qing Dynasty.

Even if Ranchi ultimately completed the plan and won the battle, he would definitely be liquidated by the emperor afterward.

“Maybe this Ranchi feels that he can’t stop it anyway, and it’s hard to escape death if he retreats, so he’s throwing caution to the wind.”

“Hahaha.”

…

“Everyone, be serious. Report the positions of each unit and prepare to respond immediately. Even a rabbit will bite when cornered, let alone one hundred and thirty thousand people holding weapons.”

Chen Biju reminded everyone not to be careless.

Afterward, everyone began to adjust the operational plan.

The previous plan had become completely ineffective due to the changing battlefield situation.

Continuing to advance with the two armored divisions would be like punching air.

Although they could take the opportunity to make a long-distance raid on Delhi and easily capture the capital of the Mughal Empire.

However, there was no need.

Chen Biju was more concerned about the safety of the rear and did not want anything to happen there.

It should be known that there were now many Chinese in Bengal Province, and most of them were people with status and influence.

If Bengal was captured by Ranchi and too many of those influential people were killed, then Chen Biju would be in big trouble.

Delhi could be attacked at any time. Anyway, Delhi didn’t have legs and couldn’t run away.

But Bengal must be protected.

“Now we can only let the two armored divisions rush back to reinforce, and at the same time, let the troops sandwiched between the enemy hold their ground and prevent the enemy from joining forces. Then, let the troops near Bolpur and Durgapur launch an attack on the Indian army…”

The chief of staff pointed and spoke constantly on the sand table with his command stick, while the new officers who were still interning kept pulling out and inserting flags, demonstrating the movement changes of both sides’ troops to make it more vivid.

Through the sand table deduction, the senior officers of the Huaxia army unanimously agreed that this battle could be fought.

First of all, the troops who had previously tried to encircle the Indian army were not far from the Indian army. If they marched quickly, they could reach Durgapur and Bolpur in two days.

Although the armored divisions were a little farther away, their speed was fast, and they could arrive in time.

The Huaxia army sandwiched between the Indian army only needed to hold on for two to three days, and the Huaxia army could launch a general attack on the enemy.

Only needing to hold on for two to three days was not a difficult task for the Huaxia army.

“This Ranchi is quite capable, but he was born in the wrong place.”

After formulating the plan, Chen Biju sighed with emotion.

Ranchi’s plan was actually very sudden and fierce.

If the Huaxia army did not have radio and could not get the news in time, then the reaction would definitely be a day or so slower.

If the Huaxia army did not have armored divisions, the speed of reinforcement would be another day or two slower.

If the Huaxia army did not have the absolute advantage in weapons, and only had a few thousand people, it would not be able to prevent Ranchi from joining forces with another Indian army.

In short, any army that encountered the current situation of the Huaxia army would not be able to break it.

Therefore, Ranchi was still quite capable, but his opponent was too strong, and his talents could not be brought into play.

“Commander Chen, if you cherish talent, you can let your subordinates pay attention and capture him alive.”

The adjutant said.

Chen Biju smiled and shook his head, indicating that it was not necessary.

No matter how talented Ranchi was, he was still an Indian and could not hold a high position.

Since it was clear that he could only give Indians some low-level positions, then whether the other party had talent or not was not very important.

Bolpur had already been captured by the Indian army.

Durgapur was already filled with artillery fire.

The number of Huaxia army in Durgapur and Bolpur was not large. Facing more than ten times the number of people, and without good terrain advantages, it was difficult to hold on.

In order to reduce unnecessary losses, the two battalions stationed in Bolpur chose to abandon Bolpur after it was captured.

The two battalions of the Huaxia army retreated to a mountain pass more than sixty li south of Bolpur, and joined up with two other battalions, preparing to block the attack at this mountain pass.

The 318th Regiment stationed in Durgapur abandoned the city, which had almost no walls, and retreated to a small mountain to hold on.

Its regimental commander, Kang Qiliang, decided to defend Durgapur to the death, in order to create trouble for the Indian army.

Although he did not know Ranchi’s true intentions, he knew that Ranchi’s breakthrough of Durgapur and attack on their rear would cause them great trouble.

Therefore, he wanted to contain the enemy here, so that the Indian army could not advance with peace of mind.

If the Indian army ignored him and wanted to pass by him, he could launch sneak attacks and harass them at any time.

And if the Indian army stopped to attack the 318th Regiment, then Kang Qiliang’s goal would be achieved.

As for the danger of being surrounded by the enemy, Kang Qiliang really didn’t think about it much.

He believed that his friendly forces would not watch him fall into heavy siege without coming to rescue him.

Once he was stuck here like a nail, containing the Indian army and affecting the Indian army’s marching speed, it would be a great achievement.

If there was no opportunity to make a contribution, then create one for yourself.

When Kang Qiliang told his subordinates that he was going to take everyone to take this risk, most of the officers, including the soldiers, were nervous but excited.

There was more excitement than nervousness.

Obviously, the morale of these soldiers was very high, and they all wanted credit, and were not very worried about the danger of fighting a tough battle. This kind of morale already had the conditions for fighting a tough battle.

Chapter 948: I Want to Be a Bad Emperor

Every few hours, Nanjing would receive a telegram from Calcutta, reporting on the war situation in the Mughal Empire.

These battle reports were also delivered to Wu Changqing.

However, Wu Changqing mostly glanced at them before setting them aside.

Everything was under the control of the Huaxia army, so there wasn’t much to pay attention to, nor was there a need to give any instructions.

Not only was this the case on the battlefield, but even in daily development, he didn’t need to worry too much now.

The officials below, after years of training, had accumulated a wealth of experience and knew what to do.

“To have achieved such success at such a young age, it seems that I have no choice but to die next.”

Wu Changqing suddenly said with emotion.

This sentence came from Stephen Chow’s movie Legend of the Dragon, but Stephen Chow said it for comedic effect.

Saying this after achieving a little success had a sense of showing off shamelessly. And Stephen Chow’s serious appearance created a strong contrast, creating a comedic effect.

However, Wu Changqing didn’t say this to show off shamelessly.

He really didn’t have anything special he wanted to accomplish anymore.

Money, power, women—the three things men want—he had them all.

The expansion of territory could still bring him pleasure.

However, that sense of accomplishment was not as strong as it used to be.

In the past, he would be very happy to take Jiangxi, defeat the Qing Dynasty, or annex Japan.

But now, India would soon be annexed by Great Hua, and his happiness was not as great as before.

India was ten times larger than Japan.

“Your Majesty, you’re humorous,”

Consort Ning, leaning in Wu Changqing’s arms, chuckled.

People of this era generally had a low sense of humor, and Ning Caiju was immediately amused when she heard Wu Changqing’s ‘joke’.

“I’m just speaking from the heart. After being a wise ruler for so long, maybe I should try living the life of a bad emperor,”

Wu Changqing said.

Of course, the women in the palace approved of his desire to be a bad emperor.

On this point, their interests were aligned with those of the officials, who all hoped that Wu Changqing would spend more time eating, drinking, and having fun.

“Little Zhangzi, find some master architects. It’s time to renovate the palace,”

Wu Changqing said.

Time flies, Feng Debao had honorably retired due to his old age and frequent illnesses, and was now living in the city.

The task of serving Wu Changqing personally was now the responsibility of Zhang Xian.

“Is Your Majesty finally going to renovate the palace?”

Consort Ning asked excitedly.

The matter of renovating the palace had actually been raised all the time.

After all, there were more and more beautiful buildings in the city, and the palace was even somewhat inferior compared to those buildings.

In the eyes of many people, this was unacceptable.

It was only because Wu Changqing didn’t care that the renovation of the palace had been repeatedly postponed.

And now, Wu Changqing was also preparing to build the palace.

“Yes, how about I turn the sleeping quarters into themed sleeping quarters then?”

Wu Changqing said.

“What are themed sleeping quarters?”

Ning Caiju said, expressing that she didn’t understand.

“It’s a sleeping quarter with a theme, and then decorated according to that theme. For example, if the theme is nature, then the bed inside should be a huge tree stump, and various plastic trees, leaves, and small animals should be arranged around it. In short, the scene inside must be like nature.

For example, a summer theme, there must be a beach inside. With the Journey to the West as the theme, there must be all kinds of female goblins inside. With flowers as the theme, there needs to be a variety of flowers…”

Wu Changqing said.

“Ah, then I want the theme of a small bridge and flowing water. There must be bamboo forests, bamboo houses, bamboo chairs, in short, all made of bamboo,”

Ning Caiju immediately asked for a themed sleeping quarter that she liked when she heard Wu Changqing’s idea.

The idyllic residence with a small bridge and flowing water was still very attractive to some people who were used to wealth and luxury.

When Wu Changqing wanted to build themed sleeping quarters, the concubines in the palace began to find ways to please Wu Changqing, trying to ask for a themed sleeping quarter of their own.

This was not only for enjoyment, but also for status.

This kind of themed sleeping quarter would cost a lot of money, and the daily maintenance would definitely not be cheap. Therefore, not too many of these sleeping quarters could be built.

Being able to have a sleeping quarter of your own was a symbol of being favored.

Several of Great Hua’s top architects and interior decoration experts were summoned.

Even if they still had projects in hand, they could only stop at this time.

The emperor building a house was the most important thing.

Wu Changqing told these people his thoughts, and everyone was amazed.

Wu Changqing’s ideas were very novel, at least these people had never thought of such a building before.

“Your Majesty, if you want to complete these buildings, I’m afraid the palace will have to be expanded, otherwise it won’t be big enough,”

Master Architect Qiao Bisheng said.

If you want to create the feeling of that theme, you must need a large place. No matter how you arrange a small house, it is not like nature.

“Your Majesty, the palace is surrounded by residences and shanghao, and expansion may not be very convenient. Why not build another sleeping quarter in Zhongshan for leisure and entertainment?”

Zhang Xian suggested.

Compared with expanding the palace in the city, it would have less impact to find another place to build a new sleeping quarter.

“I also think it is more appropriate to find a treasure land outside the city. After all, there are more and more high-rise buildings around, and it is impossible to prevent those villains from peeping into the palace with telescopes,”

Qiao Bisheng said.

Peeping into the inner courtyard of the palace was a serious crime.

However, the world was so big that there were always some people who were not afraid of death, or who were lucky, or who had problems with their brains. In short, it was impossible to prevent it.

And Nanjing was developing faster and faster, and the population was increasing, and the demand for high-rise buildings was also increasing.

Not allowing high-rise buildings to be built around the palace had a great impact on development.

Therefore, moving the residence for the harem to the outside of the city was a good choice.

The palace in the city could be used for office work.

This would also be more convenient.

It could also be completely demolished and used to build high-rise buildings and create a commercial center.

In the past, the palace had to be built in the center of the city, mainly for security and convenience for officials to go to court.

But now, security was not a problem. With cars, commuting to and from work was no longer a problem.

Times were changing, and moving the palace to the suburbs was the best choice.

Wu Changqing thought for a while and felt that it made sense.

Ordinary people didn’t like being peeped at, let alone him, who was an emperor.

“Little Zhangzi, I’ll leave this matter to you. Keep an eye on the site selection and construction, and don’t let anything go wrong. You guys come up with a plan and budget first. In principle, it cannot exceed fifty million.”

Wu Changqing instructed.

The money to build the palace would most likely come out of his own private pocket, and fifty million was not a small number for him.

This time, he had indulged in luxury and done what a bad emperor should do.

Chapter 949: Airplanes and Movies

While Wu Changqing was busy with his plans to be a ‘benevolent’ ruler, the development of Great Hua was not affected and continued to advance rapidly.

In November, Great Hua’s first airplane successfully took to the skies in the suburbs of Nanjing.

The airplane research team of Great Hua had it much easier than the Wright brothers.

The Wright brothers relied on their own money to buy manufacturing materials and study flight technology.

But Great Hua’s airplane research team had the imperial court providing funding and Wu Changqing providing core technology. All they had to do was refine the details.

Therefore, when their first airplane was produced, its performance was already quite good.

The Wright brothers’ first airplane had wings made of wood because wood was light and cheap enough. But these wings were very fragile and unstable.

Great Hua’s first airplane, on the other hand, used aluminum alloy directly for the wings, which was very extravagant.

The Wright brothers’ first successful test flight saw the airplane stay in the air for only five minutes, flying four point four kilometers.

But Great Hua’s “Divine Eagle” airplane stayed in the air for half an hour on its first test flight, successfully flying more than forty kilometers and landing successfully.

It took the Wright brothers five or six years from their successful test flight to producing a practical airplane.

Great Hua’s airplane, after a few months of improvement, could be mass-produced and put into practical use.

The current problems that Great Hua needed to solve were mass production, cost reduction, and performance improvement.

For the military, there were really only two problems: mass production and performance improvement.

For equipment that could play a huge advantage on the battlefield, the military would not care too much about the cost. As long as it played a role at a critical moment, its value would be immeasurable.

The Great Hua army had the most say in the role of the air force.

They had used the air force many times in previous battles and had achieved very good results.

Those enemies who did not understand the air force suffered greatly in this regard.

However, in the later period, because of the high accident rate of the air force and the strong strength of the ground forces, which made them less reliant on air support, the development of the air force stagnated.

The Huaxia army did not want its soldiers to risk a twenty to thirty percent chance of death to go into the sky unless it was absolutely necessary.

Without the air force, the Huaxia army was still invincible.

But now, because the performance of airplanes was much better than that of hot air balloons, the military had new ideas about the air force.

The appearance of airplanes was far more significant than that of hot air balloons.

However, the news of the airplane taking to the skies did not cause a sensation in Great Hua.

Because Great Hua had seen things flying into the sky many times before, there was nothing new about it.

Moreover, that rather simple-looking airplane did not have anything that could make people feel shocked.

With the wisdom and knowledge of ordinary people, they could not see the huge potential contained in airplanes.

This was actually very normal. The Wright brothers’ successful flight did not cause a sensation either.

It was not until later, because of the military’s attention, that airplanes began to develop vigorously.

What the people cared about were things closely related to their lives, such as movies.

At the same time that the airplane successfully took to the skies, Great Hua’s first sound film was also born.

Great Hua had cartoons a few years ago, but it was too difficult to find qualified voice actors. Therefore, most of the cartoons were shown silently, that is, for children to watch.

Moreover, cartoons without sound were not particularly attractive.

Therefore, Great Hua’s film industry had been stagnating.

When everyone was frowning, the Holy Son of Heaven came forward again to help them solve this problem, providing the magnetic recording technology for sound films, as well as other related technologies.

As a result, the problem of making movies have sound was solved.

In Great Hua, the most loyal to the emperor were not the farmers, but the group of scientific researchers.

Because they had knowledge and experience, they were more aware of the contributions Wu Changqing had made to the technological development of Great Hua.

Regarding Wu Changqing’s wisdom, these scientific researchers were completely in awe.

On November 5th, Wu Changqing personally attended, and watched Great Hua’s first sound film with many ministers and social celebrities in the imperial palace.

At the same time, the Times Cinema in Nanjing would also show this sound film “Heroic Sons and Daughters”, which took six months to complete.

This was a war film, telling the story of a battle in the Battle of Xuzhou. The protagonist was Wang Tiezhu, a first-class combat hero. He bravely killed the enemy in this battle, was the first to rush to the city wall and was seriously injured. Then, he was carefully cared for by a beautiful nurse in the wounded soldiers’ camp, and finally they came together.

This was a movie adapted from a true story. Wang Tiezhu was still alive and well, but he had lost his ability to fight.

This story had been widely reported in newspapers before.

And now, Great Hua had brought this story to the silver screen.

The Times Cinema was already full of people.

Those wealthy families brought their children to appreciate this historic moment.

Everyone was looking forward to this rumored movie that could make sounds.

At eight o’clock, the movie started on time.

First, there was a passionate war song, followed by the feature film.

“First year of Yongxing…”

When the movie really made a sound, many viewers were excited.

Previous silent films mainly relied on the actors’ body language to express themselves. People who did not react quickly were generally difficult to guess what the characters in the movie wanted to express.

But now, watching movies was finally not so brain-intensive. The people inside could speak, explain the story clearly, and act it out clearly.

As the plot progressed, many viewers exclaimed that it was enjoyable.

In the past, they only had a very vague concept of war. They only knew that the two sides were fighting. But how they were fighting, almost no one who had not been on the battlefield knew.

But now, with movies, the scenes on the battlefield could be restored to a certain extent.

Viewers could also have a slightly clearer understanding of the war.

Immediately afterwards, some viewers with richer emotions were moved by the plot, and some even shed tears because of it.

The soldiers in the war were really too hard. By watching these movies, many viewers’ impressions of the soldiers had changed.

At the same time, some children also learned that Great Hua was the righteous side and the Qing Dynasty were the bad guys. Many people saw what the Qing army did, and even had a dream of joining the army and going to the battlefield to kill the enemy.

Entertainment is the most important thing about movies.

However, another attribute cannot be ignored, and that is the propaganda effect.

Compared with pale words, the things that movie pictures can express are much more vivid, and they are first-class propaganda tools.

If the propaganda function of movies is used well, it can cultivate children’s patriotism, the spirit of bravely killing the enemy, and in short, there are many benefits.

Chapter 950: The Tragedy of a Genius

“What? The patent for television has already been filed? How is that possible?”

In the Great Hua Patent Office, Mi Hong roared.

He didn’t believe it, didn’t believe that anyone in this world other than himself could have thought of and researched television technology so quickly. It was impossible, absolutely impossible.

The people at the patent office immediately brought out the documents, which registered various television technology patents, high-frequency tuners, audio tuners, audio channels, and so on.

One by one, they were placed in front of Mi Hong, forcing him to believe it all.

Beside him, Zhong Xueyan, the financier who was funding Mi Hong, also sighed.

Mi Hong was a genius he had discovered in Nanjing, a true genius. Zhong Xueyan had never doubted this.

Before cameras even existed, Mi Hong had already proposed the concept of a camera and had manufacturing ideas and concrete plans.

Although Zhong Xueyan didn’t quite understand Mi Hong’s explanation at the time, he thought Mi Hong’s idea was interesting.

He had made a lot of money from coal mining and had nowhere to spend it, so he agreed to provide funding.

If it succeeded, great. If not, it didn’t matter; he would just treat it as a bit of fun.

With funding, Mi Hong was like a tiger with wings.

Soon, Mi Hong really did create a camera.

When they excitedly ran to the patent office to apply for a patent, ready to get rich, the people at the patent office told them that the camera team at the Polytechnic Institute had already applied for all the patents, and the cameras they produced were much better than Mi Hong’s.

Mi Hong almost vomited blood upon hearing this news.

People, if they never have hope, they might become numb over time. Then, they lower their life goals to avoid failure.

Without failure, they can avoid some pain.

The worst thing is to have lofty ambitions and see the hope of success. After paying a huge price and working hard, that hope is shattered at the last moment.

Most people simply can’t bear that kind of blow.

Fortunately, Mi Hong was someone who had experienced the loss of his family. He had even lost his wife and children for the sake of invention.

Although this wasn’t something to be praised, this experience had ultimately increased his ability to withstand pressure.

In the end, he persevered.

Moreover, although he was a step behind, Zhong Xueyan still admired and recognized Mi Hong’s talent.

Mi Hong was just one person, while the Polytechnic Institute was a team. It was an unfair contest, and Zhong Xueyan felt that Mi Hong’s loss wasn’t unjust. So, Zhong Xueyan decided to continue supporting Mi Hong’s research.

Since he was a step behind with the camera, Mi Hong focused his research on movies.

Then, the same story happened again.

He researched the principles of movies and created the first simple projection device based on those principles. When applying for a patent, he was double-killed by the Polytechnic Institute.

The Polytechnic Institute’s movie team was once again one step ahead of him, not only applying for the patent but also creating better equipment.

His research couldn’t be said to be completely worthless, but it was far from their expectations.

Without patent rights, entering the film industry would mean they had no special advantages and would have to compete fiercely with other businessmen.

Helpless, Zhong Xueyan could only admit his bad luck. And Mi Hong could only give up researching movies, after all, the people at the Polytechnic Institute were researching it more deeply than him.

Continuing to research movie equipment would only mean following behind the people at the Polytechnic Institute.

So, Mi Hong decided to look for a new field, to find a truly genius idea, an invention that others would never think of.

Mi Hong racked his brains for months, and finally, he came up with one: the television.

The venue requirements for showing movies were too high and inconvenient.

Mi Hong wanted to create a small machine that could play images.

With this idea, he began to secretly research television, and Zhong Xueyan continued to provide financial support as always.

Some people who didn’t know the truth even suspected that Zhong Xueyan had taken a liking to Mi Hong and was keeping him, otherwise, he wouldn’t be wasting money on Mi Hong like this.

The reason why Mi Hong had to do it in secret was that he was beginning to suspect that someone was constantly monitoring him, stealing his ideas and results, otherwise, how could things be so coincidental?

He researches cameras, and others also research cameras. He researches movie equipment, and others also research movie equipment.

When he told Zhong Xueyan about this idea, Zhong Xueyan also thought it made sense.

This time, they increased their security efforts, making the entire laboratory stricter than a military camp.

With these measures in place, Mi Hong could finally research television with peace of mind.

The principle of television is actually quite simple, similar to a telegraph, using changes in the strength of the current to transmit information.

Information is replaced by changes in current strength, and then this current is sent through a transmitting device. The receiving device receives this current information and ‘decodes’ it.

However, the telegraph transmits text, while the television transmits images.

Converting text into electrical signals is easy; a certain current change can represent a Chinese character.

But converting images into electrical signals is much more troublesome.

Fortunately, Mi Hong was also a gifted person. He designed a perforated scanning disc.

These holes were very small, and by rotating rapidly, these small holes could divide the scanned image into countless ‘small dots’.

Then, a certain current change would represent a small dot.

After that, all that was needed was to design a receiving device to convert these electrical signals into those black and white dots, and after amplification, the original scanned image could be obtained.

The amount of information was much larger, but the principles were similar.

Zhong Xueyan certainly couldn’t understand such a simple principle.

But it didn’t matter, Zhong Xueyan had never understood that kind of world anyway.

He just stuck to one principle: Mi Hong’s ideas must be right, and unwavering support was all that was needed.

To research television, Mi Hong worked day and night, even becoming somewhat manic.

To obtain clearer images, he didn’t hesitate to increase the current.

In one careless operation, he was electrocuted.

Several hundred volts nearly killed him.

After a brief hospitalization, Mi Hong acted as if nothing had happened and continued to devote himself to research, angering his wife into leaving him for the second time.

The first time was because Mi Hong had bankrupted the family by inventing, leaving her and the children with no money to eat.

And this time, it was because Mi Hong was almost crazy. This kind of life-threatening behavior was really difficult for normal people to accept.

Most successful people actually pay a price behind the scenes that ordinary people can’t afford.

Even someone as awesome as Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to develop, didn’t he marry the adopted daughter of Guo Ziyi?

If he hadn’t succeeded, he would have been laughed at as a live-in son-in-law, and the rumor that he washed Ma Da’s feet would have been a funny story.

Chapter 951: The Tragedy of a Genius 2

Finally, perseverance paid off.

In November of the tenth year of Yongxing, the television set manufactured by Mi Hong successfully received an image of a human face for the first time.

This meant his invention was a success.

Although the image was still blurry and the transmission distance was short, it didn’t matter. This success proved that his idea was correct.

Next, as long as he continued to improve it based on this idea, he could obtain increasingly clearer images.

And that would have practical value.

The application prospects of such a thing were naturally infinitely broad.

Mi Hong and Zhong Xueyan envisioned a scene where every household in Great Hua had a television set, watching movies or live broadcasts through it.

Mi Hong wondered if those watching television would remember that he was the one who invented it.

Zhong Xueyan, on the other hand, was calculating with her fingers how many households in Great Hua could afford a television set, how much it should be sold for to maximize profits, and how much money they could earn…

With beautiful aspirations, the two of them excitedly went to the patent office, ready to apply for a patent for this valuable technology.

In Great Hua, applying for a patent was very important. Once a patent was applied for, even if the technology was stolen in the future, there was no need to worry, as the government would stand up for them. If they didn’t apply for a patent and someone who stole their technology applied for it, they would lose the right to use the technology.

Unfortunately, Lin Xiaohao, a clerk at the patent office, told them that the television research group at the Institute of Technology had already applied for the patent.

Moreover, the research group at the Institute of Technology had gone even further than them.

The television group could now not only transmit stable images, but also transmit sound simultaneously and synchronize the sound and images, basically making it practically useful.

Currently, the television group was already researching how to reduce the manufacturing cost of television sets. Once the research was completed, television sets could be manufactured in batches.

Compared to Mi Hong, the Institute of Technology was one step ahead.

Familiar recipe, familiar taste.

Having tasted this feeling again, Mi Hong completely broke down.

“Theft, this is theft! It must be someone from the Institute of Technology who stole my technology. It’s impossible for it to be such a coincidence every time. This is impossible!”

Mi Hong shouted and yelled, even more manic than a drunkard throwing a tantrum.

Those who have played mahjong might be able to understand this feeling of being intercepted a little bit.

But it was only a little bit. The frustration of being intercepted in mahjong was not even one-billionth of Mi Hong’s.

Zhong Xueyan, who knew Mi Hong’s past, felt that it would be normal for Mi Hong to go crazy and become a mental patient at this time; it would be abnormal if he didn’t change.

“Mr. Mi, calm down. The people in the television research group are much further ahead in their research than you, and they are all highly respected scientists who are working for the Emperor. How could they possibly steal your technology?”

Lin Xiaohao comforted him. He had received Mi Hong several times.

Seeing Mi Hong being intercepted every time, he felt sorry for Mi Hong.

Zhong Xueyan could only sigh in his heart. He didn’t deny that Mi Hong was a genius, but he felt that Mi Hong might be a genius cursed by a jinx, destined to be unlucky.

Every time, it was just a little bit short.

Besides being the will of Heaven, there was really no other explanation for this coincidence.

At least, Zhong Xueyan couldn’t guess the reason.

In fact, it can’t really be said that Mi Hong was unlucky; it can only be said that he was too much of a genius.

Like other ordinary geniuses, inventing things like bicycles, gramophones, and electric fans could often succeed.

Because these things didn’t have as much impact on society as cameras, movies, and television sets, Wu Changqing didn’t remember them for a while, or didn’t have time to arrange them.

Therefore, others avoided the embarrassment of being intercepted.

And Mi Hong could only blame himself for being too awesome, for always choosing directions that were so ‘precise’, all of which were fields that even Wu Changqing would pay attention to.

When Wu Changqing personally took action, Mi Hong could naturally only end in tragedy.

Mi Hong had Zhong Xueyan’s funding, but Wu Changqing was even richer.

Mi Hong had super hands-on ability, but Wu Changqing had an entire elite team.

Mi Hong had a genius-like way of thinking, but Wu Changqing had the system.

This was the most fatal factor.

Mi Hong was a top student, but he also needed to study how to solve problems, while Wu Changqing only needed to copy the standard answers.

A top student might be able to get a perfect score if they spent some time, but the speed would definitely be much slower than a poor student who copied the answers.

The farce at the patent office alarmed the director, Liu Changgen.

“Mr. Mi, you don’t need to be sad or discouraged. You must know that you didn’t lose to others, but to the current Emperor. This is really a glorious thing. There are not many people in the entire world who are qualified to compare with His Majesty.

As long as you are willing, I can report to His Majesty at any time and let you take a position in the Scientific Research Department,” Liu Changgen said.

It turned out that Mi Hong, who had experienced many failures, had already gained Wu Changqing’s attention.

Although Mi Hong had been failing all along, Wu Changqing, like Zhong Xueyan, had never doubted the other party’s talent and ability.

Wu Changqing was only a small step ahead of the other party with the help of the system.

Wu Changqing had originally thought of directly recruiting and employing this kind of talent.

However, Wu Changqing thought again that Mi Hong already had someone funding him, and it seemed that he didn’t need his help very much.

After recruiting him, he would mostly research according to the technology he provided, which would lose some creativity.

It was easy to find people who could research according to the technology he provided, but there were not many people who could invent and create based on their own ideas.

Wu Changqing hoped that he could maintain this creativity, so he gave up the idea of conscription.

Now that Mi Hong had encountered failure again, even Liu Changgen couldn’t stand it anymore, hoping that Mi Hong could go to the Scientific Research Department and research according to the direction indicated by Wu Changqing to avoid encountering failure again.

Mi Hong deserved to be someone who had experienced beatings. After a brief madness, he managed to survive.

Hearing Liu Changgen’s words, Mi Hong had mixed feelings.

He actually admired Wu Changqing very much.

However, admiration was admiration, but he hoped to defeat Wu Changqing once in his heart.

Mi Hong was not short of money now. Even if Zhong Xueyan stopped funding him, with his reputation, someone would still be rushing to support him.

He had basically satisfied his physiological needs, safety needs, belonging needs, and respect needs. The only thing he lacked was self-actualization.

For him, inventing a great work that no one else could think of was the realization of his self-worth.

If he took a position in the Scientific Research Department, even if he created something new, it would not satisfy his self-actualization needs.

Because for him, it was not invented by his own ability.

A genius’s ideas are always a little different from ordinary people.

Therefore, Mi Hong rejected Liu Changgen’s kindness.

Chapter 952: A Genius Idea

Watching Zhong Xueyan and Mi Hong’s departing figures, Lin Xiaohao said with pity, “What a pitiful man.”

“Huh? What makes you say that?” Liu Changgen asked.

“Continuous failures, isn’t that pitiful?” Lin Xiaohao replied.

Then, Liu Changgen looked at him with an expression reserved for simpletons, reminding him, “He’s not lacking in money or status. If he wants, he can be summoned by the Emperor at any time to become a high-ranking official in the Scientific Research Department, and being granted a noble title is only a matter of time. And you think he’s pitiful?”

Liu Changgen’s words struck Lin Xiaohao like a thunderbolt.

He realized he was truly an idiot.

Mi Hong’s current situation was the ultimate goal of ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine nine percent of people, a height they could never reach.

And he had actually pitied him.

“So, the clown was me all along.”

At that moment, Lin Xiaohao was moved to tears.

“Work hard. Patent review is a pretty good position. You can be exposed to the most genius ideas and technologies in the world. If you can learn even a small part of them, your future achievements will surpass the vast majority of people.”

Liu Changgen patted him on the shoulder.

On the other side, Mi Hong and Zhong Xueyan.

“Have you considered taking a position in the Scientific Research Department? It’s not a bad option, and at least you can avoid many detours.”

Zhong Xueyan kindly reminded him.

Of course, he wasn’t worried about the money and wanting to stop funding him.

For him, the small amount of money he was funding wasn’t much at all; he could easily afford it.

He just didn’t want Mi Hong to continue taking detours, with each research project overlapping with others, ultimately leading to nothing.

If he went to the Scientific Research Department, at least he could be assigned a proper research direction.

“I’ll think about it. Maybe I can come up with an invention that even His Majesty wouldn’t think of,” Mi Hong said.

“Alright, as long as you have an idea, tell me anytime. Money is no problem,” Zhong Xueyan said.

Mi Hong summarized the reasons for his previous failures. He felt that the biggest reason he lost to Wu Changqing was that his inventions weren’t ‘ahead of their time’ enough.

After all, when he was researching cameras, many people already knew the principle of pinhole imaging.

He wasn’t the only one who could think of researching cameras.

When he was researching movies, cartoons had already appeared, so it wasn’t too ahead of its time.

And when he was researching televisions, telegraphs had already appeared. It wasn’t strange that others would think of something with the same principle.

Therefore, Mi Hong decided to think of something very, very unique, something that left no trace, so that others couldn’t think of it.

This idea of his was actually a bit obsessive. Any technological development actually has traces to follow.

Mi Hong locked himself in his room, sitting in front of the wall, looking like he was doing penance.

In reality, his brain was already racing, imagining wildly.

Of course, his imagination wasn’t just random thoughts, but based on experience and knowledge, thinking logically and reasonably.

Mi Hong had an important discovery based on the principle of the telegraph.

He felt that as long as it was long enough, the arrangement of the two numbers, one and zero, could represent everything in the world.

This situation wasn’t unique to Mi Hong.

However, after others discovered it, they didn’t think about it any further.

If a piece of information required hundreds of thousands of ones and zeros to represent it, it wouldn’t be very meaningful.

But Mi Hong didn’t care so much; he chose to continue thinking.

He had an idea to design a device for convenient calculation.

First, all the calculation instructions and results would be coded and stored. Then, when calculation was needed, as long as the code for the calculation was entered, the electrical signal of that code would automatically connect to the corresponding result code, thereby obtaining the result.

If he were to explain it to Zhong Xueyan, he would probably say something like this:

Twenty wooden plaques are divided into two groups, with ten of them writing “one plus zero,” “one plus one,” “one plus two,” “one plus three.”

Then the other ten write one, two, three, four, five, and then the “one plus zero” plaque is connected to the number one plaque with a rope.

Someone who can’t do arithmetic, as long as they move the “one plus zero” plaque, the number one plaque will also move, and then that person who can’t do arithmetic will also know that one plus zero equals one.

At first glance, this thing doesn’t seem to be of much use.

However, what Mi Hong wanted to design was certainly not something used to calculate one plus one.

He was trying to create a massive instruction library and storage library, encompassing addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponential operations, and root operations below one hundred million.

This would be amazing. As long as it was created, it could instantly calculate complex operations.

However, Mi Hong felt it wasn’t enough. Just a convenient calculation device would definitely not be able to defeat Wu Changqing.

Mi Hong continued to think deeply.

He felt that this principle could be used for many things besides calculation.

Since any information can be replaced by code, then isn’t this thing capable of calculating everything in the world?

For example, transforming “who is the most handsome person in the world” into code, and then connecting it to the result “Wu Changqing.”

Or, for example, transforming “when did the Great Ming Dynasty fall” into a code instruction, and then connecting it to a result.

Extending this further, if all things in the world, all questions and answers, were transformed into code, and then a data storage library that broke through the sky was established, wouldn’t everyone be omniscient?

Continuing along this line of thought, Mi Hong even discovered that if everyone had this kind of machine and connected them with wires, it seemed that countless people could communicate remotely at the same time.

…

Mi Hong decided to call this thing a calculator.

If he told Wu Changqing his idea, Wu Changqing might suspect that he was a time-traveler without a system.

Mi Hong’s idea was remarkable, quite remarkable. But to say it was unique was not necessarily true; it was just that no one had delved into it as deeply as he had.

Not to mention now, even in the past, some people had similar ideas.

In fact, there were already machines for assisting calculation in Western Europe, automatic carry adders.

However, in the past, people would abandon this idea as soon as it emerged, because it was impossible to have something that could store such a massive amount of data.

But now, Mi Hong felt that he could find a way to solve this problem.

Electrical signals.

A combination of strong and weak signals could represent countless combinations.

And this kind of signal doesn’t take up any space at all.

Of course, he had the idea, but there were still many difficulties.

Mi Hong felt that he needed to find something that could emit high-frequency current signals. If the frequency of the current signal emission was not high enough, and the speed of transmitting a piece of information was too slow, this machine would be meaningless.

In fact, the difficulties were far greater than Mi Hong imagined.

Chapter 953: Summons

When Mi Hong told Zhong Xueyan about his brilliant idea, Zhong Xueyan was, as always, completely dumbfounded.

However, there was a slight difference from before.

In the past, when Mi Hong talked to Zhong Xueyan about the concepts of movies and televisions, Zhong Xueyan, while not understanding the details, could at least grasp what they were.

But now, he couldn’t even understand what this “computer” Mi Hong was talking about was.

All he knew was that, according to Mi Hong, this thing could make everyone omniscient and omnipotent, even connect the whole world, completely change the way humans collaborate and live, and completely change the world.

This kind of tone sounded pretty cool.

“From now on, just tell me what you need, and I’ll provide it with all my strength,” Zhong Xueyan said.

He was originally just a good-for-nothing playboy, who became rich overnight by accidentally inheriting a few mountains that yielded coal.

Then, relying on his powerful capital, he took over the exclusive business of kerosene lamps, steadily increasing his wealth.

Someone else might think about continuing to earn more money.

But for someone with no ambition, everything was already good enough.

Zhong Xueyan had no particular pursuit, just wanted to find something fun to do, and create a big sensation with Mi Hong, preferably one that would make them famous in history.

“Thank you, I won’t let you down this time. I guarantee that there is no one else in this world who could come up with such a brilliant idea.”

At this moment, Mi Hong regained his confidence.

“That would be great,” Zhong Xueyan said with a smile, but in his heart, he couldn’t help but think of one person.

The Holy Emperor Wu Changqing, who was known as the smartest person in the world.

No matter how amazing and crazy Mi Hong’s ideas were, Zhong Xueyan didn’t think he was smarter than Wu Changqing.

After all, Mi Hong still needed to prove himself, while Wu Changqing had already proven himself.

So, Zhong Xueyan wasn’t really confident about whether this would succeed.

However, that didn’t stop him from funding Mi Hong.

After all, he had no choice; Wu Changqing didn’t need his funding.

Nanjing, Crescent Lake Science and Technology Park.

Crescent Lake Science and Technology Park is a specially designated closed community where all of Great Hua’s cutting-edge technologies are researched and incubated.

Naturally, this includes the computer research team.

The computer team has been established for more than two years, and progress has been very slow.

At this moment, their research has reached the stage of manufacturing transistors.

For them, the difficulty in making computers lies not in the theoretical principles, which are all provided by Wu Changqing.

The only thing that restricts them is Great Hua’s level of precision machining.

Most of the parts needed in computers are small and precise, requiring extremely high processing levels to be made.

If there is even a slight deviation, the electronic components will malfunction.

Those engaged in precision machining cannot manufacture the parts they need, so they can only stare blankly.

It is precisely because of this reason that several researchers in the project team, nominally members of the computer research team, are actually spending all day in the precision machining laboratory.

They need to learn the relevant technologies themselves. The manpower of the precision machining research institute is limited and they don’t have time to help them too much.

Not only the computer project team, but also many other project teams are like this.

What restricts the development of Great Hua is not the ideas and principles, but the level of various processing techniques and talents in various fields.

If their level reaches the point where they can manufacture integrated circuits, Wu Changqing can also take out the technology of integrated circuits, what’s the big deal.

In the palace, Wu Changqing was reading memorials when he saw Liu Changgen’s memorial, which mentioned Mi Hong’s repeated failures in manufacturing televisions.

This made Wu Changqing very speechless.

Mi Hong is a talent, but it seems that he has not played a significant role in the development of Great Hua.

It’s too wasteful; it’s not right to waste talent like this.

“Maybe, I’m being pretentious,” Wu Changqing suddenly thought.

He initially wanted to let Mi Hong grow on his own, maintain his creativity, and expect Mi Hong to create miracles.

However, after learning that Mi Hong was one step behind in developing the television, Wu Changqing realized that he seemed to be wrong.

Even the most talented person has a limit.

Even if Mi Hong is now smart enough to think of inventing satellites to fly out of the earth, inventing mobile phones for communication, and building aircraft carriers, these are all within Wu Changqing’s plan.

In other words, with Mi Hong’s imagination and ability, it is actually unlikely to exceed the scope of technology that Wu Changqing knows.

Not to mention Mi Hong, no one can create high technology that even Wu Changqing doesn’t know.

If there really was such a person, Wu Changqing would suspect that the other party was a time traveler from the twenty-second century.

So, Mi Hong’s creativity is actually not important at all?

Making reasonable use of his abilities can maximize his value, rather than letting him mess around.

Having figured this out, Wu Changqing asked someone to bring Mi Hong over.

“What have you been researching recently?” Wu Changqing asked.

“This humble subject…” Mi Hong stammered.

He didn’t want to tell Wu Changqing about his ‘great’ idea, but he didn’t dare to deceive Wu Changqing, so he was extremely conflicted.

Plus, he didn’t have much guile, and all the things in his heart were expressed.

“Bastard, His Majesty is asking you a question, is there anything you don’t want to say, can’t say, or dare not say?” Zhang Xian directly scolded.

Helpless, Mi Hong had no choice but to tell about his idea of making a computer, as well as the terrifying future of the computer.

Wu Changqing was very shocked when he heard this, but he was more sophisticated and didn’t show it.

He was thinking about whether the Mi Hong in front of him was a time traveler.

After some thought, he felt that he shouldn’t be.

Otherwise, this Mi Hong could be regarded as the most miserable time traveler.

After confirming that Mi Hong was not a time traveler, Wu Changqing began to think about how to treat Mi Hong.

He had many choices, he could treat him with courtesy like Cao Cao, or he could define Mi Hong as a demon who confuses the public and push him out to be beheaded like a fatuous emperor.

However, in the end, Wu Changqing chose to tease him.

Wu Changqing asked Zhang Xian to throw the computer’s manufacturing principles, technology, ideas, and application information in front of Mi Hong.

“Look at how excited you are, as if your idea is very remarkable. Young people shouldn’t be too arrogant, there are many talented people in this world.”

Wu Changqing teased Mi Hong’s excitement and arrogance when he spoke earlier.

Bullying a genius, this feeling is quite interesting.

Wu Changqing really wanted to know what Mi Hong would think after reading these things, would he have a feeling of “why did Yu live when Liang was already here”?

Chapter 954: Direct Arrangements

Mi Hong felt somewhat baffled, but he still took the materials and began to read them.

He was stunned the moment he started reading.

What was written on it was precisely the computer he had envisioned.

At that moment, the thought of his ideas being stolen resurfaced.

However, as he continued to read, he realized that wasn’t the case.

Because the computer envisioned in the materials was far more complete than he had imagined.

The computer he had envisioned was just a prototype, while the one in the materials already had a finished product designed.

At that moment, Mi Hong was struck again. His proudest and most magnificent idea had already been thought of by someone else.

Fortunately, he was defeated by the Holy Emperor Wu Changqing, which wasn’t particularly embarrassing.

If it had been someone else, Mi Hong would have been extremely depressed.

“This humble subject is ashamed…”

Mi Hong was speechless again, but this time he really didn’t know what to say.

By cheating, Wu Changqing, a scholarly underachiever, made a true genius feel ashamed, which gave Wu Changqing the urge to snicker.

Since no one could see through it and the cheating wouldn’t be discovered, Wu Changqing didn’t have to worry about others finding out about his shamelessness. He could also lecture Mi Hong from a condescending position.

As for Mi Hong, he was utterly embarrassed.

Wu Changqing teased Mi Hong for a while, and soon grew tired of his demeanor. He was too lazy to continue to strike him down, and directly arranged, “You will also go to this research institute and study the manufacturing of computers with them. The things in the materials are, after all, just theory.

In the actual manufacturing process, you will encounter countless problems that need to be overcome. Being able to solve those problems is also a remarkable achievement.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Mi Hong didn’t refuse; he had no choice.

Not to mention that he couldn’t refuse the emperor’s arrangement, even if he could, he didn’t know what else he could do after refusing.

Look for a new direction, think about some new inventions?

Mi Hong no longer had any hope. The computer was already the most advanced invention he could think of, a product of a flash of inspiration.

He didn’t know if he would have such inspiration in the future, let alone whether the inspiration that emerged in the future would be unique.

Rather than that, it would be better to participate in the manufacturing of computers.

Although in this way, he would no longer be the first contributor to the manufacture of computers, he would at least be one of the contributors.

Moreover, he was very much looking forward to the emergence of computers.

Once the concept in his mind was realized, he felt that the world would become incredibly exciting.

Mi Hong was poached by the emperor, and Zhong Xueyan could only offer his blessings.

Before leaving, Mi Hong said to him, “I’m sorry, Brother Zhong, I haven’t been able to bring you any profit. I think you can sponsor some inventors who research small inventions in the future, and don’t think about doing any amazing big projects.

Because I have found that in all those fields that can create huge value and have a significant impact on society, the science and technology park has professional teams working on them, and His Majesty is providing them with ideas and technology.

It is almost impossible for individuals to compete with them. On the other hand, some small inventions, or the improvement of certain machines and equipment, these fields that the imperial court has no time to take care of, can be competed for.

Moreover, once breakthroughs are made in these fields, the benefits are also considerable. Like adding a spring to a carriage, adding an inflatable tire to a wheel, adding a little neon to a light bulb.”

These inventions or improvements are not the most core technologies, but their impact is also profound and their value is considerable.

“Brother Mi is too polite, the improvement of kerosene lamps is also thanks to you. This one alone has earned me a lot of money. I also think Brother Mi’s suggestion makes sense and will continue to do so. Besides, sponsoring inventors to create new things is itself a very interesting thing.

It’s just a pity that I won’t be able to go down in history with Brother Mi in the future. But Brother Mi, with the guidance of the Holy Emperor, will surely manufacture computers in the future, and his merits will last for thousands of years.”

The two had worked together for several years, and their relationship was quite good.

Now that Mi Hong was leaving, Zhong Xueyan was also a little reluctant.

However, he was also happy for Mi Hong, who could finally realize his dream.

Mi Hong was lucky because he was born in Great Hua.

In India, after coming into contact with the scientific knowledge of Great Hua, some people also tried to make some inventions.

For example, Gopal, he is a mechanical master.

But now, he has to go to the battlefield.

The war on the front line is tight, and the Mughal Empire has a shortage of troops.

Those adult men, if they don’t have enough money to redeem themselves, they can only serve in the military.

With Gopal’s talent, staying in the rear to do research and improve weapons can bring out his value.

However, in this backward country, there is no such advanced system to guarantee it, and there is no such efficient administrative ability.

When an order is issued from above, the people who handle things below will not care what talents Gopal has.

Either pay the money or serve in the military, there is no third choice.

If it were in Great Hua, even if this situation occurred, there would definitely be a rich man to redeem Gopal.

However, in the Mughal Empire, the scientific research atmosphere is too poor, and most people can’t see the value contained in Gopal. Naturally, no one will redeem him.

“Gopal, why are you going to the battlefield too?”

In the military camp, someone recognized Gopal.

“There’s no way, I heard that we lost the battle on the front line and need reinforcements.”

Gopal said.

“Didn’t they say that the people of Great Hua are very weak, why are we still losing battles?”

Shahdo was confused.

Hearing his confusion, Gopal sighed in his heart. He was one of the few people in the Mughal Empire who knew more about the situation in Great Hua.

Great Hua is weak?

Gopal often felt ashamed when he heard this statement in his own country.

However, he had no way to change it, and those people believed this statement.

If he stood up and said that Great Hua was very powerful, he would be ridiculed for worshiping foreigners, boosting the morale of others, and destroying his own prestige. In short, he would not receive any good reviews.

Therefore, Gopal had always chosen to remain silent.

But now, he discovered the drawbacks of this false propaganda.

The soldiers know nothing about the strength of the enemy, can such an army win against Great Hua?

Gopal was pessimistic about this, and extremely pessimistic.

He knew that Great Hua already had an indestructible armored division and countless powerful artillery pieces.

He also knew that the defense line that their empire had built for three years was breached and surrounded by the Huaxia army in less than three days.

Hundreds of thousands of troops are about to be wiped out.

At this time, the Mughal Empire had reached its most dangerous moment.

However, what Gopal was depressed about was not that the country might be destroyed, but that he was depressed that he had to wade into this muddy water.

Chapter 955: Decisive Battle at Durgapur

Durgapur: the battle between Great Hua and the Mughal Empire had reached its most intense point.

The current situation was that one hundred thousand Huaxia army soldiers of the First Army were besieging seventy thousand Indian soldiers within the Impregnable Defense Line.

Meanwhile, two hundred thousand Indian troops were concentrated around Durgapur. Their vanguard had already reached the Huaxia army First Army, launching a fierce assault in an attempt to break through.

The other one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers of the Great Hua army, with thirty thousand setting up a new encirclement, twenty thousand stationed in various locations, and one hundred thousand turning back to strike directly at Durgapur.

Therefore, Durgapur had become the crucial point of this campaign.

If the Indian army could pass through Durgapur entirely before the Huaxia army Second Army returned to reinforce, then this battle would still be worth fighting.

The outcome might still be inevitable, but the Indian army could at least struggle for a while longer and cause significant trouble for the Huaxia army.

However, if they had not passed through Durgapur before the Huaxia army reinforcements arrived, then their complete defeat could basically be declared.

This was also the most troublesome aspect for Ranchi at the moment. A high ground in Durgapur was occupied by the Huaxia army, garrisoned by a reinforced regiment of about two thousand soldiers.

Without taking this hill, they would have to detour, wasting a lot of time.

So, under normal circumstances, any general would choose to take this hill.

Ranchi had initially ordered this as well, but after a day of fighting, they still hadn’t managed to take it, infuriating Ranchi to no end.

The Huaxia army only had two thousand soldiers, only two thousand!

Even with the advantage of terrain and equipment, the Indian army had a solid two hundred thousand troops, a full one hundred times the manpower.

Although only a few thousand soldiers could be committed to the attack at any one time, it was indeed a bit unreasonable that they hadn’t taken this nameless hill in a whole day.

“As things stand, we can only use lives to fill it. Their ammunition is limited. As long as we send people to attack in shifts without stopping, it won’t be long before the enemy’s bullets are used up. Then, we can enter melee combat and completely eliminate the enemy.”

Indian army senior officer Nagar said.

“How can that be? Who knows how many bullets the Huaxia army has? What if they have hundreds of thousands of bullets? Where would we get so many soldiers to sacrifice?”

Another Indian army senior officer retorted.

“Then do you have a better way?”

Nagar asked.

This question stumped everyone again.

“No matter the cost, we must take this high ground before dark.”

Ranchi gave a death order. Although he didn’t say it explicitly, it was equivalent to agreeing with Nagar’s suggestion to use lives to fill the gap.

Early in the morning, the Indian army began an offensive against the nameless high ground.

This time, the Indian army prepared ten legions to charge in batches.

Although they were using the lives of soldiers to deplete the Huaxia army’s ammunition, they still needed to use some tactics.

Rushing up in a swarm would probably not be enough to die.

The standard issue for Huaxia army soldiers was three magazines, one hundred and twenty bullets.

Because Kang Qiliang had anticipated a bitter battle when he retreated here, he not only moved all the ammunition to the mountain but also borrowed a batch from friendly forces in the vicinity.

Therefore, the soldiers of the 318th Regiment had an average of one hundred and fifty bullets per person, and that didn’t even include machine gun bullets.

It was definitely unrealistic to completely exhaust the Huaxia army’s bullets.

Therefore, the Indian army’s plan was to deplete the Huaxia army’s machine gun bullets. As long as the Huaxia army’s machine guns ran out of bullets, their firepower would drop a level, and the Indian army could charge up the high ground.

Each of the ten legions responsible for the attack had about four thousand soldiers.

The number of people couldn’t be too large, otherwise, with the limited area of attack, the personnel would be too dense.

The number of people couldn’t be too small, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to create enough pressure on the Huaxia army.

Without pressure, the Huaxia army could calmly fire their guns and save more ammunition.

Only by giving the Huaxia army enough pressure would the Huaxia army fire at full power, regardless of ammunition consumption, to prevent them from rushing up the position.

“Pay attention to concealment and charge in a dispersed manner.”

The Indian army officer did not tell these soldiers that they were going to deplete the Huaxia army’s bullets, otherwise, these soldiers would probably mutiny directly. That would be too disrespectful to human life.

However, some smart soldiers felt something different from the officer’s slogan.

Previously, the Indian army officers required the charging soldiers not to retreat and to do their best to take the high ground.

But now, the slogan had become “pay attention to concealment.” In other words, preserving one’s own life was the main priority, and whether or not the high ground could be taken was secondary.

Those soldiers who noticed this, not many of them could understand why the officer would make such a reminder.

However, this order was ultimately much better than fighting to the death, and the chances of survival would be greater.

With the order issued, the Indian army artillery began to fire.

This was a rare situation where the Indian army had an advantage in artillery. The Huaxia army stationed on the high ground had no heavy artillery, only some light mortars, whose range was not as far as the Indian army’s artillery.

After the Indian army’s shelling began, the infantry immediately began to charge.

Their shelling was only used for fire cover, and the duration would be very short because they didn’t have that many shells to expend.

If they had enough shells, they wouldn’t have to worry. They could just pour shells onto this mountain and cripple the Huaxia army.

“Get ready, the enemy is about to charge up. Pay attention to saving ammunition.”

On the nameless high ground, the Huaxia army observer noticed the enemy’s movements and blew the whistle to remind the soldiers to enter the position.

Although the Indian army’s shelling was still ongoing, its lethality was not great, and it would stop soon.

They had to seize the time to enter the position, take their places, and prepare.

“We have to save ammunition again. This battle is really not enjoyable.”

A soldier complained.

“Do you want to die happily or survive with difficulty? Stop talking nonsense and be careful. No matter how weak the enemy is, they are still people and won’t let you handle them at will.”

The platoon leader reprimanded.

This would be a bitter battle, and they had to leave some leeway.

Once the bullets were used up, then these two thousand people would have no chance of winning.

Melee combat is about numbers.

No matter how you look at it, these two thousand people could not possibly be a match for two hundred thousand.

Even if they could inflict some damage on the enemy before they died, they would definitely not survive.

And this was what they didn’t want to see.

“Hehe, I’m just saying it casually. Platoon leader, don’t worry, I will definitely eliminate one enemy with one bullet later and let them see my marksmanship.”

Liu Liang immediately put on a smiling face, somewhat frivolous.

However, platoon leader Zhao Ping didn’t care.

Liu Liang seemed frivolous, but he was still reliable in battle and could be trusted.

Chapter 956: Perfunctory

The Indian army’s artillery fire gradually died down, and the Huaxia army’s artillery fire began to sound.

They didn’t have many mortars, only twenty.

With sufficient ammunition, the firepower of twenty mortars firing rapidly was actually very fierce.

But now the Huaxia army had to conserve ammunition, so they had to aim carefully when firing.

These twenty mortars only served to deplete the enemy a little.

In any case, the Indian army was not greatly affected. They advanced in skirmish lines, relying on some roadside cover or shell craters, moving forward with their backs bent.

If they could provide a little more fire support and cross-advance, the scene would have a bit of a modern warfare feel.

However, even these very primitive offensive tactics brought trouble to the Huaxia army.

The enemies no longer lined up stupidly. They needed to aim to kill, and most of the time the enemies were moving or behind cover.

“Damn it, these monkeys have gotten smarter,” Liu Liang cursed. He missed two shots in a row, failing to hit his target.

At times like this, machine guns were more reliable.

As soon as an Indian soldier popped his head out, a burst of bullets swept over, leaving the Indian soldier with nowhere to escape.

“Let them get closer before firing,” Zhao Ping shouted.

Letting the enemy get closer before firing naturally made it easier to hit and saved ammunition.

However, this also brought greater danger to the defending side.

Judging the distance required the experience of the officers.

Zhao Ping’s military skills were mediocre. He didn’t guess that the Indian army was feigning an attack to deplete their ammunition. He just felt that the enemy’s offensive didn’t seem fierce enough, and that letting the enemy get a little closer was still under control.

The weakening of the Huaxia army’s firepower naturally delighted the Indian army’s assault troops.

“Charge!” an Indian army officer shouted.

Those mid-level officers all knew this was a feigned attack, but if there was an opportunity to attack, it would be great, even a pleasant surprise.

The Indian soldiers also felt the weakening of the Huaxia army’s firepower. Although they didn’t understand why, they felt it was a good thing.

After receiving the order to charge, these people accelerated their speed and reduced their cover.

When they charged closer, the Huaxia army’s firepower returned to normal levels.

Immediately, those soldiers who were still charging headlong fell one after another. Then, these people quickly looked for cover and exchanged fire with the Huaxia army.

Now, they were also using breech-loading rifles, although they were very poor in performance, often malfunctioning, and had terrible accuracy.

However, this was still a proper breech-loading rifle, which could pose some threat to the Huaxia army. The previous smoothbore guns were about as useful as fire pokers in front of the Huaxia army.

“Keep charging!” The Indian army officer was still not satisfied with the current situation. The Huaxia army’s firepower had always been at a normal level, and there was no sign of a full-scale barrage due to panic.

At this rate of consumption, it would take a long time to use up the Huaxia army’s ammunition.

The Huaxia army could afford to drag it out, but they couldn’t.

Therefore, the Indian army officer issued the order to charge again.

Having to issue the order to charge again, the Indian soldiers could only bite the bullet and go.

And on the next section of the road, there was no cover for them to hide behind. It had all been cleared by the Huaxia army.

They could only rely on speed to charge up this section of road.

They had only popped their heads out and charged a short distance when the Huaxia army opened fire with all its might.

Without the need for officers to order, the soldiers knew that this was a general attack when they saw the enemies charging out headlong. At this time, they must not think about saving ammunition.

Firing the most bullets in the shortest amount of time was the best choice.

A large number of Indian soldiers fell instantly. When the Indian soldiers behind saw this, they quickly retreated.

It was too terrifying. That wasn’t a charge; it was simply suicide.

Charging head-on against a unit armed with semi-automatic rifles without fire support was a very stupid act.

The heavy casualties forced the Indian army to maintain its distance from the Huaxia army.

The commander in charge of the first wave of the attack looked at the Great Hua watch on his wrist. Seeing that the time was up, he immediately ordered a retreat and replaced them with the next batch of troops.

Currently, in most countries and regions of the world, the military system was still stuck in the feudal era.

That is, the soldiers were loyal to their respective officers, and then the officers were loyal to the king, similar to the military system during the Great Ming Dynasty.

This military system would bring an unavoidable problem, that is, the officers in power liked to preserve their strength.

The troops below were the source of their power, and they would not easily risk their lives.

The drawbacks of this system were very large. Not only was the combat effectiveness poor, but it was also easy for rebellions to occur.

When Wu Changqing expanded the army at the beginning, he directly deprived the officers of the right to recruit soldiers and controlled the military pay.

And Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire, in theory, had a better starting point than Wu Changqing, but he did not realize this danger, or did not have enough courage to break this situation.

Therefore, for the reform of the army, he only focused on creating new weapons, and other things did not change much.

At this time, the drawbacks of this backward military system were revealed on the battlefield.

The general in charge of the first wave of the attack never thought about fighting to the death. He just wanted to wait until the time was up, then clock out and sit aside, hoping that other troops would wear down the Huaxia army, and he would come out at the end to pick up the spoils.

If the general didn’t have the determination to capture the hill, the soldiers were even less likely to have it.

As soon as they heard they could retreat, the soldiers ran faster than rabbits.

The high ground, which had been quite lively, instantly became quiet, making the Huaxia army a little confused.

Immediately afterwards, the second wave of Indian troops began to appear, slowly approaching the Huaxia army.

The people in the second wave of the attack were not stupid either. Seeing that the first wave of people were just going through the motions, they were even less willing to risk their lives.

They just wanted to get through this period of time, and their actions were naturally procrastinating.

This was excellent news for the Huaxia army.

If the enemy attacked without gaps, it would also be a challenge for the Huaxia army.

This kind of tense battle could easily exhaust people.

Without rest, continuous combat would greatly reduce combat effectiveness.

Not to mention people, even guns were more likely to be damaged if they maintained such high-intensity combat.

“It feels like these people aren’t here to fight,” a Huaxia army soldier muttered.

“Hahaha, you are still too young,” a company commander laughed.

He was an old soldier, a real old soldier, who had experienced many periods such as the Great Ming, Great Shun, Qing Dynasty, and Great Hua, so he was very familiar with this phenomenon of the Indian army.

This was exactly the same as the army during the Great Ming Dynasty.

He was too familiar with this scene.

Chapter 957: Outdated Military System

The Indian army sluggishly entered the Huaxia army’s firing range, but the Huaxia army ignored them.

Anyway, they all knew that the Indian army was just going through the motions and had no intention of fighting to the death, so there was no need to worry too much.

The Huaxia army not firing made the Indian army feel awkward.

They didn’t want to get too close, as that would greatly increase their chances of being shot.

However, since the Huaxia army hadn’t opened fire to stop them, it seemed unreasonable for them not to continue advancing.

Helpless, the Indian army could only continue to advance cautiously.

The Huaxia army continued to ignore them, making the Indian army’s cautious advance look extremely comical.

Nagar, who was overseeing the battle from the foot of the mountain, was furious.

“Ahad, is this the kind of troops you lead?”

Nagar questioned. The second wave of attacking troops belonged to Ahad.

Ahad, on the other hand, came from the Islamabad area, and there was still a significant divide between him and the people from the Delhi area.

The Mughal Empire was a multi-ethnic, multi-religious country with complex internal power dynamics.

In short, Nagar and Ahad were definitely not on the same page.

“Isn’t the purpose of this battle to deplete the Huaxia army’s ammunition?”

Ahad retorted.

“The problem is that with your troops’ fighting style, I’m afraid they won’t even be able to deplete much of the Huaxia army’s ammunition,”

Nagar said coldly.

“They are just being a bit too cautious. I will punish them when they come down,”

Ahad readily admitted, even stating that he would punish them.

However, in this outdated military system where soldiers belonged to private individuals, the power to punish soldiers was also retained by those individuals.

Even if Nagar’s official position was nominally higher than Ahad’s, he had no right to punish Ahad’s soldiers.

Therefore, Ahad’s so-called punishment was just empty words.

He had plenty of ways to get around it, such as punishing the soldiers by skipping a meal, but then compensating them by increasing the portion size or adding some meat in the next meal.

Nagar naturally knew these tricks, and could only snort coldly at Ahad’s words.

Then, he began to summon other generals to change the combat objective.

The original objective was to deplete the Huaxia army’s ammunition, but Nagar realized that using this as the objective would only give those generals an excuse to drag their feet.

Therefore, Nagar directly changed the combat objective, demanding that each general capture the high ground.

“This… isn’t that easy,”

General Wangdu, who was originally responsible for the third wave of attack, was unhappy.

If the objective was to deplete the Huaxia army’s ammunition, there was no need to fight to the death, and he naturally had no objections to being ranked third.

But if his subordinates had to risk their lives to capture this hilltop, he was unwilling to be ranked third. He would rather be the tenth wave.

Let others go and wear down the Huaxia army first, and then he would go up last to pick up the spoils.

“General Wangdu, this is the battlefield, not a place for jokes. Soldiers must obey orders,”

Nagar said.

“If you want us to obey orders, you need to have credibility. Changing orders frequently makes it difficult to gain the trust of the troops,”

Wangdu said unhappily.

Wangdu and the generals in the first few waves of attack were all unhappy and began to complain.

The generals in the last few waves, on the other hand, were very supportive of Nagar.

Because as long as the first few waves of people fought to the death with the Huaxia army and severely depleted them, they would have a chance to capture the hilltop in one fell swoop.

And that would all be merit, capital for demanding military pay and rewards in the future, and a prerequisite for expanding the army.

The crowd argued endlessly, turning the command post into a chaotic mess.

At that moment, Nagar felt a headache coming on.

This kind of army was simply too difficult to command.

“Shut up! I have already issued the order. Anyone who dares to disobey me will have to face my report to General Ranchi.”

Nagar’s own credibility was not enough, so he could only bring out Ranchi to threaten these people.

Sure enough, upon hearing Nagar say this, Wangdu and the others dared not complain any further.

Although they were also small ‘warlords’ with their own people, they had too few troops and could not do as they pleased in front of Ranchi, so they had to obey orders.

Before long, the second wave of Indian troops retreated.

When they came down, they were all talking and laughing, which was enough to show how insignificant their casualties were.

Wangdu looked at them with an expression of extreme anger.

Wangdu’s troops took over and charged towards the high ground.

Because Nagar had made harsh remarks, Wangdu did not dare to slack off. This was the battlefield, and some things were not to be trifled with.

Therefore, he also issued a death order.

Death order, that is to say, unless the soldiers completely collapsed and fled on their own, they had to keep charging until they died in battle.

This order was very cruel, and the resentment in the hearts of the soldiers who heard it soared to the sky.

Why could the people in front fight casually, but when it was their turn, they had to fight to the death? Wasn’t this just bullying?

Depressed as they were, the soldiers could only carry out such ridiculous orders from above.

They charged into the Huaxia army’s firing range, but the Huaxia army still did not open fire.

This was a slightly better situation for them, at least it could reduce the losses a little.

Then, they used cover to continue their charge.

“Hey, this wave of people is charging pretty fast,”

One of the Huaxia army soldiers said, his senses were quite sharp.

As soon as he said this, the other soldiers also noticed.

And the Huaxia army officers naturally also noticed the difference.

Although they couldn’t figure out what the Indian army was up to for the time being, it was actually very easy to deal with this situation, and that was to fight.

In short, they couldn’t let the enemy get too close too easily.

“Open fire!”

The Huaxia army’s officers at all levels issued the order to open fire, and suddenly, gunfire erupted everywhere.

Once the Huaxia army opened fire, the Indian army’s advance speed was greatly reduced.

Their soldiers were looking for cover, and then using the cover to shoot at the Huaxia army, trying to suppress the Huaxia army a little.

The effect, of course, was also a little bit.

Under the cover of firepower, the Indian soldiers continued to advance.

Soon, they rushed to a place fifty meters away from the Huaxia army.

This distance, if there was no obstruction from the Huaxia army, would only take about ten seconds for the Indian army.

“Blow the charge whistle!”

The Indian army blew the whistle for a general attack. The appearance of this sound meant that a full-scale charge was about to begin.

“Fight them to the death, these grandsons are for real!”

The Huaxia army officers were also shouting.

“These little bastards, using feints and bluffs, are quite insidious,”

Zhao Ping cursed.

He didn’t guess the truth, and thought that the Indian army was deliberately using a combination of feints and real attacks to confuse their side.

Although the Indian army didn’t do it on purpose, it inadvertently achieved the effect of deceiving the Huaxia army.

It was not until they approached this distance that the Huaxia army realized the danger.

This distance was already quite dangerous. If the Indian army recklessly charged up, the Huaxia army might not be able to stop them.

Chapter 958: A Perilous Scene

The Indian soldiers charged forward with wild cries, while the Huaxia army unleashed their full firepower.

As the Indian troops drew closer, the Huaxia army’s grenades began to take effect.

Besides grenades, they also had landmines and flamethrowers, making it increasingly dangerous the closer they got to the Huaxia army.

Landmines exploded constantly, causing immense suffering to the Indian soldiers.

Faced with these landmines in front of the position, they had no good solution but to charge through, hoping for the best.

After finally clearing the landmines with the lives of their soldiers, the Indian troops, just as they were about to reach the Huaxia army, had to deal with a barbed wire fence.

However, the current Indian army had learned to be smarter and had a lot of experience in dealing with this kind of barbed wire.

Large numbers of dead, and even seriously wounded soldiers, were thrown onto the barbed wire. Using their weight to collapse the wire, they then stepped on the corpses of their comrades to pass through this final obstacle and reach the Huaxia army soldiers.

“Da da da…”

The Huaxia army machine gunners didn’t care how close the enemy was, focusing solely on firing at the most densely packed areas.

And their safety was naturally the responsibility of others.

In terms of coordination, the Huaxia army was far superior to the Indian army.

Although Huaxia army soldiers also began to suffer casualties, the rate was much slower than that of the Indian army.

The onrushing Indian soldiers fell just as quickly.

Overall, the Indian army suffered a great loss, and it seemed as if they were on the verge of collapse at any moment.

In some local areas, however, they had the advantage.

The Huaxia army had limited forces and could not deploy heavy troops in every position.

Some places had fewer soldiers, and facing such a fierce attack, they were simply overwhelmed.

The defensive line where Zhao Ping was stationed had already been breached, and dozens of Indian soldiers had stormed into their position. Their platoon was now down to only twenty men.

In bayonet fighting, the Huaxia army actually had a slight advantage.

However, they couldn’t withstand the sheer number of opponents.

Most of the time, Huaxia army soldiers were fighting two-on-one, and even if they could take one down, they often couldn’t protect themselves.

Liu Liang was already being approached by two Indian soldiers. At this point, his marksmanship was useless, and he could only stab one of them with his bayonet.

Liu Liang didn’t plan on maneuvering with these two, because he knew that trying to defend against attacks from two directions would inevitably lead to trouble over time.

They were all ordinary people, and Liu Liang didn’t have the confidence to win against two, only hoping to take one down with him if possible.

This was a very rational choice, and not many people could maintain such rationality in the face of life and death.

Most people would choose to run when facing two opponents alone.

Liu Liang’s desperate charge caught his opponent off guard, and the bayonet pierced into his chest.

However, when Liu Liang tried to pull out his bayonet to face the other Indian soldier, he found it wasn’t so easy and was delayed for a moment.

At this moment, the Indian soldier’s bayonet also pierced into Liu Liang’s body.

“The troops need to practice their bayonet skills.”

A Huaxia army battlefield observer said from afar.

When fighting against the Qing Dynasty in the past, the Huaxia army’s bayonet skills were quite impressive, and fighting two-on-one wasn’t a problem.

Liu Liang’s actions just now were not quite correct. In one-on-one situations, the goal is to kill with one strike, but in two-on-one situations, it is more important to protect yourself flexibly.

When stabbing, you shouldn’t use all your strength.

Simply stabbing the opponent, the pain alone can cause them to lose their fighting ability.

And if you don’t stab too deep, it’s easier to pull the bayonet out, and it won’t get stuck in the sternum.

Injure one first, then fight the other.

Liu Liang obviously didn’t know these techniques at all. He stabbed too hard, and when he found he couldn’t pull it out, he didn’t decisively drop his weapon and dodge flexibly.

In the end, the result was that he was stabbed by the other Indian soldier.

Although this spirit of sacrificing one’s life is commendable, bayonet fighting techniques should be practiced more, so that there is a greater chance of survival on the battlefield.

Being stabbed caused Liu Liang so much pain that he could no longer exert any force.

Lying on the ground, he could only pull the pin on his grenade and die together with the enemy.

“Sigh…”

The battlefield observer felt very sad when he saw this scene.

However, he had seen too many similar scenes.

The current Huaxia army is quite fortunate, as this kind of dangerous combat rarely occurs. In most cases, they are overwhelmingly defeating their opponents.

Liu Liang and Zhao Ping’s platoon could only be said to have bad luck.

In fact, the Indian troops in other directions were already in retreat. They had suffered heavy losses and had lost their fighting spirit.

It was rare for the Huaxia army to have enemies reach their faces. This time, the Indian army had caused them to lose face, and they were all very angry, continuing to strafe the fleeing Indian troops.

The pathetic Indian troops died in large numbers when charging and died in large numbers again when fleeing.

Of the nearly four thousand troops, more than fifteen hundred were lost in one battle.

As the retreating troops passed by the soldiers of Aihard, they all looked at him with vicious eyes.

If they weren’t afraid of being punished, they would probably have rushed up and beaten him up by now.

If his attack hadn’t been so perfunctory, Nagar wouldn’t have been angered into changing the combat objective, causing them to suffer heavy casualties.

On the Huaxia army position, soldiers were treating their own wounded, clearing the battlefield, and repairing the defenses.

They needed to hurry, because the third wave of the Indian army’s attack had already begun. The Indian troops at the foot of the mountain had already moved out and would be within their range in less than two minutes.

This intense combat left the Huaxia army soldiers with no time to grieve.

Originally, one soldier was heartbroken and about to cry because his fellow villager had died in battle, but when the squad leader said the enemy was coming, he was forced back into the fight.

“Quick, ignore the enemy’s wounded, count your own ammunition, collect the ammunition on the battlefield, throw away the corpses on the barbed wire…”

The dead soldiers would have some bullets and grenades on them, and there would also be some ammunition scattered on the position.

This ammunition could not be wasted and had to be collected.

Some of the scrapped guns and machine gun barrels also needed to be replaced.

Some positions that had lost men also needed to be reinforced.

In short, there was a lot of preparation work to be done.

And the Indian army obviously didn’t intend to give the Huaxia army this time. They approached the Huaxia army’s position as quickly as possible.

Gunfire rang out again, and this time the Huaxia army didn’t let the enemy approach so easily.

Saving ammunition wasn’t supposed to be done like that.

The situation just now was actually quite dangerous. As long as the Indian army didn’t collapse and continued to fight with the intention of dying together, the Huaxia army would have lost at least several hundred men.

But because of the Indian army’s mid-way collapse, the Huaxia army only lost more than sixty men in the previous wave. The number of wounded wasn’t counted, as most of them simply bandaged themselves up and continued to fight.

Only those who were seriously injured were qualified to be carried to the cave to rest.

Chapter 959: Repeated Attrition

Before the Huaxia army could fully prepare, the Indian army had already entered their firing range.

Left with no choice, the Huaxia army had to engage in a hasty defense.

As the Indian army advanced, some soldiers with better marksmanship began to take potshots.

A hit was ideal, but even a miss was just a bullet spent, no big deal.

These sporadic shots naturally couldn’t halt the Indian army’s advance.

As the distance between the two sides closed to less than two hundred meters, the Huaxia army unleashed its full firepower. A portion of the Indian army also found cover to return fire, while the rest pressed forward.

The battlefield is the best place to learn. After multiple engagements with the Huaxia army, the Indian army had become increasingly clever, almost mastering the essence of fire support.

If they were equipped with machine guns and artillery, they might actually be able to contend with the Huaxia army.

Even without machine guns and artillery, the tactical level of these Indian troops had caught up with that of European armies, and their weapons were nearly on par.

Tactics are easy to learn, but weapon manufacturing technology is difficult to master.

Without powerful firepower, the Indian army was always at a significant disadvantage. Moreover, they were on the offensive, which made their situation even more dire.

Large numbers of soldiers fell during the charge, their only real contribution being to deplete the Huaxia army’s ammunition.

If the position of this high ground wasn’t so strategically awkward, the Indian army really wouldn’t want to attack this forsaken place.

Unfortunately, they now had to pay a heavy price for a place that wasn’t of much value to them.

The Indian army charged again, but the scene was no different from the previous wave.

The only difference was that this time, the Indian army’s attack wasn’t as resolute. They didn’t even break into the Huaxia army’s position before the troops began to retreat.

They retreated to a relatively safe distance, then exchanged fire with the Huaxia army, holding out until time ran out.

This outcome infuriated Negar.

He moved his own troops to the foot of the mountain to supervise the battle.

Negar announced that any unit that failed to achieve results and break into the Great Hua position would not be allowed to retreat. There would be no time limit, and those who disobeyed orders would be executed without exception.

These were serious words, and could potentially incite a mutiny.

However, Negar did it anyway.

The fifth wave of Indian troops went into action cursing, but the situation was completely different with and without supervision.

Without supervision, they could safely run away. There might be punishment afterward, but it certainly wouldn’t be a capital offense.

With supervision, there was a high probability of being executed for running away.

Left with no choice, they had to fight harder.

They wouldn’t retreat unless absolutely necessary.

This time, relying on heavy casualties, the Indian army broke through to the Huaxia army’s first line of defense.

Left with no choice, the Huaxia army had to retreat.

While engaging in melee combat with the Indian army might be manly, it wasn’t a rational choice.

For the Huaxia army, maintaining distance and making full use of their firepower advantage was the way to go.

Having captured the first line of defense, the Indian army officers were a little excited. This was a rare victory.

Subsequently, the sixth batch of Indian troops was sent to the front line, giving the Huaxia army no chance to rest.

Faced with such reckless Indian troops, Kang Qiliang, the Huaxia army’s regimental commander, was already considering a breakout.

Although they currently held a great advantage on the surface, once the enemy broke into their position, they would be in danger of being completely annihilated.

For the armies of other countries, the death of two or three thousand men wouldn’t be a big deal, and wouldn’t even be considered a major defeat.

However, for the Huaxia army, they hadn’t had a unit wiped out since the founding of the nation.

If the Mughal Empire were to accomplish this, it would be enough for them to boast about. Although it wouldn’t affect the final outcome of the war between the two countries, the process would inevitably be more tortuous.

“Hold out until night, and we’ll break out under cover of darkness,” Kang Qiliang said.

“I’m afraid it won’t be easy to break out, we’re surrounded by enemies. By night, the soldiers will definitely be extremely exhausted. It’ll be difficult to break out under such circumstances,” one of his subordinates said.

They hadn’t even had lunch yet, there was no time.

If they were to break out, they probably wouldn’t have time for dinner either.

If the Indian army was ruthless enough, they might even attack non-stop at night.

At that time, it wouldn’t be a question of whether they could eat dinner, but whether they could survive.

This time, Kang Qiliang finally realized that weapons weren’t omnipotent. Numerical superiority could also play a huge role on the battlefield.

“How about we take a gamble and bet that friendly forces can arrive by early tomorrow morning? If reinforcements can arrive by tomorrow morning, we can be saved. Defense is much easier than breaking out,” another subordinate suggested.

They all knew that reinforcements were rushing to their aid, but they didn’t know when they would arrive.

If the reinforcements encountered any accidents on the way and couldn’t arrive in time, choosing to hold their ground would be a dead end.

At this time, Kang Qiliang’s heart was being tested.

“Then let’s take a gamble. I believe in our friendly forces,” Kang Qiliang said, after considering all factors, choosing to bet the lives of nearly two thousand men.

At this moment, on the position, the Indian army’s attack had reached its most intense stage.

With the supervision team behind them, retreating was also death, so they might as well charge forward.

The worst outcome was still death, which wasn’t much different from running away. Once they succeeded, the benefits would be enormous.

With this in mind, the Indian army charged fiercely.

Moreover, because the distance between the two sides was relatively close, they quickly rushed to the front of the Huaxia army.

“Boom.”

The sound of a large number of grenades exploding.

The Huaxia army collectively threw out grenades, blasting the Indian army into a chaotic mess.

Then, they engaged the remaining enemies in bayonet combat.

The Huaxia army soldiers all knew that they were surrounded, and if the defense line fell, there would only be one outcome: death.

The Indian army didn’t take prisoners, because they usually had limited opportunities to kill Huaxia soldiers.

When they had the opportunity to kill a large number of Huaxia soldiers, they wouldn’t take prisoners, because they needed a major victory to publicize and boost morale.

Forced into a desperate situation, the Huaxia army performed extremely stubbornly.

The soldiers in front had already engaged in melee combat, while the Huaxia army in the rear continued to fire, preventing the Indian army from continuing to charge up.

The Huaxia army was fighting very hard at this time, but so was the Indian army.

Their casualties were even heavier than those of the Huaxia army, and the soldiers were closer to collapse.

What was even more deadly was that they had a way out.

People with a way out are often unwilling to fight to the death.

When those Indian soldiers saw that the people who charged up were basically dead, the people behind began to hesitate and were unwilling to go forward.

Although they knew that there was a supervision team behind them, that was something for later.

Even if they were killed by the supervision team, they would die later. But charging up now meant immediate death.

In this situation, they could only pray that the people in the supervision team would turn a blind eye and choose to retreat.

Chapter 960: Wolves Among Sheep

Negar was frustrated. Every time, it seemed like success was just around the corner, but at the last moment, everything fell apart.

Of course, he knew that the final moment was the most dangerous and the easiest to collapse.

However, knowing and understanding didn’t mean he could tolerate it. He hated that these soldiers lacked the spirit of self-sacrifice.

Facing the two thousand-plus men who had retreated, Negar was conflicted.

If he really executed them, the problem would become serious.

Executing over two thousand of his own men would have a huge impact and severe consequences, most likely triggering mutiny in other units.

Moreover, those men also had backers, backers with positions much higher than his.

In the end, Negar lacked the courage and didn’t dare to bear such consequences.

Therefore, the threat of executing those who retreated was just empty words.

This allowed the seventh wave of Indian soldiers to breathe a sigh of relief. Since the military police were just for show, there was nothing to worry about.

They would rush up, exchange fire with the Huaxia army for a while, complete their mission, and clock out.

Anyway, the previous wave hadn’t been punished, so they shouldn’t be either, or it would be too unfair.

However, they forgot that the sixth wave had at least fought seriously before retreating when they couldn’t hold on any longer.

They, on the other hand, were just killing time and didn’t put any pressure on the Huaxia army at all.

This made Negar even more annoyed, regretting that he hadn’t killed anyone earlier.

But now, he couldn’t kill anyone even more.

Military orders were like mountains. On the battlefield, officers couldn’t make empty promises or threats.

Once they failed to deliver, they would lose their authority, and no one would take them seriously anymore.

Negar was now facing this situation. His previous words had been so harsh, but the result was all bark and no bite. Everyone knew he was all bluster.

Since that was the case, there was no need to worry or fight desperately.

The following two waves of attacks were more perfunctory than the last, almost as bad as the second wave.

Just as Negar was considering deploying troops for a night battle, a signalman ran over.

“General, the Huaxia army’s armored forces are returning to reinforce us. They are less than thirty kilometers away from us.”

This news was like a bolt from the blue, striking everyone present.

Thirty kilometers. If there were no obstacles, the Huaxia army could arrive in less than half an hour.

If there were some obstacles, it would take them only a little longer than half an hour.

The surrounding area was all plains, and they hadn’t dug any fortifications in advance, making them unable to stop the Huaxia army’s armored division.

“Are you all satisfied now? Are you satisfied?”

Negar sneered at the generals. If everyone had gone all out earlier, they would have already taken the high ground. Their main force could have quickly passed through, and they could have even used the high ground to hinder the Huaxia army a little.

In short, the situation would be much better than it was now.

But now, most of them could only flee in panic.

With the arrival of the Huaxia army’s armored division, they had no units that could compete with it.

“Let’s launch one more fierce attack!”

They wouldn’t shed tears until they saw the coffin. Now, someone was finally shedding tears and getting nervous.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

“It’s too late. Let’s retreat.”

“Retreat? Retreat where? Where is there a way out?”

“Then, are we supposed to choose to surrender?”

…

In this extremely critical moment, these high-ranking officers fell into argument.

Moreover, they were arguing about whether to flee or surrender. Not a single one of them was determined to fight to the death.

The Huaxia army’s armored division had already made a name for itself in the Ganges Plain, striking fear into the hearts of these men.

At the same time, the Huaxia army’s armored division had made contact with the last of the Indian troops.

The Huaxia army naturally didn’t hesitate and charged straight at them.

This charge was like a tiger entering a flock of sheep.

Anyone who had seen a tiger enter a flock of sheep would find it difficult to sympathize with the lambs, only feeling that they deserved it.

Because after a tiger enters a flock of sheep, it will randomly kill one and then begin to enjoy it in front of all the other lambs.

And the other lambs, if they can escape, they will escape.

If they are trapped in a sheepfold and cannot escape, they will stand by and watch. No sheep will use its horns to fight back.

This is the silence of the lambs.

If these lambs had any spirit, they could line up and let the tiger bite them to death. What’s more, they have horns and hooves.

At this moment, the Indian soldiers had also become silent lambs.

Facing the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles, they became extremely docile.

The Huaxia army’s armored vehicles were certainly powerful, but they were far from invincible.

The rifles in the hands of the Indian soldiers could easily threaten the machine gunners on the turret. Several grenades tied together could also damage the tracks of the armored vehicles.

However, after the Huaxia army charged into the Mughal army, they met no resistance and slaughtered the Indian soldiers at will.

The Indian soldiers were either busy fleeing or busy surrendering, just like silent lambs.

In reality, one shouldn’t overly mock the cowardice of the Indian soldiers.

Living beings and humans ultimately have a survival instinct and a sense of hope.

Those lambs probably knew that the tiger would leave once it was full.

Those Indian soldiers probably knew that as long as they didn’t resist, they would have a good chance of surviving.

The Huaxia army was much more ferocious than a tiger. They wouldn’t be satisfied with eating just one. They had a big appetite and wanted to eat all the lambs in one go.

The first armored division directly pierced through the Indian army’s formation, and the following two armored divisions followed up, mopping up the disorganized Indian troops.

The main task was accepting the surrender of the enemy, which was even more troublesome than killing and defeating them.

After the armored division arrived, the infantry division also arrived, continuing to mop up the battlefield.

The armored division continued to charge ahead, responsible for disrupting the Indian army’s command system, scattering the Indian army’s formation, and creating chaos.

They rampaged through this area, encountering almost no resistance.

The few Indian troops who tried to resist were quickly crushed by the Huaxia army’s powerful firepower.

The Huaxia army would sneer at the way they tried to stop the armored vehicles, while people from other countries would feel sorry for them.

A group of people were smashing and hacking at the armored vehicles with gun butts and broadswords, making a clanging sound, but they couldn’t cause any substantial damage to the armored vehicles.

Two other people were preparing homemade bombs, but without a lighter, they could only use matches.

Whether it was because of nervousness or something else, they couldn’t get it done after trying for a long time.

The Huaxia army’s armored vehicles just continued to advance as if nothing had happened, while the built-in machine guns in the vehicles occasionally fired a series of bullets, killing the enemy.

In this completely unequal battle, the Indian soldiers couldn’t be blamed for losing.

If the positions of the two sides were reversed, the Huaxia army’s performance probably wouldn’t be much better.

Chapter 961: The Situation is Settled

The armored division quickly charged to the high ground where Kang Qiliang was located, scattering the troops commanded by Negar below the mountain.

At this point, the entire battlefield was filled with retreating Indian soldiers.

The Huaxia army’s armored division and the physically fit infantry were in hot pursuit.

The troops arriving later were responsible for cleaning up the battlefield and guarding the prisoners.

Cleaning up the battlefield was a very time-consuming task. There was a massive amount of weapons to collect. Even a broadsword was iron and worth a lot of money.

Not to mention the rifles, which could be sold to African chieftains, American immigrants, or even some garrison troops.

Besides collecting weapons, the wounded needed treatment, and the corpses needed to be dealt with.

Those enemies who were feigning death also needed to be found, to prevent them from escaping.

Those who would rather risk feigning death than surrender clearly had a strong aversion to the Huaxia army. Their will to resist was relatively strong. If they escaped, they might go into the mountains to wage guerrilla warfare, continuing to cause trouble for Great Hua.

Therefore, these people needed to be eliminated.

On the battlefield, trying to escape by feigning death was actually very difficult.

As the Huaxia army advanced, regardless of whether the Indian soldiers lying on the ground were dead or alive, as long as they didn’t make a sound, they would simply stab them in the heart.

If someone could survive being stabbed in the chest, then they were truly amazing, and the Huaxia army couldn’t do anything about it.

They couldn’t possibly check each one for breathing; that would be too inefficient.

After cleaning up along the way, the Huaxia army actually found a dozen people feigning death, and they were all stabbed to death without exception.

Some people, after being discovered, shouted things the Huaxia army couldn’t understand, not knowing whether they were begging to surrender or cursing.

At this point, it basically depended on the personality of the Huaxia soldiers.

The more ruthless ones would simply stab them, while the more gentle ones would escort them to the prisoner camp.

However, this was only for those who didn’t have serious injuries.

For soldiers with serious injuries or wounds that would obviously leave them with lifelong disabilities, the Huaxia army would help them end their suffering.

Even though the Huaxia army could mass-produce sulfa drugs and other medicines, they wouldn’t waste them on these enemies.

After the initial cleanup, the next step was to have the prisoners dig pits and bury the corpses.

If these corpses on the battlefield weren’t dealt with in time, they could easily cause a plague.

“Report, a battle report from the front.”

At the Huaxia army’s headquarters, a staff officer came over with a telegram.

“Read it,” Chen Biju said.

“Our First and Second Armies have returned to Durgapur, rescued the besieged 318th Regiment, and defeated the main force of the Indian army, and are currently in pursuit. In this battle, our army eliminated more than thirty-two thousand enemies and captured more than twenty-five thousand. Among the enemies killed, more than seven thousand were killed by the 318th Regiment. The 318th Regiment suffered relatively heavy losses, with more than four hundred killed in action, and most of the rest wounded…”

The staff officer reported the casualties on both sides and the current battlefield situation.

In terms of casualties, the Huaxia army’s total casualties were less than eight hundred. For such a large battle, this loss was completely negligible.

And the results achieved were quite brilliant.

Moreover, this result was constantly expanding.

The current situation was that the Indian army had been divided into two large parts and countless small parts.

At the same time, these troops had been completely surrounded by the Huaxia army from four directions.

While the main force was returning to support, the other units of the Huaxia army were also coordinating their actions, laying a dragnet on the periphery, trapping the remaining two hundred thousand troops of the Indian army.

At this time, these people had no way to escape.

“Order the First and Second Armies to continue to advance at full speed, not giving the enemy a chance to breathe, and completely cut off the connection between their soldiers and the command headquarters, and preferably take out the enemy’s command headquarters…”

Chen Biju issued various orders.

The Indian army still had two hundred thousand troops. If they could be effectively organized, they would still be a very powerful force and could launch a strong counterattack.

However, if the connection between the Indian army’s headquarters and its various units was cut off, then the Indian army’s troops could only run around like headless flies.

Such an army was no threat at all, and could be defeated as soon as they charged up.

After the orders were issued, the generals had already congratulated Chen Biju in advance.

After this battle, the Mughal Empire would lose its main force and would no longer be able to fight a major war.

All that was left to do was push straight through and take over the entire country.

“If all goes well, we can take Delhi by the end of the year and present the good news to His Majesty,” Chen Biju said happily.

There weren’t many major battles left, and he was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to command the India campaign, picking up a merit.

With this merit, he could basically enter the front line of the military and become a true core member of Great Hua’s high command.

This position was about the ceiling that their rising stars could reach.

Positions and titles like those of Liu Hansan and Li Shaobin were due to the glory of the founding fathers. It would be almost impossible for future generations to achieve such accomplishments.

In short, Chen Biju would be satisfied if he could become a commander of a military region or the chief of the general staff.

“At least I haven’t let down His Majesty’s trust.”

The other generals were also very happy. It wasn’t just Chen Biju who would be rewarded. These people would all get a share of the credit, more or less.

The happier the Huaxia army was, the more frustrated the Indian army was.

“It’s my fault,” Ranchi said.

He wasn’t just taking responsibility, but truly believed that he had misjudged the strength of the Huaxia army.

He thought he had given the Huaxia army’s strength the utmost importance.

But in reality, the Huaxia army’s strength still exceeded his assessment.

Whether it was the Huaxia army’s ability to defend its positions, its speed of returning to support, or its speed of communication, it was all amazing.

Radio played a very important role in this battle, but it wasn’t as direct as an armored vehicle running over people.

If the Huaxia army didn’t have radio communication this time, their reaction would never have been so rapid.

This was an important reason for Ranchi’s failure.

“Commander, what should we do next?”

Ranchi’s subordinates weren’t happy about his taking the blame, because the problem of how to escape was still unresolved.

At this time, they all had no ideas and urgently needed a backbone to stand up and make a decision. Even if it was the wrong decision, as long as there was a direction, it would be enough to give them a little hope.

Unfortunately, Ranchi didn’t do that.

You can deceive people for a while, but you can’t deceive them forever.

Even if you give your subordinates a few bowls of chicken soup, you can’t win if you can’t win.

Ranchi realized that they had lost not only this war, but the entire country.

After this, it was hard to say whether there would still be a Mughal Empire. The best outcome might be the same as Siam, completely merging into Great Hua.

Chapter 962: Breakout Plan

“Head south, cross the Mo River, use the river to impede the enemy’s armored forces, then bypass Durgapur and retreat westward.”

Although Ranchi had lost hope for the war, as the commander-in-chief, he was still doing his essential job.

At this point, he no longer hoped for any counter-offensive. He only wanted to lead these troops out.

He would be satisfied if he could bring out one hundred thousand soldiers. Taking one hundred thousand troops back to Delhi would give them a little leverage in the upcoming negotiations.

In Ranchi’s view, the Mughal Empire had no other way out except to surrender and negotiate with Great Hua.

Continuing to fight would definitely lead to defeat. The Mughal Empire was lagging behind in every aspect.

Even if they won a certain battle, it would not change the gap in strength between the two sides.

What’s more, they couldn’t even win a single battle now.

Although, among the Mughal Empire’s high-ranking officials, a strategist had proposed the concept of a protracted war, suggesting that all regular troops be dispersed to rural areas and mountains across the country to conduct guerrilla warfare.

The main focus would be on constantly harassing the Huaxia army, intercepting tax revenue, and destroying infrastructure.

The goal was to use guerrilla warfare to tie down a large number of Huaxia troops and increase Great Hua’s cost of ruling India.

If this continued for a few years, Great Hua’s income in India would be far less than its expenditure.

At that time, the Huaxia army might abandon this place.

If the Huaxia army didn’t give up, they could then choose to negotiate with Great Hua, giving them more bargaining power. Perhaps they could preserve the Mughal Empire’s independence by ceding some territory and paying some compensation.

This strategic thinking was theoretically feasible.

After all, the Mughal Empire was vast, covering more than four to five million square kilometers. Great Hua would need a massive army to stabilize every place.

The current two hundred thousand Huaxia troops in India were far from enough.

Even if it were one million troops, scattered across this land, they would be like a pile of sand on a beach.

And the money needed to support one million troops overseas would be immeasurable.

If Great Hua relied on cruelly exploiting the Indian people to support those troops, it would be exactly what they wanted.

It would arouse public resentment, making Great Hua’s rule in India even more difficult.

Moreover, if too many troops were deployed in India, the commander might choose to become independent.

In short, as long as they implemented guerrilla warfare and a protracted war, they would have many more opportunities to turn defeat into victory.

However, in Ranchi’s view, this strategy was simply unworkable. It was completely divorced from reality, a kind of utopianism, a wishful thinking of the Mughal high-ranking officials.

Because this tactic relied heavily on ordinary people across the country.

Whether it was supplies, the wounded, intelligence, or even hiding, all of these required the help of the people for the guerrillas to continue fighting the Huaxia army.

But why would the people help the Indian soldiers?

Although Ranchi was not from the bottom, he had worked at the grassroots level and in society. He knew what kind of birds the Indian soldiers were, and he also knew what impression the Indian people had of the soldiers.

In two words, they were bandits.

For the people, the Huaxia soldiers and the Indian soldiers were equally terrible. In fact, the Huaxia soldiers were slightly better, at least they were disciplined.

As for the Indian army, once they lost the strong deterrence of the central government, these soldiers could immediately transform into demons, revealing their most terrifying side.

At that time, it would be a blessing if the people didn’t report the Indian army’s whereabouts to the Huaxia army.

To expect the people to help was simply a dream.

Ranchi felt that if this strategy were implemented, it was very likely that the soldiers would go to the countryside to burn, kill, and loot, and then find a place to become bandits, harming the local area.

And against the backdrop of these undisciplined and inhuman soldiers, the Huaxia army would appear more like a righteous army, and those people would definitely stand on the side of the Huaxia army and welcome the King’s army.

With the vast majority of the people acting as informants for the Huaxia army, guerrilla warfare would be a joke, unworkable.

The Mughal Empire was not suffering from one disease at this time, but from many diseases at the same time. How could it be so easy to restore health?

“The Mo River is not easy to cross either. The enemy has a regiment stationed on the west bank, blocking the Mo River Bridge.”

A subordinate reminded him.

Blowing up the bridge could indeed effectively delay the advance of the Huaxia army’s armored forces, but only if they could cross the Mo River.

The Huaxia army had long noticed the importance of the Mo River Bridge and had deployed a regiment of troops on the west bank.

“Collect boats, send a force to cross the river downstream, and then circle around behind them. Launch a frontal attack to attract their attention, and then the flanking force will launch a surprise attack, trying to preserve the bridge.”

Ranchi was worried that the Huaxia army would blow up the bridge when they couldn’t hold it.

The Mo River was not wide, only a dozen meters.

However, this width was enough to make the Indian army’s supply troops flinch.

Only by relying on this bridge could those supplies be transported over.

“What if the Huaxia army blows up the bridge?”

Someone asked this question.

“Then abandon all supplies. At this point, there is no perfect solution. It would be good enough if people can get out.”

Ranchi said.

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this. Those artillery pieces and supplies were their last assets.

If they lost them, they didn’t know how long it would take to recover.

It could be said that if they lost those weapons and equipment, this army would be more than half crippled.

But what could they do if they didn’t abandon them?

Anyway, they couldn’t think of a better way.

Then, a sigh broke the silence.

Everyone no longer questioned, but chose to obey Ranchi’s plan and arranged the attack on the Mo River Bridge.

At the same time, the Huaxia army was attacking the enemy in the encirclement.

Although the Indian army was on the defensive, they did not gain any advantage and were retreating steadily.

At this time, both sides once again began to compete for speed. If the Indian army captured the Mo River Bridge before the Huaxia army broke through their several lines of defense and escaped to the west side of the Mo River, they would still have a greater chance of escaping the encirclement.

However, if they had not captured the Mo River Bridge by the time the Huaxia army caught up with their main force, they would probably be wiped out.

Fighting the Huaxia army was a very painful thing, and many generals felt this way.

When fighting the Huaxia army, they had to consider everything very carefully, not make mistakes, and do their best to barely maintain a balance. But once they made a small mistake, they would be wiped out.

However, the situation on the battlefield was unpredictable, so how could no accidents happen?

Sometimes, the emergence of a new weapon could catch them off guard.

Other armies were defeated by the Huaxia army, the equipment gap was one reason, and another important reason was that they did not understand the Huaxia army enough, so they often made misjudgments.

Chapter 963: Combat Engineers

The Battle of Mo River Bridge was extremely fierce. Ranchi dispatched his personal guard regiment to lead the main attack.

With over fifteen thousand troops attacking and ambushing, they finally forced the Huaxia army’s regiment to retreat after suffering more than two thousand casualties.

Besieged from both sides, the Huaxia army lost its advantage of terrain. The area they needed to defend was too large, and the strength of a single regiment was far from enough.

Therefore, they had no choice but to retreat, or they would be completely annihilated.

The retreat wasn’t the mistake; the mistake was that they failed to recapture the bridgehead before leaving and failed to blow up the bridge.

Not every officer in the Huaxia army was an excellent commander.

The commander of this regiment lacked foresight and didn’t realize the importance of the bridge.

An excellent commander would have immediately blown up the bridge the moment the Indian army launched their sneak attack.

Destroying the bridge would have completely ruined the Indian army’s plan.

After the Huaxia army regiment retreated, the main force of the Indian army, including their supplies, successfully crossed the Mo River.

As they crossed the Mo River, the main force of the Huaxia army also arrived on the eastern bank.

“Finally, we’ve completed one of our operational objectives.”

Ranchi sighed. It was truly not easy.

In the previous battles, they hadn’t achieved their desired results. But this time, they finally crossed the river ahead of the Huaxia army and blew up the bridge.

The nearest bridge was one hundred and fifty li away.

If the Huaxia army’s armored division had to detour, it would take them nearly a day longer.

And by that time, they would have already entered the mountains, detouring back to Delhi from there.

“At least we’ve shaken off the enemy.”

Although they had completed their operational objective, there wasn’t much joy on everyone’s faces.

After all, this only allowed their hundred thousand-strong army to break out of the encirclement; it wasn’t winning the war.

The Indian army began their march, while the Huaxia army on the eastern bank prepared materials to build a bridge.

Before long, a special unit arrived.

They were the Great Hua’s combat engineers, formerly part of the logistics troops, but now more specialized.

These combat engineers had undergone various skill trainings and were now considered technical soldiers, enjoying better treatment than ordinary infantry.

Their role was to open roads, build bridges, establish river crossings, clear landmines…

Although they generally didn’t directly participate in combat, their figures could always be seen on the battlefield, very active.

Upon arrival, the combat engineers immediately began laying the bridge.

Specialists excel in their fields. The seemingly complex bridge-building work was as simple as eating and drinking to them.

Across the river, two Indian army scouts left to observe the Huaxia army’s movements sat down on the ground, dumbfounded, when they saw this scene.

They estimated the speed at which the Huaxia army was building the bridge, and it would probably only take two hours.

In two hours, their main force wouldn’t be able to enter the mountains, and the Huaxia army’s armored division would still be able to catch up.

At that time, they would face utter destruction.

“Can that kind of bridge they’re building support armored vehicles?”

One of the scouts asked his companion.

If the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles couldn’t cross, then everything would be fine.

Just comparing the speed of running on foot, the Indian army didn’t have to worry too much about not being able to escape; they could just abandon their supplies.

However, once the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles crossed the river, there would be no hope. Their legs couldn’t outrun cars.

“How would I know? You stay here and keep an eye on things; I’ll go report the situation.”

The other soldier said.

Then, the two separated.

“What, the Huaxia army is building a bridge, and they’re doing it very quickly? How fast?”

Ranchi’s main force hadn’t gone far. When he heard the news, he also felt a headache coming on.

“It looks like it’ll be completed in about two hours.”

The scout said.

“You’re lying. How is that possible? The previous Mo River Bridge took three months to build. And now you’re saying that the enemy can complete a bridge in two hours.”

A senior officer didn’t believe this assessment because it was too unreasonable.

However, Ranchi didn’t dare to be careless.

Based on his personal experience, the Huaxia army often had unexpected situations.

Other troops couldn’t build a bridge spanning over ten meters in a short time, but for the Huaxia army, it seemed plausible.

“Chatur, go and take a look yourself. Eso, take your men and set up a defensive line in this area. Be sure to stop the enemy and keep them one hundred li away from us…”

Ranchi began to make various arrangements, just in case.

However, he also knew that these arrangements were just doing his best and leaving the rest to fate.

If the Huaxia army’s armored division could really pass quickly, then all his arrangements would be in vain.

If Eso could really stop the Huaxia army, they wouldn’t need to retreat.

When Chatur returned to the Mo River, the bridge was already basically completed.

The Huaxia army had formed long lines and was passing through in order.

Watching all of this, Chatur could only pray incessantly in his heart, praying that the pontoon bridge couldn’t support the armored vehicles.

From a distance, the pontoon bridge seemed to be swaying with the waves, and it was normal for it not to be able to withstand those heavy armored vehicles.

Besides praying, he had no other choice.

Chatur’s prayers didn’t seem to have any effect. A Huaxia army transport truck took the lead onto the pontoon bridge and then slowly moved forward.

“Drive faster, it’s fine.”

The combat engineer battalion commander shouted with slight dissatisfaction. The other party was driving so slowly, obviously not trusting their technology.

Eyes can sometimes deceive you. That pontoon bridge, which looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment, was actually very reliable.

“Drive faster, time is of the essence.”

A senior officer of the Huaxia army also issued a similar order. He was simply considering it from the perspective of completing the mission. If they wanted to reach the west bank at the current speed, who knew how long it would take.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army’s vehicles began to accelerate.

Although the pontoon bridge looked like it was about to fall apart at any moment, the cars went up without any impact.

At the same time, some infantry soldiers also began to cross the river using various river-crossing tools such as small boats, bamboo rafts, and wooden rafts that they had collected.

The pontoon bridge was specifically for cars; ordinary soldiers still had to think of their own ways and fend for themselves.

When the first car passed through the pontoon bridge and arrived on the west bank of the Mo River, the binoculars in Chatur’s hand fell to the ground.

It was over. He knew it was all over.

In the original encirclement, they at least had many fortifications, enough to build layers of defenses, and could carry out some resistance against the Huaxia army.

But now, once the Huaxia army caught up with them, the two sides would have a major battle in the wild.

And in a field battle, how could they possibly be a match for the Huaxia army?

At that time, it would definitely be another rout.

Chapter 964: The Final General Offensive

Wengda. The Huaxia army encountered resistance from the Indian army.

However, this area was located on a plain, and there was no time for the Indian army to dig trenches or build earthen walls.

Calling it resistance was more like sending them to their deaths.

The Huaxia army’s armored vehicles charged straight in without a word, wreaking havoc as if they were in an empty land.

“Ignore these routed soldiers; let the brother units behind handle them. We continue the pursuit.”

The armored division’s soldiers did not choose to get out of their vehicles to deal with the prisoners kneeling on the ground to surrender, nor did they pursue the soldiers fleeing in all directions.

What they had to do was catch up with the main force of the Indian army and then latch onto them.

The Indian army’s resistance set up in Wengda barely managed to delay the Huaxia army for even a minute.

Tens of thousands of soldiers had no fighting spirit and instinctively cleared the road, then threw away their weapons and sat aside to wait to be captured.

They had all learned to be smart and didn’t try to run away.

Soldiers who were caught fleeing and then taken prisoner were treated much worse than those who surrendered voluntarily.

Since they were going to be captured anyway, why not choose a more dignified way?

Many soldiers chose to wait to be captured instead of resisting or fleeing, with this thought in mind.

The Huaxia army’s troops passed by them constantly, pointing and gesturing at these people at will.

At this time, the Huaxia army soldiers were naturally very proud and high-spirited.

Near dusk, the vanguard of the Huaxia army caught up with the main force of the Indian army.

With thirty thousand against one hundred and forty thousand, the Huaxia army was not afraid at all and charged straight in.

Wherever they went, no one could stop them.

No defensive fortifications, no preparation, and located on a plain.

These were too fatal for the Indian army. Their only way was to rely on their numbers and try to drown the Huaxia army.

However, under the machine gun fire, they simply could not get close to the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles.

After trying and failing twice, no soldiers continued to do so.

They had lost their fighting spirit, and their morale had plummeted to the bottom.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s assault, they all chose to retreat and dodge.

With people all around, their dodging directly pushed into other units, and then it turned into chaos.

Immediately afterward, this chaos triggered a rout.

No matter how many troops there were, if they couldn’t be organized, they would pose no threat.

The Huaxia army directly penetrated the Indian army, reached the west side of the Indian army, and then guarded several key points.

At the same time, the Huaxia army in the south and north were also in position, once again completing the encirclement of the Indian army.

This time, the encirclement was smaller and more tightly knit. The Indian army had no natural defenses to rely on, and at the same time, the command system was close to collapse.

At this point, the battle had basically been declared over, and what followed was the cleanup work.

At night, the Huaxia army stopped attacking, not giving the enemy a chance to escape under the cover of darkness.

After guarding all the key routes, the Indian army had no way to escape.

The next day, the Huaxia army launched another general offensive.

Calling it a general offensive, it was a great battle of more than two hundred thousand people, but the process was not intense at all.

The Huaxia army always charged casually, and the other side immediately surrendered.

The Huaxia army spent more time on capturing prisoners than on attacking.

The encirclement was constantly shrinking, shrinking.

In just one morning, the Huaxia army advanced several kilometers from all directions, eliminating about seven thousand enemies and capturing more than eighty thousand people.

It wasn’t until they reached a nameless town that the Huaxia army encountered some decent resistance.

In this town was the Indian army’s general headquarters, the location of Ranchi and others.

And in this town, there were also their last elites, a total of more than forty thousand people.

These more than forty thousand people had a relatively strong fighting will, obeyed Ranchi’s orders, and prepared to fight to the death.

In the afternoon, the Huaxia army launched the final general offensive against this town.

First, a barrage of artillery fire.

Having reached the end of the campaign, the Huaxia army didn’t have to worry about ammunition issues anymore and could use it all up at once.

In this case, the Huaxia army was not in a hurry to charge, but kept bombarding with artillery.

On the observation balloon, the Huaxia army’s observers saw that the town, which was originally a fairly large-scale building, was almost razed to the ground in the blink of an eye.

In the entire town, there was no longer a single intact building.

Some buildings that had been hit by several shells were blown up so much that not even a single mud brick could be found.

Under this fierce shelling, the Indian army naturally suffered heavy casualties.

They didn’t have time to dig tunnels to hide, so they could only hide in houses or temporarily dug trenches.

These places could not guarantee their safety.

After a burst of firepower, the Indian army suffered two to three thousand casualties.

The number was less than one-tenth of the total, but this kind of battle, where they could only passively be bombed, unable to fight back, and losing heavily before even seeing the enemy, was very demoralizing.

The encouragement brought by Ranchi’s passionate speech before had been almost blown away by the Huaxia army’s artillery shells.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army launched the final general offensive from several directions at the same time.

Armored vehicles led the way, with infantry following behind.

When they reached the edge of the town, the Indian army began to shoot.

Most of the bullets hit the armored vehicles, making a clanging sound.

To hit the soldiers behind the armored vehicles, they needed a better position and a better angle.

The Huaxia army paid the price of only a little over a hundred people, and the armored vehicles and infantry rushed to the enemy’s positions.

“Dudu dudu…”

The sound of submachine guns rang out.

This close-quarters killing weapon began to show its power. The Indian army originally thought they could fight the Huaxia army with bayonets. This result was acceptable to the Indian army. Anyway, their firepower was not as good as the Huaxia army’s, and fighting with bayonets was slightly fairer.

However, they never expected that the Huaxia army soldiers rushing in front were not using rifles, but submachine guns.

When they raised their bayonets and prepared to charge over, the Huaxia army’s submachine guns began to perform.

The rate of fire of the submachine guns was too fast, and in this case, the effect was very obvious.

Those Indian soldiers who rushed over could not reach the Huaxia army at all and would be hit by bullets.

At first, the Indian soldiers could still yell and try to fight the Huaxia army desperately.

However, as they discovered that they didn’t even have the qualifications to fight desperately, their morale plummeted again, and it was almost negative.

As a result, these so-called elites also surrendered.

Their performance was slightly better than that of other Indian army units.

But, that was all.

Faced with the powerful Huaxia army, in a hopeless situation, they also quickly collapsed.

The Indian army command estimated that they could hold on to this town for two days, but they didn’t even last two hours, and the defense lines in multiple directions were breached.

Immediately afterward, the Huaxia army rushed into the town and continued to fight fiercely with the Indian army inside the town.

The troops inside the town were all personal guard units of various generals, and their fighting will was even stronger. However, their numbers were also much smaller.

With only a few thousand people left, it was only a matter of time before they were completely annihilated.

Chapter 965: A Not-So-Heroic Street Fight

The Indian army in the town had a firm fighting will, but the Huaxia army’s attacking forces were equally motivated.

At this point, they all understood that the war had reached its final stage.

After this battle, they would have a chance to rest.

Moreover, the enemies in the town were all high-ranking officials, and capturing the town would bring great merit.

Therefore, the task of attacking the town was something they had fought for.

The troops who had won this task naturally cherished it immensely.

Early the next morning, the general offensive began.

First, a barrage of artillery fire destroyed the Indian army’s fortifications to some extent, and then they launched the charge.

Entering the town, the two sides began a street fight.

The Indian army relied on various ruins to exchange fire with the Huaxia army.

In some places that were conducive to defense, there were also machine guns serving as firing points.

Although they were very old-fashioned Gatling guns, they were still machine guns, and in these narrow streets and alleys, their firepower was quite fierce.

“Mortars!”

A squad leader shouted.

Charging against enemy bullets was something only other armies would do. The Huaxia army wouldn’t. They preferred to subdue people with superior weaponry.

“Our platoon was only assigned one mortar team, and they’re fighting on another street.”

A soldier replied.

“Damn it.”

The squad leader was helpless. He could wait, anyway, there was no rush to attack this street.

However, thinking that other units were advancing in all directions, while only his side was blocked, his squad would never be able to hold their heads up again.

“Covering fire! Dazhuang, Aiguzi, you two rush to that building on the right, go through it, and use grenades to blow up their firing point…”

The squad leader didn’t explain in detail, but they were together every day and had a tacit understanding.

As soon as the squad leader said this, the other soldiers knew what he meant.

So, two people holding submachine guns poked their heads out slightly and strafed the window.

At this time, Dazhuang and Aiguzi took the opportunity to rush out of their cover, cross the street, and rush to a building close to the enemy’s firepower.

The house was a blind spot for the enemy’s machine gun fire. They sneaked to the bottom of the enemy’s firing point and threw grenades into the window.

With two explosions, the enemy’s firing point went silent.

The whole process seemed smooth, but in reality, it was quite difficult.

Armies with insufficient training would not find it as easy as imagined to complete this kind of coordination.

Not to mention coordination, even reaching the bottom of the firing point, it wouldn’t be easy to accurately throw the grenade into the window.

After all, it needed to be successful in one go. If it hit the wall and bounced back in front of them, they would be finished.

After clearing this firing point, the Huaxia army continued to advance.

They needed to clear every building, every room.

Otherwise, constant sniping from inside would make things even more difficult for the Huaxia army.

Rushing into a room was very dangerous. If there were enemies inside, they could often prepare to shoot in advance.

In this case, it was difficult for the Huaxia army to react.

Once they encountered a very troublesome room, the Huaxia army could only throw a grenade in first and then charge.

If they still couldn’t handle it, they could only call for flamethrowers to help.

The flamethrowers sprayed flames at those difficult-to-attack rooms or bunkers, and soon screams could be heard.

Sometimes, they could even watch one or several soldiers covered in flames rush out.

At this time, the Huaxia army soldiers would not even kill them, but let them suffer for a while longer.

Who told these stubborn elements to kill their comrades? They would not have any sympathy for these enemies, and even enjoyed watching them suffer.

Mortars, grenades, flamethrowers, grenade launchers, these were all treasures in street fighting.

Relying on these weapons, the Huaxia army kept removing the Indian army’s firing points.

The number of machine guns in the Indian army was ultimately too small, otherwise, it could have caused greater casualties to the Huaxia army.

But now, the Huaxia army was advancing with ease.

In just over an hour, they had reached a temple in the town.

This was the Indian army’s last stronghold and the location of the Indian army’s headquarters.

This temple was not easy to attack. The south and west sides were cliffs, impossible to climb. The north side was a river, and the temple also had a wall on the north side.

The only convenient side to attack was the east.

And the steps from the foot of the mountain to the temple gate on the east side were as many as hundreds.

Charging straight up the steps, not to mention the enemy blocking with bullets, even throwing two logs down would make the Huaxia army on the steps very embarrassed, with nowhere to escape.

In such a dangerous place, the Huaxia army did not want to attack by force.

“Bombard them with artillery until they surrender.”

The commander in charge of attacking the town said.

Those senior Indian army officers were of great value to the Mughal Empire, but dispensable to Great Hua.

Seeing their firm resistance, keeping them would be a burden and an unstable factor.

It was not a pity to kill these people.

A large number of shells fell on this not-so-large temple, and Ranchi and others had nowhere to escape.

Various division commanders, division staff officers, and army commanders were killed.

In the face of artillery shells, their noble status was of no use, and they died as cheaply as ordinary soldiers.

“Commander, surrender. We are of no use other than wasting a few more enemy shells.”

An officer said.

In fact, there were many among them who wanted to surrender, but Ranchi was determined to resist.

Ranchi was determined to die, but the others did not have such awareness.

Seeing that Ranchi was unmoved, two people exchanged glances, directly drew their guns, shot and killed Ranchi’s two bodyguards, and then controlled Ranchi.

No matter how Ranchi mocked and cursed, the others were indifferent.

In Ranchi’s name, they issued an order to surrender to the soldiers outside.

Soon, a white flag was raised on the top of the mountain.

“These people are really cheap, they have to waste a few of our shells before they are willing to surrender. Write this down, and use this as an excuse to confiscate the property of those high-ranking officials.”

“Hahaha.”

Everyone laughed.

After destroying the Indian army’s headquarters, this force was completely wiped out.

Of the one hundred and fifty thousand Indian troops, more than twenty thousand were killed, more than one hundred and twenty thousand were captured, and thousands were missing.

However, that was all insignificant.

The Huaxia army also suffered nearly a thousand casualties in order to eliminate this enemy.

This kind of casualty was still within an acceptable range.

After all, the Indian army was no longer the opponent wielding swords and spears. They had machine guns, cannons, and some breech-loading rifles.

With this kind of weaponry, looking at the world, apart from Great Hua, which could still have an advantage over them, no other army could surpass them.

Aurangzeb used the power of the whole country to develop for three or four years, and lost all his wealth in one go.

Chapter 966: Impending Doom

At the same time, the fifty thousand Indian troops within the Impregnable Defense Line were also subjected to a full-scale assault by the Huaxia army.

Their will to fight was even lower, and their defeat was even quicker. Of the fifty thousand troops, less than three thousand died in battle, with the rest surrendering en masse.

Everywhere one looked, there were dispirited Indian soldiers.

With this, the great battle was officially declared over.

The Huaxia army had killed nearly forty thousand Indian soldiers and captured two hundred and forty thousand.

The last capable fighting force of the Mughal Empire had been annihilated.

Aurangzeb still had tens of thousands of troops in Delhi, and even two to three hundred thousand more across the country. He could still conscript tens of thousands more at any time.

But this was meaningless, because these hundreds of thousands of troops lacked advanced weaponry and had not undergone advanced military training.

Sending such troops to the front lines was tantamount to sending free labor to the Huaxia army.

When news of the front-line defeat reached Delhi, the entire court was shaken.

Although many had foreseen this day, they still couldn’t face it with equanimity when it actually happened.

With the last fighting force eliminated, the Mughal Empire was like being stripped naked and bound hand and foot. Great Hua could now do whatever it wanted with it.

Just like before the Qing Dynasty’s demise, a large number of mid-level officials of the Mughal Empire began using their channels to contact Great Hua’s spies, diplomats, and even influential figures.

They wanted to abandon the sinking ship of the Mughal Empire and find a way out for themselves.

After all, the Mughal Empire didn’t belong to them. The Mughal Empire’s destruction would be a catastrophe for Aurangzeb and other Mongols, but for them, it would simply mean changing their allegiance.

Currently, the core high-level officials in the Mughal Empire were mostly Turkified Mongols, belonging to the Muslim faith.

However, the majority of the population were native inhabitants, mainly Hindus.

Therefore, there were a large number of non-Mongol officials in the court.

The situation was similar to the late Qing Dynasty, where the key positions and decision-making power were held by the Manchus, while the people handling affairs at the local level were Han Chinese.

When the empire was still able to maintain itself, this cooperation could be sustained.

But once it encountered any threat, various drawbacks would become apparent.

Just like now, the mid-level officials in the Mughal Empire had almost entirely defected, focusing solely on how to please Great Hua, the new master about to arrive.

In any case, for these natives, their masters had already changed several times, and changing to a more powerful one didn’t seem so bad.

Not only were the mid-level officials defecting, but some high-level Mongols were also quietly securing a way out for themselves.

After all, the Mughal Empire belonged to Aurangzeb alone.

Others could continue to live their lives by changing their allegiance.

At most, their lives would just not be as good as before.

But if they followed Aurangzeb down a dead end, they would lose more than just a little power and influence; they would lose their lives.

As things stood, no one would naively believe that the Mughal Empire could resist Great Hua.

Great Hua had only sent two hundred thousand troops to defeat them, and Great Hua had at least four such armies.

While the officials below were trying to save themselves, Aurangzeb was also trying to save himself.

He was actively trying to win over those who were still somewhat reliable, while planning to escape to Islamabad.

He was still fantasizing about using Pakistan’s complex terrain to resist the Huaxia army and hold onto his little piece of land.

If the Indian subcontinent could satisfy Great Hua’s appetite, he could recover in Pakistan, then launch a western expedition to Persia and the Ottoman Empire, restoring the glory of his ancestor Timur.

The once-powerful Timurid Empire’s territory stretched west to the Mediterranean Sea, south to the Persian Gulf, north to the Ottoman Empire, and east to the Great Ming Dynasty.

The Mughal Empire was merely established by one of the factions that emerged after the decline and fragmentation of the Timurid Empire.

Therefore, compared to the Mughal Empire’s glory, Aurangzeb actually admired and missed the former Timurid Empire more.

If he could restore the Timurid Empire’s territory, then losing the Indian subcontinent wouldn’t be such a shameful thing.

Of course, all of this was just Aurangzeb’s fantasy.

Would the Huaxia army be satisfied with just the Indian subcontinent? Would the Safavid Empire (Persia) be easy to deal with?

But this was already the best outcome Aurangzeb could think of; he had no better choice.

Aurangzeb wanted to make a comeback, so he naturally needed strength.

Therefore, he needed a group of people loyal to him, and he also needed to move all the factories built in Delhi to Islamabad.

These factories were his lifeline. Without these factories that could manufacture guns and cannons, he would have no source of weapons. Without the factories that produced daily necessities, he would have no source of tax revenue.

It could be said that without these factories, his fantasy would become a complete delusion.

Looking at those factories, those achievements of reform, Aurangzeb felt a mix of emotions.

When these factories were being built one by one, he felt quite proud, because these were all the results of his reforms.

He had once been full of ambition, feeling that if he had another ten years, he could catch up with Great Hua.

In the end, Great Hua only gave him a little over three years.

“If only I had understood Great Hua sooner.”

Aurangzeb sighed, feeling that if he had been able to learn about Great Hua’s changes a few years earlier, and had overthrown his father’s rule and started reforms earlier, today’s situation would be completely different.

Unfortunately, there were no ifs.

In December, Chen Biju received a telegram saying that the factories in Delhi were preparing to relocate.

This prompted Chen Biju to order two armored divisions to launch a long-distance raid on Delhi.

Although for Great Hua, Islamabad would be reclaimed sooner or later, and it would all be Great Hua’s territory. Whether those factories were in Delhi or Islamabad, they would still belong to Great Hua.

However, Chen Biju didn’t want Aurangzeb to mess around and hoped that the factories would remain in Delhi.

This would not only avoid delaying production, but also weaken Aurangzeb’s strength and prevent him from continuing to resist stubbornly.

Most importantly, raiding Delhi was easy for them.

After the last great battle, they had already begun to divide their forces into several routes to occupy the territory.

One route went south, to occupy the entire Indian subcontinent.

Another route went north, to occupy the Ganges Plain and the Malla Dynasty (Nepal).

These places didn’t have very strong military forces; they were still traditional cold weapon armies.

The Huaxia army’s arrival was like an armed parade.

There was also a route heading northwest to attack Delhi. This force had already advanced to Kanpur when Chen Biju gave the order, only four hundred kilometers away from Delhi.

If the armored divisions were to raid, they could arrive in just over a day.

Chapter 967: Liberating Delhi

“Your Majesty, retreat quickly! The enemy’s armored forces have reached Agra. If we don’t leave now, we’ll lose our chance!”

Gudargen, loyal to Aurangzeb, urged.

The Huaxia army was still over one hundred kilometers away from Delhi. In the past, this distance would have been perfectly safe.

But things were different now. The Huaxia army’s armored divisions could advance day and night with incredible speed.

If they set out now, they might still have a chance to outrun the Huaxia army if it pursued them relentlessly.

If they delayed any longer, they would definitely be caught.

As for relocating the factories, that was out of the question.

“Blow up all the factories! We can’t leave them for the Great Huaxia people!”

Aurangzeb issued his last order in Delhi, then left with the troops loyal to him.

As for those who sat on the fence, Aurangzeb ignored them.

Of course, he wanted to force them to come with him, but sadly, he couldn’t.

Killing them all was also unrealistic.

Helpless, Aurangzeb could only slink away.

“I’ll be back,”

Aurangzeb said before leaving.

The order to destroy the factories was given, but it was executed very poorly.

The troops responsible for the operation were met with resistance from middle-level officials.

They organized their house servants, slaves, and local ruffians to stand in front of the troops.

This was a golden opportunity to prove their loyalty to Great Hua. The merit of protecting a factory was considerable.

Besides these middle-level officials, a large number of workers and their families, including many common people, also spontaneously blocked the entrances to the factories, preventing the troops from destroying them.

These factories were their livelihoods. If the factories shut down, they would lose their means of survival.

There were many people protecting the factories, but they were no match for the regular army.

If the Indian army generals had ruthlessly pushed through, these people would probably have scattered in panic.

However, Baghshi, the officer in charge of the mission, didn’t want to start a massacre.

Some officials saw Baghshi’s hesitation and even advised him to surrender to Great Hua.

With this merit, he would surely have a good future.

If he stubbornly carried out Aurangzeb’s orders, he would not only have to commit a massacre, slaughtering countless civilians, but also cause countless people to lose their jobs, leading to even more starvation.

In short, destroying these factories was an act that would easily incur divine retribution.

Baghshi knew that the establishment of these factories had taken countless people’s efforts, including their lives, and was hard-won. After weighing the pros and cons, he finally chose to protect the factories and defect to Great Hua.

When the Great Hua armored division arrived in Delhi, it met no resistance, and Delhi was peacefully liberated.

This was a win-win situation for everyone, except for Aurangzeb.

The people of Delhi were spared from bombardment, and the buildings were not damaged.

Not only was Delhi peacefully liberated, but the Huaxia army also met no resistance in most of the surrounding areas.

Those middle-level officials played their roles well.

Although the fall of the Mughal Empire was a foregone conclusion, the local people were not yet aware of the situation and still obeyed orders from the central government.

The Mughal Empire seemed chaotic, but the chaos was mainly at the decision-making level.

Locally, things were still much the same as before.

The peaceful liberation of the area around Delhi also included Aligarh, and the Taj Mahal was preserved.

“The construction level of this Taj Mahal is quite high.”

Some officers of Great Hua couldn’t help but sigh when they saw the Taj Mahal.

The Taj Mahal was a mausoleum built by Shah Jahan for his wife, who was also Aurangzeb’s mother.

This Arjumand Banu Begum was a Persian beauty who bore Shah Jahan fourteen children in eighteen years, and finally died of puerperal fever (postpartum fever) after giving birth, at the young age of thirty-nine.

In an era with backward contraception methods, some women really wouldn’t mind their husbands taking concubines, otherwise most of their early lives would be spent pregnant, and they would have to go through the gates of hell many times in their lives.

The Taj Mahal is over five hundred meters long, over three hundred meters wide, and over forty meters high at its highest point.

The main body is mostly built with pure white marble, and the decorations are all glass and agate.

The architectural style of the curved dome is also quite distinctive.

The scale of the Taj Mahal is certainly much smaller than the Great Wall, but the technical content is actually much higher than the Great Wall.

From the outside, it lacks the grandeur of the Great Wall, but it has more artistry and beauty.

The Great Hua people are actually more pragmatic. Building the Great Wall was not for beauty, showing off, or commemoration, but purely for defending against foreign enemies.

The Great Wall, the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, the Grand Canal, the Lingqu Canal, the Karez wells, and the Nanjing city wall are all practical.

The Taj Mahal, on the other hand, was built by a selfish king to commemorate his wife and is purely for viewing.

At first glance, it is a very romantic love story, but if you know how many workers were used to build this Taj Mahal, how much money was spent, and how many workers died, then this matter is not romantic at all.

Or rather, this is a bloody romance that only belongs to Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu Begum, and a great disaster for the Indian people.

Of course, none of this matters anymore, because people are forgetful.

They only remember the great people or great events in history, and selectively ignore some ordinary evil deeds.

For example, Cao Cao massacred cities, Liu Bei exploited the people by minting inferior currency, and Li Shimin killed his own brother. But normal people generally ignore these things, and when others mention these names, they only think that these people are awesome.

In the future, people will only remember the romantic story of this building, and forget the bloody history of this building, and sing, dance, laugh and cheer in this building.

“I heard that this is the mausoleum that Aurangzeb’s father built for his mother. I wonder if we demolish this thing, will Aurangzeb be so angry that he vomits blood and dies.”

Another officer joked.

“You’re thinking too much. Go try demolishing one.”

A companion retorted.

Such a work of art built with countless costs, no matter how much it is not advocated, but it has already been built, it is impossible to destroy it again.

“It’s useless to keep this thing. It’s unlucky to live in, and it feels like a waste to use it as a warehouse. It’s a burden to maintain it without using it.”

“So, should we demolish it?”

“Don’t mess around. In the future, this place will probably be used as a tourist attraction to collect tickets.”

“Don’t mess around. These poor people here can’t even get enough to eat. How many people are in the mood to travel?”

…

The crowd chatted for a few words, but ultimately did not choose to demolish the Taj Mahal.

Mainly because there was no benefit in demolishing it, so they could only keep it.

Chapter 968: The Birth of the European Union 1

The great war between Great Hua and the Mughal Empire had been closely watched by various European nations.

On the surface, this war had nothing to do with them.

But in reality, this war also determined their fate.

If the massive Mughal Empire couldn’t hold back Great Hua, then Great Hua’s war machine would sooner or later roll into Europe.

Therefore, they had been hoping for the Mughal Empire to win.

After all that hoping, the Mughal Empire ultimately disappointed them.

The vast Mughal Empire fell to Great Hua’s iron torrent.

At the end of Yongxing ten (1657), the major European powers sent representatives to hold a coalition conference in London to discuss a union movement to jointly deal with the threat from Great Hua.

The countries participating in the meeting were Great Britain, France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Sweden, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Tsardom of Russia.

“Gentlemen, it’s time to wake up. If there is still some fool among you who thinks Great Hua will be satisfied and will stop conquering after taking India, please leave now. This meeting doesn’t need such fools.”

William, the representative of England and Scotland, said.

In the three years of Great Hua’s rapid development, the world was undergoing drastic changes.

On the island of Great Britain, England and Scotland had each abandoned their independent status and reached a merger agreement.

At the same time, they also annexed Ireland by force.

England, which had already started the Industrial Revolution and had achieved certain results, found it about as difficult to attack Ireland as Great Hua did to fight the Mughal Empire, and the annexation process went very smoothly.

At the same time, they restored the imperial system ahead of schedule.

In the original timeline, after Charles I was sent to the guillotine, England fell into Cromwell’s military dictatorship.

It was not until 1660 that Charles II restored the Stuart dynasty and completed the restoration, but the Glorious Revolution soon broke out, completely establishing a constitutional monarchy.

But now, because of the influence brought by Wu Changqing, their progress had been completely changed.

Charles I was still sent to the guillotine; at that time, the influence brought by Wu Changqing had not yet affected Great Britain.

However, soon after, the Western European countries witnessed the power of Great Hua.

More importantly, Great Hua implemented an imperial system.

When those elites began to think about why Great Hua was so powerful, some thought from the perspective of technology, while others thought from the perspective of the political system.

Then, naturally, some people would come to the absurd causal relationship that Great Hua was powerful because it implemented an imperial system.

Human beings rely on causal relationships to understand the world, so they often impose a causal relationship on two things.

For example, someone studies hard, so their grades are good.

This causal relationship is very simple and intuitive, and easy to understand.

However, as the world becomes more and more complex, simple causal relationships cannot explain some phenomena.

For example, why someone passed the imperial examination with the highest score, the reason is very complicated, involving talent, hard work, background, relationships, political games…

Ordinary people find it difficult to understand and prefer a simple explanation.

Therefore, the saying that the feng shui of his family’s ancestral grave is good, so he passed the imperial examination with the highest score will be more popular.

Why Great Hua is powerful, this reason is very numerous and very complicated.

Ordinary people in Great Britain also like simple explanations, so the saying that Great Hua is powerful because of the imperial system is very popular.

Of course, there are also enlightened people in Great Britain, but these enlightened people are pretending to be confused at this time.

Because Cromwell’s military dictatorship government was even worse than the previous imperial system, the people needed a reason to overthrow him.

And the reason that ‘Great Hua implements an imperial system, so Great Hua is very powerful’ just met the needs of the English people.

Most people hope that their country is strong, so that they can live a better life.

When the vast majority of people have this demand, Cromwell’s military dictatorship cannot continue. In Yongxing five, when Cromwell tried to dissolve the parliament, the people broke out in resistance.

Cromwell’s men also betrayed him, welcomed back Charles II, and restored the imperial system.

After Charles II returned to England, he began to comprehensively learn from Great Hua’s reform measures to please the people and domestic capitalists.

Coincidentally, Great Hua’s model did, to some extent, ease the contradictions between the monarch, capitalists, and the people.

Therefore, Charles II, who copied everything, did a good job, at least better than his father and better than Cromwell.

So, for the time being, Charles II received more praise than curses.

At this time, Great Britain not only merged Scotland and annexed Ireland, but also established thirteen states in North America and was already expanding to the Midwest.

This speed was much faster than in the original timeline.

“We must stop meaningless infighting and immediately form an alliance to jointly deal with the threat posed by Great Hua.”

Pardo, the representative of Spain, said.

Among the representatives attending the meeting, Spain was the most eager for an alliance.

There was no other way; who told France to be so strong?

France had been actively expanding in recent years and had annexed the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Bavaria region.

Overseas, it also occupied Mexico, Texas, and some islands in Central America.

In the past two years, France had been preparing to invade Spain and the Italian region.

“I agree. We must unite to deal with the threats from Great Hua, Tsardom of Russia, and the Great Western Army.”

Alex, the representative of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, strongly agreed. Among the major Western European countries, Spain and Poland were the most miserable.

Spain had to face the threat from France, while Poland had to face the threats from Sweden, Tsardom of Russia, and the Great Western Army.

Because of fear of Tsardom of Russia, Poland directly moved its capital from Krakow to Warsaw in order to stay away from the Russian bear.

At this time, Sweden, occupying the entire Nordic region, was also quite powerful and often tried to expand into Western and Central Europe.

And just a few years ago, a fierce opponent like Tsardom of Russia came to Europe from the east and occupied Central European areas such as Ukraine and Romania.

That was Li Dingguo’s Great Western Army, and now they had officially established a country, and the country name was still Great Western.

Occupying places such as Ukraine and Romania had exhausted all the war potential of the Great Western Army.

After all, they were outsiders, a minority, and maintaining rule was more difficult than for the native nobles of Western Europe.

Their troops were all scattered in various places, deterring those restless elements, and they could not spare troops to continue expanding.

Moreover, they did not have a good target for invasion.

To the north was the vast Tsardom of Russia, to the south was the Ottoman Empire, to the west was the Holy Roman Empire, and to the east they did not want to go, lest they be adjacent to Great Hua again.

Among the many countries participating in the meeting, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was the weakest, and it was always worried that other participants in the meeting would first propose to divide their Poland.

This was not unfounded worry; in the original timeline, they were divided several times.

Chapter 969: The Birth of the European Union 2

“I protest! What do you mean by addressing our threat?”

The representative of Tsarist Russia, Karlovsky, said with dissatisfaction. They had agreed to form an alliance to deal with Great Hua, so why were they still being treated as enemies?

After experiencing two failed wars against Great Hua, Tsarist Russia had finally woken up and begun to actively seek information about Great Hua.

When they learned the truth, tears streamed down their faces.

They never imagined that they had provoked such a terrifying opponent.

Fortunately, Great Hua was far away from them. After obtaining Siberia, Great Hua had once again paused its westward advance.

Otherwise, it was uncertain whether Moscow would still be intact.

Upon learning that the European countries were forming an alliance, Tsarist Russia eagerly joined in.

Originally, the Western European countries did not want to include Tsarist Russia, but considering that Great Hua was too powerful and had already substantially bordered Tsarist Russia, pulling in Tsarist Russia was not a bad choice.

Therefore, the Western European countries also invited Tsarist Russia to participate in this meeting.

Unexpectedly, the Polish representative complained about Tsarist Russia’s penchant for expansion at this time.

“Gentlemen, the purpose of our meeting is to put aside past contradictions and conflicts and jointly discuss strategies to deal with Great Hua,” William said.

In fact, there were intricate contradictions between various regions in Europe, including historical reasons, religious reasons, and various differences in geography, ethnicity, culture, and so on.

However, they were also good at compromise.

If there were no threat from Great Hua, they would definitely continue to fight each other, but now, all countries were inclined to form an alliance.

Even France was like this.

Although France appeared glorious at this time, having annexed several small countries, it was one step behind Great Britain in development because it needed to invest a large amount of wealth in the war.

In the long run, this was not a good thing. Once there were any setbacks in the war, those annexed territories would definitely become restless again.

Moreover, France was currently bordered by Spain to the south, the Holy Roman Empire to the east, Sweden to the north, and Great Britain to the west. None of them were easy opponents to defeat.

Under such circumstances, stopping to develop was the right path.

Continuing to fight, no matter who they fought with, would exhaust their national strength.

However, although France had already decided to form an alliance in its heart, it did not show it on the surface and kept clamoring for war.

They hoped to put pressure on other countries in this way and then compensate them with a little extra benefit.

In short, the representatives of various countries were engaged in various games at this meeting.

However, the outcome of the seemingly fierce meeting had already been decided, which was to form an alliance.

They had no choice. Without this, they would not be able to compete with Great Hua.

Finally, after several days of discussion, the European Community was finally reached, and seven member states signed the treaty.

The content of the European Community mainly included military alliances and economic alliances.

Once a member state was invaded, other countries must provide military assistance and declare war on the enemy country.

This clause was not only aimed at Great Hua, but also at the Great Western Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.

The Great Western Kingdom was excluded by the European Community because it was an outsider. The Ottoman Empire disdained to join, as they were still thinking of expanding into Europe.

If they joined the European Community, how could they be embarrassed to attack?

In the military alliance, mutual assistance in times of war was only the most important treaty, and there were many details.

For example, member states could not attack each other, and weapon technology was shared with each other.

Weapon technology sharing was a major compromise made by Great Britain.

Currently, they were the most advanced in weapon manufacturing technology besides Great Hua.

They could not only manufacture breech-loading rifles, but also cannons, but their performance was not as good as those of Great Hua.

However, solving the process from zero to one made the subsequent improvements easier.

In terms of the navy, Great Britain’s development was not very smooth, and it still could not build pure ironclad ships, only steamships.

In terms of the navy, their gap with Great Hua was extremely large, which was also an important reason why Great Britain was afraid of Great Hua.

In terms of economy, various countries have also reached some cooperation treaties.

For example, tariffs were abolished between each other, and free trade was allowed. This was a good thing for Great Britain, because their manufacturing capacity was the strongest, and they could manufacture a large number of industrial products and sell them to the European continent in exchange for raw materials.

This was also considered compensation for their sharing of advanced weapons. If they were not willing to share advanced weapon manufacturing technology, the countries would not have agreed to this treaty.

The abolition of tariffs would definitely be of great benefit to the overall development of Europe.

At the same time, the European Community also planned to create a currency belonging to the European Community, the Euro, to replace the Hua Yuan.

At this time, the currency circulating in Europe was basically the Hua Yuan. European countries had worked hard in this regard, but they could not stop this general trend.

Fortunately, the Hua Yuan currently circulating in Europe were basically silver and copper coins. Paper money had not been well promoted under the efforts of various countries to resist it.

However, this was also very dangerous.

As long as Great Hua was willing to bear some trade losses, it could make a fuss about currency and bring major blows to their economy.

In order to prevent this from happening, they were determined to create a currency that was not easily counterfeited.

Economic and military cooperation were the main contents of the European Community.

However, there were also some treaties on culture, religion, and colonial ownership.

The main thing was to respect each other’s cultural traditions and freedom of belief.

In terms of colonies, the existing principles were mainly followed. They also divided up some places that had not yet been occupied.

With the establishment of the European Community, the representatives of various countries showed smiles on their faces, but no one knew what they were thinking in their hearts.

For Alex, this result was very good. Their Poland no longer had to worry about being divided at any time.

Taking a little loss in the economy was a small problem for them. It was good enough as long as they could save the country.

Karlovsky was also satisfied, because after Tsarist Russia was threatened by Great Hua and the Great Western Kingdom, its military focus shifted to the east and south, and it actually had no time to take care of Poland.

The aggressiveness of the Russian bear was also proportional to its strength. When it had no strength, it also looked harmless.

They originally did not have the ability to invade Poland, and now that they could not invade Poland, there was no such thing as losing benefits.

And through the alliance, they could also get military assistance when attacked.

Moreover, they could also obtain advanced weapon manufacturing technology and improve their strength.

Chapter 970: The Situation in West Asia

Spain and the Holy Roman Empire were also quite satisfied with the outcome. With the threat from France removed, they could focus on reform.

They had been watching Great Britain’s increasingly successful development with envy and longing.

Forming an alliance would also allow them to accelerate their own development.

France was also satisfied with the result. To compensate and appease them, the conference allocated them some territories in northern South America, such as Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and other places.

At the same time, the conference recognized France’s legitimate rule over the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, and other regions.

This recognition brought many benefits to their rule over these areas.

Without this recognition, nobles from the Netherlands, Belgium, and other countries could form governments-in-exile in other countries, continuing to incite domestic resistance against France and seeking opportunities for independence.

Such governments-in-exile could serve as a beacon for those unwilling to submit, making them harder to conquer.

But now that the other countries in the European Community recognized France’s occupation of these territories, they could no longer shelter these exiled government officials, making it easier for France to assimilate those regions.

In short, there were many advantages.

For Sweden, the outcome was also acceptable.

At least, they would feel more confident when Great Hua attacked.

Because among the seven member states, Great Britain was the strongest.

Therefore, the English held the most important positions in this European Community.

And this could bring many subtle benefits to Great Britain.

All seven member states gained what they wanted, but there were also many unmet desires.

With the establishment of the European Union, Persia also came forward, wanting to join.

Although their country was far from Europe and belonged to Asia.

However, they were also eager to join the European Union and form a military alliance.

This was a desperate measure, as Great Hua had been increasing its troops on their borders, seemingly ready to attack at any moment.

Persia was well aware that it could not compete with Great Hua on its own.

The neighboring, more powerful Mughal Empire had been beaten to a pulp, losing its capital and with its king fleeing in panic. Moreover, it seemed like they didn’t have much longer to live.

However, Persia’s request was ruthlessly rejected by the European Union.

The European countries were not stupid. If they accepted Persia and formed a military alliance with them, they would soon be at war with Great Hua, as Great Hua’s intention to attack Persia was already clear.

Although the European Union had been established, the European countries were still quite afraid of Great Hua.

With the mentality of delaying as long as possible, they wanted the European Union to engage with Great Hua as late as possible, giving themselves more time to develop.

Rejected, Persia was in tears and could only turn to the Ottoman Empire, hoping to form an alliance and huddle together for warmth.

After all, the two countries were now in a relationship of mutual dependence.

Once Great Hua occupied Persia, the next target would undoubtedly be the Ottoman Empire.

However, the Ottoman Empire seemed to be oblivious to this simple relationship and ignored Persia’s request for an alliance.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire had just ended a period of female rule.

For decades, the power of the Ottoman Empire had been in the hands of several Queen Mothers.

And during this period, the Ottoman Empire had gone from prosperity to decline.

But just five years ago, a palace coup took place in the Ottoman Empire. After the most famous Queen Mother, Kösem, died in the coup, the interference of the harem in politics ended, and power shifted to the Grand Vizier.

The empire was weakening, and the Grand Vizier, eager to make his mark, saw his primary task as revitalizing the Ottoman Empire.

Only by restoring the former glory of the Ottoman Empire could his rule be convincing and allow him to continue governing.

And what was the glory of the Ottoman Empire?

Improving living standards and social customs?

These were not as direct as expanding territory. Territorial expansion was often a manifestation of strength.

Therefore, the Grand Vizier had been preparing for war for the past two years, planning to invade the Holy Roman Empire, Persia, North Africa, and other regions.

At this time, they could not possibly form an alliance with Persia.

As for the powerful Great Hua?

The Grand Vizier was actually aware of them, but he had no choice.

If he formed an alliance with Persia at this time, the other ministers and the people would be dissatisfied.

Because the powerful Ottoman Empire had always relied on force to conquer its opponents, how could it ally with an enemy?

Therefore, even though he knew that an alliance would benefit the Ottoman Empire, the Grand Vizier could not do so, as it would cost him the legitimacy of his rule.

This example had something in common with Chongzhen.

For example, Chongzhen also understood that the most correct choice was to negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty and then focus on eliminating Li Zicheng, avoiding a two-front war.

However, he could not do so.

After all, the ancestral teachings were not to negotiate peace, not to cede territory, and not to form alliances through marriage.

Officials also did not support peace talks, and public opinion was the same.

For example, Chongzhen also understood at that time that the North had been ravaged by Li Zicheng beyond recognition, and Beijing had always relied on grain relief from the South, which was extremely costly.

The best solution was to move the capital to Nanjing.

However, because of the ancestral teaching of “the emperor guards the nation’s gate,” Chongzhen could not do so.

Many people in later generations did not understand some of Chongzhen’s actions, but when placed in the context of the time, they all had their reasons.

Chongzhen first had to maintain the legitimacy of his rule before he could think about other things.

Now the Grand Vizier was also in a similar situation, knowing that allying with Persia to resist the threat of Great Hua was the right thing to do. But he just couldn’t do it.

The people did not have so much foresight, did not understand so much, and it was difficult to explain it clearly to them.

They could only see the present.

The Ottoman Empire had never signed a treaty of alliance with an enemy before. If the Grand Vizier took the lead in doing so, it would be surrendering sovereignty and humiliating the country, it would be being a useless person.

Once the people had this idea, then the Grand Vizier would not be far from stepping down.

At this time, the Grand Vizier could only seek another way out.

For example, while Great Hua was attacking Persia, he could join in and seize some Persian territory.

At that time, he would naturally receive countless praises.

As for what to do in the future?

This was not something the Grand Vizier cared about, because at his age, he would probably be buried in the next two or three years.

In other words, as long as he could help the Ottoman Empire survive these two or three years, his task would be completed. All that would be left of him in the history books would be praise. As for the Ottoman Empire being beaten by Great Hua in the future, that would naturally be the fault of later generations.

It was actually normal for an eighty-year-old man to be a little selfish before he died.

Chapter 971: The Suez Canal

After the Huaxia army occupied Delhi, they began to divide their forces and occupy the entire South Asian subcontinent, establishing effective rule.

At the same time, the navy also occupied Port Said and Suez not long ago.

Of the more than two hundred thousand prisoners in India, nearly one hundred thousand were transported to Suez to dig the Suez Canal.

Currently, most of the maritime trade between Great Hua and Western Europe needs to pass through the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, taking a large detour.

If the Suez Canal could be dug through, connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the journey from Great Hua to Western Europe could be shortened by about ten thousand kilometers.

Each ship could travel ten thousand kilometers less per trade, saving a lot of time and fuel.

And there are thousands upon thousands of ships active on this trade route.

Moreover, once the canal is built, it can be used for hundreds or even thousands of years.

From a long-term perspective, this is a highly profitable project.

The difficulty and scale of building the Suez Canal are enormous, so much so that people in other countries wouldn’t even dare to imagine it.

But for Great Hua, it’s actually nothing, just a slightly larger engineering project.

One hundred thousand prisoners were delivered, and at the same time, thirty excavators and one hundred heavy trucks from Great Hua were also transported over and made their debut in Suez.

When the excavator scooped up a bucket of mud, the eyes of the prisoners on the construction site widened.

What kind of monster is this?

Their limited knowledge couldn’t comprehend such a thing at all.

“It’s the Giant Strength God.”

An Indian soldier knelt down and prayed piously.

Being able to dig up thousands of Jin of mud at once, this kind of power is too great, it must be divine power.

People need faith more when they are confused, and these prisoners are currently quite confused about the future.

Coincidentally, the excavator appeared in front of them, showing unparalleled power, and instantly conquered their fragile hearts.

Among them, some people began to weave some beliefs to deceive themselves.

Let their hearts begin to believe that they are following the Giant Strength God to do a great thing, rather than being enslaved here to do hard labor.

Changing their thinking can make them feel better.

The excavator became the Giant Strength God, and the excavator operator became the divine envoy.

This kind of thing almost made the Huaxia people die of laughter.

At first, some Huaxia people would laugh at these prisoners a few times to find a sense of superiority.

Later, the officers guarding these prisoners discovered that those prisoners who believed that the excavator was the Giant Strength God were more obedient and worked harder.

Since there is this effect, the Huaxia army naturally doesn’t need to abandon it.

So, they began to actively promote among the prisoners that these excavators were the Giant Strength God, arranged by heaven to benefit the world…

When they deliberately promoted this superstition, the saying of the Giant Strength God spread quickly.

Soon, most of the nearly one hundred thousand prisoners believed this statement.

Those who didn’t believe it pretended to believe it on the surface. Because once he revealed an unbelieving attitude, he would be beaten up immediately, which is why the Giant Strength God can spread so quickly.

Those who pretended to believe naturally wouldn’t have faith bonus when working, and wouldn’t work harder.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as everyone believes in the Giant Strength God on the surface, then some of the more stupid people among them will truly believe in the Giant Strength God.

There are quite a few people in this part, because people in the India region are originally superstitious, and there are hundreds and thousands of various gods. Now it is reasonable to have one more Giant Strength God.

This part of the people has a faith bonus, works harder, and is easier to manage.

For this reason, the Huaxia army can appropriately reduce the number of supervisors and save a lot of costs.

The Suez Canal started construction, and Western Europeans and West Asians who learned the news went to the site to visit.

“What is that big guy?”

In a Western European family who came to visit, the boy couldn’t move when he saw the excavator working.

“That is the excavator and truck of Great Hua. The working efficiency of an excavator is equal to fifty workers.”

His father, James, said with a sense of helplessness in his tone.

The excavator of Great Hua is really terrible. This kind of work efficiency makes other countries only sigh when it comes to infrastructure.

“Cool, I want to drive an excavator in the future and be an excavator driver.”

The boy said.

In his opinion, controlling such a big guy and digging wantonly is really a super cool thing.

“No, you have to learn to make excavators in the future, that’s the coolest thing.”

James educated, but the boy didn’t listen.

Learning is too boring, where is it as interesting as driving an excavator?

“Is this the machine of Great Hua? It’s so exquisite and ingenious. The machines in our country’s factories are like lumps of iron.”

James’s wife, Philomena, sighed.

She had visited some factories in London and seen those so-called machines.

In contrast, the machines of Great Hua are so exquisite and flexible, just like works of art.

“Alas, the gap between our country and Great Hua is at least twenty years. In another twenty years, we may not be able to build this kind of excavator.”

James sighed.

“The machines sent overseas are so exquisite and magical, maybe there are more magical things in Great Hua, I really want to visit Great Hua.”

James is worried about his country, but his son is concerned about where to learn to drive an excavator, and his wife wants to travel to Great Hua.

In Western Europe, not everyone can understand what impact the gap in strength between Great Hua and their country will have on them.

“Great Hua has mobilized one hundred thousand prisoners, as well as twenty thousand local natives, and a large number of excavators and trucks. The scale of this project can be called unprecedented.”

“Unprecedented may be true, but it is definitely impossible to be the last. With the development speed of Great Hua, there will definitely be larger-scale projects in the future.”

“Looking at this posture, the Suez Canal may be dug through soon.”

“This is a good thing.”

“Is it? I don’t think so.”

A group of tourists discussed with each other.

Different people have different ideas about the construction of the Suez Canal.

The merchant group is naturally the happiest. After the canal is built, the distance from Western Europe to Great Hua will be greatly shortened, the transportation time will be shortened, and the cost will be reduced, which will be conducive to the prosperity of trade.

The ruling class, or some insightful people, see the construction of the canal and think that Great Hua will transport troops and ammunition to Western Europe more conveniently.

From this point of view, the Suez Canal is greatly bad for Western Europe.

However, no matter what they think, it will not affect the progress of the project.

They don’t have the courage to sabotage the construction site for the time being.

Chapter 972: The Talent War

Suez, a previously obscure little place.

Because Great Hua was opening a canal, it attracted a large population.

As a result, it suddenly became bustling and prosperous.

The sudden influx of tens of thousands of people stimulated the local economy through their consumption, leading to the emergence of numerous shops.

Restaurants, taverns, brothels…

“Mr. Zhao, how much can you earn a month driving an excavator here?”

In the Distant Village Bar, James was chatting with an excavator operator.

“Not bad, about fifteen yuan a month, plus some benefits and subsidies, it’s almost twenty yuan.”

Zhao Ben took a swig of wine and said with a smile.

This James was very generous, treating him to food and drinks, which greatly increased his goodwill towards James.

Twenty yuan?

James chuckled inwardly.

From what he knew, a unskilled worker in Great Hua currently earned about six yuan a month. And a slightly skilled worker could earn up to ten yuan a month.

Operating an excavator was of course not comparable to those engaged in research, but among the workers, it could be considered a highly skilled job.

With this level of skill, a monthly salary of fifteen yuan was actually a bit low.

This was a good thing for James, as it meant it would be easier to poach Zhao Ben.

“That’s too low, Great Hua’s cost of living is so high, can this income allow you to live a superior life?”

James continued to ask.

A superior life?

Zhao Ben was stunned for a moment, then fell into thought.

In their village, he was doing quite well.

However, compared to the city dwellers, he seemed insignificant.

He had only paid the down payment for a house in the city, hadn’t bought a car, and only had one wife, hesitant to take a concubine because he was worried about the cost.

Someone easily satisfied would compare himself to the villagers and conclude that he was living a happy life.

Someone not easily satisfied would compare himself to the rich people in the city and conclude that his life was a failure.

Zhao Ben was a bit more complicated.

Sometimes, he would compare himself to the villagers and feel that he was doing quite well.

He had a house, a car (bicycle), a reasonably pretty wife, and a well-paying skill.

But from time to time, he would compare himself to the city dwellers and feel small and depressed.

He had to pay the mortgage on time, didn’t have a motorcycle or a concubine, his career had hit a bottleneck, and his potential was low…

Now, being intentionally led by an astute person like James, he was naturally reminded of the depression in his heart, and concluded that he was not living a happy life.

Fueled by the alcohol, Zhao Ben began to pour out his grievances.

“Someone with Mr. Zhao’s skills would be a person above people in our country, the government would arrange housing and servants, and the income to support two or three women would not be a problem at all…”

James kept stirring up the dissatisfaction in Zhao Ben’s heart, as if he was speaking up for Zhao Ben.

Finally, James saw that the time was ripe and threw out the recruitment conditions.

His visit to Suez was ostensibly for sightseeing, but in reality, it was for espionage, such as gathering intelligence, and turning people, poaching, and other such activities.

Although Zhao Ben was just an excavator operator, James felt that he was worth recruiting.

After all, Zhao Ben was familiar with the structure of excavators and had a certain understanding of them.

In the future, when Great Britain was researching and manufacturing excavators, Zhao Ben would definitely be able to help.

He could even have Zhao Ben teach a group of apprentices.

Of course, the most important thing was that the cost of recruiting Zhao Ben was relatively low.

A job with a monthly salary of fifty, plus a pretty girl, plus a house in the city, would be enough to get it done.

If they were to recruit a scientist from Great Hua, they wouldn’t even think about it without tens or hundreds of thousands.

Tens or hundreds of thousands was a big deal, and Great Britain had to be cautious and would not act rashly.

“What, you want me to go to Great Britain to work and live? No, no.”

Zhao Ben shook his head repeatedly.

“Why not? You’ll get a higher salary in Great Britain, and a house and a woman will be given to you.”

James asked.

“I don’t know why, but it’s just not possible. I am a Great Hua person, so naturally I have to work for Great Hua, how can I go to Great Britain and work for barbarians, for foreigners.”

If it weren’t for the fact that James was paying for the treat, Zhao Ben would have said, ‘work for barbarians.’

“What’s wrong with that? Don’t many people from our country work in Great Hua? Besides, going to work in London doesn’t mean giving up your identity as a Great Hua person, you can always go back to Great Hua whenever you want.”

James planned to trick Zhao Ben to Great Britain first, and then deal with the rest later.

“That’s still not possible, in short, there’s no room for discussion on this matter, thank you for the treat, I’ll find you for a drink next time.”

Zhao Ben continued to refuse and left early.

After leaving the bar, he didn’t understand why he had refused a higher-paying job.

If a professional were to analyze it, the conclusion might be ‘the pride of the Great Hua people’.

As a Great Hua person, when facing other foreigners, they are actually very proud and self-respecting in their hearts.

In terms of status, James actually belongs to the upper class in Great Britain, which is equivalent to the masters of Great Hua.

When Zhao Ben comes into contact with these masters in China, he is actually easily restrained, because he feels that he is the weaker party.

However, when he was drinking and talking with James just now, he seemed very natural, simply because the other party was not a Great Hua person, and he was.

The sense of pride brought by the identity of a Great Hua person made up for the inferiority brought by the gap in status.

Therefore, in the subconscious of the current Great Hua people, they are very concerned about the identity of a Great Hua person.

In Zhao Ben’s subconscious, it is a very, very shameful thing for a Great Hua person to work for the British and be bossed around by the British.

Although the salary offered by James was very tempting, he still chose to save face in comparison.

He couldn’t imagine how his colleagues, family, and villagers would laugh at him if they knew that he was working for barbarians.

“Damn it, I have to ask the boss for a raise.”

Zhao Ben cursed and returned to the dormitory.

Originally, he didn’t think his salary was low, after all, other colleagues were the same, and this salary was higher than other workers.

However, after being teased by James, he felt that taking a twenty yuan salary was a loss.

From this perspective, James’s espionage activity cannot be considered a complete failure, at least it undermined the unity between Zhao Ben and the foreman.

Of course, that’s all he got.

Chapter 973: The Panama Canal

James failed to recruit Zhao Benquan, but he wasn’t always unsuccessful.

Not everyone was as concerned with national pride as Zhao Benquan; there were plenty of people in this world who were only interested in personal gain.

When James offered three or four times their current salary, some workers were tempted.

However, leaving wasn’t easy for them unless they could come up with the ransom.

Most of the technical workers in Great Hua were cultivated by capitalists who provided room, board, tuition, and even salary subsidies. Before the training, they signed contracts stipulating how many years they had to work for them before they were free to switch jobs.

Otherwise, they would have to pay a penalty for breach of contract.

And this penalty was very high, as much as five thousand yuan.

Naturally, James quietly provided this money.

James stopped after poaching two ordinary workers, as his campaign funds were limited.

The loss of two technical workers had almost no impact on Great Hua.

Moreover, this kind of thing was difficult to prevent and impossible to eliminate completely.

Unless Great Hua abandoned its principles of respecting human rights and implemented very strict controls on ordinary citizens, restricting their personal freedom.

This was really unnecessary; strengthening control over those core talents was the limit.

Being poached for technical workers was actually a minor matter; the real fear was that researchers who had mastered core technologies would be poached.

And although such examples were rare, they did exist.

Of course, other countries had paid unimaginable prices to poach these people.

For example, when a viscount from France was trying to poach a Great Hua researcher working on steam engines, the researcher took one look at the viscount’s wife and fell in love.

Liu Shiping, with his special preferences, wanted nothing else but the viscount’s wife.

And this viscount was also a ruthless man who would stop at nothing to achieve his goals, and he actually offered his wife.

Then, Liu Shiping went to France with the viscount, and now he spends his days building and improving steam engines for France, and his nights sleeping with the viscount’s wife.

He stubbornly refused to let the woman divorce the viscount, determined to make the viscount wear a green hat every day.

The French people who knew the inside story didn’t know whether to admire, pity, or laugh at the viscount.

With Liu Shiping’s guidance, French steam engine research suddenly took a leap forward, catching up with Great Britain.

In subsequent research, it even surpassed Great Britain.

This made the leaders of other countries widen their eyes, wondering if they should also use similar methods to get some talent from Great Hua.

Fortunately, freaks like Liu Shiping were ultimately in the minority; most researchers were normal people. Even if they were a little eccentric, they weren’t as extreme as Liu Shiping.

Other countries racked their brains and exhausted all means to poach talent from Great Hua.

High official positions and generous salaries were the most gentle and lowest-level approach. The cost was high, and the effect was generally average.

The beauty trap was similar, with a small cost and an average effect.

Others seized on the problems of those talents, such as corruption, bribery, or moral failings, and used these pieces of evidence to threaten them into providing technology or other intelligence.

This method had a small cost and a poor effect.

While people from other countries were poaching talent from Great Hua, Great Hua was also poaching talent from other countries; everyone was the same.

In comparison, it was much easier for Great Hua to poach talent from other countries; they could even do it without spending a penny, using ideals to fool a large number of people into coming.

In the words of those underground workers, Nanjing had the best research atmosphere, the best research conditions, and the most advanced technology.

These few things alone were enough to attract many talents to run to Nanjing.

Moreover, Great Hua could openly poach talent from other countries, and other countries, at most, protested verbally.

But when other countries poached talent from Great Hua, they had to be careful.

Once exposed, they would be caught by Great Hua’s intelligence agency and thrown into prison. No matter how their country’s embassy protested, they would not release them.

And other countries would make a symbolic fuss, scold a few times, and give their own people an explanation, and then it would be over.

To start a war with Great Hua over this matter was completely impossible.

At the same time, the Panama Canal was officially completed and opened to navigation.

The length of the Panama Canal was much shorter than the Suez Canal, but the shortened voyage was even greater than that of the Suez Canal.

Once North America developed, the importance and economic value of this canal would be slightly higher than that of the Suez Canal.

However, at present, the center of the world was Great Hua and Western Europe, so the importance of the Panama Canal was far less than that of the Suez Canal.

Only because the engineering scale was smaller, Great Hua started construction two years ago, and it was finally completed after two years.

As the lock gates were lowered, the first trial ship entered the canal.

Unlike the Suez Canal’s sea-level waterway, the Panama Canal had locks, and the water level of the canal was much higher than sea level.

This was because the water levels of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans were different.

Most people’s first impression might be that the water levels on the sea surface should be the same, but in reality, this was not the case.

The height of the sea level was affected by many factors, including the Earth’s gravity, centrifugal force, and solid tides.

In the waters near Sri Lanka, because its underwater crust was very thick and the gravity was very strong, the seawater here could be about one hundred meters higher than the water surface in other sea areas, forming a protruding water area.

In the waters near Iceland, because the gravity was low, the water surface here was sixty or seventy meters lower than the water surface in other places, forming a sunken ‘basin’.

Most people’s sensory impressions were often wrong. For example, most people who had not gone to Panama to learn more about it, through their brains about the location of Panama, the Pacific Ocean, and the Atlantic Ocean, would think that the Panama Canal was in the east-west direction.

But in fact, the Panama Canal was in the north-south direction.

The water level of the Atlantic Ocean was slightly higher than that of the Pacific Ocean. If the Panama Canal did not have locks, the water from the Atlantic Ocean would flow into the Pacific Ocean.

In this way, the water in the canal would have a flow rate, which would make it very dangerous for large ships to pass through the canal, and they would easily lose control and crash into the banks of the canal.

Because the canal was very small, it could only allow large ships to barely pass through. If ten-thousand-ton freighters were affected by the water flow, their terrible inertia, coupled with the lack of brakes, made it a very dangerous thing for ships to pass through the canal.

Currently, the Panama Canal was designed to allow seven-thousand-ton freighters to pass through, but if there were really fifty or sixty thousand-ton freighters entering the canal, they would have to rely on towing to pass through, rather than relying on their own power.

In the afternoon, the first trial ship passed through the canal and entered the Caribbean Sea.

Chapter 974: Opening to Navigation

The opening of the Panama Canal greatly shortened the sea route between eastern and western North America, increasing the frequency of trade.

And the Panama Canal also left people from other countries in awe.

“It’s a miracle! How could they dig through such a wide canal? The leeches in Parliament only know how to collect taxes from us, but they refuse to allocate funds to dig the Erie Canal.”

When Michael, a resident of New York City, arrived at the canal, he couldn’t help but complain about the Parliament of Great Britain.

Because British merchants who previously lived in New York City felt the need to dig a canal connecting the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean to facilitate immigration to areas such as Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.

Without this canal, the freight cost of transporting agricultural products from Illinois to New York for sale would be at least ten times higher.

In places without automobiles, it is very normal for land transportation costs to be ten times more expensive than water transportation.

Expensive freight costs were a major factor restricting the British from advancing westward.

Some immigrants arrived in Illinois and grew a large amount of agricultural products, but there was no market to sell them locally, so they could only be transported to New York City.

After deducting freight costs, there was basically no profit to be made.

Therefore, not many people were interested in going west to reclaim land.

Because of this situation, immigrants in North America hoped that the government of Great Britain could preside over the construction of a canal connecting the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes.

Their demands were not high, they only hoped to build a canal twelve meters wide.

However, this was already very difficult for Great Britain, and the scale was too large. To complete this project, a massive amount of capital and manpower would be required.

Great Britain’s temporary focus was on industrialization, and it did not have enough capital and manpower to build such a long-term return project that would take many years to recoup the investment.

Such a large project must be successfully presided over by a strong government.

Without the government coming forward, the wishes of North American immigrants, no matter how strong, would be in vain.

They lacked the organizational skills, the courage to invest independently, and were even more worried that the canal would be requisitioned by the government of Great Britain after it was dug.

“Alas, if it were Great Hua, they would have built it long ago. I heard that their Grand Canal is more than two thousand kilometers long and was built a thousand years ago. It’s incredible.

And this Panama Canal, needless to say, is more than one hundred and fifty meters wide at its narrowest point. I heard that it can accommodate cargo ships of sixty to seventy thousand tons.”

His companion, Ropetz, said.

Everything is afraid of comparison. With Great Hua as a reference, people from other countries can easily become depressed.

There’s no comparison. The gap is too big.

Great Hua digging a canal with an average width of more than two hundred meters is like a game, while they want to dig a canal twelve meters wide and treat it like a major event determining the fate of the country, unable to make a decision for a long time.

“Why is it that our ships are the same size as theirs, but we have to pay four thousand yuan, while they only need to pay two thousand yuan?”

When paying the fee to obtain a transit permit, Michael questioned Wen Xiang, the toll collector at the toll booth.

“Because they are Great Hua people, and the ships are also registered in Great Hua, while you are British. This canal was dug by our Great Hua, so naturally it is to serve the ships of our Great Hua,”

Wen Xiang explained.

“That’s too much! This is ethnic discrimination! You can’t do this!”

Michael protested.

“Can’t have ethnic discrimination? Then why do you call Native Americans yellow-skinned monkeys? Stop talking nonsense, and get out if you don’t pay. The Strait of Magellan is free, and no one is stopping you from going that way.”

Wen Xiang snorted coldly.

Some people like to talk about the law of the jungle when facing weaker people, and like to talk about morality and etiquette when facing stronger people.

Wen Xiang was not used to dealing with this kind of person.

Anyway, the value of the Panama Canal is there, and smart businessmen can distinguish the pros and cons, so there is no worry about not having business to do.

Sure enough, Michael only complained a few times, and then paid the money while saying some words in a suburban accent that Wen Xiang couldn’t understand.

The meaning was probably that he was a rational and intelligent person and didn’t want to argue with a loser like Wen Xiang.

This was mainly said to his companion Ropetz, trying to prove that he was not spineless and afraid of Wen Xiang, but that he was just holding his identity and disdained to argue with Wen Xiang.

Commonly known as, spiritual victory.

Fortunately, Ropetz was his friend and didn’t expose him, otherwise the atmosphere would be very awkward.

In short, their cargo ship was approved to enter the canal.

“Collecting four thousand Hua yuan at a time, it won’t take ten years to recoup the investment.”

On the way, Michael’s topic was still focused on the canal.

He roughly estimated the income of the Panama Canal and came to this conclusion.

“Ten years? No, I think five years is enough. First of all, as trade increases in the future, there will be more and more ships passing through the canal. Secondly, Great Hua didn’t actually spend too much money building this canal. Most of the workers were prisoners of war and local natives, who only needed to be fed and didn’t need to be paid.”

Ropetz said.

“Perhaps, we can also use black people and Native Americans to build a canal. That way, we can go directly to Illinois to purchase goods.”

Michael imagined that scenario, which would at least increase his profits by more than fifty percent.

“Perhaps, we should unite and put pressure on Parliament. If Parliament doesn’t agree, then we’ll ask the Great Hua people to help us build it.”

Ropetz put forward an even more naive idea.

“I heard that nearly twenty thousand people died building this canal.”

Michael said.

“Probably, they were all prisoners of war and natives, who would care. I heard that after these people finished building the canal, they were escorted to build the highway from Panama to Peru.”

Ropetz said.

“To Peru? From Colombia to Peru seems to be Spanish territory, why is Great Hua building this highway?”

Michael asked curiously.

“What’s so hard to understand about this? It means that Great Hua is preparing to attack Colombia and other places. Otherwise, do you think the Great Hua people would do good deeds for no reason?”

Ropetz said.

The Colombia area used to be Portuguese territory, but two years ago, Spain had annexed Portugal and taken over the Portuguese overseas colonies.

Now, most of South America is Spanish territory.

“Then, what is Spain’s reaction?”

Michael was shocked.

He couldn’t imagine what it would be like for Spain and Great Hua to go to war, and what impact it would have on Europe.

He didn’t know about the establishment of the European Union yet, so he felt that Spain alone could not be Great Hua’s opponent.

“What else can they do? Swallow their anger and dare not even stop Great Hua from building roads.”

Ropetz sighed.

Although he was not Spanish, as a fellow European, his emotions instinctively leaned towards Spain when facing Great Hua.

Chapter 975: Marching into Kathmandu

Ropetz was right. Not long after the Spring Festival in the eleventh year of Yongxing, a joint fleet set off from Shanghai and headed straight for Panama.

Wu Changqing didn’t care much about the formation of the European Union, nor was he surprised.

After all, the history of civilization in Europe is very long, and it has produced a large number of cultural figures and politicians.

When there is no external threat, these politicians will fight each other for their own self-interest. But once there is an external threat, they can rationally unite.

Wu Changqing didn’t care, but that didn’t mean other officials didn’t.

Especially the military, who had been holding back for so long, just wanted to find a reason to expand and start a war.

And the formation of the European Union was the best reason for them.

Under the military’s hype, the European Union had been mythologized to the point where it could rival Great Hua. If they didn’t act while the European Union was still weak, they would lose their chance in the future, and so on.

These nonsense words were just talk, and not many officials believed them.

But that didn’t matter. Most of the officials at this time were inclined to war and expansion, so they turned a blind eye to the military’s nonsense and were too lazy to care.

Not only did the officials support expansion, but the public’s call for expansion was also very high.

There may be many reasons, but the most important one may be that the benefits of those places that had already been recovered had been snatched up.

Continuing to develop in Japan and Annam, they would have to compete with their own people, which was not easy. It was far less cost-effective than going to those newly conquered places.

After years of development, more and more people were able to grab a share of the pie overseas, and these people were also the main force supporting expansion.

There were also some passionate people who were addicted to the power of Great Hua and unable to extricate themselves from the feelings of recovering their homeland. These people also supported expansion, hoping to recover all their homeland as soon as possible.

With the promotion of public opinion and sufficient strength, sending troops became a natural thing.

The main force of this expedition was the navy, and the number of the army was small, only one brigade, a few thousand people.

Moreover, it was just an ordinary brigade, with only a small number of communication vehicles and three armored vehicles for emergency use and assault, and the rest were infantry.

It was difficult and costly to transfer troops across the Pacific Ocean.

Otherwise, Great Hua would not have waited until now to launch a large-scale attack on the Americas.

It takes about two months to travel from Great Hua to Panama.

Therefore, those who saw them off at the port would have to wait at least four months before hearing news from Panama again.

Great Hua’s telegraph had been laid to Europe, but not yet to the Americas.

The transmission of news still had to be done in the most primitive way.

Unlike India, where telegraph lines had already been laid, the situation of the war could always be quickly reported in the Central Plains.

On January 10th of the eleventh year of Yongxing, the Huaxia army ended its rest and continued its military operations.

Previously, they had recovered Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other regions.

On the entire South Asian subcontinent, only the Bangalore area and Nepal and other regions had not yet been recovered.

After recovering these places, the Huaxia army could advance into the Pakistan region and wipe out the remaining forces of the Mughal Empire.

On the fifteenth, a division of the Huaxia army crossed the mountains and arrived at the edge of the Kathmandu Valley.

This valley is almost the essence of the entire Nepal, a gathering place for people. Occupying this place is equivalent to occupying Nepal.

For other remote places, you only need to send a few people to declare sovereignty, and that’s about it.

Great Hua didn’t expect to collect much tax in those remote places, as long as those people didn’t rebel and lived in peace.

The only place that needs to be controlled is the Kathmandu Valley.

At this time, Kathmandu was in the Three Kingdoms period of the Malla Dynasty.

After Yaksha Malla’s death, his three sons split into three forces, in a state of melee.

Although their overall strength was not very good, they were naturally brave and martial.

This is also the reason why the former Mughal Empire did not conquer this place. It was difficult and not very beneficial.

“Blow up that mountain gate.”

After arriving in Kathmandu, the Huaxia army did not try to use the contradictions between the three forces to its advantage. There was no need. They just attacked directly.

Chitlang, is the territory of Patan, one of the three forces, and also the final pass to defend against foreign enemies.

Although the people of Patan mainly live in the valley, they are not stupid. They know that there is no danger to defend in the valley. Therefore, they built a city wall on the mountain of Chitlang, relying on the terrain.

This kind of city wall is far less tall than the cities in the plains, but it is more dangerous.

If a cold weapon force were to attack this place, it would be impossible to take it down without paying ten times the casualties of the defenders.

But now.

The Huaxia army’s artillery adjusted its angle and continuously bombarded the city gate.

After dozens of shells, the city gate had been blown to pieces.

“Provide fire cover, the assault team rushes in.”

As soon as the voice fell, the Huaxia soldiers hiding behind the bunkers emerged and fired at the top of the wall to prevent the enemy’s archers from firing arrows.

In this not-so-wide area, the power of hundreds of archers shooting arrows at the same time is actually not to be underestimated.

In order to avoid casualties, the Huaxia army was actually cautiously hiding behind obstacles and using fire cover to charge when dealing with this cold weapon force, which was a bit too much.

Faced with the constant stream of bullets, the Nepalese archers could only quickly squat down. Those who tried to fight back had not even shot their arrows before they fell down.

Even the Indian army would not dare to be so arrogant when fighting back under the fire cover of the Huaxia army.

Without the obstruction of the archers, the Huaxia army’s assault team easily arrived at the city gate and entered the city gate.

The Huaxia army had not climbed city walls for a long, long time, and there was not even such a project in daily training.

After rushing to the city gate, a large number of arrows shot out, causing several soldiers in the lead to be shot.

Then, the sound of submachine guns rang out, accompanied by some screams.

Those archers who were blocking behind the city gate, trying to stop the Huaxia army, suffered.

Under the strafing of the submachine guns, they didn’t even have a chance to shoot a second arrow.

With the death of these archers, other infantry were even more unable to stop the Huaxia army.

They couldn’t even reach the Huaxia army before being riddled with holes.

After only one wave of attacks, seeing the tragic situation of the soldiers rushing in front, the other soldiers turned around and ran away.

Whether a person or an army is fierce and fearless depends on the opponent.

When facing the Mughal army with the same level of combat power, the Nepalese army appears to be very brave.

However, when facing Great Hua, whose strength is a level higher, the Nepalese army does not seem to be much different from other armies that like to surrender.

Chapter 976: Complete Pacification

The loss of the city gate signaled defeat for the Nepalese army.

The assault team rushed onto the wall, shooting the archers and suppressing any chance of retaliation.

Then, the main force of the Huaxia army poured into the pass, securing it.

Having lost their natural defenses, the Nepalese army quickly collapsed. The pass, which seemed impregnable, was taken by the Huaxia army with fewer than ten casualties.

The Huaxia army then descended into the valley from their advantageous position.

Along the way, the Nepalese army, with no defenses to hold, could only flee or surrender. Some even fled to Bhaktapur, seeking help from another of the three kingdoms across the border.

The Bhaktapur defenders were very surprised. After inquiring, they learned that the Great Hua army had arrived.

Although they were in a remote area with little contact with the outside world, they knew of Great Hua’s reputation.

The exaggerated tales of the fleeing soldiers filled the Bhaktapur soldiers with dread.

On the first day after entering the valley, the Huaxia army occupied the entire territory of Patan.

By the second day, before the other two factions could react or devise a plan, the Huaxia army had already launched an attack against them.

Both Bhaktapur and Kantipur had significant forces.

Bhaktapur had twenty-five thousand soldiers, and Kantipur had over forty thousand.

After all, it was a time of constant warfare, and the three factions were somewhat militaristic, with soldiers accounting for a very high proportion of the total population, about one in ten.

Great Hua’s soldier-to-population ratio was about one in two hundred, and even then, they felt the pressure of military spending. This shows how much these three factions were exploiting the common people to maintain such a military force.

The people here lived even worse than the people of India had before.

The Huaxia army only had a little over ten thousand soldiers. This division, which had come to attack the Kathmandu Valley, did not bring too many heavy artillery units and logistical support units, so the number of personnel was much smaller.

Ten thousand soldiers were enough to deal with these backward armies.

The Huaxia army first concentrated its forces to attack Bhaktapur. In the Kathmandu Valley, Bhaktapur also had no natural defenses.

Their crude city walls could provide some defense against the armies of the other two factions.

However, in front of Great Hua, these city walls were as fragile as paper.

A round of artillery fire not only blew open the city gate but also blasted several gaps in the city walls.

Then, the Huaxia army began to charge.

Apart from the archers, who could pose a slight threat to the Huaxia army, the other Nepalese infantry could only be slaughtered unilaterally.

They couldn’t get close to the Huaxia army, and the Huaxia army wouldn’t get too close to them.

Maintaining a distance, they used their guns to bully them from afar.

And once the Nepalese army tried to launch a charge and reach the Huaxia army, the Huaxia army would unleash its full firepower, causing the Nepalese army to collapse even faster.

The vast Bhaktapur, with more than twenty thousand troops, didn’t even last a morning before being completely captured by the Huaxia army.

Except for a small number of people who escaped, the rest were either killed in battle or captured.

Kantipur, on the side, was still hesitating whether to rescue its former enemy and attack the Huaxia army from both sides.

As a result, Bhaktapur was defeated.

This saved the King of Kantipur some trouble in making a decision, but the next day, the Huaxia army arrived on his territory and launched an attack on him.

Kantipur was the strongest, slightly stronger than the other two combined.

However, this was meaningless.

Without firearms and artillery, no matter how many soldiers there were, they could not threaten the Huaxia army.

The battle was a repeat of the previous day. Once the Nepalese army’s city gate was breached, they immediately fell into a massive rout.

The Huaxia army put in a lot of effort to capture the fleeing soldiers.

With this, Nepal was considered conquered.

Once the civil officials arrived, along with a garrison, the area could be brought under control.

At the same time, another unit of the Huaxia army launched an attack on Bangalore.

As a city on a hilly ridge, Bangalore’s terrain was also easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it had been a strategic location since ancient times.

Precisely for this reason, while other parts of India surrendered and were peacefully liberated, Bangalore refused to recognize Great Hua’s rule over the region, declared independence, and restored the Kingdom of Mysore, which had been conquered by the Mughal Empire.

The world is so big that anything can happen.

There are many people in this world who are desperate about Great Hua’s strength.

However, there are some who think they can compete with Great Hua, or draw the conclusion that Great Hua will not attack Bangalore based on some bizarre reasoning.

In short, Tarudo thought so and acted so.

So much so that when the Great Hua army appeared on the outskirts of Bangalore, Tarudo couldn’t believe it.

However, as the sound of artillery fire rang out, Tarudo had to accept this reality.

The Huaxia army had attacked. What should he do?

This was something Tarudo had never really thought about before. If he had known that Great Hua would attack, he would never have dared to declare independence.

Even the Mughal Empire couldn’t stop the Great Hua army. He didn’t think that the strength of his small place could be stronger than the Mughal Empire.

Two days. Bangalore only lasted two days.

The so-called easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack military fortress had become a joke.

Tarudo was also captured alive, then beheaded, and his family was exterminated.

Great Hua has never been polite to such ungrateful people.

If this guy had been a little more sensible, Great Hua wouldn’t have had to mobilize its main force to Bangalore, wasting manpower and resources.

Killing Tarudo was also to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

With the recapture of Bangalore, other places that were still hesitating and watching all came to their senses and quickly recognized Great Hua’s rule to avoid ending up like Tarudo.

Subsequently, Great Hua’s civil officials and the second-line troops used to maintain law and order began to gradually enter various important places and cities, establishing a sound governing structure.

This process was also quite cumbersome and complex, with a lot of messy things happening.

It was necessary to reach a certain degree of compromise with the local forces.

But it didn’t matter, there were plenty of people who were eager to solve these problems.

Being able to become an official, what did this little trouble matter?

At this point, the South Asian subcontinent was officially incorporated into Great Hua’s rule, and Great Hua’s territory increased by more than three million square kilometers.

With the full recovery of Nepal, Great Hua’s territory and the South Asian subcontinent were connected.

More than three million square kilometers is not particularly large compared to Great Hua’s current territory, but the population in this area is quite large, one of the most densely populated areas outside of the Central Plains.

The population of the entire South Asian subcontinent at this time exceeded eighty million.

Such a large population made the South Asian subcontinent very important.

Chapter 977: Mad Expansion

Yongxing, Year Eleven.

January 1st, the territory of Great Hua: 3,900 square kilometers.

January 5th: 3,940 square kilometers.

January 10th: 3,946 square kilometers.

January 15th: 4,005 square kilometers.

January 20th: 4,106 square kilometers.

Wu Changqing’s system data updated every moment, displaying each additional square kilometer.

However, Wu Changqing had no way of knowing exactly where the increase was occurring.

The system’s determination of Great Hua’s territory was quite complex. For areas with civilization, the system generally required the establishment of effective governance before recognizing it.

For example, in India, even after Great Hua defeated the Mughal Empire, the system didn’t immediately recognize all of India as belonging to Great Hua. Instead, it waited until Huaxia army troops were stationed in all the major cities of India before officially acknowledging it.

In Mongolia, after the tribes were defeated and announced their allegiance to Great Hua, the entire region was recognized by the system as Great Hua’s territory.

If it was a deserted island, it was even simpler. If Great Hua erected a monument on the island declaring its occupation, the system would also recognize it.

On January 30th, Wu Changqing’s system showed a sudden increase of over fourteen million square kilometers in Great Hua’s territory.

Wu Changqing was stunned for a moment before realizing that the area of Antarctica was approximately fourteen million square kilometers.

It seemed the system had determined that Antarctica belonged to Great Hua.

And this was likely due to the efforts of Great Hua’s scientific expedition team.

In Great Hua, many people had long known about Antarctica, because the Holy Emperor had mentioned that there was a landmass at the southern end of the Earth.

As for why the Holy Emperor knew this, few people pondered it deeply. After all, he was the Holy Emperor; it was perfectly normal for him to know strange things.

Knowing that such a place existed, naturally, there were those who didn’t want to be left out and wanted to find and discover this continent.

Thus, the scientific expedition team was born.

After discovering the continent, the expedition team naturally erected a monument with an inscription noting the time of discovery and declaring the area belonged to Great Hua.

A simple act that increased Great Hua’s territory by over fourteen million square kilometers.

Although this territory had little practical use for the time being, Wu Changqing still felt quite pleased watching the numbers increase.

After annexing Antarctica, Great Hua’s territory had reached 55.11 million square kilometers.

Moreover, it was still increasing rapidly.

On February 5th, Great Hua’s western railway was extended from Lanzhou to Yili.

Then, Huaxia army troops entered Kazakhstan.

The local tribes of the Yuz had already been ravaged once by Li Dingguo.

Faced with the even more powerful Great Hua, they naturally had no power to resist.

In this situation, no fighting broke out in the area. The rulers of the three regions, Great Yuz, Middle Yuz, and Small Yuz, all agreed to join Great Hua, only requesting that they retain some personal privileges.

Huaxia army troops conducted an armed parade in the area, and then the region became Great Hua’s territory, as easily as child’s play.

However, neither the people of Great Hua nor the local rulers found it strange.

Besides surrendering, those rulers had no other choice.

Moreover, surrendering to Great Hua, in the current international situation, wasn’t considered shameful.

Annam, Japan, and other places had all chosen to submit.

At the same time, the Huaxia army in Siberia pushed the border to the Ural Mountains.

In other words, except for the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and Aurangzeb, who was eking out a precarious existence in the Pakistan area, all of Asia had been recovered.

At this point, Great Hua’s territory had officially exceeded sixty million square kilometers.

On February 15th, Great Hua’s troops in India completed their assembly and entered the Pakistan region.

Aurangzeb’s illusions were shattered. He had been hoping to recover his strength while Great Hua digested the Indian territories.

He never expected that Great Hua’s control over various parts of India would be so easy and smooth.

Those places had little sense of belonging to the Mughal dynasty in the first place. In this situation, how could they fight for the Mughals?

Islamabad, Huaxia army’s armored divisions quickly raided and surrounded the place, leaving Aurangzeb no chance to escape.

It was only at this point that Aurangzeb finally realized that he had no capital to contend with Great Hua.

Aurangzeb sent envoys to surrender to Great Hua.

Chen Biju’s requirements were very simple: surrender was acceptable, but it had to be unconditional.

In other words, Great Hua would not give Aurangzeb any promises.

Even if he surrendered, he might still be executed by Great Hua.

As for wealth and glory after surrender, there was no need to even think about it.

Aurangzeb had once been the king of a superpower, how could he endure such humiliation?

To ask him to surrender unconditionally like this was worse than death, at least he could leave a slightly better evaluation in the history books.

Aurangzeb gave up on surrendering and began to make arrangements for the future.

On the one hand, he secretly sent his trusted aides to send his children away or hide them, and on the other hand, he began to kill his women.

He didn’t want his women to sleep on other men’s beds and continue to enjoy wealth and glory after his death.

And if he didn’t kill these women, this was an inevitable event.

His women were all one in a million beauties.

When Aurangzeb began to kill his women, his subordinates knew that Aurangzeb had given up struggling.

Therefore, when the Huaxia army began to attack the city, the defenders directly opened the city gates.

When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter. At this time, these people would not think that their salaries were paid by Aurangzeb.

Appeasing the Huaxia army at this time could leave them a way out, so they would not be sent to the Suez to do hard labor.

The Huaxia army easily occupied Islamabad, and when they arrived at Aurangzeb’s temporary palace, Aurangzeb had already committed suicide.

Beside him were a dozen beautiful women.

Those beauties, even their deaths were more beautiful than ordinary soldiers.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army had strict discipline, otherwise, other more evil armies might have taken advantage of the situation.

Aurangzeb’s death meant the complete destruction of the Mughal Empire.

When the news of Aurangzeb’s suicide spread, other regions of the Mughal Empire also surrendered to Great Hua.

At this point, the entire Asia, except for Persia and the Ottoman Empire, had not been recovered.

Great Hua’s territory had reached 61.5 million square kilometers.

Only Africa, Europe, or the Americas were needed to reach one hundred million.

After destroying the Mughal Empire, the stationed troops in India did not stop, but cooperated with another army to enter Persia.

Chapter 978: The First Great Hua National Games

While war raged in other places, the Central Plains had enjoyed a long period of peace.

In times of peace, the development of culture and entertainment becomes very rapid.

With full bellies, people think of pleasure; in times of war, they only think about how to survive. Only in times of peace do people have the leisure to pursue enjoyable things.

In the eleventh year of Yongxing, in March, Nanjing hosted the first Great Hua National Games.

Great Hua had actually held several sports meets before, but those were regional in nature. Most of the participants were from prosperous areas around Nanjing, and remote areas did not participate.

Moreover, the competition events were few, basically just soccer, basketball, and badminton.

This time, in addition to basketball and soccer, other events were added to the Games.

Mainly track and field, table tennis, martial arts, shooting, archery, weightlifting, horse racing, cycling, and swimming.

These were all relatively popular events. Other more niche events, such as Mongolian wrestling and Japanese sumo, were not included.

At the same time, this National Games was national in scope. Except for the newly recovered areas, all forty-four provinces of Great Hua sent representative teams.

This National Games also used the province as the unit of participation.

This was actually somewhat unfair. The total population of West Siberia Province was less than one million. They had just solved the problem of having enough to eat, and they had not even completely solved the problem of having enough to wear.

In such places, it was impossible to find decent athletes at all.

Some provinces in Jiangnan, on the other hand, had populations exceeding twenty million, and they were also places where wealthy people gathered.

In terms of entertainment, the Jiangnan region led the entire Great Hua and the entire world.

However, in order to maintain some competition, this was the only way to divide it.

“The first to enter is the Nanjing team…”

The commentator held a microphone and introduced the participating teams to nearly one hundred thousand spectators in the stadium.

The most popular was naturally the Nanjing team, because people from Nanjing and its surrounding areas accounted for about ninety percent of these spectators.

In this era, traveling a long distance was no longer a difficult task.

However, people who traveled long distances to watch a sports meet were still in the minority.

Most people, at most, listened to the sounds on the radio and then imagined the scene themselves.

“Wow, there are one hundred thousand people in one house, how is that possible?”

Hexi Village had been connected to the radio, and many villagers were gathered around the radio at this time, listening to this grand event of Great Hua.

“Dwarf Gu, what do you know? Can that be called a house? It’s called a stadium, bigger than our entire village.”

Another, slightly more knowledgeable, Old Man Liu said with contempt.

“The Australian team, which province is this team from? How come there are only ten participants? Are they here to be funny?”

When he heard the number of participants in the Australian team, Dwarf Gu had another question.

“That’s a place south of the South Seas. The place is very big, but there’s just no one there. The imperial court pays resettlement fees for people willing to move to Australia, and there are no land restrictions in Australia. As long as you can cultivate it, no matter how many mu of land, you pay taxes at the lowest rate.”

Village Chief Liu Zhen took a puff of his dry tobacco pipe. He was a retired disabled veteran.

Although they had retired, they were still shining and generating heat. Taking this opportunity, they also popularized Great Hua’s geography and immigration policies to the villagers.

These retired soldiers were an important force in Great Hua’s local administration.

They were all literate and could understand newspapers and official documents, and they had also received simple training.

It was more than enough to manage a village or a town.

It was thanks to these people that Great Hua was able to ensure that various policies reached the countryside smoothly.

“South of the South Seas, how far is that?”

Some people who were tempted hesitated again when they thought about the distance.

“Don’t interrupt, the Jiangsu team is entering. Good heavens, they have ninety athletes participating in the competition, almost catching up with our Nanjing team. They are a formidable opponent.”

Ordinary people judged the strength of a team by such a simple standard: looking at the number of people on the other side. The more people there were, the stronger they were.

“Shanghai and Guangdong teams also have a lot, more than eighty.”

…

“Alas, the people of Great Hua are showing off again.”

At the venue, William, the ambassador of Great Britain, couldn’t help but complain to other ambassadors as he watched the grand opening ceremony.

Although Great Hua’s publicity for this National Games was to promote sports, strengthen the body, and enrich amateur spiritual life, William didn’t believe it. He felt that Great Hua was showing off its strength to other countries.

When people in other countries were still working hard to have enough to eat, Great Hua held a National Games. What was this if not showing off?

“I don’t mind the showing off. I’m just worried that one day in the future, our country will also become one of the participating teams, becoming the forty-fifth province of Great Hua.”

Ceros said.

Nearly half of these participating teams were from areas conquered by Great Hua, which was terrible.

If the European Union could not resist Great Hua, then they would also become one of the participating teams in the future.

“Don’t worry, Ceros. Our Europe has awakened and reached an alliance. In the future, it will develop rapidly and catch up with Great Hua.”

William comforted him.

However, the effect of these words was very general.

Those who were stationed in Nanjing knew far more about Great Hua than those in Europe.

People in Europe thought that the establishment of the European Union would be able to compete with Great Hua.

However, among these ambassadors, some were very pessimistic and felt that even if the whole of Europe united, it would not be possible to be a match for Great Hua.

After all, the entire area of Europe was only ten million square kilometers, and the population was only forty million.

Today’s Great Hua, whether in terms of territory or population, was overwhelming the entire Europe.

And in terms of technology, there was no need to say more.

The atmosphere in the entire venue was gloomy only in this small area of foreign envoys.

In other places, there were all kinds of cheers.

Even some Europeans who came to watch the fun were quite excited in this grand event.

In their opinion, the opening ceremony of Great Hua was truly shocking.

The application of various advanced technologies was an eye-opener for these European bumpkins, and they enjoyed a visual feast.

Everything in Great Hua was so novel to them.

The Great Hua audience fully felt the power of Great Hua in this visual feast and generated more national pride.

“I really never dreamed that the changes in the world would be so fast that I feel unfamiliar with this world.”

An old man couldn’t help but sigh.

In the past, he would never have imagined that the world could be so rich and wasteful.

In his eyes, holding a sports meet was a waste of money.

Chapter 979: First Day of Competition

The next day, the competition officially began.

The first event was the one hundred meter sprint preliminary in track and field. The major category of track and field included running, long jump, and high jump.

Running was further divided into the one hundred meter sprint, the one thousand five hundred meter middle-distance run, and the ten thousand meter long-distance run.

However, compared to later generations, the track and field events at this time had far fewer sub-categories. Later track and field events included nearly thirty sub-events.

Currently, Great Hua’s track and field competition only had five events.

The one hundred meter sprint had the most participants, with as many as one hundred and twenty people.

After all, the barrier to entry for this event was low; as long as you had legs, any province could send one or two relatively fast runners to join in the fun.

Unlike soccer, many provinces couldn’t even put together a complete soccer team, let alone participate in the competition.

With so many people, naturally some had to be eliminated first.

The preliminary round started with eight people in each group, with the top two advancing and the bottom six being eliminated, which was quite brutal.

If you were unlucky enough to be placed in a group with two experts, you could only blame yourself for your bad luck.

Fairness?

The organizers didn’t consider this much.

Great Hua’s first National Games lacked relevant experience, and the details were quite rough.

As the starting gun fired, the first group of athletes rushed out.

Then, a very awkward scene appeared on the field.

The contestant from the Siberia province was more than ten meters behind the first place after only a few seconds. The huge gap was shocking.

The economic gap between the provinces was huge, and this gap was also reflected in sports.

Leading the pack was Xu Chao from the Nanjing team, a professional athlete.

That is to say, he didn’t have a proper job usually, just constantly practicing running, running, running.

And Hater from the Mongolia province, whose main job was raising horses, and running was just a hobby. Because he liked to race with his horses, he ran faster than ordinary people, and as a result, he was sent to Nanjing to participate in the competition.

In terms of physical talent, Hater was definitely not worse than Xu Chao.

However, it was not easy to challenge someone’s livelihood with a hobby.

For Hater, it didn’t matter whether he ran fast or slow, but for Xu Chao, if he didn’t run fast, he would be eliminated and had to go to the factory to do hard labor.

The investment in running between the two was worlds apart.

As Xu Chao was the first to reach the finish line, some spectators offered applause and cheers.

After all, Xu Chao represented their home team.

Even the out-of-town spectators were quite impressed to see Xu Chao take the lead and cross the finish line first.

“Tsk tsk tsk, since when has running fast become a skill?”

An old spectator marveled.

“Hehe, Old Wang, are you regretting being born too early? Otherwise, with your knack for running away, you could have become a star on this stage instead of a laughingstock.”

A companion mocked.

Old Wang had been a soldier for nearly twenty years when he was young, and had hardly ever won a battle in his life.

Being able to survive countless defeats naturally meant he had a knack for running away, and his legs were very strong.

“In war, can that be called running away? That’s called retreat, a strategic shift.”

Old Wang said angrily.

However, in his heart, he did regret it.

In the past, running fast only made him a deserter, a joke. But now, in this peaceful era, running fast could make money and become famous, which was simply unbelievable.

The subsequent elimination rounds were similar to the first group, with huge differences in the strength of the contestants.

At the same time, in another gymnasium, the soccer match was also underway.

The audience watching the soccer match was much more enthusiastic than the audience watching the track and field competition.

After all, soccer had been developing in Great Hua for ten years and was currently the most popular sport in Great Hua, as well as the most popular sport in the world.

In order not to be laughed at by Great Hua as barbarians, various Western European countries were also working hard to promote Great Hua’s culture, including soccer.

European countries even spent money to form their national teams.

In the tenth year of Yongxing, several Western European soccer teams were sent to Great Hua to play a few friendly matches.

As a result, the Great Britain team lost to Great Hua by a score of two to eight, the Spanish team lost to Great Hua by a score of one to nine, the Roman team lost to Great Hua by a score of one to eleven, and France lost to Great Hua by a score of zero to ten.

Soccer is not like sprinting, where a talented athlete can quickly achieve results.

Soccer is a sport that requires foundation and cannot be achieved quickly. Western Europeans are not necessarily less talented than Great Hua people in soccer, but they developed it later, and the soccer atmosphere in their countries is not as good as that in Great Hua.

Therefore, their carefully built teams were all miserably defeated when competing with the Great Hua team.

In this timeline, Great Hua’s soccer is a juggernaut, and no other country can challenge it.

A total of sixteen teams participated in the soccer event, which meant that there were still twenty-eight provinces lacking high-level soccer teams.

Great Hua’s soccer teams were basically concentrated in the Jiangnan area.

Nanjing alone had four professional soccer teams, Shanghai had three, Suzhou had one, Yangzhou had one, Zhenjiang had one…

In the Jiangnan area, these professional soccer teams even formed a soccer league, competing with each other every year and then earning ticket revenue and advertising revenue.

Guangzhou and Wuhan also had soccer teams, but due to distance, they had not yet joined this league.

However, as the speed of Great Hua’s trains became faster and faster, the expansion of the league was also underway.

The sixteen teams adopted a single-game elimination rule, which was very brutal.

Even strong teams needed to go all out, otherwise, upsets were very common on the soccer field.

The first match was between the Henan team and the Guangdong team, and an upset occurred. The Guangdong team was eliminated. You should know that the Guangdong team’s slogan before the game was “championship.”

As a result, they were eliminated by the Henan team by a score of three to two in the first round, which was slightly embarrassing.

The Guangdong fans who came to support the team could not accept such an outcome.

Although everyone was a Great Hua person, there were still some hometown sentiments in different regions.

As a Guangdong person, they naturally hoped that the Guangdong team would win.

And as Great Hua’s star province, whether in economy, culture, or sports, they were in Great Hua’s first tier. Their goal in any project was the championship, with a kind of strongman complex.

Being eliminated in the first round made these fans feel dull.

Coupled with the fanatical atmosphere on the scene, the Guangdong fans, who were upset, quarreled with the fans next to them over a disagreement, and then there was a physical conflict, and eventually as many as twenty-two people were arrested.

Chapter 980: The Competition Continues

The finals didn’t begin until the third day of the competition.

The first final was archery. Although archery had been almost entirely phased out on the battlefield, it had shone there for thousands of years.

Feelings for the bow and arrow, combined with a longing for tradition, had made archery a part of the National Games.

Five people had made it to the finals: Zhao Tielu from Outer Mongolia. His original name was Batulu, but influenced by Sinicization, he had given himself the surname Zhao.

Another was Guan Yuntong from the Northeast Province, a Manchu who had also adopted a Han surname.

The commentators only mentioned the region he represented, not his ethnicity, so most of the audience didn’t know Guan Yuntong was Manchu.

In Great Hua today, the government was deliberately downplaying ethnic distinctions.

The other three were from Nanjing, Wuhan, and Guangdong.

In the final, Zhao Tielu won the gold medal with a score of forty-eight rings out of five arrows. The Nanjing team took silver, and the Northeast team took bronze.

“Tch, it’s just archery. We people from the capital don’t care,” a Beijing spectator said dismissively, seeing that the Nanjing team hadn’t won gold.

“If you can’t win, you can’t win. What are you pretending for?” a spectator from another region sneered.

As the elimination rounds of other events finished, most of the remaining competitions were finals, and the winners of the gold medals were constantly being decided.

Nanjing had a strong athletic foundation. After several events, its gold medal and total medal counts were ranked first. Shanghai was second, and Guangdong was third.

Outer Mongolia only had some competitiveness in archery and horse racing, their strongest events, winning one gold and one bronze medal. In other events, they rarely even made it to the finals.

Nanjing, Shanghai, and Guangdong, on the other hand, had contenders in every event.

In ball sports, these three regions basically dominated as well.

In the sprint, Xu Chao won the gold medal.

Liu Bin, the team leader from Australia Province, felt a little regret about this.

He had discovered a particularly fast black man in Australia. If he had brought that black man to compete, the gold medal would have been guaranteed.

However, his suggestion had been rejected by the leaders of Australia Province.

Letting a black man compete? What a joke!

Although the government hadn’t explicitly forbidden it, the leaders of Australia subconsciously felt it was inappropriate.

Therefore, there were no black people in this National Games. It was mostly East Asians, with only a handful of Caucasians.

It wasn’t easy for the people of Great Hua to accept people of other skin colors. Even among those of the same skin color, people from the Central Plains had an inherent sense of legitimacy and superiority when looking at people from Japan and Annam.

The athletes from the four provinces of Japan worked very hard in this National Games, trying to prove in this way that they were not inferior.

The results were tragic. Kyoto Province only won a bronze medal in the sprint.

The other events were a disaster.

On the fifth day, the martial arts finals began.

This was a highly anticipated event, as the concept of martial arts was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people of Great Hua.

Great Hua’s martial arts program was very different from that of later generations. The biggest difference was that current martial arts allowed the use of weapons, but they were all unsheathed swords and blades.

This was actually quite dangerous. A wooden stick could kill someone, let alone a piece of steel.

However, based on the principle of stopping before causing serious injury, the martial arts competition did not result in any bloodshed.

He Cheng from Sichuan Province completely suppressed his opponent from Nanjing in the arena, putting his opponent in constant danger. The referee then stopped the match and declared He Cheng the winner.

This winning standard was very vague, basically up to the referee’s discretion.

The Nanjing audience was naturally dissatisfied, saying that their player was just feigning weakness, waiting for a chance to deliver a fatal blow.

However, despite their dissatisfaction, the referee did not overturn the decision.

In any case, they didn’t expect the first National Games to be very successful. It was purely to gain experience.

With experience, they could develop more reasonable rules next time.

The track and field events quickly produced gold medals, followed by the major ball sports.

Compared to the gold medals in track and field, the audience cared most about ball sports.

After all, in terms of entertainment value, ball sports were far superior to track and field.

Just a few people running around on the field, with no visible skill or beauty. Many spectators even felt that they could do it themselves.

Ball sports were different. The skill was visible to the naked eye.

Take basketball, for example. Most people knew at a glance that they couldn’t dunk because of their height.

But those professional players could fly and perform all kinds of jaw-dropping dunks.

Currently, the height of the basketball hoop in Great Hua was lower than in later generations, which was also to make it easier for players to dunk.

As the birthplace of basketball, Great Hua was naturally qualified to set standard rules.

On the sixth day, the basketball finals were held.

The Nanjing team and the Guangdong team competed for the gold medal. The average height of the players on both teams reached an astonishing one meter ninety.

Compared to later generations of basketball players, of course, they were a bit shorter.

But in this era, these were all giants.

At this time, the average height of the Japanese was less than one meter fifty.

Even in the Jiangnan region, the average height was less than one meter sixty.

Although nutritional conditions in the Jiangnan region had improved significantly, the main beneficiaries were the growing new generation. Those who had already reached adulthood and were fully developed could not grow taller even with better nutrition.

A group of people one meter ninety, or even two meters tall, flying around on the court, could only inspire awe in the audience. This was a visible gap in talent.

“Top scorer! Top scorer! Top scorer!”

Just like later generations of audiences shouting “MVP,” the audience didn’t feel awkward at all when shouting “Top scorer.” They were used to it.

On the court, Qiu Jianfei, the star player of the Nanjing team, scored six points in a row with a combination of drives and shots, leading the team to a ten-to-two run, overtaking the score.

Seeing this heroism, the audience couldn’t help but shout the slogan “Top scorer.”

The Guangdong team then called a timeout to plan a strategy to limit Qiu Jianfei.

After the timeout, both sides returned to the court, and the Guangdong team double-teamed Qiu Jianfei. Two players stayed close to Qiu Jianfei at all times, making it difficult for Qiu Jianfei to even get the ball.

Even if he got the ball, there was no space for him to dribble and shoot.

In the end, Qiu Jianfei made a series of mistakes, and the Guangdong team took the opportunity to overtake the score.

“Despicable! How can you gang up two against one? Have the guts to go one-on-one!”

The Nanjing fans expressed their dissatisfaction.

Unfortunately, that was the rule, and their dissatisfaction had no effect.

On the court, the Nanjing team ultimately failed to break the Guangdong team’s strategy and lost to the Guangdong team. Qiu Jianfei also lay on the floor in disappointment, making his fans feel sorry for him.

Chapter 981: Women’s Events

On the seventh day of the games, a special event began.

Gymnastics.

What was special wasn’t the event itself, but the participants.

All other events were for men only; there were no female athletes.

Although the atmosphere in Great Hua had completely changed, women were commonly seen on the streets, and many female spectators were even among those watching the games, sitting naturally among the male audience.

However, in this intensely competitive arena, it seemed everyone subconsciously still felt it was a man’s world, that women weren’t qualified or didn’t need to participate.

Therefore, the imperial court didn’t add women’s events to everything all at once, but rather proceeded gradually, starting with just one.

This way, even if there was controversy, the impact wouldn’t be too great.

And once this door was opened, more women’s events could be added next time.

There are many types of gymnastics, and the event Great Hua chose to introduce was rhythmic gymnastics, a type of artistic gymnastics that leans towards aesthetics. It’s more like dance than gymnastics.

The core is to display beauty through movements, which are then scored by judges.

So, contestants who aren’t pretty enough basically have no need to participate in this event.

Clothes often look great on a model, but when you buy them and wear them yourself, they look ordinary.

This visual illusion is purely because the model is good-looking.

The same is true in rhythmic gymnastics. The same beautiful movements will only look good when performed by a beautiful woman. If an ugly woman performs them, the audience’s perception will be just average.

The rhythmic gymnastics competition was held in a relatively small gymnasium, after all, it was a niche event.

However, the small gymnasium was packed with spectators, and all of them were men.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…”

“Heh, heh, heh…”

As the athletes entered, there were two kinds of reactions from the audience.

One was admiration, and the other was secret delight.

Because the female athletes’ costumes were quite daring. The upper body was fine, mainly emphasizing the figure. But the lower body was ultra-short skirts that didn’t even cover the thighs.

Even in the twenty-first century, it would be unusual for someone to remain calm when seeing a beauty dressed like this standing in front of men.

What’s more, the social atmosphere in Great Hua was far from as open as in later generations.

At first glance at these revealing outfits, the male audience naturally…

The first contestant, Liu Jia, stepped onto the stage, looking a little nervous.

During her previous practice sessions, she was always alone in a small room, with the coach present at most.

But now, in front of thousands of male spectators, dressed like this, she couldn’t possibly remain calm.

But there was nothing she could do; she had no choice.

If she didn’t practice gymnastics, she might have to go to a brothel.

For someone with little education and no connections, there seemed to be no other way to get a high-paying job.

Compared to going to a brothel, performing gymnastics was just being watched.

Moreover, she could use the word ‘art’ to comfort and convince herself.

Although she was nervous, the movements she had practiced thousands of times were already imprinted in her muscle memory.

Without thinking, she completed all the dance, jumps, balances, and wave movements to the rhythm of the music.

A beautiful woman, wearing revealing clothes, combined with graceful movements, stimulated the audience even more.

It was fortunate that the laws of Great Hua were strict, and those rich young men and playboys were more restrained in Nanjing.

If it were in the Ming Dynasty, it would have been normal for a playboy who couldn’t control himself to rush onto the stage and carry Liu Jia away.

In the Ming Dynasty, seeing a favorite actress and carrying her away was too common, and could even become a beautiful story.

After Liu Jia finished her performance, it was the next contestant’s turn, another athlete whose appearance and figure were no less than Liu Jia’s.

Chen Meiji’s mentality was completely different from Liu Jia’s.

She wasn’t nervous at all, but cherished this opportunity and showed herself to the fullest.

Because Chen Meiji knew that there were very few ways for someone from a humble background to enter high society.

The current Great Hua film industry lacked investors and equipment, but it didn’t lack beautiful actresses.

So, Chen Meiji chose gymnastics, hoping to make a splash on this stage.

Once she became famous, she would have a little bit of choice because more people would pursue her.

Otherwise, no matter how beautiful she was, she would be destined to be someone else’s concubine.

Different mentalities led to different performance effects. Chen Meiji’s performance was better and more seductive.

Chen Meiji’s performance received a lot of applause.

“It’s really interesting, why can selling your face earn applause, but selling your body is looked down upon?”

One spectator couldn’t help but think.

Some women please customers by selling their bodies, and some women please customers by selling their faces, but the evaluations they receive are completely different.

Some men earn money by kneeling down to people, and some men earn money by keeping a smiling face. Both are giving up their dignity, but because of the degree of difference, the difference in the evaluations they receive is also huge.

The National Games reached its eighth day, and all events except soccer had ended.

And the soccer final was also held on the eighth day.

This was also a major event in Great Hua. At least, Wu Changqing and some members of the royal family would personally come to the scene to watch this game and enjoy themselves with the people.

Being able to watch the game with the Holy Son of Heaven gave many spectators a sense of pride.

And the two teams that made it to the final also attached great importance to this game.

If the rules allowed, they would choose to kick people before kicking the ball, killing each other.

The teams that made it to the final were the Nanjing team and the Shanghai team. The players in the Nanjing team were all experts drawn from several famous clubs, an all-star team.

Most fans could even name those players.

The Shanghai team was in a similar situation, with elites drawn from several clubs.

This game would also be the most technically advanced and intense game.

The process of the game did not disappoint the audience.

Both teams showed a very high level of competition on both the offensive and defensive ends.

Even casual fans could feel the joy of watching the game from those difficult technical movements.

In the twenty-fifth minute of the first half, the Nanjing team attacked. The winger on the left corner found a gap in the opponent’s pressing and made a high cross, and the center forward in the middle scored a bicycle kick, putting the ball into the opponent’s goal.

In this goal, the winger’s pass was actually much more difficult than the shot.

However, the visual effect of the bicycle kick was even more pleasing to the eye. Moreover, it resulted in a goal, which was even more commendable.

For a time, the entire stadium was chanting the name of the center forward, Wang Yuzhu.

Chapter 982: A Need for Spiritual Sustenance

The games on the field were intense, but Wu Changqing’s mind wasn’t on the matches.

He attended these events more for their political implications than for any genuine love of the sport.

Perhaps he had once been bored and enjoyed watching games, but now, his position and altitude were different. His busy schedule had made him lose interest in such competitions.

At this moment, Wu Changqing was thinking about the future development and utilization of India.

The Ganges Plain in India was a treasure trove, but the current agricultural technology in India was very backward. Not only did they lack modern machinery, but they also didn’t have hybrid rice. Even their primitive farming techniques were inferior to those in the Central Plains.

This problem persisted in the original timeline well into the twenty-first century.

For the same area of cultivated land, the grain yield in the Central Plains was much higher than in India.

In the original timeline, Wu Changqing naturally wouldn’t have worried about the Indians; he might even have chuckled a bit.

But now, the Indian region had become part of Great Hua’s territory, Wu Changqing’s own treasure trove, and he could no longer stand idly by.

This treasure trove had to be fully utilized.

Wu Changqing had considered bringing modern machinery, fertilizers, hybrid rice, and other advanced agricultural technologies to India so that the Ganges Plain could become Great Hua’s largest granary, bar none.

However, how to get these things to India was also a problem.

Shipping combine harvesters and bags of fertilizer to India would naturally be very costly.

After deducting costs, the returns might not be that great.

But if combine harvester manufacturing plants and fertilizer synthesis factories were established in India, it would involve a large amount of core technology.

Not to mention whether those technologies would be leaked to Europe after they reached India.

The mere fact that India might develop independent ideas after gaining these technologies was enough to make Wu Changqing wary.

Places like Japan, Korea, and Annam didn’t worry Wu Changqing at all because they were close to the Central Plains and small in size. Even if a rebellion occurred, it would be easy to quell.

But the distance from the Central Plains to India was not only far, but the transportation was also very inconvenient, only accessible by water, with no direct road on land.

Moreover, India was large enough that as long as its industry developed, it could arm a million-strong army in no time.

Once a rebellion broke out in India, it would be very difficult for Great Hua to quell it.

The game ended, with the Nanjing team winning the match three to two.

Wu Changqing personally presented the trophy to the champions to show his emphasis on and recognition of the sports industry.

Subsequently, the first Great Hua National Games also came to an end.

In this National Games, the Nanjing team won first place with five gold, four silver, and three bronze medals. The Guangdong team won second place with three gold, four silver, and one bronze medal. The Shanghai team won third place with two gold, one silver, and five bronze medals.

Most of the provinces were just there for the fun of it.

Being able to get a medal was considered a good harvest.

After the event, many spectators were still savoring the experience.

After all, this kind of nationwide celebration was second only to the Spring Festival.

After the National Games, many large factories began to form their own soccer or basketball teams.

Years of work required some leisure activities to regulate, and also needed a little hobby, a spiritual sustenance. Otherwise, some psychologically vulnerable people would easily become withdrawn.

Mechanical, repetitive work was indeed a form of torture.

Although income was higher and material living conditions were better, the emptiness of the spiritual world became more and more serious.

Or rather, people were prone to overthinking after they were full.

In the past, when people couldn’t even get enough to eat, their goal in life was very simple: to figure out how to get the next meal.

All their thoughts were on making money and eating, so they naturally thought less.

But now that eating enough was no longer a problem, people had the mind to think wildly.

They would think about the meaning of their existence in this world, and also think about why others lived better than themselves, and also think about why this world was so unfair…

And these people, because of their lack of culture and knowledge, couldn’t figure out most of the problems.

Last year, nearly one hundred workers across Great Hua committed suicide for various reasons.

In one factory, there was even a horrifying incident of three consecutive suicides.

Although, for such a large entity as the Great Hua Empire, one hundred people were insignificant.

However, this situation was basically concentrated in prosperous big cities, easily attracting the attention of reporters, which would cause a greater reaction, so it still needed to be resolved.

Solving this problem required ideological education, as well as sports and cultural entertainment.

Ideological education naturally told them that labor was the most glorious and that Great Hua’s prosperity was due to the workers’ contributions. At the same time, a model worker award was established, and several model worker figures were promoted.

This could give those workers the idea that their work was meaningful and valuable, thereby generating a sense of pride and accomplishment.

This feeling was actually quite illusory, but it didn’t matter, because people liked these illusory things.

For example, Wu Changqing, wasn’t he also pursuing becoming an enlightened ruler?

After the popularization of electronic games in later generations, this phenomenon became even more obvious.

Knowing that everything in the game was illusory, they could still reap great pleasure from seeing the characters they controlled constantly grow and kill in all directions.

Another example was liking a team or a star player. The wins and losses of those teams actually had nothing to do with him, but he could feel happy when the team he liked won.

People, what they pursue is not important, what is important is that there is something for them to pursue. In other words, they must have a spiritual sustenance.

Today’s Great Hua is also supporting the development of these aspects, so that those at the bottom who are living very depressed have a spiritual sustenance.

Those who are frustrated in life and are losers can find an idol. When the idol wins the game, they can also briefly feel like they have won.

With the support of the government, Great Hua’s cultural and entertainment industry is developing extremely fast.

Not only do most of the big cities have cinemas, but several film screening teams have also been established.

These teams have begun to travel around the country’s rural areas, screening films to broaden the horizons of the people.

Ball sports, as well as Chinese chess and Go, have professional competitions.

And with the rapid increase in literacy rates, novels are also circulating in the lower classes.

You can find basic current popular novels in any Great Hua worker’s collective dormitory. You can even find one or two copies of Jin Ping Mei and other novels.

Great Hua has not banned this aspect.

There is no way to allow every man to have three wives and four concubines, but the government fully respects the right to fantasize and has not deprived it.

Chapter 983: Development in South Asia

On March 10th, the high-level officials of Great Hua gathered to discuss the development issues in the India region.

The core of the debate was whether to transfer advanced technology to India.

“I don’t think it’s necessary. We are not particularly short of food at the moment, so there’s no need to create a huge hidden danger for the sake of a little more grain production.”

Ouyang Shiqi is now the head of a ministry, the Minister of Finance.

Ouyang Shiqi was more cautious, feeling that Great Hua could develop slowly at its current pace, and there was no need to be so radical.

They could wait until the Central Plains developed to a higher level, such as airplanes filling the sky and cars running all over the ground, before developing India. At that time, the strength of the Central Plains and India would have a dimensional gap, so there would be no need to worry about rebellions in the India region.

“Who says we don’t lack food? There’s never enough food. The fundamental reason restricting the development of the breeding industry is that there is not enough food. We cannot waste a granary like India.

As for the hidden dangers that Lord Ouyang mentioned, I don’t think we need to worry too much. After all, we only open civilian factories in India and control the military industry.”

In comparison, Li Yao, the Minister of Land and Resources, was a radical, eager to make full use of Great Hua’s resources and accelerate development.

Whether there is enough food depends on what standard is used to measure it.

If it is simply to have enough to eat, Great Hua’s current grain output is sufficient.

However, if you want to eat well, if you want most people to eat meat regularly, then the breeding industry needs to be vigorously developed. And this requires massive amounts of food.

According to the law of energy decay in nature, if a person wants to obtain a one hundred kilogram herbivore, the herbivore will probably consume one thousand kilograms of plants.

If a person wants to obtain a one hundred kilogram carnivore, then the carnivore will probably consume one thousand kilograms of herbivores, or ten thousand kilograms of plants.

This is also why most of the meat humans eat comes from herbivores.

It is simply because pure carnivores are too expensive to raise.

Of course, this is according to the calculations of nature.

In the breeding industry, animals are kept in captivity, preventing them from moving around and reducing the consumption caused by exercise, which makes the energy conversion efficiency much higher.

Perhaps only five hundred kilograms of plants are needed to raise a one hundred kilogram pig.

But even so, eating meat is never as cost-effective as eating grain directly.

If you want most people to eat meat regularly, there is never too much food.

“When a factory can manufacture tractors, it is not far from being able to manufacture armored vehicles.”

The Deputy Minister of National Security reminded.

Manufacturing harvesters and tractors in India does not mean that it is enough to just set up a harvester factory. The related supporting equipment manufacturing factories are also essential.

And with those factories, it is not far from manufacturing tanks and armored vehicles.

If the locals are determined to rebel, secretly stockpile military technology, and then turn the tractor factory into a tank factory, it is not difficult.

With India’s population and development conditions, its war potential is actually stronger than that of the polar bear.

The people in the Ministry of National Defense do not care how much meat per capita Great Hua can achieve, they only hope that the less trouble, the better. It is best to maintain a strategy of strong trunk and weak branches, prohibiting the development of advanced technology in non-Central Plains areas.

“With the current communication speed and our dynasty’s perfect monitoring system, we will be able to know once there is an abnormality in the local area. Not to mention being converted into a military factory, when they have this idea in their minds, the imperial army can arrive.”

Another official stood up to refute.

Wu Changqing sat at the head of the table, quietly watching the debate below.

Some of the views of these officials came from the heart, while others were due to various reasons.

The officials who support the development of India may be the pawns of some ambitious officials, wanting to promote this decree to facilitate the success of the ambitious.

Or, some officials just don’t want Wu Changqing’s power to be too great, and want the local area to be able to slightly restrain the imperial power.

No matter how high Wu Changqing’s prestige is, it is impossible to convince everyone.

The officials who oppose the development of India may not be genuinely worried about security risks. Maybe they are just representatives of the interests of the Jiangnan Group, and they don’t want other places to develop and challenge the status of the Jiangnan region.

In short, the situation in the court is very complicated. There are many people who do things, and there are also many people with selfish motives.

Fortunately, everything is still under Wu Changqing’s control for the time being.

No matter how fierce the debate below is, it is just giving Wu Changqing reference opinions, and in the end, it is just a matter of Wu Changqing’s words.

Currently, those officials with impure motives can’t really do much in the face of Wu Changqing, such a strong monarch.

Great Hua has been established for eleven years, and there have been no troubles.

Most ambitious people are dormant, waiting.

And this wait is very long, because Wu Changqing is now younger than most officials, only twenty-nine years old.

However, true ambitious people are often very patient.

They can pave the way for their descendants to complete what they cannot do themselves.

In the end, after synthesizing the opinions of many officials, Wu Changqing chose to develop India.

Build a complete industrial system in India, but mainly in the civilian field.

At the same time, Wu Changqing also strengthened the monitoring of officials in the India region.

The term of office for local ministers in other places is three years.

In India, it is shortened to one and a half years.

Change it every one and a half years, and each official can only take office in India once, and then they will be transferred to non-India regions to be officials.

Not allowing an official to reside in India for a long time naturally eliminates the opportunity for rebellion.

After all, rebellion also requires a preparation period, and people will not follow just by shouting.

At the same time, the division of provinces in India has become more detailed.

Wu Changqing split a single Northern Province into ten states.

The state is an organization that is one level higher than the city, but one level lower than the province, and it is a characteristic of the India region.

The states do not belong to each other, and all are directly under the central government.

In this way, although the administrative efficiency will be lower, it prevents a certain province from becoming too powerful.

A small state governor is obviously unlikely to have the idea of rebellion.

With such a set of measures, even if the India region develops, the difficulty of rebellion is very high.

Of course, there are countermeasures to policies from above. If there are really ambitious people, they will definitely be able to find loopholes in this system. However, at that time, Wu Changqing will also be able to fill those loopholes.

In short, Wu Changqing has a huge advantage when facing the local area, so there is no need to worry too much.

Chapter 984: Returning Home and Immigration

Having decided to develop India, the next step was detailed planning.

Developing India wasn’t as simple as throwing technical blueprints and machinery at them and calling it a day.

With the capabilities of the Indian people, even if you gave them blueprints and machines, it would take an eternity for them to master it on their own.

Great Hua officials, generally influenced by Wu Changqing’s personality, were somewhat impatient and favored quick success. Taking things slowly wasn’t their style.

Therefore, their strategy was to directly relocate a large number of technical personnel there.

At the same time, to better develop India, Great Hua decided to acquire all the land in the hands of Indian farmers and consolidate it into super-large farms to facilitate planting and management.

If they didn’t do this, with field ridges demarcating land ownership every few meters, it wouldn’t be convenient to use large machinery.

Only by acquiring all the land and leveling those ridges could they maximize efficiency.

Moreover, with the land scattered in the hands of those people, it wouldn’t be convenient to plan the construction of water conservancy projects.

As for those farmers who lost their land, Great Hua had plenty of places to resettle them.

Australia lacked people, the Americas lacked people, and even some could be transported to Africa.

In this way, Great Hua’s farmers would bring the most advanced technology to India and teach it there. And the Indian farmers, in turn, could spread their planting techniques to the more backward and primitive Africa.

Through this method, they could achieve comprehensive global development.

In a place like Africa, Great Hua could bring mechanical technology, but they wouldn’t be able to teach those people.

This required a gradual process, with learning Chinese and literacy being the key. Otherwise, the African continent might remain a primitive society forever.

Although such large-scale immigration would consume a lot of resources and money.

However, it would be of great benefit to spreading Great Hua culture and assimilating other places.

Therefore, this money had to be spent.

Without enough Chinese speakers migrating to India, it would be much more difficult to get those people to use Chinese.

Pit Tail Village, a small village in Tai’an, Shandong.

A convertible pickup truck drove on the not-so-wide road, and an old man leading an ox walked towards them. Unable to avoid it, Wang Liuxi had to stop and wait for the ox to pass.

“Are you blind? Can’t you see our car coming? Why don’t you give way?”

A woman with light makeup scolded from the car.

People in cars tend to dislike stops.

“Shut up, that’s your second great-uncle.”

Wang Liuxi reprimanded his wife, got out of the car, took out a pack of Baishun brand rolled cigarettes, and went to the old man. He said, “Second Uncle, it’s me, Little Liuzi.”

The old man tensed up when he heard the scolding, after all, people who could afford to ride in cars were either rich or noble, and must not be offended.

However, what followed was a voice that was both strange and familiar to him.

When Wang Liuxi got out of the car, Wang Musheng realized that the person in the car was actually Liuzi, Wang Liuxi, from the village.

“Liuxi, didn’t you go to Japan?”

Wang Musheng said in shock.

When Great Hua recovered Japan, in order to facilitate control and infiltrate Central Plains culture into Japan, it organized an immigration.

And when adult Japanese men were greatly depleted due to the war, after Japan was incorporated into Great Hua, Great Hua carried out a second immigration to Japan.

Wang Liuxi was one of the first members of that group.

After Wang Liuxi left Pit Tail Village, the people of Pit Tail Village felt that Wang Liuxi was no longer one of them, because Japan was too far from Tai’an, and it was separated by the sea.

“Can’t I come back to the village to visit after going to Japan?”

Wang Liuxi said.

“Of course, of course.”

At this moment, some children in the village and people who liked to watch the excitement gathered around, after all, a pickup truck was still a rare thing for this small village.

“Hey, isn’t that Liuzi?”

A person about the same age as Wang Liuxi exclaimed, but was slapped on the back of the head by his father: “No manners, that’s your Sixth Uncle.”

In terms of seniority, Wang Erbing had to call Wang Liuxi uncle.

However, when they played together as children, Wang Erbing always called him Liuzi, and no one felt it was inappropriate.

Seniority, in fact, is also linked to status and position.

If you have no ability and are poor, even if your seniority is high, others won’t bother to look at you.

Wang Liuxi with no ability is called Liuzi, Wang Liuxi with ability is called Sixth Uncle, and it is the same all over the world.

Wang Erbing was obviously not so worldly, and was embarrassed to call someone a year older than himself uncle, and felt great grievance after being taught a lesson by his father.

As more and more people came, almost everyone in the village knew that Wang Liuxi had returned home.

The bumpy road was also cleared by the villagers, and even some soil was buried in the uneven pits.

“It’s okay, my car has a lot of horsepower, it can get through any pit, everyone stand back, lest you get splashed with mud.”

Wang Liuxi laughed.

The car was actually rented by him, but as long as he didn’t say it, no one would know.

Moreover, being able to rent a pickup truck was actually very impressive for the current farmers.

At least, those who worked in the city, or even some who did business, including some old landlords, were reluctant to rent a car to show off.

Wang Liuxi was indeed doing well in Japan, with nearly one thousand mu of fertile land under his name, and a little business.

Of the nearly one thousand mu of fertile land, five hundred mu were bought by him little by little, and then he hired Japanese people to plant them. The rest belonged to the local Japanese.

Those people were afraid of others causing trouble for them, so they nominally transferred the land to Wang Liuxi, and then paid some rent to Wang Liuxi.

Wang Liuxi was not some kind of tyrant, but his identity as a Great Hua person worked well.

In Japan, those local thugs were unwilling to provoke Great Hua people, otherwise the government would investigate strictly.

Provoking Japanese or Annamese immigrants, the government would also deal with it, but not as strongly.

Relying on his own farming, collecting some protection fees, and using his identity as a Great Hua person to do some reselling business, Wang Liuxi was doing better in Japan than most other immigrants.

Among the other immigrants, there were also a large number of Great Hua people, but not everyone was good at using their identity.

Some were not brave enough, and some were too greedy and cruel.

And Wang Liuxi happened to master the balance, making the Japanese afraid of him, but also willing to cooperate with him, because the fees he charged were within the Japanese people’s affordability.

Wang Liuxi’s success, in fact, had little to do with wisdom, it was purely due to his identity advantage, plus his personality was suitable for mixing in this place.

In another place, he might not be able to succeed.

Chapter 985: Returning Home - Immigrants 2

Back home, someone had already gone to the fields to call Wang Liuxi’s parents and brothers back.

A courtyard that was considered quite large suddenly seemed a bit cramped.

Wang Liuxi had a large family, with eight brothers. He was the sixth, and he had one older sister and one younger sister, both of whom were already married.

His brothers were also married and had their own families, except for the youngest, who still lived with their parents.

Upon seeing his parents, Wang Liuxi naturally burst into tears, blaming himself for his ‘lack of filial piety.’

However, if time could be turned back, and he had to choose again, he would definitely choose to go to Japan without hesitation.

When he went abroad, Great Hua hadn’t started distributing land yet.

A large family with less than twenty mu of land.

The whole family was able to survive because they were fortunate enough to live in a good era; otherwise, several of them would have starved to death.

The family first had a good cry, staging a scene of paternal love and filial piety, followed by various casual conversations.

“This is your sister-in-law, right?”

The eldest brother asked.

“This is the first wife, and there’s a younger one who is pregnant, taking care of the house in Japan.”

Wang Liuxi said.

Upon hearing this, the men in the village were all green with envy.

Wang Liuxi’s wife was already considered a relatively beautiful woman, but Wang Liuxi also had a concubine.

This was the standard for a wealthy man. Only those with wealth and status were qualified to take a concubine.

“What do you do in Japan, Liuxi? Are you also farming?”

“I run a small business. Those thousands of mu of land are all farmed by hired hands.”

As soon as he said this, everyone exclaimed in surprise.

Landlords were almost eliminated in Great Hua, but unexpectedly, Wang Liuxi had become a landlord.

“Is life in Japan good? Is it difficult because of the language barrier?”

“Now, basically everyone in Japan speaks Chinese. Their Mandarin is even better than the people in our village.”

Wang Liuxi said.

There were many topics of conversation, but the summary was that Wang Liuxi was doing very well in Japan.

The villagers who witnessed this conversation from beginning to end, besides gaining some understanding of Japan, were filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Leaving one’s hometown sounded bitter, but if one could do as well as Wang Liuxi in Japan, then it would be excellent.

In the following days, Wang Liuxi made his presence known in the village, going to ancestral ceremonies one moment, then expressing his intention to donate money to repair the village’s ancestral hall the next, and then proposing to raise money to build a road connecting to the main road.

He even complained that the village’s farming methods were too backward.

When a person has money, even their farts smell good.

If Wang Liuxi had said this in the past, Old Wang, who was currently farming, would probably have chuckled.

But now, Old Wang began to reflect on whether his farming was really wrong.

Although many people could see that Liuxi was showing off, and some were very unhappy, they could only suppress this unhappiness in their hearts.

If they insisted on going against him and trying to embarrass Wang Liuxi, they would only embarrass themselves.

Perhaps Liuxi wasn’t as capable as he claimed, but he was definitely more capable than anyone in Pit End Village.

“Brother Liuxi, is there still land in Japan? I also want to immigrate to Japan.”

A boy of about sixteen or seventeen asked the question that many people wanted to ask.

They were drooling over Wang Liuxi’s Japanese wife, let alone the fact that Wang Liuxi had two of them.

“The land has been almost completely divided up by the later immigrants. If you want to make a fortune now, you can only go to North America and India. I heard there are large tracts of land there. Now, if you go to Japan, the government doesn’t cover the boat ticket and settlement allowance anymore.”

Wang Liuxi shook his head and pointed out the direction to everyone.

“Where are North America and India?”

Someone asked.

“It’s hard to say exactly, but it’s very far, several times farther than from here to Japan. However, I heard that there is more land there than in Japan, and everyone who goes there can become a landlord.”

Wang Liuxi said.

“Go to India, become a landlord.”

This was the official slogan. In the official propaganda, one could only be a middle peasant in the country, but in India, everyone could become a landlord. There were no restrictions on land ownership in India.

Under this propaganda, not only poor peasants who were not doing well in the country, but even some wealthy families were tempted to immigrate.

After all, there was an opportunity to become a landlord in India and achieve a reversal in life.

Moreover, the Ganges Plain was more fertile and easier to support people, so there was no need to worry about not doing well in India.

With the government backing them up, the people were relatively at ease.

Especially with the existence of people like Wang Liuxi, the villagers had fewer concerns about immigration.

Most of these people were not doing well in their hometowns or were on the verge of starvation.

When they boarded the ship and went to sea, everyone had a feeling of ‘don’t underestimate a poor youth.’

Now that they were successful, they naturally wanted to return to the village and tell those who once looked down on them and underestimated them.

The feeling of being flattered by those who once despised you was addictive. Many immigrants who returned home in glory spent a lot of money in their hometowns, enjoying this feeling of success.

Those who were embarrassed to return home were naturally those who were doing quite well overseas. Those who were not doing well didn’t have the money to buy a boat ticket.

Therefore, this easily gave the local people the illusion that everyone who immigrated was doing well.

Seeing others succeed, the local people naturally became interested. They were no longer so resistant to leaving their hometowns.

Anyway, transportation was now developed. It only took two or three days by boat to Japan, and no more than seven or eight days to Annam.

It was said that the government was also developing airplanes. Once successful, it would only take one hour from Nanjing to Beijing, and only two or three hours from Nanjing to Japan.

Distance no longer seemed to be a problem. As long as one was successful overseas, there was no need to worry about not being able to return to one’s homeland after leaving it.

“I want to go to India.”

Wang Erhu gritted his teeth. He was stimulated by Wang Liuxi.

In his youth, he had faintly surpassed Liuxi in all aspects.

But now, Wang Liuxi was doing better, which suddenly gave him a huge sense of loss.

Even though his family’s current life was still decent, he couldn’t control his desire to go out and make a fortune.

“I want to go to India.”

Wang Xiaoping roared at his father. He recalled the appearance of the village girls and women in the village, and then recalled the appearance of Wang Liuxi’s wife, strengthening his belief in immigration.

“I want to go to India and restore the glory of my ancestors.”

Wang Junyu muttered in his heart.

His family was still a small landlord in his father’s generation, but because of Great Hua’s policies, his family lost their land.

Coupled with a lack of business acumen, they inevitably declined.

Although they were still doing okay now, they were no different from thousands of ordinary families.

Wang Junyu was unwilling to accept this and wanted to go overseas to earn a landlord’s fortune again.

Chapter 986: Memories in the Carriage

At Tai’an Railway Station, several young men boarded the train carrying large bags.

They were heading to Qingdao Port, from where they would take a ship to Shanghai, and then a government-arranged ocean liner to India. Qingdao Port was just a small port, currently only offering domestic routes.

However, as Shandong develops better and better, Qingdao Port is becoming more and more important, and its future development potential is promising.

The train roared into motion, its speed increasing.

Watching the scenery outside the window rapidly receding behind him, Wang Xiaoping felt extremely excited.

The fundamental reason that drives a large number of people to immigrate overseas is not because someone has succeeded overseas, but because transportation and communication have become convenient.

“Parents should not travel far unless it is necessary.”

This was a famous saying of the past, because in the past, traveling far was an extremely risky thing, and one could easily die on the way.

This is also why, in the past, farewells were very sentimental, and many people were prone to emotional outbursts during send-offs.

It was because this farewell might be a final farewell.

Moreover, even if the traveler was lucky and did not encounter any accidents along the way, there was almost no opportunity to communicate with each other after the separation.

Unless there was an acquaintance who happened to be returning to their hometown and could bring back a letter.

However, such coincidences were rare.

Not to mention ordinary people, even some officials, from the moment they left their hometown to take office in another place, might never be able to return to their hometown in their lifetime.

Not every official’s career can be successful or brilliant, nor does everyone have the conditions and qualifications to return home in glory.

In short, in the past, going on a long journey was a major event.

But now, in Great Hua, without realizing it, going on a long journey no longer seems so scary.

“Are you guys moving to Shanghai with all those bags?”

In Jinan, two young women boarded the train and sat in front of Wang Xiaoping and Wang Erhu. They were not at all restrained, and asked Wang Xiaoping frankly, which made Wang Xiaoping, a grown man, feel a little nervous.

After all, he had never had such a beautiful girl take the initiative to talk to him before.

Moreover, the clothing and attire of these two girls did not look cheap, and they were obviously daughters of wealthy families, which made Wang Xiaoping feel a sense of inferiority.

“Hey, I’m talking to you, are you mute?”

Cao Xuelin tapped Wang Xiaoping with the fan in her hand.

A slightly offensive gesture, done by a beautiful woman, gives the feeling of being playful and lively.

Anyway, that’s how Wang Xiaoping felt.

“N-no… no, we are preparing to immigrate to India.”

Wang Xiaoping stammered. Immigrating to India to make a living did not seem like a very glorious thing, and he was really embarrassed to say it, but he did not dare to lie in front of a beautiful woman with a strong aura.

“Oh, I know, the imperial court is encouraging immigration. There are many opportunities to make a fortune in India now, but India is far overseas after all. You have a lot of courage to be among the first to go to India.”

Cao Xuelin said.

She’s praising me, she’s praising me, she, she appreciates me…

Wang Xiaoping wanted to shout excitedly in his heart. He had never experienced such a wonderful moment since he was a child.

If he were fashionable enough, he would understand that he was in love.

Unfortunately, he was overthinking it.

Someone as well-bred as Cao Xuelin always speaks in a way that makes everyone feel comfortable. However, this does not mean that she really appreciates Wang Xiaoping.

She didn’t even like the young and promising county magistrate that her family had arranged for her to marry, and instead chose to run away from home.

How could she possibly like a rural young man who was forced to immigrate to India for a living?

It is precisely because of the development of transportation and communication in Great Hua that more and more girls dare to run away from home.

There is no need to worry too much about safety. The security in other parts of Great Hua may not be good enough, but the security along the railway lines and highways is quite good.

There is no room for survival for highwaymen like “This mountain was opened by me” in Great Hua.

There is no need to worry about communication either. Telegrams can be sent from stations along the railway line. As long as you are willing to spend money, you can reassure your family.

Even if you are far away in India, you can spend some money to send a telegram to report your safety.

If you are short of money, you can also communicate by letter, provided that it is within the Central Plains. Great Hua’s postal system has not yet covered remote mountainous areas, and at most it only reaches county towns.

If you are in a big city, you can even talk directly on a public telephone.

Now, after traveling far away, you no longer have to worry about losing contact with your family.

“What about you? Where are you going?”

Wang Xiaoping mustered up his courage to ask. He was praying in his heart, praying that these two girls were also going to India.

Only then would he have the opportunity to see them again in the future.

“I haven’t thought about it yet. Anyway, I’ll go to Shanghai first, and then take it one step at a time.”

Cao Xuelin said with a smile.

Escaping from home made her feel a sense of relief.

How free and easy.

Wang Xiaoping was saddened by the words. Anyway, it was impossible for him to live so freely.

His lips moved, but he didn’t make a sound.

Originally, he wanted to invite Cao Xuelin to go to India together, but no matter how much he longed for it in his heart, he just couldn’t say it.

Along the way, the group chatted a lot.

When Wang Xiaoping learned that Cao Xuelin had run away from an arranged marriage, he admired her even more.

It was rare for a woman to dare to run away from an arranged marriage.

Beauty is justice. Anyway, Wang Xiaoping felt that Cao Xuelin ran away from the arranged marriage because the man was at fault.

Wang Xiaoping, who didn’t know the inside story at all, had already imagined an ugly face of Cao Xuelin’s fiancé in his mind, and couldn’t wait to rush up to fight for justice.

This wonderful journey was very short, after all, Jinan was not far from Qingdao.

After arriving in Qingdao, Cao Xuelin wanted to stay in Qingdao for two days, while he had to board the ship immediately.

When boarding the ship, he longed for someone to see him off.

Unfortunately, no one did.

At the moment of boarding the ship, a thought even popped into his mind, which was to give up going to India and then go to Shanghai to work hard.

This idea grew stronger and stronger, and finally he couldn’t help but tell his companions.

“What are you going to do in Shanghai? What else can we do besides farming? Wang Xiaoping, don’t be a toad lusting after swan meat. You and she are from two different worlds. She doesn’t even care about a twenty-one-year-old county magistrate, look at yourself, what are you?”

Wang Junyu mocked.

On the train, he missed the opportunity to communicate with the beauty because of the seat problem, and he was as jealous as he could be of Wang Xiaoping, who was able to talk to the beauty.

And now, seeing Wang Xiaoping distraught, he was also gloating.

“I just think I can make money in Shanghai, it has nothing to do with her.”

Wang Xiaoping argued.

“Tsk tsk tsk, you can’t even deceive yourself with this, and you want to deceive us?”

“You… shut up.”

…

Chapter 987: City of Fashion

The impact of convenient transportation on the world extends far beyond immigration. Its influence has permeated every aspect of society.

The saying, “A courier arrives with lychees, the emperor’s consort smiles, but no one knows it comes from afar,” will never happen again.

Lychees from the South are no longer a rare fruit for the North.

Even ordinary families, with a little scrimping, can now enjoy this fruit that was once only available to imperial consorts.

From this perspective, many ordinary people today live better than emperors and consorts of the past.

In the past, even emperors and consorts couldn’t regularly enjoy fruits and vegetables from the South.

But now, even ordinary people can enjoy all of this.

Moreover, the variety is much richer.

For example, chili peppers from Mexico, tomatoes from South America, cauliflower from the Mediterranean, strawberries from South America, and so on.

These fruits and vegetables, after cultivation, are now widely grown in Great Hua, making Great Hua’s cuisine incredibly diverse, almost indistinguishable from that of the twenty-first century.

People in the South can eat specialties from the North, and people in the North can eat specialties from the South.

Convenient transportation, to some extent, erases spatial distance.

Li Meiniang, who lives in Tianjin, boarded a passenger ship to Shanghai simply because she wanted to see the scenery of Shanghai and Nanjing.

This was unimaginable before.

But now, it’s no big deal.

On the ship, Li Meiniang met Cao Xuelin, and the two hit it off immediately.

In this era when women are generally gentle and refined, these two lively individuals became good sisters after just a few words.

The passenger ship arrived in Shanghai at eight o’clock in the evening, but that didn’t matter.

Today’s Shanghai is a city that never sleeps.

There are many people who revel until two or three in the morning.

After getting off the ship, Cao Xuelin saw the Great Shanghai, which was even more beautiful and shocking than in the photos.

The entire street was shimmering with neon lights, and the brightly lit buildings were like another world compared to Jinan.

Although Jinan also has electric lights, they are very few in number, and most are concentrated in factories. The electric lights in the city center are not used often, and there are no colorful neon lights.

“Walking through the crowded streets, the whole city is shining with brilliant light…”

Accompanying the beautiful scenery was music. The Bund is the center of Shanghai’s entertainment industry, with the most developed entertainment programs.

Number Eleven on the Bund houses Great Hua’s most famous musical theater.

On the theater’s exterior wall, a huge poster featured a photo of the popular singer Zhou Xuan, and the loudspeakers next to it were playing her cover of a song, “Shanghai Welcomes You.”

Its melody is quite different from “Beijing Welcomes You” of later generations. It is not so serious, but more lively and unrestrained, more similar to Taylor Swift’s “Welcome to New York.”

The song incorporates some synthesized sounds for the first time, a bit like electronic music from later generations, making people want to get excited as soon as they hear it, easily stirring up a person’s excitement.

When people are excited, their spending becomes irrational.

“Perfect, this is the place I’ve always dreamed of.”

Cao Xuelin was intoxicated by it.

“No wonder it’s Great Hua’s most prosperous and fashionable city.”

Li Meiniang sighed.

In terms of scale, Nanjing is Great Hua’s largest city.

However, Nanjing is, after all, Great Hua’s political center, and the atmosphere is relatively serious. It doesn’t pursue fashion in such a flamboyant way as Shanghai.

Chatting with a taxi driver in Nanjing might involve a certain policy of the imperial court.

But chatting with a taxi driver in Shanghai is likely to be about a popular actress or the stock market.

The rich in Nanjing can’t wait for no one to know they are rich.

The rich in Shanghai can’t wait for the whole world to know they are rich.

For various reasons, the two cities have developed distinctly different styles, making Shanghai seem more prosperous than Nanjing and a mecca for those who pursue fashion.

And Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang prefer Shanghai.

“Hello, ladies. Let me introduce myself. I am the development manager of Shenghui Entertainment Company, responsible for discovering potential future stars…”

It’s hard for two beautiful women like Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang to go unnoticed when they stand together.

They hadn’t been walking on the street for long before they were spotted by a talent scout.

“Being a star? That’s interesting.”

Cao Xuelin didn’t reject the idea. She still had a strong interest in any new things.

But Li Meiniang wasn’t very interested. She was just here for tourism and hadn’t thought about becoming a star. Her future had already been arranged by her family.

“This is my business card. It has our company’s phone number, address, and contact information. As long as Miss Cao is interested, you can contact me at any time.”

Du Yuerong handed over an exquisitely crafted business card with a name printed on it, along with his position, contact information, and so on.

“People in Shanghai are really not modest.”

After accepting the business card and saying goodbye to the other party, Cao Xuelin smiled and complained about Shanghai’s atmosphere.

After all, in Jinan, most people are still relatively modest. They don’t introduce themselves to everyone they meet, nor do they print their achievements or status on their business cards.

It’s not like that in Shanghai. Even small-time talent scouts boast about being managers.

You should know that in Great Hua today, a manager is a symbol of success.

Cao Xuelin actually wronged Du Yuerong a bit. It’s not that people in Shanghai are not modest, but that the pace of life in Shanghai is too fast, and everyone tends to be simple and direct in order to save time.

Directly stating one’s identity and intentions can greatly save time in cooperation.

This phenomenon is changing in Nanjing, Guangzhou, and other places.

“Are you really planning to enter the entertainment industry? I heard it’s not easy to get by in this industry.”

Li Meiniang reminded her. She came from a large family and knew a little about many situations in high society.

Stars are glamorous on the surface, but behind the scenes, there are countless hardships.

Only a few lucky ones can make it to the top, and most people leave in tears.

“We’ll see. I haven’t decided yet. But I definitely have to find a job to support myself.”

Cao Xuelin said with a smile. Although she brought a lot of money when she ran away from home, it wasn’t much in Shanghai, a place known for its high spending.

Besides, sitting idle and eating one’s savings will eventually lead to poverty, no matter how much money one has.

Fortunately, in Shanghai, as long as one has the ability, there are more job opportunities suitable for women than in other places.

“Whatever you want. Let’s find a place to stay first and have some fun for a few days.”

Li Meiniang didn’t offer any suggestions. She knew that Cao Xuelin was a very opinionated person.

Chapter 988: Touring Shanghai

The two checked into a hotel and began exploring Shanghai the next day.

They started with the Bund, first entering the shell-shaped Shanghai Grand Theatre, one of Shanghai’s iconic and beautiful buildings.

On the program schedule, they saw the performances scheduled for the day.

There were operas, Peking operas, skits, cross-talk, stage plays, traditional operas, acrobatics…

With almost no breaks, the performances followed one after another, dazzling the eye.

The variety was so great that it could satisfy almost anyone’s tastes.

Apart from Peking opera and traditional opera, which they were somewhat familiar with, Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang found everything else, whether opera or stage play, quite new.

So, they chose to enjoy an opera.

As the name suggests, the characteristic of opera is singing.

The entire plot is advanced through singing, and emotions are expressed through singing as well. There is no spoken dialogue at all.

This form of expression is much more difficult than ordinary skits, which is why it has become a highly respected art form.

Opera is a foreign import. In Great Hua, opera is lukewarm, only a hobby for a small group of people.

While Great Hua culture influences the world, it also absorbs some culture from other places.

Compared to opera, stage plays have much more freedom.

They include singing, dancing, and direct dialogue.

This rich form of expression makes it easier to design exciting storylines. In Great Hua, stage plays are more popular than operas.

Operas, stage plays, and Peking operas each have their own merits and their own fans.

For Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang, this new art form was quite interesting at first glance.

Leaving the Grand Theatre, they walked along the street and passed a lottery center, which was crowded with lottery players.

For just two jiao, you could buy a lottery ticket, with a top prize of five hundred thousand yuan.

For many people who aren’t good at math, this was a huge temptation.

Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang knew that the odds of winning were extremely low, but since they had come to Shanghai, they had to buy a lottery ticket as a souvenir.

Other cities didn’t have this kind of thing because Wu Changqing didn’t allow it.

But Shanghai was a special development zone, and lotteries were allowed to be issued in a limited way.

Two jiao was insignificant to Cao Xuelin.

Even though she knew it was unlikely to win, she didn’t feel like she was being scammed.

Entering the lottery station, they found that there were not only welfare lotteries drawn every two days, but also instant lotteries drawn every ten minutes and scratch-and-win tickets.

These lotteries were even more exciting than the welfare lottery because the frequency was so fast and the odds of winning were higher. Although the prize amounts were much lower, many people were obsessed with these instant lotteries.

Especially “Stimulating Ten,” the lottery shop even recorded the winning numbers for each draw on a chart on the wall, creating a curve to induce lottery players to look for patterns.

This was a very insidious trick because many people were actually afraid of risk and didn’t dare to gamble. But if they could be made to feel that they had mastered the rules and would definitely win, they would lose their minds and bet wildly.

Anyone who has studied probability knows that the appearance of numbers is completely random and has nothing to do with this curve pattern.

Unfortunately, most of these lottery players had not studied probability.

They understood the world based on cause and effect.

Even if there was no causal relationship between two things, they would forcibly impose one to help them understand the world.

If a number that hadn’t appeared for a long time suddenly appeared, the lottery players would come to the conclusion that “what has been absent for a long time must appear.”

Some people who tried to find patterns from the curve and failed were lucky because they could understand that looking at the curve was not reliable.

The truly unlucky ones were those who happened to win by studying the patterns. They would think they had figured out the rules, become obsessed, and eventually lose everything.

In the lottery station, Cao Xuelin saw a person suddenly go crazy and then be thrown out by security.

“Shanghai is good, but it’s not everyone’s paradise.”

Li Meiniang said with emotion.

After buying lottery tickets, they passed the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

This was another place that couldn’t be missed when visiting Shanghai. The two entered the hall.

On the wall at the front of the hall hung the most advanced technological achievement of Great Hua at the time, an electronic display screen.

It used electric current to control countless small lights, thus presenting various numbers.

At the same time, the exchange also had the highest telephone ownership rate in Great Hua. Almost every trader’s desk had a telephone.

The various noises made the exchange look more chaotic than a vegetable market.

“I heard that the daily trading volume here reaches one million yuan.”

Li Meiniang said.

“What a crazy place, even crazier than a casino.”

Although Cao Xuelin had never seen a casino, she felt that a casino couldn’t be this lively.

“Do you two beauties want to buy stocks? I can recommend a few stocks that are guaranteed to make money.”

A stock trader saw Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang’s attire and knew that they had strong spending power, so he put down the phone and came to promote stocks.

“If it’s guaranteed to make money, why don’t you buy it yourself?”

Cao Xuelin asked the most direct question.

If it was guaranteed to make money, why wouldn’t he buy it himself and instead work so hard to promote it to others and earn a little hard-earned money? Such a person was either a saint or a madman.

Saints are too rare in this world, so the other party was either a madman or a liar.

“I bought it too. I didn’t buy it before, but this top stock has too much potential, so I bought it too, and I strongly recommend you buy it…”

The trader lightly brushed off Cao Xuelin’s sharp question.

If he didn’t have this ability, he wouldn’t be able to make a living here.

However, no matter how eloquently he spoke, Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang remained unmoved.

They were just here to take a look and hadn’t thought about getting rich from this.

Besides, buying stocks wasn’t like buying lottery tickets, which could be done for just two jiao. The investment in buying stocks was often very large.

If you bought too little, the average trader wouldn’t bother to pay attention to you.

Current stock trading wasn’t as convenient as it would be in the twenty-first century. Small transactions weren’t worth the cost.

“It’s up!”

Suddenly, a cheer erupted in the hall.

The display screen showed the real-time prices of some stocks.

One hot stock was constantly rising, looking like a market maker was accumulating shares and pushing it up.

Entering at this time would likely result in a very ugly death.

However, this had nothing to do with Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang. They were just here to see the legendary exchange and feel the atmosphere.

Then, they left the place.

Chapter 989: Strolling Through Shanghai 2

Continuing down the street, they arrived at the Huangpu River Bridge.

This was a bridge with a span of nearly seven hundred meters. Although not as magnificent as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, it was still quite spectacular for Cao Xuelin and the others, who were seeing such a bridge for the first time.

Tired from walking, they boarded a streetcar to continue enjoying the scenery outside the window.

“That’s the World Trade Building, right? It’s so tall.”

After getting off the streetcar, they saw another iconic building in Shanghai, the World Trade Building.

The building, over two hundred and thirty meters tall, stood out among the other buildings like a crane among chickens.

In this era, a building over two hundred meters tall was already quite remarkable.

The taller the building, the greater the difficulty of construction.

When reaching a certain height, there are many factors to consider, such as earthquake resistance and wind resistance.

The higher the altitude, the stronger the wind force.

Generally, if the wind force on the ground is five meters per second, the wind speed at two hundred meters can reach twenty meters per second.

And this is already the standard for a strong gale. This kind of gale can cause slight damage to some houses.

But for skyscrapers, the impact is even greater, enough to make the building sway in the wind, with amplitudes exceeding one meter. Imagine a building hundreds of meters tall swaying in the wind; the image is terrifying.

However, buildings below two hundred and fifty meters are relatively easy to solve this problem. If it is a building of three or four hundred meters, and the wind force reaches more than thirty meters per second, then how to deal with the impact of the wind force is a major problem.

Generally, the impact of wind force can be reduced to a certain extent through the shape and structural design of the building. And the top of ultra-high-rise buildings usually has what is commonly known as a TMD, or ‘tuned mass damper.’

This is a large iron ball placed at the top of the building, weighing hundreds or thousands of tons. It can move in the opposite direction when the building sways in the wind, thereby reducing the amplitude of the sway.

In the original historical timeline, these knowledge and experiences often required countless bloody lessons to be summarized.

But now in Great Hua, this knowledge and experience are directly provided to the architects by Wu Changqing.

This is equivalent to the architects in the original historical timeline relying on themselves to find theorems and axioms.

And the architects in the current timeline only need to learn the proof process given by Wu Changqing.

The difficulty between the two is worlds apart.

This is also the reason why Great Hua’s architectural level has developed so quickly. They don’t need to experience failure; they only need to honestly follow the standard process to build.

Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang, these ‘ordinary people,’ don’t really understand the difficulty of building such tall buildings. However, this height is enough to bring them a huge shock.

It gives them a feeling that this World Trade Building is very impressive.

“This is nothing. The Oriental Pearl Tower under construction is said to be four hundred meters high. That’s a real skyscraper,” a local said proudly.

He was talking about the Shanghai TV Tower under construction, a building used to transmit wireless signals.

Great Hua has already produced many televisions, and it is only a matter of a few months or a year or two before they become popular in big cities like Nanjing and Shanghai.

With televisions, of course, there is also a need for television stations to transmit signals.

The Shanghai TV Tower under construction will reach a historical height of four hundred meters, and the signal can cover an area of eighty kilometers around.

Tallness is just one feature of Shanghai. Another is luxury.

On the shopping street of Golden Avenue, the ground is not paved with popular cement but with cobblestones, giving people a high-end feel.

And the shops on both sides of the street are also showing off their high-end style without exception.

There is no future in selling cheap goods on this street; you can only sell those high-profit luxury goods.

And for luxury goods, the high-end feel is very important.

Commemorative edition, limited edition, unique…

Everything here is labeled with these tags.

Of course, the quality of these things is also impeccable.

Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang both liked the things here, but unfortunately, they were short of money.

Their families are doing well, but they are far from being able to spend freely on Golden Avenue.

“Coming to Shanghai, I realized how poor my family is,” Li Meiniang said self-deprecatingly.

In Tianjin, her family is also a well-known wealthy family in the city.

However, coming to Shanghai, she found that there were too many things she couldn’t afford.

Daytime Shanghai is not the best time to visit, after all, most people need to work during the day.

Shanghai is even more lively at night.

A large number of people gather in those bars to revel.

The bars have the most explosive alternative music, characterized by lyrics that are uninspired, even meaningless, and have no values to speak of.

This kind of song relies on being catchy and having a super strong melody and rhythm to make people fall into it.

Although it is alternative, young people like it very much and it is very popular in bars.

Bars are not suitable places for girls to go.

This is the mainstream consensus in Great Hua today.

However, many women can’t help but want to find out.

Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang also came to the bar, wanting to see the fashionable culture of Shanghai.

In the bar, men are in the majority.

Most of the few women are European and American women and Japanese women, and there are few native Great Hua women.

From the moment they entered the bar, the two of them were constantly approached.

And the purpose of these men, without exception, was to sleep with them.

This kind of thing was unimaginable in the former Great Hua, but it is quietly happening in Shanghai today.

Only this kind of environment can breed this phenomenon.

In the past, it was difficult for women to even go out, and it was easy to attract gossip if they had a slight contact with a strange man. In that kind of environment, this situation could not occur.

But now, it has become normal for women to go out, and what people they meet and what they do has become a mystery.

In other words, even if something happens, the chance of being discovered is greatly reduced, reducing the severity of the consequences.

Without consequences, courage will naturally increase.

There is another reason why Shanghai is the first to see this phenomenon: there are many foreign women here.

Those women from Japan, Europe, or West Asia find it difficult to survive in Shanghai.

In order to live in Shanghai, they often need to find a man they can rely on.

And some people take advantage of this, trick them into bed, and they easily become reckless.

In the end, these people gather in bars and nightclubs, forming a unique phenomenon in Shanghai.

Cao Xuelin and Li Meiniang certainly wouldn’t get used to this atmosphere, and after staying in the bar for a while, they fled the place.

Chapter 990: The European Union in Disarray

In mid-February, the Great Hua expeditionary fleet to South America arrived in Honolulu.

However, the Great Hua people were more accustomed to calling it Sandalwood Mountain.

As early as two years ago, Great Hua had discovered these islands, and then migrated five hundred people to this place, building a port to facilitate the mid-voyage resupply of Great Hua ships.

Now, when the Great Hua expeditionary force passed by, they conveniently conquered the natives of this place.

Where had the local natives ever seen such a formation as Great Hua’s?

After a few cannonballs, those natives were scared out of their wits.

When the Great Hua envoy told them that this place had been Great Hua’s territory since ancient times and would belong to Great Hua in the future, they all said that it should be so, and the scene was very harmonious.

The Huaxia army left more than a hundred soldiers to maintain rule over the area.

Thus, Sandalwood Mountain was also recovered.

By March, the expeditionary force arrived in Panama City.

After resting in Panama City for more than half a month to allow the army, who had been seasick, to recover, they set off south to attack the Colombia region.

There was no need for any excuse to attack Colombia, after all, this place was not originally Spanish, or even Portuguese.

Here, there were no rules. Or rather, strength was the only rule.

The Portuguese subdued the local natives, and this place belonged to Portugal.

Spain annexed Portugal, and this place belonged to Spain.

Now that Great Hua had come to drive away the Spanish, this place naturally belonged to Great Hua, which was very logical.

When the Huaxia army set off, the Spanish Governor-General Rafael, who was in Bogotá, panicked immediately.

Although he knew that the Huaxia army would definitely go south to attack him when the Great Hua expeditionary force arrived in Panama, he still held a jiǎoxìng xīnlǐ; a fluke mentality as long as the Huaxia army did not set off.

But now, the last bit of luck had been shattered.

“What about Madrid, why is there still no news from Madrid?”

Rafael questioned his subordinates.

As early as when Great Hua was building roads to the Colombia region, Rafael had sent people to report the situation in South America to the country, hoping that the country would send some troops over.

However, the order from the country was for Rafael to hold on.

After the Great Hua expeditionary force arrived in Panama, he once again sent a distress signal to the country, but had not yet received a reply.

In fact, Europe had long known about the Huaxia army’s advance into the Americas.

The Great Hua expeditionary force’s actions were so loud that there was no intention of concealing them at all, allowing spies far away in Great Hua to easily obtain this information and send it to Europe via telegram.

Then, combined with the information that Great Hua was building roads in Colombia, the strategists in Europe easily analyzed Great Hua’s goal.

But what could they do even if they knew Great Hua’s goal?

The people in the European Union suddenly realized how afraid they were of Great Hua.

Even if the European Union was established, they did not have enough courage to declare war on Great Hua in the face of Great Hua’s invasion.

They hoped that Great Hua’s appetite would be smaller and that they would be satisfied with taking the Colombia region.

Then, they could develop (survive) for a while longer.

The only one who was really anxious was the Spanish Empire.

After all, the Colombia region was their territory.

London, the second European Union conference was being held to discuss the issue of Great Hua’s advance into South America.

“We must form a fleet to fight the Huaxia army to the death in South America and defend our last bottom line. The Americas are our bottom line.”

The Spanish representative Pardo said indignantly.

“Mr. Pardo, please calm down first. If we start building a fleet now, how many all-ironclad battleships can we put together?”

Williams said.

In today’s naval warfare, wooden warships have been completely eliminated.

The naval battle of Java between France and Great Hua had already proved this point. Wooden warships had no meaning in front of Great Hua’s artillery.

Now, European countries are developing pure ironclad ships or semi-ironclad ships.

Great Britain is developing faster and already has ten pure ironclad ships, but the tonnage is all below one thousand tons.

There are about twenty semi-ironclad ships, which are basically used as auxiliary ships.

The total number of pure ironclad ships in other countries is about the same as that of Great Britain.

In other words, even if they take out all their assets at this time to form a navy, their strength is not as good as a single Great Hua fleet.

To go to war with Great Hua at this time is purely courting death and is very irrational.

“Mr. Williams, then when do you think we will be strong enough to fight Great Hua? Ten years later, or twenty years later, do you think we will still have a chance at that time?”

Pardo sneered.

They are developing, but Great Hua has not stopped to wait for them.

Whether the gap between the strengths of the two sides will be larger or smaller in the future is uncertain.

“We will definitely have more advantages if we go to war with Great Hua in ten years.”

Williams said shamelessly.

He obviously cannot predict what will happen in ten years. However, preventing a declaration of war on Great Hua now is his main task.

“Bullshit.”

Faced with Williams’ nonsense, Pardo cursed directly.

“Mr. Pardo, please calm down. The importance of those places in South America is not worth the risk of fighting Great Hua to the death. If Great Hua were to attack Lisbon now, we would declare war on Great Hua without hesitation.”

The French representative Fernando said the key to the problem, and then received everyone’s approval.

Whether to send troops or not mainly depends on whether it is worth it.

The colonies in South America are important, but they are not important. Losing the colonies in South America will not have a significant impact on Spain’s strength.

The key factor determining the strength of European countries today is the level of technological development, not the number of colonies.

Losing those colonies will at most lose some cheap raw materials.

However, because Europe is still in the early stages of the industrial revolution, the demand for industrial raw materials such as coal and iron ore is not particularly large.

Europe alone can meet their needs.

To fight Great Hua to the death for a dispensable place.

The other countries in the European Union would never agree to such a thing.

As for Spain’s feelings, the other countries can only say sorry, or give some compensation in other areas.

“Mr. Pardo, don’t worry, the alliance will give you some compensation. We are not standing idly by, but we must consider the overall situation, and we hope that you can also start from the overall situation and not force the alliance to jump into the fire pit now.”

Williams said.

Chapter 991: The Situation in South America

In the end, under pressure, Spain was forced to accept the alliance’s compensation plan and abandon the South American region.

However, this meant abandoning a direct confrontation with Great Hua, not a complete lack of resistance.

Without resistance, Great Hua would quickly occupy South America.

The strategy ultimately agreed upon by the European Union was to use the vast area of South America to play cat and mouse with Great Hua.

Instead of engaging in direct combat, they would delve into the jungles and mountains to wage guerrilla warfare. They would evade Great Hua’s regular army, and after the regular army left, they would emerge to sabotage, preventing Great Hua from effectively ruling South America.

The European Union estimated that Great Hua would, at most, deploy two hundred thousand troops to South America.

And two hundred thousand troops were a drop in the bucket compared to the entire South American continent.

Without anyone causing trouble, two hundred thousand troops could control the entire South American continent.

However, if they were deliberately causing trouble from behind, it would not be easy for Great Hua to control South America.

Of course, in doing so, the European Union would also lose control of South America.

But they didn’t care; being able to use South America to stall Great Hua for a few years would be a success for the European Union.

This strategy was the best solution the European Union could come up with.

With the strategy decided, a European Union fleet set off for South America.

They didn’t carry any heavy weapons, only a large number of advanced individual weapons.

Such as breech-loading rifles, light machine guns, grenades, crossbows, sniper rifles, and so on.

These were all weapons suitable for guerrilla warfare, and their advantage was that they were light and easy to carry, while also being powerful.

The breech-loading rifles were not much different from the Huaxia army’s semi-automatic rifles.

The Huaxia army had a large number of advanced weapons and equipment, but they were only equipped in large units.

If it was a small garrison force, it would be impossible to equip artillery or flamethrower troops.

In other words, in small-scale operations, the difference in strength between the European Union and Great Hua was much smaller than in large-scale operations, making it possible to fight them.

Because the European Union abandoned the strategy of direct confrontation, the Huaxia army’s initial operations in South America went smoothly, and they quickly advanced to Bogotá, occupying most of Colombia.

However, the strongholds occupied by the Huaxia army then began to be constantly harassed by European Union soldiers.

Some strongholds were captured, some were forced to abandon, and some, although defended, were severely damaged.

The Huaxia army really didn’t have a good way to deal with this kind of harassment.

To effectively rule these places, it was necessary to divide the troops into various locations.

And because the area was too large, the garrison troops in each place could not be too many.

The European Union’s guerrillas, however, could be flexible and mobile, concentrating superior forces to launch surprise attacks. Faced with the European Union’s rogue tactics, the Huaxia army also suffered some losses.

Although the number of soldiers killed in battle was not large, after all, they were small-scale battles.

However, Great Hua’s strategic intention to control these places and achieve effective rule was not realized.

This made Meng Hao, the commander of the expeditionary force, very headache. Other troops had always been invincible on other battlefields.

But now, he had encountered a defeat, which would be a black mark on his resume, and he was afraid that he would have no hope of going further in the future.

More importantly, he was ashamed to face the soldiers and people at home for losing a battle despite having superior strength, and he didn’t know how to explain it to the country.

“Commander, we can build small blockhouses to increase our defenses. The enemy doesn’t have heavy weapons either, and it would take a terrible price to capture these bunkers.

With the European Union’s limited forces in South America, they certainly can’t afford such losses.”

A subordinate offered Meng Hao a plan.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. It’s easy to build one blockhouse, but building hundreds or thousands of blockhouses is a huge project, and the cost is too high, it’s not worth it.

Moreover, although there are not many people from the European Union in South America, they are far more numerous than us. This was originally their private property, and now we have robbed them of their private property, and it is possible that they will all become soldiers.”

Meng Hao said with a headache.

There were at least more than two million Europeans in South America, and adult men accounted for nearly fifty percent. And the Huaxia army, at most, was only twenty thousand.

Including the immigrants who were about to arrive, there were only forty to fifty thousand.

In terms of numbers, they were at an absolute disadvantage.

Moreover, the people who came to South America from Western Europe to make a living were bolder than ordinary people and more fearless of death.

These people, when armed, were also a considerable force.

It was not so easy to conquer them.

“Then what should we do?”

The subordinate asked, the current problem must be solved, it can’t continue like this.

“I think, perhaps we need to report the situation here to the country and ask the country to change its policy towards South America.”

There were many ways for Great Hua to solve this problem, but it was just a matter of cost.

Sending enough troops over would naturally wipe out those guerrillas. But this method was too costly and not worth it.

If Great Hua really did this, it would fall into the European Union’s trap.

Another option was to slow down the pace of occupying South America, wait for more immigrants to arrive, and tame more local natives, compress the living space of the European guerrillas, and then slowly advance.

This plan would take a long time, and the people and government at home might not be satisfied.

Another way was to solve it politically, such as recognizing the private property of those Western Europeans in South America and allowing them to join Great Hua nationality and become a part of Great Hua.

This move would inevitably cause a split within the Europeans in South America.

These people became guerrillas because they were forced to do so, it didn’t mean they liked living that kind of life, liked fighting Great Hua desperately.

If Great Hua could guarantee their private property, and even obtain Great Hua citizenship as a result, presumably many people would cheer and cooperate with Great Hua.

These immigrants had little loyalty to Europe.

They were not like the immigrants of Great Hua, who had the government to help pay for their tickets and resettlement, they relied on themselves for everything.

After coming to South America to make a name for themselves, they still had to pay taxes to their homeland.

The vast majority of them were still an oppressed class.

If they were not strong enough, they would have rebelled against their homeland long ago.

And Meng Hao couldn’t make decisions on his own about such political matters, he had to report to the imperial court and let the central government make the decision.

Only if the central government agreed could he cooperate with the civil officials to implement it.

If the central government did not agree, then he could only think of other ways to deal with those guerrillas.

Although those guerrillas were difficult to deal with, he, Meng Hao, was not a pushover either.

If they really fought to the death, the outcome would inevitably be a lose-lose situation, and the Europeans would definitely suffer even more.

Chapter 992: Declaring War on Europe

In Meng Hao’s view, the problem in South America was very troublesome.

However, when the issue was reported to Wu Changqing, he found it very easy to solve.

Strike the snake at its vital spot. Just find the Europeans’ weakness.

The Europeans could abandon South America because it wasn’t important to them.

But could they abandon London, Paris, or Madrid?

As long as a fleet was sent to bombard those places, wouldn’t they obediently sign a treaty ceding South America?

Without the European mainland supplying weapons and ammunition to the South American guerrillas, how long could those guerrillas hold out?

Although bombarding London and Paris was equivalent to a full-scale war with the European Union, so what?

Wu Changqing didn’t think the European Union currently had the resolve to fight to the death and gamble their national fortune.

In all likelihood, the European Union would choose to swallow their anger and abandon South America.

Even if the Europeans suddenly became brave and decided to fight Great Hua to the end, Wu Changqing wasn’t worried. Great Hua now possessed absolute military superiority. A full-scale war now would only cost a bit more.

Moreover, once Europe was subdued, there would be no more opponents in the entire world.

After making the decision, Wu Changqing summoned some ministers to listen to their opinions and brainstorm.

With more people, the aspects considered would be more comprehensive.

For example, what impact would a full-scale war with Western Europe have?

How to ensure the safety of Great Hua citizens in Ceuta, how much loss would trade with Western Europe cause…

After everyone discussed it together, they all felt that this war was worth fighting.

There would definitely be an impact on trade, but it wouldn’t be too great.

Currently, Great Hua’s main consumer market was still domestic.

And after occupying India, India was also a consumer market with great potential. The temporary loss of the European consumer market would have a very limited impact on Great Hua’s economy.

As for the safety of Ceuta, there was no need to worry too much.

If the whole of Europe could be completely defeated, losing Ceuta would be nothing.

If necessary, the Great Hua citizens in Ceuta could be evacuated to strongholds in Egypt or South Africa in advance.

After some discussion, the Great Hua’s high-level officials decided to use force against Western Europe to force them to abandon their resistance against Great Hua in South America.

At the same time, Meng Hao’s policy recommendations for South America were also approved by some ministers.

Great Hua was going to occupy the entire globe after all, so it would naturally not discriminate against Western Europeans.

The private property of those Western Europeans in South America could also be recognized to a certain extent, similar to how Annam and India were treated.

First, stabilize those places and bring them under Great Hua’s rule.

Then, slowly boil the frog in warm water, gradually eroding the interests of those places.

No particularly clever means were needed. Nationalizing those mineral resources would control more than ninety percent of the wealth in those places.

At that time, they could be manipulated in any way they wanted.

A two-pronged approach, politically and militarily.

After the direction was determined, Great Hua began to formulate specific combat plans.

First, the army attacking Persia stopped all actions and transferred to Karachi by the sea, ready to be transported to the European mainland for combat at any time.

Naval bombardment alone might not be enough to subdue Western Europe.

But if sixty or seventy thousand soldiers were sent to capture their capitals, they probably wouldn’t be able to remain calm.

“This battle is only allowed to succeed, not to fail. Therefore, I will personally lead the expedition.”

Wu Changqing suddenly said.

These words startled the ministers and puzzled them.

Great Hua had fought many foreign wars, but Wu Changqing had never been so excited.

Of course, they didn’t know how much Wu Changqing wanted to see the King of Great Britain and the King of France fleeing and eating corn on the road.

Bombarding London, burning down the Louvre.

Wu Changqing didn’t want to watch such interesting things through boring telegrams; he wanted to participate in them personally.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not! Europe is thousands of li away from Great Hua, the sea is treacherous, and Your Majesty’s precious body should not take risks,” Ruan Dacheng knelt down directly, begging Wu Changqing to give up the idea of personally leading the expedition.

Ruan Dacheng was now seventy-four years old, and his health was deteriorating day by day. He had already decided to retire this year.

At this time, he didn’t care about his old bones and tried his best to dissuade him.

“Your Majesty, absolutely not! I am willing to request to lead the expedition. If I cannot return with a great victory, I am willing to apologize with my death!” Tao Dongcheng directly issued a military pledge.

With his current position in the army, he didn’t actually need to personally command on the front line anymore. There was no point in earning more merit, as he had already reached the top.

However, at this time, in order to prevent Wu Changqing from personally leading the expedition, he was willing to stand up and do something thankless.

Other ministers, both civil and military, knelt down and begged Wu Changqing to withdraw his idea of personally leading the expedition.

Seeing this scene, Wu Changqing was also quite helpless.

Having stayed in Nanjing for a long time, he really wanted to go to the battlefield and move around.

More importantly, this was a contest with Europe.

This had some special significance for him; it was his long-cherished wish and fantasy.

Now that he had the opportunity to realize this fantasy, how could he be willing to give it up?

However, Wu Changqing also understood that it would be very irresponsible for him to personally lead the expedition to Europe.

The sea was treacherous, and it would be terrible if he encountered a big storm.

With the current level of navigation, basically all they could do in the face of a big storm was pray.

Although the probability of this happening was very low, it was still possible.

Moreover, there were many accidents on the battlefield. Even the side with the advantage didn’t mean that no one would die.

“I have made up my mind. You are responsible for formulating a detailed plan,” Wu Changqing ultimately decided to be willful this time.

“Your Majesty, please think twice.”

“Your Majesty, please consider the people and withdraw your order.”

“I want to die to remonstrate! If Your Majesty does not withdraw the order, I will kneel here forever!”

…

This time, the ministers were not so easy to compromise.

In the past, when Wu Changqing wanted to personally lead the Northern Expedition, although everyone was unwilling, they ultimately considered that the danger was not great, so they ultimately let Wu Changqing do as he pleased.

But now, Wu Changqing was not going to Xuzhou or Suzhou, but to Europe, thousands of li away.

The risk involved was too great.

“Don’t try to pull that on me. Great Hua doesn’t do that. I don’t care whether you kneel or not. Anyway, don’t delay the things I’ve ordered, otherwise, follow the rules,” Wu Changqing said harshly, then he left in a huff.

The officialdom of Great Hua had not seen kneeling for a long time. And this kind of super ‘traditional’ death remonstrance was appearing for the first time.

Wu Changqing would not compromise, otherwise, wouldn’t these guys want to come up with a death remonstrance at every turn after they tasted the sweetness?

Chapter 993: Come Forth, Aircraft Carrier

Wu Changqing’s stubbornness was something the officials of Great Hua had long been aware of.

Therefore, even though most of them were inwardly opposed to Wu Changqing’s personal expedition, once he made the decision, there was nothing they could do.

Although they continued to ‘petition’, hoping Wu Changqing would abandon the idea, and some even used their connections to get the imperial concubines in the harem to persuade him, they didn’t neglect their duties. They were making arrangements for Wu Changqing’s personal expedition.

This alone showed that the officials of Great Hua didn’t have much hope of dissuading Wu Changqing.

This battle, with Wu Changqing’s participation, was completely different from without him.

Without Wu Changqing’s involvement, it would be much simpler. They would just need to win the battle, and acceptable losses would be within reason.

But with Wu Changqing personally leading the expedition, safety became the top priority. It had to be guaranteed, and more warships had to be sent to ensure Wu Changqing’s absolute safety.

At the same time, the battle had to be not only victorious but also impressive. It needed to showcase the might of Great Hua and prevent Wu Changqing from losing face in Europe.

Originally, the military hadn’t planned to deploy the new weapon of airplanes, mainly because they didn’t know how to get them to Europe.

The current airplanes of Great Hua had a range of just over one hundred kilometers, with two hundred kilometers being the limit.

However, with Wu Changqing personally leading the expedition, these most advanced weapons of Great Hua naturally needed to be brought along to show off; otherwise, it wouldn’t be impressive enough.

Therefore, airplanes had to make an appearance in the war against Europe.

Currently, the military had two plans. One was to build airfields on land.

Build an airfield in each of the important cities along the line of Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, Xi’an, Hami, Yili, Bahrain, Suez, and Ceuta, so that the airplanes of Great Hua could be deployed to Ceuta through continuous flights.

However, this was a huge project.

Although current military airfields could be built very simply, with just a runway and an aviation fuel depot, because the current airplanes of Great Hua had a short range, a large number of airfields needed to be built along the way from Great Hua to Europe. Plus, storing fuel would also be a troublesome matter.

Unless absolutely necessary, the military didn’t want to waste money and manpower like this.

The other plan was the aircraft carrier project that the navy was currently working on, putting the airplanes on ships and using the ships to transport and maneuver them.

This path was personally instructed by Wu Changqing; otherwise, with the navy’s imagination, they wouldn’t have thought of this so quickly.

Deploying airplanes on ships would allow them to roam the globe and quickly carry out strategic bombing against any country, forming a huge strategic deterrent.

Why did Europe still dare to contend with Great Hua? Wasn’t it because the two places were far apart?

Once the war started, the supplies of Great Hua would become very difficult and costly.

But with aircraft carriers, this distance would no longer bring a sense of security to Europe.

Because Great Hua wouldn’t even need to fight them in direct combat. Bombing their capital a few times every now and then would be enough to make them collapse and beg for mercy.

All in all, Great Hua’s aircraft carrier had been under construction for more than five months, and the current progress was slow.

The hull had been completed, but the various equipment on the ship hadn’t been installed yet.

In fact, this speed could be increased quite a bit, depending on the demands from above.

Because an aircraft carrier was a piece of equipment with a very high upper limit and a very low lower limit in terms of technical content.

Adding electromagnetic catapults, nuclear power, and electronic command systems was called an aircraft carrier.

Great Hua wouldn’t be able to produce this kind of aircraft carrier for another ten years.

A ship with a large enough cabin and a long enough deck could also be called an aircraft carrier.

Great Hua could have produced this kind of aircraft carrier long ago.

As for how much risk there would be in taking off and landing on this simple aircraft carrier, that would depend on the pilot’s skills and luck.

In the early days of aircraft carriers, accidents occurred every time they took off and landed, which was perfectly normal. It would be abnormal if there were no accidents.

The later aircraft carriers were constantly improved, and in fact, they were just solving those various small problems, allowing airplanes to take off and land better, increasing stability, and reducing the accident rate.

The core functions had hardly changed.

In the original timeline, the first aircraft carrier appeared in 1910.

The overall industrial technology of Great Hua today might only be at the level of 1850. However, the military industry, which was at the forefront and didn’t lack money, had a technological level that had already exceeded the level of 1910.

Just like how the Chinese could not produce a decent car, but the atomic and hydrogen bombs had already exploded successfully.

When even a fountain pen still needed to be imported, satellites had already flown into space.

For projects that gathered the strength of the entire country, all the so-called difficulties were not difficulties at all.

The current military industry of Great Hua was in a state where it didn’t lack resources, funding, or even technology, but was only slightly lacking in talent.

Building a simple aircraft carrier was not a difficult task for them.

After confirming that Wu Changqing was going to lead the expedition personally, the navy ordered the shipyard that was building the aircraft carrier to speed up construction immediately.

Previously, Great Hua wasn’t in a hurry to have the aircraft carrier commissioned and deployed, so in the process of manufacturing, safety was the main priority, and they tried to build it well and reduce safety hazards.

But now, because Wu Changqing was going to lead the expedition personally and needed the aircraft carrier to quickly take shape and go into battle, the goal became to be able to go into battle, and safety could be ignored to a certain extent.

As long as it could take off successfully and complete a bombing of Europe, getting this face-saving project done would be enough.

The military didn’t expect the aircraft carrier to play a significant role in the first battle. The battleships, cruisers, and army troops would still determine the outcome of the battle.

Therefore, some of the equipment that was originally planned to be installed could be abandoned at this time.

As a result, Great Hua’s first aircraft carrier was soon launched.

In addition to preparing the aircraft carrier, the navy also prepared to deploy the torpedo submarine, a great weapon.

The technical difficulty of torpedo submarines was lower than that of aircraft carriers, and Great Hua had already manufactured them two years ago.

However, because there were no enemies, Great Hua didn’t manufacture them on a large scale. Currently, there were only five in service.

This time, the military was preparing to show off in front of the Europeans and let them know how foolish it was to oppose Great Hua.

Aircraft carrier, battleship fleet, cruisers, submarines, fighters, bombers…

Looking at these troops that would accompany him to Europe, Wu Changqing felt a little embarrassed for a moment.

This was too much bullying.

Chapter 994: The Education of Princes

Great Hua was secretly preparing for war, a process expected to take several more months.

This timeframe was actually quite short; some preparations for a major decisive battle could take years.

During this preparation period, Great Hua outwardly maintained an appearance of peace and prosperity, seemingly unchanged.

In reality, relevant industries were working feverishly to make various preparations.

European Union spies in Hua also sensed the atmosphere of Great Hua preparing for war.

However, they were still unaware that Wu Changqing intended to personally lead the expedition.

During the war preparations, Wu Changqing also made more time for his family, as this campaign could last anywhere from one to two or three years.

Currently, Wu Changqing had sixteen children: ten princes and six princesses.

This number wasn’t excessive, averaging less than one child per consort, and his harem already consisted of twenty-one women.

Among the sixteen children, ten were already attending school.

On this day, Wu Changqing found a new teacher for the two older princes, Meng Tong, tasking him with teaching Wu Gang and Wu Yu new subjects:

History and the Art of Kingship.

Studying history to understand rise and fall. Studying the art of kingship to master the techniques of managing subordinates.

These were compulsory courses for heirs to the throne.

Those who taught the princes these subjects were true mentors.

The teachers who previously taught them literacy and arithmetic could only be considered ordinary teachers.

Many officials desired to become the princes’ mentors, even veteran ministers like Ma Shiying and Hong Chengchou, all seeking to obtain this qualification.

It was a great honor, and also a way to solidify their position.

Many ministers submitted memorials to Wu Changqing, outlining their ideas for instructing the princes.

In the end, Wu Changqing chose the relatively unknown Meng Tong.

The reason was that Meng Tong was an independent official, not a representative of any particular interest group. He was relatively unbiased, which could prevent him from instilling personal agendas into the princes.

Children aged eleven or twelve were at a critical stage of developing their values and worldview. Being influenced by someone with biases could greatly impact the princes.

If Gu Yanwu were to teach these two princes, it would be a disaster. Gu Yanwu would definitely cultivate their affinity for the Jiangnan interest groups.

If the representative of big business interests were to teach them, then these two princes would be prone to protecting the interests of merchants when making decisions in the future.

Similarly, any teacher with biases would have some influence on the princes.

After Wu Changqing made this arrangement, Chen Yuyan stormed in to find Wu Changqing, demanding that her son, Wu Xuan, also be included.

“Xuan’er is only nine years old.”

Wu Changqing said helplessly. He just wanted to wait until Wu Xuan was older before subjecting him to such torment.

For a small child, the content was hardly interesting.

“The Second Prince is only eleven.”

Chen Yuyan was worried that her son had fallen out of favor and firmly refused, insisting that Wu Xuan begin learning those things now.

Whether he could understand it or not was not important; the key was to obtain this qualification.

After all, all the civil and military officials in the court were watching these matters.

Once other princes obtained the qualification to study these subjects and Wu Xuan did not, it would easily lead to speculation, thereby affecting the choice of sides.

To obtain the opportunity to inherit the throne, these things were compulsory courses.

Helpless, Wu Changqing could only agree.

Chen Yuyan was, after all, the Empress, and her thoughts and opinions needed to be considered to some extent.

Not only did Chen Yuyan come to make a fuss, but Guo Xiang also came crying, wanting her son to join in.

She couldn’t be as assertive as Chen Yuyan, so she could only act pitiful and sell her misery.

According to Wu Changqing’s idea, for some princes whose personalities were not suitable to be rulers, and some who lacked interest in becoming emperor, they could be allowed not to learn those things.

There was only one throne, and there was no need for so many people to master the skills of being an emperor.

Once some people learned the knowledge of being an emperor but did not obtain the throne, they might have other ideas in the future.

It was a very painful thing for a person to learn a skill but have nowhere to use it.

If someone else was to instigate them, there might be a rebellion.

A boy’s personality was actually more likely to be inherited from his mother.

Some people who were naturally weak, gentle, and soft-hearted were obviously not suitable to be emperors.

Like the son born to Guo Xiang, his personality was very quiet. Wu Changqing hoped that he could become a researcher, or an artist, or a writer.

Wu Changqing thought this way, but those consorts could not understand this kindness.

They didn’t care whether their children’s personalities were suitable or not; in any case, they all held onto that inheritance qualification.

Helpless, Wu Changqing simply granted their wishes.

In the future, the vast majority of them would regret it.

In comparison, the arrangements for the princesses were much easier. They could learn whatever they wanted.

Even their biological mothers did not pay much attention to them.

It was said that the emperor was a lonely man, and this was absolutely true.

Although they were father and sons, Wu Changqing’s princes were a little afraid of him.

Moreover, he was not good at showing a kind and benevolent face in front of these children.

In addition, he was usually busy with official duties and spent little time with these children.

Occasionally, when he prepared to spend some time with these princes, they would all put on a well-behaved appearance of studying hard, which was obviously taught by their mothers.

This kind of interaction was not natural at all, very awkward.

His relationship with his children was much worse than that of ordinary families.

It was even more so with women.

The only place where he could still feel a little affection was when he was with his daughters.

These little princesses did not have the pressure of inheriting the throne, so they did not need to restrain themselves too much. They could act spoiled in front of Wu Changqing, and the interaction was more natural.

Only at this time could he slightly feel that he had actually become a father.

At other times, he often forgot that he was already the father of ten people.

And there was even less affection between those princes.

Once, when Wu Changqing checked their homework, Wu Yu actually secretly hid Wu Xuan’s homework, just to leave Wu Xuan with an impression of being unaccomplished in Wu Changqing’s eyes.

Another time, Wu Yu sent Wu Gang a particularly fun toy, probably wanting to make Wu Gang addicted to playing.

Unfortunately, how could this kind of small action be hidden from Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing was also quite helpless about this.

Faced with this situation, Wu Changqing was about to give up on the idea of improving his relationship with these sons. He didn’t have the time and energy.

Any matter on a memorial was more important than the parent-child relationship.

Being in this position, he also had this awareness.

Chapter 995: Cultivating New Breeds

In April, a relatively unnoticed piece of news was published in the newspapers.

The Great Hua’s white-feathered chicken project was successfully cultivated and began to enter the stage of large-scale breeding.

The white-feathered chicken is a breed cultivated by Great Hua through hybridization and breeding techniques, according to the direction pointed out by Wu Changqing.

The characteristics of this breed are its fast growth cycle and low feed consumption.

Ordinary native chickens need at least five to six months to mature. This white-feathered chicken, on the other hand, can grow to two to two and a half kilograms in forty days, four to five times faster.

This improvement is quite remarkable, which means that the difficulty of obtaining meat will be greatly reduced in the future, the price of chicken will be greatly reduced, and even ordinary people will be able to afford chicken.

As for safety and nutrition, there is no need to worry at all.

Although the nutritional value is not as good as that of native chickens, the difference is not very large.

What about the grain grown with fertilizer, what about the artificially cultivated white-feathered chicken? Only those who are full and have nothing to do would pay attention to such issues.

Great Hua does not have such pretentious people at the moment. Having meat to eat can satisfy the vast majority of people, and they are not so picky.

After the successful cultivation of white-feathered chickens, the imperial court immediately established large-scale breeding farms in the suburbs of Jiangning, with a scale of ten million white-feathered chickens per year.

This number is actually very small. In the original timeline, the Flower Garden Family produced four billion two hundred million white-feathered chickens a year in 2017.

If it weren’t for this, where would there be so many cheap chicken drumsticks and chicken wings on the street?

The successful cultivation of white-feathered chickens makes it difficult for ordinary people to feel any significant meaning from it.

After all, this impact is not intuitive enough, unlike the hot air balloon in the sky and the first person to go to the sky, which can bring a great visual impact.

As for white-feathered chickens, in the eyes of ordinary people, isn’t it just one more kind of chicken?

Even if chicken becomes cheaper, it is not a world-shaking change.

But in fact, the role of white-feathered chickens is much greater than that of hot air balloons. This is a great weapon that can allow everyone to eat meat.

Being able to feed everyone in the world is a great achievement pursued by all emperors in the past.

And now, Wu Changqing not only wants everyone in the world to have enough to eat, but also wants everyone in the world to have meat to eat.

When this goal is truly achieved, no amount of praise for the achievement will be an exaggeration.

In order to commend the contributions of the white-feathered chicken cultivation team, Wu Changqing directly awarded Wen Zhaoyan, the main person in charge of the project, the title of Count.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, this world has really changed. When did a chicken farmer get ennobled?”

Among the people, some people do not understand Wu Changqing’s award very well.

That is a Count, an honor that many generals cannot earn even by fighting to the death on the battlefield.

And now, a chicken farmer has obtained it.

“The chickens he raises are not ordinary chickens, but chickens that can grow up in just over a month. If you can cultivate a pig that can be slaughtered in one month, let alone a Count, even a Marquis or Duke will be yours.”

Another person said.

“It’s strange, why can the chickens raised by that Wen Zhaoyan grow so fast?”

…

Cultivating white-feathered chickens is an official project to benefit the people of the world.

After understanding the laws of genetics, some private individuals are also cultivating things in private.

Such as goldfish and pet dogs.

As early as the Song Dynasty, goldfish became an ornamental fish, which was respected by a small number of wealthy people.

However, people at that time did not understand artificial breeding, so there were very few types of goldfish.

Now, the textbooks of Great Hua have explained the laws of genetics.

Some people began to artificially cultivate goldfish according to these laws, and soon cultivated various strange-shaped goldfish.

There are flat heads, goose heads, tiger heads, lion heads, longevity heads…

In terms of color, there are also several kinds.

These cultivated goldfish, because of their unique shapes, have been sought after by the upper class as soon as they were launched.

Most officials and nobles have a fish tank or even a fish pond with goldfish in their homes.

Whether these goldfish look good or not is actually debatable.

However, when most people think that raising some goldfish is a manifestation of status and sentiment, this goldfish has become synonymous with good-looking.

Coupled with the secret promotion of interest groups that cultivate goldfish, goldfish have gradually been accepted and people think that this thing is really good-looking, which is similar to diamond marketers.

The same is true for pet dogs.

Before this, Great Hua basically only had native dogs as a breed.

However, with the increasing frequency of exchanges with foreign countries, some other breeds of dogs from foreign countries have also entered Great Hua and hybridized with local native dogs.

In this hybridization process, some will show various strange shapes due to genetic defects.

For example, the body is very long, like a sausage. Another example is that there are many wrinkles on the face and the hair is particularly fluffy, etc.

This is a morbid state, and the health of these dogs is much worse than that of normal native dogs. However, because of their uniqueness, they are easily sought after by some Great Hua people.

After mastering the laws of genetics, some dog breeders began to deliberately cultivate this morbid dog.

Under deliberate screening, these morbid characteristics became more and more obvious.

The dogs that were only a little long in the body were actually cultivated into monsters.

The ones that originally had only a few wrinkles on their faces were cultivated into faces full of wrinkles.

The more obvious these morbid characteristics are, the higher the price the pet dog can sell for.

After the news of Wen Zhaoyan’s knighthood spread, a person who had cultivated a large number of pet dog breeds also came to the government to apply for some rewards.

In his opinion, what he did was similar to what Wen Zhaoyan did.

Even, in some ways, his achievements should be higher, because dogs are more expensive than chickens.

However, his unreasonable request was ultimately rejected by the government.

Cui Jin was naturally unconvinced and acted shamelessly in the government, saying that the government was biased and operated in the dark. Finally, the police department arrested him and put him in jail for the crime of causing trouble.

Even after entering the prison, Cui Jin did not understand what he did wrong.

They are also cultivating new varieties, so why is the treatment so different?

After the news of Wen Zhaoyan’s knighthood was published in the newspaper, a small wave of cultivating new varieties was set off in Great Hua.

In the eyes of many people, cultivating new varieties is much simpler than engaging in inventions and creations.

However, only after they have tried it will they know that cultivating new varieties is not difficult, but cultivating a new variety that can benefit mankind is as difficult as climbing to the sky.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people who try it end in failure.

However, there are also some lucky ones who, by chance, have gained something in this regard.

Chapter 996: Aircraft Carrier Sea Trials

In mid-April, Wu Changqing and the top brass of the navy gathered in the East China Sea. Today was the sea trial of Great Hua’s first aircraft carrier, the Flying Sword.

The name Flying Sword implies striking anywhere within a thousand li, hitting precisely where aimed.

Great Hua emphasizes profound meaning and artistic conception when naming things, unlike foreign warships that are named after places, animals, or even people, which is rather crude.

The dignitaries were all on the Yanhuang battleship nearby, not daring to inspect the Flying Sword up close.

If a plane crashed into the command center during takeoff or landing, it would be an earthquake of magnitude twelve for Great Hua.

The Yanhuang battleship is currently Great Hua’s largest and only battleship exceeding ten thousand tons.

The Yanhuang uses a hybrid diesel-steam engine, with an average speed of eighteen knots per hour and a maximum speed of thirty knots per hour.

It boasts three three-hundred-and-five-millimeter main guns, each firing shells weighing seven hundred kilograms.

With a range exceeding twenty-five kilometers, a high-explosive shell could devastate an area the size of a football field.

The resulting crater alone could be over ten meters in diameter.

City walls and castles would be as soft as tissue paper before these three main guns.

Wooden warships would fare no better.

Even the ironclad warships currently in service with Great Britain would be vulnerable.

Of course, this doesn’t mean British ironclads are useless; they could at least withstand some punishment from the secondary guns.

The Yanhuang battleship represents the pinnacle of Great Hua’s current manufacturing capabilities.

As the navy jokingly says, one Yanhuang would be enough to conquer Europe. No need for shells; just ram the enemy ships, and nothing could stop it.

As for the enemy’s guns, whether they could even penetrate the Yanhuang’s armor is another question.

Although it’s boasting, it at least shows that the Yanhuang is currently invincible at sea.

The Yanhuang will also be the main battleship for the upcoming expedition to Europe.

As for the so-called aircraft carrier in the distance, the navy doesn’t quite trust it yet.

Wu Changqing and the naval bigwigs were all holding binoculars, watching the distant aircraft carrier.

The Flying Sword aircraft carrier has roughly the same tonnage as the Yanhuang, but it is much larger in volume.

It is two hundred meters long and about fifty meters wide, capable of carrying up to forty carrier-based aircraft. Currently, it is equipped with twenty.

Since it’s mainly for show, and not expected to play a significant role, there’s no need to load it up.

Another reason is that excellent pilots are hard to train.

Ordinary pilots might be fine flying on land.

However, mastering takeoff and landing on an aircraft carrier increases the technical difficulty several times over.

In previous simulations, two pilots had already died as a result, and as many as seven or eight aircraft had been wrecked.

These are the inevitable costs of exploration, and the military high command didn’t even bat an eye at these casualties and losses.

“It’s taking off.”

With preparations complete, the carrier-based aircraft on the Flying Sword began to take off against the wind.

On an aircraft carrier, both takeoff and landing require heading into the wind for greater safety.

The roar of the aircraft sounded as it accelerated, wobbling slightly.

Traveling on the sea, the waves cause the aircraft carrier to roll, greatly affecting the takeoff.

However, these can be overcome with skill. Soon, cheers erupted from the aircraft carrier.

Ace pilot Xu Jin was the first to successfully take to the skies.

Although the runway is only two hundred meters long, it is sufficient for the current aircraft.

The difficulty of takeoff is directly proportional to its mass.

Later generations’ aircraft weigh ten or even dozens of tons, and some transport aircraft even reach hundreds of tons. Therefore, takeoff is very difficult, and aircraft carriers require so many catapults.

Otherwise, such a short runway would not allow the aircraft to reach takeoff speed.

The current Great Hua fighter jets are still quite rudimentary, with only two engines, a machine gun, a few bombs, and an empty shell.

The carrier-based aircraft are slightly heavier, with some added radio equipment.

But that’s about it.

“It’s up!”

Wu Yi excitedly clapped his hands.

“We still need to see the landing; landing is even more difficult.”

Liu Wanghai said.

Not only is it more difficult, but it is also more dangerous.

A failed takeoff at most means the plane falls into the sea, losing an aircraft and a pilot.

If a landing fails and it crashes into the command center, causing a fire or other disaster, that would be fatal.

Xu Jin flew a circle in the sky, and after the aircraft carrier was ready, he began to communicate via radio and then proceeded to land.

At the moment of touchdown on the deck, no one thought Xu Jin could stop in time.

However, immediately afterward, a tailhook caught the arresting cable, greatly reducing the aircraft’s speed, and finally it stopped on the deck.

The scene was breathtaking.

“Success!”

The crew on the aircraft carrier erupted in cheers again, this time even more enthusiastic than before.

On the Yanhuang, the dignitaries were all smiling.

The first flight and landing were successful, which is very good news, meaning that the aircraft carrier is indeed feasible.

“In the future, the sea will probably belong to aircraft carriers.”

Liu Wanghai said.

In his opinion, the current navy’s air defense capabilities are too weak, almost non-existent. Moreover, air defense is extremely difficult, and even if some air defense weapons are deployed in the future, it will be difficult to defend against threats from the air.

Therefore, battleships facing aircraft carriers will probably die miserably.

“Not necessarily. Aircraft carriers still have many limitations, and battleships are still the mainstream.”

Another naval bigwig disagreed with Liu Wanghai’s view. Although he also knew that the current navy’s air defense capabilities were weak.

However, the current air force’s strike capabilities are also quite ordinary.

Besides dropping bombs, there are no other means to threaten battleships.

And dropping bombs on battleships is not so easy.

“No, no, no, aircraft carriers still have a lot of room for improvement, and so do aircraft. As for battleships, they have basically reached the end of their development, with not much room for improvement.”

Liu Wanghai said.

The two men’s debate represents the future direction of naval development.

For other countries, this might be a matter of destiny.

But for Great Hua, it doesn’t really matter.

Whether developing battleships or aircraft carriers, their strength will always be able to crush their opponents.

Chapter 997: Preparations Complete

A single takeoff and landing doesn’t mean the sea trials were a success.

Because of the tight schedule, they had many goals to achieve during this sea trial.

They needed to complete not only a single takeoff and landing but also continuous takeoffs, aerial formations, and landings.

This was much more difficult, and not everyone had Xu Jin’s skills.

During the second landing, one pilot didn’t handle it well, causing the plane to stagger and nearly crash into the crew on the aircraft carrier. Fortunately, it was a close call.

Another pilot, for some unknown reason, failed to hook the cable during landing. Attempting to take off again, the plane lacked sufficient power and crashed into the sea, resulting in a heroic sacrifice.

This accident cast a shadow over the previously cheering crowd.

Although this was a likely occurrence during training, it was still frustrating for it to happen in front of Wu Changqing.

“Practice more, and don’t rush too much. If it really doesn’t work out, we won’t bring them on the aircraft carrier,” Wu Changqing said.

He knew that a major reason for this accident was the excessive haste.

If they took their time to explore and test-fly, the probability of accidents would be greatly reduced.

To be able to personally accompany Wu Changqing on the expedition, the various exercises on the aircraft carrier were being carried out at a frantic pace, inevitably leading to some oversights.

Wu Changqing had spoken, but the navy, especially the captain of the aircraft carrier, didn’t take his words to heart.

Not letting them go on the expedition was unacceptable.

To accompany Wu Changqing on a personal campaign was a great honor, and they had to overcome any difficulties, no matter how great.

Moreover, what did it matter if one or two people died in training?

The aircraft carrier’s captain, Xu Wenbing, was also a veteran who had experienced the previous era of war and chaos. He had been through battles with tens of thousands of casualties several times.

Now, to retreat and give up because a few people died in training? He wasn’t so sentimental, and the soldiers on the aircraft carrier wouldn’t agree.

After watching the aircraft carrier sea trials, Wu Changqing also visited the Divine Emperor, which was being refitted. Its original form was a large transport ship.

The Divine Emperor was a very special ship. If you called it a warship, it didn’t have large-caliber main guns or secondary guns.

If you called it a passenger ship, it had a large number of anti-aircraft guns for close-range defense, and the armor on the ship was very thick, capable of withstanding the bombardment of the Huaxia’s secondary guns.

This was a specially prepared vehicle for Wu Changqing’s personal expedition.

It was naturally unsuitable for Wu Changqing to ride a battleship on a personal campaign.

On a battleship, space was utilized to the extreme, pursuing efficiency above all else, with no regard for comfort.

The navy wouldn’t dare to let the emperor live on such a ship for several months.

However, it was also inappropriate for the emperor to travel on a luxury liner. Luxury liners were only luxurious on the surface, and their various performances couldn’t compare to warships.

They couldn’t have the warship fleet accommodate the speed of a passenger ship.

Moreover, the protection and safety of passenger ships were unreliable.

Considering all these factors, the navy used a transport ship for the refit.

The transport ship already had very thick armor and a large internal space, so it could be transformed into a very comfortable warship with just a few modifications.

Wu Changqing briefly looked at the Divine Emperor, which was being refitted.

It had several oversized rooms, a swimming pool, a restaurant, and more.

Although Wu Changqing didn’t say anything, those below didn’t think it was acceptable to let the emperor drift at sea alone for several months. That would be too boring.

The ship was designed with the consideration that Wu Changqing would bring women on board.

After inspecting Shanghai, Wu Changqing returned to Nanjing.

The preparations for the war continued.

The pilots on the aircraft carrier were constantly practicing takeoffs and landings to ensure that they were foolproof when they set out on the expedition.

The mixed fleet was also practicing various formation maneuvers.

On the logistics side, supplies were also being prepared.

These were just the preparations on the home front. Overseas, there was even more preparation work.

For example, the military bases in Haiphong, Colombo, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Gold Coast were all stocking anthracite coal and fuel to facilitate the fleet’s supply.

Without the supplies from these military bases, an expedition to Europe would be a pipe dream.

Now, Great Hua’s warships no longer had sails at all. Their power came either from coal or fuel oil. Without these, Great Hua’s warships couldn’t move.

Great Hua was tens of thousands of li away from Europe, and traveling by sea would require traveling sixty to seventy thousand li.

It was unrealistic to carry enough fuel at the start, as that would require a massive number of transport and supply ships.

Great Hua’s weapons and equipment were becoming more and more advanced, but their dependence on logistics was also increasing.

Without logistical support, their army would be unable to move an inch.

This was the main reason why the European Union dared to challenge Great Hua. They all believed that Great Hua couldn’t do anything to them in Europe at this distance.

But they all overlooked one point: Great Hua’s overseas military bases had long been preparing for the expedition.

After all, Great Hua had formulated a plan to recover the entire world many years ago and had already begun to lay out its plans.

In August, all preparations were nearing completion.

At this time, the Great Hua government also began to announce some of the battle situations in South America and expose some of the European Union’s evil deeds, such as hindering Great Hua’s recovery of South America, wantonly slaughtering South American natives, and engaging in inhumane black slave trade.

This was to guide public opinion and prepare for the expedition to Europe.

This was actually a bit redundant. In the eyes of the people of Great Hua, did they need a reason to attack Europe?

Under all heaven, there is no land that is not the Emperor’s.

Those barbarians occupied Great Hua’s territory, and it was only reasonable for Great Hua to take it back.

Now, hearing that Europeans had formed an alliance to obstruct Great Hua’s recovery of its homeland in South America, the people of Great Hua were immediately enraged again, shouting to flatten Europe and capture Louis XIV and King Charles alive.

The European ambassadors stationed in Great Hua were scared out of their wits when they saw this situation.

Having been in Great Hua for many years, they knew Great Hua’s habits well. Once public opinion was guided to hate a certain place, then Great Hua would inevitably use force against those places.

This was the case with Annam and India.

Therefore, they all concluded that Great Hua was going to use force against Europe.

Combined with some of the intelligence they had obtained before, such as Great Hua’s military preparations, they were even more certain of this situation.

“It’s over, it’s really over,” William wailed. He didn’t think that the few broken ships in the European Union were a match for Great Hua. As long as the Huaxia army successfully arrived in Europe, it would be a catastrophe for Europe.

Faced with this situation, the ambassadors of various countries constantly petitioned to see the Emperor of Great Hua. On the other hand, they were also frantically sending telegrams to their home countries, reminding them and suggesting that they apologize and compromise with Great Hua, and absolutely not start a war.

Chapter 998: The European Union’s Plan

“Gentlemen, this is the intelligence our ambassador in Nanjing has sent back. Great Hua has assembled an expeditionary force to attack our homeland. Faced with this situation, what are your suggestions?”

Charles II said with concern.

Although he knew this day would come sooner or later, he felt it had come too soon. Great Britain was not adequately prepared.

Hearing Charles II’s words, the other ministers felt a sudden sinking in their hearts.

This news was simply too terrible.

“The Great Huans are really going to attack our European homeland? It’s so far away, are they sure they can even get here?”

One minister asked doubtfully.

Great Hua wasn’t sending just one or a few ships, but a massive fleet. The difficulty of that was extraordinary.

After all, the Great Hua’s fleet couldn’t just arrive in Europe; it had to sustain combat operations there.

“Jackson, stop being so naive. If they couldn’t get here, how did Ceuta fall into their hands? They had the capability years ago, let alone now,”

Carmelo said.

“Perhaps we should strike first and recapture Ceuta. That way, the enemy will have no foothold and no supply base when they arrive in Europe.”

Jackson was a ruthless character. Once the gloves came off, he was ready to go all out.

“Destroying just Ceuta isn’t enough. If we could destroy Great Hua’s military bases on the Gold Coast and at the Cape of Good Hope, that would cause them enough trouble,”

Carmelo analyzed.

“This isn’t just a matter for Great Britain alone. We should urgently convene a European Union summit to discuss countermeasures together,”

Another minister said.

After receiving the news, other countries reacted similarly to Great Britain, falling into a state of panic.

Then, they all placed their hopes on the European Union.

The European Union summit was urgently convened. This time, the situation was even more serious than Great Hua’s attack on South America.

South America, after all, wasn’t a particularly serious loss for them.

But an attack on their homeland was a matter of utmost importance.

Numerous bigwigs, weary from travel, gathered in Paris.

“Gentlemen, is the intelligence accurate?”

Alex asked.

“The Spanish ambassador, the French ambassador, the British ambassador, and intelligence agents from various countries have all sent the same telegrams. Do you think the news could be wrong?”

Pardo also hoped it was inaccurate intelligence, a false alarm.

But as a key decision-maker, he wouldn’t be so naive.

“What can we do? Our navy probably isn’t a match for Great Hua’s,”

Alex worried.

Although Alex didn’t know exactly how many warships Great Hua had, the warships Great Hua had publicly revealed already far surpassed their strength.

Not to mention anything else, they didn’t know how to deal with Great Hua’s Yanhuang class battleship alone.

A ten-thousand-ton pure ironclad ship. Even if it sailed right in front of them and they bombarded it with cannons, they wouldn’t be able to sink it, only cause some damage at best.

“Don’t worry, it won’t be easy for the Great Huans to come here smoothly from such a long distance,”

Karlovsky seemed very calm, but in reality, he just didn’t want Tsarist Russia to be dragged into it.

After all, Great Hua was attacking from the sea this time, not by land, so it had little to do with Tsarist Russia.

Great Hua would have to pacify all of Western and Central Europe before it was their turn.

So, compared to the unusually nervous representatives of other countries, Karlovsky was relatively calm.

“Bullshit, do you mean to say that the entire European Union should entrust its fate to wishful thinking?”

Seeing Karlovsky’s attitude, Fernando, the representative of the Holy Roman Empire, cursed.

“Perhaps, we should negotiate with the Great Huans. There’s no need for the Great Huans to start a war,”

Laffarin, the French representative, said weakly. He didn’t want Paris to be shelled. Otherwise, the angry people of Paris might do something crazy.

The entire venue was in an uproar, unable to determine even a unified direction.

This made William feel exhausted.

“Gentlemen, Great Hua is very powerful, and their determination to go to war is firm. We can no longer harbor any illusions. However, we are not without a chance of winning. God is on our side this time.

The great distance will inevitably make the Great Huans’ supply very difficult. We only need to destroy the Great Huans’ supply stations in Ceuta, the Gold Coast, and the Cape of Good Hope, and the Great Huans will be in a dilemma.

As long as we hold out until their fuel runs out and their food runs out, they will only be able to wait for death. At that time, we can easily capture their warships, even including the Yanhuang.”

William stood up and pointed out a clear path for the bewildered crowd.

It was a difficult path, but at least it sounded like there was a chance of success.

Compared to the representatives of other countries who only said useless nonsense, William’s words were much more useful.

So, everyone quieted down and continued to listen to William’s plan.

William’s plan had two parts, both exploiting Great Hua’s supply difficulties, focusing on destroying Great Hua’s three supply bases.

The first plan was to send a powerful army to directly destroy Great Hua’s three strongholds, forcing Great Hua’s fleet to retreat in the face of difficulties.

This was a relatively passive approach. Even if Great Hua temporarily retreated, they could recapture and repair these strongholds.

The second plan was more active, with greater risks and greater rewards.

It also involved destroying Great Hua’s three strongholds, but the difference was that they would wait until Great Hua’s fleet arrived in Europe before launching the attack on those three strongholds.

In this way, Great Hua’s fleet would have no way to retreat to Great Hua.

And as long as they could withstand Great Hua’s first wave of attacks, and wait until Great Hua’s fleet ran out of ammunition, fuel, food, and fresh water, they could swarm up and take stock of the spoils.

The value of Great Hua’s entire expeditionary fleet was immeasurable for them.

Of course, this plan was very difficult and very risky.

If the expeditionary force they sent out failed to capture Great Hua’s three strongholds, or if they couldn’t even withstand Great Hua’s first wave of attacks, then everything would be over.

Enticed by the spoils of an entire fleet, the countries of the European Union were inclined towards the second plan.

Persuading Great Hua to retreat was naturally not as tempting as defeating Great Hua.

Moreover, in the eyes of the representatives of various countries, the success rate of William’s second plan was not low.

Although Great Hua was powerful, the garrison of a stronghold was limited. Concentrating ten times the troops there was sure to capture it.

And Europe was so large that it was impossible not to be able to defend against Great Hua’s fleet’s first wave of attacks.

At worst, they would temporarily abandon London and Paris.

As long as they defeated Great Hua, these places would still be theirs.

Chapter 999: Setting Off on the Expedition

The European Union had decided to fight. It wasn’t that they were particularly brave, but rather that they were rational enough to know that begging for mercy would be useless unless they were willing to give up some of their interests.

Asking them to kneel and negotiate was one thing, but asking them to give up their interests was another.

For the sake of their interests, they were willing to fight Great Hua to the death.

Of course, the most important reason was that they had never fought Great Hua before.

Even knowing that Great Hua was powerful, they didn’t necessarily believe they were doomed to lose.

France, the only country that had fought a major war with Great Hua, leaned towards seeking peace. However, with other countries leaning towards war, they could only agree.

They simply had a few more worries in their hearts, along with preparations for defeat.

Subsequently, various countries within the European Union began to transfer elite troops to France for assembly, preparing for intensive training before secretly sending them to Liberia and South Africa.

Seven member states gathered a total of three hundred thousand troops, most of whom were equipped with breech-loading rifles, making them a force to be reckoned with.

While preparing for war, European countries also worked hard on diplomacy.

Each country instructed its ambassador to Great Hua to continue negotiations, attempting to reconcile with Great Hua.

The weakness of capitalism meant they really didn’t want to go to war with Great Hua unless absolutely necessary.

If a small price could make Great Hua abandon their plans to attack them, they would compromise without hesitation, then send the assembled troops back home to their families.

This diplomatic effort would be best if it succeeded, but if not, it didn’t matter. At least it could superficially mislead Great Hua, giving them the illusion that the European Union didn’t dare to go to war.

Compared to Europe’s various petty tricks, Great Hua was much more straightforward.

They directly offered the European Union conditions that they could never accept, such as ceding the entire Americas and paying an indemnity of one hundred million Hua yuan.

These conditions were equivalent to telling the European Union that they were determined to fight this war.

In August, the Great Hua Expeditionary Force set sail from Shanghai.

A grand send-off ceremony was held at the port.

Officials and common people gathered at the docks to see them off.

After all, Emperor Wu Changqing was personally leading the expedition.

Aside from the early founding period, this was only the second time Wu Changqing had personally led an expedition.

Therefore, the event was quite grand.

“Those useless officials in the court actually didn’t stop His Majesty from personally leading the expedition, and even allowed His Majesty to take such a great risk! What good are they to the court?”

An intellectual angrily said, directly pointing the finger at the ministers in the court.

Although those ministers had tried hard to dissuade him, outsiders didn’t care about that; they only looked at the results.

If the ministers failed to dissuade him, then they were incompetent and holding their positions for nothing.

“Brother Guo, calm down. His Majesty is, after all, an emperor who rose to power on horseback. Personally leading an expedition is nothing. Moreover, our army has an absolute advantage. I heard that the European warships are still made of wood. What is there to worry about?”

Another intellectual laughed.

Currently, the people of Great Hua held a very optimistic attitude towards this battle.

Or rather, the people of Great Hua had always been optimistic about Great Hua’s foreign wars. They had never lost anyway.

“Damn it, if I were just two years older and could join the navy to accompany His Majesty on the expedition to Europe, I would have no regrets in this life!”

Another young man said dejectedly, regretting that he was born two years too late to meet the age requirement for joining the army.

Great Hua now had very strict requirements for conscription. Those under eighteen and not strong enough were not accepted.

For technical positions, one also had to be literate and have a certain ability to understand and learn. Stupid people were also not accepted.

The benefits of being a soldier were much better than those of ordinary workers, and there were relatively more opportunities for promotion.

For poor families, joining the army had always been the best way to turn their lives around.

Moreover, the mortality rate for soldiers was now low, making even more people want to join the army.

“This battle will be victorious!”

Looking at the countless ships on the sea, many people of Great Hua felt very proud and confident.

With such a powerful army, there was no reason to fail.

With the appearance of Wu Changqing, cheers erupted on the docks.

Shouts of “Long live the Emperor!” and “Victory!” were deafening.

Some people who saw Wu Changqing in person for the first time were so excited that they shed tears.

Wu Changqing’s prestige among the people was extremely high.

It was Wu Changqing who ended the war in the Central Plains and created the prosperous age of Great Hua. He was simply perfect.

The people were more worried about Wu Changqing personally leading the expedition. But along with their worries, they admired him even more, feeling that Wu Changqing was a wise and sagely ruler.

How could a cowardly and fearful emperor dare to personally lead an expedition?

Wu Changqing waved to the people and then gave a speech, roughly equivalent to a declaration of war from the past.

It mainly denounced the crimes of the European Union and introduced the justice and necessity of Great Hua’s expedition.

This was an article written by Wu Changqing’s personal secretary, Wei Ziwen. It was easy to understand yet dignified, and its appeal was very strong.

In any case, the people’s reaction was very strong after listening to it.

Amidst the cheers, the Divine Emperor set sail. The other ships had been waiting outside the port for the Divine Emperor to join the formation.

The massive fleet filled the sea.

This time, Great Hua dispatched a total of two hundred and ten ships, including one thirteen-thousand-ton aircraft carrier, one ten-thousand-ton battleship, three five-thousand-ton battleships, and fifteen two-thousand-ton battleships.

There were also twenty two-thousand-ton armored cruisers, twenty one-thousand-ton frigates, three five-hundred-ton submarines, and more than forty small auxiliary ships.

The remaining one hundred ships were transport and supply ships.

There were far more supply ships than main warships, but this was perfectly normal.

Moreover, Great Hua’s supply ships could hold their own against the European Union’s navy.

These supply ships were all armored with pure iron, providing strong protection. They were all powered by steam and were very fast. Most of the transport ships were equipped with two to three Gatling guns.

At close range, the firepower of these Gatling guns was considerable.

They were originally used to defend against pirates.

But if the European Union’s navy thought these transport ships were easy to bully and wanted to provoke them, then their fate would be similar to that of the Indian navy.

They would come full of hope and leave heartbroken.

If the transport ships were already this powerful, then the main warships were even more so.

Any battleship or cruiser was a mini-boss for the European Union’s navy, requiring a huge price to potentially sink.

The five-thousand-ton or larger battleships, aircraft carriers, and submarines were all big bosses.

In games, mini-bosses and big bosses were all experience and equipment, because players had countless lives to test the boss’s abilities and grind them down.

But in reality, one only had one life.

Therefore, when facing such big bosses, normal people’s legs would go weak, and they couldn’t be as calm as they were in games.

As the Divine Emperor entered the middle of the formation, more than two hundred ships sailed south in a mighty and imposing manner.

Chapter 1000: On the Road

“Your Majesty, how was my dance?”

On the God Emperor, a pair of twin sisters who looked almost identical were attending to Wu Changqing.

These were companions specially arranged for him by his subordinates to help pass the time at sea.

Being at sea was truly boring; there weren’t even memorials to review.

Although Great Hua now had wireless technology, radio transmission required signal base stations.

Fleets at sea could only receive telegrams in certain locations. Most of the time, they were isolated from the mainland.

Before satellites, life at sea was like this.

The biggest difficulty sailors faced at sea wasn’t the dangers, but the boredom.

As the emperor, Wu Changqing could only rely on women to pass the time; there weren’t many other forms of entertainment.

Playing cards, like Tractor or Upgrade, with others wasn’t an option, as no one would dare to win against him.

“Not bad, not bad.”

“Did elder sister dance better, or did I?”

Xia Yu asked.

“Of course, younger sister danced better.”

In front of the younger sister, Wu Changqing naturally said the younger sister danced better.

“Hmph, Your Majesty, you’re so annoying. I’ve been serving you so attentively, yet you still can’t tell me and my sister apart.”

Xia Yu said coquettishly.

Good heavens, so this was the elder sister.

Wu Changqing immediately realized his mistake and laughed, “How could that be? Xue’er is the most beautiful.”

“Your Majesty, you’ve been tricked by her. I’m Xue’er; she’s my younger sister, Xia Yu.”

Xia Xue came out of the room, giggling.

For a moment, Wu Changqing couldn’t tell which one was teasing him.

“Bold, daring to deceive your emperor! It seems I must punish you two properly.”

As Wu Changqing spoke, he pinned them both down.

Wu Changqing hadn’t brought any of his consorts along, as it wouldn’t have been appropriate, considering he was going on a military expedition.

The two commoner women arranged for him by his subordinates were much less conspicuous; no one knew about them. Even the soldiers on the other ships in the fleet knew nothing about the women on the God Emperor.

The eunuch had carefully selected this pair of twin flowers for him.

Not only were they young and beautiful, but they were also playful, adorable, and didn’t even get seasick.

If they had been constantly seasick and vomiting, it would have been very disappointing.

It could be said that the eunuch in charge of arranging this had considered every aspect.

Departing from Shanghai, they stopped once in Hong Kong.

Wu Changqing stayed in Hong Kong for a day.

Important memorials were sent to Hong Kong in the form of telegrams.

Wu Changqing reviewed a few of the more urgent matters, taking the rest of the memorials with him on the ship to review slowly.

When they arrived at Saigon, the fleet stopped again. The memorials were reviewed and replies could be telegraphed back to Nanjing. At the same time, a new batch of memorials was received.

In this way, Wu Changqing continued to control the country.

As long as the telegraph station wasn’t controlled by someone else, he could keep abreast of the country’s situation.

Even if the telegraph station were controlled by someone else, the people from the Intelligence Bureau and the Investigation Bureau could still send him messages.

If the Intelligence Bureau and the Investigation Bureau were also controlled, then it would truly be over.

But clearly, Great Hua didn’t currently have such capable ministers.

Otherwise, Wu Changqing wouldn’t have dared to leave Nanjing for so long.

Setting sail from Saigon, they arrived at the river mouth, which would later become Singapore.

The current river mouth was developing moderately well.

As a necessary stop on the east-west sea route, its location was advantageous.

However, the current river mouth only had one pillar industry: port services. It was relatively singular, lacking industry, tourism, and other high-tech industries.

Overall, it was much worse than in later years.

In the current Great Hua, it was just an unremarkable small port.

Passing through the Strait of Malacca, the fleet arrived in Colombo.

They stopped here for two days, then the fleet headed straight for the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

At the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, Wu Changqing stopped for another two days.

The current Cape of Good Hope was developing quite well, with a large population and many immigrants.

Most of them were people attracted by the gold mines.

After news of large gold deposits in South Africa spread, adventurers flocked there.

Some of these people made fortunes, while others went bankrupt.

South Africa did indeed have gold mines, but that didn’t mean everyone could find them.

It required some luck, as well as diligence and hard work. Those who thought they could come and pick up gold nuggets on the mountain were clearly dreaming.

With a larger population, spending power naturally increased.

In addition, both the gold miners and the sailors were high-income, high-spending groups.

Therefore, the service and entertainment industries were very developed in South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.

Compared to other parts of Africa, South Africa was like another world.

Some African natives would occasionally glance at the Cape of Good Hope and be reluctant to leave.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t survive in the Cape of Good Hope.

Seeing the development of South Africa, Wu Changqing was very satisfied.

This was the forward position for conquering Africa, somewhat like Southern Kyushu of Japan in the past, a place to broaden the horizons of the local natives.

When those natives understood Great Hua and began to envy that life, it would be much easier for Great Hua to take Africa.

There were many schools in South Africa that freely taught Chinese language and characters to the natives, conducting cultural and value infiltration.

The tribal chiefs often sent their sons, daughters, and clansmen to learn Chinese language and characters in order to facilitate trade and communication with Great Hua.

This infiltration had already achieved some results.

In South Africa, Great Hua hadn’t launched much military conquest, but its territory already amounted to more than one hundred thousand square kilometers.

Some tribes that yearned for Great Hua voluntarily submitted to Great Hua, becoming part of Great Hua.

“The cultural infiltration still needs to be intensified, and it shouldn’t be limited to South Africa. This is the key to our taking Africa in the future.”

Before leaving, Wu Changqing instructed Luo Yuan, the governor-general of Great Hua stationed in South Africa.

Conquering Africa was easy for Great Hua, but the difficulty lay in how to effectively govern it.

And the prerequisite for governance was smooth communication.

First, these natives had to understand what was being said, which was the foundation for communication.

Therefore, spreading Chinese language and characters was very important.

While spreading Chinese language and characters, Great Hua’s culture and values could also be spread, transforming these natives.

With consistent values and cultural identity, communication would be easier.

The current natives hadn’t experienced the baptism of civilization and were still blank slates, making them easy to transform.

Although it was hard to change one’s nature, even a little change would be good. At least they could become Great Hua’s help in the future, rather than Great Hua’s burden.

And that would be enough. Great Hua didn’t expect to extract much profit from Africa; nominally incorporating it into Great Hua’s rule would basically be enough.

Chapter 1001: Approaching Arrival

After passing the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet headed north towards Côte d’Ivoire, commonly known as the Ivory Coast or Gold Coast, a notorious hub for the slave trade.

European ships brought manufactured goods and weapons, exchanging them with local tribes for slaves. These slaves were then sold to plantation owners in the Americas in exchange for agricultural products and gold, which were then shipped back to Europe for sale.

This was the infamous triangular trade.

Huge profits could be made with minimal investment.

Even now, the slave trade in Côte d’Ivoire was still thriving, but Great Hua did not participate, as Great Hua had no interest in laborers who were uneducated and difficult to communicate with.

Besides, Great Hua was not short of labor.

In comparison, Indian laborers were far more useful than these black people.

Upon reaching the waters off Côte d’Ivoire, the Great Hua fleet encountered a merchant ship from Europe.

“God, what is that?”

As a captain, ships were what Jack knew best.

However, after seeing the Great Hua fleet, Jack was momentarily unsure if those were actually ships.

There were simply too many, too big, and too fast.

“Damn it, turn around quickly, avoid them!”

Seeing the captain stunned, the first mate shouted urgently.

He didn’t want to get caught in the middle of the Great Hua fleet and be smashed to pieces.

Coming to their senses, the sailors quickly adjusted the angle of the sails and manually rowed to change course and avoid the Great Hua fleet.

As the Great Hua fleet passed by, Jack once again felt his own insignificance.

The Great Hua aircraft carrier and the Yanhuang battleship made him feel suffocated.

Especially the dark muzzles of the main guns on the Yanhuang.

Looking at those main guns felt like having a knife to his throat.

His life was entirely at the mercy of the other side.

The Huaxia army wasn’t bored enough to fire at a merchant ship. They stopped outside the port, entering in turn to replenish fuel, food, and fresh water.

The Great Hua port in Côte d’Ivoire was not large enough to accommodate too many ships at once, so they could only enter in shifts to resupply.

The fleet parked outside the port quickly attracted the attention of Europeans in Côte d’Ivoire.

They boarded their ships and sailed towards where the Great Hua fleet was anchored, watching from a distance.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, what kind of ship is that? It’s too big.”

One captain looked through his telescope, constantly marveling.

He saw the Flying Sword aircraft carrier and the Yanhuang battleship, and these two ships shocked him greatly.

“The one with many cannons should be a Great Hua battleship, and I don’t know about the other one. But judging by its size, it’s definitely not something simple.”

Another merchant said.

Battleship was the Great Hua term, mainly referring to warships with many cannons that provided the main firepower in naval battles.

This was information he had obtained from newspapers. As for aircraft carriers, even people in Great Hua didn’t know much about them, let alone these Europeans.

“They’re all ironclad ships. God knows how much money it costs to build these ironclad ships. The Great Hua people are too rich.”

“This isn’t just about having money. Even if our king was willing to spend the money, do you think they could build such large ships?”

“It looks like those two big ships are at least ten thousand tons. Unbelievable.”

…

These were the exclamations of curious onlookers.

But for some people who were more sensitive to current affairs, they didn’t have the leisure for such idle chatter.

“These are Great Hua warships. It’s terrifying, terrifying.”

One merchant muttered to himself.

The appearance of Great Hua warships here was clearly not for tourism.

Coupled with the fact that European newspapers had been reporting on the conflict between Great Hua and the European Union in the Americas, Europeans knew that the European Union and Great Hua had clashed.

Therefore, the intention of the Great Hua warships appearing here became very easy to guess.

“It’s over. Are they going to attack Europe? What should we do?”

“Quick, quickly send someone back to report the news.”

“Report the news? Is it still in time? Or rather, is reporting the news useful?”

…

The Great Hua people did not drive them away, allowing them to observe, because they didn’t care about leaks, and didn’t care if they reported the news.

Even if they successfully reported the news, so what? Could they work overtime and build a large number of warships that could compete with them overnight?

After resting for two days in Côte d’Ivoire and completing their resupply, the Great Hua fleet headed straight for Gibraltar.

At this time, the European Union army had been besieging Ceuta for several days.

The European Union had known that the Great Hua fleet had set sail for some time, so they knew this day would come sooner or later.

Although the European Union countries were very afraid, there was no use in being afraid now. They could only face it head-on.

Therefore, they estimated when the Huaxia army would arrive and launched an attack on Ceuta, hoping to prevent the Great Hua fleet from having a foothold.

However, things did not develop as they wished.

In the European Union’s plan, they would launch a surprise attack and take Ceuta within three days.

Then, they would build fortifications in Ceuta, or burn down Ceuta, in short, they could not leave it for Great Hua to use as a supply station and foothold.

However, the moment the Great Hua fleet set off, Ceuta received a telegram from Nanjing.

The telegram instructed them to prepare their defenses as soon as possible and to hold Ceuta at all costs.

Although the Great Hua fleet was invincible at sea, it could not float at sea forever. A port was still very important.

While giving instructions, Great Hua was also secretly reinforcing Ceuta.

Five thousand army troops from Pakistan had already been transported by ship to Suez, and then boarded ships at Port Said and quietly arrived in Ceuta.

When the European Union launched an attack on Ceuta, Great Hua’s garrison in Ceuta had reached seven thousand people.

With seven thousand people, relying on fortifications, it was not difficult to defend the small Ceuta.

The European Union initially underestimated the enemy and only gathered fifty thousand people.

In their opinion, fifty thousand against two thousand was more than enough.

However, they never expected that Ceuta already had more than seven thousand Huaxia army troops.

Fifty thousand people attacking a place defended by seven thousand people was not impossible, but it would take longer.

And with the Huaxia army fleet about to arrive, the European Union obviously could not afford to delay.

Once the Great Hua fleet arrived, their maritime supply line would likely be cut off.

Therefore, in order to take Ceuta before the Great Hua fleet arrived, the European Union continued to reinforce Ceuta.

The first batch of reinforcements consisted of twenty thousand, and another thirty thousand were being mobilized.

In order to take Ceuta, the European Union had gathered an army of one hundred thousand.

Faced with the offensive of one hundred thousand troops, Chen Luo, the governor of Ceuta, couldn’t help but frown.

It should be noted that these one hundred thousand troops were not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry. They were troops equipped with modern weapons.

Chapter 1002: Holding Ceuta

Although Great Hua dispatched five thousand reinforcements, they didn’t bring any heavy weaponry.

This was unavoidable; those heavy weapons were difficult to transport and very conspicuous.

Meanwhile, the European Union’s army was armed with breech-loading rifles and a large number of cannons.

Fortunately, their army’s cannons were still smoothbore, with limited power.

The European Union had mastered the technology for rifled cannons, but having the technology didn’t mean they could mass-produce them immediately.

Wu Changqing even had the technology to build satellites, but that didn’t mean he could fly out of Earth right now.

Although the European Union had mastered the technology for rifled cannons, they lacked the relevant technical personnel, their industrial manufacturing capacity couldn’t keep up, and they were also short on funds.

In short, they faced numerous difficulties. The small number of rifled cannons they had managed to produce were all equipped on warships.

The miserable army was still using old-fashioned smoothbore cannons, making do with what they had.

“I wonder how long it will take for His Majesty’s fleet to arrive.”

In Ceuta, at the temporary command post, Prince Zicheng, the commander stationed in Ceuta, was slightly worried.

He was confident in holding Ceuta.

However, he didn’t want Ceuta to suffer too much damage.

Under the enemy’s indiscriminate shelling, many civilians were accidentally injured.

Moreover, the supply of food and fresh water in the city had become difficult, and the medical situation was also strained. In short, there were many problems.

In the short term, these problems were still minor.

But over time, these problems would turn into major ones, causing a large number of casualties.

“It should be soon. They arrived in South Africa seven days ago, and I estimate they’re already at Ivory Coast. In another two or three days, we’ll see our dynasty’s fleet.”

Chen Luo was very optimistic.

Two or three days was nothing; Ceuta could definitely hold out.

“Charge! Take Ceuta! Kill all the Huaxia people! Seize their gold and silver!”

A European Union army officer shouted.

Subsequently, the European Union soldiers charged towards the street ahead.

Their charge seemed to have some tactics, but in reality, there weren’t any real tactics, just some simple applications of experience.

For example, not crowding together in a dense charge, making more use of obstacles, and so on.

They hadn’t fought against the Huaxia army before, and their tactical level was actually very low. It was just that some officers had studied some techniques based on the situation on the Indian battlefield and then taught them to these ordinary soldiers.

Even the officers responsible for teaching were just armchair strategists, so naturally, one couldn’t expect these soldiers to learn much.

When they previously captured those two Huaxia army positions, they claimed it was due to tactics, but in reality, it was still achieved by sacrificing lives.

Right now, their charge was still the same.

With the promise of being allowed to loot, kill, and plunder, those ordinary soldiers charged towards the Huaxia army’s position, howling.

In their minds, Ceuta was full of endless wealth and countless women, including many Great Hua beauties.

In the current international situation, Europeans actually felt a little inferior when facing the Great Hua people, or rather, they admired Great Hua and were infatuated with foreign things.

After all, Great Hua was much more civilized, advanced, and developed than them.

Naturally, their desire for Great Hua women far exceeded their desire for European women.

In the eyes of these soldiers, Great Hua women were ten times better than European women.

This was actually quite normal. Most of the Great Hua women who came to Ceuta were somewhat cultured or had some family background. These people had a good education, and in terms of temperament and cultivation, they were definitely better than village girls.

And these European soldiers had only ever been exposed to the European rural aunts and grandmothers.

Comparing the two, plus a bit of admiration for Great Hua, they naturally felt that Great Hua women were the best, like fairy nuns.

In the past, not to mention ordinary soldiers like them, even noble lords had little hope of tasting a Great Hua woman.

But now, they had this opportunity, so how could they not be excited?

It was like in later generations, if charging forward meant they could snatch Taylor Swift or Scarlett Johansson, many people would definitely choose to risk it all.

Those European Union soldiers charged forward, howling, followed by the sound of Great Hua machine guns.

The Great Hua reinforcements didn’t bring heavy artillery, but they brought a lot of machine guns.

The European Union soldiers still didn’t understand this defensive weapon.

As the machine guns fired, European Union soldiers fell one after another.

Those who were killed instantly were the lucky ones; the worst was being shot in the limbs.

In that case, they could only wail on the battlefield, waiting to die.

“Damn it, those useless people, why can’t they even make a single mortar?”

A regimental commander in the Allied forces cursed angrily.

Against machine gun fire, easily portable mortars were the best choice, but they didn’t have them.

Without mortars, they could only watch helplessly as the Great Hua machine guns wreaked havoc, unable to do anything.

“Commander, let’s switch to another batch. This battalion has suffered heavy losses, and if they keep charging, they’ll collapse.”

His subordinate reminded him.

Helpless, Mattru could only switch to another group to continue the charge, depleting the Huaxia army’s energy, preventing them from resting, and creating pressure on them.

Although the Huaxia army had the machine gun, a great weapon, defending was actually not easy.

The Allied forces’ weapons were already causing them considerable trouble.

The Allied forces’ rifles had a hit rate that was N times higher than that of flintlock guns. The Allied forces could find suitable cover and even engage in firefights with the Huaxia army without suffering too much.

The days when Great Hua could slaughter their opponents at will were gone.

Faced with the Allied forces’ attacks, the Huaxia army had also suffered considerable casualties in the past few days, losing nearly a thousand men, of whom more than four hundred were killed in action.

This was just a defensive battle, not a major decisive battle like in India.

This kind of casualty rate was already quite tragic for the Huaxia army.

And this had also ignited the Huaxia army’s anger.

They had always been bullying people with their weapons; when had they ever suffered such humiliation?

“Give it to them! Fire hard! Don’t worry about running out of ammunition. In a few days at most, His Majesty’s fleet will arrive, and then we’ll let this bunch of grandsons see the true combat power of our Great Hua!”

On the Huaxia army’s position, an army company commander gritted his teeth and said.

The slow development of the army’s weapons, which prevented them from forming an overwhelming advantage over the enemy, made him very depressed.

In contrast, the navy’s development was much faster, and they could already strike the enemy with overwhelming force.

Unfortunately, this was the navy’s moment of glory. In contrast, it made their army seem quite useless, which made him feel even more depressed.

And this depression was vented on the enemy.

As the Huaxia army opened fire, those European Union soldiers who were charging were immediately subjected to another tragic blow. One by one, they cried for their parents and ran back.

No matter how tempting Great Hua women were, they had to have the life to enjoy them.

Chapter 1003: The Allied Forces With No Way Out

“Lopez, we can’t delay any longer. The Great Hua fleet appeared off the coast of Côte d’Ivoire the day before yesterday. We have, at most, one more day.”

In Ceuta, at the Allied Forces headquarters, a senior officer entered with intelligence and reported to Lopez, the supreme commander of the Allied Forces.

Although Western European merchants had returned to report the news as soon as they saw the Great Hua fleet, considering their sailing speed and that of the Huaxia navy, Ace estimated that the Great Hua navy would arrive at the earliest tomorrow, and at the latest the day after.

Out of prudence, they had to plan for the worst-case scenario, which was that the Huaxia army would arrive tomorrow.

They needed to formulate their next operational plan based on this principle.

“Is the intelligence accurate?”

Lopez asked in surprise. This was several days faster than they had previously estimated.

Only one day left—this was deadly.

If they couldn’t take Ceuta within that one day, they would be caught in a pincer movement by the Huaxia army, their sea route would be blocked, and they would lose their supplies.

“Absolutely accurate. Several merchants reported to us, and two of them are from famous families. They wouldn’t lie to us,” Ace said.

The atmosphere in the room immediately became tense.

One day was far too short. Even if they started to retreat now, they wouldn’t be able to withdraw completely to Europe in one day.

In other words, they really only had one option: to continue their all-out assault on Ceuta.

As for what to do after taking it, they could only deal with that when the time came.

However, taking Ceuta within one day was almost impossible for them.

Their attacks had already been fierce enough, but the Great Hua garrison in Ceuta remained unyielding.

“Commander, we need to retreat. Otherwise, we’ll be stuck in Africa forever. Once the Great Hua warships arrive, they’ll definitely blockade the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean.

Those navies can’t be relied upon at all. Without a way out and without supplies, we’ll be doomed,” one officer said.

He intentionally ignored the difficulty of the army not being able to fully retreat to Europe within a day.

He only cared about being able to retreat himself; as for the ordinary soldiers, they would save as many as they could.

“No, that would mean our entire strategy has failed. We need to eliminate all three of the Great Hua strongholds in Africa. If we retreat, then even if the troops in South Africa and Côte d’Ivoire succeed, it won’t matter,” Ace said.

He suddenly felt that the strategy formulated by the Allied Forces’ decision-makers was too unreliable.

The war hadn’t even started for long, and this strategy seemed to be nearing failure.

He didn’t know how to fight next.

“We can’t retreat. We must take Ceuta, destroy Ceuta. As for what happens after that, we can retreat to Morocco, or go east to Tunisia and try to return to Rome from the Mediterranean,” Lopez also rejected the suggestion of retreat.

Everyone else could retreat, but he couldn’t.

As the supreme commander, if he abandoned the Allied Forces’ strategic objectives and retreated without authorization, he would spend the rest of his life in prison.

That kind of ending was no better than dying in battle.

Dying in battle, at least, would earn him some honorable recognition.

“There’s no time for pointless debate. Commander, issue the order for a general offensive immediately,” Ace reminded him.

Because it was an allied force, although Lopez was the supreme commander, he still had to consult with the other influential officers in the army on some decisions.

And at those times, there would often be endless bickering.

Even things like who went first and how many people had to be deployed at once needed to be argued over, making the efficiency extremely low.

This was one of the reasons why they hadn’t been able to take Ceuta in several days.

And now, Ace was reminding Lopez that in an emergency, they couldn’t afford to have this kind of democracy.

If they insisted on seeking the opinions of others, some people might even call for a retreat.

At this moment, the only way to unleash their full power was through dictatorship. Those who disobeyed orders would be severely punished.

Everyone was somewhat dissatisfied with Ace’s words.

Although they also knew that there was no time for debate at this point, they didn’t want to lose control of their troops.

“Sir Lopez, give the order. We of the Holy Roman Empire will obey unconditionally.”

The commander of the Holy Roman Empire simply stood up at this time, expressing his firm support. This way, at least he wouldn’t lose control of his own troops.

The others also followed suit, expressing their firm support.

They were also afraid that Lopez would do something crazy at this time in order to consolidate his power.

With everyone’s cooperation, Lopez breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried about the consequences if he really had to start killing people.

“Ten hours. Whether we succeed or fail, we must leave Ceuta. That means we only have ten hours to attack. The French troops will attack from the west…”

Lopez began to lay out the specific battle plan.

He gave everyone ten hours. If they exceeded this time, they might not be able to leave. He didn’t dare gamble the fate of these seventy or eighty thousand people.

Therefore, he left a way out.

The order for a general offensive was issued to the lower-level units, immediately causing these European soldiers to curse.

They didn’t know the situation was urgent, and only felt that the officers above didn’t value their lives.

A general offensive, especially one where they weren’t allowed to retreat, was destined to result in heavy casualties.

Amidst the cursing, these soldiers reluctantly picked up their weapons.

They couldn’t disobey orders, or the people above would definitely not be polite to them. In the past few days, no fewer than eighty or one hundred soldiers had been shot.

If it weren’t for this kind of strict military law, they wouldn’t have been able to hold out until now.

“Fire!”

“Charge!”

The Allied Forces launched a ruthless attack, with infantry charging alongside the artillery fire.

As for the possibility of friendly fire, they didn’t care at all.

As long as they could slightly suppress the Great Hua firepower with artillery fire, it would all be worth it.

As the cannons roared, the Huaxia army also took cover, leaving only a small number of people in the trenches to observe the enemy’s movements.

“Heh, these enemies must be crazy. They’re starting to charge so quickly,” one Huaxia soldier said. The enemy’s charge this time was obviously different from before.

“It looks like the enemy is making a desperate attack. Quickly notify the people in the air-raid shelter to come out and fight. The enemy is launching their final general offensive. Don’t hide like women!”

An officer shouted. He had this much judgment.

Faced with the enemy’s desperate general offensive, the Huaxia army could no longer think about casualties and had to go all out. Otherwise, if the enemy broke through the defenses, the losses would be even greater.

Faced with the enemy’s desperate fighting style, they had to suppress them with an equally desperate spirit.

Chapter 1004: Impenetrable

Subsequently, the Huaxia army soldiers in the air-raid shelters rushed out on command.

Military orders were absolute. Even with shells still falling outside, the soldiers had no choice but to bite the bullet and advance.

Besides, these soldiers knew in their hearts that the enemy’s shelling wasn’t particularly powerful, and the chances of being hit were low.

But if they hid in the shelters and allowed the enemy to break through the lines, the danger would be far greater than the enemy’s artillery.

The Huaxia army soldiers were highly trained. Faced with this situation, most would choose the correct course of action and rush out, even without orders.

What’s more, they now had orders.

As a large number of soldiers entered the trenches and fortifications, some inevitably got hit and affected by the falling shells.

However, immediately afterward, the gunfire on the Huaxia army’s position also rang out, and the Huaxia army began to fire.

The Allied soldiers at the front fell in droves. They never expected the Huaxia army to defend under the shelling.

As a result, the purpose of their shelling was directly defeated, leaving only a little killing effect.

However, compared to the Huaxia army’s killing power, this little bit of damage from the Allied artillery was not worth mentioning.

Compared to the Huaxia army’s field artillery, the Allied artillery was far too weak.

The Huaxia army’s burst of firepower forced the Allied soldiers to quickly find cover and return fire, no longer daring to charge straight ahead.

While this could reduce casualties, it went against the principle of a general offensive.

If they could have taken Ceuta by shooting at each other from a distance, they would have done so long ago. There would have been no need to risk their lives to charge.

Such an exchange of fire was too slow to inflict casualties.

“First company, provide fire cover! Second company, continue the charge!”

The Allied commander was still directing, trying to use fire cover for staggered advances.

The idea was okay, provided that the firepower in the fire cover was fierce enough to keep the Huaxia army soldiers from raising their heads in a short period of time.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have such fierce firepower.

Although they had machine guns, the number was extremely limited.

Therefore, when they began to execute the order, this scene appeared.

The Huaxia army soldiers did not evade the enemy’s fierce counterattack. Soldiers were hit from time to time on the position, and most of the hits were to the head.

But at the same time, they also fired a large number of bullets.

The Allied soldiers who charged hadn’t even advanced thirty meters before an entire company was basically wiped out.

In comparison, the Allied forces suffered far more than the Huaxia army.

“Damn it!”

The Allied commander cursed and continued to urge the soldiers to charge.

However, this time the soldiers hesitated a lot.

The situation was too obvious. Charging up was basically a death sentence.

But, forced by military orders, they had no choice but to charge.

The Allied forces were suffering, and the Huaxia army was not having an easy time either. This was the moment of the decisive battle, a contest of will.

Whichever side could not withstand the casualties first and chose to retreat would be defeated.

The Huaxia army refused to retreat, and the Allied forces dared not retreat. The situation once again fell into a stalemate.

“Fight to the death! Let’s win honor for our Kyoto Province!”

Kikujiro, the battalion commander of a battalion composed of Japan soldiers, encouraged everyone.

In this battle, these Japan soldiers and Annam soldiers performed no worse than the Central Plains soldiers.

There were many reasons for this, one of which was to win honor for their hometown.

They were all clear that their hometowns were far less important than the Central Plains provinces in Great Hua. The treatment received by their fellow villagers was also far inferior to that of the Han people.

If they wanted to improve the status of their hometowns, they could either rely on economic development or performance on the battlefield.

As long as they fought well, their hometowns would no longer be discriminated against, or they would not agree.

Moreover, once they performed meritorious service and gained the recognition of other comrades, they would be able to stand up and speak out when they were bullied in their hometowns.

The army was a melting pot, the easiest place to eliminate ethnic divisions.

After all, they were comrades fighting side by side on the battlefield.

Just like in history, the first group to accept black people were the white soldiers who fought alongside them.

Under Kikujiro’s encouragement, the Japan soldiers were also fearless and fought very fiercely.

With the advantage in weapons, they performed quite well.

The Annam soldiers were similar. They may not have thought as deeply as Kikujiro, but they were all clear on one point. If they wanted to change their fate, they had to fight tenaciously on the battlefield and perform meritorious service.

When the Japan soldiers and Annam soldiers were fighting to the death, the Central Plains native soldiers were even more embarrassed to retreat. Everyone had a sense of pride.

People in the Central Plains region originally had a sense of regional superiority.

If they took the lead in fleeing on the battlefield, it would be a disgrace to the Central Plains, which the Central Plains interest groups would never allow to happen.

Those officers from the Central Plains also issued death orders at this time.

Anyone who dared to run away would be shot directly, with no leniency.

Under such orders and the influence of a sense of honor, the Central Plains soldiers were also gritting their teeth and persevering.

“Great Hua’s strength is not without reason.”

Lopez put down his binoculars and sighed.

The Huaxia army in front of him could only be considered Great Hua’s second-line troops, after all, the most elite armored divisions were not present.

But these second-line troops also showed a tenacious fighting will, making them helpless.

In Lopez’s view, the Allied soldiers were already very brave, and had not collapsed despite such heavy casualties.

However, this bravery still could not be exchanged for a victory, all because the Huaxia army on the opposite side performed no less well.

“Commander, should we urge them again and give them a death order?”

Ace asked.

“No, they have already reached the breaking point of mental collapse. Forcing them further will be useless, and may even cause a mutiny. Let’s continue fighting like this. If there is no progress after two hours, we will retreat.”

Lopez said helplessly.

Those were all living people, soldiers with their own ideas and independent thinking.

If everyone was really forced into a desperate situation, without giving them a glimmer of hope, I am afraid that those people would mutiny.

After all, the mob always accounted for the majority. The soldiers’ awareness in the army had not yet reached the point where they could sacrifice their lives for Europe.

Staying alive was what they valued most.

As Lopez’s instructions went down, the Allied headquarters had begun to pack up and prepare to evacuate.

With the headquarters taking action to retreat, the front-line commanders were even more unwilling to send their men to their deaths.

Most of those subordinates were their fellow villagers, and they also had a sense of compassion.

Fortunately, the signs of the headquarters’ retreat had not yet been known to the ordinary soldiers on the front line.

Otherwise, the collapse would be instantaneous.

No one wanted to be a fool, let alone be played like a fool.

Chapter 1005: Bombing

The Allied forces retreated quickly, and just in time.

Not long after their retreat, the Great Hua fleet arrived at Ceuta.

At this time, the garrison of Ceuta had not yet had time to clean up the battlefield, and the combat zone was a scene of devastation.

From the corpses and the lingering smoke, one could feel the intensity of the battle.

After the fleet arrived at Ceuta, it assisted the Ceuta garrison in cleaning up the battlefield and clearing the threats around Ceuta.

At the same time, part of the fleet set off to attack Gibraltar.

The distance was too close; the military base at Gibraltar had to be bombed to ensure the safety of the Great Hua fleet stationed in the Mediterranean.

Otherwise, if the enemy sneaked out at night for a surprise attack, it could cause some trouble for the Huaxia army.

Rather than guarding against thieves for a thousand days, it was better to take the initiative to attack.

Besides, the Huaxia army, having come from afar, was eager to fight the enemy.

Ten battleships were dispatched, including the aircraft carrier.

First to move out were the warplanes, to accumulate practical bombing experience.

Of course, there was also the intention of showing off new weapons and giving a warning.

Ceuta was very close to Gibraltar, less than thirty kilometers away, well within the combat radius of the warplanes.

Therefore, the aircraft carrier in Ceuta did not need to set sail; the warplanes took off directly and flew towards Gibraltar.

A dozen minutes later, a squadron of twenty-eight aircraft arrived over the Gibraltar military base.

At this time, Great Hua’s aircraft did not have a clear distinction between fighters and bombers; in terms of function, they were more inclined towards bombing.

After all, they had no opponents in the air at this time, and developing fighters was meaningless, only for self-entertainment.

Being bombing-oriented meant not pursuing speed, flexibility, or aerial combat capabilities, but only focusing on one thing: the amount of ammunition carried.

At this time, the Huaxia army’s aircraft each carried five one-hundred-kilogram bombs.

Among them, three were high-explosive bombs and two were incendiary bombs.

Depending on the mission, the type of bombs carried by the aircraft also varied.

If bombing warships, armor-piercing bombs were generally used. For attacking ground targets, high-explosive and incendiary bombs were better.

Armor-piercing bombs had a smaller explosive charge and a thicker shell, relying on powerful kinetic energy to penetrate armor before exploding, suitable for bombing armor on warships.

High-explosive bombs had a larger explosive charge and a thinner shell, with a wider range of impact after the explosion, suitable for killing ground targets.

Incendiary bombs might not have much instantaneous power, but they could cause continuous damage to flammable targets, and could also create chaos and distract the enemy, with the overall effect often being better than high-explosive bombs.

“What is that?”

Although Gibraltar was a military base, it was not as large as the military bases of later generations. Very close to the base were various residential areas and trade markets.

When the Great Hua aircraft appeared, the residents of Gibraltar saw them.

Because the Great Hua aircraft flew very low and slowly, at about two hundred kilometers per hour, which was about the same speed as street racing in later generations.

Moreover, something traveling at two hundred kilometers per hour on the ground would feel fast, but in the vast sky, the same speed would give people a feeling of slowness.

At least, the residents of Gibraltar saw the black dots in the distance early on, and then waited a while before they could clearly see the appearance of the aircraft.

“A big bird?”

“A flying dragon?”

“A demon?”

“It’s a person, it’s a person…”

Flying at an altitude of less than two hundred meters, people on the ground could even clearly see the pilots in the aircraft.

In Great Hua, people flying in the sky was no longer particularly exciting news.

But in Western Europe, seeing people flying in the sky was quite shocking.

This subverted their worldview; in their worldview, humans were ground animals. Appearing in the sky was unreasonable, abnormal, and incomprehensible.

Only a very few people who loved reading newspapers and knew a lot about Great Hua knew that Great Hua people had been flying in the sky for many years.

“God, they are soaring in the sky.”

“I want to fly too.”

“Oh, hi…”

The people below were even cheering to the Great Hua pilots, making those pilots want to laugh but also feel a little embarrassed.

After all, people were so enthusiastic, but they were going to bomb them, giving them a bit of a villainous feeling.

The leader, Xu Jin, circled for a while, spotted the Spanish military port, then waggled his wings to give instructions and flew towards it.

Other aircraft followed, while the eyes of the people below remained fixed on the aircraft.

Until a loud bang came.

The Great Hua bombing had begun.

“Enemy attack.”

Because they were at war with Great Hua, the Allied forces in this military base were quite vigilant.

After the first bomb exploded, they sounded the air raid alarm.

Unfortunately, it was useless.

Having encountered bombing for the first time, they were completely dumbfounded, not knowing how to fight back, and could only watch helplessly as the Huaxia army bombed them.

There were also a few quick-witted soldiers who raised the rifles in their hands, trying to shoot at the aircraft in the air.

However, this was too difficult.

The target of the aircraft in the air was small, and the speed was fast.

Moreover, these soldiers, who were seeing aircraft for the first time, had no experience at all, did not know how to aim ahead, and always aimed at the aircraft to shoot. By the time the bullets passed, the aircraft had already flown away.

Shooting down aircraft required judging their flight path and speed, and then aiming in front of the aircraft to shoot.

If you were lucky, the aircraft would actively crash into the bullets.

Aiming at the aircraft to shoot would only result in shooting at emptiness.

These Allied soldiers obviously did not know this principle, and could only make a gesture.

The Huaxia army could very leisurely and calmly search for high-value targets and carry out precision bombing.

They were much happier than the bombers of later generations. In later generations, important military bases would have powerful air defense firepower, and slow bombers were very fragile in the face of this air defense firepower, and could only aim at a general target at high altitude and drop bombs.

Whether they hit or not was actually up to fate.

Under normal circumstances, they relied on quantity to win.

The more bombs they dropped, the greater the chance of hitting.

Unlike the current Huaxia army, who were strolling around their own yard in the sky, without any restraint.

Xu Jin saw a warehouse that looked like it stored ammunition, flew directly towards the warehouse, and dropped an incendiary bomb when he was about to arrive.

Shooting down aircraft required aiming ahead, and bombing also required mastering the laws of inertia and free fall.

Dropping bombs directly above the target would only result in bombing emptiness, because flying aircraft had enormous inertia, and the trajectory of the bombs falling was actually a parabola, not a vertical drop.

In history, because they did not understand this principle, there were even jokes and tragedies of dropping bombs on visiting officer corps during exercises.

Chapter 1006: Capturing Gibraltar

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed, faintly audible even in Ceuta.

Xu Jin had struck the Allied armory, which was stocked with a large quantity of gunpowder.

Upon contact with the incendiary bomb, the gunpowder detonated, and the massive shockwave even rocked Xu Jin’s aircraft.

Thick smoke billowed, rising dozens of meters into the air.

Residents in the distance witnessed everything.

“My God, those are Great Hua soldiers, the enemy!”

“The Great Hua are dropping bombs on us!”

“It’s over, Great Hua has sent devils, we’re doomed!”

…

The residents watched helplessly as their side was bombed.

Not only were they helpless, but so were the soldiers in the military camp.

Apart from rushing around to put out fires and minimize losses, there was nothing else they could do.

At this moment, the aircraft, having released all five bombs, aimed at those attempting to extinguish the fires and the soldiers still exposed outside, and pulled the trigger.

These Great Hua aircraft were equipped with a machine gun, primarily for ground attacks.

The machine gun on the aircraft was of a large caliber, using 12.7mm bullets, with astonishing destructive power.

Any soldier hit by it would not have an intact corpse left; they were basically killed with a single shot, regardless of the body part.

Instantly, the soldiers scrambled to find places to hide.

Some soldiers thought they would be safe hiding behind templates or inside houses.

However, these large-caliber bullets quickly shattered their illusions.

The wooden boards offered no protection whatsoever against the bullets.

At this point, survival was purely a matter of luck.

Fortunately for them, the Huaxia army did not intend to exterminate them; this was mainly a bombing practice run.

“Damn it!”

“Son of a bitch!”

Watching the Huaxia army’s aircraft leisurely depart, the surviving Allied soldiers cursed in various ways.

Apart from cursing and venting their frustration, they had no other recourse.

After the cursing, everyone was like a frost-bitten eggplant, their morale plummeting to rock bottom.

Compared to a decisive battle with even more tragic casualties, this kind of helpless beating was even more demoralizing.

Although the decisive battle resulted in heavy casualties, there was at least a hope of winning. Even if there was no hope of winning, they could at least fight back with the weapons in their hands, which gave them a sense of control over their own destiny.

But this one-sided beating, although not particularly deadly, took away that feeling.

They could not find a way to fight back, which meant that the Huaxia army could come whenever they wanted and leave whenever they wanted.

They had no choice but to wait for death and pray.

This feeling was undoubtedly terrible, and some soldiers began to quietly leave in the chaos, not wanting to be sitting ducks.

After the bombing, the entire Gibraltar military base was nearly scrapped.

Warehouses storing supplies were bombed, and more than a dozen large fires were raging within the base.

Using buckets to scoop water and put out the fires had little effect on these blazes.

After dropping all the bombs, they circled around the residential area and the market to show off their strength before returning.

Watching those aircraft, the European civilians couldn’t help but tremble.

This was not the end of it. After the Huaxia army’s aircraft returned, the battleships had arrived outside the port of Gibraltar and bombarded the warships docked inside, as well as the military facilities on the shore.

The main targets were the enemy’s coastal defense guns. By destroying these coastal defense guns, the Huaxia army could land on Gibraltar and control the area.

By controlling this place and clearing the other two military ports in the Mediterranean, Great Hua could completely control the Mediterranean, and they would no longer have to worry about being attacked.

After that, they could either seek out the European Union’s fleet for a decisive battle, or attack London and Paris, forcing the Allied navy to fight them.

If the European Union would surrender, then they would sit down and talk. Anyway, it would not be easy for Great Hua to swallow Europe right now.

If the European Union continued to resist stubbornly, then they would transport the army in Pakistan over to fight on European soil.

This was the Huaxia army’s general strategic idea. As for the specific battle plan, many scenarios had been developed. However, these plans needed to be modified according to the situation.

Gibraltar had just been bombed, and then it was constantly bombarded by large-caliber artillery, which can be described as one wave after another.

“This place can’t be defended.”

Several soldiers hiding in a pit were talking. The Great Hua’s bombing had opened their eyes and refreshed their understanding of warfare.

“Yeah, let alone their army hasn’t rushed over yet, we can’t stand being bombed twice a day like this.”

Before he could finish speaking, a shell landed not far from them.

The huge vibration caused the soil in the pit to fall down, making them feel uncomfortable all over.

“This place can’t be defended anymore. Most of our supplies have been burned, our morale has dropped to rock bottom, and we have to endure constant bombing.”

An officer said in the Gibraltar command post.

The morale was low not only among the soldiers, but also among these senior officers, who had no confidence in holding Gibraltar.

Now they just wanted to get away from the sea.

Being stationed by the sea made them feel insecure.

“But, if we lose this place, the Great Hua will completely control the Mediterranean.”

The commander-in-chief said.

“It’s not like we can keep control of the Mediterranean by staying here. Which fleet still dares to fight the Great Hua’s navy? The British have already moved their fleet to Scotland to avoid war, wanting to preserve their strength.”

Another officer complained.

Knowing that the Great Hua’s navy was coming, the navies of various countries in the European Union hid one after another, not daring to confront them head-on, trying to use land and army to drag down the Huaxia army.

Compared to the expensive navy, the European Union’s army was also a stepchild.

“Okay, order a retreat.”

The commander-in-chief was persuaded. As his subordinates said, even if they controlled this port, they could not control the Mediterranean.

On the sea, the Great Hua’s advantage was too great.

When the Huaxia army stopped shelling and the Marine Corps began to land, they found that the Allied forces had already left.

This made the Marine Corps’ combat experience extremely poor.

“I told those bastards to fire fewer shells and save some ammunition. Now it’s all right, they directly scared the enemy away, what are we going to fight?”

A Marine Corps soldier complained.

“We should really mention it to the people above. The transportation and supply of shells is so difficult, it’s better to let us solve it.”

A junior officer also agreed.

Chapter 1007: Kill Only the Aristocracy

The Huaxia army occupied the military base in Gibraltar, including the surrounding residential areas, markets, ports, and so on.

It was only at this point that Europeans truly felt that the war had come to their doorstep.

“Why did those foolish nobles start a war with the people of Great Hua? Isn’t that just courting death?”

“I heard that those nobles took the initiative to attack Ceuta. Are those people sick? Why attack Ceuta? I love that place.”

“I heard that the Allied forces lost six or seven thousand men and still didn’t capture Ceuta.”

“They’re all a bunch of people with manure for brains, dragging us down with them.”

Although the Huaxia army had not yet committed any brutal acts against these Western Europeans, they were still very nervous.

After all, as the defeated side, they were now fish on a chopping board. Whether they would be steamed or boiled was up to the people of Great Hua. Their safety was no longer guaranteed.

And throughout history, the defeated side had never fared well.

Some timid people had already fallen into endless panic and worry.

Their worries were not unfounded; at least, the wealthy among them suffered a great deal in the days that followed.

The Huaxia army did not target the poor, as there was nothing to gain and it would easily provoke the anger of all Europeans. If they really forced all Europeans to unite, it would be a huge problem for Great Hua.

But targeting only the wealthy was not a problem at all.

The poor, seeing the once-glamorous and even oppressive rich people suffer, might even feel a secret joy and even actively cooperate with the Huaxia army.

If Great Hua could continue to do this, they might even follow Great Hua and overthrow the rulers of their own countries.

It can’t be said that these people are stupid; after all, they have little affection for the rulers who exploit them.

It can only be said that they lack a long-term vision and do not know that being ruled by Great Hua is the same as being ruled by the current nobles—they will still be exploited.

The Huaxia army only targeting the rich for robbery could, to some extent, divide the European classes and gain the favor of the lower classes.

And in terms of gains, it would not be much less than a full-scale looting, after all, the poor originally had nothing to rob.

As for whether this behavior would completely offend the European aristocracy, that was not a big deal.

After all, once Great Hua completely ruled this place, it would also have to take action against those rich people.

There was only so much wealth. If the wealth of the rich was not taken away, how could the poor get any benefits? If they didn’t get any benefits, how could they support the rule of Great Hua?

In Korea, Japan, Annam, and India, Great Hua had done the same, only to varying degrees.

In Korea and Japan, the crackdown on the rich was not so harsh. In India, the original ruling class was completely removed, very thoroughly.

As a result, in today’s India, those at the bottom are very welcoming to the rule of Great Hua.

Under this strategy, the rich of Gibraltar suffered.

Those who could recognize the situation and obediently hand over their wealth could save their lives.

Those who resisted even slightly were directly dealt with by the Huaxia army.

After all, there were some Annamese and Japanese soldiers with lower qualities in the Huaxia army, and this kind of work was left to them.

As for the impact, there was no need to worry about that.

In the eyes of the people of Great Hua, Europeans were all barbarians, and there was no need to talk about civilization with barbarians.

Those who resisted were massacred, and their wives and daughters naturally became the spoils of the Huaxia army.

After drifting at sea for two months, some soldiers had become like wolves.

At the same time, a pair of very beautiful mother and daughter were sent to Ceuta.

Gibraltar was just the beginning. Simply occupying Gibraltar would definitely not force the European Union to submit.

The next day, the Huaxia army’s fleet destroyed a military base in Marseille and a military base on Sicily, and carried out a looting, similar to what happened in Gibraltar.

Because they were only destroying and not occupying, they couldn’t seize the real estate of those rich people, so it could only be left to the local civilians.

When the Huaxia army left these two places, these two places immediately fell into chaos, and the poor engaged in fierce争夺 for those ownerless lands.

Both of these bases were destroyed, but the Huaxia army did not catch the European Union’s fleet in either of these two places. Without destroying the European Union’s navy, it was unknown where those navies had gone.

However, the Mediterranean Sea also fell under the control of Great Hua. Ships passing through this sea area had to accept the Huaxia army’s inspection. The European Union was blockaded in the Mediterranean Sea.

And the army that attacked Ceuta fled all the way to Tunis, looking for a way back to Europe, but it was also blocked by this blockade.

The Huaxia army did not try to encircle and suppress them, because the Huaxia army did not have many ground troops.

There were only more than six thousand army soldiers in Ceuta and more than three thousand marine corps. The remaining more than twenty thousand people were all navy and technical arms, and it was impossible for them to go ashore to fight with guns.

These more than nine thousand ground troops had a hard enough time defending Ceuta and Gibraltar. It was simply wishful thinking to try to encircle and suppress more than seventy thousand people.

Even if these seventy thousand enemies had low morale, the number was still there, and their ability to counterattack could not be ignored.

For this enemy force, the Huaxia army only needed to blockade the Mediterranean Sea to prevent them from returning to Europe.

Let them wander in North Africa for a few more days, and they would run out of food.

At that time, they might even be forced to surrender.

The Huaxia army was not in a hurry. On the one hand, they were resting in Ceuta, and on the other hand, they were arranging ships to transport the Pakistani army to Suez. After arriving at Port Said, they could then reach Ceuta by ship.

At this time, the only ones who were anxious were the European Union.

After Gibraltar fell, King Carlos of Spain was so nervous that he kept urging the soldiers of the Allied countries to gather in Madrid. He was worried that Great Hua would get carried away and directly kill all the way to Madrid.

Although this possibility was very small, Carlos was afraid.

“These barbarians actually only target our noble aristocrats. It’s really damn.”

Carlos cursed.

In the past, when European countries fought each other, regardless of winning or losing, there was no need to worry too much about one’s life. After all, everyone was an aristocrat, and even relatives.

But now, the people of Great Hua actually only targeted the aristocrats. It was really incomprehensible.

Carlos was worried that after Madrid fell, he would be the first to die.

Not only was Carlos afraid, but the entire European aristocracy fell into panic after learning about the situation in Gibraltar.

They then realized that Great Hua was not at war with Europe, but with the European aristocracy.

Those aristocrats near the coast had already begun to move, moving to places far away from the coast.

There were also some aristocrats who began to look for other ways out.

Chapter 1008: Bombing London

The European Union was in complete disarray. Their plan to destroy Ceuta had failed, and they could only wait for good news from Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa.

But judging from the situation in Ceuta, they also had to consider the consequences if those two forces failed.

“The Huaxia army only sent the navy and a small number of marines. Obviously, they don’t intend to occupy the European continent. So, I think there’s still hope for negotiation.”

Rafael said. The battle of Great Hua in Gibraltar had frightened the French high command.

They studied those mysterious planes for a long time but couldn’t find any way to resist them. They could only dig a hole and hide. How could they fight like this?

Based on the troop deployment of Great Hua, they speculated that Great Hua had no intention of occupying the European continent. Therefore, the French high command was already inclined to surrender and negotiate.

They estimated that as long as they gave America to Great Hua, it should satisfy the people of Great Hua.

And the countries with the deepest interests in America were Great Britain and Spain. France didn’t really mind losing America.

Although they also knew that after giving America to Great Hua, Great Hua’s development would be faster, and their development would be more difficult.

But that was a matter for the future. They couldn’t even take care of the present, so why worry about the future?

“Rafael, don’t be naive. The Emperor of Great Hua has come in person. Do you think they’re here to play around? Even if they’re willing to negotiate, they’ll definitely ask for the moon.”

William retorted.

“How would you know if you don’t try?”

Rafael said.

“Is there even a need to try?”

“Then how do you think we should respond? Give me a plan to defeat the people of Great Hua.”

The two broke into an argument, and the other representatives also looked annoyed.

“As things stand, we can only hold on. They don’t have many ground troops and can’t do anything to us.”

William said.

“They can directly bombard London.”

Pardo reminded him.

“King Charles is ready to withstand the enemy’s bombing.”

William said.

Tch, that bastard probably already went to the countryside.

Everyone sneered inwardly.

“Sir William, do you have any better strategies? Just passively taking a beating like this is too demoralizing.”

Pardo asked.

He thought that joining the European Union would bring some sense of security.

But now he realized that the so-called European Union seemed to be useless in front of Great Hua.

“As things stand, we can only wait for news from Africa. Moreover, persistence is not a low-level strategy. In fact, as long as we can persist, the people of Great Hua can’t do anything to us, can they? Once the operation in Africa succeeds, then everything will be fine.”

William said.

“It’s not easy to persist. Although the people of Great Hua can’t conquer too many places, we have no power to resist when they concentrate their forces to attack one place.”

“The nobles below also have a lot of opinions. They need security guarantees.”

“Great Hua will continue to send reinforcements.”

……

The meeting was a chaotic mess, and everyone had a lot of opinions about William’s method.

But in the end, they had no choice but to accept this stupid method because they had no better way.

They couldn’t win if they fought, and they had nowhere to escape, so they could only persist.

While persisting, they also sent envoys to Ceuta, hoping to negotiate with Great Hua.

They had reached a consensus that as long as Great Hua’s demands were not too excessive, they could agree.

Their bottom line was Latin America. If Great Hua only wanted Latin America, they could agree to cede it.

But if Great Hua demanded the entire South America, they would not agree, and then they would fight a battle with Great Hua first. If they won, everything would be fine. If they lost, they would talk about it later.

However, they never expected that Great Hua’s appetite would be even bigger than they imagined.

Great Hua not only wanted the entire South America, but also huge reparations and the right to station troops in Europe.

These conditions meant that the negotiations had basically ended before they even started.

“The European Union can’t possibly agree to these conditions.”

European Union representative Dasinger said.

“No, they will definitely agree. If they don’t agree, I will fight until you agree.”

Wu Changqing said.

His calm tone carried an unquestionable aura, making Dasinger feel very flustered.

During the communication between the two sides, the Great Hua navy had already passed through the English Channel and arrived at the mouth of the Somme River.

Here, only the main guns of the Yanhuang class battleship could reach London. The guns of other warships did not have enough range.

To bombard London, they had to first solve the coastal defense guns on both sides of the Somme River, and then go upstream along the Somme River for a distance before they could bombard London.

Great Britain had a bit of a leading role in the European Union. To subdue the European Union, they had to subdue Great Britain first. Bombing London was a must.

So, the planes on the Flying Sword took off again and headed to bomb London.

And the cannons on those battleships and cruisers were aimed at the British forts.

“Go to the basement, hide!”

The alarm sounded in London.

Unfortunately, it was too late. They only sounded the alarm after they saw the planes of Great Hua. There was no time, and it wasn’t even an early warning.

Therefore, this alarm basically had no effect other than telling the public that the enemy had arrived in London.

There were also very few houses with basements in London. They had never thought there would be a threat from the air, and they had not built air-raid shelters.

They had almost no means of resisting the air raids and bombings of Great Hua.

Although London was not a military base, the Huaxia army bombed it without hesitation.

For Great Britain, the capital London was the most important place. Only by bombing London could the rulers of Great Britain feel the pain.

If they bombed the British countryside, those rulers would definitely be indifferent.

The planes arrived, and the alarm sounded, but some people still did not escape, but stood on the street, watching the planes in the sky.

It was not until two days ago that they were told that Great Hua had a weapon that could fly into the sky and that they needed to escape when they encountered it.

Some residents were very curious about the planes of Great Hua.

Now that they saw it with their own eyes, they couldn’t move.

As for the danger, before the bombs were dropped, before they saw it with their own eyes, some people really didn’t have that concept.

“Cool.”

A teenager said.

Flying in the sky, in his opinion, there was nothing cooler than this in the world.

“I wish I had a plane.”

Another person said.

“This is the technology of Great Hua. It’s decades ahead of Great Britain.”

……

Just as they were talking, a black dot appeared in the sky. The bombs of Great Hua began to fall.

Chapter 1009: Approaching London

With a deafening boom, screams erupted.

The houses in London were incredibly fragile, lacking both steel reinforcement and cement.

The house where the bomb landed was almost completely flattened.

People who witnessed this scene from afar were dumbfounded.

It was the first time in their lives that they had seen such a shocking sight – a house simply erased from existence.

Immediately afterward, more explosions rang out.

The Huaxia army wasn’t deliberately seeking specific targets; they were just bombing indiscriminately.

Smoke and fire filled the air.

Pedestrians scurried through the streets like headless flies, unsure of where to find safety.

Women shrieked, and the city descended into chaos.

“Fuck, fuck…”

Some enraged people cursed the Great Hua planes, venting their anger since they were powerless against the Huaxia army.

After the bombs were dropped, London had suffered considerable damage.

While not utterly devastated, it was certainly riddled with holes.

Satisfied, the bombers returned.

By the time they returned, the Huaxia army had largely cleared the shore batteries along the Somme River.

Europe’s technological gap with Great Hua was particularly evident in artillery.

Europeans understood the principles, but they simply couldn’t build the guns.

The gun barrels demanded a very specific type of steel, which Great Britain couldn’t yet produce.

Forcing the caliber and barrel length would only result in the guns exploding.

Under this comprehensive suppression, Great Britain’s coastal defenses were practically useless, serving only to expend some of Great Hua’s ammunition.

If they could cut off Great Hua’s supply lines, it would be a different story.

But since they couldn’t, it was a joke.

Huaxia army warships entered the Somme River and began moving upstream, approaching London. Meanwhile, the Marine Corps, along with a portion of the army, had landed and were advancing on land in coordination with the warships, clearing out the remaining resistance along the coast.

Great Britain had no way to counter the Huaxia army’s shelling and could only endure it.

However, their bottom line was that they couldn’t allow Great Hua’s ground forces to enter London.

Because if it was just shelling, the damage to London would be limited; Great Hua’s shells were expensive, and they couldn’t keep bombing forever.

But if London were occupied by ground troops, the losses would be immeasurable.

People were much more flexible than artillery shells, and given enough time, they could empty the entire city of London with the forces they had.

This was something Great Britain couldn’t accept. After all, London was the capital of Great Britain, holding at least one-twentieth of the entire nation’s wealth.

Therefore, London was a city that could not be allowed to fall under any circumstances.

The Huaxia army Marine Corps encountered British resistance as soon as they entered Dartford.

The British had constructed defensive works there to halt the Huaxia army’s advance.

“Damn it, how is the firepower of these barbarians so fierce?”

A Marine Corps soldier, head lowered, complained from behind cover.

The appearance of machine guns and a large number of rifles on the British positions created a volume of fire that halted the Huaxia army’s advance.

Charging head-on through such intense fire was unwise; after all, their forces were limited, with only three thousand men sent to attack London.

“That’s because our armored vehicles haven’t been brought over yet. The Indian army’s firepower was also quite fierce when they were defending, but they still collapsed quickly in the face of our armored vehicles,”

Another soldier complained.

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps commander was using a radio to contact the battleships, requesting them to shell the enemy positions and provide fire support.

After the Huaxia army became accustomed to bullying others with superior weaponry, they developed a fear of insufficient firepower and a dependence on it.

They were unwilling to engage the enemy unless their firepower was superior.

The military’s high command couldn’t do much about this.

After all, when they had a firepower advantage, there was no need to ask soldiers to engage in melee combat.

The navy received the request and then targeted the British positions.

The massive guns roared, and the British were in deep trouble.

The navy’s artillery had a much larger caliber than the field guns that were the main equipment of the current Huaxia army, and its power was naturally much greater.

A single high-explosive shell could clear an area the size of half a soccer field.

Even the secondary guns had more power than field guns.

Not to mention being hit directly, even being affected by the shockwave could send a person flying, causing temporary unconsciousness, shattered eardrums, or deafness.

As for those soldiers who were hit directly, their bodies were basically obliterated.

In post-battle casualty statistics, they could only be classified as missing.

A large number of shells landed on the British positions, and the earth-shattering explosions terrified the British soldiers.

They had never experienced such intense bombardment before and couldn’t adapt to it at all.

Coupled with the lack of preparation and insufficient air-raid shelters, their casualties under this shelling were far greater than normal.

After the shelling stopped, the Huaxia army Marine Corps launched an assault.

By this point, the British had been stunned, and their organizational structure had been disrupted, making it impossible to organize an effective defense.

Although some soldiers picked up their rifles and fired, the unorganized resistance had limited power, and the entire defensive line was full of holes.

Soon, the Huaxia army charged onto their positions.

In close combat, courage was crucial. But at this time, the morale of the British army had plummeted.

Seeing the Huaxia army charging towards them, some even forgot to resist.

A few who were still resisting were immediately mowed down by the Huaxia army’s submachine guns.

Even in bayonet fighting, the Huaxia army could gain a local advantage.

The Huaxia army quickly broke through the first line of defense, killing at least nearly a thousand British soldiers and capturing more than two thousand.

However, when they attacked the second line of defense, they encountered fierce resistance from the British again.

The enemy in the second line of defense had suffered less shelling and had enough time to react and organize.

Once organized, it was not easy for the Huaxia army to charge up.

This made Guo Sen, the commander of the Marine Regiment, very depressed. Charging head-on wasn’t impossible, but it would require heavy casualties, which Guo Sen couldn’t accept.

Great Hua’s forces on the European battlefield were limited, and they needed to conserve their strength.

Continuing to call for naval fire support wasn’t very feasible either.

Great Hua had limited forces and ammunition in Europe.

If they had to have the navy shell every defensive line they attacked, they would run out of ammunition by the time they reached London.

At this time, the logistical problems caused by the extended battle lines became apparent. If they had enough ammunition and troops, they wouldn’t need to consider so much and could just push straight through.

But now, Guo Sen was facing a dilemma.

Chapter 1010: The Last Line of Defense

“How about we bypass these land-based defenses by sea and take London directly?”

One of his subordinates suggested.

It was a risky suggestion. Without securing the strategic points along the river, a deep thrust would be dangerous.

If they weren’t careful, the enemy might find a way to block the Somme, trapping them in London. If the enemy was willing to pay the price, they could be completely annihilated.

“I think it’s feasible. As long as the navy remains vigilant, it won’t be easy for the enemy to block the Somme. As long as the Somme remains open, we can retreat at any time,” another subordinate agreed.

With Great Britain’s current technological capabilities, blocking the Somme would require sinking many large ships to create reefs.

This would be very difficult for Great Britain. Reefs formed by wooden ships probably wouldn’t stop the passage of Huaxia army warships. As for ironclad ships, Great Britain doesn’t have many to begin with. Could they bear to sacrifice them?

Even if they were willing, it wouldn’t be easy to pull off.

So, their worries were actually a bit unnecessary.

“I’ll discuss it with Commander Liu.”

Guo Sen couldn’t make such an important decision and could only report the current situation and suggestions to Fleet Commander Liu Wanghai.

Liu Wanghai considered it for a while and then approved the plan.

Great Hua’s strategy was to force the enemy to surrender and to capture London.

Retreating at this point was absolutely out of the question. It would only boost British morale and confidence.

Even at a heavy price, they needed to capture London, the symbol of Great Britain. This had significant political implications and could severely undermine Great Britain’s will to resist.

If they couldn’t take London safely, they had to take a gamble.

Moreover, in Liu Wanghai’s view, this gamble wasn’t that dangerous.

He had confidence in his fleet. As long as they remained vigilant, the enemy couldn’t block their retreat route right under their noses.

Subsequently, the ground troops boarded the ships, and the fleet headed straight for London.

Faced with this move by the Huaxia army, the British army was helpless and could only follow towards London.

Their speed naturally couldn’t keep up with the speed of the Huaxia army fleet.

Soon, the Huaxia army fleet arrived in London.

Through aerial reconnaissance, they quickly identified the British army’s defenses, troop assembly points, and the location of supply depots.

People today may not know what air supremacy is, but the Huaxia army was already enjoying the benefits of it.

“Open fire.”

With all parameters adjusted, the Huaxia army’s naval guns fired again.

The shells exploded on the British army’s positions, supply depots, and troop concentration areas.

These were all sore spots for the British army.

“Motherfucker.”

The British army was furious, only hating that their rifles couldn’t counterattack the Great Hua warships.

“Shameless, bastards, this isn’t a gentleman’s fight.”

The British army’s supreme commander, Tynold, was a nobleman and a gentleman.

The wars of his youth were fought with everyone standing in rows, settling the score in a relatively fair manner.

He admired that kind of warfare.

But now, the Huaxia army’s warships were all out of their range, unilaterally beating them.

Such bullying, in Tynold’s view, was very ungentlemanly and deserved to be denounced and cursed.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army didn’t know what he was thinking, or they would have laughed themselves to death.

On the battlefield, Great Hua emphasized deception and using one’s strengths to attack the enemy’s weaknesses. Not taking advantage of an advantage would be idiotic.

Regardless of how Tynold roared, the Huaxia army’s shelling continued.

By the time the shelling ended, the defenses that Tynold had painstakingly set up were in shambles.

Some bunkers were destroyed, and some defenses had gaps blown into them.

Even more deadly, a large amount of ammunition and supplies were destroyed, drastically reducing their ability to sustain combat.

At the same time, nearly a thousand soldiers were injured or killed in the Huaxia army’s shelling.

Their defense line only had four thousand men in total.

Great Britain had always focused on the navy, so the army was small, only one hundred and forty thousand men.

Of these, sixty thousand were sent to Africa to participate in the Allied forces, with another ten thousand plus in North America, twenty thousand plus in Ireland, ten thousand plus in Scotland, and ten thousand plus in Wales.

Only less than twenty thousand soldiers were stationed in London.

The Great Britain’s higher-ups hadn’t expected that Great Hua’s first target wouldn’t be Madrid, but their London, so they hadn’t had time to transfer troops.

Of the less than twenty thousand troops, twelve thousand were deployed on the three outer defense lines, leaving only six thousand plus in London.

Tynold’s defense line was actually the last line of defense for London.

Once this line was broken, it would mean that London would fall.

“Go and inform the nobles and gentlemen in the city, tell them that London may not be able to hold, and let them evacuate as soon as possible. Remember, don’t let the common people know.”

Tynold could only prepare for the worst. Based on Great Hua’s actions in Gibraltar, the wealthy in London would be in trouble.

Therefore, these people had to evacuate London as soon as possible.

To avoid causing panic, Tynold also instructed them to keep it secret and not let the common people know.

Once the common people knew that London couldn’t be defended, they would also be very likely to flee London. If everyone fled collectively, it would be extremely chaotic, and it would be a problem whether those nobles could escape.

“Yes, sir.”

Tynold’s adjutant went to carry out the order, but when he arranged for soldiers to deliver the message, several soldiers disobeyed the order and didn’t keep it secret.

Because they themselves came from the bottom ranks of society and had a layer of sympathy for the common people, and even their families were in London.

So, they secretly leaked the news.

As a result, London fell into complete panic and chaos.

They were afraid when they were bombed before, but that was only for a while. After the Huaxia army flew away, they weren’t too worried.

But now, the Huaxia army was about to enter London.

As long as the Huaxia army entered London, their lives would be completely in the hands of the Huaxia army, and they would have to live according to the Huaxia army’s wishes. Making even a slight mistake could lead to death.

Especially the nobles and the wealthy, they were even more panicked because the Huaxia army liked to target the wealthy and kill them.

Commoners who stayed in London might be safe as long as they didn’t anger the Huaxia army soldiers.

But for them, the wealthy, hiding wouldn’t help. The Huaxia army would come to their door.

After receiving Tynold’s notification, the city’s officials, royalty, nobles, and wealthy people all hurriedly began to pack their luggage, preparing to flee north, away from the coast.

Chapter 1011: Chaotic London

Inside the city hall, people hurried back and forth, each with a preoccupied expression.

“Damn Great Hua are coming! That damned Tynord actually said London couldn’t be defended! Damn it, damn it!”

Councilor Olsen cursed as he directed people to sort through important documents in preparation for evacuation.

They had considered the possibility of London being attacked, but never imagined it would come so quickly and fiercely, catching them completely off guard.

“Take the important confidential documents! Burn these meeting minutes, burn them!”

Olsen barked.

A government office naturally had a lot of documents.

Household registrations, land records, policy backups, diplomatic records, meeting minutes, and so on, encompassing every trivial matter of the nation.

Some of these documents could not be lost, such as the national household registrations and land ownership certificates.

Understanding Great Britain’s situation and formulating policies required these documents.

If these documents were lost, recreating them would be extremely difficult.

Some documents could not fall into the hands of the Huaxia army, such as diplomatic records and meeting minutes.

The words and attitudes towards Great Hua in these documents were not favorable, and they also recorded the names of many officials. If they fell into the hands of the Huaxia army after defeat, they would be evidence of crimes.

The same went for other similar documents.

This was why government offices were always littered with documents and a lot of ashes whenever they had to retreat after a defeat.

London’s government offices were in chaos, and the residential areas were much the same.

In the wealthy districts, every household was packing luggage and collecting valuables.

Such as gold and silver jewelry, and unique works of art.

Da Vinci’s paintings, Shakespeare’s handwritten scripts, Donatello’s sculptures, and so on.

These things were the Great Hua people’s favorites.

London’s wealthy people had heard about the actions of the Great Hua people in Gibraltar. The Great Hua people in Gibraltar had taken away the artworks of those wealthy people, claiming they wanted to collect the entire Europe’s artworks back to Great Hua, and then build a museum to display these artworks centrally.

It was both a display of art and a show of their military achievements.

European tycoons were very angry and helpless about this behavior.

The only thing they could do was to hide all the precious artworks to avoid the poisonous hands of Great Hua.

“Be careful, that’s a painting by Michelangelo! If you break it, I’ll whip you to death!”

Sir Philip roared, while the servant holding the painting wore a look of panic and fear on the surface, but in his heart, he was cursing Philip, and even praying that the Huaxia army would appear in front of him now.

That way, this damned Philip wouldn’t be able to escape.

It’s no wonder this servant had such resentment. Philip was blaming the servants for being too slow, while also blaming them for not being careful enough. It was outrageous.

“My little princesses, can you please put on some comfortable clothes quickly? We’re escaping for our lives, not going on vacation. Don’t dress up so carefully. The more beautiful you dress, the more miserable you’ll be if you’re caught by the Huaxia army.”

Philip’s wife urged her daughters.

However, Jenny didn’t feel so urgent, and even had the mood to argue, she said: “No, beautiful women will be sent to high-ranking officials if they are caught, and ugly ones will be enjoyed by the soldiers collectively. In comparison, I would rather be sent to a high-ranking official.”

Jenny’s words infuriated her mother. She was already past her prime, and if she was caught, she would definitely be sent to the soldiers. She couldn’t imagine that scene.

“If you’re not down in ten minutes, I’ll leave you here.”

The mother issued her final ultimatum.

In the slums, the people also hurriedly packed their belongings and prepared to flee London after hearing the news.

Although the Great Hua people did not kill civilians in Gibraltar, no one knew if they would in London. No one could guarantee that.

What’s more, the government of Great Britain had been promoting the barbarity and brutality of Great Hua, and its ferocious image had more or less influenced many people’s impression of Great Hua.

Just in case, it was safest to evacuate London at this time.

Although poor people didn’t have many valuable things at home, their speed of packing up was not necessarily faster than those nobles.

Those nobles only packed those valuable things, and threw away those that were not valuable. But for the poor, a wooden basin, a tattered quilt, and a water tank were all valuable items.

Losing any of them would have a significant impact on their lives.

As a result, on the streets of the slums, you could see those people pushing wheelbarrows, piled high with bottles and jars.

A mighty army came out of the slums, squeezed onto the main road leading to the North, and squeezed together with the carriages of those noble lords.

Suddenly, London also experienced traffic congestion.

However, this kind of ‘prosperity’ was not what the officials of Great Britain wanted.

“Fuck.”

“Fuck you.”

“Motherfucker.”

…

On the street, all kinds of curses rose and fell, and the scene was very harmonious.

In other parts of the city, there were also some hooligans, scammers and thieves taking the opportunity to cause trouble.

For them, chaos meant opportunity.

Hooligans began to rob and molest women on the streets, anyway, there were no police to maintain order at this time.

Without government control and deterrence, these hooligans were the kings of these streets.

Don’t look at how wretched and honest they usually are in front of the police, but when they are in front of ordinary people, they can be as arrogant as gangsters, invincible.

Thieves began to go to other people’s homes to search for treasures that might have been missed.

They mainly patronized the wealthy areas, there was really nothing to steal in the slums.

The scammers didn’t stop either. The Huaxia army was about to attack, but they were still able to calmly scam people.

The calmest people in the entire city of London at this time were them.

For example, they lied to those who were eager to escape London that they had ships or carriages outside the city, and then charged a deposit, or led people to other people’s ships, or disappeared after collecting the deposit.

Or, they directly deceived those who didn’t want to leave London, saying that they had connections with the Huaxia army, and as long as they paid, they could guarantee the other party’s safety.

In short, various methods emerged one after another, dazzling people. Scammers’ imaginations are often a little higher than ordinary people’s.

And people are most easily deceived when they are nervous and afraid.

The chaotic London at this time only revealed one truth: no matter how corrupt the government is, it is always better to have a government than not to have one.

Once there is no government, the whole society will be in chaos.

Chapter 1012: Entering London

“Regimental Commander, the ship captain sent a telegram saying that the people in London are preparing to flee. He ordered us to quickly take London and not let those nobles escape.”

At the Huaxia army headquarters, Guo Sen received the order to accelerate the attack.

“Let the First Battalion launch a surprise attack from the left flank, the Second Battalion pass through the farmland on the right, and the Third Battalion launch the main attack from the front. Tell them that the army is watching us from the sidelines, so don’t let them laugh at us.”

Guo Sen said.

The main force in this operation was their Marine Corps, and the army also dispatched more than eight hundred people to assist.

Although the navy and army cooperated in combat under the instructions of their superiors, they were still distinct from each other in normal times.

If their Marine Corps didn’t perform well, they would definitely be ridiculed by the army.

In severe cases, the army might use this as an excuse to prove that the Marine Corps was not competent for ground missions, thereby canceling or reducing the size of the Marine Corps and allocating the funds to the army.

Neither being ridiculed by the army nor having their military expenditure reduced was something the Marine Corps could tolerate.

“Tell the regimental commander to rest assured, my unit will complete the mission at all costs.”

After receiving the order, the troops below also became fierce.

As the bugle sounded, the Huaxia army launched a full-scale general offensive.

The British defense line, which had suffered continuous shelling from the Huaxia army, was already riddled with holes. Faced with the Huaxia army’s attack, they could only rely on the soldiers’ awareness to resist, without a complete organization.

“There’s a large group of enemies at three o’clock, machine gunner!”

A British squad leader shouted.

“The machine gun is broken, sir.”

The machine gunner said helplessly.

“Why haven’t you fixed it yet?”

The squad leader scolded the machine gunner while applying for machine gun support from his superiors.

However, it was already too late. The Huaxia army’s offensive was too fierce.

Da da da…

The Huaxia army’s machine guns fired fiercely, making the British soldiers afraid to show their heads. If they did, they would be shot in the head and go directly to meet God. There was no need for a rescue process.

The British army didn’t dare to show their heads, so the Huaxia soldiers’ charge was very easy.

After they approached the British army’s position, all kinds of strange weapons began to appear.

For example, grenade launchers and rocket launchers. These two were Great Hua’s most advanced individual weapons, which could greatly increase the infantry’s firepower.

The grenades fired by the grenade launcher had a large killing area and were much easier to use than hand grenades, but they were also much more expensive.

However, the Marine Corps, backed by the navy, was also known for not being short of money.

As long as the navy built one less warship, the money saved would be enough for the Marine Corps to squander for a long time.

In the Marine Corps, a platoon was equipped with two grenade launchers.

Aiming at the enemy’s trenches, a grenade was fired, and the opposite side immediately fell silent.

Then, the infantry could quickly advance.

In the past, soldiers holding rifles were the main force in killing enemies. But now, the role of these infantrymen had become clearing out the remaining enemies.

Faced with large groups of enemies, fire points, and difficult-to-conquer fortifications, the Huaxia army first used mortars, howitzers, rocket launchers, plastic explosives, and machine guns.

And the infantry generally hid behind cover, waiting for these weapons to show their power, and then rushed up to clear out the remaining enemies.

Generally, after the enemy was hit by a wave of Great Hua’s advanced weapons, they were basically in a dazed state.

At this time, the infantry rushed up to harvest and clean up the battlefield, which was very easy.

Compared with the Huaxia army, the British infantry were very miserable. The most advanced weapons in their hands were only Maxim machine guns, and the rest were rifles.

Not only were their weapons backward, but what was even more deadly was their lack of understanding of Great Hua’s weapons.

They didn’t even know the characteristics of grenade launchers, so they definitely couldn’t take corresponding measures.

As a result, the effect of those special weapons would be amplified.

Just like when the early Huaxia army used machines to fight cavalry, if those cavalrymen had enough understanding of Great Hua’s machines, they would definitely not have foolishly charged head-on, and the machine guns would not have caused such great results.

The British army thought they already knew Great Hua very well, because their spies had been active in Great Hua.

However, most of the information that those spies could obtain was still superficial.

They had not heard much news about the advanced weapons in the army.

“Go, it’s our time to perform.”

After the Huaxia army fired two grenades at a trench, the squad leader took the lead in rushing towards that trench.

Without encountering any resistance, they rushed into the trench.

Regardless of the consequences, they swept through the trench with their submachine guns first.

At this time, the British soldiers in the trench were already dead.

A fire point was breached, and the British troops in the nearby defense line quickly retreated.

After all, they couldn’t build a complete defense line on their own.

If they didn’t retreat, they would be attacked by the Huaxia army from the flank.

This situation was happening throughout the entire defense line, with only slight differences in degree.

If the British army retreated in one or two places, it wouldn’t matter too much.

However, if the entire battle line was retreating, then this defense line was actually declared lost.

Although there were still nearly three thousand British troops on this defense line, even slightly more than the attacking Huaxia army in total number.

But it was useless. These soldiers were creatures with the instinct to survive.

In the absence of hope, it was impossible to get them to risk their lives to delay the Huaxia army’s offensive.

Throughout the history of wars, both ancient and modern, it was common for a small group of people to chase and kill a large group of people.

Soon, the British army’s retreat turned into a rout.

And the Huaxia army followed behind, happily chasing and killing them.

“How could this be? How could this be?”

Tynord looked at the collapse of the battle line and became somewhat emotionally distraught.

He had predicted that he would not be able to hold on, but he had never thought that the defense line would fall so quickly.

In his estimation, he could hold on for at least a day and a night.

In this way, the people in the city would have enough time to escape from London.

With the Huaxia army’s limited forces, they would definitely not dare to pursue deeply.

However, at this moment, all his fantasies were shattered. The Huaxia army only took two hours to make his defense line fall.

His defense line was somewhat like a mere formality.

“Commander, let’s go quickly, it will be too late if we delay.”

His subordinates urged him.

The soldiers who fled the fastest were already running towards them.

If they didn’t retreat, they might be caught by the Huaxia army.

Tynord was already somewhat emotionally out of control. At this time, his subordinates couldn’t care so much. They directly put him on the carriage and fled to the rear with the routed soldiers.

At this point, the last line of defense blocking the London city area was lost, and the main force of the Huaxia army rushed into the urban area.

At the same time, the Huaxia army also divided its forces to the main roads to intercept the nobles who were trying to leave London.

Chapter 1013: Atrocities

“The Great Huaxia people are here.”

“Oh, God.”

“Mommy.”

…

Those who hadn’t managed to escape the city were blocked by the Huaxia army.

Instantly, these people erupted in desperate wails.

“Anyone here speak Chinese?”

Qiu Jianbin, a company commander of the Huaxia army, asked.

At first, no one stepped forward. The Huaxia army didn’t care; if they couldn’t communicate with words, they’d use actions.

A kick, followed by a point toward the city, should convey the meaning to most people.

If they still didn’t understand, then there was nothing to be done; a bullet would solve the problem.

After all, these soldiers didn’t have much time to waste communicating with fools.

“Stop, I can speak Chinese.”

Several Britons stepped forward.

This was within Qiu Jianbin’s expectations.

Not many Great Huaxia people learned English these days, but many foreigners were learning Chinese.

In London, there were even specialized Chinese schools; it was impossible that no one understood Chinese.

“Tell them to put down their belongings and return to the city.”

Qiu Jianbin said.

“Why put down their belongings? We can take these things back with us,” the translator said weakly.

“How can you move quickly with all this stuff? If you delay my time, I might as well kill you all. So, I’m not negotiating with you; I’m giving you an order, understand?”

Qiu Jianbin said.

Such a crude reason naturally failed to convince anyone.

However, these Britons had no choice but to, like the Jews, abandon everything and board the trains empty-handed.

Writing their names on their luggage was their last hope.

Some, after the translator’s warning, still refused to let go.

Their fate, of course, was tragic.

At best, they were beaten severely; at worst, they lost their lives.

The once high and mighty nobles were now as humble as the serfs they used to lord over.

In the city, the Huaxia army was still engaging the remaining British forces.

However, these were just small-scale, sporadic skirmishes.

The remaining British troops had lost their command structure and were fighting purely on instinct.

More British soldiers chose to take off their uniforms, throw away their weapons, and slip into civilian residences, transforming into ordinary citizens. This tactic was universally applicable.

Soon, the Huaxia army had basically controlled the main urban areas of London.

Next, the scene from Gibraltar was replayed in London.

The property of the rich was confiscated, and some noble women were violated.

The only difference was that there were too many nobles in London, so many that the Huaxia army couldn’t rob them all.

“I protest, Commander Guo, it’s wrong of you to condone your soldiers like this. I will report you to your Holy Son of Heaven. I know your military regulations.”

The captured Olsen came before Guo Sen and protested, demanding that Guo Sen stop the actions of the ordinary soldiers.

“I’m sorry, Sir Olsen, I just entered London and need to set up defenses. I really don’t have the energy to deal with what you’re saying. Only after I’ve arranged the defenses will I have time to care about London’s security problems,” Guo Sen said.

Although they had taken London, there were still at least ten thousand British soldiers outside London, so they had to prepare for defense.

Moreover, reinforcements from other places were probably rushing to London as well.

Reinforcements from other places might still take some time, but reinforcements from Manchester should arrive soon, since London and Manchester were connected by rail.

“Please, I beg you to complete the deployment of defenses quickly. Moreover, if you agree to stop those soldiers in the city, I can write a letter to the soldiers outside, asking them to temporarily stop attacking.”

Olsen said.

“Does what you’re saying imply that I’m afraid of your attacks?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Olsen was both angry and anxious. He knew that Guo Sen understood his meaning, knew that Guo Sen was playing dumb.

But what could he do?

At this moment, what he called negotiation with Guo Sen was actually begging, the decision-making power completely in Guo Sen’s hands.

And Guo Sen had countless reasons to prevaricate him.

One moment he said he had to deploy defenses, the next he said those army soldiers weren’t under his jurisdiction, and then he simply disappeared.

If it weren’t for the fact that they still needed to sign a treaty with Great Britain in the future and needed to maintain some restraint, Guo Sen wouldn’t even bother with Olsen.

The protests from Great Britain continued, while the Huaxia army continued to do what they were doing.

The looted goods were loaded directly onto ships on the River Thames and transported to Ceuta.

Artworks would be transported to Great Hua and displayed in museums for the Great Huaxia people to admire.

These all symbolized Great Hua’s illustrious military achievements and were of great aesthetic and commemorative value.

Some beautiful women would be transported to Ceuta, South Africa, and even Great Hua.

They, too, were valuable assets.

At the same time, the Huaxia army was still fighting with the British army outside the city.

However, the fighting between the two sides was not intense.

The British army lacked the siege weapons that the Huaxia army had. If they attacked head-on, the casualties would inevitably be very heavy, and they might not even be able to take the city.

What was even more deadly was that the Huaxia army had also taken a group of disobedient nobles and wealthy people to the front lines, tying them to the positions as hostages.

If the British army wanted to attack, they would inevitably accidentally kill these hostages.

This approach by Great Hua made the British army very angry.

However, while angry, they were also extremely helpless.

They could only temporarily stop the attack and send envoys to negotiate with the Huaxia army, demanding that the Huaxia army abandon this ungentlemanly behavior.

Unfortunately, the Huaxia soldiers ignored them.

The reason they acted this way actually depended entirely on Wu Changqing’s attitude towards Europeans.

When occupying Korea, Wu Changqing had issued very strict orders, prohibiting disturbing the people and violating military discipline, so the lower-level officers and soldiers naturally did not dare to act recklessly.

In Japan and Annam, the tone of Wu Changqing’s orders was not so strict.

Those officers who had a good grasp of Wu Changqing’s intentions had a worse attitude towards the Japanese and Annamese people.

Then, in India and Java, the attitude was different again.

And among the Huaxia army officers, they could all feel that Wu Changqing disliked Western Europeans.

When Gibraltar was captured, no orders were issued prohibiting burning, killing, and looting.

And their actions in Gibraltar were not held accountable afterward.

This made them even bolder, and they committed many violations of military discipline in London. And their superiors did not stop their behavior.

Although many people didn’t understand why Wu Changqing had such a big prejudice against Europeans, it didn’t matter; they were happy to see it.

They risked their lives on the battlefield, and what they longed for most was to be able to vent freely after victory.

Chapter 1014: The Only Hope

After the Huaxia army occupied London, it was the turn of the British upper class to feel the headache and anxiety.

The nobles trapped in London wrote letters one after another to the King and Parliament hiding in Oxford, demanding that they immediately resolve the London issue.

Either dispatch a large army to recover London, or immediately negotiate peace with Great Hua.

They didn’t want to be controlled by the Huaxia army all the time, as that gave them no sense of security.

Although these people were embarrassed in front of the Huaxia army, they were actually very influential in Great Britain.

One of the reasons Charles II was able to ascend the throne was their support.

Charles II could not ignore the opinions of these people no matter what.

In Oxford, Charles II turned several strands of hair white with worry after learning of the fall of London.

He had no appetite for the delicacies placed before him.

Although he had been mentally prepared for it, the extent of the disastrous outcome still exceeded his expectations. He never expected that so many nobles would be trapped in London.

He couldn’t ignore the lives of those people.

Otherwise, those who originally supported him would immediately overthrow him.

He was not like Louis XIV, who controlled the power of the state.

In comparison, he was a relatively weak monarch with limited power in his hands.

“Henry, what do you think I should do?”

Charles II summoned several important ministers to ask for their opinions.

“The lives of Sir Olsen and the nobles in the city must be preserved. We cannot allow the tragedy of Gibraltar to be repeated,” Henry said.

“However, if we want to save the lives of those people, we must negotiate peace with the Huaxia people. This conflicts with the strategy we previously formulated. If we negotiate peace now, all the efforts we have made before will be in vain, and Great Britain will lose face in front of other countries and lose its leading position,” another more hard-line minister disagreed with the peace talks.

In his opinion, in order to win the war, a price must be paid.

The nobles in the city were that price.

Moreover, if the Huaxia people really killed all those nobles, it would completely enrage the entire upper class of Europe, which would make the alliance more united, which would also be a good thing.

“Edward, your son-in-law and daughter are also in London,” Henry reminded him.

“For the sake of victory, their sacrifice is valuable and they died a worthy death,” Edward said with a cold expression, leaving the others speechless.

Although they all knew that Edward’s decision was the most rational, they really couldn’t be so ruthless.

“Why don’t we delay it for a while, appease the Huaxia people, and protect the lives of the nobles in the city. On the other hand, we will wait for news from Africa.

If our coalition forces can succeed in Africa and have hope of defeating the Huaxia army, we will harden our hearts and abandon those people in the city.

If the coalition forces fail in Africa, then it will be meaningless for us to continue to resist stubbornly. We might as well formally negotiate peace with Great Hua and get through this crisis.”

Henry came up with a compromise.

The reason why he thought this way was actually because everyone didn’t have much hope for the actions in Africa.

The combat effectiveness displayed by the Huaxia army far exceeded their imagination.

They found that the plans they had made before were too optimistic, and the possibility of failure was extremely high.

Now, they had to start preparing for defeat.

In Paris, Louis XIV was surprised when he learned of the fall of London, but he also breathed a small sigh of relief. “Fortunately, the Huaxia people attacked London first.”

When the other ministers heard this, they could only pretend not to hear it.

Now that France and Great Britain were allies, it was really inappropriate to say such a thing.

Fortunately, those present were the core leaders of France, so no one would leak such words.

“I hope King Charles can hold on. Anyway, they advocate the strategy of dragging down the Huaxia army. Now is the time for them to implement their plan,” a minister said.

Everyone knew that the Huaxia army had limited ground troops in Europe.

Therefore, after Great Hua occupied London, Paris was relatively safe for the time being.

“How should we respond to Charles’ request for help?”

“How else can we respond? Unless their warships can cross the English Channel, otherwise our soldiers can’t swim over.”

“Even if their warships come, we can’t go. It’s too dangerous. If we are attacked at sea, our reinforcements will be doomed.”

After a lot of discussion, everyone finally felt that Great Britain’s affairs should be resolved by themselves.

Their army still needed to defend France.

Although the Huaxia army had not yet attacked, they had to be prepared for defense.

“We must build strong fortifications on the outskirts of Paris. From today onwards, the sale of cement to the public is prohibited. All of it will be requisitioned to build defense lines,” Louis XIV said.

This made one of the ministers look very ugly, because the cement factory was his family’s private property.

Europe had only mastered the cement manufacturing technology for less than a year.

Although there was technology now, the manufacturing process was not yet mature, so the manufacturing cost was high. Only by selling it to the rich could they earn some profits.

Don’t expect to sell it to the army.

If it were Charles II, he might not dare to requisition it directly.

But Louis XIV was more powerful. At the critical moment of the country, he didn’t consider so much.

“Now we can only wait for good news from Africa. If the actions there fail, we may really have no way to deal with Great Hua.”

France was also counting on the actions in Africa.

“London was captured? Fortunately, Madrid is inland.”

Carlos was also secretly rejoicing. If Madrid was also on the coast, he would definitely be the first to suffer.

Now, London had become the first unlucky one.

“Your Majesty, I heard that the Huaxia army is transferring troops from India to Europe, taking the Suez route. If this is true, a large number of Huaxia troops will soon appear in Europe,” a minister reminded him.

“Is this news reliable? What should we do? One or two thousand Huaxia troops have made us unable to resist. If tens of thousands more come, the entire Europe will be conquered,” Carlos said anxiously.

“Now, we can only pray for the success of the actions in Africa, so that the Huaxia people will not be able to obtain continuous supplies, and we will still have some opportunities,” the minister said.

Not only Great Britain, France, and Spain were counting on the actions in Africa, but also Poland, Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire, and Tsarist Russia were counting on that military operation.

Even Li Dingguo was hoping for their success, so that he could at least delay the expansion speed of Great Hua and allow him to live a comfortable life for a few more years.

Once that action failed, their situation would not be good.

Chapter 1015: African Battles

The battles in Africa had already begun before the Huaxia army even attacked London.

The European Union forces stationed in Liberia were the first to receive their orders. They departed from Liberia and headed for Xiping, the Huaxia army’s military base in Côte d’Ivoire, which would later be known as the area around San Pedro.

This allied force consisted of sixty thousand soldiers, two hundred and fifty artillery pieces, forty thousand breech-loading rifles, and nearly twenty thousand flintlock muskets.

They would have liked to be fully equipped with modern weapons, but their production capacity was limited.

Besides, they felt that this strength was already sufficient to take Xiping.

After all, Great Hua only had fifteen hundred troops stationed in Xiping, with approximately another fifteen hundred personnel who could take up arms in times of war.

However, their military quality was far inferior to that of regular soldiers.

Of course, this difference would only be significant in offensive and mobile warfare. In the most basic defensive battles, these people could still play a considerable role.

Even so, the allied forces still had a twenty-to-one advantage in manpower.

It would be quite inexcusable if they couldn’t take it with twenty against one.

However, when they arrived at Xiping, new intelligence made them more uneasy.

The new intelligence indicated that Great Hua had twenty-five hundred troops stationed in Xiping, not fifteen hundred.

Adding in the temporary conscripts, Great Hua could muster four thousand defenders in Xiping.

The strength comparison suddenly changed from twenty-to-one to fifteen-to-one, making the allied forces more uneasy.

The extra one thousand soldiers were specifically left behind by the Huaxia army to strengthen the defense.

The importance of Xiping and South Africa as supply points was clear not only to the Europeans but even more so to the people of Great Hua.

Therefore, after deciding to start the war against Europe, these two points and Ceuta were reinforced to strengthen their defenses.

It wasn’t just the troop strength that was increased, but also a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

This ammunition was originally intended to be transported to Ceuta at any time to supply the main force.

But if the base was attacked, this ammunition could naturally be used.

In other words, the defenders in Xiping had no shortage of ammunition.

“How do we attack?”

Nion, the French commander, asked the others.

“How else can we attack? We can only attack head-on. It’s not very realistic to try to infiltrate and coordinate from the inside, the Great Hua people’s checks are very strict. Moreover, this base rarely trades with European merchants, so it’s too difficult to infiltrate.”

Said Caromixiu, the Spanish commander.

Xiping wasn’t Ceuta. As a commercial city, it was relatively easy to infiltrate Ceuta.

However, that was only limited to the market; it was still difficult to infiltrate the military camp.

And Xiping, as a base, was more for military purposes and rarely engaged in trade, making it even more difficult to infiltrate.

“Xiping faces the sea on one side, and the other three sides can be attacked. Launching attacks from these three sides simultaneously can disperse the enemy’s defensive forces. The north side will be handed over to the warriors of Great Britain.”

Said O’Side, a British officer, but this wasn’t exactly a heroic act of volunteering.

Of the three sides that could attack Xiping, one was a hilly highland, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

O’Side directly chose the plain side, so the task of attacking the highlands would naturally be handed over to others.

“Okay, then the west side will be handed over to us, France.”

Nion followed suit and grabbed the other easy-to-attack side.

“Do you think I look stupid?”

Caromixiu complained, it was too much that the two of them grabbed the good jobs and then let him do the hard work.

“Caromixiu, you’re going too far with your words. We two are the main attackers, and your side is the diversion. The difficulty is about the same.”

O’Side explained.

“Gentlemen, this battle is related to the fate of our Europe. I think that at this moment, we can no longer haggle over small things. Only by working together and uniting can we overcome the difficulties together.”

Nion put on a righteous face, and Caromixiu couldn’t say anything more.

The attack on Xiping was a joint force of their three countries. No matter how they divided it, one side would always have to attack the eastern highlands.

It would be fair to have each country send a portion of their people to form a force to attack the east side, but that would be inconvenient for command. They weren’t stupid enough to do that.

In the end, Caromixiu chose to compromise and accepted the difficult task.

After that, they acted separately.

The movements of sixty thousand people, no matter how secretive they were, could not be hidden.

Three kilometers away from Xiping, Huaxia army sentries spotted the enemy’s movements on the observation balloon.

“Attention, a large group of unidentified enemies is approaching us, numbering between one and two thousand.”

The sentry quickly warned.

Although they didn’t know who the enemy was, the Huaxia army was sure that the other party was the enemy, because they had no allies here.

No matter who came, they definitely had bad intentions.

Therefore, after receiving the warning, the Huaxia army immediately blew the assembly whistle and entered the defensive position.

Before long, the sentry warned again, saying that they had discovered a second group of enemies, also numbering close to twenty thousand.

Immediately afterward, the third group of enemies was also discovered.

The observation balloon was more than forty meters high in the air, using a telescope to see the enemy’s movements clearly.

“This is not good, these enemies are obviously prepared. Remind the soldiers below, red alert. At the same time, gather the men in the base, issue guns, and let them serve as a reserve force, ready to join the battle at any time.”

The garrison commander, Ma Yan, felt a bad feeling in his heart and quickly gave instructions to respond according to the highest level of danger, a level one mobilization.

Regardless of who the enemy was, the number of fifty to sixty thousand alone made him dare not be careless.

As the enemy got closer and closer, the Huaxia army also entered the position. At this time, Ma Yan saw the other party’s approximate appearance through the telescope.

“It’s Europeans, where did they get so many people?”

Ma Yan muttered.

There were many Europeans doing business in Côte d’Ivoire, but at most two or three thousand would stay in Côte d’Ivoire.

Now, suddenly, sixty thousand fully armed Europeans appeared, which was obviously abnormal.

“It looks like it should be the European Union army, they want to destroy our supply point and make it difficult for the army to get supplies.”

The chief of staff analyzed.

“Their intentions are sinister, pass the order, defend Xiping to the death, and do not retreat a step.”

Ma Yan said.

If this place was captured, it would affect the army’s supply, and the consequences would be unimaginable. After all, the emperor was also on the fleet.

At that time, it wouldn’t be just his death, but his family in the Central Plains would also be implicated.

Even if he didn’t deserve to die, the rewards he had received before would definitely be taken back.

Therefore, for Ma Yan and other middle and senior officers, Xiping must not be lost.

Chapter 1016: Difficult to Advance an Inch

After the Allied forces reached their designated attack positions, they simultaneously launched an assault on the Xiping base. First, the artillery on the west and north sides opened fire, attempting to destroy some of the Huaxia army’s fortifications.

The Huaxia army didn’t use cement to construct Xiping because the transportation costs were too high. They still relied on rammed earth and brick.

Local Black labor was very cheap, so they easily built several walls, enclosing a city.

This type of city wall has been basically eliminated in Great Hua itself, and under the Huaxia army’s artillery fire, it was extremely vulnerable.

However, for the armies of other countries, it still possessed considerable defensive capabilities.

The Allied shells struck the sloping city walls made of rammed earth encased in brick and stone. Although they could cause some impact damage to the walls, the extent was limited.

If they wanted to destroy the Huaxia army’s city walls with artillery fire, they would probably have to bombard them continuously for two or three days.

Even if their gun barrels could withstand it, they didn’t have that much ammunition.

Therefore, it was unrealistic to rely solely on artillery fire to destroy the entire section of the Huaxia army’s city walls.

“Concentrate the fire on one section.”

Nion watched for a while and decisively changed his strategy.

He planned to blast a gap, making it easier for his subordinates to charge in.

On the north side, O’Side had his artillery switch to howitzer shells, mainly to kill Huaxia army soldiers, without intending to destroy the city walls.

By killing Huaxia army soldiers, they would weaken the Huaxia army’s defensive strength and morale, and then storm the walls and break through the gates.

The two men’s methods were somewhat different, but the effects were similar: very poor.

Nion eventually blasted a small gap, but whether they could charge in was still a problem. O’Side’s attempt to kill Huaxia army soldiers also failed, as the Huaxia army had all taken shelter in air-raid shelters.

Regardless of the effect, once the scheduled attack time arrived, they had to bite the bullet and issue the order to attack.

Subsequently, the Allied forces began their assault from three directions.

The Spanish on the east side didn’t need to attack the city walls, but they faced a high mountain connected to the city walls, which, after being modified by the Huaxia army, was even more difficult to attack than the city walls.

On the west side, the French artillery bombardment hadn’t stopped, but the infantry had already charged towards the Huaxia army’s positions, engaging in combined arms tactics with some semblance of skill.

Unfortunately, the power of their artillery was too limited to deter the Huaxia army.

When their infantry entered the firing range, the Huaxia army’s machine guns opened fire.

A single burst killed more enemies than a French artillery piece.

“Keep charging! We win if we charge through that gap!”

A French officer shouted.

They were a bit too optimistic. If the Allied forces that attacked Ceuta were to attack Xiping, they wouldn’t be so optimistic.

This Allied force was engaging the Huaxia army for the first time and lacked experience.

During the charge, they didn’t make full use of cover and didn’t provide fire support or crossfire. In short, they basically charged in a chaotic manner.

Such a charge was naturally a sitting duck in the face of the Huaxia army’s firepower.

Not to mention charging to the damaged gap in the city walls, they couldn’t even get within one hundred meters of the Huaxia army before retreating in disarray, much to Nion’s dismay.

“General, how can we fight this? The enemy’s firepower is too fierce!”

A senior officer asked.

On the Huaxia army’s wall, less than five hundred meters long, at least ten heavy machine guns were deployed, averaging one every fifty meters. This density of firepower was terrifying.

It should be known that even Germany, which valued machine guns the most in World War I, had a machine gun density of only one per hundred meters in trench warfare. And this density of firepower could make it impossible for the Anglo-French Allied forces to advance an inch.

Without considering ammunition consumption, these ten machine guns could simultaneously crossfire, completely sealing off the entire area directly in front of them.

The French could only charge during the brief intervals when the machine guns were reloading.

But relying on that to charge to the Huaxia army was absolutely impossible.

Faced with this situation, Nion was dumbfounded.

Lacking modern warfare experience, he was at a loss.

The war in his worldview shouldn’t be like this.

“Find a way to destroy all of the enemy’s city walls.”

Nion was intelligent, but he just hadn’t gotten used to this mode of warfare yet. Faced with the current predicament, he managed to come up with a solution.

Dig tunnels under the city walls, and then use a large amount of gunpowder to blow up the walls.

Then, while the city walls were destroyed and the Huaxia army was in chaos and hadn’t rebuilt their defenses, charge in with one burst of energy.

As long as they could charge in and engage in melee combat, the Huaxia army’s machine guns would be useless.

Of course, this trick wouldn’t be easy for them, because this army hadn’t brought hoes or other auxiliary tools in order to travel light.

And the people of Côte d’Ivoire didn’t have many farm tools either, being very primitive.

This made it impossible for them to requisition them.

Helpless, Nion could only wait and see, waiting for good news from the British and Spanish armies. If the other two sides made a breakthrough, he wouldn’t have to attack.

However, he was destined to be disappointed.

The British situation was very similar to theirs. They also charged once, and then, because the casualties were too heavy, the soldiers retreated spontaneously.

This wave of attacks had no other effect than to test the Huaxia army’s firepower density.

“Without powerful artillery, we can’t take this place at all.”

O’Side was even more desperate than Nion.

He racked his brains but couldn’t think of a solution to this problem.

Compared to the progress of the British and French, the Spanish army’s progress was slightly better. They almost charged onto the Huaxia army’s positions.

Of course, this wasn’t to say that the Spanish army was more powerful. It was mainly because the Huaxia army’s firepower on this side wasn’t as fierce.

The Huaxia army still had machine guns, but they couldn’t find anyone who knew how to operate them.

These machine guns looked simple; you just had to pull the trigger.

But in reality, in the Huaxia army, machine gunners were technical soldiers who enjoyed much better treatment than ordinary soldiers.

Many people wanted to be machine gunners, but not every soldier could learn it easily.

Training machine gunners was much more difficult and expensive than training infantry, so the Huaxia army also followed the principle of moderation and didn’t train too many.

And at this time, the problem of not having enough machine gunners was troubling them.

It was fortunate that there weren’t any powerful snipers or mortars in the Allied forces who knew how to target the Huaxia army’s machine gunners. Otherwise, each attack would have cost the Huaxia army several machine gunners, and after a few attacks, the Huaxia army’s defenses would have had problems.

Overall, although the weapons of the Huaxia army and the Allied forces were almost on par with those of World War I, their tactical level was still very crude, because they had experienced too little of this kind of modern warfare and hadn’t summarized much experience at all.

And World War I was about the same at the beginning. It was only after a few months of fighting that various complex tactics were constantly staged.

Chapter 1017: Nothing Goes Smoothly

The Allied forces’ progress in Côte d’Ivoire was not smooth, and neither were their operations in South Africa.

Compared to the stronghold of Xi Ping, Great Hua had far more people in Hai Shan, South Africa.

This place was no longer just a supply station for sea routes, but a colony, a piece of Great Hua’s territory.

The number of Great Hua people living here had exceeded one hundred thousand.

Among them, men were the majority, accounting for ninety percent.

Among the men, gold prospectors, miners, and soldiers were the main groups, with a small number engaged in business and farming.

Whether they were gold prospectors or miners, those who dared to come to South Africa from afar to make a living would not be timid.

When faced with enemy attacks, these people could be quickly organized to fight.

The Allied forces had not yet approached Hai Shan when they were discovered by the Great Hua people about fifty kilometers away from Hai Shan, and then the two sides engaged in a small-scale firefight.

Subsequently, the alerted Huaxia army fought a contact battle in the area of Mniesberg.

For the Allied forces, they only wanted to destroy the stronghold of Hai Shan.

But for the Huaxia army, they had to defend the entire South Africa.

In their eyes, Great Hua should be the one to recover its homeland. How could they allow those barbarians to reoccupy Great Hua’s territory? This was a disgrace, absolutely unacceptable.

The Allied forces attacking Hai Shan numbered over one hundred thousand, while the Huaxia army’s garrison here was only one brigade, with more than five thousand soldiers.

However, in order to deal with the local natives in the past, Great Hua had developed a reserve force among the gold prospectors and miners.

At this time, a conscription order quickly gathered a team of over ten thousand people.

They dropped their tools, picked up their own weapons or the weapons issued by the Huaxia army, and headed straight to Mniesberg to join the main force of the Huaxia army.

This was the first field battle between the Huaxia army and the Allied forces. The Huaxia army was small in number and suitable for defensive operations.

However, the Allied forces were not fools either. They did not like to actively attack those dangerous places.

If possible, they would rather bypass the Huaxia army and directly attack Hai Shan to destroy it.

However, the Huaxia army had ways to force them to take the initiative to attack.

The Huaxia army occupied an important hilltop on the Allied forces’ only way, and built an artillery position on it.

The range of these seventy-five-millimeter field guns reached ten kilometers, and with the height of the mountain, the coverage of this range could be increased by another two or three kilometers.

As a result, the Allied forces either had to take down this hilltop and destroy the Huaxia army’s artillery position, or take a longer detour.

And if they took a detour, the Huaxia army had other surprises waiting for them.

If they chose neither of these two options and wanted to ignore this artillery position and pass through the range of artillery fire, then Great Hua’s artillery would teach them a lesson.

It could be said that if they really did this, the Huaxia army could defeat this enemy force with zero casualties.

The Allied forces were obviously not so stupid, but they did not take a detour either, because their time was also tight.

In order to complete the mission as soon as possible and reduce the pressure on their homeland, they chose to directly attack the Huaxia army’s artillery position.

This was the decision of the Allied forces’ commander, Vladimir, an officer from Tsarist Russia. His fear of Great Hua was slightly less than that of Britain, France, and Spain.

Ignorance is bliss. Tsarist Russia’s understanding of Great Hua was far less than that of other Western European countries.

When the Allied forces launched their attack, the Huaxia army also launched artillery fire.

However, due to the long distance, communication difficulties, and the enemy’s constant movement, the effect of the artillery fire at this time was not very good.

This kind of long-range artillery bombardment required reconnaissance troops to observe in front and have radio communication to cooperate well.

And in South Africa, radio had not yet been equipped.

Soon, the Allied forces attacked the first line of defense of the Huaxia army.

The first line of defense was five kilometers away from the artillery position. The depth of the entire battlefield reached eight or nine kilometers.

This depth was actually very small. If both sides were opponents with excellent tactics, the depth of this scale of battle could reach fifty kilometers.

If it was a mobile warfare, it would be even larger.

In mobile warfare, perhaps more than ninety-nine percent of the time was spent on maneuvering and rushing, and the time spent on the real decisive battle was very little.

But now, neither the Huaxia army nor the Allied forces had so many sophisticated strategies, and the tactics of both sides were very rough and direct.

One wanted to attack Hai Shan, and the other wanted to defend the border.

As a result, after the two sides discovered each other, the battle began.

Although the Huaxia army was the defending side, the advantage of the terrain was actually not great, because they did not have so much time to build fortifications.

In some places, even the trenches had not been dug yet.

Da da da…

The machine gun spewed fire, and several Allied soldiers fell down. The rest quickly hid behind the nearby gullies and rocks.

“Sniper, take out the enemy’s machine gun.”

To say what Great Hua’s weapons other countries feared the most, it was not bombers, nor aircraft carriers, not even armored vehicles, but machine guns.

The huge number of machine guns was the most troublesome weapon for other countries’ armies.

Two Allied soldiers with good marksmanship began to try to kill the Huaxia army’s machine gunner.

Their marksmanship was good, but unfortunately they lacked a good gun.

Relying on ordinary rifles to kill the target required some luck.

Give them five or six chances, and perhaps they could really do it.

But they did not have this opportunity, because the Huaxia army also had snipers.

When both sides had snipers, the snipers had only one chance to strike.

If they exposed themselves by firing a shot and did not kill the opponent, then they would be the ones to die.

The hit rate of snipers was so high, otherwise there would not be a myth of one sniper blocking a platoon.

Faced with a sniper who killed with every shot, just a platoon would really not dare to rush forward head-on.

The gun fired, and the bullet flew over the machine gunner’s head, but the machine gunner was unaware and continued to search for densely populated areas to strafe.

At this time, the Huaxia army’s sniper also discovered that the enemy had a sniper, and quickly found him.

Originally, the main targets of the Huaxia army’s snipers were enemy officers.

However, the value of killing enemy snipers was no less than killing some low-level officers.

So, the Great Hua sniper aimed at the Allied sniper. The guns they used were sniper rifles specially developed by Great Hua, with very precise scopes and first-class gun stability.

In addition, the snipers were all top-notch marksmen, so when they pulled the trigger, the Allied sniper fell to the ground instantly.

“There’s an enemy.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, probably a Huaxia army sniper.”

The Allied squad was in a panic. They could not find the enemy who fired the shot, which made them not know where to hide. This was really terrible.

Just as they were struggling, a shell fell in the middle of them.

This was the Huaxia army’s mortar. Great Hua’s endless stream of weapons made the Allied forces miserable.

Chapter 1018: Risky Plan

The squad’s failure was not only a local setback for the Allied forces but also reflected the overall trend on the entire battlefield.

Although the situation varied in other directions, the outcome was generally the same.

The Allied offensive was repelled by the Great Hua blockade.

“General, perhaps we should split our forces. One part can continue to confront the enemy here, while the other secretly detours to the Cape of Good Hope for a surprise attack.”

Someone suggested to Vladimir in the Allied command headquarters.

At this point, regardless of whether it was useful or not, Vladimir was willing to try any suggestion.

Subsequently, the Allied forces in South Africa began to divide their troops.

Although they had not been defeated, they had also failed to defeat the Huaxia army, similar to the stalemate in Xiping.

And this was definitely not good news for Europe.

They waited for a long time without receiving any good news, but bad news came one after another.

First, the troops in North Africa were cut off from supplies due to the blockade of the Mediterranean.

As people starved to death, a split occurred within the Allied forces.

The French and British forces chose to turn back and surrender to the Huaxia army in Ceuta. The Spanish and Holy Roman armies continued eastward, attempting to reach Egypt along the coast.

As for what to do after reaching Egypt, they didn’t know, they would just take it one step at a time.

Moreover, whether they could even reach it was a question.

The second piece of bad news was that the second batch of Huaxia army ground forces had arrived in Ceuta from the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.

This batch of Huaxia army totaled fourteen thousand, a standard division.

The division included an artillery regiment, two armored regiments, a motorized regiment, and the rest were infantry. The entire division was a semi-mechanized force.

This news was even worse for European countries than the annihilation of the North African legion.

Currently, Great Hua only had less than ten thousand ground troops in Europe, yet they had already occupied London, and Great Britain had not yet recovered it.

Now that Great Hua had sent another fourteen thousand people, places like Paris and Madrid were likely to fall.

This news cast a dark cloud over European countries.

“Has the British fleet been found yet?”

Wu Changqing asked in the Ceuta headquarters.

Although everything was progressing smoothly, the fact that the British fleet had not been destroyed caused Great Hua some trouble.

Among the European countries, only the British fleet could pose a threat to Great Hua’s transport ships; the fleets of other countries were not a concern.

As long as the British fleet was destroyed, Great Hua’s transport ships would be able to travel freely in the English Channel, without needing escort from capital ships every time, as was the case now.

As the war deepened, Huaxia army transport ships would need to sail in the English Channel very frequently, and it would be very extravagant to have warships escort them every time.

Therefore, Wu Changqing had always wanted to find the British fleet and destroy it.

However, Great Britain was very patient, and even after losing London, they were unwilling to send out their fleet for a desperate battle.

“Perhaps, we can lure them out.”

Staff Officer Lin Xuan said.

“How do we lure them?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Deliberately leak our plan to transport five thousand soldiers and a large amount of supplies to London, and intentionally send fewer escorting capital ships, to lure the British to attack, and then annihilate them in one fell swoop.”

Lin Xuan’s move was very ruthless.

If the British knew that Great Hua was going to send another five thousand people to London, they would definitely panic.

Now that three thousand Great Hua soldiers had already occupied London, if another five thousand came, even Oxford might not be safe.

To prevent this from happening, Great Britain would most likely take a risk and send out its only fleet for a sneak attack.

If successful, it could cause a major blow to Great Hua.

Five thousand people lost at sea would be a quarter of Great Hua’s ground forces in Europe.

After succeeding, they could negotiate with Great Hua with more confidence. At least, they would have proven that they had the power to fight back.

It could be said that this trick was very likely to successfully lure the British. However, the risk was also very high.

First, they had to actually transport five thousand people there, otherwise the British would definitely not be fooled. Moreover, their escorting forces could not be too strong, they had to let the British see hope.

By doing so, Great Hua would have to bear the risk.

No one could guarantee anything one hundred percent on the battlefield.

If the fleet luring the enemy couldn’t defeat the British fleet, resulting in the loss of these soldiers, who would bear the responsibility?

Wu Changqing was personally leading the campaign and was the highest commander here, so all major decisions would go through him.

Therefore, if it failed, Wu Changqing would definitely bear the responsibility.

This would damage Wu Changqing’s prestige, as well as other negative impacts.

“This won’t work, it’s too risky.”

As soon as Lin Xuan finished speaking, other staff officers and captains immediately stood up to object.

With Great Hua’s strength, there was no need to take this risk at all.

At worst, they could just fight a little slower, spend more resources, and have capital ships escort them every time, it wasn’t a big deal.

With this steady approach, victory would inevitably belong to Great Hua.

“Very risky? Perhaps. However, if we add submarines, then it will be foolproof.”

Lin Xuan’s words made everyone suddenly realize.

At this time, there were still three submarines in the Huaxia army.

Because they had not encountered the enemy’s navy, these three submarines had not yet played any role, and the Europeans were basically unaware of Great Hua’s submarines.

Moreover, submarines were too stealthy. If submarines were arranged to escort them, the enemy would never know. This could greatly increase the success of the plan.

As long as the enemy was lured out, everything would be easy.

At that time, using the destructive power of the submarines, as well as the enemy’s unfamiliarity with submarines, they could definitely inflict great casualties on the enemy’s fleet.

If they aimed accurately, one torpedo could sink a warship.

It was not impossible to destroy the enemy’s fleet with just these three submarines.

“Draw up a detailed plan.”

Wu Changqing’s words basically meant that he had approved the plan.

Out of confidence in the submarines, he had no reason to reject it.

At this time, Great Britain didn’t even have depth charges.

Even if the submarines were exposed after the start of the battle, the enemy would be helpless against these submarines.

At that time, they could only let those submarines sink them.

Thinking about that scene, Wu Changqing felt very good.

“Yes, sir.”

Lin Xuan said with secret joy.

The others looked at him with envy. From now on, Lin Xuan would be highly regarded by the commander.

Some people were regretting that they hadn’t thought of the submarine, this great weapon.

This was not their fault. The use of new weapons always required some flashes of inspiration.

Chapter 1019: A Fight We Can’t Avoid

“The enemy plans to transport a batch of army troops and supplies to London on the sixth, escorted by only two cruisers and two frigates. Is this intelligence accurate?”

Admiral Donrad of the British Navy put down the document in his hand and asked.

His first reaction upon seeing this news was that it was false, too false, and completely illogical.

In the past, it was difficult for them to obtain information about the Huaxia army’s movements. This time, the information they received was far too detailed. Moreover, the situation described in the information was also abnormal.

Transporting five thousand soldiers without arranging two or three battleships and several cruisers for escort was impossible unless the upper echelons of the Great Hua Navy had water in their brains.

This was clearly impossible. Although the performance of the Great Hua Navy’s upper echelons had not been particularly impressive, they had been fairly conventional and had not engaged in any obviously idiotic actions.

There must be something fishy going on.

“It should be accurate. They originally had a two-thousand-ton battleship participating in the escort, but it developed a temporary malfunction and had to be repaired in Ceuta. The arrogant Great Hua people didn’t want to delay their original plan because of this minor accident, so they decided to proceed without the battleship.”

“How was this intelligence obtained?”

Donrad was cautious and asked for details.

However, Great Hua had put in a lot of effort to ensure that they would fall for the trap.

They first deliberately damaged the engine of a battleship and then gave the soldiers on the battleship leave to go to town.

While drinking in a bar, they ‘accidentally’ leaked the news.

In terms of authenticity, it was quite convincing.

Apart from a few core high-level personnel, the other ordinary soldiers were completely unaware.

In addition, Great Hua had put in efforts in other areas to make the whole thing seem reasonable.

This made the British spies in Ceuta very certain that the intelligence was real.

Otherwise, they would not have sent it back to their country.

This was intelligence that could affect major domestic decisions, and no amount of attention was too much.

After clarifying the details, Donrad and other naval bigwigs fell into deep thought.

On the surface, the intelligence was basically confirmed to be true and reliable.

Next, they had to consider how to use this intelligence.

In fact, they only had two choices before them.

One was to fight to the death, and the other was to continue to eke out a living.

Fighting to the death could lead to complete annihilation, destroying ten years of effort. But continuing to eke out a living was just a slow death.

“I think we should take this opportunity to teach the enemy a severe lesson and give them a painful blow,” proposed Harrell, the captain of the Jersey.

They had put in a lot of effort to build this fleet. But now they could only shrink back in the harbor like turtles, which made him very frustrated.

“Harrell, calm down. A rash attack could lead to our complete annihilation, destroying all our efforts over the years. This fleet was built with great difficulty, and it is Great Britain’s last hope. We can’t take risks lightly,” said Thomas, the captain of another warship.

“So, we’ll just keep hiding until the British Isles are occupied by the enemy before we attack?”

Harrell mocked.

“I mean we need to be cautious.”

“How cautious? Continue to be a shrinking turtle? Opportunities are fleeting.”

…

The command room fell into debate, but after a round of arguments, those who supported Harrell were in the majority.

Because they were not stupid, they knew that such a good opportunity rarely appeared. If they missed this one, it would be difficult to fight an advantageous naval battle in the future.

Although hiding now could avoid complete annihilation and accelerate the development of the navy.

However, the Great Hua people’s navy was also developing, and the gap would always exist. If they didn’t fight because there was a gap, then their navy would never have a chance to fight.

It was undoubtedly a pipe dream to catch up with or surpass Great Hua by simply developing.

Another important reason was that the army now had a very big opinion of the navy.

Because the construction of the navy was very expensive, and the navy’s treatment was much better than the army’s. But when faced with war, the navy hid and was of no use.

The army, which usually had much worse treatment, now had to fight the Huaxia army to the death.

It was already good that the army hadn’t rebelled because of this. It was normal for them to have some resentment.

During this period, Donrad and other senior naval officers were under great pressure from the army and the aristocracy, which was also an important reason why they were inclined to attack.

If they won, that would naturally be infinitely wonderful. They could become heroes of Great Britain and get even more funding in the future.

Even if they lost, they would have an explanation to the country. It would prove that they were not cowardly, but really couldn’t win.

This would be very bad for Great Britain, but it would also be a relief for their navy.

“Gentlemen, we have no choice. This battle is unavoidable. Not only must we fight, but we must also win. The situation in Europe is very bad, and we need a great victory to boost morale.”

Donrad made the final decision. Others who had different opinions could only shut up at this time, put aside their differences, and then study how to fight this problem together.

Although the Huaxia army was only escorting with two cruisers and two frigates, their total tonnage reached five thousand tons.

The British Navy actually only had five pure ironclad battleships, and the cannons on them did not have an advantage against Great Hua’s armored cruisers.

Their total tonnage was about seven thousand five hundred tons, which was not a big advantage.

Although they also had a huge formation and a large number of semi-armored auxiliary warships.

However, the combat effectiveness of these semi-armored ships was actually similar to that of the Huaxia army’s transport ships, about the same.

These warships had slightly stronger firepower and a longer range than the Great Hua transport ships. The Great Hua transport ships had thicker armor and stronger protection.

Overall, the strength of the two sides should be considered six to four, with the British Navy accounting for six.

However, for the British Navy, there was also a very important advantage, that was, their value was relatively low.

The loss of a semi-armored ship was far less than the loss of a Great Hua transport ship, because the transport ship was loaded with a large number of soldiers and supplies.

Not only could it eliminate Great Hua’s active forces, but it could also destroy Great Hua’s overall strategy on the European continent, which was of great significance.

For the British Navy, which was at an absolute disadvantage in overall strength, it was a godsend to be able to fight a local battle with a fifty-fifty chance.

In addition to various practical benefits, symbolic significance, etc., this battle was already a must.

Chapter 1020: A Clash of Ironclads

November 9th, Celtic Sea.

The British Navy did not choose to ambush in the English Channel, but instead chose to engage in the Celtic Sea, just before reaching the English Channel.

This location, midway between Ceuta and London, was the most suitable ambush point.

Being too close to Ceuta would make it easy for the Huaxia army to escape to Ceuta, and being too close to London would make it easy for them to escape to London.

And once the Huaxia army escaped, they wouldn’t dare to chase for too long, otherwise it would be their turn to flee.

Around noon, the two sides spotted each other.

The British Navy was particularly lucky. They were advancing in a single line formation. If both sides maintained their current speed and course, they could position themselves horizontally in front of the Huaxia army, forming the horizontal line of a “T,” with the Huaxia army as the vertical line.

This meant that most of the British Navy’s warships could fire on the Huaxia army’s warships, creating a numerical advantage.

Only the few warships at the front of the Huaxia army could retaliate.

This was a significant advantage and the most ideal formation in naval warfare.

However, such a situation was unlikely to occur.

The Huaxia army would definitely change course and speed. Even if the British Navy could adjust accordingly, it would ultimately be impossible to form a perfect “T.”

Being able to secure a relatively good angle would be considered a decent outcome.

For the Huaxia army, suddenly encountering this situation and trying to reverse the disadvantage by adjusting their formation was also unlikely.

These were large ships of thousands of tons, not cars of thousands of Jin. They couldn’t turn around or change direction at will.

The Huaxia army’s transport ships were not yet equipped with radios and had to rely on signal lights for command. Moreover, the steam-powered ships continuously emitted thick smoke from their funnels, making it difficult to see the signal lights.

Of course, the British Navy had even more similar problems.

Limited by technology, early naval battles were much more chaotic than those of later generations.

However, these naval battles often gave a more intense feeling than those of later generations, at least in terms of spectacle.

To put it simply, it was like a “noob fight.”

Just like in Honor of Kings, professional matches don’t look intense at all. But in Platinum and Diamond ranked games, kills happen every moment.

“The enemy has indeed arrived,”

Wang Yuxi, captain of the Suzhou armored cruiser, said with a smile.

This was the scene he had been waiting for. Annihilating Europe’s only ironclad fleet would certainly be a feat recorded in history.

And as the commander of this battle, the benefits he would receive would naturally be numerous.

“These poor fellows, do they really think this is a good opportunity?”

The adjutant mocked.

The Huaxia army did not turn, as if willing to be the vertical line in the “T.”

This was because the Huaxia army did not want to expose the transport ships to the enemy’s guns. These transport ships had weak long-range firepower and were of little use.

And if they were hit, it would cause significant losses, making it not worth the risk.

The main force in this battle was the submarines and their main warships.

Although not changing course would cause their main ships to be attacked by more enemy ships simultaneously, there was no other choice.

This move by the Huaxia army puzzled the British.

“These foolish Great Hua people, arrogant Great Hua people, I will make them pay the price for their ignorance!”

Harrell said furiously.

Although Great Hua’s move was advantageous to them.

However, Great Hua’s arrogant attitude made him feel humiliated.

It was like two swordsmen dueling, and the opponent didn’t even draw their sword, which was simply outrageous.

“Captain, don’t be angry, this is a good thing,”

Those with less strong self-esteem were happy to see this happen.

“Something’s not right, are the Great Hua navy all fools?”

Thomas, captain of the Colossus, found it unbelievable, but he couldn’t figure out why this was happening, and he just had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

There wasn’t much time for Thomas to think. Both sides were moving quickly, and soon they entered each other’s range.

Then, both sides opened fire.

The British Navy’s cannons were also the highest manufacturing level in their country at the moment. They were a level below the Yanhuang’s main guns, but they were on par with the Huaxia army’s cruiser cannons.

They might be slightly inferior in terms of detailed performance, but the main functions such as caliber, power, and rate of fire were comparable.

The huge roar announced the official start of this naval battle.

Everyone on all the warships entered a tense state of battle.

The gun crews were aiming, loading, and firing, the engineering crews were adjusting course and speed, and the medical staff were preparing to treat the wounded.

Even the cooks had to prepare fire hoses to put out fires at any time.

For the time being, everything seemed to be in order.

However, after a shell hit the Colossus, the people on board began to panic.

“Damn it, the enemy’s aim is too accurate!”

Thomas steadied himself and cursed.

They had been firing for less than two minutes, and they hadn’t even hit the Huaxia army yet, but they had already taken a hit.

The difference in shooting skills between the two sides was immediately apparent.

This was actually quite normal. Although the Great Hua navy had no opponents, they had not neglected the necessary training.

And the British Navy, although they also wanted more training, they didn’t have the money.

Whether it was sailing or ammunition, these were not cheap.

Fortunately, Great Britain had a large number of warships, a full thirty of which were equipped with main guns. At this time, nearly twenty of them could hit the Huaxia army. A salvo of nearly two hundred shells of varying power flew towards the Huaxia army.

Therefore, the Huaxia army’s warships were also hit soon.

The Yangzhou armored cruiser was hit, causing the ship to shake violently.

The difference between an armored cruiser and a light cruiser was that its armor was very thick. Ordinary small-caliber guns could not cause fatal damage to it, just like now.

The violent shaking caused a soldier to lose his footing and hit his head on an iron plate, causing him to faint, which was the final respect for the enemy’s shell.

To sink the Yangzhou, the main guns on Great Britain’s five battleships were needed. Only those thirty main guns could pose a fatal threat to the Yangzhou and Suzhou.

“Let the other warships go around and directly attack their transport ships. As for those cruisers and frigates, leave them to us.”

Donrad ordered. He personally led the team in this naval battle, on the largest Earl Elier battleship.

He saw that the small-tonnage warships had limited damage to the Huaxia army’s main ships, so he simply let them deal with the Great Hua’s transport ships, to prevent the Great Hua’s transport ships from turning around and running away when they saw that the situation was not good.

In terms of speed, the British Navy did not have an advantage.

And at this time, Donrad was still full of confidence.

Chapter 1021: Submarines Unleashed

At this moment, three specters lurking beneath the waves had already approached the British Navy, completely unbeknownst to the British forces.

They never imagined that danger would come from the seabed.

“What’s that, a big fish?”

When a sea mine launched from a submarine struck the HMS Jersey, some soldiers on the Jersey even suspected it was a large fish.

However, a deafening explosion soon followed.

The middle section of the Jersey suddenly bulged upwards, followed by a massive explosion that nearly tore the entire warship in two.

It was close enough. Seawater poured in frantically through the breach, and the Jersey began to capsize.

Forget about saving it; even if they could, the warship would be beyond repair.

As for the soldiers on board, most were killed or injured in the explosion. Those who were lucky enough to survive were mostly seriously wounded, unable to do anything but await rescue.

And, in all likelihood, they wouldn’t live long enough to be rescued.

“What happened?”

The massive explosion and thick smoke drew the attention of many to the Jersey’s plight.

However, what they didn’t understand was how the Jersey had ended up like this. What kind of attack had it suffered?

The Huaxia army’s shells couldn’t produce such an effect.

With the firepower of the Yangzhou and Suzhou’s main guns, it would take seven or eight shells to sink the Jersey.

Sometimes, a naval battle might seem intense, but the losses of the main battleships on both sides were usually minimal.

Like in the Battle of Jutland, where the two sides had two hundred and fifty warships participating, fighting all day, the total losses were only twenty-five ships, a ten percent loss rate.

Moreover, the ships sunk were mostly cruisers, frigates, and torpedo boats; hardly any core battleships were sunk.

Because sinking a battleship was extremely difficult.

Even if it took a few hits, it could still escape and retreat from the battlefield.

So, not many were sunk, but many were damaged. After a naval battle, although the German navy only lost ten ships, the entire fleet was rendered combat ineffective.

Too many warships needed major repairs.

The cost of a main battleship was extremely high. If they were easily sunk, no country would be willing to build battleships.

But now, one of Great Britain’s five main battleships had been inexplicably sunk less than ten minutes after the start of the battle. This was too bizarre, too terrible. Even Donrad lost his composure.

Everyone was shocked, but this was just the beginning.

The other two Great Hua submarines had already locked onto their targets: the HMS Colossus and the HMS El Arlier.

The torpedoes were launched. The submarine attacking the Colossus wasn’t skilled enough; its aim was off. And it was unlucky, because the Colossus happened to turn slightly as it was moving, causing the torpedo to graze the ship.

The El Arlier wasn’t so lucky. This torpedo was aimed more accurately, and even though the El Arlier was moving, it was hit in the stern.

Another loud explosion rang out, but because the hit was in the stern, it didn’t look as shocking as the Jersey’s fate.

However, the torpedo’s immense destructive power completely destroyed the El Arlier’s stern, blasting a huge hole in it, and seawater was pouring in frantically.

Although the rate of flooding was slower than on the Jersey, the El Arlier’s sinking had become a matter of time.

With such extensive damage, the British forces had no way to repair it.

“The attack came from the seabed!”

An officer, his face covered in tears, cried out.

They had been with this navy since its formation and had deep feelings for these warships.

Watching their beloved ships sink before their eyes, while being powerless to do anything, was an extremely painful feeling.

Of course, another aspect was the high cost of these warships.

Expensive things and cheap things evoke completely different feelings.

Like a rifle, even if it had been with a soldier for many years, if it broke, it broke. No soldier would shed tears over it, because the higher-ups would issue a new one; it wasn’t a particularly expensive item.

But a battleship, a national treasure that the entire country didn’t have many of.

Once it was gone, it was gone. Building a new one would take years.

“The seabed?”

Some people who hadn’t noticed the torpedoes looked out at the sea, but all they saw was seawater.

The Great Hua submarines hadn’t surfaced completely. It was impossible to find them with the naked eye.

“Admiral, what should we do?”

On the battlefield, soldiers feared new enemy weapons the most, and even more terrifying was the appearance of unknown entities on the battlefield.

At this moment, the people on the El Arlier had completely fallen into panic and could only place all their hopes on Fleet Admiral Donrad.

Donrad was already overwhelmed by the pressure on his shoulders.

When there was no war, the position of naval commander was highly sought after. But in times of war, when one’s own side was at a disadvantage, this position was a hot potato.

Faced with an unknown situation, Donrad had no experience and didn’t know what to do.

He wanted to order an immediate retreat; that was the wisest choice.

But to have mobilized so many people, carrying the hopes of the entire nation, and then to flee in a panic without achieving any results, losing two main battleships, would be impossible to explain to the folks back home.

“Admiral, quickly abandon ship and transfer to the Colossus!”

The adjutant advised.

With the El Arlier sinking, they had to find a new warship to serve as the command ship.

Just as Donrad was struggling with his decision, another battleship and a frigate exploded.

The Great Hua submarines’ offensive was fierce and rapid.

And because they knew nothing about submarines, they were helpless against attacks that could actually have been avoided.

So far, the Huaxia army had only launched six torpedoes, successfully sinking four warships, three of which were the British Navy’s main battleships.

It could be said that this had crippled the British fleet.

A hit rate of four out of six was almost as good as the Huaxia army’s hit rate when training on stationary targets.

This efficiency was enough to make the Huaxia army laugh their heads off.

“Retreat! Order a full retreat!”

Donrad no longer cared what punishment he would face upon returning home. He now only wanted to retreat immediately, saving as many ships as possible.

If they didn’t retreat now, at the Huaxia army’s current rate, his entire fleet would be sunk in less than an hour.

At that point, he would truly be a sinner of Great Britain.

If he wasn’t afraid of death, Donrad really wanted to commit suicide right now, to end it all.

This battle was too frustrating, too depressing, too inexplicable.

Chapter 1022: The Annihilation of the British Fleet

“Commander Liu and the others are still debating whether to develop aircraft carriers or battleships in the future. In my opinion, developing submarines is enough. This element of surprise is just too awesome. We’ve become just there to make up the numbers.”

Wang Yuxi laughed.

Although their few warships were constantly firing and had achieved some results, causing great damage to two semi-armored cruisers and sinking a frigate.

However, compared to the results achieved by the submarines, it was not worth mentioning.

Moreover, while the submarines achieved such significant results, they themselves were unscathed.

Unlike their surface warships, which had already taken several hits. If it weren’t for their strong armor, they would have been severely damaged by now.

These places that were shelled would need to be repaired when they returned to port, which would cost a lot of money.

In comparison, submarines were too easy to use and too cost-effective.

“This is mainly because the enemy doesn’t understand them. Next time they are prepared, I’m afraid it won’t be so easy,”

the adjutant said.

“Prepared? How can they prepare? Not to mention the British army, even if we encounter these submarines, we only have the option of running away. There is no better way to deal with them.

Moreover, there is no next time. This time, we have to beat all the European countries to the ground so they can never recover. Maybe this is our last decent naval battle. It’s truly lonely as snow.”

Wang Yuxi smiled. Fortunately, Donrad didn’t hear his words, otherwise Donrad would have been so angry that he would have died on the spot.

“The enemy seems to be retreating,”

the adjutant reminded.

“Let the Yangzhou and the frigates pursue. We’ll stay behind just in case,”

Wang Yuxi ordered.

Although these transport ships had good defensive capabilities, if desperate British soldiers came to fight to the death, they could still cause some damage to the Huaxia army.

Moreover, for the Huaxia army, sinking those few British battleships was good enough.

The remaining semi-armored fleets were not a threat at all.

Just like the French fleet, Great Hua didn’t plan to spend a lot of effort dealing with them.

Anyway, that kind of fleet might not even be a match for Great Hua’s transport ships and couldn’t threaten the Huaxia army.

The three submarines were still hunting the enemy. Donrad hadn’t had time to transfer to the Colossus, and the Colossus and another battleship were also hit by torpedoes.

At this point, all five of Great Britain’s ironclad battleships had sunk, and cruisers and frigates had also been lost, a miserable sight.

“It’s a pity, we’re out of torpedoes,”

the adjutant in the Ghost submarine said regretfully.

Their submarines could only carry a maximum of eight torpedoes at a time.

The people in the Naval Development Department didn’t expect submarines to play such a big role, so these submarines were not built very large and were small submarines.

Unlike later generations of submarines, carrying dozens or hundreds of torpedoes was as easy as playing.

“Surface,”

the captain said. Without torpedoes, they had no means of attack, and there was no need to stay submerged.

Surfacing would also allow the soldiers to get some air and enjoy the joy of victory.

The other two submarines quickly used up their last torpedoes, each hitting a British warship.

Even though the British army knew the attack was coming from the seabed, they had not yet figured out how to avoid it.

Unless the Huaxia army made a mistake in calculation, they would basically hit their target.

With twenty-four torpedoes, they took out nineteen British warships.

And the cost of twenty-four torpedoes combined was not even as expensive as one warship.

Including the four ships destroyed by artillery fire, the British army lost a total of twenty-three capital ships, accounting for seventy percent of the total and ninety percent of their overall strength.

After this battle, the British fleet was completely annihilated, and its naval strength fell behind France and even Tsarist Russia.

The Huaxia army chased for a while, each destroying an enemy ship before stopping the pursuit. There was no need.

Next was to clean up the battlefield. Some enemy ships were still sinking on the sea, and some enemy ships could be saved and towed back to port for repairs or sold for scrap.

Some British soldiers were in lifeboats, and more were splashing in the water.

These were all prisoners of the Huaxia army. In the spirit of humanitarianism, the Huaxia army rescued them all.

Among them was Donrad, who had not had time to escape.

As a naval commander, Donrad was sent to the Suzhou.

“Who gave you the courage to take the initiative to attack? You don’t really think the European Union can compete with our dynasty, do you?”

Wang Yuxi mocked.

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh out loud when they heard this.

As the defeated general, Donrad was as embarrassed as he could be at this time.

He had never been so humiliated. He wanted to say something in his defense, but when he thought of his crushing defeat, he had nothing to say and could only look dejected.

Regardless of what means the Huaxia army used, winning was winning.

Seeing this, Wang Yuxi was no longer interested in provoking this little old man. According to the plan, they continued to sail towards London.

Great Hua’s plan was to subdue them one by one, first subduing Great Britain, and then subduing France, Spain, and other countries.

This had a benefit: it could split the European Union.

Now Great Hua was focused on beating Great Britain, so should the other countries save them or not?

If they saved them, they wouldn’t have enough strength. Joining in was just courting death, not very meaningful, and would also put themselves in danger.

If they didn’t save them, then the so-called European Union would become a mere shell and then split.

This was highly likely. Great Hua’s decision-makers estimated that, given Poland’s nature, it would be impossible for them to send troops to help at this time. Tsarist Russia might also watch from the sidelines. Anyway, they were the farthest from the sea and theoretically the safest.

Spain might want to maintain the alliance, but they lacked the strength.

As for France, France had actually used the relationship of Olgana’s father, Count Adrian, to secretly contact Great Hua and discuss peace talks.

Olgana was doing well with Wu Changqing, and the French high-level officials were fantasizing that Wu Changqing would spare France for Olgana’s sake.

As for the Holy Roman Empire, at this time, due to the setbacks in the war, all levels were quite dissatisfied with the royal family.

In their view, there were taller people to bear the burden when the sky fell. If Great Hua wanted to attack Western Europe, they would first teach England, France, and Spain a lesson. There was really no need for the Holy Roman Empire to join the European Union so early and get into trouble…

In short, this alliance was used to stick together for warmth. When they found that they could not get warmth even after sticking together, this alliance lost its meaning.

Next was to find a way to protect themselves.

Surrender became their best option.

If they didn’t surrender, although Great Hua temporarily did not have the ability to completely annex them, they could break their country into pieces.

Just like dealing with Great Britain, occupying London would make Great Britain lose face.

Chapter 1023: Old Business

The arrival of Great Hua’s reinforcements in London was a huge disaster for Great Britain.

Immediately afterward, the Huaxia army announced the complete annihilation of the Great British Navy, which was the second piece of bad news.

Under the double blow, Charles II lost his appetite.

The troops surrounding London all retreated to the Oxford line.

Their safety was no longer guaranteed if they remained in London.

After all, three thousand Huaxia soldiers could resist their attacks. Now that eight thousand were gathered in London, they had the ability to counterattack.

The withdrawal of the outer troops left the nobles in the city in complete despair.

This meant they had lost their chance of being rescued.

And since the government was slow to negotiate with Great Hua, they were in imminent danger.

Even though the Huaxia army had not yet begun to massacre them, some nobles had already starved to death.

Their property had been seized by the Huaxia army, so they naturally had no money to buy food.

Those who could find ways to get food could barely survive, but several nobles who couldn’t had already starved to death.

“If only I had a daughter.”

A noble, nearly faint from hunger, huddled in a corner, the thought popping into his head.

Having a daughter would allow him to please the Huaxia soldiers and exchange for some food.

Just as he was about to despair, the Huaxia army, in the spirit of humanitarianism, specially allowed the British to redeem people.

According to the previous status of these nobles, a clear price was set, allowing their relatives or the government to pay to redeem them.

The Huaxia army came up with this trick mainly because they were too lazy to attack other places.

Why bother robbing themselves when it was more comfortable to have the enemy deliver it to them voluntarily?

Moreover, this was a fine tradition of the Huaxia army.

As early as when Wu Changqing had just captured Nanjing, he sold prisoners to the Qing court for military expenses. Since then, the practice of selling prisoners had never stopped.

Of course, Great Hua’s principle of selling prisoners was to only sell those who were useless and valuable.

Ajige was valuable and useless, so he could be sold. Hong Chengchou was relatively less valuable than Ajige, but far more capable, so naturally he couldn’t be sold.

Most of the nobles in London were the kind who had high status but little ability.

Those with ability had already retreated from London with Charles II. Great Britain also knew how to protect talent, preventing them from dying in the bombing.

Therefore, the nobles in London could all be sold, even Donald.

Donald had some ability, but so what? Even if he was released, the Great British Navy would still be finished, and it would take at least three to five years to recover.

As soon as this news spread, the nobles in London began to write letters frantically.

Their relatives outside the city also began to find ways to raise money to redeem them, because there was too little security in London. No one knew when the Huaxia army would suddenly become ruthless.

Moreover, for some female nobles, it was urgent to escape London.

For the wealthy nobles, this news was not bad, a way to spend money to avoid disaster. Although they would be cut a piece of flesh, at least they could save their lives.

But for those nobles who had no relatives and no money, they could only watch helplessly as other nobles escaped the sea of misery.

“George, please ask your father to redeem our family too. Don’t you like Melo? If we are redeemed, you can get married.”

A noble pleaded with another young noble who was being redeemed.

“Uncle Ferguson, Melo has slept with more men than a platoon these days.”

George said dejectedly.

Although he once liked Melo.

However, he liked the virgin Melo, not a defiled Melo.

What’s more, it would cost money to redeem the Ferguson family, which was even more impossible.

“That bastard Slom, I’m going to kill him! Has he forgotten who raised him?”

A noble cursed in the street. He had written to his nephew, hoping that his nephew could redeem his family.

But, obviously, kinship lost to money at this time.

His family’s price was too high, and Slom was reluctant to pay the money.

“Bastard, are you saying my manor can’t even sell for ten thousand yuan?”

A fat noble cursed loudly.

He had no relatives outside, but he could sell his manor in London.

Although London was currently occupied by Great Hua, there were still some speculators willing to take a gamble, betting that London would return to Great Britain.

Therefore, they took this opportunity to rob.

Before London fell, the fat noble’s manor was worth at least one hundred thousand yuan. But now, the speculator was only willing to offer ten thousand yuan, just enough to redeem the fat noble’s family.

“Sir Arthur, you have no choice. I am also taking a huge risk. If London is ceded to Great Hua, I will directly lose ten thousand yuan. Besides, what is this manor compared to your life?”

The speculator laughed.

In the end, the fat man had no choice but to compromise. He had to survive first, and then he would have a chance to make a comeback in the future.

In Oxford, Charles II was also discussing with others how to deal with Great Hua’s move. As for those nobles who no one redeemed, should the government take action?

“We can’t help, otherwise those nobles who have already spent their own money to get out will have opinions.”

A minister said.

“But if we stand idly by, we will be scolded by the nobles for not doing anything.”

Charles II said dejectedly.

It was good to be an emperor in prosperous times, but it was better to be a carefree prince in troubled times.

At this time, no matter what he did or didn’t do, it was wrong, and someone would scold him.

“But we have no money. We can’t even raise enough military expenses every day. Where can we get the money to redeem people?”

“Didn’t the navy disappear? All the military expenses allocated to the navy in the future can be saved.”

“Bastard, do you want Great Britain to lose its sea power forever?”

“In front of the Great Hua Navy, have you ever had sea power?”

“Your army is not much better. Tens of thousands of people can’t even defend London and are captured by a few thousand people.”

“If your navy wasn’t useless, would the enemy be able to get close to London? If you weren’t useless, would the enemy’s cannons be able to hit London?”

…

Soon, the meeting room became noisy.

The navy faction naturally wanted to keep the navy.

But others felt that the navy’s investment was too large and useless. One naval battle wiped out the family fortune, so it was not necessary to keep it.

Even at the moment of national survival, people from different interest groups would not give in to each other when they encountered disputes.

This scene made Charles II very discouraged.

He now hoped that a minister with enough weight would stand up and let him surrender, so that he could happily end the war. He really didn’t want to live this kind of worrying life.

He just wanted to end the war now and then live for another ten years. As for what to do in the future, this mess would be left to future generations to worry about.

Chapter 1024: Adding Insult to Injury

Great Britain was unwilling to yield, while Great Hua didn’t want to continue expanding.

Eight thousand people were formidable when concentrated, but attempting to completely occupy Great Britain with that force was utterly impossible.

Forget occupying Great Britain, even seizing a few cities around London was unrealistic.

Once the forces were spread too thin, hidden dangers would arise.

More importantly, Great Hua had no need to occupy those territories; the time wasn’t ripe.

They needed to wait at least until the Suez Canal was dug and the railway from Great Hua to West Asia was completed, only then could Great Hua continuously transport troops to Europe and completely occupy it.

This war against Europe only needed to subdue them, suppress their development, and extort some benefits.

Therefore, after the Great Hua reinforcements arrived in London, they didn’t launch any offensives into the surrounding areas.

The Huaxia army’s high command formulated a bold plan: a lightning strike against the temporary government in Oxford.

Using armored vehicles and mobile units for a rapid advance, they would penetrate deep behind enemy lines, strike Oxford, and destroy the temporary government of Great Britain. Ideally, they would capture Charles II and those core government officials, which would inevitably force Great Britain to surrender.

Deep penetration was a major taboo in military strategy, but the Huaxia army was skilled and daring, so they dared to be so reckless.

Of course, while strategically underestimating the enemy, the Huaxia army was also very cautious tactically.

To this end, they even built a simple airport in London, transferring the aircraft from the aircraft carrier to the airport.

This way, the air force could provide reconnaissance, surprise attacks, and fire support for the strike force, increasing the chances of success.

This was the military action, but Great Hua hadn’t been idle politically either.

In Ceuta, Wu Changqing met with Irish patriotic movement leader Gill, Welsh nobleman Gwyn, and Scottish separatist leader Stirling.

Although Ireland had been incorporated into England, it hadn’t been assimilated, and the Irish people didn’t recognize the English government.

This remained true even in the twentieth century.

Different voices never ceased.

When England was strong, these were minor problems; the Irish would only shout a few slogans. Once a great price had to be paid, they would weigh their options and wait for an opportunity.

Now that Great Hua had beaten the English government so badly that it had lost its capital, this was an excellent opportunity for the Irish to seek independence.

If they revolted now, the English would have no energy to deal with it.

Moreover, if they had the support of Great Hua, it would be even more effective.

Similarly, the Welsh were in the same situation. Because they were close to England and connected to it, their desire for independence wasn’t as strong as that of the Irish.

However, there were ambitious people in Wales.

Gwyn wasn’t content with being an ordinary nobleman; he wanted to experience being a king while he had the chance, as a breakthrough in his life.

If he didn’t do this, he would be a nobleman for the rest of his life, perhaps a wealthier one, but there would be no difference in essence.

Some people just couldn’t stand being ordinary, and Gwyn was one of them.

Now that he had the opportunity to get the support of Great Hua, he naturally jumped at it.

As for Stirling of Scotland, his desire for independence was even stronger.

Two or three hundred years ago, the feud between England and Scotland was considerable.

At that time, King Edward Longshanks of England used very despicable means to massacre some Scottish noble leaders, leading to a bloody and protracted conflict between the two regions.

Although the conflict had eased dramatically a few decades ago when the King of Scotland inherited the English throne, there were still many people within Scotland who were causing trouble under the banner of independence.

Such as Stirling and others.

Whether it was Ireland, Wales, or Scotland, they couldn’t make waves when England was strong. Only a few people caused trouble, and others were unwilling to risk their lives to get involved because the chances of success were too low.

But now, England had suffered heavy losses, giving the people in these regions hope.

As long as someone called for action, there would definitely be many who responded.

For Great Hua, whether Great Britain was unified and strong or divided wasn’t a very important matter, as they couldn’t defeat Great Hua anyway.

However, Wu Changqing, who was in Ceuta and had some free time, didn’t mind adding insult to injury to England.

Supporting Ireland, Wales, and Scotland didn’t require too much investment; all that was needed was verbal support, spiritual encouragement, and a few broken guns in terms of supplies.

The rest was up to them. Success could create big trouble for England, and failure could still annoy them. Either way, there was no loss.

Wu Changqing gave them a few encouraging words, and Gill, Stirling, and the others were thrilled, feeling that they had found a strong backer.

After meeting these three, Wu Changqing also met with Arangm, the representative of the Dutch government-in-exile.

Just now he was adding insult to injury to England, and now he was stirring up trouble for France.

The Netherlands had been annexed by France, but it hadn’t been long, and there were still many Dutch people who didn’t accept French rule.

Moreover, the Netherlands had many colonies overseas in the early days, and those ambitious people and overseas Dutch people formed a government-in-exile, seeking an opportunity to restore their country.

They had asked Great Hua for help before, even promising to nominally merge into Great Hua after the restoration, but enjoying the right to autonomy, but Great Hua ignored them.

At that time, Great Hua hadn’t reached the time to fight with France.

But now, Great Hua could help the Dutch government-in-exile along the way.

Of course, Wu Changqing wasn’t interested in just nominally merging into Great Hua.

He demanded complete annexation, but he could give many benefits to those who worked hard to restore their country, such as settling in Nanjing, becoming an official in Great Hua, or even becoming the governor of the Netherlands Province.

After two meetings, Arangm finally agreed.

He had no choice, because he saw very clearly that if he didn’t agree, Great Hua would rely on their own strength to completely occupy the Netherlands in the future.

At that time, it would have nothing to do with him.

But now, by contributing to the occupation of the Netherlands, he could at least get a lot of benefits, and even strive for the position of governor of the Netherlands Province. The Netherlands was tens of thousands of li away from Great Hua, so the power of this governor was much greater than that of ordinary governors, which was quite good.

When he was old, he could also go to the paradise on earth, Nanjing, to settle down and enjoy his old age.

“The Portuguese, Prussians, and Italians can also be helped.”

After settling Arangm, Wu Changqing said to himself.

Portugal was annexed by Spain, and there must be many people who didn’t accept it. The Prussians and the Holy Roman Empire also couldn’t pee in the same pot. Because of the Alps, the European continent couldn’t pee in the same pot either. Cultural customs and so on were relatively independent.

These could all be used to cause trouble.

A fragmented Europe was what Wu Changqing liked.

Chapter 1025: Instant Face-Slapping

The fourteenth day, clear.

Oxford, temporary palace.

Charles II was still discussing the current situation with his advisors.

“Our army has already gathered in important cities around London. The Huaxia army hasn’t made a move, probably because they know they can’t conquer us. So, we just need to hold on,” Brownie analyzed.

“Don’t be fooled by Great Hua’s current success. In reality, they’re stuck in a quagmire of war. They don’t have the strength to completely conquer Europe, but retreating now wouldn’t achieve their strategic goals. They’re in a dilemma. As long as we drag this out, they’ll have to take the initiative to negotiate peace with us,” another minister added.

This was the current situation as analyzed by their strategic bureau.

To some extent, it wasn’t entirely without merit.

Hearing what the ministers said, Charles II felt a little better.

However, just as everyone was anticipating Great Hua taking the initiative to sue for peace, an aide rushed in with the latest intelligence. “Report! The Huaxia army’s armored brigade in London suddenly launched a surprise attack on Slough yesterday. The front lines are in critical condition!”

This…

The ministers who had just said that Great Hua would proactively seek peace and wouldn’t take further military action suddenly felt a burning sensation on their faces.

This Huaxia army was so dishonorable, always launching sneak attacks.

“Damn it, they’re going to attack Oxford!”

One minister suddenly lost his composure. Slough was a small town located between London and Oxford, a necessary route from London to Oxford.

A small town like Slough naturally wasn’t worth occupying.

The Huaxia army’s intentions were too obvious: they wanted to attack Oxford and capture these important figures.

As soon as these words came out, some people among the crowd panicked, their faces pale, lacking any semblance of great men.

After all, Great Hua had accumulated enough prestige through countless victories.

Hearing that the Huaxia people were coming, these ministers couldn’t help but panic, including Charles II.

The only one who remained relatively calm was probably Brownie.

“The Huaxia people are too arrogant! With so few of them, how dare they venture so deep? We have as many as one hundred thousand troops stationed in the Oxford area. If they dare to come, we’ll directly encircle and annihilate them!” Brownie said, pointing to the troop distribution map.

His words undoubtedly gave a shot in the arm to those who were already afraid. Everyone suddenly realized that the Huaxia army’s attack might not be a bad thing, at least it gave them an opportunity.

If the Huaxia army concentrated and holed up in London, they really wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, after all, the Huaxia army in London could get fire support from warships.

But the Huaxia army’s long-distance raid not only lost the support of warship fire, but also dispersed their forces even more.

Such a Huaxia army was no longer a monolithic entity, but had many loopholes.

As long as the British army planned carefully and concentrated its superior forces, it wouldn’t be completely without a chance.

“Is this really feasible?” Charles II asked with some uncertainty.

Before this, every time they made plans, they were also full of confidence like just now.

But the final result was basically a disastrous defeat.

So, this greatly reduced Charles II’s confidence in his subordinates.

Even if Brownie spoke eloquently, Charles II was still unsure.

“Of course it’s feasible, and we have no other choice. We’ve already fled once. If we flee again, we’ll really become a laughingstock and disappoint all nations. Moreover, we have nowhere to retreat. We can’t retreat to Manchester, can we? It’s even closer to the sea,” Brownie said bluntly.

These words caused a brief silence among the crowd. From a certain point of view, they really had no way out.

The first retreat to Oxford could be said to be a strategic transfer.

If they retreated again, then it would really become a flight. As the most powerful country in Europe, they also had to save face.

“I agree to use this opportunity to fight a decisive battle with Great Hua. We have certain advantages,” said Steve, Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

His words were seventy percent true and thirty percent false.

He mainly wanted to take this opportunity to improve the army’s status.

The navy had just been defeated not long ago. If the army could win a battle at this time, then the difference would be clear, and the army would definitely receive more attention in the future.

The others didn’t have any better ideas. After some discussion and debate, they finally agreed to fight Great Hua again.

Slough.

The Huaxia army’s armored vehicles charged onto the British army’s position.

“Stop them! Sappers, quickly stop them!” the British army officer shouted. If these armored vehicles weren’t destroyed, they could rampage on their positions and destroy the defense line.

The Huaxia army’s charging soldiers followed behind the armored vehicles, very relaxed and comfortable.

Urged by the officer, British soldiers carrying explosive packs tried to approach the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles.

This was their only way to deal with the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles.

However, it wasn’t easy to approach the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles. First, they had to face the machine gunners on the roof of the vehicle, and also the infantry charging with the armored vehicles.

In twenty attempts, even one success would be considered good.

And occasionally destroying a Huaxia army armored vehicle couldn’t change the situation on the battlefield.

Plus, the Huaxia army charged fiercely, and the British army didn’t have many opportunities to blow up the armored vehicles.

Soon, the Huaxia army destroyed their defense system.

Great Britain deployed about ten thousand people in this small town, in order to prevent the Huaxia army from advancing to the temporary government in Oxford.

Ten thousand people was a lot, and the fortifications were fairly complete, but under the attack of the Great Hua armored forces, their defense line was about as sturdy as paper.

Facing the Great Hua armored vehicles, they lacked preparation, good countermeasures, and experience.

Maybe in the future they could summarize some good ways to target and restrict the Great Hua armored vehicles. But, as of now, the British army had no way to deal with the Great Hua armored forces.

After the defense line collapsed, the British army could only flee. Although staying behind to fight to the death could cause some casualties to the Huaxia army, after all, the two sides were now in close combat, which to some extent reduced the British army’s disadvantage.

However, there were too few soldiers with such awareness.

Most of the soldiers, seeing that defeat was inevitable, were thinking about how to escape.

But this was undoubtedly a very stupid decision. In front of the Huaxia army’s motorcycles, these two-legged soldiers would soon be unable to run.

Before long, they could only throw their weapons in a pile, and then the entire platoon, the entire company sat together, waiting to be captured.

The scene was very comical, but this was already the best choice for them.

Continuing to run would be exhausting, resisting would be killed.

And surrendering, at least they could save their lives.

Chapter 1026: Capturing Charles II Alive

Brownie and the others had a beautiful dream, but reality was harsh.

They needed time to mobilize their troops, and according to their calculations, they had that time.

However, they still underestimated Great Hua’s blitzkrieg.

They thought Slough would hold for at least two or three days, but it was breached in a single day.

They thought the Huaxia army would advance at most thirty kilometers a day, but it advanced eighty kilometers in a single day.

The order to assemble the other troops had barely left Oxford when the Huaxia army’s armored vehicles arrived on the outskirts of Oxford, scaring two-thirds of Charles II’s soul out of him, causing him to faint on the spot.

When he woke up, all he wanted to do was grab a broadsword and hack his way from the palace to the parliament, hacking for three days and three nights, killing all the ministers in the parliament.

What was the opportunity for Great Britain?

He wanted Brownie to translate what the opportunity for Great Britain was.

Not only was Charles II panicked, but even Brownie was completely flustered, and he quickly ordered a rapid retreat from Oxford.

At this time, who cared about face?

And the Huaxia army, after a short rest, also began their attack.

In order to defeat the enemy more quickly, the Huaxia army’s planes also arrived over Oxford as planned and began bombing the British positions.

“Damn planes.”

In the British positions, some officers were cursing.

These planes gave them a headache. Their strongpoints and important fortifications were bombed, rendering their efforts useless.

Moreover, when the Huaxia army’s planes arrived, their soldiers didn’t dare to show their faces, or they would be strafed by the machine guns on the planes.

This situation of only being able to passively take a beating was really demoralizing.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army didn’t have many planes, only twenty-five, and after bombing and strafing for a while, they immediately returned.

If they didn’t return, their fuel would run out.

The current Huaxia army’s planes had a limited combat radius.

After the planes bombed, the Huaxia army’s artillery began to show its power.

This was the terror of mechanized units. Even when carrying heavy firepower, their marching speed was still so fast.

And the British reinforcements could only abandon their cannons if they wanted to arrive quickly. But without cannons, they lacked fire support.

After the artillery barrage, the Huaxia army began its general offensive.

After the ravages of the planes and artillery, the British positions were already a terrible sight.

Strongpoints were eliminated, fortifications were destroyed, and many soldiers were killed.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s attack, they could only respond hastily.

The few heavy machine guns they had didn’t have time to find good positions and could only fire from wherever they were.

In this kind of positional warfare, the placement of machine guns was very important. Generally, they should be placed fifty meters behind the front line. This could provide support and maximize the avoidance of enemy mortars and snipers.

Moreover, the position of the machine guns needed to be concealed, and the angle had to be appropriate. In short, there were many considerations.

The hastily prepared British army did not get the most out of these few heavy machine guns, and they did not cause much damage or suppression to the Huaxia army.

Moreover, they were quickly eliminated by the Huaxia army’s mortar fire.

This made the British officers want to cry but no tears came out. These were their most important reliance for defense, and they were gone so quickly.

The same weapon was an invincible existence in the hands of the Huaxia army. But in the hands of the British army, it was only so-so.

Weapons on the battlefield are mutually reinforcing and mutually restrictive, and this becomes more and more obvious later on.

Now the British officers had already felt the huge defect of not having enough types of weapons.

Without heavy machine guns to provide fire support, it was too difficult to stop the Huaxia army’s charge.

The Huaxia army’s soldiers followed behind the armored vehicles, and to exaggerate, it was like they were taking a walk. There were very few weapons the British army had that could threaten them.

And their weapons were all great killing weapons for the British army.

“Motherfucker.”

Some frustrated British soldiers rushed up to fight desperately, and then died tragically.

The Huaxia army continued to advance, and the army on one of the defense lines was from Wales. When they saw that the situation was not good, they directly abandoned their positions and ran towards Wales.

They had no intention of risking their lives to protect the English royal family.

Fortunately, there were no Irish troops nearby, otherwise, the Irish troops might have turned their guns and shot at the English soldiers at this time.

For a time, the British positions were in chaos.

A few soldiers who wanted to defend the glory of England to the death were ultimately outnumbered and died under the Huaxia army’s advanced weapons.

After breaking through the defense line, the Huaxia army went straight to Oxford.

Charles II and the others had already left Oxford, but that didn’t matter.

Their carriages couldn’t outrun the Huaxia army’s motorcycle units.

In the end, they were intercepted by the Huaxia army’s motorcycle units before they had escaped ten li and were captured alive.

Not only the English royal family, but also those parliamentarians, ministers, and some nobles did not escape. Among them were some nobles who had been released from London not long ago.

They had only been out for a few days before being arrested again. Besides saying ‘fuck’, they were speechless.

With the King of England, the ministers of Parliament, and important nobles all captured alive, the tens of thousands of reinforcements who came to Oxford could only stare blankly.

The Huaxia army issued a stern warning that if the British army attacked, they would start killing people until all the ministers and the royal family were killed.

The Huaxia army was threatening, and the British army didn’t dare to gamble on whether they would really do it, so they could only watch helplessly as the Huaxia army escorted these people to London.

And they could only follow behind, and if they didn’t know better, they would have thought they were escorting the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army soldiers were all very happy, while the British soldiers looked like their fathers had died. The scene was quite comical.

And those captured Englishmen, the women were crying, worried that their innocence would be lost. And the men were all dejected, powerless to change the situation.

They all knew that they were doomed.

The entire English high command was captured, and the national administrative system completely collapsed. This was a sign of national extinction.

On the first day they returned to London, news of the situation in Africa was also transmitted to Great Britain for the first time.

The person responsible for delivering the intelligence heard that the entire royal family and high command had been captured by the Huaxia army, and his expression was quite dazed. He could only deliver the battle report to Elson, the current Minister of the Army of England.

At this time, Elson controlled eighty thousand troops outside London and was already the de facto controller of Great Britain.

When Elson received the news, Charles II in London also received the news from the Huaxia army.

“Please tell His Majesty of Great Hua that Great Britain is willing to surrender unconditionally.”

At this moment, Charles II was completely desperate.

Besides surrendering, he could not find a second way out.

Chapter 1027: The Treaty of London

Unconditional surrender doesn’t truly mean without any conditions.

It would be unlikely if Wu Changqing demanded that Great Britain be entirely incorporated into Great Hua now; the English nobles wouldn’t agree.

Even if Charles II agreed, Aelson would seize the opportunity to deny Charles II’s legitimacy and raise the banner of rebellion.

The reason they dared to disagree was that they could all see a problem: with the current transportation capabilities, it would be very difficult and costly for Great Hua to maintain its rule in Europe, making it unprofitable.

Therefore, Great Hua’s bottom line definitely wasn’t demanding that Great Britain be incorporated into Great Hua.

Having determined this, Aelson and the others felt confident in demanding some conditions.

Of course, to avoid completely enraging Great Hua, they had to pay a sufficient price to satisfy Great Hua.

This price was enough to make the English weep.

The negotiation process was very complex and cumbersome. On the surface, it was a matter between Wu Changqing and Charles II, but in reality, many roles and forces were involved.

Charles II not only had to negotiate with Great Hua but also with Aelson, promising Aelson many benefits. Otherwise, if Aelson didn’t agree to surrender, Charles II’s signature on the treaty wouldn’t have much effect.

At the same time, Charles II needed to negotiate with the nobles who could influence and dominate the situation in Great Britain, reaching a series of compromises. Without the support of these nobles, Charles II was just an empty shell.

What’s more, he had now completely lost his prestige.

If someone proposed to abolish him, there would probably be many respondents.

Therefore, Charles II needed the support of others. At this moment, he had completely lost the glory of a king, acting as humble as a grandson in front of various forces.

Even Gill from Ireland, Wenger from Wales, Stirling from Scotland, and interest groups from North America joined the negotiations, vying for the independence of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and North America.

Furthermore, the people of Great Britain were also communicating with officials from France, Spain, and other countries, hoping that those countries would share some of England’s losses, after all, they were an alliance.

Sharing blessings together, of course, sharing difficulties together.

Unfortunately, the people of other countries ignored them.

A powerful England was the leading brother of the European Union, but who was a fallen England?

Involving such complex relationships, the entire negotiation process was very verbose, and there were many contradictions.

The sound of arguing in the meeting room never stopped from morning to night, and from night to morning.

All kinds of nasty words constantly emerged from the mouths of these gentlemen.

What asshole, $%@%, and the like, completely failed to pass the censorship.

If it weren’t for the Great Hua soldiers watching, there would have been countless fights in this meeting room.

After all, the interests they were arguing over were worth at least a city, and at most a county. Being able to only use their mouths and not their hands was already quite restrained.

Without Great Hua’s urging, this kind of wrangling wouldn’t be settled for several months.

However, Great Hua set a time limit for the negotiations, requiring them to be settled within a certain number of days, otherwise, Great Hua would solve the problem in its own way.

Although it wasn’t explicitly stated what that way was, Charles II and the others were very flustered, and they could only step back and compromise.

For example, Wenger of Wales finally agreed to give up the demand for independence, but he wanted Wales to gain autonomy, and he wanted to be the Duke and Governor of Wales.

If it weren’t for the people of Great Hua backing Wenger, Charles II wouldn’t even bother with this lunatic.

However, now Charles II and Brownie and others could only agree. They were eager to complete the negotiations as soon as possible and regain power.

The longer the time dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for them. By then, even if the Great Hua army retreated, this England might be controlled by Aelson, and there might be another military government.

This was unacceptable to other nobles. The terrible situation of the last military government hadn’t been that long ago, and they hadn’t forgotten so quickly.

Therefore, after Charles II and Brownie discussed it, they finally agreed to Wenger’s request.

They were swallowing their anger, waiting for the Great Hua army to leave, and then they would have plenty of ways to deal with this old man, Wenger. At least, that’s what they thought.

Having agreed to Wenger’s request, Gill’s request was naturally agreed to without exception.

Ireland was not originally a part of Great Britain, and because of its geographical location, it was not as important as Wales. Losing it was no big deal.

The country had already lost to this point, and there was nothing that couldn’t be given up.

Therefore, Ireland gained independence.

As for Scotland, the situation was even more complicated. The internal opinions in Scotland were not unified. Some people wanted independence, while others hoped to maintain the status quo. Independence would weaken their strength and make them more vulnerable to Great Hua’s bullying.

No matter how bastardly England was, everyone had been family for hundreds of years, which was better than Great Hua, an outsider.

They didn’t have a unified opinion internally, and Great Hua couldn’t support them, so the matter of Scotland’s independence was put on hold.

If Stirling wanted independence, he would have to continue to work at it, and Great Hua would provide some support in secret.

After England reached a compromise with its internal people, it also negotiated the demands made by Great Hua.

Finally, because Charles II and others wanted to resolve this matter as soon as possible, they made great concessions.

The extent of the concessions was staggering.

The benefits that Great Hua obtained far exceeded expectations.

First of all, England could no longer use the title of Emperor in the future, but could only be called King or Prince, which was one level lower than Wu Changqing.

There could only be one Emperor in this world.

This was only a loss of face. Charles II, who had already lost all his face, agreed without thinking. He was now better at enduring humiliation.

Second, North America would be separated from England and become autonomous, and would no longer have to pay taxes to the English government.

This was Charles II’s compromise with some capitalists and nobles in the country.

Some nobles had already been disappointed with England and wanted to develop in North America.

There were also some vested interests in North America who supported this treaty. In the past, when England was strong, they had no choice but to hand over a portion of the money they had worked so hard to earn, but now, they would definitely not hand it over again, anyway, England had no power to suppress North America.

It was precisely for this reason that Charles II simply agreed.

Third, reparations of five million Hua yuan.

The current population of England is roughly around five million, one yuan per person.

This was a huge burden for England, but they had no choice but to find ways to squeeze it from the people.

Fourth, limit the number of land forces, only allowing to retain fifty thousand land forces, and prohibiting the development of the navy.

Great Hua hoped that the English would focus on developing their economy and not spend money on military affairs.

In this way, England could become richer faster, and Great Hua could plunder more wealth when it came to occupy it again in the future.

Limiting its military power would also make it easier and easier to fight next time.

To put it figuratively, Great Hua was raising them like pigs.

Chapter 1028: Other Countries’ Choices

Fifth, eliminate tariffs on Great Hua.

Although England’s consumer market isn’t large, it’s better than nothing. Eliminating tariffs will still bring considerable revenue to Great Hua.

Sixth, Great Hua can establish a concession in London. If Great Hua citizens commit crimes in England, they must be tried and judged by the consulate within the Great Hua concession. The English government has no right to interfere.

The actual benefits of this are so-so, mainly to satisfy the people back home.

This kind of privileged treatment can increase the national pride of the people.

Seventh, more Mandarin Chinese schools must be established in England.

Great Hua wants to carry out cultural infiltration, forcing those people to learn Mandarin Chinese characters, preparing for future rule.

…

There are many more clauses in the treaty, but these are the main ones.

There are also some less impactful clauses, such as Ireland’s independence, Great Hua being allowed to station troops in Ireland, Wales gaining autonomy, Great Hua being allowed to build telegraph stations in England and having management rights, etc.

The London Treaty was a huge blow to England, essentially turning it into a country that was one-quarter feudal, one-quarter capitalist, and half-colonial.

Not only were its overseas colonies stripped away, but its homeland Ireland also became independent, Wales gained autonomy, Scotland was also causing trouble, and the number of troops was limited.

The actual loss of benefits was severe, and the loss of face was also unbearable.

They didn’t even have the right to call themselves emperors anymore, their judicial power was no longer complete, and their culture lost its independence…

Great Britain was about to lose everything it could lose.

In fact, they might be too embarrassed to call themselves Great Britain in the future and might as well just go back to being called England.

The treaty was signed in London by Charles II and Liu Wanghai.

Wu Changqing didn’t even need to show up in person. According to the official explanation from Great Hua, Charles II was not on the same level as the Emperor of Great Hua and was not qualified to sign a contract with Wu Changqing.

Treating Charles II with the rank of Navy Commander was already showing him respect.

There was nothing wrong with this statement.

Charles II was truly not living as comfortably as Liu Wanghai these days, and his power might not even be as great as Liu Wanghai’s.

The signing of the London Treaty shocked the other European countries.

They had agreed to hold out to the end together and drag down Great Hua, but the one who made the suggestion surrendered first. This was very ridiculous.

Of course, the other countries were verbally scolding England, but in their hearts, they understood Charles II.

The operation in Africa had failed and had not achieved the expected results, and dragging down Great Hua was nowhere in sight. Moreover, the capital had been occupied, and he himself had been captured.

It was impossible not to surrender under these circumstances. If it were any other country, they wouldn’t have been any tougher.

England surrendered, and France and other countries began to consider what they should do next.

Should they surrender together or continue to hold out?

They wanted to hold out, but Great Hua’s strength was in front of them, and they didn’t have the courage to do so.

Therefore, the surrender faction had gained the upper hand in their respective countries.

Contact with Great Hua was also becoming more and more frequent.

“Lord Xu, your conditions are too harsh. I’m afraid I can’t agree.”

In Ceuta, the Spanish representative, Zidal, said angrily.

Spain had sent him to discuss surrender with Great Hua, but Great Hua’s conditions were very harsh, which made Zidal angry.

“Is that so? Isn’t this much better than England’s?”

The Great Hua representative, Xu Wei, asked.

These words made Zidal even more agitated. He said, “Our capital has not fallen, and our king has not been captured alive. How can England’s situation be compared to ours?”

Zidal’s idea was not a problem. In his opinion, Spain’s current situation was much better than England’s.

Therefore, the conditions for surrender must not be as bottomless as England’s.

“Well, should we wait until we capture Madrid and capture King Carlos before talking?”

Xu Wei said.

His reason was also not a problem. The reason why Spain was not as miserable was not because Spain was stronger than England, but because Great Hua had not attacked them.

If they really did attack, Spain’s fate might be even worse than England’s.

Therefore, it was completely reasonable to sign a contract with Spain that was similar to the London Treaty.

“Lord Xu, that’s not what I meant. We Spaniards love peace. We only joined the European Union because England was too strong. England is the principal offender, so it should be severely punished, but we are accomplices and were forced to do so.”

Zidal said helplessly.

Although, he knew that Xu Wei was intimidating him.

However, he could not ignore this kind of intimidation.

The Huaxia army would definitely have more difficulty attacking Madrid than London because Madrid was far from the sea.

However, if the Huaxia army was really determined to attack, Spain would not have the confidence to defend it.

When strength is inferior to others, no matter how dissatisfied you are, you can only hold it in when faced with intimidation.

Zidal was roaring in the previous moment, but in the next moment, he completely softened.

“If you love peace, then quickly sign this contract, lest the troops from London be transferred to your territory. Then it will be too late to sign. According to our contract with England, the withdrawal of troops will be in these two days.”

Xu Wei also revealed a piece of information.

The reason why other countries were still arguing was because Great Hua didn’t have enough troops.

But now, after signing a contract with England, the troops in London could be freed up and have the energy to deal with other people.

This was also the reason why other countries now hated England. Without England, the tall guy, in front of them, other countries would have to face the pressure directly.

“I really can’t make the decision on this. I need to go back and ask the king for instructions.”

Zidal said.

“It’s too much trouble to go back. Just send a telegram.”

Xu Wei said.

Zidal had a bitter face. He really wanted to slap Xu Wei because Xu Wei was too shameless.

Now, the telegrams in Europe were controlled by Great Hua’s forces. If they used telegrams to communicate, then the bottom line would not be completely exposed. Then what was there to talk about? They could only sign.

“Lord Xu, please be more patient. In your words, good things take time. Now, more respect for each other will definitely be good for the next negotiation. If Great Hua insists on attacking Madrid, we will not sit still and be captured.”

Zidal warned Xu Wei, saying that if Great Hua went too far, Spain would not mind breaking the net and fighting to the end.

This was obviously scaring people. If the Spanish had this courage, they would not have taken the initiative to ask for surrender.

Of course, Great Hua didn’t need to provoke the other party. If they could settle it peacefully, they should try to settle it peacefully.

After all, there were still several countries in Europe waiting for Great Hua to deal with, such as France.

Louis XIV was a proud man. He was furious at Great Hua’s harsh terms and directly gave up the negotiations.

Chapter 1029: Occupying Egypt

Wu Changqing stood on the roof of the temporary palace in Ceuta, overlooking the city, and felt as if he were in the Central Plains.

After all, the architectural style of Ceuta was basically from Great Hua.

Although Ceuta was still predominantly European, the massive influx of Great Hua people after the start of the war, coupled with a large number of Europeans fleeing back to Europe, had changed its demographic structure to be mainly Han Chinese.

At first glance, it really wasn’t much different from a city in the Central Plains.

“I’m really not an otaku,” Wu Changqing muttered to himself helplessly.

In fact, he really wanted to go to London, Paris, or even the Suez Canal construction site to see for himself.

However, every time he tried to act, he was met with opposition from his subordinates.

Nothing else, just safety.

In Ceuta, the Imperial Guards had already built a very complete security system. But once he went to an unfamiliar place, this system would no longer be applicable.

In a new environment, there were too many uncontrollable factors, making it impossible to guard against everything.

Especially with the diversity of weapons today, their power is great, and their range is long.

Those assassins with guns were easier to defend against, just control the area within a few hundred meters.

But what if a capable assassin used artillery or a human bomb or something? That would really be impossible to defend against.

For safety’s sake, although Wu Changqing had personally led the expedition, he could only stay in Ceuta, making an appearance and urging his subordinates to work more actively.

In reality, his effect was about the same as in Nanjing.

Even his daily life became the same as in Nanjing.

Every day, he read memorials, approved memorials, met with ministers, and played with women. It was quite boring.

Through telegraphs, Wu Changqing maintained control over the empire.

And during this time, many things happened in the Great Hua Empire.

In terms of war alone, Great Hua was currently engaged in several wars around the world.

Europe was the main battlefield, and the fighting in Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa was still ongoing, but it was nearing its end.

The European Union’s plan was to catch Great Hua off guard and end the fighting quickly.

But things didn’t go as planned, and both places fell into a stalemate.

And now that Europe itself was overwhelmed, it had no way to supply those two armies.

Therefore, those two armies were running out of ammunition and food. If they could not break through Great Hua’s defenses in the short term, then they would only have the option of surrendering.

Moreover, the Huaxia army was spreading the news to those two places that England had surrendered and the European Union had dissolved.

Once the news reached there, those two armies would have even fewer choices.

In South America, Great Hua was also clearing out the guerrillas who had lost their aid, expanding its territory. And in Egypt, Great Hua was also fighting with the Ottomans.

The reason was simple: Great Hua wanted to completely control the strategic point of the Suez Canal.

Previously, Great Hua had purchased the construction, usage, and management rights of the canal from the Ottomans, but the entire Egypt, including some parts of Libya, still belonged to Ottoman territory.

In order to avoid disputes with Great Hua, the Ottomans, though unwilling, still granted Great Hua many special privileges in Egypt.

But the previous behavior of Great Hua’s army passing through Egypt many times finally aroused the dissatisfaction of the Ottoman Empire.

This was their territory, after all. Great Hua’s army was always coming over, even if it was just passing through, it would make people uneasy.

Because of this, some conflicts occurred between the two sides.

So, the people in the Army Department of Great Hua felt that they might as well occupy Egypt altogether.

That way, there would be no conflicts.

If the Ottoman high-level officials knew about this idea, they might flip the table.

Egypt’s strategic location was extremely important, and the Nile Delta was also a good place to develop agriculture, even arguably the only place in North Africa suitable for agricultural development.

The rest of the area was basically desert.

For small countries, launching a war often required careful consideration or a long period of preparation.

But for Great Hua, it might only require acting on impulse.

The army submitted a report to Wu Changqing, who looked at it and felt there was no problem, so he chose to approve it, and then the Huaxia army began to act.

The third batch of troops, originally planned to be transferred to Europe, one main division and one Huaxia auxiliary army, launched a surprise attack on the Ottomans after landing in Suez.

The Ottomans’ worries suddenly became reality.

Sure enough, allowing Great Hua’s army to land in Egypt was a very dangerous thing.

Great Hua had too many reasons to attack the Ottomans, and any one of them was so lofty and justified.

The local dignitaries in Egypt also had a lot of opinions about the Ottomans, after all, they had not been conquered for many years.

Great Hua, under the banner of restoring the freedom of the Egyptian people, even gained great support in the local area.

As a result, the Huaxia army’s war in Egypt was more like a home game, and the Ottoman army became the invaders of the past.

With local dignitaries providing the Huaxia army with food, water, and other logistics, the Huaxia army advanced rapidly.

Moreover, the Ottomans had completely fallen behind in the development of the last ten years, even worse than the former Mughal Empire.

They didn’t even have a modern army, and most of them were still using cold weapons such as swords and arrows.

This left the Huaxia army dumbfounded, feeling like they were conquering uncivilized native tribal areas.

But in fact, the Ottomans had always been a very advanced civilization.

A hundred years ago, they were still beating Europe.

Those cold weapon troops, not to mention encountering Great Hua’s main division, even the Huaxia auxiliary army composed of Siamese and Indians beat them into a hasty retreat.

The entire Egypt and some other parts of North Africa quickly became part of Great Hua, much faster than conquering England, and there was no need to sign any treaties with the Ottomans, just direct military conquest.

After taking Egypt, the main division continued to be transferred to the European battlefield, while the Huaxia auxiliary army entered the Sinai Peninsula and began to attack the Arabian Peninsula.

With Great Hua’s current strength, avoiding two-front operations was no longer necessary, and accelerating expansion was the right thing to do.

During the occupation of Egypt, Great Hua also captured a large number of Ottoman soldiers, who were then押解to the Suez Canal construction site.

The addition of a large number of free laborers allowed the Suez Canal to progress rapidly.

It is estimated that it will be open to navigation in another half a year.

Although the Suez Canal looks very long, the area that needs to be excavated is not particularly large.

The north-south length of the Great Bitter Lake alone reaches more than thirty kilometers, accounting for one-fifth of the entire canal.

As for the other sections, not all of them need to be excavated, and there are also a large number of original river sections that only need to be connected to the canal.

In fact, the Suez Canal had been gradually excavated by local rulers thousands of years ago, and even once been open to navigation.

It’s just that the canal they dug was too narrow, and Great Hua needed to widen it.

With a large number of machines and coolies that could be used to death, the excavation speed couldn’t be slow even if they wanted to.

Chapter 1030: Taking Great Pains

Regarding immigration, a large number of Indian immigrants have arrived in South Africa, Egypt, and the East African coast during this period.

Great Hua is accelerating its infiltration and influence in Africa, preparing for the future recovery of Africa.

Meanwhile, a large number of Central Plains immigrants have arrived in the Ganges Plain, greatly increasing the proportion of the Great Hua ethnicity in the local population.

The overall proportion has reached one to ten, and in some local areas, it is even higher.

This proportion is already sufficient to complete the actual control of the Ganges Plain.

The Great Hua ethnicity is actually the most adept at and most frequently uses the trick of completing effective rule through immigration.

It is precisely because of a large number of immigrants that the areas south of the Lingnan region have been able to steadfastly become a part of Great Hua, because the people living there are basically Han Chinese, who have a natural sense of identity with Great Hua.

Now it is the same. Without exception, those overseas places conquered by Great Hua have a very high degree of recognition of Great Hua.

Because the people who occupy the dominant position in those places have become Han Chinese.

Coupled with cultural invasion, the natives have also begun to learn, accept, and identify with Central Plains culture. If they identify with this culture, they will naturally identify with the rule of Great Hua.

Moreover, for them, being ruled by Great Hua is not a bad thing. After all, Great Hua is now the most powerful country.

Being a Great Hua citizen at least doesn’t require paying a poll tax like the English to pay reparations. The degree of oppression and exploitation is also far lower than in Europe and other places.

Moreover, Great Hua’s advanced agricultural technology and industrial technology have made the local natives live better than before.

Great Hua’s global strategy is immigration rather than colonization, and there is a big difference between the two.

Colonization is purely blood-sucking, without creating blood.

Great Hua’s immigration brings advanced technology and culture, guiding the locals to improve productivity and achieve common prosperity.

Although the locals have to pay a lot of taxes to Great Hua, they will find after paying taxes that what is left to them is actually more than what they used to harvest.

Whether their descendants will be dissatisfied with paying taxes is not yet known, but the current generation of natives still likes the rule of Great Hua very much.

In Ceuta, Wu Changqing also signed a decree allowing people in the India region to change their surnames to Han surnames.

This is an important measure to promote the Han language and characters. To change to a Han surname and name, it is naturally inevitable to learn Chinese.

After learning Chinese, it is naturally inevitable to learn Central Plains culture.

In the past, people in the India region were not allowed to change their surnames easily, after all, surnames are the most important basis for distinguishing castes.

As for relying on skin color to distinguish, the method of thinking that the whiter the skin color, the higher the caste is too rough and inaccurate. Or rather, it is only applicable to the state of Uttar Pradesh in the Ganges Plain.

In the southern region, which is less affected by foreign invasions, many people with non-white skin also belong to the high castes.

Moreover, some low-caste people with non-white skin can also improve their caste after becoming rich through hard work or adventure.

In addition, with the increase in north-south exchanges and frequent personnel exchanges, if you want to confirm whether a person is of high caste or low caste, you can only judge from the name, not the skin color.

Those of high caste are certainly unwilling to change their names. Their surnames are the source of their sense of superiority, and also a symbol of status and power.

But it doesn’t matter, Great Hua’s goal is not them, but those of low caste.

Those people are the majority.

With the support of these people, Great Hua’s rule in India will be solid enough. And those of high caste are precisely the existence that Great Hua needs to secretly suppress.

Their failure to change their names, on the contrary, makes it easier for Great Hua to accurately suppress them.

For the low castes, changing their names is beneficial in every way. If they don’t change their names, they will always be low castes and will be bullied by the high castes.

And now, most people are willing to change their identity just by changing their name.

After changing their names, in another generation or two, no one will know that they were once low castes.

Of course, changing their names only blurs the gap between them and the high castes, it does not mean that they can enjoy the same treatment as the Han Chinese.

Great Hua’s household registration system will clearly record their ethnicity to distinguish them from the Han Chinese.

Relatively speaking, the household registration system is more subtle, and the caste system is more naked.

Allowing Indians to change their names is a great trick to assimilate them.

As for the effect, Wu Changqing is not very sure.

However, like the little horse crossing the river, you only know after trying. Practice can produce truth, and if you find that the effect is not good in the future, you can change it, anyway, it’s all up to him.

Wu Changqing is also taking great pains to ensure that the Great Hua ethnicity is in a leading position and has a permanent dominant position in the world.

Although the Great Hua ethnicity is awesome now, what about in the future?

Will there be internal infighting, so that other ethnic groups can take the opportunity to rise?

In the vast river of history, who can guarantee that other ethnic groups will not turn over in the future?

A Civil War, and the blacks turned over.

A Second World War, and Africa turned over.

At that time, those white people who were fighting each other were unscrupulous for the sake of immediate victory, and even made some decisions that they would regret for several generations.

Wu Changqing will not treat people of other ethnic groups as livestock, but he will never allow other ethnic groups to one day achieve equal status with the Great Hua ethnicity.

Not to mention blacks, even whites, or even Indians of the same yellow race, Wu Changqing will not allow them to one day occupy a dominant position.

And how to guarantee this?

Wu Changqing feels that this is difficult, but also very easy.

The easy part is that it is enough to have a large enough population of the Great Hua ethnicity.

If the population of the Great Hua ethnicity accounts for eighty percent of the world, coupled with the fact that they already control the political power, then they deserve to be overthrown by other ethnic groups.

And the difficulty lies in the fact that Wu Changqing does not want to massacre other races, and wants to use a civilized way to make the Great Hua population increase greatly and reduce the population growth of other ethnic groups.

Wu Changqing has actually been doing this kind of thing secretly, for example, the children born to the Great Hua ethnicity people have food subsidies and various subsidies to encourage them to have children.

And this kind of policy cannot be enjoyed by other ethnic groups.

At least, the Japan and Annamese cannot enjoy it, nor can the natives of Southeast Asia, India, and other places. The Koreans do, because they have been assimilated the most thoroughly.

It can even be said that there are no Koreans in Great Hua now. They all believe that their ancestors were Han Chinese, so they are also Han Chinese.

They are so desperately trying to integrate into the Han ethnicity, and the Great Hua officialdom has also affirmed this. In the household registration, Koreans are allowed to register their ethnicity as Han.

Through a method of encouragement and suppression, Great Hua is controlling the population growth rate of different ethnic groups.

However, this is far from enough.

Chapter 1031: Fertility Policy

Wu Changqing, coming from later generations, knew that as the world entered modernization, a pattern would emerge: the more economically developed a region, the lower people’s desire to have children.

The higher the level of education and the wealthier the area, the lower the birth rate.

Birth rates in large cities are far lower than in rural areas.

There might be exceptions in some places, but the overall trend is like this.

There are many factors contributing to this phenomenon, including ideological progress, economic pressure, and hedonism.

People with more education begin to pursue a higher quality of life, knowing that if they lack the means, having children is simply providing capitalists with tools to be exploited.

The more children they have, the lower the cost for capitalists to acquire workers.

The harder their children work, the more money the capitalists earn, and the happier their lives become.

Once they start living within their means, their desire to have children greatly diminishes.

Unlike those uneducated people, who only know the saying “more sons, more blessings” and then give birth like crazy, completely disregarding the future of these children after they are born.

In their view, they have fulfilled their responsibility by raising their children.

Even more frightening are some Black people, who completely disregard the consequences and are only responsible for giving birth, not for raising them.

These people are the main force in future births.

And according to the current trend, the level of education in the Central Plains will definitely lead other regions, and they will awaken earlier, and the desire to have children will decline the fastest.

The pressure of life in big cities is high, and the pace of life is fast. It is completely impossible to have a large number of children like in the countryside.

Especially for those struggling at the bottom in the cities, it takes both husband and wife working together to maintain their livelihood.

Each time a woman becomes pregnant, it basically means one less year of work, which has a significant impact on the lower class. In addition, the burden of taking care of the children is extremely heavy.

These difficulties will reduce people’s desire to have children.

And the urbanization of the Central Plains is far faster than in other parts of the world, so over time, the Han population growth rate will definitely be lower than other ethnic groups.

This trend cannot be reversed by any one person.

Just like in later generations, those elite white people, government officials, all know the terrible consequences of declining population growth rates better than anyone else. However, no matter how they persuade, those highly educated people in their countries are unwilling to have children, unwilling to provide cheap labor for capitalists.

Then, in order to make money, the capitalists can only be forced to accept immigrants.

And because there is no way to assimilate those immigrants, and no way to bring them a happy life, all kinds of domestic situations are in chaos, and there is even a trend of being occupied by Black people.

At that point, the entire country is actually helpless.

The French are very sad about this.

In the short term, for individuals, those who have fewer children can live more happily and with less life pressure.

Their choices cannot be said to be wrong.

However, from a long-term historical perspective, this will harm the entire nation.

Once the Black ocean occupies the globe, it will be too late for other ethnic groups to regret it.

Perhaps those first, second, and third generation Black people will have a hard and bitter life, but people are creative. After generations of effort, these people will eventually be able to turn things around.

When their numbers exceed others and they become the main ethnic group in a country, will they still be willing to have power in the hands of a minority?

At that time, even if white people cry and shout for equality, it will be useless, because they want dominance, they want privileges.

You can refer to South Africa in later generations.

As a person from later generations, Wu Changqing knows these hidden dangers and naturally cannot ignore them.

Therefore, he wants to control the population of other ethnic groups.

But this is difficult, especially after the popularization of hybrid rice and fertilizers, the substantial increase in food, and people no longer lack food, the population will inevitably increase significantly.

When people are well-fed, they think of carnal desires. After those natives are full, they don’t play soccer or read newspapers. Their energy has nowhere to be released, and it is difficult not to increase the population.

And after these people are born, the Great Hua court cannot just watch them starve to death, which is quite troublesome.

Therefore, Wu Changqing is preparing to create contraceptives and then forcibly require those barbarians to use them to limit their population.

Wu Changqing is preparing to call this policy the “Family Planning” policy, stipulating that non-Chinese (i.e., Han and ethnic minorities in the Great Hua region) are only allowed to have two children.

If they have more than two, they will be forced to divorce, and the men will be directly assigned to work on construction sites, exhausting them so much that they don’t even have the strength to think about women.

The women will undergo sterilization surgery to prevent them from becoming childbearing machines.

If you want to have more children, you can marry a Great Hua man.

Don’t feel wronged. If you are Black, you don’t even have the right to marry a Great Hua man. Great Hua prohibits intermarriage.

However, this regulation was criticized by many Han people as a ‘useless regulation’.

Because even without this regulation, no one would marry a Black person.

As for the Great Hua people, they will continue to encourage childbirth through subsidies, without restrictions.

Without contraceptives, this policy would definitely cause turmoil.

To deprive people of their right to pursue happiness, those men might risk their lives to fight Great Hua.

With contraceptives, the implementation of this policy is much easier.

This at least guarantees their right to enjoy happiness.

Even if they are unwilling, they have to compromise with the decree of Great Hua.

Without pushing them to the point where they cannot survive, they do not have the courage and determination to rebel.

Over time, their population will naturally decrease.

On the surface, two births for two people can maintain balance.

But in reality, not everyone can be in pairs. More importantly, most of the beautiful women among them will flow to other places.

Among those barbarians, there are destined to be many bachelors who cannot find wives due to the loss of women.

This is an inevitable trend, and people of other ethnic groups cannot change it unless they can overthrow the rule of Great Hua and seize dominance.

As long as Great Hua continues to secretly control, it can gradually reduce the population of other ethnic groups.

However, this will also cause Great Hua to lose a lot of cheap labor, and will cause more Great Hua people to do some hard work.

But this is also unavoidable. There are gains and losses.

Compared to this little bit of hard work, Wu Changqing more hopes to maintain the dominance of the Great Hua population.

As long as the Great Hua people can continue to dominate the world, hold power, and the government can continue to formulate policies that give preferential treatment to the Great Hua people, the treatment they enjoy can always be better than other ethnic groups.

So, for some poor families, it may be a little hard. But overall, the Great Hua people are more blessed.

You can’t have both fish and bear’s paw. Choose the lesser of two evils.

Chapter 1032: Beach Landing

December 1st, Normandy.

The Great Hua expeditionary fleet launched an attack on France.

Despite many nobles in the country urging Louis XIV to negotiate peace with Great Hua as soon as possible to avoid war, the stubborn Louis XIV still believed he could fight Great Hua and didn’t need to accept such humiliating terms.

Compared to England, France did have some advantages.

For example, more centralized power, a larger population, a stronger army, a larger area, deeper strategic depth, a capital further from the coast, and more thorough preparations, and so on.

When the Huaxia army attacked London, Louis XIV was already preparing for a Huaxia army attack on Paris.

And to stop the Huaxia army, building a defensive line on the coast and preventing the Huaxia army from landing was undoubtedly the best choice.

To concentrate their defensive forces, France could only choose one place to build a defensive line.

After research, the French Ministry of War believed that the most likely landing sites for Great Hua were Normandy or Calais.

London was closest to Calais, which was Calais’s only advantage for a landing.

Normandy, on the other hand, was the closest coast to Paris, and landing in Normandy would provide the shortest land route.

Therefore, the French high command believed that Great Hua would land in Normandy because the Great Hua army’s land forces in Europe were weaker than their navy.

Moreover, choosing to defend Normandy had another advantage: even if they guessed wrong and Great Hua landed in Calais, they would have enough time to change their deployment and respond.

But if they chose Calais and guessed wrong, the result would be that the Huaxia army would directly attack Paris.

After weighing various factors, the French army chose to defend the coast of Normandy.

And their guess was correct. The Huaxia army’s plan was indeed to land in Normandy, regardless of whether there were defenders there or not.

The Great Hua Navy, possessing naval supremacy, floated in the waters off Normandy, and the French army could only stare blankly, allowing the Great Hua’s naval guns to bombard them.

This time, the Great Hua’s bombardment was a concentrated barrage, with a suppressive level of firepower.

The firepower intensity of concentrated fire was divided into three levels: harassing, suppressing, and annihilating.

Being able to kill ten percent of the enemy could achieve a harassing effect, making the enemy afraid to raise their heads and move in the fortifications, forcing them to hide.

Suppression, on the other hand, required killing about thirty percent of the enemy. Reaching this number of casualties would create huge loopholes in the enemy’s defense system.

For example, some positions would be unguarded, some machine gunners would be dead, and the organization would no longer be complete, and so on.

Annihilation was purely focused on killing the enemy, and at least half of the enemy had to be killed to be considered an annihilating level of firepower. This was very difficult to achieve, even if the hilltop was blown down by one or two meters.

In the past, the Huaxia army’s artillery intensity was around harassment, and most of the time it didn’t even reach the harassing effect.

After all, shells were too expensive. Using shells to decide the outcome was not as good as sacrificing more infantry.

This time, attacking Normandy, the Huaxia army was finally extravagant, aiming to unleash a suppressive level of firepower.

The French army was the first unit to enjoy this level of firepower, which was a kind of honor, but they didn’t like it.

Suppressive-level bombing was much fiercer than harassing-level firepower.

All the French soldiers hid in the tunnels, shivering.

After all, this tunnel had only been dug half a month ago, and its defensive capabilities were extremely limited.

In some places, the distance to the surface was only two or three meters.

Large-caliber shells landing on it could directly penetrate one or two meters into the ground before exploding.

At this time, the tunnels used to defend against bombs had no protective ability at all.

A large number of soldiers came to this broken place, didn’t fire a single shot, didn’t even see the face of the Huaxia army, and died inexplicably like this.

“Hey, rookie, don’t be afraid, the bombs won’t hit us here.”

Veteran Caruso laughed.

“Tch, haven’t you noticed that the tunnel is shaking? Could it be that a bomb landed near us?”

The new recruit, Ames, who was ridiculed, spat out the mud in his mouth. He felt the vibration from the ground and had no sense of security in this tunnel.

“This explosion is too dense, I’ve never heard such dense artillery fire.”

Another veteran also became more pessimistic.

In his experience, the Great Hua’s bombardment was excessive.

Just then, a shell landed a dozen meters away from them and exploded.

Immediately, various screams came, followed by a cloud of dust.

“God.”

Ames got up and wanted to leave this hellish place, but was grabbed by the veteran. “Where do you want to go? It’s even more dangerous outside. Believe me, kid, staying here and resigning yourself to fate is the safest choice.”

“Damn it.”

Ames suddenly had an unspeakable feeling, it was really too bad.

“Rookie, you’re panicking now? It will be even more dangerous when the enemy charges later.”

Caruso continued to mock.

“Shut up, Caruso, I still remember clearly how you peed your pants the first time you went to the battlefield.”

The squad leader was also in a bad mood, and was even more annoyed when he heard Caruso nagging.

Caruso cursed when he heard this, and then shut his mouth.

As a veteran, he had a feeling that this would be his last battle.

With the Huaxia army’s firepower so fierce, Normandy could never be defended.

Just as they were silent, a bomb landed not far from them and exploded.

With suppressive-level artillery fire, shells could cover every area.

The shock wave of the shell directly stunned Caruso. What was even more deadly was that the collapsed tunnel blocked both exits of their tunnel.

“Quickly dig open this damn tomb.”

The people trapped inside cursed and began to dig the exit.

If they didn’t dig open the exit in time, they would die of suffocation due to lack of oxygen.

The situation in other tunnels was similar.

Because they underestimated the Huaxia army’s artillery strength, their tunnels were not built to standard. At this time, there were collapses everywhere, and the soldiers were suffering inside.

The tunnels used to save lives had now become tombs for death.

Only some important command posts were dug deeper and built with cement, providing stronger protection.

However, the officers sitting in the command room had nothing to be thankful for at this time. The soldiers were dead, and it was useless for them to be alive.

“Are the Great Hua people’s shells free?”

Commander-in-chief Rousseff couldn’t help but complain. The fierce bombardment made him feel very bad.

“The King is too stubborn, how can we fight this war?”

Some people had even begun to openly question Louis XIV, and others didn’t even think it was inappropriate.

After all, that’s what they thought too.

No one knew whether the soldiers’ morale had collapsed, but the morale of these officers had been blown away.

If it weren’t for some concerns, they would now be raising the white flag and surrendering on the position.

Chapter 1033: Air Support

After the shelling stopped, the French army immediately began rescue operations.

The wounded soldiers needed urgent treatment, and the trapped soldiers needed to be rescued.

Every soldier was precious and could not be easily abandoned.

However, the vanguard of the Huaxia army’s landing force was already approaching the beach in small boats.

This made the French army want to cry but have no tears. Giving up the rescue to meet the enemy would definitely result in the deaths of many soldiers and greatly damage the morale of the troops.

After all, no soldier likes to be in an impersonal army.

But if they continued to focus on the rescue, they would not be able to spare troops for defense.

This was the effect of suppressive firepower. Great Hua was willing to throw out so many expensive bombs, naturally wanting to see results.

“Get into defensive positions, put down those damn shovels, and pick up your rifles.”

A French officer shouted.

At this point, they had no choice.

The battlefield was so cruel, and it was time to give up when necessary.

The soldiers, hearing this, quickly abandoned the rescue and entered the trenches to defend.

However, even if they did so, their defenses were full of loopholes.

The Huaxia army’s wave of suppressive firepower had not killed thirty percent of the French army, but it was close.

Therefore, the originally very complete defense line now had many places unmanned.

In particular, some units were completely buried in the tunnels, leaving no one there.

“Quick, your squad go to defense line number four.”

The officer was still making temporary adjustments, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

They still had reserve forces, but to prevent being bombed, the reserve forces were three or four li away from the front line. It would take at least half an hour to get the message across and wait for them to arrive.

“Our platoon only has two squads of soldiers in total, and you’re directly transferring one squad. How are we supposed to defend here?”

The platoon leader complained.

“Hold on, reinforcements will be here soon.”

However, the battalion commander ignored his complaint. The situation was urgent, and he was already flustered.

As soon as the Huaxia army’s boats reached the beach, the French soldiers nervously opened fire before the landing soldiers could disembark.

“Get off the boats quickly, advance according to plan.”

The Huaxia army officer was also urging loudly. Although they were on the advantageous side, landing operations were too dangerous and had to be taken seriously.

The Huaxia army soldiers jumped off the boats and walked towards the beach in waist-deep water, moving very slowly.

There was no way around it. Landing operations had so many disadvantages.

At this stage, they were all sitting ducks, and whether they could survive depended entirely on luck.

Gunfire erupted everywhere, and many people were shot as soon as they got off the boat and fell into the sea.

At this time, the other soldiers could not care about rescue and could only rush forward.

The sooner they reached the beach, the greater their chances of survival.

“Damn planes, why haven’t they arrived yet?”

One officer complained.

According to the plan, the planes would come and strafe the enemy’s positions, providing fire suppression, when they landed.

But now, the situation was a little different from the plan. The planes had not arrived, allowing the French army to shoot at them without restraint.

Soldiers fell one after another, a situation rarely seen in the Huaxia army.

Some officers were anxious about the casualties.

Just as they were anxious, the roar of planes came.

“Hooray…”

The soldiers who were still on the boats heading to the beach cheered. Their great weapon had finally arrived.

With air support, they felt much more at ease.

On the French army’s positions, the French officers and soldiers were in an even more nervous state.

The Great Hua’s planes had only been deployed four times, but their reputation had already resounded throughout Europe.

It wasn’t that the planes’ destructive power was so terrifying, but because of the planes’ attribute of ‘I can hit you, but you can’t do anything to me.’

More than a dozen planes flew over the French army’s positions, first carrying out precision bombing.

They specifically targeted the firing points for bombing. Although the hit rate was not high, they could kill some French soldiers more or less.

It would be an unexpected surprise to destroy a firing point by luck.

Destroying a firing point would greatly weaken the French army’s firepower, at least saving the lives of dozens of Huaxia army soldiers.

The dozen or so planes carried a limited number of bombs, so the actual effect they could achieve was not great.

However, this deterrent force troubled the French army.

Imagine, if a bomb could drop on your head at any time, could a normal person still aim at the enemy in front of them and shoot with peace of mind?

Only a few war maniacs and madmen had this kind of psychological quality.

When they were distracted, their defense dropped another level.

And when the Huaxia army’s planes finished dropping their bombs, their nightmare truly began.

The machine guns on the Huaxia army’s planes began to fire, aiming at the French army’s trenches and strafing them wantonly.

“Damn it.”

Some angry French soldiers directly pointed their guns at the sky.

It was too much, endless harassment.

French soldiers also had tempers. Being constantly harassed like this would make anyone angry.

However, this anger would affect their defense.

Wanting to shoot down a plane with a rifle was like winning five million in the lottery. It couldn’t be said there was no chance, but it was almost the same as having no chance.

Anyway, the French army in Normandy did not have this kind of luck this time and did not hit the Huaxia army’s planes.

After the Huaxia army’s planes ran out of bullets and returned, they had all fired into empty space.

At this time, the Huaxia army’s landing force, after paying some price, finally found some of the French army’s shooting blind spots on the beach.

“Sasaki, you take two people to take out that firing point. Oyama, you guys charge head-on. The rest provide fire cover.”

After gaining a foothold to catch their breath, the squads began to assign combat missions.

Attacking area number three were Japanese soldiers.

This kind of battle with superior weapons and morale was easy for them.

In the past, when fighting with Great Hua, they dared to charge even with broadswords in their hands, let alone now.

Using various advanced weapons and sophisticated tactical coordination, their combat effectiveness was now approaching that of the Huaxia army’s main force.

As soon as the order was given, Sasaki and the others moved forward, crouching down. After entering the range and finding a shooting angle, they fired a rocket at the French army.

This still very primitive rocket was shining brightly on the current battlefield.

Although the hit rate was low, they were close to the enemy, only about twenty meters away. As long as they didn’t shake when firing, they could basically hit.

After a loud explosion, the others immediately emerged and fired wildly at the French army’s position, while the remaining assault squad took the opportunity to rush up.

The whole process was orderly.

Chapter 1034: Turmoil in Paris

Compared to the Japan squad, the assault troops composed of Huaxia soldiers were much more fortunate.

They had three armored vehicles and a large number of mortars.

The Huaxia army had put a lot of effort into getting the armored vehicles over for the landing operation. How to get the armored vehicles ashore smoothly was a problem.

To this end, the Huaxia army specially modified several landing ships.

The first shipment actually included four vehicles, but one armored vehicle fell into the sea during the landing process.

This technology was still very immature, and the loss of an armored vehicle made the Huaxia army feel the pinch.

However, they could also accumulate some experience from this failure.

Moreover, the three successful armored vehicles were of great help in attacking the enemy’s positions.

With the help of the mortar battalion, the Huaxia army quickly rushed onto the French army’s position.

Was beach landing difficult?

The main force of the Huaxia army really didn’t feel it.

“Damn it, where’s G Company? Why haven’t they arrived yet? Tell them to reinforce that gap.”

Charles, the front-line commander of the French army, roared.

He had been losing his temper non-stop since the start of the war.

Probably, it was the legendary incompetent rage.

Faced with the current terrible situation, he had no solution at all.

Moreover, this situation was the result he had expected long ago. He had also explained to Louis XIV the N reasons why they shouldn’t fight, but Louis XIV simply wouldn’t listen and insisted on him being responsible for blocking the Huaxia army in Normandy. Wasn’t this making things difficult for him?

“Commander, I think we should retreat. The enemy has already rushed onto the position. Even if reinforcements come, it’s useless. In the face of Great Hua’s powerful firepower, our numerical advantage can’t be brought into play at all.”

His subordinate advised.

Charles gradually calmed down after hearing this. The current situation really didn’t require continued fighting. It would be better to preserve their strength.

But, what should they do after retreating?

They couldn’t even defend the beachhead, which had a very large advantage. What places could they defend after retreating further back?

From Normandy to Paris, it was basically all plains.

Once all of the Huaxia army’s armored units landed, Charles didn’t dare to think about the consequences.

“Order a retreat, retreat to Rouen first.”

In the end, Charles chose to retreat.

There was no way not to retreat. The soldiers below had already begun to rout.

Whether or not to issue the order to retreat was actually about the same.

The French army began an emergency retreat, and the Huaxia army didn’t have the energy to pursue them for a while because they had to land.

But it didn’t matter much. As long as the Huaxia army landed completely, France would basically have no defenses to rely on. Great Hua’s armored divisions could drive straight in and attack Paris directly.

After occupying Le Havre, Great Hua’s landing operation was basically completed.

In this battle, they invested nearly thirty thousand troops from the sea and land, two-thirds of their warships and transport ships, including aircraft carriers.

In the end, they paid the price of more than one thousand two hundred casualties and won the victory.

The French army had as many as fifteen thousand killed and more than twenty thousand surrendered.

The news of the fall of Le Havre and the successful landing of the Huaxia army spread to Paris, and the people of Paris were immediately furious.

They had long been dissatisfied with Louis XIV’s insistence on going to war with Great Hua. The pro-surrender faction also contributed to guiding public opinion.

The pro-surrender faction constantly promoted the strength of Great Hua, telling the people that they would definitely lose the war, and that Paris would definitely fall, and that everyone’s property and safety would not be guaranteed.

This caused great panic among the people, who were afraid of going to war with Great Hua.

However, Louis XIV ignored their demands, so now all levels of Paris were dissatisfied with Louis XIV.

This was a very dangerous situation, because Paris was the core city of France.

Just like in Great Hua, it wasn’t a big problem if the people of some other city were dissatisfied with the imperial court. But if the people of Nanjing were collectively dissatisfied with the imperial court, then the trouble would be great.

Because among the people living in the capital, there were many important figures, and these were all figures who could influence the situation.

The situation in Paris was similar. A large number of nobles who held real power lived here.

In a secret room, several nobles gathered together. They were preparing to launch a palace coup to send Louis XIV to the guillotine in order to quell Great Hua’s anger.

At the same time, they would form a new government and then negotiate peace with Great Hua.

As long as Great Hua could withdraw its troops and not attack Paris, everything would be easy to negotiate.

At worst, they could cede territory like England. Anyway, many places were plundered, so it wouldn’t hurt to cede them. As for paying compensation, it would eventually fall on the common people, which would not have much impact on their nobles.

“We need to act as soon as possible. We must complete the coup before the Huaxia army captures Paris. Only in this way can we surrender before Paris falls and negotiate with the Huaxia people, so that we can prevent the Huaxia people from entering Paris. Gentlemen, given the Huaxia people’s attitude towards nobles, I don’t think anyone wants the Great Hua army to enter Paris, right?”

The great noble Leo said.

He didn’t want Paris to suffer the tragedy of London, which was too terrible.

Now the nobles of London had become the laughing stock of Europe.

As for fleeing Paris, these nobles were also unwilling. They were all used to living in Paris and couldn’t stand going to the countryside.

“Como, how are your preparations going?”

Leo asked.

“I have persuaded the city defense captain, and he will support us then.”

Another noble, Como, said.

“Have you taken care of the warden? We need to attack the prison and rescue Earl Adrian. This is an opportunity to show goodwill to Great Hua.”

Adrian was disliked by Louis XIV for being pro-Huaxia and was thrown into prison.

For Leo and the others, rescuing Adrian and letting Adrian negotiate with Great Hua should be a little smoother. After all, Adrian was Wu Changqing’s father-in-law.

Even if Wu Changqing was just doing some superficial work, he would give them some face, right?

“I have bribed a few soldiers, and they can secretly rescue Adrian then.”

“Have the people been incited? We need them to create chaos and attack the palace.”

“It has been organized. The people in the city are now very panicked, fearing that Great Hua will attack. Moreover, they have all determined that Louis is responsible for all of this.”

“Are the weapons ready? There may be bloody conflicts that day.”

…

Everyone discussed the details one by one, and after confirming that everything was correct, they began to take action.

At this time, Great Hua’s armored divisions set off from Le Havre and headed straight for Paris.

They found that the French army’s will to resist was not strong. More than twenty thousand French troops surrendered in Le Havre alone.

Therefore, they could attack more boldly and strive to resolve France as soon as possible, so that they could deal with other countries.

Chapter 1035: The Guillotine

Louis XIV stood at the top of the Louvre Palace, gazing into the distance.

Before the Palace of Versailles was completed, he resided in the Louvre.

However, the construction of Versailles had stalled due to the Great Hua army’s advance into Europe.

Now, he had no mood for enjoyment, his mind consumed with how to overcome the immediate crisis.

The defeat at Le Havre made him fully realize how insignificant his previous achievements in continental Europe were.

Against the Huaxia army, the French forces had no power to resist.

The endless stream of new weapons from the Huaxia also gave Louis XIV a massive headache.

What to do?

The proud Louis XIV was unwilling to bow to Great Hua, although he had once been forced to flee Paris like Charles II. But after he returned to Paris, he completely seized power in France.

Having possessed supreme power, his mentality had undergone a significant change.

His pride would not allow him to lower his head, even if it meant dying in battle, he would not surrender to Great Hua.

Moreover, although the situation was dire, France had not been completely defeated. He could still use France’s relatively long depth to maneuver with Great Hua.

“Summon Giulio and the others.”

Louis XIV was preparing to discuss leaving Paris with his capable assistants and core team of advisors.

Paris was too close to the coast and not safe enough.

Louis XIV wanted to retreat to the Swiss border and continue the resistance.

Just as he gave the order, gunfire suddenly erupted in the distance.

“What’s going on?”

Louis XIV’s heart skipped a beat.

The Huaxia army was still far from Paris, so why were there gunshots in the city?

Could it be those rebellious commoners?

Louis XIV rubbed his forehead, feeling very weary.

Unlike the dynasties of the Central Plains, the emperors of European countries had much weaker control over the populace, which led to a strong capacity for resistance among the people.

Rebellion was already a tradition for the people of Paris.

About ten years ago, the Parisians had rebelled twice, scaring the then-young Louis XIV into fleeing Paris.

And in the future, the people of Paris would continue the tradition of rebellion, overthrowing the government at the slightest provocation during the Great Revolution.

Soon, someone came to report to Louis XIV that the people of Paris had rebelled.

This time it was even more ruthless than the last. The last time, the people could only build catapults to resist. But this time, the Parisians had guns in their hands, and they were the breech-loading rifles that were currently the main equipment of the French army.

Clearly, this was not a simple popular uprising, but someone was manipulating and pushing it from behind.

“Damn it, it must be Leo and Cromwell.”

Louis XIV cursed angrily.

Leo was a staunch advocate of surrender, while Mrs. Cromwell was one of the leaders of the last rebellion. These were all Louis XIV’s mortal enemies.

“Your Majesty, we should leave Paris as soon as possible.”

The personal guard suggested.

Their troops had been transferred to Côte d’Ivoire, North Africa, and Normandy.

There were very few troops left in Paris, less than ten thousand.

And these people were not all under Louis XIV’s control. Many of the officers came from other great noble families.

At this time, if those great nobles rebelled, many people in the army would definitely choose to follow them.

Adding those who disagreed with Louis XIV’s ideas, there would not be many left who would remain loyal to Louis XIV.

“No, I cannot flee in a panic. I have sworn never to leave Paris in a hurry again. Order the suppression of those rebellious commoners. I will quell the rebellion before leaving.”

Louis XIV was a stubborn and arrogant man.

He was still deluded by his prestige. After all, he had achieved too many accomplishments, expanding the territory of France by nearly a third.

However, he did not know that when the news of the French army’s defeat in Normandy reached Paris, the prestige he had accumulated was completely exhausted.

The people of Paris, the nobles of Paris, no longer believed in this king who had led them into the fire pit.

When Louis XIV’s orders were passed down, only a very few officers carried them out.

A large portion chose to wait and see, and a small portion directly joined the rebels.

The whole of Paris was in chaos.

Soon, this chaos spread to the Louvre Palace, and angry Parisians began to attack the Louvre.

Although there were Louis XIV’s most loyal guards here, their numbers were too small compared to the angry people, not to mention that there were regular troops among the rebels.

The two sides fought fiercely outside the Louvre for half an hour, and finally the rebels broke through the guards’ defenses and rushed into the Louvre.

At this time, Louis XIV finally panicked, but it was already too late.

Louis XIV used to be awesome, dominating the European continent, but this did not mean that he himself was awesome. It was only because the French people used to listen to his orders.

Those places were all conquered by others, but as the supreme leader, everyone attributed the credit to him.

When he lost his subordinates, he became no different from ordinary people.

The angry people dragged him to the guillotine, his legs weakened by fear, unable to walk, and he could only be supported by two people.

By the time he was on the guillotine, his brain was occupied by fear, he forgot to control his sphincter, and his crotch became wet.

“Kill him, kill him.”

“This damned fatuous ruler, who caused France to offend the Great Huaxia.”

“It is this damned fatuous ruler who joined the European Union, causing the Great Huaxia to fight to our homeland.”

…

Under the guillotine, the people were furious, as if all the mistakes were caused by Louis XIV.

The giant axe fell, and Louis XIV died in fear and confusion.

He did not understand until his death how things had suddenly developed to this point.

No matter how great the defeat in Normandy was, the situation in France was not as bad as in England, right?

The capital of England had been occupied for a month, and Charles II was still alive and well.

Why was it that when it came to him, he was only defeated in a battle, and his throne was overthrown?

“Yeah!”

“We can finally negotiate peace with Great Hua, Paris is safe.”

“This damned tyrant is dead, and we can all live a good life in the future.”

With the death of Louis XIV, the people began to celebrate like a festival, singing and dancing.

“This is the power of the people, this is the end of resisting the general trend.”

Leo watched this scene from a distance and sneered.

When most French people wanted to surrender and live, Louis XIV went against the tide and wanted to resist to the end, which was why he ended up like this.

Only a stupid king would think that one person can control the people of the entire country.

The premise of anyone in power is to gain the approval of most people.

Chapter 1036: Conquering Another Nation

When the Huaxia army reached Les Andelys, eighty kilometers from Paris, they were stopped by representatives of the French provisional government, who expressed their desire to negotiate a surrender.

This left Tao Kewu, the commander-in-chief of the Huaxia army, in a difficult position. He wanted to ignore them and push all the way to Paris.

However, doing so would be a bit much and might completely enrage all the French people.

After all, they had already agreed to surrender, so attacking them would be unreasonable.

They had to wait for the negotiations to break down before attacking, which would be more justifiable.

After consulting with Wu Changqing, Tao Kewu began negotiations with the French provisional government in Les Andelys.

The negotiation process was surprisingly smooth.

In order to get Great Hua to withdraw its troops and to achieve a ceasefire, the French provisional government had no bottom line. They readily agreed to all the demands made by Great Hua.

This left Tao Kewu completely speechless, unable to find an excuse to break off negotiations.

In other words, he might not have the chance to fight his way to Paris.

Of course, being able to force France to agree to Great Hua’s conditions meant that the battle had yielded sufficient gains, so withdrawing the troops wasn’t out of the question.

After days of consultation, Great Hua and France signed the Treaty of Les Andelys.

The treaty stipulated that France would cede all of the former Dutch territory to Great Hua, making it Great Hua’s first province in Europe.

At this time, it would be easy for Great Hua to occupy European territory.

However, Great Hua wouldn’t like all places.

For example, even if England ceded London to Great Hua now, Great Hua wouldn’t really want it.

The people of London were too hostile to Great Hua, making it difficult to govern, and occupation would be meaningless.

The situation was similar in other places.

Only the Netherlands was different. After all, the Dutch government-in-exile had been seeking Great Hua’s help and was very close to Great Hua.

Therefore, their propaganda within the Netherlands was all about praising Great Hua.

Now that Great Hua was helping them break free from French rule, their goodwill towards Great Hua would increase further.

Therefore, Great Hua would find it very easy to govern this area, without worrying about guerrillas causing trouble all day long.

Moreover, Great Hua needed the Netherlands as a demonstration point, just like Southern Kyushu in Japan.

Great Hua wanted to govern the Netherlands exceptionally well, so that people in other European countries could see how comfortable life could be after joining Great Hua.

At that time, it might not be Great Hua forcibly conquering other places, but rather other places begging to join Great Hua.

Achieving this was difficult, but even if it couldn’t be done, it didn’t matter. As long as people in other countries had less hostility and more yearning for Great Hua, then the Netherlands demonstration point would have completed its mission.

This was why Great Hua wanted the Netherlands during the negotiations.

As for France, the Netherlands had been seized in the first place, so losing it didn’t matter. Anyway, they and the people of the Netherlands couldn’t see eye to eye.

Those Dutch people were constantly causing trouble, which was extremely annoying. Throwing this place to Great Hua was like getting rid of a burden.

That was how the French government explained it to the people.

In the official explanation, losing the Netherlands was like a great victory.

And surprisingly, for ordinary people with low levels of education, this explanation was very appealing.

The uneducated lower classes didn’t really care much about losing territory. Instead, they were more dissatisfied with reparations.

After all, losing territory was a matter for the country, but reparations would increase their taxes.

The Treaty of Les Andelys naturally included war reparations, and they were very heavy.

Fifteen million Huaxia yuan, three times that of England.

There was no other way. Who told these guys not to let the Huaxia army loot Paris? This made the Huaxia army very dissatisfied.

On the issue of reparations, the Huaxia army stated that they would refuse to negotiate if the amount was less than this. They would go to Paris themselves and loot fifteen million.

This made the representatives of the provisional government want to cry, and they could only agree with tears in their eyes.

Fifteen million Huaxia yuan was a considerable burden for France.

It should be noted that this was for France, not for the ruling nobles.

The French government was short of money, but the nobles were all very rich.

It would be easy for them to raise fifteen million.

However, what did France’s defeat have to do with the French nobles?

It was absolutely impossible for them to pay.

This money could only be raised by liquidating the Bourbon royal family and then scraping some from the people, to see if they could gather enough.

If it wasn’t enough, they could only increase the intensity of the scraping. If there was extra, these nobles could even divide it up.

In addition, France was no longer allowed to have an emperor. The highest leader could only be called a king or a president.

Secondly, France also ceded its colonies in Central America, in the Mexico area, to Great Hua.

Of course, France didn’t care whether the local immigrants were willing or not. That was something Great Hua had to deal with themselves.

The Treaty of Les Andelys was very similar to the Treaty of London. Everything in the Treaty of London was also in the Treaty of Les Andelys.

Including the restriction on the number of troops, France’s army was limited to one hundred thousand.

This seemed to be twice as much as England, but France’s territory was also much larger than England’s.

One hundred thousand troops was barely enough to maintain the country’s rule, and they couldn’t spare any more troops for expansion.

Of course, the current provisional government had no ambition to expand. They only wanted to survive.

The abolition of tariffs and the establishment of Chinese language schools were also included.

Among them, what made the provisional government more uncomfortable was the compulsory establishment of Chinese language learning.

The French were quite satisfied with their language, believing that French was the most standard language, and looked down on languages such as English and Spanish.

Although they didn’t dare to say that French was more beautiful than Chinese, asking them to learn the super difficult Chinese language was also a torment for them.

However, the conditions were laid out in front of them, take it or leave it.

Helpless, the provisional government could only choose to swallow their anger. At worst, they would be perfunctory with Great Hua in the future.

The signing of the Treaty of Les Andelys meant that France had also become a semi-colonial country.

Although it didn’t seem as miserable as England, its prospects were even worse than England’s.

After all, England still had a unified government.

Although France had gotten rid of Louis XIV, there was no strong figure who could win over the public.

Next, the main theme in France would not be development, but the distribution of power.

It was foreseeable that the political situation in France would be chaotic again, and it was entirely possible that the people of Paris would have a second uprising.

Chapter 1037: Triumphant Return

The upheaval in France left King Carlos of Spain in tears.

Two of Europe’s three core powers had fallen. Anyone could easily guess who would be next.

Carlos didn’t believe his country could fare any better than England and France.

If even England and France had been defeated, what could he do?

Thinking this through, Carlos resigned himself to his fate and sent envoys to agree to Great Hua’s demands.

In any case, he had only two paths before him: first, agree to Great Hua’s demands now; second, get beaten up by Great Hua first, and then agree to their demands.

Logically, choosing the first option was the most appropriate.

As for the emotions of the people at home, Carlos thought they should be able to understand his decision.

After all, England and France had been defeated.

Not long after the Treaty of Leixões was signed, Great Hua and Spain also signed the Treaty of Ceuta.

The treaty stipulated that South America, former Portuguese territories, and the Roman region of southern Italy, Sicily, and other places would be ceded to Great Hua.

The war indemnity was ten million Hua yuan, and there were restrictions on the number of troops…

The terms were similar, like a standard contract.

After Spain surrendered, the next in line were Poland, Sweden, Tsarist Russia, and the Holy Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Empire had already expressed its willingness to surrender, but Sweden, Poland, and Tsarist Russia remained firm in their stance.

The Swedes felt very innocent. They hadn’t done anything; they had simply joined the European Union.

Even in the Allied forces, they had contributed the fewest troops.

In this situation, why should they suffer the same punishment as England and others? It wasn’t fair.

In short, the Swedes felt unbalanced and refused to agree to those conditions.

The Poles, on the other hand, continued to maintain their characteristic of not shedding tears until they saw the coffin. They were afraid, but they were unwilling to cede so much benefit before being beaten.

They still harbored some illusions. After all, they were relatively far from the sea, and it would be much more difficult for the Huaxia army to attack them than to attack England, France, and Spain.

From the land, they would have to pass through Prussia and many other small states, which would be troublesome.

And to attack Poland from the sea, they would have to pass through the Kattegat Strait in Denmark, which was Swedish territory.

In short, Poland was temporarily safe.

Until they truly faced danger, they naturally didn’t want to sign such a humiliating treaty with Great Hua.

As for Tsarist Russia, their reason for not signing was even more sufficient: they were even safer.

It would be even more difficult for Great Hua to attack them.

The Russians were right. Great Hua had no immediate plans to attack them. There was no rush. It wouldn’t be too late to take action when Great Hua’s railways reached Europe.

After dealing with England, Spain, and France, Wu Changqing prepared to return to Nanjing.

For the remaining matters, he could find a minister to preside over the situation here.

In April of Yongxing twelve, Wu Changqing returned to Nanjing.

This expedition had lasted ten months, the longest Wu Changqing had been away from Nanjing.

However, after this battle, there would likely be no more battles in the world worthy of Wu Changqing’s personal attention.

In all likelihood, he would have to stay in Nanjing from now on.

When the fleet arrived in Nanjing, the civil and military officials of the country had already led countless people to wait at the dock for Wu Changqing’s triumphant return.

This expedition had yielded brilliant results.

Although, if someone else had led the team, the results would probably have been similar.

However, such assumptions were meaningless. This time, Wu Changqing had personally led the expedition, so the credit belonged to Wu Changqing.

Since the emperor had achieved such brilliant results, it was natural to sing his praises.

Some officials felt that the single word “Sage” was no longer enough to reflect Wu Changqing’s achievements.

Therefore, the term “Heavenly Sage Emperor” was invented.

Whether it was the word “Heavenly,” “Sage,” or “Emperor,” they were all lofty words.

When these words were put together, they gave people a sense of being unattainable and only worthy of looking up to.

“Long live His Majesty, ten million years, ten million times ten million years!”

As the Divine Emperor dropped anchor and docked, Wu Changqing came out of the cabin and appeared on the deck. The officials and people knelt down and shouted in unison.

However, their slogan had changed from “ten thousand years” to “ten million years.”

After all, in the eyes of the civil and military officials of Great Hua, how could the previous emperors be compared with Wu Changqing?

Could the previous emperors feed the people? Could the previous emperors conquer the world? Could the previous emperors enlighten the people?

The achievements of all the previous emperors combined were not even one percent of Wu Changqing’s.

Continuing to call “ten thousand years” was completely unable to reflect Wu Changqing’s uniqueness and nobility.

Therefore, the officials discussed that they must change the slogan.

Changing the slogan was simple; it was just a matter of increasing the number, which was easy to understand.

Ten thousand years was more noble than a thousand years, so what could be more noble than ten thousand years but one hundred million?

Although Great Hua now also had the unit of “trillion,” it was basically used by researchers, or even only by astronomers. It was not used in normal fields because it was too large.

Ordinary people had no idea what a trillion was.

Even with “one hundred million,” it was difficult for ordinary people to have that concept.

It didn’t matter if they didn’t understand. As long as they knew that one hundred million was very large, much larger than ten thousand, that was enough.

“One hundred million years” also highlighted Wu Changqing’s position among countless emperors.

The people of the world had already recognized Wu Changqing’s achievements and felt that he had done better than all the previous emperors.

Wu Changqing waved his hand, and everyone stood up.

If Wu Changqing didn’t care about this set of formalities, they wouldn’t mind kneeling for a long time.

After getting up, there was more cheering.

The people in the back craned their necks, trying to get a clear look at Wu Changqing’s true face.

Wu Changqing was not a celebrity in the entertainment industry, but he was an idol to many people.

The people’s worship of him was extremely fervent.

Some people could even be so excited that they were moved to tears just by seeing him once.

Even a wave of Wu Changqing’s hand could move them to no end.

Of course, this was actually very normal.

There were many ambitious people in this world, and even more ordinary people.

These ordinary people were very worshipful and respectful of the strong.

These people could worship stars who played soccer or basketball, let alone Wu Changqing, who had already been deified.

Looking at these people who worshiped him, Wu Changqing also felt a sense of pride.

He had now achieved self-actualization, one of the five levels of human needs.

Being able to reach this point in life was truly worth it, even if he died.

However, people can never be satisfied.

Even if he unified the world, Wu Changqing still had other pursuits. He wanted to make this world wonderful.

Next, he would vigorously promote development and strive to bring this world into the electrical age and the information age as soon as possible.

If he could surpass later generations, that would be a truly remarkable feat.

Chapter 1038: Grand Slogans

In primitive times, battles between two tribes were fought to seize hunting grounds, as the number of prey in one area was limited.

Later, battles between two tribes were fought to seize land suitable for growing crops.

Later still, battles between two countries were fought to seize each other’s mineral resources and human resources.

The essence of war is the allocation of resources, to plunder the enemy’s wealth after defeating them, so that one’s own side can live better.

Now that Great Hua has won another great victory, the next step is naturally to digest the benefits brought by the war.

In other words, Great Hua now needs to focus more on economic development and the development of people’s livelihoods.

If they only keep winning battles, but the people’s living standards do not improve, the people will not be happy.

Spiritual satisfaction cannot be eaten, and without progress in material living conditions, relying solely on spiritual satisfaction turns one into an Ah Q.

After Wu Changqing returned to Nanjing, he formulated a new round of major development strategies.

To respond to Wu Changqing’s strategy, all walks of life also shouted their respective slogans.

The transportation industry shouted that within five years, every family in Great Hua should own a bicycle, every urban family should have a car, and every major city should be connected by railway.

They have not yet proposed a plan to develop airline passenger planes.

Although they are both airplanes, the technological content gap between large and small airplanes is quite large.

What’s more, the safety of airliners used for civil aviation must be guaranteed, otherwise who would dare to fly?

Even without plans for passenger planes, the transportation industry’s slogan is quite domineering.

The current ruling population of Great Hua has exceeded five hundred million, accounting for about eighty percent of the world’s total population.

Roughly calculating ten people per household, this is also fifty million families, which means fifty million bicycles are needed.

The current number of bicycles in Great Hua is only just over two million, still twenty-five times short.

Of the five hundred million people, the urban population accounts for about eight percent.

That is to say, there are about four million urban families, and one car per family requires four million cars.

The current number of cars in Great Hua is less than four hundred thousand. Moreover, there are a large number of transport trucks among them, and private cars account for less than half.

This gap is also twenty times.

At first glance, the gap is quite large.

However, the transportation industry is not just shouting randomly; they have obtained the data through specialized research and statistics.

According to their prediction, this goal can be achieved within five years.

It’s still the same reason: low manufacturing costs.

A large number of raw materials are transported to Great Hua at almost zero cost, and the cost of the entire car is only various processing costs.

With large-scale production on the assembly line, on average, these processing costs are much cheaper than imagined.

Like a screw, it looks quite complex in structure, but its processing cost may not even need a fraction of a cent.

Low cost, naturally low price.

Low price, more people can afford it, and the consumer market is large.

A large market drives factories to increase production.

This is a virtuous cycle, even a perfect cycle.

Of course, this cycle will sooner or later have problems, resulting in an economic crisis.

For example, market saturation, rising costs, or too slow an increase in ordinary people’s purchasing power.

But at least Great Hua is still far from an economic crisis, and with Wu Changqing preventing it, there is no need to worry too much.

One car per urban family within five years?

Many officials felt that this slogan was a bit exaggerated and was just grandstanding.

But Wu Changqing felt that these officials needed to go for research internships.

Always staying in government buildings, some people no longer understand the development of this world and still understand this world with their old worldview.

In Wu Changqing’s view, the transportation industry’s slogan is not exaggerated at all.

Everything is difficult at the beginning, and after getting on the right track, the speed of development is often very amazing.

Just like in the original timeline, in 1900, the world’s car production was less than ten thousand vehicles.

But twenty years later, the annual car production in the United States alone had exceeded three hundred thousand vehicles.

The current development conditions in Great Hua are much better than in the United States in later generations. After all, the United States needs to import raw materials and compete with Europe for the market.

Great Hua’s products have no competitors, do not require high costs, do not even need to pay tariffs when sold to Europe, and do not even need to worry too much about technological innovation. The government will always provide them with the latest technology.

In this case, Wu Changqing felt that it would be a bit of a failure if car production only increased by more than ten times within five years.

Noticing that some officials in the court had become detached from practice and lacked a clear understanding of the world, Wu Changqing issued an order requiring those in-service officials to go to society for on-the-spot investigations and research several times a year to understand the actual situation.

Without investigation, there is no right to speak. Policy-making cannot be based on imagination; combining it with reality is the most important thing.

Otherwise, a policy with good intentions can easily become a terrible policy in practice.

The slogan of one car per urban family was directly published in the Great Hua Daily, and the people of Great Hua were immediately excited.

That’s a car, a symbol of identity, a symbol of status, a symbol of fashion, and a symbol of convenience.

Imagine taking a car with your family to the countryside for an outing on a day off; how wonderful that would be.

The dream of many young Great Hua people is to own a car.

But in the past, cars were still out of reach for ordinary families.

Now, the Ministry of Transportation is shouting that every family should be able to afford a car, which means that car prices will be reduced again and production will be increased.

This is undoubtedly a huge benefit for those who want a car.

It’s fortunate that Great Hua does not have an election system now; otherwise, based on the Ministry of Transportation’s slogan alone, the people of Great Hua would elect them as the new ruling cabinet.

Reducing prices and increasing production, under normal circumstances, factory owners would definitely not be happy.

However, in Great Hua, these capitalists have no choice but to cooperate with the government’s plans.

Otherwise, the government would directly stop technical support, which could bankrupt these capitalists in minutes.

To put it bluntly, these capitalists can make a fortune not because of their abilities, but because the government needs a group of factory owners and then supports them.

The government can support others at any time, but they cannot do without the government’s technical support.

This kind of relationship has never existed in the original history.

Great Hua’s current political system and social structure are so unique.

Chapter 1039: Research and Investigation

By the time they arrived at their destination, it was already dusk. Lin Sen and his assistant, Zhao Xiaolong, had no choice but to find a hotel for the night.

Although they had a travel allowance, the funds were limited. Anything exceeding the limit would have to come out of Lin Sen’s own pocket.

Therefore, Lin Sen chose a very ordinary hotel.

Zhao Xiaolong couldn’t help but grumble inwardly about his stingy superior. In his estimation, the travel budget was enough for them to stay in a mid-range hotel.

Lin Sen’s actions were clearly aimed at saving some money and pocketing it himself.

Behind the hotel, there was a courtyard. Lin Sen even saw a small wheat harvester in the yard.

With nothing else to do, Lin Sen asked the owner who the harvester belonged to.

“I bought it the year before last. I originally planned to help farmers harvest wheat during the busy season and earn some hard-earned money, but alas…”

The hotel owner, Zhang Erjing, sighed as he spoke, piquing Lin Sen’s curiosity.

“What’s wrong? Is business bad?”

“The business is very good. People are already making reservations in advance, but I don’t plan to go anymore,” Zhang Erjing said.

“Why?”

Lin Sen became even more curious.

“Because it’s not profitable! You have no idea how fierce the local people are here. The year before last, when I went to the countryside to help harvest wheat, I accidentally broke a branch of an apple tree, and they insisted I pay five yuan in compensation. Last year, they said I damaged a field ridge and deducted ten yuan from my wages. Who can do this kind of work?”

Zhang Erjing complained.

“Um… didn’t you report it to the authorities? Doesn’t the government care?” Lin Sen asked.

“The government can’t handle such trivial matters. If the government sends a few people, the whole village will come out with hoes, and even the constables can’t do anything about them.

Moreover, this kind of nonsense is everywhere in the countryside here. Coal trucks don’t dare to load too much when passing through here. They don’t know how much will be pilfered along the way.

Once, a driver who didn’t know any better dared to get out of the car to argue, and the villagers beat him up and dispersed, and the culprit couldn’t be found.”

Speaking of the local customs, Zhang Erjing shook his head.

This…

Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong were speechless. They had never heard of or understood such things in the capital.

In a small place like this, there were indeed many troubles.

Take the harvester, for example. Local people can’t hire private harvesters themselves. They must go through the local gangsters. If they dare to bypass them, they will smash the harvesters hired by the people or cause other damage.

And going through them means being extorted.

Therefore, the people spend more money, but the harvester operators don’t earn much.

The people don’t dare to fight the local gangsters, but they like to bully the harvester operators from outside, deducting wages for any reason.

This kind of thing is neither big nor small, giving the local government a headache.

Arresting people doesn’t keep them locked up for long, and the local people don’t care.

Anyway, the Great Hua’s bureaucracy is very strict now, and the government doesn’t dare to use torture on the people, let alone cause deaths.

They simply refuse to pay fines, and if you want to enforce the law, the whole village will swarm you, especially united.

“These farmers are too ignorant and short-sighted,” Zhao Xiaolong complained.

Although finding excuses to deduct wages seems to bring short-term benefits, after ruining the reputation of this place, no one will be willing to come to this place to harvest wheat in the future.

Pilfering coal from passing vehicles seems like a bargain, but if these vehicles don’t pass through here in the future, it will be even more detrimental to the development here.

In this way, the local people still suffer.

However, the mob can’t see this long-term impact, or they see it, but they expect others to be good people and then secretly take advantage of it themselves.

Human nature is selfish.

If this kind of thing is not resolved, it will cause a great waste of resources.

Like Zhang Erjing, he switched to running a hotel because he couldn’t make money operating a harvester.

And that harvester is idle and cannot be utilized.

After changing careers, the harvesting skills he spent time learning are also wasted.

And the local people, without the help of harvesters, have greatly reduced harvesting efficiency, and even miss the best harvesting time, causing waste of grain and many other disadvantages.

Admittedly, these are small problems that do not affect the rapid development of Great Hua.

However, if there are more of these small problems, accumulating them will also be very detrimental to Great Hua.

Chapter 1040: Investigation 2

As a new-style official, Lin Sen had a strong awareness of practical investigation.

He didn’t blindly believe Zhang Erjing’s one-sided account. After all, one’s perspective is determined by one’s position. Zhang Erjing’s interests were harmed in the countryside, so naturally he wouldn’t speak well of the farmers.

The next day, Lin Sen and his assistant went to the countryside to hear what the local people had to say.

They rode their bicycles and actually saw the unique scenery along the way.

On both sides of the road, several women, around thirty or forty years old, held long bamboo poles with a hooked shovel on one end.

When a coal truck passed by, they would nonchalantly pull coal off the truck, and the driver could only curse and speed up.

However, these experienced women chose sections of the road that were difficult to navigate.

Lin Sen roughly estimated that in just a short while, dozens of kilograms of coal had been taken from the truck.

Zhao Xiaolong, young and impetuous, wanted to scold them, but Lin Sen stopped him.

If a few words of scolding could solve this problem, the world wouldn’t be so difficult to govern.

Lin Sen hadn’t forgotten that he was there to find problems.

If he had a conflict with the villagers now, he certainly wouldn’t be able to investigate anything.

So, at this time, he had to infiltrate them and integrate into their group.

“Aunties, good harvest!”

Lin Sen greeted them enthusiastically.

Stealing coal wasn’t exactly an honorable thing, and these women knew it in their hearts. None of the young, face-conscious girls would do such a thing.

They were all middle-aged women who had experienced the erosion of time and recognized the realities of life.

Because they knew it wasn’t honorable, they were also afraid of being ridiculed by outsiders. Lin Sen’s slightly approving and non-discriminatory tone immediately won the favor of these women.

“Not bad,”

one of the women said with a smile.

“Doing this, the drivers passing by might have some complaints, right?”

Zhao Xiaolong said.

“They have complaints? We have complaints too! This road was clean before, but since these coal trucks started passing through here, the whole road has turned black,”

one woman said dissatisfiedly.

This left Zhao Xiaolong speechless. He realized that things weren’t as simple as he had imagined.

If he were in their shoes, and his village’s roads were damaged and dirtied by a bunch of trucks, he would also have resentment.

Virtuous villagers could control themselves and not steal that little bit of coal, but who would solve their road problems?

And the transportation of coal was for the development of Great Hua’s economy, so it wasn’t realistic to forbid the drivers from passing through here.

Zhao Xiaolong thought about it and realized that this problem was truly unsolvable.

Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong lied that they were reporters from Nanjing, here to investigate some of the difficulties in the countryside and publish them in the newspaper.

If important people saw it, they would find a way to solve it.

As soon as they said this, the villagers became much more enthusiastic towards them, leading them to their homes to sit down and chat.

In the conversation, Lin Sen learned a lot about the current problems in the countryside.

For example, the issue of land sales.

During the Great Ming Dynasty, land could be freely bought and sold, which led to land annexation.

Some wealthy and powerful people could take advantage of the difficulties in people’s homes to buy their land.

The result of this was, of course, very bad, and it could even be said to be one of the direct causes of the uprising of Li Zicheng and others.

Therefore, after Great Hua divided the land, it prohibited the free sale of land and also established a progressive tax system to prevent land annexation.

However, with the development of society, this policy also showed some rigidity.

For example, in the village that Lin Sen was investigating, there was a family that had found a good job in the city and wanted to move to the city completely.

However, in this way, their land would be abandoned, and they would still have to pay taxes.

This land had become a white elephant for their family, tasteless to eat and a pity to throw away.

If Great Hua’s land policy were more flexible, allowing sales for such special circumstances, it would still be beneficial to Great Hua’s development.

In this way, the family could obtain more funds, and they would have more capital to do business in the city.

And the person who bought their land could concentrate on farming, instead of being half-hearted.

In this village, Lin Sen found that many people were struggling with whether to go out to work or stay at home to farm.

Staying at home to farm, the upper limit was fifty mu, and they couldn’t earn too much money, even less than finding a good job in the city.

However, if they were allowed to buy another fifty or one hundred mu, and use mechanized farming, their income could exceed working, and they could concentrate on farming.

Lin Sen thought for a long time at night and wrote a memorial suggesting adjusting the land policy.

In his opinion, Great Hua no longer needed to worry about land annexation.

The reason why there was land annexation in the past was because the social security system was extremely backward, and people could only sell their land when they were sick and needed emergency help.

Now, Great Hua’s security system was relatively complete, and it was very rare for people to have to sell their land to survive, so there was no need to worry that some people would not be able to survive because they lost their land.

Moreover, there were many job opportunities in Great Hua now, and there was no upper limit to the demand for manpower. As long as one was willing to work, it was impossible to have no food to eat.

Therefore, there was no need to worry about any bad consequences of land annexation.

On the contrary, land annexation was conducive to mechanized and centralized planting, which was conducive to liberating the labor force.

After writing it, Lin Sen was a little flustered.

After all, that land policy was personally formulated by the Holy Emperor.

Could the Holy Emperor be wrong?

Questioning the Holy Emperor’s decision, was he tired of living?

Reason told Lin Sen that he didn’t need to write this memorial. He could just pretend that he didn’t see the reality in the countryside, solve some minor problems, and the task would be completed successfully.

However, as a person whose thinking had already awakened, he couldn’t help but want to express his views.

More importantly, he was still young and vigorous, and didn’t have the old officials’ mentality of muddling through the days.

Since he had discovered this problem, he wanted to solve it.

So, in the end, he still wrote this memorial.

However, he didn’t send it up immediately. After all, the only place he investigated was Zhumadian, and the sample was too small.

Maybe only this place was like this, and other places were not suitable for free trading?

It had to be said that the thinking of officials who had received new-style education was much more rigorous.

And this also allowed Great Hua to avoid many mistakes.

The current new generation of officials in Great Hua can be said to be the most elite group of officials in the world.

It was precisely because of them that Great Hua was able to develop rapidly in an orderly manner.

Chapter 1041: What Was Seen and Heard

Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong’s second stop was a rural area in Linyi.

Linyi used to grow grain, but due to the increasing demand for fruit in Great Hua, coupled with the fact that grain prices had always been low, Linyi began to switch to growing other cash crops.

Among them, the most people grew watermelons.

Everywhere you looked, it was all watermelons.

“Wow, there are so many watermelons here. It seems that watermelons in Nanjing can be cheaper this year.”

Zhao Xiaolong said with a smile.

He quite liked watermelons, but in Nanjing, they weren’t cheap. Last year, they cost two cents a Jin (about eight yuan a Jin in later generations).

For him, he could only buy some to try when he really wanted to eat them, and couldn’t list them as a regular fruit at home.

“That’s hard to say.”

Lin Sen shook his head. Prices in Nanjing had been rising, and he hadn’t seen anything getting cheaper.

As the two walked along, they saw an old farmer tending to his watermelons. Zhao Xiaolong called out, “Old man, the harvest is good this year, you’re going to make a fortune.”

Zhao Xiaolong was very enthusiastic, but he was met with indifference.

“Make a fortune my ass, I’ll be thankful if I don’t lose money.”

The old farmer said.

“How could that be? Your yield is at least six thousand Jin per mu, so you can earn at least tens of yuan per mu. With dozens of mu, that’s over a thousand. An annual income of over a thousand is already quite good.”

Zhao Xiaolong roughly calculated and was a little envious.

His annual salary was only five hundred yuan.

The old farmer looked at Zhao Xiaolong like he was an idiot and retorted, “Tens of yuan? If you want it, ten yuan per mu, you can take it all.”

“…”

Zhao Xiaolong was stunned for a moment. Lin Sen helplessly reminded him, “The shipping cost from Linyi to Nanjing is very expensive. The price wholesalers buy here is generally not too high.”

Zhao Xiaolong was a little embarrassed when he heard this. He had overlooked this common sense.

Then, he asked, “How much do wholesalers buy per Jin here?”

“How much per Jin? It’s good enough if someone comes to buy them.”

The old farmer sighed.

“What do you mean by that?”

Zhao Xiaolong continued to ask, but the old farmer didn’t want to pay attention to them anymore.

Helpless, Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong could only continue to move forward and continue their investigation.

In the end, they found someone willing to tell the truth.

According to the old farmer, it was a long story.

Linyi started growing watermelons four or five years ago. At that time, the watermelons were bought at high prices. The first people to grow watermelons made a lot of money, and then everyone immediately followed suit and switched to growing watermelons.

With more people growing them, wholesalers naturally lowered the price, because there was no shortage of supply anyway.

In the old farmer’s words, those wholesalers were all very black-hearted, directly lowering the price to one cent for twenty Jin.

At that time, the yield of watermelons was not as high as it is now, so many fruit farmers lost money.

In the second year, they united and raised the price together.

That year, the wholesalers suffered a loss. Afterwards, the wholesalers united to lower the price again, causing many fruit farmers’ melons to rot in the fields, unsold.

Later, the melon farmers united to bully those small wholesalers without power or background, forcibly loading trucks and forcibly selling them off.

In short, the two sides fought back and forth, and both suffered losses.

And this year, seeing that the watermelons were about to ripen, the wholesalers had not yet come to place orders. The melon farmers were worried because the wholesalers had threatened last year not to come here to purchase goods anymore.

They were all worried that the wholesalers were serious.

The ins and outs of the matter left Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong speechless. This was originally a win-win situation, but because both sides wanted to earn more, it turned into a lose-lose situation.

Of course, on the whole, the wholesalers were worse.

They used information asymmetry and the channel advantages in their hands to lower the purchase price too much.

According to the old farmer, the melon farmers would be very satisfied as long as the purchase price could reach one cent for ten Jin.

A purchase price of two cents for ten Jin could be sold for two cents a Jin in Nanjing, a difference of ten times.

Even if the transportation costs, manual handling fees, and storage fees were very expensive, there was still a lot of profit to be made.

At two cents for ten Jin, one mu could only be sold for twelve yuan, and fifty mu would only be six hundred yuan.

After deducting the costs of fertilizer, seeds, and labor, on average, an old farmer could actually only earn about two hundred yuan per quarter.

This was slightly better than the lowest wage job in Great Hua, but planting fifty mu of watermelons was also quite hard work.

“If those wholesalers are determined to win this game, they may really not come here to purchase goods collectively this year, then these melon farmers will be miserable.”

Zhao Xiaolong worried.

Watermelons can only quench thirst, but they can’t fill the stomach.

Apart from big cities like Nanjing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, there was really no place to consume Linyi’s watermelons.

If these watermelons couldn’t be sold, they could only rot in the fields.

The final situation would be that the wholesalers didn’t earn anything, the melon farmers lost terribly, and the people in the big cities didn’t enjoy delicious and cheap watermelons.

This was really too upsetting.

“The local government is not doing anything. They should help these melon farmers find some sales channels. I don’t believe that all the wholesalers can unite.”

Lin Sen complained about the Linyi government. In principle, melon farmers are also working hard to improve the city’s economy by growing melons, and the government should provide some support and assistance.

“Report them when we get back? Maybe those wholesalers are colluding with the local government.”

Zhao Xiaolong said.

“Our task is not to investigate corruption and eliminate evil. This kind of thing is not our responsibility. If we overstep our boundaries, even if we do good things, some people will be unhappy.

What we have to do is solve this kind of problem. Moreover, we have to solve not just the problem in one place, but the common problem.

We must not only help the melon farmers find a sales channel, but also help the vegetable farmers and breeders in other places find sales channels, so that they can have a way out in the game with the wholesalers.”

Helping the melon farmers in Linyi solve the problem?

This was certainly a good thing, but it was also a meaningless thing.

If they helped Linyi, there would be hundreds of other Linyis in the world. It would be too inefficient for them to help one by one.

That was what grassroots officials should do, and they were central cadres of the imperial court. What they needed to do was to start from the root of the problem and design a system to solve similar problems in all places at once.

“Then what should we do?”

Zhao Xiaolong was a little clueless.

“Maybe, we can establish an information network, so that local officials can report local specialty information to the central government, and then the imperial court can publish this information in the newspapers, so that those businessmen know where there are goods they need. With more competitors, it will be difficult to unite…”

Lin Sen gave a rough idea. As for how to do it specifically, he would have to go back and study it in detail.

Chapter 1042: Skirmish

Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong’s third stop was Zaozhuang, Beizhuang Town, Zhou Village.

As soon as they entered Zhou Village, Lin Sen and Zhao Xiaolong heard a gunshot.

“What’s going on?”

Zhao Xiaolong asked.

Great Hua had been peaceful for a long time, and civilian firearms had been forcibly confiscated. Where did this gunshot come from?

“How would I know? Let’s be cautious.”

Lin Sen wanted to find a place to hide, but they discovered that the villagers weren’t fleeing in panic. Instead, they were all heading in the same direction, many carrying hoes and shovels.

“Could this be a skirmish with people from another village over water rights?”

Disputes over water resources have been a constant theme in rural areas since ancient times. Skirmishes caused by disputes over water were very common in the past.

However, in today’s Great Hua, this situation has become much less frequent.

After all, Great Hua has been actively engaged in water conservancy projects, and in the process of building these projects, it generally doesn’t favor any one area, precisely to avoid disputes.

“Let’s go take a look,”

Lin Sen said.

If it was just a fight between people from two villages, they, as outsiders, would be perfectly safe.

They followed the villagers and ran to a reservoir.

There, they indeed saw two groups of people.

But it didn’t seem like a skirmish between two villages, because one group was small but armed with guns.

A normal skirmish between two villages should involve roughly equal numbers and similar weaponry, not this situation.

Lin Sen and the others squeezed through the crowd and found that someone had been shot in the abdomen and was bleeding.

The five people with guns were surrounded by angry villagers. However, because they were wary of the guns, no one dared to take the lead in rushing forward.

Someone from between the two groups was urging both sides to calm down.

Lin Sen saw the armband on the person’s sleeve and confirmed that he was a retired veteran and the village chief.

“Everyone calm down, put down your weapons, and let’s talk things over,”

Zhou Lang stood between the two groups, trying his best to prevent the conflict from escalating.

“Zhou Xiong, get out of the way! They’re already shitting on our heads, what good are you as village chief?”

The villagers were furious, and it looked like they were about to beat up Zhou Lang as well.

Zhou Lang was very tired by this. Although he also had the surname Zhou, he wasn’t from Zhou Village.

In the past, he was useful to Zhou Village, so everyone naturally obeyed him. But now that he couldn’t guarantee the villagers’ interests, he was inevitably overthrown, and even given the nickname Zhou Xiong, meaning he was useless.

“Anyone who dares to take another step forward will be shot!”

The five people who were surrounded were also nervous. After all, there were many people in Zhou Village. Even if they had guns, if the villagers rushed forward without regard for their lives, with the distance between them being less than three meters, the five of them would definitely be torn to pieces.

“Stop it! I am the Deputy Section Chief of the Development Section of the Nanjing Ministry of Agriculture, a sixth-rank official. Are you trying to rebel?”

Seeing that the emotions of both sides were becoming more and more agitated, Lin Sen didn’t care about the details and stepped forward to calm things down first.

If a fight really broke out, this skirmish would kill at least six or seven people, which would be a major incident.

If he hadn’t encountered it, it would have been one thing, but if he encountered it and didn’t stop it, he would inevitably be criticized.

The Development Section of the Ministry of Agriculture, what was that?

In fact, many people had no idea what kind of official position that was.

Fortunately, Lin Sen said that he was a sixth-rank official, which made some people realize that the person in front of them was a high-ranking official.

After all, their city’s mayor was only a sixth-rank official.

“This Section Chief, you’ve come at the right time!”

Zhou Lang seemed to have found a savior.

The other villagers were also shouting for Lin Sen to stand up for them.

It wasn’t that they were really reasonable or trusted Lin Sen, but mainly because they didn’t want to fight those people with guns.

If they could live, who would want to die?

In the past, it was understandable to fight when they couldn’t survive, but now, even if they admitted defeat today, they could still live a decent life in the future.

These people’s bloodiness was inversely proportional to their comfort. The more comfortable their lives were, the less they wanted to fight.

“Everyone, put down your weapons first, send the injured to the emergency room, and then tell me the details of what happened. I will naturally urge your mayor to handle it impartially…”

Lin Sen was a high-ranking official, and he had a great deterrent effect on ordinary people.

When he spoke, the villagers temporarily put down their weapons. Some people carried the injured away for treatment, while others began to complain to Lin Sen.

The cause of the matter was simple and complex.

Simply put, the five people with guns had contracted the Zhou Village Reservoir to raise fish.

Then, the villagers of Zhou Village often went to the reservoir to steal fish and sell them. This time, someone was caught stealing fish, and a conflict broke out, and one of them fired a gun.

It sounded like the villagers were in the wrong.

But in reality, rural issues were often very complicated.

The villagers of Zhou Village had been fishing in this reservoir for generations, and they all believed that the reservoir belonged to Zhou Village.

Now, someone put some fish fry into the reservoir and said that they had contracted the reservoir. The villagers of Zhou Village would never agree to that.

Besides, they hadn’t received a single penny of the contract fee.

The villagers were dissatisfied, and the contractors were also full of anger. They had spent money to contract the reservoir and buy fish fry to raise, and then watched as the people of Zhou Village kept coming to steal fish. No one could tolerate that.

After listening to both sides’ complaints, Lin Sen was completely clear about the situation.

This was an issue of resource ownership, a gray area in Great Hua at the moment.

Important mineral resources already had clear ownership, belonging to the imperial court.

However, Great Hua currently had no explicit regulations for small reservoirs like this.

A local official must have taken advantage of this loophole and privately contracted it to someone else. But in the process, they had ignored the feelings of the people of Zhou Village.

After learning the details, Lin Sen promised to resolve the issue.

Then, he found the mayor of Zaozhuang and told him about the matter.

The mayor of Zaozhuang didn’t want to report this embarrassing matter to the higher authorities and promised to resolve it properly.

Lin Sen estimated that the official who had made the decision without authorization would be punished, and the people of Zhou Village would be given some compensation.

However, this had nothing to do with Lin Sen anymore.

What he had to do was record this case and write some心得 opinions to submit.

If the higher-ups valued it, they might sit down and discuss the issue of the ownership of these less important resources.

If the higher-ups didn’t value it, then it would be hard to say, and this kind of problem might be delayed.

Great Hua had many things to deal with, and things that weren’t particularly urgent were generally postponed.

There were many similar things in Great Hua.

But it didn’t matter, Great Hua was constantly improving and getting better.

Chapter 1043: Meeting

On the return train, Zhao Xiaolong was in low spirits.

Only after conducting on-site research did he realize that the problems in Great Hua’s rural areas were numerous, complex, and extremely difficult to handle.

The road to development for Great Hua’s rural areas was long and arduous.

As a rising star in the officialdom, he inevitably felt frustrated when faced with these troubles.

“Section Chief, do you think we can find solutions to the problems we discovered in the countryside?”

Zhao Xiaolong asked.

In his opinion, any one of them was jíshǒu; thorny, troublesome.

“Of course.”

Lin Sen answered affirmatively without even thinking.

Seeing that Zhao Xiaolong looked somewhat disbelieving, he smiled and said, “Xiaolong, you can’t compare the current state of the countryside with your imagined perfect countryside; that’s unrealistic.

You have to compare the present with the past, or with rural areas in foreign countries, and then you’ll realize that our Great Hua’s countryside has already developed very well.”

Zhao Xiaolong was young and had grown up in the city, so he didn’t know much about the countryside of the past.

Lin Sen then told him about what the countryside was like during the Ming Dynasty.

During the Ming Dynasty, the farmers were all sallow and emaciated, dressed in rags, and unable to get enough to eat. When disaster struck, they had to sell their children, their daughters, and their land…

And now, the countryside of Great Hua, seemingly has many problems, but compared to the past, they are actually happy worries.

For example, the family that was torn between going to the city to develop or staying in the countryside to farm.

In the past, their only thought was to eat their fill. How could they have such ‘happy worries’?

Another example is those melon farmers. Where would they have found such a large consumer market in the past? Regardless of the price, they couldn’t sell what they grew. And now, although they might be bought at a low price, it’s still more profitable than growing grain.

Otherwise, those melon farmers wouldn’t risk continuing to grow melons instead of grain; they are quite shrewd.

Therefore, those people seem to have many worries, but that’s because of human nature’s greed.

Lin Sen could even predict that even if they solved all the problems of those people now, and every household had a car, a television, and meat at every meal, those people would still have worries.

Just like the city dwellers living in Nanjing now, they are rich enough, but they still have worries; that’s just human nature.

“Look at those lush green rice seedlings, full of vitality.”

Lin Sen pointed to the expanse of paddy fields outside the window and said.

Zhao Xiaolong heard this and seemed to understand something, feeling deeply moved.

The two returned to Nanjing and presented their research report.

Based on the results of these field investigations, the bigwigs in the Ministry of Agriculture also became clearer about the current situation in the countryside, and then began various meetings to discuss how to solve these problems.

“We must strengthen the security control in the countryside and crack down on local bully forces.”

“This is quite difficult; we don’t have enough police force.”

“Perhaps we can ask the army for help, focusing on cracking down on some underworld forces to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.”

…

The problem of rural bullies has existed since ancient times, and it is a stubborn disease.

These bullies generally don’t commit any major crimes. It’s not good to punish them too severely, and they don’t care if the punishment is too light.

This kind of rogue-like attribute is quite frustrating.

On this issue, the people from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Public Security finally communicated and reached a consensus.

Although it is impossible to continuously give these bullies heavy sentences, a crackdown can be launched in a certain period to serve as a warning.

This can not only reduce the cost of rectification but also achieve certain results, and can also prevent Great Hua from falling into tyranny.

In short, this is a relatively suitable method for the moment.

“We must change the current land policy. Only by liberalizing land sales can we accelerate the process of urbanization. Didn’t His Majesty say that we should promote the development of urbanization, which can rapidly promote economic development?”

Qu Yuan, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, said.

Urbanization is a current theme of Great Hua, the purpose of which is to increase the urban population and reduce the rural population, so that more people live in cities.

The more people there are, the lower the cost of collaboration, and the economy can develop. This is an unchanging law since ancient times.

The era in which Wu Changqing lived in his previous life was full of metropolitan areas, and urbanization was nearly seventy percent, even higher abroad.

These are the choices of history. Wu Changqing is not very clear about the fundamental reasons, but he knows that urbanization and the development of large metropolitan areas are definitely correct.

Therefore, he proposed to accelerate the process of urbanization.

“If we liberalize land sales, I’m afraid there will be a new round of land annexation.”

“Only in times when people can’t survive do we need to worry about land annexation. The price of grain in our Great Hua has been declining for three consecutive years, and the stored grain is almost moldy. You can buy a year’s worth of food with a month’s salary for any job in the city. Do we still need to worry about land annexation?”

“However, the cost of living in the city is high, and not everyone can survive. Without land, these people will have no way out.”

“Therefore, our next topic should be how to reduce the cost of survival for farmers in the city.”

“The current land policy was personally formulated by His Majesty.”

“Keeping pace with the times was also said by His Majesty. With His Majesty’s wisdom, he will not be entangled in this point. When it needs to be changed, he will change it without hesitation.”

…

There was a lot of content in the meeting, and there were many debates.

In the end, the summary of the meeting was sent to Wu Changqing.

In fact, most people tend to reform, but they are just worried about Wu Changqing’s attitude.

And Wu Changqing is not so pretentious. He will not stubbornly adhere to his policies in order to maintain his ‘wisdom’. He can change at any time.

As a person from later generations, he is very clear about the dangers of institutional rigidity.

Among the scholars in later generations who analyzed why the Ming Dynasty perished, there are many angles. One angle is that the Ming Dynasty’s system was too rigid, which was the main reason for the Ming Dynasty’s demise.

Their analysis sounds quite reasonable.

Times are developing, and the effects of different policies are completely different in different historical periods.

A country is not afraid of occasionally having a wrong policy, but is afraid of losing the ability to change policies.

Wu Changqing did not fully approve the Ministry of Agriculture’s proposal, but put forward a ‘pilot’ requirement.

It is difficult to predict whether the effect of the policy change will be good or not.

If a one-time comprehensive change is made, the impact will be too great, so simply choose a place as a pilot.

You can choose a city, or you can choose a province, and other places remain unchanged.

After one or two years, go back to investigate. If the effect is good, then comprehensively reform. If the effect is not good, then immediately stop to stop the loss.

Great Hua is a superpower, and the concept of piloting must be promoted.

Otherwise, a bad policy will have a huge negative impact.

Chapter 1044: Industrial Development

Great Hua has always placed great importance on agriculture, because agriculture and industry are actually closely related.

As long as there is a bumper harvest and enough grain is produced, more labor can be freed up.

And as long as there is labor, Great Hua’s industry can develop rapidly.

The whole world is Great Hua’s market. Without a single competitor, Great Hua’s industry has no shortage of markets.

European nobles are going crazy for Great Hua’s cars. Currently, Great Hua’s car sales to Europe are limited to ten thousand vehicles per year.

If you want to buy a car from Great Hua, you have to wait in line.

As for more high-end electrical appliances, Europeans can only stare blankly. There isn’t a single large power station in all of Europe right now, and there aren’t even many electric lights.

The whole world is Great Hua’s free raw material supply base, so Great Hua’s industry also has no shortage of raw materials.

Whether it’s oil or iron ore, getting it to Great Hua only involves transportation costs.

With Wu Changqing able to provide technology anytime, anywhere, Great Hua’s industry also has no technological bottlenecks.

Great Hua’s enterprises can be said to be the happiest enterprises in the world. To do this business, you only need a little capital. You really don’t need to be too smart, nor do you need too much management talent.

As long as there are enough labor and talent, Great Hua’s industry can take off, and its development speed can be astonishing.

In terms of steel production alone, Great Hua’s current output has reached sixty million tons.

In the seventh year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s annual steel production was only five million tons.

Now, after more than five years, Great Hua’s annual steel production has directly increased twelvefold.

Sixty million tons is roughly equal to the total global annual steel production in 1920 in the original timeline.

Sixty million tons isn’t actually that much.

After all, Great Hua’s technology in some areas has already surpassed the level of 1920.

Compared to the technological aspects, the development of the steel industry is still a bit slow.

Today, Great Hua’s major cities all have large steel plants.

The Nanjing, Wuhu, and Ma’anshan areas are major steel production regions. Wuhan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Tangshan, and Shengjing are also important steel production centers.

There are also many places overseas with large steel plants: Seoul, Edo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Hanoi, Saigon, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok…

Officials in the imperial court are divided into two factions regarding overseas development. One faction supports overseas development, and the other believes that it should be restricted, and that heavy industries such as steel plants should all be placed in the Central Plains to prevent overseas regions from becoming too powerful.

The four provinces of Japan, for example, are now experiencing strong industrial development. Kyoto Province alone has a higher steel output than all of Europe.

The economic strength of the four provinces of Japan is also quite strong now. If the people there were to rebel, it would definitely be a major blow to Great Hua.

However, putting everything in the Central Plains is also unrealistic.

Seoul, for example, has resources, labor, and a market.

It would be too much trouble to transport raw materials to the Central Plains, then have workers go to the Central Plains to work, and finally transport the products to Korea to sell.

Setting up a steel plant directly in Seoul can solve these problems and save a huge amount of costs.

Not only steel plants, but also some other manufacturing industries are like this.

In Edo, a large industrial zone has already formed, and its development speed is almost comparable to that of Wuhan.

Therefore, overseas development is actually completely unstoppable, unless Great Hua is willing to sacrifice its overall development speed.

And this is something Wu Changqing is unwilling to do.

In comparison, Wu Changqing is more inclined to believe in his own deterrent power.

As long as he is still in power, probably no one overseas would dare to rebel.

As for the future, we’ll talk about it then.

Anyway, he still has decades to live. By then, the overseas regions may have already been completely assimilated.

In Wuhu, inside a steel plant, two officials from the Industrial Development Department were also conducting research and inspection.

“Your development has been very rapid in the past few years.”

Qu Qiang said, exchanging pleasantries as he looked at the busy figures of the workers in the factory.

Steel plant director Cui Yongxing shook his head.

“Oh? How do you say that?”

Qu Qiang asked curiously. The newspapers have been saying that the steel industry is developing very well, painting a picture of prosperity.

As a result, Qu Qiang also believed those claims.

However, Cui Yongxing’s appearance seemed to indicate that the current situation of the steel industry was not as good as imagined.

“It looks good on the surface, but in reality, it’s not very profitable. The competition is fierce, and it’s not even as good as farming…”

Cui Yongxing sighed.

Although the current steel market still has strong demand, this demand is divided into two types.

One is demand from the manufacturing industry, and the other is demand from the construction industry.

The demand from the construction industry is large, but the profit is low.

Providing steel to the manufacturing industry has good profits, but the competition in this market is extremely fierce. The orders are all snatched up by those well-known steel plants, and medium-sized steel plants like Cui Yongxing’s can only pick up some crumbs.

Currently, Great Hua’s manufacturing industry is still facing the problem of a lack of specialized talent, so its development speed is not as fast as the steel industry.

In order to avoid being eliminated, Cui Yongxing selected more than one thousand workers from his factory and sent them to Nanjing for training to learn automobile manufacturing technology.

He plans to open his own automobile manufacturing plant, so that he can provide steel to himself and increase some extra profit.

Otherwise, relying solely on selling steel is indeed not as profitable as it used to be.

Sending more than one thousand workers for training not only requires covering their food and lodging, but also paying them wages, purchasing automobile manufacturing assembly lines, and hiring high-tech talent…

This makes Cui Yongxing’s expenses very high.

Before his cars are manufactured, these are all pure investments.

“Well, the future is promising.”

Qu Qiang said with a smile.

He thought something was wrong with the steel industry, but after listening to Cui Yongxing’s explanation, he felt happy.

He doesn’t care whether Cui Yongxing can become rich or not.

Moreover, he also knows that Cui Yongxing must have made a lot of money in the past, otherwise where would he get so much money to invest in automobile manufacturing? Sending more than one thousand workers for training is quite a large undertaking.

Qu Qiang only cares whether this industry can develop healthily.

As it stands, it’s still good. Profit pressure is forcing some people to enter the more technologically advanced manufacturing industry, which can allow Great Hua’s manufacturing industry to develop more rapidly.

Currently, Great Hua’s manufacturing industry lacks specialized technical talent—a severe lack.

Refrigerators, air conditioners, tape recorders, and the soon-to-be-completed televisions are all very popular commodities. Basically, whatever is produced can be sold immediately, and some large manufacturers have even received orders for next year.

However, manufacturing these products requires more educated and more specialized workers.

This is the main reason why these industries cannot develop rapidly, but now, capitalists in other industries are actively spending money to train high-tech workers, which will inevitably accelerate the development of Great Hua’s manufacturing industry.

Perhaps, before long, products such as refrigerators and tape recorders will be able to enter ordinary people’s homes.

Chapter 1045: Grandpa Liu Visits the Villa

Nanjing, Xinhua Residential District.

This district was newly built in Nanjing last year. Its defining features are its advanced technology, trendiness, fashion, and high-end feel, making it a residential area of the new era.

The district has a total of five high-rise buildings, each twenty stories tall, with four households per floor.

Besides these five high-rises, there are also detached villa areas and apartment complexes.

The villas are generally two and a half stories high, occupying a large area, with independent courtyards and garages.

These are residences for the ultra-rich. Ordinary wealthy people can only afford apartments. It’s already good if a family can occupy an entire floor.

The ordinary residential area, with four households per floor, is aimed at Nanjing’s middle-class families.

Without some real financial strength, who would have the confidence to live in this Xinhua District?

You should know that in Xinhua District, all kinds of infrastructure are the most advanced in the world.

In some ways, it’s even more advanced than a royal palace.

Today was Zhong Xueyan’s housewarming celebration. His family moved into Villa Number One in Xinhua District, Zhongcui Garden.

This villa set a global house price record of nine hundred and ninety thousand yuan. Converted by purchasing power, it’s roughly equivalent to four hundred million yuan in later generations.

In this era when ten-thousand-yuan households were still rare, spending one million yuan to buy a house was simply too extravagant, and it immediately made the news headlines.

For a housewarming celebration, it’s natural to invite some friends and relatives to celebrate.

Grandpa Liu was one of the guests. He was Zhong Xueyan’s maternal grandfather, and he had always lived in his old home in Huainan, unwilling to leave his hometown.

Today, for Zhong Xueyan’s housewarming celebration, he couldn’t resist his granddaughter Liu Yun’s persuasion, so he came to Nanjing to attend the celebratory banquet.

In Nanjing, Grandpa Liu was already quite shocked, because the current Nanjing was completely different from what he had imagined.

He had come to Nanjing once when he was young.

But the current Nanjing, except for a few shadows of the old Nanjing that can still be found at the city wall, is almost completely different from the Nanjing of the past.

Sitting in the car, from the dock to the city, after seeing so much along the way, Grandpa Liu felt that he had almost adapted to this strange place.

But after arriving at Xinhua District, Grandpa Liu’s worldview was refreshed again.

At that moment, he really thought he was dreaming.

The next moment, he felt like he had arrived in the heavens.

In short, he just couldn’t believe that there could be such a bizarre place in the human world.

Luxurious, sci-fi, beautiful, magnificent? These were not the impressions that Xinhua District gave Grandpa Liu. He only felt that this place was strange.

First of all, the fence at the entrance of the district, without anyone pushing or pulling it, automatically retracted to the side.

Fortunately, Grandpa Liu had experienced great storms in his youth, otherwise, at first glance, he would have jumped up and shouted, “Where did the monster come from!”

Entering the district, the doorbell also puzzled him, feeling that this thing was like the clairaudient from Journey to the West.

Entering the villa, the marble floor was so exquisite that he was reluctant to step on it.

After entering the hall, he noticed that several people were trapped in an iron box.

What he saw was a television.

As the most advanced and high-end residential district, electricity and television signals were standard configurations.

This was Great Hua, and also the first residential district in the world to be covered by television signals.

Television had officially entered the lives of the people.

“Wh-wh-what is that? How can that person be inside?”

Grandpa Liu finally couldn’t maintain his composure. It was too bizarre. Could this be a magical treasure similar to the Purple Gold Gourd in legends?

Seeing his appearance, the young people laughed.

Then a young man came over and explained, “Grandpa, that’s a television. The people inside are just images, not real people.”

“Nonsense, how can images move and talk? This is clearly a magical treasure.”

Grandpa Liu didn’t believe it.

Why images can move and why they can talk is a complicated explanation, and few people in the entire villa understood the basic principles.

But they didn’t need to understand. They just needed to know that it was a television and that this was how televisions were used.

Their explanation naturally couldn’t satisfy Grandpa Liu.

But everyone was used to the television, so Grandpa Liu didn’t want to make a fuss again, lest he lose face.

A while later.

After drinking a few cups of tea, he left the hall, wanting to go to the outhouse, but instead, he was led into the inner room.

This made Grandpa Liu shake his head repeatedly. Such a good house, but they built the outhouse in the inner room, it was really a terrible waste, ruining this exquisite house.

But the result surprised him. This outhouse didn’t have the slightest odor.

The flush toilet was also much better looking than a chamber pot.

“City people really know how to play.”

Grandpa Liu pressed the flush toilet several times. He treated the flush toilet as a toy and played with it for a while.

At noon, Grandpa Liu felt some heat and wanted to ask someone to bring some ice to cool down.

As a result, Zhong Xueyan’s son turned on the electric fan.

Suddenly, a cool breeze came.

What was this thing again, a palm-leaf fan?

Grandpa Liu was very depressed. He felt that he had lived in vain in this life, and there were so many things he didn’t understand.

“Grandpa, is that enough?”

The fan was adjusted to the second and third speeds.

“Enough, enough, this wind is really strong. I wonder who blew it out.”

Grandpa Liu said.

Everyone was dumbfounded by this question.

They only knew that there was wind when they pressed the switch, but as for where the wind came from, you had to go to college to know that.

Telephone, washing machine, water heater…

Grandpa Liu stayed at the Zhong’s house for two days. During these two days, he saw all kinds of electrical appliances, tasted all kinds of delicacies, and heard all kinds of interesting stories.

The soft Simmons bed made his old bones have a sweet dream.

To be honest, he had fallen in love with this kind of life.

However, the Zhong’s residence was not his home, and he couldn’t stay here forever.

Although Zhong Xueyan verbally asked him to stay for a few more days, he couldn’t take such polite words seriously.

Reluctantly leaving the Zhong’s residence, leaving Nanjing.

“This Nanjing has really become a fairyland.”

Grandpa Liu sighed.

He didn’t know what a fairyland looked like, but the descriptions of fairylands he had seen in myths and novels were not even as good as Xinhua District, not as good as the Zhong’s residence.

“It’s a pity that the houses here are so expensive. It’s too difficult to live here.”

Liu Yun said with a pout. She naturally didn’t dare to think about a million-yuan house like the Zhong’s residence, but even the lowest-end houses in Xinhua District cost ten thousand yuan, which was also beyond her means.

“Let your cousin help you find a marriage prospect in Nanjing.”

Grandpa Liu said.

These words were exactly what Liu Yun wanted. For young people, the attraction of Nanjing was even greater.

As long as she could have an apartment in Xinhua District, what was wrong with marrying into Nanjing?

Chapter 1046: Shipping Containers

Xie Jin watched the conflict at the Shanghai docks from a distance.

He was a research official dispatched by the Ministry of Transportation, mainly to investigate the current state of transportation in society, identify problems, and find ways to improve efficiency.

“These ignorant people are truly unreasonable. I think education is the top priority. Only when the overall quality of the people improves can society develop rapidly,” his assistant, Li Zhao, commented.

His tone revealed a sense of dissatisfaction with the dockworkers.

Of course, the dockworkers involved in the conflict did have some off-putting qualities.

The cause of the conflict was simple: Binhai Container Company had snatched the dockworkers’ jobs, so the dockworkers wanted to cause trouble for Binhai Company.

The shipping container was the brainchild of a very resourceful truck driver, though perhaps it shouldn’t even be called an invention, but rather an idea.

After all, there’s nothing particularly high-tech about a shipping container; it’s just that everyone else was a step behind and Tong Zhong thought of it first.

As early as the year before last, when Tong Zhong was driving his truck to the docks to load goods, he noticed that it was very troublesome to move the goods from the ship to the truck, and the handling fees were also high.

So he had an idea: could he directly transport the truck onto the ship, so he wouldn’t have to go through so much trouble?

However, after studying this idea in depth, Tong Zhong realized that it was unlikely to work. The utilization rate of the truck would be too low, and the truck itself would take up too much space.

Transporting the truck onto the ship would be more trouble than it was worth.

But Tong Zhong didn’t give up. If the truck couldn’t be put on the ship, could the goods be packed into very large wooden boxes, and then the boxes could be moved onto the truck all at once?

This would be much more time-saving and labor-saving than the original method of handling.

Once this idea came out, it was unstoppable.

With the support of his boss, he began practical research.

Wooden boxes were easily crushed, so they were changed to be made of sheet metal.

Sheet metal boxes were too small and inconvenient to put on the truck, so they were enlarged, standardized, and some details were added.

There was no difficulty in the invention process, and the improvement process was also smooth.

After all, compared to other inventions, the technical content of this one was much lower.

After the finished shipping container came out, the transportation cost of certain goods suitable for container transportation could be reduced by fifty to ninety percent, which was very exaggerated.

This calculation excited Tong Zhong and his boss.

You know, some goods on the market are expensive purely because of high shipping costs.

Like bananas from Hainan Island and Southeast Asia, there are too many to eat, and they can be wholesale at the price of scrap.

If the transportation cost is reduced by fifty percent, then the profit of selling bananas can be directly doubled.

There are many similar examples. In short, reducing freight costs by more than fifty percent is a very terrifying thing.

Tong Zhong and his boss jointly applied for a patent, and then started a company specializing in container transportation, realizing integrated sea and land transportation.

Because they were the first to try it, they made a lot of money.

But they never expected that while they made transportation more convenient and made money, a large number of dockworkers lost their jobs as a result.

This was quite fatal for those workers. Without a job, there was no income, which was undoubtedly a disaster for people who needed to support their families.

Some of the more honest workers chose to change careers and do other jobs.

But some people were not willing to accept it.

They were used to handling goods, and they didn’t have any other skills. Finding a new job required a learning process.

They blamed all of this on Binhai Transportation Company. Those containers greatly damaged their interests, so they united and wanted to bring down Binhai Container Company.

They began to obstruct Binhai Company’s transportation at the docks, create disturbances, and provoke trouble.

Binhai Company was also very helpless about this. The effect of calling the police was very general, because there were too many dockworkers.

Moreover, it is undeniable that the unemployment of these workers was indeed caused by Binhai Company.

The police generally have to favor the disadvantaged groups slightly, so they are not in a good position to deal with these dockworkers.

“Quality education cannot be achieved in the short term. We can only rely on the quality of the new generation. As for these people, earning money to support their families consumes all their time and energy. Where do they have the energy to study and improve their quality?” Xie Jin said.

“Then what should we do with these workers now? It’s impossible to reason with them, and it’s not okay to be tough,” Li Zhao said, feeling a headache.

“This, perhaps Binhai Company can only spend money to avoid disaster and give those workers a sum of compensation. Anyway, they have made so much money, taking care of the disadvantaged groups can be regarded as giving back to society,” Xie Jin said with a smile.

In fact, it is easy to solve this problem. As long as some workers are absorbed and some compensation is given to others who have lost their jobs, most people will accept it and then look for new jobs.

As for a few stubborn elements who want to take the opportunity to extort money, the police can handle this.

As long as the number of troublemakers is reduced, the police can take action and ensure that those few stubborn elements regret it.

But the problem now is that the greedy Binhai Company only wants the Public Security Bureau to help them settle the matter and doesn’t want to spend money unnecessarily.

The Public Security Department is too lazy to care.

As the saying goes, there is emotion outside the law. Law enforcement also needs to be combined with reality. It cannot blindly help Binhai Company just because it is legally justified. It is necessary to consider the feelings of the disadvantaged groups.

In the end, the conflict ended in the way Xie Jin predicted.

Binhai Company spent money to avoid disaster, providing a living allowance to some of the dockworkers who lost their jobs until they found new jobs.

At the same time, Binhai Company absorbed some of the original dockworkers and trained them to become new-style technical loaders and unloaders.

At the same time, Binhai Company asked the newspaper to publicize their ‘good deeds’ and establish a humane company image.

The money they gave to those dockworkers was not in the name of compensation, but a charitable organization was specially established in the name of helping unemployed workers overcome difficulties.

In this way, even if they spent money, they did not lose out at all, because they gained advertising effects, won some people’s hearts, and gained a good reputation.

To some extent, they and the dockworkers actually achieved a win-win situation.

This result was unexpected by many people.

However, it also inspired many people.

They found that advertising can also be done in this way, that conflicts can be resolved in this way, and that games can be played in this way.

The world is constantly becoming more complex, and this complex world has greatly enhanced people’s thinking ability.

It is hard to say whether people now are smarter than the ancient people, but their thinking ability is definitely much stronger.

Chapter 1047: Choosing a Direction

The investigation wasn’t just limited to mid-level officials; some high-ranking officials also went out into society to conduct research.

For example, Tao Huanchang, the Deputy Minister of the Economic Development Department.

This man was the nephew of Tao Dongcheng, the Minister of the Great Hua Army’s General Strategic Department. Relying on Tao Dongcheng’s connections, he became the deputy minister of an important department at a young age.

Of course, he also had some ability.

If connections alone could get someone to this position, then Tao Dongcheng’s own son would be sitting there, not his nephew.

In the Great Hua bureaucracy, having a background is better than not having one.

But not having a background isn’t a cause for too much concern either; as long as you have the ability, you can still rise to the top.

In a rapidly developing power, no position can tolerate incompetence.

On this point, it’s not that Great Hua is doing particularly well, but rather that most powers are full of vitality in their initial stages.

Only with the passage of time, the solidification of classes, and the influence of conservatism will the interior of a power become corrupt and beyond redemption.

Incompetent people occupy high positions, while capable people are relegated to the common populace. How could those capable people be willing to accept that? Wouldn’t they inevitably rebel?

And those incompetent people, when faced with those ruthless rebels, would naturally be easily defeated.

During the late Qing Dynasty, those Manchu ministers were actually well aware that many people in the country wanted to rebel, but they were completely incapable of preventing it.

Either they removed those useless Manchu nobles and gave their positions to capable Han people, or they waited for the Han people to rebel and then sent that group of useless people to fight against those elite Han people.

Regardless of the approach, the result was the same: power shifted into the hands of the Han people.

From the moment they sent large numbers of Han people to study abroad diligently while raising their own nobles like pigs, the Qing Dynasty was already beyond saving.

After all, it is people who determine the course of history.

In short, within the Great Hua bureaucracy, there are currently not many useless people holding positions without contributing.

Tao Huanchang’s investigation was very important, because the Economic Development Department was currently debating a very important issue: whether a planned economy or a free economy was better for economic development.

Such a profound topic couldn’t be resolved even in the twenty-first century.

In the current Great Hua, in an era of scarce economists, this question was even more unanswerable.

Sometimes, as the debate went on, when neither side had convincing arguments, the academic dispute would turn into a battle of positions.

This was definitely unacceptable. This kind of economic policy had a huge impact on Great Hua and had to be approached with utmost caution.

Therefore, Tao Huanchang needed to investigate in practice.

Although he didn’t know if this kind of investigation would be useful, he still chose to do it.

Only by doing things can you know the answer; just daydreaming won’t work.

“Sir, this is the investigation report from Shining Moon Company and Everlasting Rainbow Company.”

The assistant handed a document to Tao Huanchang.

His investigation was somewhat different from that of the mid-level officials.

After all, mid-level officials needed to solve small problems, so they needed to investigate less.

But Tao Huanchang needed to decide on Great Hua’s economic development model, which involved too much. He needed to investigate a large number of samples in order to draw conclusions.

He couldn’t just see a single phenomenon in society and then deduce a conclusion.

A specific example is that mid-level officials saw that watermelons in Linyi couldn’t be sold and concluded that this was due to information asymmetry.

But Tao Huanchang, seeing this situation, had to think about the root cause.

Was it because watermelon farmers blindly followed the trend of planting, leading to oversupply? Or was it because inconvenient transportation led to high transportation costs? Or was it because local officials were not doing their jobs? Or was it because of information asymmetry…?

In short, Tao Huanchang needed to obtain more information. He couldn’t personally obtain this information, so he had his assistant do it, and then he summarized and analyzed the information.

For example, the document in front of him recorded the situation of Shining Moon and Everlasting Rainbow companies.

These two companies were both television companies that had recently been established, because their bosses saw the broad prospects of the television industry and wanted to be the first to take a bite of the apple.

However, when the two of them poured capital into this industry, they encountered some rather embarrassing situations.

There were too few television-related talents, barely enough to meet the talent needs of one company.

If divided into two parts, the result was that neither could establish a complete production line.

The current situation was indeed like this. Shining Moon grabbed half of the talent, and Everlasting Rainbow also grabbed half of the talent, and then they kept poaching each other’s people.

If one side was strong enough to kill its opponent, that would be fine, but the two sides were evenly matched, and neither could kill the other. As a result, neither side could start production normally.

This was just competition in terms of talent; they were also competing for urgently needed parts and components, and market customers.

In these areas, their competition also caused some trouble.

For example, a manufacturer that produced picture tubes hired more people and increased production because it received orders from both companies.

But after the production was completed, these two companies, because of their competition, were not ready for production and didn’t want to pay the full amount in advance to take delivery. Their cash flow was a bit tight.

That manufacturer increased its investment and produced so many picture tubes, but couldn’t get the payment immediately, and its cash flow also had problems.

Without cash, they couldn’t buy other raw materials for other products, which affected the production of other products, and as a result, the progress of downstream manufacturers was delayed.

Now they can only keep chasing debts, and at the same time try to get loans to get through the difficulties.

In short, it was a complete mess, and fraught with danger. The breaking of the capital chain has a great impact on a company.

And there were many similar soap opera events in these two companies.

The messy affairs of these two companies directly or indirectly affected other companies.

The root cause of this situation was that the current talent pool was not enough to support two high-tech companies.

The best way is for one of them to withdraw, allowing the other to operate normally, and then produce while cultivating more relevant talents.

However, in a free economy, without government intervention, this situation cannot occur.

Neither Shining Moon nor Everlasting Rainbow was willing to withdraw; they both hoped that the other would withdraw, which made both sides slow and inefficient.

From this event, one can see a drawback of the free economy: the blindness and selfishness of capital.

If it were a planned economy, this situation would not occur.

Before starting, a planned economy would investigate the talent pool and then formulate a plan to open a factory.

This would maximize the use of resources and avoid wasting them.

Of course, it would be too naive to conclude that a planned economy is better than a free economy based on this phenomenon alone.

Chapter 1048: An Awkward Conclusion

Tao Huanchang picked up another report, this one detailing the development of three bicycle manufacturers: the state-owned Qilin Bicycle Factory, and the privately-owned Changqing Bicycle Factory and Shuangma Bicycle Factory.

Of the three bicycle manufacturers, Qilin was the first to appear, and it could be said that they seized the initial opportunity. Changqing and Shuangma were established more than half a year later.

However, five or six years had passed, and the Qilin Bicycle Factory was on the verge of collapse, Changqing had already gone bankrupt, and Shuangma had captured more than fifty percent of the market share.

The biggest difference between these three companies was that one was state-owned and the other two were private.

The Qilin Bicycle Factory’s production model was to predict market demand, forecast the rate of talent development, and then formulate a production scale.

Raw materials and accessories were purchased according to the production scale, which prevented overcapacity and excessive purchase of raw materials, thus avoiding waste.

Strictly speaking, this could not be entirely considered a planned economy, but it was close.

On the other hand, the Shuangma Bicycle Factory grew wildly, regardless of market demand, simply producing as much as possible.

Originally, Shuangma was just a small factory, but because market demand suddenly surged, and Qilin was unable to meet it, Shuangma, which was still unknown at the time, secured a huge order and rose to prominence in one fell swoop.

After that, Shuangma produced even more aggressively.

If they produced too much and couldn’t sell it, they would find ways to sell it.

Lowering prices, improving sales techniques, increasing advertising, improving product quality…

This series of measures directly caused other bicycle factories to suffer heavy losses. However, they were hurting themselves while hurting their enemies.

Costs increased, profits decreased, and Shuangma struggled to survive for a time, leading to Changqing’s bankruptcy.

In order to survive, they had to constantly study technology, improve product quality, reduce production costs, and shape their brand image.

Eventually, they achieved a breakthrough, and their products were of high quality and low price, quickly occupying the market.

If a customer had to choose between Qilin and Shuangma, more than eighty percent would choose Shuangma.

There were many more stories between these factories, such as Shuangma significantly increasing prices after dominating the market and becoming the sole leader.

Another example was after the Changqing Bicycle Factory went bankrupt, it was acquired, learned its lesson, and created another brand, focusing on lightweight bicycles suitable for women.

The material was very long, and Tao Huanchang didn’t finish reading it until late at night.

And then he couldn’t sleep; he still needed to write a summary, his xin de, or rather, his thoughts after reading.

In Tao Huanchang’s view, both planned and free economies had their advantages and disadvantages.

A planned economy is prone to being out of touch with reality, lacks flexibility, and cannot control the complex changes in the micro-economy.

It easily leads to passive work and cannot stimulate people’s subjective initiative, creativity, and is not conducive to technological innovation and progress.

…

A market economy, on the other hand, is powerless when it comes to macro-control and industrial structure. All capital flows to profitable industries, while some low-profit but necessary industries lack investment, resulting in a distorted industrial structure.

This doesn’t matter for a small country, but it’s absolutely unacceptable for a Great Hua.

The blindness of a market economy can also lead to a large waste of resources, easily ignores long-term interests, easily leads to a widening gap between the rich and the poor, and the emergence of monopolies.

…

After summarizing, Tao Huanchang suddenly realized that he seemed to have done something very absurd.

The disputes in the imperial court would also become meaningless.

Whether it was a market economy or a planned economy, both had their unsolvable shortcomings and were not suitable for Great Hua.

Therefore, for Great Hua, the best economic approach was actually a combination of the two.

For those unimportant industries, a market economy should be adopted to stimulate market vitality.

For those vital industries, such as oil, steel, communications, and so on, strong control should be exercised, and a planned economy should be implemented.

This would avoid the blind influence of capital on the stability of these vital industries, as well as industrial distortions.

And this combined model was the economic model that Great Hua had always implemented.

Great Hua’s current economic model is the coexistence of these two economic models.

For those industries that require creativity and improvement, a market economy is implemented, such as bicycles, electric fans, automobiles, and so on.

In a market economy, these industries can innovate and improve more quickly.

For the grain industry, on the other hand, a planned economy is implemented, with strict control over prices, production, sales, and so on.

After all, this is an industry that concerns the people’s livelihood. Allowing the market economy to squeeze in would lead to things like lowering grain prices to buy grain from the people in good years, and raising prices crazily to sell grain to the people in disaster years, which would have a huge impact on the people’s lives.

Grain merchants are quite skilled in this traditional skill.

It is precisely because of Great Hua’s strict control over grain that private grain merchants are now almost extinct.

The coexistence of a planned economy and a market economy is Great Hua’s economic model.

In reality, Great Hua’s economic model is even more complex and cannot be simply divided by industry.

Even in the grain industry, there is actually a very small share of private grain merchants.

And in the automobile market, which seems to be dominated by the market economy, there is also a portion of the planned economy that is strictly controlled by the imperial court.

For example, heavy trucks, excavators, mining machines, and super-large machines.

These machines are often expensive to build, slow to recoup costs, and have a huge impact.

If the market economy dominates the automobile industry, then most of the capital will flow to fast-money-making sedans, and there will be less money for the production of heavy trucks.

And the role of sedans in Great Hua’s development is far less than that of heavy transport trucks.

This is the great drawback of the market economy: blindness and profit-seeking.

Therefore, Great Hua also has a part of the planned economy in the automobile industry. The imperial court formulates a manufacturing plan for heavy trucks based on various factors such as annual demand and production capacity.

This is to ensure that Great Hua has enough heavy trucks and other large special vehicles to meet various needs.

There are countless examples like this.

In other words, the current economic model that Great Hua has naturally formed over the years is precisely the most suitable economic model for Great Hua.

And yet, the people in their Economic Development Department are still studying whether to replace the current model with a planned economy or a market economy, both of which have obvious flaws.

This is like holding a lantern in the outhouse, courting death. They were being superfluous.

After reaching this conclusion, Tao Huanchang naturally didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Economics is truly a complex subject.

However, spending time on investigation and research is not a bad thing.

After investigation and research, the disputes in the imperial court can finally be stopped, and then they can unswervingly continue to develop according to the current method.

Moreover, after investigation and research, Tao Huanchang also discovered some areas where improvements could be made in the details.

These are also gains.

Chapter 1049: Income Tax Reform

When the Ministry of Economic Development handed the report to Wu Changqing, he felt a little flustered, because it was beyond his capabilities.

He couldn’t distinguish whether a planned economy was better or a market economy.

Where the system and his later-life experiences couldn’t help, he immediately became an ordinary person.

At times like these, Wu Changqing could only trust the analysis of his ministers.

Since they said the current model was the best, then they would continue to use the current model.

In the face of such significant reforms, it wouldn’t hurt to be a little conservative. Moreover, Great Hua’s economy was running very well right now, so there was no need to change it rashly.

Wu Changqing chose to be conservative in the face of uncertainty.

But he was quite decisive in the face of certainties.

Like tax reform.

Next, he would add the collection of individual income tax to the tax policy.

Great Hua didn’t have individual income tax before, only corporate income tax.

In later generations, you couldn’t find a country that didn’t levy individual income tax.

This showed the rationality and necessity of this tax policy.

Levying individual income tax according to a progressive tax rate could, to some extent, reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

On the other hand, levying individual income tax could also greatly increase national fiscal revenue.

Of course, there were also disadvantages, which would cause an uproar among the rich in the country.

In Wu Changqing’s set tax rates, individual income tax would be levied starting from a monthly salary of thirty yuan.

A monthly salary of thirty to one hundred yuan would be taxed at five percent, one hundred to five hundred yuan at ten percent, and five hundred to one thousand at fifteen percent.

One thousand yuan to five thousand yuan, five thousand yuan to ten thousand yuan, ten thousand yuan to one hundred thousand yuan, and above one hundred thousand yuan, the tax rates were twenty, twenty-five, thirty, and forty percent respectively.

This tax rate was actually lower than in later generations.

However, for Great Hua’s high-income earners, it was like a bolt from the blue.

They didn’t need to pay taxes before. Now, not only did they have to pay corporate income tax ranging from fifteen to forty percent first, but they also had to pay another forty percent on their final personal income. It was simply outrageous.

A car boss who used to make a profit of one hundred thousand yuan a month only needed to pay twenty thousand in taxes. But now, it would cost more than forty thousand.

When Wu Changqing summoned his ministers and proposed this plan, many of them were surprised.

After all, they also belonged to the high-income group, and once this new tax policy was implemented, they would have to pay extra taxes.

This was undoubtedly a very upsetting thing.

At the same time, they were also worried that this tax policy would make Great Hua’s wealthy class dissatisfied, because most people didn’t have such a high level of awareness.

It was no problem for them to contribute to reducing the gap between the rich and the poor in Great Hua, but it was absolutely impossible to take their money to make contributions.

The influence of these high-income groups was very large. Even in the previous dynasty, this group of people was the core class of a country, and could even challenge the emperor.

But now, their status in Great Hua had been greatly reduced.

The influence of ordinary people, the middle class, the scientific research class, and the military was very large, and the influence of the wealthy class had decreased a lot.

In the past, if the rich were unhappy, the world would be in chaos.

Now if they are unhappy, they probably can only hold it in.

This was not the first time Wu Changqing had taken action against merchants. If they really had that kind of backbone, they would have resisted many years ago.

Those people did not break out in resistance when Wu Changqing formulated monetary policy. Now that they had been comfortable for so many years, they had even less courage to resist.

“This matter is of great importance.”

Liu Dahua said.

After the retirement of Ruan Dacheng, Ma Shiying, Hong Chengchou and other old ministers, the former Nanjing Mayor Liu Dahua, the former Censorate Zhao Chongming and others became the decision-making level.

The second tier was a new generation of officials, such as Ouyang Shiqi, Li Yao, and the second session’s Xue Shaorong, Hong Jin, and so on.

Liu Dahua had always been a representative of the Jiangnan merchant class and a leader of the wealthy class.

However, this guy was relatively timid and cautious. Every time Wu Changqing wanted to touch the interests of those wealthy classes, he pretended not to see it and did not resist.

He had survived all the way, and had even made it to the decision-making level without being discovered by Wu Changqing.

At this time, Liu Dahua was very resistant to this individual income tax policy.

But, so what?

He was very clear that once a policy was quietly made by Wu Changqing alone, then the implementation rate would be as high as one hundred percent, and no one could stop it.

Therefore, Liu Dahua could only symbolically say “This matter is of great importance” to prove that he had advised the emperor, which was considered an explanation to the wealthy class.

“This policy can greatly increase the court’s income, and it will not affect the lives of the people. It is really wonderful.”

After reading the document, Li Yao supported it without hesitation.

Hearing this, some officials could only curse inwardly.

Everyone has different pursuits. Some people pursue wealth, and some people pursue the recognition of others. And Li Yao obviously pursued his personal career and ideals.

He didn’t care if his wealth would be less, after all, he wasn’t very rich to begin with.

He also didn’t care if the wealthy class would hate him. Anyway, he didn’t belong to that circle, and he had offended enough wealthy people before. He didn’t care about a few more.

What Li Yao cared about was nothing more than his official position, power, and the ambition to “make Great Hua better.”

Individual income tax could greatly increase the court’s fiscal revenue, allowing the court to have more money to do things. This was a great policy.

He would definitely support this kind of policy unswervingly.

“I’m just afraid it will cause dissatisfaction among many powerful people.”

Someone reminded.

“If they are dissatisfied, they can become poor people, so they don’t have to pay taxes. The court hasn’t confiscated homes for a long time. I guess some people have forgotten our dynasty’s traditional skill.”

Li Yao snorted coldly.

These words made the faces of those officials who represented the interests of the wealthy class change drastically.

The Great Hua court’s traditional skill was confiscating homes. From the uprising to the first few years after the founding of the country, confiscating homes had never stopped.

It was not until later, when the political situation stabilized and those unstable elements calmed down, that the confiscation of homes in the country suddenly decreased and shifted to overseas occupied territories.

From Japan to Annam, from Siam to India, this kind of thing had never stopped.

Confiscating homes was what the Great Hua court was best at, and it even had a set of standard procedures.

If Great Hua were to raise the banner of confiscating homes again in the Central Plains, it would definitely be a fatal blow to those wealthy classes.

This was why those officials changed color. They were really afraid that Wu Changqing would listen to the words of that madman Li Yao and restart the skill of confiscating homes.

Chapter 1050: Individual Income Tax Reform 2

The debate in the court was just that, a debate. Ultimately, Wu Changqing had the final say.

“Individual income tax must be collected. Next, Great Hua needs to accelerate its development and undertake many long-term major projects. How can we do that without money?

That money has extremely limited use in the hands of individual tycoons. Only when it is concentrated in the state can the state use it to accomplish more significant things.

And this is also beneficial for those wealthy people. Building railways, highways, and large ports. If the state didn’t spend money on these projects, would transportation be so convenient now? Would business be so good?

Tax revenue is taken from the people and used for the people. The blindness and selfishness of individuals cannot help Great Hua develop rapidly. The function of the imperial court is to lead.

To give an example, the imperial court is like the head of a household. Of course, it is most appropriate for the head of the household to spend the money. Giving it to children, they will only use it to buy toys…”

Wu Changqing reminded those officials who were dissatisfied or worried in a slightly sarcastic way.

Wu Changqing used simple and easy-to-understand words to tell those guys that the imperial court was not taking their money out of greed. Wasn’t the money the imperial court received ultimately spent on them?

Without the state to coordinate and make long-term plans, the money scattered in the hands of those wealthy people would not have much impact on the development of Great Hua.

Is it possible for an individual to build a road that has no profit but is of great use?

This principle is actually very simple. Everyone understands it without Wu Changqing having to say it.

However, those people are ultimately short-sighted and selfish.

As long as it involves taking their money, they will feel the pain.

They would rather the imperial court scrape money from the poor to build these infrastructures, making it easier for them to do business and make big money.

Although this idea is extremely shameless, many people do think this way.

However, Wu Changqing would not let them get their wish.

Regardless of whether those wealthy people are happy or not, Wu Changqing has decided to do so and will not change his mind.

As for whether doing so will lead to unrest in Great Hua, Wu Changqing is not worried at all.

It’s like boiling a frog in warm water; you can’t add too much heat at once.

If you try to take all the money from the rich at once, they will definitely revolt.

However, if you only take a little bit each time, making them feel the pain but unable to make a firm decision.

Wu Changqing has done this kind of thing before, and he is very skilled at it.

For example, the standard currency reform was not just a way to make the wealth of those wealthy people who hid silver in their cellars shrink by ten to fifteen percent?

In the end, those wealthy people could only grumble and submit.

This time is the same. The ultimate fate of those merchants will definitely be to pay taxes while complaining.

After a few more years, when they get used to paying this tax, the complaining will disappear.

By then, Wu Changqing should introduce inheritance tax.

Boiling a frog in warm water is a great trick for dealing with the wealthy class.

The news of the individual income tax reform soon leaked out, because many of the officials participating in the meeting represented the interests of the wealthy class.

As soon as the meeting ended, they released the news, letting those wealthy people also use their brains and think of ways to deal with it.

The first to receive the news were of course the wealthy people in Nanjing, but soon wealthy people in other places also knew about it.

Telegraphs and telephones have closely connected the world.

After the news spread, the wealthy world was filled with wailing, and the more they earned, the more miserable they cried.

For example, Hong Tailin in the shipbuilding industry, the corporate tax for the highly profitable industry is forty percent, plus his monthly income has exceeded ten thousand yuan.

It means that sixty-four percent of the money he earns in the future will have to be handed over to the imperial court, and he will be working for the imperial court entirely.

“It’s outrageous. I knew this tyrant never treated us like human beings. He’s just raising us like dairy cows, squeezing milk every once in a while.”

“Keep your voice down, are you tired of living?”

In a mansion, a woman was so frightened that she quickly covered her husband’s mouth.

Kong Xun’s words just now criticized the current Divine Sage Emperor, which is a great treason.

If someone heard it and reported it, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“I will say it. Kill me if you have the guts.”

Kong Xun slammed the table.

It’s no wonder he was so angry, because he used to be from a family of large landlords.

Wu Changqing’s currency reform forced him to exchange the silver in his cellar for standard currency, and his wealth shrank by nearly fifteen percent.

After the land reform, he was forced to sell his land cheaply, and his wealth shrank by nearly forty percent.

This is why he hates Wu Changqing.

Of course, this is just the superficial reason. The fundamental reason is because he is selfish.

Kong Xun only saw that Wu Changqing took a lot of money from him, but he didn’t see that Wu Changqing ended the war and gave him a safe society and a good business environment.

He didn’t see that the infrastructure built by Wu Changqing made it easier for him to do business, he didn’t see that Wu Changqing defeated other countries and plundered cheap resources from overseas to use as raw materials for him, and he didn’t see that Wu Changqing provided them with advanced technology.

Wu Changqing’s two policies did plunder more than half of his wealth.

However, before Wu Changqing established the country, Kong Xun’s wealth was only less than five hundred thousand taels.

But now, his wealth has reached three million yuan, which, after discounting the devaluation, is approximately equal to two million taels before the founding of the country, which is four times more.

This is something that his ancestors for three generations have not been able to do, but he has done it.

Those landlords who have declined in the tide of the times may still have the right to hate Wu Changqing.

But Kong Xun, who has caught the tailwind of Great Hua’s development and enjoyed the benefits of Great Hua’s development, does not have this right.

However, only normal people can see Wu Changqing’s contribution and role, while people like Kong Xun, who have been blinded by selfishness, feel that their wealth growth is earned by their own ability and hard work.

Even, when earning this money, he is still a little smug.

He will also think in his heart, ‘Even if you use force to rob my money, I can still earn more with my ability.’

Kong Xun has a lot of resentment in his heart, but Wu Changqing is not worried about this kind of person at all.

This kind of extremely selfish person is the easiest to rule.

Don’t look at Kong Xun slamming the table and throwing chairs, but if Wu Changqing is standing in front of him now and gives him a gun, he will not do it. He is not the kind of person who will lose his mind in order to vent his anger.

He will only shrink aside like before, and then when he goes to bed at night, he will imagine that someone else will stand up to oppose Wu Changqing. When others are sure to win, he will stand up and cheer.

Before there is hope of winning, he will not even say a word.

To shed blood and sacrifice his life, he is not that stupid.

Chapter 1051: A Battle of Wits

“His Majesty is fleecing the sheep again.”

At a small gathering of businessmen, one merchant said with a wry smile.

“Many people have strong opinions and are planning to jointly petition His Majesty to withdraw the decree.”

“That’s just courting death, practically telling His Majesty they’re disloyal.”

“Actually, paying a little more tax isn’t unreasonable. Besides, what do we need so much money for? Giving it to the imperial court to research new technologies will benefit us too. If the imperial court wasn’t supporting those monsters in the science parks, would we have telephones, telegraphs, and televisions to use now?”

“Mr. Wu, you have a large business and endless money, so of course, you’d say that. Small businesses like ours can’t withstand such tax policies.”

…

The crowd discussed animatedly, and there were even voices supporting the new tax policy, though it was hard to tell if they were being polite or sincere.

Those who opposed it only complained verbally.

When it came to taking action, they all backed down, not even daring to jointly petition.

This was the biggest difference between them and the gentry of the past.

When the imperial court enacted policies unfavorable to them, the gentry didn’t just grumble and vent their frustrations; they immediately took action.

They mobilized their connections to prevent such policies.

The late Ming Dynasty was the peak of the gentry’s power; they could even block or ignore the emperor’s orders.

But in Great Hua, Wu Changqing divided and suppressed the merchant class, weakening their ties with officials.

Now, these merchants wanted to resist but didn’t know how.

In the end, their gatherings became venting sessions rather than conspiracy meetings.

After complaining, they all went home.

“Dad, actually, those people are overthinking it. The individual income tax seems scary, but there are actually many loopholes to exploit,” Cui Mingchong’s son, Cui Li, said with a smile. He was a graduate of the first class of Nanjing Law School and was now a famous legal consultant.

He mainly served his own family’s business, helping them legally avoid taxes.

“How so?” Cui Mingchong asked.

“It’s simple. If there’s no income, there’s no tax to pay, right? Our factory has a monthly profit of one hundred thousand, so we’ll use eighty thousand of it for expansion and investment. That part of the profit becomes production costs.

Then, our assets will continue to grow, and our wealth will increase, but we won’t be making a profit, so naturally, we won’t have to pay taxes,” Cui Li said with a grin.

“Excellent.”

Cui Mingchong smiled contentedly. He was happy that his son was smart, but he didn’t want to praise him directly.

“Extending that idea, we can even use this to defeat our competitors. For example, we can use profits to invest in building a residential complex, and give the apartments in the complex to our core executives and technical staff.

This way, we can pay them less salary, let them pay less tax, and achieve a win-win situation. We can even use this method to poach talent from our competitors…”

Cui Li continued to come up with new ideas, and Cui Mingchong became more and more excited as he listened.

Having a son who graduated from law school was just that great.

When there’s a policy at the top, there’s a countermeasure at the bottom.

Human creativity is always endless.

The more complex the society, the more it stimulates people’s thinking abilities.

Cui Li could find loopholes in the individual income tax, and the tax authorities in the imperial court could also find ways to close those loopholes.

Cui Li wasn’t the only one who graduated from law school.

The most concentrated place for talent, besides the science parks, was the imperial court. People like Cui Li were actually those who had been eliminated from entering the imperial court.

There were many ways to close the loopholes.

For example, they could introduce a value-added tax for businesses.

Regardless of whether your business has a profit each month, if the overall market value of your business increases, you have to pay taxes.

If you don’t give salaries but give houses and cars, then there’s a gift tax…

If you want to give expensive gifts to others, sorry, pay taxes first.

Of course, enacting such tax policies would create new problems or loopholes.

The battle of wits between the two sides would continue.

In the end, tax policies and laws would become incredibly complex, and normal people wouldn’t be able to understand them.

Then, the legal profession would flourish.

In capitalist countries, a person can live without a doctor or a teacher, but they can’t live without a tax lawyer.

The new individual income tax policy made many wealthy people dissatisfied.

Even some high-income earners and the middle class were unhappy.

Although someone with a monthly salary of one hundred only had to pay five, it was still money.

Regardless of whether they were satisfied or not, the new individual income tax policy was eventually promulgated as scheduled.

According to the calculations of the Ministry of Taxation, this individual income tax could increase Great Hua’s tax revenue by an additional ten percent this year.

This was an incredible number, equivalent to an additional one hundred million in fiscal revenue.

Last year, Great Hua’s fiscal revenue officially exceeded one billion.

It seemed like a lot, but compared to later generations, one billion was pitifully small.

Adjusted for purchasing power, it was roughly equivalent to four hundred billion in later generations.

And the Middle Kingdom’s fiscal revenue was nearly twenty trillion a year.

Great Hua’s overall wealth was still much lower, and its tax collection ability was also much weaker.

The percentage of people with a monthly income of more than one hundred was actually very low.

The real tax revenue came from the group with a monthly income of less than one hundred.

In theory, individual income tax could be levied on people with a monthly salary of ten.

However, Wu Changqing needed to consider the actual situation.

Great Hua currently didn’t have computers, electronic payments, or other technologies.

Tax collection was more difficult, the procedures were more complicated, and it required more manpower.

Especially for those with low levels of education, making them go to the tax office every month to pay taxes would be a nightmare.

It was not cost-effective to collect taxes from low-income groups; most of the money collected would go to the staff responsible for collecting the taxes.

This was equivalent to a transfer of wealth, which did not serve the purpose of using wealth to create wealth, so it was meaningless.

To collect taxes from this group, they had to wait until the tax collection methods were upgraded.

Even so, with the implementation of the individual income tax, Great Hua would increase its fiscal revenue by at least one hundred million each year.

And it was every year, not a one-time thing.

This money was still a huge sum for Great Hua at the moment and could be used for many things.

Of course, it would mainly be used for various infrastructure projects, which could make taxpayers feel a little better.

If this money were used to improve the welfare of officials, the taxpayers would explode.

But even so, many officials were all smiles.

Although the money was spent on engineering construction, the completion of the engineering construction was their political achievement.

In any case, they could all benefit from it.

Chapter 1052: Five-Year Development Plan

With the individual income tax implemented, the Imperial Court suddenly found itself flush with cash. This unexpected revenue, not originally in the budget, naturally made every department green with envy.

One hundred million! Just imagine, if it were poured into any department, that department’s status would instantly skyrocket, leading to a surge of achievements. It could also be used to improve the welfare of officials and increase their compensation.

Various industries were also eagerly anticipating, hoping this money would be used to support their respective sectors.

If it were invested in a particular industry, it could directly propel that industry into rapid growth.

What if there weren’t enough skilled workers?

As long as there was money, offering training programs with high salaries would ensure a flood of applicants eager to learn.

With sufficient subsidies, there would be no bottlenecks to development.

However, most departments were soon disappointed.

Wu Changqing stipulated that this one hundred million would be a special fund, specifically for investing in various large-scale key construction projects, dedicated to development.

Improving welfare and benefits would have to be postponed again.

Upon hearing this, the departments related to development and construction were somewhat pleased.

After all, the fruits of development and construction would be their achievements.

Soon after, various large-scale projects were proposed one after another.

These included the Three Gorges Dam, the Gezhouba Dam, the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the Chengdu-Delhi Highway, and a new era of civil aviation…

Fortunately, no one suggested blowing up the Himalayas to allow warm currents from the Indian Ocean to reach the deserts of the Northwest.

However, most of these proposals were rejected by Wu Changqing.

With Great Hua’s current capabilities, the technology to manufacture passenger planes and establish civil aviation routes was not yet mature enough. The construction capacity for the Three Gorges Dam was also insufficient.

The Chengdu-Delhi Highway was deemed uneconomical, with high costs and low returns, far inferior to maritime transport.

Most of the other rejected projects were similar.

Either the timing wasn’t right, they were uneconomical, or they were too large in scale.

Taking too big a step could easily lead to problems.

Compared to those grand-sounding projects, Wu Changqing focused more on projects that seemed ordinary but were highly practical.

Such as the power grid construction project in major cities.

The sensory impact of such projects was much smaller.

Unlike the Three Gorges Dam, which sounded impressive just by its name.

But the construction of urban power grids was crucial, allowing those areas to skip the steam power stage and directly enter the electrical age, achieving leapfrog development.

Places with electricity supply could use Great Hua’s most advanced electric machinery.

Electric machinery far surpassed steam engines in terms of stability and efficiency.

Currently, only first-tier cities like Guangzhou, Nanjing, and Shanghai had widespread electricity. Areas around Nanjing, such as Chuzhou and Jurong, still didn’t have electricity.

Once the urban power grids were established, these places would experience a surge in development.

In addition to laying power grids, the construction of large-scale thermal power plants and hydroelectric power stations was also underway.

Previously, the technology for long-distance power transmission hadn’t been solved, so each city needed to build its own power plant to generate electricity.

In places with underdeveloped transportation, building thermal power plants meant that the cost of transporting coal alone was enormous.

Furthermore, the pollution from thermal power plants was quite severe, and centralized treatment was more cost-effective than decentralized treatment.

Another example was the large-scale fertilizer project.

Wu Changqing planned to establish fertilizer synthesis factories in major grain-producing areas to reduce transportation costs.

Currently, most of the large-scale fertilizer factories were concentrated in Jiangnan. Transporting the produced fertilizer to the planting areas required significant transportation costs.

Moreover, the quantity couldn’t meet the demand, and many places still couldn’t use fertilizer, so grain production hadn’t reached its limit.

In Wu Changqing’s view, the Wuhan area needed a fertilizer factory to supply the Han River Plain and the Dongting Lake Plain. Chengdu needed a fertilizer factory to supply the Chengdu Plain.

The Northeast also needed one or two, and North China, Guanzhong, the Pearl River Basin, and other places all needed them.

Overseas, Hanoi, Bangkok, Edo, Jakarta, India…

These places all needed to establish fertilizer plants, otherwise, the cost of transporting fertilizer alone would be astronomical.

The production of agricultural machinery was the same. More tractor and harvester factories needed to be built in India.

On the one hand, it was to reduce transportation costs, and on the other hand, it was to support local development.

The Imperial Court couldn’t only develop the Jiangnan or Central Plains regions, otherwise, intellectuals in other places would become dissatisfied.

Moreover, having more development centers would greatly benefit economic development.

Just like Nanjing driving Jiangnan, and Guangzhou driving the Pearl River Delta.

The development of Edo could drive the development of the surrounding areas. The development of Delhi could also benefit the entire northern India.

Hanoi, Bangkok, Jakarta, and other places were the same.

The Delhi Third Machinery Factory, the Delhi Power Plant, the Fushun Nonferrous Metals Plant, the Fushun Open-Pit Coal Mine, the Balin Oil Refinery…

Across all industries, both in the Central Plains and overseas, this batch of investment projects reached more than five hundred.

Any one of these factories, once developed, could become a pillar industry in the local area, creating a large number of jobs and driving local economic development.

In addition to these factory constructions, a small number of engineering projects were also approved, such as the South-to-North Water Diversion Project.

However, this South-to-North Water Diversion Project wasn’t the same as the one in the original timeline. The scale wasn’t as large, only the eastern route of later generations.

That is, from Yangzhou to Tianjin, diverting water from the Yangtze River to the North.

The technical difficulty of this section was relatively low, and the scale of the project wasn’t particularly large, but the benefits it could bring were extremely high.

After all, this section of the waterway passed through densely populated and agriculturally developed areas in the Central Plains.

After this project was completed, it would benefit thirty to forty million people in the North, solving their drinking water and irrigation problems, and increasing grain production.

The central route project was too large in scale and couldn’t be rushed. It had to be done step by step.

At the same time, small-scale hydropower station projects were also approved.

The technical difficulties of small hydropower stations were lower. Building a batch of them first could also accumulate experience, so that there would be more confidence and certainty in building the Three Gorges Dam in the future.

Going directly to the Three Gorges Dam without this process, if it failed, probably no one could bear the responsibility.

In the thirteenth year of Yongxing, the new five-year development plan began to be implemented.

This development plan involved all industries, with a very wide scope and many goals.

Wu Changqing’s goal was that, after five years, Great Hua’s first-tier regions should reach the development level of the 1950s.

Such as the area around Nanjing, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Pearl River Delta.

Second-tier regions should reach the level of the early twentieth century, such as Wuhan, Tianjin, Nanchang, Shengjing, Edo, and Delhi.

Third-tier regions should reach the level of the nineteenth century, such as the vast number of small county towns and rural areas.

As for other remote mountainous areas, the goal was to solve the problem of basic needs.

Chapter 1053: GDP

At the end of the thirteenth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s fiscal revenue exceeded one billion four hundred million.

Furthermore, Great Hua began to introduce the concept of Gross Domestic Product, or GDP.

However, in Great Hua, this concept wasn’t called GDP.

Previously, Great Hua officials measured the success of economic development primarily by looking at fiscal revenue.

However, this wasn’t very accurate.

For example, if the total wealth produced in the world last year was one hundred, and Great Hua’s tax rate was twenty percent, then the fiscal revenue would be twenty.

This year, the total wealth produced in the world is still one hundred, but the imperial court has increased taxes to thirty percent, then the tax revenue would be thirty.

Fiscal revenue has increased, but the total economic output hasn’t grown. You can’t say that the economy has improved; you can only say that the country has taken more money from the people, increasing their burden.

The opposite is also true. Sometimes tax revenue doesn’t increase much, but the total economic output has increased significantly. It’s just that the tax wasn’t collected, and the wealth remained in the hands of the people.

In the past, Great Hua’s statistical data was relatively simple and crude, and they didn’t care so much, only using fiscal revenue to measure economic development.

However, as the Great Hua government becomes more mature, the areas that need improvement are naturally being gradually refined.

Since fiscal revenue can’t accurately measure economic development, then introduce the concept of Gross Domestic Product.

Of course, Great Hua can only roughly estimate this value at present.

Not to mention now, even in later generations, this data can only be estimated.

The only ones who can obtain accurate data are those large enterprises, the production data of large factories, and the value data created by those who have tax records.

As for those individual small businesses, who knows how much money they earn?

Those individual businesses on the Guangzhou parts manufacturing street look inconspicuous, but their annual production value is tens of thousands.

That guy selling popsicles and drinks in the city square looks inconspicuous, but his annual turnover is several thousand.

For this part of the Gross Domestic Product, the government can only estimate it according to some relatively scientific and reasonable models.

It’s an estimation, not a wild guess; there’s still a high degree of technical content involved.

According to the calculations of the Statistics Bureau, the final result is that Great Hua’s Gross Domestic Product in the thirteenth year of Yongxing was approximately thirty-five billion yuan.

After seeing this result, Wu Changqing didn’t quite believe it.

But the people from the Statistics Bureau vowed that this was definitely a relatively accurate number.

“It seems that we still need to add some taxes.”

Wu Changqing complained.

Generally speaking, if a country’s fiscal revenue accounts for more than twenty percent of its GDP, it means that the country’s taxes are very high, the government’s tax collection ability is very strong, and it’s a powerful government.

If this part of the tax revenue comes from the rich, it means that the country’s tax policy is very perfect and complete.

But if most of this tax revenue comes from the poor, it means that the country is implementing tyranny, and the people are living in misery.

But whether it’s perfect or miserable, this kind of government’s mobilization ability is very strong.

And if a country’s fiscal revenue accounts for less than ten percent of its GDP, it means that the country’s tax collection ability is very poor.

If it’s because the taxes of the rich haven’t been collected, then it means that the country has been manipulated by financial oligarchs and is a terrible country, such as…

If it’s because the taxes of the poor haven’t been collected, then the people of this country will live a relatively easy life.

However, this isn’t a good thing in the long run.

If the government’s tax collection ability is weak, it won’t have money to engage in infrastructure construction or strategic investment, and its development potential will be poor.

In later generations, some financial institutions often assess the development prospects of a certain country, and one important indicator is the tax revenue ratio.

Countries that can’t collect taxes often have little development potential.

Generally speaking, it’s best for fiscal revenue to account for fifteen to twenty percent of the Gross Domestic Product.

Of course, this also depends on the specific situation.

Different countries have different GDP statistical standards, so it can’t be generalized. When it comes to economics, it often means complexity.

In China, the income of some individual small businesses and vendors isn’t actually included in the statistics.

And in India, there was a joke that cow dung was also added to the GDP statistics.

Although there are some exaggerated elements, the gold content of India’s GDP is definitely much worse than that of China.

Even the GDP of developed countries in Europe and America has a lot of water.

Some ordinary people who don’t understand GDP think that other countries have very high per capita GDP and think that their economic development is very good, but this isn’t accurate.

In some countries, getting a haircut costs dozens of euros, and it’s also counted in the GDP.

It seems to have increased the total production value by several hundred yuan, but in reality, it’s just helping someone get a haircut, and no actual products have been produced.

In China, getting a haircut costs a dozen yuan, and it’s not counted in the GDP.

So, it seems that China’s per capita GDP is very low.

But in reality, China’s various infrastructures can completely crush those developed countries, such as high-speed rail, payment systems, communications, urban services, and so on.

These are all among the best in the world.

Having a lower GDP allows one to say that they are a developing country, and they can get some preferential policies in world trade.

China’s low-key and humble style actually takes a great advantage in this game.

When Trump got angry and said that the United States should also become a developing country and insisted that China was a developed country, he wasn’t joking, but was really depressed.

Getting back to the main topic, Wu Changqing was very surprised when he saw that Great Hua’s fiscal revenue only accounted for four percent of the total production value.

A high percentage doesn’t mean that the country is bad.

But a low percentage is definitely not good.

Whether it’s under-collecting from the rich or under-collecting from ordinary people, it’s not conducive to a country’s long-term development.

That’s why he blurted out that he wanted to increase taxes.

When those officials heard Wu Changqing say that taxes still needed to be increased, they all wanted to kneel down and shout, “Your Majesty is wise!”

Although these officials didn’t know how much fiscal revenue should account for to be appropriate, they could feel it.

They felt very intuitively that Great Hua’s current tax revenue was too low.

You know, in the past, at least half of the people’s income had to be turned over.

But now, at most one-tenth of the people’s income is collected.

In addition, the imperial court provides seeds and fertilizers to the people at low prices, which is actually equivalent to not collecting taxes.

If it weren’t for this, the living conditions of the people of Great Hua wouldn’t have undergone such earth-shattering changes.

An ordinary farmer’s family can not only eat their fill, but also eat meat once or twice a month.

This is the life of a small landlord in the past!

In this case, slightly increasing taxes is reasonable.

Chapter 1054: Turns Out I Was the One Getting Hurt

“Our dynasty’s tax revenue is indeed a bit low. His Majesty’s benevolence and concern for the people are certainly commendable, but in the long run, letting them live too comfortably isn’t necessarily a good thing,” said Yang Qi, the director of the Statistics Bureau.

These words put Wu Changqing in a difficult position.

As someone from the twenty-first century, he felt that the people’s lives were only just getting by, and not necessarily that good.

Starting to raise taxes now seemed like exploitation and oppression.

However, he also knew that Yang Qi was right.

In this era, their living conditions were already considered very good.

People in other parts of Europe were still struggling to feed themselves, and were all skin and bones.

Not to mention their people, even the football players who came to the Central Plains and Great Hua for friendly matches were very thin and not a match for Great Hua in terms of physical strength.

When living conditions improve, people tend to become complacent, and once people are satisfied, their enthusiasm for production decreases.

Moreover, collecting more taxes would give the country more money to concentrate on doing bigger things.

“Let’s forgo the tax increase, but we can appropriately reduce some subsidies and slightly raise the prices of some commodities,” Wu Changqing said after some thought, still deciding against raising taxes, as it would have a negative impact.

People are always happy with tax cuts, but once you want to raise taxes, no matter how flowery the court’s words are, the people won’t want to listen.

Therefore, he had to adopt a more clever approach.

For example, reducing some subsidies and increasing the prices of essential goods, such as salt.

Another option was to print more money, slightly devaluing the currency.

Although these measures would increase the people’s cost of living, they were necessary for the overall faster development of the country.

In any case, a fiscal revenue accounting for only four percent of the economy was too low.

These policies were quietly promulgated, and the reactions among the people varied.

For the older generation who came from the Ming Dynasty, they had no complaints.

After all, they didn’t have such subsidies in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the subsidies from Great Hua were more like a reward. They would kowtow to thank the Emperor for the subsidies, and it was reasonable if they were gone.

However, the younger generation didn’t think that way.

Although they were also born in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, they were young at that time and didn’t remember anything.

Since they were old enough to understand, the court had these welfare subsidies, and they had taken them for granted.

Now that the court suddenly canceled these subsidies, they inevitably felt unhappy.

However, their lives today didn’t completely depend on those production subsidies.

Without these subsidies, they could just eat a few less meals of meat each year, or find a part-time job during the off-season, which would be enough to make up for it.

“Is the court short of money?”

In a private box at the Central Stadium, two merchants gathered to watch the game and chat.

The court’s series of actions made Xu Wenjing have such a question.

“How could the court be short of money? It’s just that His Majesty wants to adjust the distribution of wealth and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor,” Tong Youwei said with a smile.

In Great Hua, Tong Youwei was among the top five people who understood Wu Changqing.

He had long known that Wu Changqing’s ambition was very great.

He not only wanted to unify the world, but also wanted common prosperity, and even pursue gender equality and class equality.

From ancient times to the present, Wu Changqing might be the only emperor with such strange ideas and ambitions.

In the eyes of previous emperors, the distinction between the noble and the lowly, and the gap between the rich and the poor, were all taken for granted. They never thought about it, didn’t have that ambition, and didn’t have the courage to change the world.

“Narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor? That’s not right. Weren’t those policies aimed at farmers and the poor in the city?” Xu Wenjing said, expressing his confusion.

“The annual subsidies of Great Hua are at most fifty million yuan. Does the loss of some subsidies have a big impact on farmers? You are all staring at these subsidies, but you don’t know that His Majesty has quietly issued an additional five hundred million yuan in banknotes.

Moreover, all of these banknotes have been used to build various large-scale projects. You know about the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, right? The ordinary workers in this project have a monthly salary of forty yuan. The same is true for other projects, which have greatly increased the wages of workers.”

Tong Youwei’s tone was full of admiration, because he felt that Wu Changqing’s move was really brilliant.

He quietly increased the wealth by five hundred million yuan, and this five hundred million yuan mainly flowed to ordinary people and the poor.

This not only increased the income of the poor, but also built a large number of projects.

Moreover, when the income in these places becomes higher, labor will naturally flow to these places.

Those merchants who want to retain workers can only increase the wages of workers.

A set of measures resulted in a small devaluation of the currency, and the overall income of the poor increased, offsetting the impact of the currency devaluation.

The merchants, on the other hand, had to experience the double whammy of reduced profits and currency devaluation. On the surface, their wealth might not have shrunk, but in reality, their share of the total wealth of society would decrease somewhat.

This decrease may not be large, but when multiplied by the total amount, it is very considerable.

This move achieved the effect of killing three birds with one stone. Yet, not many people can see it or feel it.

“Turns out I was the one getting hurt.”

After understanding this logic, Xu Wenjing wanted to cry but had no tears.

He thought that Wu Changqing had changed his gender and started to attack the poor class. After all this, he was still fleecing the rich.

“Hahaha.”

Tong Youwei laughed.

“You’re still laughing. You have much more money than me, so you’ll lose even more. With His Majesty’s move, your wealth will shrink by at least two percentage points,” Xu Wenjing complained.

“So what? Money is just a number to me now. Whether I have more or less, my life won’t change much.

My greatest pleasure now is watching Great Hua change day by day, watching our Holy One change the world. I have to say, our Holy One’s methods are truly amazing. I heard that some merchants are not convinced and want to fight with His Majesty. They really don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth.”

Tong Youwei wasn’t bragging; he had indeed reached this level.

“That’s true. I also want to know what Great Hua will become in my lifetime. The changes are too great, so great that I can’t imagine them.

I wasn’t afraid of death before, but now I am. I’m afraid that after I die, I won’t be able to see what Great Hua will look like in the future,” Xu Wenjing said.

“Have you heard of the 815 Plan?” Tong Youwei asked.

“No, what plan is that?”

“There’s a rocket research team that’s developing a launcher that can fly to the moon.”

“What?”

Xu Wenjing thought he had misheard. Going to the moon? What a joke.

“Take good care of your health and live a few more years. Maybe you’ll be able to see it,” Tong Youwei said.

…

Chapter 1055: The Military’s Hard Times

Personal income tax, cancellation of subsidies, increased prices, and increased currency issuance.

A series of measures led to a surge in the imperial court’s financial revenue.

With this money, Great Hua was able to simultaneously carry out the construction of hundreds of large-scale projects.

Great Hua once again set off a wave of construction.

In order to make way for construction, Great Hua further reduced military spending.

At the end of Yongxing thirteen, Great Hua’s military budget for Yongxing fourteen was only two hundred million yuan, less than one percent of GDP, which was shockingly low.

It should be known that Great Hua now has as many as four hundred thousand main force troops and one million second-line troops.

Among them, twenty thousand main force troops and five hundred thousand second-line troops are deployed in the Central Plains, and the rest are overseas.

Approximately twenty thousand main force troops and forty thousand garrison troops in Japan.

Approximately ten thousand main force troops and forty thousand garrison troops in Annam and Siam.

Approximately twenty thousand main force troops and fifty thousand garrison troops in Java.

Approximately seventy thousand main force troops and one hundred and fifty thousand garrison troops in India.

Approximately twenty thousand main force troops and sixty thousand garrison troops in Africa.

Approximately thirty thousand main force troops and sixty thousand garrison troops in Europe.

Approximately twenty thousand main force troops and sixty thousand garrison troops in South America.

Approximately ten thousand main force troops and forty thousand garrison troops in North America.

Relying solely on military expenditure is not even enough to cover the salaries of these troops, let alone various weapons research and development and equipment upgrades.

In fact, the military has many sources of income, such as private donations from across the country and donations from merchants. The garrison troops in peaceful areas basically rely on self-reliance, while the troops in war-torn areas rely entirely on plunder.

Even though the military is so frugal and carefully calculates, the military’s situation is still not good.

Within the military, there have already been suggestions to reduce the size of the army, but they have been rejected by several big shots.

With Great Hua’s current land area, one million four hundred thousand regular troops are really too few.

The civil officials in the court all hope that the military can be quiet, and that they don’t need to be in such a hurry to recover some places with low economic value, in order to reduce military expenditure.

However, the military ignored them. While Great Hua was vigorously developing, the military’s small-scale military operations were also ongoing.

At the beginning of Yongxing thirteen, Great Hua had already recovered the area from Panama to southern Mexico, as well as the islands in the Caribbean Sea.

Cuba, Puerto Rico, and other places were all recovered.

Most of South America has also been recovered. The western coastal areas have basically been incorporated into Great Hua’s rule, leaving only the central and eastern coastal areas.

Without the support of Europe, the local immigrants had no way to compete with Great Hua and could only retreat steadily.

Either they chose to surrender, or they fled into the jungle to become savages, mixing with some of the local natives.

However, this was of no use.

Great Hua has not yet recovered these places, not because it cannot recover them, but because the benefits of these places are low, and Great Hua does not have enough motivation.

Places like the Amazon rainforest are basically useless to Great Hua now.

In North America, the number of Great Hua immigrants has reached two million, and the western coastal areas have all been incorporated into Great Hua’s rule.

Some inland areas controlled by Native Americans have also chosen to submit to Great Hua.

At the same time, some of Great Hua’s troops and immigrants also passed through Panama and landed and expanded in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River through the Caribbean Sea.

There are still small-scale battles in Europe. Great Hua recovered the Danish region and controlled this strategic point.

It will be much more convenient to attack Poland and Tsarist Russia in the future.

This made the Polish government panic all day long, wondering when Great Hua would take action.

At the beginning of Yongxing fourteen, Great Hua’s land area had reached seventy million square kilometers.

Nanjing, General Strategic Department.

The new year’s strategic planning meeting was held under the chairmanship of Tao Dongcheng.

Although Tao Dongcheng is the Minister of the General Strategic Department and the person with the greatest power.

However, he did not sit in the top seat.

There were three seats at the top, occupied by three strategic advisors.

Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, and Wang Dayong, three founding elders, their status is always higher than those who came later.

They have no real power, but their opinions are very important, and everyone will respect them.

“We have to work hard again in the new year.”

Tao Dongcheng said, and hundreds of military bosses below could only smile wryly when they heard this.

Great Hua is vigorously developing the economy and carrying out large-scale construction, and everything else has to give way. There is nothing they can do.

If all military operations are stopped, some military expenditure can be saved, but they are unwilling to be lonely.

“The navy’s shipbuilding plan is temporarily suspended, but a few more transport ships can be built.”

Tao Dongcheng continued.

“That’s not very good. There are so many overseas territories. Without enough warships to deter them, I’m afraid it will cause some trouble.”

Wu Yi, representing the interests of the navy, opened his mouth symbolically, but he also knew that these words were equivalent to saying nothing. Anyway, the military has no money now.

“Three fleets are enough, and more is a waste. With the strength of our dynasty, no place dares to rebel.”

Tang Guozhen said.

Maintaining the navy is too expensive, so it’s better to have less.

“Although the military expenditure is very small, our actions cannot be stopped. This year, we must complete the following goals. First, recover the West Asia region; second, recover the east coast of South America; third, recover the eastern region of North America.

Next, what we need to discuss is how to complete these goals with as little money as possible.”

Tao Dongcheng said.

Completing these goals is not difficult at all. The key is how to spend less money.

“Let’s not use armored vehicles, it’s too troublesome to transport them from the mainland.”

“Heavy artillery is not needed, mortars are enough to beatdown the enemy.”

“Let’s forget about the air force, it’s too expensive.”

“It’s best to control the number of participants.”

…

Everyone expressed their opinions, and there were all kinds of ideas.

Among them, several suggestions were picked out for key discussion.

For example, in North America, support a pro-Great Hua force and let them fight among themselves, and then Great Hua can pick up the cheap stuff from behind.

This way, you don’t need to invest so many troops, and you won’t have too many Great Hua soldiers killed or injured.

The pensions for these fallen soldiers are also a heavy burden.

If you use those immigrants to fight immigrants, no matter how many die, Great Hua doesn’t need to pay compensation, just provide them with some ammunition.

In West Asia, the same method can be used to support pro-Great Hua forces in Persia.

Because Great Hua is too powerful, some people within Persia hope that the royal family can take the initiative to abdicate and then merge into Great Hua.

However, the royal family did not agree to this suggestion and suppressed these pro-Great Hua forces.

Supporting these forces to fight against the royal family does not require too many troops and can save a lot of military expenditure, just like Great Hua’s previous methods in Japan.

When they fight to the point of exhaustion, maybe they will take the initiative to abdicate and then merge into Great Hua without Great Hua having to take action.

Chapter 1056: Can’t Afford It

In the end, the meeting finalized some strategic plans.

In North America and West Asia, they would support pro-Great Hua forces, letting them charge ahead while the Huaxia army followed behind to reap the benefits.

In South America, it was difficult to find such forces, so they had to go in themselves.

However, the military had decided to take a civilian-friendly approach, which meant infantry swarming forward without battleship fire support, armored vehicle support, or aircraft.

In Africa, the focus would remain on cultural infiltration.

As for Europe, they would adopt a two-pronged approach of economic and cultural infiltration and control.

Jiangning, Weapons Research and Development Center.

Nie Ping, the army commander who was about to go to North America, came to the Weapons Research and Development Center before his departure, hoping to see if there were any good weapons.

New weapons on the battlefield can often have unexpected effects.

He made his name in the Annam War, and at that time, he also caught the enemy off guard with semi-automatic rifles.

He had always attached great importance to new weapons.

“Commander Nie, look, this is our latest research and development of fully automatic rifles.”

Guan Hong, the head of the Weapons Research and Development Center, picked up a rifle and aimed it at the target.

Da da da…

Nie Ping frowned beside him and complained, “You call this thing a rifle?”

With this rate of fire, it was no different from a light machine gun.

The old semi-automatic rifles at least required pulling the trigger to fire a bullet, but this fully automatic rifle was good; holding down the trigger would fire all the bullets in the gun.

Moreover, the speed was extremely fast, and the firepower was extremely fierce.

“Of course, it’s called a rifle. The effective killing range is more than three hundred meters. Have you ever seen a submachine gun that shoots so far?”

Guan Hong said.

Submachine guns had a faster rate of fire, but the bullets were less powerful and had a shorter range. They were used for short-range assaults, not as conventional weapons.

In modern combat, the distance between the two armies was generally very far, and weapons were more reliant on rifles with a long range.

“Can’t afford it, how many bullets would it take to use this thing.”

Nie Ping smiled wryly. The gun was a good gun, but it was too expensive.

“I didn’t ask you to equip it on a large scale. Select an elite force to equip this weapon, which can play a deterrent role. I heard that you are going to support some Great Hua allied forces to deal with the enemy. If your weapons cannot suppress the Great Hua allied forces, and you don’t have an advantage in numbers, won’t those Great Hua allied forces have other ideas?”

Guan Hong reminded him.

Although the rebellion of those supported forces could not shake Great Hua, it could still bring some trouble to Great Hua in some areas.

To avoid this trouble, it was best to have the strength to beatdown the enemy in local areas.

“Then give me enough for a regiment.”

Nie Ping felt that Guan Hong’s words made some sense, and if it was only used for deterrence, it meant that it would not be used much usually, so naturally there would be no consumption.

Next, the two visited the latest research and development of multiple rocket launchers.

After a burst of whistling, the predetermined explosion point was devastated.

Wherever the shells went, nothing grew.

“Can’t you people in the research and development department stop being so wasteful and always develop impractical things?”

Nie Ping put down his binoculars and complained.

“Impractical? This thing is much more powerful than field artillery. Look at this firepower. If a division is equipped with one hundred of these rocket vehicles, everything they pass will be razed to the ground.”

Guan Hong said disdainfully.

When the decisive battle was fought, the outcome was often decided in an instant.

At this time, the fiercer the firepower, the better.

The rate of fire of traditional artillery was too slow, and the firepower could not be compared with this kind of rocket launcher.

If the two armies fought, the rocket launcher would win steadily.

“The key is, who can afford this thing? Each shell must cost more than ten yuan.”

Nie Ping said.

“The Guards, they have already equipped a lot.”

Guan Hong said.

“…”

Nie Ping.

“Send me a few, and I’ll help you test the actual combat effect.”

Nie Ping smiled and said.

If it was to help with testing, it would naturally be free.

Guan Hong gave Nie Ping a cold look, expressing indifference.

The Guards had already tested the effect of this weapon in exercises, and it was absolutely awesome, so there was no need for further actual combat testing.

“I said, can you develop a weapon that is easy to use and cheap?”

The two continued to visit, and Nie Ping complained.

“You’re probably still not awake. Don’t you understand the simple principle that you get what you pay for, and good things aren’t cheap?”

After Guan Hong finished speaking, he picked up a piece of clothing and threw it to Nie Ping.

“What is this thing?”

Nie Ping asked.

“A bulletproof vest, which can effectively prevent shrapnel damage and non-penetrating damage. Equip this kind of clothing, and I dare to guarantee that the soldiers’ mortality rate can be reduced by thirty percent.”

Guan Hong said.

Nowadays, the armies of other countries mainly rely on two kinds of weapons to kill Huaxia soldiers, one is grenades, and the other is rifles.

Grenades belong to shrapnel attacks, and their advantage lies in their large number, but their lethality is not as good as rifle bullets.

Wearing this kind of clothing can effectively protect the soldiers’ torsos.

And the enemy’s rifles are now imitating Great Hua or directly from Great Hua, so some of their guns use flat-headed bullets.

Pointed bullets have a long range and strong penetration, but they have poor lethality to people. After hitting the human body, there is a high probability that they will pass through the body.

Although it hurts to be hit by this kind of bullet, there are still a small number of soldiers who can continue fighting.

The head of the flat-headed bullet is dome-shaped, and the bullet has a large resistance when flying.

However, after hitting the human body, because of its poor penetration, the bullet tumbles in the human body, and the damage to the person is far greater than that of a pointed bullet.

Soldiers whose torsos are hit by flat-headed bullets are basically hopeless, because their internal organs will be greatly damaged.

And precisely because of its poor penetration, bulletproof vests can work.

If it is a pointed bullet with strong penetration, the bulletproof vest cannot stop it.

“This thing is not cheap either, right.”

Nie Ping didn’t care whether it was easy to use or not, he asked the price first.

“It is mainly used by a small number of elite troops.”

Guan Hong smiled awkwardly.

“So your research and development department is serving the Guards.”

Nie Ping stared at Guan Hong as if he had discovered some truth.

This made Guan Hong a little afraid to look Nie Ping in the eye, because what Nie Ping said was true.

But he also had his difficulties, because only the Guards would give them funding to develop new weapons.

Therefore, they must first study the weapons needed by the Guards.

The people from the Army Department did not provide them with funding, so they naturally did not have so much motivation to study cheap weapons.

In the Weapons Research and Development Department, Nie Ping finally did not find the weapon he wanted, and could only continue to use the old guns from before.

Of course, it can’t be said that he gained nothing.

At least, he blackmailed Guan Hong for a batch of advanced equipment, which could equip an elite regiment.

This elite regiment could have a great deterrent effect on the enemy.

Chapter 1057: Bowl City

North America, Bowl City.

“Bowl City” is what the Great Hua people call this place; Europeans call it New Orleans.

Why New Orleans? Because there’s an Orleans in Europe.

In North America, many places are named “New Something” or “Saint Something.”

Like New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, San Jose…

All these places were named because they had difficulty coming up with original names, so they just used names from their old homes and added “New” or “Saint” in front.

And the meanings of their names are mostly quite shocking.

For example, the common name George means “tilling” or “farmer.”

Why does it mean that? Because there was a farmer named George in Greece who was very good at farming and very famous, so George went from being a simple sound to meaning “farmer.”

It’s a bit like Daji. The original meaning and combination of these two characters had nothing to do with charm or seduction, but because there was a Daji who was so charming and famous that she directly led to the destruction of a country, the two characters Daji came to represent a vixen.

But the Huaxia people generally avoid such words when naming, and almost no girls are named Zhao Daji or Liu Daji.

Westerners, on the other hand, are different; there are tons of people named George.

Of course, being named George is still okay; at least “farmer” isn’t a particularly derogatory term.

More outrageous names include Gay, Sexton, Fox, and Eiler (an uncastrated horse), and so on.

Huaxia people who know the meanings of these names can’t help but laugh when they see them, just like seeing the name “Shi Zhenxiang.”

The Great Hua people naturally wouldn’t be so outrageous; they pay more attention to artistic conception when naming.

The reason why they call New Orleans “Bowl City” is that the core area of this place is mostly below sea level, like a sunken bowl.

Nowadays, Bowl City has become a stronghold of Great Hua. There are several such strongholds in eastern North America.

After arriving in Bowl City, Nie Ping immediately met with the independent army leader Sexton Ingram (Son of a Big Bird).

Nie Ping, of course, didn’t know the specific meaning of the other party’s name, so he didn’t laugh.

“Mr. Sexton, I’m new to Bowl City and don’t know the situation here. Can you first introduce me to the current situation?”

Nie Ping’s English wasn’t very good, and he couldn’t even pronounce the other party’s name clearly.

“Of course, you can also call me by my Chinese name, Sai Jinqu.”

Sexton said in not-so-standard Chinese.

“Sai Jinqu?” (roughly translates to “Stuff it in”)

Nie Ping wanted to laugh when he heard the other party’s Chinese name, but he held back.

Afterward, Sai Jinqu introduced Nie Ping to the current situation in eastern and central North America.

Currently, the east and central regions have completely become the sphere of influence of European immigrants. Under the guns of those immigrants, the local natives were either killed, enslaved, or migrated to the western highlands.

After learning that the European mainland had surrendered, these European immigrant forces formed the United States of America and declared independence.

Because they no longer had to pay taxes to the mainland, the government forces of the United States of America developed rapidly, and their strength is now not to be underestimated.

However, no matter how well they develop, most people understand in their hearts that once Great Hua attacks with all its strength, they will still be no match.

Therefore, some of them hope to take the initiative to merge into Great Hua before Great Hua attacks.

The difference in treatment between actively merging and being conquered is still very large. This can be seen from Korea and India.

Anyway, they can’t win, and sooner or later they will become Great Hua people, so why not be proactive and get a higher status?

The ideas of these people cannot be said to be one hundred percent wrong. After all, the gap in strength between the two sides is visible to the naked eye.

There were also some people who failed in the struggle when the United States was established and did not get the power they wanted. They also joined forces with those pro-Hua factions to form an opposition party.

Those who have illusions about the United States of America, those who are ambitious, and those who have vested interests in the United States are naturally unwilling to do so.

In order to prevent these opposition parties from spreading rumors in the United States, they launched a purge and arrested and suppressed those opposition parties.

The severely damaged opposition party began to flee and launched a rebellion in Louisiana, in the southern part of the United States, and contacted Great Hua.

Currently, the opposition party is retreating steadily, and even most of Louisiana has fallen, leaving only some areas near the coast. The situation is very bad.

Their only hope is support from Great Hua.

“Lord Nie, our Western Huaxia army is now equivalent to the citizens of Great Hua and will absolutely obey any orders from Great Hua. I hope Lord Nie can fully support our Western Huaxia army.”

Sai Jinqu said.

He had reached the end of his rope and could only rely on Great Hua.

Although in this way, he completely lost the opportunity to reach the peak of power.

However, if he could help Great Hua take the entire Americas, he would at least be able to get a second-rank official position.

The governor of Great Hua stationed in Ceuta is a second-rank official, and he is still very powerful in front of the royal families of European countries.

Those kings are respectful in front of him.

Therefore, being an official of Great Hua is no worse than being an independent small king.

As for the fact that the people of Great Hua have yellow skin and they have white skin, Sai Jinqu doesn’t care at all.

In his opinion, everything except black is good-looking and beautiful.

“I came to America this time for this matter. Don’t worry, the next step is our counterattack.”

Nie Ping smiled.

There was no other way. If they wanted to easily take the United States of America, they had to cooperate with Sai Jinqu and give Sai Jinqu some benefits.

After all, the United States of America is too big, and the population of Great Hua in America is too small.

“I’m relieved to hear Lord Nie say that.”

Sai Jinqu said.

Next, they discussed some details.

When Sai Jinqu learned that Great Hua had only deployed thirty thousand troops to North America, he was somewhat disappointed.

Thirty thousand Huaxia army soldiers would naturally be invincible all the way, but the places they occupied would need to be garrisoned.

Calculated in this way, thirty thousand Huaxia army soldiers was pitifully small.

However, it was better than nothing.

Sai Jinqu felt that as long as the Huaxia army took the lead in charging forward to kill the enemy, he could follow along the way to promote and then recruit troops.

If they cooperated well, it seemed that they could successfully take the United States of America.

Coincidentally, Nie Ping thought the same way.

Let Sai Jinqu charge forward, and he would follow behind to help the civil servants establish a complete administrative system and consolidate the rule.

At most, he would provide Sai Jinqu with some weapons and equipment, military guidance, and solve some problems that Sai Jinqu could not solve.

Chapter 1058: Joining Forces and Heading North

Sai Jinqu and Nie Ping had a disagreement on who should lead the attack, but this disagreement was short-lived, quickly ending with Sai Jinqu volunteering.

He had no choice. Great Hua might not care about him, but he couldn’t live without Great Hua.

He had to swallow any grievances.

Trying to become Great Hua’s favorite son as soon as you join is not so easy.

You have to work hard and show your abilities first, or you won’t even get to be an adopted son.

The two sides agreed that the Independent Army would be the main attacking force, with the Huaxia army providing support.

The Independent Army currently has fifty thousand troops, but controls a population of only two hundred thousand, making it a case of militarism, with the entire population participating in the war.

Joining them would be the 31st Brigade of the Third Division of the Great Hua American Army, with a total force of about four thousand soldiers.

Brigade Commander Jin Jiusheng led his troops to Alexandria on the front lines to join up with the Independent Army.

The Huaxia army marched into the camp with neat steps, while the Independent Army was scattered around the camp. When they saw the Huaxia army coming, they ran over to watch, creating a chaotic scene.

This scene made Sai Jinqu very angry, but there was nothing he could do.

The Independent Army’s military discipline was like this.

Not long ago, most of these people were just farmers and serfs.

Being able to learn how to shoot a gun in this short period was already considered qualified. As for tactics and military discipline, they couldn’t be expected to know much.

But there was no need to worry, the armies of the United States of America to the north were pretty much the same, six of one, half a dozen of the other.

“That’s Great Hua’s regular army, so orderly, so impressive.”

“Their uniforms are so beautiful.”

“They brought so much stuff.”

…

The two forces formed a stark contrast, one neat and orderly, advancing and retreating with precision, the other loose and disorganized, chaotic and disorderly.

However, apart from their mental outlook, the Huaxia army didn’t bring much more of a shock to the Independent Army.

After all, the Huaxia army didn’t carry heavy weapons.

And advanced heavy weapons had always been the label of the Huaxia army.

Without heavy weapons, they gave others the feeling that they were nothing special.

In short, in the eyes of the Independent Army, Great Hua’s force was a little stronger than them. But, that was all it was, just a little stronger.

Besides that, there was more resentment.

Because when they ate, they found that the Huaxia army’s troops ate much better than them.

In comparison, what they ate was like pig slop.

“Damn it.”

“These noble soldiers will definitely be scared shitless on the battlefield.”

“If I could eat canned food like them, I would be willing to die in battle.”

The Independent Army people complained one after another, but after complaining, they were helpless.

After the two sides joined forces, they rested for two days, and the Independent Army also received some weapons and equipment from the Huaxia army.

They were all old rifles, equipment that Great Hua was phasing out.

Even if they were obsolete goods, they were good things for these Independent Army soldiers. You should know that some of the weapons they used before were even old-fashioned smoothbore guns.

After familiarizing themselves with the new weapons, the two armies began to move north along the Mississippi River to recover lost territory.

They needed to control more farmland and population to support this Independent Army.

Their first stop was Vicksburg, two hundred kilometers away, a town on the Mississippi River with a population of over two hundred thousand, most of whom were actually Native Americans.

Because of Great Hua, those European immigrants did not carry out massacres against the Native Americans, but instead imitated Great Hua, adopting a combination of carrot and stick tactics to obtain this labor force.

They didn’t exterminate the Native Americans, so some natives didn’t have such a strong desire to resist.

Faced with the immigrants’ guns, a large number of Native Americans chose to submit and accept the rule of foreign immigrants.

Some even joined the army of the United States of America in a daze.

Not only the United States of America, but even the Independent Army had twenty percent Native Americans.

They didn’t know why they were fighting, but they came to the army because there was food to eat, so they came.

Before the massacres and epidemics, the Native Americans were the main ethnic group on this land.

Although no one had counted, it was estimated that there were at least forty million Native Americans on this land.

And the number of immigrants from Europe was only a little over one million.

The number of immigrants from Great Hua had not yet reached one million, but the rate of increase was very fast, and it wouldn’t be long before it surpassed the number of European immigrants.

In short, most of the land in North America was still inhabited by Native Americans.

It’s just that they lacked advanced civilization and organizational skills.

A massive population was ultimately ruled by foreign immigrants, with little ability to resist.

The Allied forces marched north and engaged the government army for the first time in Sicily Island.

The government army stationed in Sicily Island was only a second-rate garrison force with a small number of troops, plus the Independent Army had been re-equipped.

Therefore, the Independent Army won a great victory in this battle without any suspense.

They killed one hundred and three enemy soldiers and captured four hundred and twenty-two.

Watching the Independent Army cheering and jumping, the Huaxia army soldiers couldn’t help but laugh.

They could be so happy with such a small victory?

Of course, this couldn’t be blamed on the Independent Army.

They had basically been losing battles before, and it was rare for them to win once, so it was natural that they couldn’t control their excitement.

As for the results, in their opinion, it was not small, equivalent to annihilating an enemy force of more than five hundred people.

After taking Sicily Island, the Allied forces continued north.

The government army, having received the news, also gathered a large army on the west bank of Vicksburg.

Staying on the east bank and relying on the Mississippi River to defend would naturally be a great advantage. However, they couldn’t do that.

One reason was that they wanted to take the initiative to engage the Independent Army and eliminate their opponents. The other reason was that they wanted to protect the crops on the west bank.

The harvest season was just around the corner, so they couldn’t stay on the east bank and watch the Independent Army steal the grain, could they?

The government army gathered about fifty thousand troops, but these fifty thousand had not yet fully arrived in Vicksburg, and some were still on their way.

Therefore, the two thousand troops currently in Vicksburg chose to build a defensive line in a wasteland outside the cornfields, wanting to block the enemy outside the grain-producing area first, wait for the other troops to arrive, and then launch a general attack on the Independent Army together.

The tactics were very simple.

The Independent Army’s tactics were even simpler, with no detours, no encirclements, and no ambushes…

It wasn’t that their officers didn’t know these tactics, but they couldn’t use them.

The military quality of the soldiers was too low to execute such complex tactics.

If they detoured to the enemy’s rear and plunged into the enemy’s hinterland, they would probably be scared shitless. It would be good if they didn’t collapse instantly, let alone expect them to complete the desired coordination.

Because of insufficient execution, they could only adopt the simplest method, a head-on confrontation.

Chapter 1059: You Think You Can Do It?

The sound of gunfire shattered the tranquility of the land as both sides engaged in a firefight in the open.

The Independent Army was on the offensive, the government troops were on the defensive, and the Huaxia army watched from the sidelines, waiting for the opportune moment to join the fray.

When to join the battle depended on Jin Jiusheng’s mood.

Sai Jinqu didn’t urge him either, as he still wanted to put on a show for the Huaxia army and demonstrate the strength of the Independent Army.

The large-scale re-equipment had also given him more confidence.

However, this confidence was quickly undermined by the Independent Army’s poor performance.

“What kind of dogshit are you lot fighting? After all this time, you haven’t advanced five hundred meters, and you’ve even been pushed back by a counterattack!”

Sai Jinqu was furious in the command post.

He was very dissatisfied with the Independent Army’s earlier offensive. Despite having a numerical advantage, they had failed to make any breakthrough progress.

After falling into a stalemate, the Independent Army’s morale also declined.

With much coercion and inducement from the officers, they finally launched a wave of attacks, advancing several hundred meters and capturing some enemy positions.

But before long, they were driven back by the enemy’s counterattack.

This made Sai Jinqu lose face in front of the Huaxia army, so it was no wonder he was so angry.

Most of the officers being scolded were unconvinced, but they didn’t dare to say anything.

“Commander Sai, this unit of yours really needs to strengthen its training,” said Zhu Tong, the military advisor from the Huaxia army.

These words made many Independent Army officers unhappy, as they implied that they were incompetent.

Although they were indeed incompetent, they didn’t want to be told that by others.

“The government troops aren’t as weak as you think. Their weapons are even better than ours.”

“The ones on the opposite side are regular soldiers, while our soldiers were just farmers who only knew how to till the land not long ago.”

“If you’re so capable, why don’t you go up there and try it yourself? What kind of skill is it to stand behind and make sarcastic remarks?”

The crowd argued, unconvinced.

Seeing this situation, Jin Jiusheng decided to have his troops join the battle.

Although the Huaxia army’s plan this time was to have the Independent Army be the main force in the war, with them acting as supervisors.

However, if they didn’t first demonstrate their strength to the Independent Army, the Independent Army probably wouldn’t obediently rush to the front lines.

Therefore, they would definitely have to fight one or two battles, and they had to be tough battles, victorious battles.

The current opportunity was not bad. The Independent Army was unable to break through the government troops’ defenses. As long as their Huaxia army charged over and broke through the defenses, the difference in strength would be immediately apparent.

Once they showed their strength, the Independent Army would no longer be qualified to complain.

“Commander Sai, have your men withdraw and see how we do it first,” Jin Jiusheng said.

As soon as these words came out, the Independent Army officers were still unconvinced.

But due to Jin Jiusheng’s status, they didn’t dare to talk nonsense anymore, only hoping that Sai Jinqu would agree immediately so that they could wait and see the Huaxia army make a fool of themselves.

Sai Jinqu was very depressed at this time. He wanted to show his strength, but his subordinates were useless.

Helpless, he could only agree to Jin Jiusheng’s request.

However, after agreeing, his heart was extremely conflicted.

He wasn’t as heartless as those subordinates, hoping for the Huaxia army to be defeated.

That would mean that the government troops were too strong, and even with the help of the Huaxia army, it would be difficult to win.

It wouldn’t be good if the Huaxia army was defeated, and it wouldn’t be good if the Huaxia army won a great victory, as that would mean that the Independent Army was truly useless.

What position he could climb to in Great Hua in the future depended on how much contribution he could make for Great Hua now.

If the Independent Army was too useless, it would be very bad for him.

When the order was issued, the Independent Army soldiers were also depressed.

When they learned that the Huaxia army would replace them in the attack, they had similar concerns to Sai Jinqu.

If the Huaxia army could defeat the enemy, it would mean that they were trash. If the Huaxia army couldn’t defeat the enemy, it would be even worse, as that would mean they would suffer a defeat.

And suffering a defeat meant that they were more likely to die in battle, which was even more deadly.

The Huaxia army ignored their concerns. After the order was issued, they entered the attack area and prepared.

“This battle is special because someone is watching our performance. It’s fine if you make a fool of yourselves during training, that’s just losing face internally, and no one will know.

But now, if anyone dares to lose face in front of outsiders, losing the brigade commander’s face, would you even have the face to live on…”

Before the charge, some officers gave pre-battle speeches, telling these people the importance of this battle and demanding that they must win and win beautifully.

After the speeches, the Huaxia army blew the bugle call for the charge.

There was no artillery cover, but the Huaxia army didn’t care, as the enemy didn’t have any either.

Since the enemy didn’t have artillery, they were relatively comfortable on the way to the charge.

It wasn’t until they were two to three hundred meters away that the enemy’s gunfire rang out.

However, at this time, there was basically no need to worry too much. The enemy was just firing blindly. The Huaxia army’s charging formation was very dispersed, and only a very small number of them could be hit.

“With such a dispersed formation, the firepower will probably not be enough when the attack is launched.”

The Independent Army officers also went to a high place and observed the Huaxia army’s attack with binoculars.

Compared to the Independent Army, the biggest feature of the Huaxia army’s attack was that the formation was relatively sparse, and the number of people committed to the attack at one time was relatively small.

The advantage of this was that casualties would be relatively small, but the disadvantage was that their own firepower would be insufficient after the exchange of fire.

If they couldn’t attack, it wouldn’t matter even if they could reduce casualties.

The Independent Army officers didn’t really agree with the Huaxia army’s approach.

Of course, there were also a few officers who were more thoughtful. They thought that the Huaxia army’s rifles were more advanced and the firepower would be stronger. This kind of attack formation was not a problem.

On the battlefield, after continuing to approach, the Huaxia army soldiers’ tactical movements began to increase.

The mortar team began to aim at some of the enemy’s firing points in the rear, as machine guns were always a terrifying threat.

The charging soldiers began to cover each other’s advance.

This area had no cover to hide behind, and no shell craters, which was quite unfavorable for the attacking side.

All the Huaxia army could do was have one soldier aim at the enemy’s position and suppress them with fire, while the other two soldiers advanced rapidly.

After rushing through a distance, one of the two charging soldiers would stop to provide cover, while the one who was responsible for covering would accelerate to catch up.

They had to use this method to maintain continuous fire on the enemy’s position, so that the enemy would not dare to show their heads.

Of course, it was impossible for the enemy to really not dare to show their heads at all. There were still some brave or experienced soldiers who dared to counterattack under this kind of fire suppression.

However, the Huaxia army didn’t expect to completely suppress the enemy. This kind of fire cover was ultimately just a small trick to reduce combat losses during the charge.

If they wanted to defeat the enemy, they still had to rush across this open ground and kill the enemy in front of them.

Chapter 1060: A Stark Contrast

“They… the enemy seems to be getting suppressed.”

“Sh*t, do they all have machine guns?”

“This isn’t fair. Their weapons are too good. Even if they win, it’s not a glorious victory.”

The officers of the Independent Army complained one after another, feeling it was unfair.

The Huaxia army was fighting so well because of their superior weapons.

Of course, a few unbiased officers saw the Huaxia army’s formidable military skills. Each soldier was in their position, cooperating perfectly.

While weapons were a factor, if these weapons were given to their Independent Army, they certainly couldn’t perform as well as the Huaxia army.

“Commander Jin, when can you support us with a batch of these automatic rifles?”

Sai Jinqu asked.

The weapons of Great Hua were always so enviable.

“These automatic rifles are only equipped by a very small number of units in our army,”

Jin Jiusheng retorted.

Even many main force units weren’t equipped with them. And the bastard child Independent Army wants them? Did they even ask the Huaxia Collaboration Army, the bastard’s bastard child if they agree?

Sai Jinqu was naturally aware of this. He wasn’t really asking for automatic rifles, but merely putting forward an impossible request first, and then pretending to lower his demands.

He said, “If not automatic rifles, you should at least support us with a batch of semi-automatic rifles. I plan to select some elites from these fifty thousand plus men to create a unit capable of storming fortifications. Otherwise, it will be difficult to compete with the government army’s elite troops.”

“I can’t promise you that. I can only report it. But don’t have too high hopes. Semi-automatic rifles consume ammunition too quickly, putting a lot of pressure on logistics.

In the past, the people in the country had high morale, and there were a lot of war donations. Many businessmen even transported supplies for us for free. But now we have to pay for it ourselves, and the pressure is enormous…”

Jin Jiusheng explained.

Sai Jinqu wanted to cry, but had no tears. He could only follow Jin Jiusheng’s advice, strengthen training, and improve the military quality of his soldiers. This was the only thing he could control. As for weapons and equipment, he was completely dependent on Great Hua.

On the battlefield, the Huaxia army had already approached the enemy’s position.

At this time, the government army couldn’t care less about the Huaxia army’s suppressive fire. They counterattacked, braving the hail of bullets.

They were also clear that if they didn’t do this, they would still be defeated when the Huaxia army charged in front of them, and they would most likely die in battle.

The two sides exchanged intense fire.

At this moment, the advantage of automatic rifles was fully revealed.

Every time a United States government army soldier fired a shot, they had to pull the bolt once and re-aim.

During this time, the Huaxia army soldiers had fired more than a dozen shots.

The firepower gap between the two sides was several times greater.

And this gap had serious consequences.

The government army, as the defending side, suffered several times more casualties than the Huaxia army in this brief exchange of fire.

Such heavy casualties directly made the government army soldiers panic and fear.

Some soldiers even lost their minds and could only instinctively shrink into the trenches, not daring to show their heads again.

With the government army suppressed, the Huaxia army continued to charge.

When the distance was only a dozen or twenty meters, the Huaxia army threw a batch of grenades, and then took advantage of the chaos created by the explosions to rush up.

Among the grenades they threw, there were not only traditional bombs, but also some smoke grenades and flashbangs.

These were the latest individual weapons developed by Great Hua, and a batch was sent to them for actual combat testing.

So far, the effect was good.

After the two sides engaged in close combat, Great Hua’s advantage became even greater.

Flamethrowers and submachine guns were used to kill the government army, causing them to flee in panic.

Some soldiers with low morale had already begun to turn around and run away.

And the Huaxia army, after entering the enemy’s position, was even more like a fish in water. With cover, the Huaxia army could exert even greater advantages.

Of course, when the enemy began to rout on a large scale, there were not many opportunities to exert this advantage.

Anyway, they just had to chase after them and kill the fleeing soldiers.

At this point, the Huaxia army had already won the victory, and all that remained was to complete the cleanup work.

In the rear, the officers of the Independent Army no longer spoke, so as not to continue embarrassing themselves and making a fool of themselves.

They never expected that the government army would be defeated so quickly and so decisively, as if they had changed an army.

And all of this was highlighting the strength of the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army’s victory was partly due to weapons.

But the performance in terms of tactics, combat methods, and fighting will was also impeccable.

These officers, who originally wanted to laugh at the Huaxia army, finally realized that they were the joke.

“As expected of the elite troops of Great Hua.”

“We won’t be able to catch up to this level in another ten years.”

“Amazing, so amazing.”

…

The tone suddenly changed, and these people began to praise the strength of the Great Hua army.

This made Zhu Tong marvel. He discovered that as long as he was shameless and not embarrassed enough, then the embarrassed one would be someone else.

If the two sides weren’t cooperating now, Zhu Tong really wanted to mock these people fiercely.

The Huaxia army defeated the United States government army, and the soldiers of the Independent Army had mixed feelings.

Happy? A little awkward. After all, this wasn’t a battle they won, and they were even taught a lesson by the other side at the beginning.

Depressed? It was a little inappropriate, after all, the friendly army had won a victory.

But the battle was finally won. They didn’t have to charge forward again, and there would be no more danger to their lives. It was a good thing after all.

As the battle came to an end, the government army abandoned more than one thousand corpses and more than three thousand prisoners, withdrew from this defense line, and fled North.

The Huaxia army also counted their own casualties. A total of seventy-eight were killed in action, and two hundred and ten were injured. The kill ratio was about thirteen to one.

In the absence of an absolute beatdown advantage in weapons, this casualty rate was acceptable.

What’s more, they had an excellent comparison object.

The Independent Army killed three hundred people, but killed less than two hundred government troops.

Comparing the two, it could be seen that the Huaxia army was quite powerful.

After this battle, the Independent Army became even more afraid of the Huaxia army.

Naturally, they were even more obedient to the Huaxia army’s orders.

With the Huaxia army backing them up, their confidence also increased a lot.

During the subsequent pursuit, these Independent Army soldiers also showed off a bit, chasing the government army in a panic, and even losing hundreds of soldiers and some equipment and supplies in the process of fleeing.

This made the Independent Army overjoyed. This was a great victory for them.

However, their good luck soon came to an end.

The retreating government army received reinforcements from friendly forces. They joined forces with the friendly forces that came to support them, and the number increased to more than forty-five thousand people.

This number forced the Independent Army to stop the pursuit.

What followed would be a decisive battle, and both sides needed to prepare well.

Chapter 1061: Let Me Handle the Easy Pickings

The two armies met without either side being prepared.

The United States government army hadn’t made defensive preparations, and the independence army wasn’t ready to launch an offensive.

But since they had encountered each other, they couldn’t just not fight; that would be too awkward.

An engagement broke out, and the scene was somewhat chaotic.

Both sides were fighting according to instinct and some basic tactical common sense.

The two armies were roughly equal in terms of weapons, numbers, and quality, so the fighting was naturally fierce.

However, the government army had a significant disadvantage: they needed to be constantly on guard against the Huaxia army joining the battlefield.

Although the Huaxia army’s numbers were small, their strength far exceeded theirs, making them a dominant force on the battlefield.

The government army didn’t dare ignore this force and had to allocate some soldiers to defend against them. As a result, they had even fewer soldiers to fight the independence army.

So, as they fought, the independence army gradually gained the upper hand.

However, such evenly matched battles often meant heavy casualties.

“Damn it, why aren’t the Great Hua people attacking yet?”

An independence army officer cursed.

He knew that if the Huaxia army entered the battlefield from the flank and attacked the government army, they could instantly crush the government army and win the battle.

However, the Huaxia army had been watching the show from the sidelines, which made some independence army officers very dissatisfied.

“Brand, we can’t always rely on the Great Hua people; we must rely on ourselves.”

Another officer said.

“That’s true, but if we rely on ourselves alone, we’ll be wiped out before long.”

Most of the dead soldiers were European immigrants, and Brand felt sorry for them.

The other officers fell silent upon hearing this; they were also helpless.

These were the thoughts of the lower-level officers, and the thoughts of the independence army’s higher-ups were different.

People like Sai Jinqu were quite satisfied with the Huaxia army watching from the sidelines.

He didn’t want the independence army to become dependent on the Huaxia army and hoped to train a strong army on their own.

And now, with the Huaxia army providing final protection from the side, there was no need to worry about collapsing after a defeat.

This was the best opportunity to train troops; they could fight boldly, win in the end, and not worry about being routed if they lost.

“Fighting well. Tomorrow, we’ll launch a general offensive from here and here to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.”

Sai Jinqu said.

“Fighting like this will probably result in heavy casualties.”

“That’s the difference between war and games, and it can’t be helped. They can’t grow without experiencing these things. Don’t worry, we’ll have manpower once we take Vicksburg.”

Sai Jinqu said.

On the other side, the Huaxia army was also discussing when to intervene.

“If we let them train like this, will they develop a strong army?”

Regimental Commander Meng Wanlin expressed concern about this.

If Sai Jinqu trained a strong army, they would have to guard against Sai Jinqu in the future.

“Old Meng, you’re overthinking it. Their weapons and supplies are in our hands. What difference does it make whether they’re a strong army or a weak one? As long as we stop supplying equipment, once they run out of ammunition, can they still turn the world upside down with their bare hands?”

Jin Jiusheng said.

Great Hua also had a lot of experience in how to guard against allied forces.

For example, the number of Japan’s soldiers currently totaled over ten thousand, and there were many elites who had experienced major battles.

However, Great Hua had always placed these troops overseas, far away from the four provinces of Japan.

No matter how strong their combat power was, they were rootless.

If the Japanese soldiers stationed in India wanted to rebel, it would be a miracle if the Indian people supported them.

Therefore, according to Great Hua’s past practices, it was certain that after the independence army won this war of independence, they would be sent to other places.

And this place in North America would be controlled by new troops.

More importantly, the main ethnic group in North America was still the Native Americans, and there were so few European immigrants.

After this war of independence, their adult males would be sharply reduced.

When Great Hua’s civil servants came over at that time, the European and American immigrants would have nothing to say.

Therefore, Jin Jiusheng was not worried about the rise of the independence army at all; everything was under Great Hua’s control.

The next day, the independence army launched a fierce attack on two weak points of the government army, kicking off the prelude to the final battle.

The government army was caught off guard by this fierce attack.

What was even worse was that they made a misjudgment because of this, thinking that the main force of the Huaxia army might have joined the battle.

If the main force of the Huaxia army hadn’t joined the battle, why hadn’t the independence army launched a general offensive before?

Obviously, it was because the independence army didn’t have a sure chance of winning. And now that they dared to launch a general offensive, they must have received the support of the main force of the Huaxia army.

Based on this judgment, the United States government army prepared to retreat temporarily.

They were unprepared, and there was no chance of fighting the main force of the Huaxia army at this time, so it was unwise.

They didn’t have any ideas on how to deal with the Huaxia army for the time being, so they prepared to retreat and talk about it later.

Of course, their ideas couldn’t be said to be completely wrong.

However, wanting to complete a retreat under these circumstances was not an easy task.

When the order to retreat was issued, the government army was in chaos. The troops scrambled to retreat backward, and no troops were willing to stay behind to cover the retreat.

They had previously used brutal methods to purge pro-Huaxia elements, and they would definitely not have a good end if they fell into the hands of the independence army at this time.

Without troops covering the retreat, the independence army could advance smoothly without any obstacles.

And at this time, the Huaxia army also began to intervene.

How could they miss the opportunity to chase down the defeated army and grab credit?

The independence army had worked hard in the hard and bloody battles, so how could they bother them with the easy pickings? As part of the allied forces, the Huaxia army soldiers also wanted to make some contributions.

The government army was already crumbling when facing the independence army alone.

Now, with the addition of a well-rested Huaxia army, the government troops were even more tearful.

They had fought the independence army for two or three days, and they were all exhausted.

But the Huaxia army was full of energy.

After chasing for several hours, most of the government army soldiers couldn’t run anymore and began to fall behind in large numbers.

These straggling soldiers naturally became prisoners of the Huaxia army without any suspense.

And the independence army, which had been chasing all along, was now as tired as the government army, unable to chase any further, and could only watch helplessly as the Huaxia army captured prisoners and picked up equipment.

“F@&#￥.”

An independence army officer cursed in English dialect.

At this moment, he even regretted joining the Great Hua people and opposing the government army.

It seemed that all this fighting was benefiting the Great Hua people.

“Charles, take it easy. We are all small characters and cannot change the trend of history. What we can do is to earn a good life for ourselves in this trend.”

Another officer advised.

As an ordinary person, the best way to deal with the injustice in the world is to pretend not to see it.

If you have to be a hero, the result will be very tragic.

Chapter 1062: The Federal Government’s Helplessness

Apart from a small number of people who escaped, most of the government troops were either annihilated or captured.

The United States lost this force, and Vicksburg became an undefended city, which the Independence Army successfully seized.

The victor often burns, kills, and loots the conquered territory; this has been the tradition for thousands of years.

It was only after the Huaxia army began to restrain them that this phenomenon gradually decreased.

When the Independence Army tried to run amok in Vicksburg, they were stopped by the Huaxia army.

What Great Hua wants is a stable North America that does not harbor animosity towards Great Hua.

Winning over the hearts of ordinary people is a must.

Therefore, Jin Jiusheng demanded that the Independence Army only target a small number of nobles and forbid them from looting ordinary people.

Sai Jinqu naturally agreed with this principle. After all, he had ambitions and hoped to overthrow the United States, so he needed a lot of support.

Without the support of these people, even recruiting soldiers would be a problem for him.

If he engaged in burning, killing, and looting, it was clear that he would not be able to gain the support of the people at the bottom.

After winning a hard-fought battle, some soldiers in the Independence Army felt a lot of resentment because they didn’t even get the reward of burning, killing, and looting.

Sai Jinqu could only keep pacifying them, but the effect was very average.

This kind of thing can only be made them get used to it over time, and it is impossible to achieve results with a few words of appeasement.

Compared to Sai Jinqu’s troubles, the troubles of the government of the United States of America were even greater.

Great Hua had finally made its move, and they had finally ushered in this unsolvable problem.

How should they respond?

The United States had been studying this question for a long time, but there was never a perfect solution.

Of course, it’s not like they had no research results at all.

At least, they had thought of some inferior strategies.

Philadelphia, the Federal Congress.

The current United States of America has a total of thirty-two states, and its sphere of influence basically encompasses the central and eastern regions.

“According to intelligence, Great Hua has only deployed five thousand troops this time,”

Avery, the governor of Virginia, said.

This news made many people breathe a sigh of relief. This was already the best of a bad situation.

If Great Hua had deployed fifty thousand ground troops, then they wouldn’t even need to fight and could surrender directly.

Their current army totals only about two hundred thousand.

Even if they recruit more later, they will at most form an army of five hundred thousand, and the combat power of the three hundred thousand temporarily recruited will be worrying.

Five hundred thousand is their limit, and they can’t afford to support more than that.

Even if they don’t pay military salaries, they don’t have that many weapons.

The ones who can really fight are still the current two hundred thousand.

Using two hundred thousand to fight against Great Hua’s five thousand, they really don’t have much confidence.

Great Hua’s illustrious military achievements are extremely intimidating.

Other troops will have fear of the enemy when they encounter Huaxia army.

Fortunately, Great Hua has only deployed five thousand people now, which gives them a lot more confidence.

“Five thousand people are not easy to deal with either. We must concentrate our forces to have a chance to defeat them. Don’t forget, the number of rebels is not small,”

Kenner, a bigwig in the military, reminded.

This battle is very difficult for them. Most of their troops are concentrated in the northeastern states, far from the front line of Mississippi.

Just moving the troops over there is not easy.

“Or, let’s follow the original plan and use strategic depth to wear them down,”

Tim, a bigwig in the Congress, suggested.

This was their previous strategic plan: not to care about the gains and losses of a single city or place, to let the Huaxia army go deep, and then to sabotage behind the Huaxia army, forcing the Huaxia army to divide its forces to garrison, and finally to concentrate its forces to defeat them one by one.

The United States of America is very large, and Great Hua cannot send too many troops over, so this plan has a certain feasibility.

However, no one expected that they themselves would be in chaos first.

Right now, they need to deal with not only the Huaxia army but also the rebels.

If Great Hua lets the weaker rebels stay behind, while they themselves act as a sharp knife to constantly capture territory, then it will be very bad for the United States.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. The more territory Sexton controls, the more soldiers he can recruit. By then, they will be even more difficult to deal with,”

Avery said.

“But, besides this method, do we have a better choice? Are we going to move all our main forces to the front line to fight them in a decisive battle?

Not to mention how much money it would take to launch such a decisive battle, even if we annihilate this force of the Huaxia army, who can guarantee that the people of Great Hua will not be angered and send a second support army?”

Tim’s tone was full of pessimism, and he was just short of saying directly, ‘We are not a match no matter what, there is no need to struggle’.

There are many people like Tim who have no hope of defeating Great Hua and just want to make a fortune before Great Hua attacks.

In the future, whether they surrender to Great Hua or escape back to Europe with their wealth, they will not be empty-handed.

And if they now gamble all their assets and fight Great Hua, winning will anger Great Hua, and losing will bankrupt them.

There are many people who think this way, but there are also many who are not willing to wait for death.

Moreover, these more ambitious people happen to be in control of the army.

“It’s not okay not to resist, but the risk of a direct decisive battle is too great. I think we should wait and see first. They have limited troops now and can at most occupy one or two states. They won’t be able to reach here for the time being,”

Kenner chose a compromise plan.

That is, to avoid a major decisive battle, but not to completely give up resistance, but to focus on small-scale harassment battles, and to focus the attack on the rebels.

At the same time, strengthen propaganda to increase the public’s hatred of the rebels and the Huaxia army.

Go to the areas controlled by the rebels to sabotage and instigate rebellion, in order to distract the enemy’s energy and delay time.

After several rounds of discussion, they finally finalized this plan.

Besides this method, they have no better way.

They are like a patient with a terminal illness, knowing that no medicine can save them, but they will still take some folk remedies, giving themselves a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of fantasy.

What if a miracle happens?

In Mississippi, Sai Jinqu and Jin Jiusheng were not in a hurry to expand north either.

They also knew the importance of consolidating the rear. Without a stable rear, occupying more territory would not be of much significance. Instead, they would be forced to divide their forces to garrison.

The officials sent by Great Hua were stepping up the establishment of a complete administrative rule, while Sai Jinqu was stepping up the recruitment and training of soldiers.

He wanted to create a strong army. Only if he had soldiers and power in his hands could his words be valued by Great Hua.

After fighting a battle in Vicksburg, both sides tacitly stopped first.

However, both sides knew in their hearts that this was not over.

The United States is transferring troops to the front line, and Sai Jinqu is training soldiers. Sooner or later, the two sides will have another battle.

Chapter 1063: The Plague

In the fourteenth year of Yongxing, June, Seville, Spain.

Chen Luo, a reporter from Great Hua, walked around a small stone quarry, taking photos from time to time.

He was conducting a survey on the living conditions of the European lower class, aiming to give the people of Great Hua a better understanding of the situation abroad, providing a clear comparison to foster a sense of happiness, accomplishment, and pride.

As long as others were still gnawing on tree bark, the simple meals in their own bowls would seem all the more delicious.

Chen Luo saw several ragged miners gathered around a pot, and he walked over.

The pot contained an unknown meat soup, and the workers were drooling as they surrounded it.

Damn, they actually have meat to eat.

Chen Luo was very surprised. This was unscientific.

Based on his visits, he had a good understanding of the living conditions of the lower class in Spain.

Forget about eating meat, being able to get two pieces of black bread a day was already a good deal.

Then, Chen Luo saw a few rat skins discarded beside the pot, and he suddenly understood, followed by a wave of nausea.

It turned out to be rat meat.

Although rat meat was still meat, Chen Luo had never eaten it, nor had he heard that it could be eaten.

In his impression, rats reproduced extremely quickly, but neither in ancient times nor in modern times, at home or abroad, had they been chosen as domestic animals for domestication and breeding.

Clearly, this stuff must not taste good, or there was some other reason.

“Is this stuff edible?”

Chen Luo asked.

“Of course.”

A miner replied.

“…”

Chen Luo was speechless and could only take a photo.

After finishing the investigation of this place, he went to the next one.

Three days later, he began his return journey, and then he heard in Seville that there was a plague at the quarry.

As a reporter, he immediately felt that this should be a good piece of news.

Therefore, despite the dissuasion of his subordinates, he chose to go to the quarry.

Then, he saw a scene that made his scalp tingle.

A large number of workers were lying in the sheds, and no one dared to approach.

They were exhibiting a state of alternating hot and cold, accompanied by vomiting and skin bleeding.

Chen Luo took two photos and quickly fled the place. As he left, he saw Spanish police officers arriving at the scene to seal it off.

However, no one knew that it was too late.

Chen Luo went in and came out again.

A miner who had already fallen ill, longing to die at home, had also left the quarry yesterday and returned home.

A miner who had already fallen ill chose to go to the city to see a doctor.

A miner who was about to die wanted to see his relatives one last time.

A miner who was seriously ill felt that God was unfair to him and chose to deliberately wander around the city.

…

It’s over, it’s over, it’s the Black Death, it’s the Black Death.

The next day, Chen Luo woke up and heard an old man ‘raving’ in the street.

The atmosphere on the street also seemed different from usual, becoming somewhat oppressive.

Chen Luo also felt a burst of irritability and discomfort, and then he set off back to Ceuta, began to sort out photos and articles, and submitted them to the newspaper office.

A day later, his irritability and discomfort worsened, and he even developed a fever.

He went to the hospital for treatment, but the doctor only treated it as a common fever.

However, Chen Luo’s condition quickly became more and more serious, and he found that his symptoms were similar to those of the miners.

This is an infectious disease.

Chen Luo’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately judged that it was an infectious disease.

Thanks to the popularization of medical education in Great Hua, most highly educated people had a good understanding of infectious diseases.

Chen Luo immediately asked the servants to arrange for him to be isolated and to notify the doctor.

Before long, the news of the outbreak of the plague in Seville reached Ceuta.

Upon hearing this, Chen Luo, the governor of Ceuta, immediately sealed off the port, prohibiting people from Spain from entering Ceuta.

The next day, he increased the blockade, prohibiting everyone from entering Ceuta, allowing only a small number of people providing vegetables and meat to enter specific areas.

However, he was still one step late.

As the busiest city in Europe, with the most frequent movement of people, there had been a large number of people from Seville in the previous few days.

Among them, there were some virus carriers.

Cases began to appear in the city one after another, and these were only the ones that had been discovered. Some people who didn’t pay enough attention or didn’t know better might even treat it as a common cold.

After the city was closed, cases continued to appear in the city.

Chen Luo’s forehead suddenly broke out in sweat, and then he said to his subordinates: “Stop all trade in the city, prohibit going out, and everyone should stay at home for isolation and observation.”

He had no better way, and could only use this seemingly stupidest method to stop the spread of the virus and find the patients.

According to his estimate of this infectious disease, the incubation period might only be a few days.

As long as the city was closed for a few days, all potential patients in the city could be found.

After isolating these people, normal trade could be restored.

At this time, preventing communication was the best way.

After all, this infectious disease had an incubation period, and no one knew which person on the street was carrying the virus.

If they were not all isolated, in a few days, the whole city would be finished.

“Sir, isn’t this a bit too extreme?”

“Sir, the daily trade volume in the city reaches tens of thousands of yuan. The loss of stopping trade is immeasurable.”

“Moreover, I am afraid that the people will not understand and approve of this order, and it will be very difficult to implement.”

Many people were surprised by Chen Luo’s order, feeling that Chen Luo was overreacting.

However, Chen Luo, as a graduate of the university and often reading the latest scientific research knowledge of Great Hua, had a very clear understanding of infectious diseases.

He knew that once the plague completely broke out, it would be impossible to control it.

“Stop talking, I have made up my mind, execute it immediately.”

Chen Luo said.

“Sir, I think it is better to send an urgent telegram to the country and let the imperial court decide.”

Deputy Governor Fang Heling advised.

An urgent telegram could be submitted to the central government immediately.

If everything went smoothly, instructions might be received in a day or two.

This speed could not be considered slow, after all, Great Hua had countless things to deal with every day.

As for a small epidemic in Ceuta, it was really not a big deal.

At least, in the eyes of many people, this was not a particularly big deal.

“This epidemic is like a fire. If it is not controlled in the early stage, it will be too late when the fire becomes too big. I, in my capacity as governor, order the immediate closure of the city, the cessation of trade, and home isolation.

At the same time, I will also report to the imperial court, explaining my decision and waiting for the next instructions from the imperial court.”

Chen Luo said with a tough attitude.

He didn’t want to wait, and didn’t dare to wait.

In case the imperial court was dealing with some major event at this time, or the telegram was not taken seriously, or for other reasons, and so on.

Delaying this matter by one day would make it several times more difficult to control later.

Chapter 1064: Plague 2

The telegram was delivered to the Ministry of Health and Medicine very quickly, and then immediately sent to Wu Changqing.

Since ancient times, a regime has always attached great importance to plagues.

After all, this kind of infectious thing is too terrible.

Apart from isolation and control, people have no way to deal with plagues and can only let them live and die on their own.

Once it gets out of control, it will be a huge disaster.

The lethality of a plague is much more terrible than war.

After all, the scale of war is controllable by humans, while when a plague will be eradicated depends on luck.

The urgent telegram was delivered to Wu Changqing, and he naturally gave it priority.

Seeing the description of the plague on the telegram, Wu Changqing immediately determined that it was the bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death in medieval Europe.

The last time Europe experienced this bubonic plague seems to have been in the fourteenth century, and it didn’t completely end until the sixteenth century, which is only a little over a hundred years ago.

This plague directly reduced Europe’s population by one-third, about twenty million people.

At the same time, the impact on the economy was unimaginable.

After all, during the rampant bubonic plague, various commercial activities were close to being interrupted.

“Troublesome.”

Wu Changqing said with a headache.

Although he knew it was the bubonic plague, he didn’t actually have a particularly good way to cure it, or rather, there was no good way to cure it even in later generations.

For people infected with the bubonic plague, the best way is just to help them reduce their fever, replenish fluids, and then rely on the patient’s own immunity to fight it off.

Those who survive are fine, and those who can’t only die in vain.

When all those who can’t survive die, then sterilize, and a bubonic plague is declared over.

At most, some antibacterial drugs can be used for patients infected in the early stage, which can have some effect.

After figuring out the current situation, Wu Changqing gave instructions.

On the one hand, he affirmed Chen Luo’s decision, requiring Chen Luo to continue to strictly implement the city lockdown and carry out large-scale sanitation and sterilization in the city.

On the other hand, Wu Changqing also exchanged two kinds of antibacterial drugs that can inhibit the bubonic plague from the system, so that the Ministry of Health and Medicine could increase production and then transport them to Europe to save those Europeans.

This is also something that can’t be helped. If they don’t help the Europeans to eliminate this bubonic plague, Great Hua will not be able to live in peace. Who knows when they will smuggle one or two patients to Great Hua’s territory.

In addition to transporting antibacterial drugs to Europe, a large amount of grain must also be transported there.

If this plague gets out of control, it will definitely have a major impact on grain production.

At that time, in addition to those who die from the disease, there will also be many who starve to death.

In Ceuta, after receiving the latest instructions from the imperial court, everyone admired Chen Luo.

Amazing, he gained the emperor’s appreciation with his decisive measures.

It is only a matter of time before he rises to the central decision-making level in the future.

“Everyone, let’s study how to control this plague next. It is relatively easy to control here, the key is to help the Europeans control it.

According to the latest intelligence, the situation in Seville is already very serious, and Lisbon, Gibraltar, Marseille and other places have also experienced outbreaks.”

Chen Luo ignored his subordinates’ flattery and looked very serious.

Now, thanks to his timely order, the situation in Ceuta is not serious. Only more than one hundred people have been infected, and they have all been quarantined.

As long as they persist for a few more days, they will be able to find all the potential infected people.

At that time, Ceuta will be able to return to normal.

The biggest problem now is what to do with Europe. If the epidemic in Europe is not resolved, Ceuta will not be able to continue trading with Europe.

Not to mention trade, most of the grain needed by Ceuta comes from the European continent.

“Those stupid barbarians have such poor medical standards and poor government execution. Seville, where the epidemic first appeared, has not yet been completely locked down.”

“In particular, these guys don’t like to take baths. Although the situation has improved under our influence, it is only limited to the upper class. The lower class still doesn’t take baths.”

“If we weren’t afraid of causing any serious consequences, we might as well let those people die more.”

…

The officials spoke one after another, but most of them complained, and none of them had any solutions.

Of course, this is not to blame them. After all, they cannot command the other party, and there is very little they can do.

“We should tell them our prevention and control methods and let them imitate them. Then, wait for the domestic antibacterial drugs to arrive, and with a two-pronged approach, we should be able to control this epidemic more quickly.”

“Actually, what the Europeans are doing now is not particularly bad. After all, it hasn’t been long since the last bubonic plague, and they have accumulated some experience and are paying more attention to it.”

As the meeting progressed, someone finally put forward some specific methods.

Sharing anti-epidemic experience with Europeans is very important.

Europeans don’t even know that the source of this plague comes from rats. Knowing this will help to some extent.

At the same time, Great Hua can also tell them the main routes and methods of transmission of this plague.

These are valuable experiences.

In the end, the meeting determined this method of assistance.

At this time, Seville had become a living hell.

The streets were much deserted, and people came and went in a hurry.

Wails were heard from the houses from time to time, accompanied by various cries.

Their way of fighting the plague was crude and naive.

Even isolation relies on the patient’s self-awareness. No one is centrally supervised, but they are scattered in their respective homes.

Then, a large letter “p” is written on the door of their house to remind others that this family is infected with the plague and should not be contacted.

When a person is about to die, their mentality is very strange.

A person who has done bad things all their life may become good at the moment of death.

But a person who has been a good person or an unknown person all their life may also burst out with the most evil side when they know they are beyond help.

Deliberately spreading the virus is common in Seville.

There are also some people who have to go out to work for a living.

No one centrally supervises the infected people, and isolation is just a joke.

Even if nine out of ten people are obedient and good people, as long as there is one bad guy, the efforts of the nine people will be wasted.

This is why Seville started isolating patients on the fourth day after the outbreak, but has not been able to control the epidemic.

Today, at least one-tenth of the population of Seville has been infected with the bubonic plague.

This is an extremely terrifying number, and the local government has almost stopped functioning.

Madrid is also considering sending troops to blockade Seville, prohibiting people inside from coming out again, and wanting to let the city live and die on its own.

Once this happens, the people in Seville will inevitably panic completely.

Chapter 1065: Heaven and Hell

Carlos in Madrid was in a state of utter turmoil.

Spain had already been forced to cede territory and pay reparations due to its defeat, and Portugal was taking the opportunity to make trouble.

Just as they were recovering, a plague suddenly broke out, which was truly a death sentence for him.

Although he hadn’t experienced the Black Death firsthand, he knew how terrible this kind of infectious disease was from historical records.

“We must abandon Seville. It has become a breeding ground for disease, and everyone who comes out of it is a spreader,” Chief Minister Francis said.

“What about Gibraltar and Valencia? Are we going to seal them off too? Let’s not even talk about whether we have enough manpower. Even if we did, the panic it would cause would be unimaginable,” Minister of Industry Ividens retorted.

While sealing off cities was the right thing to do, the costs and consequences had to be considered.

“Sealing off cities will only cause panic among the people in those cities. Not sealing them off will make the entire Spain, the entire Europe nervous.”

“How long would the lockdown last? This kind of disease often lasts for years, even decades. Do you think we can keep cities locked down for years? By then, even if we don’t die of the disease, we’ll starve to death.”

“As long as we seal off the cities in time and prevent the plague from spreading, it won’t last that long.”

…

Just as they were arguing, an official arrived with a telegram from Great Hua.

“Good news! The Great Hua are willing to help us control this plague.”

A hint of a smile finally appeared on Carlos’s face.

Although he hated Great Hua in his heart, now that Great Hua was extending a helping hand, he didn’t mind putting his hatred aside for the time being and hating them again after the plague was over.

“How can the Great Hua help?” Ividens asked curiously.

This was the Black Death, an incurable disease.

“The Great Hua have summarized a set of epidemic prevention methods, and they have done very well in Ceuta. Moreover, Governor Chen said that a batch of medicines will soon be shipped from Great Hua, along with a medical team.”

Francis felt better after reading the telegram.

Regardless of whether Great Hua’s assistance was effective or not, at least Great Hua had the intention to help.

Moreover, out of trust in Great Hua’s technology, he believed that Great Hua’s methods would definitely be very effective.

What’s more, Ceuta was a good example.

Ceuta was very close to Seville, with a lot of interaction, and was the place where the epidemic broke out right after Seville. But now the epidemic in Ceuta has been controlled very well, and the rate of new cases is very low.

“But this set of methods may not be suitable for us,” Ividens sighed after reading the telegram.

Ceuta could ban all trade activities and provide residents with free food.

It was not certain that they, Spain, could do these things.

“Whether it works or not, we have to try. Once the plague breaks out completely, we’re really done for,” Francis said.

In the end, at this high-level meeting, Carlos spoke, ordering all places where the epidemic had appeared to fully implement Great Hua’s prevention and control measures.

The Spanish high-level officials made the right decision, but when it was implemented at the local level, they constantly encountered various practical difficulties, making it impossible to implement the policies.

The public had low levels of education and poor awareness, and they did not listen to the arrangements.

In addition, they were under great pressure in life and could not afford to stay at home to avoid the epidemic for a long time, and they needed to go out to work.

In addition, the government did not send enough people to control so many places.

Due to many reasons, Spain’s epidemic prevention measures were much worse than those in Ceuta, and the effect was naturally much worse.

Not only Spain, but before long, France and England also saw a large number of cases.

For a time, the entire Europe was plunged into panic.

Faced with the infamous Black Death, no one could face it calmly.

After all, this was a plague that had caused the deaths of tens of millions of people.

Even the nobles who could hide at home were the same. They had to eat, and they had to be in contact with servants.

And servants needed to be in contact with the outside world to buy vegetables, rice, and run errands.

In other words, no matter what, there was no absolutely safe place.

At this time, all Europeans had only one wish, which was to go to Great Hua for refuge.

The epidemic in Ceuta lasted only half a month before it was completely eradicated. In addition to prohibiting outsiders from entering, the activities in the city had returned to normal.

This achievement was naturally the envy of others.

The provinces of Holland and Rome also began to seal off their borders early on, prohibiting outsiders from entering.

Therefore, these two places had not experienced an outbreak and were very safe.

Now, those nobles in Europe who were afraid of death wanted to go to these places, because only these places were safe.

However, it was now extremely difficult for them to enter Great Hua.

Not to mention going to Ceuta, even going to the provinces of Holland and Rome was impossible, as their borders were heavily guarded.

Before the epidemic in Europe ended, Europeans were resolutely not allowed to enter the territory of Great Hua.

Of course, it was not absolute.

Some capable people with connections could still receive special treatment.

However, after entering the jurisdiction of Great Hua, they needed to be quarantined for a period of time before they could be released after confirming their safety.

“Hell and heaven are only separated by a strait.”

The Paris Daily inserted a cartoon showing the jurisdiction of Great Hua, a paradise scene, and above it was Seville in Spain, a hellish scene.

And this cartoon was not particularly exaggerated. Now, in the eyes of Europeans, the two places were the difference between heaven and hell.

The Paris Daily may have just wanted to express their feelings or to increase the sales of the newspaper.

However, their propaganda orientation was invisibly influencing some Europeans.

In the past, they were still somewhat hostile to Great Hua, after all, Great Hua defeated them and forced them to sign unequal treaties.

But now, some people hoped to become Great Hua people, hoping that the place where they lived would become the territory of Great Hua.

In this way, their lives could also be guaranteed, and they might even have the hope of living a happy life.

They were absolutely sure of this through the people of the province of Holland.

It had only been a year since the province of Holland became the territory of Great Hua, and the lives of the people living there had undergone earth-shattering changes.

After all, Great Hua’s taxes were lower than those of European countries, and they did not have to bear war reparations, and they also had the support of Great Hua’s funds.

In this case, development was naturally better than in other European countries.

These phenomena were all seen by people from other countries.

Not only the poor wanted to become Great Hua people, but some nobles also hoped to obtain Great Hua citizenship.

In this way, the resistance to their settling in Nanjing would be less.

Because of an epidemic, the minds of Europeans were slowly changing.

Chapter 1066: Chen Luo’s Plan

In September, Great Hua’s antibiotics arrived in Europe.

As the only effective medicine for treating the plague, European countries naturally went into a frenzy.

Their ambassadors in Great Hua frequently visited Great Hua’s government offices, trying to grab as many of these antibiotics as possible.

They had considered producing it themselves, but they lacked the technology and the formula.

“What is a suitable price for these drugs?”

Chen Luo and several important officials stationed in Ceuta were holding a late-night meeting to discuss how to use this batch of special medicine.

Should they sell it to the Europeans at a high price, or sell it at a low price, focusing on saving lives and providing aid?

“Setting the price too high might not work. The situation in Spain is already extremely serious, and there are many patients who need medicine. Plus, their economy is on the verge of collapse. Asking them for money is practically asking for their lives,” Shi Zhaoxun analyzed.

Spain’s economy largely depended on trade with Great Hua and working in Ceuta.

Now that Great Hua had suspended trade with Europe and Ceuta had banned Spaniards from entering, Spain’s already dire situation was made even worse. If they had to buy medicine at a high price, the country might collapse directly.

Spain was already teetering on the brink.

“Setting the price too low won’t work either. England and France will be scrambling to buy it. How much will actually end up in Spain’s hands? We can’t sell it to England and France at a high price and then sell it cheaply to Spain, can we?” another minister said.

“In my opinion, we should just set a high price for everyone. After all, our dynasty has gone to great lengths to transport the drugs here. If they can’t afford it, they can only blame themselves,” another official said more aggressively, wanting to profit from Spain’s national crisis.

“Perhaps we can use this batch of antibiotics to our advantage,” Chen Luo said, and everyone immediately shut up and listened attentively.

“I don’t think Spain can survive this crisis no matter what. We can take the opportunity to annex them, force Carlos to abdicate, and declare all Spanish territory incorporated into Great Hua.

The specific method is to set two prices for this batch of antibiotics: a low price for Great Hua citizens and a high price for foreigners. If Spain can’t afford it, their only option is to become citizens of Great Hua.

In this way, we can take all of Spain’s territory without firing a shot, and in a peaceful manner…”

Hiss…

Everyone was a little surprised. They never expected Chen Luo to be so ambitious, wanting to take advantage of others’ misfortune and annex them completely.

This was even more ruthless than those who wanted to profit from the national crisis. At least they were just greedy for money, but he was eyeing their territory.

After listening to Chen Luo’s analysis of this outrageous idea, everyone suddenly realized that it seemed like there was a real opportunity.

“What if Carlos would rather let the plague run rampant to keep his throne? Wouldn’t that cause countless people to die from the plague?” Shi Zhaoxun raised a concern.

That was the throne, after all. It was normal for a person to become selfish for that position.

If Carlos refused to abdicate, Great Hua would be in an awkward position. After all, the court’s intention was to save people.

If a stalemate with Carlos led to countless deaths, it would not be in Great Hua’s interest. But choosing to compromise would make Great Hua lose face and be a thankless task.

“Then let all their people die. If their king doesn’t care about their lives, why should we?” another minister sneered.

Among the officials of Great Hua, some regarded Europeans as equals, but others always felt that they were barbarians.

Barbarians, it didn’t matter how many died.

“If he doesn’t agree to abdicate, we’ll let the Spanish people put pressure on him. If he still doesn’t agree, we’ll find a way to make him the second Louis XIV,” Chen Luo said.

The moment a king disregards the lives of his people for the sake of the throne, he will inevitably lose all popular support.

And Great Hua now controlled some channels of public opinion, so it was relatively easy to stir up the people.

In addition, not everyone in Spain would obey Carlos. At this time, ambitious people would definitely take the opportunity to jump out.

If Great Hua gave these people some support, it was very possible to send Carlos to the guillotine.

A seemingly crazy plan, but in Chen Luo’s view, the difficulty was not very high, it just needed some time.

During the meeting, after discussion, everyone initially agreed to the plan.

However, they could not act immediately, but had to send a telegram to Nanjing to ask for instructions.

This matter was different from controlling the disease. It was not an urgent matter, and they could not make decisions on their own. They had to ask the central government for instructions.

If they made decisions on their own in such matters, the court would probably no longer trust them.

In order to get the court to approve, Chen Luo and the others made a detailed plan, deduced all possible situations, and came up with solutions.

When the plan was sent to the court, the civil officials were very excited.

They greatly favored this method of subduing the enemy without fighting, as it could save a lot of military expenses.

Using force to recover territory at every turn was too barbaric. They could completely rely on Great Hua’s prestige to force the enemy to submit. That was the highest level.

When the plan was sent to Wu Changqing, his ideas were naturally different from those of the civil officials.

He preferred to steadily control the disease and avoid unnecessary complications.

As for Spain’s territory, it was only a matter of time.

The Suez Canal was about to open, and it would become much easier for Great Hua to transport troops and supplies to Europe.

At the latest, Wu Changqing would launch a full-scale attack on Europe after completing this five-year plan.

However, in this plan, Chen Luo confidently stated that he could control the disease.

If it did not affect the prevention and control of the disease, taking a Spain by the opportunity would be a good thing.

Therefore, Wu Changqing’s reply was to let Chen Luo handle it at his discretion.

The meaning was to let Chen Luo handle it himself. If he did well, he would be rewarded. If he did not do well, he would naturally be punished.

If Chen Luo did not want to take the risk and bear the responsibility, he could also give up the plan.

Upon receiving the reply, Chen Luo chose to take the risk. He wanted to take this opportunity to make a great contribution, accumulate political capital, and then enter the central decision-making level in one fell swoop and return to the Central Plains to work.

Although his power in Ceuta was also very great, in the officialdom of Great Hua, the mainstream view was that being an official in Nanjing was the most honorable.

Moreover, the living conditions in Ceuta were not as good as in Nanjing.

Not only Chen Luo wanted to return to the Central Plains, but most of the officials working overseas hoped to be transferred back to the Central Plains.

However, some people could only resign themselves to fate, while others could rely on their own efforts to fight for it.

Chapter 1067: Situation Out of Control

“Damn it, how can they do this?”

Upon learning the price of Great Hua’s antibiotics, Carlos burst into a tirade.

“We thought the Great Hua people were helping us, but now it seems they have ulterior motives.”

Ividens echoed, equally furious.

Regardless of their inner thoughts, the other ministers outwardly condemned Great Hua.

But condemnation was just that – condemnation. After venting, they were still helpless against Great Hua.

Even though the medicine was right there in Ceuta, within easy reach, they dared not seize it, or rather, lacked the power to do so.

With their army size restricted, their military strength had drastically declined.

Currently, all their national troops were deployed to assist with city lockdowns across the country, leaving no soldiers to spare for war.

“Hmph, we’ll just do without. The Black Death is a terrible plague; their medicine might not even be effective.”

Francis said.

“Exactly! Is the Black Death so easily eradicated and treated? This must be a deception by the Great Hua people.”

Another minister chimed in.

However, this sounded more like an emotional outburst than a rational conclusion.

Some clear-headed officials knew that Great Hua’s medical standards were very high.

This was evident both on the battlefield and in everyday life.

On the battlefield, their soldiers had a very low recovery rate from gunshot wounds.

But Great Hua’s soldiers, unless hit in a vital area, could generally be saved.

Great Hua had specialized antibiotics for treating infections, which could effectively prevent wound infections.

Their surgical procedures also used anesthetics for local numbing, greatly increasing the success rate of operations.

And in daily life, diseases that were once considered incurable in Europe already had treatments in Great Hua.

Such as tuberculosis and goiter.

Great Hua was also extremely proficient in treating infectious diseases.

In Europe, smallpox was still a sword hanging over the heads of the people. But in Great Hua, smallpox had been virtually eradicated.

From any perspective, questioning Great Hua’s medical standards was foolish.

However, Francis and others, fueled by resentment towards Great Hua, made highly irrational judgments.

This left the still-rational ministers unsure of what to say. They couldn’t very well contradict the king and insist that Great Hua’s medicine was definitely effective.

What if they were wrong?

In the end, they chose to remain silent.

Carlos and the others couldn’t delude themselves for too long.

The plague wasn’t severe in France and England. There were fewer infections, and thanks to the telegraph, they received timely warnings and imposed a blockade on Spain.

With fewer people infected, the need to purchase medicine was naturally less.

Faced with the high price of antibiotics, England and France gritted their teeth and bought a batch, mainly for the nobility to use for prevention and to treat some nobles or young men.

Europe was currently short of labor, and these young men were worth saving.

After a period of using the medicine, the effects were remarkable.

The survival rate of patients who used antibiotics was four to five times higher than those who didn’t.

This number was quite impressive, even bordering on a miracle cure.

In this era, there was never a guarantee of a complete cure for any disease. Saving a life was considered a kindness, and death was seen as normal. There would be no medical disputes.

The effectiveness of the antibiotics plunged Carlos and his advisors into a dilemma.

Buy them, but they didn’t have that much money.

Don’t buy them, and he would have to watch so many of his people die, which also made him feel depressed.

During this time, Great Hua was not idle either.

They used their pro-Great Hua forces cultivated in Spain to spread news of the antibiotics, inciting public hatred towards Carlos.

Before long, a new narrative emerged within the country.

Some said that Carlos would rather use the money in the national treasury to buy cars, diamonds, and luxury goods than use it to buy antibiotics to save the lives of his people.

This rumor was spread with great detail and seemingly irrefutable evidence.

After all, Carlos’s royal family had indeed purchased many cars, jewelry, and other items.

However, these were all bought before the outbreak!

But the already enraged people were in no mood to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Or rather, regardless of the truth, they believed it to be true. They needed an excuse to vent their anger.

The people of Seville and other places were furious, shouting slogans demanding Carlos step down and calling for the occupation of Madrid.

Furthermore, they attacked local city halls and various government institutions.

The whole of Seville was in chaos, which accelerated the spread of the disease, undoing all the progress made during the previous period of isolation.

In addition to Seville, which was severely affected, other places also experienced varying degrees of protests. Angry citizens demanded that the government immediately provide an explanation and purchase antibiotics for the citizens.

As for whether the national treasury had the money, they didn’t care.

The protests grew louder and louder, to the point where Carlos had to withdraw some troops to Madrid to guard the outside of the palace.

He didn’t want to be like Louis XIV, dragged out of the palace by the people and taken to the guillotine. That kind of death was too undignified.

“Your Majesty, we must make a decision immediately. We can’t delay any longer.”

Ividens reminded him.

Spain was now a powder keg, just one spark away from exploding.

Anyone who lit a fire at this time would cause Spain to blow up.

The entire country had fallen into panic, and the powerful nobles were also pressuring Carlos to resolve the current crisis immediately.

They didn’t want to see a group of plague-infected people storm into Madrid, taking them all down with them.

“Send a telegram, immediately initiate negotiations with the Great Hua people.”

Carlos sighed.

“What’s our bottom line?”

Ividens asked.

This question silenced Carlos again. What Great Hua wanted, they had already inquired about and analyzed thoroughly during this period.

Clearly, what Great Hua wanted was not just money; what Great Hua wanted might be the entire Spain.

In the past, Carlos would never have agreed to abdicate and hand over Spain, after all, this was the wealth that their family had inherited for hundreds of years.

But as things stood, was Spain still wealth? Could it still bring him power and status?

The current Spain had become a mess, a mess he couldn’t clean up.

Continuing to cling to it would not bring power and status, but more likely death.

Rather than continuing to hold this hot potato and burn himself, he might as well throw it to Great Hua and let Great Hua deal with it.

This would not only save his life but also continue to preserve his wealth and status.

Even if only for appearances, Great Hua would have to treat him well after he voluntarily abdicated. Carlos was quite confident in this.

Chapter 1068: Verbal Sparring

Carlos sent a telegram to Saladin, the diplomat stationed in Ceuta, informing him of his bottom line for the negotiations.

Subsequently, this telegram was deciphered by Great Hua.

It wasn’t really Carlos’s fault for being careless; the main reason was that the telegrams were controlled by Great Hua, and all sorts of data were in their hands.

Carlos and his people frequently used telegrams, allowing the Great Hua people to acquire too much data. After comparison and deduction, Great Hua’s decryption experts quickly cracked their cipher.

Not only Spain’s cipher, but also those of France, England, and other countries were deciphered by Great Hua.

These countries had no secrets at all in front of Great Hua.

It wasn’t that the other countries were careless; mainly, they didn’t know Great Hua had such a trick up its sleeve.

Other countries had extremely limited understanding of telegrams and didn’t know to change their ciphers frequently.

“Heh heh heh, Carlos can’t hold on anymore.”

Chen Luo received Carlos’s telegram to Saladin and laughed happily.

This meant that he was infinitely close to success.

Knowing Carlos’s bottom line gave him an absolute advantage in the negotiations.

“Start negotiations with Saladin and get it done as soon as possible.”

Chen Luo said with a smile.

Subsequently, the two sides began negotiations.

“Our King is willing to use Sardinia, the Balearic Islands, and other islands to exchange for two million doses of antibiotics with your esteemed nation…”

At the start of the negotiations, Saladin was calm and composed, stating their conditions.

Although Sardinia and the Balearic Islands were quite large, their value, in theory, was enough to exchange for two million doses of antibiotics.

However, these were special times.

The value of a pot of water in the desert couldn’t possibly be the same as the value of a pot of water outside the desert.

These antibiotics were like water in the desert for Carlos; no matter how outrageous the price, Carlos had no way to refuse.

“What would we do with Sardinia? In the current situation, even if you gave it to us for free, our dynasty might not want it.”

Great Hua’s representative, Yuan Dao, complained.

If they didn’t know Spain’s bottom line, Chen Luo and the others might really have been fooled by Saladin’s composure, thinking that Spain’s situation wasn’t so bad.

These words infuriated Saladin.

Not wanting it even as a free gift? That was too much of a show.

Seeing Yuan Dao’s face, Saladin wanted to slap him.

“Those are two extremely resource-rich islands…”

“Hold on, Mr. Saladin, if you’re here today to talk about islands, I think there’s no need to continue. This is a waste of time.”

Another Great Hua official said.

Saladin only regretted not bringing a pistol; otherwise, he could have pulled it out and shot the Great Hua officials one by one.

“Then what are your country’s demands? What are your thoughts?”

Saladin asked.

He couldn’t expose his side’s bottom line all at once; he still needed to fight for as much benefit as possible for Carlos. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have a good ending after the negotiations.

“King Carlos is powerless to save the situation in Spain. The current Spain needs a strong government, a government that can bring hope to the people, a government that has the strength to protect their lives.”

Yuan Dao was just short of saying that the Spanish people needed Great Hua.

“As long as you give us this batch of medicine, we will be able to control the situation in Spain.”

Saladin said.

“No, you can’t do it. You can’t even do a good job of locking down the city to control the epidemic. This makes our Emperor very worried. They are worried that you will not be able to control the epidemic, which will lead to a global infection event.

Therefore, our dynasty is already studying whether to carry out mandatory intervention and take over Spain.”

Chen Luo spoke.

These words turned Saladin’s face liver-colored.

That was too much, really too much.

In Saladin’s ears, these words were equivalent to Chen Luo telling him that Great Hua was already studying and preparing to invade Spain.

“You are bullying people too much. King Carlos will never compromise; he will fight to the end.”

…

Saladin was still struggling. If Great Hua didn’t know the other party’s bottom line, they might really have believed Saladin’s performance and then made some concessions.

But now, Chen Luo and the others knew Saladin’s bottom line, so they all became fearless.

No matter how Saladin performed, they were all indifferent.

After a long period of confrontation, Saladin was exhausted.

This was the helplessness of a weak country when conducting diplomacy.

“If King Carlos must abdicate, I demand that Madrid be retained as a fief, left to King Carlos as an independent duchy, enjoying a certain degree of autonomy.”

Saladin said that if Great Hua didn’t agree to these demands, then Carlos would rather Spain be destroyed than abdicate.

“Retaining a fief is possible, but it must not be Madrid. The scenery of the Balearic Islands is very good.”

Chen Luo said.

Carlos’s bottom line was that after abdication, he could still have a fief as an independent duchy, handing over military and diplomatic affairs to Great Hua, but Carlos would still be in charge of the duchy’s internal affairs.

He wanted to continue enjoying privileges after abdicating. Great Hua could temporarily agree to this, but the choice of this place must be far away from the political center.

Madrid was definitely out of the question; the Balearic Islands were barely acceptable.

“No, it must be Madrid. There isn’t even a decent palace on the Balearic Islands.”

Saladin said.

“We can help King Carlos build one.”

Great Hua was very happy to help with this little matter.

“…”

Saladin had ten thousand swear words he wanted to say.

At this time, he had fallen into extreme entanglement. The conditions currently offered by Great Hua were almost Carlos’s bottom line.

In other words, if he agreed to this condition, it would be considered completing Carlos’s mission.

But he also knew that this level of completion would definitely not satisfy Carlos.

After returning home, he would be abandoned by Carlos, and his future would be bleak.

However, if he didn’t agree, it would mean the breakdown of negotiations, which would be even worse.

In short, it seemed that no matter whether he agreed or not, he would not have a good ending.

However, Saladin was able to reach this position, so he naturally had a few tricks up his sleeve.

In this predicament, he managed to find a way out for himself.

He asked to talk to Chen Luo alone, and then told Chen Luo that he could sign, but Great Hua must guarantee that he would be allowed to live in Nanjing in the future, and give him a sum of money.

Otherwise, he would rather the negotiations break down.

Chen Luo knew that even if he didn’t agree, Carlos would eventually change representatives to agree to Great Hua’s conditions.

But there was no need to go through such trouble.

Anyway, it was just a request to live in Nanjing. Compared to taking the entire Spain, this small price was really nothing.

Chapter 1069: Turbulent Situation

With the treaty signed, Great Hua’s ready troops, medical teams, and medicines began to enter Spain, taking over the country’s epidemic prevention affairs.

As for other internal affairs, they were temporarily handled by Spanish officials.

Only after officials from Great Hua arrived could they effectively govern Spain.

However, none of this mattered anymore. From the moment Carlos read out his abdication edict in Madrid, Spain became Great Hua’s territory.

Even if Carlos was unwilling, he didn’t dare and no longer had the strength to go back on his decision.

As for the other nobles, they had even less influence.

The news of Carlos’s abdication and Spain’s annexation into Great Hua spread to France, England, and other places at once.

Immediately, a wave of shock swept across European countries.

Spain had once been glorious.

A hegemonic nation that once dominated the seas and Western Europe had now fallen to the point of national subjugation, causing people to sigh with emotion.

“That Carlos is a coward,” Charles II cursed.

On the surface, Carlos’s abdication had nothing to do with him, but in reality, it had a great deal to do with him.

With Spain holding the front line, he could live a peaceful life for a while longer.

Now that Spain had been annexed, it was obvious who Great Hua’s next target would be.

Either France or England.

Everyone looked at the indignant Charles II and silently complained in their hearts.

Carlos might be a coward, but Charles II was no better.

“Next, we must control domestic public opinion, not allow the public to know too much about the outside world, and even less allow them to discuss politics,” Charles II suddenly issued an order.

He was afraid that the people of England would learn from the people of France and Spain, overthrow him, and send him to the guillotine.

To avoid this from happening, it was necessary to close the country, not let the people know the beauty of the outside world, not let the people’s minds be liberated, and not give them a chance to collude.

However, Charles II’s actions were already a bit late.

The people of England already had a lot of understanding of Great Hua and had accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction with Charles II.

At this time, closing the country would only intensify the conflict and have no other effect.

“I’m afraid that’s not a good idea,” Charles said.

“It must be done, execute it immediately.”

Charles II rarely lost his temper. The ministers could see that Charles II was now somewhat deranged, so they were too lazy to argue with him.

Anyway, as long as they didn’t specifically carry it out.

Charles II had no real power other than issuing empty orders in the palace.

The great nobles had already lost hope in him and were unwilling to support him anymore.

England was also in chaos. The nobles who could not see hope and could not find a way out were now choosing to leave a way out for themselves.

That is, frantically plundering the country and then transferring wealth to Great Hua, to Nanjing.

The country may perish, but the family’s inheritance must not be broken.

They no longer had the heart to govern and develop this country.

When the core leaders of a country begin to abandon it, the country can be declared completely finished.

In the past, although the big capitalists in England were constantly exploiting the lower-level people, they were very clear that if they wanted to shear wool, they had to ensure that the sheep did not die.

Therefore, big capitalists and the royal family would actually work hard to protect the lives of the people and develop the country.

Although they did this in order to exploit more in the future, at least in this process, they would do some things that were beneficial to the people.

Small capitalists are often the most selfish group of people.

They have the same greed as big capitalists, but they do not have the foresight of big capitalists.

Now, even the big capitalists in England have begun to abandon the country, thinking of sucking more blood before fleeing.

Reflected in society, factory owners no longer invest in research into new technologies, nor do they invest in education. They just want to make a quick buck and leave.

Product merchants no longer care about reputation, they just want to make a quick profit.

In short, they are no longer willing to invest in England, as safety is not guaranteed.

Working hard to become bigger and stronger, if Great Hua attacks in the future, it may be cheaper for the soldiers of Great Hua.

England today is very chaotic, with crime everywhere, and no police are willing to take care of it. Even the police are actively involved, because the government can no longer pay wages.

When the news of Spain’s annexation into Great Hua spread to England, to the lower-level people.

Some people even developed a sense of envy.

They were completely disappointed with Charles II and completely disappointed with this country.

They cannot feel the country’s love for them, and it is obviously unrealistic to ask them to love this country unconditionally.

The lower-level people do not think too much. They have seen that after the Netherlands was annexed into Great Hua, the people there lived an easier and happier life.

They also want to live that kind of life.

However, there is only one way to live that kind of life: become a subject of Great Hua.

Other than that, there is no other way. It is simply wishful thinking to expect the English government to bring them happiness.

Charles II announced a ban on discussing politics, but as a result, the people became more enthusiastic about discussing politics and discussing their future.

With the French and Spanish setting an example, they seemed to have found their own path.

Overthrow Charles II and merge into Great Hua.

There are many lower-level people who have this idea, but without the promotion of the great nobles, it is often difficult for them to succeed.

They do not know how to organize collusion, how to formulate plans, or how to implement specific actions.

For a time, they had a surge of enthusiasm, but they did not know how to use it.

In Paris, some people are also studying whether to hold a full referendum to vote on whether to merge into Great Hua.

Although they overthrew the king and achieved a democratic republic.

However, their lives have not improved as a result.

As a result, they lost confidence and patience in the republic and began to look for new ways out.

And joining Great Hua is one of their ways out.

However, those great nobles who control France are obviously unwilling to merge into Great Hua.

Therefore, they ruthlessly suppressed the voices in the country calling for merging into Great Hua.

This undoubtedly aroused the anger of the people, who felt that they could overthrow Louis XIV, and naturally they could overthrow the First Republic.

The situation in Europe today is becoming more and more turbulent, and conflicts are constantly intensifying.

Great Hua is watching all of this, and then sitting back and watching the show, waiting for good things to fall from the sky.

Chapter 1070: Taking Persia

The same drama was unfolding in Persia.

Great Hua did not directly send its main force into Persia. Instead, it dispatched a small number of elite troops to help the pro-Hua forces in Persia overthrow the Safavid dynasty.

The situation in the Safavid dynasty was complex, belonging to a loose federation of multiple local tribes.

The local provinces, in addition to paying a small amount of tax, were not subject to much constraint.

The central government’s control over the localities was very weak.

This kind of polity is not a problem when the country is strong. Everyone is willing to unite under the central government and bully the surrounding areas together.

However, once this kind of polity encounters a strong external challenge, it will face the problem of disunity.

The Safavid dynasty controlled a large territory, nearly three million square kilometers, and had a large population. In theory, its strength should be very strong.

However, the Safavid dynasty’s mobilization ability was very poor.

When the Shahreza Province in the far east broke out in war with Great Hua, support from the central government had not arrived even by the time they were defeated.

At this time, the Safavid dynasty’s capital was in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan, in the northwest of Persia, close to the Ottoman Empire, very far from the eastern territories, and inconvenient to travel to.

Shahreza Province and some other areas that originally belonged to Persia, such as Afghanistan, had already fallen into the hands of Great Hua in the past few years.

And the Safavid dynasty’s King Abbas II chose to remain silent.

After all, the tax revenue from those few places combined was not even enough for a fraction of the cost of dispatching troops.

What’s more, it would be difficult to win even if troops were sent.

Abbas II’s choice cannot be said to be too problematic. If he had sent troops earlier, Persia would have fallen into crisis long ago.

And now, at least he has managed to survive for a few more years.

Abbas II’s behavior made the local forces attached to the Persian Empire understand that the central government was unreliable and they had to find their own way.

Among them, some local forces chose to defect to Great Hua and, with the support of Great Hua, advanced towards Tabriz.

By the end of the fourteenth year of Yongxing, most of Persia had been occupied by the rebel army.

In Tabriz, Abbas II stood on top of the palace, overlooking the city, his eyes full of reluctance.

This was all his territory, his kingdom.

However, Abbas II knew that this place would soon no longer belong to him.

Facing the rebels, he could only manage a fifty-fifty chance of resisting.

But with an elite Huaxia army unit added to the rebels, he was powerless.

His troops had all developed a kind of fear of the Huaxia, and as long as they encountered the Huaxia army, no matter how many people there were on the other side, or whether they were the main force, they did not dare to fight.

Running away when encountering the Huaxia army had become their label.

What hope could there be for such an army?

Abbas II didn’t want to surrender either, but unfortunately, his strength didn’t allow it.

“These bastards are probably still thinking of taking Tabriz and using my head to claim credit. Too bad, huh.”

Abbas II sneered.

He made a decision, a decision that would make those rebels’ efforts come to nothing.

That was, he would surrender to Great Hua first.

In this way, those rebels would have no reason to attack Tabriz.

Even if those rebels insisted on fighting, the Great Hua army would not help them, so he would not need to worry.

Moreover, he was still the king of the Persian Empire after all, and the treatment he could enjoy by surrendering would definitely be better than that of those rebel leaders.

Abbas II felt that he was quite clever, easily bankrupting the rebels’ plan.

Although in this way, he would also lose his throne.

However, Abbas II was also very clear in his heart that even if he did not surrender, the throne would not last long.

Losing the throne by actively giving it up and being deprived of it were two very different things.

At the beginning of the fifteenth year of Yongxing, Abbas II began negotiations with the Great Hua ambassador to Persia to discuss the abdication.

The negotiations between the two sides went very smoothly, after all, Great Hua was already quite skilled in this kind of thing.

Korea, Japan, Siam, Spain…

As usual, after Abbas II abdicated, he could still receive the same preferential treatment as Carlos.

He could either settle permanently in Nanjing or continue to live the life of a small king in the fiefdom given by Great Hua.

Unlike Carlos’ choice, Abbas II chose to go to Nanjing, as he had long yearned for the richness of the Central Plains.

In March of the fifteenth year of Yongxing, Abbas II issued a telegram (i.e., unencrypted, which all radio stations could receive), announcing his abdication, and that the entire territory of Persia would be incorporated into Great Hua, becoming a part of Great Hua’s territory.

With this, the territory of Great Hua exceeded seventy-five million square kilometers.

In Asia, only the Ottoman Empire remained to be dealt with.

After dealing with the Ottoman Empire, the entire Asia would belong to Great Hua.

Moreover, most of the regions had already established effective rule, could collect taxes, and could issue various policy directives to the local people, not just nominal occupation.

As for Oceania, it had long become a part of Great Hua’s territory.

Those scattered small islands in the Pacific Ocean were also constantly being discovered.

Spain, the Netherlands, southern Italy, and some islands in Europe had also become Great Hua’s territory.

In Africa, South Africa and the Mediterranean coast of North Africa had also been completely recovered.

Great Hua did not send anyone to declare ownership of those desert areas, but for Great Hua, it was almost just a matter of saying a word.

As long as Great Hua went there to declare its occupation of the area, no one would object.

Most of the coastal areas of South America were also controlled by Great Hua, and the next step was to penetrate inland.

In North America, only the western plateau, Mexico, and the east and north had not been recovered.

And the military operations in these places had not stopped for a moment, and the territory of Great Hua was growing every day.

Sometimes the growth was slow, but sometimes it would suddenly increase by tens or even millions of square kilometers.

For example, in April, Great Hua added more than two million square kilometers.

They completed the effective rule of the entire Arabian Peninsula. Previously, the Ottoman Empire’s army had taken the initiative to withdraw from this area, choosing to hold on to Baghdad.

After all, in the current situation, only the plains area along the Euphrates River had relatively high economic value.

For Baghdad, the Ottoman Empire had to protect this important city, and other places could almost be abandoned.

Great Hua, on the other hand, accepted everything, wanting every place, even Antarctica.

After the Ottoman Empire withdrew, Great Hua quickly established effective rule on the Arabian Peninsula.

Although they encountered a few small twists and turns in the process, when Great Hua showed a more powerful force than the Ottoman Empire, the local people chose to acquiesce.

For them, it was just a change of ruler, with no major difference.

Chapter 1071: The Suez Canal Opens

In May, the Suez Canal officially opened.

Great Hua telegraphed the news to the world, announcing this great achievement.

After all, this was a great project that could benefit humanity.

Construction on this project began in the eleventh year of Yongxing and took four years to complete.

Although some officials in Great Hua were not satisfied with this speed, it was actually quite fast.

In the original timeline, this project began in the nineteenth century and took a full eleven years.

Plans could not keep up with changes. Great Hua’s plan was to complete it within three years, but during the construction process, a large number of unexpected problems were encountered, which led to repeated delays.

However, it was finally completed.

To dig this canal, Great Hua used a total of one hundred thousand prisoners of war, one hundred thousand Black laborers from the Ethiopian region, dozens of Great Hua engineers, hundreds of excavator drivers, and hundreds of truck drivers.

By the time the project was completed, nearly forty thousand lives had been lost on this canal.

This was eighty thousand fewer than in the original timeline because Great Hua at least treated these workers as human beings, ensuring they had enough to eat so they wouldn’t have to work on an empty stomach.

However, due to long-term heavy physical labor, lack of clean drinking water, and various diseases, many people inevitably died.

This was unavoidable, and no one cared.

When the project was completed, there was no mention of these dead workers.

The outside world’s focus was only on how great this project was.

“I can’t imagine that the people of Great Hua actually completed this project.”

In Paris, several nobles gathered together, one of them sighing.

When Great Hua started the Suez Canal project, many people in Western Europe were not optimistic, feeling that the project was too vast and that Great Hua could not complete it.

Some even naively hoped that this project would bankrupt Great Hua’s economy.

Or that the laborers would be overwhelmed and start a rebellion or something.

Unfortunately, reality slapped them in the face. The investment in this project was insignificant to Great Hua’s fiscal revenue.

After all, neither the free prisoners of war nor the cheap laborers cost much money.

The most expensive parts of this project were the excavators and trucks, as well as the wages of the skilled workers.

Moreover, under the deterrence of Great Hua’s powerful strength, the coolies did not launch any large-scale resistance. A few individual acts of resistance became nameless incidents, not remembered or spread.

“This is nothing. If you have been to Great Hua, you will know that Great Hua has many projects of this scale.”

A noble who had been to the Central Plains boasted.

Having been to the Central Plains was the most brag-worthy thing in his life.

Although he was boasting, no one questioned him. After all, there were too many ‘Great Hua boosters’ in Western Europe, and others boasted even more exaggeratedly.

As a result, many Western Europeans regarded Nanjing and Shanghai in Great Hua as paradise.

“It seems that the trend of Great Hua unifying the world is irreversible. Once the Suez Canal is opened, it will be much easier for them to transfer troops over.”

“Moreover, Great Hua’s railway has been built to Persia. Once the Ottoman Empire is destroyed, their railway can be built to Europe.”

These people were more knowledgeable and knew the impact of the opening of the Suez Canal on the situation.

Speaking of this topic, some people could not help but sigh. If they had a choice, they would of course prefer to be independent.

“Don’t worry so much. We are not Julius Caesar, not some heroic figures, and cannot change this historical trend. All we can do is follow the trend.

Great Hua has a famous saying: ‘A wise bird chooses the tree to perch on,’ meaning that smart people will make choices that are more suitable for themselves.”

Another noble said.

No one laughed at him for such unpatriotic words.

Because many of them had this idea and preparation. If they laughed at the other party now, it would be even more embarrassing if they surrendered to Great Hua in the future.

The view that Great Hua would eventually unify the world had been recognized by many people.

After all, looking at the world, no country was Great Hua’s opponent.

Not to mention an opponent, not even a country that could pose a threat to Great Hua.

The opening of the Suez Canal had many benefits.

It not only shortened Great Hua’s voyage to Europe and strengthened the connection between the two places.

This canal could also drive the economic development of the Egyptian region and strengthen Great Hua’s control over Europe.

After the completion of this project, Great Hua also added a group of experienced construction teams.

This team could be dispatched to other major projects in Great Hua to continue to shine.

Excellent technology, rich experience, and a large number of laborers who only needed to be fed.

Everyone wanted this kind of engineering team.

With the reduction of large-scale wars, this kind of team was becoming less and less.

The early prisoners of war either died on the construction site or had already served their terms and were released by Great Hua.

However, even so, Great Hua currently had as many as one million five hundred thousand free laborers.

About one hundred thousand of them were mining and farming in South Africa. Another one hundred and fifty thousand were in Egypt, but were about to be transferred to other places. One hundred thousand were building railways and highways in Persia.

Two hundred thousand were building the Siberia Railway from Vladivostok to Moscow, and one hundred thousand were building infrastructure and farming in the Panama area.

Another one hundred thousand were in South America, one hundred thousand in North America, and two hundred and fifty thousand in India.

Another three hundred thousand were in the Central Plains, and nearly one hundred thousand were in other places combined.

These people were the backbone of Great Hua’s various major projects.

In June, another major project of Great Hua was completed.

The Shanghai-Kunming Railway, from Shanghai to Kunming.

Passing through Hangzhou, Nanchang, Zhuzhou, Guiyang and other places.

As a result, the main railway lines of Great Hua had been basically completed, and the next step was to repair and patch up some small lines.

There were six main lines in the Central Plains, divided into three horizontal and three vertical lines.

The three horizontal lines referred to Shengjing to Baotou, Lianyungang to Turpan, and Shanghai to Kunming.

The three vertical lines referred to Hong Kong to Beijing, Guangzhou to Beijing, and Nanning to Luoyang.

These six were the main lines, and then some branch lines were extended from these main lines to other important cities.

Such as to Chengdu, to Daqing, and so on.

These railways constituted the blood vessels of Great Hua, making Great Hua’s economy full of vitality.

In July, Great Hua’s first expressway, the Beijing-Songjiang line, was also announced to be completed.

The highway was thirty-six meters wide and had eight lanes.

Great Hua was currently building three more expressways of this standard.

They were the Beijing-Guangzhou line, the Beijing-Hankou line, and the Beijing-Tianjin line.

Great Hua needed labor in many places, but unfortunately there were no more prisoners of war. They could only go to India to recruit cheap labor.

Chapter 1072: Declaration of Equality

By the end of the fifteenth year of Yongxing, in Mississippi Province, North America.

The Governor-General of the American States, An Xishan, announced the Great Hua’s American Declaration of Equality. The declaration stated that Native Americans and European immigrants would enjoy equal rights.

The declaration only mentioned the status relationship between Native Americans and European immigrants, and did not mention their status relationship with the Great Hua people.

Native Americans and European immigrants could be equal, but equality with the Han Chinese of the Central Plains was obviously impossible.

Although there was no explicit provision that the Han were superior, there was also no explicit provision that other ethnic groups could enjoy the same treatment as the Han.

The superiority of the Han people had become an unspoken rule.

Everyone knew it in their hearts, but there was no need to say it out loud.

Other ethnic groups defaulted to this unspoken rule, and no one dared to break it. They were more enthusiastic about competing for the qualifications of second-class citizens.

For example, Koreans were trying to abandon their Korean identity and become completely Han.

The Manchus were trying to win a higher level of treatment than the Japanese, while the Japanese were striving for the second position after the Han.

The elite in Annam were trying to gain the same status as the Japanese and Koreans.

As for the Indians, they were also working hard for their status.

And the way they worked hard was to contribute to the development of Great Hua.

The more taxes they paid, the more affirmation they would receive from the Great Hua court.

Great Hua’s promulgation of the Declaration of Equality in the Americas was not out of overflowing sympathy or pity for the Native Americans.

The main reason was that Sai Jinqu was disappointing and could not win against the United States of America in the public opinion war.

Therefore, his recruitment work had been unsuccessful. After taking Mississippi and Arkansas, Sai Jinqu was unable to go further north and had been working hard to recruit soldiers.

Seeing that this mud couldn’t be helped, Great Hua naturally had to step in and help, issuing this Declaration of Equality.

In the current United States of America, as well as in the territories controlled by Great Hua, the status of Native Americans was lower than that of European immigrants.

In the United States, these were explicitly stipulated. European immigrants who beat or killed Native Americans did not face severe penalties, or even any penalties at all.

But if a Native American killed a white person, it was a death sentence. Their status was extremely unequal.

In the territories controlled by Great Hua, although there were no such explicit provisions, the unspoken rules were similar.

After all, Great Hua’s rule over North America was not yet perfect. There were still a lot of troublesome things that had not been dealt with, and they had no time to take care of equality.

Now Great Hua specifically issued such a regulation, mainly to win the hearts of the Native Americans, so that they would enthusiastically join the army and obtain sources of soldiers.

At the same time, it was also to shake the hearts of the people and the military in the United States.

In Great Hua, Native Americans and whites were equal. In the United States, Native Americans were just slaves. With such an obvious contrast, anyone with a brain would choose to join Great Hua.

If those Native American soldiers in the United States rebelled because of this, that would be the best.

As soon as the Declaration of Equality came out, it gave the United States a heavy blow.

This was an unsolvable move, a righteous and open scheme.

Philadelphia, the Capitol.

“We must also issue a Declaration of Equality, otherwise our soldiers underground will immediately become our enemies, and those Native Americans in our United States will come to deal with us with the enemy.”

Avery said anxiously. This was a very serious problem, related to the life and death of the United States.

“No, how can those stupid natives be equal to our noble Anglo-Saxons?”

Kenner said angrily.

Discrimination against natives was deeply rooted in his bones.

Now, to allow those slaves to be equal to him was more uncomfortable than killing him.

“General Kenner, now is not the time to worry about face. I am still a German, but if I am conquered by Great Hua, what is the use of this identity? Let’s take care of the present first.”

Muller said.

The Anglo-Saxons originally belonged to a branch of the Germans. In a way, the Germans were the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon race, and were nobler.

However, in Muller’s view, indulging in past glory was meaningless.

As long as they were conquered by Great Hua, they might not even be as good as the Native Americans.

Rather than that, it would be better to get along with the Native Americans equally and gain their support.

After all, Native Americans were the main ethnic group in North America today.

“Damn it, damn it.”

Kenner cursed, raging in impotence.

However, he did not object any further.

Because the situation was already very clear. If they did not follow suit and issue a declaration, then all the Native Americans in the country would choose to betray them.

With only a few hundred thousand people, excluding women, children, and the elderly, the men who could hold guns would be at most two hundred thousand. What could they do with that?

The meeting was very short, and they quickly reached this important consensus.

After all, they were already one step behind the Great Hua people, and they had lost to Great Hua in sincerity.

If they dragged on any longer, those Native Americans might find out about the news from the South, and become disappointed with the United States.

On the third day after Great Hua announced the Declaration of Equality, the United States of America also announced the Declaration of Equality, abolishing the previous slavery system and declaring that Native Americans and everyone else were equal, including the Great Hua people.

The United States emphasized this point, in order to appear more sincere than the Great Hua people.

They were also cunning, which was equivalent to drawing a big cake for the Native Americans.

If they wanted to get this big cake, they would have to defeat the Great Hua people. Was that possible?

Those Native Americans who had never seen the world were quite optimistic.

The Declaration of Equality caused many chain reactions.

First of all, the Native Americans were overjoyed and wept. They didn’t know what had happened, or even what they had done. They inexplicably turned over and became masters.

It must be said that they were the biggest beneficiaries of this war.

And the most unlucky were those black people who had been sold over. They originally had Native Americans to accompany them as slaves.

As a result, the Native Americans turned over, but it had nothing to do with them. Instead, they became the only slave group.

They had no place to complain about their suffering. The Great Hua people ignored them, and the United States also ignored them.

After the Declaration of Equality was issued, the Native Americans’ enthusiasm for joining the army increased significantly.

Because both Great Hua and the United States controlled their domestic public opinion, the Native Americans in the Hua-controlled areas did not know that the United States had also announced a Declaration of Equality.

And the Native Americans in the United States were about the same, with only a few people knowing.

Therefore, they all felt that they were now joining the army to defend this hard-won right to equality, and their fighting will was unprecedentedly high.

For a time, the number of troops in both the Independent Army and the Federal Army was soaring, and both sides were stepping up preparations for war, and the atmosphere of war began to become strong again.

Chapter 1073: Exaggerated Trenches

In April of Yongxing sixteen, the Independent Army had expanded to two hundred thousand soldiers, and Great Hua’s reinforcements had also increased to twenty thousand.

After setting aside a small number of troops to stay behind, they mustered a total of two hundred thousand soldiers for the Northern Expedition.

Meanwhile, the United States government army had increased its troop numbers to a staggering six hundred thousand.

However, their six hundred thousand troops had too many places to defend, so only three hundred and fifty thousand troops reached the front lines of Tennessee and Atlanta.

Moreover, given their transportation conditions and logistical support capabilities, maintaining a force of over three hundred thousand men on the front lines was already their limit.

Even if they had more troops, they couldn’t send them to the front lines because the logistics couldn’t keep up.

The United States of America was now a nation entirely dedicated to the war effort.

Adult men went to the battlefield and high-intensity labor factories, while women and children also entered factories to produce various war materials.

The entire country of the United States had been mobilized, and its spirit had been stretched taut like a bowstring. If they lost this decisive battle, Great Hua wouldn’t even need to lift a finger; they would collapse from within.

Despite having nearly twice the enemy’s forces, the Federal army didn’t have much confidence.

Therefore, they chose to fight a defensive war.

They constructed an endless trench line along the Independent Army and Huaxia army’s inevitable path.

In Tennessee, the Memphis area was the Independent Army’s only route north. The government army decided to engage in a decisive battle with the Independent Army here, so they dug a trench that was one hundred kilometers long and ten kilometers deep.

Viewed from the air, this construction was quite spectacular, stretching for hundreds of kilometers, boundless and endless.

However, this scale was not particularly large.

During World War I in the original timeline, on the Western Front, the German and French armies each dug trenches that were over four hundred kilometers long and twenty to thirty kilometers deep.

Their area was roughly equivalent to twenty miniature countries like Singapore.

Throwing millions of soldiers from both sides into these trenches, you wouldn’t even see a single person.

Without a map of the trenches, a single soldier would be one hundred percent lost in the intricate network of trenches.

The trenches dug by the United States of America in Memphis were not as exaggerated as those on the Western Front, but they were still quite spectacular.

The government army was forced into this situation. They lacked technology, so they could only rely on manpower.

Since they were inferior to the Independent Army and Huaxia army in terms of weaponry, they could only use their hands to dig out a new world.

And their approach initially achieved good results.

The Independent Army was taken aback when they first encountered such spectacular trenches, but they didn’t take it too seriously and launched an attack directly.

However, their first two attacks were unsuccessful and resulted in heavy casualties.

In the two attacks, the Independent Army lost nearly five thousand men.

This shocked Sai Jinqu. Although the Independent Army and Huaxia army had a combined force of two hundred thousand, they couldn’t withstand such losses.

More importantly, they had suffered so many casualties without making any substantial progress.

Even when they managed to break into the enemy’s trenches during the second attack, they were quickly pushed back due to their unfamiliarity with the trench system.

“Damn it.”

Sai Jinqu scratched his head in frustration. He didn’t want to ask the Huaxia army’s main force for help just yet, as that would make the Independent Army seem useless.

What was the point of training an army for several months if they couldn’t even fight a single hard battle?

“Are the people on the other side crazy? Digging such a huge trench.”

An officer of the Independent Army complained.

Having seen such an exaggerated defensive structure for the first time, they were all shocked.

“We must proceed with caution. Before we find a way to break through the enemy’s move, we cannot attack rashly, otherwise, this army that we have worked so hard to train will soon be crippled.”

“Will this make the Huaxia army dissatisfied?”

“If they are dissatisfied, let them attack. I want to see what they can do in the face of such a perverted construction.”

The officers of the Independent Army clamored.

In the Huaxia army’s headquarters, Jin Jiusheng was also studying the enemy’s trench warfare tactics with his subordinates.

“Based on the current situation, the enemy’s move is quite powerful. Their soldiers are hiding in the trenches, which can effectively resist the damage of our artillery fire.

In fact, because we don’t have many heavy artillery pieces, we can no longer suppress the enemy with firepower in the face of these trenches…”

Chief of Staff Song Bo said.

“Have the planes I requested arrived? To understand these trenches in detail, we still need to rely on the planes to fly around above them. Otherwise, all we can see is their front line.”

Jin Jiusheng said. He couldn’t determine how effective the trenches were for the time being.

All he knew was that he currently had too little understanding of the enemy’s trenches and urgently needed detailed information.

“They should arrive tomorrow.”

“Then let Sai Jinqu suspend the attack and wait until we understand the enemy’s situation before attacking.”

Jin Jiusheng said. He couldn’t afford the loss of four to five thousand casualties from two attacks.

Great Hua had spent a lot of money to train these four to five thousand men.

Fortunately, the soldiers who died in battle were not the main force of the Huaxia army, so they didn’t need to pay too much in compensation. Otherwise, it would be enough to make the Huaxia army cough up blood.

“By the way, let them also start digging trenches to prevent the enemy’s sudden counterattack.”

Jin Jiusheng added.

If the Independent Army’s one hundred thousand troops were the main force of the Huaxia army, Jin Jiusheng would have hoped that the Federal army would launch a surprise attack.

However, he didn’t dare to trust the military quality of the Independent Army, so he still prioritized stability.

If the Independent Army was defeated, their twenty thousand men would have to face more than three hundred thousand Federal troops alone, which would be a grim situation.

Without heavy weapons, they didn’t have much of an advantage when facing the Federal army.

Jin Jiusheng’s request relieved Sai Jinqu.

He was afraid that Jin Jiusheng would force him to attack regardless of the Independent Army’s life or death.

At that time, he would be in a dilemma.

But now, simply digging trenches for defense was a minor matter for the Independent Army.

Subsequently, the Independent Army began digging trenches.

However, the trenches they dug were far less sophisticated than those of the Federal army, and the details were much worse.

This was actually quite normal. The Federal army had been researching and perfecting this defensive system for a year or two, so it naturally contained countless small tricks.

The Independent Army didn’t expect their trenches to have much defensive power. As long as they could prevent the Federal army from launching a surprise attack, that would be enough.

They were now waiting for the planes from the rear to arrive, waiting for the planes to obtain intelligence on the enemy’s trenches.

In addition, the spies lurking in the United States also received instructions to find ways to obtain the Federal army’s trench blueprints and related information.

The game between the two sides was fully underway.

Chapter 1074: Reconnaissance Plane

Memphis, Federal Command.

The federal officers looked at the battle report, smiles on their faces.

They had achieved a rare victory in their first trench warfare engagement.

In the history of Great Hua’s wars, there were almost no armies that could achieve such a victory against Great Hua.

The federal officers had every reason to be proud of achieving this. They fought even better than those countries in Western Europe.

“This is all thanks to Steve’s trench tactics. Otherwise, we would never have been able to win such a great victory.”

Army Commander Kenner laughed.

Trench warfare tactics were proposed and perfected by Steve Reno, a renowned military expert in the United States and a military advisor to the Federal government.

It could be said that Steve was the most meritorious in this battle.

“With this line of defense, those rebels are destined to be unable to move an inch. We are bound to win this war.”

General Lorentz echoed.

His words were a bit too boastful, and others found it difficult to respond.

Although they had won a small victory, it only meant they had held the line. It was too early to talk about winning the war.

However, everyone was immersed in an optimistic atmosphere and didn’t want to break it, so no one refuted Lorentz’s words.

“To this great victory, to the freedom of the United States, cheers!”

Amidst the cheers and laughter, everyone also enjoyed some red wine.

The next day, several planes from Great Hua arrived at the front lines.

These planes were very different from the carrier-based aircraft of Great Hua, being much simpler.

The wings and fuselage were mostly made of wood instead of aluminum alloy.

Because these planes were not standard Great Hua warplanes to begin with.

Great Hua’s standard military fighter jets were too advanced and too expensive for the military in faraway North America to afford.

Therefore, they brought some engines over and used wooden frames to assemble the fuselage, creating simple airplanes.

The role of these planes was very limited. They could only be used for reconnaissance, unable to even perform simple bombing runs.

There was no way around it. The structure of the planes was too simple, and the fuselage strength was too low to carry bombs weighing several hundred Jin.

However, even just the reconnaissance role was a huge help to the Huaxia army.

This meant that the enemy’s movements were exposed to the eyes of the Huaxia army, while the enemy knew nothing about the Huaxia army’s movements.

Ground reconnaissance was much more difficult than in the sky.

The next day, the Great Hua planes flew towards the Federal army’s positions.

There were two people on the plane: a pilot to control the plane and a reconnaissance officer holding a camera, responsible for taking pictures of the enemy’s positions.

At first, they flew very low to make it easier to take clearer pictures.

The roar of the planes quickly alarmed the Federal army, scaring them into blowing the horns to take cover.

After all, Great Hua’s planes used to focus on bombing.

They thought the Great Hua planes were bombing again, so they quickly ordered everyone to take cover.

However, the Federal soldiers who took cover did not hear any explosions for a long time.

The soldiers who remained outside to observe quickly discovered that the Huaxia army’s planes had no intention of bombing, but were just circling above them.

Before long, the soldiers hiding in the bunkers also came out, as it was not pleasant to stay inside.

“What do the Great Hua people want to do?”

One federal soldier complained.

He was sure that the people on the plane were Great Hua people.

Pilots, as a cutting-edge technical force, were mostly selected from Han soldiers for training.

And in the eyes of other countries, the Great Hua people from the Central Plains were the orthodox Great Hua people. The people from other places conquered by the Great Hua people later were all puppet troops.

“Damn, they are reconnoitering our trench situation.”

Some clever soldiers realized it immediately.

“Calm down. I’ve been in this trench for three months, and I still haven’t figured out the specific situation of this trench. It’s too naive to think they can see through it with just a glance.”

A veteran said disdainfully. His words resonated with others, embarrassing those soldiers who were exclaiming in alarm.

Everyone was confident in the complexity of the trenches, so they didn’t care about the Great Hua reconnaissance planes.

Some soldiers even tried to humiliate and provoke the Huaxia army pilots in various ways.

For example, they took off their pants and pointed their buttocks at the sky.

Soldiers who could be so bold and unrestrained were ultimately in the minority. More people chose to provoke by giving the middle finger.

And giving the middle finger was the favorite way for the English to provoke.

The middle finger is a gesture invented by the British specifically to insult the French, dating back to the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in the fourteenth century.

At that time, England was weaker and could not defeat the French.

Only the longbowmen could pose a greater threat to the French army, which made the French king very angry. Before the war, he made a harsh statement, saying that after the victory, he would cut off all the index and middle fingers of the longbowmen (longbowmen need to use their main fingers to shoot arrows).

What was fatal was that their cavalry was shot back by the English longbowmen in that battle, and then the depressed emotions of the English army, which had been suppressed, were vented. The longbowmen raised their middle and index fingers, meaning that my fingers were still there.

Since then, the gesture has been simplified to raising one middle finger.

Scholars with a deeper understanding of Western European culture may be able to understand this humiliating gesture.

But for the Great Hua soldiers, they would only feel inexplicable. It was not as good as showing their buttocks.

However, the reconnaissance officer, who found it interesting, still photographed the scene of the enemies collectively giving the middle finger.

Giving the middle finger was just a helpless choice for the lower-level soldiers.

And some of their officers would naturally not be so naive. They vaguely felt that allowing the Huaxia army to continue reconnaissance would be detrimental to their side.

Therefore, some officers began to order, shouting for the soldiers to aim their guns at the plane, trying to shoot down the Huaxia army’s plane.

Subsequently, the soldiers also came to their senses and began to shoot to interfere.

They could only play a role in interfering. As for shooting down the plane, they could only dream about it.

Not to mention that the chance of hitting the plane was very small, even if they did hit it, as long as they didn’t hit the fuel tank and the pilot, it wouldn’t really matter.

Taking a few shots on the wing or fuselage was not a big deal for the current planes.

Of course, just in case, the Great Hua plane still increased its flight altitude and speed.

Just such a small move could make the Federal soldiers below cheer, as if they had achieved some major victory.

This was a typical mentality of the weak. In local struggles, gaining even the slightest advantage was worth cheering about.

But this was meaningless.

Just like the English longbowmen could certainly raise their gestures and laugh at the French at a certain moment, but in the end, it was still them who lost the war.

Chapter 1075: Stillness Precedes Action

After three consecutive days of reconnaissance, the Huaxia army had taken a large number of photographs of the trenches.

A group of military experts studied the photos, looking for weaknesses in the trench system.

“Here, here are their machine gun nests, these are their foxholes, and here are their communication trenches to the rear. We can concentrate our forces to break through after taking out their machine gun nests, and after entering the trenches, quickly seal off the communication trenches to prevent the enemy from retreating and reinforcing.”

“For those bunkers in the trenches, the best weapons are grenades and flamethrowers…”

“Occupying a section of the trenches is meaningless; we must constantly advance, reaching a certain depth to disrupt the entire system.”

“Here, here, and here are where they have concentrated their heavy forces; the defenses in other areas are relatively weak. However, these heavily defended areas can provide rapid support to other locations.”

“Our troop strength is not dominant, a full-scale attack is not feasible; we should concentrate our forces to break through at one or several points.”

…

After studying the situation, everyone expressed their opinions and simulated scenarios with each other.

Trenches are not simple, but to say they are complex, it’s not that complex for these battle-hardened commanders.

They could guess the purpose of those things in the trenches with just a glance.

After a round of discussion, everyone had a fairly deep understanding of the trenches and proposed some targeted solutions.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army began to formulate a plan for a general offensive.

Great Hua hates attrition warfare the most. Even with their strength, no one can outlast them.

But they are unwilling to engage in attrition that would kill one thousand enemies while losing five hundred of their own. They prefer to resolve the enemy in one go, defeat them, and win the battle at the lowest cost.

Therefore, Great Hua’s tactical style has always been: stillness precedes action, and action means a full-scale offensive.

At the Federation Command, Kenner and others were also puzzled by the Huaxia army’s unusual behavior.

Of course, they wouldn’t naively think that the Huaxia army and the Independent Army would give up their offensive because of one or two failed assaults. Warfare isn’t child’s play.

Clearly, the Huaxia army was brewing a major operation.

But they couldn’t guess what the Huaxia army would do specifically.

The defending side can only react to the situation and lacks the initiative.

“How about we launch a surprise attack, a proactive offensive?”

Lorentz suggested.

“No, the risk is too great, and it’s unnecessary. We can rely on the trenches to negate the Huaxia army’s advantage in weapons and equipment during defense, why give up this advantage?”

Another commander immediately objected.

In his opinion, they should seek stability at the moment; the Federation army cannot afford to lose.

Not many people agreed with Lorentz’s suggestion. Everyone wanted to seek stability, or rather, they had confidence in the trench defense system.

Just as they were guessing how the Independent Army would launch an attack, the sound of artillery fire came from the front lines.

They could tell from the sound that it was the Huaxia army attacking, because their artillery sound was somewhat different from the Federation’s, and they could distinguish it after hearing it many times.

More exaggerated veterans could even tell the model, type, and caliber of the opponent’s artillery from the sound.

“Attention, the enemy is probably launching a general offensive.”

Kenner also had some understanding of the Huaxia army’s tactical style and made an accurate judgment.

“Order them to hold their ground and not retreat a single step. This wave of the enemy’s offensive will definitely be very fierce, but as long as we withstand this wave, they will probably be forced to retreat.”

Kenner ordered the mid-level commanders to immediately go to the front lines to command.

After all, the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and it would be too late to rely on the command to dispatch and command. They didn’t have telephones anyway.

They could only rely on officers with higher military literacy to go to the front lines and make orders such as support, defense, and transfer based on the actual situation on the battlefield.

“Yes, sir.”

Everyone took their orders.

On the front lines, Huaxia army soldiers and Independent Army soldiers were advancing under the cover of artillery fire.

This time, they attacked simultaneously in three directions, with the Huaxia army’s main force naturally bearing the brunt of the main attack.

Although the Huaxia army also wanted the Independent Army to charge in front and pick up the spoils in the rear.

But the current situation is that the Independent Army alone can no longer break through the enemy’s defense system.

Continuing to let the Independent Army attack alone is basically sending them to their deaths, wasting the enemy’s ammunition, which is not very meaningful.

Helpless, the Huaxia army could only take the field themselves.

The Huaxia army was in the center, followed by a portion of the Independent Army.

The Huaxia army was responsible for attacking fortified positions, and the Independent Army was responsible for following up to clear out the remaining enemies and pursue the enemy.

Shells continued to fall on the Federation army’s positions, but the effect was very limited.

The winding and narrow trenches could effectively reduce the damage of Great Hua’s shells.

Of course, no matter how limited the threat, it was still a threat, and it was still a deterrent to the Federation soldiers.

And the Huaxia army was much more comfortable. They didn’t have to worry about being shelled on their way to the attack.

The Federation army’s artillery had been cleared by the Huaxia army’s artillery the last time they fired.

The Federation army’s remaining dozen or so artillery pieces simply hid and didn’t fire. A dozen artillery pieces were like a drop in the bucket for the simultaneous attack of tens of thousands of people, and they couldn’t play any role.

It was better to save them for special periods or critical moments.

“Get up, fight back, the damned enemy has entered range, do you still want to bury your heads in the sand?”

On the position, the Federation army’s junior commanders were running back and forth in the trenches, supervising the battle.

In the trenches, the soldiers were actually very scattered, with one soldier defending a five- or six-meter front.

If they didn’t do this, they wouldn’t have enough people to defend a hundred- li front, let alone have a depth of defense.

One company had to defend a five- or six-hundred-meter front.

A company commander had to run back and forth in the trenches to command everyone.

Of course, the Huaxia army’s attacking forces were also very scattered.

Basically, they were in groups of three, with intervals of ten or twenty meters between each group.

This was to guard against the enemy’s machine guns. If they were too close, a sweep from the enemy’s machine guns would take out a large area.

Although the soldiers were scattered, their combat power was not weak at all.

There were many things that a group of three could do once they got close to the enemy.

The Federation army wouldn’t dare say that they could stop a Huaxia army group of three without a squad of men.

After all, in the Huaxia army’s group of three, one had a submachine gun, and the other two had automatic rifles, and they were also equipped with a large number of grenades.

The firepower they could unleash in an instant was more intense than that of a Federation army squad, but the sustainability was slightly worse.

But the Federation army still didn’t dare to take it lightly. When they confirmed the direction of the Huaxia army’s main attack, the reserve team in the rear immediately went to reinforce that section of the defense line.

Chapter 1076: Charge

The density of the left-wing independent army’s charging formation was significantly different from that of the main Huaxia army force.

They charged forward in squads.

This decision was made based on the actual situation. Given their individual military skills, they were essentially clueless on the chaotic battlefield without a junior officer to command them.

Furthermore, their firepower was insufficient. A few soldiers on the battlefield couldn’t achieve much; their strength was too dispersed.

Therefore, their smallest unit of operation had to be a squad.

As a result, their targets were much larger.

Federal soldiers fired at them, and even if they didn’t hit the intended target, there was a higher chance of hitting someone nearby.

The Federal soldiers defending against the main Huaxia army force didn’t have this luxury.

They had to aim very precisely; otherwise, firing a bullet was like scratching a lottery ticket. Hitting one was like winning the jackpot; most of the time, they were just shooting into empty space.

On the left flank, the independent army charged to within about one hundred meters of the enemy.

The next stretch was the most dangerous. At this distance, the defending Federal soldiers were also highly tense.

At this point, they would often unleash all their firepower, not caring about conserving ammunition.

“Charge!”

The independent army didn’t stop, accelerating towards the enemy’s position.

They didn’t stop to exchange fire with the enemy; that would be too costly.

Federal soldiers in the trenches could mostly only see a head and shoulders, making it difficult to hit them.

Meanwhile, the independent army soldiers were completely exposed on the plain. Except for a few shell craters that could provide some cover, the rest were entirely exposed to the enemy’s view.

Except for a small number of machine gunners who stopped to fire at the Federal positions to provide suppressive fire, the remaining soldiers charged towards the Federal positions en masse.

The Federal army’s machine guns also unceremoniously swept across the independent army.

Sometimes, if they were lucky, a burst of bullets could wipe out an entire squad.

To compensate for their inferior firepower, the Federal army was equipped with many machine guns.

However, their manufacturing level was still very crude. The performance of these machine guns varied greatly. They would often break down or malfunction after firing for a while.

Therefore, although they had many machine guns, their firepower was intermittent.

But when their machine guns were working properly, the independent army’s momentum would be hampered.

And once the Federal army’s machine guns malfunctioned, the independent army could take the opportunity to charge a long distance, even directly to the enemy’s face.

After rushing into the Federal army’s trenches, the two sides engaged in bayonet combat.

In this aspect, the independent army had a slight advantage. They had all fixed their bayonets in advance, while some Federal soldiers were fixing their bayonets in a hurry.

There was a big difference between having a bayonet and not having one.

After a round of fighting, the independent army relied on their local numerical advantage to break into the trenches and occupy a section of them.

However, this was just the beginning of the battle.

Next, they had to continue to advance within this trench line and guard against counterattacks.

Advancing in the trenches was not easy. Bullets flew in from time to time, and the person hit often didn’t know where the bullet came from.

Even if they discovered bunkers, without special weapons, these bunkers were quite troublesome.

“Grenade!”

This sound rang out constantly.

In trench warfare, grenades were definitely a more useful weapon than guns.

Because the narrow, winding terrain of the trenches was perfect for grenades.

The independent army soldiers had to throw a grenade around every corner. After the explosion, they immediately rushed over to spray bullets.

If they didn’t do this and rushed straight in, they would often be met with bullets.

If a few people died each time, the independent army wouldn’t be able to bear it.

“No more grenades!”

One of the soldiers in Squad One said. Their squad originally had twelve people, but after the charge and the trench warfare, only seven were left.

This casualty rate was, of course, insignificant for the entire independent army.

However, for their squad, the casualties were already very large, and they had even lost their combat effectiveness.

“There’s nothing we can do. Leave it to the other units.”

Squad Leader Rachel gave up on continuing to advance and prepared to wait for the follow-up troops to come and hand over the task of advancing to them.

This decision was naturally supported by the surviving soldiers; they didn’t want to charge anymore.

Soon, the follow-up troops arrived, led by a company commander.

“What are you doing here? Not continuing to advance, giving the enemy time to breathe?”

The company commander questioned.

“We have suffered more than half casualties, and we have no grenades, and we have also completed our established tasks.”

Rachel retorted.

“This is not a reason for you to stop attacking. Take these ammunition and attack from here with Squad Six…”

The company commander arranged the plan, and the soldiers of Squad One were cursing in their hearts.

In the center, the Huaxia army’s charge resulted in fewer casualties than the other two flanks.

Their soldiers were too dispersed. Even if they were locked on by the Federal army’s machine guns, at most two or three people would die. And in order to kill these two or three people, the Federal army often had to expend an entire magazine of ammunition.

This was the difference between elite troops and miscellaneous troops. The Huaxia army could make the Federal army uncomfortable in every detail.

Faced with this kind of charge from the Huaxia army, their machine gunners would lose money if they fired, but it was dangerous if they didn’t fire.

What was even more deadly was that the average time they could continue to survive after firing would not exceed three minutes.

In the Great Hua’s mortar teams, observers were constantly looking for the firing points on the battlefield.

As soon as the Federal army’s machine guns opened fire, their positions were immediately exposed.

Next, they would be greeted by mortar shells and sniper bullets.

The extremely high mortality rate of machine gunners led Federal soldiers to be unwilling to use machine guns.

“Damn it, David, you take over.”

The commander shouted.

“No, I haven’t received machine gun training. I can’t shoot accurately.”

The soldier named David directly refused. He had seen clearly how the previous two machine gunners were headshot by Huaxia army snipers.

This firing point had already been targeted by the Great Hua’s snipers. Going up to operate the machine gun at this time was tantamount to courting death.

David’s reason for refusing was very sufficient. He was not a machine gunner and had not received specialized training.

Operating a machine gun actually required a high level of technical skill.

Without mastering the techniques, even a slight tremor of the machine gun could cause the bullets to be hundreds of thousands of miles away from the target.

Soldiers who had not received specialized training would be forced to do this, and it would probably have no effect.

But the commander couldn’t care less. The sound of the machine gun could reassure him. He instinctively felt uneasy when his own machine gun stopped firing.

Not only was he like this, but other soldiers were also like this.

Therefore, even if it was to reassure other soldiers so they could fight with peace of mind, David had to fire the machine gun. Whether he could hit anything or not was no longer important.

Chapter 1077: The Fight of the Military Second Generation

“Are you trying to disobey a military order? I have the authority to execute soldiers who disobey orders.”

The commander rebuked.

Left with no choice, David could only bite the bullet and proceed, all the while praying to God for his survival and cursing the commander to get his head blown off.

In the time they had wasted, several squads of the Huaxia army had already broken through the firepower blockade in this area, charging into the Federal army’s positions with minimal casualties.

At this point in this area, the Huaxia army was still at a disadvantage in terms of troop numbers.

However, the combat power they displayed was far superior to that of the Federal army.

Submachine guns didn’t require precise aiming; they only needed to be fired in the general direction of the enemy.

But for the Federal soldiers trying to hit the close-quarters Huaxia army with their rifles, the difficulty was much greater, requiring at least an aiming process.

Not to mention, they were using bolt-action rifles, having to pull the bolt to load a bullet after each shot.

By the time they completed these operations, they would already have one or more bullet holes in their bodies.

Even automatic rifles and semi-automatic rifles, let alone the Huaxia army’s submachine guns, could gain a great advantage at this time.

Soon, the Huaxia army broke into the trenches and occupied a section of the enemy’s position.

Afterward, they continued to advance deeper.

Compared to the Independent Army, they had a much wider variety of weapons.

Flamethrowers and grenade launchers were excellent weapons for dealing with bunkers.

The Huaxia army also had more grenades and bullets than the Independent Army.

It wasn’t that Great Hua was too stingy to equip the Independent Army with more ammunition, but rather that the Independent Army’s physical strength couldn’t carry that much ammunition.

A grenade weighed nearly five hundred grams, and one hundred bullets weighed about one kilogram. With other equipment, a soldier couldn’t carry that much.

In comparison, Huaxia army soldiers had better nutrition, more training, and were stronger and fitter, so they could naturally carry more weight.

Stronger, with higher tactical literacy, and more advanced weapons…

These factors combined were the reason why the Huaxia army had stronger combat power.

When they advanced to the same depth as the Independent Army, an average squad on the Huaxia army side had lost less than three men.

This casualty rate was very low, and they maintained complete combat effectiveness, allowing them to continue advancing.

This rapid advance, in turn, prevented the Federal army from adjusting, and a gap was instantly torn in the defensive line.

The gap grew larger and larger, and a large number of Huaxia army soldiers began to pour into this area, completing the occupation.

At this time, the Federal army’s reinforcements arrived, and a new round of confrontation immediately began.

The Huaxia army wanted to occupy this area, while the Federal reinforcements wanted to recover it, switching between offense and defense.

For the Federal army, compensating for insufficient combat power with numbers became their only option.

Relying on their numerical superiority, they invested a large number of troops in this area.

Suddenly, the Huaxia army also felt the strain.

“For the Great Hua Empire, hold on!”

A platoon leader shouted, personally replacing a machine gunner who had been sniped, and took up the machine gun, fiercely firing in the direction of the approaching enemy.

A soldier next to him also consciously came to his side to act as a loader.

Hearing his slogan, the Huaxia army’s morale was greatly boosted.

As citizens of Great Hua, these people had an extremely strong sense of superiority in front of outsiders.

Losing to a group of barbarians was absolutely unacceptable.

In front of outsiders, they would never allow themselves to do anything embarrassing.

Moreover, these soldiers had higher ideological pursuits because of the propaganda and education in the army.

For them, achieving the unification of the world was the highest pursuit.

For this great goal, many people were willing to give everything, including their lives.

The combat power of such an army with ideological pursuits was extremely tenacious and terrifying.

On the third company’s position, an unremarkable squad leader was fighting to the death.

Even though his squad was down to only two men, they were still able to force the Federal soldiers trying to charge over to take cover through intense firing, delaying the attack.

This unremarkable squad leader was named Li Chaoyue.

The name was nothing special, but his identity was, he was Li Shaobin’s own son.

With Li Shaobin’s status in the country, his son’s starting point could be very high.

For example, he could study at a military academy, and after graduation, he could enter the army, starting directly as a battalion commander.

He could also take a clerical post in the army, starting even higher, and not many people would object.

The son of a meritorious official, enjoying some preferential treatment, everyone could understand.

Even if they didn’t understand, no one would dare to say anything, it was politically correct.

However, in order to avoid special treatment and to temper his child, Li Shaobin had Li Chaoyue conceal his identity and start as an ordinary soldier.

And there were actually many military second generations like Li Chaoyue in the Huaxia army.

The fathers of these people were mostly idealists, people who regarded unifying the world as their highest pursuit, and were all implementing Wu Changqing’s guiding ideology.

These people had been influenced by their fathers since childhood, and their ideological realm was much higher than that of ordinary people.

In battle, their fighting will was also very terrifying.

There were also some children of high-ranking officials who, although they didn’t start as ordinary soldiers, performed very fiercely.

For example, Liu Hansan’s son, Liu Yuan, relied on his father’s influence to start at a higher level, and at a young age, he was already a battalion commander.

However, Liu Yuan didn’t have an easy time just because he was the son of a marquis and a battalion commander. On the contrary, he was under more pressure than ordinary soldiers.

Because his father was too awesome, no matter how excellent Liu Yuan performed, he seemed ordinary, even a bit inferior, compared to his father.

And Liu Hansan’s patriarchal style at home, where he had the final say, made Liu Yuan feel useless at home, just a piece of trash.

The label of “son of a marquis” also made him endure a lot of criticism.

Therefore, Liu Yuan was very eager to earn a title of nobility through his own ability and get rid of the label of “son of a marquis.”

In order to do this, Liu Yuan performed very fiercely on the battlefield, often taking the lead in charging.

He wouldn’t even think about running away, and he wouldn’t even have the face to go home if he lost a battle.

“You few, follow me, occupy this small hill and establish a firing point on it.”

Liu Yuan pointed at a few soldiers, wanting to go up himself.

The others didn’t try to persuade him, after all, they had done this kind of thing several times before, but it didn’t have any effect.

Pulling and tugging would only waste time.

The soldiers who were used to Liu Yuan’s style simply obeyed orders honestly.

When Liu Yuan rushed out, his personal guards followed him closely, helping Liu Yuan clear the dangers.

This personal guard was Liu Hansan’s former personal guard, and his abilities in all aspects were one in a hundred.

Absolute equality is impossible.

Chapter 1078: Total Collapse

“Worthless, cowards! There are less than two hundred of them on the other side, and you’re telling me you can’t break through?”

On the other end, a regimental commander in the Federal army arrived at the front line and began to rage.

His battalion, with three times the enemy’s strength, just couldn’t break through.

The battalion commander in charge even had the gall to request support, which infuriated Kenner.

“Commander, the lads have done their best. The reality is, we can’t break through.”

Battalion Commander Clark retorted.

His reinforced battalion, with over six hundred men, had already lost more than a hundred in battle, with nearly another hundred seriously wounded and out of combat.

The losses exceeded one-third, which was extremely tragic.

In Clark’s view, the fact that his unit hadn’t collapsed after fighting to this extent was already an excellent performance, and he couldn’t ask for more.

As for the fact that the Huaxia army outnumbered them, he didn’t think the Huaxia army’s combat power could be measured by numbers.

“Forget it, I don’t want to hear your nonsense. I order you to take your men and charge forward immediately, drive the damned enemy out of the position. If we continue to delay, the enemy’s reinforcements will arrive, and then this entire line of defense will be lost.”

Kenner was also under great pressure, otherwise he wouldn’t have personally come to the front line where bullets were flying.

Helpless, Clark could only lead the grumbling soldiers to charge again.

But obviously, this approach was very ineffective.

If soldiers aren’t willing to fight, their combat power will be greatly reduced.

This was true in the age of cold weapons, and even more so in the age of hot weapons.

Clark’s troops charged a dozen meters on the ground and in the trenches, but after encountering a fierce counterattack from the Huaxia army, they immediately retreated, looking for places to hide.

It was unrealistic to expect these people to throw their lives away on Clark’s orders.

Just as they retreated, the Huaxia army sounded the charge again.

Their reinforcements had arrived.

“Forget it, run! The enemy is going to counterattack!”

After fighting a few times, the Federal army was no longer unfamiliar with the Great Hua’s charge horn. Hearing it, they immediately understood that the Huaxia army was about to launch a general offensive.

Although this meant that the Huaxia army would rush out of their positions, making it easier for them to shoot,
few soldiers could maintain such rationality at this time.

More soldiers were thinking that if the Huaxia army came, they would be dead if they didn’t run.

The Huaxia army pressed forward in force, and the Federal soldiers couldn’t withstand the pressure. Their psychological defenses collapsed, and the battle line collapsed with it.

The Huaxia army chased and shot, making it easy.

As the Huaxia army continued to advance, the situation for the Federal army became increasingly unfavorable.

They were faced with only two choices: a full retreat to preserve their strength,
or to concentrate the available forces and recapture the areas captured by the Huaxia army.

If they couldn’t recapture them, the problem would be serious.

This meant that the troops on other fronts might be surrounded and annihilated by the Huaxia army.

“Commander, order a retreat. The enemy’s advance is too fast, and we don’t have time to assemble our forces.”

Lorentz said.

Although they still had many troops, and outnumbered the Huaxia army and the independent army,
these troops were scattered across this one hundred kilometer defense line, making it difficult to assemble them in a short time.

If the troops on the edge of the defense line wanted to reach the central defense line, it would take them a day or two just to travel.

This was also the disadvantage of the defending side, as the attacking side could concentrate its forces more easily.

If the Federal army didn’t retreat now, their troops would be eliminated one by one.

“Damn it, the Second Division should all die! They lost our most important position!”

Kenner cursed. If the commander of the Second Division were here, he might not be able to resist shooting him.

The Second Division, which was defeated by the Huaxia army, was the direct cause of their failure.

The others didn’t respond, but in their hearts, they actually disagreed with Kenner’s statement.

The Second Division was facing the main force of the Huaxia army.

Other units might not have done as well as the Second Division.

“Have the units arrange for a retreat, and make sure it’s an orderly retreat. I don’t want to see them running like rabbits.”

Kenner finally decided to retreat fully and preserve his strength.

It was too late to gather troops from other places to support the Second Division.

Kenner had that much judgment.

Although Kenner had issued the order, this didn’t mean that the Federal army could retreat smoothly.

His order wouldn’t easily reach all the front-line troops. They had neither telephones nor radios.

To convey orders, they had to rely on messengers’ legs, or cars and horses.

But neither of these methods could keep up with the warfare of this era.

After achieving a breakthrough, the Huaxia army immediately notified the troops in other directions via radio, telling them to start coordinating their operations.

In terms of communication and coordination, the Huaxia army and the independent army were far ahead of the Federal army.

The consequence of this was that the Federal army was caught off guard on every defense line.

And when the order to retreat was delivered to them, they could only curse.

After all this, it turned out that their side had been defeated.

The Federal officers who received the order quickly retreated, wanting to bring back as many soldiers as possible.

The soldiers under their command were also the source of their power.

If the soldiers from one state were wiped out, it would be impossible to expect another state to replenish them.

Most officers in the Federal army could see the drawbacks of this backward military system, but they couldn’t change it.

It was wishful thinking to expect the rulers of each state to hand over all their power to the federal government.

And now, this backward military system had once again put them in crisis.

No one was willing to stay behind to cover the retreat. They were all just trying to escape.

It didn’t matter if they could outrun the enemy, as long as they outran their allies, they would still have hope of escaping.

As a result, some extremely ugly scenes played out on the battlefield.

The Federal army even had small-scale infighting while retreating.

This left the Huaxia army in charge of the pursuit dumbfounded, unable to understand why the enemy still had the leisure for this.

But it didn’t matter, this only benefited the Huaxia army and the independent army.

They caught up with the main force of the Federal army and began a large-scale encirclement and suppression, reaping the spoils of war.

The Federal army, which was focused on escaping, had already collapsed. In this situation, they had no intention of resisting and began to surrender on a large scale.

Sometimes, even entire regiments and brigades surrendered collectively.

The Huaxia army wasted a lot of time and energy to handle and settle these prisoners.

In this respect, these people had also successfully slowed down the Huaxia army’s pursuit speed, allowing some of the Federal army to escape successfully.

Chapter 1079: Focused Offensive

The Federal army was defeated, and it was a crushing defeat.

Of the three hundred and fifty thousand troops, less than one hundred and fifty thousand ultimately retreated.

The other two hundred thousand were either annihilated, missing, or captured.

The number of those captured was the highest, with the Huaxia army estimating around one hundred and fifty thousand.

This was mainly because the Federal army collapsed too suddenly.

One moment, they had immense confidence in their defenses and naturally hadn’t prepared for retreat or escape. The next moment, after the sudden collapse, they could only be captured in panic and disarray.

It was fortunate that the Independent Army wasn’t fully prepared either; otherwise, even more Federal soldiers would have been left behind.

However, losing two hundred thousand men in one battle was a severe blow to the Federal government.

They had spent two to three years and invested massive amounts of money to build this army of two hundred thousand.

The soldiers’ salaries, the cost of training, and the purchase of weapons and equipment all required enormous funding to create this powerful army, which the Federal government regarded as its last hope.

But on the battlefield, all their investment was lost in a very short time.

Did this army achieve any significant victories?

When news of the defeat reached Congress, those in power were in an uproar.

“Damn it, these people should all be court-martialed; they are all guilty!”

“Two hundred thousand troops gone just like that! What is Kenner doing?”

…

“What? You still want money to build a new army? Are you sure you’re not just sending free labor to the Great Hua people?”

Upon hearing the request to build a new army, Orinick, who represented the interests of the merchants, exploded.

The reason those merchants were willing to spend money to build a new army was that they hoped the new army could stop the Great Hua army and preserve the Federal government’s independence, allowing them to continue enjoying their privileges.

But now that the new army clearly couldn’t stop the Great Hua army, they had to consider whether it was still worth investing.

If they bet all their assets and still lost, it would be better to admit defeat now and at least save a portion of their wealth.

“If we don’t build a new army, are we just going to sit here and wait for death?”

Thomas, a large landlord representing the interests of the plantation owners, retorted. He was a stubborn element within the Federal government.

Because if the Federal government failed, the land in their hands would certainly be confiscated, while the merchants’ property might not be.

In comparison, they had even less of a choice.

“Thomas, you need to make those generals show some results. If every battle is like the Battle of Memphis, building a new army is meaningless.”

“They won’t keep losing.”

“But the reality is that they are constantly failing.”

…

At the meeting, the Federal government had already split into two factions.

One faction believed they should immediately surrender to Great Hua and try to obtain some preferential treatment with their capital.

The other faction hoped to increase investment in the army and resist to the end.

The two factions argued so fiercely that they almost started fighting in Congress, and their conflict was irreconcilable.

On the front lines, the Federal army was retreating steadily.

In terms of numbers, including the garrisons in various locations, they still had many troops, but the entire army lacked morale.

Even the lowest-ranking soldiers could feel that the Federal government was failing.

Moreover, as time passed, the soldiers learned about Great Hua’s declaration of equality through various channels and realized that the Federal government had been deceiving them.

The Native American soldiers had even less morale. After all, even if the Federal government failed, they could still obtain the same equal rights as white people.

In that case, why risk their lives?

The Federal army, lacking morale, retreated all the way, while the Independent Army and the Huaxia army advanced unimpeded.

Soon, Tennessee and Kentucky fell into the hands of Great Hua.

Then, Great Hua followed the Mississippi River into Illinois and Indiana.

Several months later, Great Hua recovered the fertile land around the Mississippi River, taking control of this major granary.

However, they also temporarily lost the strength to continue advancing east.

Their troops were dispersed to garrison these areas and prevent rebellion.

Those newly conquered areas wouldn’t be easily subdued so quickly. It would take some time to digest and establish a stable rule in these places.

Before that, they could only stay in these areas to rest and reorganize while expanding their army.

At the same time, intelligence agents obtained information about the divisions within the Federal government, learning that one faction was willing to surrender to Great Hua.

Therefore, the Huaxia army immediately adjusted its operational plan, changing from a full-scale offensive to a focused offensive.

A full-scale offensive would take too much time and investment, which was an undesirable option. Forcing the Federal government to surrender was the most cost-effective way.

Previously, the Federal government’s will to resist was relatively firm, and a focused offensive might not have been able to make the Federal government yield.

But now, there was hope.

All it would take was a surprise attack to capture Philadelphia, then execute those representing the interests of the plantation owners, and then engage in friendly negotiations with the surrender faction.

The reason the Federal army on the front lines could still barely resist and not completely surrender was simply because there was still a government behind them.

As long as this government was dealt with first, then the front-line troops could be ordered to surrender in the name of the Federal government, and all obstacles to surrender would be removed.

Philadelphia wasn’t far from the coast, and Great Hua could launch a surprise attack, catching them off guard and preventing those in power from escaping.

The Great Hua military quickly formulated a new plan, and then a new aircraft carrier fleet set off again.

The new aircraft carrier fleet included a newly built aircraft carrier.

The new aircraft carrier, Shenzhou, had a larger displacement, reaching thirty thousand tons. Its length and width were also greater than the Flying Sword. It could carry eighty carrier-based aircraft at a time.

More than these direct figures, the Shenzhou had more improvements in the details of its design.

Better landing methods, faster take-off speeds, more reasonable space utilization, more comfortable cabins…

The problems exposed by the Flying Sword in the last battle were all resolved and improved on the Shenzhou.

Although both were aircraft carriers, one Shenzhou had a combat power at least equivalent to three Flying Swords.

Although deploying an aircraft carrier fleet once cost a lot of money, the military could only grit their teeth and allocate funds to test the practical performance of this aircraft carrier.

And while testing the performance, being able to destroy the United States of America and recover millions of square kilometers of territory was also excellent.

This was the mentality of the Great Hua military’s decision-makers: to destroy the enemy incidentally.

If it wasn’t incidental, they wouldn’t bother using an aircraft carrier battle group against the United States of America; there was no need.

Chapter 1080: A Complete Mess

Sixteenth year of Yongxing, June.

The Great Hua Second Fleet arrived in the North Atlantic.

The United States of America only received the news when they entered Delaware Bay.

Previously, merchant ships that had encountered the fleet at sea had been temporarily detained by the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army suddenly appeared in Delaware Bay, only a few dozen kilometers from Philadelphia. Moreover, if the Huaxia army risked going deeper, they could choose to land at Chester, which was only a dozen or so kilometers from Philadelphia.

In other words, the Huaxia army and Philadelphia were already within striking distance.

At this extremely critical moment, a drawback of the United States was exposed.

They didn’t have someone who could make a final decision.

If it were a highly centralized government, they would still have time to escape if the top leader made the decision to retreat.

Unfortunately, they were a federal republic.

Any major decision required the governors of each state to sit down and discuss it, even vote, and compromise with each other, lacking someone who could stand up and make a final decision.

Although some of them wanted to stand up, they didn’t have enough prestige to convince the others.

Upon learning that the Great Hua aircraft carrier fleet had arrived in Delaware Bay, they all knew that it was definitely aimed at Philadelphia.

However, whether to retreat immediately, how to retreat, where to retreat to, who would stay behind to cover the retreat…

On these issues, the opinions of the people could not be unified.

On the question of whether to retreat, everyone quickly reached a consensus: retreat, or wait for death.

However, on the question of how to retreat, a disagreement arose at the meeting.

Some people advocated evacuating the main government officials first, and ignoring everyone else, as there was no time.

Just evacuating the high-ranking officials in the government was a big project.

Those who said this were mostly those who did not have family members in Philadelphia, so they adopted a very rational attitude.

However, for those officials whose family members were in Philadelphia, they naturally disagreed. They demanded that the nobles in the city also be taken along, so as not to suffer the same fate as London at the hands of the Huaxia army.

But the problem was that it was not easy to quickly transfer thousands of nobles.

To successfully transfer these nobles, troops would have to be sent to the outskirts of Philadelphia to block the Huaxia army and buy time.

But could those soldiers stop them?

In the past, they would have tried this without hesitation. But now, many people were not confident.

They had long been disappointed with the federal soldiers.

Of course, no matter which option was chosen, the result would be much better than the current situation where the two sides were arguing and unable to make a decision.

“It’s just the Great Hua navy, and the navy’s combat power on land won’t be too strong. We can definitely hold them back.”

Avery said. His wife and daughter were both in Philadelphia, and he couldn’t abandon them.

“Avery, you didn’t say that a few months ago. Weren’t you completely disappointed with the federal army at that time?”

Thomas said sarcastically.

A few months ago, Thomas insisted on resisting to the end, but Avery said that he no longer believed in the strength of the federal army. And now, in order to allow the nobles in the city to leave, Avery said that the federal army could hold them back.

Avery’s contradictory behavior, where his mouth was determined by his ass, naturally made Thomas very dissatisfied.

“Damn it, Thomas, do you have to drag us down at this time? Fine, then let’s not retreat and stay here to die.”

Avery cursed.

“My point is that we need to be calm and evacuate the most important government personnel first. Now is not the time to be willful.”

Thomas said.

“How can we gain the support of the people in the future if we abandon them and run away?”

Avery said righteously.

“As things stand, we have no chance of winning. If you authorize me, I am willing to bear the infamy and surrender to the Great Hua people now to end this damn war.”

In this extremely critical moment, Avery even jumped out to represent the United States of America to surrender. The meeting was already a mess.

As long as he facilitated this surrender, it would be considered a contribution to Great Hua, and he would surely receive benefits in the future.

In such a critical situation, he managed to find the most beneficial option for himself. He was quite a talent.

However, the others were not stupid either.

“Bullshit, the enemy is at the gates. Do you think they will negotiate with you except for unconditional surrender?”

Thomas cursed.

Even if they were to surrender, they would have to get out of danger first and then negotiate with Great Hua.

They had to prove to Great Hua that they still had a strong ability to resist, so that they could get some benefits.

If they couldn’t even guarantee their own safety, how could Great Hua agree to their conditions?

Surrendering now would only lead to one outcome: unconditional surrender.

At that time, what benefits they could retain would depend entirely on Great Hua’s mood.

“You guys continue to argue. I’ll take the troops to block the enemy and buy you more time to argue.”

City Defense Commander Tim left a sentence and then left in disappointment.

Originally, he was waiting for these decision-makers to issue orders, but as it stood, he couldn’t rely on them at all.

Helpless, he could only exercise his power as City Defense Commander and deploy troops to surround Philadelphia.

As for whether he could defend it, and for how long, he had no plan at all and was just taking it one step at a time.

Tim’s words made the people in the council very ashamed, but they still had to fight for what they wanted.

These people had already built up resentment in their hearts, and they had a kind of attitude that they would rather let the Great Hua people benefit than let the other party have a good time.

Chester, the Huaxia army landed here.

More than five thousand well-equipped and well-trained soldiers easily landed under the cover of artillery fire.

Not to mention that the Huaxia army was a surprise attack, the federal army didn’t even have time to react. Even if they had been prepared in advance, they couldn’t have stopped them.

These were the Great Hua Marine Corps, the most elite ground force of Great Hua besides the Imperial Guards.

They belonged to the Ministry of the Navy, and in order to improve their combat power on land, the Navy invested a lot in the Marine Corps.

Another reason was that the Navy was already invincible at sea, so they were not particularly eager to build ships.

The money saved from building one or two fewer battleships was enough to arm the Marine Corps to the teeth.

Avery’s judgment that the Great Hua Marine Corps was not as strong as the army was completely wrong.

After Tim arrived at the front line and saw the Huaxia army’s offensive, he had already cursed the bastards in Congress a thousand times over.

“Notify those people in Congress to retreat immediately. The enemy is too strong. We can’t stop them at all.”

Tim decisively sent someone to report to the rear, telling the people in the city to escape quickly.

If they didn’t escape, they wouldn’t have a chance.

Chapter 1081: Hasty Escape

The Great Hua Marine Corps was launching a fierce attack in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

For them, capturing Philadelphia wasn’t the same as victory. Only by quickly taking Philadelphia and capturing the high-ranking officials of the United States could the operation be considered a success.

Speed was the key to this mission.

To quickly defeat the enemy, Great Hua’s fighter jets joined the battle once again.

One hundred fighter jets and bombers took to the skies, the largest aerial combat operation in Great Hua’s history.

It was just a pity that their opponents were a little weak.

The bombers encountered no resistance, leisurely circling over the enemy’s positions, searching for valuable targets to bomb.

Then the fighter jets came over and strafed the federal troops on the ground.

This made the federal soldiers extremely uncomfortable. There was no safe place on the entire position, not an inch of space to take refuge.

Before the Marine Corps had even begun their general offensive, the federal army’s position was already in ruins, the entire defense line shattered.

When Great Hua’s planes left, the federal soldiers’ first reaction was not to treat the wounded or prepare to defend the line, but to run away.

They couldn’t be sure when Great Hua’s planes would return.

Faced with the planes, they had no choice but to lie on the ground and play dead.

And the planes killing them was as easy as slaughtering dogs.

The wave of devastation from Great Hua’s planes had just killed at least three to four thousand federal soldiers.

On average, each plane had killed at least dozens of soldiers.

That number was quite terrifying; after all, those were living people.

It wasn’t easy to train dozens of soldiers.

What’s more, the federal army had less than ten thousand troops on this entire defense line.

They had already suffered nearly half of their casualties from the plane attack. What was the point of fighting this battle?

Not just the soldiers, but the city defense commander, Tim, had taken the lead in fleeing after discovering the plane bombing.

Other officers were much the same, completely losing confidence in confronting the Huaxia army.

The officers had run away, and the remaining soldiers had suffered heavy casualties, becoming a disorganized mess.

At this time, Great Hua’s Marine Corps launched an assault, further demoralizing the already low morale of the federal soldiers.

Soon, the so-called ambush turned into a chase.

The federal troops were fleeing in disarray, while the Huaxia soldiers were pursuing them in an orderly fashion.

Before long, some of the slower soldiers were caught up by the Huaxia army.

The smarter ones chose to surrender to save their lives, but some soldiers, due to nervousness or other strange reasons, didn’t raise their hands to surrender immediately. These people were all shot dead by the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army didn’t have time to explain to them; they were pursuing efficiency.

At the same time, a motorized infantry battalion in the Huaxia army quickly outflanked the enemy, seizing the train station and key highway points to prevent important figures from Philadelphia from escaping.

At the North Philadelphia train station, many well-dressed people were desperately挤挤挤 onto the train.

From this station, one could directly reach New York City.

At the same time, this was the only railway in the United States of America.

It had been built two years ago. In the past two years, the United States’ tax revenue had been invested in the military, and economic development had been slow.

“Let me on the train, I am the father of a Pennsylvania senator.”

“Please provide proof.”

The officer in charge of maintaining order said.

There was only one train, and the number of people it could carry was extremely limited.

Everyone wanted to get on the train and escape, but not everyone was qualified.

Unless they were government officials or relatives of some high-ranking official.

But the problem was that, due to the urgency, the government hadn’t had time to give those who were qualified to board the train proof.

This caused chaos here, making it difficult for those in charge of verification to distinguish who was qualified to board the train and who wasn’t.

“These are my family members.”

“Please get on the train, there are still seats in the back carriages.”

The mayor of Philadelphia came with his family and easily obtained the qualification to board the train.

“Fuck, why can they get on the train, but we can’t?”

“They have tickets.”

“Bullshit, this train didn’t sell tickets at all.”

Seeing the mayor of Philadelphia and his family enjoying special privileges, the others were immediately enraged.

Faced with this kind of injustice, some people would swallow their anger, but others would lose control of their emotions.

One of the refugees pulled out a handgun that he usually used for self-defense and shot the inspector.

With a bang, the inspector was shot in the head, his face covered in blood.

These ordinary people, who were usually far away from the battlefield and stayed in the rear, had never seen such a bloody scene before and were immediately frightened and scattered in all directions.

The train station was already crowded, and now that a shooting had broken out, the chaos escalated again, and a stampede occurred in the station.

Those who accidentally fell would immediately have several pairs of shoes and feet on them.

Only those who have experienced a stampede will understand how foolish people are in a panic.

Anyone with a bit of brains would understand that as long as everyone stopped moving, no one would be in danger.

However, no one could do that.

The police in charge of maintaining order were also powerless to do anything about this situation. Continuing to shoot would only cause greater panic, and simply shouting would be ignored.

Rushing into the crowd to stop those people from running around would likely put themselves in danger.

“Start it up.”

On the train, Orinick told the train driver to start the train.

He knew that this incident would completely shatter the image of the federal government.

But as things stood, he had no choice.

The only thing he could do was to take the important figures on the train to a safe place in the rear as soon as possible, minimizing the losses of the federation.

If this group of them were captured by the Huaxia army, that would be the real end of the federation.

The roar of the train sounded, and the chaotic crowd gradually calmed down.

However, it was only calm for a moment.

Soon, some of the bolder people ran towards the train and grabbed onto it.

If they couldn’t sit in the carriages, they didn’t mind the roof.

Unfortunately, only the men could do such a thing as clinging to the train.

Those noble women, old people, and children in skirts had no choice but to cry.

This scene was unbearable to watch for anyone with a little sympathy.

Some of the more self-respecting officials on the train lowered their heads, covering their faces and ears, not wanting to see or hear.

The train slowly started, and one person who was still trying to cling to the train failed to grab on and fell onto the gravel road. One person who didn’t sit firmly on the roof also fell off.

Everyone chose to remain silent as if they hadn’t seen them.

And the people watching the train gradually disappear were completely disappointed in the federal government.

At the same time, Great Hua’s motorcycle troops had arrived and chased after the train.

Want to escape? The Huaxia army wouldn’t allow it.

Chapter 1082: A Collapsing Building

For the United States of America, nothing was more embarrassing than their trains being slower than Great Hua’s motorcycles.

Those on top of the train watched helplessly as Great Hua’s motorcycles appeared behind them, drew closer, and then overtook them.

“Stop the train, or I’ll shoot!”

The two leading motorcycles caught up with the locomotive and fired a volley of shots into the air.

In truth, there were also federal soldiers on the train, but they didn’t dare to return fire.

On the train, they were like sitting ducks, with no place to escape.

Opening fire would be a certain death.

Perhaps they could kill some Huaxia army soldiers, but what would be the point?

Moreover, those cowardly and rational federal officials would never allow their soldiers to fire.

In the locomotive, the train driver was extremely embarrassed.

He knew that if he stopped the train now, he would surely become the target of their anger later.

But if he didn’t stop, they would be riddled with bullets.

Weighing the lesser of two evils, the train driver chose to stop.

“Damn it, how could he stop? Isn’t this handing us over to the demons?”

“Damn it, that coward, that weakling!”

“We’re finished, now we can’t escape at all.”

As the train slowly decelerated, the passengers began to curse, as if the train driver had wronged them.

Little did they know that if the train driver hadn’t stopped, the Great Hua soldiers would have been spraying bullets into the train cars.

They would rather kill all these people than let them escape.

The train was intercepted, and everyone on board was escorted back to Philadelphia.

When they returned to the train station, those who were preparing to flee hadn’t had time to disperse. Seeing the federal officials being escorted back, they felt a strange sense of schadenfreude.

When people are down on their luck, seeing someone even more unlucky than themselves makes them feel a little better.

“Isn’t that Mayor so-and-so? Why aren’t you going to New York?”

“Oh, isn’t that Councilor so-and-so and his wife? Why are you back? Are you reluctant to leave Philadelphia?”

“Councilor’s wife, which Great Hua man will you be accompanying tonight?”

…

Various taunts echoed, making the federal officials wish they could find a crack in the ground to hide in, or desperately fight the Huaxia army.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the courage to fight when they had weapons on the train, and now that their weapons had been confiscated, they were even less likely to do so empty-handed.

Philadelphia had fallen like London, even more miserably.

At least the government officials in London had left London early.

But the officials in Philadelphia basically hadn’t escaped. The nobles and wealthy merchants were in the same boat, surrounded by the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army’s actions were too fast, exceeding everyone’s expectations.

They suddenly realized that war could be fought this way.

Of the more than three hundred thousand people in Philadelphia, less than one percent had escaped. The rest were trapped in the city, in complete chaos.

Four thousand plus marines were not enough to control the entire Philadelphia.

However, the Huaxia army was not in a hurry; they had plenty of time to sort things out.

With the aircraft carrier fleet nearby, they didn’t have to worry about not being able to hold the city.

The federal troops around Philadelphia also came to support Philadelphia, but without exception, they were bombed and strafed by the Great Hua Air Force as they approached Philadelphia.

As a result, they fled in a hurry without even seeing the shadow of the Great Hua Marine Corps.

Of course, the federal troops’ rescue was just to show that they still had the ability to resist, but in reality, it didn’t do much.

After all, the high-ranking officials in the federal government were in the hands of the Huaxia army.

Unless they could disregard the lives of those people, they could only stare blankly when they came to Philadelphia.

At this time, in Philadelphia, Orinick and others were already sitting at the negotiating table with representatives of Great Hua.

Besides negotiating, they had no other choice.

It could even be said that it was their great fortune that the Great Hua people were willing to talk to them.

At least their lives were spared, their women were spared, and their faces were saved.

“Mr. Orinick, Mr. Thomas, what are you still hesitating about? If you don’t sign, we’ll just spend more time and energy finding someone willing to cooperate.”

Yang Zhiyu, the commander-in-chief of the Huaxia army’s First Fleet, threw the contract in front of Orinick and the others.

Orinick was not angry at being humiliated like this, but protested with silence.

They had seen the contract before and could not agree to it at all.

If the contract could be slightly more lenient, they wouldn’t have risked rejecting it.

The terms of the contract were too harsh, even worse than Spain’s.

At least Carlos retained a small island as a fiefdom after abdicating, and he could retain some property and status.

But the contract they received now required them to surrender unconditionally.

The so-called unconditional surrender meant that after they surrendered, everything would be up to the Great Hua people.

Great Hua could give them a few official positions if they wanted to, or not.

This was unacceptable to Orinick and Thomas, especially Thomas, who represented the interests of the plantation owners. His attitude was even more resolute.

The contract stipulated that all the territory of America belonged to Great Hua, and Great Hua could redistribute it.

“No one would sign this condition. And even if we signed it, the people below would not accept it.”

Thomas said.

Seizing people’s wealth is like killing their parents. Those farmers might resist to protect their private property.

Of course, that was only a possibility.

Faced with the powerful Great Hua, many people were reluctantly accepting reality.

What’s more, the main ethnic group in America was still the Native Americans. Even if those farmers wanted to resist, no one would respond.

Relying solely on those immigrants, they couldn’t even put together a decent army.

“Is that so? Then let’s try it.”

Yang Zhiyu snorted coldly.

He didn’t waste time with Thomas. Today was his last chance to give the other party.

As long as the other party didn’t sign, he would find someone else.

All Yang Zhiyu wanted was for the other party to sign and then issue a statement dissolving the United States.

Don’t underestimate a small statement; it could completely crush the will of those who were still resisting.

Even the country was dissolved, and there was no object of allegiance. What were they fighting for?

Even if they wanted to fight, the rear would not replenish their logistical supplies.

At that time, a disorganized army with no fighting spirit and no logistics would have no resistance.

This statement was the last straw that broke the back of the United States.

As long as Thomas and others signed the contract, there would be no obstacles to unifying America.

Yang Zhiyu left the negotiating table, leaving Thomas and others with heavy hearts.

Chapter 1083: Ninety-Five Million Square Kilometers

Thomas and the others weren’t unafraid of death, they just believed that the Great Hua people needed to use their prestige and connections to complete the contract.

If they just grabbed any random Tom, Dick, or Harry off the street to sign, the people of the United States definitely wouldn’t accept it.

Thomas and the others’ thinking wasn’t necessarily wrong, but they clearly overestimated the integrity of their teammates.

While they were still holding out, the former mayor of Philadelphia, Albert, chose to cooperate with Great Hua.

Although Albert’s prestige wasn’t as high as Thomas, Orinick, and the others, it wasn’t far off.

With Thomas, Orinick, and the others all having ‘died unexpectedly,’ Albert could still barely represent the United States.

With Albert’s cooperation, the Huaxia army began to act.

The house where Thomas, Orinick, and other hardliners were imprisoned suddenly caught fire.

Seeing this, the others immediately understood what was happening and requested to see the Great Hua representative, expressing their willingness to actively cooperate.

Their snotty and tearful appearance was as sincere as could be.

“They won’t shed a tear until they see the coffin, how pathetic,” Yang Zhiyu commented, causing the other officials to laugh.

Several days later, the United States issued a circular, notifying all regions of the situation in Philadelphia and the federal government’s decision.

The federal government stated that for the sake of the happiness of the vast majority of ordinary people, for the sake of human peace and overall development, the federal government had decided to abandon independence and become a part of the Great Hua Empire.

The circular was very simple, just announcing the news.

Next, Great Hua had to complete the actual rule here, and there were many detailed tasks to be done.

Changing the political system, allocating official positions, stripping military power, and so on.

More importantly, they had to gradually take over other places.

It wasn’t as if a circular would make all places agree.

However, there shouldn’t be many places that would openly shout out their opposition; they didn’t have the courage.

At the end of June, Pennsylvania accepted the ‘Philadelphia Announcement,’ agreed to Great Hua’s reorganization, and changed it to Pennsylvania Province.

The original governor of Pennsylvania took office as the deputy governor, and the mayor of Zhenjiang City in Great Hua was transferred to Pennsylvania to take office as the governor.

In July, New York State chose to accept the Philadelphia Announcement and accept Great Hua’s reorganization.

Some troops were disbanded, some troops were reorganized into security teams, a large number of government positions were changed, personnel were transferred, and power was completely reshuffled. Almost all important positions were occupied by Great Hua people.

Some less important, idle positions were given to some officials of the original federal government.

This was partly to appease them, and partly because some trivial matters did need them to manage.

Great Hua couldn’t send too many officials over at once, and the territory of the original United States was indeed too large.

Great Hua’s plan was to divide it into sixty provinces to disperse their strength.

On July tenth, several states in northern New York also announced their acceptance of the Philadelphia Announcement. They had no choice; Great Hua’s warships had already arrived at their ports.

In August, coastal areas such as North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida also successively announced their acceptance of the Philadelphia Announcement.

In September, the federal army on the front line in Ohio surrendered to the Huaxia army, totaling about one hundred and fifty thousand people.

This was the last resistant force in the former United States. After this force surrendered, only some garrison forces remained in other places.

The surrender of this army was a major blow to other places that were still trying to struggle.

Without this army to contain Great Hua’s energy, other places that wanted to resist had no confidence.

With the little military strength they had in their hands, they simply couldn’t compete with Great Hua.

Moreover, most of them were located in plains, and there were no suitable conditions for guerrilla warfare.

In October, Alabama and the areas around the Great Lakes also successively announced their acceptance of the Philadelphia Announcement, accepting Great Hua’s reorganization.

In November, the eastern and central parts of America were recovered, the Independent Army designation was canceled, and it became the Fifth Army of Great Hua stationed in America, and then advanced towards the west and southwest.

Places such as Kansas, Colorado, and Utah quickly returned to Great Hua’s embrace.

The original United States’ rule in these places was very weak, and those natives had almost no opinion on changing a manager.

The few who had opinions could only keep them in their hearts.

The few bows and arrows they had in their hands weren’t even as well-equipped as the private armed forces of those immigrants.

In December, Texas and Mexico also fell into the hands of Great Hua.

Mexico originally had a small government, but when they saw that even the United States couldn’t stop them, they had even less hope, so they very simply chose to surrender.

The sixteenth year of Yongxing was a very happy year for Great Hua officials.

A large number of officials were unexpectedly promoted.

It was common to be promoted from mayor to governor, and there were even more exaggerated cases.

And those reserve officials also ended their internships early and entered the system, officially taking office.

At this moment, those civil servants suddenly felt that those military men weren’t so annoying after all.

After all, the Americas had created thousands of positions out of thin air, and most of the positions were not low.

Although they had to go overseas, not many people were unwilling.

Although overseas was more difficult, the power was generally greater than that of officials in the Central Plains, and there was more room for development. If they made achievements, they could be transferred back to the Central Plains, which was a perfect stepping stone.

By the seventeenth year of Yongxing, most of North America, except for the northern parts that were unsuitable for human habitation, had been incorporated into Great Hua’s rule.

In June, the remaining forces in South America also gave up resistance.

Their strength was not as good as that of the United States. Even the United States had been defeated, and they couldn’t find a reason to continue.

More importantly, Great Hua had resolved North America, and the next focus could naturally be placed on South America.

The smart ones chose to surrender before they saw the coffin.

By the end of the seventeenth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s territory had reached ninety-five million square kilometers.

Looking around, everywhere was Great Hua’s territory.

On Great Hua’s territory, the morning sun was rising every moment.

Except for Africa, Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and northern North America, all other places had been incorporated into Great Hua’s rule.

Some were actually controlled, such as the coastal areas of South America and the plains of North America.

Some were nominally Great Hua’s territory, such as the western plateau areas of North America, the Amazon rainforest, and Antarctica.

But in any case, the area recognized by Wu Changqing’s system was about to approach one hundred million. The system update was just around the corner.

At this point, Wu Changqing was not in a hurry, and everything was going naturally.

It was easy for him to recover another five million square kilometers of territory.

He could put up a few stone tablets in the uninhabited area of northern Canada, or he could send a large army to clean up the Ottoman Empire, or he could establish rule in Africa.

In short, there were many choices.

By the end of the seventeenth year of Yongxing, the third five-year plan was also announced to be completed.

Chapter 1084: No Way We’re Doing Enfeoffment

The first day of the second month, in the eighteenth year of Yongxing.

Wu Changqing finished a day of hard work and returned to the imperial harem.

The palace maids massaged his shoulders, performing various muscle-relaxing techniques.

Meanwhile, Virtuous Consort Luo Min peeled oranges for Wu Changqing.

“Being an emperor is truly exhausting. I even want to abdicate and retire,”

Wu Changqing said smugly. Everyone was used to his style, so naturally, they wouldn’t take his words seriously.

“Why not adopt the system of enfeoffment? That way, you’d have fewer things to manage, and you wouldn’t be so tired,”

Luo Min suggested.

The imperial harem wasn’t supposed to discuss state affairs, but that referred to public occasions.

There was nothing wrong with a husband and wife chatting privately.

Moreover, Wu Changqing had always been quite indulgent towards them, so Luo Min had developed a habit of speaking rather casually.

Upon hearing these words, Wu Changqing couldn’t help but overthink things.

At noon, he had seen a memorial suggesting that Wu Changqing adopt the system of enfeoffment to manage the territory of Great Hua.

Prior to this, people had been telling him about the ‘inefficient’ administrative problems Great Hua was facing, and their words seemed to highly recommend the system of enfeoffment.

He didn’t think this was a coincidence.

The sudden emergence of these opinions clearly indicated that someone wanted to implement the system of enfeoffment in Great Hua.

When Wu Changqing studied history, the books seemed to say that the feudal imperial system was an improvement over the system of enfeoffment.

However, after he possessed nine million five hundred thousand square kilometers of territory, he realized that things weren’t as simple as they appeared on the surface.

Considering the communication capabilities during the Zhou Dynasty, the system of enfeoffment was actually a better system.

If a centralized feudal system was adopted, the administrative efficiency would be appallingly low.

The time wasted and the costs incurred in simply submitting memorials to the central government and waiting for instructions would far outweigh the benefits gained from resolving the issue.

Even Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s construction of the imperial highway couldn’t fundamentally solve this contradiction.

The rapid collapse of the Qin Empire was partly due to this reason.

Although the subsequent Han Dynasty was also a feudal imperial system, a significant amount of power was delegated to the local areas.

This was especially true during times of war.

Even in the Ming Dynasty, it was well-known that imperial power didn’t extend to the villages.

By the Qing Dynasty, the imperial court had to establish positions like the Governor-General of Liangjiang to delegate power.

These were all inevitable phenomena caused by backward communication.

It could be said that in the past, when communication was backward, the territorial area of a country actually had an upper limit.

Empires like the Mongolian Empire inevitably had to adopt the system of enfeoffment after expansion, otherwise, the country couldn’t be managed.

And enfeoffment inevitably led to division.

Now, Great Hua’s communication was countless times more advanced than before, but its territorial area was also unprecedentedly large.

With such a vast territory, continuing to adopt a centralized system posed a very big challenge to the central decision-makers, and some officials in the capital already felt overwhelmed.

They had endless affairs to handle and countless meetings to attend every day.

However, this wasn’t the root cause of their proposal for the system of enfeoffment.

Wu Changqing had people from the Investigation Bureau providing him with intelligence, so he was very clear about the motives of those who proposed enfeoffment.

Behind those people, there were actually shadows of the princes.

His eldest child, Wu Gang, was already nineteen years old by the Chinese reckoning, and he had already become a father.

Unconsciously, Wu Changqing was already a grandfather.

Sometimes he found this quite amusing. In his previous life, there were many people who hadn’t married by the age of thirty-six. And he was already a grandfather.

In this era, twenty years old was already adulthood, and one’s mind was quite mature.

Moreover, Wu Gang was a prince, and from a young age, professionals taught him what to do in the future.

Some people who were unsuccessful in their official careers even placed their bets on Wu Gang.

As a result, Wu Gang had a team of advisors around him, helping him maximize his interests.

This team of advisors clearly told Wu Gang that his chances of taking over his father’s position were extremely slim because Wu Changqing’s health had always been very good, and he was also young to a shocking degree.

Wanting to take over Wu Changqing’s throne would likely be like Zhu Yuanzhang’s son, Zhu Biao, who passed away before Zhu Yuanzhang.

Even if Wu Gang was more resilient and took over the throne when he could barely walk, what would be the point?

Moreover, Wu Gang wasn’t the firstborn son, so he might not even be able to inherit the throne.

In addition to outlasting Wu Changqing, he also had to compete with the firstborn son, Wu Xuan, which was really too difficult.

Therefore, after analysis, Wu Gang’s team of advisors suggested that he ask Wu Changqing for a fiefdom and become a powerful prince.

Great Hua was vast in territory. Even if he was only granted one-tenth of the land, that would be nine million five hundred thousand square kilometers, larger than the former Great Ming Dynasty.

A powerful prince in such a fiefdom could live like an emperor.

Wu Gang wasn’t stupid. After comprehensive analysis, he also felt that the most suitable path for him was to become a prince elsewhere.

If the Central Plains were to fall into turmoil in the future, he could also return and compete for the Central Plains.

With real power in hand, anything was possible.

There were many other princes who had the same idea as him.

Compared to the eldest son, Wu Gang, and the firstborn son, Wu Xuan, the other princes had even lower chances of inheriting the throne, so their desire for a fiefdom was even stronger.

And those ministers and wealthy merchants who invested in these princes were working hard to promote the system of enfeoffment.

Women, ah.

Wu Changqing sighed inwardly.

He had always felt that women would forget their husbands once they had children.

This was the general law of nature and couldn’t be changed.

Back then, Luo Min had focused all her attention on him, trying every means to please him.

But now, for the sake of her own son, she actually wanted to divide her husband’s family property. It was simply outrageous.

“I have my own considerations for this kind of thing. Don’t interfere,”

Wu Changqing said.

The system of enfeoffment was absolutely impossible.

In the face of power, even brothers had to be clear about accounts, let alone those princes who were only half-brothers and not even considered close brothers.

If another two or three generations passed, they wouldn’t even be considered relatives.

Enfeoffment leading to division was only a matter of time.

He didn’t want his descendants to break out into civil war in the future, and for some brain-dead descendant to issue a declaration of equality in order to gain victory and recruit soldiers, granting other ethnic groups the same status as the Han people.

If the Han people were severely weakened in the end, and other ethnic groups took the opportunity to become independent, that would be a complete joke.

Therefore, Wu Changqing would never agree to the system of enfeoffment.

As for those princes who were dissatisfied because of this, Wu Changqing would ask them to hold it in.

Those who couldn’t hold it in could go to the common people and experience the hardships of the world, so they wouldn’t be dissatisfied with this kind of life of waiting for death.

The treatment they were dissatisfied with was a benefit that others couldn’t achieve in a lifetime.

Chapter 1085: A Chapter Title That’s Hard to Come Up With

Previous dynasties had territorial limits, but Great Hua no longer has this constraint.

In the early years of Yongxing 18, the submarine cable project from Ireland in Europe to Quebec in North America was completed, connecting the communication networks of the Americas with Eurasia.

This meant that Great Hua’s telegraphs and telephones had reached all landmasses except Antarctica, achieving global real-time communication.

Any slight disturbance anywhere in the world could be quickly known by the central government in Nanjing, unless the communication station was controlled.

However, even if a communication station was controlled, the central government could detect its abnormality.

In short, times have changed, and the difficulty of rebellion has greatly increased.

This was just one of the many benefits of real-time communication. The biggest benefit was that it facilitated control and management of various regions, keeping the decision-making power for major events in hand, without the need to delegate power.

At the same time, the central government’s supervision of local areas was greatly strengthened, making it difficult for situations where “the mountains are high and the emperor is far away” to occur again.

A county magistrate who ruins families, a Prefect who destroys clans.

In the past, local officials were truly like local emperors.

Even if they committed various illegal acts, few people had the ability to report them to the capital.

Even if they did report, the time it took to travel back and forth was enough for those local officials to destroy the evidence.

But now, monitoring agencies distributed throughout the country can report to the central government in the shortest amount of time.

However, in the Americas, the telecommunications network only connected those important cities, and most places were not yet electrified, and construction was still in full swing.

In the Central Plains, the telecommunications network had almost covered the eastern and central regions.

According to the classification of cities from first to fifth tier, cities above the fourth tier had telephones, and every county had a telegraph.

Great Hua’s city classification standards were mainly based on a comprehensive assessment of scale and economic development.

Roughly, cities with a population of over five million were considered first-tier cities, including Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Tianjin, and Edo.

Second-tier cities had a population between two million and five million, and there were many of these. Provincial capitals of major economic provinces, historical cities overseas, many of these fell into this category, such as Nanchang, Hangzhou, Hanoi, Delhi, Suzhou…

Third-tier cities had a population between one million and two million, and there were even more of these.

Provincial capitals of less developed provinces, or prefecture-level cities in economically developed regions, some historical cities overseas, and population centers, such as Xuzhou, Zhenjiang, Wuhu, Nagoya, Kagoshima, Seoul…

Fourth-tier cities had a population between three hundred thousand and one million, including some provincial capitals of less developed regions, ordinary counties and cities in the Central Plains, and population centers.

For example, Tibet, Hami, Zhumadian, Shaoguan, Busan, Nagasaki, Haiphong, and so on.

Most counties and cities with a population of less than three hundred thousand were classified as fifth-tier cities.

That was the general classification, but it wasn’t absolute.

For example, Shenzhen, which is next to Guangzhou, has a population of less than two million, but its economy is very developed, so it can also be classified as a second-tier city.

Another example is Saigon, which has a population of over two million, but its economic development is very average, so it can only be classified as a third-tier city.

In Great Hua, there are forty cities above the second tier.

In other countries, there aren’t any second-tier cities.

Relatively prosperous Paris and London, according to Great Hua’s standards, can only be considered third-tier cities, and they can’t even squeeze into the top forty globally.

In fact, the current Great Hua can basically represent the entire world.

If you were to make a ranking of cities, population, economy, resources, weapons, etc., you would find that almost all of them are Great Hua.

It gives people the feeling that Great Hua is the only country on this planet.

For example, the box office chart for movies in Yongxing 17.

From the first place to the last place, they were all Chinese-language films, all filmed in the Central Plains, and the directors and actors were almost all people of Great Hua.

The French are known for their romance, but without money, they can’t play in the film industry, and can only constantly import Great Hua’s films for entertainment.

To understand Great Hua’s movies, many people have to work harder to learn Chinese.

Another example is the global ranking of steel production companies.

From the first place to the last place, it’s all Great Hua enterprises again, with absolutely nothing to do with other countries.

The longest railway ranking, the longest canal ranking, the largest power station ranking, the most powerful weapon ranking…

Whenever they see these rankings in the newspaper, those foreign patriots want to tear up the newspaper, it’s so upsetting.

But the people of Great Hua enjoy reading these rankings.

In fact, they don’t even compare themselves with foreign countries, but compare their own provinces with other provinces in Great Hua.

Comparing with foreign countries is beneath them.

Foreign countries are not completely useless, they originally had some that could be on the list, such as the famous scientists ranking.

However, all of these people have now become people of Great Hua without exception.

Without obtaining Great Hua citizenship, they are not qualified to participate in the most advanced scientific research fields.

Therefore, these scientists, whether they are happy or not, can only join Great Hua.

The only field where foreign countries had a chance to be on the list was also ruthlessly strangled by Great Hua.

Among these scientists who joined Great Hua, there are many celebrities from the original timeline.

For example, the mathematician Fermat, who proposed Fermat’s Last Theorem. In the original timeline, he was about to die at this time, but because of the rapid development of Great Hua’s medical technology.

As a result, the sixty-five-year-old Fermat is still alive and kicking, and can occasionally come up with a conjecture that makes people want to beat him up.

There is also the famous Boyle. In the original history, Boyle defined chemistry as a science, separating it from alchemy, and was the founder of modern chemistry.

But now, his achievements are not so high. The wise, all-knowing, and all-understanding Heavenly Saint Emperor Wu Changqing had already defined chemistry as a science.

However, gold always shines.

After learning more advanced chemical knowledge in Great Hua, Boyle is now researching more profound things, and has already begun to explore radioactive materials, stealing Curie’s thunder.

There are also Huygens, Hooke, and Newton.

The current Newton is only twenty-two years old, but he is already showing his talent.

After Great Britain surrendered, Newton was also brought to Nanjing.

Now, he is studying the problem of space-time.

There’s no way around it, the laws in classical physics have already been summarized by Wu Changqing, so there’s nothing for Newton to do.

After Newton finished his university courses, his knowledge points had already reached the principle of relativity and the principle of the unity of macro and micro.

In this regard, Wu Changqing had already given conclusions, even including the proof process.

However, because it was too profound, many people looked confused, and only a small number of people were studying these theories and exploring their application in reality.

Chapter 1086: Eastern Travelogue

In the spring of the eighteenth year of Yongxing, early morning, Nanjing, New Era Residential Complex.

Brad Peterson, a writer from Manchester, set off from a villa for his morning run.

In Manchester, Brad was a writer of some renown, having written several best-selling works, reaping both fame and fortune.

He was also highly intelligent and had a strong aptitude for learning, having studied Chinese characters early on.

Moreover, he had diligently researched the language, and was now fluent in both Chinese and English.

He also actively integrated into Great Hua, was friendly to people, and was highly respected by other Han Chinese neighbors in the residential complex.

His neighbors often praised him… for his daughter, who was as beautiful as a celestial being.

“Brad is a truly capable man. He actually managed to produce such a beautiful daughter through genetic mutation, and she was even sent to the palace, tsk, tsk…”

Brad was indignant when he occasionally heard such comments.

He felt that he had moved into the New Era Residential Complex through his own abilities.

To prove himself, Brad decided to end his sabbatical and start writing.

He wrote the words “Eastern Travelogue” in pen on his notebook.

Influenced by the currently popular TV series Journey to the West, the most popular novel in Great Hua was Journey to the West.

To ride the wave of popularity, Brad was preparing to write an Eastern Travelogue.

Of course, Brad was definitely not a writer who only knew how to ride trends to become a best-selling author; he also had genuine talent.

At the very least, the content he was preparing to write would not deviate from the book’s title.

He planned to use himself as the model, telling the story of a writer from Manchester who, in pursuit of more advanced culture, accepted a commission from the King to go to Great Hua to “obtain scriptures.”

From a directional point of view, it was indeed an Eastern Travelogue, no problem there.

As for the content, Brad intended to use magical realism, fabricating some demons and monsters to make the protagonist encounter various difficult obstacles on the road.

Of course, these were just the superficial elements.

In reality, he planned to showcase the customs and social landscapes of various places around the world in a series of short stories.

He would then use metaphors and allusions to criticize the backward systems, decadent cultures, and incomprehensible customs of those former countries.

Using various demons and monsters to reflect and satirize them.

In this way, he could not only add some profound artistry to the work, but also construct the core satisfying element of the book.

After all, this book was for Great Hua readers, so naturally it had to praise Great Hua.

By describing the miserable lives of people in other places, the “demons and monsters” in other places, and then comparing them with Nanjing in Great Hua, he would tout Nanjing as a paradise on earth.

The people of Great Hua would be very happy to see that other places were hells of suffering, while only the Central Plains was a paradise on earth.

Brad understood the psychology of ordinary people in Great Hua very well, knowing that they liked this kind of thing. As long as he praised Great Hua hard enough, the novel would definitely sell well.

What made Brad even more proud was that he didn’t need to go against his conscience to praise randomly.

Given the current development gap between Nanjing and some overseas places, he could achieve the effect of praising Great Hua simply by describing the reality.

Chapter One: The Descent of Natural Disasters.

On the surface, Brad wrote about the descent of natural disasters on earth, but in reality, he was writing about the fall of London. However, in the article, his explanation for this war was that some昏庸无能(hūnyōngwúnéng) incompetent officials triggered divine power, and were thus punished.

The King, in order to admit his mistake, sought someone to go to the Eastern Land of Great Hua to apologize and at the same time, “obtain scriptures.”

…

Compared to Brad, a writer of magical novels, Edward, who lived in a slum, was a non-fiction writer.

He was also writing a novel similar to Eastern Travelogue, but he didn’t add any messy things like Brad.

He simply used realistic short stories to show the real situation in various places, and then compared the differences between other places and Great Hua, expressing some feelings.

In the first chapter, he recorded the current situation in Edinburgh.

The roar of machines broke the tranquility of Edinburgh, forcing me, who was trying to sleep in, to get up.

A few years ago, even if the sun had risen and people had gotten up, there would only be greetings between neighbors at most, and there would never be such annoying noise.

But now, influenced by the industrial revolution of Great Hua, Edinburgh also had several iron and steel plants.

I knew that Great Hua had even more factories, tens of thousands of times more than Scotland.

When I was in Edinburgh, I thought that living in Great Hua must be a torment.

However, when I came to Great Hua, I realized that I was terribly wrong.

Today’s Great Hua already has the concept of noise pollution.

Those factories with extremely loud noise are gradually being moved to the suburbs and specific industrial zones.

Therefore, even though Great Hua has countless factories, people are rarely woken up when living in the city.

This is impossible in Edinburgh, because Edinburgh does not have such a developed transportation system.

If factories are opened in the suburbs, commuting to work in the city is a problem.

Unlike Great Hua, which has dedicated buses, private cars, and a massive number of motorcycles.

The newspaper said that the number of cars in Great Hua has reached ten million, including six million private cars and about four million other engineering vehicles, trucks, buses, and so on.

This is a terrible number. You know, the total population of Scotland is not even one million.

If all these cars were given to Scotland, there would be ten cars per person.

However, this is obviously a dream.

Currently, Edinburgh only has a dozen or so cars in total.

Before I understood Great Hua, I always thought Edinburgh was a big city.

With a population of about fifty thousand, the streets were full of carriages and people.

The street that had been trampled to a pulp looked like a symbol of prosperity in my eyes.

But after coming to Nanjing, I felt that Edinburgh was just a small county town, a joke.

I heard that the population of Nanjing has exceeded eight million and will soon break through ten million.

The population of this one city is almost more than the entire population of England.

And even with such a large population, Nanjing is well-organized and does not have that crowded feeling.

Its streets are cleaner and tidier than many Scottish homes.

Moreover, there are no horses in Nanjing.

In their words, Nanjing has entered the era of electrification and has completely bid farewell to horses.

Today’s Great Hua can only see horse-drawn carts carrying goods in rural areas and small county towns. Other places have hardly seen horses. Even the number of people raising horses has decreased a lot.

The people of Great Hua like to raise chickens and pigs the most. I saw on the news that the number of broiler chickens raised in Great Hua last year reached one hundred and fifty million, and the number of pigs raised reached ten million.

I don’t know how many chickens are raised in Edinburgh, but I estimate that it will not exceed ten thousand.

After all, I have lived in Edinburgh for ten years and have only eaten chicken twice.

Chapter 1087: An Average Height Increase of Eight Centimeters

The number of White Feather chickens farmed in Great Hua, according to statistics, is one hundred and fifty million per year. This is a relatively accurate figure because the farms are all large-scale, making them easy to count.

However, the number of native chickens farmed is impossible to count; it can only be estimated.

In rural areas, most families raise a dozen or so native chickens.

This number is the most cost-effective for them.

Raising too few wastes effort and time, and doesn’t yield much money.

But raising too many requires feeding them entirely with grain, as there aren’t enough earthworms and small insects in the fields and mountains for them to eat.

Feeding them entirely with grain is too expensive and not cost-effective.

Although each family raises only a few, the advantage lies in the large number of families raising them.

If an average family raises ten, and assuming half of the rural families do so, that’s roughly over two hundred million chickens.

The Great Hua Bureau of Statistics estimates that a total of four hundred million chickens were sold in Great Hua in the seventeenth year of Yongxing.

On average, it seems each person eats less than half a chicken a year.

However, these chickens are actually all supplied to economically developed areas.

For large cities like Nanjing and Shanghai, the average person eats at least three or four chickens per year.

In overseas rural areas, on the other hand, most people don’t eat chicken even once a year, at most occasionally eating one or two eggs. The difference is significant.

A farming volume of four hundred million chickens per year is far from enough for the vast Great Hua.

To allow more citizens to eat meat, the Great Hua court has recently been encouraging the development of the farming industry.

The most direct method is to raise the purchase prices of chickens, ducks, and pigs, and set minimum purchase prices.

If merchants deliberately lower prices, the government will step in to purchase them, ensuring that farmers don’t lose money.

If this isn’t done, farmers will lack enthusiasm and be afraid to take risks.

After all, most farmers don’t have sales channels.

Pigs must be sold when they reach a certain size, otherwise, it will result in losses.

And chickens, ducks, or meat pigs raised on a large scale need to be sold to big cities; rural areas can’t absorb them.

If farmers encounter purchasing merchants using tricks to lower prices, they have almost no way to resist.

In a market economy, the capital side has too much of an advantage.

Without government intervention, ordinary people can only become the exploited.

With the government’s guarantee of minimum purchase prices, farmers can raise livestock without worry, knowing the government will back them up.

Nowadays, in the rural areas of Great Hua, almost every family raises two pigs.

There’s a reason why it’s two pigs.

A single pig is difficult to raise and won’t grow big. But two pigs together will compete for food, eat more, and grow faster.

If there are too many, farmers won’t have enough time to care for them.

With two pigs, they can feed them some grain and, when they have free time, pull some pigweed. This maximizes the use of spare time and saves on farming costs.

If they were to feed them entirely with grain, it wouldn’t be cost-effective either.

In addition to setting minimum purchase prices, Great Hua’s science and technology departments have also developed various feeds.

Although the meat of chickens, ducks, and livestock raised on feed doesn’t taste as good as those raised on grain, the difference is actually very subtle.

Only those in later generations who are already tired of eating meat can notice it. In the current Great Hua, there’s no saying that feed-raised pigs don’t taste good.

Whether it’s a home-raised pig or a feed-raised pig, in the eyes of ordinary people today, they all taste equally delicious.

Compared to grain, the farming cost of using feed is much lower.

At the same time, the feed industry is convenient for transportation and storage.

For those large-scale farmers, feed is already a necessity.

Relying on feed, Great Hua’s farming industry is also developing rapidly.

On the eighteenth day of the second month of the eighteenth year of Yongxing, a piece of data was published in the newspaper.

A private survey and statistics organization conducted a study proving that in the eighteenth year of Yongxing, the average height of Great Hua people increased by eight centimeters compared to the Great Ming period.

Through this data, the organization proved that Great Hua’s current nutritional level is several times better than that of the Great Ming period, and the national physique has greatly improved.

In fact, this data is nonsense.

Their current survey samples are basically concentrated in large cities like Nanjing and Shanghai, so the data isn’t representative.

Moreover, due to funding reasons, their sampled data is also relatively limited.

Even worse, shorter people generally don’t like to reveal their height. Most of those willing to be measured are taller people who are satisfied with their figure.

Sampling surveys are a very technical matter, and Great Hua’s private organizations don’t yet have that level of expertise.

Moreover, even if their current data can be measured very accurately, they couldn’t possibly know the average height of people during the Great Ming period.

Back then, there were no organizations idle enough to conduct such surveys.

Therefore, the data that the average height increased by eight centimeters compared to the Great Ming period is purely a rough estimate by the organization.

However, most people believe this data without hesitation.

This is actually quite normal. In the network era of later generations, the difficulty of obtaining information is reduced countless times, but not many people question the data given by ‘professional organizations’.

Countless keyboard warriors, wielding those data, make wild pronouncements, gesticulating and pontificating…

As long as the data given isn’t too outrageous and happens to match the reader’s preferences, no one will delve into it.

Moreover, in this era where obtaining information is extremely difficult.

As ordinary people, they can only choose to believe in authority.

And the Great Hua Daily represents authority. The information published in the Great Hua Daily is generally correct. After all, the articles in the Great Hua Daily are strictly supervised and screened by the government.

In fact, the government’s news censor, Ye Nan, was clear in his mind when he saw this report, knowing that the data was unreliable.

However, the publication of this data is not harmful to the Great Hua court. At the very least, it can increase national confidence, pride, and satisfaction with the Great Hua government.

People who have read this article will think, “Life is better in Great Hua. We don’t have to worry about food and clothing, and we can even grow taller.”

With this kind of thinking, they can be more tolerant of some problems in life and then look forward to things getting better in the future.

It still has a certain positive significance for maintaining social stability.

Moreover, their thinking is actually not wrong. The organization’s report can only be said to have inaccurate data, but it can’t be said that they are talking nonsense.

Overall, the average height in Great Hua is definitely higher than it was during the Great Ming period.

And this is especially obvious in big cities.

Abundant meat and diverse ingredients.

When the concept of nutrition was put forward, the diets of wealthy people also underwent great changes.

Milk also appeared during this period and became an essential drink for wealthy families.

Chapter 1088: The Best of Times

Yongxing Year Eighteen, March.

The Great Hua Daily published a phrase: the best of times.

The newspaper summarized the development achievements of Great Hua and called the current era the best of times.

The total population of Great Hua’s jurisdiction has exceeded seven hundred and fifty million, accounting for about ninety percent of the world’s population. The global population is about eight hundred and fifty million, about one hundred million more than in the original timeline.

This is also roughly equivalent to the level of the year seventeen fifty in the original timeline.

It seems that the rate of population growth is far behind the development of technology.

But this is actually normal. Technology can grow explosively, but population cannot be artificially accelerated and still follows the laws of nature.

However, the age structure of the global population is very alarming, with young people and children predominating.

These are all potential parents.

According to data experts, Great Hua’s population will experience explosive growth in the next ten years, doubling in size.

If there are no controls, it will double again in eighteen years, reaching three billion in twenty-five years.

With the current level of agricultural development, it is temporarily impossible to feed so many people.

It should be noted that only the plains of the Central Plains have largely achieved mechanization and have sufficient fertilizer.

Agricultural technology in other places is still under development.

The area of cultivated land and grain yield still need to be improved.

At the conference at the end of Yongxing Year Seventeen, Wu Changqing proposed the requirement to focus on the development of agriculture in order to cope with the impending population explosion.

The level of agriculture must be improved. Without food, no matter how well the industry develops, there will inevitably be turmoil.

The current cultivated land area of Great Hua is only about nine billion mu, while the global arable area is about twenty-eight billion mu, which means that Great Hua’s development of cultivated land is still relatively low.

There are still nearly twenty billion mu of cultivated land waiting to be developed and recovered, and the East European Plain is also an excellent granary.

In Yongxing Year Seventeen, the national grain output of Great Hua was about two hundred and fifty million tons, which is about one-twelfth of the global grain output in the year two thousand and twenty in later generations.

This data is actually quite good, because the current population is only one-ninth of that of later generations.

That is to say, the current grain output of Great Hua can completely feed everyone, and there is still a lot left for storage, processing of non-staple food, or raising poultry and livestock.

“The best of times, not bad, not bad, it is the best of times.”

Zhu Sanlang from Shangqiu, Henan, looked at the words in the newspaper and nodded.

In his opinion, Great Hua today is countless times better than before.

When he was a child, twenty years ago, his family had a total of eight mu of land. If all of it was planted with wheat, the annual output could reach about seven hundred and fifty kilograms.

But in reality, because some land was barren, they could only grow sorghum and millet.

After paying all kinds of taxes, they could only keep five hundred kilograms of food at most.

And a large part of these five hundred kilograms of grain had to be exchanged for copper coins to buy daily necessities such as salt.

The amount that actually ended up in their stomachs was less than three hundred kilograms, and it was all sorghum and millet. Fine grains such as white flour could only be eaten during festivals.

And his family had eight people at that time. On average, each person could not get fifty kilograms of grain per year, which was not enough to eat. They usually needed to eat some wild vegetables to fill their stomachs.

This was the case when they were not affected by war. When they were affected by war, the situation was even worse.

Zhu Sanlang starved two older brothers and one younger brother to death. He had a hard life and managed to survive until the Huaxia army’s Northern Expedition.

When he was about to starve to death, he ate the Great Hua’s relief grain and survived.

After that, his family was allocated fifty mu of land, as well as tools such as hoes.

After being poor, his family lived very frugally, saving money every year, fearing that all the good things in front of them were just temporary illusions, and worried that the world would one day return to its original state.

Continuing in this way, his family’s wealth accumulated rapidly.

When Great Hua allowed land sales, he used his savings to buy fifty mu of land from his neighbors. His neighbors were even more ruthless and moved their entire family to the county seat to work in the steel factory.

After buying fifty mu, Zhu Sanlang also rented one hundred mu from other people in the village.

Those people went to Nanjing and Tianjin to work, leaving only the elderly and children at home, who could not cultivate too much land.

With two hundred mu of land, his family could handle it with the help of the imperial court’s machinery.

And these two hundred mu of land can produce about forty thousand kilograms of wheat a year.

After paying ten percent of the tax, there are still thirty-six thousand kilograms left, of which thirty-five thousand kilograms are used to sell for money, which can be sold for at least three hundred and fifty thousand yuan, and occasionally grain merchants will buy it at a price higher than the government’s price.

(Note: In order to make it easier for readers to avoid calculating purchasing power and have an intuitive comparison, Wu Changqing adjusted the face value of the currency to be the same as that of later generations. That is to say, the following one yuan is approximately equal to one yuan in later generations.)

After deducting the expenses for buying fertilizer, seeds, hiring mechanical harvesting, etc., Zhu Sanlang’s family’s net income this year is nearly two hundred thousand yuan.

However, his family has a total of ten people.

His father, him, his wife, three adult laborers, and seven children from one to seventeen years old.

This income is already very good, but the pressure of life is also great, after all, there are many children.

As these children grow up, he must also build a new house, otherwise there will be no room to live.

However, Zhu Sanlang is full of hope for the future, because as long as he waits for his children to grow up and start making money, his burden can be reduced a lot.

“Accelerate the construction of agricultural irrigation and water conservancy, improve agricultural planting technology…”

Zhu Sanlang struggled to read the newspaper. He only attended night school for half a month and did not know all the characters.

“Second son, come and see what the newspaper says?”

Zhu Sanlang called his second son over. His eldest son was studying applied mathematics at Zhengzhou University and would graduate next year.

The second son, Zhu Changyao, took the newspaper, read it, and explained: “The imperial court has held another meeting. His Majesty said that he will continue to build water conservancy projects and start the middle route project of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project to transfer water from the Danjiangkou Reservoir to Beijing. At the same time, the imperial court will also plan to reclaim land and promote planting technology…”

There is a lot of content, but the core is one point: Great Hua will vigorously develop agriculture.

“Good, good, good.”

Zhu Sanlang said three times in a row. He didn’t understand much, but in his opinion, the policy of vigorously developing agriculture was a good policy.

“Second son, why don’t you learn to drive a harvester after graduating from middle school? In the future, there will be more and more reclaimed land, and more and more people will need to drive harvesters. Learning to drive a harvester will definitely make money.”

Although Zhu Sanlang has no education, this does not mean that he will not plan his children’s lives.

In front of their children, elders have a kind of inexplicable confidence in their life experience.

But in reality, this is really an illusion.

Chapter 1089: Rural Living Standards Across the Land

Listening to your parents sounds absolutely right at first.

However, upon closer inspection, one can understand that if everyone listened to their parents, society could not progress and might remain in a primitive state forever.

It is precisely because of those disobedient people who dare to innovate that society can progress.

Zhu Changyao is clearly such a person. He resolutely refused to learn how to drive a harvester or excavator, but instead clamored to study applied meteorology.

This was the major recommended to him by his teacher, which was actually a task assigned to the teachers by the Ministry of Education: to cultivate diverse talents.

This infuriated Zhu Sanlang.

In Great Hua, only middle school and primary school are tuition-free. To attend university, only those with good grades can get a tuition waiver; otherwise, one needs to pay a considerable tuition fee.

In Zhu Sanlang’s opinion, spending so much money just to learn how to predict the weather was simply insane.

At the same time, he completely failed to understand what use learning this would be.

His village’s Third Uncle also predicted the weather, and although not very accurate, it was sufficient to meet the needs of agricultural planting.

What troubled Zhu Sanlang was not only his second son, Zhu Changyao, but also his eldest daughter, Zhu Ailing.

Zhu Ailing also completely disobeyed him, insisting on going to Zhengzhou alone to study dance.

Although Zhu Ailing had explained the difference between art and prostitution to him many times, Zhu Sanlang still felt uneasy about it.

Singing and dancing for other men was no different from the prostitutes who used to sell smiles.

In the past, such people would have been unable to bear being pointed at and gossiped about.

However, in present-day Great Hua, not many people gossip about it anymore, and Zhu Sanlang doesn’t know why.

Apart from these three older children who had their own ideas, the other younger ones didn’t make him worry any less and were not very obedient.

This was also inevitable. As the children learned more and more, their admiration for Zhu Sanlang would constantly decrease, and naturally, they would become less obedient.

“Forget it, let him study whatever he wants. Since it’s a subject recommended by his teacher, it can’t be useless. Look at the changes in the world now, aren’t they all based on those strange and unusual knowledge?”

Zhu Sanlang’s wife persuaded him, while pointing to the motorcycle and radio at home.

Zhu Sanlang’s family had also adopted many fashionable items.

Such as motorcycles, crystal radios, flashlights, electric lights, and so on.

An annual income of two hundred thousand, for the current rural people of Great Hua, was a first-class level.

But this was compared to other rural areas of the same era, and cannot be compared to a family with an annual income of two hundred thousand in later generations.

After all, in terms of prices, some current commodities are very different from those of later generations.

In later generations, a television only cost two or three thousand yuan. But now in Great Hua, a television costs one hundred thousand yuan.

A motorcycle that could be bought for a few thousand yuan in later generations now costs twenty to thirty thousand in Great Hua.

The higher the technological content of a commodity, the more expensive it is.

In terms of grain, there is almost no difference.

Zhu Sanlang being able to afford a motorcycle and electric lights meant he had a first-class standard of living in the countryside.

Families with an annual income of one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand could live a second-class standard of living.

For example, Zhu Sanlang’s neighbor, Zhu Shiyun.

Zhu Shiyun was not as frugal as Zhu Sanlang, so he failed to save money to buy land and could only rent other people’s land.

Although he also cultivated two hundred mu, the rent he had to pay was higher, and his income was slightly lower than Zhu Sanlang’s family.

However, on the surface, Zhu Shiyun’s life was no worse than Zhu Sanlang’s.

After all, his attitude towards life was more about enjoying the present and less about considering the future.

His motorcycle had more horsepower, his home used a tape recorder that could play discs and listen to the radio, and he even had a twelve-inch black and white television.

This was already overspending; normally, a family with this income would never buy a television.

Thanks to this television, Zhu Shiyun’s house became the most lively place in Zhu Family Village.

The children would flock to his house to watch television after school.

However, the content they watched was all decided by Zhu Shiyun.

The cartoons that the children liked the most were often not within Zhu Shiyun’s consideration.

Having a television at home was the greatest luxury for these children.

But this was difficult. There were not many rural families with an annual income of more than one hundred thousand; more were below this figure.

An annual income of fifty thousand to one hundred thousand was considered a third-class standard.

Located in the plains, with fertile land, but only cultivating their own fields and having no other additional income, most families belonged to this level.

It was difficult to see any electrical appliances in these homes, and most were even reluctant to install electric lights.

Their means of transportation was just a bicycle.

Their biggest expenses were building houses and sending their children to university.

If they didn’t send their children to university, families at this level could actually live very comfortably, but most of them gave up this comfort.

Since ancient times, the Great Hua nation has firmly believed in the saying that studying changes one’s destiny.

In places where the land is barren and unable to grow crops on a large scale, even with fifty mu of land, it is difficult to reach an income of fifty thousand yuan.

In rural areas such as Lingnan, the mountainous areas of Jiangxi, and the mountainous areas of Fujian, the average income is below fifty thousand yuan.

A family income of tens of thousands of yuan may seem quite high at first glance.

However, it depends on how the money is used.

If used to buy grain to eat, it can really fill people up.

However, if used to buy meat, you can’t actually buy too much. The current price of meat is much more expensive than in later generations.

If you want to buy those fashionable electrical appliances, then it’s even more hopeless.

However, as the production of those commodities increases, the prices of those commodities will continue to fall rapidly.

It is not impossible for these ordinary families to use televisions.

Families at this level are unable to support their children to attend university. Only if the children study hard and obtain scholarships.

A lower level is families with an annual income of less than ten thousand yuan. Most of these people are distributed in the Loess Plateau, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, the Xiangxi mountainous area, and similar places.

These are already remote areas, basically without electricity, and even with few roads.

Compared with twenty years ago, the biggest difference in these places is that they eat better and dress better.

In other aspects, there is not much difference from before.

It feels like the changes in the world have nothing to do with these places.

Of course, they are not the worst off.

The people in the Ganges River basin, Southeast Asia, and the non-Han ethnic groups in the Americas are mostly just reaching the point of having enough food and clothing.

Eating well and dressing well have nothing to do with them; having something to eat is good enough.

The clothes they wear don’t pay attention to aesthetics, just warmth.

In some places, there are even a small number of people who have not reached the point of having enough food and clothing.

Chapter 1090: Irrigation Systems

The estimated fiscal revenue for the eighteenth year of Yongxing is twelve trillion yuan.

The total GDP is approximately twelve trillion yuan, with an average annual income of fifteen thousand yuan per capita.

(The data in the previous text was a bit unreasonable. From now on, this will be aligned with the data of later generations. The data is too complex, I’ve already crashed, so please don’t take it too seriously.)

Out of the twelve trillion yuan, two hundred billion yuan has been invested in agricultural construction.

Among these investments, the most important is water conservancy construction.

The land that has not yet been cultivated is basically due to one reason: it is far from water sources.

Water is the source of all things, and even the most drought-resistant crops need water.

Out of the two hundred billion yuan, one hundred and fifty billion yuan is used for water conservancy construction.

There are super-large projects like the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, as well as medium-sized projects, such as the Huai River management.

But more common are small-scale canal constructions, spread all over the country.

Nanxiong, a small basin in the mountains.

In theory, Nanxiong has about one million mu of arable land.

However, the current arable land in Nanxiong is only four hundred thousand mu, with less than half of it developed.

The reason for this situation is water shortage.

The water shortage in arable land does not mean that Nanxiong lacks water overall, but mainly that the rainy and dry seasons are too distinct.

During the rainy season, heavy rain pours down for several months, and the water flows into the Beijiang River, converges into the Pearl River, and finally flows into the sea.

During the dry season, there is no rain for several months in a row.

Solving this problem is actually easy. Several places in Nanxiong’s jurisdiction are suitable for building reservoirs.

As long as several reservoirs are built to intercept the water during the rainy season, and then release the water during the dry season.

In this way, it not only guarantees the water supply for arable land, but also generates electricity.

In March, the Kongjiang Reservoir, located in the northern part of Guangdong Province, began construction.

The Kongjiang Reservoir is a natural reservoir, but its water storage capacity is average.

As long as a high enough dam is built, the water storage capacity of the reservoir can be greatly increased.

The city’s irrigation canals are also being constructed along with the Kongjiang Reservoir.

Establishing a reasonable irrigation network maximizes the use of water resources.

After this network is established, those lands that are not suitable for cultivation can also be turned into fertile fields.

“I would rather die to be an official of Great Hua.”

Guo Xian, the head of Nanxiong, said with emotion as he looked at the huge construction team.

In previous dynasties, the imperial court would never have paid attention to a backwater place like Nanxiong.

But now, even such a backwater place is receiving huge investment from the imperial court, and such a large project is being carried out.

Guo Xian estimates that after the completion of this project, the arable land area of Nanxiong will at least double, and the agricultural income will at least double.

Moreover, this can also drive other industries.

In short, during his tenure, Nanxiong’s economy will undergo earth-shaking changes, and this will definitely be counted as his credit, and promotion is guaranteed.

The biggest trouble has been solved for him by the imperial court. He only needs to follow the orders to be responsible for the specific execution and ensure that there are no mistakes to gain credit.

This kind of official is too easy to be.

Small-scale water conservancy projects like Nanxiong are also being carried out enthusiastically in other parts of Great Hua.

At the same time, some other forms of irrigation projects are also underway.

For example, building karez extensively in Tibet.

Many people know the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, but they don’t know what a karez is.

But in fact, karez are listed alongside those two projects as the three great ancient projects of China.

Its scale, function, and significance should not be underestimated.

A karez is a special desert irrigation system, commonly found in the Turpan and Hami areas.

The karez can cleverly use the slope of the hillside to divert underground undercurrents to the ground for irrigation.

The karez does not require power, can naturally divert water, and has less evaporation, simple construction, and easy management.

For areas such as Turpan, it is the most suitable irrigation facility.

Previously, people of all dynasties would spontaneously dig karez, but this spontaneous behavior had the disadvantage of low efficiency.

This time, the Great Hua imperial court sent a professional guidance team to systematically plan nearly ten thousand karez, covering a wider area of arable land and utilizing water resources more efficiently.

According to estimates, after the completion of this project, the arable land area and grain output in the area can be greatly increased, and the per capita income can be directly increased by at least fifty percent.

Moreover, turning this place into a granary can also reduce some of the burden on Great Hua.

Previously, the grain output here could not keep up with the population growth rate, and it was always necessary to transport grain from the Central Plains by rail.

After this place is built into a granary, this batch of expenses can be saved.

Hebei, a well-drilling team is working in the field.

They are drilling deep-water wells.

Hebei is short of water, but it does not lack groundwater.

However, the groundwater is very deep, and people in the past could not use it.

But this is not a problem for Great Hua. Great Hua’s strategy is to dig deep-water wells in this area, and then install water pumps to solve the water shortage problem in the area.

Well-drilling has never been an easy task. In the traditional well-drilling method, if you want to drill deep, the wellhead must be large. If it is too small, people cannot work in the well.

If the wellhead is too large, the amount of work will be very large, the cost will be huge, and the gains will not outweigh the losses. At the same time, it will cause great damage to the surface and create greater safety hazards.

Moreover, this depth is also very limited. If it exceeds ten meters, breathing and lighting are problems.

If it is a rural individual family to drill a well, it is very remarkable to be able to drill five or six meters deep. Deep-water wells cannot be expected.

At this time, the power of the state needs to be dispatched.

The Great Hua imperial court sent a professional team with professional well-drilling machinery.

This kind of drilling machine can allow people to dig without going down the well, and can make the well very small. The damage to the surface can also be minimized.

When drilling the well, the villagers came to watch.

I saw the twist-like drill bit go down, and after a roar, the drill bit rose up.

Those recessed parts were covered with mud, sand, and gravel. With a gentle flick, the mud, sand, and gravel were thrown away, and the drill bit entered the well again. Repeatedly, it drilled deeper and deeper.

“Unbelievable, unbelievable, what the hell is this thing, how can it dig up the mud?”

The old man in the village couldn’t figure it out.

“Good fellow, looking at the length of this extension, it must be at least seven or eight zhang. We don’t have to worry about water for farming in the future.”

Those strong laborers were very happy. They didn’t care how this thing drilled wells. They only saw that this could bring them huge benefits and reduce the pressure of supporting their families.

And those children stared at the drilling machine for days in a row.

Among them, there were also people who had the dream of becoming a drilling machine operator in the future.

One deep-water well after another was dug out, one cement ditch after another was built, and another granary will be born.

Chapter 1091: Agricultural Development

In Suzhou, an agricultural research team was in the fields.

They were conducting a cutting-edge study on pipeline irrigation.

They were experimenting on this land to verify the feasibility of low-pressure pipeline irrigation.

Low-pressure pipeline irrigation meant using iron or plastic pipes instead of ditches to transport water.

Compared to ditch irrigation, pipeline irrigation could reduce seepage and evaporation, increasing water utilization efficiency. At the same time, it could save some arable land.

A ditch was at least half a meter wide, and a kilometer of ditch would take up almost one mu of land.

Pipelines, on the other hand, took up practically no space.

Of course, with Great Hua’s current technological level, the cost of using pipelines was still slightly higher than traditional canals.

However, once Great Hua’s manufacturing industry reached another level, that might not be the case.

Currently, Great Hua did not have any large-scale plans to lay pipeline irrigation. This research team was simply experimenting to gain experience and data.

When the conditions were right in the future, they could directly implement it in one step.

Even things that weren’t needed right now had to be researched first. This was a common practice in the research community, and Great Hua had always done it this way.

For example, drilling rigs had been under development for five years and large-scale manufacturing had begun two years ago.

At that time, the imperial court didn’t actually have any plans to drill deep-water wells on a large scale in Hebei.

In the Central Plains, water conservancy projects were in full swing.

And overseas, water conservancy construction had never stopped.

In major grain-producing areas such as the Ganges Plain, the Indus River Valley, the Mississippi River Basin, and Jakarta, water conservancy projects were constantly being built, and agricultural technology was constantly being promoted.

Water conservancy, seeds, and fertilizers were the three lifelines of agriculture.

In the eighteenth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s annual fertilizer production reached fifteen million tons. Of this, ten million tons were in the Central Plains and five million tons were overseas.

Ten million tons in the Central Plains was roughly equivalent to the level of the Flower Family in nineteen seventy-eight in later generations, far surpassing other fields.

In other fields, the level of development in Great Hua’s Central Plains was at most at the level of the nineteen fifties.

The reason why the fertilizer field developed so quickly was mainly due to Wu Changqing’s emphasis on it.

As early as the second year of Yongxing, he spared no expense to exchange for synthesis technologies for various types of fertilizers.

After more than ten years of development, Great Hua’s fertilizer synthesis technology was now very mature, the manufacturing process was quite exquisite, and the manufacturing cost was quite low.

An annual output of five million tons in overseas regions seemed much less.

Great Hua’s overseas territories were about nine times the size of the Central Plains (here, the Central Plains refers to the nine million six hundred thousand, including the west).

The arable land area was also about seven or eight times larger, and the population accounted for half.

An annual output of five million tons was far from meeting the huge demand.

However, fertilizer production in overseas regions was growing rapidly, far exceeding the growth rate in the Central Plains.

For example, in India, the annual fertilizer production growth rate in the seventeenth year of Yongxing reached twenty-five percent, while in the Central Plains it was only ten percent.

Of course, in terms of growth rate, the fastest was still North America, and it would continue to hold the crown for the fastest growth rate.

After all, the starting point here was too low.

As Great Hua’s largest granary, North America’s current annual fertilizer production was less than one hundred thousand tons.

This was because North America was recovered late, and the corresponding construction was also later.

In the seventeenth year of Yongxing, the first fertilizer plant appeared in North America.

However, these places had a huge amount of arable land and a huge demand for fertilizer.

Therefore, there were many fertilizer factories under construction here. Those businessmen were like sharks that smelled blood. Before Philadelphia had fallen, they had already thrown capital into North America.

Great Hua did not oppress capitalists and wealthy people in North America, but when faced with the capital invasion from the Central Plains, they were still defeated and their wealth shrank greatly.

The industries they used to be engaged in quickly became unprofitable fields.

Fields such as fertilizer plants, steel plants, and oil refineries were either controlled by Great Hua’s government or by merchants from the Central Plains, and it was difficult for North American capitalists to squeeze in.

Their best choice was to cooperate with a merchant from the Central Plains, contributing one hundred percent of the capital, while the merchant from the Central Plains contributed some technology, and the two would split the profits three to seven.

The merchants from the Central Plains would take seventy percent, and that was still a relatively soft-hearted merchant from the Central Plains.

If they unfortunately encountered a ruthless character, those capitalists would have to accept a two-eight split with tears in their eyes.

For them, they shouldn’t think about getting rich and increasing their wealth. They should be thankful if they could protect their wealth from shrinking.

Through this relatively gentle method, Great Hua also completed its complete control over North America.

There were still wealthy white people, but there were few white people who could have the final say and have a huge influence.

Wu Changqing vigorously promoted the development of agriculture, on the one hand, to ensure that everyone in the world had enough to eat, and on the other hand, for more population and more technology points.

However, what he did not expect was that this policy made the situation in Great Hua’s overseas territories very stable.

It was not easy to completely rule a place.

Places that were conquered often experienced some resistance.

However, the number of rebellions in the places conquered by Great Hua was relatively small, and the scale was small.

The number of rebellions that could be reported to Wu Changqing did not even exceed ten.

Most of the rebellions did not exceed five thousand people in scale, and they were suppressed by the local garrison or security team.

And there were only seven rebellions that exceeded five thousand people, including two in Japan, one in Annam, one in the Bangalore area…

The largest rebellion was also launched by miners, not farmers.

This should be attributed to the grain policy. It was precisely because of this grain policy that everyone in the world had enough to eat, and those people were unwilling to rebel.

The common people at the bottom may have a smaller pattern due to their lack of knowledge and culture, but that doesn’t mean they are really stupid.

They would compare the days they used to live with the days they were living now.

Obviously, the current days were better.

Give up better days to rebel?

If they failed, they would lose their heads. If they succeeded, they would return to the bitter days of the past.

This choice, no matter how you looked at it, was awkward.

Don’t say that people in this era didn’t have such a strong sense of national identity. Even if some people didn’t like being ruled by Great Hua, no one was willing to do something that had no good results whether they won or lost.

Some people even knew that someone wanted to rebel and were afraid that those people would succeed, so they would choose to report to the authorities.

A few ambitious people could not incite the people, so they could only sigh secretly.

They were not so stupid as to go to the front line themselves.

When facing the Han people, they were even more humble than ordinary people, almost to the point of licking the Han people’s shoes.

As the time of being ruled by Great Hua became longer and longer, people in some areas had begun to completely regard themselves as a part of Great Hua.

Chapter 1092: Agricultural Development 2

Large-scale, specialized, and distinctive—these were Wu Changqing’s guiding principles for the current state of rural development.

The idea was that if rural areas wanted to prosper, they had to embrace large-scale operations.

Scaling up would increase production efficiency, lower production costs, and facilitate the cultivation of specialized talent.

Take the simplest example: many rural areas grow oranges.

However, most families just plant a couple of trees near their homes or ponds.

If they grow too many, they can’t eat them all themselves, and they have nowhere to sell them.

Because they grow so few, and there’s basically no economic benefit, most people don’t bother to manage them properly.

The result is that the oranges they grow are small, bitter, and sour—in short, not very good.

But if they were to grow them on a large scale, as a major source of income, growers would inevitably put more effort into breeding and management.

And with increased production, naturally, buyers would come.

Major cities have a huge demand for fruit, but it’s not easy to source it. You can’t just go from village to village, buying a few dozen Jin from each, because the costs would be too high.

Moreover, the quality of fruit grown by individual farmers is often not very good.

In many ways, large-scale operations have advantages.

That’s why Wu Changqing proposed that rural areas should accelerate the pace of scaling up and specialization.

They needed to cultivate a group of professional fruit farmers and implement a large-scale contracting system.

To encourage people to join in, the imperial court also offered many support policies.

For example, the government guaranteed to buy the produce, so fruit farmers wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to sell their fruit. The government would set a minimum purchase price.

At the same time, the government would help with breeding and selection, choosing varieties with excellent flavor for large-scale planting.

The government would also provide technical guidance and even start-up loans, so that those without capital could have a chance to take a gamble.

Most incredibly, Great Hua even established a personal bankruptcy system specifically for these entrepreneurs.

The bankruptcy system meant that even if they failed and lost all their money, the court would not force them to repay their debts. They would be allowed to continue living a normal life, although their high-end consumption would be restricted.

Furthermore, it was stipulated that personal bankruptcy would not affect their families.

This provision could greatly reduce the worries of entrepreneurs and encourage them to take bold risks.

Of course, there were also disadvantages.

On the one hand, it would increase the national financial burden, and on the other hand, it could be exploited.

Therefore, Great Hua did not implement a large-scale personal bankruptcy system, but only tried it out in this small area first. Even if it failed, the losses would not be too great.

If it worked well, it would be fully implemented. If it didn’t work well, it would be stopped or improved in time.

Taizhou.

“Jun, are you really not going to work away from home?”

Upon learning that Wang Jun was not going to work away from home, Wang Zhuang from the same village was very surprised.

After all, working in Nanjing earned more than farming at home.

Although Great Hua’s land policy in the past allowed each family to theoretically own fifty mu of land, in practice, this was impossible in densely populated areas.

People in those areas either emigrated overseas or had to divide the land among themselves, ending up with only a few dozen mu each.

Taizhou was such a case, with a large population and little land.

As a result, a large number of people here had long gone to work in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Shanghai, and other places, leaving only a small number of people to farm at home.

“I’m not going anymore. Working for someone else means you only get a fixed salary. Even if your salary increases one day, it’s because we’ve earned even more for the boss. The harder we work, the richer the boss gets.

So, I want to be my own boss. I’ll only work for myself.”

Wang Jun was more quick-witted than others. Other workers only thought about their wages, hoping to earn money to improve their lives and gain some face when they returned home.

However, Wang Jun keenly saw the problem.

Working for others only widens the gap between the rich and the poor.

Therefore, unwilling to accept this, he decided to start his own business.

And it just so happened that the court introduced relevant support policies this year, which was an excellent opportunity for him.

“Then what are you planning to do in the village?”

Wang Zhuang continued to ask.

“Grow flowers.”

Wang Jun said.

When he was in Nanjing, he had also gone to the city twice.

Unlike others who only cared about buying things and looking around, he carefully noticed that there were many flower shops in Nanjing. Moreover, through conversations with the shop owners, he learned that Nanjing’s flower shops were very short of flowers.

Moreover, those seemingly inconspicuous flowers were ridiculously expensive.

Wang Jun didn’t understand why anyone would buy flowers that were so expensive, but it didn’t matter. All he needed to know was that these things could be sold at a high price.

Therefore, Wang Jun planned to grow flowers for sale.

In his opinion, flowers that could grow in the wilderness would be even easier to grow with his care.

This was simply an industry where you could pick up money off the ground. He needed to get in as soon as possible before too many people noticed.

“Grow flowers?”

Wang Zhuang looked confused. He didn’t know who would buy flowers, and he couldn’t understand Wang Jun’s behavior.

However, Wang Jun had always been more clever than them since he was a child, and he was their leader.

Unable to understand Wang Jun’s actions, Wang Zhuang felt that it must be because he was stupid.

He didn’t try to persuade Wang Jun, feeling that he wasn’t qualified.

At the same time, Ganzhou.

A young man, ignoring his father’s objections, contracted over fifty thousand square meters of mountain land to grow oranges.

Ganzhou was a place with more mountains than fields. Ten years ago, his family of eight received twenty-five thousand square meters of land, which was enough to support them.

But now, his family had grown to fourteen people.

But the land had already been divided, and the fourteen people could only rely on these twenty-five thousand square meters.

Although they could eat their fill, there was no way they could live well.

Over the years, some people had moved to the city, and others had emigrated overseas, but many still remained in the local area.

Li Xing used to want to work away from home but was stopped, and he wanted to emigrate but was stopped. This time, he refused to listen to his father’s words no matter what.

What if he lost money? What if he didn’t know how to grow them? What if he couldn’t sell them? He wouldn’t listen to any of it.

He just wanted to get rich and change his fate, that was all.

Nanxiong, a young man learned from the newspaper that Nanxiong’s soil was suitable for growing flue-cured tobacco, and the government would provide guidance on curing it and would also buy it uniformly.

Moreover, according to experts’ calculations, the income from growing flue-cured tobacco would be five times that of growing grain.

So, he also ran to the county town, applied to receive tobacco seedlings, and prepared to change his family’s land to grow flue-cured tobacco.

Flowers, fruits, medicinal herbs, vegetables, flue-cured tobacco…

A large-scale planting of cash crops was beginning in various places, with a large number of farmers pouring into it.

Large-scale, specialized, and distinctive operations were gradually entering the countryside.

Once this batch of projects was completed, Great Hua’s rural areas would undergo another earth-shattering change.

Chapter 1093: Great Hua Rich List

At Nanjing Railway Station, a group of farmers, carrying large and small bags, got off the train, their eyes filled with excitement, agitation, nervousness, confusion, and everything in between.

Although Great Hua encouraged its people to start businesses, for the vast number of farmers, these entrepreneurial opportunities were still pitifully few.

On average, a village getting even one opportunity was considered lucky.

The majority of the surplus labor force still mainly went to cities to work.

“Good heavens, so many people, like ants.”

Yang Hu looked at the dense crowd in the train station, his scalp tingling.

He had never seen so many people in his life.

“Take care of your luggage, stick close to me, don’t fall behind. Don’t gawk around like a bumpkin, look at me, look at me. I won’t be responsible if you get lost…”

The foreman, leading the group, shouted constantly, afraid someone would wander off.

These people, with their low levels of education and lack of experience, would be in trouble if they got lost. They might not even know to ask the police for help, or be too afraid to do so.

After getting on the special bus to the construction site, the foreman, Yang Bao, breathed a sigh of relief and started chatting with his fellow villagers.

“Do you know how many people are in Nanjing? Eight million! That’s equal to twenty thousand Yang Pit Villages.”

Yang Bao showed off his knowledge.

“How much is eight million?”

Many people were shocked and confused. Eight million was too large a number; they couldn’t picture it in their minds.

“There will be more and more in the future. I heard some bosses say that our imperial court is now promoting something called urbanization, and is continuing to encourage people from other places to settle in the cities.”

Yang Bao continued to boast.

He only had a vague understanding of what urbanization was, a sort of half-baked comprehension.

Great Hua’s urbanization had been underway for many years, and it was now beginning to show results.

Currently, Great Hua’s urbanization rate was about eight percent. At first glance, this seemed very low, especially considering that urbanization rates in later generations would be nearly eighty percent.

But in reality, this was being dragged down by the overseas territories.

Eight percent referred to Great Hua’s overall data. If you only looked at the Central Plains region, then the number could reach fifteen percent, which was already quite high, equivalent to the level of 1955.

If you only looked at the Jiangnan region, then the number was even higher, reaching thirty percent, which was the level of the year 2000.

Compared to the previous dynasty, Great Hua’s data was even more dazzling.

According to the scattered household registration data left by the Ming Dynasty, the Statistics Bureau estimated that during the Ming Dynasty, the urban population only accounted for two percent of the total population.

After more than ten years of development, Great Hua had increased this number by seven and a half times.

To accelerate urbanization, Great Hua had issued many policies.

Such as low-rent housing.

This was first implemented in Nanjing, and later Shanghai and Guangzhou followed suit. Now, all cities above the second tier had low-rent housing.

As long as people came to live in the city, they didn’t have to worry about not having a place to live.

The construction cost of these low-rent houses was actually very low, because the land belonged to the state and didn’t cost any money.

Of course, this invisibly reduced the imperial court’s fiscal revenue, but it wasn’t a big problem.

Concentrating the population in cities was conducive to economies of scale and economic development.

In the end, the lost fiscal revenue would fall into the imperial court’s pockets in other ways and in other forms.

In this way, Great Hua’s developers couldn’t earn the money of these poor people.

Of course, they didn’t bother to earn the money of the poor.

Currently, Great Hua’s developers were targeting the reconstruction projects in the city center.

The original city center still had a large number of low-rise houses, which was a great waste of land.

What developers liked most was to buy these places, then rebuild them into advanced residential areas like New Era, and sell them to the rich people in the city at high prices.

There were too many rich people in Nanjing. To put it dramatically, it was like a collection of the world’s rich people.

Too many special people were concentrated here.

For example, the former King of Korea and his family.

Although he was no longer the king, his family had a deep foundation of wealth. Just relying on stable investments was enough for his family to be on the Nanjing Rich List’s top one hundred.

The King of Siam ranked even higher, at number fifty.

After all, he had voluntarily submitted to Great Hua and received special care from Great Hua, retaining most of his family’s property.

Now, he not only had businesses in Nanjing, but also a large number of businesses in Siam.

More importantly, his daughter was still serving the emperor in the palace, and his grandson was already ten years old.

The upper classes of the Annam Lê and Mạc dynasties, the nobles of Mongolia, the nobles of Europe, the royal family of Persia…

These people, who once controlled a large amount of wealth, had now come to Nanjing with their wealth.

To a certain extent, this drove up the prices of luxury goods in Nanjing.

There were many wealthy people from overseas, but there were even more wealthy people from the local area.

Those merchants who had embraced Wu Changqing’s thighs early on were now all rich enough to rival countries.

The wealth of a single family could even be equal to the annual tax revenue of some European countries.

The first place was the Wu family, which was the imperial family.

There was only a ranking, but the specific wealth was unknown. In short, it must be very, very much.

Second place was the Chen family, which was Chen Yuyan’s family.

The Chen family had always been conscientious in business, but they couldn’t resist Wu Changqing’s technology association providing them with free technology. Without needing to pay patent fees, the Chen family occupied an absolute advantage.

If they wanted to get involved in an industry, others could only do a little bit of the downstream market.

According to a private research institution, the Chen family’s wealth was about twelve billion yuan, which was about one-thousandth of Great Hua’s annual GDP.

In later generations, the richest man in China’s wealth was equivalent to four-thousandths of the GDP of that year. In comparison, Great Hua’s wealth concentration was not as exaggerated as in later generations.

The third place was the Tong family, with a wealth of about ten billion.

The Tong family’s main business was automobiles, motorcycles, televisions, cement, petroleum, steel, and so on.

Among them, in the automotive field, it accounted for thirty percent of Great Hua’s market share.

Fourth place was Hong Tailin, with six billion.

There was only one main business, which was shipbuilding.

From warships to inland river freighters, large and small, they built all kinds of ships.

Currently, Great Hua’s largest displacement freighter, the Chengzhong, was built by their family, with a displacement of up to one hundred thousand tons, making it the world’s first ship with a displacement of one hundred thousand tons.

Fourth place was Zhong Xueyan, with 5.5 billion.

The main businesses were petroleum, coal, natural gas, electricity, and other high-tech industries.

Fifth place was the Madam Liao family, with five billion.

The main businesses were finance and machinery manufacturing. The world’s largest private machine tool processing plant belonged to his family.

His family was involved in all kinds of other manufacturing industries.

Overall, the most profitable industries in Great Hua were still manufacturing, followed by energy and finance.

In fact, energy was very profitable, but most of it was controlled by the imperial court, and there was not much private participation.

Chapter 1094: A Gathering of Beauties

“Hiss… a fairy, a fai-airy…”

Yang Hu exclaimed, his eyes nearly popping out as he saw several beauties in pure white silk Hanfu robes walking by the roadside.

Beautiful, truly beautiful.

He had never seen such beautiful people, and three at once.

“Stop looking. Those aren’t the kind of people you’re worthy of. You’d be better off earning money and going back to the village to marry Cuihua.”

Yang Bao slapped Yang Hu on the back of the head, reminding him.

Even he wouldn’t dare to dream of those top-tier beauties, let alone a poor kid like Yang Hu.

“Another group of beauties, hiss… Brother Bao, are there so many beauties in Nanjing?”

The other young men couldn’t remain calm either. This was simply a paradise on earth.

“Nonsense, this is the wealthiest place in all of Great Hua, so of course, it has the most beauties.”

Yang Bao said.

The young men clearly didn’t understand this logic.

In reality, those beauties Yang Hu and the others had just seen couldn’t even be considered fairies. If you were to score beauties’ looks and divide them into tiers, they could only be considered second-rate.

That is, between eighty and ninety points, not quite top-tier. At least, there were many beauties of this level in Nanjing.

However, Yang Hu and the others were unsophisticated. The most beautiful person they had ever seen was probably the village flower, maybe around sixty-five points.

Seeing these second-rate beauties at first glance, they immediately thought they were celestial beings.

Moreover, the actual looks of these girls were probably not even eighty, relying entirely on the enhancement of makeup.

This was also why there were so many beauties in Nanjing, because there were many cosmetics here, and the level of makeup artistry was high.

A sixty-point rural girl, as long as she was dressed and packaged by a makeup artist, could reach seventy points and enter the ranks of beauties.

Another reason was that it was easier for beauties to make money in big cities, so a large number of beauties flocked to places like Nanjing and Shanghai, and gained a firm foothold in these big cities.

In the countryside, being pretty at most only got the young men to help plant crops for free, and would also be gossiped about by the villagers.

But in Nanjing, as long as you were pretty, even if you had no skills, you could work as a greeter, and the salary wouldn’t be low.

If you were a little smarter, or had some special talent, or were breathtakingly beautiful, then making money would be even easier.

Moreover, in Nanjing, the chances of hooking up with a big shot were much higher than in other places.

Although perhaps not every beauty who came to Nanjing was there to hook up with a big shot, there was no shortage of such people.

What’s more, some were being pushed behind the scenes, deliberately collected and cultivated.

For many reasons, there were especially many beauties in Nanjing.

Yan Xiaobai, one of the beauties that Yang Hu and the others had just seen.

She and her companions arrived at the company and saw a huge poster with many photos of beauties on it.

This was the latest issue of the beauty pageant results, in which an organization had selected the top ten folk beauties.

It was the top ten folk beauties, not including the imperial concubines in the palace, which the organization clearly stated.

After all, no one dared to say that those imperial consorts were not more beautiful than the folk women.

At the same time, they were not qualified to criticize the imperial concubines in the palace.

Therefore, the organization specifically noted that this selection was entirely for folk women.

“If I could make the list once, I’d die happy.”

Yan Xiaobai said.

As a woman, being recognized by everyone for her looks was also a supreme achievement.

“Wake up. Don’t say our looks are far from theirs. Even if we were as beautiful as them, it wouldn’t be our turn. This kind of selection isn’t entirely about comparing looks.

If it were just about looks, our company’s Liu Piaopiao could definitely make the list. But the reality is, without someone promoting her, she doesn’t even have the qualifications to be selected.”

Her companion, Zeng Yilan, complained.

This beauty pageant was far more complicated than it seemed on the surface, with countless power struggles involved, and not really just about who was more beautiful.

You had to know that if you could reach the top and become the number one beauty, the increase in fame would be terrifying.

In the age of information explosion, ordinary people received too much information and couldn’t remember it all, so they could only choose to remember selectively.

Therefore, they often could only remember the first one.

Just like most people knew that the world’s highest peak was Mount Everest, but didn’t know that the second highest peak, K2, wasn’t much shorter than Mount Everest.

The gap between the first place and the following places was very large, and the gap between being on the list and not being on the list was even greater.

The former could at least become famous, it was just a matter of the size of the fame.

But for those who weren’t on the list, it would be difficult to be known by others.

As long as you were on the list and became famous, your worth would immediately skyrocket. More people would buy your movies, and you would be able to receive more advertisements and commercial activities.

Even your status could be greatly improved.

Ordinary beauties could only be manipulated by capital.

But if you were a famous and influential beauty, there would be capital chasing after you.

These were all common benefits. If you were lucky, there was even a certain chance that you could be selected for the palace.

The Great Hua beauty pageant was held every three years, and had already been held five times. Zhou Yuanyuan, the number one beauty in the third pageant, was noticed by the people of the Imperial Household Department because she reached the top, and then, because she met the conditions, was brought into the palace to serve the emperor.

Also, the third-place beauty in the fourth pageant was taken as a concubine by Wu Gang.

The second-place beauty in the second pageant successfully attracted the attention of Zhong Xueyan and successfully rose to become Mrs. Zhong.

Other beauties who made the list had all gained benefits to some extent.

“If only someone would promote me, like He Xuan.”

Yan Xiaobai pointed to the seventh-ranked beauty on the list.

Among the top ten beauties, the looks of the other nine were between ninety-five and ninety-seven points, making it difficult to distinguish between them.

Only He Xuan, who was ranked seventh, had looks that were half a level lower, at most just over ninety points.

If you didn’t look closely, the others were not much worse than He Xuan.

The reason why He Xuan was able to make the list was mainly because someone was promoting her, and she had a lot of fame, with fame as an added bonus.

He Xuan’s looks were not top-notch, but her talents were top-notch, and she was good at pleasing people.

Therefore, she had a very important fan, Prince Qin.

Prince Qin already had many women, and he was tired. Therefore, even though he liked He Xuan very much, he didn’t take her, but just became a die-hard fan.

Others, for his sake, voted for He Xuan a lot, allowing He Xuan to make the list.

For those beauties who were not first-rate, they needed a fan like Prince Qin to make the list.

For Western European girls, they used to expect a Prince Charming. For Central Plains girls, they used to expect a top scholar.

But now, their greatest wish was to wait for a heavyweight fan like Prince Qin.

Chapter 1095: Metropolis

On the list of the top ten beauties in the country, besides women from the Central Plains, there were also three foreign women.

They were Qin Shuang, ranked second, originally named Pantaya, from Persia. Yin Yue, ranked third, originally named Sarabova, from Eastern Europe. And Qiao Lian, ranked eighth, originally named Ohashi Hisana, from Japan.

According to statistics, nearly forty thousand people of other ethnicities live in Nanjing, accounting for about 0.5% of the total population.

Here, you can often see beauties full of exotic charm.

Blonde hair and blue eyes, long legs, high nose bridge, big eyes.

Most of them are beautiful women; there are relatively few men.

The reason is simple: it is too difficult for people of other ethnicities to obtain the qualifications to live in Nanjing.

And most of those beauties are concubines of powerful and wealthy people.

There are also a small number of super beauties in the entertainment industry; only they can support themselves in Nanjing, this den of luxury.

Moreover, it is only temporary.

Once they are past their prime, they still have to find a Great Hua man to marry.

“No gigs again. Going to the Metropolis tonight?”

Yan Xiaobai asked.

The Great Hua film industry is developing rapidly, but the influx of practitioners is even faster.

This leads to actors finding it very difficult to get a role in a film.

Faced with this situation, they either choose to change careers or do some part-time work; otherwise, it is difficult to support themselves.

Yan Xiaobai and Zeng Yilan belong to the latter; when they don’t have any filming work, they go to the Metropolis to dance with people and earn some extra money.

“Don’t want to go.”

Zeng Yilan said.

Although dancing with people is not considered selling oneself, it is inevitable to be groped by those men while dancing.

Moreover, because many of the dancers who dance with people also sell themselves, the reputation of the dancers is not very good.

“I envy you, someone who doesn’t have to worry about rent. Although I don’t want to go either, I have no choice but to go.”

Yan Xiaobai pouted.

In a shantytown in the south of the city, Yang Hu was still recalling the beauty he had seen during the day.

Yang Bao came over with a bottle of beer and laughed, “Still thinking about that woman?”

“No.” Yang Hu quickly denied.

However, his acting skills were too clumsy; even a child couldn’t be fooled.

“Stop thinking about it; she’s not your type. What you need to do is honestly earn money and then go back to the village to marry an ordinary girl. The one you saw during the day is not suitable to be a wife.”

Yang Bao said.

“Why do you say she’s not suitable to be a wife?”

Yang Hu was unhappy that his goddess was being slandered.

“Why? Because I’ve been in Nanjing for three years. I can tell what kind of woman she is at a glance. Right now, she probably doesn’t know which man’s bed she’s lying in.”

Yang Bao said.

These words almost angered Yang Hu, but Yang Hu didn’t dare to do anything and could only choose to ignore this annoying guy. In his opinion, his goddess could not be that kind of woman.

In the Metropolis, Yan Xiaobai was being held by a man, swaying in the dance floor.

On the stage, a second-tier singer was singing the song “Dancing Girl” in revealing clothes.

“How many people shed blood and tears for life, who can they tell their sorrows to?”

“Ah…”

“Who can understand the sadness of being a dancing girl?”

“Secretly shedding tears, but also smiling at people.”

“Ah…”

“Come, come, come dance, the steps begin to sway, regardless of who anyone else is.”

“Life, a dream.”

…

“Young Master Wang, please don’t.”

Yan Xiaobai patted Young Master Wang’s groping hand, but she didn’t dare to use force, for fear of offending the customer.

She only earns two hundred for dancing one song, and a complaint will deduct five hundred.

“You can’t earn much money just by dancing with people. Why not go out with me tonight? I’ll pay three thousand.”

Young Master Wang said.

He had been coveting Yan Xiaobai for more than a day or two, but unfortunately, Yan Xiaobai only danced, which made him very annoyed.

“Thank you for Young Master Wang’s kindness, but I’ll pass.”

…

Pa.

“You have to drink today, whether you want to or not.”

After dancing, Young Master Wang wanted Yan Xiaobai to accompany him in drinking.

Dancing girls can also get a commission for accompanying drinks. However, Yan Xiaobai didn’t want the commission at this time because she felt like she was about to get drunk.

If Zeng Yilan was here, she could have her friend take her back when she was drunk.

But now that she was alone, she didn’t dare to get drunk.

However, Young Master Wang deliberately made things difficult for her.

“This is the last cup; I really can’t do it anymore.”

Yan Xiaobai pleaded.

“Okay, finish this cup first.”

In the end, Yan Xiaobai was still forced to get drunk.

The next day, when she woke up, it was already noon.

The place had also changed to a hotel room, and there were five thousand on the table.

Old industrial area in the south of the city.

“My goodness, why tear down such good houses?”

Yang Hu looked at the rows of factory buildings in front of him, very puzzled.

“I heard they’re tearing them down to build hotels.”

Yang Bao said.

“Can’t they build hotels somewhere else? Why do they have to tear down these houses?”

Yang Hu didn’t understand.

“I don’t know about that; rich people are just messing around. Don’t worry about it; just focus on your work.”

Yang Bao was impatient; among all the people, Yang Hu had the most nonsense.

“It’s such a pity to tear down such good houses; it hurts my heart to tear them down.”

Yang Hu complained.

In his hometown, no one’s house is as beautiful as these factory buildings.

Not far from them, Qi Xuan, the director of the Municipal Planning Bureau, was inspecting with a group of subordinates, occasionally giving some instructions.

“Nanjing is, after all, under the Emperor’s feet; it is the face of Great Hua, and the population is large, so the living environment is the top priority; the economy can be put in second place. Therefore, these factories must be relocated to other cities as soon as possible…”

In the past, Great Hua built many factories in Nanjing for development, including some industries that were prone to pollution.

This was unavoidable because in the past, talents and capital were concentrated in Nanjing, and other places could not develop at all.

It was too expensive to open factories in other places.

Now, with the increasing land prices and labor costs in Nanjing, it is no longer cost-effective to open factories in Nanjing; instead, other places are more suitable.

Moreover, the infrastructure in other cities is becoming more and more complete; places like Wuhu have established very complete industrial systems.

As early as a few years ago, some factories with poor efficiency began to relocate.

However, this speed was still too slow.

In order to complete Nanjing’s transformation, its mayor made a series of plans, requiring the relocation of those noisy, polluting, and unnecessary factories to other places.

In the future, Nanjing will only focus on finance, entertainment, and other service industries, as well as high-tech industries.

This is a good thing for Nanjing and other cities. After the factories are relocated, Nanjing’s living environment can be improved.

And other backward areas can also welcome more companies to settle in, which can increase jobs and drive regional economic development.

As for the environment, that is something that will be considered after there is money.

Chapter 1096: City Transformation

Yan Xiaobai reported the crime to the authorities, and Young Master Wang was quickly arrested.

This was the capital, the place where the Great Hua’s laws were most complete and their enforcement was the strictest.

After all, this place represented the face of Great Hua.

The people of the world were watching this place.

If it were in some remote area, Young Master Wang would definitely have been fine. After all, Yan Xiaobai’s status as a dancer made her vulnerable to discrimination and prejudice.

And Young Master Wang’s status and position were enough to make some officials treat him with caution.

As long as Young Master Wang’s family greased some palms, this matter could have been swept under the rug.

However, this was the capital.

A dragon coiled, a tiger crouched.

The son of a mere wealthy merchant, if he committed a crime, there was nothing to say. Everything was handled according to the law.

Young Master Wang was punished, but Yan Xiaobai also lost her part-time job.

The nightclub chose to close down and relocate to Shanghai.

The Yan Xiaobai incident was a reason, but not the only one. It was also due to the general trend.

Relatively speaking, the atmosphere in the capital was more serious than in Shanghai.

The people here usually liked to chat about politics. At the same time, they were more responsible and liked to report things.

If entertainment venues were opened in the capital, officials and social celebrities wouldn’t dare to go there often for the sake of their image, let alone have too much fun.

Under the Emperor’s feet, there was always a feeling of restraint, unable to fully enjoy oneself.

This led to nightclubs being less profitable in the capital than in Shanghai, so some people chose to relocate.

Another reason was that in the latest session of meetings, Nanjing was positioned as the political center, cultural center, and technology center.

Economically, it wasn’t pursuing growth as much.

In order to establish the city’s image, the government’s management of entertainment venues was stricter and the reviews were more demanding.

Due to various factors, the entertainment and financial industries were shifting to Shanghai.

Some scholars had divided the cities of Great Hua into several types: central cities, industrial cities, resource cities, transportation hubs, tourist cities, and military strongholds.

Among them, Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Wuhan all belonged to central cities.

These places were often the center of a certain region, with developed service, finance, and entertainment industries, and had a strong influence on the surrounding areas.

The second category was industrial cities, with a relatively single industry, relying on industry, such as Wuhu and Zhaoqing.

Of course, these industrial cities could be further subdivided. For example, Wuhu had more heavy industry, while Foshan had more developed light industry.

The economies of these cities were actually very developed, but they didn’t have the same prosperous scene as central cities.

Many bosses opened factories in these industrial cities to make money, and then took the money to Nanjing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou to spend.

High-end service industries hadn’t yet developed in these cities, and there was no way to spend the money.

The third category was resource cities, which relied on mining and selling resources for development.

For example, Huainan, Datong, Daqing, and so on.

These cities were still doing well, but many insightful people could see that once the resources were exhausted, these places would decline.

Industrial cities could at least drive a large number of supporting industries and create a large number of jobs.

In these resource-based cities, five out of ten people were miners, and the industry was relatively monotonous.

Transportation hub cities: Tianjin, Xuzhou, Zhengzhou, and so on.

These places where railways converged could bring a lot of wealth and drive a large number of jobs simply through transportation.

Military cities were mainly distributed in some overseas ports.

For example, Ceuta, Hai Shan, and so on.

This was just a simple classification. In reality, central cities were often also transportation hubs, and even had developed industries at the same time. Some resource-based cities had also developed good industries, and some economically developed cities were also tourist cities, such as Suzhou.

There were many places with more beautiful scenery than Suzhou, but in the current situation where transportation wasn’t developed enough, Suzhou received the most tourists.

The capital’s position was as a political center, cultural center, and technology center.

Politics naturally didn’t need to be said, and in terms of culture, it was mainly reflected in higher education institutions.

Of the ten largest and most famous universities in Great Hua, five were in Nanjing, accounting for half of the total.

The remaining two were in Shanghai, two in Guangzhou, and one in Suzhou.

Cities like Edo and Delhi, although large in scale and population, had far lower levels of education than the cities of the Central Plains.

This wasn’t Great Hua deliberately suppressing them.

As Great Hua’s control over overseas territories grew stronger, the government was actually relaxing its control over all aspects.

For example, in Edo, except for not being allowed to open military factories, other industries, whether heavy industry, manufacturing, or even high-tech industries, could be developed, and even the government provided technical support.

The reason why overseas education levels lagged behind the Central Plains was mainly due to a lack of top-notch teaching resources.

Most high-level professors were unwilling to teach overseas.

They were treated like national treasures in the Central Plains, so why would they go overseas?

Without these talents, the level of universities in those overseas places would naturally be difficult to improve.

Although they were working hard to develop, the Central Plains had too great an advantage in terms of foundation.

The five universities in Nanjing had cultivated too many talents, and their reputation was too great, having become the first choice for scholars all over the world.

The most outstanding talents in the world were concentrated in these universities.

Once this dominant position was established, it was very difficult for other places to break it.

Just like Oxford and Harvard in later generations.

The most powerful teachers, the most advanced teaching equipment, resources, and the most top-notch talents gathered together, it would be difficult not to succeed.

In addition to top universities, Nanjing also had a very large number of ordinary universities.

Over the years, these universities had provided countless talents for Great Hua.

The national education policy that began more than ten years ago had begun to bear fruit by the eighteenth year of Yongxing.

In the Central Plains alone, the literacy rate had reached at least fifty percent.

Some twenty-first century countries couldn’t even reach this level.

The overseas situation was slightly worse, but the overall literacy rate was also above eight percent and was increasing rapidly.

It was expected that in the next few years, it would be raised to about thirty percent.

At that time, as long as one out of a thousand people was a talent, hundreds of thousands of talents could be cultivated every year.

Great Hua’s latest education plan was to ensure that every third-tier city had a university, and every second-tier city had a key university.

As for middle schools, every county must have one to ensure that it could accommodate the students in the county and increase the enrollment rate from primary school to middle school.

Basic education should be popularized to rural areas, striving for complete literacy.

Technology was the primary productive force, and education was the foundation of technological popularization.

No amount of emphasis on education was too much.

Moreover, as long as one was willing to invest, the long-term benefits would be far higher than investments in other areas.

Chapter 1097: The Cutting Edge of Technology

West City Science and Technology Park is Nanjing’s largest, and also the largest science and technology center in the country and the world.

All of Great Hua’s current advanced inventions and scientific research are completed in this science and technology park.

The number of people engaged in research there has reached more than fifty thousand.

There are even more supporting staff.

This is also the place Wu Changqing visits most frequently, apart from the Imperial Palace.

In June of Yongxing eighteen, Wu Changqing once again came to West City Science and Technology Park to inspect and pay attention to the most cutting-edge technologies.

The first stop was the Rocket Research Institute, where scientists are studying the manufacture of rockets and satellites.

The theory of rocket launching has been thoroughly understood by these people, and the next step is to transform the theory into reality.

This process is actually not easy and requires the cooperation of various other departments.

For example, if the research on high-temperature resistant materials cannot keep up, they will not be able to manufacture rockets that can fly out of the Earth.

Fortunately, Great Hua’s material research is also progressing very rapidly now.

Various special alloys and high-molecular polymers that are resistant to high and low temperatures are emerging one after another.

“How long will it take to complete the first test flight?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Your Majesty, it will only take another half a year to complete the experiment and be ready for launch,”

said Liu Wen, the person in charge of the project.

In fact, they have already built two rockets, but they are still in the experimental stage.

Only after passing the experimental verification and ensuring that everything is foolproof, will they dare to report it and conduct the first test launch in front of the people.

If it is hastily made public and fails during the first test launch, it will obviously be a loss of face for the emperor and will also dampen the confidence of the people.

Although this is not a major event, Liu Wen still hopes to avoid this kind of thing from happening, so the progress of the project is so slow.

“I await your good news,”

Wu Changqing said.

After inspecting the rocket project, Wu Changqing came to the Computer Research Institute.

The computer project has been established for several years, but progress has been slow.

This slowness does not mean that it cannot be manufactured, but that it cannot be mass-produced.

In fact, because Wu Changqing provided the theory and manufacturing process, computers were manufactured very early on.

However, the first computer manufactured was a full four meters long, three meters wide, and more than two meters high, weighing more than ten tons.

The success of this computer can only prove that the theory of computers is correct, but it is useless.

Not to mention that ordinary people cannot afford it, even those research institutes and large factories that require a lot of calculations are unwilling to use this thing.

After completing the manufacture of the first computer, Mi Hong and others turned their research direction to miniaturization.

The main focus is on the research of integrated circuits and transistors.

After two rounds of downsizing and improvement, the computer that Wu Changqing sees now is only half a meter long, only two or three times larger than a desktop computer in later generations.

This size is already in use by many research institutes.

Some companies that require a lot of calculations are also willing to purchase it.

However, there is still a long way to go before it becomes popular.

It still needs to be further miniaturized, cheaper, and a network needs to be established.

Currently, the cost of manufacturing such a third-generation computer is at least one hundred thousand yuan, which ordinary people definitely cannot afford.

Even the rich rarely buy it, because the current computer functions are still quite simple.

In addition to providing fast calculations, it has no other uses.

If you want computers to become popular, the most important link is the establishment of a network.

Only by establishing a network can computers become efficient and ‘fun’.

“You can leave the miniaturization and cost reduction to your assistants. From now on, your research direction will be networking.”

Wu Changqing brought a wealth of information to Mi Hong during this inspection.

It introduces the concept of networking, as well as development technologies, and so on.

“Is this the network technology that Your Majesty mentioned last time? It’s truly a god-like idea.”

Mi Hong sighed again.

The technology to realize networking is actually not difficult, the key lies in this flash of inspiration.

There are as many as hundreds of scientific researchers involved in the research and manufacture of computers. They are in contact with computers every day and know the principles of computers like the back of their hands.

However, over the years, none of them thought of connecting different computers together, let alone what would happen after connecting these computers together.

This is actually normal, just like ordinary people rarely think about why apples fall down, they simply don’t think about this aspect.

Even if someone thinks about it, because the reasoning is too profound, they just think about it and give up.

It is precisely because of this that those moments of inspiration are so important.

What makes Mi Hong most convinced is that Wu Changqing seems to always have inspiration, and can foresee the development of everything in the world in advance.

Sometimes, Mi Hong also feels that Wu Changqing is a god from heaven.

Although with the rapid development of science and technology and the popularization of scientific knowledge, fewer and fewer people believe in gods.

However, when faced with some inexplicable phenomena, even a great inventor like Mi Hong can’t help but think about gods.

“Complete this task as soon as possible and realize network informatization in Great Hua. This is the most important development project in Great Hua, and I will fully provide all support. Whether you need people or money, just submit a report.”

Wu Changqing gave important instructions.

He also has a little selfishness, wanting to establish a network as soon as possible, so that there can be more fun in life.

Of course, the most important reason is that informatization has a great impetus for social development.

After realizing networking, communication between people and remote collaboration will become extremely convenient.

After inspecting the computer project, Wu Changqing also inspected the laser project, the air passenger plane project, and semiconductor research, and so on.

These projects are developing rapidly under his guidance.

With the theoretical guidance provided by Wu Changqing, those scientists only need to understand and comprehend these theories, and then manufacture according to these theories.

“This butterfly of mine has advanced the technology of this world by three hundred years.”

After visiting the science and technology park, Wu Changqing sighed in his heart.

If you don’t look at the outside world, just look at the scenes in the science and technology park, you can completely believe that this is the level of development in the nineteen-sixties.

This speed far exceeded Wu Changqing’s imagination. He originally thought that it would be difficult to improve the development level of the entire society by relying on himself alone.

But now he realizes that he has underestimated human creativity and the vitality of the entire society.

In fact, what is most lacking in the history of human development are those flashes of inspiration.

Whenever a genius idea is born, society will take a leap forward.

And he is now constantly throwing out those technologies, it is difficult for this society not to develop.

Chapter 1098: Intellectual Enlightenment

As early as the fifteenth year of Yongxing, the famous Great Hua economist Zhang Jiuzhu published his work, The Wealth of Nations.

The first printing of the book reached one million copies, and more than eighty percent of them had already been pre-ordered, leaving less than two hundred thousand copies to enter the market.

There were many reasons for this success.

First, Zhang Jiuzhu was famous enough. In the previous years, he had continuously published articles in the Great Hua Economic Weekly, putting forward a series of brilliant viewpoints, which had won the recognition of many people and accumulated many fans.

Secondly, the economy was the most concerning issue in Great Hua at the moment, with its level of attention even surpassing foreign wars.

The economy was the most important indicator for evaluating local officials. In order to boost the local economy, these officials were racking their brains.

It wasn’t businessmen who subscribed to the Economic Weekly, but officials.

Wars had existed since ancient times, and everyone had studied them for thousands of years, so they were no longer a novelty.

Economics, on the other hand, was a concept that had only emerged in the last decade or so, with high popularity and little research.

Naturally, any research results would attract much attention.

After a great deal of research, Zhang Jiuzhu finally organized and unified his views, and eventually wrote this The Wealth of Nations.

The content, of course, was about the fundamental, or rather, deep-seated reasons why a country becomes wealthy.

According to the original historical development, Adam Smith was the first to conduct this research in the eighteenth century.

Now, Adam Smith was irrelevant. The rapid economic development of Great Hua led to the birth of a large number of complex economic phenomena, which naturally prompted people to study them.

In this process, some talents naturally emerged.

The publication of Zhang Jiuzhu’s The Wealth of Nations also showed that the people of Great Hua were by no means less intelligent than people of any other ethnicity.

As long as there was a suitable environment, talents in this field could be nurtured.

After its publication, The Wealth of Nations became a sacred book in the hands of many businessmen and officials, and even became their guiding ideology for governing and doing business.

Whenever they encountered problems, they would look for answers in The Wealth of Nations.

In recent years, The Wealth of Nations has played a positive role in the rapid economic development of Great Hua.

By July of the eighteenth year of Yongxing, the circulation of The Wealth of Nations had reached five million copies.

However, at this time, The Wealth of Nations was challenged.

Another economist, Chen He, published his book, Das Kapital.

Compared with The Wealth of Nations, Das Kapital looked at the depth of the problem more profoundly.

The Wealth of Nations only discussed the relationship between things, while Das Kapital discussed the relationship between people through appearances.

The Wealth of Nations vigorously promoted the benefits of a free economy, but Das Kapital profoundly revealed the inevitable crises of capitalism. Moreover, it inferred a more advanced social form than capitalism.

For some truly intelligent people, it was actually relatively easy to judge that Das Kapital was more correct than The Wealth of Nations.

However, after its publication, the sales of Das Kapital were far less than those of The Wealth of Nations.

The first edition was ten thousand copies, and it hadn’t even sold out yet.

On the one hand, Chen He’s reputation was not as great as Zhang Jiuzhu’s, and on the other hand, Das Kapital was too advanced.

Although there were examples in society used for argumentation in the book, the number was not large.

At least, the current people of Great Hua could not see any signs of an economic crisis in this society at all.

The economic trend of this society was very good. The examples cited by Chen He were just isolated cases and were not representative.

In the mainstream view, Chen He’s book was too wishful thinking. Many of the arguments were based on logical speculation and lacked evidence to support them.

In fact, Chen He was not one hundred percent confident in his own work.

Although he logically deduced that a free economy would definitely experience an economic crisis, this crisis had not appeared in Great Hua for a long time.

Of course, this was not his fault.

The main reason was that he had encountered Wu Changqing as an opponent. Before the social economic crisis broke out, Wu Changqing had taken some measures to avoid the emergence of this crisis.

What made Chen He even more depressed was that he was sued because of this book and was thrown into prison.

There was no way, after all, Great Hua was now an empire.

However, Chen He’s book claimed that a social system was superior to the imperial system.

What did he want to do? Did he want to call on the vast working class and peasants to overthrow the rule of the Divine Emperor?

With this kind of speech, it was fortunate that Great Hua currently had freedom of speech and an extremely open social atmosphere.

If it had been in the past, a charge of rebellion would definitely have been inevitable.

Now, the court’s judgment on Chen He was ‘reckless remarks’, and he was fined to publicly admit in the newspaper that Das Kapital was not perfect, but only personal wishful thinking, and there were many mistakes in it.

This kind of punishment can be said to be as light as it could be.

The reason why the sentence was so light was mainly because everyone regarded Chen He’s remarks as a joke.

Just like in the twenty-first century, if someone wrote a book saying that people and animals should be equal and that dog meat should not be eaten, most people would treat him as a joke, and would not think that he wanted to lead the dogs on Earth to rebel and create a world of equality between humans and dogs.

In the current Great Hua, everyone felt that it was a matter of course for Wu Changqing to be the emperor and to be superior to others.

Not many people would think that they should be equal to Wu Changqing.

Just like most people in later generations felt that people should be superior to other animals.

Chen He was punished, but he didn’t have much resentment.

He himself understood that his remarks were a bit excessive. However, his research supported his ideas, which was what made him suffer.

After being released from prison, Chen He continued his research. He wanted to improve Das Kapital so that it could explain all economic phenomena and make it impossible for others to refute it.

Like Chen He, there were several other people who had published some ‘inappropriate’ remarks.

For example, the great thinker Yuan Jie, he wrote a book on The Origin and Basis of Human Inequality, which talked about why there were classes in human society.

However, this book was resisted by the current mainstream ideology of Great Hua.

Moreover, Yuan Jie was also arrested.

The one who tried him was Li Yao, a senior official of Great Hua and of the Supreme Court.

Li Yao did not say that Yuan Jie’s views were wrong, but said that Yuan Jie’s views were meaningless and would only do harm to Great Hua.

With the development of the economy, the ideological circles of Great Hua were also developing rapidly.

Among them, some people began to think about the issue of human equality.

Of course, these people could not make any waves at the moment. In the eyes of most people, they were heretics.

Great Hua is doing well now, why should we think about changing it?

To put it bluntly, before Great Hua suffers an economic crisis and begins to decline, most people are unwilling to change the status quo.

These thinkers are destined to be lonely.

Chapter 1099: System Update

In the nineteenth year of Yongxing, some Great Hua citizens also settled in northern Canada, and Great Hua’s territory officially exceeded one hundred million square kilometers.

After that, Wu Changqing’s system began to update.

It didn’t take long, just a few hours.

However, the content of the update left Wu Changqing dumbfounded.

Even though he had experienced the bizarre event of time-travel, he was still shocked.

“Is this world I’m in actually real?”

Wu Changqing couldn’t help but have such a thought.

When he first traveled to this era, Wu Changqing didn’t have time to doubt the world because the enemy was about to attack.

After resolving the crisis, he did wonder if he was just a character in the story of some extremely ugly bastard.

After all, that’s how online novels in his original timeline were.

However, because this world was too real, he rejected the idea.

Every blade of grass and every tree in this world was so clear, and everyone had flesh and blood, vividly lifelike. Even their expressions, joys, sorrows, and angers were all clear.

Wu Changqing felt that a novel world couldn’t be written in such detail.

In short, after a few days of doubt, Wu Changqing stopped dwelling on this boring question.

He only knew that he could feel joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness in this world, and he could feel pain and pleasure. Therefore, whether this world was real or virtual didn’t matter.

Even if it was virtual, he still had to do what he had to do.

Having lived in this world for twenty years, Wu Changqing hadn’t thought about this question for a long time.

However, with this system update, Wu Changqing once again doubted his real existence.

Because after the system update, this world became too strange, completely devoid of any scientific basis.

After the system update, a gate to another world appeared in Antarctica, leading to an alien continent.

According to the system’s introduction, the area of that alien continent was ten thousand times that of Earth.

And on the alien continent, there were countless resources.

Gold, oil, rare earths, their quantities were millions of times that of Earth.

In addition, there were all sorts of other magical things.

For example, immortal fruits that could increase lifespan by a small amount, indestructible materials, and incredible species…

The system stipulated that expansion to the alien continent could only begin after the territory of Earth exceeded one hundred million square kilometers.

Furthermore, the system also reminded Wu Changqing that he wasn’t the only one who had traveled to ancient times. There were a total of one hundred, scattered across different planes.

Among them were Chinese and foreigners.

These people, like Wu Changqing, had all traveled to 1645, but they were attached to different people.

Some of the Chinese became Zhu Yihai, some became Li Chengdong, and some even became Dorgon.

As for those foreigners, some traveled to become a European monarch, general, or soldier.

Some also traveled to the Americas and became pioneers.

There were also people who traveled to the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and Japan.

Moreover, these people had the same system as Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing felt that this was a bit like a game.

A creator god suddenly became interested, selected one hundred modern people and threw them into ancient times, then watched them develop, and when these people had developed enough, they would be brought together to fight.

Just like humans playing with crickets or watching cockfights.

Wu Changqing was a little depressed. He didn’t like having a supreme god above him.

However, he couldn’t change anything and had to follow the system’s rules.

If he didn’t continue to develop and defeat others, other time-travelers would come and destroy him.

Because after the gate to another world opened, the armies of other time-travelers could enter his plane through the gate.

“Damn, there are people even better than me.”

As the system continued to introduce things, Wu Changqing cursed.

The system listed a ranking of these one hundred time-travelers.

Among them, on the territorial area ranking, Wu Changqing was only ranked eleventh.

In other words, ten players had already entered the alien continent and started plundering resources and expanding their territories.

Wu Changqing’s ranking of eleventh wasn’t too bad.

The fifteen time-travelers who fared the worst had already been killed by the natives for various reasons.

Seeing the names of those fifteen guys crossed out on the list, Wu Changqing almost couldn’t help but laugh.

He was very curious how those fifteen guys died with such a powerful system.

“I can’t be complacent anymore.”

Wu Changqing sighed.

In recent years, because he was already invincible in this world, he had become lazy and gave less guidance on the development of Great Hua, focusing more on enjoying life.

But now, after learning that he still had eighty-four opponents, a sense of urgency suddenly arose.

He believed that among those eighty-four guys, there must be war maniacs who would aim to monopolize the other world and those one hundred worlds.

In other words, if he didn’t work hard to develop, his life would be in danger in the future. The prosperous age he had created would also be conquered by others.

It would be fine if it was conquered by a force of fellow Han people, but if it was conquered by a force led by a foreign time-traveler, he estimated that the people of the Great Hua Empire would be enslaved.

And this was something Wu Changqing couldn’t tolerate.

Even if only to prevent all of this from happening, he had to work hard. As for whether this world was real or not, it no longer mattered.

What’s more, after the system update, some new products appeared in the system store that made him go crazy and that he couldn’t refuse.

Longevity Fruit: Increases lifespan by one year after consumption, priced at one million resource points.

Immortal Spring Fruit: Slows down aging by ten years after consumption, priced at one million resource points.

Unfailing Pill: Increases sexual performance by fifty percent, priced at one million resource points.

Controllable Nuclear Fusion Reactor: Ten million resource points.

Controllable Nuclear Fusion Technology: One hundred million technology points.

Electromagnetic Railgun Transportation Technology: One hundred million technology points.

Intelligent Combat Robot Technology: One hundred million technology points.

…

No one can resist the temptation of eternal life, no man doesn’t want to be potent in bed, and no one would refuse the opportunity to create a new era.

However, these things could only be fantasies for others, while Wu Changqing and his eighty-four opponents had the opportunity to realize them.

As long as they worked hard to develop, plundered resources in the alien continent, and defeated their opponents.

Then, they could acquire enough territory and rule more people.

With enough technology points and resource points, they could achieve all of this.

No one could resist this temptation, and Wu Changqing was no exception.

Seeing the good things in the system store, he only felt a surge of excitement. He was going to re-equip and get back into the fight.

Chapter 1100: Formidable Opponents

After the system update, Wu Changqing’s attribute panel also underwent some changes.

Host: Wu Changqing.

Current territory area: one hundred and two million four hundred thousand square kilometers, total resource points: three billion seventy-two million, remaining: two hundred and ninety million.

Current jurisdiction population: eight hundred and twenty million four hundred thousand, total technology points: eight hundred and twenty million four hundred thousand, remaining: seven hundred million.

Comprehensive Strength Index: 1023, ranked sixth.

This comprehensive strength refers to a comprehensive evaluation of a power’s territory, population, technological level, economy, culture, military, and many other aspects.

Although Wu Changqing’s territory area only ranks eleventh, the system recognizes that his comprehensive strength ranks sixth.

The reason is that among the players in front of him, some of them disregarded economic development and expanded blindly.

There are also players who do not pay attention to ethnic integration, and rebellions continue in the conquered areas, which will also reduce the evaluation of comprehensive strength.

In general, Wu Changqing is doing pretty well.

Even the few guys ranked ahead of him have some advantages in luck.

For example, the number one power, the British Empire, whose monarch James is possessed by the King of Great Britain.

He doesn’t need to spend time on unification wars like Wu Changqing, and in 1645, Great Britain’s technological foundation was much more advanced than Great Ming.

After James transmigrated, he spent two years unifying Europe, and then swept the world.

The power ranked second is called the Great Ming Empire, monarch Zhu Yujian.

He is possessed by Prince Tang Zhu Yujian, and his starting point is also better than Wu Changqing’s.

Wu Changqing started with only three hundred people, but Zhu Yujian could mobilize the entire power of the Southern Ming.

Those ranked ahead of Wu Changqing are basically because their starting points were better than Wu Changqing’s.

After understanding the situation of others, and then looking at his own ranking, Wu Changqing is still quite satisfied.

Comprehensive Strength Ranking:

First, British Empire, James, Strength Index 2012.

Second, Great Ming Empire, Zhu Yujian, Strength Index 1902.

Third, Glorious France, Louis, Strength Index 1827.

Fourth, Great Han Empire, Wu Sangui, Strength Index 1352.

Fifth, Germanic Will, William, Strength Index 1102.

Sixth, Great Hua Empire, Wu Changqing, Strength Index 1023.

Seventh, Habsburg Confederation, Carlos, Strength Index 992.

Eighth, Mughal Empire, Aurangzeb, Strength Index 988.

Ninth, American Confederation, Joris, Strength Index 977.

Tenth, Great Japan Empire, Koizumi Shinzo, Strength Index 965.

Eleventh, Qing Dynasty Empire, Tong Youcai (possessed by Dorgon), Strength Index 935.

These are all forces that have opened the gate of time and space, and the forces behind are still working hard to unify the world.

There is even a transmigrator named Yuan Kai who gave up expansion after unifying the Central Plains and instead developed behind closed doors.

There is also a transmigrator named Mike who only cares about finding beautiful women around the world. His body has been hollowed out and he is about to become the sixteenth casualty.

His death may be the most comfortable.

“Let Li Shaobin, Liu Hansan, Wang Dayong, and Dai Zhijun come to see me.”

Wu Changqing ordered.

He decided to re-enable these meritorious officials and let them explore other worlds.

This is to appease them. After all, the merits of the new generation of generals are already close to theirs.

If the new generation of generals continue to make contributions, then the rewards will be a big problem.

If there are no rewards, the new generation of generals will have opinions. If there are rewards, it will put them on an equal footing with Li Shaobin and the others, and the veterans will have opinions.

Maybe they will have other thoughts in their minds.

For example, supporting a certain prince to launch a coup and gain merit from following the dragon.

Li Shaobin and the others are still very young, and it is not appropriate to let them start retirement now.

Therefore, Wu Changqing simply delegated power and let them lead troops again.

At worst, he will grant them a few kingdoms in the future.

There is so much territory in other worlds, it doesn’t matter if you give some to your subordinates.

Moreover, there are many black technologies in the system store. In the future, there will be opportunities to explore the universe and conduct interstellar colonization.

At that time, Wu Changqing felt that he would find the land too much and too big.

“Greetings, Your Majesty.”

Seeing Wu Changqing, Li Shaobin and the others were confused, not understanding why Wu Changqing suddenly summoned them.

Dai Zhijun, who was timid, was already worried that Wu Changqing was going to slaughter meritorious officials.

Although Wu Changqing had not done this before, who knows if he would now?

“Sit down, I have something important to tell you.”

Wu Changqing said.

Everyone took their seats, guessing what the important matter was.

Establishing an heir? Or a full-scale offensive? Or some kind of reform?

“The people from the Intelligence Bureau told me that a gate of time and space has been discovered at the South Pole, which can lead to another world. Therefore, I need someone to explore that unknown world for me.”

Wu Changqing made up a reason.

“Another world?”

Li Shaobin said in surprise.

In recent years, he has been idle at home. When he is bored, he also reads a lot of books and learns a lot of scientific knowledge.

In his limited knowledge, there is only one world, and the gate of time and space is also a fantasy of some scientists, which is not recognized by the mainstream academic community.

But now, Wu Changqing actually told him that in addition to this universe, there is actually another world.

“Well, according to my speculation, this other world is very large, and it contains many resources that are scarce or non-existent on Earth. Therefore, this other world is very important to us.”

Wu Changqing said.

“Your Majesty, give me this task, and I will definitely expand the territory for you again.”

Liu Hansan said excitedly.

This is a good opportunity to come back. Although he doesn’t understand why Wu Changqing is re-enabling him, it is right to seize this opportunity anyway.

Not only did he ask for a fight, Wang Dayong also asked for a fight.

Wang Dayong thought more simply, he just couldn’t stay idle and wanted to find something to do.

He doesn’t know how to do anything else, so he can only fight.

“Good, your courage is commendable, I am very pleased.”

Afterwards, Wu Changqing discussed with them in detail.

In the end, Wu Changqing decided to let Liu Hansan and Wang Dayong take two divisions to explore the way first, while Dai Zhijun was responsible for the logistics of the two.

There are many things to prepare for going to the South Pole.

Exploring other worlds is even more full of unknowns.

Even Wu Changqing only knows that there are many good things in other worlds, and knows nothing else.

But he estimates that the other world is definitely not safe, otherwise those forces that have already entered the other world would have occupied the entire other world, and its territory would definitely be much larger than his.

But the current situation is not the case. The British Empire, which ranks first in territory area, has an area of only one hundred and thirty million square kilometers.

This means that James’ territory in the other world does not exceed thirty million square kilometers at most.

Moreover, Wu Changqing guessed that James’ territory on Earth must be more than one hundred million square kilometers. That is to say, James’ territory in the other world continent must not be large.

Why is this so?

Wu Changqing was very curious, and he even decided to go to the other world himself.

Chapter 1101: Initial Exploration of Another World

Antarctica.

After a difficult trek, a vanguard of seventeen thousand men finally reached the South Pole and saw the Gate of Space-Time.

The Gate of Space-Time wasn’t large, about six meters wide and ten meters high, big enough for tanks to pass through, but not gunboats or warships.

“Second Regiment, set up camp! Third Regiment, stand guard! First Regiment, prepare! 112th Company, enter!”

Liu Hansan issued orders in the freezing wind.

Subsequently, soldiers from the Second Regiment began pitching tents.

Before they could ascertain the specific conditions of the other world, they didn’t know if it was suitable for human survival, so they had to prepare for a long stay in Antarctica.

The Third Regiment loaded their guns and opened the gun ports.

They weren’t sure if the entry of the 112th Company would trigger a chain reaction, causing terrifying creatures from the other world to enter Earth.

These possibilities were small, but Liu Hansan, who had returned to duty, had made ample preparations. He wanted to complete the mission flawlessly.

For this operation, his staff had worked on the plan for a full half-month.

It could be said that every detail was considered comprehensively.

Participating in this operation were not only soldiers, but also some scientists.

After Liu Hansan issued the order, one hundred and twenty-five officers and soldiers of the 112th Company, wearing protective suits and holding various weapons, escorted seventeen scientists into the light circle.

In addition to conventional weapons such as machine guns and rifles, they also prepared a large number of steel knives and crossbows.

After all, no one knew whether the laws of physics in the other world were the same as on Earth.

In case thermal weapons didn’t work, a steel knife could still boost morale.

The 112th Company stepped into the light circle and disappeared from everyone’s sight.

Liu Hansan felt inexplicably nervous, after all, this kind of thing was too strange.

“Pay attention to the radio and try to make contact.”

Liu Hansan said.

“Report, no response.”

His subordinate said.

“Keep trying.”

“Yes, sir!”

…

“Protect the doctors!”

As soon as the vanguard entered the other world, Company Commander Chen Haobei shouted.

In this exploration mission, the seventeen scientists were the main characters, and these soldiers were only responsible for protection.

To conquer a place, you must first understand it.

Not to mention, this was another world.

Among the seventeen scientists were botanists, medical scientists, chemists, physicists, linguists, and so on.

Botanists could analyze the air composition, soil composition, and whether the water source was drinkable in the other world.

Physicists needed to measure the gravity and some physical constants of the other world.

This was also very important.

Liu Hansan’s staff had considered it very carefully, and even sent linguistic experts in case there were highly intelligent creatures in the other world.

It was said that these people could communicate with African natives without barriers based on the creatures’ expressions, movements, and gestures.

Chen Haobei’s words were wasted, at least in the eyes of other soldiers, there was no danger for the time being.

Looking around, there was nothing but endless wilderness and high mountains.

There were trees and grass, but no one thought these were dangerous.

“The gravity is about the same as Earth’s.”

Physicist Wang Yuanhao jumped, feeling that the height of his jump was similar to that on Earth, and estimated the gravity of this place.

Of course, the specific value still needed to be measured.

Da da da…

After a series of gunshots, Wang Yuanhao touched the barrel of the gun and said with a smile, “The barrel is slightly hot, which means the rifling is normal, and the bullet has kinetic energy in this world. It seems that this place is similar to Earth.”

“Old Wang, don’t be too happy too soon, look at the sky.”

Another scientist, Xu Jingqing, pointed to the top of his head, and Wang Yuanhao was dumbfounded.

There were actually two suns in the sky.

“Moreover, didn’t His Majesty say that this other world should be many times larger than Earth, but the gravity is about the same, isn’t that weird?”

Xu Jingqing muttered.

Although he didn’t know what Wu Changqing based his assertion that the other world was very large on, he didn’t dare to disbelieve it since the Divine Emperor had said so.

“Hey, it’s another world, so naturally it has to be different from Earth, otherwise, why would it be called another world? Are two suns a lot? Didn’t you say that the stars we see at night are all suns?”

Chen Haobei complained.

Several scientists were too lazy to pay attention to him. The stars seen on Earth at night were indeed stars, but they were far away.

This was completely different from two nearby suns.

“Actually, in the universe, binary star systems are the most common, and our solar system’s single-star system is an anomaly.”

Astronomer Zhao Jin said with a smile.

“Report, radio communication can work normally in this world, but it cannot communicate with Earth. The wires of the wired telegraph broke after entering the other world.”

The communications squad reported the situation.

“It seems that an object cannot cross the other world and Earth.”

Xu Jingqing said.

“Company Commander Chen, can you ask your men to catch a few live animals back?”

The biologist looked at the botanist digging soil and pulling grass, envious.

They had to find live creatures to start their research.

They couldn’t wait, after all, this was a great achievement in exploring a world.

When Great Hua gained a foothold in this other world and obtained a large amount of resources, this group of pioneers would inevitably be granted titles.

Everyone began to divide their work, soldiers began to set up camp and explore, and scientists were busy testing various constants.

Afterward, the communicator returned to Earth through the light gate and reported the preliminary report of the other world exploration to Liu Hansan.

“Nitrogen content is 65 percent, 13 percent less than Earth, oxygen content is 25 percent, 5 percent higher than Earth, which is an oxygen-rich state. This oxygen-rich state can easily damage proteins, DNA, and lipids. Long-term exposure to the other world is prone to aging, hair loss…”

Liu Hansan was very dissatisfied with this report because he couldn’t understand it very well.

Moreover, in his opinion, these were all nonsense.

Being prone to aging and hair loss was not a big deal in his opinion.

On the battlefield, even if death was known, soldiers had to charge. Compared with the desperate battles on the battlefield, a little hair loss was not worth recording.

“There is also 10 percent of unknown gas.”

This made Liu Hansan a little concerned. He didn’t like the unknown, and he wanted to hand over a clear and complete report to His Majesty.

“The quantum constant has changed.”

What is a quantum constant?

Liu Hansan looked confused and could only summon a physicist who was still stationed in Antarctica to help explain. He sadly discovered that he couldn’t understand this report.

“The quantum constant is defined by His Majesty, and it is a number used to describe the size of quantum…”

Cheng Fang explained for a while, looked at Liu Hansan’s confused face, and said helplessly: “In simple terms, different quantum constants mean that the other world is not in our universe.”

Just doing some useless things.

Liu Hansan listened to the explanation and felt that it was useless to him.

He only knew that the people who went in were still alive, so the main force could enter immediately.

Chapter 1102: A Shameful First Battle

The scientists were still doing things that Liu Hansan found incredibly boring, and he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention.

Leaving a portion of the soldiers to protect those guys, Liu Hansan led the main force to disperse and began exploring the alien world.

Before long, after advancing north for a dozen kilometers, the 112th Company encountered the first creature of this alien world.

A four-legged animal with long horns on its head, resembling a rhinoceros at first glance.

However, it was much larger than a rhinoceros, estimated to be five meters long and three meters tall. If you replaced the horn with a trunk, it would be similar to an elephant.

“Good thing these horned beasts are herbivores,” Chen Haobei said.

If these horned beasts were like lions and tigers, it would be terrifying.

After all, their company only had a little over one hundred and twenty men, while the horned beast herd numbered several thousand.

If several thousand four or five-ton creatures charged at them, they would have to flee frantically, even with guns in their hands.

“Call the armored division and have them send a tank regiment over,” Chen Haobei ordered.

He wanted to capture a few of these horned beasts, partly for the scientists to study, and partly to send to Nanjing to report the good news to His Majesty.

These creatures, even if thrown into a zoo, could earn a lot of money.

After all, they were animals that didn’t exist on Earth.

Before long, a tank regiment, totaling ninety-two tanks, arrived in the area.

“This is too much, I just don’t know if they are irritable or not.”

Li Yang, the commander of the armored regiment, complained.

If these horned beasts were as docile as oxen, it would be easy to handle.

But if these horned beasts were irritable and charged at them together, there would be some danger.

“Let’s try it, it’s not good to just stand here and watch,” Chen Haobei said.

“Prepare for battle.”

Subsequently, Li Yang gave the order.

Li Yang’s tank fired the first shot, but the shell landed dozens of meters away from the horned beasts.

Previously, the scientists had measured the gravity of this world, which was slightly greater than Earth’s.

But this slight deviation caused Li Yang and his men to miss their target.

They needed to make slight corrections to the way they calculated the trajectory of the shells.

However, they didn’t have time for that now.

The startled horned beasts charged at Li Yang and his men without a word.

Although the distance between the two sides was still two thousand meters, Chen Haobei still felt a ground-shaking tremor.

“That jinx, he really guessed right, these are all irritable animals.”

Chen Haobei cursed in his heart. Most of the tank regiment was inside the tanks, so their safety was somewhat guaranteed.

But their reconnaissance company had no protection at all.

“Prepare for battle!”

Chen Haobei shouted. As a spearhead unit composed of pure Han Chinese, he never considered running away.

Bullets were loaded, and machine guns were in position.

The tanks continued to fire, and after several misses, they finally grasped the pattern, and the shells landed in the horned beast herd.

Of course, this was mainly due to the large number of horned beasts.

The shells exploded in the horned beast herd.

Then, Chen Haobei’s eyes almost popped out.

An eighty-eight-millimeter armor-piercing shell only caused a brief panic among the horned beasts, without killing a single one.

Several horned beasts that were hit were injured, but it didn’t seem fatal.

After a wave of bombing, only a dozen or so were lying on the ground, unable to get up.

At this time, the seemingly clumsy horned beasts had approached the Huaxia army within a few hundred meters.

In other words, they could only fire two more rounds of artillery before the horned beasts reached them.

How many could two rounds of artillery kill?

The answer was dozens.

The horned beast herd paid the price of dozens of lives and then charged to the front of the tanks.

Chen Haobei and his men quickly climbed onto the tanks, not daring to stay on the ground any longer.

At the same time, they continued to shoot.

These bullets had some killing power against the horned beasts, especially when hitting vulnerable areas such as the eyes, nostrils, and abdomen, which could cause the horned beasts to bleed profusely.

However, if they hit the horns or the back, the effect was extremely limited.

This kind of protection was unmatched by any animal on Earth.

Bang.

A loud noise.

A horned beast crashed into a tank, almost overturning the forty-ton tank.

The huge impact caused the reconnaissance company soldiers sitting on the tank to fall to the ground and be trampled into mincemeat.

“Tell them to get into the tanks, squeeze in,” Li Yang ordered.

However, the internal space of their tanks was actually very small.

Great Hua had not paid much attention to the development of tanks in recent years because there were no opponents.

The tanks they were currently equipped with were still the first-generation tanks from three years ago.

The soldiers outside the tanks suffered, and the soldiers inside the tanks were not doing well either.

The fierce impact caused them to bump into various iron blocks and instruments.

This is a bit too much.

Li Yang judged the current situation.

Although the horned beasts could not cause fatal damage to the tanks, continuous damage could cause them heavy losses.

More importantly, they were currently unable to inflict large-scale casualties on these horned beasts.

If they continued to stalemate, they might be able to kill many of these monsters, but their side would also be wiped out, because there were too many of these monsters.

Subsequently, Li Yang ordered: “Retreat, report the situation to headquarters immediately.”

The tank regiment began to retreat, but the horned beasts pursued relentlessly.

“Regimental commander, we can’t retreat to the south anymore, that’s our camp,” a subordinate reminded him.

If they led these horned beasts to the camp and harmed those scientists, the losses would be immeasurable.

“Turn, head east,” Li Yang ordered.

They continued to flee for a while, and some tanks had already escaped the pursuit, but some tanks that had been damaged in the collision had been submerged by the horned beast herd.

“Damn it.”

Li Yang cursed angrily.

Using tanks to fight a group of beasts, and they were actually forced to flee in a sorry state.

At this moment, he wished he could shoot himself, it was too embarrassing.

“Requesting support.”

A surrounded tank sent out a distress call.

“Lieutenant Zhao, do your best and be loyal to Great Hua, I will ask His Majesty to reward you,” Li Yang said.

Although he didn’t want to give up any of his subordinates, as a commander, he had to make decisions to reduce losses and couldn’t be emotional.

Returning to rescue them would only cause more tanks to be surrounded, and there would be no other meaning.

“Understood, please take care of my son, Regimental Commander.”

“Fight these beasts.”

“Long live Great Hua.”

The trapped tanks were not just Lieutenant Zhao’s, and those trapped tank soldiers could only sacrifice themselves without hesitation at this time.

“I will remember this battle,” Li Yang punched the armor.

Chapter 1103: The Great Unity Plan

After fleeing for several li, only six or seven of the horned monsters were still chasing Li Yang and the others.

It seemed these horned monsters had only average stamina.

“Find a way to capture a few alive.”

With their numerical advantage gone, the threat of these horned monsters decreased significantly.

So Li Yang made the decision to capture them alive.

With the order given, the tank group began to circle around the horned monsters, continuing to exhaust their stamina.

When they stopped, unwilling to chase, Li Yang and his men would move closer to provoke them.

Some were even more barbaric and crude, directly aiming at their limbs and firing.

After a lot of effort, they finally subdued seven horned monsters.

One died from too many gunshots, and three others suffered varying degrees of gunshot wounds. Only three had no external injuries, but were foaming at the mouth from exhaustion.

“Beasts are just beasts after all.”

A soldier sneered.

These horned monsters were captured alive not because human weapons were too powerful, but mainly because they were too unintelligent and had pursued them too far on their own.

If they had stayed with the main group, Li Yang and the others would have been helpless.

Some soldiers cheered, but Li Yang couldn’t be happy.

This exploration had been a heavy loss.

A total of eight tanks were lost, along with thirty-two tank crewmen.

The reconnaissance company suffered even more, with only forty survivors out of more than one hundred and twenty men.

Losing over a hundred men in a small battle was rare for the Huaxia army fighting other countries’ armies on Earth.

And now, their opponents were just a group of beasts, and herbivores at that.

Based on common sense, Li Yang believed that the carnivores in this world would definitely be even stronger, otherwise how would they hunt?

Leaving a team behind to continue monitoring the horned monsters, Li Yang then led the main force back to camp, dragging the captured beasts with them.

Liu Hansan had already received the report and was waiting at the camp.

Seeing the tanks deformed by the horns, he felt a chill run down his spine.

Tanks were currently Great Hua’s strongest land-based weapons in terms of protection. If even the tank corps couldn’t hold up, other infantry corps would be even more useless.

Liu Hansan realized that conquering this otherworld would probably not be easy and required long-term planning.

At the very least, the railway from the South Pole to the port had to be built to facilitate the movement of supplies and personnel.

Without a railway, just the stretch of road on Antarctica alone would be enough to kill people.

However, building a railway on the ice of Antarctica was not easy and presented significant technical challenges.

Nanjing.

Five months after the vanguard army set off, Wu Changqing finally received the first report about the otherworld.

The report stated that the general situation in the otherworld was similar to Earth and suitable for human survival.

This was already expected by Wu Changqing, after all, the system was meant to have them fight in the otherworld. If it wasn’t suitable for human survival, then what was the point?

The report about the horned monsters, however, piqued his interest.

Clearly, after entering the otherworld, the first thing they had to face wasn’t other players.

The otherworld was so big that the players were likely to be very far apart from each other.

They first had to face the creatures of the otherworld, and these creatures were obviously more powerful than those on Earth.

However, as long as intelligent creatures didn’t appear in the otherworld, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

Blue whales were so big, but their numbers were still being sharply reduced by whaling ships.

Besides animals, the vanguard army also discovered a type of fruit in the otherworld.

It was said to taste good, but its nutritional content was currently unknown.

After gaining a preliminary understanding of the situation in the otherworld, Wu Changqing began to formulate a new plan for advancing into the otherworld.

Originally, he had planned to develop the otherworld on a large scale, but now he intended to slow down.

After all, as it stood, the investment and the returns were not proportional.

Currently, only the tank corps could fight the creatures of the otherworld.

And Great Hua’s total number of tanks was only five thousand.

A sudden encounter had already cost the Huaxia army eight tanks, from which it could be inferred that if they encountered even more powerful species, these five thousand tanks wouldn’t last long.

The otherworld was so big, and the population of its species would certainly be larger than those on Earth, so they couldn’t be careless.

Rather than launching a large-scale conquest of the otherworld now, it would be better to develop the military industry first.

Manufacture more powerful tanks, as well as armed helicopters, drones, and missiles.

Then, they would have a beatdown advantage over the creatures of the otherworld.

At the same time, the quantity had to keep up.

Previously, Great Hua had repeatedly reduced military spending in order to develop the economy, which led to the development of weapons not keeping pace with economic development.

The tanks currently equipped by Great Hua were roughly equivalent in performance to the industrial level of the 1930s in the original timeline.

But Great Hua’s current economic development was roughly at the level of the 1950s and 60s in the original timeline.

This was actually quite normal. Great Hua was dominant and had no opponents, so there was no urgent need to update its weapons and equipment.

In times of war, everything was for the service of war, and the speed of weapons development would naturally be fast.

“There are still many things to do.”

Wu Changqing sighed.

Not only did military equipment need to be developed faster, but the economy couldn’t be neglected either.

The future war in the otherworld would inevitably be a protracted war.

Without a strong economy to support it, they would undoubtedly lose.

Even global unification, cultural unification, and ideological unification couldn’t be neglected.

Once Great Hua was mired in the quagmire of the otherworld war, it was hard to guarantee that other countries wouldn’t jump out and cause trouble.

Therefore, before the great war arrived, it would be best to unify the world first, so that the entire Earth had only one voice.

Unity is strength, and internal strife is the most deadly.

In addition to territorial unification, there must be unification in culture and thought.

Achieving this would not be easy.

To this end, Wu Changqing decided to give other ethnic groups some more benefits, to give them some hope, to give them hope so that they could better integrate into Great Hua.

This benefit was the promotion channel.

Wu Changqing decided to give other ethnic groups a certain proportion of official positions. As long as they were devoted to Great Hua and contributed to Great Hua, they could hold high positions like the Han people.

As for the common people, as long as they obeyed the law and supported Great Hua throughout their lives, they could also be granted an equal status.

It would be true equality. After having this status, they and their descendants could receive equal treatment in terms of welfare and law.

Giving them hope was the best way to eliminate their will to resist.

With a rough idea in mind, Wu Changqing convened an expanded meeting, bringing together the core leadership of Great Hua, as well as some super-rich businessmen, well-known scientists, military leaders, and other important figures to discuss the plan.

He needed to eliminate the turmoil and wealth gap in this world, while taking into account the interests of all parties, and also taking into account economic development…

This throne was not so easy to sit on.

Chapter 1104: Upgrading Equipment

“Another world?”

At the conference, Wu Changqing announced this news to everyone.

In any case, this news could not be concealed forever, nor was it necessary to do so.

Upon learning that there were other worlds besides Earth, many people at the meeting were greatly surprised.

Those who were surprised were those with a relatively good grasp of scientific knowledge. In their system of knowledge, Earth was the only celestial body with life, and they couldn’t understand the existence of other worlds.

On the contrary, some old-fashioned officials were more calm about the news.

They previously couldn’t understand why airplanes could fly into the sky without falling, nor could they understand why two people thousands of kilometers apart could talk in real-time.

But now, they had completely gotten used to it.

In their view, the addition of another world was similar to airplanes flying into the sky, nothing to be surprised about.

“The Earth’s energy will eventually be exhausted, and the rapid growth of the population will inevitably overwhelm the Earth. Therefore, developing other worlds is an inevitable event and a national policy of Great Hua.

In order to better develop other worlds, we need to integrate all the power and resources on Earth and must accelerate the pace of global unification…”

Wu Changqing took the lead in speaking.

“The military resolutely executes His Majesty’s orders. As long as His Majesty gives an order, one million iron cavalry will directly sweep across Europe and Africa,”

Li Shaobin said. He did not participate in the mission to explore other worlds but was responsible for the task of unifying the globe.

The completion of this task was destined to make him famous in history.

Now, the only places that had not been recovered were the two continents of Europe and Africa.

“Military unification is not difficult. The key is ideological unification. We must make the people in those places identify with Great Hua, live and work in peace and contentment without causing trouble, so that they can increase the country’s tax revenue instead of adding to the burden,”

Wu Changqing said, which was the focus of the meeting.

Next, everyone spoke one after another on how to unify ideology, expressing their views.

Such a major topic could not be resolved in a single meeting.

The first meeting was just a preliminary discussion. After the meeting, the big shots continued to think and then wrote reports to Wu Changqing, hoping that their plans could be selected by Wu Changqing.

The plans were still under discussion, but the army had already taken action.

In July of Yongxing nineteen, Wu Changqing visited the weapons research and development department and inspected several tanks.

According to the intelligence from the other world, the old tanks were outdated and could not adapt to the intensity of the other world.

Fortunately, although the Huaxia army was not equipped with new tanks, the research and development work had been going on and had produced many results.

As long as the funds were in place, the military could immediately establish a production line and quickly mass-produce them.

Great Hua, which had almost integrated global resources, could easily and quickly expand its army, and producing tens of thousands of tanks a year was not a problem.

There were several new types of tanks that Wu Changqing inspected, and their performance was much better than the old tanks.

Finally, Wu Changqing selected three models based on the performance parameters of these tanks.

The first model was the Bear heavy tank. Its advantages were strong firepower and armor, but it was a bit slow and not flexible enough. It was just right for dealing with the horned monsters of the other world.

Among the other two tanks, one was the Leopard tank, which was known for its speed and flexibility. The other was the Tiger medium tank, which had moderate firepower and protection.

“Let’s build three thousand Bear tanks first, and one thousand Leopard and Tiger tanks each. Let’s do this for now. The specific manufacturing plan still needs to be adjusted according to the intelligence from the other world.

Although the vanguard army has found that the creatures are generally large, this does not mean that the other world is full of large animals…”

Wu Changqing said.

During this period, the vanguard army had already established a base in the other world and was building a super city to protect non-combatants going to the other world.

Moreover, the exploration of the other world had also extended nearly fifty kilometers, discovering more creatures and minerals.

Among the creatures that had been discovered, some were harmless to humans. They would not actively attack humans, and when attacked, they would quickly escape, just like sheep.

Of course, more of them were like horned monsters, who would fight back when attacked.

These animals were okay, as long as they were not provoked.

Currently, the biggest threat to humans was two kinds of carnivores. One of them was a bit like a hyena, but it was larger and had an extremely amazing bite force.

The iron skin of armored vehicles could be easily torn apart by these hyenas, and only tanks could resist them slightly.

There was another kind of carnivore that was even more terrifying. According to the description in the intelligence, this carnivore was a bit like the dinosaurs that went extinct on Earth.

The appearance was similar, but the head was like a turtle. The size was also astonishing, a full seven or eight meters high and more than ten meters long.

Elephants were nothing in front of them.

Fortunately, this animal, which the Huaxia army named Turtle Dragon, was not numerous. A group only had a dozen or so, and the Huaxia army had only encountered it once.

Moreover, it was only observed from a distance.

Having learned their lesson, they now dared not easily provoke those guys who looked very fierce.

In addition to creatures, the biggest discovery of Great Hua in the other world was actually plants.

They discovered a tubular aquatic plant that could be juiced. The plant juice that was extracted had extremely strong corrosiveness, even more powerful than concentrated sulfuric acid.

These plant juices could be used in many places for special purposes, and the tubular stems of this plant were also the object of scientists’ research.

They were very curious about the composition of this plant and why it could withstand this strong acid.

In addition to these special plants, the botanists of Great Hua also found a plant in the other world that humans could eat and named it Great Peanut.

It was named this way simply because its appearance was very similar to a peanut.

However, the Great Peanut was only similar to a peanut in appearance. The nutritional composition was very different. Most of it was starch, which was closer to rice and wheat.

This was undoubtedly a surprise. If this plant could become a staple food for humans, then the human food problem might be completely solved.

The yield of this Great Peanut was three or four times higher than that of hybrid rice.

Now scientists were doing long-term tests, on the one hand, to check the reaction of humans eating this thing for a long time. Before getting affirmative results, they dared not eat it on a large scale.

On the other hand, they also had to study the growth conditions of this plant to see if it could grow on Earth.

Great Hua’s exploration of the other world had just begun, and the information obtained was very little.

However, some of the information obtained so far was enough to make humans cheer.

There were minerals and food. This was the next home for mankind.

When the news of the other world leaked to the public, the public was immediately excited.

The new world meant wealth. The history of the Age of Exploration discovering the New World had not passed long ago, and everyone still had a deep impression.

Chapter 1105: Otherworld Fever

In August, two living horned devils were transported to Nanjing.

One was sent to the Royal Zoo, and the other to the Nanjing Zoo.

For a time, tickets for the Nanjing Zoo became incredibly scarce, as people clamored to see what these otherworldly creatures, capable of taking on tanks, actually looked like.

The captured horned devil was confined in a huge iron cage, its bars as thick as a man’s wrist.

The cage alone weighed several tons and could only be moved by machinery.

As the black cloth was pulled away, the horned devil seemed startled, taking a few steps back.

Clearly, it was afraid of these two-legged, seemingly weak humans before it.

This scene drew laughter from many visitors.

“Looks like just a big rhinoceros, nothing special. This thing can take down a tank?”

“Could it be just a rhinoceros, used to fool us?”

“If rhinoceroses were this big, they would have dominated the grasslands long ago.”

The visitors murmured among themselves, some remaining curious, while others had already lost interest.

There were also some very uncivilized visitors who occasionally threw things at the horned devil.

This act enraged the horned devil, which let out a strange cry and charged at the iron cage.

The violent impact shook the cage, which was welded to the ground, as if it were about to be broken open at any moment.

Fortunately, the cage was relatively small, not giving it room to accelerate, otherwise it might really have been broken open.

Seeing the horned devil’s enraged appearance, some visitors were taken aback.

Then they had to admit that this big, dumb thing was far more dangerous than they had imagined.

As the horned devil was sent to Nanjing, and more and more information about the Otherworld was reported, the topic of the Otherworld also soared in popularity.

“We must secure the Otherworld’s construction projects.”

At the Liao family’s family meeting, Liao Zhongwen said decisively.

As one of the top ten wealthiest families in Great Hua, the Liao family was not as glamorous as outsiders saw.

Their wealth had reached a threshold, and the space for growth had become very small, making it impossible to achieve another leap forward.

Now, their businesses were not thinking about expanding market share, but were striving to maintain it.

The Liao family would be satisfied as long as they could maintain their current position.

However, this wish was not so easy to achieve.

There were still many desperate enterprises and families below them, taking huge risks to invest.

Some failed and disappeared.

Some succeeded and squeezed some old wealthy families out of the top ten.

The Liao family’s overall wealth was still growing, but the growth rate was far lower than the rate of Great Hua’s economic development, and even somewhat unable to keep up with the rate of currency devaluation.

Although their family was still very rich, the gap between ordinary people and their family was narrowing.

Therefore, the Liao family had been looking for new opportunities recently.

Computers, chips, and West Asian oil were all directions they were paying attention to.

However, others had already taken the lead in these areas, and competition was fierce.

Just as their family was hesitating, news of the Otherworld came.

As a result, Liao Zhongwen, the head of the Liao family, decisively made a choice, concentrating funds to invest in the development of the Otherworld.

Although they could not see any returns from investing in the Otherworld now, as a person with a long-term vision, Liao Zhongwen was very certain that the next surge in wealth for humanity, the next big opportunity, was in the Otherworld.

And what he had to do was to enter the Otherworld first and lay a good foundation.

Only by entering the Otherworld could they obtain first-hand information, better understand the Otherworld, and be the first to discover the business opportunities it contained.

In Liao Zhongwen’s view, developing the Otherworld was a bit like the Age of Exploration in Europe.

This would surely be a grand project of national carnival and participation.

“It seems that the Tong family also has this intention.”

Liao Zhongwu said.

“That old geezer, he’s everywhere.”

Liao Zhongwen gritted his teeth. He really couldn’t compete with Tong Youwei in terms of financial resources.

Moreover, Tong Youwei was a well-known supporter of the Emperor.

As long as Wu Changqing needed funds to develop the Otherworld, the Tong family would invest regardless of the returns.

Whether it was financial resources or background connections, the Liao family was no match for the Tong family.

“There’s no need to worry too much. This is such a big pie that Tong Youwei can’t eat it all by himself. If he’s going to build infrastructure, we’ll be responsible for providing the people of the Otherworld with various daily necessities. If they’re going to develop mineral resources, we’ll go to the Otherworld to farm. If they’re going to hunt, we’ll go into breeding.”

Another spokesperson for the Liao family said.

This remark was recognized by others. The emergence of a new world would definitely bring more than one business opportunity.

In any case, they were unwilling to give up the Otherworld pie.

There were many other consortia with the same idea as the Liao family, and their funds were always chasing hot spots.

“We missed out on immigration before, we can’t miss out on the Otherworld this time.”

A worker named Luo Kui slammed his bowl on the dining table, splashing the soup in the bowl.

Back when Great Hua was promoting immigration, he had thought about going to the Americas.

Unfortunately, he didn’t make it for various reasons and had to stay in the city to work.

Now, most of the Han Chinese who immigrated early had become landlords and made a fortune.

This made Luo Kui regret it.

Although working earned more than farming, it was still no match for being a landlord.

But it was too late, because the overseas land had been divided up. Great Hua’s welfare policies for immigrants were also being gradually abolished, and immigration was no longer as cost-effective as it had been in the early days.

And now, Luo Kui saw a new opportunity, as good as the previous immigration opportunity.

He wanted to immigrate to the Otherworld, to make a fortune in that unclaimed land.

“But the Otherworld is more dangerous than overseas. Overseas, our dynasty’s army is invincible and can protect us. But in the Otherworld, it’s not certain. Haven’t you heard? An army tank regiment was defeated by a group of rhinoceroses. And that’s just a group of grass-eating beasts, the meat-eating beasts are even fiercer.”

A fellow worker advised.

Immigrating overseas was already risky, let alone going to the Otherworld.

“How can you achieve anything if you’re afraid of everything? Danger and opportunity coexist. The more dangerous the place, the easier it is to make money.”

Luo Kui said disdainfully. He had made up his mind to find a way to go to the Otherworld no matter what.

In addition to capitalists and workers, there were many other people who wanted to go to the Otherworld.

For example, soldiers who wanted to make meritorious service, adventurers who liked novelty, some travel enthusiasts, and some scoundrels who were not doing well on Earth and wanted to speculate.

These people all wanted to go to the Otherworld.

The Great Hua Dynasty’s first batch of immigrants only recruited thirty thousand people, and they were full in less than two days.

Those who did not get a spot could only wait for the next time.

Chapter 1106: A Community of Shared Future for Mankind

In the language of Great Hua, now that an alien world has been discovered, filled with countless resources and incredibly powerful alien creatures.

Faced with these alien creatures, the humans of Earth are all on the same side and should unite as one, setting aside differences to achieve unification.

By ceasing internal strife, all resources can be focused on developing and conquering the alien world, achieving comprehensive prosperity for humanity.

Anyone who obstructs global unification is an enemy of the happiness of all mankind, will be spurned by all mankind, and must be severely punished, including, but not limited to, humanitarian destruction.

After Great Hua announced this slogan, the majority of the world responded with support.

Korea, Japan, North America, South America, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia, West Asia, and so on.

All these places support the establishment of a community of shared future for mankind.

Wu Changqing also felt that this slogan was excellent, and the idea of achieving common prosperity for mankind was also very noble.

Therefore, in November of Yongxing twenty, the Huaxia army arrived in Europe in two divisions. On land, the main force was transported by rail to the borders of the Ottoman Empire and Spain.

At sea, there was an aircraft carrier fleet led by two aircraft carriers.

Although there were only two aircraft carriers, their combat power was many times higher than the previous first-generation aircraft carriers.

Great Hua’s first aircraft carrier, the Flying Sword, had a full-load displacement of only ten thousand tons, while the current Divine Province-class has reached ninety thousand tons.

Its total length reached three hundred and forty meters, a width of fifty meters, and a flight deck width of eighty meters.

The speed was only twenty-five knots, because the Great Hua Navy had no rivals at sea, so they didn’t pursue speed. Anyway, they wouldn’t encounter a situation where they needed to escape.

As for chasing, they would use carrier-based aircraft to pursue.

The Divine Province aircraft carrier could carry up to one hundred and fifty aircraft at a time.

The combat radius of these third-generation aircraft had reached over a thousand kilometers, basically allowing them to bomb every inch of European land without blind spots, striking wherever they were aimed.

Currently, Europe only had some wooden first-generation aircraft, which couldn’t even carry a slightly heavier bomb.

It could be said that the Great Hua’s aircraft had no rivals in the sky.

The Divine Province aircraft carrier had over three thousand three hundred personnel, with the majority being from the aviation squadron.

The overall data of the Divine Province was similar to that of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier from the original Earth.

To exaggerate, this kind of aircraft carrier fleet, even if it stayed on the surface of the sea without fighting back and allowed other countries to bomb it, they wouldn’t be able to sink it.

After the aircraft carrier fleet, led by two aircraft carriers, arrived in Europe, the various European countries had different thoughts.

The people of Great Britain were weeping bitterly, because they knew that this time Great Hua was serious.

This time, Great Hua had come, and they would not leave.

The people of Ireland, Scotland, and other places didn’t care.

Anyway, being ruled by Great Hua was better than fighting with England all the time.

Long-term warfare had exhausted these places, and they all wanted to stop and rest.

However, they had previously been unwilling to yield to each other.

Now that the people of Great Hua had arrived, they could find a perfect excuse.

They could tell their people that it wasn’t that they didn’t want to fight, but that a big BOSS had arrived, and they couldn’t win.

For the people of France, they were overjoyed.

Because after Spain merged into Great Hua, tariffs were abolished, technology blockades were lifted, and the local economy experienced rapid development. The lives of the people were getting better and better, achieving a ‘revival’ and once again surpassing the European countries.

Therefore, the people of France also wanted to live this kind of good life.

As for losing independence and autonomy by merging into Great Hua, not many people cared, after all, they didn’t have much say in anything now.

Everything required looking at Great Hua’s expression, and they didn’t dare to disobey Great Hua’s intentions.

On the surface, they still possessed independence and autonomy, but in reality, it was no different from not having it.

Since that was the case, it was better to give up directly and exchange it for some practical benefits.

Great Britain and France couldn’t withstand it, and other countries had even less of a chance.

When the Great Hua’s army arrived in Europe, the various countries didn’t put up much resistance.

The only relatively fierce resistance came from Li Dingguo’s Great Western Kingdom.

In recent years, the Great Western Kingdom had expanded its territory quite a bit.

Extending from Ukraine in the east to Poland in the west, reaching Romania in the south, and occupying Belarus in the north, with a total area of one million square kilometers.

In the original history, Li Dingguo fought the Qing court to the point of chaos under the circumstances of internal and external difficulties and a disparity in strength, and his personal ability was beyond doubt.

Now, he actively and completely copied the Great Hua model, and there was no force around him stronger than him. As a result, he was doing very well here.

However, now his good days were over, because Great Hua had decided to complete unification.

Li Dingguo had been an emperor for a long time, and even though he knew he was no match for Great Hua, he was unwilling to surrender.

He and Wu Changqing came to a gentleman’s agreement.

That is, the two sides would have a decisive battle in the vicinity of Kiev, Ukraine. If Great Hua won, he would announce his abdication and merge the country into Great Hua. If their Great Western Kingdom won, then Great Hua must allow the Great Western Kingdom to be independent.

This kind of agreement was naturally unfair to Great Hua, so Li Dingguo said that he would not limit the number of Great Hua’s participants.

If Wu Changqing wanted to win, he could directly transfer one million troops over, then the outcome would be without suspense.

However, Wu Changqing wanted to save face and chose to send three hundred thousand.

The number of participants in the Great Western Army was one hundred and fifty thousand.

In terms of weapons and equipment, the Huaxia army was also one or two levels more advanced.

Wu Changqing felt that he was already very generous by not sending one million people over.

On November 5th, France held a national referendum and, with ninety-five percent of the vote in favor, announced its merger into Great Hua.

After the referendum, the whole country celebrated.

On November 6th, Great Britain was bombed, and the governing bodies were precisely eliminated.

On the eighth, the new temporary government announced its unconditional surrender and accepted the requirement to merge into Great Hua.

On the twelfth, the Holy Roman Empire disintegrated, and more than two-thirds of the regions announced their merger into Great Hua.

A small number of places that were still resisting were raided by the Marine Corps and besieged in Vienna.

On the fifteenth, the Great Hua’s First Western Expeditionary Army arrived in the suburbs less than one hundred li from Kiev, and the ‘gentleman’s war’ between Great Hua and Great Western was about to begin.

This was also recognized by all parties as the last major decisive battle of Great Hua’s unification war. As long as the Great Western Army was defeated, Great Hua would not encounter strong resistance afterwards.

At this moment, Tsarist Russia and Poland, who had originally hated the Great Western Kingdom immensely, were actually praying for the Great Western Army to win.

They felt that as long as the Great Western Army won, they would still have a chance to maintain their independence.

Chapter 1107: Leaflets

“The whole world has surrendered, why are we still fighting Great Hua? No matter what, we’re still Han Chinese,” a squad leader in the Great Western Army complained to his platoon leader.

The agreement between Li Dingguo and Wu Changqing was unknown to the lower-level soldiers and officers, and it couldn’t be revealed to them.

If they knew that their battle was meaningless, just a game between two emperors, they might mutiny en masse.

That would be treating the soldiers as less than human.

Such is the sorrow of soldiers; most of the wars they participate in are, in fact, games played by the upper echelons.

“Who knows? Great Hua is so powerful; I reckon we’re doomed this time,” the platoon leader said, equally pessimistic and lacking any fighting spirit.

At first glance, they seemed like a rabble.

But in reality, they were known for their ferocity and domineering attitude when fighting against European forces.

Unfortunately, they had now encountered an even more domineering opponent.

Throughout Great Hua’s war history, they had never lost a large-scale battle.

Fighting against such an army put immense psychological pressure on the soldiers.

“If only we hadn’t followed them out of the pass back then; it would have been better to stay in the Central Plains. Remember Erzhuzi? That guy’s now a company commander in Great Hua’s army, with much better benefits than us,” the squad leader sighed.

Once fellow soldiers, their fates had now diverged completely.

As they grumbled, a regimental commander passed by on inspection.

Hearing the soldiers’ dispirited discussion, he angrily rebuked them, “No idle chatter! All of you, prepare for battle!”

The regimental commander was already a mid-level leader in the Great Western regime. They knew about the bet between Li Dingguo and Wu Changqing, and they supported Li Dingguo’s actions.

The reason was simple: these high-ranking officials were all hiding in the rear command, not having to be on the front lines, so the risk was minimal; it was the soldiers who were dying.

If they lost, they would surrender; if they won, they could continue being local emperors. Either way, they wouldn’t lose out.

They had beautiful dreams, but the soldiers weren’t stupid.

At that moment, many of them were contemplating desertion or surrender.

They kept quiet in front of their superiors, but as soon as the officers left, they resumed their discussions.

“If you ask me, we might as well surrender.”

“But how do we surrender? We don’t even know.”

“Find Platoon Leader Liu, let him lead us.”

As they muttered, several planes flew overhead.

“Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Anti-aircraft guns, prepare!”

At noon, Great Hua began its offensive.

The Great Western Army’s commander shouted.

Great Hua’s planes were no longer a secret. To counter them, other forces had devised various methods, with anti-aircraft guns being the most common choice.

These anti-aircraft guns had a long range, a high rate of fire, and could fire high-explosive shells.

These shells didn’t explode upon impact; instead, they were controlled by a fuse.

Despite its large size, a plane was like a mosquito in the vast sky, and a fast-moving one at that.

Hitting a plane directly wasn’t easy, so high-explosive shells were commonly used for air defense.

The high-explosive shells would detonate automatically at a certain altitude, scattering shrapnel in all directions to damage the planes.

Bang, bang, bang…

The Great Western Army’s anti-aircraft guns fired continuously, but with little effect; Great Hua’s planes were flying too high.

Then, the planes began to drop things.

The soldiers of the Great Western Army quickly took cover.

However, they waited for a long time without hearing any explosions.

A daring soldier emerged from cover and discovered that the sky was filled with leaflets, and the ground was covered with them as well.

The leaflets quickly reached the soldiers’ hands, and those who could read began to decipher them.

“It says that if we surrender, everything from the past will be forgiven. Moreover, we’ll be reorganized after surrendering and can continue to serve and receive pay. Whatever our rank and position were in the Great Western Army, they’ll remain unchanged in the new unit.”

As the junior platoon leader spoke, he became tempted himself. He had been worried that if he surrendered, he would have to start over as a common soldier in a miscellaneous unit.

But now, Great Hua had made a verbal promise.

This promise was very tempting to the junior officers, who only wanted to live a better life and didn’t care who they served.

Moreover, Great Hua was their homeland, their ancestors’ land.

Surrendering to Great Hua wouldn’t cause any moral pressure or psychological burden.

“Damn it, they’re playing dirty! How can they distribute these surrender-inducing leaflets?”

In the Great Western Army’s command headquarters, a division commander complained.

The Great Western Army’s will to fight was already low, and now they were facing Great Hua’s propaganda warfare, making the soldiers even more unwilling to fight.

In other words, their chances of winning had decreased even further.

“I wouldn’t say that. On the battlefield, any means are justified to achieve victory,” another officer said.

In fact, the Great Western Army’s high command wasn’t a monolithic entity. Some of them were former Great Hua officers sent to help the Great Western Army improve its strength.

Over the years, these people had diligently assisted the Great Western Army, and many had risen to high positions.

These people were, in theory, still citizens of Great Hua, except they hadn’t received salaries from Great Hua’s military for a long time; Li Dingguo was paying them.

Some of these people had forgotten about Great Hua, pledging their loyalty to Li Dingguo. Others had always felt that they were carrying out missions for Great Hua.

These people advocated that there was no need to fight this battle and that it would be best to return to Great Hua directly.

“Regardless, let’s try to fight. Even if we can’t win, we must at least fight with our own style, so that the Huaxia army doesn’t look down on us. Go down and arrange the defenses, and boost morale.”

Hu An, the front-line commander-in-chief, gave the order.

Whether this battle could be fought beautifully was also related to their future prospects.

If they fought well, it would prove their military building skills, and they could get good positions in Great Hua in the future.

If the Great Western Army collapsed at the first touch, their abilities would be questioned, and they might only be able to get some idle positions in the future.

Commanding at the front line was dangerous, but since Hu An had spoken, they had no choice but to execute the orders.

If they wanted to make a living in this field, it was impossible not to take some risks.

As the mid- and high-ranking officers arrived at the front lines, the lines that were on the verge of chaos immediately returned to order.

The officers in the Great Western Army still had some ability; otherwise, they couldn’t have established themselves as outsiders in Eastern Europe, dominating the surrounding countries and causing them to suffer endlessly.

Three days later, the Huaxia army issued a final ultimatum and then launched a general offensive.

The Battle of Kyiv officially began.

Chapter 1108: A Complete Beatdown

The first to move from the Huaxia army was the air force. A flight formation consisting of thirty fighter jets and fifty bombers took off from the Kharkiv airfield and arrived over the Great Western Army’s positions in Kyiv around noon.

The fighter jets were responsible for clearing the ground-based anti-aircraft guns first, and then the bombers would drop their bombs.

These anti-aircraft guns posed a significant threat to the slower bombers and had to be eliminated.

“Sixty degrees, altitude one thousand.”

On the ground, the Great Western Army’s air defense units were frantically operating their weapons.

This time, the Huaxia army wasn’t here to drop leaflets but to take their lives. The situation was completely different.

Bang, bang, bang.

The anti-aircraft guns spat out flames, but the effect was minimal.

Great Hua’s third-generation fighter jets were fast and agile.

When the Great Western Army manufactured their anti-aircraft guns, they had Great Hua’s second-generation aircraft as their hypothetical enemy, so their performance could only handle second-generation aircraft.

Although the Great Western Army wanted to improve its air defenses after Great Hua’s third-generation aircraft appeared, they lacked money and the technological research and development capabilities.

As a result, they appeared to be fighting fiercely, but they posed very little threat to the Huaxia army, while their losses were severe.

Great Hua’s third-generation fighter jets were equipped not only with machine guns but also with the latest weapons: missiles.

Although these were only inertially guided missiles, they were more than enough to deal with the Great Western Army.

Each missile launch guaranteed the destruction of an anti-aircraft battery.

The Great Western Army had never seen such precise strikes. Some soldiers operating the anti-aircraft guns began to abandon their weapons and flee.

Continuing to fire was equivalent to waiting for death.

Da-da-da.

The sounds of anti-aircraft guns and machine guns rose and fell, as the fighter jets and air defense units fought fiercely.

However, the battle wasn’t particularly intense.

After all, Great Hua had only deployed thirty fighter jets, and the Great Western Army’s entire front line was nearly twenty kilometers long.

So, the seemingly terrifying Huaxia air force didn’t inflict much damage on the Great Western Army; at most, it was just harassment.

Even the fifty bombers didn’t achieve much.

In fact, these bombers were not intended for the battlefield. Their value lay in bombing enemy cities, armories, and warehouses.

This battle was fought under rules agreed upon by Li Dingguo and Wu Changqing, so Great Hua naturally didn’t need to bomb the Great Western Army’s rear bases and logistical reserves.

If they did, the Great Western Kingdom would face utter destruction.

After the air force bombing, the Huaxia army’s artillery began to fire.

This was the Huaxia army’s main firepower.

Three thousand heavy cannons firing simultaneously created a scene of earth-shattering destruction.

Countless shells landed and exploded on the Great Western Army’s positions, and the flying dust enveloped the entire area in a haze.

The Great Western Army soldiers could only hide in trenches, shivering.

Some new recruits uncontrollably wet their pants, but no one was ridiculed for it.

Those who didn’t wet their pants weren’t necessarily braver; they might just not have drunk any water.

“We’ve calculated the enemy’s artillery positions based on the trajectory of their shells.”

The Great Western Army’s artillery prepared to counterattack.

The Great Western Army also had a strong artillery force, at least compared to other countries.

In reality, they only had three hundred large-caliber cannons, less than one-tenth of what a Great Hua army group possessed.

They had a significant number of small-caliber cannons, but their range was too short to hit the Huaxia army’s artillery. They could only be used against enemy infantry and tanks during an assault.

“Fire!”

The Great Western Army’s artillery commander shouted. After shouting, he felt uneasy.

Before firing, they were safe.

But once they fired and exposed their position, they would be greeted by a barrage of shells.

They could calculate the enemy’s position, and the Huaxia army could naturally calculate theirs. In fact, because the Huaxia army’s tools were more advanced, their calculations were faster and more accurate.

The order was given, and the Great Western Army’s artillery fired, sending shells flying toward the Great Hua artillery positions.

They wanted to destroy some of Great Hua’s cannons to reduce the pressure on the soldiers on the front lines.

The cannons roared, and shells landed on the Great Hua artillery positions. Some unlucky gun crews suffered devastating blows.

However, this was just a minor issue for the Huaxia army.

Another artillery regiment that hadn’t fired yet immediately began calculating the Great Western Army’s artillery positions and launched a counterattack.

Those cannons that had been bombarding the Great Western Army’s infantry positions also turned their muzzles.

The two sides’ artillery engaged in a mutual barrage. The Great Western Army’s artillery lost the opportunity to relocate and could only fire back until the end. Ultimately, the Huaxia army, with its absolute numerical superiority, emerged victorious.

The Great Western Army’s artillery units lasted less than an hour before being completely destroyed by the Huaxia army.

“Completely different scales, what’s the point of fighting?”

Upon learning of the destruction of the heavy artillery units, Hu An couldn’t help but complain.

In terms of size, the Great Western Kingdom was at most a province of Great Hua.

In fact, if you only compared GDP, the Great Western Kingdom was not even as good as Guangdong province.

In terms of technology, it was far inferior to Nanjing.

After the Great Western Army’s artillery fire ceased, only the Huaxia army’s artillery continued to wreak havoc on the front lines.

After blasting the Great Western Army’s defenses to pieces, the Huaxia army’s infantry groups, followed by tanks, launched a full-scale assault.

A total of five hundred tanks participated in this battle, making it the world’s first battle with large-scale tank involvement.

The Huaxia army had been equipped with tanks for many years, but they had never had a chance to use them.

Now, the Great Western Army became the tanks’ first prey.

This was a devastating blow to the Great Western Army.

No matter how fiercely Great Hua’s artillery had fired before, the Great Western Army had not collapsed because they were familiar with this tactic, had extensive experience in being bombarded, and knew how to cope.

But for tanks, all their previous preparations were a set of theories based on imagination, without any real combat experience.

This was prone to problems.

The Great Western Army’s anti-tank gunners quickly discovered that the anti-tank guns in their hands were not powerful enough to penetrate the armor of the Great Hua tanks.

The only way to stop the tanks was to hit their tracks.

However, on the battlefield, hitting a tank was already difficult enough, and now they had to aim at a specific part, which was even harder.

This was just a small problem among many. In fact, there were many unexpected things for the Great Western Army.

For example, the tanks’ firepower exceeded their expectations, and Great Hua’s infantry-tank coordination was also remarkably powerful.

In this situation, the Great Western Army’s lines were quickly breached in several places.

Although their defensive lines were several kilometers deep, the fact that the first line was so easily breached didn’t bode well for the rest.

Chapter 1109: A Wave of Surrender

The eastern front was breached, the central front was breached, the Seventh Division routed, the Eleventh Division surrounded…

One terrible piece of news after another reached the Great Western Army’s command headquarters.

At this point, talking about persevering was just self-deception.

Moreover, this was just a special battle; there was no need to fight to the death.

Therefore, Hu An, the supreme commander of the Great Western Army, issued an order to all regimental-level units.

If they couldn’t hold out, they were allowed to surrender.

He didn’t want innocent soldiers to die in this battle.

Soon, the commanders below received the order.

And this order directly wiped out the last bit of morale they had.

Even the supreme commander said it was okay to surrender, so what was the point of holding on?

As for what constituted “unable to hold out,” there were no standards.

“Regimental Commander, let’s surrender. This is the order from above anyway,” a low-ranking officer said.

He didn’t want to go to the front line to command anymore. The Huaxia army’s firepower was so fierce that he could die unjustly under their artillery fire with one wrong move.

“Yes, Regimental Commander, there’s no need to fight anymore,” another officer chimed in.

“Order the raising of the white flag and surrender by laying down our weapons,” the Regimental Commander said with a wry smile.

He knew better than these low-ranking officers that this battle was meaningless, so he had no resistance to surrendering.

Soon, a white flag was raised on the regiment’s position, and the soldiers threw away their weapons.

The Huaxia army also stopped firing in tacit agreement, swaggering into the regiment’s defense zone to receive prisoners.

At first glance, it looked like the two sides were doing a drill; it was too harmonious.

The besieged Eleventh Division was the first to surrender, and the other defenders followed suit.

The surrendered soldiers showed no anxiety. On the contrary, some of them had smiles on their faces.

After surrendering, they could return to the Central Plains.

Some of them even had family members in the Central Plains.

A seemingly large-scale battle spent all its time on preparation, and ended less than two days after it started, a bit anticlimactic.

The Great Western Army’s casualties were not significant, and the Huaxia army’s casualties were negligible.

This battle also completely shattered Li Dingguo’s dream.

He knew that the situation was now beyond salvation.

The trend of Great Hua unifying the world was unstoppable.

As the saying goes, those who follow the trend prosper, and those who go against it perish.

People who want to resist the great trend of history will never have a good ending.

Even Wu Changqing, who was revered as the God Emperor, overthrew the Great Ming and Qing Dynasty by following the trend.

Therefore, after learning of the defeat at the front, Li Dingguo summoned the Great Hua’s envoy to discuss the specific details of the merger.

Merging into Great Hua was just a sentence, but the actual operation was much more complicated.

He had to find a way to appease the vested interests in the country and get them to accept the merger plan.

If those vested interests were not satisfied with the plan, they would inevitably cause trouble for Great Hua in the future.

After merging into Great Hua, issues such as nationality and household registration, army reorganization, and tariffs all needed to be discussed.

If the army was not properly settled, it could easily lead to unrest.

If tariffs were abolished, some local industries in the Great Western Kingdom would be severely impacted.

In short, there were many troubles.

After some discussion.

On December 12th, Li Dingguo, the emperor of the Great Western Empire, announced to the country that he was abdicating.

At the same time, the entire Great Western Empire merged into Great Hua.

Some of the original official positions were abolished, some official ranks were lowered, and some officials were transferred.

As for Li Dingguo himself, he would first go to Nanjing to live for a while, and then Great Hua would give him the position of Governor-General of Europe.

Currently, the most developed region in the world besides the Central Plains was Europe.

The position of Governor-General of Europe carried significant weight and was considered a preferential treatment for Li Dingguo.

With the surrender of the Great Western Kingdom, the remaining countries in Europe immediately became nervous.

The Holy Roman Empire, seeing that there was no hope, began to negotiate with the Great Hua’s envoy for the final stages of the merger.

Poland and Tsarist Russia were preparing for war, trying to put up a final resistance.

They were not arrogant enough to think they could stop the Huaxia army.

They also knew they couldn’t win, but that didn’t mean they would surrender without a fight.

For their own core interests, some rulers didn’t mind going crazy.

In mid-December, the Great Hua’s western front troops entered the Prussian region, approaching Poland.

The southern front troops began to enter the Roman region to complete the handover.

The eastern front troops set out from the Great Western Kingdom and headed north straight for the Tsarist Russian capital.

After the Third Army of the Western Front entered Poland, they fought an encounter battle with the Polish army, directly bringing the Poles to tears.

The Polish army was still pure infantry, relying entirely on their legs for marching, and only a small number of mules and horses for transporting supplies.

The Huaxia army marched by car and fought with tanks.

By the time the two armies met, the Polish army was already panting for breath.

Before the battle even started, they had already lost half the fight.

When the Huaxia army launched an attack with advanced weapons, Poland collapsed directly.

The Great Western Army at least had some anti-tank guns, but the Polish army had absolutely no way to deal with Great Hua’s tanks.

Tens of thousands of troops were wiped out by a single division of Great Hua, almost completely annihilated.

A major defeat awakened the Polish royal family, and they quickly summoned the Great Hua’s envoy, wanting to discuss merging into Great Hua again.

However, when they started to act, they found that the Great Hua’s envoy had already left.

Great Hua would not indulge them. They had already been given a chance before. Since their attitude was so tough before, they would simply solve it with force.

Solving it with force had a major advantage, which was that there was no need to protect the interests of the original interest groups.

If those people had cooperated with Great Hua’s actions and surrendered, Great Hua would still need to protect their property and interests to some extent in order to maintain a clear image of rewards and punishments.

Unfortunately, those people did not cooperate, so Great Hua no longer needed to give them benefits.

This was also a deterrent to other places that had not yet surrendered, letting them know the difference between surrendering and not surrendering.

On December 20th, in just three days, the Huaxia army pushed all the way from Prussia to Warsaw.

Subsequently, the Polish royal family announced an unconditional surrender, ordering all parts of the country to surrender unconditionally.

This was a truly unconditional surrender. They did whatever the Huaxia army said, without the slightest room for bargaining.

Any slight resistance, and the heads on the guillotine would be their example.

With the defeat of Poland, other small places also began a wave of surrender.

By the twentieth year of Yongxing, most of Europe had been incorporated into Great Hua, with only Tsarist Russia and Northern Europe still resisting stubbornly.

Because of the cold in these places, Great Hua had not bothered to fight for the time being.

Only when spring blossoms would be the time for these places to return.

Chapter 1110: The Pros and Cons of High Welfare

In the twentieth year of Yongxing, the Huaxia army marched into Northern Europe.

Faced with weapons that were hundreds of years ahead of their own, these regions had no ability to resist.

Soon, Northern Europe surrendered, followed by Tsarist Russia.

At the same time, the takeover of the African continent was proceeding in an orderly manner.

By June, Great Hua had finally completed its nominal unification of the globe.

The system had recognized all regions as being under the rule of Great Hua.

However, for some places, this was only a nominal affiliation.

In reality, the local people still held the power of basic-level management, much like the old saying that imperial power doesn’t extend to the villages.

Great Hua only controlled the towns, while the villages and tribes remained autonomous.

This was unavoidable. In places like Africa, there were countless languages, making communication difficult, so they could only rely on their original social structures.

Great Hua didn’t expect to collect much tax revenue from these places, as long as they didn’t rebel or cause trouble.

The areas that Great Hua cared about most were the Central Plains, West Asia, and Europe.

These were either highly civilized or rich in resources.

Controlling these places meant controlling the planet.

Great Hua’s completion of global unification was the first time in history, and its impact was enormous.

Commercial activity was unprecedentedly active.

Without the restrictions of tariffs, business became much easier.

Without tariffs, profits soared.

Without restrictions on exports, overseas demand skyrocketed.

Almost all factories started working overtime. They just focused on producing as much as possible, not worrying about the market.

Goods from the Central Plains were shipped to all parts of the world.

Those places that were dumped with goods from the Central Plains naturally suffered.

But the only ones who suffered were the original bosses and merchant classes.

For ordinary people, they actually had access to cheaper goods.

Moreover, globalization wasn’t entirely bad for the original bourgeoisie.

Previously, Great Hua had technological restrictions, and some advanced technologies were not allowed to be leaked overseas.

They produced goods with backward technology, resulting in extremely high costs.

But now, after global unification, there was no such technological blockade.

Except for some core military technologies, other civilian technologies could be applied for assistance from the imperial court.

Some adaptable capitalists had already established connections and obtained places for support.

After obtaining advanced technology, and utilizing the local cheap labor, they also had certain advantages.

In the short term, goods from the Central Plains were still the mainstream.

However, over time, these places would eventually replace the Central Plains and become the largest manufacturing bases.

The reason was simple: these places had resource advantages and cheap labor advantages.

This was not good news for the workers in the Central Plains.

Some insightful workers had already reported this issue to the imperial court, demanding that the court guarantee their job opportunities.

The Great Hua court was also quite troubled by this issue.

Guaranteeing the interests of these workers would definitely affect economic development.

Moreover, it would be fraught with difficulties.

Capital is profit-seeking. If it’s cheaper to open factories overseas, then capital will inevitably flow overseas.

Trying to stop it would offend many people.

But if the interests of the Central Plains workers were not guaranteed, then their sense of belonging to Great Hua would decline.

In the end, the people of the Central Plains were the main body and foundation of Great Hua.

“Let’s give these people welfare, subsidize them with some money every month,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

His method was not to interfere with the laws of free economics, allowing factories and job opportunities to flow overseas.

Then, increase taxes in those places and take a portion of the money collected to distribute to the people in the Central Plains, supporting them for doing nothing.

This would not affect economic development, and at the same time, it would allow the people of the Central Plains to live a relaxed, high-welfare life.

The people of the Central Plains would definitely like it.

“No, isn’t that raising pigs? After a hundred years, they’ll be a copy of the Zhu family,” Li Yao firmly opposed.

Wasn’t the Zhu family of Great Ming relying on sucking the blood of the people to support their massive family?

Although Zhu Yuanzhang’s original intention was to let his family live a happy life.

However, this system would inevitably cause some problems.

After a hundred years, those who were pampered would become useless waste.

Yet, this group of waste lived better than others and were still sucking the blood of people in other places. How could people in other places be happy about that?

If they really rebelled, how could those pampered wastes fight?

As the saying goes, a doting mother raises a spoiled child. This is a very simple principle.

High welfare can only benefit the people of the Central Plains in the short term. In the long run, it will harm them.

Not only was the Zhu family like this, but so were the Eight Banners in the late Qing Dynasty.

Anyway, they could receive relief without working hard and live better than ordinary Han people, so why bother working hard?

As a result, they began to live in luxury, to the point where they couldn’t even lift a gun.

At that point, even gods couldn’t save them, and being overthrown was inevitable.

“Then what do you say we should do? We can’t lower the workers’ wages to ensure the competitiveness of their companies, can we?” Ouyang Shiqi asked.

This question not only stumped Li Yao, but even Wu Changqing was stumped.

It could be said that this was an unsolvable problem in the world.

If the people of the Central Plains weren’t given better welfare, then his conquest of the world would be meaningless.

But if the people of the Central Plains were given better welfare, then these people who could reach out for clothes and open their mouths for food would inevitably become decadent.

He had personally witnessed this in his later life.

Those high-welfare countries were facing this problem.

And once this problem arose, it would be difficult to change.

People of insight were ultimately in the minority, and the mob was the mainstream.

The mob would only reach out for better welfare and would never consider how harmful this high welfare was to the country. Or perhaps they knew, but they didn’t care.

As long as they could enjoy their short lives, they wouldn’t bat an eye if the earth was destroyed.

“Let’s implement a welfare system first, but don’t give too much, and don’t make it too obvious. At the same time, pay attention to strengthening their ideological guidance, and don’t let hedonism prevail. We must instill the progressive ideas of hard work, striving for the top, and becoming superior people…”

Wu Changqing finally made a decision.

He still couldn’t bring himself to mistreat the people of the Central Plains, and was willing to give them some welfare so that they could live better.

As for whether this welfare would lead to the decadence of this group, that was something that would only become apparent after decades or even centuries.

Wu Changqing decided to take care of the present first, and then think about the matters of decades later.

Moreover, this world was already vastly different from his original timeline, so it was not certain whether this negative consequence would occur.

Chapter 1111: Progress in the Otherworld

The twentieth year of Yongxing, the otherworld, Pioneer City.

This is the first city Great Hua built in the otherworld. The city walls are twenty meters high, over sixty li in circumference, and six to seven meters thick.

They are made entirely of reinforced concrete and are incredibly sturdy.

Back on Earth, Great Hua had long since stopped building city walls.

In fact, to facilitate transportation, the city walls of many ancient cities are being gradually demolished.

In the face of various new hot weapons, those city walls no longer have any meaning.

But in the otherworld, Great Hua picked up the old craft traditions again and built city walls.

This is certainly not because the people of Great Hua are idle and want to show off their architectural skills to the creatures of the otherworld, but mainly because the otherworld is not as safe as Earth.

The threat of animals on Earth to humans is almost negligible.

Whether it’s tigers or elephants, they have to avoid people when they see them.

Otherwise, they will end up in a zoo or on the dining table.

But in the otherworld, the threat those otherworld creatures pose to humans is several levels higher.

Even a gray-furred rat the size of a rabbit is more than a match for a human in a one-on-one fight.

The fur of this gray-furred rat is quite tough. Pistol bullets slip right off it and can’t penetrate at all.

Rifles can only wound them. To kill these things, you need a large-caliber heavy machine gun or sniper rifle.

When the Huaxia army first encountered the gray-furred rats, they suffered more than a hundred casualties.

However, the fur of these gray-furred rats can be used in industry and is very useful.

This is why, even though the otherworld is very dangerous, more and more people are going there.

Gray-furred rats are considered low-threat creatures. When encountering herds of horned beasts, large otherworld creatures that move in groups, even the army is not effective.

Great Hua has been stationed in the otherworld for more than half a year, and has encountered otherworld creatures a total of six times at the entrance.

Three of these creatures were docile and posed little threat to humans.

But the other three caused considerable losses to Great Hua’s advance forces.

Two were herds of horned beasts, and the other was a herd of tusked beasts.

Tusked beasts are the name Great Hua gave to these creatures, because their tusks are very sharp and their biting ability is extremely terrifying.

The armor of an old-fashioned tank was torn open by these tusked beasts.

It is because of these strange threats that Great Hua spent huge sums of money to build this ancient city that can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people.

And now, the number of humans in this city has reached two hundred thousand.

Among them, the army and private armed explorers account for half.

The rest are scientists, business people, and some people engaged in the service industry.

West District, labor market.

“The gold mine in District Seven is still short twenty miners, come quickly. Base salary of one hundred thousand plus commission.”

A mining company is recruiting manpower.

Great Hua discovered a gold mine in the otherworld, located southwest of Pioneer City, and it was incorporated into District Seven.

According to preliminary estimates by experts, the reserves of this gold mine exceed ten thousand tons, more than twice the reserves of the largest gold mine discovered on Earth.

This news caused an earthquake in the gold futures market on Earth, and the price of gold fell by ten percent.

But even so, gold is still a super valuable metal.

Mining gold is always profitable.

What’s more, because Great Hua encourages the development of the otherworld, the tax on income from the otherworld is relatively low.

The profit from mining gold in the otherworld is at least several times higher than mining it on Earth.

Of course, the danger is also multiplied.

Mining on Earth rarely results in deaths, except for some accidents.

But in the otherworld, that’s hard to say.

In the event of a beast tide, even with the protection of the army, it is easy to lose your life.

It is precisely because of this that the wages offered for recruiting miners here are extremely high.

Not only is there a base salary of one hundred thousand, but there is also a certain commission.

It can be said that if you gamble your luck at the gold mine and work for a month, you don’t have to work for the next whole year, and you can still live a good life.

With such great benefits, naturally some people take the risk.

Compared to mining, there are more dangerous jobs in Pioneer City.

Hunting.

Or being an explorer.

Some private armed companies hire retired soldiers or various talents with special skills to explore unknown areas, capture those otherworld creatures, and find treasures.

Now Great Hua’s research institutions, leather markets, luxury hotels, and zoos are all in great need of these otherworld creatures.

If you can catch a creature that has not been discovered before, then you will make a fortune.

And some special substances that do not exist on Earth can often bring huge profits.

Of course, this kind of work is also extremely dangerous.

At least there is army protection when mining, but when they go hunting, they can only rely on themselves.

But even with such dangerous work, there are still people doing it, because people are paying huge sums of money to hire them.

Some large families are trying to make a profit in this great change of the world, and are willing to gamble their family’s fate and invest all their wealth.

The weapons they use are not much worse than those of the active Huaxia army.

Tanks, armored vehicles, and small aircraft are all available.

Developing the otherworld is a bit like the Age of Exploration.

And Pioneer City is like a port.

Most of the people who hang out here are high-income daredevils.

They are fearless of death, pursue enjoyment, spend money like water, and believe in living for the moment.

Therefore, the service industry here is also quite developed.

Beauties from West Asia and Eastern Europe have started flesh-and-blood businesses here, making a lot of money every day.

These are all spontaneous actions by the people, and the military is the absolute main force in exploring the otherworld.

Pioneer City, military headquarters.

“The beast tide in District Nine is approaching Pioneer City, and will arrive in about five days.”

An army colonel reported.

“The higher-ups want us to take the initiative and drive away this batch of tusked beasts to prevent the residents of Pioneer City from panicking. Of course, it is also to prevent accidents from happening.”

A general said.

The creatures of the otherworld also have periodic migrations.

Unfortunately, Pioneer City is located on the migration route of some animals.

“Let’s ambush them in Wolf Valley, there is no more suitable terrain around.”

Chief of Staff Luo Dong suggested.

Wolf Valley is a long and narrow valley with cliffs on both sides, making it very suitable for ambushes and blocking.

“How are the weapons and ammunition preparations going? Don’t let the ammunition run out while fighting, like last time.”

General Li asked.

“Don’t worry, General, last time we didn’t understand the tusked beasts and underestimated their defense. After expert research, we have a full understanding and preparation for the tusked beasts. Beasts are beasts after all, and even the strongest body is no match for us. As long as there are no intelligent creatures in the otherworld, everything will be easy.”

Luo Dong smiled.

Even on Earth, human bodies are not at all superior to animals.

However, it is humans who rule the Earth.

Chapter 1112: Traces of Intelligent Life

Wolf Valley. A main armored division of the Great Hua army was deployed at the mouth of the valley and on the peaks on both sides of the valley.

They were equipped with a large number of Great Hua’s latest Type 20 tanks, which weighed nearly fifty tonnes and were equipped with a one hundred millimeter smoothbore gun.

Even when facing Horned Beasts, these tanks could remain calm, as the Horned Beasts couldn’t budge them.

In addition to one hundred of these Type 20 tanks, there were also more than two hundred older tanks, rocket launchers, and other heavy weapons.

Against otherworldly creatures, the role of ordinary firearms had been greatly reduced.

Only heavy weapons with tremendous destructive power could inflict fatal damage on these otherworldly creatures.

Precisely because of this, the number of infantry in this armored division was very small. There were many more heavy machine gunners and anti-tank gunners.

“Speaking of which, why do these Tusked Beasts have collective migration behavior?”

On the mountain valley, Luo Dong muttered to himself.

“Animal migration is generally to find food. However, I see that the alien vegetation is lush, and the Tusked Beasts have a wide diet, eating everything, so it doesn’t seem to be for food.”

Chief of Staff He Xinghui said.

The mysterious veil of the other world was slowly being lifted, but there were still many phenomena they could not understand.

“Whatever, these things are the domain of those experts’ research. We soldiers only need to be responsible for defending our country. These Tusked Beasts threaten Pioneer City, so the reason for their migration is not important, they must be stopped.”

Another general said.

Just as they were chatting, a guard came to report that the beast tide was less than one kilometer away from the ambush.

Calling it an ambush was actually an exaggeration.

Those beasts didn’t have any reconnaissance methods, and even if they did, with their intelligence, it was unlikely they would know to retreat.

Therefore, Great Hua’s ambush was actually just not showing their faces, not letting the Tusked Beasts see them.

Sure enough, the beasts did not notice anything unusual and marched into the ambush.

Boom.

Landmines were triggered, and a large number of landmines began to explode.

If this enhanced version of the landmine exploded near a person, it would be enough to tear a person’s body apart.

However, these exploding fragments shot into the bodies of the Tusked Beasts only managed to break their defenses.

Some fragments broke through their thick and tough fur, shot into the bodies of the Tusked Beasts, causing them to let out bursts of wails.

The wounded Tusked Beasts began to run wildly, rushing towards the mouth of the valley.

They didn’t know why they were rushing towards the mouth of the valley, it was purely instinct.

Seeing this, the Huaxia army calmly pulled the trigger.

Countless large-caliber bullets flew towards the Tusked Beasts, and shells continued to fall in the middle of the herd.

No matter how thick their fur was, they couldn’t withstand this series of attacks.

Soon, a howl rang out in the beast herd, and then the beasts behind began to turn around and flee the mouth of the valley.

The Huaxia army did not pursue, nor did they block the retreat of the beast herd in advance.

After all, they only wanted to prevent the Tusked Beasts from approaching Pioneer City, not to wipe out all these beasts.

A complete victory.

Apart from two soldiers who suffered minor injuries due to improper operation, the Huaxia army suffered no losses.

This was thanks to the terrain of Wolf Valley. If it were in a plain area, the Huaxia army would not be able to do so well.

Once these Tusked Beasts got close, the Huaxia army would be in trouble.

“In the face of wisdom, strength is really useless.”

Luo Dong commented as he watched the battle.

Without advanced weapons and equipment, humans would not be a match for these Tusked Beasts at all.

But now, they could beat these beasts without any ability to fight back.

The battle ended quickly, and the surviving Tusked Beasts escaped the valley, but did not turn around, only changed their direction of advance.

The Huaxia army didn’t care too much, as long as they didn’t pass by Pioneer City.

After the battle, the Huaxia army soldiers began to clean up the battlefield.

The Tusked Beasts were treasures all over, their tusks could be used as special materials in industry, their fur could be used for clothing, and their meat could be used for food.

Rarity makes things precious. For the wealthy people on Earth, eating otherworldly delicacies was now the standard.

Moreover, the otherworldly meat did have a special flavor.

After preliminary research, these meats also contained a lot of nutrients.

In short, these meats were now selling very well on Earth and in Pioneer City.

“Hey, look, this Tusked Beast has a collar on its neck.”

While cleaning up the battlefield, a soldier keenly noticed an anomaly. He found that one of the Tusked Beasts actually had a collar on its neck, similar to the kind that pet dogs wear.

Moreover, it was made of metal.

This discovery aroused great attention from Luo Dong and He Xinghui.

They both knew what this meant, it meant that there were intelligent creatures in the other world.

Only intelligent creatures could master the technology of metal refining and create such exquisite metal tools.

And beasts, absolutely did not have this possibility.

“How could this Tusked Beast have this kind of thing on it?”

“Maybe it’s a pet of some intelligent creature that escaped.”

Everyone speculated about this thing, but couldn’t guess the reason.

“First, block the news and isolate the soldiers who know about it.”

Luo Dong said.

What did it mean that there were intelligent creatures in the other world? Luo Dong couldn’t figure it out for a while.

He just had a vague feeling that it was not good, and this needed to be treated with caution and reported to the central government immediately.

“I don’t know how far the intelligent creatures here have developed, are their physical bodies as strong as beasts?”

He Xinghui expressed his concerns.

If the level of technological development was lower than Great Hua, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Great Hua could conquer the entire Earth, and naturally could conquer the entire other world.

However, if the level of civilization here was higher than Great Hua, it would be troublesome.

What was even more terrifying was that if the intelligent creatures here not only had the ability to learn, but also had physical bodies as strong as otherworldly creatures, it would be even more troublesome.

If that was the case, withdrawing from the other world and finding a way to destroy the space-time gate would be the most correct choice.

“Looking at this collar, what level of craftsmanship do you estimate this belongs to?”

Luo Dong handed the collar over.

He Xinghui carefully looked at it for a while, shook his head, and said, “This is not my specialty, I can’t tell. Moreover, just this collar alone may not represent the level of craftsmanship of the intelligent creatures in the other world. The Great Ming in the past and the current Great Hua can both make this kind of collar, but the gap in technology is worlds apart.”

“The trouble is big, we should report to the imperial court as soon as possible and let the imperial court make a decision. At the same time, let all departments reduce large-scale actions and focus on reconnaissance. If you encounter intelligent creatures, do not be impulsive.”

Luo Dong said.

Afterwards, they quickly returned to Pioneer City and found relevant smelting experts to help them analyze the craftsmanship level of the collar.

Chapter 1113: Rocket Test Launch

Are there intelligent beings in the other world?

Wu Changqing was greatly surprised to learn this news.

The system didn’t mention this.

The system only told him that other transmigrator forces had entered the other world and that he needed to compete with them for it. However, the system didn’t tell him that there were intelligent beings among the native creatures of the other world.

The situation suddenly became complicated.

What do these intelligent beings look like? What is their combat strength? How far has their technology advanced?

Of course, Wu Changqing wasn’t particularly worried.

Since the other forces that entered the other world before him were still alive and well, it meant that these alien intelligent beings shouldn’t be invincible.

“Increase the exploration efforts and find out the intelligence as soon as possible. At the same time, speed up the construction of the railway in Antarctica and increase its scale.”

Wu Changqing ultimately gave these instructions.

There was no way to escape. He would never give up such a large piece of fat like the other world.

Although the world was now completely unified, many problems remained.

If he didn’t find a way to solve these problems, this empire would probably eventually move towards division.

Many social problems, in summary, really only boiled down to one thing: money.

Or rather, the distribution of wealth and resources.

If Great Hua could provide all its citizens with food, daily necessities, houses, and cars, there would be no social problems.

Unfortunately, Great Hua couldn’t do that yet.

To achieve this, it would take time and, more importantly, resources from the other world.

Great Hua had only entered the other world for less than a year, but it had already gained enormous benefits.

For example, they found a rare metal in the other world that could greatly improve the toughness and strength of steel when mixed in.

Originally, the technical difficulty of building projects like the Yangtze River Bridge was very high, and only two teams in the entire Great Hua had the ability to build them.

However, after using this new type of alloy steel, the technical difficulty was greatly reduced.

The number of teams that could build such projects suddenly increased to more than a dozen.

Now, Great Hua has set off another infrastructure boom, mainly reflected in bridge construction.

Originally, there were only five bridges across the Yangtze River connecting the north and south, and traffic was very congested.

But with this alloy steel, five more projects have started directly on the Yangtze River.

Anqing, Wuhu, Zhenjiang, Jiujiang, and Jingzhou have begun new construction.

Once these bridges are completed, they can greatly improve the transportation capacity between the north and south of the Central Plains.

The principle of “to get rich, build roads first” is definitely correct.

Not only is the Central Plains region building these bridges, but overseas regions are also building them.

The Thames and Rhine rivers also need such bridges.

Rare metals are just one of many gains, and the role of other biological resources is also significant.

In the twenty-first year of Yongxing, an alien rabbit successfully hybridized with an Earth domestic rabbit, leaving behind a litter of hybrid rabbits.

These hybrid rabbits have extremely terrifying reproductive capabilities, and they are not picky eaters, making their breeding costs extremely low.

The emergence of hybrid rabbits can produce a large amount of meat and solve the global meat problem.

Of course, rabbits have very little meat, so it is impossible to completely solve this problem by relying on hybrid rabbits.

But it doesn’t matter, since rabbits can be successfully hybridized, it means that there is hope for other species.

If they can find a close relative of pigs in the other world and cultivate a new breed of domestic pigs, then the global meat problem can be solved.

In addition to paying attention to the affairs of the other world, the technological development of Earth is also one of the things Wu Changqing cares about most.

Only technological development can create more materials, wealth, and enhance national strength.

“How is the network construction going?”

In March of the twenty-first year of Yongxing, Wu Changqing summoned Lu Yuanhao, the Minister of Science and Technology, to inquire about the progress of network construction.

The steam revolution, the electrical revolution, and the information revolution are the three stages of rapid human development.

The current Central Plains, prosperous areas, and large cities have completed the steam revolution and entered the electrical revolution, and also have the conditions to enter the information revolution.

“Your Majesty, after more than a year of cable laying, the Jiangnan region has now achieved network connectivity. Many departments have begun to use the network to assist in office work, and the number of computers in the private sector is also increasing significantly.

There are more than twenty thousand computers in the capital alone, and the number of computers in the entire Jiangnan region is close to fifty thousand. At the same time, the number of registered domain names has exceeded ten thousand…”

Lu Yuanhao briefly introduced the current progress of Great Hua’s network construction.

With Wu Changqing’s guidance, Great Hua’s network construction doesn’t need to take detours and is developing very rapidly.

“Continue to speed up the laying of fiber optic cables,” Wu Changqing said.

“But Your Majesty, this is already our maximum speed,” Lu Yuanhao said helplessly.

“Lack of money?” Wu Changqing asked.

“It’s not that we lack money, the key is the lack of talent in this area. This is still thanks to Your Majesty’s persistent commitment to free education over the past twenty years, which has cultivated a large number of talents.

If it weren’t for this, even if we had computers now, there would be no way to popularize them,” Lu Yuanhao explained, while not forgetting to praise Wu Changqing’s achievements.

Of course, it can’t be considered flattery, he was telling the truth.

If Wu Changqing hadn’t insisted on allocating funds to allow those citizens to attend school for free, the literacy rate in Great Hua would not be so high now, and it would not have been possible to achieve such rapid development as it has now.

With the development of science and technology, knowledge is becoming more and more important.

In the past, an illiterate person had no problem living in the city.

But now, if you are illiterate in the city, even finding your way, taking the bus, and shopping are troublesome.

High-tech products like computers are only used by families with a high level of education.

Ordinary people don’t even know how to use them.

“It seems that I’m still too impatient,” Wu Changqing laughed.

The current social development is already rapid.

Except for him, almost everyone else feels like they are living in a dream.

Because they don’t know that one day when they wake up, the world will have changed again.

In April, Great Hua launched its first space rocket.

Some timid people were frightened by this news and lived in fear all day long.

After all, some rumors said that the rocket was going to fly into the sky and shoot at the Heavenly Court.

If this were the case, it would inevitably offend the gods in the sky and bring about natural disasters.

Now it is only the twenty-first year of Yongxing, and some people from the Ming Dynasty are still alive and well.

At that time, they had never even seen a bicycle.

But now, there is something that can fly outside the sky, outside of what they call Earth, which is simply unbelievable.

Even those older people don’t believe that they live on a ball.

They can’t understand why people at the bottom of the ball wouldn’t fall out of the ball.

However, their ignorance cannot stop the development of this society.

That group of talents who have received new-style education has become the mainstream of society.

Chapter 1114: The Changing of the Guard

On the day of the rocket launch, nearly a thousand ignorant people gathered outside Xi’an to kneel and pray, begging for Heaven’s forgiveness.

Government law enforcement officers tried to dissuade them, only to be beaten by the unruly crowd.

This was a very minor episode on the day of the rocket launch, but Chen Wenliao, the newly appointed Minister of Education, intended to seize this opportunity to make a big splash.

As a man who had received a modern education, Chen Wenliao deeply loathed the feudal superstitions prevalent in society.

He believed that some feudal customs were a huge obstacle to social development.

For example, when building railways, they often encountered troublemakers who claimed that the railway would damage the local feng shui and dragon veins, and they refused to agree no matter what.

Even if the government forced construction, these troublemakers would often sabotage the railway afterward, forcing the government to increase patrols along the railway line, adding a considerable expense out of nowhere.

It was also a waste of human resources. These adult men could be producing goods in factories, but instead, they were aimlessly wandering along the railway line.

Another example was when some people got sick, they didn’t seek scientific treatment, but instead listened to charlatans who used talisman water and other strange treatments.

This posed a great risk to people’s lives, and tragedies occurred from time to time.

Although such tragic cases didn’t happen very often in one place, they added up to a terrifying number globally.

Chen Wenliao hadn’t conducted a detailed investigation and statistics, he could only make some estimates based on the records of a few places, and the conclusion was that at least ten thousand people died each year worldwide due to superstition.

With tens of thousands of people, the imperial court couldn’t ignore it.

It should be known that the current total population of Great Hua, which was also the total population of the world, was only one point twenty-five billion.

Ten thousand people were almost one in one hundred thousand.

Adding other causes of death such as old age, traffic accidents, illness, and overwork, many people in Great Hua died young.

If it weren’t for the extremely high birth rate in Great Hua now, the population wouldn’t grow much.

In short, the imperial court couldn’t abandon these young people.

Therefore, Chen Wenliao submitted a memorial, proposing to eliminate feudal superstitions and abolish backward customs.

What seemed like a small matter caused a great controversy in the court.

In particular, the abolition of backward customs was strongly opposed by some officials.

Customs were deeply rooted in people’s hearts, and whether they were backward or not, they couldn’t be rashly abolished or changed, otherwise, it would easily arouse public resentment.

It was like Dorgon’s hair shaving order.

Previously, no matter how they fought, the people in Jiangnan didn’t resist.

Once they wanted to change the customs and cultural traditions of the people, the people immediately refused, even at the cost of their lives.

Minister Liu Dahua firmly opposed the change, hoping that the world would prioritize stability.

He believed that steady development like this was very good. The lives of the people and the rich were getting better, so there was no need to be so radical.

His advocacy was defined as conservatism.

And Chen Wenliao was defined as radicalism.

The two groups engaged in a fierce debate in the court, and it almost turned into a factional struggle.

Wu Changqing initially watched the performance of both sides silently.

In his opinion, conservatism had its advantages, and radicalism also had its benefits.

This was a very complex issue, and it couldn’t be simply said who was good and who was bad.

At this time, the leader’s preference became a very important factor.

Wu Changqing was biased towards radicalism, he was not satisfied with the current achievements.

What’s more, as a time-traveler from later generations, he especially hated those feudal superstitions and backward customs.

In his opinion, those fortune tellers and feng shui masters on the streets were simply a bunch of parasites.

They couldn’t create any value for this world, but they kept consuming food and materials, even more awesome than the government.

The government collected taxes, at least it needed to create a prosperous and stable world for the people, and it also needed to provide various security protections for the people, so that the people could willingly pay taxes.

But those feng shui masters just relied on their glib tongues to cheat people everywhere.

If there really was such a thing as a feng shui treasure land in this world, then what else would people need to do? Just move the ancestral graves of people all over the world there, and then everyone could lie down and wait for food to fall from the sky.

Then there were some backward customs, such as extravagant weddings and funerals.

Marriage was certainly a joyous event and should be celebrated.

However, if the celebration exceeded the affordability of the two families, and it required years of hard work to exchange for this moment of glory, then it was very unnecessary.

In some areas of Jiangnan, the extravagance of weddings was serious, and the mentality of comparison was serious.

Under this custom and atmosphere, some families who were originally unwilling to be extravagant had to follow suit due to pressure from public opinion.

People were, after all, a kind of social animal, and gaining the recognition of others was especially important.

Then there were some grand funerals, which were also hard to describe.

Treat the elderly badly when they are alive, letting them suffer all kinds of torture. After they die and can’t enjoy it, the children spend a lot of money on funerals, making it seem like they have a lot of conscience.

“Some people are old, have lost a lot of their edge, have no ambition, and can’t keep up with this era. And those who can’t keep up with朕’s pace can only be eliminated by the times. Some people should go home and retire.”

Wu Changqing said when he summoned Chen Wenliao.

His words showed his attitude, to cleanse some of the conservatives and to retire some of the old people in the court.

Some of the old people in the court had changed, just like Liu Dahua.

The former Liu Dahua was also passionate and full of adventurous spirit, and he decisively defected when Wu Changqing had just taken Nanjing. At that time, the most powerful forces in the Central Plains were still the Manchus and the Southern Ming.

After that, Liu Dahua also actively responded to various new reforms and rushed to the front line.

Then, he rushed all the way to the position of Minister of Land and Resources, and also a cabinet minister.

At his age of sixty-five, he could no longer be promoted.

So Liu Dahua’s mentality had completely changed, he just wanted the country to develop steadily, without much trouble, so that he could continue to live a leisurely life and enjoy his old age.

In contrast, the young officials under him were all full of ambition.

They were still young and had relatively low status, and they all wanted to climb up.

And if they wanted to climb up, they either had to make contributions themselves, or drive the old fogeys above them away.

There was no other way.

And now, the reform of eliminating superstition could just do these two things.

They could both make contributions in the reform, and drive some old fogeys home to retire in this reform.

For them, this reform was extremely wonderful.

“Your subject obeys.”

With Wu Changqing’s imperial sword, Chen Wenliao could let go and make a big splash.

Chapter 1115: Setting a New Standard

After receiving the imperial decree, Chen Wenliao immediately took action.

The few remaining censors in the court jumped out and launched a massive attack on Liu Dahua and other old-fashioned officials.

Back in the early days of Great Hua, Wu Changqing had a particular dislike for those censors who didn’t do any real work and only knew how to spout nonsense.

During the official system reform, he had already dismissed a large number of censors.

Now, although there were still a few censor positions in the court, they had completely become the emperor’s mouthpiece, and the opinions they expressed were words that the emperor wanted to say but found inconvenient to say himself.

For example, right now, Wu Changqing wanted to tell those old ministers who were not thinking of progress that he hoped they could retire.

However, Wu Changqing couldn’t say these words himself, as it would smack of using someone and then discarding them.

Since it was inconvenient for him to say it, the censors could do it for him. They existed to criticize people and didn’t have any specific jobs.

With Chen Wenliao’s backing, those censors began to attack the old-fashioned officials who upheld feudal superstitions. The intensity of their words was reminiscent of the old party strife.

The only difference was that none of the officials in Liu Dahua’s group could stand up and compete with those censors.

Helpless, they could only rely on their seniority and beg to see the emperor, hoping to cry and plead before Wu Changqing.

Liu Dahua did just that. He entered the palace filled with righteous indignation and hope, but left utterly disappointed.

In an instant, he seemed to have aged ten years.

The next day, Liu Dahua took the initiative to resign and return to his hometown to retire.

Other people who were in the midst of the political vortex also followed suit, retreating bravely.

As for the small number who were greedy for power and refused to see the light, Chen Wenliao began the second step: investigate.

As long as these officials were investigated, it would be impossible not to find a single record of violation. Even if they hadn’t done anything wrong, investigating their family and relatives would definitely find an excuse.

In this way, this group of stubborn people was also dealt with.

The other smart people, seeing that this was the emperor’s will, changed their positions one after another.

In this country, the emperor’s will was above everything else. No one really thought that anything was more important than the emperor’s words.

Not to mention that Wu Changqing only wanted to eliminate some superstitious customs among the people, even if Wu Changqing wanted to do something absurd, everyone could only cooperate.

In short, this not-so-big storm quickly subsided.

Some old-fashioned officials who occupied positions without doing any work were cleared out, and a group of ambitious officials filled those vacancies.

After the upper echelons unified their thinking, the campaign to eliminate superstition began to spread to the people, first to the big cities, then to the small cities, and finally to the countryside.

Work in the big cities was relatively easy. After all, people living in big cities were more educated, believed in science, and had a clearer understanding of the causes of superstition.

At the same time, some practical difficulties were also forcing them to abandon some bad habits.

For example, the idea of looking at Feng Shui for burials could only exist in the countryside.

Land in the city was worth its weight in gold. Not to mention ordinary people, even high-ranking officials were not qualified to say that they could buy a piece of land and build a grave because of good Feng Shui. That was unrealistic.

The land in the city was uniformly planned by the government, and it was impossible to give anyone the green light.

To survive in the city, one had to give up some customs and habits.

Today, there are only two public cemeteries in Nanjing.

Whether you believe in the good Feng Shui there or not, the deceased relatives of your family have to be buried there.

At the same time, the scale of wedding and funeral banquets was also decreasing.

In rural areas or small places, it was not a big problem to invite the whole village or hundreds of people to a feast.

But in big cities, inviting hundreds of people to a feast could bankrupt you in one meal.

Except for a very small number of wealthy families, ordinary families were simplifying everything and only retaining a formality.

Of course, there were still many places in the city that needed to be rectified.

For example, those fortune tellers and fake medicine sellers.

Some families, benefiting from the rapid development of Great Hua, had an increase in wealth that outpaced their increase in education and knowledge.

These people were the favorites of those fortune tellers and fake medicine sellers.

They only needed to rely on their glib tongues to make a fortune.

What made the government even more headache was that those who were cheated often came to the government for help, adding to the workload for no reason.

These fortune tellers did not engage in productive activities and lived by sucking the blood of others, even more hateful than corrupt officials.

When corrupt officials were corrupt, at least they would work hard to do things well, fearing that if things were not done well, their corruption would be exposed.

This kind of hard work was at least making a contribution.

In this campaign to eliminate superstition, one of the tasks was to eliminate all fortune tellers, force them to change careers, or directly press them into hard labor.

Wu Changqing would not argue with fortune tellers or study whether fortune telling was accurate. Anyway, he didn’t believe in this kind of thing, and he wanted to ban it.

This was very domineering, but it was indeed very effective.

If you had to reason with those fortune tellers, you couldn’t get through to them at all. This was a completely unfalsifiable thing, and neither side could convince the other.

Dealing with these people, being a little more barbaric was the most efficient method.

As soon as the order was issued, the fortune tellers in Nanjing wailed, shouting that this was tyranny and that the current emperor was not as good as the previous dynasty.

However, after being cleaned up, they became honest.

These people who relied on their tongues were often the softest bones, and it was easy to make them submit.

The fortune tellers were taken away, and the people basically welcomed it, because there were quite a few people who had been cheated.

As for those who had not been cheated, they didn’t care.

To put it bluntly, fortune telling was not a necessity of life at all. If it was gone, it was gone, and no one would care too much.

If the government arrested all the salt sellers, the people would have a lot of opinions.

Obviously, fortune tellers were not worthy.

What’s more, while the government was taking practical action, public opinion was also actively cooperating.

During this period, the Internet, television, radio, and newspapers were all vigorously promoting the spirit of science and exposing the essence of superstition.

Writing stories, composing ditties, and composing folk songs.

When a country wants to accomplish something, there are so many forces that can be mobilized.

At least, this is the case in the current Great Hua.

Great Hua’s national mobilization ability was dozens of streets ahead of the previous feudal dynasties.

After solving the fortune tellers and banning Feng Shui metaphysics, the government began to crack down on the sale of fake medicines.

However, in this regard, Wu Changqing was much more cautious and did not kill everything with one blow.

What is fake medicine? This definition is very vague.

Some folk remedies cannot be explained by current scientific theories, but some are indeed effective. Obviously, these cannot be considered fake medicines.

However, there are indeed some people who are selling fake medicines under the guise of folk remedies, endangering society.

What is even more complicated is that some folk remedies are only effective for some people, and not effective for others. Does this kind of medicine count as fake medicine?

Chapter 1116: Unifying the Script

Breaking superstition, promoting hygiene, establishing new customs—a campaign of civilizational development was being piloted in the Central Plains, proceeding in full swing.

Large numbers of temples were torn down, replaced by libraries.

To accommodate the illiterate, there were also specialized storytellers and literacy night schools.

The storytellers wove various pieces of popular science knowledge into entertaining stories.

At the same time, they wrote a large number of stories exposing superstitious tricks, telling the people the truth about how those swindlers deceived them.

Or, they simply and crudely established these people as villains.

As long as these stories spread widely enough, it would easily give people a psychological suggestion that such people were bad people, without any need for a reason.

This tactic was played very well by various countries in later generations.

For example, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice successfully shaped the various ugly faces of a Jewish merchant.

As a result, Jews would later be labeled with this stereotype.

Or, for example, in a certain novel, an Asian official was depicted as having slanted eyes.

When this kind of book became widely circulated, those who had never been to Asia would naturally think that this was what Asians looked like.

Great Hua was now shaping those who did not engage in production and relied solely on their glib tongues to travel the world into a very annoying character.

As long as they persisted, it wouldn’t be long before people saw this kind of person and subconsciously felt that the other party was a bad person and untrustworthy.

When that time came, these geomancers would have no room to survive.

In addition to these soft tactics, Great Hua in some places also directly took hard measures.

Some people who made money by relying on feudal superstitions were directly taken away by the government for ideological education. Those who could recognize their mistakes and were willing to correct them were released.

Those who were deeply poisoned and even believed in those unfounded things themselves could only be sent to the mines to accept reform.

There, even the most devout believers would be awakened by the cruel reality.

These actions were proceeding smoothly in the urban areas of the Central Plains.

After all, people in the urban areas of the Central Plains originally had no religious beliefs.

Moreover, they were highly educated and had a high degree of acceptance of technology.

But when it was promoted to the countryside, the trouble came.

It was not very useful to reason with those people; they couldn’t understand.

The worldview they had developed over the years was not easily changed.

Faced with this situation, administrative officials in various places took different measures.

Some set up various fines. Those who violated the terms of civilizational development were directly fined.

As long as the people’s wallets were touched, they would have to change even if they didn’t want to.

As long as they persisted for several years, those bad traditions could be forgotten by seventy or eighty percent.

However, this approach easily made the people feel very unhappy, and in some places, conflicts even occurred as a result.

Fortunately, this kind of thing was not common, so the policy was still being implemented.

However, it would probably take a long time to completely complete this change.

These were all considered good situations. The most difficult to deal with were the overseas regions.

The religious atmosphere in overseas regions was too strong, especially in South Asia.

Wanting them to completely believe in science and not be superstitious was more difficult than directly killing them.

In this regard, Chen Wenliao’s suggestion was to ignore them.

Letting these places continue to remain backward could maintain the absolute dominance of the Central Plains.

The people in these places only needed to do some low-end hard labor.

High-tech industries could remain in the Central Plains.

Wu Changqing adopted this suggestion.

Although doing so could not unleash the greatest potential of Great Hua, it was more stable.

Before those places had fully learned Chinese characters and fully accepted Central Plains culture, there was no need to let them develop too quickly.

“How is the unification of the script progressing?”

While civilizational development was in full swing, Wu Changqing asked about this issue.

“Your Majesty, our dynasty has now established Chinese schools all over the world. However, there are not enough teachers who are proficient in a small number of languages.”

An official from the Ministry of Education replied.

“People in some places are more resistant to Chinese characters.”

“I suggest that we follow Emperor Qin Shi Huang, burn books and bury scholars, confiscate a small number of non-Chinese books and seal them in the national treasury, burn all other non-Chinese books, and cut off those people’s thoughts.”

Zhang Fang of the Ministry of Education suggested.

Burning books and burying scholars was something that rulers of all dynasties would do.

If a country had too many voices, it would not be good for development and stability.

“I’m afraid this will cause dissatisfaction and resistance among the people in various places.”

Another official who sought stability did not agree.

“It’s not like we’re implementing it nationwide immediately, of course we’ll do it step by step. First Japan and Annam, then South Asia, then Europe and the Americas, step by step. As long as it’s not a nationwide riot at the same time, what’s the use of the dissatisfaction of people in a certain place? They can’t make any waves.”

Zhang Fang said.

“Burning books is fine, but burying scholars is out of the question. Just arrest those who are stubborn.”

Wu Changqing said.

Unifying Chinese characters and Chinese language was a national policy that Great Hua had formulated long ago, and now it was just beginning to be vigorously implemented.

Without Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s standardization of writing and the unification of axle widths, there would be no basic foundation of the Central Plains today.

It can be said that the importance of unifying the script is no lower than economic development.

After Wu Changqing spoke, the people below began to study the specific implementation strategy.

What books needed to be collected and what books had to be burned all needed to be standardized.

At the same time, they also needed to prepare for the various problems that this policy might bring.

This was a very complex task, but Wu Changqing didn’t need to worry about it.

When this order was issued, Wu Changqing’s system prompted him that his overall strength had risen by one place, reaching fifth place.

Overall Strength Ranking.

First, British Empire, James, Strength Index 2092.

Second, Great Ming Empire, Zhu Yujian, Strength Index 2002.

Third, Glorious France, Louis, Strength Index 1877.

Fourth, Great Han Empire, Wu Sangui, Strength Index 1452.

Fifth, Great Hua Empire, Wu Changqing, Strength Index 1211.

Sixth, German Empire, William, Strength Index 1123.

Seventh, Habsburg Confederation, Carlos, Strength Index 1092.

Eighth, Mughal Empire, Aurangzeb, Strength Index 1018.

Ninth, American Confederation, Joris, Strength Index 1001.

Tenth, Great Japan Empire, Koizumi Shinzo, Strength Index 995.

Eleventh, Qing Dynasty, Tong Youcai (possessed by Dorgon), Strength Index 945.

The strength of each opponent had increased, and even the second force to break through two thousand had emerged, and there were three more that broke through one thousand.

“I didn’t expect that culture accounts for such a high proportion of overall strength.”

Wu Changqing muttered to himself.

Great Hua had not suddenly expanded its territory, nor had there been any major technological innovations.

This increase in strength was likely due to the cultural component.

This made Wu Changqing more determined to carry out the unified script campaign.

Chapter 1117: Flying Man

Another world, about two thousand li north of Pioneer City.

A Great Hua reconnaissance unit lay prone on a hillside, observing the distance through binoculars.

At this moment, reconnaissance company commander Tu Hongzheng and deputy company commander Yu Gang wore solemn expressions.

Through the binoculars, they saw a city.

They were absolutely certain that this was not Pioneer City.

This meant that there were definitely intelligent beings in this other world.

No species other than human-like intelligent beings could build such a city.

“That’s at least forty meters high, right?”

Tu Hongzheng said.

Although they were a thousand or two meters away, he had still managed to estimate the height of the city using some reference points.

“No way, are you kidding me? Calculate it again.”

Yu Gang found it hard to believe that the ancient city before them was forty meters high; that was too exaggerated.

One or two decades ago in Great Hua, the tallest cities were only a dozen meters high.

If Tu Hongzheng’s judgment was correct, wouldn’t that mean that their construction level and productivity were higher than that of the former Great Ming?

“There’s no mistake. Maybe the humans here are bigger, perhaps three or four meters tall,”

Tu Hongzheng speculated.

“Strange, if they really are humans, why haven’t we encountered any along the way? Moreover, there are no human footprints on the ground, no signs of human activity. Could it be that the people here don’t need to farm or hunt? What do they eat?”

Yu Gang voiced his doubts.

They had gathered a lot of information along the way and seen many new species, but they hadn’t encountered any humans.

It felt like a completely undeveloped, primitive world.

A world with people shouldn’t be like this. At least some land should be cultivated in the river plains to grow some grain; that would be more in line with common sense.

“Staying here probably won’t get us any particularly useful intelligence. I’ve decided to go into the city myself,”

Tu Hongzheng said.

“No, company commander, let me handle this. You stay and oversee the overall situation,”

Yu Gang said.

On one hand, this was the best and most reasonable choice.

On the other hand, he also wanted to take this opportunity to earn merit.

If there were people in the city, he, as the first person to make contact with humans from another world, might even have his name written into the battle report and presented to Wu Changqing.

“Nonsense, do you have as much experience as I do?”

Tu Hongzheng said.

“If you don’t give me a chance to train, my experience will never be rich,”

Yu Gang retorted.

After some back-and-forth, Tu Honggang took a soldier and sneaked over, while Yu Gang stayed behind to await orders.

If everyone went together, the target would be too big.

The two men crouched low and walked for a while. Although they hadn’t seen anyone yet, they could be absolutely certain that there were indeed humans here.

“Company commander, what are those things?”

Private First Class Cui Hu pointed to a field of plants in the distance that resembled corn. The neat and orderly growth clearly indicated that they were not wild but the result of careful human cultivation.

“Corn, maybe.”

The two men sneaked closer and only realized when they were right in front of them that these things were somewhat different from corn.

The seedlings were similar, but the fruits were very different.

The fruits of this thing were more like large peas, with a layer of skin covering them and two to four beans inside.

The beans were golden yellow and smelled very fragrant.

Cui Hu directly ate one raw, and then Tu Hongzheng smacked him on the head.

“Are you trying to die? Eating things from another world so casually.”

Tu Hongzheng scolded.

“Otherwise, what? Are we supposed to immediately return to have experts analyze the ingredients?”

Cui Hu retorted.

In his opinion, he was just a grunt, his life was cheap, and there was no need to be so cautious. Testing the poison with his own body was enough.

“How does it taste?”

Tu Hongzheng asked.

“Very fragrant, feels good after eating,”

Cui Hu said.

“…”

Tu Hongzheng became wary upon hearing this and did not follow suit.

“Get down.”

Just then, Cui Hu suddenly pulled Tu Hongzheng down and pointed with a trembling finger to the sky not far away.

Tu Hongzheng followed his subordinate’s finger and was also stunned.

In the air not far away, two human-like men were flying in the air, heading towards the city.

It couldn’t be said that they were completely flying in the air; at least they seemed to be stepping on something like flying swords.

The height and appearance of the other party were almost the same as humans, and even the clothes on their bodies were similar.

However, the other party could fly, they could fly.

This difference was far more shocking than the difference in appearance.

Although legends of martial arts had always been circulating in the Central Plains of Great Hua, that stuff was really just a legend. No one had ever seen the lightness skill of skimming across the water, let alone flying in the air.

People like Tu Hongzheng, who had received higher education, even scoffed at such martial arts novels.

But now, someone was actually flying in front of him.

“Are those immortals?”

After the two flew into the city, Cui Hu asked with lingering fear.

“There are no immortals in this world. Our air force also flies in the sky. Would you think that the soldiers of the air force are immortals?”

Tu Hongzheng asked rhetorically.

Fortunately, he had experienced Great Hua’s technological explosion era and had a strong ability to accept any bizarre things.

Now, seeing someone stepping on a flying sword and flying in the air felt similar to seeing someone flying in an airplane before.

Although airplanes were larger and more complex than flying swords, they were essentially both objects.

“That’s true, but those people who can fly must be very powerful.”

Cui Hu was still a little uneasy. After all, the other party could fly, and he could only run on the ground, which was more than one level weaker.

“If they were really powerful, they wouldn’t have built such high walls. Don’t you know that the greatest function of city walls is to defend against enemies? The higher the walls are built, the lower their sense of security is,”

Tu Hongzheng said.

Although he said that, he still felt a trace of unease in his heart.

A group of people who could fly needed such tall walls to defend against enemies, so how powerful must this ‘enemy’ be?

Tu Hongzheng realized that this other world was far more complex and dangerous than he had imagined.

This was not good news for Great Hua.

This meant that their desire to conquer the other world would be fraught with difficulties, and they would not be able to plunder the resources of the other world at will, nor would they be able to immigrate to the other world as they pleased.

However, immigrating to the other world was one of Great Hua’s most important future plans.

For this plan, many soldiers had died in foreign lands.

“You return now and report everything you’ve seen to company commander Yu, and report to the rear. I’ll go ahead and scout the situation alone,”

Tu Hongzheng made a risky move and continued to delve deeper into reconnaissance.

“Company commander, let me go.”

Cui Hu said.

“Obey orders.”

Tu Hongzheng ordered.

Chapter 1118: Initial Exploration of the Ancient City

Tu Hongzheng cautiously approached the city wall, and then he noticed countless massive claw marks etched into its weathered surface.

The shortest were at least a dozen centimeters long, while the longest stretched for several meters.

Some were only a few centimeters deep, while others gouged as deep as ten or twenty centimeters.

These claw marks gave the wall an eerie and terrifying feel.

As Tu Hongzheng continued to observe, he discovered traces of blood that hadn’t been completely cleaned away, and some unidentified bones scattered at the base of the wall.

Without a doubt, this place had once been the site of a brutal siege.

Tu Hongzheng walked along the base of the wall, but he couldn’t find a city gate for a long time, which surprised him.

A city of this size usually had many gates.

Like Nanjing in the past, which had over a dozen gates.

But this city had a pitifully small number of gates.

This suggested that the population within the city wasn’t particularly large, and activity wasn’t frequent.

After walking for a kilometer or two, Tu Hongzheng finally saw a city gate, but it was tightly shut.

The gate was closed in broad daylight, which was very strange.

But on second thought, it seemed normal. After all, these cities in another world were few and far between, and there probably wasn’t much commerce between them.

Even if there was, people could just fly.

With the gate closed, Tu Hongzheng was at a loss.

Climbing over was impossible. Even though he had trained in various climbing techniques in the army, he was no match for the thirty or forty meter height.

Tu Hongzheng could only choose to wait patiently. Since crops were planted outside the city, someone would have to come out to manage or harvest them.

When that happened, he could find a way to sneak in.

As the saying goes, fortune favors the persistent. After more than twenty hours, Tu Hongzheng finally saw the city gate open.

Then, he saw a group of raggedly dressed people walk out, followed by several soldier-like figures.

This scene immediately allowed Tu Hongzheng to deduce a lot of information.

Clearly, not everyone in the city could fly.

And it was likely that most of them couldn’t.

Another point was that the social structure in the city was very similar to that of Earth, with commoners, soldiers, and social classes.

These commoner-like people seemed to be exploited, forced to work under guard.

Moreover, judging from their clothing, it seemed that resources were not abundant in this other world.

At least, the people of the Central Plains region of Great Hua no longer lacked clothing.

Great Hua had achieved the small goal of being well-fed and clothed long ago.

Seeing the living conditions of humans in this other world, Tu Hongzheng breathed a slight sigh of relief.

It seemed that the productivity of humans in this other world was inferior to that of Great Hua, greatly reducing the threat.

Tu Hongzheng took off his military uniform and rolled around in the dirt to cover himself in mud.

Then, when this group of people returned, he pretended to be discovered inadvertently.

He had no choice but to rely on this method to sneak into the city. The city gate wouldn’t even open for a single person.

Deliberately being discovered by these people was very risky, but Tu Hongzheng couldn’t worry about that anymore.

Reconnaissance was a job that couldn’t be done without taking risks.

And once successful, the rewards for scouting valuable intelligence were extremely generous.

In the army, the promotion speed of reconnaissance soldiers was second only to that of officers who graduated from military academies.

Just a few years ago, Tu Hongzheng was just a small soldier. Now, he was the company commander of a reconnaissance company, enjoying the待遇 of a full battalion commander.

And a full battalion commander was already in the upper-middle class in Great Hua.

If he were sent to a small, remote county, he would definitely be a big shot.

“Who goes there?”

An ancient city soldier pointed his spear at Tu Hongzheng and said a bunch of words he couldn’t understand.

Tu Hongzheng immediately realized that they didn’t speak the same language as Great Hua.

This was not good news, as it would make it extremely difficult for him to gather intelligence.

However, that was for later. He needed to deal with the immediate difficulty.

Tu Hongzheng opened his mouth and made a series of “woo woo woo” sounds, then pointed to his throat and ears.

“He’s deaf and mute,” the soldier said.

“That’s not the point, this guy doesn’t look like he’s from Yecheng. Could he be a refugee from Hucheng in the north?”

Another tall soldier said.

“No matter where he’s from, he’s deaf and mute, keeping him around is just a burden, might as well just kill him.”

Tu Hongzheng couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he knew how to read faces.

He saw a fierce look on one of the soldier’s faces and guessed that the situation was bad, so he quickly knelt down and kowtowed, making a series of “woo woo woo” sounds.

The tall soldier saw this and said, “Forget it, they’re all people, every person is precious. Besides, I think he’s burly, he must be quite strong, he can be used as a coolie.”

“Can’t hear, can’t speak, it’ll be troublesome to command him.”

The short soldier didn’t think so, but he ultimately didn’t kill him, and acquiesced to the tall soldier’s suggestion.

Then, the tall soldier gestured for Tu Hongzheng to follow them into the city.

With them leading the way, the soldiers behind the city gate didn’t even check and let them in directly.

Finally, I’m in, Tu Hongzheng thought to himself in ecstasy.

However, he hadn’t forgotten his mission.

From the moment he entered the city, his eyes hadn’t stopped moving, wishing he could observe everything in the city and memorize it.

Inside the city, on the streets.

Tu Hongzheng saw some people walking back and forth, but Tu Hongzheng didn’t know what these people were going to do.

Because he didn’t see any peddlers on the streets.

He didn’t see any shops on either side of the street.

Clearly, this was a place with extremely backward commerce.

After walking for a while, he did see a blacksmith shop, where a large number of workers were smelting.

They were using the most primitive bellows.

And he was soon assigned a job.

The tall soldier gave him a hammer and told him to smash a kind of purple ore.

When Tu Hongzheng tried to lift this inconspicuous hammer, a rather embarrassing scene occurred. He turned red in the face, but couldn’t lift it.

On the other hand, a person next to him who was so thin that he was only skin and bones easily lifted the hammer and smashed it down.

Now Tu Hongzheng understood that the thing in his hand that looked like a hammer was not made of iron.

Moreover, the humans here were generally much stronger.

“What a fucking waste, such a tall guy, is he a good-for-nothing who’s never cultivated, a rich young master?”

The tall soldier cursed.

After testing again, he found that Tu Hongzheng wasn’t pretending, so he could only change to a slightly easier job.

However, he kept cursing, clearly very dissatisfied.

And so, Tu Hongzheng began his life in the ancient city.

At the same time, on the other side, after Cui Hu reported to the deputy company commander, the reconnaissance company was divided into two teams.

One team returned to Pioneer City to report the intelligence collected along the way.

The other team stayed in place to wait for orders, or to continue collecting other information.

Chapter 1119: Beast Tide

After living in the ancient city for a week, Tu Hongzheng understood about fifty or sixty percent of its affairs.

He could confirm that this was a civilization focused on enlightenment.

In terms of technology, the ancient city’s level was still at the Tang and Song dynasties, a hundred and eight thousand li behind modern Great Hua.

However, in terms of martial arts, this place was extremely powerful.

In the history of Great Hua, stories like Xiang Yu lifting a one thousand Jin tripod with one hand, or a general’s weapon weighing several hundred Jin, were all false, merely recorded in unofficial histories.

Such outrageous records were not found in official histories. At most, there would be a line about someone being incredibly strong, different from ordinary people, and the like.

In short, one thing was certain: the kind of martial arts that allowed one to fly into the sky and escape into the earth never existed.

But in the ancient city, Tu Hongzheng had personally witnessed the existence of martial arts, or rather, it should be called immortal techniques or magic.

Many people in the ancient city could jump ten feet high.

Not many could fly with swords. Tu Hongzheng had only seen five or six people do so, and he estimated that they were the top combat power in the ancient city.

Tu Hongzheng mentally simulated the outcome of a battle between Great Hua and the ancient city, and concluded that Great Hua would definitely win.

Under the coverage of firepower, relying solely on these few high-end combatants would definitely not be enough to protect the ancient city.

This made Tu Hongzheng feel a little relieved, which meant that Great Hua was at least safe.

For explorers like them, the most frightening thing was the sudden appearance of powerful civilizations in other worlds that could threaten the existence of Great Hua.

After figuring out the situation of the ancient city, Tu Hongzheng prepared to find an opportunity to slip away and report back to his superiors.

However, this was not easy. After all, the gates of the ancient city were often closed, and only opened when going to work in the fields.

As for what kind of work to do, Tu Hongzheng had no choice and could only wait for his superiors’ arrangements.

That day, he was lucky enough to be assigned to go out of the city with other commoners to harvest beans and rice.

He was very happy, but he found that the other companions did not seem very happy, but rather seemed a little nervous.

Tu Hongzheng didn’t know the reason. He was still pretending to be mute and couldn’t communicate with these people.

But he didn’t care.

Arriving at the bean and rice fields, Tu Hongzheng and the others chopped down the plants and tied them to wooden carts, continuing this process.

Tu Hongzheng occasionally checked the surrounding soldiers in charge of supervision, trying to find an opportunity to slip away.

Just then, a black cloud suddenly floated from the distance.

“Quick, the beast tide is coming! Finish harvesting and return to the city within a quarter of an hour.”

A person stepping on a flying sword came over and shouted at Tu Hongzheng and the others. Unfortunately, Tu Hongzheng couldn’t understand. The other commoners looked even more flustered, and the machetes in their hands swung even faster.

Although Tu Hongzheng couldn’t understand, he was quick-witted and immediately guessed that some danger might be coming.

Knowing this, he was powerless.

The person stepping on the flying sword flew in the air with a broad view, and Tu Hongzheng had even less chance to escape.

Moreover, he also wanted to know why the others were nervous. This was also intelligence.

So, Tu Hongzheng patiently waited and continued to chop down the beans and rice as hard as the others.

About a quarter of an hour later, Tu Hongzheng finally knew what the danger was.

He could see with his naked eyes that a large group of beasts was coming from afar.

Most of them were species he had never seen before.

One kind was like an elephant, but with two long noses, and much larger than Earth’s elephants. Tu Hongzheng was willing to call them double-nosed elephants.

There was also a combination of a python and a mantis, with the body of a snake and the pair of large scythes of a mantis, which looked very difficult to deal with.

There were also birds flying in the sky, giant frogs moving by jumping…

Tu Hongzheng couldn’t understand why these strange animals could gather together. This violated scientific principles and the laws of nature on Earth.

After all, snakes eat frogs, how could frogs get together with snakes? Wasn’t that courting death?

However, the unscientific scene happened alive in front of Tu Hongzheng, giving him a new understanding of the other world.

The other world, as expected, could not be measured by the common sense of Earth.

“Courting death.”

The sword-riding man cursed, then waved his palm, and a flying sword flew towards a commoner who was trying to escape back to the city, piercing him.

“The speed is average, far inferior to bullets, but it seems to be able to control the direction of change, making it difficult to intercept…”

Even at this time, Tu Hongzheng still had the mind to collect and analyze intelligence.

He had no idea that they were already in great danger, otherwise the commoner would not have risked his life to escape.

“Go, retreat in an orderly manner, no dropping the grain.”

The sword-riding man killed the escapee to establish his authority, and then shouted, ordering a retreat.

The commoners immediately stopped their work, loaded the grain onto the carts, and retreated towards the city.

Tu Hongzheng also imitated them, but he still looked back from time to time to observe the enemy’s situation.

As an old soldier, he was very calm in this situation.

This calmness saved his life. When he looked back, he saw a giant frog spraying a liquid at him.

Although he didn’t know what this liquid was, he believed it was definitely not a sugar-coated bullet.

He rolled with the momentum and slipped under the wooden cart.

Then, he heard screams.

When he rolled out from under the cart again, he saw several commoners who had been splashed with the liquid rolling on the ground, with white smoke rising from their bodies, and their clothes and muscles being corroded.

Concentrated sulfuric acid?

Tu Hongzheng thought of something similar.

At this moment, he saw the sword-riding man shout loudly, and several flying swords gathered together, piercing the giant frog and penetrating it.

The giant frog then exploded, its entire body shattered into pieces.

What great power.

Tu Hongzheng exclaimed.

However, he also noticed that the sword-riding man was panting, and it seemed that this move consumed a lot of energy.

“The disadvantage of martial arts is probably that people get tired easily.”

Tu Hongzheng thought to himself.

If it were Great Hua’s rockets, firing hundreds of rounds in a row would not be a problem.

And these people in front of him, although they had the power of rockets, their firepower sustainability was far inferior to Great Hua’s rocket vehicles.

While analyzing, Tu Hongzheng did not forget to escape.

It wasn’t that he was afraid of death, but that he knew he couldn’t die.

Now, he was the one who understood the other world the most in all of Great Hua, and he had to bring back this valuable intelligence. His little life was especially important.

He wanted to live, and the other commoners also wanted to live, and were retreating towards the city.

However, they could not drop the grain. The soldiers on the side were watching them, and they could only push the wooden carts with all their strength.

Really backward.

Tu Hongzheng secretly complained.

If there were a few trucks at this time, there would be no need to work so hard.

No, if there were tank groups, there would be no need to escape, just directly fight those monsters.

Chapter 1120: The Commander

“Third squad, intercept!”

The sword-wielding man shouted loudly, and a squad of soldiers remained behind the civilians, blocking the monsters.

At this moment, a smaller, grasshopper-like insect, relying on its greater speed, had already caught up with the ancient city’s humans.

Tu Hongzheng watched as the grasshoppers directly clashed with the soldiers’ metal spears using their forelimbs, which he had to admire.

When he was in the ancient city, Tu Hongzheng had also quietly tested these metal spears. They were incredibly hard, comparable to alloys, and very heavy.

If this spear struck a person, it could undoubtedly shatter their internal organs with ease.

However, now these grasshopper-like things were actually using their claws to directly confront the spears.

What surprised Tu Hongzheng even more was that these spears were unable to do anything to the grasshoppers.

Only a few seemingly elite soldiers managed to pierce the grasshoppers with the sharp tips of their spears, creating one or two holes and causing the grasshoppers to spew out green bodily fluids, which looked very disgusting.

“Damn you, hurry back to the city!”

Tu Hongzheng wanted to gather more information, but someone slapped him on the head.

Although he didn’t understand what they said, he could guess their meaning, and he quickly pushed the cart with all his might.

Thanks to the desperate resistance of the squad of soldiers behind them, they managed to enter the city smoothly.

Then, the rearguard soldiers also quickly retreated into the city.

Tu Hongzheng counted, and about twenty soldiers had died, which was a heavy loss.

After all, the total population of this ancient city was only about fifty thousand, and the number of soldiers did not exceed five thousand.

The city gate closed, and the few grasshopper monsters that had mixed into the city were also killed together.

But this was not the end. More and more beast swarms gathered outside the city, and the soldiers were called to the city walls to resist.

Even the civilians were assigned tasks such as transporting supplies and treating the wounded.

Tu Hongzheng was assigned to assist an archer, adding incendiary devices to the arrows to make fire arrows.

Tu Hongzheng was also fortunate enough to go up to the city wall and see the scene of the beast tide attacking the city.

Below the city wall, the beast tide stretched for several kilometers.

The beasts at the front were already using brute force to ram the wall or scratch it with their claws.

These were less threatening beasts. The biggest threat was the giant frogs with ranged attacks, which occasionally sprayed highly corrosive liquid that would kill or maim anyone who touched it.

There was also a creature with amazing jumping ability that would occasionally jump onto the city wall.

Every time this kind of thing jumped onto the city wall, it would cause some chaos on the city head until the soldiers killed it or threw it back down the city wall.

As for the most threatening flying monsters, they were being dealt with by the experts in the city.

Just from what Tu Hongzheng saw, there were five people flying with swords, and they were entangled with several large birds in the air, and it seemed that they could gain some advantage.

Of course, Tu Hongzheng was not surprised by this at all.

If humans could not gain the upper hand, I am afraid they would not be able to establish an ancient city in this place.

Obviously, humans were still slightly stronger.

However, what Tu Hongzheng was curious about was how much the ancient city would have to pay to defend against a beast tide attack.

Looking at the number of these beasts, it was probably not an optimistic number.

Tu Hongzheng carefully observed, preparing to escape.

Fortunately, he was a reconnaissance soldier with very high professional qualities. If it were someone else, he would definitely not be able to be so calm and would have died in this melee long ago.

But Tu Hongzheng did not, he was still carefully living.

Before long, another big shot flew out of the city.

Tu Hongzheng’s way of judging that the other party was a big shot was very simple, nothing more than the other party’s light sword was more dazzling, and the clothes on his body were more gorgeous.

Different worlds, the same logic.

The more gorgeous the clothes, the higher the status and the more strength.

Otherwise, the clothing market in Great Hua would not be so prosperous now. An exquisite and decent Tang suit often costs tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan, which is the annual income of an ordinary worker.

Wearing such high-end clothing is nothing more than showing strength in front of business partners.

Women wearing high-end clothes can also show their uniqueness and enjoy the envious eyes of others.

To be honest, clothes worth one thousand yuan can already be the most comfortable.

Clothes worth tens of thousands of yuan are purely for show.

As soon as the man in fancy clothes appeared, he went straight to a three-tailed monkey in the beast tide.

Golden light flashed, and explosions continued.

Tu Hongzheng couldn’t see clearly at all.

After a while, he saw the man in fancy clothes retreat into the city in a mess, and the clothes on his body also became tattered, ruining the things.

Tu Hongzheng originally thought that this guy had lost, and was about to sneak into the city.

However, at this time, a strange scene appeared under the city wall.

The beasts that were originally united in attacking the city actually stopped and began to devour the corpses of the dead beasts.

This…

Tu Hongzheng started his brain and quickly analyzed.

He suspected that the three-tailed monkey was the commander of this beast swarm. Relying on it, the entire beast swarm could coexist peacefully and have a common goal.

Obviously, the humans here also knew this, so they sent out the strongest to kill the other party’s king first.

The beasts that lost their leader instantly lost their target, began to recover their animality, and began to devour the corpses of their companions.

They obviously didn’t know how to think, and they didn’t know that there were more delicacies waiting for them in the city. All actions were based on instinct.

If there is food around, naturally eat what is around first.

At first, these beasts were still restrained and only ate the dead bodies.

However, I don’t know which guy was too excited to eat, and actually bit a live wild bull.

Then, it found that the live one was fresher and more delicious, and it bit more and more vigorously.

There were screams and chaos in the beast swarm.

And the human attacks have never stopped. Those remaining beasts suddenly realized the danger and began to disperse in a swarm.

This beast tide attack was a lot of thunder, little rain.

Beasts are beasts, no amount of brute force is useful.

Tu Hongzheng thought disdainfully in his heart.

After the beast tide receded, Tu Hongzheng was arranged to go outside the city to collect the remaining beast meat.

These were also human food and could not be wasted.

After Tu Hongzheng and the others left the city, he pretended to be working while looking for a chance to escape.

He had collected enough information to go back and report.

He was lucky. After the beast tide, the vigilance of the ancient city’s soldiers was greatly reduced. It seemed that they were used to the peace after the beast tide.

Relying on his professional qualities, Tu Hongzheng easily avoided everyone’s sight, hid in a pile of grass, and quietly retreated.

When those civilians cleaned up and returned to the city, one person complained, “Where did the mute go?” and then no one cared about it anymore.

After all, everyone was not familiar with this mute, and if he was gone, he was gone. He could also eat less food. This mute seemed burly, but his strength was very small, and his appetite was large, which was really not a good worker.

Chapter 1121: A Choice

Tu Hongzheng encountered a Great Hua reconnaissance team on his way back.

Since the news from the ancient city was sent back last time, Luo Chengliang, the person in charge of Pioneer City, was extremely shocked. He immediately sent more people to investigate and reported it to the imperial court.

At this time, Tu Hongzheng encountered the second batch of reconnaissance teams.

However, there was also an old acquaintance of his in this reconnaissance team, He Wen.

The two were in the same class before and were trained together in Nanjing.

“Quick, escort me back to Pioneer City, I have important information.”

Tu Hongzheng said.

“Damn, Old Tu, you’ve become timid. What scared you?”

He Wen mocked.

“I’m not in the mood to joke with you. Immediately send the fastest car and the best people to escort me back to Pioneer City. You can’t afford to delay things.”

Tu Hongzheng looked serious, not giving his old classmate any face.

He Wen immediately realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately led the team to escort Tu Hongzheng back.

On the way, He Wen said, “Okay, stop pretending. It’s just you and me in this driver’s seat. Tell me quickly, what did you find?”

Tu Hongzheng’s lips curled up, and he said sternly: “Comrade He Wen, I have to criticize you here. As a reconnaissance soldier, don’t you know that intelligence cannot be leaked casually? How can I be sure that you haven’t defected now?”

“Go to hell, if I had defected, you would still be alive now? If you keep messing with me, believe it or not, I’ll kick you out of the car.”

He Wen said angrily.

He knew that Tu Hongzheng must have obtained some amazing information to be so smug.

If this was the case, Tu Hongzheng would undoubtedly have made a great contribution and would be heavily rewarded again. In their competition, he would fall behind.

Thinking of this, He Wen wanted to beat him up first to vent his anger.

Otherwise, when the other party gets promoted, he won’t be able to do it anymore.

Back in Pioneer City, Tu Hongzheng received a private audience with Luo Chengliang.

Tu Hongzheng told him everything he had seen and heard, and then began to write a written report.

As for Luo Chengliang, he had to think about what impact this information would have on Great Hua.

Humans flying with swords, isn’t that immortal cultivation?

Luo Chengliang thought of a word: immortality.

He was excited, he knew what these four words meant to Wu Changqing.

The emperor is the ultimate that a man can achieve. In terms of material things, he already enjoys the best. There is almost nothing that the emperor needs to pursue and desire.

Only one thing, however, even the emperor cannot escape, and will also desire.

That is eternal youth and immortality.

Who wouldn’t want to live a few more years doing such a comfortable job as being an emperor?

Not to mention being an emperor, even the people at the bottom who are suffering want to live longer. This is human instinct.

Luo Chengliang knew that if he could help Wu Changqing obtain the method of cultivating immortality and the secret of immortality, then an honorary king would definitely be indispensable.

This is a greater achievement than expanding territory.

In addition to the honorary king, Luo Chengliang even fantasized about the possibility of his own immortality.

He also wanted to live longer.

Tu Hongzheng’s report was completed, Luo Chengliang polished it, and then immediately submitted it to the imperial court.

Contrary to what Luo Chengliang guessed, He Xinghui didn’t care about immortality. He was more concerned about the discovery of natives in the alien world.

As for immortality, he can now exchange it in the system, not as eager as Luo Chengliang thought.

On the contrary, the natives of the alien world made him more concerned.

The system had not reminded him that there were natives in the alien world, and these natives were actually following the path of cultivating immortality.

Although, judging from the information, these cultivators don’t seem to be particularly powerful.

However, who knows if these people are country bumpkins from another world.

These people are not representative at all.

Just like a group of aliens landing in rural India now, they can naturally laugh and ridicule the backwardness of mankind.

However, rural India cannot represent the strength of Great Hua. If these aliens are too optimistic, they may be suppressed by Great Hua.

The same is true at this time. Wu Changqing is not sure whether the ancient city discovered by Tu Hongzheng is the highest combat power or the lowest combat power of the alien world.

Wu Changqing estimated that it should not be the highest combat power, because he guessed that his side had entered the edge of the alien world.

And the highest combat power is often in the most prosperous central area.

“Take steady steps, don’t completely expose our strength yet, try to learn the language of the alien world, get in touch with the natives, and obtain more detailed information…”

Wu Changqing issued the latest instructions.

Before the situation is clear, it is best not to attack those natives.

Maybe they are just a small town in a powerful empire. If you rashly attack them, wouldn’t that be a provocation?

Intelligence, what is most important now is the intelligence of the entire alien world.

At the same time, there is also the development of Earth.

Wu Changqing cannot determine how powerful the opponents in the alien world are. All he can do is constantly improve his overall strength, that is, the development level of Earth’s military.

If he can develop nuclear bombs and missiles, no matter who the opponent in the alien world is, Wu Changqing will have a sense of confidence.

The current Great Hua does have the technology to manufacture nuclear bombs, but there are too few relevant talents and the technology is not mature. Forcing the manufacture will cost a lot.

“We still have to improve the economy and increase the population.”

Wu Changqing muttered.

The current global population is still too small, only one billion four hundred million.

Compared with the seven billion four hundred million in later generations, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Population growth requires patience, but now there is a way to quickly revitalize the economy, that is, to open up technology sharing and allow overseas regions to use those high-tech technologies.

Mainly North America and Europe, those places have good development potential.

Coastal, backed by plains, with a high average level of education…

Developing industry in Europe and North America can greatly reduce costs.

However, this will also allow those places to gain stronger economic strength and the ability to resist.

As long as those places are allowed to build high-tech factories, they will inevitably be able to master some weapon manufacturing capabilities.

Many technologies are interconnected.

Whether to have the economy or stability, this is a big problem.

Wu Changqing did not make a decision on his own, but asked high-ranking officials above the level of minister to conduct research and discussion to explore its benefits and dangers.

Faced with such a major issue, the ministers in the court also put down their work and began to study this issue.

There were also some ambitious people who saw opportunities in it.

For example, some princes who wanted to be enfeoffed overseas, and the people around them, were now strongly in favor of fully opening up technology restrictions.

Only in this way, when they are enfeoffed overseas, will they have the possibility of challenging the Central Plains.

Although not everyone thinks this way, and not everyone thinks so far. However, supporting the opening of technology restrictions is always beneficial to them.

Chapter 1122: Raising Pigs

Yongxing, year twenty-three, first month.

After months of research and debate, Wu Changqing made his final decision.

Great Hua officially launched its Global Development Plan.

First, the imperial court allowed the free trade of land in North America and Europe, permitting land consolidation.

Previously, after Great Hua conquered these areas, it redistributed the land, giving a large portion to immigrants from the Central Plains and another portion to the local indigenous people.

It was precisely through this action that Great Hua was able to quickly win the hearts of the local people.

Of course, the original landlords and capitalists hated Great Hua to the bone.

Over the years, Great Hua had successively killed about one hundred and several tens of thousands of rebels, all of whom were capitalists and landlords.

After one hundred and several tens of thousands of heads fell to the ground, the remaining capitalists and landlords finally recognized a reality: the authority of the Great Hua court was inviolable, and the policies of Great Hua were not to be violated.

Helpless, the remaining capitalists could only grit their teeth and bear these losses, and then adapt to Great Hua’s rules.

Of course, after they took the initiative to adapt, they realized that they had been too stupid in the past.

After all, in Great Hua, as long as one was smart enough, one could still make money. Why bother clinging to a little bit of land from the past?

Many of those Western European merchants who had integrated into the Great Hua system early on had already become wealthy.

Although they were white, they could still enjoy respect in Great Hua because of their wealth.

If they didn’t go to the Central Plains and continued to live in Europe, they would still be the upper class, not much different from before.

It was precisely because of this opportunity to make a fortune that the remaining landlords quickly settled down and actively integrated into the rules of Great Hua.

Among these people, some succeeded, and some failed.

However, this was reality.

Not to mention these white people, even people from the Central Plains, some succeeded, and some failed.

With tough measures, Great Hua had previously distributed the land.

But now, after only a few years, Great Hua actually allowed land trading.

As long as trading was allowed, land consolidation would inevitably occur in the future.

Regarding this, those landlords whose land had been forcibly confiscated wanted to curse.

So, the land policy was just a slogan, for the sake of seizing wealth from their hands.

Angry as they were, they could do nothing about Great Hua.

The Great Hua court was simply too powerful, and now there was no chance of rebellion.

In the past, in the era of cold weapons, although there were differences in weapons, the differences were not too great. The main factor determining the outcome of battles was still people.

But now, Great Hua’s weapons and equipment had developed to a new level. A while ago, a military exercise even introduced rocket launchers, capable of rapid-firing hundreds of shells per minute.

Those disgruntled landlords could only scrape together a few rifles at best. How could they rebel?

As soon as they made a move, Great Hua’s planes and cannons would come over. There was no chance of winning.

Moreover, the common people lived relatively comfortably in Great Hua, and not many people were willing to rebel with them.

The conditions for rebellion now could not be said to be immature, but rather non-existent.

Faced with Great Hua’s new policies, these people no longer thought about how to resist, but rather how to profit from them.

…

Great Hua allowed land trading in North America mainly to liberate labor, develop industry, and use mechanization to replace manpower.

The Mississippi Great Plains were too suitable for large-scale planting. Dividing it into small pieces was not conducive to improving efficiency.

As soon as the policy was issued, some factories immediately began to expand and recruit workers.

Some farmers who did not have much land chose to sell their land after weighing the options and then go to work in factories in the city.

After all, earning money in the factory was no less than earning it in the fields, and selling the land could directly get a large sum of cash, which could be used to buy a house in the city.

Others sold their land and went to the city to do some small business.

In this world, there were always some people who were not content to be at the bottom forever and wanted to climb into the upper class.

And studying and doing business were the only two ways to achieve class transition.

Reading and succeeding could lead to becoming an official, engaging in scientific research, or finding a high-end job.

And doing business, as long as one became rich, one could also join the upper class.

When the policy was first issued, there were not many people selling land at first.

But that didn’t matter. As time passed, more and more people would sell land. This was the inevitable trend of social development.

After this land consolidation, it not only improved planting efficiency but also increased a large amount of labor, making industry more prosperous.

Of course, there were also disadvantages.

Over time, this would inevitably increase the gap between the rich and the poor.

Those who bought a large amount of land with capital would slowly form new large landlords.

However, Wu Changqing had a way to handle them.

First, fatten them up. After they were fat, if they obeyed the law, that would be fine. As long as they dared to do something illegal, he would confiscate their wealth in minutes.

The money confiscated could be used for infrastructure construction or social assistance.

In this way, it could not only promote economic development but also avoid excessive social inequality.

No country in history had been able to do this, but Great Hua could.

Because Great Hua now unified the globe, there were no foreign enemies, and it did not have to worry about interference from other countries’ opinions.

The entire country was Wu Changqing’s one-man show. As long as he wanted to harvest wealth, others really had no means of resistance.

Yongxing, year twenty-three, second month, the Sheng family in the capital was raided.

The Sheng family originally ran a shipyard. People in this industry basically became rich because overseas trade was becoming more and more frequent.

The Sheng family also became rich, but unfortunately, they were too greedy.

On the one hand, they colluded with officials from the Shipping Department to get government orders, and on the other hand, they evaded a large amount of taxes. They also did a lot of things like squeezing employees and cutting corners.

A shipwreck accident last year directly threw the Sheng family onto the hot seat.

More than fifty people died, and no one could cover it up.

In the end, the head of the Sheng family, his three brothers, and six sons and nephews who participated in the work were all sentenced to death.

Other related personnel were also severely punished.

As long as Great Hua’s infrastructure projects did not stop for a day, they would suffer.

Even the women of the Sheng family did not fare well. Great Hua implemented a system of collective responsibility.

They enjoyed the wealth and glory that the Sheng family gave them, but they wanted to stay out of it when something happened. It was not that easy.

These women were either fined until they were penniless or thrown into the courtesan house.

This could also be regarded as a reminder to the majority of women: when marrying, don’t just look for someone who is rich. There are risks in marrying into a wealthy family, and investment should be cautious.

Everyone was punished. As for the Sheng family’s property, it was naturally all confiscated and used to compensate the victims and for other purposes.

A wealthy family vanished in an instant, also making other wealthy families tremble.

This event once again reminded them that Wu Changqing was the one who had the final say in this country. Never, ever do things that Wu Changqing didn’t like.

It didn’t matter if they made a little less money. They only had one life.

Chapter 1123: Secret Talks at West Lake

Those without money worry about tomorrow’s meals, their wives, houses, and their reputations.

Those with money worry about how to protect their wealth and provide for future generations.

Different social classes have different worries.

For the wealthy in Great Hua, their biggest headache is their lack of status and the insecurity of their lives and property.

Even a minor offense could lead to ruin, turning a lifetime of effort into nothing.

Even the wealth accumulated over two or three generations could vanish, turning their ancestors’ efforts into a joke.

The Sheng family’s affair once again reminded other merchants that they were essentially worthless.

The money in their bank accounts was just a number, not even enough to buy a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Of course, this was the thinking of those who weren’t honest.

In Great Hua, as long as you don’t break the law and conduct business honestly, it’s actually quite safe.

Even if you have some minor misdeeds, the government will turn a blind eye.

Take the Tong family, the Chen family (the Empress’s family), and the Liu family (Consort Liu’s family) for example.

They live peacefully, not because they have someone at the top, but because they aren’t greedy.

Anyway, honestly doing business still allows their family wealth to increase, even if the speed is slower.

Those who get into trouble are those who are too ambitious and greedy.

Like the Sheng family, they weren’t satisfied with doubling their wealth in three years; they wanted to double it every year.

They could have lived an incredibly privileged life by honestly making money, but they insisted on bribing officials and cutting corners, which was basically courting death.

And in society, most businessmen are courting death.

Those who aren’t greedy probably went to work in factories and wouldn’t be in business.

The natural attribute of this industry attracts the greediest people in society.

It’s impossible to stop them from being greedy.

But greed can easily cost them their lives.

Therefore, these people began to think of ways to save themselves.

On West Lake, a luxurious dragon boat drifted on the water.

Several other boats surrounded it at a distance, providing security.

There weren’t many people on the dragon boat, only seven or eight.

However, any one of them was worth billions.

Those without this capital weren’t qualified to be on the boat to discuss today’s topic.

“In the blink of an eye, those princes have grown up,” Zhao Laijin, one of the big shots in the standard oil refinery, started.

If these words came from an ordinary person, it would just be a common gossip.

However, coming from Zhao Laijin, the others on the boat instantly understood.

The princes have grown up, and it’s time to decide how to settle them.

Will they stay in the capital as idle princes, be enfeoffed around the world as idle princes, or be enfeoffed around the world as princes with real power?

The difference is huge.

Staying in the capital as an idle prince means their life is over. Besides eating, drinking, and waiting for death, there’s no career for them to pursue.

The only thing they need to pursue is the throne, which is too scarce compared to the number of princes.

For those princes, the best outcome is to be enfeoffed in other places as princes with real power, to become local emperors overseas.

Although this would be far from the central government, being a local emperor isn’t bad.

Moreover, as long as they have real power, who knows what will happen in the future?

This kind of thing isn’t uncommon in history.

Not to mention the distant past, there’s Zhu Di who killed his nephew to seize the throne.

Having real power overseas, training troops and preparing for war, and happening to encounter an incompetent successor in the Central Plains, that would be their opportunity.

Therefore, Wu Changqing’s princes now want to be enfeoffed as princes with real power.

Of course, the Crown Prince is strongly opposed. He wants to keep all his brothers in the capital for easy supervision.

Although it’s still a long way off before he takes the throne, it affects his considerations for the future.

As soon as Zhao Laijin spoke, everyone understood his meaning.

He wants to promote the enfeoffment of the princes, as a way to leave a way out for himself and his descendants.

“North America is a good place. Putting aside emotional factors, the geographical conditions there are even better than the Central Plains,” said Dai Jun, one of the leaders in the automotive industry.

His meaning is also clear: he hopes a prince will be assigned to North America, so they can follow this prince and assist him in exchange for protection.

As for Wu Changqing, they’ve already been disappointed and given up.

“North America is so big, even if there’s an enfeoffment, it’s impossible to only send one prince there. There will probably be several,” another person said.

“What does it matter? In the end, let them fight each other based on their own abilities, and compete for a North American king. We’ll just follow the most powerful one,” Zhao Laijin said.

“The person who can stand out from a group of people is probably not easy to serve. Like father, like son. Since they are the current Emperor’s sons, their personalities will inevitably have some similarities. If it’s the next current Emperor, wouldn’t we be wasting our efforts?”

Another merchant sighed, he wasn’t optimistic about Zhao Laijin’s idea.

On the one hand, the difficulty is too great, and on the other hand, Wu Changqing is still very healthy.

He’s forty years old, but he looks like he’s just turned thirty, and doesn’t show any signs of aging.

At this rate, living to a hundred years old doesn’t seem to be a problem.

As long as Wu Changqing is alive, he wouldn’t dare to mess around.

He’s afraid.

No matter how much they hate Wu Changqing, they won’t doubt his ability.

“It depends on everyone’s ability. As long as the other party needs our help, we can control some power. We must establish a country where merchants have the right to speak, instead of being pigs and sheep like we are now. After we get fat, we’re either sheared or sent to the slaughterhouse,” Dai Jun is also determined to seek change.

“Actually, there’s another way. Have you heard that there are immortals in another world?” Li Jiashi, who is in the shipping business, said.

This news hasn’t been announced to the public yet, but these top figures have their own channels.

“You mean we should develop in another world? That’s too dangerous,” Zhao Laijin said.

“Is going against the current Emperor not dangerous? I think it’s safer to go to another world. If we can obtain the method of cultivating immortality and achieve eternal life, that’s more meaningful than money,” Li Jiashi said.

No matter how much property you have, you can’t take it with you when you die.

The Gu family will consider their descendants, but for some selfish people, they only think of themselves.

Being able to achieve immortality is more important than anything else.

“Speaking of which, is this news reliable? I always feel that cultivating immortality is impossible, otherwise why hasn’t His Majesty taken action? He’s probably more eager for eternal life than anyone else,” Dai Jun asked.

“How do you know His Majesty hasn’t taken action? Haven’t you seen that the investment in other worlds is increasing every year? Besides, North America isn’t far from the Central Plains, and warships can arrive in a month or two. If you want safety, it’s better to go to another world. The regulations there are very loose. The Tong family even has its own tank battalion armed in another world, saying it’s for self-defense during exploration.”

Li Jiashi’s words moved the others again, because Li Jiashi was telling the truth.

In another world, many regulations are very relaxed, and even merchants can own tanks.

This is also unavoidable. Without tank escorts, it’s not safe to mine there, let alone explore further.

“If we can form an alliance and establish a Distant Company specifically for exploring other worlds, the benefits will definitely exceed your imagination. With our financial resources, no one can compete with us,” Li Jiashi said.

Of course, he also has his own selfish motives for saying this, wanting to bind these people to his chariot.

Chapter 1124: Prestige

With a population of fourteen hundred million, everyone in Great Hua was living for their own interests.

Inevitably, certain things were bound to happen.

In April, during a family gathering, Virtuous Consort suggested to Wu Changqing that he should grant fiefdoms to the princes overseas.

The princes themselves didn’t dare to express their desires to Wu Changqing directly, so they could only have their mothers speak for them.

Virtuous Consort originally didn’t want her son to go overseas either; it was too far away, and seeing him would be difficult. But in the end, she couldn’t resist her son’s pleas, wanting to think about his future.

Therefore, she was the first to bring up this suggestion.

Subsequently, Consort Liu, Consort De, and others echoed her sentiments.

In the past, the person they cared about most might have been Wu Changqing, as everything they had was given by him.

But now, the person they cared about most had probably become their son.

After all, they were already in their thirties and would soon be aging and losing their beauty. They would no longer be favored and would find it difficult to live the life of being the center of attention as they once did.

But if their son held great power, they could still remain high and mighty based on their title as his birth mother.

“What do you understand? If you’re bored, read more books, so you don’t say such mindless things.”

Wu Changqing reprimanded.

Granting fiefdoms was out of the question; that would be equivalent to splitting Great Hua.

As soon as a prince was given the power to establish his own court, he would inevitably try to strengthen himself.

Even if they didn’t want to, their subordinates would encourage them to do so.

After all, only if their master became emperor could they gain meritorious service for supporting him.

This point had long been verified by history; the feudal system was unworkable.

However, the issue of the princes’ futures was indeed troubling Wu Changqing; it was very difficult to handle.

Like Zhu Di, raising these people like pigs would lead to problems after a few generations.

Allowing them to study and become talented, on the other hand, would risk them developing ambitions and causing unrest.

“But, it’s not good to just let them idle around,” Consort De muttered daringly.

“When did I let them idle around? Didn’t I allow them to engage in scientific research, art, or even become officials? But few of them listen; they all shut themselves up at home to study imperial tactics. There’s only one throne; what do they want?”

As soon as Wu Changqing said this, the consorts, palace maids, and eunuchs all knelt down, begging him to calm his anger.

These words were quite serious, almost accusing the princes of wanting to rebel.

Wu Changqing wasn’t really angry; wanting the throne was human nature.

Moreover, those were still his sons, and he couldn’t take action against them.

However, the fact that there was only one throne was an objective reality, and he couldn’t satisfy all of his descendants.

The next day, the princes, who had learned of Wu Changqing’s outburst, were terrified.

As the saying goes, there is no kinship in the imperial family; as long as the throne was threatened, the father-son relationship would be useless.

And so, the princes began various performances.

The Sixth Prince took a new concubine, putting on an appearance of being addicted to wine and women.

The Eighth Prince went to Jinling Art Academy to study, acting as if he was going to become immersed in painting.

The others also temporarily reduced some social activities, lest they be suspected by their father of forming cliques for private gain.

With Wu Changqing’s outburst, those who had been trying to submit memorials advising the emperor to grant fiefdoms to the princes also stopped.

For the time being, no one dared to challenge the emperor’s authority.

The prestige built up over these twenty-plus years could really suffocate people.

In the Xue family, Xue Guiren was lecturing his two sons.

“Since ancient times, no founding emperor has been simple. Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Ming, including His Majesty today, are all ruthless people with unparalleled wisdom and courage. Being able to stand out from the chaos has already proven their ability. To play with such people, I’m not looking down on you two, but you really don’t deserve it.”

Xue Guiren scolded.

His two sons had actually gotten involved with Wu Gang, the son of Virtuous Consort Luo Min, and even encouraged Wu Gang to take some dangerous actions, which was simply too irrational.

“But Dad, didn’t you tell us to play with the First Prince since we were young? It’s only natural that we offer him advice,” the eldest son retorted.

All of Great Hua knew how Xue Guiren had risen to power; he was almost equivalent to Luo Min’s family, a staunch supporter of the Virtuous Consort.

It was only reasonable for them to fully assist Wu Gang.

“Foolish! That was in case of an emergency. If something happened to His Majesty, we would naturally fully support the First Prince. But now that His Majesty is in good health, you can’t think about so many messy things. The first person you must be loyal to is always the current Emperor.”

Xue Guiren scolded.

His two sons pouted upon hearing this; they also wanted to be loyal to the current Emperor, but His Majesty didn’t give them the opportunity.

Their abilities were limited, and they couldn’t sit in such high positions.

“Looking at His Majesty’s radiant appearance, he’ll probably live to be a hundred years old. None of these princes will have a chance to stand out,” the eldest son sighed, then was hit on the head with a cane by Xue Guiren.

“Are you courting death? Can you even speak? His Majesty’s longevity is a blessing for the people of Great Hua. You two are going to harm me to death sooner or later.”

Xue Guiren was furious.

He knew that he didn’t actually have any particularly outstanding abilities, but he never expected that his two sons would be even less clever than him.

“Dad, I’m just saying this in private because there’s no one else around. When have I ever been disrespectful in front of outsiders? Why are you hitting me?”

The eldest son complained.

“This is to teach you a lesson, to stop you from being so smug. You don’t need to be too active in your activities anyway; relying on your old man, you’ll be guaranteed a life of wealth and glory.”

Xue Guiren said, feeling exhausted.

There were quite a few people like him educating their children.

Pang Yuanming, the former salt merchant and now a real estate tycoon, was also educating his children in this way.

“Never, ever have any illegal thoughts. Don’t touch the tiger’s whiskers. Honestly running the business is the new way to survive. Don’t envy those who take shortcuts and are making big money now; it’s all fleeting clouds. Sooner or later, you’ll see their tall buildings collapse.”

Pang Yuanming said.

As a merchant who came from the end of the Ming Dynasty, how could he not miss the status of merchants back then?

But he understood that those days were gone forever.

Only when Wu Changqing died and a foolish successor appeared would merchants have a chance to rise again.

Unfortunately, he himself would definitely not live to see that day.

Therefore, he hoped that his descendants could be patient and lie low until that day.

In the current Great Hua, the key to survival was to be low-key, low-key, and even more low-key.

Pang Yuanming spoke, and among his sons, some were listening attentively, while others were dismissive.

Young people, having never suffered losses, were always somewhat ignorant of the immensity of the world.

Chapter 1125: Extraterrestrial Fairy

In the twenty-third year of Yongxing, in June, a joint venture company named Xinghai was quietly established.

The average person was completely unaware of this, but within the circles of top tycoons, this news caused quite a stir.

This was because the background of this Xinghai company was too significant. It was spearheaded by oil refinery magnate Zhao Laijin, automotive giant Dai Jun, shipping magnate Li Jiashi, and others, comprising as many as eight top-tier wealthy individuals.

The power that these big shots could stir up by joining forces was simply too great.

No matter which industry they decided to enter, it would inevitably cause a huge impact on that industry.

Fortunately, they soon received news that Xinghai Company’s business was focused on the otherworld.

This relieved people in all walks of life, as they at least didn’t have to worry about the company competing with them for resources.

However, for those families that had already started otherworld businesses, this was not good news.

The alliance of several major giants was bound to be a formidable opponent.

In mid-June, a tour group arrived in the otherworld.

Even though official announcements repeatedly reminded people that the otherworld was dangerous, and even the road to the otherworld was dangerous, some people who had nothing better to do still couldn’t resist coming to the otherworld for tourism.

Upon entering the otherworld, the first thing that came into view was Pioneer City.

The tour guide, He Nianqiu, introduced, “This is the first city that our Great Hua built in the otherworld, Pioneer City. The second city, Chengping City, is currently under construction, more than two hundred kilometers away from Pioneer City. However, that place is still very dangerous, unlike Pioneer City, where the surrounding dangers have been cleared. In addition, the Second Division is stationed in Pioneer City, so safety is absolutely guaranteed…”

“The city walls are so high. Why were they built so high?”

Some tourists asked curiously, seeing the thirty-plus-meter-high city walls of Pioneer City.

Such high city walls were truly shocking.

“It is said that there are some very tall and large beasts in the otherworld. To be on the safe side, Pioneer City underwent a second expansion, and the city walls were raised to this height,” He Nianqiu explained.

“I’ve seen ostriches that are seven or eight meters tall at the Nanjing Zoo,” one tourist boasted.

Soon, they entered Pioneer City.

At this moment, no one noticed that a stunningly beautiful woman in ancient costume followed them and entered Pioneer City.

Great Hua’s territory encompassed the entire globe, and the clothing of the people in its jurisdiction was also diverse. No one found it strange to see someone wearing ancient costume.

Her name was &*￥, meaning Flower of the Past. If transliterated into Chinese, she could be called Fei Yuan.

That’s right, she was a native of the otherworld.

While Great Hua’s vanguard discovered the natives of the otherworld, some natives of the otherworld also discovered these uninvited guests.

Both sides were facing unknown things, so they were very cautious and did not have large-scale contact.

Great Hua sent people to infiltrate the ancient city, and Fei Yuan from Aoyue City also chose to venture into the city of the Earthlings, wanting to understand this group of uninvited guests.

Entering Pioneer City, what came into view was a smooth cement road.

This made Fei Yuan a little surprised. She had been to some large cities and had seen such smooth roads, but only a few.

She didn’t expect that in this city of Earthlings, such roads were everywhere.

From this, Fei Yuan could infer that these uninvited guests had no worries about food and clothing.

People who didn’t have to worry about food and clothing wouldn’t have the leisure to pay attention to the appearance of the city.

The cement road only made Fei Yuan slightly surprised, but the neat rows of streetlights on both sides, as well as the cars and motorcycles driving on the road, made her even more confused.

Fei Yuan had seen many magical artifacts that could fly and move on their own, and she had some herself.

However, there were definitely not as many here.

Moreover, the shapes of the magical artifacts in the hands of these uninvited guests were also quite strange.

Fei Yuan suppressed her surprise and continued to follow the team forward.

Pioneer City was divided into two distinct areas: one for living and enjoyment, and the other for trade.

The trade area occupied three-quarters of the area and was very large.

There were merchants from all over the world, as well as laborers from all over the world. Various strange things were piled up in the warehouses and open-air squares.

The tour guide, He Nianqiu, continued to introduce to the tourists: “This is the raw wood, a unique tree in the otherworld. It is said that this raw wood can continuously emit a very comfortable fragrance that can calm the mind. The fragrance that everyone is smelling now is emitted by this raw wood.

This raw wood is the best choice for making furniture and has already beatdown traditional high-end furniture such as sandalwood and redwood.”

“Raw wood, so maples are called raw wood in their mouths.”

Fei Yuan repeated the word softly.

So far, she had mastered several Chinese words, roughly knew their meanings, and could say them.

As the most talented woman in Aoyue City, learning a foreign language was too easy for her.

The team continued to move forward, and everyone came to a three-eyed cat.

He Nianqiu introduced: “This is the three-eyed cat unique to the otherworld. Apart from being larger than the cats on Earth and having one more eye, there is not much difference. As for why it has three eyes, I don’t know. Scientists are also studying it.”

Everyone exclaimed when they saw the three-eyed cat.

It was too magical. Having been accustomed to creatures with two eyes, it was difficult for them to understand why this thing had to have three eyes. It was unscientific.

“Making a fuss, could it be that there are very few three-eyed beasts where they come from?”

Fei Yuan analyzed in her heart.

For her, three-eyed beasts were too common, so she was puzzled by the reactions of those people, which led to speculation.

The crowd continued to move forward, and a huge two-horned Flood Dragon snake was locked in a cage, being well-fed and taken care of.

Fei Yuan was secretly surprised. This kind of two-horned Flood Dragon snake was very fast and had a smooth body, making it very difficult to capture.

From the fact that humans could capture this kind of thing, Fei Yuan could roughly judge some of the strength of humans.

He Nianqiu introduced: “This is the two-horned Flood Dragon snake…”

“Isn’t this a dragon?”

Several tourists knelt down and worshiped. The dragon was a symbol of the royal family.

Although the current Great Hua has removed many formalities, the dragon is still a symbol of the royal family and has not changed.

Some of these tourists saw that this thing looked like a dragon and were immediately afraid of committing the crime of offense.

“Get up, get up, this is a snake, this is a snake. His Majesty has personally spoken, this thing is a snake, a real dragon cannot appear in the eyes of us mortals. So everything that looks like a dragon is actually a snake,” He Nianqiu explained.

When the two-horned Flood Dragon snake was first discovered, it also caused a stir among the upper echelons of Great Hua, who did not know how to define it.

As a result, when it was reported to Wu Changqing, Wu Changqing simply said that it was a snake, and the problem was solved.

In Wu Changqing’s words, the divine dragon sees its head but not its tail, and those that can be seen are not dragons.

In one sentence, the problem was solved.

Chapter 1126: Market Conflict

Exotic beasts, divine trees, strange stones…

Tourists from Earth saw many novelties in this super market.

Some tourists with deeper pockets were on a buying spree.

These items weren’t particularly expensive in Pioneer City, but once transported to the major continents, their prices would immediately double, or even multiply several times over.

In any case, buying these things wouldn’t be a loss, whether for personal collection or professional reselling.

The tour continued, but Fei Yuan had quietly slipped away from the group.

She was familiar with the things from other worlds and had no interest in seeing them again. She was more interested in checking out the residential area, where there were more novelties from Earth’s humans.

As Fei Yuan was about to leave the trade area, a burly man with a beard brushed past her, his palm touching her body.

This world would never lack bored scoundrels.

How good could it feel to grope someone?

It’s hard to say, but it was particularly stimulating for people like him, especially when the person being groped was very beautiful, which made it even better.

Although Fei Yuan was wearing a veil, the burly man, with his rich experience in lewdness, easily judged that Fei Yuan was a great beauty.

That palm felt like bone-melting smoothness, making the burly man as comfortable as drinking an ice-cold cola in summer.

Of course, the best was yet to come.

The burly man especially liked seeing the helpless look on the faces of women who had been taken advantage of.

He was waiting for Fei Yuan to scold him in a delicate and shy tone.

However, what he got was a dizzying spin.

Fei Yuan grabbed the wrist of the burly man, who weighed over eighty-five kg, swung him around in the air, and slammed him to the ground.

“Whoa, whoa, good one! Ouch, this little girl, whoa.”

The surrounding people exclaimed.

Lifting someone who weighed over fifty kg was difficult even for a man.

But this woman did it with ease, making people sigh in amazement that she was an extraordinary person.

Especially Fei Yuan’s calm demeanor, which added to her extraordinary aura.

“Why are you hitting people for no reason?”

The burly man lay on the ground screaming. He had fallen hard, and it seemed like the bones in his wrist were broken.

Hahaha…

The onlookers laughed, mocking the burly man’s lack of backbone.

Although Fei Yuan had made the first move, she was a girl, and everyone was naturally more willing to believe that Fei Yuan was right and that it was the fault of this burly man who didn’t look like a good person.

The only one who didn’t laugh out loud was the burly man’s companion, a bald man. Seeing that Fei Yuan wanted to leave, he directly blocked her path.

“Don’t go. You can’t just leave after hurting someone. It’s not that simple. Police, someone call the police.”

The bald man shouted, and the crowd laughed even more happily.

Why not enjoy a free clown show?

No one helped, but luck was on the side of this lewd duo.

Not far away, two police officers were patrolling. Seeing a large crowd gathered here, they immediately realized that something had happened and ran over quickly.

Seeing the police, the bald man was as excited as if he had seen a relative, and tearfully accused Fei Yuan of her brutal behavior.

“Whoa, do you have no shame? That’s an exaggeration.”

Some enthusiastic people spoke up for Fei Yuan.

“Exaggeration? Look at my wrist, it’s broken. I won’t be able to work for at least a month. Are you going to pay for my lost wages?”

The burly man shook his right hand, and his wrist really did look broken.

The crowd immediately shut up. When it came to money, they were unwilling to get involved easily.

Police officer Chen Da asked Fei Yuan, “What was the reason for you to hit someone?”

Although Fei Yuan didn’t understand very well, she could guess the general meaning.

After all, she had seen this kind of thing in other worlds, it wasn’t a custom exclusive to Earthlings.

Fei Yuan pointed to her mouth, indicating that she was mute.

This made the onlookers sigh involuntarily. It was a pity that a girl with such a graceful figure was mute.

Fei Yuan was mute, which made things difficult for Chen Da.

He didn’t really believe the words of the burly man and the bald man, but Fei Yuan couldn’t prove her innocence.

“They want you to pay fifty thousand yuan in compensation. Are you willing to settle?”

Chen Da asked.

Then, Fei Yuan pointed to her ears again, pretending to be deaf.

This made things even more difficult for Chen Da.

“Take out your ID card, and I’ll contact your family.”

Chen Da took out his ID card and gestured repeatedly, trying to get her to understand.

It had to be said, Fei Yuan understood his meaning.

However, she didn’t have an ID card.

Fei Yuan was afraid that the matter would escalate and eventually expose her.

So, she suddenly jumped up and tried to run.

“Oh my, she jumped so high.”

The crowd exclaimed again.

Fei Yuan’s first jump almost got her out of the crowd.

As she landed, she prepared to jump again, but she didn’t know which enthusiastic person was trying to help Chen Da catch her and reached out to Fei Yuan.

Of course, only the person involved knew if they had any ulterior motives to take advantage of the situation.

None of that mattered. What mattered was that his hand grabbed Fei Yuan’s veil.

When Fei Yuan jumped again, the veil fell off, revealing her stunning face.

The onlookers all opened their mouths, but couldn’t make a sound.

In front of such a fairy-like figure, saying “whoa” was too vulgar, too vulgar, too vulgar.

“You’re asking for death.”

Fei Yuan was furious. She flicked something from her hand, hitting the enthusiastic person in the eye, causing them to fall to the ground screaming in pain.

By the time everyone came back to their senses, Fei Yuan had disappeared from their sight in a few leaps.

“What language was she speaking?”

Chen Da asked angrily.

Great Hua had long issued an order that everyone must speak Chinese. Although the degree of implementation varied from place to place, major cities had basically achieved this.

People who were able to come to another world couldn’t be rural farmers.

This Fei Yuan definitely had the time and money to learn Chinese, but she didn’t, which meant she was likely a person who harbored resentment towards Great Hua.

Such people were the focus of Great Hua’s attention, especially since this Fei Yuan was agile and didn’t look simple.

Chen Da felt that he had to catch her, and maybe he could dig up some big conspiracy.

“I don’t know, I didn’t understand. It sounded a bit like the language from that broken place, Japan.”

One of the crowd said.

“Bullshit, the language of our Japan isn’t like that at all. Moreover, Japan has already fully Sinicized, and everyone speaks Chinese. No one speaks the old dialects anymore. Don’t slander good people.”

A Japanese person jumped out to protest.

“Was it Annamese?”

Another person said.

Before he could finish speaking, an Annamese person jumped out to object, emphasizing the Annamese region’s loyalty to the imperial court.

Although everyone was now a citizen of Great Hua, regional identity had not been completely eliminated.

They still had a strong sense of belonging to their hometowns.

Hearing this, Chen Da patted his forehead, a complete mess.

Chapter 1127: Capturing the Fairy Alive

Pioneer City, Ministry of State Security.

Chen Da was being questioned by a big shot from the Ministry of State Security. Every detail from the market was scrutinized, and he was asked to recount everything twice.

Especially the details of Fei Yuan’s escape.

The Ministry of State Security is a special department. They aren’t interested in murder, robbery, harassing women, fraud, or bank robberies. They deal with matters that threaten the foundation of Great Hua.

Such as those overseas remnants trying to rebel, those assassins trying to assassinate the emperor, those evil individuals trying to destroy important facilities like the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge.

These people are the targets of the Ministry of State Security.

Previously, the Ministry of State Security had received information that Western European remnants were trying to contact forces from another world, attempting to use them to subvert Great Hua.

This wasn’t just treason; it was planetary treason, selling out the entire Earth.

For this kind of crime, capture meant one thing: death.

After Chen Da finished answering questions, he was taken away, leaving several members of the Ministry of State Security to begin their analysis.

“Jumped nearly three meters high, without a running start? Is that even possible?”

A young man asked.

“Absolutely impossible. Last time the National Games were held in the capital, all the best high jumpers from every region gathered. The guy who took first place only jumped two meters twenty with a running start, and that was a man. Women are generally weaker than men, so they definitely jump lower. The woman Chen Da is talking about isn’t a normal person.”

Wang Zhan, the head of the Ministry of State Security stationed in Pioneer City, said.

“Could she be someone who practices martial arts?”

The young man asked.

“If there really was martial arts like that of flying over walls on Earth, why hasn’t anyone participated in the National Games? That’s an opportunity for both fame and fortune. Maybe some would say martial artists are indifferent to worldly affairs. But it’s impossible for all martial artists to be indifferent, right? Why haven’t we seen a single one? It doesn’t make sense.”

Wang Zhan clearly didn’t believe in the existence of martial arts.

“Are you saying that woman isn’t from Earth, but a native of this place?”

Another person asked.

Besides that possibility, he couldn’t think of any other explanation.

“Based on Chen Da’s account, it’s highly likely. Deaf and mute? I think she doesn’t understand our Chinese language and is just pretending. If she was from Earth…”

Wang Zhan analyzed, his reasoning very logical.

They were specialists in this field, and any small clue could lead them to deduce a lot of information.

Moreover, Fei Yuan had inadvertently left too many openings because of a conflict.

“So, is this woman here to scout for the natives, to meet up with those Russians, or did she enter accidentally?”

The group continued to analyze.

At this moment, a subordinate came to report that they had discovered Fei Yuan’s whereabouts.

Immediately, Wang Zhan and the others stopped their discussion, grabbed their equipment, and set off.

If they could just capture her, they wouldn’t need to waste time analyzing. They could just use torture to get her to talk.

The people from the Ministry of State Security had plenty of ways to make a criminal open their mouth.

…

West District, Fei Yuan was surrounded.

She had underestimated the defensive strength of Pioneer City and the reaction speed of Great Hua. After escaping, she didn’t immediately leave the city.

Experience had betrayed her; she was using the experience of her world to judge the government of Great Hua.

In her empire, administrative efficiency was shockingly slow, and the government didn’t care much about anything.

However, the government of Great Hua hadn’t been corrupted yet, and its efficiency was still very high.

Moreover, this matter concerned the Ministry of State Security, making it even more efficient.

Fei Yuan clasped her hands together, and a long sword immediately flew out from a pouch at her waist.

Now, she couldn’t care less about exposing her identity and prepared to force her way out.

“Hah!”

Fei Yuan was as fast as a cheetah. Wherever her long sword went, everything was split in two.

Including the two soldiers who stood in her way.

That kind of bulletproof vest was useless against Fei Yuan’s sharp sword.

“Fire!”

Seeing that this girl wasn’t normal, the commander didn’t dare to use normal methods to deal with her and ordered them to open fire directly.

Although the orders from above were to capture her alive, the situation on the ground was too complicated, and the commander had no confidence in capturing her alive.

The sound of submachine guns rang out, and Fei Yuan dodged left and right.

However, her speed was ultimately slower than bullets.

Plus, there were many people firing guns from the Great Hua side, and even more bullets being fired.

Fei Yuan couldn’t dodge in time and was hit by a string of bullets.

However, Fei Yuan acted as if nothing had happened.

No blood splattered, and there was no painful reaction.

“What kind of immortal or monster is this?”

One soldier said in shock.

“Get me a .50 caliber sniper rifle.”

A special forces soldier said.

The advantage of submachine guns was their rate of fire, but their power was far inferior to rifles.

And the most powerful firearms were the 12.7mm .50 caliber sniper rifles.

The range of this type of gun could reach several thousand meters, with an effective range of two thousand meters.

Within one thousand two hundred meters, it could penetrate four millimeters of armor, and within five hundred meters, it could penetrate eight millimeters of steel plate.

If it hit a person, it could tear them to pieces.

This was the latest infantry weapon developed by Great Hua to deal with the fierce beasts from other worlds.

Soon, the .50 caliber was set up.

The special forces soldier quickly aimed and pulled the trigger.

Fei Yuan, on the street, suddenly felt a great sense of crisis. This was the function of the divine jade pendant that her grandfather had given her.

Fei Yuan quickly dodged to the side.

The gun fired, and a car next to Fei Yuan was directly blown up.

“Stop!”

Just at this moment, Wang Zhan and the others arrived.

He couldn’t let Fei Yuan die.

Wang Zhan walked in front of Fei Yuan, making a gesture for Fei Yuan to put down the sword in her hand.

However, this was obviously wishful thinking. Fei Yuan ignored him.

Of course, Wang Zhan didn’t expect the other party to surrender. He was just stalling for time, giving others time to set up an inescapable net to capture this fairy alive.

Indeed, she was a fairy.

As the veil on Fei Yuan’s face fell again, revealing her face, the soldiers who came to encircle her were stunned.

They never expected that they would be using deadly force against such a beautiful person.

Fortunately, they hadn’t hurt the fairy.

“Can you understand Chinese?”

Wang Zhan was still talking nonsense.

However, he also underestimated Fei Yuan’s intelligence.

Fei Yuan was known as the most talented woman in Aoyue City, so how could she not be smart?

Although she couldn’t understand Wang Zhan’s words, she could guess that Wang Zhan was stalling for time.

Things would definitely be more dangerous next.

Therefore, Fei Yuan moved.

Her target was Wang Zhan.

She guessed that Wang Zhan was the leader, an important figure, so she wanted to subdue Wang Zhan and use Wang Zhan as a hostage to escape Pioneer City.

Once out of the city, the open space outside the city would make it easier for her to escape.

She needed to escape on foot, not by flying on her sword, as that would consume too much spiritual energy and she wouldn’t be able to fly far.

Moreover, she had seen Great Hua’s flying treasures, helicopters, and knew that flying would also be difficult to escape.

Chapter 1128: Fairy, Please Be Obedient

“So fast.”

Wang Zhan raised his gun and fired. The people beside him took out two rope guns, the kind that could shoot out fishing nets, which were new weapons specially designed for hunting alien beasts.

Wang Zhan’s pistol bullets posed no threat to Fei Yuan, but those two fishing nets were different.

Because these fishing nets were made of special materials, their toughness was excellent. In addition, due to the lack of stress points, Fei Yuan’s sword could not split them open all at once.

This was troublesome. The fishing nets falling on her made her movements very inconvenient.

She finally struggled free from two of them and wanted to escape past the crowd, but more fishing nets rushed towards her.

The Huaxia army soldiers saw that the fishing nets were effective and immediately concentrated their firepower to launch them.

There were too many of them. Fei Yuan could instantly kill anyone present in a one-on-one fight, but facing such a group of ‘big bad guys’, she was also mentally and physically exhausted.

Dodging left and right, she still couldn’t avoid them.

More and more fishing nets covered her body, and eventually she couldn’t use her spiritual power and fell from a high place, crashing heavily to the ground.

“Hooray!”

The crowd cheered.

Fei Yuan had put a lot of pressure on them just now, and now that she was finally captured, they were relieved.

“Damn it.”

Fei Yuan struggled in the net, and under emotional distress, she blurted out a curse word. Unfortunately, it was a wasted effort, as Wang Zhan and the others couldn’t understand it.

“Be careful, handcuffs, put on two pairs for safety.”

Wang Zhan said.

“Wouldn’t two pairs be a bit much?”

The Pioneer City’s Public Security Bureau Chief complained. After all, Fei Yuan was a girl, and putting on two pairs of handcuffs was too exaggerated.

“Also put on leg irons.”

Wang Zhan instructed his subordinates, and then explained to the Public Security Bureau Chief: “Can a normal girl kill five special forces soldiers while surrounded by more than three hundred people? Have you ever seen a woman who can withstand bullets and jump nine feet high?”

Being deceived by Fei Yuan’s appearance would have serious consequences.

If Fei Yuan were to break free, it would be even more difficult to capture her next time.

This time, they mainly took advantage of Fei Yuan’s lack of understanding of the fishing net’s characteristics.

“Director Wang, how do you plan to deal with this woman?”

The Public Security Bureau Chief asked.

“That’s none of your business. Manage your subordinates well and try not to let the matter spread. Release some false information to confuse the public.”

Wang Zhan said.

Although they had cleared the area before, Fei Yuan had been jumping around, and it was estimated that many people had seen her.

In addition, with the sound of gunfire everywhere, it would be very difficult to block this gossip. They could only try to hide it as much as possible.

…

In a secret room, Fei Yuan was sitting on a chair, wearing handcuffs and leg irons.

Opposite her were Wang Zhan and others.

Although Fei Yuan had already been handcuffed and shackled, Wang Zhan’s side still had people holding fishing net guns and other weapons, vigilantly staring at Fei Yuan.

They weren’t sure if Earth’s handcuffs and leg irons could restrain Fei Yuan.

“I.”

Wang Zhan pointed to himself, speaking slowly.

To interrogate Fei Yuan, they first had to teach her Chinese; otherwise, everything would be nonsense.

Fei Yuan snorted coldly upon hearing this.

She was about to explode with anger. Being captured by a group of people who couldn’t even truss a chicken, she had lost all face.

Moreover, now that she was a prisoner, the consequences were unimaginable. She had no mood to cooperate with Wang Zhan.

“Sword, my—sword.”

Wang Zhan pointed to the sword in his hand and continued to teach.

After teaching it twice, Wang Zhan pointed to a soldier next to him and said, “He.”

“…”

Fei Yuan was very depressed and didn’t want to pay attention to Wang Zhan at all.

However, reason told her that if she wanted to escape, it was best to learn the language of these outsiders first.

Because without learning it, she couldn’t communicate, and she wouldn’t have much value, and she might be imprisoned for a long time or killed.

In the end, Fei Yuan persuaded herself to learn Chinese.

She thought that learning Chinese wouldn’t hurt anyway. It would be much easier to gather intelligence on Earthlings in the future.

Most importantly, learning Chinese now would also make it easier for her to find a chance to escape.

“He.”

Fei Yuan’s very standard pronunciation made Wang Zhan overjoyed.

This showed that the alien language system was actually very similar to Chinese; otherwise, the pronunciation couldn’t be so standard and would be very awkward like Europeans speaking it.

If the alien sentence structure and grammar were also similar to Chinese, that would be even more perfect.

Of course, this wasn’t what Wang Zhan was excited about. He was excited that Fei Yuan was finally starting to cooperate.

As long as the other party was willing to cooperate, no matter how difficult the learning process was, Wang Zhan was confident that he could teach the other party Chinese. The only difference was the length of time it would take.

As long as Fei Yuan learned Chinese, then her value would skyrocket several levels.

Perhaps, through her, Great Hua could completely understand the situation in the alien world, saving a lot of risky reconnaissance.

“I, came, here.”

Wang Zhan walked from the door to Fei Yuan, pointed to the ground, and repeated: “I, came, here.”

“I came here.”

Fei Yuan repeated it once.

For ordinary people, such a learning process would actually be quite difficult.

However, Fei Yuan was the number one talented woman in Proud Moon City and was naturally intelligent.

Learning a foreign language was just child’s play for her. She herself not only knew three alien languages, but also an ancient language.

“You.”

Wang Zhan pointed to Fei Yuan.

“You.”

Fei Yuan.

“Who? Who?”

Wang Zhan made a questioning gesture.

“I am Fei Yuan.”

Fei Yuan’s reaction exceeded Wang Zhan’s imagination. It was the first successful question-and-answer exchange.

“Hello, I am Wang Zhan.”

Wang Zhan smiled.

Then, Fei Yuan couldn’t help but laugh.

Wang Zhan thought that she was showing goodwill to him. In reality, it was just because the pronunciation of ‘Wang Zhan’ meant ‘idiot’ in Proud Moon language.

It was difficult to remain calm when a seemingly high-ranking man seriously introduced himself as an idiot to others.

“Wang Zhan.”

Fei Yuan laughed.

“Yes, yes, yes, I am Wang Zhan.”

Wang Zhan said happily.

This appearance made Fei Yuan laugh again: “Hello, ‘Wang (idiot) Zhan (moron)’.”

“Hello, hello.”

Wang Zhan.

Everyone’s faces showed smiles upon seeing this. Being able to communicate was a historic moment.

Soon, Wang Zhan had people bring food and drinks to show goodwill. At the same time, he loosened Fei Yuan’s shackles a little so that Fei Yuan wouldn’t be so uncomfortable.

Of course, they still didn’t dare to remove the shackles. After all, this fairy killed people without batting an eye.

A temporary smile didn’t mean anything. They couldn’t believe that she didn’t have any bad intentions.

As the saying goes, the more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to deceive. This person in front of them must not be easily trusted.

Fortunately, Wang Zhan had received professional training in resisting the temptation of beauty and could remain indifferent to it.

If an ordinary person came over, they would probably have been charmed by Fei Yuan and unlocked her shackles by now.

After showing some goodwill, Wang Zhan continued to transform into a Chinese teacher, starting to teach everyday phrases little by little.

Chapter 1129: Extraterrestrial Forces

After more than half a month of interaction, Fei Yuan could already engage in simple daily conversations with Wang Zhan.

Another month passed, and Fei Yuan had basically mastered Chinese.

“When will you let me leave?”

This was the question Fei Yuan asked most frequently during this time.

“Miss Fei, you killed five of our people,” Wang Zhan reminded her.

“You were trying to capture me, and I was forced to act in self-defense,” Fei Yuan retorted.

“It is precisely because this was a misunderstanding caused by communication that we are treating you so politely.”

“You call this polite?” Fei Yuan raised her handcuffed hands.

“This is respect for your strength. If these handcuffs and shackles were removed, none of us here would be your match,” Wang Zhan said with a headache.

These days, he had been trying to extract information about the other world from Fei Yuan, but Fei Yuan insisted that he remove the handcuffs and shackles before she would cooperate.

Wang Zhan absolutely couldn’t agree to that, otherwise, this fairy would be out of control.

“I wouldn’t retaliate against you.”

“We can’t take the risk.”

…

Another round of daily haggling left both sides exhausted.

Of course, Wang Zhan wasn’t just idling around. They had been brainstorming ideas.

While the haggling continued, the Ministry of State Security was building a new prison cell.

It was made of pure reinforced concrete, with a thickness of two meters. Even a direct hit from a modern main battle tank wouldn’t damage the foundation of the walls.

The door of the new cell was made of several wrist-thick alloy bars.

After the new cell was completed, Wang Zhan finally agreed to unlock Fei Yuan’s handcuffs and shackles.

Inside the new cell, the door was tightly closed, and Wang Zhan personally unlocked Fei Yuan’s handcuffs and shackles.

Then, without hesitation, Fei Yuan grabbed Wang Zhan’s neck with one hand: “Open the door now, or I’ll strangle him.”

A month of interaction seemed to have built no trust or affection. Fei Yuan’s first thought was still to escape.

“Girl, that won’t work. The soldiers of Great Hua never accept hostage threats. Kill him if you want. We’ve already prepared Wang Zhan’s portrait for his funeral.”

Outside the cell, Wang Zhan’s deputy held up a photo frame, inside which was a smiling portrait of Wang Zhan.

Wang Zhan had considered the possibility of Fei Yuan going berserk before he decided to take the risk, so he had very calmly taken a photo for his last will and testament and issued a strict order that no matter what threats he faced, Fei Yuan must not be allowed to escape.

This woman was too important for Great Hua to understand the other world.

Anyway, Wang Zhan felt that his life was insignificant compared to this information.

Of course, he didn’t want to die, but a man’s life is not his own.

If he didn’t take the risk, there would be plenty of others willing to do so.

In this world, there is never a shortage of people willing to trade their lives for money.

You know, if he were killed by Fei Yuan, his family would receive a great deal of benefits.

“…”

Fei Yuan was so angry when she saw this. She really wanted to increase the force and crush Wang Zhan’s throat.

Unfortunately, she didn’t want to die with him, so she could only throw Wang Zhan against the wall, making him dizzy.

Killing him was out of the question, but torturing him to vent her anger was very necessary.

“You’re too ruthless, aren’t you? I’m at least half your teacher, having studied together for more than a month. You extraterrestrial women are so heartless,” Wang Zhan complained, baring his teeth as he regained his senses.

“When exactly are you going to let me leave? Don’t blame me for not warning you, I am the daughter of the City Lord of Moonrise City. Once I haven’t returned for two or three months, my father will send troops to find me. At that time, your Pioneer City won’t be able to withstand it,” Fei Yuan threatened.

“Moonrise City, in which direction is it, and how far is it from Pioneer City?” Wang Zhan asked.

“That’s classified. I don’t think you’re good people, so why would I tell you the location?” Fei Yuan said.

“So, the strength of your Moonrise City isn’t that great, is it? If it were really powerful, you wouldn’t worry about being discovered. That contradicts what you said earlier about our Pioneer City not being able to withstand it,” Wang Zhan said earnestly. He hoped that Fei Yuan could be more candid; he wasn’t so easily fooled.

“…”

Fei Yuan felt a headache. This guy was really difficult to deal with.

“In short, don’t expect to get any information about Moonrise City from me,” Fei Yuan said.

“Alright, we won’t make things difficult for you. I’ll just ask some questions that won’t harm the interests of your Moonrise City. Surely that’s okay, right?”

Wang Zhan didn’t expect Fei Yuan to betray her own forces from the start. This was just a tactic.

First, propose a condition that the other party cannot accept, and then pretend to make a concession, which can make the other party feel better and cooperate more.

“First, tell me about this world. How big is it? How many forces are there? Why can you fly…” Wang Zhan asked a series of questions in one breath.

Under the eaves, one has to bow one’s head. What Fei Yuan needed to do now was to paralyze the other party and then find an opportunity to escape.

She said, “In your words, this world should be called the Spirit Realm. The Spirit Realm is very large, so large that I don’t have a concept of how to describe it. It’s probably hundreds of millions of times the size of Pioneer City. I can’t say how many forces there are inside; it’s very complicated.

Besides humans, there are also beast races, demon races, undead races, and now there are you extraterrestrials. As for why we can fly, I really can’t explain it. Anyway, as long as our strength reaches the King level, we can fly…”

Fei Yuan answered a lot, and there was quite a bit of useful information.

Wang Zhan estimated that Pioneer City was about one thousand square kilometers. If Fei Yuan wasn’t lying, then the Spirit Realm would be about one hundred billion square kilometers, about two hundred times the surface area of Earth.

It had to be said, it was indeed large.

Of course, this was still the most worrying thing. What was most concerning was the beast races, demon races, and undead races that Fei Yuan mentioned. These things sounded quite terrifying.

However, judging from the fact that humans can survive in this land, the strength of those things should be comparable to humans, or weaker than humans.

Otherwise, humans in the Spirit Realm would not be able to survive.

Of course, extreme situations could not be ruled out, that is, other races occupy a dominant position, and humans are like rare animals, and other dominant groups do not bother to exterminate them.

“How do you cultivate?” Wang Zhan asked. This was the question they cared about the most.

Compared to the humans of the other world, their biggest disadvantage was the physical gap.

This problem must be solved. They must obtain the cultivation methods of the other world. This was Wu Changqing’s instruction, and it was also the request of all the big shots in the court.

They were all counting on this to prolong their lives.

After so many years of hardship, they had finally made it to the colorful world of Great Hua. Those in high positions didn’t want to die, and were reluctant to die.

Heaven knows how many people’s life goals were only to pursue immortality.

And the cultivation methods of the other world were their hope, the straw they were grasping at.

To seize this straw, they would spare no expense.

Chapter 1130: Visitors from Moonproud City

How to cultivate—this was something Fei Yuan stubbornly refused to reveal.

She knew this was her last bargaining chip. Once she revealed it, she would have no trump cards left.

Without value, her fate would be unpredictable.

Although Wang Zhan and the others hadn’t mistreated her during this time, that didn’t mean they were good people.

Fei Yuan refused to speak, which gave Wang Zhan a major headache.

He couldn’t release her. If he let her go without obtaining the cultivation method, the ministers in the court would take his life.

But keeping her imprisoned made Wang Zhan feel a bit uneasy.

In truth, Fei Yuan hadn’t done anything too outrageous.

Although she had killed people, it was because the people of Great Hua had tried to capture her first.

Helpless, Wang Zhan could only stall.

A few days later, the forward哨站 responsible for surveillance notified Pioneer City that a team of otherworldly humans was approaching from the Southwest.

Subsequently, Qiu Wenguang, the highest commander of Pioneer City, ordered an alert.

It was uncertain whether this team of otherworldly humans was friend or foe.

At the same time, thirty li away from Pioneer City, the people of Moonproud City were advancing towards Pioneer City.

“My little sister was really captured by those otherworldly people?”

Fei Yuan’s third brother, Fei Ting, said.

“The Clan Leader said so, so it must be true,”

Fei Yuan’s eldest brother, Fei Hong, said.

“Outrageous! How detestable! Those people are audacious, daring to capture someone from our Moonproud City!”

Fei Ting raged.

“Don’t be careless. These people are strange. They appear to be weak and helpless, yet they can control magical artifacts, and each one has one. The fact that little sister was captured by them already says a lot,”

Fei Hong said.

Recently, the increasing and more frequent activities of the people of Great Hua had drawn the attention of more and more otherworldly humans.

Moonproud City, being the closest, was naturally the first to be affected.

Therefore, the people of Moonproud City had also been observing the people of Great Hua.

By this time, Fei Hong had gained some understanding of the people of Great Hua.

Thirty li was just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea for them.

Soon, they arrived at the foot of Pioneer City.

At this time, the gates of Pioneer City were tightly closed, and soldiers with weapons stood on the city walls, ready for battle.

“We’re here. What do we do next? Force our way in?”

Fei Ting asked.

With the language barrier, it seemed that forcing their way in was the only option.

“Don’t rush.”

Fei Hong stopped his third brother, who was about to act, and shouted towards the people of Great Hua.

This shout had an unexpected result, because someone responded, and in the language of the otherworlders.

The one shouting was naturally Wang Zhan. He wasn’t sure of the strength of the opponents, nor was he sure of the strength of Moonproud City, and didn’t want to start a war rashly.

If he completely offended Moonproud City, and Moonproud City was a behemoth, it would be troublesome.

“Who are you people? What do you want here at my Pioneer City?”

Wang Zhan asked.

“We are people of Moonproud City. We want to ask who you are, where you come from. Also, why did you capture my sister?”

Fei Hong retorted.

“We come from Earth. As for your sister, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. We haven’t captured anyone from Moonproud City,”

Wang Zhan said.

“There’s no need for you to say such childish things. I saw you capture my sister with my own eyes in the Mystic Sky Orb, and interrogate her in a secret room. If I hadn’t seen in the Mystic Sky Orb that you haven’t harmed my sister, I would have already attacked.”

Fei Hong reminded him.

Wang Zhan was a little embarrassed upon hearing this. He never expected that the otherworld had such a good thing, which could be used as surveillance. Moreover, it was surveillance that didn’t require cameras.

Since the matter had been exposed, continuing to deny it would be insulting the other party’s intelligence, and it was unnecessary.

“Your sister killed several of our people, so it’s impossible to release her casually,”

Wang Zhan said.

“Then what do you want in order to release her?”

Fei Hong asked.

This…

This question stumped Wang Zhan.

Subsequently, Wang Zhan wanted to go out of the city to discuss the matter in detail with the other party, but his subordinates quickly stopped him, saying, “It’s too dangerous. What if they capture you and use you as a hostage to exchange for someone? What should we do then?”

“I don’t think they intend to start a fight. They seem to be wary of us and shouldn’t attack. Moreover, we don’t need to fight them unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

If it weren’t for the fact that the higher-ups hadn’t approved it yet, Wang Zhan would have wanted to release her now to show goodwill.

Unable to dissuade him, Wang Zhan left the city.

This action made Fei Hong breathe a sigh of relief. He didn’t want to escalate the situation to a life-and-death struggle.

Wang Zhan’s willingness to come out of the city indicated that the other party was willing to negotiate.

Soon, Wang Zhan arrived in front of Fei Hong with two subordinates.

“To be honest, I actually want to release your sister. However, we in Great Hua emphasize procedure. I must report to my superiors and obtain approval before I can release her,”

Wang Zhan said.

“Bullshit! I think you’re just trying to stall for time.”

Fei Ting had a fiery temper and wasn’t very bright.

Fortunately, Fei Hong was still reasonable.

“That may be so, but it’s hard to justify imprisoning my sister for so long for no reason,”

Fei Hong said.

“We didn’t do it for no reason. Your sister came to scout out our Pioneer City’s intelligence, then resisted arrest and killed people. To be honest, this should be a capital crime. However, we’re new here and don’t want to antagonize our otherworldly friends, so we’ve temporarily detained her, hoping to communicate amicably and resolve this conflict.”

Wang Zhan argued reasonably.

In short, both sides had some justification from their own perspectives.

“How long will it take for you to report and get a response?”

Fei Hong asked.

“It’s hard to say. It could be as short as a few hours, or as long as two or three days,”

Wang Zhan said.

“You’re taking us for fools! Big brother, don’t waste your breath on them. Let’s just kill our way in and rescue little sister!”

Seeing that Wang Zhan was still unwilling to release her, Fei Ting raged.

“If you really want to do that, there’s nothing I can do. But it won’t be easy for you to break through Pioneer City. Don’t underestimate our Great Hua,”

Wang Zhan snorted.

Even if the people in front of him were stronger than Fei Yuan, they should only be slightly stronger.

Pioneer City’s firepower was enough to stop these people.

Fei Ting wanted to continue shouting, but Fei Hong stopped him.

“Then I’ll wait for you for a day or two. If you don’t release her after two days, then we’ll have to take action. I won’t underestimate your Great Hua, but don’t underestimate the power of our Moonproud City. If you force our Moonproud City’s Ancestor to take action, the destruction of Pioneer City will only be a matter of thought.”

Fei Hong reminded him.

“…”

Wang Zhan didn’t know if the other party was telling the truth or just issuing a warning.

He could only reply, “I’ll report the situation to the imperial court immediately and let them decide whether to fight or negotiate. If you don’t mind, you can come into the city for a cup of tea and wait in the living room.”

“No need. Don’t think about tricking us into a trap,”

Fei Ting said.

“…”

Wang Zhan was speechless again and was too lazy to persuade them, letting them stay in the凉亭 outside the city.

At the same time, he immediately reported the information to the imperial court, letting the court decide whether to fight or negotiate.

Chapter 1131: Fight or Negotiate?

The capital, the Imperial Palace.

Wu Hong, the director of the Extraterrestrial Scientific Analysis Institute, was reporting to Wu Changqing.

“Your Majesty, preliminary research indicates that extraterrestrial organisms are more powerful, mainly due to their diet. Several soldiers who consumed extraterrestrial rice experienced a very noticeable increase in strength, and so far, no side effects have been found.

Through our covert investigations, ordinary people who have consumed extraterrestrial organisms are also healthier, and the frequency of illnesses has significantly decreased.”

“So, are you saying that humans on Earth can also cultivate immortality by consuming extraterrestrial food?”

Wu Changqing asked.

“Theoretically, yes, but simply eating extraterrestrial food is not enough. We estimate that extraterrestrial humans also have some special cultivation methods,”

Wu Hong said.

Just as they were speaking, a eunuch arrived with an urgent telegram.

It was an urgent message from Wang Zhan, asking for instructions on how to handle the relationship with Proud Moon City.

“Summon the members of the Cabinet.”

Wu Changqing immediately convened a Cabinet meeting.

Whether to fight or negotiate, it was finally time for everyone to discuss the matter together and analyze the pros and cons from all aspects.

Soon, the Cabinet ministers put aside their work and rushed to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

Several copies of the telegram had already been made and distributed to them.

The ministers picked up the telegrams, and soon their brows furrowed.

This was no small matter. How to handle this matter would determine the relationship between Earth and the extraterrestrial world, whether it would be war or peace.

“Gentlemen, what are your thoughts on this matter?”

After the time it takes to drink two cups of tea, Wu Changqing asked.

“Unless that woman provides more extraterrestrial intelligence, we must not release her. As for Proud Moon City, we don’t need to worry. Our military is confident in defeating them,”

Tao Dongcheng, a bigwig in the military, said.

The military naturally did not worry about war. The more wars there were, the more funding they would receive.

There had not been a major war on Earth for a long time, and the military had been downsizing in recent years, with the increase in military spending far less than that of people’s livelihoods.

Therefore, the military had placed all its hopes on the extraterrestrial world, eager to fight to the death with it now.

As for the risks, they had not thought that far ahead.

Moreover, based on the strength that the extraterrestrial world had currently displayed, Great Hua really did not need to fear them too much.

“Minister Tao, calm down. That is an extraterrestrial world that is countless times larger than Earth. We are only on the edge of the extraterrestrial world right now, and we must not be reckless,”

Ouyang Shiqi reminded.

To start a war without even having detailed intelligence about the extraterrestrial world was too frivolous, and he firmly disagreed.

“If they were really larger than our Great Hua, they wouldn’t be negotiating with us now; they would have already invaded,”

Tao Dongcheng said.

“We are currently at a crucial period of economic development, so it is best not to start a major war. It won’t be too late to start when we have completed advanced modernization, have more advanced weapons, and have stronger manufacturing capabilities. For now, it is best to get along peacefully with the people of the extraterrestrial world and buy time,”

Li Yao said.

…

The two sides argued for a long time, and they argued about many things.

However, the ministers who supported waiting and seeing were in the majority. They did not want to take risks; it was unnecessary.

Life was getting better day by day, so why provoke some unknown troubles?

They heard that people from the extraterrestrial world could even fly into the sky and escape into the earth. What if they angered the other party and those people sneaked into Earth to carry out assassinations?

No matter how advanced the weapons were, they could not defend against those with real skills.

“It is indeed not appropriate to start a major war now, but negotiations cannot weaken the prestige of Great Hua, nor can we suffer losses. You discuss the conditions for releasing people, so as not to intensify the conflict, but also not to suffer losses,”

Wu Changqing said.

Although Great Hua seemed prosperous and developed now, it was only limited to the Central Plains area. Other places were still very backward, and production capacity was low.

The most important task at present was to improve productivity.

It would not be too late to conquer the extraterrestrial world when tanks and fighter jets could be produced like dropping dumplings into water.

Wu Changqing had spoken, and Tao Dongcheng and the others in the military immediately stopped arguing.

In Great Hua, Wu Changqing’s words were everything.

Even if they did not understand, they could not object. They only needed to be responsible for execution, because the Holy Emperor was always right, and the Holy Emperor had never been wrong.

The ministers began to discuss and quickly drafted a large number of conditions for releasing people.

After the conditions were drafted, they were sent to Antarctica via telegram, and then forwarded to the extraterrestrial world.

Subsequently, a delegation led by Ouyang Shiqi also rushed to the extraterrestrial world.

There were many things to be discussed in this negotiation. In addition to releasing people, Great Hua also wanted to cooperate with Proud Moon City and purchase some extraterrestrial grain.

Great Hua needed to train a group of special forces suitable for extraterrestrial combat.

To conquer the extraterrestrial world, the power of weapons alone was far from enough. The soldiers’ physical bodies must also become stronger.

Otherwise, it would be like the arrest of Fei Yuan in Pioneer City, where hundreds of people were dispatched, and more than a dozen were killed or injured.

In Pioneer City, Wang Zhan, who had been tormented for more than a day, finally received the telegram.

Seeing the content, he was overjoyed.

Having studied the other party’s language with Fei Yuan for so long, Wang Zhan was unwilling to treat Fei Yuan as a prisoner anymore, and he did not want to completely break with Proud Moon City.

Soon, Wang Zhan personally left the city to inform Fei Hong and his party, informing them of Great Hua’s attitude.

People could be released, but they needed to agree to some of Great Hua’s conditions.

For example, introducing more detailed information about the extraterrestrial world, such as providing their cultivation methods, and allowing Great Hua to visit Proud Moon City, etc.

“You are going too far. You only have one-sided demands, and we cannot possibly agree. Unless you also introduce the situation on Earth to me in detail, provide the secrets of your weapon manufacturing, and allow our people to visit Earth,”

Fei Hong put forward equal conditions.

“This…”

Wang Zhan had another headache. Things did not seem so easy to solve.

“I need to report this; I can’t make the decision myself,”

Wang Zhan said helplessly.

“Are you playing with us? You can’t make any decisions, so what are you here to talk about? Big brother, I think they clearly want to make things difficult for us. Little sister must be being tortured in the city. Let’s kill our way in,”

Fei Ting said angrily.

Wang Zhan did not like this hot temper.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Ouyang, the imperial envoy who has full authority to make decisions, is on his way. If you are worried about Fei Yuan, I will now allow you to send a few people into Pioneer City to protect her. Brother Fei Hong, rest assured that our Great Hua is absolutely sincere. Perhaps we will have a lot of cooperation in the future, which can be a win-win situation,”

Wang Zhan did not communicate with Fei Ting; it was a waste of effort.

He spoke directly to Fei Hong, hoping that Fei Hong could understand.

Fei Hong was much more cautious. As long as there was still hope of avoiding the use of force, he did not want to clash with Great Hua, whose strength was unknown.

“In that case, I will personally go into the city to see little sister,”

Fei Hong said.

Chapter 1132: Negotiations Begin

“Brother.”

Fei Yuan and her brother Fei Hong reunited, a rather touching scene.

Fei Hong, seeing that Fei Yuan had no injuries and didn’t seem to have been mistreated, finally set his mind at ease.

The two reminisced for a while, and Fei Hong asked about Fei Yuan’s situation after being captured.

“Brother, how are the negotiations progressing?”

Fei Yuan asked.

At this point, she wasn’t worried about her safety at all, because Great Hua had shown enough sincerity.

“We still have to wait for their negotiation team to arrive. Father also sent word, hoping that we can befriend this Great Hua; it’s an opportunity for Moonrise City.”

Fei Hong’s words were instantly understood by Fei Yuan.

Their Moonrise City used to be a great nation, with a territory of over ten million square kilometers.

However, it later suffered a double blow from the Sun Worshipping Kingdom and the Beast Clan, which led to its decline. Now, its territory is only over one million square kilometers.

Moreover, they constantly need to be wary of beast tides, and the strong within the country are constantly falling. They urgently need foreign aid.

“Their weapons are indeed magical. They don’t need spiritual energy to be activated, and they can allow someone without the strength to truss a chicken to exert extremely strong power. If everyone in our country had such a weapon, we could completely retake the old capital and restore our former glory,” Fei Yuan said.

“But their weapons aren’t so easy to obtain. These Great Hua people aren’t any more foolish than we are. If we want to get their help, I’m afraid we’ll have to give equivalent rewards,” Fei Hong said with a headache.

Their Moonrise City is currently in a period of decline and lacks everything.

“If it really comes down to it, we can only use me as a bargaining chip. As far as I know, there’s a tradition of arranged marriages on Earth,” Fei Yuan said.

“How can that be?”

Fei Hong said in surprise. He never expected his sister to have such an idea.

Although humans and themselves look almost the same, there are still essential differences.

Their King-level experts here can live for more than one hundred and fifty years, and those who cultivate to the Emperor level can live up to five hundred years.

If Fei Yuan were to marry an Earth human, she would have to live as a widow for at least two hundred years.

“Why not? We’re all humans, and the other party isn’t a Beast Clan. Moreover, it’s said that the Emperor of Great Hua rose from humble beginnings and unified the entire Earth with his own strength. He must be a heroic figure. More importantly, only if I marry him will they let down their guard against me, and only then can we cooperate better and obtain more benefits. Only then will Moonrise City have a chance to rise again. You don’t want our people to have to worry about Beast Clan invasions all the time, do you?”

Fei Yuan said.

Since they are all humans, Fei Yuan has no psychological barriers.

Wu Changqing is the emperor of a country, and his status is completely worthy of her. In fact, strictly speaking, she is reaching above her station.

“I have to discuss this with Father. He…”

Fei Hong said halfway, then stopped.

They both knew what kind of person their father was, completely putting the interests of Moonrise City first. If he could exchange Fei Yuan for the rise of Moonrise City, their father would agree without hesitation.

After the two discussed for a while, Fei Hong went back.

As for Fei Yuan, she still had to symbolically stay in Pioneer City.

However, she no longer had to live in the dungeon. Both sides were releasing goodwill to each other.

After all, both sides have a relatively strong intention to cooperate.

A few days later, Ouyang Shiqi’s negotiation team arrived in Pioneer City.

The two sides sat down at the negotiating table, with Wang Zhan in charge of translation.

“First of all, we need to reach some consensus. Your princess came to our Great Hua to spy on intelligence and also killed five of our Great Hua soldiers,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

Without needing Wang Zhan to translate, Fei Hong had already learned Chinese at this time.

He hurriedly argued, “No, no, no, this is a misunderstanding. My sister was patrolling within the territory of Moonrise City and saw that this place was abnormal, so she mistakenly entered your city. The killings later were also forced acts of self-defense. We would like to ask your side, did you greet our Moonrise City when you built a city on our Moonrise City’s territory?”

“This is your Moonrise City’s territory? Where’s the evidence? When we came here, it was a barren wasteland. In our Earth, only military garrisons and marked boundary markers can be considered territorial boundaries,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

“This is the Spirit Domain. Are you telling me Earth rules? In our domain, we never garrison troops on the border, as it’s easy to be attacked by the Beast Clan,” Fei Hong continued to argue.

“If there isn’t even a military garrison, how can you say that this is Moonrise City’s territory? I can also announce now that the entire Spirit Domain belongs to Great Hua. Who would pay attention to me?”

Ouyang Shiqi retorted.

The two argued endlessly on this issue, leaving both sides exhausted.

Fortunately, both sides intended to cooperate, so as they argued, both sides began to make concessions.

Fei Hong admitted that Fei Yuan had made a mistake and would compensate the families of the five soldiers with some money.

Ouyang Shiqi also said that he could define the conflict as a misunderstanding.

Having reached this consensus, both sides breathed a sigh of relief.

Next, the two sides talked about cooperation.

First, the exchange of information.

Ouyang Shiqi introduced the basic situation of Earth to Fei Hong, and Fei Hong also gave Ouyang Shiqi a more detailed introduction to the Spirit Domain.

When he heard Ouyang Shiqi say that Great Hua had more than three billion people, Fei Hong was quite surprised.

Although there are more humans in the Spirit Domain, the Spirit Domain isn’t unified. There are hundreds of human forces in the entire Spirit Domain. There are only two or three with more population than Great Hua.

As for their Moonrise City, it’s not even a fraction of Great Hua’s, with only more than five million people.

After learning about the size of Great Hua, Fei Hong was both happy and worried.

What was pleasing was that this potential partner was strong enough to bring great help to Moonrise City. What was worrying was that this partner was too strong, and cooperating with Great Hua might lead to being eaten by Great Hua.

After learning about some of the situations in the Spirit Domain, Ouyang Shiqi was also quite shocked.

Emperor-level experts can travel a thousand li in a second, faster than the speed of sound in the air.

If such experts were to rush to Earth to assassinate Wu Changqing, Great Hua currently has no weapons to resist.

This made Ouyang Shiqi determined to obtain the secrets of cultivation and to allow Great Hua to have this ability.

“I think we can cooperate. Cooperation benefits both, while separation harms both,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

“We think so too. We just don’t know how your side plans to cooperate,” Fei Hong said.

“It’s very simple. We’ll exchange weapons for your cultivation methods,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

“You’re too shrewd. You’ll obtain the cultivation methods and allow three billion people to cultivate and benefit. And no matter how many weapons we exchange for, we’ll only have that many weapons. That’s not fair. What we want is the manufacturing method,” Fei Hong said.

Neither side is stupid, and it’s not easy to take advantage of the other.

“But only our Great Hua knows how to make these weapons. And your cultivation methods aren’t unique to Moonrise City. Why can’t we cooperate with other Spirit Domain forces?” Ouyang Shiqi retorted.

This is Great Hua’s advantage.

“After all, you’re people from an unknown world. Apart from our Moonrise City, other people in the Spirit Domain will probably treat you as enemies. If you want to cooperate with them, I’m afraid that from the moment they learn of your existence, they will send out a large army to wipe you out,” Fei Hong retorted.

If it weren’t for needing something from Great Hua, he would also be quite disgusted with Great Hua. After all, everyone is from two different worlds, and there’s always a bit of awkwardness.

Chapter 1133: Negotiations Reached

The negotiations between the two sides had reached a stalemate. Ultimately, it boiled down to a lack of trust between them.

Trust is the foundation and prerequisite for cooperation. If both sides distrust each other, then any contract is just a piece of paper.

Ouyang Shiqi and Fei Hong were both intelligent people, and after talking for a while, they both realized this problem.

What was even more wonderful was that they both thought of the same solution at the same time.

A marriage alliance.

This method of alliance, which has been used throughout history, both ancient and modern, may seem low-level at first glance, but it is simple and effective.

As long as everyone is human, there is a consensus that even the fiercest tiger won’t eat its cubs.

Once a marriage alliance is formed, the two sides will have descendants, which will always add a layer of bond.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, they generally will not turn against each other.

Ouyang Shiqi thought of a marriage alliance, but he didn’t know how to specifically implement it, because the women of the alien world were not weak women.

Even with their bare hands, they had the ability to kill Wu Changqing.

This was too risky for Wu Changqing.

After all, Wu Changqing couldn’t arrange more than a hundred heavily armed guards around him when he was doing that thing with the Princess of Moonrise City.

“Let’s have a marriage alliance. I can marry into your Great Hua. This way, you should believe in our Moonrise City’s sincerity, right?”

Before Fei Hong could speak, Fei Yuan spoke first.

Honestly, Ouyang Shiqi felt it was a bit inappropriate.

He felt that women should be more reserved. Fei Yuan’s boisterous appearance didn’t seem suitable to be a concubine.

“Most of the important officials in our court are already married. With Miss Fei’s nobility, it’s not suitable for her to be their concubine either,” Ouyang Shiqi said.

He was thinking of having a senior official in the court act as the vanguard of the marriage alliance.

As soon as he said this, Fei Yuan slammed the table and said angrily, “I am a dignified princess. If I am to marry, I will definitely marry your emperor. There is no reason to marry a minister. Which of your ministers is worthy? You?”

“…”

Ouyang Shiqi was speechless.

“Lord Ouyang, this is an insult to our Moonrise City. If you continue like this, we will not accompany you any further,” Fei Hong said angrily.

“Please calm down. Our Great Hua is an empire with more than three billion people. The emperors of those small countries are really not as noble as our Great Hua ministers,” Ouyang Shiqi reminded.

Before the Earth was unified, some small countries in Europe couldn’t wait to send their daughters to the important ministers of Great Hua.

“No need to say more. If you insist on me marrying one of your ministers, then there is no need to continue discussing this matter,” Fei Yuan said.

The two sides fell into a stalemate again.

Suddenly, Wang Zhan suggested in Ouyang Shiqi’s ear, “Sir, perhaps we can have her marry one of the princes.”

The prince’s status was obviously worthy of Fei Yuan, as for safety.

Wu Changqing had so many sons, losing one or two was really not a big deal.

At least, in the eyes of Wang Zhan and other ministers, it was completely unimportant.

Ouyang Shiqi’s eyes lit up when he heard this, and he thought this was a good idea.

So, he said, “How about this? Our Great Hua still has several unmarried princes, and these are all people who have hope of inheriting the Great Hua throne in the future. If your side agrees, our prince can marry Princess Fei Yuan.”

This…

Fei Yuan was speechless for a moment.

The reason why she was willing to have a marriage alliance at the beginning was actually because she admired Wu Changqing as a heroic figure and had some admiration for him.

But now, if she were to marry Wu Changqing’s son, she would be somewhat unwilling.

She also knew what a spoiled brat was like.

More importantly, she looked like she was only in her early twenties, but she had actually lived for nearly fifty years. Asking her to marry a teenage or twenty-year-old boy felt like an old cow eating young grass.

“What do you think?”

Fei Hong quietly asked his sister, he thought there was no problem.

Marrying Wu Changqing could only make her a concubine, while marrying an unmarried prince could make her a wife, and their status was about the same.

Moreover, if the prince she married inherited the throne in the future, then she would be the empress.

“I… I’ll leave it up to my big brother to decide,” Fei Yuan sighed.

She originally wanted to refuse, but when she thought that this was the only chance to save Moonrise City, she could only wrong herself.

“Since your side has this sincerity, then we can have in-depth exchanges,” Fei Hong said.

With this consensus reached, the subsequent negotiations went much smoother.

When encountering differences, everyone would choose to take a step back.

In Ouyang Shiqi’s view, the benefits he gave up were the betrothal gifts for the marriage.

In Fei Hong’s view, the benefits he gave up were the dowry for his sister.

Giving more betrothal gifts and more dowry were both very honorable things, otherwise the wedding would not be held on such a large scale.

In the end, after several days of wrangling and detailed discussions, the two sides reached a preliminary cooperation.

Great Hua would provide Moonrise City with the weapons of an armored division and a guidance group, and help Moonrise City build a weapons factory, allowing Moonrise City to have the ability to independently build hot weapons.

Moonrise City would provide Great Hua with cultivation methods and share all the information about the alien world.

As for the alien world’s food that Great Hua wanted, sorry, Moonrise City was also short of it.

In Fei Hong’s words, cultivation was not difficult, the difficulty lay in obtaining spiritual energy.

The source of spiritual energy they needed for cultivation basically came from those grains.

As long as there was enough food, a large number of experts could quickly appear in Moonrise City.

However, they lacked food, very, very much.

Moonrise City had a lot of land that could be used for farming, but it lacked protection capabilities.

Wild beasts raged outside the city. Without enough force to guard it, the more they planted, the stronger the beasts would eat, and in the end, it would be even more troublesome.

Therefore, in the alien world, without enough force, humans would rather leave the land barren than grow food for the beasts.

The less they planted, the more difficult it would be for the beasts to obtain food, and they would attack the city more frequently, forming a vicious cycle.

This was a major problem for humans in the alien world. Even those superpowers needed to consider the input and output, and would abandon large areas of land.

After all, the wild beasts in the alien world were not as defenseless as those on Earth.

The wild beasts in the alien world could not only cultivate, but also develop intelligence after cultivating to the King level.

Wild beasts with intelligence were very difficult to deal with.

In order to compensate Great Hua, Fei Hong agreed that Great Hua could grow food in Moonrise City’s territory.

However, Great Hua needed to protect it themselves.

The negotiations ended.

Ouyang Shiqi obtained the cultivation method that Great Hua had dreamed of, the Stellar Formula.

They would insist on eating alien food every day to obtain spiritual energy, and then use the method on the Stellar Formula to circulate their energy and cultivate, extracting and absorbing the spiritual energy from the food and integrating it into the cells of their bodies.

Then those cells would change, making humans incredibly powerful.

After the brain was cultivated to a certain extent, it would also change, giving birth to magic power.

Magic power was something that Earth’s technology could not explain, and the people of Moonrise City could not explain it clearly either.

In short, controlling magic power could do some things that defied common sense, such as stepping on your right foot with your left foot, and then stepping on your left foot with your right foot, and you could step into the sky step by step.

Another example was flying with a sword and killing people from a distance.

However, this required cultivation to the King level.

According to the division of strength in the alien world, from low to high, they were Soldier level, Warrior level, King level, Emperor level, and Immortal level. Each level was divided into one to nine grades.

The lowest Soldier level purely depended on the degree of physical tempering.

Even without cultivating any techniques, if one insisted on eating alien food, they could rise to the ninth grade in twenty or thirty years.

However, to enter the Warrior level, one must have a relatively good cultivation technique to improve absorption efficiency.

To enter the King level, one needed some talent.

Those who could enter the Emperor level could dominate one side of the alien world and even establish a country and become an emperor.

The City Lord of Moonrise City was an Emperor-level expert. As for which grade of Emperor level, Fei Hong did not reveal.

After the preliminary agreement was reached, Nanjing fell into a busy state.

First of all, they had to select a group of absolutely loyal people to cultivate first.

Once they succeeded in cultivation, these people would be a great weapon, and this thing must be in Wu Changqing’s hands.

If it fell into someone’s hands, the other party was very likely to rebel with this power. No one could resist the temptation to become emperor.

At the same time, Great Hua also had to select a suitable prince for the marriage alliance.

Currently, there were eight princes who were not married and over the age of fifteen: Eighth Prince Wu Zhi, Ninth Prince Wu Ye, and Tenth Prince Wu Xin.

In the twenty-third year of Yongxing, Wu Changqing already had eighteen princes and eleven princesses.

On average, there was only one a year, which was not too many.

“Zhi’er, you must seize this opportunity. By marrying the princess of Moonrise City, you can master many opportunities. If your cultivation is higher than other princes, you will have a chance when your father passes on the throne in the future,” Consort Liu, Wu Zhi’s birth mother, instructed.

With Wu Changqing’s current state of health, it seemed that there would be no problem for him to live for another forty or fifty years.

By that time, maybe the crown prince would already be dead.

Therefore, the crown prince of Great Hua had no advantage in inheriting the throne at this time, and the other princes had not given up either. They were all taking care of their bodies, preparing to outlive their other brothers.

Now, cultivating the alien world’s techniques could prolong life, and these princes could not refuse it even more.

However, resources were limited. Even though they were princes, they did not have as many resources as those ministers.

Especially some princes whose mothers had low status, they were not even as good as ministers.

That was why Consort Liu was so active, hoping that Wu Zhi would marry Fei Yuan.

In this way, they would have a strong foreign aid.

After marrying Fei Yuan, they would not have to worry about cultivation resources. No matter how stingy Fei Yuan’s family was, they would not treat their son-in-law badly.

“But, I heard that the other party is already in her forties, older than you,” Wu Zhi said with tears in his eyes. He only liked young girls.

“What’s wrong with that? Times are different. Moreover, you have seen her photos. She looks exactly like a twenty-year-old girl. In twenty years, she can still be young, and your imperial sisters-in-law and sisters-in-law will probably be old women,” Consort Liu said.

The age of alien humans was completely different from that of Earth humans.

“But…”

Wu Zhi was still a little hesitant.

In comparison, Wu Ye was much more active. He took the initiative to meet Wu Changqing, hoping to take on the important task of marriage alliance.

Don’t mention Fei Yuan being in her forties, even if she was in her fifties or sixties, he wouldn’t mind.

If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight.

If you want to be an emperor, you must endure hardships that ordinary people cannot endure.

In Wu Ye’s view, marrying Fei Yuan was his only way out. After all, his mother’s background was very ordinary, just a concubine, not even a consort.

If he didn’t seize this opportunity, he could only become a painting artist in the future.

Wu Changqing did not support doing business.

Wu Changqing did not want him to be involved in politics either.

He didn’t have the brains for scientific research.

He was unwilling to be a playboy who just ate, drank, and waited for death.

“Political marriages are difficult to obtain happiness, you must think clearly,” Wu Changqing said.

He had many children and spent very little time with them, so his feelings for his children were relatively weak.

But even so, he hoped that each of his children could live happily.

As for achievements, he did not expect every child to be successful. It was enough to have one or two successful ones.

“Your son has thought it through. Your son will do his part for Great Hua,” Wu Ye said.

“Alright, but don’t forget that you are a prince of Great Hua, and the other party is a princess of the alien world,” Wu Changqing reminded.

A sixteen-year-old boy, even if he was precocious because of his background, his temperament was still not reassuring.

Facing a woman in her forties, he might be completely controlled by the other party.

Wu Changqing was even a little worried that he would be fascinated by Fei Yuan and forget his identity, betray the Earth, and completely join Moonrise City.

Worrying was worrying, but the marriage alliance had to be carried out, and someone always needed to go through such a test.

Relatively speaking, this Wu Ye was more reliable than the other two.

“Thank you, Father,” Wu Ye knelt down to thank him, his heart was also extremely excited.

He had seized this opportunity.

When the news came out, Wu Zhi couldn’t help but complain, “Ninth brother is really fast, but it’s also good, so at least I don’t have to marry an old woman.”

Wu Xin looked at his silly Eighth Brother and shook his head in his heart.

At the same time, he also looked up to his Ninth Brother.

His actions were actually very fast, but he was still one step slower than Wu Ye.

However, Wu Xin was not particularly discouraged either.

The alien world had more than just Moonrise City, and more than just one alien princess.

With the further development of the alien world, there would be many alien forces to deal with in the future.

He also knew that Moonrise City was just a very weak force in the alien world.

Wu Xin could wait patiently, and there might be better choices in the future.

At the end of the twenty-third year of Yongxing, Wu Changqing came to the West Suburb Training Ground to inspect the First Special Forces Division of Great Hua.

This was a new unit that Great Hua had recently formed, and it was a unit specifically used to learn alien world techniques.

Among these people, each one had been carefully selected, and the three generations of each person’s ancestors had been investigated clearly.

Anyone with even a trace of doubt could not enter this army.

And this army was directly under the command of Wu Changqing, and even the military department could not mobilize it.

“Standing here, are you excited?” Wu Changqing asked kindly.

“Imperial grace is mighty,” the generals shouted in unison.

They already knew the nature of this army, knew that they were about to be cultivated as a priority, and could cultivate to become immortals before others.

The slogan of cultivating to become immortals sounded a bit illusory, but strengthening the body, prolonging life, and flying through the sky were all real.

Just these temptations alone, they could not resist.

“Don’t be happy yet. Heaven will bestow great responsibilities on these people. The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility. Don’t treat this as enjoyment, you must treat this as a mission.

When you have cultivated successfully, the burden of developing the alien world will fall on you…”

Wu Changqing said a lot, but in the end, it was just the same old trick of buying people’s hearts.

However, this trick was indeed useful.

At least, the grassroots officers and soldiers of this army now knew that they were loyal to Wu Changqing and only under Wu Changqing’s command.

At the beginning of the twenty-fourth year of Yongxing, Wu Ye and Fei Yuan were married.

The scale of the wedding was quite large, even no less than Wu Changqing’s wedding back then.

There was no other way, the living conditions in Great Hua now were many times better than twenty years ago, and the wedding could naturally be spent as much as possible.

After the wedding, the cooperation between the two sides also fully unfolded.

Great Hua’s equipment entered the alien world and was sent to Moonrise City.

At the same time, a reclamation team from Great Hua also entered the alien world.

This reclamation team had more than three thousand farmers and an armored division of fifteen thousand people. They were going to reclaim and plant alien food in a valley two hundred kilometers north of Pioneer City.

After entering the alien world, the armored division and two other brother units went to Rhino Valley first. They had to clear out the wild beasts that posed a threat to humans first.

Accompanying them was an exchange group from Moonrise City, who were going to observe Great Hua’s combat methods on the spot.

Chapter 1134: King-Level Beast

“The Great Hua people are truly useless, deploying over ten thousand troops just to attack a Rhino Valley. If our Proud Moon City sent out that many, we could conquer a dozen cities directly.”

Fei Ting, also part of the observation group, sneered dismissively at the sight of the Great Hua’s massive army.

“That’s what makes Great Hua so terrifying. Their vast population base means they have unlimited potential. Our Proud Moon City wishes it had so many people, but it’s impossible.”

Fei Hong saw things completely differently from Fei Ting.

He didn’t find Great Hua’s current approach of winning through sheer numbers laughable. Being able to win was enough, and he only saw Great Hua’s limitless potential.

He had a premonition that in the near future, their Proud Moon City would no longer be able to stand on equal footing with Great Hua, unless they could also expand rapidly.

“Just a bunch of trash. I’ll kill as many as come.”

Before Fei Ting could finish speaking, Fei Hong glared at him fiercely.

They were partners now, and saying such things was utterly idiotic.

Fei Hong was constantly worried about his younger brother.

The army set off, and after more than a day’s march, they finally reached the outskirts of Rhino Valley.

“Is this Rhino Valley difficult to attack?”

Tong Niangeng, the supreme commander of this Great Hua operation, asked.

“That depends on whether there are demons or king-level beasts in Rhino Valley. If there are, it will be very difficult. If not, it will be quite easy.”

Fei Hong explained.

The terrifying aspect of beasts lies not in their strength, but in their intelligence.

Beasts with only strength can be easily dealt with by finding their weaknesses and understanding their habits.

But beasts with intelligence can adapt flexibly to their opponents.

More importantly, beasts without intelligence are a disorganized rabble, constantly hunting each other. King-level beasts, on the other hand, can control various types of beasts and unite them.

The beast attacks on cities that Great Hua had seen before were controlled by king-level beasts.

They could even bring together beasts that were normally predators and prey to cooperate.

At the same time, king-level beasts can control other beasts to become fearless and reckless, which is very frightening.

Besides king-level beasts, demons also have this ability.

Demons are similar in appearance to humans, but they are two to three times larger, have horns on their heads, and are inherently violent.

They have their own language, but no writing, and no complex social structures like countries, only primitive units like tribes.

However, demons are more talented than humans in cultivation, making it easier for them to produce strong individuals.

If their reproductive ability weren’t so weak, the demons would probably be the dominant force in the otherworld.

“I can tell you with certainty that a valley the size of Rhino Valley must be ruled by a king-level beast or demons. If you want to take Rhino Valley and hold it, you will probably have to pay a great price.”

Fei Ting laughed, seemingly wanting to see some fear on Tong Niangeng’s face.

But he was disappointed.

Tong Niangeng was just listening carefully, then using the intercom to remind each unit to pay attention and launch a probing attack first.

Price?

Tong Niangeng didn’t want to discourage Fei Ting, but the people of Earth feared nothing more than paying a price.

Throughout history, battles with hundreds of thousands of casualties had occurred countless times, and no one had ever been frightened. War had never stopped.

Even now in Great Hua, there were still countless ordinary people who wanted to join the army.

Although Great Hua’s economic development was very good now, and people could make money in other industries, joining the army allowed them to enter the system, gain social status and security, and was still the first choice for people at the bottom.

If the Central Plains was like this, then other places were even more so.

In places like Europe, the Americas, and South Asia, it was even more difficult for ordinary people to turn their lives around, and the easiest way was to join the army.

As long as they could make some contributions on the battlefield, they would no longer be discriminated against by the people of the Central Plains.

In order to enter the army, people from South Asia and Europe even needed to give gifts and pull strings.

Occupying Rhino Valley was one of Great Hua’s most important strategies. To achieve this goal, not to mention killing a few thousand people, even sacrificing their entire legion was a possibility.

Afterward, the First Regiment advanced, while the other units formed a defensive formation, advancing steadily.

The First Regiment entered the valley and encountered the first type of creature, the Water Sheep.

This was an animal that liked to swim but looked very much like a mountain goat.

In the otherworld, Water Sheep were considered relatively harmless creatures. They were docile and mainly ate plants, making them a favorite of other predators.

However, these Water Sheep posed a significant threat to the people of Earth.

Their impact force was enough to destroy a large truck, and anyone hit by them would surely die.

“There are too many of them. Open fire and kill some first.”

Li Yuan, the commander of the First Regiment, ordered.

Then, more than a dozen main battle tanks opened fire.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Boom.

The shells landed in the flock of sheep, and the exploding shrapnel hit the Water Sheep, but was blocked by their thick wool, which dissipated the momentum.

Only those that hit the Water Sheep’s heads, buttocks, and other vulnerable parts caused them damage.

The first wave of bombing didn’t do much damage, but the sheep were panicked and began to run towards the other side of the valley.

Tong Niangeng was satisfied with this attack, while Fei Hong was speechless.

As for Water Sheep, the strategy of their Proud Moon City had always been to capture them alive and then domesticate them for breeding.

The meat of these Water Sheep contained a large amount of energy, and eating it was of great help to cultivation.

Even more precious was the sheep’s milk, which was the essence of energy extracted from the Water Sheep, containing a large amount of pure and easily absorbed spiritual energy.

It was most effective for people with no foundation in cultivation.

This was especially true for the people of Earth.

Fei Hong didn’t expect the Great Hua people to be so simple and crude, just killing without any fancy operations.

“Don’t you Great Hua people know about domestication and breeding? These are all treasures.”

Fei Hong kept the words in his heart, but Fei Ting didn’t have so many concerns and directly mocked.

“Third Prince, our Great Hua needs to cultivate a group of cultivators first before considering domestication and breeding. To be honest, with our current physical strength, herding sheep is also very dangerous.”

Tong Niangeng explained with a smile.

With the current bodies of the Earth people, they would be helpless if they saw the sheep not listening.

If they whipped them, what if the Water Sheep resisted and rammed into them?

“Lord Tong is right.”

Fei Hong praised.

The sheep were driven away, and the First Regiment continued to advance.

At this time, the other beasts and animals in the valley had been alarmed by the sound of the cannons.

Other beasts weren’t as docile as the Water Sheep, running away when they encountered danger.

Most beasts had a sense of territory, and they would often take the initiative to attack intruders.

A group of Spotted Dogs appeared in front of the First Regiment.

Fei Hong introduced, “These are Spotted Dogs. They are cunning and have an incredibly strong bite force. Adult Spotted Dogs can easily bite through the armor of your tanks and tear them to pieces. However, they are beasts that bully the weak and fear the strong. If they suffer casualties, they will usually retreat and then wait for an opportunity to act.”

His introduction was quickly relayed to the First Regiment.

The First Regiment stopped advancing, and the tank’s secondary guns, twenty-millimeter automatic cannons, began to build a network of fire to prevent the Spotted Dogs from approaching.

If these things got close, the Huaxia army would be in trouble.

The current Huaxia army was a bit like mages and marksmen in games, with strong ranged firepower but extremely poor close combat ability, afraid of being approached.

Large-caliber bullets were fired out like they were free, hitting the Spotted Dogs.

Hitting them only caused the Spotted Dogs some severe pain, but the damage wasn’t high.

However, if they could hit their eyes, they could penetrate into their brains and kill them.

“This is a bit like grandfather’s Myriad Swords Rain.”

Fei Ting compared Great Hua’s network of fire and felt that it had the same effect as Myriad Swords Rain, with average power but relying on quantity to win.

In some cases, it was still quite useful.

However, Fei Ting’s grandfather could use this move alone.

Great Hua’s army relied on the firepower of an entire regiment to achieve this effect.

Therefore, Fei Ting still maintained a sense of superiority.

Fei Hong, on the other hand, frowned.

He thought that no more than five people in the entire Proud Moon City could use this move. But Great Hua had more than fifty such legions.

In terms of individual quality, their Proud Moon City was a complete victory.

But when it came to the whole, their Proud Moon City was completely defeated.

After two rounds of rapid fire, the Spotted Dogs retreated.

Their losses weren’t great, but they cherished their lives and didn’t want to risk fighting Great Hua.

Otherwise, if they desperately charged in front of the Huaxia army, they could cause great casualties.

And king-level creatures could control the Spotted Dogs to do this.

So far, the king-level creature hadn’t appeared, but Tong Niangeng didn’t dare to be careless.

Intelligent creatures often know how to be patient.

Soon, the First Regiment encountered trouble. A type of creature was approaching them.

Blood-sucking Flies.

The Huaxia army feared these small things the most.

After all, don’t underestimate these small things, their attack power wasn’t weak.

Their spikes could easily pierce through the Huaxia army’s protective clothing and then quickly suck blood.

One Blood-sucking Fly wouldn’t cause a Huaxia army soldier to die, but if a soldier was sucked by multiple Blood-sucking Flies, they would be injured and faint at best, and go into shock and die at worst.

Previously, the Huaxia army had suffered a lot from these things, and at least a dozen soldiers had died from Blood-sucking Flies.

And in Pioneer City, more than a hundred civilians had been poisoned by these things.

For this reason, Great Hua’s scientists had developed an incense that could be used to drive away these Blood-sucking Flies.

This incense was harmless to humans, or rather, the harm was very low. But it had a strong killing effect on Blood-sucking Flies.

After being approached by the Blood-sucking Flies, the people of the First Regiment quickly lit the incense and temporarily hid in tanks or armored vehicles, preparing to wait for these things to leave before showing their faces again.

“Intelligence is the most powerful force.”

Fei Hong sighed.

These seemingly weak Blood-sucking Flies, whose power could knock away tanks, were helpless against rhinos and could only endure silently.

But the weak people of Earth, relying on their intelligence, easily subdued them.

“Physical strength is also important.”

Tong Niangeng wasn’t fooled by Fei Hong.

The Huaxia army could only bully beasts now. If they encountered otherworldly cultivators who had both strength and intelligence, they would be at a great disadvantage.

Therefore, intelligence and strength were equally important.

The Blood-sucking Flies retreated, and the First Regiment had advanced into the valley.

Suddenly, the Spotted Dogs that had retreated earlier returned.

“The king-level beast has made its move.”

Fei Hong said.

If it wasn’t controlled by a king-level beast, the Spotted Dogs wouldn’t have made such an abnormal move.

“The battle is finally about to begin.”

Fei Ting said.

In Fei Ting’s eyes, the First Regiment’s previous actions didn’t count as battles, more like children playing house.

Chapter 1135: Fierce Battle

“First Regiment, prepare to fight and retreat. We’ll fight a defensive battle.”

Tong Niangeng ordered.

Facing an unknown enemy, a defensive battle was the safer option.

As for if the opponent didn’t take the initiative to attack, the Huaxia army had plenty of ways to force them out.

For this operation, Great Hua not only deployed a large number of tanks and armored vehicles, but also more than a dozen second-generation fighter jets ready to provide bombing support at any time.

To adapt to battles in another world, Great Hua was also developing helicopters that didn’t require runways.

The First Regiment began to retreat, but suddenly a group of rhinoceroses appeared at the mouth of the valley.

“Well, well, they even know how to use pincer tactics.”

Tong Niangeng said with emotion.

Clearly, the King-level demon beast on the other side not only possessed intelligence, but it was also quite high, not like that of a seven or eight-year-old child.

“Second Regiment, go and provide cover.”

Tong Niangeng ordered.

Subsequently, the Second Regiment moved out, preparing to blast open the rhinoceros herd and clear a path for the First Regiment to retreat.

The Second Regiment moved out quickly. After entering firing range, the main battle tanks began to fire.

Now, main battle tanks and autocannons had become the main weapons of the Great Hua expeditionary force. Individual weapons like rifles and machine guns were no longer practical, as their power was too small.

The shells exploded in the rhinoceros herd, causing a commotion.

However, the commotion quickly subsided. Part of the rhinoceros herd charged towards the First Regiment, while the other part endured the shelling and remained in place, seemingly determined to block the First Regiment’s retreat.

The Second Regiment continued to shell.

If one shell couldn’t kill a rhinoceros, then two shells would. If two shells weren’t enough, then three shells would be.

Great Hua was throwing out shells as if they were free, which shocked Fei Ting.

The power of this shelling was roughly equivalent to a full-force attack from a fifth-grade Scholar-level cultivator, or a normal attack from a King-level cultivator.

However, Great Hua could sustain this shelling for a long time, while a fifth-grade Scholar-level cultivator could only unleash four or five full-force attacks before becoming exhausted.

A King-level cultivator’s normal attack wouldn’t cause exhaustion, but a regiment of Great Hua had fifty main battle tanks. Their entire country of Auspicious Moon City only had a little over five hundred King-level experts.

At this moment, Fei Ting finally felt the power of Great Hua.

The continuous shelling caused great damage to the rhinoceros herd, but the First Regiment also encountered trouble. They were approached by the rhinoceros herd and spotted hyenas.

A rhinoceros slammed into a main battle tank, creating a dent in the thick armor and damaging the electronic instruments inside.

As for the soldiers inside, two of them hit their heads on the iron blocks and were bleeding.

Another main battle tank was even more miserable, as it was directly overturned by a huge rhinoceros.

The tracks of the overturned tank were still spinning, but unfortunately, the tank couldn’t move anymore.

Then, several spotted hyenas rushed forward and began to dismantle the tank like huskies tearing apart a house.

The metal in the spotted hyenas’ mouths seemed like a slightly harder bone, requiring only a few more bites.

“Commander Tong, do you need me to help?”

Fei Hong asked.

The First Regiment was in trouble, and it seemed difficult for them to escape on their own.

Therefore, Fei Hong made this suggestion.

If he took action, he could help the First Regiment break out of the encirclement and reduce the casualties of the Huaxia army.

“Not yet. This is a test. If they can’t even pass this level, how will they cope with greater dangers in the future?”

Tong Niangeng said through gritted teeth.

These were his subordinates, and of course he felt pain.

However, war was like this.

Not fighting was the best way to reduce casualties, but that was impossible.

For the sake of resources and to allow more people to live better lives, some people had to sacrifice themselves.

For the Huaxia army, they needed this kind of fierce battle to grow.

Relying on the power of Auspicious Moon City was not a long-term solution after all.

“Fei is impressed by the courage of your army.”

Fei Hong said.

At this time, Tong Niangeng had already called for air support.

Subsequently, the air force took off from a military base outside Pioneer City, which was more than fifty kilometers away from Rhinoceros Valley.

However, this was less than twenty minutes for a fighter jet.

The Second Regiment was still working hard. Not only were the main guns firing, but the autocannons were also firing, and the shells seemed to be free at this moment.

At the same time, the rocket troops in the central army had also completed coordinate positioning and began to launch rockets.

Under the overwhelming firepower, the rhinoceroses blocking the way couldn’t hold on and suffered heavy casualties.

The First Regiment’s retreat route was barely cleared, but to retreat, the First Regiment had to rely on itself to get rid of the entanglement of those beasts.

The Huaxia army couldn’t send troops to help at close range, as it would easily cause greater losses.

“Friendly forces have helped us clear a retreat route. Retreat!”

Li Yuan ordered.

Subsequently, under the skilled operation of the drivers, the tanks and armored vehicles of the First Regiment dodged the rhinoceroses’ attacks and retreated continuously.

Some tank crews that were surrounded and had no way to retreat gave up retreating and continued to fire, helping those comrades who had hope.

The battlefield was sometimes so cruel. After seeing that they had no chance of survival, there was no time to feel sentimental, and they still needed to work hard to help others.

In this way, they could at least earn a military merit, and their families’ future lives would be guaranteed, and they would be supported by the imperial court.

Of course, there were also very few people who would lose their minds and rely entirely on their instincts to survive.

Fortunately, there was no such person in the First Regiment.

After all, this was a battle in front of the forces of Auspicious Moon City. The Huaxia army needed to show its style, and the selected troops were not ordinary troops.

The soldiers of the First Regiment were all reliable individuals with extremely tenacious fighting will.

Part of the First Regiment retreated, and more than a dozen tanks were still surrounded.

Tong Niangeng put down his binoculars, unable to bear to watch those scenes.

Some soldiers were dragged out of the tanks by spotted hyenas and torn apart and devoured on the spot.

This scene was quite frightening, and ordinary people would inevitably have nightmares after seeing it.

But for the Huaxia army, these were common occurrences.

Soon, all the Huaxia soldiers who failed to retreat died in battle, without even leaving behind ashes.

After this wave of fighting, the beasts in Rhinoceros Valley did not continue to attack the Huaxia army outside the valley, seemingly also wary of the Huaxia army’s firepower.

It seemed that the Huaxia army had suffered heavy losses with the death of more than one hundred people, but in fact, the Rhinoceros Valley side suffered even more.

At least more than three hundred rhinoceroses were killed, while their total number was only seven or eight hundred. More than one hundred spotted hyenas also died, as well as some other beasts of varying numbers.

The entire valley was covered with corpses and was a mess.

The beasts in Rhinoceros Valley didn’t come out, but soon the Huaxia army’s fighter jets arrived.

“Bomb them! And find the King-level demon beast commanding them. Tonight, I want to eat demon beast soup!”

Tong Niangeng said through gritted teeth.

It had been a long time since he had fought a battle with such heavy losses. When the battle report was sent back to the country and people knew that he had been killed by a group of beasts, he would inevitably be criticized.

Chapter 1136: Crushing Defeat

The fighter jets flew over Rhino Valley, circling and searching for targets.

“Should we lower our altitude a bit?”

Senior pilot Liu Liang wondered to himself.

They were flying too high right now, and couldn’t see the targets on the ground very clearly.

After all, they were looking for beasts, and those targets were too small and inconspicuous.

Would lowering the altitude be dangerous? Liu Liang wasn’t sure.

They also lacked experience in this area.

The Great Hua air force hadn’t been established for long, and hadn’t experienced any decent battles, because there were no opponents capable of fighting them.

Someone like Liu Liang, who had flown over a hundred hours in training, was already considered a senior pilot.

Subsequently, Liu Liang chose to lower the altitude, and the other planes in his group followed suit.

Descending to about five hundred meters, Liu Liang was finally able to clearly see the location where the beasts were gathered.

However, he couldn’t identify the King-level demon beasts. He had never seen what a King-level demon beast looked like before.

After searching for a while without finding anything, Liu Liang had to ask for instructions.

“Bomb the ordinary beasts and force them out,” Tong Niangeng said.

Subsequently, Liu Liang pressed the launch button, and the bombs suspended from the fighter jet fell.

A series of bombs dropped into the herd of beasts and exploded.

Boom, boom, boom!

A series of earth-shattering explosions rang out, accompanied by dust filling the sky.

The power of these high-explosive bombs was much greater than that of a main battle tank’s shells.

After all, the yield was completely different.

The rhinos at the center of the explosion were directly torn apart.

The rhinos on the periphery were blown away, and were unable to move after falling to the ground.

“The power of these shells is so great. Only someone above King-level Rank Eight could unleash attacks of this power,” Fei Ting said softly.

It was only now that he felt a trace of apprehension towards Great Hua.

Previously, the attacks from Great Hua couldn’t kill him instantly, so he wasn’t worried at all. He was confident that he could escape from those attacks and then bully the physically weak Earthlings at close range.

But now, Great Hua had demonstrated weapons that could seriously injure or even kill him.

“This probably isn’t their most powerful weapon,” Fei Hong said.

How could an empire with billions of people not have any trump cards?

It was impossible to use trump cards in this kind of battle.

“However, the flexibility of these shells is too poor. As long as you’re not standing still directly below them, it won’t be easy for them to hit their target,” Fei Ting said after watching for a while, regaining his previous arrogance because he had discovered the weakness of Great Hua’s bombing.

As long as he remained agile and mobile, the other side wouldn’t be able to bomb him.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Liu Liang launched an inertially guided missile.

This was Great Hua’s most advanced weapon, capable of precisely striking targets.

Liu Liang had spotted a beast that looked like a King-level beast. The beast was standing on the top of a mountain, looking around, as if observing the enemy’s situation.

Therefore, Liu Liang launched this expensive missile.

The missile accurately landed on a small hillside and exploded, followed by a scream echoing through the valley.

The previously orderly herd of beasts seemed to have become chaotic.

“It’s a demon fox,” Fei Ting said, his eyes lighting up.

From the scream just now, he could tell the species of this King-level demon beast. It should be a fox.

King-level demon foxes were quite valuable in the Otherworld.

Firstly, because they were rare, and secondly, because some cultivators liked to play with demon foxes.

When foxes cultivated to the Emperor-level, they could even transform into human form, making them even more wonderful.

In short, demon foxes were more valuable than other demon beasts.

“Did you notice? This was a precision strike, and the speed of the shell was very fast. It seems that even King-level experts can’t escape without being prepared,” Fei Hong reminded him.

The things he paid attention to were somewhat different from Fei Ting’s.

“I know, but I’m naturally vigilant. It’s a dream to try to sneak attack me. Brother, there’s a King-level demon fox in the valley. Why don’t we take action and capture it alive?” Fei Ting said.

His mind was now completely focused on the demon fox.

“…” Fei Hong.

Liu Liang accidentally hit a demon beast once, but that was purely luck. He wasn’t even sure if he had hit the right target.

It wasn’t until Tong Niangeng’s instructions came over the radio that he knew he had just hit the head of those beasts.

Liu Liang was very excited and wanted to continue to find this demon fox and fire another shot.

However, the demon fox had already disappeared, seemingly hiding.

Liu Liang circled for a long time without finding it, and the others were about the same.

There was no other way, they could only stare at the ordinary beasts and bomb them.

If they eliminated all the small fries, the demon fox wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble.

The bombing continued, and the beasts began to scatter and flee, unlike before when they were stubbornly defending the valley.

Tong Niangeng smiled. As long as he could drive these beasts away, this battle would be considered a strategic success.

He only wanted this farmland. As for the King-level demon beasts, there would be plenty of time to hunt and capture them in the future.

However, he seemed to be happy too soon.

In just a few minutes, the beasts that were originally fleeing suddenly stopped and collectively turned around, charging towards the main force of the Huaxia army outside the valley.

It seemed like they were being controlled by the demon fox again.

And this time, the demon fox’s command seemed to be a desperate act of revenge.

“Prepare for battle,” Tong Niangeng issued the order.

It was much easier to fight a defensive battle, so Tong Niangeng wasn’t worried.

At the same time, in addition to the beasts on the ground, some raptors flew out of the valley and flew towards the Great Hua fighter jets.

“Attention, pay attention to avoiding them, there are birds coming,” Liu Liang warned.

The other pilots also noticed this situation.

However, not all pilots were so vigilant.

Some people felt that the threat of a few birds wasn’t great.

Some people had a habitual way of thinking, feeling that raptors wouldn’t actively crash into them to seek death. This was unscientific and didn’t conform to common sense.

But they forgot that these raptors were now under control.

Boom.

A raptor actively crashed into a fighter jet, making a huge crashing sound.

At the same time, that plane lost control and began to fall from the sky.

“Climb to a higher altitude,” Liu Liang quickly climbed. He wasn’t afraid of death or afraid of fighting, but mainly because the fighter jets were precious and couldn’t withstand such consumption.

The air force was climbing, but the flying height of those raptors didn’t seem to be low either, constantly chasing behind them.

Fortunately, the Great Hua fighter jets were slightly better in the end.

Their climbing altitude could reach ten thousand meters, while these raptors couldn’t continue to climb after flying to three or four thousand meters.

This was their limit.

Helpless, those raptors began to rush towards the Huaxia army’s ground forces again.

“This thing flies really high. Why can they fly so high?” Fei Ting was very confused. Although he could fly with his sword, his altitude could only reach two or three thousand meters.

Any higher than that would require a lot of spiritual energy, which could easily lead to death due to exhaustion of spiritual energy.

Fei Ting didn’t know why this was the case, and had never thought about this question, as if it was a matter of course.

However, he now saw those weak Earthlings flying higher than himself, and only then did he begin to think about this question.

“In a few days, we’ll select a group of talented people to study Great Hua’s scientific and technological knowledge. Maybe we can get inspiration from their scientific and technological knowledge, better understand the laws of how this world works, and find new ways to break through bottlenecks,” Fei Hong said.

He felt that because Earthlings couldn’t cultivate, they had studied the laws of the world more deeply.

He hoped to solve some incomprehensible problems in cultivation from these laws.

While they were sighing with emotion, the beasts had already rushed out of the valley, and the Huaxia army began to fire.

More than two hundred tanks fired at the same time, and the shells formed a barrage, landing in the herd of beasts.

Boom, boom, boom!

A series of continuous explosions rang out, and beasts were overturned one after another.

The herd of beasts suffered heavy casualties.

However, they were like emotionless, fearless mechanical creatures, continuing to charge towards the Huaxia army.

At a distance of less than fifteen hundred meters, Great Hua’s laser cannons also began to fire.

Zzzzzz…

With a rate of fire of eight hundred rounds per minute, and more than two hundred cannons firing at the same time, tens of thousands of bullets were fired in an instant.

The head of the logistics department was distressed when he saw this scene.

It wasn’t easy to transport so much ammunition from the Central Plains to the Otherworld.

He really wanted to kick those firing bastards one by one and tell them to save a little.

Unfortunately, this was just wishful thinking.

In the end, life was more precious.

A series of bullets hit a rhino that was charging forward, and the huge impact actually caused the rhino to slow down and stop.

It was still charging forward, but it looked like it was standing still.

Moreover, soon its head should have suffered too much impact and its defenses were broken. Subsequent bullets pierced its skin and skull, and entered its body.

The rhino then fell down, and the other beasts were no better off.

Especially those beasts that didn’t have thick rhino hides, couldn’t withstand more than a dozen shots.

The herd of beasts collapsed and began to turn around and flee again.

“Was the demon beast found?” Tong Niangeng wondered. He didn’t see the fighter jets launching missiles. Why were these beasts out of control again?

“The herd of beasts has reached its limit of endurance and has broken free from the demon beast’s control. The demon beast’s control isn’t completely invincible either. Of course, the main reason is that this demon beast’s strength isn’t strong enough. I estimate it’s only around King-level Rank Two or Three.

If it were an Emperor-level demon fox, the beasts in the valley wouldn’t escape even if they were all dead. It is said that Immortal-level demon foxes can even control the humans of a billion-level empire to offer sacrifices collectively,” Fei Hong explained.

“So that’s how it is. Immortal-level demon beasts are so terrifying, but Immortal-level humans should be able to resist them, right?” Tong Niangeng said.

“Immortal-level humans have disappeared for a long time. At least I haven’t seen them, and I’ve only heard rumors. It is said that a great battle tens of thousands of years ago led to the fall of all the Immortal-level experts,” Fei Hong said.

These things were just hearsay to him. His strength was only King-level Rank Six, and he couldn’t come into contact with such high-level circles.

“The history of the Spirit Realm is really long,” Tong Niangeng became more and more afraid to underestimate the Spirit Realm. A civilization history of tens of thousands of years was much stronger than Earth.

Writing only appeared on Earth a thousand years ago.

The beasts on the ground were defeated, but the raptors in the air killed their way to the front of the Huaxia army, bringing great trouble to the Huaxia army.

Shooting at targets in the air was much more difficult than shooting at ground targets.

Soldiers were occasionally poisoned by the raptors, but the Huaxia army was helpless.

Seeing this, Fei Hong directly took action to help.

Divine Power, Cloud Beast.

Fei Hong flew into the air, and with a clap of his hands, a lion that looked like it was made of clouds immediately appeared in the air.

This lion was quite agile, darting around a few times and swallowing dozens of birds.

“Prince Fei’s divine power is truly amazing,” Tong Niangeng praised.

He wanted this kind of ability too.

“It still can’t compare to Great Hua’s weapons. Your weapons can be used continuously, but my divine power will consume all my magic power after using it a few times. Without magic power, I’m not much different from you,” Fei Hong said.

“Prince Fei is wrong. Our weapons also need ammunition. If the shells run out, they’re just a pile of scrap metal. Moreover, when it comes to flexibility, we can’t compare to your divine powers,” the two exchanged compliments, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

Great Hua showed off its muscles, and Aoyue City also felt Great Hua’s strength.

The cooperation that followed should have fewer obstacles.

Chapter 1137: Encountering a Fox Demon

While Tong Niangeng and Fei Hong were talking, Fei Ting had already disappeared.

When Tong Niangeng asked about it, he learned that Fei Ting had gone to capture the demon beast.

“Zhang Erdan, why haven’t you taken your special operations squad to help? If the Third Prince comes to any harm, see how I deal with you!”

Tong Niangeng reprimanded his adjutant. Zhang Erdan immediately stood at attention and led the special operations team to set off.

He understood Tong Niangeng’s meaning: to capture the demon beast before Fei Ting did.

After all, Great Hua urgently needed this kind of precious specimen for research.

Tong Niangeng’s words were subtle, but Fei Hong still understood. His lips moved, but he swallowed the words back down.

He actually wanted to tell Tong Niangeng that King-level demon beasts were very dangerous, and it was hard to say who would capture whom when the special operations squad faced that fox demon.

The main reason Fei Hong chose not to remind him was that he was afraid Tong Niangeng would misunderstand.

Moreover, this kind of well-intentioned reminder also implied a bit of looking down on the Huaxia army.

The special operations squad set off. These twenty-odd people were all specially selected special forces soldiers.

Each of them was agile and exceptionally talented.

Dealing with ordinary people, one could take on twenty without any problem.

Their weapons and equipment were also extremely sophisticated.

Custom-made large-caliber submachine guns, shoulder-mounted individual rocket launchers, large-caliber sniper rifles, flamethrowers, special capture nets, alloy steel knives…

The special operations squad quickly maneuvered into the valley on mountain motorcycles, occasionally encountering some panicked wild animals along the way.

These wild animals were already terrified of being killed. When they encountered a lone special operations squad, they didn’t attack but turned around and ran.

“These beasts still have some basic biological instincts after all.”

One special operations soldier mocked.

“This is the inevitable result of natural selection. Perhaps many of their ancestors liked to seek death and then actually died, and their genes were not passed down. Those with genes for seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, on the other hand, left descendants. Generation after generation, they have become what they are now.”

Zhang Erdan explained, but the others didn’t quite understand.

The book Natural Selection had only recently been published, and its theories were relatively shocking and had not yet been widely accepted.

“That makes sense.”

One special operations soldier nodded. Although he didn’t quite understand, he was greatly shocked.

“But why do the wild animals that have just been controlled by the fox demon lose their instincts and launch suicidal attacks on us?”

Another soldier asked.

“Perhaps, only by doing so is it suitable for the continuation of their race.”

Zhang Erdan didn’t really understand either, so he could only give a vague explanation.

The others didn’t quite understand either, but they were greatly shocked.

“The valley is so big, how should we find it? We can’t just wander around aimlessly, can we?”

Hearing this, Zhang Erdan pondered for a while, then said, “Follow those jackals.”

Zhang Erdan made this judgment using his Earthling thinking.

On Earth, when a general suffered a defeat and fled, he would always gather a few reliable subordinates as bodyguards.

Zhang Erdan felt that since the fox demon had suffered a major defeat, it must also be very flustered and would want the protection of its subordinates.

Among the wild animals fleeing in panic, there were a few jackals that looked very fierce and were suitable for being close bodyguards.

Zhang Erdan didn’t know if his judgment was correct, but he had no better choice at this time.

Afterward, the group chased after those jackals.

Most of the valley was very flat, but the edges were not convenient for vehicles to pass through.

Fortunately, the mountain bikes used by the special operations team were particularly powerful and could adapt to most terrains.

Slopes of less than fifty degrees were not a problem for them.

Some potholes were even more of a piece of cake.

However, in this kind of terrain, their speed couldn’t keep up with those fleeing jackals.

After they chased for a while, they heard the sound of fighting ahead.

“It’s the Third Prince of Azure Moon City. Damn, he got there first.”

Zhang Erdan punched the fuel tank.

More than one hundred meters ahead of them, Fei Ting was waving his sword at a group of wild animals.

With each strike, several wild animals were dismembered.

However, these wild animals did not flee but stubbornly protected a fox demon in the middle.

For some reason, the first time he saw the fox demon, a feeling of unbearable pity arose in Zhang Erdan’s heart.

Just like those little girls with overflowing sympathy seeing cute pets.

“Company commander, don’t worry, he hasn’t caught it yet. How about we go over and snatch it?”

A subordinate suggested.

At this time, Fei Ting seemed to have the upper hand, but he had not yet caught the fox demon. They had a chance to pick up a bargain.

“Is your brain flooded? Isn’t this undermining cooperation between the two countries? We can’t lose sight of the big picture and ruin His Majesty’s important affairs.”

Zhang Erdan slapped the other party on the back of the head.

This was the honeymoon period between the two countries, how could they snatch the other party’s prey? That was not ethical.

“Then what should we do?”

The subordinate asked, they were still unwilling.

“Wait. This fox demon can control this valley and become a hegemon, it won’t be so easy to catch, right? We’ll wait and see if there’s a chance. If Fei Ting can’t beat it, we’ll go up and help, and then take the fox demon into our possession, and he’ll have nothing to say. If he can beat it, then we can only let him have it.”

Zhang Erdan said.

The others had no better way, so they could only do this.

On the other end, Fei Ting also noticed the Huaxia army’s special operations squad.

However, he didn’t have the mind to pay attention to it now.

Fei Ting found that he had underestimated the protective power around this fox demon.

Although these jackals and rhinoceroses were not his opponents, they could greatly deplete his magical power.

Once his magical power was exhausted, he would have no way to deal with this fox demon.

“Azure Moon Slash.”

With an audience, Fei Ting, who was desperate to save face, even wanted to fight more elegantly, not wanting to be laughed at by the Huaxia army soldiers.

A powerful move that consumed a lot of magical power was used, and a sword aura like a crescent moon slashed towards the beast herd.

The jackals that first came into contact with the sword aura were directly dismembered, and the wild animals behind were either dead or crippled.

It wasn’t until it hit a brown bear in front of the fox demon that the sword aura dimmed and lost its power.

Suddenly, the fox demon made a move, spitting out a cloud of fragrance from its mouth.

The fragrance flew towards Fei Ting, and Fei Ting also dodged quickly, looking very embarrassed.

The elegance he originally wanted to maintain was completely destroyed at this moment.

Dodging this deadly mist, Fei Ting rushed towards the fox demon, seemingly wanting to capture the leader first.

However, the brown bear didn’t give him a chance at all, blocking his path forward.

Fei Ting’s sword struck the brown bear, and the brown bear spurted blood.

However, given its physique, this amount of bleeding didn’t seem to be a big problem, about the same as an ordinary person accidentally cutting their hand while chopping vegetables.

And Fei Ting, after making this strike, quickly took two steps back.

His physical body was much stronger than that of Earth humans, and ordinary bayonets could not even cut his skin.

However, in front of this brown bear, Fei Ting still needed to be careful.

If he were to be hit by a bear paw, he would suffer a fracture at best, and shattered bones at worst.

Chapter 1138: Disagreement

The brown bear roared, then slammed its palms on the ground, causing the earth to tremble.

This brown bear was already on the verge of becoming a King-level beast and was beginning to use supernatural powers.

The violent shaking of the ground distorted Fei Ting’s movements.

He struck the brown bear again, but exposed a weakness.

The brown bear slammed a palm into Fei Ting, sending him flying backward. He crashed to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

This ordinary palm strike was incredibly powerful.

Even a King-level expert like Fei Ting couldn’t withstand it.

If it had been a special operations team from Great Hua, they probably would have been crushed to pieces.

Fei Ting was not feeling well either. He got up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Having made a fool of himself, he roared at Zhang Erdan and the others, “What are you hiding for? Aren’t you coming up to help?”

He wanted Zhang Erdan and the others to experience the power of the fox demon and the brown bear, so they would know how formidable they were and stop looking down on him.

Zhang Erdan and the others ran over upon hearing this.

“We can help, but we have to make it clear beforehand: if we catch the fox demon, it’s ours,” Zhang Erdan said.

“Of course,” Fei Ting said dismissively.

He didn’t think these ordinary people could do anything to the fox demon. After all, they had no tanks, no rapid-firing cannons, or rocket launchers.

Fei Ting looked down on their small-caliber firearms.

He was just hoping that Zhang Erdan and the others would exhaust the brown bear’s stamina, and then he could swoop in and take the advantage.

Therefore, Fei Ting agreed very readily.

Having received Fei Ting’s answer, Zhang Erdan began to direct his men to spread out into an attack formation.

Some provided cover, others defended.

Then, the main attack team took out individual rocket launchers.

These rocket launchers looked crude, but they were extremely powerful and could penetrate tank armor.

In battles against humans, it was difficult to hit a target with these individual rocket launchers, as the opponent wouldn’t stand still and let you shoot. At the same time, such a great threat would be prioritized.

But now, none of that mattered.

Not only did the brown bear not sense the danger, but even the intelligent fox demon wasn’t wary enough of this unknown weapon.

“Fire!”

The rocket flew out of the barrel and reached the brown bear in the blink of an eye.

It was too late for the brown bear to dodge.

Bang!

With a loud explosion, the armor-piercing incendiary round detonated.

Immediately afterward came the brown bear’s miserable roar. It had been severely injured.

This…

Fei Ting didn’t know whether to be happy or frustrated.

The brown bear was finished, but it wasn’t him who had done it, but those ordinary people he looked down on.

This was a bit of a stab to the heart. Fei Ting felt uncomfortable.

Seeing the situation was bad, the fox demon immediately turned to flee.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army’s weakness was exposed: they weren’t agile enough.

They had no way to deal with the fleeing fox demon. Their running speed was far too slow.

Getting on motorcycles required suitable terrain.

In these mountains, they couldn’t catch up with the fox demon even on motorcycles.

Fei Ting sneered and gave chase.

“He’s going to steal the advantage! Quick, chase after him!” Zhang Erdan said anxiously. The way things were developing had ultimately exceeded his expectations.

The special operations team members got on their motorcycles and chased in the direction of the fox demon.

Before long, they caught up.

However, the fox demon had already fallen into Fei Ting’s hands.

The fox demon wasn’t the combat type of beast, its own fighting power was very ordinary.

If it had been another combat-type King-level beast, Fei Ting might not have been a match.

But without its guardian, the fox demon, which didn’t have much combat ability, was easily captured by Fei Ting.

“Third Prince, we had an agreement. We defeated the fox demon, so it belongs to us,” Zhang Erdan negotiated.

“That’s right, I did say that. But did you defeat the fox demon? You only defeated its guardian. I’m the one who caught it,” Fei Ting said with a smile.

“That’s a bit unreasonable. If we hadn’t killed that brown bear, would you have been able to catch this fox demon?” Zhang Erdan argued reasonably.

“Of course,” Fei Ting said.

“Damn it!” Zhang Erdan cursed. He had never seen such a shameless person.

“Hand over the fox demon, or don’t blame us for being impolite!” A hot-tempered soldier raised the sniper rifle in his hand.

“Oh? I’d like to see how you’re going to be impolite,” Fei Ting said disdainfully.

He felt that as long as he was careful to guard against those rocket launchers, he wouldn’t fear the Huaxia army’s other small-caliber weapons at all.

Zhang Erdan pressed down his comrade’s gun. He didn’t want to fall out with Fei Ting unless absolutely necessary. It wouldn’t be good.

“We’ll tell your brother exactly what happened. Don’t even think about denying it. We’ve recorded everything we just said,” Zhang Erdan took out a recording pen and played the recording.

The special operations team’s equipment was varied and complete.

Hearing the recording, Fei Ting’s expression changed slightly.

He hadn’t expected the Huaxia army to have such a magical treasure.

If the matter was brought before Fei Hong, he definitely wouldn’t get any benefits.

Because he understood that Fei Hong especially valued cooperation with Great Hua at this time and might make concessions.

Unfortunately, the matter had already reached this point, and Fei Ting couldn’t back down.

He snorted coldly, picked up the fox demon, and left in the direction of Aoyue City.

He wanted to act first and report later, and take the fox demon back to Aoyue City first.

“Damn it, what the hell? If you ask me, we should just wipe out this Aoyue City. A tiny country that dares to act arrogant in front of our Great Hua,” a soldier cursed loudly.

They hadn’t had an opponent on Earth for a long time and hadn’t suffered such a loss in a long time.

“Shut up! Is this something you need to worry about? This is a matter for those above. We just need to obey orders. Let’s go back,” Zhang Erdan reprimanded.

He was very clear that this cooperation was more important than a fox demon.

Once they were familiar with the Otherworld and Great Hua had cultivated enough cultivators, then the entire Otherworld would be conquered, and Aoyue City would naturally be no exception.

Afterward, the special operations team returned the way they had come and reported the incident truthfully to Tong Niangeng and Fei Hong.

Fei Hong immediately felt somewhat awkward. He said, “Don’t worry, Lord Tong. Once my younger brother returns, I will definitely teach him a lesson and send the fox demon over.”

The degree to which he valued cooperation far exceeded the value of a fox demon.

That thing didn’t have much special use other than to play with it.

“Young Master Fei is too polite. It’s just a fox demon. It doesn’t matter whether you return it or not. Our cooperation is the most important thing. However, for future cooperation, we need to be more frank with each other…” Tong Niangeng said. The two men smiled and glossed over the matter.

People who do great things naturally wouldn’t haggle over such trivial matters.

“The valley has been cleared. Next, we can plant seeds. This place has rich spiritual energy. It’s a good place to grow grain,” Fei Ting said.

“Let’s hope so.”

Afterward, Tong Niangeng ordered his subordinates to clean up the battlefield and build fortifications around the valley.

Now that the fox demon was gone, other King-level beasts might take its place. They couldn’t be careless.

Chapter 1139: An Alternative Style

Farming is a skill that Great Hua excels at.

On Earth, Great Hua was constantly expanding its territory and developing new lands.

They have extensive experience in this.

After the Huaxia army dealt with the beasts in Rhino Valley, a large number of pioneers poured into the area.

Although the authorities warned them that it was still dangerous, it couldn’t stop the enthusiasm of the common people.

There was no other way, because the land here was temporarily free, first come, first served.

There were even various preferential subsidies.

On Earth, most of those who dared to leave the Central Plains to make a living overseas made a fortune.

And now, those who had missed the opportunity once before didn’t want to miss it a second time.

Soon, Rhino Valley became lively, changing day by day.

In the first week, dozens of simple houses were built.

By the second week, a paddy field had appeared in the valley.

By the third week, sporadic trading began to emerge.

A month later, the number of ordinary people in the valley reached twenty thousand, exceeding the number of garrison troops.

This rate of development was astonishing, and the people of Aoyue City were amazed.

Great Hua was developing rapidly in the other world, and the pace of development on Earth hadn’t slowed down at all.

In the twenty-second year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s first supercomputer, the Galaxy, with a computing power of one hundred million times per second, was successfully put into operation.

Ordinary people couldn’t understand what a computing power of one hundred million times per second meant. They could only see the direct changes, such as rockets launching into space.

Not long after the Galaxy was put into use, Great Hua’s satellites also went into space, leaving Earth.

However, this was still somewhat distant for ordinary people. Apart from marveling at how awesome Great Hua was, they didn’t pay much attention to it. They were more concerned about the birth of home computers.

Great Hua had already created computers several years ago.

However, due to limited craftsmanship, the computers were very large and only suitable for some special departments, making it impossible to popularize them.

With the progress of manufacturing technology in the past two years, such as integrated circuits and semiconductors, the size of computers has been rapidly reduced.

Now, the size of computers has shrunk to the level of televisions.

At the same time, the functions are also richer.

As a highly centralized country, Great Hua has unparalleled advantages in developing technology.

Like the promotion of computers.

Although this thing has been made, its function is not particularly great when the internet has not been popularized. At least, it doesn’t match its high price.

But these are not problems. With Wu Changqing’s order, departments at all levels and those large companies had to purchase and use them.

Those wealthy people who wanted to show their loyalty also bought them one after another.

Coupled with Wu Changqing’s subsidy policy, middle-class families could also afford to buy them in installments with a bit of effort.

In less than half a year, the number of computers in Nanjing alone exceeded fifty thousand.

The number in the Central Plains area has reached as many as two hundred thousand, and there are nearly fifty thousand overseas.

The word “internet” began to appear frequently in the mouths of ordinary people.

More and more people began to like the internet, and the lives of ordinary people were changing dramatically again.

At the end of the twenty-second year of Yongxing, the first internet cafe appeared in Nanjing.

The main function is games.

With the popularity of the internet and computers, some insightful people also discovered business opportunities in it.

For example, Ma Lin tried to create a software on the internet that could chat freely, so that people from all over the world could communicate instantly without barriers.

However, after he found a partner, coaxed investors, and started the project, he found that the imperial court had already started this project.

By the time his software was ready, the instant messaging software developed by the imperial court had already accumulated fifty thousand users.

Ma Lin’s software was naturally unable to compete with the imperial court’s software, and soon declared the failure of the business.

Not only did he personally go bankrupt, but several wealthy households who invested in him also went bankrupt.

Some people fail, but some people succeed.

After all, Wu Changqing only needs to control the field of instant messaging. He doesn’t compete with ordinary people in other businesses.

Instant messaging is different, he must control this in his hands.

This thing is too important in guiding public opinion, just as important as television stations and newspapers.

In the twenty-third year of Yongxing, Great Hua completely unified the world.

As early as a few years ago, Great Hua had already unified the world in name, and there were no forces that did not obey Great Hua.

However, Great Hua did not set up administrative institutions in Africa and some extremely remote and backward areas.

Not to mention collecting taxes, even some administrative orders could not be fully implemented at the grassroots level.

By the twenty-third year of Yongxing, this situation had been basically resolved.

Even the primitive tribes in Africa have been registered and brought under the control of Great Hua.

The ability to do this is mainly due to the development of the other world.

Those primitive places have a lot of trouble and danger, and ordinary soldiers can’t handle it at all.

However, Great Hua now has a group of primary cultivators.

After more than a year of training and cultivation, these soldiers are now far superior to ordinary people in physical fitness.

The best of them can run one hundred meters in five seconds.

Various feats of flying over eaves and walls are even easier.

Great Hua sent these troops to some tropical rainforests in Africa and South America for inspection and training, and the effect was very obvious.

That kind of extremely harsh environment was vulnerable in front of these cultivators, and did not bring them much trouble.

At this point, Great Hua has determined the safety of cultivation.

Wu Changqing’s diet has also been changed to the other world’s recipes, and he has begun to cultivate.

Other nobles and wealthy people are also scrambling to start cultivating.

After all, everyone wants to live longer.

In the twenty-fourth year of Yongxing, there were already two railway lines from the Central Plains to Europe, and the third was under construction.

With cheap labor from Africa and South Asia, Great Hua’s various large-scale projects have never stopped.

In addition to railways, flights have also developed rapidly in recent years.

The busiest Nanjing already has more than twenty routes, flying to Shanghai, Guangzhou, Europe, the Americas, South Asia and other places.

Looking at the development of Nanjing alone, Great Hua has now entered the nineteen eighties.

However, Great Hua’s Nanjing has some more magical colors than the time and space of Wu Changqing’s previous life.

The simultaneous advancement of technology and cultivation makes Nanjing’s style very alternative.

However, apart from Wu Changqing, no one feels that this style is inconsistent, because they have not seen the style of a pure technology era.

In their view, the coexistence of technology and cultivation is normal.

If any of them could travel to Wu Changqing’s previous life, they would find that time and space abnormal, and that it was too unscientific without magic and martial arts.

…

Chapter 1140: An Unconventional Style, Part 2

Nanjing, Xuanwu Street.

A rear-end collision between two cars caused a traffic jam.

Countless drivers honked their horns anxiously or got out of their cars to inquire about the road conditions.

With the rapid economic development of Great Hua, cars were no longer exclusive to the wealthy.

Ordinary people could afford one after working for a year or two, leading to more and more people owning cars, and consequently, more and more traffic jams.

“There’s no other way, I guess.”

A young man, not wanting to be late for his date, simply got out of his car, circulated his magical power, and lifted the car up. He strode forward through the traffic.

“A cultivator!”

Someone exclaimed.

Although Great Hua had nearly two years of cultivation history, cultivators were still quite rare relative to the massive population. Moreover, they were concentrated in the military and among the powerful and wealthy, making it difficult for ordinary people to see them.

However, this didn’t stop them from learning about cultivators from newspapers and television news, knowing that they possessed immense strength and could scale walls and walk on rooftops.

“So cool!”

“Oh my god, that’s so strong!”

“Mom, I want to cultivate too!”

Everyone who saw Wang Lang casually strolling while carrying a car weighing over five hundred kilograms was incredibly surprised, envious, and worshipful.

Children who saw it were even more determined to embark on the path of cultivation.

Unfortunately, obtaining the qualifications for cultivation was not easy. For ordinary families, joining the army was the only chance they had, even if it was a slim one.

After joining the army, entering the otherworld special forces would grant them free training from the imperial court.

If they were to spend their own money to buy spiritual food from the otherworld for cultivation, the cost would be enough to bankrupt a middle-class family.

Even moderately wealthy families would find it difficult to afford.

Wang Lang enjoyed the worship of the passersby as he walked forward.

This feeling was quite good.

Once he passed the accident site, he put the car down and started it again.

Being cool just now did consume a lot of magical power. If the traffic jam had been any longer, he would have faced the embarrassing situation of running out of magical power.

Fortunately, he was lucky and successfully showed off.

At the same time, at the Jinling No. 1 Middle School sports meet, a junior high school student took the lead in the one hundred meter race, running a time of 7.3 seconds.

He was the grandson of a cabinet minister and had begun cultivation training as early as last year. His physique was already different from ordinary people.

“So amazing!”

Various exclamations rang out.

“This is unfair!”

Amidst the exclamations, some students protested to the teachers and school leaders, saying that ordinary students like them had no way to compete with these cultivators.

“Their protests are not without reason. Should we divide them into ordinary groups and cultivation groups?”

A teacher suggested.

“Let’s talk about it later. There are too few cultivators now. We can’t have him compete against himself, can we?”

Someone else pointed out the impracticality.

In short, the development of the otherworld and the emergence of cultivators had led to some unexpected situations in society.

However, these were all minor matters.

Moreover, some changes also had huge benefits.

For example, in some fields where machinery could not be used and manual processing was necessary, the emergence of cultivators could produce more precise parts.

The appearance of these parts solved many technological bottlenecks and greatly promoted the technological development of Great Hua.

In addition, some special departments also especially needed the addition of cultivators.

“Our fire department must have twenty slots.”

At the municipal government office, the director of the fire department was arguing strongly, wanting to obtain more cultivators.

As more and more high-rise buildings were built in Nanjing, accidental incidents such as fires occurred frequently.

There were often various troubles when rescuing people from these accidents, and it was difficult for ordinary people to complete the task.

But at this time, if there were a few cultivators to help, things would be much easier.

“Where are we going to get so many slots for you? There are only fifty people in this batch of graduates. The Criminal Investigation Bureau took twenty, the Intelligence Bureau took ten, and several other departments are asking for people.”

The mayor of Jinling complained.

“Ordinary people can handle criminal investigation and catching thieves, why do you need cultivators?”

Chen Haobei, the director of the police bureau, happened to come in and picked up Director Li’s words.

“Old Li, I don’t like hearing you say that. What do you mean why do we need them, as if we’re wasting the imperial court’s resources. Some of the criminals these days also have some martial arts skills, and it’s difficult for ordinary people to catch them.”

Director Li was not so easily fooled and continued to argue strongly.

“Cut the crap, where are there any cultivators committing crimes now? Soldiers who are qualified to cultivate have all passed strict political reviews, and those powerful and wealthy people have even less reason to steal. Where are there any cultivator criminals now?”

Director Li was not so easily fooled and continued to argue reasonably.

“Who says there aren’t…”

Chen Haobei did not back down.

In the end, the mayor of Jinling spoke up and ended the dispute.

In the end, the Criminal Investigation Bureau only got fifteen cultivators, and the Fire Department also got fifteen. The rest were assigned to other departments. Even so, the other departments were not satisfied, each feeling that they had been taken advantage of and that the mayor was biased.

This was inevitable, as cultivator resources were scarce now.

These fifty so-called graduates were actually all rejects from the military.

After a period of cultivation, they failed the assessment and were judged to have no talent, and thus were eliminated.

Those truly talented elites were given priority to the imperial palace, the Imperial Guards, the military…

[Increase the intensity of development of the otherworld, expand to the mainland, and establish more colonies.]

In the twenty-third year of Yongxing, Wu Changqing issued such a document.

After two years of training, Great Hua already had a considerable special forces force. Coupled with advanced technological weapons, this special forces force could almost run rampant in the otherworld.

The time was ripe, and Wu Changqing decided to begin large-scale expansion and fully occupy the otherworld territory.

This would inevitably lead to fierce conflicts with the spiritual beasts and otherworld forces, but this was inevitable.

If it weren’t for reducing casualties, this kind of thing would have been done long ago.

Delaying it for two years was simply to give his side more certainty.

After the document was issued, the Great Hua machine began to adjust its direction, and more of the budget was allocated to the military.

Large numbers of troops began to pour into the otherworld.

In addition to the official regular army, private armed forces from the people were also requisitioned by Wu Changqing and acted together with the regular army.

Those large families who had already been pioneering in the otherworld had also mastered a lot of cultivator power.

Allowing private individuals to control too strong of an armed force was not conducive to the country, but in the early stages of development, Wu Changqing did not have a better way.

And now, he would use the power of these large families, and at the same time, he had to find a way to incorporate them or weaken them.

Otherwise, if these large families continued to grow, they would be difficult to control in the future.

Chapter 1141: Exchange Between Two Worlds

Rhino City.

After two years of development, the former Rhino Valley has transformed into Rhino City, with a permanent population of five hundred thousand, half of whom are soldiers, mercenaries, and private armed forces.

Besides Earthlings, many people from Proud Moon City also live here.

Some come to do business, others to study and exchange ideas.

The city has a foreign language school that specializes in teaching Mandarin or alien languages.

Because of the practical need for communication, many people come here for short-term study, and it is always at full capacity.

Among them are both Great Hua citizens and many people from Proud Moon City.

Qin Xian is an ordinary alien, from a lower-class family in Proud Moon City.

In the past, someone like him could only farm, repair walls, or do odd jobs.

His fate would most likely be to be attacked and killed by wild animals while harvesting grain, or to become cannon fodder in a beast tide.

In short, whether it’s Earth or the alien world, it’s not easy for ordinary people to climb the social ladder.

But now, he has an opportunity.

This is all thanks to the Great Hua forces entering the alien world.

By chance, he heard Mandarin from Earth.

While others were confused, he relied on his strong memory and comprehension skills, and guided some Earthlings once by gesturing wildly.

When he discovered his talent for translation, he borrowed money from relatives and friends and came to Rhino City to study Mandarin.

You should know that now, someone who understands Mandarin and can communicate fluently with Earthlings earns seven or eight times more than a farmer.

“So many tanks, are we going to war?”

Qin Xian stepped back to the side of the road to make way for the Huaxia army tanks.

Qin Xian admired these Great Hua tanks very much.

He couldn’t understand how a lifeless object that didn’t use magic could move, and run so fast, and not get tired, and have such strong protection, and even have an attack power close to that of a King-level expert.

“Thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four…”

Qin Xian silently counted the number of tanks in the unit, and was slightly shocked.

Too many.

After the convoy passed, Qin Xian returned to his residence.

Passing by an electronics store, he couldn’t help but go in for a look.

Great Hua has too many novel things, and Qin Xian is very interested.

“Expert, would you like a new Walkman? Twelve megabytes of memory, two hundred popular songs to listen to anytime, anywhere. You deserve it in this boring alien world.”

The shop owner greeted him enthusiastically, thinking Qin Xian was a mercenary from Earth.

After all, the humans of the alien world and Earth are almost indistinguishable in appearance, so it’s normal to not be able to tell the difference.

Mercenaries who come to the alien world not only face danger, but also boredom and loneliness.

Compared to the bustling world of Great Hua cities, the entertainment in the alien world is much more lacking.

Movies, operas, and game consoles are not yet available, at most some brothels and casinos.

And brothels and casinos are limited to the city; when you go out of the city on a mission, it’s truly boring.

For this reason, some people saw the business opportunity and brought Walkmans that had just been manufactured on Earth to the alien world for sale.

“How much?”

Qin Xian tried it out and immediately fell in love with the little gadget.

After all, in Proud Moon City, only the nobles and aristocrats have the means to watch song and dance performances.

It is extremely extravagant for ordinary commoners to even listen to a play.

Someone like Qin Xian had almost no entertainment in the past.

But now, there is a small gadget that allows him to listen to music anytime, anywhere.

Although he can only listen and there is no dance to accompany it, it is already a very good form of entertainment. The songs of Earth also have a special flavor.

“Not expensive, only six hundred yuan. An expert like you can earn that in one mission. And this Walkman, you can use it for more than ten years without it breaking.”

The shop owner boasted.

He doesn’t care whether it can be used for more than ten years.

He will return to Earth to enjoy his life after he has made enough money here. How can the alien world be as safe and comfortable as Earth?

Six hundred?

Qin Xian gasped.

This price is indeed not much for mercenaries who earn money with their lives, but he is not a mercenary.

Currently, he can only take on some translation work from time to time to earn some pocket money.

Six hundred yuan is a considerable burden for him.

If he buys this thing, he will have to eat dirt for the next two months.

However, he really likes this thing.

Buy it, listening to Mandarin songs can also improve my Mandarin level.

Qin Xian found an excuse for himself in his heart.

On Earth, students who want a Subor game console also use this excuse in front of their parents.

“Cheaper, four hundred and I’ll take it. I’m not an expert, I’m a poor man.”

Qin Xian pleaded miserably.

The shop owner also heard that Qin Xian’s accent was not authentic enough, and guessed that this guy was an alien native.

He was very helpless about this.

Alien natives are poor and stingy, and can’t compare with mercenaries.

“Forget it, I’ll sell it to you for five hundred and fifty since you really like it. Can’t go any lower.”

The shop owner said.

“A little cheaper.”

Qin Xian said.

The shop owner, who said he couldn’t lower the price any further, finally reduced the price and sold it to Qin Xian for five hundred and twenty.

At the same time, Pioneer City, Yongxin Agency.

A large group of alien humans are crowded inside, their faces either panicked, excited, or bewildered.

They are about to go to Earth to work.

They are all newly initiated cultivators, and their strength is not enough to hunt wild animals in the wild, nor do they have any particularly profitable abilities.

And this kind of person is quite scarce on Earth.

Some special, dangerous jobs require these talents.

For this reason, people who saw the business opportunity opened an agency in the alien world, specializing in helping those aliens who want to earn foreign exchange to go to Earth.

This industry is very profitable, because they all sign contracts directly with employers, and then they pay these people wages themselves. The difference in price even makes some kind-hearted people scold them, calling them black-hearted.

However, it is not so easy to enter this industry that makes money so easily.

For the sake of public security, Great Hua will not casually allow alien humans to enter Earth. They all need to go through review and visas.

Without some connections and energy, the visa alone can make people flinch.

“Is Great Hua really as rich as a fairyland?”

A little girl in the crowd asked her sister.

“Probably, look at the Great Hua people in Pioneer City, they are all so rich. I heard that we can get two hundred yuan a month in Great Hua, which can buy two spirit pills. After we work for a few years, we can save enough spirit pills to concentrate on cultivation.”

The older sister, Liu Min, said with longing.

This is the only opportunity she knows to change her destiny.

However, dreams are always beautiful, and reality is always cruel.

Great Hua is certainly rich, but it doesn’t mean that everyone can make a fortune in Great Hua. There are still poor people in Great Hua.

Chapter 1142: Jealousy of Extraterrestrial Forces

In Moonrise City, two furtive men strolled through the streets. They appeared aimless, but their eyes constantly scanned their surroundings, observing everything with meticulous detail.

One of them was Xue Yuanziheng, a spy from the Rocky Rock Kingdom, and the other was Qin Si, a traitor from Moonrise City.

The Rocky Rock Kingdom and Moonrise City were age-old enemies. Decades ago, the Rocky Rock Kingdom, with its superior military strength, had annexed a significant portion of Moonrise City’s territory.

This was one of the main reasons why Moonrise City chose to cooperate with Great Hua; they needed allies.

After partnering with Great Hua, Moonrise City reaped many benefits, and its strength rapidly increased.

Some low-level cultivators who previously couldn’t even participate in battles were now equipped with Great Hua’s weapons, giving them the means to fight opponents stronger than themselves.

This was somewhat similar to when Great Hua overthrew the Qing Dynasty. The Qing needed to select one out of a hundred archers and train them for months, even years, to find a qualified one.

But the Huaxia army, equipped with flintlock rifles, could recruit any ordinary man, resulting in a vast pool of soldiers.

Having grown stronger, Moonrise City chose to seek revenge a few months prior, ambushing and successfully occupying two cities of the Rocky Rock Kingdom.

The people of the Rocky Rock Kingdom weren’t fools, of course. After their defeats, they analyzed their experiences.

They realized that the root cause of their losses was those strange weapons wielded by Moonrise City’s soldiers.

The Rocky Rock Kingdom was slightly farther from Pioneer City and Rhino City than Moonrise City, but not by much.

Moreover, Moonrise City wasn’t entirely united. As a result, the Rocky Rock Kingdom quickly learned the secret behind Moonrise City’s newfound strength.

Subsequently, they launched their operation.

On one hand, they sent people to Pioneer City and Rhino City to gather intelligence, and on the other hand, they sent people to Moonrise City to investigate.

They needed more detailed information to make their next move.

“Their clothes are so beautiful. How much money must they cost? They’re actually letting ordinary people wear silk,” Xue Yuanziheng exclaimed in surprise.

He had visited Moonrise City many times before and was well aware of its living standards.

In the past, the common folk wore coarse linen, and most of it was tattered and old.

It wasn’t just Moonrise City; their Rocky Rock Kingdom was similar because the resources in this alien world were too scarce.

The natural silk and linen resources simply couldn’t satisfy everyone’s clothing needs.

Therefore, Xue Yuanziheng was so astonished when he saw the changes in the clothing of Moonrise City’s residents. This was a sign of a powerful nation.

“That’s not silk, it’s industrial fiber,” Qin Si explained.

“What’s industrial fiber?” Xue Yuanziheng didn’t understand the new term.

“It’s something similar to silk that’s made by breaking down and refining certain plants using special methods. I don’t really understand it either. All I know is that this method of weaving cloth is very cheap. It’s all thanks to Great Hua’s technology. The production cost of this stuff is very low, and the price is also low. One spiritual pill can be exchanged for more than ten sets of clothes. Moreover, the merchants from Great Hua are all scrambling for it,” Qin Si said.

“I see.”

Xue Yuanziheng breathed a slight sigh of relief. He had thought that these clothes were woven by Moonrise City itself or purchased on the market.

If that were the case, it would indicate a significant leap in Moonrise City’s national power.

“I see that these ordinary people look quite healthy. What’s going on?” Xue Yuanziheng continued to ask curiously.

The lower classes of this alien world were generally underfed, and a sallow complexion was the norm.

But in Moonrise City, this was much less common.

“That’s thanks to the rice and wheat from Great Hua. They don’t contain spiritual energy, so they don’t help with cultivation, but they can fill the stomach. Some people who have decided not to pursue the path of cultivation have already changed their staple foods. One person must consume one dou of spiritual rice per month, but the rice exchanged for that one dou of spiritual rice is enough for one person to eat for half a year…”

Although Great Hua and Moonrise City had only been cooperating for over two years, Great Hua’s influence on Moonrise City was immense.

It affected their clothing, food, housing, transportation, and even their culture and entertainment.

“Why is Great Hua so kind as to help your Moonrise City?”

Hearing Qin Si’s explanation, Xue Yuanziheng was jealous, angry, and also confused.

He didn’t understand why Great Hua would exchange six dou of rice for one dou of spiritual rice. Were they crazy?

“It’s not really helping, it’s more like mutually beneficial cooperation. Moonrise City needs Great Hua’s various cheap goods, but Great Hua also desperately needs the spiritual rice, spiritual pills, and magical artifacts of this alien world. Exchanging six dou of rice for one dou of spiritual rice is still the official price set by the Great Hua government. If you have connections to smuggle it yourself, selling spiritual rice to Great Hua can get you twenty dou in exchange for one. Great Hua has nearly three billion people, and their Earth has no spiritual energy…”

Qin Si explained.

“Damn it, why wasn’t it our Rocky Rock Kingdom that discovered Great Hua first?”

Xue Yuanziheng gritted his teeth.

Just from Qin Si’s simple description, he could feel the benefits of cooperating with Great Hua.

“It’s not too late now, sir. As far as I know, Great Hua’s cooperation with Moonrise City is mainly because they haven’t contacted other forces, not because they have a particularly good relationship with Moonrise City. As long as you offer Great Hua more favorable terms, I think Great Hua would be happy to accept. After all, it’s only beneficial to Great Hua, with no downsides.”

Qin Si suggested.

He had completely forgotten his identity at this point, strategizing for the Rocky Rock Kingdom.

“You don’t need to say more. The people above have already started taking action. Let’s go, let’s continue to look around other places. It would be best if we could sneak into the barracks. I want to learn about those magical artifacts, or rather, weapons, from Great Hua.”

Xue Yuanziheng wasn’t particularly concerned about the improvement of Moonrise City’s livelihood.

What he cared about most was Moonrise City’s military strength.

The secrets and information about those weapons were the core mission of his trip.

“That won’t be easy. I’m just a low-level person in Moonrise City. I don’t have access to any important figures,” Qin Si said helplessly.

The military was always a very serious place. He wasn’t qualified to enter confidential areas at will, let alone inspect those weapons.

“There should be some on the black market, right? Take me to your black market,” Xue Yuanziheng said.

The most cutting-edge weapons were definitely in the military, but some other ordinary weapons should still be able to flow into the market.

Moreover, Great Hua and Moonrise City didn’t have many restrictions on the sale of weapons now, so there were quite a few weapons circulating in the market.

However, they were basically light weapons.

Such as large-caliber sniper rifles, individual rocket launchers, submachine guns, large hand grenades, and so on.

These weapons were naturally useless against experts above the King level, but there were few King-level experts to begin with. Most were still low-level cultivators.

Sniper rifles and submachine guns were enough to pose a great threat to these people.

# Chapter 1143: Joint Operation

While the Rocky Rock Kingdom was still gathering intelligence, the joint operation between Great Hua and Moonrise City had already begun.

The two sides cooperated not only in trade but also in military affairs.

However, previous cooperation was mostly in technical aspects.

Great Hua provided Moonrise City with weapons and non-core production technologies, while Moonrise City provided Great Hua with cultivation methods, spiritual pills, and so on.

This time, however, the two sides conducted a joint operation because they were going for something big.

Neither Moonrise City's strength nor Great Hua's power in this other world was enough to take down the target alone, so they chose to cooperate.

Their target this time was Crag Peak in the Rocky Rock Kingdom, a strategic location.

On Earth, strategic locations are usually transportation hubs, important passes, and so on.

In this other world, strategic locations are generally places where spiritual veins are located.

Spiritual veins are mountains from which spiritual energy can be mined, and they are the most valuable resources in this other world.

Such places are fiercely contested by all forces and are often heavily guarded and difficult to attack.

"Five King-level experts, that's not easy. Brother Fei, you have to put in the effort and not let the enemy's experts kill our soldiers."

Tong Niangeng said.

The weakness of the Huaxia army was still its poor close-quarters defense. Although their weapons were more powerful than King-level experts, they were not flexible enough.

Once a King-level expert got close, those tanks, rocket launchers, and missile vehicles would be useless.

Therefore, they needed Moonrise City's experts to guard the perimeter and prevent the enemy from rushing into the Huaxia army, and then the Huaxia army would use long-range firepower to inflict damage on the enemy.

"Don't worry, Lord Tong, we are responsible for the safety of your army."

Fei Hong said with a smile.

It was clear that both sides were still relatively relaxed.

After two days of marching, the advance troops had arrived at the outskirts of Crag Peak, less than twenty li from the enemy.

The Huaxia army's artillery units stopped sixty li away from Crag Peak and built an artillery position.

This distance was within the Huaxia army's range.

With everything in place, the joint forces launched an attack the next day.

The artillery units opened fire first, with one hundred and eight 220mm howitzers firing.

These huge 220mm cannons fired shells weighing two hundred Jin each, with an initial velocity of one thousand meters per second.

"What's that?"

Yan Ting, the defending general of the Rocky Rock Kingdom on Crag Peak, saw some black dots flying in the distance.

Before he could finish speaking, the shells landed on Crag Peak.

Boom!

Countless loud noises rang out, and explosions continued on Crag Peak.

A shell landed next to several Soldier-level cultivators, killing them instantly, their bodies shattered into several pieces.

This scene shocked the Rocky Rock army.

Those were elite Soldier-level seventh-grade soldiers, and even they were instantly killed. Ordinary soldiers were even more in danger.

Fortunately, Crag Peak was very large.

The Huaxia army's one hundred plus heavy cannons firing together seemed like a lot, but when they landed on Crag Peak, they seemed like a drop in the bucket.

Not many unlucky people were directly hit. More were shaken by the shock waves of the explosions.

However, these shock waves should not be underestimated. Within one hundred meters, Soldier-level cultivators would definitely be seriously injured or killed.

Within two to three hundred meters, they would also suffer minor injuries.

Soldier-level cultivators could withstand the impact with their strong bodies beyond one hundred meters.

As for King-level experts, even if they were directly hit by a shell, they would not die, at most suffering some injuries.

If they used their magic power to form a shield, they could even be unharmed.

Of course, this would consume magic power.

"Is this Great Hua's magical artifact? So many?"

Yan Ting asked.

The previous battles with Moonrise City were fought by other troops, so Yan Ting only knew that Moonrise City had new magical artifacts, but he had never seen them.

Moreover, the number of cannons used by Moonrise City before was relatively small and could not be compared with the current number.

"This is the main artillery force of the Huaxia army. It seems that they are determined to win this time. The people of Moonrise City are really shameless, actually joining forces with others to attack us."

Another defending general said.

"Should we let everyone hide first? It's not a solution to be bombed like this all the time. I just roughly observed that at least eight Soldier-level soldiers and more than twenty ordinary soldiers died in one round of shelling."

Deputy General Chen Hao suggested.

It was not okay to stand and be beaten like this. At this distance, they had no way to fight back.

"Let the ordinary soldiers find caves to hide. Chen Hao, you lead people to stay behind. I will take some people to destroy their cannons."

Yan Ting arranged.

Although he had not fought against Great Hua before, his response was still considered appropriate, without any obvious flaws. Of course, there was nothing brilliant about it either.

After the order was issued, they quickly began to act.

Yan Ting and another King-level expert led two hundred elite soldiers down the mountain.

Although two hundred people were not many, all two hundred of them were experts above Soldier-level fifth-grade.

Only by reaching this level could they activate magical artifacts to fly and maneuver quickly.

It would take ordinary soldiers two or three hours to reach the Huaxia army's artillery position sixty li away without stopping to catch their breath.

The shelling continued, and the Rocky Rock army on Crag Peak was hiding in embarrassment.

Their elite squad rushed towards the Huaxia army's artillery position.

Before they had advanced twenty li, they were ambushed.

The Huaxia army's rocket launchers and tank units were waiting for them.

One round of rocket launcher fire directly caused heavy losses to the inexperienced Rocky Rock army.

More than twenty soldiers were directly hit and fell to the ground, either dead or seriously injured.

"Kill."

Yan Ting shouted.

Originally, they were going to destroy the Huaxia army's heavy cannon position, but now the situation had changed.

Yan Ting did not have much time to think about whether to destroy the heavy cannons first or kill the enemies in front of him.

Then, the Rocky Rock army pounced on the Huaxia army's armored corps.

However, when they landed on the ground and rushed to the front of the Huaxia army, they were ambushed by the Moonrise army.

"Despicable."

The Rocky Rock army cursed.

Although the Huaxia army had been attacking them all along, their hatred for the Moonrise army was greater than their hatred for the Huaxia army.

Because they all knew that if it were not for the Moonrise army's instigation, the Huaxia army would not have attacked them for no reason. They had no grudges against Great Hua.

"Hahaha, wait to die, General Yan."

Fei Ting laughed and met Yan Ting. The two not only knew each other but had also fought before.

As the saying goes, enemies are extremely jealous when they meet.

At least, Yan Ting's eyes were very red and angry at this time.

"Looking for death."

Instant Slash.

Yan Ting turned into a shadow and passed through Fei Ting in the blink of an eye.

However, this was just a visual effect.

In fact, what he passed through was also Fei Ting's shadow.

The strength of the two was similar, both being King-level sixth-grade.

It was almost impossible for them to kill each other with one blow.

"Too fast, let's kill the small soldiers."

A Huaxia army sniper complained.

He originally wanted to aim at Yan Ting, the leader, but even his eyes could not keep up with the speed of the other party's movement.

Helpless, he had to give up this unrealistic idea and choose to bully the small soldiers.

Chapter 1144: General, the Times Have Changed

Even the common soldiers weren’t easy to bully, after all, these soldiers were also very fast.

More importantly, the two sides were now basically locked in a melee, and they needed to be very careful when attacking, otherwise they could easily hit friendly forces.

This wasn’t a game, there was no friendly fire immunity mechanism.

Therefore, once the Huaxia army was engaged in close combat, their effectiveness immediately dropped sharply.

“We still have to cultivate our own super martial artists. What’s the highest cultivation level in our army right now?”

One of the staff officers asked.

This staff team was hiding in the distance, observing the battle situation, collecting battlefield information, and summarizing experience.

“According to the realm divisions here, the highest cultivation level is that of Lieutenant Lu Shiqi, who is already a third-grade warrior. Even in Moonrise City, this speed would be considered a top genius.”

Upon hearing this, everyone felt satisfied but also a little anxious. After all, compared to the alien world, Great Hua had started too late. If they wanted to catch up with the forces of the alien world in terms of martial arts, the road ahead would be long and arduous.

At the same time, on the battlefield, the Huaxia army brought out their new weapon: ultra-high-powered stun guns.

The advantage of this thing compared to ordinary sniper rifles was that the damage it inflicted on the opponent was temporary. This meant that even if friendly forces were accidentally hit, it wouldn’t be a big problem, just temporarily incapacitating them.

After a short rest, they would be good as new.

But if the people of the Rocky Rock Kingdom were hit, it would be troublesome. They had fewer people, and they definitely couldn’t outlast the joint forces of Great Hua and Moonrise City in a war of attrition.

Once defeated, those who were temporarily incapacitated would be captured.

“Ah!”

A scream rang out as a soldier from the Rocky Rock Kingdom was hit by a stun gun.

The ultra-high voltage current caused him great pain, and at the same time, his entire body became unresponsive.

The Moonrise City soldier who was fighting him naturally wouldn’t miss such a good opportunity, and slashed at his opponent with a blade.

“爽 (Shuǎng - Awesome)!”

This soldier couldn’t help but shout.

Having a strong teammate was just too comfortable.

Without the assist from the stun gun, it wouldn’t have been easy for him to take down the opponent in front of him, and the outcome might have been uncertain.

Of course, he was lucky.

Another Moonrise City soldier wasn’t so fortunate and was hit by a stun gun.

“％￥％％……”

Before he could finish cursing, he saw his opponent charging towards him.

He wanted to dodge, but found that his body wouldn’t listen.

Fortunately, after realizing the friendly fire, the Huaxia army immediately zapped the Rocky Rock Kingdom soldier as well.

As a result, both of them fell to the ground.

There were no convulsions, these people were much stronger than people from Earth.

As soon as the two fell, Huaxia soldiers immediately stepped forward.

The enemy was tied up, and the friendly was dragged to the rear for treatment.

The people of the Rocky Rock Kingdom also wanted to save their comrades, but they didn’t have that many people.

“Damn it.”

Yan Ting was anxious when he saw his side falling into a disadvantage.

He wanted to free himself to rescue his subordinates, but Fei Ting was holding him back tightly, preventing him from escaping.

Now, Yan Ting was prepared to go all out.

“Divine Ability, Instant Kill Technique!”

Yan Ting used his ultimate move, his signature skill.

Instantly, one Yan Ting transformed into four, attacking Fei Ting from four different paths.

However, only one of these four figures was the real body, the others were just afterimages.

When he used this move, Fei Ting immediately had to defend against attacks from four directions, and the speed was so fast that he didn’t have time to think, he could only rely on muscle memory, that is, combat instinct, to respond.

He first timed a one hundred and eighty degree horizontal slash to test the reality of two directions.

After that, he prepared a leap to avoid attacks from the other two directions. As long as he could stall until Yan Ting’s divine ability disappeared, he could take the opportunity to counterattack.

Fei Ting’s plan was beautiful, but reality was cruel.

He underestimated the speed of the attacks from the other two directions.

Logically speaking, the attack paths from the other two directions were longer and should arrive later.

However, Yan Ting had now practiced this move to the point where attacks from all four directions could arrive simultaneously, and he could also change direction and dodge during the attack process, and the real body could switch between the four afterimages at any time.

When Fei Ting slashed horizontally, Yan Ting in front of him transferred his real body to the afterimage behind Fei Ting, and then launched an attack, slashing Fei Ting.

If an ordinary person slashed Fei Ting, they might break the blade.

But Yan Ting was an expert of the same level as him, and even slightly stronger.

This slash directly broke open Fei Ting’s armor.

Fortunately, Fei Ting reacted quickly and immediately activated his magical power to form a shield.

But this only helped him avoid a fatal injury, he was still sent flying by the slash.

Yan Ting chased after him, he knew that one slash alone wouldn’t kill Fei Ting, he would need at least five or six more slashes.

That’s how battles between experts of the same level were.

It was said that battles between Emperor-level experts started at three days and three nights, with no upper limit.

Yan Ting chased after him, and Fei Ting, being injured, had no chance to counterattack, and might not even be able to save his own life.

However, Fei Ting wasn’t flustered at this time.

He took out a modified single-soldier rocket launcher from his magical treasure pouch and fired a shot at Yan Ting.

Ordinary rocket launchers were actually difficult to hit King-level experts, but the one in Fei Ting’s hand was guided.

The rocket would automatically track the person with the strongest magical power nearby after being launched.

Fei Ting didn’t understand the principle behind it, this was a new thing his dad had made, equivalent to giving him an extra magical treasure, allowing him to have a fighting chance even when his magical power was exhausted.

Yan Ting saw the missile flying towards him, but he wasn’t flustered, and directly made an elegant dodge.

To his surprise, the missile turned around and continued to track him.

At this time, he wanted to dodge again but it was too late, the distance was too close, only about four or five meters.

His reaction and speed were certainly very fast, but even the fastest speed takes time, and the flight speed of the rocket was not slow either.

The rocket hit Yan Ting, and then immediately detonated.

The huge explosive power directly overturned Yan Ting and slammed him to the ground, quite embarrassed.

This attack certainly wouldn’t kill him, and wouldn’t even seriously injure him.

However, Fei Ting had recovered thanks to this attack, and Yan Ting had no chance to kill him again.

In fact, he now had to consider how to defend against Fei Ting’s divine abilities.

“General, the times have changed.”

Fei Ting didn’t rush forward to counterattack, but instead mocked him unscrupulously.

This feeling of condescendingly ridiculing his opponent was quite comfortable.

“We’ll meet again, don’t be too proud too soon.”

After saying that, Yan Ting ordered his men to retreat.

Continuing to entangle was meaningless, their purpose was to destroy the Huaxia army’s giant cannons. Now that the goal couldn’t be achieved, it wasn’t worth staying here and consuming each other with the people of Moonrise City.

Yan Ting planned to retreat first and then think of a solution, if all else failed, he would abandon Juling Peak.

He didn’t want to fight an unknown opponent, he wanted to obtain more intelligence about the Huaxia army.

Chapter 1145: Why Would His Majesty Rebel?

The work of expanding territory in other worlds was proceeding in an orderly manner, and Wu Changqing did not need to spend too much time guiding it.

His energy was limited and needed to be focused on more important matters.

For Wu Changqing, the most important things, both now and in the future, were to increase national strength and prepare for a great war with other transmigrators.

How to increase national strength?

Territory, population, and productivity.

The first two were relatively simple. Great Hua had many people skilled at seizing territory, and having children was not difficult either, so Wu Changqing didn’t need to worry about them.

The most difficult thing was to improve productivity.

Wu Changqing could provide various technologies, but productivity wasn’t just about having technology; it also required a system suitable for the development of the times.

Although the current development of Great Hua was changing rapidly, it was still essentially a feudal empire, practicing a feudal system.

However, because capital was developing relatively quickly and trade was booming, there were many capitalist sprouts under the feudal guise.

The feudal system was an excellent system in the era of agricultural civilization, but in the era of industrial civilization, it was somewhat unsuitable.

On Wu Changqing’s desk was a report stating that Cui Hao, the governor of Guandong Province (formerly Japan’s Guandong region), had prohibited goods from the Central Plains from being sold in the Guandong region.

Although he only used some small tricks behind the scenes, not openly adopting tariff barriers or confiscation, the changes in the market were still noticed by the intelligence bureau, who investigated the causes and consequences and submitted a report to Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing knew that this was a typical feudal drawback: power was only responsible to superiors, and they liked to act like lords of their own domains.

For the sake of beautiful economic data, Cui Hao forcibly supported local industry and prevented industrial goods from the Central Plains from entering.

This was certainly detrimental to Great Hua, but it was beneficial to Cui Hao.

If he didn’t do this, Guandong would easily become a dumping ground for goods from the Central Plains, and its economy would not develop.

As long as he handed in a beautiful economic report, he could hope to go a step further and enter the central government.

Of course, this was on the premise that what he was doing wasn’t discovered by the imperial court.

In Cui Hao’s view, even if it was discovered, it wasn’t a big deal. Wasn’t this how officials were supposed to act?

His official position was given by the emperor, not by the other provincial governors of the Central Plains.

Therefore, the emperor liked economic development, so he tried everything possible to boost the economy. As for the losses suffered by other provinces, what did it have to do with him? The other provincial governors were his equals and had no right to interfere with him.

Cui Hao wasn’t the only local ruler secretly making small moves; it was just that Cui Hao’s actions were more excessive, which was why he was noticed.

And these people like Cui Hao, who used their power to act like lords of their own domains and hinder the overall development of Great Hua, were undoubtedly obstructing the overall development of Great Hua.

Goods manufactured with the more advanced productivity of the Central Plains could not easily enter other places, while the backward productivity of other places was being artificially protected and supported.

This was not in line with the market economy, was not conducive to competition, and was not conducive to survival of the fittest.

To change this situation, the only way was to overthrow the feudal system and enter a stage dominated by the rule of law.

Or, going a step further, implement democracy, hold elections, grant power to the people, and serve the people.

But this would mean overthrowing Wu Changqing’s rule.

If Wu Changqing really did this, the ministers of the world would probably be dumbfounded and then say, “Why would His Majesty rebel?”

Wu Changqing was the biggest beneficiary of the feudal system. The world was controlled by him alone, power was concentrated in his hands alone, and there were no laws against him.

The emperor’s wrath and favor were both gifts.

No matter how bad he did, it was no problem.

The ministers might be able to persuade him not to do bad things, but they definitely couldn’t stop Wu Changqing from doing bad things.

But if the imperial system was overthrown and a constitution and elections were held, then the emperor would also be subject to the law, and the ministers could restrain the emperor according to the constitution.

Although Wu Changqing was reluctant to give up the various privileges of being an emperor, as a good young man from the twenty-first century, his awareness wasn’t particularly low.

If giving up these privileges could allow the current Great Hua to achieve equality for all, he was completely willing to accept it.

However, Wu Changqing felt that this was too difficult.

He was willing, but the bureaucrats of the world were not.

His abandonment of privileges meant that the bureaucrats of the world would have to follow suit.

Would those bureaucrats agree?

If he really did this, other officials might risk the world’s condemnation and rebel against him first.

Even though Wu Changqing had made contributions to Great Hua that were greater than the sky, even though his prestige had resounded throughout the world for more than ten years, and had even affected other worlds.

But wanting to touch the interests of the privileged class of the world was impossible.

“Not changing is not an option either.”

Wu Changqing said to himself. He was different from the people of this era.

In their view, the current society where officials enjoyed privileges was a very reasonable and perfect system.

But Wu Changqing knew how these systems would hinder the development of society and were destined to perish with the development of productivity.

Since it was destined to perish, it was better to change it now.

The only question facing Wu Changqing now was how to change and to what extent.

To this end, he fell into thought.

……

Kansai, Kyoto.

Cui Hao was frowning as he held a report.

Although he had ordered all shops in the province to put local goods in the most conspicuous places, and prohibited transportation companies from transporting goods from other places, and used various other means to prevent the entry of goods from other places, the effect was not satisfactory.

People in the world were all profit-seeking. Cui Hao had his personal interests, and others had their own interests.

If they couldn’t sell goods from other places openly, they would sell them secretly. There was no way around it, who told the goods from other places to be cheaper and of better quality?

Local transportation companies would then open a branch in another place and transport the goods into Kansai.

Cui Hao could restrain local enterprises, but he couldn’t do anything about enterprises from other places.

There were also other ways of smuggling and consignment.

In short, Cui Hao had policies, and the people and merchants below had countermeasures.

Over the years, Kansai’s economy still couldn’t develop.

Although there were still many factories on the surface, these factories were operating on subsidies from the local government.

With subsidies and no pressure from competition, these factories became even more unmotivated, and then became even less competitive, creating a vicious cycle.

By the twenty-eighth year of Yongxing, Kansai’s economy had become a mess.

“Governor, subsidies are not the solution. The only way now is to reduce production costs and increase competitiveness.”

Liu Mian, the director of the Department of Finance, advised.

“How to reduce costs? We don’t have the money to upgrade equipment.”

Cui Hao said.

“We can start with manpower. The Central Plains has an eight-hour work system, we can implement a twelve-hour system, which will reduce costs by a third. Anyway, they are all Japanese, second-class citizens, it’s okay to squeeze them harder.”

This was the only way Liu Mian could think of. Kansai’s only advantage over the Central Plains was that labor was cheaper. If it weren’t for this reason, factories wouldn’t even be able to open here.

“Eight hours? That’s just on the surface. In fact, with overtime, workers in most factories in the Central Plains also have to work twelve hours.”

Cui Hao said with a wry smile.

The rulers and capitalists of various provinces were desperately squeezing the bottom people for better-looking economic data and wealth.

The central government formulated an eight-hour work system, and the people below came up with a way to volunteer for overtime.

Theoretically, factories couldn’t force workers to work overtime, but they could choose to dismiss those who refused to work overtime, or reduce basic wages and greatly increase overtime wages…

In short, there were many ways, and anyone who wanted to make money could only work overtime with tears in their eyes.

“I know, what I mean is that our twelve hours are the basic working hours, and then add a few hours of overtime.”

Liu Mian said.

“People will die, and it may even force these people to rebel.”

Cui Hao reminded.

Working twelve hours a day was already very exaggerated. If you add a few more hours of overtime, a large number of workers will definitely die from exhaustion.

At that time, there will definitely be people who can’t stand it and shout from a high place.

Not to mention that time, in fact, Great Hua is not completely peaceful now. Except for the Central Plains, rebellions occur from time to time in other places, but the scale is not large.

Some rebellions are counterattacks by the former privileged class who are unwilling to fail, and some are because the local rulers squeeze too hard, causing some people to fight to the death.

Of course, these rebellions have been unable to shake the powerful Great Hua and are basically easily suppressed.

Cui Hao wasn’t unwilling to have these rebels killed, but the local officials were responsible for the rebellions in their jurisdiction, and the assessment would leave flaws, affecting promotion.

“Don’t worry, sir. According to my observation, the Japanese have a strong tolerance. Working a few more hours is not enough to cause a rebellion.”

Liu Mian said.

Even if they work a little longer, it’s just more tiring. At least they can still earn money to support their families and won’t go hungry, which is much better than before.

In the past, the Japanese lower class often starved to death, and there were not many rebellions.

“Then let’s try it first.”

Cui Hao made up his mind. Next year will be his term of office in the capital, and he must come up with a decent set of data, which can’t be faked.

He can’t pay so much tax to the central government, and it’s useless to say that the economy is developing well.

Cui Hao was at least trying to find a way to develop the economy, while Li Cheng, the governor of Goryeo Province, simply made false accounts.

In order to pay more taxes to the central government to prove Goryeo’s economic level, Li Cheng used his power to privately increase taxes, increase fines, and embezzle state-owned resources…

Li Cheng came from a family of officials. His grandfather was a Prefect of the Ming Dynasty, and his father was a magistrate of the Ming Dynasty.

In the past, officials who served in local areas were always good at creating bad debts, and then when their term expired, they would be transferred to other places or promoted, and the bad debts would be left to the next term.

Of course, those officials who were transferred to other places or promoted would also encounter bad debts left by their predecessors.

This kind of thing became a common phenomenon, and Li Cheng’s elders taught him how to be an official in this way.

Li Cheng didn’t dare to mess around before because the court enforced the law strictly, but now the atmosphere in the court has eased a little, and he has indeed encountered difficulties in promotion.

So, the methods taught by his elders were recalled by him again.

It’s a pity that times have changed.

In the agricultural era, if officials increased taxes, the impact on the local area would be nothing more than starving a few more people to death.

But now, when Li Cheng began to increase taxes, local enterprises fled one after another.

If they don’t make money, what are they staying in Goryeo for?

As soon as the enterprises left, the number of unemployed people in the local area increased rapidly, the economic development became worse, and social conflicts became more acute.

Goryeo is very different from Kansai. Goryeo is the most thoroughly sinicized place.

Now Goryeo speaks Chinese and uses Chinese characters. Almost no one uses the former Goryeo dialect anymore. Their most important thing in recent years has been sinicization, tearing off the label of Goryeo people and becoming a thorough Great Hua person.

They have done it very successfully, and the central government appreciates their attitude very much.

Therefore, the central government pays more attention to human rights in Goryeo than in Japan.

If a group of people in Japan go to the government to make trouble, the local government can directly arrest them and beat them up, and even kill a few people without any problem. It is difficult to spread to the central government, and even if it does, it may not be taken seriously.

Goryeo is different. When thousands of unemployed workers gathered in front of the government to make trouble, the central government immediately knew about it, and it even reached Wu Changqing.

Now Great Hua has become too vast, the population is too large, and there are too many government affairs. Many small things can no longer reach Wu Changqing, and most of the small things are handled by the officials below.

When it reaches Wu Changqing, no matter how Wu Changqing expresses his position, Li Cheng is definitely going to be unlucky, and he can’t escape the evaluation of disturbing the emperor.

In the eyes of the officials in the central government, the officials in various places are trusted by the emperor to govern and share the emperor’s worries.

If they don’t govern the place well and cause trouble for the emperor to worry about, they deserve to die.

Soon, the Ministry of Personnel sent out news that it was preparing to dismiss Li Cheng.

This was a very ordinary thing, but another drawback of the feudal dynasty also emerged.

Many local officials wrote to the Ministry of Personnel, pleading for Li Cheng.

These people may not be Li Cheng’s relatives and friends, but that’s what they did.

The reason is very simple. Not many local officials have clean hands. If the central government handles Li Cheng for this reason today, they can naturally handle them in the future.

But if Li Cheng is let go this time, then there is no way to handle them for similar things in the future.

For their own interests, local officials united to confront the central government.

This kind of thing is not actually the first time it has happened, but in the past, because Great Hua was newly established, various contradictions had not yet broken out, and there were many other reasons.

But now, as Great Hua has unified the world and the political situation has entered a period of stability, the drama of fighting for power and profit in the feudal dynasty has begun to be staged.

Seeing these things, Wu Changqing became even more determined to reform.

He used to rebel against the rulers, but now he is going to rebel against himself.

Chapter 1146: Legal Construction

The conflict between local governments and the central government showed signs of escalating, but Wu Changqing didn’t take sides.

Instead, he instructed his confidants to create public opinion, focusing the attention of the people and officials on a case.

Last year, a murder case occurred in Zhenjiang. A man in his late twenties killed a family of eight neighbors to avenge his mother.

The methods were extremely cruel, sparing neither the elderly nor children.

This was originally a very ordinary case. Great Hua had at least eight such cases a year, if not ten.

Because the evidence was conclusive and the murderer confessed, Yue Jun, the magistrate of Zhenjiang County, directly sentenced the murderer Zhang San to death.

However, Zhang San refused to accept the verdict, and Zhang San’s sister, under the guidance of a master, came to Nanjing to appeal.

Wu Changqing’s energy in recent years had been focused on economic and technological development. The official system and old customs hadn’t changed much. For example, local officials still handled cases instead of a dedicated Ministry of Justice or courts.

There were no formal appeal channels either. As before, to reach the emperor’s ears and make a big deal out of it, the appellant had to roll on a bed of nails first.

The old era had such rules because it was a necessity. Without increasing the difficulty of appealing, who knew how many people would appeal?

With the administrative capabilities of the old era, they simply couldn’t handle so much trouble.

Daring to roll on a bed of nails also indicated, to some extent, that one was truly wronged, or at least believed oneself to be.

Rolling on a bed of nails was the first time such a thing had happened in Great Hua, and it was reported in detail in the newspapers, attracting widespread attention.

One group believed that Zhang San was inherently vicious and deserved to be punished. Another group believed that Zhang San was very filial and his actions were excusable.

Filial piety had always been a spirit promoted in Confucian culture, so the majority supported leniency for Zhang San.

Therefore, Zhenjiang County Magistrate Yue Jun reluctantly conducted a second trial and changed the death sentence to exile.

No matter how big or controversial this case was, it was just a small matter for Great Hua.

However, with Wu Changqing’s statement, this matter immediately became a big deal.

This was the influence of an emperor.

Faced with Yue Jun’s revised judgment, Wu Changqing asked in front of many ministers, “What is the relationship between law and morality? What is the difference?”

As soon as Wu Changqing spoke, many ministers immediately began to speculate on Wu Changqing’s thoughts.

Some could guess, but most couldn’t.

Those ministers who were eager to perform in front of Wu Changqing took the opportunity to speak, but most of their speeches failed to satisfy Wu Changqing.

Until Qin Cao, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, spoke, he said, “Law has standards, but morality has no standards.”

Wu Changqing finally heard what he wanted to hear.

Whether the law is reasonable or not, it is a standard. Governing society according to this standard will prevent society from falling into chaos.

But it won’t work according to morality, because morality doesn’t have an absolute standard.

Some people think that human traffickers should have their entire families executed, some think they should be sentenced to death, and some think they should be sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment.

Everyone has different standards in their hearts, so how should human traffickers be sentenced?

For example, adultery. Some people think that adultery is an unforgivable crime and should never be done. If it is done, the person should be drowned in a pig cage.

But some people think they are pursuing love and don’t think it’s a crime at all.

In this kind of situation where everyone has their own reasons, everyone has their own standards in their hearts and cannot be unified, so how should the crime of adultery be judged?

This is where the advantages of law come into play.

Regardless of whether a certain law is reasonable or not, it sets a standard.

Murder must be paid with life, and adultery must be punished with imprisonment.

The law clearly tells the world the rules, and everyone must abide by them, whether they agree or not.

Zhang San’s behavior was undoubtedly challenging the law and the authority of Great Hua. He obviously felt that Great Hua’s law was wrong and that he was right and just.

This kind of thinking itself has big problems, just like many landlords feel that their land, how much tax they want to collect, is their freedom, and they think they are just.

What was the result? Great Hua killed a group of bad gentry a few days ago, those landlords and gentry who exploited the people extremely cruelly.

There were also those unscrupulous merchants who liked to hoard goods in the past. Some of them felt that their things, they could sell if they wanted to, and not sell if they didn’t want to. This was their freedom.

What was the result? Great Hua was not soft-hearted towards these unscrupulous merchants. A large number of people had their homes confiscated and were exiled.

Countless examples prove one thing: what you think is right doesn’t mean you can do it. Things that the law stipulates are not allowed to be done cannot be done.

Regardless of whether this law affects one’s own interests, in fact, no law can simultaneously meet the interests of everyone.

The rich especially dislike the law of ‘a life for a life’. They would rather the court issue ‘money for a life’.

…

Seeing the change in Wu Changqing’s expression, the other ministers immediately regretted it and their eyes were filled with envy, jealousy, and hate towards Qin Cao.

Some clever officials immediately echoed Qin Cao’s statement and then severely criticized Yue Jun.

It was a joke that a local official was kidnapped by public opinion and arbitrarily changed his judgment.

How could someone with such an unshakeable will be qualified to be the head of a county?

However, to everyone’s surprise, Wu Changqing didn’t criticize Yue Jun. Instead, he sympathized with Yue Jun and the difficulties of the local officials.

Wu Changqing said, “This can’t be entirely blamed on Yue Jun. Times have changed. In the past, there weren’t many things to manage when being an official in a place, and they weren’t complicated. But now the county magistrate not only has to manage things like public security and education, but also economic development. A person’s energy is limited and it’s impossible to be proficient in every aspect…”

At the end of his speech, Wu Changqing revealed his ultimate goal.

He said, “So I decided to add a department, called the court, specifically responsible for hearing cases. Judges are only responsible for hearing cases, and the county magistrate can concentrate on administrative affairs…”

Hearing this, the clever ministers understood.

His Majesty was not showing sympathy for Yue Jun or his subordinates, he was clearly dividing power.

How could a county magistrate without the power to hear cases still be able to do whatever he wanted in the local area?

If speaking didn’t require paying a price and bearing the consequences, then all the local officials in the world would say, ‘Your Majesty, we are not tired, we are not tired at all.’

However, the many ministers in front of Wu Changqing didn’t dare to refute Wu Changqing’s order at this time.

Not to mention that Wu Changqing found a warm and affectionate reason to sympathize with his subordinates, even if Wu Changqing directly and rudely ordered to add a court organization, the ministers would not dare to refute it.

“In this way, will it greatly increase administrative costs?”

The Vice Minister of Revenue asked.

Adding a court to a county would mean adding hundreds of thousands of officials to Great Hua.

“As His Majesty said, after adding the court, local officials will have more time to manage economic development, and naturally they will be able to earn more money for the court.”

Someone immediately stood up to firmly support Wu Changqing’s order, but no one knew whether this was flattery or genuine agreement.

After a debate, the addition of the court was finally decided.

Under Wu Changqing’s guidance, the newly added court was quite decent.

There were judges for trials, prosecutors for filing charges, and lawyers for defense…

Of course, none of this was important. What was important was that the power of local officials was severely weakened.

Local officials were naturally extremely dissatisfied.

The county magistrate used to be the referee, and at the same time, he could be an athlete himself.

But now, the referee has become a judge, and they can no longer do whatever they want as before.

“Yue Jun, that trash, deserves to die.”

Local officials didn’t dare to say Wu Changqing’s fault, so they could only catch Yue Jun and scold him.

If Yue Jun hadn’t been too useless and hadn’t handled the case well, giving Wu Changqing an excuse, how could this have happened?

In the twenty-ninth year of Yongxing, Qin Cao was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court.

At the same time, a large number of specially trained judges and prosecutors went to Anhui, Jiangxi, Guangdong and more than a dozen other Central Plains provinces to take office.

Great Hua was too big, so only these dozen or so provinces established courts in the early stage, because there weren’t enough talents.

There was a lot of content in the special training, and the core was one thing: they were directly under the central government, and were not subordinate to local officials. They didn’t need to give face to local officials, and they were not allowed to protect each other.

Knowing the law and breaking the law is a more serious crime.

Depriving local officials of judicial power was only the first step. Wu Changqing would then deprive them of their law enforcement power, that is, establish a police department.

After several months of thinking, Wu Changqing had determined the direction of the reform, which was constitutional monarchy.

Completely abandoning the throne was not feasible, at least not at this stage. Officials all over the world would not agree.

The successful examples of reform in Wu Changqing’s original time and space were all carried out because of external pressure and were forced to do so.

Or the original privileged class was swept away.

Now that Great Hua had unified the world, there was no motivation for reform at all. The privileged class wanted to maintain the status quo, or become more feudal and traditional.

Therefore, Wu Changqing could only engage in a half-baked reform, ruling the country by law and establishing the concept of the constitution as the greatest.

Using legal means to protect the privileges of officials at all levels, while also restricting the power of officials at all levels.

Anyone who violated the law had to accept the corresponding punishment, and could no longer escape punishment in thousands of ways as before.

Wu Changqing wanted to establish the concept that everyone is equal before the law. This concept was relatively easy to be accepted by the people of the world. After all, there was the concept that the emperor should be punished the same as the common people if he broke the law, which was a model recognized by many people.

The people of the world could understand that everyone is equal before the law, but they couldn’t imagine what a country without an emperor would be like, and they couldn’t accept it even more.

…

When the courts were first established in various places, they hardly received any cases.

It was very simple. The people didn’t know what a court was at all. In the eyes of the people, this was still the government.

Therefore, the work of the courts in various places after their establishment was not to hear cases, but to do publicity work and popularize the law to the people.

This was a very hard work. Fortunately, the first batch of court officials were carefully selected and had undergone special training. There were almost no useless people who were just waiting to die.

Moreover, they were also clear in their hearts that a newly added department was the easiest opportunity to be promoted in the early stage.

If they missed this opportunity, it would be difficult to be promoted in the future.

Ambitious people were working tirelessly at this time.

Under this hard work, some results gradually appeared.

In Foshan County, Liu Qizhuang, a garment manufacturer, plucked up the courage to walk into the court and submit a complaint.

The year before last, the nephew of the magistrate of Foshan County opened a garment factory, but unfortunately, due to incompetent management, he had been operating at a loss.

Seeing that the factory was about to close down, he could only turn to his uncle for help, using the power in his hands to forcibly seal Liu Qi’s factory and transfer Liu Qi’s original customers to Lin Rong’s factory.

Faced with this kind of thing, Liu Qi could only swallow his anger, after all, it was impossible for him to sue an official.

Otherwise, Foshan County Magistrate Wang Dawen would probably say, ‘Who is in the hall, why are you suing this official?’.

But now it was different. Liu Qi learned about the court’s policies and understood this policy, knowing that the court could restrain officials and was not on the same side as Wang Dawen.

So, Liu Qi chose to sue the official.

In fact, because Lin Rong was incompetent in management, those customers who were transferred to Lin Rong’s factory had greatly reduced their orders, and Lin Rong’s factory had once again fallen into a business crisis.

After Lin Rong changed his career, his new business had entered a stable period.

However, Liu Qi just couldn’t swallow this breath.

In May of the twenty-ninth year of Yongxing, the Great Hua Court accepted the first case of a commoner suing an official.

Because it set a precedent, this case received much attention.

Wang Dawen knew that the situation was very tight at this time, so naturally he didn’t dare to make any small moves and honestly cooperated with the investigation.

The facts were very clear and the evidence was conclusive, so this case was judged very quickly.

Lin Rong was found guilty of unfair competition, fined five hundred thousand, about half of his family property, and sentenced to one year in prison.

Wang Dawen was found guilty of using his position to engage in forced buying and selling, removed from all positions, and sentenced to two years in prison.

This sentence was relatively light, mainly because Wang Dawen had the circumstance of confessing leniently, and the whole case only infringed on Liu Qi’s economic interests and did not cause any harm to Liu Qi’s body.

Although the sentence was light, the impact was enormous.

A commoner actually won a lawsuit against an official, and Liu Qi had no background behind him, just an ordinary businessman.

The people and merchants were stunned. They found that they actually had the power to resist officials.

The officials were also stunned. They found that they were no longer high above, and were actually the same as those lowly people before the law.

Chapter 1147: Opportunity

“Outrageous! Since ancient times, it has been ‘punishments do not extend to high officials, and rituals do not apply to commoners.’ If we don’t have special privileges, then what was the point of studying diligently for over a decade?”

Ever since officials were also subjected to public trials in court like ordinary citizens, the gentry and scholars of the land had been in an uproar.

They simply couldn’t comprehend Wu Changqing’s decree, which violated tradition and even contradicted current social values.

At this time, Great Hua didn’t have the concept of equality for all. The notion that officials were superior wasn’t just held by the gentry; in fact, the common people also believed it.

However, while the common people didn’t understand Wu Changqing’s decree, they didn’t care, or even felt delighted, since the decree benefited them.

As for those dissatisfied gentry and scholars, they gathered together to complain.

Of course, they didn’t dare directly criticize Wu Changqing. Instead, they unanimously claimed that Wu Changqing was surrounded by treacherous individuals and that he was being deceived by wicked ministers.

Wang Lang’s angry rebuke resonated with most of those present at the gathering, but a few students didn’t readily agree, possessing their own independent thinking.

In their view, Wang Lang’s words were somewhat absurd.

The new policy only stipulated that everyone was equal before the law, but it didn’t mean that officials had no privileges.

In fact, the new civil law stipulated that officials of the second rank or higher could freely take two concubines, while officials of the seventh to second rank could freely take one concubine.

As for the common people, they could only take one concubine if their original spouse was infertile or had passed away.

This was an absolute privilege, a benefit of being an official.

However, those officials were still not satisfied, because previous dynasties also had similar laws.

However, the laws of the past were just empty words.

As long as one had money, regardless of whether they were officials or just ordinary landlords, they could take concubines, leading to a large number of bachelors in society.

Now, the laws hadn’t changed much, but the enforcement was surprisingly strict, which was what the officials hated.

If they strictly abided by the law, the enjoyment they could have would be greatly reduced.

It was a simple principle. Apart from those peerless geniuses and those with deep backgrounds, ordinary people in Great Hua today had to toil until they were at least thirty years old to become an official of the seventh rank or higher.

That was the period when a man’s ambition was at its peak, and his wife was like a tiger and a wolf. How many people would have the heart to take a concubine?

As for reaching the second rank, most people were already decrepit old men in their fifties or sixties. Even if they had the power to take concubines, they wouldn’t have the strength.

Through such laws, coupled with the influx of beauties from overseas, the Central Plains could almost guarantee that everyone could marry a wife.

Officials still had privileges, but the privileges were reduced.

While Wang Lang was still rambling on, another scholar laughed and said, “Brother Wang, there’s no need to be so angry. If you are well-versed in history, you will understand that the laws are very strict when any dynasty is first established, but as the dynasty stabilizes, the laws will naturally loosen.”

The generation that fought to establish the dynasty could endure hardship, and because they were afraid of hardship, they generally spoiled their children.

When this batch of second-generation officials came to power, they would naturally take the lead in corrupting the law.

“But how long will that take?”

Wang Lang said gloomily.

If he had to wait until he was old to see that day, what meaning would it have for him? Even if he took one hundred concubines by then, he could only sigh in vain.

What Wang Lang didn’t expect was that this day wasn’t far off.

A few days after their discussion, a car accident occurred in the capital. Several street racers crashed into a family of three on the side of the road.

The scene was tragic. The mother and child died on the spot, and the father was seriously injured.

Upon hearing this news, Wang Lang and others like him were immediately excited and overjoyed.

Because the driver was Dong Feng, the grandson of Dong Tianbao, a first-rank minister and commander of the Northern Military Region, and there were several other second-generation officials in the car.

Most importantly, the current Second Prince, Wu Yu, was also in the car.

Wang Lang and the others widened their eyes, waiting to see how the court would handle this matter.

If the prince took the lead in violating the law, then Wu Changqing’s talk of equality before the law was just bullshit.

If it were in previous dynasties, this kind of thing would be easy to handle: appease the victims and prevent them from suing the officials. In fact, no one would dare to complain in the past.

If one was accidentally killed by someone from the royal family, they could only accept their bad luck.

But now, Wu Changqing didn’t do that. He took this opportunity to further reinforce the concept of “equality before the law.”

He would severely punish Wu Yu and set a standard.

Even if a prince broke the law, he would be punished the same as a commoner. Which official would dare to think that they were above the law in the future? Did they think they were nobler than a prince?

After the car accident, Wu Changqing was very dissatisfied with the actions of the capital’s police department. They hadn’t even arrested Wu Yu and the others.

Even after Qin Cao issued an arrest warrant to Wang Hong, the director of the police department, Wang Hong remained unmoved and instead submitted a memorial to Wu Changqing for instructions.

Wang Hong might have wanted to please Wu Changqing or Dong Tianbao, or perhaps he was afraid of offending those above him because of his low rank. In any case, he didn’t act in accordance with the law.

This made Wu Changqing very dissatisfied.

On the other hand, Wu Changqing was very pleased with Qin Cao’s actions. Qin Cao didn’t adopt special methods just because the perpetrator was a prince, but continued to handle the matter impartially.

Only someone who didn’t understand social graces and was ruthlessly impartial could be a good judge.

Soon, Wang Hong was suspended from his duties and sent to the University of Political Science and Law for further study. He could only be reinstated after completing his studies.

This punishment was already very light. Wu Changqing took into account that Wang Hong was a person from the old era, and it was understandable that he hadn’t adapted his thinking in time.

The newly appointed director of the police department immediately arrested those who had fled the scene.

Dong Tianbao was very clever. Upon learning of the incident, he immediately returned to Nanjing without hesitation and personally escorted his grandson to the police station.

The director of the Department of Resources, on the other hand, chose to protect and resist the law.

As for Wu Yu, he was not captured due to the obstruction of his mother, Miao Ping.

It wasn’t until Wu Changqing personally issued an order that Wu Yu was detained.

The officials of the land were once again dumbfounded.

They had never heard that Wu Changqing disliked the Second Prince so much. Why was he so ruthless to his own son, directly taking such drastic measures?

Amidst the surprise, there was mostly panic.

They felt Wu Changqing’s determination.

They knew that they had to resist. Once Wu Changqing succeeded, they would no longer have judicial immunity in the future, and they would have to abide by the law. This was something they couldn’t accept.

Unfortunately, they didn’t dare to act tough. They could only try to persuade Wu Changqing to be lenient and spare the Second Prince.

Helping Wu Yu escape the sanctions of the law was helping themselves escape sanctions in the future.

Chapter 1148: When the Cunning Rabbit Dies, the Hunting Dog Gets Cooked

Miao Ping wasn’t colluding with the officials, but worried about her son, she naturally sided with them, taking the lead in pleading with Wu Changqing.

Crying, making a scene, and threatening suicide were the tactics of ordinary women. Miao Ping naturally wouldn’t dare be so outrageous. All she could do was act pitiful, kneeling outside the palace, begging for an audience.

“What are you worrying about? It wasn’t him who hit the person. He won’t be sentenced too severely.”

Wu Changqing tried to reassure her, but it had no effect.

Miao Ping sobbed, “Since ancient times, I’ve never heard of an imperial prince being imprisoned for such a small matter. I know Yu’er isn’t as outstanding as the eldest prince, nor as obedient as the fourth prince. It’s normal that you don’t like him. But no matter what, he’s still your own son…”

Miao Ping kept saying that Wu Changqing was punishing Wu Yu because he didn’t like him, not because Wu Yu had done something wrong.

It couldn’t be said that her thinking was ridiculous. After all, this was a mindset that had been passed down for thousands of years.

If this were in previous dynasties, her thinking would be completely correct.

As the saying goes, it’s better to fight with a smart person than argue with a confused one.

Some people just don’t understand, and no amount of explanation will help.

Wu Changqing didn’t have that much time to deal with Miao Ping, so he could only let her continue to worry and grieve.

Compared to the progress of the entire Great Hua, Miao Ping’s personal feelings seemed insignificant.

At Wu Changqing’s insistence, the hit-and-run case officially went to trial.

The prosecuting and defense lawyers engaged in fierce exchanges. The entire process was made public and publicized in newspapers, providing the people with a good lesson in law.

Of course, most people didn’t pay much attention to the process. They only cared about the result, whether the prince would be sentenced.

Even the main culprit, Dong Feng, didn’t receive much attention from the public.

Finally, after three days of debate, the judge announced the verdict.

Dong Feng was found guilty of manslaughter and fleeing the scene. Although he later turned himself in, he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.

This punishment could be considered very heavy. A young man in his early twenties would spend the next fifteen years, the most important stage of his life, in prison.

By the time he was released, he would definitely be out of touch with the times, and it would be questionable whether he could reintegrate into society.

No one dared to say that the sentence was light, especially since the defendant was Dong Tianbao’s grandson.

Dong Tianbao was a veteran who had followed Wu Changqing in rebelling against the Qing Dynasty from the early days, and he had made great contributions on the battlefield.

In the eyes of people with strong feudal ideas, such contributions could even offset some punishments.

But now, the laws of Great Hua showed that merit was merit, and fault was fault.

Dong Tianbao’s official position and treatment remained unchanged, which was his due for his contributions. Dong Feng’s fault was also punished, and no amount of merit could offset it.

The son of the department head of the Resources Department had also participated in the street racing, but he hadn’t been the one who caused the accident. Originally, a fine might have been enough, but his father chose to resist the law.

As a result, his father was dismissed and sentenced to one year in prison, and he himself paid a huge fine and was sentenced to six months of detention.

The other people who participated in the street racing were all fined and sentenced to three months, with suspended sentences.

Wu Yu was the organizer and initiator of the street racing. Even though he wasn’t the one who caused the accident, he had an unavoidable responsibility and was ultimately sentenced to two years in prison.

When Qin Cao announced the verdict, the scene was silent.

Although many people had expected this result, many still couldn’t believe it when it actually happened.

The saying “The Son of Heaven is subject to the same laws as the common people” had been around for thousands of years, but everyone knew it was just a slogan that had never been truly realized.

But now, Great Hua seemed to be moving in that direction.

Naturally, some people were happy and some were worried about this situation.

Most officials began to be more cautious in their actions, no longer as unrestrained as before.

The reason was simple: even if they lived modestly, they could legally enjoy many privileges and high incomes.

And risking breaking the law for petty gains would mean losing their official positions.

Losing their official positions was equivalent to losing everything. Except for a very few hotheads, no one would be so reckless.

Even if they were to break the law, it would have to be for huge, irresistible benefits before they would consider taking the risk.

Complete equality was still a long way off in Great Hua, but after establishing the principle of equality before the law, Great Hua had made considerable progress.

Some inferior elements in the market began to be eliminated, and some more capable people, supported by the law, began to emerge based on their own abilities.

However, the construction of the legal system was a long-term process, and it was impossible to see immediate results.

The changes in society, on the whole, were not too significant for the time being.

People who didn’t pay attention to these things might not even notice the changes.

However, the system gave Wu Changqing’s reform a very high evaluation, judging that this move greatly enhanced the national strength of Great Hua.

Or rather, judging that this move could greatly enhance the national strength of Great Hua.

In the system’s ranking, Great Hua’s comprehensive strength increased by one hundred and seventy points, surpassing the German Will, which was in fifth place, and rising to fifth place.

After dealing with the construction of the legal system, Wu Changqing then began to promote the retirement system for officials.

The people who had followed Wu Changqing in conquering the country had made many contributions, but it couldn’t be denied that there weren’t many wars left for Great Hua to fight.

Those meritorious officials who had mastered various military skills generally lacked the ability to govern and develop the economy when they held positions in local areas.

On the other hand, young people who had received modern education and came from schools were more suitable for governing local areas.

However, it didn’t make sense for people with merit to be unable to hold high positions, while those youngsters with no merit were promoted rapidly. It seemed particularly inhumane.

Therefore, Wu Changqing introduced the retirement system.

They would retire from their positions, but their treatment would remain unchanged, and they would still receive their salaries.

Getting paid without working was something many ordinary people dreamed of, but it was definitely not the dream of officials.

Power was a good thing, and no one would dislike it.

Even if they didn’t use their power to make profits, having power was still more enjoyable than not having it.

To give a simple example, as long as they still had power, others would respect them, fear them, and flatter them…

Once they lost their power, it would be difficult to enjoy that feeling of being surrounded by attention again.

Therefore, expecting those who had made contributions from the beginning to give up power was not an easy task.

Liu Bang killed Han Xin, Peng Yue, and Ying Bu…

Zhu Yuanzhang killed Hu Weiyong and Lan Yu…

Zhao Kuangyin was slightly better, using the “releasing military power with a cup of wine” method.

In short, they all had to force the meritorious officials to give up power, and even most people were unwilling to give up power even when forced, which led to bloody killings.

The previous emperors killed meritorious officials mainly to consolidate imperial power and prevent their subordinates from having too much power.

Wu Changqing’s imperial power was now extremely stable. Letting his subordinates give up power was only because many of the early officials’ abilities could no longer meet the needs of the times.

However, the result was that the meritorious officials had to give up power, and on the surface, there was no difference between the two.

Moreover, no matter how Wu Changqing explained it, others might not be convinced and would definitely think that Wu Changqing was trying to “release military power with a cup of wine.”

Fortunately, Wu Changqing’s methods seemed relatively gentle. At least he didn’t create false cases to kill people, but only let those who were “old” and “in poor health” retire.

Of course, the gentleness was only temporary. If those meritorious officials didn’t know what was good for them and refused to retire, no one knew what would happen next.

When Wu Changqing ordered the implementation of this system, Liu Hansan took the lead in setting an example and resigned.

Liu Hansan was only sixty-one years old now. This age was considered very old in the past, but because Great Hua’s medical conditions were excellent, and he took good care of himself, Liu Hansan at the age of sixty-one was still energetic and strong. If he really retired, he might even be able to give his twenty-year-old grandson a uncle.

He wasn’t too old, and his health was good, but Liu Hansan still resigned.

He knew his own limitations. Liu Hansan was originally just a centurion. Even that was granted by the late emperor, and his actual ability was very limited.

Although he had been studying all these years, he had only made some progress in military affairs, and he had barely managed to avoid making any major mistakes in his position with the help of a group of staff officers.

However, he had made many minor mistakes.

Therefore, Liu Hansan was able to retire gracefully.

In any case, he had a title and the treatment he deserved, and there was no possibility of further advancement.

If he didn’t retire now, what else could he do? What else could he do?

Like Liu Hansan, many meritorious officials took the initiative to resign, but better people were unwilling to give up power.

Wu Changqing naturally wouldn’t force them to retire. There was no need for that. He just needed to wait for them to make mistakes.

It was certain that they would make mistakes.

When the time came, he would use the banner of “equality before the law.” No matter how great their previous contributions were, those who should be removed would be removed.

If anyone dared to say no, Wu Changqing could retort, “I even dealt with my own son. Who do you think you are?”

…

“When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog gets cooked.”

Fang Zhongce was one of the people who absolutely refused to give up power. He had followed Wu Changqing when Wu Changqing attacked Suzhou. When Great Hua was founded, he had risen to the rank of battalion commander. By the time Great Hua unified the world, he had risen to the rank of commander of the South China Military Region.

In recent years, when there were no more wars to fight, he transferred from the military to the civil service system and became the governor of Annam Province, becoming a local warlord in Southeast Asia.

The further away local officials were from the central government, the greater their power in the local area.

Although Fang Zhongce couldn’t be considered an earth emperor in Annam, he was close to it.

How could he be willing to give up such power and return to Nanjing to become a fisherman?

“This has been the case throughout history. What the governor needs now is to be low-key, low-key, and even more low-key. You must not be the first bird to stick its head out. His Majesty is now waiting for that chicken to jump out and then kill the chicken to warn the monkeys.”

Fang Zhongce’s personal advisor reminded him.

The emperor also needed a reason to kill people, especially meritorious officials.

Therefore, as long as Fang Zhongce didn’t act recklessly and kept a low profile, Wu Changqing was unlikely to remove Fang Zhongce from his position on trumped-up charges.

“It’s difficult. The current official assessment is too strict. It’s difficult to even muddle through. Given the situation in Annam, economic development simply can’t compare to the Central Plains, and it can’t even compare to Korea and Japan. When the economic development is not good, even if His Majesty doesn’t say anything, the Ministry of Personnel can take the initiative to remove me.”

Fang Zhongce sighed.

In the past, it was possible to give gifts in the officialdom, and officials would protect each other.

Now, Great Hua’s control in this area is very strict, and there are very few such channels left.

To pass the assessment, you have to show real results.

“Why not apply to the central government for labor export? There’s a shortage of people in the other world. We have nothing in Annam, just a lot of people. And the people of Annam are not as precious as the people of the Central Plains. The compensation for the death of a Han soldier alone is sixty thousand, while we should be grateful if we give three thousand to the family…”

The advisor came up with a decent idea.

It was difficult to compete with the Central Plains in developing a proper economy in Annam. They had a large labor force but couldn’t use it effectively.

Fang Zhongce didn’t reply immediately. As a senior official, he had some understanding of the unspoken policies of the court.

There were some unpublicized unspoken rules in Great Hua, which was to control the number of non-Han soldiers, control the promotion channels for non-Han people, and ensure the absolute dominance of the Han people.

Joining the army was the most promising way for poor people to turn their lives around. If a large number of Annam people were allowed to join the army, even if half of them died in battle, the remaining people could rise from the bottom to the middle class, and a small number would even advance to the ruling class, gaining influence and power.

This was not allowed by Great Hua.

They couldn’t allow too many Annam people to become soldiers, but they could let them do hard labor. He heard that many mines had been discovered in the other world, and a large amount of labor was needed.

Fang Zhongce finally sent a report, hoping that Annam could export labor.

Fang Zhongce was struggling, and so were others.

The governor of Siam Province submitted a memorial to Wu Changqing, saying that he was not good at politics and hoped to return to the army to continue leading troops and fight in the other world.

He had previously chosen to transfer to the civil service because he felt that the world was at peace and it was time to enjoy himself.

But now, after discovering that he was incompetent in governing the local area and facing the risk of being retired, he chose to return to the army.

Returning to the army was hard work and dangerous, but at least it was a field he was good at, and as long as he was fighting outside, he could temporarily maintain his power.

Not only him, but many people who had retired from the army hoped to return to the army, and a large number of active officers submitted reports hoping to go to the other world to fight.

When the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog gets cooked. If they didn’t want to be cooked, then going to a place where there were rabbits was also an option.

They didn’t dare to resist Wu Changqing’s power, but only hoped to continue to be hunting dogs and continue to play a role.

Wu Changqing mostly agreed to these applications.

In any case, the other world did need manpower to speed up the development.

On the other hand, he also needed to appease his subordinates. He didn’t want to be as inhumane as Zhu Yuanzhang.

Chapter 1149: Two Realms Exchange

A large number of humans poured into the otherworld, and simultaneously, a large number of otherworld humans entered Earth.

These people could perform exceptionally well in certain jobs, such as bodyguards, high-voltage power line inspectors, firefighters, lifeguards…

Their cultivation levels weren’t high, but they were much stronger than Earthlings. They ran faster, jumped higher, were especially good at climbing, and most importantly, were cheap.

To get an Earthling to regularly inspect and repair high-voltage power lines, you had to pay a premium, or “life money,” before anyone would dare to go.

But otherworlders only needed ordinary wages. Their physiques were special, making them less prone to accidents and less likely to die.

Those with higher cultivation levels were hired by wealthy tycoons as personal bodyguards.

In a society where firearms were restricted, these people’s combat power seemed very reliable.

As for the otherworld women who came to Earth, a large portion of them entered brothels, the modeling industry, and the film and television industry.

Their appearances might not necessarily be more outstanding than Earth humans, but they had the “otherworld” label, which was like a buff, making them more popular.

The influx of otherworld humans brought many conveniences to Great Hua, but it also brought some troubles and hidden dangers.

Liu Gao, the newly appointed police chief of the capital, submitted a memorial, stating that he wanted to restrict the entry of otherworld humans because two theft cases had occurred last month, and the suspects were two otherworlders.

This caused great trouble for the capture operation. These two guys climbed and jumped along the rooftops, moving like martial arts masters, and escaped for three or four kilometers.

The police department couldn’t mobilize helicopters, and no one had the suspects’ skills.

In the end, it was only because the two suspects got lost and with the help of two experts from the army that they were finally subdued.

Although they were successfully subdued, these two cases brought a sense of crisis to Liu Gao.

Two otherworld suspects were already so troublesome. If more otherworld criminals appeared in the future, the safety of the capital would be worrying.

Therefore, Liu Gao hoped to control the entry of otherworld humans, but his proposal was opposed by some ministers.

Wu Changqing also didn’t support it. He had witnessed the dangers of isolation.

Preventing otherworld humans from entering, always fantasizing that this would protect one’s own small plot of land, was absolutely impossible.

When other forces attacked, Great Hua would have no ability to resist.

Therefore, what Great Hua should do was not to prevent the entry and exchange of otherworld humans, but to increase the training of its own citizens.

Currently, Great Hua already had five divisions undergoing cultivation, and the first division to start cultivating had already produced Soldier-level experts.

At this rate, Great Hua would be able to cultivate a group of King-level experts in ten years.

Development was the only hard truth. Wu Changqing would not choose to stagnate.

Even he himself now had to spend a lot of time cultivating, and with abundant resources, he had also broken through to the Soldier level. His strength was already enough to lift a thousand- Jin giant cauldron.

Unless it was a sneak attack, it would now be difficult for anyone to kill him head-on.

Liu Gao’s proposal was not approved, and the two-realm exchange continued to be hot.

Soon, an emerging industry, or rather, an industrial chain, appeared: two-realm smuggling.

The main smuggled goods were food containing spiritual energy and refined spiritual pills.

These were all controlled items in Great Hua, uniformly purchased and sold by the government.

Only those with a clean background who could pass the political review were qualified to buy them and cultivate.

Those who had grudges with the government, harbored hostility towards the government, and the aristocratic privileges that had been suppressed, overseas nobles were not allowed to cultivate.

Once these people mastered superpowers, it would be a threat to Great Hua to some extent.

Even if they couldn’t shake the foundation of Great Hua, they could still affect Great Hua’s public security and increase Great Hua’s administrative costs.

Therefore, the spiritual pills that Great Hua uniformly purchased were given to those loyal to Great Hua.

However, where there was demand, there was a market. This was an eternal truth.

Great Hua hadn’t thoroughly cleaned up the old era, leaving behind too many remnants of the past.

These people lacked political status, but they didn’t lack wealth.

Relying on hundreds or even hundreds of years of heritage and knowledge inheritance, many nobles of the old era could still earn considerable wealth in the new Great Hua.

After having money, they wanted to protect their wealth.

This required strength, that is, force.

They couldn’t get combat warships or armies, and now that there was an opportunity to improve their individual physical strength, they naturally wouldn’t let it go.

Therefore, they offered prices ten times higher than the market price to smugglers to purchase spiritual pills.

Such huge profits led many people to take risks.

Gradually, these people formed an industrial chain in an invisible way.

Not only otherworlders were involved, but more Great Hua people were also profiting from it, betraying Great Hua.

Wang Er, who was just twenty years old, was one of them, responsible for transporting spiritual pills from the otherworld to Great Hua in this industrial chain.

Of course, he knew that this was illegal, and his parents had repeatedly taught him to be loyal to Great Hua, loyal to the imperial court, and that the current emperor had given them a good life.

After all, before being liberated by Great Hua, Wang Er’s parents were once on the verge of starvation and even prepared to drown Wang Er to save food.

Later, Great Hua attacked, liberated Guangdong and Guangxi, killed many landlords and wealthy households with numerous crimes, and distributed some land to the poor, which allowed them to survive.

Later, the imperial court sent iron farm tools, purchased local specialties, and guided the people to plant cash crops, making the lives of the local people better day by day.

The older generation who came from the Great Ming and Qing Dynasty eras were very clear about this change and were naturally grateful to Great Hua.

Unfortunately, after ten or twenty years, the new generation no longer had this feeling.

For example, Wang Er couldn’t directly feel that life was much better now than it was twenty years ago because he didn’t remember what happened twenty years ago.

He only knew one thing: everyone around him was living better than him, and his family was the poorest in the village.

Of course, Wang Er wouldn’t think that this was because he didn’t study hard back then. He was more inclined to think that there was a problem with this society, that there was unfairness in this society.

For example, the children of rich people could take over the family’s factory when they grew up, while he had to work in the factory when he grew up.

The children of officials were taught by their parents how to become officials since they were young, while his parents taught him how to farm since he was young.

University graduates could find good jobs as soon as they left school, while he could only do hard labor…

All kinds of things made Wang Er feel injustice and anger.

Therefore, he didn’t have much gratitude towards Great Hua, but instead had a lot of resentment.

Therefore, he didn’t have any moral burden or psychological pressure when it came to violating the law and opposing the government.

His only worry was being caught.

Fortunately, Wang Er was just a small figure at the bottom, with limited value, otherwise he would have been targeted by otherworld forces long ago and developed into a traitor.

Wang Er carried a travel bag and a violin across the customs. The violin contained some spiritual pills.

According to past experience, customs officers would only check the travel bag.

The violin was a valuable item, and customs officers couldn’t possibly dismantle it for inspection.

Wang Er had successfully brought in spiritual pills several times using this method and earned a lot of money.

Unfortunately, he miscalculated this time. He didn’t expect the customs to upgrade its detection methods.

At this time, there was a large black dog at the customs inspection point, sniffing the luggage of passengers.

This was a specially trained police dog that would bark wildly when it smelled the aura of spiritual energy.

The spiritual energy emitted by the spiritual pills was very weak, and human noses couldn’t smell it, but dogs could.

As expected, when the black dog sniffed Wang Er, it began to bark wildly at the violin.

Wang Er didn’t panic because he had limited knowledge and didn’t realize the seriousness of the problem at this time. He didn’t know that he had been exposed.

It wasn’t until two policemen held him up, one on the left and one on the right, that Wang Er shouted, “What are you doing? What are you doing? I haven’t broken the law. Everyone, look, the government is arresting people randomly.”

Even when death was imminent, Wang Er didn’t stop causing trouble for the government and tried to smear the government’s image.

The surrounding people were weak, and they would naturally side with the weak, suspecting whether the government was bullying people.

“Alright, young man, be honest. The more arrogant you are now, the more miserable you will be later.”

An older police chief advised.

Although Wu Changqing had proposed the concept of equality before the law, the construction of the legal system was a long process. The judges were doing a good job in sentencing, but other aspects needed to be improved.

For example, the protection of the human rights of prisoners was still very rough in Great Hua at this time.

Things like extracting confessions by torture also happened from time to time, and beating prisoners was even commonplace.

The old police chief advised him kindly, but Wang Er didn’t appreciate it and continued to shout. The crowd also gathered around like they were watching a show. Although they didn’t dare to really confront the government, they could still give Wang Er some courage.

Seeing that the situation was not right, the old police chief dismantled the violin in front of everyone and searched out several packets of spiritual pills from it, saying, “Everyone, see clearly, these are prohibited items that the imperial court strictly prohibits from being carried privately. This guy is a smuggler. Our Great Hua government is not the government of the old era. We will not wrong a good person, nor will we let go of a bad person…”

With conclusive evidence, the people’s sympathy for Wang Er instantly vanished, and they no longer interfered.

At this time, Wang Er realized the seriousness of the matter and suddenly felt like the sky was falling.

Although he had many dissatisfactions with Great Hua, he also knew the power of Great Hua.

Under the heavens, all were the territory of Great Hua.

Only the otherworld had some other forces.

What would be the end of confronting such a dynasty? Wang Er didn’t know before, but now he panicked.

In the police station, Wang Er confessed everything with tears and snot, interspersed with many hardships.

What family poverty, old mother above, no wife and children below, he was forced, was deceived…

The old police chief had seen too many of these things, these kinds of people.

As long as these guys were released, they could immediately turn into fearless hooligans.

No matter how Wang Er cried, the punishment he deserved couldn’t be escaped.

However, the sentencing was a matter for the future. The top priority now was to destroy the den and arrest Wang Er’s accomplices.

The arrest process was not smooth because there were otherworld cultivators among the criminals, and their strength was not bad.

This guy climbed walls and walked on roofs, carrying a broadsword and having a head-on confrontation with the police holding pistols and sniper rifles. The unsuspecting people once thought this was a movie being filmed.

It wasn’t until stray bullets injured the crowd that the people were frightened and fled in all directions.

On a large battlefield, martial arts were almost useless in front of thermal weapons.

However, in this kind of small-scale battle, the role of martial arts might not be inferior to thermal weapons.

Of course, the premise was that the martial arts were particularly high and the speed was particularly fast, just like this otherworld expert, who didn’t give the police a chance to aim at all, and was moving every second.

It was not easy for the police to shoot him unless they used machine guns to sweep, but the police were not equipped with such large-scale weapons.

The police didn’t have a good way to deal with the otherworld expert, but the otherworld expert’s threat to the police was very great. As long as they got close, it was almost one knife for one person.

Fortunately, this guy still had some rationality and didn’t dare to kill wantonly, and wanted to leave some room.

In the end, relying on the large number of people and the specially made fishing nets, the police subdued this guy.

Under the confession of Wang Er and others, those who bought these prohibited worries were also found out one by one, and then Great Hua arrested these people.

Although they had not rebelled or betrayed the country, they obviously had a strong awareness of confronting the government.

After arresting these people, the police station began to dig deeper.

As long as they found other criminal evidence, they would be severely punished.

Even if they didn’t find it, the crime of buying prohibited pills alone could put them in jail for ten years and confiscate all their property.

This was a method aimed at those people of the old era, but there were no absolutes. Not all buyers were this kind of people. Some buyers simply wanted to become stronger and live longer.

Whether these people should be treated differently was a big problem.

If they were not treated differently, confiscating all their property and sentencing them to ten years in prison would be too heavy, after all, the other party only bought some prohibited items.

But if they were to be treated differently, how to identify them would also be a troublesome matter.

Some officials even said that the people’s desire to become physically stronger and live longer was not a problem, and they even had this right.

This couldn’t be said to be wrong, but it was untimely.

Allowing the people to cultivate was a matter of time, but definitely not now.

At least the army and the police responsible for public security had to have absolute strength before the control could be relaxed.

If the people were all stronger than the police and had more combat power than the army, wouldn’t the world be in chaos?

Therefore, although the official who proposed to relax the control was not punished in the end, he was also labeled by the Ministry of Personnel as useless, and his promotion path was blocked.

This kind of person wouldn’t cause any trouble if he held a small official position, but if he really grasped the power, he would have to mess things up.

Chapter 1150: Massive Infrastructure

In the thirtieth year of Yongxing, Great Hua began implementing its fourth Five-Year Plan.

In the new Five-Year Plan, scientific and technological development remained the top priority.

Although the emergence of the Otherworld pointed out a second path for human development, the Great Hua Central Government unanimously agreed that science and technology were still more important.

The reason was simple: spirit stones were too scarce.

Moonrise City’s own supply was barely enough, so naturally, there wasn’t much left for trade.

Although Great Hua had opened its own plantations in the Otherworld, and they were quite large, covering hundreds of thousands of mu.

However, compared to Great Hua’s three billion population, the output of these hundreds of thousands of mu was pitifully small.

Entering an era of universal cultivation was simply impossible; even the Otherworld itself couldn’t achieve that.

Ordinary people would still make up the majority, and they would still rely on technology. Not to mention ordinary people, even powerful cultivators couldn’t live without technology.

No matter how strong they were, if they wanted to watch TV, they had to buy a television; they couldn’t conjure up images with magic.

If they wanted to communicate remotely, they still had to use telephones and telegraphs. There were probably only one or two cultivators in the entire Moonrise City who could transmit sound over a thousand li.

Therefore, technology was still indispensable. Great Hua’s future direction was still technology-oriented, with cultivation as a supplement.

The new Five-Year Plan required that all major cities around the world must have electricity.

Currently, only the Central Plains and major overseas cities had electricity.

Cities like Memphis and Minneapolis, which were third-tier cities, had not yet popularized electricity.

The urbanization rate must reach thirty percent.

Currently, Great Hua still had more rural population than urban population.

The bottom line was that industry was not developed enough, so there were only so many job opportunities in the cities. Those who couldn’t find work could only return to the countryside, resulting in a waste of labor.

In the new Five-Year Plan, industrial development was still the main focus.

Many officials felt that Great Hua was already developed enough. In the past, going thousands of li away was like being exiled, but now it only took two or three days by train.

If you took a plane, it would only take a day, which was unimaginable for people in the past.

However, Wu Changqing was not satisfied. As someone from the twenty-first century, he felt that Great Hua was still very backward.

The country only had two north-south highways, and the national highways only reached the major cities in the Central Plains.

Many county towns didn’t even have provincial roads, and as for the villages, most of them were still dirt roads, and waterways were non-existent.

This was far from enough.

In the first year of the new Five-Year Plan, Great Hua launched the construction of six highways: Nanjing to Paris, Nanjing to Hanoi, Nanjing to Delhi, Nanjing to Vladivostok, Los Angeles to New York, and New York to Mexico City.

At the same time, fifty national highway projects were launched, with thirty in the Central Plains, eight in Europe, seven in North America, and five in other regions.

These projects alone employed one million people.

However, compared to Great Hua’s three billion population, this amount of manpower was insignificant.

Road construction required steel, cement, and various engineering vehicles.

This package of highway projects boosted the prosperity of many other industries.

A large number of cement plants and steel plants sprung up, and some plants received orders even before they were built, which was ridiculous.

Highways and national highways were only large-scale projects.

More common were the construction of county and provincial roads, and rural roads.

These rural road projects were not large, but there were a large number of them.

In terms of total volume, rural roads actually exceeded those large-scale projects.

A nationwide road infrastructure construction project sounded exciting and wonderful, but the money required was astronomical.

Fortunately, Great Hua had now completely unified the national currency, and the financial industry had made great progress.

Therefore, Great Hua could use financial means to solve this problem.

First, the state over-issued currency, and then charged vehicles after the highways were built.

Printing more money would lead to currency devaluation, which would lead to a decline in its purchasing power, which was a disguised form of exploiting the people.

However, as long as the degree was controlled appropriately, the problem would not be too big.

Because the construction of those roads would definitely promote economic development and create more products, which would increase the purchasing power of the currency.

To give a simple example, if Great Hua over-issued currency by one times, the money in the hands of the people would be devalued by half, and five yuan lychees would cost ten yuan to buy.

However, if the roads were not well built, the cost of transporting lychees from the South to the North would be greatly reduced, and the price could eventually be reduced to two yuan and fifty cents, which was normal.

Many commodities were expensive because of transportation costs. For example, bananas, which were still expensive in the North, were left to rot on the trees in Hainan Island, and no one would collect them for one cent per jin.

Of course, over-issuing currency was a complex matter, and there would definitely be many problems in practice.

For example, the money was not evenly distributed to the people, but was earned by a small number of people…

Great Hua was now feeling its way across the river, trying all kinds of methods, and correcting them in time if it found something wrong.

Compared to Great Hua’s rapid economic development, another transmigrator, Aurangzeb, was caught in an endless cycle of counterinsurgency warfare.

Relying on the system’s powerful functions and the starting point of his royal status, Aurangzeb quickly established a powerful army in India after transmigrating, drove away the colonizers, and began to expand.

Because Aurangzeb did not pay much attention to domestic development and focused on expansion, he unified the world faster than Wu Changqing, and entered the Otherworld first, and expanded wildly in the Otherworld.

Currently, Aurangzeb’s Mughal Empire had a larger territory than the Great Hua Empire, but in the system’s rating, its overall strength was far inferior to Great Hua because the Mughal Empire was in chaos, and uprisings were breaking out all over the world.

Aurangzeb had obviously not studied history well, and was still engaged in colonialism, relying on squeezing the people of various places to obtain benefits and development.

India was well developed by him, and was the center of global wealth.

However, there was no development in other places, and the people were about to starve to death.

Even though the Mughal Empire’s military was extremely strong, uprisings continued to occur in various places.

Large-scale uprisings broke out in the Central Plains, Europe, and the Americas, and the number of rebels totaled millions.

Aurangzeb could only put out fires everywhere, sending troops thousands of miles away to suppress them.

This logistics line was crushing the Mughal Empire’s economy, and the Mughal Empire began to enter a period of decline.

Wu Changqing did not know what was happening in the Mughal Empire. He only knew that the Mughal Empire’s strength rating was constantly declining, and he had lost an opponent.

However, there were still four people ahead of Wu Changqing.

Those people had better starting points than Wu Changqing, so their development was naturally faster.

Moreover, these people were not as stupid as Aurangzeb, and were still practicing colonialism.

James’s British Empire had already established a capitalist order around the world, promoting rapid economic development.

Louis’s France was even more ruthless, directly establishing a democratic republic.

Of course, the most outstanding was Zhu Yujian. This transmigrator may have been proficient in revolutionary theory in his previous life, so he had already completed the redistribution of land around the world.

This process was naturally extremely difficult, so his expansion speed was not fast, and his current overall strength was weaker than the British Empire.

However, his potential was undoubtedly the greatest.

Wu Changqing also had his own advantages, that was, he had the most comprehensive communication with the Otherworld.

Other transmigrators were more inclined to completely conquer the Otherworld, and lacked some opportunities, which led to not much communication with the Otherworld, only hostility and combat.

Among the various transmigrator forces, Wu Changqing’s Great Hua Empire had the most cultivators.

When these people cultivated to a certain level, coupled with Great Hua’s various advanced weapons, they could gain an advantage against other forces.

However, it was still far from being adjacent to other forces. The major forces were still holding their breath and practicing their internal skills, developing themselves.

In the thirty-second year of Yongxing, Great Hua added two highways, fifteen national highways, and six railway lines…

The transportation level was close to the level of 1940.

The production of synthetic ammonia exceeded one million tons, close to the level of 1950, and the production of steel exceeded one hundred million tons, close to the level of 1950.

In the thirty-third year of Yongxing, the first local area network was born in the Jinling Science and Technology Park.

The computer team had already used its own local area network and initially used computers for office work.

In the thirty-fourth year of Yongxing, the mobile phone, “Big Brother,” was born, and Great Hua’s communication industry reached a new level.

In the thirty-fifth year of Yongxing, Great Hua completed its fourth Five-Year Plan and laid a solid foundation.

The national transportation capacity has been significantly improved, and communication has become more convenient.

With the opening of the two major arteries of material exchange and information exchange, Great Hua’s economy continued to maintain rapid development.

At the same time, Great Hua’s development in the Otherworld has also made considerable progress.

Great Hua cooperated with Moonrise City to jointly promote and completely divide the Sun Worshipping Kingdom.

Moonrise City obtained eight million square kilometers of land, and Great Hua obtained five million square kilometers of land, which was one-twentieth of Great Hua’s mainland area, which was definitely not small.

If all five million territories could be planted with spirit rice, it would greatly solve the problem of Great Hua’s shortage of spirit stones.

Unfortunately, this was impossible.

Most of the five million territories were mountainous and dense forests, and less than one-fifth of the time was suitable for cultivation.

Moreover, Great Hua and Moonrise City only surrendered the people of the Sun Worshipping Kingdom, but could not completely surrender those wild beasts and monsters.

Humans could communicate with language, but there was no way to communicate and get along with monsters and wild beasts.

Either kill all these wild beasts and monsters, or be killed by these monsters and wild beasts. There was hardly a third choice.

Faced with the massive number of monsters and wild beasts, Moonrise City still used the old method, building cities and occupying fertile places.

As for the monsters in the deep mountains and old forests, Moonrise City pretended not to see them.

From time to time, a city was looted by monsters, which was not a big deal for Moonrise City.

Anyway, they had been doing this for thousands of years.

Great Hua would naturally not take such a path. What they pursued was complete control.

However, five million square kilometers was too large, comparable to the entire Central Plains. Even if tens of millions of people were thrown into this place, they would not make a splash.

What’s more, Great Hua had only immigrated five million people to the Otherworld. It was impossible to control this territory with so few people.

In the thirty-sixth year of Yongxing, one of the items in Great Hua’s fifth Five-Year Plan was to immigrate thirty million people to the Otherworld.

This was a very large project.

Not to mention how these thirty million people would survive in the Otherworld, it would be difficult to transport these thirty million people to the Otherworld, let alone transport so many supplies.

After receiving this task, the Immigration Department immediately began recruiting people, focusing on the Central Plains, followed by Korea, Japan, and Annam.

In short, the higher the degree of Sinicization, the more qualified they were to go to the Otherworld.

Great Hua had not gone to places like Africa, which were uncivilized and barbaric, to recruit people at all.

Great Hua’s policy there was very simple, compressing the living space of the local people. Almost all the coastal areas were occupied by Han people, and the local people were driven into the mountains.

If it weren’t for Wu Changqing’s obstruction, Great Hua might have carried out massacres like the Europeans did to the Native Americans.

Wu Changqing was not so extreme. Although he did not like the local people, he did not have the idea of exterminating them.

His choice was to ignore those people and let them live primitive lives in the reservations, letting them fend for themselves.

Thirty million people was really too many, and there was a shortage of Han people in the Central Plains.

After all, apart from those who were eager to change their lives, others were not willing to take risks in the Otherworld. Wouldn’t it be nice to stay in the Central Plains and enjoy a comfortable life?

Helpless, Great Hua could only recruit a large number of Koreans, Japanese, and also recruited some from India and Europe.

Would these people pose a threat to Great Hua after they grew stronger in the Otherworld? Wu Changqing was not too worried about this.

Great Hua had unified the world for more than ten years, and had been conducting Sinicization education for more than twenty years.

At least the Koreans had been completely Sinicized and regarded themselves as Han Chinese.

Anyone who dared to say that they were Koreans would definitely get angry.

Japan was similar. Except for a very small number of stubborn elements who still missed their Japanese identity, most Japanese people had changed their surnames to Han surnames, took Han names, and spoke standard Chinese.

Unless they actively admitted that they were Japanese, no one could tell their identity from their appearance.

The proportion of Han Chinese in the army still occupied an absolute advantage, as high as seventy percent.

Korea, Japan, and Annam accounted for another ten percent, and these were reliable forces.

Indians accounted for five percent of the army, but Indians had always been accustomed to being submissive, and it was almost impossible for them to oppose Great Hua. They were also reliable.

The degree of integration in Europe was the lowest, but they accounted for less than ten percent of the proportion, and were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of strength.

What’s more, the high-level officials of Great Hua were all controlled by Han Chinese, as were various important departments.

If other places tried to rebel, there was absolutely no possibility of success.

Chapter 1151: Gold Rush

In the thirty-seventh year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s Spring Festival film lineup included a highly anticipated movie, Love Ark.

Great Hua’s first color film was one of the selling points touted by the production company.

Another reason for the widespread attention was that the story was based on true events.

Just last year, a cruise ship bound for another world unfortunately struck an iceberg, leading to its sinking.

Of the three thousand-plus passengers on board, only one thousand two hundred were rescued, making it the most devastating shipwreck in Great Hua’s history.

At the time, news reports about the incident were everywhere, leading to high public awareness.

Some clever directors immediately visited the survivors, gathering stories from them to prepare for a film adaptation.

Among them, the love story of a girl and a boy was most appealing to the director.

The girl was named Liu Yan, from a declining scholarly family.

Her grandfather was a great literary figure during the Ming Dynasty, but by her father’s generation, he refused to integrate into Great Hua, and his old knowledge was useless, leading to the family’s decline.

By Liu Yan’s generation, the family was no different from ordinary people.

At most, they still had the title of a scholarly family. Moreover, this title was not always one of admiration, and it was often a reason for others to make fun of them.

In short, the Liu family was in dire straits, so Old Master Liu could only choose to use Liu Yan’s beauty to try to arrange a marriage with another declining family to obtain some relief.

The ancestors of the other family were even more illustrious, being descendants of Kong Zhenyuan, a Grand Secretary of the previous dynasty.

Although they had also declined, they were still countless times stronger than the Liu family.

The Kong family was not doing well in Great Hua, and they still had some ambition, preparing to move their entire family to another world to start anew.

The Liu family was forced to board the ship as well.

The male protagonist of the film, Wang Ping, came from an ordinary family. He was disobedient from a young age, did not study hard, and did not learn any money-making skills, insisting on pursuing art, learning painting and musical instruments.

As a result, the barriers to entry in these two fields were very high. Wang Ping had decent talent, but no place to use it, so he was naturally poor.

To change his situation, Wang Ping also chose to board the ship and venture into another world.

This choice was somewhat impulsive. Relatively speaking, Great Hua had a richer artistic atmosphere than the other world.

In Great Hua, he could barely avoid starvation by painting for people. If he went to the other world, Wang Ping estimated that he could only paint for monsters.

However, impulsiveness brought Wang Ping good luck. He met Liu Yan on the ship by chance.

Liu Yan wanted to commit suicide by jumping into the sea because she did not want to marry into the Kong family, but she was rescued by Wang Ping.

Liu Yan did not know if it was because she wanted to retaliate against the Kong family, or because she wanted to resist patriarchal power, or for some other strange reason.

In short, she took a liking to Wang Ping at first sight, and the two got together.

However, Wang Ping’s luck in this lifetime was used up at this point.

As soon as the Kong family discovered their affair, Wang Ping was captured and beaten severely, followed by the cruise ship hitting an iceberg.

In the end, Liu Yan selflessly saved Wang Ping, and Wang Ping gave Liu Yan the opportunity to live.

The love story was interspersed with various scenes of the immigrant journey, and the film as a whole was quite good.

After its release, the film was a huge success, with box office revenue breaking new records.

And through this film, the audience gained a better understanding of the stories related to immigration, and the various hardships and struggles of immigrants.

After the cruise ship sank, more than seventy percent of the rescued one thousand-plus people chose to give up going to the other world; they were all frightened.

They had not even reached the other world yet, and they had already encountered such a terrible accident.

It was said that there were many fierce beasts and monsters in the other world, which would be even more dangerous.

Although it was difficult to become rich in Great Hua, at least they would not starve to death.

Even, if they were willing to go to Europe or North America, their Han ethnicity could even be superior to others, and they could live well.

Not to mention anything else, it was easier for Han men to pick up girls in bars than other races.

After all, as long as they married a Han man, their children would be Han, and they could completely get rid of their inferior status.

Most people gave up the adventure, but more than three hundred determined individuals boarded the next ship to the other world.

These people were truly fearless of death, and their behavior was equivalent to those in later generations who had just experienced an emergency landing on a plane, and then immediately transferred to another plane to continue flying.

In fact, the probability of accidents on ships in this era was no lower than that of airplanes in later generations.

After entering the other world, these warriors were immediately taken to the Pioneer City talent market.

There were job openings for drivers, mercenaries, miners, farmers, exotic animal breeders…

Various positions were available, and anyone with a skill could find work. If they didn’t have any, they could still sell their labor.

Zhao Yu, as someone without any special skills, could only choose mining.

Along with others, he entered the Far Reach Group and was taken to the company’s base for some basic training.

As he listened, Zhao Yu noticed something was wrong.

The instructor did not teach any mining knowledge, but instead kept teaching them how to avoid exotic beasts, how to escape, and how to ask for help if they got lost.

In the end, Liu Yu understood that the work of Far Reach Group was not mining, but stealing ore.

The black gold ore they needed did not require much digging and was mostly exposed. However, this mining area was located in the territory of exotic beasts.

“Why not ask the army to kill those exotic beasts before mining?”

Zhao Yu asked a very naive question, and the veterans couldn’t help but laugh.

Of course, there were also mining areas that had been cleared by the army, but those mining areas had naturally become owned, and taxes had to be paid for mining, and service fees had to be paid for asking the army to protect them.

The army was a very popular entity in the other world, with more business than they could handle, so the service fees were naturally very high.

If they hired the army to clear the mining area and provide protection, the bulk of the profits would fall into the hands of the army, and there would be little profit for these bosses.

But going to the wild to steal ore was completely different. The only cost was some compensation for the miners who died.

Over the years, some people had accurately calculated that stealing ore in the wild was more cost-effective than mining in areas cleared by the army.

As for those who died from stealing ore, what did it have to do with the boss? They had legally provided compensation.

Capital was so ruthless. Some kinder bosses who couldn’t bear to see their employees lose their lives chose to ask the army for help, but the cost of the mined ore was too high.

Under the low-price strategies of other companies, these high-cost ores were completely uncompetitive, and the bosses soon went bankrupt.

After bankruptcy, they either returned to Earth disheartened, or became emotionless capitalists from then on.

Today, except for a few state-owned enterprises that ask the army for help, other private companies are basically doing the work of stealing ore, and there is not a single company that is mining properly.

The instructor did not explain the logic to Zhao Yu, but it was not a big problem. As long as Zhao Yu stayed here for a few months, he would understand everything.

Of course, that was if he could live that long.

In the end, Zhao Yu stayed.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of death, but he couldn’t do any other work besides mining.

There were some jobs as waiters in restaurants in Pioneer City, but the income was not comparable to mining.

If it wasn’t for getting rich, Zhao Yu wouldn’t have come to the other world.

If he was willing to be a waiter, he would have stayed in the capital to be a waiter.

After two days of simple training, Zhao Yu set off with the main force.

There were thirty trucks and more than five hundred people in their group.

On the way, the old miner Wu Wenbin boasted to Zhao Yu and others: “Don’t be nervous, the probability of encountering monsters is not high, probably once every three times you steal ore.”

Everyone’s eyes widened when they heard this. A thirty percent chance was not high?

Wu Wenbin continued to boast: “I have experienced three monster attacks, and I survived all of them. If you want to survive, you better follow me later. When I work, you work, and when I run, you run immediately. Don’t worry, there are not many monsters here, so it doesn’t matter if we can’t outrun the monsters, as long as we can outrun the others.”

“…”

Everyone was stunned again. What he said sounded creepy.

The trucks stopped outside the valley because the sound of the cars was too loud and could easily alarm the monsters in the valley.

All the vehicles were lined up in a row and turned around, with the front of the cars facing the way they came, ready to start and escape at any time.

The drivers didn’t even need to mine, staying in the car on standby.

Zhao Yu and others entered the valley with shovels and plastic baskets, and were forbidden to talk once they stepped into the valley.

Although the sound of talking was very small, it was unlikely to have any impact.

However, holding back from speaking was not a difficult thing to do. Everyone was here to make money, not to chat.

Entering the mining area, Zhao Yu found a large number of sparkling black gold stones on the surface of the mountain.

These stones could be refined into special steel, which had both very high hardness and good ductility. It was very strange, but its use value was very high, and many places needed this metal.

With one shovel, Zhao Yu immediately earned fifty yuan, which was about the daily income of an ordinary worker in the capital.

Mining gold was weak, this was the real lucrative industry.

Zhao Yu had just arrived and worked very honestly, filling the basket very diligently.

Seeing this, Wu Wenbin couldn’t help but want to slap Zhao Yu on the head. Working so hard used up his strength, and it would be tragic if he couldn’t run when the time came.

Wu Wenbin poured out half of Zhao Yu’s ore while Zhao Yu was confused, and then called Zhao Yu to leave the valley.

After pouring it on the truck, Wu Wenbin did not return immediately, but instead drank water and rested.

He had to keep his body in the best condition at all times so that he could run faster than his companions when he encountered danger. This was his secret to surviving three monster attacks.

This time, Far Reach Group was lucky, and no monsters appeared. Everyone returned fully loaded without any danger.

The new miners were naturally very happy, which was easier than they had imagined.

The old miners breathed a sigh of relief.

They were not as optimistic as the newcomers, because they knew that if monsters did not appear, nothing would happen, but if they did, someone would die.

Every time they came back alive, they had turned around at the gates of hell.

Returning to Pioneer City, Zhao Yu received his first salary.

The good thing about money earned by risking one’s life was that there were never any delays in payment.

If they dared to delay even this kind of money, it would really cause public outrage.

Zhao Yu received one thousand yuan at once, which was about his previous monthly income on Earth.

Zhao Yu had never thought that making money would be so easy.

He felt that he had come to the right place, and the smile on his face could not be hidden.

The other newcomers were also similar, and Wu Wenbin could only shake his head as he watched.

He had seen too many people like this, and later those people died.

No matter how much money there was, you had to have a life to spend it.

“Let’s go, Uncle will take you to find some fun.”

Wu Wenbin suspected that there were still many virgins among these greenhorns. It would be too tragic if they died without ever tasting a woman’s taste.

“I won’t go, it’s a waste of money.”

Zhao Yu used to be frugal, but he forgot that he was now a big earner.

“Hahaha, Little Zhao, do you know that there is a famous saying in Pioneer City.”

Another worker couldn’t help laughing when he heard Zhao Yu’s words.

“What famous saying?”

Zhao Yu asked.

“Make money in the other world and spend it in the other world, no one can take it home. In the other world, no one knows whether tomorrow or the accident will come first. If you don’t try to enjoy yourself, then this life will be too much of a loss.”

Sailors in the age of great navigation, soldiers in the war years, and adventurers in the other world now.

All high-risk industries have one thing in common, that is, they spend money like water and have a particularly strong consumption ability.

Because they live a precarious life and may lose their lives at any time, savings are naturally meaningless.

During the age of great navigation, sailors alone could support countless brothels and casinos in the ports.

Now Pioneer City is similar, with extremely developed entertainment and prostitution industries, and consumption is very high.

“Boy, this time you were lucky not to encounter monsters, but no one can say what will happen next time. If you have family, then send some money home first, and spend the rest as much as possible in the next few days.”

Wu Wenbin continued to guide the rookies, which shocked Zhao Yu.

Confused, he could only listen to the teachings of his predecessors, first sending five hundred yuan home, and then following his predecessors to the city’s ‘Taste of Home’.

This was a mid-range brothel, with fifty yuan for a quickie, one hundred and fifty for a full set, and three hundred for an overnight stay, limited to one person. If two people shared, the girls were generally unwilling and had to add money.

The girls in Taste of Home were very beautiful, as for the other high-end brothels in the city, the girls were not just beautiful.

What nobles, duchesses, royal descendants, otherworld fairies…

The play was very flavorful.

Of course, ordinary customers could not determine whether these people were nobles or fairies.

However, these stores were also doing particularly well.

Many people just wanted to save face and try it once, so that they could boast to their friends that they had slept with a princess or fairy in the future.

It was still a bit difficult for Zhao Yu and the others to go to high-end brothels, so mid-range places were their favorite.

With the modesty of Wu Wenbin and others, Zhao Yu first chose a white girl.

Similar to brothels were casinos. Whether they were lustful or not, most people would eventually go to casinos.

People who dared to come to the other world and dared to steal ore were often very gambling.

Gambling was an entertainment tailored for them.

Zhao Yu rarely went to casinos before, but now he was in such an environment, and he was unconsciously influenced by this environment.

Everyone was betting, and if he didn’t join in the fun, he would feel out of place.

On the fourth day of coming to the other world, Zhao Yu successfully integrated into the other world…

Chapter 1152: A Record of Adventures in Another World

Zhao Yu’s first time in a casino turned out to be quite lucky. While most of his fellow workers lost money, he actually won a little over one thousand yuan.

Zhao Yu found that he was liking this other world more and more.

Here, making money seemed incredibly easy, as if he could get his hands on it without any effort.

Leaving the casino with his coworkers, Zhao Yu walked towards the alleyway when he heard a woman crying.

“What do you want to let me off?”

The woman sobbed.

Zhao Yu and the others took a few more steps and saw a man and a woman arguing. Everyone recognized the man as one of their coworkers.

Zhao Yu was about to ask what was going on when Wu Wenbin pulled him back.

“Don’t meddle in other people’s business. You can’t do anything about it anyway. That guy is too addicted to gambling and has taken out high-interest loans. He’s going to lose his wife sooner or later…”

Wu Wenbin briefly explained Liu Chao’s story.

Wu Wenbin and the others went to the casino to relax and vent their frustrations, treating the money they lost as entertainment expenses.

But Liu Chao went there to win money, and he was unwilling to accept his losses, always wanting to win it back.

As long as a gambler has this kind of thinking, there’s no need to worry about not being able to borrow money. There are people who specialize in lending money near the casino.

Liu Chao was someone who had already fallen into this trap. The high-interest loans he owed had snowballed to fifty thousand yuan.

If he could resist gambling from now on, work hard, and be lucky enough to mine dozens of times without dying, he might be able to turn things around.

In fact, before entering the casino today, Liu Chao really thought that way.

But after receiving his wages today, with money in hand, his thoughts changed again.

Mining dozens of times was too slow, and it still required luck.

If he really had luck, why bother mining? Wouldn’t it be faster to go to the casino and make a few bets?

In short, after a not-so-intense mental struggle, Liu Chao entered the casino again, lost everything, and added a new debt.

“Old Liu, let’s talk about repayment methods.”

The two loan sharks from before walked up to Liu Chao, slapping him on the back of the head with a grin.

Liu Chao didn’t dare to show any dissatisfaction with this slightly humiliating way of greeting him.

“Don’t go!”

Liu Chao’s wife was frightened and scared, but more than that, she was heartbroken and desperate.

Liu Chao was dragged away, and his wife didn’t dare to resist, following behind him, begging the two loan sharks.

This kind of begging was heard by some people around, making Liu Chao feel very embarrassed.

He scolded, “Go back! I’ll take care of things.”

He spoke confidently, but Liu Chao’s wife knew her own situation, knowing that Liu Chao had no ability to handle this matter anymore.

Even if Liu Chao risked his life to work, it wouldn’t be worth fifty or sixty thousand yuan.

After all, the other world had no shortage of desperate people, and a human life wasn’t worth fifty or sixty thousand yuan.

Zhao Yu and the others could only pretend not to see this scene and walk away. The world never lacked tragedies, and ordinary people had no ability to manage so much.

They could only hope for the wise and invincible Emperor, only when the Emperor ordered the rectification of injustices in the world could things change.

The next day, Zhao Yu didn’t see Liu Chao again.

According to other, better-informed coworkers, Liu Chao had gone to do exploration work, which was even more deadly than stealing ore.

Stealing ore at least had accumulated experience and a relatively mature process to minimize casualties.

Exploration, on the other hand, meant going to a completely unfamiliar environment, where the types of alien beasts were completely unknown, and there were countless other unknown risks.

In short, very few people who went to explore survived for more than a month.

Zhao Yu just casually asked about Liu Chao’s situation. In fact, he wasn’t particularly concerned about him. After all, he himself wasn’t doing very well, and he was also risking his life.

The Faraway Group would continue to operate today, but Wu Wenbin decided to rest in the dormitory and didn’t want to go to work.

There were quite a few people like Wu Wenbin. They bought strong liquor, peanuts, and broad beans.

They drank and chatted together, or the coworkers gambled a little with playing cards.

In Wu Wenbin’s words, when you have money, you should live for the moment, one day at a time.

They wouldn’t bother to continue working until their pockets were empty, because every time they went to work, it meant going to the gate of hell.

People who hadn’t experienced that kind of danger, like Zhao Yu, were full of thoughts about money.

But for people like Wu Wenbin who had survived many near-death experiences, they had to indulge in pleasure every time they survived to forcibly avoid losing out.

Zhao Yu hadn’t experienced that kind of thing, so he naturally couldn’t understand Wu Wenbin’s state of mind, so he still chose to go to work.

He wanted to make money as quickly as possible. He had already planned that as long as he earned fifty thousand yuan, he could return to Earth, open a factory, and live a comfortable life.

After Zhao Yu and the others set off, the people who stayed behind even opened bets on how many people would return alive.

Without Wu Wenbin, this enthusiastic senior, there was much less conversation between the coworkers on the road.

This made Zhao Yu feel a little unaccustomed and a little uneasy.

Although Wu Wenbin was talkative and loved to brag, listening to him impart those survival skills gave him a sense of security.

Zhao Yu quickly shook these distracting thoughts out of his mind. He didn’t think he would be so unlucky that he would encounter alien beasts today.

Everyone with a fluke mentality thought this way, but reality was extremely cruel.

After Zhao Yu and the others made their seventh round trip between the convoy and the valley, a rustling sound came from the valley.

If Wu Wenbin were here, he wouldn’t even need to think when he heard this sound. He would turn around and run immediately.

Wu Wenbin might not necessarily know that it was alien beasts coming, but he had been in the other world for many years and had developed an instinct.

As soon as he heard any unusual movement, he would immediately escape first.

But Zhao Yu, this newbie, didn’t have this instinct. When he heard the noise, he instinctively looked in the direction of the sound, trying to understand what was happening.

Then he saw an unforgettable scene: a group of giant snakes with scythe-like forelimbs were emerging from the forest.

“Run! It’s praying mantis snakes!”

Someone shouted, and then everyone dropped the tools in their hands and ran towards the convoy.

As long as they got on the car, they still had a chance to escape.

Although the speed of the car wasn’t as fast as these praying mantis snakes, these praying mantis snakes generally wouldn’t chase relentlessly.

Although he had practiced this kind of scene many times in his mind, the newbies really couldn’t run immediately. Most of them would be stunned for a moment, and a few would even have trembling legs.

Zhao Yu was okay. Apart from almost stumbling and falling, his reaction was quite fast.

Experienced people ran with their heads down, while some people with poor mental quality always liked to look back while running, as if seeing the distance would make them safer.

In fact, only running fast was safe.

Zhao Yu didn’t look back, but he heard screams behind him.

Obviously, someone had been caught up by the praying mantis snakes.

Zhao Yu once again unleashed his potential, and his speed increased a bit.

But other newbies weren’t so lucky. Several newbies who fell behind were caught up by the praying mantis snakes. The lucky ones were pierced through the body by the scythe-like forelimbs, while the unlucky ones had their heads chopped off directly, their bodies separated.

However, their final results were similar, they would all become food for the praying mantis snakes.

These human bodies were especially to the taste of alien beasts, and they were basically eaten clean, without being wasted.

Zhao Yu arrived in time to the car that had already started, but he didn’t feel any luck, because he found a group of two-nosed elephants appeared on their retreat route.

Zhao Yu had heard that the alien beasts in the other world had very high intelligence, and different species even knew how to cooperate.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yu almost burst into tears, feeling that his life was in danger today.

However, Zhao Yu was lucky. This group of two-nosed elephants wasn’t here to hunt, they were also fleeing.

And the ones chasing them were the Second Regiment of the Ninth Division of the Huaxia army, a unit that had just been transferred to the other world not long ago.

After a short period of training, they began to take on the task of clearing alien beasts from the territory.

They were also humans, but the gap between soldiers and Zhao Yu was too big.

Main battle tanks, 14.7mm heavy machine guns, and 28mm automatic cannons were extremely effective against ordinary alien beasts.

An armor-piercing round landed on a two-nosed elephant, and the two-nosed elephant was directly knocked down by the huge impact, and the armor-piercing round exploded.

The skin of this two-nosed elephant was tough enough, being hit by an armor-piercing round only blasted out a small pit, and hadn’t even injured the internal organs.

However, more large-caliber bullets landed on this wound, and the fallen two-nosed elephant didn’t last long.

The praying mantis snakes hadn’t been attacked yet, but they instinctively knew the danger and quickly fled into the forest. Zhao Yu and the others were finally safe.

However, in just a few minutes, more than forty of the five hundred or so ore thieves died, a mortality rate of nearly ten percent.

If the army hadn’t appeared in time, the casualties would have been even greater.

“What about these ore thieves? Should we teach them a lesson?”

A staff officer in the Huaxia army asked the regimental commander.

As the ruling class of Great Hua, they were very clear that all natural resources within Great Hua belonged to the imperial court.

This place had already been included in Great Hua’s territory, and the minerals here were naturally the resources of the imperial court. These ore-stealing companies had definitely not obtained authorization and were clearly stealing the imperial court’s wealth.

If this were on Earth, privately mining would result in being arrested and sentenced to three to five years at least.

“Where do we have the energy to deal with them? Focus on the pursuit and be sure to eliminate or drive away the large alien beasts in this area. The next batch of immigrants will arrive soon, and there isn’t enough land suitable for cultivation.”

The regimental commander said.

This was, after all, another world, and the laws of Earth couldn’t be fully applied. They had to consider the reality of the situation.

Stealing ore was a common phenomenon here. If they really wanted to crack down on it comprehensively, it would take a lot of energy.

The army didn’t pay attention to the Faraway Group, and Zhao Yu and other survivors returned to Pioneer City smoothly.

In the following days, Zhao Yu was still in a state of fear and didn’t go to work again.

When he completed his psychological construction and was ready to continue to take risks, he was told by Wu Wenbin that the area had been cleaned up by the imperial court and troops were stationed there.

In other words, they couldn’t go mining there anymore.

Alien beasts were fierce, but their intelligence was limited. It was still possible to steal ore under the eyes of alien beasts.

But stealing ore from the Great Hua government was more difficult than stealing ore in the wild.

“What should we do? Does that mean we’re unemployed?”

Zhao Yu asked.

No matter how dangerous this job was, it was still a way to make money.

“Wait for the company to find a new mining area, or go to a regular company to be a miner. Although the salary is a little lower, at least it’s safe,” Wu Wenbin said.

Going to a regular mining company only paid one hundred yuan a day, only one-tenth of what they made before.

After earning a lot of money, going back to do that kind of work, not everyone could accept this psychological gap.

Like Wu Wenbin, he would rather lie down and sleep than go mining.

“Let’s find a proper and stable job. I heard that the imperial court has mobilized a large number of troops this time, saying that they want to completely clean up this large area in the North and completely incorporate it into Great Hua’s rule. In other words, there won’t be any black mines in the future, and stealing ore won’t last long.”

Another, better-informed coworker shared the gossip he had heard.

“Damn it, the imperial court isn’t willing to give us a way to get rich.”

A coworker complained dissatisfiedly.

“You can’t say that. There were black mines to steal before, but who got rich? I think His Majesty wants to protect our lives. Anyway, I’m tired of risking my life. I’m ready to go to a regular mining company.”

“There are still ways to get rich. The Flying Cavalry Camp is recruiting people. Those who aren’t afraid of death can become mercenaries. The income is higher than stealing ore, and there’s even a chance to get elixirs for cultivation and become a martial arts master, an unparalleled expert.”

…

The crowd discussed their future paths and then went their separate ways.

Zhao Yu and Wu Wenbin chose to become mercenaries in the Flying Cavalry Camp. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to join the army, but the threshold for joining the army was relatively high, and they had missed the opportunity.

Joining a private mercenary group was much simpler. Basically, anyone who was strong and sturdy could join.

If they didn’t know combat skills, the company would provide special training.

In short, apart from not having the treatment of a regular army, they earned more than a regular army.

Of course, the mortality rate of mercenaries was also higher, and their heavy equipment was far inferior to that of the regular army.

On the eighth day of arriving in the other world, Zhao Yu became a mercenary.

In the few days in the other world, he experienced more big things than he had in a month or even a year on Earth.

Forced by this environment, he was also growing rapidly.

Chapter 1153: War of the Planes

It was the fortieth year of Yongxing. Wu Changqing was fifty-nine years old.

It was rare to live to seventy in ancient times. A seventy-year-old in ancient times was like a centenarian in the twenty-first century. Although they existed, they were rare, and it was difficult to find one even in several villages.

In the past, if a place had a seventy-year-old, the local officials could use it as a political achievement.

After all, it showed that the local life was good.

Unknowingly, Wu Changqing had reached the age of sixty. Liu Hansan and Wang Dayong, two of his earliest followers, had passed away in the previous two years.

Li Shaobin, who was seventy-five years old, was also very old and could die at any moment.

Others, such as Dai Zhijun, Dong Tianbao, and Tao Dongcheng, had also passed away. Very few of the first generation of rebels in the court remained.

Not to mention the ministers, even Wu Changqing’s eldest son was forty-one years old.

From the moment he became aware, he had been told that he had a chance to become the crown prince and emperor in the future.

He had been waiting for decades, and he was almost old enough to have grandchildren, but the succession was still far away. He had already given up on the idea.

After all, Wu Changqing had cultivated top-level techniques from another world, and his cultivation was now infinitely close to the King level, and his physical functions had been greatly improved.

If it weren’t for the records of Wu Changqing’s birth date, who would believe that he was a sixty-year-old man with his radiant appearance?

No one would doubt that he was a thirty-year-old young man.

Just a few days ago, because most of the concubines in the harem were old and there were not many young concubines, Wu Changqing took in another young girl.

This action clearly told the world that he was not only still energetic, but also very energetic.

The first generation of princes had already given up the idea of succession and were all concentrating on cultivation, wanting to live longer.

In the past, human lifespan was limited, so everyone was keen to pursue power, fame, and wealth.

But now that there was a way to pursue longevity, pursuing longevity was the first choice.

Even those who were keen to pursue power were doing so in order to use their power to obtain more resources, better cultivation, and then live longer.

After more than ten years of development, Great Hua had almost completely controlled the five million square kilometers of territory in the other world, cleared out those alien beasts that were a threat to humans, and tamed two alien beasts that were not so ferocious by nature.

With a vast territory, the annual refining volume of spiritual energy pills in Great Hua had increased rapidly, but it still could not meet the needs of the entire Great Hua.

Therefore, in Great Hua, you couldn’t necessarily buy spiritual energy pills even if you had money. Great Hua implemented a rationing system for this stuff.

Officials of different ranks could receive different amounts each month.

Taking a seventh-rank official as an example, they could only receive three pills per month, which was probably enough for half a month of cultivation.

The higher the strength, the greater the amount needed.

In addition to officials, scientific researchers also had rations. These were valuable talents, and naturally, the longer they lived, the better.

However, scientific researchers did not have much time to cultivate.

Even with the allocation of pills, no experts had been born among them.

However, as long as they persisted in taking them and exercised from time to time, at least their physical fitness had been significantly improved.

In addition to officials and scientific researchers, the remaining stable way to obtain spiritual pills was to join the army.

Key training armies had spiritual pill rations, but it was not easy to be the focus of training. First of all, the political review must be passed, and at the same time, you must be smart and talented.

As for ordinary people, they could also buy spiritual energy pills with money, but the quantity was very small, limited to one pill per person per month.

Of course, these were all legal channels.

Where there are people, there is society, and where there are interests, there will be people taking risks.

Great Hua had been cracking down on smuggling all these years, but a large number of spiritual energy pills still flowed into the black market.

Those rich people could obtain enough spiritual pills by spending a lot of money.

In theory, the number of spiritual pills that ordinary people could obtain was equal, but in fact, most of the spiritual pills still flowed into the hands of the rich.

Wu Changqing actually knew about this phenomenon, but he was powerless to change it.

There were some things that he couldn’t control.

For example, a poor person used his quota to buy spiritual pills but didn’t use them, preferring to live a few years less in exchange for money to enjoy the present.

This was their own choice, and the government couldn’t interfere.

In the forty-first year of Yongxing, Great Hua encountered other human forces in the other world for the first time.

Not alien humans, but humans from other plane worlds, to be precise, another transmigrator, Aurangzeb’s Mughal Empire.

Wu Changqing was excited to get this news.

After waiting for so many years, he could finally fight against opponents of the same level.

The efforts of these years of development were for this day.

Wu Changqing decided to crusade against the Mughal Empire, conquer another plane of Earth, expand the territory, and increase its strength.

However, a reason was needed before the fight.

Although it was possible to attack the other party for no reason, the rank-and-file soldiers would lack a reason to fight to the death.

Sacrifice yourself for the emperor’s great achievements?

Not many people had this kind of awareness.

A unit that was afraid of fighting to the death would definitely not have combat effectiveness.

Therefore, the propaganda department took action first, reporting extensively on the news of another plane, focusing on the fact that the Han people in another plane were being ruled, exploited, and oppressed by the Indians.

Good heavens, as soon as this argument came out, most of the people of Great Hua exploded.

Those useless Indians actually dared to ride on the heads of the Han people. How could this be tolerated? They must be liberated.

The propaganda department also reported on Aurangzeb’s brutal rule and various昏庸deeds.

Most of them were fabricated. After all, Great Hua had not actually sent anyone to investigate another plane.

However, coincidentally, the content compiled by the propaganda department was not too wrong about Aurangzeb.

This guy was indeed昏庸. He did not bring a better life to the people, implemented brutal rule in the country, and executed all rebels.

Under these propaganda, most of the people were demanding to send troops.

The public opinion in the Central Plains was the strongest, followed by Korea and Japan, and even the people in Europe and the Americas were supporting Great Hua’s dispatch of troops.

The reason was very simple. The status of the conquered places was definitely not as good as theirs. At that time, they would not be at the bottom of society, and they would also have objects to oppress.

Only a small number of people did not agree, or remained silent, that was the South Asian subcontinent region.

Even if they had long regarded themselves as part of Great Hua, they also knew that they were not Han people and were inferior to Han people when facing them.

And now, another plane actually had a force dominated by the Indian race that unified the world. They were actually quite happy in their hearts. A small number of people fantasized about going to that plane and experiencing the enjoyment of being first-class citizens.

Now that Great Hua was going to conquer there, they didn’t dare to say it, but they were still somewhat unhappy in their hearts.

However, the power of these people in Great Hua was extremely limited, and their opinions were often ignored, and this time was the same.

After the propaganda, Great Hua began to mobilize troops, conscripting those retired soldiers back into the army, and a large army and a large amount of supplies began to enter the other world.

This was a huge project. Fortunately, Great Hua had now integrated the power of the world, and no matter how big the project was, it was not a problem.

In March, Great Hua made contact with the Han people of the Mughal Empire.

In April, Great Hua marched into the Mughal Empire under the banner of rescuing compatriots.

In June, an army of two hundred thousand entered the Mughal Empire’s territory in the other world and saw the city built by the Mughal Empire.

“Is this the enemy’s construction level?”

Tao Xiangjun, the commander of the vanguard division and the second son of Tao Dongcheng, couldn’t help but complain when he saw the city wall built by the Mughal Empire.

The construction level of this city wall seemed to be still at Great Hua’s level thirty years ago.

“In the Mughal Empire, resources are more valuable than people, and machinery is more valuable than people. Therefore, this city was not built with reinforced concrete, but with adobe bricks, purely piled up by manpower. Your army’s artillery can blast a hole with one shot…”

A resistance fighter from the Mughal Empire introduced the situation of the Mughal Empire.

Tao Xiangjun and others gasped when they heard this.

Originally, they used to think that Great Hua’s division of humans around the world into three, six, and nine classes was a bit bullying, but now that they saw the practices of other forces, they suddenly felt that their dynasty was too benevolent.

Like the Mughal Empire, they completely did not regard people from other places as human beings, but completely tamed them as livestock.

“Faced with such oppression, didn’t you rise up to resist and build cities for them?”

A Huaxia army officer couldn’t help but ridicule the resistance fighter Xue Zhicai.

“We lack a heroic figure like His Majesty. Although there are many resistance fighters in various places, they often fight on their own, attacking each other and fighting for power. Faced with the Mughal Empire’s powerful military strength and advanced weapons, naturally, they can’t make any waves.”

Xue Zhicai explained awkwardly. Great Hua led Huaxia to unify the world, but they were conquered. Such a comparison was really embarrassing.

“There is no need to mention the past. Now that our dynasty’s army is here, you don’t have to worry about weapons and training. If you still don’t make any achievements…”

Tao Xiangjun said.

It was already very difficult for Great Hua to transport troops to the other world, and then to the Mughal Empire’s territory, and then to the Mughal Empire’s plane. This logistics line was extremely long.

With Great Hua’s national strength, it could not send too many troops here.

Liberating the Mughal Empire still depended on the Han people of this plane. Great Hua could only support some weapons and personnel training.

“With the support of Great Hua, we will definitely expand the territory for His Majesty.”

Xue Zhicai was full of confidence.

The previous resistance was unsuccessful mainly due to the lack of a backbone and the lack of advanced weapons.

And now with Great Hua as the leader and with the support of Great Hua, he did not think there was any difficulty in overthrowing the Mughal Empire.

“Tell the Second Regiment, they can attack.”

Subsequently, the sound of artillery fire rang out, and Great Hua fired the first shot.

Chapter 1154: An Opponent of the Same Caliber?

Rumble!

A massive explosion shattered the usual tranquility.

“What are their origins?”

The Governor-General of Singapore and Malaysia, Su Shima, lowered his binoculars and asked his subordinates, trembling.

Whether on Earth or in this other world, this was the first time Su Shima had encountered such a formidable enemy.

Hundreds of tanks, hundreds of cannons, and aircraft – a fully modernized army.

Hearing Su Shima’s question, the subordinate was even more nervous than Su Shima.

Because he had failed in his duty. He hadn’t detected even a trace of intelligence about such a powerful enemy beforehand, which was simply unbelievable.

“Perhaps it’s another faction from this other world.”

The subordinate speculated.

“Bullshit! The humans of this other world follow the path of cultivation. We’ve never seen them with tanks and cannons before. If the other world had a technological civilization, those cultivators couldn’t possibly be completely unaware…”

Su Shima rebuked angrily.

The situation of the Mughal Empire was different from that of Great Hua. Wu Changqing had clearly told his subordinates about the existence of another plane, while Aurangzeb had not.

As a result, Su Shima hadn’t even considered that possibility, and naturally couldn’t understand why such a force would suddenly appear.

“Could it be some rebel army from Earth?”

The subordinate guessed again, almost infuriating Su Shima to death.

If the rebels on Earth had this kind of strength, wouldn’t it be better to directly attack Delhi? Why bother going through all the hardships to transport it to this godforsaken Singapore and Malaysia in another world?

This subordinate’s abilities were severely lacking, but there was nothing he could do. Who told him to be born into a noble Brahmin family?

Even if his position was higher, Su Shima, as a Vaishya, couldn’t punish him.

“Never mind all that, prepare for battle.”

Su Shima stopped dwelling on the enemy’s identity and prepared to fight first.

The Mughal Empire had stationed one hundred thousand troops in Singapore and Malaysia. The quantity was definitely not small, but the quality was not so good.

Of the one hundred thousand, only sixty thousand were from the Indian peninsula, and the other forty thousand were auxiliary troops from Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and Europe.

These people would not be loyal to the Mughal Empire. Under pressure, they might fight a favorable battle.

But once their main force couldn’t hold on, these auxiliary troops might rebel on the spot and turn their guns around.

This kind of thing had happened many times on Earth.

Without Su Shima wasting words, after being attacked, the garrison instinctively and spontaneously counterattacked.

However, this kind of uncoordinated counterattack was more like boosting morale.

Before even calculating the Huaxia army’s artillery positions, their cannons had already begun firing.

Of course, this was blind firing, a waste of ammunition.

And not long after they fired, their positions were exposed.

The Huaxia army’s artillery then focused on bombarding the Mughal army’s artillery positions. As long as they took out the Mughal army’s artillery, Great Hua wouldn’t need to launch a strong attack. They could use artillery to bully the Mughal army unilaterally.

Shell after shell landed on the Mughal army’s artillery positions, and countless screams rang out.

“Transfer, transfer!”

The Mughal army commander shouted.

The position coordinates had been exposed. With inferior firepower, not transferring would mean becoming a living target.

Artillery was precious and couldn’t be consumed like infantry.

The commander shouted to transfer, but only a few artillery pieces moved.

The reason was simple: the logistics and supplies had previously been the responsibility of the auxiliary troops.

And before the battle began, Xue Zhicai’s people had been colluding in the army, preparing to stand by and watch, even preparing to stab them in the back at any moment.

The world had suffered under the Qin for too long. Those auxiliary troops weren’t quite sure what kind of force the Huaxia army was, whether they were reliable, or whether they would be more brutal than the Mughal army.

However, at this moment, they chose to stand on the side of the Huaxia army, preparing to avenge their past grievances first.

When the Mughal army artillery tried to transfer, these auxiliary troops began to flee, and some even raised their weapons and directly fought the Mughal army that was blocking them.

Before long, the Mughal army’s Number One artillery position was completely destroyed.

The other artillery positions had not yet been exposed and destroyed, but they didn’t dare to fire anymore.

What use was artillery that didn’t dare to fire?

The Huaxia army’s artillery bombarded them wantonly for several hours. The Mughal army’s positions and city walls were severely damaged, and most of the firing points were destroyed.

Then, the Huaxia army launched a general offensive, sending in infantry.

Tanks in front, infantry behind – standard combined arms tactics.

Su Shima could confirm that this force was definitely not a native force from the other world.

These tactics were exactly the same as theirs.

“Governor-General, let’s retreat first.”

The subordinate advised.

With the Huaxia army’s combat power and numbers, even someone with a less-than-brilliant mind could see that this battle was doomed to failure.

“Bastard, suppress this disruption of morale!”

Su Shima roared.

Of course, he knew that this battle was unwinnable, but he had to resist.

If he fled without a fight, where would he find a way out after returning home?

As the Huaxia army entered the firing range, the remaining Mughal army artillery also opened fire. Shells landed among the Huaxia army, and the Huaxia army began to suffer casualties.

The Mughal army was, after all, a modernized army, an opponent of the same caliber. The Huaxia army naturally didn’t expect to beatdown the opponent. Necessary casualties were acceptable.

Then, the Huaxia army’s artillery fire rang out again, specifically targeting the Mughal army’s artillery.

If it were a determined army, they might grit their teeth and continue to bombard under the Huaxia army’s artillery fire, and could still inflict considerable damage on the Great Hua infantry.

However, the Mughal army’s main force all considered themselves superior, and the artillery were the nobles among the nobles.

Their lives were precious. How could they sacrifice their lives to inflict damage on the enemy?

When their positions were exposed and the Huaxia army’s shells landed, these artillerymen abandoned their cannons and ran away.

Cannons could be manufactured in factories. This was not a difficult task for the Mughal Empire.

But their lives were gone for good.

The Mughal army’s artillery was all thunder and no rain. After only firing a few rounds, they were completely silenced. The Huaxia army infantry quickly approached the Mughal army and began close combat.

The Mughal army also had tanks, but not as many as the Huaxia army.

Moreover, as the defending side, the role of the tanks became a pillbox, which was greatly disadvantageous.

In the Mughal army, a tank was much more important than a few infantrymen. It was impossible to let the tanks protect the infantry.

After exchanging a few shots, the Mughal army’s tanks began to flee, trying to let the infantry wear down the Huaxia army first.

The auxiliary troops at the front were not stupid. They immediately surrendered to the Huaxia army.

As soon as they made contact, the Mughal army’s first line of defense completely collapsed.

The Huaxia army captured the first line of defense with almost no effort, progressing as smoothly as if they had fallen into an ambush.

The Huaxia army did not stop and went straight to the Mughal army’s second line of defense.

And this line of defense was full of regular troops, the main force.

Chapter 1155: Nothing More Than This

“These damned betrayers, when we return, we must demote their families to slavery!”

A Mo army officer, seeing the first line of defense breached in the blink of an eye, flew into a rage and cursed.

His words were hardly a threat; most of the auxiliary troops’ families were already slaves, so being demoted to slavery didn’t seem like much of a loss.

Cursing aside, they still had to deal with the Huaxia army’s attack.

“Machine guns!”

With the officer’s shout, the Mo army’s firepower began to unleash, with a large number of machine guns in bunkers firing at the Huaxia army without restraint.

This kind of firepower suppression was terrifying, and the attacking side often had to pay a huge price to eliminate these fire points.

But now, the Huaxia army didn’t have to bleed like before.

Those tasked with destroying bunkers were not ordinary soldiers, but trained soldiers, whose speed, strength, jumping ability, and reaction were far superior to ordinary people.

Seemingly blocked by firepower on all routes, a special operations soldier leaped more than three meters high, breaking through the Mo army’s firepower blockade in a few moves.

“There are superhumans!”

A Mo army soldier exclaimed.

Superhumans were what the Huaxia army called cultivators; it was just a different name.

The Mo army soldiers couldn’t understand why there were so many superhumans in a modern army.

These superhumans ran and jumped, easily stuffing explosive packs into the bunkers.

With a series of loud noises, the originally extremely solid bunkers were easily destroyed.

With the bunkers gone, the Mo army’s defense line was full of loopholes.

When the Huaxia army’s tanks pressed forward, the situation reversed immediately. The Huaxia army had the advantage in firepower and protection, making the Mo army unable to raise their heads.

Soon, the Mo army’s defense line showed signs of collapse.

In the past, they relied on advanced equipment to fight, and in terms of fighting will, they were even inferior to those auxiliary troops.

In short, they were used to fighting favorable battles and couldn’t fight against the wind.

The Huaxia army was actually similar in this regard; they hadn’t experienced the test of cruel battles for a long time.

However, compared to the Mo army, the Huaxia army was still better.

Moreover, the Huaxia army was now on the offensive, so everyone was very fierce and morale was high.

Faced with opponents who were far superior to themselves in equipment, technology, and morale, the Mo army finally collapsed and began a full-scale rout.

“How could this be?”

Su Shima couldn’t believe her eyes.

This was a battle of one hundred thousand troops; shouldn’t this kind of battle take months, or at least three days and three nights, to determine the outcome?

But now, in just half a day, their two lines of defense had already fallen.

What was even more deadly was that they only had three lines of defense in total.

As the defeated troops desperately fled backward, the third line of defense was also greatly affected.

The third line of defense was still there, but Su Shima knew in her heart that she had already lost this battle, lost completely.

“Governor, retreat quickly, or it will be too late to retreat!”

Her subordinates anxiously advised.

Now the entire army was close to collapse, in complete chaos.

If they didn’t retreat, they would be caught up in this chaotic army.

“Retreat!”

Su Shima gritted her teeth and said.

Saying it was a retreat was actually an outright escape.

Retreat refers to taking people and weapons and equipment away to preserve strength.

But now, the Mo army certainly didn’t have time to carry those heavy weapons.

In fact, not to mention heavy weapons, they didn’t even have time to take away various confidential documents, or even burn them.

Although Su Shima arranged for a rearguard, they also fled with the main force after only a few minutes.

Fortunately, the Mo army had enough numbers, so Su Shima was able to escape.

The Huaxia army couldn’t bring themselves to kill those soldiers who had given up resistance, so they could only capture and resettle them.

This was particularly time-consuming, even more time-consuming than attacking the Mo army’s defense line.

By the time they had captured these tens of thousands of people, Su Shima had already escaped to who knows where.

“This Mo Dynasty isn’t that great after all.”

Having easily defeated his opponent, Tao Xiangjun laughed.

“Everything is afraid of comparison. When they meet us, that’s all they’re capable of.”

The chief of staff said.

The Mo Dynasty must have had some skill to unify a plane.

The reason why they were so embarrassed was due to many reasons.

Being attacked by surprise, lacking intelligence on the Huaxia army, underestimating the Huaxia army’s strength, overestimating themselves…

“Identify the prisoners as soon as possible, and strike to the entrance in one go, and kill our way to the Mo Dynasty plane.”

Tao Xiangjun said ambitiously.

But the progress of things was not satisfactory.

Great Hua had basically unified the writing system and language on Earth. Except for those remote areas, few people spoke foreign languages.

Among the prisoners captured by the Huaxia army, there were people speaking all kinds of languages.

It was better for those who spoke English and Hindi; there were still some people in the Huaxia army who knew these major languages.

But for some minor languages, the Huaxia army could only turn to experts on Earth for help.

Inconvenient communication led to the identification of prisoners taking many days. Finally, the main force of the Mo army and the auxiliary troops were separated.

The main force of the Mo army was sent to mining and doing hard labor.

These people who were loyal to the Mo Dynasty couldn’t be used, at least not now.

The auxiliary troops were much better. They had hatred for the Mo Dynasty itself. At this time, they picked up the weapons given to them by the Huaxia army and directly transformed into the Huaxia army.

After one battle, the Huaxia army went from two hundred thousand to two hundred and thirty thousand, growing stronger with each battle.

After resting for another two days and integrating those auxiliary troops, the Huaxia army marched towards the Mo army’s second stronghold in the alien world.

That stronghold was also the entrance connecting to the Mo Dynasty plane, and this place was crucial to the Mo Dynasty.

By holding the entrance, they could prevent the Huaxia army from entering the Mo Dynasty plane and could continuously send troops over.

Once the entrance was lost, and the Huaxia army entered the Mo Dynasty plane, the Mo Dynasty would be in complete chaos.

After all, the Mo Dynasty’s rule over the local area was extremely weak, and there were resistance forces everywhere.

These resistance forces usually didn’t dare to be too rebellious, but once they knew that the Mo Dynasty was facing difficulties, they would definitely take the opportunity to provoke resistance.

Once these forces combined with the Huaxia army, the collapse of the Mo Dynasty might be just a moment away.

It was not until this time that Aurangzeb began to regret his state governance strategy, regretting that he only unified the territory and did not unify the hearts of the people around the globe.

Regretting that he had squeezed the colonies too hard, regretting that he had taken too big of a step, regretting that he had expanded too quickly in the alien world, regretting…

Now that things had reached this point, Aurangzeb had no choice.

Unifying people’s hearts required a long time of subtle influence, and what he lacked now was time.

Helpless, Aurangzeb could only take one step at a time, first mobilizing a large army to support the entrance and prevent the Huaxia army from entering.

On the other hand, he carried out national mobilization, formed more troops, and carried out stricter control and suppression of the territory.

At this time, he must not let those rebellious forces see his weakness and must show his iron fist.

Chapter 1156: Air Combat

“Well, I really underestimated this Mo Dynasty before.”

Arriving at the front line of the entrance and seeing the Constant City built here by the Mo Dynasty, Tao Xiangjun gasped.

This city has an area of nearly ten thousand square kilometers, like an independent small country.

The large area is secondary; Jinling is about the same size.

However, the ten thousand square kilometers of Jinling refers to its administrative area, while the ten thousand square kilometers of this Constant City refers to its defense zone.

The outermost part of Constant City is a ring-shaped city wall, thousands of kilometers long, more than thirty meters high, and more than ten meters wide.

Even if the Mo Dynasty didn’t fight back and let the Huaxia army bomb it, it would take a long time to knock down this city wall.

Even if the city wall is knocked down, there are still four or five lines of defense inside.

The entire Constant City is a huge military fortress, and the cost of building such a huge military fortress must be astronomical.

Even Great Hua would be weakened by building such a large city.

Therefore, Great Hua did not build such a military fortress.

Of course, this is also related to Great Hua’s military thinking. The Huaxia army advocates offense and does not like passive defense.

Even Pioneer City has very few defensive facilities.

“How do we attack this?”

Chief of Staff Liu Tao also had a headache.

“What else can we do but attack head-on?”

Tao Xiangjun said, in any case, it is impossible to persuade them to surrender.

“How many soldiers will have to sacrifice? Can we find a way to cooperate with the puppet army inside?”

Liu Tao asked.

“It’s difficult. The Mo Dynasty is already prepared, and the puppet army inside is being watched very closely. And to be honest, in the face of such a military fortress, even if we cooperate from the inside and outside to create a breakthrough, it won’t be of much use. There are too many lines of defense inside, and the depth is too long. We can only grind through it bit by bit and be prepared for a protracted war.”

Tao Xiangjun said.

After arriving at Constant City, the Huaxia army did not immediately attack.

Facing such a military fortress, one must not be impatient.

A telegram has been sent back to Great Hua, requesting the imperial court to continue to send reinforcements and transport ammunition and supplies.

Most importantly, they requested Moonrise City to send a King-level expert to help.

Upon learning of the information about Constant City, Wu Changqing hesitated for a moment, and then weighed whether it was worthwhile to attack the Mo Dynasty at this time.

The distance is too far. Even though Great Hua has been building up its transportation capacity, it is not easy to transport hundreds of thousands of troops and the supplies they need to another world.

Despite his hesitation, Wu Changqing ultimately decided to fight.

There is no turning back once the arrow is fired. Retreating at this time would be even more detrimental to Great Hua and would seriously damage military morale.

Moreover, compared to the benefits of conquering the Mo Dynasty, these costs are worthwhile, provided that the Mo Dynasty is conquered and the Mo Dynasty plane is unified.

Having decided to fight, Wu Changqing issued the latest instructions and carried out a level three mobilization across the country.

Great Hua’s war machine was running again.

…

Who will manage the Mo Dynasty after it is conquered?

Upon learning that they were going to fight a decisive battle with the Mo Dynasty, some princes were immediately tempted again.

In the Great Hua plane, they had already given up the idea of becoming emperor. That was impossible; they wouldn’t live long enough.

But if they conquered the Mo Dynasty, they would have a chance to become emperor in another world.

The two planes are so far apart that Wu Changqing cannot run back and forth between the two planes. The Mo Dynasty plane will inevitably have a new administrative team, and there must be a person in charge.

Who will this person be? It certainly won’t be some official or general. Wu Changqing is not so generous. That would be equivalent to giving a kingdom to someone else, creating another opponent.

Although there is also this risk in giving it to his son, even if his son rebels and becomes independent, it is still a family affair.

In short, Wu Changqing’s son has the greatest hope.

Therefore, when Great Hua began to mobilize, these princes strongly supported the war.

Not only them, but also many large families, super-rich, and even some literati were supporting the war.

They didn’t want to stay under Wu Changqing’s command any longer and wanted to go to another world to create a new situation.

Wu Changqing could more or less guess what they were thinking.

However, he didn’t care much. He would deal with future matters in the future. Now, conquering the Mo Dynasty was the top priority.

The first wave of mobilization involved a total of ten million people, but only three hundred thousand of them were soldiers. The rest were factory workers and people in the transportation industry.

Workers worked overtime to produce bullets, shells, airplanes, and tanks, while sailors worked overtime to transport supplies to another world.

At the same time, the vanguard of the Huaxia army had launched a tentative attack on Constant City.

The Huaxia army first dispatched the air force to gain air superiority.

Because the Huaxia army’s fighter jets have always been in an invincible state, their development has been relatively slow.

It was not until the other world needed a lot of air support that the Huaxia army’s fighter jets accelerated their development. Now they have developed to the third generation.

The characteristics are low-altitude, high-speed, and high flexibility. These are all upgrades aimed at those powerful King-level monsters.

Now Great Hua’s most advanced fighter jet is the Fire Phoenix, weighing 9.8 tons, with a wingspan of 9.34 meters, a combat radius of eight hundred kilometers, a maximum takeoff weight of 17.8 tons, and a payload of 3.5 tons…

It uses a turbojet engine, two twenty-three-millimeter cannons, and seven hardpoints…

This is Great Hua’s most advanced weapon. Even when facing King-level monsters, it can remain undefeated.

The cost of this fighter jet is naturally extremely high. Great Hua currently has a total of twelve thousand fighter jets, but only two hundred are Fire Phoenix-class fighter jets. The rest are still second-generation aircraft.

Most of these two hundred aircraft are also left on Earth. The army attacking the Mo Dynasty only has thirty Fire Phoenixes, but there are also more than one hundred second-generation fighter jets, one hundred and fifty bombers, thirty reconnaissance aircraft, and twenty armed helicopters…

Reconnaissance planes were dispatched first to search for the Mo Dynasty’s air force base over Constant City.

The Mo Dynasty also has an air force. Their cutting-edge technology is not inferior to that of Great Hua, but the Mo Dynasty’s cutting-edge technology is not well-spread.

Soon, Great Hua’s reconnaissance planes were attacked by Mo Dynasty fighter jets.

The reconnaissance planes immediately sent back a signal, retreating while leading the enemy planes into an ambush.

Upon receiving the signal, the Huaxia army’s fighter jets immediately took off, and the planes of the two armies met in the air.

Saying they met is not accurate, after all, the distance between the two sides is still tens of kilometers.

This distance is still too far for the Mo army, and they have to continue to approach before they can engage.

But for the Huaxia army, this distance already belongs to ‘meeting’. At this distance, they can already launch missiles and attack the Mo army from beyond visual range.

Great Hua’s air force has entered an era of deciding victory with missiles, while the Mo army is still stuck in the stage of close combat.

The outcome is naturally without suspense. The Mo army was hit by missiles one after another without even seeing the Huaxia army’s fighter jets.

In the first engagement, the Mo Dynasty lost five planes.

The reason why they only lost five planes is because they only dispatched five planes.

Immediately afterwards, the Huaxia army’s fighter jets escorted the reconnaissance planes over Constant City, searching for the Mo Dynasty’s air force base.

Fighting in the air is too expensive in terms of missiles, and the price of missiles is extremely high, and the inventory is small.

The most economical and best way is naturally to destroy the Mo Dynasty’s fighter jets on the ground and prevent them from flying.

However, this is not easy.

While searching for the Mo Dynasty’s air force base, the Mo Dynasty’s air force took off again. This time, as many as sixty fighter jets took off, which is almost half of the Mo Dynasty’s number in Constant City.

Since the performance of the fighter jets is not as good as that of Great Hua, they want to win with quantity.

The Huaxia army’s fighter jets launched all their missiles, and then relied on their faster speed to get rid of their opponents and swagger back to base.

The Mo Dynasty lost six more planes, and they didn’t dare to chase too deep, for fear of entering the Huaxia army’s airspace and being surrounded.

After blunting the Mo Dynasty’s spirit, the Huaxia army’s air force continued to harass and reconnoiter, making the Mo Dynasty unable to defend against it.

When more planes were dispatched, the Huaxia army ran away.

When fewer planes were dispatched, the Huaxia army attacked.

After tossing back and forth, the Huaxia army only lost one plane due to a mistake, while the Mo Dynasty lost more than thirty planes.

Before the air force had even begun its decisive battle, the Mo Dynasty’s combat power had lost twenty-five percent.

Helpless, the Mo Dynasty could only admit defeat, give up air supremacy, and allow Great Hua’s planes to run rampant in the sky, hiding their remaining planes and saving them for critical moments.

It’s a pity that the Huaxia army didn’t let them get their wish.

The Huaxia army was not in a hurry to launch a ground attack and continued to search for the Mo Dynasty’s air force base. After a few days, they found two airports and two suspected airports.

Better to kill by mistake than let go. The Huaxia army prepared to bomb these two suspected places as well.

Several days later, the Huaxia army’s bombers, escorted by fighter jets, flew towards several airports in Constant City.

Such a large-scale operation could not be concealed from the Mo Dynasty, and soon they saw the Huaxia army’s plane formation.

Immediately afterwards, the air raid alarm sounded.

The soldiers rushed to the air raid shelters, allowing the Huaxia army to bomb them.

“Not good, their target is our airport.”

Seeing that the Huaxia army’s planes did not rush to drop bombs, a clever officer immediately guessed the reason.

“Let the planes take off and fight them.”

Su Shima immediately ordered.

Although letting the air force take off at this time is equivalent to sending them to their deaths, it is better than staying underground and being bombed.

As long as they go to the sky, they can still shoot down some of the Huaxia army’s bombers.

Su Shima was very decisive, but the execution of the order was not very smooth.

Planes can’t take off immediately. They have to be pulled out of the warehouse first, and then they have to do some simple checks and refueling…

Unfortunately, the Huaxia army’s air force had already reached their heads. For planes, a distance of tens of kilometers is only a matter of a few minutes.

The airport in the north of the city was the worst. Before a plane could take off, the Huaxia army’s planes had already arrived.

What followed was a one-sided massacre.

First, the fighter jets reduced their altitude and strafed, clearing those anti-aircraft fire points.

These anti-aircraft fire still posed some threat to the bombers, but they were very weak against high-speed fighter jets. Often, a series of bullets would be fired, but they would only hit nothing. On the contrary, they were often strafed by machine guns.

After a wave of clearing, the Mo Dynasty’s air defense forces were almost gone.

Then the Huaxia army began to bomb to their heart’s content.

Heavy bombs fell on the airport and in the warehouse.

The violent explosions made many people’s hearts tremble, and the soldiers who stayed at the airport were even shaking in their legs.

A large number of bombs turned the airport into a sea of fire, and the soldiers in the sea of fire could only howl in despair.

Relatively speaking, the airport in the west did better.

Flight Captain Mahadi had his subordinates prepare for takeoff before receiving the order, because he knew very well that even if he couldn’t win at this time, he could only fight. Staying on the ground would only mean waiting for death.

When the order was issued, Mahadi even skipped the inspection step and directly ordered the plane to take off.

In his opinion, it didn’t matter whether the plane had a malfunction or not. Once it went up, don’t expect to come down again.

Under Mahadi’s decisive methods, the second flight team took off sixteen fighter jets before the Huaxia army arrived.

These fighter jets are not a match for the Fire Phoenix, but they are more than enough to bully bombers.

Of course, the Huaxia army would not be stupid enough to send the bombers to their door.

After discovering that the Mo army’s planes had taken off, the fighter jets responsible for escorting directly stepped forward to engage in a dogfight.

Facing second-generation aircraft, the Mo army can still entangle for a while.

But facing the Huaxia army’s Fire Phoenix-class third-generation aircraft, the Mo army’s fighter jets fell into a complete disadvantage.

The Huaxia army paid some price, while the Mo army’s air force was almost gone.

On the ground, the commander issued an order to strafe.

Anyway, there are not many of our own planes left in the world, so indiscriminate strafing is not a loss.

The Huaxia army continued to entangle with the Mo army’s remaining planes on one side, while some fighter jets began ground cleanup work, exchanging fire with anti-aircraft guns.

Fortunately, there are not many anti-aircraft guns, and the Mo army does not pay enough attention to air defense.

After a fierce battle, as Mahadi’s fighter jet crashed with black smoke, air supremacy in this area also fell into the hands of the Huaxia army. Only then did the bombers begin to drop bombs, bombing the Mo army’s ammunition and material warehouses.

The scene was similar to other airports. The Huaxia army relied on air supremacy to bully the Mo Dynasty’s air force at will, angering the Mo army soldiers underground.

Don’t look at the lively battle, in fact, not many Mo army soldiers were killed or injured.

The number of bombs carried by the Huaxia army’s fighter jets is limited, and the soldiers on the ground have also run to the air raid shelters, so the loss of personnel is not particularly large.

However, the Mo army’s morale has been greatly affected.

This feeling of powerlessness that can only wait to be beaten and cannot fight back is particularly demoralizing.

On the first day, Great Hua only destroyed the Mo army’s airports and planes.

On the second day, the Great Hua air force began to harass the Mo army.

From time to time, they would come over to drop two bombs, or strafe for a while, making it impossible for the Mo army to sleep and rest peacefully.

Although the Mo army soldiers knew that there were not many Huaxia army planes and the probability of being bombed was not high.

However, as long as the Huaxia army’s planes came, they still had to go to the air raid shelters to hide.

After all, there are only a few strange people who can ignore the Huaxia army’s bombing and continue to lie in bed and sleep.

Under repeated harassment, the Mo army suffered unspeakably, and even looked forward to the Huaxia army’s ground troops attacking quickly. It didn’t matter whether they lived or died, they just wanted a quick end.

Unfortunately, the Huaxia army just didn’t fulfill their wishes and continued to bomb and harass them every day.

After bombing for ten days, the Huaxia army’s ground troops began to move.

Chapter 1157: Superhuman Legion

The army first launched a probing attack, targeting only one point of Heng City, without attacking from multiple directions simultaneously.

Five hundred cannons fired in unison, the explosions sounding like the end of the world.

After a day of shelling, at least a dozen soldiers in the Mo army developed psychological disorders. They would tremble, become manic, and lose control at the slightest loud noise.

Of course, they were the lucky ones; at least they were still alive.

The number of soldiers killed by the shelling reached one thousand in a single day.

This was a drop in the bucket for the five hundred thousand-strong army. What gave the Mo army a bigger headache was the Huaxia army’s strategy.

With only aerial bombardment and shelling, the Mo army could only passively take a beating, unable to retaliate.

Charge out?

The staff officer who proposed this had already been demoted to the cooking squad to stoke the fire and cook.

To abandon such a strong city and insist on charging out for a field battle was something only someone who had received benefits from the Huaxia army would say.

In short, charging out was impossible. The Mo army was determined to huddle in the city and continue to endure.

Su Shima consoled himself, thinking that the deaths of a few soldiers were nothing. As long as the Huaxia army dared to charge and attack the city, he was confident that he could inflict tens of thousands of casualties on them in a single day.

In the Huaxia army camp, Tao Xiangjun and other staff officers were also racking their brains, wondering whether to launch an infantry attack.

“Relying solely on bombing like this won’t defeat the enemy. The Mo Dynasty doesn’t treat its lower-level soldiers like human beings. Losing tens of thousands can be easily replenished. Frankly, they replenish their forces much more easily than we replenish our ammunition.”

One staff officer lamented.

What they wanted was to conquer the Mo Dynasty, not to kill all the people of the Mo Dynasty. Therefore, although they were killing Mo army soldiers every day, it was of little significance.

“If we launch a general offensive now, our army will suffer at least one hundred thousand casualties, which is a number we cannot accept. Their lives are worthless, but our soldiers are precious,” Tao Xiangjun said helplessly.

“It seems we can only wait for the experts from Moonrise City and our Black Dragon Division,” the deputy commander said.

The Black Dragon Division was the superhuman soldiers cultivated by the Huaxia army. After years of cultivation, the army had produced one King-level expert, more than one thousand Soldier-level experts, and more than twenty thousand Private-level experts.

Every Private-level expert was a special operations soldier, capable of completing many tasks that ordinary soldiers could not.

Not to mention the Soldier-level experts, who could scale walls and leap more than ten meters.

Soldier-level experts of the eighth or ninth grade could even ignore bullets. Only large-caliber bullets and artillery shells could harm them.

As for King-level experts, their effect was no less than that of a nuclear bomb.

If used skillfully, their effect could be even greater than a nuclear bomb.

In short, the Black Dragon Division was the key for the Huaxia army to break through Heng City.

This was also the first large-scale operation for the Black Dragon Division, which was of extraordinary significance to them, to the Huaxia army, and to the entire Great Hua Dynasty.

Many people were paying attention to this great battle, wanting to know how powerful the combination of superhuman cultivators and hot weapons would be.

“Then let’s continue to harass them, preferably making the people of the Mo Dynasty think that we can’t do anything to them. When the Black Dragon Division arrives, we’ll give them a big surprise,” Tao Xiangjun said with a smile.

As long as there was a choice, he was unwilling to fill the battlefield with human lives.

Everyone laughed upon hearing this. Facing the Mo Dynasty, they were still the dominant side and could take it easy.

After settling on the strategy, the Huaxia army began its daily harassment tactics.

Although the Mo army found it annoying, the casualties were not significant, so it was bearable.

Moreover, after repeated harassment, the Mo army soldiers developed resistance. More and more soldiers were able to sleep through the explosions, which was quite a feat.

Su Shima couldn’t understand the Huaxia army’s actions, but since the Huaxia army didn’t launch a general offensive and Heng City was still in his hands, it wasn’t bad news.

In June, the first brigade of Great Hua’s superhuman legion, the Black Dragon Division, arrived at the front line, along with two hundred thousand reinforcements.

By this point, they had nearly four hundred thousand troops amassed on the front line.

These four hundred thousand were Great Hua’s absolute main force and elite. If they lost this battle, Great Hua would suffer a major blow.

In addition to the reinforcements from Earth, Moonrise City also sent one thousand reinforcements to help in the battle.

Although the number of people was small, Fei Hong and Fei Ting, the two princes of Moonrise City, had come. They were top-tier combat forces from another world.

Those old ancestors who would only take action in times of life and death were automatically ignored in normal times.

“Great Hua’s development is really fast.”

Seeing the Huaxia army’s superhuman legion, Fei Ting frowned, his tone tinged with worry.

This was actually normal. He had started cultivating from a young age and had never lacked resources. Now, after more than fifty years of cultivation, his strength was only at the seventh grade of the King level.

However, Liu Zhiqiang, the top expert in the Huaxia army, had only cultivated for six or seven years, but had already reached the King level.

At this rate, he would be able to catch up with Fei Ting in twenty or thirty years, which made Fei Ting worried.

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Fei Hong reminded him.

Moonrise City and Great Hua were still in their honeymoon period, and the cooperation between the two countries had brought great benefits to both sides.

Great Hua had cultivated a superhuman legion, while Moonrise City had mastered a large amount of technology and obtained a large number of advanced weapons.

Relying on these weapons, coupled with their own cultivation, Moonrise City had risen rapidly in the other world. They had not only destroyed the Sun-Worshipping Kingdom, obtained a large amount of territory and population, but also deterred the surrounding forces.

If they were given a few more years, after they digested the territory and population of the Sun-Worshipping Kingdom, they would be able to compete for hegemony in the other world.

As for what level Great Hua could reach by then, Moonrise City couldn’t care less. What they needed most now was to improve their own strength, not to guard against and prevent Great Hua’s rise.

Most importantly, they couldn’t stop it.

“We have to extort them well this time when we help them attack the city,” Fei Ting said.

Great Hua had too many good things, but unfortunately their resources were limited and they couldn’t exchange for too much.

Now that Great Hua needed their help, it was a good opportunity.

“The elders will take care of such things. We only need to focus on helping them win this war,” Fei Hong once again reminded Fei Ting not to mess around and affect the relationship between the two countries.

As far as he knew, some people in Great Hua were very dissatisfied with Fei Ting.

After warning Fei Ting, the two entered the command headquarters to participate in the Huaxia army’s meeting and study the formulation of a combat plan.

“We won’t fight unless we have to, and when we do, we’ll decide the outcome in one battle. We must not turn it into a war of attrition…” Tao Xiangjun set the tone.

“Then let’s launch an attack from all four sides simultaneously to disperse the enemy’s defensive forces. Then we’ll use the Black Dragon Division to break through the key points and kill our way into the interior of Heng City…”

“Just in case, let’s set up two key attack points. The experts from Moonrise City will be responsible for one route…”

Everyone chimed in, filling in the gaps, and it took a long time to finally formulate a combat plan.

Fei Ting was very unaccustomed to this approach. He never liked to think so much when fighting, let alone make plans. He preferred to charge up and go straight at it.

Fei Hong listened patiently, thinking and learning about Great Hua’s methods.

Chapter 1158: General Offensive

After three days of preparation, the Huaxia army was finally ready and launched a full-scale offensive from all sides.

As usual, it began with an artillery barrage.

First, to intimidate the enemy. Second, to destroy the Mughal army’s fortifications as much as possible and disrupt their organization.

Three thousand cannons firing simultaneously created an earth-shattering spectacle.

The newly arrived Mughal soldiers in the air-raid shelters were almost scared witless. They couldn’t believe they could survive such a bombardment.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that easy to get hit,”

an old soldier mocked the new recruits. He had been stationed in Heng City for over two months and had endured the bombings for just as long.

Gradually, he had gotten used to it.

However, this time the intensity of the shelling was far greater than before, and his luck was not as good as before either.

A shell landed directly above the air-raid shelter, penetrating one or two meters into the soil before exploding.

The violent tremor caused the air-raid shelter to collapse, burying the soldiers inside alive.

This kind of thing happened to more than just one or two air-raid shelters, but these were all minor incidents for the Mughal army.

They had seven hundred thousand troops stationed in Heng City, so the death of a few hundred or a few thousand wouldn’t have much of an impact.

Some optimistic Mughal officers even said that using one or two thousand lives to expend several hundred tons of Huaxia army explosives was a very cost-effective deal.

The shelling continued, and Su Shima gradually sensed something was wrong.

It was too intense.

“Not good, the enemy is launching a general offensive.”

Su Shima suddenly stood up.

“That’s unlikely, the enemy hasn’t launched a general offensive in the past two months,”

a staff officer questioned.

“What does the fact that there was no general offensive in the past have to do with launching one now? The enemy has gathered hundreds of thousands of troops, did they come here to scare us? If they came, they will definitely launch an attack, the only difference is when they launch it.”

Su Shima was quite clear-headed.

“Order everyone to prepare for battle, order the artillery to retaliate, we must not let them launch an attack smoothly.”

Su Shima issued various orders in an orderly manner, but his subordinates all showed bitter smiles.

Under the Huaxia army’s overwhelming artillery fire, it was not easy to pass on the orders and get the soldiers ready.

As for the artillery retaliation, that was basically sending the artillery to their deaths, to trade for enemy guns, and the artillery might not be willing.

Headache or not, the subordinates still passed on Su Shima’s orders.

Subsequently, the Mughal army’s artillery launched a counterattack, bombarding the Huaxia army’s artillery positions.

It was a pity that they had too few cannons, and the artillerymen’s skills were worrying, their accuracy was poor, and their rate of fire was slow.

If it were the Huaxia army, after discovering the enemy’s artillery positions, a surprise attack would have destroyed one-third of the enemy’s cannons.

But after two rounds of shelling by the Mughal army, they only destroyed a few dozen Huaxia army cannons.

Immediately afterward, the Huaxia army identified the Mughal army’s artillery positions and turned their guns to counterattack.

After a few rounds of exchange, the cannons on the Mughal side fell silent.

However, the sound of artillery on the Huaxia army’s side was also weakening, and the infantry charge began.

Preceding the infantry were the airborne troops.

The walls of Heng City had only been blasted with several breaches. If the Huaxia army wanted to rush in through these breaches, they would definitely suffer huge casualties. The Mughal army only needed to set up a few firing points to block these breaches.

Therefore, the Huaxia army did not intend to charge head-on.

They sent out airborne troops, preparing to land the troops behind the Mughal army and break through from the inside.

This operation was very risky. Although Heng City was very large, as a battlefield, there were not many places where the Huaxia army could safely parachute.

The air force flew to a wasteland behind the Mughal army’s front line, and then the paratroopers began to jump.

Because this wasteland was too open and there were no dangerous places to defend, the Mughal army placed very few troops here.

When they saw a large number of Huaxia army soldiers descending from the sky, they were almost scared silly.

Fortunately, there were also some steadfast people among them, who immediately reported the situation and ordered the soldiers to rush to the landing point, trying to kill and injure the Huaxia army.

It was a pity that they were too few in number.

After a few hasty rounds of shooting at the Huaxia army who were still falling, the Huaxia army who had landed immediately launched an attack on them.

These dozens of Mughal soldiers were quickly wiped out, and then more Huaxia army soldiers landed, as well as various weapons and equipment, and even a dozen light tanks were dropped.

After a hasty organization, the Huaxia army airborne division immediately launched an attack from the Mughal army’s front line, cooperating with the soldiers attacking from the front, attacking from both inside and outside.

At the same time, the Huaxia army attacking outside the city had approached the breaches in the city wall.

Here, the Huaxia army encountered strong firepower suppression.

Aurangzeb’s Mughal Empire did not pay attention to the people’s hearts, but was still able to unify the world, relying on its strong military strength.

The Mughal Dynasty was somewhat inferior to the Huaxia Dynasty in terms of top-notch technology, but in other aspects, the Mughal Dynasty was not inferior at all.

For example, in terms of machine guns, the Mughal Dynasty even had more of them in the army than the Huaxia army.

Each squad had at least one light machine gun, and each platoon was equipped with one heavy machine gun.

Relying on a large number of people and guns, the Mughal army released strong firepower suppression, preventing the Huaxia army’s infantry from advancing.

The danger of tanks losing infantry cover also greatly increased.

The Mughal Dynasty did not have as many anti-tank weapons as machine guns, but they couldn’t stand the fact that tanks were precious.

Even if ten anti-tank infantrymen exchanged their lives for a tank, the Mughal army would still make a bloody profit.

Relying on reckless attrition, the Mughal army blocked the first wave of the Huaxia army’s tank offensive.

“Call for air support, damn it.”

A Huaxia army battalion commander couldn’t help but curse.

Faced with this firepower blockade, he could not advance any further.

“The airborne division has already launched an attack inside, we can’t bomb anymore, we’re afraid of accidentally injuring our own people.”

The liaison officer replied with the instructions from his superiors, which made the battalion commander very helpless.

“Hehe, the Huaxia Dynasty’s army is nothing more than this.”

After blocking the Huaxia army, the Mughal commander smiled.

However, he soon couldn’t laugh anymore.

A messenger rushed in and reported that the troops were under attack from behind.

“How is that possible? Where did the enemy come from, underground?”

The commander roared.

“They were airborne,”

the messenger said.

“Damn air force, good-for-nothings, a bunch of good-for-nothings.”

The commander vented his anger on the air force. If the air force was not incompetent, how could the enemy’s airspace become the Huaxia army’s back garden, and how could the enemy complete such a difficult tactical maneuver as an airborne landing?

Because of the air force’s incompetence, they were now in big trouble.

Because the entire defense system of Heng City was aimed at the outside, they had not thought much about attacks from the inside, so the fortifications were all facing outward.

Like bunkers, the firing ports were all aimed at the outside, and the doors for entry and exit were at the back.

Facing the enemy from the rear, these bunkers lost their function.

There were also trenches, barbed wire, and firing points.

The effectiveness of these defensive forces would be greatly reduced when facing attacks from the inside.

“Order the reserves to meet them, block them, and eliminate this group of enemies. Since they were airborne, there can’t be many of them, and they won’t have heavy weapons.”

After scolding, the commander issued the latest instructions.

After the order was issued, the reserve team defending the Mughal army’s front line was sent to the rear to meet the enemy.

However, lacking fortifications, this force was no match for the Huaxia army at all.

The Mughal commander thought that the Huaxia army airborne troops had no heavy weapons, but the tanks were rushing in front, followed by the infantry, and there was mortar battalion support at any time.

Compared with the Huaxia army, this reserve team of the Mughal Dynasty was truly without heavy weapons. They relied on rifles and machine guns, and did not even prepare anti-tank guns. They could only rely on soldiers to throw grenades and hand mines.

There are many such scenes in film and television dramas, and they seem very simple.

In fact, it was extremely difficult for these soldiers to even approach the tanks. There was a machine gun on the tank specifically to defend against approaching infantry, and the infantry behind the tank was also protecting the tank’s blind spots.

With infantry-tank cooperation, facing the Mughal army with only infantry, the Huaxia Dynasty airborne division was like a dimensionality reduction strike, directly beating them down and advancing rapidly.

The Mughal army who were still sniping in the front were immediately panicked. There were enemies in front and enemies in the back. Wasn’t this a situation of certain death?

Although continuing to shoot could kill and injure the opponent, what was the point of killing one or two more enemies when they were about to die?

The Mughal Dynasty’s patriotic education was not very good, and there were not many soldiers who could be determined to fight to the end.

What’s more, there were many auxiliary troops in the Mughal army. After learning that they were under attack from behind, they immediately lost their fighting spirit, and all they thought about was how to surrender safely.

Chapter 1159: Breaching the First Line of Defense

A line of defense, Bunker Number Six. Four Mo Dynasty soldiers were stationed here.

Inside the bunker was a 14.7mm heavy machine gun, manned by a primary gunner, an ammunition feeder, a backup gunner, and a supervisor.

Except for the supervisor, who was Indian, the other three were from Korea.

The machine gun was firing, but the gunner’s mind wasn’t on killing the enemy; he was thinking about when they could retreat.

Risking their lives for the Mo Dynasty? No way. They had a blood feud with the Mo Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the supervisor was standing behind them with a pistol, preventing them from moving.

If they made any unusual movements, the supervisor could shoot them at any time.

In fact, if the supervisor was happy, he could shoot them for no reason and face almost no punishment.

After firing a belt of ammunition, the gunner and the backup gunner exchanged a look, both understanding each other’s intentions.

They were going to find an opportunity to kill the supervisor and then escape.

They would never have dared to do this before; even if they killed the supervisor, they wouldn’t be able to escape.

But now the opportunity had come. In this chaotic battle, the death of one or two supervisors was nothing, and no one would investigate.

Even if they did investigate, it wouldn’t matter, because they were all planning to surrender to the Huaxia army and didn’t have to worry about being punished by the Mo Dynasty.

However, the prerequisite was to take down the supervisor with the pistol.

The two gunners only exchanged a glance, but the supervisor felt immense pressure. He waved the pistol in his hand and shouted, “What are you doing? Keep firing and repel those damned enemies!”

The primary gunner continued to fire, but the backup gunner was looking for an opportunity, and unconsciously moved behind the supervisor.

Then, the backup gunner suddenly attacked, grabbing the supervisor, seizing his right hand, and raising the muzzle of his gun upwards.

The gunner and the ammunition feeder immediately dropped what they were doing and rushed forward to grab the pistol.

The ammunition feeder saw a rifle with a bayonet fixed to it in the corner. Without a word, he picked up the rifle and thrust it at the supervisor.

Before the bayonet even reached him, the supervisor’s pupils were already wide. He understood the consequences of being stabbed by a bayonet.

He wasn’t dead yet, but he knew he was going to die.

This despair made his crotch wet.

But this was only for a moment. The bayonet quickly pierced his body.

Once, twice, the supervisor’s body went limp.

“Go.”

The three of them walked out of the bunker without hesitation, but ran into Indian soldiers from the Mo army as soon as they left.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

The Indian soldiers pointed their guns directly at them, and their situation immediately turned unfavorable.

At such close range, they would be shot immediately if they made any slight movement, and they wouldn’t have time to resist.

The three of them were a little nervous and couldn’t find an excuse for a moment.

The Indian soldiers were also nervous. They didn’t dare to shoot casually. If they forced the others to fight desperately, they could only kill one of them in an instant, and the other two might overwhelm them, making it difficult for them to escape unscathed.

“The supervisor retreated first, saying he was going to retreat to the second line of defense.”

The backup gunner made an excuse.

“Nonsense, there is no such order. Go back and continue to use the machine gun to stop the enemy.”

The Indian soldiers weren’t stupid. They hadn’t received an order to retreat, so how could they allow these auxiliary troops to retreat?

The three Korean soldiers had no choice but to return to the bunker.

The Indian soldiers followed, but before they reached the door, they saw the corpse in the bunker. Immediately, they understood.

However, they didn’t choose to shoot the traitors. Instead, they closed the bunker door and locked it from the outside.

Whether they killed them or the Huaxia army killed them, it was the same. Leaving them in the bunker, they might desperately fire the machine gun to save their lives, causing some casualties to the Huaxia army.

After closing the door, the Indian soldiers fled on their own.

They felt that the line of defense couldn’t be held, and staying was just waiting to die.

After the Indian soldiers left, the three Koreans didn’t continue to fiddle with the machine gun, still thinking about escaping.

The backup gunner kicked the door hard, trying to break it down.

However, this action had a desperate feel to it. This was a military facility, and the door was designed to withstand bomb attacks.

Not to mention kicking it like this, even if they had a few grenades, they wouldn’t be able to break the door from the inside.

“Damn it.”

The primary gunner cursed, and the ammunition feeder squatted aside, crying in despair.

The door was locked, and they couldn’t even send a message to the Huaxia army to surrender. They would most likely be thrown a few grenades, which would be more convenient for the Huaxia army.

Bunker Number Six was just a small microcosm of the entire line of defense. The defense will of the strongholds mainly composed of Mo Dynasty soldiers was slightly firmer, while the strongholds mainly composed of auxiliary troops had various situations occurring frequently, and many bunkers were silent.

The Huaxia army advanced rapidly and quickly occupied one stronghold after another.

The strongholds mainly composed of Mo Dynasty soldiers didn’t last long either. The Huaxia army’s airborne troops had already attacked behind them. They could not only hear the sound, but even vaguely see the figures of the Huaxia army behind them.

Such a situation of being attacked from both sides directly caused the Mo army to collapse.

Some fled, some surrendered, and the sound of gunfire on the entire line of defense suddenly decreased by a large margin.

Next, the Huaxia army did the finishing work.

Clearing out the remaining enemies, eliminating threats, and collecting prisoners.

Breaching the first line of defense was just the beginning. There were a total of five lines of defense in Heng City, and the defensive strength was stronger inside.

The Huaxia army didn’t stop. They split into three groups.

One group continued to advance and attack the second line of defense, one group stayed to garrison and clear out the remaining enemies, and the other group advanced to the left and right to help friendly forces attack the first line of defense.

Among the many attacking forces, only they had breached the first line of defense. The other directions were still fighting hard.

However, with them attacking from the flanks, the Mo army’s defenses in other places were also attacked from both sides, and falling was only a matter of time.

The fact was indeed so. The Mo army’s first line of defense was successively breached and fell.

“Losing the first line of defense in just five hours, what are they doing? They should all be court-martialed.”

Su Shima angrily smashed the things he could get his hands on.

It’s no wonder he was so失态; after all, Heng City was a military fortress built by the Mo Dynasty at a huge cost and taking ten years, claiming to be an impregnable fortress.

As a result, in just five hours, their empire’s pride was breached, which was like a slap in the face.

Su Shima could already foresee his future. Even if this battle was won, he would be severely punished for the rapid fall of the first line of defense.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to worry about this now. What he needed to worry about was whether he could hold on.

If he couldn’t hold on, it would save him the trouble of being punished.

# Chapter 1160: Stalemate

With the combined attack from both inside and outside, the first line of defense was breached relatively easily.

But when it came to the second line of defense, the Huaxia army could no longer use the same method.

The area within the second line of defense was much smaller, and the Huaxia army couldn't find a place to airdrop troops, so they could only rely on a frontal assault.

Compared to the first line of defense, the fortifications of the second line were also more complete, which was a great test for the Huaxia army.

Therefore, the Huaxia army's extraordinary legion officially entered the stage.

Responsible for attacking Gate Number Four was the Huaxia army's Sixty-third Division plus an extraordinary battalion. This battalion did not operate independently; the soldiers in the battalion were scattered into various companies of the Sixty-third Division.

Their task was to clear those bunkers and fire points that were difficult to eliminate.

As the whistle sounded, the mortar battalion stopped, and the infantry began to attack.

The mortars only destroyed some surface fortifications. As the Huaxia army infantry advanced, the Mo army's bunker fire began to expose itself.

Several hidden bunkers formed interlocking fire points, completely blocking the Huaxia army's advance route.

In the past, facing such defensive power, they could only rely on artillery bombardment or exhaust the opponent's ammunition. Apart from that, there were almost no other ways.

Relying on human power to charge was simply not feasible; there weren't enough people to sacrifice.

But now, five extraordinary soldiers set off carrying explosive sticks.

One of the extraordinary soldiers jumped continuously, advancing more than ten meters in two or three seconds.

The Mo army discovered these extraordinary individuals, but the Mo army in the bunkers couldn't do anything about them. Their machine guns could only fire horizontally and couldn't be raised.

They could only wait for the extraordinary individuals to land and unleash their firepower at that moment, but unfortunately, they lacked experience in dealing with extraordinary individuals and didn't know when they would land or how long they would stay on the ground.

Lacking such experience, it was not easy to hit them.

However, in addition to the fire points in the bunkers, there were also a large number of Mo army stationed in the fortifications outside the bunkers. These people were specifically there to make up for the blind spots in the bunkers' firing range.

They could flexibly adjust their gun muzzles and pose some threat to the extraordinary individuals.

One of the extraordinary soldiers received too much fire and had nowhere to hide.

A large number of bullets landed on him, and he fell down, causing the Huaxia army soldiers in the rear to feel a pang of anxiety.

If the extraordinary soldiers couldn't break through, they didn't know how to fight this battle.

Fortunately, only one extraordinary soldier fell, and the others were still alive and kicking.

"Cover."

The Huaxia army in the rear set up machine guns and fired wildly with rifles, suppressing the Mo army outside the bunkers.

Soon, several extraordinary individuals approached within a dozen meters of the bunkers.

This distance was still too far for ordinary people, but for extraordinary individuals, this distance was enough.

They aimed slightly at the firing ports and then threw the explosive barrels inside.

Bang!

Huge explosions sounded, and with each explosion, the sound of machine guns would subside.

The bunkers that were originally difficult to overcome were silenced by the surprise attacks of these extraordinary soldiers.

Not only were the soldiers operating the machine guns killed, but even the machine guns were basically destroyed.

The Mo army was quite quick to replenish soldiers, but without machine guns, the threat of these bunkers was greatly reduced.

"Charge."

Seeing that the extraordinary individuals had succeeded, the rear immediately sounded the charge.

On the way to the charge, the commander also discovered that the extraordinary soldiers who had been shot seven times were not dead, only seriously injured.

This was also the terrifying aspect of the extraordinary legion; the soldiers inside had too much vitality.

Don't underestimate his serious injuries; as long as he didn't die on the spot, he could be alive and kicking again after some treatment and continue to serve.

"Medics."

The commander shouted.

Every extraordinary soldier was a valuable asset to the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army continued to advance and encountered bunkers again, as well as tank groups.

Because the Mo army had destroyed the roads, the Huaxia army's tanks could not be used in large numbers on the second line of defense. At this time, the Huaxia army was at a disadvantage in terms of tanks.

"Rocket launchers."

The commander shouted, and the few anti-tank infantry rushed to the front.

Unfortunately, this was the Mo army's home field. They occupied favorable positions, and it was difficult for the Huaxia army's anti-tank infantry to find safe launch points.

Many anti-tank soldiers were killed by Mo army snipers and machine guns as soon as they showed their heads.

And their tanks were aimed at the Huaxia army's gathering places and bombarded them hard.

Originally, the Huaxia army was safe hiding behind walls or ruins.

But after the tanks joined the battle, the Huaxia army couldn't find a safe gathering point.

"Is there any way to take out those tanks?"

Helpless, the commander could only turn to the extraordinary legion again.

"Getting close is possible, but the key is that it's difficult to destroy them. Only two of us know how to use rocket launchers, and other weapons can't easily damage the tanks."

In the Huaxia army's design, the enemy's tank units were to be dealt with by their own tank units. They didn't expect the infantry to fight against the enemy's tanks.

Therefore, apart from professional anti-tank infantry, other soldiers didn't have much training in destroying tanks.

Extraordinary soldiers needed to spend a lot of time on cultivation, so they had even fewer related military skills.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army didn't rely entirely on the extraordinary legion. Another commander was already calling for air support by telephone.

Before long, three Huaxia army armed helicopters flew over.

Armed helicopters dealing with ground tanks was like a father beating his son; the son had no power to fight back.

With a few air-to-ground missiles, the Mo army's tanks burst into flames.

"Shoot down those damn planes."

After suffering such a blow, the Mo army quickly aimed their guns at the Huaxia army's armed helicopters.

These helicopters didn't fly high or fast, and the Mo army's air defense system did play some role.

Soon, one plane was hit several times, its fuel tank was pierced, and then the plane caught fire, exploded, lost control, and fell straight to the ground.

Another one had its fuselage hit, but this was not a big problem.

After quickly throwing all the missiles, this plane returned to base for repairs.

Overall, the armed helicopter unit gained a great advantage in the battle with the Mo army, destroying more than twenty Mo tanks in one fell swoop, losing only one plane themselves.

More importantly, they weakened the Mo army's defensive power, and the Huaxia army's ground troops advanced another few dozen meters.

"What kind of fighting is this?"

A Mo army regimental commander put down his binoculars and couldn't help but sigh.

As the defending party, they should have suffered fewer losses.

But now the situation was reversed. The Huaxia army suffered fewer casualties, while the Mo army suffered heavy casualties in the fortifications.

This made the regimental commander puzzled, wondering what the meaning of these fortifications was.

There was definitely meaning. Without these fortifications, the Huaxia army would probably have flattened Heng City by now.

It was precisely because of the obstruction of these fortifications that the Huaxia army had been stuck in front of the second line of fortifications for a whole day.

Some areas of the first line of defense were also counterattacked by the Mo army, and the two sides were locked in a stalemate.

Chapter 1161: Mutiny in the Mughal Army

The ones counterattacking the Huaxia army were the Mughal Empire’s auxiliary troops. Under the supervision of the execution team, they marched reluctantly towards the Huaxia army.

Counterattacking was likely to lead to death, but disobeying orders would certainly lead to death.

This was the tragedy of the auxiliary troops. Under the supervision of the execution team, they lost control of their fate.

Faced with the Mughal soldiers charging towards them, the Huaxia army naturally opened fire without hesitation.

They didn’t know that these people were auxiliary troops, and even if they did, they couldn’t be sure if they were loyal to the Mughal Empire.

There was no choice. The Huaxia army could only treat these people as enemies and strike them hard.

The Mughal army didn’t have the morale of the Huaxia army, nor did they have superpowered legions or heavy firepower. Counterattacking was basically the same as throwing their lives away, just to consume the Huaxia army’s ammunition.

Squads of soldiers fell on the road of charge, and more soldiers hid behind obstacles, not daring to advance or retreat.

“These guys are too cowardly.”

The Huaxia soldiers couldn’t help but complain.

They had to charge against fortifications with clusters of bunkers, but facing them, who didn’t have sophisticated fortifications, the Mughal army couldn’t charge up and posed no threat to the Huaxia army.

They held out until dark, and the Mughal Empire’s auxiliary troops suffered more than half their casualties before finally retreating.

The counterattack didn’t achieve the desired effect, and the Mughal high officials were very angry. They accused these auxiliary troops of being afraid of battle and killed a batch of officers.

This approach completely angered the auxiliary troops. That night, they launched a rebellion, taking advantage of the darkness to create chaos in the Mughal camp.

The Mughal army didn’t expect that these docile auxiliary troops would dare to rebel. Caught off guard, they were actually defeated and retreated repeatedly, and the situation became increasingly chaotic.

Gunfire was everywhere in the Mughal camp, which made the Huaxia army a little confused. They hadn’t launched an attack at this time.

“It seems like they’re fighting among themselves?”

A battalion commander couldn’t help but speculate.

“Could it be a trap, deliberately luring us to attack?”

The battalion staff officer asked.

“It doesn’t look like it, otherwise the acting is too real. Look at those flames, explosions, it’s clearly a real fight.”

The battalion commander observed the opposite side and became more and more certain of his judgment.

“A good opportunity doesn’t come twice. This is a good opportunity to break through the enemy’s line. We will launch an attack immediately and report to the higher-ups at the same time, requesting support and cooperation.”

Launching an attack was not something that a small battalion commander could decide, but at this time, he couldn’t care so much, just thinking about taking a desperate gamble.

If he could break through the enemy’s second line of defense in one fell swoop, then he would be the biggest contributor, and he would have to be promoted by two or three levels at least.

The battalion commander made up his mind, and everyone else chose to obey. Then their battalion took the lead in launching an attack.

At the same time, other friendly troops around them also received their judgment and decision. The more cautious ones reported to the higher-ups, and the more radical ones followed suit, attacking first and then asking for instructions and reporting.

This kind of behavior was obviously not in accordance with the procedure, but on the battlefield, opportunities were fleeting. As long as their actions were not out of selfishness, there was no big problem.

The Huaxia army’s upper echelons reacted very quickly. Before receiving the report, they made an accurate judgment, believing that a mutiny had occurred in the Mughal army.

They were very happy to learn that the officers below had launched an attack on their own, which saved a lot of time.

Then the headquarters issued orders to other troops that had not yet moved to cooperate, and at the same time continued to report, requesting that troops in other directions also launch an attack together.

The Huaxia army, which had been fighting for thirty-six hours and was preparing to rest, launched another attack after learning of this opportunity.

Although the Huaxia army was very tired, that’s how it was on the battlefield.

The mutiny happened very suddenly, and the Huaxia army’s re-attack was even more sudden, which the Mughal army did not expect.

They were also extremely tired at this time. Originally, the Huaxia army had stopped attacking, and they thought they could take a breather for a while.

Now that the Huaxia army suddenly made such a move, many Mughal soldiers didn’t even have the heart to raise their guns again.

The Huaxia army launched a counterattack on the entire front, and the first to make progress was the section where the mutiny occurred in the Mughal army.

The Mughal army suffered heavy losses in the mutiny of the auxiliary troops and basically lost its organization.

At this time, the Huaxia army rushed over again, and the result was self-evident.

The auxiliary troops immediately surrendered and then led the way for the Huaxia army, assisting the Huaxia army.

The main force of the Mughal Empire collapsed and fled to the rear.

In the middle of the night, without organization, this kind of escape was like headless flies, often running into the Huaxia army.

It was okay to escape to the Huaxia army, and surrendering with weapons down could save their lives.

They were afraid of escaping to the auxiliary troops. These guys with hatred didn’t like prisoners and basically killed them directly.

Soon, a gap was opened in the Mughal army’s second line of defense.

Then the Huaxia army could repeat its old tricks, attacking horizontally, attacking other Mughal troops in the second line of defense from the side.

The Mughal army was already unable to hold on, and now it was attacked from the side, and they all collapsed.

By dawn, the Mughal Empire’s second line of defense had basically been completely occupied by the Huaxia army.

Upon receiving this news, Su Shima almost fainted on the spot.

In just two days, two lines of defense were lost.

At this rate, Heng City could only last for five days at most, which was simply a big joke.

You know, when Heng City was built, the goal was to never fall.

Never falling was a beautiful hope. More rational officers felt that as long as there were sufficient supplies and troops, Heng City could be defended for two or three years no matter what kind of attack it faced.

But now, five days.

If he hadn’t seen the line of defense really lost, Su Shima would have suspected that someone was joking with him.

“Ask for help, ask for help from the country, ask for the main army, not the auxiliary troops, not the auxiliary troops.”

Su Shima issued instructions in great pain.

He was frightened by those auxiliary troops who were helping to make things worse, and he couldn’t wait to bury all the tens of thousands of auxiliary troops left in the city alive.

“Where are so many main troops?”

The chief of staff asked a soul-searching question.

After the Mughal Empire unified the world, the native people of India enjoyed superior treatment.

Even if they didn’t work hard or risk their lives, they could survive, and even live well, so why bother to join the army and risk their lives?

Therefore, the recruitment work in India has been very unsuccessful, which is why they need a large number of auxiliary troops.

In fact, not only did the Mughal Dynasty have this problem, but the Great Hua Empire also had it, but it was not as serious as the Mughal Empire.

Moreover, although the Huaxia Dynasty was also divided into different classes, at least it did not treat people from other places as livestock slaves. On the whole, the living conditions were much better than those of the lower classes of the Mughal Empire.

In addition, the Huaxia Dynasty’s Sinicization was done very well. People from Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asia had already regarded themselves as part of the Huaxia Dynasty and were desperately defending the rule of Great Hua.

In short, in terms of internal harmony, Great Hua was several streets ahead of the Mughal Empire.

Before the two sides fought, this gap was not a problem.

But now that the two sides were fighting, this gap was reflected, and the Mughal Empire was seriously short of troops.

They had a total of three million main troops and seven million auxiliary troops.

One million of the three million main troops had to stay in South Asia to defend the core area of the homeland, and one and a half million were scattered around the world to garrison and suppress the local area.

Heng City originally had five hundred thousand main troops. After the two lines of defense were broken, they only had more than three hundred thousand left.

The number was still quite large, but the morale had fallen to the bottom.

Relying on these people to defend Heng City? Su Shima had lost confidence.

As soon as he thought that Heng City would fall, the Huaxia Dynasty would attack the Mughal Empire’s plane and join forces with those rebels, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Thinking about it, Su Shima’s back was already sweating.

Chapter 1162: Threat of the Giant Cannons

Boom!

A thunderous roar erupted as the Moro army’s fortress cannons fired.

The Moro army had constructed a large number of these fortress cannons on their third line of defense.

These giant cannons had a caliber of eight hundred and forty millimeters. The shells were nearly a meter in diameter, so heavy that five or six people couldn’t lift one. Mechanical assistance was required for loading and other operations.

The power of these cannons was terrifying. A single shell could blast a crater several dozen meters wide, with a kill radius spanning three or four soccer fields.

And that only accounted for fatalities and severe injuries. If the shockwave’s minor injuries were included, the affected area could extend several hundred meters.

These giant cannons were Heng City’s last trump card.

Because the number of shells was limited, the Moro army hadn’t used them when the first two lines of defense failed.

But now, Su Shima couldn’t afford to hold back any longer and played her final card.

The fortress cannons bombarded the Huaxia army’s positions and gathering points.

Fortunately, the Moro army lacked air superiority and couldn’t scout the Huaxia army’s specific intelligence. Otherwise, these cannons could inflict tremendous casualties.

As it was, the Moro army needed a bit of luck.

Some shells landed among the Huaxia troops, but more landed in open ground.

However, even the few shells that hit their mark were devastating to the Huaxia army.

The power was simply too great. Any direct hit, whether on a squad, platoon, or company, essentially wiped them out completely. Even bunkers were useless.

Against these giant cannons, bunkers were a joke.

The only way to avoid being hit was to retreat beyond the cannons’ range or disperse the troops.

The Huaxia army obviously couldn’t do that. The soldiers had fought tooth and nail for the first two lines of defense and couldn’t possibly abandon them.

Dispersing the troops was also out of the question. If the Moro army launched a counterattack, there wouldn’t be time to organize a defense.

“How many of these cannons does the Moro army have, and how many shells?”

The Huaxia army sought information from surrendered auxiliary troops.

If the Moro army didn’t have many shells, the Huaxia army could endure it.

But if the Moro army had plenty of shells, they had to find a way to destroy these cannons, no matter the cost.

The Huaxia army urgently needed intelligence, but the auxiliary troops held low positions in the Moro army and didn’t know much about their secrets.

The number of cannons was easy enough to ascertain; they could confirm there were sixteen to twenty. But the number of shells was unclear.

“Your Highness, do you have any way to destroy these cannons?”

Tao Xiangjun turned to Fei Hong for help.

“I don’t know how strong their defenses are.”

Fei Hong was also in a difficult position. He had seen the power of those cannons. Even he couldn’t withstand a direct hit.

Although his speed made it unlikely he would be hit, he didn’t want to take any chances. He was a prince of a great empire and had no need to risk his life.

“Have Liu Zhiqiang lead a team to sneak in first. If they have a chance to destroy them, great. If not, they need to figure out the enemy’s defenses.”

Tao Xiangjun ordered, sending in the Huaxia army’s own elite forces first.

If Liu Zhiqiang and the others couldn’t do it, he would have to ask Fei Hong for help.

Given Liu Zhiqiang’s special status, Tao Xiangjun couldn’t directly order him. Liu Zhiqiang had the right to make his own decisions.

However, as someone completely loyal to Great Hua, Liu Zhiqiang wouldn’t refuse anything that benefited Great Hua.

His mission here was to solve those problems. Danger was not a consideration for him.

Upon receiving Tao Xiangjun’s order, Liu Zhiqiang immediately set off with seven experts.

Liu Zhiqiang could now fly through the air, but he didn’t waste his magical power on such a flashy display. Instead, he advanced steadily on the ground.

“Someone’s there.”

The Moro army discovered Liu Zhiqiang’s team approaching.

“Where?”

Because Liu Zhiqiang and his team were moving so fast, they had dashed across the open ground in the blink of an eye and taken cover. So, apart from the soldier who initially saw them, no one else had seen them.

“I don’t know. They disappeared in a flash, but I’m sure they’re hiding behind one of those stone walls.”

The Moro soldier said. Unfortunately, no one else believed him.

“Ignore him. The guy’s scared out of his wits and hallucinating. The Huaxia army hasn’t even sounded the charge or launched an attack. Why would anyone be here?”

“Even if someone did come, do you think a few people can take this place?”

The others laughed, mocking the soldier’s cowardice and dismissing the matter entirely.

However, as Liu Zhiqiang and his team moved closer, others noticed them.

Although they couldn’t see clearly, they were certain that someone was sneaking closer.

“There really is someone there. Be careful.”

After several people shouted, the others finally believed that enemies were approaching.

However, they still didn’t take these few people seriously.

The Huaxia army had launched attacks with thousands of soldiers before, and they hadn’t broken through their defenses. What could a few people do?

“I heard there are some extraordinary warriors among the enemy, especially powerful ones.”

Suddenly, a veteran seemed to remember something.

As soon as he spoke, a cut appeared on the veteran’s neck.

Not much blood flowed, but the veteran quickly died, his windpipe severed.

The veteran wasn’t the only one targeted. His comrades around him also suffered.

The soldiers stationed in this area were attacked in various strange ways, silently losing their lives.

Liu Zhiqiang and his team could have eliminated these people more quickly, but to avoid alerting more Moro soldiers, they chose a more subtle approach: assassination.

After dealing with these soldiers, Liu Zhiqiang and his team continued to push forward.

However, the closer they got to the cannons, the stronger the Moro army’s defenses became, and the denser the troop concentration.

Previously, a platoon was responsible for a few dozen meters of defense; now, it was a company.

With such a dense concentration of troops, it was no longer possible for Liu Zhiqiang and his team to rely on stealth and assassination to carve a path forward.

“Charge!”

Liu Zhiqiang ordered, and they rushed forward.

“Enemy attack!”

The Moro soldiers shouted, and gunfire erupted.

It was just ordinary machine guns.

Liu Zhiqiang identified the enemy’s weapons by the sound and decided to charge straight ahead without dodging.

Although the small-caliber bullets hitting Liu Zhiqiang’s body weren’t as ineffective as a tickle, they couldn’t really cause him any harm.

Liu Zhiqiang charged directly, reaching the Moro soldiers in the blink of an eye, startling them so much that they forgot to pull the trigger.

They were all dumbfounded.

Who wouldn’t be afraid of an enemy impervious to bullets and blades?

Their fear was fleeting, because Liu Zhiqiang’s purpose wasn’t to scare people but to complete his mission.

All enemies standing in his way had to be eliminated.

With a flick of his hand, Liu Zhiqiang sent out throwing knives, instantly killing all the Moro soldiers within a dozen meters.

He used throwing knives instead of guns because he could control the knives’ trajectory, making them more convenient to use than firearms, and their power was no less than bullets.

Liu Zhiqiang’s subordinates weren’t far behind. Although they couldn’t withstand bullets like Liu Zhiqiang, their speed allowed them to dodge a few times, wasting only a bit of time.

They followed closely behind Liu Zhiqiang, charging into the Moro army’s position and unleashing a massacre.

In less than a minute, the company stationed in this area was almost completely wiped out.

However, before they died, they managed to send out a signal, completely exposing Liu Zhiqiang and his team’s location.

Chapter 1163: An Exaggerated Kill Ratio

They were still a few hundred meters from the heavy artillery, but for Liu Zhiqiang and the others, who were no longer concealing their movements, that distance was a matter of seconds.

Even with dodging bullets, it definitely wouldn’t take a minute.

This speed was completely beyond the understanding of the Mo army. In their experience, a defense line of a few hundred meters could be held for at least a few days, a few hours, or at the very least, a few tens of minutes.

Facing the battle against superhumans for the first time, the Mo army didn’t know how to respond.

Before they could all get into position, Liu Zhiqiang had already reached the base of the artillery.

At a distance, the Mo army could still resist slightly with firearms, but once Liu Zhiqiang got close, the Mo soldiers really had no way to fight back.

Bayonets couldn’t pierce them, nor could they reach them.

Pistols didn’t have enough power, and grenades had a bit of power, but unless they were willing to die together, there was no way to use them.

Even if there were one or two people who chose to die together and rushed up with grenades, they would eventually find that the fish died, but the net didn’t break.

“Clear out the remaining enemies.”

Liu Zhiqiang and his team quickly defeated the garrison of this artillery battery, and then began to place explosives, preparing to destroy the heavy artillery.

They used specially made explosives, adding some special elements from another world, making them even more powerful.

If the ore containing this element wasn’t so rare and difficult to mine, the Huaxia army’s conventional shells would also use this gunpowder, and the artillery’s power would be taken to the next level.

For now, these new explosives were still being used as special equipment, only used in special circumstances.

Like now, they needed powerful and lightweight explosives.

After placing the explosives, Liu Zhiqiang and his team immediately fled to the next artillery battery.

The Mo army’s reinforcements happened to arrive at this time, rushing towards the artillery battery.

By the time they arrived, the explosives detonated.

With a loud bang, the sound was even louder than when the cannon fired.

The base of the heavy artillery was directly destroyed, and the flying rocks cut the surrounding Mo army into pieces, with no corpse intact.

In the violent explosion, the speed of these flying rocks even exceeded that of bullets, and their power was extremely great.

Even those who were lucky enough not to be hit by the rocks could not escape the impact of the shock wave.

In short, this explosion wiped out more than one hundred people who came to support.

At the same time, this heavy artillery was also severely damaged and almost unusable.

At the next artillery battery, Liu Zhiqiang and his team repeated the same trick.

The Mo army continued to be confused and at a loss.

Only after summarizing after the war could they find some ways to restrain superhumans. At the moment, the Mo army had no time to research and think.

Ordinary soldiers could only rely on instinct and experience to cope.

Aim, shoot.

It was a pity that the previous experience was completely inapplicable to the current battle.

By the time they aimed, the superhuman had already disappeared in front of them. The superhuman’s movement was too fast.

Even if a superhuman stood still, giving the Mo army time to aim, the Mo soldiers often couldn’t hit them, because the superhumans reacted very quickly. Dodging bullets, as seen in movies and TV shows, was happening here in reality.

The only way to deal with superhumans was to use saturation attacks, completely sealing off the areas they might dodge with firepower, but this was almost impossible.

Another way was to use special weapons, such as special fishing nets, ultra-high-voltage electric shock guns, poison gas…

Unfortunately, the Mo army had none of these either.

Another way was to use superhumans against superhumans, but unfortunately, the Mo army still didn’t have this.

The Mo army, with nothing, could only be passively beaten.

Liu Zhiqiang and his team’s original plan was just to scout the way and check the Mo army’s defense.

After discovering that the other side was a soft persimmon, they simply wreaked havoc in the Mo army’s formation.

If they could take down all of the Mo army’s artillery batteries in one fell swoop, then there would be no need for the people of Moonrise City to take action, and they could owe one less favor.

After destroying several artillery batteries in a row, Liu Zhiqiang embarrassedly discovered that his team didn’t bring enough explosives.

Even if they killed the garrisoning soldiers, they didn’t have very good means to destroy the cannons.

Moreover, they were all tired. Such high-intensity combat was only possible because their bodies had evolved. If it were ordinary people, they would have been lying on the ground foaming at the mouth.

“Withdraw.”

Liu Zhiqiang ordered.

Compared to these Mo soldiers, their lives were naturally more precious. It was not cost-effective to fight a war of attrition with the Mo soldiers.

Currently, they had unfortunately lost one superhuman, and four others were injured.

This loss made Liu Zhiqiang very distressed. He quickly retreated with the bodies of his comrades.

The Mo army had long been thrown into disarray by the superhumans’ rampage, and for a time, they forgot to block Liu Zhiqiang and his team’s retreat.

Or perhaps, they didn’t think that Liu Zhiqiang and the others would retreat, or perhaps, they actually hoped that Liu Zhiqiang and the others could retreat as soon as possible.

In short, the superhuman squad’s retreat was very smooth, even easier than when they came.

After they withdrew, the Mo army had time to count the losses.

The ground was covered with Mo army corpses, like a hell on earth.

What was even more terrifying was that all of this was caused by only a small squad of enemies.

If there were one or two thousand such people in the Huaxia army rushing over, their hundreds of thousands of troops would have to surrender. There was no way to fight.

According to statistics, the Mo army had 478 people killed, 184 injured, and 347 missing in this attack.

Saying they were missing was actually just a euphemism for being killed in battle, but the corpses were blown into so many pieces that they couldn’t be identified or collected.

The reason for defining them as missing was just to prevent the battle report from being so terrifying.

After all, missing still implied the possibility of being found again, while dead was dead.

The battle report could be written like this, and it could also fool the domestic people who didn’t understand military affairs, but it couldn’t hide it from the commanders in the army.

Eight hundred and twenty-five people were killed by a small squad of the enemy, and more than one hundred were seriously injured and lost their combat effectiveness, with casualties approaching one thousand.

But they didn’t kill a single enemy soldier.

The battle report said that six Huaxia soldiers were killed, but the bodies were taken away by the Huaxia army.

Su Shima naturally didn’t believe this nonsense. Taking away six corpses while surrounded was no less difficult than annihilating one thousand people.

Su Shima even suspected that his side might not have even killed a single enemy.

This was too terrifying, and Su Shima felt a chill down his spine.

Facing such an enemy, he had no way to deal with them at all.

Previously, they had also fought with the natives of the other world, and he had dealt with superhumans.

However, those natives didn’t have thermal weapons, nor did they have such exquisite tactics and skilled cooperation. Their threat was far less than that of the Huaxia army’s superhuman squad.

What to do? What to do?

At this moment, Su Shima even had the heart to die.

As long as he died, he wouldn’t have to bear this kind of pressure, no more worries, no more pain.

However, he didn’t dare to die, nor could he die.

“Strengthen the defenses.”

In the end, Su Shima could only issue a vague order.

As for how to strengthen it, this would require the people under him to brainstorm ideas.

Chapter 1164: On the Verge of Collapse

The soldiers of the Mo army’s third line of defense were still struggling to hold on, while high-ranking officials in the fourth, fifth, and inner city were already trying to escape.

It was easy enough for ordinary nobles; they could simply return home.

Commoners, however, had no way to leave at this point, as they were all conscripted into the Mo army.

As for the officials and generals among the nobles, they held public office, and under normal circumstances, they absolutely could not leave and return to Earth. This would be desertion, punishable by a military court.

The Mo Dynasty was usually very tolerant of nobles of high caste, and any crimes they committed were generally punished lightly, or not at all.

However, all of this was predicated on Aurangzeb being in a good mood.

As long as the supreme ruler, Aurangzeb, was unhappy, killing a few nobles was no problem at all.

And now, it was obvious that Emperor Aurangzeb was not in a good mood, but rather in a terrible one.

Deserting at this time was like offering oneself as a punching bag, allowing Aurangzeb to vent his anger, and also serving as a warning to others.

Those who could become high-ranking officials and hold important positions were not stupid. They knew that they could not openly flee at this time, but had to find a seemingly legitimate way.

Requesting a transfer, claiming illness, resigning from office…

They tried every possible method to escape this deadly place.

They also understood the principle that escaping back to Earth and causing the Mo army to be defeated, eventually leading to the destruction of the country, would not absolve them. However, one was dying in the future, and the other was dying now, so the choice was easy.

Who knew what the future held? Perhaps returning to Earth, fighting on their home turf, the Mo army could unleash even stronger combat power? Perhaps the Huaxia army’s emperor would suddenly die and fall into internal strife? Perhaps…

To escape the immediate danger, they could imagine countless possibilities of the Mo army winning a great victory.

Self-comfort was useless, and might even make things worse, but it could soothe the heart, temporarily escape troubles, and…

After some maneuvering, those with power, influence, and ability all fled Heng City.

This made the low-ranking officers who received the news very dissatisfied, and the news spread to the soldier ranks, leading to dissatisfaction throughout the army.

Although many people knew that in war, the small soldiers were always the ones sent to the front to die, while high-ranking officials and nobles hid in the back to enjoy the fruits of victory, or betray the country’s interests after defeat.

But knowing didn’t mean they could accept it.

In the past, the Mo army often won battles, and the soldiers could barely tolerate this situation.

But now, seeing that they were about to be defeated, many soldiers could not accept it and had thoughts of disobeying orders.

One soldier having this thought was not a big problem, nor were ten or a hundred.

But if there were a thousand, ten thousand, or even a hundred thousand, then even the emperor would be powerless.

Su Shima was able to command hundreds of thousands of troops in the past because those hundreds of thousands of troops obeyed orders, not because Su Shima had some ability to control puppets.

When the soldiers below were not prepared to obey orders, Su Shima lost control of the army.

The Heng City battle had only been going on for four days, and infighting had already broken out in the Mo army’s ranks.

This infighting was different from previous infighting incidents. In the past, it was always between the main force and the auxiliary troops, but this time it was infighting between main forces.

A group of Indian troops trying to escape the third line of defense, trying to hide in the first line of defense, or retreat back to Earth, was discovered by other troops and stopped, and the two sides exchanged fire, resulting in more than three hundred casualties.

Not many people died, but the impact was extremely bad.

If even friendly troops could open fire on their own, who could be trusted?

And the troops at the front line were even more uneasy. The rear troops would rather open fire than allow the front troops to retreat, which clearly meant that the troops in front were meant to fight to the death.

Although the army had always promoted observing and obeying orders, and not retreating even when it was time to die.

But people were not machines after all, and had the same biological nature as other creatures, which was the desire to survive.

If there was even a glimmer of hope, no one liked to die.

Less than four hours after the first infighting incident ended, a second infighting incident occurred.

The soldiers stationed at the artillery positions chose to retreat because they were once again attacked by Huaxia army’s superhumans.

They had long been terrified by the superhumans, knowing that staying meant certain death.

If the opponent was someone they had a chance of defeating, then dying would be worth it.

But the problem now was that the soldiers stationed at these artillery positions were clear in their hearts that even if they rushed up and died, they would not be able to stop the Huaxia army’s superhumans. Such a death was meaningless.

So, they chose to retreat.

Of course, this was their own understanding. In the eyes of the rear guard, this was desertion.

Thus, the two sides with conflicting ideas fought again.

The two sides fought fiercely, and some other auxiliary troops joined in when they saw this, leading to a more complex and chaotic situation.

“Unity is strength.”

After learning of the Mo army’s continuous infighting incidents, Tao Xiangjun couldn’t help but sigh at Wu Changqing’s words.

This was a sentence Wu Changqing said when other parts of the Huaxia Dynasty were severely oppressed.

From this, the Huaxia Dynasty set the tone for other regions, focusing on Sinicization and supplementing it with exploitation, trying to turn them into one as much as possible.

They had to be superior to them, but they couldn’t exploit them too fiercely, so as not to alienate them from the Huaxia Dynasty.

The Huaxia Dynasty didn’t do this very well.

But everything was afraid of comparison. Compared with the Mo Dynasty, the Huaxia Dynasty did too well in this regard.

There were also many Japanese soldiers, Southeast Asian soldiers, Eastern European soldiers… in the Huaxia army.

The proportion of non-Han soldiers accounted for forty percent, but there had never been a large-scale infighting incident in the Huaxia Dynasty army. At most, there were some conflicts between individual soldiers.

Organized confrontation had never occurred, and was never allowed to occur.

“Take the opportunity to launch a general offensive and solve them in one fell swoop.”

The chief of staff suggested.

In fact, the Mo Dynasty now had serious internal problems. The Huaxia army didn’t need to attack. As long as they surrounded the enemy tightly, the longer they dragged it out, the more acute the internal contradictions of the Mo army would become, and the Huaxia army’s casualties could be minimized.

However, that would take too long, and it could not be ruled out that someone in the Mo Dynasty could reconcile these contradictions.

Therefore, the chief of staff suggested taking advantage of the opportunity to launch a general offensive, and taking Heng City even at a price.

This suggestion was approved by the vast majority of people, and Tao Xiangjun naturally had no objection, ordering the entire army group to launch a full-scale offensive from four directions.

“Kill!”

The bugle call sounded in various positions, and the soldiers shouted slogans and rushed out of their positions.

“It’s over.”

Su Shima slumped into his chair, trembling as he took out a pure gold pistol from the drawer.

He had no choice. If he lost Heng City, even the gods couldn’t protect him. He could only commit suicide or be given death by Aurangzeb.

Suicide could still leave a little reputation and protect his family. If he escaped back to his country and was shot, not only would his reputation stink, but it would even involve his family.

Chapter 1165: What We Fight For

“Charge!”

Facing the formidable firepower of the Mo army, the Third Platoon Leader charged forward without regard for his own safety.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t afraid of death, but he desperately wanted to earn merit, a great merit.

Only by earning merit could he join the Transcendent Legion, receive spiritual energy pill cultivation, and become a Transcendent.

This was the dream of every soldier in the Huaxia army.

The benefits of becoming a Transcendent were numerous. Firstly, it extended one’s lifespan. Secondly, it increased the survival rate on the battlefield, and one could also attain a higher position.

There were even rumors that becoming a Transcendent could enhance one’s abilities in that area, making it possible to go five or six times a night.

This was extremely tempting for most men.

Therefore, everyone was vying to become a Transcendent.

Unfortunately, the number of spiritual energy pills was limited, allowing only a select few to cultivate first.

With limited spots, the difficulty of getting in was immense.

One either needed strong connections, exceptional talent, or have performed great service for the imperial court.

For ordinary people like the Third Platoon Leader, who had no background and mediocre talent, earning merit was his only chance.

For this, he was willing to risk his life.

Many others shared his thoughts, desperately fighting for that spot.

Da da da…

Bullets flew past the Third Platoon Leader. In the past, he would have instinctively rolled behind cover to temporarily evade, waiting for his comrades’ covering fire.

But now, he was still charging.

The battlefield was in need of fire support everywhere. By the time it was their turn, it would be too late.

The Third Platoon Leader didn’t have the patience to wait. He wanted to be the first to breach the enemy’s defenses.

Under his reckless charge, the Mo army soldiers even showed a hint of panic.

As the saying goes, the tough fear the reckless. No one was unafraid of someone like the Third Platoon Leader, who didn’t value his life.

Despite their fear, they didn’t stop firing. It had become an instinct.

Da da da…

A series of bullets swept across the Third Platoon Leader’s body, and he fell.

One Third Platoon Leader fell, but more reckless soldiers charged forward.

Soon, they stepped onto the Mo army’s position and entered into close combat.

Close combat tested courage, and that was what the Mo army lacked most.

Apart from a few who could exchange a couple of blows, most Mo army soldiers chose to turn and run.

“Don’t retreat! Don’t retreat! I’ll shoot if you retreat again!”

The supervising team behind them raised their guns and blocked the road, preventing the routed soldiers from escaping.

“Officer, the defense line has been breached. We can’t take it back even if we go back!”

The routed soldiers cried and pleaded, but the supervising team remained unmoved.

Su Shima had already ordered that if the supervising team failed to stop the routed soldiers, then the supervising team would become the front line.

The supervising team couldn’t escape either, because behind them were supervising teams supervising them.

Su Shima had already decided to commit suicide, and at the same time, he was unwilling to let the soldiers live.

Total annihilation represented the opponent’s strength, and that he had tried his best.

But if it was a complete rout, it would mean that his command was ineffective.

“The officials have already run away. They want us to stay and die!”

“Rebel against them! Rebel!”

Seeing that their pleas were in vain, some of the bolder routed soldiers began to incite their comrades, attempting to break through by force.

Although doing so would likely result in death, there was still a chance. Returning to resist was certain death.

These soldiers might not understand the principle of choosing the lesser of two evils, but they knew what to do.

Faced with the impending riot of the routed soldiers, the supervising team panicked, after all, they were outnumbered.

Boom.

An explosion sounded, and experienced soldiers judged the distance of the Huaxia army soldiers from the size of the sound.

The result was very unfavorable. The Huaxia army was only a few hundred meters away from them.

At this time, the Mo army’s remaining resistance was very weak, and these few hundred meters were estimated to be a matter of one or two minutes.

Finally, some soldiers couldn’t withstand the pressure and opened fire on the supervising team.

Once the first shot was fired, there was no way to stop it.

Although they didn’t want to kill each other, no one dared to bet on that.

At this time, the best way to save their lives was to kill the other party.

As soon as the routed soldiers opened fire, the supervising team immediately returned fire, and other routed soldiers followed suit.

Both sides were in an environment with no cover, completely exposed.

This kind of shootout was extremely efficient at killing people.

More than a thousand routed soldiers, more than half of them fell in less than a minute, execution was not so fast.

The routed soldiers suffered heavy casualties, and not a single member of the supervising team could stand up.

The remaining routed soldiers finally broke through this barrier and retreated from the city.

But this was only the first barrier. They fled less than one kilometer before being blocked by another supervising team.

This time, there were more supervising teams, and they also had defensive positions.

Based on the remaining defeated routed soldiers, it was impossible to break through.

Some soldiers felt extremely grief-stricken and desperate, and simply shot themselves in the head, ending it all.

Other soldiers moved to both sides, trying to bypass the checkpoint and go from other places.

This possibility was very small. The Mo army’s forces here were very dense, and every section of the defense line was guarded, there was no loophole to exploit.

More people committed suicide in despair. This scene made the Mo army on the position extremely angry. They hated these guys who would rather commit suicide than fight the enemy.

If these people were willing to fight the enemy, they could at least cause some trouble for the Huaxia army, and give them a chance to survive.

Unfortunately, those routed soldiers didn’t do that.

The Huaxia army progressed very smoothly, breaking through the third defense line in just three hours and rushing straight to the fourth.

Breaking through the fourth line, the Huaxia army would be able to enter the city center of Heng City. The fifth defense line was more like preventing internal thieves, and had no effect on blocking the Huaxia army.

In other words, as long as the fourth defense line was broken through, the Huaxia army would be almost equivalent to occupying Heng City.

Such exciting news made the Huaxia army soldiers unwilling to stop to rest, they just wanted to solve their opponents in one go.

With such high morale, the Huaxia army commander was naturally unwilling to waste it, disregarding the fatigue of his body, and continued to attack.

Da da da…

The sound of machine guns rang out. The Mo army’s fourth defense line did not fall into chaos. Most of the soldiers stationed here were the core main force of the Mo Dynasty, and their fighting will was tenacious.

They knew very well that once the Mo Dynasty was gone, the privileges they enjoyed would also be gone.

This was something they could not accept, so they were willing to risk their lives.

This tenacious fighting spirit gave the Huaxia army a head-on blow. The troops rushing in front were careless, thinking they could easily break through, and pressed on too many troops at once.

Under the Mo Dynasty’s powerful firepower, the Huaxia army suffered heavy losses.

“Stop! Fight according to tactics, don’t mess up!”

The lower-level officers also realized that something was wrong, and quickly stopped the other impulsive soldiers to reduce losses.

The Huaxia army’s offensive weakened, but the Mo Dynasty soldiers were not happy at all.

Having fought to this point, they all knew that their chances were slim.

Chapter 1166: Occupying Heng City

The Huaxia army wasn’t in a hurry. They waited for the mortars to be transported up and unleashed a barrage.

While these mortars couldn’t destroy permanent fortifications like bunkers, they could eliminate some of the Mughal army’s surface-level firing points. This would at least weaken the enemy’s firepower, making it easier for their own soldiers to approach the bunkers.

After the shelling, the Transcendent Legion came up to help.

Especially the Moonrise City legion. The members of this regiment generally had high cultivation levels, and with the Huaxia army’s explosives, they cleared the bunkers very quickly.

At the cost of only two deaths, the Moonrise Regiment eliminated thirty-three bunkers.

This kind of record was terrifying. If ordinary soldiers had been sent, it would have been impossible to take this position without losing hundreds of lives.

And that was with the enemy’s morale already low. If the enemy had been more tenacious and had sufficient ammunition, breaking through such a network of bunkers would have been impossible without thousands or even tens of thousands of casualties.

It was precisely because of such formidable defenses that the Mughal dynasty believed Heng City would never fall, that it was eternally secure.

Unfortunately, times had changed.

The combination of transcendent cultivators and advanced technological weaponry had turned these defensive fortifications into a joke.

Military warfare was undergoing a major transformation due to the intervention of transcendents.

And the Mughal army was clearly unable to keep up with this change, resulting in heavy losses.

This kind of thing had happened many times in history. For example, with the advent of the Minié rifle, officers who couldn’t adapt to the change continued to use the line-up-and-fire tactics, resulting in ten thousand casualties in a single day during the American Civil War.

Or, for example, with the widespread use of machine guns, the British and French allied forces, unable to adapt to the change, continued to charge in waves, resulting in fifty to sixty thousand casualties in a single day, and hundreds of thousands of casualties in a single battle.

The Huaxia army’s use of transcendents was actually not yet mature, otherwise they could have won this war even more easily.

But it was still good as it was. At the cost of only a little over three thousand deaths, two thousand seriously wounded, and eight thousand lightly wounded, they were about to take Heng City.

This was a military fortress that had been under construction for more than twenty years. This achievement, no matter how you looked at it, was glorious.

The Transcendent Legion quickly broke through three positions, and other soldiers poured in through these three gaps, then quickly attacked to the left and right, and some even went around to the rear, trying to encircle and annihilate the enemy.

It was relatively easy to encircle and annihilate them in this narrow place. If they escaped back to Earth and scattered across that vast territory, it would be troublesome for Great Hua to clean them up one by one.

This move by the Huaxia army frightened the resisting Mughal army. No one was not afraid of being surrounded, especially being surrounded without reinforcements, which was equivalent to a dead end.

For a time, even more soldiers joined the ranks of those fleeing.

Even more deadly, the supervising team in the rear fled first.

With the supervising team blocking the way, those people at least couldn’t escape so quickly, and the thought of escaping wouldn’t be so strong.

Now that the supervising team was gone, as long as they retreated, they could return to Earth, so these soldiers had even less intention of resisting.

As a result, the Mughal army collapsed again, and underground soldiers fled in organized units.

“Damn it, these dogs actually aren’t resisting.”

A certain company commander of the Huaxia army, who was in pursuit, cursed angrily, because he found that capturing people was much more difficult than killing them.

Killing only required pulling the trigger, while capturing prisoners meant they couldn’t just shoot at will, and it was difficult to communicate with these people who didn’t understand the Huaxia language.

It was easy to deal with those who were sensible and had already dropped their weapons and knelt down to beg for mercy. Just tie them up with a rope and it was done.

What they feared were those who no longer dared to resist, but didn’t trust the Huaxia army’s policies.

They didn’t drop their weapons, as if holding a weapon gave them a sense of security.

In most cases, with a little time, these people would also put down their weapons.

But the situation on the battlefield was very complicated, and communication between the two sides was difficult, so misunderstandings often occurred.

A gesture, or a tone of voice, an expression could easily lead to the misunderstanding that the other party was going to kill them.

Under emotional excitement and tension, many accidents would occur.

Some Huaxia army soldiers were killed in retaliation due to carelessness, and many Indian prisoners of war were shot as threats, dying very unjustly.

Moreover, no one would ever speak up for them in the future, they could only blame themselves for their bad luck.

The Huaxia army continued to capture prisoners while continuing to advance towards the center of Heng City.

At this time, the center of Heng City was in complete chaos, with countless people pouring towards the entrance.

The entrance was only about one hundred meters in size, and the number of people who could pass through at one time was very limited.

Under this kind of crowding, stampedes were naturally inevitable.

And in this kind of accident, children were especially vulnerable.

In times of war, tragedies were countless.

When the Huaxia army rushed to the Mughal army’s headquarters, Su Shima had already run away.

He had originally planned to commit suicide, but at the last moment he lost his courage and changed his mind.

Then, he chose to cut in line to retreat to Earth.

With his power and influence, doing this was naturally no problem.

Now, he had successfully escaped.

After issuing the order for the soldiers to go to their deaths, Su Shima fled back to Earth.

Fortunately, the soldiers who had already died couldn’t come back to life, otherwise these people would definitely try every means to dig out Su Shima’s heart and skin him alive.

Of course, Su Shima wasn’t having a good time now either.

He had to face the emperor’s punishment, the questioning of the domestic people, and the torture of his conscience.

He saved his life, but he would definitely live a life worse than death in the future.

Su Shima fled, and other high-ranking officials naturally fled without wanting to be left behind.

After these high-ranking officials fled, the auxiliary troops in the city took the opportunity to revolt and cause trouble, and the entire Heng City was as chaotic as the end of the world.

It took the Huaxia army a total of three days to clean up the mess and restore order to the city.

In this battle, the Huaxia army suffered a total of over fifteen thousand casualties, including twenty-three transcendent deaths.

The casualties were not small, but the gains were even greater.

In this battle, a total of one hundred and twenty-six thousand Mughal soldiers were killed, and six hundred and thirty thousand were captured, of which two hundred and forty thousand were auxiliary troops, who had been directly converted into auxiliary troops of Great Hua.

The Mughal army lost a total of nearly eight hundred thousand troops, and these eight hundred thousand were their elite, which could be regarded as a major blow to their vitality.

After losing Heng City, Su Shima led the remnants of his troops to retreat to Antarctica, where they were stationed on the ice sheet.

However, this kind of stationing was more like a show, to show Aurangzeb that he had not given up, that he had not run away, he was just making a strategic retreat.

The conditions in Antarctica were not suitable for garrisoning at all. The best strategy for the Mughal dynasty at this time was to destroy the several ports in Antarctica and adopt a maritime blockade strategy against the Huaxia army.

As long as the Huaxia army had no ships, they would not be able to threaten other continents. Although the loss of the alien world and Antarctica would have a great impact on the Mughal dynasty, it would not be fatal.

But if the Huaxia army were to reach Australia or South America and occupy territory on land, then the Mughal Empire would truly be on the verge of destruction.

But the problem was that destroying those ports would be equivalent to completely abandoning the alien world, and the Mughal dynasty would no longer be able to counterattack.

How to choose between the two had become Aurangzeb’s most important task.

Chapter 1167: Court Disputes

New Delhi, the capital of the Mughal Empire, was located over one hundred kilometers southwest of Delhi.

Aurangzeb had been dedicated to building this new capital since unifying South Asia. Now, nearly thirty years later, it was a modern metropolis.

Advanced electrical facilities, advanced water supply systems, grand streets, convenient transportation…

If it weren’t for the occasional piles of excrement on the streets and the large slums on the city’s edge, New Delhi could be considered a perfect city.

North of New Delhi was Aurangzeb’s private estate. Aurangzeb spent most of his time working in the Pentagon in the city, but he sometimes held meetings at his private estate, depending on his mood.

Today, Aurangzeb was hosting a banquet for the loyal subjects of the Mughal Empire at his private estate.

However, the atmosphere at the banquet was not good, giving off a very oppressive feeling.

“Speak,” Aurangzeb asked. “How should we deal with Su Shima?”

Although Su Shima claimed he retreated to Antarctica to prevent the Huaxia army from invading the continent, preserve strength, and continue to resist,
unfortunately, Aurangzeb had his own intelligence channels. He knew Su Shima had fled in defeat, losing nearly eight hundred thousand of his one million soldiers, bringing back less than two hundred thousand routed troops.

The morale of these soldiers had plummeted, their weapons and equipment were mostly lost, and most importantly, there were not enough supplies in Antarctica, and the temperature was extremely cold.

Forget about holding fast in Antarctica, if the mainland didn’t continuously send supplies, these two hundred thousand troops would freeze to death on the spot.

Letting Su Shima off was absolutely impossible.

“Su Shima’s command was flawed, resulting in the loss of one million imperial soldiers. He should be executed,” an official immediately suggested, very angrily.

Although the enemy belonged to Aurangzeb, as someone who depended on Aurangzeb, he hoped Aurangzeb could maintain his power.

If the Mughal Empire was conquered, he would hardly have a good end.

Therefore, this official was very angry at Su Shima for seriously damaging the empire’s interests.

Someone suggested execution, and naturally, someone would object.

Imran Khan, a bigwig in the military, objected. He said, “Su Shima did make mistakes, but there are extenuating circumstances. Our new opponent is not simple. Someone else in command might not have done as well as Su Shima. Su Shima’s past achievements demonstrate his ability. Now is when we need talent. Su Shima has at least accumulated a lot of experience fighting the Huaxia army. Now, if we kill Su Shima and replace him with someone even less experienced, will we just repeat the previous tragedy?”

Imran’s words made some sense. Sometimes, making mistakes is a form of experience.

“If we don’t severely punish Su Shima, wouldn’t that tell all the generals in the country that they can confidently fight losing battles, because there will be no punishment anyway?”

Acheem, the Minister of Development, said angrily.

These words also made sense. Clear rewards and punishments are very important for an army and a country.

After all, not everyone has such a high level of awareness. Many people won’t do their best without rewards, just loafing around. Without the deterrent of punishment, more people will make mistakes without restraint.

Governing a country must have standards. Whether the standards are good or bad, there must be one so everyone knows what they can do, what they can’t do, what they should do…

“We can let him atone for his crimes. If he can perform meritorious service, give him a chance. If he continues to make mistakes, then sentence him to death,” another person said.

They and Su Shima were of the same faction, so naturally, they didn’t want to lose Su Shima, this capable general.

“If he makes another mistake, then sentence him to death, you say so lightly. Do you know the cost of making that mistake? Eight hundred thousand troops, countless pieces of heavy equipment, Heng City built with countless money…”

Acheem said with heartache. That was all money!

Another mistake like that, and the Mughal Empire’s finances would be in trouble.

“How to deal with Su Shima is not important. Isn’t the most important thing now to study whether to abandon Antarctica? Do we have to wait for the Huaxia army to reach the South Asian continent before discussing it?”

Hamid, the Minister of Defense, couldn’t help but interject. Because the Mughal Empire had nominally unified the globe, the status of the Ministry of Defense had declined sharply, and Hamid, the Minister of Defense, had less say.

In the past, he mostly listened and spoke less.

But now, the Huaxia army had come to their doorstep.

At such a critical moment, instead of studying defense strategies, everyone was arguing about one person’s life and death. It was simply nonsense.

“How can Antarctica be defended? There weren’t many fortifications built in the first place. Can they hold it?”

“Even if they can’t hold it, they have to. If they don’t hold Antarctica, the enemy will have a foothold, and then we’ll really be in danger.”

“Antarctica is too difficult to defend. It’s better to destroy the ports and blockade the sea. As long as the enemy has no ships, no warships, they can’t threaten us.”

The crowd split into two factions again over this issue, arguing endlessly, making Aurangzeb’s head spin.

Moreover, this wasn’t the first time. Previous court meetings were basically the same, with each faction constantly arguing over every matter for their own interests, trying to hinder the other.

Aurangzeb was a little curious about how Wu Changqing managed the Great Hua Empire. Did the court also argue like this?

When Aurangzeb came back to his senses, the ministers’ point of contention had long shifted from whether to defend Antarctica to the national governance policy, whether to continue practicing the caste system globally.

If they continued, the colonies would inevitably be turbulent and uneasy, and the auxiliary troops in the army would be disloyal, affecting the army’s combat effectiveness, and there would be cases of organized surrenders like in Heng City.

But if they didn’t, how should they explain it to the native people?

After being the upper class for so many years, if suddenly everyone was equal, would the native Indians agree?

Aurangzeb actually wanted to change, but unfortunately, the resistance was too great.

Although the high-caste nobles in the homeland also knew the current predicament, they hoped Aurangzeb could use other means to approach it, rather than ways that would harm their interests.

Compared to their own interests and the interests of the country, naturally their own interests were more important. After all, the country belonged to Aurangzeb, not them.

“In times of crisis, we need reform to have hope. Continuing to be so lifeless, with the colonies continuing to be disloyal, we have no chance to defeat the Huaxia Dynasty, this opponent,” Imran advised. As someone in the military, he really didn’t want to see infighting and betrayal again. He needed to unite the people of the world.

Unfortunately, the civil service group didn’t agree.

They didn’t care about the military’s difficulties, they only cared about their own interests.

Without the caste system, how could they be superior and monopolize the path to advancement?

In the end, an extremely important court meeting failed to make any decisions. They would have to continue arguing tomorrow.

Chapter 1168: The Chronic Ills of the Mughal Empire

“Antarctica cannot be abandoned.”

Aurangzeb set the tone. He still possessed some ambition; a single defeat hadn’t completely extinguished his desire for conquest. He still had designs on the otherworld and wanted to hold onto the passage leading to it.

With Aurangzeb having spoken, the other ministers naturally didn’t dare to object too strongly, offering at most a few words of advice.

After their attempts at persuasion failed, some ministers began to harbor feelings of dissatisfaction towards Aurangzeb.

It wasn’t as if all the ministers had always been obedient to Aurangzeb. It was just that Aurangzeb’s power had been too great in the past, his abilities too strong. He had no equal in the world.

No matter how dissatisfied the ministers were, they could only suppress it, with no other option.

But now, through the war with Great Hua, the ministers had discovered that Aurangzeb was not invincible, that Aurangzeb was not a god.

As of now, no ministers were thinking of rebelling against Aurangzeb, but if Aurangzeb continued to act so arbitrarily, ignoring the feelings of his court, these people wouldn’t mind joining a new master in the future.

With the matter of Antarctica settled, Su Shima’s fate was also decided: beheading.

This was also Aurangzeb’s intention, and those who didn’t want Su Shima to die could only obey.

Aurangzeb had achieved victory in these two important matters, fulfilling his wishes.

However, on another national policy, Aurangzeb met with a resounding defeat.

Over ninety-five percent of the ministers in the court strongly opposed abolishing the caste system. With such unity among the court officials, Aurangzeb couldn’t help but make some compromises.

If he was determined to do it, he could disregard everything, remove the ministers who opposed him, and support a new group of people to take their place.

However, this would inevitably lead to national turmoil.

What was even more troublesome was that the people he supported would probably continue to oppose him for their own benefit.

Coupled with historical and cultural concepts, it was incredibly difficult for Aurangzeb to change this national policy.

Even with his immense achievements, he couldn’t accomplish it.

On this policy, the ministers won.

At the same time, the Huaxia army in Heng City had completed their rest and reorganization, prepared their war materials, and were ready to begin the next round of battles.

Their mission was to enter the Mughal Empire’s dimension, occupy Antarctica, and most importantly, seize some ships and secure the Antarctic port. Ideally, they would be able to march all the way to South America, seize a piece of land, and build a shipyard.

It was almost impossible for Great Hua to transport warships through the otherworld; the cost was too high.

Therefore, Great Hua needed to seize a place in the Mughal Empire’s dimension where they could build ships.

If they couldn’t seize it, or couldn’t hold onto it, then defeating the Mughal Empire would be much more difficult.

The Mughal Empire’s dimension was the Mughal Empire’s home ground. Here, the Mughal army had a great home-field advantage, which was unavoidable.

While the Huaxia army was making preparations in full swing, the Mughal army in Antarctica was suffering.

Those with connections were trying to find ways to leave. The remaining garrison was basically composed of people from the lower classes.

The last few days had been slightly better. The Mughal Empire had transferred a batch of supplies from Australia and South America, allowing these soldiers to eat their fill and stay warm. Before, they had been freezing to death, with as many as a hundred people dying every day.

With food and clothing, the Mughal Empire had also transferred a batch of weapons.

If the Huaxia army didn’t come to attack, they might be able to barely hold on.

But the Mughal soldiers knew in their hearts that the Huaxia army couldn’t possibly not come; it was only a matter of time.

Faced with this desperate situation, the Mughal soldiers had no choice but to live one day at a time, clinging to life.

“As long as you are willing to surrender and defect, you can join the Huaxia army, your salary will be doubled, and you will be less likely to die.”

In the past few days, some people had ‘escaped back’ to Antarctica. After the restrictions were lifted, they began to engage in private activities.

These were all people who had lost hope and defected to Great Hua. They had returned ahead of time to do ideological work on the Mughal soldiers, further undermining their will to resist.

Taking Antarctica wasn’t difficult for the Huaxia army, but the Huaxia army needed to take it as quickly as possible, not giving the Mughal army time to react, not giving the Mughal army time to destroy the port and other infrastructure.

“It’s not easy to be a puppet soldier.”

These soldiers from India had seen the fate of other puppet soldiers, so they were naturally unwilling to be inferior and become cannon fodder.

“The Huaxia army is different from ours; there is no such thing as a puppet army. The organization of the legions is not divided by region or race. There is equality in the army, and even we prisoners of war have not been discriminated against. The imperial court no longer treats you as people. Do you still want to continue to work for the emperor?”

The persuaders continued to introduce the situation. The Mughal soldiers didn’t really believe these words in their hearts.

But they had no choice. Just as the persuaders said, they had already been abandoned by Aurangzeb.

In that case, even if life after surrendering to Great Hua wasn’t good, it was unlikely to be worse than it was now.

Between two evils, choose the lesser. As for patriotism? The Mughal soldiers lacked this concept.

Even though the Mughal Empire often promoted it, they, as low-caste soldiers, hadn’t enjoyed too many national benefits, and their identification with the country was far less than that of the Huaxia soldiers.

A large number of persuaders were lobbying, not just the soldiers, but even many officers were being encouraged.

Such blatant actions naturally couldn’t escape the notice of the Mughal army’s mid- and high-level officers.

The high-level officers wanted to manage the situation, but they didn’t have the time and couldn’t manage it.

The mid-level officers wanted to leave themselves a way out, so they didn’t suppress it. Otherwise, after the Huaxia army attacked, they wouldn’t even have the chance to surrender.

The entire army had a feeling of being abandoned, and from top to bottom, they were in a state of self-abandonment.

The newly arrived commander-in-chief, seeing this situation, quickly sent a telegram to his superiors, hoping to be transferred away.

This wasn’t Antarctica at all; it was clearly a pit of fire. Whoever came would be finished.

The newly arrived commander-in-chief was Aurangzeb’s brother-in-law. His connections were strong enough, and with his sister helping him whisper in Aurangzeb’s ear, he actually managed to use the excuse of being unsuited to the cold climate and returned to South Asia while ill.

The commander-in-chief needed to be replaced, but the big shots in the army had already more or less understood the state of the Antarctic garrison and were unwilling to jump into this pit of fire.

For a time, the seat of commander-in-chief of an army of two hundred thousand, a position that would once have been fought over by countless people, was actually unwanted.

The Mughal Empire’s military department was very troubled by this and could only forcibly assign someone.

But even then, the officers who were assigned found various reasons to refuse to take office.

“It’s only been fifty years since the founding of the country, and the empire is already so corrupt.”

Hamid lamented with heartache.

In the end, Hamid, filled with grief and indignation, volunteered to take on this position.

He tried to use this method to save the empire and awaken the fighting spirit of others.

However, whether it would be effective was hard to say.

Many officers praised Hamid’s responsibility on the surface, but who knew whether they were secretly laughing or despising him behind his back.

Chapter 1169: Seizing the Ships

Hamid was out of luck. On his first day in Antarctica, the Huaxia army launched their attack.

Fei Hong, Fei Ting, Liu Zhiqiang, and others took the lead, charging out from the entrance.

Dozens of the Morozov army’s rapid-firing cannons targeted the entrance, but Fei Hong erected an aura shield, blocking the front.

The shells struck the aura shield like pebbles thrown into a lake, creating ripples on its surface, and the shield’s color gradually faded.

Although these shells couldn’t penetrate the aura shield, they constantly drained its energy.

“Hurry, I can only hold on for half a minute at most.”

Fei Hong said, beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. This was the power of modern weaponry. A group of ordinary people wielding such weapons posed a threat to a King-level expert like him, something unimaginable in the past.

“Enough,” Fei Ting responded, unleashing a wave of sword energy. The sword energy was colorless, odorless, invisible, yet incredibly fast.

It flew into the Morozov army’s ranks, and many gunners inexplicably collapsed. Others were inexplicably decapitated.

To the Morozov army, it was like a supernatural event.

Many religious soldiers were scared half to death, even forgetting to continue their barrage.

Liu Zhiqiang flung his throwing knives, and Morozov soldiers hiding behind cover were also silently dispatched with slit throats.

Other superhumans also used their practiced skills to attack the Morozov army’s position.

In an instant, the Morozov army’s rapid-firing cannons fell silent.

Their fortified position, designed to withstand tank assaults, had a leg cut off, leaving only some large-caliber artillery.

These artillery pieces were slow to load and even slower to fire, originally intended to deal with Huaxia army tanks.

But the Huaxia army’s vanguard consisted of superhumans. Before they could even fire the first shot, the Huaxia army’s superhumans had broken through the rapid-firing cannon line and were attacking them.

The artillerymen finally fired their heavy guns, the shells landing at the entrance, but it was all for naught.

The artillery position’s defenses were nonexistent to Fei Hong and the others. After a one-sided slaughter, the heavy guns fell silent, and a large number of Huaxia army troops emerged from the entrance, rushing towards the Morozov army’s defensive line.

Defensive line was a generous term; it was simply where the Morozov soldiers were located.

Most of Antarctica was covered in ice and snow, making it impossible to construct permanent fortifications.

The Morozov soldiers in Antarctica were just going through the motions, simply trying to get by. They hadn’t bothered to build and maintain fortifications daily.

When the Huaxia army charged at them, they realized they didn’t even have a breastwork to shield themselves.

The soldiers could directly shoot at each other, with a surprisingly high hit rate, and a large number fell instantly.

It was a moment to test courage. When the Huaxia army soldiers fell, they were immediately replaced.

But on the Morozov side, as the first batch fell, the remaining soldiers came to their senses.

This wasn’t fighting a war; it was lining up to be executed, a blatant act of sending them to their deaths.

The Morozov soldiers, who had long lost their will to fight, couldn’t possibly want to die. Those who realized this dropped their weapons and ran, while others simply lay on the ground pretending to be dead, or surrendered on the spot.

Upon hearing the news of the Huaxia army’s surprise attack, stubborn Morozov officers wanted to organize a counterattack, a desperate last stand.

However, before the orders could be passed down, infighting broke out within the Morozov army again.

And the mutiny wasn’t even from the auxiliary troops, but from soldiers from the Northern Province, the core region of the Morozov Dynasty. Their families were still in the Northern Province.

Their mutiny would inevitably affect their families, yet they still did it.

Hamid couldn’t imagine how desperate these soldiers must have been to do such a thing.

Unfortunately, it no longer mattered.

The Morozov army, plagued by infighting, couldn’t effectively organize or command. Soldiers still loyal to the Morozov Dynasty fought individually, while those trying to survive sought opportunities to surrender.

The entire position was in chaos, like a repeat of the last battle.

The Huaxia army’s advance was very smooth. After all, they had experience, knowing how to efficiently handle large-scale prisoners without affecting the attack.

Ordinary soldiers advanced, cleaning up the battlefield.

The superhuman legion split into two groups, one heading straight for the Morozov army’s command headquarters to completely eliminate their command, and the other rushing to the port to seize warships and various transport ships.

At the Morozov army’s command headquarters, Hamid had recognized the situation and issued the order to blow up the ships.

He hadn’t planned to return alive from this place, so he didn’t hesitate when giving the order.

However, just because he didn’t want to live didn’t mean others didn’t want to continue living.

When Hamid said he wanted to blow up the ships, several subordinates immediately stood up to object.

If the ships were destroyed, they would have no way to retreat.

Hamid was resolute in the face of his subordinates’ opposition, immediately executing two officers who tried to dissuade him on the spot: the military advisor and the division commander.

These were high-ranking figures. In normal times, even if they committed crimes, no court could try them; at most, a military court would handle it.

But now, Hamid killed them as easily as killing a dog.

The others felt Hamid’s determination and dared not try to dissuade him, and they began to take action.

However, blowing up the ships wasn’t an easy task.

Whether warships or ocean freighters, the ships traveling the Antarctic route were built to be very durable, to withstand the harsh conditions of the route.

Ocean freighters were easier to deal with. A few torpedoes to blow holes in the hull and the ship would be ruined.

But sinking a warship was difficult. The design specifications included how many torpedoes it could withstand and how much flooding it could endure.

The Morozov army was still mobilizing warships and preparing torpedoes when the Huaxia army’s superhuman legion arrived.

“Speed!”

Liu Zhiqiang saw the enemy preparing and shouted.

These ships were too important to the Huaxia army, so important that they had to secure them even if it meant sacrificing half their men, even sacrificing himself.

Liu Zhiqiang’s subordinates obeyed and immediately acted. Fei Hong didn’t hesitate either, because their fortunes were now tied to Great Hua.

The superhuman legion dispersed, with three or four people boarding each ship, while the rest cleared the shore to prevent the Morozov army from destroying the port.

Facing the Morozov army, which had almost no defenses, Liu Zhiqiang and his men found it as easy as cutting vegetables.

Their only problem was that they were too few in number to cover every ship.

If all the Morozov soldiers worked together, recklessly trying to destroy the ships, they could have destroyed a large portion of them.

Unfortunately, the Morozov Dynasty’s soldiers didn’t have that kind of resolve.

Faced with invincible superhumans, more Morozov soldiers chose to surrender and not resist, rather than desperately trying to destroy the ships.

Although some die-hard elements were still trying to carry out their orders, their numbers were too small to affect the overall situation.

Chapter 1170: Speed is of the Essence

The battle was easier than the Huaxia army’s general staff had imagined. Tao Xiangjun and his men originally thought it would take at least a few days to defeat this army of two hundred thousand.

Who would have thought that the Mughal army’s morale would have collapsed to such an extent that they would be routed with a single blow?

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, Tao Xiangjun would have suspected that his subordinates were exaggerating their achievements.

Stepping onto the Mughal Dynasty’s plane, Tao Xiangjun couldn’t help but sigh, “This world is truly amazing. It’s almost exactly the same as our plane. I really wonder what the universe is like.”

Tao Xiangjun was in his fifties. When he was a child, the world was still under feudal dynasties like the Ming and Qing, and he believed in a flat Earth.

As a result, with the rapid development of Great Hua, the world changed incredibly quickly. Even though Tao Xiangjun loved to learn, he couldn’t understand the most cutting-edge theories.

Not to mention the currently popular parallel multiverse theory, he couldn’t even understand the earlier theory of relativity.

“Once we conquer this Mughal Empire, let’s go back and ask His Majesty. He’s the smartest person in the world. If even His Majesty doesn’t know, then there’s no hope,” the chief of staff said with a smile.

Tao Xiangjun smiled and didn’t take it to heart.

No matter what the world was like, it wouldn’t have much impact on him. No matter what the world was like, what he had to do now was conquer the Mughal Empire.

“Have the navy arrived? Tell them to quickly inspect the captured ships and master their operation,” Tao Xiangjun said.

Whether it was a warship or a freighter, not just anyone could operate it.

The Huaxia army had already made preparations and transferred a batch of naval personnel from within the country.

However, the ships built by the Mughal Dynasty used Hindi script, which most of the naval officers and soldiers couldn’t understand.

Moreover, the design ideas of the Mughal Dynasty’s ships were not exactly the same as those of Great Hua, and there were obvious differences in some places.

Therefore, even with the arrival of the navy, it wouldn’t be easy to get these ships moving smoothly.

With Tao Xiangjun’s order, before the bloodstains on the Mughal warships could be wiped clean, the Huaxia navy and a large number of professional translators boarded the ships.

Fortunately, the principles of the ships were similar, and with the help of the translators, the navy quickly got a warship moving.

In addition, there were some people among the prisoners who knew how to operate ships. With their help, the Huaxia army’s progress was even faster.

On the second day, while some residual fighting on land hadn’t even ended, those warships and freighters were successfully started.

Then, the extraordinary legions and a large number of soldiers boarded the ships and headed straight for the Argentina region, which was closest to the port.

This was a bold adventure. Once someone in the Mughal army guessed the Huaxia army’s intentions and sent the navy to attack them halfway, then this surprise attack force of the Huaxia army would be completely annihilated.

Although the Huaxia army had also captured many warships and got them moving, they weren’t built by their own country after all, and the Great Hua navy, which had only familiarized themselves with them for a day, hadn’t completely mastered them.

If they really fought, they definitely wouldn’t be able to defeat the Mughal Dynasty’s navy.

The risk was great, but the reward was also great.

Once the surprise attack succeeded and the Huaxia army gained a foothold on the continent, then it would be almost impossible for the Mughal Dynasty to drive them away.

In other words, conquering this plane would only be a matter of time.

After spending nearly two days, the Huaxia army’s force saw the coastline.

However, they also ran into the Mughal Dynasty’s warships.

Fortunately, there weren’t many warships, and their tonnage wasn’t large, only two five-thousand-ton cruisers. Among the Huaxia army’s navy, there were four ten-thousand-ton cruisers, two battleships, one aircraft carrier, and more than forty other destroyers, supply ships, and transport ships.

With such a large scale, they didn’t even need to fight; they could scare the two cruisers to death.

However, the Mughal Dynasty’s cruisers didn’t run away; instead, they were approaching.

“Could it be that they haven’t received the news of the loss of Antarctica and think we’re friendly forces?” Liao Wangcai, the commander-in-chief of the Huaxia army’s surprise attack, guessed.

“No way, is their information transmission so backward?” the captain complained.

Wireless communication had long been popularized in Great Hua, and there were even satellite signals. As long as there was equipment, messages could be transmitted no matter where they were.

“Send a flag signal to deceive them and see if there’s a chance to capture these two ships as well,” Liao Wangcai said.

Subsequently, the Han Jin sent out a flag signal. The two cruisers in the distance didn’t suspect anything and continued to approach.

When they realized something was wrong and wanted to turn around and escape, the Huaxia army’s warships opened fire.

If they had turned around and run away from the beginning, they could have shaken off the Huaxia army with their speed.

Unfortunately, their current distance was less than two nautical miles.

At this distance, it was enough for the Huaxia army to fire thousands of shells before they could escape the shelling range.

Those five-thousand-ton cruisers couldn’t withstand a few shells at all.

If it was the main gun on the Han Jin, they couldn’t withstand even one shell.

In other words, as long as these two cruisers continued to escape, their fate would be to be sunk, with no other possibility.

The Mughal soldiers on the cruisers naturally understood this principle as well. After struggling for more than ten minutes and being hit by a shell, they decisively raised the white flag and surrendered.

“They’re really not durable,” Liao Wangcai said with some disdain. Since the war with the Mughal Dynasty, the Huaxia army had been victorious in every battle and hadn’t encountered too many difficult situations, which made Liao Wangcai somewhat complacent.

“Once we occupy the port and build shipyards, the Mughal army will definitely launch a frantic counterattack. Then there will be plenty of hard battles for you to fight,” the staff officer reminded him.

Although the Huaxia army was much stronger than the Mughal army, the supply line had always been a major problem.

As the battle progressed, their supply line became longer and longer.

“The headquarters has long considered this. As long as we gain a foothold on the continent, we will immediately start contacting rebel armies around the world and unite with them to deal with the Mughal Empire. When the Mughal Empire is engulfed in smoke and fire everywhere, and they don’t even have time to put out the fires, it’s hard to say whether they will come to attack us with all their strength,” Liao Wangcai said with a smile.

The Mughal Dynasty’s rule was far from as stable as Great Hua’s. There were at least several hundred large and small rebel armies around the world, and there were six with more than ten thousand people.

Among them, the Later Ming rebel army in the Central Plains region numbered more than one hundred thousand, but they lacked heavy equipment.

In the European region, there was also the Pan-European Alliance, and the number of rebel armies was as high as one hundred and fifty thousand.

These rebel armies were familiar with the local terrain and had the support of the masses, making it quite difficult for the Mughal Empire to suppress them.

If Great Hua took the opportunity to stab them in the back at this time, it could be said that the Mughal Dynasty had reached a precarious situation.

At this time, the best way for the Mughal Dynasty was to shrink its defenses, abandon those remote areas, hold on to the core areas, and then reform and reorganize the government. Perhaps there would still be a glimmer of hope in the future.

Unfortunately, Aurangzeb’s pride would not allow him to do so.

Chapter 1171: Guardians

With the extraordinary legion taking action, the surprise attack on the port of Buenos Aires went smoothly.

After taking the port, the Huaxia army immediately expanded inland and then constructed fortifications.

Learning that the Huaxia army was an enemy of the Mughal Dynasty, the local people were very enthusiastic in helping.

“He who wins the hearts of the people wins the world.”

“Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it.”

Tao Xiangjun and Liao Wangcai sighed with emotion. This principle is incredibly simple, but throughout history, almost every dynasty makes such mistakes, which is truly incomprehensible.

With the help of the masses, the Huaxia army quickly completed simple fortifications.

Adding in the more than twenty thousand troops, Tao Xiangjun was confident that unless the Mughal Dynasty mobilized two hundred thousand troops at once, they wouldn’t be able to break through their defenses.

This was Tao Xiangjun’s judgment, but Sitaraman, the commander-in-chief of the Mughal army in South America, didn’t think so.

Sitaraman’s headquarters was two hundred kilometers from Buenos Aires, not too far away.

He learned the news of the fall of Buenos Aires immediately. As the commander-in-chief of a continent, he was well aware of the significance of a port city to the Huaxia army.

Therefore, Buenos Aires could not be given to the Huaxia army and had to be taken back.

So, Sitaraman immediately dispatched eighty thousand troops to head straight for Buenos Aires.

Sitaraman felt that eighty thousand troops were enough. Of course, if it wasn’t enough, there was nothing he could do. He only had so many people available. The other two hundred and twenty thousand troops were scattered and stationed in various key locations, guarding against local rebels, and couldn’t be mobilized at all.

These eighty thousand troops were Sitaraman’s last reserve force. Once this force was annihilated, the entire South America would be in chaos.

After issuing the order to advance on Buenos Aires, Sitaraman also reported to Delhi and requested reinforcements, requesting reinforcements of infantry and navy.

Upon receiving Sitaraman’s call, Aurangzeb convened another emergency meeting.

Buenos Aires was actually lost!

Upon hearing this news, the entire hall was shocked.

The speed of the Huaxia army’s actions exceeded their imagination. They couldn’t imagine how a force could annihilate a two-hundred-thousand-strong army in three days, while also completing a thousand li raid, landing on the beach, and occupying a port city.

“Did Hamid actively surrender? Why did he lose so quickly?”

The ministers had no idea how to solve the current problem.

However, they had plenty of ideas for shifting blame.

Those ministers who had previously agreed to defend Antarctica all shifted the blame onto Hamid, even slandering and speculating that Hamid had surrendered to the Huaxia army.

“Hamid simply didn’t understand the situation of the Antarctic garrison.”

A senior military officer snorted coldly.

Previously, the military was not in favor of executing Su Shima, feeling that Su Shima was not guilty of military failure.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t overcome Aurangzeb, and Su Shima was eventually executed, replaced by a new commander-in-chief.

And the result? Now everyone could see that they were losing even faster and more thoroughly.

“Now is not the time to talk about these things. The most important thing now is how to retake Buenos Aires.”

Another minister appealed with heartache.

Losing Antarctica was just losing the opportunity to compete for another world, which was not a big problem for the Mughal Dynasty’s rule. But once Great Hua gained a foothold on the continent, the Mughal Dynasty would be in danger of national subjugation.

“Didn’t Sitaraman take eighty thousand troops to counterattack?”

“What if his eighty thousand troops are defeated again? Should we make some preparations in advance and send reinforcements to South America?”

“Where are we going to find troops to reinforce? Unless we expand the army.”

“Expand the army? Where is the money to expand the army? The empire has already been severely damaged by the previous two battles. The compensation for the families of the fallen soldiers has not yet been resolved. Where is the money to expand the army?”

The court fell into chaos again, with everyone expressing their views, very fiercely.

Aurangzeb suddenly slammed the table, and everyone immediately shut up.

“Immediately add twenty new divisions, transfer the First Army Group stationed in Delhi to Buenos Aires, and be sure to retake Buenos Aires. The navy will also go to Buenos Aires to block the enemy’s sea lanes and prevent enemy reinforcements.”

Aurangzeb was too lazy to pretend to be democratic and directly made a final decision, issuing the order.

However, the Minister of Finance and others did not accept the order, because they really couldn’t.

The treasury was empty. Enlisting soldiers required money. It wasn’t like shouting a slogan and people would come to join the army.

Especially when the compensation hadn’t been issued yet, even fewer people were willing to become soldiers.

Compensation for fallen soldiers should never be owed, as it damages the credibility of conquest.

After the meeting, the Minister of Finance requested an audience with Aurangzeb, informing him that the treasury was empty and asking Aurangzeb what to do.

“I made you the Minister of Finance to solve problems. You want me to think of a way to help you complete your work, and then you collect your salary?”

Aurangzeb questioned.

The Minister of Finance’s face turned liver-colored upon hearing this. He didn’t know how to respond to these words.

If he wasn’t afraid of Aurangzeb’s rage, he would have resigned directly.

The Minister of Finance was responsible for raising money, but the emperor had to give orders and policies. Without anything, the Minister of Finance couldn’t arbitrarily increase taxes.

The Minister of Finance didn’t speak, and Aurangzeb could only rage in vain.

Increasing taxes was impossible. Further tax increases would lead to riots in the homeland.

With the nature of his subordinates, as long as he dared to levy one rupee in tax, the people below would collect ten, completely crushing the lower-class people.

Aurangzeb also knew that his country had money.

After all, with two or three decades of industrial development, technology had brought advanced productivity.

Compared to when the country was founded, the wealth of the Mughal Empire had increased at least tenfold.

However, most of this wealth was concentrated in the hands of the powerful and wealthy.

A small number of nobles throughout the country controlled most of the country’s wealth, and Aurangzeb himself was the one who amassed the most wealth.

He had three palaces and four private gardens.

To pamper a concubine, he specially built the Taj Mahal.

To give his parents a grand burial, he built pyramids.

In addition, his private treasury contained at least dozens of tons of gold.

But like Chongzhen, even when the country was about to fall, he refused to take the money out.

There was no other way, he was afraid of being poor.

Before transmigrating, Aurangzeb was an out-and-out poor loser, living a precarious life, never saving up ten thousand rupees in his pocket.

After transmigrating, he became rich, but his nature didn’t completely change. He still liked to save money and liked to see money in his hands.

It was absolutely impossible to make Aurangzeb spend his own money. Aurangzeb wanted those noble ministers to donate money, to ask the ministers and nobles to make donations.

This was a big blunder. Not to mention that the ministers and nobles were unwilling to donate money at all, even if a few were willing to bleed for the country, they wouldn’t dare to donate.

If their salary was ten thousand a month, and they suddenly donated hundreds of thousands, wouldn’t that be telling everyone that they were corrupt officials?

Although everyone knew this in their hearts, the nature of putting it on the surface was different.

Therefore, after Aurangzeb issued the order, the Mughal Empire also saw a scene from the late Ming Dynasty court, with ministers donating tens of thousands or thousands to prove their integrity.

This little bit of money was enough to buy soy sauce on the street, but it was ridiculous to use it to recruit soldiers.

Not only did they donate little, but in order to prove that they had no money, some ministers also put their houses up for sale, saying that they would sell their properties to respond to Aurangzeb’s policies.

The result, of course, was that they couldn’t sell them.

Those who knew the situation wouldn’t even ask, and those ignorant hotheads who really came forward to ask the price would inevitably be beaten.

Seeing that the emperor was upset, Aurangzeb’s concubine secretly took out her one million private money and gave it to her father, asking her father to take the lead in donating this one million to set an example.

As a result, her father deducted five hundred thousand, only donating five hundred thousand, making a net profit of five hundred thousand, almost making Tajhi faint.

For a time, officials in Delhi were working hard to perform, staging countless farces.

Six days had passed since Aurangzeb decided to recruit soldiers, but even the recruitment office hadn’t been organized yet, let alone soldiers. Not a single one had been seen.

Without new recruits, Aurangzeb didn’t dare to transfer the troops guarding Delhi to South America.

In any case, Delhi was the most important, and he had to have a force to protect himself.

At the same time, the battle for Buenos Aires had already begun.

Sitaraman’s army took four days to complete the two-day journey, and then rested for another day before launching an attack when the Huaxia army became impatient.

In this battle, the Huaxia army had no other advantages except for the extraordinary legion.

The troop strength ratio was one to four, a disadvantage.

In terms of weapons and equipment, the Huaxia army had no tanks and no large-caliber artillery. However, they had naval gun support, but the number of shells was limited.

In terms of weapons, the Huaxia army was still at a disadvantage.

In terms of morale, in the first engagement, the Sitaraman Legion didn’t understand the Huaxia army, so they had no fear, and there was no problem with morale.

In terms of terrain, Sitaraman was located at a high point, and the Huaxia army’s fortifications were relatively simple, an even situation.

Considering all these factors, Sitaraman felt that taking Buenos Aires was not a big problem, so he launched an attack.

First, heavy artillery bombardment, a conventional tactic.

Because of the limited time, the Huaxia army’s fortifications were relatively simple, with few air-raid shelters.

Faced with the heavy artillery’s blanket bombardment, the Huaxia army was also very uncomfortable.

Without artillery to counter the Mughal army, the Huaxia army could only dispatch its only twenty-four aircraft.

The planes took off from the aircraft carrier and headed straight for the Mughal army’s artillery positions.

Before long, the Huaxia army’s planes encountered enemy planes, and the two sides engaged in a dogfight in the air.

The Huaxia army’s fighter jets were more advanced, and the pilots were of higher quality, but they couldn’t withstand the enemy’s superior numbers.

After a fierce battle, the Huaxia army lost six planes. The remaining planes hurriedly dropped aerial bombs to reduce the weight of the planes, and then fought against the Mughal army’s planes.

With the reduced load, the Huaxia army’s fighter jets took advantage of their speed and gained the upper hand, driving back the Mughal Dynasty’s air force.

However, without aerial bombs, they couldn’t complete the bombing of the artillery, so they had to return.

In the first aerial engagement, the Huaxia army lost eight planes, while the Mughal Dynasty lost twenty-two.

But the Huaxia army didn’t complete its mission, and the Mughal army protected its artillery. The two sides barely managed to draw.

On the ground, the Mughal army’s artillery fire had stopped, and the infantry launched the first wave of attack.

The first wave was a probing attack, with several regiments advancing from three directions to test the Huaxia army’s firepower deployment.

The Huaxia army knew the Mughal army’s intentions, but they had to expose some of their firepower.

After all, if they didn’t stop them, the enemy’s feint attack could turn into a general offensive.

The sound of machine guns rang out, and Mughal soldiers fell one after another in the charge.

The commanders in the rear of the Mughal army had their subordinates record the Huaxia army’s firepower points, the positions of bunkers, and the positions of artillery.

Several regiments charged to within a hundred meters of the Huaxia army’s position before retreating. They couldn’t charge any further, as the losses were too heavy.

If they continued to charge, even if they charged into the Huaxia army’s position, without the input of follow-up forces, these people wouldn’t be able to break through the Huaxia army’s defenses, but would only die in vain.

In any case, they had achieved their probing purpose and completed their mission.

The remaining Mughal troops retreated, but the Huaxia army soldiers couldn’t be happy. They knew that the Mughal army’s next attack wouldn’t be as small-scale as before, and the next wave was likely to be a general offensive.

In the command post, Tao Xiangjun and the staff were also studying and discussing.

“Is it too early to send out the Black Dragon Division now? This is our only trump card.”

“If we don’t send out the Black Dragon Division, how will we deal with the enemy’s artillery fire? If all the ordinary soldiers die, what use are those two hundred or so extraordinary individuals?”

“It’s not easy to train an extraordinary individual.”

“It’s not easy for every soldier to grow up to be in their twenties.”

Everyone argued, each with their own reasons.

“Stop arguing, let them act. They came here to do this kind of high-risk mission.”

In the end, Tao Xiangjun spoke, ending the discussion.

The Huaxia army had to destroy the enemy’s artillery, otherwise, if the Mughal army kept bombarding them like this, the casualties would definitely be heavy.

Previously, the Huaxia army had only suffered more than twenty thousand casualties when they eliminated one million Mughal troops. Now, facing eighty thousand Mughal troops, if they lost several thousand people, even if they won, they wouldn’t be able to explain it to headquarters.

The order was issued, and the extraordinary legion set out again, quietly slipping out, trying to bypass the enemy in front and reach the rear of the Mughal army to launch an attack on the artillery.

However, this was a bit difficult.

Buenos Aires was surrounded by the sea on two sides and mountains on the other two sides. Mughal troops were stationed on the other side of the mountains, and the road to the Mughal army’s position was a plain with little cover.

The Huaxia army’s extraordinary legion was discovered by Mughal soldiers when they were only halfway there.

The Huaxia army’s actions puzzled the Mughal soldiers. Some optimists even thought that the two hundred or so people had come to surrender to their side.

After all, surrendering to their side was more reasonable. It was more like a joke for two hundred people to launch a counterattack against their side.

The officers were very clear-headed and shouted to intercept them.

The officers knew about the existence of extraordinary individuals in the Huaxia army and knew that these few hundred people couldn’t be underestimated.

“Calm down, sir, it’s just one company.”

Some soldiers jokingly teased the officer, thinking they were being humorous.

“Shut up, they are the enemy’s extraordinary individuals, special warriors, each of whom can take on ten enemies.”

The Mughal army officer shouted.

These words were somewhat insulting to the extraordinary individuals. Taking on ten enemies was too much of an underestimate. In certain situations, it was possible to take on a hundred enemies.

Under the officer’s warning, the Mughal soldiers finally became a little more serious and began to prepare to shoot.

But in just a moment, the Huaxia army’s extraordinary individuals were already close to them.

Chapter 1172: Guarding 2

“Dami!”

A Mughal soldier shouted.

Dami was an action movie star in the Mughal Empire, often filming exaggerated action movies, such as riding a motorcycle to jump over bridges, climb stairs, or leap three zhang high.

In several war movies, Dami played a combat hero with all sorts of tricks, tearing enemies apart with his bare hands, using grenades to blow up airplanes, and smashing tanks with his bare hands.

And now, the Mughal soldiers saw a living ‘Dami’.

The Huaxia army’s Awakened were really able to leap three zhang high, landing in the Mughal army’s formation, using both hands and feet. Any Mughal soldier within three chi of them was sent flying in various ways, dying upon landing, some even before they landed.

Relying on such flashy methods, the Huaxia army instantly broke through the Mughal Dynasty’s position and entered melee combat.

The scene was extremely chaotic. The Mughal Dynasty soldiers didn’t dare to shoot, fearing they would accidentally injure their comrades.

Without gunfire, these people posed no threat to the Huaxia army’s Awakened.

In close combat, reaction speed was key, and ordinary people simply had no chance.

Even if they were lucky enough to accidentally slash an Awakened, the damage they inflicted was barely more than a tickle.

Such an unequal confrontation caused the Mughal army to collapse directly. Many soldiers threw down their weapons and ran away.

The Huaxia army didn’t entangle with these soldiers too much, heading straight for the Mughal army’s artillery position.

“Hold them back! Defend with all your might! No retreat!”

The battalion commander guarding the artillery drew his pistol, striking a pose as if he were about to execute anyone who retreated.

This pose had some effect, and the soldiers calmed down a bit. They aimed at the Huaxia army’s Awakened and fired.

They figured that no matter how powerful these people were, they would still be afraid of bullets.

Even Dami in the movies had to dodge bullets, right?

Although there was a slight problem with their reasoning logic, their final conclusion was correct.

Among the Huaxia army’s Awakened, only two or three could ignore bullets, the others still needed to dodge them.

But it wasn’t a big problem. They had broken through military fortresses like Heng City, let alone this situation.

The battalion in front of the artillery only had five or six heavy machine guns. This firepower couldn’t completely block the Huaxia army soldiers’ path.

Faced with a hail of bullets, the Awakened continued their frontal charge.

In just a minute or two, at the cost of three sacrifices, the Huaxia army rushed to the Mughal army soldiers, once again gaining the opportunity for melee combat.

The situation was like a repeat of before. The only difference was that there were more soldiers here, and the Huaxia army spent more time defeating them, then rushed into the artillery position.

The artillerymen had already retreated. The infantry couldn’t hold them back, so these people had even less hope.

As technical troops, they certainly couldn’t die like cannon fodder.

After realizing they couldn’t hold on, these artillerymen retreated.

However, they didn’t have time to take these large-caliber cannons with them.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army soldiers began to destroy them, while other units of the Mughal Dynasty rushed over from all directions to surround them.

Boom, boom, boom…

Loud noises rang out, the sound of cannons being destroyed.

Hearing this sound, the people in the Huaxia army’s command headquarters revealed relaxed expressions.

“Hopefully, there won’t be too many casualties. Order the Second Regiment to launch an attack to cover their retreat,”

Tao Xiangjun said.

Tao Xiangjun was a little worried. For the Awakened, killing all these enemies wouldn’t be easy, and there would be a risk of running out of magic power.

But if it was just escaping, there wasn’t much difficulty.

Before long, the Awakened Division returned to the army.

This attack resulted in a total of seven deaths and thirty-six injuries.

However, the Awakened had extremely strong self-healing abilities. As long as they didn’t die, a little injury didn’t matter. They would quickly recover their combat power.

Destroying the enemy’s heavy artillery regiment at the cost of only seven lives was definitely a huge profit.

Sitaraman angrily ordered a general attack, wanting revenge.

With his order, an overwhelming number of Mughal Dynasty soldiers rushed towards the Huaxia army’s line.

The technical content of this kind of positional warfare wasn’t very high. Both sides were just competing in attrition and morale.

Patches of soldiers fell on the way to the charge, but the people behind them continued to charge.

“Give it to them, hit them hard!”

The Huaxia army’s frontline commander shouted.

This wave of attacks would be the most fierce attack from the Mughal Dynasty. As long as they could hurt them this time and knock down the Mughal army’s morale, the days ahead would be easier.

Conversely, if the Mughal army broke through their formation this time and saw hope, their next charge would be even more fierce.

Hearing the commander’s order, the machine gunners and ordinary soldiers no longer paid so much attention to saving ammunition, and didn’t even aim carefully, just firing at the general location.

Anyway, the enemies were very dense. As long as they fired the machine guns more, they would always hit someone.

In an instant, a massive amount of bullets poured out, and a large number of Mughal soldiers immediately fell. The remaining soldiers finally lost their courage and chose to retreat.

They had no choice but to retreat. In this direction, a regiment of one thousand five hundred people charged, and more than seven hundred people had already been lost in this short period of time. Even if the remaining people could rush into the Huaxia army’s position, there would be no follow-up troops to keep up, and they would be surrounded and annihilated by the Huaxia army.

The Mughal army soldiers retreated frantically, and another one hundred or so were taken care of by the Huaxia army in the process.

In one charge, half of the troops were lost without even reaching the position.

The cruelty of this battle made the soldiers and officers in the Mughal army tremble with fear.

The other directions were similar. Some troops who performed slightly better rushed to the Huaxia army’s position and engaged in melee combat.

It was a pity that there were not many people left who rushed to the position, and in the end, they did not take the position.

There were also some troops who performed worse, and retreated halfway after discovering that the Huaxia army’s firepower was too fierce.

On the entire front line, the Mughal army did not break through a single point. This attack was a complete failure.

Not only that, they also lost more than twenty thousand people, a quarter of their troops.

Such terrible casualties made Sitaraman hesitate.

Give up, he couldn’t explain it to the central government.

Continue to fight, and he might lose all his troops here, which was also unacceptable to him.

For a time, Sitaraman was caught in a dilemma.

That day, Sitaraman did not launch another attack.

At night, the Mughal army camp was attacked.

Of course, the Mughal army was not so昏庸 that they didn’t even have sentry posts, but because the attacking troops were the Awakened Legion, it was understandable that the sentries didn’t notice.

The Huaxia army’s Awakened didn’t want to kill too many people when they rushed into the position, they were just focused on causing damage, burning tents, and bombing ammunition.

After a series of operations, the Mughal army camp was already in chaos.

The next day, after a detailed count of the losses, Sitaraman almost fainted on the spot.

Seventy percent of the tents were burned, and these soldiers would have to enjoy the joy of sleeping in the open.

Ten percent of the weapons and ammunition were destroyed, which was already an exaggerated number.

If they hadn’t lost more than twenty thousand people before, they wouldn’t have enough weapons now.

What made Sitaraman even more headache was that this was just a sneak attack.

If the Huaxia army came to raid every night in the future, how should he respond, could he respond, should he retreat?

Chapter 1173: Another Victory

After the first general offensive failed, the Mughal army needed to learn from their experience, prepare again, and wait for artillery and ammunition from the rear.

Therefore, the Mughal army did not immediately launch a second general offensive.

But the Huaxia army’s harassment did not stop, coming once or twice every night, preventing the Mughal army from resting in peace.

After a few days, the morale of the Mughal army had declined to a very alarming level.

Sitaraman could only constantly urge reinforcements from home, but the home country was still arguing about money.

In the end, Aurangzeb had no choice but to resort to a foolish trick: raising taxes.

This was undoubtedly drinking poison to quench thirst, but he couldn’t care less.

This poison was at least a slow-acting one; drinking it wouldn’t kill you immediately. But if he didn’t drink it, he would die of thirst right now.

Having determined the new tax and the amount, Aurangzeb also announced that this tax was earmarked for a specific purpose, and if anyone dared to tamper with this money, he would kill them as a warning to others.

Compared to Chongzhen, Aurangzeb held military power and no one could stop him if he really wanted to kill someone.

Aurangzeb was preparing to find an opportunity to catch a batch of corrupt officials to kill, both to deter other officials and to solve some military expenditure problems through confiscating their assets.

With the new tax items determined, the Mughal Dynasty’s reinforcements had the funds to set off.

The first batch of reinforcements totaled forty thousand men, and together with the Third and Fourth Fleets of the navy, they headed to South America.

At the same time, Sitaraman launched the second general offensive.

There was no other way; if he didn’t launch an attack, the morale of the army would plummet.

Taking advantage of the fact that the soldiers were still willing to fight, he made a do-or-die move.

If this offensive failed again, he would completely lose his ability to attack and could only wait for reinforcements near Buenos Aires.

“So indecisive, this Sitaraman is really like our mole.”

Upon learning that the Mughal army had launched another offensive, Liao Wangcai couldn’t help but mock him.

In the first general offensive of the Mughal army, the Huaxia army had consumed fifty percent of its ammunition.

If the Mughal army could have kept attacking regardless of the cost, the Huaxia army might really have been unable to stop them.

Unfortunately, Sitaraman did not do this, but hesitated because he was afraid of losses.

By the time he made up his mind, the Huaxia army had completed a new round of resupply during this time.

A new, fully staffed division arrived, totaling thirteen thousand men, along with a large amount of ammunition and other supplies, including an artillery regiment.

When the Mughal army launched a group charge again, the Huaxia army’s artillery began to unleash its power, launching a carpet bombing against the Mughal army.

The sudden artillery fire caused panic in the Mughal army.

Under normal circumstances, the attacking side often has stronger firepower to suppress the enemy in order to attack.

If the defending side has the advantage in artillery, the losses suffered by the soldiers during the attack will be much greater.

In this case, it is often not suitable to attack.

The soldiers on the front line of the Mughal army wanted to retreat, but the plan from above was a general offensive regardless of the cost. Faced with this temporary change, the commanders on the front line did not dare to change the headquarters’ plan.

Therefore, they could only strictly order the soldiers to continue charging.

Such a charge was undoubtedly sending the soldiers to be live targets. One shell from the Huaxia army would wipe out at least one squad of the Mughal army.

Before even reaching the Huaxia army’s firing range, at least twenty percent of the Mughal army’s charging troops had been lost.

At other times, this casualty rate would have been enough to cause this unit to collapse.

But now, the supervising team was standing behind them, and the headquarters had issued a death order, forbidding them from retreating.

There was no way, those soldiers could only grit their teeth and move forward.

Fortunately, in this dangerous and precarious moment, the soldiers had no time to feel sentimental. Otherwise, thinking about their situation of knowing they would die, it was likely that more than just a few dozen or hundred would be shedding tears.

After enduring the artillery fire, they would have to endure the gunfire next.

The Huaxia army’s machine guns sounded again. In this open area, the Mughal soldiers had no place to stop and hide, at most finding a shell crater to hide in.

Even so, the officers behind them were still shouting for them to continue charging.

After charging another distance, the Mughal soldiers’ losses had approached fifty percent.

Most of the soldiers could sense this change, and some had already suffered mental breakdowns and chose to turn around.

What greeted them were bullets from their own people.

The remaining people were still charging, once reaching within a few meters of the Huaxia army’s position.

Unfortunately, there were too few of them, and they could not form combat power in a scattered manner, and were quickly wiped out by the Huaxia army.

However, this was only the first wave of the Mughal army’s charge, and subsequent troops were already on the way.

And the Huaxia army’s artillery fire continued, with the Mughal army’s subsequent troops repeating the experience of the previous troops.

The second wave of enemies performed better, and they broke through the Huaxia army’s first line of defense.

But that was it. The Huaxia army had set up three lines of defense here, with the first line being the weakest, in order to give the Mughal army hope, to give the Mughal army the illusion that they could win, thereby attracting the Mughal army to continue attacking, and then using the defensive advantage to kill the enemy.

If it was advantageous to defend, there was naturally no need to attack and charge.

This approach worked. Seeing the troops break into the Huaxia army’s position, the Mughal army officers in the rear were extremely excited, and then ordered the troops behind them to follow up, to break into Buenos Aires in one fell swoop.

Of course, there were also a few officers who frowned, they saw the huge casualties of the troops, was such a price worth it?

Unfortunately, they had no say in the matter. Sitaraman had decided to fight to the death, and they could only do as they were told.

The reserve troops pressed up, and the Huaxia army’s artillery continued to consume them.

“Damn it, where did they get so many shells?”

The Mughal army officers could only curse, but they had no means of retaliation, who told them that their artillery had been destroyed?

“Commander, this way of fighting won’t work. The enemy’s transcendent legions haven’t even taken action yet. Can we really take it down?”

An adjutant suggested to Sitaraman, but Sitaraman remained unmoved.

Sitaraman’s will was firm this time, but unfortunately, fighting a war with faith alone is not enough.

Under the Huaxia army’s powerful firepower, the Mughal army suffered extremely heavy casualties.

After fighting for several hours, the soldiers on the front line of the Mughal army could no longer withstand this pressure and began to experience large-scale routs.

Even the supervising team could not stop these people with guns, they had gone mad.

When all of their comrades-in-arms had died in battle, no one could remain calm.

At this moment, the Huaxia army also launched a counter-charge.

The speed of the Mughal army’s collapse accelerated instantly, and they completely collapsed.

“Commander, retreat. There is still a chance to gather the remaining troops and retreat to headquarters. If all the troops are lost here, the situation in South America will completely get out of control.”

The adjutant continued to persuade him, but Sitaraman was already in a state of giving up and did not issue an order for a long time.

This was a fatal blow to the Mughal army. They didn’t know what to do, whether to retreat or hold on.

Losing command, the Mughal army suddenly became a mess.

The Huaxia army originally just wanted to launch a counter-charge to kill more of the enemy’s living forces, but as they chased, they actually broke into the Mughal army’s camp.

Having been able to attack the enemy’s interior, the Huaxia army had no reason to stop.

So, the low-level commanders on the front line autonomously ordered to continue the pursuit, and the situation began to get out of control.

However, the Huaxia army headquarters adjusted very quickly. Since there was an opportunity to completely annihilate the enemy in one battle, they simply launched a general offensive.

Not only were ordinary soldiers sent up, but even the transcendent legions were sent out.

At this point, the Mughal army actually still had more than forty thousand men, more than the Huaxia army in total.

However, the Mughal army had completely fallen into chaos, lost command, and lost the belief in resistance.

They had never experienced such a helpless situation, and could only choose to surrender in order to save their lives.

More and more Mughal soldiers surrendered, and a large number of Mughal troops abandoned their headquarters and fled to the rear on their own.

The Mughal army was doing all sorts of things, but there were not many people resisting.

The Huaxia army’s counter-attack quickly turned into cleaning up the mess and capturing prisoners.

By the next day, the Mughal Dynasty’s original camp had been completely occupied by the Huaxia army. Sitaraman was killed in battle, and a large number of other high-ranking officials were captured alive.

And of Sitaraman’s army, less than twenty thousand managed to escape, and of the remaining fifty thousand, thirty thousand were killed in battle and more than twenty thousand were captured.

This army was almost wiped out, and the Huaxia army had gained a firm foothold in South America.

Even if the Mughal Dynasty could mobilize a large army from its homeland, it would probably be a matter of months.

And during this time, the Huaxia army could transport at least one hundred thousand troops and the supplies needed for one hundred thousand troops from Antarctica.

Once one hundred thousand troops landed, there would be no need to worry about the Mughal Dynasty’s attack.

After annihilating Sitaraman’s troops, the Huaxia army’s shipyard in Buenos Aires officially started construction.

When enough warships can be built here, it will be the day to launch a full-scale attack on the Mughal Dynasty.

Chapter 1174: Envoys from All Sides

After the Huaxia army defeated Sitaraman’s army, the rebel leaders in South America sent envoys to discuss joining forces with Tao Xiangjun and his men to deal with the Mo Dynasty.

“Our commander said that as long as your army cooperates with us and drives away the Mo army, the southern region will belong to you. We only want the central and northern regions.”

After some small talk and pleasantries, the envoy stated his purpose and presented their ‘sincerity’.

In the eyes of Barres, the rebel leader, this condition was indeed very sincere, because in his and his troops’ view, the entire South America should be his territory.

Now, in order to drive away the Mo Dynasty, Barres was already painfully giving away more than three million square kilometers.

Tao Xiangjun and Liao Wangcai exchanged glances, seeing the wry smiles on each other’s faces.

They were here to conquer the entire Mo Dynasty plane for Great Hua. Theoretically, these rebels were also Great Hua’s competitors and would be enemies in the future.

However, because the Mo Dynasty was currently the strongest force in this plane, they had to cooperate with the rebels as much as possible.

“I wonder how many soldiers and weapons your army has?”

Tao Xiangjun’s words were both a question and a reminder, reminding the envoy of the rebels’ strength.

According to the intelligence Tao Xiangjun had obtained, the rebels in South America were not strong, with only thirty to forty thousand soldiers, and they actually controlled only tens of thousands of square kilometers.

Although they believed that South America belonged to them, such words sounded like a joke to all parties.

With this little strength, they wanted the entire central and northern regions, which was a bit ignorant and arrogant.

“We have one hundred thousand capable soldiers, seventy to eighty thousand guns, and hundreds of cannons,” the envoy boasted.

Strictly speaking, his words were not pure deception. They could indeed gather more than one hundred thousand adult men from the territory they controlled.

However, most of these people were farmers, and only thirty to forty thousand were professional soldiers.

These farmers had not undergone formal military training, and it was questionable whether they could shoot accurately.

As for the seventy to eighty thousand guns, it was estimated that self-made muskets were also included.

The hundreds of cannons probably included homemade cannons as well.

If such a force were to face the Huaxia army head-on, a division or even a combined arms brigade of the Huaxia army could beat them to a pulp.

However, the Huaxia army was afraid that these people would not engage in head-on battles, but would instead use their familiarity with the local area to conduct guerrilla warfare, as they were doing now.

If that were the case, the Huaxia army would have a headache.

“With this kind of strength, you shouldn’t need to cooperate with us, right? You can take on the Mo army alone,” Liao Wangcai couldn’t help but say sarcastically.

The Mo Dynasty had not stationed many troops in South America, only about three hundred thousand in total, and now they had lost more than sixty thousand main force, leaving even fewer troops.

These people were severely understaffed when spread across the entire South America.

This was an important reason why the rebels could exist. The Mo Dynasty could only control the large cities and fertile land.

The Mo Dynasty was unable to govern the remote mountainous areas, and the rebels operated in these areas.

The envoy was slightly embarrassed when he heard this. He said, “The Mo army is still very strong. We can’t do it alone.”

“Very strong? Why do they suffer a crushing defeat every time they fight us? I don’t see where they are very strong,” Liao Wangcai said disdainfully.

If it weren’t for the instructions from above to unite the rebels, he really wouldn’t want to pay attention to these guys.

Each one of them had no strength, but their tone was very big.

“We have also heard about the strength of your army. It is indeed very strong, so our commander especially begs your army to help us recover our homeland. We will definitely repay you handsomely in the future,” the envoy finally began to speak properly, but this kind of rhetoric still could not move Tao Xiangjun and his men.

The Huaxia army came here to obtain benefits, not to do charity.

However, when the envoy left, the Huaxia army still gave a batch of weapons and ammunition to show some goodwill.

It was not a loss to give it away for free, because after the rebels obtained these weapons and ammunition, they could cause more trouble for the Mo Dynasty, and Tao Xiangjun would have more time to build shipyards.

As for whether these weapons and ammunition would lead to the rise of Barres’s power, Tao Xiangjun was not worried about it.

The only factor restricting Great Hua’s conquest of this plane was transportation. As long as there were enough warships and transport ships, with Great Hua’s strength, there would be no opponent in this plane.

After Barres’s envoy left, it wasn’t long before envoys from other regions also came to Buenos Aires, with similar purposes: to ask for money, materials, and assistance.

The Huaxia army could accept providing assistance, but what they couldn’t accept was that these guys all put on a posture of equal status, talking to Great Hua about assistance as if they were discussing cooperation.

They opened their mouths to determine territory and issued various empty promises.

Moreover, even the empty promises were vague and unclear.

The situation in South America was better. There was only Barres’s family of rebels with strength here. The Huaxia army could at least know who to ask to cash the check Barres issued, and there was no dispute.

But North America was different. There were three very strong forces there.

When facing the Mo Dynasty, these three forces could unite to deal with the Mo Dynasty together.

But once the Mo Dynasty retreated, these three forces would attack each other for the sake of profit.

They all said to Tao Xiangjun in their chats that North America belonged to them, which made Tao Xiangjun very speechless.

The rebels entrenched in the Great Lakes region said that the southern region could be given to Great Hua.

The problem was that there was also a rebel army in the southern region, and the Great Lakes rebels actually gave other people’s territory to the Huaxia army, which was very absurd.

The Southern rebels and the Louis rebels were no better, and they all took other people’s territory to give to the Huaxia army.

For these unreasonable demands, Tao Xiangjun simply said that he was currently unable to intervene in North American affairs, and gave a little assistance to send them away.

As for whether these rebels would be disappointed or angry, Tao Xiangjun really didn’t care.

At worst, he would clean them up together in the future, which was not a big deal.

Great Hua was very familiar with conquest, and Tao Xiangjun was also very familiar with it.

What Tao Xiangjun cared about most was the rebels from the Huaxia region. This was an object they had to strive for, after all, everyone was of the same ethnicity.

“What are your leader’s thoughts on the future? Does he plan to establish a country on his own, or does he want to submit to our Great Hua?” Tao Xiangjun asked.

Zhu Qilai, the envoy of the Later Ming, smiled bitterly in his heart when he heard this. Their Prince of Ming naturally wanted to establish a country on his own. Who would be willing to kneel down and be a minister for others if they could be an emperor?

Even if it was just the emperor of a small country, it would be better than being an important minister of Great Hua.

However, Zhu Qilai certainly couldn’t say this directly.

If he ignorantly declared that he wanted to establish a country on his own, he would most likely not be able to get the help of the Huaxia army.

Although Zhu Qilai was not very familiar with the Huaxia army, he also knew that such a huge empire was not built by doing good deeds, but by military conquest.

Chapter 1175: Strategy

“Our King Ming hasn’t considered such far-reaching matters yet. He only wants to rescue the people of Great Hua from the hands of the Mo Dynasty as soon as possible. This is King Ming’s mission…”

Zhu Qilai’s words were much more sophisticated than those of other rebel armies. She both avoided Tao Xiangjun’s question and presented the reason for requesting aid in a noble and glorious light, making it difficult to refute.

However, Tao Xiangjun was not an ordinary person who could be easily swayed by a few words.

No matter how touching Zhu Qilai’s words were, Tao Xiangjun always insisted on one point: the interests of Great Hua came first.

“It will be difficult for you to rescue the people of Great Hua from the hands of the Mo Dynasty with your own strength. Therefore, I hope you understand that Great Hua must take the leading role in defeating the Mo Dynasty…”

Tao Xiangjun said a great deal, but the core meaning was this: Great Hua wanted to unify this plane, not to help the Later Ming restore their kingdom.

Great Hua and the Ming Dynasty had no friendship, and even harbored some resentment.

“Now it depends on whether you are willing to correct your position. There is no harm in joining Great Hua for you, at least you can enjoy a superior status,” Tao Xiangjun reminded them.

After all, they were all Huaxia people. As long as they joined Great Hua, the status of the people in the Huaxia region would definitely be higher than that of the people in Europe and America.

Moreover, there would be no restrictions on the promotion of those officials from the Later Ming in Great Hua.

It could be said that by joining Great Hua, the only one whose interests would be damaged was King Ming. In fact, the officials under King Ming could still benefit.

In the court of the Later Ming, even if one were a first-rank official, the number of people they could manage would be no more than a few million.

But in Great Hua, a provincial governor with a rank equivalent to the third rank could manage a population of tens of millions, or even tens of millions.

Being a subject of the Later Ming meant constantly worrying about the destruction of the country, living a precarious existence.

But being a subject of Great Hua meant having no such worries at all.

Other differences, such as living conditions, also made Great Hua the clear winner.

It was only because the Huaxia army had not yet reached the Huaxia region. If they really did, and King Ming refused to join, his subordinates might rebel against him.

After listening to Tao Xiangjun’s words, Zhu Qilai fell silent.

Compared to the Later Ming’s forces, the envoy from the Han King, another rebel army from Huaxia, was more decisive. Without waiting for Tao Xiangjun to speak, the Han King’s envoy, Chen Mo, stated that the Han King was willing to regard Wu Changqing as their leader and submit to Great Hua.

The Han King, Li Gao, had a clearer understanding of his own strength and ability. He believed that he could never be smarter than Wu Changqing in any way.

Their starting points were similar. He had now become the leader of a rebel army, while Wu Changqing had unified a plane and even begun to conquer another.

Such achievements would make even Emperor Qin and Emperor Wu of Han bow down in admiration.

Li Gao believed that he could not achieve these things. He also did not have the burden of being a descendant of the royal family. He could easily accept the rule of Great Hua, since everyone was of the Huaxia Han ethnicity, the true successors.

Since the Han King was so sensible, Tao Xiangjun would naturally not be stingy.

Even though transport capacity was very tight, Tao Xiangjun still allocated three ships to send weapons and military personnel to the Han King.

As for Zhu Qilai, Tao Xiangjun treated her with courtesy and served her with good wine.

However, he made all sorts of excuses when it came to the matter of providing aid.

If they were not of one mind with Great Hua, then they could not blame Great Hua for being ruthless.

……..

With the aid of Great Hua, coupled with the decline of the Mo Dynasty’s strength in South America, the independent army led by Barres took the initiative to attack and successively captured several towns.

In fact, they had not become much stronger, nor had the Mo army become much weaker. The reason why they were able to win consecutive victories was mainly because the Mo army was actively shrinking, withdrawing the troops from some small cities and concentrating them in the large cities.

They did not know the Huaxia army’s strategy and were worried that the Huaxia army would take advantage of the victory to pursue them.

In this situation, the independent army gained an advantage out of thin air.

After winning a few battles, the local people’s confidence in the independent army increased, and the number of people joining them increased rapidly.

However, most of those who joined them were grassroots people.

Those wealthy and well-informed people knew that it was the Huaxia army, an outsider, who had defeated the main force of the Mo army.

Among these people, some chose to take the initiative to serve the Huaxia army and seek to curry favor with them.

As an outsider, the Huaxia army did not know much about the specific situation in the local area, so they very much needed the assistance of local people. Therefore, they accepted these people who came to serve them into the army.

Afterward, the Huaxia army began to collect intelligence to prepare for future battles.

As for now, the Huaxia army’s main task was to build shipyards.

Technical personnel from the country had already been sent, and with those one hundred and thousands of prisoners, there was no shortage of labor. Everything was proceeding in an orderly manner.

Two months later, the first batch of reinforcements from the Mo Dynasty arrived in Petersburg.

They came quickly, but they were still late.

If Sitaraman’s eighty thousand troops had not been lost, they would have had the ability to attack if they had joined together.

But now, with only these forty thousand reinforcements, plus the two hundred and forty thousand local garrison troops, they could basically only hold on to their existing territory.

If they wanted to attack Buenos Aires, their home might be stolen.

The commander-in-chief of the reinforcements, Brady, said, “His Majesty’s order is to recapture Buenos Aires.”

The commander-in-chief of the local garrison, Prime, was speechless. After Brady finished speaking, Prime asked faintly, “How to recapture it? What to rely on? Just rely on your forty thousand people?”

The results of several battles between Great Hua and the Mo Dynasty were still top secret to the public, but they were no longer a secret to Prime and other high-ranking officials. They had all received clear and accurate battle results.

The two battles in Heng City and Antarctica alone had caused the Mo Dynasty to lose one million troops and countless weapons.

The previous battle in Buenos Aires had also caused the Mo army to lose sixty thousand people. The reason why the loss was so small was mainly because not many people had gone there.

If they had sent more people, the result would have been hard to say.

Therefore, in the eyes of the high-level military officers of the Mo army, if they wanted to fight against the Huaxia army now, they would need at least five times the number of troops of the Huaxia army to have a chance of winning.

According to the latest intelligence, the number of Huaxia troops in Buenos Aires had reached as many as fifty thousand, plus eighty thousand laborers, who could also be combat power if they took up weapons.

According to the standard of one to five, the Mo Dynasty would have to gather at least five hundred thousand troops to capture Buenos Aires.

However, the total strength of the Mo Dynasty in South America was only two hundred and eighty thousand. Although there were still more than two hundred thousand puppet troops, the Mo Dynasty no longer dared to trust these puppet troops. They could only let them manage security and suppress local guerrillas.

Letting them fight against the Huaxia army was basically equivalent to sending people to the Huaxia army.

Prime’s words left Brady speechless. Helpless, he could only report the situation here to the central government and ask the central government to make a decision.

If they wanted to attack Buenos Aires, they would have to continue to increase troops.

Before that, Brady could only send out the navy to attack the Huaxia army’s supply lines and create trouble for the Huaxia army.

In terms of the navy, their disadvantage was not that great. In fact, they could even have some advantages in terms of numbers.

If they could completely cut off the Huaxia army’s supply lines, it could also put the Huaxia army in a difficult situation.

Chapter 1176: Threat to the Sea Lanes

Buenos Aires, Huaxia army headquarters.

Tao Xiangjun had just received news that a Great Hua transport fleet had been attacked. A cargo ship and a escorting cruiser were sunk, but the rest managed to retreat to the port in Antarctica in time.

However, this material transport was a failure. It was carrying special steel urgently needed by the shipyard, as well as various production machines.

This kind of steel and those machines could only be forged in Delhi and Mumbai. South America didn’t have such advanced technology, so Great Hua could only transport them from within the country.

Without this batch of materials, the shipyard’s progress would be at least twenty percent slower, which was unacceptable to the Huaxia army.

What made the Huaxia army even more worried was that this was not an accident.

According to intelligence, a Moravian fleet had arrived in Saint Petersburg and would use it as a base to conduct regular interception strikes against the Huaxia army’s transport routes.

If this problem was not solved, the Huaxia army’s supply line would be in jeopardy.

“Simply providing escorts is meaningless. It’s too inefficient and not necessarily safe. We still have to find a way to completely eliminate this Moravian fleet.”

Tao Xiangjun set the direction.

Although the Huaxia army also had a number of warships, if they were all sent out to escort the cargo ships, they could barely protect them.

But the cost would be too great, the cost would be high, and it would not necessarily be safe.

Therefore, Tao Xiangjun preferred a once-and-for-all solution, which was to annihilate the Indian Ocean Fleet.

However, this was very difficult.

In terms of naval power, the Huaxia army was currently at a disadvantage.

The Indian Ocean Fleet had one seventy-thousand-ton aircraft carrier, five battleships, twelve armored cruisers, twenty-two cruisers, forty destroyers, ten submarines, and more than fifty other types of warships.

In comparison, the Huaxia army currently had only one aircraft carrier, two battleships, six cruisers, twelve destroyers, and no submarines.

The difference in strength was too great. Whether in terms of quality or quantity, the Huaxia army was far inferior to the Moravian army.

After Liao Wangcai finished introducing the comparison of strength between the two sides, everyone else remained silent.

Annihilate? How to annihilate? What to use to annihilate? Could they send superhumans disguised to sneak onto the Moravian warships and then use their hand-to-hand combat advantage?

If they could really get onto the Moravian warships, this would indeed be a solution.

It was a pity that it was almost impossible to infiltrate the enemy warships on a large scale. Perhaps there was a chance to sneak one or two people in, but even that chance was not great.

Therefore, annihilating the Indian Ocean Fleet was just a beautiful idea.

“This is too difficult. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Li Yao, the naval commander of the expeditionary force, said. He did not blindly accept this order. He needed to analyze it rationally and objectively and could not joke around with the expeditionary force’s only fleet.

“We have to find a way even if it doesn’t work. If we can’t open up this transport line, our shipyard won’t be built, and conquering the Moravian Dynasty will be a distant dream.”

Tao Xiangjun said.

“His Majesty didn’t specify how many years we have to conquer the Moravian Dynasty. I don’t think there’s any need to be so anxious. Let the country send experts from all walks of life over, and we can slowly develop industry here in South America. When we can rely on the resources here to build warships ourselves, we can go and conquer other continents.”

Li Yao said, but unfortunately, no one agreed with his suggestion.

According to Li Yao’s method, they would have to stay in South America for at least ten or twenty years. Developing an industrial system was not that easy.

“Why don’t we attack from land, directly raid Saint Petersburg, and then copy the Antarctica campaign and seize their ships?”

One of the staff officers suggested.

It was a pity that the probability of success of this proposal only existed in theory.

After suffering a loss, the Moravian army would definitely not be fooled again.

Even if the Huaxia army could capture Saint Petersburg, the Indian Ocean Fleet would retreat in time.

Not to mention that the Huaxia army might not be able to take Saint Petersburg. The distance between the two places was too far, and the Huaxia army did not yet have the ability to raid over such a distance.

If they could raid Saint Petersburg from a thousand li away, they might as well liberate the entire South America.

“Actually, we still have one advantage.”

Staff Officer Zhang suddenly spoke. The advantage he was talking about was Great Hua’s air force.

Great Hua’s third-generation fighters had a beatdown advantage when facing the Moravian army’s second-generation fighters. As long as they made good use of this, they could gain air supremacy in naval battles.

With air supremacy, there might really be a chance to win the naval battle.

“It seems that third-generation fighters can’t take off from aircraft carriers. The manufacturing level of the aircraft carrier we seized is too poor, and the supporting aircraft are second-generation fighters. How can jet-powered third-generation fighters take off from aircraft carriers is a big problem.”

Someone else immediately raised the question.

“That’s simple. Lure the Moravian army’s fleet into the combat radius of our fighters, and then the planes can take off from land.”

Staff Officer Zhang had obviously thought about it and came up with a solution.

As long as they lured the Indian Ocean Fleet to the predetermined battlefield, the third-generation fighters could be put to use.

Moreover, considering the powerful strength of the Indian Ocean Fleet, the probability of this kind of lure succeeding was extremely high.

“Even with these thirty-plus third-generation fighters, we may not be able to defeat the other side. How many torpedoes can these thirty-plus planes carry, and how many can they hit?”

Li Yao was still not at ease and didn’t want to take risks.

“This is our only way. As long as there is a forty percent chance, we should take a gamble.”

Tao Xiangjun said.

He only had so many cards in his hand. He had no choice but to gamble. If he didn’t gamble, he could only wait to be slowly eaten away by the Indian Ocean Fleet.

Tao Xiangjun set the tone, and Li Yao stopped complaining and actively thought about how to solve the problems that might be encountered in the battle.

Everyone began to formulate a battle plan, but as the plan progressed, the expressions on everyone’s faces became more and more ugly.

They found that no matter how they designed it, their chances of winning could not reach forty percent.

“Take Fei Hong and Fei Ting into consideration.”

Seeing everyone looking sad, Tao Xiangjun threw out another bargaining chip.

“Are they willing to take action? Didn’t they say they were going back to Aoyue Country soon?”

Li Yao asked.

“You don’t have to worry about this. I’ll take care of persuading them. You should think carefully about how to make good use of the two of them and Colonel Liu Zhiqiang. We must formulate a reliable battle plan.”

Tao Xiangjun temporarily remembered Fei Hong, Fei Ting, and the others, who were top-notch combatants. These guys who could fly in the air could be used as fighters.

To be precise, they were more useful than fighters. As long as they landed on the enemy’s warships, relying on their powerful force, they might really be able to take on a warship alone.

Of course, it would not be easy to get the Fei brothers to take action, and they would have to pay a large amount of materials again.

The good news was that these materials could be paid for by Great Hua’s mainland.

In order to eliminate the Indian Ocean Fleet, it was completely worthwhile to pay some price.

Chapter 1177: Naval Decisive Battle

Half a month later, the Huaxia army officially launched Operation “Whaling.”

All of Iberostar’s navy was mobilized, ostensibly to launch a surprise attack on a patrol fleet of the Mores, but in reality, it was to fish, to lure the Indian Ocean Fleet.

The surprise attack went smoothly. After all, this patrol fleet of the Mores only had one cruiser and two destroyers.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s encirclement, these three ships did not last long. However, before they sank, they sent out a signal reporting the location of the engagement.

There was also a submarine lurking nearby, which reported the Huaxia army’s subsequent movements.

This greatly excited the Indian Ocean Fleet, which had been trying to engage the Great Hua Navy in a decisive battle. They had been active in the waters near Iberostar, trying to find an opportunity to wipe out the Great Hua Navy in one fell swoop.

However, the Great Hua Navy had been shrinking in the port, under the protection of coastal defense guns, and the Indian Ocean Fleet did not want to confront them head-on.

Now that the opportunity had arisen, the place where the Great Hua Navy attacked the patrol was more than one thousand nautical miles away from Iberostar, and it would take at least two or three days to return to port.

This time was enough for the Indian Ocean Fleet to arrive and intercept the Huaxia army before they returned to port.

Therefore, Brady didn’t think too much. After receiving the intelligence, he immediately ordered the fleet to turn around and ordered the troops in the port to set off immediately.

Brady can’t be blamed for being hasty. After all, the strength of the Indian Ocean Fleet far exceeded that of the Huaxia army, and they really had nothing to worry about.

A day later, the reconnaissance planes of both sides discovered each other, and their whereabouts were exposed.

The difference was that the Huaxia army had somewhat deliberately exposed themselves.

Brady was excited after discovering the Great Hua Navy, but the Great Hua Navy began to turn around and approach the shore.

Escaping was normal, but the route was a bit strange.

But it wasn’t a big problem. Brady had more ships, and they had an advantage no matter where they fought.

Although Brady also knew that underestimating the enemy was a major taboo in military affairs, knowing was one thing, but with an absolute advantage in hand, with two kings and four twos in hand, it was difficult not to underestimate the enemy.

“The fish is on the hook.”

The telegram was sent to the airport, and the fighter jets began to prepare.

At the same time, the Huaxia army was being closed in on by the Indian Ocean Fleet due to the turn, and they entered the range of the main guns.

However, this distance was still too far, and the probability of hitting was close to zero.

The first to strike were the aircraft carriers on both sides, and carrier-based aircraft took off first.

Obviously, Aurangzeb had also instructed the navy, knowing the importance of aircraft carriers in naval battles.

However, because the Mores’ navy had always been in an invincible state, its development had stagnated. It was still mainly battleships, and the technology of aircraft carriers had not been improved.

Only thirty-two fighter jets took off from the Mores side, while the Huaxia army had a few more, with forty-eight.

Thirty nautical miles, this distance was just a blink of an eye for the air force, and the two sides quickly broke out in an air battle.

Then the Mores tragically discovered that they were too greedy. The fighter jets actually carried torpedoes and aerial bombs that could attack ships.

Originally, the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier were used to bomb ships, and the daily training was the same. They were used to carrying this kind of bomb.

However, they ignored a detail today: they had to first engage in an air battle with the Huaxia army’s fighter jets. The winning side would have air supremacy and would enjoy the right to bomb the enemy.

This was a standard air battle, pursuing speed and flexibility. Hanging those extremely heavy torpedoes greatly affected the maneuverability of the Mores’ fighters.

As soon as the two sides fought, three Mores planes were hit.

Immediately afterwards, the Huaxia army’s fighter jets turned again and continued to launch attacks.

“Drop the torpedoes and aerial bombs, climb higher.”

The flight squadron leader of the Mores was quite decisive and immediately threw the bombs into the sea.

Although this was a bit wasteful, it was better than losing both the plane and the pilot.

The bombs were dropped, and the Mores got rid of their burden.

It was a pity that this operation wasted a lot of time for the Mores.

By the time they got rid of their burden, they had already lost eight planes.

Originally, they had fewer planes, and now they had lost eight more. The remaining ratio was one to two, and one plane had to deal with two Mores fighter jets.

With similar equipment and similar flying skills, one to two was completely impossible to fight.

What’s more, their flying skills were a little worse than those of the Huaxia army.

The Mores struggled to the death and desperately took down six Huaxia army planes, while they were completely wiped out.

Upon learning of this result, the joy on Brady’s face disappeared.

However, he did not stop chasing.

Aircraft carriers play a big role in naval battles, but the premise is that there must be enough of them.

Currently, the Huaxia army only had about forty planes left. This number could cause some harassment to their fleet, but it could not cause a fatal blow.

Whether it was on destroyers or cruisers, there was good anti-aircraft firepower.

The anti-aircraft capabilities of battleships and aircraft carriers were a bit worse, but they could hide in the protection circle of destroyers and cruisers. These forty planes of the Huaxia army could not change the situation between the two sides.

The Mores continued to pursue, regardless of the service life of the boilers, and went all out. The distance between the two sides was gradually shrinking.

Seeing that the distance was about the same, the Mores’ battleships began to fire.

The four hundred and sixty-millimeter main guns roared, and the sixty thousand-ton battleships were affected by the recoil.

The shells landed seven hundred meters away from the naval warships, and the water columns that exploded were as high as more than ten meters.

An error of several hundred meters made the Mores very excited.

As long as they continued to calibrate and fire a few more shots, they would always hit.

For the navy, a hit rate of a few percent was enough.

If this kind of four hundred and sixty main gun hit a destroyer, it could basically destroy it with one shot.

Even cruisers and battleships could not withstand a few shots.

The Mores’ battleships had already opened fire, and the Huaxia army’s carrier-based aircraft had also completed loading ammunition and began their second takeoff, preparing to bomb the Mores.

It was difficult to achieve a decisive victory with just these forty planes, but Liao Wangcai was not worried, because the fighter jets taking off from the shore-based airport should be arriving soon.

The anti-aircraft design of the Mores warships was aimed at second-generation aircraft, and the effect was limited for the faster third-generation aircraft.

That batch of third-generation aircraft was the main force in attacking the Mores.

At the same time, Fei Hong, Fei Ting, Liu Zhiqiang and other nine extraordinary individuals were riding small boats towards the Mores.

This time, they were going to carry out a difficult task, and those who were not strong enough were not qualified to participate.

Great Hua and the Proud Moon Kingdom had only managed to gather these nine experts. These people were treasures to both Great Hua and the Proud Moon Kingdom. The death of one of them would make a country’s heart ache.

But for this crucial battle, they had to take the risk.

“I hope everything goes well.”

Li Yao prayed secretly. Great Hua had bet all of its naval power on this gamble. If the gamble failed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Chapter 1178: Bombing

“Aircraft!”

The outermost ships of the Moresby army’s fleet were various types of destroyers. They were the first to spot the Huaxia army’s aircraft, and the lookouts shouted warnings.

Although Great Hua’s air force was small and couldn’t pose a fatal threat to the entire fleet, it was still quite dangerous for the warships being attacked.

Anti-aircraft guns opened fire immediately, but due to the angle, this firing was purely a matter of luck.

Because the Moresby army’s air force used to be invincible, and their opponents had almost no air power, their warships were not designed with much emphasis on air defense.

Now, the limited anti-aircraft fire couldn’t stop the Great Hua air force’s invasion at all.

Breaking through the barrage, the Great Hua aircraft began to descend.

The lower they went, the higher the bombing accuracy, but of course, it would also be more dangerous.

Skilled pilots had already begun their dives, charging towards a heavy cruiser amidst the rain of bullets.

The aerial bomb was dropped, but it missed by just a hair. A real pity.

However, the huge explosion caused the cruiser to shake violently. Two inexperienced recruits lost their grip and crashed into the steel plating. One died on the spot, and the other fell unconscious.

Only two soldiers were lost, which was negligible for a warship.

However, this was only the first aircraft they encountered. There were many more aircraft in the air, watching like tigers eyeing their prey.

Immediately afterward, another aircraft dived over the same cruiser.

A two-hundred-plus kilogram aerial bomb smashed onto the deck, piercing it directly and falling into the hold, nearly hitting a soldier.

However, the soldier didn’t feel any joy of surviving a disaster. Instead, he looked utterly despairing.

He knew that aerial bombs didn’t explode on impact.

As the rotating blades on the bomb’s tail stopped, with a boom, the bomb exploded. The massive impact blasted the hold to smithereens, and a fire began to spread.

Even so, the cruiser didn’t sink.

After all, this was a warship. It wasn’t that fragile.

Although it didn’t sink, this cruiser had completely lost its combat capability for the time being.

The ship was littered with corpses, wounded, and fire.

The survivors were trying to put out the fire and treat the wounded.

At the same time, other aircraft carrying torpedoes targeted a battleship.

Braving the rain of bullets, they descended to an extremely low altitude, aimed at the battleship, dropped their torpedoes, and then ascended to escape.

“Forward left, torpedo.”

An observer on the battleship shouted.

“Hard to starboard!”

The captain quickly ordered.

The heavy battleship began to turn to avoid the torpedo.

Unfortunately, their reaction was too slow.

Because of the Moresby Dynasty navy’s invincibility, the soldiers usually lacked training, and coupled with various forms of corruption, the fleet’s combat power was far from as strong as it appeared on paper.

Originally, if the helmsman had reacted in time, there would have been a chance to avoid the torpedo.

The torpedo struck the warship and exploded. The power of an underwater explosion was far greater than ordinary people imagined.

The massive impact directly caused the battleship’s hull to fracture, and it began to take on water.

Although it hadn’t sunk yet, it was only a matter of time.

One torpedo was enough to render a battleship combat ineffective. The captain nearly spat out a mouthful of blood when he learned the extent of the damage.

How much did a torpedo cost? The cost of a battleship could build at least several thousand torpedoes.

“Fortunately, the enemy has few aircraft.”

Many captains had this thought in their minds.

Although the Huaxia army’s bombing run was very efficient, their numbers were limited after all. The Indian Ocean Fleet only lost one battleship and three cruisers.

During this time, they also hit the Great Hua fleet.

At the current rate of attrition, they would still be the ones laughing last.

Although they would eventually pay a considerable price, as long as they achieved their strategic goal of completely cutting off Great Hua’s supply lines, these losses would be worth it.

With the Moresby Dynasty’s industrial capacity, if they really went all out to build warships, they could build at least a dozen battleships and thirty or forty cruisers a year.

The Moresby Dynasty was fighting on its home turf and was not afraid of attrition.

“Aircraft!”

The lookouts’ screams shattered the captains’ feelings of relief, leaving them feeling as if they had lost their parents.

“What’s going on? Where did the enemy get more aircraft?”

One captain roared. This didn’t make sense. It was unscientific.

They had built the Huaxia army’s aircraft carrier themselves. They knew exactly how many aircraft it could carry.

“They must be taking off from the shore. Look at our position.”

The deputy took out a chart, which showed that they were very close to land.

The captain was stunned. Of course, he knew this wasn’t a coincidence. This must be a trap set by the Huaxia army.

In other words, the Huaxia army hadn’t been caught by them, but had deliberately lured them in to set a trap.

“These bastards are really bold. Do they think they can defeat us like this?”

The captain sneered.

Even if they had fallen into a trap, he wasn’t worried. After all, they still had an absolute advantage.

The anti-aircraft fire from the destroyers opened fire again, but some turrets were already running low on ammunition.

It wasn’t that there was no ammunition on the ship, but that there wasn’t any on the turrets. It took time to get the ammunition from the ammunition depot to the turrets. At the speed of the aircraft, they obviously didn’t have enough time.

This was only because they were too careless. After the first wave of Huaxia aircraft attacks withdrew, they didn’t immediately replenish their ammunition. They didn’t expect the Huaxia army to launch a second wave of attacks.

With insufficient ammunition, the anti-aircraft fire weakened.

And this batch of Great Hua air force was using third-generation aircraft, which were faster and more agile.

The outer defense line formed by the destroyers immediately became a mere decoration. The Huaxia aircraft easily broke through and dropped bombs on the main warships.

Although there were fewer third-generation aircraft, they had more engines and more power, so they could carry more bombs.

Each aircraft carried four torpedoes or aerial bombs. If they could all hit their targets, they alone could sink the entire Indian Ocean Fleet.

Of course, that was impossible.

It wasn’t easy to hit a moving warship, especially when the Moresby army was also taking evasive maneuvers.

“Damn it, if only we had missiles.”

Pilot Wang Hao missed a bomb and couldn’t help but complain.

If they had missiles, it would be almost impossible to dodge them.

Unfortunately, Great Hua’s transportation capacity was limited. The previous supplies were all other more urgently needed materials, and missiles were further down the list.

The Huaxia army was frustrated, and the Moresby army was even more miserable.

Avoiding one bomb didn’t mean much to them. As long as they were hit by one, they would suffer a huge loss. The cost of a bomb and a warship were completely different.

“The air force is useless. If they were of any use, we wouldn’t be so passive.”

The Moresby army soldiers began to curse their own air force again.

Chapter 1179: Asymmetrical Warfare

The bombing continued. The commander-in-chief of the Indian Ocean Fleet was already contemplating retreat. Although they still held a numerical advantage, he felt a sense of unease.

Events had proven that the Huaxia army’s engagement wasn’t forced; they had intentionally lured them into a pre-determined battlefield. This was a premeditated campaign.

Clearly, the Huaxia army wouldn’t devise a battle plan destined to fail.

This meant the Indian Ocean Fleet had a real possibility of losing.

Despite these thoughts, the commander-in-chief didn’t dare order a retreat.

After all, it was just a hunch. He had no evidence proving that staying would lead to defeat.

If he retreated, how would he explain it to his superiors back home?

He couldn’t very well say he suspected an enemy plot and therefore abandoned the chance to completely annihilate them.

If he dared say that, his political career would be over, and he might even lose his life.

So, he couldn’t retreat. He had to fight on, and he had to win.

“Order all ships to pursue at full speed, annihilate the enemy at all costs!”

The commander-in-chief issued the latest order.

The ships in the Indian Ocean Fleet had varying speeds. Destroyers were obviously the fastest, while battleships and aircraft carriers were slower.

Previously, to maintain formation, the destroyers and cruisers had slowed down.

But now, the commander-in-chief ordered them to close in at full speed.

The closer they got, the more accurate their guns would be. Of course, the chances of being hit also increased.

But the Moresby army didn’t care. They would consider it a win even if they traded one-for-one or even two-for-one with the Huaxia army.

After the order was issued, some Moresby army ships broke formation and advanced towards the Huaxia army.

“There’s a small boat ahead.”

The advancing ships spotted Fei Hong and the others, but the Moresby army didn’t pay them any attention. They assumed they were Huaxia army soldiers who had accidentally fallen into the water.

Although the Moresby army was no longer unfamiliar with extraordinary warriors, their ingrained thinking prevented them from immediately considering that possibility.

So much so that no one thought these few people were a threat.

It wasn’t until the two sides were only a few hundred meters apart that Fei Hong and the others took off from the boat, each selecting a warship to fly towards.

Only then did the Moresby army realize what was happening.

“Fire! Fire! Stop them!”

The captain shouted like a madman.

They were already aware of the Huaxia army’s extraordinary warriors’ terror. Moreover, Fei Hong and the others were now flying through the air, shattering their worldview.

Of course, they knew the consequences of these extraordinary warriors getting close. The thought of such consequences made the legs of some Moresby army soldiers tremble.

A few hundred meters was just a blink of an eye for Fei Hong and the others.

Most of the ships didn’t even have time to adjust their anti-aircraft guns before they landed on the ships.

A few well-trained ships did fire a few shots, but they had no effect.

As soon as Fei Hong landed on a ship, he unleashed a sword aura. Wherever the sword aura passed, Moresby army soldiers were instantly decapitated.

With just one move, Fei Hong caused most of the soldiers to lose their will to resist, and they fled in panic.

Only a few soldiers tried to resist, but they didn’t even have a decent weapon in their hands.

They were the navy, and only a few soldiers were equipped with a pistol. Most of the others had no weapons, as they didn’t need them.

It was no longer the era of melee combat, and equipping guns was of little significance.

Of course, even if they were equipped with guns, the threat to Fei Hong and the others would be limited.

Unless Fei Hong was extremely careless, he wouldn’t be hit by a bullet.

Even if he was hit, the damage would be negligible.

After a sword aura, Fei Hong rushed forward to fight.

Using sword aura consumed magical power, and Fei Hong would be in danger if his magical power was exhausted.

His mission wasn’t just to destroy this one warship, but to destroy as many enemy warships as possible.

Fei Hong engaged in close combat, and the Moresby army soldiers were still no match.

They picked up some random objects and threw them at Fei Hong. If he didn’t want to be more elegant, Fei Hong wouldn’t even need to dodge.

But now, he took the trouble to dodge, killing back and forth in the crowd, but there wasn’t even a trace of blood on his body.

Seeing that their counterattacks were ineffective, the Moresby army soldiers fell into chaos. Some soldiers had already lowered lifeboats, trying to escape the warship.

Although Fei Hong was powerful, he was only one person after all. As long as they were determined to escape, they still had a chance of survival.

Of course, Fei Hong didn’t care. He only needed to destroy the warship’s combat power, not kill too many people.

The soldiers were fleeing, and the captain and other senior officers were also retreating.

Their lives were more precious, so naturally they couldn’t stay and fight Fei Hong in close combat.

Fei Hong’s progress was smooth, and Fei Ting and Liu Zhiqiang were doing about the same.

With their strength, close combat with ordinary people was a complete beatdown.

One ship, two ships…

The surrounding warships witnessed all of this but were helpless, as anxious as ants on a hot pot.

“Captain, open fire!”

A ruthless first mate suggested to the captain that they fire on friendly warships. To deal with these extraordinary warriors, only cannons could hurt them.

Now was the time to fire while the enemies were on other ships. Once the enemies flew to their ship, they would have no power to fight back.

This suggestion was undoubtedly correct, but it was difficult for the captain to make such a decision.

Firing on his own allies would inevitably cause huge controversy.

Some captains hesitated, but others were more decisive and directly fired on the warships where Fei Hong and the others were.

Boom!

A shell landed on a warship, and the violent explosion made the entire warship tremble.

If it were ordinary people, they would definitely fall head over heels and be covered in blood.

But how could Fei Hong’s sense of balance be compared to that of ordinary people? As long as he wasn’t directly hit by a cannon, the threat to him could be ignored.

However, Fei Hong still chose to leave the ship and fly to the next target.

Anyway, this warship had been hit by a few shells and was basically scrapped.

“Damn it.”

The Moresby army soldiers could only curse. These extraordinary warriors were too agile. Even if they were determined to fire, they didn’t hurt these extraordinary warriors. Instead, their warships suffered heavy damage.

If this continued, their fleet would probably be completely scrapped.

What to do?

The Moresby army soldiers and commanders were in great anxiety. They knew that this couldn’t continue, but they couldn’t think of a solution.

At this time, they had completely disregarded the task of attacking the Huaxia army warships, and the Moresby army’s plan was declared a failure.

After learning of this news, the fleet commander-in-chief almost fainted on the spot.

He felt a huge crisis.

If the Indian Ocean Fleet was destroyed in his hands, he didn’t dare to think about it anymore.

Not only him, but the other senior officers had also lost their previous high spirits and looked like they were in mourning.

“Retreat.”

As the situation continued to deteriorate, many officers suggested a retreat to the commander-in-chief. Although a retreat at this point would result in a major defeat, it would at least preserve the fleet’s strength.

After returning to port, they could summarize their experiences and find ways to deal with the Huaxia army.

The commander-in-chief knew this as well, but giving the order to retreat was difficult.

Once the retreat order was issued, he would be completely defeated, losing any chance of a comeback.

Even if he saved the fleet, he certainly wouldn’t be able to keep his position.

The fleet commander-in-chief hesitated, and the second wave of bombing from the Huaxia army followed closely.

The distance between the two armies was too short; it was only a matter of minutes for the planes.

If landing and taking off weren’t so time-consuming, the second wave of bombing would have come sooner.

“Withdraw.”

The fleet commander-in-chief finally made up his mind. This situation of being passively beaten was too embarrassing.

Even if they survived this wave of bombing, the Huaxia army would have another wave.

And their current attacks on the Huaxia army were limited, so they certainly couldn’t defeat the Huaxia army in a short period.

With the issuance of the order, some minor chaos erupted in the Indian Ocean fleet.

Each ship hoped to retreat first, as staying behind made it easier for the Huaxia army’s superhumans to catch up.

The sea was wide, and the distance between the warships was relatively large, but turning a warship wasn’t an easy task.

In the absence of systematic coordination and command, various kinds of chaos ensued.

Two warships collided while turning and were about to sink.

As the Mughal army retreated, the Great Hua air force could attack even more unscrupulously.

Without the interference of anti-aircraft fire, they could fly very low and carry out precision strikes.

Explosions rang out, and black smoke billowed from more and more warships, breaking the hearts of the Mughal commanders.

Building a warship was so difficult these days, but destroying one was so easy.

By the time the Mughal army withdrew from the battle and escaped the Huaxia army’s attack, the Indian Ocean fleet was left with only one aircraft carrier, two battleships, ten cruisers…

Losses amounted to two-thirds, and the fleet completely lost its combat effectiveness.

The news of the Indian Ocean fleet’s defeat spread to Delhi, causing an uproar in the court.

The army had been defeated, the air force had been defeated, and now even the navy had been defeated.

Facing Great Hua, they hadn’t won a single battle.

Even the most optimistic people now understood that the Mughal Dynasty was no match for Great Hua.

A sense of fear rose in the hearts of the court officials, and they didn’t know how to face this predicament.

In the past, they had always relied on force to beatdown their opponents, but now that they were facing an even more powerful opponent, they didn’t know how to respond. They had no experience in this area.

“Your Majesty, we should sue for peace with Great Hua. If we continue to fight, the empire will be dragged down.”

Faced with the predicament, some ministers proposed peace.

This statement surprised everyone, but they had to admit that suing for peace was also an option.

They needed time. They needed to spend time understanding their opponent, Great Hua. They needed time to recover their strength, and they needed time to reorganize their internal affairs.

If Great Hua was willing to accept their plea for peace, it would undoubtedly be extremely beneficial to the current Mughal Dynasty.

“Bold, absurd! Since Your Majesty’s uprising, our dynasty has been invincible and has never sued for peace with the enemy…”

As soon as the peace proposal came out, it was immediately attacked by other ministers.

The reasons they gave were also quite sufficient. The empire had never sued for peace before, and if they did this time, it would shatter the myth of the empire’s invincibility.

Although they had been defeated again and again on the battlefield, if the court sued for peace, it would be an admission of the empire’s failure, which would greatly affect the morale of the soldiers.

Aurangzeb, as an extremely proud man, was naturally unwilling to admit defeat.

But how should he continue to fight?

Aurangzeb realized at this moment that his strength was far less than it appeared on the surface.

Although the empire had one hundred million square kilometers and a population of more than three billion,
it couldn’t even muster ten million troops.

Apart from the homeland, the troops in other regions were completely unreliable.

The Mughal Dynasty was now not only short of people, but also short of money.

Successive defeats had caused the empire to lose countless wealth, and the national treasury was now completely empty.

The Mughal Dynasty had ruled the world for decades and had developed for a decade or two, so it actually had wealth. However, all of it was concentrated in the hands of Aurangzeb and the powerful, so there wasn’t much money in the national treasury.

Now, the country needed a lot of money to support the war, but it didn’t know where to get it.

“If we don’t make peace, what can we do? If we continue to fight, where will the troops and supplies come from?”

The Minister of Finance also stood up and sided with the peace faction.

There was no other way; he could only continue if they sued for peace. If Aurangzeb wanted to continue fighting, he would resign. He couldn’t do it.

He was responsible for the failure to collect taxes and recruit soldiers.

The pro-war and pro-peace factions fell into a debate, and it would take at least ten days or half a month to reach a conclusion.

At the same time, bad news from all over the world continued to reach the capital.

Several cities in South America were captured by rebels, rebels in North America launched a new round of offensives, Europe was also causing trouble, Huaxia was also counterattacking…

The world was in turmoil, and Aurangzeb saw the end of the empire.

He really couldn’t understand how his vast empire had fallen into this situation after suffering a few defeats.

In fact, the Mughal Empire’s rule over the world was not stable at all; it only nominally occupied these places. It had neither won the hearts of the people nor completely controlled these places.

When the empire was developing well, it was naturally difficult for these places to cause any trouble.

But now that the empire was facing great difficulties and had no time to take care of these places, the problems were completely exposed.

The debate between the pro-war and pro-peace factions had not yet reached a conclusion, and a new debate arose.

One faction advocated stabilizing internal rule first and sending troops to suppress rebellions in various places.

The other faction believed that the Huaxia army was the biggest threat. As long as Great Hua was defeated, the other rebels would not be a concern. They advocated shrinking the army and transferring the troops controlling various places to South America to have another decisive battle with Great Hua.

This idea was correct, but not many people supported it, because the ministers all knew that even if they concentrated all their forces for a decisive battle with Great Hua, they might not win.

Moreover, even if they won, it wouldn’t mean that they had eliminated the threat of Great Hua, because Great Hua’s size was even larger than that of the Mughal Dynasty. The losses from one or two defeats were insignificant to Great Hua.

Unless they could retake Heng City in the alien world, but that was too difficult for the Mughal Empire, almost impossible.

A decisive battle with Great Hua was not feasible, and the voices for peace rose again, and faintly gained the upper hand.

Looking at the impassioned speeches of those in the peace faction, Aurangzeb sighed in his heart. He understood that the guy named Wu Changqing would never agree to his plea for peace. This was a battle to the death.

Chapter 1181: Eve of the Counterattack

Besides the threat of falling into the sea, Great Hua’s resources were continuously transported to Buenos Aires.

The most important were the machine tools, the high-precision processing machines.

With these machines, plus the corresponding talent, Buenos Aires could produce its own various industrial machinery.

After decades of industrial development, Great Hua was already skilled in building a complete industrial system.

Given a year or two, they could establish a complete industrial system here.

After the Mughal navy was defeated, the army did not launch any more attacks on Buenos Aires, fearing further defeats. They chose to fight the rebels instead. Against the rebels, the Mughal army could at least maintain an advantage, and occasionally send back news of victories to the country.

Of course, this was clearly an ostrich mentality.

Defeating some rebels did not help the Mughal Dynasty much. The situation in the Mughal Dynasty continued to deteriorate.

Great Hua was naturally happy to see the Mughal army’s evasion, and then increased its support for the rebels, hoping that the rebels could continue to entangle with the Mughal army, while they focused on development.

In the sixth month of occupying Buenos Aires, power plants and steel plants were completed one after another.

South America is very rich in coal and iron ore. In the past, it was useless for the rebels to obtain these resources. The Mughal Empire would definitely not accept them, so the rebels were always unable to develop and grow.

But now, they could sell these resources to Great Hua and exchange them for weapons and ammunition, achieving a win-win situation.

In the seventh month, a bullet factory was completed, which could manufacture and reload various calibers of bullets and shells, eliminating the dependence on ammunition from the mainland and greatly reducing logistical pressure.

After passing the initial stage, the industrial development of Buenos Aires immediately ushered in high-speed development.

In the following months, a total of more than a dozen large factories were completed, and dozens more were under construction.

The shipyard already had the ability to repair large warships and build small warships.

In the last naval battle, the Huaxia army captured many cruisers and destroyers, but they could not be repaired and had been docked in the port.

With the completion of the shipyard, these warships could be repaired, further enhancing the navy’s strength.

The Mughal navy, after resting for several months, still had not recovered its strength, nor had it found a way to deal with Great Hua’s superhumans.

The easiest way was to cultivate their own superhumans, but this would take time.

The Mughal Dynasty now had neither the time nor the ability to enter other worlds to obtain spiritual energy pills.

Therefore, this method would not work.

Without superhumans, the Mughal navy completely dared not move.

With the Mughal Dynasty not taking the initiative to attack, the Huaxia army focused on development, and the two sides entered a stalemate.

With no more battles occurring between the two sides, no news of defeats reached Delhi, and the Mughal ministers pretended that the threat from Great Hua did not exist, continuing to muddle through.

Of course, there were also ministers who did not want to muddle through, but they could not do anything about the current situation.

In the forty-fourth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s industrial construction in Buenos Aires was basically completed.

Without needing to rely on supplies from the mainland, they already had the ability to operate independently.

Subsequently, Great Hua began a large-scale recruitment, preparing for a war of unification against the Mughal Dynasty.

This time, Great Hua wanted to expand its army by one million, and this was just the initial stage.

To completely occupy the Mughal Dynasty, at least ten million troops would be needed.

It was obviously impossible to transfer so many troops from the mainland, so they could only recruit locally.

“Have you heard? The Huaxia army is recruiting, with a monthly salary of one hundred yuan.”

When the Huaxia army began recruiting, it caused a sensation in South America, and even Bares’ army was affected.

Although they had received support from Great Hua this year and their lives were better than before, they were still relatively miserable overall, and even more unable to compare with the Huaxia army.

Their military pay was only thirty yuan a month, and they were often in arrears.

Although one of the reasons they followed Bares in rebelling was to gain independence, or even restore their homeland.

But this did not mean they did not want to live better.

A threefold difference was impossible for ordinary soldiers to ignore.

More importantly, serving in the Huaxia army meant using advanced weapons and equipment, having an equipment advantage in the battles with the Mughal Dynasty, not being suppressed, and having a much higher chance of survival.

Other benefits such as accommodation and food were also vastly different.

With such a gap, it was difficult for ordinary soldiers not to be tempted.

If they were not worried about being treated as deserters, many of them would definitely choose to join Great Hua.

After all, South America did not have much history, and ordinary soldiers did not miss their homeland that much.

If the Mughal Dynasty’s exploitation had not been too cruel, they might not have rebelled.

Bares’ army’s morale was fluctuating, with soldiers longing for the Huaxia army but unable to join.

But ordinary people did not have this concern. When they learned that the Huaxia army was recruiting, they enthusiastically signed up.

After Bares and the Mughal Dynasty fought several major battles, the lives of the people in South America became even more difficult.

Whether in the Mughal-controlled areas or the areas occupied by Bares, taxes were very high.

In order to maintain the war, both sides were desperately squeezing, causing more and more people to be unable to survive.

Soon, the Huaxia army’s first round of recruitment of one hundred thousand people was full.

Others who did not make it could only leave in disappointment, and some even stayed at the Huaxia army’s recruitment office, refusing to leave.

……

“What should we do? Do you think Great Hua will clean us up as well?”

The rebel army’s second-in-command, Butler, asked.

His concern was very reasonable. Although Great Hua had been supporting them before, it was only to keep the Mughal army tied down.

Now that Great Hua had completely gained a foothold on this land and had the ability to expand, would they still be the same as before? Would they not, like the Mughal Empire, seek to completely occupy the globe?

The answer to this question was actually very obvious. If Great Hua did not pursue this, what were they doing in this world? They couldn’t possibly be doing it for the sake of helping all races and liberating them from the oppression of the Mughal Dynasty, as Great Hua’s slogan said.

“So what if they do? Can we unite with the Mughal Dynasty to deal with Great Hua?”

Bares sighed.

He naturally saw the problem that Butler saw.

But he couldn’t do anything about it.

Uniting with the Mughal Dynasty was just a joke. Not to mention that even if they united, it would be difficult to be a match for the Huaxia army, even if there was hope, the soldiers under him would probably not agree.

These soldiers had deep hatred for the Mughal Dynasty, how could they easily let go of this grievance.

Great Hua might want to forcibly occupy South America in the future, but that was a matter for the future. Ordinary soldiers did not have such a long-term vision. They only knew that the Huaxia army had helped them before.

Therefore, changing camps and uniting with the Mughal Dynasty was absolutely impossible.

But if they did not unite with the Mughal Dynasty, they would definitely not be able to compete with Great Hua with their strength alone.

Bares was also quite troubled about how to choose the future path.

“Why don’t we completely lean towards Great Hua? Although we won’t be able to build a separate country, the merit of joining them can at least allow us to enjoy wealth and glory in the future.”

The rebel army’s third-in-command, Damián, suggested.

This suggestion hurt Bares’ interests the most, but it was actually beneficial to the other leaders.

After all, even if a country was established in the future, there would only be one throne, and it would definitely be Bares’, and the others would still be ministers.

Since they were all ministers, why not be ministers of Great Hua?

It’s good to enjoy the shade under a big tree. They didn’t know this saying, but they definitely understood the principle.

“We are not people from the Central Plains. If we join Great Hua, it will be difficult to avoid being squeezed and oppressed.”

Bares expressed his concerns.

Great Hua was dominated by the Han Chinese in the Huaxia region, and the yellow race in the country was even superior.

In comparison, Bares and the others would definitely not receive absolutely fair treatment.

What if Great Hua also oppressed them like the Mughal Dynasty in the future?

“I don’t think so. Great Hua’s policies are much more lenient than the Mughal Empire’s…”

Damián then introduced the detailed situation in Great Hua, focusing on those ethnic policies.

Although these policies were not completely fair, they were within everyone’s acceptable range.

“It seems that we only have the option of completely joining Great Hua. However, if we want them to completely join us, we must give enough benefits. I think we need to send a capable person to negotiate.”

Butler said, and everyone agreed. Only Bares did not say anything. He looked at Damián and then at Butler, seriously suspecting that these two guys had been bought by the Huaxia army.

But with the general trend, he couldn’t do anything about it.

If he insisted on opposing Great Hua, his subordinates might rebel against him. After all, no one was willing to make unnecessary sacrifices.

Chapter 1182: The Self-Salvation of the Mughal Dynasty

After months of debate, a compromise was finally reached in Delhi, and a new policy was passed by the Mughal Dynasty.

The Mughal Dynasty agreed to the independence of rebel armies in various regions, but required these newly established countries to hand over a certain amount of tax, and to form an alliance with the Mughal Dynasty to jointly deal with Great Hua.

In this way, the Mughal Dynasty could concentrate its forces stationed around the world in South America, making up for the shortage of troops.

Faced with this temptation, the rebel leaders in various regions were both happy and uneasy.

They were happy that victory had come too easily. Without much fighting, they had achieved their goals of establishing independent nations and restoring their countries.

Although they would lose some economic benefits, this price was entirely acceptable compared to being able to establish independent nations.

As long as they received the Mughal Dynasty’s promise not to attack, they would no longer need to maintain a large army in the future, and they could recuperate and develop their economies.

Overall, it was a worthwhile deal.

However, in addition to their happiness, they were also worried that they would offend Great Hua if they accepted the Mughal Dynasty’s conditions.

“We must never accept such conditions. If the Mughal Dynasty can’t defeat Great Hua, and Great Hua settles accounts in the future, our fate will be the same as the Mughal Dynasty’s. If we and the Mughal Dynasty defeat Great Hua and drive the Huaxia army out of this plane, will the remaining, dominant Mughal Dynasty continue to allow us to be independent? Won’t they change their minds?”

In the court of the Later Ming Dynasty, Zhu Qilai firmly opposed agreeing to the Mughal Dynasty’s demands, believing that accepting this demand would do more harm than good.

Although disagreeing would mean facing attacks from the Mughal Dynasty, the Mughal Dynasty was now facing the threat of Great Hua and could not spare any effort, so they did not need to worry too much.

“That’s not right. The Mughal Dynasty allows us to establish independent nations, but Great Hua has not given us such a promise. In comparison, I think we should still cooperate with the Mughal Dynasty. Great Hua is, after all, an outsider…”

Another minister retorted, and his words had a great influence on the Ming King.

Although the Ming King had a blood feud with the Mughal Dynasty, the Mughal Dynasty had at least promised to allow him to establish an independent nation. He could regain the throne and become emperor again, but Great Hua had not given a similar promise.

In comparison, cooperating with the Mughal Dynasty was more in line with his interests.

The two sides argued endlessly, and the Ming King could only adjourn the meeting temporarily.

Compared to the Ming King, the Han King Li Gao’s choice was much more decisive. He directly ignored the olive branch thrown by the Mughal Dynasty.

Li Gao smiled and said to the ministers, “The Mughal Dynasty is actually allowing us to establish independent nations. It seems that Great Hua is putting a lot of pressure on them.”

Everyone laughed upon hearing this.

Chen Mo smiled and said, “I heard that Great Hua is massively recruiting and expanding its army in Buenos Aires. It looks like they are about to launch a full-scale attack on the Mughal Dynasty. The Mughal Dynasty won’t be able to jump around for long.”

They had long decided to merge into Great Hua. At this time, Great Hua’s situation was excellent, and they would not change their minds even more.

Not only them, but most of the rebel armies in other regions also chose to reject the Mughal Dynasty’s good intentions.

In fact, all the rebel leaders were not stupid. They all knew that the Mughal Dynasty’s move was out of desperation, not out of genuine kindness to them.

The reason why some people were willing to accept the Mughal Dynasty’s demands was, to put it bluntly, for their own benefit.

After the policy of allowing rebel armies to establish nations was promulgated, Aurangzeb did not reap the effects he had imagined. Most of the rebels did not appreciate it, which made the Mughal Dynasty’s officials quite embarrassed.

Some angry ministers clamored to give the rebels a good look, but they could only shout. Faced with the threat of Great Hua, they were no longer able to suppress the rebels on a large scale.

…….

In South America, Bares did not accept the Mughal Dynasty’s olive branch either, but he was not willing to be a vassal of Great Hua. So, he used all his strength to fight a decisive battle with the Mughal army.

He wanted to eliminate the Mughal army in South America before the Huaxia army took action and occupy South America first.

In this way, the Huaxia army would have no reason to occupy South America.

Of course, if the Huaxia army launched an attack on them regardless, they would have no way to resist, but they could let the rebel armies in other regions see the purpose of Great Hua.

This would give Great Hua some concerns.

For this little bit of moral high ground, Bares did not hesitate to bet all his capital.

The Mughal army did not really want to fight to the death with Bares, but Bares had been fighting all the way, and the Mughal army had no choice but to bite the bullet and meet the challenge.

The two sides fought a decisive battle in Saint Petersburg, fighting for thirteen days without either side giving in.

In the end, the Mughal army, which had more fresh troops, won the victory.

They sent a reserve team to outflank the rebel army, causing the rebel army to collapse.

In this battle, the rebel army lost more than half of its forces and was severely damaged.

Helpless, Bares could only accept the demands of his subordinates and apply to the Huaxia army to be incorporated.

The Huaxia army had been watching this great battle from the sidelines, waiting for this moment, and then agreed to incorporate the rebel army.

After the incorporation, leaders such as Bares were transferred to other positions, and the generals of the rebel army were replaced, completely losing Bares’ control over this army.

After taking in this battle-hardened army of two hundred thousand, the Huaxia army’s strength was further enhanced.

In the forty-fifth year of Yongxing, they officially marched into Saint Petersburg.

This was a place that the Mughal army had to defend. Losing Saint Petersburg, the central hub, would cause the Mughal Dynasty’s rule in South America to collapse.

So, even though they didn’t want to fight, the Mughal army chose to resist stubbornly.

Five hundred Huaxia army planes led the way, first giving the Mughal army’s positions a “shampoo.”

After a wave of bombing, the Mughal army’s morale dropped by fifty percent.

This situation of only being beaten and unable to fight back was particularly demoralizing.

After the bombing, artillery fire followed closely.

“How many shells does Great Hua have?”

In the air raid shelter, the Mughal soldiers sighed.

The bombing had been going on for several hours. If it didn’t stop, they would suffocate to death in the air raid shelter.

“I’m not afraid of their artillery, I’m afraid of their Adepts.”

Another soldier had fought with the Huaxia army before and knew how powerful the Huaxia army was. At this time, he had no hope for the war.

Under the influence of these people, the Mughal army’s morale continued to decline. Not many people had the confidence to win. Many soldiers were considering how to escape or surrender later.

After the artillery fire ended, more than three hundred Huaxia army tanks led the way, and the infantry followed closely behind to charge.

The Mughal soldiers had just rushed out of the air raid shelter when they saw the tanks a few hundred meters away.

Such a short distance left them no time to repair the fortifications. They could only find a cover to shoot from.

Without solid fortifications and a lack of anti-tank weapons, the Mughal army’s defense line was as fragile as paper.

Soon, the Huaxia army rushed into the Mughal soldiers’ positions and launched a bayonet fight.

In fact, the number of Adepts in the Huaxia army was not large, and they were not sent into every battle.

The number of Adepts who charged with the army this time was only five hundred. Distributed across the entire front line, the number was negligible and could not play a decisive role.

However, their deterrent effect was extremely strong.

When the Mughal soldiers discovered that there were Adepts among the charging soldiers, their psychological defenses collapsed directly.

They still had some will to resist ordinary people, but they were at ease to escape when facing Adepts.

Chapter 1183: The Great Melee

The Battle of Saint Petersburg lasted only ten days. The Mughal Dynasty’s seven hundred thousand strong army was completely annihilated. However, the actual number of battle deaths was not high, only about one hundred thousand. The rest surrendered or went missing.

After this battle, the Mughal Dynasty’s rule in South America basically collapsed.

The Mughal Dynasty had about three to four hundred thousand troops in the region, but only thirty to forty thousand were from India proper. The rest were auxiliary forces.

Given the Mughal Dynasty’s current situation in South America, these auxiliary forces were completely unreliable.

To guard against these auxiliary troops, the Mughal army even confiscated their ammunition.

But this did nothing to help the situation. After the main army was destroyed, the Mughal forces in South America began to withdraw.

They were either transferred to North America or retreated to the homeland, completely abandoning the South American territory.

They had no choice but to give up. They no longer had the ability to maintain control of the area.

Great Hua smoothly took over this territory.

However, seizing territory is easy; governing it is difficult.

In the past, when the Mughal Dynasty occupied this area, the people could blame the Mughal Dynasty for their hardships. Now that Great Hua had become the ruler, if they could not improve the lives of the people, the people would also resent Great Hua.

It was not easy to ensure a good life for hundreds of millions of people in South America, and Great Hua could not simply transfer resources from the mainland.

The newly appointed Governor of South America, Liu Yao, immediately launched economic construction after taking over the territory. First, he organized work teams to go to the countryside to provide the people with high-quality seeds and advanced planting techniques.

Only when the food supply was stable could society be stable.

At the same time, Liu Yao also actively engaged in trade with other regions, mainly using advanced weapons to exchange for various raw materials with rebel armies, earning the price difference and increasing income.

Improving the lives of the people was not something that could be done in a day or two, but Liu Yao was not in a hurry.

Great Hua had already exempted South America from taxes for two years, which was already countless times better than the Mughal Dynasty. For the time being, the local people were quite friendly to Great Hua.

But to make the people completely identify with Great Hua and regard themselves as part of Great Hua, it would take time and ideological education, and it was also necessary to prevent some ambitious people from interfering.

For those who were not reconciled and were still spreading propaganda among the people that Great Hua was an outsider, Liu Yao chose to punish them severely.

Because it wanted to develop the economy, Great Hua temporarily suspended its offensive against the Mughal Dynasty.

Conquering the Mughal Dynasty was a long-term process, and Wu Changqing did not intend to swallow it in one bite.

After taking South America, Wu Changqing’s overall strength improved again, ranking third, second only to the British Empire and the Great Ming Empire, and the numerical gap was not large.

As long as Wu Changqing took North America and the Central Plains, he would be able to surpass the British Empire.

In the third dimension, the British Empire.

James watched the rapidly rising Great Hua Empire and the rapidly falling Mughal Empire, and immediately understood that these two were fighting.

This Aurangzeb is too useless. Facing an opponent of the same level, he actually lost so quickly while fighting on his home turf.

James was very dissatisfied with Aurangzeb’s performance, because Aurangzeb’s incompetence led to Wu Changqing’s rapid increase in strength, which had threatened his number one position.

This was something James would not allow.

But his territory was far away from Wu Changqing and Aurangzeb, and he was unable to intervene in their competition or support Aurangzeb.

He only had one way to maintain his number one position, and that was to attack his neighbor in the fourth dimension, the German Empire, seize the German Empire’s territory, and expand his strength.

The two sides had had friction before, but James considered the logistical difficulties of a long-distance expedition, so he decided to develop domestic transportation capabilities first, and then conquer the fourth dimension in one fell swoop in the future.

But now he couldn’t wait. He didn’t want to fall behind Wu Changqing.

Since Wu Changqing could easily defeat his opponent, James believed that there was no reason why he couldn’t. He was still the number one in overall strength.

As a result, the British Empire held a meeting, and James, who had absolute power, announced that he would launch a long-distance expedition. Other ministers were unable to object and could only obey.

Subsequently, the British Empire’s war machine began to serve the war. A large number of troops and supplies were transported to the other world, and the troops in the other world launched a sneak attack on the German Empire.

James was the one with the best initial conditions among all the transmigrators, so he was the first to unify the world and developed the fastest.

Having developed to this point, the German Empire’s technology and economic level were close to the twenty-first century.

However, his opponent, the German Empire, was also developing quickly, at least much better than the Mughal Empire.

Faced with James’s sneak attack, the German Empire initially suffered some losses and lost some territory in the other world.

But soon, the German Empire mobilized the entire country, and a large number of soldiers were transferred to the other world to engage in a life-and-death battle with the British Empire.

The two sides engaged in a bloody battle in the other world, and the British Empire, which was stronger, won a pyrrhic victory.

Although it won the victory, the British Empire lost nearly five million troops in this great battle and was temporarily unable to attack the German Empire again.

This victory did not bring the British Empire any benefits, and James’s overall strength had declined instead.

This made James extremely anxious, wondering whether he should continue to bet and gamble everything.

Pressing all his chips had the hope of completely defeating Germany, occupying the entire fourth dimension, and doubling his strength.

However, it was also possible that he would return empty-handed and his strength would be greatly reduced.

This was a very difficult decision, and James was quite troubled.

Not only was James troubled, but the Emperor of the German Empire, William I, was also troubled. He did not want to start a war with James and consume his strength, but he could not surrender to James.

Faced with James’s attack, he could only brace himself and fight, but fighting the powerful British Empire would seriously affect domestic development.

William was also helpless in the face of this dilemma. Other transmigrators, seeing that Wu Changqing and the others had already begun to attack each other, felt more anxious and worried that they would be invaded in the future.

This was an inevitable event, just a matter of time.

In order to avoid being defeated in the competition in the future, other transmigrators perked up, stopped their extravagant lives, and began to work hard to improve the country’s strength.

As for those ambitious transmigrators, seeing that other forces were already fighting fiercely, they were unwilling to lag behind and began to attack others, and the universe was in chaos.

After the players began to attack each other, the decline in their strength became drastic, and their rankings were constantly fluctuating.

After a battle, some players fell by more than a dozen places, while others defeated the strong with the weak and completed a reversal.

Chapter 1184: Counterinsurgency

In the forty-seventh year of Yongxing, the Huaxia army began its advance into North America.

On the main battlefield, the Huaxia army quickly defeated the main force of the Mo Dynasty.

However, Great Hua then encountered a counterinsurgency.

The local militia forces in North America did not welcome Great Hua, nor did they accept Great Hua’s rule. They were single-mindedly focused on establishing an independent nation, independent of Great Hua.

A few forces at least verbally promised to recognize Great Hua as their suzerain, while some forces didn’t even take Great Hua seriously.

This was unacceptable to Great Hua.

“These forces are probably supported by the Mo Dynasty,” Yang Zhaoyang said.

“This is really troublesome,” Liu Yao sighed.

He would rather have a head-on battle with the main force of the Mo Dynasty than fight with those civilians.

If they weren’t killed severely enough, those people simply wouldn’t be afraid. But if they were killed too severely, it would easily lead to deep-seated hatred, which would not be conducive to future rule.

“Let’s issue a gun ban first. Almost everyone in North America has a gun. If we confiscate all those guns, the resistance should be weaker,” Yang Zhaoyang suggested.

North Americans are people too, and people have a desire to survive.

Now that they have guns in their hands, they think they have the ability to resist.

If all the guns can be confiscated, these people might be more honest.

Even if they are not willing to be honest, they will not be able to cause big trouble without guns in their hands.

“A gun ban is not that easy. Once this order is issued, we may become the public enemy of all North Americans,” Liu Yao said helplessly. He realized that the Mo Dynasty’s move was too vicious, voluntarily giving North America to them and making them completely opposed to the North American people.

“Now that things have come to this, we can only use iron-fisted tactics,” Yang Zhaoyang said.

Conquest is never a dinner party, it cannot be gentle and affectionate.

When it’s time to be brutal, you have to be brutal.

Although Liu Yao didn’t want this, he agreed to Yang Zhaoyang’s suggestion.

Subsequently, Liu Yao announced a gun ban in North America, prohibiting civilians from possessing firearms.

All existing firearms in hand must be handed over, and Great Hua will provide certain compensation.

As soon as this order came out, North America was in an uproar, and the people’s resistance to Great Hua became even stronger.

In the state of Louisiana, Great Hua took the lead in implementing the gun ban, and the army went down to various farms to confiscate weapons.

The farm owner, Johnson, directly led his men to resist, and a firefight broke out between the two sides.

Johnson had more people on his side, more than one hundred in total, while the Huaxia army only had one platoon, more than thirty people.

However, among Johnson’s one hundred plus people, more than forty were originally serfs and were not of one mind with Johnson.

The other fifty or so people were Johnson’s original armed forces, but they were not necessarily loyal to Johnson either, they were just selling their lives to Johnson for money.

This kind of force can only fight in favorable circumstances, and once the situation turns against them, they are prone to collapse, so the Huaxia army is not afraid at all.

Taking advantage of their more powerful firepower, the Huaxia army seized a high point and used three machine guns to sweep the farm like they didn’t cost any money.

Those untrained guys couldn’t even dodge properly, and soon there were a large number of casualties.

These deaths and injuries stimulated the remaining people and consumed their courage.

As more and more people were killed and injured, some clever guys realized that they couldn’t win this battle, and then began to look for opportunities to slip away.

After the Huaxia army suppressed Johnson’s forces for half an hour, they launched an assault, directly rushed into the farm, and completely destroyed the enemy’s resistance.

Johnson’s forces ultimately suffered thirty-seven deaths, forty injuries, and more than forty people fled. Johnson was too slow to escape and was caught by the Huaxia army.

Subsequently, Johnson was sentenced to death and shot on the spot.

In special times, the Huaxia army did not follow formal procedures, there were no judges to approve, and the army directly took over.

Johnson was executed, and his two sons were also executed for participating in the rebellion.

As many as twenty people were executed together. The remaining people were divided into three groups. Those who resisted Great Hua with weapons were sent to the mines to do hard labor, while those serfs continued to stay on the farm and farm for Great Hua.

As for Johnson’s female relatives, they were all押解to the city and sold to brothels.

Johnson’s farm was not the only one that resisted, and farm owners in several other places also resisted.

Unfortunately, they fought independently of each other, lacked organization, and their strength was far inferior to that of the Huaxia army, so the result was naturally that they were all wiped out one by one, and their fate was similar to Johnson’s.

There were also some farm owners who did not resist directly, but adopted implicit resistance, only handing over a small number of guns and hiding the rest of the weapons.

This part of the people gave the Huaxia army a bigger headache.

On the one hand, the other party had already expressed their obedience, and the Huaxia army could not easily start killing.

On the other hand, these guys had hidden their weapons, and it was difficult for the Huaxia army to find them in a short period of time.

If they couldn’t find the weapons, it would be equivalent to not completing the task. After they left, these guys with guns would still be a hidden danger to Great Hua’s rule.

Helpless, the Huaxia army could only patiently use their wits and courage to fight these guys.

Relying on their own strength, it was obviously impossible to find the hidden weapons on the vast land, but if someone informed them, the situation would be different.

Those farm owners usually bullied and oppressed the serfs a lot. As long as they could get the serfs to do ideological work and let them inform, things would be much simpler.

The fate of this part of the farm owners was not much better. The crime of hiding weapons, although not punishable by death, their property was definitely confiscated.

Without property, these farm owners became toothless tigers.

No one would sell their lives for them. Relying on their own strength to resist Great Hua would be like an ant trying to shake a tree, a joke.

In Louisiana, the Huaxia army spent three months plowing from south to north like plowing the land, confiscating as many as one million guns of various types and more than three hundred local cannons.

Although it was impossible to say that all the civilian weapons in Louisiana had been confiscated, at least ninety percent of them had been confiscated.

As for the remaining part, they could only be confiscated slowly in the future, waiting for those guys to commit crimes.

With the experience of Louisiana, the Huaxia army then continued to follow suit in other states.

Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina…

The Huaxia army cleared them one by one, making the local forces in North America extremely headache.

As a result, they had to unite, form an army, and then resist head-on.

Seeing the enemy’s actions, Liu Yao almost laughed.

What bothered him was the endless counterinsurgency, he had never been afraid of a head-on battle.

The fact that the enemies united in this way gave the Huaxia army a chance to annihilate them in one fell swoop, which was quite convenient.

To be honest, Liu Yao wanted to award a medal to the militia leader, which saved the Huaxia army a lot of trouble.

The two armies broke out in an encounter in Virginia, with twenty thousand Huaxia troops facing seventy thousand North American Allied forces.

The result was a tragedy. The seventy thousand troops collapsed directly after only two days.

Under the baptism of the Huaxia army’s planes and heavy artillery, the North American Allied forces were bombed to death by several thousand people before they even started fighting, and the various departments were also bombed into chaos.

Subsequently, the Huaxia army launched a general offensive, and the North American Allied forces collapsed under the Huaxia army’s charge.

In this battle, the Huaxia army only killed one hundred and seventy-three people and injured four hundred and fifty-five people.

The North American Allied forces killed more than seventeen thousand people, more than three thousand people were missing, and the remaining forty thousand people became prisoners.

The Huaxia army wiped out the armed forces of six nearby states in one fell swoop, and the subsequent gun confiscation operation became extremely smooth.

Chapter 1185: Pressing South Asia

Great Hua’s control over North America involved a bit more turbulence than in South America, but that was the extent of it. The resistance forces in North America couldn’t withstand the overwhelming trend.

They couldn’t even defeat the Mughal Dynasty, let alone the even more powerful and sophisticated Huaxia Dynasty.

After a large number of weapons were confiscated, those who were unwilling to accept the situation could only sigh in secret.

Without weapons, resistance was futile.

Moreover, those ambitious rebels discovered that ordinary people were unwilling to rise up and resist with them.

The reason was simple: in the past, the Mughal Dynasty levied very heavy taxes, and ordinary people at the bottom could hardly survive if they paid taxes according to the regulations, so they actively resisted.

But now, Great Hua levied very light taxes, only a quarter of what they were under Mughal rule.

Ordinary people could completely afford this amount of tax.

Since they could survive, why resist and seek death?

Apart from those ambitious people who wanted to use rebellion to gain power and influence, and those nationalists who tried to restore their country, few people would give up a peaceful life to revolt.

Without the support of these people, those ambitious people could only stare blankly.

Their rebellion was about tricking the people at the bottom into fighting, and they themselves rarely rushed to the front line with guns.

Now that no one was willing to rush to the front, these ambitious people would naturally not be foolish enough to seek death.

Great Hua used a combination of carrots and sticks to subdue the locals.

Of course, this came at a price.

Conquering North America cost a huge amount of military expenditure, and now they have given up levying heavy taxes in North America.

In other words, Great Hua’s occupation of North America, apart from occupying a piece of land, did not obtain actual economic benefits, and even lost money.

If Great Hua were not rich enough, fighting too many wars like this would even lead to the collapse of the national finances.

Fortunately, Great Hua’s productivity was advanced enough to have enough money to make this kind of investment.

The North American campaign was still losing money now, but after a few years, as the security of the North American region stabilized and the economy developed, the taxes and resources provided here would be ten or a hundred times the return.

With the Americas resolved, the Huaxia army began to advance into Australia.

The Americas were far away from the Mughal Dynasty’s core territory of South Asia, so losing them was no big deal.

But Australia was very close to South Asia and was a springboard for the Huaxia army to attack South Asia, so it must not be lost again.

Once Australia was occupied, the Huaxia army could continuously send troops to advance into the Asian continent.

To this end, the Mughal Dynasty deployed a large number of troops in Australia.

In the forty-eighth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s joint naval and land forces set out for Australia.

The navies of the two sides broke out in a naval battle in the waters of New Zealand. This was the second major war between the two countries’ navies.

In order to defend its territory, the Mughal Dynasty took out nearly half of its naval warships, a total of six aircraft carriers, twelve battleships, more than fifty cruisers, and hundreds of destroyers.

After several years of shipbuilding, the Huaxia army’s navy had also developed greatly.

In this naval battle, the Huaxia army dispatched ten aircraft carriers, four battleships, ten cruisers, and forty destroyers.

In terms of quantity, the Huaxia army was at a disadvantage, but they had more aircraft carriers and followed the aircraft carrier route.

Aurangzeb was actually clear that the role of aircraft carriers in naval battles was much greater than that of battleships.

But unfortunately, the Mughal Dynasty’s air force developed too slowly. Even if they built aircraft carriers, it would be useless without planes and pilots.

In addition, too many battleships were built in the early days, so it was impossible not to use them at this time.

Under many factors, the Mughal Dynasty’s navy was still dominated by battleships.

When the two armies were still more than three hundred nautical miles apart, all the carrier-based aircraft of the Huaxia army took off and pounced on the Mughal Dynasty’s fleet.

They would not engage in warship duels with the Mughal Dynasty’s navy, but use their air force advantage to carry out long-range strikes.

The Mughal Dynasty’s planes also took off urgently, trying to intercept them.

The air forces of both sides engaged in a firefight first.

In terms of quantity, the Huaxia army had an absolute advantage. In terms of quality, the Huaxia army had third-generation aircraft, while the Mughal Dynasty still had second-generation aircraft, with only a dozen third-generation aircraft.

The Mughal Dynasty had already mastered the technology of third-generation fighters, but it lacked enough skilled workers and resources, so the manufacturing speed of third-generation aircraft was very slow.

With advantages in both quantity and quality, the outcome was naturally without suspense.

The Huaxia air force launched a massacre against the Mughal Dynasty’s air force.

This was all within the Mughal army’s expectations. The task of their air force was only to delay time, so that the warships could approach the Huaxia army’s fleet as soon as possible and use舰炮 to strike the Huaxia army.

It was a pity that the Huaxia army was not so stupid as to wait for the Mughal army to approach. The Huaxia army’s fleet turned directly and maintained a distance from the Mughal Dynasty’s navy. Neither too close nor too far.

So that the Mughal Dynasty’s warships could not hit them, and their own planes could quickly bomb them.

Under this strategy, the Mughal Dynasty’s navy was very uncomfortable.

After all the fighters were consumed, the Mughal Dynasty’s navy lost its air interception ability, and the Huaxia army’s planes began to bomb the Mughal Dynasty’s warships.

First the peripheral destroyers, then the cruisers.

Although the Mughal Dynasty strengthened the air defense capabilities of its warships and also shot down many Huaxia army planes.

However, how much does a plane cost? The cost of a destroyer is more than a dozen planes, not to mention cruisers and battleships.

The Mughal army suffered a great loss by using warships to compete with planes in consumption.

After only two rounds of bombing, the commander-in-chief of the Mughal Dynasty’s fleet, Moledi, ordered the fleet to retreat.

Since they could not catch up with the Huaxia army’s fleet, it was meaningless to continue the pursuit.

The Mughal Dynasty’s fleet fled back to its homeland in disgrace, and the officers and soldiers on the ships were extremely frustrated.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford to lose, but they couldn’t accept this kind of suffocating defeat.

They were defeated without even seeing the enemy, and their main guns were defeated without firing a single shot.

It was more like they had a contest with the Huaxia air force than fighting with the Huaxia army’s navy.

The Mughal Dynasty’s fleet fled back to its homeland in disgrace. With the threat on the sea surface removed, the landing battle followed.

First New Zealand, then the Australian continent.

The landing battle was not easy to fight, and the Mughal army built a large number of permanent fortifications.

However, that was all.

The Huaxia army paid some price and then completed the landing.

With a bridgehead and ashore, the subsequent battle was up to the Huaxia army.

In a ground battle, the Mughal Dynasty’s army was no match for Great Hua at all.

Soon, the Australian continent was also occupied by the Huaxia army.

Hundreds of thousands of defeated Mughal troops were surrounded in the northern coastal port of the continent, waiting for naval rescue, but the Mughal Dynasty’s naval fleet did not move.

The hundreds of thousands of troops then collapsed and surrendered to the Huaxia army.

At this point, the Australian campaign ended, and the Huaxia army won a great victory.

Not only did it severely打击 the Mughal Dynasty’s navy, but it also eliminated one million six hundred thousand of the Mughal Dynasty’s living forces, further weakening the Mughal Dynasty’s strength.

After occupying the Australian continent, the Huaxia army had a bridgehead, and supplies and troops could be continuously transported to Australia, and then use this as a springboard to advance into the Borneo Islands, followed by Southeast Asia, the Central Plains of Huaxia, and the Mughal Dynasty’s homeland.

The demise of the Mughal Dynasty was just around the corner.

Chapter 1186: A Tremendous Change

“Should we attack the Central Plains first, or South Asia?”

At the Expeditionary Force headquarters, disagreements arose among the officers regarding the next course of action.

Some believed that they should attack South Asia first. Once South Asia was captured, the Mughal Dynasty would be completely destroyed, and other regions would be of little concern, allowing for a gradual conquest.

Others argued that they should attack other regions first, leaving the South Asian subcontinent for last.

Their reasoning was that by preserving the Mughal Dynasty for now, attacking other regions would be seen as liberating the local people, earning them support and making future governance easier.

If the Mughal Dynasty were eliminated first, the forces in other regions, having lost the threat of the Mughals, might consider themselves independent nations and would no longer welcome the Huaxia army.

If the Huaxia army were to go there then, they would be seen as invaders.

Once such a perception and understanding took hold, they would inevitably be drawn into counterinsurgency warfare.

Although the Huaxia army had subdued the locals in North America, it had paid a considerable price.

If such a situation could be avoided, it should be avoided as much as possible.

After a series of debates, the faction supporting attacking other regions first gained the majority.

However, the plan was still submitted to the central government for a final decision.

Wu Changqing approved their plan: attack other regions first and resolve the South Asian subcontinent last.

After two months of rest and reorganization, the Huaxia army gathered its war materials and then marched towards the Central Plains.

Despite their reluctance, the Later Ming regime chose to cooperate with Great Hua, acting as an inside force, allowing the Huaxia army to land smoothly.

The Ming King had no choice. Although he wanted to be independent of Great Hua and form his own nation, his ministers did not support him.

For the ministers, being subjects of Great Hua was no different from being subjects of the Later Ming.

Being subjects of Great Hua at least carried no risk.

Being subjects of the Later Ming, on the other hand, risked being annexed and eliminated by Great Hua.

Given the situation, the choice was not difficult to make.

Under pressure from his ministers, the Ming King had no choice but to cooperate with Great Hua’s military operations.

With the Later Ming as an inside force, the Huaxia army’s military progress was much smoother.

They occupied Guangdong in three days, recovered four provinces in a month, reached Jinling in three months, and recovered the area south of the Yangtze River in half a year.

Subsequently, Great Hua enfeoffed the Ming King as the Ming King. From then on, the Ming King lost the qualification to be called Emperor and lost all real power, becoming merely a leisurely prince within the Great Hua Empire.

Of course, in name, his status was still quite high, above first-rank ministers and various marquises and dukes.

In Great Hua, his reputation and status could at least rank in the top fifty, above billions of people.

However, this was only in name. Without real power, even a mayor could ignore him.

Although the Ming King was unwilling, he dared not defy the general trend and could only accept his fate.

Although he had lost power, he was fortunate to have secured wealth and prosperity.

While enfeoffing the Ming King, Great Hua also preemptively enfeoffed the Han King of the North. The Han King of the North had long agreed to submit to Great Hua. For such a loyal subject, Great Hua was naturally generous with rewards.

Although the Huaxia army had not yet reached the North, it was only a matter of time.

After a short rest, the Huaxia army began its Northern Expedition.

By this time, the main forces of the Mughal Dynasty had mostly fled. They knew that the Central Plains region was impossible to defend, so they often retreated to their homeland, abandoning the Central Plains.

The Northern Expedition was like an armed parade, proceeding smoothly and taking over territory.

Because the emperor of Great Hua was a Han Chinese, the people of the Central Plains welcomed Great Hua very much and had no resistance.

However, in order to deter other minority ambitious individuals, Great Hua held a grand military parade in Jinling, displaying its military might.

Fighter jets spewing white vapor, main battle tanks weighing dozens of tons, various rocket launchers, armored vehicles, artillery…

Countless advanced weapons drove past the eyes of the people, making them cheer.

With these weapons, the Mughal Dynasty would definitely not be able to attack again, and they were finally free from being enslaved.

A few ambitious individuals, seeing the strength of Great Hua, could only sigh secretly.

In fact, they all understood that they could not even resist the Mughal Dynasty, let alone the even more powerful Great Hua.

Some who had figured it out had already decided to take another path: entering politics and striving to climb the ranks in the Great Hua bureaucracy.

There were still some who couldn’t figure it out and could only lament in secret.

While the Huaxia land rejoiced, the Mughal Dynasty’s core territory, the South Asian subcontinent, was in mourning.

In recent years, the Mughal Dynasty had successively lost sixty million square kilometers of territory, accounting for half of the Mughal territory.

Now they only had South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia, North Asia, Europe, and Africa left.

North Asia and Africa had little output, Central Asia and West Asia were constantly in rebellion, and Europe was also not peaceful.

The Mughal Dynasty could now only rely on South Asia, at least the people in this area were truly loyal to the Mughal Dynasty.

As the Mughal Dynasty faced difficulties, the wealthy capitalists also began to panic and reluctantly began to cut into their own flesh to subsidize the country.

Because they knew that if they didn’t bleed to save the country, the Mughal Empire would be conquered.

Without the empire, their power and wealth would also vanish.

The great capitalists were not stupid, and they were not ambiguous when it was time to bleed.

However, the timing of their bleeding was still a bit late.

Now the Huaxia army had occupied most of this plane, no matter how hard the Mughal Dynasty tried, it was impossible to defeat Great Hua again.

Of course, the rulers of the Mughal Dynasty actually no longer had that ambition. They only wanted to preserve their existing territory, and even, they would be satisfied as long as they could preserve the traditional territory of South Asia.

In order to defend this area, the Mughal Dynasty began to build large-scale fortifications.

In order to gather people’s hearts, Aurangzeb also began to give welfare to the people and continue to improve the status of the lower castes.

However, these reforms were too late.

In the forty-ninth year of Yongxing, European rebels launched a major counter-offensive.

Because the Mughal Dynasty had transferred too many troops back to its homeland, its forces in Europe were quite weak.

Coupled with the mutiny of the auxiliary troops, the Mughal army was attacked from both sides.

The European rebels did not rely on the help of Great Hua, and relied on their own strength to complete their restoration one after another.

However, after the restoration, the rebels faced another problem: should they split into a dozen small countries as before, or should they unite to form the European Community?

Without the threat of the Mughal Dynasty and Great Hua, the rebel leaders would naturally hope to restore the original pattern and be their own kings.

But because of the two behemoths of the Mughal Dynasty and Great Hua, the rebel leaders all understood that only by uniting and forming the European Community could they have a voice.

Of course, that’s what they thought.

In the eyes of Great Hua, whether they united or not, they could not have a voice.

This plane will ultimately be decided by Great Hua.

Whether it is the European Community or the Mughal Empire, they are just stumbling blocks.

Chapter 1187: Invading the Mo Dynasty’s Homeland

By the fiftieth year of the Yongxing era, Great Hua had already conquered Southeast Asia, entered the Tibetan Plateau, and its navy had occupied the islands of Borneo, looking across the sea at the South Asia subcontinent.

After some preparation, Great Hua launched a full-scale offensive against the Mo Dynasty.

This battle was a matter of life and death for the Mo Dynasty, so they held nothing back, throwing in everything they had.

Their total force amounted to twelve million troops, stationed at twenty points where Great Hua might attack.

However, only three million of these twelve million soldiers were well-trained veterans. Two million of the remaining nine million were reservists, who were still passable.

The other seven million had been mobilized within the last year, and their combat effectiveness was questionable.

Of course, quantity can sometimes lead to quality. So many people piled together could scare the enemy to death.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army was on the offensive, giving them the initiative to attack whichever point they chose, while the Mo army had to spread out to defend.

The Huaxia army deployed one million five hundred thousand troops in this campaign, giving them a local advantage over the Mo army in terms of numbers.

The Huaxia army’s landing point was Calcutta. The advantage of landing here was its proximity, allowing the Huaxia army to transport troops more conveniently and quickly.

Calcutta was the main attack, while two other locations were feints, to divert the Mo army’s attention and confuse them.

In June, the landing force set off.

The air force moved out first, conducting reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance along the Huaxia army’s route.

To achieve the element of surprise, the Huaxia army had to eliminate the Mo Dynasty’s reconnaissance planes, ensuring that the Mo army did not know the Huaxia army’s destination in advance.

Fortunately, Great Hua’s air force had a comprehensive advantage, with faster and more numerous aircraft.

The two armies’ reconnaissance planes frequently encountered each other and exchanged fire.

Most of the Mo army’s reconnaissance planes were shot down, and those that weren’t fled in disarray, failing to spot the Huaxia army’s fleet.

However, the Mo army’s commanders weren’t fools.

Based on the airspace where the reconnaissance planes were shot down, they could roughly guess the Huaxia army’s possible landing points.

After all, landing hundreds of thousands of troops required suitable locations, and there weren’t many of those. Combining this with other intelligence, it wasn’t difficult to deduce.

In the Mo army’s command headquarters, Chief of Staff Paige said, “Currently, it seems the enemy might choose to land at Calcutta, Palom, and five other locations. We don’t know which one specifically yet, but it’s definitely one of these.”

“Order the Fifth and Eighth Army Groups to reinforce Calcutta, the Sixth and Ninth Army Groups to reinforce Palom…”

Aurangzeb ordered. He was personally taking on the role of commander-in-chief for this campaign.

He no longer trusted his subordinates, the so-called famous generals.

In addition to the millions of troops on the front lines, Aurangzeb had also prepared two million reserve troops. Once the Huaxia army’s main attack direction was determined, these reserves could be deployed at any time, ensuring that their side wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in terms of numbers.

Of course, this alone wasn’t enough, but Aurangzeb had no other options.

Before long, reports of Palom being shelled reached the Mo army headquarters.

Was it Palom?

Aurangzeb wondered to himself. He had a heavy artillery group at his disposal, with tremendous power. Even transcendents couldn’t survive its bombardment.

This force was specifically meant to deal with the Huaxia army’s transcendent legions.

This unit was crucial and had to be deployed in the Huaxia army’s main attack direction. Aurangzeb wouldn’t move them lightly until he was sure of the Huaxia army’s main force.

Not long after Palom’s urgent report, another port was attacked.

Aurangzeb snorted coldly and remained unmoved.

Then, Calcutta was also subjected to an air raid.

Could it be real?

With more and more places under attack, Aurangzeb began to waver.

Every location claimed to be under heavy attack, which Aurangzeb found hard to believe. The Huaxia army’s firepower couldn’t be that intense.

He was right, at least the attack on Palom wasn’t fatal.

Although the Huaxia army’s shelling lasted a long time and they fired many shells,
a careful commander would have noticed that the artillery used in this shelling seemed to be of a smaller caliber.

The shelling looked intense, but in reality, it did limited damage to Palom’s defenses.

However, the commander of Palom didn’t see it that way. He was already jumpy and only wanted reinforcements.

So, the report he sent to headquarters was an urgent plea for help.

If Aurangzeb hadn’t been calm enough, he might have sent the heavy artillery unit to Palom.

Elsewhere, the bombing of Calcutta was truly devastating.

Super bombs weighing several hundred kilograms fell, and if they hit, even bunkers would be blown to smithereens.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army didn’t have many of these bombs. Other bombs could damage the Mo army’s surface fortifications, but they did little damage to permanent fortifications.

After the air raid, the Huaxia army’s naval guns joined the fray.

The four hundred and sixty guns on the battleships were no less powerful than aerial bombs.

Each launch shook the warship as if the earth was moving.

The areas hit by the shells were scenes of devastation.

It was useless for the Mo army to hide in air-raid shelters; they were doomed if hit by a shell.

After the shelling, the Mo Dynasty’s positions were scarred and desolate, like the end of the world.

“To the positions! The enemy is coming.”

Hearing the shelling subside, the commander knew the Huaxia army’s infantry was coming and immediately urged the soldiers to enter their positions.

Urged by the commander, the Mo army soldiers ran out of the air-raid shelters and into their respective posts.

Then, they saw countless large and small ships and amphibious landing vehicles heading towards the beach.

“Open fire!”

The Mo army began shelling, and the shells landed among the Huaxia army’s vanguard, causing considerable casualties.

But the Huaxia army continued to advance.

These casualties were expected by the Huaxia army and were within their acceptable range.

In war, it was impossible to avoid death, especially in this kind of assault.

“Bearing two-three-four, two-six-six, distance three thousand, fire!”

The Mo army’s firing revealed their positions, and the Huaxia army’s artillery began accurate shelling, suppressing and destroying the Mo army’s firepower.

The Mo army’s gun emplacements were under attack, but they didn’t stop firing.

There was a supervising team watching them, so these artillerymen could only grit their teeth and fire back through their tears.

They would die whether they fought back or ran away; they no longer controlled their own fate.

There were also some fanatical soldiers who didn’t need a supervising team. They fiercely fired at the Huaxia army, vowing to defend their territory to the death.

These frenzied people were very fierce. Coupled with their terrain advantage and ample ammunition, they temporarily suppressed the Huaxia army’s offensive.

Of course, this was normal. Landing operations were usually like this, and it was rare to suppress the defenders.

The Huaxia army could only continue to send planes to bomb and strafe, using their air superiority to suppress the enemy.

Under the cover of fire, the ground troops struggled to move forward.

Chapter 1188: Beach Landing

“Mortar team, take out those two firing points on the west side.”

“The mortar’s been destroyed.”

“Damn it, Lieutenant Lu, it’s up to you.”

Anything can happen during an offensive. The mortar carried by this platoon was hit by enemy artillery and was blown to pieces.

Without artillery, eliminating the enemy’s firing points becomes incredibly difficult.

Even if they were to fill the gap with human lives, sending soldiers with explosive charges one by one might not even be enough to destroy them.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army has extraordinary warriors; these kinds of difficult assault tasks rely on them.

This Huaxia army platoon was assigned one extraordinary warrior, and this warrior was merely a soldier, yet his rank was already lieutenant, higher than the platoon leader.

The platoon leader couldn’t command Lieutenant Lu and could only request his assistance.

Lieutenant Lu, in turn, could choose to accept or reject the request based on the difficulty of the mission and his own strength. This was their privilege.

Every extraordinary warrior’s life is incredibly precious, and this privilege is necessary to avoid unnecessary sacrifices.

Lieutenant Lu heard the platoon leader’s words, observed the enemy’s firepower, and estimated the route. He couldn’t help but gasp inwardly.

There was only one path to approach the firing point, and that path was almost entirely exposed to the enemy’s line of sight. The Moresnet army had at least three machine guns blocking that path.

Lieutenant Lu hadn’t been cultivating for long, and his talent was average. He was far from being invulnerable to blades and bullets.

He was simply faster, jumped higher, was stronger, and had quicker reactions than ordinary people.

To take out the enemy’s firing point, he would have to take a risk.

Should he accept the mission?

Lieutenant Lu hesitated for a moment, then decided to accept.

He wasn’t afraid of death. Someone afraid of death wouldn’t have been selected for the extraordinary warrior corps.

His loyalty to the empire was beyond question.

Picking up the bangalore torpedo, Lieutenant Lu charged out.

“Covering fire!”

The platoon leader shouted, and then the soldiers stood up one after another, launching a fierce barrage at the Moresnet army’s exposed positions.

They didn’t expect to kill the enemy, only to suppress them enough so they wouldn’t dare to show their heads.

In this wave of fire support, the platoon fired at least two thousand rounds of ammunition, but didn’t kill a single enemy.

But it didn’t matter. The Huaxia army had plenty of bullets; they weren’t worth much.

But the Huaxia army warriors were very precious.

The suppressing fire prevented the Moresnet army from raising their heads to shoot, and Lieutenant Lu took the opportunity to advance dozens of meters.

Then the Moresnet army began to risk their lives to shoot and stop him, but it was too late.

Lieutenant Lu was only forty-odd meters away from the bunker. This was still a considerable distance for ordinary people, but for Lieutenant Lu, it was practically within reach.

He threw the bangalore torpedo with one hand, like throwing a javelin.

The bangalore torpedo accurately flew into the bunker’s firing port and landed inside.

“Ah!”

The Moresnet army soldiers in the bunker let out a desperate scream. Only one thought remained in their minds: I’m dead.

Boom.

The bangalore torpedo exploded. The enormous power not only killed all the soldiers but also destroyed the machine gun in the bunker.

The Moresnet army soldiers rushed into the bunker after the explosion, but they couldn’t immediately replace the firing point. They had to find a new heavy machine gun and set it up, which would take time.

The Huaxia army wouldn’t give them the opportunity. The moment the bunker was blown up, the Huaxia army launched an assault.

Without the threat of the heavy machine gun, other weapons had limited impact on the Huaxia army.

There were still a few light machine guns in the Moresnet army’s exposed fortifications, but these were the focus of the Huaxia army’s snipers.

After paying some price, the Huaxia army stormed this piece of the position and engaged the Moresnet army in close combat.

Lieutenant Lu unleashed his power again, solving five or six people with a combination of slashing and hacking.

Then the Huaxia army squad occupied this small piece of the position, and subsequent troops poured in from this gap.

But this wasn’t enough. The Moresnet army’s defensive line was several kilometers deep. They had only taken a forward position.

Ahead of them were countless bunkers, tanks, and firing points.

After occupying the forward position, Lieutenant Lu’s platoon was temporarily incorporated into another company and continued the attack with the team.

At the same time, the Huaxia army completed similar breakthroughs in multiple locations, seizing footholds.

Relying on these footholds, the Huaxia army was no longer as passive as before.

As various heavy weapons were transported ashore, the Huaxia army continued to advance.

However, this time they didn’t need soldiers to charge ahead. They had tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery support.

In terms of firepower, the Huaxia army wasn’t at a disadvantage.

Faced with such powerful firepower from the Huaxia army, the Moresnet army was groaning in misery.

At any other time, the Moresnet army would probably have collapsed by now.

But they didn’t now, because Aurangzeb was personally directing this battle, and Aurangzeb had appointed a large number of cronies.

These cronies were extremely loyal to him and were extremely harsh on the officers and soldiers below.

Want to escape or retreat? No way. They had to fight to the death.

“These dogs, I won’t leave a single one when I get up there.”

The company commander of the vanguard company cursed through gritted teeth. They were being suppressed by the Moresnet army’s firepower and couldn’t charge forward.

The Huaxia army’s policy used to be to treat prisoners well, but the company commander was clearly enraged and didn’t want to keep any prisoners anymore. He only wanted to rush up and kill all the enemies.

“Where are the tanks?”

The company commander asked.

“The treads were blown off.”

The liaison officer quickly replied.

“Always screwing up at critical moments. Where are the extraordinary warriors?”

The company commander continued to ask.

“They’re dealing with another firing point.”

The liaison officer said.

The Moresnet army’s firing points were too dense, and the Huaxia army’s extraordinary warriors simply weren’t enough.

“Damn it, I have to rely on myself. I need three volunteers to charge up and take out that pillbox. Who’s signing up?”

The company commander asked, and immediately four or five people raised their hands to compete for the spot.

It wasn’t that they weren’t afraid of death, but they wanted to take a shortcut to success and go further.

Only by earning merit in battle, by proving their loyalty in battle, could they be selected to enter the extraordinary warrior corps and be cultivated. This was an opportunity to change their fate, worth risking their lives for.

“Everyone else, provide covering fire. Give them hell!”

The company commander shouted, and everyone else opened fire.

However, the Moresnet army on the other side were also desperate men, or perhaps some patriots.

Faced with the Huaxia army’s fierce firepower, they didn’t retreat and stubbornly continued to shoot while enduring the fire.

Soldiers on both sides were falling one after another, and what was even worse was that one of the three volunteers had fallen, leaving the remaining two to continue approaching the bunker.

But their intentions were also discovered by the Moresnet army, who directly turned their guns and focused on the two demolitionists.

A large number of bullets poured onto the demolitionists’ path, and they immediately fell.

Under the blockade of bullets, ordinary people found it difficult to break through.

“Kill him…”

The company commander was so angry that he couldn’t even be bothered to swear.

Fortunately, a tank came to support at this time. This was the second batch of landing troops.

As the Huaxia army gained a foothold on the beach, a large number of heavy weapons were landed.

Chapter 1189: A Big Gamble

By the second day of the landing operation, Aurangzeb finally confirmed that the main attack direction of the Huaxia army was Calcutta.

It wasn’t that he was slow to realize this; he was in the rear and didn’t have a clear picture of the battles at the front.

The battle reports from various locations all looked the same, all reporting emergencies. It wasn’t easy to extract useful information and analyze the problems from these chaotic reports.

Having determined the main direction of the Huaxia army’s attack, Aurangzeb moved his heavy artillery group to Calcutta, preparing to hit the Huaxia army hard and break through them.

Aurangzeb no longer hoped to defeat the Huaxia army; he only wanted to inflict heavy casualties on them, hoping they would retreat in the face of difficulty.

Aurangzeb’s idea was beautiful, but little did he know that his heavy artillery group had barely set out when the intelligence reached the Huaxia army headquarters.

Husband and wife are birds of the same branch, but they fly away when disaster strikes.

Not to mention that Aurangzeb’s subordinates weren’t even his spouses, but merely in a master-servant relationship.

When the master is strong, the servants are naturally respectful.

But once the master falls on hard times, the servants are probably the happiest.

Aurangzeb had ruled the Mughal Empire for fifty or sixty years, and the number of people he had offended was countless.

In short, when Great Hua was about to attack their homeland, a large number of Mughal officials secretly surrendered to Great Hua, betraying their emperor.

The Mughal Dynasty’s various military operations were, in fact, under the Huaxia army’s observation.

As Aurangzeb’s heavy artillery group moved out, the Huaxia army’s bomber squadrons also set off.

The three hundred-plus fortress guns had just been transported to the front line and hadn’t even had time to deploy when the Huaxia army’s warplanes appeared overhead.

“Enemy attack, air defense!”

The Mughal commander screamed. They were most afraid of encountering the Huaxia army’s planes.

Although the army group was equipped with an air defense division with more than five hundred anti-aircraft guns, it still couldn’t give them a sense of security.

The air defense units took action, firing at the sky.

But it was too late; the Huaxia army’s warplanes had already begun dropping bombs.

Bombs fell into the Mughal army’s formation, and screams rose and fell.

The Huaxia army’s bombing was basically accurate with each strike, while the Mughal army needed some luck to hit the Great Hua’s planes.

Relying on quantity to create a blockade, they did manage to hit a few planes.

However, this was a drop in the bucket for the heavy artillery group; the combat loss ratio was simply too disparate.

After one round of bombing, the Huaxia army had only lost a dozen or so planes and twenty-plus pilots.

But the Mughal Dynasty? Half of the three hundred heavy guns were directly destroyed, countless artillerymen were killed or wounded, and the organizational structure was also destroyed.

There were fewer than one hundred guns left that could continue to operate and carry out shelling.

Even so, they didn’t dare to open fire immediately, otherwise, they would be met with the Huaxia army’s second round of bombing.

The heavy artillery group began to move, but it was all in vain.

The Huaxia army, possessing air supremacy, only needed to send out a few reconnaissance planes, and the Mughal Dynasty’s heavy artillery units couldn’t hide their movements.

Without firing a single shot, this unit was as good as useless. Its only role was probably to tie down the Huaxia army’s air power.

On the ground, the Huaxia army was still advancing in an orderly manner.

With the fall of the first two lines of defense, the Mughal army lost its geographical advantage.

With the landing of the Huaxia army’s heavy weapons, the Mughal army lost its equipment advantage.

Having lost all their advantages, and with morale constantly declining, the Mughal army’s defense line was in imminent danger, and emergency battle reports were reported to Aurangzeb one after another.

At first, Aurangzeb would get angry and furious.

But slowly, Aurangzeb calmed down and became numb.

After five days of fighting, Calcutta was completely taken by the Huaxia army.

The Huaxia army had secured a landing point, and the Mughal army’s other defensive forces on the coastline became mere decorations.

Aurangzeb only had two choices: one was to withdraw the troops back to the big cities, back to Delhi, and defend step by step.

But this was basically a slow death, at most adding some trouble to the Huaxia army.

The other choice was to take advantage of the fact that the Huaxia army’s landing force was still small, transfer all the troops to Calcutta, and use numbers to overwhelm the Huaxia army.

Relying on numerical superiority, they still had a chance to fight, and once they won, they could shatter the myth of the Huaxia army’s invincibility, which could give the Mughal soldiers the courage to continue resisting.

Of course, the risk of this choice was also very high.

Once the siege failed, the Mughal Dynasty would completely lose its defensive forces, which would be almost equivalent to the destruction of the country.

After Aurangzeb transmigrated to this world, he was a member of the royal family. Relying on his foresight and extraordinary knowledge, as well as the system, he controlled the troops from the beginning and continued to expand with superior forces.

All the way down, he had been at an advantage in his battles with his opponents and had not engaged in any big gambles.

But now, Aurangzeb was also being bold and preparing for a big gamble.

He ordered the other defensive forces to march towards Calcutta, to have a final battle with Great Hua.

In Hakanda, the Fifth Army Corps, having received the order, began to pack their bags, preparing to go to Calcutta.

However, the soldiers didn’t seem to be in high spirits, and their movements were slow and dragging.

In the past, soldiers would have been beaten by officers for doing this.

Strangely, this time the Mughal officers showed kindness and turned a blind eye to the soldiers’ laziness.

Not only were the low and mid-level officers like this, but the senior officers and the commander-in-chief also didn’t urge them.

With the war fought to this point, anyone who wasn’t an idiot knew that the empire was likely to collapse.

Even if they rushed to Calcutta and drove the Huaxia army back into the sea, what would happen after they eliminated this one million-strong landing force?

Great Hua was a country even more powerful than the Mughal Dynasty. The Mughal Dynasty still had the strength to fight after losing thousands of soldiers, let alone the Huaxia army. Losing one million troops might make Great Hua feel the pain, but it would definitely not hurt them to the bone.

After resting for a month or two, the Huaxia army could land again.

And the Mughal Dynasty? How many more major battles could it withstand?

The officers were well aware that this trip to Calcutta was likely to be fraught with danger, so naturally, they were unwilling to go.

But Aurangzeb was still the emperor and still in power, so they didn’t dare to openly defy his orders.

Otherwise, Aurangzeb would definitely have a way to make them die before he did.

Not daring to openly defy the orders, they could only passively resist, hoping to arrive in Calcutta a little later, hoping that the war would be over before they arrived.

With this in mind, many units responded passively and acted extremely slowly.

In addition, many units were very far from Calcutta, and distant water couldn’t quench immediate thirst.

Five days after the order was issued, only two hundred thousand reinforcements had arrived in Calcutta.

And the Huaxia army had already finished their rest and were preparing for the second wave of attacks, starting to occupy the main cities of the Mughal Dynasty.

Faced with these two hundred thousand Mughal reinforcements, the Huaxia army showed no mercy and pounced directly on them.

The result was naturally without suspense. Even if they had a numerical advantage, the Mughal army was no match for Great Hua, let alone when they were at a numerical disadvantage.

Chapter 1190: The Fall of an Empire

Relying on his years of accumulated political prestige, Aurangzeb finally gathered more than three million elite troops. This was his last trump card.

The other several million troops had already entered a wait-and-see state. Some, fearing Aurangzeb’s reckoning after the war, might even help Great Hua by stabbing Aurangzeb in the back.

Now, Aurangzeb was surrounded on all sides.

His only chance now was to defeat the one million plus Huaxia army troops head-on and regain his prestige.

Faced with this situation, the Huaxia army chose to defend.

They were not in a hurry. As long as they dragged it out, the Mughal army would collapse sooner or later.

But Aurangzeb could not afford to delay. He needed to defeat the Huaxia army as soon as possible to stabilize morale.

Therefore, Aurangzeb took the initiative to launch an attack on the Huaxia army’s position.

This kind of attack was very tragic, purely using human lives to fill the gap.

Generally speaking, only the side with the advantage would take the initiative to attack.

But now the Mughal army had neither air superiority nor artillery superiority.

As soon as their artillery fired, they would immediately be counterattacked by the Huaxia army’s artillery.

Since the artillery could not damage the Huaxia army’s position, the Mughal infantry had to face a complete defensive fortification, which was a disaster for the infantry.

As the war drums sounded, the Mughal army launched the first wave of charge.

On the more than thirty-kilometer front, four Mughal army units, two hundred thousand men, advanced, the scene was quite grand.

Before they had even charged halfway, the Huaxia army’s planes appeared above their heads, strafing and bombing the soldiers on the ground.

But the Mughal army fought to the death without retreating.

At this moment of life and death, the troops who could still stay by Aurangzeb’s side were much more loyal than ordinary soldiers and had a high degree of identification with the Mughal Empire.

Even if they were afraid of death, they were unwilling to live in a world ruled by Great Hua.

Death was a kind of relief for them.

The Great Hua air force eliminated the enemy with extremely high efficiency, but the impact on the entire battlefield was not significant, because there were too many Mughal army soldiers charging.

Soon, the Mughal army used their lives to pile up a bloody path and rushed to the front of the Huaxia army’s position.

But this was only the first step. What lay before them were five or six layers of barbed wire.

Fortunately, the Huaxia army did not have much time to prepare. Otherwise, if they had prepared more barbed wire and laid down a dozen layers, the Mughal army without artillery would only be able to stare blankly.

But now, the Mughal army still had a chance.

The corpses of fallen soldiers were thrown onto the barbed wire. Scissors and bombs were used together as the Mughal army soldiers cleared the barbed wire in the face of machine gun fire.

This morale startled the Huaxia army commander. If the previous Mughal army had this kind of courage, Great Hua might not have been able to defeat them.

“Give me a hard hit, this is the Mughal Empire’s last resistance, destroy them and the Mughal Empire will be finished.”

The front-line commander boosted morale.

The Mughal army soldiers in front of them were like crazy, but the Huaxia army could not retreat.

Fortunately, although the Mughal army had high morale, people were ultimately made of flesh and blood.

Under the strafing of heavy machine guns, the Mughal army paid a huge price in casualties every moment.

By the time they broke through the barbed wire defense line, nearly half of the two hundred thousand troops had died.

Such a bloody and cruel battle was the first time that both Great Hua and the Mughal Empire had encountered it.

Then the Mughal army rushed into the Huaxia army’s position, and the two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Even though the Huaxia army had superhumans to support them, there were too few of them to determine the outcome of the battle.

Faced with the crazy Mughal army, the Huaxia army abandoned the first line of defense and retreated to the second line of defense.

In one day of battle, the Huaxia army suffered more than forty thousand casualties.

But the Mughal army was even worse. Of the two hundred thousand assault troops, less than thirty thousand were still able to move.

And these two hundred thousand people were the only elite that the Mughal Empire could offer. Although the remaining two million plus could still fight, they definitely could not reach this level.

The mountains of corpses also made the remaining soldiers feel terrified from the bottom of their hearts. After the troops responsible for collecting the corpses finished their work, at least several hundred people went crazy.

The next day, the Mughal army launched another attack, but the intensity was much smaller.

After charging halfway, the Mughal army was beaten back.

This failed attack also caused a huge change in the psychology of the Mughal army soldiers. Their fanatical passion was fading, replaced by all kinds of confusion, fear, and numbness…

After the attack failed, Aurangzeb personally went to the front line to supervise the battle, executed several generals who ordered the retreat, and then ordered the soldiers to fight to the death without retreating.

Hearing this order, the generals and soldiers were all filled with grief and indignation.

They knew that they were dead.

The Mughal army rose up like a dying ember, but then quickly withered.

The subsequent waves of attacks were all repelled by the Huaxia army, leaving countless corpses behind.

Aurangzeb was still ordering the attack. On the evening of the fourth day, a mutiny broke out in the Mughal army’s camp.

Some troops who did not want to die launched a rebellion and attacked Aurangzeb’s central camp.

They wanted to kill or capture Aurangzeb alive.

The central camp was Aurangzeb’s imperial guard, loyal to Aurangzeb.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle. The rebels failed in one blow and were about to fail.

As a result, Aurangzeb added insult to injury by ordering other troops to suppress the rebellious troops. He wanted to kill them all.

The other troops received this order and turned against him, joining the rebellious troops.

With absolute numerical superiority, the rebels defeated the central camp.

The Huaxia army watched the enemy’s riot from a distance, without intervening.

It was too chaotic. No one could stop the melee of millions of troops.

The rebellion lasted for two days and two nights. Aurangzeb’s central camp was annihilated, and the generation of heroes, Aurangzeb, died in the chaos.

He died suddenly, but it gave people a very reasonable feeling.

Only when he died could the other millions of troops survive.

Even though Aurangzeb was famous, he could not stop this general trend.

After Aurangzeb’s death, more than one million eight hundred thousand troops on the front line surrendered to the Great Hua’s one million one hundred thousand troops.

From a numerical point of view, it was quite ridiculous, but it was also reasonable.

After all, the Mughal Empire only had these one million eight hundred thousand left, but behind the Great Hua expeditionary force were two or three million troops.

The surrender of one million eight hundred thousand troops kept the Huaxia army busy. But this was not the end.

With the surrender of the front-line troops, the armies of other cities in the Mughal Empire also sent envoys, wanting to surrender to Great Hua.

However, some troops agreed to unconditional surrender, while others hoped to obtain some preferential treatment.

For example, retaining their organization, obtaining a garrison, and maintaining independence.

The organization could be discussed, but wanting to obtain a garrison and independence was wishful thinking.

After a series of negotiations, Great Hua had already settled most of the Mughal Empire’s army.

The remaining tens of thousands of stubborn elements were quickly defeated and fled into the mountains to fight guerrilla warfare with the Huaxia army’s attack.

The frontal resistance had been basically lifted, and Great Hua’s civil officials were rushing to South Asia to take over this prosperous area.

Under Aurangzeb’s favoritism, South Asia had developed quite well, but in the future, it would all belong to Great Hua.

Chapter 1191: Number One

“Aurangzeb is dead?”

James felt a surge of panic when he saw Aurangzeb’s name disappear from the list.

Nearly twenty of the transmigrators in their batch had died, but the deaths of the others were mostly due to unexpected factors. Aurangzeb was the first to be defeated and killed by another transmigrator.

Aurangzeb’s death meant that James and the others no longer enjoyed absolute safety. If they couldn’t withstand the Great Hua’s offensive in the future, or if they failed to win in the competition, they would also die.

Unless they were willing to surrender to Wu Changqing, but that was absolutely impossible.

Having enjoyed the feeling of being supreme for decades, how could they possibly put down their dignity to surrender?

Aurangzeb’s death had a great impact on the other transmigrators. Those who were still indulging themselves pushed away the women around them and began to handle their government affairs.

Although it was a bit too late to start preparing, as long as there was still hope, they were unwilling to give up.

At the same time, Great Hua was ostentatiously preparing for Wu Changqing’s seventieth birthday.

Great Hua had originally planned to celebrate his sixtieth birthday in a grand manner, but Wu Changqing had stopped them.

This time, Wu Changqing did not refuse his ministers’ ‘filial piety’.

Defeating Aurangzeb, almost conquering the Mughal Empire world, and rising to the top in overall strength were all things worth celebrating.

Although it was still a long way from eliminating all competitors, Wu Changqing had already gained an absolute advantage.

In such a good situation, spending some time and money to celebrate was harmless.

Under the service of the palace maids, Wu Changqing put on his clothes and looked in the mirror, feeling even better.

He was already seventy years old, but he looked like a man in his thirties or forties in the mirror, energetic and full of vitality.

This was all due to the effects of cultivating immortality. Now he was also one of the few King-level experts in Great Hua, and his body had already been tempered to the point of being invulnerable to swords and spears.

“Throughout history, emperors have spoken of living ten thousand years, but only Your Majesty can truly achieve this.”

Consort Qin congratulated him.

Consort Qin was a new woman Wu Changqing had taken in the past few months. Chen Yuyan, Luo Min, Yang Xiaoxiao and others who had followed him the earliest had long since aged, and some had even passed away.

There was no way around it, they were born in the wrong era, too early.

By the time the otherworld was opened up, they were already old, and their talents were mediocre. Even with the supply of elixirs, they could not defy fate.

Only Consort Liu was extremely intelligent and had a high level of comprehension. She had made breakthroughs in cultivation, and her appearance had been maintained at the age of forty.

But her talent had reached its limit, and she had not made any progress for many years.

According to the current trend, she might be able to live to one hundred and twenty or thirty, which was quite good.

Compared to the early imperial concubines, the concubines Wu Changqing took in after the development of the otherworld were blessed. As the most honorable people in the empire, they naturally enjoyed an unlimited supply of spiritual energy pills.

The only things that restricted their realm were their talent and the degree of their efforts.

In order to maintain their youth, their efforts were no less than Wu Changqing’s.

Therefore, most of the concubines were now top experts, and they started as company commanders in the Extraordinary Legion.

“Living ten thousand years, wouldn’t it be too boring?”

Wu Changqing said with emotion.

He had only been in this world for more than fifty years, and he had almost obtained everything he once wanted.

Status, ideals, women…

Once he eliminated all the other competitors, he would lose his life goals, and what awaited him would be endless boredom.

However, those were things for the future, and Wu Changqing would not whine about them without being sick.

If Consort Qin hadn’t reminded him that he might be able to live for ten thousand years, he wouldn’t even have had such feelings.

“How could that be? Don’t you have me by your side to relieve your boredom?”

Consort Qin said.

…

Wu Changqing’s seventieth birthday was celebrated throughout the country.

During the day, Wu Changqing appeared in the central square to celebrate with the people.

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the square, just to be closer to Wu Changqing.

The new generation was quite worshipful of the almost mythical legends about Wu Changqing.

Wu Changqing’s prestige in the country had reached its peak.

Now, no matter what Wu Changqing wanted to do, there would be no resistance.

Even if Wu Changqing wanted to change the political system and implement a republic, it would be no problem.

However, Wu Changqing did not have the mood to do so for the time being.

After all, even with a semi-feudal and semi-capitalist political system, the citizens of Great Hua were living quite well.

With an entire world and tens of millions of square kilometers of land in the otherworld, and having recently conquered a world, Great Hua was not short of resources.

It was not difficult for Great Hua to fully realize a moderately prosperous life.

Wu Changqing gave a short speech, then returned to the palace for a state banquet with hundreds of officials and important ministers.

While Great Hua was celebrating, the Mughal Dynasty announced its demise.

With the Huaxia army capturing Delhi, Aurangzeb’s fourth son committed suicide, and the Mughal Dynasty announced its demise.

Among Aurangzeb’s thirty-odd sons, five died in battle, eleven surrendered, and the rest fled, seemingly wanting to make a comeback.

But this was obviously wishful thinking. There was no place for them in the world anymore.

After liberating South Asia, the Huaxia army marched non-stop into Central Asia and West Asia.

The Mughal Dynasty had carried out a brutal massacre here, resulting in a sharp decline in the population of Central Asia and West Asia.

The people here were still unruly, and the Huaxia army was not polite, killing those who resisted again.

Then Central Asia and West Asia became quiet. The people who were still alive were not those with a strong spirit of resistance. They had resigned themselves to their fate and dared not resist anymore.

With Central Asia and West Asia pacified, the Huaxia army marched into Europe.

The rebel army in Europe had reached a consensus and formed the European Community, and then sent envoys, hoping to become a vassal of Great Hua, but retain independence.

Originally, they thought that Great Hua would not agree, but to their surprise, Great Hua really agreed.

Of course, Great Hua could use force to occupy it, which was not very difficult.

But Great Hua had other plans. They wanted to keep an independent area, which would be beneficial to their rule here.

If the whole world was conquered, there would definitely be people who would be dissatisfied.

Now, leaving a Europe, those who were dissatisfied could go to Europe and not cause trouble in the Great Hua-controlled area.

When the development of the two places differed in the future, the Great Hua-controlled area would see the miserable life in Europe and would be satisfied with the rule of Great Hua.

There was no harm without comparison, and satisfaction could only be produced with comparison.

Great Hua had done this before and was quite experienced.

Following this method, in less than five years, the people of Europe would beg and clamor to join Great Hua.

Using this method, the people’s hearts in the Great Hua-controlled area could be stabilized the fastest, the cost of rule could be reduced, and development could be accelerated.

Occupying the Mughal Empire world was just the beginning. Only by completely winning the hearts of the people here could the conquest be truly completed, and only then could the power here be used to conquer the next world.

Chapter 1192: Moving the Capital

In the fifty-seventh year of Yongxing, people in various regions of Europe launched marches and riots, which later developed into uprisings, overthrowing their governments. Subsequently, they held national referendums, applying to merge into Great Hua.

The only reason supporting the people’s actions was the vast difference in living standards between the two regions.

Great Hua had already entered the electrical age, with ordinary people able to afford meat with every meal and using various electrical appliances and furniture. Meanwhile, the people in Europe were still suffering from hunger and struggling to survive.

There were plenty of places suitable for agricultural development in Europe, such as the East European Plain and the France Plain, all of which were high-quality agricultural areas.

Originally, the grain from these two regions was enough to meet the needs of all the people. However, the ruling class of the European Community, in order to enjoy themselves, continuously sold grain to Great Hua in exchange for yachts, luxury cars, private planes, and various luxurious electrical appliances, furniture, and jewelry.

There was no other way, without an industrial system, Europe couldn’t manufacture these things.

Exchanging cheap grain for expensive industrial products naturally resulted in a huge loss for Europe.

Under this trade, the people of Europe were constantly exploited, and their lives were even worse than before.

Some insightful people in the European Community saw the drawbacks of this trade and tried to stop it.

Unfortunately, these people were suppressed, ostracized, and even physically eliminated by the authorities.

With the support of Great Hua, those decrepit and corrupt individuals firmly occupied their ruling positions.

Over the years, the situation in Europe had become unsalvageable, followed by the people launching riots.

With the merger of the European regions, Great Hua completely occupied this plane.

At the same time, Great Hua continued to expand in other worlds, successively eliminating several small forces.

By the sixtieth year of Yongxing, the territory of Great Hua had reached three hundred million square kilometers, and the population had reached ten billion.

How to effectively govern this three hundred million square kilometers of territory and this ten billion population was a major problem, and the feudal system was brought up again.

The feudal system emerged in the Zhou Dynasty mainly because the territory was too large, and feudalism could reduce governance costs.

Without feudalism, many things would be delayed.

For example, if a flood occurred in the State of Qi, it would take too long to wait for orders from the central government in Xianyang to provide disaster relief.

After feudalism, the State of Qi could formulate its own disaster relief policies.

In addition, there were many other aspects like this.

With the development of transportation and communication technology, the upper limit of the territory that a regime could rule was greatly increased, and Great Hua easily unified the world.

However, this improvement also had an upper limit.

After occupying the Mo Dynasty plane, Great Hua felt this drawback.

The two places were too far apart, and it took several hours just to transmit information, and several months to transport people and supplies.

Previously, in order to occupy the Mo Dynasty, Great Hua adopted a decentralization strategy, giving the officials at the front line great autonomy.

But now that the war was over, continuing to decentralize power could easily lead to these people growing stronger, leading to division. Not decentralizing power made it impossible to manage the Mo Dynasty effectively and in a timely manner.

Therefore, some officials thought of the feudal system, suggesting that Wu Changqing divide the territory of the Mo Dynasty among the princes.

Naturally, there was also the assistance of the princes in this.

Feudalism wasn’t just proposed recently. When large territories such as North America were occupied in the past, the princes were eager for feudal appointments.

At that time, Wu Changqing rejected the suggestions of his ministers and effectively ruled the territory on Earth with advanced communication.

But now, those people were relentlessly raising this suggestion again.

To put it bluntly, they still wanted to independently control power.

It is said that even close brothers settle accounts clearly, but in reality, as long as the interests are large enough, even close fathers and sons have to settle accounts clearly.

Wu Changqing’s exclusive control of power had already made his sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons very dissatisfied. It was only because his prestige was high enough that those people didn’t dare to act rashly.

If Wu Changqing was as weak as Li Yuan, and his descendants included outstanding figures like Li Shimin, Great Hua would have already staged a tragic human drama.

The emperor is also called “the lonely one,” and this isn’t just a casual title.

The kinship between Wu Changqing and the princes had long been broken.

Faced with the demand for feudalism, Wu Changqing did not agree and severely punished a group of officials who demanded feudal appointments.

There was no way, feudalism would inevitably lead to division.

These ministers made such a suggestion, clearly aiming to split Great Hua.

If division was allowed, then why bother conquering in the first place?

Seeing Wu Changqing punish a group of officials who advocated feudalism, others felt Wu Changqing’s determination and dared not say anything more.

However, the problem of governance costs was never resolved.

To this end, some ministers proposed moving the capital.

Moving the capital to another world would bring the central government closer to the Mo Dynasty plane.

The current capital was on Earth, which was indeed too far away from the Mo Dynasty plane.

This suggestion was opposed by many people, after all, moving the capital would affect the interests of many people.

Of course, the opponents would certainly not talk about interests, they spoke of tradition and security, and each of them was considering the emperor’s well-being.

Such a major event would not be resolved in a few months.

No matter how the people below argued, it didn’t really matter.

Whether to move the capital or not completely depended on what Wu Changqing thought.

If he wanted to move the capital, no one could stop him. If he didn’t want to move the capital, no amount of persuasion would be useful.

Wu Changqing’s strength surpassed any emperor in history, this was the prestige accumulated over decades.

There were many people in Great Hua who worshiped Wu Changqing like a god, and Wu Changqing’s position was unshakable.

Wu Changqing’s choice was simple: move.

After all, he would conquer more planes in the future, and those places would be even farther from the current capital, making them even more difficult to govern.

Moving to another world could solve this problem to some extent.

Wu Changqing decided to move the capital, but not now.

The infrastructure in the other world was not perfect enough, Wu Changqing could not abandon the bustling world of Jinling to live a hard life in another world, nor was it necessary.

Wu Changqing made up his mind, and the new city construction project was immediately launched.

Wu Changqing planned to build a new capital city in another world, built entirely to the specifications of Jinling.

This was not difficult for Great Hua, after all, the Mo Dynasty could build a large Heng City in another world, let alone the current Great Hua.

Great Hua had ten billion people, with a labor force of six billion.

Let alone building a new city, building a new world would be easy.

While building the new capital, Great Hua’s expansion didn’t stop.

To ensure the safety of the new capital, the Huaxia army first expanded its territory in the other world, ensuring sufficient depth.

Faced with the Huaxia army, individual otherworldly forces were unable to resist.

Under the threat of the Huaxia army, they also began to collude, trying to form an alliance to jointly resist the threat of Great Hua.

Not only the otherworldly forces, but the British Empire and the German Empire also stopped fighting and began to negotiate, trying to reach a union to deal with the threat of Great Hua.

There are no eternal enemies between countries, only eternal interests.

Even though they had been fighting to the death a few years ago, under a common threat, they were able to abandon their past grievances and reach a defensive alliance agreement.

Chapter 1193: Complete Unification

In the eightieth year of Yongxing, Great Hua fought against the Xuanzhou Great Empire, the strongest force in another world, for control of the most valuable territories there.

The Xuanzhou Great Empire mobilized hundreds of King-level experts, dozens of Emperor-level experts, and even a true immortal, the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor.

Faced with such a terrifying force, Great Hua was, of course, not without its preparations.

After more than forty years of cultivation, Great Hua also had nearly a hundred King-level experts and three Emperor-level experts, plus five more from the Proud Moon Kingdom.

The number and quality of their cultivators naturally couldn’t compare with the Xuanzhou Great Empire, but in terms of technology, Great Hua delivered a beatdown to the Xuanzhou Great Empire.

In this battle, Great Hua deployed a total of two thousand fourth-generation fighter jets, each with firepower no less than that of a King-level expert. Their only drawbacks were their lack of agility compared to cultivators and their defensive capabilities, which were far inferior to those of King-level cultivators.

However, they made up for it in sheer numbers, with over two thousand aircraft.

Moreover, Great Hua’s military strength wasn’t limited to aircraft.

On the ground, there were also five hundred Fantasy Type 2 armored trains.

These were enhanced versions of tanks, each weighing as much as five hundred tons. If Great Hua hadn’t developed a new type of mixed fuel, there would have been no way to drive these things on the ground.

The firepower of a single Fantasy Type 2 was no less than that of a King-level expert, and its protective capabilities were extremely strong. The thickness of its armor was enough to withstand attacks from high-level King-level experts, and it wasn’t afraid of close combat.

Aircraft and tanks weren’t the weapons that the Xuanzhou Great Empire feared the most. Great Hua also had the ultimate weapon: small nuclear bombs.

After decades of research and development, Great Hua finally miniaturized nuclear bombs.

They could be carried by aircraft, launched by tanks, and even fired by soldiers carrying them on their shoulders.

Their power was naturally several times greater than that of conventional bombs, and ordinary cultivators simply couldn’t withstand them.

Even Emperor-level experts would die from exhaustion of their magical power under the carpet bombing of nuclear bombs.

The only one who wasn’t afraid of nuclear bombs was the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor, but he could only protect himself and couldn’t protect the people of the Xuanzhou Great Empire.

The Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor adopted a strategy of capturing the ringleader first, breaking into Great Hua’s command headquarters, and almost wiping out the Huaxia army’s command structure. Even the commander-in-chief couldn’t escape and died at the hands of the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor.

However, this didn’t shake Great Hua’s determination to continue attacking the Xuanzhou Great Empire.

If one commander-in-chief died, another could be appointed.

Great Hua had dozens, if not hundreds, of military talents capable of commanding millions of troops.

The only way to strike at Great Hua was to kill Wu Changqing.

The Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor also thought about this, but it was very difficult. Wu Changqing himself was already an Emperor-level expert, with a certain degree of self-protection, and his whereabouts were uncertain.

Most importantly, even killing Wu Changqing wouldn’t stop the Huaxia army’s attack, and might even provoke the Huaxia army’s desire for revenge, leading to a massacre of the Xuanzhou Great Empire.

If Wu Changqing were assassinated, none of the people of the Xuanzhou Great Empire would survive.

Great Hua’s successors would never let the Xuanzhou Great Empire off, and billions of Great Hua citizens wouldn’t allow it.

If the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor were alone, Great Hua wouldn’t have had a good way to deal with him.

But he cared about his people, which became his weakness.

After a fierce battle, the Xuanzhou Great Empire was severely weakened. In order to save the lives of the remaining tens of millions of people, the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor chose to negotiate with Great Hua.

The Xuanzhou Great Empire wanted to continue to maintain its independence by ceding territory and other means, but Great Hua didn’t agree.

In the end, the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor was forced to agree to make the Xuanzhou Great Empire a vassal state of Great Hua, and the Supreme Mystic Holy Emperor’s granddaughter was sent to Great Hua to become Wu Changqing’s concubine.

Having subdued the Xuanzhou Great Empire, other small forces had even less ability to resist and flocked to surrender.

Only a few distant forces were still cooperating with forces from other planes, trying to jointly resist Great Hua.

In the eighty-first year, Great Hua began its unification war.

The first to suffer was the Qing Dynasty plane. Great Hua only took three years to defeat the Qing Dynasty, and Dorgon was defeated and committed suicide.

In the eighty-fourth year, Great Hua attacked the weaker Japan plane.

The Japanese Emperor Koizumi Kyosaburo had long since died more than a decade ago because he hadn’t practiced cultivation.

His second son succeeded him, but his second son didn’t have a system, so the development of Japan slowed down even more, even stagnating.

By the time Great Hua came knocking, they hadn’t even had time to develop other worlds and didn’t know what was happening in the world.

With this kind of strength, a single extraordinary legion division from Great Hua could easily conquer them.

When the Huaxia army entered the Japan plane, the people of the Japan plane thought they were being invaded by aliens, and resistance was once very strong.

But soon they discovered that these aliens looked exactly like them, and even spoke Chinese, so they could communicate directly.

After this discovery, the places colonized by Japan stopped resisting and instead cooperated with the Huaxia army to get rid of Japanese colonial rule.

Great Hua completely destroyed the Japanese Empire in only one year, and it only took four years to complete the rule of this plane.

In the eighty-sixth year, Great Hua attacked the relatively strong Haslerburg plane.

After nearly a hundred years of development, the Haslerburg Empire’s fighter jets had also developed to the fourth generation, with dozens of aircraft carriers. Its technological strength was only one level behind Great Hua, not too far behind.

However, they were far behind in cultivation. The entire country only had a few King-level experts, while Great Hua had as many as hundreds of King-level experts after conquering the Xuanzhou Great Empire, and countless cultivators below the King level.

Fifty percent of the soldiers were already transcendents, and the main legions were all extraordinary.

Haslerburg didn’t last long in front of Great Hua. Great Hua’s Emperor-level experts were dispatched, and nearly a hundred high-ranking officials in Haslerburg were assassinated within a month, causing the entire empire to grind to a halt.

A large number of important positions were left unattended, for fear of being assassinated.

On the main battlefield, Haslerburg was also completely crushed and constantly retreated.

In the end, with the assassination of Haslerburg Emperor Carlos, the remaining officials immediately sent representatives to surrender unconditionally to Great Hua and merge into Great Hua.

They didn’t want to continue this futile resistance.

In the past few years, Great Hua’s unification process had been very smooth, conquering one plane after another.

If it didn’t take so much time to govern, Great Hua could have completed its complete unification in a few years.

It wasn’t until the ninety-fifth year that Great Hua faced its last strong opponent.

The Anti-Hua Alliance, this alliance was composed of the British Empire, the German Empire, the Frankfurt Empire, and two other world empires, all to resist Great Hua’s road to unification.

This alliance had technology, immortals, population, and resources.

On the surface, this alliance wasn’t much weaker than Great Hua.

If they really fought, even if Great Hua could win, it would have to pay a huge price, perhaps with tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of casualties to achieve victory.

James and others were counting on this. They didn’t think about completely defeating Great Hua, that was impossible, the strength difference was too great.

What they were thinking about was being able to inflict huge damage on Great Hua, so that Great Hua would back down.

They thought it was a good idea, but an alliance is an alliance after all, and the various forces within it weren’t completely of one mind.

Great Hua adopted a strategy of divide and conquer, breaking them one by one, and gradually eroding the alliance’s strength.

First, it bought off the Hongyuan Immortal Mansion from another world, and then focused on attacking the Frankfurt plane.

After several major battles, the heavily damaged Frankfurt ignored James’s warnings and chose to surrender. Immediately, the two other world forces saw that the situation was over and became disloyal.

Seeing that the Xuanzhou Great Empire was doing well after merging into Great Hua, the Hongyuan Immortal Mansion chose to follow the trend, and another other world force followed suit.

The alliance was left with only Britain and Germany still struggling to support it.

Without the support of the other world forces, they lacked cultivation experts and couldn’t resist Great Hua’s extraordinary legions.

Relying on technological power alone, they could no longer resist Great Hua’s fierce offensive.

In the ninety-ninth year of Yongxing, Great Hua launched a nuclear attack on the German Empire, which refused to surrender.

Thousands of nuclear bombs bombarded the major cities of the German Empire, causing a large number of casualties and causing the collapse of the German Empire’s order.

A large number of government officials were bombed to death, and a large number of places became ownerless land with no jurisdiction.

With the German Emperor being bombed to death, the remaining people followed the trend and announced their surrender. The alliance was left with only the British Empire.

In the hundredth year of Yongxing, the surrender faction of the British Empire, fearing that their plane would also be attacked by nuclear bombs, launched a coup. Emperor James was assassinated by the surrender faction, and then the empire surrendered to Great Hua and the pro-war faction was purged.

After the fall of the British Empire, there was no longer any force that could compete with Great Hua. The Huaxia army pushed all the way, conquering other planes one by one.

In the one hundred and fortieth year of Yongxing, all the transmigrator player forces were destroyed. Wu Changqing had the last laugh, unifying all the planes. The empire’s territory was as high as sixteen billion square kilometers, and the empire’s population was as high as five hundred billion.

In the one hundred and fiftieth year of Yongxing, Great Hua’s new capital in another world was completed. Great Hua moved its capital to another world, located in the center of the myriad worlds.

The new capital was one hundred thousand square kilometers, as large as Jiangsu Province.

The imperial palace alone covered one thousand square kilometers, as large as a small city.

Without navigation, Wu Changqing would get lost in the palace.

If it wasn’t built so big, it wouldn’t be able to reflect the great achievements of the eternal divine emperor.

With hundreds of members of the royal family and thousands of palace maids living in the palace, it was desolate.

In the one hundred and sixtieth year of Yongxing, the first Myriad Worlds Beauty Pageant began.

In the past, Great Hua had many beauty pageants of various kinds, but the scale was far smaller than this one. This time, they were selecting from one hundred Earth planes and the entire other world, from a population of five hundred billion.

In the past, the winners of beauty pageants usually entered the entertainment industry.

But this time, the winners would enter the palace to enrich the harem.

It was called a beauty pageant, but it was actually a concubine selection.

Wu Changqing had already unified the myriad worlds, and now he had no choice but to be a fatuous ruler who indulged in wine and women.

Losing the goal in life is also very painful, and can only be compensated with beauty.

The beauty pageant was divided into several stages. The first was the preliminary round, where each city selected three of the most beautiful contestants to enter the provincial elimination round.

The provincial elimination round not only tested appearance, but also talent and temperament.

In short, they strived to select the most perfect woman.

A city probably had several million people, and selecting three from them could be considered one in a million.

The beauties who passed the preliminary round were at least of the level of national treasures.

However, when these beauties came to the provincial competition, they found themselves to be so ordinary.

Every beauty around them was so outstanding, unique, and different.

In the provincial elimination round, ninety percent of the beauties would be eliminated.

This made the judges feel difficult. Each one was so beautiful, each one was so perfect.

For these judges who were ordinary people, it was really difficult to make a decision.

But there was no way, they had to eliminate ninety percent of the people, because there were too many beauties participating in the beauty pageant.

Even after eliminating ninety percent, each plane still provided two or three hundred beauties.

And this was only after passing the preliminary round.

Next, they would have to compete with beauties from one hundred other planes, and even fairies from other worlds.

Fairies with high cultivation even had the ability to shape their own appearance, but this didn’t help much in winning. Even if they turned themselves into the most beautiful appearance, they might not be able to beat other beauties.

Among the more than ten thousand people selected from five hundred billion people, there were many who had naturally perfect appearances, so beautiful that they couldn’t be more beautiful.

At this point, compared to appearance, a unique temperament was more important.

In the first round of the semi-finals, more than six thousand of these stunning beauties who lacked a unique temperament were eliminated first.

Immediately afterwards, more than four thousand people without unique skills were also eliminated.

The remaining two thousand people entered the finals.

At this time, ordinary people could no longer bear the work of judges, because in their opinion, every beauty who was promoted was perfect, and they could no longer find a reason to eliminate them.

Therefore, the final right of selection was handed over to Wu Changqing, who personally commented on and ranked these two thousand beauties.

The beauties came in groups of ten to Wu Changqing.

“Tsk tsk tsk…”

As expected of a beauty chosen from billions, Wu Changqing was very satisfied with these ten beauties.

“Your Majesty, there are still one thousand nine hundred and ninety people behind.”

The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites reminded him.

Although there has been a saying since ancient times that there are three thousand beauties in the harem, no emperor would ever marry thousands of concubines. It was too outrageous, and no one could bear it.

In the original plan, the top one hundred of these two thousand beauties would be added to Wu Changqing’s harem, which meant that one thousand nine hundred people would have to be eliminated.

“So what?”

Wu Changqing asked.

It’s just two thousand, he can visit them all in six or seven years.

With his long lifespan, six or seven years is just a blink of an eye.

With his physical cultivation, he can completely handle thousands of concubines, so there is no need to panic.

In the first eighty years, Wu Changqing had only taken in more than fifty concubines in total, which was considered a very restrained emperor.

Now that the empire no longer had any threats, and he had no goals for the future, he was idle all day long. Apart from being a fatuous ruler, he had no other choice.

In the end, Wu Changqing directly accepted all two thousand beauties and lived a life of wielding power over the world when awake and reclining on the knees of beauties when drunk.

(End of the book).

UNTITLED

Chapter 1: A Desperate Situation
Chapter 2: The Weaponry Gap
Chapter 3: Tactics vs. Technology
Chapter 4: Long-Term Development
Chapter 5: Li Chengdong’s Fury
Chapter 6: The Arrival of a Great Enemy
Chapter 7: The Power of Homemade Bombs
Chapter 8: The Qing Army Collapses
Chapter 9: Righteous People and Refugees
Chapter 10: Dilemma
Chapter 11: Night Raid Plan
Chapter 12: Night Raid
Chapter 13: Saying What He Means
Chapter 14: Strength Greatly Increased
Chapter 15: Assistance from the Rebel Army
Chapter 16: Consolidating Military Power
Chapter 17: A Humble Visit
Chapter 18: Persuasion
Chapter 19: The Tang-Lu Rivalry
Chapter 20: Novices Pecking at Each Other
Chapter 21: Ambush Reinforcements
Chapter 22: Crushing Defeat
Chapter 23: Meeting
Chapter 24: Surrender Negotiations
Chapter 25: Besieging Suzhou
Chapter 26: Sudden Change
Chapter 27: Future Plans
Chapter 28: Arrival of the Envoy
Chapter 29: Delaying Tactics
Chapter 30: Raising Funds
Chapter 31: Small Inventions
Chapter 32: The Chen Family
Chapter 33: Soap

Chapter 34: Training Soldiers on the Drill Ground

Chapter 35: Envoy of Prince Tang
Chapter 36: Kidnapping Artisans
Chapter 37: Inspecting the Arsenal
Chapter 38: The Eve of the Great Battle

Chapter 39: Even Filling the River Is Difficult

Chapter 40: A Gruesome Sight
Chapter 41: Temporary Retreat
Chapter 42: Forcing the People
Chapter 43: Burning the Army’s Food Supply
Chapter 44: Conspiracy
Chapter 45: Defection
Chapter 46: The Qing Army in Utter Chaos
Chapter 47: Spoils of War
Chapter 48: Next Steps
Chapter 49: People from the Old Home
Chapter 50: Confiscating Property
Chapter 51: Nothing is Easy
Chapter 52: Controversy Over Rewards
Chapter 53: Spinning Jenny

Chapter 54: The Difficult Problem of Education

Chapter 55: The University

Chapter 56: Soap that Shakes the Qinhuai River

Chapter 57: Military System Reform
Chapter 58: Taxation
Chapter 59: Accepting Titles and Rewards
Chapter 60: Wedding

Chapter 61: The Temptation of Official Position

Chapter 62: Underestimating the Ancients
Chapter 63: Avenues to Wealth
Chapter 64: Allied Forces Arrive
Chapter 65: A Plan to Lure the Enemy
Chapter 66: Perks of the Era
Chapter 67: Mutual Surrender Attempts
Chapter 68: Hutang Village
Chapter 69: Successfully Luring the Enemy
Chapter 70: The Collapse of the Center Army
Chapter 71: Victory in Sight
Chapter 72: A Great Victory
Chapter 73: Hong Chengchou’s Headache
Chapter 74: Capturing Changzhou
Chapter 75: Another Great Victory
Chapter 76: Returning to Suzhou
Chapter 77: Brothers in Misery
Chapter 78: Overseas Merchants
Chapter 79: Assessment
Chapter 80: Conferring Official Positions
Chapter 81: The Purpose of the Gazette
Chapter 82: Expansion of the Armory
Chapter 83: Warbling Birds
Chapter 84: When in Rome
Chapter 85: Newspaper
Chapter 86: Influence
Chapter 87: Family Arrival
Chapter 88: Rewarding the Troops
Chapter 89: Empress Dowager Xiaozhuangwen
Chapter 90: Sharing Joy with the People
Chapter 91: A Boredom-Busting Artifact
Chapter 92: Hybrid Rice
Chapter 93: Overseas Trade
Chapter 94: The Qing Army Moves South
Chapter 95: Hollow Square Formation
Chapter 96: A Conspiracy in Broad Daylight
Chapter 97: Encounter
Chapter 98: The Artillery’s Might
Chapter 99: Suffering Losses Everywhere
Chapter 100: The Battle on the Left Flank
Chapter 101: Cavalry Charge
Chapter 102: The Miraculous Square Formation
Chapter 103: The Last Gamble
Chapter 104: Full-Scale Counterattack
Chapter 105: Counting the Spoils of War
Chapter 106: Dealing with Prisoners
Chapter 107: Negotiations
Chapter 108: Triumphant News Spreads South
Chapter 109: Lady of the Mandate
Chapter 110: Qing Dynasty Shaken
Chapter 111: War Trauma
Chapter 112: Troop Recuperation
Chapter 113: The People’s Hearts Can Be Used
Chapter 114: Winning Hearts is Paramount
Chapter 115: Easily Taken
Chapter 116: Surrendered General
Chapter 117: The Army Arrives at the City
Chapter 118: Outer City Walls
Chapter 119: All-Out Assault
Chapter 120: Breaching the City
Chapter 121: Rifled Musket
Chapter 122: Battle Results Statistics
Chapter 123: Defection
Chapter 124: Defend to the Death
Chapter 125: Gun Testing
Chapter 126: Disdain for All
Chapter 127: A Beile Surrenders
Chapter 128: A War of Words
Chapter 129: The Sniper’s Might
Chapter 130: Uncontrolled Chaos
Chapter 131: Taking Nanjing
Chapter 132: Offering a Beauty
Chapter 133: Entering the City
Chapter 134: Meeting with Merchants
Chapter 135: Bamboozling
Chapter 136: The Tong Family’s Affairs
Chapter 137: Hong Chengchou’s Heartbreak

Chapter 138: The Official-Obsessed Ruan Dacheng

Chapter 139: Troublesome Matters
Chapter 140: Army Reorganization
Chapter 141: Some Rejoice, Some Grieve
Chapter 142: Cement
Chapter 143: Mixed Feelings
Chapter 144: The Terrified Donglin Party

Chapter 145: The Longwu Emperor’s Determination

Chapter 146: Changes in Nanjing
Chapter 147: Academy Merger
Chapter 148: The Steam Engine Project
Chapter 149: Ambush
Chapter 150: Crisis of Leaked Secrets
Chapter 151: Shock-Absorbing Carriages
Chapter 152: Expanding Territory
Chapter 153: Equipment Suppression
Chapter 154: Launch the General Offensive
Chapter 155: Slipped Away
Chapter 156: Dividing the Troops
Chapter 157: Creating Friction
Chapter 158: Temporary Retreat
Chapter 159: Failed Night Raid
Chapter 160: Reinforcements Arrive
Chapter 161: Breaching the Walls
Chapter 162: A One-Sided Battle
Chapter 163: Political Turmoil

Chapter 164: The Debate Over Moving the Capital

Chapter 165: The Ultimate Question

Chapter 166: BMW Dealership

Chapter 167: The Shortcomings of the Six Ministries

Chapter 168: Technology is the Primary Productive Force

Chapter 169: The Leaders
Chapter 170: Steamboat
Chapter 171: Qian Qianyi’s Observations
Chapter 172: Qian Qianyi’s Pursuit of Office
Chapter 173: Abolish the Imperial Examination
Chapter 174: Social Change
Chapter 175: Family Matters
Chapter 176: Ambush Encounter
Chapter 177: Close Quarters Combat
Chapter 178: Kill Ratio
Chapter 179: Imperial Decree for Mediation

Chapter 180: Advancing Westward Along the Yangtze

Chapter 181: Reactions from All Sides
Chapter 182: Anqing
Chapter 183: Landing Battle
Chapter 184: Preparing to Attack the City
Chapter 185: Sniping the Commanding General
Chapter 186: Old Soldiers’ Idle Chat
Chapter 187: Undercover Visit

Chapter 188: The Tobacco and Alcohol Industries

Chapter 189: Mining Capital
Chapter 190: The Bidding
Chapter 191: A Pile of Goodies
Chapter 192: Steelmaking Technology

Chapter 193: The Inner Courtyard of the Residence

Chapter 194: Taking Concubines
Chapter 195: Hong Chengchou’s Captive Life
Chapter 196: Hong Chengchou’s Defection
Chapter 197: Night Talk
Chapter 198: Naval Encounter
Chapter 199: War of Attrition
Chapter 200: Crossing the Yangtze River Plan
Chapter 201: Steamships Arrive
Chapter 202: Flying a Kite
Chapter 203: Beachhead
Chapter 204: Skirmish of the Squads
Chapter 205: Naval Interception
Chapter 206: Front and Back Attack
Chapter 207: The Defeat is Sealed
Chapter 208: Successful Landing
Chapter 209: Defense Plan
Chapter 210: Jiujiang Siege
Chapter 211: A Brutal Exchange of Fire
Chapter 212: Comprehensive Considerations
Chapter 213: Spies from All Sides
Chapter 214: Imitation by All Sides

Chapter 215: From This Day Forth, the Monarch Neglects the Morning Court

Chapter 216: Western Europe Merchants
Chapter 217: A Profitable Industry
Chapter 218: The Qing Court’s Countermeasures
Chapter 219: Southern Goods in the North

Chapter 220: Nanjing, the Place Everyone Yearns For

Chapter 221: Inspecting the Industrial Zone
Chapter 222: Decision
Chapter 223: Fundraising
Chapter 224: The General Offensive Begins
Chapter 225: Powerful Cover
Chapter 226: Precise Coordination
Chapter 227: Fierce Battle at the Breach
Chapter 228: Utterly Tragic
Chapter 229: The Wounded Soldiers’ Camp
Chapter 230: Secretly Plotting Defection
Chapter 231: Street Fight

Chapter 232: Setting Fire to the City and Massacring its People

Chapter 233: Remnants of a Defeated Army
Chapter 234: Capturing Lekedehun Alive
Chapter 235: Zhu Yujian’s Helplessness
Chapter 236: The Qing Dynasty is Scared
Chapter 237: Population Shifts Southward
Chapter 238: Changes in the Countryside
Chapter 239: A Microcosm of the Times
Chapter 240: Brick Factory
Chapter 241: Building a Metropolis
Chapter 242: Establishing a Bank
Chapter 243: Battering the City Gates
Chapter 244: A Daring Plan
Chapter 245: Cavalry Raid
Chapter 246: Couldn’t Break Through
Chapter 248: Song Yingxing
Chapter 249: Utterly Unreasonable
Chapter 250: Easily Defeated
Chapter 251: Self-Anesthesia
Chapter 252: Military Salary System
Chapter 253: Reorganizing the Three Armies
Chapter 254: Victory Banquet
Chapter 255: Overseas Trade
Chapter 256: Shipbuilding Plan
Chapter 257: Capital Inflow
Chapter 258: Qing Envoy
Chapter 259: The Problem of Costs
Chapter 260: Influencing the Surroundings
Chapter 261: An Unsolvable Predicament
Chapter 262: Cuju
Chapter 263: The Four Great Classical Novels
Chapter 264: National Strength
Chapter 265: A Joyous Occasion at Home
Chapter 266: Dorgon’s Determination
Chapter 267: A Thousand Jin Per Mu
Chapter 268: Reactions from All Sides
Chapter 269: Deciding to Head North
Chapter 270: Determined to Rebel
Chapter 271: Wall Cavalry
Chapter 272: Powerful Firepower
Chapter 273: A Spiritual Anchor
Chapter 274: Establishing a Nursing System
Chapter 275: The Power of Words
Chapter 276: Vanguard Force
Chapter 277: A War to Topple a Nation
Chapter 278: A Panorama of Living Beings
Chapter 279: Contact
Chapter 280: The Air Force Makes Its Debut
Chapter 281: Unexpected Ease
Chapter 282: Comparing Strengths
Chapter 283: Central Army
Chapter 284: Gruesome
Chapter 285: The Air Force Deploys
Chapter 286: The Cavalry Charge
Chapter 287: Dodo
Chapter 288: Charging the Artillery Positions
Chapter 289: A Safe Choice
Chapter 290: An Adventure
Chapter 291: The Situation Collapses
Chapter 292: Dodo’s Death
Chapter 293: Choosing the Rearguard
Chapter 294: Full Pursuit
Chapter 295: Clearing Obstacles
Chapter 296: It’s Not Easy to Escape
Chapter 297: War Results
Chapter 298: Declaring Independence as King
Chapter 299: Dorgon Vomits Blood
Chapter 300: Adoration

Chapter 301: Empress Dowager Xiaoduanwen’s Determination

Chapter 302: Suzhou Battle
Chapter 303: Visiting the Wounded Soldiers
Chapter 304: The Cavalry Arrives
Chapter 305: Taste the Gatling
Chapter 306: Charisma
Chapter 307: Ideal Society
Chapter 308: The Battle of Songjiang
Chapter 309: Mad Retreat
Chapter 310: Interception at Sea
Chapter 311: Public Opinion

Chapter 312: Reopening the Imperial Examination

Chapter 313: Reactions to the Imperial Examination

Chapter 314: Different Focuses
Chapter 315: Dynastic Title
Chapter 316: The Imperial Harem System
Chapter 317: Northern War
Chapter 318: Attacking Yancheng

Chapter 319: Killing the Chicken to Scare the Monkeys

Chapter 320: The Western Expedition
Chapter 321: Betrayal and Desertion
Chapter 322: Another City Falls
Chapter 323: Encountering a Night Raid
Chapter 324: A Risky Plan
Chapter 325: Plan to Enter the City
Chapter 326: Successfully Infiltrated
Chapter 327: Night Raid on Chuzhou
Chapter 328: Nowhere to Run
Chapter 329: Inciting the Miners
Chapter 330: Riot
Chapter 331: Talks Break Down
Chapter 332: Qing Army Retreats
Chapter 333: A Difficult Problem
Chapter 334: The Way to Rescue
Chapter 335: Tunnel
Chapter 336: Free Trade Agreement
Chapter 337: Southern War Affairs
Chapter 338: Launching the General Offensive

Chapter 339: The Air Force Unleashes Its Might Again

Chapter 340: Taking Hangzhou
Chapter 341: Three-Pronged Attack
Chapter 342: Cutting off the Escape Route

Chapter 343: When the Tree Falls, the Monkeys Scatter

Chapter 344: The Difficulty of Marching
Chapter 345: Playing Along
Chapter 346: Zhu Dadian
Chapter 347: The Capture of Jinhua
Chapter 348: Formal Announcement
Chapter 349: Endorsement
Chapter 350: Envoy of Peace
Chapter 351: Flexing Muscles

Chapter 352: Internal Discussions in the Qing Court

Chapter 353: Zhu Yujian’s Predicament
Chapter 354: The Enthronement Ceremony
Chapter 355: Rewarding the Ministers

Chapter 356: Civil Officials and the Imperial Clan

Chapter 357: Military Parade
Chapter 358: Sharing Joy with the People
Chapter 359: Enjoying the Spoils
Chapter 360: A Day in the Life of an Emperor
Chapter 361: The Emperor’s Day, Part 2

Chapter 362: A Day in the Life of the Imperial Concubines

Chapter 363: The Reclamation Edict
Chapter 364: The Reclamation Order 2
Chapter 365: Monosodium Glutamate
Chapter 366: Tax Revenue
Chapter 367: Fiscal Budget
Chapter 368: Preliminary Agreement
Chapter 369: Budget Battle
Chapter 370: Patent Law
Chapter 371: A Perfect Match
Chapter 372: Individual
Chapter 373: Budget Allocation
Chapter 374: Ambush in the Canyon
Chapter 375: A Different Kind of Army
Chapter 376: Turning Defeat into Victory
Chapter 377: Bandits
Chapter 378: Naval Battle
Chapter 379: An Exquisite Beauty
Chapter 380: Kidnapping
Chapter 381: Rebellion
Chapter 382: Appeasement
Chapter 383: The Current State of Songjiang
Chapter 384: Liaison
Chapter 385: Stunning
Chapter 386: The Case for War
Chapter 387: The Qing Army’s Predicament
Chapter 388: Opening Battle
Chapter 389: Harassment Tactics
Chapter 390: The Qing Army’s Troubles
Chapter 391: Conquest
Chapter 392: A Fruitless Endeavor
Chapter 393: Unfathomable Royal Heart
Chapter 394: This is the Emperor
Chapter 395: Rural New Year’s Eve

Chapter 396: New Year Preparations in the City

Chapter 397: Royal Family Banquet
Chapter 398: The Prefectural Examination
Chapter 399: Posting of the Results
Chapter 400: The Provincial Examination
Chapter 401: Provincial Examination Results
Chapter 402: Post-Exam Discussions
Chapter 403: Trial Run of the Train
Chapter 404: Building Railways
Chapter 405: The Ambitions of Merchants
Chapter 406: Winning the First Battle
Chapter 407: Mortar
Chapter 408: Worth It
Chapter 409: Difficult to Attack
Chapter 410: Rogue Tactics
Chapter 411: Sudden General Offensive
Chapter 412: The Situation is Critical
Chapter 413: No Surrender, Then Too Bad
Chapter 414: Lacking Respect
Chapter 415: The Decisive Battle Plan
Chapter 416: The Scramble for Supplies
Chapter 417: Naval Showdown
Chapter 418: Advantage in Equipment
Chapter 419: Fire Extinguisher
Chapter 420: The Brutal Boarding Action
Chapter 421: Steam Warships

Chapter 422: Naval Warfare Dominated by Cannons

Chapter 423: Fleeing in Defeat
Chapter 424: Cleaning Up the Mess
Chapter 425: Out of Ammunition
Chapter 426: The Influence of Terrain
Chapter 427: Mountain Warfare
Chapter 428: Huge Losses
Chapter 430: War Doctrine
Chapter 431: Encountering Trouble
Chapter 432: Temporary Retreat

Chapter 433: The Imperial Guards Request to Fight

Chapter 434: Attacking the Artillery

Chapter 435: The Breech-Loading Rifle Makes Its Debut

Chapter 436: Breakthrough
Chapter 437: A Great Victory
Chapter 438: The Approaching Dark Night
Chapter 439: A Flourishing Age
Chapter 440: A Home of Enterprise
Chapter 441: Machine Tools

Chapter 442: Examination Candidates Enter the Capital

Chapter 443: Imperial Examination to Select Talent

Chapter 444: Admission Rules

Chapter 445: They’re All Talents

Chapter 446: The Drawbacks of Making Money Too Easily

Chapter 447: Limited Liability Company
Chapter 448: Policy Announcement
Chapter 449: The Butterfly Effect

Chapter 450: Learning from Great Hua to Resist Great Hua

Chapter 451: Railway Construction Begins
Chapter 452: Longwu’s Personal Campaign
Chapter 453: Reconnaissance and Intelligence
Chapter 454: Special Operations Squad
Chapter 455: Not a Single Soldier Lost
Chapter 456: The Scheme
Chapter 457: Entering Fuzhou
Chapter 458: There Will Be Successors
Chapter 459: The Northern Expedition Plan
Chapter 460: Gathering at Xuzhou
Chapter 461: The Qing Court’s Countermeasures
Chapter 462: Strategic Maneuvering
Chapter 463: The Frustration of Guo Ruowen
Chapter 464: The Loud Military Song
Chapter 465: Forced Crossing
Chapter 466: Annihilation
Chapter 467: Mobilization on All Sides
Chapter 468: Attempted Persuasion Backfires

Chapter 469: Internal and External Coordination

Chapter 470: Matters of National Importance
Chapter 471: Public Carriage
Chapter 472: Vulcanized Rubber
Chapter 473: An Encounter with Prisoners
Chapter 474: The Impact of the Test Drive
Chapter 475: Taijia Village
Chapter 476: Can’t Afford the Loss
Chapter 477: The Solution
Chapter 478: The Artillery Has Gone Mad
Chapter 479: Flamethrowers
Chapter 480: Capture
Chapter 481: The Moment of Decisive Battle
Chapter 482: Critical Moment
Chapter 483: Switching Offense and Defense
Chapter 484: Unexpected Ease
Chapter 485: Huge War Spoils

Chapter 486: A Love Story in the Wounded Soldiers’ Camp

Chapter 487: Times Have Changed
Chapter 488: Martyrs’ Memorial
Chapter 489: Currency Reform

Chapter 490: The Merchants Stir Up Trouble Again

Chapter 491: The Merchants Suffer Another Defeat

Chapter 492: Control
Chapter 493: Merchants Laying Plans
Chapter 494: Outbound Ceremony
Chapter 495: Number One Great Hua Fan
Chapter 496: Foreign Policy
Chapter 497: The Imperial Examination
Chapter 498: Personnel Preferences
Chapter 499: Each Their Own Path
Chapter 500: The Top Scholar in Shanghai

Chapter 501: The Number One Scholar is Raising Money

Chapter 502: Eradicating Smallpox
Chapter 503: The Qing Dynasty is Fleeing
Chapter 504: A Thousand Li Raid
Chapter 505: The Terrified Qing Dynasty

Chapter 506: Joyfully Welcoming the Royal Army

Chapter 507: Straight to the Point
Chapter 508: A Rare Siege Defense
Chapter 509: Full Retreat
Chapter 510: Mental Blow

Chapter 511: Capturing Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang

Chapter 512: Preliminary Unification

Chapter 513: Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang Enters Beijing

Chapter 514: The Plans of the Civil Officials

Chapter 515: Submitting Memorials

Chapter 516: It’s a Pity You Only Belong to Me

Chapter 517: Some People Don’t Focus on Real Work

Chapter 518: The Dispute Over Troop Reduction
Chapter 519: Endless Arguments
Chapter 520: Solution
Chapter 521

Chapter 522: Eunuchs Also Harbor Wild Ambitions

Chapter 523: Medal Award Ceremony
Chapter 524: Naval Shipbuilding Plan
Chapter 525: A Bloody Purchase
Chapter 526: Help!

Chapter 527: Opportunity for the Ministry of Rites

Chapter 528: The Three-Step Plan
Chapter 529: Persuasion
Chapter 530: Expanding Territory
Chapter 531: Sending Troops to Korea
Chapter 532: One Hundred Li Defense Line
Chapter 533: The Qing Army Plans to Flee
Chapter 534: Dorgon’s Despair
Chapter 535: A Desperate Gamble

Chapter 536: A Desperate Battle Under Special Circumstances

Chapter 537: Outpost Lost
Chapter 538: The End of the War
Chapter 539: Abdication Edict
Chapter 540: A Growth Rate of Sixty Percent
Chapter 541: Educational Vision

Chapter 542: Splitting the Ministry of Industry

Chapter 543: Matters of the Inner Palace
Chapter 544: Rectifying the Officialdom
Chapter 545: Severe Torture

Chapter 546: A Consensus Between Ruler and Subject

Chapter 547: A Game of Chess Between Ruler and Subject

Chapter 548: The End of the Turmoil

Chapter 549: Go to the Cabinet

Chapter 550: A Tragic Comedy of Industrialization

Chapter 551: More Failures
Chapter 552: Tong Youwei Reads the Newspaper
Chapter 553: New Year in Different Places
Chapter 554: Development Disparities
Chapter 555: Things Change, People Remain

Chapter 556: The Inaugural Science and Technology Expo

Chapter 557: The Impact of Government Decrees

Chapter 558: Land Reform

Chapter 559: The Imperial Court Cannot Be Too Direct

Chapter 560: Heated Debate
Chapter 561: The Main Battlefield
Chapter 562: This is the Real Plan
Chapter 563: Aligning Themselves

Chapter 565: His Majesty Wants to See Erotic Pictures

Chapter 566: He’s Making a Fool of You, Your Majesty

Chapter 567: Good Things Keep Coming
Chapter 568: Voltaic Pile
Chapter 569: Lack of Security
Chapter 570: Fierce Competition
Chapter 571: Commercial Genius
Chapter 572: Marching into Huguang
Chapter 573: Deciding on War
Chapter 574: Tactical Game
Chapter 575: The Ming Army Gets Excited
Chapter 576: Is This a Feigned Attack?
Chapter 577: Infuriating, Ah!
Chapter 578: The Decisive Battle Begins
Chapter 579: Pure Suicide
Chapter 580: Barbed Wire
Chapter 581: Artillery Blockade
Chapter 582: How to Fight?

Chapter 583: Ten Thousand Surrendering Together

Chapter 584: Recapturing the Three Towns

Chapter 585: Controversies in the Great Western Court

Chapter 586: The Chaotic Remnants of the Ming
Chapter 587: Administrative Region Changes
Chapter 588: Divide and Conquer

Chapter 589: The Emperor’s Heart is Hard to Fathom

Chapter 590: Refused Entry to Port
Chapter 591: Picking the Softest Persimmon
Chapter 592: Bombarding Ceuta
Chapter 593: No Turning Back
Chapter 594: No Way to Bite
Chapter 595: Negotiations Break Down
Chapter 596: Engagement
Chapter 597: Naval Battle
Chapter 598: Tacit Agreement to Peace

Chapter 599: The Great Hua-Portugal Ceuta Treaty

Chapter 600: Strategy Towards Great Hua
Chapter 601: The Kagoshima Incident
Chapter 602: Sending Troops to Japan
Chapter 603: Occupying Tanegashima
Chapter 604: Unable to Protect Himself
Chapter 605: The Helpless Shimazu Mitsuhisa
Chapter 606: Policy Towards Fusang
Chapter 607: Compromise
Chapter 608: The Land Reform Begins 1
Chapter 609: Land Reform in Progress 2
Chapter 610: The Land Reform in Progress 3
Chapter 611: Influence
Chapter 612: Impact 2
Chapter 613: Stocks
Chapter 614: Capital Surplus
Chapter 615: Handling the Situation
Chapter 616: Dorgon Begs for Mercy
Chapter 617: Tavern Brawl

Chapter 618: The Despised Task of Compiling History

Chapter 619: The Battle of Wuzhou
Chapter 620: Seeking Shortcuts
Chapter 621: A Battle is Still Necessary
Chapter 622: Siege
Chapter 623: Utterly Convinced
Chapter 624: Comprehensive Suppression
Chapter 625: The Kagoshima Treaty
Chapter 626: Heading to Great Hua
Chapter 627: Discussing Immigration
Chapter 628: Immigration Policy
Chapter 629: Setting Sail
Chapter 630: Grain Import Subsidies
Chapter 631: Selling Armaments
Chapter 632: Arms Dealing
Chapter 633: Treaties Being Signed
Chapter 634: The Craze for Learning a Trade

Chapter 635: The First Batch of Listed Companies

Chapter 636: The Temptation of Stocks
Chapter 637: The Stock Market Opens
Chapter 638: Flourishing
Chapter 639: Resistance
Chapter 640: Struggle 1
Chapter 641: Struggle 2
Chapter 642: Struggle 3
Chapter 643: Rebellion Begins

Chapter 644: Rewarding Loyalty and Exercising Authority

Chapter 645: Vigor and Decay
Chapter 646: No Peace
Chapter 647: The Tragic State Beyond the Pass
Chapter 648: The Current State of Fusang
Chapter 649: Gold Mine
Chapter 650: The Japanese Civil War
Chapter 651: Permanent Employment System
Chapter 652: Stirring Discord
Chapter 653: Tokugawa Iemitsu
Chapter 654: Urea
Chapter 655: Methodology
Chapter 656: Double-Blind Testing

Chapter 657: The Wave-Particle Duality of Light

Chapter 658: Snatching the Credit
Chapter 659: Borrowing Grain
Chapter 660: The Difficulty of Marching
Chapter 661: Zhu the Runner
Chapter 662: Ambush
Chapter 663: Confluence at Kunming
Chapter 664: A Lonely Victory
Chapter 665: Marching into Burma
Chapter 666: Vast Disparity
Chapter 668: The Great Purge

Chapter 669: Removing Obstacles to Land Reform

Chapter 670: How Lonely It Is To Be Invincible

Chapter 671: Achievements in Infrastructure
Chapter 672: Major Changes Among the People
Chapter 673: A Boon for Bachelors
Chapter 675: Return
Chapter 676: Handling Government Affairs
Chapter 677: Recapturing Ryukyu
Chapter 678: Distance Equals Victory
Chapter 679: Establishing Ryukyu Prefecture
Chapter 680: A Four-Nation Free-for-All
Chapter 681: The Impact of Japanese Women
Chapter 682: The Battle for Sea and Land
Chapter 683: Marching on Formosa
Chapter 684: Taiwan Prefecture
Chapter 685: Eradicating the Pirates
Chapter 686: The Power Seizure Plan

Chapter 687: Internal Combustion Engine Project

Chapter 688: Weathervane
Chapter 689: Raising the Status of Women
Chapter 690: Political Discussion

Chapter 691: Implementation of Government Orders

Chapter 692: A Daughter Coming of Age
Chapter 693: The Launching of the Zhouwu
Chapter 694: A Foreign Student’s Letter
Chapter 695: Pillow Talk
Chapter 696: Cannons
Chapter 697: Breaking Through the Pass
Chapter 698: Dorgon’s Response
Chapter 699: Luring the Enemy
Chapter 700: A Wretched Death
Chapter 701: Monetary Hegemony
Chapter 702: The Second Imperial Examination
Chapter 703: The Imperial Harem Draft
Chapter 704: Top Ten Beauties
Chapter 705: The Ultimate Experience

Chapter 706: The Civil Officials Launch an Attack

Chapter 707: Avoiding Him From Afar
Chapter 708: The Military’s Fury
Chapter 709: The End of the Disturbance
Chapter 710: Local Development
Chapter 711: Ouyang the Skinflint
Chapter 712: Cross-River Bridge
Chapter 713: Heavy-Handed Tactics
Chapter 714: The Development of Guangzhou
Chapter 715: Supporting Local Development
Chapter 716: Top Ten Supported Cities
Chapter 717: The Emergence of the Telegraph
Chapter 718: The Role of Telegraphs
Chapter 719: Wester Becomes a Citizen
Chapter 720: Keep Having Babies
Chapter 721: Buying and Selling Territory
Chapter 722: Assimilation Policy
Chapter 723: Nobody’s a Fool
Chapter 724: All According to Plan
Chapter 725: Southern Nine Prefectures
Chapter 726: Declaration of War
Chapter 727: It’s Over
Chapter 728: Expeditionary Fleet
Chapter 729: Battle of Manila Bay
Chapter 730: Instant Defeat
Chapter 731: Turtle Shell
Chapter 732: Reinforcements Arrive
Chapter 733: It Still Comes Down to Weapons
Chapter 734: Capture
Chapter 735: Whaling Industry
Chapter 736: Royal Zoo
Chapter 737: The Children of Great Hua
Chapter 738: Entering Sichuan
Chapter 739: Ai Nengqi

Chapter 740: The Great Western Army’s Night Raid

Chapter 741: Multiple Setbacks
Chapter 742: Utterly Crippled
Chapter 743: Outlaws
Chapter 744: Flitting About
Chapter 745: Rabble
Chapter 746: Impenetrable
Chapter 747: A Tiger Among Sheep
Chapter 748: Desperate Situation
Chapter 749: Preliminary Unification
Chapter 750: Five Military Regions
Chapter 751: Different Mindsets
Chapter 752: Four Years of Achievements 1
Chapter 753: Four Years of Progress 2
Chapter 754: The Thoughts of Various Nations
Chapter 755: The Temptation of Great Hua
Chapter 756: A Land of Yearning

Chapter 757: The Air in Great Hua is the Sweetest

Chapter 758: The Willful Olgana
Chapter 759: The Qinhuai
Chapter 760: Insurgents
Chapter 761: Migrant Workers 1
Chapter 762: Migrant Workers 2
Chapter 763: Migrant Workers 3
Chapter 764: Development and Fairness
Chapter 765: Two Rising Stars
Chapter 766: Marriage
Chapter 767: Camera
Chapter 768: Yongxing Year Five
Chapter 769: Stock Market Bubble
Chapter 770: A Storm Arises
Chapter 771: Disposition
Chapter 772: Palace Intrigue

Chapter 773: The Pain of Patriotic Individuals

Chapter 774: People of the Celestial Dynasty
Chapter 775: A Japan Traitor
Chapter 776: The Japan Uprising
Chapter 777: The Fall of the Satsuma Domain
Chapter 778: A Strong Sense of Déjà Vu
Chapter 779: The Eagle
Chapter 780: Opportunity to Earn Merit
Chapter 781: Semi-Automatic Rifle
Chapter 782: Advance Camp
Chapter 783: Battle Damage
Chapter 784: Approaching Lạng Sơn
Chapter 785: Crossing the River
Chapter 787: Pursuit
Chapter 788: Revising History Books
Chapter 789: Automobile
Chapter 790: The Emperor’s Test Drive
Chapter 791: A Chaotic Mess
Chapter 792: A Show of Loyalty
Chapter 793: New Intelligence Agency
Chapter 794: Assembly Line
Chapter 795: The Truth Emerges
Chapter 796: Execution

Chapter 797: The Effects of Military Agricultural Colonies

Chapter 798: A Comparison of Meals
Chapter 799: Eve of the Decisive Battle
Chapter 800: Feigning Weakness
Chapter 801: Learning to be Clever
Chapter 802: Aborted Success
Chapter 803: A Crippled Army
Chapter 804: A Massive Number of Prisoners
Chapter 805: Annam Seeks to Surrender
Chapter 806: A Feast of Plunder
Chapter 807: Pirates With Nowhere to Run
Chapter 808: Paradise
Chapter 809: Celebrity
Chapter 810: Negotiating While Fighting
Chapter 811: The May Sixteenth Coup
Chapter 812: Hanoi Province
Chapter 813: The Emperor is Busy

Chapter 814: The World Has Become More Complex

Chapter 815: Reform
Chapter 816: The Rise of Entertainment
Chapter 817: Women as Officials
Chapter 819: Contesting the Cape of Good Hope
Chapter 820: The Great Hua Threat
Chapter 821: The European Landscape
Chapter 822: Global Layout
Chapter 823: Key Strategy
Chapter 824: Military Intelligence Express
Chapter 825: Agricultural Achievements
Chapter 826: Transportation and Communication

Chapter 827: Tax Revenue Exceeds Four Hundred Million

Chapter 828: To Whom Does the Title of Hero Belong?

Chapter 829: Yongxing Year Six
Chapter 830: Mercenaries
Chapter 831: Operation Plan
Chapter 832: The General Offensive Begins
Chapter 833: Encirclement
Chapter 834: Surrendering in Style
Chapter 835: First Encounter with the Bear
Chapter 836: Expedition
Chapter 837: Engagement
Chapter 838: Heavy Losses
Chapter 839: A Dilemma
Chapter 840: System Notification
Chapter 841: National Celebration
Chapter 842: Diverse Architecture
Chapter 843: Technology Upgrade
Chapter 844: Casual Chat
Chapter 845: Lawyer
Chapter 846: The Debating Process
Chapter 847: The Western Regions Strategy
Chapter 848: Discussion
Chapter 849: Bargaining
Chapter 850: Re-equipping
Chapter 851: Southeast Asia
Chapter 852: Rebellious Betrayal
Chapter 853: Saigon Pacified
Chapter 854: Artificial Fibers
Chapter 855: Joint Promotion
Chapter 856: A Whimsical Idea
Chapter 857: Action
Chapter 858: Conspiracy
Chapter 859: Coup d’état
Chapter 860: Overthrow the Shogunate
Chapter 861: The Four Provinces of Japan
Chapter 862: A Sensation
Chapter 863: Discussions

Chapter 864: Seeing Du Shaofu off to His Post in Northern Prefecture

Chapter 865: The Emperor’s Journey West
Chapter 866: Northwest War
Chapter 867: The Situation in the Northwest
Chapter 868: Armored Division
Chapter 869: The Current State of Ceuta
Chapter 870: In Ceuta
Chapter 871: Currency Invasion
Chapter 872: Cultural Invasion

Chapter 873: The Armored Division’s First Battle

Chapter 874: The Times Have Changed
Chapter 875: The Allied Forces’ Predicament
Chapter 876: Conditions
Chapter 877: The Final Madness
Chapter 878: Maneuver Warfare
Chapter 879: The Final Charge
Chapter 880: Total Victory
Chapter 881: Pacifying Mongolia
Chapter 882: Complete Occupation
Chapter 883: World Situation
Chapter 884: Immigration Strategies
Chapter 885: Immigration Strategy 2
Chapter 886: North America
Chapter 887: North American Expansion
Chapter 888: The Merchant Kidnapping Incident
Chapter 889: Stainless Steel
Chapter 890: Copper
Chapter 891: Heavy Industry 1
Chapter 892: Heavy Industry 2

Chapter 893: An Industrial Power Versus an Agricultural Nation

Chapter 894: A Grand Spectacle
Chapter 895: Engagement 1
Chapter 896: Skirmish 2
Chapter 897: Engagement 3
Chapter 898: Engagement 4
Chapter 899: Rout
Chapter 900: Negotiations
Chapter 901: Treaty Signed
Chapter 902: The Seventh Year of Yongxing
Chapter 903: The Last Imperial Exam
Chapter 904: Ilian Becomes an Official
Chapter 905: Tong Xiangyu Becomes an Official
Chapter 906: Telephone
Chapter 907: The Emperor’s Inspection Tour
Chapter 908: Xuzhou Station
Chapter 909: Northern Tour
Chapter 910: A Little Too Much
Chapter 911: Narai’s Visit to Great Hua
Chapter 912: Daqing Station
Chapter 913: Cordial Visit
Chapter 915: Telegraph Network
Chapter 916: Siam’s Return
Chapter 917: Torrential Rain
Chapter 918: Disaster Relief Mobilization
Chapter 919: Disaster Relief Donations
Chapter 920: Donation Chaos
Chapter 921: Disaster Relief
Chapter 922: A Clever Trick
Chapter 923: The Mughal Military Parade

Chapter 924: The Uncontrolled Great Western Army

Chapter 925: Guangzhou Station
Chapter 926: Conquering Java
Chapter 927: Cat and Mouse
Chapter 928: A Fish Trying to Break the Net
Chapter 929: The Tragic French Navy
Chapter 930: Java
Chapter 931: Carrot and Stick
Chapter 933: Utterly Heinous
Chapter 934: The Western Expeditionary Force
Chapter 935: Artillery Advantage
Chapter 936: A Complete Victory
Chapter 937: Forty-Four Provinces
Chapter 938: Time Flies
Chapter 939: Western European Photographs
Chapter 940: Photographs from Great Hua
Chapter 941: Continued Expansion
Chapter 942: Flanking Maneuver
Chapter 943: Helpless
Chapter 944: Blitzkrieg

Chapter 945: The Huaxia Army’s Voracious Appetite

Chapter 946: Last Stand
Chapter 947: The Composed Huaxia Army
Chapter 948: I Want to Be a Bad Emperor
Chapter 949: Airplanes and Movies
Chapter 950: The Tragedy of a Genius
Chapter 951: The Tragedy of a Genius 2
Chapter 952: A Genius Idea
Chapter 953: Summons
Chapter 954: Direct Arrangements
Chapter 955: Decisive Battle at Durgapur
Chapter 956: Perfunctory
Chapter 957: Outdated Military System
Chapter 958: A Perilous Scene
Chapter 959: Repeated Attrition
Chapter 960: Wolves Among Sheep
Chapter 961: The Situation is Settled
Chapter 962: Breakout Plan
Chapter 963: Combat Engineers
Chapter 964: The Final General Offensive
Chapter 965: A Not-So-Heroic Street Fight
Chapter 966: Impending Doom
Chapter 967: Liberating Delhi

Chapter 968: The Birth of the European Union 1

Chapter 969: The Birth of the European Union 2

Chapter 970: The Situation in West Asia
Chapter 971: The Suez Canal
Chapter 972: The Talent War
Chapter 973: The Panama Canal
Chapter 974: Opening to Navigation
Chapter 975: Marching into Kathmandu
Chapter 976: Complete Pacification
Chapter 977: Mad Expansion

Chapter 978: The First Great Hua National Games

Chapter 979: First Day of Competition
Chapter 980: The Competition Continues
Chapter 981: Women’s Events
Chapter 982: A Need for Spiritual Sustenance
Chapter 983: Development in South Asia
Chapter 984: Returning Home and Immigration
Chapter 985: Returning Home - Immigrants 2
Chapter 986: Memories in the Carriage
Chapter 987: City of Fashion
Chapter 988: Touring Shanghai
Chapter 989: Strolling Through Shanghai 2
Chapter 990: The European Union in Disarray
Chapter 991: The Situation in South America
Chapter 992: Declaring War on Europe
Chapter 993: Come Forth, Aircraft Carrier
Chapter 994: The Education of Princes
Chapter 995: Cultivating New Breeds
Chapter 996: Aircraft Carrier Sea Trials
Chapter 997: Preparations Complete
Chapter 998: The European Union’s Plan
Chapter 999: Setting Off on the Expedition
Chapter 1000: On the Road
Chapter 1001: Approaching Arrival
Chapter 1002: Holding Ceuta

Chapter 1003: The Allied Forces With No Way Out

Chapter 1004: Impenetrable
Chapter 1005: Bombing
Chapter 1006: Capturing Gibraltar
Chapter 1007: Kill Only the Aristocracy
Chapter 1008: Bombing London
Chapter 1009: Approaching London
Chapter 1010: The Last Line of Defense
Chapter 1011: Chaotic London
Chapter 1012: Entering London
Chapter 1013: Atrocities
Chapter 1014: The Only Hope
Chapter 1015: African Battles
Chapter 1016: Difficult to Advance an Inch
Chapter 1017: Nothing Goes Smoothly
Chapter 1018: Risky Plan
Chapter 1019: A Fight We Can’t Avoid
Chapter 1020: A Clash of Ironclads
Chapter 1021: Submarines Unleashed

Chapter 1022: The Annihilation of the British Fleet

Chapter 1023: Old Business
Chapter 1024: Adding Insult to Injury
Chapter 1025: Instant Face-Slapping
Chapter 1026: Capturing Charles II Alive
Chapter 1027: The Treaty of London
Chapter 1028: Other Countries’ Choices
Chapter 1029: Occupying Egypt
Chapter 1030: Taking Great Pains
Chapter 1031: Fertility Policy
Chapter 1032: Beach Landing
Chapter 1033: Air Support
Chapter 1034: Turmoil in Paris
Chapter 1035: The Guillotine
Chapter 1036: Conquering Another Nation
Chapter 1037: Triumphant Return
Chapter 1038: Grand Slogans
Chapter 1039: Research and Investigation
Chapter 1040: Investigation 2
Chapter 1041: What Was Seen and Heard
Chapter 1042: Skirmish
Chapter 1043: Meeting
Chapter 1044: Industrial Development
Chapter 1045: Grandpa Liu Visits the Villa
Chapter 1046: Shipping Containers
Chapter 1047: Choosing a Direction
Chapter 1048: An Awkward Conclusion
Chapter 1049: Income Tax Reform
Chapter 1050: Individual Income Tax Reform 2
Chapter 1051: A Battle of Wits
Chapter 1052: Five-Year Development Plan
Chapter 1053: GDP

Chapter 1054: Turns Out I Was the One Getting Hurt

Chapter 1055: The Military’s Hard Times
Chapter 1056: Can’t Afford It
Chapter 1057: Bowl City

Chapter 1058: Joining Forces and Heading North

Chapter 1059: You Think You Can Do It?
Chapter 1060: A Stark Contrast
Chapter 1061: Let Me Handle the Easy Pickings

Chapter 1062: The Federal Government’s Helplessness

Chapter 1063: The Plague
Chapter 1064: Plague 2
Chapter 1065: Heaven and Hell
Chapter 1066: Chen Luo’s Plan
Chapter 1067: Situation Out of Control
Chapter 1068: Verbal Sparring
Chapter 1069: Turbulent Situation
Chapter 1070: Taking Persia
Chapter 1071: The Suez Canal Opens
Chapter 1072: Declaration of Equality
Chapter 1073: Exaggerated Trenches
Chapter 1074: Reconnaissance Plane
Chapter 1075: Stillness Precedes Action
Chapter 1076: Charge

Chapter 1077: The Fight of the Military Second Generation

Chapter 1078: Total Collapse
Chapter 1079: Focused Offensive
Chapter 1080: A Complete Mess
Chapter 1081: Hasty Escape
Chapter 1082: A Collapsing Building

Chapter 1083: Ninety-Five Million Square Kilometers

Chapter 1084: No Way We’re Doing Enfeoffment

Chapter 1085: A Chapter Title That’s Hard to Come Up With

Chapter 1086: Eastern Travelogue

Chapter 1087: An Average Height Increase of Eight Centimeters

Chapter 1088: The Best of Times

Chapter 1089: Rural Living Standards Across the Land

Chapter 1090: Irrigation Systems
Chapter 1091: Agricultural Development
Chapter 1092: Agricultural Development 2
Chapter 1093: Great Hua Rich List
Chapter 1094: A Gathering of Beauties
Chapter 1095: Metropolis
Chapter 1096: City Transformation
Chapter 1097: The Cutting Edge of Technology
Chapter 1098: Intellectual Enlightenment
Chapter 1099: System Update
Chapter 1100: Formidable Opponents

Chapter 1101: Initial Exploration of Another World

Chapter 1102: A Shameful First Battle
Chapter 1103: The Great Unity Plan
Chapter 1104: Upgrading Equipment
Chapter 1105: Otherworld Fever

Chapter 1106: A Community of Shared Future for Mankind

Chapter 1107: Leaflets
Chapter 1108: A Complete Beatdown
Chapter 1109: A Wave of Surrender

Chapter 1110: The Pros and Cons of High Welfare

Chapter 1111: Progress in the Otherworld
Chapter 1112: Traces of Intelligent Life
Chapter 1113: Rocket Test Launch
Chapter 1114: The Changing of the Guard
Chapter 1115: Setting a New Standard
Chapter 1116: Unifying the Script
Chapter 1117: Flying Man

Chapter 1118: Initial Exploration of the Ancient City

Chapter 1119: Beast Tide
Chapter 1120: The Commander
Chapter 1121: A Choice
Chapter 1122: Raising Pigs
Chapter 1123: Secret Talks at West Lake
Chapter 1124: Prestige
Chapter 1125: Extraterrestrial Fairy
Chapter 1126: Market Conflict
Chapter 1127: Capturing the Fairy Alive
Chapter 1128: Fairy, Please Be Obedient
Chapter 1129: Extraterrestrial Forces
Chapter 1130: Visitors from Moonproud City
Chapter 1131: Fight or Negotiate?
Chapter 1132: Negotiations Begin
Chapter 1133: Negotiations Reached
Chapter 1134: King-Level Beast
Chapter 1135: Fierce Battle
Chapter 1136: Crushing Defeat
Chapter 1137: Encountering a Fox Demon
Chapter 1138: Disagreement
Chapter 1139: An Alternative Style
Chapter 1140: An Unconventional Style, Part 2
Chapter 1141: Exchange Between Two Worlds

Chapter 1142: Jealousy of Extraterrestrial Forces

Chapter 1144: General, the Times Have Changed
Chapter 1145: Why Would His Majesty Rebel?
Chapter 1146: Legal Construction
Chapter 1147: Opportunity

Chapter 1148: When the Cunning Rabbit Dies, the Hunting Dog Gets Cooked

Chapter 1149: Two Realms Exchange
Chapter 1150: Massive Infrastructure
Chapter 1151: Gold Rush

Chapter 1152: A Record of Adventures in Another World

Chapter 1153: War of the Planes

Chapter 1154: An Opponent of the Same Caliber?

Chapter 1155: Nothing More Than This
Chapter 1156: Air Combat
Chapter 1157: Superhuman Legion
Chapter 1158: General Offensive

Chapter 1159: Breaching the First Line of Defense

Chapter 1161: Mutiny in the Mughal Army
Chapter 1162: Threat of the Giant Cannons
Chapter 1163: An Exaggerated Kill Ratio
Chapter 1164: On the Verge of Collapse
Chapter 1165: What We Fight For
Chapter 1166: Occupying Heng City
Chapter 1167: Court Disputes

Chapter 1168: The Chronic Ills of the Mughal Empire

Chapter 1169: Seizing the Ships
Chapter 1170: Speed is of the Essence
Chapter 1171: Guardians
Chapter 1172: Guarding 2
Chapter 1173: Another Victory
Chapter 1174: Envoys from All Sides
Chapter 1175: Strategy
Chapter 1176: Threat to the Sea Lanes
Chapter 1177: Naval Decisive Battle
Chapter 1178: Bombing
Chapter 1179: Asymmetrical Warfare
Chapter 1181: Eve of the Counterattack

Chapter 1182: The Self-Salvation of the Mughal Dynasty

Chapter 1183: The Great Melee
Chapter 1184: Counterinsurgency
Chapter 1185: Pressing South Asia
Chapter 1186: A Tremendous Change

Chapter 1187: Invading the Mo Dynasty’s Homeland

Chapter 1188: Beach Landing
Chapter 1189: A Big Gamble
Chapter 1190: The Fall of an Empire
Chapter 1191: Number One
Chapter 1192: Moving the Capital
Chapter 1193: Complete Unification